take the journey

✯ 𝓐𝓭 𝓐𝓼𝓽𝓻𝓪 𝓟𝓮𝓻 𝓐𝓼𝓹𝓮𝓻𝓪 ✯

Standing tall we'll face tomorrow hand in hand (Mine in yours and yours in mine) Weaving memories, through the warp and weft we wend (This, our tale, a tapestry) Never losing sight of everywhere that we've been (And everywhere we're gonna be)

Hello! This is an independent mutuals only dualmuse sideblog for Dan Heng and Caelus (and sometimes Long) from Honkai Star Rail. Activity varies but always friendly! Established May, 2023. I follow back and like from Tellescope!

I'm an adult and I go by the name Ghostie, or if you already know someone using that name I'll also answer to Promise.

This blog is a study in grappling with one's sense of self, the depth of found family, throwing off the shackles of the past, the allure of those unknown distant stars, and fighting for a bright future.

Spoilers present! Block #train spoilers for current patch!

Canon & slight AU verses available

OC friendly

Loves crossovers!

Contains potentially triggering content

Memes & open starters are always open!

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Just, the plain mention of his first sunrise, bird sighting, hug, toy, etc. They all mean so much but the mention is so casual in regular conversation because he sometimes forgets most wouldn't find significance in them nor even remember them. I hope I'm making sense? Like, maybe talking about toys and the simple "March gave me my first." before moving on as if that's normal, but the implications show big significance and highlight his unusual life experience.

I turn to my dad and teasingly ask, "Does all my Dan Heng merch count? He's a Chinese dragon." And my dad laughs and concedes that "Alright yeah I guess he does." My aunt has no idea who Dan Heng is and it's not her type of media so I just laugh back at my dad and tell my aunt that no I collect teddy bears.

//Okay last thing for tonight cause Dan Heng's comment has my heart.

I mentioned here specifically regarding if Dan Heng is easily scared; "Depends. If a loved one is seemingly near death then yes. So easily. Beyond that? Not at all." and have addressed further in the past that he is so not ready to lose people he cares about.

And behold, we have the news seemingly announcing Ashveil's sudden death. Only to open the article and it's not that at all. And our favorite Anxiety Boy panicky after the headline, high-strung and pissed at the engagement bait terrifying him, tells them off in the comments.

The Trailblazer's method of counting here is absurd. I love it. And Dan Heng admonishing them for it. I don't have much to say here, it's just cute sillies.

Once again the Trailblazer being goofy. What I love about this is the phrasing, and how it shows their development. They've been becoming more and more of a person since the beginning of the game, and seeing them this talkative (even through text) and silly is good. Also the bait-and-switch, my Caelus definitely would.

Dan Heng giving Blade shit for his username is great. I'm glad they've moved on from the past, but Dan Heng still holds a lot of salt toward Blade and I love that you can see it in little pieces like this. Not quite openly insulting, but still negative.

Also asking the important question about Shuhu since he didn't get to go. Priorities. Salt given, then the big fish.

Ah, so we finally get to learn the logic in Hoyo making Blade turn those colors. That's some neat symbolism. Works with how he turns his arm into a sword in that state. But as we all know I'm here for the Dan Heng comment.

Honestly, I don't feel he would give it much thought. Feels like Hoyo is trying to make them too friendly to each other currently and I don't like it. Setting aside the past does not make them friends, and moving on is not erasure. Dan Heng doesn't care about Blade like that. He liked Yingxing thanks to Dan Feng's memories and that's it. It's almost entirely pity these days, with some leftover salt from old trauma. So no I don't believe he would actually bother to comment here, nor think about the meaning in that form. He'd just be glad Blade found some semblance of peace after handling Shuhu.

These comments aren't canon anyway because as said, plot tightness doesn't allow it. So I don't need to be divergent. But Dan Heng is the type to put that sort of thought into such things, just not for this. Yet I do appreciate seeing the angle he picked.

Is the Trailblazer being silly or are they actually attempting to flirt with Graphia? Up to interpretation. For my Caelus he does find her pretty but she's related to his adopted mom (Himeko) so big no. He is definitely just being a goofball here and pretending to flirt cause one, he's pretty sure that's a fake account and two, she walked right into that setup and it's funny. He'll do the same for other people he finds good-looking like Jing Yuan and Robin. There's no actual feelings, he's just being a menace.

