#just deal with the consequences of childe being fatui

[slimepuparibaba]

ChiLumi | The Battle of Golden House

Golden House was what screwed my feelings over the most, if I'm being completely honest here. It hurts so damn much.

I don't wanna get into too much of the nitty-gritty before we start but here are some FYIs.

Childe temporarily joined Lumine's team after their little outing in Liyue. His reasoning to the Fatui was that it was to squeeze out information--in reality, he just wanted to spend time with Lumine.

The team was compromised of most of the characters, except for Venti, Klee, Bennett, Mona, Keqing, Qiqi, Jean, Diluc, Ningguang, Zhongli, and Xinyan. This took place BEFORE the 1.2 update happened!

Kaeya, Chongyun, Xiangling, and Barbara were the least suspicious of Childe as they spent more time around him and knew of his feelings towards Lumine--they are also the main team members in this fight.

All this is based off of my gameplay in Genshin!

Leading Up to the Battle

Childe and Lumine were very close. Weeks had passed and Childe had gotten to the point where he would use "Lumine" more often instead of "Traveler" or "ojou-chan". Childe would also call Lumine "Aster" due to her favorite flower being a Windwheel Aster

Kaeya was also the closest to the two of them and gave advice to both Lumine and Childe on how they should court each other

However, Childe was eventually reminded that the good times can't last forever. After he hard that Lumine visited the Jade Chamber that floated above Liyue, he remembered that he wasn't here to chat. His initial goal was to bring back the gnosis.

The night before the fight, as the team rested at an inn on the way to Liyue, Childe, cloakee by the darkness of night, left the group. He ditched the weapons that Lumine gave to him as well as his artifacts. If he held onto them during their destined battle, he knew he wouldn't be able to fulfill his duty.

Childe hesitated to leave, and yet, with a heavy heart, he left the Inn behind and stationed the Fatui to mobilize in Liyue.

The next morning, Lumine was shattered to see that Childe was gone.

Confrontation

The group heard of the Fatui being mobilized as well as the Adepti and the Qixing about to throw down, and Zhongli gave Lumine the tip that Childe was behind it. She really wanted to be able to talk it out with Childe and convince him he didn't need to go this far, but Zhongli himself stated that "sometimes, they won't understand that until everything is said and done."

Lumine was ready to confront Childe, but her heart was shaking and she felt uneasy. The uneasiness began to settle in though when she and the rest of the group approched the Exuvia and heard Childe's chilling laughter echo throughout the empty hall.

Lumine, hoping to resolve this without fighting, tried to talk to him.

"Childe, you don't have to do this! Don't you remember all the fun times we had? All of us? You're one of us, Childe! You don't have to be their pawn!"

Deep inside, Childe agreed. He knew full well that Lumine had a point--that he was merely being used as a pawn and he could easily discarded. He wanted to join Lumine, but...

"Monsters like the Fatui cannot be saved."

That was all that ran through his mind.

He wanted to agree; god knows he did. What he wouldn't give to leave the Fatui, resign as a Harbinger, and join everyone on that team on their adventures and protect everyone that he ever loved.

But he just couldn't do that.

Childe knew that Lumine wouldn't give up, no matter what, and he kept battling within himself. Sadly, though, his "loyalty" to the Tsaritsa got the better of him.

"Shut up!"

Lumine fell silent, and the entire group watched as Childe began to call her out. It pained him to do so, but his loyalty to the Tsaritsa practically demanded that he continue with this farce.

He said many things he truly wished he didn't say, many things he wanted to take back. But he was too far in. He stopped calling Lumine by her name, instead only calling her "Traveler", trying to distance himself. He mocked Lumine, as well as everyone else, calling them naïve for trusting a Fatui, of all people. Deep down, he was happy they trusted him. He wasn't upset with them, but himself for doing this.

Childe was waiting for Lumine to retort--to fight back and say something, and it looked like she was about to...

...until he said he was simply toying with Lumine's feelings.

Lumine didn't want to take that at face value, and Childe didn't want her to either. But, as soon as he said that, even though he may not have meant it, she shed a single tear.

Kaeya intervened, stating that Childe went too far. The Harbinger knew that... he knew that all too well. But, time could not rewind. He had already done enough damage.

He convinced himself that there was no turning back. If he was to fulfill his duty as a vassal of the Tsaritsa, he needed Lumine to hate him. He needed to crush all the lingering feelings that were held between the two of them. He needed to be the villain.

With that, he challenged Lumine to a battle. And thus, the Battle of Golden House was set in motion.

Phase 1 and 2: Childe Unleashed

He was completely ready for Lumine to throw everything at him, but instead, she stood still, not moving. Her eyes were devoid of the hatred he was hoping to see. It was... empty.

Instead, Kaeya, Chongyun, Xiangling, and Barbara hopped in. Noelle shielded the rest of the party, Lisa and Amber comforting Lumine, who was silently weeping in heartbreak. Everyone looked upon Childe with hatred, wondering why he would do such a thing.

Xiangling would crash into Childe, crossing blades and questioning why he was doing this. She believed he was happy with them, so why did they have to fight?

Chongyun, too, was upset. He may have come late to the party, but he saw how easily Childe fit in. In fact, while Chongyun was trying to train to get on par with the rest of the team, Childe would help out.

Barbara was one of the only rational ones, and she sensed there was more to the story. She tried to talk it out with Childe, saying that he didn't have to do this and there was no real reason they had to fight. She knew that Childe wasn't happy with this either.

But it was Kaeya that completely lost it.

People say that Kaeya is one of the chiller, cooler people in all of Teyvat. But, make no mistake... Kaeya is scary when he gets angered. When you push the wrong buttons, he will show absolutely no mercy.

While the three main fighters were throwing questions at him, trying to persuade him to stop it, Kaeya threw himself into the battle without second thought. He asked no questions--he only snarled at the one he once saw Lumine happy with.

Kaeya was supportive of Childe and Lumine when he saw how happy she was with him and how Childe seemed to be the same way. Kaeya understood Lumine didn't have her brother there like she used to, and he understood that same feeling, so he swore to try and be the brother that the both of them didn't have at the moment. Lumine was practically his little sister.

So when Childe betrayed her, when he broke her heart, Kaeya was ready to go absolutely apeshit.

Throughout the battle, even when Childe reached Phase 2, Kaeya would be the one throwing blow after blow at the Harbinger. It wasn't just physical hits, either. It included emotional daggers.

The two men would argue constantly, Kaeya threatening Childe and Childe laughing in response, mocking him.

"She trusted you--no, WE trusted you! I let the fact that you're a Fatui go because I thought you had some piece of humanity in you!"

"Then that was YOUR mistake! You just had to believe a Fatui all because, what? Your "surrogate sister" fell in love? Haha, don't make me laugh! Just because you didn't have a brother for half your life doesn't mean you need to project yourself onto the Traveler and become hers!"

The more their blades crossed, the more enraged Kaeya became. However, a third blade came into play and threw Kaeya's sword out of his hands.

It was Lumine.

Phase 3: Tartaglia's Foul Legacy

Lumine was standing still, her sword at her side. She stared at Childe with no emotion showing on her face. This was it, Childe thought. She finally hates me.

Childe held up his weapon, but before he could strike Kaeya and Lumine, she blocked it with her anemo skill, her feet digging into the floor as her geo skill kept her in place. Kaeya lept away, and all that was left on the battlefield was Childe and Lumine.

A large explosion of light occurred, but Childe simply appeared on the Exuvia, ready to grab the Gnosis. But when he discovered it wasn't there, he didn't know what to think.

Lumine stood still, and Childe wanted to end it there. But part of him delusionally screamed "No!", and instead pinned the blame on her.

It felt like Childe was slowly being torn apart on the inside. He wanted to stop it, apologize to Lumine and run away with her and their friends, but he needed to fulfill his duties.

In the end, Childe listened to his head. He unleashed his Foul Legacy transformation and destroyed the flooring below everyone, sending them to the lower platform.

Kaeya was going to step in, but Lumine game him a look. It was as if to say "This is between me and him." So, Kaeya backed off and retreated to the rest of the group.

Lumine and Tartaglia simply stared at each other. Tartaglia expected for Lumine to say something, but no words were spoken. Instead, she immediately rushed towards him.

Tartaglia expected to block it, ready to stop her in her tracks. He was ready to take her head-on and see her full power...

...then she drew two blades made of water.

Tartaglia was in shock. Lumine pulled a surprising move... she was using his weapon! It stunned him, even amazed him, but for some reason, it also broke his heart. He left behind the weapons he used when with Lumine's team, not wanting to use them in fear that it would stop him from using his full potential, but here they were... being used against them.

It was after she pulled those weapons out that Tartaglia's moves grew slower.

Many speculated this was because Tartaglia's armor was heavier and using up most of his power. However, Barbara understood. She saw the look in Childe's eyes when Lumine entered the arena. He seemed prideful, but his eyes said different. He, just like Lumine, didn't want to do this.

Tartaglia was holding back.

Tartaglia and Lumine kept clashing. Their powers were equal to each other, and Lumine kept switching between using her blade and the weapons once used by Childe himself. Even still, no words were exchanged. There was no expression on Lumine's face. Within the Golden House, all that could be heard was the sounds of blades clashing, lightning striking, wind howling, and water crashing.

The two of them fought hard. In the end, both were one hit away from being knocked out and losing. Tartaglia had one charged attack he had been storing up and was ready to unleash it.

"If I use it, she will obviously dodge it... and then she can beat me. Then, she will hate me like she was destined to."

Tartaglia lifted his blade into the air and, using his Delusion, summoned a large amount of Electro energy. It wasn't undodgable--in fact, Lumine could just jump back and strike him and the fight would end there.

Just as he was about to strike, however, Lumine instead rushed towards Tartaglia, rushing right past him. Instead of dodging, she ran straight into the attack. Tartaglia was shocked, staring at the Traveler being pierced by the lightning. Just as she was struck, she whispered softly the only words she had spoken throughout the entire fiasco...

"...if I knew it would've come to this, I wish I never fell in love with you."

Lumine, at last, fell.

Fallen

Childe dropped his weapon, staring at Lumine's body as it hit the ground. She was knocked out cold. He reached out his arm, only for Barbara to rush in and throw her arms out to her side, as if forbidding Childe to touch her.

Memories of the times that they spent together flowed through his mind. He couldn't move. He felt paralyzed. He wanted to pick up Lumine and apologize, say it was all a joke and he just wanted to test her strength, but he couldn't do that. He glabced at her body, lying on the cold floor, and understood.

He did this to her.

This was all his fault.

The words that Lumine said kept repeating in his head, echoing and resounding, practically taunting him. Just as he was caught in a trance, he felt a sharp pain in his abdomen.

Kaeya stabbed him through his armor.

Childe, his Foul Legacy transformation fading, then collapsed on the ground, returning back to normal.

Paimon and Kaeya confronted Childe, who expected Lumine to be the one to get upset with him instead of the Calvary Knight. The Fatui Harbinger looked at Lumine, who was being healed by both Diona and Barbara. He felt like saying sorry, but the angry looks from everyone told him one thing, and one thing only.

"You're a liar. You never could've been saved in the first place."

"Monsters can never be saved."

Childe, feeling he had nothing left, lifelessly continued forth with the plan that he had formulated weeks before he had joined Lumine. He was still waiting for her to wake up and hug him, beg him not to, or at least just try and stop him. He wanted someone to tell him that he could change.

But no one did.

With a heavy heart and a false smile on his face, he summoned Osial and escaped from the Golden House. He felt no reason to stay there...

He was now a lost cause.

Kaeya, still angered by Childe, wanted to chase after him, but a weary Lumine told him to worry about Liyue instead. Kaeya protested, saying they should nip the issue in the bud, but Barbara agreed.

Not only that, but she knew that Childe wanted them to stop Osial. She could tell... she saw it in the saddened look on his face.

Departure

The group, after fully healing, ventured to the Golden Chamber and fought against Osial alongside the adepti and the Qixing. They succeeded, naturally, with the Golden Chamber sadly sacrificed. The Qixing became the ruling power of Liyue, with the Adepti stepping down.

In the end, however, the mystery of the Gnosis and it's whereabouts still remained. Thus, the team ventured to the Northland Bank.

It was there that they saw Zhongli, Signora, and Childe.

Childe saw Lumine and was about to congratulate her, but Kaeya stood in the way, and Signora gave Childe a dirty look. He realized that, truly, what was done couldn't be undone. He had to continue lying through his teeth, just as he always did.

Childe made a false apology, saying that he truly was just a pawn and just doing his job. But, truth was that he meant to say that he didn't want to do it, and that he wanted Lumine to scold him and steal him away from the Fatui. Even then, though, Lumine didn't look him in the eye and fell silent.

The answers to the entire "Rex Lapis murder mystery" were solved, and Signora gained the Geo Archon's Gnosis. With that out of the way, Signora commanded Childe to head back to Snezhnaya with her. Reluctantly, he followed.

But, just before he could leave, he waited at the door and for Signora to keep walking just out of hearing distance. When she did, Childe turned around and looked Lumine in the eye. He gave a sad smile, and said one last sentence to her.

"...Lumine... I... really hope you didn't mean what you said back there..."

Lumine, taken aback, had no words to say. He responded to what she said back at the Golden House... did that mean that he...?

Before she could try and ask, Childe left, walking out of her sight, never looking back.

From then on, Childe and Lumine weren't reunited. All that remained with the both of them was the memories of the time they spent together before the fateful battle that tore them apart.

...that is, until Childe's Story Mission.

may i just say that this entire thing broke me

bruh. childe. Why did u do that

;;;

also the blows he made to kaeya's pride

like

"i know you and diluc aint close, dont go projecting on lumine"

fucking christ dude you needed LUMINE to hate you, not the fake pirate dude!

[im-a-literature-trash-baby]

Hello! Hope you are having a great day/night!

I was wondering if you could write about Childe with a harbinger reader who's pantalone's sister?

Just that the reader is never present, they are constantly traveling but one day Pantalone suggests to call her to solve [insert random bad problem]

Then she arrives during a reunion and since, childe just can't take his eyes of her, they talk, etc.

U could add some angsty little backstory for the reader if u want, but if its too long or specific, i don't mind only headcanons :)

Hi, sorry if I kept you waiting! Hope you'll enjoy it! I made the reader a little sassy hehe

Childe x f!Reader who's Pantalone's sister

Childe was in a gloomy mood despite how beautiful Liyue Harbour was when the early rays of sunshine touched the water, the ships, and the boats. The chilly morning breeze hit his face as he was walking from the harbor to Liuli Pavilion where he had a meeting scheduled with one of the other Harbingers, Pantalone. The man sent him a letter not so long ago where he stated that Childe's questionable expenses bothered him. He also mentioned how he will have to take care of some bandits as a form of punishment.

Childe let out a sight while he was thinking about the mentioned letter. 'There must be something else behind all of this, even if the Harbingers like to look down upon me, they wouldn't think that dealing with some bandits would be a fitting punishment for me.'

With hopes of getting news about some strong and powerful enemy that he'll have to defeat as his true punishment he opened the door of the restaurant and went inside.

To his surprise, he didn't find Pantalone alone. A girl was sitting next to him with similar features as the regrator who he’s never seen before.

'Oh, Childe. Just in time.'

The ginger nodded and sat in front of Pantalone and the mysterious guest.

'I came here as you told me in that letter of yours. But you did not say a thing about us having company.' He looked at you but your gaze was already on him, examining every move of his with a sly smile on your face. 'Who would she be?'

'Let's start from the beginning, shall we?' Pantalone said. 'I was told that your expenses were significantly enormous while being in Liyue. May I ask why?'

'I spent them on missions.'

'But such a big amount?'

'Liyue is an expensive city.'

'Liar.' You pointed out, still having the same smile on your face.

Childe didn't say a thing as an answer. He knew that his expenses were huge but also knew that explaining why they were like this would just put him in an embarrassing situation.

'No need to point out the obvious, (y/n). Childe, if you're not willing to tell us where the money goes, to some extent, that's fine by me. You would need to spend way more money than this for my wallet to feel it, but!' He lifted his index finger and continued in a child scolding manner. 'You still caused an inconvenience so it only comes natural that there will be consequences...And that's where my dear sister comes in the picture as well.'

'Your sister?' Childe looked at you again but quickly got his gaze back to Pantalone because he met your intense stare once again.

'Yes.' The black-haired man nodded and put a hand on your shoulder. '(y/n) is my sister and the one who will keep an eye on you during your duties as well. You see, an informant told us back in Sheznaya that a few members from the lower ranks of the Fatui have been doing some suspicious business with the bandits in Liyue. We assume that they might be planning to leak information out if they are not doing so already. Your duty is to get to the bottom of this matter.'

