#her learning how to seal the residue from cyno..........

[dreampearls]

said feverishlyOh my god were there other survivors of the archon reagent experiemnt

[isnt-it-pretty]

I was thinking of an au where all of the children escaping Dottore happens way sooner than canon, and instead of ending up in Mondstadt, baby Collei is found by new Matra Cyno in the desert. The first response would be to take her to the Akademiya, but Collei is so young and afraid and cursed with the Archon Residue. While Cyno trusts the Akademiya, he isn't sure they can protect her from the second of the Tsaritsa's Harbingers. So he breaks the rules, just once, and under the desert sun seals her Archon Residue, and then takes her back to Sumeru City and lies. After all, nobody knows much about Cyno. It isn't too suspicious for him to have a family somewhere in the desert, and well, who would question if he comes back with a little girl claiming she's his sister? Especially with a case of Eleazar. It only makes sense that she would come live in Sumeru City with him.

The scene of Collei trailing after Cyno like a little duckling becomes commonplace to the matra, and it keeps up even after Cyno is promoted to General Mahamatra. When he's gone on long missions, Taj Radkani, a father, looks after Collei for him and wishes he had as good of a relationship with his son as Cyno and Collei do. The other matra are fiercely protective of their General's little sister, and they don't need Cyno's horrible jokes to break the ice (he still tells them anyway, of course, but Cyno started it to help Collei be less afraid of him.)

Collei would probably kick ass if Cyno raised her. As soon as she was old enough, she'd have a weapon in her hands and be learning how to fight.

Tighnari meets the General Mahamatra years later and is immediately less threatened by him when he eventually finds out about his kid sister. After all, Cyno instantly softens whenever Collei is around. Or Tighnari sees somebody trying to snatch a little girl, so he intervenes (even if she knows how to fight, she's still a kid) and then later finds out he saved the General Mahamatra's little sister from being kidnapped in an attempt to blackmail Cyno. Cyno is, of course, extremely grateful while Tighnari is freaking out because, oh my god, the General Mahamatra is as terrifying as people say-- especially when he's worried about Collei and furious people would try to hurt her.

Collei spends time in the Grand Bazar because they have the best tachin. She loves watching Nilou dance and often makes Cyno take breaks to attend performances with her. She's so invested in the theatre that the Akademiya can't do anything about it because the matra universally refuse to shut down the one play Cyno actually takes a break to go.

But eventually, her Eleazar gets worse, and Collei gets sicker. She doesn't have an interest in joining the Akademiya anyway, and Cyno can't be around as much as she needs him to be, so Cyno sends her to Gandharva Ville to live and learn from Tighnari.

[hopemakesstuff]

borrower!Collei headcanons

Quite a few people left some lovely comments in the tags on my borrower!Collei snippet, and I don’t know if or when I’ll get around to writing more for that AU (because unfortunately my brain can be very fickle with inspiration) but I figured it might be fun to share some of the headcanons I and a good friend of mine have come up with so far!

And also use this opportunity to explain some stuff that I didn’t include or didn’t clarify in the snippet itself.

So yeah here’s that below the cut ^_^

For this AU, generally speaking, most people in Teyvat know of borrowers. Borrowers are still reclusive and mostly try to keep themselves hidden from humans, but they’re existence isn’t a total secret.

As mentioned in ‘New Recruit,’ borrowers aren’t formally recognized as citizens of Sumeru (or any of the other nations for that matter). They’re viewed somewhat similarly to how the Aranara are viewed—almost like a fairytale. Most people don’t expect to ever meet a borrower.

Also as briefly mentioned in ‘New Recruit,’ Collei was still experimented on by the Fatui and she still has Eleazar.

Like in the manga, she somehow found her way to Mondstadt, where she met and befriended Amber.

Cyno still came to help seal away her archon residue powers. He then brought her to Gandharva Ville in the hopes of having Tighnari keep an eye on her and care for her.

Even though Cyno told her that Tighnari was trustworthy, that didn’t stop Collei from being wary of him.

She decided she would remain hidden from Tighnari for as long as possible and try to learn more about him on her own first.

Cyno respected her decision, but made her promise to seek Tighnari out if her condition worsened.

He still obviously told Tighnari about Collei, though—and warned him about her wariness.

Tighnari discreetly always kept an eye out for her, but had every intention of letting her come to him on her own terms.

