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Thoma had never understood the allure of alcohol.
He understood why people drank it, why his master used it to help loosen tongues, why it was always readily available for consumption at different events and parties.
He even let himself enjoy it, sometimes, but only on certain days and only within reason. For he had to maintain a state of constant vigilance, to uphold the vow he’d made to the Kamisato Clan.
He liked sweet reds and dry whites, and had been known to sample a firewater or two, but as a general rule, he much preferred to watch others operate under the effects of alcohol, because it was free entertainment.
Mistress Ayaka had a tendency to be flippant when she drank, her normally calm demeanor replaced with something akin to mischief that reminded Thoma of Master Ayato.
His master had a tendency to reveal too much after a few too many, so he only drank at Yashiro events, lest the other clans take advantage of his loose tongue.
Arataki Itto somehow managed to become that much louder, each shot taken increasing his volume until it was impossible to ignore. It was then that he’d challenge anyone who dared to tell him to stop, to an Onikabuto fight, that he’d promptly forget about in favor of seeking out more of what made him feel good, because he always lost.
Kazuha and Yoimiya were cheerful drunks, dancing to every song and laughing at everything that amused them, unabashedly so, and as it was, they were engaging in one such dance now, surrounded by friends new and old as they spun and sauntered about, the former offering a hand to Mistress Ayaka that had the flush on his face darkening to something a bit more heated.
Not that Kazuha would do anything to tarnish the lady’s honor. He was, after all, a gentleman through-and-through, and a man like that was exactly what Ayaka deserved.
That is, if her elder brother deigned to accept such a union.
There was no reason for him to decline, for Kazuha had been perfectly clear about his affections for Mistress Ayaka, it was merely a matter of when he’d actually seek out the commissioner’s blessing.
A formality, really, in the grand scheme of things, since the pair had been inseparable since the Irodori Festival.
Thoma’s eyes flitted over to where another remnant of the Irodori Festival had Lumine enraptured in conversation, his teal eyes watching her intently as she presumably replied to a question.
Calx, or Albedo, as Lumine called him, was a polite and soft spoken man, prone to solitude, despite the fact that he was perfectly capable of carrying on a conversation.
Thoma knew this because they’d shared quite a few of them during the festival, and they had varied from detailed discussions about creative inspiration to vague comments about what was happening around them.
He was good-natured and quite funny, when he wasn’t worried about saying the wrong thing, and Thoma saw him offer a rare smile as Lumine tossed her head back to laugh, resting a hand on his forearm as he shook his head fondly and reached for a bite of food.
They knew each other from her time in Mondstadt, and there was a kinship between them that she’d had trouble replicating since she’d entered Inazuman waters, despite the fact that she’d made a slew of new friends.
A kinship, she’d told him, that felt similar to her friendship with Thoma.
But as it was, Thoma was not the one sharing a corner with the esteemed traveler, and he was certainly not the one pulling all sorts of pretty reactions out of her.
And for a moment, he let himself wonder if the whole “shy and soft-spoken artist” was merely a ruse . For there was nothing demure about the way Albedo watched her, or the way he simpered every time she touched him.
“Mister Thoma, can you please help me with something?”
Tiny hands tugging on the hem of his jacket pulled him out of his jealous reprieve, and crimson eyes were peering up at him as the girl behind them flashed him one of the cutest smiles he’d ever seen, “Are you listening to me?”
“Of course.” Thoma replied as he took a knee to meet her at eye level, “What seems to be the problem, Miss Klee?”
“I want to talk to Miss Yoimiya, but she’s busy , and I don’t want to interrupt her.”
Thoma offered Klee a soft smile as she turned to find Yoimiya and pouted, “Whatever do you need to talk to her about, that cannot wait until morning?”
“Fireworks, of course!” The girl replied simply, as if Thoma had asked her the dumbest question she’d ever heard, “Dodoco and I have been working very hard to make some for her, and I have them ready to go, but I don’t want to set them off without her permission.”
