The Most Important Gear

Finale / Epilogue

~ 8 months later ~

"{name}? hello~? {name}? are you home?"

"i guess she's not here today," the traveler said.

"hmm... that's odd. maybe she's at her office?"

"nope, i'm right here!" the two travel companions turned around, seeing you walking towards them. "hi!"

"whoah! that is a LOT of stuff," paimon commented, seeing as you had a large wagon behind you, piled high with metal and a few other random items. "where did you get all of this from?"

"i went to the desert to do some research on ruin guards," you said. "i kept some scrap metal because i'm working on a large project soon."

"wow, what are you making?"

"it's something very special," you said with a small smile on your face. "oh right! did you two need anything?"

"well... we just wanted to hang out with you! we haven't seen you in a while!"

"why don't you both stay for lunch?," you hummed. "i wanted to try making some {food} since i've heard it's quite good. besides, eating with friends is enjoyable for me."

"is the balladeer here," the traveler asked. "why are you alone?"

"well he had some work to take care of for nahida," you clarified. "i'd love to have some company! besides, we haven't seen each other for some time as paimon said."

"allow paimon to help you with finishing the food," paimon said eagerly. "paimon would love to help!"

"be more considerate, we're guests," the traveler scolded her.

"oh nonsense," you said. "you both came all the way over here, i bet you're both tired."

you moved your wagon into a small shed, then opened the door so you could let them both inside. after making lunch, the three of you sat at the table.

"oh by the way," paimon said. "are you ready for the seminar you're teaching today?"

"yeah, luckily i'm prepared enough," you sighed. "still a little nervous."

"i'm sure you'll do great," the traveler smiled. "you have a lot of knowledge worth sharing."

"thank you. now, let's dig in before the food gets cold!"

after the three of you ate lunch, the traveler and paimon left, leaving you to assemble all the materials that you needed for the seminar. afterwards, you ran over to the akademiya and got into the lecture room. at this point, it was around 7:30 and you were a little stressed. this is going to be a very new experience...

soon enough, the whole room was filled with students, and you were ready to start your lecture. you cleared your throat and the room fell quiet, "hello scholars! welcome to the fontaine-style mechanics seminar. i hope you can all take away something from this lecture and apply it to your research."

you were beginning to talk, and in the corner of your eye, you saw scaramouche walk in (a few minutes tardy), grabbing a seat and watching you with focused eyes. your heart began to beat faster. what is he doing here? agh snap out of it! i can't get distracted by him... focus!

while you talked, scaramouche watched you carefully, a hand resting on the desk in front of him which held up his head and covered his mouth. he had his usual bored and sarcastic look on his face. but... the whole point of his presence at the seminar was to make you flustered, and yet why was he the one who felt flustered? you looked so in control, very cool and commanding with how you talked that earned all of the students' respect. no one dared to look away from you, engrossed in the vast amount of knowledge that you were imparting.

in a way, he was very jealous for what he deemed to be a very valid reason. in all my time i spent with the fatui, i wasn't able to do this type of thing as effectively with those idiots who scurry around making mistakes all the damn time. how is this even possible? i'd assume that fatui members who put their lives on the line would listen to orders better than scholars. but on the other hand, he was impressed and very proud of you for the same reasons.

finally, the lecture finished and all the scholars basically cleared out and left, leaving you to assemble your things and walk over to where he was sitting. it was now just the two of you in the room, and scaramouche was leaning back in his chair, both his hands behind his head as he gave you a smirk. "awesome job, mrs. {name}."

"'mrs?' i'm not married," you chuckled, walking over to him.

"yet," he corrected you, making you look at him with an owlish expression on your face. "i can change that. but for you, i'll wait a little longer. i'm not a patient man so consider this an act of consideration on my part."

"s-stop that!"

"sorry," he half-assed. "let's get you home. also, the traveler informed me that you brought a lot of scrap metal from the desert. care to share what you're trying to make?"

"mmm," you hummed in thought. "you'll see it when it's done. i don't think i'm ready to share that information with you quite yet."

he stood up from his chair, leaning over and pressing a kiss to your lips. "such a tease."

"i've only learned it from the best," you said fondly. "now come on, i'm tired."

later that night, after you were absolutely sure he was asleep, you quietly slipped out of your shared room and tip-toed to grab your shoes, walking outside and grabbing a few pieces of scrap metal that you could hold, making you way back inside and to your tinkering room. you opened a secret compartment with a key, then took out a folder with blueprints on it.

~ a month ago ~

"kuni, i have a very random question. where do your feelings come from?"

"huh? what's that question supposed to mean," he asked you, raising a brow at you. "me of course."

you rolled your eyes and scoffed. "not that, doofus. but, can you really feel things?"

"i know i can make you feel things," he smirked at you, being met with a blank and unimpressed look on your face. "alright fine, i'll stop dodging the question. i don't have a heart, so i'm not someone who can directly feel things the same way you do. for example, i don't feel my heart speeding up, but i can feel flustered."

"are you saying i make you flustered," you sent him a devilish grin.

"hmph. jumping to such a bold conclusion," he said, turning away from you. "it was an example."

"sure," you scoffed with a knowing smile.

~ present ~

"you don't have a heart huh," you muttered to yourself.

you looked at the blueprints in front of you, each detailing a separate component. it was complex and ambitious, and a part of you was scared to even attempt something of this scale. but... it was for him. if there was one thing that he made very clear with you, it was the fact that he yearned for a heart to truly feel things the way regular "humans" do.

books about artificial beings, elemental mechanics, elemental powers, and alchemy were scattered on your table, which were pulled from your shelves. you had charts and research documents filling any empty space, note pages littered with messy notes and tabs.

you cleared some of your papers off of your desk, opening the folder and arranging the blueprints on the table and unfolding a large one. it was a mechanical heart, one that would be powered by scaramouche's anemo vision.

your work was cut out for you, now it's time to execute it.