title: an unfortunate first meeting pairing(s): Lohen/Haoyu warnings: canon typical (or rather, Lohen typical) hillichurl violence summary: Haoyu makes the mistake of letting his first meeting with Lohen be when he's disguised as a hillichurl and gets the shit scared out of him.
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It's a beautiful day in Mondstadt, and Haoyu is up to his usual ill-advised nonsense. Well, kind of. You see, "usual ill-advised nonsense" doesn't normally include taking the form of a hillichurl and infiltrating one of their camps. And yet that is exactly what he's up to today.
He'd been asked by Ella on his last visit to the library to see how hillichurls communicate with unfamiliar members, and since he's the only one capable of doing such a thing and he happens to have some time on his hands, he accepted the task. His hillichurl disguise is pretty good, if he says so himself—he'd transformed into a normal one in hopes of coming off non-threatening, hopefully giving him a better chance of getting along with them.
It seems to work. Armed with the few phrases Ella taught him before he left, he looks and sounds the part. The only thing that might give him away is the little gold butterfly on his wrist, but that can easily be hidden by one of the arm wraps he's often seen hillichurls wear, so he's not worried. He must've found the friendliest group of hillichurls in Mondstadt, because they'd practically welcomed him with open arms.
Haoyu-churl, he jokingly calls himself, sidles up to one of the archers and tries his best to follow the conversation it seems to be attempting to hold with him. He wishes he'd thought to bring some more of Ella's notes, but at least the archer seems content enough to have an active listener. He'll have to remember as many of the new words as he can and bring them back as well.
It goes remarkably well for almost an hour. And then Haoyu catches the glint of metal from the branches of a tree, and he has all of two seconds to make a sound of alarm before everything goes to shit.
Damn it, he should've at least had a plan for the possibility of another knight or an adventurer coming across his study group, because maybe then he'd have been able to do more than run and hide as someone—fuck, they're fast, who the hell moves like that?—slices through the hillichurls at the edge of the camp in a sharp burst of Cryo.
Before he peeks from behind the crate he hid behind, he make the first smart decision of the day—he listens. He hears the shing of metal, the tearing of flesh, a maniacal little laugh, and the cries of his new hillichurl friends as they reduce to ashes. Okay, the situation out there doesn't sound ideal. He'll have to cut his losses and abandon this mission, bring his notes to Ella and be out of harm's way.
A brilliant plan, but formed all too late. The sounds of slaughter grow silent all of a sudden and all he can hear is the sound of this strange killer's boots deliberately striking the ground, giving him the courtesy of warning him of their approach. "Now, I'm sure I counted this camp's numbers before I charged in," They say, a playful lilt in their voice that does nothing to comfort Haoyu but does make his heart drop to his ass, "but it seems like my count was off…"
The footsteps grow a little fainter, then taper off into silence. For a moment, the only thing Haoyu can hear is his own fearful breaths on the inside of his hillichurl mask. Had that person assumed they'd killed them all and left him alone? Thank Barbatos. That was too close. He should focus on transforming back as soon as possible and getting back to the city in one piece—
Crash! The top half of the crate at Haoyu's back gets sliced clean off, revealing his (okay, he admits it, kinda crappy) hiding spot. He shakes violently as he turns to meet his butcher, and his heart stops anew the moment he does.
Past the spear pointed down at him is what looks like another knight, grinning viciously, his dark eyes glittering from either sunlight or pure bloodlust. "…by one." He finishes, and thrusts forward.
At least he's pretty… Wait, I really don't want to die right now!
He rolls out of the way at the last moment and the spear ends up planting itself in the ground instead of his body. As Haoyu scrambles to his feet in search for a way out of this, the knight regains his bearings and his weapon. "Oh? You're different from the other mindless creatures, aren't you? This'll be fun."
Fun? What the hell is he on about? Haoyu wails, but it only comes out as worried hillichurlian warbles. The knight seems to take that as agreement or something and runs at him for another attack. Or rather, several attacks. Though Haoyu is fast even in hillichurl form, this knight seems to be even faster, always only a step behind. He fights unlike the other knights he'd sparred with before; Haoyu expects to have to dodge the spear, but he struggles to anticipate the swipes of a knife aimed at his unprotected torso and the dirt getting kicked up that his mask thankfully protects him from.
He belatedly wishes he'd brought a weapon with him, or at least his Vision, but he'd deemed both unnecessary for this trip. You know, like an idiot. He tried to reach for the dropped bow and arrows of the fallen archer, but the knight realizes what he's going for and kicks it out of his reach at the same time he slices the mask right off of Haoyu's face.
Haoyu realizes, a moment before getting pinned to the dirt by a row of throwing knives stuck in the cloth at his waist, that he's not winning this fight. He did well to survive this long, but the fact of the matter is that this knight—who he still doesn't recognize (and still thinks is very pretty, even covered in hillichurl blood and sweat and an insane smile on his face)—has several upper hands here. He can't save himself from this situation until after he dies, seeing as transforming back or opening a rift takes precious seconds, focus, and energy that he just doesn't have right now.
So when the knight approaches him with a leisurely gait, twirling his spear as if he just knows Haoyu is too scared to try and get away (and he is! fucking terrified!), Haoyu does his best to remember that it'll be over quicker if he doesn't resist.
"I'll admit, that was the best spar with a hillichurl I've ever had," He sighs, "but I guess even weird hillichurls like you have limits. Looks like you reached yours. Still, I think it's a shame to just kill you, but, well… my orders are to completely eradicate this camp, so…"
Haoyu soul nearly leaves his body when somehow, in the half-second after the knight's last words, he's holding a knife coated in an ominous green liquid against his throat.
