Can Everyone in Mondstadt Just CHILL OUT For a Second?? and Liyue is a Mess™ are two Genshin Impact fanfic series by Anonemoni
, taking place in the same universe and that eventually crossover.
Can Everyone in Mondstadt Just CHILL OUT For a Second?? deals with Diluc and Kaeya reforming their bond (with the help of Jean), while Liyue is a Mess™ centers around Childe, Zhongli, Xiao, Lumine, Paimon and Ekaterina dealing with the aftermath and consequences of Zhongli faking his death and the Osial incident. Both of these plots are far, FAR from original in the Genshin fandom, Anonemoni takes their own spin on both stories and their mastery of writing relationships, drama, comedy, fluff and especially angst has caused both series to be highly regarded by its fans.
- Kaeya Alberich Does Not Like Fire
Part 1 of Can Everyone in Mondstadt Just CHILL OUT For a Second??:- Kaeya Alberich is generally very good at keeping weakness and vulnerability close to the vest. But when it comes to heat and flame, it doesn't take long traveling with the cavalry captain to realize something is up.
And even he has his limits when it comes to controlling that particular fear. He had just assumed that he had gotten past the point of it being a detriment in battle...
- Kaeya Alberich is generally very good at keeping weakness and vulnerability close to the vest. But when it comes to heat and flame, it doesn't take long traveling with the cavalry captain to realize something is up.
- Success That Feels Like Failure
: Part 1 of Liyue is a Mess™.- Zhongli is Rex Lapis. The thought left Childe feeling hollow. How had he not known? For all his scheming, all of his planning- his target had been right in front of him the entire time.
He felt stupid. He felt betrayed. And it only got worse as the man before him opened his mouth to speak.
- Zhongli is Rex Lapis. The thought left Childe feeling hollow. How had he not known? For all his scheming, all of his planning- his target had been right in front of him the entire time.
- Flares
: Part 2 of Can Everyone in Mondstadt Just CHILL OUT For a Second??- Kaeya runs into a certain vigilante while out on patrol and things go SOUTH. FAST.
- Crepus Ragnvindr Is A Good Dad
: Part 3 of Can Everyone in Mondstadt Just CHILL OUT For a Second??- Kaeya was supposed to be groomed for his role.
He was too young when he was ushered out of the remains of Khaenri’ah. They couldn’t teach him everything he needed to know.
So they sent out a mage…
This emissary succeeds in finding and interacting with the boy exactly once.
But the agents of the Abyss sorely underestimated what a protective and watchful father Crepus Ragnvindr is.
- Kaeya was supposed to be groomed for his role.
- Jean Gunnhildr and the Quest for the Forbidden Beans
: Part 4 of Can Everyone in Mondstadt Just CHILL OUT For a Second??- All of the coffee in the Ordo is inexplicably gone!
Jean will find some caffeine or by the gods she will pass out trying!
- All of the coffee in the Ordo is inexplicably gone!
- Jealousy?
: Part 5 of Can Everyone in Mondstadt Just CHILL OUT For a Second??- Kaeya decides to torment his brother by playing matchmaker! This is extremely uncomfortable for Diluc for a couple of reasons. One of which is the bar full of keen eyes and ears. The second of which is… the fact that he’s ace. And he hasn’t told anyone but Jean…
- Kidnapping is Rude
: Part 6 of Can Everyone in Mondstadt Just CHILL OUT For a Second?? Part 2 of Liyue is a Mess™- A series of kidnappings/attempted kidnappings have the Knights on their heels. Kaeya enlists the help of Diluc, AKA the Darknight hero since, you know, they're actually on speaking terms now- some might even say they're ~gasp~ FRIENDS!
It all goes Very South Very Fast and Kaeya and Jean have to rush to save not only the impulsive vigilante, but the children that have been taken.
- A series of kidnappings/attempted kidnappings have the Knights on their heels. Kaeya enlists the help of Diluc, AKA the Darknight hero since, you know, they're actually on speaking terms now- some might even say they're ~gasp~ FRIENDS!
