#fragments from a scrapped timeline

[physisrebooted]

Fragments from a Scrapped Timeline: Upd8!

In which Veasna discusses her past, present, and future with a mysterious professor who longs to be remembered.

> Read the latest pages here!

> New reader? Start here!

[arolesbianism]

Every now and then I remember that oni in fact will eventually have more lore added and I get so excited and scared for a moment and then I remember that it could take months until we see any of that and I proceed to forget abt it again and the cycle repeats

[i5uckersblog]

Love your writing! Can I request a fic where worst!Logan gets short in the head or like knocked or smith and when he wakes up the first thing he sees is readers face, kneeling in front of him? It kinda shocks wade how in every reality Logan falls for reader

Across Every Universe

Summary: Logan wakes up to the reader's face, and Deadpool notes he falls for her in every reality.

The world is spinning. Logan’s head feels like it’s been split in two, and he can’t tell if it’s from the blow he took or just the sheer exhaustion of everything. He blinks, trying to focus on something, anything. Pain lances through his skull, and for a moment, he wonders if this time, they finally did him in.

Then he sees a face—a familiar face—kneeling in front of him, eyes wide with worry.

“Logan?” The voice is soft, panicked. He knows that voice. It’s always the same, always her.

He blinks again, trying to clear the fog from his vision. Her hand is on his cheek, warm and steady, and he swears he can feel his healing factor working just a little faster because of it.

“Hey, you with me?” she asks, her voice a gentle tether pulling him back from the edge of oblivion.

He tries to speak, but his throat feels like it’s full of gravel. Instead, he just nods, reaching up to cover her hand with his. Her presence soothes him, anchors him in a way he can’t quite explain.

“Unbelievable,” comes a voice from somewhere behind her, dripping with disbelief and just a little bit of amusement. “Every damn time.”

Logan shifts his gaze past her to see Wade Wilson standing there, arms crossed over his chest, his mask slightly askew from whatever scrap they just had. Wade shakes his head, his mouth twisting into a smirk that Logan wants to knock clean off his face.

“Every universe, every timeline,” Wade continues, pointing between Logan and the reader, “you always fall for her. No matter what. It’s like some cosmic joke, and I’m the only one in on it.”

The reader turns to glare at Wade. “Could you be serious for once? He just got his head knocked in!”

Wade throws up his hands defensively. “Hey, I’m just stating facts. It’s like you two are star-crossed or something, but in a super cheesy, rom-com way.” He pauses, considering. “Actually, more like one of those soap operas. Will they, won’t they, are they—”

“Shut up, Wade,” Logan growls, voice rough but gaining strength. He pushes himself up to sit, still holding onto the reader’s hand as if she might disappear if he lets go. “What the hell happened?”

The reader turns her attention back to him, brows furrowed in concern. “You took a hit to the head. We were surrounded, and you stepped in front of me.”

Logan frowns, piecing together fragments of memory. “Yeah… I remember that.” He shakes his head slightly. “Why’d you do that?”

She smiles, a small, exasperated thing that lights up her face. “Maybe because I like having you around, dumbass.”

Logan can’t help but chuckle, even though it hurts his ribs. “That makes one of us.”

Wade snorts. “Oh, please. You two are like a badly written love song, but somehow it always ends up being the top hit on every playlist.”

Logan rolls his eyes but squeezes the reader’s hand tighter. “Why don’t you take a walk, Wade? Go find someone else to annoy.”

Wade grins. “Oh, I think I’ll stick around. Wouldn’t want to miss the moment you realize—yet again—that you’re head over heels.”

Logan sighs, but there’s a hint of a smile playing at his lips. Because as much as he hates to admit it, Wade isn’t wrong. In every universe, every reality, every damn timeline, it always comes down to this: him and her.

Maybe it’s fate. Or maybe it’s just that some things are meant to be, no matter how many times the world tries to knock him down.

And maybe, just maybe, he’s okay with that.

Requests are wide open

[cluelessteam]

Whispers Through Time: {~Secrets in the Shadows~}

A/N: Omg, I am sooo happy that you guys are enjoying the series so far! I honestly was not expecting it but I am so happy! Here is Chapter 2 and I will be constantly putting out these chapters so you guys don't have to wait! Enjoy!!!!

Summary: After being mysteriously transported into the world of House of the Dragon, a modern-day woman poses as a seer to gain entry into the Targaryen court. Armed with knowledge of the future, she secretly warns Rhaenyra and Daemon of looming dangers while hiding her true identity. As she grows closer to both, romantic tension builds, but so do the risks of her deception. With Daemon's suspicions rising and Rhaenyra’s trust deepening, the reader must navigate her lies while trying to alter their tragic fate—before everything unravels.

Characters: Rhaenyra & Daemon

Pairing: Rhaenyra x Fem!Reader x Daemon

Warnings: None

Word Count: 1107

Chapter 2 --- Chapter 3

The days since your arrival in the Red Keep passed in a blur of whispered conversations and cautious glances. Though you had gained entry to the castle by claiming to be a skilled midwife, you knew it wouldn’t be enough. You needed to do more if you were to truly alter the course of events as you remembered them. As you moved quietly through the halls of the Keep, your mind raced with thoughts of how to intervene without revealing too much of what you knew—or worse, revealing who you truly were.

You had managed to secure a small, modest room in the servants' quarters, far removed from the nobility. There, you spent your nights pondering the timeline, thinking about the key events that led to the Targaryens' fall, trying to remember details from history and lore that would be valuable in the days to come. Your knowledge of Westeros was fragmented at best—flashes of future events mixed with the uncertainties of living in this medieval world—but you were determined to find a way to help Rhaenyra, and perhaps, by extension, yourself.

As the wind howled outside your window one night, a sense of urgency crept over you. It was time to act. You needed to warn Rhaenyra about the threats that loomed within her own walls. But approaching her directly was far too dangerous—there were too many eyes, too much risk of exposure. You would have to find another way to communicate.

Sitting by the dim light of your candle, you pulled a scrap of parchment from the small desk and began to write:

"Princess Rhaenyra,""There are those close to you who hide their true intentions. Be wary of whom you trust, for some who smile to your face will one day seek to destroy you."

"A Friend."

You stared at the note for a long moment, rereading the words. It wasn’t enough—too vague, too cryptic—but it was all you could offer without putting yourself at risk. Folding the parchment carefully, you tucked it into your pocket. Now came the hardest part: delivering it without being caught.

The castle was quiet that night, the torches flickering dimly in the halls as the staff retired to their quarters. You moved through the shadows, your heart pounding as you neared Rhaenyra’s chambers. You had scouted the area earlier and noticed that servants would occasionally leave messages or small gifts in a niche near the entrance—just out of sight from the guards stationed at her door.