“Miss Yoimiya already has the fireworks set up for this evening, did she say you could add yours last minute?”
“Well, no. But she also didn’t tell me that I couldn’t! And I really think she’ll like them, but I don’t know—”
He could tell by the sound of her voice that she was edging toward distress, and her eyes were lined with the slightest of tears as her obvious frustration began to boil over, so Thoma lowered it to a simmer with a gentle hand and a calm word, “Adults should be more clear with their instructions. Shall I accompany you to clear the air?”
Klee nodded as she slipped a tiny hand into Thoma’s palm, and before he had a chance to reinforce his grip, she was dragging him across the room without so much as a backwards glance.
“Ah, it seems that Klee has managed to charm the Kamisato housekeeper. Is Thoma good with kids?”
Lumine took a sip of wine as she turned to find Klee dragging him across the room, her eyes fixed on Yoimiya as Thoma helped her navigate around the others, “Thoma is good with everyone.”
“I’m not surprised.” Albedo replied, “He certainly has that charisma.”
“Did you get to talk to him much? During the festival?”
“A bit.” Albedo replied, sipping his drink slowly as he presumably kept an eye on Klee, “He’s quite fond of you. They all are.”
“A brief fixation. It’ll pass.”
“You said the same thing about people in Mondstadt, but I’m pretty sure they’re about to erect a statue in your honor.”
Lumine snorted as Albedo flashed her a rare smirk and chuckled softly, “Please have Kaeya put an end to that malarkey. I don’t think I have the strength.”
“I can certainly try, but I’m sure he’ll find the whole thing most amusing.”
Albedo and Kaeya were the two people in Mondstadt that knew about her wayward sibling, and only because Kaeya had let it slip after a few drinks one night, and Albedo just happened to be the one he told.
Better Albedo than Rosaria, all things considered, for Albedo was a master at discretion, “He misses you, you know. As much as Kaeya can miss anything. We all do.”
“I know.” Lumine replied, “But you both understand why I had to leave.”
“We do.” Albedo nodded as he sipped on his drink, his mouth twisting into that rare smile again as he reached over to squeeze her hand, “And for what it’s worth, Inazuma suits you.”
“Does it?” A beat as she reached for the food tray and hummed, “I still feel like such an outlander.”
“I don’t know that that will ever change, given your origins.” Albedo replied simply, “I struggled at first, as well, but having friends and loved ones helps.”
Lumine bobbed her head from side to side in consideration, and Albedo followed up quickly, “And besides, being an outlander in Inazuma is en vogue, right now. Especially since they just opened everything back up.”
Lumine wrinkled her nose and chuckled as Albedo waited for her to respond, and she watched as something going on behind her caught his eye and she heard Ayato call for more drinks.
Thoma’s head felt like it was spinning as he stumbled out into the night, sucking in a deep breath as he steadied himself against the wall and closed his eyes.
Yoimiya and Klee had swiftly departed after he explained Klee’s confusion, and it was then that his master, of all people, had thrust a drink into his hand and apparently kept them coming.
“You need to relax.” He’d said, “I’ll make sure you have the day off tomorrow.”
And so he’d done as he was told, but stopped himself before things got out of hand.
It wasn’t all bad. On the contrary, there were parts of it that were rather pleasant: the lack of tension in normally tight muscles, the fact that he found humor in just about everything, the warmth that bloomed in his chest as his worries melted away.
He almost felt lighter, and something about that was freeing, but he knew in the back of his mind that the feeling would be short-lived, so he decided to enjoy what little reprieve he had, and he let himself look up at the sky.
The Kamisato Estate was far enough from town that the stars were clear and bright, and there were so many in the sky that he almost felt like he was under a blanket, save for the fact that the cool night air nipped at his exposed skin.
Thoma had taken many moonlit walks during his tenure as the Kamisato housekeeper, for the Kamisato siblings had an affinity for the stars, and more often than not, they requested company when they wanted to watch them.
