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Ah, Mondstadt. The City of Freedom.
After dealing with the absolute shitshow that is Il Dottore and his grand plan to fuck up the world, Lumine thinks she deserves a good, long rest. That was exactly why she decided to return to Mondstadt: the place of beginnings, of peace, of dandelions that sway in the wind and warm cobblestone streets.
(Snezhnaya was next on her list, but for now, playing with Klee and her band of little witches is the only ‘grand adventure’ she’s going to embark on.)
Right now, as she sits underneath the canopy of emerald leaves, Lumine can feel herself dozing off. The wind feels so nice against her skin and the tweeting of birds are like a lullaby. Next to her, Paimon is already snoring quietly, and she, too, starts to slip away—
“Lumine!”
Lumine jolts awake from her almost-sleep.
"Hey! Yo!"
That made her sit up straight. Upon registering who the voice belongs to, Lumine takes a deep breath and closes her eyes. In just a few minutes, the following would occur:
Someone would yell “Let’s fight!”, accompanied by a grin that screams ‘I won’t take no for an answer’, to which she would begrudgingly agree to because she’s a kind angel (and saying no would just lead to an even bigger inconvenience), a tiring sparring session would then commence, and Varka would come running to apologize (and to slack off). She would end up a sweating mess and her peaceful day is as good as FUCKED.
She holds up a hand to stop the dialog that would inevitably start the chain of events. “Not today, Lohen.”
“Huuuuuh?!! But I haven’t even said anything!”
Lohen. Vice Captain of the Knights of Favonius’ Fifth Company. Successor to the title of Benevolent Knight. Infamous within the Knights of Favonius for… sadistic ways of interrogation, unconventional leadership, and various disorderly conduct.
“I can feel your bloodthirst within a ten-mile radius, and—for the love of Archons,—don’t even think about pointing your dagger at me.”
Lohen’s face pops from the side of Lumine’s periphery as he bends down to look at her.
“Wow! How did you know?!” (He sheathes his dagger back somewhere inside his coat.)
Lumine exhales.
Dealing with Lohen is like trying to tame a baby cheeteah. He appears out of nowhere, does whatever he wants (which mainly consists of running around and trying to pick a fight with whoever is unfortunate enough to cross his line of sight), then disappears to God knows where. Honestly, you’re better off not even trying.
“Let me guess. You knocked out all of your subordinates.”
Like the little shit he is, Lohen grins from ear to ear.
“They’ll end up hating you, you know.”
“Meh, I don’t care. If they got a problem with how I run things, all they need to do is defeat me and become the vice-captain.”
“That’s not how it works.” Lumine grumbles, pinching the bridge of her nose, “Anyway, stop bothering me.”
The expression on Lohen’s face twists to something akin to that of a kicked puppy. “What?! But you spend so much time with the Grand Master! And the two Ragnvindr brothers! You even accompany Sucrose while she does her boring experiments!”
The blonde traveler merely leans back and exhales. “This and that is not the same.”
“Alright, so you hate me!” Lohen concludes, pouting. When Lumine doesn’t answer, he surges forward and proceeds to cling to her arm, scooting closer until he’s practically leaning against her body.
He accidentally tugs on Paimon’s scarf, waking her up in the process.
“Ow! Hey! What the—!?”
“Oops, sorry.”
“Lohen!?” Paimon screeches, “Hey, Traveler, why is he here?!”
Lumine lets out a heavy sigh when she feels a yank on her other arm. Lohen is still clinging onto her like he was never taught the concept of personal space and Paimon has started her own attempt of tugging her away.
“Hey! Unhand Lumine!”
“No! You unhand her!”
Lumine stares ahead at the windmills in the distance, the flying birds, the dandelion seeds that are being carried away by the wind—
Oh, forget about taking a break. When will Ajax come and get her?
“Huh? Who’s ‘Ajax’?”
“Whoa. Did I say that out loud?”
Lohen is now crossing his arms in front of his chest. “Uhh, yeah, you did. Who’s Ajax?”
