Disclaimer: I do not own Genshin Impact nor the front cover (source: Hoyoverse)
-Astrolabos/Viator Story-
~The Trajectory of the Stars~
Friendship level: 10
It's the Great Astrologist Mona's birthday again! Do you want to come over to my place?
I'll say this in advance, you absolutely cannot complain about the state of my room. It is not because I don't clean up, okay? Everything I put out there are things I need to use on a daily basis.
If you're curious about what they do, I can explain it all to you in detail. But if you want to try them out, you need to pay close attention to my instructions because things can easily go wrong. Do you understand?
See you tonight then! I'm going to start preparing for dinner.
Satisfied with what she'd written, she allowed the ink to dry, and then neatly folded the paper into her own stylised envelope.
Afterwards, she handed it to Oz (courtesy of a certain Prinzessin who allowed her to borrow him for a bit) who was perched atop her open window, and bit down on it.
And with no further instructions, she opened the window, with the sentient electro bird flying into the busy morning streets towards the designated spot in front of the Adventurers Guild, one where a certain blond traveler currently stood talking with another person.
'It's now or never.'
She was about to crack a triumphant smile, until she had to hold back a frown upon seeing how the blond traveler acted a bit too friendly with the guild's famous investigator.
Even from a distance where she could barely make out their appearances, she could see based on their body language and their close proximity that they were having a somewhat intimate conversation.
'That won't do.'
Determination filled her, giving her the motivation to make her move soon.
It took her some time, but now she realized what feelings she had, and because of it, she needed to speak with him, privately.
She could see it, her fate changing once she confirmed these feelings with him.
It scared her as much as it excited her.
With that in mind, she took a deep breath as she began to prepare for the day.
'Luckily, nothing can ruin my morning-'
*Ding!*
Craning her neck towards her front door, she quirked an eyebrow curiously.
'What is it this time?'
She couldn't help but frown, the bell she had heard was from her mailbox.
And whenever that rang, it was always regarding work.
'Oh no, please don't be what I think it is.'
Gulping, she approached her door and opened the wooden box in front of it.
And inside it, was a letter.
'Oh please no.'
Taking it, she then tore open the envelope.
Unfolding the paper inside, her eyes widened in shock as she read its contents.
'WHY?!'
Terrible, she felt absolutely terrible.
With tired eyes, Mona ungracefully hunched over on the table, her arms sprawled all over and her head firmly planted on the surface, her body almost giving out.
She then turned her head and stared at the traveler and his friend talking with Sara, ordering all of the delicious food that she couldn't wait to devour.
It however, wasn't enough to lift her dampened spirits.
"...Motivation, motivation, where art thou?"
It was supposed to be a joyous and exciting day, given that it was her birthday as well, now it was ruined.
All of her plans, to show the traveler the fruits of her work, to go see sights outside of the city to set the mood, to go on a date with him, amongst others.
All of it went up in flames.
She even thought of getting a bite to eat at the Good Hunter with the traveler first for lunch before continuing with her plans, but then her other employer, who was absolutely not a demanding witch out to wring her dry with demands, seemed to have something in mind for her as well.
"The deadline for the article is today, failure of submission will result in the delay of your salary."
Those were the damned words on the letter she'd received first thing in the morning, courtesy of her absolutely wonderful superior.
It wasn't supposed to be her task! She just finished her last article to meet the required quota just the other day and yet all of a sudden, she was given another one to do? And that if she failed to submit it, she wouldn't get paid?
It was absolutely unfair!
She hypothesised that someone didn't do their work and that the remainder of it befell on her instead.
Mona initially thought about sending a very polite reply to her very lovable boss, it would start off with such a thing to her given that it was illegal and that she was technically finished, but then decided not to as she really needed funds, she rationalised that antagonizing her boss will further worsen the situation.
And now here she was, seated on one of the tables at Good Hunter, that instead of enjoying a fine hearty meal to celebrate her special day, she was left with unwarranted work and worrying whether she would get paid if she failed, which given that it was almost half a day already, was becoming more than a possibility.
