MYDEI
what in the soulmate-ism is this
THE LOOK ON PHAINONS FACE IM
You didn’t come down from the sky? — This city is mine anyway.
SCREAMING CRYING THROWING UP WTF
everyone was expecting her fight to be her testing / training the Traveler BUT THIS!?!?!
(spoilers for Lyney / Lynette / Freminet lore, it's found in their character bios / voicelines but doesn't spoil anything in the archon quests)
The siblings standing up to her and her fighting them???!??! This is so insane I—
It definitely looks serious considering that she's gone into her crazy balemoon form, and the fact that Freminet is blocking her very deadly looking strike and also going straight for her head
I know Lyney has a voiceline about having to become the next head of the House of the Hearth, and not wanting us to tell his siblings because they'll worry
Perhaps they find out here and all 3 decide to convince Arle to let Lyney make his own decision about that matter
It also seems that they got assigned a mission they don't want to complete, perhaps involving someone they know or don't want to kill (Freminet saying Lyney is hiding the person Father is looking for, Lynette asking why Arle's backed them into a corner, etc)
Judging by the opening lines of the trailer (some familiar faces not being present, etc) and details in the siblings' voicelines it's clear they're sent on dangerous missions and are always avoiding death by the skin of their teeth, and definitely aren't living normal lives
Also Freminet says that crying is looked down on / considered weak by Arle, so he always bottles up his emotions and lets them out at the literal bottom of the ocean; their childhood was definitely not great, even if Arle saved them from even worse fates
Like they never really experienced a normal childhood so I doubt they realize that the stuff going on in the House of the Hearth isn't anywhere near ideal
The special program also implies that Arle is very strict and the siblings have been affected negatively by this (stuff Daman / Lyney's VA says, etc)
I really hope that Arle sees their logic and backs down so I don't feel entirely terrible about pulling for her / liking her character because if she's willing to kill any of the siblings I'm going to be absolutely furious at her—
We do know she cares about them and gets very angry when they're mistreated or when they want to risk their lives when their are other options (her anger at people in Freminet / Lynette's past and when Lyney wants to risk his life and get a delusion to be able to perform on the same level as Lynette, before he got his vision)
ALSO I'm not going to ramble abt this as much but CYNO'S STORY QUEST!??!?!? From what I gather it seems Sethos was another candidate to receive the god's power (that Cyno has) and feels that he should have gotten it rather than Cyno for some reason?? Can't wait to see what's up with that as well
(also not Cyno and Yoimiya getting second story quests before Venti help—)
trailer link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LYZW7wH3pVM&t=58s
The more I think about it the more I realize that if this guys had met under different circumstances, they would have gotten along super well.
PENACONY SPOILERS UP TO 2.2 + CHARACTER LORE / STORIES
All 4 of them have lost their entire family, 3 of them have lost their entire race / homeworld (Boothill, Aventurine, Acheron), 2 of them lost these things because they were victims of the IPC (Boothill and Aventurine), and 2 of them have either lost a sibling or are afraid of losing a sibling (Aventurine and Sunday).
More specifically:
As far as I know, Sunday and Robin's parents were killed somehow, and they were taken in by the Family. Then as Sunday said Robin ended up getting shot in the neck due to trying to help others, and I think he got some kind of trauma from that and his fear of losing Robin, his sister and only remaining family, was amplified, leading to his desire to protect "the weak" no matter the cost—because to him, keeping Robin's wings "clipped" and her alive would be less painful than her bring gone, and him being alone forever.
Boothill, as I understand it, was taken in by 2 people who found him as a child, and grew up in the countryside of his planet. He later found and adopted a young girl and raised her as her own, until his entire planet was destroyed by the IPC, causing him to set out to get revenge.
Aventurine also lost his sister and his entire home planet due to the IPC + his planet's own problems, and has been forced to work for the IPC ever since. It also seems like he's trying to destroy it from the inside out or at least obtain his own freedom.
As for Acheron, her entire world, as well as her memories of it, were destroyed—she's almost certainly lost people that were important to her, like the other three.
Like honestly if they all sat down and traded backstories I feel like they'd get along super well, they're all victims of circumstance and that's why they experienced so much conflict during the story
hoyo found another way to hurt me over la signora...
arlecchino's voiceline is hilarious, la signora was a RICH AUNTIE AUGHH. it's simultaneously pathetically cute and so sad that she was bribing the kids for love. im going to think about la signora at the house of the hearth forever now
SHES HERE
So when's April 8th gonna be playable Hoyo?
In all seriousness March 7th has got to be one of the most mysterious characters in the game. HSR has been delving into more and more storylines involving the past and memories, with Black Swan, Dan Heng, Blade, Acheron, Misha, Gallagher, even Trailblazer and their past with the Stellaron Hunters. If that theme continues and March is in fact a Memokeeper or Memokeeper-adjacent, she could end up being *REALLY* important later on. I'm interested to see what direction Hoyo takes her in.
Happy birthday Tighnari !