Yawning, Lumine stretches her back and starts to walk away. “Oh, no one. Let’s get going before the sun sets.”
Lohen follows behind, an annoyed smile still painting his lips.
Meanwhile, in a cozy bar tucked between the buildings of Mondstadt, a red-haired man is busy working.
The usual bearded bartender, Charles, is nowhere to be found—(bad case of influenza),—so since it’s a hassle to ask somoene else, Diluc goes to do the bartending himself.
Making drinks is something that Diluc takes comfort in.
The serving customers part… well, not so much.
Someone has asked him earlier to mix the Dandelion Wine with ‘this organic, safe-to-consume Scorpion Droppings’ and he successfully fought the urge to kick the guy out, along with his bottle of black death. Another was knocked out cold after his fifth glass, and, when Diluc tried to wake him up, proceeded to throw up all over the floor. On the way to get the mop, Diluc pushed down every thought relating to manslaughter.
His savior—who he first thought was his savior—comes in the form of a tall man with bronze hair and striking blue eyes, dressed sharply in a tailored gray jacket and a red scarf pinned to the lapels. He opens the door and tries to be inconspicuous but manages to catch the eye of everyone in the bar. From the Hydro Vision on his hip and the measured steps in which he walks, Diluc can immediately spot his military background.
“Hello. Do you have something strong?”
‘Snezhnayan.’ Diluc smiles. “Sure.”
Another guy walks in, someone whom he recognizes as one of the Fatui Diplomats stationed at Mondstadt. ‘Michael, or Mikhail’, he thinks was his name. ‘Michael or Mikhail’ makes a beeline to the other Snezhnayan, giving him a full salute. Like, a full full salute.
‘Oh. Okay,’ He thinks, ‘High-ranking guy over here.’
“Sir, I was not informed of your arrival! Welcome to Mondstadt, err, do you have any orders for me, sir?”
Diluc continues wiping wineglasses, making a mental note not to angle his body towards them in order to hide the fact that he is, in fact, very much eavesdropping.
“At ease. I’m not here on official business. I will be returning to Snezhnaya soon.”
“Copy that, sir! Your room at Goth Grand Hotel has been arranged, sir.”
“Very well. There’s no need to make any further arrangements.”
“Yes, sir!”
There’s a sound of shuffling footsteps, then several others. Diluc looks up to see that the rest of his customers has taken the time to slip out, seemingly freaked out to be in the same space as a high-ranking Fatui soldier. Diluc lets out a relieved sigh at their departure before turning his full attention to the mystery man.
He’s now tapping his fingers against the countertop mindlessly, as if he really doesn’t have an agenda to stick to.
Very, very high-ranking.
“Dandelion Wine?” He offers, slipping the glass over the counter.
“Oh, yes, thank you. Lumine always gushes over this in her letters…” He trails off with a smile, staring into the glass of wine in his hand.
This rouses Diluc’s curiosity again. “You’re acquainted with the traveler?”
The man visibly lights up, turning to look at him. “Oh, yes! I’m actually here to get her, you see? We promised to travel together to Snezhnaya, and—oh, where are my manners,—please call me Tartaglia.”
Diluc accepts his outstretched hand with a forced smile. He has a feeling that ‘Tartaglia’ is going to exhaust him more than a horde of customers during rush hour.
“Diluc.”
“Nice to meet you!” Tartaglia takes a generous sip, “I’m actually a bit early. Couldn’t wait to see her after… well, anyway, I ended up arriving several days early! Guess I’ll just linger around and hope we run into each other soon. I haven’t seen her in forever. Do you think she misses me?”
Diluc stares at him, mouth slightly agape.
Tartaglia stares back, waiting for him to answer.
Diluc forces his lips to form a smile, almost getting a face cramp in the process. “R-right. Good for you.”
Tartaglia lights up again.
Diluc feels his soul start to slip away.
“Let’s go! Let’s go!”
Lumine lets Lohen run a safe distance ahead, watching in exasperation as the nearby wild animals skitter around to give the man a wide berth as he stampeded through the forest.
