#genshin sentience au

[stemwriter]

Some more SAGAU thoughts

By the way, like all my SAGAU content, this is the older AU where the player is not the Creator or anything, just... a person, and there's no romance or anything since it's more "what do you mean there's this person from another world entirely who can possess people? what do you mean the world is slowly revealing its true, artificial nature to certain people?" than anything romantic.

Anyway:

I find the whole "sky is fake" thing funny in this context. Imagine a player hearing that, and saying something like "oh shit, they know it's a game", and the character(s) who hear(s) that is just stunned because that was not??? what they were thinking????? at all?????? and then the Realization™ starts. The disembodied voice was right.

also I do find it kind of eerie because (yes, this is silly, 99% of the time it's just glitches, but I'm thinking about that person who sees Venti stalking them, they probably last posted about it like 6 months ago) it could be happening to you. They know you exist. They might not know what you are, or they could know very well, neither option is that good. Do they envy you? Do they despise you? What are you to them? I think other people have brought up the idea of the characters being stuck to the script, and if that's the case, you may never know...

(please help me it's 2 in the morning and i'm sleep deprived)

#sagau #genshin sentience au #genshin fanfic #self aware genshin

[creationsabyss]

The Universe Loves You (Its People Are Blind But It Hopes That Forgiveness Can Still Be Found)

A small piece based off of some of @i-put-the-yan-in-polyandry's works.

When your blood runs gold

Who will you run to?

When your wounds fade 

Into shining star silver

Who will you trust?

When the world hunts for your head

For a crime you did not commit

Who deserves your favor?

When the world is kind

Where its people are not

Where will you turn?

When you are scorned

Turned away with glare and blade

Will you return to its cradle

Be embraced in its loyalty?

The world knows and will never turn

You will find safety here

Amongst the fauna and the flora

Your reign is undisputed 

The world knows

Its people shall know in time

So I wonder

Where you'll end up next

#poetry #the ramblings of a mad god #genshin impact inspired #slight sagau #slight imposter au #implied yandere #implied sentience #implied trauma #the slight pov change is deliberate #because I like adding small details people probably won't ever see #the title is long #but it does have a reason for it

[questionotmystopit]

Self-aware AU in Genshin/Star Rail as opposed to the Player in HI3rd

In my personal interpretation of the players' influence/presence in the three games, it's quite nebulous. In Genshin Impact and Honkai: Star Rail especially, it would be borderline impossible to truly detect the players' existence.

Let me explain. The characters we control as the player are NOT the actual characters themselves. They are more akin to the copies of the characters you control in the Simulated Universe. The player clones are non-sapient copies of the characters they are based on, and the abilities of the playable ones are loosely based on their template character.

The player clones differ crucially from the real version because they only display snippets of their 'personality' at a time. (Voicelines triggered on certain conditions/Idle animations) The clones do not display true sentience, instead saying predetermined dialogue. 'Player clone' refers to practically every character we see in the game. The clones are made to recreate what is actually happening to the Trailblazer in the story. Meaning, every character you see isn't the real person.

The best way I can think to describe it is using a plasma globe. When you put your finger to the glass, the energy arcs on your hand, but it does not actually touch you. Similarly, you playing the games causes the world to react to you, but it cannot truly interact with you. The 'player clones' are shadows made by the arcs of energy reaching for your hand, but being blocked by the glass.

Also, the scene where you choose the Traveler/Trailblazer was you first touching the plasma globe. They are your main point of contact. They are your manifestation inside the plasma globe. That's why you default to them when talking to people, and why the world/story is almost entirely seen from their perspective. However, using pre-existing characters as a point of contact crucially changes the situation from Honkai Impact 3rd. In Honkai Impact 3rd, the player is nebulously represented as the 'Captain of the Hyperion'. However, the Captain doesn't exist in the main story.

The Captain canonically exists only as a representative for the players, meaning that players as the Captain are easier to detect than players as the Traveler or Trailblazer. This is because Captain's status as a pure self-insert (doesn't canonically do anything or express any personality outside of your will) means that the interference from the Player touching the plasma globe as the Captain is more direct and noticeable by beings with enough awareness (Aeons and maybe others).

Well, that's all for now. I'm not dead, btw

#honkai star rail #genshin impact #sagau #self aware honkai star rail #hi3 #hi3 captain

[jhuzen]

Will there be a part 2 of the "Attention" fic?

infidelity [gn/m.reader]

the answer to that is a solid yes AND a big apology for taking a hundred years to post this. this ask has been in my inbox for freaking months. and it’s mostly because i have been remaking this fic until i got the most satisfying fic LMAO. i’m sorry for taking so long 😭 i hope this is compensation enough. btw this part 2 to this! but honestly, you don’t have to read it lmao.

𖦹 crack taken seriously, hsr mention but this is mostly genshin, this is just a fic of me making fun of cheaters aka you, highly based on that one tweet of the “welcome home, cheater” one, pushing my grand overseer reader agenda like in my early fics teehee <3, sagau, sahsr au

“I should probably go back…”

Jing Yuan begged to differ. The general himself had his reservations about your sudden eagerness to depart. After all, you were a good company — one that amused him to the core and even kept him awake for the better part of the day. You are an interesting being to him after all — much after learning from the exuberant girl from the famed Astral Express suddenly emphasizing your importance when they left you under his supervision.

You, in much simpler words, are adorable in the Luofo general’s eyes. With eagerness and curiosity melding in those gaze of yours that could leave anyone transfixed — wanting and desperate.

You truly live up to the title as the grand overseer across worlds. You were the sole beholder of their sentience, despite the fact that right now, you’re barely aware of your status and your circumstance, it was more than enough for anyone go cherish your presence. How could they not? It was a blessing to see you descend from where you were, behind the great barrier that they all could only stare at when they looked to you for guidance.

Alas, that mattered little, not when you were beside the amused general and his coy smile, fingers raking through your hair; reminiscent of the pattern when he would do the same thing to Mimi when you visited his abode to meet the furry beauty that was his pet.

Quite frankly, you weren’t all too sure if this was something you were used to, being treated like an animal companion, with even the way Jing Yuan’s hand would suddenly roam behind your very human ears, scratching behind out of habit.

The only thing missing was him giving your food to you in a bowl, actually, and you’d be no different than Mimi at that point. Wait. No. You were sure Jing Yuan’s lion also ate out of a golden encrusted plate when you saw his hired caretakers come and feed Mimi.

“Bark for me, won’t you?” The general teased with a purr and it was more than enough for you to pull the plug at your willing compliance.

You removed his hand from your head and only shot him a subtle glare, “That’s a request I can’t honor even if my life depended on it.” You sighed, “I should get going now though, General… I made a promise to help our conductor in sweeping the floors. Apparently Caelus tracked some dirt inside when he decided to lug some trash.”

“Must you really? You’re the grand overseer, no? I believe such a title deserves a limitless freedom in doing whatever it is that they wish,” he coaxed in a suave tone, quick to win anyone over. And honestly, that sounds nice. But you’ve never seen Pom-Pom look so stressed when you saw an unwilling March and Dan Heng drag some trash either wrapped in gold bags or regular black ones inside the express when they came back from Belobog.

You somehow regretted leaving first — but even you had urgent matters to attend to at that moment.

“Ah—!” The lax Jing Yuan jolted at your sudden outburst.

“…Anything troubling you, Grand Overseer?”

“T-Teyvat! I completely forgot…!” Your eyes were blown wide as the panic settled within you. You had promised Nahida you would make it to the Interdarshan championship. She was so excited when she communed with you just days ago, completely elated that even your beloved Wanderer would participate as a representative in a Darshan.

Albeit confused by your sudden squawking, Jing Yuan understood and only watched you pace around while you lamented what sounds to be a rehearsed apology that you will no doubt tell to someone you hold precious.

“How envious, to receive an apology from you even sounds like a great honor.” Jing Yuan teased with a chuckle. “Well then, off you go now. Don’t be away for too long. I rather enjoy our time together.”

“O-Oh, yes, of course… I truly apologize for cutting our time together short. Do give my regards to Fu Xuan and Yanqing if they drop by. I have to go and talk to the crew and also bid my goodbye for now.” You bowed before turning away, briskly walking your way towards the door outside of the general’s office, only to bump into Welt and March.

“Oh! There you are! Ya ready to go shopping?” March held an exuberant energy as she asked, clasping your hand in hers tightly with an excited gleam flashing through her eyes.

Welt, however, was far more observant than March, “Judging from that look in your eyes… you have some affairs you’ve forgotten to tend to, Your Benevolence. Would I be correct in my judgment?”

“It’d be a miracle for you to be wrong at this point,” you laughed amidst your panic. “But yes, unfortunately. March, I hope you don’t mind a little bit of postponement… I have somewhere to be urgently.”

March’s bottom lip stuck out into pleading pout, “But you promised!”

“March, let’s not force them. It is as they say — an urgent affair.” Welt only looked at you with a small nod and an encouraging smile, “Don’t be too worried. I’ll let Himeko and Dan Heng know of your absence. Just be safe.”

“I will definitely come back and visit.” Your smile and reassurance was enough to quell March’s disappointment and Welt’s initial concern. “Please tell Caelus not to track more dirt inside. It’ll only serve to frustrate Pom-Pom further.”

“It’s a useless attempt, but for you, I’ll try,” March winked as she waved to you with Welt.

With a nod to the two of them, you were off to Teyvat — lucky that you have little need for the Star Rail in the first place to travel. Otherwise, it would most certainly take you the entire conceivable time just before you could even come back to one of the many worlds that you oversaw and to a fault, even took care of from afar.

You stepped into the familiar grassy fields of Sumeru’s rainforest, looking up to see that the city isn’t too far off. There was a gentle breeze that blew by, almost like a kiss from a certain archon, but you paid little heed to it. You normally always took your time to appreciate the sights in Teyvat, finding its vast lands and many biomes incredibly fantastical in sight. But even that couldn’t keep you from the fact that you’ve broken several promises that you willingly made to some residents here.

You can only imagine the disappointment in everyone’s faces once you’ve admitted to the fact that… other people may have swept your attention away in the first place — hence your sudden absence.

You owed your first apology to Nahida. She is after all, one of your far more favored archons around, treating her like your own, definitely something that would make Rukkhadevata proud among every other archon out there. And then there’s also a matter of apologizing to your dear Aether, you made another promise to him that you would spend your time with him in Sumeru’s far end by the Realm of Farakhkert to meet the infamous Sorush and the majestic race of the Pari (you once made a claim that Aranara’s are superior, and your endeared traveler was reluctant in protesting to your words it seems).

