Work Text:
Log #0715
Subject: #004
Location and Context: Fountain plaza, Mondstadt. Subject fell into the water and required immediate assistance, whereupon initial contact was made.
First impressions: Subject appears to be a female variant-human of approximate 18 to 20 years of age. Subject identified herself as “Amber” and claimed affiliation with the Knights of Favonius, specifically as an Outrider. Only visible variation of average human anatomy are the ears: they’re located at the top of the subject’s head instead of the sides of it, and their shape and size is similar to those of a common rabbit or hare (further observation required for conclusive analysis). However, after an initial observation, their color appears to be red and white, two colors not present in the natural state of these animals. Decorative accessories placed on the ears seems the most rational explanation, but unusual coloration must not yet be discarded.
Subject demeanor: Subject is lively and generally shows a positive demeanor. Energy levels are also reminiscent of the average Leporidae animal.
Hypothesis: Subject #004 is a yet to be documented species of variant-human, presenting Leporidae characteristics.
Further DNA analysis is required!
Sucrose’s first meeting with Amber was quite odd. Her usual shift at the alchemy table was suddenly interrupted when a blur of motion caught her eye. Glancing up, she saw what she first believed to be a large bird dive headfirst into the fountain at the center of town.
Of course, it was no bird, but a young woman in a glider. She was now half-submerged in the water, tangled in the shattered remains of what had once been a wooden glider. The torn drapes from its wings now clung onto her like wet clothes (on top of, well, her actual wet clothes). Even as she splashed around trying to free herself from a mess of ropes and leather straps, she looked more annoyed than hurt. A small cluster of pigeons had gathered nearby, watching with the same bewildered expression Sucrose wore… the sight was a bit pitiful, to say the least. So, despite themselves, Sucrose and Timaeus hurried to help.
"This is so embarrassing." The woman let out a stiff laugh, "I've never fallen like this before."
Sucrose hooked one arm around her and pulled her up. "Hi! I don't think we've met before?”, the woman said. “You’re the alchemical team’s new hire, aren't you? Sucrose, is it not? My name's Amber, I’m the leader of the Outriders! Well, that may be because I’m the only Outrider… but that’s only for now! You’ll see!”.
The situation didn't seem to do anything to hinder Amber’s enthusiasm; she was talking so fast Sucrose could barely keep up with what she was saying.
“I promise I pride myself in being a great glider, even if what you saw wasn’t really a, uh, testament to my ability. But I wouldn’t be an Outrider without it! Anyways, I was trying to hop from an air current to the other but a third current I hadn't accounted for –super odd by the way, I'm supposed to have them memorized– pulled me right out of my trajectory and I kind of panicked and lost my balance and ended up here. Boy, I must've given you and Timaeus quite the scare right?"
Sucrose nodded along nervously, unsure what to respond. She finally reached the alchemy table after what felt like an awkward eternity, and sat Amber as Timaeus hurried over with a cloth for her to dry herself.
Though she had never seen this girl before, Sucrose didn’t doubt her story. She was still pretty new to working with the Knights, after all, so there were bound to be members she hadn’t met yet. Besides, she thought she heard something about an eccentric glider in their ranks– even if she couldn’t be completely sure.
But it wasn’t just Amber’s rapid speech that distracted Sucrose from her words. Every now and then her gaze darted back to the top of Amber’s head where the silhouette of a pair of rabbit ears stood firm and proud. Though each time she snapped away her eyes just as quickly, not wanting to stare for too long.
It took a monumental amount of effort not to ask about them. Sucrose had learned through trial and error that humans with animal traits didn’t appreciate having them pointed out. Which might even explain the uncomfortable feeling that always crept up on herself when someone pointed out her own ears growing up– but she hadn’t conducted any conclusive research on that yet.
The last thing Sucrose wanted was to accidentally offend Amber and sever all communication between them, especially when she was so curious… She had never heard of a rabbit-person before, much less met one!
Even if Sucrose had gathered the courage to ask, the opportunity would’ve slipped away. The minute she was dry, Amber hurried off, rambling about how late she was for her daily report already, and how Grandmaster Jean was going to ‘absolutely kill her, for realsies this time’. (Which, Surose doubted Miss Jean was capable of anything of the sort…)
Well, if Sucrose couldn’t go directly to the source… she’d just have to gather information through other methods.
