Mingyu.Kim: It's been a great couple of months for me actually. The coffee shop has been doing really well and the new hires are great and friendly. Humans really are diligent is what I was able to realise after hiring them. Hoshi convinced me that I could trust them and work 5 days, instead of 7 days a week and that honestly has been great for me. How have you guys been since the new year?
Jeno.Lee: Fashion week has been excellent so far! I'm mainly out here collecting information and inspiration for myself since Sana has asked to see some designs from me for the new line! It's definitely inspiring to be out here and I've been sketching a lot after each show. Hopefully Sana will like my designs!
Kwon.Hosh: It's been a busy couple of weeks with a couple of my cases having their hearings in January. It's funny to see the same lawyer colleagues day in day out at court. We're each fighting each other for more than one case so tensions are high but it's all in good spirits! It would be great to get a couple of wins this month, December was a bit disappointing with my win rate but that's just how it goes sometimes. Is anyone else's work really busy in the new year?
Chan.B: Christmas was so good! I spent some time with a couple of my producer friends and really enjoyed the quieter period since most artists aren't looking for new songs over Christmas. Things have really ramped up since then and I'm working on I think 4... different tracks at the moment. One of them I'm really hoping the girl group will select it because it's made with their style in mind. We'll see how it goes though haha
me writing this has become more self indulgent than anything. the day i figure out how to write the actual genshin characters is probably the day the world ends. anyways here's more oc in sagau (impostor/villain au)
There's something off when it comes to your traveling companion. It's a feeling you have deep down, but regardless you tend to overlook it. He's the only one to show kindness to you so far, the only one to look past your so-called crimes of impersonation.
Tao was never in the game Genshin Impact, and yet here he is. Folding his cloak around you and hiding your face beneath the hood, he escorts you out of Mondstadt. He lives a life in the shadows and he takes you under his wing without a second thought. He's a ruthless man when he needs to be. That thought is solidified from all the hidden weapons tucked inside the cloak you now wear.
On a stretch of land there's a giant pile of rubble, surrounded by a thick forest. In the area between Mondstadt and Liyue, you rest in between the debris of what looks like what used to be a manor. It's intriguing in a sense. This was never in the game itself and yet Tao had led you here without a single misstep.
Your companion says nothing as he sets up camp, leaving you to rest hidden beneath the ruins of the house. In Mondstadt, the wind was harsh as you were hunted down. It took, and it took and it was only when you stumbled to Dragonspine did it stop. There's no doubt in your mind that the Anemo Archon was using those winds to find you, to hunt you.
The air here is still. There's a heavy feeling surrounding the area but after being hunted down, the feeling is almost grounding. Venti - no, Barbatos cannot find you here. The wind isn't welcomed in this area and you are safe.
You're safe.
They can't get you here.
The thought of the sneers, the threats thrown at you, the anger is all too much. Characters you've loved from day one becoming hostile… it's something that's hard to process. It doesn't feel real. You can't stop thinking about it (how they looked at you, as if you were the scum of the earth. how you were attacked without a second thought).
You watch your companion as he settles down close to you, a fire kindling out of reach. Without a word, Tao pushes a canteen into your hands before turning back to the fire. The silence is too much, gives you too much space to think, but any words you wish to say get caught in your throat.
You drink from the canteen, the cool water soothing your throat but you know that your words are still stuck. They will stay stuck and until then you have to deal with this agonizing silence. The canteen is cool under your touch and you hug it close to your chest, hoping for it to distract you.
You snack on a couple of wildberries that Tao had gathered on your journey here, staring into the fire in silence. Tao never reaches for any of the berries and when you silently offer him some he just shakes his head. He pushes them back towards you, turning his gaze to stare into the forest surrounding you both.
When you shift and finally move to lay down, the events of the day pulling you into exhaustion, is when Tao finally speaks again. Softly, as if you had treasured the calm of the air surrounding you, as if you didn't want to break the silence, he speaks since the first time you woke up in Dragonspine.
"Deities will see what they wish to see," he starts. He turns his head and gazes down at you. There's nothing malicious in his eyes but at the same time it feels like he's looking into your soul. "They are selective and selfish, blinded by their reverence to the Creator."
You blink up at him, tired and confused. He smiles fondly and tugs the cloak over you as if it were a blanket. "They don't see the gift that's in front of them because they are delusional. They are too caught up in their own ideals that they don't realize that you know nothing. That there are no crimes to be punished."