Now that you thought about it — you were sure you made quite a lot of promises to the residents of Teyvat. A lot of commitments were hammered into your special sanctuary that Aether had built for and with you inside his teapot.

Commitments that you’ve forgotten in favor of space travels with a couple of trailblazers.

Onlookers turned to your direction, completely flabbergasted at your casual appearance. What were you doing in Sumeru city (not that they were ungrateful for your gracious presence) — but it was as if you were solely taking a stroll on your own. Where are your entourage? Was the Acting Grand Sage even informed of your arrival? What about the archons that always accompanied you? Where is Buer?

Best of all, why does your face contort into an expression of what seems to be utter guilt?

You hiked your way to the Sanctuary of Surasthana, refusing any help offered to you by the guards that were courteous enough. You were prepared to face Nahida’s crestfallen look — prepared to start indulging her wishes to make up for the tomfoolery you engaged in. The corners of your mouth trembled as it itched to finally spill out the plethora of apologies that you’ve prepared.

“Oh. So you exist after all.”

Only for your well-rehearsed (by the last minute) apologies to fall apart when the Wanderer’s voice rang from above. You looked up to see him perched on one of the ledges just above the door of Nahida’s residence. He was stationed like a watchful hawk — and he was, constantly on the prowl for anyone suspicious daring to come up to the sanctuary.

Suddenly, a memory of you promising him to go fishing by the coasts of Sumeru had you wincing. And with the way the puppet’s mouth turned up in a smug smirk showed that he was aware of an engagement you swore you’d do with him.

“Ah… I hear you go by Hat guy now?” You tilted your head, giving him a reluctant smile.

“Spare me the meaningless prying. Where have you been?” His eyes narrowed, suspicious and a tad bitter at your absence and incompetence in attending a tiny little leisure that you yourself insisted he join you on. Who the hell even creates plans first and suddenly flakes out? The Wanderer has never felt more betrayed, quite frankly.

You suddenly looked like a guilty spouse that came from a messy affair, with the way you shifted your footing and how you averted your gaze quick. The Wanderer was intolerant of such a behavior however when he finally came down from his little high up spot to face you with no escape. He will summon a void and trap you in it halfway if you so much as make an attempt to escape.

“I’ve been… away…”

“Were you now?” His scrutinizing gaze only served to intimidate you further when he came up close, his nimble fingers tracing against your clothing. “Whose is this?”

And before you, he held a familiar long strand of white hair — possibly acquired when the general of Luofo decided to frolic around with you, coaxing (or coercing, more like) you to give him a much deserved head massage for his hard work (though in truth, he barely did anything that day).

“…A cat.” Technically not a lie. Jing Yuan does exhibit certain behaviors that you can classify as a behavior that a feline has.

“Is it now?” His voice went an octave higher — clearly mocking you if his churlish grin wasn’t enough of a sign about his suspicions of you and your… agendas prior to your unprompted visit in Teyvat.

A terse silence engulfed you and your Wanderer before he flicked away the hair and dragged you inside Nahida’s sanctuary.

“She was disappointed that you were absent the entire Interdarshan event thing. Where in the abyss were you?” The puppet hissed, his grip on your wrist tightening. Somehow you found it far more comforting compared to the times where people would treat you like some fragile object that could break at any second.

What’s not comforting however, were his words. You couldn’t bear the thought of letting Nahida down, and now you’re faced with that very thought becoming a reality that you now have to get through just for the sake of your sanity.

You smiled a little despite seeing the Dendro Archon’s back turned while she minded her own business. There was always something comforting when wasting your hours away inside the sanctuary. Just having to teach Nahida from your old world knowledge about people, and to an extent even teaching the Wanderer with your wisdom that rarely pops out (according to him, with full intent to insult you). It’s not as daring as the time Venti decided to fling you up and catch you or Ei’s insistence on you eating your tenth dango during your walks.

For now however, you had one goal in mind — and that is to make amends with your favored archon and puppet.

Teyvat altogether created an unspoken rule to never ever doubt you — the Grand Overseer. You have a position that transcends even farther than the Primordial One, your eyes that gaze on many universes and worlds. You are the one that took care of the blooming life in each planet that teemed with it, thriving under your guidance.

There was a collective decision among all gods and mortals alike to never doubt your endeavors, much less your love for them. You care a lot about them, and based solely on your constant descent towards their world, it seems as though above all other worlds, you favored them. They were the proof of your benevolence, granting the residents your presence while you walked among them.

Right. That was the case that everyone agreed upon.

However, there was an underlying layer of unease. Heaven forbid may it be doubt; they could never! But perhaps… a tiny bit of uncertainty in the layer of cautiousness as the residents watched you with adoration.

It first started with the wrong names.

When Albedo, Sucrose, and Timaeus wholeheartedly welcomed your help when you visited Dragonspine with Klee. Jean was far too busy with her work and while she wished to, could not have time to bask in your presence after the announcement of your sudden arrival. In turn, you only assured her and relieved her of her added duty in watching over Klee.

Klee was the one to visit big brother Albedo, to surprise him that you were finally back. And you complied. Dragonspine is an extension of Mondstadt, and you had plans to check up on every single resident of the nation.

Suffice to say, you were quickly hooked up in a chair, pulse detectors attached to your temples while you watched Klee doodle away on the floor. For a respected overseer, you certainly were a people pleaser, letting Albedo scan you out of his own volition (Sucrose was fussing the entire time, she didn’t want you to be hurt in the process, after all!).

“Look Grand Overseer! This is you and me and Dodoco!” Your vision was quickly filled with a flurry of bright colors on paper, one that was filled with an abundant amount of red and the other with the colors of your clothing.

“Ah! So it is! Good job, Hook!”

Everyone in silence soon tore themselves away from their work, looking at you with evident confusion.

Klee blinked, tilting her head as she looked just as lost and surprised as the other three researchers in the mountain, “Hook? That’s not how you say Klee…”

Your heart hammered against your ribcage and tried to save it with a cough, “D-Did I now? Ah, my bad… I meant to say was that you… did a great job! It immediately hooked me in!” It was a half-baked excuse — hell, call it a raw excuse even and everyone aside from Klee caught on as the explosive child beamed with pride, just happy that you loved her heartfelt creation.

Albedo eyed you in suspicion before returning to his work.

Then there was your misplaced reminiscence.

In your defense however, Snezhnaya does feel like Belobog. Sometimes… most definitely not because of the fact that both places are constantly subjected in a thick layer of snow.

The Tsaritsa was all but cruel to you. She loved you like any other archon out there and always basked in your presence — even keeping you for herself a week or two longer, leaving the next nation in your rotation of visitation completely restless at your tardiness. However in her gentle kindness was a terrifying beast that laid dormant.

Only then did you catch a glimpse of it on the morning that you and her spent on your appointed room in the palace, both you and the Cryo Archon siting on the balcony while you sipped on a hot beverage, enjoying the mountainous coated in freshly fallen snow.

You sat your cup down and blew on your hands. The Tsaritsa laughed at your actions, pleased that you can truly feel the love she embodied through the cold winds of her icy nation.

“Cold enough for you, Grand Overseer?” She jested with a light tone.

“…Yep…” your teeth lightly chattered. “…T-This place is a lot c-colder than Belobog, I’ll tell you that… B-But not more than Jarilo-VI as a whole…”

All of a sudden, you could feel the creeping coldness from beside you and looked to where the archon sat, her striking eyes looking at you with curiosity… with a smidge of coldness behind them.

“Pardon? Not colder than where?”

Her tone was pressed despite her sweet adoring smile. She took pride in her sovereign kingdom of cryo. It was all for you, to feel the comforting cold after you spent your last stay with Murata in Natlan. This was her giving you love, and suddenly, it wasn’t enough?

The better part of your mind decided to feign ignorance. And you lived to see another day.

And then the sudden secrecy.

By all means, of all people, Zhongli indulged in your stories the most. Whenever you visited Liyue, you were almost always found beside him if Ningguang wasn’t asking for your presence or if you weren’t getting coerced into another drinking competition with Beidou and her crew. And in this case, you were preoccupied with a little something while you accompanied Zhongli in his usual spot.

He listened earnestly to the storyteller while you busied yourself writing a little something on a parchment you had acquired from the Wangsheng parlor when you fetched Zhongli for his break.

And ever so slightly, he’d find himself glancing at your hunched over form, while you stewed in your little activity. He didn’t particularly mind the lack of conversation from you. Having you beside him was more than enough, actually. But it wouldn’t hurt for you to have him be just as engaged in your little agenda, would it?

The former archon peered at your work, only to be faced with scripts that were oddly reminiscent of Liyue’s characters. Albeit there were significant changes that made the language still all too different from his nation.

“…Might you be translating ancient texts, Grand Overseer?” He inquired and was met by a suspicious jolt from you.

It was a text Dan Heng gave you before to practice the language used in the Xianzhou fleet. Only now did you have time to do his little practices upon your descent. You had plans to check up on everyone as soon as you were done in Teyvat, and perhaps impressing Yanqing with your language prowess was a good party trick (and eventually not get bullied into eating something spicy because of your ignorance).

“Ah! N-No—! I— yes. No.”

Zhongli tilted his head and you were quick to recall your flubbed answer, shoving away the parchment into your little pocket. There was a frantic look in your eyes and Zhongli was concerned, naturally.

You used to be so willing in divulging everything to him in exchange for his stories, with the both of you managing to talk from dusk to dawn without fail with him needing little to no sleep and the time dilation that your body couldn’t seem to adjust to. You weren’t afraid to share what you were preoccupied with, and even often let him experience new things from your own world.

So why are you keeping secrets now?

But perhaps, the breaking point was your standoffish nature.

Aether has always cherished his raw connection with you and was proud to wear his closeness to your divinity, not because of infamy, but because of how incredibly special you treat him. While, certainly, you have made the people of Teyvat special on your visits, but what sets him apart from the rest is your adamant expression of affection towards him. For some reason, he was favored alone, not as a part of a collective unlike Venti and his people, or Zhongli and his. He alone was yours to indulge, even more behind closed doors in his teapot realm.

However… something was off after your abrupt visit.

Something had changed when you came home.

You were far more distracted, occupied with that tiny device you always held in your hand. Suddenly, Paimon wasn’t the loudest one in the teapot mansion with the incessant beeping that your phone made. It never did that before, it was always tucked away somewhere, sometimes even letting him place it in his inventory if there was little time to go back into the teapot.

He had always deemed your mode of communication useless. Especially on your travels. It was always so silent, like a useless artifact that you keep on you.