'But since it's your punishment as well, me and my brother decided to make it a little harder for you. You are not allowed to kill any of the people involved in the matter nor to give them any fatal wounds. Your only job is to get information about their little alliance and to prove that we have traitors in the Fatui.'

'Sounds great, I'll accept it!'

'Splendid! Then I shall take my leave then. (y/n), I'll leave him to you.'

As Pantalone went out of the restaurant, and you two escorted him out, Childe could feel the excitement flow through his body. It's certainly a new field where he can try out his capabilities and who knows, maybe if he excells in this he might get new opportunities within the Fatui as well.

'You seem to be excited.' He jumped away in his surprise when he realized how close you were standing to him. 'Did I scare you?' You asked playfully.

'How-how come that Pantalone never told us about you?'

'Probably because it wasn't needed. I like to travel around Teyvat, getting to know people and seeing things that I'd never see in the cold land of Shezhnaya. I'm only here now because brother needed someone who he deeply trusts in.’

‘I see...’

He examined your figure, your clothes, and most importantly your weapon. From the way you looked as a whole, he could tell that you were strong, just like your bother...But beautiful as well.

‘Let’s fight!’

‘I’ve already been told about your way of treating people who might be even slighter stronger than you. Sorry, but I have to decline.’

He didn’t listen to you. He pulled out his sword with his elemental power only for it to be stopped midway from attacking you by holding your weapon to his throat. He couldn’t believe his eyes. He only blinked once and there you were, already holding the upper hand.

‘You are pretty good.’ He said with a grin on his face.

‘I am. Now, put down your weapon. I’m sure that your friend won’t be happy if you cause trouble in Liyue City.’ He obeyed your words but kept his eye contact with you. ‘I’m surprised that you’re able to look me in the eye, I mean while we were in the restaurant you couldn’t even look at me more than a second.’ These words were enough to make him look away from you immediately.

He couldn’t deny it. The moment he laid eyes upon you he noticed your unmatching beauty and he couldn’t deny the fact that your silky voice and combat knowledge only added to your attractiveness either.

He gulped and shook his head. The only thing on his mind should be his mission, nothing else.

You decided to break the silence between you.

‘Let’s get going. I’ll show you the way.’

‘Okay’

You were walking around in the Huaguang Stone Forest, looking for clues. This place has a beautiful scenery and yet Childe couldn’t take his eyes off of you even for a moment. You were going in front of him, showing the way as you promised. Childe burned every little movement of yours into his brain. The way your hips swung while you were taking your steps elegantly, the way the breeze got into your hair, everything. The things that you could be doing instead of being here...

‘I think your job isn’t undressing me with your eyes. Please remember, you can fail your task by not getting information as well.’

‘And what would my punishment be then, comrade? I assume something harsher than this one, but what?’

‘That’s my brother's job to figure out.’

‘Ah yes, your brother... You know it’s kind of ironic. The regrator rarely leaves his home and yet there you are, his sister, an adventurer of some sort.’

‘Just because we are siblings doesn’t mean that we have to be the same. You and Teucer seem to be different as well.’

‘You know him?’

‘Yes. One time I was visiting my brother and there he was, running around, looking for you.’ You could see in his eyes that he began to worry. ‘But don’t worry. Pulcinella got him home safely.’

‘Thank Archons...’

‘You seem to become way more humane when it comes to your brother. You must love him very much.’

‘Isn’t it the job of an older brother to love and protect his sibling unconditionally?’

‘I wish.’

Childe opened his mouth to speak but eventually decided to stay silent. What was he excepting anyways? Pantalone never seemed to be a kindhearted person, why would he be the way he’s with Tuecer?

‘I’m sorry if I touched a sensitive topic.’ 

‘You don’t need to worry. My brother’s heart is indeed made out of stone and money but I know that he does care about me in his own ways. The only thing there’s for me is to protect myself when he’s not with me which is basically all the time.’ You try to laugh it of.

‘I’ll be there to protect you.’ He said without hesitation. ‘Growing up without anyone to lean on or to protect you can be troublesome and hard but...I think at least as an adult we should be able to experience the feeling of love and secureness.’

‘Thank you for your kind words, Childe.’ You hugged him and placed a kiss on his left cheek. ‘After we are over with this stupid thing let’s get to know each other more, shall we?’

He nodded while he did everything to hide his blushing face from you.

Bonus because I just love the concept of overprotecting big brother Pantalone:

‘So you are dating my sister?’

‘Yes.’ Childe tried his very best to stop his legs from shaking.

‘We love eachother so much~!’

‘I’m glad (y/n).’ 

Childe felt how different Pantalone’s aura was when he was talking to the two of you. Once it said “I’m so glad that you found yourself a special someone” and the other times said, “Break her heart, I’ll break your bones.”

[yandere-sins]

[Yandere] How the Liyue men mark you as ‘theirs’ (+ Childe & Kazuha)

The last post blew up so I thought I’d do a continuation! Enjoy ^^

»»———————— ♡ ————————««    

Xiao

Xiao becomes your shadow.

If he didn’t hate the idea of being in public so much, he’d be more open about his presence, but this much should be enough, right? You gain a reputation that you seem more exhausted lately, giving off very strange energies, but you can’t really wrap your head around it either. More often, you find yourself in bad luck, which only adds to your exhaustion, and when you are out all day long, you attract more than your fair share of misfortunes. Sometimes you almost get hit by a falling flowerpot; other times, the item you need desperately is all sold out everywhere. Nonetheless, you never get hurt, and once you go to sleep, your problems get solved overnight, much to your surprise. It’s a very strange time for you, but it finds its peak when some treasure hoarders seem to have it bad for you, a figure you have never seen before appearing out of thin air and ‘taking care’ of this issue as well. Much, much more bloody than you can stomach, unfortunately. Still, who are you to make a sound as the figure approaches you, hesitates before picking you up, and brings you back to your home? Xiao knows he shouldn’t be there with you; shouldn’t meddle into your affairs and taint you with his karma. But what can a man in love do? He wishes he could do more to let everything and anyone know not to lay one finger on his darling, but being your shadow is quite enough for the longest time.

Zhongli

Zhongli (unsurprisingly) makes a special contract with you.

It’s what he is best at, and he just so happens to help you out with it too. Zhongli has yet to grasp all of the human’s desires, but whatever you might fancy, there certainly is one way or another to grace you with it. Perhaps you are in an emergency situation, or maybe you just really want to be on top of your skill. But if you make your want to Zhongli’s mission, you are sure to go out of it successful. He really likes the time he spent by your side, studied your thoughts and actions. And when the contract finally ends, you will go out of it with positive feelings as well. That’s when suddenly Zhongli puts new ideas into your head, just so he can be with you a little bit longer. There is still so much you can archive with his help, and you know he will keep to his duty of fulfilling what you ask. But it has its price. And when the second contract doesn’t rob you of your savings, perhaps the third one will. Zhongli has so much patience and knowledge, yet he never gets annoyed with you - not when you are such a precious darling. You believe him when he tells you, “You need me.” Because why would you not? Zhongli never fails you. “One more,” he offers after you can’t pay the last contract. One more contract to pay off all the contracts, a truely merciful offer. You trust him. He’s been with you from the very beginning, he knows everything about your plans and was always determined to get you through everything. He never fails you. “One more,” you confirm, signing the last contract with him. The punishment is too cruel, this time, your endeavors have to pay off! Your money, home, everyone around you is already gone, and if it doesn’t work out, you won’t have anything to buy yourself out of this one. But you fail yet again. You couldn’t have fulfilled the requirements because Zhongli made sure through meticulously taking everything from you and finding grey zones to sabotage your efforts that there was no way you could fulfill this contract. He’s the one who knew best after all, right? So now, you have to face what you signed, see what the consequences are. And he? He gets to enjoy you indefinitely. Zhongli lets you read your contract as much as you want while you sit on his lap, have his hands explore you, and smiles as you despair over signing away your very being to him.

Tartaglia

Childe uses his influence on other people.

His reputation is already as bad as it can be, seeing he is not only a Fatui Harbinger but also an odd fellow out on the streets. That other people don’t really like him has never bothered him much, but it sure helps a fair bit when it comes to you, his little darling. Whatever he has to do to keep you by his side, he doesn’t back off until he gets what he thinks is in your best interest, may it be: paying horrendous sums of Mora to bring you on a nice date, intimidating businesses into doing what you want or they will get other problems than just a lost sale, or giving other suitors that get too close to you for his taste a good beating. Sure, people warn you about him, but at the same time, it’s in his hands if your life gets a bit easier or much, much harder. He’s already holding back so much to not lash out at you when you feel you can’t tolerant his presence anymore - after everything he’s done, nonetheless! - but you don’t know what kind of powers you are dealing with. No one refuses Childe in a world that only he owns, but if you want to fret a bit first, so be it. What if everyone suddenly turns on you? When no business will take your services or sell you their wares? What if everyone whispers behind your back and the Millilith receive clues about illegal things you might be doing in the safety of your home? Do you really think anyone would willingly want to be seen with you anymore? But no worries, the moment you come back to him, Childe will fix all of this for you. Even if the two options to choose from are like choosing between the devil and the deep blue sea, it will still show everyone where you belong to, and even better: Show you who you belong to.

Kazuha

Kazuha monopolizes you. 

Both literally and figuratively, you will be in his grip. It takes a while until one of your friends asks if there is any other topic than your new boyfriend that you could talk about. Don’t you do anything besides being by his side and listening to him these days? You didn’t even notice that the only thing on your mind lately is Kazuha, so much so, it does seem to be at a worrying degree. At first, you don’t really see the problem in it. You just found someone you like, and there are probably rose-colored glasses over your perception of him. But when he tells you that you are all he has, and he is so glad that you are in his life and giving it back some worth, it makes you feel special. In front of you, he’d let loose, let go of his composure and speak openly with you. No one else can do that for him but you. You are the only one he can do that with, and when he smiles softly at you, telling you he loves you, it’s almost too good to be true. It wasn’t your intention to fight with your friend that day, but just because they don’t know him like you do, doesn’t mean they can just be mean and say they are getting red flags from how he makes you only be with him instead of how you lived in the past! At least Kazuha understands when you come back upset and miffed, holds you in his arms, and tells you that he’ll always be there for you, just like you are for him. It’s such a bittersweet thing to lose a friend, but even if you lose all of them, Kazuha will still be the one that always greets you back with a warm embrace and confessions of love. He really is the only one you can always rely on, even if that means he is the only one you have left around you. That just means he will get even more of your attention, instead of you dividing it on so many others and your hobbies. Instead, it’s all Kazuha, just like he wants.

[tartagilicious]

In Life and Death / 𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐎𝐍𝐄

♡ read the prologue here :D

♡ When everything you know is shrouded in light, it’s often hard to remember to peek into the darkness. Your family has long since been a part of those who avoid it, choosing to hide comfortably amongst the high ranks of Mondstadt’s nobility. Your father, the King, has fought hard to keep it that way, especially following the Queen's unfortunate death. However, with a sudden push from the Fatui, certain old wounds are quickly reopened.

It's why upon tragedy striking, you aren’t alone in the assumption that the foreign nation is to blame. But when unseen circumstances quickly push the question of the culprit's identity over to you, you find that the situation is much deeper than meets the eye. Between the mysterious nature of an unknown killer, familial doubts, and the 11th Harbinger launching himself into the scene by making an attempt on your life, you think you're completely in over your head.

Even if Childe claims you have the picture all wrong.

And so, in a gruesome twist of events, you're faced with a choice -- trust Childe's convenient involvement and get to the bottom of everything together, or risk becoming victims yourselves.

♡ warnings: violence, mentions of choking, blood, and knives.

♡ word count: 7.3k

You had long learned to never trust a man who is no more than his glare, because even the most innocent of dogs will still bear their teeth. And inside the walls of Mondstadt’s gates, this ideology very well may be known to many -- because from the darkened alleyways to busy courtrooms, there will always be those who show more than they are ready to give.

Unfortunately, the same can often be said of the king. 

You are as much of a stranger to his dealings as he is, though the difference in you lies in your capability of being disappointed. The King is extremely lucrative when he can be, handling his power in a way where those around him are left in a constant state of wondering, when will he strike next, and how? The answers are often underwhelming.

Of course, you know better than them. Each side-eyed glance and nuance of a threat is always held, but sometimes you suspect that behind your father's guarded eyes, there's nothing more than a man paralysed with fear. It's why your first reaction is to write him off when you get to thinking about the person you'd lost -- however much you want to blame him for it. His inherent innocence is the entire reason that the concept of a murder on the royal grounds terrifies you so much. 

You hadn't ever been extremely close to the Chamberlain, but news of her death shook you like it would anyone. Because she had been a pleasant young woman, certainly no one that deserved to meet their end in such a way.

This does not mean Mondstadt is crime-free, of course. Pickpockets and murderers alike dwell in the deepest corners and behind closed doors, but none have ever dared to show themselves in such a fashion. Though, a sizable bit of the population in these parts do tend to include fatui agents from outside the nation, perhaps entrenched in the only ways they know how. 

Someone other than the king had dealt a life-ending blow to someone of no consequence -- bearing their teeth, so to say. It was done as if they had known they could get away with it. The offence was haughty, too confident to be considered a crime of the usual degree. Hence, in your opinion, the large possibility of a fatui agent testing the waters.

But with nothing being confirmed, the question of the sudden nature of events remains. And despite the warning bells in your head, despite any disapproval the king may have, you would be better suited trying to uncover the mystery with everyone else than just sitting around. In fact, that's exactly how you managed to see the effects of the situation in the first place.

It was more difficult than usual to sneak around, but upon arriving at the ugly leftover scene under the guise of a maid, you almost change your mind. 

There was no major evidence left behind, no trace of a second person besides a ring of purple around her neck, the indentation of thick fingers settled heavy in her skin. Apparently mere choking had not been enough to subdue the woman, too — the main offender is much more striking.

An injection had ultimately done her in, the pin-prick small but only noticeable thanks to the crystallised blood surrounding the wound. Much like the odd suit of frost covering her skin, it was unusually cold to the touch.

But, you had been discovered and ushered out of the room before you could unearth much more. As much as you’d like to do something with the information you’d snuck by, other clues are not so readily available. You'd expected as much, but to be shunned so quickly? It was almost too odd to overlook the convenience of it.

Left with nothing to process, you are steadfast in your blaming of the foreign Snezhnayan officers. But whether any truly useful information exists or not, you hadn't been allowed around long enough to find out. 

Grave events such as this one are debilitating, they shake normal life in a way usual events do not. But just as the king is well aware of the fear that envelops the royal court, he is also in tune with the mechanics of the city he rules. He will take all means necessary to confine the circumstances, to avoid pressure from Snezhnayan diplomats if nothing else. 

 So, you know well that the lack of information provided is entirely intentional.

The Chamberlain's death had occurred three whole days ago, and you still haven't heard a thing. Not even the town gossips are aware of the turmoil that drenches the castle, and the maids are equally tight-lipped. 

Tapping a pen against the mahogany of the wooden desk, you sigh. The writer’s callus on your dominant hand is tinged with blue ink, darker in the low light of the library only you populate. The usually bustling halls have been noticeably empty within the past few days. However, it is a good side effect -- with less to see your actions, the more freedom to investigate you are given. 

Though, any so-called ‘investigations’ you’ve completed thus far have been nothing more than quick brainstorming sessions, wherein the same vague points are turned over and over again in your head. Sighing at the blank sheet of paper in front of you, you slump in your seat. 

It frustrates you to know that in these moments, you are often royalty in title alone. You are a woman of title, a person of royal blood, are you not? Yet, because of a single wave of the king’s hand, you are kept in the dark just as every courtier and servant is, inevitably leaving one amongst you vulnerable to repeat the same unfortunate mistakes the chamberlain had. 

However, you are not a courtier. Not a servant. So, why dangle such information above your head, why withhold any greater power your status holds? The reason, your father will likely never share, but your lack of knowledge in any event is undoubtedly purposeful

It may just be for your protection, though his intentions are never so simple; he thinks like a king, not a father. 

But, albeit his strange tendencies, bits and pieces of the father you want to see remain in every stroke of his lacquered pen. He is the puppet behind only your menial troubles, and it would be unfair to pin much more than a daughter’s bitterness on him. Perhaps this is just his out of touch way of protecting you -- like you need it.

“My lady,”

A soft yet firm voice bids for your attention. There is an immediate regret that blooms in your chest as you stand up abruptly, feet pushing you out of your chair only to meet the patient eyes of a maid. You offer her an apologetic smile as you will your heart to slow.

It’s not your place to be jumpy, not when there are those who work soundlessly to ensure your protection.

Perhaps they’re a bit too soundless, though. 

“My apologies.” The old woman bows her head slightly, leaning a careful hand on your shoulder. “You startle very easily lately, are you feeling well?”

