#//If he was to be Cavalry Captain; he would be a MUCH different one/person than Luc in the role was | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

starlightlacrimosazpsff · 8 months

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◇ 𝓐𝓵𝓵 𝓽𝓱𝓮 𝓛𝓲𝓽𝓽𝓵𝓮 𝓣𝓱𝓲𝓷𝓰𝓼 ◇

TO: @hollythius-rising EVENT HOSTED BY: @solarisfortuneia

SYNOPSIS:

The most renowned love stories tend to be about either whirlwind romances or heartfelt tragedies. A love brewed by fighting against all odds provides a sense of fulfillment after all the drama, the angst, the conflicts, and the memories. It is a buildup to the climax wherein the readers live vicariously, to see the leads achieve happiness after a lifetime of misery. However, in reality, many pairs of soulmates find peace in the simplistic beauty that life can offer. They fight when absolutely necessary to maintain the harmony that safeguards the fragile glass known as happiness. Amidst the trivialities, the foundations of felicity can be forged little by little; and what once served as mere frivolity becomes the profound bond of unconditional loyalty—the foundation of all true loves.

ENTRY TYPE: Event Submission, F!Reader

WARNING(S): mentions of abuse, mentions of violence, mentions of problematic themes, implications of neurodivergence, blood, unstable mental state, juxtaposed writing style, ambiguous relationships, slight toxicity, mild angst (because I need to sprinkle some even if my focus is fluff), author is sorry for submitting late, etc...

CHARACTER(S):

Diluc Ragnvindr, Alhaitham, Childe/Tartaglia/Ajax

•

•☆••☆••☆•

DILUC RAGNVINDR is a man of intrigue filled with mysteries hidden in the darkest shadows of the night. In a way, he is someone who breathes in contradictions as much as he lives in resolute convictions. He approaches life with a headstrong mind and steadfast heart, yet his soul tends to navigate a treacherous world by means of putting on masks infused with his spirit to distribute justice. The body born with the red hair of dawn and the crimson eyes of dusk takes flight as the firebird across the twilight. He honors the name of Noctua, which had blessed him at the tender age of 10. Despite his straightforward nature, his true persona is as elusive as any respectable gentleman with skeletons locked in his closet—or buried in Dawn Winery, for this case.

However, as expected of any formidable vigilante, there is one trustworthy confidante behind them. They are the precious secret keeper, the one to uphold the contingencies that shall be in play if the vigilante falls amidst disaster. In some cases, they stand as the one person who will remember the masked heroes for all their entirety and become their proof of existence.

For Diluc, that is you.

He had just become the Cavalry Captain of Ordo Favonius when he met you. The sight of you, a girl no older than him, battered and covered in blood was bone-chilling. He swiftly commanded the Knights of Favonius to escort you safely to Mondstadt, and led the caravan while ensuring your comfort. A peaceful smile was on your delicate lips even as tears poured down your cheeks. He asked for the reason behind your contradicting expression, bewildered and alarmed as he floundered on how to help you.

"Barbatos heard my prayers." You told him, "I am free now."

Diluc figured that is when his infatuation started with you. The years that had passed as you settled down into the city, the years that had passed after his departure from Mondstadt due to the death of his father, and the years that had passed when he returned...

None of it made a difference to what he feels for you.

If anything, the flames grew stronger and more adamant to have you.

As always, Diluc's nights conclude with a visit to your abode. After his nightly patrols, you are always the solace that awaits him. Whenever he tried to stop his visits, you will go to Dawn Winery yourself to ensure he took care of himself. He never wants you to ever risk yourself by travelling in the dark just to check on him, so he found it easier to just visit you after his patrols.

Sorry to have kept you waiting. Diluc seems to say whenever he finds you asleep on your couch, waiting for him all night. He would carry you in his arms, tucking you back to your bed. As he turns to leave, your hand would tug on his sleeve. His crimson eyes would see you awake, just barely to give him a pleading gaze and a dazzling smile. A part of him wondered if you dreamed of him all those years he had been away, utterly consumed by scathing grief. It made him ponder for how much longer he will keep you waiting.

I am fine, just stay with me. You seem to reply as you watch him discard his coat to join you. The line between friends and lovers blur for those nights of synchronicity. He would hold you until dawn, wherein the morning light would take him back to Dawn Winery. You wake up to an empty bed, yet the warmth soothes you despite his absence. You never complained nor expected more than what he could provide. You never tried to put a label to what you have. The important point is that Diluc always came to you, and that was all that ever mattered.

Please never let me go. Diluc was used to fighting his battles alone, yet he could never resist the allure of returning to you the first night you patched him up after a rough confrontation against a hoard of enemies. It yielded further moments wherein you would either prepare him a warm bath, or just patch him up with a few words of admonishment to be more careful next time. Every touch made him adore you, and every word made him admire you.

I am always with you. That was all you could truly offer to ease his suffering. You knew that your dear knight of dawn is broken, and pieces of him have permanently gone missing. He cannot be fixed and you do not seek to do it. You merely hold him, as his body was covered in gauze with his head on your shoulders. You do not speak of the tears you do not see as it soaked your dress, nor do you speak of the nightmares he confided to you past gritted teeth. I love you. Who will say it first?

"Honestly," you sighed, "your injuries tonight make me think you're doing it on purpose at this point."

Diluc almost smirked, "I suppose the notion is not too far off."

You plastered the adhesive bandage a little too harshly onto his chest, making him wince. He caressed the abused skin before putting on the spare shirt you gave him while you took hold of his cloak. You retrieved your sewing kit to repair the slight tear on the fabric.

"Don't even joke about that!" You scowled sternly, "What are you, a child? If you wish to see me, you ask for an invitation. Better yet, try to start a conversation. It feels as if you can only talk to me as the Darknight Hero and never as Diluc Ragnvindr."

He frowned confusedly, "What do you mean? If anyone knows all sides of me, it's you."

You raised a brow at him in challenge, "Oh yeah? Then why do you avoid crossing my path during daytime? Why do you only dare approach me during nighttime, away from any prying eyes?"

His lips part to deny your allegations but promptly close it when you point your needle at him. There was a stern glint in your eyes, the familiar fire that rivalled his own Pyro Vision. It makes him look away guiltily, fiddling with his ponytail as he released his hair from the tie. Seeing that he was not arguing anymore, you went back to your task as you continued to speak.

"I'm not one of those girls vying for your attention or anything," you said calmly, "but I won't deny that it grates on my nerves as I see you changing directions whenever you spot me en route. Then you come to my home as if it was like any other night."

You cut the thread as you finished stitching, glancing back at Diluc.

"Are you ashamed of me or something?" You asked bluntly.

"No!" He protested vehemently, "It's the total opposite."

A slight blush engulfed his face at the unwitting confession, but he does not correct himself nor take it back. You stared with wide eyes of awe and surprise, taken aback yet mostly amused. Rather than delving into it, you decided to keep silent as your eyes evaluated Diluc under a new light. You chuckled goodheartedly as you stood up, gesturing for him to do the same. Once he did, you help him put his coat back on and may have lingered to touch his arms. You were utterly shameless, grinning as he did not even tense up. It shows his familiarity with your caresses, even as you blatantly traced his shoulders to dust off some unseen lint.

"You owe me a date tomorrow then, Master Diluc~!" You whispered onto his ear.

Your cheeky remark ends with a chaste peck on his cheek, making the man look at you with a flustered astonishment. You giggle at his adorable expression, turning away to clean up the clutter in your living room. There was a sensual sway to your hips as you walked away, a soothing hum reverberating from your lips. This sight of you, bathed under the moonlight, felt so domestic and surreal to Diluc. Once again, he finds himself pining for a dream that could be just a step away from reality. He only needs to muster the courage to take that step, and you could be his for as long as you would have him in return.

Diluc yearns for you. He yearns for a future with you.

At the same time, he wonders if he could protect you beyond the clandestine moments shared with you. As he grabs your hand and twirls you into his arms, he found his answer by brushing his lips against yours with an intense look on his eyes.

"You missed." He retorts.

That was your first kiss with Diluc Ragnvindr.

"The wind wisps guided us, but the flame sprites united us."

•☆••☆••☆•

ALHAITHAM is a man of logic and rationality defined by the reasonable standards of routine. As an advocate of truth and wisdom, he has a thirst for knowledge controlled only by the disciplinary restraint of abstinence. This balanced mindset has earned him the title of Scribe within Sumeru's Akademiya, a well-maintained equilibrium between ambition and humility. Alas, this chosen lifestyle is not without its drawbacks to accompany the merits. Though this silver-haired scholar would argue that these cons are not truly detrimental, his peers would beg to differ when they tend to suffer said disadvantages more often than not. After all, the most brilliant geniuses tend to have quirks; and for this scholar hailing from the Darshan of Haravatat, it is his grievously cold-hearted personality.

His harsh disposition, more often than not, can be attributed to his analytical behavior. While he is not unsympathetic, Alhaitham is the type to prioritize facts over sentimental attachments. Because of this, most of his peers find it hard to get along with him.

That was, of course, until he was paired with you.

You had been desperate to find a decent roommate in the dormitories of the Akademiya, while Alhaitham wants a roommate whom would just learn to respect his supposedly strict boundaries. You heard from a friend about it and sought his contacts on the message board. You passed his initial assessment of you, and everything else was history.

Alhaitham was extremely meticulous of his space because he wants to be efficient with his time. That means every single thing in his home needs to be set in its place so a routine would remain undisturbed. If something goes wrong, it irritates him and it puts his mental facilities to work for something he deems could have been avoided. Despite his effective work ethics, he can be quite lazy in that regard. He does not wish to waste time and effort for someone else's incompetence, which people tend to find off-putting. However, you see it differently. He has his preferences, and it just so happens to be more thorough than most—which you respect.

For a while, you took the time to observe Alhaitham closely. It befuddled and agitated him at first, since there are times your glare could be quite piercing. If you had a problem with him, you should just say it. There are even moments when he thought you were stalking him. Alas, it was actually because you were taking note of his boundaries and his miniscule habits to adapt to them without compromising your own comfort.

Once the first week had passed, Alhaitham noticed your efforts blossom.

To his pleasant surprise, it even benefited him.

"[Name]," he called indifferently, "have you seen—"

"—your book on ancient runes?" You finished, "You left it on the couch when you got the emergency summons from your thesis professor. It was inspection day and I didn't want it to get confiscated, so I put it on the third shelf on the right with a disguised journal cover."

His sharp eyes looked at your precise directions. Lo and behold, there was his book—untouched and even bookmarked on the last page he left. It was a rather neat bookmark too, laminated autumn leaves and ferns with the Sumerian letters that spell your name on the paper base.

"You want one?" You asked, "I could make a custom design for you. I saw your old bookmark when I was cleaning the trash, and it will help keep your pages neat by not having to fold them."

Alhaitham stares at you with a calculative detachment, yet you did not miss the flicker of warm gratitude that you knew surprised even himself. He nods wordlessly while politely handing your bookmark back.

After you both graduated, it took little time for him to achieve the job of Scribe. Meanwhile, you ended up getting a job in Zubayr Theater to pursue the arts as a playwright. Much to Alhaitham's surprise, it had been your plan all along. Your time spent learning in Haravatat was to provide a deeper nuance to your stories by making use of ancient languages and inputting traditional designs onto your craftsmanship. It was an amalgamation of wisdom that you proclaim the sages have neglected, an artform they prohibit due to ignorance. As he read one of your plays on a whim, he begins to see you in an appraising light. In fact, the appreciative delight he felt in your texts was demonstrated by how he never misses a single play written by you when it is performed on stage.

You could not pinpoint when things began to transition from platonic kinship to romantic entanglement between you two. All you can recall is that Alhaitham invited you to live with him again.

"Don't you already have a roommate? Kaveh, was it?" You asked curiously.

Alhaitham scoffs, "He tends to get on my nerves a bit. Having you there would teach him a thing or two about respecting my space, and minding his own business."

You snorted amusedly but accepted his offer. You knew better than to question Alhaitham. Although you wanted to joke about whether he still has room in his house, you knew it will fly over his head. It would only be a leeway to roast you about how he would not have offered if he did not have a room unoccupied to accommodate you.

Henceforth, that is how you got your own key to Alhaitham's house.

It must have been quite a shock to witness for Kaveh, how you and Alhaitham seamlessly move around each other. You always rise an hour before Alhaitham's scheduled awakening in the morning. You bathe and keep the bathroom clean, with enough hot water for him to use. Then, you cook breakfast and brew his coffee with a specific mug he uses in the morning to keep track of his caffeine intake. Straight black and no sugar, but you will add two teaspoons of cream to ensure it does not scratch his throat. By the time he gets dressed, you have his meal set on the table right where his seat has a good view on the window. It was not the landscape itself but the sunlight that hits just right for him to read any book he currently fancies while he sat to eat.

Alhaitham will always clean his own dishes, which will leave you to double-check your things before you both leave for your respective jobs together. Kaveh gapes when he actually sees the silver-haired man help carry your things while you put on your shoes.

"Kaveh," Alhaitham said nonchalantly, "we're both going to be home late. Don't wait up."

You smiled warmly, "There's still food left for you if you get hungry. Oh, and—"

With no hint of shame, your hands patted Alhaitham down. Your calloused fingers rummage his pockets and retrieve his keys, separating the ones that belonged to Kaveh which got dragged with his own. The most astonishing is how the man remains unfazed by your casual yet intimate touches, even leaning into it.

"—here are your keys again!" You laughed as you threw them at the blond, "Honestly, I should get us some kind of key hangers to prevent this from happening."

"Do you want to go now?" Alhaitham asked smoothly, "I have some time."

"I don't have the money for it yet!"

"Don't be ridiculous. Of course, I'm paying."

Kaveh could only stare incredulously as he held his keys. He watches you both depart, voices fading behind the door and into the distance.

Meanwhile, Alhaitham all too chivalrously takes your hand in his as you both strolled down the streets. You hummed a familiar tune that you have been working to integrate on your next play. He takes note of it, subtly turning a vial in his headphones to record your voice. You did not stop him, eyes wandering to window shop.

"How was your latest research?" You asked.

"Troublesome," Alhaitham sighs lightly, "the scholars involved in it give me a headache."

You cooed, raising your free hand to sweep his bangs and massage his temple mildly. You stopped to focus back on walking but now allowed your fingers to stroke the callouses on the hand you held. Soon, he drops you off at Zubayr Theater and releases you from his grasp. You held back a smile, cheeks blushing, when he kisses the back of your hand before tracing your palm with his fingertips as he lets you go. For a moment, his intense gaze shimmered in a darker turquoise and vibrant rustic orange—reminding you of both the rainforests and deserts of Sumeru.

"I'll stop by in the library with tea and snacks for you." You mention.

Alhaitham gives you a fond smile, a privilege only ever meant for you.

"I would appreciate that." He replied.

"Be the oasis to my desert, the prized flower in my secret garden."

