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

[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.

[The reaction she sees is that his eyes seem to soften at the corners, looking off somewhere else when he considers the idea of never seeing her again. He hates to admit it, but he knows if they choose that path, he won't be satisfied or happy. He doesn't know why, it's not as if he's in love with her- it was Childe, who was in love, clearly. With a girl who shares the same face and name with the woman sitting next to him.]

Is that really what you want, though? To never see each other again, after all those experiences? I don't think you would have made the trip to that bridge if that was the case.

[Ajax's hand comes up to bury half of his face in his hand, letting it rest in his palm, expression frustrated. Not with her, just with the entire situation.]

The dreams don't stop, I know I dream of it almost every night, I just can't remember it afterward. That Childe guy...he was real. I found him doing some research.

[He turns to her, face still resting in his palm, wondering if she's even cared to listen to him.]

[ once again, lumine doesn't really say anything for a while. not because she has nothing to say, but because she has so much to say about it that she doesn't know if she'll stop until she's dissuaded him from pursuing this path or hurt him in some way. and as much of an asshat he is for involving her twin to whatever nefarious business his family has and for twisting her wrist, she also doesn't want to be an asshat like him.

she sighs under her breath. she's given him the way out; why can't he just take it like how a normal person would? ]

What are you even hoping to find out at the end of all this?

[ honestly, what is even at the end of all this? she admittedly has a few. theories, all of which she refuses to voice out because of how absurd they are—and because the last thing she wants is to be proven how right she was.

which she doesn't want to be. ]

So, he's real and is, for some reason, haunting you. But so what? You'll let a ghost bully you into doing what it wants?

He's not bullying me, [Ajax replies, sighing at her.] It's not like this is just about me, or Childe. There's still the question of that girl. You know, the one that shares your face, voice and name?

[He would like to remind her of that. That bothered him just as much as the existence of Childe, if not more so. He's not even sure, at this point, that this guy from the past even looked like him- he's only had the point of view through his eyes. He wore black gloves, and a grey and white uniform of some sort, with a mask. He assumes he does, perhaps he should ask her...

He picks up a chopstick and pokes at another jade parcel, still considering her words. He doesn't know what he wants, or what he's looking for at the end of all of this. He hasn't thought that far ahead, it's been more of a passion project so to speak with no clear way to solve it. Not like making sure their enemies are well taken care of or business deals that continue the power his family holds over the city, and beyond. He looks over to her, as lost as one could be in a situation like this.]

I just want to know who these people were, and why us. I look like him, don't I? Why do we look like them, sound like them.

[His eyes turn downward, clearly bothered by it all, finally giving up and stabbing the jade parcel with his chopstick and popping it in his mouth.]

[ that poor jade parcel ... lumine stares at the abuse he's putting his food through, all because he sucks at using the chopsticks. still, she lets him figure it out on his own—if he'll even figure it out by the end of their dinner. chances are, more jade parcels will meet their end with the tapered end of his sticks from his lack of knowledge and dexterity. ]

Nope, looks nothing like you.

[ he looks everything like him, from his blue eyes to that unusual streak of blond in his ginger hair. even their smiles are even identical, down to the way it dimples at the corner of his mouth, which is eerie, she has to admit.

but, seeing that she's on a roll at the moment in trying to dismiss this topic: ]

This Childe is pretty handsome and charming. Blond, green-eyed, dimpled cheek, very sweet face—the kind most mothers would like for a son-in-law.

Oh? No wonder your doppleganger seemed to be so in love with him then.

[He stabs yet another jade parcel, eating that swiftly. He's not so sure if the Lumine from the vision was in love, but he can tell an insult when he hears it. She's already gotten flustered in the past with Aether teasing her, and now he's just trying to get the same reaction for that little jab at his looks. He's cute and charming too and he knows it. Uses it to his advantage all the time.]

Does that mean you fell for him too already? [He smirks, not being able to help himself to tease her just a little.] Ah, love at first sight really is a beautiful thing, isn't it...

[He tries with the chopsticks again, his mood lifted for a moment. But he still fails, not being able to get the top one to stay still to grab another parcel.]