You nod, gaze anywhere but her as you search for an escape. “Yes, yes, of course. Just nervous, is all.”

The maid watches you as you gather your things, eyes lingering a moment too long on the shaking hands you fail to conceal. You clutch the notebook and pen to your chest, offering her an awkward smile.

“Everything will be alright,” She assures you, gesturing to the rest of the empty library. “Extreme measures are being taken to protect anyone else in the castle from succumbing to a similar fate.”

As you nod wordlessly, the calmness in her voice does not dissipate. You feel almost scrutinised under her polished gaze — it is gentle, but concerned nonetheless. Your fears are merely surface level affairs to the familiar woman, despite how deeply you attempt to hide them. 

Offering her a nod as you duck past her, you mumble a quiet goodbye. The maid’s eyes remain stuck to your back as you begin to walk away, patient.

“I had tea prepared not long ago.” You stop at the doorway, hand coming up to ghost over the wooden frame as your head turns back. The same unwavering smile adorns your sight. “Enjoy your night, my lady.”

You respond with a quick smile, fastening your grip on your belongings as you hurry from the room. The particular woman’s kindness truly runs deep, though you can’t help the discomfort you experience under her weighted gaze -- she studies you as if you are translucent, hungry eyes searching for fears to quell.

As your shoes click on the hard floor, you grimace. Of course, her intentions are nothing more than those of a dedicated caretaker, and guilt pokes at your inside unnervingly for pushing her innocent concern off. There is a part of you that wants to confide in someone, whether it is a maid or someone entirely different -- but, for reasons unknown to even you, it’s not something you’re willing to do. 

On your worst days, you fear someone will attempt to face your emotions head-on, regardless of your wishes. And while such a person is bound to appear, it’s instances like these that you learn to stave off those indulgent enough to get too close. It is only practical, after all, as a member of the royal family to keep your troubles close.

Your mother had been a wonderful example of what compassion could do to someone of your status. Evident in every generation, in every string of events, there will always be someone looking to take advantage of such raw trust. So, while cowardly, it is a caution that no one can fault you for.

It is a truly vile way of thinking, yet in this walk of life, it is unfortunately necessary.

You have long stopped wondering what others think of your fears, though simultaneously, you have recently found it harder to maintain a cooler composure. No action seems just right, no demeanour enough to please everyone. Your honest desperation is heartbreakingly truthful, and you can only hope it's enough to excuse the way you act. 

The low evening sun passes over your face through the windows of the hall, decorating your body in an array of warmth. And whether the world sees fit to tease you or not, you don’t mistake the oddly timed shiver that runs through your body. Shaking your head, you wish tiredly for nothing more than everything to be over. 

The crystalline doorknob to your personal chambers is slippery beneath your clammy grip, exhaustion seeping through your veins as you stand there without luck. The tiny inconvenience tests your patience extremely closely. Luckily, the halls are empty around you, void of anything but yourself and guards stationed some ways away. 

Offhandedly, you wonder if you could get away with sneaking off. Perhaps it’s an action you may need to take eventually, but with the steady droop of your eyelids, you surmise it can wait. Even your tired mind can discern that there is little you can do in your state.

Moments later, you find yourself sitting on your bed, the tricky doorknob locked shut behind you. You have little desire to do anything but to crawl under your covers and move on to the next day. But, the commentary-scribbled notebook still weighs lightly in your hand. 

With a narrowed gaze, you consider stuffing it into your pillow case -- what could be a better hiding place than directly beneath you? Your eyes are heavy as you carry out the action. The process isn’t meticulous by any means, but you decide it will work well enough for now. 

Still in your day clothes, you let your body fall on top of the comforter. You’re briefly freed of your anxieties as you will your mind to go blank. You forget about the murder, about your deathly curiosity, even about the mug of tea that continues to go cold on your nightside table.  

Your worries may encompass dire things, they may not. But at the end of the day, they can only be worries.

“I don’t understand.”

The spring air is sweet in your nose, but for all that it’s worth, it’s easily outshined by the distinctly rotten taste that grows in your mouth. Mornings in the castle are usually filled by the former; golden sunlight within the deserted halls, the chirping of bluebirds heard from beyond the cracked windows, bowls of fresh fruit carried by passing servants -- but today, you find these peaceful things to be stifled.

You’d been called on during the early hours of the morning, long before you normally even rise. Perhaps it was a precautionary action, perhaps the particular subject just made your father restless, yet in any case, the first hour of your day is spent moderately.

“This is by no means a complicated thing to ask of you.” Your father says this, and while he may be right, he should be one of the last to consider giving you such an order.

You shake your head slowly, trying not to let your distress shine through. “No, it’s not, but it’s not necessary, is it? Someone is dead. I’m only expressing discomfort in my own way.”

“...Your coping mechanisms seem awfully dangerous.”

Avoiding his eye, you yawn into the back of your hand. Call it what you like, but coping mechanism be damned if it’s the one thing that makes you feel secure living as you do. 

“I don’t see how trying to figure out what happened is dangerous,” You say, taking in your father’s demeanour. It’s an early morning for him as well, but you know better than to push his limits on purpose. “Please. It’s only a personal reassurement. I’ll be sure not to take it too far.”

He shakes his head. “I’m not concerned about you taking things too far, because I know you’ll do that regardless of what we agree on today.”

You’re silent at that.

“I just don’t need you getting hurt because someone chooses to see you as a threat, not when there are more capable people to be assessing this situation.”

Your lips and patience both simultaneously thin. “If there are more capable people available, then where are they? I would be more than happy to hand things over to them.”

Your father’s head tilts slightly, voice raising an octave or so. “I'm in the process of gathering help. Are you questioning me?"

Dread begins to ferment in your stomach as you shake your head, words heavy in your mouth. “No. I only urge you to take this more seriously. I think it would be the better choice, knowing what has happened when we let our guard down in the past.”

His eyes narrow as you turn your head away, avoiding his eye as casually as possible even while your heart thumps loudly in your chest. There is not a day that goes by wherein your father does not honour your late mother in some way. But, you do not understand the reason he chooses to push aside an event so similar to the one that has affected him so greatly now.

“I recommend that you visit the tavern this afternoon.” If your jab has ignited anything in him, it’s lost in the moment he turns to take a thin binder into his hand. You accept it warily as he continues. “The sister celebrations are quickly approaching. Despite the unfortunate events that have taken place recently, we must prepare as if on a normal schedule."

You quirk a curious brow. “Aren’t we on one already?”

“Yes, as of now.” Your father sizes up your expression before hesitantly continuing. “But, if things do get worse, I’m afraid we might have to postpone the events.”

Eyes widening, you stand up.

“There’s such a thing on the line, and still no one is investigating anything yet?!”

He says your name in a tone of warning, voice stern. “I'm handling it, but you must understand that there is not much to work with. I’m sure you know this as well.”

You try to meet his eyes, but they never quite meet yours; they follow his actions behind his desk, your fidgeting, but never anything else. You do not take it as a truthful promise, yet under his attention, all you can do is nod and believe that he will do as he says -- hope that he will listen to the concerns of the only family he has left. 

You move to leave, keeping careful note of the binder in your hand as you grumble a muffled goodbye. You can only guess its contents, but aren’t too keen on stopping to read it under the stifling atmosphere you’ve created. At the door, you pause as he calls your name. 

“Do not mention your mother to me again.”

His words settle with you as you disappear into the morning haze, the inkling of a frown pushing at your lips. The King had said that he was in the process of gathering help, but given his past, you aren't too inclined to believe him.

The conversation gets you thinking -- in the reality that he does end up finding someone to handle the situation, would you give up so easily? You aren't quite sure you know the answer. Especially not if the sister celebrations are in jeopardy.

It's why, when the afternoon comes, you are more than willing to pay the tavern a visit. As you’d discovered on your meandering walk back to your chambers, the binder your father had handed you is composed of nothing but numbers -- all necessary information for the numerous courses set to be available at the day of Ludi Harpastum and its most beloved partner, titled Dies Luctus.

A commemorative event by title alone, Dies Luctus is a masquerade that takes place yearly that exists to pay respects to those who have passed -- though in recent years, it has become more of a prologue for later festivities to the unseasoned eye.

Small details here and there exist to remind you of its history, in the dark masks that are given to attending patrons, or the waves of silence that occasionally pass over the crowd, even the single flowers provided as offerings to those who have lost someone. The most menacing of these signs, however, remains to be the empty throne at the king’s side. 

Your hands are clammy as you trek to the tavern. Be it a masquerade or a way to respect the dead, you will sooner be a part of those honoured than let a petty murder be the reason the world is not reminded of your mother’s existence once again. 

Angel’s Share’s bell chimes from high above as you enter, but no one looks in your direction even as the door slams shut behind you -- at least, save for the bartender. Trained vermillion eyes find yours in an instant, surprise melting through the depths as he beckons you over with the rag in his hand.

You can’t help your smile as you slip onto the stool in front of him.

The bar is polished finely, though maybe even more so than usual due to the presence of Master Diluc. His appearance at the bar is rare these days because of the looming dates of Dies Luctus and Ludi Harpastum -- but since the unfortunate passing of his father five years ago, the responsibility of coordinating the technicalities of the two events has since been passed to him. 

You know firsthand that it’s a lot of work, but there is no one you feel safer leaving the job to than the man in front of you. He has proved time and time again that he is steadfast in all he does. 

“Look who’s finally decided to show themselves.” Diluc nearly puts down the glass that he’s cleaning to ridicule you, a sure sign of his irritation. “I’d almost forgotten what you look like.”

Exhaling a light laugh, you shrug. “You know it’s busy up there. I barely have time for myself anymore, much less to come here.”

He shakes his head as if the explanation is so-so.

“You were never bad at sneaking out here before.” He quirks a brow, trading in the dry glass for another. 

“That was before someone was murdered in the place I’m sneaking out from.” You point out, taking gratification in the way Diluc lets out a resigned sigh. “Of course, it hindered me a bit.”

You place the notebook on the counter as you speak, not missing the way Diluc’s eyes land on it briefly.

“Right.” He nods thoughtfully, lips thinning. “I hope you’re doing well. In that case, it’s better to stay where you can’t be hurt.”

“Glad I have your approval.” You nod, eyes trailing back to the menu board behind him. There is a good reason why the Dawn Winery is widely regarded as the finest winery in Teyvat -- Angel’s Share’s menu has remained consistent with classic favourites that have served multiple generations well. 

“Here,” He nudges your usual order to you, and in a haze, you realise you must have spaced out. Mumbling a soft apology, you take the cold glass in your hands. 

Diluc releases a quiet sigh, nudging the notebook with his knuckle. “Is something wrong? Do you need my help?”

“Kind of.” You admit, shrugging. He opens the binder with a curious hand. “It’s the catering needed for the sister celebrations coming up. It was given to me this morning.”

Diluc skims the pages silently, but you get the feeling he’d finished doing so long beforehand. He has always been so reserved, so thoughtful, even when you were children. His perseverance after the death of his father was something that you could never accomplish on your side of things, not even with time. Even as you stumbled behind, he grew capable -- capable of returning to see that you went in step with him, to the end. 

“I… had assumed the festivities would be postponed at the very least, concerning the recent events.” He admits, eyes flickering up to meet yours. “Is that not the case?”

“What?” You scoff, gesturing to the book. “Of course not. The king probably gave me that to deliver because he’s sure to have a solution by the time it comes around. He wouldn’t dare miss it.”

“Do you believe that?”

It’s a harmless question with a simple answer, but it stops you short. To see Diluc, such a powerful man, so unsure sometimes leaves your hopes exceedingly low. You train your eyes on the wall of alcohol behind him in hopes that he will not notice your hesitance. 

“...Fine. I don’t know what you’ve been told,” Continuing quietly, you’re suddenly acutely aware of the patrons near you. “I know that the longer it’s covered up, the worse it will get. But the issue will be gone by the time Dies Luctus starts, even if I have to make sure of it myself.”

“We’ve had problems before, but we’ve never missed it. And we won’t this time either.”

Diluc nods silently, your unspoken message reaching him clearly. Since your mother, the queen’s, murder almost six years ago, you have not once missed Dies Luctus -- the event is a memorial for the dead, but it is much more to you. Out of the three hundred and sixty five days a year, it is the only one your father will ever acknowledge that the queen is gone. 

“Then I’ll do what I can to help.” Diluc leans down on the counter on one elbow, all so that he can come closer to your face. It’s as if he believes your distance will affect how clearly you remember his threatening concern. “You need to tell me if anything else happens, okay?”

You can’t help a smile, leaning back. “So you will accept my request this time, Master Diluc?”

He shakes his head, fighting a smile. The jab of sudden formality is something that you will never let go of, even if he refuses to use your own title in return.

“I hope I won’t have to.”

You fear many things. darkness, the unspeakable acts spoken of in rumours that reach the castle’s halls, occasionally you even let your imagination fill in the blanks -- but not even the stormiest nights can compare to the dread that ferments deep in your bones in this moment. 

A cold sweat breaks out over your neck as you lay still, waiting, praying for the movement outside your door to still. There are two guards stationed outside your door on a typical night, and you have learned their schedules and how to recognise their gaits gradually over the hours of sleepless nights. Such an abundance of interruption is definitely rare. 

They are ordered to stay still so as not to disturb you, but the sounds that reach your ear are distinctly unnatural, and unnervingly close. Surely, you're just paranoid. You can only hope.

The curtains are drawn halfway shut across the room, letting the only source of light in through tiny gaps and slivers. It paints a suspenseful image as muffled noises come to a stuttering stop outside your door. Your breath catches as you’re shocked back into attention by a large thump against the wood. Abruptly, you sit up, clutching the sheets in a grip that has your knuckles turning white. Something is wrong.

Suddenly, someone steps carefully into your room. You eye the man warily. Because your guards rotate in shifts that change in the early morning, you cannot recall ever seeing the faces of the men who guard you while you rest. 

Breath stumbling, you ask, “…What’s going on?”

The guard shakes his head silently, face hidden beneath the haze of the night that blankets the room. You swallow thickly.

“You aren’t my guard, are you?” You say quietly.

A thousand thoughts run through your head. Is this perhaps your karma for pursuing the killer? It may only be your luck that has brought them to you, a harbinger of death is certainly a disposition that would find you eventually. But no amount of self pity or regret could overtake the fear that seizes you. 

“Clever.” When the fake finally responds, his voice is deeper than you had expected it to be. “I was told that you weren’t able to recognise your guards. Though, I presume that isn’t completely true, am I right, Your Highness?”

The man is quick and virtually soundless as he crosses the floor, all but for the way his boots occasionally clink together. Your heart sinks as his supposed plan comes together in your head.

“Don’t.” You order him sternly, putting out a shaking palm that betrays your voice. “How- how close do you think my other guards are?  I presume you weren’t told how quick their rounds are?”

It’s a complete and utter lie — no matter how close any patrolling guards are, the ones you mention are hours away from arriving. But you notice it when his body stills for a moment anyway. In slight panic, you throw your covers back and stand in a helpless attempt to gain leverage. 

“Don’t move.” He warns, putting out an empty hand. “You have the choice to make this a lot easier for the both of us.”

You scoff quietly, the sound broken. “...And let you kill me?”

You frown, trembling hand reaching for the abandoned cup of tea on the nightstand with a vengeance. But the man follows your movements too quickly, coming close and tearing the ceramic from your grip. The cold liquid splashes harmlessly back onto him.

He is faster than you in every sense. The late hour muddles more than just your mind, leaving ample opportunity for his hand to wrap around your collar and bring you closer. You half expect to see a creature of nightmares -- a mangled face, soulless eyes, but instead you’re met with the blank canvas of a black masquerade mask. Not even his eyes are visible through the tiny gaps. 

The cold edge of his knife presses into the skin of your neck, the same wide hand pulling your back to his chest. Your eyes grow wide at what little patience the man seems to have. 

“...Who are you?” You breathe, grimacing as the blade presses farther into your skin. It’s cleverly positioned, deep enough to draw blood yet still shallow enough to lift most of the pressure from your voice. No words pass between you as he looks over you from the depths of his mask, silent and patient. 

“Did you take the chamberlain’s life like this, too?” You choke, gasping for air as you begin to feel the gash on your neck slide open further with each word. “Or were you kinder to her?”

A small groan of pain leaves your mouth hanging open as he jolts the metal -- it’s not enough to hurt you a large amount, but it quiets you nonetheless. You wince when he says, 

 “I don’t know what you’re talking about, I’ve killed no one yet.” He says, breath hot against your ear. “You should worry about yourself.”

Unwelcome shock ripples through your chest. Of course, he must be bluffing, but you can’t quiet your mind long enough to focus on the implications of his words. It’s fairly obvious due to the burlesque way he holds onto you, but you suspect if the man put any amount of his normal strength forward, you would stand no chance. 

