Liyue Harbor...
Venti and Aether wandered the streets of the most bustling harbor in Teyvat as the sun began to set over the horizon, they spent the day traveling all the way from Mondstadt to Liyue. Aether intended to potentially spend some more time with Venti given everything that he had realized about her, so perhaps experiencing some of Liyue's sights would be a good change of pace for Venti. Venti had been to Liyue plenty of times before though, he traveled the world a lot being the God of Freedom and as many knew, he hardly ever actually governed Mondstadt, which led to many calling him lazy or imcompentent for his lack of effort to help Mondstadt, but really was there anything Mondstadt needed of him that was large? Funny how the Lord of Geo would end up somewhat following Venti's example and retiring to let Liyue be in the hands of its citizens rather than its god, though Zhongli would never attribute that instance to Venti's example.
As Venti put one foot in front of the other, the act of walking like a lady had become second nature to her, and it was really subtle to Aether, who was more so looking at her eye to eye, but not so much to the glaring eyes of everyone else around the two. Not only did Venti wear things that were not seen as Liyue attire, she was eye candy just like back in Mondstadt. Given the lack of anyone knowing Venti before, Venti was even more unrecognizable in Liyue, whereas in Mondstadt at least a few people could put the pieces together.
Passively, Venti put her hand in Aether's, getting a small notice and then a sigh and blush from the male Traveler. It seemed that not only did Venti raise his heartbeat like crazy, Venti was also so comfortable around him, it was like they had been dating for months, not where they currently were, not even emerged as an official couple as of yet. There wasn't much to say, but perhaps Venti didn't have the nature of girls to move more cautiously with their potential partner, or did Venti even consider them a couple at all? These things plagued Aether's mind and only made him sweatdrop as they kept walking.
"Welcome to Wanmin Restaurant, seat for two?" Chef Mao greeted the two as they walked up to the one of the most popular restaurants in Liyue. In general the place had its cooking reputation spread far and wide by the arts of Xiangling.
"Three!" Paimon says as she appears out from behind Aether. Even if Paimon didn't have to sit down in general, she still wanted to be counted as a person. Aether and Venti take a seat at a simple round table with a lantern above them, as Paimon simply floats above her seat. Xiangling arrives momentarily after with a notepad to take their order.
"What can I get you?" Xiangling asked with her normal bubbly and energetic tone. She was especially happy to cook for Aether since he helped her that one time and his reputation around Liyue had grown to be massive, given that he contributed a lot to the saving of Liyue from Childe, the Fatui and the Overlord of the Vortex. Xiangling's eyes dart over to Venti and she weakly smiles as her eyes stay fixated. If Venti was a dish, Xiangling would describe him as one of the most exotic foods she's ever seen, just in general, she felt like she would need way cuter clothes to even stand a chance against how beautiful Venti was.
"Hey! I said I wanted two Grilled Tiger Fish." Venti's order snapped Xiangling back to her senses as she shook off the mesmerizing state. "R-right!" Xiangling says as she wrote down Venti's order. Grilled Tiger Fish was simple enough for Xiangling, she could cook dishes like that in her sleep. "Oh uh? Do you have any apples here?" Venti added after ordering her main dish. It didn't take a genius to realize that Venti was a big fan of apples and anything related, Apple Cider was excellent, apple pie was great, nothing beats a plain apple too, of course when it came to cooking itself, that was where Venti fell pretty short.
"Apples? Uh, we've got Apple Cider." Xiangling responded with a confused look, no one generally asked for apples, there were much more fine and exquisite dishes at Wanmin Restaurant. "Great! I'll take one." Venti immediately responded with a smile that said she really wanted Apple Cider, it was a look that Xiangling recognized as a true love for a certain food, she had that just for all ingredients in general. "Coming right up! And you?"
"Crystal Shrimp will do, water on the side." Aether says with a simple tone. He wasn't in the mood for anything really big, so a single dish with water on the side was all he needed at the moment. He really just wanted to spend some time with Venti.
"Paimon will have an Adeptus Temptation!" As usual, Paimon was scoring big in these situations where she could order whatever she wanted. One of the benefits whenever Aether was taking out someone to eat and Aether let them order whatever they wanted. Aether just glances and shakes her head as Paimon does that, but he knew there was no point in going on a long argument with Paimon, it just wasn't worth it.