“Slow down!” Paimon zips from somewhere behind her, frantically trying to keep up with his pace. “You’re scaring the squirrels!”
And indeed he is, because at that very moment a family of squirrels runs past Lumine’s legs, eager to get away. Lumine groans. She couldn’t believe she ever thought Lohen was handsome.
A breeze of wind flows by, making Lohen’s hair and cape flutter. “Whoa!” He laughs, turning his head to look at his companions. “Don’t get blown away, now!” His gorgeous smile has no problems rivaling the Mondstadt sun and Lumine looks to the side, suddenly feeling shy.
Scratch that. He is handsome, no doubt about it. It’s just that when he acts like a rampaging bull 90% of the time, that boyish charm suddenly fades away like it was never even there in the first place.
“Am I going too fast? You want me to hold your hand?”
Lumine is so lost in her thoughts that she doesn’t even realize Lohen is now standing next to her. He reaches out a hand to gently rest on her shoulder before leaning forward, tilting his head to study her expression with a teasing smile on his face.
“Helloo? So you do want me to hold your hand?”
“No need, thank you!” She tries to shove him away to no avail. For a guy who’s only slightly taller than her, Lohen is surprisingly firm: both his stance and his body—
Lumine yelps and yanks her palms away, much to Lohen’s amusement.
“What’s wrong?” With a smirk, he places both hands over Lumine’s own, guiding them back to rest on his chest. “Here. You can touch me even lower, too~”
Cheeks now glowing a furious red, Lumine feels her annoyance rise when she sees the victorious grin on Lohen’s face. This guy is so irritatingly handsome. He’s such a pain in the ass. Even the high and mighty Archons treats her with respect and an endearing carefulness, but this Vice Captain doesn’t seem to care that she’s the traveler—not just any traveler, but The Traveler.
This cannot stand.
“Enough messing around.” Lumine breaks free, unsheathing her blade.
Lohen steps back, holding up his hands in mock surrender. “Aww, what’s the rush? Did I fluster you, Honorary Knight?”
The nonchalance in his tone, coupled with his carefree attitude that refuses to take anything seriously, gives rise to an anger so powerful Lumine nearly considers strangling him to death then burying his body in the middle of this random clearing in Starfell Valley.
However. She, Lumine, is the legendary Traveler. She is the Honorary Knight of Mondstadt, master of six elements, and she refuses to interact with low tier ragebait.
So instead, Lumine takes a deep breath and lowers her blade. “Not really. Although it appears that I managed to scare you off just by brandishing my weapon.”
(This instantly seems to gets a reaction out of Lohen, who raises a defiant eyebrow.)
“So, no matter.” She shrugs, sheathing back her sword. “Let’s return to Mondstadt. I have a later appointment with Varka.”
“Oh, now wait just a second!”
For someone who looks like a master schemer, Lohen is surprisingly naïve. It’s easy for Lumine to get the reactions she wants out of him.
“You always have an appointment with Varka! I should duel him and become Grandmaster… then you’ll spend time with me alone…”
“For the last time, that’s not how it works.”
Lohen shrugs. “So take pity on me and spend time with me, okay?”
Lumine sighs. “Alright. Just one round.”
(Looking at Lohen’s devilish smile, it may not stop at one round.)
Varka couldn’t believe it when one of his knights reported seeing a Fatui Harbinger sitting around in Angel’s Share. He speed-walks through the city, trying not to alarm the people, but he couldn’t control his worry (and strength) when he accidentally slams open the door, hard enough to make it rattle.
A young man clad in gray jumps from where he sits on the counter. Before he can say anything, Diluc pops out from under the countertop, a wineglass on one hand and a cloth on the other.
“Are you trying to break the door off its’ hinges?” Diluc asks in annoyance.
Varka chuckles and apologizes, moving to greet the guest—
“Childe?”
