There were many expectations Aether had for the Hydro Archon he had heard rumours about. Even before he stepped foot into Fontaine, he was aware of her particular personality from Nahida after the whole incident with the artificial god. Back then, he had no idea what to make of Nahida's description of her. Now though…
"I'm borrrrreeeeeddd. Come on, do something!"
Being essentially a spoiled brat who sees court cases as theatre plays and being constantly bored while demanding something interesting to happen was not something Aether had considered. Then again, was it really all that unexpected when the other Archons were also odd in their own way? Venti was a drunken bard (which… thinking again, was not that odd for a nation famed for its wine), Zhongli was consistently Mora-less despite being the god of contracts—even if he had reasons for being broke—Ei was a shut-in with a sweet tooth, and Nahida… well, Nahida was probably the most normal one out of the four he met so far but even she had a couple things going on in her head.
But Furina? She was somehow more childish than the actual child Archon.
"Entertain me already!" She demanded while shaking his arm like a kid. "Today's trials were all so boring… Why couldn't there be anything out of the ordinary for once!"
"You're already forgetting my case?"
His snarky question made Furina shake her head. "Of course not. Your trial was the most joy I've felt in years! But it's all settled now; what else could happen that'll stifle my boredom…" Her eyes widened slightly and she stared at him, an idea having popped into her mind. "Unless…"
"Do not say what I think you're going to say," Aether sighed with a facepalm. "Should someone like you even suggest something like that?"
"Of— Of course not!" She laughed to hide her embarrassment but it was still evident from her flushing face. Furina then cleared her throat before asking-slash-demanding, "Do you know of anything that could excite me?"
Aether thought about it for a moment before answering. "There might be some—"
"Okay! Let's do it then!"
Before he could even finish his statement, Aether was already getting dragged out the door by Furina by the arm. He sighed once again at the antics of Fontaine's Archon.
After taking the time to ask Neuvillette for permission to borrow Furina for the rest of the day— with him saying he was fine if he would took her for a week… before asking Aether to actually take her for a week —Aether took Furina out on the streets of Fontaine. Naturally, he got looks from pedestrians who were wondering why their Archon was with him but it wasn't like he could stop and explain things. Especially not with Furina prodding him to move faster.
Soon enough, they reached their destination— one of Fontaine's few film theatres. However, what made this specific one stand out was not its decor (which was pretty average), not its selections of films (it was pretty mediocre), it was not even its absurdly overcharged concession stand.
…It was the fact it was the only one that still had showings of the films Aether acted in for Xavier. Thanks to his brief stint as an actor, he got lifetime tickets for this place as another form of thank you from the mechanic. Of course, having Furina with him might have also given them free passes but let's not think about that.
All Aether did was show the tickets to the receptionist (and possibly scaring him half to death in the process) and they had the best seats in the house… probably because there was pretty much no one else. That meant in the ten or so minutes where the screen was empty, Aether had to put up with a pouting and impatient Furina.
"What exactly are we watching this time?" "If this turns out to be as bland as the trials, you'll be suffering the consequences for wasting my time." And so on… Aether was already used to it by now and simply told her to wait and see.
As expected, when the projector came alive and the film started, Furina… was still bored for the beginning parts. It was only when Aether's character appeared onscreen that her expression did not scream "I'm bored and not paying attention." Granted, her resting face returned as soon as he was not in the scene for an extended period but hey, at least the film was catching her interest.
The film did not go on for too long and once it ended, Aether asked for her thoughts. Her answer was really something he should've expected— "Oh, I didn't pay too much attention to the plot. It was rather generic."
Nonetheless, Aether still facepalmed before asking if she had at least a favourite part.
"Hmm… The part you were in."
"Which… one?"
"You know, that one," she replied as if he should've already known which one she was referring to. Her next words took Aether off guard though. "This was more interesting the first time I watched it, if only slightly."
"Wait, you've seen it already?"
"Of course, it was popular when it was first released," she stated matter-of-factly. "I did not see what the fuss was about but I can see now why it interested my people." He supposed that was a compliment… "Now, was this the only activity you had planned today? There is still some time before you have to "return" me."
Truth be told, he hoped the single film would be enough for her but it was clear he had too high expectations for his own film. "Err… want to see my teapot?" A change of scenery should be nice.
A/N: This was actually written like last month but now that 4.0 is coming in two weeks, why not throw it on FFN too? This dumb ship has been slowly taking over what little braincells I have and they wanna spread this disease around. I'll also start uploading the sequel here soon~