Fortunately, the traveler was here, and just his company alone was already doing wonders to her sour mood.
Unfortunately though, she glanced at the clock and saw that it was already noon.
A scowl appeared on her face.
"Oh no, I'm running out of time to finish this article..." She groaned, further hunching over the table.
She almost let out a yelp when she heard the sound of plates being placed just beside her ear.
Looking up, she was greeted by the traveler, who was holding more plates of food in his hands, his face concerned.
"Mona, stop thinking about your article! You need to eat!" the high pitched voice of his small companion chastised floating beside him.
She backed away as the food was placed on the table, and she couldn't help but perk up at the sight.
"Oh, wow. You brought so much food... Thank you, Traveler!"
Though immediately seconds after, her salivating expression turned gloomy once more.
"...But this article still needs to be finished, I really need funds..."
The food that they ordered, she paid for half of it, and the remainder of her mora was already spent on the newest tools she has acquired from Fontaine.
Grumbling in her seat, her hat then tilted forwards, covering her dejected face.
Seeing this, the blond in front of her looked at her with sympathy.
He took a seat beside her.
"...I can help you with that, I'm a decent writer myself so I can give you assistance with the article." he offered, smiling.
"...I see."
Mona on the other hand, was unsure.
She didn't want to owe him even more favors, from allowing her a temporary home in his teapot whenever she couldn't pay rent, fulfilling her request whenever she sent a commission to the Adventurer's guild, helping her out in gathering materials for her astrology, or just offering her meals whenever they got the chance to hangout together.
He did all of those without asking in return, granted he did ask for his future to be read that one time (which unfortunately, yielded unpredictable results), but in general, he did her favors with nothing for him to gain.
Even now, when he offered her his assistance with her article, he was still so eager to help, and seeing him being his usual kind self, she just couldn't find it in her to deny him despite the growing guilt that she couldn't do anything for him in return.
"...If you insist, then, um," she began, before pausing, taking out another pen and stacks of paper had hidden under the table.
"...So uh, here, I just need help with the final draft."
A few hours later...
They were finally alone.
It took some time, but now they were both inside her (not so messy) bedroom.
After helping her with the article and managing to submit it on time while they had lunch, to Mona's immense relief, they were finally able to enjoy the rest of their day.
Nothing much happened, unfortunately, with how much time they wasted on finishing the article, but it wasn't totally wasted.
They spent most of their afternoon talking about mundane things while they took a stroll in the streets, before settling down to sit by the fountain, and from there they spent the majority of the time chatting about updates in their daily lives.
Mona told him that she was mostly spending her time working as a writer, and doing other odd jobs when she had time, and occasionally hanging out by Fischl's place in her free time.
Aether on the other hand, told her a lot of interesting things during his exploration in Sumeru, and she couldn't help but be absorbed in his storytelling.
He told her of the beautiful forest he explored, and the spirits dwelling within them, and how he came to befriend them.
He told of how he witnessed someone getting a vision, and the circumstances that surrounded it.
He told her of the unique system, of how the Akasha functioned, and even mentioned how he met the Dendro Archon herself.
He told her a lot of things, and throughout it all, she listened with rapt attention.
She didn't even realize that by the time he was done, due to how much lost she was in his story, it was already evening.
Afterwards, they immediately went straight to her home where they had dinner.
Again, it was mostly uneventful, and as per usual, Paimon stuffed her face so much during dinner that she ended up in a food coma and was currently fast asleep on the couch in her living room.
And right now, they were alone as they both sat on her bed, with only the glow of the full moon providing their source of light.
All of a sudden, it wasn't as eventful as she assumed it would be.
Mona, with the realization equivalent of being smacked by a mitachurl's shield, was that the nervousness from before started to creep in on her.
'This, this is harder than I thought...'
She took a deep breath in an attempt to steady her rapidly beating heart.
She took a glance at the blond sitting beside her.
