Work Text:
“So, how long does it take you to finish a person on average?”
The girl was busy rummaging her bag as that question flew out of her, blissfully unaware of his stare or even the fact that she needed to, perhaps, run away instead of doing this. The cold body sprawled four feet away from her, blood gushing out of the deep wound where his twin daggers made contact just a minute ago, went ignored as she focused on her search. It seemed that even those droplets of blood marring her cheek did not go through her head.
Just as he readied his dagger, ready to strike her, she turned to him as the click of pen rang in the quiet space. “So? How long is it?” she repeated, beaming somewhat an excitement in contrast to the way he looked at her strangely. “Twenty minutes? An hour? Two?”
The man in a mask cocked his head, dark eyes flashed an electrical gleam through two narrow slits. He scanned her figure quietly, feeling somewhat amused. Maybe curious too. He slipped the dagger back into the folds of his jacket. “Five.”
“Five hours?” She jotted down on the flimsy paper.
“Minutes,” he chuckled. “Five minutes. Or maybe less.”
The girl glanced back to him, eyes widened in a way that looked more like amazement than shock with moonlight landed quietly in those molten gold pools. She turned back to the paper in hand before he could decide how this girl was pretty weird.
It was just another night after staying in the library and cafe too long to search for some writing materials for Lumine. Coincidentally, it was also just another night to do some cleanup for Childe. The chance of their meeting should be nonexistent, but what were the odds that his target happened to be in the middle of stalking her?
Childe never dreamed of being a savior—it worked the opposite of his job, really—but here he was, casually murdering a man who attempted to assault her on top of being his target, with her witnessing it all. His excuse for being a passerby died in his throat before he could say it because she beat him by asking that question.
The thing was that it was as if she knew he was not just some random passerby who helped her, and for a moment or two, he thought of silencing her in addition to his target immediately like he always did. He did not, however. Yet. Perhaps it was because this outcome was amusing in its own way, and he had never met someone who casually struck a question to him after seeing what he had done.
So here they were, standing in some shady back-alley most people would rather avoid, with the blonde asking about his experience.
“Five minutes. Okay. Cool,” she commented and Childe wondered if she was trying to put down his guard with this question or she was buying some time to find the perfect time to escape. Most likely the latter, and yet the girl looked like she did not have ‘escape’ written in her head or even a dot sense of danger at all.
Lumine stood, pen and paper still in hands, and squinted hard at her scribbling under the dim light. Her handwriting better was readable by the time she checked it again later. It was precious information, after all; a legitimate material straight from the source itself. She could ask her brother about this, but she knew he would not answer her being the way he was.
Speaking about Aether, Lumine could see herself given an earful from him by the time she returned.
Well, she mused as her eyes made out the silhouette of the man in dark clothes, she could use this as her excuse, or tell Aether the truth and make this man indebted to her. The second option sounded like a good plan for her gain and certainly more plausible if everything fell to the right place.
Nodding at her plan, her eyes then trailed slowly to the dead man. “Are you going to leave him just like this?”
The masked man shook his head. “Someone else gonna take care of it,” he answered swiftly, lightly. “Usually, I’ll just leave the scene right away, but a certain someone holds me back.”
“Well,” Lumine glanced back to him, poking the pen to her cheek after writing 'works with other parties to clean the mess' and tilted her head. “I thought you’re the type to tidy up everything yourself so I might as well accompany you as my thanks for saving me.”
Behind the mask, Childe frowned. She really was a weird one.
“Look here, ojou-chan , aren’t you scared of me?” She almost got assaulted and just witnessed a murder right in front of her eyes—how could she be so calm?
Yet to that question, she casually replied with another question. “Oh, should I?”
“I’m a murderer if you haven’t noticed,” Childe shrugged his shoulders, throwing one of his daggers as if juggling a ball, “in other words, a hitman.”
The way she offered a smile as she replied to him nudged something in his gut. “I know. If I didn’t, I won’t bother to ask you questions.”
To her reply, another chuckle erupted from him after a beat of silence and a couple of dumbfounded blinks of blue eyes.
Interesting.
