[ SECRET POST #6924 ]

[case]

⌈ Secret Post #6924 ⌋

Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.


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Notes:

Secrets Left to Post: 03 pages, 52 secrets from Secret Submission Post #989.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 0 - broken links ], [ 0 - not!secrets ], [ 0 - not!fandom ], [ 0 - too big ], [ 0 - repeat ].
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.

Comments

[(Anonymous)]

I didn't feel it was romantic... Like you could interpret it that way if you wanted, but it also works as just a meaningful friendship. Arle and Sandrone were also Columbina's friends before meeting the traveller, but obviously their personalities and ties to the fatui meant it wasn't really defined as such until the Nod-Krai AQ. Columbina's growth has been about making connections, so it's been emotionally charged, but not necessarily romantic.

To this day, the only characters who I would argue are more easily read as romantic than platonic are Xiao, Ayaka, Citlali, and Shenhe. Everyone else is ambiguous at best.

[(Anonymous)]

For the most part I'd agree but the latest plot update pushed it over the edge in my eyes. Especially the constant "where is traveller", the whole feeding sweets thing (Which is kinda the ~indirect kiss~ trope, especially in Chinese media), and the tarot card. And yes, it absolutely can be interpreted as her just fixating a lot on the traveller in a platonic way but it was a bit too much. Not nearly as bad as Citlali though, that was just plain terrible (and fucked over her entire character).
I personally don't see it with Shenhe though.

[(Anonymous)]

AYRT

Hm, yeah, I can see how the festival can be seen as "a date with Columbina", but it was subtle enough and the detailed interactions with other NK characters didn't make it feel like one to me personally.

For Shenhe, it was the whole "stalking traveller from behind trees" that pushed it more into weird crush territory for me. Can still be seen as platonic I guess, but it's a weird thing for a friend to do, especially given how stoic Shenhe is and how she's typically unconcerned with falling short of social expectations (even if she's trying harder to fit them).

For the record, I haaaaate romances between MCs and playable characters - I genuinely despise all Xiao interactions because of it, and am iffy on all Citlali scenes that involve the traveller. Citlali at least has fun relationships with other characters, all Xiao has going for him is traveller and reluctant team-ups. Ayaka at least is too shy and not a fan favourite enough to show up a lot, and has been branching out to develop other friendships (get a life, Xiao, even Scara has a bestie now).

[(Anonymous)]

Yeah, what saved it for me was how there was enough other interactions with the other characters but the interactions with Traveller were a bit too datey to me. It's still pretty tame though and it didn't make me hat her as it did with Citlali so that's a plus.

With Shenhe... I guess I was just so entirely uninterested in her that I completely forgot about it haha

I do actually like Xiao but I agree, dude is WAY too obsessed. I do think there was plenty of shipping material with Albedo as well and I thought it was okay. Ayaka is kind of cute in this innocent crush kind of way so I don't mind it. (Same with Lyney, really.) I think what bothered me so much about Citlali is that she was introduced as an entirely different character in the first part she appeared and then turned into this massive tsundere blushing (internally) screeching waifu bait and it was so awful.
I do think the whole waifu thing (with female characters only) got amped up way high after Natlan and that added to my hat for Natlan in general. I'm so glad that's over.