That would be your opportunity.

Keeping to the edges of the corridor, you made your way toward the alcove. The guards were still at their posts, but they seemed to be deep in conversation, their attention focused elsewhere. Silently, you slipped the note into the niche, ensuring it was partially visible so that whoever was meant to find it would do so.

As you turned to leave, you froze. A shadow moved at the far end of the hall. You ducked quickly behind a column, your breath catching in your throat as you watched the figure draw nearer. It was Daemon Targaryen.

Even in the dim light, there was no mistaking him. His presence was unmistakable—commanding, dangerous. You had heard the whispers about him, the rogue prince, the man who walked a fine line between loyalty and rebellion. The last person you wanted to cross paths with.

Daemon’s steps were slow, deliberate. He wasn’t headed for Rhaenyra’s chambers, but he was close enough that you couldn’t risk moving until he was out of sight. You stayed hidden, heart racing, as he passed by, his face unreadable in the flickering torchlight. He didn’t look your way, but you couldn’t shake the feeling that he was always watching, always aware.

When he finally disappeared around the corner, you let out a slow breath. You had come dangerously close to being caught. Without wasting another second, you slipped back into the shadows, retreating toward the servants’ quarters.

The next morning, the castle was buzzing with its usual activity. Servants bustled through the corridors, nobles conversed in hushed tones, and the guards maintained their ever-watchful presence. But there was an undercurrent of tension—a subtle shift in the atmosphere that hadn’t been there before.

As you went about your duties, you overheard snippets of conversation, mentions of a note that had been discovered outside Rhaenyra’s chambers. No one knew who had left it, and the guards were tight-lipped about the situation, but the news had spread quickly among the servants. There was speculation, of course, but no solid leads. Whoever had left the message had done so without being seen.

You kept your head down, focusing on your work, but your mind was racing. The note had reached Rhaenyra, but what would she do with the information? Would she take it seriously? Or would she dismiss it as a prank or a ploy?

Later in the day, as you moved through one of the upper corridors, you saw her. Rhaenyra Targaryen was standing by a window, her back to you, deep in conversation with one of her ladies-in-waiting. Even from a distance, you could see the tension in her posture, the way her hands clenched into fists at her sides. She was angry—no, more than that. She was disturbed.

The note had hit its mark.

You dared not linger, moving quickly past her chambers and back into the lower halls. The note had worked, but it also meant that you were now part of something far more dangerous. If anyone suspected that you were the one feeding Rhaenyra this information, your life could be at risk. And with Daemon’s ever-watchful eyes lurking in the shadows, you couldn’t afford to make a mistake.

That evening, as you returned to your room, you found yourself pacing, your mind turning over the events of the day. Daemon’s presence haunted you. Though he hadn’t seen you, you felt as though his gaze had lingered on you long after he passed. You knew you had to be careful, more careful than ever before. But as the days went on, Rhaenyra would come to rely on the warnings, and sooner or later, someone would begin asking questions.

You sat at your desk, quill in hand, staring at the blank parchment before you. Another note would need to be sent—this time, with more detail. But the risks were growing with each passing day. How long could you continue before someone discovered the truth?

As you dipped the quill into the ink, you pushed the fear aside. There was no turning back now. The game had begun, and you were determined to see it through.

[pen-and-umbra]

Compilation spoilers below.

As the party delves deeper into the Temple of the Ancients, a vision of Sephiroth delivers a cryptic speech:

(“My fragmented mother, these errant worlds… All shall be one again.”)

“My fragmented mother” is a very deliberate choice of words. While the OG story touched on Jenova's fragmentation while dealing with the subject of Reunion, the plotbeats focused on Sephiroth and his failed copies rather than the creature itself. As the story unfolds, Cloud kills or severely injures Sephiroth during the Nibelheim mission, leading him to utilize clones and Jenova's remains after emerging at the Northern Crater in order to repair his maimed body. The same Ultimania Omega relayed that developers once thought about a scene where Sephiroth was revealed to have a Jenovaesque lower half. (The concept was eventually scrapped, but it would have added an even more grotesque element to Sephiroth's already terrifying being.)

(“It shall encompass worlds unbound by fate and histories unwritten. <...> My dominion shall reach into infinity”)

However, the Remake implies that the Reunion serves a different purpose. Or, more accurately, Sephiroth refers to a distinct event—the merging of worlds—as Reunion. According to Sephiroth's cryptic message, this is yet another foray into “godhood”. Not too unlike Ultimecia’s time compression, Sephiroth allegedly plans to join all the timelines into one to achieve “infinity/forever”. And yet, what does it have to do with “his fragmented mother”?

(“All made whole.”)

What if the true purpose of Remake's Reunion is not about “infinity” per se but about the “whole” part?

From the perspective of the OG, we are led to believe that the gathering of failed copies is the result of Sephiroth's will. However, Cetra's hologram delivers an interesting warning as the party traverses through the Temple of Ancients.

(“Heed well to our warning of that which is to come…<...> The reunion. When our adversary's scattered malignancy shall converge to plague the Planet once more.”)

The Cetra allegedly referred to Jenova's own inherent ability to reassemble its pieces (“Reunion”), whether conscious or unconscious. Unless the message was purely prophetic in nature, the statement presupposes that Jenova's body was already dispersed during the era of the Cetra, predating ShinRA's R&D department's experiments with alien cell injections. The Temple of Ancients narrates a gripping tale of Cetra's battle against the calamity-from-the-skies, with significant casualties suggesting a lasting conflict rather than a singular encounter.

Thus, it is possible that Jenova sustained injuries and lost some of its biologics before Cetra managed to seal it. Alternatively, fearing Jenova's reunification, the Cetran people may have “scattered” the creature in some way in order to hamper its resurrection. Whatever the case, at the end of the day, Jenova at the Nibelheim reactor appears incomplete or misshapen, missing a wing, and apparently suspended midway between morphing into a humanoid.

If the message is interpreted as a prophecy about the future, it demonstrates Cetran's extraordinary augury ability. However, assuming their knowledge of the future is precise, they never mention a different agent (Sephiroth), instead referring to their “celestial adversary” as the enemy who will plague the planet once more.

Anyway, spool forward, and in the age of ShinRA, the likes of Hollander and Hojo kept experimenting with Jenova's organic material, further disseminating alien cells. Several of its hosts have died. That includes both humans (Angeal or Gillian, for example) and monstrosities infused with J-cells that our party encounters (both organic and mechanical). While it is hard to estimate how many test subjects died during the course of the Jenova/SOLDIER Project, we can suppose that quite a number. It is currently unclear what happens to Jenova cells after the host dies; several instances appear to be convoluted (Angeal's mother allegedly dies alongside alien material, but Lucrecia claims that Jenova cells keep her alive). Let's assume that J-cells usually die with the host. As a result, an uncertain amount of organic material is missing from Jenova's body and will not make it to Reunion.