"Here." Aether sets down some mora on the table to pay for all their meals. "Keep the change." Xiangling couldn't really tell what it was, but Aether sounded like he was deep in thought, it was probably best to stay away and not bother them if things were already tense. Xiangling takes the mora and goes into the kitchen to cook their orders, leaving the couple by themselves. It didn't take long for her to bring the dishes right to their table because Xiangling was a prodigy at cooking.
Venti took bites from the fish with the head and tail being held between her hands right near her mouth. It was a vast difference from how a well-mannered lady should eat, but Aether wasn't really bothered by it, in fact he was even happier to see Venti enjoying herself. There was another way to look at it, if a girl was comfortable enough with you to eat like this instead of caring all the time about looking like a lady to you, then there's a certain sense of familiarity and light-heartedness. Of course, Aether still put in the back of his head that Venti still wasn't a girl, even if Venti didn't necessarily have a gender due to originally being a spirit with no gender identification or form. Surely Venti had adapted to being a male in the long time he took the form of his bard friend, but Aether wasn't going to open a can of worms by asking. Venti chugged down the Apple Cider like crazy, it had been awhile since she had a really good meal, though of course she didn't consider Aether her sugar daddy or anything, Venti would make sure to compose him a tune later. "Wow this place got way better since the last time I visited Liyue. Xiangling holds up to her reputation."
"You said it Tone-Deaf Bardress!" There wasn't necessarily a female equivalent of 'bard,' but Paimon came up with that more feminine sounding name for girl Venti. It was at the same time that Paimon had her head buried in a pot. According to Paimon, she never gets fat, so one has to wonder where all the extra calories even go inside her?
Aether chuckled a bit, he glanced back at the kitchen where Xiangling was hard at work. "Yeah, maybe you could learn a few tricks from her." Not that Aether ever had Venti cook for him, he would never after an incident with an apple cake. "Well that'd be cool if she's willing." There was the misconception that Venti was a bit of a lazy drunk, he wasn't lazy, he just didn't see a reason to work most of the time. Mondstadt was the city of freedom, working to govern it would remove the point, in addition, it wasn't so easy to stay in one place and earn a living, considering Venti was always a free spirit, he wanted to travel, see the world more, but that didn't mean he wouldn't consider learning a few new skills like cooking, although so many years since Mondstadt gained human form and yet he still didn't know how to cook.
"Man, another Apple Cider would be nice." Venti had finished her Apple Cider before she even realized it. When you have only a glass of your favorite drink it tends to get finished really quickly. "Here my dear, you can have mine." Venti and Aether's eyes turn towards a handsome young man on the table to the side, from the looks of it, he was eating alone and just happened to also order an Apple Cider. Venti took it with glee and gave the man a smile, "Thanks mister!" Without any more hesitation, she began to chug the Apple Cider like someone would a wine. The man chuckles sheepishly, and looks towards Aether, maybe having second thoughts about coming onto Venti. "You ... better take good care of her." The man tells Aether with a face that said 'good luck' because at a single sight, he had an assumption that Venti, despite being a natural beauty, must be troublesome. Aether lightly waved back and took that suggestion without knowing what to say.
"Mr. Kaeya is a genius!" Venti puts down the second glass of Apple Cider completely finished in a few moments. Aether goes wide-eyed as Venti was really coasting on her girly self based on what Kaeya said, followed by a sigh and a shake of the head. Aether was going to have to tell Venti exactly the meaning of Kaeya's words eventually, but right now he had no clue whatsoever as to how to tell Venti. He's afraid that if he tells Venti what she's doing isn't natural, that he might hurt Venti's feelings, that he doesn't like her new form or something.
"Traveler!" Aether's monologue is taken aback by the sound of a very stern-sounding voice that was also familiar. The strong-willed Yuheng of the Liyue Qixing, Keqing was standing a few meters away, having noticed them.
"Oh? Keqing, hey." Paimon says sweetly as Keqing walks towards them, but Keqing pays no attention to Paimon and just focuses her attention on Aether.
"I heard you were here. May I sit?" Keqing stands near Aether, but tries not to make direct eye contact with Venti.
"Uh sure." Aether didn't want to sound rude and this wasn't a date, so there's no reason he can't allow more of his friends to be here, right? Keqing drags an empty chair nearby to the table that they were sitting at and then sits down properly with her legs touching one another and her posture straight up and proper, she was the very definition of being lady-like, surely honed through rigorous hours of training to make herself appear much more mature as one of the Qixing. "I'm here to offer you a place to stay while you're in Liyue. My place if that's okay with you." Keqing said very bluntly and straightly.
