Impossible By Two Steps From Hell In Berlin June 26th 2022

?! D:

As a sincere apology for my shitty fic update schedule: I am opening a Q&A for the universe of "Garden of Constellations". Be forewarned that I may not be able to answer certain questions if they count as spoilers

i never played genshin but i really like them

Watching skating videos in a platonic way

yuri and yaoi are some of the best, most sacred things in the entire world

One thing about Mononoke that I find kinda funny is that the samurai in the series are always pretty useless.

A lot of anime present samurai as these, like, hardcore unstoppable badasses, but whenever a Medicine Man runs into a samurai, they're either stupid, cowardly, or they just get in the way. At best, they're portrayed as being in way over their heads. Even the evil samurai in the series aren't particularly badass. They're just portrayed as thugs and lowlives that happen to have swords.

Not only is this funny, it also ties into the feminist themes of the franchise. A lot of Mononoke has to do with the hardships women face in a male-dominated world. That an exalted, all-male class like the samurai are in reality a bunch of losers helps show how bitterly unfair the gender dynamic in Edo society is. A lot of these guys are just allowed to fail upward because of their connections or social status or whatever while lower class women who are braver and more competent than them just get crushed by the system.

One thing that's never said outright but is still clear from the reactions of the characters is that only men of the samurai class are allowed to carry swords. Legally, a merchant like the Medicine Man isn't allowed to have one. However, not only are the swords the samurai carry completely useless against mononoke, but none of the samurai are even good swordsmen in the first place. Whenever they do use a sword to kill someone (which is rare), it's usually an unarmed civilian that can't defend themselves. These aren't hardened warriors; they're just bullies with a title. The Medicine Man is way more qualified to carry a sword than any of them.

Chuuya is pretty unpredictable, so I guess I wouldn't be too surprised if he decided to pull a knife or a gun on me at our wedding.

So, what is Arlan hiding, anyways?

Judging by how stoic he is, he obviously must be hiding the wound because he doesn't want people to worry about-

Hmmmm...

Something doesn't add up here. Let's do some more digging. Looking through Arlan's voicelines and character stories turns up nothing useful- in fact, our only scrap of information about Arlan's past is hidden in Asta's second character story. It's almost like Arlan is extremely reluctant to reveal anything personal about himself, and everything we know has to come from third party sources. (Remember in his companion quest when Asta had to emotionally blackmail him in front of us to get him to admit he thought Herta was overbearing? Good times, Good times)

...so he's had this 'wound' since before he met Asta. On a related note, isn't it interesting how his right side, the side with the wound, is almost completely covered up?

You could say there's an entire side to him that's being kept closed off and hidden away from the world. How strange.

Come to think of it, doesn't Arlan's whole deal seem rather familiar? A conspicuously 'foreign' (read: dark-skinned) looking character you meet in the starting area who was absorbed into a wealthy household at a young age?

Kaeya is, of course, from Khaenri'ah, the faction whose war against the gods serves as the inciting incident for Genshin Impact's entire plot.

So, assuming the parallels are intentional, what does this mean for Arlan?

Which faction in HSR might raise a child who knows nothing except violence, for whom generosity and charity are not simply unheard of, but completely alien concepts? Which faction is frequently associated with breaking chains and liberation but also an obsession with continuing the cycle of violence through revenge?

Which Aeon is known to bestow a mark on all THEIR most loyal and dedicated servants?

What sort of power can create a wound that never heals or fades, not even years later?

I'm just saying if I had the blood of Nanook perpetually dripping from a wound on the back of my hand I'd probably want to keep it covered up, too.

Also LOOK AT HIS AETHERIUM WARS TEAM

2024 the year of toxic old man yaoi