Keqing: Turn of the Age
Liyue was bustling and Rex Lapis was out of power leaving it down to the people at hand for the most part. Those who were going through the motions in the streets would be the ones in the say for the economy of the city, and for some it scared them, and they would be found often praying in different shrines or make dolls of the god. She would not mind it so much anymore if anything she had found the subject something to her where she was happy they did.
She believed in the will of the people of the will of the gods but it had been something where she could look and see the character done, and to be granted she would buy it if it were any of the other members of the Liyue Qixing, Being made in to some cute character whether made from clay or cloth had been something that should not have resonated with her, but it did and she had a full shape to Rex Lapis memorabilia, while she would also buy forms of any of her companions, while she could not find many it was always nice to see the other people important in the city get some love as well.
All in all things were okay in the city but that meant she had to spend the time to work on her own issues which she would often leave for later and now she had to look back to the set of experiences and figure out what could be done. She had been studious and worked as any people she could know and many times she would have an assistant just working on a single mission while she would need to take the details from all of them and do what had to be done
Right now she had to figure out what was next on her list and first had to be trying to keep some bridges from burning under the amount of work she put on a few people. One of the first ideas she thought of was to the qilin who had been with the group long before she had joined but it was nice to have her there, somewhere between a friend and a sister.
Ganyu was an easy person to please and Keqing was someone who often was working from the same cloth when it came to the quality of their work. Leaving the pair to take care of something had been often the mark to get something done with in a quick time frame and under budget. Something of a cost had been if someone was having to be a general assistant for either one of them because that would mean they would go and inside three months and if they had to take sick days, god forbid, an entire platoon of paper pushers had to be found to keep the work straight. It would only be good enough for them to keep the boat of projects going until they had come back and if there was anything that meant they had to be gone for a while it would often mean tears for whomever had to step in their shoes.
Many had tried to use the step as a possibility to more power but the sheer amount of work had been something shocking, enough so that it could only be suffered through by a few people and often times it meant that what could be done had to be picked from the large and often ever growing list.
Replacing a member like Ganyu had been something of the same difficulty and while they could not often spend days off it meant they could get the apartment or place for them and while one worked the other could either rest or take time if their job meant the schedule was often. When there was many people who they had to work with there was always something to fall behind and often meant that the paper pushers would be directed as needed.
One day, she had been able to enjoy a day off and had found that Ganyu was off as well for the first time since they lived together making it something that they would go out in the living room and wonder what to do and with the free day it was clear they had to go enjoy the time with each other.
Keqing had been enamored by the qilin and age wise there were some questions as for many years the adeptus would be on their own relationships if any and humans would date humans. A single day had taken the horned beauty to come out and ask a question after they found her drunk on a actually shocking amount of rice wine. Despite never drinking she could see the bottle had only one small cup taken from it and even she could do half a bottle before feeling a buzz.
What had been so shocking was that alcohol had not even come up as a possibility and seeing how easy it was for her to get soused it would not be a subject again. That meant that while the bars would be a nice place to get a view there had to be a place to get some food for the pair of them to enjoy their day off.
There was some kind of pressure to make the day as good as they could for the would not get many more like it for a while there was constant forces working on both of their projects and even then Ganyu had tried to go back to make sure it was being done properly before someone in a particular white dress had exclaimed that if she did not stay out of the halls of business then she would be barred to work from the next two, and upon see Keqing she found the order to encompass her as well.
Something she was not expecting there had been a plan to go the mine and see how the work had been rolling there, but now it was off the table because at a loss of two more days that would mean that the group of secretaries would have to deal with both of them being out for another two days was the nightmare of many. Keqing had learned from the lesson and instead pulled her friend from the steps beginning to walk away for their mandated day off.
Walking side by side had caught the eyes of many shop owners calling to them for the two had a lot of pull in the upper echelons of the Liyue power structure. Showing off certain things from their stalls and the citizenry who knew of them waving slightly as they made their way down closer to the dock where the smells of the food being made for the various people being sold. Aromas of meat and spices and noodles were rich in the air and the need for her favorite dish had begun to grow.
Golden Shrimp Balls were her favorite and no less then a dozen people knew how to cook them to quality and even a few of them as she was figuring where to get a bite to eat. Three of the dozen would be good with vegetarian cuisine as well for her friend meaning of those three there could be some options available based on the specialties. Rolling over the details from where she had learned it they had made their way to the small pool.
"What do you want to eat?"
"I cannot eat meat, but other then that I am quite open."
She nodded that her understanding had been correct, so of the three places she had to take a look at what was the emptiest of the three as there had been no preference to her. All of them had been equally capable at her dish and had a good selection for her friend meaning now it was down to what could be seen and from the pool one of the place had been nearly empty.
Ganyu had followed behind her and waited before Keqing decided on the place to grab a bit to eat where a waitress noticed them and came to the table.
"Good day to the two of you, I remember you had loved the Golden Shrimp balls, and what would your friend would like today?"
"She has a vegetarian diet so could you please take a moment and come back with all dishes with no animal products involved."
Nodding her head she had soon shuffled off for a few minutes before coming back with the notes off the menu. Pointing out happily, what dishes out of the several had been to her tastes, surprising Ganyu as she did not know that such things were even done, normally drinking a touch of milk for everything she needed that day. Looking over her friend had been happy to see the food come quickly and the plate of the golden shrimp balls delivered hot where the pair soon smiled before digging in.
Liyue was a city where one could sit in the cafes and watch the shows or hear the stories that were be told and when the people would come and go and fear for their goal on the paved stone path or the toy seller would yell at something new that had been made. The pair of high ranking officials would sit and let the time envelop them enjoying their meal and the fire pit brought as the air turned cool.
When the story teller had come to start she had been half way through the tray and been wondering how a particular trader who had been doing the jade game across from them had a whole batch of uncut stone ready to be stacked in boxes next to the hut before being locked up for later use. With it brought a couple of the miners who had wanted to test their systems they were making. Hu Tao had been seen pulling Zhongli to have a meal while exclaiming how he needed to eat and it would be the job of the business hiring him to take care of them. His own eyes half rolled back out of aggravation before spotting the pair and waving with his free hand as the pair went down the path to the blacksmith for a bite.
Not one thing had been done in the few hours they had sat there. Both were feeling like checking on their work and seeing the face of her friend and trying to figure out how to do so there had come a bit of an idea. Calling for the note pad of the waitress she scrawled the notes of what to check on at the mine and while she had soon taken the time to get the details from her friend on her project there was nothing being said that talked about doing the favor to the other as it was just a thing about friends being friends on their day's off and soon finished their meal furiously before walking off in different directions to get the intel they had needed according to the notes that each of them had on hand.
Both had felt so intelligent that a clean white letter on the door soon made her deflate. Signing that the next two days would be taken off for both of them and that their work would be in capable hands that if they had tried such things again she would give them a week, and that they needed to go out more together to verify that the other had been anywhere but work.
Keqing puffed her cheeks as Ganyu teared slightly knowing that their precious work would be waiting for a little while longer, but as they went over what they found nothing was in such dire need that it would mean the end of the project and so the pair ready for two more days would go in trying to find what to do with themselves.