When combined with the Ancients' reference to “scattered” essence, Sephiroth's words about his fragmented mother make a lot more sense in the context of worlds merging. What if the primary aim of unchaining timelines was to acquire unattainable fragments of Jenova from hosts that are deceased within the primary timeline? Destiny's Crossroads, as a singularity of some kind, appears to be linked to all points in time and space. As a result of destroying Harbinger, our party is likely to have had an impact on PAST events (Zack's Last Stand). As a consequence, Zack lived. What if Jenovaroth's true goal is to alter branching timelines so that as many J-cell hosts as possible survive to converge at Northern Crater? Bringing scattered Jenova fragments across time and space to resurrect the entire entity and restore its power? The consequences of such a plan could indeed be disastrous.

Examining the issue from this perspective raises the question of who is truly in control and what kind of being will emerge after Reunion has run its course. It also raises the question of whether there are other ancient “deposits” of Jenova's organic material left from the Cetran War, if the warning in the Temple of Ancients was NOT a prophecy about ShinRA era.

👋 @pen-and-umbra

[sparkingcircuits]

some doodles i made of my silly little au i had thought about + some extra thoughts under the cut

we’ve got a drawing of Kieranpon in his Ogerpon form and a Full body drawing of Pecharunt Kieran

first off: pecharunt kieran (who i really need a better name for..)

since pecharunt kieran is working with scraps of their identity, their human form is… off putting, to say the least.

since in their human form they don’t have a special place to store their poison, it just kind of ends up naturally explelling itself, like through the tears and saliva. the poison also causes their human form to be extra weak, which is why the chains are there for support. (it’s also because his human form is just. unstable in general but like. yknow)

in terms of memories, pecharunt kieran’s memories are split between pecharunt’s memories before the merge, the fragments of memories from kieran before the split, and the weird mishmash after the split. Pecharunt kieran is the only merged entity that has knowledge of the previous timeline, although the MC sometimes has strange dreams about it.. but this is about our pecha boy not the MC

due to the weird mishmash of memories and the poisonous saliva, Pecharunt Kieran can’t really speak normally. They talk in broken sentences, as Pecharunt could not speak any human language beforehand, and there’s only a little bit of Kieran we can work with here

in terms of personality and emotions, Pecharunt Kieran feels very envious of their counterpart. Kieranpon got most of their memories and personality and such, and is mostly stable in terms of appearance. Pecharunt Kieran feels as if they should have gotten those attributes, and believes that Kieranpon stole those qualities from them. so they DEFINITELY will end up fighting. and while Pecharunt Kieran’s human body isn’t very strong, the chains are. (i mean just LOOK at them)

SPEAKING OF THIS AU’s KIERANPON

this is mostly just gonna be about his Ogerpon form, and how it is different from his sisters (i haven’t drawn her ogerpon form yet

in terms of what parts of Kieranpon got compared to his sister, he got more of the true parts of Ogerpon, instead of the parts the signboards talk about. They both did, but in terms of symbolism Kieran is more “true” to the original Ogerpon. Kieran and Carmine both look very similar, but there are some differences.

While Kieran’s horns, curve up, Carmine’s horns curve more downwards and back almost. Carmine is also taller and has more sharper features in general, but in terms of strength, both are about the same with their masks

SPEAKING OF THE MASKS, there is only 1 copy of each mask! so they have to share. Kieran tends to use the Teal and Wellspring Masks, while Carmine favors the Hearthflame and Cornerstone Masks. They both have their own cudgels, though.

Both Kieran and Carmine can understand what Pokémon are saying, but Kieran specifically seems to have the easiest time understanding them by the way! technically ALL of them can but like.. yknow

[aidanchaser]

WIP Tag/Reblog Game

Thank you @rosie-b for the tag! I love hearing about your works~

List the titles your top five priorities for WIP updates (link your fics for new readers!)

An upcoming scene, event, or detail in each fic that you're looking forward to writing

Bonus: make a poll for your followers to vote on which top 5 WIP they are most excited to see an update on!

Then tag 10 writer friends!

WIP TITLES

(I picked the 5 that I have open currently - there are so many more than 5 rattling around at all times, and i try not to start publishing any that aren't already outlined beginning to end)

Boulangerella - a fairy tale/cinderella story full of love square shenanigans, blood sacrifices, and scheming villains

Butterfly Effect - Adrien as Hawkmoth/Shadowmoth AU; Marinette and Chloe hold the ladybug and cat miraculous - songfic with butterfly effect by FJØRA

Expectations - Kwami Swap AU where Adrien is Mister Bug from the beginning; he's dealing with the anxiety of his role (and the knowledge that he handed his earrings over to hawk moth in another timeline and has no idea why)

After the War (place holder title) - a 1920s post-WWI AU, where Marinette runs her parents' bakery by day and a club by night; the club is a cover to take down war-profiteer Gabriel Agreste through vigilante action; Adrien has just returned to Paris from his time abroad in London, and Marinette has to wrestle with her childhood crush on him and her now grown-up hatred for his family

Time Lady of Creation (place holder title) - A Time Lord AU - I will say little else about it because it's still in the outline stages with only a few scraps of scenes drafted

UPCOMING SECTIONS

The next chapter is full of A LOT of confrontations and hard conversations - Marinette & Luka (the original conversation has been written but it needs to be redrafted to a new context); Felix and Lila (again, a lot of their stuff is written but needs to be redrafted); and Marinette & Chat Noir (not drafted yet - fragments abound in notes but need to be tied together)

Adrien has to figure out how to get his hands on the Cat and Ladybug Miraculouses so that he can save Marinette from a terrible fate

Marinette needs to help Adrien face Miracle Queen - I'm excited about the Cat/Dragon and Bug/Snake renditions of their powers for this AU, but this fic just kept getting comments that were like "it's not even that different from canon" and so I no longer care too much about this fic - I'm just irritated because I wrote the ending already and i LOVE the ending but I can't post the ending without writing the middle

The next scene I need to write is a confrontation between Ladybug and Adrien Agreste, where he doesn't realize how much she hates him and she has no idea how much he's madly in love with her

Right now it's mostly an outline, so I need to write the beginning, where Ladybug saves Adrien from a wax museum come to life then asks him to run away with her through time and space!

So - which WIP are you most excited to see update?