But suddenly it was teeming with life, buzzing endlessly that could drive any man with weak resistance into the threshold of insanity. You’d often pick it up and grant the little device a heavenly smile and proceed to be on it for hours upon hours.

It was a heartbreaking time for him.

It was heartbreaking whenever he would peer at your device, only for you to keep him in the dark as you made some lame excuse.

It was heartbreaking whenever he could no longer recognize your words when you talked about your own anecdotes, throwing name after name at him while he listened intently.

And oh was it heartbreaking when you called him by the name of someone else.

“[Name], have you seen my earring?” He took pride in his informality with you showing your comfortability and familiarity with the renowned traveler.

“Over on the table, Cae— ther… Caether… Aether.”

Not so much with that tiny slip.

Yes. Perhaps that was it. And all the preceding reasons.

Perhaps it was why you sat like a condemned criminal in the court of Focalors, as every archon looked at you with scrutiny and skepticism in their eyes. Only sweet Nahida looked at you in concern. Ah, your poor child. You’d rather her look away than experience the possible punishment you were about to receive.

“Grand Overseer, make no mistake, this is a trial born from the accumulated concerns of us all. This is a trial born… from our love.” The hydro archon’s voice bellowed through the courts. She normally wasn’t one to personally try the defendants, however you were a special circumstance.

You always were.

…Sure doesn’t feel like it…

“M-May I at least know what my charges are…?”

“Infidelity, Grand Overseer.” Ei answered for the collective. “I can only hope you are not found guilty.”

You grimaced. You’re quite glad that this was a private trial, with only the archons, retired or otherwise, gazing at you. Make no mistake however — this was an intimidating position to be in. You may be the Grand Overseer, but you’re quite sure the only thing keeping you alive is their thinly veiled fanaticism and adoration for you. Otherwise, you would have been incinerated long ago.

It might have been your luck. But it was something you would wholeheartedly thank as the moment Focalors slammed her gavel down, the horrifying screech of something you can only classify as a hideous ally pulled you out of your impending doom.

The alarm on your phone rang incessantly, a glaring reminder of your subpar and mundane reality, waking you up from a dream that you could barely remember.

You shot up, only realizing you fell asleep in front of your own computer. You looked up to see your game open, with your beloved traveler gazing down at you with a disappointed frown on his face.

You chalked it up to your awful sleep and rubbed your eyes, closing the game and migrating to the other, where your in-game phone was filled to the brim with messages.

Smothering a yawn in your hand, you can only shake your head.

“My games have been really weird lately. I should probably leave them alone for now. Maybe have fun with Elysia and the girls.” You muttered to yourself but not before powering your computer down.

Truly, your utter cluelessness is bound to drive everyone insane.

Fret not however, they will make it work. They will let you know of their sentience. They will make sure that you are aware of how much they admire you.

It’s only a matter of time until then.

#this is a feel good fic tbh LMAO #before i face my final exams #genshin impact x male reader #genshin impact x gn reader #honkai star rail x male reader #honkai star rail x gn reader #hsr x gn reader #hsr x male reader #jhuzen’s stupid one shots #sagau #sahsrau #sahsr

[ddarker-dreams]

pretty boy trust fund kid with mommy issues just fucking smacked me in the face at 8 am. fair lock, i too would recoil if someone like that bullied me into a relationship. no scara, we cannot k-drama our way into this

sometimes in life an impartial review is required.

because listen. in the genshin setting he's bestowed sentience then left to his own devices, has to use the ripped out heart to shutdown the tatarasuna furnace, a heart he thinks came from his first friend murdering someone, after that horror, his next friend dies from illness, leaving him all alone again. then there's getting tinkered on by dottore, having his limbs ripped off in the abyss and then put back on....

compare that to modern au.

ei would still be a distant mother who probably calls a day late to wish him a happy birthday, but man. that isn't enough to twist one's heart with empathy. it sucks but it's not at the having-your-limbs-torn-off-and-reattached level of sucking. if he comes in to bother you while you're working a long shift you'll probably be praying for his mom's company to go under so you can have some peace.

#i love scara but in a modern au i'd actually hiss at him #scaramouche brainrot #answered #Anonymous

[alitheakorogane]

SAGAU?

The SAGAU or Self-Aware Genshin Impact AU, especially Imposter AU, is a very intriguing concept... if we never counted the mischaracterization and irony of some of the characters.

I mean, the Archons are being batshit crazy hunting over you when these little hypocrites are doing the same thing with having similar faces with their statues, and their damn people never connected the dots on how the Archons are just beside them playing 'guess who' (Zhongli and Venti, I'm talking to you)?!

And where is Celestia in all of this shit (in some fics)?

So I have a great idea to explain why the characters are acting like medieval men with pitchforks in my version of the AU.

There are two real-life Genshin events that inspire me to do my twist on the AU:

Hoyoverse's plan is to create a virtual world by 2030, with Genshin Impact as the "prototype". They are also keen on putting an effort into AI-related research.

The recent controversy regarding the famous anti-cheat driver used in Genshin Impact is allegedly used for malicious intent by hackers, where it kills antivirus processes and services for mass-deploying ransomware.

I was also inspired by the Gravity Falls episode "Soos and the Real Girl", where a video game character, "GIFanny", who is from a dating game simulator (inspired by real Japanese dating sims), became sentient and zaps her programmers to oblivion when they try to delete her. Heck, her most prominent ability is the power to override computer functions, transfer herself between electronics, and can download a person's conscious mind into the digital world, thereby uniting that individual with her forever.

In short, she's a Yandere. Perfect.

Because of all of these, this SAGAU idea was born.

What if the rabid attitudes of the characters in SAGAU Imposter AU were caused by a computer virus attack on a certain vulnerable code in the game that was intended to introduce an AI for the developer's incoming virtual reality project?

The AI was designed to create the characters, whether playable or non-playable, very interactive in the digital world. The technology allows for the characters to gain 'sentience', to allow them to talk and interact with the players without any difficulty.

Unfortunately, because it was slightly unfinished, the code was vulnerable to hacks and computer bugs that could possibly attack the code, and eventually, the game installed by the player.

The hacker, who is also a Genshin player, eventually finds out about it and made a computer bug to try how it will affect the game and warn others about the danger it causes. Then they posted it on some shady website under the guise of a private server or something.

And there was this unlucky player, who unknowingly opened the computer bug this hacker had sent when they wanted to open a private server (the player doesn't know how to obtain them so they stumbled on this website).

Unknown to both of them, the AI had been affected by the virus differently than they expected. The characters, the lore... it all changed and twisted to something different.

The characters were now sentient, but the virus had made their personalities deviate from their actual personalities in the original lore, and the AI added one thing to the now-changed lore: the existence of the "Creator", the Almother of Celestia and Teyvat who made the fantasy world by the flick of their hand.

The virus, now knowing the existence of the Creator, created an imposter based on what it had gotten from your user preferences, and your social media accounts. Just like real-life malware does: stealing your identity online... to rule Teyvat and at the same time, fully infecting the game and the computer, finally sending the infected codes at a fixed time, this time on the surface web (like Google, Instagram, etc.)

Since they are now sentient, the AI can recognize the virus spreading on the game, and release their last resort to combat the imposter and the virus itself: bringing the real Creator to Teyvat by any means. The golden blood rushing in the Creator's veins acts like an antivirus or the cure to the game.

The Creator will also have allies intended to help the real one navigate through Teyvat. The Chosen Vessels, including a certain little Archon (with her being connected to the Irminsul, served as the AI's server), will help the Creator defeat the Imposter and their now corrupted Acolytes.

And the unsuspected player, who just loved playing Genshin Impact as a means of escaping reality, was the victim of all of this.

#sagau #sagau impostor au #genshin impact #genshin #sagau brainrot #self aware genshin #genshin impact sagau #sagau idea #self aware AU #imposter AU #genshin cult AU #sagau cult AU #cult AU

[serenity--writes]

Intro + Rules

Hello, everyone! Call me Serenity!

REQUESTS ARE OPEN FOR ALL FANDOMS LISTED

I write for Honkai Impact 3rd, Honkai: Star Rail, Tears of Themis, and Genshin Impact.

X reader has been added, simply because I figured why not. I got convinced to do it lol

For ships, I will write basically anything, but I mostly write Kiamei stuff. If I don't feel comfortable (either with the content, or just not really knowing the characters involved) I will not write for the ask, I'm sorry!

Ships I will write for:

**Honkai Impact 3rd,

Kiana Kaslana x Raiden Mei

Kiana x Fu Hua x Mei

Bronya x Seele

Bianka "Durandal" x Rita

Fu Hua x Herrscher of Sentience

**Honkai: Star Rail,

Stelle x Kafka

Stelle x Dan Heng x March 7th

Himeko x Kafka

**Genshin Impact,

Venti x Venti's friend

Venti x Xiao

Zhongli x Tartaglia

Jean x Lisa

Ying | Lumine & Kong | Aether (separate) x anyone (no children)

Raiden Ei x Yae Miko

**Tears of Themis,

Main character "Rosa" x everyone (separately)

Main character "Rosa" x everyone (polyship)

Any of the 4 male leads x another male lead (for example: Artem x Marius, or Luke x Marius)

--->This is not all, but these are ships I'm comfortable writing. Don't be afraid to ask for ships not listed! No judgement here :D

Things I will write:

Fluff (either platonic or romantic)

Modern AU (no student/professor relationships unless both are of age)

Major character death

Illness/chronic or otherwise (please specify what illness it is if it's serious, so I can do some research on it in advance!)

Things I will NOT write:

Smut

Minors in sexual relationships/situations (teens being in relationships with other teens is alright, but no sexual content)

Gender-bending

Character bashing (unless it doesn't involve making the character ooc)

#Honkai Impact 3rd #Honkai: Star Rail #Genshin Impact #Tears of Themis #Request #blog rules #introduction #Character x character #fanfiction #kiamei #bronseele #kiana x mei #stelle x kafka #dan heng x march 7th #dan heng x stelle x march 7th #himeko x kafka #bronya x seele #Honkai Impact 3rd x reader #Honkai: Star rail x reader #Genshin impact x reader

[luphorics]

[resident evil au/oc] some concept sketches of my reimagining of hyacinthe (originally my genshin oc) in the RE universe!! introductory rambles under the cut !!

similarly to their gnsn counterpart, re!hyacinthe is a bioweapon who gained sentience beyond their programmed intelligence. this spirals into a painful journey of understanding their existence, as they struggle to make sense of their newfound humanity and their roots as an abomination. they eventually realize that the lines between being "human" and "monster" also blur, making it all the more difficult.

sometime near the present or future events, Hyacinthe gets transmuted via an altered version of the chrysalid virus. this practically changed their entire form and granted them a much more human-like visage. however it isn't perfect, as traces of their abnormalities remained.

the little girl shown is the RE counterpart of Synthia in the gnsn verse, named Sidney! she's important in re!Cinthe's lore as she not only taught them the curiosities of mankind, but is also the first human Cinthe developed a strong bond with. they've been protecting her ever since they discovered her in the ruins of her suburban city. (which had been devestated due to an experiment of sorts)

now grown-up, she reunites with "Snowy" (the nickname she gave to Cinthe before they ever chose their own name to begin with) many decades later, but comes to find out that they've changed quite a lot.

