Her heart seemed to stop suddenly when Collei told her that the ranger had left.
They were hot on her heels. She was being watched in some way she couldn't control and it only upset her. Not for her, actually, there was no mortal who really made her feel in real danger. Her problem was that, if they had her in their sights like that, they would think of touching her loved ones in order to subdue her.
Just imagining that Tighnari had been touched because of her was tearing at his insides and squeezing her lungs. She did not hesitate for a second to run to the Dhyai garden praying to any god who might hear her and take pity on her.
Finding Haypasia in better shape made her very happy, really, but she felt that nibbling her cheek wasn't enough to try to calm her horrible uncertainty. She felt that time was running out for her, she wanted to scream, run, fight, whatever so that this situation would not get out of her hands.
Then everything happened so fast. A bitter meeting, a vision of a horrible omen, and suddenly, in front of her, he was.
“Lumine? Are you?"
Her head was spinning and her chest began to pierce her. They had apparently been running and the shock of her consciousness shift had taken her by surprise.
“Tighnari…? What happened… I-?” She had a hard time processing the fox's strong grip on her, but she didn't hesitate to reciprocate as she felt the warmth of his body coming through like vital medicine.
“Archons Lumine. You almost scared me to death." He stroked her head and her back as if to reassure himself that she was unharmed.
"What are you talking about? It is you who worries me.” She pulled him closer to her, not wanting to let go. "They didn't do anything to you, did they?"
"Tighnari arrived just in time and helped us stop the ambush while you were not in your body." Paimon spoke up so she could give Lumine an update on what had happened, the problem was that she wasn't really understanding what the hell she was talking about.
All Lumine knew was that Tighnari was in her arms, they were together and safe, so she didn't try to probe further as she enjoyed the feel of him there with her.
He kissed her forehead, breathing in her scent like a balm to his nerves before pulling away from him a little so he could cup her face and gaze at her.
“Don't be so reckless again. If you're in trouble you can call me, you know?"
She laughed, irony at its best. "It was I who was looking for you, but the General Watchleader was too busy with his duty." She itched, already more relaxed. She was giving herself the opportunity to tease him for the sheer happiness of seeing him safe.
"Part of it is a relief that we were looking for you, otherwise we might not have had the fortune to have you around to save our skins." Paimon floating next to them, although not so close to hinder the moment the couple was having, she even found the scene adorable, as if she were reading a chapter of some light novel.
The fox sighed in defeat. Lumine was right, sometimes it was hard to track him down when he went to work.
"Agghh... I'm an idiot, right?" He smiled with her, infected by the light in her golden orbs. "Just... promise me you'll be fine."
"I will if you promise the same." She likewise cupped his face, taking a moment to caress his cheeks in appreciation of his pretty face, as if wanting to map every inch. “Please, Tighnari. They are looking for me, and if they harm you because of me, I will never-”
Whatever she had to say about her stopped on her lips the moment he silenced her. A soft kiss, it didn't last long, just long enough to give her blonde the necessary comfort. He wanted her to feel that he would never allow anything or anyone to tear them apart.
"I'll be fine, calm down." He smiled at him, firm in his words.
And she nodded. She knew him, he was too smart and sometimes arrogant, it would be hard for anyone to even keep track of his tail. She could trust him.
They should part for now, but she promised herself that once this was all over, no one was going to be able to keep from sinking into him and that beautiful tail of his.
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The cliff was high enough to be able to see much of Liyue from there without much effort. The funny thing was that the sharpened golds of the Yaksha did not fear in the landscape in front of him, but in a small bouquet of Qinxing that had just collected. He tashed timidly with the petals, almost asking them for forgiveness for having ripped them off.
He didn't even know why he did it. Maybe by inertia, maybe they were especially beautiful that morning. Yes, beautiful. Like the beautiful Lumine’s hair waving with the breeze, or as her beautiful smile shining like the star she was. So ethereal, so beautiful, so pure, so good. Too much for someone so corrupt, so broken and so dirty as him.
He sighed stronger than he would have liked.
"You look worried, conqueror of demons."
