cutting word

stroll through leaflitter / painted a pretty crimson / your color warms me

[kireji]

hello :)

20 ∙ he/coe/tal/ney ∙ call me whatever, or pine, or quyen, or majora(i have a lot of names but im not picky and i like collecting new ones, promise)

i write and i draw but both are kinda infrequent

you are free to drop thoughts, ideas, or requests into my inbox but i wont guarantee ill get to all of them, its very hard for me to create without feeling quite inspired abt it

general content tag is #pineposts

thank you for reading my pinned :) have a nice day ok?

[feral-ish]

Survivor's Guilt

What if you were Jingliu's ex-lover, who she spared during her rampage before escaping the Xianzhou? What would be going through your mind witnessing her reunion with Jing Yuan, the man you used to know as Yingxing, and the reincarnation of Imbibitor Lunae?

---

A little Jingliu drabble. There is an attempt at canon compliance here, but I'm sure I've made some mistakes or misinterpretations of lore. Not proofread, not my best work but I tried.

CWs: ANGST, no comfort, mentions of violence/gore but not detailed, GN reader (no appearance/gendered pronouns, but very subtly femme coded because I was craving Gay Angst), reader is a long life species

As soon as you see her silhouette at the waterscape gorge, it all floods back to you. Sorrow, anger, and the pent-up longing left behind by years of separation from the woman you had once called your soulmate.

She's here to meet with old friends, but not you. You never received an invitation.

Jingliu wanted to protect you from the memories her presence might unleash upon you, the ones that lay beneath the foundation of the new life you've built for yourself in the centuries of her absence, like tree roots that threaten to crack it apart.

You can remember her departure as clear as day and the bloodshed that took place when she tore open an exit for herself.

---

"Jingliu..." You whimpered.

The memory is stained in gore, tainted by viscera. You felt as though you had walked in on a scene you weren't meant to see. Perhaps you had. Even in her madness, she never wanted you to bear witness to things like this.

You remember falling to your knees, the weight and enormity of what you were seeing too great for your body to hold upright.

Your love, the one who had held and kissed you so tenderly for decades, stood among a sea of corpses, as if she too was trying to process what she had done. She had only turned to face you once she heard your voice above the din of the mara clouding her mind.

"You..." Her voice had a rasp to it, strained by the feral war cries let loose as her blade took life after life.

Jingliu's crimson irises burned like lit coals, yet lacked the warmth and life of true fire. She was fully mara-struck now. She had killed her subordinate cloud knights, and she might very well do the same to you.

It would have been a mercy if she had. Instead, she lowered her sword.

"I'm sorry." Her voice was monotone, the apology insincere. It wasn't as though she really understood why she was apologizing anyway.

You bit back a dry sob and tried to ground yourself for the coming exchange, for what might be your last moments.

You knew this day would come, but not like this.

Mara comes for your kind the way that death comes for the other species; it's a liberator and a captor. Even knowing the eventual end, you were still wholly unprepared for the grief of a centuries-long romance coming to an abrupt and brutal end.

Jingliu approached you slowly then knelt down beside you, as if tending to the injuries of a sparrow with a broken wing. If you were anyone else, you might have flinched, but you would never flinch away from her. Her tenderness in her touch for you was as deeply imbued in her muscle memory as her swordsmanship, even if she didn't realize it.

Her hand found its way to your cheek, and you were too rapt by her gaze to notice that her fingertips were sticky with gore.

Impulsively, you decided to ask something selfish.

"Do you remember me?" Your voice was barely above a whisper but it pierced the empty space between you like a dagger thrown at a dartboard.

She had been touching you so intimately, you were certain she must know you, but the coldness in her expression seemed as impassive as a stranger walking the opposite direction across the starskiff haven's main road. There was no flicker of recognition.

"No." She replied simply, but there was a trace of mourning in her honesty.

The hollowness in your chest made itself known by the way you could hear the cracking of your heart echo in the previous stillness.

Deep down, she was aware she was supposed to know you. She was supposed to feel something she couldn't quite reach anymore. Your name, the answer "yes", sat on the tip of her tongue, but the taste was unfamiliar.

You weren't sure how long you sat in silence, the heel of her hand resting gently at the corner of your mouth as her fingers traced your cheek bones like she had on lazy sunny afternoons. It was Jingliu, but it wasn't.

Your eyes bored into hers as if drilling deep enough would allow you to impart those shared memories back into her. You needed her to remember you, the love and life you had shared together, those little whispered promises in the dark that could no longer see the light of day. In the depths of your heart, you knew it was a lost cause.

The gears turned in her head as she did her very best to try and recall in that brief, frozen moment of time who you were, yet nothing would surface beyond the echo of a feeling long forgotten, drowned in the curse of the abundance.

Her thumb brushed your bottom lip and the iron flavor of blood hit the tip of your tongue, calling you back to your body from your memories.

Neither of you spoke another word. In silence, you asked with your eyes if she was going to kill you too. Her only answer was the subtle shake of her head as she withdrew her hand from your face, and rose to her full height. As if you were little more than one of her other hundreds of casualties, she turned on her heel and started towards the starskiff dock.

You wanted to scream after her, yet that fighting spirit of yours she had loved so much had been sapped of all its strength. More than wanting to chase after her or curse her for all she had done, you wished that she had killed you too. Death would have been far preferable to patching up the exit wound she had left in your soul.

The starskiff she had commandeered to make her escape began to rise from its mooring and you felt yourself begin to tremble as its silhouette shrank into the horizon.

---

Watching her speaking to Yingxing, and Jing Yuan, and the man who looked like Dan Feng left a sour taste in your mouth, but if she had wanted you there, you would have received an invitation too. Maybe she didn't want to see you.

For now, you're content to watch from a distance.

She seems like a ghost of herself, but she shows no symptoms of being mara-struck now. Perhaps there's a cure after all, but it's hardly any of your concern.

You wonder if she's been taking care of herself since she's been gone, if she's been eating and sleeping enough, if she's taken up with anyone else. Just the thought of someone else makes your stomach turn.

It's silly to be concerned about such mundane things when she's surrendering herself to be sent to the shackling prison, and yet you can't help that a little shred of your affection for her still lingers.

Your arms fold over your chest as she takes up her blade against Yingxing, and let yourself smile with a tiny snort of derision. Of course, no reunion with Jingliu is complete without a spar.

When the battle is over, it seems like nothing has really changed at all. Yingxing, cursed with immortality, gasps back to life with limited injury despite his mortal wound. The successor of Dan Feng's soul speaks briefly with everyone before returning to the Alchemy Commission.

"You didn't want to say goodbye?"

Jing Yuan's voice is warm and rich as he appears behind you and takes a place at your side, looking over the stone where the remains of the High Cloud Quintet stood just moments ago.

"I wasn't invited." You reply with a bitter smile.

The general nods with a knowing look in his eye, and you both turn back to face the water. There's nothing left to say between you two; The only words left are for Jingliu, and you wouldn't know where to begin anyway.

Instead, you pretend it's her standing beside you now, eyes fixed on that liminal space where the sky and the water kiss. You let your mind drift to those dusty, cherished memories you've worked so hard to suppress and do your best not to grab Jing Yuan's hand.

[thatdeadaquarius]

it's almost 4am i can't get this out of my head holy shit.

reader whose original body is a literal eldritch forest deity and speaks in hymns (bonus points: after we isekai into said og body, we mix slang into it).

the acolytes have to break their fucking necks just to talk to you eye-to-eye, and the only thing they can make out of what you say is something equal to tablets bajillion years old already.

or that reader is constantly cussing and the acolytes just nod along not understanding whatever this 15ft tall eldritch horror is saying.

