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randomnumbers751650 · 7 months ago

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Some time ago, I posted the idea for an AU where Sara and Itto swap places, and @biarith was very kind to draw their AU versions.

This is their reference sheet:

After Read More, I placed some notes and overall development:

- Itto grew up in the Chinju Forest, he never knew his parents or other oni, while being more of “that weird forest creature” for the locals; Yae seems to known who his parents are, but changes the subject whenever this comes up and might have suggested the Kujous to take him for some reason related to this; thus, he earned the name Itto Kujou

- Takayuki intended to use him as his personal oni servant; he made sure to limit his interactions with other kids, including Masahito and Kamaji, so that Itto could grow to be an obedient, perfect soldier for him; he always reminded him of how different he was from the others, that they would fear him, call him a man-eating monster and that he would only be safe at the Kujou household; this is why he needed to become stronger so that he could leave safely and Takayuki taught that being feared was better than be loved, because what matters is respect (yeah, kind of like Frollo and Quasimodo); he also tried to inculcate in him a deep faith in the Shogun

- That, however, had unexpected consequences for Takayuki in two ways: the others houses were actually terrified that Takayuki was raising an oni and threated to take action, so, as a compromise, Takayuki had to hire tutors from other houses, to teach Itto morals and ethics and philosophies so that he could have some balance; and that Itto never really cared that much for the Shogun’s divine status, because he considered her too distant and his vision was Geo – where was she when he was living alone in the forest and isolated in the Kujou household? He could respect her as royalty and was fully on board with the Sakoku and Vision Hunt Decrees, believing that this eternity would be beneficial for everyone; given how Takayuki indoctrinated him, Itto could really believe that the Shogun’s vision of Eternity would be the best for the nation

- Soon, he became a general and he was someone to be feared: he was always the tallest man in the fort, his men feared him and few dared to not follow his orders; in spite of that, he actually was fair with them, never punishing failures excessively and knowing when to give them a break; his oni aura was enough to discipline soldiers; and in the battlefield, you could know where the general was if you look at where enemy soldiers were flying; with the help of his right-hand elite ninja deputy Kuki Shinobu, he led the Kujous into many victories for the Shogun; but, even then, he cannot connected to his soldiers, not mattering how well they respect him; although he and Kuki absolutely trust each other, they never could connect into a proper friendship; thus General Itto grew lonelier and lonelier as his dedication to the Shogun grew

- Sara, on the other hand, was also an orphan; a widowed old lady, that lost both her husband and sons to the war, found her hatched from an abandoned tengu egg; the baby tengu already had a Vision with her, and was surrounded by corpses of rats around and scratches in her own skin; feeling a moving compassion, the lady raised her; Sara grew up different from other kids, but her mom, whom everyone called Grandma Tengu, raised her with care and love; she taught her to be a good person and always be kind to others and, even if others thought she was a monster, she shouldn’t choose to be a monster; grandma’s teachings did seem to work because, as she helped everywhere in the village (she can fly in this AU), more and more people started to warm up to the idea of being friends with a tengu kid (I can imagine a flashback where a woman is cursing her for being a tengu, and then later, Sara helps her by delivering medicine to her, with a smile, and that convinces her Sara’s not bad); that’s how she got Genta, Akira and Mamoru to join the Holy Quartet - later Holy Quintet, after disgraced detective Heizou joined her team (his issue with Sango took a turn to the worse in this AU, probably Kuki was involved), and then Holy Septet (she would consider Traveler and Paimon part of the team), and so on

- So, in present day, she’s the village’s hero of justice, Magical Girl Tengu Sara, helping everyone, punishing evil and hugging people (“If I don’t hug a person each day, I’ll die! Just kidding, but that’s how I feel”); some people might think she’s more affectionate than a proper lady should be and a bit birdbrained, but Sara is a really happy and well-meaning young woman; she also has a deep faith in the Shogun, crediting to her for being alive (and she still has the statues) and does see the Shogun as her friend

- Itto and Sara first meet during the Vision Hunt Decree, after Sara eluded many messengers sent by the general; so, he had to take matters into his own hands and soon realized that tengu was more slippery than a slime – no matter what, Sara always escaped with her speed, leaving Itto raising his fists to the sky, yelling “TENGUUUU!” (I can imagine she sneaked into his tent and took a selfie with him with a kamera without him even notice); one day, General Itto has a devious idea: commission a glass so transparent from Szezhnaya so that he could trick Sara into flying into it and, being a bit birdbrained, it works; Sara really feared he would kill him, but he just looks at him and grabs her Vision; when they exchanged looks, all the fear in Sara gave place to pity; meanwhile Itto saw a woman that he couldn’t understand – sure he could see her fearing, but the fear she had was a different one from the one he saw in soldiers, both friendly and enemy; before Itto leaves, he hears Sara yelling “General Itto Kujou, mark my words: I will be your friend! Even if I have to die for it!”; Itto mumbles “Stupid tengu, you don’t need a friend in me…nobody does”

