Artifacts

A gnosis got the whole crowd running

Rip were holding off the crazy
——-

The Adeptus let go of Scaramouche's shirt.
"Turn around and wait in line for the mail." The balladeer smiled, glancing at the line.

Xiao's emotionless expression stayed, turning around and waiting in line. Scaramouche quietly chuckled, eyes focusing on the figure in front of him.

.

Zhongli, a very composed busy man, was now melting under the shifts and movements of Childe.

.

"This is your box." A small child said in a flat tone. Wearing a mail man outfit and her hair tied in a long purple braid. "Thank you, Qiqi." Xiao said, glancing at the man behind him. "Next please,"

Qiqi said, waving her hand over the desk, Scaramouche pushed Xiao aside with a smirk. "I need a box for Zhongli," Scaramouche said, his voice forming a hum.

"Tch," Xiao turned away and walked towards the exit on the right side. "Serves him right," Scaramouche chuckled while Qiqi disappeared behind the counter.

~
"Who's this?" Xiao asked, arms crossed and mouth a slant. Zhongli used his hand to gesture towards Scaramouche. "This is Kunikuzushi,"
~

Xiao got into his car and sat still for a long minute, take the box from Scaramouche and return it to Zhongli's hands. Make sure the box is given to Zhongli, or perhaps it's a bluff made by the son of Ei.

The Yaksha carefully watches Scaramouche from his car, an arm resting on the car door. Something about him felt strange, Scaramouche only brought destruction.

Xiao quickly pulled out his phone, dialing numbers.

Meanwhile Scaramouche continued to wait for Qiqi to reappear. Tapping his finger on the counter impatiently. "Hey kid, what are you doing?"

Qiqi then reappeared from behind the counter, fixing her mailman's hat. Inside her small hands was quite a large box. "Here, this box is for you, erm." Scaramouche slowly reached out and took the box from Qiqi's hands.

"Thank you," Scaramouche slipped out the exit and ran to the car. "Finally, more evidence of corruption in that Zhongli guys company." However, when Scaramouche opened his box, the contents were not what he hoped for.

It was just a new tablet, Scaramouche groaned, plopping the device back into the box.

"Everyone just prefers to waste my time," The balladeer hissed, turning on the car and buckling his seat belt.

Unbeknownst to him, Xiao was trailing behind.

.
.
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Childe had woken up, but preferred to continue to fake sleep. His chest rose and fell, heart beating out of his chest. Multiple thoughts swirled around in his mind. Why did his chest hurt? Why did he keep fainting? Why does he feel bad?

Questions he knew only he could answer, yet, something didn't feel right about this whole situation. Childe's head rolled around in Zhongli's lap. The artifact dealer was texting on his phone, Childe could only guess how much Zhongli was hiding.

Suddenly the former's phone began to ring, quickly answering it Zhongli responded with a, "Hello?"

"No that's in a week,"

"Ah.. I see, I'll alert Childe when he awakens that there's work to be done-" Ajax found this to be his cue,  sitting up and rubbing his eyes. "Mr. Zhongli did you say my name? Or did I dream that?" Childe asked, turning his head. Zhongli opened his mouth to say something, however no words followed.

"Where are my clothes?" Childe asked, beginning to unwrap the towel around his waist. "Ahem, y-you shouldn't do that in your superiors presence, Scaramouche is fetching you clothes. We have business to conduct very soon, I hope your condition wont worsen."

Childe tilted his head slightly, "What's going on?"
Zhongli sighed, "An auction for artifacts is coming up, we are providing our artifacts in hopes our business will double in wealth and size. The auction was moved to tomorrow, we have to pack them into boxes and get to the auction 4 hours before it starts."

Childe nodded his head, Zhongli stood up, walking towards the kitchen. "Alright, Scaramouche should be here in a couple of-" The artifact dealer was cut off, tripping over someone's foot.

Without stable footing Zhongli was close to falling to the floor. The fatui was quick to act, grabbing Zhongli's wrist and pulling Zhongli towards him. And with that the latter landed on top of Childe. Lips meeting,

And right at that moment Scaramouche hastily opened the front door with Xiao chasing after him. "Give me the box!" Xiao hissed, prying the box from Scaramouche's hands. The two short men paused their fighting, looking at the two on the couch.

"Now that's just fucking gross." Scaramouche sneered, gagging.