Credit: https://www.reddit.com/r/Genshin_Impact/comments/k17fra/so_drew_scaramouche/
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[Y/n POV]
By evening, Y/n and Scaramouche had reached the borders of Snezhnaya. The snow had thinned out now and greener patches of grass were visible on the ground.
Y/n didn't feel the need of the warm jacket anymore, but they kept wearing it since they doubted Scaramouche would take it back now.
"We just need to cross the border, and then we're out." Scaramouche said.
"Awesome! Then I can leave!" That made Scaramouche looked sideways at them.
Y/n decided to face him, walking backwards with their hands to their back. "So what's your mission about anyway?"
"Hm... I'm not sure yet." He frowned to himself. Y/n tilted their head in confusion. They weren't expecting that answer.
They wondered if Scaramouche was purposely hiding his agenda from them. He felt unusually distant.
Okay. Now that was a weird thing to say. Scaramouche always felt distant!!
Y/n brushed off the thought and proceeded to look around at the scenery. There weren't that many people who were crossing this route, which either meant this wasn't a place many people went to... or Scaramouche was deliberately taking a route that was travelled less.
Y/n, stop overanalyzing!!
I'm sorry but I need to keep myself occupied in some way!!
"Mondstadt isn't too far away from here." Scaramouche spoke up out of nowhere. "That will be our first destination."
"Eh? Mon-what?"
He looked at Y/n irritably. "Mondstadt. Have you fallen deaf?!"
"Hey!!" Y/n yelled back, offended. "You must be used to travelling around places but I'm new to all this!!"
Scaramouche remained indifferent to their cry. "Mondstadt's the City of Freedom, though I've only been there once."
Y/n's mood suddenly changed. They inched towards Scaramouche in curiosity. "What kind of place is it?"
He narrowed his eyes, distancing himself from Y/n. What was with Y/n's sudden interest in the place? "I was mostly occupied with a certain investigation, so I didn't have time for sight-seeing and the like."
"That's sad." Y/n looked at Scaramouche pitifully, at which he felt annoyed. "Maybe this time, we should actually enjoy ourselves."
He frowned. "No thank you."
"Ugh! Could you not be a buzzkill for 5 minutes??" Y/n folded their arms at Scaramouche. He didn't care enough to respond.
"Oh please? Please please please??"
"Stop latching onto me!!" Scaramouche tried to jerk off Y/n who was now clinging to his arm. "Also, weren't you planning on running away once you got the chance?! What happened to that??!"
"Right." Y/n hummed, releasing his arm. It was true that Y/n didn't need his consent to explore the land, if they were going to leave him anyway. Yet Y/n wanted him to be there for some reason. It just felt like he was supposed to be there with them, for whatever reason. But this was merely a gut feeling that they'd rather brush off.
"I don't know." They put a finger to their chin. It wasn't as if it mattered in the end, so why bother thinking about it?
"Whatever." Scaramouche brushed non-existent dust off his arms. "Keep your distance. I don't want your filthy hands anywhere around me."
They raised their eyebrows. Somehow Scaramouche was still upset about that. "What is your skin, made of platinum?"
"If that makes you think twice before laying a finger on me next time."
"Yeesh."
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[Scaramouche POV]
Soon, they reached outside the gates of Mondstadt. Y/n was beaming like an innocent child who had just seen the world for the first time.
"This.. is Mondstadt? It's beautiful!!" They ran towards the bridge without waiting for Scaramouche.
"Hey!! Don't run off on your own!!"
"I'll be around here, I promise!!" Y/n yelled back and continued running.
He sighed to himself, deciding not to bother with Y/n for a while. As long as they didn't get out of the city, it should be fine.
Hands in his pockets, he proceeded to walk towards the bridge as well.
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[Y/n POV]
As soon as Y/n entered the gates of Mondstadt, they were engulfed by a lively atmosphere.
Ribbons and flowers decorated the corners of the streets. A cool wind blew through Y/n's hair, carrying along with it tufts of dandelions. The City of Freedom welcomed all that entered through it, and right now it was greeting Y/n.
Y/n looked behind at Scaramouche, who didn't seem to having as much fun as they did. He kept eyeing the decorations.
"Is this place always this flashy?" He stopped beside Y/n.
"Oh. Hello. You must be new here." Said a woman with short black hair and a green and white outfit.
"Hello, and yes, we are." Y/n smiled at her.
"Ah, well. You've chosen to visit at the perfect time. Mondstadt is currently celebrating the Windblume festival. I'm sure you will enjoy yourself during your stay." She smiled.
Scaramouche narrowed his eyes. "And you are?"
"Could you be a bit more polite?" Y/n whispered to him angrily.
"Oh. Excuse me." She put a hand on her chest. "I'm Katheryne. During your stay in Mondstadt, feel free to ask me questions about the city. I'll happily provide the information you need."
Y/n smiled cheekily at Scaramouche, which he returned with a glare which said 'Don't you dare think about it'.