Brashly, you hiss, “Are you dragging this out on purpose?”

You can hear the smile in his voice as he speaks. “Only if you’d like me to, Princess.”

“…You say pointless things.” You grumble, trembling hand shooting up to latch onto his clothed wrist. Most of your willpower goes into keeping your voice still, but any semblance of control you attempt to fake is lost on your body. Though, he pays no mind to you. 

You’re even almost certain he mirrors your look of irritation as he finally dares to make a calculated slash across your neck. Gasping in pain, your legs falter. It is exceedingly thin, barely noticeable for all but the way you bleed. The wound that opens across your neck meets the cold air all too fast, hot blood ghosting across the mess of hands at your collar.

He seems to think his warning will convince you to secede. 

Hesitantly, you speak, nearly gagging at the sensation of blood that drags down your throat. “Do you enjoy holding my life in your hands?”

Your captor doesn’t respond, circling you to your front cautiously. He keeps the knife to your throat as a precaution before finally allowing the mask he wears to slip over the bridge of his nose. Chilling blue eyes stare back at you, clean and free of emotion. For a moment, these eyes seem hauntingly familiar -- but you force yourself to quit dwelling on the man that holds a knife to your throat. 

“And if I do?”

The challenging words ignite a sense of desperation in you. You have little ability to fight back, fearing your delicate wound opening into something more; your blood already makes a mess of anything it can reach, and you doubt you can withstand it for much longer. 

“Then,” You’re breathing heavily as his eyes narrow. “Try your best.”

You had first learned how to hold a dagger beneath the shade of a grapevine on your thirteenth birthday -- it had been a drab thing, metal worn and rusted from years of disuse. Yet, Diluc had sworn to you that it was as good as any. With his skills, maybe that was true, but as you took the handle like you would a kitchen knife, you knew immediately that you would have a different experience. 

The concept was at first no more than a way to have fun, intended for an impossibly different future. Though, you’ve always had a sneaking suspicion that Diluc took his role as a teacher seriously -- he almost embodied the position as he guided you, solidifying your once meagre skills.

Then Diluc received a vision. 

Pyro and matching his once upbeat personality, the fifteen year old that had received it was delighted. Quickly, he lost the need to know how to throw a knife, and how to utelise it as an effective weapon. He had many other things at his disposal that were much more interesting, after all. 

And yet, he stayed with you. He continued to teach you everything he knew, even as he began to forget it himself. You make a mental note to never admit that you’re the same, that most of his words from back then are lost to time. But, as frustrated tears well up in your eyes, you’re suddenly unsure if you’ll ever get the opportunity to see him again. 

Because in truth, you are more human than you give yourself credit for. You pale in the face of danger just as anyone else would, losing your reason just as fast as you may lose your blood -- but the difference in you, is that you will seldom let people say they have bested you. 

With a staggering breath, you back away suddenly, wincing at the slight grit of metal releasing skin as you move. There are no easy countermeasures to take, no hidden weapons tucked away for situations like these. The man points his weapon at you easily, threats materialising in his gaze as he takes a step forward. You take a step back in return.

“If you come quietly, I’ll make it hurt less”

The same dreaded pattern continues until the back of your knees hit the bed.

“And if I don’t? You’ve had ample opportunity to take my life, and yet you haven’t.” You say bitterly, hiding the way your hands shake behind your back. The knife he holds still shines red with the tint of your blood. “If you’re trying to hold me for ransom, I’d save your breath.”

He seems amused, but there’s a flicker of genuine interest over his face. Thumbing the knife in his grip, he asks quietly,

“And why is that, Your Highness?”

You don’t respond. Turning quickly to slip the notebook from beneath your pillow, the weighted canvas is heavy in your hand. His eyes widen as you swing it over him directly, and though it misses the target you had intended, you’re able to knock the dagger from his unsuspecting hands. 

But, you’re too sloppy as you dive for it. The man catches up to you easily, taking the window you struggle to pull you back into his chest as the knife clatters to the floor. You cry out as he forces your neck upwards, tears rushing to your eyes.

“Not so fast.'' He clenches his jaw, grip tightening over your throat as tears rush to your eyes. “I’ve heard how good you are with a knife.”

Fighting the darkness that threatens to invade your vision, you croak and claw at his arms. “If- if you didn’t kill the chamberlain, why are you here?”

“Cooperate, then I'll tell you.” The man grits. You let out a desperate groan.

In a hopeless attempt to gain leverage, you jump – he’d made the easy mistake of letting your feet touch the ground, giving your flailing limbs enough time to push into him. The nauseating sound of bone hitting bone suddenly resounds in the quiet room, though it’s moderately covered by the obstinate curses of the man behind you. He releases his grip on you reflexively. Coughing furiously, you shove your weight back into him with all of your might.

When he staggers, you take the opportunity to tackle him down, forcing your weight on top of him before he can counter. Now, as your legs straddle him, you hold the knife to his throat with one hand, the other holding one of his arms above his head.

Your captor’s body is completely relaxed, and though you know it’s a plot to get under your skin, it still scares you. 

“Name your price,” You rasp, voice still weak from being briefly cut off. “Or I’ll kill you myself.”

The man says nothing, hair mussed and breathing heavy. His reason for breaking in must be so clouded that it blinds his own reasoning. In your mutual struggle, his mask has started to slip further beneath his eyes, though it saddens you slightly to know you have no free hand to reveal the man’s identity completely.

Your jaw locks as you push the blade into his skin. It catches you off guard when you notice his face shifting into an incredulous smile.

“I would never take the money of a fake King."

You push him into the ground, taking note of the way he grunts in response. “Be quiet.”

The man’s short laugh splits the air, the beginning of a bruise blooming on the underside of his chin. 

A beat of uncomfortable silence passes between you. But, before the man can goad you any further, a shaking hand brings the knife away from his throat. In the most simple way, your thoughts are a jumble of wires – the shells of countless new plans that will never be anything more than inklings. 

Consequently, you barely think anything of it when you decide to turn away, nothing more guiding your panicked aim than your wildly beating heart. 

Even the man below you seems confused at your thought process. But as soon as the decorative vase sitting by the door shatters over the hard tile, he is competent enough to know that despite your compromising position, you are the only one of you who believes that you are fighting for your life. 

You half expect the noise to set him off. But, the incoming danger does nothing more than make him attempt to break away from you. 

You shout for anyone nearby before mustering the courage necessary to push him further into the tiled floor, cementing your palm into the nook of his wrists until he grimaces. A glimmer of something close to understanding rushes through his eyes.

“If you wanted to be close to me so bad, you could’ve said so.” He teases, though the fear in his voice is raw. It almost manages to catch you off guard.

“I wouldn’t move if I were you.” You spit, voice shaking as he attempts to fight back. Though you want to pride yourself in your ability to keep him down, something seems suspicious about it --  he had no problem overpowering you before, so a simple change in position shouldn’t be as important.

By now, you’ve certainly noticed the cerulean vision strapped to his hip, signifying his power threshold. Though, you’re unsure of whether his disuse of it frightens or relieves you more – he has certainly only been delaying the inevitable, but why?

It’s as if something had flipped in his mind. He’d certainly thought of something in his time since entering the room, but whether it was previous plans or an entirely new one, you don’t know.

Swallowing your doubts, you push more of your weight onto his arms. The man grunts.

“I don’t know what you want,” You breathe, force evident in your voice. “But you won’t get it.”

He conveniently manages to break out of your grip just as the door to your chambers slams open, a group of masked guards rushing in unhindered. You fall back onto the ground hard. But, as the man searches for a viable route of escape, one of the braver guards rushes forward to your side and yanks you out of harm’s way.

In their grip, you’re nothing but a bag of bones being strung along, stunned into silence. 

The criminal’s mask has since been adjusted back to its normal position, and yet, you still feel the depths of his sheathed gaze when it finds yours. A frown is evident on his face. 

“You’re going to regret this.” He speaks to you as if you’re still the only two in the room, focus inconveniently centred even as the guards in front of you begin to crowd him. A heavy hand comes up to ghost over the afflictions on your neck. The pain is fresh, blood adorning the shallow slit as well as a tightness that rests in the skin he had grabbed you. It will likely bruise. 

But, you can’t find it in you to take pleasure in the way that he fends off the guards – he seems a decent match for them, an excellent fighter in his own right, but he plays the same wretched game and only you are aware of it. The man’s punches are too sloppy to be natural, his footwork too elementary to belong to someone who had quietly replaced a guard without issue. 

Much to your chagrin, he’s soon placed in handcuffs. A jumble of threats courses through the room on the account of both parties. Though, you have to admit: however fake they may be, the man’s promises are certainly creative. 

But most of all, you take great pleasure in seeing the guards at last pull back his mask, revealing his face to the full extent.

You gut twists as stunning sapphire eyes meet yours in full capacity for the first time. You can’t help but shudder at the sense of familiarity his appearance lends you, despite his plain clothes and foul mouth. Even more surprising, though, is the way he immediately seems to recognise your train of thought – his gaze cuts deep into you even without the handicap of a physical blade.

However, the words he attempts to convey are lost on you. And rather than feel dejected, you find comfort in your inability to understand. Because when you see the scratches up his arms, and the bruise that blooms dark on his chin, you don’t let yourself forget that in the end, he has lost. 

He merely lets himself be pulled upright. Even if his eyes allude to pain, the man makes no effort to resist, nor to even elaborate as his form disappears beyond the doorway. He leaves almost entirely unscathed as you stand rigid in the scrapping he’d left behind.

You release a throaty cough, finally allowing yourself to sit up straighter from your tense position on the floor. There is very little you can do beyond touch the skin on your neck gingerly as the silence of the night begins to fade in. 

It’s only now that you notice the guard that had originally caught you has hung back, silently waiting for the right moment to act -- a patient approach, but unfortunately, not a helpful one. Your lips thin in a strained frown as tears finally begin to spill over your cheeks. 

The knight reaches out an armoured hand, concerned but mechanical -- this is merely his duty, not his want. You turn it down shakily, reeling back from his worry even if you want nothing more than for someone to be brave enough to look past your fear. 

“My lady--”

“Find Master Diluc. Now.” You choke out, gaze turning on him as you stand shakily. “I- I will make my way to the infirmary--”

They reach out a hand once again, but this time, when you see it coming, you freeze. 

The floor is hard against your body, and so, so unbearably real. You are not the farthest from death that you’ve ever been, but remembering the feeling of cool steel against your skin, you can’t help but wonder if it was closest. The gravity of the situation hits you all at once as the adrenaline drains from your blood.

The guard’s voice is distant as a mindful hand finally makes the jump to support you. Yet, as you choke on blood that you can’t touch, as desperation rises to your eyes, you realise you don’t have it in you to respond. You can do nothing but turn your painful gaze on them before you come so close to losing everything once again.

© tartaglicious 2022, please do not repost 

[paimon-rambles]

Do you know any romance tropes :0 ?

It's like childhood friends , enemy to lovers , etc .

Can you do those for some the boys , you can pick which ones but can you include Xiao in there please ? Thank you so much in advance !

As Romance Tropes

Characters: Childe, Albedo, Diluc, Kaeya, Zhongli, Xiao, Venti

Warnings: None

Notes: Aaaaaaa I love this so much, I hope you like it ! ヽ(‘ ∇‘ )ノ

-

- Childe

Enemies to lovers, you're both on opposing sides fighting for opposite causes. It started with battles between the two, fighting with all wits and skills. Every week you find yourself sparring with the Fatui Harbinger aiming to beat the other and every week you find yourself growing enthralled by him. Childe always kept you on your toes, testing your limits and giving you a thrill whenever you fought. It's strange, you're supposed to hate him, so why do you miss him so much?

Opposites attract, you both having nothing in common, your personalities reflect each other like a mirror. Complete opposites. He's a cunning man not afraid to test his limits, you're a shy and timid person keeping to yourself. You both meet by chance and it becomes a wild goose chase from there.

- Albedo

Stuck together, you both prepared for the journey to dragonspine, but despite how much you prepared you weren't ready to find yourselves stuck in a cave. It'll be hours until a rescue party retrieves you and the only things you got are food, sleeping bags, and each other. With each hour that passes, Albedo becomes more curious of you. As for yourself, you start to uncover more about the mysterious Albedo, breaking away his stoic walls. Perhaps being stuck in a cave isn't that bad after all

Secret Billionaire, Albedo dislikes being treated as high and mighty, becoming pestered with the never-ending questions of his findings as an Alchemist. He goes out in secret and meets you by chance. You treat him like any other normal person, oblivious to his high status. Albedo felt like himself around you, so he kept you close without revealing his true identity. What will happen once you figure out he was the Billionaire Alchemist who changed the world with his research? 

- Diluc 

Friends to lovers, you've known each other since you were children. Both of you went through hell and back, dealing with the mishaps life threw at you. You could always rely on the other and have seen each other at your lowest points. After the death of his father, Diluc felt as if you're the only one who understood him. He was your closest friend and you to him. It was an unbreakable bond- But what will happen after one of you catches feelings? 

Coffee Shop au, set in a modern au. Diluc Ragnvindr was known as being one of the greatest baristas in the city of Mondstadt. Many people enter his shop every day to get a taste of his signature coffee. One day, you entered the coffee shop for the very first time. He could feel his heart suddenly flutter as you ordered- everything about you captivated him. You became a regular and the more times you visit the more Diluc starts to harbor feelings. You're his number one favorite customer, hoping for the day he could finally talk to you without being behind the counter.

- Kaeya

Drunk Confession, you both head to the tavern after a successful mission. Drink after drink your brains started to grow foggy and your ability to think was hindered. Kaeya finished up the last of his drink, his attention turning back to you. With no hesitation, words rambled from his mouth, words that caused your heart to skip a beat. He had just confessed his true feelings for you and your emotions are buzzing around along with the alcohol. The question still stands; what will happen when you're both sober?

Fake Relationship, it was a game, nothing more than two friends pretending to be each other's partners. Kaeya acted as your boyfriend, and you played along with your part, no true feeling being harbored. But as more time passes playing the false narrative, it starts to toy with your real emotions. What's this warm feeling in your chest? It's just a game. Right….?

- Zhongli 

Secret Billionaire, in an au where Archons don't need to beg the traveler for money. Zhongli was known as a consultant for the Wangsheng Funeral Parlor with a keen understanding of history. To the public eye, he seemed normal. One day you commissioned him to aid you in a mission requiring his historical knowledge. You both clicked immediately. You became infatuated by his tellings of history, while Zhongli felt at peace whenever he was with you. You became good friends, even sparking a relationship. But what happens when you learn that the consultant from Wangsheng Funeral Parlor was actually the Billionaire archo, Morax?

Forbidden Love, Zhongli knew the consequences that would follow if he allowed his heart to be taken by a mortal human. The heartache and loss that will ensued if he weren't careful. The archon always had his heart closed away from mortals, never allowing himself to grow too attached. That was until he met you, and he let his guard slip. Before he knew, he had fallen for you. Despite how much his heart yearned to be with you, he knew it would only result in heartache. If only he wasn't cursed 

- Xiao

Mutual Pining, you and Xiao are crushing on each other. Though you both full heartily believed the other wasn't interested. Due to Xiao's rough and cold exterior, it was easily thought he had no interest in anyone. Whilst for him, he believed that no one would ever love the monster he claims to be. It's a confusing and frustrating experience as you both battle with your emotions. Will someone ever confess or forever live in ignorance as your hearts continue to beat for each other?

Soulmates, you were destined to be together. But Xiao didn't want it, he would much rather be alone. Meanwhile, you had just found out that out of the billions you could have matched with, you were fated with someone who didn't even want your love. But who is one to play with fate? After many frustrations, long and painful buildups of trust, you soon learn that out of the billions, you two are the only ones who make each other whole.

- Venti

Love at First Sight, it must have been fate. You never believed in love at first sight, it easily made you laugh. And yet there you stood as you locked eyes with his green-blue ones for the first time, your heart skipping a beat. As for Venti, he felt as if his world froze the moment his eyes landed on yours. The only sound he could hear was the drumming rhythm of his heart. In an instant, you both knew you were in love.  

Forbidden Love, another curse of being an archon. Venti has already experienced the pain of loss firsthand, he wishes to never bear it again. Even when first meeting you, he was cautious, careful to not allow his heart to be broken again. But you were different, and Venti wanted to be with you. He tried his hardest to push aside those feelings, but every time he sees your smile he's falling for you all over again. Perhaps in another life, he'll be able to experience love.