•☆••☆••☆•

CHILDE is a man that goes by many names, each with a role to play like a performer on a stage. Amongst all these aliases, one of them comes with a literal mask belonging to a Fatui Harbinger—Tartaglia, the Eleventh. He is the youngest to ever rise to such a status, and it was with good reason. With the exception of the higher-ranked Harbingers, his skills in the battlefield are practically unparalleled. Frankly, the only thing sharper than his twin hydro blades is his ambition for more power and worthy opponents. That is likely why he fit right into the standards of the Fatui, enough to please even the cold-hearted Tsaritsa whom is implied to have a soft spot for her Harbingers despite her loveless soul. As the person that grew up with him, you felt proud of him yet also concerned over him.

After all, regardless of everything, he remains as Ajax to you.

In a matter of three days, that Ajax lost the light in his eyes but you carried that light in your heart. It seems that was enough to you, and that was also reason enough for him to still come home to you.

"What gave you strength to return?" You asked delicately, "Three months in the Abyss only to realize Teyvat only missed you for three days, it must have been a tumultuous affair. What enabled you to gain power to rise above it?"

Childe looks at you with a wistful smile, eyes remaining dull. However, the touch of his gloved hand in yours displayed an everlasting bond while the other held the fishing pole.

"My family," he replied, "and you..."

You smiled fondly, sagging in relief. Ajax still lives even if his light has dimmed.

The times he returned from missions—covered in blood that you knew were a mix of his own, and that of another poor soul that has ceased to exist—were all vivid in your memories. The first few nights, your hands trembled; yet you showed no fear in your eyes as you gazed into those lifeless blues. He was still Ajax, whom just grew up for the thrill of battles and an ambition for chaos. When he smiles at his siblings, you feel his genuine love envelop the room and that is how you knew the existence of Tartaglia can never truly overcome Ajax. The light of a flame may extinguish, but the warmth of its existence shall leave ashes and soot—until the day it ignites again.

Wrapped in bandages, Childe pulls you into his arms and lies down on your bed. You let him do as he pleased, aware that once the high from the bloodbath is over for the Tsaritsa's Tartaglia...all that would be left is the turmoil of your Ajax.

"If you are bloodstained," you swore, "then I will wash you all clean."

His embrace tightens, cradling the back of your head to ensure you will not look at him. You close your eyes and sigh, pressing your ear against his chest. The thumping of his heart races slightly as the heat of your skin passes to his own, soothing the scars and invigorating his veins.

"That would make you an accomplice." He said huskily, "I don't want to taint you."

You laughed blithely, wriggling from his grip to lift your head and boop his nose.

"Silly, Ajax~!" You crooned adoringly, "Even the purest snow needs to get dirty to melt into spring; and even the clearest waters hold their secrets beyond what the eyes can see."

Your eyes gained a ruthless gleam that made Childe's breath hitch. Your fingertips traced his torso, dabbling on the line between his skin and the gauzes. Your hand wraps around his throat, not tight to suffocate but enough to make him feel the weight of its existence. It was not calloused from a lifetime of battles, but from years of labor within Snezhnaya's endless winter. Nevertheless, it felt soft and delicate compared to his own.

"Should the day ever come," you promised solemnly, "that Tartaglia devours Ajax within you, I would kill you myself."

Childe's eyes widened. For a second, the lost spark in his eyes flickered.

"Tainting me or not," you smirked meaningfully, "it was never a choice for you to make, Ajax."

In a matter of circumstance, you joined the Fatui with a determined glint in your eyes and a menacing sharpness in your serene smile. You were not empty or unfeeling, for you still shone with an unforgiving light that dismantled even the Harbingers to their core. You did not hold the same prowess as Childe did when he started as a recruit, but your potential was overflowing when it came to everything else. It took a matter of months before the Harbingers, excluding perhaps the Jester and Capitano whom had been silent, began fighting in a passive-aggressive manner in an attempt to have you as their subordinate. The Tsaritsa had been indifferent, though she did seem to smile when you met her eyes fearlessly after your paths briefly crossed in the Zapolyarny Palace.

The other Harbingers must have taken quite a hit to their pride when you chose to bend one knee—bowing only in front of the Eleventh, right where they can see you.

"This humble soldier swears allegiance to Tartaglia, Eleventh of the Fatui Harbingers."

Childe gave a knowing smile, eyes flashing in appreciative endearment as he beholds your glorious form. He glances at his fellow Harbingers with a triumphant glare, brimming with possessive arrogance to which they all scowled. There was a palpable tension, a hint of envy to know that the lowest rank amongst them can encourage such devout loyalty. It was obvious there was something else to your relationship, but nobody could alas prove it.

"Rise, [Name]." He projects strongly, "This Harbinger acknowledges your oath."

Although you have joined his crusade in the Fatui, it did not mean you had to leave the place you have made for yourself in his family as his childhood friend. Since Childe made it clear he wishes to keep his real job a secret from the little ones, you also played your part in the secrecy. As far as his younger siblings are concerned, you are now an employee in Childe's toymaking company. In fact, you are the main designer of the toys. It is not too far from the truth since you end up being the one providing the toys to keep covering for Childe's lie. He knows engineering is one of your many talents, a reason why even Dottore and Sandrone had been very interested to have you as an assistant.

"[Name]," Teucer said when you joined their family for dinner, "when are you going to marry our brother?"

Childe ended up choking on his water, spilling it all over the table—much to his mother's chagrin. His father amusedly watches him struggle to regain his breath, patting his back in mocking consolation. You remain unfazed as you smiled at Teucer, whom sat on your other side. You chuckled as you grabbed the napkin, wiping away the crumbs and sauce on his youthful face. As Childe coughed into his elbow, he could not help but admire that maternal glow around you.

"When your brother asks, I suppose." You answered seriously.

Tonia squeals in delight while Anthon whistles, and Teucer celebrates by clapping his hands. All three glared at Childe expectantly while he stared at you, mouth agape and cheeks flushing in a rare image of flustered astonishment. His eyes seem to shake in unfathomable emotions, gulping dryly when you met his gaze with a challenging smile.

"It's getting late." His mother saves the day, "Ajax should escort [Name] back home."

His father smirked before Childe could agree, "Or [Name] could just stay the night like she always did when she and Ajax were younger. It's been a while since she has visited. It would be a shame for her to leave so soon."

Tonia nodded sagely, "I agree. Besides, maybe our dumb brother could finally pop the question if he gets used to sharing a room with his future wife again."

Just like that, the almighty Eleventh Harbinger got bullied by his own family.

In the solitude of his bedroom, you and Childe got dressed for bed with your backs turned to each other. Once done, you boldly embrace him from behind as you wrap your arms around his shoulders. You lean your head against his while he sat hunched over the bedside, elbows on his knees. He sighs with an exasperated smile, tilting his head to look back at you.

"You have got to stop teasing me like that." He said.

You grinned smugly, kissing him passionately on the lips.

Friend, comrade, lover—the label matters not.

The absolute truth is that you are bound to be together until your hearts stopped beating.

"Beyond the gods I defy, my end shall come in your hands."

•☆••☆••☆•

80 notes · View notes

m1d-45 · 1 year

Note

Yo, mid, i know its very late for me and i just am trying to sleep while its fucking COLD, i had a thought jolt me awake from my dozing.

How hot do pyro's run? I do know that some people CANON it to be true that pyro users have high body heat, but is it like africa versus the northpole or something like that?

Cuz i currently desire a personal heater snugglebug.

Goodnight.

-🥘Stew

warmth

a/n: could be read as sagau, could be taken as just regular genshin. this kinda devolved from the ask but… eh? only diluc and thoma are ‘x reader’s, the others are mostly character studies.

word count: 2.1k

-> warnings: n/a! minor spoilers for character lore, i suppose? xinyan may be slightly ooc? mentioned xingqiu x chongyun in hu taos part?

-> gn reader! (you/yours)

characters: diluc, bennett, klee, amber, xinyan, xiangling, yanfei, hu tao, yoimiya, thoma, in that order :) the traveller is mentioned but isn’t specified (they/them, no names)

taglist: @samarill || @thenyxsky || @valeriele3 || @shizunxie || @boba-is-a-soup || @yum1x || @esthelily

< masterlist >

mmm it honestly depends on your opinion, but i personally am pretty guilty of imagining myself a diluc to hold onto when i’m cold, so i’d say there’s at least a bit of a difference.

i heard from the first golden apple archipelago event that diluc apparently melted kaeya’s icebridge (citation needed), so that pretty much confirms that a significant level of difference is present between pyro users and the general public. however, it was still summer and assuming diluc was still wearing his giant coat, they must be at least vaguely immune to overheating/possess some sort of control over it. all this to say that at the bare minimum, diluc wouldn’t mind holding you close during a chilly winter. the winery is prone to chilly hallways, just due to its size, and he stays up late anyway. please, don’t be afraid to go knocking on his door: chances are he’s awake and more than willing to let you in. despite being a pyro wielder, his blankets are large and thick, carrying enough heat to keep you warm while he wraps up his paperwork. you don’t have to stay awake with him if you don’t wish; the sight of you tucked away within his bed is one he wishes to memorize.

i imagine bennett’s high heat has definitely saved him from getting sick when his adventure is ruined by rain (again), keeping him from ever being at risk despite the fact that his clothes are soaked and the path he’s trudging through is muddy. he’s well used to it, but it doesn’t stop his dads from chastising him whenever he returns, directing him towards his room and one of the many, many spare sets of clothing he had. he dries off quickly after showers, his clothes never sticking, and sometimes when his adventure ended well he’ll be glowing, embers in his eyes as he excitedly tells you about it, uncaring of the way some of the dry grass caught in his hair begins to spark. for your sake and his, bring him inside and let him talk to you after you remove the tinder.

klee, younger, likely has a lesser degree of control over her vision. she’s probably prone to hiking up a few degrees when she’s excited, and is often found in albedo’s camp at dragonspine simply due to the fact that she both can easily re-light his fire when the winds blow too hard and he knows she won’t get sick. he sits on his stool, watching his experiment and listening intently to her talk about gunpowder. when snow washes in and puts out the measly store of wood collected in the middle of his lab, it barely registers before she’s collected pyro in her palms and shot it neatly to the center of the pile. any moisture vaporizes, the flames licking higher than they normally would.

amber has a better control over her vision than most would expect from somebody so young. her vision hangs off her belt and only barely glows a bit brighter when speaking about the knights, her gloves waving animatedly as she tells some tale of the cavalry captain’s newest scheme. he comes up, hearing all gossip in the city and doubly so that which pertains to him, but even the hiss of cryo doesn’t dampen her emotions. she ignores the hand he puts on her shoulder and simply puts hers on her hips, pretending he isn’t there and continuing about how it’s so irresponsible of him to continue such behavior. he laughs, telling her it’s rude to be so cold, but the way the inside of her gloves grow warm says otherwise. it’s invisible to most, dampened by leather and the many guards of an archer’s arms, but anybody that looks can tell you for certain that the brightest fires in the city are lit by an outrider’s glow, provided only that you ask about her recent expedition.

xinyan is well aware of her loud nature, and learned the hard way not to let it get out of control. pyrotechnics are a large part of her shows, but it took her a while to get there. she loves rock and roll, and performing gives her so much energy- she played barely a day after she received her vision, when her control was weak and her body was still adapting to the change, and the guitar she played then on no longer works now. five dots singe the area around the strings, a large patch where her palm rested sunken into the wood. if you ask about it, she’ll wave you off shyly, unwilling to tell you about how she had to wear heat sinks in a pair of special gloves for a few months. still, just to be certain, she bought a bottle of heat-resistant sealant to brush over her current guitar for her tours. she loves music, loves her shows and doing what she does, and she’s much better at controlling her vision now, but… it’s better safe than sorry, right?

xiangling, similar to bennett, has been saved many times by her heightened body temperature. turns out, it gets incredibly dangerous climbing the spires of liyue since the wind can turn your fingers cold and creaky, making it deadly to try and climb, but she’s never run into that problem. she moves with ease, unfettered by the chill, her sheer enthusiasm seeping into the stone beneath her. when she travelled to mondstat, she passed by a camp near the base of dragonspine and overheard a peculiar recipe, one that required a special kind of ‘chilled meat’. the chef seemed nervous to give her the location, due simply to her clothing, but she set off anyway. needless to say, dragonspine is colder than liyue, and the traveller found her and guoba hunched by a campfire, clearly shivering. they led her off a mountain and with the promise to never return without a proper team (or warmer clothes), they handed her some chilled meat from their inventory. after a bit of further pressing, they taught her how to make goulash. she took excellent notes.

as a lawyer, the last thing yanfei needs is to be hot-headed. the law is slippery, always twisting from her hands, and the ability to grit one’s teeth and stand again after it swipes beneath their feet is one needed in the world of legal advice. ningguang can’t count the amount of times she’s received a letter from her detailing the most recent loophole she’s found, the paper stained with ash around the edges. at first she thought it unprofessional, but after being stopped on the street and quite frankly chastised due to the slow response time when such a matter as the law was concerned…. she understood a little more. her next letter was responded to promptly, and yanfei’s gratitude showed in court, citing one of the tianquan’s letters as proof that a law was changed prior to a merchant’s new policy, not after. as a half-adepti, more power runs through her than most, and she often grows too warm to think in her office. she has measures to counteract this, such as traveling to deal with cases, allowing the wind to wick away her frustration, or simply wearing cooler clothes during the summer. madam ping was the one to suggest the latter, and she lives every day grateful. still, as they share a cup of tea as yanfei rants about a civil case she’s been assigned, yanfei’s mug stays warmer than ping’s for nearly the entire time. thankfully, she prefers her drinks hot anyway, and green tea has always helped take the edge off her irritation.

hu tao is many things, but emotional is not one of them. being a funeral director requires a certain level of coldness to it, as to not let the many deaths a day affect you, and she handles her role quite well. she carries enough respect that her voice is somber when speaking to the families of the deceased, yet doesn’t allow the constant gloom to affect her. perhaps it’s her sense of humor, allowing her to brush it off a bit easier, or perhaps it’s the fact that it’s hard to feel sad when xingqiu is describing his latest escapade with chongyun. the latter is at wanmin, waiting for his popsicles, and hu tao listens with bubbly glee to their most recent tale. it’s funny, how oblivious chongyun can be, and as they sit and swing their legs across the street, the stone beneath her feels less and less warm. they share, they banter, they talk about poetry and all things literary. when their hands knock together xingqiu winces slightly at the heat of her rings, but cools his hand easily enough with a bit of hydro. when chongyun returns, xingqiu takes the small treat he offers her, unwilling to risk him getting singed. chongyun recites what xiangling told him to about her newest creation, and hu tao stifles a grin. the edges of the small napkin begin to darken, but she hardly notices. focused on the slight glaze in xingqiu’s eyes, the funeral director laughs.

working with fireworks with a pyro vision is a risky adventure. yoimiya, who was incredibly cautious about such things and only ever used her vision to light fireworks at first, rarely ever runs into this risk, but it’s on her mind. as the queen of the summer festival—a title that never fails to bring heat to her cheeks, should you mention it—its her responsibility to keep up and maintain the same level of quality year after year, and she is intent on delivering. still, she’s not immune to problems associated with a vision like hers. the small building of naganohara fireworks is one with a rich history, gunpowder and dye embedded between the floorboards, but it doesn’t have the best ventilation. it’s by design, as a stray breeze can ruin a fragile firework, but sometimes she wishes she could have a fan. she loves creating them, enthusiasm sparking whenever she gushes to her father about her latest idea, but when the summer gets hot and the room gets hotter, even one sleeve of a kimono feels like too many. don’t get her wrong, the process of barely singeing a dye so it crackles instead of pops is one far easier with a vision, but when the time finally comes to sit back and let sparks fly, she doesn’t hang around to watch the fuses get lit. instead, she moves somewhere cooler, letting the night breeze cool off her excitement, sitting cross-legged on chilly grass. when the fireworks start and the sky lights up, youmiya glows along with them.

a housekeeper does a lot of things, but starting fires is not typically one of them. both ayato and ayaka prefer cooler weather, the former having the ability to mostly self-regulate, and thoma’s vision mostly went unused. other than occasionally lighting the fire at shimura’s or one of the other food stalls he stopped at, thoma’s days were quiet, free of battle. he was simply a housekeeper, and though he occasionally misjudged the weather and gave ayaka a false impression, they both quickly learned to seek a second opinion. the same was with you. quiet days, mornings spent in a soft sort of haze as he woke up before the sun even on his days off. he didn’t mind, turning to brush away some hairs from your face, but you leaned into his palm, shifting closer. he smiled, one that dissipated when he noticed the goosebumps down your arm, leading beneath the thin sheets. he was confused for a moment, as the room felt fine to him, but he quickly remembered that it wouldn’t be the same to you. with a murmured apology and an arm around your waist, thoma made a mental note to bring thicker blankets for you from the closet. winter was coming and evidently early, and the last thing he wanted was for you to be cold. still, that was a problem for later, for when your skin didn’t warm under his and when the sun was further overhead.

