#GenshinImpact#Sandrone
"This world is beautiful, more beautiful than you or I can imagine. So go. Do what you want to do, and seek out your own desires, my child. Just remember, your life belongs to you."
— Alain Guillotin's last words
"You would always say nasty things and act indifferent... But I've always known you to be brave, kind, and strong... You will always be my best friend."
— Columbina, bidding farewell to Sandrone's remains
◆ Name: Sandrone
◆ Title: Mirrored Analysis
◆ The Seventh of the Eleven Fatui Harbingers
◆ Stellar Linchpin: Cryo
◆ Constellation: Narcissorolegium
Nicole: Clamor Within
The Silent "Mage," the Voiceless "Angel"
#GenshinImpact#Nicole
Many of the stories Nicole envisions begin with a phrase as old as stories themselves: "Long, long ago..."
Perhaps, for some authors, "long ago" is less the threshold of a tale than a refuge from all further questioning. For once a story is consigned to unreachable distance, all the people and events bound up within it may as well have faded into obscurity, leaving no path by which the present might truly follow them back.
And yet, in Nicole's thoughts, those stories of "long ago" endure still.
Long ago, the lights of many nations filigreed the earth in gleaming gold. Long ago, the daughters of heaven wandered in carefree grace betwixt divine courts and mortal cities. Long ago, the sovereign of ages past, who had descended into deepest darkness, had not yet brought disaster back to his homeland. Long ago, the three radiant moons that hung aloft in the night heavens were still three...
The years brook no pause, the wheel spinning onward all the same. Within a cycle emptied of hope, the spark of paradise perished alongside the lives annihilated. Servitors once loyal to their ruler turned traitor for the sake of the lives that had been fashioned. The black dragonlord returned from beyond the stars. The moonlit chariot of the heavens shattered like crystal...
The story had not reached its end. Rather, it was those who had once read it, and those who had once listened to its telling, who had long since taken their leave. The angel who once longed to write laughter into the world lost all that had once made laughter possible. In the end, she even lost the voice with which she laughed, and could speak no more.
Thus, it seemed that the story Nicole kept within her would never properly find its beginning. She could only go on cradling her many "long agos," roaming the world and watching as all things passed, changed, and were remade by time.
That remained so until the day she met a tiny mage in an enormous hat, its extravagant brim tipped up with such pride it seemed almost ready to brush the sky. Compared with the hat she wears now, however, it was still a fair few sizes smaller.
The little witch tucked herself down at Nicole's side and listened intently as one story after another unfolded, not stirring until she had finished her drink and emptied her bag of biscuits.
"So you really are an angel? And all those stories were real, too?"
"Then yay, that works! I'm a mage, and you're an angel, so we match perfectly."
The merry little mage stretched out a hand to the angel who had come so far, all the way from those distant "long agos," and warmly invited her along.
"Want to join my Hexenzirkel? I only just came up with the name, but it has a real ring to it, don't you think?"
"It's going to be the funnest, awesomest, best club in all of Teyvat — I promise!"
"..."
No answer came from the angel. None could. But the little mage did not wait for one. She caught the angel's hand in both of her own and slipped the last piece of candy into her palm.
"There. Now our mages' pact is made."
Nicole had no thought of joining then, nor could she have guessed what this little gathering called the "Hexenzirkel" would one day grow into.
But at the very least...
It did sound like a place with happiness enough to spare.
Dear @Netflix,
As the official French translator of the Steel Ball Run manga, I'd like to share a concern about your batch-release strategy for JoJo's Bizarre Adventure.
Twenty-eight years ago, I spent years trying to convince Glénat, then France's dominant manga publisher, to respect the original reading format their audience wanted. They refused, until a competitor did it right and nearly knocked them off their pedestal. They finally listened. But it took a near-disaster to get there.
Steel Ball Run is a story built on tension, suspense and anticipation, arc by arc, week by week. Batch-releasing it neutralizes what makes it work narratively. I'm not asking you to follow every fan demand. I'm asking you to consider whether your release strategy serves the story you're investing in.
The JoJo community is one of the most loyal and vocal fandoms out there. That loyalty is an asset, if you treat it as one.
Linnea
Advisor for the Adventurers' Guild
#GenshinImpact#Linnea
Children born into this world often begin by seeing themselves at its very center. The realization of the rift between themselves and the world often marks the end of childhood. But what if that child is an inhuman creature living in human society? For her, the path to adulthood must be far more bitter.
Sure, this is Nod-Krai, a paradise for the eccentric and monstrous. The children of the Conch Gang only cast out adults who've come of age, and the clients of the Adventurers' Guild couldn't care less who takes on their commissions. But true hardship is born of the self. Even the children of Nasha Town will grow up eventually. One day, they will succumb to the world's definition of who they are, tracing paths that were carved long before they arrived, through an illusory forest of endless possibilities. Henceforth, the vast expanse of "what could have been" withers into "what is."
But for Linnea, such a choice is out of reach. And no one by her side can offer an answer to the one question that matters most.
Fortunately, this world is vast. There are seven nations on the continent of Teyvat, six common types of fae on the tundra of Snezhnaya. Even the light itself may scatter into seven hues. But what lies beyond? Atop the peaks where clouds take wing, and beneath the reaches of the crashing waves, countless lives dwell in ecosystems and domains unknown to humankind — strange, beautiful, uncatalogued. They belong to no compendium and fit into no established category. And that which defies classification holds within it the breath of infinite possibility.
And so, Linnea sets out on her adventure. As long as she keeps moving, perhaps she could traverse every possible path before fate has the chance to catch up.
This is Linnea's unique way of connecting with the world.
Varka
Grand Master of the Knights of Favonius
#GenshinImpact#Varka
"Blacksmith, forge me some swords from your finest iron!"
Sparks fly from the anvil, like scattered starbursts burning across the night sky.
"A few more, my good smith, lest I run short of blades before the journey is through."
How many times must a blade of common iron be tempered before it is fit for a knight on the field of battle?
...
"This wine, let us bury it here, that we may drink it together upon our return!"
The fragrance of fruit lingers outside the winery, clinging to the vines and drifting up toward the heavens.
"Wine aged by victory could surely intoxicate even Barbatos."
How many winters and summers must a simple wine age before the return of an errant knight?
...
"And this is where we part. If I go any further, there'll be no one left to guard the gates of Mondstadt!"
The sound of the wind by the city's walls seems to sing blessings for the departing knights.
"...From here on out, we walk this road ourselves."
How far must a mortal journey to unlock a new chapter of destiny?