Xiao sigh again, this time defeated by not having noticed the intrusive presence of Cloud Retainer, even more, that she saw him in such a vulnerable state.
"I do not know what you're talking about." The benefit of pretending was obvious. "Concern is a state that only mortals can harbor." This time, he headed his eyes to the front looking for something more interesting to attend to keep talking.
The illuminated beast did not say anything about his words. Anyway, she knew that the young adeptus was too stubborn enough to continue waving on the subject. She changed he looked at him and then looked at the flowers in his hands.
"They are for the traveler, right?"
The raven kept his face, although he could ensure that his cheeks modeled a slight pink dye. He knew that the conversation was not going to give him breath because the bird was well known to get where she did not call it. In the same way it did not matter, there was not much to do with the subject. He had already been in charge of burying it in the same second that he considered it.
"They were." He got up from his seat to the cliff's edge, ready to leave.
"It's a shame. It seems that you took your time to choose the most beautiful flowers. I’m sure she would have loved it."
Xiao stopped. He had reached walking enough to turn his back on her, so he turned a second to look at the beast over the shoulder and followed by that looked at the bouquet in his hands, contemplating the possibility. Of course, she would like, they are flowers and have seen many times that it is a common gift among mortals. He had also seen the blonde pick them up or admire them, turning them out a crown of flowers sometimes, one for her and another for him. He knew she liked or at least she kept a special feeling for them. "They remind me of you" she said, even if he did not understand why. That is why he had decided to give her a few, however, the feeling of rejection was whipped him in advance.
Those flowers had a purpose beyond just please. He questioned him as he cut them with special care, and at that time the idea seemed wonderful. Something that never believed to feel flourished in his chest and prompted him to pick up with dedication the most worthy specimens. To be honest, he still did not understand what he felt. It was strange, brusque, tickled his the stomach and became so vulnerable. Still, he felt ... too good.
And then, the idea went through his head: to confess his feelings.
But then, the voices inside him reared their ugly head. Remind him his hands stained with blood, his sins, his burden. Knowing perfectly that the darkness came to splash those who approached too much, he felt an egoistic idiot at the thought that he could be close to her without dyeing her from his horrific black. And even if he was willing to do it. Why would she accept him? She should not. She does not need him. She has never done it anyway.
"Don’t let your fears dictate your life, conqueror of demons." The bird spoke after a long moment where the Yaksha had remained in contemplative silence, taking him out of his absorbing. "Nor do they fill out of repentments. You will be tied to eternity, but she will not be here forever. "
What an annoyance, but she was right. The traveler would leave this world sooner or later, and for a second, he thought he was deceived that this was fine and that was better like that. That way she would be safe and he could suppress the knot on his chest that was tormenting him from now on. It would be stupid to believe that he could make her stay, he could not ask her. But if he could only pass with her the rest of her days in Teyvat felt that the karmic ties ripping his heart untangled one by one.
He fought his shadow as with any calamity. As he has been doing it for centuries. Just to try to be a bit selfish for a moment, feel that he really deserved this, and but, he would fight because that is the case. He would be able to be anything to be bathed in the brightness of his star.
"I thank you, Cloud Retainer." He looked at her over his shoulder again, without much angle, but the bird could swear that she saw a soft smile on his lips.
"I wish you the best, conqueror of demons. You have punished for so many years, it is time for you to walk forward. " And with that last, the winged adeptus undertook the flight.
The clack amber gave them a warm look at the flowers he still held in his hands, imagining the sweet smile that Lumine would sketch for his gift. Those smiles that only devoted him and that her light was able to illuminate every corner of his blackened heart. So dazzling, pouring sweetness of those embarrassing golds. And then he thought, in which that beautiful bouquet would be good for a crystalfly to make it more special.
Drawing based on this beautiful fanfic “The shell of memory I long to touch” ❤️ Thanks to Xenya on Ao3 for letting me draw this and thanks for always writing such beautiful things ✨
ao3: here
other notes: written for Kiki_Kai/leavaloo
It’s an accident. But it’s also Xiao’s fault.
