oh god there's over 40 of you now

18

Albedo sat across from Sucrose in the library. Sucrose is currently piling books on chemistry trying to get through them quickly. Albedo understands why, but they did live in Mondstadt; she could stop by the Favonius Library any time she wanted. Regardless, he studies along with her, pointing out pieces of text that interests him.

"Hey, Albedo, Sucrose," a new voice appeared, and Albedo turned to his left to see Aether and Lumine sit next to him. Ah. Well.

"O-oh, hello! Hey, Aether, Lumine." Sucrose stutters before going completely silent and quite literally burying her face in a book. Albedo gently pushes her head up so she doesn't suffocate.

"Hello, you two. How was the pet shop?" Albedo asks, noting how the twins' faces light up excitedly.

Aether goes into a tangent about the animals they met and how the store even had a cafe at the back, along with merchandise and stuff for them to buy.

"Oh, if only we could adopt one. Although the dorms don't allow us to keep pets in the dorm..." Lumine laments. Aether turns to look at her.

"But doesn't Fischl have a pet bird?" He asks, though Lumine shakes her head.

"Fischl's convinced everyone somehow that her bird can turn into the Oz we see with her. I don't know how." Lumine replies to Aether's incredulous expression. Albedo chuckles.

"That's a new one I've heard." He says, and stands up to put away one of the books he's read. He offers to help Sucrose put her books back too. Aether watches Albedo until he turns a corner and disappears. He then looks back at the two girls with him, his own sister's expression unreadable.

Sucrose, however, doesn't talk to Aether or Lumine often despite Aether being in her dorm building and Lumine being in her class, so she stays quiet until Lumine decides to break the silence.

"Hey, Sucrose. What're you reading there?" She asks cautiously, tapping the book Sucrose is holding lightly.

"Oh. Um. It's just a book about alchemy, that's all." Sucrose explains, tilting the book towards herself. Lumine blinks, curious.

"Alchemy?" Sucrose nods slowly.

"It's a process that preceded today's chemistry, based on the transformation of matter. It was said that a famous psychologist studied alchemy to help explain the human psyche." She explains further, "There are four processes before one arrives at the magnum opus: Nigredo, Albedo, Critinitas, and finally, Rubedo. Would you like to know about these in detail?"

This also gets Aether interested. The twins both nod, wholly (un)prepared for Sucrose to drop a whole lecture on them.

After some time, Albedo returns to to his seat. He listens as Sucrose taught them about the foundation of the process used to create the philosopher's stone.

"Ah, what are you three talking about?" Albedo interrupts them, alerting them of the returning presence.

"Oh! Albedo, welcome back. I was just explaining to them about the four alchemical stages. May I be so bold to ask, what was it that took you so long to return?" Sucrose inquires, having wondered why Albedo took so long. Aether takes note that Albedo's hair looks more disheveled, his eyes slightly fuller than the usual ocean blue, and most importantly, the star shaped mark (Albedo said it was a birthmark of sorts) was missing. He couldn't pursue it further, though, because Albedo zipped up his jacket quickly.

"Ooh, I see. Me, on the other hand, had to make a small detour to help someone who was about to fall. It was a small matter, really." Albedo simply stated. Sucrose nods, having gone back to her book.

"Oh, okay."

There was a small bit of silence until it was broken by another voice.

"Rubedo."