[name] had changed into her other set of clothes she had brought with her after being briefly let out to change. She felt blessed to at least be able to rinse her body off in a shower when a knight was clear on 'receiving' orders from a certain cavalry captain. Yet there was a profuse smell that whisked around the air as she walked down the hall, escorted by a guard back to the interrogation room.
It was men's odor. [name] struggled to keep her head afloat from losing herself to the awful stenches. It had been so bad that she even had to cover her nose with her hands as she walked.
She shuddered as it had gotten much stronger from bypassing a specific room. Her eye twitched a little in irritation. "Gross..."
It wasn't until the door had been opened again did the smell from over there had dispersed. She could no longer really smell it any more, but she remembered it again as soon as she saw the blue haired man sitting on a seat beside the table.
As of right now, he was like that odor一A foul nuisance to her life. He was a man with a handsome face just as blissfully beautiful as the first fall of snow; who he couldn't grasp to hold in his hands, he swayed with his fine words of allure, convincingly, surely, and if not that, he would find other ways to walk you down that path if he needed to hold your hand even. Anyone in town could easily be swept off of their feet by him一 Men, women, children, old and young, all alike, [name] herself would have been no different had she met him sooner however.
But now, was different. Now, the wind in Mondstadt could only be her true reason of comfort. Now, all she had felt was numbness and tire to the possibilities laying beyond a need to sleep all of those years away underneath that dead, once-blossoming tree within her soul, once full of will, vigor and vitality.
He, was just men's odor to her wilting tree that needed blossoming; to think that she would be sparing him an inch of her time over the time to self evaluate her life made her grumble in annoyance. It dawned on her that she was starting to regret her irrationality.
She greeted him quietly and politely alas when she felt like she had stood at the door frame long enough. "Mister Kaeya."
The male had turned his head towards with a smile holding one of her torn books in his hand. "Miss [name], I didn't think you would be the type of person to hoard destroyed books."
[name] felt herself retract a step behind her then stomped towards him yanking the book out of his hand. "Refrain from snooping into my personal belongings, please."
He feigned a look of hurt standing up from his seat. "Snoop? You don't need to scowl at me now."
She found herself frowning again. It seemed this man had the perfect ability to make her feel like absolute crap sometimes.
[name] crossed an arm over the other. "Mister Kaeya一 "
"Just Kaeya." He attempted to correct her to no avail.
"Mister Kaeya." She breathed his name indignantly intent on keeping their space formal. "Do you always have to go through such lengths to get what you want? It's appalling, and I would appreciate it if you wouldn't."
Being the man that he was, he leaned against the table confidently smirking at her. "Well, if I wasn't, then maybe I wouldn't be Kaeya, the Cavalry Captain, now would I?"
[name] rolled her eyes at him. "Ridiculous..."
Seeing that he had gotten under her skin made his smirk widen. He stood up grabbing the book forcefully out of her hand this time. As she was much shorter than him she struggled to reach the book that was now high in the air. Taking this chance since she was panicked to get her book back, her back was slammed against the edge of the table. He towered over cornering her on both of her sides with his hands slammed on the table.
She was stunned at the sudden move, having not expected it.
"Miss [name], I see that you like to fantasize romance, doesn't this bring back memories from one of them?" He huskily whispered into the air in a flirty tone.
Her face blushed in a heartbeat. Of course, she remembered too many scenes like this! But this wasn't it!
She tried to pull away out of his small lock, but found that as a matter of fact, she was weaker in both strength and form, so she was stuck in his embrace.
"Get off of me."
Kaeya's smirk didn't waver at her demand. He set the book down on the table in a slow manner before moving himself away from her, hands up in the air as though to play it off like he was a criminal caught in a crime.
[name] continued to keep blushing, glaring at her with all of her might. "If this is the game you were planning to play at then I hope you know that I don't want in on any of it."
"Of course, not. With the faintest idea of ill intentions, I assure you." Faint, was still some however一 She wanted to scold him but he cut her off before she had the chance. "I was planning on treating you out to some classic Mondstadt delicacy, to impart. Some sticky honey roast should do fine for propriety, correct?" He paused. "For today, at least."
She was baffled by those last words. Today? At least? What in the world was this man actually thinking?
[name] suspiciously gazed at him, watching as he walked out the door with a careless attitude despite what just happened. Her heart sped in nervousness and anger. She was left without much of a choice so she had reluctantly followed after his figure.
It was then that the two had been sitting at a restaurant waiting to be graced with what they would have for a meal. It had faded to evening and night, considering how the long it took to fully roast a fine plate of the meat. The restaurant was beside the Cat's Tail, and knowing that fact made [name] feel restless, as it would conclude to be the second day she would be gone without notion. With this man in front of her though, she had to dwell into the depths of her own guilt in silence.