The sun is going down over Liyue, basking everything it touches in a deep red glow. It was a very hot day, and the cicadas are not done singing yet—Xiao knows they’ll keep singing late into the night. And it’s going to be a warm night, too.
Lumine is walking next to him. They’re looking for a place to bivouac for the night. Neither of them is particularly picky, but they’re trying to find a place next to a stream, so they can at least get some clean water in the morning.
They didn’t particularly intend to, but their steps somehow bring them to the top of the cave where the Pyro Regisvine sleeps, just south of Cuijue Slope and north of Luhua Pool.
A strange golden cloud floats above the large opening above the Regisvine. Xiao brandishes his polearm and waves it around, a gust of Anemo energy blowing away the particles in suspension in the air. He takes a closer look at his polearm. It’s dusted with yellow. Pollen. This is pollen.
Oh, fuck, this is pollen.
Xiao’s eyes widen as he gasps, realizing their mistake.
“We need to get the fuck away from here,” he growls.
“Huh?” Lumine says.
He grabs her wrist. Sensing the urgency in his demeanour and his voice, she doesn’t ask for more information; she focuses her energy to wrap them both to the top of mount Aocang, far away from this place.
Xiao silently prays that they haven’t been too exposed, but he knows it might be too late.
They glide down from the ledge where the teleport waypoint sits to the shore of the pond in front of Cloud Retainer’s abode.
There’s an abrupt, jerky rhythm to his steps as he walks along the edge of the water to the sandy shore, close to one of the trees.
“Xiao, what’s wrong?” Lumine asks.
He hears the worry in her voice, but he doesn’t quite know how to quell it without lying to her.
“… Hopefully it’s nothing,” he declares, as he sits down in the grass. “This place is safe to sleep, we should camp here.”
“Yeah, sure,” Lumine replies hesitantly.
She doesn’t like Xiao’s odd behaviour. He’s usually assured, confident, and he trusts her skills in battle. That strange yellow cloud they saw… is it what worried him? It looked like harmless pollen, she doesn’t understand what made him panic. The only thing she can conclude is that he probably knows something she doesn’t. And he doesn’t want to tell her, apparently.
Lumine drops her bag to the ground and unties her travelling blanket from the top of the bag. She drapes it over her shoulders before plopping herself down in the grass.
The contact of the blanket on her skin feels… strangely warm. It’s almost tingly. The temperature is still quite hot, even on the top of mount Aocang, but a cool breeze blows on the mountain. It should make the heat more bearable, but it doesn’t feel like it does. Instead, as she shifts her legs to cross them under her, the friction of the fabric of her skirt against her legs also feels strangely warm, in a way that doesn’t feel natural.
Xiao looks at her, his sharp amber eyes tinged with worry. Why the hell is he worried? Lumine asks herself.
He’s worried because he’s starting to feel off. His heart is beating too fast in his chest, and the contact of his gloves, of his pants against his skin feels suffocating. Above all, it feels like every time the fabric brushes against his skin, warmth is pooling in the pit of his stomach, and it just keeps accumulating.
He knows the signs very well, but he’s still clinging onto the hope that he’s the only one affected. He’s immortal, he can endure this. She’s immortal too, she can endure this too. But if they’re together… damn, it would just really be so much easier to indulge, right?
He tries his best not to think about it, but the foreign substance in his system is making it harder and harder to focus his attention elsewhere.
In a last ditch attempt, he lies down on his back and looks up at the sky. The red haze is growing into a deep magenta hue, rapidly fading to blue, then indigo, and the first few stars are already twinkling above their heads. For a moment, he can focus on stargazing instead of on the growing feeling of unease that is gripping at his senses, but not for long. Sweat is pearling on his forehead and heat is building up on every centimetre of his skin covered with fabric.
“Xiao?”
He tilts his head to the side. Her eyebrows are knitted together, she looks very, very uncomfortable. Her cheeks are flushed red and her bangs are clinging to her forehead, drenched in sweat.
“I don’t know why but I feel… weird…”
Well, fuck.