[ debatable, but people normally likes to think themselves as good-looking. so lumine chalks up his response to that—and the fact that she was right, after all, in thinking that he's the type who likes to look at himself in the mirror. this conversation says a lot about him in that regard.

she deftly picks up one of her own jade parcels, her chopsticks effortlessly holding onto the spot where it's bundled up together. ]

I don't usually go for looks when I go out with someone.

[ a shrug, as she tries to move all the little dumplings from one plate to another. ]

I also don't like it if they're too cocky or self-important because of how they look like. They're probably too high maintenance, you know.

Edited 2022-05-12 21:14 (UTC)

[He watches her pick her food up, and his nose wrinkles when he tries to put his hands in the same position as hers. Now she's just making fun of him a little bit, so that empowers him to try a little harder. He tries again, managing to lift it maybe a foot off the plate before it falls again, and he sighs in defeat. Why are chopsticks so hard to use...]

That's probably true, [he admits, though he doesn't think that applies to him, which is what he believes she's suggesting.]

But I wouldn't say that true of every person who's aware of their own looks. Sometimes it's because they have complete confidence in their abilities, or something completely different. You like to read, you know you can't judge a book by its cover. I'd dare say you can't fully judge it even by the first one hundred pages. Some books get pretty interesting by the time you reach it halfway, and all the set up before hand and foreshadowing really pulls you in once the author has decided to reveal more of the plot.

[Time to finish off his soup, pausing to eat a little of it before it gets too cold.]

Anyway, I still implore you to come with me down to that bridge. If nothing happens, I'll consider your suggestions a little more before I decide to go on a wild goose chase.

[ to compare himself to a book—he really is very self-important, isn't he, pretty much proving her words, even highlighting it and putting a bold, black underline beneath it. unsurprising and quite predictable, and very much disappointing as usual. very typical too. ]

If the author fails to capture the reader's interest in under a hundred pages, then the fault isn't with the reader but the author for being a poor writer. They can't blame the reader for setting aside their book because they got tired or were presented something they didn't like. Because there's so many books and so little time that a reader shouldn't have to sit through and read one hundred pages of boring world building and bank on a fifty-fifty chance of an exciting plot or continuous tedium. If I wanted to gamble, I would.

[ she, for one, doesn't. with so little time for herself, she does want to spend it wisely on something enjoyable, something fun.

lumine finishes her shrimp balls before she hails a waitstaff for a pot of tea. ]

I'll come with you, but whether or not something happens, I don't want to get involved with this or with you any longer. I don't need to know who this Childe is or who this other Lumine is.

Hah. A sharp wit and a sharp tongue.

[Her retort only makes him smile, finally finishing off his food. The chopsticks were never learned well enough to ever pick something up to get to his mouth without dropping it, so he sticks to stabbing to finish them off.]

Either way, I appreciate you agreeing to at least come with for this little trip with me. I guess we'll find out if there's more to it there or not...

[He chews thoughtfully on his last parcel, thinking.]

Though, the prospect of potentially finding something is a little exciting. It is, after all, the reason I'm here. Hey, maybe we'll discover some sort of ancient secret within these visions, haha. Maybe that'll give you reason enough to keep searching for answers.

It won't, [ she tells him flatly as she takes a sip of her tea.

lumine might be jumping to conclusions hastily, but it doesn't matter. this has gone for far too long with far too many complicated twists and turns. she thought dealing with aether's company is complicated enough, but clearly, this takes the cake.

in any case, she gets up from her seat once she finishes her tea. the sooner they get this over with, the sooner she gets rid of him. ]

This is supposed to be a healing trip for my wrist, [ she sighs under her breath, feeling exhaustion that has nothing to do with eating too much. oh, and her sanity, but that's an addendum, really. ] C'mon, get up, before I change my mind in the next two minutes.

Alright, alright.

[He stands, having already paid for his meal when she was enjoying her tea, turning toward the exit. He's not sure if she's just agreed to this because he was pestering her about it, or if maybe she is interested, but just doesn't want to deal with him considering the little fiasco back in Fontaine.

Ajax hopes that something will get her to want to follow him down this road. But the only thing now to do is to go to that spot, where Childe and Lumine had spent a nice moment together. When he thinks about it, he wouldn't mind having a nice moment like that with her, too. He laughs at himself for thinking that. As if that could happen.]

Since you know where it is, mind leading the way? I can call a cab if it's far.

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject