It's On My Verses Doc, But I DO Have An Hsr!verse For Kami! (and Chongyun's Is A Wip, But It'll Be Added

it's on my verses doc, but i DO have an hsr!verse for kami! (and chongyun's is a wip, but it'll be added too!)

kaminari was a puppet created by sanctus medicus, and is now on the run. he's taken refuge with the stelleron hunters, though he doesn't STAY there all the time!

he's just an angry scared puppet who is also scarily good at hacking and being a menace to everyone around him!

chongyun almost feels bad for prying now. even if the information was GIVEN so unintentionally and effortlessly, chongyun can sense the discomfort rolling off of ren in waves. for a moment there's a shared sense of awkwardness coming from both of them, leaving them in a near silence.

chongyun doesn't like not knowing things about their friends, but they like even less that friends aren't comfortable SHARING things about their lives either. for example, chongyun isn't about to just up and talk about how he knows ren is from inazuma initially (it's all over the clothing). chongyun's brain is currently trying to figure out WHAT he can touch up on that won't send ren screaming the opposite direction.

"your relationship with lord kusanali ― it sounds like my partnership with adeptus xiao." that's a safe topic to start with. xiao, while chongyun has a great deal of respect for the adeptus, it's always been clear that xiao and chongyun have a master/protege type relationship, with chongyun learning everything he can from the ancient being (though their bond is closer than what ren's describing with the dendro archon).

"i can't say i have that much experience with gods, though i like to think xiao comes close." he offers a warm smile, hoping to ease the tension a little more, or lull ren back into a sense of comfort. it's not like chongyun WANTS to hurt him. and yet― gaze is drifting back down to the anemo vision. chongyun's own fingers grasp their cryo vision, tracing fingers around the metal holding the vision in place.

"if i asked you how you got it, is that a taboo topic? or is it safer to ask what powers you've learned to wield with it?"

❝  ... ❞  the  wanderer  pauses  —  standing  motionless  with  his  mouth  half-open  as  if  frozen  solid  in  the  midst  of  a  response.  it  takes  his  mind  a  few  moments  to  catch  up  with  reality,  and  he  realizes  he's  made  a  MISTAKE.  (  a  slip  of  the  tongue.  )  ren  so  fiercely  guards  his  secrets  that  it  oft  becomes  difficult  to  keep  track  of  who  knows  what  —  little  scraps  of  truth  are  most  frequently  pried  unwillingly  from  him  through  inconvenient  circumstance  or  in  bite-sized  pieces  meant  to  gauge  the  trustworthiness  of  some  opposing  party.  he  revealed  his  inhuman  nature  to  chongyun  willingly  for  PRECISELY  that  reason,  and  they  did  take  it  better  than  most,  though  the  prospect  of  talking  about  his  personal  life  at  length  does  still  inspire  some  degree  of  ANXIETY.

he  enjoys  this.  (  perhaps  selfishly.  )  the  friendship  they  have  feels  easy,  effortless  —  and  there  is  a  part  of  him  that  resists  the  idea  of  introducing  anything  that  might  change  it.  (  ren  wonders  if  he  gets  that  from  his  MOTHER.  )

❝  i  live  in  sumeru. ❞  the  wanderer  says  aloud.  ❝  ...  as  much  as  you  could  say  i  live  anywhere  at  all. ❞  which  is  to  say,  in  the  same  manner  a  stray  cat  might  be  described  as  living  in  a  particular  building  or  alleyway  it  just  so  happens  to  occasionally  loiter  around  more  than  anywhere  else.  ❝  i  wasn't  made  there  —  i'm  just  a  student  of  the  akademiya ...  and  as  far  as  lord  kusanali  is  concerned,  it  would  be  more  accurate  to  describe  her  as  a  boss  or  supervisor. ❞  calling  her  a  FRIEND ...  well,  there  is  a  part  of  him  that  begrudgingly  admits  there  may  be  a  grain  of  truth  to  that  —  though  it  feels  a  bit  embarrassing  admitting  as  much.  ❝  let's  just  say  i  have  more  personal  experience  with  gods  than  the  average  human  could  ever  claim  to. ❞  a  huff  punctuates  the  statement;  it's  clear  he  doesn't  necessarily  think  of  that  as  a  good  thing.

fingertips  then  trace  the  outermost  edge  of  his  vision  carefully.  ren  wrinkles  his  nose  in  thought.  ❝  it  should  be  nearly  two  years  by  now. ❞  so  long  but  so  little.

