I Wasn't Sure Which Of My Blogs To Put This On, But Since I Initially Started Doing This Research For

i wasn't sure which of my blogs to put this on, but since i initially started doing this research for albedo's part, i figure it's a safe bet for me to put here. this is relevant to my albedo, kazuha, and wanderer muses, mostly.

i watched iridori festival on youtube earlier today, and i watched the end of the sumeru storyquest, most notably, the part where traveler goes to inazuma to find out how much of the timeline changed post balladeer erasure.

and honestly, not much changed. iridori festival wasn't entirely retconned. SOME things about the past were changed, though instead of a name being given, like in the poetry, it's all been changed to be a nameless swordsmith instead. i like to think that the likeness albedo even painted is still the same as it was when originally painted, i highly doubt a whole lot was actually changed within the timeline.

irminsul didn't erase the past. niwa still died like in the og timeline. and i know at one point wanderer even says he'd like to repay his debts to the raiden gokaden. and given that irminsul just fudged stories a bit rather than completely erasing him, he can still fit within that missing slot and the gaps/plot holes will reconverge into one.

for albedo's part, i like to think he remembers SOME of those details. not enough to remember an actual name, but he'd remember hearing about kazuha's clan's history, he'd remember meeting with ayato to get more information on people breaking in. though with the 6th harbinger being a missing seat, the break in was probably still just attributed to the "revengeful swordsmith" instead of the balladeer.

like i said, details are probably smudged a bit because of irminsul, but the overarching event and lore drops still remain in tact overall, i don't think it was completely retconned.

i might

might

tentatively open up the idea of exploring more nsfw topics on this blog.

People in the past have gotten really weird about it before to the point it wasn't fun anymore, especially in the case of chongyun. i always felt like i was walking some line where i would either get weird anons/asks about what exactly chongyun can do vs a crowd of people who refused to respect my portrayal in any capacity and acted like i was committing some grievous sin by writing nsfw headcanons about chongyun.

i might try again with both my muses here. I have a lot of thoughts and ideas i would like to share, and while I'm not sure if I'm comfortable writing out smut yet, I'm not above making a sideblog for those purposes either, if people are willing to engage.

idk man i don't want to push my own boundaries before im ready but i need people to know what my 2 idiots can do with their mouths.

we can’t be friends if you won’t eat ice cubes with me at 2 am

i'm wheezing.

kami is a grown ass man/puppet in hsrverse, just like in mainverse.

he's cringing over the fact that kafka is treating him like a teenager, while also just so happy to be getting treated to a night out.

this is so fucking FUNNY.

i haven't written out thoughts about chongyun in such a long time, and i have some thoughts now. especially where spirituality and paranormal are concerned. the game likes to drop some bits of lore, completely ignoring chongyun's existance like it's poisonous, but i digress.

exorcisms, spirituality, and even magic are something that chongyun takes incredibly seriously. to him, they're tools used to cleanse the land of evil, something almost religious to him. or to help him with his faith. anyone else messing with said tools and beliefs irk chongyun.

they will be the most passive aggressive and snarky asshole to someone misusing him. it's not just that they believe any other methods are wrong, chongyun is so confident that other people do not have the proper knowledge to perform a true exorcism.

i recall a story quest from awhile ago. i can't remember if it was an event or a story quest you had to unlock, but it centered around yae miko and something about exorcisms. her claiming that you just needed salt irritated my inner chongyun so much.

to chongyun, salt is a temporary fix. salt can keep spirits and demons at bay, but it doesn't get rid of them. chongyun believes, and has seen proof of, magic and magical infused weapons to actually remove the evil from this plane of existence. and since chongyun is an expert, and highly sought after for their skill, it should stand to reason that chongyun knows exactly what they're talking about in this subject.

yang energy aside, chongyun is sure that even without this 'blessing' (which they are struggling to accept, thanks to xiao's comments about it not being a bad thing), exorcism would still be used with his same tools and knowledge. still with his customized claymore, his use of talismans and thaumaturgy, and even with his vision. chongyun is trusting of his clan who has been around for centuries, and even the adepti knowing of them.

to dismiss chongyun's efforts and to claim that other people know what they're doing just as much will actively piss him off. he's not a passive person and won't take those comments lightly. chongyun takes his work and even history very seriously. at best, you'll get passive aggressive snark in response, and at worst, you'll get a furious guy with a claymore taller than him swinging at you like the weapon is paper. and chongyun knows how to hold grudges.

exorcisms are serious business, to the professional exorcist.

p.s. wuwang hill is their territory. if you go there for funsies, they will skip the snark and go straight to yelling.

(rewrite of an older headcanon:)

So canonically, Chongyun knows martial arts. It’s never specified what sort of martial arts Chongyun knows in game, but I looked more into his character more. Chongyun’s very heavily based in Taoism. We have the yin and yang symbol that’s already heavily associated with Chongyun, and we have this on Chongyun’s pants:

This is the Bagua, or the 8 trigrams. Without going into all of them (which would require a separate post), I have figured out that the martial arts Chongyun practices the most are Tai Chi and Baguazhong.

They are sister schools of martial arts. But Bagua is the one that more focuses on the 8 trigrams – being translated to eight trigram palm. For a reference on what it looks like, reference the air bending in Avatar: The Last Airbender. The movements in both Bagua and Tai Chi are meant to be smooth motions with quick hand movements and footwork.

We don’t see Chongyun use it in game, since he’s a claymore user, but I’d also like to think that the footwork he uses is a part of that school of martial arts.

Chongyun’s very incredibly skilled with his fighting, and is able to maneuver quickly around enemies, and without a weapon, he’s still very strong and able to throw jabs out with expert precision.

He also practices Tai Chi, which is more meditation focused, but it goes hand in hand with Baguazhong, or bagua. Since Chongyun has to meditate often to keep his yang energy under control, these two are the perfect schools of martial arts for Chongyun to practice!