[aminiatureworld]

An Unexpected Rival

Characters: Childe, Scaramouche, Xiao, gn!reader

Word Count: 3,556

Warnings: Swearing

Premise: When thinking about fighting for the affections of someone, one normally imagines great declarations of love and promises of loyalty. But sometimes that’s not it. Sometimes it’s simply living with a being that hates you more than anything.

In which the reader’s pet hates their s/o

Author’s Note: I did give the pets names because I felt I couldn’t really refer to them as “your pet” the whole time. I also am not a pet owner. Still I hope you enjoy! 

Going to try non bullet pointed for a bit. We’ll see how it goes!

Childe

Honestly you didn’t know what to do.

Here you were, standing in the middle of the living room of your apartment, trying desperately not to laugh at the sight of your dog sitting directly on the chest of your much beleaguered partner.

You hadn’t really considered the consequences of introducing Childe to Lacey. I mean, how badly could the interactions be between the man you were convinced was your soulmate and the nicest golden retriever that had ever existed? If there was going to be issues you’d reasoned it would be on Childe’s side. So when your partner lit up at the mention of your fluffy child, you’d assumed all would be well.

Evidently that was not the case. You knew that Lacey could be clingy on occasion, but she’d really been making an effort these past few weeks. Knocking your partner out of the way when you two walked through the door together, refusing to stop walking when you two met up at a park or on the street, refusing to answer to Childe’s attempts at affection. It was almost impressive, the lengths Lacey was willing to go to establish her position as Number One Childe Hater – especially impressive considered the well-attested competition, including but not limited to a Fatui Harbinger.

Now you sprung into action as best you could, bottling up the giggles that threatened to erupt at any moment.

“Childe!” You exclaimed, walking closer. Lacey still refused to stand up, but her tail thumped excitedly against the floor, and she let out a short whine of appreciation. Unfazed by this cry for praise you sighed. “Lacey! Get up! Honestly, you’re not being a very good testament to your intelligence right now.”

Nudging her slightly you sighed with relief as the golden retriever sprang up, attacking your hands and face with kisses as you dragged Childe up to a sitting position. Childe at least seemed unfazed by the sudden attack, letting out a mere “oof”, and smiling a slightly embarrassed smile.

“I’m really sorry about this Childe.” You said, hands still batting away Lacey’s frantic activity as she attempted to get you to focus on her.

“It’s alright. Just, wow she’s a heavier girl than I expected.”

“Hopefully no squished organs?”

“Archons no! It’ll take more than this girl to fell me, don’t you worry.” Childe attempted to give Lacey a pet, but the dog that had just before been laying all over him now scampered out of the way, instead pawing at your back.

“Lacey! Stop being so rude! Urgh, and here I was hoping that you two would be somewhat settled before I went on my trip.”

You sighed, letting your head drop into the palms of your hand, not wanting to think about what might happen during the week and a half that Childe would be required to take care of Lacey. Would she even let him in the apartment to feed her? What about walks and the like? Were you going to come home to all our warfare? Childe seemed to understand your quickly dropping mood, placing a hand on your shoulder and rubbing small circles with his thumb, even as Lacey whined and began pawing at his arm.

“I promise it’ll be alright my dear. We’ll manage while you’re gone and who knows? Maybe by the time you get back we’ll be thick as thieves, and then you’ll be the one getting sat on.”

“Who knows.” You let out a burst of laughter. But even as you two shared this moment of levity your mind continued to spin its threads, dreading the days to come and what you’d be presented with the day you got back.

 “Alright, what’re we going to do.”

Childe stood in the foyer, hands on his hip, irritation in his heart. Lacey seemed to be mimicking the gesture, chest puffed out proudly as she stared the Harbinger down. They must’ve been standing like that for at least ten minutes, Childe thought to himself, ten minutes of staring and nothing yet done. It was beginning to grate on him, and were it not for the fact that you’d have to pay for damages, he was quite tempted to vault over the nearby furniture, if only so he could get to the kitchen and have this miserable showdown be over.

He didn’t dislike Lacey, no Childe didn’t think he could truly dislike any dog if he tried. He used to dream of owning a wolf pup, of flopping around in the snow with his companion, running as fast as he could and still being chased down with a crash, before being bombarded by affectionate pawing and kisses. These memories seemed quite silly when faced with the reality of caring for a dog however, and now he wanted only to bang his head against the wall, and maybe pass out from the exertion.

“I get that you love your owner.” He spoke again, how long had he been talking to this dog? “But I don’t think this is the way to win their heart.”

Lacey said nothing, simply narrowing her eyes and letting out a slightly hiss. Still Childe continued on.

“And like it or not you are going to have to eat eventually. So I suggest if you’re going to misbehave, that you should at least do it on a day when I’m not your primary caretaker.”

When there was still no movement from Lacey Childe sighed. That evening when he returned to his own apartment it was with the unfortunate knowledge that golden retriever bites hurt a lot more than he’d expected them too.

 It was storming, and the city of Liyue had transformed from a glistening city to one of mud and rusted iron. Childe swore under his breath as he pulled his coat closer around him, desperately trying to keep as dry as possible. Who knew if he’d be able to make it to your bedroom and grab one of his spare shirts with Lacey acting like he was a burglar instead of well known acquaintance? The song and dance between the two of them was grating. Feeding your golden retriever being nearly impossible, not to mention the times when Childe half dragged Lacey through the most half assed of walks. Really how could such a gentle spirit turn so stubborn so quickly? Childe didn’t know, all he knew was that the sooner you came home the sooner he could stop worry about being nipped at the heels.

The sight that met Childe at the entrance to your apartment was jarring. Instead of the usual irritated dog Childe was met with utter silence, and a stillness that betrayed the fact that not only was Lacey not in the hall, but she was also avoiding the kitchen and the living room.

“Lacey?” Childe called out, getting no answer but the whipping of wind and the rumble of thunder. “I swear if you managed to run off – Lacey!”

Going further down the hall Childe finally heard the sound of muffled whimpering. Walking into your bedroom he spied Lacey under the bed, eyes filled not with disdain, but with anxiety.

“Lacey, why in Teyvat are you here?”

There was no reply, until suddenly another clap of thunder shook the walls. Lacey let out a yelp and crawled under the bed a little more, flattening her head against the floor, although there was not much room left in that department. Childe stared at this for a second letting the pieces fall into place. He just couldn’t believe it, couldn’t believe that this was the same Lacey who so fearlessly guarded the apartment against his entrance every day.

This slight smugness was extinguished rather quickly though, instead replaced with a sense of pity, and the need to make this poor girl feel the least bit better.

“Hey, hey it’ll be alright.” Childe spoke softly. For a moment he left the room, but quickly he returned, towels and blankets in hand, praying that you wouldn’t mind that he messed up your closet a little bit.

“Let’s make a fort, shall we?”

Not waiting for any sort of acknowledgment Childe began to pile up the covers on your bed, making sure to lay down towels in case you were worried of shedding. At first Lacey did nothing much than scooch out enough to watch him, but within the next flash of lightning she was up and moving, diving under the makeshift fort and clambering around Childe, as if trying to find out if she could burrow through the Harbinger.

“I know, I know, it’s pretty scary out there, huh?” Childe ruffled Lacey’s head slightly. “But you’ll see, it’ll pass soon enough. And then we can go back to fighting, alright.”

Lacey let out a whine, but nevertheless began to settle down, lying down and once more resting her head on her paws.

“There’s a good girl.” Childe smiled softly. “You aren’t that bad you know. At least you aren’t that bad when you’re not trying to bite my leg off.”

Your surprise at the improvement in Childe-Lacey relations was somewhat immense when you returned. Though Childe refused to say what had managed to form such a bond between your disgruntled pet and him, only that he hoped you didn’t mind dog hair on your bed. Lacey, for her part, no longer tried to sit on your partner.

Even if she still pushed him out of the way when you came home.

 Scaramouche

Scaramouche could deal with a lot of things. He could deal with the fact that your parrot wouldn’t let the man within three feet of the parrot’s cage without attempting to bite his hands off. He could deal with the obnoxiously loud clicking whenever he got too close to you, and he could deal with fact that your parrot was fond of yelling random phrases at him in the most aggressive tone Scaramouche had ever heard. Scaramouche could deal with all of that. What he couldn’t deal with is what your parrot insisted on calling him, no matter how much time was spent saying: “Scaramouche. I am Scaramouche!”

“Electro boy? Really?”

“I’m sorry Scara,” you let out a giggle, “I didn’t know what your name was when I first saw you.”

Oh Scaramouche was sure of that, but did that really mean that Oliver had to call him solely by that title? It didn’t help that you must’ve referred to Scaramouche an awful lot as “Electro Boy” for it to be the name that stuck in Oliver’s mind. And regardless of how many times you used the title, it was one thing for you to use the nickname. It was quite another thing for Oliver to, since, unlike in your case, Oliver’s use of “Electro Boy” could be nothing but derogatory.

Scaramouche had long given up in wooing the errant parrot over. If they were to be mortal enemies, so be it. He’d dealt with that before.

“Oh Scaramouche, you must be joking!” You’d exclaimed when he’d revealed this train of thought, cupping his face in your hand and pressing affectionate kisses to his face. He’d let you do so, let you imagine that one day there might be a reconciliation. But in his heart he knew. Unless Oliver learned to stop with the name calling, Scaramouche would never forgive him for the insult.

“I wish you would write.” You whispered.

Pain skirted through Scaramouche’s face, but still he refused the promise that you needed. You knew that Scaramouche would never be able to have a normal relationship with you, that these trips were necessary, were a part of him that you’d never be able to wrench away. Still, the least he could do was promise to write. Without his writings, well how could you even be sure he was alive?

“I’m sorry.” Scaramouche whispered. Leaning in so your foreheads were touching he let out a sigh, warming your lips with his breath. “I cannot promise I will write. I wouldn’t like to break a promise to you.”

“I know.” You whispered back, shaking your head as much as you could. “Still, I’d almost rather a broken promise.”

“You wouldn’t. I know it would drive you mad.”

“Perhaps, but better than nothing?”

You two stood there, basking in silence. A familiar cry broke the reverie.

“Electro Boy! Electro Boy!” A series of clicks accompanied the sudden shriek. There was no better way to break the spell. Almost immediately Scaramouche pulled away. Walking towards the door he paused, turning around one more time.

“I’ll miss you.”

Those words washed over you, their owner having been carried away with the wind.

 Scaramouche hurried up the steps, anticipation keep his pace quick and his thoughts a jumble of fragments. The long mission he’d been sent on was finally over, and now he could think not of noisy soldiers, nor of the people who continually disappointed him, but of you. He couldn’t wait, every step on the staircase felt like an obstacle, something he must triumph against to reach you. Finally arriving at your door he barely paused, stepping this way and that as he opened the door before striding into the hallway as fast as he could.

“I’m home.” He called into the afternoon light. Almost immediately two things happened. One was that you leapt off your position on the couch, practically barreling yourself into his arms. The second was that Oliver began to screech, hopping from one foot to the other in an indecipherable dance.

“Scara, you’re home!” You cried, exclamation by the way you buried your face into his shoulder.

“Scara! Scara! Scaramouche!” Oliver echoed. The words made Scaramouche freeze up, taken aback as he was by their usage.

“What was that Oliver?” He called out, not altogether sure if the parrot would even reply to him. Scaramouche had really only referred to Oliver by name the first time he met him. After that you had to settle with “the bird” or “the noisemaker”. This time, however Scaramouche couldn’t help but use it. This was, after all, a matter of great importance.

“Scaramouche, Scaramouche, who’s a pretty bird?” Oliver tittered irreverently.

His tone was still somewhat sharp, Scaramouche never heard Oliver snap at you the way he did him, but nevertheless the words had struck a chord. Finding himself at a loss for words Scaramouche stared at you, trying to figure out what was going on.

“That’s probably my fault,” you laughed hesitantly, “I guess I was talking about you more than I thought. It’s only that, well I missed you an awful lot. And Oliver is my confidante, he always has been. So I guess I’ve just been talking a lot to him about you. I’ve really missed you…”

Scaramouche felt his heart soften. Leaning over he pressed a kiss to your forehead, much to the indignation of Oliver, who twittered away as normal. Still, it was better than it had been before. And, if Scaramouche could admit it to himself, he didn’t mind the idea of you pouring out to Oliver how much you missed him. It made him feel important, feel whole. And if your rude bird had helped at all, then Scaramouche could find it in him to respect Oliver, though only a little.

“I’m glad you thought of me.” He whispered to you. “And I’m glad you still had a confidante to talk to.”

And if the result was a parrot who no longer called him “Electro Boy”, then all the better.

 Xiao

Honestly Xiao couldn’t really see the appeal of pets. Something that was only cemented when he met your cat.

“And this is Honey.” You’d said softly, picking up the orange feline and cradling her in your arms. The cat made no sounds, instead it stared straight at Xiao, eyes narrow, gaze untrusting. Xiao was equally out of depths in this matter. What was he supposed to do? Pet it, presumably. Reaching out with hesitant fingers Xiao almost immediately pulled away, dodging an onslaught of clawing.

Ever since then there seemed to have been an odd hierarchy established, at least in Honey’s mind. She never let Xiao sit next to you, oh no, that would’ve been too generous. Instead Honey squeezed into the space between you two, no matter how small and wow was it small sometimes, meowing angrily as Xiao passed his arm over her head to hold your hand. Sometimes she’d try the tactic of walking all over you, lying on your lap, wrapping herself around your shoulders, and all the time glaring at Xiao as if he’d brought some sort of catastrophe on her for daring to try and get close to you.

“Your cat hates me.”

“She does not!” You exclaimed. “Honey doesn’t hate anyone! She just needs to get used to you.”

“She hates me. She thinks I’m beneath her.”

Xiao glared up at Honey, who was looming over the conversation via the bookshelf in your bedroom. Honey’s eyes narrowed and for a moment Xiao felt as if he’d somehow spilled the cat’s secrets. It wasn’t his fault that he knew what she was thinking. After all, hadn’t Xiao been like that for a time? An ornery soul who found most interactions beneath him? Who knew he’d be on the receiving end of that relationship someday. He certainly didn’t appreciate it now.

“You just need to get used to one another.” You continued to assure Xiao. “Honey’s a little bit possessive. It’s nothing personal. She’ll get over it.”

Well it’d been four weeks since that conversation and unfortunately Honey showed exactly zero signs of “getting over it”. Though perhaps she wasn’t clawing at him anymore, maybe because you’d actually scolded her for it, the gaze never left her eyes. The fact that she meowed loudly whenever Xiao made more contact than hand holding also didn’t help her case.

 Xiao sighed, staring at the sky as the sun began its descent beyond the peaks of Liyue. A cluster of trees ringed the back part of your house – trees apparently planted by your grandparents – and Xiao enjoyed perching in them to watch the sunset.

“At least here the cat will leave me alone.” He muttered.

It’d been a tiring day. Honey had been in a particularly bad mood – probably the result of Xiao staying the night – and the atmosphere in the house had become somehow so tense that Xiao figured taking a hike wouldn’t be a bad idea. Even if he found the whole exercise a bit demeaning.

“I’m losing to a cat.” Xiao called flatly out into the air. There was no reply of course, but he didn’t mind that. Imagine what his fellow adepti would think of him now, flailing around, trying to win the affections of a furball whose favorite pastime was being as irritating as possible.

Now Xiao heard a familiar yowl. Glancing down he spied Honey, hair standing on end, gripping a branch as if her life belonged to it. An old conversation rose to the front of his mind. Something about cats being able to go up trees very easily, but not so much down. What an idiotic creature, he thought to himself.

Still it’d be ill form to leave the poor idiot clutching onto the branch, so fighting his smugness as beset he could Xiao leaned over and attempted to wrench the cat from the branches. Honey let out a series of shrieks, claws digging into the bark, but eventually she relinquished and Xiao pulled her up onto his lap. Almost immediately she began pawing at his chest, meowing her indignancy.

“I know.” Xiao glared at the cat. “But they wouldn’t be very happy if you got stuck.”

As if to reply Honey narrowed her eyes, turning around to look at the skyline, rather than acknowledge the adeptus she was now laying on. Xiao hummed in response.

“You know things would be easier if you weren’t so aggressive.”

A meow in response.

“I don’t understand you. I don’t understand why you’re so territorial.”

Another meow.

“I suppose I’m like that. I also want them to myself. Things would be easier without you clawing at me. But they love you, and that’s what matters. I don’t know why but they do.”

Silence, perhaps Honey was insulted by the way Xiao spoke.

“I can’t say I’ll love you. But I’ll try to like you. As long as you try to like me.”

Silence again, but this time Xiao took it as an assent. Letting out a sigh he turned back towards the horizon, gaze drifting towards the peaks that Honey too was watching with interest. The night was alive with the soft chirps of insects, and a faint breeze ruffled Xiao hair, dancing through Honey’s fur. Xiao let out a sigh and, nemesis on his stomach, allowed himself a little rest.