- Impermanence of Stone
: Part 3 of Liyue is a Mess™- Morax deals with healing himself after what very much should have been his final battle, all while doing his best to get to know Xiao, who is most certainly a child, and is himself trying to get his bearings in his new place amongst the adepti.
Both series provide examples of:
- Age Lift: In canon, Diluc was made Calvary Captain at age 14, Crepus’ death and his and Kaeya’s fight happened on his 18th birthday, and Kaeya is implied to be barely any younger, with them having been described as like twins. In this series, Kaeya is three years younger than Diluc. Diluc joined the trainees at 16, was made a full knight at 17 due to his talent, then captain around 19 or 20, with the fight happened when Kaeya was 18 or 19 and Diluc was 21 or 22. The main reason is because the author isn’t a fan of the Knights, the ‘good guys’, letting child soldiers into their ranks; they did not change the fact that the Fatui let Ajax into their ranks at 14, with the fact they have children working for them used to highlight how corrupt they are.
- Back from the Dead: Because of Foul Legacy, Ajax has the ability to come back to life.
- Big Brother Instinct: Diluc, Jean, and to a lesser extent, Lisa, towards Kaeya. Diluc has always been a protective brother to Kaeya, even while estranged, and, after they made up, deals with guilt and self-hatred over hurting him himself. Jean also shows to have Kaeya’s safety and health in mind due to his own lack of self-preservation and Lisa straight up hated Diluc for harming him and had to be talked to by Jean to see Diluc’s side of the story.
- Kaeya himself is shown to have this mindset towards those younger than him, including children like Klee, but extends his younger friends such as Amber. The cases of child kidnapping in Kidnapping is Rude rattles him and he blames himself for it.
- After bonding with Ajax in his dreams, Xiao goes from disliking and being suspicious of him, to becoming a protective and caring older brother figure. He takes care of him when he’s sick or injured (i.e. most the time they have known each other), becomes hostile towards the Mondstadtians when Diluc attacks him, and is shown to be rather adept at calming him down whenever he has a breakdown.
- Belligerent Sexual Tension: Ajax and Kaeya, mainly due to multiple misunderstandings, Kaeya’s trust issues and pettiness, Ajax’s temper and both of their trauma and insecurities. Kaeya immediately doesn’t trust Ajax because of his status as a Harbinger and his animosity is soon met in equal measure. Diluc revealing his past with him ( though it turns out to be a misunderstanding, with Scaramouche being the one to blame) only makes things worse. In Chapter 40 of Kidnapping is Rude, after the two have a conversation where it’s also revealed the two have gained romantic feelings for one another, Kaeya tries to reach out to him only to accidentally trigger Ajax’s trauma and cause him to lash out. It takes Ajax risking his life to save Kaeya from being tortured for them to finally bury the hatchet.
- Cannot Keep a Secret: Amber. Kaeya is aware of this and hurries home before the others reach Angel’s Share, so that he won’t be there if she spills the beans about his injury to Diluc. It’s also why Lumine never revealed that she is friends with Ajax, so Amber only knows him as “a friend with back problems”.
- Caretaker Reversal: Kaeya spends the first half of ‘Kaeya Alberich Does Not Like Fire’ sick due to his vision malfunctioning while Diluc takes care of him. The second half of the fic has Diluc in a depressive state while Kaeya helps to pull him out of it. In the flashback chapters of ‘Kidnapping Is Rude’, Kaeya gets concussion and Diluc takes care of him, in the earlier ‘present day’ chapters, Diluc is badly injured, including gaining a bad knee injury leading to Kaeya to fuss over him alongside Jean, and in the later chapters Kaeya is tortured, having both his legs broken and being waterboarded by the Fatui, leaving him traumatized. Diluc takes care of him despite not having fully recovered from his injuries yet.
- Confirmed Bachelor: Diluc is asexual.
- Disabled in the Adaptation: Ajax is confirmed to have ADHD in this series. This usually results in him saying and doing things without thinking them over, getting distracted easily and being unable to sit still. That last one is a problem considering he spends most of his time in the series being sick or injured. If there’s ever a time when he’s told to stay in bed or in the house and recover, you might as well gather some friends and start making bets on how long it will take him to sneak out of the house and get himself even more badly hurt.