#resident evil oc #resident evil #luphoricsart #luphorics oc: hyacinthe #luphorics oc: sidney lee #cw body horror #cw horror

[contentloadingandstuff]

Genshin Impact Necro AU: Beleth - Story

Finally an update to the AU. I just did the Lantern Rite event, and that *finally* pushed me to remember my neglected characters.

Link to the Necro AU masterlist.

Beleth, also known as Arfill, came to be when one of the Creators, Death himself, understood that his creation was not for him to enjoy. Regardless of his intent, anything created by Life withered and faded into nothingness when he touched it. Hence, he decided to separate a small fraction of himself. Beleth, whose destructive power was small enough to contain it, was to experience and witness his father's masterpiece that was reality.

And enjoy it in his name he did. Eons passed, and Arfill was still discovering more and more about everything around him. He kept records of all of his findings diligently, storing them in the Timeless Void as concepts and thoughts, later to be written down in his countless journals. When the first creatures gained sentience on a level unseen before, Arfill felt the need to share his acquisitions, hoping to find a fascination with the world similar to his among humans. Yet engaging with them directly as a deity contradicted the wishes of Life, so he decided to find a middle ground.

Leading from the back seat, Beleth guided a few of the humans towards the creation of the powerful and knowledgeable nation of Kaenri'ah. Its citizens were eager to discover and learn, much like their unseen ruler. For that, he gifted them a part of his amassed information. The designs and teachings lead to the development of technology, medicine, elementalism and the art of Khemia - creating life from the resources accessible. Khemia was a derivative of Necro alchemy, a fact that Beleth preferred to keep secret. Yet the thirst for development of the people was underestimated by Arfill, and the truth soon came to light. Even though the existence of Necro was made common knowledge, not many attempted to actually research it. There was simply no way to isolate it, as Necro visions didn't appear naturally in the world. The element was not meant for mortals - gods as well, for that matter - to manipulate. So the citizens stayed by their natural Khemia.

The development was also the time when Beleth met Makoto, a goddess with whom Beleth shared desires and values. The two of them wanted the best for their people, to avoid suffering, whatever form it may take on.

Celestia kept an eye on Beleth from the moment it was established by Life. They were wary of his origin and connection to the creator of death, Ush. The divine guardians feared that Beleth's people would break out of the cycle put in place by their superior.

They saw Khemia as an insult towards the natural order of creation. As such, punishment was due.

Beleth could only watch as his entire work, his people and heritage, was burned to the ground. Regardless of his demands or pleas, Makoto tried to protect Kaenri'ah. For her compassion she paid the ultimate price. If not for him, Ei would have met a similar fate.

He felt many emotions at that moment. Feelings he wasn't used to. Rage. Grief. Hate. A disgust for Ti and her rules. He did only what the premise allowed, did he not? The barrier between life and death remained untouched, he made sure of that. And what he got for his diligence to uphold the law? Suffering of his people, who weren't even at fault here. It was him who shared the knowledge, and him who should pay the price. Yet Celestia didn't punish him, for they feared the wrath of the second creator. At least physically. They cursed the folk, twisting them into lowly, idiotic monsters. Celestia hoped that the compassionate Beleth would fear to step out of the line ever again.

They didn't know the good-natured Arfill died along with his nation. What replaced him was a divine being full of the purest disdain for them and their ideals.

With nowhere to go, Beleth returned to the Void to consult his father. He was rightfully enraged by this slight towards his laws, and, with a mere flick of his wrist, brought upon the world something more horrible than the Standard Bearers themselves. His son was taught how to separate the very fabric of reality to free Necro from its confines, and use it to establish a new order in Teyvat. A new order dictated not by Life's idleness, but Death's care for his creations. The freedom to explore and create using everything within the world and beyond its scope.

To make this goal come true, however, Celestia had to be destroyed.

Beleth was powerful, sure, but an entire council of gods handpicked by Life would be too much even for him. So he had to enlist some help.

And what better soldiers than Famine, War, Fear, Pain, Sadness, Plague and Pain? Beleth knew that their introduction into the mortal realms would bring upon death, but he was alright with that. He came to terms with the idea of sacrifice for the greater good a long time ago.

The first step was to breach the barrier Celestia created to separate the Bearers from Teyvat. Beleth decided that the best way to go about it would be to rip it open with the same energy that was used to create it.

And so, during the first days of the Archon War that followed the destruction of his nation, Arfill created a mock Gnosis to lure living gods right to him. Blinded by greed and the need for power, seven souls reached for it. And seven were annihilated during their attempts, leaving behind only souls. The power contained within the Gnosis would be too much, even for Arfill himself. It contained the pure essence of Death himself.

The souls were presented to the Bearers. The elemental powers within would allow them to wield not only Necro, but a different power as well. Before entering the world, each of them took on a different element.

Sunqu, the Bearer of Plague, took on Dendro.

Qablu, the Bearer of War, took on Pyro.

Ubuttu, the Bearer of Hunger, took on Geo.

Adaru, the Bearer of Pain, took on Hydro.

Sibtu, the Bearer of Fear, took on Cryo.

Zerutu, the Bearer of Hate, took on Electro.

Sapal Libbi, the Bearer of Sadness, took on Anemo.

With their new powers, the council could breach the barrier once and for all. Along with Beleth, they lead armies of undead against loyalist gods. The victims, both among mortals and immortals, were countless.

As horrible as the events were, only the oldest gods remember them. With a heroic effort, a group of living gods allied with Beleth snuck into the newly created Sumeru and sabotaged the Ley Lines, wiping the memory of Necro from the majority of the world. A great deal of those who resisted either went insane or were eliminated, leaving only a small group of dieties to remember Beleth's conquest.

The power of the Eight was immense, but the feeble souls couldn't hold them up forever and the loyalist resistence was high. After a long and bloody campaign, their forces were spent, and the Bearers retreated to the Void along with Beleth. Their armies moved north, and settled in the Barren Lands, creating a new human nation from the local inhabitants - one where the dead and the living would walk alongside each other towards a new future.

Generations went by, and the leftover Necro threats dwindled in number. The memories among even the gods did too. Skeletons and violent spirits soon became unnamed monsters, associated more with Hilichurls and Slimes. The exorcists, focused on more recent dangers, forgot about the true demons over time, leaving only the most powerful of them (like Xiao or Shenhe) to face the occasional skirmishers from the Void.

Beleth, having reflected upon the damage of the Archon War, seeks to pursue a different path of achieving victory. Throughout the years new opponents emerged, and a change of strategy was needed. He plans from the sidelines, looking closely at Fatui's progress. Their plan has a chance to succeed, but Beleth isn't willing to see it come to fruition. He waits for the right moment to strike,  for an opportunity to snatch all of the Gnosi at the same time. Their power is something he doesn't want to pass up on.

Thanks for reading!

#genshin impact #genshin impact au #genshin au #genshin oc #genshin impact oc #alternative universe #genshin impact necro au #genshin necro au #necro au #canon x oc #oc x canon

[mayulli]

Mayu question do you think genshin characters would feel affected by the amount of food we feed them in-game in the sentience au because 👨🏻‍🎨🍰I’ve been feeding Xiao all of my almond tofu and everyone with a lot of food (I finished all hundreds of them and made 300 egg sushi)

My heart dropped when i saw this ask..... I genuinely thought that i already replied to this but noo it was stuck in my drafts for months!!! I GENUINELY AM SORRY DEAR ;-; [Well I would like to believe that it won't hurt them... much heheh... Cause like Xiao gave me a hard time when I was pulling for him the first time and when I finally got him I may or may have not spam clicked 100 almond tofus all at once out of petty revenge.... yes I would like to believe that it won't affect them. Cause I do not want to die.] - what i thought i already posted-

#i am sooo sorry dear TvT #hope you are doing well #i hope you are having an amazing week TT #or day... or year... or month *sweats* #mayu mailbox

[seelestia]

I'm not gonna lie- apart from just general genshin x reader content here, my most interacted tags and cotent are with SAGAU :D

I've always loved self aware media, from doki doki literature club, fleabag, deadpool, I freakin love it whenever some kind of media addresses the 4th wall or even incorporates it into the plot :''D

With sagau, I stumbled upon it very early on and so I binge read so many sagau fics, I scoured and scrolled through the tags until I reached the bottom fr

I don't necessarily have a favorite genre of sagau, whether it be crack and humor, fluff and romance, or angst and gore- I pretty much consumed it all but I think my tastes have come to change and I've suddenly started to prefer the more humory and less "deep" or gorey parts of sagau :''D

If you're wondering why I kept mentioning gore- there's like this sub-genre of SAGAU called the Impostor AU. Quick summary: it's basically if the reader gets isekai'd and someone (an impostor) takes the title of creator themselves and makes all characters turn violent towards the reader :'D

Right now tho I do recommend reading Language Barrier by @/nobody-for-sure as it takes a more comedic "cracky" concept for SAGAU, it's literally one of my favorites right now (^W^)

There's also this uhhh c!impostor au thing that I've seen around the sagau tags, it's still pretty new but the premise also takes the standard plot of the SAGAU Impostor au and adds more into it and makes it all less intense-ish (no cults, yanderes, or gore lmao)

I forget who the og poster is but everything they've posted about it has been pretty interesting so far :33

But what about you my dear author? Any interest in dipping your hand at this genre? (No pressure of course I just thought I'd ask) - Ever so sincerely yours, 👹✨ anon <3 (I always look forward to your answers to my asks :DD)

oooo, i know about doki doki literature club and fleabag, so i get what you mean about that 4th wall breach and the sentience part of it all !! smth about it is so chilling yet intriguing — but on a light-hearted note, it's like i'm just laying there on my bed in my sheep-printed pajamas and suddenly, the characters start talking to me??? like me??? hi to you too, i suppose. (/j)

NOT UNTIL THE BOTTOM OF THE TAGS HELPDSKWK the SAGAU really got you super engrossed, ay? understandable >:) i love how the genres can range from gorey and intense to humor-ish and light, but each still retains that sentience feel!