The man blinks and accepts his handshake. “In the flesh.” His voice is sheepish, like he didn’t expect to be ambushed in broad daylight. “Grand Master Varka, yes? I’m… here on unofficial business.”
“Unofficial?”
“He’s picking up the traveler,” Diluc sighs, rolling his eyes. “Four days early.”
“H-hey! That is confidential!” The blue-eyed man exclaims, almost blushing.
Diluc sets down the wineglass, tired of everyone’s shit. “Sure, buddy. That’s why you can’t stop yapping about it since an hour ago.”
Tensions eased, Varka lets himself sit down on the stool. “Oh, so you’re one of Lumine’s friends! Are you her escort to Snezhnaya?”
“Weeell, ‘friends’ is one way to put it…”
“So… best friends?”
Childe visibly lights up.
Diluc groans.
And so the cycle starts again.
Lumine plops down, blade thrown somewhere nearby, feeling like a fawn who just escaped a tiger.
“Lumine, can we go again? Pleaaaaseeee?”
Lumine tries not to look at Lohen’s stupidly handsome face in fear of giving in. After hours of sparring under the sun, her clothes has started to cling on her in an unpleasant way. If they ‘go again’, Lumine is sure she’s going to return to the tavern covered in sweat and smelling like one of the wild animals in the forest.
Well, not under her watch. Not when Ajax is potentially on his way to Mondstadt. ‘What if he already arrived and he sees me and he hugs me while I smell like death?!’ Lumine shudders just thinking about it.
(Knowing Tartaglia, he probably doesn’t care, but Lumine still has a reputation to uphold! A womanly pride! And he’ll probably kiss her the moment he sees her and she can’t be smelling like dirt and sweat, that’s totally unromantic!)
“Lumineeee?”
She snaps from her trance only to see Lohen’s face a couple of inches away from hers, causing her to yelp and fall backwards. Lohen chuckles gleefully and she feels her blood level increasing to dangerous heights.
“You know what, Lohen? No.”
“Awwww! But—”
“Not with that level of skill.”
Now that made Lohen pause.
“You know, the way you swing your sword around? And that archery skill you’re so proud of?”
Lumine glimpses at Lohen, only to see him already staring back. Eyes sharply locked on her, daring her to continue—
“My boyfriend can do so much better than that.”
Lohen’s posture is still. Bone-chillingly still. Then he inhales, his smile widening. He crawls closer to Lumine, who still has her back on the grass, and takes that opportunity to cage her between his arms and loom over her intimidatingly. “Your boyfriend?”
Lumine gulps. “Yeah, my boyfriend,” she breathes out, doubling down, “Ajax.”
Lohen takes his time to savor the name, that damned name, like tasting poison. “Yeah? I can probably beat Ajax’s sorry ass.” He says calmly, eyes narrowed into slits. Lumine can tell that it’s not just his usual competitive streak, but she has ignited something else within him.
“Mmm, I don’t know. You think you can defeat Childe, Eleventh of the Fatui Harbingers?”
The title drop made Lohen tilt his head. “Ajax… is a Fatui Harbinger?”
“What? You got a problem with that?”
But Lohen is no longer listening. “So you have a boyfriend, huh.. Now that’s a problem..”
Lohen stands up, leaving a very confused Lumine. She sits up and sees Lohen gathering his belongings like nothing happened. “Lohen?”
“Soo, if I do defeat this boyfriend of yours…”
The expression on Lohen’s face is nothing short of terrifying.
“… You’ll be mine, right?”
“W-wait!” Lumine calls out, but the guy is already walking away. “Lohen!” She stares helplessly as Lohen disappears through the trees. “THAT’S NOT HOW IT WORKS!”
Diluc doesn’t know how much more rounds of Lumine glazing he can take, but both Varka and Tartaglia is still locked in a passionate conversation discussing how amazing and beautiful The Traveler is. Diluc feels his ear starting to melt.
“SIR!” This time, the door is slammed open by a Favonius Knight and a Fatui soldier, both of them standing side by side disharmoniously.
