Here they are: Pantalone!MC - This was a lot longer than I was expecting of myself, and I ran out of steam and inspiration at the end. Enjoy! ~ 🐸-anon
In their first life they were abandoned at birth by their family and ended up at a bad orphanage. The children weren’t physically abused, but they were heavily neglected. MC had hoped that when they were adopted that their new parents would be better, but that illusion only lasted until they got to their new home.
Their adoptive parents were abusive, but smart enough not to leave too obvious bruises. They had MC work multiple odd jobs to fund their gambling habits. MC was able to funnel some money away though and managed to get emancipated at 16, even getting their parents imprisoned for their abuse.
With their financial smarts they created a financial empire that payed their people fairly and spent their life helping people out of bad situations, creating and funding properly looked after orphanages, etc. Their people (workers and people they helped) adored MC for their actions, and MC was rarely seen without children following them around the workplace (they were head of the company, they could spend some time babysitting and spoiling the children). This is how they were introduced to Genshin.
Unfortunately, MC died in a robbery/hostage situation gone wrong, saving the children they were looking after. They died knowing that their will would keep their company doing what it was doing under them, that their life’s work would be in good hands. They were just sad that the children had to see them die.
But then they woke up again.
Rhinedottir was doing her usual science and was investigating the very strong source of elemental energy that she’d come across recently - which, unknown to her, was remnants of the Geo Sovereign. She had managed to somehow cut herself on it when experimenting, and since then it was gathering more and more energy.
Suddenly, a flash of light lit up her lab, and a small shock of power pushed away all her instruments from the energy source. When she opened her eyes a baby was lying where it had been. Rhinedottir just stared in shock for a few seconds, before slowly approaching the seemingly sleeping child.
The baby had black hair, a similar wavy texture to hers, but it also had a few soft-looking scales and claws, a small tail, and the beginning small nubs of growing horns. Rhinedottir didn’t have time to make more observations as the small child hatchling? gave a small yawn and opened their eyes - a silver shade just like hers. The baby looked almost surprised as it looked up at her, and Rhinedottir felt her heart skip a beat as tears started gathering in the little ones eyes.
MC had not expected to wake up again, so opening their eyes to - what seemed to be - a lab and a giant with a look of surprise on her face was startling. The situation for some reason was stressful enough to cause them to cry, which wasn’t normal for them. They only realised they were a baby again when the giant giant? woman picked them up and started awkwardly trying to calm them down like one would a small child. The rocking was soothing, and the woman felt like home for some reason (dragons always recognise their parents). Their crying fit and the woman’s their mother’s soothing was enough for them to fall back asleep again.
Rhinedottir on the other hand was panicking. She did not know how to look after her fellow humans, even more so small human-something hybrids. She managed to calm down enough to contact her friends (Sinners) that were currently nearby. Vedrfolnir and Dainsleif were the first to arrive, immediately noticing the small child and Rhinedottir quietly panicking. The two managed to calm her down and she told them what happened. And that she was going to keep the baby, that since it was her blood that caused its creation, that she was their mother.
The rest of the Sinners (minus Rerir, who is only Dainsleif’s friend at this point), join the trio and agree to help Rhinedottir hide her child’s non-human features/origin (Come up with a backstory - one night stand? Grown in a vat so Rhinedottir’s work wouldn’t be interrupted? Hidden pregnancy?). The Sinners and Dainsleif ask Rhinedottir if she’s got a name yet for her child, not noticing MC slowly blinking awake. MC wakes up just in time to hear Rhinedottir name them - Pantalone!MC.