-🫀

ELDRITCH HORROR READER. I LIVEEE, NONE OF U UNDERSTAND, THIS IS SO DEEPLY AHHHHHH

I LITERALLY JUST SHIMMY STIM IN MY SEAT WHEN I THINK ABT THIS TOO LONG LMAO

i LIVE AND BREATHE for when we look like eldritch horrors but are just people lmao

IF I HAVEN’T RUN U OFF, 🫀 MY HEART, MI CORAZON <3

U HAVE A BEAUTIFUL MIND DESPITE BEING A BLOODY HEART

☆

Sun: Gender Neutral Reader (they/them only), Eldritch!Reader

Planet: Misc. Genshin AUs

Orbit: some headcanons, tiny scenario

Stars: a little bit of Zhongli, Xiao, Ganyu, Ningguang, Keqing, and the adepti

Comets & Meteors: Content Warnings: Light Description of Body Modifications/Body Horror-esque, Light Description of Eldritch Horror Creature, Reader has a Non-Human Body,

& Trigger Warnings: Eldritch Monster, Light Body Horror, Non-Con Body Modifications (Wake up as a monster, described as positive).

FUCKING LOVE THIS GIF, AND THIS SONG AND ARTISTTT

hey so here’s a song to listen I was listening to while writing this, chose the instrumental bc it was less distracting!

👉👈 hope u like :)

you just come into Teyvat from either Enkanomiya, the straight up Abyss/Dark Realm or even Celestia/Light Realmunder that glowing mushrooms tree in the Chasm, or like, ooo even by the upside down Barbatos statue 👀

and its great bc ur like- “omg Teyvat ooooo, ahhhh”

meanwhile the animals/magical creatures/beings nearby like shakin in their boots

literally no matter what land type their in, water, air, etc. they’re all bowing (despite the hooves, the paws, the flippers, the wings,) hell, even the bugs?? Might be bowing???

and you were slow to wake up wherever you were, so it took you a second to really process-

plus it just felt so weirdly, natural?

Not like walking on 2 legs no, but more like, how swimming feels but without the act of doing it?

you realize you’re… hovering.

wow, guess you can do that now,

your pretty much crowned with every flower from the regions of Teyvat, and a few from other Realms like Celestia, Abyss, and Enkanomiya, etc.

you have extra limbs, you feel them shift like you’ve had them all your life, even tho you do smack urself a few times with them lmao (new hand-eye coordination is hard)

and you realize u can see elemental traces/elements of beings, even plants, all the time now?

It isn’t until you look into a pretty still pond that you see what you look like,

you’ve got more eyes

I mean u thought you’d just be one of the twins, or ur own person if somebody asked u what youd look like isekaied to Genshin Impact, not what looks like the elemental god of the fucking continent

but you don’t look bad! actually you think you look kinda neat!

You’ve got like this coat of many draping vines and plantlife, glowing coral poking out near the top that’s around your throat, and- is that- tiny waterfalls?? Running down your nature cape too??

the many gemstones and ore of this planet form your legs, strong and taller than even regular human guys back on Earth, you’re like what? Eight? Nine feet? (about 245cm, or 2.5 meters)

You’re head… it’s like a dragons skull?? You’ve got these black horns flowing out from the top too that fade to a golden glow, like a crown nearly, theyre draped with what looks like strings of primogems??

oh and your extra eyes are symmetrical that’s good!

tho it does seem like you got this handy hood included into your cape of much nature to flop onto your head

where your heart should be, there’s two bursting stars circling one another, one of pink, purples and light blues, the other of gold and blue, oh hey, the wishing stars for standard and character banners!

and if you like mushrooms, at least one of every kind in Teyvat’s countries/regions is looking cool on ur cape, and if you like bugs, the cool ones like the rhino beetles from inazuma are being cute little buddies on ur stuff too

and like in the gif, every step you take overfills with life, except it stays and doesn’t wither like above, and it also does that glow bit that some places in Sumeru do/Enkanomiya

You CANNOT be missed no matter where you walk, and your sort of constantly feeling like you’ve drank 3 energy + 5 espresso shots of coffee

but in a way that makes you sort of full? like full on life… and like you could be even bigger, and taller, if you willed it

♤

k but the adepti felt ur presence coming in hot from literal mountains away

Cloud Retainter, and Guizhong, had set up inventions long ago to sense the Original of Teyvat, just in case, because some signs of prophecy of your return had begun to show in their lands

Zhongli especially knew you were close to come after another major sign was met, the corruption after the Archon War, and the ravaging of the land by the fall of Khaenri’ah’s “metal beasts”

So when you finally walk your way into Jueyun Karst, the adepti are already waiting, Xiao, Ganyu, and Zhongli as well,

Luckily Ganyu, with Zhongli’s help or advice, convinced the adepti to share this meeting with the Qixing as well like Keqing, and the Tianquan herself

It was a momentous occasion after all, but you were just now feeling the need to maybe nap a little after nearly, what was it, 2 weeks worth of constant walking?

wow this new body had literal stamina for days

you arrived late into the night, around midnight, under a full moon, and they’re relieved all the signs are being met

◇

honestly the only reason you headed to Liyue was bc you knew it was the closest (the map of Teyvat was both familiar in the way it had been in game, but also on a deeper level, like walking around your house in the dark)

and u rlly wanted to be able to talk to somebody, bc u had no idea?? wtf you were??

honestly you thought the adepti/Zhongli would be a good bet bc they’d maybe tell u what creature u ended up as,

u did suspect maybe you’d ended up as some kind of god, but like?? none of the other gods looked like this???

and u see them all! up ahead in Jueyun Karst! Oh no! You really, really, really, hope they don’t think you’re a walking talking evil tree dragon thing-

…maybe you should wave?

◇

As you get closer,

Xiao’s back straigtens, Ganyu nervously looks at the ground, Keqing is trying to figure out where to look bc ur so tall, Ningguang has her hands respectfully folded in front of her and her facial muscles looks tensed for a fight almost, the adepti are shuffling nervously bc they’re not used to being the magically weaker/younger creatures in the area, and Zhongli-

Zhongli is no longer the mortal Zhongli.

Amber horns curl up from his head, long brunette hair with glowing gold tips flowing and loose, claws on display, as he stands in his finest and oldest lóng páo, black with gold detailing embroidered throughout, it details his deeds as Rex Lapis and Morax, the spears of his vanquishing gods across the front and back, he looks like a living painting

and although he looks as serene as if he’s about to sit down for some tea, the adepti can see the tremoring hands, the same he used to hide in his sleeves when he was genuinely intimidated by another god, usually the older ones he’d had to fight

but for the first time since the archon war, this was one he was going to welcome with open arms, and utmost respect, despite his position as archon forfeited

there’s a strange music in the air of the night as the animals and the bugs and creatures of the realm subtly make the beat, the god’s feet (of ore Rex Lapis hasn’t seen since he was a child, it was so rare to find) shake the earth of his land with each step, a deep quiet booming like a drum of war as they get closer

The God of All stops some distance away from them

…and the Huangdi of All, just waves. 💀👋

at Zhongli, the adepti, Xiao, the Tianquan, and the Qixing.

