I've Been Working On A Deep Sea Creature Twink For My Friend

Cutting it close there, Phainon. . .

Spoilers for HSR 3.2 quest

Surprised it didn't turn out worse for them.

💙.

assorted doodles of these guys

emanator

To the imperfect tomorrow

Jin & Follow

Tingyun~!

Okay I need to talk about Nicholas Leung's voice work for Dan Heng in 2.4. (Actually I already have, but I need to do it some more.)

All of it is phenomenal, and I've seen talk about his delivery of the little exchange before you enter the Shackling Prison as well as when you ask if Dan Heng is okay once you're inside. Those lines all hit me like a truck and the voice acting was a huge part of why, but I specifically want to draw attention to the next part of that conversation.

It's the Trailblazer asking about why they're actually down there, and his response is just explaining the Karmic Mirror. But the delivery of those lines is baked into my brain. He tries so hard to pull himself together, go back to being the Trailblazer's helpful exposition dump, tender moment's over, business as usual - and he can't. He very audibly has to pause mid-sentence, gather himself and take a very shaky breath to avoid breaking down completely. He sounds legitimately on the verge of sobbing. Even though if you're just reading the text it doesn't seem emotional at all, there's no real tonal indication that this is the very next thing he says after vocally blaming himself that the Trailblazer is here with him and apologising for the fact that he's struggling. It adds SO much to the whole scene. Nicholas Leung I owe you my entire life you put so much heart into this character thank you 😭🙏

(Also if anyone has a recording of this part... please send it to me please I'll draw you a silly picture or something in return)

Was rewatching some of the HSR animations and HE LOOKS SO GODDAMN HAPPY HERE AS AN OLD MAN HELP

rambling about blade / yingxing headcanons and ideas that I've thought abt or seen floating around

(his white hair, him not knowing what tech is, how the Mara permanently messed up his hands and muscle memory so he can't do what he loved anymore, etc etc)

Headcanon #1: white hair

Everyone except Dan Feng had white hair, and I'm p sure I mentioned this before but imagine

So Yingxing is the only short-life species right, and he's getting old and noticing it and realizing that compared to the others, he doesn't have much time left

And one of the others notices how melancholy he is, and how he's trying to hide it for their sake, and is like "hmm," before being like "hey what if we all got white hair but didn't tell Dan Feng"

And all of them know it's to make Yingxing feel less alone, but it's played off as a "hehe pranking Dan Feng" moment

Headcanon #2: old man blade not knowing how tech works

We see this a bit with current Blade and Silver Wolf, but I like to imagine it was still part of his personality to a lesser extent

He would have been the "old guy" of the group who was an expert with traditional crafts and technology, but not so much with newer things since he preferred to make things "the old way" or by hand, since it made him feel more connected with his work

Like, he would have kept up with the newer stuff being made and used it if it would have helped him with his work, but wouldn't have bothered with stuff like phones, computers, the internet, etc

So the others would always ask him for help with anything they broke, and he'd ask for help with anything internet or computer related

Headcanon #3: him knowing how to craft stuff besides weapons, armor, et cetera

This is a stretch but if his skills expanded beyond just weapons and armor he could probably help fix everyone's clothes (they'd probably get torn up in battle) or make little hand-made gifts and stuff like statues and jewelry and armor and cutlery

Like he also would have been an artist specializing in handmade things, but no one would have suspected him of making such tiny and delicate things until they got to know him

Headcanon #4:

So as Blade, he still has damaged hands and scars, and I've seen a headcanon of sorts floating around that the Mara focuses only on the wounds that need the most urgent healing, and leaves "minor" or less severe wounds unhealed

And the Mara would have focused on all the fatal wounds Jingliu inflicted while killing Blade, leaving other wounds to heal improperly

So now as Blade, his hands are too damaged to perform fine crafts and movements, except for swordplay, which he sort of got beaten into him by Jingliu

My other headcanon of sorts is that the Mara messed with his muscle memory, not just his ability to remember events

So his mind and nervous system are essentially too scrambled for him to learn any type of craft or fine motor skill except for swordplay (and maybe driving)

And I kind of feel like he would find some peace if he were still able to make things, sort of like how some people use embroidery or weaving or drawing as a coping method / escapism, but even that form of art / self expression has been taken from him

It'd be like if Robin permanently lost the ability to sing or if Serval suddenly became tone-deaf and couldn't play guitar