insurmountable | i'm dragging a heart that weighs a ton / holding out for not just anyone

[ giving her his word, he better not die before her brother, then. and considering the kind of world he lives in, how unlikely is that? how much of it she can trust? not much, truth be told, lumine feeling in despair on how much protection aether really has.

but there's not much that she can do, either. who else can guarantee aether's safety other than the very person who roped him into this?

before she can say anything, however, blinding, searing pain pierces through her head. it's much more intense than the previous headaches she's had, spreading out across her body like electricity. lumine lets out a cry of pain, also falling to her knees, a hand gripping her head just as she's overcome by another vision once more, this time more vivid and more lucid than before.

dihua marsh remains unchanging even to this day, the landscape untouched. it's not the first time she's been there, walked through its dirt path and cobblestone bridges. but it's the first time she's paused, taken in the sights, and sat near the water.

dragonspine rises like a grey monster in the distance, its icy fog still surrounding the landscape. lumine, swinging her legs as they dangle over the water, keeps her gaze on the nail floating above it before she turns her attention to the person sitting next to her. typical of childe to find some inspiration in this quiet landscape to fight her. ]

Eh? Now? I don't want to.

[ she wrinkles her nose at his suggestion. the last thing she wants is to spar in the marshes where the hilichurls are busy napping. wake them up, and it's going to be a mess of a situation that she honestly doesn't want to deal with on her day off.

instead, lumine reaches out for his shoulder—and shoves him hard enough to try and get him to fall into the water instead. ]

But I suppose if I manage to get you into the water, that means I win, right?

Aw- Woah-!!!!

[One thing he's never underestimated since their fight in the Golden House was her strength, a strong shove he hadn't been expecting sends him tipping to the side, his butt slipping under the stone. His hand reaches out to grab the ledge of the bridge, but it's just centimetres too far, and with a splash, he goes right into the water of the marsh. He stays underwater for a few moments, sighing inwardly. Let his guard down around her again...

He pops back up, head breaking the surface of the water to look up at her, unimpressed with how she totally just cheated to win a fight that they didn't even get to have.]

Hey, now! We're supposed to fight first! You can't win if the contest hasn't even started!

[Swimming back to shore, he steps out of the marsh completely drenched. Making his way back up to where she was, he stands in front of her, arms akimbo, hair wetted down so that even his ahoge seems to have disappeared. Childe has to slick his hair back just to be able to see.]

Oh, that was cruel, Lumine. You know I won't let such a debt go unpaid for that.

[In a flash, he bends over to wrap his arms around her for a good, tight hug- picking her up too so he can cover her with as much water from his clothes as he can.]

Edited 2022-05-11 15:00 (UTC)

[ not her fault that childe's easy enough to fool and shove around. the fact that he still hasn't gotten better at this, hasn't started putting up defences around her so as not to be surprised every time is on him.

lumine laughs, recoiling at the huge splash of water he created by falling in and shaking her head afterward when he resurfaced. his expression looks more pouty than unimpressed, the rug completely pulled out from underneath him. ]

I mean, you only said, the first one who gets knocked into the water lose—

[ she lets out a shriek when he suddenly hugs her, squirming in his grasp as she tries to escape. lumine could feel water seeping into her clothes, her hair getting damp as he presses himself against her. it's uncomfortable and hot given the liyuen weather, fabric sticking to her skin. ]

Childe—

[ she tries to push him away, but in the process, she too topples off of her seat on the bridge, falling into the water as he did. but not before she tries to grab his scarf to drag him along with her. ]

Hahahahaha, [he laughs as she squirms, trying to get away from him. He won't let up so easily, making sure every last drop he can get soaked into her dress finds its way.]

I won't let you get away so- oh!

[He cries out in surprise as she tumbles backward, making a grab for her. But they both had different ideas. His hand goes to grab her own hand, missing and catching nothing but air. Hers, however, tugs on the red banner across his chest and pulls him downward, losing his balance. Before he knows it, he's falling once again, into the marsh in tow this time, hitting the water with a splash.

Comrade...

He can see her underwater, swimming to hook an arm around her before swimming back up to the surface. There's a big grin on his face now, looking at her with satisfaction.]

Well, that didn't quite go over the way you wanted, now did it? Haha.

[He nuzzles the side of her head while treading water, just to drink in that expression on her face.]

