An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: 原神 | Genshin Impact (Video Game)
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Kujou Sara/Sangonomiya Kokomi, Kujou Sara/Raiden Shogun | Baal
Characters: Kujou Sara, Sangonomiya Kokomi, Raiden Shogun | Baal (Genshin Impact)
Additional Tags: Canon Compliant, some speculation on kokomi's character bc she hasn't really been introduced properly yet, Implied Sexual Content, Jealousy, Mild Sexual Content, Blood and Injury, if you squint you can see some of my theories, Like Really Really Squint, Character Study, Relationship Study, Established Relationship, this put me in an empty milk bottle and shook me violently until i wrote it
Summary:
The pink-haired woman turns away, hands folded underneath her chest as she feigns shyness. "What is she like?"
The apple is sweet. The inside of the fruit is soft, yielding compared to the defensiveness of the skin. "Perfect. Commanding. Often, I cannot walk in a perfect line after she is done. More often than that, I cannot walk."
"Better than I?"
A pause.
"Yes."
"Oh."
Sara takes another bite of the apple, the juice running down her fingers. It is sticky, sweet, and cloying on her lips as well.
draft excerpt from “for the good of the people, tartaglia must die”
hehe i am creating more and more work to do hehe
i am FINALLY writing a chili piece lmfao but it’s also got a lot of other ships in it. so, uh, it’s a bit of a wild ride. here’s what i have so far!! it’s rather unpolished but it has heart!!!
- (zhongli/childe, yanfei/hu tao, chongyun/xingqui + more to come)
- this part mostly focuses on yanfei/hu tao and chongyun/xingqui
cw: violence, blood
Pressing his back to the wall, Childe pants, blood rushing in his ears as he tries his best to listen out for the tell-tale sound of shoes pattering against the pavement. A few yards away, the sound of labored breathing grows louder, and two boys, each about the same height, skid to a halt underneath the Stone Gate's towering sheet of rock, nearly tripping on the uneven boards of the walkway.
"Where'd he go?" One of them asks, his face very red and eyes clouded with wavering focus.
The other clenches his hand around his sword, brushing his navy bangs out of his face. "I'm not sure. The sun has not yet set. If we keep searching, I am sure we shall locate him before nightfall."
Childe swallows, his eyes wandering to the long poles of bamboo that appear to be his ticket out of here. The first boy, the one with pale blue eyes and thaumaturgist's gear, frowns, wiping his brow.
"I don't know how much longer I can stay in control, Xingqiu."
While maintaining a look of stony focus on his face, Xingqiu leans closer, brushing the other boy's fluffy hair back with his hand to place a gentle kiss on his forehead. The light-haired boy closes his eyes, swaying slightly.
Xingqui pulls back, cupping the other's cheek with his palm. "You're doing so well, dearest Chongyun. Just hold on a little longer."
Instead of waiting around to see this exchange and be swayed by their affectionate ways of reassurance, Childe is shimmying up a bamboo trunk, taking an arrow, and sticking it into the wood to get a leg up onto the stone ledge above the walkway. Breathing heavily, he rests for a moment, leaning his hands above his knees as he bends over. Then, wiping his nose with the back of his hand, Childe starts into a sprint again, frowning against the biting wind that beckons from Mondstadt.
How he ended up running from what seems to be the entire population of Liyue is a rather long story that you've probably heard by now. You know, the whole "summoning a destructive tentacle god, nearly drowning the entire city of Liyue Harbor, having a rich lady drop her house on him" thing. He'll spare you the gritty details that you've seen before and cut straight to where the most relevant bit started: this morning, Wangsheng Funeral Parlor.
As an apology for trying to steal his Gnosis and wipe Liyue off of the map, Childe had taken to delivering gifts to Mr. Zhongli, the consultant at Wangsheng. Usually, he would send them by mail, seeing as giving Zhongli those gifts face to face was too much for the other man to bear, especially after Childe realized he had played him like a cheap flute. How a man so polite and honorable could be so cruel was beyond him, but Childe had finally plucked up the courage to see him once again.
