#starconch

[tikowitika]

When Xiao accidentally sits on his birthday present

[maxyvert]

🌊🌊 Yelan 🌊🌊

[kykyonthemoon]

Starconch

Unhurried steps along the shore, bare feet playing with the water and sand, Childe breathed in the scent of the ocean. The place was quiet; like a sanctuary that only he knew the way in.

But he was not alone.

“Ojou-chan?”

He called, yet there was no response. His steps drew closer and closer to the figure kneeling among the colorful starconches on the sand.

“Ojou-chan.” Childe called, leaning down to reach her shoulder with his bare hand.

Lumine turned around; starlights glowed in her eyes as she gazed into Childe’s ocean eyes. She smiled.

“Childe! You’re here! I’ve collected some starconches for you!”

She showed him the small starconches in both of her hands. They weren’t just the usual colors; but some were golden, some were red, the others were green,... 

Lumine placed the starconches back to the sand, taking only one with her when she stood up. She was rather short; much shorter than Childe. She held the starconch in her hands and brought it to him. It was cerulean, like the ocean, with a touch of white waves. On top of it, there was a little star. A glimmer came from it that caught Childe’s eyes.

“In Liyue, they say that if you hold a starconch close to your ear, you will hear the longing calls of the ocean,” said Lumine.

“And what has the ocean told you, ojou-chan?” 

“Nothing.”

“Nothing?”

Lumine tilted her head, “Hmm... When I tried to listen, I couldn’t hear anything. But, I think that the starconches don’t always tell us their stories. Sometimes, it’s us who tell the words in our hearts.”

Childe was amused by her reply. Somehow, the Lumine in front of him was not the Lumine he had met a while ago in Liyue. She had opened up to him, and put her trust in him. Childe took the chances to get to know her more, and he had found out that behind the usual calm and a little distant Lumine, there was a lovely, curious, and full of love Lumine.

That’s when he started to deny what his heart keeps telling him.

There’s no way a Harbinger of the Fatui like him would fall for a mere Traveler, whose role in his play was just a tool to get closer to what he really wanted.

“...So, I’ve said it out to this starconch,” Lumine continued, “The words that my heart wants to say...” 

Tiptoed, she held the starconch in her hands closer to Childe. 

“This is for you, Childe. The color of it reminds me of... your eyes.”

Lumine’s face was not the only one that glowed in red. Childe always knew the right things to say, to make hearts flustered and then break them into pieces. But at that moment, it felt like his heart wasn’t his own anymore. Such a betrayal.

“T-Thank you, ojou-chan...”

He held a hand out towards her. The wind carried her words to him, but it was strange. 

Her voice seemed to be echoing from a distant world, “What I want... to tell you... Childe...”

The blue starconch fell from her hands to his. But when it reached his palm, it turned into sand and slipped through his pale fingers, leaving traces of crimson. He startled, realizing it was blood.

Childe looked up from his bloody hand. Lumine was covered in blood. Her eyes opened wide, but they were empty. The starlights had gone. 

“...Why... Childe... Why?”

Before he knew what was happening, Childe felt a weight on his hand. The next thing he knew, his spear had pierced through Lumine’s slender body. The other end of it was in his own hand.

“You knew it from the start, ojou-chan...” Childe heard himself speaking, with a distant voice as if he wasn’t there at all, “That I am a member of the Fatui...”

Lumine was completely in shock. The pain caused by a broken trust was much greater than being pierced. 

“You knew it too well... that you shouldn’t trust me...”

Childe felt like a puppet. The words came out of his lips as if he’s just repeating lines from a script, where he’s the bad guy and Lumine happened to be in his way. This was how things were supposed to be, wasn’t it? 

Childe heard a scream inside his head. No! It didn’t have to be this way! He was struggling in a battle against himself to save Lumine. But it was too late. He had already lost.

Choosing her for his plan was wrong from the start. Falling for her was his biggest mistake. 

If only Childe hadn’t let his feelings for the girl grow stronger and stronger every day.

If only he could be ruthless, as he had always been...

Childe’s free hand moved up and cupped Lumine’s cheek. He wiped away the tear halfway down her cheek, “Goodbye, ojou-chan...”