"What are some good places to visit during Windblume?" Y/n asked Katheryne excitedly. Behind them, they could hear Scaramouche cursing.
"Hm.. Let me think.." Katheryne closed her eyes with a finger to her chin. "The Good Hunter's is a great place to eat, and they have a special menu prepared every Windblume. The taverns of Mondstadt, namely The Cat's Tail and Angel's Share are a common place for people to gather, but you have to be of drinking age for that."
Y/n turned to Scaramouche like a child would turn to their mommy for approval.
He narrowed his eyes. "Don't look at me like that. I'm not buying you wine."
Y/n turned back to Katheryne. "Nope I'm not old enough for that."
Katheryne chuckled. "Non-alcoholic drinks are served at the bars as well, if you wish to check it out." She thought some more. "Oh! Lots of activities also take place around the City Plaza, organized by Mondstadt's people."
"Noted. Thanks a lot, Katheryne!" Y/n smiled at her before walking away with Scaramouche. Katheryne waved them both goodbye.
"Yeah, okay." Scaramouche began. "We are not staying here for the entirety of the festival."
"Don't worry. I just want to have a little fun here."
"You know I'm out on a mission, don't you?"
"Well, if your 'mission' was this important, you probably wouldn't have let me stall around like this in the first place." Y/n raised their eyebrows at Scaramouche.
"Mm. Touché."
Y/n sighed. "Let me guess. You still won't tell me about your mission."
"It's confidential. Even if it wasn't, I'd have no reason to provide you with such information."
"Yeah, whatever. Come now, I'm starving." Y/n pointed at the Good Hunter's sign.
He blinked. "I packed food for our journey, and you don't have any mora on you."
"Ah.. mora..." Y/n scratched their cheek. "Am I not going to be paid for working under you?"
"You mean you want pocket-money? Because I sure as hell won't pay you for goofing around and call it remuneration."
Y/n puffed their cheeks. "I'm not a kid!"
"Well you sure do act like one."
"Hmph! I can't believe how you treat me so rudely!" Y/n folded their arms. "All I've always tried to do is get along with you. I may not be the best but I'm trying too. The fact that I don't even get to choose freely in the City of Freedom is horrendous-"
"Stop whining, would you?! People are watching and I won't hesitate to slap you into silence!" He snapped at Y/n, then, satisfied with their silence, drew out two small boxes from his bag and placed them on the table.
"And no. I'm not ordering food for you here! Not until I have to stop carrying this load!" Y/n looked at the food for a minute. It felt odd eating foreign cuisine in the middle of Mondstadt. Nevertheless, it was food and Y/n was hungry.
Scaramouche sat down and took a pair of chopsticks. Y/n did the same, except they didn't know how to eat with them.
A couple minutes in, Scaramouche looked up from his food at Y/n only to find them still struggling. He raised his eyebrows and passed Y/n a fork. "Why'd you take them if you didn't know how to use them?"
Y/n felt embarrassed. "Well I... wasn't aware you were carrying multiple cutlery. How does all of this even fit in that bag anyway?" They hastily replied and started eating.
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[Scaramouche POV]
Night had set. Initially, Scaramouche had planned to set up a camp somewhere outside the city. But now they were in Mondstad, and the Fatui had occupied all room slots at the Goth Grand Hotel. Staying the night would be much more comfortable than he had expected.
Also, it would keep Y/n's mouth shut. He didn't want them to start whining again. Seriously, though. Did Y/n have no self-respect, acting like that?
He wondered what it would've cost to just have a normal satellite. Somehow he had a feeling the Tsaritsa had intentionally given him the short end of the stick. Was she purposely trying to make his life miserable?
"We'll be staying at the Goth Grand Hotel." He let Y/n know.
"A hotel?? What's it like?" There was another one of those questions again. Scaramouche couldn't understand the pattern of Y/n's general knowledge.
They seemed to know that mora was the currency of Teyvat, but didn't know what a hotel was like. They knew about Archons, but didn't know about Mondstad and the Archon of Freedom.
Hm...
He decided not to give it much thought. After all, he wouldn't be surprised if the Tsaritsa had messed up more than one part of Y/n's brain.
"Nothing much. They're just rooms you stay in."
"So then... Wait. Are we going to stay in the same room?"
"Why do you have to say it so weirdly?!" Scaramouche snapped, the tips of his ears heating up.
To make it worse, Y/n looked confused at his words, which meant that he was the only one who thought it like that.
"I don't know. You and I used to stay in different places back at the palace, so I was curious." They replied.
Scaramouche shook his head. As much as he wanted to have a single room to himself, the circumstances weren't letting him have it that way.
"We don't have another choice. The rooms are all booked by the Fatui. As a harbinger, I'll have little to no problem occupying one, but you don't exactly have a reputation among us. It'll be a hassle to get one under your name."
"Oh... I get it!" Y/n beamed as if they were secretly congratulating themselves for understanding what he said. Scaramouche didn't mind because he would congratulate Y/n too.
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