He had entered the funeral parlor with a box of imported wines and teas that he had learned Zhongli was fond of, only to find two young women whispering between themselves at the front desk. One of them had light pink hair that fell loosely around her waist and a set of antlers peeking out from underneath a red hat, a heavy ledger attached at her hip. The other was a girl with dark brown hair tied into twin-tails dyed red at the tips. She was dressed entirely in black with a recurring butterfly motif, and her fingers chimed each time her rings brushed up against one and other.
Setting the box on the counter, he gave them each a quick smile. "You wouldn't have happened to see the consultant, would you?"
The young women stopped muttering, turning around to face him with faces of dawning satisfaction. The pink one smiled sweetly, clasping her hands in front of her chest.
"Oh, but of course! Right this way, please." She beamed, leading him into a room Childe hadn't seen before.
As soon as they stepped over the threshold, something felt off to Childe. The pink-haired girl had her back turned to him, fiddling with something on the shelf as she hummed a cheery tune. The smell of old parchment and something terribly musty clouded the air, and before Childe could react, something pressed hard against his windpipe, yanking him backward. Instantly, the pink-haired girl turned around, nodding to something behind Childe's shoulder. With a grunt, he clawed at the rope looped around his neck, digging his fingers between it and his skin as he flipped his assailant over his back.
The dark-haired girl from earlier went flying, knocking a shelf out of place as she tumbled into the arms of her accomplice. "Yikes! He's feisty!"
As Childe went to summon his water blades, the pink-haired girl set the other on her feet once more, pulling a catalyst out of the air and drawing out the shape of a diamond with her forefingers. A sudden heat flared up by his stomach, and he looked down, taking in the seal on his Vision with a confused stare. The space in his hands remained decidedly empty.
"According to the recently amended codices, chapter forty-one, segment three dictates that if a criminal goes unpunished and escaped justice, the allogenes within a ten-mile radius of the scene of the crime are permitted to subdue said criminal by any means possible." She said, holding her hands out in the air in front of her. "Revision date of the law is as follows: last night, June, a month after the passing of Rex Lapis."
The dark-haired girl thrust her spear out, slicing through the flesh of Childe's upper arm. "I wanted to give you an advance on our new deal, but Yanfei said that would be first-degree murder."
"We compromised," Yanfei added. "Hu Tao can be very persuasive."
Hu Tao grinned, batting her eyelashes at the other girl. "My, my... Stop it, you! You're so cute when you flatter me."
Blinking, Childe pressed his palm to the cut on his arm, trying to stop the bleeding. "What's going on?"
"Manslaughter of the second degree!" Yanfei chirped helpfully, and then set his scarf on fire.
“I thought you said you compromised!” He screeched, batting at the rather fiery half of his scarf.
Smoke clouded the room like thick, cloying cobwebs, and just as Childe had extinguished the blaze that set the entire room full of very flammable objects on fire, he saw Hu Tao and Yanfei slip through a doorway cleverly hidden by a cabinet. Ducking out after them, he left the door open behind him, letting the plumes of smoke cloak his departure. Without a moment’s hesitation, Childe sprinted to the back exit, ripping off the pointedly un-burned part of his scarf to wrap around his arm.
As he pressed his back against the outside wall of the funeral parlor, Childe ran a hand through his hair, streaking ash over the bridge of his nose. What in the ever-loving fuck just happened, he asked himself, and who the fuck were they?
Before he could have received an answer, Childe lifted his head from his hands just in time to avoid a sword plunging into the ground at his face. Frost crept from the blade, stretching across the cracks in the cobblestone. He looked up, already tired, to see a young girl perching on the roof, peering down at him from above.
"Qiqi missed..." She muttered, raising a finger to her mouth as if she were trying to remember something. "What were Qiqi's orders again?"
Before he could think, Childe blurted out the first thing to come into his mind. "Do you know a Hu Tao?"
