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It was common knowledge that Citlali liked to stay at her home. A secluded abode located a bit far from where the other members of the Masters of the Night-Wind were. She would only go out on rare occasions, which usually involved something that she saw as extremely important - or when the Traveler liked to press her to go with him for something. Mostly the latter.
But on this particular day, Citlali decided by herself to go outside. Just to buy some supplies necessary for her divinations and scrolls - maybe even a light novel or two while she was at it. She had yet to buy the third part of a series that so disappointingly left her on a cliffhanger.
The first half of her shopping went as she usually expected: people being wary of her left and right, being intimidated with every second syllable she spoke, even though there was nothing she did during her purchases that objectively warranted those kinds of reactions. Such was the reputation of the legendary Granny Itztli, but she was used to it by this point. To them, her presence was almost otherworldly, like she was some sort of warrior ready to wreak havoc onto the merchants if even a single product dissatisfied her.
But as she was perusing the divination tools and light novels from stall to stall, she spotted in the corner of her eye a merchant that was selling something rather unexpected and peculiar: plushies. But these were no ordinary plushies; she immediately recognized that these were exotic plushies made in the image of no other than the famous Traveler, Aether. What an odd product to be selling - but considering the Traveler's popularity, she supposed it shouldn't be surprising.
She slowly approached the stall with caution. The merchant, noticing her coming to his humble stall, gave the shaman a smile and greeted her. "Ah, another customer! Welcome, would you like to take a closer look at these wonderful handcrafted creations from Liyue?"
"These are from Liyue?" Citlali questioned, leaning down a bit to take a slightly better look at the plushies. Her gaze narrowed, inspecting each and every plushie that was on display, even though they were all the same thing.
"Yes, indeed!" he said enthusiastically. "Made from some of the finest cotton and fabric, and stitched with the utmost care and precision!"
She held one up to her face, looking at it. It was rather soft and squishy, much like a pillow. The goofy little smile that the plushie was donning even reminded her of the smile the actual Traveler would give her when he was teasing her. The craftsmanship was undeniable - they even gave the plushie a little cape and sword of its own, mimicking as much of his usual appearance and attire as it could. Regardless, her expression scrunched up into one of scrutiny. The idea of owning one of these seemed rather odd. But to think that Aether was so popular even in other nations, that they would actually make a plushie in his likeness...
"Do people actually buy this?" she asked, still examining and turning the plushie in her hands.
"You'd be surprised, ma'am. About sixty thousand sales this month, and that's only from Mondstadt, Liyue, and Inazuma," the merchant said, matter-of-factly. There was evident pride in his voice as he said it. "Most people buy it just to have it on display. Others buy it for good fortune. It's even a bestseller in Snezhnaya for kids to play with."
Citlali listened, but ultimately decided to put the plushie back down. "Hmph. I have more important things to buy," she gave as an excuse and walked away. The merchant simply shrugged. "Suit yourself."
But as she was walking away, her mind became conflicted. One part of her mind was telling her, "You're the legendary Granny Itztli, not some toy-collecting child! Get ahold of yourself! It's not like a plushie of Aether would be beneficial anyway - besides, you already have enough pillows for your bed! And keeping the plushie clean would be a tedious task! What would the other members of the Mictlan tribe say if they saw you collecting plushies like that? Heck, what would even Aether himself think about you?!"
These were all reasonable questions in this internal debate in her head. But she gazed back at the stall, contemplating. His journey, his resilience, echoed something within her, something she'd buried under layers of duty and prolonged solitude. Owning a plushie of him felt like acknowledging that part of herself she kept hidden, the concealed part that very much longed for connection - for stories beyond her own. Besides, she didn't get to see Aether that often anyway - those plushies could serve as a reminder of him, one of her only close friends right now. Maybe it wasn't such a bad idea to get one...
She went back and quickly purchased a plushie from the confused yet satisfied merchant, and then quickly concealed her bought plushie under a cloak before anyone else could see - dashing back to her house and closing the door behind her.
Days went by, and for some reason the plushie - despite not doing anything except existing - gave Citlali some comfort. It was easy to hug when reading light novels and made her feel like he was remotely keeping her company in some way. It wasn't even that hard to clean like she initially thought. But eventually having only one plushie of the esteemed Traveler was not enough, and so she bought another without anyone else knowing about it. This became a bit of a secret hobby for her, and no one would know about it. Two became three, three became four, and before long she'd managed to fill an entire room with nothing but shelves full of Aether plushies...
On one day, Citlali was busy reading a light novel on her desk, immersed in the story. The scene consisted of a samurai about to clash with his long-lost nemesis who kidnapped his spouse, the air around them thick and tense, and the climax of this battle about to unfold... and she was about to flip to the next page-
KA-CLICK!
