[Chuuya removes his shoes before joining Diluc on the couch, settling comfortably next to him. He doesn't need the invitation, he's long become comfortable here.
Though after a moment, he reaches into his pocket-- pulling out a cat treat he neatly sets out as a peace offering for Addy.]
Yeah, it was pretty interesting. We were looking at clothing before that, though-- You know those enchanted kimonos they're advertising right now?
[Diluc, now that he's seated, sets about investigating the snacks that Chuuya brought for him. A careful eye would reveal his prodding tends to focus more on sweet things than not, and he picks something out before offering the rest for the other man to choose one.]
Ah-- yes, I did hear about those. [Not something he had got around to trying himself. The amount of information that the vendors of the festival had managed to get on him was... startling, to say the least, and he had started to grow unsettled by the amount of people looking his way and muttering to one another. He'd headed home after that.]
I'm glad Kaeya has someone else he's happy to spend time with.
[Chuuya picks something from the bundle at random, interestingly enough. He likes trying new foods from different places, and the fair had been a nice place to find a variety of interesting treats.
And he certainly notices Diluc's bias for sweet foods, a small smile coming to his lips as he eats.]
He's fun to hang out with, really. He was the one who suggested the fair, and I'm glad he did.
[He'll let Diluc snack a bit before he digs into the why they ditched shopping to go elsewhere.]
[It does make him happy. Diluc, even with his nature being more reserved now than when he was younger, tends to be more open about making friends and more trusting of them when it happens. Kaeya in contrast has always been more closed off, and knowing that someone has managed to befriend him - especially when it's someone Diluc regards highly - is nice to think about.
Kaeya has been a little lonely, he thinks.]
He'd like to say I'm the kid out of the two of us but he's just as bad as I am. [Diluc laughs, settling himself back into the corner of the couch.] We both loved the festivals back home when we were children.
[In truth, Diluc and Kaeya both have been helping Chuuya adjust, in the absence of his large 'family'. It's been hard, but... not as crushingly lonely as it could be, to have people he can spend time with comfortably.]
Oh really? and you were telling me of how responsible you were as a child. Kaeya certainly had things to say about that. 'Rambunctious and precocious' I believe his words were.
[Yes, they've been gossiping about Diluc. Frankly, Chuuya thinks it's cute.]
But speaking of which... Something unexpected happened, while we were out.
[Diluc blinks. That they had been talking about him isn't an issue (in fact he would have been surprise if they hadn't been given the circumstances) but for his childhood behaviour to come up like that they must have been gossiping.
He snorts softly.]
I'm not going to deny it, but the two aren't necessarily mutually exclusive you know. [A grin - you know the one, that charming one that Chuuya likes - breaks across his face for a moment.]
And I think unexpected things are par for the course here, but uh... [And now he simmers down slightly, his expression turning a shade more serious.] What kind of something?
[Ah... that grin warms him from the inside usually, but today it only makes him feel guilt. It's not like either of them had a choice about what the kimono had shown, but there's a sort of gnawing feeling that lingers nonetheless, seeing something that intimately painful without permission.
But he reminds himself that this is the better option: He doesn't want Diluc to hear that Chuuya knows and be left thinking who knows what about how Chuuya will react.
His own expression is serious now, a little solemn, a little... apologetic, almost.]
...The enchanted kimonos didn't show just patterns. There were images from the past of the one who was wearing one. When Kaeya tried one on, I ended up seeing some pretty painful ones.
[It's clear on Diluc's face that he knows what Chuuya saw the moment he talks about seeing images of the past. His jaw tenses slightly, lips pressing together, and he averts his eyes from Chuuya's face to look at something in the corner of the room instead.]
Ah.
[He murmurs. Diluc leans forwards to place the half-finished snack he had been enjoying on the table in front of them and then shifts back again slowly, but there's a tension in him now that wasn't there before. Damn this fucking place, why can't it just leave the past well alone when it comes to Kaeya? It's not the first time it's thrown up those memories in front of another person.]