Dan Heng only started to build his wardrobe, actually choose other clothes for himself, after his first step in solidifying his identity. And because his exile order was repealed that influenced where he was able to shop and what do you know, the first new outfit was Xianzhan. He could get more Xianzhan fashion without relying on external markets (like how he acquired his default human clothes), and it was his first step in figuring out what other patterns and colors he likes.

He has since learned some of his preferences and we can see them in his wardrobe. Aside from mostly Xianzhan style there is a clear bias for white, green, and black as well as asymmetry.

     ❝Who gave him a pass? Don't you dare let him in my room.❞ Dan Heng would like a word with Pom-Pom about visitor restrictions. Caelus did so after the incident with Ruan Mei. Surely his own issues will be addressed?

//I think I've mentioned before I have a canon-divergence that despite what the game says, Ruan Mei does not have visitor permissions to the Express for my blog. Has never had permissions since she was introduced in 1.6, and that's because Caelus went and vented to Pom-Pom about the drugging and mind control and asked that she be blacklisted from directly boarding because he does not feel safe around her. Hologram is fine, and he knows Himeko and Welt still do business with her but they usually do so off-train.

The same is going to be true for Blade when it comes to my blog and character depictions. Dan Heng is willing to work with Blade as necessary and still has some inherited fondness for Yingxing, but there is no way he would be okay with the man boarding. Even with Blade's character development it does not erase his past with Dan Heng and as a member of the Express, Dan Heng being distressed with Blade aboard would be a huge factor. The Express is his sanctuary, and for many years the only safety he had from that man's hunt.

Yes like I said they've both had character development with letting go of the past, but it doesn't erase trauma. Dan Heng is no longer afraid of Blade, only the Blade in his memories, but seeing him aboard the Express of all places, as mentioned a breach of his only safe space, would have him short of breath and immediately locking himself in his room and not opening up for anyone until the man is gone.

Really super cool to see a new use of Welt's black holes! He can use them to teleport people??

I guess if he's in control of the gravity within then it's possible to not have it crush them inside? Fascinating use of the Star of Eden's power. Also goddamn, so happy to see Welt have another badass moment! Hoyo is shafting him but at least we have these little pieces.

So all the HI3 doomists were technically right. Himeko died. But also she didn't, since it wasn't the Himeko we've come to know. Guess my original theory from 4.0 that Himeko might be an imaginae turned out to be true after all. But we saw later on that imaginae can't really leave Planarcadia because there's no wishpower elsewhere. We helped Kraken look around a few worlds but it was very short trips and only his eyes came with us. Imaginae can't survive long-term beyond Planarcadia.

So how is Himeko? Is the strong belief in the Trailblaze what keeps her going?

Also so interesting that our Himeko was created by the original as an idealized version of herself. Everything she wanted to be when she grew up.

And Asat spending all those years raising her? Mirrors what he did with Graphia. Fitting parallels as part of the family line. But holy shit that is fucked up! She never knew her dad. All her life her dad was a monster in disguise, toying with her as part of his grand plan.

The worst part is he wasn't always a bad dad. Some of the memories Himeko discusses with him, she seemed to have mostly had a good childhood and fondly remembers her 'father'.

The manipulation, the betrayal, how disgusted Himeko must feel...

I also really want Welt to find out about all this. He came to the Star Rail universe specifically to save their Himeko after discovering she was in danger, and after failing his own Himeko who died. Now, turns out the Himeko he knows here isn't the original. And in his universe his Himeko's dad became a villain he had to kill. Now here in this universe her dad was always a villain pretending to be her father.

The parallels aren't perfect but they're there.

I think this arc with Himeko is gonna drive home something that's already been done with the Express Trio; the themes that you make your own identity. Dan Heng is not Dan Feng no matter what people say, and he's found his own path in life. March doesn't know her story but that doesn't matter because she's making a new one as she goes. The Trailblazer had their past taken from them but is building a new identity piece by piece with their choices.

And Himeko? She may not be the original sickly girl who painted her. But she is still Himeko, the person who made her dream of traveling the stars come true.