And so the initial shock of such a raucous meeting was quickly replaced by the excitement of a potential new discovery. Of course, Sucrose considered how odd it was that she’d never heard of such a person living in Mondstadt before. Given her particular interest in biological rarities, one would expect this kind of information to reach her the fastest. But this sort of thing wasn’t too uncommon in Mondstadt, where everyone adhered to the philosophy of ‘letting people be’, and so variant characteristics were not usually commented on. She wouldn’t even have found out that little Diona girl was part feline if she hadn't seen her with her own eyes, so surely this might be a similar situation.
One thing was certain– even if no one in the present had taken particular notice of Amber’s characteristics, there were bound to be records of her lineage. And so, Sucrose decided that the next logical step was to sink her figurative teeth into her research.
She paid a visit to the library in Favonius Headquarters, where she began eating away every time she could find on the ancient people of Mondstadt, their habits and characteristics. She'd gone through these before, when she first started researching possible genetic links between herself and the young Cat’s Tail bartender. Still, who knows, there might always be something new to be discovered when revisiting an old page…
It wasn’t long before she was sitting on the floor, legs curled beneath her, surrounded by sprawling piles of books. She’d been reading and re-reading them, looking for any sort of thread to follow. She needed to be certain there were no leads before giving up– but sadly, it was becoming clear that was exactly the case. But even after combing through hundreds of texts and records, there was nothing. Not a single mention of a lineage like Amber’s.
Sucrose crouched down and rubbed the back of her neck, exhausted. Surely, catching the poor girl in such a state would’ve made an amusing sight.
Lisa was a familiar face. In fact, Sucrose couldn’t count the amount of times the librarian had caught her in the exact same situation, even if she tried to.
“Oh, dear. What’s got your brains jumbled up this time?”
“Amber,” Sucrose replied weakly.
“Oh?” Lisa’s eyes grew wider. “I didn’t know you’d taken an interest in that girl.”
Sucrose’s face turned ever-so-slightly red. Come to think of it, the amount of time she’d spend looking into Amber, when compared to the amount of time she had even known her… did become a little embarrassing.
“I guess I have… You see, I only met her yesterday–”
“Didn’t take you long to get attached.” Lisa pointed out the obvious with such a teasing flare it would’ve made Sucrose’s blush extend to the tips of her ears, were they not covered in fur.
“I’m not attached. I’m… intrigued.”
Somehow this is what makes Lisa finally sit next to Sucrose, resting her chin on top of her hand and leaning in closer. “Intrigued?”
“Yes. By… her energetic attitude, her dexterity… And, you know…” Sucrose cowered a little. Lisa was very understanding, but Sucrose wouldn’t be surprised at anyone getting weirded out by her fascination with Amber’s ears. “Her… appearance.”
“Her appearance?” Lisa said, playfully taunting. “I guess that’s one way of putting it.”
Her smile was even wider than before now, and Sucrose didn’t understand what had made her so giddy.
"You know, Amber is a friend," Lisa continued. "If you really want to, I could arrange a meeting between the two."
Sucrose yelped.
"Oh no, that would be too much… In fact, I was avoiding confronting her directly about it.”
Lisa reached an arm towards Sucrose, and when the latter didn’t seem to pull away, began gently patting her shoulder. “Is that so? Why?”
“I don’t want her to be unnerved because of me.” She looked down and began twiddling her thumbs. “For example, she might think I’m prying too much.”
“Come on, that’s nonsense! If you’re really interested in Amber, you should walk up to her and say it with your chest puffed!” Lisa replicated the motion as she spoke, which did get a light chuckle out of Sucrose.
“I still don’t know. I’m aware it can be an uncomfortable topic… And I’m also…” she failed to find the right words.
“A girl?” Lisa suggested.
“Em. No?...” Sucrose said hesitantly. While she’d come to learn gender sometimes played an important role in social interactions, she hadn’t considered it a variable in this particular case. Had she been mistaken?
“Then?”
“It’s because, well, we’re both… different.”
Lisa let out a heartfelt laugh. “Darling, do you seriously think you have to worry about such things? And in Mondstadt, off all places?”
Sucrose carefully considered Lisa’s words. She guessed that much was true. If her fruitless endeavor to find more information on rabbit-people was proof of anything, it was that the people of this city didn’t mind what others could consider being different.