#these just kept getting longer as i went btw there’s no significance to klee’s section being like. 1/3 of yoimiya’s—#genshin #genshin impact #genshin fluff #fluff #diluc #bennett #klee #genshin amber #xinyan #xiangling #yanfei #hu tao #yoimiya #thoma #diluc x reader #thoma x reader #genshin x reader #diluc fluff #thoma fluff #somebody PLEASE tell me they don’t hate this format i this is the most productive i’ve been all week #stew🥘 anon #< also real funny of you to start your ask with ‘i know it’s late’ bro i don’t even know what time it is for me let alone you. you could #have said it was noon and i’d believe you. time is fake anyway.#anyway. you 🤝 me: imagining pyro cuddles as we shiver like hell. sorry this didn’t feature more hugs but most of these people are Children #probably could have twisted it into just. you and them vibing. but i have not edited this and i’m not starting now #if you’d like actual pyro cuddles just say the word. i would be more than happy to

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captainknell · 6 months

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*BOOK REPORT*

By Command of the Emperor, by SJ Watson

(my copy is plain and blue, but I'm guessing it once had a book jacket like the one on the right)

I initially did not know very much about Marshal Berthier but through @gabrielferaud I began to learn of the abuse he endured from Napoleon and I remembered I had this book.

I was surprised to learn that Berthier was 16 years older than our Emperor, and already had an accomplished life before Napoleon came into the picture.

In 1779,

Alexandre was now twenty-six years old. He had served as a topographical engineer, as a lieutenant in the infantry, and as a cavalry captain; and he was now on the personal staff of an army commander.

By the next year, he was serving overseas under General Rochambeau in the American Revolution alongside Washington and La Fayette! After three years in America, he returned to France.

And so Berthier - a cadet at the age of twelve, a general at thirty-nine and a private at forty - quietly resigned himself to the end of his military career, the more so because he had never held any personal ambitions other than to do his best.

Berthier would have been better off if he had retired at forty and had never met Napoleon Bonaparte. He would have disappeared into obscurity, but fate would have different plans. Alternately, Napoleon was very lucky to have found Berthier. I'm going to go out on a limb and say without Berthier, Napoleon wouldn't have been anywhere near as successful as he was. Yes, he was a great general, a great leader, a genius, but he needed someone who could understand his intentions and make sure his plans were executed with precision. That man was Alexandre Berthier.

For 18 years, Berthier served Napoleon. He was the chief of staff and the first to be made a Marshal of France under Napoleon. He endured Napoleon's temper and unjust scorn. Napoleon called him, "Uninteresting" and "no good" and "in the way". Napoleon hardly ever let Berthier take credit for his success but was quick to blame his own faults on Berthier. But Berthier was loyal through and through. When warned of Napoleon's temper early on, he said, "But remember that one day it will be a fine thing to be second to that man."

It was a very good book with only two things I thought were odd. 1) Napoleon forced Berthier to marry and it was later mentioned that he had two young sons. Nothing was mentioned about his wife being pregnant or the birth of his sons, or even their names. 2) Berthier died from a fall out of a window. The book implied that he was dizzy and fell out or that Caulaincourt (his friend!) had him murdered. I think he either fell or jumped on his own. I don't think anyone - especially Caulaincourt - had anything to do with it.

But all in all, it was a very good and informative book. I learned a lot about Marshal Berthier and saw another side of Napoleon that I am not used to seeing. Like with most books that aren't a general biography of Napoleon, I would definitely suggest having some background knowledge as things that are going on are not always explained fully.

#berthier #marshal berthier #louis alexandre berthier #alexandre berthier #by command of the emperor #a life of Marshal Berthier #sj Watson #book report #Napoleon #napoleon bonaparte

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seraph-of-sizes · 5 months

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unsure if you write for them (feel free to ignore if you dont!), but g/t hcs for beidou and/or kaeya?

It was kinda hard to think of much for them since I don't have an established narrative of how tiny folks would be treated in Gen.shin. But here ya go!

============================================

Beidou: Love her so much, I was a Beidou main for a tiny while before Kazuha had his rerun.

Giant/human size:

Large and in charge! She isn’t one to tiptoe around tinies, she would rather them either be able to tolerate her as her usual self than live around her in potential misery. It’s nothing personal, but if she lets just any ol’ tiny on one of the Crux’s ships someone is gonna get hurt.

She would happily let tinies sit on her shoulders, in a pocket or two, she’s never been more grateful to sleep like a corpse, since she doesn’t have to worry about rolling over and hurting anyone using her as a space heater.

If this woman ever met a tiny’s child, she will melt. Like her hard-headed attitude crumbles around infants, and tiny ones even more so. Like, what do you mean this little rice grain is a baby?

Beidou regularly makes stops in ports more often when she notices certain tinies are getting restless, since she knows the telltale signs of their need to move homes.

She finds it crazy that some tinies like to be held and manhandled, though she hides her confusion with amusement as she becomes a jungle gym for the more energetic tiny kids.

Tiny/borrower size:

Good luck finding this woman if she doesn’t want to be found.

Regularly fights things that normal borrowers would run away from. She gets a reputation as a tiny that’ll fight a human if she has to.

She would likely find her way onto the Alcor at some point, and eventually she would end up as Captain through sheer will alone.

She would be very particular about who can hold her, as much as she trusts certain people, she knows her life is literally in their hands. The only ones she trusts to grab her are Ningguang and Kazuha.

Kaeya: I would be lying if I didn’t say he carried me in early game. His Summer outfit is so pretty too.

Giant/human size:

TEASING. This mans needs to chill out (heh) or he’s gonna inevitably give a tiny a heart attack. He has been reprimanded more than once for dangling tinies by the backs of their shirts, or drinking alcohol while he’s supposed to be keeping an eye on the tiny ones of Mond.

As the Cavalry Captain of the KoF he sees more tinies than most normal citizens, since the KoF is responsible for the wellbeing of ALL citizens of Mond, big or small.

During the summer tinies will come find him just to be near him since his Cryo vision keeps the air around him cool in the overbearing heat of the summer. He makes a huge fuss because he can’t move with so many tinies on him, forcing him to sit down and work on paperwork all day. He loves it though.

In the winter the opposite is true, no tiny braves the cold air that seeps into their very bones while snow blankets the streets outside. It’s common for Kaeya to drink a lot of tea and coffee so at least his hands aren’t freezing cold if he has to pick up a tiny from outside.

Very few borrowers in Mond know about K’hanreiah, so he doesn’t feel as ostracized around them, and he can listen to compliments about his eye without flashing back to the day he got his vision.

Tiny/borrower size:

If Kaeya was a tiny, his whole life would likely have taken a much different path. Either the fight between him and Diluc never happened, or it did but Diluc quickly realized his overreaction and apologized.

He would be far less cynical and could be spotted running all over the Dawn Winery’s main house. He would befriend all sorts of folks that would come to do business with Diluc, and would act as a second pair of eyes and ears for his brother. Especially if the Fatui is involved.

#genshin g/t #g/t writing #genshin impact g/t #giant!beidou #tiny!beidou #giant!kaeya #tiny!kaeya #blurby request

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pochipop · 2 years

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＃ GENSHIN IMPACT !! ♡ — THE CURIOUS CASE OF DILUC RAGNVINDR (DILUC X DETECTIVE!READER).

#. synopsis! — just after arriving in mondstadt, a novice level private investigator receives a lengthy commission from none other than kaeya alberich, acting cavalry captain for the knights of favonius. the excitement wears thin, however, when the instructions are to go undercover as a housemaid and work under the formidable wine tycoon, diluc ragnvindr himself. tasked with keeping tabs on the man who seems to be quite a polarizing figure, the lines between employer and employee begin to blur as bleeding hearts come undone and walls all but crumble apart at the seams .

#. characters! —diluc .

#. warnings! — slight angst , non-graphic depictions of wounds , mentions of alcohol .

#. word count! — 7.2k .

#. alt accounts! — @ddollipop (nsfw) @yyolkchi (reblog/spam) .

#. others! — navigation & masterlist .

When you readily accepted a commission from Kaeya, Cavalry Captain for the Knights of Favonius who has quite the credibility according to most people of Mondstadt, this really isn’t what you had in mind. For starters, you expected it to be much less of a personal matter, —maybe something pertaining to his own position, investigating suspicious outlanders or tracking a particular person to bring them in for questioning. Definitely not working under his estranged elder brother Diluc Ragnvindr as a housemaid, simply watching out for the red-haired male to let his sibling know that he’s fairing okay. It’s safe to say going “undercover” at Dawn Winery was the last thing you thought would happen, but here you are, bringing Diluc yet another set of order forms (the one on top requesting an egregious amount of dandelion wine.)

Although housekeeping is far from your area of expertise, you’ve fared quite well thus far. Diluc hasn’t had any complaints about your efficiency or abilities, and your fellow co-workers have been nothing but full of praise for you since the moment you stepped in through the door. Of course, a part of you wonders if they’re only laying it on so thick because they’d like to keep the extra hands around, but for what it’s worth, their kind words likely would have been incredibly uplifting in any other circumstance. Yours is quite different, though. . .

As a private investigator, albeit a novice one who recently traveled to Mondstadt in hopes of making a name for yourself across Teyvat, the work of maids isn’t really your forte. Obviously you respect the profession and those who choose it for themselves, but your path has not prepared you for anything of the sort: and it’s a lot more work than one might expect. Cooking, cleaning, organizing, sorting through letters and documents, running about to put things in their proper places, greeting visitors who come to tour the winery, —and that’s all within a single day.

“Who needs this much wine?” You question, muttering under your breath as you shuffle through the order forms on your way to Diluc’s personal office.

He may or may not be inside, —it’s usually hard to tell. His schedule is often hectic and difficult to get a grasp on, leaving you feeling a bit guilty at the end of the day when you finally catch him and have to place a stack of papers in his hands. Though it’s not your fault, you feel guilty for adding to his obviously abundant workload. Diluc never shows any sign of blame, however. He accepts the documents from you with quick thanks and sets off again (assumedly to make his way through them before he can finally head to sleep at night.)

Thing is, Diluc doesn’t always do that, either. . .

Sometimes, you see him slinking away from the manor in the dead of night, moving quickly through the darkness. He’s cautious and observant, taking in his surroundings and being sure to avoid the eyesight of onlookers. Except you, of course, but that’s hardly any fault of his own. As far as Diluc knows, you’re just a traveler looking for work in Mondstadt that happened to be recommended for a job at the winery. He has no inherent reason to be suspicious of you, especially when you complete your assigned tasks in such timely manners.

Little does he know, you've been keeping tabs on him at the request of his brother. Every seven days, you're to sneak away from the manor and speak with Kaeya in secret, —just to assure him that Diluc is doing okay, that he isn't running himself into the ground and completely forgoing his personal needs and health.

Tonight marks the first seven days, and once the moon rises into the sky, you'll be creeping off into the night to meet with Mondstadt's Cavalry Captain in his office. He'll be expecting you.

You wrap your knuckles across Diluc's office door three quick times, calling out: "Master Diluc, I've brought order forms from the morning and afternoon."

Though you expected silence in return, as Diluc tends to be out of office at midday most of the time, he calls out to you from inside.

"Come in."

You twist the knob of the door and push it open, entering the room with your back straight. He sits behind his large, wooden desk, eyes glued to whatever he's writing at the moment. You watch and he crosses a T and dots a few Is before his crimson gaze flickers to where you stand.

He outstretches his hand and you place the order forms into his grip.

"Thank you, y/n."

The way he says your name each time when you complete a task and he thanks you for it has always been quite nice, in your opinion. You're sure he does it with all the staff members that keep up around the manor, but it's a nice touch. It allows him to narrow his appreciation to a more personalized level, rather than blanketing his thanks across the team. Diluc seems to appreciate individuals.

You make a mental note of that.

"My pleasure," you mod, "—then, I'll be off."

"Wait just a moment," he requests, voice deep and slightly monotone, but ebbing with an edge of softness.

"Oh," falls from your lips before you have the chance to stop it. "Yes sir?"

He sets the order forms you just handed him aside, lithe fingers ghosting against the glossy surface of his desk.

"Are you adjusting well?" Diluc inquires. "Not just here at your job and at the winery, —but to Mondstadt."

His question takes you by surprise. It's hardly in the description of his position to be worried about the personal lives and feelings of his employees, but the fact that he does says quite a bit about his character. At least to you, anyway.

"Yes, I think so,” you nod. “Everyone here at the manor has been exceptionally welcoming, and the people of Mondstadt are very kind.”

Diluc nods.

“I’m glad,” he says simply. “Please don’t hesitate to reach out if you need something, I’ll be more than glad to help in any way I can, even if that just means pointing you in the direction of someone more qualified than myself.”

“I’ll keep that in mind, then,” you answer, offering him a coy smile.