Then-- [He grips his knees lightly to fight the urge to fold his arms, but doesn't win the battle. His fingers curl tightly around his elbows.] You'll be wanting to know my side of the story, I suppose.
I mean... do I have some questions? Yeah, sure. But if I have any right to the answers is another question entirely. Kaeya didn't get a choice about what I got shown, but he ended up explaining things anyway.
[He watches Diluc carefully, noting the tension, the way he grips his knees before folding his arms. It's clear he's uneasy, and Chuuya hates that he's the reason Diluc looks like this, when they've become so comfortable with each other.]
You can explain if you want to, but I'm not going to pry painful answers out of you. I just... needed you to know that I saw.
[Does he have a right to an answer? Not really, but Diluc does not say out loud - at least not yet - that what he saw and why it happened is none of his business. Despite how open he can be about some things Diluc is a private person when it comes to the events of his past that he shares with Kaeya, knowing that neither of them should tell all the details without the permission of the other.
But Chuuya already knows. Does he have the right? No, he doesn't at all, but it isn't as if he's asking unprompted.]
Tch... [Honestly he would have rather heard it from Kaeya. His visible unease comes from the sensation of suddenly feeling cornered, pinned down with the expectation of being asked for answers he might not want to give.]
[And Chuuya is trying, in his own gruff but careful way, to reassure Diluc that there's no pressure here. Perhaps thinking he could head off any concerns by breaking the news to Diluc himself was foolish, with how tense he looked right now.
He reaches up, running a hand through the long lock of hair that hangs uneven down one side of his neck. He looks awkward, repeating what he saw.]
...You and Kaeya were fighting. Kaeya was on the ground, and you were about to strike him with your fire. There was his vision between you two-- freezing things over. And his eye was injured.
[It's... the most non-descriptive way he could describe it.]
[What he'd thought, then. Diluc pushes his hand through his hair then leans forwards, bracing his forearms against his thighs. It's one thing to explain that day of his own volition but entirely another to be confronted about it by someone who saw it by accident.]
I told you my father died suddenly. [He says, his voice low and deceptively even.] He was killed. It was my eighteenth birthday, and we were attacked on our way home. He-- He was hurt, badly. Too badly. I had to make a decision then, and I chose to not watch him suffer.
[He doesn't say the words exactly, but the meaning is clear enough. A deep breath is pulled in, held, let out slowly.]
And then I went home. I didn't know what to do. It felt like I'd just lost everything. Then Kaeya came to see me, and what he told me felt like a betrayal. Of our father, of Mondstadt, and of me and everything we had been through together. And I... snapped. I attacked him, and I would have killed him if he hadn't been granted a Vision.
[Chuuya listens quietly, attentively. To both what is said and not said.
So that's what Kaeya had avoided saying. It was a mercy killing, to end his father's suffering. The right thing to do maybe, but also the most painful option for Diluc. That at least, Chuuya could relate to-- he's lost so many people in the past, friends and subordinates.
When someone was too far gone to save... you did what you could for them, and saw them on their way. Hear their last words, give them a cigarette or flask. Or an end to their suffering.
And then... Kaeya's timing couldn't have been worse.]
So that's why... [It was probably overwhelming, to make Diluc snap. His entire world in shambles at his feet, probably still in shock from what had happened.]
...I'm sorry. I know it doesn't mean much, but... I'm sorry that you had to go through that. Both of you. Most of all though, I'm sorry that you have to talk about something that's still so painful.
[Because of stupid, happenstance shopping trip that took a turn for the worst.]
[He doesn't know why Kaeya had chosen that night to approach him with the truth. No matter how many times the other man tried to explain it, to make sense of it, Diluc couldn't understand. If he had waited even a week, even a few days, Diluc might have been in a better position to listen. If they could have mourned together and then worked through that, maybe what happened that night would not have occurred.
Diluc had been young, with his entire world in ruins at his feet, and then his closest, most trusted friend had told him he had been lying to him their entire lives. In that moment it had simply been too much to bear.]