Lisa stood up and held out her hand. “Trust me, if there’s anywhere in Teyvat you don’t have to feel ashamed of being you, it’s here.”
Sucrose reached for Lisa’s hand and stood up as well, with renewed vigor.
“You’re right! Amber and I have nothing to be ashamed of. Our ears –any animal features— are just part of who we are, aren’t they? I-I’ll go to her and ask her about th–”
“What?”
Lisa fell silent, staring at Sucrose as if frozen in place. Sucrose began to panic, thinking maybe she had taken things too far after all.
“Sorry! Did I get too excited? Was that inappropriate to say?”
“No, no– I’m sorry, you want to know more… about Amber’s ‘animal ears’?”
“Well, uh…” gathering all her courage, Sucrose all but squeaked, “I mean, yes! I want to ask her about them! I want to learn more about rabbits”
Once again, Lisa’s demeanor completely flipped. Her shocked expression changed for her usual candid smile, and after that for a much more sly one, which Sucrose had seldom seen her use before.
“Oh, Sucrose, you should’ve said so sooner. You’ve come to the right place.”
By this point in her life, Sucrose had yet to figure out the intricacies of human interaction. It was far more complex than the black-and-white world of exact sciences, with much less room for trial and error.
Had she been better at picking up on subtleties, though, she might’ve noticed a glint in Lisa’s eyes that said: Oh, this is going to be fun.
It’d been a few days since then. Sucrose tapped the ground with her foot, nervous but patient, waiting in fron of Angel’s Share. Could this really be okay? Would Amber truly not mind that Sucrose wanted to see her?
Her worries briefly washed away when she noticed a distinct red figure rapidly approaching. Amber hopped her way down the main street to the tavern, excitedly waving towards Sucrose's direction the whole time. Unfortunately, the only thing Sucrose could manage to do in response to her enthusiasm was shyly wave back; a movement so quiet it might’ve been unnoticeable.
Once Amber reached her she launched herself at Sucrose and trapped her in a tight hug. Of course, Lisa had warned Sucrose that this behavior was common in Amber when she got excited, but that didn’t make it any less jarring.
“Hey!” Even after letting Sucrose go from the hug, Amber kept her hands on the other’s shoulders. “Did I keep you waiting for long?”
“Not really, don’t worry.”
“That’s good! Well, Lisa taught me you wanted to take me out for dessert and a drink, huh. On you, I suppose?” Amber said with a playful wink.
Sucrose nodded faster than she should. But she could hardly contain her excitement, knowing the itinerary Lisa had helped plan for the evening, including ideal dining choices as well as conversation pointers to make the air between the two less tense.
After exchanging a few more pleasantries, both girls walked into the tavern.
Log #0816
Subject: #004
Location and Context: Table for two at Angel’s Share, Friday evening.
Account of Encounter: Subject was not receptive to the food and beverage provided. Asked to give a statement whether a carrot-based diet is a rabbit stereotype
Okay, I’ll drop the field notes for a moment. Turns out Amber is not a rabbit-person. Nor is she a particular fan of cake or carrot juice, unlike Lisa suggested. After she kindly rejected the food I apologized and asked if carrots were some sort of rabbit stereotype, which was met with confusion.
I immediately switched the conversation topic to Crisis Management Scenario #3 as, again, indicated by Lisa, which consisted in complimenting Amber’s ears and asking if she could share her fur care routine.
Subject Amber, at least, proves that her cheerful demeanor remains the same even in undesirable situations. Her only reaction was laughter. She offered her “ears” for closer inspection– appear to be nothing more than a hair accessory with a ribbon attached, of an impressive 20cm in height. The materials only became clearly visible to me when placed at a distance 5cm or closer to my face. Note to self: This is cause for concern.
Amber was sympathetic for she had also been tricked by Lisa into this meeting. Lisa misrepresented the interest I had expressed in Amber as romantic, and so she had come to date under the impression of a ‘date’. After a second profuse apology and treating Amber to her own selection of meal and beverage, situation appears to be resolved.
Notes to self:
Arrange discussion with Lisa about the events that transpired.
Arrange optometrist meeting. Modifications are needed to eye prescription .
Real date with Amber, Tuesday.