mischievously: (thirty-six.)
𝐓𝐀𝐑𝐓𝐀𝐆𝐋𝐈𝐀. ([personal profile] mischievously) wrote 2021-06-03 03:59 am (UTC)

( zhongli erases all the hard work childe spent undoing him in less than a few moments, and the urge to run his fingers through his hair and rumple his clothes beyond repair carves a momentary snag in his long stride before he steps through the door. dusk blossoms on the horizon; shades of gold and red twinkle into a pool of inky darkness, daylight's last dwindling breath. how long had they been in there? he'd lost track of time entirely. )

No more than usual. ( maybe a little more than usual. his unfettered, fresh-faced charisma is understandably far less effective following his stunt with osial, and security has been significantly tightened in places he would've otherwise been mostly welcome. ) While I can't guarantee that they're not spitting at my turned back, they've been cordial enough considering the circumstances.

( if he's using cordial in the loosest definition possible.

he'd half expected to be thrown into the ocean, or barred entry from liyue. that he wasn't was an enormously generous courtesy, more to the tsaritsa than himself, and while his extended stay in liyue hasn't been pleasant since the incident, he'd rather gut himself at the feet of the qixing than admit to any quote-unquote difficulty aloud. in due time, he'll be called back to snezhnaya on orders from the tsaritsa, cut down into little more than a scathing sentence in liyue's future history books. the northern foreigner who fancied himself a god-killer and then failed to kill a god, end of chapter.

childe maintains his pace side-by-side with zhongli, down the many steps past the millelith dutifully holding guard, and tips two fingers to his temple in salute. neither of them look at him, though one of them blinks a little harder than necessary.
)

How are you settling into your new role? Or — ( he hums, thoughtful. ) I suppose it's more of a return to an old normal than anything new, isn't it?

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