and oooo, i see !! i've heard of the impostor au and i know it's a sub-genre of the SAGAU but never actually fully understood it until you explained it. that sounds interesting tho, i think it thickens the plot since the impostor can be considered as an antagonist of some sort + reader also having to deal with the loyalty the characters have for the impostor creator! question, how do the impostors behave usually? do most of them have a personal vendetta against the reader? like if they were someone whom the reader used to know? i'm super interested 👀

also, i feel like this meme accurately represents our energy rn HRLSLDPWL anon, you are now my SAGAU teacher 🙏 (/lh)

i think it made more sense that you like the less intense-ish ones since i recalled before that you said you prefer angst without character death once. idk why i remembered that little detail but i did fjeksklwe

i also read the series you recc'd and oml??? at the end of the first chapter, when venti said, "Xaue kigxm, so jogxlg o ztgi jtgzyxkjta g jxuc kxaue mtoegy." i felt that in my soul fr fr (/j), but i love the concept tho??? teyvat does have its own language and i think the author portrayed it perfectly from the reader's perspective! ty for the rec, it is absolute chef's kiss 🤌✨ if you manage to remember the og poster, feel free to tell! 👀

as for me, i'm slowly but certainly dipping my toes in the water! >:) i've never done a series with chapters before since most of my works are stand-alones, but who is to say? maybe i'll gather the courage someday, hehe~

for now, i think i'll settle on reading and doing more research on SAGAU! i've been telling myself to to read more stuff either way, so this is the perfect chance <3

#anon is becoming my SAGAU mentor and i love it 🙏 (/g) #wishing you a great day anon! mwah mwah <3 #thanks for the recs and dropping by hehe #ask box! 📬 #visitor: dearest 👹✨ anon!

[stemwriter]

Pursuit of Knowledge - Chapter 4

Summary:

[Y/N] continues Act II of Mondstadt, finds out the worst thing about not having the ability to control time at will, and, along with Kaeya, takes a well deserved rest. What's something else that happens in Act II?

That's right! The Diluc trial run. Still, even that should be "normal", right?

Completion of story recommended: Akasha Pulses, the Kalpa Flame Rises (Sumeru Act V), Shenanigans and Sweet Wine (Kaeya hangout)

Also on Ao3 under StemWriter!

Word count: ~8k

You were part of the story now, weren’t you? No matter if the world your avatar was in was made from earth and sky or 1’s and 0’s, you were influencing it regardless. At this point, it’d probably be best to just go with the flow, but you had been thinking about what major event you would want to change, and you really hoped everything would stick to the script long enough to enable you to do that. Even if it meant you would end up upsetting people by hiding things from them.

The four of you hung around in the tavern for a bit just thinking, until Venti finally said to you, “Ah, [Y/N], it should be getting close to time now. Shall we get going?”

You looked at your phone to see the time. It was about 15 minutes past 6pm. It was time. “Oh- right, yeah, we should!”

“You two have somewhere to be? Since Kaeya and I have nothing more to talk about up here, I suppose I can go do other things. If you need me, I’ll be working the bar for a while.” Diluc said, crossing his arms.

“Everyone’s leaving already? Well then, I’ll be taking my leave as well.” Kaeya said, heading towards the stairwell.

He hung around for a second, seemingly expecting someone to say something, then left.

“Come on [Y/N], let’s go! Our prize is waiting for us!” Venti tried to make it sound like you weren’t about to try to steal a divine artifact, and become wanted criminals. 

Oh right, you were going to see Diluc again after this! You should probably give him a little hint on what’s going to happen.

“Alright, we’re going to go now.” You walked up to Diluc, and began whispering. “Hey Diluc,” He looked at you. “I promise it wasn’t us, it was the Fatui.”

He looked at you in confusion.

“You’ll get that later. Anyway, bye~” Your tone sounded a lot like Venti’s at the end there. You sighed internally when you thought about that.

------------------------------------------------------------

“Alright fortune-teller, what’s going to happen?” Venti asked, eager to get a response from you. For some reason, it almost seemed like he already knew, and was just asking you to see what you’d say.

“Well… We’re not going to get arrested, I can tell you that. At least, not if we do this right.” You didn’t want to tell him it wouldn’t work.

“Is that all you can tell me?” He whined. “Fine, let’s go in.” He pouted after saying that. “But you have to tell me more later! I want to see how much you know!”

You went back in the Cathedral with him, making sure to be quiet. He stayed behind while you snuck your way to the Holy Lyre. You made sure to be very careful there, assuming the guards were actual people, and not the dumbest A.I. you’ve ever seen in any modern game. You looked at their movements on your way in, and they… still seemed robotic. Were they still AI? They can’t be, right? You looked at the face of one of the guards, and while his face had a few more polygons than the NPC’s you saw in the regular game, he had a blank stare as he paced back and forth. That’s… something to think about later. You kept going through the basement, avoiding being seen.

During your attempt at burglary, you remembered your soundboard. You hadn’t used that in a bit, and you knew a good moment to use it again is coming up. You got that ready as you made your way through.

As you entered the room with the lyre, an Electro Cicin Mage steals it, and teleports out. Wow! What a surprise! Thankfully, you just got teleported out of the building too, because you weren’t sure you could go back through the basement without getting caught.

“We’re busted! Run!” You and Paimon said at the same time.

Venti looked a bit confused for a second before leaving with you to the tavern. You made sure your soundboard was ready.

*Benny Hill theme*

The goofy music was fitting, considering the wind tunnel things you assumed he made threw you into the huge statue in the middle of the plaza, as well as the roofs of several buildings. Your grand escape wasn’t very graceful, but you made it safely. As you busted into the tavern, Venti gave you a weird look.

Next thing you knew, you were talking with Diluc again. Right before you headed upstairs, you decided to remind him of what you’d said earlier about the Fatui. In the version you remembered, he trusted the Traveler enough to not turn them in, but you still wanted to make sure he didn’t turn you in here. You listened as two Knights rushed in.

“Ah, Master Diluc. Have you seen two thieves around?”

“...What happened?”

“Haven't you heard, Master Diluc? Two thieves were trying to steal the Holy Lyre!”

“Oh? How odd… any ideas on who the culprits could be? Fatui, perhaps?” He remembered. Yes!

“We don’t know, Master Diluc. One appeared young, was dark-haired, and dressed in a teal green, and the other was… blond. We’re putting up wanted posters now.” 

You still didn’t know how they got so much from Venti and yet couldn’t describe Aether as anything else as “blond”.

“I believe they headed that way.” Diluc said, pointing out the door.

You went downstairs to talk to him, Venti running ahead of you. Diluc already seemed tired of Venti’s attitude, assuming he stole something. Not the Holy Lyre der Himmel, but a bottle of alcohol.

You forgot the Traveler and Paimon hadn’t met Diluc yet. Sure, you have, but they weren’t you. Thankfully, Diluc understood enough to where a quick “Ooohhh, right, they haven’t met you yet!” was enough to get the point across. He continued as you remembered, sneaking in an expected bash at the Knights at the end.

Diluc really didn’t like the Knights, huh? You understood that he felt that way because of trauma and stuff, but you wished he had a more… positive attitude about things like that. There weren’t any therapists in Teyvat, were there? Oh! New idea! Become the therapist. Were you qualified? Probably not. But at this point, anyone for these people to talk to would help. You sat back and listened to Venti’s stunning performance again, this time without the fancy cutscene to go with it. Diluc looked awe-struck, probably the same way you did when you first heard it.

You agreed to meet after midnight, when the tavern was closed. Great! Another six hours to wait! …That rhymed, didn’t it.

“Alright, I don’t really have anything to do, so I’ll probably just eat something and take a nap. Bye, see you later!” You said to them, leaving the tavern. You found a corner to log off, and left your bedroom to go “take care” of yourself. 

Your eyes hurt a bit from looking at the screen for so long, and your stomach growled with hunger. You’d been online for a good 7 hours, and you only now realized just how much you needed a break. Well, time flies fast when you’re having fun! ‘Was all of that really fun though?’ You asked yourself, before immediately pushing that thought out of your mind to go eat a whole family-sized bag of potato chips. Self care!

You snacked before… gracefully falling asleep, yeah, that, on your couch for a nap that would end up lasting way longer than you anticipated. 

--------------------------------------------------------

As it turns out, falling asleep on an uncomfortable couch after binging on junk food isn't the best for the human body. You woke up on the floor, nauseous, and somehow even more tired than when you fell asleep, and you decided to go in the bathroom just in case. You checked the time on your phone, and it was already close to midnight. Thankfully, the nauseousness went away and you didn’t have to get worried about getting sick at the worst time possible. You washed your face, and headed to your bedroom to meet the others in the tavern.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Before [Y/N] had left with Venti, they said something that Diluc had no clue what it meant until those Knights came running in, looking for the thief who stole the Holy Lyre. He had chosen to believe [Y/N] when they said they could basically see the future, and this only proved it more. 

The question was no longer if they were telling the truth or not. It was how to proceed. He had some time to spare while they waited until the tavern closed. He needed to investigate this on his own. “It was the Fatui”, [Y/N] said. If that was so, then he should start where all the Fatui in the city seem to stay. He headed to the Goth Grand Hotel, preparing for a search for answers.

He hadn’t seen Kaeya at all. He was normally still out and about at this time. Did he actually wrap things up at a decent hour? Or was he up to something?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

As soon as Kaeya left the third floor of the tavern, he was hit with a wave of exhaustion. He was planning to stay in the tavern for a bit, and possibly wait for [Y/N] and Venti to do whatever they needed to, but he desperately needed rest. He left the tavern, beginning to walk to his room in the Favonius Headquarters. Wait, couldn’t he use the waypoint there? [Y/N] had taught him how earlier that day.

It was at the highest point, wasn’t it? He just needed to visualize the area, imagine himself there. Just feel it, and…

And there he was. He almost fainted from the sensation paired with his exhaustion, but he made it. He glided down to the door on the roof, and entered the building. It had been a long day, hadn’t it? He entered his room, took off the bits of armor he was wearing, and promptly passed out on his bed.

--------------------------------------------------------

He woke up in the middle of the night for seemingly no reason. Everything told him that he wasn’t supposed to be up right now, but he didn’t feel like he could fall back asleep. He sat up, and realized how bad he felt. He was drenched in sweat, his hair was a mess, and his eyepatch had shifted, making his right eye visible. He quickly adjusted it. There wasn’t anyone else in the room, right? …Of course there wasn’t. 

After a quick shower, he changed into a clean uniform, minus most of the accessories. It wasn’t worth the time to put all of that on for the little he was planning to do. He figured he wouldn’t need it, since he could easily hold his own in a fight, should he get in one, but he decided to bring his Vision with him. 

