#aaAAA no productivity ONLY choice paralysis

[m1d-45]

-Pari Anon

What if Zhongli ended up finding Creator! Pari! Reader?

They were hovering close to where Xiao was fighting when Zhongli ran into them. He, sensing they were some sort of threat, took them with him.

When they don’t return to Xiao after his fight, he gets worried and starts looking for them. They’re typically nearby, out of danger.

Did they get eaten? Are they okay? Poor Xiao is panicking, calling for his little friend.

He finds them with Zhongli. Locked in a cage made of Geo.

Do you think he can convince Zhongli that his little friend isn’t a threat?

(please note that i know nothing about pari lore or behavior-)

i imagine xiao is rather picky about you accompanying him on patrols, always making sure you’re far away from the battle. you’re not to be where monsters can see, where you can get hurt, always at or near where he leaves you.

and you, to your credit, follow this rule fairly well! you watch from afar, typically either playing with butterflies or looking at the flowers around where he left you. you know how he worries, and have been fretted over by him many times, and you’re not keen on stressing him out further.

zhongli had been sensing disturbances in liyue, how the earth is rearranging, leylines shifting and ebbing, as if a restless child finally being out to rest. however, a change in the leylines is never anything safe, not when they’d been utilized by the abyss before. he’d trusted the adepti with it at first, knowing xiao would never allow such a danger to roam liyue unchecked, but it had been too long. he excused himself from the funeral parlor, approaching the area of disturbance himself.

it was… mundane. or, more accurately, par for the course. he heard the sounds of battle, the burning smell of ozone signaling the use of xiao’s vision, but there was no leyline blossom he could see or sense. the hilichurls weren’t stained with curse nor karma, and he decided to ask xiao after he was done. he was confident in his abilities to fight off the enemies, and he might as well get a head start on the search.

nothing. a few chitters from a bird or perhaps squirrel, but nothing disturbed. no marks to the earth, no upturned stones or deep pits, no abnormal elemental flow. and yet, he was certain this was where the cause of the disruptance was from…

he crossed his arms, frowning at his surroundings. it wasn’t xiao, it wasn’t the monsters.. perhaps some infected wildlife?

the birds chirped again. this time, he followed.

a few birds had gathered beneath a tree, surrounding a… pari? he wasn’t aware they even lived in liyue, let alone..

the pari seemed to be playing with the birds. batting a small stone between it and the birds. zhongli approached, uncaring of how the birds flapped away, focused on the twist of the pari looking up at him.

he crouched. “and what are you doing here, hm?”

the park backed away from his hand when he slowly reached out, and his eyes caught on how the grass in front of them seemed to grow quicker, weaving into a sort of shield.

everything clicked at once.

“so you’re the one doing this.”

his hand shot out, folding in the pari’s wings, grip tight. it squirmed and chirped, as if crying for help, but he paid it no mind. his free hand waved, a cage of geo sprouting from the ground, and he locked it inside with little hesitation. he’d have to alert xiao, so he knew why the leylines were acting up-

“rex lapis? what are you doing?”

that was convenient.

zhongli grabbed the top of the cage, turning as he stood. xiao still had his polearm in hand, eyes wide. he seemed frantic… perhaps he did know that this pari was the source of elemental dissonance?

“ah, xiao. i was simply collecting this strange pari-“ he waved at the cage, and the pari flapped its wings almost angrily “-as i believe it is the cause for the disruption of liyue’s balance. i assure you that i am more than equipped to handle this myself.”

“no, that’s not- that-..” xiao seemed to be lost for words, face twisting the longer he looked at the pari. “they’re not a threat.”

he was ready to protest, when he noticed the way the pari was acting. pressed against the side of the cage not to flee, but that was closest to xiao? how odd, he didn’t know that pari were that social-…

“have you been cursed, xiao?”