This man, who had been making small talk along the way, she figured had been as big of a tease as the rumors forebode him to be. But the rumors forgot to mention, that he was also quite a insensitive jerk at the same time.
"[name]."
"Add the 'miss' please."
"[name]."
This irked her. He was pulling the same method of emphasis, like she had pettily done earlier.
"I've been meaning to ask along the way, but you don't seem to be enjoying yourself."
The girl sarcastically muttered aloud. "I wonder why."
Kaeya tipped her with the same bit of amount of similar sarcasm. "I'm curious as well." He leaned against the palm of his hand. "Unless, of course, this is just a tactic of yours to gather men. If so, it might be working."
Once again, she was speechless.
Her hands slammed themselves down onto the table startling a few nearby customers as she rather loudly rose from her seat. "Excuse me for a moment." She walked away from the man, down the nearby alleyway. Her feet stumbled onto fresh green grass.
She slowly settled her body before the weeds, plucking a couple dandelions off of the ground. They were small compared to the ones growing outside of the castle walls, but this was big enough for her.
With a huff and a puff she blew away at the seeds until each one had flew away. A sigh left her. "Much better..."
Hearing shuffling from an opposite alleyway, a certain figure appeared before her making her heart fasten again. He had clearly just came back from another endeavor, seeming to be in a rush to return after his small quest. She didn't think she would cross paths with him again, even he too, was briefly frozen in place considering how he didn't think he would meet her either.
Was this a fairy tale after all?
[name]'s lips trembled. "Mister Darknight Hero."
He flinched at the alias, turning to walk away like he did the first time before, acting like she didn't exist. [name] didn't know what had taken over her from there.
She quickly ran after his retreating figure, pulling him back by the arm. He shuddered again, unused to having anyone physically contact him in any sort of way. She didn't notice it however, persisting on.
"Wait, please!" She hurriedly begged tugging for him to stop in his tracks.
Awkwardly, he quietly turned to face her as he didn't have much of a heart to turn her away. He couldn't just throw her arm of him一 Especially she had desperately chased after him to this extent.
[name] waited to see reaction. When he didn't budge, she looked around her, cheeks swelling red in embarrassment and shyness. She didn't think far enough it seemed一 "I- I... Uh..." Her voice trailed off, hands gripping a little tighter to the stems of the dandelions in her hands.
It was then that she remembered she still had them, did she raise them up at a slow pace in front of him. "T- these dandelions... Take them please."
The vigilant felt confusion. 'She wanted me to wait for this?' He couldn't help but think of.
Seeing how he didn't really react, she flustered to explain. "It's to thank you... I know it's naïve and it's just... Weeds." She confirmed with loss of confidence. "B- but, it's all I have; if someday in the future you feel troubled, give a dandelion a blow so you can let it all go... So, please take it."
The Darknight Hero, as locals called him, stared at the small strands of dandelions for a worthwhile.
Then slowly, unable to turn her gratefulness again, he gently took the weeds into his hands, whispering a definite, "Thank you."
[name] released him out of her grasp. Her cheeks quickly flared up a second time today after hearing just how smooth his voice was. She hadn't really taken the time to listen to it the first time he spoke because she was fearing for her life. But hearing it now... It made her pulse rapidly beat faster than she could have ever thought possible.
Her heart fluttered, repeating the exact two words in her head as he walked away, failing to notice himself, how blushed she was.
Maybe she was wrong一 He wasn't the knight she had been looking for, but he did save her after all, and these past few incidents of crossing would be moments that could never be faded into her bleeding memories.
That later night, she had reluctantly returned to Kaeya. They had ate in awkward tension, and he returned her back to the interrogation room she was assigned to at the Knights Headquarters.
But all she could really think of as she was unable to fall asleep, was the Darknight Hero.
Her hands pulled out the clean journal and readied pen out of her bag, and slowly, she wrote in a beautiful cursive at the top in what came to be as two words: Fairytale Dreams.
Writing away the start of a story about a woman's childhood dreams and aspirations, coming into truth.
Hmm, I haven't really thought too much about what to add on to the story yet aside from the next few chapters being more fluff than story oriented...
But, we'll see from here right? :3
For now, let's just appreciate the fluff before we get back to the messy parts~
P.S. I'm seeing a lot of Diluc comments. But what's got me really going were the poly comments down here. LMAO, I didn't even expect you guys to put that down, actually. Who knows, I might even consider it. No promises though c;