They’d shared many a secret under that blanket of stars, if only to put them out into the world so that they could sort through them, and Thoma was always more than happy to lend a helpful ear, but it was rare that he returned the favor with a secret of his own.
Not that he had many, if he were going to be honest, but the ones he had weren’t ones he wanted his masters to have to worry about.
On the nights where he found himself stargazing alone, he wished for someone that would lend him an ear, if only so his feelings wouldn’t consume him.
But as it was, his friends in Inazuma had more important things to worry about, which was okay, if not the slightest bit frustrating.
Thoma closed his eyes and took another deep breath as he felt himself begin to sway, and the slam of a door helped to ground him further as he turned to find Lumine staggering out into the courtyard, looking every bit as pretty and put together as she had for the entire evening.
He watched as she scanned the area around her for something or someone, but there was no way of knowing what or who she was looking for, since he was still hiding in the shadows.
He wondered what had lured her outside, whether it was the promise of a tryst or just a desire to get away, and before he could stop himself, he was closing the distance between them, his curiosity in open war with his need for discretion as he cleared his throat to announce his presence and she wheeled around to face him.
“Archons, Thoma!” She exclaimed as Electro appeared at her fingertips and he held his hands up in mock surrender, “Don’t scare me like that!”
Thoma offered her a smirk as she looked up at him with amber eyes, and he could barely make out the delicate flush on her cheeks as he chuckled softly and shrugged, “That’s what you get for wandering around by yourself, does Albedo know you’re out here?”
“Albedo is not my keeper.” Lumine replied, “But yes, he knows I’m out here.”
“Did he not wish to join you?”
Lumine snorted and sighed as she darted her eyes up to the sky, “He left to go and look for Klee, and I imagine once he finds her, he’ll stay put. The Kreideprinz cares little for crowds.”
“He didn’t seem to mind them during the Festival.”
“Calx handles crowds better than Albedo does.”
Thoma didn’t miss the fondness in her tone as she took a step toward him and smiled at what had to be a memory, and he wanted so badly to ask her what it was, “That makes sense, in a sort of convoluted way, I guess.”
“Ah, I see you’ve spent enough time with Albedo to be able to sum him up in a single sentence.”
Thoma sucked in a breath and chuckled, “I don’t mean it in a bad way! It just explains a lot, is all.”
Lumine flashed him a bright smile and shrugged, “I’m sort of glad I caught you out here. I feel like we’ve barely had time to talk since the festival started.”
“Ah, well, someone was so busy uncovering four generations of secrets, she couldn’t spare me a second glance.”
He snickered as Lumine swatted at him and giggled, “And the Kamisato clan’s busybody housekeeper had to be in five places at once, so he didn’t even have time to spare for a drink at the end of the night.”
“I suppose we’ve reached an impasse, then.”
“I suppose we have.”
Several charged seconds passed between them as Thoma heard the first of Yoimiya’s fireworks whistling through the air, and Lumine was pulling him along by his wrist before he had a chance to refuse her.
Not that he would have turned down any chance to spend some time alone with her.
Lumine’s eyes were bright with wonder as they came to rest at the edge of the courtyard and she tipped her chin up to watch the sky, and the din of the party floated outside as the rest of its attendees began to filter through the courtyard.
Thoma felt heat rising to his face as Lumine slid the hand that had been around his wrist down to lace their fingers together, and she was the only thing he saw as the sky around them lit up and people started falling in on either side of them.
As he watched her watch the show, Thoma couldn’t help but wonder if Lumine would want to be the one to keep his secrets, if she’d want to tell him hers, if there was even a chance in hell that she cared for him in the same way he cared for her.
But it wasn’t the time to ask, so Thoma resigned himself to tear his gaze away from her in favor of enjoying what remained of the festivities, and decided to let the pieces fall into place, one firework at a time.