Chapter Text
The first thing she felt was someone's arms shaking her awake. She hadn't felt anything before this very moment. Upon awakening, she curiously looked at the person who woke her. This person possessed features that she hasn't procured the words to describe yet. However, as she took the time to observe herself, she could confidently say that their features were identical. From the thing that flowed from the top of their heads to the things they wore, they were the same.
She spent much time curiously looking around at her surroundings before looking back to the person who woke her. This person didn't look like they knew much more than she did. In fact, they might have been waiting for her to initiate something akin to a conversation. So she did, "Who are you?"
"I don't know," he said, "Do you know who you are?"
"No, I don't think so," and it was left at that.
They didn't speak much to each other, since they didn't have anything to speak about. They would mostly stare at different things, but they didn't know the words to describe them. It's possible that they spent an incredible amount of time here, doing nothing, but it's not like they could know for sure. This would have remained the case, but a man walked into the place they had been staying. He called himself Katsuragi. He had said that it was a name. Katsuragi had asked for their names, but they didn't have those. He seemed confused, probably about their existence in general. Nonetheless, he had lead the nameless beings out of the thing he called a domain.
Katsuragi spoke a lot, far more than the other two combined. He spoke of many things, like what different objects and animals were called, what colors things were, and what his home was like. They were on Tatarasuna, and the domain they were found in was the Shakkei Pavilion. The boy's and the girl's hair color was purple and theirs were considered very long. The color of their garbs were white with purple accents. The things hanging around both of their necks were considered unordinary and it was called a golden feather. He had made mention of countless other things, but perhaps the most important sounding was what he called them. He had called them identical twins. Upon the unnamed boy asking for clarification, the man then explained that it meant that they were siblings born at the same time and looked exactly alike. The explanation was sound, it made sense that this term was accurate in describing the two of them. Although she might not know when they were born, they woke up in close proximity, and she supposed that was enough.
It took some time, but the man with the newly acquired twins came upon his place of employment. He called it the Mikage Forge. For some reason, Katsuragi asked them to lie about where they were found. He said to play along when he says they were found on Nazushi Beach. The twins didn't have any reason not to, so they did.
The people of the forge were just as kind as Katsuragi. They were all very welcoming, even if they seemed to not completely understand that the twins didn't have names and didn't know a lot of basic things. Once it was said that the twins would be staying with the workers, the workers decided that there should be something to call these newcomers. Kabukimono for the boy and Kawarimono for the girl seemed to be the popular choices. The twins didn't seem to mind the winning options either, so it was decided.
Kabukimono and Kawarimono moved between houses often, but they spent the most time with Niwa. Niwa was nice, as were all the other workers, plus he got along exceptionally well with the twins. Katsuragi may have found them, but they found their closest friend in Niwa. Of course, they didn't spend all their time with just Niwa or Katsuragi. There was Mikoshi Nagamasa, Miyazaki, and everyone else there too. The wives of some of the workers took a liking to Kawarimono especially. The wives took to teaching Kawarimono how to gather lavender melons and other food items, how to do simple looks on her face with rouge and powder, how to clean many objects, and how to do other things.
Kawarimono didn't spend as much time at the forge as Kabukimono did, but she did spend a little time there. The wives visibly took less pleasure showing Kabukimono how to do the things they showed Kawarimono, so the twins enacted a plan. Since the twins looked the same in every aspect, they would switch occasionally to get the full experience of life at the forge. Their voices and personalities had small differences, but those were simple fixes. No one would know the difference.
There were things they were taught that didn't differ based on which twin they were. Stuff like reading, writing, starting fires, making meals, sword dancing, and other things of that nature were taught to both of them. They truly felt loved, accepted, and human. It was a peaceful time.
Change came in the form of the Akame clan and a mechanic from Fontaine named Escher. The two cooperated very closely to further improve forging quality, and in the process, Akame introduced Escher to Niwa. Escher's arrival caused quite the stir for a time, for it was through his revolutionary new techniques that they were able to process Crystal Marrow in such a way that their forging efficacy and production were both increased.
But as time passed, anomalies emerged within the great central furnace in Tatarasuna. Black gas gathered within the furnace, and it would gradually affect the bodies of the craftspeople there. Forging and smelting were the foundations of life in Tatarasuna, but now they had become death itself.
And as the toll mounted, the great furnace further went out of control. None could get close to its core, and even stopping it became nigh impossible.
As the highest authority at Tatarasuna, Niwa was forced to enact an information blackout while sending people to Inazuma City to beg aid from Tenshukaku.
For some reason, however, those who took to the sea in ships never returned. Horror began seeping into the hearts of Tatarasuna's people.
Kabukimono and Kawarimono knew that Niwa needed the Raiden Shogun's aid, but did not know that this was the very year when she had successfully built the perfect puppet using parts of herself as material, thus handing over management of the nation to the Guardian of Eternity. They thus boarded a small boat and braved storm and rain to arrive at Tenshukaku, seeking an audience with the Shogun.