It’s his fault. He knows the lay of the land, he’s lived there for millennia, and yet, he still managed to forget about the one single day of the year where Regisvine pollen has devastating effects on humanoid beings, mortals and immortals alike. And he also made her the victim of it.
Archons, he’s such a dunce.
“Let’s… take a dip in the pond,” he suggests hesitantly.
“O-okay,” Lumine mumbles.
She staggers on her feet as she gets up and starts walking towards the edge of the water.
He has no idea if this will be enough to ward off the uncomfortable fever that keeps building inside of him, and, he can guess, inside of her too. He only knows the list of symptoms, he’s never needed to know more.
Well, that’s not true. He knows the one way to get rid of them. But… he would never do that. He couldn’t do that. Not when it’s Lumine who’s next to him, apparently equally affected. It wouldn’t be okay, it wouldn’t be proper. Especially not with the feelings about her he holds hidden deep inside his heart. She doesn’t understand what’s happening. He’d be taking advantage of her.
Hopefully the cool water of the pond is enough.
When he reaches the edge, he starts stripping. Gods, the feeling of the cotton rubbing against his skin is maddening. It feels like every fibre of his being is begging for the contact of another human being instead, incandescent, feverish, yearning. He wonders if Lumine feels it as badly as he does. He hopes not. By the time he gets to his pants, it takes him all his restraint not to rip the fabric off from his body. He just wants to stop feeling this.
He kicks off his boots and walks into the water. Only a few steps in and he already has water up to hips, and the cold water does feel soothing. For a moment.
And then it makes things a million times worse. Every time he moves, the sensation of the water against his bare skin only emphasizes what he is really craving to insurmountable amounts. His face feels so hot, and now, the water is very obviously making the heat pool into a very specific place, between his legs. It’s only adding to his incredible discomfort. And then he looks to his right, and he notices Lumine standing next to him, looking equally uncomfortable.
“X-Xiao… what on earth is happening…?” she asks.
She doesn’t understand why her heart is beating so fast, why the mere glance she exchanges with him immediately makes her wish he was fucking her raw against the rock next to them.
She’s so fucking wet and there’s no reason for it. But she yearns so, so badly for someone’s touch, anyone’s touch, down there, where she feels a pressing heaviness that only seems worse now that she’s standing in the water, now that he’s looking at her.
“Regisvine, ugh, Regisvine pollen is a p-powerful aphrodisiac,” Xiao mutters.
He’s doing his best to stay still, because fuck, every time he moves even just an inch it feels like his cock is getting harder in his underwear, and it feels like he’s this close to the breaking point.
That really was the worst idea. He’s starting to think he’d rather be stuck on the shore, delirious and squirming in pain from the burn, but at least not this badly tempted to just tackle her against the rock and pound her senseless.
“A-aphrodisiac, you say?” she asks.
Lumine cracks a nervous laughter.
“Then… the best way to—”
“… is to have sex, yes,” Xiao finishes, avoiding her honey eyes.
Gods, he’s shaking with lust over the idea of burying his fingers in Lumine’s smooth, creamy skin.
“Well, then, fuck me,” she says, and there’s no hesitation in her voice.
“… What? No,” Xiao protests, clinging onto the last bits of sanity he has left.
“Xiao, please fuck me, this is fucking intolerable,” she pleads. “Archons, just fuck me, please, just fuck me.”
Her voice sounds truly desperate. He looks at her once again. She’s panting, squirming, one of her hands is firmly gripping the flesh inside her thigh as she struggles against the temptation to just sink her own fingers into her heat, if he won’t do it for her.
Well, that’s it, that’s the breaking point. He’s literally drooling over his pressing need to bury himself into her. His dick feels like it’s about to burst, it’s so fucking hot, and every movement of the water makes him wince and squirm because it feels so good but it’s also not enough, not enough at all.
In an instant, Xiao is tackling her against the large stone next to them, crashing his lips against hers, digging his fingers into her waist, into her thigh as he holds her up. This kiss is feverish, fueled by the purest form of yearning, and it feels like it’s the first one in a thousand years. It’s hungry, full of teeth, as they go nipping, biting each other’s lips voraciously. Lumine’s hands travel down to his hips, and her legs spread for him. She grinds herself against him, desperate for relief from this unbearable, boiling pressure inside her core.