'...Why is he nervous?'
She noticed that he was looking anywhere but her, and his other hand seemed to be conveniently hiding something based on how it was basically unmoving.
She could swear that his cheeks were also a bit flushed, making her cheeks burn red with nervousness as well.
Her mind went into overdrive, her imagination running wild.
"A-Ahem, Aether, if I-"
To her surprise, he suddenly stood up from her bed.
"W-What're you-"
Stopping, she then waited with baited breath as he now stood in front of her, his eyes filled with nervous determination, similar to hers.
'C-Could it be?-'
Right now, her anticipation grew so much that she was close to hyperventilating.
"Mona."
Hearing him calling out her name in a serious tone, a shiver went up her spine.
"Y-Yes Aether?"
Staring into his golden eyes, she felt her heart beat faster than she thought was possible.
"Close your eyes." he said, his voice barely above a whisper.
She shut her eyes tight.
"Keep them closed, alright?"
She nodded, gulping, her grip on the sheets tightening.
This was it, the moment she waited for, after a mostly horrible day, she will finally get something worthwhile.
"...Now, hold out your hand."
"...Eh?"
This time, she was confused, but complied nonetheless.
Extending her hand, she then felt something hard land on her palm.
"This is?-"
Opening her eyes, her sight connected with what appeared to be a book.
'Why is he giving me a-'
Another realization hit her.
'Oh.'
He was giving her a book, a gift, it was her birthday after all.
The nervousness she saw on his face wasn't because he had something to say to her, he was mustering up the courage to give her this.
'Oh.'
Shaking her head at how stupid she had been, she felt emptiness overtake her, compared to the rush of emotions she was experiencing just then.
'Of course, what did I expect?'
She decided to observe the leather bound book in her hand, a personal gift to her.
It was intricate in design, and compared to the numerous books she had collected, this one seemed to be rarer.
'This is?!-'
Her eyes grew wide once more upon seeing the title inscribed on the front cover.
"A collector's edition book on astrology for me?"
Quirking a brow, this time she felt a new kind of excitement.
The blond quietly nodded, his expression embarrassed.
Mona chuckled.
"Thank you, I see that you're quite knowledgeable on this too."
By now, the thumping of her heart calmed down significantly, and she was glad as she was disappointed that she didn't have to express her honest feelings to him.
As evidenced right now, his intentions didn't quite align with what she was imagining.
'How can I be so foolish? So naïve?'
She assumed that he was about to make a confession based on how he was acting prior, seemed like she was too ahead of herself that she jumped to conclusions.
At the same time, she was relieved, because it stopped her from doing something stupid.
She was afraid of destroying the relationship they currently have if she told him of her feelings.
She was afraid that she would get rejected.
As much as she was disappointed that he did something she should've expected given his nature, she was content for now that she didn't reveal her initial intention when she invited him over.
She stood up from her bed, and with book in her hand, she went to her work desk and placed it there.
"As you've seen, the scryglass can reflect the trajectory of fate."
Staring wistfully as she conjured a blue circle with her hydromancy, she pulled up his constellation
Viator.
She rotated it and even tried to scrutinize the symbols that held its lines, and to no surprise, she still couldn't get a clear reading of it.
He was an anomaly, an exception to her astrology.
She wanted to know about him more, even if it meant that her feelings for him deepened and eventually hurt her.
Similar to how she couldn't properly read his fate, she also didn't know what would happen to their current relationship now that her feelings were blossoming into something else.
Their stars will align, she hoped that it will someday.
"The starry sky is infinite, and even a genius astrologist like me would need to keep learning so as to decipher the details of destiny."
She then sat back down on her bed, inviting him to sit beside her.
"If you're interested, come sit down with me. I'll explain a thing or two to you."
She smiled at him, and he did as well in return, and at that moment, she didn't want anything else.
-Astrolabos/Viator Story End-
A/N: Happy Birthday Mona!
I recently watched Isekai Ojisan, so some inspiration came from it as I was writing this.