Shoving a hand to his pocket, Childe approached her, towering over her small figure, cornering her to the brick wall behind her. He leaned down, catching golden orbs that showed him nothing such as nervousness. The way her eyes gleamed under the lowlights painted her in the most innocent hue, casting a child-like nuance to her unbothered voice. But looks could be deceiving and she was certainly hiding something behind those pretty gold eyes of hers.
But she got him intrigued—attracted, even.
“And what are those questions for, hm?” He put a gloved hand on the wall next to her head, brushing lightly against her short hair. The way she kept her expression under control despite their proximity and pressure was impressive. “Usually, I’m not kind enough to leave witnesses alive, you know?”
Because Childe was not the most merciful person around. There was not a day in his work where hesitation or sympathy butted in. He made sure to leave no trace, not a single soul could utter a word after witnessing what he did, a perfectly clean work. Personal feelings had nothing to do with his work; sometimes he needed to take out someone he knew, like that person he often met in the bar who happened to be the rat of his client’s company. Poor guy was reported to be missing a couple of days later.
But this time, it would be a lie if this conversation between them happened not because of something involving his personal interest.
“Oh, but you will let me live,” she laughed. Her smile looked like she found his words to be funny. Or ridiculous.
So Childe decided to play along. The frown he had under his mask turned into a smirk. “And why is that?”
The girl crossed her arms, not breaking their eye contact even for a moment. Maybe she tried to study him for his identity to report him. Though, if she was clever enough, she should have known that reporting him to the millelith would do nothing to his crime.
“You murdered someone out of your turf and those of Jade Dragon will find out sooner or later. Cleaned or not, they would notice, and you’ll be in big trouble,” she explained smoothly. Her sweet smile sent shivers down his spine as she added, “And this is where you wouldn’t want to kill me.”
It was not difficult to notice the way she took control of the situation so quickly, easily when he was supposed to be one who had it. Childe should be feeling annoyed, as he was on any other occasion, but now he found himself feeling more curious than ever. It did not bother him. He liked this kind of confidence she exuded; the almost arrogant one but maintained to be moderate as if being considerate.
“Here I’m being a dear to you by not telling what happened here to those people and let your affiliates clean everything smoothly,” she continued, making a gesture of zipping her smiling lips slowly. Golden eyes glinting as if they knew something he did not. Then, she whispered, “Your secret’s safe with me.”
Childe fought a meaningless fight to keep his laugh from spilling. For a civilian, she sure could say something quite convincing as if she had the power to move those pain in the ass of a group freely. He had heard how the Jade Dragon group granted some things requested by the civilians. However, he doubted they were kind enough to listen to her and let this pass by.
After all, it was just as she said; he made his kill beyond his territory. He could get into trouble if this was known, and they would definitely put a bounty of him. It did not help with the fact that he had received warnings from them numerous times. So, what was the significance of her words, mere civilian’s words? It could be a lie for the most part if not all.
“You know, keeping my secret myself by killing you is more convincing to me, ojou-chan . It’s an easy feat.” Childe wiped the blood splatters on her cheek with a thumb, raising an eyebrow at the lack of reaction or shift from his gesture. “There’s also no guarantee to the truth in your words.”
“Hm, is that so?” The blonde hummed. “But what if it’s not so easy to silence me with your method? Let’s just say that I have a very strong bodyguard with me and the fact that you can touch me is all thanks to me not allowing that person to make a move on you.”
Childe almost believed her. Almost. Maybe it was because of her voice, or the way she looked at him, or the curl of those lips forming a smile that suited more in a hall full of gentlemen and women carrying a glass of champagne. He knew all too well that she could be bluffing, or maybe she was actually bluffing, but something in him wanted to believe that.
For a precaution, he reasoned. It would not hurt to take her words with a grain of salt. Always better safe than sorry even if he could take on whoever her bodyguard was.
So, Childe pulled away, running gloved fingers through windswept hair before they rested on his hip. Intimidating her did not work—a surprise, really—and for whatever reasons she had a bodyguard with her, it would be best not to complicate things further. She could be the precious lady of some rich family, although her presence at this time and place was questionable.
“Honestly, I’d love to take on that bodyguard of yours and see who’s stronger,” Childe chuckled, and he added, “but ojou-chan, who are you?”