Yes, well... the magic here has not yet seen fit to leave our past where it belongs. [He frowns and sits up straight, pushing his hair back over his shoulders.] When Kaeya's Vision appeared it was the loudest thing I'd ever heard. Like thunder two feet from my face. I stopped when I realised I'd hurt him, that he was bleeding, but he would barely let me touch him.
[Understandably.]
We talked about it later, but things were never the same after that. It isn't the reason I left Mondstadt, but it didn't help matters.
[Chuuya sets his elbows on his knees, still listening. He wonders now if the reason Kaeya had been clutching his eye had been a headache, or a phantom ache brought forth by the memories.
Could be either, really. The both of them had been through so much... and yet it's somehow not surprising, not really. They'd accepted him after all.]
That vision probably saved the both of you, in the long run. [And maybe there's an irony there-- that Diluc controlled fire and Kaeya ice, but those opposing elements had been just what was necessary.]
...But you mended fences eventually, right? Pretty sure the proof is self-evident there.
We'd always been close. Like twins. Never far apart from each other. You don't just abandon something like that.
[Even if Diluc had, for a long time... Kaeya had known what he was up to before he had told anyone that he was leaving. Varka would have tried to stop him. Kaeya knew it was useless to try.]
I was away from Mondstadt for four years. We communicated by letter, when we were able to, but I often made myself very difficult to find. I came back to a number of notes that had never made it to me. [He still isn't looking at Chuuya, frowning at the table instead.] When I came back we didn't see each other face to face for weeks, but the Grand Master of the Knights of Favonius decided he was going to interfere with that. [He huffs out a soft, dry laugh.]
We've been working together since I got back, but not openly. We still know each other best, after all.
[When Kaeya had told him of how close they'd been as children, Chuuya had honestly thought it was... well, nice. Ideal even, to have someone genuinely by your side through thick and thin. Sure, you could know a person in and out, but that didn't mean they'd truly be... a friend. Or that they'd stick around. He knew from experience.
...It must have been so painful, for the both of them.]
That's when you left the knights, yeah? Or at least I guess as much. Can't imagine you could take hiatus from your job for four years, unless they gave you some sort of mission.
[Which was probably not completely out of the question, but it sounds unlikely.]
I resigned, when the Investigator at the time demanded that I take the credit for my father's actions to save their precious image.
[A faint viciousness does inch its way into his voice at that. The burn of that betrayal has not faded even after the number of years that have passed.]
They couldn't have the reputation of the Knights of Favonius tarnished by the idea that a 'merchant' had given his life to fight off a beast, while they had done nothing. [His brow furrows and he shakes his head.] My father was not just a simple merchant. Mondstadt is what it is because of people like my father. It would have served them better to remember that.
[Maybe he wouldn't have left, if Eroch hadn't done that.]
I knew I had to take it into my own hands. I knew who to look for, just not where to find them. I spend four years trying to hunt them down, and I destroyed anything and anyone that got in my way.
[Oh, the tone of Chuuya's voice makes it clear how he feels about that.] So they rob a man of his accomplishment when he's in his fucking grave? What the hell kinda bastard would do something like that?
[Chuuya tone and dialect is a little rougher when he's angry, and of course he very rarely hides his emotions. Now is not an exception.]
Well screw them. You got the people behind it in the end, right? Bet that showed 'em to sweep shit under the rug.
I destroyed enough of their people and strongholds across Teyvat over four years to draw the attention of their leaders, and they decided to try to deal with me. I was almost killed.
[Finally, Diluc leans back into the couch cushions again. He looks up at the ceiling in silence, then over to the other man.] I'm officially a persona non grata in their home country, and I was never able to directly confront the person who was ultimately behind my father's death. [Another frown, smaller than before.] But I know who he is, and he knows that I do. If he's smart, he'll think twice before approaching Mondstadt again. If I have to burn down the entirety of the Fatui forces and myself with them to protect my country, I will.
[Well damn. Chuuya looks at Diluc as he speaks, both impressed and slightly concerned.... 'impressed' is winning out, though.
