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Language:
English
Series:
Part 5 of this war we made
Stats:
Published:
2022-12-10
Words:
750
Chapters:
1/1
Comments:
2
Kudos:
121
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8
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1,208

war

Summary:

a conversation that goes nowhere - pain centered in the middle, but when as she falls asleep, she swears he had grabbed her hand.

Notes:

(See the end of the work for notes.)

Work Text:

They lay in the wet grass, the after scent of the rain hitting them hard and the cool blades gently soothes their wounds of the day. The slowly growing cloudless sky filled with the gentle light of the stars greet her eyes in a never ending amazement of beauty - the nights are short and the days are long, and in some worlds, there are no nights such as, there are no days. Teyvat never ceases to surprise her on the daily, but even some things can grow old. She sneaks a glance at the Wanderer, formerly known as Scaramouch - who seeks out a new name with desperation and how she told him that he should find a name for himself.

She wonders what's going on in his head - where the jumble ends and the peace begins, if he can ever even feel that. She knows that Childe had a taste of violence when he was young and the copper never left his mouth, and he feasts on it, eternally hungry. Is it the same for the Wanderer?

"What? Your staring makes me annoyed," Wanderer says, after a moment - clipped tone and biting words. Lumine looks away and back at the sky. "Out with it."

"Nothing." Lumine answers as she awkwardly folds her hands over her stomach and finding that uncomfortable. "Have you figured out a name?"

"What's in a name, anyways?"

"Power," she responds. "Listen, I'd love to help you come up with a name but - you turned down everything suggested and up to this point, everyone else has given you a name. It's your turn." Wanderer doesn't answer to that, but he gives her a sidelong glance. There is nothing for him to say to that or well, he has a million things to say but she knows he won't say them. At least, not right now - not until he can drop the bomb in the moment of drama, because when it comes down to it, intense moments are his specialty. He thrives on it, Lumine had noticed - the attention it gives him, he seems to live off of it. "Do you think you can be happier now?"

Wanderer snorts. "What do you think?"

"think you can be."

"Why does it matter to you of all people?"

"Because I care about you."

"That's awful."

Lumine lets out a heavy sigh. She's too tired for this back and forth - too exhausted to put forth more effort in trying to argue with him on anything and everything. As tough as he acts, he is like glass and she is cutting her fingers on the cracked and shattered edges, trying to put him back together and only watching it all shatter into even a million more pieces. She can't fix him and he doesn't want her to fix him because he has to do that himself. He has to find a way to heal himself, and everyone else has to watch him.

"You built yourself a home out of war," she mumbles. "Forgot what peace felt like and now, here we are."

"That's stupid."

"It makes sense."

"What makes you think I don't know what peace feels like?"

"You're destructive."

"Maybe I like being destructive. You and your weird...poetic talking that doesn't even make sense."

"Maybe you convinced yourself that you like being destructive -"

"Lumine." Wanderer cuts her off, feeling just as tired as she is - he's looking right at her, sharp eyes piercing through her soul. "It's fine, I'm fine. Go to sleep."

Lumine lets out a huff and lets silence fall over them again. Only a few times had there ever been comfortable silence amongst her travel companions - Diluc, who was usually off in his own thoughts and catching his attention sometimes felt nigh impossible, Kazuha, whose words held weight when he spoke and a softness like the breeze, and surprisingly, Kaeya, who seemed to prefer quietness over chatter, despite his outgoing and sociable personality. Getting used to just being quiet was weird - even Paimon isn't filling the air up with idle words, although she's deep asleep and had been for quite a few hours now.

When she notices that Wanderer had closed his eyes, Lumine creeps her hand over to his and hesitates, before letting it stay in the middle of them. Tomorrow, she can come up with an excuse but for now, sleeping might be the better choice. Just as she dozes off, she swears she feels his hand touch hers and gently grab it.

Notes:

Comments and kudos much loved and appreciated!

Yes, I know the Traveler gets to name him but shh, we'll pretend that didn't happen.

If you liked what I wrote, come hang out with me over at my Twitter or my Tumblr!

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