"Are you sure?" Aether asked with confusion as to why Keqing needed to come at this very moment just to tell him that she had a place for him to stay.
"Yes, I am." Keqing says equally as sternly. It sounded like she was really tense. It was giving Venti some really confusing vibes because of how proper she was acting in an otherwise low-stress atmosphere, at least in Venti's eyes.
"Hey? Are you okay? You sound disturbed. Maybe a song will help you calm down." Venti takes out her Lyre and prepares to play a nice tune for them, hoping it would calm Keqing down, maybe she had a tough day at work, not that Venti would know what that's like.
"No, no! That won't be necessary." Keqing says, denying Venti's attempt to play them music before Venti could even stroke the lyre. With how Keqing was phrasing things, it sounded like she had a no-nonsense policy for everything she was saying. Venti shrugs her shoulders and puts away her lyre, still not getting where Keqing was coming from.
'How can she remain so calm? Isn't she bothered?!' Keqing thinks with a twitching brow and Venti in the corner of her eye. She was getting progressively frustrated for reasons that Aether and Venti could not read. "Here's the address." Keqing gives Aether a small piece of paper with the address to the place she was talking about. "I'll be waiting for you at 9:00pm sharp, don't be late!" Keqing then walks off without much more to say and she did it with all the pride and stature that she possessed, her hands at her sides, her legs striding forwards and her eyes not even needing to look at where she was stepping.
"Huh, she really should lighten up, maybe go for a stroll or glide over the mountains." Venti says casually as she puts her hands behind her head and leans back in her chair a bit. Aether stares at Keqing as she leaves and then back to Venti. "She's not normally like this. Normally." That being said, Aether knew Keqing was somewhat of a perfectionist, she lived to be a hard worker, wanted to waste as little time as possible and do her job accordingly, but when she acted like what they just witnessed, something had to be wrong. Aether decides he'll investigate that when they meet up with her later, at the moment it was only about 7:00pm, so they still had a little while longer. "How about we head to the docks?" Aether suggested as they were just about done eating.
"Okay, sure." Venti was cheering up quickly from that little stunt that Keqing pulled, and the two head down to the harbor hand in hand. Looking across the harbor, Venti and Aether were looking in the direction of Inazuma. "Venti? Can you tell me what Inazuma is like?" Aether would assume that Venti had been to all the nations in Teyvat, after all he was present since the times of the seven and traveled a lot as well.
"Heh, I think it would be better if you experience it yourself first." Venti says with a smirk, she clearly didn't want to spoil any secrets about the nation that had been sealed off for political reasons. "I will say that the Archon there isn't exactly the most welcoming, that stuck-up woman can't even drink with the rest of us when we gather from time to time. I guess she just got tired of seeing us, even though we're the only ones that are close to her and the same age."
"You don't know what you've got until you've lost it." Aether says straightly as he looks towards Inazuma. He had lost someone close and perhaps looking back, he took Lumine a little bit for granted, felt like they could never be separated and never preparing himself for when everything went wrong. Aether clenches his fist with a grunt, he felt so dumb for never considering it. Venti puts a hand on Aether's shoulder and even leans in her body against his, gently pressing her newly enlarged chest against his arm. "Trust me, I know what that's like." Aether recalled Venti's story like a flashback, he remembered Venti lost the bard he considered a real friend back then and his form today was merely an imitation in remembrance to that bard.
Venti then points her finger towards the stars in the sky. "You know Traveler, if you fly up high enough, you can see all of Teyvat." Venti says as she looks up with Aether doing the same.
"Heh. I don't think I'll be able to get that high up." Aether didn't think there's any way he'll be able to make a wind current that can make him glide that high.
"Well I've been up there." That wasn't too surprising to Aether, as Venti was the God of Anemo, he recalled when Venti let him glide almost indefinitely using the power of wind during the two battles against Stormterror, or rather now Dvalin. "All you have to count on is there being no clouds and you can see it all from up there." Venti also didn't mention how his eyesight was way better than most humans, he could see from even the heavens down, but Aether likely wouldn't be able to, still it was worth a try. "Maybe up there you can find Lumine. Want me to take you there?"