the explosion almost sends chongyun spinning, being launched away. he barely clings onto the bank though, digging his fingers into the roots hidden beneath for some sort of grip. if ren wants to use his vision for these shenanigans, chongyun can use theirs too.

they freeze whatever bits of water they can, more to shield chongyun from any further chaos in the water. by the time things start settling, chongyun can see that ren is already standing ashore, dry. there's a brief scowl on chongyun's face; THEY'RE covered in mud and still soaking wet.

they're practically CRAWLING out of the water now, brushing mud off their clothes and flicking it toward the ground. "you asshole," chongyun whines, though his tone is lighthearted. "what if i'd gone over a...a waterfall or something?"

there is no waterfall near this body of water. it's JUST a lake.

still, he's sitting down, and taking his jacket off to ring it out, maybe rinse it off again. "admittedly, i think i did have that coming. i forgot how strong your anemo is." they grin up at ren though. "i'd do it again in a heartbeat though."

this  time,  his  guard  is  up  —  and  so  when  the  exorcist  scoops  up  a  handful  of  muck  mumbling  vaguely  about  such  filthy  things  (  wet  dirt  )  ren  already  knows  what  they're  planning.  ❝  chongyun. ❞  he  lurches  away,  but  his  flowy  attire  is  entirely  SATURATED  and  it's  difficult  to  maneuver  with  even  a  modicum  of  his  usual  fluidity.  hands  raise  defensively,  and  there's  a  curious  cocktail  of  rage  and  genuine  fear  painting  itself  across  the  wanderer's  countenance.  ❝  don't  you  dare. ❞  no.  no.  no.   ❝  IF  YOU  GET  MY  CLOTHES  DIRTY,  I  WILL  KILL  YOU. ❞

regrettably,  chongyun  does  dare.  ren  shrieks  in  a  manner  he  will  absolutely  REFUSE  to  acknowledge  later  and  responds  in  kind.  a  flick  of  the  wrist,  a  burst  of  anemo  striking  the  water  —  and  the  small  pond  EXPLODES  as  if  a  particularly  large  stone  has  been  dropped  in  its  center.  now  they're  even  more  drenched  than  before;  that's  just  great.

...  it's  strange.  he  feels  almost  normal  right  now.

dropping  that  thought  as  though  it  were  a  hot  coal,  ren  rises  to  his  feet  and  stomps  out  of  the  water.  he  spreads  his  arms  and  looks  down  at  his  clothes,  wrinkling  his  nose  at  the  sight  of  them  —  though  another  gust  of  wind  seemingly  repels  the  moisture,  scattering  countless  shimmering  droplets  every  which  way.  (  suspiciously,  the  majority  fly  in  chongyun's  direction.  )

Chongyun probably shouldn't have insinuated she'd yell. He's used to getting on the wrong side of people though, or perhaps that's just his own perception of the world. Hu Tao is really easy-going on a good day, and at worst, she expresses disappointment. Time to trip over his words, on TOP of being tired.

"Not yell, exactly," Chongyun tries to explain. "Maybe that'd be more Xingqiu? I don't know anymore. I just know I feel guilty when I push myself. I know I shouldn't? But sometimes I forget."

He pauses to wipe his mouth. Not that he's doing anything gross, but his mouth feels dry, and Chongyun wonders if he's thirsty. No, he DEFINITELY is. It's been over an hour since he had a drink, and he can feel slightly shaky.

Chongyun also feels the yang energy pulsing dully in the back of his mind. It's suppressed for now, but it probably won't be forever. "I'll take a break, I promise. I just need to get something to eat, and then I'll probably go take a nap just outside the city, where it's grassy and cool."

He should probably go sleep in his own bed, but ― the thought of getting under his bedding and getting unnecessarily warm doesn't sound appealing to him.

"Thanks, Hu Tao." He offers her a smile. "I'm glad you understand me better than others."

@oficeandwind / Chongyun (cont.) "I napped," he continues to explain, hastily. "Please don't yell at me, I know this is a terrible habit. People just keep commissioning me, and I hate to let them down." Chongyun makes a mental note to sleep later, or at least take an extended nap. He has a feeling that if not Hu Tao, then Xingqiu definitely would.

Sure  it  was  on  a  whim  that  she  wanted  to  visit  the  exorcist.  After  all,  Chongyun  was  a  close  friend.  It  was  upon  arriving  she  noticed  those  signs.  Dark  circles  under  the  eyes.  A  hasty,  jitteriness  in  his  mannerisms.  The  slow  finger  counting.  Hu  Tao  scrunched  up  her  face  slightly  knowing  very  well  how  exhausting  insomnia  could  be.  She  saw  it  in  her  clients  who  experienced  restlessness  nights  due  to  either  a  haunting  or  unpleasant  nightmares.

