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Albedo does not have bad days.
Of course he doesn't. Just because today was particularly draining of his usually equally distributed energy, or how all of his experiments had ended in failure, didn't mean he should lose serotonin over it, yes? His experiments tended to end in mundane results, and a couple explosions messing up his hair and clothes was not going to deter him, right? The alchemist nods to himself, regathering the materials, hoping that if he added the new variable of sweet flower condensate this particular attempt may end in that rare glimpse of success.
But as soon as a drop of the sweet flower concentrate breached the liquid, Albedo flew back as the glass broke with a piercing crack of yet another explosion in the air. He managed to crystallize a pyro shield to protect him from any fatal damage in time, but this had been the largest of the explosions yet today, breaking the entire experiment setup on the table, leaving glass shattered across the floor. It also leaves Albedo with scratches on his arms on impact of hitting the cold, hard, stone. And a messy, smoky hairstyle to top it all off.
Albedo does not have bad days.
He tries to think of it in more of a… philosophical sense. Life is… long, yet short, right? Life is full of.. unexpected occurrences and things that surprise even the alchemist himself. It's unpredictable, which gives him all the more drive to solve life itself. So a couple things gone wrong and experimental failures should not hinder his endless experimentation. Yes. Just because he was a little frustrated at all this failure, and he'd been working on this particular hypothesis longer than expected, and sure no matter how much he claimed to detest maintaining relationships, the notion that he hadn't talked with anyone for over a month was starting to get to his sanity--
Hm? Something wet was sliding down his cheek, though it couldn't possibly be snow, right? No, it was much too warm for snow, or ice, and he was inside his lab anyways. He carefully takes off his glove, grazing a bare finger against the substance, and testing it in the most natural way possible. Taste. He presses the liquid to his tongue. It had a saline quality to it, and, oh, were his eyes wet?
Albedo was not created to have bad days.
And yet, as he came to realize, he was indeed crying, and no matter the efforts put into suppressing such emotions, the tears, unrelenting, kept falling. It was a rather new experience for him, so to calm his nerves, Albedo snatched a burnt piece of paper off the table and began writing.
The more he wrote about what might be causing such tears, the more he thought about said cause, and, thus, the more the Chief Alchemist cried. Now strange whimpers were escaping his mouth with each sob, and by some strange behavioural pattern, Albedo ended up curled up on the floor of his lab in the position that many human beings begin as: the fetal position.
He doesn't know how long he's been there, when suddenly light footsteps and cheery laughter stomped through the snow and into his lab. He creaks open irritatingly wet eyes to see Klee, looming over him, eyes wide and a piteous expression on her youthful face. She reaches a finger to poke his cheek, wiping away a single tear; It was beyond Albedo what she was doing. After all, what was one supposed to do when witnessing another human crying? He hadn't done much research in that particularly specific field.
"Is Albedo having a bad day?" She squeaks out, a sad look on her face, and Albedo wonders why people cry if it could make someone who cared about him so much look so worried. He shakes his head no, he is absolutely not having a bad day, and doesn't wish to talk about it. "Oh! Well, then why are you crying? Your hair looks like the people who cry when they accidentally run into one of my bombs. I always feel really bad for them and try to catch a fish for them, but I wasn't here when you got exploded, so…" Klee seems to pause in thought, and her childish way of looking at the world seems to cheer him up a bit.
"Maybe I accidentally threw a bomb in here… I'm sorry mister Albedo." Klee stiffens, biting her lip. Albedo sits up and places a hand on the red knight's shoulder, looking at her with a gentle kind of gaze he didn't know he possessed.
"No, it's not your fault, Klee." He tried to smile, but he was only able to tug up his lip the smallest bit. Klee frowned deeper, and Albedo put all his mind power into calculating a way to make her feel better. He ran through several different options, finally settling on giving her polite reassurance, but Klee managed to cut through his words like shaved ice with her worry.
She smiles sweetly, sweeter than the smoke that the sweet flower condensate had created and overflowed his senses with. "You know what Alice says to do when someone's sad? Give them a big, warm, hug!" She bellows, outstretching her arms before Albedo can reply and wrapping his torso with a tight squeeze. He nearly falls back from her embrace, but catches himself so that her nor him gets hurt.