Pantalone!MC grows up adored by their aunts and uncles, they enjoy an actual family that loves and wants them. Their friends and workers in their last life were lovely, but they weren’t their blood family. Their mother and uncle Hroptatyr did create a necklace for them to hide their draconic features (though their instinct are a little obvious if one knows what to look for: headbutting and slow-blinking as forms of affection (like a cat!) and they keep the ability to purr), but Pantalone!MC figures out how to shapeshift slightly to hide their features on their own. They keep the necklace on anyways as added insurance if they lose control of their shapeshifting (eg. extreme distress)
Dainsleif introduces them to Rerir, who braught Tholindis to meet his friend and his niece. Them meeting is what reminds Pantalone!MC about what happens to the Sinners (they had slowly started remembering the Genshin storyline, but hadn’t remembered specifics until then). Their clinginess is normal for them, though not usually towards strangers like Tholindis. (Pantalone!MC’s family believe it's because Rerir is a good friend of Dainsleif and is thus considered family by their draconic instincts) Either way, they have new babysitters that are perfectly willing to kill for them. (Somehow, Tholindis and Rerir find out about each other’s secrets because of Pantalone!MC - attack on Rhinedottir’Rhinedottir's child that both fought off maybe?)
They accidentally meet Thrain and Pierro when they toddle away from their mother at the market. The crowd was too big for them to follow their mother's scent and it was incredibly overwhelming for them. Thrain saw a small child close to tears while out with Pierro and went to make sure everything was alright. The two of them manage to calm Pantalone!MC down enough for them to tell the adults that they got separated from their mother. Pierro and Thrain almost get a heartattack when they find out who their mother is, but they manage to return Pantalone!MC to their family. A further two babysitters/uncles acquired by Pantalone!MC.
Life continues, and Pantalone!MC knows that the Cataclysm is approaching, but doesn’t know when exactly it happens. Anything political or otherwise that could tell them what is happening is kept from them by their protective family that want them to stay safe.
The Cataclysm happens when Pantalone!MC is around 6 years old. It is utter chaos, Pantalone!MC hadn’t gone with their family to rescue Vedrfolnir because they were a child, but they ran towards the palace as Khaenri'ah was ravaged around them. They got close enough that their family saw them running towards them. Then one of Morax’s meteors hit the ground. They were only skimmed, and their geo-dragon status lets them survive but they fall through a moon gate and end up in Liyue around 3-4 centuries after the fall of Khaenri’ah.
Their family did not take their “death” well. The Sinners accepted the Abyss’ power: Surtalogi hunting down ways to bring them back in other worlds; Vedrfolnir searching for them in his visions; Hroptatyr and Rhinedottir looking for ways to create a new body for them to infuse their soul into; Rerir and Tholindis go through a moon gate in an attempt to track them down through time and bring them back. Dainsleif didn’didn't accept the Abyss and is still on his self-proclaimed quest, but is willing to join them if the Sinners have a way to return Pantalone!MC. Thrain and Pierro still join the Fatui as Harbingers. They all utterly LOATHE Morax for “killing” Pantalone!MC.
Meanwhile, Pantalone!MC wakes up in a small alley in Liyue Harbour. Once again an orphan (in a way), alone in the world. Liyue is not kind to mora-less orphans, especially ones with strange marketable eyes. Pantalone!MC buries their draconic side under a ridiculous amount of illusions and refused to shift out of their human form - they're terrified of being found by the adepti/Morax.
Pantalone!MC struggles, but they manage to fall back on their first life's knowledge, quickly earning money and keeping themselves safe from the more unscrupulous people. They pretend to be older than they actually are with the help of their minor shapeshifting powers and their necklace. They still haven’t returned to their draconic form since the Cataclysm.
With their money and influence, they set up a sort of proto-Adventurer’s guild/intelligence network for the orphans and poor people they employ. The Qixing know that there is a new player, but haven’t been able to track Pantalone!MC down. Due to them avoiding the Qixing and their gratuitous use of illusions and shapeshifting, Pantalone!MC has managed to avoid meeting the adepti and Morax so far. It's only when there’there's a close call that Pantalone decides to leave Liyue for a bit - they remember that in the original story, Pantalone had set up the Credit Coupon system in Meropide - they’'d like to see if they could do the same (and not just because they disliked Morax's monopoly over the economy).