He scoffs, his expression turning into annoyed as he turns his head to look away. "The blood of the Creator runs through your veins," he states. "You do not remember Teyvat fully and so those Archons deem you guilty of crimes. Crimes you were not aware of. You are being hurt by the people who swore to love you."
Tao smiles ruefully, slumping back against the wall. "Maybe we're similar in that way." He shakes his head with a sigh. "I'll protect you from those Archons," he brushes his hand across your forehead. "We will make plans on where to go after you sleep. Rest. I will keep you safe."
In a stretch of land that neither Morax or Barbatos has set claim to, you fall asleep with Tao keeping watch.
Mingyu.kim: it's getting to that time again when my hair is definitely too long but I don't have the heart to cut it. It's fun to have longer hair but I get told that it doesn't suit me. I kind of like it. What do you think?
Kim.taehyung: is anyone else already feeling overwhelmed about Christmas? It's ages away in the grand scheme of things, but it's such a busy time of year and it feels like people celebrate from the beginning of November. I've got a couple of shoots this month and then heading into December I'm planning on going abroad somewhere, what are your plans?
Taro - if someone called you right now to catch up, what're the things you'd tell them about?
It depends on who it is really. If Taeyeon called me I'd complain to her that Hunt, my dog, keeps acting up recently, she'd laugh at that. If you called me I'd ask you if you wanted to catch up over lunch instead of over the phone
Jasmine - do you have a movie or book you loved but will never watch/read again?
I really enjoyed Howl's Moving Castle. One of the guys that works at the cafe recommended it to me and it was one of the most beautiful things I've ever watched. But I don't think I'll watch it again because it made me too emotional and reminded me of someone I knew..
cw: there's some death of unnamed background characters. not intensely described but it's there
hi i can't stop writing mingyu. idk why throwing an oc into sagau is so fun to write but im vibing with it i like being apart of this even if it's extremely self indulgent
Tao is a wonderful travel companion but that doesn't stop you from noticing things about him that are just a bit off. Sometimes you think that maybe it's just your imagination, maybe you're just seeing things. After all, being on the run with all of Teyvat looking for you is incredibly stressful.
It doesn't change what you notice. Overlooking the strange habits only seems to bring more of them to your attention. It piles up.
Tao never seems to sleep. When you offered to take first watch one night, he just shook his head and nudged you with his shoulder. "Sleep," he had said. "I'm not the one being hunted down. You need the rest." He never wakes you to watch over him while he rests. It's like he never does.
He has a plethora of weapons, hidden in his clothes or in plain sight. You don't know how many he has. Tao has peeled apples in front of you with nearly twenty different knives that just seemingly appear. That's not even mentioning his clawed jewelry. Perhaps just an accessory but the way he dug them into the skin of one of your attackers says otherwise. They're sharp enough to cause grave harm, yet when he runs his fingers through your hair it's as if they never cut through the skin of enemies like scissors to paper.
(You try not to think of all the harm he caused. He's just defending you both. They're the ones hunting you down. When he bandages any wounds you avoid thinking about the cold metal touching your skin. Forever stained by the blood of your hunters.)
Some days it's almost as if he's a completely different person. Tao just brushes it off as being in a good mood but there's still something strange about it. Tao's normal expression is, for the lack of a better description, a resting bitch face. It makes his laugh and fond smiles much more rewarding. He's quiet, calm when not in battle, and treats you gently.
The days where he's 'in a good mood' (as he describes it) is what makes it strange. He's louder, more excitable, and it can occasionally be endearing. He shares stories of his adventures around Teyvat with a sharp grin, arm swung across your shoulders as he leads you around. The single time you've seen him in battle when he's like this was terrifying.
(It was like a massacre. Usually he keeps anything particularly bloody out of your sight but it's as if he didn't even care that time. Electro sparking, dancing, between the metal claws attached to his fingers as he tore skin and bone apart. You couldn't look away even though you wanted to and the feeling only increases when he turns to you with a bright grin. As if he didn't just strewn your hunters' remains all across the field.)
He's closer, more expressive, more affectionate. He'll place a single clawed fingertip underneath your chin and simply stare. It always feels like Tao sees more than he lets on, especially when he's in these moods. He'll sense unease and simply grin, tapping your nose before he moves on.