You may well be a private investigator, but you’re also painfully human, and Diluc. . . Well, he’s handsome. He’s kind and considerate, if a bit blunt, and he’s honest (perhaps to a fault, but in your actual line of work, that serves to be a very beneficial thing.)

“Thank you.”

Your thanks is genuine, despite the circumstances at play, and the way your heart skips a little beat is also genuine (if a bit embarrassingly so.) In your defense, however, it’s hard not to get that way around Diluc when he’s so intriguing. He has a magnetizing quality, and though his general front is one of a business-oriented young man who seeks not the friendship of others, it’s starkly obvious that so much more is swimming just beneath the surface.

You close his office door behind you on the way out, pausing just outside to rest your back against the wood. A small sigh escapes your lips, and you clutch at the fabric of your uniform that sits just above your heart.

Diluc Ragnvindr is a very curious man.

Kaeya sits across from you, boot-covered feet perched up on his desk. Seeing him like this, you realize just how different he and Diluc are despite their connection (or lack thereof these days.) The younger is much more outwardly warm; almost inviting. The elder is the colder of the two, despite their respective Cryo and Pyro visions saying otherwise. Kaeya is loosely wrapped, while Diluc is wound tight. For brothers, it seems to you that they couldn’t possibly be more unalike.

“There’s really nothing much of interest to report,” you say, watching his handsome face closely for any sign of disappointment.

You don’t find any, though half of his most telling feature is hidden behind an eyepatch.

“He’s a diligent man, from what I’ve gathered. Knowledgeable about his own line of work, but also willing to be stood corrected if the need for it arises.”

Kaeya snickers, removing his legs from the desk to plant the small heels of his boots firmly on the floor.

“He can be quite proud, but it’s no wonder you haven’t seen that side of him yet,” he comments amusedly.

A small part of you wants to reflexively defend Diluc, —insist that everyone can be that way from time to time if the circumstances call for it, but you bite your tongue. After all, Kaeya is your commissioner, and the last thing you’d want to do is upset the very man paying you handsomely for your work. Even more so, he’s known Diluc far longer than you have. They’re brothers. . . You can only assume Kaeya knows about and has seen things of Diluc that you could never imagine to be plausible under the image of the man you’ve come to know thus far.

“He works quite a bit, but seems to handle himself well enough,” you add, hoping to shift the topic a bit. “If he were anyone else, I might suggest he slow down, but a part of me thinks he might do best when his days are jam-packed and there’s never a lull in his duties.”

“You’re perceptive,” Kaeya notes, although it doesn’t feel much like a compliment of your skills, but rather a blunt observation.

It felt like something he was testing you for, as if you’d just passed the first step of some unknown trial you didn’t know you were taking part in.

“My dear brother. . . He works himself to the bone,” Kaeya dramatizes.

“Forgive me if I’m overstepping, Mr. Alberich—”

“Kaeya,” he interjects lightly.

You backtrack and begin again.

“Forgive me if I’m overstepping, Kaeya,” you correct, “but if you know all of this already, then why hire a private investigator?”

Though he seems to be the flippant type, you highly doubt he’d sink low enough to hire the likes of you just to make Diluc feel uneasy in his own home. You suspect there’s something gaping between the two of them —something that’s separated them quite headily— but you also know it’s not your place to question such things. Moreover, even with that in mind, you can sense that Kaeya cares for Diluc. He may well prefer to wear a mask of flirtatious indifference, but Kaeya is much like Diluc in the way that he slips on a mask each morning to shield himself from the view prying eyes.

Maybe they’re not so different after all. . .

Kaeya laughs.

“Like I said before, —I’m just concerned about him, is all,” he answers. “He’s family. Is that so strange?”

You purse your lips before answering.

“No, I suppose not.”

The days go by smoothly, and soon turn into weeks. Every seven days, you return to Kaeya’s office in the Knights of Favonius headquarters with nothing particularly of interest to report. He seems unphased by the plateuted investigation, —as if that’s what he’d been expecting the entire time.

You don’t tell Kaeya that Diluc slips out of the manor at night sometimes.

A part of you thinks he already knows as much, but on the off-chance he hasn’t a clue, you don’t know that it’s your place to say. Though you’re technically working for Kaeya above all else, it’s hard to remove your feelings from this predicament when you spend all of your days working under Diluc rather than his brother. You don’t want to betray either of their trust, but each time you try to explain the way the red haired male sneaks off, clinging to the shadows, you can’t bring yourself to rat him out.

You fear you really weren’t cut out for this job so early on. It seemed to be an easy task in the beginning, but you’d completely forgotten that you too are human, just as they are, and your feelings were bound to get in the way. Emotions are a virtue, but also a deadly vice. They’re a double-edged sword, —one of ice, and one of fire.

“Y/n, there you are,” Adelinde says, approaching you in one of the branching bedrooms you’ve been tidying up for the past fifteen minutes or so.

“Sorry,” you apologize, “I didn’t know you were looking for me. Is everything alright?”

“Not to worry,” she brushes it off easily, “Master Diluc requested that I send you to his office, so please hurry over. I’ll finish up here in your place.”

“Oh, you’re sure? I can finish when I get back. I wouldn’t want to trouble you.”

“It’s no trouble at all,” Adelinde insists, taking the broom from your hands gently. “Off you go.”

Her playful prompt earns a smile from you and you quickly do as instructed. You’re a bit nervous for what’s to come considering Diluc has never called for you specifically. . . Each time you’ve entered his office, it’s been only to hand him papers, a snack, a drink, or to inform him of something important. Otherwise, your interactions with him have taken place casually in the halls or outside on the deck of the manor. Pleasantries, usually, just impromptu conversation or simple hellos exchanged in passing.

This is likely to be different, though.

You wrap your knuckles against the door, and Diluc calls out from the inside.

“Come in.”

You do, closing the door behind you.

“My apologies for interrupting your work,” he says, “but I was wrapping up these order forms and it suddenly dawned on me that you haven’t had the opportunity to explore Mondstadt, have you?”

He’s not wrong there. Between working around the manor and having to sneak away to report back to Kaeya, the most you’ve really seen is whatever lies between those two necessary destinations. Even then, most of your sight-seeing has been muddled by darkness and a general rushing from one place to the next.

“Not much,” you answer honestly, “but from what I have seen, it’s a very beautiful place.”

He cracks a smile, —something you don’t see often from him.

“It is,” he nods.

You always had an inkling that he was fond of this nation, but now you know that to be the case. There’s a little sparkle in his eyes now, one that anyone but you might well have missed. But it’s very literally your job to hone in on even the smallest details. It can’t be helped that you notice the little things about him.

“I’d hate to be the reason you don’t see at least the city properly,” he continues on. “I’ve got some errands to run in a bit before late evening falls, so if you’d like to accompany me, I’d be grateful for the help, and I’d be sure to give you a modest tour.”

His offer takes you by surprise, but you accept it readily nonetheless. You’re supposed to be gathering information about him in his day-to-day life, after all, and there’s likely no better way to go about that than to accompany him on a casual trip. This is a perfect opportunity to fulfill your duties for Kaeya in a proactive manner; maybe finally have something of note to report back to him.

Deep down, though, you know that’s not all there is to it. A part of you, for whatever reason, wants to head out with Diluc, —wants to hear him speak more when it’s directed for your ears only. Wants whatever personal attention he’ll give you. . . And you’re not sure what to make of that. You fear you know exactly where it stems from, but it’s far too early to say as far as you’re concerned. Most of all, you’d rather it be something else entirely.

Talk about unprofessionalism. . .

There’s something starkly different about this Diluc, however. He seems more at ease, less rigid and stiff as he walks the streets of Mondstadt. He even offers casual smiles to those that greet him as they pass him by. Fondness radiates from every pore on his body, and you, in all his glory, can’t help but think that it’s sweet. You doubt that’s something you can report back to his brother, but you note it, for yourself if nothing else.

“Those white flowers are pretty,” you comment, finger pointing toward the pale-colored petals atop vibrantly green stems.

The young girl selling them seems to beam with pride in the moments before she opens her mouth to speak.

“They’re called Cecilia flowers,” she tells you, “—they only grow in Mondstadt.”

“Ah, I guess that’s why I’ve never seen them before,” you reply. “Still, they’re beautiful.”

“You like them?” Diluc asks.

You nod, “I do! They’re unique. I’ve never seen anything quite like them.”

At your confirmation, Diluc stuffs a large hand into one of his pockets and rifles around for a moment before pulling out a small sum of Mora. He hands it to Flora, who readily accepts it in her small palms that seem even tinier than they really are in comparison to Diluc’s. Though she owns a popular and seemingly successful flower shop, the way her eyes glimmer with childlike wonder at the sight of currency really encapsulates her true, innocent nature.

“Can I just take this one here?” Diluc asks, pointing toward one of the Cecilia flowers you were fawning over just moments ago.

Flora nods.

“It’s all yours, but do be careful with it! Flowers are quite delicate,” she warns.

He nods in understanding, taking the plant gently into his grasp before leading you just a ways away. In this little pocket of the city, nobody is looking your way. It’s all too easy to slink into the corners and take a breather, —share a moment with Diluc that nobody else is privy to. Against Flora’s advice, he snaps the stem off a bit, then holds the flower close to you.

“May I?”

You’re not sure what he’s asking permission for, but you’d venture to say that you trust Diluc, so you give him a curt nod in a wordless response. He takes that as a go-ahead, gently pushing your hair away to slip the remaining stem behind your ear, pausing to make sure it’s secured before he pulls away and steps back. The way his eyes graze over you leaves your heart skipping a beat, feeling like some masterpiece painted by a skilled painter being admired as a finished product.

“Lovely,” he says, softly so, as if mumbling it to himself instead of you.

Your heart quivers.

As he goes about the rest of his tasks, retrieving fresh fruits from various vendors, obtaining new bottles and labels, and purchasing the both of you a quick, light dinner, you find yourself relaxing into his rhythm. He doesn’t say much, but his actions speak volumes, and you find yourself getting lost in the beat of his drum. Of course, it’s not like you can go to meet Kaeya tonight and tell him that his brother is a perfect candidate for a date, but at this point, it’s the only thing on your mind.

Not that this is a date.

That’s definitely not the case. . . Right?

Your nerves spike at the thought of it.

“I’m bartending at the Angel’s Share tonight,” Diluc says, pulling you from your thoughts. “Would you like to come? I’ll mix you something to your taste.”

The sun has yet to fully sink its way out of the sky, and you have no reason in particular to refuse him; so you don’t. Upon entering the tavern, you sit on one of the stools just in front of the bar, and Diluc makes his way behind the counter. You’re on the job —maybe even on two at once— so you request something non-alcoholic and he obliges, mixing you a fizzling fruit juice. It tastes like sunsettias and a flavor you can’t quite put your finger on, but it’s crisp and refreshing nonetheless.

“This is really good,” you compliment, taking another quick sip for emphasis.

He smiles again, and you’re certain that you’ve seen that expression on his face more times today alone than you have in the past four weeks you’ve been working under him.

“I’m glad you like it,” he replies.

You resign yourself to watching him work, mixing drinks for those that request for them. It’s clear that he’s skilled, has memorized every drink on the menu by heart, and knows exactly what he’s doing in every sense of the phrase. By the time your drink is halfway gone, the door of the tavern opens and you casually look over your shoulder out of curiosity. You nearly allow your expressions to betray you when Kaeya saunters in, but you manage to collect yourself, letting your eyes linger for a moment before laxly turning back around.

Kaeya seems hellbent on making your job (and life) that much harder, however, because he takes the seat directly beside you and angles his elbow along the bar, resting his cheek on the flat of his palm.

“The usual, Master Diluc,” Kaeya requests, sarcasm dripping from his lips.

Though you’ve been dealing with each of them for almost a month now, you’ve yet to see them interact. This is new territory. Unsurprisingly, Kaeya seems to be a bit of an instigator, while Diluc deflects his attempts at getting a rise out of him with a stone faced expression and almost mechanical movements. It’s a bit anxiety-inducing to be so up close and personal with it, but the dynamic between them is. . . Interesting, to say the least.

“Here,” Diluc mutters with a bitter edge to his voice, placing a glass before his brother.

No thanks is offered in reply, Kaeya simply swipes the glass up and tips it back, downing half of it in one fell swoop. You try not to stare, worried that seeming too familiar with Kaeya might give way to hints about the true nature of your relationship to him, —but Kaeya makes it admittedly hard to look away. The way he’s acting now is not in total contrast to the demeanor he has when you’ve been alone with him, but it’s not quite the same, either. It straddles an odd line drawn pitifully in the sand, and you’re not certain of what to do with yourself at the moment.

“I’m sure you’ve heard by now,” Kaeya pipes up again, “but Mondstadt has been buzzing with rumors about the so-called Darknight Hero.”

You doubt Diluc has been able to miss word of that. You’ve only been here for a short time, but even you have heard news of the mysterious vigilante that protects Mondstadt from the shadows. Though much less than official, Kaeya doesn’t seem particularly perturbed by the rumored existence of such a figure. . . More or less, he seems amused by it, as he often is by many things. Any and all things, actually.

“I don’t pay attention to baseless rumors,” Diluc responds coldly, eyes never drifting from the glass in his hand as he cleans the inside of it with a cloth.

Though you know you don’t have enough evidence to say for certain, you happen to believe that he’s being less than truthful. While he may well avoid the gossip that average people engage with throughout the day, you believe Diluc knows a lot more about the Darknight Hero than he’s letting on.

You might even venture to call it a rather personal endeavor.

That would certainly explain all the sneaking away from the manor that he does on random nights.

“Don’t be so uptight, Diluc,” Kaeya sighs into the latter half of his drink, “maybe gossiping a bit would do you some good. Frowning so much will frighten your customers away.”

The elder of the brothers sighs, but says nothing in reply. The younger snickers at the small reaction and tips his head back again, swallowing the rest of his drink down.

“Refill please,” he requests, to which Diluc snatches the glass away from him and does as asked with a scowl etched across his features.

He’s a bit ashamed of himself for acting this way in front of you, but Kaeya tends to bring the worst out of him, and he knows that. They both know it, in fact. You feel like you’re witnessing something that you’re not supposed to be seeing, and heavily consider finishing your drink up quickly and heading for the door. Even so, you sit still and stay silent, observing Diluc when he looks away and stealing small peeks at Kaeya, who is all too good at pretending like you simply don’t exist.

You drink a cup and a half in the time it takes Kaeya to chug four. You’re not sure whether that’s somewhat grotesque or impressive, but you keep those thoughts to yourself, and instead sit in silence as the two of them continually go back and forth with verbal spats. Kaeya starts them off, typically finishes them as well, and Diluc does his best to ignore his brother as much as he can whilst still doing his job.

“Well, I should be off,” Kaeya notes, swiping the back of his hand across his mouth. “I’ll be sure to stop by soon and pay you a visit, brother.”

