sablelighter
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“Tartaglia, you are being reassigned.”
Excitement pumps through Childe’s veins as the words are uttered, his casual smile widening into an ecstatic grin. For it to be the Tsaritsa passing this mission along to him directly rather than Pierro– it must be high-stakes.
“You will be going to Liyue,” she says, “to enter a courtship with Rex Lapis.”
What?
Childe swallows harshly, his tongue feeling thick in his mouth.
“Your Majesty, I believe there may be a misunderstanding.”
More like an impossibly large oversight to this whole plan. “Rex Lapis and I… we are not on the best of terms, at the moment.” That’s putting it lightly, though saying as much to his Queen feels immensely childish, and shame surely paints his face a burning red hue. “I do not think he would be pleased to receive me.”
Her expression does not change, and she only answers him with patience. “On the contrary, he has specifically requested you.”
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Zhongli smiles faintly, running his nose up Childe’s throat and nuzzling behind his ear, inhaling the ocean spray scent of him. “Have I told you today that you are wonderful?”
Another laugh, this one dismissive. “Nah, but why would you?”
“Because you are wonderful,” Zhongli replies, his fingers slipping beneath the soft hem of Childe’s pants.
Zhongli discovers Childe's praise kink by accident and then leans into it on purpose.
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Zhongli, meanwhile, sits back in his chair, flabbergasted. “You mean to tell me in your twenty-odd years of life—” Childe corrects his age, clearly proud of his relative youth. “—you have never taken a lover?” He uses this turn of phrase deliberately, and it has the desired effect.
Childe’s face flames. “That’s—that’s not—” He clears his throat and lowers his voice. “We were talking about dating.”
“So you have done neither,” Zhongli says slowly.
Childe has always been too dedicated to the Tsaritsa to find time for intimacy. Zhongli changes that.
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“No, no,” Childe hisses frantically. He glances down at his trembling hands and— sickly violet twists around his forearms like an ugly vine. Whatever this affliction is, it's interfering with his abyssal energy.
There’s no time to fret over it. Though numb panic sears through his nerves, Childe forces himself into motion, keeping his exhausted body moving through the next wave of attacks. Now aware of it, Childe can sense the corruption within him. It whispers in the back of his mind, it seeps into his bloodstream, it makes his limbs heavy as lead. Pure spite keeps him from succumbing.
Abruptly, the entity before him pulls out a lantern. Childe feels a gravitational shift as it begins to glow. Around him, the Wild Hunt summons begin to writhe. One by one they dissipate into fodder for the flames, the lantern growing ever and ever brighter. With resignation, too tired to move, Childe braces himself for the blow. The concentration of bright light peaks, and even behind closed eyes Childe can see the flare of it —
— but the impact he expects never comes.
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Stationed in Nod Krai, Childe becomes afflicted by Wild Hunt corruption during a fight. Fortunately, Zhongli is more than willing to assist. -
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They’re deep in the ever night beyond Okhema when Mydei notices the subtle change in Phainon’s scent. Phainon has always smelled pleasant enough, aside from the disgusting musk that comes with him being another alpha, but now that musk is more pungent and the other notes more subdued.
“Deliverer,” Mydei says. Growls, really. He’s already annoyed. Phainon should’ve done this math before they left, and now they’re both about to be horribly inconvenienced. “Why are you going into rut?”
When Phainon's ruined suppressants cause him to go into rut unexpectedly, Mydei helps him through it.