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“Oh did you hear? The traveller is friends with THOMA from Inazuma!”
Cicin Mages were always so gossipy, even when they should be working. Although a certain ginger haired male should be scolding them as their superior, he blamed the Snezhnayan in him for the urge to keep eavesdropping on the three chatty mages, with their cicins buzzing around them excitedly as if they were eager to be in the conversation themselves.
So there he was, hiding behind a wall as he kept an ear sharp for even the most hushed of whispers.
“THE Thoma? The number one voted best husband?”
“Yes! That Thoma! According to the cryo cicins under Lord Scaramouche, the man certainly lives up to the title! He’s the Kamisato Clan’s housekeeper, so he cooks and cleans and all that stuff. OH he’s also EXTREMELY attractive and-”
“Good evening ladies, gossiping about work I hope?”
They were interrupted by a totally not jealous Tartaglia the 11th. The man was amused when the three mages quickly stepped into line and bowed their heads low. They weren’t in trouble or anything like that, but it was fun for the harbinger to mess with their heads a little.
“Apologies Lord Tartaglia, we won’t slack off again.”
The three said in perfect sync, having it been drilled into their system from the ruthless training they had undergone.The three flinched when they heard tutting coming from the man himself and Childe could practically feel the dread creeping up their bodies.
“Slacking, and I thought I could trust my subordinates to be responsible with their work..”
He spoke with as much disappointment in his tone as he could muster, even going so far as to turn his back on them.
“Perhaps I should move you to work under someone else? The Balladeer? No he has run off. La Signora?-”
The harbinger snickered at that, before continuing.
“Pulcinella? Pantalone? OH! I know~ I’m sure Il Dottore will have some room for you to slide in-”
The light gasps from the three mages did not go unheard and Childe decided that he had teased them enough. With a chuckle he dismissed them with a wave of his hand.
“Relax, I’m only messing with you. You all have worked hard to fix the Liyue situation so you deserve a little break, just as long as your work doesn’t fall behind that is”
The three mages looked up with excitement in their eyes and nodded at the harbinger, quickly returning back to their gossipping state as Childe walked away from them, until their words had caught his attention again.
“I also heard the traveller and Thoma have sparred a few times.”
-
A group of three was leaving a quaint restaurant, heading out onto a sakura bloom covered street -- well a group of two and a half, the two being Thoma and Lumine, and the half being Paimon. The pixie was floating behind the couple as groans could be heard emitting from its mouth, irritating the shorter of the couple while making the other one laugh.
“Well why did you eat THAT much Paimon?”
“Well Paimon wanted to test Thoma’s ability to bargain!”
The short blonde only shook her head at the response the pixie gave, who loudly announced that she was going to pop away for a while (in case she did actually pop). She disappeared in a flurry of constellations which left the two blondes alone.
“Paimon sure is a funny creature, isn’t she?”
The taller blonde chuckled at that, finding the pixie’s antics amusing, however the shorter of the two remained silent. He didn’t mind since she was rarely a speaker, with or without her companion at her side. So the two walked in silent bliss down the tranquil streets of Ritou, occasionally stopping for the taller blonde to converse with an old friend or an acquaintance. As the two were walking, while enjoying some Tri-Coloured dango, the shorter blonde turned to look at the taller.
“Thoma, it’s time for training again”
It was a simple sentence but it was enough to make Thoma realise that the traveller had led him to a quiet open space. With a sigh, and another chuckle, he finished up the last of his Dango and summoned a spear out of nowhere.
“You knew where we were going the entire time didn’t you traveller? Amazing!”
The traveller didn’t respond, again being a woman of very few words, but she gave Thoma a quirk of her lip as he acknowledged her plan. But she didn’t give him time to prepare as she pressed forward, no blade in sight.