“Me? I’m just a struggling writer desperate for legitimate materials for my upcoming work,” she put the pen and papers into her bag, casually moving as if what she said just now about having a bodyguard was true. “Okay, how about we make some contracts? Or deals, whatever you call it.”
No one really made a deal with him outside his work. Personal requests as his side job came from time to time, but when he sealed a deal, it always involved a large sum of money and more dirty works. This one, however, he could barely imagine it to be something close to what he used to.
“So here are the deals,” she held up two fingers. “First, you let me go and I promise you won’t get into any trouble from this. I live, you live, everyone’s happy. Second, I’ll get to ask you about things like I’ve asked you in return for benefits on your end. For research purposes, and by that, I mean for my writing material.”
Deep blue eyes narrowed as creases formed on his forehead. Childe was not concerned about her questions. Rather, it was the last part that stick out like a sore thumb. “What do you mean by benefits on my end?”
The girl slipped something into his pocket then walked away as she said, “You’ll see later. Thank you for the deal, Tartaglia. I’ll see you soon.”
Behind her, a man in a black suit with platinum blonde hair appeared as soon as she was out of the alley, casting him a look (if not a glare) then escorted her into a black car that drove away quickly. It took him a good minute to fully realize he had been smiling the whole time. A figure approached him; vermillion eyes twinkled in a way that he knew he would never get the end of it.
“Didn’t know you’ll let go of her so easily~” she chirped, giggling at the sound of his snort muffled by the red mask. “Sooooo who was that lucky lady?”
Childe pulled his mask off, letting it dangle by his fingertips as he fished that something the girl put inside his pocket earlier. “Curiosity killed the cat, Miss Hu Tao, you know that.”
“Aiya, you’re no fun tonight,” the sound of the girl’s merry laugh silenced the noisy zip of her suitcase. How the young director from the funeral parlor could easily lift that suitcase filled with the body of a man twice her size was a mystery to him. “I guess you won’t be getting the discount this time, Tartaglia~”
The crumple of paper replied her before flame flickered from his lighter, eating away the carbon sheet as it died on the ground, grounded under his boots. His own chuckle came next as he waved the young girl a quick goodbye and walked away, blending into the shadows of the empty street of Liyue. In his head, there was only a simple sentence and one letter of, presumably, the initial of her name from the paper earlier, written in surprisingly neat handwriting.
Yanshang Teahouse tomorrow, same time.
-L
Childe looked forward to more of her questions, whatever work or writing material she was talking about. After all, it was rare for someone to actually took his attention and once he set his eyes on something, he would not let go easily. What more was the fact that she knew who he was despite him being discreet about it. Maybe it was his mask or maybe it was a pure lucky guess on her part. If it was the latter, then the young lady surely had a lot of luck on her side.
He could not wait until tomorrow came.
Miles away from where he was, a certain golden-eyed female crossed her legs as she stared at the dark scenery outside, passing her by in a blur of motion. Next to her, the blue-eyed man furrowed his eyebrows deeply, lips pursed tight, but those spoke louder than his wordless disapproval. Lumine glanced at him.
“Did you tell Aether about that?”
“Forgive me, my lady,” he replied, yet it did not sound like he was sorry at all, “it is what the young master told me to.”
“Should have known,” Lumine heaved a sigh. “Can’t be helped. But at least I got what I need. All’s left is to talk with brother and uncle.”
“The lord is—”
“—aware of this too, of course. He wouldn’t send me a car if he didn’t. Don’t worry, Dain, it’s not your fault.”
Talking with Zhongli would not be a big deal, knowing his nature, but Aether would be another story, a major headache. She did not even want to imagine how their exchange would go later. If she did not play her card right, that brother of hers might insist on placing a tracking device on her and she would lose the chance to have the juicy source of her precious writing material.
The car made its swift stop in front of a traditional mansion. Lumine waved away the sharp “welcome back, my lady” said by the men in black suit forming a long line left and right as she walked into the building. A smile plastered on her face, offered to the men politely, yet her mind wandered off somewhere.
That orange hair and dark blue eyes staring through the narrow slits of the red mask; Lumine looked forward to their meeting next evening even though it might be a little bit hard on her side.
After all, all this was for the sake of her work. Purely for research purposes; a valuable writing material.
Or was it?