It's obvious to everyone that Tao is an electro user, evident by the vision pinned to his waist. He doesn't have a pyro vision. There's no explanation for how he's able to use pyro. He changes the subject when you ask, or he simply grins and taps your nose. There's nothing on his person that signifies a delusion. When you set up camp for the night, he's the one to alway set up the fire. He seems content next to the flames and sometimes you think you see the fire as it tries to dance closer to your companion.
Surely you're just seeing things, right?
When he tears apart a piece of raw meat with teeth too sharp to be a human, you look the other way.
When he settles down for the night and mumbles things to himself as if he's in a conversation not known to you, you look the other way.
When he stares at the remains of Liú Manor with a nearly smug expression, you look the other way.
When he appears next to you with no sound, no indication that he even approached, you look the other way.
When he speaks of events that happened nearly fifty years in the past as if he were witnessing them first hand, you look the other way.
When you wake up early one morning to see him settling down next to you, smelling of blood, ash and ozone, you look the other way.
When he hurriedly pushes you past what looks to be an exorcist looking for something, an urgency not lost on you, you look the other way.
When you stare at his eyes, the clouded milky grey of his right eye and the rich brown of his left, as he stares into your surroundings as if he sees something that you can't, you look the other way.
When he scowls in disgust whenever someone mentions the Seven Archons, avoiding each statue of them in a practiced motion, you look the other way.
imagine. ok. you decide that you need allies. since this is the villain au it can either be the abyss order or the fatui but you set up a meeting and it's agreed upon that absolutely no weapons are allowed by either side. you bring it up to mingyu (ur self appointed bodyguard) and remind him of that agreement right before the meeting
he sighs and takes off the metal, jewel-like claws on his hands and some knives. you stare at him in silence, he stares back. he relents after a thirty second staring contest and puts his hidden potions and bottles of poison into the bin
'all of them,' you say. he takes off his cloak and shoves the entire thing in the bin. you give him a pointed look and he pouts. 'all of them,' you repeat. he relents finally, putting all of his hidden weapons into the bin with a pout. you have no idea how he keeps them all on him.
you sigh, satisfied but you stop yourself. you give him another pointed look just in case and he looks away before summoning his polearm and gently placing it on the pile.
he complains to you until the meeting starts and he doesn't stop pouting the entire time
hey,,, so i heard that u guys like genshin ocs,,, and also sagau,,, u mind if i uuh join u,,
here's some villain/impostor au,,, enjoy,,
Several decades ago, the young lord Mingyu had given up his belief in the archons. Prayers remain unanswered even with his multiple attempts. Celestia was something no average person could ever achieve. He had no one to rely on but himself.
Tao showed up in a blaze of fire and chaos, burning his prison to the ground and taking refuge in Mingyu's body. After nineteen years of unanswered prayers, a demon is what comes to his rescue instead. He would never be alone now and the comforting warmth of Tao will always be with him.
He was no longer just Mingyu. His spirit and the demonic spirit of Tao had merged. They were one in the same and yet different. He was still Mingyu. They were still Tao. However they were much more now that they were together.
He had never mourned over the fact that he was never chosen to be a vessel for the Creator despite his vision. The Creator simply existed in his peripheral vision, never to be looked at directly. He had prayed to higher beings for years, hoping for the comforting warmth of a deity casting their gaze on him. Instead he was left to rot, to get saved by the blazing hot fire that was Tao.
It's been several decades since the burning of his family home, a crime that remains a mystery to this day. Several decades he has been alive and yet he still looks as young as he did the day the manor went ablaze.
Mingyu did not worship anyone. His belief was meant for himself and Tao. While others hoped for the warmth of the Creator, Mingyu focused on his work. He refused to put his belief in a deity that will just ignore him, just like all the others.
He had never encountered the Creator and didn't plan on going out of his way to. Occasionally he would accept a request to eliminate a target only to find that the camp was already decimated and the lingering feeling of the Creator. For a long time he kept his distance from the three nations that the Creator was rumored to be, only returning when they seemed to have disappeared.
He settled down back in Liyue, finishing jobs quickly and avoiding the gaze of the Yaksha as well as a certain exorcist. Mingyu kept to the shadows, never lingering in one place too long before he left. Liyue, despite being his home, was not a place familiar to him.