The child's face darkened. "Hu Tao... Qiqi knows."
"She tried to kill me. I think you should run away before she does the same to you."
If realization could have dawned on this expressionless child's face, it would have been blooming like spring flowers. Hopping down onto the pavement beside him, Qiqi nodded solemnly.
"Qiqi greets you, strange-looking zombie. Many a time has Hu Tao tried to bury our kind. Qiqi will protect you, seeing as we stand against her in solidarity." Qiqi promised very earnestly, and Childe felt a twinge of guilt in his chest for lying to a kid. It quickly vanished as the sound of rushed footsteps echoed behind the doorway a few yards away.
With a salute, he nodded at Qiqi with a grim look on his face. "Thank you, Qiqi. I am sure you will live on as a hero."
"Qiqi already died, but thank you for the sentiment."
Childe was gone before he could even clock what she meant.
An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: 原神 | Genshin Impact (Video Game)
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Diluc/Tartaglia | Childe (Genshin Impact)
Characters: Diluc (Genshin Impact), Tartaglia | Childe (Genshin Impact), Keqing (Genshin Impact), Venti (Genshin Impact), Bennett (Genshin Impact)
Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Angels & Demons, but i have made it utterly mundane and boring, i present to you...., (drumroll), hell's annual office party!!!, That's right, Alternate Universe - Office, (rubs my evil little hands together), Drinking, Drunken Confessions, childe's questionable taste, prompt from the chiluc week selection, Death Threats, but like, lovingly, ish, Flirty Tartaglia | Childe (Genshin Impact), of all of my written childes this one is the most punchable, Feral Diluc (Genshin Impact), for like half, whatever you'll see
Summary:
"Well, now I know why they threw you out of Heaven!" Diluc sucks in a sharp breath through his teeth. Childe leans closer, eyes flicking up and down the white suit jacket that the redhead is wearing with an expression of blatant hunger. "There's no way a single angel would be able to control themselves around you."
Narrowing his eyes and baring his teeth like a feral animal, he grabs Childe by the collar of his unbuttoned shirt, seething. "I swear to God, one day I'll fucking kill you."
"I'm counting on it, sweetheart." The ginger-haired demon replies.
--
Diluc and Childe endure an office get-together. Barely.
hi!! once again i am addressing the void of chiluc content-enjoyers with a windchase-inspired fic!!!
i’ll be posting it soon-ish, just after i finish nocturne!!
cw: swearing
"What in Barbatos' name," Diluc Ragnvindr whispers to a lantern, "are you doing here?"
The lantern does not reply.
Narrowing his eyes, the redhead leans closer, giving the lantern a look that could kill it if it were alive. Which, Diluc hypothesizes, it is. "How did you jump like that? You don't even have legs."
Stoically, in the face of such stern interrogation, the lantern does not crack.
Diluc gets up from where he was crouching, dusting off his knees as he turns his nose in the air. "I know you're in there, Harbinger."
"Master Diluc!" A voice calls from behind him, and he abruptly turns on his heel, pretending like he wasn't just grilling a lantern that Diluc swore he saw jump off of his roof and into a cart. "Have you, by any chance, seen anyone suspicious on the premises?"
Mona Megistus stands, arms akimbo, her face flushed and her chest heaving, proudly on top of the post holding his grapevines in place. He frowns.
"Miss Megistus. You appear to be trampling this season's harvest." He says flatly.
She glances downward, makes a little face of apologetic guilt, and hops down onto the grass. Around the soles of her shoes, the grass gives a wet plop in return. Diluc's frown deepens as she sheepishly shakes a speck of mud from the heel of her shoe, crossing his arms over his chest.
She says, once more, "So, have you seen anyone of interest on the grounds, Master Diluc?"
He's just about to wave her away and go back to interrogating the Harbinger disguised as a lantern when suddenly, a head of blonde hair pops up from behind a bush of grapevines a few yards from where they're standing. With a few leaves in her hair, the girl who calls herself The Prinzessin der Verurteilung points straight at Mona with a look of such conviction and condemnation, Diluc thinks that he's somehow walked in on an outdoor court hearing.
