Lumine POV
She watched Zhongli sip the hot tea directly, and blinked, then shook it off. She looked around at their little party in Wangshu Inn- namely, her three archon siblings, Venti, Zhongli, and Jiliana, who had essentially taken a day off from her ruling duties to meet them. It was for the best; despite her cheery attitude, she looked kinda stressed. (haha you'll see what I mean waaaay later) Then there were the ones to be questioned- her and Xiao.
"Well? What all happened?" Venti began eagerly. "You have to tell us everything, okay?" Jiliana added. Zhongli coughed, as though their younger siblings' reactions were a bit embarrassing. "Ahem- It is pleasant to have you back here safely. If I may ask, did your ventures in Inazuma bear fruit? Were they smooth?"
Smiling serenely, she replied, "Oh yes, they were quite smooth. Way too smooth, if I may add. We just walked right up to the Shogun, and insisted we speak to Ei personally." They all stared at her. "What? Why are you staring at me like that?" Lumine asked defensively. Venti laughed. "Nops, no way, you're not telling me that worked!" "Well, essentially, it did work, although I myself had doubts about this stupid plan of hers." Xiao replied, arms crossed like always. "Excuse me!" Lumine exclaimed. "Are you calling MY plan STUPID?" She said in outrage. "Yeah, I am." He replied smoothly.
She sniffed. "Oh, heart been broke so many times." She sniffed again. "I-I don't know what to believe."
"Well, as I was saying before Xiao and Venti interrupted me so rudely, they were quite easygoing. Well if you count out the times where we were on- " She was swiftly elbowed by Xiao, a clear sign to shut up right now, but she continued. "-death's door. You know, those times where we almost got killed, but that doesn't really matter." Xiao sighed and facepalmed as the three archons stood up suddenly. "What did you say?" They all asked in unison. "Um, that we almost got killed a few times, but it doesn't matter." She said slowly.
There was silence for a few moments. Then Zhongli crossed his arms, eyes glowing. 'Uh oh. Run.' she thought hastily.
Too late though. "THIS IS ORDER-" And that is how she ended up almost being killed again.
**************
After that terrifying episode of an angry Zhongli, something hilarious happened, in which she neatly got back at him.
She was wandering around with Xiao, killing demons like usual, when they came across what sounded like fighting sounds. Curious, they went to check it out-
-And were met with a certain ombre-haired man, who seemed like he was enjoying himself fighting those 'churls as he threw his spear forward, then turned to kick it around, grasping it in his hand again. Then he froze, evidently having spotted them. They too stood rooted in spot for a few moments before breaking into hearty laughter. Zhongli's face flushed red from embarrassment as the adeptus stared at him with his jaw touching the ground. It was quite funny, seeing Zhongli still frozen in that kick-pose.
(Imagine him frozen in this pose lol)
"Haha, man alive, Zhongli, you should see your face! " Perhaps it was due to the fact that there had been way little entertainment and way too much serious energy the past days, but she wanted to seize this opportunity to get back at the retired archon for almost killing her by throwing a meteorite on her head.
Zhongli POV
Dang it, this was way too embarrassing. He was going around to clear out some monster camps. Why? Because he was bored sitting in the Wangsheng Funeral Parlour idly. Haha yeah, it was definitely not related to the eccentric director of the parlour. Totally not.
Anyways, he had been fighting, when he was caught in 4k by none other than his bratty little sister who was a few minutes younger than him, and the adeptus he rescued, who also protected. It was only when he heard the click of a camera shutter that he finally unfroze.His spear disappeared as he crossed his arms and coughed awkwardly, to try to stop Lumine's laughter, which would probably not happen. "Ahem ahem. What, may I ask, are you doing here?" She ignored him, showing something to Xiao on the Fontaine-made Kamera, which caused his mouth to twitch, as though he was trying to contain laughter. "... Goodbye." He disappeared in a swirl of green-black smoke, presumably to laugh in private. Ugh, curse Celestia.
"Delete that photo immediately, Lumine Whitewood." He said in a low and threatening voice. "Nuh uh, grandpa, not gonna happen." "If you dont, I will-" "You'll what peepaw? Throw another mountain at my head? I'm gonna get you back for that little stunt right now, you know?"
Well, hell. He only had barely enough time to make a less effective shield for himself before the electro charged water hit him. The puny little shield however did nothing to protect him. And that's how his little sister got revenge on him.
( 941 words.
Dang thats a short chapter, but here it is. Well anyways I wont say much here, coz most of the important stuff's gonna be in the A/N im posting in the next part. Oh, but before we go, let's end this with a bang, shall we? There is this absolutely awesome fan made genshin AMV, and its so stunning, that I've listened to it on loop for days. Its a pity that they are less known, so lets give them our support, shall we? I've attached the video below. ^^ 😇😇
BWAHAHAHA YOU KNOW I GOT YOU GOOD