-
Easily Forgiven: Downplayed. Jean is still upset about Diluc hurting Kaeya, and for abandoning both of them, but she’s still cordial towards him and is genuinely shocked when Kaeya suggests that she doesn’t want to heal Diluc’s injuries because of a grudge. - Guilt Complex: After Kaeya recovers, Diluc is revealed to have a pretty severe guilt complex and begins spiraling. Luckily, Kaeya catches on and comes over to pull him out of his rut.
- Heroic BSoD: After Kaeya recovers and is no longer in need of care, the reality of all Diluc has done to him sets in and he hides away in the winery. Luckily Kaeya checks in on him.
- Jerkass Realisation: Seeing Kaeya sick and dying causing Diluc to realise how badly he messed up and admit he does not hate his brother.
- Narration: Well, that night- his last night in Mond for 3 whole years... Diluc had been a complete and utter ass. He’d threatened his brother. His brother. Kaeya. Diluc shuddered as he finally considered things that he had long since buried in his own subconscious. Feelings that he had bottled up- that he had never wanted to feel again.
- Must Have Caffeine: Jean, and to a lesser extent Kaeya.
- My God, What Have I Done?: In ‘Kaeya Alberich Does Not Like Fire’, Diluc gets this during Kaeya’s "Reason You Suck" Speech towards him and realizes just how badly he hurt his brother.
- In Chapter 12, Kaeya gets this when he realizes he harmed Diluc and broke his ribs while he was sick and delirious. He also gets this when he lashes out at Diluc, causing him to leave the house.
- Not So Above It All: Jean turns out to have been the one who came up with the Darknight Hero name out of frustration for Diluc’s vigilante antics, knowing he would hate it.
- Only Sane Man: Jean for the Mondstadtians and Lumine and Ekaterina for Zhongli, Xiao, Ajax and Paimon.
- Parents as People: Zhongli, to Xiao, the Yaksha and Ajax. While a loving and protective father, he messes up big time quite often. He often showed favoritism to Xiao compared to the rest of his Yaksha while they were alive. He was especially harsh on Menogias, due to the Geo Yaksha reminding him of himself when he was younger, something he deeply regrets in the present. In the early chapters of Success That Feels Like Failure, he forgets Ajax is mortal and not as robust as adepti, leaving him injured and abandoned on a mountain, and after coming to see him as son figure, overcorrects, much to the stubborn Harbinger’s annoyance. He also has moments of Anger Born of Worry towards Xiao and Ajax, which they don’t respond well to considering their trauma, Ajax especially due to him being scared of Zhongli himself.
- Poor Communication Kills: AND HOW! Kaeya, Diluc and Ajax would have made peace with each other a lot quicker ifANY OF THEM knew how to speak honestly. Instead, it takes one of them ALMOST DYING for any of them to open up. To be fair though, in Diluc and Kaeya’s case with Ajax, this is a Justified Trope considering the trouble both of them have had with the Fatui in the past.
- "Reason You Suck" Speech: Chapter 9 of ‘Kaeya Alberich Does Not Like Fire’, titled ‘Talking is Hard’, Kaeya lashes out at Diluc for his treatment of him, from attacking him, to leaving Mondstadt, to ignoring him unless it’s to insult him. Diluc tries to defend himself at first but after a while just takes it and apologizes.
- Resolved Noodle Incident: Kaeya mentions an incident where Jean forced him to take drugs. Jean is defensive while Diluc is confused at first before realizing what they were talking about. ‘Flares’ shows what actually happened.
- Sick Episode: In ‘Kaeya Alberich Does Not Like Fire’, Kaeya’s vision goes haywire, causing him to suffer from hypothermia, despite him usually being resistant to the cold. Diluc ends up taking care of him for the night.
- ‘Success That Feels Like Failure’ has Ajax get a fever and fall into a coma.
- Traumatic Haircut: Kaeya has had long hair since he was a child and takes pride in it. After the fight with the Whopperflower destroys it beyond repair, he ends up having to cut off the lovelock himself.