Edited 2022-05-11 15:39 (UTC)

[ both of their weight combined creates an even bigger splash as they tumble into the marsh, causing one of the millelith to jog over their way and check up on them. lumine, her head breaking through the surface of the water and taking a deep breath, waves at the poor soldier, assuring him that they're fine.

she's with a hydro user, after all. she will, at the very least, survive an ordeal with water. either that, or she drowns him in his own element. ]

Only because of you—

[ she pushes his face away from her, squirming from his grasp once more. as usual, he's the type who has no respect for one's personal bubble, even in the midst of a minor crisis like this. oh, how tempting it is to wipe that grin off of his face, even if it makes her heart skip a beat every now and then. ]

You're lucky none of the hilichurls around decided to get up and beat us up for disturbing their peace.

Edited 2022-05-11 16:10 (UTC)

[She pushes him away, but his playful nature of course won't allow her to get away so easily, swimming back up to her but holding up a finger this time. He'll get them out, easier than just swimming back.]

Even if they did, they'd be no match for us. We are, as I've said before, unstoppable together. So bring it on, I say.

[Besides, he'd have a lot of fun anyway, so it doesn't really sound like such a bad idea. He sweeps his hair out of his face again, looking up to the bridge they'd just fallen off of. Concentrating, he grabs her again, as a spout suddenly begins lifting them up out of the water from beneath, his arm helping steady her until she no longer needs it. It raises up to the edge of the bridge, so they can easily step off onto dry land.]

Though perhaps it might be time for a change of clothes. Mind getting the teapot out so we don't have to tread back to Liyue Harbor sopping wet?

Edited 2022-05-11 16:32 (UTC)

[ his manipulation of hydro has always been effortless, and lumine wonders if she'll be able to do the same once she reaches fontaine. she supposes that there's really only one way to find out.

she carefully steps off of the water spout and onto the bridge, feet finding solid land once more. they're both soaked, clothes clinging to them like drowned cats, and she can't imagine walking back to liyue harbour looking like this.

at the very least, they'd be dry by the time they get there ... still, she likes his idea better. oh, but: ]

... I left the teapot at Wangshu Inn—

[ lumine gasps like she's been drowning all this time, her vision clearing once more, and she finds herself on her knees, staring at her office's carpet. the pain in her head has subsided, reduced to a dull throb that makes her want to crawl into bed and sleep it all away. her wrist, on the other hand, feels the opposite, hurting and aching even more when she's used it to steady herself on the floor.

but even she doesn't have the luxury of that, as images of the vision continue to flit across her mind like a record being replayed over and over again. still, she tries to compose herself, slowly looking up to realise her brother's so-called friend is still there.

ajax ... no, she remembers calling him "childe" in that—what was it, anyway? a hallucination? and the way he held her close, laughed and nosed into her hair, that doesn't feel right at all. ]

... Get out of my office, Mr Volkov. Now.

[Ajax finds himself sitting on her floor, unsure of when he'd slid down onto his butt on her carpet, holding his head. Out of all the strange visions he's had, that one is so clear, and he remembers every little detail of it as if it had happened yesterday. He repeats it over and over, both hands covering his eyes to block out any light from the ceiling above, until he hears her demand he leave.

He looks up at her almost dumbfounded, as if her demand didn't make any sense at all. The reality of the situation slams back into him, his eyes darting for the USB that's landed on the carpet next to him, snatching it up and slipping it quickly into his pocket.

But he can't ignore what just happened.]

Wait, hold on a moment...

[The man's mind races, thinking of what he could possibly say to stall his exit, and it lands on the one discrepancy that really stuck out to him. He wonders, did she see the same vision he did? He's got one chance and he better not blow it.]

Why did you call me Childe?

[Because it was clearly his name in this vision, but...he's never heard it before. Maybe. If he had, it was in school, and he wasn't paying attention.]

[ lumine staggers back to her feet, steadying herself against the arm of the sofa. there's a part of her that still tries to make sense of the mental picture she's been shown, but another part wishes to dismiss it. to try and forget what it contained, what it entailed, what it meant for the both of them.

she cradles her offended wrist, pressing her fingers against the tender flesh. a quiet hiss leaves her lips when pain blooms from where she's poked, wincing.

honestly, with her in pain like this and confused and unsure what's happened, lumine doesn't want to deal with him. didn't he say that if she gives him the usb stick, he'll leave her be? he'll disappear and she'll never have to see his face? ]

I didn't call you anything.

[ is he still seeing the delusion? she doesn't even know. but she sure doesn't even who childe is or what that is all about, even if her "other self" in that hallucination kept calling him that. ]

But you saw something, right?

