#henghill

a cowboy and a dragon walk into a bar…

Even in 3.8, they are still together!!

In 2.2, Dan Heng and Boothill stuck together up until they had to separate for the battlefield, just the same as here! And even after the penultimate battle with Sunday, they sought each other out again, just to stand around and shoot the shit together! Their business was completely over at that point! They had no reason to be together, other than because they wanted to! And the way March 7th phrases it makes it sound like they'd been talking for a while, even!

What changes in 3.8 is that now Aventurine is awake in Ena's Dream as well. And I really loved the detail in how Hoyo placed them in that stand off, because like.

Dan Heng is standing SO much closer to Boothill than he is Aventurine. You can tell who Dan Heng knows and has more of a relationship here just looking at them haha. Which makes sense! He's already had all this build up with Boothill, but this would have been his first time meeting Aventurine.

And I'm so fond of the single line of dialogue before you approach them, because for me it feeds back into one of my favorite things about this ship: that Dan Heng is one of the only people able to keep up with Boothill the way he does.

That's all he says. "Stay calm."

There's no freaking out, no panicking, nothing like that. Dan Heng doesn't berate Boothill for pulling his gun on someone, because even during their first meeting on the Express when Boothill pulled his gun on him, he was able to follow Boothill's logic. They're both the type to have their weapons out around people they don't trust. So this reaction to Aventurine's presence is understandable to Dan Heng. And he doesn't move to disarm him or anything either, precisely because Dan Heng sees Boothill as perfectly logical and reasonable. He doesn't need to take any drastic measures; all Boothill needs is to be reminded to stay calm because now isn't really the time for this.

And he stays like this all through their conversation with the others about what to do now! Dan Heng keeps himself between Boothill and Aventurine, but still stands noticeably closer to Boothill the entire time! To the point that any time the camera focuses on one of them, a sliver of the other is always in frame at their side!

And then!! And then afterwards!!!

THEY'RE STILL STANDING AROUND TALKING TOGETHER.

They even gave Dan Heng the talking animation in this part! Mr. Reticent Asshole! The guy who was so excited to not say a single word or see another human being for days straight in Amphoreus! The guy who was noted for curtly leaving conversations with little notice by visitors in the parlor car! Dan Heng is the one yapping here, and he gets along well enough with Boothill to do this with him!!

All these people in this room! All this stuff going on, where everyone has been assigned their roles and they're all preparing to step out onto the battlefield! Their shared mission is over, it's time for them to separate! There's no reason to be hanging out anymore, they don't have to! And they still are just off to the side, off in their own little corner together!

Dan Heng and Boothill get along in a way they rarely do with other characters, and they consistently choose each other!! Even across timelines, even across possibilities, even across scripts of the Finality!!

tl;dr

They can't text each other 😭

Boothill thinking that Dan Heng is some OLD Xianzhou Native (1000+?) just because he’s from the Xianzhou, so obviously he’s some ancient being that should be listened to

Dan Heng actually being like, 30 and just has weird and random knowledge alongside some weird life experiences

Dan Heng: I’ve seen my fair share of Mara

Boothill, mentally noting that Dan Heng is likely over 1000: *nods sagely*

Dan Heng is actually just talking about his dealings with Blade

Dan Heng and Boothill having a discussion of the history of the Xianzhou

Dan Heng, about an event that happened over a thousand years ago: that was before my time so I can’t give you personal experience here but I know someone who-

Boothill nodding along, firmly believing that that means Dan Heng is just under a thousand

Dan Heng just has an odd way of talking

Also Dan Heng, about an event that happened a hundred years ago: this was also before my time but-

Boothill, shocked: Wait, how old are you?

Dan Heng: Oh I’m thirty-two

Boothill: …

Boothill: … yer what.