*'Lumine.. You keep shocking me. Just when I think I know you well, you turn even more mysterious. I wonder if there is an end to your trove of secrets, or is it like a blackhole, that never lets matter inside it go out?' The teal-haired adeptus tho...
'That damn Fatui Harbinger.' Xiao thought, internally pissed. He slaughtered the possessed demons in front of him with a few quick, strong strikes of his spear. He went to kill some more, but the blonde beat him to it. He shook his head as he continued his duty, with Lumine soundlessly assisting him. As the sun started rising, he stopped, planning to go back to Wangshu Inn. He wanted to be alone for some time. To sort out his thoughts and.. feelings? Ugh, that was terrible to admit, even in his brain.
"Hey Xiao?" He was interrupted from leaving by the girl driving him crazy-NO. By the blonde-haired traveler. "Yes?" He asked curtly. He wanted to make this quick. "Why are you so hostile towards Ajax- Childe?" She asked. I glared at a poor tree that had done nothing. "The question should be why are you so friendly towards him. He is a Fatui Harbinger, he's the enemy. You of all people should remember this." She sighed, sounding disappointed. "Perhaps to you. Not to me. I have forgiven him. I understand that you might not want to forgive him, since you are the protector of Liyue, but even Zhongli has forgiven him, you know." "Do what you want." he grumbled. "I'm leaving."
She tilted her head a little and smirked at him. "I think I actually get it. Xiao, you aren't jealous of Ajax, are you?" He froze like a deer in the headlights. "I-Wh-What the heck! O-Of course I'm not! Adepti don't get jealous!" She smiled at him and shook her head. "Good gods, so is that what this is all about. Relax Xiaoxiao, I'm not about to replace you anytime soon. I met you before and know you more, remember. " "That's...not it." He forced the words out, trying to convince himself. Of course, the ever-perceptive and ever-teasing traveler wouldn't let it go. "Mhm, are you sure?" She tilted his face upwards so that she could stare into his eyes. "Look at me and tell me that's not the case." He just mumbled incoherently. "Thought so." She grinned mischievously.
"My my, and adepti don't get jealous, huh? Adepti also have feelings Xiaoxiao, don't you worry. And to cure you of that jealousy, hmm, what should I do? Let's see. How about I take you to a beautiful spot I know? It's kinda hidden so you might not have seen it. I found it because I was hunting for treasu- uh because I was exploring Liyue, heh. C'mon, don't disappoint me." He started saying "No" because, well, nervousness? Nah, adepti don't feel nervous. Well, for whatever reason, he started to refuse, but she immediately went "Oh, so your answer is yes? That's wonderful, that's wonderful! So, meet me in the evening outside Liyue Harbor at the spot where you watched the Lantern Rite. It's far enough from mortals. Now, you said you wanted to go back to Wangshu Inn? Well, I'll let you go now, don't forget the time and place. I should go and rest a bit too, I have my commissions and stuff. " She disappeared without giving him even a moment to speak. 'Ugh, that girl.' he thought.
He took to wandering around the wilds of Liyue a bit. It's not like he really had anything better to do at Wangshu Inn. He found this cave in one of the hills near Liyue Harbor; it had an abundance of crystal flies. He remembered the time he had gifted Lumine some crystalfly cores on his birthday, just before she left for Inazuma. That time period really was a wild ride. In memory of that, he caught some more crystalflies.
Surprisingly, time passed rather quickly. He had done some more stuff by then, explored Liyue a bit, and killed monsters whenever he saw them. Before long, it was evening, and he was wondering whether to take up Lumine's offer. But it would be very rude of him to just leave her waiting. After some more deliberation, he chose to at least give this thing a try. If he didn't like it, he could always leave, right?
He walked over calmly to the cliff overlooking Liyue. As expected, Lumine was indeed waiting there for her. He noticed that the floating pixie wasn't there with her. When she saw him approaching, she smiled happily. "You came, Xiao! Honestly, I didn't really expect you to come, but I'm glad you did! You won't regret it, heh." "Well you did tell me to come, didn't you? I thought it would be rude of me to leave you hanging. It would be a waste of your time." She chuckled. "Well, if I had invited you let's say, a few months ago, you definitely would have straight up rejected me and you would never have turned up. So yeah, major character development much?" He glared at her. "Do you want me to leave? Because that can be arranged immediately." "Nah kidding, let's go."
*******
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
He looked around himself in awe, although of course he would deny that. The place she had taken him was this amazing underground cave in Sal Terrae. There were stalactites and stalagmites made mostly of salt in various scattered locations. There was a gushing waterfall at the entrance, and the water foamed at the base. It mostly looked like an underground river of sorts or something, and there were miniature interconnected islands everywhere. There were several veins of Cor Lapis and Noctilucous Jade around. The atmosphere was a bit on the darker side, but it was pleasantly cool. He liked it.
He was interrupted from gazing at the scene by yet another Kamera click. "Lumine." He scolded. "You should stop randomly clicking photos of unsuspecting people. Delete that picture right now. Which reminds me, while you're at it, also delete those photos of me you took in the Chasm." "Who said I'd ever delete them? Besides, look at them; you're sooo adorable when drooling and sleeping!" She scrolled to show him those embarrassing photos, and he immediately rushed to delete it. He quickly found the camera out of his grasp though, as Lumine waved it at a good distance from him. "That's not gonna work, dear." She teased him, and he growled a bit as he tried to get the Kamera. "Besides, even if you did delete it, I do have backup copies with Zhongli, Cloud Retainer, Venti, and Yae Miko!" "What?!" He screeched loudly for the first time in his life. "Are you kidding me, Lumine Whitewood? I thought we had agreed to never show those pictures to anyone? How dare you? And that too, you showed it to them? They're never going to let it go when they see me! And Yae Miko.. Holy archons, Lumine, I never expected you to break your word."
"Hey now, I never broke our word." She frowned cutely, I mean fiercely at him. "We had agreed to not show it to any of our friends who were with us in the Chasm. I never showed it to Yanfei or Yelan or Itto or Kuki Shinobu. But Zhongli and Venti are literally my brothers, in case you have forgotten, so obviously I showed it to them. And Cloud Retainer is like my sister ahaha, oh the things we have talked about... But anyways, I'm not one to ever break my promises. But I go by the word, you know? So I'm easily able to find technical loopholes." Her frown changed into a smirk.
He glared at her again, still embarrassed by those pictures. "You are lucky I am much too acquainted with you to kill you on the spot. If it was anyone else instead of you, they'd be dead right now. Anyways, I admit this cave is vast and beautiful, but what are we going to do here?" He asked, steering the conversation away from the pictures. "You just said it." She laughed. "Since this cave is so vast and beautiful, your words, we're going to explore every nook and corner of it! Who knows, we might even find some treasure chests." "I guess.. That idea isn't too bad." He said slowly. She laughed and started pulling him along. "Wow, so much character development, I'm surprised! Anyways, let's go!"
"Stop dragging me around. I am not a ragdoll."
( 1436 words
yooo im back late with another chapter for yall, and you can consider this the first xiaolumi date haha welp bye i gotta relax i just came earlier from a tiring sleepover jkfdhaiuuh anyways have a wonderful new year dears, even though im a bit late coz this chap didnt go out yesterday cyaaaa byeeeee)