-when all of a sudden an unwelcome intruder opened the door. For a split second she froze and thought she was going to end up like the kidnapped wife in the light novel, but then in the next split second she realized that there was only one other person that could have the key to her house, and that was none other than the familiar golden-haired boy.
"Citlali!" Aether beamed. "There you are. Thought you would've been asleep or something."
"A-Aether?!" the shaman gasped in surprise. And then she cleared her throat, standing up straight and composing herself. "Ahem, well... what brings you here unannounced?"
"I've brought you some of the light novels you requested a while back," Aether said as he showed the books in his hands. Citlali's eyes twinkled with the excitement of reading those novels, but she did her best to conceal that expression, showing instead a harsh countenance of indifference.
"About time! You're well over a week late with this gift, you know that?" Citlali told him as she took the books that were in his hand. "But thanks anyway."
"Hey, not my fault they ran out of copies in Inazuma," reasoned the Traveler. "I had to negotiate with a high-ranking friend to get these books. Are you going to read them now?"
"I'll do that later. I was reading another light novel until you decided it was the proper time to interrupt my reading session!" she huffed, walking to the shelf where she kept many of her light novels. Aether scratched his head at that, giving a small "oops" as she scanned for a suitable spot on the shelf to place the new light novels. Maybe beside 'New Chronicles of the Six Kitsune'? Or maybe they would look better placed with 'Shogun Almighty: Reborn as Raiden With Unlimited Power'? She thought about it, but her mind accidentally went another place for a split second.
As she was mulling over where to place the gifted books, Aether caught wind of her briefly glancing towards a door to the left that was slightly ajar.
"You seem distracted," Aether commented, and her heart skipped a beat. Usually that door was locked, but it seemed she completely forgot to close it today! Her heart was pounding despite her expression being pretty calm. She could even feel a drop of sweat threatening to fall down the side of her head. Of all the things to happen today, she did not at all foresee the great Traveler coming to her secluded abode today - let alone become dangerously curious of the room that hid the many Aether plushies that she bought.
"U-Uh, no, just thinking about where I could place these light novels, is all," she lied. But the ever observant Traveler noticed her nervousness. "Alright then, but I can't help but wonder what's behind that door you keep looking at every now and then." He took a step towards it, curiosity piqued. Citlali, on the other hand, was churning her mind for viable excuses to try and keep Aether from looking into the collection that threatened her very dignity.
"Oh, that? It's just... storage. Nothing that's of interest to you - they're just old relics and scrolls," she said, her voice lacking the usual authority and composure.
Aether raised an eyebrow. "Old relics and scrolls? Now those sound interesting," he mused, taking a few more steps toward the door. Citlali felt like her dignity was at stake, her usual stern demeanor under siege. She let the new books down on her desk with haste, blocking his way. "I-It's really just clutter. There's no reason for you to look at a dusty collection of old and mundane things."
"Come on, Citlali. When have you ever known me to shy away from a bit of dust? Or from uncovering secrets?"
There was panic written on her face as she tried another tactic. "It's under a preservation spell to ward other people away. You wouldn't want to disrupt that, would you?" He could see her trembling a bit as she blocked his way.
"You're definitely hiding something. Come on, can't I take even a quick peek?" he asked, tilting his head to the side a bit and almost giving her the puppy eyes. But Citlali wouldn't budge at all, despite her shaking only furthering his curiosity.
"Fine, then, you win," Aether finally relented, raising his hands up in the air as if he was surrendering. "I won't pry then... hey, wait, one of your light novels is on the floor!" he exclaimed as he pointed to the desk. Citlali panicked at the idea of one of her light novels getting dusty, and she quickly turned around. And when she did, Aether took that as the opportunity to get through the now-unblocking Citlali and dash straight into the room of secrets. When Citlali realized the light novels were still perfectly fine and none of them had fallen from place, her eyes widened at the fact that the Traveler had just tricked her.
"What in the-!" she said. But it was too late - his quick-thinking deception rewarded him with getting into the room. Her face was now a canvas of conflicting emotions, possibly even worthy of being dyed into a scroll.
The moment Aether opened the door to the secret room, the sight of countless plushies in his image almost felt unreal, like it was some sort of dream. A wave of shock hit Aether as he realized what the purpose of this room was. He would have expected maybe a scroll that recorded embarrassing moments of her, or a relic that showed awkward memories, or maybe even a collection of light novels that were supposed to be private. But this was beyond all expectation. "What in Teyvat...?"