I know I'm supposed to tag 10 but I know about half of the writers I am mutuals with have already been tagged, so if I accidentally tag you a second time, I apologize! @astargatelover (if you have 5 wips?), @asukiess (if you haven't been tagged yet), @kay-elle-cee, @uncertainwallflower, @ninadove (I would love to hear about your projects and get to know you more) [I'm so sorry i fully reblogged and commented your own WIP list and did not even process the connection - absolutely embarrassing], @chaos-has-theories, @sunshinemarauder, @wield-the-mighty-pen, @miabrown007 (I don't think you've been tagged yet??? unclear), and last but certainly not least @dammithawke (bc i haven't heard about your role reversal au in a while and would love to hear about it again)

[noridoorman]

More scrapped Nuzi fics (warning, some is angsty)

Fragmented/Fragments of the past/Echo/Whatever freaking title I had for this:

Uzi crawls on the ground, one arm missing and every inch of her metallic body feeling like extra weight she’s forced to carry. The room around her trembles, the walls shun a blinding white color, piercing the optical sensors of her visor. Some furniture pieces around her began to fade gradually into the white voice as Uzi continued pushing forward, crying out a name so familiar and yet so distant, grasping for something, anything, in her vicinity.

She hears another voice; a feminine one calling out the same name yet everytime it did, their voice would glitch or distort, making it unable for Uzi to hear it.

Yet she knew, the name somehow carried significance.

Uzi pushes forward, her vision partly recovering after having been assaulted by the light to see a silhouette in a glass capsule, several heavy machinery surrounding it. The silhouette turns to her and despite not being able to discern any facial features or attributes tied to the person she can see its somber smile as it kneels down to her level - or as far as it could go.

Again, Uzi calls this name as she stared at the figure, placing her hand weakly against the glass, a feeble attempt to break it. Sobs wreck through her body, begging the person, whoever they are, to get out of the capsule, to not do something that she couldn’t grasp no despite her own words repeating it. The figure’s eyes closed as they shakily exhaled, trying to communicate to Uzi yet all words came out as equally distorted as the name.

And yet, Uzi begged. Pleaded, cried, anything to convince the figure to leave. Yet it only responded by placing its hand against the glass, its words coming out glitched once again.

“Uzi, I love you…”

Her eyes hollow as the now clear words hit her audial sensors. A deep sense of both love and grief shocks her to the core, all sounds she once made fall mute as a sudden realization settles before her. For the few seconds of silence she had, the figure muttered a thousand apologies before the bright void engulfed them both.

What it was: this was meant to be a "what-if" kinda fanfic. Basically, N cannot take the thought of Uzi dying and looked for any chance for an alternative, which he found. He found a machine in the labs that could rewind time, bringing the time back to a time before they met. However, the machine needed fuel and N was the only one that could fuel it through his core. He sacrifices himself, despite Uzi's pleading. Time rewinds and Uzi wakes up without any memory of what happened and N has been completely ereased from the timeline. However, I really don't like sad endings and this fanfic would have ended on Uzi somehow remembering and bringing N back, however...

Why I scrapped it: I don't trust myself to handle heavy topics and angst and make it believable while also emotional. Plus, I started working on Cinnamon Scent and never found the time to develope it further than the prologue. And as time went on I thought of the concept to be boring and was scared it wasn't going to stick with others through all the other creative stuff out there.

Reborn:

"The absolute most angst-filled idea I could possibly think of for this series is N dying and Uzi proceeding to feed Eldtrich N living worker drones out of desperation, willing to sacrifice anyone to get him back. N revives but without any memory of what Uzi did to resurrect him,' with a traumatized, oil-stained Uzi hugging him in silence."

This was a comment a different Tumblr user made and I asked them if I could write a fanfic about it and they said "Sure". Aaaand, I never write it cause again; I don't trust myself with Angst.

Cinnamon Scent Chapter 5:

N // Today at 10:11 AM

“Uziii, I got the appel strudel u asked for! :D”

“But also… a bit of a surprise”

Uzi raised a brow at that, her mind already going in overdrive to try to think what surprise he might have planned.

Uzi // Today at 10:11 AM

“And that is?”

N // Today at 10:11 AM

“How do I say it ahhh”

“Well, it depends on you if it’s a positive or a negative surprise!”

Uzi // Today at 10:12 AM

“Don’t dodge the question”

N // Today at 10:12 AM

“Wahhh, you’re so scary when you’re serious!”

“It’s kinda hard to tell you bc they told me not to tell you”

Uzi // Today at 10:12 AM

“???”

“Who’s they?? Where are you?”

N // Today at 10:13 AM

“OO I said too much, we’ll meet u there!!”

“Wha?” Uzi whispers under her breath, an uncomfortable feeling emerges at the pit of her stomach, making her thoughts go even more in overdrive.

Did he bring a friend along?

With confusion and determination both etched on her face (and some sprinkled in nervousness) her pace quickens as she beelines towards the amusement park, ready to smack somebody if she needs to.

-

“Hey, Uzi!” Uzi turns around to the sound of N calling for her, spotting him standing near the entrance. And as Uzi had expected, he didn’t stand alone.

“That’s her?” A human with a large bow in her brown/reddish hair and a few freckles on her tanned skin. “It’s nice to finally meet you!”

“Yeah, so nice” A drone with her white hair styled into two twintails responded sarcastically, making Uzi forget about her shock for a second to glare at her.

“Don’t be like that, J!” V lighty smacks the shoulder of, who Uzi now knows is, J. J in turn glared at V’s direction, though the latter seemed not bothered by it.

“I… I didn’t expect you to bring your family,” Uzi chuckles awkwardly, pointing at all the new (and not so new) people behind N. He scratched the back of his head, opening his mouth to speak.

“Yeah, well-”

“We weren’t going to leave him alone with a stranger” J interjects, making N cower underneath her harsh gaze. Uzi only returns that, her shoulders tense.

“Friend. I’m his friend,”

“Guys, let’s not fight!” Tessa stands between J and Uzi, making N breathe a huge sigh of relief. Uzi’s eyes softened a bit, her stance growing less defensive. “N talked about an amusement park at some point. We all thought it would be fun to go together!”

“I wouldn’t be able to sneak out again anyway,” N shoots Uzi an apologetic smile that she returns with a soft sigh, both not hearing J yell in the background ‘again?’.

“No need to be sorry, bud,” Uzi hides her hands in her pockets, trying to mask her disappointment with a casual attitude. “It’s your family, I’m not going to deny you not taking them out here,”

“And we’ll get to spend more time together!” N cheers, looking excitedly at Tessa. “Right?”

“We’ll have to see how it will work with your schedule but otherwise, I don’t see why not!” Tessa ruffles N’s hair, chuckling.

“We’ll also have to see if she’s not a threat!” J argues back, however, it fell on deaf ears as everyone turned towards the entrance, all making their way inside the amusement park while J grumbled something under her breath.

