Within Our Friendship // Cynonari // Genshin Impact

9: The Beginning of Love

"Excuse me? I wouldn't be calling you a stalker if you had just stopped observing and interrogate me right away!" Tighnari pouted.

I swear to archon he has no chill.

"Listen, I'm sorry for making you feel uncomfortable. I didn't mean any of it." Cyno said, sounding sincere according to Tighnari's ears. "Since I found out that you're not guilty, you're safe now."

He got up. "Anyways, I still have other work to do. Till we meet again, Tighnari."

Tighnari had an unsure expression on his face.

"Again..?"

After maybe about a week or two later, Tighnari was seen walking down a dirt path. He was finishing up his errand of collecting some flowers and others like mushrooms to see if he can make anything useful out of them.

"Such a slow day.. These flowers didn't age well.. Did I perhaps come by too early.. or did I come by too late..?" Tighnari wondered. Whatever.. I need to go get this to water quickly before they die. They need to be as fresh as can be so I can work a smooth process.

Tighnari heard some footsteps. He looked up to see a couple of figures in the distance. They seemed to be walking in his direction. The fox stopped, he hesitated to keep moving because he recognized the attire the people were wearing.

Are those Eremites? What are they doing out here in the desert? Tighnari's ears nervously folded back as he looked at his surroundings. There were some other Eremites, some big and some small, all coming around him.

"Aha, look at what we have here. A precious student of the Akademiya. Seems to be one of the popular scholars, as well." An Eremites spoke up.

"W..What do..-?"

"Sorry we have to do this to you. But we need one of you guys for our own personal benefit." The eremite nodded at a big guy. "Us Eremites have been having a lot of trouble maintaining a lot of things. We need someone more.. organized to give us a helping hand.."

Tighnari felt his ears flatten to his head, his tail itching to go in between his legs as he watched the big Eremite walk towards him.

His ears perked up when he heard something zipping by, sounds of violently rustling cloth and running footsteps. Tighnari saw a figure dressed in black ambush the tall eremite that was in front of him. Something like purple electricity stunned him, and a familiar figure stood atop of him.

Tighnari's tail lifted, and began to sway side to side. "C-Cyno!" He noticed his tail, and pat it down to cut it out.

"I've been looking for you Eremites." Cyno said. He glared upon the group of thieves with a dark look. "You can't hide forever. Your sins will be laid upon your soul."

"The General Mahamatra!"

Tighnari watched as each one of the Eremites was taken down. They were picked off like little hairs. Big, electro claws stuck out from his coat, looking as if they could cut anything into two.

After Cyno was done, every eremite was knocked unconscious. His electro claws disappeared, and he'd look at Tighnari. "..Are you alright?"

"Hm? Yeah! Th-Thanks.." Tighnari started.

As Cyno walked towards him, he noticed how the fox's tail tapped on the ground. "Sorry about that. I had been chasing those Eremites for some time, but I guess they had other plans. It's okay, now. I dealt with them."

"Yeah.. I just saw that." Tighnari said.

"Eremites can be little termites sometimes." Cyno tilted his head.