A long black limb with a rainbow shine like a crow’s wing raises, gives an ironically tiny wave of their clawed black hand,

and tilts their head, though a sort of greenery hood covering it

and speaks,

“ ˙˙˙ʎzɐɹɔ sı ʇıɥs sıɥʇ ¿ʍou ʇɥƃıɹ ɯɐ ı ʞɔnɟ ǝɥʇ ʇɐɥʍ ʍouʞ sʎnƃ noʎ op uɯɐp”

your voice is like singing, deep, high, like a choir trying to sing all at once to them

Xiao cringes a little in surprise, he was braced for your older speech just in case but it still caught him off guard, and unfortunatly, he gives a quick glance to Lord Rex Lapis,

he can’t understand any of that, and Ganyu and Keqing are in the same boat, but while the Yaksha’s only done passive studying in hopes of understanding you, the Lord of Geo had gone much further back in trying to make sure he could understand your words, should the day come, his library, even now living as a mortal, is extensive

the other adepti and Ningguang catch a few words, but it’s too,, simple really, to understand

the words have no context, they need more, but such is the ancients, they’re meanings simple and all-encompassing

Lord Rex Lapis bows deeply,

“We welcome you with open arms, our Huangdi. Please, feast your eyes upon the land with which I have wrought with mine own talons, for all is ever truly yours.”

the adepti announces for them all, voice giving away no nerves, Xiao can still understand him luckily, though he has greatly simplified himself for the sake of being understood by the ancient god of creation,

“ ˙˙˙ʞɔıʇs ɐ uo ʇsıɹɥɔ snsǝɾ ¡¿ılƃuoɥz noʎ uǝʌǝ ¿noʎ oʇ poƃ ɟo puıʞ ǝɯos ɯ,ı 'ǝʇnuıɯ uɯɐp ɐ ʇıɐʍ”

your voice is an energy through the air, and makes the trees nearby lean in to hear you better, the creeks and ponds of the area leave their beds a little to get closer, geo crystalflys emerge and begin to swirl around your natural body, perching on your horns, making it look even more like a crown

Xiao gulps.

Rex Lapis’ and Ningguang’s spines straighten further if they even can from the impeccable posture they were before, They share a quick glance…

…neither of them caught that one, only a few words, and Ganyu feels her shoulders drop as she gives up trying to hear you and understand as well,

you make a strange sound, a high humming, a deep confusion with some worry, the crystalflys buzz around you a little faster,

then point to yourself

...and make a peace sign. ✌️

it was going to be a long night.

☆

idk if this made any sense, and I sincerely hope that you at least liked what I wrote a little bit, sorry about the over description 😭 I just felt like it was very important but then I realized I hadn’t even talked about the language yet… anyway here u go LMAO

I hope it was alright, and I seriously love your idea, even if I didn’t take it in the direction you wanted/as cool as you meant!! :/

Thanks for the badass idea, i fucking love eldritch shit <3

☆

Safe Travels,

💀 ♒

♡my beloved♡

@karmawonders / @0rah-s / @randomnatics / @glxssynarvi / @nexylaza / @genshin-impacts-me / @wholesomey-artist / @thedevioussmirk

[eggyboyoart]

SAGAU Winged Creator

A/N: Two writings in one day?? Can be read as platonic or romantic, just a silly, goofy idea I has a while back.

Sagau, winged creator and Xiao being messengers. Like, Ninguang needed a letter sent to Beidou and The Creator just jumping at the opportunity to really stretch their wings. Of course, Xiao - ever the protector - naturally worries about their safety. So in a cheeky tone, The Creator suggests that Xiao spread his wings and fly with them to deliver the letters.

Now, The Creator's wings are similar to an Albatrosses, meaning they can lock their wings and float along wind currents - however, our dearest Xiao cannot. Meaning halfway through the journey, while The Creator hasn't even broken a sweat, Xiao is almost, basically falling out of the sky.

Xiao is in complete denial about this however- insisting that he is fine and not to worry about him. The Creator- the all knowing little bastard, just kind of- plucks him out of the air and just starts carrying him.

Xiao proceeds to flip out, telling The Creator not to waste their energy, and that he doesn't need to be carried. The Creator smugly says "I haven't broken a single swear while you are basically falling out of the sky. Besides- you're seriously telling me that you don't want me to hold you oh so closely?".

One peak down at Xiao's face reveals that even though his face is turned away, his ears are a violent shade of red. One angsty huff of breath later and a timid voice says "...I suppose carrying me for a short while would be beneficial...".

After carrying Xiao the rest of the way (despite his insistent protests-) and delivering the letters, you notice that Xiao seems to be experiencing some back pains! Which are most likely due to him straining himself back in the air.

As the gracious and kind Creator you are, you strongly encourage basically force him to let you give him a back/wing massage. He strongly resists at first- "such menial labour is beyond you, Youe Grave!".

However, no one can resist the chance to get a massage by the one and only Creator for long and soon enough, Xiao has melted into the bed, making the most heavenly noises while you massage his back muscles and the muscles in his wings.

[0v3rcast]

Imagine:

You, Great Creator of Teyvat, in the life before returning to your loving creations, contract lycanthropy. Beneath the moon, your body breaks and reforms as a great beast of the hunt.

Upon returning to the world you made, that power is now within your grasp, instead of the other way around. You don't need to lock yourself in a secure place every month or desperately resist the allure of raw animal meat - you can just toggle the Mighty Awoo Form whenever you please.

The people of Teyvat don't really understand what it is about a child raised by literal wolves that has their Creator so enamored, but it's kind of something they envy.

All the money in the world means nothing, flying is a vague passing fancy, walking on water or making bonfires from nothing or summoning lightning are just kind of given a pat on the back for.

But this dog boy who isn't even fully literate is constantly being given little favors, like randomly getting steaks or a bunch of animals coming into the area his pack lives in so they don't go hungry.

Speaking of dog boys, Gorou is more than a little flustered by the fact that the Architect of Eternity favors him.

(It's the one thing he can hold over Yae Miko when she's terrorizing him, and he's all the more grateful to you for that protection.)

At some point, one of your very envious and flustered acolytes come to you and ask just what it is about the pair that has given them such favor in your eyes.

Your response is an invitation to all of your acolytes to a special room of the palace on the night of the full moon.

They're all very excited to see this room, which up until now has been off limits.

Upon entering, that excitement becomes concern because of the massive claw marks in every wall and also the heavy scent of blood and the fainter scent of rot.

Once they've gathered, and the moon has reached its apex in the sky, you reach back in your soul for the Wolf Within.

It reaches back, tail wagging a thousand miles an hour, eager and happy to be free to roam.

And you undergo the change.

They watch in something like horrified reverence as your mortal form is warped and ravaged by something from within, something making their Divine Creator into a beast.

And you stand again, the shift over, now completely towering over every other being in the room.

(Because I love Okami, I'm gonna say your holy werewolf form has the cool swirls and red outlines that Ammy does

but with a twist- instead of red, glimmering blue starlight adorns your fur, and the massive disc hovering behind you is made of perfect moonstone, connected stars softly drifting up from it, briefly forming constellations, and then vanishing.)

Razor BEAMS. The All-Maker was Lupical before, but now you're like Ultra Lupical! You are a wolf-person too, but, like, up to 11! You even have your own moon!

Gorou's smiling, his tail wagging rapidly. You know what it's like to have instincts like his, no wonder you were so considerate of his sensitivity to sound and smell, to his urges to chase- you had them all too.

Others range from 'absolutely flabbergasted' to 'weeping with jealousy' to 'a little worried why they're attracted to you being A Magical Wolf Person'.

You howl, and every other canine thing on the continent howls with you (including Razor, who is a wolf in spirit at the very least).

Andrius is having a big puppyish field day over the fact that the Celestial Packmaster is so close to his own form.

(He brags constantly to the other spirit animals of the world about how You definitely made him in Your image and gave him Razor to pass on the way of the wolf to, even if you didn't directly or indirectly do this.)

(The Adepti, for the first in probably millennia, feel their heart rates pick up in animal fear because if you so desired, they would be Back On The Menu, and no amount of running or flying would save them from the stamina of an enhanced human body mixed with the strength and speed of a divine wolf.)

You make sure your other hybrid or supernatural followers are well aware that you have nothing against them and that if you decide to go on a hunt, there's always space for them in your pack.

It becomes common for shrines to you to have guardian animals, dogs or wolves especially, and for hunters to bring your shrines the first kill they make under the light of the full moon every month.