The secret inside her starconch, now only the ocean would know.

***

The Eleventh of the Fatui Harbingers stood alone by the window overlooking Liyue Harbor. It was still dark, yet he knew that the sun would not rise again in Liyue once more, for this was the day he carried out the Tsaritsa’s order. 

Childe held a small starconch in his hand. It was blue and white, with a glimmering star on top. The starconch seemed to be recalling a girl’s voice that soothed his raging waves, 

“This is for you, Childe...”

“I... picked it on the way here...”

“The color of it reminds me of your eyes...”

His fingers wrapped around the starconch with a powerful force, yet gently enough not to crush it into dust. He placed the starconch back to the pocket close to his heart and turned towards the door. An army of Fatui was waiting for his command outside.

There was nothing he could do to stop this war. But if he must face her in the battlefield, the only thing he could do was to protect her from his own nightmare.

-------------------------------------------------------

Au’s note: I haven’t written any fic for awhile so I’m quite nervous posting this. This is my very first time writing for Genshin Impact~ I hope you guys enjoy this piece <3

Also, can I call Chilumi, “starconch lovers”?

[diurnaldaysart]

Childe with a starconch because he needs an ungodly amount of these for his ascensions. Also, I’m getting him on his rerun with guaranteed pity!

[hiraethcities]

the starchonches in genshin impact are very gender. so i made it a gender

[ID: A flag with a Starconch from Genshin Impact on front. The color of the flag is color picked from the Starconch, in order the colors go dark blue, light blue, white, light blue, dark blue. /End ID]

[my-socialdiary]

Deep Water

Word Count: 2113

Here we go! Childe x Lumine fanfiction! This is my first time writing a story using english XD pardon my bad BAD grammar because english is not my first language. i tried to fix that :(

***

They’re different, inside and outside.

They have different purposes when approaching each other.

But strangely enough, they feel comfortable. They feel like they can rely on each other.

There is Lumine, and Childe.

There is a butterfly and its destroyer.

It is dark, still, yet beautiful at the same time. The full moon that reflected on the darkened blue sea in Yaoguang Shoal. The sound of waves is so calming and somehow has the ability to heal every ache, mentally. Lumine sits on one of the rocks, dipping her feet in the salt water, enjoying the coldness that it gives. She loves being near water even though she’s an anemo user.

Water; the stillness is giving it a mysterious sense. You will never know what’s deep inside the water if you don’t purposely dive into it. It may contain something dangerous, or it may contain something valuable, like that luxurious chest she finds at Dunyu Ruins after delivering some annoying seelies. For her, water by some means is magical and inexplicable.

Water is exactly just like Childe.

Mysterious.

Menacing.

Some people said that he’s ruthless. Merciless murderer, because of his affiliation with the Fatui, and also because he’s the Eleventh of the Fatui Harbingers. The youngest one but one of the most dangerous amongst their number.

But…

He’s the most bold, enchanting, and clever man she ever met in her life. Not to mention he also has the sweetest smile…

… and lots of Mora.

She smiled when remembering that moment when Childe approached her and Zhongli when they were about to buy some kites for The Rite of Parting from Granny Shan’s shop. Zhongli is… thinking about him makes her sigh. That man is surely a special case.

“… Lumine?” A small, sleepy voice brings her back in reality. “Paimon thinks that now we should camp somewhere else. It’s so cold in here and Paimon can catch a cold anytime!” Her emergency f—travelling companion now is awake and leans her body to Lumine’s head. “C’mon, Lumine! We can camp at Mingyun Village or get a room at Wangshu Inn, but not here, in the open field, near the water!”

Lumine chuckles. “Alright, alright,” she stands and reaches up her shoes. “Let’s go.”

Before they leave, Lumine glances over the sea once again and smiles.

***

He knows himself more than anyone in Liyue—or even in Teyvat. Or even his sister, Tonia. All the blessing and curse he has related to water. All those scars that he tried to bury, deep down in his mind. All those achievements mean nothing more than a boastful show off. He knows himself. Truly, inside and outside.

But, meeting her makes him doubt his knowledge about himself.  

