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Lohen settled down for the night without you this time. You'd be staying up later compared to everyone else to keep watch. The Vigilant Yaksha that stayed around here on Guili Plains would easily protect the whole expedition, but Varka forced everyone to keep their guard up anyway. Not that Lohen minded, but a few knights were complaining about it. He was glad you weren't someone who yapped a ton (and only made small comments from time to time), because he had enough social energy sucked out today by helping find a lost dog of all things. Maybe he'd sneak out and fight some monsters or Fatui... no, no, Varka might catch him since he was on night-watch with you today. Lohen sighed and closed his eyes to drift off to sleep.
⋆.˚ ☾⭒.
You and Varka sat next to each other on the ground in Guili Plain's moonlight. The sight was truly beautiful; and the fact that the expedition just started made you more excited to travel farther away from Mondstadt.
Varka started the conversation.
"How's it going with Lohen?"
"It's fine."
"...You don't like talking much, do you?"
"Uh, no."
Varka yawned and bent a knee as he sat on the ground. "Would you rather be talking to people your age?"
You pulled your knees to your chest as if trying to defend your insides. "No. That's actually harder."
"Sorry for pairing you up with Lohen, then."
"It's fine. He's not that bad, and I have a feeling he has more maturity than it seems. At least, he never says anything mean to me."
"I'm sorry."
"I said it was fine."
"You know that's not what I'm talking about."
The following silence was suffocating to you, and you turned your head away so you couldn't see whatever facial expression Varka may be wearing at the moment.
Varka cleared his throat, "Well, if you ever wanna talk about anything, I'm here. You can go to sleep too, if you want." He offered an escape for you.
"...I'll take you up on that offer then." You muttered, standing up and finding your way to you and Lohen's tent. It barely fit two people, but at least you weren't smushed against one another. You crawled in as quietly as possible and glimpsed at Lohen's slumbering state. He sure looked a lot less intimidating when he was asleep. Maybe even a little cute? Lohen would always go to bed after you, cleaning his gun and crossbow, so you never saw him like this. So... vulnerable. You laid down and simply stared at his face. His side profile was beautiful, too. Hopefully he finds someone and has a kid, you instinctively thought, it'd be a waste not to with a face like that. Then you slapped yourself, hard. Your mother's words and opinions just stuck around with you, apparently. It's Lohen's choice, dammit. You squeezed your eyes shut and shook your head as if it could shake the whole thought out.
"Hey, why are you shaking your head like that?" Your body jumped when you heard his sleepy voice. Did you really slap yourself so harshly he woke up because of it? Whoops.
"Uhh, I was just thinking about how pretty you are." You blurted out, and you felt like slapping yourself again. Your mouth never knew when to shut up. It went off like a landmine; a very bad habit of yours.
"Oh, that's nice of you-- wait, what?" Lohen's eyes widened. Only his mother or passing girls who believed he couldn't hear would say things like that. Then he squinted his eyes and whispered to himself, "Wait, is that... Hey, I'm gonna light a lantern for a moment. Your cheek looks kinda inflamed."
"No, it's fine-" and then the lantern lit up.
He let out a small "ooh" and grimaced at your self-inflicted injury. "Yeah, that'll leave a mark. Let's patch you up. There should be a first aid kit in here..." He sat up and looked around for the kit. "Here it is." Setting it in his lap, he opened it and reached for the alcohol and wipes.
"No, it's really fine... Ow, owowowowow." You were reminded why slapping yourself was never worth it. It hurt, it was visible, and alcohol made it sting even more.
"Stay still. What happened?"
"Oh, I just... slapped myself for having, um, thoughts."
It was Lohen's turn to jump now. "Oh. Don't... uh, you shouldn't slap yourself for... thinking... whatever you were thinking." He clumsily grabbed a bandage with a suddenly nervous smile, unable to look into your eyes anymore.
You quickly waved your hands around as a "no, no" gesture. "Wait wait wait, no, I don't mean anything like that. I was thinking that it'd be a shame if you didn't get a wife and have kids."
Lohen felt both relieved your thought wasn't anything dirty and confused about your thought process. "What? Pff, you sound like my parents." He recovered and gently started applying the bandage to your cheek.
"S-sorry. I... always spent more time with my parents and adults than anyone else and-- ah," You blinked and made a surprised noise at the feeling of him administering Cryo onto your cheek.
He grinned, "Sorry, I should've warned you." He wanted to ask why you were always around people older than you, but decided that was a question for later. He didn't actually know much about you, he noticed. Well, the expedition would give him all the time to get to know you.
"A Vision has a lot of uses, huh?" You thought out loud, and Lohen took his hand off your cheek, nodding. Blowing out the lantern light, the two of you drifted off to sleep (together, this time).