@ahsterism asked: [ SEEN ] .. from diluc lol
[ SEEN ] for receiver to find sender after they’ve killed someone.
she shouldn't be here. whatever is going on, she has no part to play in it, she needs to leave. but she doesn't. instead, she stays hidden behind the trunk of a charred tree, peering around the burned bark to watch the ongoing battle. her heart pounds against her ribcage fast enough to make her head ache as the two figures dart about in the night, only visible thanks to the burning embers and the dim moonlight.
there isn't much of a fight to watch. one of them is clearly less skilled than the other, almost comically outmatched... he doesn't stand a chance. his opponent is ruthless, he's going to die. as the severity of what she's watching hits full force at the last second, she charges from the bushes to intervene somehow– but it's already too late.
she's not too far from where the body goes down, and the closeness makes her freezes her in place. injuries are one thing, those she can handle. corpses are unfamiliar. finding the strength to move and fighting down the nausea, she hurries backwards, fast and unsteady enough to send her to the ground below. sloppily, her hands scramble for purchase, digging into the dirt to keep her from going down further. it dawns on her that it isn't just the poor body before her that she needs to worry about. her own safety may be at risk, she may just be next for witnessing something she shouldn't have. some sort of plea builds on the tip of her tongue yet never spills over, gaze rising against her will to look the killer in the eye, and–
" diluc? " it's a whisper, soft enough that she's not sure he even heard. what a silly thought, to think that saying it quietly would make it untrue. it won't. it doesn't. the moon's light is just enough to illuminate the scene now that she's in it, and it's impossible to mistake those eyes or that hair for anyone else.
" you... you killed him, " she states dumbly, too frozen in place to do anything but point out the obvious and panic. on the ground, what looks like some sort of red and gold badge catches her eye. that at least gives some sort of context. she may not know what a lot of others do, but she at least knows a fatui insignia when she sees one.
the deceased's occupation isn't what bothers her. it's the idea that diluc is willing and able to kill that does. ( so much for diplomacy between the fatui and mondstadt. ) there was never any doubt that he could fight well, but this is something else entirely. clearly, some of her assumptions about him are wrong. if she can ever blink the corpse from her memory, she'll have to reconsider what she thinks she knows about him.
somehow, deidre manages to push herself to her feet, but even with the distance between them, it isn't enough. a few more steps back, that's what it takes to regain the ability to say more than a few words. " you can't just... leave him here, someone will find him and get suspicious and– or maybe they won't if he's a fatuus, i don't know... " shakily, she takes a deep breath in, and lets it out just the same. panicking won't do her or him any good. at the moment, there's so much to ask, and no time or appropriate place to ask all of them. she narrows it down to one: " why did you have to go that far? "