"Nighty night."
Across the table from Haoyu, Lisa tries and fails to hide her giggles with another sip of tea.
"It's not freaking funny!" Haoyu cries, slamming his hands on the desk so hard that his own teacup rattles against the saucer. "He didn't even kill me properly! He just nicked me and sat there and watched me while that weird poison of his slowly killed me! I had to wait until after he left to transform back and get back to town!"
Unfortunately, Haoyu's whining falls on deaf and mirthful ears. As soon as the terrifying knight left him alone, probably in search of another hillichurl camp to massacre, Haoyu had frantically transformed to his usual self—his smaller form, because he wanted to be anything but a hillichurl as fast as possible in case that freak doubled back for a round two—and ran back to headquarters practically in tears.
He'd expected Lisa of all people to comfort him, and the tea certainly helped, but her laughing at his plight was certainly not helping. "Poor little thing," She coos once she has her laughter under control once more, though she can't hide her grin as she pulls Haoyu in for a warm hug. "That must've been truly quite terrifying. I'm sorry for laughing, cutie."
Haoyu sniffles pathetically and holds onto her tight, as if he truly were a child in need of reassurance after a bad dream. "I hope I don't see him again too soon…"
As if Barbatos himself were listening and looking to torment his favorite follower, the library door opens and in walks that strange knight. "Afternoon, Miss Lisa! Told you'd I'd return these books when I got settled in from the expedition."
Haoyu practically turns to ice upon hearing that voice again so soon. Seriously? Now?! He's here now?!?
"Oh, Lohen! Welcome back," Lisa smiles. "Just set them in the return bin, thank you. I'll forgive you for being late this time. For now, there's someone I believe you should meet."
In an act of ultimate betrayal, Lisa guides Haoyu into turning around and looking up at his previous killer, Lohen. For all intents and purposes, he feels like a baby deer in the middle of the road and like Lohen is a car with its brights on, coming at him at seventy miles an hour.
Lohen doesn't seem to care about Haoyu's fearful expression and comes around the desk to get a proper look at him, even kneeling down to Haoyu's height and meeting him with a friendly grin. "Who's this little guy?" He asks.
At least Lohen had the sense to clean the hillichurl blood off of him before stepping into the library, but the lack of blood doesn't make him less scary. The fresh memory of being watched as the life drained from his eyes is fresh in Haoyu's mind, and for a terrifying moment, he sees that same amused glint in his eyes. It's enough to make him forget that he's supposed to be introducing himself, instead clinging to Lisa's skirt with renewed terror.
"This is the Transient Knight, Haoyu," Lisa answers for him, and gently strokes his hair in an act of mercy. "Not part of any one company, but on call for any task should you need him." She clears her throat, obviously trying to hide another laugh. "He also was the little hillichurl I heard you toyed with earlier."
At that, Lohen's smile falters, and he looks more intensely at Haoyu as if he's trying to figure out all his secrets. "Oh? But I'm pretty sure I killed it at the end."
Lisa thankfully pulls Haoyu a little closer to her and takes another sip of her tea before replying, "I'm sure you did. But our Haoyu here is a bit special, as you can see. I'm sure you meant no harm to him, but you did give him quite a scare back there."
Okay, Haoyu appreciates Lisa speaking up for him, but if she keeps letting her talk for him then Lohen is going to leave with the impression that Haoyu actually is a small child who somehow became a knight, and he doesn't want to deal with explaining his situation when he inevitably gets caught doing or saying something adult. So he swallows down as much of his unease as he can, clears his throat, and in a writhing mass of golden glitter he transforms to his usual height.
Lohen stands to match his new height, and apart from looking mildly shocked for a moment, the bloodthirsty knight takes the surprise in stride. "Well, I definitely wasn't expecting that," He muses. "Allow me to introduce myself properly and apologize. I'm Lohen, vice captain of the fifth company. Sorry for killing you. I didn't even know you were there."
He offers another easy smile and a slight bow, and that's when Haoyu notices the mole under his eye. Pretty… Doesn't make up for killing me, though. "I-It was an accident, so it's fine. Don't worry about it."
"That's a relief. Don't need any rumors about me killing other knights flying around! Imagine if they make it to Varka," Lohen laughs lightheartedly, as if the thought of killing another knight even by accident were just a joke. Haoyu feels a chill crawl up his spine, but he'd feel awkward clinging to Lisa for protection now, so he forces himself to endure it. "Let's try to get along, yeah?"
"…Yeah."
"Perfect." Lohen watches Haoyu for a long moment, his lips twitching into a slight smile when Haoyu's composure breaks and he gives in to his urge to look for a way out, then turns his attention to Lisa once more. "Well, I suppose I should get out of your hair. Acting grand master Jean left me plenty of paperwork once she heard I was back, and I'd rather not get in trouble too soon."
Lisa chuckles, and its only then that Haoyu remembers to breathe and stop standing around like a fool. He goes back to his seat and takes quick gulps of his tea as if it can save him from the terrifying, mortifying conversation that just transpired. Thankfully, mercifully, Lohen gives the two of them a playful salute and heads towards the door, and Haoyu takes his first proper breath since he'd come in.
Before he leaves, though, Lohen casts one last glance in Haoyu's direction. "Maybe when I'm all clear I'll come back and borrow the Transient Knight for a little fun. You know, to make up for scaring him and all."
Haoyu doesn't spit out his tea, but it's a near thing. His ears burn and his heart threatens to stop again at the sound of Lohen's laugh, and his nerves only calm down when he hears the soft click of the door closing once more.
Please, please don't come back to borrow me!