catchall; ylfa

[ohthehumanities]

I put ylfa on my shoulders and run away fastly

Comments

[ohthehumanities]

[(pensive)]

We were taken back to Teyvat, somehow. But to Liyue, not Sumeru--it's our neighboring country. For some reason, I woke up as a child at first, in a cave... I could've sworn my mother was really there, saving me from a monster, but that can't possibly be right.

[honkinbigteeth]

You mother, saving you from a monster?

[that's...a really strange and unsettling thing to experience.]

[ohthehumanities]

Yes. [He... finishes the rest of his cookie before he continues.] It wasn't any sort of creature I'd ever seen before. [...] I had to leave her behind.

[honkinbigteeth]

[ouch.]

That sounds awful. But it wasn't real, right? Is your mother...is she alive?

[ohthehumanities]

I don't know. [Honestly.] Before all of this... I would've said yes, of course. And seeing Jonas and the others makes me wonder if any of it was real at all. But--it's hard to reconcile that with what I remember.

[honkinbigteeth]

...Sometimes more than one thing can be true. Different memories for different worlds, different lives. I have two lives in my head. Some people have dozens.

[ohthehumanities]

[Oh... he looks very sad, at that. A big part of him wants to ask her more about that, but a stronger part of him, almost out of his control, has different words coming from his mouth.]

I don't want her to be dead.

[honkinbigteeth]

[she will...reach and take his hand in her fuzzy paw.]

I know.

[she really, really does.]

[ohthehumanities]

[He grasps it back, curling his fingers around her paw. It doesn't seem to bother him.

He takes a moment to breathe, then continues.]

After that, I found the others--Setsu and... Nahida? She looked different, but I don't know why. We rescued Jonas, Shu, and Matsui together. Shenhe, too. It's strange--we had to fight a huge creature, but Shenhe said she'd defeated it in the past with someone else.

[honkinbigteeth]

Jonas, Shu, and Matsui...that's so strange. Matsui was with you, but Jonas and Shu were here.

[ohthehumanities]

[Kaveh nods, looking troubled.]

That's what they've said. But it's so confusing--our wounds are real, but they weren't really killed in the battle...?

[honkinbigteeth]

Maybe it was someone else in disguise as Jonas and Shu?

[ohthehumanities]

[Hmmm. He frowns a little, but he turns that possibility over in his head.]

I suppose it wouldn't be impossible. I've only ever heard about creatures who can do that kind of thing in stories and legends... but we have spirits here...

[It's not the best alternative, because someone or something died back there--but it would be much better.]

[honkinbigteeth]

It's...definitely possible for a creature to put on the skin of a person and pretend to be them. Believe me.

[ohthehumanities]

[Hmm. Well--Kaveh isn't the type to disregard young people either way, but even if he was, she sounds very certain. So he nods.]

...Let's hope that's what it was, then.