[He struggles to his feet, having to use the coffee table to help pick himself up off the ground. It's too much, he has to at least try to understand what's happening to them. He can't just leave, not yet.

Not when he can so clearly see her laughing at him as he fell in the water, being annoyed with him when she went in herself. How it's almost as if he can still feel her pressed up against him, his face in her hair...]

You pushed me off the bridge, I swam back and then we fell in together because you were squirming around. You had on a white dress, and I...

[His hand presses against his hair on his left side. The mask isn't there, and his fingers press against the same side earlobe. No earring either. Ajax's face screws up in confusion, frustrated at how confusing that was.]

[ he's not the only one frustrated by all of this.

lumine too is feeling annoyed, aggravated by his constant questioning. funny how the tables have suddenly turned, and she's the one getting interrogated by him. but this time around, she's in no mood to answer them, not when that strange, unsettling vision still lingers in her head.

she closes her eyes, trying to drown out his voice with other thoughts. other unasked questions, forcing them to loudly echo in her mind. but it's no use, not when he keeps revisiting it again and again. ]

That's because you— [ she suddenly lashes out at him, feeling an uncontrollable wave of emotions spreading across her chest. but lumine quickly reins herself in, pressing her lips together.

what did she want to say anyway? ]

Just get out of my office, please. You already have what you need from me.

[That was all the confirmation he needed. She did indeed, see the same vision he did. He's never heard of any poison doing that to two people, so he can do away with that possibility. It bothers him, how clearly he can recall everything, down to every emotion he felt. They were happy, weren't they? It seemed so to him.

But ultimately, he now stands in her office, and she's got no patience for him given their little tussle earlier. So he sighs, giving the fight up. Any answers he sought weren't going to be found today.]

You're right. I've got a lot of business to attend to, so I won't tarry here any longer. Take care, Lumine.

[He turns, walking towards the door, opening it. He lingers only a second there, giving her the opportunity to stop him, but when she inevitably doesn't, he closes the door behind him and heads out into the city.

His pace is hurried, his head still pounding. He can't begin to understand what it was that he saw, only that they were in Liyue somewhere. Dihua Marsh. But that area looks nothing like that now. It was gorgeous, the way Dragonspine looked from that bridge, and yet...that's an impossible view to see now.

So what was that?

He sends a quick text to Aether:

Your sister is pissed. She found the project. I might of twisted her wrist a little since she wouldn't give it to me. She's fine though. Sorry man. Just giving you a heads up. She's going to want to talk to you. We'll talk later about it.

Ugh, this isn't going the way he wanted at all.]

[ lumine can't really say what she had with aether was a conversation. conversations are a two-way street; what they had was a one-sided scolding from her brother, asking her if she had gone insane. of course, any protests she made fell on deaf ears, aether unwilling to hear any of her reasons and instead sending her away.

i think you should take a break, lu. go on a holiday, get your wrist healed. i'll sort things out here.

sort things out, her ass. she has a feeling aether's going to do something stupid while she's not around—like ensure that the same thing she did with ajax: her safety. she wouldn't be surprised; they're two peas of the same pod, after all.

still, lumine doesn't try to aggravate her brother any further. in any case, there's much she wants to know, anyway: about that last vision, about her dreams, about everything that's just started to happen since she met aether's friend. a part of her still believes it's inflicted on her like some curse, but maybe—just maybe—it's something else.

she books a week-plus's stay at wangshuu inn, the establishment surprisingly still standing after a thousand years. she's heard stories about it, how it was built for an adeptus as a place of respite. so, if there's a place where she can start, it's there, right? even though she's pretty sure dihua marsh has already changed so much, the view she's seen in the illusion now different.

the innkeeper gives her one of the bigger rooms overlooking the marsh when she arrives, a quaint little teapot sitting at her bedside table. a gift, she says, which was puzzling. in any case, she spends the first couple of days of her trip walking around the area, looking for the bridge in her vision, retiring only in the evening to have dinner downstairs.

one thing she at least missed in liyue is the food, and the amount of it served for dinner: jade parcels and golden shrimp balls, golden crab and bamboo shoot soup. lumine's admittedly at a loss on how to eat all of those. ]

[After having certain affairs taken care of following the acquisition of the USB drive he'd requested, it was time to look into his own dreams and visions. He'd spent several nights having more dreams that he couldn't remember, but the vision he'd had in Lumine's office was still crystal clear. He played it over and over in his mind, wondering what it meant. Some research had to be done, but the only thing that came up was a historical figure from Snezhnaya named "Childe" who had several stories and legends surrounding himself.