“So, which rides look the most fun?” Tessa strokes her chin, looking at all the different attractions in her line of sight.

“The rollercoaster is pretty cool,” Uzi shrugs. “There should also be a carousel somewhere, but it’s for kids,”

“What about this?” N runs ahead towards a giant mechanical octopus with seats attached to its tentacles. “This looks fun!”

“And dangerous,” J crosses her arms, her eyes moving along the rotation of the octopus.

“I think it’s safe,” Tessa smiles, turning to Uzi. “Right?”

“Oh, uh, sure!” Uzi scrambles together an answer, somewhat surprised that Tessa would ask for her opinion. “I wasn’t on the octopus a lot, it always bored me. My mom thought it was tons of fun though,”

“I got us tickets!” V cackles as she hands each and every one of them tickets, with N taking it eagerly and J more reluctantly.

“V, you know we have to save,” J glares, making V roll her eyes.

“I know, I know, but we can take it easy once,” V hands the last tickets to Tessa. “What fun would we have if we saved every penny only for necessities?”

“They’re called necessities for a reaso-”

“J,” Tessa places a hand on J’s shoulder, making her eyes widen a bit. “Don’t worry about the money. I’ll take care of it”

“But-”

“See? Tessa got it covered!” V walks on the ramp as the ride stops, choosing eagerly which seat she’s going to take. “Besides, you should take it easy especially!”

“If this is what it's like to have siblings then I’m happy that my parents only adopted me…” Uzi speaks her thoughts out loud, flinching as N’s laughter rings out next to her.

“At least it never gets boring!” N takes her hand, leading her to two empty seats. Uzi’s core flutters at the contact, her eyes drifting towards their hands. N helps hoist Uzi up due to her smaller size, only intensifying her already prominent blush.

“I’m… really surprised they came along” A employee fastened their seats, taking their tickets with an odd look. Uzi returned the look with a glare before sighing. “How did you convince them?”

“Oh, there wasn’t any convincing needed!” N beams. “Tessa wanted to go somewhere, I just mentioned the amusement park!”

“Did you tell them about me?” Uzi grips the edges of her seat as the ride slowly begins.

“A little, yeah” N admits sheepishly. “J got suspicious that I knew about the amusement park”

“Of course” Uzi rolls her eyes, her grip tightening as the ride picks up speed.

“Tessa was all for it!” N grips Uzi’s hand, squeezing it as fans begin to whirr louder. “Th-This is my first time here, you don’t mind that I…?” N’s gaze flickers towards their hands, making Uzi shake her head frantically.

“N-Not at all!” Uzi squeezes his hand back, partially to reassure him, partially due to her internal panic. “Be warned though, it’ll get faster,”

“Faster?!” N yelled as the seats began to spin along with the giant octopus in the middle. Uzi cackled as the ride began to spin quiet fast in all directions while N’s grip on Uzi’s hand tightened, screaming as the seats moved up and down.

“Are you afraid?!” Uzi yells, her smile disappearing as she looks at N. However, a nervous smile etched on his face as turned to Uzi.

“This is awesome!” He kicked his feet in the air as the ride continued, making Uzi laugh in response.

Despite the wind tossing and turning her hair in every direction, the adrenalin in her body going on overdrive or the constant spinning of the ride, the feeling of N’s hand intertwined with her’s turned her entire brain functions into mush.

-

“That was so cool!” V fist bumps in the air as she excitedly jumps off the ride with the rest trailing behind. “We should do that again!”

“Yeah, right, it wasn’t THAT exciting!” J crosses her arms, a frown etched on her face.

“I saw you laughing like crazy, J!” Tessa giggles, fixing up some strands of J’s hair. “Admit it, you liked it,”

“J-Just a little!” J balls her hands into fists but doesn’t fight back against Tessa’s hands undoing her twintails to make it even again. “It’s still overrated!”

“What J actually meant was, thanks for taking me out on this fun trip away from my crippling workload and the same walls I have to witness every day!” V holds her shorter hair up, mimicking J’s hairstyle, posture and voice.

“Aren’t you mature?” J rolls her eyes as Tessa ties the first pigtail up.

“We’re kids, let’s enjoy it as long as it lasts!” V rests her hands on her hips, a smug grin on her face.

“V is right, J” As Tessa finally tied up the last pigtail she kissed the top of J’s head. “I wanted us here so that we don’t have to hide away anymore,”

J groans, her arms dropping to her side.

“Where did you guys live before?” Everyone's eyes turned to Uzi who immediately felt herself shrink under their intense stares. “...too much?”

“I-I can tell you sometime later!” N places a hand on her shoulder. “Right now, let’s just enjoy our… Wait, what’s that?!” N instantly runs away, leaving them all dumbfounded and scrambling towards his direction.

“N, don’t just run off like that!” J scolds as they finally reach him, his gaze concentrated on a giant Shiba Inu plush hanging from the side of a stand. Cans are stacked on top of each other with more different plushies and prices hanging on the sides.

“Do you want this?” Uzi points at the Shiba Inu plush, making N rapidly nod his head.

“Yeah, but… I’d have to win to get one,” N sadly scratches his arm as he eyes the plush.

“My mom used to be really good at those, she taught me a thing or two” Uzi responds somewhat smugly, yet a shy blush showed itself on her visor. “Maybe I could try winning you one?” Uzi smiles, her hands resting on her hip. N’s eyes brightened as he happily bounces on the spot.

“Only humans can participate,” V points at the sign, her expression turning sour. “How stupid…”

“I can try!” Tessa beams, handing the vendor money. “I’m probably not as good but it’s worth a shot,”

“Really?!” N claps his hands, they light in his visor shining somehow brighter. Tessa nods eagerly, grabbing one of the three balls on the counter, raising her hand behind her shoulder to throw the ball. Her eyes squint as pure concentration etched itself on her face, every fiber of her being channeled into landing the perfect shot. The drones all gather around her, looking with both excitement and unease in their eyes.

However, for Uzi, all she saw were the static covered eyes, an image of what should be her mom standing there, ready to throw the ball. Khan places a hand on Uzi’s shoulder, making her look up to him with a curious gaze.

Nori throws one ball and misses.

Wait… Mom never missed?

She throws another. Again, miss.

That’s not a memory.

“Come on, Nori, you can do it!” Khan cheers, looking as if he doesn’t see what Uzi is seeing. The static over her eyes, the clouds in the sky going faster than they should and the feeling of the breeze hitting them in all places at once.

Nori throws again. This time, all the cans fall down.

Cheers emerge from all directions of Uzi’s auditory sensors, voices so familiar and strange.