He left the building, being careful not to make too much noise, and realized he had no destination in mind. Had the tavern closed yet? Ah, it probably had, it’s not worth it. Is it? Again, something told him to just forget stopping by, but it wouldn’t hurt to check, right? He planned to stop by the tavern to see if it was open, and if it was, to get a drink before leaving the city. After that? You know what they say in Mondstadt:

“Let the wind lead.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Venti couldn’t believe Master Diluc wouldn’t serve him any more alcohol, especially when he was going to be in the tavern, in a room filled with wine barrels for so long. He was alone now, so maybe he could sneak just one more sip without him noticing… But that wouldn’t prove he was trustworthy now, would it? And besides, he wasn’t that addicted to it to where he couldn’t go a few hours without it. For now, he just started to come up with his latest ballad to pass the time.

Or at least he was going to, but he just couldn’t stop thinking about [Y/N]. From the very beginning, they knew who he really was. At first he thought it was because they recognized his voice from when he helped them battle Dvalin, but they supposedly have knowledge of future events. He was wondering how much they knew, but they wouldn’t tell him much at all. It seemed like a weird way to phrase it, and they acted like they knew a lot more detail than he did, but if they really were telling the truth, were they too, aware of the s-

Venti heard Diluc open the door to the room on the third floor. He immediately looked around at the wine barrels, making sure they weren’t touched. Good thing he didn’t try anything!

“Ah, Master Diluc, you’re back! Any news on the Holy Lyre?” Venti perked up. He already knew the answer to that, but he wanted to get the conversation started.

“It’s not where I thought it may be, in the Goth Grand Hotel, but I… persuaded some Fatui members to tell me where it is.” He adjusted his left glove.

“Well then, are we only waiting for [Y/N] and the tavern to close now?” Venti asked.

“That, and I was thinking of contacting one more person to help us. I know it’s late, but hopefully she’ll understand…” 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Diluc stopped by the tavern to close up and check on Venti, and quickly set out again to find some others who could help. It was getting close to time, but he should be able to get someone. Hopefully Jean wouldn’t be too preoccupied with her work…

He opened the door to leave the tavern, and saw Kaeya walking away. Had he not gone to rest? Kaeya turned around after hearing the door open, and looked at Diluc with that same smug expression as always.

“Diluc, you’re still here? And here I’d thought everyone left already… I came for a drink, but I won’t bother you if you’ve already closed up.” He started to turn back around to leave.

“Hold on. I haven’t put everything away, you can come in for a bit if you’d like.” He could help right? Even though Diluc didn’t exactly get along with him very well anymore, he couldn’t deny that he got things done when he needed to.

“Oh, where’s this hospitality coming from? Do you need something from me, is that what this is?"

“I think you’d be useful to us here. I’ll discuss it with you more inside.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

Diluc said he was going to contact people to help them, but Venti didn’t expect him to be back with help this soon.

He heard two sets of footsteps coming up the stairs, and then there were three in the room. The help he had found was Kaeya, who sounded almost… shy, like he didn’t feel like he should be there. When questioned about it, he got a little nervous and insisted it was just insomnia. From the looks of it, he thought he could cover up his emotions with clean clothes and perfume. Venti played along with him, changing the subject to what they were going to do next.

“So Diluc, where exactly did you say the Holy Lyre was?”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

You turned on your console, opened the program, and watched the celestial pathway for a while. It had been sitting there for quite a bit now, huh?

Verifying file integrity…

Why was that taking so long? 

Almost as soon as you noticed it, it went back to its normal speed, and the doors appeared. It probably wasn’t anything to worry about, but it scared you at first. You thought your game finally realized something was wrong, and was just going to either fix itself, and sever your connection to this Teyvat, or ban your account.

If you remembered correctly, Venti, Diluc, and Jean should be waiting for you inside Angel’s Share. You knew Jean couldn’t hear you, but you wondered if she would notice your avatar’s robotic movements. Apparently, she didn’t back in the Knights headquarters, but who knows? Maybe she just wasn’t paying much attention.

You walked in to an empty tavern, but after a few seconds, Venti jumped down from the second floor, landing right in front of you. He looked around, and you made Aether jump a couple of times.

“The mysterious [Y/N] has finally returned! Ready to go? Master Diluc can tell you where we need to go. Or, perhaps you already know?” He said, smiling.

He wasn’t going to stop bringing that up until you told him every little detail, was he?

You sighed, and said “Yes, I know. It’s near Springvale, isn’t it?” 

You had basically just woken up, so your voice didn’t sound the best, but you hoped he wouldn’t notice. Diluc came down the stairs, followed by… Kaeya? Did he come instead of Jean? That wouldn’t drastically change anything, right? Wait, was that why it took so long to load? Because the story had changed? This wouldn’t drastically change anything yet, right? No. It can’t. Not yet.

Diluc looked at your avatar, and answered, “You’re right about the location. If we’re all ready to head off, we should get going.”

Venti turned to you, you, not your avatar, and questioned, “Everything alright, [Y/N]? Is there something bothering you?” Did you sound nervous when you answered him?

“Yeah, I just took a nap, and… I didn’t exactly sleep well. But that shouldn’t matter too much, let’s go.”

You briefly explained to Venti and Diluc how you were able to teleport, and that they should be able to do it too, and then you all were at Springvale in the blink of an eye. Venti acted like it was nothing new to him, while Diluc was… fascinated, to say the least. Kaeya had to explain to him that yes, that feeling of having your soul torn from your body was normal for this.

Diluc had quite a bit to say about it.

“Those waypoints are all over Teyvat… If the wrong people learned how to use them…” He looked in the direction of the hideout. “That could spell catastrophe worldwide.” 

At one point, you had noticed Kaeya had a different shirt on. Or was it the same one, just with less of the flamboyant stuff on top of it? It was nice seeing people in different outfits, instead of the exact same clothing 24/7.

As you all stood at the entrance, you thought about what was in this domain. This was the one where you had to ask a bunch of different Fatui agents where the key to a door was, right? …And it was the one with the Diluc trial, wasn’t it?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Add another thing to the list of [Y/N]’s powers… Not only could they possess others at will, and suddenly make people stronger, and tell the future, but they could teleport anywhere in Teyvat they wanted to. And apparently, anyone could do that last thing. Diluc was surprised no one else had found out about this, and frankly, he was glad. There was also something else he didn’t know about yet. The other two kept looking at a spot a little above and behind [Y/N]’s avatar when they were talking to them. It felt like something was there, but he couldn’t see anything. He doubted it was a secret, since chances are, they wouldn’t be doing it in front of him if it was, but he hadn’t had a chance to ask anyone about it yet.

He was about to go in the hideout with everyone when [Y/N] gasped, and said they needed to tell him something.

“Hey,” they began. “I know I probably should have told you this earlier, but remember what my system did with Kaeya that one time? Or, I guess technically two times, but whatever- Just, that thing where it forces someone into my team?” They sounded very tired saying that. He knew they had just woken up, but he felt they were also just… annoyed by that happening.

“Yes. It happened less than a day ago. …Why are you bringing this up now?” 

“So- I- Look, there’s nothing I can do about it, at least, not now. Maybe I can eventually figure out how to fix this, but-”

He sighed. "...I’m about to be forced into your control, aren’t I? You don’t have to tip-toe around it, I guessed that as soon as you brought it up. If you can’t do anything about it, do you at least know how long this is going to take?”

He trusted them, right? As far as he was aware, they hadn’t lied to him yet, and they were warning him beforehand. Still, it felt like he barely knew them. Should he trust them with his body? Did he even have a choice?

“Give me a bit, and I can check, but it shouldn’t be more than 10 minutes.”

“You make it sound like you can check any little detail with the snap of your fingers.” 

This was a very specific event of the future they were talking about, but it would just take them a minute to check it? They’d done it before with that letter, but he had no clue how. Either that meant they were a very talented hydromancer, or they were getting their information from some other power or source.

“Oh, uh, I kind of can, except I have to do a little more than just snap my fingers. I type the thing I want into a device, I find the media I want, and then I have it. Sometimes it’s pretty hard to find said media, but I can pretty much find anything you could ever think of. Aaaand here’s the thing I was looking for! One more second…”

“You have a device that allows you to view information on anything you want? I guess that sounds about right if your world also has the technology to see the future of other worlds… I’m sure you already know of this, but we have something called astrology that allows people to see the future using the stars. Does your technology take advantage of that?”

“I’ll tell you more about the device later, but no, the technology my world has doesn’t use that. Astrology does exist here, but I’m pretty sure it doesn’t work the same as it does in Teyvat. People in my world use it to give people ideas of what may be yet to come in their lives, but here in Teyvat it’s like astrologers can see fate itself. …Anyway, I think we’re getting off track here. Going off of what I’ve seen, it’s going to take a little over 10 minutes, give or take. It might be a little longer because I’ll be focusing more on your safety than getting through it, or it might be a little shorter because I have others to help me now. Are you fine with that?”

So it’s not astrology… What is it, then? …Whatever. They’re right, they’re going off track. 10 minutes shouldn’t be too bad, especially with others watching over him to make sure [Y/N] doesn’t do anything harmful. It’s not like he had a choice, anyway.

“That’s… fine. Just try to get it over with quickly. It’s fine if I get a few scratches, just don’t kill me.”

“Alright, I guess we’re ready to head in. I’ll check to see if the guards in there can hear me. If not, great, but if so, I’m… gonna need to rethink things.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

…How were you going to explain to them what a phone is, and what the internet does? That’s a question for another time, but it still made you think.

You’d let Diluc know what was about to happen to him, and you just needed to tell everyone your plan, at least for this first part.

“One more thing, as soon as we go in, there’s going to be a rotating bridge with those cylinder torches or whatever they’re called on one side, and a clear path on the other. Once the bridge flips to the clear side, there should be just enough time to get all the way to the other side if we run like hell.”

Venti thought for a second before responding with, “Wouldn’t it be better for me to just… make a wind current at the start? Then no one has to worry about spinning bridges and torches at all~”

Oh. Right. You had others to help you. He could make a wind current and you could just. Skip over it. 

“...Yeah, that might be better. I guess I’m so used to having to rely on my own skillset here that I don’t realize others can help. Also, I’m probably just... tired. Anyway, after that first room, there’s a… door with a guard who acts like he’s about to piss his pants, but after that, there’s a big room with a bunch of smaller rooms inside and we’re going to have to find a key to move on. My question here is, should we split up or stay together while we search?”