Their first meeting is quite unique. That time, when there’s announcement about Rex Lapis’ death at The Rite of Descension, he was just arrived at Liyue to do some works delegated by Fatui to the Northland Bank when he heard a bunch of Millelith shouting to each other, ordering their comrades to arrest someone.

“You have nowhere to run!”

That commotion is enough to get his interest. He looked up and saw the back of a blonde-haired girl that just drew her sword out to fight those trained Millelith. Before he could think twice, the water shifted from his hand, forming a water blade each in his hands and leap over, “Hey girlie, hold still!” The sound of water coming through his ears while his hands are now focusing to fight those Millelith. His position as one of the Harbingers was not given to him without reasons. Easily enough, he defeated all of the Millelith guard—he didn’t kill them, but enough to make them unconscious—then turn back to that girl just to see her golden-yellow eyes now staring at him.

He knew her. Friend of the Knights of Favonius.

“Come with me.” That time, he knew he shouldn’t do that. But he did it anyway. And from then until now, they’ve been together, side by side to fight monsters and sometimes treasure hoarders. It’s funny to realize that because he’s more like an independent fighter rather than a group fighter. But with Lumine, everything that he knows about himself seems to become different. Firstly, He already promises himself that he won’t do anything using his feelings anymore. And secondly, He promises himself that he won’t do anything stupid by helping other people because that’s not what Fatui do.

But yet, he failed.

Lumine is like a breath of fresh air for his breathless life. With Lumine, he feels like he can relax a little bit, smile a little bit, and importantly, see the beauty of life a little bit. A little bit is more than enough for life like his. But that little bit is not good for their relationship. Tsaritsa will find out about Lumine sooner or later. And that’s not good. That means Lumine will always be in danger near him. Thinking about that makes him shiver. I can’t let anything bad happen to her. Not until she reunites with her twin brother. Not until I can be assured that she’s safe. This time, he tries to keep his promise. He could no longer indulge himself in all this beauty which he didn’t deserve from the first time he knew her. 

Because of that, now he found himself waiting at Liyue Harbor because he made a promise to Lumine that they would watch the sunrise before he went back to Snezhnaya. Lumine doesn’t know yet about his plan to go back to his hometown. She only knew that today they would be enjoying sunrise on the boat he rented from Linling. He tries so hard to distance himself from that bright-cheerful-and-lighthearted girl but he fails dozens of times. This is the only way he can do that. Even though it means that he probably will see that girl crying in front of him. 

“Childe!” The euphonic voice that has become his favorite—since when? He doesn’t know—takes him back to the scenery of Liyue Harbor. “been waiting long?” Lumine asks while stabilizing her blue glider and then fixing her flower hair clip. Childe looked away to distract himself and pretend to be looking the other way.

“Not really,” he smiles. “You ready?”

“I was born ready,” she smiled back. The smile that has always been his favorite. 

“Let’s go, then.” Childe walked first, followed by Lumine behind him. She can’t help but smile like an idiot while looking at Childe’s broad shoulder. She knows that she likes him more than friends, but how about him? He never made a real move towards her. Childe has been doing sweet things to her, but how can she be sure that it because he likes her in that way? Should she ask him first?

“Ouch!” Her thoughts make her unaware that Childe is now stopped walking and tries to untie the rope that ties the boat. “Oh my Archons, that hurts!” She cringed and rubbed her aching forehead. Childe turns back and chuckles. She’s so cute. He thinks. And the next second he tries to ignore that thought. 

“What were you doing?” 

Both of Lumine’s cheeks become warm. I was thinking about you! “N-no. Nothing. Nothing at all, s-seriously!”

“Whoa, okay-okay,” Childe lets out a small laugh. “Let’s go.” He reaches Lumine’s arms and helps her get on the boat. After everything has set, Childe rowed the boat, heading to the best place to see the sunrise in Liyue Harbor according to his experience. It was 4 in the morning when they set out their boat. Here in Liyue, the sun rises a little late. 

“I always love midnight and dawn,” she looked at Childe while keeping her hair from covering her face. “It’s nice and calm.”

“Thought you were the rousing-type of girl,” 

“Yeah, I’ll admit that, but sometimes,” she turns her head over the sea horizon. “Once in a lifetime, you need to escape from those ruckus and enjoy the beauty of stillness.”