She whines softly against him as he starts panting against her. He feels like an animal, there is no controlling the primal urge he feels down there. Xiao rips through her panties with his bare hands, not even batting an eye at the effort, and she lowers his underwear for him. When she takes his cock into her bare hands, he whimpers, the mere contact feeling like it’s sending a jolt of electricity coursing through his entire being. Lumine guides him into her wet cunt. She doesn’t need any foreplay, her arousal is literally dripping down her thighs.
And so she presses the head of his cock against her pussy, and she pulls him a bit closer with her legs, and he makes it in effortlessly. In a single roll of his hips, he’s already buried to the hilt inside of her, and he bottoms out with a groan of satisfaction.
Fuck, he’s never felt anything so heavenly in his whole damn life. He almost thinks he’s going to faint from the ecstasy that courses through his veins, and so does Lumine, letting out a deep moan as he pulls out and thrusts back in. She’s shamelessly mewling against him, her nails digging in the skin of his shoulders. He snaps his hips against her, at first not that fast, but he quickly picks up pace as the ecstasy keeps mounting and mounting with every thrust.
Her pussy is squirming, squeezing around his cock every time he bottoms out inside of her, hitting that sweet, sweet spot that makes her toes curl. She’s holding onto him for dear life, pulling with her legs to meet his thrusts. It’s not long before she lets herself get helplessly rammed against the rock, and she couldn’t care less about the scratches and the bruises it’s going to give her.
Lumine buries her face in the crook of Xiao’s neck as he keeps moving his hips, increasing the pace to a breakneck speed, and she bites into the tender skin of his neck to steady herself.
Fuck, fuck, this feels so good.
All the blonde girl can think about is the sensation of Xiao’s hot cock spreading her pussy apart, and the pressure that keeps building. She’s almost crying against him as his hips keep snapping against her, and he’s growling every time he buries himself inside of her, increasingly close to his release. Lumine’s legs squirm and clench every time Xiao hits her G-spot, and she keeps mewling, whining with every thrust.
“Oh, ooooh fuck, Xiao,” she sighs.
The fact that she’s saying his name, the fact that she knows it’s him who’s fucking her senseless, gods, that sends him over the edge.
“Lu-Lumine,” he stutters. “F-fuck, Lumine, I’m gonna…”
“Do it, please, f-fuck—haaan—fuck, please, Xiao,” she cries out.
A loud moan comes from deeper inside his chest as he suddenly slows down, and he looks at her. Molten gold meets sparkling citrine, both of their eyes half-lidded in bliss, as he finally takes them both to the very edge of pleasure, the last limit before the purest of euphorias. And it finally takes him, and it takes her at the same time. Both of them sigh, and they feel themselves melting as they come into each other’s arms. Lumine throws her head back against the rock as her pussy throbs, and Xiao comes deep inside of her, pumping out his seed in long, hot, slow thrusts, until he’s completely depleted, and he collapses against her on the stone.
They are left panting, eyes veiled with a blazing bliss, lost into each other, barely holding onto the sense of reality that the water around Xiao’s legs and the hard, rough surface of the rock against Lumine’s back still give them.
It takes a while before Lumine’s legs finally fall from behind Xiao’s hips, and his cock slips outside her cunt, leaving thick globs of his cum dripping out of her.
It’s so obscene.
As their breathing finally slows down, the unbearable, throbbing incandescence of the aphrodisiac finally leaves them.
Xiao avoids Lumine’s gaze. He feels terribly guilty for this. He knows it’s entirely on him, but he doesn’t know how to say it.
“I’m sorry,” he lets out, walking away from her.
“Xiao… It’s okay…”
He finally relents and gives her a quick glance. She’s softly smiling in the last rays of sunshine, her cheeks lightly dusted with pink, her blonde, wispy hair floating around her head like an angel’s halo. She looks otherworldly.
As she stares into his glowing yellow eyes, she feels something trembling deep inside of her, but this time, it’s not the strange heat brought about by the Regisvine pollen, no.