(Maybe thanks to you 'accidentally' saying things out loud when you think you're alone, rumors start spreading that those with nonhuman traits (horns, animal ears and tails, nonhuman limbs) were descended from your favored servants or perhaps even your children.

And maybe that action means that those who've been ostracized for their nonhuman traits can live safer, happier lives, without the fear of rejection or the enmity of their neighbors.

But that's your little secret. They don't need to know.)

[watatsumiis]

Reader's Stuffed Toy (Part 2)

Various characters react to the reader having a plushie that looks like them!

Part 1 here! (with Ayato, Foul Legacy, Gorou, Tighnari, Rex Lapis, Xiao)

Characters included: Cyno, Itto, Kaveh, Thoma, Yae Miko, Zhongli

Cyno takes it entirely in stride. He treats the toy like it's his child, assigns it duties (such as looking after you while he's away, or keeping his seat warm when he gets up). It becomes more his plush than yours with how often he carries it around. He serves it food, plays cards against it, talks to it about cases, the whole shebang. He's affectionately dubbed it 'C.J.' (Cyno junior) and has a silly little voice he puts on for it and everything. He hand-makes a little pouch for it in his downtime, insisting that CJ deserves only the best possible security and safety measures around. The way he speaks to it sounds one hundred percent genuine, and is in exactly the same tone he speaks to others with, so sometimes it’s hard to tell if there’s a real person he’s talking to or if he’s just infodumping to CJ again. He also likes to put it in high places so it has a good ‘vantage point’ of the room, and you may often find it tucked on top of closets or curtain rods with a miniature spear in hand, watching and judging everything you do. At some point, it becomes more Cyno’s toy than yours.

Itto gets an almost insufferable confidence boost from it, he thinks it’s the coolest thing ever, and the fact that you had it made is a sign of utmost affection and adoration towards him. The moment he finds out, he’s half-snatching it away from you and running to show Kuki and the boys with this huge toothy grin as he brags all about how awesome it is, how you must’ve had it custom made and how everyone in the Arataki Gang should have that kind of undying devotion towards him. All the guys hype him up for it and echo his sentiment about how absolutely awesome it is, clapping you on the back as they bemoan the fact that they didn’t think of it first. Itto practically begs you for partial custody so that the gang can use the plush as another mascot, though it may be returned to you a little worse for wear. While Kuki tries to keep an eye on the situation, sometimes their games of ‘Arataki “itty-bitty-Itto-chucker” Ushi’ get a little out of hand, but rest assured, the toy receives the utmost love and attention whenever he’s hanging out with the gang.

Kaveh is a little put off at first - at first, he assumes it was Al Haitham mocking him in some way, but he eventually kind of warms up to the idea, though doesn't wholeheartedly embrace it. He tends to get easily creeped out by these sorts of things, and will insist that you turn it so it's not facing him whenever possible. Though, eventually there comes a time when he's about three days of minimal sleep into a huge project where he finds himself pacing back and forth in the kitchen at 4am, coffee in hand as he stews on his thoughts, when he sees his little plush replica sitting in the fruit bowl on the counter and, without thinking, just bursts into speech and begins to chatter away to it, laying out all his woes about his current project - he finds that speaking aloud actually really helps him organise his thoughts and get on with the project, and it eventually becomes a habit, he'll leave mini-Kaveh on his desk and talk to it when he gets stuck, or just voices his thoughts aloud, sometimes even talking as if it's responding to him. 

Thoma is absolutely and adorably flattered - while he’s a little unsure at first (and vaguely suspects that his employer may just be behind it somehow), once he realises you’re being genuine, he’s so shy but also extremely delighted at it, and feels like he somehow has to make a similar gesture - this leads to him eventually having a hand-made doll of you that he carries around, introducing it to the tiny Thoma (dubbed ‘Tinyma’) in a way reminiscent of people introducing their dogs to one another for a playdate. He thinks it’s absolutely magnificent and will make matching accessories for your little guys, and, when too shy to compliment you directly, hold up his ‘you’ doll and mimic you saying nice things about yourself. He definitely fixates on making little accessories and outfits for them in his downtime, and thanks to Ayaka’s fixation on dolls (especially when she was younger), he has quite a lot of experience doing so. It’s not long until your dolls are the most decked out in all of Teyvat, with their own little houses and wardrobes and even little animal companions!

Yae Miko isn't particularly surprised - she was the one to authorise the creation of that merchandise, after all. She'll tease you so much for it, but deep down she finds it very cute and charming. When you leave the plush laying around unattended, she may even go the extra mile and make sure it's always sitting up straight and that none of the accessories are crooked, and will quietly speak to it, saying things like "The Head Shrine Maiden must always be in pristine condition, you know." Or "goodness me, you're quite a fickle one, aren't you?" When the toy refuses to stand upright on its own. You may even find that somewhere along the lines, the toy suddenly has new accessories - shinier jewellery, a more realistic vision, a perfectly made little gohei for the doll to carry, a teeny tiny plate of pretend tofu - Miko will deny having anything to do with it, of course, but if you observe closely, it's almost painfully obvious that your attachment to the toy has rubbed off on her. 

Zhongli thinks it’s extraordinarily sweet - he observes the way you interact with the toy and will try his best to mirror it, doing what he can to make sure you’re comfortable and happy. It’s almost impossible to miss his warm, glowing smile when he spots the little coattails of the plush hanging out of your bag. Sometimes he’ll even pour an extra cup of tea for it if you’re out for a meal together. If he realises you carry it around often, he uses it as a kind of sneaky way to get you to carry around more protection charms and the like - while he’s not inherently superstitious himself, he knows that there is genuine merit and benefits to the charms he provides, since he’s able to know everything about their creation. He also uses it as a roundabout way to get you to be more comfortable opening up to him, asking things like “well, what has my little twin been up to recently?” when you seem like you may be dodging the question. With his age and experience, he’s come into contact with a lot of people, with a variety of different comfort objects and coping mechanisms, and has his own reliable ways of reacting and engaging.

Please don't repost, steal, copy or otherwise plagiarise my writing! I do not consent for my works to be translated and posted elsewhere, or used to teach bots!

[naraven]

Marlboro and a Can of Arizona Ice Tea

hi so. this came to me in a vision

this is all platonic/familial btw! reader can be read as around 22-23 ish and haitham is in his late 20s, early 30s and sometimes people don't really like that kind of age gap plus i think alhaitham as a tired dad figure is way funnier somehow

this is pretty ooc!! not in the way he talks but like i lwk don't think he would act like this LOL to me these two are the family ever

tw / alcohol but its brief in the beginning, addiction to nicotine and specifically smoking, talk about reader gaining weight as a symptom of withdrawal, and general symptoms of addiction that might be triggering so please be wary!

wc / 2.1k

also this sounds really obvious but i don't condone smoking!!! i believe anyone and everyone is capable of quitting and living the best life they can without nicotine.

You need help.

Serious help? Maybe not at this point, but you can certainly see yourself in some deep shit pretty soon.

And it all started when you graduated.

Your brand new degree was fresh and crisp. You celebrate with all your friends, glad that you all somehow survived the four years up to that point. You screamed your head off when you partied later that night, alcohol basically coating your entire insides. Your liver would probably murder you before dying.

That was when you took your first cigarette.

Nowadays, it seemed that vapes and e-cigs were all the rage. You could honestly give less than half a shit. And really, you don't even remember who offered it to you. The white stick somehow ended up between your fingers and an outstretched hand with a lighter lit it up for you.

You took a drag, and coughed up violently. It tasted like filthy waste, smoke clouding your throat and building up in your lungs. Clouds of gray puffed out of your mouth with each heavy heave.

