Ship?-Venlumi
Oh no I wrote angst again.
Gliding over the green landscape gave the blonde a fluffy feeling in her chest. Venti points something out next to her. "Hey, look! It looks like a lovely clearing for a break."
She agrees and the lovebirds glide towards the clearing. Touching down on the ground, she gives herself a moment to stretch out her arms. A lot of T-posing is involved in gliding. (Much to her amusement.)
She flops onto the grass to rest, melting into the ground as if she was a pile of dirt.
"Were you really that tired? You could've just said something, you know." Venti hums the words out, taking a seat near her. "Lift your head up, my Knight."
"Hmmm?" She questions, but compiles. She blushes once she realizes Venti laid her head in his lap.
He had some nice plump thighs, sue her.
The bard hums and strokes her hair.
All is well in the world. (Well, not really. But if her brother refused to come home with her then she's allowed to enjoy time with her sweetheart). She's surprised when she feels his finger comb through her hair and settles in the tips of her longest strands.
She cracks open her eyes to investigate.
Vibrant green eyes stare down into the windows of her soul. Makes her wonder if he could see anything in them, because she surely couldn't.
"What are you thinking about?" His words are sweet and teasing. It's barely even an inquiry at this point.
"Hmmm, nothing much." Her glaze lands on his hand, still intertwining with her hair. "Are you planning to do anything with that?" It's meant to be a retort for the trade, but ends up sounding like a question.
The bard brings up the strands to his lip for a kiss, making her face grow hot. "I think I'll braid them, we'll be matching, see!" With that he tugs lightly on his own braid.
She smiled, teeth and all. "That'll be fair."
Venti hums back and begins to work his magical fingers.
With that she closes her eyes. To feel the wind better on her face. To feel the plush of her partner's thighs. To let the weariness of the flight seep from her bones and into the soil.
She can feel his hands at work. Grabbing and separating and twisting and shifting.
He hums a tune she's grown familiar with. Low and soft and-
Lumine's feelings sour.
Suddenly, it feels different when she gets comfy. The wind feels bitter and cold. Biting into her cheeks instead of a gentle caress. The legs she rests her head upon feels more toned. The hands, inexperienced and clunky. Working in a way she was sure the braid would look sloppy in.
Aether used to braid her hair, and by gods he was horrible at it. That's why she always did his hair. Making sure to even out the sections and weave them in with equal shares.
She would always undo his work, leaving her hair plain. 'It's so your hair will look infinitely better than whatever style I have going on.' It was just a joke but she kept the hairstyle just to keep it going. And now?
She cuts it anytime it gets longer.
It has to stay this way. To preserve something. Just…something.
The hands stop and wipes a tear away from her shut lids. "Why are you crying?! Are you okay? Did I tug too hard?" There's panic raising his voice.
The Traveler chuckles as she opens her eyes. "No, no, no." She sniffles and wipes a tear away herself. "I just remembered something about my brother, is all."
"Oh." Venti always gets oddly quiet when she mentions him. Why? She wonders. He acts sometimes as if we have met before. *
There are gaps in her memory after all. Why did Aether and her come to this world? How long did they linger before attempting to leave?
Why does she remember a tune before entering Teyvat?**
She clears her throat before sitting up. A sigh. "Sorry 'bout that." Sitting like this, they stare face to face.
He tilts his head at her. "It's alright. No apologies for tears." He cups her face and brings her in for kisses to the cheeks and under her eye.
She squirms and chuckles. "Enough of that." Lumine wipes away the rest of her tears and feels her hair to gauge the progress Venti made. One was done, even and smooth and small. The other partial and coming apart. "Ah," she notes, "sorry I interrupted you."
The bard pouts. "What's with all these 'sorrys'? I don't see anything you did wrong. Here," he takes the incomplete one, "let's finish this one. You look funny without it."
"Of course." Though the words are almost a whisper. She decides to stare at her hands, which she folds to rest upon her lap. How silly, something as simple as letting Venti braid her hair while she lies down was enough to get overwhelmed from the before.
She misses him. Her brother. She fears what will happen to her at the end of her journey. Will she come to understand the things of the world the way her brother did? Could she possibly understand his motives for 500 years of work?
Will she even be able to agree with it? Whatever it is?
Lumine has a suspicion that the odd foreigner Dainsleif once traveled with her brother. Perhaps they split ways before, when they started to see things differently.
Will she be the same?
Silence tears continued to fall, but this time Venti didn't comment on it. She sniffles and wipes them away.
He finishes and wordlessly pulls her in, whispering a poem in her ear she isn't quite listening to.
*You know,,, that one panel from the manhua where Aether is sitting on a rock behind Venti from the time of old and some of his voice lines, he talks to you as if he knows the Traveler from before.
**If you read the description of the music wings you'll get this line. :)