He’s beautiful, with his skin glimmering with water droplets in the declining daylight. Lumine kind of wishes this hadn’t happened, but she doesn’t regret it. She doesn’t know how to say it in a way that won’t have him running to Wangshu Inn and never coming out of his room again, though. She can easily see that he’s embarrassed, and she can guess that he feels responsible for what just happened.
“It’s really okay…” Lumine chuckles. “Let’s dry ourselves and get ready to sleep, okay?”
“Sure,” he grumbles, looking away as he starts walking out of the water.
He doesn’t have anything to dry himself with, but he doesn’t need to. A strong gust of wind envelops his body, and blows off any remaining water from his underwear and his skin almost instantaneously. Convenient.
“Can you give me a hand?” she asks Xiao.
Lumine has resonated with the Electro Archon’s statue, her elemental powers are not very useful there, so Xiao obliges, and in mere seconds, her body is dry, too. But she has nothing but shreds for panties, so she quickly scurries off to her travel bag to grab a new pair, before she starts putting her dress back on.
The air of the night is charged with humidity, and it’s warm, but the sky is clear. They make a small campfire to ward off undesirable insects. Xiao lays down directly on the grass, two metres from the flames, and Lumine hesitates for a moment.
She wants to snuggle up with him, but she doubts he will let her. He doesn’t really seem willing to acknowledge, let alone discuss what has just happened.
“Xiao…” she says, her voice soft and low.
“What?” he says, his eyes snapping to hers, gaze as piercing as ever.
“I’m… also sorry,” she starts.
“Sorry for what?” he snaps.
“I don’t know… I don’t know how to say this, so please… please don’t take it the wrong way, but… What just happened here… I don’t regret it,” she lets out. “I… I’m very glad that our paths have crossed, Xiao. I want to spend more time with you.”
He looks at her quizzically, unsure of how to respond. Her words just put him on edge, and he feels his heartbeat accelerating in his chest, as much as he tries to ignore it.
She really has this gift of surprising him in the best, and worst ways. He can hardly imagine his days without her anymore, and it feels strange, almost scary in a way. She calms the karmic load on his shoulders almost simply by being close to him, and she makes him feel at ease. She makes him want to open up, and take his own space in the world, instead of considering himself a tool. And it’s a feeling equal parts terrifying and enticing for him.
“I am also… glad to have met you,” he finally admits.
He chokes on the remaining words. What else could he say? What just happened was a frenzy brought about by unlucky circumstances. He can’t deny that he’s thought about her that way, but what just happened didn’t feel like him. It felt like a beast had taken hold of his senses, almost like a fever dream.
“Can I sleep next to you…?” she finally dares asking.
He looks at her once again, and his eyes transfix her into place. Should he ignore the warmth that spreads in his chest when he thinks about her sleeping next to him in the tall grass? Should he really say no, even with the way her eyes twinkle in the darkness, reflecting the flames of their campfire? He doesn’t have the heart to. It feels like he owes her some physical contact after… this. Something soothing, simple.
“Okay,” he finally huffs.
She walks over to him without a word, and lies down by his side, closer to the fire than he is. She turns her back to him, leaving him the choice to initiate more, or not.
Xiao hesitates. Her warmth next to him feels comfortable. He can smell the soap she usually uses when they bathe in the rivers, it smells of wolfhook and lavender, all mixed in with the musk of sweat they haven’t washed off in the pond. He turns to face the fire, too, and finally wraps his arm around her waist. Lumine curls up against him, and her arm slips over his, clutching it against her.
Before he closes his eyes, he lands the lightest of kisses on her hair, taking in her scent.
She feels like home, he thinks, and it’s a tragedy because he knows she can only be there for so long. She has her brother to find.
Despite that, he can at least cling onto the memories he makes with her, and that should probably include things that feel like terrible mistakes, like… unwittingly getting contaminated with Regisvine pollen, apparently.
He sighs and closes his eyes, and sleep quickly lays its thick blanket over him, as the cicadas keep singing into the night.
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