Omniscius [Genshin Impact]

28: Trails of Dust

"Ouch! Can't you be a little more gentle?" Soleil asked, wincing with one eye closed. She hissed in pain when Childe's grip on her wrist tightened.

"How about staying still? You need to relax a little more or we're never finishing," Childe said and dabbed a cloth across Soleil's arm.

"Ow! You're pressing too hard!" Soleil cried as she struggled with the man's grip on her wrist, "You're doing this on purpose, aren't you?"

Soleil sat down on a chair near her study desk, struggling to get her wrist back from Childe, who was kneeling in front of her while dabbing a wet cloth on her gashes from the earlier incident.

Soleil felt like stomping on Childe's face every time he swipes the cloth on her wounds as the stings were sudden and makes her flinch. She had been complaining for the past five minutes but the Harbinger never paid her words any attention.

"Of course not," Childe responded with a snort. "Give me that cloth and I'll do it myself," Soleil demanded.

"You're hurt. I doubt you can do any better with you babying your wounds so much," Childe retorted.

"At least I'll be careful," Soleil scoffed, "You're always mean, you savage ginger-headed–"

She stopped talking when Childe stood up from kneeling and looked down on her. Soleil glared up from where she sat.

"What?" she snapped. She stifled a sound of surprise when Childe grabbed her chin with sudden gentility, but he had a studying and critical gaze on her face.

"I can never understand what's going on inside your head. You don't even blink when someone tries to kill you multiple times but when someone cleans your wounds, you throw a tantrum," Childe said and tilted Soleil's face to the side, "What's the deal?"

Soleil only stared at him sternly before humphing and looking away. Childe shook his head and leaned closer, "Now stay still."

He dabbed the cloth in his other hand on the small, bloodied scratches on Soleil's cheek. This time, Soleil stayed silent since his movements were careful.

"You should be more careful next time. You're already aware that someone seems to want you dead and you were almost assassinated in broad daylight. Don't go making reckless moves next time," the Harbinger chided.

Soleil stuck her tongue out childishly before looking away. An irk mark popped momentarily on Childe's forehead before he sighed in resignation.

"Whatever. You aren't going to listen to me, are you?" he said and put away the red-splotched cloth.

He went to the table and took out the gauze. Soleil raised an eyebrow, "You sure you know how to use that?"

"I'd prefer it if you stayed silent," Childe said irritatingly before walking back to Soleil, "Hold out your arm."

Soleil huffed before obliging. She watched as Childe unravelled the white gauze and wrapped it around her arm, slowly covering up the cleaned gashes.

"Why are you doing this?" Soleil asked, "I'd prefer it if I had actual medics doing my wounds."

"Now's not the best time to be picky. I can't just bring in people from the outside. Any one of them could be a killer in disguise," Childe responded and secured the gauze.

"At least you can think," Soleil said amusingly and stared at her arm with a wry look, "But you still have a whole lot of room to improve."

The gauze slowly came loose in a spiral, to which Childe reddened in embarrassment and looked away while scratching his head.