But she now dwelled in the Plane of Euthymia, and he was repeatedly refused. In desperation, Kabukimono displayed the golden feather on his person and asked to see Yae Miko instead.
At this time, Miko was busy assisting the Guardian, and though she rushed down as soon as she heard this news, she could only meet the distressed twins briefly. Yet neither twin had any ears for her promises to send people to their aid immediately, and returned in despair, convinced that the Shogunate had forsaken Tatarasuna.
Still, the dispatch was sent, the people were mobilized, and they crossed by sea. Yet they arrived to no great disaster. Indeed, most people knew nothing of what had happened. It was the mechanic, Escher, who explained that Niwa had fled with his family for fear of punishment for his malfeasance, and that one of the twins had gone into the core zone in his place, shutting the furnace down.
Receiving word that the twins had been friends with the fleeing Niwa, Yae guessed at the heaviness in their hearts and did not wish to further disturb them, merely sending someone to return the feathers to them.
Later still, they both would disappear without a trace from Tatarasuna. But as people reminisced, they could never forget the celebratory dance the twins had performed together with them on the day that Mikoshi Nagamasa successfully forged his great blade.
After leaving Tatarasuna, the twins met a young child in a small house by the seaside somewhere in Inazuma.
The young boy was weak and sickly, and he lived in a rickety old place into which the rain leaked. Seeing his constantly mud-caked face through the gaps in the decrepit wooden door, the twins felt something twist in their hearts, as if some ancient feeling was being re-awakened. And so, they stayed within that wooden house to care for that sick boy, Kawarimono bringing him melons, fruits, and water to drink, and Kabukimono helping him to wipe the filth from his face.
Many days passed, and the child's parents did not return. It was only later that the twins learned that the parents were also workers from Tatarasuna, and they might have lived normal and happy lives, if not for husband and wife contracting some strange illness during their work, often coughing up blood as a result. That they had not returned indicated that they may have passed without any fanfare in some place out there.
The child's name was unimportant, for he had another identity: he was the twins' friend, and family besides. They talked about how they had been born and promised to continue to live together in that ramshackle hut. As proof of their friendship, the twins took the boy to Shakkei Pavilion to see the place where they had once lived.
The flaming maple leaves, the ancient latticed windows... All was as it had once been.
At that time, the twins believed that they would never return here... but neither twin had realized that the child could die in only one night. One night, barely enough time for Kabukimono or Kawarimono to go out and find some food or swipe some furniture that others no longer had any use for.
Though they had already witnessed much change, they never knew that another person's passing was something that could occur in such a brief moment, or that this moment could grant him nothing but pain.
After the shock, Kabukimono felt incomparable fury. We're they not once more abandoned?
Again! Again! Again!
The boy's small body on the ground was curled up like a jumble of flower petals, a corner of it stained red with blood — red like the maple leaves... red like a blazing fire.
That night, a great flaming glow lit the seaside. The twins burned the wooden house, and Kabukimono finding himself an old straw hat from within it, left to begin their long journey.
They wandered everywhere, not knowing where to go, and though they would meet many more people along the way, they would never again regard any of them as their companions.
After leaving Inazuma, they forsook their names, Kabukimono and Kawarimono, reverting to their original nameless state, and did not even consider taking another until The Jester found them.
In the end, such titles as "puppet" or "Kabukimono" or "Kawarimono" were all given to them by mortals. And since neither would any longer have them as companions, there was no point in using the names they gave them.
But The Jester proved most persuasive, and the puppets were intrigued by the frenzied banquet he spoke of, and so accompanied the man to Snezhnaya to serve in the Fatui.
A stranger named The Doctor would welcome them both warmly in this frigid northern land, inviting the puppets to be the key reference materials in his experiments — his grand research project.
Puppet-making techniques had their roots in Khaenri'ah, and his nature as a creation of the Electro Archon made him all the more special. The Doctor was fascinated by this field of study, and, using the twins as a foundational blueprint, would perform research and experiments for several decades.
In return, The Doctor would unlock the seal on their bodies, causing their abilities to greatly increase, to the point where they both were a match for the lower-ranked Harbingers.
But even so, neither chose another name. Their colleagues called them both "puppet," and so they saw themselves also — puppets, unafraid of death and inexhaustible.
On the Tsaritsa's orders, they both would lead a company each to explore the Abyss, and there they spent much time. More than once they were wounded, then repaired by The Doctor, and thus they grew stronger, surviving to be wounded again by ever mightier foes.
Much later, they would separately bring the results of their exploration back to Snezhnaya, gaining twin seats as sixth harbinger in the process. Both of their orders were also changed. Instead of exploring the Abyss, they were now to constantly be on standby, assisting the clandestine activities of the Fatui across the world.
It was during this time that they grew into the title that the sixth seat gave both of them, "The Balladeer." The Tsaritsa had also bestowed names upon both of them, Scaramouche and Burattino.