“Look, Uzi!” Uzi jolts as N holds the Shiba Inu plush at her face, recoiling slightly at her reaction. “Oh, sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you!”

“N-No, it’s fine, I was just… thinking?” Uzi shakes her hands.

“Explains why you stood there like a zombie,” J crosses her arms, raising a brow. Uzi opens her mouth, ready to defend herself until N presses the Shiba Inu plush again against her face.

“Look how adorable it is!” He offers for Uzi to hold it but she raises her hands in the air instead, taking several steps back.

“Uh, I-I…It’s cute,” N’s head tilts to the side, a puzzled frown on his face.

“Your fans are really loud!” Tessa notes, kneeling down to Uzi’s level. “Are you okay?”

“I-I’m fine!” Uzi takes more steps back as Tessa tries to place a hand on her forehead.

“Are you sure-”

“Bite me! I said I’m fine!” Uzi crosses her arms.

“Watch your tone!” J takes some threatening steps towards Uzi but is stopped by N who stands protectively in front of her.

“J, stop,” N says with a somewhat authoritative tone, surprising everyone. “She probably just feels overwhelmed. Leave her alone,”

J raises a finger, her mouth opening but after several seconds of no sounds coming, her hands fall to her side.

“I think we should all take a break,” Tessa says, trying to defuse the situation. “Maybe we could sit on a bench and stare at the ocean for a bit,”

“Great idea, my legs are starting to hurt,” V stretches her arms above her head, exhaling heavily before walking ahead. “Come on,”

“Do you know where you’re going?” N asks, staying next to Uzi’s side who looked at the ground, absent minded.

“It shouldn’t be that hard to find a quiet corner!”

“You’re walking into the crowd,” J groans.

“Hey, trust my intuition once!” V glares, looking behind her.

“Your intuition got us in more trouble than it actually helped” A exasperated sigh escapes J’s lips but V only chuckles in response.

“Like that one time in the mall?” J cracks a small smile as V mentioned the incident, making Tessa laugh along.

“We were looking so long for you two!” Tessa picks up her pace to walk between V and J. “What made you guys think that hiding into the gaming store was a good idea?”

“It was V’s intuition that made her think you’d look for us there first,” J rolls her eyes albeit with a smile. “Truthfully, I think she just wanted to look at the games there”

“Lies!” V gasps dramatically. “How dare you accuse me of such a thing!”

“It was the truth, wasn’t it?” N laughs from behind the three. “You told me, V!”

“N, you suck!” V yells, making both Tessa and J burst out in laughter.

“Ah, oops, shouldn’t have revealed it, huh?” N scratches the back of his back, a sheepish smile on his face.

The three began telling more stories of the past, recounting incidents or happy memories and sharing smiles and laughter together. However, N caught on to Uzi’s silence and somewhat distant behavior the whole time.

“Hey,” Uzi jolts slightly as N places a comforting hand on her shoulder. “You good?”

“Yes, for the thousandth time, I’m fine,” Uzi sighs.

“You’ve been so quiet though,” N sheepishly smiles. “Sorry about, uh… all this,”

“All what?” Uzi raises a brow.

“I should have told you my family was coming along and not make it out to be this surprise.” An unusual somber expression falls on his face as his lips twitch downward to a frown. “I’m sorry for overwhelming you like this,”

Uzi opens her mouth to speak again but N kept on rambling.

“In fact, I probably should have gone alone!” Slight panic arises in his expression, making Uzi feel a pang of sympathy in her chest.

This is scrapped because I felt embarrassed about the family drama. However, this is only the snippet of what's being edited, there's a ton that will stay the same bc it's Khan and Uzi bonding stuff :3

[dukeofriven]

Y’All Should Actually Read Barthes (Or: Why Your ‘Rings Of Power’ Critique Is Bad)

I think what really gets under my skin about the many, many lousy critiques about Rings of Power[1] on Tumblr dot Com and Reddit[2] that I see out there is that, firstly, they frequently seem to come from people who don’t seem to realize that their understanding and memories about Tolkien are shaped far, far, far more by the Peter Jackson movies (which were hardly ‘canon-compliant’) than they are by the original text. Second and more crucially, I think, is that everyone really wants to get pissed about canon that Tolkien never actually codified. Here’s what I mean: Tolkien didn’t ‘write’ the Silmarillion. He wrote a whole bunch of essays, letters, notes, scraps of ideas, poems, plot outlines, and ramblings, some of which he earmarked for a project he one day planned to compile as something called The Silmarillion. Then he made a slight error in his scheme by dropping dead. So his son Christopher Tolkien and his pal Guy Gavriel Kay stared at this enormous pile of stuff that went back decades, pulled out some of the bits they thought were most polished, did their best to link them into some kind of narrative, edited the crap out of it, added punctuation, and published a book they called The Silmarillion after JRR’s planned, but never completed idea. And was what was in The Silmarillion everything JRR planned to be in the final volume? Not necessarily. In many cases, not remotely, but Christopher Tolkien and Kay tried to take the stuff that was most polished, even if it was thirty year old material that Tolkien had changed his mind fifteen more times on, because the old stuff often had a clarity of completion that the later revisions did not. They usually took the stuff that complete sentences over the stuff with sentence fragments, even if the latter was more ‘fresh.’ Because they realized that The Silmarillion was more a simulacrum of Tolkien’s ideas than anything definitive, Christopher then put out The Unfinished Tales, which contained some more of Tolkien’s ideas: spme that had made it in other versions into The Silmarillion, some that had not. And since the very large pile of notes and scribblings and essays and letters and old recipes didn’t seem any noticeably smaller, he then spent thirteen years publishing The History of Middle Earth, comedically large tomes stuffed to the brim with Tolkien ideas, variations, variants, and late night side-table Kleenex notes. And then they kept putting out more books. And more. And then Christopher made the same silly mistake of dropping dead too! But other people put out even more books, with even more untouched material. There’s a new book coming out in November and JRR Tolkien’s been dead for fifty years! None of this was published under JRR’s aegis. And let me tell you, JRR Tolkien had a pretty weighty aegis: the man was famous for berating his publishers for edits and corrections. Part of the reason he never got around to completing a definitive Silmarillion was the fact that the man never wanted to publish something with which was not completely satisfied. Everything that has come out after his death, compiled with all the love and care in the world, is nevertheless pretty damning evidence that Tolkien was rarely satisfied. What we know about old JRR is that he changed his mind again and again, and we can’t know that on his death bed, his last thought wasn’t some brilliant revelation that finally made the One Ring work in the context of Sauron’s timeline in the Second Age. If he did, he didn’t get a chance scribble it on a napkin for his son to later try and make sense of. And so we will never really know what his true canon decision on, say, elven pregnancy was: sometimes he thought it should take about 108 years. Sometimes only 9 years. He would change his mind, or change his math, again and again.. So when you talk about the ‘canon’ of Tolkien, it’s important to remember that even if you’re just speaking about ‘definitive’ works, you’re left with those published with his approval in his lifetime. namely The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, The Adventures of Tom Bombadil, and The Road Goes Ever On songbook with Donald Swann. Even with those four books there’s complexity: what version of The Hobbit are you talking about? The original? Or the one he rewrote after he changed his mind about the entire nature of the ring Bilbo found in a cave and decided that actually it was the most important piece of jewelry in existence. Honestly, given world enough and time Tolkien probably would have made a third edition of The Hobbit because those two ‘canonical’ books, The Hobbit and it’s ‘sequel’ Lord of the Rings, don’t even fit together very well, as poor Peter Jackson learned to his sorrow and our pain with his wretched, tonally disjunct Hobbit films. It’s funny, because everyone on here loves talking about Roland Barthes’ Death of the Author. Almost none of you have ever read it, but it sure is a thing that’s a super important, inviolable concept... until we talk about an author the internet isn’t mad at, and suddenly the author’s word is inviolable and all adaptation choices are wrong. I don’t know how to get this across any clearer: anyone who has ever dug deep into Tolkien’s lore knows that speaking of things like ‘canon,’ ‘definitive,’ ‘authoritative,’ and all similar adjectives is often a fool’s errand. Tolkien left us with a lot of ideas about the second age, but very little in the way of clarity, much less ‘this is the true thing unchanging.’ Even the ‘authoritative’ timeline of the Appendices in LOTR is stuff he was changed in the writings he did in the years after. So I am begging you. Please. Please stop giving the Akallabêth a level of authoritative definition that even its compiler admitted it did not possess. Until you can prove to me you brought the shade of JRR Tolkien back from beyond the Veil to speak True Authorial Intent,[3] I am going to treat your recourse to ‘but the canon’ with the level of exasperation it deserves. --------------------------

