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The following is a fan-based

FICTION

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Chapter 24: The Spark of Adventure

If your name is Sparkle and you are a much bored girl, then reality had just sink in that your big brother/father/sensei/senpai may have left you to rot on a desk job.

That, in the eyes of someone like her, this was a bit of a 'punishment' which she truly did not deserve. Well, she may have burned half-a-village after her first taste of proper sake as she reached adulthood but... that didn't mean this was fair on her? It wasn't her fault she wound up a 'fire-crazy drunk'. Actually, she was a full-on fire-crazy girl, but still! She was not going to dust away in the pretty chair she had beside Komi-chan's little throne. Watatsumi was nice, and mostly fireproof which made for experiments of explosive kind viable with limited repercussions, but still...

She wanted to spread her wings like a bird. A murderous bird, for Sampo just ditched her with little opportunity to get out of Inazuma. Even that shy Arbad managed to get a chance to leave for Mondstadt, even though just for the chance to serve as paperweight for another desk job which Sparkle was ill-suited for. And while she had stayed her hand so long because she was sure Sampo would have gone to find her and give her grief for 'leaving without notice', she was given a 'sign from above' it was her time to not only be on the move but leave her own mark on this world.

It was like a dream, a funny one. She remembered a giddy voice goading her to unleash the potential she had been holding back, and that she would have the means to fight off Sampo's chances of finding her through the use of a... mask? It was a kitsune mask, seemingly a common purchase in the region, but also unique for the power it could harness. She could vanish from sight, she could actually get a clear understanding of what people wanted, and it also gave her clues on how to get through any hurdles along her path whenever she had to take the fastest route to any destination.

So, against multiple wishes, and perhaps stealing Sampo's own thunder in departing with little warning, Sparkle had a small 'temporary leave' paperwork sent to Kokomi before she snatched the nearest boat she could pay and get on her own 'personal journey into the unknown'. And by that, she meant Sumeru. The land of wisdom, of nerds, of the smarties who may have knowledge on advanced bomb-making that made Sparkle interested on a purely professional level. She was, after all, da bomber girl herself.

Sumeru didn't know what was soon going to strike at them, and she was fine with it as it gave her a chance to properly see what was going on since she once heard Sampo saying that the place was 'weird' and that 'he would struggle too'. To Sparkle, this was a challenge too good to ignore. That, the bombing books, and the chance to bully some nerds for more fun activities to do as a legendary vagrant, Sparkle had all the goodiest reasons to assault Sumeru as if it was a fine castle for her bombs to demolish. And while she was sure Komi-chan was going to hold it over her head that she just deserted her court without saying goodbye, she also knew she would eventually forgive her... after a few years of distant exchanges via letters.

Without further hesitation, the majestic explosive and most shameless prankster of Inazuma was off to do her thing. One step at the time, two bombs or maybe more with each of said steps.

Row row, goes the boat and Sparkle seeks some new explosive loot. Bibidi, bodibi, boom~! - here comes Sparkle the bo-omb~!

Tighnari was sure that something chaotic just passed by his house, and he had allowed it to pass undisturbed. A very unusual reaction, but one that he was sure he could explain with a fair enough reason.

Having long studied and mastered the ways of 'hearing' and 'feeling' that trouble was abound, the scholar was on high alert for a few days. Something just told him that an entity had visited and left behind some strange dolls behind. The dolls were the same as one another, representing tiny humanoids with brown hair, a red Inazuman kimono, some nice sandals and a bag sitting by their lap. Oddly so, the content of the bags changed to fit the needs of those that found them. He had found one too, and the bag contained some old books he was sure he had lost around decades ago.

That had confused him to the core, always thinking that it was absurd, and that made some abnormal theories he harbored once he learned about this being a widespread case to be even more valid. Children found candy, hunters found a bundle of supplies meant to add up to their inventory, other civilians found random objects that still matched up with their desires and Tighnari understood that it was best to not thread on this particular case.

He had seen and experienced enough surprises to know whatever came by to drop such gifts was not truly trying to be found but actually bribing 'him' to not give chase. A strange way to keep him put, but one that worked for all the wrong reasons. After all, if the creator of these dolls was able to somewhat conjure these items with limited awareness of the locals and do so without requiring equivalent exchange that was meaningful enough... then it meant this entity was able to achieve more and perhaps exceed the average Vision holder such as himself.

Cyno may be the best element to handle this case, but he doubted this entity was there to play like that. Any perceived threat may see the gifts turning into something worse. And he had a feeling that all this creature wanted through this benevolent behavior was to be left alone in whatever it was trying to achieve. And while he didn't get much to say what the entity was or why it chose those dolls as 'messengers' of its will, he could tell one thing about its aim for he could still hear unusual steps silently making their way in a straight line to Sumeru City.

Things were about to get... interesting.

When I woke up, I was riding in a flower carriage.

I'd just had a dream... I dreamed it was my... wait. That's not... it's not right.

Nahida felt her endless memory born from her stasis oddly interrupting and allowing her to slowly wake up.

This was not normal, for the Sages should still have her tied up to the Akasha Terminal, unable to break out of her imprisonment on her own but... that's when it hit her that she was being freed by someone. Someone that she hadn't noticed, someone that had somehow eluded the sight and the focus of the terminal as Irminsul failed to recognize the anomaly currently breaking her out of the array. A glitch that she had no proper grasp over, or didn't have before she truly opened her eyes.

Before her petite frame, currently resting on the platform in front of her former prison, sat a young woman with brown hair with dark pink highlights. The lady wore a classic red kimono made in Inazuma, and she had a strange mask that... that left poor Nahida puzzled as a mere glance had her slightly unnerved. Which was anomalous and... interesting.

"Wake your pretty butt up, Dendro Archon. We have a city to burn!"

...

"What?"

"Oh, just a random phrase I thought up on my own. I don't want to burnallof Sumeru but... I don't like abusive old men. Don't you agree it would be right to burn their pants off~?"

Nahida was given little chance to think what was going on, who was she speaking too or why she couldn't help but feel somewhat 'understanding' of where this young woman was coming from. She just could feel it in her tone, in the way she offered her an outlet to take revenge against those that shackled her to the Terminal and...

"I am listening, big sister."

AN

AHA: With Sampo busy being boring and slow in Liyue, I guess I will just have Sparkle take care of Sumeru so he can swiftly go to Inazuma and then Fontaine and then- GASP! Step-Siblings do Step-Siblings things!

And yes, Sparkle just adopted Nahida.