Chapter Text
The pans were sizzling with steaming heat. The aroma of the thinly cut ham filled the kitchen. Xiangling grabbed a spatula and moved the flaming ham onto a freshly cleaned plate. She grabbed her newly made sauce mixture of jueyun chilli, mint, and other various herbs and carefully poured the contents onto the sizzling ham. She topped the dish off with some crushed almonds. Xiangling smiled at her product.
“All done.” Xiangling announced to her friend waiting in the living room.
“Hell yeah! I’m excited to taste it.” Her friend, Xinyan, hopped off the couch and dashed to the kitchen table. Xiangling giggled at Xinyan’s excitement.
“I’m glad you’re excited.” Xiangling placed the dish down in front of Xinyan. “The dish for today is a simple slice of ham with a new sauce I made, topped off with some crushed almonds.” She told her eager guest. “Dig in!”
Xinyan took the ham and quickly devoured it. “This is rocking Xiangling!” She glanced up to the young chef. “The sauce has a nice pow! It goes like bam bam boom! If you get what I mean.”
Xiangling didn’t particularly get what she meant but just nodded to her friend in agreement.
The two of them were similar in the sense that they would describe things in bizarre ways. Though they may not always understand each other, they had a special bond.
“So,” Xinyan stood up to be on eye-level with Xiangling “Do you have work tomorrow? I was like wondering if you wanted to come vibe with me, and we could maybe invite Xinqiu and Chongyun to join us.”
Xiangling’s eyes lit up. “Yes! I’ll free up some time tomorrow to hang out.” She brightly accepted her friend's invitation.
“Shit, look at the time.” Xinyan looked up at the clock on the wall. The hands were pointed to 7:34. “I’ve got to get home to prepare for my upcoming concert.” Xinyan went over to grab her bag from the floor.
“Oh right, your concert. When is it again?” Xiangling inquired while bringing the dish to the sink.
“It’s on the 16th!” Xinyan answered her question. It’s currently the 3rd. So there is only 13 days to prepare. Xinyan opened the front door. “See you tomorrow Xiangling! You’re on lunch duty.” The hyper girl smirked.
They said their goodbyes and Xiangling started to clean up the mess from today.
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The streets in Liyue were busy. People going home to end their day and people heading out to start their day flooded the roads. Xinyan has a quick pace going through the crowd. Her shoulders barely pass the objects in the way. A pale blue haired boy sat on the side of the road. Xinyan caught his eye and quickly moved over to him.
“Yo Chongyun!” She greeted while squatting next to him.
“Hi, how are you doing?” Chongyun looked over to her.
“I’m doing rockin’.” Xinyan answered with a smile, “Do you wanna hang out with Xiangling and me tomorrow? You can bring Xingqiu with you if you’d like.”
Chongyun nodded, “I’ll get Xingqiu to join us. Meet at the normal spot?”
“Yup!” Xinyan shot up. “I’ll be going now, see y’all tomorrow!” She waved at the calm boy.
The sun had set a bit before she had left Xiangling’s house, though with all of the lights and activities around Liyue one wouldn’t suspect it was almost 8 at night. But with this being Liyue it’s all the norm. Xinyan liked it here. Even though some people have harsh opinions about her, it’s still her home. Her home with all her friends.
Xinyan started skipping down the road. There were some people staring at her, but that’s just normal for her, she didn’t completely mind. Standing out is something she does well. Though it can sometimes make things hard. Xinyan had made it to her apartment complex. She quickly looked into her mailbox to see if the package she had ordered arrived.
“Not yet” Xinyan sighed while closing the compartment. “Maybe it’ll come tomorrow.” She made her way up the stairs and stood in front of her door. “Alright! I need to prepare for the concert.”
Xinyan rushed into her apartment, quickly changing into a pair of pajama shorts and a t-shirt. She jumped onto the couch and stretched out her sore muscles. “I’m excited for tomorrow, I’m glad Xiangling is able to take a break from work tomorrow.” She smiled at the thought of hanging out with all her friends. “The weather seems nice today, so I’ll do some of the paperwork on my porch..”
Xinyan headed to the glass door and opened it wide. The breeze brushing her face. She looked into town overviewing all the civilians browsing the shops. Though something was off, there was a thick smell flowing towards the balcony. The air became thick and foggy. She had realized what this smoke was. There was a fire somewhere in Liyue.