Albedo eventually sinks into her warmth, it being the first human interaction he's had for a while. Contendedness washes over him like a surprising wave, and he wonders how it's possible to just know that the child is smiling into his shoulder. He can feel the tears drying on his face as Albedo finally reaches up his hands to hug back, wrapping around the warm, red clothing. He can't help but let his mind label this child as something precious, something so very dear to him, that he'd protect with all costs. Aside from that, the whole experience of 'hugging' was indeed quite pleasant, and soon a gentle smile found its way to Albedo's face. After what feels like hours, Klee pulls away, and begins fishing through her bag.
"I hope you're feeling better now, Albedo!" She squeals as she pulls out a hairbrush, and Albedo glances upwards to his own ruined bangs. "I'll fix your hair right up, I do it for Razor all the time! Did I ever tell you about Razor? He lives with the wolves, isn't that just so cool!?" She starts rambling on, and Albedo just blinks lovingly, gazing at what he greatly considers to be his younger sister with emotion he didn't know he was so capable of strongly feeling. He'd heard of Razor before, of course, but no matter how curious the prospect of being raised by wolves was, he could never find the time to track the so-called wolf boy down.
He simply lets out laughter gentle as the petals of a Cecilia. "No, tell me more about this wolf friend of yours, Klee." Klee excitedly hops up, raising the hairbrush and starting on his matted, knotty hair.
The brush passing through his hair is painful at first, but Albedo refuses to wince. He doesn't want Klee to stop of all things. Sitting here, having his hair brush was rather…. nice, he supposed. "Razor was really really scared of Klee at first." The child started, bouncing along as she spoke. "But it was because he'd never seen a bomb before! I thought that was super weird." It was fairly plausible that a boy in the wilderness wouldn't know of bombs, Albedo knew better than to spoil Klee's fun. "The first time we met, he approached me, growling and stuff! It actually got me kinda scared, too…"
Albedo closed his eyes, focusing on Klee's words and the feel of the brush running through the tangles in his hair. It was incredibly soothing, and he noted that he felt more relaxed than… well.. ever. "So I told him what bombs were, and promised not to scare him again! Oh yeah, and then Razor showed me the best spots to pick wolfhooks!" He could feel Klee smoothing back his hair with small fingers, threading through it like they were the gentle feathers of a bird. Children had a sense of… innocence to them. It was refreshing, like the frosty air of Dragonspine itself. "Actually, that reminds me, I found some of those pretty white flowers you draw all the time!"
Klee fished in her backpack more, pulling iut a few crumpled cecilias and holding them out in an abnormally close proximity to Albedo's eyes. He blinked at them twice. "Those are called cecilias, Klee. Where did you find them?"
Klee's eyes shone as he spoke the name, and she pushed the flowers into her lap carelessly, closing her eyes tight as if she needed to focus and remember. "Oh, right! Klee was traveling with Jean to see Starsnatch cliff! Jean says she needed to be there to survey Mondstat for huuuge threats, but Klee thinks she can relax more looking out on the awesome view!" She presses a hand to her chin, thinking more seriously than usual, eyebrows furrowed and sticking her tongue out. "Jean needs to relax more often, or at least that's what Lisa and Kaeya say. Klee thinks so too!" She adds, spirited. Albedo is taken back at the small bit of wisdom she displays.
"Yes, Acting Grand Master Jean often works too hard. It's not beneficial to her health." He speculates aloud, and Klee tilts her head, fumbling and trying to braid Albedo's hair the best she can. He'd offer to help, but she seems to take pride in the whole thing, and it might make her sad if he does.
"I don't know what.. um.. ben-uh-fish-shul means, but Albedo is usually right! Um… Albedo?" She says nervously, proposing the beginnings of a question. The alchemist nods. "Can I put the… ce-- sea? Say?"
"Cecilias, Klee." He gently reminds.
"Mhm! Can I put those thingys in your hair? I just think it would look a little pretty… but I've never done that to Razor's hair before, so I'm not sure." She mumbles, but Albedo just giggles softly under his breath and ruffles Klee's hair with the hand that's glove he took off earlier. She giggles back.