There are other borrowers besides Collei living in Gandharva Ville—pretty much a whole community of them. For the most part, the human residents of Gandharva Ville don’t mind their smaller neighbors and generally try to coexist with them.

When she wasn’t gathering food or other supplies, Collei spent most of her free time just watching Tighnari and the other forest rangers work around the village.

She came to greatly admire their skills and the way they helped people, which led to her imagining what it would be like if she could help people in a similar way—whether they be humans or fellow borrowers.

This eventually culminated in her decision to finally approach Tighnari and ask him if he would train her to become a forest ranger.

Once she gets more training from Tighnari, Collei acts as a sort of middleman between him and the other borrowers in Gandharva Ville. They feel much more comfortable going to Collei for help than to the official forest rangers, so it’s a lot easier for them to get any necessary care/treatment that way.

Because of her Eleazar, Collei has a bit more trouble getting around compared to most other borrowers.

Climbing can be especially dangerous for her if she has a flare-up, since she could easily lose her grip on whatever she’s using to climb. She has to be a bit more creative with how she gets up and down furniture. Maybe making little elevators/pulley systems?

Aaaand that’s all I’ve got for now. But if I get more ideas in the future I might do another one of these. We’ll see. x’D

[isnt-it-pretty]

Pray to Blades of Grass (Village Keeper!Cyno AU) Notes! Part 2 of 2

Please see part 1 here for the first half of these notes.

Lisa writes to Cyno about Collei. A former classmate and friend of Tighnari's takes it before it can be disposed of and gives it to Tighnari. Tighnari takes all of Cyno's relevant notes from his time in Spantamad and goes to Mondstadt. Lisa is heartbroken over the news of what happened to her classmate, but between her, Tighnari, and Cyno's notes, she can seal Collei's Archon Residue. She gives Tighnari her condolences, and Tighnari takes Collei back to Sumeru. 

He never explicitly tells Collei about Cyno, but she learns most of the story from the other forest rangers who gossip and give Tighnari pitying looks as he packs up to leave for the desert every two months. "His partner was a genius in the Rtawahist darshan who went mad and was exiled to the desert; poor Tighnari still loves him."

Tighnari argues almost violently with Haypasia every time they meet about contacting Irminsul-- if Cyno couldn't do it safely, how could anybody else? Haypasia is aware of his concern but disregards it in the pursuit of knowledge.

He helps the Traveller when she shows up and warns her that the incense and Haypasia's occupation are extremely dangerous. Still, he does send the Traveller to speak with Haypasia with the warning to be careful.

Paimon tells Haypasia that Tighnari doesn't seem to like what she's doing. Haypasia explains that Tighnari once lost somebody very close to him to madness-- he knows better than most how dangerous it can be. He has a right to be wary, but she won't stop. 

In the 3.1 archon quest, Tighnari replaces Cyno's role. I'm not sure what happens to Haypasia-- maybe he doesn't find her, and she's just crazy in the forest or something. Either way, he goes to Aaru Village to visit Cyno and runs into Alhaitham and the Traveler. He knows Dehya, which surprises Lumine. 

They all go to the village leader's house, where Candace tells Tighnari she has to talk to him about Cyno. Alhaithen recognizes the name, and when Paimon and Lumine ask, he says that Cyno was infamous within the Akademiya for being a genius before he went mad and tried to kill himself. Dehya snaps that Alhaithem should show some respect while the Traveller remembers what Haypasia told them.

Candace comes back alone and tells them that Tighnari needs a moment of privacy before explaining that the village keepers have been missing. 

Tighnari is well-known and respected in the village, so the investigation goes easier than canon. They find out quickly that the woman heard cries from the Eleazar hospital and goes with Alhaitham and Lumine to look.

Everything goes about the same, and they track the Emerites. Alhaitham offers himself, blah blah. 

Cyno is the one traded instead of "grandpa," and Tighnari's relief is palpable. When the sand collapses, Tighnari brings Cyno into King Deshret's tomb because he is not leaving Cyno alone. Cyno probably says something cryptic. 

After they get back to Aaru Village, Tighnari fusses over Cyno.

Timeskip to when all is done, and they've saved Kusanali. She knows about Cyno and decides she can't let it continue, so she personally visits Tighnari alongside Alhaitham to ask if he would let her try to help.

Then the fic happens.