Chapter Text
The Delusion Thief, who had killed many, many Fatui troops, was a red-headed boy not much older than Childe himself. That was... interesting, to say the least.
Childe watched from the trees as the Delusion Thief — which was a boring name that Childe would have to change — prepared dinner at midnight in the ruined camp. The red-haired boy (his hair was the color of fire) wasn’t wearing enough clothes. Childe, who was wrapped in a thick winter coat and a scarf, could still feel the cold, biting wind digging into his skin, and Mr. Red was wearing something that was only barely a coat.
But then, Fireboy had a fire, and Childe didn’t. On the other hand, Childe was both full and mostly uninjured (his recovering wounds from accidentally jumping off a tree didn’t count) while Sir No Coat was very much an injured man.
If he hadn’t been raiding Fatui camps for supplies, Childe would’ve offered him some nice first aid and some soup, too. Maybe an actual coat just for the heck of it.
Mmm... the smell from that cooking pot was nice, though. He must’ve gone hunting, since Childe knew firsthand that none of the rations were even remotely close to good.
The fact that he went hunting was quite worrying, actually. Childe didn’t have the time to watch The Raider Dude 24/7, and if he ever stumbled onto Morpesok on his... excursions... and if Childe didn’t get there in time...
Ah, he was worrying too much. The Masked Person didn’t have a reputation for hurting civilians, so nothing would happen!
...Either way, it would be better if Mr. Mysterious left the area sooner.
For some strange reason, this Delusion Thief had been camping the area for the past few days. Yeah, that was pretty normal based off of his movements so far, but he chose the wrong place to camp.
...Maybe, if Childe gave him first aid, he could convince him to leave faster?
It was worth a shot, and it was also probably a considerably better idea compared to his previous attempts (blocking the path with wood, herding hilichurls into his campsite, sending messages via notes tied to arrows, etc). So, yeah, Childe was going to do it.
It was only a fourteen minute speedwalk from Firehead’s campsite to Childe’s house, and yeah, Childe wanted him to go away. It wasn’t too hard to open the front door (with a key) and get the first aid kit without waking anyone, and Childe was back at the campsite within twenty minutes.
Putting on his best ‘haha I was just passing by’ face, Childe approached the technically stranger, making sure to loudly crunch through the snow.
Damn it, Childe was running out of names. Well, the Delusion Thief straightened up, and he was looking around, quite alert. Childe was moving more obviously now, hoping that he could make his presence known without any shrieks or blood.
Blood would be nice, as long as they were at least an hour’s walk from his home. Which they were not, unfortunately.
Sure enough, the Delusion Thief noticed him. “Who’s there?”
Damn, his voice was nice. Very strong, a little deeper than his own voice, and very hot.
Putting on his best ‘I’m but a simple traveler’ voice, Childe said, “I’m an adventurer passing through, and... I was wondering if I could borrow your fire for a bit?”
He was much closer to the Delusion Thief now, and his words were met with a hard glare from the other man. Who was also kinda hot- that high ponytail was sick.
“...Fine,” Ponytail (oh, that was a nice name) finally said, after quite the long pause. “I don’t have any extra food.”
Childe let out a real chuckle, sitting himself down in the snow beside Ponytail. “Thank you, fellow traveler. I’m already imposing on you- I couldn’t ask for more.” Pointing at a rip through the jacket on Ponytail’s left arm, Childe continued, “Though, you seem to be injured, my friend. Why don’t I treat your injury as repayment?”
Ponytail narrowed his eyes. “...Could you lend me your supplies... friend?”
Breaking our into a wide grin, Childe said, “Why, of course!” He set the box of first aid supplies on the ground, gesturing towards it. “Help yourself. Ah, I’ll turn away, of course, if you need some privacy.”
There was a little bit of rustling—opening the kit and finding the things he needed, probably—and ripping (bandages?) and all sorts of quiet shuffling noises before Ponytail said, “I’m finished.”