I talked about this with the shields and light when the trailer with the scene dropped so I'm just gonna link that here.

But I do want to also point out what I didn't back then of Azure refreshing the shields in his combat kit is exactly how it works in-universe beyond gameplay too. That's not always the case with things so it's nice to know.

The shields are formed as Azure makes their way around and overhead above them all, and we can see in their curvature that their loop motion tipped them toward Yao Guang a bit to ensure she got shielded too.

And now we can see at a better angle that despite gameplay only giving the dragon symbol in the middle of the shield to the Bondmate, in-universe it's actually given to everyone shielded.

Asat throws a massive chunk of rubble at them. It hits the shields. We see the shields break, but the rubble is gone when they do. That means Dan Heng's shields were strong enough to block that massive rubble, the force of impact shattering it to dust. It was enough to break his shields in turn and the blowback sending them flying, but it destroyed the obstacle thrown at them. Incredibly strong shields.

And we get to see what his shields look like when they break! Gameplay doesn't have anything special for the bar running out so this is a first. It's beautiful! His shields broken look like shards of glass and golden sparks. The shards won't hurt, they're just energy fragments, but the visual is stunning. And honestly quite fitting for him. Dan Heng is incredibly strong yet at the same time in some respects he is quite fragile. Also, glass is made from heated sand. Something associated with the sea and part of the earth.

//I cut the last scene to only the parts with Dan Heng's party, and aside from me screaming in general over seeing Permansor Terrae again, it shows several neat things I want to go over.

But first a quick thought; last we saw Dan Heng, Welt, and Yao Guang before Asat showed up Dan Heng was human. So seeing him as PT in the Asat fight, he transformed in front of them. First time either of them got to see that form. I really hope when things eventually cool off that Welt asks about it.

Okay now for analysis. We saw last patch that Dan Heng going all out to attack an enemy is his natural vidyadhara form. But here against a Lord Ravager he's clearly going all out again, still attacking, yet also far more on the defensive. So that means Permansor Terrae. IL is used for ultimate offense, PT for ultimate defense.

Slowed this down to see better. Dan Heng, as I've mentioned before, twirls his spear a lot when unnecessary. I've theorized it helps center him in combat. We see more twirling again here. After his first charge through there's no need to spin it that much before making the return run. But he does anyway.

It could be to center him given the situation, but it could also also be a way to maintain the spear's momentum for a heavier-hitting swing after having missed the first time. I think it's both, as maintaining momentum doesn't need as many spins as he gives it while swapping hands, but he also wouldn't need to spin it that much just to keep himself going.

And regardless it doesn't cost him any time as he does while still moving.

He's using his enhanced speed to its fullest! I've shown here that in his IL combat he's so fast he nearly teleports, and when doing so we get the motion smear. We never see the smear beyond that. Except for now. Multiple times. These short bursts of it trying to get a hit in while Asat is open. Trying to make it harder for Asat to dodge him by suddenly speeding up unexpectedly while rushing at him to attack. He really is going no-holds-barred because once again this is a Lord Ravager.

Once again, slowed down for better viewing. When he makes the loop around Welt he puts his speartip to the ground as he runs, building up sparks. He knows Cloud-Piercer is durable enough to handle it and intended to use the extra heat and sparks from the friction to make the hit hurt even more.

Also, the pearl is gleaming as he does. It only gleams like that when guiding Azure (not present yet) or charging up. That glow plus the sparks and how fast he was running, Dan Heng really was going for one hell of a painful stab here since Welt and Yao Guang left an opening. Love that for him. Himeko did say he's taken down "monsters that swallowed stars with just one strike" and here he's going for another.

He will fuck your shit up to save people.

//I was disappointed to learn that the scene of everyone going for Asat's die was just a representation of different odds, different routes the event could have taken, rather than everyone actually being there. It's a neat idea! In our reality it was Elation Trailblazer, Silver Wolf, and Graphia. But in others it could have been a different Pathed Trailblazer, or a different Express member. If Blade hadn't refused Dan Heng, that's likely the route where the IL frames would have been reality.

//So apparently it was a short quest? I guess I'm done. But my god they left on a horrible cliffhanger ahhhhh—

I will share some thoughts in further posts coming up. Apologies if I spam the dash.