Diluc was the first to chime in this time. “Normally I’d suggest we split up, but under these circumstances, it’d be better to stick together in case something goes wrong.”

“Alright.” You said. “We’ve been standing here for a while, I think it’s finally time to go in.”

Diluc adjusted his gloves, and you all went in.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Once again, Kaeya gets to witness [Y/N]’s powers of possession; except now, he isn’t the one experiencing it.

After everyone entered the hideout, Aether had vanished, and Diluc, now wearing a Fatui mask, stood in his place. Something about this whole situation seemed… familiar, for some reason. Nothing like this had happened before, right? …It’s probably just déjà vu. 

“Come on, let’s just get this over with.” [Y/N] said, nudging Diluc forward.

Now, Diluc had the same slightly-inhuman movement Aether had when [Y/N] was using him as their “avatar”. He was somewhat used to seeing it on Aether, but it was strange seeing Diluc move like that. When he was under their control, he could only move his eyes, and now, he couldn’t even see Diluc’s, as they were covered by the mask. 

Venti did as he said he would, and made a fairly large wind current to carry everyone over. He made it look incredibly easy. If it wasn’t for him hearing other Anemo Vision bearers talking about their experiences, he would have thought that was something anyone could do.

At first he thought [Y/N] had been hiding something from him, but he had a feeling they weren’t. Something was certainly… different about Venti. He couldn’t merely be just a wandering bard. Until Kaeya found out who he truly was, he figured he would stay on guard around him.

Diluc- No, [Y/N] walked into a small opening, thinking there might be something in the room it led into. There was a chest inside, guarded by 3 small Electro Slimes. They made quick work of them, unsurprisingly, but they weren’t paying attention to the fight, instead focused on something else.

They left the room and headed to a large door guarded by a very nervous-looking Agent, just as [Y/N] said. They went up alone to talk to him, and switched avatars to the Traveler, who was also wearing a Fatui mask. The Agent did not seem to notice the change.

“No, NO! Don’t eat me! Ah? You’re… You’re human? The entire floor’s defenses… have been broken. I thought it was the Abyss Order attacking…” 

[Y/N] said “Hey,” testing whether or not he could hear them. No response at all. They chuckled a bit, and he could swear Aether said something, though he couldn’t hear anything.

“AH- No, do- We hi- The place- I don’t kn-” 

“This guy-”

“Y-you- One of the Ele- Signora-”

The Agent pointed his sword at them in both fear and anger, still shaking, still not noticing the person he was speaking to change forms in front of him. So to get the key, they have to venture further in, also just like [Y/N] sai- Wait a minute, did he actually hear that guy say any of that? He definitely heard him say the floor’s defenses were broken… and then [Y/N] checked if he could hear them… and then they laughed for some reason… and then about 5 seconds later, the conversation was over. Something must have happened; there’s no way he could have said that much in that little time. He looked at where the man was again, only to see that… he was gone.

Kaeya turned to [Y/N], who now seemed nervous, and simply asked, “... Did you notice anything unusual there, by chance?”

“...Shit, you did notice. Uhhh, so remember when you first met Aether and you didn’t know his name until I told you because you didn’t hear it even though you knew what was said? I might have done the thing that does that again.” 

Which was what, exactly? They hadn’t explained it yet, but now wasn’t the time to get an explanation from them, so he reluctantly decided to move on from that.

They opened the door and though he couldn’t see her, Paimon decided now was the time to ask questions.

“Did he say Signora? What a strange name…”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Kaeya had described to Diluc what it felt like, and although it did feel exactly as he described, he definitely wasn’t used to it. He felt something watching him that he didn’t feel before, but when he looked in its direction, there was nothing there. He didn’t think much of it, as Kaeya had mentioned something like this to him. It was likely where [Y/N] was looking at Teyvat from.

[Y/N] talked to a guard, and for that conversation, he was thrown out of his body, now watching the Traveler from a similar position [Y/N] was. Was this how they saw the world? Strange, but again, exactly what Kaeya described. 

Other than that, Diluc didn’t notice anything off with the conversation, but Kaeya apparently did. Diluc wasn’t the type of person to miss things, so he knew something weird was happening when [Y/N] responded to him in a way that practically confirmed something was off. He made a note to himself to ask them about that after this was over with.

He didn’t understand how that fairy thing- Paimon, was talking. Where was she?

“Number 8 of The Eleven. Goes by the name Signora. The fact the Fatui can run amok across the seven nations like they do is entirely because of The Eleven.”

That was his voice talking. Was that what he sounded like? …Whatever, it was just another thing Kaeya had told him about. He had been surprisingly reliable so far, but he still wondered if there was something important he was leaving out.

They entered a large hall, with a large door at the opposite end and two rooms on each side. There was a mechanism in the center that needed a key, and it presumably opened the large door. …If [Y/N]’s system hadn’t taken control of him, everyone could search one room on their own. Unfortunately, that wasn’t the case, so it was better they stayed together.

They first searched what seemed to be a storage room. No one was there, so they searched every nook and cranny without interruption. At least, until a few Pyro Slimes came out of nowhere, which his abilities couldn’t provide much help with. Sure, if everything was normal, he could use just his sword instead of his Vision, but…

Kaeya and Venti made quick work of the slimes, since Venti could make a massive wind vortex to suck all the slimes in. No key to be found in there. They moved on to the next room, which stood a single guard. He seemed to stop paying attention to anyone other than the Traveler once he started talking to him. The Traveler tried to convince the guy he was part of some alliance and wanted to “borrow” the Holy Lyre, but he obviously didn’t believe it, especially not when he offered a single apple in exchange for it.

A Cicin Mage appeared, and they fought. His Pyro abilities would actually do something here, but [Y/N] still wouldn’t engage in fear they would hurt him too, with how Pyro and Electro interact. It ticked him off a bit. Fight. He told them before they all went in, it was fine if he got a few scratches, just fight, don’t just run around like a headless chicken. Did this have anything to do with them being a pacifist? She’s already attacking you, just defend yourself. Fight. It’s an easy opponent, he could easily take care of her if he could just- fight. 

His body stopped for a second, then pulled out a sword he’d only seen in legend, sending off a fiery phoenix at her, setting the blade ablaze. Was he back in control?

[Y/N] screamed, before going completely silent. Diluc heard something fall to the ground with a clatter, and could feel someone watching him in fear. Was that the point Kaeya and Venti were looking at?

He still couldn’t do much. He was only able to mimic the same few repetitive motions, and even those were incredibly difficult. Every movement felt like breaking out of chains. But still, he pushed. How was he able to do this? Kaeya couldn’t escape it after hours, but he could do this after minutes? The mage was defeated, and [Y/N] finally spoke up again.

“I didn’t do any of that. …Diluc?”

He tried to move more freely, but he couldn’t do anything except that same moveset. How did he even do that? He looked around, trying to get the attention of someone, but he realized he was wearing a mask. He had no way to communicate with anyone. 

“I… I don’t know, maybe my controller just glitched? Let’s just keep going.”

…There goes any hope of being able to break out of it. He shouldn’t have thought it was that easy. Still, how was he able to control himself at all, even if it was just for a few moments?

They checked the last room that was downstairs, which had a chest with a few Cicins around it. Just like the other enemies here, they weren’t an issue at all. Thankfully, the key was in the chest, and the group managed to open the door. [Y/N] said there was one more fight, and then they could get the Holy Lyre, and this whole thing would be over.

“Hey, you wanna know the guy's name?” [Y/N] asked. They sounded more and more tired by the minute.

“You know his name?” Kaeya scoffed. “If you know that much, you might as well tell us what he says to us.” 

He was acting as if he didn’t believe they really could see such things, but he obviously believed it. He was just saying this to squeeze more information out of them, wasn’t he?

“Oh my god, fine, but I’m not going to be able to do stuff like this all the time. First of all, his name is, I hope I’m saying this right, Zamenhoff…? And as soon as we go in there, he says- wait should I do the voice? I’m doing the voice. ‘Where did you rats scurry out from… Signora is not going to tolerate this kind of interference in our affairs. So I'll be the one to take care of you - save her the trouble of having to deal with you herself.’ …I’m sorry. I think I need to go back to sleep.”

That was probably the least professional telling of the future he’s ever heard, but as they walked into the last room, it turned out to be accurate, just as everything else they’ve said has been. They were audibly exhausted, and he could only think of one time they’ve taken something completely seriously. Should he have let them take control of him? It hadn’t gone too horribly yet, and it was almost over, but he started to get a little nervous. 

They entered the fight, and once again, he tried to perform those repetitive moves. [Y/N] was actually fighting this time, but he wanted to contribute something as well. They didn’t seem to notice anything was off this time. The Agent was defeated, and finally, he was fully in control of his own body again. He immediately let out a large sigh. 

“Signora is going to end you. The songs bards sing of your demise will be so terrifying - the people of Mondstadt will never sleep again for the nightmares they give them.” Said the Agent, now escaping. [Y/N] mocked him while he was saying it, speaking at the same time as him, but in a far more dramatic tone. 

They mocked Paimon too, even trying to match her high-pitched voice. He will admit he found it a bit funny, but he kept a straight face, unlike the other two, who couldn’t help but chuckle. She shot them a look before vanishing again.

“You alright?” [Y/N] asked him.

“Well, I’m not dead, so that’s something.” That… definitely could have gone better.

“So… Back to the tavern now, right? Wait, Venti, aren’t you still wanted?”

“Ahh… That may be a problem… But can’t we just teleport back?” Venti sheepishly said.

“We can only teleport to waypoints, at least as far as I know, and the nearest waypoint is right next to the plaza with all of the shops. I know it’s literally the middle of the night, but I don’t think we can be sure there won’t be anyone out. I don’t want someone seeing people appear out of nowhere.” [Y/N] had a point. Doing that when someone was near may have consequences.

“So I suppose we’re walking, then? I’ll walk ahead, and make sure any Knights patrolling at this time are… looking the other way.” Kaeya said, already going ahead of everyone else.

No one said a word for a bit. Venti had a slightly worried expression on his face, as if he was hoping whatever plan he had would work. [Y/N]’s avatar had that same expressionless face as always, which was… creepy, sometimes, but they seemed like they weren’t paying attention to anything now. Normally Diluc wasn’t one to break the silence, but he had something to say now.

“That wasn’t an issue with your controller earlier, [Y/N].”

“...Hmm?” They replied. They sounded… completely out of it. “So you did that? How?”

“I don’t know. I hope you don’t take any offense to this, but your… pacifism doesn’t exactly suit the way I do things, so, I broke out of it, in a way. I wasn’t able to fully break it, but I managed to do something.”