With that information in hand, he headed to Liyue, to see if there were any records concerning this Childe figure. After all, the internet wasn't always accurate, and Snezhnaya had differing accounts of him than other sources he found. Visiting Northland bank was in vain- nothing in there had anything in regards to what he was looking for.

An old legend circulated around Liyue Harbor though, one he paid particularly close attention to. Visiting the museum was boring, but he picked up a few leads that he thought might help.

Last but not least, he headed out to Dihua, where that vision had taken place.

A famous inn that had been there for at least a thousand years was his stop for the night after wandering about the suburb, stepping into the open air restaurant and finding a familiar head of golden hair sitting down at a table.

Ajax wastes no time in crossing over to her, and slides into the chair next to her.]

Hey. Strangely enough, I'm not surprised to see you here.

[ she can't say she's not surprised to see him in liyue. he was more persistent than her about the entire thing, asking unnecessary questions when all she wanted was for him to get out. what surprises her more is the fact that he's here at the very same time as she is. how did he know? how did he find out?

lumine's eyes narrow. it can't be that aether tattled to him about her trip, did he? if he did, she'd be certain to return the favour to her twin brother.

almost immediately, she moves her chair away from him the moment he takes a seat next to her, the wooden legs scraping against the deck. what happened to not seeing his face ever again? what happened to not dealing with him anymore? and at dinner time too, of all times and places—

... should she get a new table, she wonders? surely, she'd be allowed to if she told the staff her current predicament. ]

I'm surprised you're here, [ lumine comments flatly, picking up a jade parcel with her chopsticks. ] The Qixing doesn't tolerate any shady activities throughout Liyue.

Perhaps, if that's what I was here for.

[He answers simply, hailing down a waiter and quickly pointing at the bamboo shoot soup and the jade parcels that Lumine was eating, ordering those for himself. Easier and quicker this way, because he was kind of hungry as it was.]

C'mon Lumine, you know I'm here for what I assume is the exact same reason you are. Though it is quite the coincidence that I was able to find you here.

[He wasn't looking for her, after all. He'd just walked in for a bite to eat before figuring out where he was going to sleep tonight. His voice calms, taking on a more matter-of-fact downward tone as he speaks.]

I came here looking for some answers. I didn't find much, but what I did find is a start. If you're willing to listen, I'm willing to share.

[ he can sleep in the marshes, for all she cares.

lumine pulls her plates towards her, the bandages around her wrist visible underneath the long sleeves of her cardigan, wrinkling her nose at his outward friendliness. funny, when just a few days ago, he was twisting her arm and threatening her. she supposes that that's just how he and his family works, disreputable in every way. ]

Oh? I didn't know you were here to heal your wrist. Last I checked, it was your face that needed a cold compress.

[ if she had known this is how things would develop, she would've chucked her paperweight at his head, too. maybe that would've made him amnesiac about the visions they were having.

she takes another bite of the jade parcels, pointedly not looking at him. ]

Whatever it is, I'm not interested.

[He leans to the side, peering at her. Stubborn like her brother, that's for sure. Not that he blames her for being mad, not at all. So he shrugs, looking at her food, then looking back up to her.]

It's fine by me if you want to take this on by yourself. But even you can't deny that I'm a big piece to the puzzle. And you can't solve the puzzle without all the pieces.

[Just as she's a piece to the puzzle too, and just as much of a cornerstone to solving this mystery as he was.]

Listen. Let's go to the place where we were in our vision, after dinner. Maybe there's something there we can turn up. I've got a pretty good idea of where it is, I looked into it shortly after our little scrap in your office. It may be something that we'll only be able to discover together, given the nature of that vision we had.

[ look, lumine likes it that she's making it difficult for him. it's only payback from their scuffle last week, and if anything, it's not enough for her. if she could be an utter nightmare for him, she would. but she also knows how badly that would backfire on her, given how capable he was at reining her in previously. ]

I know where it is.

[ she's lived in liyue for five years, after all, and she's managed to at least travel to the different parts of the region. that includes certain areas in dihua marsh. ]

I was there earlier, and I didn't find anything. [ of course, it could be because she went there alone, but her point remains. ] I don't see any reason in going back there again.

It's always worth a shot, [he argues, having to stop himself for a second as his food arrives. He says thank you, taking a few sips of the soup before eyeing the chopsticks. He...hasn't learned to use those yet.]

I don't know about you, but the visions that actually stick with me are when I'm with you. All the other ones just fade into the background, and the only thing I'm left with when I wake up is knowing that I'd dreamt of something I can't quite explain.