They are aware though that they’d have to avoid the Iudex - they have no idea how Neuvillette would react to a dragon-human hybrid. (Neuvillette does catch the barest scent of another dragon, but its’s faint enough that he mistakes it as his mind playing tricks on him. A hatchling hadn't been seen in millenia.) Pantalone!MC does manage to implement the Credit Coupons in Meropide, with just as much success as in the game. And they avoided Neuvillette by negotiating with and implementing the credit coupons with the administrator, not the Iudex.
Their financial experiment brings them to the Fatui’s attention, making the organisation interested in recruiting them - especially since they are known not to like Morax and the control he has over the economy/humans. Pierro, as the Jester and head of the Harbingers, is the one to request a private meeting. (Now, if I felt like angst I’d have him not recognise Pantalone!MC, but I’ve decided to be nice) He doesn’t know much about Pantalone!MC, as they are an incredibly private person (for a good reason, not that people know that).
Pantalone!MC remembers that Pierro was the Jester and agrees to the meeting, absolutely terrified that they won’t be recognised, and if they are, that Pierro will hate them (They are so, so wrong).
Pierro is pleasantly surprised that the rather mysterious person he was planning to meet agreed to a meeting so quickly, and booked their meeting for a whole day - he wonders if they were more inclined towards the Fatui than expected. Which would be useful, as their financial backing would give the Fatui a lot of weight/clout. Pierro goes over the information packet the Fatui have on the person they’re trying to recruit as a Harbinger one final time before the meeting -He knows that the person he’s meeting with is rather disinclined to the gods, but almost nothing is known about them - not even their eye colour!
Pierro freezes, barely noticing the door close behind him - He recognises Pantalone!MC immediately. Yes, they were older than when they last saw each other, but their eyes were incredibly distinct, even in Khaenri’ah. He chokes out Pantalone!MC’s name, and is immediately tackled by a crying Pantalone!MC. Pantalone!MC babbles apologies for leaving everyone, how they were so scared when they realised they weren’t in Khaenri’ah, that they had to hide their eyes, that they had to hide from anything even slightly divine-adjacent, etc. Pierro is also crying, reassuring Pantalone!MC that nothing was their fault, that he was glad they were alive, that Thrain would love to see them again, that they did so well surviving on their own for so long, etc. It’s only once they’ve calmed down a bit that Pantalone!MC realised the illusion making them seem older fell while the two were having their reunion. Instead of an adult, they now look closer to 14-15 years old. Their draconic features were still hidden.
Needless to say, they agreed to join as a Harbinger (even though Pierro is now hesitant about them doing so - this was the closest thing he had to a grandchild - one he had thought was dead), on the stipulation that the Adventurer’s Guild they were creating (from the proto-Adventurer’s Guild) was kept separate from the Fatui. Pierro agreed immediately, not risking loosing Pantalone!MC so soon after finding them again.
The duo set off for Shneznaya as soon as possible - Pantalone!MC once again under the illusion - and they reconnect on the journey there. Pierro sends a message ahead to Thrain that he found Pantalone!MC, so he’s waiting for the two to arrive quite anxiously. They have enough sense to make sure that their reunion is quiet - the only other person knowing that Pantalone!MC is Khaenri’ahn is the Tsaritsa.
It is only in private, only the three of them, that Pantalone!MC reveals their draconic features and unusual origins. Thrain and Pierro are shocked about the information, but not angry that Pantalone!MC hid it from them. They joke that of course Rhinedottir would accidentally make a baby.
I love the lore you built up around Pantalone!MC, from him being a baby that Gold accidentally created but nevertheless loved them.
Adding to that, the little tibit about the Geo Sovereign remnants... does that hint to Pantalone!MC becoming the next Geo Sovereign, hm? I kinda hope so, that would be awesome!
Sides that, I love that in the end they at least managed to reunite with Pierro and Thrain. They really do deserve a fluffy reunion after all that pain...
Tagging: @platinumrosetail, @arn9tails, @bloodytea, @lovelyjane-stuff
