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It was just some red meat wrapped in small-sized warm bread from a friend, but Aether's throat tightened at the mundane sight of the stuffed meat anyway.
An intense dread (usually ending in nausea) filled them. It wouldn't last, and Paimon's off helping Lisa with the library. For context, Rosaria has been suspicious of the Traveler for some time now. She's curious about their eat habits and where they store their food, and probably gave them this sandwich to observe them!
At least, that's how the Traveler interpreted it, from the eyes they're constantly feeling all over them.
It's not waste if microorganisms and decomposers are having a warm meal, but I know I'll regret it when I'm hungry with how rare food has been. It wouldn't be so bad to live off of wild sunsettias and apples for a bit, right?
There is every reason to eat it here and now, but the thought feels dreadful. Will they have to be straight with their eating habits? I'm not even straight though… that's an unfair disadvantage.
Their ahoge jolts up with a sudden realization. Maybe they should fetch some residual Cryo energy, freeze it, and give it to Paimon when she returns, who Rosaria already knows has a pocket dimension (and note that she responded with distrust, which is why they should hide their own!)
Even when heated to safer coolness, mist flowers are extremely reliable — Amber uses them to keep her food (and enemies) fresh before melting. She had been pretty enthusiastic about her methods.
Teyvat is weirdly convenient like that...
They wrap the food back up and put it in a box to fetch some mist flowers — or the remains of a cryo slime, at least. Someplace near water would be good.
Most animals and pests would not be able to open that. Unfortunately, the ultimate threat to Aether's food is no common bug, but a very squish Anemo Archon who was watching them... for some reason.
A certain wind wisp watches the Traveler leave, and hops out the foliage with the signature susurrus and twinkling of his kind. There's an unelegant plop that follows his flop on to the ground, but no matter that!
The bipedal creature waddles to the box and attempts to push it open with its head. Ouch... Painful, and the box was nudged away. The wisp hopped to another side, a puzzled little frown on his chubby face. This simply won't do...
It bites a part of the box and kicks the other one to tilt it and push it open. A bit of Anemo energy aaand...
okay, still not open. The spirit hops back down on to the ground quite pathetically, mourning the warm meal within, but determined and hopeful.
It takes a few embarrassing positions to finally pry a corner open, and from there it's just a matter of prying each side bit by bit. Mmmh, the scent is quite appealing! Rosaria outdid herself, truly! The wind wisp floats atop the prize of his labour, unwrapping it as though it were more divine than even he, and takes a big chomp.
Venti may seem mouthless in this form, but his mouth is quite toothy and a vivid Anemo-imbued cyan when it's agape like this. With those, he'll surely finish in no time, before the Traveler returns!
Chomp, chomp. The meat and bread stand no chance, and before long, satisfied twinkling and sighs fill the little box it had poked itself into. It's not done, but this tastes good~ Truly, Rosaria has outdone herself!
"What is this?" a voice cut off the happy chiming far too early, leaving a very alarmed Venti, who looked up with gooey baby eyes that demanded mercy.
Fortunately, what followed was more of a cautious approach than a harsh confrontation of theft. It seems the Traveler was trying not to scare him... but was it so he could pounce or a sign of peace?
There is a bizarre squeak from the tiny creature. The Traveler notes it's at best the size of someone's head, and much squishier. Wearing a cloak, too... who knew they came in that size?
Finally sitting down next to their violated meal without scaring off the foreign critter, the Traveler hesitantly reached out to wipe some sauce off the creature's hidden mouth. It's soft, and there's the strong presence of Anemo energy surrounding this slightly floating fig—
wait. "Is this... are you a wind spirit?"
The critter hops eagerly, exactly like Teyvat's children hopping excitedly... actually why do they all use the same emote? Whatever.
It seems capable of comprehension. The sounds they make are simply delightful, the Traveler notes, like a wind-chime or bells (but like literally, not the overused simile). Maybe that's where the idea wind-chimes came from in this world.
"I didn't realize Venti was pregnant," the Traveler concludes bluntly. The little figure's eyes went smaller and smaller, the faceless equivelant of wider eyes. Black little cheeks became a brilliant teal that would put the purest Anemo energies to shame.
Unfortunately for him, the Traveler seems genuinely and unironically convinced that this is what happened, and seems to treat the "child" a little more gently.
Is this how his beloved traveler sees him?! He's not even a mother! The audacity to talk about such things in regards to a god (and not make them a reality, but the Traveler isn't ready for that part to be written in)!
"Why's he still walking around drunk and in corsets? Reckless..." meanwhile, the inner-monologue of the Traveler is still trying to rationalize the idea of a pregnant Venti. I mean, the Barbatos statue at Mondstadt doesn't exactly refute the idea, now does it? Those are some pretty nice hips...
"Is this a swirl reaction? Like... a chemical marriage? Am I the other parent?" Oh dear, it appears Venti has severely underestimated just how much more absurd the Traveler could get. But their warm hands are a pleasant contrast to the cool zephyr Venti embodies, and they're treating him so gently...
The wind spirit flops on to the Traveler's tummy with defeat. Believe it or not, a flustered Venti is even cooler because of all the Anemo energy, whose constitution and natural output is generally very cold in Venti's case. Safe to say, the Traveler jolts at the sudden icecub sliding down their belly.