You stared at the mismatched pair, a smile playing on your lips. How funny they looked, curled up together. Like two cats, one a panther, the other a tabby. And yet somehow the tabby was running the shots.

They look so peaceful, you mused to yourself, who knows what they might be like in the morning.

At the very least, you’d be sure to enquire about the nature of your partner’s conversation with your cat, something which had seemed very important to him.

[callisto-rants]

Chiluc Headcanons

[Series: 1/?]

You know it started out as a joke... Then a Six Hour Rant happened later... and bro I don't think it's a joke anymore...

> 1. How would Diluc react to Childe having a vision and delusion?

Diluc's father died because he had abused his delusion, in a act of love to protect what's important to him. But because of his desperation of wanting a vision to do more than he could already, as well as how the gods hadn't favored his efforts yet, it led to his downfall. As a result, I think Diluc knew his father 100% was aware of the consequences of using a delusion, as well as it was his own hubris that led him down that path. So, Diluc knows he can't place all the blame onto the Fatui for manipulating him into purchasing such a dangerous merchandise.

So when Childe uses his delusion in one of their fights for the first time, Diluc freezes completely and if Childe was any less careful he would've killed him. That 100% is their first real argument. Diluc is terrified that Childe is using both a vision and delusion at once and knows the consequences, but he also knows about Childe's sick fixation on being strong. He tries to tell him that he doesn't need to be strong but Childe takes it as an insult of course he needs to be strong how else is he supposed to protect his family and serve his tsaritsa if he's weak? They would compromise. No delusion during their sparring matches. Diluc wins their next fight and the deal for that one is only using his delusion in life or death. He might have some resent towards Childe, but I don't think he wants to ever see anyone die the same way his father did in front of his eyes.

> 2. Childe being in awe of Diluc's fighting Style!

Someone pointed out that Diluc swings his claymore with one hand, while majority of other claymore unite use two hands.

Can you imagine Childe's reaction? Thinking he got the upper hand by using an arrow to get his sleeve stuck against a tree or any flat surface behind him, as he's about to go in for the final blow. While Diluc just uses his other hand to knock his ass out because he was wide open. Childe is dazed, sitting on his ass watching as Diluc flips the entire claymore in the air with one hand, pulling out the arrow with the same hand, and catching the claymore before it hits the ground. He's smitten. Especially since Childe mastered almost every weapon type, seeing someone perform uncommon arts with their weapon will amaze him.

> 3. Honestly, I feel like Childe would constantly try and convince Diluc to join the Fatui.

Since Diluc always like to bash the knights, at almost every given moment, he'd eventually stop all together after meeting Childe. Only because each time he bashes them while Childe is around he instantly uses it as a talking point to join the Fatui instead. He knows he'll never change his mind, but he thinks it's fun.

Leading to a situation where Kaeya being the one who's most weirded out by the turn of events. Because Diluc hasn't complained about the knights of favonius yet, eventually he givens in and says...

"Master Diluc, if you plan on saving your most venomous remarks for when I'm down in the dumps, you might as well use them now. It's creeping me out you haven't said anything about the knights being trash yet! Just do it, I know you're thinking it."

Diluc snapping back suddenly with

"YOU'RE BETTER THAN THE FATUI AT LEAST."

Kaeya is just like uh????? Thanks for the compliment I think?

> 4. Diluc understands morality isn't black and white.

In some of Diluc's lines in his story quest, he talks about how heroes and villains are two sides of the same coin and how he knows his enemies well. Diluc himself has killed an uncountable amount of Fatui but I think he also understands that it was the wrong thing to do, personal vendetta or not.

So in meeting Childe, sure he'd have reservations about talking to a harbinger but Childe's personality and sincerity would make him hesitate at least. Childe is naive and sincere, even if his intentions are villainous he's he's mostly upfront about who he is and where he comes from. At the very least, Diluc would see that and second guess his indiscriminate hatred for the Fatui and start to become curious about how the Fatui actually work. Through Childe, Diluc can learn about people joining the Fatui because they have no choice but to serve the Tsaritsa, being forced to join by their family (like Childe), or joining as a last resort because it's the fastest and easier way to make money when someone is at the end of their rope. Childe would force Diluc to see the Fatui as people instead of an evil, faceless organization as well as force Diluc into realizing the gravity of his past actions.

[rheawritessometimes]

Lines Get Blurred

{ Childe x GN!Reader }

{ Summary } Sometimes we don't understand our feelings, and that's okay. Series Masterlist

{ Warnings } Swearing, Undefined Relationship, Physical Intimacy, Mild Anxiety.

{ Notes } Written for @sailormakoto. Usually, I'd wait longer to start another part to make sure people were interested, but they said they'd like it, so... Now you have to like it even though it's a dumpster fire rolling downhill fast. Reader isn't good with their emotions and it very obviously shows. It's really just messy and bad but I don't know what else to do or how to make a cohesive, logical plot. Masterlist

{ Word Count } 1,783

Childe’s guard nearly jumped out of his skin, letting out a yelp of fright as you swept out of the apartment in a hurry. But in your rush, you hardly noticed him at all, the entirety of your focus was currently on your goal of escaping the embarrassment that was on the verge of consuming you whole. With your body moving on autopilot through the busy streets of Liyue, you retreated into your mind to wrangle your thoughts and gain some sense of control.

Why was it exactly that you felt such an overwhelming urge to run away? It wasn't that you didn’t like or want the kiss, it had been rather enjoyable for you. It had happened so easily between you, and that was the part that you found weird. You couldn’t understand why it felt so easy with him, things weren’t normally like this. It was certainly safe to say you had never wanted to kiss your other friends, and that’s what you and Childe were. Friends.

It’s not like you were in love with him, you were pretty sure you felt the same about him as you always had. Sure, it had been a few months and you’d gotten to know him better and found spending time with him more enjoyable, but ultimately he was still the same person he was when you first met. You got along with him, you laughed together and now sometimes you casually made out with each other. That was fine, friends could do that, right?

Perhaps you were blowing things out of proportion. A few kisses didn't change anything, really. It's not like Childe had confessed to having feelings for you or anything drastic. You two were just friends and everything was fine, things would eventually sort themselves out.

You hadn't even realized you had been mildly hyperventilating by the time you regulated your breathing back to normal and managed to get out of your head. With your focus now on your surroundings, you found yourself in Liyue's bustling market among the fresh produce. You decided it would be best to pick up some groceries while you were here, as you said you would. Picking out what looked best and haggling with the merchants over prices seemed like a good way to pretend your problems didn’t exist clear your head.

As it turns out, grocery shopping became infinitely more difficult when you didn’t know what was needed. It was clear Childe liked to cook but you didn’t know what it was he liked to prepare. Going back to get a list from him now would be incredibly awkward, so you decided to play it safe and buy a large quantity wide variety of ingredients. You decided you had enough when the bags in your arms felt like they were getting too heavy to carry. Fitting this much food into Childe’s kitchen was going to be quite the struggle. Well, well, well, if it isn't the consequences of your actions.

Dragging all your purchases back to the apartment was going to be quite the workout. You wondered if next time it would be possible to get one of the low-ranking Fatui to help you carry things. A few pedestrians gave you some odd looks as they saw your mountain of purchases, but no one offered you any help. Things only got worse once you remembered you had said you were going to buy some things from Bubu Pharmacy, too. You were going to be strong as fuck after going up all those goddamn steps.

The man at the counter wore a worried expression as he noticed the amount of bags you were dragging along with you. You brushed off his concern with something about how you were an adventurer and stronger than the average person, trying not to let it show that you were indeed struggling to carry everything. Even with superhuman strength, you had your limits. Unfortunately, the man accepted your words and busied himself with finding the ice packs you requested, along with an herbal tea you asked for because it had a divine aroma you noticed upon walking in. It's not like he was likely able to help you with the groceries, so you supposed it didn't matter.

By the time you returned to Childe’s apartment, your arms were ready to fall off and the scowl on your face must have been quite intimidating because the guard stationed at the door immediately did as he was told when you ordered him to open the door for you. He didn't say a word, not even giving you a nasty look for the first time. Despite the non-hostile treatment by the guard, you promptly kicked the door closed on him after entering the apartment, heading straight to the kitchen and letting out a sigh of relief after dropping all of the bags in the middle of the floor.

You hadn’t seen Childe on your way in and you couldn’t hear him moving around the apartment but you assumed he was home, the guard probably wouldn’t have been quite so willing to let you in otherwise. Even if you wore a scary expression. Not to mention, surely the Harbinger wouldn’t appoint a guard foolish enough to allow you in unsupervised, there were likely sensitive documents somewhere inside. You assumed it had been Fatui reports he was reading earlier.

Finding room for all the groceries you had purchased took your mind away from wondering about the location of your temporary host. Putting everything away proved to be a time-consuming task, but by the end of it Childe had yet to make an appearance, or even any noise indicating he was in the apartment. This was worrying, if he had left and gotten himself hurt you’d have to go out in search of him. After purchasing, carrying, and putting away all the food you had bought you weren’t sure you were up for tracking him down.

Taking one of the newly purchased ice packs to use as an excuse, you wrapped it in a towel before making your way to his bedroom. It seemed like the most likely place to find him if he was indeed still in the apartment. It was hard to imagine he'd have spent so much time silent in the bathroom. You felt strangely on edge as you stopped in front of the door, knocking softly three times.

No reply came but you weren't convinced he was truly not home, so you slowly pushed the door open, holding your breath. It didn’t make sense for you to feel so nervous about this, it wasn’t the end of the world if he wasn’t home. Maybe you were more worried about seeing him than not.

The sight of Childe sprawled out in the middle of his bed peacefully napping greeted you as you quietly entered. His blanket appeared to have been thrown off him in his sleep and his shirt rode up just a little bit. His room was tidy, but you were too busy appreciating the revealed section of his abdomen to take a proper look around. You were only granted a few moments to stare before he opened one eye, peering at you for just long enough to register that it was you in his room.

It was unsurprising that the Harbinger was a light sleeper enough sleeper to be woken by you entering his room, considering his line of work. Vastly more surprising was when, after determining it was you who had woken him, he closed his eye again and went back to dozing. You couldn’t help but smile fondly at this, a pleasant warmth filling you at the show of trust. Or maybe he was too tired to care.

Of course he trusted you, you were friends after all. The thought had your smile fading, but you weren’t sure why that displeased you. Pushing the thought from your head, you silently made your way to the bedside and placed the icepack at his side.

The sudden cold had ocean eyes fluttering open before focusing on you. You smiled playfully at his slightly disgruntled expression. That was much easier on your emotions than his prior vulnerability.

“Sorry, but it needs to be done.”

“Mm, whatever. Hey, did I make you uncomfortable earlier?” the Harbinger asked, causing your heart to pause. He certainly was good at getting straight to the point. You had to take a deep breath before answering him.

“No, not at all. I’m sorry, I don’t even know why I ran away like that,” you told him, the words rushing out of your mouth. Your heart was racing faster than you thought it should have been in this situation. It’s not like any of this was that big of a deal, certainly not the end of the world.

“Well if you’re not uncomfortable then how ‘bout you nap with me?” the Snezhnayan offered, and you were pretty sure it was almost entirely because he wanted to get back to sleep himself, “You look exhausted, you probably need it.”

High flags of color appeared on your cheeks at his words, you must not be looking your best for him to offer such a thing. It couldn't be that he was actually worried for you, but you couldn't reason out why he would offer such a thing. However, the prospect of rest was tempting, but you couldn’t help but think it would be easier on your heart if you just went to your room for it. Then again, if you rejected him it might seem like you had been lying about being comfortable with him.

“Stop thinking so loudly and just come here,” Childe said finally, opening his arms to you. You clenched your jaw, feeling even more embarrassed, but began climbing into bed with him.

“Fine,” you mumbled, letting him pull you close before covering the both of you with a blanket. He gently tucked your head against his chest before pressing a kiss to the crown of your head, luckily for you, it wasn’t possible for you to get any redder at this point. Not that he would see considering he had closed his eyes and was already nodding off again, but maybe he was able to feel the heat radiating off your cheeks.

“You worry too much. Relax and go to sleep.”

Despite your internal anxieties, you found yourself complying with his suggestion thanks to the fatigue already weighing you down and how comfortable it felt to be in his arms. All of it felt a little too intimate for being just friends, but you didn’t get much time to worry about it as you drifted off into unconsciousness.

[hellonoblesky]

Happy Saturday it’s past 2am here’s Harbinger Angst. Because I’m up late and I’m havinggg thoughts.

So here’s my hcs about the Harbingers reacting to/dealing with the news of Signora‘s death :)

(CW For like. Mental breakdowns and guilt and general emotional instability because no one is having a good time here. Oh also cussing, anddd some familial angst in Childe’s bit? Also I am so sorry about any misspellings n whatever it is. Very late and I already have two other posts in my drafts collecting dust that are also HCs so.)

Dottore:

So if you don’t follow my art blog or haven’t seen my Harbinger hcs (which are under the process of some change with new info being released and whatnot), you don’t know this but I HC Dot and Signora to be like sorta just evil siblings

Now because death is such a commodity in Dot’s uh… specific line of work, he doesn’t register that Signora is dead until like two days after he hears the news

He picked up the phone (rotary perhaps?) to go call up Signora‘a office to see if she has any good gossip and then stopped halfway through dialing because it hit him that she’s never going to be there to pick up the phone on the other end. Ever.

He usually listens to music when he’s working but with the absence of Signora ranting he has to take up listening to the radio on top of the music

Problem is: the radio doesn’t have the same charm and cadence to it that Signora’s rants did, because normal people are boring and it’s going to drive Dot up the walls if he has to listen to one more commercial or one more anxious ramble about how cool and great the Fatui are from some stupid radio host trying not to overstep the Tasritsa’s favor like she listens to some boring ass radio station in her spare time!!!

HE HATES IT. But is forced to make do because if he shows weakness he will be torn apart (or so he thinks)

So this leads to him locking himself away in his office even more than he already did

Because he was already intrigued by the traveller after their actions in Mond and their victory against Childe, but them beating Signora in a duel before the Shogun? Oh now that kickstarted a whole new line of study

Especially because his only coping mechanisms are Be Destructive and Dive So Far Into Work You Don’t Think so within about three days he has a comprehensive analysis of everything he can possibly get his hands on regarding the Traveler (without interacting with other people) and is about to pass out because he hasn’t slept

Oh and the funeral was absolute hell for him.

Mainly because while he was barely conscious he agreed to play violin at the service and then promptly passed out and forgot about it so he woke up and was hit with the consequences of his own actions in the form of sheet notes

He endured, obviously, he’s not going to back down from playing something at the funeral of one of the few interesting people in the organization, that’s what tools and cowards do and this might be the Fatui but if he’d survived the wrath of dead gods he would make it through this

Went right back to locking himself away after that though

He actually got bad enough that the other Harbingers took notice of his state and MADE him come out of his labs and eat (mainly at demand of the Tsaritsa because she just lost the Crimson Witch as an asset, she wants the rest of her Harbingers in good health god dammit, the Traveler is becoming a genuine threat)

Broke down at dinner a week after the funeral

Swears that if any of the other Harbingers bring it up ever ever again he will kill their bodies and keep their consciousnesses trapped in a machine that he controls forevermore

Really he’s just glad that no one immediately pounced on one of his few shows of weakness

Maybe he’ll risk it again if it means he can cry it out for another hour but he wouldn’t dare say that out loud, won’t even finish the thought

But you know what he will do?

What he does best, of course

Look at an oddity in the world (in this case the traveller) and seek to pick it apart until he can put it back together without looking and still have it work

The only way he can actually get through his grieving is by finding something to take the edge off

And it just so happens that the traveller is a perfect candidate

Childe:

By no means has he ever liked Signora, in regards to personality or method, but her death still hit him

He had to travel back to Snezhnaya for the funeral, and it did absolutely cheer him up to see his family again and get to spoil them all silly, but with a mind whirling with thoughts it was genuinely hard for him to keep a smile up

Mainly thoughts about battle, because that’s really the only way he can interpret the world at this point

Like he keeps thinking about weather the Traveler was holding back with him, or if they had gained the strength to fight off yet another Fatui plot just in the month or so since Liyue? And if they had gained strength, how had they done it so fast? If they’d been holding back against him had he not shown himself to be a fighter worthy of their strength? Had Signora even faced the Traveler‘s full strength?

Overall his head is much too full of too many things, and it wears him out to the point that he ends up sleeping in late enough for his family to actually worry because usually he’s up before dawn training and they don’t see him until the afternoon

But he’s back on track as soon as he can, because the training helps him think, and once he can resolve most of his thoughts (or repress them so they don’t bother him too often) he’s absolutely alright and fine and ready to go! Totally. Fine. It’s fine.