As he stands, Kaeya taps his fingers against your knee. While you don’t react, you get the picture, and you excuse yourself from the bar not long after, denying Diluc’s request to walk you back to the manor. You take the long way to the Knights of Favonius headquarters this time; just in case.

Somewhere along the line, you’re forced to recognize that you’ve become more of a maid than a private investigator. This job pays well though, and with no foreseeable clients thus far, you don’t exactly have any other options. It would be impossible to advertise your services in Mondstadt now, what with Diluc roaming around, able to see flyers at any time. Not to mention that he’s paying you for your services at Dawn Winery as well, so you’re getting twice the income for the time being, and those savings will likely be very helpful down the line.

“Master Diluc,” you say, knocking on his office door with a plate of mint jelly freshly prepared by one of the maids. “I have a snack for you, if you’d like it.”

You were fairly certain he was in at the moment, but no answer rings out.

“Master Diluc?”

When you knock again, the door opens a tad and you steal a quick glance inside. Diluc is asleep at his desk, which is very much unlike him. Though you wonder if it’s best to simply leave him be and let him rest, the flush on his cheeks that you can see from even across the room leaves you worried.

The pang in your chest tells you that you’ve gotten too involved, and you kick yourself for making such a grave mistake your first time out on your own. It’s too late to take your feelings back now, so you sigh softly and all but accept your fate. Placing the plate on the edge of his desk, you place your hand against his forehead and roughly check his temperature. He’s warmer than you suspect he should be, and he doesn’t stir from the contact.

“Master Diluc,” you repeat for a third time, lightly shaking his shoulder to wake him up.

Slowly but surely, his eyelids peel back to reveal the glossy crimson of his irises. It’s clear that he’s a little dazed, and you keep your voice down, speaking to him softly.

“Do you feel unwell?” You ask, though you’re certain you already know the answer.

He blinks, looking so innocent in the moment that it’s almost startling.

“Just a bit,” he says, stifling a yawn.

This certainly isn’t the time to be thinking about such things, but you can’t help acknowledging that he’s quite cute with his hair disheveled and cheeks reddened. In your defense, you’re an investigator, and noting the small details is simply part of your job description. Maybe not the one Diluc pays you for, —but certainly for the one Kaeya does, albeit not in this fashion. . .

“Forgive me if I’m overstepping my boundaries, but I think you should go lie down,” you tell him, doing your best to tread carefully.

After that date-like evening out on the town and him slipping that Cecilia flower behind your ear, you’re uncertain of where you stand with him. You’re nowhere near naive enough to think he sees you as nothing more than an employee, but the rest is muddled from there. Is he seeking friendship? Is he after something more? Or, maybe, he’s seen right through you and is just trying to judge for himself what your true intentions are.

In any case, you know it’ll weigh heavily on your conscience if you don’t at least encourage him to go and rest when he feels ill.

You expected him to shake his head and insist that everything was fine, that he didn’t need the rest and could get on with his workday just fine, —but much to your surprise, he simply nods in agreement.

“You’re not overstepping at all,” he assures you. “I’ve been off all day, but I thought I could pull through. . . I suppose I was wrong.”

“He can be quite proud, but it’s no wonder you haven’t seen that side of him yet.”

Kaeya’s words ring out in your mind, but you still find that sentiment a bit distasteful. In fact, as things have gone on longer, this entire situation has become increasingly distasteful from your point of view. While you understand Kaeya’s motive for doing so, you wholeheartedly believe he’s going about this the wrong way. Of course, it’s likely not your place to say such a thing, but the temptation to do so grows with each passing meeting.

You’ve gotten tangled up in this mess of threads somehow, and you really want to be the one to make things right, even if you know that’s not your call.

You help Diluc to bed and inform the other members of staff that he’s not feeling well. Though they offer assistance, you insist that you can handle things yourself.

“Can I get you anything else?” You ask him as you adjust the cool cloth you just draped across his forehead.

This is the first time you’ve seen Diluc in comfortable clothes. The way loose fabric folds and caresses his skin is something akin to magical, and for the first time in your life, you find yourself being jealous of inanimate materials. A full glass of water sits on the nightstand beside his bed, and his bright hair is splayed across the pillow his head is resting on.

“No, I’m fine,” he insists, not wanting to take more of your time, but somehow wanting to do so all within the same breath.

“I’m sorry for making you go to all this trouble, y/n.”

“Not at all,” you shake your head in reply. “Please, rest well and feel better soon.”

It was nothing more than a passing cold mixed with some light exhaustion. He was almost completely better by the next morning, but something had irrevocably changed.

You were stuck staring at the ceiling that night, thinking about the way he all but nuzzled into the warmth of your palm when you went to check his temperature.

“Not to be brash, but don’t you think this is getting a little repetitive?” You ask.

Kaeya denies nothing, but shrugs his shoulders in reply.

“Maybe,” he answers simply.

“Okay. . . Then maybe it’s time to call this quits?” You press.

It’s been eighty-four days, and this investigation has proved to be completely useless, for lack of a better word. Diluc is many things, is definitely the Darknight Hero, —but none of that is anything Kaeya hadn’t known before you got there. You don’t want to be presumptuous and jump to the conclusion that he’d been playing with you for all this time, but you don’t exactly have another explanation to end with.

“I suppose that’s your choice to make,” Kaeya shrugs again, uncrossing his long, slender legs in order to lean forward and fix his single-eyed gaze on you. “You’re the professional here.”

You’re frustrated, but try your best to not let it show. You’re the professional here, after all.

“I don’t understand,” you say, voice even, but also notably cold. “What was the point of any of this? I didn’t tell you anything you didn’t already know, and moreso, everything you seem to want can’t be accomplished through me. If you want to reconcile with your brother, I can’t snap my fingers and magically make that happen.”

His face falters for a moment, surprised by your sudden questioning. Kaeya collects himself quickly, fixing up the mask that slipped ever so slightly out of place.

“Who said my brother and I needed any type of reconciliation?” He questions.

“You didn’t have to say that outright,” you answer, “it was glaringly obvious from the moment I saw the two of you interact at the Angel’s Share.”

A wiry smile works its way onto his lips.

“As expected of you, little detective.”

His comment is likely patronizing, but you don’t have the energy to care. Right now, you’re more concerned with how you’re going to break all of this to Diluc and claw at the scraps of whatever’s left. It was an invasion of privacy, and you’re far from blind to that. In this line of work, you’re no stranger to overstepping the boundaries that most people wouldn’t even dream of toeing. But this time, you’re sorry. It didn’t lead to any grand discoveries, and nothing has been settled. You might as well have been further shoving Diluc into himself, giving him yet another reason to be distrustful and look at all those around him with skeptical glares.

“I’m going to be honest with him,” you say firmly. “I won’t break our confidentiality, but I imagine he’ll put the pieces together himself.”

“More than likely,” Kaeya nods in agreement, but doesn’t seem particularly phased by that in the slightest.

“Well then,” you say, pulling yourself to your feet, “If that’s all, then I’ll be leaving.”

He raises a single hand, holding a pouch of Mora with nimble fingers.

“Don’t forget your final payment, investigator,” he quips.

Your reply of “keep it” is curt as the door to his official latches shut behind you.

Whatever happens from here will happen. You may well not like the ending, but it’s not yours to decide upon. As far as you can tell, Kaeya just wanted someone to care for Diluc without having to ask for it explicitly, —but to say that he went about it in the wrong way would be a grave understatement. With the moon hanging bright in the sky, you make your way back to the manor by way of starlight. A part of you wishes you could melt into the reflected rays of the sun and hide there, but you know that you owe it to Diluc to come clean. If nothing else, he deserves to know the truth.

Unfortunately, all thoughts of coming clean go out the window the minute you see Diluc kneeling on the ground just outside the manor, —arm wrapped tight around his abdomen, hunching over in pain with an obvious grimace written across his face. Obviously you haven’t a clue what’s happened, but you have nothing more to hide, so you rush toward him with reckless abandon and grasp at him softly as to avoid hurting him unintentionally.

“Diluc?” You question urgently, “—are you okay? What happened?”

“It’s fine,” he grits through clenched teeth, “I’m fine.”

“He can be quite proud, but it’s no wonder you haven’t seen that side of him yet.”

“You’re not fine,” you say bluntly.

His hand is covered in blood, assumedly his own. You can smell the thick, metallic scent that hangs heavy in the otherwise fresh and crisp night air.

“Here, let me help you inside,” you continue, and he obliges since he’s clearly in no position to refuse the help.

Despite his injury, the both of you make haste through the halls to the bedroom you’d been given the day he hired you as a maid for the manor. Droplets of his blood stain the sheets of your bed, but you fear you won’t be needing them for any longer anyway. You bite your tongue for the time being, knowing your admission would only add insult to injury as things are.

“I’ll. . . I’ll need you to take your shirt off,” you say, voice wavering under the circumstances.

It’s something you’d likely have preferred in a much different context, but this. . . Yeah, this isn’t what you had in mind, that’s for sure.

He hesitates, but you have a sneaking suspicion that insecurity and discomfort aren’t the reason for such. Rather, his gaze writes a story that he can’t will his tongue to, and you take a sharp breath in.

He needs help.

You offer it, apologizing when he hisses through his teeth. Pulling it off like a bandaid is less effective when holes, wounds, and limbs are involved, making that method largely ineffective. Again, it’s likely not the time to admire him, but he’s undeniably attractive and as that realization washes over you once again, you find it harder to meet his gaze.

“How bad does it hurt?” You ask.

His stomach heaves a little, stretching the gash. It doesn't appear to be very deep, but it likely feels a lot worse than it looks, especially in such an easily agitated area.

“It could be worse,” Diluc acknowledges, “but it damn sure doesn’t feel good.”

You learned very early on in your (real) line of work that it’s always best to carry a first aid kit with you. Upon traveling to Mondstadt, you certainly didn’t leave yours behind. Pulling it out from your single bag of belongings that you never properly unpacked, you lower yourself into the space between Diluc’s legs and try to avoid his eyes. You’re not oblivious enough to not realize that this is a rather compromising position.

Being gentle is hard when so much debris has fallen into a cut, but you do your best to do the least amount of harm you can. His breathing gradually settles as you work, and he feels guilty for the blood he’s gotten not only on your bed, but on your hands as well.

“So,” you speak up, finally breaking the silence that had fallen between the two of you, “this is what it’s really like being Mondstadt’s Darknight Hero, huh?”

You steal a glance at his face to find that he’s completely unsurprised.

“How long have you known?” He asks in reply, dodging your question with ease.

“I noticed early on that you sneak away from the manor late at night,” you answer. “Not that I knew why at first, and I never thought it necessary to follow you. . . But the moment I heard the other maids discussing the rumors, I put two and two together fairly quickly.”

Diluc doesn’t have it in him to be annoyed. Rather, he’s impressed at the way you seemingly solved that little case of his so easily, cracking it open like an egg above a hot frying pan.

“I think what really made me certain of it all was when you took me around the city,” you continue on. “I could tell that you truly love Mondstadt, and that you’d do anything to protect it. Which I think is admirable, of course, but. . . Seeing the fallout like this is quite sobering.”

“It usually doesn’t end like this,” he clarifies. “My mind was somewhere else tonight, and I shouldn’t have gone out. What happened was on me for letting my guard down so easily.”

“Where was your mind?” Comes your next question, although you’re not sure you’re really in the position to be asking such things.

“Just. . . Just somewhere,” he replies.

You don’t push it.

Instead, you take your time wrapping long strips of bandage around his waist that will hopefully protect his open wound from bacteria and subsequent infection. You then move on to the few open cuts on his face, which are much less severe, but deserving of similar attention. His face is close to yours, so much so that you can feel the gentle fanning of his breath as it skims across your skin. Your heart pounds in a way you fear it doesn’t deserve to as you tend to his wounds.

Although he’s sore and still dealing with dull aches and sharp spikes of pain, his hand reaches up, fingers curving around your wrist. He’s surprisingly gentle as he pulls your hand away, then transfers that same hand to match the profile of your cheek. He still smells of blood, but you catch the semblance of sweet sunsettias and a soothing, natural musk as he slowly moves a little closer.

Diluc Ragnvindr is about to kiss you.

He’s a mere pinky finger’s length away from capturing your lips in his, —and you want it so bad.

But you know well enough by now that sometimes you just aren’t meant to have all the things you want.

“Wait,” you say sharply, still keeping your voice down.

He stalls.

“I’m sorry, but I can’t. . .” you trail off for a moment. “I can’t let this go any further if I don’t tell you that I’m not who you think I am.”

Somehow, he doesn’t seem phased by that, either.

“I figured as much,” he answers, “but go ahead. I’m listening.”

His lips are still dangerously close to yours as you answer.

“My name is y/n, but I’m not just a traveler who sought work in Mondstadt. I’m a private investigator, and I was hired to work here at the Dawn Winery to keep an eye on you. I was never given specifics, and I never really found anything either, besides you being the Darknight Hero and all. . .”

Diluc sighs softly.

“Kaeya’s doing, I presume?” He asks.

“Confidential,” you reply simply, —but he already knows the answer.

Still, in spite of it all, Diluc doesn’t seem angry. Maybe you were right to assume that he knew something was fishy all along.

“You’re quite good at your job,” he compliments. “If I had been anyone else, I’m sure you wouldn’t have raised anyone’s suspicions.”

You’re worried he can hear your heart pounding now as it hammers away in your chest.

“Thank you for saying so,” you reply.

His thumb glides over the skin of your cheek, caressing it softly.

“Let’s rewind a bit,” he suggests. “My name is Diluc Ragnvindr. I’m the owner of Mondstadt’s Dawn Winery, and I’m the so-called Darknight Hero, the midnight vigilante who protects Mondstadt from the shadows. I also prefer grape juice to wine, ironically enough.”

The last bit makes you giggle.

“I’m y/n y/l/n. I’m a novice private investigator, I carry that first aid kit everywhere I go because I’ve learned that lesson of going without it one too many times, and I really hadn’t been to Mondstadt before I arrived here. As for everything else, I’m hoping. . . You’ll want to find the answers for yourself. . .”

Your eyes glimmer with hope, and Diluc says nothing in return. Instead, he leans in to seal this new beginning with an ardent kiss.

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illumeew · 3 months

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wits' end | k.alberich (chapter two)

Summary: Kaeya was never in love, but he could admit he felt loved.

Tags: Mentions of flings and romance, Slight angst, Hurt/Comfort, Is this a bit ooc? (please tell me if it is or not!)

A/N: ohhh i love kaeya so much he's so sweet and cool !! but sometimes he gets a lil mischaracterized, so i hope i've done him some justice in this one !

< chapter one | chapter three >

“There are two types of ‘tired’, I suppose. One is a dire need of sleep, the other is a dire need of peace. He needed both.”

Kaeya was never in love, but he could admit he felt loved.

No, it wasn’t romantic—he has never exploited the title of being the renowned candidate for grandson-in-law to most of the elders roundabout in Mondstadt, who experienced his selfless determination to protect the city and the nation whole.