What? He's mafia. He can appreciate that kind of destructive power and dedication. Bloody revenge was practically required in the port mafia rulebook.] So you went on a rampage all over the place until they tried to take you out personally. At least you managed to put the fear of death into 'em, from the sound of it.
[...God there is no hiding the tiniest hint of admiration in his voice, is there? He shakes his head, letting out a short, humorless huff of laughter.]
But I'm glad... that you made it back alive.
[He offers Diluc a small, soft smile now.]
...A little disappointed I can't offer to help you burn the fuckers down, though. Laying waste to enemy strongholds is a specialty of mine.
[There really is no hiding it and it's enough to prompt a small, slightly hesitant grin from Diluc in response that softens in response to the smile. He had worried at first that what Chuuya knew now would change his opinion of him, but he really should have known better.]
The person who rescued me back then inducted me into a continent-wide intelligence network. I've been working with them since then, protecting Mondstadt on as many fronts as necessary.
[Just so Chuuya knows he isn't alone now.]
And the Investigator... he was found guilty of treason and expelled from the order, then exiled from Mondstadt. I don't know where he is now. If he's dead in a ditch somewhere it's more than he deserves. [Fussing, unsure of what to do with his hands, he tucks a thick curl of hair behind his ear. It slides free almost immediately.] I couldn't go back to the Knights after what happened. I think the Grand Master understood that, even if he was disappointed. Varka is... an interesting man. I have a lot of respect for him. But not that much.
[Chuuya is very, very far from what people would consider 'normal' in the morals department, a few good traits aside.
That smile of Diluc's warms him through, settling some of the discomfort and guilt he'd felt while seeing Diluc so tense.]
Hah. So I was almost right on the info broker assumption back then. I'm glad you aren't doing this alone, between Kaeya and them.
[Diluc tucks hair behind his ear, only for it to slide free-- and Chuuya's hand is there instead, carefully reaching up to tuck the hair back into place, lingering briefly. He'd kept his hands to himself this entire time, in spite of wanting to offer comfort... precisely because it had been so difficult for Diluc. He didn't want his friend to feel more pressured than he already did.]
I'm also glad that bastard got what was coming to him.
[He tips his head slightly against the soft brush of fingers at the side of his face and sighs. Every time he has to talk about this it's difficult, but it does get a little easier each time.]
Mmn.
[Diluc snags Chuuya's wrist and tugs, pulling the smaller man in close to his side and then wrapping his arm around him. It could have been worse. He can still remember how hard it had been to talk to Kazuha and Venti about it, months ago.]
I said that you see a better version of me here. Maybe you understand that now. I'm... very closed off, in Mondstadt. I keep everyone away. I have my reasons, but being here has... helped. I've had to face up to a lot of things, and I've had more time to move on.
[When Diluc tugs him over, Chuuya goes easily, settling against his side with a soft sigh and a hand tucking around Diluc's waist. His other hand is terribly gentle as it massages Diluc's palm, Chuuya still recalling the tension he'd carried in his arms as he spoke.]
I do understand better. And I also understand why you said you keep people at arm's length.
[And here Chuuya is, far closer than that. He's glad, that he's gotten to know Diluc this much.]
I'm glad. Not that I don't think I wouldn't like you anyway, but you sound like you're happier now.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
timeasmymeasure
no subject
Date: 2022-08-04 06:01 am (UTC)[Chuuya removes his shoes before joining Diluc on the couch, settling comfortably next to him. He doesn't need the invitation, he's long become comfortable here.
Though after a moment, he reaches into his pocket-- pulling out a cat treat he neatly sets out as a peace offering for Addy.]
Yeah, it was pretty interesting. We were looking at clothing before that, though-- You know those enchanted kimonos they're advertising right now?
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Date: 2022-08-04 06:27 am (UTC)Ah-- yes, I did hear about those. [Not something he had got around to trying himself. The amount of information that the vendors of the festival had managed to get on him was... startling, to say the least, and he had started to grow unsettled by the amount of people looking his way and muttering to one another. He'd headed home after that.]
I'm glad Kaeya has someone else he's happy to spend time with.