"Two  nights???"  while  her  voice  didn't  exactly  raise,  there  was  a  hint  of  concern  from  the  funeral  director.  Her  expression  soon  softened  and  she  let  out  a  sigh.  "Aiyaaa…What  makes  you  think  I'm  going  to  yell  at  you?"  she  asked.  The  question  almost  sounding  rhetorical.

With  that  Hu  Tao  took  a  spot  to  sit  beside  him.  In  truth,  she  had  been  feeling  tired  herself.  The  idea  of  not  wanting  to  let  others  down  was  too  relatable.  "I  would  be  an  absolute  hypocrite  if  I  told  you  to  stop  staying  up  so  late  at  night.  But  still,  you  should  at  least  give  yourself  a  break  once  in  a  while.  Those  commissions  can  wait,  right?"

Actually  Hu  Tao  knew  that  it  wasn't  too  easy  to  solve.  She  could  sense  his  yang  energy  had  just  crashed  or  was  about  to.  "I  do  understand  your  work  is  important,  Chongyun.  But  you  can  do  it  effectively  if  you  push  yourself  too  much"

chongyun is a sleepy guy.

as often as they torment themself by adopting a nocturnal lifestyle, chongyun also very much values sleep. as such, he can be found sleeping almost anywhere, especially if it's during the day. up a tree, in a corner, behind a building, hard or soft surfaces, doesn't matter.

chongyun is also a heavy sleeper, so good luck waking them.

the plus side is they don't sleep in very long bursts. chongyun will sleep for a couple of hours at a time, wake up for another quite a few hours, before sitting down and dropping off again. it's a weird sleep schedule, but it works for chongyun, and it helps them stay on the go.

I had a talk with Impy the other night about how Kaminari is canon divergent, and how his not going through Irminsul can impact a lot of things, including his own mental health. In this essay I will-

Scara did not originally want to stay. When he learned the truth about Tatarasuna, he had every intention of using Irminsul to try and undo the past. Right after than mental conversation with Traveler is where things diverge, basically. Because Traveler was able to stop Scaramouche from actually going through with it, which resulted in Scara having a breakdown.

He spent a few hours pacing back and forth in front of Irminsul, going back and forth between yelling in rage at Traveler, Paimon and even Nahida, cursing them out, and then thinking things through logically. Scaramouche was unraveling rapidly and nothing really made sense anymore, all he knew now was that he'd royally fucked up and had been fucked with. Coming to terms with everything like that had taken the biggest mental toll on him he'd ever faced. At the end of it, Scaramouche ended up retreating into a sort of BSOD moments, which had Traveler leading him back to the home Traveler was staying at.

Scaramouche thought over his entire life over the next day or so, reflecting on everything. His own actions, what others had put him through. While Scara was no closer to finding any answers on anything, the only thing he was aware of was that he had control over his own actions. So when he finally came out of it and back to reality, he simply asked Traveler to find him a new name.

The two went back and forth a few times before Traveler through out the name 'Kaminari', and he accepted it after a few seconds of thought. The name gave him ties to his home nation, a nation that Kami still very much loves and misses. He even agreed on taking the nickname of Kami, since it was shorter and easier to say, and nicknames seemed to please most people.

A new outfit was then commissioned. Something fashioned after Inazuma, though instead of dark reds and purples and black to represent his more 'evil' nature, Kami was given something with lighter colors to represent the new leaf he was trying to turn.

After a few days, Kami revisited Jouriri Workshop, hoping something in there would make him feel something other than numb. He ended up having another breakdown in front of Traveler, where he confessed he just wanted to help Niwa and not feel like he betrayed his memory. He asked Traveler if they thought Niwa would forgive him, and that's when Kaminari received his vision.

He attached it to his chest as carefully as possible, before clutching it and looking over. "This is his heart," Kami ended up saying. In his mind, in his eyes, this was Niwa saying he was proud of Kami for the direction he was now going.

Kami is fully aware that people are not going to react kindly to him. He is fully aware that this is going to be a neverending uphill climb, and that people are either going to hate him or be really slow to warm up to him. He's aware he might even be forgiven by some. But he's not going to dishonor those he once cared for by going back. Going through Irminsul is always going to tempt him, and some days, Kami will go stand in front of it and stare.

But he's going to push himself foward regardless, because this is the road he chose and he's going to stay on it.