“The beauty of stillness, huh?” he raised his eyebrow. “Never heard of that.”

Lumine smiles. 

A few moments later, Childe stopped rowing. He is now looking at Lumine who is currently closing her eyes, enjoying the cool air. She won’t be bothered by the wind. She’s an anemo user, after all. Wind is her friend. Just like water is his friend. And enemy, at the same time. 

He then looked down to his reflection on the water. That smile of his and all of the funny jokes he made so that people will like him is a lie. It was a deceitful move. But when he’s with Lumine, it all feels real. Or… maybe it’s just his delusion. Like the electro vision he has, given by Tsaritsa. He doesn’t know anymore what’s real in his life. 

“Childe, look!” Lumine is now covering her mouth, feeling in awe because the sun starts to go up to its place in Liyue. “It’s so beautiful.”

Instead of looking at the sunrise, he looked at Lumine—never can get enough of her—and said, “it is.” 

“Thank you for bringing me here, Childe.” She gives him a dazzling smile. “I really, really love it.”

“Well, now you know this place. You can come here every time you want to enjoy that ‘beauty of stillness’.” He quoted Lumine’s words and gave a playful smile. 

“With you?”

“You can go here alone. That’s the point, right?” 

“I mean, we can go here together again, right? I can teach you about the beauty of stillness that I mentioned earlier,” She said. 

“No…” He looked down. Now is the time for you to tell her, Childe. “I-I will no longer come to Liyue.” 

“W-what do you mean you will no longer come to Liyue? Are you leaving?”

He nodded. “I’m going back to Snezhnaya,” he didn’t dare to look at her. “My hometown.”

“...when?”

“Today.”

She swallowed her tears, “so this is why you suggest that we should go watch the sunrise,” her voice is now trembling. “You wanted to say goodbye?”

“Yes. Besides, there's nothing else I can do here anyway,” please don’t cry. Please don’t cry. Please. “And the Fatui is asking me to go back.” liar. 

What about me? A tear tickled her cheek, and she started chewing on her lower lip while her eyes welled up with tears. “I—” she mumbled something through her mouth and choked on her sobs. “S-sorry. I didn’t know what happened to me.” She let out fake chuckles and looked away. 

Meanwhile, Childe, his vision was blurry; it was difficult for him to see clearly, but he knew that it was a hurtful moment for them. He hears Lumine sniffing and sobbing even though she is trying to hold it. For some moment, both of them drown into their own thoughts and feelings. 

“Will I be able to see you again, sometime in the future?” Lumine asks. She didn’t turn her head to see Childe. “Is there a possibility that we can sit in this boat, enjoying the sunrise together again? Is there any?” 

Childe opens his mouth to say something, but closes it again. No. we can’t meet. You can’t meet me. It’s dangerous. 

“No?” Lumine urged him. 

“If…” Childe dared himself to stare at that girl. “If you want to be around to see it again with me, best you stay alive until we next meet… okay?” And again, he breaks his own promise to not see Lumine ever again. 

They smiled at each other. 

***

That blonde-haired girl is now sitting at one of the Mingyun Village’s rooftop. She looked at a blue shell with a somewhat star-shaped in the center. A starconch. She misses him already but she knows that sometime in the future, they will meet again. Because he needs to take back this precious starconch from her.

***

“Here, keep this,” Childe takes her right hand and places something in her palm. 

“A starconch?”

He nodded. “Yes. It’s not just any starconch you can find, it is my precious starconch because it has memories in it.”

“What memories?” She asked him with a curious look. 

“I’ll save that story for later, when we meet again,” he said, which made her frown. “Until then, you need to keep this. Because I’ll come and take this back.”

“Okay.”

“Okay, good.”

***

“I guess I just need to wait a little longer, don’t I?” Lumine glanced at her little fairy friend, stood then jumped off the roof. “In the meantime, let’s blow away some hilichurls, shall we?” 

“Lumine, wait, Paimon thinks we should eat first!” Paimon tries to keep her distance near Lumine. But she keeps running with a big grin in her face. “Lumineeeeee!” 

[ragnarokmay]

UNLocal Traveller being emotional over 

 ✪ Starconch ✪

[daily-tartag]

#82

Starconch