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Date: 2022-08-04 06:34 am (UTC)And he certainly notices Diluc's bias for sweet foods, a small smile coming to his lips as he eats.]
He's fun to hang out with, really. He was the one who suggested the fair, and I'm glad he did.
[He'll let Diluc snack a bit before he digs into the why they ditched shopping to go elsewhere.]
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Date: 2022-08-04 06:38 am (UTC)Kaeya has been a little lonely, he thinks.]
He'd like to say I'm the kid out of the two of us but he's just as bad as I am. [Diluc laughs, settling himself back into the corner of the couch.] We both loved the festivals back home when we were children.
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Date: 2022-08-04 06:46 am (UTC)Oh really? and you were telling me of how responsible you were as a child. Kaeya certainly had things to say about that. 'Rambunctious and precocious' I believe his words were.
[Yes, they've been gossiping about Diluc. Frankly, Chuuya thinks it's cute.]
But speaking of which... Something unexpected happened, while we were out.
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Date: 2022-08-04 06:52 am (UTC)He snorts softly.]
I'm not going to deny it, but the two aren't necessarily mutually exclusive you know. [A grin - you know the one, that charming one that Chuuya likes - breaks across his face for a moment.]
And I think unexpected things are par for the course here, but uh... [And now he simmers down slightly, his expression turning a shade more serious.] What kind of something?
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Date: 2022-08-04 07:00 am (UTC)[Ah... that grin warms him from the inside usually, but today it only makes him feel guilt. It's not like either of them had a choice about what the kimono had shown, but there's a sort of gnawing feeling that lingers nonetheless, seeing something that intimately painful without permission.
But he reminds himself that this is the better option: He doesn't want Diluc to hear that Chuuya knows and be left thinking who knows what about how Chuuya will react.
His own expression is serious now, a little solemn, a little... apologetic, almost.]
...The enchanted kimonos didn't show just patterns. There were images from the past of the one who was wearing one. When Kaeya tried one on, I ended up seeing some pretty painful ones.
no subject
Date: 2022-08-04 07:08 am (UTC)Ah.
[He murmurs. Diluc leans forwards to place the half-finished snack he had been enjoying on the table in front of them and then shifts back again slowly, but there's a tension in him now that wasn't there before. Damn this fucking place, why can't it just leave the past well alone when it comes to Kaeya? It's not the first time it's thrown up those memories in front of another person.]
Then-- [He grips his knees lightly to fight the urge to fold his arms, but doesn't win the battle. His fingers curl tightly around his elbows.] You'll be wanting to know my side of the story, I suppose.
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Date: 2022-08-04 07:17 am (UTC)[He watches Diluc carefully, noting the tension, the way he grips his knees before folding his arms. It's clear he's uneasy, and Chuuya hates that he's the reason Diluc looks like this, when they've become so comfortable with each other.]
You can explain if you want to, but I'm not going to pry painful answers out of you. I just... needed you to know that I saw.
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Date: 2022-08-04 07:26 am (UTC)But Chuuya already knows. Does he have the right? No, he doesn't at all, but it isn't as if he's asking unprompted.]
Tch... [Honestly he would have rather heard it from Kaeya. His visible unease comes from the sensation of suddenly feeling cornered, pinned down with the expectation of being asked for answers he might not want to give.]
What, exactly, did you see?
no subject
Date: 2022-08-04 07:33 am (UTC)He reaches up, running a hand through the long lock of hair that hangs uneven down one side of his neck. He looks awkward, repeating what he saw.]
...You and Kaeya were fighting. Kaeya was on the ground, and you were about to strike him with your fire. There was his vision between you two-- freezing things over. And his eye was injured.
[It's... the most non-descriptive way he could describe it.]
no subject
Date: 2022-08-04 07:44 am (UTC)I told you my father died suddenly. [He says, his voice low and deceptively even.] He was killed. It was my eighteenth birthday, and we were attacked on our way home. He-- He was hurt, badly. Too badly. I had to make a decision then, and I chose to not watch him suffer.
