Chapter Text
Mora Meat. Piping hot minced meat packaged inside a pastry. It tasted great, granted, but aside from being criminally boring as food, eating it barehanded was an exercise in caution. Eat it too fast, and the gloopy stains on her dress paid for a one-way trip to the laundry basket. Eat it too slow, and that brown goop turns into mushy slime poop.
Lumine did not like eating mushy slime poop.
"This is a full course?" she asked out of courtesy. She knew her guide was pathetic and weak, but she half-expected Childe to at least treat her to a meal in a fancy restaurant. If he believed that a serving of meat buns from a bakery along with some bread and salad constituted a full-course… then it failed to impress.
Why did she like this guy, again?
"It is," Childe answered, smiling proudly at himself. "We're warriors. It's filling, cheap, and healthy. Those three traits are valuable enough."
"But you haven't even touched yours yet."
"That's because they're not ready. Pass me the lettuce."
Opening up the pastry, Childe placed a leaf of lettuce on the patty. He then topped it with a couple slices of cheese, tomatoes, onions, pickles, bacon, and creamy mayonnaise before closing it up and handing it to Lumine. "Here's a full course."
She stared at the fully-loaded sandwich in shock.
"It's… a hamburger."
"A hamburger?"
A hamburger. It definitely was a hamburger.
"…delicious…"
"Hm?"
"It's delicious," Lumine said louder, spittle and chewed bread. Her eyes sparkled as she tore into the burger hungrily.
It was a hamburger. It tasted like a hamburger. She held it like a hamburger, and she ate it as messily as a hamburger. The heat in the pastry was enough to grill the cheese to the perfect temperature, melding it to the meat until both had a succulent stringy texture that tenderized in the mouth. Add to that the crunchiness of the lettuce and the empowering sourness of the tomatoes and pickles…
Lumine squealed. "It's a hamburger!"
Childe chuckled as he watched her gobble up more of his creations. "I take it you have no intention of telling what exactly are these so-called 'hamburgers'?"
"You wouldn't know," Lumine said, licking the sauce from her fingers. "You can't buy them in this world yet."
"Hm?"
Ah.
She cleared her throat. "A hamburger is a sandwich consisting of one or more cooked patties of ground meat, oftentimes beef, placed inside two slices of bread-rolls or buns. Usually, the meat is ground up and formed into more solid shapes then are grilled on top of a stove. Burgers are usually served with cheese, bacon, pickles, onions, tomatoes, or chiles— alongside condiments such as ketchup, mayonnaise, relish, or special sauces."
"Uh…"
"Mora Meat is a close substitute." Sticky, meaty chunks dripped out of the bun as Lumine raised it up. "Beef in Teyvat is tougher on account of there being no dedicated suppliers of processed foods. Healthier too."
"...Wow."
"What 'wow'?"
"Barring the fact that I had no idea what you just said," Childe said, grinning idiotically. "That's probably the longest time I've ever heard you rant about something, let alone say anything with emotions. You must really like hamburgers."
Lumine pondered his words for a while before agreeing. "I guess…"
It must have been nostalgia talking. The last time she had something resembling a fast-food burger was centuries ago. While the food the Abyss Order served to her was no doubt luxurious, nothing could ever really capture the classic blend of fat and preservatives that made eating burgers so indulgent.
If she had to pick, she would say she was more of a meat person compared to her brother, who preferred salads. He said it was appropriate they had opposing tastes— although looking back, that was because it made cooking easier for him, the selfish dork. Aether could survive just by washing whatever he could pull out of the ground whereas she had to go through the trouble of hunting game or fish.
Only on rare, rare occasions in certain worlds, vegetables didn't run away when they knew they were about to be killed. Or scream.
No wonder she got attached to the convenient nature of the hamburgers. Easy to buy, easy to eat. Restaurants also usually added potato fries and sodas with the meal— jumbo-sized for her and her brother to share while on the go. And as they ate, they would just... chat about random topics that interested them. How has Aether's day been, did he brush his hair and other miscellaneous stuff.
Contrary to what outsiders might believe, the two of them weren't attached to the hip. The two of them liked to go their separate ways whenever they went exploring. They visited different countries, purchased from variou shops, talked to different people, and made unique friends that followed them on their travels.
She found it fun that way. Freedom to wander, more independence, and less awkward conversations about her relationship with her brother and their origins. Without Aether beside her, she could be whoever she wanted to be, and the same applied to him. It made those moments where they were reunited all the more special. And after their adventures were done, they would recount their experiences to each other before hopping to the next world and beginning anew.
How time sure flies. For over centuries now she'd been stuck in Teyvat, futilely fighting against the gods for the right to spread their wings again. It felt like a prison, cold and lonesome. Thus, her war raged on, unsung, and under the cover of the abyss that symbolized the Order.
Revenge shall come to those that took her peaceful days away from her. The Princess of the Abyss would see it done, no matter how long it takes.
Lumine bit on the hamburger again, the cheesiness a flavorful reminder of the present. Only then did she notice Childe staring at her.
...Had she said anything out loud?
"No," Childe answered. "You didn't say anything; I read it from your face."
He leaned closer until she could almost feel his breath on her cheeks. "You miss your brother. Go see him."
She didn't respond.
"...Are you gonna eat that?"
The shrimp dumplings were staring at her too, puffing steam from the roasting tray. It was almost begging her to be eaten. She had to stop herself from salivating from the smell and the growling pangs in her stomach.
"..."
Lumine tilted her head. "Hilichurl got your tongue?"
"No, it's not that. It's…"
Childe grimaced, yet made no other movement whatsoever. Was he not hungry? She thought that as a warrior, he shouldn't be picky with his food. Maybe everybody lies, after all.
He wasn't even holding his chopsticks proper—
…
Lumine's smile turned carnivorous. Stealing the plate for herself, she sucked on the chopsticks as the dumplings came up to her lips, the taste of sweetened bamboo enhancing the flavor of the shrimp. Her eyelashes fluttered teasingly, prompting Childe to look away.
Now, this... was rich.