𝐏𝐫𝐢𝐬𝐨𝐧𝐞𝐫 𝐨𝐟 𝐚 𝐂𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐭 | Xiao x Reader

10

You quickly walked through the city, noticing how the sun had just risen high enough in the sky that it could no longer be considered morning. You were exhausted, and couldn't even remember the last time you'd gotten a proper night's rest. The last few days had blurred together way too much, but luckily, being an immortal being, you could technically go without sleep all the time and be unaffected.

What was exhausting was all the emotional turmoil you'd been dealing with thanks to the 'death' of the Geo Archon, and it was starting to become too overwhelming.

All you wanted right now was some time to yourself in a quiet area, where you could just be alone. Or, more realistically, where you could be semi-alone while Xiao stubbornly kept watch over you. As annoying as it was, at least it meant you could nap anywhere you wanted without worrying about being attacked.

Before you could do any of that, though, you needed to check in at Northland Bank. After everything went down at the Rite of Descension, you'd only run into Childe one other time at dinner. He was technically your partner in this whole assignment, and probably didn't appreciate you ditching him so much, even if you were handling your part of the mission while doing so.

You took a left, starting up one of the red wooded staircases that led to the building as you glanced down to the slightly more lively city. People were just starting to come out now, and you knew it would soon be as bustling and loud as ever. Hopefully, you could avoid those tiresome hours.

Two fatui men greeted you at the door and you sent them each a short nod, pulling the handles open and stepping inside to see a mostly barren office room, save for the woman at the bank's front desk.

"Ah, Y/n," she bowed her head slightly, "Welcome." You nodded back, coming to stand in front of her.

"I came to check on the progress of our assignment," you explained, "Is Childe here?" She shook her head, and you weren't surprised with that outcome. He never liked to stay in one place for too long, and was probably working on replicating the sigil of permission you'd already procured for him as you spoke.

"He hasn't returned yet today, I'm afraid," she replied, "However, he did leave a note for you." She took out a small piece of paper, handing it over to you.

Taking it in your hand, you raised an eyebrow of her as you scanned the words.

Y/n,

I'll be out for a while. I'm sure you need no instruction from me, but the Tsaritsa requested you work with our new recruits after I sent her a report about their inefficiency on the way here. They're waiting for you in the back.

Sorry,
Childe

You sighed. That woman sure did like throwing extra work at you, didn't she? You'd never taken kindly to teaching, especially if your 'students' were as incompetent as the team you'd been assigned, but you also couldn't argue that they needed all the help they could get if they wanted to survive this mission.

Most of the details had been withheld from you, something about you being too 'emotionally involved' as someone who had originally been born in Liyue. If that were an issue though, why send you on this assignment in the first place, even if Zhongli had requested it?

Regardless, you weren't entirely sure what the Tsaritsa had planned, or why it involved so many sigils of permission. You just knew you were supposed to either become Archon or find some other way to get the gnosis, something that had turned out to be more complicated than before when Rex lapis supposedly died at the Rite of Descension. You hadn't even sensed the gnosis on Zhongli now that he was in his human form, and not knowing where the Exuvia was located, you weren't sure where to go to look for it, which was why you were trying to look into the situation with Zhongli and whatever his plan was in the hopes of figuring it out.