Thoma was more skilled than the man appeared; he dashed forward as well, matching the travellers confidence with a quirk of his own lip. Thoma spun the spear in his hand as he neared the traveller, leaping up in the air and preparing to slash from an upward angle. The traveller showed no emotion, nor any signs of any movement at the man about to crash down on her. She instead grabbed his ankles and tossed him back to square one. He landed on his feet with his spear slamming in the ground for stability before he lunged at her again. This time he decided for a low lunge to the right, a move that the traveller seemed to predict as well as she dodged with a jump to the left. Thoma tutted as he tried to spot an opening on the traveller.
He...had an idea. It was risky, but the man was smart and had SOME experience in fighting. He threw the spear up and kicked the butt of it so it soared high in the air, which definitely confused the traveller.
Her guard was down
He took this opportunity to lunge forward and hook his leg around Lumines before throwing his body on hers, which subsequently resulted in them toppling over with Lumine pinned under Thoma. She appeared stunned for a few seconds until a soft smile spread across her face
“Impressive Thoma, nice diversion technique!”
She complimented him as the man helped her up with a rub against the back of his head.
The truth was, Thoma had asked for help from the traveller to help with his tactics in fighting. The traveller had expressed he was already an admirable fighter but Thoma insisted he wanted to refine his diversion technique, as to not rely on his shield too much.
She was about to list a few criticisms, until clapping was heard in the distance. The traveller’s alarm bells went off in her head as she summoned her blade and immediately went into a fighting stance, her eyes and ears alert.
“Whoa there girly, is that any way to treat an old friend?”
“You!-”
The man didn’t even let the traveller finish as he swung his arms around the traveller’s shoulders, with a very possessive grip and a smug grin aimed at the confused Thoma.
“Who is this, Traveller?”
Thoma had asked, which lead to the traveller sighing.
“This is...Childe, he’s..an old friend. Like he said.”
This led to Childe having even more of a smug grin aimed at Thoma, who merely shrugged in response.
“Well I saw your little spar and I must say I am quite impressed. To be able to beat the traveller herself in a match is no easy feat.”
The seemingly genuine compliment was actually laced with some malice at the fact that the traveller had even bothered to spar with someone else. He knew the traveller was holding back, no elemental power nor weapon? Nothing as serious as THEY had, full blown battles both filled with adrenaline and the sound of each other’s pants, grunts and metal clashing. The mere thought of one of their battles sent the copper haired man‘s heart aflutter.
“Oh no the traveller was just helping me become more logical in battle is all-”
“Yes. So why have you interrupted us Childe. I’m busy.”
The traveller interrupted this time, shrugging off the man's arm, which only gripped her tighter in response.
“Oh you wound me, lyubimaya, I only came to see someone so dear to me~”
That pet name was always her stupid weakness, but in front of Thoma she could not crack.
“Oh really? Let me know when you find them.”
“Traveller!”
Thoma chuckled at the two’s odd interaction. From his time of being the resident fixer, he could tell when people were flirting. And that’s exactly what was happening here, even if they didn’t realise it.
“Would you look at the time? Thoma, let's get you back to Ayaka and Ayato. I’m sure they’re running ragged without you.”
She spoke as she walked past Childe and wrapping her fingers around Thoma’s wrist began dragging him along.
Childe really didn’t like that. He didn’t know why but that left him feeling constricted, he loathed seeing her show any form of intimacy that wasn’t with him. He hated that feeling so much because she wasn’t ‘his’ in the day, she wasn’t anyone’s but that didn’t stop the words from spilling out of his mouth.
“Thoma, was it? Have a match with me. Let’s see how much you can take.”
-
He screwed up, Bad. Lost in the thrill of battle and the call of the abyss telling him to go all out on the poor man with foul legacy. Childe was extremely grateful for the traveller who wasn’t hesitant when she flipped him on his ass and pinned him down with just a simple word coming out of her mouth:
“Yield.”
She said it with so much anger that it had made him stop and realise what he had done. The poor lad was soaked and practically on the verge of collapsing due to exhaustion. Three whales he had summoned in that fight. Every time hitting Thoma dead on. The traveller had stopped him just before he summoned the fourth. She left him there with a particularly sour glance before going to help Thoma up and carry him away.