[He doesn't say the words exactly, but the meaning is clear enough. A deep breath is pulled in, held, let out slowly.]
And then I went home. I didn't know what to do. It felt like I'd just lost everything. Then Kaeya came to see me, and what he told me felt like a betrayal. Of our father, of Mondstadt, and of me and everything we had been through together. And I... snapped. I attacked him, and I would have killed him if he hadn't been granted a Vision.
no subject
Date: 2022-08-04 08:01 am (UTC)So that's what Kaeya had avoided saying. It was a mercy killing, to end his father's suffering. The right thing to do maybe, but also the most painful option for Diluc. That at least, Chuuya could relate to-- he's lost so many people in the past, friends and subordinates.
When someone was too far gone to save... you did what you could for them, and saw them on their way. Hear their last words, give them a cigarette or flask. Or an end to their suffering.
And then... Kaeya's timing couldn't have been worse.]
So that's why... [It was probably overwhelming, to make Diluc snap. His entire world in shambles at his feet, probably still in shock from what had happened.]
...I'm sorry. I know it doesn't mean much, but... I'm sorry that you had to go through that. Both of you. Most of all though, I'm sorry that you have to talk about something that's still so painful.
[Because of stupid, happenstance shopping trip that took a turn for the worst.]
no subject
Date: 2022-08-04 08:08 am (UTC)Diluc had been young, with his entire world in ruins at his feet, and then his closest, most trusted friend had told him he had been lying to him their entire lives. In that moment it had simply been too much to bear.]
Yes, well... the magic here has not yet seen fit to leave our past where it belongs. [He frowns and sits up straight, pushing his hair back over his shoulders.] When Kaeya's Vision appeared it was the loudest thing I'd ever heard. Like thunder two feet from my face. I stopped when I realised I'd hurt him, that he was bleeding, but he would barely let me touch him.
[Understandably.]
We talked about it later, but things were never the same after that. It isn't the reason I left Mondstadt, but it didn't help matters.
no subject
Date: 2022-08-04 08:30 am (UTC)Could be either, really. The both of them had been through so much... and yet it's somehow not surprising, not really. They'd accepted him after all.]
That vision probably saved the both of you, in the long run. [And maybe there's an irony there-- that Diluc controlled fire and Kaeya ice, but those opposing elements had been just what was necessary.]
...But you mended fences eventually, right? Pretty sure the proof is self-evident there.
no subject
Date: 2022-08-04 08:36 am (UTC)[Even if Diluc had, for a long time... Kaeya had known what he was up to before he had told anyone that he was leaving. Varka would have tried to stop him. Kaeya knew it was useless to try.]
I was away from Mondstadt for four years. We communicated by letter, when we were able to, but I often made myself very difficult to find. I came back to a number of notes that had never made it to me. [He still isn't looking at Chuuya, frowning at the table instead.] When I came back we didn't see each other face to face for weeks, but the Grand Master of the Knights of Favonius decided he was going to interfere with that. [He huffs out a soft, dry laugh.]
We've been working together since I got back, but not openly. We still know each other best, after all.
no subject
Date: 2022-08-04 09:02 am (UTC)...It must have been so painful, for the both of them.]
That's when you left the knights, yeah? Or at least I guess as much. Can't imagine you could take hiatus from your job for four years, unless they gave you some sort of mission.
[Which was probably not completely out of the question, but it sounds unlikely.]
no subject
Date: 2022-08-04 09:07 am (UTC)[A faint viciousness does inch its way into his voice at that. The burn of that betrayal has not faded even after the number of years that have passed.]
They couldn't have the reputation of the Knights of Favonius tarnished by the idea that a 'merchant' had given his life to fight off a beast, while they had done nothing. [His brow furrows and he shakes his head.] My father was not just a simple merchant. Mondstadt is what it is because of people like my father. It would have served them better to remember that.
[Maybe he wouldn't have left, if Eroch hadn't done that.]