"H-Hey!" they pick him up by the little head, watching the white eyes become bigger and rounded with a distinct puppy dog look that could be read spiritually but not physically or rationally. The Traveler seemed exasperated at the sight, "You're like your mother."
A resounding squeak that could shake nations really only managed to shake the Traveler's eardrums with any intensity, followed by the percieved baby's writhing and wriggling and kicking in the air. The Traveler winces and flinched almost violently at the confusing mess of pleasant and grating.
Sure, they've been through a lot of loud stuff, and it hurt every time by the way! But the past 500 years was spent in mental cacophony and physical silence that would drive any man mad, and of course cause some sensory sensitivity.
They almost want to take it out on the critter, but this is a living, breathing(?) creature (holy shit that sounds so wrong and i only realized this while reading this fic w an oomf on call I swear they js mean screechibg back demonically like a fox asserting dominance or sth), and Venti's child… they should be nice. "Quiet down, would you?"
Aether follows through by shoving a bit more of the sandwich into the wind spirit's face, who pauses, looks up in consideration, and then eats it without so much as a squeak.
What a bratty fellow...! Sigh. The Traveler wipes the corner of the creature's mouth anyway. Yeah, that's Venti's spawn alright. "You better make this worth the eventual regret... mora's tight, you know," the Traveler grumbled, and though the words held no heat, they seemed to make the little creature pause, and look at them... perhaps questioningly? It's hard to tell.
A blonde eyebrow raises in question, like responding with a "what?" to someone asking "what?" So they do.
"What?"
The spirit kicks his little feet again, and the blonde hero sets him down as requested. He nudges their belly and looks up at them with that same questioning look.
"...Are you asking about my financial and nutritional situation?"
Nod nod. Maybe it's in the wind's nature to be gentle like that? The Traveler leans back, not sure how to explain to their boyfriend's surprise baby that they struggle to eat or gather the funds to eat in the first place.
"When you're hungry, you tend to regret not eating something from 5 years ago." That's good enough. The kiddo seems to accept the answer, and sat down on the grass like he doesn't know how to think. Probably doesn't, either. Cute.
The Traveler gives him another piece, but this time he doesn't chomp it down. Guess those comments made the little guy feel insecure... Aether internally kicks themselves in the knee for that. That's a kid they're causing financial insecurity to...
"I can just cook more later… food is practically everywhere." A subtle hint to get the little fatass helping.
The wind spirit gives them an unimpressed look.
"You could always help me find some vegetables later."
...chomp chomp chomp.
It worked. The Traveler smiles a little, their shoulders relaxing and the urge to headbutt a tree with self-reproach lessening. That's better... but, where is Venti in all of this? Surely he'd keep a better eye on his kid, right?
Meanwhile, the Venti in question hops eagerly, wanting his mouth wiped again by the Traveler's gloved thumb. Rub rub. Aether plays along, of course, but truth be told, they honestly have NO idea how to deal with a kid.
You could argue there's Paimon, but she's not a kid... probably, and between the two, Aether is usually the kid, to be honest. She is the one who taught them the local language, and she's not exactly setting off explosions for research purposes like they are either.
Oh, and there's also that one time with Qiqi. Telling her the truth about cocogoats honestly felt like the birds and bees talk, but she had to know, despite Paimon's insistence on—
okay, wow, maybe they really aren't suited as a parent. Poor kid, having Venti as a mom and Aether (hopefully-) as a parent.
Said kid is giving them the puppy eyes again. "Can't you talk?" this earns them another offended squeak, but Aether quickly butts in with another argument. "You're a wind spirit, you can manipulate the air itself to create any sound you desire."
Now, Venti could have done this a while ago — after all, he was the one who taught Dvalin to speak in that way... but it's far too easy to slip back into his natural voice even without physically talking, and he really doesn't want the Traveler to realize he's been watching them.
Then again, the alternative is being seen as a neglectful fath– ahem, "mother." Maybe he'll have a chance to come up with an excuse later. "Oh? Kids? What kids? Ahahaha, you must be talking about the many wind spirits lurking around Mondstadt! They're more like my estranged siblings, really~"
Squeak.
"You can't?"
Venti shakes his head with the good ol puppy eyes again.
"...Uh, I guess I could try it," it would be nice to be able to talk without talking. But how can they do that? Do they just apply the textbook descriptions of molecules and sounds' relationship and hope it works? Should they focus more on the sounds Dvalin made?
Maybe this is a meditation kind of thing where you need to really focus on your surroundings to sense the surrounding Anemo energy and how it responds to their voice. "Let's see..."
The focus on their elemental sight is more extreme than usual in an attempt to both sense and see how the air responds to their words. It's painful, but it'll be worth it — the ability to talk without talking provides a huge advantage over enemies.
It's hard to control energy on a "molecular" level. Probably impossible. So they can only try to mimic the net movement of everything and hope it works. What follows is an extremely cursed, ghostly, almost gutteral whisper that has both Aether and Venti wide-eyed. Well DAMN... SORRY.
"...Close enough?"