vapour | (no subject)

Someone I know

[ her voice trails off once more, prickles of hurt translating into what seems like ripples in the silence. honestly, more than feeling hurt, she feels like she's failed a second time. ]

There's a friend from Teyvat who's also decided to go to your side. Can I ask you to look after them, in my place?

[ the curiosity is there, considering how close he feels the Regent is to the Tsaritsa, and to think anyone in Teyvat would go to this side as a result is, well... Interesting. Still, he senses that tumble of emotions from her and had no jokes or commentary to taunt her currently. ]

Sure. Who is it? What do they look like, etcetera...

[ she could just as easily say that he'll recognise him; lumine's well aware of how good the fatui's intelligence network is, after all. but seeing as she's asking this favour from childe: ]

Mondstadt's Cavalry Captain is here. I'm sure that's enough of a description to go by?

[ unusual stillness and silence from this end. ]

...The Acting Grandmaster's right hand?

[ should she be worried by that silence? if they were in teyvat, perhaps. childe, despite the trust she puts in his hands in various circumstances, seems to pursue whatever his whims dictate him to, and she can never rein him in. there's no reason, there's no point.

but this is no longer teyvat, and the links she has with people seem to have grown tenuous. fragile. still, she trusts childe even if he tells her not to; at the very least, kaeya is in the same group as him. ]

Mm, will that cause any conflict?

I'm just wondering why he chose this side, especially if you already know he's here.

Mondstadt is the city of Freedom, afterall. There's a reason Snezhnaya and Mondstadt have always had tenser relations than Snezhnaya has with other countries.

[ Beyond Barbatos being worse than useless in protecting them is only the beginning, really. ]

[ she didn't ask, if only because she's well aware that kaeya wouldn't have chosen the regent's side if he didn't have a reason for it. a part of her wonders if she should've; would asking have kept him by her side?

... no, she doesn't think so. after all, she didn't exactly succeed with childe despite asking him to come with her. ]

As the traveler, it's not my place to question his reasons. I've never asked you why either, haven't I?

I'm also a Fatui Harbinger.

[ that is the most unconvincing reason she's ever heard. try again. ]

You're your own person. Your title as a Harbinger no longer holds water in this place.

Is that so? It's true it holds no water here, but everything I am has to do with my being a Fatui Harbinger, including my name.

Harbinger means nothing to those around here. But weapon? They all know exactly where I belong and how I should be handled. The other aions can sense it just as well as anything else.

Isn't it simply natural for a weapon to be on the side that will use it?

[ insanity is defined as doing something over and over again while expecting different results each time. and this conversation, how many times must they rehash it in their lifetime? ]

I've never once seen you as a weapon. I suppose that's why you've decided to choose the Regent.

And I truly love that about you, Aibou. But, you're also the only one who sees me as more than that. Not even the Tsaritsa sees me as anything beyond a tool to assist her in her goal of rending Celestia.

Even if you're right... does it matter if the rest of the world disagrees with you? If I could keep you for myself, maybe, but I can't. In the end, what else is there to do but fall into line with what you can't change?

[ for someone who strives to become powerful enough to take over the world, to become the strongest there is; apparently even he has limitations on what he believes is malleable in his own hands.

What people think of him somehow seems to be one of those things that is not, even in a world full of strangers. ]

[ wtg telling her she's not enough. it's annoying, and she can feel that irritation creeping in once more, the same one she's pushed aside for weeks now. again, this is insanity. this is madness. if her brother were here, he would've told her to stop picking at a scab that doesn't want to heal. ]

And you wish to conquer the world with that mindset? To crush the throne of the gods under your heel?

Childe, that is no way to live your life, especially if you wish to defeat me.

[ wtg for her missing the point that she's only not enough because she won't stay with him for it to matter in the end, anyway!!

he's not going to let himself unravel in front of her. he's still internally livid over his encounter with Estinien and Aerith, anyway. messing up twice with communicating with the enemy is just not something he sees as healthy to his relationship with the Regent. ]

Hmm? Does it bother you?

[ he's the one who didn't want to stay with her!! don't turn this around on her, jerk face!!

lumine says nothing for a long moment. but see, there's no white noise, no wrinkles that mar the silence between them. it's placid, too still that one might think she's already left the communion to begin with. but her voice echoes once more, the tone carefully restrained. ]

I don't know. [ there's a sound akin to a sigh barely underlining the words. ] Perhaps it shouldn't as this is what you've decided, and you're never one for regrets.

[ she's not one to make him to choose once again. there's no point, and she's just as much of a sore loser as him.

but still ... ]

That's right. This was the only way. Hate me if you have to. It'll make this easier on yourself.

[ he's getting stingier in his replies, the words sent are even difficult to decipher in tone, like trying to read text on paper with no context.

He was reminded the other day of why he did things the way he did during his encounter with Estinien and Aerith, and although he's been able to recall that all vividly, something is blocking him from actively questioning if it was a right course of action for his intentions after he accidentally slipped down that train of thought back at the cliff. ]

[ she flinches from his response, and questions of what happened, what's wrong, why can't you tell me echo before it's silenced. still, hurt faintly throbs from the placid surface, barely held back by the wall she's quickly put up. ]

That's not your call to make on my behalf.

If you wish to despise me because it'll be easier on you, then so be it. But these feelings are my own, and I get to decide on what I see as burdensome.

[ he's like to be able to confide in her bed also like to be able to apologize for hurting her feelings.

telling her would just make things worse, though. It'd just put her in more danger. This is the only way he can influence it to some degree. ]

It's impossible for me to do so. And if it were, I would not be here having this conversation with you.

[ he'll have to confide in her kitchen first before the bed.

but no, really. all she wants is for him to stop turning her away. how many times is it now? how many times must she ask him again? ]

You disliked Signora. I can't see why it would be impossible.

Are you saying she didn't deserve to be disliked?

[ any stalkers or poor unfortunate souls that stumble in here, "bed" was a typo I swear ]

I'm saying if you can dislike her, then you can dislike me. It's not impossible.

[ where is this conversation even going? all she wants him to do is look after kaeya, plain and simple. ]

That's the dumbest thing I've ever heard.

I've heard crazier things, and I don't think you'd want me to repeat what I heard, Mr. You're-like-the-stars-in-the-night-sky.

Edited (ofc i forgot to include a word) 2022-05-06 03:00 (UTC)

Pretty sure graphic novels in Inazuma would say that's top tier romantic antagonist talk when there's UST with the heroine.

Maybe if you used one of the lines from The Chaotic Epic That Is the Tale of My Youthful Love Life, it would've been a little more charming.