[1] Besides the general problem on this website that everyone’s heard of critical theory and almost nobody’s ever read any. [2] There are plenty of valid critiques to be made, especially about pacing and awkward racial optics, but it’s really not the unhinged shit I’m seeing, as usual. [3] Let’s be honest: in the fifty years since he shuffled off his mortal coil, the shade of Tolkien will unquestionably return with a ghostly second pile of essays, letters, notes, scraps of ideas, poems, plot outlines, and ramblings, and they won’t be remotely definitive either. And we’re all going to be super disgruntled when the ghost insists that the only good adaptation is his work is Khraniteli.

[physisrebooted]

Fragments from a Scrapped Timeline: Upd8!

Read the latest pages here!

New reader? Start here!

[shuttershocky]

Hey shutters, apologies if this has been asked and answered before, but do you have a recommendation on what order is best to consume the nasuverse content in?

You're very lucky, with Mahoyo getting an official release there's now an easily agreeable starting point!

I would say start with Witch on the Holy Night, also known as Mahoyo, for the Switch or PS4/PS5 (you can use a Switch emulator like Yuzu to play it on PC). The first Nasuverse story written but one of the last to actually get published for the public, it's a very simple but extremely charming work that lays the foundation for the rest of Type-Moon while also introducing you to the Aozaki sisters, who pop up everywhere.

From Mahoyo, you have several different paths you can go.

If you liked the mysterious air of magic and its esoteric rules, you can proceed to Kara No Kyoukai, which was adapted excellently by Ufotable (and maybe the original novels will get an official English release someday). It also has more of Touko, if you're fond of her.

If you liked the sneak peek Mahoyo gave about monsters and the heavily armed Holy Church, and prefer a bloody horror story, you can read Tsukihime next. This one also sees a little bit more of Aoko, as she becomes the mentor and main inspiration of Tsukihime's protagonist. My hope is that with Mahoyo getting an official English release, the Tsukihime Remake comes next, but if not there's a fan translation in the works!

If you liked Mahoyo's magic battles, action scenes, and rulebreaking on top of rulebreaking, you already know what's coming next. Fate/Stay Night is your gateway to one of the biggest and most influential otaku franchises in the world. There will be superpowers. There will be a ton of fighting. And there will be an incredibly large amount of sequels, spin-offs, alternate timelines, mangas, books, video games, and merchandise to keep you going should you ever want more of Fate.

Seriously, after Fate/Stay Night it all really depends on what you want to see more of, where you can pick up any series you want at any time. There's a fantastic sequel (Hollow Ataraxia) and prequel (Fate/Zero), there's a Fate on the Moon (Fate/Extra), a Fate with double the servants (Fate/Apocrypha), a Fate with double the servants but written by a Nasu lore fanatic (Fate/Strange Fake), Fate but video games (Fate/Unlimited Codes, Fate/Extella, the upcoming Fate/Samurai Remnant, etc etc), Fate but written as an original anime and on the Moon (Fate/Extra Last Encore), Fate but without Fate in the title (Lord El-Melloi Case Files and Adventures), Fate books I've not seen translated (Fate/Labyrinth, I'm sure there's more), Fate but set in the original scrapped version of Fate/Stay Night (Fate/Prototype Fragments), and the Fate that never ends (Fate/Grand Order). All these options and more on the way, if you love heroic spirits you'll never be lacking in Fate.

There are also short stories set in the Nasuverse you can read in less than an hour, should you feel like knowing more. I recommend two in particular: Notes is a gritty sci-fi set in a world thousands of years in the future long after humanity's war with the cosmic beings known as Types, while Coral of the Moon is also set thousands of years in the future, but is a more relaxed sci-fi about a very tiny man in a very tiny spaceship sitting on the hand of a girl alone in her island, listening to her tell the tale of people who fell in love on the Moon.

[ut-scatteredextension]

What sort of runs have you done in the past?

I feel like Papyrus' (and Flowey's) RESETs can't really be categorized into "runs" like a player's playthroughs can. While their world might feel like a game to them (particularly Flowey), it still isn't one. There isn't a set "beginning" or "end" to a "run" for them like there is for us (...though I suppose a comparable beginning could be the first moment they woke up after being revived, but I don't think either of them would necessarily start from that point all the time. Papyrus especially would want to start at least a little bit after that point). They just RESET the timeline whenever they get bored/can't get anything useful out of the current one and want to try something new.

As a result, their "runs" are a lot more fragmented than what we as players would consider to be a run.