To Kaeya, the concept of love has never been an easy topic. Love is complicated, similar to attempting to sit on your own shoulders: you can try, but it’ll leave you hurting and confused wondering why it didn’t work.

“Flings” were another thing he couldn’t understand, but whatever meaning it stood as, it most definitely wasn’t a category in Kaeya Alberich’s dictionary. One thing’s for sure that he’s received enough “complementary hugs” from the people of Mondstadt to know how it feels to be within love’s reach.

Though, despite the number of praise he gets on the daily, never was he once content encaptured in another’s arms.

To Kaeya,

Love is complicated.

Love is an anomaly.

Love is… something someone like him will never understand.

But he tries to be the right person and change, which is why he pays and leaves Angel’s Share as soon as he finishes his drink, the range of how many being between four to even less than two, unlike his past indulgences.

He wanted to become better, knowing a world like this wouldn’t accept and love someone like him. A sinner who has the world against himself.

Tonight, he had two different drinks, both without a single ounce of alcohol mixed into it. This has been a daily thing that servers, Charles and Diluc, would experience with the Cavalry Captain.

At seven-forty-five in the morning, quarter to eight—the usual time for the Knights to come to work—Kaeya enters Angel’s Share and asks for one Moonlit Alley: a mixture of coffee, milk, and cocoa paste. “Just something to get himself ready for a new day” is what he says to the current server of the bar, whether it be Charles or Diluc, to tell him of another day’s order of the same drink.

Both of them probably had it memorized by hand due to his consistency, because recently, as soon as Kaeya enters, the drink has been already made and set out on the counter, still hot and fresh, as if just finished and waiting for his arrival.

He’d reach for his wallet, grab the needed mora, give it to the server, then walk out taking a small sip of the drink before heading for the Knights of Favonius headquarters.

His schedule cycled every single day; wake up, get ready, grab a Moonlit Alley, go to work, then go back home, and restart.

At one point in his life—or maybe not just one point but a few, he felt lonely doing it all by himself. To tell the truth, he has no one to come home to, so how could he change his life? Someone can’t just walk in and tell him with all their honest joy, “Welcome home, Kaeya.”

Though, he wished he had someone to greet him by the door. Anyone.

He sighed and dropped the feathered pen, letting it roll across the papers scattered in front of him as his elbows slammed gently onto his desk, and he let his fingers run through his already tousled hair from how many times he’s done this. It was thirty minutes before midnight, and the pile of paperwork didn’t seem to look any fewer than it was four hours ago.

The Acting Grandmaster and the Librarian, Jean Gunnhildr and Lisa Minci, just clocked out just from the sound of the Mondstadt Library doors clicking shut, following suit by multiple footsteps that, Kaeya assumed, belonged to the two and the knights that guarded the doors to the library. His office was just above the library, and hearing the main doors close made him want to have agreed to Jean’s request to clock out with her and Lisa.

His stubbornness outweighs his sense of self.

Outrider Amber and Eula Lawrence ended their shifts an hour before they did, as did Chief Alchemist Albedo an hour earlier than them, rambling on about to himself how he has his own research to finish back at his camp in Dragonspine. He came to pick up Klee just before and walked her to the house her mother, Alice, had rented for her. He waited for her to sleep, which took a whole three hours, and then he went to the snowy mountain after tucking her to bed and kissing her good night.

He told her, “Another day has yet to come, for both you and me” as he stared at her sleeping form like she was the younger sister he could have ever wished for. That was something Kaeya only ever experienced when he was a kid, when his father would tuck him and his brother into bed, whisper the great things they’d done today, and kiss their foreheads good night before, too, tucking himself into his own bed a room across theirs.

The memories of whatever it was he felt genuine love was lost in time.

He grabbed each of the scattered paper and brought them together, grounding them on the table before setting them aside. He put the feathered pen on top of the stack, and deciding that he was too exhausted to even lift another finger, he crossed his arms on his desk and laid his head on top, and he sighed.

Though the large window behind him had curtains to shade him from the moonlight, he could still feel the wind blowing strands of his hair onto his eyepatch. But with the black cloth obscuring his right eye’s vision, he had no problem with the wind’s disturbance to the odious side of his two-faced artifice.

He soon drifted asleep, just without the praising whispers and kisses good night.

#genshin impact #genshin angst #genshin scenarios #genshin kaeya #kaeya headcanons #kaeya alberich #genshin impact kaeya #kaeya imagines #fiction #illumeew's works #genshin #writing #writers on tumblr

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beanswrites · 1 year

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𝐆𝐞𝐧𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐧 𝐦𝐞𝐧 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐟𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐢𝐫 𝐟𝐞𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐲𝐨𝐮

ft. Venti, Keaya, Zhongli, Childe, Arataki Itto, Thoma

hehe hi guys!! i know i haven't been active like at ALL but i'm here now! honestly life has gotten so busy plus i fell into a bit of a writer's block but here we are again and Fic Friday with Beans is finally starting (forreal, this time)

this is actually the first time i've written for genshin!! it's been a long time comming. can you tell that itto is my favorite character

Tags: genshin impact, genshin men from mondstadt, liyue and inazuma, venti, keaya, zhongli, childe, arataki itto, thoma, gender neutral reader, no pronouns, fluff, confessing feelings, kinda angst in Childe's part??

Warnings: none

Word count: about 250 for everyone

Part two??

masterlist | rules for requesting

Venti:

In all of his hundreds and thousands of years of existance, Venti has always been quite flirty, especially when drunk. You, having known him all your life, knew this, and accepted it as one of the many characterists of the playful god. It's not as if he wasn't like that with you, either! Almost every time you and him went out to the Rowdy Raven, the night would end with him murmuring sweet nothings and playful pick-up lines at you. You always brushed it off, assuming it was the alcohol that was talking.

However, his sweet words have nothing to do with alcohol. Sober or drunk, he still meant everything he said, word for word. During the next Windblume festival, in which was normal to celebrate your loved ones, the bubbly archon greeted you with his lyre.

"I wrote a song about you, Y/n!"

Then, he sang, and goosebumps rose on your skin. It was the most romantic song you've heard, the soft tunes matching with the heartfelt lyrics. Once he finished the song, tears were prickling in the corners of your eyes.

"So all of that you said in the tavern..."

"Yeah, I meant it! I love you, Y/n, I always have!"

Keaya:

Even though Keaya was the flirtiest person the Knights of Favonious ever saw, he never flirted because of actual feelings. It was all fun and games to him! That's why, even though your heart hoped for the handsome captain to actually mean the sweet words he says, your head had to remind you that flirting with you wasn't any different to him than talking to any other.

However, lately Keaya has been extra sweet with you. Not just his regular flirts, not even the smug, sexy way he smiles to all the gorgeous Mondstadt citizen. No, in the last couple of days the Cavalry Captain had his eyes glued on you and you only. Every single one of his breaks he spent with you, often joining you for a walk and maybe a drink after his work days end. Once on those walks around the streets of Mondstadt, you suddenly stopped in your tracks:

"Keaya, why do give me so much of your attention? You don't chit-chat with the ladies at the fountain on your way to work, and I even noticed you don't really hang out with Rosaria anymore... What's up with that?"

"Well, lately I've had my eyes, and dare I say heart, set on a certain someone..." He looked at you lovingly, a spark of genuine affection gleaming in his icy blue eyes.

Zhongli:

Zhongli is a god, an Archon, a divine creature - and divine creatures don't quite understand romance, and the gestures representing it. As soon as you met him, he's always been really friendly with you, always making the time to be with you in spite of his busy schedule. He has invited you to dinner with him and Childe (even though it was technically supposed to be a business dinner) multiple times and brought you flowers a couple of times, as he saw other humans doing it too.

Unfortunately, Zhongli didn't really know that he was supposed to say his feelings - in fact, he didn't even know what he was feeling. Before becoming mortal, he couldn't feel these feelings nor understand them the best. Now, all of this was so new to him that he didn't know how to act or what to do.

One day, as he once again cleared his schedual at the Wangsheng Funeral Parlor to hang out with you, he asked:

"Y/n, Childe tells me you didn't know I felt admiration and endearment towards you. Is this true? Have I not shown it properly?"

"Uh.. What?! Zhongli, are you saying that you.. Fell in love with me?"

"Yes, I am. Have I done something wrong to show it?"

Childe:

Much like Keaya, Childe had a naturally flirty personality. Perhaps, not flirty - no, the real word to describe him was smug. Tartaglia was smug. Even when speaking with and threatening his greatest enemies, The Fatui harbinger always managed to lightly chuckle seductivly and even slip some snarky nicknames and comments into the conversation. Nothing has changed since you first met him - he still acts the same with you, a friend Zhongli has introduced him to.

Except, you're not just his friend, and the both of you know that. There's been a shift in the atmosphere between the two of you lately, but neither wants to admit it. Childe, mostly, because he's scared. Somebody with such a dangerous job as him could never be the loving boyfriend you deserved.

One day, he was supposed to leave Liyue Harbor for a mission, for archons-know-how long. It could be a couple of days or a couple of months, and he didn't want to leave you without a proper goodbye. So, here he was on your doorstep, and immediately cutting you off before you even tried to ask what he was doing:

"Y/n, I have to go. I don't know how long I'll be away for, and before I go, I wanted to let you know that I love you"

Arataki Itto:

Itto is a lot of things, but most of all, the Oni is loud. About everything in his life. Almost never being the one to shy away from a fight or hide his feelings, he immediately wanted to tell you as soon as he realized he had fallen for you. However, you were different, special even, and he couldn't just march into your house and tell you loud and clear that he loves you, but that simply wouldn't do. So, he decided to discuss his confession with the Arataki gang.

"C'mon, guys, think! Should I bring flowers? Or maybe some lollipops? OH! How about we sing a song? Yeah, that'd be EPIC! But no, no no no, we can't scare her..."

"Uh, boss..? What if she rejects you?" Akira asked. Itto burst into a loud laugh.

"The great Arataki Itto doesn't get rejected! I mean, I'd be cool even if she, ya know, didn't feel that way, but that's never going to happen! Now I just gotta think of a way to tell her..."

Kuki finally joined the conversation.

"Boss, why don't you just tell her that you need to talk, and then just say what you're feeling?"

So he did exactly that. Even though Shinobu was a bit inexperienced with romance and love, she was still the smartest member of the Arataki Gang, so she must be right!

"Hey, Y/n! Uhh, could you, I mean.. Uh.. I wanna talk about something! Yeah, yeah, I wanna tell you something! You got time?"

"Uh, sure, Itto! What's up?" You asked with a smile.

"I, uhm.. Lately I realised that you are really, really cool and awesome- I mean of course you are, you are part of the Arataki gang! But, uh.. I kinda realized that maybe you're "I'm in love with you" awesome, and not just "Yooo my guy" kinda awesome..."

"Awww, that's sweet Itto- Wait. What?!"

Thoma:

Thoma is a real sweetheart, with a heart of gold. Nobody could deny it! And you knew that very well. So, naturally, when he started being extra nice to you and cooking you meals and helping you with your chores around the Kamisato estate, you just wrote it off as him being kind like he always was. And it was making him lose his mind.

The poor guy tried everything to make you see that he likes, no - loves you, but each one of his tries is unsuccessful. He even starts thinking that maybe you have realized that he's flirting with you, but nevertheless ignored him! Saddened by your cluelesness, he decides to stop these little activities with you, and you notice that he's being a lot colder than usual.

"Hey, Thoma.. What's wrong? Why do you not want to talk to me anymore?"

"Because you're not getting that I love you"

"What?! You're in love with me? So all these nice things you did were-"

"Yeah, heh, flirting. I was flirting with you, Y/n, because I'm in love with you"

Thanks for reading!! Love you guys!! Requests coming soon!

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wri0thesley · 1 year

Note

Hi it's the yan Jean anon again!! Hopefully this doesn't get eaten by tumblr bc Thoughts,,, got long lol. But tldr lovesick!yan Jean that can't say no to you has me in a chokehold

Okay SO. I had this rolling around in my brain after thinking yes I'd absolutely go w yan Kaeya if he's "rescuing" me from Diluc but! What if he wasn't yan and you end up in Jean's care instead?? And oh. I was reading her lore and she's more repressed than Diluc is!! Like at least he has his Darknight hero shenanigans to blow off steam. But,,, romance novels are her guilty pleasure. She definitely romanticizes romance and I feel like her yan tendencies would also manifest in a more romantic manner? Also, the juxtaposition of the soggy man's selfish love and Jean being Pathetically catering bc you can do no wrong in her eyes c'est magnifique. And she's just so perfect; of course the Acting Grand Master values freedom, she has an Anemo Vision after all! But freedom unchecked is a dangerous thing. So she has something made for you, for your safety, obviously.

Jean gently fastens the clasp of the choker — collar, your mind supplies — the silver Gunnhildr crest weighing heavily against the front of your throat. Your only request was that it had no frills. She made it so, the finest Liyuean silk in a blue matching the color of her coat, delicate yet strong.

She'd been watching you for a while, admittedly, when you first arrived in Mondstadt and your eyes were full of gleaming light, taking in everything. She wondered if one day someone would look at her like that, you perhaps? Losing sight of you broke her heart but she understood not all visitors were there to stay. So imagine her surprise when one day a certain blue haired Cavalry Captain brought you into her office.

He didn't say much, just that even he wouldn't be able to go against the Acting Grand Master. Jean was sure he was talking about the person that stole away your light, but she trusted Kaeya's judgment; if he thought she didn't need to know, it was probably better if she didn't. Who knows what she would do if she did. Instead, she focused on you.

"Have a good day, little dove. I'll finish everything urgent so we can go to Starsnatch Cliff and stargaze like you wanted to last week," she said. There was a slight glimmer in your eyes and she felt like she could die happy when you didn't recoil when she dipped her head to press a kiss to your forehead. It had taken you a while to not flinch at every affectionate gesture, but Jean was patient and her efforts were rewarded. Ever prepared and accommodating, Jean watched you slowly come out of your shell, feeling secure enough to even come to her first if there was something you wanted. She nearly cried when you made your request — one, out of happiness because you were finally reciprocating her affections, and two, frustration because as luck would have it, she already had agreed to a mission that night.

It was fine, scheduling conflicts wouldn't deter her. Your romantic journey was already a "slow-burn". These things take time, and Jean wanted to savor it. There wasn't any need to tell you she had Lisa teach her how to place elemental tracking spells on items. She'd be the gentle current under your wings, invisibly cradling and protecting you. Her perfect little dove, the weight on her shoulders lightened at the thought of you being able to fly freely.

So long as you chose to return to her

oh anon . . . i LOVE this. lady yanderes make me feel insane, and JEAN. so well-respected, so noble - she would never do anything wrong! and yet . . . sometimes, sometimes, sometimes it feels like you've ended up in a cage again - just a different one.

#nat.txt #not sfw text #genshin impact posting #yandere for ts

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dkniade · 1 year

Text

From One Star to Another

Characters: Albedo and Kaeya (mentions Diluc, Jean, and Lisa)

Genre: neutral, maybe slight hurt/comfort near the end?