"Of course, Klee. Do whatever you want with it. I'm sure it'll look good." Klee's eyes widen with sparkles of the stars that Albedo doesn't know could have possibly gotten in there, and she eagerly picks up the flowers, ripping the flowering parts off from the stems and holding it up to his head, hovering over different spots. She struggles on deciding where each flower might look good, but Albedo does his best to hold still and smile politely the whole way through. She finally finishes up, poking one last bit of a stem into a spot just above the crown of his forehead, and letting it lay there, stagnant.
Klee pulls back, hands over her mouth and eyes wide in amazement. Albedo muses what he could possibly look like right now to cause such adolescent wonder. She looks around, frantic, and Albedo is eager to know what she could possibly be searching for, when suddenly she pulls a bottle from a shelf and shoves it in front of Albedo's face. He's rather befuddled until he sees his distorted reflection in the glass, in the point of view that a fish might see him as through it's eye. He must admit, the way Klee arranged the flowers in his hair is surprisingly more professional than he expected. They're laid out evenly like a crown around his head, and it actually does make him look kind of pretty.
"It looks beautiful, Klee, thank you." Klee nods happily, kicking her feet excitedly onto the floor. Thinking about what he might do to make this an equivalent exchange, the short alchemist ponders anything in Dragonspine that Klee might find interesting.
Albedo admits he might've had a bad day. But, with Klee here, perhaps he can make it a good one.
He smiles. "Say, Klee, have you seen the caverns here in Dragonspine? They have these flowers that look like ice, and when hit in just the right angle by the moonlight, I'd say those petals hold an ethereal glow." Klee is eagerly gazing into his eyes the whole way, curious and ready to spring into action as always. Faced with such a hopeful expression, Albedo gets the strange urge to… tease? "I am rather busy, though. There might not be a point in going unless you really want t--"
Klee hops up and grabs both of his hands, pulling Albedo up with a strength he wasn't aware she possessed. "Ooo ooooh, I really really really wanna go Albedo! Take me ple aaaaase? " She bobs up and down, their hands still holding. Albedo is quite close to doubling over in a fit of laughter.
"Of course, Klee. Piggyback?" He turns around, kneels, making his back open for her to leap on. She happily obliges, letting out giggles and ecstatic squeals as she latches her legs for his arms to secure, and slings her arms around the back of his neck. "Piggyback!" She yells, enthusiastic. "Go, Albedo, go!"
Albedo all too happily listens to her commands, starting out of the lab. Klee begins rambling on to him about a friend again, which he is more than happy to listen to. "Actually, I stole that line from the priestess Barbara at the church! She's always like, 'go, Barbara, go,' when she's running, and sometimes when I copy her, I feel like I could run for miles, miles, and millions of miles!" She pumps her fist up in the air, and Albedo is energized by her voice, speeding up his pace to the Starglow caverns. "Barbara's so kind and nice to me. One time she sang a lullaby to me when I wasn't even tired, and…" Klee pauses, stretching her mouth into a large cavern to yawn. "Oh… I'm getting tired just thinking about how nice miss Barbara's voice was…"
The chief alchemist has trouble pinpointing exactly why, but Klee's excited chatter calms his nerves, makes him smile and listen intently. She paints such a beautiful, positive picture on everyone in Mondstat. Perhaps it's a piece of the reason he has such respect for every citizen there. How can he look down upon the people Klee holds in such regard? He couldn't bring himself to, no matter what.
It's a bit too silent for his liking on the way there, so instead Albedo balances Klee a bit better on his back. "Say, Klee, how are the knights of Favonius doing? It's been a while." The red knight layers on a beaming smile that shines like the sun when Albedo turns his head to look at her, raises her hands in the air and begins rambling, breathing out puffs of soft Dragonspine air.
"You already know about Jean, soooo… oh! Lisa's doing good! I tried to help her organize the books once, but then one of my bombs got set off…" Albedo flinched. Lisa wasn't known for the best patience, but surely with Klee…? "I tried to apologize, but Wyratt--" Albedo let out a 'hm?' -- the name confused him. "Oh, he's the one that guards the entrance to the library." Klee laughs. The sound is music to Albedo's ears. "He pulled me out of the room and said that the library was closing… it didn't make sense to me, though, I mean, it was only one in the afternoon!" Albedo let out an involuntary sigh of relief. Luckily Lisa hadn't done anything she'd regret.
