𝙎𝙞𝙡𝙡𝙮 𝙎𝙩𝙧𝙞𝙣𝙜𝙨 [𝙎𝙚𝙡𝙛 𝘼𝙬𝙖𝙧𝙚 𝘾𝙝𝙖𝙤𝙨 𝘼𝙐]

𝘾𝙖𝙣 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙝𝙚𝙖𝙧 𝙢𝙚?

Genshin Impact.

The game Zou plays the most in her free time.

After she heard that Baizhu was finally getting released, she was eager to finally be able to pull him.

She logged into the game and saw multiple red exclamation marks on the icons. On the wishing button, the paimon menu, and the button to take you to Baizhu's trial.

The character she was playing last was Yanfei. Her back was to the screen, looking out to the field in front of the barbatos statue.

Speaking of Barbatos...

Along with Yanfei, Venti was also Zou's comfort character. Naturally, getting closer to little shits like him was her hobby. And then again, that's why Hu Tao was also one of their favorites.

Finally, in the 4th slot, was the Prinzessin Der Verurteilung, Ruler of the Immernachtriech...also known as Amy, or Fischl and her companion Ozvaldo Hrafnavins...also known simply as Oz. He was named after Fischl's favorite book. I'm pretty sure it's obvious by now which one.

Zou clapped their hands in glee and went to play Baizhu's trial before officially pulling for him.

~~~

"Remember, health comes first~"

One of his voicelines were triggered when the burst was in effect. Zou loved the sound of his voice along with Changsheng. She was surprised that she had a voiceline too!

"The doctor will see you now."

Zou thought that this was quite interesting, even though their dynamic was almost exactly like Fischl and Oz, it was a nice little surprise after so many updates.

*Challenge Completed*

Finally, a free 20 primogems to add to the grand total of 41,683. Or, if you want to translate those to fates, it's around 200.

After coming back from the trial, Zou heard a familiar voice from the screen.

"Welcome back, traveler! How was the trial?"

Hm. How odd...

That wasn't one of Yanfei's voicelines.

But it sounded like something Yanfei would say, so Zou just shrugged it off.

To humor herself, Zou began to speak to Yanfei.

"Eh, Baizhu and Changsheng are cute. I think he'd be a good addition to my Nilou team. Would you think so?"

All that greeted Zou was silence.

"Of course, video game characters can't talk back to you. I probably just heard things."

She opened the wish screen and stared at the characters.

Baizhu.

Kaveh.

Candace.

And Fischl.

Zou already had c6 fischl. She's basically free fates.

"Ah, that's me!"

Zou flinched at the sudden voice in her headphones. It was Fischl, but Fischl was not the active character. What was going on?

"...yes...that's you, Mein Fraulein." Zou picked up a snooty accent to imitate Oz. She giggled to herself, however Fischl did not think the joke was too funny.

"Hmph."

Zou stared dumbfounded at the screen.

She remembered that she did drop her old laptop when the game was running and the laptop was completely destroyed when she looked at it.

Then, after logging onto her new gaming PC, the characters began to start breaking the 4th wall.

She slowly exited out of the wish screen and switched to Fischl. She zoomed in on her face...

"Hey, Fischl...can you hear what I'm saying...?"

...

Fischl only blinked and stared forward, typical for any character you had out.

Zou sighed. "Knew it. Sorry about that."

"Hah! That's all I needed to hear!" Fischl put her hands on her hips and smiled.

"WHAT IN THE-" Zou scooted at least 7 feet away from the screen and looked on in horror as Fischl stared at them, confusion written all over her face.

"Something the predicament, dear subject? I must say, it is quite the fright when one begins to speak without permission, hence why I made the choice to speak up after thou uttered the pardon."

"What Mein Fraulein means is she knows that video game characters who speak outside of their voicelines aren't common, so she wanted to scare you after you insulted her earlier."

"Oz? You too?" Zou came forward to the screen. Oz was now besides Fischl, flapping his wings. Side by side, the two looked like NPCs from the Serenitea Pot.

"Yes, Miss Zouchii*. We haven't been able to speak before you broke your laptop and our world glitched horribly."

*Zou's full name. Pronounced "sushi"

Zou blushed sheepishly and a goofy smile appeared across their face.

"We were aware of everything you were doing too. We just couldn't control ourselves until you logged out of the game." Yanfei's voice popped in too, but she wasn't even the active character.

"Yanfei...? Who else can speak?" Zou looked to the other two party members on the sidelines.

Venti and Hu Tao.

Sure, they're awful paired together, but Zou didn't give a rat's ass about the meta. Zou bit their lip in thought and a thought came to mind.

"Silly churl~ billy churl~..." She began.

"Silly Billy hilichurl~ wooo~~~" a voice finished.

"Ah! Hu Tao! My beloved, you can speak too!"

"Oya? Beloved? Aww, stop that! You're gonna make me blush!" Her voice was like honey to Zou.

"Looks like bard boy doesn't wanna speak up either. Maybe a little song will help!"

Zou began to sing a song she heard on the internet.

"soon may the wellerman come to bring us sugar and tea and rum~"

Another voice popped in after a few seconds.

"One day when the tounging is done, we'll take our leave and go~ heheh...hi, Zou." Venti shyly greeted them.

"So you guys can talk to me! Ah, this is awesome! It's like having online friends that you can't exactly meet in real life. I love you all so much! That's why I assembled you all in one team!"

"Well, I, Fischl, Prinzessin Der Verurteilung, am confident that we shall all be each other's fair and respectful acquaintances."

"I do hope we all get along! The bard and princess seem interesting!" Yanfei chirped.

"And the lawyer seems interesting too~" Hu Tao said slyly. Yanfei could be heard facepalming from the side.

"I've met the director some time ago, but I haven't made myself familiar with the princess or Yanfei. I'm sure you guys are going to get along with me just fine!"

"IS NO ONE GOING TO ADDRESS ME BY MY FAIR NAME?!"

Zou snorted and broke out into laughter. After being in control of these 4 for so long, she decided to finally cut the puppet strings detaining them. She instead replaced them with different strings. Strings that allowed them to do whatever they please without having to be controlled by anyone. Strings that created fun chaos for the team.

These strings...

Have a name.

Let's call them...

Silly Strings.