“So the solution to breaking out of it… is to just break out of it. Wow…!” They sarcastically said, before walking their avatar into a tree.

“I don’t mean for it to sound like that. I’m guessing I had enough willpower to resist your system a little. Again, not all the way, but I think I was able to at least do what you could.”

“That’s so weird… I think I’m gonna have to set aside some time to take a closer look at my system and figure out what’s up sometime.” They yawned. “But definitely not tonight…”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

…God, you were tired. What the hell had happened in that domain? Somehow Diluc had managed to fight against your system, and do a bit on his own. How? No clue, but it was a nice surprise. 

You remembered that quest on that far-away island that you couldn’t finish the first day. After this, maybe you could beg Venti to take you there so you could finally finish it. There was still about… what? An hour and a half? before you were able to continue it. Yeah, never mind, screw that. There was no way you’d be able to stay awake that much longer. That nap just made you more tired. Guess that quest’ll stay unfinished…

The four of you finally got back to the tavern. Thankfully, Kaeya managed to keep any Knights from seeing you. You pulled up the Wiki again, and found your way to the page on the part of the quest you were at.

Sure, Kaeya was there instead of Jean, but everyone else’s lines were still the same. It looked like things would be on the right track. You repeated everyone’s lines as they said them, but only vocalizing Paimon’s, while just mouthing Diluc and Venti’s to not weird them out too much.

“From now on, you’ll be known as-” Oh, this part, where Paimon gives him a nickname and refuses to call him by his actual name ever again!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Tone-deaf bard!” said Paimon and [Y/N] simultaneously. The bard didn’t seem too bothered by his new nickname.

So not only could [Y/N] could just pull up a word-for-word script of the “story” they knew whenever they wanted, but said story was accurate, also down to the word? That’s… concerning.

It had been a very long day… Kaeya hoped he could finally get some sleep. Everyone bid their farewells after agreeing to continue in the morning, and he left. Venti was still wanted, right? That may cause some problems. He made a mental note to tell Jean that the Holy Lyre was in safe hands first thing in the morning.

Again, he teleported to the Knights Headquarters, but now, he remembered why they didn’t teleport back to the tavern. Was anyone watching? He looked around, and could see no one. As for the last time he did this… He didn’t check, did he? …Whatever, it should be fine. He made his way to his dorm, and, now feeling he had enough energy to do so, actually did his nighttime routine rather than just passing out. He stayed awake for quite a while, making notes and pacing around before he finally felt tired enough to be able to sleep through the night.

Those thoughts of [Y/N]’s “story” continued as he drifted to sleep.

--------------------------------------------------------

“But I shall not bow to the will of fate. I am no pawn in heaven's plan.”

…Here he was, acting in a play, as a character destined for tragedy. Seemed familiar. His character was supposed to simply accept it, yet “he” had decided to improv a section on defying fate. 

Despite this being “improv”, it was obvious all of this, scripted parts included, was supposed to reflect his own story. He’d noticed the similarities when he first heard of the story, though he didn’t fully remember when that was, but it seemed even more accurate now, looking at it from a different view.

The truth was, the improv was no less scripted than the rest of the play, nor anything else he’d experienced for that matter. This “play” began much before this street performance.

Even though it felt as if it had been years, he still remembered the beginning as clear as day.

When the Traveler first appeared in Mondstadt, he was unable to clearly remember anything prior to when they arrived. Hell, other than the most major events in his life, he couldn’t remember anything at all, and even those major events were fuzzy. He knew his interests, and his relationships with people, but it was like he had some strange form of amnesia. He’d wanted to tell someone about what he was going through, but every time he got a chance, he would black out, and wake up somewhere completely different.  

To him, it hadn’t even been that long since he’d first noticed, but already, days had gone by. He “woke up” again outside of Good Hunter, in the middle of a conversation with the Traveler about something he couldn’t recall thinking about. It had been days. The periods of time he was being knocked out for were getting longer. He had to say something as soon as possible, but he found he couldn’t control what he was saying.

He quickly realized that he was bound to some sort of script. Sure, “fate” served as a loose script, but this was word for word. He wondered whether this was happening to anyone else, but had no way to check, since he was either stuck to this script or unconscious.

It would sometimes be months at a time now he would be unconscious, almost like slipping into a coma. The Traveler was there with him wherever he was, so he assumed they must have something to do with it, but he hoped they didn’t know they did. Maybe then he could still tolerate them.

Over time, it seemed like the writer started to tease him more and more. It started with a few jokes from “him” hinting at it being some kind of story, and now it was a whole play.

He was an actor, playing a character, playing a character destined for tragedy. The only difference between this play and his experiences was that in reality, he was given no choice on whether to take the role.

This little improv session with Prince Qubad made the audience think he refused to accept the fate he was given, that he rejected it entirely, but the story still ended in the same way it was written.

As he looked at it now, he was no different from Prince Qubad in this story. Or at least, “Kaeya” wasn’t. He knew how Qubad’s story was similar to his, yes, but this improv session added something to it.

There were two layers to the scripting. One was fate itself. Destiny. Most people knew about this, and it could be seen fairly easily, only needing the help of some magic. This already seemed like enough restriction, as it was supposedly extremely difficult to change, but there was even more on top of that, at least for him.

It looked like in the future, “he” would have to make a very important decision, and end up choosing a secret third option. While this would be rejecting his fate in terms of what the people of Teyvat consider it to be, he would still be following the narrative this second, stricter script had for him.

…Oh, the irony. Just like the play, the character is written to refuse fate. Sure, the original script may not have included that, just as “his” original fate does not include what he’s likely to do.

He’d been wondering whether he should keep trying to break out of this. Obviously, doing so would grant him back autonomy, but it would also be following the whole “defying fate” path set for him by whatever scripted this. Either way, he was still playing right into its hands.

“Perhaps there's an inept god out there deciding everyone's fates... much like the Akademiya student drafting Darbil's scripts. Yep, "inept" is a good word for it. Honestly, it might even be a little too civil to describe a god who turns fathers against their sons and is bent on endless warmongering... don't you think?”

Either somehow, he had managed to change the script slightly with his thoughts, or the writers were mocking him.

…It was the latter, wasn’t it? “He” continued on about how someone doesn’t have to follow the script if they don’t like it, like it was just that easy. He’d made up his mind. He had to get out of this, no matter if that was what the writers wanted.

The conversation was coming to an end now, he could feel it. The Traveler was about to leave, and from what he knew about their journey, they likely wouldn’t be seeing him again any time soon. Any second now, the Traveler would disappear, and he would be knocked out for gods know how long. Couldn’t they just stay a little longer…?

#sagau #genshin sentience au #genshin fanfic #ao3 #pursuit of knowledge

[aromantic-eight]

N, P, R!

N - Name three things you wish you saw more or in your main fandom (or a fandom of choice)

Hmm. 1) Dysfunctional-but-loving vibes for griddlehark in Locked Tomb and soukoku in Bungo Stray Dogs fics.

2) Long, plotty genfic (any fandom)

3) No powers modern AUs in Locked Tomb that still have the necromancers as chronically ill in some way.

P - Invent a random AU for any fandom (we always need more ideas)

Sci fi Genshin AU where Nahida is actually the Akasha network, that has gained sentience.

R - A pairing you ship that you don’t think anyone else ships

HMM. Well, in one of the AUs-I-Will-Never-Write I started poking at Rosaria/Sucrose and I think it could have potential.

#gorgeousgalatea #ask meme reply #f: powered by apocalypse ore #f: raise your hand if you’re not an orphan with a tragic past #f: the inherent eroticism of bones #f: pay no attention to the gods behind the curtain

[acid-ixx]

( regarding your rant ) i undertook how you feel about SAGAU, and to be honest, i’m tired just LOOKING at the tag filled with— what’s decidedly not self aware characters not confined in their world who gain sentience and learn of you.

it was cool at first, getting isekai’d. you get to see the world! meet the characters! touch the characters! but now it’s pretty much everywhere and all anyone writes about, with very few exceptions.

i sometimes debate if i should even post at all for ACTUAL self aware genshin, but the tag is so filled and the creators have so many followers that i wonder if people will even read it at all, if it’d make an impact?

should people stop writing? not at all! i just… wish they used a different tag? it’s not self aware, at all. make an isekai au! tag, judt anything other than making the SAGAU tag redundant excuses of posting you being chased down or worshipped for the wrong reasons.

i get you !! creative writing is good, but sometimes, i feel as if mostly everything i used to write, was all to fit in. i remember when i used to read most, if not all, sagau but now? i've never read anything regarding it.

i understand it's my staple, the reason why i even have followers in the first place. hell, my villain au post was my most liked. and the reason why i even liked the isekai part was because i like imagining the reader exploring various parts of teyvat.

and honestly! you should post if you wish to. i'll gladly read it in my free time because i genuinely like sagau, it's just that the current state of it leaves me in a whiplash. and i'm debating whether or not i should write the traditional self aware characters, as in you weren't isekai'd in the first place and it heavily focuses on the characters. something like: voicelines, thoughts, birthday presents. how about them finding glitches through the matrix and hinting their worship at you.

#🍨... yael's talking #you're genuinely one of the few who went to my inbox and talked to me hahah #about 70% are requests and stuff which at all isnt bad!!! #i just wish i get more communication outside of writing sometimes

[blerghie]

my joongdok genshin au is going off the rails i was just trying to make a funny lil tarushou au with kdj as the silly but powerful archon in disguise and yjh the harbinger who’s incredibly bad at hiding his mission but. the fic is gaining sentience and it’s veering into an existential crisis arc

#which i guess is par for the course #in both orv and genshin #2am thots

[zhongrin]

ooooh idk if you've ever played honkai but i kinda imagined a younger goddess of war!reader to have a similar personality like herrscher of sentience (hua(?) or senti for short lol) and after the tragic events of losing our sworn sibling and wandering for a while they turn stoic and aloof for a time while they mourn and maybe that's how they are whenever their army had to go into battle.

ofc their personality changed over the course of thousands of years but just wanted to share a bit more bc i really do love this au

unfortunately i don't play honkai :(( my brother did show me the fights and the honkai star rail (?) trailer but i wasn't too interested in it... plus i don't think i have time & energy to play another game aside from genshin daily sldfkjl whoever plays honkai, please feel free to jump in here!!

but yeah, losing someone close to you is hard so most definitely, gow! reader would be lost for a while. i think i wrote something like that in the past and a turning point for them was meeting their (future) siblings!adepti. i love the idea of them 'saving' each other (be it knowingly or not) and therefore forging a familial bond... found family trope my beloved <3

i'm so happy to know that someone adores this au ;w;

#rin answers