The child atop his back moved on to the next knight. "Amber's doing great too! I asked her if I could get a gliding license, but she said I wasn't old enough." Klee pouted for a short moment, though quickly recovered, cheery spark returning to swirl around her ruby eyes. "It's fine, though, I just told her that when I grow up I'm gonna be an even better glider than her! She just laughed at me after that, and said I could try." Klee pressed her chin on top of Albedo's head. "Do you think what I said was mean to Amber, Albedo? I mean, gliding is something she really likes."
Albedo shook his head. Truthfully, knowing that crimson knight, he predicted Amber likely found it more amusing than anything. "No, Amber wouldn't mind." He quickly reassures for Amber's sake. "She might find it a fun challenge, if anything." And Klee smiles in contentedness.
"Oh, that reminds me!" Albedo signals for Klee to go on. "I was walking around the tavern, because me and Diona were gonna hang out, but then I heard Kaeya getting challenged by Diluc to 'confess' that he loves you!" Albedo froze momentarily, heat rising to his cheeks. Despite that.. surprise… he plowed on, seeing as they were almost there, trying to ignore the thrumming of his heart within his chest. "Klee doesn't get what's so challenging about it, though. Don't I say I love you all the time?" This time, Albedo cringed. How was he… supposed to explain that that wasn't the meaning of the bet? He opened his mouth to speak, but clamped it shut from a rare sprout of embarassment. "Either way, it's probably pretty hard, because Diluc bet a whole hundred thousand mora that he wouldn't!"
Albedo shook himself out of his thoughts, trying to drive the spreading heat from his face. That'd be something to worry about when Kaeya next came over, he supposed. However, he managed to find the perfect distraction. "Ah, we've arrived. The moon's just coming out, so we have to hurry." He informed, setting Klee down, noticing how the snow almost reached the top of her leather boots. "Follow me." He took Klee's hand in his own, and they started on their own way down.
He had to say, Klee was a force to be reckoned with in Dragonspine. Her bombs easily melted most of the Cyro enemies they encountered, allowing them to make their way to the large opening of the cavern out to where the moon shined. He remembered when there used to be a ruin grader lurking around here. The traveler had likely disposed of it with their party, which luckily left him and Klee with only peaceful snow and a brilliantly lit night sky.
Silently leading Klee down to where the icy flowers were, he kneeled down and placed a gentle palm to a patch of them that the moonlight hit just right. They glowed with an iridescent aura, shining and shimmering with hazy purples and greens.
To his surprise, Klee didn't scream, or squeal, even make a noise. She just kneeled down next to him. Her eyes were as wide as saucers with wonder as she glanced back and forth from the shimmering flowers to the crater textured moon.
"These flowers are kinda like you, Albedo." Klee says, gently, as if she somehow knows the serenity and peace of the moment.
"How so?" He easily responds, glancing at her with a fond curiosity.
"They start out a lil cold and unfriendly, but then the moon shows them kindness, they're so beautiful and happy!" She smiles, teeth bright and eyes crinkling in a pleasant manner. "It's like me and you, right? Jean tells me to not brag, but I just know I make you happy… right?" She gazes hopefully into his eyes. Albedo melts under the innocent question.
"Of course. Of course you do, Klee. You make me the happiest." He smiles, bringing her into the hug this time. Klee laughs happily into his jacket.
"I knew it! I'm so glad, Albedo. You make me super duper happy too." She buries her face in his shoulder, laughing more and turning her gaze to the flowers again. She starts to pick a couple with her free hand, sliding them next to the cecilias in Albedo's hair.
Albedo has bad days. But he thinks Klee and her hugs make them much better.
This little child, plucking flowers and gently twining them into his hair, so full of joy and laughter, so warm against his cold and bitter skin, is something he'll never stop cherishing. Her innocence and bright outlook on the world he works so hard to study is a viewpoint he'll never forget to include in his musings. She's the reason he knows Mondstat so well, his little messenger and tour guide. Sometimes, she even makes him forget about his whole research on the purpose of life, on alchemy, on humanity. She just makes him want to smile , spin her around in his arms, and laze around with her energetic capriciousness until the day-- no, the world ends.
He loves his little sister so much.