#i deviated quite a bit but if i didn't go off on smth completely irrelevant would it even be a choco post?

[chocoenvy]

Listen up imposter au but you don't understand anything they say

So say you use jp dub but eng subs, everything is English you can read and write but everyone speaks Japanese and you don't know Japanese. If you do make it kr dub or chin dub and if you know those you freak the acolytes put cause dear why do you know so many languages.

Imagine: darling just sitting there chatting to each archon in their respective language

Also there's the one world where darling speaks English and no one understands even though they all read and write English this is game logic don't come at me

Bc ur speaking English even though no one but the archon know it they think ur god or if there's already one they call you an imposter that learnt the language for the benefits and oh my God this has become a word vomit thats it bye I love you take care of yourself don't sleep at unreasonable times bye bye

before i fully unpack this... if you were to speak to the archons in their native language... they'd be so honored. Love you forever and hold you dear and feel so great about themselves and their upbringing, it'd be so wholesome <3

Anyways, onto the rest!

Okay so I can't help but keep thinking about the Traveler not knowing Teyvat's language when they first arrived. Which means some things are a bit different to make it easier for us to understand. The traveler was more than likely speaking their native tongue in the opening cutscene, which is the same language as everything else to us.

So! There's definitely some nuance.

How I think it'd be in this situation is: Reader is unable to understand Teyvat's language. It's different from anything we have on Earth (or at least I'd assume so). I believe Traveler's native tongue would be the reader's. Just cause traveler is from another world and has traveled between a lot of worlds, it's all a metaphor for the player playing lots of different games we been knew.

So, when you arrive to Teyvat, scared and confused and crying and unable to understand anyone and no one able to understand you, whoever finds you calls for the Traveler.

They were your first vessel after all, the one most closely connected to you. At one point, everyone thought you and Traveler were the same person.

Still, the Traveler is rushed to your side while the acolyte near you tries their best to calm you down even though neither of you can understand each other. This world is still familiar to you, as is the person close to you. So you calm down relatively easily but you're still on edge and the acolyte(s) surrounding you are to afraid to do anything without your explicit permission.

When the Traveler arrives, those around you part for them, their exulted status allowing them easy passage straight to you.

And when their eyes meet yours, it's the most gratifying moment the Traveler has ever experienced.

They know your eyes. They've never seen them before but they know them, they've watched them for years now, they've followed them wherever they went. They gave them (a) vision when they most needed it.

"Aether/Lumine?" Were your first words to them. Their name. Loud and true and theirs.

They were swiftly informed of what was happening and they kneeled before you, "Your grace-,"

"God, I can't understand you!" You whined, pushing yourself further into whatever surface you were sitting against, just to get away from the stressful situation.

But the Traveler's voice got caught in their throat, they understood you. You-

"Your grace," They said again in their native tongue, a tongue they hadn't spoken in since they last saw their twin, "You..."

You jumped, "why are you calling me Your grace? What's happening? I barely..." You clutched your head, "I barely remember how I got here and now all of y'all are just flocking around me."

"Would you like for me to tell them to back away?" They asked, a smile twitching at the corners of their lips, elated at the fact that you spoke their native language. It was an odd pride.

"Yes please." You said, "Then explain what the hell is happening."

"Of course, your grace."

"Don't call me that," You grimaced.

Later on, when things had calmed down, The Traveler was tasked as your personal bodyguard. But you basically treated them as your best friend. Speaking to them, using them as your translator and such.

It was quite a lot of power for the Traveler, there was so much they could do with it... but they decided against it.

In fact, they helped you learn Teyvat's language. So you could read and write and easily understand all of the things around Teyvat.

The Traveler saw your curious eyes stare at abyssal language, hungry to understand the strange symbols. The writings on the walls of the Chasm, you yearned for the language to come easy to you.

The Traveler couldn't help but think... what if their twin was there? What if they taught you abyssal language. You, the Traveler, and the Abyss twin speaking in your native tongues. It was a dream the Traveler held tightly to their chest no matter how unlikely it was to happen.