Warnings: brief mentions of alcohol, drinking, explosives, and implied death ideation

Comment: Happy birthday, Kaeya. Many people care for you, you know. I wrote this before I read his birthday mail, so I made some references to previous years’ mails and illustrations instead. It was also an exercise on writing descriptions and playing with an epistolary format, which was fun. It's also vaguely inspired by the KaeBedo fic “Cascading (In a good way)” by Hubbleablubble on AO3.

Captain Kaeya

Rank: Cavalry Captain

Position: [Insufficient Information]

Entry 1: Reconnaissance — Reputation

Captain Kaeya is not often found in his office at the Knights of Favonius Headquarters. One has to wonder why the Acting Grandmaster holds him in high esteem. But knowing that it was no doubt Grandmaster Varka who screened him, there may be more to this man than he lets on. The differences between Grandmaster Varka’s and Acting Grandmaster Jean’s methodology is not a major factor in how Captain Kaeya contributes to the Knights of Favonius.

I shall observe him more in detail during the next Knights of Favonius captain meetings.

Entry 2: Reconnaissance — Appearance

At a glance, Captain Kaeya’s outfit is extremely extravagant, rivalling the likes of Captain Eula’s, making his silhouette stand out against the rest of the captains. He carries himself in a way more lax than what one might expect from a knight, but the state of locations where he’s sighted suggest more combative activities. Occasionally, the streets of Mondstadt would have trails of Cryo elemental particles and scratch marks typical of knives used by treasure hoarders.

The asymmetry present in his outfit is also a curious one. The feather boa no doubt hinders the peripheral vision in his right eye, yet instead of styling his hair to ease him of this problem, he covers his eye by means of an eyepatch. This excessive attempt to divert attention from his right eye only attracts attention to it further. No doubt a deliberate attempt to hide something… for whatever the reason.

His left eye, however, has the star shape present in the rest of his outfit, just as—

Oh.

Oh dear archons.

Entry 3: Combat — Nature in Combative Methodology

Despite Captain Kaeya’s seemingly flamboyant appearance, his true nature can be glimpsed in the extensive data gathered in his reports.

Notably, he does not share explicit detail in his methodology, but the hints of alcohol and frost on his being as well as elemental particles typically found in explosives used by treasure hoarders suggest an… unorthodox method in obtaining information.

Despite his official position as Cavalry Captain, a better description of his position in the Knights would be… intelligence.

It would be helpful to observe him up-close due to his reluctance to disclose personal information, though I have an idea as to why that is so…

Entry 4: Disruption — Observer-Observed Relationship

He has noticed my activities.

He has also asked me to refer to him as simply Kaeya (a curious request).

“No need to stick to formalities so much. Don’t you think we know each other well enough by now?” was what he said.

I have simply conducted observations on his outfit, behaviour, and elemental traces, and formed some hypotheses, nothing more.

However, once the observer-observed relationship has become mutual, things are bound to be more difficult, particularly due to his nature. He has started pestering me about my notes, which confirms my hypotheses of his methodology when obtaining intelligence.

“My, the talented Albedo has chosen to write a report on me? How flattering.”

I’m treated as a plaything, another target of subtle interrogation.

To be under his scope rouses an… uncomfortable feeling. I have not felt so intimidated ever since Master had…

In any case, Captain Kaeya has shown extreme curiosity in the extent of my observations. He has intruded on my personal space multiple times, and as I am observing him, it feels as though he has been watching me just as much, if not more.

I will end this entry here, in case Kaeya finds out.

Entry 5: Preferences — Flora and Fauna

I am forced out of my objective state of observation and have started conversing with him.

Captain Kaeya does not share explicit detail in personal matters despite his seemingly flourishing social life, yet he seems amused at my attempts to converse with him. Interference in observation would not yield genuine results, and it is imperative to let the subject behave in a manner most natural to him. However…

I do not wish for him to be alone on his birthday.

I have learned that his birthday is on November 30th, after exchanging letters with Master Diluc. In addition, I have also learned that his favourite animal is an owl native to Dragonspine, and his favourite flower is the calla lily.

But why the calla lily…?

It grows near Mondstadt’s waters and can be easily found around the river near the Dawn Winery. It also has antidotal properties along with a calming effect, which—

I see.

He does often utilize dangerous modes of interrogation and operation.

He seems to me… anxious, at times. Though his expression never strays from amiability, his body language has betrayed him multiple times.

And while I have discovered early on that he has a preference for alcohol, namely a variation of dandelion wine known as Death After Noon, his drinking habits will only ruin his body. A bottle would not make a suitable gift.

I have an idea as to what would, however.

To the Kreideprinz

Today I encountered a rather… interesting situation, shall we say? The Acting Grandmaster has given me the day off for my birthday, yet Lisa specifically told me to head to Dragonspine after giving me a single training glove. A rather peculiar gift, no? Yet to my surprise, as I strolled along the snow-covered path, a white owl carrying a bouquet flew in my direction and landed on my arm.

Not just any bouquet— a bouquet of calla lilies, cecilias, and small lamp grasses.

What a coincidence that I saw Sucrose experimenting with growing large cecilias with a familiar star mark on them the past weeks. And I do believe I saw a certain white figure near the Dawn Winery recently?

You flatter me too much, Albedo.

What’s more, the owl landed in the exact same fashion as Diluc’s falcon. Was including the small lamp grasses in the bouquet his condition for helping you with this little show? He’s indirect as always, I see. How comforting.

Still, to think that you’ve taken your time with such an extensive report on me of all people… Quite perceptive that you’ve picked up on my eyepatch by the second entry, though I’m afraid you’re wrong about me hiding something beneath it. But don’t worry. Your secret’s safe with me.

As for that fifth entry, what a shame that you didn’t send a bottle of Death After Noon while you clearly know that’s what I want! You think I’m anxious? With my line of work? I’d say you need to practise more on observing people.

…

From one star to another—

Did you know that calla lilies symbolize holiness?

Quite the mixed message there, Albedo.

In any case, a bouquet like this is quite the gift. Are you up for a little rendezvous at your camp this evening? I do have some time on my hands after I finish dinner at the Dawn Winery, and since you have so many sketches of flowers in this notebook of yours, I gather that you’ve an interest in them.

What say you to a discussion on the language of flowers, Kreideprinz?

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zuble · 2 years

Text

i said i would make a post about diluc ragnvindr being autistic coded, so here it is! please be aware that i made this kinda messily, and is kinda just me listing things lol. not all examples/quotes are listed, as some would be too long. these are all based on my own experiences as an autistic person, everyone’s is different. please be respectful.

he is bad at socializing or at the very least not interested in it. prefers to keep to himself.

“no need for small talk. all that matters is that you were safe last night.”

“not interested in idle chit chat. if you have things you want to get done, let me know.”

“i am in the habit of working alone…”

“i do not concern myself with idle chatter, though i may take the idleness of others as a sign that peace prevails.”

he is very stubborn and one track minded, sticks to his guns (but in a good way (mostly))

“listen, as long as you stick to your own path, it doesn’t matter what mother nature throws at you.”

“what lies in wait for us? i rarely stop to think about it. no matter what dates to stand in my way, i must press forward.”

“i see no need for the harvest forecasts of astrologers.”

“i see no reason to cling to things once they have outlived their purpose. sorry, i have no recollection.”

he has sensory issues, especially with drinks

“i don’t like alcohol. it’s just…. i don’t like how it feels in my mouth.”

also his samefood (samedrink?) is grape juice.

he is passionate about most things he does, and has a strange interest in birds of prey. this interest doesn’t seem to be connected to anything story related, but rather just something he finds fun and relatable. could be a special interest?

“it’s a nightingale, quietly watching its prey from the darkness, waiting for the perfect moment to strike. flawless.”

story: like an eagle scouring the wilderness, he set off his hunt for the truth.

he summons a hawk in his idle pose for no reason other than idk it’s cool bird.

very much into his work. hyperfocuses on it. another special interest?

one of his common voice lines is him just leaving the traveler so he can work at the guild again

story: just like when he first joined the knights of favonius, diluc committed himself fully to his work.

story: alcohol clouds his thoughts, and consuming it would impact his day to day work. (this line also proves he prefers to keep his thoughts clear and hates the feeling of drunkenness (idk i also feel this as an autistic))

his time with the knights feels very similar to “gifted kid syndrome.” starts off very well and promising, becoming the youngest cavalry captain, only to end up quitting (for a good reason but still).

has a hard time disguising his emotions (such as showing visible disgust when the darknight hero is mentioned, for no reason other than he simply doesn’t like the name)

barbara: last time when i was performing at angels share, he kept frowning. maybe he doesn’t like my singing.

he has a very black and white way of thinking, very much into seeking out the truth of things, and is very blunt in his way of speaking.

hates the knights of favonius and claims it’s just for “differing views.” he has.. a LOT of lines about how their morals are different. to him, only his own ideals are correct.

kaeya: he just seems to be in a world of his own. overall, not much fun to hang out with. (rude but very fair)

TLDR;

#genshin impact #diluc ragnvindr #genshin headcanons #genshin tag

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hyacinthian-chateau · 1 year

Note

Hello!

Congratulations on 200 followers!!! ₍ᐢ. ̫.ᐢ₎ ♡

Can I request a matchup please?

I’m gemini, ISFP and i can describe myself as a person who have trust issues, so it’s hard for me to open up to people at first. Despite of this i love affections in various expressions. Compliments, hugs, smooches - I really like to show attachment to my family and friends! Even if it seems so clingy tbh.

Sometimes i'm overwhelmed by emotions and i became rude and harsh in communication, for which I later regret. Let's says my mood always changes by unexplained reasons, yeah…

I'm a bit sarcastic and also unconsciously criticize myself by making self-destructive jokes, thanks to my past, but however my small circle of closed friends says that I mostly looks like a chihuahua - just as small, chaotic and bitey in a good way tho. Even if i more on introverted side i'm eccentric and active in some ways. I mean who one day came to work with invoices mustache and beard just because wanted to? Yep, me. A little weird me.

I have specific tastes in everything from eating french fries with ice cream as sauce to non-standard combination of clothes and colors. It maybe sounds oddly but i like strange and absurd memes, dumb puns and black humour, and i quite often use them in conversations.

I adore astrology and mysticism. Some kind of mystery of the world attracts me, gives me ground for reflection, thereby forcing me to spend almost all my free time on it, and I find it really interesting. I also like everything related to maritime culture and mythology. Warm rainy days, autumn season and evening time of day when the sun slowly sets over the horizon. And I also really like such simple little things as cute pebbles that can be found not only on the beach, but also on an ordinary street, key rings and other seemingly unnecessary trinkets.

What about dislikes? Well, at first it’s wasps. Thank God that I didn't have to come into close contact with them. In my opinion, it's better to run from a flock of geese than from a gang of wasps. The second is acute. I can't and don't like too spicy food and dishes. One day I ate very spicy noodles and my lips cried from burning for half an hour. Not a very good feeling, especially when they are cracked...

When I was a little girl, I attended every school circle, but I didn't stay in any of them due to my frequent variability in both character and interests, and it's a little difficult for me to understand which hobby has sunk into my soul more, heh. I knitted, drew, and excelled in sports - everything in a row, but a little. If singing in the bathroom is considered a hobby, then this is one of them that stayed with me throughout my growing up, ha ha. I will give preference to drawing and writing more, perhaps.

I'm sorry, if it came out quite a lot, but I was happy to share! Thank you for your work, I hope you have a lovely day! ( ⸝⸝´꒳`⸝⸝)

Kaeya, ｡･:*:･ﾟ☆

You and Kaeya unintentionally become entangled with each other.

The Cavalry Captain is an admired figure within the City of Freedom. People who have had the pleasure of either meeting or working with him would describe him as a charismatic and skillful man who could charm anyone. And yet behind the handsome face and flirtatious smile lies much more once when you dig deeper.

Kaeya would have mistaken you for an adventurer when you first met as you dressed so differently--stylishly, if he says so himself--compared to your scholarly counterparts. In the beginning, the eye-patched man barely had the opportunity to speak to you as you were mainly either conducting an experiment, assisting both Albedo and Sucrose in the lab, or busy collecting data in the field.

At first, you've remained cautious of the eye-patched man and maintained a cordial relationship with him like everyone else, that is, until you finally snapped one day. The said man enjoyed stretching your patience as he constantly pokes fun at your shorter stature, which earns him a sarcastic response. At the same time, you attempt to avoid his attempt to use your head as an armrest. From there on, Kaeya decides that you are someone he wishes to banter with more often; He's found another person to annoy, next to Diluc.

Despite all your ribbing, the two of you get along quite well, and the navy-blue-haired male has taken the initiative to become your close associate. He is mindful and learns of your tendency to be moody, leading you to become agitated. He exercises patience and tries to cheer you up in various ways: From treating you to some Sticky Honey Roast, to telling an outlandish story that leaves you doubting the credibility of it all, or inviting you to go for a walk along Cider Lake when twilight approaches. At some point, you had suspected that he had left the Windwheel Asters on your workbench after a hectic work week.

It's sooner rather than later that Kaeya becomes a kindred soul and dubs you a 'Genius' when he gets to taste the mix of alcohol you had been concocting. The two of you also tend to frequent the various taverns with either Rosaria or Venti within the city walls. Despite his relatively high tolerance for alcohol, the sword wielder tries his best to listen when you go on a tangent about Ancient Maritime countries within Teyvat. Still, he can't seem to concentrate on your words when you look so animated under the dim tavern lights; He can't help but think you're absolutely striking as he shoots you a cheeky smile.

The slight change in the Cavalry Captain doesn't go unnoticed. Jean has caught her subordinate staring at you from a distance while you were busy speaking to Mona, a frequent visitor who became your fast friend. She's glad he's taken a liking to you but gently reprimands him when he takes too long to focus back on the task at hand. The resident librarian is also well aware of the fondness Kaeya has for you. Lisa, being the prodigy that she is, has roped several female members of the knights, which even included Outrider Amber and even Captain Eula, into creating a secret couple name if you two ever decide to get together.

The tanned man always offers to let you work within his office when he discerns the first signs of exhaustion on your pretty face. You've always been a lively person, but it's during this time that he doesn't talk much but instead lets you share what's on your mind--Whatever the circumstances are, the said man is more than happy to receive you if you ever decide to visit. By the end of your visit, he finds himself enveloped in a brief hug and a light peck on his cheek as you give him your thanks….If you ever bothered to look back, you would have been greeted by the sight of the usually confident Cavalry Captain's ruddy cheeks as he attempts to process what exactly had just happened.

It is somewhere along the line that Kaeya can't help but feel an odd sensation bubbling in his chest when he thinks about you; He's been experiencing it constantly nowadays. He's observant and calm, but he can't help but dive head first when it concerns you. He knows that despite building a façade, he unconsciously drifts toward you and doesn't understand why exactly. He's also somewhat changed as he allows himself to be genuine with his words and actions while wishing to be the closest to you. Slowly but surely, he's unsure when exactly you started to become a part of him.