[He takes the chopsticks out, fiddling with them. He can't quite get them to sit right in his hand, and when he tries to pick up a parcel, his sticks just twist and slide off of the food. Ajax crumples his face up in frustration, trying again and failing.]

So I want to see if something happens again if we visit it together. I hadn't planned on this, but since you're here...I don't see why we can't try.

[ does she see his plight with the chopsticks? yes. does she find it amusing that he doesn't know how to use it? yes. does she help him out? no.

in fact, lumine pretends she doesn't notice his struggles with the utensils, instead deftly picking up a golden shrimp ball with her own. she even takes a bite of it, all the while holding it to her mouth with the sticks. very deftly done, unlike him who can't even clumsily pick up a dumpling.

also, she's not about to admit that that's also the case with her dreams. it's enough that she's managed to show a vulnerable side of her already to him. ]

I don't trust you enough to go with to an isolated place alone. I only have one wrist left.

[Ajax only shoots her an exasperated look. He won't apologize for her wrist, but to think he'd just attack her out of the blue is ridiculous to him. As far as he's concerned, she's lucky he hadn't used his vision to get the flash drive from her.]

I'd like to point out that one: I never wanted to harm you to begin with, and two: you were actively keeping me from important information, that I paid for. For all I knew, you were going to destroy it.

[He eventually gives up on the chopsticks, choosing to eat them with his bare hands instead. Finally, he's able to pop one in his mouth, delighted at how good it tastes. He'll have to come back to Liyue more often, this food is absolutely astonishing.]

Anyway, as far as I'm concerned, that's all water under the bridge now. I'm far more concerned to try to figure out what's happening to us. I even went so far as to have someone look into whether we'd been somehow...tampered with, for lack of a better term. Nothing turned up. At first I thought maybe we'd both been poisoned, but no poison exists that inflicts shared visions and memories.

[And now he's having visions of being some kind of dead general with a love interest. It annoys him, but he can't rest until he's figured out why.]

Maybe I should've destroyed it after all, [ she remarks nonchalantly, setting her chin on a propped hand while pulling the bowl of soup closer to her.

perhaps the world would be a better place without that information that her brother managed to mine and gather. honestly, aether never said anything about why he actually accepted that request, which irks her now that she thinks about it. she can't imagine her twin thinking that this is for everyone's collective good; she also can't imagine aether doing it for the mora. ]

I hear a god's remain can become poison enough that it can erode a person's life in a matter of minutes or hours. [ lumine shrugs pointedly. he knows what she's talking about. ] Who knows if this is your doing instead, whether deliberate or accidental.

[ again, now that he's revealed his actual personality and his other line of work to her, it's not too farfetched of a theory. ]

[It's his turn to roll his eyes at her, since she clearly doesn't know what she's talking about. She still thinks this is all his fault. Fine, whatever.]

Do you really think the remains of dead gods are used? That might of been true a thousand years ago, but we're in a modern age now. Besides, if your clients die, who's going to buy more?

[He sighs. It doesn't matter to him that Lumine knows. Aether knows too, and if Aether gets in trouble she will anyway by extension.]

I know what you're thinking, and it's not that. I've been wearing mine for several years now and I've never had a single issue. Been in contact with several people, never heard a report about it from anyone else, you understand. Not a vision or a strange dream to be seen, until I met you. So out of all the people who own one, and we're the first to experience dreams and visions. 'Delusion' doesn't mean actual mental delusions, Lumine.

[He wears another exasperated look- he doesn't want to hear her sass.]

And please take all that seriously, will you? The sooner we figure this out, the better.

[ could've fooled her, really, considering the kind of delusion that seems to infect him whenever he's around her. you'd think he's possessed by aether's soul with the way he excitedly tries to befriend her.

lumine remains silent for a few moments, poking at the bamboo shoots currently floating around in her soup. going through the events in the past week, the things that they've both experienced. it always happens when they're together, doesn't it? she didn't exactly refute his claim, seeing that it's the same with her; she just didn't exactly admit to it, either. ]

You know ... [ she starts slowly, looking up from her food. not at ajax, but at the distance past the railings of the inn. ] We both don't have to deal with this if we don't see or meet with each other.

[ her gaze flickers at him, watching his reaction and expression, before she looks away once more. ]

Like you said, it only happens when I'm around, right? Never when you're alone, never when you're with someone else. [ only when she's in his proximity, only when she's present, then the visions start and the heaviness of feelings settle in. ] And it's not like there's any reason for us to see each other, either.

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