Somehow, you ended up burning through the entire stick. After the first initial puff, you went in for another because that was just embarrassing. Soon enough, the yellow end was all that remained in your hand. It felt almost electrifying, fueled by adrenaline and nicotine running through your body. Basically, you felt high on life.

Not wanting to ruin the fun with a fire, you escaped to a less crowded area and found an ashtray filled with other finished cigarettes. Your own joined in the dozens of yellow ends sticking up into the air. 

And then after graduation, of course, came moving out. Luckily you had planned ahead during your finals week while procrastinating and found the perfect place to live: a semi-decent two room apartment with affordable rent. Basically, the best place for a soon to be master's student. Undergraduate dorming would no longer be viable for you.

Waitering part time has left you with a pretty good amount of money, too. It would, for now, be able to support your new apartment.

So begins the current day you. Tired, stressed, and chronic smoker.

Ever since that party, you went out and bought a pack of Marlboro from the liquor shop that was about a block away from your apartment. It was tiny and smelled too strongly of gasoline, but they had Marlboro and Arizona Ice Tea. That alone was a good enough excuse to visit every free weekend you had. Which just so happened to be every weekend.

You paid in cash, with the tips that you would get at the end of every week. You would just leave your wallet at home, fish out $15 in cash, and leave with your phone and keys. The bare necessities, because you were semi-scared of being robbed for some reason. 

You swear the cashier at the liquor store has something against you. Every time you hand him the bills in your pocket you swear he's glaring at you.

It's whatever. You get your tea and cigs, he gets your money. Simple as that. 

You tip him every once in a while. You bring an extra dollar to the usual $13.86 you pay and slip the single dollar into the small glass case labeled "tips: thank you for the generosity!"

You never speak to the cashier, either. You only started talking to him because the cigarettes were behind him. The first time he spoke was when he scanned your items silently as the scanner beeped, said "13.86," and didn't even say have a good day. But you know what, good for him. Working with tough customers, you can understand some of the stuff he goes through. 

After that he never speaks to you again. He gets used to seeing you walk in and grab a can of Arizona tea from the fridge. He already has a pack of Marlboro on the counter by the time you're there.

And so life went on. Life went on until 6 months later, when on a particular Saturday evening you speak up.

"Can I have another pack?"

The cashier's face remains the same. He turns to his left and reaches for another pack of Marlboro cigarettes.

"26.73."

You brought your wallet for today. You were too lazy to calculate how much you needed to bring. Future master's degree student, everyone. 

You dig out a 10 and 20 dollar bill. You take the two packs into your hand while he still counts your change.

"You know smoking kills, right?"

You almost jump at the sound of his voice. He never, ever spoke to you. His words also, oddly enough, offended you.

"You work here, I'm giving you more money. Do you say that to everyone who buys a pack from here?"

You raise a brow as he hands you your change. He starts talking again when you open the small pack.

"Today's the only day I work here. You're also the only regular I see."

"Damn, part time only on a single day? Your day job must be nice."

You curse under your breath when you realize your lighter ran out of fuel. You sheepishly look up at the cashier who simply sighs, already hitting the numbers on the cash register.

"3.63.”

~~~

About a month after that, you started a small conversation.

"I've decided that I'm going to reform. I'm buying a vape!"

You refrain from laughing at the grimace on the cashier's face. His teal-amber eyes scrutinize you and he remains speechless.

"Oh, c'mon. I heard these are like a healthier alternative."

You inspect the pod as the cashier pulls out a pamphlet from underneath the counter. As you read through it, he explains what it is.

"A whole 20 pack of cigarettes has the same amount of nicotine in a single vape pen. Where did you even get your information from?"

You look at the infographic carefully, not hearing his words very clearly.

"No shit? I had no clue. Well then, I'll see how this peach flavored pen tastes, otherwise it's back to the classic for me!"

“Not so fast. Here.”

Before you can leave, he stops you in your tracks. The cashier grabs something opposite of his side of the counter.

“On the house. Slow to melt candy is another way smokers quit.”

A wrapped piece of candy is placed in your palm. You unwrap it and suddenly you feel like a child again. Sweet sugar coats your mouth instead of smoke, and you can kind of get behind this.

“No shit? I’ll keep that in mind.”

~~~

A month later, he's the one that talks first.

"On the house."

He hands you a blue package. Upon reading the big white letters, you see it's a box of nicotine patches.

"Are you… serious?"

You mutter incredulously. There's no way he was being for real right now. Yeah, sure, the nicotine was getting pretty rough by now, but there’s no way you look that bad. Right?

"I'm not taking this. Have it back."

He blinks, staring at the box in your hands. You glare when he does nothing to try and grab it.

"If you're worried about paying for it, I already paid for it. Take it."

The fucking audacity of this guy… You instead slam the box on the counter, since he wasn't willing to take it back from you himself. You could quit anytime, you didn’t need his help in this.

"I said I don't fucking want it."

You leave the store. In your rage, you don't even realize that you left with only your tea in hand, Marlboro left on the counter along with the nicotine patches you very violently placed down.

And so you suffer throughout the week. The itch for a hit of nicotine is strong, but you don't have the time to go out and buy one. Final exams had you studying for hours at a time without much time for anything else. And when you go out to eat dinner with a couple friends to chill before final exams really start going, you struggle to think straight and accidentally snap at a friend. You immediately regret it and apologize but you are clearly not doing ok.

You avoid going to the liquor store too. Partially because of the one time someone offered you help you pushed them away and it felt awkward just walking back like nothing happened and partially because, of course, of exams.

You can't sleep, and that barely helps with your appetite. Never in your life had you ever felt so hungry all the time. When you stare at yourself in the mirror, you very much look heavier and unhealthier than ever.

Exams pass. You can't say you're very confident that you passed any of them.

So you trudge your way back to the usual place for a smoke. You cough the entire way there, almost gagging a couple times before finally arriving.

Despite the distance being the same, the walk there felt so much longer. You struggle to breath at a normal rate and the only thought in your mind is getting a lit cigarette in your mouth.

You can feel the familiar green-red eyes on your back. When you open the fridge to the Arizona tea do you finally turn to stare back at him. 

Neither of you say anything. When you get there, the usual pack waiting for you is gone.

"Please just take this."

Instead, the blue box of nicotine patches is there. Replacing the usual gold and white box is instead something that you know you should have used long ago.

"...Why do you care so much anyway?"

Your voice is hoarse, and you let out a particularly nasty cough. You wince when your throat burns at the surplus amount of coughing you've been doing.

"Because you look about the same age as my students, if not younger. Someone as young as you shouldn't be suffering from this."

He crosses his arms. You open the blue box and pull out a patch that looks like a sticker. You like stickers.

"For now, peel one off and put it on your bicep. It'll last for about 24 hours. I'll send a couple links about what you can do afterwards. There will be side effects. Hand me your phone."

In a daze, you slide your phone out of your back pocket and place it on his outstretched palm.

"This is a timer. You reset it everytime you relapse." The cashier shows you the app he laid out on your phone. Oddly enough, you feel rather comforted knowing he's doing all this.

"You are the only person who can reset it. If you relapse and decide not to restart the timer, no one will know. The only person holding you accountable is yourself. I will not scold you for relapsing. It is very difficult to overcome any kind of addiction." He places the phone back into your hand and slides the blue box of patches towards you.

Wow, you weren't even sure what to say back to that. So instead you stare at the dual colored eyes of the familiar cashier.

"... Y'know, for a liquor store cashier you care a lot about your customers. I'll rate you 5 stars on Yelp. 'The kind cashier sabotaged his own business for a pitiful customer like me.'"

He looks concerned, brows furrowing. You wonder if you said anything to offend him.

"I don't care about this place. In fact, if it shuts down then it's all the better for me."

You blink.

"Huh?"

"I'm only working here because I owed the manager of the store a favor. If this place closes down I can focus more on my job and get a promotion sooner."