"You!" The Prinzessin cries. "How low hast thou sunken to resort to the blackened methods of cheating? Night Raven, deliver thy judgment!"
From behind her, a rather large, black bird ruffles its feathers. "You suck!"
The astrologist looks rather offended at that remark, as anyone would be, and Diluc watches as her jaw falls open. Then, without any warning, she crouches low to the ground, and sets off into what should have been a sprint, but is instead a tidal wave of sparkling water.
"Zounds!" The Prinzessin shrieks, scrabbling over a post that holds the grapes in place.
"Shit!" The raven yelps, diving in pursuit of his mistress.
Mourning the drowned grapes, Diluc pinches the bridge of his nose, exhaling a slow, heavy breath through his teeth. He can deal with them later, but what he really needs to do is find out how that Harbinger was able to turn himself into a lantern and why he is doing so on Diluc's land.
He turns back around, glancing down at where the lantern was sitting. Oddly enough, it seems to have grown in size and shape. Less "lantern" and more "gigantic fucking barrel."
Dumbfounded at the brainless idiot, Diluc blinks. "Are you perhaps short of your wits? How in Barbatos' name is a barrel more inconspicuous than a lantern?"
It's as if he's learned nothing. The barrel doesn't reply, because it's a rude, diffident bastard and is enjoying Diluc's torment like the sadist it is.
Artemis has had enough. Working with Zagreus has shown her many things, and one of those things is that everyone in the Underworld has the worst communication skills she has ever seen. And that's saying something because she's seen hunting dogs turn onto their master after he overwent a little makeover. (It was kind of her, really. Stags have so much more fun.)
Don't get her wrong, she really likes Zagreus, he's chill, a solid 9/10, and she won't be polymorphing him anytime soon, but Zeus' great white beard, that boy was testing her. More than she values sticking to her beliefs, she appreciates straightforwardness. With Zagreus, it's a little like asking a boar to give you a delicate dance. Usually, he's fine, but with a certain someone, Zagreus beats around the bush more than he beats around the skull of that hydra.
Usually, she wouldn't care that Zagreus was running around, pining after that ridiculous god of death and his odd hair, but she's invested now. It's like watching a group of quails fight for their habitat in the forest. For the first five minutes, you couldn't care less about some round birds, but after that, you've named them, you know that Agnes is struggling as a single mother and that Alexander wants to leave the nest, but without him, Agnes only has three children after the loss of Crysanthe. Yes, this is still about Zagreus' obvious crush on Thana-whatever.
She sees them hazily through the fog of Asphodel, watching them fight side by side. Zagreus pushes an enemy out of a glowing circle of slow death, and Thanatos frowns, making a face similar to that of a bear who sat on a bees' nest. If only there was something I could do, she thinks, sitting on the steps of Olympus as she peers over the side.
"Hail, surly sister." A voice calls out.
Artemis doesn't even have the energy to give a witty response, so she just grunts in acknowledgment. Her half-brother Ares sits next to her on the steps, peering over her shoulder at the scene unfolding below.
"Ah, cousin Zagreus!" Ares exclaims, then his eyebrows wiggle like pale caterpillars. "And my colleague Thanatos. I was unaware Zagreus had taken him as his lover."
Artemis sighs. "That's the issue. He hasn't."
There is a pregnant pause as Thanatos and Zagreus argue below, their voices muffled and their faces blurry. Blinking in shock, Ares frowns.
"He hasn't? Why not? Thanatos is obviously willing, and Zagreus has the courage of a Trojan in battle." He states, his brow knitted in confusion.
The hunting goddess groans, holding her head in her hands. "That is the question I am asking! Thanatos seems flighty, if you ask me."
"What? No, Zagreus' courting skills are obviously lacking." Ares retorts, frowning at his half-sister.