Citlali's response was immediate, her voice sharp but wavering as she waved her hands frantically. "I-I-It's not... I m-mean, it's not w-what it looks like!" She tried to assert herself, her words lacking their usual bite. Aether took a few seconds to process what he was seeing - he didn't realize Citlali liked to collect plushies of him - and this many, too. It was almost impressive, the amount of Aether plushies there were in the room. But that just meant one thing...
His initial shock turned into a puzzled amusement as the sudden urge to tease Citlali began to grow. "Well... no wonder you wanted to keep this room a secret. I didn't realize you decided to become my personal shrine keeper... I'm quite honored by the gesture."
She could feel herself getting redder in the face as she tried to come up with an explanation, but realistically it was almost impossible to come up with a reasonable explanation that didn't make her seem like some Aether plushie-crazy granny. "Don't flatter yourself, Traveler! T-These are just... this is... cultural appreciation! Yes, j-just an appreciation of products from Liyue! That's exactly what it is, nothing more!"
"Cultural appreciation? Kind of hard to believe considering there isn't a single plush of Rex Lapis or any of the Liyue Qixing here," he observed, chuckling. "All I see before me is an army of me. Should I be worried about an eventual plushie rebellion?"
Her face turned a deeper shade of red, but she tried to salvage her dignity. "T-They're for... research! Yes, cultural research into the art of plush-making from Liyue. I'm just... trying to understand the cultural nuances, is all! I just didn't get the opportunity to buy anything else because... b-because they were all out of stock!" Her explanation was as thin as the fabric of the plushies. Or maybe even the fabric was thicker.
Aether smirked, now thoroughly enjoying the rare sight of Citlali out of her depth. "Oh, cultural research, huh? I didn't realize until now that my likeness was such a significant subject of study. What have you learned from your great collection so far? That I look good in every angle?" He made a rather goofy pose with one of the plushies, giving her a wink that almost warranted a headache.
"Y-You are insufferable!" exclaimed Citlali, feeling a mix of annoyance and embarrassment at the situation she found herself in. Even when neither side could read the other's thoughts, she was still on the receiving end of the endless teasing. But she could find an explanation no more, and her stuttering became more frequent. "They're just... just... b-because... because I..."
Her voice faltered and she sighed, finally accepting defeat. "Oh, fine. You win. I just... I might have gotten slightly carried away."
"Slightly, huh?" Aether raised an eyebrow again, looking around at the room that was clearly designed as a tribute to him. "I think we have different definitions of 'slightly'."
Citlali avoided his gaze, looking down at the floor. "It's just... they remind me of you," she said, her voice barely above a whisper. Though Aether heard it clear as day.
Aether's goofy and teasing smile softened into something more thoughtful, still showing surprise in his expression. "They remind you of me?" he echoed, picking up one of the plushies, examining it with new interest. The plushies really did match much of his likeness - save for the odd eyes and the rounder appearance, of course. "I didn't know you missed me that much."
"D-Don't get ahead of yourself!" she chided, her soft voice betraying the stoic facade. Somehow she felt herself approaching the maximum shade of red, still feeling embarrassed that the Traveler even saw this. "It's just... I just like to have them. Your presence is comforting."
"Woah. I've become your company even when I'm not around? That's quite the compliment, Citlali... I didn't know I left quite the impression on you."
She sighed, her shoulders slumping in defeat. "You do. More than I care to admit. But don't you dare tell anyone about this," she warned him as her gaze now met his, filled with a quiet desperation for understanding rather than mockery. Aether placed the plushie back in its rightful place, his expression now one of sincerity. "Your secret's safe with me. But you know... you could just ask me to visit you more often instead of creating an entire plushie army if you really want. I'm not against it," he teased, but his voice was warm and inviting. The shaman huffed at that straightforward suggestion.
"And deal with your incessant teasing and your tendency to give me a headache every second sentence you say? I'd rather not have that, thank you very much. But... having these around does help sometimes." She couldn't find it in herself to hold back a small but sincere smile as she looked at the plushies, each one spotless and handled with great care.
"Well, since you insist, I'm still going to barge into your house every now and then. Just to check up on you and see how you're faring. Maybe even read a light novel or two together, hmm?" Aether remarked, placing his hands on his hips and giving her another goofy smile. She crossed her arms and let out another "Hmph", looking away from the Traveler as if to convey that would be more troublesome than welcome for her. But the blush on her face felt impossible to remove - and inside, she felt herself becoming happier. Though maybe she needed to cut down on the plushie collection hobby - even though in truth, to her, every plushie that stood on the shelves served to be a silent yet tangible testament to the bond they shared, and the memories they made together. That even in his absence, she felt she was not alone anymore. But of course she couldn't just say that straight to his face, could she? She'd felt enough embarrassment for one day.
"...You really are insufferable and annoying, you know that?" she huffed.
"I know."