A moment passes before you let huff out a laugh.

"No shit? Whatever you say."

You realize you don't know this man's name. You've known each other for almost a year and you never bothered to learn his name.

Wow, it's crazy to think that you moved into your apartment a year ago. The complex felt more homely, and you could relax at home without it feeling weird. You felt a sense of belonging in this tiny cramped liquor store. You walked to and from this place so often it was basically a second home.

"Just stay safe and healthy. That's all that you can do for me at the moment." 

His voice was so… warm. You try not to cry as you feel the weight of his tone.

"Right, whatever you say. Also, I never got your name, cashier guy. Care to tell me who my nic addiction savior is?"

Maybe you joked about your situation a bit too early. But the cashier only places the blue box into your hands, wrapping his hands around yours to curl over it.

"Call me Alhaitham. Just trying to help."

[ai-mynx-deactivated20230519]

— grocery lessons.

about: diluc is hopeless with grocery shopping. luckily, a kind stranger is more than willing to step in and help.

info: diluc has no idea what he's doing and neither does the author, modern au, strangers to lovers kinda, possibility of ooc-ness, grammar mistakes may be present, there is absolutely no logic here, 2k+ words.

notes: this idea came to me in the middle of the night a month or so ago and it's been slowly growing in my drafts ever since. (also this is different from my usual style so any feedback would be appreciated)

tagging: @alexisomnias and @bamboowritess mwah

would it be far fetched to call grocery shopping an art? and to call one able to navigate the labyrinthine aisles efficiently nothing short of a master?

perhaps it would be.

though, if it was an art, you'd be but a mediocre artist. not horribly unskilled, but no one would be in awe of your nonexistent prowess at brandishing coupons at cash registers.

you shake your thoughts away. what are you thinking? who made you so eloquent in the middle of aisle seven? you ask yourself, gaze scanning the various items on the shelves. focus on your groceries, dummy.

okay, let's see, now. you stop in the middle of the condiments aisle, recollecting the items you need.  ah yes, ketchup and mayo. hmm, where would they be?

aha! you see two familiar bottles on the second shelf, and you carefully place them in your cart. a glass jar with a green label and a red lid catches your eye. chili paste? you consider your potential purchase. eh, i'll get it. it's on sale.

now, let's get some rice.

you round the corner to get to the grain aisle when you see a man, clad in a brown coat and incredibly polished shoes, with hair so red you'd think his head was on fire, just. glaring. at a bag of rice. you sneak a glance at him, wondering if the rice had wronged him in some manner.

deciding to ignore him, you pick up a five kilogram bag, then heave it into your trolley. and as you prepare to push it with the extra weight, you spy the man picking up the exact same bag, brand, weight and all. huh.

thinking nothing of it, you continue on your merry way, hoping to get your shopping done as quickly as possible, assuming that it'd be the last you'd ever see of the man.

but it appears fate had other plans. you spot him once again in the canned foods aisle, glaring at another innocent, harmless grocery item. the victim this time, you ask? a can of baked beans. 

you throw another sideways look at him, lightly tapping the pads of your fingers against the handles of your trolley. who even is this guy? you silently watch as he picks up the same brand you've put in your cart moments before. ah, he was probably just confused.

however, you’re still a little concerned about the man. does a grown man truly not know what he's doing in a grocery store? you scan the shelves for a random item, and your eyes land on a can of baby food. a light bulb goes off in your head, and you decide to test something. quickly, you grab two of them.

you open your mouth the second after he moves to get the same thing. "can i help you, sir?" he freezes at the sound of your voice, hand halfway between his body and the shelf with the exact thing you just picked up, baby food in hand. you raise an eyebrow, "are you aware of what you're buying?" 

he sheepishly rakes his hand through his hair and shakes his head. "i'm afraid i'm not." he clears his throat, color beginning to creep up his neck. 

you grin at him. “check the label on the can.” you watch as this giant of a man turns the can around, and slowly turns into a human stop sign with the way his face blazes. you know you probably shouldn’t find the sight of the man with such an intimidating expression turning to a flustered mess so adorable. 

“my apologies,” he clears his throat again, then rubs the back of his neck, eyes averted. “i’ve never been shopping before.” he sets the can back, refusing to meet your eyes.

"oh, don't tell me." you tease, lightheartedly. "is it a case of a rich boy living on his own for the first time, without anyone to do things for him?"

the look on his face answers for him. his eyebrows nearly climb to his hairline, and he blinks. you laugh, incredibly surprised at your assumption being true. "in that case, let me help." you hold out your hand, taking pity on the man. "do you have a list?"

he fishes out a hastily scribbled list from the depths of one of his coat pockets that simply says bread, milk. 

sigh. "it seems i have my work cut out for me." you take a gander at the items in his cart and spot the rice, the beans, along with three varieties of bread and a two liter bottle of milk. well, at least he got the items on his list.

you pick up the bottle, skimming over the other details to find the production and expiry dates. “just out of curiosity, did you check the dates on the milk?” 

he slowly shakes his head. “i figured as much.” you gesture to the numbers, and motion for him to take a look. “this expires in two days. i doubt you’ll be able to finish the whole thing by then, so you should probably find a bottle with a more recent production date.”

—

if there ever was a god of grocery shopping, diluc ragnvindr would be the bane of his existence.

why were these stupid stores so confusing? why were there so many brands of everything? why in the hell were there so many types of oranges? and these trolleys, good lord. just why were they so difficult to maneuver?

all the aisles blend into each other, and all diluc can do is stare emptily at each product he finds, unable to make a decision.

he'd have better luck finding his way around if he was randomly dropped in a venetian calle.

diluc has no idea what he's doing— in the store, at home, even in life.

living on his own for the first time since his dad passed away, in an apartment much tinier than the lavish mansion he was used to, struggling to keep his head above water, the young ragnvindr only knew ingredients once they'd been taken home and properly organized in containers and shelves.

he'd rather the world not see him fumbling, though. so he decides to do the only logical thing one can do in his situation. he picks a person and does exactly what they do.

after all, when one is in rome, do they not do as the romans do?

in hindsight, he should've just researched online. he should have decided his purchases earlier. or ordered the damn groceries online. because then he'd be able to avoid the embarrassment of being tricked with a can of baby food.

baby food, of all things! why couldn't it be something a little more dignified?

he watches you quickly replace the offending item on the shelves and push your cart in another direction before he could react. "come on, then. off to the dairy section we go."

not wanting to be left behind in this headache inducing location, he hurriedly pushes his trolley too in an attempt to keep up with you. kaeya would never let me live that down, he thinks as he does.

with a pang, he shoves down the memory of his brother as far and as deep as he can, choosing to focus on the present, lest he ended up in another spiral.

you lead him to milk he was supposed to get, and he watches you carefully as you examine the dates on the bottles for him. moments later, you beckon him close with a curl of your palm. leaning slightly, he peers over your shoulder.

"always try to get the one most recently produced," you tell him, and he nods. he follows the movement of your finger tapping your chin, clearly pondering. his gaze travels a bit higher, and as he sees your lips move, he realizes that he completely missed what you were saying.

"pardon?" he stumbles ungracefully on the initial sound.

"what's your favorite fruit?" you repeat. "that'll be first on our list on what to get for you."

his favorite fruit? he didn't think he had one. "peaches," he blurts, finding himself unwilling to disappoint you with his lack of proper response, his eyes falling on a peach milkshake drink.

his ears note your change in tone, voice turning excited. "oh, they're one of my favorites too!" warmth engulfs his gloved hand and he finds himself being dragged to the produce section.

