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Yes, Kaeya had promised Diluc that he wouldn’t go to Dragonspine, but that was only if he was alone. This time he had Rosaria, Eula and his strange drinking buddy, Venti. Surely his brother wouldn’t be too angry with him, right? Their mission was important, they HAD to save their target, or lose it forever and it was a loss that none of them would be able to live with.
Up the hill from him, Rosaria and Eula were stumbling their way along the path. Kaeya thought the view of the mountain ahead was fantastic. The rise and fall of gentle curves, the white so soft that it was hardly a contrast to the snow, the fishnet stockings…
Venti laughed beside him. “How poetic!”
Did he say that out loud?
“Yes, you’ve been speaking out loud.” Venti laughed again, “You always do when you’re drunk.”
No, wait -what? Why didn’t he know he did that?! Oh, right, the drunk part. You see, he could explain-
Earlier that evening-
Kaeya had walked with Eula down to the Angel’s Share, on the way they met Rosaria, then Venti.
It was normal for them all to drink together and they had decided to make a night of it. They claimed their normal table, the one that Diluc had conveniently reserved just for them so he could keep an eye on them. That didn’t matter, they’d happily take it, especially with how busy the bar was tonight.
Diluc hadn’t arrived for his shift yet. When this happened, they made it a game to drink as much as they could before he got there and cut them off. Tonight, they had done well, ordering drink after drink. They would all be nice and drunk before the grumpy redhead even got there.
However, there was a problem. They drank what Charles had, all of it. Kaeya had never seen them run out of alcohol before. The poor bartender looked nervous as someone from the winery spoke to the man.
“What happened, Charles?” Kaeya slurred slightly.
“Uh, well. It seems the transport balloon was blown off course with a sudden, heavy windstorm. They think it went off towards Dragonspine, but Master Diluc has always given orders to steer far clear of that mountain.” Charles shrugged. “Dawn winery is putting together another shipment as quickly as they can, but it’s going to take some time.”
Venti, who had come to stand next to Kaeya, ran to their table and told the others of the predicament. A rescue party was formed by the four. Every single one of them pretended like they hadn’t heard Charles telling them not to go, to just wait for the new shipment to arrive and they were out the door.
Current-
Kaeya realized he had been staring at… one of the peaks again -when he tripped over a rock and landed face first in a pile of snow. He might have been a little too hasty in leaving the warmth of the Angel’s Share, they all had been. Not that any of them would admit they were too drunk for this, but they were almost to where the shipment had been believed to land. It wasn’t far into Dragonspine, but they couldn’t turn back now.
Venti pointed to a ledge just above them, there was something cloth bobbing up and down, “There, does that look like one of the balloons to you?”
Rosaria and Eula both nodded, “Looks like it to me.” Rosaria agreed.
“Alright, this is Dragonspine, so we go in -Hey, wait… Guys, wait!” Kaeya tried to yell quietly as the rest of the group took off at a run up the mountain. He ran after them.
How were Rosaria and Eula warm in those clothes? He was wearing a few layers and was freezing.
“I’ve acclimated myself to the conditions of Dragonspine. I have more resistance to the cold because of it.” Eula responded over her shoulder.
Crap. He was thinking out loud again. They reached the ledge and came to a quick halt, the scene was something out of a nightmare.
Hilichurls had surrounded the transport balloon. Some were dancing around it as though they worshiped it, some were drinking the wine straight from the bottle and some were passed out with emptied bottles laying around them.
“Oh, Archons, no…” He said in horror.
“SAVE THE WINE!” Venti suddenly yelled and charged in, bow drawn.
The other three followed. You would think that two captains, a battle nun and an apparently battle experienced bard, would be able to make quick work of the ten hilichurls that hadn’t been passed out. Instead, they stumbled around, barely dodging weapons and slimes being thrown at them. This fight was going nowhere. If you asked them, though, it was quite impressive.
It wasn’t until a large fiery bird flew through, picking up the hilichurls and dropping them off the edge, that the battle actually came to an end. The four drunkards began cheering, they had won the battle.
That cheering came to a swift halt when they heard the loud clunk of metal digging into the ground. They all turned slowly to see Diluc, with his hands on top of the pummel of the large red sword that had been driven into the soil, its sharp tip disappearing just below the surface. Burning red eyes stared at them, looking less than impressed. The only sounds on the mountain at that moment was the wind, three audible swallows and a “Hehe!”
“Master Diluc!” Venti said, joyous as ever, “Have you come to join our rescue party?”
Diluc raised an eyebrow at the bard before narrowing his eyes to glower at all of them.
“Rescue party? You’re all drunk!” Diluc yelled and looked straight at Kaeya. “One of you could have gotten hurt. You should have left this to someone else.”
Kaeya nodded in agreement, “Oh, we definitely should have, now that you mention it.” He wasn’t even going to argue his brother’s point, the man was right.
Diluc closed his eyes, Kaeya figured he was counting to ten. Had that method actually helped in calming him?
“Yes. It helps calm me.” Diluc rolled his eyes.
Oh, speaking his thoughts aloud once again. He’d have to work on that.
“You already tried to stop,” Rosaria said, “Years ago.”
“Really? I have no memory of trying that…”
“You tried to train yourself not to talk when drunk. For a while you’d just burst out laughing, then say what you were thinking anyway. I believe I’m to have vengeance for some of those thoughts.” Eula said.
Kaeya put his hand on his chin, “Hmm, maybe if I tried anoth-”
“Can you at least talk AS we get off of this freezing mountain?” Diluc interrupted.
“Hehe. That’s right, we need to make sure all this wine gets home safe and sound!” Venti exclaimed.
“I was thinking more about us not freezing to death.” Diluc said, guiding the transport balloon down the path.
“Hm,” The bard paused to think, “I believe your views may be skewed. After all, you too are here to retrieve the glorious shipment.”
Diluc rolled his eyes for the umpteenth time since joining the party. “Actually, Charles told me that you four had run off to find the transport. I’m here to save a bunch of drunkards.”
“I’ve got it! I bet Lisa can hypnotize me into not saying everything I’m thinking while drunk! She knows weird things like that.” Kaeya said triumphantly as he stumbled past his open-mouthed brother staring at him in disbelief.
~xxxxxxxxxx~
Their banter continued all the way back to Mondstadt, including a long lecture from Diluc and an amendment to their promise -no going to Dragonspine alone, drunk, or with drunk friends. It was fair, Kaeya thought. By the time they got the shipment back to the bar, the new shipment had already arrived. They could have just stayed. Oh well. Kaeya, for one, was too hung over to care.
Diluc had sent the others away as soon as they had passed the city gate, banning them from the bar for the next week. Once the shipment was delivered, Diluc personally led Kaeya home, making sure he didn’t just wander off to the Cat’s Tail instead and forced him to go to bed. The redhead guarded the door, as if he didn’t trust that Kaeya wouldn’t just go out drinking again the moment he left. Kaeya might have been offended if Diluc weren’t right, nausea and a headache had set in anyway.
Maybe he found it slightly annoying that Diluc was being over-protective, but he was happy that the big grump was at least around to do so now. He’d take that any day.
He smiled to himself as he drifted off to sleep.