Aether chuckled, he did think Venti was capable of that, but he already realized the flaw that being so high up would in no way allow him to see that far down to find Lumine. "Maybe some other time."
"Almost time to go to Keqing's place." Paimon says after emerging from her invisible state. Despite being somewhat of a pest at times, she did have senses of boundaries so she left Aether and Venti alone when necessary and Aether did give her a stern talking to after some previous experiences with girls. Luckily Paimon had more of a clue about relationships in comparison to Venti at least.
"Right." Aether and Venti begin to head to the address that Keqing placed on the piece of paper. After a climb up a large staircase, they arrived at a huge penthouse built on the upper cliffs of Liyue Harbor. It was definitely extravagant, suiting the house of someone of the Liyue Qixing. Keqing was waiting at the door, just as expected at the exact time she told Aether.
"There you are, right on time." Keqing says happily as she opens the door for Aether and Venti to go inside, though she had mild disgust that Venti had come with Aether and wasn't going to be rooming somewhere else, meaning she was a traveler like Aether was and didn't natively live in Liyue. In retrospect that was obvious since Venti's clothes were definitely not Liyue-based.
"Wow! This place is huge!" Paimon says as she floats around looking at all the features of Keqing's home. "Paimon could get used to a place like this!" The inside of Keqing's house was very neat and tidy, with just about anything a noble would need, a kitchen, living room, several bedrooms, a luxurious bathroom and plenty of storage and yet some of it was dusty despite all of it being in place.
"Don't mind the dust, this place is just a little underused." Keqing dusts off a table made from the finest wood in Liyue. Despite the extravagance of her home, she actually hardly ever used it. Keqing didn't really like luxury as much as most nobles would, she thought that luxury would make her too dependent on it and thus made her not work as hard. Keqing was also the same girl that chose to go out into the wild in her free time and survive with nothing, but her vision and a hairclip, one would be surprised how many uses a simple cutting tool can yield. This penthouse was actually a gift for one of her birthdays, a present that Keqing ends up keeping around, but never really utilizing aside from storage, like her secret room of Rex Lapis collectables.
Venti sits down on the couch and lays herself down against the cushions. It was nice to relax after a long day of travel and a nice good meal. Keqing sighs with narrowed eyes as she looked at Venti, it's not that she minded the house being a little wrecked, but she knew there's no chance she can get Aether away from whoever this new beauty was. 'What is wrong with me?!' Keqing mentally asked herself as she pressed her forehead against the wall. This wasn't like her, she doesn't get jealous! Especially not so jealous that she would invite Aether to her home to stay for the night, completely on a whim with no warning, going as far as to basically invade Aether's dinner to invite him.
Aether walks off to take a look at the bedrooms, leaving Keqing and Venti alone in the living room, though there was a tension in the atmosphere that even Venti started to pick up on. Keqing paces a little closer to Venti and takes a good look at Venti, it was particularly amazing how beautiful Venti was, making a girl like Keqing feel inferior in comparison was a massive feat in itself. "So I never caught your name?" Keqing says in a seemingly more casual tone than back at the restaurant.
"Oh, it's Venti." Venti responded equally as casually. Being the God of Freedom himself, Venti was never one to default someone to being unpleasant, she and Keqing likely just got off on the wrong foot, so Venti was willing to hear out Keqing's struggles and see if she can help her. "Nice to meet ya Ms. Keqing, you know Aether talked about you."
"He did?" Keqing's eyes widened with her finger going to her the tip of her chin. She was a bit surprised that Aether did mention her, but that made her mentally pat herself on the back a little, given that she managed to leave enough of an impression on Aether that he brought her up in conversation.
"Yeah he talked all about how you're so graceful when you fight, and how you're hard working too. He also says how you're so cute when you talk all high and mighty and then..." Those first two parts were making Keqing even happier that Aether had that impression of her, as it was obviously the effect she was going for as a person, not just to Aether, but to all of Liyue, but when Venti was starting to dive into more uncomfortable territory, Keqing stutters and shakes her hands in a 'no no' fashion.
"Uh! Uh! I don't need to know it all!" Keqing says with urgency. She just could take that type of conversation with a blush, but hearing it from Venti as if Venti was teasing her, even unintentionally, made Keqing really not want to find out how she'd feel if that continued. On the other hand, Keqing still didn't know anything about Venti, Aether never brought up a female bard that was more exotic than the clothes Aether wore himself, one who threw a girl's romantic caution to the winds.