Varka and Tartaglia gapes when their subordinates makes their way to where they sit, both their faces hunched like they are going to deliver very important news.
“There’s an unregulated wanted poster, sir!”
Varka looks at the knight in confusion. “Of.. of who?”
“Of you, sir!” This time, the Fatui soldier answers, gesturing towards a very confused Tartaglia.
“What- who- me?!” He turns his head to Varka, looking very bertrayed, but the blond man quickly shakes his head.
“I-I don’t know anything about this!”
“Go and sort out your business.” Diluc sighs, feeling the last bit of his energy trickle away. If his door hinge wasn’t broken then, it’s definitely broken now.
“Right! Thanks for the drink, buddy!”
“Fuck my life.” Diluc smiles. ‘Sure.’
“Hey, Diluc, buddy. I think your speech bubble got messed up.”
And that is how The Grand Master of the Knights of Favonius and The Eleventh Fatui Harbinger, along with their respective subordinates, walks through the city of Mondstadt side-by-side to the direction of the Mondstadt bulletin board.
“What the hell…?”
A very confused Varka stands in front of a gigantic poster.
KNIGHTS OF FAVONIUS WANTED PERSON NOTICE
Name/Alias(es): Childe, Tartaglia, Eleventh of the Fatui Harbingers
Gender: Male
Physical description: Awkwardly lanky, orange hair, blue eyes (think ‘dead fish’), edgy Fatui mask pulled over one side, carries around a bow and a blade (and probably has subpar mastery over both weapons)
Charges: Conspiracy to commit kidnapping
If you have any information please contact VICE CAPTAIN LOHEN OF THE FIFTH COMPANY
Tartaglia pipes up from behind. “So.. who the hell is Lohen, and why does he want to catch me?”
Varka slaps a hand to his forehead. “Oh, not that troublemaker again..”
“Troublemaker?”
“Listen, he probably heard that you’re visiting, and he wants to spar you. He does this to everyone he deems powerful, so—”
“…o….u….e….”
The small crowd turns their heads in confusion.
“….ay…..ou…..re….”
Somewhere in the distance, they can see a blob of greyish-green dot whizzing.
“What’s that?”
“STAY WHERE YOU ARE!”
Tartaglia yelps and side-steps as a man almost crashes onto him. The man, who has greyish-green hair, rolls to a perfect crouching position before standing up, dusting his clothes.
Varka groans. “Lohen, what—”
“YOU!” Lohen points.
“Me?” Tartaglia points to himself.
“We duel!”
“What? Where? Why?”
“For Lumine!”
Everyone pauses. Tartaglia, in all his years of youth, has never heard a line so cheesy as the one this man just uttered, and proceeds to break into a knee-slapping, back-hunching laugh.
“What? Hey, is this a joke to you?”
“Lohen, explain yourself.”
“Grandmaster! This harbinger is going to kidnap The Traveler!”
“K-kidnap The Traveler!” Tartaglia says in-between wheezes, “Oh, where did this kid come from?”
“I’m not a kid, you lanky clown!”
Varka watches in horror as the situation spirals into madness. On one side, a very dangerous Fatui Harbinger who is currently laughing so hard he almost crumples to the ground. On the other side, the bloodthirsty vice-captain who looks like he’s going to tear off the skin from Tartaglia’s face.
Yes, this situation may look comedic, but it is turning into total diplomatic chaos. Where is The Traveler when you need her…?!
Up on a roof, Lumine watches the scene unfold with a smile.
“Hey, shouldn’t we do something?” Paimon flutters around in worry.
“Nah, let them be.” She waves her hand dismissively, “After dumping all that work on Jean, I think it’s high time the Grandmaster does some real work. Don’t you think?”
The pair watches as Lohen tries to grab Tartaglia, only for the guy to jump away and summon one of his hydro blades. Varka is screaming for them to stop, but Tartaglia is laughing in glee and Lohen is blinded by rage and everyone else has already dispersed.
Yeah. She thinks she’s going to kiss both Lohen and Tartaglia as reward after this.