I knew I had to take it into my own hands. I knew who to look for, just not where to find them. I spend four years trying to hunt them down, and I destroyed anything and anyone that got in my way.
no subject
Date: 2022-08-04 09:20 am (UTC)[Oh, the tone of Chuuya's voice makes it clear how he feels about that.] So they rob a man of his accomplishment when he's in his fucking grave? What the hell kinda bastard would do something like that?
[Chuuya tone and dialect is a little rougher when he's angry, and of course he very rarely hides his emotions. Now is not an exception.]
Well screw them. You got the people behind it in the end, right? Bet that showed 'em to sweep shit under the rug.
no subject
Date: 2022-08-04 09:26 am (UTC)No.
[In a manner of speaking..? Well.]
I destroyed enough of their people and strongholds across Teyvat over four years to draw the attention of their leaders, and they decided to try to deal with me. I was almost killed.
[Finally, Diluc leans back into the couch cushions again. He looks up at the ceiling in silence, then over to the other man.] I'm officially a persona non grata in their home country, and I was never able to directly confront the person who was ultimately behind my father's death. [Another frown, smaller than before.] But I know who he is, and he knows that I do. If he's smart, he'll think twice before approaching Mondstadt again. If I have to burn down the entirety of the Fatui forces and myself with them to protect my country, I will.
no subject
Date: 2022-08-04 09:45 am (UTC)What? He's mafia. He can appreciate that kind of destructive power and dedication. Bloody revenge was practically required in the port mafia rulebook.] So you went on a rampage all over the place until they tried to take you out personally. At least you managed to put the fear of death into 'em, from the sound of it.
[...God there is no hiding the tiniest hint of admiration in his voice, is there? He shakes his head, letting out a short, humorless huff of laughter.]
But I'm glad... that you made it back alive.
[He offers Diluc a small, soft smile now.]
...A little disappointed I can't offer to help you burn the fuckers down, though. Laying waste to enemy strongholds is a specialty of mine.
no subject
Date: 2022-08-04 09:54 am (UTC)The person who rescued me back then inducted me into a continent-wide intelligence network. I've been working with them since then, protecting Mondstadt on as many fronts as necessary.
[Just so Chuuya knows he isn't alone now.]
And the Investigator... he was found guilty of treason and expelled from the order, then exiled from Mondstadt. I don't know where he is now. If he's dead in a ditch somewhere it's more than he deserves. [Fussing, unsure of what to do with his hands, he tucks a thick curl of hair behind his ear. It slides free almost immediately.] I couldn't go back to the Knights after what happened. I think the Grand Master understood that, even if he was disappointed. Varka is... an interesting man. I have a lot of respect for him. But not that much.
no subject
Date: 2022-08-04 10:04 am (UTC)That smile of Diluc's warms him through, settling some of the discomfort and guilt he'd felt while seeing Diluc so tense.]
Hah. So I was almost right on the info broker assumption back then. I'm glad you aren't doing this alone, between Kaeya and them.
[Diluc tucks hair behind his ear, only for it to slide free-- and Chuuya's hand is there instead, carefully reaching up to tuck the hair back into place, lingering briefly. He'd kept his hands to himself this entire time, in spite of wanting to offer comfort... precisely because it had been so difficult for Diluc. He didn't want his friend to feel more pressured than he already did.]
I'm also glad that bastard got what was coming to him.
no subject
Date: 2022-08-04 10:11 am (UTC)Mmn.
[Diluc snags Chuuya's wrist and tugs, pulling the smaller man in close to his side and then wrapping his arm around him. It could have been worse. He can still remember how hard it had been to talk to Kazuha and Venti about it, months ago.]
I said that you see a better version of me here. Maybe you understand that now. I'm... very closed off, in Mondstadt. I keep everyone away. I have my reasons, but being here has... helped. I've had to face up to a lot of things, and I've had more time to move on.
no subject
Date: 2022-08-04 10:25 am (UTC)I do understand better. And I also understand why you said you keep people at arm's length.
[And here Chuuya is, far closer than that. He's glad, that he's gotten to know Diluc this much.]
I'm glad. Not that I don't think I wouldn't like you anyway, but you sound like you're happier now.
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