video | un: NAILS

[nichocolatine]

[ the video begins with badou wearing one of his usual tees, carefully setting his phone down so the camera angle can spot him sitting on his living room floor surrounded by an array of dresses. affixed to his wrist is a little cloth pumpkin, stuck full of needles and pins. he's without his usual cigarette, instead sucking on a lollipop that stains his lips bright red. last time he made a post on the network his neck was bruised and bandaged — this time it's the same thing, but the bruise is angrier, spreading across his neck and shoulder, disappearing under a bandage and gauze that looks about ready to get changed in an hour or two. ]

Evenin'.

[ he picks up the skirt of one of the dresses, flipping it inside-out to access the pocket he'd been working on attaching. ]

So I'm sittin' here, mendin' dresses — as you do — and I nicked myself pretty good and I'm thinkin', well, shit, that's another one I gotta wait on, y'know?

[ he lifts a forefinger, displaying a bandage that looks an awful like like dora the explorer, and wiggles it in the direction of the camera. ]

It got me thinkin'—

How many of us here are just regular ol' humans? Or whatever. I'm talkin' no magic, no special augmentations, no fancy shamcy abilities that got you doin' better than the average guy.

[ he pauses to finish off a stitch, making a knot with his thread and cutting the excess with his teeth. ]

See, where I'm from, that ain't the norm. But that doesn't seem to be the case around here.

[ oh, one more thing— ]

And if you are one of the special ones, go ahead and tell us what you can do. Why not, right? What else do any of us got to hide at this point?

Comments

[justscribing]

Maybe next time you'll consider more defined phrasing to weed out the confusion.

Besides, you probably know my answer anyway. You've seen my spar with Heine.

[And he just assumes they gossip about things like that.]

[nichocolatine]

i think next time ill just block your number :*

so that kinda stuff is common where youre from?

[justscribing]

I wouldn't have any way to stop you.

You could say magic is "common" in Teyvat in that there are many non-human creatures with a natural affinity for elements, charms, curses, and alchemy. Humans typically require a blessing from the gods to directly manipulate elemental energy which is rare. However this ability only works so long as the external apparatus, a Vision, is on their person.

[That dangly jewel in a gold casing that Alhaitham always wears off his cape shoulder.]

But what is regarded as "human" in Teyvat is also different from your world, as I understand that certain animalistic traits that are natural if rare for us are only possible through augmentation in your home.

[nichocolatine]

yeah
in our world humans do that to other humans to make em more profitable

so the humans in your world that can do magic
you and kaveh etc
yall got a god blessing?
hows that work? you fill out a form?

[justscribing]

Kaveh and I both have Visions aligned with Dendro but they can be other elements.

Nobody knows since Visions appear suddenly without an explanation from any diety. They may not even be handed out by any gods directly since none have taken responsibility for handing out that power.

They're said to be crystallizations of one's ambition, but there are plenty of ambitious people who never receive a Vision so I wouldn't call it the criteria.

[nichocolatine]

[ badou's eyes just glazed over reading through most of that. ]

you and kaveh share a god?

[ lmao. bruh. ]

[justscribing]

About as much as every citizen of Sumeru could be said to "share" our god.

There are seven elemental energies: dendro, pyro, hydro, cryo, electro, geo, anemo. Visions themselves are not unique, but what users do with their elemental power is personal.

[nichocolatine]

[ badou spares a moment to think very fondly of heine's nickname for alhaitham. ]

so your gods can claim whole areas and such?

[justscribing]

[Alhaitham still hasn't been told that name to his face.]

Well, they are gods. Do humans not do much the same with less power?

The most important to the average person will be the seven Archons, each aligned to a different element that oversee the people of their region though the level of involvement varies.

[nichocolatine]

HA you got me there

so these visions
you get em young? you ever remember a time before you had your powers?

[justscribing]

There's no set age one can receive a Vision. I remember plenty from before I had mine and to be honest, it isn't all that useful to me unless I get in a fight.

[nichocolatine]

whats not useful?
your time before or your powers?

[justscribing]

My powers of course. They don't help much with my research.

[nichocolatine]

[ ah, yes, he forgot past all those muscles was a giant nerd. ]

sure sure
how often are you getting into fights back home anyway

[justscribing]

How often do you think I get into fights?

[nichocolatine]

who, you? mr congeniality? almost never, im sure