Scoffing, Artemis returns to the pair of gods below, then grips Ares' arm in shock. "By Zeus, it's happening."
"Thank Aphrodite for that." He says, but he looks over her shoulder with similar energy to an excited puppy.
From what Artemis can make out, she can see Zagreus holding Thanatos' hand in his, tracing the lines of his palm with a sad air about him. The god of death hovers closer towards him, taking the dark-haired deity's face in his hands and leaning down to press a kiss to his lips. She lets out a loud exhale, a heavy burden leaving her shoulders. Callisto is going to love this, she thinks, stretching her neck from side to side.
"Well, that took several years of my immortal life," Ares announces, getting to his feet and placing his hand on the hilt of his sword. "I'm going to go fight Athena now, so do tell me if anything else occurs. I would so like to see our cousin happy."
And he turns on his heel, walking away. Staring at his retreating back, Artemis huffs out a sigh. "And I, too, brother."
hello! in between chapters, i conjured up this little scene that happens a little after the first chapter of my fic (which you can find here)! this takes place in a universe where kaeya flees to snezhnaya after his argument with diluc.
so, without further ado, here is the excerpt!
no TWs, but CW for mentions of: blood, injury, no detail on either.
The boy from Khaenri'ah doesn't speak much.
Tartaglia notes this down in the back of his mind as he watches this gorgeous boy comb the shelves of Dottore's library, no doubt having snatched the key from the constantly working scientist's clutches. After only seeing him bowing down in submission to Her Highness' glacial stare, watching him in such a comfortable space is oddly calming to Tartaglia. His hair hangs loosely over his shoulders, grazing the breast pocket of the Mondstadt-style waistcoat he wore to the palace. Briefly, Tartaglia wonders if he was prepared to travel here. Judging from the bloodstained rip in the side of his shirt that he has failed to hide in his vulnerable wonder of flicking through the pages of a Hilichurlian anatomy book, it appears not.
Shifting from one foot to another in impatience, the ginger-haired boy leans his mouth against his hands, lips grazing his knuckles where they fold over the ledge of a bookshelf. Kaeya, he said his name was. Star Sovereign. A prince, perhaps, or a noble. Gods, he really is beautiful. Tartaglia stifles a sigh, but he can't stop staring, watching Kaeya's elegant hands drift over the shelves in search of more tomes to satiate his curiosity. He barely even knows him, but by the Tsaritsa's frozen fingers, he wants to.
Strangers have always felt off to Tartaglia. That's why he either goes out of his way to avoid them or make sure they don't stay a stranger. For this boy, this captivating, intricately crafted boy - perhaps he can make an exception.
Kaeya wanders aimlessly over to one of the windows, pressing the pads of his fingertips to the glass as he watches flurries of snow cascade through the pine trees, wonder on his face that gleams like jewels. Quietly, Tartaglia passes behind a pillar lined with polished skulls of varying sizes. He grimaces at an oddly realistic taxidermied crow, then, after deciding that Dottore is such a creepy old man, he peers back at Kaeya. A frown forms on his face. Somehow, the dark-haired boy is gone, vanished from the windowpane like a ghost.
Tartaglia deflates, leaning back against the shelf as he sighs, placing the back of his hand over his eyes. For someone he only saw forty-eight hours ago, he really has got it bad. Can the Archons blame him, though?
"What are you doing?"
Tartaglia jumps three feet in the air. "Oh, Tsaritsa on a boat -"
Kaeya grins sharply, a little glimmer in his eyes that screams schadenfreude in a way the ginger-haired boy has never seen before. It's so hot and kind of scary. "Pardon me if I scared you. I truly believed I was alone until I saw you doing... Whatever it is you were doing."
"'S fine!" Tartaglia squeaks, kicking himself mentally as he watches the dark-haired boy's face shift in amusement. "I-I was just... Looking at the s-skulls. They're, uh, really... boney."
"Well, I should hope so."