"Everything okay?" Venti asked casually as Keqing had started to redden up and Keqing gasps and turns around grumbling at Venti. 'She's good, she's good.' Keqing thinks as she considers this to be some sort of challenge from Venti, who would break first, Keqing's demeanor or Venti's, Keqing refused to believe such a girl could exist and be completely okay with 'sharing' Aether's company. At the same moment, Aether and Paimon had returned to the living room, making Keqing feel even more awkward.
"We… We should prepare for bed. We'll take turns bathing and you two can pick out a bedroom each." Keqing made it apparent that she doesn't want them to be sleeping in the same room. There were more than enough bedrooms for all of them, so Keqing was going to push for them to sleep in different rooms. There's no way Aether could already be so close to a new girl that he'd sleep in the same room, would he? Little did Keqing know, Aether had already slept in the same room as Venti, except as buddies in sleeping bags, not in the way anyone assuming the worst would imagine. "I'll go first, you two can pick out a room each while I do that." With that, Keqing walks away to the bathroom, leaving Aether, Paimon and Venti to do what she just said. Venti shrugs and goes to do what Keqing said.
As Venti looked around the bedrooms, she came across one room with a door barely open, it was designed with purple and blue, it was clearly Keqing's room, ravaged with shades of purple alike to her outfit and hair color. Venti being the curious fellow she was, goes inside and looks around the place, it looked like a pretty standard room with some personal design. Keqing didn't have that many outfits, it was just her standard outfit repeated ten or eleven times, but there were more casual things like a tank top, blouse, more skirts, a winter coat and decent wear for any sort of weather. Keqing's clothes clearly were a combination of functionality, fashion and efficiency. However Keqing's closet was nothing compared to the dozens upon dozens of Rex Lapis figurines all over the place. Posters, little souvenirs, there was basically anything upon anything Rex Lapis related.
"Wow, I didn't know Ms. Keqing liked that old blockhead so much." To anyone this would be seen as borderline insane, but to Venti, Morax or Rex Lapis was basically a neighbor that he encountered quite a few times over his life since Mondstadt and Liyue were neighbors. Venti puts her hands on her hips and takes in the atmosphere, she felt like she was seeing the room of Zhongli's biggest fan, despite the fact that Aether told her before that Keqing was actually the most rebellious against Rex Lapis' particular way of doing things.
"Wha?" Venti turns around to see Keqing in her bathrobe, after having just come out of the shower, grasping at straws at what Venti was doing inside her room. Even worse, Venti had seen her Rex Lapis collection, which was the ultimate dirt on Keqing. Now that Venti knew, she had all she needed to ruin Keqing's reputation, not just to Aether, but to anyone that knew how she acted towards Rex Lapis on the surface!
"OUT!" Keqing frantically drags Venti out of her bedroom by the hand before slamming the door shut behind her and locking Venti out. She jumps into her pillow and screams into it, banging her head for not locking her door as she should have before. That was on top of how rude it was to just invade her room, her privacy, on a whim without any regard. As a girl, that was a big sign of disrespect to Keqing and made her want to kick Venti out on the streets right away, but Keqing's pragmatic side told her that doing that would be instant grounds for Venti to ruin her reputation with what she saw. "No… No… No one will believe her, right?..." Keqing whimpers underneath her blanket, there's no way anyone would believe Venti, right? "She has no proof, she didn't take pictures, right?" Everything was crashing around Keqing, first she gets jealous at Venti being with Aether and then she tries to figure Venti out, but ends up making the biggest mistake in this competition!
"Yeah her room was totally full of figurines of Morax…" Those were the words that Keqing didn't want to hear in the distance. There was only one person Venti would be telling that to. It was over for her, Keqing can't show her face to Aether now that he knows, he'll think she's some god-obsessed freak and that she's a hypocrite for showing all that disrespect to Rex Lapis and yet being his biggest fan at the same time. If someone like Ningguang or Ganyu, or god forbid that prankster, Hu Tao, found out, they'd never, ever let her live it down!
It was a very awkward night, Keqing spent the rest of the night in her room and refusing to exit at all. Aether and Venti slept in separate rooms, and Aether told Venti to not bother Keqing after a long scolding as to why going into a room of a girl was wrong even if she was a girl herself.