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Venti had lived for a while. Perhaps he was just shy of being 3000 years old, or maybe he was in his mid 2000s. It gets hard to remember once you’ve lived for so long.
Out of his 2000 something years of life, today had to be one of the worst days ever.
When Venti first woke up in the morning, the first thing that he decided to do was to go and look for Lumine. It was a special day after all, one that he had been meticulously planning for a little while now. He had already made plans about what he and the Traveler would do together-- he would first serenade them with one of his ballads, visit all of their friends in Mondstadt together, pick up some freshly picked apples from Blanche at Mondstadt General Goods, and to top it all off, celebrate with some delicious dandelion wine that he had been saving for a special occasion.
After all, it was his birthday today! What better way was there to celebrate than with his dear friends in Mondstadt?
Unfortunately, he began to realize that instead of spending his birthday with all of his friends, he would need to end up spending his birthday alone with a single bottle of wine instead.
As soon as he stepped out into the plaza, he knew something was inherently wrong.
For starters, he couldn’t find Lumine literally anywhere. He asked Hertha, the Knights of Favonius coordinator, and Katheryne, the receptionist at the Adventurers Guild, to see if they had spotted the Traveler anywhere. Venti suspected that they had most likely had taken a commission from somewhere, as he knew that the Traveler would never hesitate to help someone in need. Much to his surprise, both Hertha and Katheryne hadn’t seen the Traveler all day.
Venti came to the conclusion that perhaps the Traveler was just out. Yes, that must be what it was. Maybe the Liyue Qixing was in desperate need of some assistance, and they had to leave before something drastic could happen. Venti shrugged it off-- so what if the first part of his plans was botched? Things happen. It’s not like something as trivial as that could ruin his day-- he’s a 2000+ (he began to lose count after the 1000th birthday) year old archon for Celestia’s sake! He would just need to find some other people to celebrate with.
Turns out, no one happened to be in the Knights of Favonius Headquarters either.
“I’m sorry, but the Acting Grandmaster is out on an important mission today with the Cavalry Captain and the Librarian,” Huffman answered the bard, shooting him a look of pity. “I’ll let you know when she’s finished.”
“That’s quite alright!” Venti said, his smile starting to feel a bit forced. “By any chance… is there some sort of special event going on at the moment?”
He contemplated his question for a moment, frowning. “Not that I… am aware of?”
“Wonderful! Well, I must really be on my way now,” Venti muttered, leaving Huffman alone in the Knights Headquarters.
Huffman sighed, eyes landing on the note that the Acting Grandmaster had left for him.
“If you see Venti, tell him that we’re out for the day. We’re planning something special for him. Thanks!”
Jean
He smiled, picking up the small piece of paper. “You have some really good friends, green bard…”
=
He didn’t have any friends.
Or, to be more precise, he realized that he didn’t have any friends that he could celebrate with.
At the very, very least, he could pick up some good food along the way. As they say, nothing would solve a problem better than a glass of wine and an apple!
… Or so he thought.
“You’re SOLD OUT?” Venti repeated, jaw almost dropping to the floor.
“Yes… I’m very sorry,” Blanche explained, feeling guilty. “Someone had already bought our entire supply of apples earlier this morning.”
Well. Whoever this “someone” was, they were clearly out to ruin his day. First the Traveler left Mondstadt, then everyone left Mondstadt, and now his favorite supply of apples had sold out? It was a miracle that his lyre hadn’t broken. It… hadn’t broken, right?
His face turned white as a sheet, desperately checking to see if there were any broken strings or cracked parts. After seeing that nothing was wrong, Venti let out a massive sigh of relief. But still, he kept his guard up. Who knows what else would go wrong today? He should be grateful that this was the extent of his misery.
As he trudged alone to Angel’s Share, he noticed that it was starting to get late. The sun was slowly setting, despite him not being able to see any of his friends today. Even though today was his birthday, what good was it if he had no one to celebrate with? At this point, the only thing that could cure his depression is a nice bottle of dandelion wine at Angel’s Share. He started to quicken his pace, desperate for at least something nice to remember this day by.
=
“Ha ha ha. Let’s all laugh at the depressed bard,” Venti muttered under his breath after reading the CLOSED sign posted on the tavern.
Did he do something wrong? Maybe this was Celestia’s way of cursing him for… for something! Was it because of the prank he pulled on Zhongli the last time he saw him? Oh, he promised he’d never do something like that again! Or maybe it was when he tricked Paimon into eating wax? Either way, he was a saint (not counting those aforementioned times).
Venti sighed. Maybe today was just… not his day. As he turned around to leave, a hand stopped him.
“Bard?”
Venti whipped around, only to see Charles standing in front of him.
“Why, what are you doing here? Come in, come in!” Charles exclaimed, ushering Venti into the bar.
Isn’t it closed? Venti wanted to ask, but no words seemed to come out as Charles excitedly dragged Venti into the tavern.
“Hey Charles? Why is everything pitch black?” Venti murmured, desperately trying to find a source of light.
He blindly reached out his hand, only to come into contact with something. Something soft. Something… oddly shaped.
“Venti. I know it’s your birthday and all, but would you mind not touching my face?”
Venti jumped back, and stood there in shock. That was Lumine's voice! He thought that the Traveler went to Liyue? But wait, if the Traveler was here, then that meant…
All of a sudden, all the lights in the Angel’s Share turned on at once.
“SURPRISE!”
He could do nothing but stand there feebly. All around him were familiar faces, faces that he had been yearning to see all day. Paimon, Jean, Lisa, Kaeya, Diluc, Xiao, Zhongli… and even more people he had never dreamed would come visit him on his birthday. And most of all, the somewhat annoyed yet smiling Traveler in front of him.
“Happy birthday Venti! We were all planning this for a while now… I hope you weren’t too surprised!” Lumine exclaimed, grinning from ear to ear. “I heard you were out looking for all of us. I’m sorry we couldn’t show ourselves earlier, but we had to keep up the element of surprise!”
He didn’t know what to say. More than anything though, he was touched. “You all…”
“Well, we couldn’t have forgotten our favorite bard’s birthday,” Kaeya smirked. “We had to put on a celebration fitting for even the Anemo Archon.”
Jean quickly interrupted him, a panicked expression on her face. Kaeya was never explicitly told that Venti was the long-lost Anemo Archon, but he had a knack for saying things that were right on the mark. “We never forgot what you did for us, and by that notion, all of Mondstadt.”
“Our little cutie here planned the whole thing~ They were so adorable when they were trying to avoid spoiling the surprise for you,” Lisa said, eyes landing on the flustered traveler.
“I did no such thing!” Lumine huffed, cheeks flushed. “I just wanted this to be the best birthday Venti’s ever had, that’s all.”
“That’s all~?”
“YES, that is all. He’s just—”
“Now, let’s get this party started!” Amber cheered, throwing out some party poppers.
Venti caught the party popper thrown at him by Amber, staring at it in the palm of his hand. He then started to snicker, and went to full blown laughter in a matter of seconds. He was laughing so much it started to hurt-- the sheer audacity of the whole situation! Even though he had lived a good number of years, he never had a surprise party before. Perhaps once, long ago…
“Hey… are you alright, Venti? Drinks are on us, if you’re concerned about that,” The Traveler asked, worriedly staring at him.
“Don’t worry about it my dear Traveler!” Venti responded, grinning. “Just… maybe tell me next time before you plan another one of these, yeah?”
“But then that would ruin the surprise!”
“I suppose you’re right!”