"what about the trolleys?" he asks, mind still reeling from the sudden hand grabbing on your part.

you wave off his concerns. "oh, they'll be fine parked to the side." you all but drag him to the peach display. "now, pay close attention, okay?"

as if he needed you to tell him that. "i'm listening," he says.

you pick up a peach with bruising. "when you're sorting through peaches, look for the ones with no blemishes. they don't spoil as fast. same with apples and pears and such." now this, he knew. but he still nods along, a picture-perfect student. he sees your eyes and wonders how anyone's could be so gorgeous.

later, he dutifully nods a little more as you explain the specifics of choosing potatoes.

"the potatoes should be firm, and there should be no signs of green,"

should he be taking notes? he stamps the involuntary urge to hunt for a notepad in one of his pockets down, deciding he did not want to embarrass himself any more in front of you.

you seemed to glow even under the unflattering light around you, hair lit by it as you tell him about how to look for the right cauliflowers and broccoli.

how could someone look so ethereal while standing next to onions?

diluc ragnvindr. get. a. grip. they're only talking about vegetables.

you ask him to tell you the price of the eggs while you sort through carrots for both him and yourself. he walks over a couple of yards, carefully examines the label and returns to report the number.

"that much?!" you eyes widen. "my goodness, that should be considered robbery!"

...was it? he thought it was a reasonable price for a carton of eggs. still, he blindly agrees. you smile, having caught on to the fact that he had no idea what the price should be, and he can't help the pride that spreads its wings in his heart. (though he probably shouldn't be, considering why you smiled, he was glad that he was the cause of it.)

the rest of the shopping goes in a similar manner. you tell him things. he nods, he observes another one of your features, then notes down whatever you tell him mentally.

by the time you reach check out, both of your trolleys are filled with the exact same items in the exact same quantities. except for two items in his cart that he reached for out of instinct when he saw them on the shelf: a chocolate his brother liked, and a snack his father used to eat often.

he contemplates leaving them behind, but decides against it at the last minute just before the cashier scans them.

he sees you reach into your pockets for a wallet, and sees an opportunity to repay you for your help.

he's quick to pull out his own and hands his card to the cashier before you can say a word.

"i insist," he says, when you protest. "it is only fair i do this in return for you helping me,"

you sigh, giving him another one of the smiles he had started to adore. "alright, thank you."

the two of you walk outside the store together. cool wind ruffles both of your hair. "well, i guess this is where we part ways," you say with a laugh and a wave. he manages a soft smile in return.

"farewell, then." he watches you walk away, still standing at the entrance, shopping bags in hand. "dammit." he curses under his breath.

he'd forgotten to ask for your name.

thanks for reading! (i have a part two in my head for this so uh please comment if you'd like to be tagged for it?)

also if you smiled at any time during this fic you're obligated to rb /j

recent: ✦

[watatsumiis]

The Winged Yaksha - (Xiao x gn!reader)

A little drabble I decided to do, based on the idea of if Xiao had wings in his more humanoid form!

Content: gender neutral reader x xiao (with a pre-established relationship, can be read as platonic or romantic), xiao has some funky adeptus powers and a big nest in Wangshu Inn, Xiao is kind of dismissive/withdrawn (as usual).

Word count: ~2k

The Dihua Marsh is dark and gloomy today - the tension in the air promises an oncoming storm as well as the bouts of rain that have been pouring down intermittently throughout the day. 

You pick at your food restlessly, watching people walk in and out, but none of them the person you are searching for. 

After a while, somebody finally approaches you. You recognise her as Verr Goldet, the owner of the inn. “If you’re searching for the adeptus,” she tells you, her voice a low murmur. “He prefers not to use the main entrances. Check up on the roof.” She cocks her head in the direction of the stairway leading up. 

“Ah.” You sigh out, setting your empty bowl down as you nod. “Thank you.” 

With your new destination in mind, you set off immediately. Stepping foot outside, you’re met by a strong wind - not too bad yet, but it’s easy to tell that it will only get worse as the night wears on. 

The top balcony is void of people. Seems like nobody wants to be out here on such a dreary night, when the moon is hidden behind a thick veil of clouds. You’ve seen Xiao loitering here a few times in the past, keeping a careful watch over the surrounding lands. 

You stand close to the boughs of the tree, sheltering from the wind and occasional rain. 

Luckily, it isn’t long before you hear someone join you. A noisy, clumsy fluttering, followed by the rustling of branches and the fluttering of leaves as a figure all but crashes down onto the balcony with you, grabbing ahold of the railing for balance so that it doesn’t knock you over. 

“Xiao?” You ask hesitantly, turning around as you try to pinpoint exactly where the noise came from. You see a hulking figure somewhere to your right, and take a small step back. 

“I am here.” The voice is unmistakably his, but the figure you see before you isn’t one you recognise. He seems shaggy and bulky, an imposing silhouette against the rapidly darkening sky where he sits, perched precariously on the railing.

“What’s…What happened to you?” You ask before you can stop yourself. You catch a glimmer of his amber-coloured eyes on you. 

“Ah.” With a rather violent jerk of his shoulders and a grunt of effort, the large protrusions seem to fold in on themselves, disappearing from sight entirely. “...Apologies.” Is all he says as he drops deftly onto the balcony, walking right by you without so much as a hello. 

“What was that?” Curiosity is burning inside you as you follow quickly in his footsteps. You’ve known him for long enough that you know full well he’ll disappear from any social interaction at the first given opportunity. 

“It’s…none of your concern.” He sounds a little less annoyed than he usually might when telling others to keep their noses out of his business. If you didn’t know any better, you’d probably assume he was… embarrassed? 

“You can tell me.” You reassure him kindly. Though you dislike pressuring him, it’s nigh on impossible to get him to tell you anything otherwise. 

Xiao sniffs as he turns and steps up onto the railing once more, setting one hand on a thick tree branch before stepping off and seeming to disappear entirely. 

“Wait, come back!” You’ve been waiting so long to see him that you can’t help but feel distraught at his sudden disappearance. “Xiao!” You call out, after a few moments of no response. 

The adeptus pokes his head out of a bushel of golden-brown leaves and blinks at you expectantly. “Are you coming?” He says expectantly before ducking back out of sight once more.

You learnt long ago not to even begin questioning the strange things that adepti can do. You clamber awkwardly onto the railing, holding the branch tight as you lean forward. Immediately, there’s a difference in the air - a strange kind of stillness, accompanied by that odd, fuzzy feeling that comes hand-in-hand with the magic that illuminated beasts possess. 

Your legs shake as you step out onto the thick branch, tip-toeing your way across and ducking under a large tuft of leaves. You’re pleasantly surprised to realise that Xiao seems to have set up a nest of sorts in the treetop. A rounded platform with raised edges, filled with all manners of material belongings that you’d always figured Xiao had found were beneath him. 

You reach up to brush your fingers over a delicate set of wind chimes, sending them tinkling softly in the still air as you step onto the thickly padded platform. Despite how high up you are, and how windy you know it is outside, something about this place gives you a sense of security and warmth. 

“Wow…” You murmur softly. “This is… This is so lovely, Xiao.” You say. Xiao has his back turned to you, but the way his shoulders stiffen and his pointed ears twitch up and down makes it almost painfully obvious that he has no idea how to respond. 

“You’ve decorated it so well.” You turn a circle as you look around. The roof is open to the sky, the cloud cover you’d seen outside is gone entirely, replaced by a clear view of the moon, which casts gentle beams of moonlight onto the ‘nest’ around you, dappled by the still leaves of the tightly woven branches that surround you. 

Xiao still doesn’t even look your way, but you can tell by the slight arch of his back that he’s puffing his chest out proudly. 

“How did you get all this stuff?” You know from experience that sometimes it takes a few tries to prod Xiao into a fully fledged conversation. 

He ducks his head and sets something down on what looks like a small stone shelf jutting out of the branches in front of him. “Offerings. From mortals.” His voice catches in his throat somewhere in the middle, and he won’t meet your eye.