That left Childe alone, who had remained there for hours. He was now looking up into the sky where he could see his own constellation, a single lone whale, and next to it was hers. As graceful as she was herself. He loved that out of the constellations, those two were the closest together, so he referred to them both as one. He called them Viatrix Caeli.
“Did I flip you that hard?”
A soft voice rang out, which led to Childe sitting up for the first time in a while. She still looked as radiant in the moonlight as she did in the sun.
“I was..contemplating”
“About what? How you went overboard with Thoma for no reason?”
That led to Childe letting out a small chuckle as he stood up and cracked his back with a wince.
“I know, lyubimaya, I'm going to apologise to him.”
“Good..”
The traveller responded and let the silence linger for a little while. She then looked around herself, as if looking for someone, before she walked up to Childe and buried her face in his torso, wrapping her arms around him and squeezing tightly.
Childe welcomed this with pleasure, wrapping his arms around her and burying his nose into her hair, gratefully intaking her scent.
“I take it you missed me as much as I missed you?”
A mumble of agreement was all he heard but that was more than enough for the man. The two swayed slowly under the moonlight, in sync with each other and knowing the other’s rhythm exactly. The traveller pulled away much to the harbinger’s dismay, about to voice his frustrations at being left far too early, but he held his tongue once he was underneath the stern gaze of his beloved.
“So why are you here? Scaramouche wasn’t here, last time you came.”
He knew she wouldn’t take long to question the reasoning behind his sudden arrival in Inazuma for the second time, she didn’t stall like that. All the more reason as to why he loves her so dearly.
“I simply missed you printsessa, can’t I see my lovely girlfriend without reason?”
“Bullshit Ajax.”
And the man flinched.
There it was. The use of his real name, which always made him swell with pride whenever she used his name, regardless of tone. It was a privilege he only gave to her which was further proof of how deep their relationship was.
“Okay, I overheard some Cicins talking and-”
“You were jealous that I had sparred with Thoma so you came over to see for yourself huh?”
Yeah that shut him up. All he could do was divert his gaze and focus on the now very interesting floor. He didn’t want to be that overly possessive boyfriend that wouldn’t let his girlfriend do anything, but he felt as if he HAD to make it known she wasn’t free for anyone to even look at. He had seen the men on the streets of Liyue sneaking glances at her bare back or trying to look at her muscular thighs and it made him seethe. How dare they even look at her, someone who is so way beyond their reach it wasn’t funny. He didn’t hear the traveller walk over, so he jumped when he felt her hands cup his cheek.
“Your jealousy is adorable, just don't take it out on Thoma next time?”
She was way too kind to him for his own good, for someone who nearly drowned the entirety of Liyue and for someone who is on an entirely different path than her. She treated him with the only kindness she had left in her, which was slowly deteriorating with every stupid commission and with every time she was used for others’ gains. Childe saw the sadness in her eyes, which were more tired than they used to be. He bent down and peppered butterfly kisses all across her cheeks, nose, lips and neck along with muttering soft and sweet ‘I love yous’ both in the language she recognised, and in his own raw Snezhnayan. Lumine let out giggles at each kiss, wriggling away from him with a flushed red face.
“Okay okay, you’re like an overly affectionate puppy.”
“Only for you, kroshka~”
Another petname, he really missed her huh? As affectionate as the two were, there was one thing that truly brought them closer than any other couple that the two saw.
“You know I was holding back on Thoma right? I had no weapons or elemental magic.”
“Mmm~”
“And you know who’s only allowed my full power?”
“Mmm?~”
The traveller leant up on her tippy toes, along with pulling Childe down to whisper in his ear.
“Only you moya lubov~”
And that undid him completely, especially when she jumped back and pulled out her sword, her eyes flaring with all sorts of elemental energy as she gave Childe a smug grin. Childe, quickly catching on, also jumped back as his hydro vision flared to life along with his hydro infused scarf. Pulling out his bow, he said one last line before the two clashed
“Lumine, you’ ll be the death of me!~”