That said, Papyrus does typically lean more on the Neutral/Pacifist side of things. He's not opposed to murder, though---he can just undo it later, after all, so it's not like it really matters. If a situation "required" it, in his eyes, then yeah, he'll kill someone. But it's not his default course of action (though it wasn't Flowey's either, aside from Frisk anyway). While he hasn't done a "murder everyone" run himself, he's not bothered by it if Trace/the player attempts one and will help you/them out with it. It's something new, and hey, maybe this is actually what he needs to do in order to get the answers he seeks.

Which, actually, is another key difference between Scraps and Flowey! Flowey's actions are fueled by boredom, curiosity, and a desperate desire to fill that void in his SOUL somehow. Everything he does is for his own entertainment, just to see what happens when he does this or that. Papyrus, meanwhile, is on a specific mission, and his actions and RESETs are driven by his attempts to reach that goal.

[unraveling-plot]

ORV Side Story reactions so far (through episode 8 part 4)

First of all. LHH <3 I like him

It's rough reading this from the perspective of someone who's empathetic and cares about saving people

Love that he's a better person than KDJ while playing the role of a villain

The way he uses incite on himself is 🤌 chefs kiss. I hope this backfires some day

The snowfield with KDJ was so. I loved it

Also the Trauma flashback to him recalling KDJ's backstory?? Damn. Certified fragment behavior. Also mad sus

Representative Kim Dokja 🔪 who are you. My theory is the Dokkaebi King based off of vibes alone. But they're definitely an outer god. Eesh idk

Calling out KDJ for his selfishness... whoo. We knew but ouch

The timeline. Oh my god. The first 40 rounds got scrapped with SYS getting sent back. Like yeah that makes sense but I'd never considered it. What happened??!

KillerKing cracks me up

HSY girl what are you doing here. Thrilled to see her tho <3

This whole this is so surreal and meta to read

I miss Kim Dokja

[sincerelygideon]

I don't know how much more of this hell I can take. I can feel myself succumbing to my mind's control of perception. Instead of being able to truly recognize my environment, the body becomes nothing more than parts and scrap. I'm only left with thoughts and patterns. I can see the disconnect at times. The realization of my hands and how disconnected they are. They become fragmented, almost as if they are not a part of me.

General monotony is eating away at any concept of myself. I begin to feel nothing as I am nothing. A question of what else is beyond this? To say the grass is greener on the other side, as to say there is more beyond this timeline. All feels lost and forever hidden by something I can't explain. Every sound is blending into a mass of phonics. Nothing to perceive, nothing to pay attention to. My attentiveness to the world around me feels invisible.

I want to escape from this reality.

[iamthescalesofjustice]

i definitely share the problem many people have of whats in my head vastly outpacing what ive actually written, but i sort of have the opposite problem with other parts of the creative process bc the thing is when i do actually write its never so much bc i sit down to write, more like the ideas that have been pressurizing finally burst forth in a chaotic torrent that drags me into a fuguelike state where there is nothing but feverishly getting the words out with minimal mind to editing or organization and eventually after at least several hours i surface and find myself with like 8k new words of writing to sort through, and hope the spell is broken rather than being only a brief window of lucidity bc it wont properly be done for the next couple days actually, which is what happens sometimes

[deceitful-darlings]

Have you seen the imposter au with sagau

I’ve seen both imposter au and the villain au, and yes, I love them! However, I don’t feel there’s often much background planned into the level of hatred or emotions from the characters, to the point it can almost feel completely out of character, and where did this ‘imposter’ even come from? So, why not make a lore, at least for my version, that half works with some prexisting characters with very little lore? I would say the imposter and villain au happen in a slightly different universe to the regular cult au, mainly because I don’t see how any of the Archons could’ve met the Divine Creator, yet somehow then see them millennia later and just...say they’re fake?

So, while their time of disappearance can vary for in the regular au, in the imposter and villain au, the Divine Creator must have vanished well over 6000 years ago, long before the oldest gods of Teyvat still alive even roamed the earth. Which then begs the question, what happened to them?

Well, we know of one being that is believed to currently be the start of Teyvat’s timeline. The Primordial One, a being who came from another world. Time to take the scraps of information I have and run with it.

The Primordial One was the first being to come to the Divine Creator, maybe even the being they created Teyvat for, after all, why would an all powerful being just create a world out of nowhere? The two were friends, The Primordial One shared their knowledge and The Divine Creator their power, and from this combination, the Old World was born. The first humans were some of the few who knew the truth of The Divine Creator, because their friendship (or romance) didn’t last.

The first humans could never be sure of the reasoning for it, but the relationship between the two began to fracture, they never spoke as to the reasoning, but one day The Divine Creator vanished from Teyvat. The Primordial One had attacked them, battling against them for a reason unknown, and during this battle The Divine Creator was wounded, their power, even after all these years, had not yet recovered from building Teyvat for their dear friend, and they weren’t strong enough to fight against them. So, Teyvat came to their aid, crumbling their physical form and sending their soul from Teyvat to another world, far from the reaches of The Primordial One.

Of course, they knew they hadn’t destroyed them, their soul had vanished yet there were still the faintest of traces of their existence, so they knew they must make a plan, and present a reason to the humans as to why you’re no longer here, whether it’s out of self preservation, guilt, or an attempt to lie to themselves about their action, they concoct their story.

The being who’d be walking among them was not The Divine Creator, they had known this for centuries but had not been strong enough to destroy the entity, born of darkness and corruption, that had stolen your face and drained you life force. They have now dealt with the imposter, however it had taken them too long to punish them, and you had suffered for their weakness, your body and soul so drained you were no longer able to manifest yourself, and your soul slept deep within Teyvat. So the story goes.

And how would they deal with the possibility of you returning? Well, they know it would be discoverered eventually, but they could buy themselves time. What better way to instil distrust that to make this being of fear and corruption a central peg in your story, the imposter that could always return wearing the face of The Divine Creator? Of course, they need something to be convincing, an imposter to make you seem like the imposter if you return, so The Primordial One sets to work. Creating a replica of a divine being is far from easy, but they manage to do so, and they link this body to the fragments of your divinity that linger in Teyvat. Using those fragments, this imposter is able to access memories, and even command Teyvat itself to an extremely limited degree.

The imposter was a failsafe, a being that was only to be used upon your return if it were soon, but when The Primordial One vanishes/dies, their story of imposters and real gods is passed through the generations until it is legend, to this very day the story is know. But the imposter is left behind. Sleeping deep in the earth they lay dormant, the fragments of your divinity whispering to them of the events in Teyvat, and upon your return they awaken. It has been many years since their master vanished, they’re no longer there to give new orders. Teyvat is very different to the one recalled in your hazy memory fragments, but none of that is of concern. They have one mission, and one mission only, the thing they had been born, taught, and raised for.

To dispose of the Divine Creator by any means necessary, be it death or incarceration, all to protect their creator’s secret.