Chapter Text
Furina woke up this morning; expecting a day like any other. She put on her clothes, looked at the stranger in the mirror and smiled. She poked and prodded neuvilette as per usual, at least she partially enjoyed that part of the day; they were probably friends. However around lunch time she saw a sign, "Preformers from sumeru putting on a show saturday!" She read it once, twice. Hm that's tomorrow she thought the archon loves performances, I need to go see it. She continued her day of work, eventually returning 'home' for the night. But the approaching show remained on her mind the whole time.
The next morning Furina awoke to another day of the same thing. She dressed herself, avoided eye contact with the mirror, and prepared the role she would always play. Furina walked down the street, the mask of her own skin firmly in place. She got to the theatre early; not late, the archon can never be late. She walked to her seat; it was above all the others, because she was above all the others. That's how they have to see her. She sat down and waited, as she waited she noticed a girl, she had bright red hair, the color of Coral and soft blue clothes that reminded her of water, Furina's element. She didn't know the girl — she'd never seen her before — she'd seen everyone in Fontaine so she had to assume she was one of the performers. She doesn't like assuming things; if she assumes things she could be wrong. The archon cannot be wrong.
It didn't take too long before everyone had filed in. Most people looked up at her seat as they entered; already expecting to see her up there. Good, she plays her part well. Soon the show started, she watched the dancers with practiced excitement — until the girl with the coral red hair stepped on stage. The girl obviously had a passion for preforming, and she played her part well. Furina found herself maybe a little too focused on the girl; her mask of entertainment nearly slipping into genuine curiosity. The girl was as good an actor as Furina, the only biggest being the girl with red hair enjoyed herself; Furina did not.
During the majority of the show Furina found herself fixated on the girl with red hair, her joy almost infectious. Almost. While she couldn't quite muster up genuine excitement, she was certainly… curious about the girl. When the show ended she felt the urge to go and talk to her. She would do it anyways; it always looked good for an archon to talk to performers, but she's rarely actually wanted to talk to the performers. She starts to head down; a smile on her face, she says kind comments about parts of the show The Archon would like. Eventually she gets to the girl with red hair, she's about to say her usual things but she feels herself wanting to be… genuine with this girl for some inexplicable reason. She hesitates, not enough to be noticed — never enough to be noticed — but it was too long, she couldn't stop herself.
"You seem passionate about preforming," she regretted the words as soon as they left her mouth, The Archon wouldn't say that. But Furina would. Furina did.
The girl with red hair smiled at her, Furina couldn't help but think it looked beautiful. Genuine.
"Thank you! I truly do love preforming, it's such a fun way to express myself, y'know? Oh- I should introduce myself, I'm Nilou!" The girl — Nilou — practically leaked joy as she spoke.
Furina couldn't help but despair a little at her opinion on preforming. Furina had never seen it as a way to express herself. It suppressed her, and it would continue to do so. But she didn't say that.
"That's a delightful way of looking at it! And I'm Furina, although I'm sure you already know that!" The confidence in her tone made her want to throw up. It wasn't her. It wasn't real. It wasn't right. She finds herself wanting the girl with red hair to see Furina instead of The Archon, but she can't. She can't risk it, her performance must be perfect.
Nilou simply continues to smile, it impressed Furina how joyful she seemed to be — no matter who she was talking to. No matter what they were saying. Furina was so entranced by her smile she almost missed what she was saying. But she didn't, she couldn't.
"It's always amazing to know that my performance can reach even the archons!" Archon. The Archon. Yes, Furina is the Archon still, and she always will be, she has little time to talk to actors… right? She should go, she should stop talking to this girl, she has plenty of people who need to talk to her. But she can't seem to draw herself away, unfortunately Nilou is pulled away by the rest of the dancers, someone saying that they need to go somewhere, before they're late. Furina sees her go and she can't help but feel sad, like she doesn't want her to go, which is ridiculous, she's the Archon, she shouldn't feel this way about a random performer. She leaves shortly afterwards.