There's a pause as Kaeya blinks. The amusement falls from his face as he takes in the sight of Tartaglia's uniform and the brooch on his lapel. As his brow knits, he seems to realize that his poker face has fallen, and he elegantly rearranges his countenance into something more palatable to an audience. Tartaglia decides then and there that he would never want to be "an audience" to Kaeya.
"A-Are you really staying here?" Tartaglia blurts out, fidgeting with his hands.
Almost as if he's watching a tiger circle him like prey, Kaeya suddenly gets very serious, raising his shoulders slightly as Tartaglia gulps. "Who did you say you were again?"
i’m not sure if this tiny little scene is going to make the cut, but i thought y’all could do with some fluffy domestic chaeya before i snatch it all away from you and plunge the timeline into darkness :) <- not a spoiler. probably.
Kaeya wakes up to sunlight filtering through the fir trees outside the window, the cotton blanket that Ajax smuggled out of his old room draped over the duvet. The bed is empty, but it still smells of him, and shamelessly, Kaeya turns over, burying his face in the pillows. Downstairs, there is clattering and a peal of laughter, then the rapid footsteps up the stairs follows, rousing Kaeya from his half-awake, dozy state. Teucer sprints down the hallway, giggling as he goes. Heavier, slower footsteps follow, and before long, the door handle is turning.
"Good morning," Ajax says, crawling onto the bed smelling of sugar and butter. "Can I interest you in some breakfast?"
Stretching, Kaeya smirks, sighing contentedly. "What kind of breakfast are we talking about?"
Propping his head up on his hand, the ginger-haired boy scoffs. "Mondstadt-style pancakes, you degenerate."
"Oh, but when you call me names like that, I start to think about the other kind of breakfast, darling." Kaeya drawls, walking his fingers up the sliver of skin uncovered by Ajax's maroon button-up. Running his tongue over his bottom lip, he captures the words that the other tries to say before they leave, sliding a hand into his hair.
Humming contentedly, Ajax relaxes onto the mattress, sinking further into the folds of the duvet. He tastes like powdered sugar and cinnamon, and when Kaeya opens his eyes, he realizes that there is a smattering of flour in his hair.
"You've made quite the mess." He states amusedly, patting the powder out of Ajax's hair. "If this is the state that baking has left you in, I mourn the kitchen. Should I come down in protective gear?"
Ajax snorts. "Smartass."
"You love it."
And then, because the world is intent on tripping Kaeya up and wrapping him in golden threads, Ajax smiles, his fingertips brushing the former's bottom lip, and he says, "I do."
An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: 原神 | Genshin Impact (Video Game)
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Kong | Aether/Xiao (Genshin Impact), Kong | Aether & Paimon (Genshin Impact), Kong | Aether & Ying | Lumine (Genshin Impact)
Characters: Kong | Aether (Genshin Impact), Traveler (Genshin Impact), Xiao (Genshin Impact), Paimon (Genshin Impact)
Additional Tags: Cooking, Bad Flirting, Food, Comfort Food, talking to the hot demon slayer on the roof of the inn and trying to get his attention with food, Romantic Tension, Fluff, Inner Dialogue, aka aether debates on whether or not xiao wants to kiss him or eat him alive, not like that you nasties, This is fluff, pure fluff, Mentioned Venti (Genshin Impact), paimon Does Not See It, she Refuses To Acknowledge It, Protective Paimon (Genshin Impact), Mentioned Ying | Lumine (Genshin Impact)
Summary:
After a moment, Xiao speaks again. "Why did you come?"
Quick, Aether thinks, play it cool!
"I, uh, wanted to eat with - see - eat you -" He stutters.
Xiao makes a funny little noise. "You want... To eat... me?"
"No! With you, I meant with you." Aether rapidly gesticulates the opposite. "I wanted to see - eat with you. Because you're nice."
-------
Aether is trying his best to get Xiao to stop disappearing on him. Obviously, the only correct solution is to keep him occupied with plates of food.