The thoughts were very much There during the funeral, especially as the first harbinger read a (somewhat summarized version) of Signora’s life to the assembly of Fatui

(Oh and Pierro didn’t really care weather or not Signor wanted people to know her life after she died because she was dead now what was she going to do??)

The reveal that Signora had been fighting for the Fatui because her lover had been killed by the actions of the Anemo Archon, and she desired nothing more than to see him again… it got to Childe. It got to Childe more than he’d like to admit

Because suddenly the woman who he had always known as the embodiment of frostbite and frozen barbed wire fencing had someone she had cared about, genuinely cared about, to the point where she had become the Mondstadt legend, the Crimson Witch herself

And she had lost that lover to the actions of a fool of a God

He swore silently to himself that when the Tsaritsa‘s future came to pass he would make a little monument for Signora. Nothing big, probably a plaque on a nice stone where Mondstadt would have been before the Tsaritsa’s success, but a monument nonetheless

This promise was a spur of the moment thing, and later he would be like “Man she was a jerk, lost love or not why did I promise her that?“ but he doesn’t go back on promises

Besides, actually watching Dottore break down in a grief and sleep-depravation induced haze was also something that got to him because of course the two people he happened to simply Hate The Most in the organization were close that makes perfect sense but also wow it is weird to see Dottore cry and it feels Wrong because after murdering and tormenting so many people… Signora is gone and he breaks then??? What the fuck

Avoids most of the Harbingers after that, just heads home to Morepesok to spoil his siblings silly before going back to Liyue

Oh and his siblings can tell something is up, Teucer especially because when his brilliant big brother, the greatest toy salesman in all of Snezhnaya, is suddenly struggling to keep a smile even though they’re at home… he notices

Childe’s other siblings are all avoiding the subject, they heard about the death of Signora and all, they just assume the organization is going through it tight now and frankly most of them are a little afraid of him weather they‘ll admit it or not

Not Teucer though, he’s confused just because he still has grasped how Snezhnaya works yet, so he goes ahead and asks anyway

Childe just says he’s sad because he has to leave again so soon! And he hasn’t even been able to take Teucer fishing this time, isn’t that sad?

Teucer can tell that he’s lying

But Teucer is also beginning to sense the danger that lies behind Childe’s eyes, so for the first time? He doesn’t push it or say that they could go fishing now if they hurry

Just a grin and a “Next time!! Promise?” Makes it all better and he doesn’t have to think about why his big brother feels unnerving to look at sometimes

Childe is oblivious to Teucer’s growing awareness

He heads back to Liyue and makes himself focus on work

Scaramouch:

Now he didn’t particularly like Signora either, and didn’t really care about her life’s story, because blah blah blah we get it lady you lost someone, we all did, cry about it or whatever

But he does feel… he feels guilty for leaving her to face the Shogun

He had the Gnosis, he had finished Signora’s mission for her without even meaning to, and he had thought it would be funny to just let her face the Shogun without knowing that

To some extent, it’s his fault she’s dead

And it’s not the fact that she died because he didn’t go get her that weighs on him, it’s that he left her to the Shogun of all things

I don’t know if puppets like Scara can feel things like people and such do, but considering how the Shogun expressed frustration and stress when Ei disabled the majority of her functions, I’m going to assume they can

And because of the meddling of ‘some eccentric scientists’ his emotions are probably toned down a tad but he can still feel guilt all the same

And leaving Signora to the Shogun makes him feel guilty because he and the Shogun are essentially kin

Disowned and disavowed kin, but you know

He may have been able to easily counter the Shogun, or even help Signora prevail in her duel, but he. Ran. Off.

He happens to think that that was very cowardly of him

It causes a spike in his aggression which everyone unfortunately has to notice every time he walks by because the sheer static electricity that snaps in the air when he’s in the room now? Haha. Ouchie

Fun fact: he has no idea how to cope with guilt

He channels ALL of it into SHEER RAGE

Ever seen a couple hundred year old man go absolutely apeshit in the Harbinger‘s shared training arena? Well now you have!! It’s not a pretty sight!!

He’s crying and can’t tell why, which fuels his anger, which fuels stress as a fun side effect which just makes more tears and now he has to snap someone in half because he needs it to stop he hates it here he hates it here he hates it here

And in the beginning the guilt wasn’t even that severe for him, it was just so immensely magnified by his lack of coping skills that he very nearly broke himself down

He tried going to Dottore to get it disabled but Dottore had his doors all locked so Scara couldn’t even get a word through to him

Oh and the funeral was fine with him he just left early because he didn’t want to deal with looking people in the eye at the time because, again, his lack of coping skills with guilt magnified the whole feeling so it was almost unbearable

It’s a lot of fighting and breaking things before he’s able to resign himself to some semblance of how he was

[that-foul-legacy-lover]

NO BUT I LIKE THE IDEA!

Using your actual vision hurts. Not physically but emotionally it does. It's just a constant reminder of what this entire mission exists for and how it came to be. But at the same time? You hate your delusion. You've told Ajax on multiple occasions to avoid using his delusion unless truly needed.

Nonetheless, you've fashioned the stolen item into your daily outfit as an accessory; an asymmetrical earring set. Flaunting your delusion is risky. You'd be asking for arrest or to be questioned by the Millelith. Having it part of earrings, however, won't make one question it as much. Not with how you've skillfully camouflaged it.

So, in the manga / webtoon, we actually get to see another way that delusions are fashioned into outfits! For those who don't know (so I suppose spoilers for those who haven't unlocked his backstory yet), Diluc abandoned his own vision when he lefts the Knights of Favonius. The damage of his father's death due to a delusion and to how the knights chose to react to the said death, Diluc disdained it. And proceeded to use the delusion that his father had until he returned to using his vision. What's cool about it is that in the manga / webtoon, the delusion was fitted onto a glove. So I'm taking that and assuming that delusions are created to help blend into your daily outfits.

Anyways! Since it's well hidden, no one really questions the new accessory set. It's pretty, why question it, right? It helps when people are deceived and think you're easy prey.

There's times where you ask Childe to go hunt or grab some fruit. During those times, treasure hoarders or just the common thief think you're just a meek traveler who they can bully.

Of course, they're proven wrong when there's suddenly one, two, three boom blossoms of different types suddenly exploding beside them. A dendro delusion is very useful, you know... But you hate it.

You hate it all.

Visions. Delusions. Celeste. The Fatui. The Abyss.

How can you dance in the kitchen with Ajax in the middle of the night, laughing and teasing one another, as something cooks over the stove? How can you live on some land with some animals and plants with Ajax? How can you simply live with him if he isn't even here?

The answer is that you can't. You fucking. Can't.

"POV: I'm about to join the abyss order," you joke, Childe sleeping soundly next to you as the fire flickers... "Or... am I joking? Yes. I can't rely on them. Or the vision. Or this delusion. Or anything... Well--" you smile softly at Childe as purrs, hand running through his fur, "--minus you."

Liyue is massive. But Zhongli gave you a pointer before you left a few weeks ago.

"An old friend of mine mentioned about how the Fatui and the Abyss Order struggles in Mondstadt."

Or something like that...

Maybe you can start there since the suppose "City of Freedom" holds a disdain to both organizations that you disdain.

Yeah.

And maybe you can have a fun little talk with the Archon there too. After all, you just have to stir up some trouble.

(Abyss!Reader sounds hot ngl /j. Okay but the idea of a dendro delusion has been making me so giddy. Because that can be SO powerful if you really want it to be and I am. Also because I'm Dendro Reader content starved, haha... And also because I like the idea of a vine whip being a weapon. Because that's hot)

- 🍄

DENDRO DELUSION YESSSSS- i can't wait till Dendro is released partially because i wanna see how to utilize it and partially because BAIZHU COME HOME.

related to THIS post!!!

it's a long walk to Mondstadt, because again, Liyue is MASSIVE, and on the way you're bound to meet some trouble or another. luckily you've learned to deal with said trouble thanks to your Delusion and Vision, even if every time you use the former you can feel something in you slowly dying- you've only heard of the consequences, never actually experienced them, and now it hurts.

but you try your best to hide it from Childe because you know how much he's been looking forward to this... "adventure", and you want him to enjoy himself as you drive your point home to every Archon you come across. perhaps you'll be more lenient on the Anemo Archon, since Zhongli speaks so highly of him, is what you think as you watch Childe roll around in the grass.

he looks at you, sticking out his tongue, and you're reminded of how he's not your Ajax.

there's an injury on your arm, obscured by your sleeve, and you shift. it's not cleaned or bandaged properly due to supplies running out a day or two ago- you'll need to stop by somewhere to buy more. this makes you frown, because it means leaving Childe somewhere, on his own, for a few hours.

a whine makes you blink, shaking you out of your thoughts, and you move your arm out of view as you use your other one to pat Childe on the head, smiling at his rumbling purrs. the Delusion in your grip feels like thorns, thorns to harness the wind.

fitting for a person like you traveling to the City of Anemo.

[ac-liveblogs]

Sorry for Spam (1) After suckin it up and playing thru Ei + Kokos Qs (Must reach Itto) I sadly realise they had potential. Shoguns doubt, her witnessing how humans change (resist her) naturally, which plays into Inazuma’s theme of resistance (Every day resistance vs political and military resistance) was cool imo. Holding out for abdication arc.But it was buried under weird date imagery, genshins giant paragraphs, n contradicted by pt 2. In pt 2, Ei forgets all doubt, regret, n contemplation.

Suddenly, people don’t matter nothings her fault. Its all the kujou clan, not like Ei coulda just stepped outside and fixed everything. (did she know abt the fatui or not!?) Its like 2 diff teams wrote the Q! If u took 1 part n made the whole Q, it could be good w polish, but together theyre too confused. I actually see where theyre going with Koko’s Q, but I never read Romance 3 Kingdoms, so its lost on me. Dracaena Somnolenta (sleepin dragon), is the name of Zhuge Liang, military advisor n chancellor, but not ruler. Kokomi seems 2 b cute anime Zhuge Liang, thrust into ruler (Liu Bei) position. All she wants is to advise n strategise, but instead shes gotta deal with appearances, burnout, expectations, n doesn’t trust enough to delegate work (also like Zhuge Liang). She’s PINING 4 a Liu Bei to take the weight off. Problems, interesting as I find the concept, she don’t have the personality to carry it. She’s too dainty, cute n waifu. She cant b smart, resentful, or god forbid bloodthirsty, (too ooc for Zhuge Liang?) I think it’d be funny, tho. Let Koko go apeshit. Her kit is half Childe, so she clearly wants to. Also appreciate the accidental foiling of Koko and Ei. Koko cares abt people, Ei dont. Koko can't delegate, Ei delegates to Tri Comm. Koko is forgiving, Ei stabs all rebels. If Mhy realised the foil, would they invert roles? Swap roles? Would Kokomi simp 4 someone who deserves it? like Venti?

Ei is a complete nightmare of a character. Her complete lack of agency and culpability within the game completely shatters any interest I might have in her. The extent to which the game tries to excuse her of any wrongdoing and reduce her to a character that needs you, the super special Traveller uwu, to save her and show her the wrongs she's allowed to happen is honestly nauseating.

It's not even that her people resisting her even matters - she says that she already knew people didn't like what was happening - it's that you were so special as to show her! But the thing about Ei not being treated as being responsible for anything means that no-one can blame her for anything, and that means that everyone else in Inazuma has to be the kind of person that would allow her to get away with doing what she did, which means that everyone in Inazuma must be a doormat.

How to put this. Genshin has this habit of sanding the edges off it's playable characters, you know? Anything dubious must be removed. Any bad things must simply be implied, or otherwise shoved under the rug as much as possible. It wasn't really Ei's fault all this bad stuff is happening and uh, also, wow the NPC Kujou Clan-

Hey, do you think Childe faced any actual consequences for what happened in Liyue? Do you think we'll ever actually see him be half as manic as his profile would imply? Will he ever even kill someone that didn't deserve it or at all? 'Cause I kinda doubt it!

Kokomi can't be resentful or bloodthirsty, because that would mean Ei would have to be treated as responsible for something she did so as to justify Kokomi feeling this way. So because we can't blame Ei, we must make Kokomi the kind of person that would forgive her even if that is actively less interesting.

And you know what? That's boring as hell. Genshin characters are boring as hell. I always look at them and see all the ways they could be interesting if only Mihoyo was willing to make them be messy, but instead I get admirable mature characters that have already completed their character arcs or are willing to turn the other cheek.

Kokomi is a human girl that worships a God that was killed by Ei centuries ago. She is waging war she cannot win against a god and has only survived this long because that god has not directly engaged her. That is super interesting! Kokomi has reason to want revenge, to feel despair, to be crushed by the pressure of knowing she's expected to somehow pull out a victory against an impossible opponent because what's the alternative? Letting Ei do as she pleases in Watatsumi again?

I played Kokomi's quest thinking I could have really liked her if she'd been written better. Unfortunately, we got this.

Ei is a god trying to force her own inhuman perspective onto her human subjects in a way that is simply incompatible with their way of life! She's blocked them off from the outside world and is reducing the people to mere husks of themselves - why is it that everyone is so calm about this, or rather, isn't it horrifying that everyone is so used to Ei that it doesn't even occur to them to fight back? When the god next door decides to uproot your way of life, what can you even do about it?

These are interesting things to tackle! There are cool things you can do! But in refusing to engage with Ei as someone that should face consequences for her actions, Inazuma and every character in it has to suffer.

God, there is no way Mihoyo noticed any similarities between Kokomi and Ei. I doubt they were even really thinking about anything besides how they were going to justify letting Ei off the hook by the end of it.

Itto's quest is solidly okay though. Shoutout to Itto for being the only dude in Teyvat that a) doesn't fall all over himself to lick our shoes and b) doesn't need us to get shit done.

[abyssmalice]

(on account of being awake since god knows when but definitely not at a time humans ought to be awake and with little sleep - this is gonna be a non-formatted but quick and short (edit: this is not short at all) headcanon post because my brain said so. anyway -

as a part of the fatui, smol tonia excels in:

1) causing trouble, small or big

2) getting into violent battles

3) assassination and murder coverups

4) torture and the occasional information extraction from the process

the first is what she’s honestly best at, and what she’d rather do most of the time. the tsaritsa and pierro, recognizing her aptitude for mischief (and maybe also feeling a Little bad about what they’re making an actual child do otherwise), usually arrange their plans in a way so that yes, little tonia just needs to cause a ruckus. 

mainly, anyway. of course, the fatui always have people to take care of, one way or another. and as much as tonia doesn’t want to do that sorta work, a harbinger is a harbinger and so she tends to be tasked with dealing with a few individuals every now and then. she tries to stall on those particular missions, but it has to be done eventually.

regardless of whether her targets are high-profile in society or common grunts, tonia has a very hands-on approach to dealing with them, rather than assigning any of the work to her subordinates where applicable (unless it really can’t be helped, but she really hates relying on people for this so she tries not to). 

this is mainly because she wants to make sure she gets these particular missions done, properly and thoroughly with no room for complaints (read: problems, because complications related to murder of all things tend to be very troublesome and very hard to deal with in a way that doesn’t affect herself), and what better way than to take control of the whole process, top to bottom, and execute it all herself?

she’s a bit more lax if all she really needs to do is just let off some steam and beat up people - it’s easy to just bully someone and do a little property destruction in the process, and anyway, no one will complain if they hear about a violent fight but no one’s dead. but if someone needs to be gone-gone with no one the wiser, or if she needs obtain information and the people in the know are too stubborn for mere intimidation and bruises, then she gets serious with how she does things.

this is where her expertise for pranks - for elaborate, detailed plans - comes in. her unfortunate penchant for schemes ensures she’s more than capable of coming up with a solid plan on her own, executing it, and doing a very believable coverup of her murder unless you’re a very, very good and lucky investigator.

similarly, she’s quite capable of coming up with plans to kidnap someone, confining them to a discreet location, and then extracting what she wants from them - information or confessions - and very, very painfully to boot. though, to be frank, she finds torture to be kind of boring, kind of more unpleasant than just straight up killing people, and sometimes she loses her patience with whoever she’s dealing with, so it can’t be said to be one of her better skills as a fatui. 

but she will eventually get this work done, like with the rest. not much of a choice, if she doesn’t want people to get suspicious of her and her missing, very tortured, and eventually must be permanently silenced afterwards target. too much as stake there, and honestly, she probably had to put in a lot of damn work to set up all of this to get some measly words or numbers or whatever - it has to pay off or else that’s even more annoying.

it’s why she’d rather just fight someone, if she had to pick between her more discreet methods and a straight up brawl. a battle is just logistically way more easier to manage, and usually, the consequences aren’t as bad if she can make room for a self-defense excuse in it.)