- So, they begin their post-it notes war, which takes a turn for the dark when the war starts; at first Sara is carefree and flirty and Itto has none of it, being the most direct possible of how she needs to stop that, but when the war starts, Sara’s notes take a more serious tone (“Don’t you dare dying before becoming my friend”) while Itto’s got curter (“I won’t die”); due to her tengu nature and personality the effects of losing her Vision aren’t the same, but her grandma begs her to not leave the village and she complies…for most of the time

- The arrival of the Traveler happens more or less the same way; they do feel intimidated by General Itto, who will try and find any loophole to arrest them; maybe they’ll even fight and the Traveler would experience in first place his raw strength, maybe even forced to retreat, maybe Sara appears helps the Traveler and Paimon to escape, with Itto yelling “TENGUUU!”; later, Sara introduces herself to the Traveler and tells Itto is her “future friend”, taking her Vision is just a mere obstacle in their “friendship” and she helps the Traveler in overall

- Sara was always conflicted by the Vision Hunt Decree because she really has faith in the Shogun, but she also sees the pain it’s inflicting on people and including herself as the war gets worser and worser, so she decided to do the unthinkable and take this matter to the Shogun herself (“I escape Itto for months, I’m pretty sure the capital will be easy”); at the same time, Itto’s doubts about the Shogun also reach an all-time high; meanwhile Kuki contacts the Traveler to help both Sara and Itto, because her network told something bad will happen soon and she realized the Traveler isn’t an evil person and, given their feats in Mondstadt and Liyue, she prefers to bet Inazuma’s safety on them

- in the climax in Tenshukaku, Sara arrives first and sees the Shogun talking to La Signora; that is a massive shock because she would never imagine that; still, Sara decides to defend the Shogun’s honor and they fight, but La Signora overpowers; Itto arrives and sees Sara passed out and understand everything; he actually lashes out at the Shogun (“Why did you stand still while your most faithful servant was hurt?”) and fights La Signora; he also lost, but managed to hurt her enough to allow the Traveler to finish her off (mind you that La Signora initially refused to fight the Traveler and would kill both Itto and Sara due to the rules, so the Traveler bets something she really could use: if they lost, the Traveler would join the Fatui as their servant and that made La Signora accept the duel; I honestly think the writers wasted La Signora by making her die to the Shogun instead of having a chance to confront Venti, so maybe she could somehow escape in this AU)

- After the battle ends, I can imagine this dialogue:

Sara: Itto, you’re here.

Itto: You made something so irresponsible…but, at the same time, this is really something you would really do it.

Sara: Are we friends, now, my dear general?

Itto, after a deep sigh: You’re really insistent about it. Okay, maybe I could…consider.

Sara: Aww, Itto, you’re too kind.

Itto: Don’t say that.

Sara: C’mon, ever since that day you defeated me, I knew you needed friends. You can count on me from now on.

Itto: The strategic benefits of having a street tengu as an ally are low.

Sara, after laughing: There you are, saying those funny big words. But, at least, you’re my friend…I can…die…ful…filled… (she closes her eyes peacefully)

Itto: Sara, you’re not dying.

Sara: :3

Itto: Don’t :3 at me!

And so, the Inazuma plot reaches a resolution. Kokomi always treated Itto with respect, even when they were enemies, and tells him to listen to his tengu friend on looking for friendships. His character quest would be probably something like him dealing with the fallout of the Inazuma civil war and him rethinking everything about his life, with the Traveler around. I didn’t think that far in the AU, due to focusing on the archon quest, but I think it could end with Itto finally letting Sara hug him and her declaring “what’s better than a hug? A group hug!” and everyone in the quest also hugs him.

As for her hangout, Sara would have different paths, some of them would be her and Traveler doing some shopping or helping people, mostly comedic or light-hearted, but I want to explore a path where Sara still has some unresolved issues with the fact she has some sort of killer instinct (given Grandma Tengu found her), which makes an unspoken rule to NEVER MAKE SARA MAD! She’s kind and cheerful, but do not try to see her darker side, it’s not worth it. Otherwise, another path can be that, even in spite of her cheerfulness, she still feels lonely sometimes.

Basically, I wanted to make an AU that preserves the overall archon plot, but allowing Itto and Sara to grow in different directions. They both have similar issues with their loneliness and otherness related to other people and are coping in their terms. But Sara, indeed, has more people to rely on.

#genshin impact #genshin au #arataki itto #kujou sara #ittosara #also heizou and kuki swap places #because they have to be together #inazumas plot is intimately related to eis mental state #but i could still swap ayaka and ayato #where ayaka is the older sibling #infact #itd make even more sense ayatos absence of the archon plot #ayaka shipped him elsewhere #to avoid the war #and he would resent that

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