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(A/N) when wanderer is being referred to in third person, he will be called wanderer. When someone is thinking about him, he will be referred to as hat guy (since that's what the people in sumeru call him)
One thing about Wanderer was that he couldn’t stand to ignore a child crying.
He could ignore adults; after all, he made plenty of them cry during his time as a Fatui.
Children, however, were a different story.
Also known as how Wanderer showed a different side to himself, and how some of his “friends” in Sumeru learned more about him in a few days than they had his entire stay here.
It all built up slowly, well, it technically did. Only, nobody paid enough attention to realize. Had they looked at the infamous “Hat Guy” more, maybe they would have noticed how his vision pulses in light where his heart should be. How there is a bulge in his clothes on the right side, where he's kept all the trinkets Nahida gave him. How he always brings a bag of candied Ajilenakh nuts on hand; just in case he comes past an upset child.
Of course he never gave it to the kids straight up; archons no. But..if they happen to find a trail of them leading to the bag, then that's their problem. No one can prove it was him, afterall.
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Why in archons name did this have to happen to him. Was his life of betrayal and torture not enough? The oh-so god of wisdom Buer decided that Wanderer needed to be more social. And of course, the wonderful answer to that solution was to force- cough politely ask Kaveh and Alhaitham to accompany him on a walk through Sumerus forest. It started out with Kaveh trying to start some polite small talk, but he quickly got discouraged at Wanderers sarcastic replies. That was if he was lucky, for the most part, Kaveh wasn’t granted a response at all.
Kaveh stopped talking, instead sulking the whole time. And he has to admit, Wanderer took a sadistic pain in seeing Kaveh like that. Alhaitham gave a disgruntled look to Kaveh, who just elbowed him with a clear look on his face. “You try to talk to him”. Alhaitham promptly ignored this. Wanderer was walking ahead of them so fast, it was as if he was trying to forget they were behind him; and honestly he probably was. In his head, Wanderer was cursing out everything in existence. He sported a scowl on his face, as if even the trees itself had insulted him.
The wind blew through the leaves, bringing all the sounds with it. The birds chirping, the crying, the foxes running through the bushes.
…
The crying? Wanderer stopped in his tracks, not caring that Alhaitham and Kaveh nearly ran into him. Kaveh let out a noise of protest, then confusion. Wanderer ignored them, his mechanical ears listening for the noise he heard. He knew what a child crying sounded like when he heard it. And if not for that, the tug his heartstrings..or..what would have been his heartstrings..proved it.
One thing about Wanderer was that he couldn’t stand to ignore a child crying.
He could ignore adults; after all, he made plenty of them cry during his time as a Fatui.
Children, however, were a different story.
Children reminded him of that fledging, all those years ago. He would cry when the pain of the coughs in his chest refused to leave. Wanderer remembered it all. Holding him, stroking his hair and wiping the sweat off of his face.
Crying meant the coughing was getting bad again.
Crying meant the fledgling was getting worse… that he was dyi-
“....T guy?”
Wanderer turned around, glaring at Kaveh, who looked at him worried. “You weren’t responding for around a minute. Are you sick?!” Kaveh looked to be working himself up, while Alhaitham sighed mentally. Leave it to Kaveh to work himself up in a worry when it's about someone else.
Wanderer cringed internally. He zoned out for that long? He shushed Kaveh, listening out for the child. The gut-wrenching sound of soft sobs could still be heard. Wanderer turned back around, stepping off the beaten path and quickly moving through the greenery to where the noise was coming from.
Kaveh looked at Alhaitham, who shrugged. He might be the acting grand sage, but he’s not a mind reader. How should he know what Hat guy was doing?
Wanderer sped up his speed slightly, shoving branches away with bursts of elemental energy. Had he still been Scaramouche, he would have ignored this sound. Even if he felt the instinct to run to the crying, he forced himself to bury those feelings down to the point where he couldn’t feel anything besides disgust and rage. But this was Wanderer. This was Hat guy. He was (very slowly) bringing those emotions back to the surface, with the help of Nahida that is.
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Wanderer made his way over to a small clearing, Kaveh and Alhaitham hot on his trail. The clearing was quite pretty, had it not been for the sad sight in the middle. A log was laying on its side, with a small child sitting in front of it, his back resting on the log. The boy, no older than seven, snapped his head up at the noise of Wanderer walking. Which, honestly, was pretty impressive. Wanderer was made out of some of the finest machinery in Inazuma; he was quite lightweight, and his time in the Fatui made sure that he was completely silent whilst walking.
Wanderer slowed his steps down, not stopping fully until he was several paces from the boy. He crouched down, lowering himself to sit on his knees. Wanderer was so focused on the kid, he didn’t even notice Kaveh and Alhaitham behind a few trees, watching the ordeal. Wanderers eyes softened considerably. Archons, the kid even looked like the fledgling. He had soft brown hair, and his innocent eyes were filled with tears.
“Hey shh…it's alright. Why are you crying?” Kaveh nearly passed out from shock at the tone of Hat guys voice. He spoke so softly, afraid if his tone is too harsh the boy would shatter. Treading like his heart was made out of the finest Liyuen china. His voice had the slightest bit of an accent to it, which made Wanderers voice more soothing.
Wanderer hated his Inazuman accent. No matter how long he spent away from that blasted nation, it never truly left him. But, he supposes if it helps this boy calm down…Maybe it isn’t all that bad.