[hawksward]

Wolves in Sheep's Clothing Ch. 3: Let the Games Begin (Childe/OC)

Since being granted a vision at the tender age of 10, Irina has owed her life to the Tsaritsa and dedicated herself to rising through the ranks of the Fatui. In becoming a top-ranking diplomat she’s received her easiest assignment yet: ensure the 11th Fatui Harbinger remains ignorant of La Signora’s plan to obtain the gnosis of Rex Lapis. A simple task for someone who’s made a career out of lying.

Unfortunately, even the simplest tasks can go awry when feelings get in the way.

Rating: E (For eventual smut)

Warnings: Violence, there will eventually be smut

The next morning came too quickly. She had plans to run a few of her own errands before the boat arrived. It seemed like bad karma when she overslept and had to rush out to make it in time. Irina maneuvered through the crowds with ease, her pace quickening as she continued down the slope to the wharf.

By the time she reached the bottom the boat was nearly completely unloaded. She looked for anyone free, or even a stack of letters on a crate.

“Are you here for the letters, miss?” An older man stepped from behind her holding a large pile of envelopes wrapped in twine “Ekaterina mentioned someone different would be picking up today”

“Yes. That’s me.” She took the stack of letters and casually flipped through the recipients. There were plenty for people she was unfamiliar with, most likely those who were on assignment further away from the bank as she didn’t get out of the city much. A letter for Ekaterina, most likely from her grandmother that she spoke of often.

Then at the very bottom, there was a small stack solely for Childe. She knew he had a large family waiting for him back in Snezhnaya, courtesy of Ekaterina and her extensive knowledge of everything that had to do with his business. Including the number of zeroes attached to his bank account. She peeked at the return addresses, all of which were the same. His family must have written him one letter each.

“Did we miss one for you?” The man asked, “It looks like you didn’t find what you were looking for.”

“No, none for me. Not a big mail person. Thanks for the hard work. Safe travels back to the motherland.” Irina gave him a curt nod before making her way to the lower market by the docks.

The letters weighed heavy in her arm as she stood in line for pastries. It never mattered before that she didn’t have anyone back home. She served the Tsaritsa. if anything not having a family made her a better tool for the woman she owed everything to.

Irina left the docks with a large basket filled with almond biscuits when she was knocked out of the way by a child sprinting through the crowd. Shortly after the girl disappeared from view a millelith soldier rushed after her, pushing bystanders out of the way.

“Stop! Thief!”

It’s not your business. Take your biscuits and get to work.

She let out a loud sigh as she followed through the openings in the crowd the soldier left. When she finally reached the end of the market, the soldier had cornered the girl, who was clutching something in her hands.

“Give it here, kid” the man held out his hand to the girl, who couldn’t have been older than 10, but she continued to hold the object even tighter.

“Is there an issue here, sir?” Irina walked up next to the man, her eyes on the girl in front of her. She recognized the fear. It wasn’t of being caught, it was the fear of having whatever was in her hand ripped from her.

“Nothing we need the Fatui to deal with.” He grumbled, “When the thief gives back what she stole I’ll be on my way.”

Irina ignored the soldier as she knelt in front of the child “can you show me what’s in your hand?”

The girl released her fingers around a small pouch filled with coins, “I need it. My brother is sick and he needs food”

“Typical lying street vermin. All the same lying about some non existent sick family member.” The guard scoffed

Sure, the girl could be lying. But her clothes were ratty and her shoes looked like they were a day away from falling off her feet. Even if she didn’t have a sick brother, she desperately needed the mora.

Irina stood, pulling the pouch of coins from her pocket before shoving it at the officer “That should be more than enough to cover the small amount she took as well as compensation for the victim. We’re done here.”

“Wait just a minute- you don’t get to decide that the kid doesn’t get punished.”

“Oh but consider this. I do.” She began, a sadistic smile creeping over her features “If you push this any further I will find every skeleton in your closet and expose them for the world to see. Even if you don’t have anything too interesting, I am Fatui after all. I can be creative.”

“You can’t do that. I’m a member of the millelith. You can’t just blackmail me without consequence!”

“But who would believe you? Your only witness is a child. I’m an esteemed guest of the Qixing. Who do you think they will side with to avoid diplomatic incident?”

The air temperature dropped ten degrees around her, she could feel the itch in her hands to use her power. Her patience was wearing thin.

“Fine. I’ll pay back the victim with your blood money.” The officer spit on the ground in front of her feet before turning and walking away.

Irina turned back around to the girl, grabbing a handful of almond biscuits and placing them in her hands. “Get back to your brother. Next time you need mora come to the Northland Bank. We have plenty of letters that need to be delivered around the harbor.”

“Thank you miss.” The girl looked up at her before immediately averting her eyes again “I will.”

——

The moment Irina stepped into the bank she didn’t have time to breathe. Ekaterina was on her before she could say a word about the giant pile of biscuits in her basket.

“There you are! Master Childe has been looking for you.”

Irina placed the basket on the counter before the woman “He’s looking for me? He’s the one who told me not to come in until after I’ve gotten the mail from the boat.”

Her mind was already cycling through every possible scenario. The millelith guard had already somehow managed to report to the Qixing and now Childe had heard. He found out about the contract between Signora and Zhongli. He was pissed about her showing up 30 minutes late with biscuits.

“Well the basket is filled with almond biscuits for everyone. Also here’s this weeks mail. I’ll take Master Childe his since he’s apparently dying to see me.”

Most likely she would be the one dying after this exchange. She quietly ascended the stairs, wondering how the rest of the staff would react if their boss murdered her in his office. Childe’s office was at the very end of the curved hall. She took a deep breath before knocking loudly on the elaborate door.

“It’s open.”

Irina carefully pushed the door open, stepping into the room. Childe’s office was easily five times the size of her own, with plenty of space for meetings with large bank clients. A lot of space to make them disappear as well.

“Ekaterina mentioned that you were looking for me. I brought some almond biscuits for the staff on my way back from the boat.”

Childe looked up from his desk, a large grin spread across his face. Irina’s heart sunk further into her stomach.

“You took your time. Are those for me?” He stood from his desk and closed the distance between them with his long strides. He plucked the small pile of envelopes from her hand before flipping through them, “I can always tell by the seal they use on the back”

“Are we getting to the part where you tell me why you were looking for me?”

“So pushy.” He gently tossed the letters on the desk before turning around to face her again “I need a sparring partner and all of the other vision users are on assignment out of the city. So, I’ve cleared your calendar for the day.”

“You did what?” Irina was horrified “I had a lunch set with the Qixing, they’re not going to take a last minute cancellation lightly! I’m not even combat oriented!”

Childe let out a sigh, crossing the room again to stand in front of her “As a vision holder I know you’ve received basic Fatui combat training.” He tapped the cryo vision centered at her clavicle “Don’t worry. I’ll be gentle.”

Her body moved before she could even think, her right hand grabbing his in a vice grip. She could feel the ice tingling in her fingertips as she moved his hand away from her chest before letting go. His hand red at the sudden cold.

“I have work to do here. In Liyue Harbor. I can’t just drop all of my responsibilities at your whim.” Her hands returned to her sides as she balled them into fists. She was sure she’d pissed him off at this point.

“You can because I say so. I’m Tartaglia. This is my jurisdiction. And what I say goes.” He took a step back, looking down at her, “You also now owe me for giving me mild frostbite.”

——

The view from the mountain overseeing the city would have been beautiful if she wasn’t dreading the reason she was there. Childe dragged her up a mountain, insisting that it was the best place for a sparring match. Less collateral damage that way.

While she could appreciate Childe not destroying the city on a whim, she wished he wouldn’t have decided to destroy her as well. He was a harbinger. One of the Tsaritsa’s elite warriors. She was a diplomat and a military dropout.

Everything Signora said about him flooded back as once. He was an eye of the storm. He would rather solve problems with a sword than with words. Zero tact. A brute.

“This will work.” He took a look at the surroundings before bringing his attention to Irina “What do you say, Aster? Ready to fight me?” He pulled his bow off his back, knocking an arrow made of water.

She let out a long sigh. The short answer was no. She pulled her catalyst from her bag and allowed it to float beside her. She tossed the bag to the side, bringing her palm across her face to form a mask made of ice. Maybe if she felt like she was back in a combat role she’d fare a little better.

Doubtful.

“Let’s get this over with.”

The moment the last word left her mouth he released his arrow straight at her chest. Irina summoned a large wall of ice, causing the arrow to shatter on impact. She watched as Childe shot off more arrows only to continue to shatter on the ice.

Eventually, he grew bored of arrows and tossed his bow to the side. He manifested two short swords out of water, holding both in a reverse grip. The smile on his face grew bigger as he closed the distance between them. Slowly at first, then with a quick lunge that shattered her ice shield on impact.

Irina stumbled back before regaining her footing. She threw another shield to block the next incoming blow. Once again it shattered. She wouldn’t be able to keep this up.

With a flick of her hand, the shards from the shield flew at him. He parried every shard with ease, the smile never once leaving his face.

“Yes! Just like that!” He spun a sword in his hand “and she says she can’t fight!”  his normally bright laugh put her on edge.

She suppressed a chill that wasn’t from her vision. Irina took in a deep breath before using all her air to blow a stream of cold. The water in the air before her quickly turned to ice, dropping in pellets as it continued toward her opponent.

Childe watched in amusement as his feet froze to the ground, the ice crawling up his legs to hold him in place. It was certainly impressive, but he could see its weakness with ease.

The force of his forward momentum broke the ice holding him to the ground. It happened so quickly. Irina quickly turned to see him coming with his sword at her neck. She quickly summoned ice to her hands and up her arms, hardening it as quickly as she could.

Her arm came up to block the blow from her neck. The ice covering her arm cracking beneath the pressure, but still managing to hold. Her eyes were wide. A half-second slower and he could have killed her.

She didn’t have time to process what that meant before a blow came from the other side, followed by another and another. Irina had both her arms up, desperately trying to block each blow, being forced back with each consecutive hit.

Was this the difference in strength between a normal vision user and a harbinger? He wasn’t even using his delusion. He probably wasn’t even using his full strength with his normal vision.

She felt the ice on her left arm shatter with the last blow. The force pushed her back again, but this time there was no ground underneath her foot. She was too busy trying to dodge sword strikes to notice that she’d been pushed back to the edge of the cliff.

She felt her center of gravity shift backward, followed by down. A terrible way to die really. During a sparring match because she wasn’t paying attention to her surroundings.

Her momentum stopped abruptly, her arm nearly jolting out of its socket before she was pulled back from her imminent demise. Straight in the arms of something far more dangerous.

Her face smacked straight into Childe’s chest, his hand still gripped around her arm. Her heart was beating a thousand times a minute.

“You…” she gasped, struggling to catch her breath “You nearly killed me!”

“ I nearly killed you?” He laughed “You managed that all on your own.” He let go of her arm.

Irina pushed herself off him, careful to make sure that she was no longer near an edge. “I might be a diplomat but I can sense intent to kill. You took a sword to my neck. It’s lucky I managed to block in time.”

“A sword made of water. You think so little of me.” He made a show of summoning a sword into his hand, only for it to disappear into a puddle on the ground.

Irina threw her hands up in frustration and sat herself down by the cliff she nearly fell off moments prior. She refused to believe that even he had the control to disappear his sword when everything was moving so quickly.

Childe sat down beside her on the cliff, both of them staring off into the distance “Would it make you feel better if I apologized?”

“No.”

“You’re a better fighter than you give yourself credit for. There must be something you’re very good at if they let you leave combat forces”

“My specialty has always been in information” Irina began “Tugging at threads until I can find one that causes everything to unravel.”

“Is information really necessary with the amount of mora the harbingers throw around?” Childe asked

“Everyone has a price. Not all of it can be paid in mora.” She turned to look at him “Lets take you for example. There’s no sense in trying to bribe you since you already have more money than you know what to do with.”

“Alright. Let’s hear it. Work your diplomat magic.”

“The letters from this morning. I’ll start with an assumption as the simplest answer is usually the right one. Since I doubt each letter is from a different mistress back home, I’ll assume each is from a different family member.”

The two locked eyes as she spoke, Childe listening intently

“Here’s where it gets interesting. All the envelopes are the same, so clearly it’s family still living together and each one is addressed to ‘Childe’. Makes sense considering they would know better not to use your real name on any correspondence. While each envelope was marked to you in a different handwriting, there were two that had the same. One of your family members doesn’t know about your code name. They don’t know you’re a harbinger”

Irina studied his face closely as she made the accusation. Throughout her speech, his face might as well have been carved from stone. However, when she mentioned that he had a family member who didn’t know about his job, the right side of his mouth twitched slightly. Easy to miss, but a confirmation.

“How did you know?”

“I didn’t until I made the accusation. You were stone faced the entire time I was talking until I mentioned it. People are easy to read once you know what you’re looking for.”

He seemed to mull it over before standing back up “In that case let me make some observations about you. Starting with how despite claiming that you have no heart, you gave all the mora in your pocket to make sure a kid eats”

Irina let out a sigh before standing as well “That didn’t stay quiet for long. Who told you?”

“There’s a great saying in Liyue. The walls have ears.”

[childeofwar]

@morakesi​ sent:

He knew it would come to this, and he was still not intending to 'deal with' the consequences of Childe's decision and actions. No, he was on his own in this one. But... he'd be lying if he said he didn't pity him, and of course wished him a swift recovery. Therefore, Zhongli had arranged for a little gift and a 'get well soon' card attached to be delivered to the other's hotel room because, apparently, that is what one does when another has fallen ill.~

It was around 5 in the morning the next day when he realized something was wrong, finding it a struggle to open his eyes and stir from slumber. His body ached and his head gave a pang when he tried to force himself upright, having no interest in being conscious at the moment.

It seemed the consultant had had a point about his recklessness as a sudden fit of sneezes overtook him and confirmed his fears. He’d gotten a cold, the realization making him huff in annoyance. Of all days to curse him with such an ailment... There was little he could do though, barely having the energy to send one of his subordinates with the notice that he wouldn’t be coming in today. The last thing he needed was to deal with any of the others, his patience practically gone when sick. It’d be fine. He just needed to take some tea and get some rest, even if he rather be outside...

It felt like only moments passed when a knock at the door stirred him from his rest. A quiet groan escaped him, irritated that he’d be disturbed when he’d sent word he wasn’t to be bothered. With a heavy sigh, he got up, holding his head to ease the dizzy spell that threatened to overtake him before making for the door. Just as he made to snap at his subordinate, he was surprised when the masked man merely bowed and offered him an ornate gift basket. “...What is this for?,” he muttered, voice hoarse from the coughing fits that had been racking his body.

“A gift from the funeral parlor, sir. We thought it best to bring it right away,” the Fatui agent explained. By now though, Childe was only half listening as he took the basket and rotated it to observe the different treats, medicine, and mysterious, wrapped box.

“It’s fine,” he dismissed, briefly glancing to the other with a nod before shutting the door as the man retreated. Placing the basket down on the coffee table, he sat down on the sofa, rubbing his neck. Funeral parlor. He could only think of one person who he knew from there, but it seemed unlikely...

“But in order for this to be a fair compromise, I do not wish to deal with you while you are sick,” Zhongli had said, clearly not approving of his bright idea of getting buried under a pile of snow. He’d accepted this condition and now here he was suffering the consequences. He could already imagine the man’s look of disapproval if he’d found out through Ekaterina that he’d called in sick. The thought made him smile before abruptly turning away when a sudden coughing fit seized him once more.

It was only when he recovered that he began to pick through the basket, taking inventory of the scrumptious snacks. The bottle of medicine impressed him, not having expected to get something from the highly praised Bubu Pharmacy. He went ahead and took a dose of it, making a face at the taste, but managing to keep it down with a weak ‘eugh.’ 

The wrapped box was the last to gain his attention, tilting his head as he picked it up and looked it over. Tearing away the wrapping and opening the box, he blinked in surprised at the silver narwhal pin housed within, the jade embedded along its fins and tail giving a brilliant glow. Slowly, a fond smile spread on his lips as he looked over the fine details, a quiet chuckle escaping him. “Xiansheng...,” was all he could say, shaking his head as he gently placed the box down. Who else would think to give something like this to him? After all, the narwhal perfectly matched the blue, plush one nestled on his bed, and only one man knew of it so far~

‘Do you worry that much for me?,’ he thought to himself. The last item in the basket would be answer enough, a simple envelope addressed to him from Zhongli. A short message wishing him a speedy recovery. Were the man here now, he’d kiss and tease him for doing all of this for him. For now, he merely smiled to himself as he securely put away the letter, a blush coming to his cheeks at the flutter in his chest this all caused him. Who knew the man could be so sweet~