Taking over the Abyss

28- This opportunity is quite hard to come by

Upon receiving no answer from Zhongli, Childe let go of your shoulders in favor of shoving both of his hands into his pockets. Quickly, you scrambled over to Zhongli for protection. Zhongli leaned down to subtly whisper to you, "I'm sorry about this. I will make sure to deal with this situation as soon as I can."

Too busy staring at Childe's hair to reply, you nodded silently. Zhongli pretended to clear his throat, moving to tell Childe to get lost. Before he could, Childe took the initiative and asked you directly, "What's your name, comrade?"

Mesmerized by the pretty orange color of his hair, you stared at him with a blank look on his face, "... huh?"

"What's your name, comrade?" Childe repeated, a hint of annoyance breaking through his friendly façade. Too bad such a pretty shade of orange had to belong to him.

"Ketchup," you said without thinking. When Childe became visibly confused, you panicked and hurried to correct yourself, "Sorry, sorry that's just a stupid nickname. My name is, uh, Tom Ato."

"Tom Ato, huh?" Childe laughed good-naturedly, although he was clearly suspicious, "Interesting name, and a highly unfortunate nickname. I'm sure your parents are very proud of you."

You wilted internally, but didn't let it show. Turning to Zhongli next, Childe began to interrogate him, "So, what exactly did you whisper to your friend there?"

Unfazed, Zhongli effortlessly recounter to Childe about your day, "I promised to take her on a tour around Liyue Harbor, as she has never visited before."

"A foreigner, huh?" Childe mused aloud, before turning his attention back onto you, "Well, looks like we've got that in common, comrade! Liyue Harbor can be quite overwhelming at first, especially if you grew up in a small town like I did."

Was he trying to get you to relax around him? You couldn't think of any other reason for him to tell you that small little tidbit. Especially given how he was a private person when it came to his own personal life, which was understandable given his choice of job. Regardless, you were completely unmoved, and Childe noticed.

Sensing some hostility from Tom Ato, Childe backed off a little, "Alright, well I can tell when I'm interrupting. I'll get out of you guys' hair."

"That would be most wise of you," Zhongli nodded his head evenly and began to usher you away from the other man. You peeked over your shoulder at him to see Childe with a slightly upset expression. That couldn't be good.

Now beginning to see this as some sort of challenge, Childe refused to back down and called out to the both of you, "Actually, I just thought of a nice idea to help your friend here. How about I take you two out to buy something? To remember the city by."

You looked to Zhongli in a panic, ready to reject Childe for the both of you. Upon seeing his face, you froze. Zhongli appeared to be strongly considering it, justifying it in his head on spending money that could be used to screw you over on something else. Having known that Zhongli would be unable to resist the prospect of spending other people's money, Childe looked quite smug.

You moved to reject it anyway, only for the former Archon to interrupt you, "I suppose I can't see a downside."

Childe laughed again, "You sound so cold when you say it like that."

-

Childe had taken the two of you to Mingxing Jewelry and had graciously told the two of you to 'get whatever you want'. You had a few seconds to look around before becoming overwhelmed by all of the choices of and unable to act. Since you were staring at everything looking completely dead inside, Zhongli took pity on you, which was terrible because it was his fault you were here anyway.