“That’s so sweet.” You smile warmly. “Do you mind if I sit?” 

Xiao dips his chin and gestures to a corner of the nest filled with various soft things, laid out neatly upon a woven reed mat. 

You wordlessly nod in thanks and make your way over, pulling a pillow out of the strangely stacked pile to sit on. 

“Is there… a reason you’re here?” He asks, grimacing as you unbalance his secondary nest of bedding. 

“I just wanted to visit you.” You blink innocently up at him and try to manage a smile, but it’s a little hard to do when he’s staring so intently at you, as if you might disappear the moment he pulls his gaze away. 

“Visit me.” He echoes, as if utterly unfamiliar with the concept. “I see.” 

You sit in silence for a little while as he paces back and forth a few times, rearranging several things that had been hanging off of the upper branches around his nest, mostly manoeuvring them to different places, even swapping a few out for ones that had been sitting in a small wooden box beneath his shelf. 

After a while, he seems to settle down, walking over quietly and stepping into the pile of pillows in a slow, deliberate way, then sinking down until he’s crouching with his knees to his chest, pausing for a few moments before he begins to adjust his pillows and blankets, patching up the gap your current seat had left behind. 

“So, uh…” You begin hesitantly once he’s fallen still again. “What was with the…?” You make a vague gesture with your hands, trying to imitate the strange, looming shapes you had seen coming off of Xiao when he’d first landed on the balcony. 

He looks away so quickly that it almost seems like he’s dodging an attack of some sort. You watch him cross his arms over his chest, the almost down-featherlike hairs on them reflecting in the pale moonlight. “Those were…” He hesitates, then gulps, before spitting the words out like a foul taste. “My wings.” 

You stare for a few moments, utterly awestruck as you question how you never knew this before. “Wait, really?” You can't help but be a little taken aback at this newfound fact.

“Mm.” The noise isn’t particularly helpful in discerning a clear answer, but you figure that Xiao has no reason to lie to you. 

“Can… I see them?” The question is out of your mouth and hanging in the still night air before you’re able to stop it. 

“You’ve already seen them.” Xiao mutters, hunching his shoulders as he roughly pokes and prods at a blanket, using it to fill in any draughty little gaps in his nest of bedding. 

“I bet they’re gorgeous.” You sigh wistfully, trying instead for a gentler approach as you aim for what you want. It’s easy enough to tell the difference between Xiao being annoyed versus him just being bashful, and you’ve quickly deduced that he’s displaying symptoms of the latter. 

“Hmph.” Xiao puffs out an annoyed noise, turning away as he sits up a little straighter. 

It’s hard to explain the way Xiao’s wings seem to fold out of nothing and into existence, surrounding you both with large, soft feathers. The colours are a little difficult to distinguish in the dark - the moonlight makes them seem wispy and silvery, but on closer scrutiny you can make out hints of the same shades of blue-green that are in his hair, and the golden-amber of his eyes.

“Woah.” You breathe out, a little taken aback by the sheer size of his wings. They only just have enough space to unfurl fully in this nest of his, and even then his left one is almost suffocatingly close to you, curled inwards ever so slightly as if to protect you from the elements that don’t seem to be able to get into this little pocket-dimension Xiao resides in. His feathers seem a little ruffled, some even bent in places, but overall they seem well-groomed and shiny. It seems as if he takes a lot of pride in how they look. 

“They’re amazing, Xiao.” You tell him gently, a smile tugging at your lips as you realise how much trust the adeptus must have in you to be willing to show you something he seems to want to keep so private. 

You watch a few soft, downy feathers fluff up close to where his feathers meld into his shoulder blades, and one of his wing-spurs clanks against the same wind chime you touched when you walked in earlier. A soft sort of crooning noise escapes from Xiao’s throat as he opens his mouth to speak, and he clears his throat quickly to try and cover it up. “Thank you.” He says softly, making fleeting eye contact with you, only to look away the moment he spots the unadulterated admiration in your eyes. 

He straightens up where he sits, and his wings flare out for a brief moment before folding back in on themselves rapidly and disappearing once more - you can hear a few of Xiao’s belongings clanking about due to the disturbance of the air, but he doesn’t seem to care, too busy looking your way as he tries to gauge your reaction. 

You can’t help but be a little disappointed, but you can understand his shyness about them. “Thanks.” You smile at him as you catch his eye. 

He tilts his head to the side ever so slightly as his brows furrow. 

“For showing me your wings.” You specify, blinking slowly as he stares you in the face. 

“Ah… I…” he seems to fumble a bit for the correct thing to say. “You’re welcome.” He mutters finally, tearing his gaze off of you to look up towards the moon, perfectly framed by the branches surrounding you that reach up towards the stars.

Please don't repost, steal, copy or otherwise plagarise my writing! This includes posting translations to other sites.

[dogtchu]

[cricketflour]

Xiao in a dress

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Me n friends were in macys in the dress section imagining what Genshin charas would wear what, thus this was born. WOULD he wear it? I honestly don’t know

[spiriteddreams]

brb giving xiao a hug and a bowl of almond tofu bc we're in love

xiao is one of few words. he keeps his phrases short and straight to the point, saying what comes to mind without having any remorse for the sting that might be felt by the receiver. he remains aloof, only showing emotion when he feels comfortable enough to. you've heard it from the others in liyue, about xiao's stubbornness and cold gaze that has one shrinking beneath his gaze.

xiao is fiercely loyal, with an unwavering strength that has kept him on his feet for thousands of years. the immortal beings of liyue will tell you of xiao's diligence to protect the people of liyue despite the karmic debt that clouds his mind at times. ganyu will tell you of his patience in training her to further hone in on her adeptal arts. moon carver will tell you of his power and the way he can wipe out demons in an instant, barely batting an eye at the black mist that surrounds him. zhongli will tell you of his perseverance, to honour the promise he made when the world shook from the wrath of gods and monsters. he will tell you stories of a general who fought alongside his friends, a found family, only to watch as they slipped through his grasp when the karmic debt became too much.

but your xiao is kind and understanding. he's quiet stares as he listens to mindless rambles, hanging onto your words as if he could memorize them forever.

he's warm and inviting behind closed doors, seeking your comfort without having to say so. he's gentle touches and unfiltered words to express his affection. he's a blanket of qingxin and almonds and invades your senses, wrapping around your body and pulling you closer and closer to him. and he lets his walls come down around you, using his hands to hand you brick by brick until only you can come in.

xiao is unafraid. he's fought countless battles, mentally and physically, but at the end of the day he still holds his head up high, never afraid to make the difficult choice. during the archon war, his eyes shifted from friendliness and warmth to those of a general fit to lead an army of soldiers in battle. and when liyue finally began to change, he began to move into the shadows, beautiful golden eyes only to observe from a distance, but never to interfere unless the situation was dire enough.

xiao is learning, day by day about mortal life. the liyue today is starkly different from the liyue of a thousand years ago. from zhongli's retirement, to shenhe's steps towards integrating herself into human life once more, xiao finds himself spending more time with you in the harbour. the people of liyue don't look at him strangely as he thought they would, instead the children stare at him in awe whilst the adults thank him for his years of protection. the harbour is beautiful in this modern age, or perhaps you have it more so.

your xiao is an adeptus who is still learning to love. and as you lean against him on the roof of wangshu inn, accompanied by the blinking stars and thousands of years of memories, he lets his fingers tangle with yours. his shoulders drop and the weight on his chest slowly begins to seep into the wind. you've taught him the fragility of mortal life and yet all xiao can see from you is the love you've offered him, taking it one step at a time.

reblogs and comments are greatly appreciated! <3 a/n: slowly trying to pull myself out of writer's block. i have a bunch of ideas and drafts so it's time to actually write them lol

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