Without a further thought he was on the path to his childhood home, a place he lovingly dubbed his prison. The land was cold and the air was still. The entire place reeked of misfortune and bad luck. Strewn across the field was debris from destruction long ago, the crumbles of a manor that once stood there proud.
A monument was structured near the front and from what he remembered, there were four graves behind the remains of the manor. Of course, only three had actual bodies buried. His own grave is the only one that has ever been visited, despite not actually being dead.
(His family never deserved those graves. Withholding food, carving ruins into his skin, locking him in the basement if he even breathes a certain way. They could've rotten underneath the debris. That's what they deserved.)
Nature had already started reclaiming the space, growing over the mountains of ruins. Mingyu encouraged it. His family legacy would die here and he would go his own separate way. As he stepped around the ruins of his old prison, he made his way to the back of the manor.
On his grave there was a letter taped to it, 'Tao' scrawled carelessly across the front. A part of him growled in annoyance as he took the letter without care and opened it. Inside were two simple sentences, ones that made him scoff.
'Kill the one who impersonates our Creator. Your payment will be sent once the impostor is dead.'
Annoyed, he crumpled the letter and threw it aside. A stupid request, and even if he wanted to there were no details on where this so called impostor was. Mingyu knew a lot, but he is not someone who knows everything.
An impostor. He scoffed. That's not a crime worth death. That's not a target he would go after. Whoever sent that request is delusional and he won't play into it.
---
When he arrives in Mondstadt, the city is in chaos. It's strange and his mind flickers back to the request taped to his unused grave. Surely that's not the reason? Weary and confused he makes his way deeper into the city, keeping to the shadows and staying out of sight.
As he gets closer to Angel's Share, he starts to figure out more. The situation almost makes him laugh. He stays just out of sight, close enough to listen in.
The words 'impostor' and 'Dragonspine' stick out to him and he makes his way out of the city silently. He doesn't plan on killing this 'impostor'. The city of freedom is in chaos and he wants to see the cause of it. The request he had gotten also just makes him curious.
Mingyu remains out of sight, his approach silent and determined. Once again he's thankful for Tao. If he was still a regular human, he could not travel these distances. His dear demon friend makes things so much easier.
Dragonspine is as cold as ever, not that it's surprising. A good place to hide from angry devotees. It's only by chance does he take notice of a shine out of the corner of his eye, confusion filling him as he steps closer.
Liquid gold?
The blood of the Creator, whispers Tao.
Mingyu stares at the snowbank in an incredulous manner. He almost wants to laugh. The impostor he was hired to kill was actually the Creator? The cause of chaos was the Creator themselves?
He shakes himself out of his stupor and lets Tao follow the trail of golden ichor. Amusing, so amusing. He can't help but feel pity for the poor Creator. His gaze trails up, focusing on the site of a slumped body against the mountain.
Poor thing.
Without a second of hesitation, he draws near them and scoops them up (thank you Tao for the inhuman strength). He ducks into some ruins without a second thought. The ruins will keep the biting wind at bay.. Carefully he sets the Creator down, letting instinct take over as he gathers materials from his pack to make a fire.
Mingyu glances back to the Creator, sympathy tugging at his heart. He's not a healer, most of his potions are poisons but there's no way he's going to let them bleed out here. The poor thing isn't even dressed appropriately for Dragonspine weather..
The fire sparks and grows. Tao, in his chest, purrs at the warmth. He shrugs off his cloak laying it on the ground before he carefully moves them onto the fabric. He digs through his pack to find some bandages and gauze that gets immediately thrown to the side.
A single healing salve is all he has but at least it's something. He turns back to the Creator (still out like a light) and carefully smears the salve against their wounds, bandaging them up gently. In the back of his mind, he's incredulous. He's bandaging up a deity. The most important deity at that.
He leans back and sighs after each wound is covered. It'll do for now. Mingyu carefully wraps the cloak around their shoulders, propping them against himself to get them closer to the fire without fear of burning.
The Creator shivers and curls closer to the warmth but still doesn't awaken. All Mingyu can do is sigh and get comfortable. This is the strangest situation he's been in and he grew up in a cult worshipping Osial. He's quite literally possessed by a demon, and yet this situation is at the top of the list.
He slumps back against the ruin walls, dropping his gaze to the sleeping deity.