There are a lot of hurdles to overcome, but your slight air-headedness whenever he tries to flirt with you somewhat dampens his spirits. Maybe he'll invite you to watch the stars at Starsnatch Cliff tonight. And perhaps even adopt a more direct approach this time around?

Huh? You say he's been acting a bit odd lately? Oho~!☆ Then you should speak to him about it if you're so worried.

Oh, but don't worry. You don't need to search too hard…

╰ ☆☆☆☆╮

#Have Fun!#Catharias Match-Ups #Genshin Impact Match Ups #Genshin Impact Fiction #Genshin Impact Musings #Genshin Impact x Reader #Hyacinthian Event #Hyacinth Chateau's Exclusives #kaeya x reader #kaeya alberich x reader #genshin kaeya

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m1d-45 · 7 months

Note

kaeya having his mandela catalogue moment seeing the copy of his brother… can’t wait for him to meet shade! that definitely won’t fuck him up at all! - teddy anon

oh he’ll totally leave that interaction 100% sane (lying)

brief note, diluc and shade would be over in .2 seconds. putting aside the impossibility of shade leaving your side willingly, diluc has long since memorized the microexpressions on kaeya’s face, and knows that he isn’t him.

brief note two, shade is much better at passing as kaeya than red is diluc. aside from the very obvious detail of red borderline growling at people all the time, red carries himself differently. diluc, while often awkward and sometimes unintentionally cold, is still approachable, a trait that red could never manage. shade, however…

shade is a bandit. a master of disguise mixed with kaeya's already clever personality, able to mask himself as kaeya—and has, on occasion, to lead a patrol away or to snatch some medical supplies from the city for you or nikki. the difference is that he has a diluc to fall back on, one that he can trust with his entire self. kaeya can't let himself be honest with diluc and vice versa, but shade and red can. who better to tell your homicidal urges to than your fellow reflection?

imagine with me. post hunt. you're entering mondstat, without red at nikki's request. you, nikki, momo, and shade, making your way toward the gates. everyone knew about the old copy of diluc you had made, about the mirrors your friend taught you to use to summon the archons of old. even night, elusive as she was, was known throughout the knights.

but shade was new. shade was quick on his feet, always swift to pull you through the impossible tangles of forest, into thickets that would knit behind you so the patrols couldn't follow. shade was a well kept secret, only glimpsed in rumors throughout the city that the cavalry captain was occasionally seen in a new set of formal wear.

kaeya had heard these rumors. he'd also known that your 'diluc' was your closest guard, and had himself witnessed him going into the city. he'd thought nothing of it, assuming the people had simply seen someone that looked like him. they hadn't.

once youre close enough for him to actually recognize shade, its like his whole world falls apart.

"divine one..." jean, at his side, likely also recalling the rumors. "your company..."

"this is momo and nikki," you introduce, "and this is shade."

shade. some part of that feels ironic.

hes not surprised by the talking cat, barely registering nikki's polite hello as he locks eyes with shade. same height, same hair, same patch over the eye and sharp smile when he knows he's won.

"shade, say hello."

shade blinks, then flashes a fake smile. "greetings."

the meeting is a blur for kaeya. all he can see is shade, shade and how clearly you and him are attached. his hand held in yours, the adoring look in his eyes as he watches you speak-

he'd passed as kaeya. his mask was so paper thin someone he's never even met could imitate it flawlessly, putting on his identity like a costume on the world's stage and doing it better.

shade was the one at your side. shade led you away with a polite smile—you didn't see the way it dropped so he could shoot kaeya a glare—and a hand around your waist. shade was the one that believed you, that kept you safe.

kaeya had invented the frostwind swordsman. he'd crafted his persona by hand, making a shield out of his words and behavior, and yet it was somehow shade that had perfected it.

#m1d : [chats]#teddy anon #the shining nikki saga #sailwind shadow #i wanted to include shade last post but ran out of time #unrelated but holy FUCK is driving so scary #my teacher had us go on the interstate today… YIKES MAN #55 on highways. fine. we ball. the SECOND i hit sixty every nerve in my body enters fight or flight #the human body is NOT meant to operate something going that fast #thank the lord it was only for a brief stretch of time any longer and i honest to god would have had to pull over #you can’t handle the uber reflexes of my uber autism. observe: [has to engage manual breathing once i reach 65mph]

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starrysky28 · 1 year

Text

Camping With The Knights

Title: Camping With The Knights

Rating: G

Words: 2008

Warnings: None

Summary: Diluc is forced to go on a camping trip with some of the Knights of Favonius.

It was a warm and sunny day in Mondstadt, and typically, the knights would be hard at work, but today was a little different. Today, a few of the knights would be taking a break by going on a camping trip in Windrise. Though, another person would be joining them thanks to some "persuasion" from a certain cavalry captain. Diluc Ragnvindr, a man who was less than a fan of the knights and certainly less than a fan of this trip, would be coming along as well.

"C'mon everyone! We're almost there!", Amber shouted excitedly from what seemed like nearly a mile in front of the others.

"Yeah, c'mon slowpokes!", added Klee, who was with Amber.

The rest of the group trekked behind them slowly, mostly due to the fact that they were the ones carrying most of the supplies.

"My, such energy", Kaeya chuckled.

Diluc, however, was less than amused.

"Why do I have to be here again?", he grumbled.

"Because you wanted to come if I recall", Kaeya sassed.

"I did not. You tricked me into coming"

At that moment, the group was beginning to make their way towards the area they'd be setting up camp. So, before the argument between the estranged brothers escalated, the acting grand master, Jean interrupted them.

"Looks like we've just about made it to Windrise. Are we ready to set up?", she asked.

Everyone looked around the area. It was smack dab in between the enormous oak tree and a small lake, and there was plenty of distance room between the two, meaning that it was a perfect spot for camping.

"Sure", they all said collectively.

------------------------------------------------------------------

The group soon began to pitch the tents. There were two tents in total, one for Jean, Amber and Klee, and one for Kaeya and Diluc.

"Why do we have to share, again?", Diluc complained.

"Because we all agreed that one tent would be for the girls and the other for the guys", Kaeya began.

"Although, I know how much you'd love to share with Jean", he added smugly.

Diluc's face blushed as his hair. "Oh, shut it! That's not true!"

"Mister Kaeya?"

Kaeya's head perked up to see that little Klee had strolled over to him with a big smile across her face. She appeared to have her hands behind her back, meaning that she was probably hiding something.

"Yes, Klee?", he knelt down to her level.

"Are you and the weird grown up almost done setting up the tent?"

Kaeya laughed. He always loved when she called Diluc that.

"We're almost done, why do you ask?"

"Because...", Klee's voice turned into a whisper.

"I wanna go fish-blasting with you...and I've got plenty of bombs! Teehee!", she giggled softly, showing Kaeya her bag filled with little Dodoco-themed explosives.

Jean certainly wouldn't have been happy about Klee sneaking bombs on the trip and it would certainly earn her some time in solitary confinement when they got back, but who was he to tell Jean about something like this? Besides, to Kaeya, sometimes it was best to sit back and watch the chaos ensue.

"Alright then, once we're done with the tents and collecting the firewood, we'll go catch some fish", he said, patting Klee on the head.

"Okay!", she replied skipping away.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

Once the firewood was collected and the tents were up, the five of them made their way towards the lake. Amber and Klee stood together in the ankle-deep water, splashing each other playfully. While Jean, Kaeya, and Diluc sat on the other side trying to catch a fish or two for dinner. All is quiet, until a small chuckle emerged from Jean.

"What's so funny?", Kaeya asked.

"Nothing, it's just...this reminds me of when we were kids", she sighed.

"Ah, yes. I remember it like yesterday", Kaeya reflected, now joining her in the nostalgia trip.

The three of them had been childhood friends. With Jean being the fierce leader of the trio, Diluc as the smiley second in command, and then there was Kaeya, who was the shy, yet stealthy little sibling who often tagged along on the adventures. Everything was well between them until that grim day about four years ago when it all fell apart. It was truly heartbreaking what grief and anger could do to a person.

"You remember when we used to go fishing near the winery right, Master Di-"

"Enough", Diluc interrupted.

Jean and Kaeya fell silent before he spoke again.

"Sorry...let's just...talk about something else, okay?"

The next five minutes were quite awkward with Jean staring at Diluc solemnly every now and then, while Kaeya guiltily kept his eyes on the ground.

"Have you guys caught anything yet?", Klee asked while running towards the fishing adults.

"No, we don't seem to be getting many bites", Jean answered.

"Aw, I'm starting to get hungry", she whined, her stomach growling.

Suddenly, Klee's face lit up with a big, suspicious smile.

"Oooh! I know!", she exclaimed, running back towards her little red backpack placed by the tents.

Without anyone looking, she pulled out one of her little custom-made Dodoco bombs and began racing back towards the lake when Jean noticed her.

"Wha-Klee!", Jean shrieked

"I'll use this bomb to get the fish!"

"Put that back this instant!", she yelled.

"Come to us, fishies!!"

Klee hoisted the bomb above her head and attempted to throw it into the lake, but instead, the bomb began to fly towards Jean.

"Jean! Look out!", Diluc shouted.

As the explosive continued in her direction, he quickly jumped up in front of her and in an attempt to push her out of the way, they both tripped and fell into the water...and happened to land right on top of each other. They stared wide-eyed at each other as a loud splash and a sputter of bubbles exploded behind them. After several seconds, they finally came up for air.

"Are you alright?", Diluc gasped, lifting Jean up onto her feet.

"Yeah, you?", she asked him back, also out of breath.

"Yes"

Amber, Klee and Kaeya gaped at the soaking wet duo. Amber was too shocked to speak while Kaeya appeared as if he were holding back a laugh. Klee, on the other hand, looked to be on the verge of tears.

Jean then stormed out of the lake to confront her. "Alright, young lady. Explain yourself"

"It's just...I really wanted to catch some fish...and test out my new toy", Klee sniffled, her voice weak.

"Klee, we've been over this a thousand times, bombs are not toys"

"...I'm sorry, Master Jean"

"I guess I'll have to save your punishment for when we get back, but at least we have dinner now", Jean sighed, looking back at the lake of floating fish.

With that, the group headed back to the camp to dry off.

"Hehe, you look like a soggy tomato", Kaeya teased.

"Shut up, Kaeya", Diluc glared at him while ringing out his hair.

That evening, the group sat around the fire roasting some grilled fish while Kaeya told scary stories. One of those stories in particular had Klee and Amber huddling together while even Jean was unconsciously holding Diluc by the arm. He of course, wasn’t scared one bit. About halfway through the story, Kaeya was quickly asked to stop by Jean who claimed that he was “going to give everyone nightmares”.

By the time the fire was nearly out, it was getting quite late. So, they decided to call it a night.

“Okay, everyone. We’ve got a long walk back to Mondstadt tomorrow, so get a good rest”, Jean announced.

With that in mind, everyone headed to their respective tents.

---------------------------------------------------------------------

Diluc wasn’t sure what woke him up, but it had to have been just past midnight by now. Perhaps it was because he was used to being out later at night due to the secret job he had in protecting the city.

He looked over to his left side to see Kaeya sleeping soundly. Maybe if he took a quick walk it would make himself a little more sleepy. Quietly, so he didn’t wake Kaeya up, he slipped out of his sleeping bag and crawled towards the opening of the tent.

”Mmph”, Kaeya groaned softly.

Diluc froze. Perhaps he wasn’t being as quiet as he thought.

”…Albedo”, Kaeya mumbled.

Albedo? Did he mean that alchemist? Since when had he been hanging around with him? No matter, It appeared that he was still asleep.

Diluc opened the tent and saw the faint outline of a person sitting on the ground near where they had the fire. He climbed out to get a closer look at who it was and saw that it was Jean.

“Jean?”, he called out in a sleepy voice.

She swiveled around suddenly as if he had startled her. Her hair was down as opposed to her usual ponytail, and she was wrapped up in a blanket.

”Oh, M-Master Diluc. Did I wake you?”

”No, not at all. Why are you up if you don’t mind me asking?”

”I couldn’t sleep”

He sat down next to her, “Any particular reason?”

”No. Just a lot on my mind right now”

It was quiet for a moment. Only the sound of the crickets could be heard.

“I miss times like these”, Jean said breaking the silence.

”Times like what?”

”When we’d go out camping like this…just you, me, Kaeya…and when you were scared of the dark”, she joked poking him in the elbow.

”I wasn’t that afraid of the dark as a child”, he rolled his eyes.

“You totally were”, she laughed quietly.

“I wish I could forgive him”, Diluc said.

”Forgive who?”

”Kaeya”

“Yeah, I know you guys haven’t been on the best of terms since you left the knights”

Leaving the knights wasn’t exactly the reason why the two brothers didn’t get along anymore, but he knew that if Jean knew the real reason why, Kaeya would possibly be in some pretty deep trouble.

”Someday I’ll find the words to forgive him”

”I hope you do, then maybe it’ll be just like old times”, she smiled.

With all that had happened, even if there was forgiveness, it probably would never truly be the same again. After all, they were adults now, all going on different paths in life.

”Speaking of old times, I actually had a bit of a crush on you when we were kids”, Jean admitted.

Diluc blushed, “R-Really?” She was blushing too now, “Yeah, a little bit”

“O-Oh…wow”, he was a stuttering mess.

”I, um, had one too”, he admitted back.

There was yet another silence before one of them spoke again.

”Would you…still stay the same now?”, Diluc asked curiously.

Jean looked at him and then back at the ground. Then, she leaned over and gave him a small peck on his soft cheek. Diluc’s eyes widened, shocked at the subtle display of affection. Little did he know, to Jean, he looked like he was going to faint.

”I know you try to act tough, but you’re just so cute, Diluc”, she laughed.

And to Jean’s surprise he gave her a warm smile. One that she hadn’t seen from him in a very long time.

”Should we, uh, go back to our tents now?”, he asked.

”I’m not sure I can really sleep after all of that, let’s stay out here just a bit longer”, Jean replied.

”Sounds alright to me”

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

The next morning, Kaeya stood in front of the tents and chuckled.

”Huh, I never would have guessed”

Amber emerged from her tent, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes.

”What’s going on?”, she asked.

Kaeya simply pointed towards Diluc and Jean, who were fast asleep with a blanket wrapped around the both of them.

“Aww, how sweet!”, Amber exclaimed.

”Shhh, you’ll wake them up”, Kaeya whispered.

”C’mon, let’s hide so they won’t know we saw them”, he said.

”Good idea”

With that, Amber and Kaeya hid inside the tents until the two lovebirds awoke.

The End

#genshin impact #jean x diluc #diluc ragnvindr #jean gunnhildr #kaeya alberich #klee genshin impact #amber genshin impact #fanfiction #fluff #this was my first fanfiction for genshin impact #so bare with me

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