Still smiling, Childe snapped the box shut, sliding it towards himself. “I pray that you recover soon,” he said, placing his hands together. “Traveling through the winter is hell.”
“It is,” Ponytail responded. Childe waited for him to say more, but he stayed silent. Huh... so he was the quiet type.
“What’s your story?” Childe asked as casually as he could. “I was separated from my group in a snowstorm a while back... fortunately, I came across a nice village and they patched me up and gave me some supplies.” Not one word of that was true, but Ponytail didn’t know that! And it was pretty realistic, except for the fact that he had somehow gotten lost in a snowstorm and didn’t die.
But then, his entire life story was getting lost and not dying, so maybe it was realistic after all.
The silence stretched out until it started to become long and awkward, and it was a really long, really awkward silence by the time Ponytail spoke. “I... angered the wrong people. I came to Snezhnaya, but they found me, and now I’m running.” Huh. That sounded pretty honest. Childe felt kinda bad for lying now.
“Haha, the wrong people? How’d they find you in Snezhnaya? Most people keep away from here.” Of course, it was very hard to hide from the Fatui in Snezhnaya, but Ponytail didn’t know that Childe knew that Ponytail was running from the Fatui.
...Childe should turn Ponytail in. He would get a quick, painless execution and Snezhnaya would be free from another pest.
Morepesok would be safe for sure.
“...They have a few Snezhnayan members.” Ha, that was an understatement. At least 70% of the Fatui are from Snezhnaya and maybe 90% have their permanent residence here.
“Ah, that’s a pity... Would you like to join me in leaving Snezhnaya? There’s strength in numbers, after all.” Why was Childe offering this? If Ponytail didn’t agree, Childe could... drag him back to the capital? Something like that. And if he did agree...
Drag him back to the capital anyway?
Childe usually didn’t try to lull people into a false sense of security, since that was an extremely underhanded thing to do. So why was he doing that?
“I wouldn’t want you to become a target as well,” Ponytail responded, snapping Childe out of his thoughts.
Childe let out a laugh, and honestly, it sounded a little nervous. “Well, I can take care of myself! Don’t worry about that- besides, I could always wear a disguise or something!”
Whatever. Just thinking about his decisions was useless, and maybe he should just trust himself and whatever he’s trying to do. He’s usually at least a little reliable, so everything should be fine.
“...If you say so,” Ponytail said hesitantly. “I guess I can leave Snezhnaya...”
Ohh, that must be why Childe had offered. He was just trying to get Ponytail out of his country! No other motives.
Childe was a great person who never had any ulterior motives.
“Great! Well then, let’s leave tomorrow. We can head to that village I mentioned, and go to the main roads from there!” Ponytail probably had to avoid the main roads, but he didn’t know that Childe knew that. Oh, was this how the other harbingers felt when they kept him in the dark? Damn. It was kinda fun, honestly.
Oh, but Childe would never do this regularly. Only sometimes.
“Ah... I would prefer to avoid the main roads... um.” Ponytail scratched his head a little awkwardly, which looked exactly like Anthon and was extremely adorable. “I do have a route out of Snezhnaya, I think... If we keep heading due west, we’ll reach Fontaine.”
“Why don’t we go south, towards Mondstadt?” Childe genuinely didn’t know this time... honestly, he probably wasn’t even supposed to know about the Delusion Thief, because all the other harbingers were probably worried that he would challenge the Delusion Thief to a fight in public and cause quite a bit of property damage. Not that Childe didn’t want to do that... but he wanted to get to know Ponytail a little first.
Ponytail grimaced. “I... don’t want to go to Mondstadt. At least not yet.”
Childe shrugged. “Alright then, Fontaine it is. Ah... I hate to intrude on your camp even more, but may I set up nearby?”
”Of course,” Ponytail said, nodding. “We can set off tomorrow.”
Were they friends now? Childe kinda hoped they were. As the wise old grannies always say, there’s no better way than sharing life stories around a fire.