The Wind is Alive - Xiaoven

A/N

yes this fic finally gets to see the light of day on wattpad i apologize for taking so long skdjfsh

hello i am back :DD

i'm sorry for being gone for long,, writer's block was kicking my ass and i just needed a mental health break from school and life and everything during summer vacation. i have wips in the making, but for now have the xiaoven fic i forgot to post here!

as usual, im gonna be pointing out my favorite parts and literary devices because i really was purposefully deliberate with this ahaskfhsd i didnt want to half ass it, yknow? there's so much more i wish i could talk about, but here it is for now:

1. i really wanted to play with the motif of wind in this (ofc since they're anemo bois), and i left it ambiguous on how to interpret the winds themselves. you could view them as an extension of venti with how they act, or as an entirely different entity. they almost seem to have a mind of their own, and that's what i was really going for. no matter how you choose to look at it, venti either embodies the winds entirely or that they are shaped in his image. either way, it's a clear display that venti is truly the anemo archon, which is something i wanted to emphasize beyond simply slapping the title on him. another thing i want to point out is that the winds definitely get weaker over time, especially in the reunion scene where venti lost his gnosis. his power was stripped off him, so it only makes sense that the winds around him die down too. it's also why xiao doesn't initially sense his presence until he hears the music. in fact, in the final scene, most of the winds in there aren't even from venti and are instead from xiao.

2. or course i ended up playing with the imagery of chains and freedom, particularly with how venti and xiao approach their duties differently. xiao is bound to his, while venti is not. neither is particularly bad, however. venti is portrayed to loosen the shackles that hold xiao, letting him be free and breathe. xiao (though, i will admit, is to a much lesser degree) is portrayed to anchor venti down and not let him stray too far, most prominent in how he will keep returning to xiao no matter what. a specific incident for this is when venti is the one to linger and not want to leave during the confrontation in the fourth segment.

3. i generally try to keep xiao always beneath venti to emphasize the hierarchy between them, thus contrasting with how venti wants them to treat each other as equals. he's always running up mountains from below to meet him, always looking up at him, kneeling before him, and of course he's just ever so slightly shorter. in the beginning it shows that no matter what they do, they can't truly close that gap between them as god and lesser being. in the reunion scene, however, they're more or less at the same level for most of it and it shows how times have changed so drastically such that gods aren't so untouchable anymore. it's made even more apparent with the fact that venti doesn't have his gnosis at this point.

4. xiao always talks about venti's braids and eyes and smile because they show just how lively he is. xiao, who had only known darkness and suffering and death, is by no doubts drawn to the light and happiness and just how much he's brimming with life. i do wish i could've touched on this better, but i think it's still prevalent while subtle.

5. this is definitely also explored to a much lesser degree but i still think its something worth mentioning in retrospect: motifs of light and darkness. xiao is always described to be swamped in darkness, and venti always appears in the form of light whether as the moon or at the peak of mountains where the sun is brightest. even liyue and mondstadt are described as being bathed in darkness and illuminated by lights, respectively. it's something i did subconsciously and without much thought, but i still think its a neat little detail!

6. while repetition is part of my writing style, i did deliberately pick a few motifs such as lingering and specific actions of the wind. no matter how much time passes, no matter how much distance there is between them, xiao and venti will always end up in their old habits.

i hope you enjoyed it, thanks for reading :DD