Bleh. Hopefully Nahida doesn’t learn about that particular thought. She would probably go on about how it’s “good he’s embracing himself” or some crap.
Wanderer focused himself back on the present. The boy never answered his question, confusion and uncertainty clear in his eyes. Wanderer shifted himself, sitting cross legged on the ground. He moved his arms outwards, gesturing for the boy to sit on his lap. The fleg..no. The kid slowly moved forward, determining that Wanderer was not a threat. He sat down on Wanderers lap, who shifted him so he was facing sideways.
Kaveh’s eyes softened at the sight. While he was still shocked, he had to admit it was a very cute moment. Both he and Alhaitham were incredibly perplexed. How in the world was this the same Hat guy? The dude who snapped at them less than fifteen minutes ago for asking if he was okay, is now bouncing a crying child on his leg to soothe him.
“Shh…Shh…Just let it out.” Wanderer kept repeating these words, not stopping his gentle up and down motion. The child eventually stopped crying, hiccuping a few times before gingerly resting the side of his head on Wanderers chest. Wanderer stiffened up, before realizing that the child wasn’t on the side where his “heart” should be.
“I…I don’t know where I am..” The kid whispered. This was the first thing Wanderer heard him say, but before he could ask a question the kid continued. “My mommy said she would be back soon…But it’s been all day..”
This filled Wanderer with rage. How dare this mother abandon her child like this? He held onto the child more firmly.
Alhaitham watched the scene without uttering a word. He merely waited, shushing Kaveh when his gasps got too obnoxious for him. If anything, he was more perplexed than shocked. Hat guy clearly had more sides to him then he let on, but truthfully Alhaitham didn’t care enough to consider what else he could be keeping from them. It was Hat guys life after all. And while he did wonder what he did to gain Lesser Lord Kusanalis trust so fast, it was none of his business to pry.
Kaveh, on the other hand, did want to pry. How could it be that Hat guy, the prickly antisocial anemo bearer could be this soft? And, he had to admit, Hat guy was doing a pretty good job at soothing this kid. Although, he was still wondering how he even knew to come here. Kavehs hearing was slightly above average, and he couldn’t hear anything besides the sounds of nature.
Whilst the two were lost in thought, Wanderer was still helping the child. He gradually stood up, resting the child on his hip. The moment he turned around, he knew that those infuriating dendro users were here. It was a good thing that the kids face was tucked in his neck, as the scowl that arose probably would have made him start crying again. Without a word, Wanderer walked right past them, and made his way back onto the beaten dirt path.
Kaveh gaped astonished. This kids audacity?! This certainly seemed a lot more like the Hat guy he was used to seeing…
Wanderer got back to the duty with no hiccups, although he did chuckle softly when the child looked in amazement at the sight of his elemental energy whilst moving the branches away from him. Although it’s a good thing no one heard him, if it got around that the infamous Hat guy was capable of such a thing, he would never hear the end of it.
Once he reached the bustling city of Sumeru, Wanderer quickly made his way through the crowds. He left his hat with Nahida when he went on the “short” walk, as he didn’t want it to be ruined by the shrubs. And now he’s glad he did, as the hat would have guaranteed him unwanted attention from the Akademia scholars if they saw him.
Upon reaching the Akademia, Wanderer made a beeline to Nahidas “office”. It wasn’t really an office, if anything it looked more like a child’s playroom. Crayons and drawings scattered around the place, with soft chairs to fall asleep on. Sometimes, Wanderer felt secretly envious of the Dendro Archon for being able to fall asleep like that. He tried once, but his mechanics do not need human rest. After two hours when he did fall asleep, he was plagued with nightmares of Dottore and woke up within twenty minutes.
Nahida looked up from her drawing upon hearing the door crack open. She must admit, even if she was the God of Wisdom, seeing Wanderer with a sleeping child in his arms was not something she expected.
“Not…not a word, Buer.” Wanderer muttered. He gently placed the sleeping child on one of the softer chairs, and then sat on the floor across from Nahida. He looked at her expectantly, then to the kid.
Upon realizing that Nahida was waiting for a verbal explanation, Wanderer gave a brief description of what happened. Of course, he left out the mention of him soothing said child and bringing him back carried. Nahida thanked him for bringing the child to her, and promised she would figure out who his parents were and take him to her. She was no fool, she knew this kid brought back memories from Wanderers own life, and she swore that she would not let the kid be abandoned.
Puppets don’t need to breathe.
But if Wanderers shoulders dropped down as if they would with a sigh of relief…then who’s problem was that? And if Nahida noticed the way his vision pulsed in color quicker than a steady heartbeat, just to slow down at her promise…she must be seeing things right?
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Kaveh and Alhaitham had long since gone home. Kaveh wanted to follow Hat guy, and see what he did, but was convinced out of it by Alhaitham. And while his reasoning may have been that Hat guy was going to the Akademia, him being tired of human interactions totally had nothing to do with it.
Even with the excuses, they still had a lot to process about what they thought they knew about Hat guy. People didn’t tend to act cold and mean if they had a soft heart for no reason, after all. Just what was going on in Hat guys life, where he needed to put up barriers? It was all so confusing. And why on earth was the faint sound of a crying child the thing that broke all those barriers in an instant? It was far too many questions, with far too little explanations…