Pretty woman.

That was the first coherent thought that Stelle had when she was able to wade through the murky waters that were the confines of her own mind. It was as if she had held her breath underwater for much too long. Breaking the surface and gasping for breath, only to realize that everything, from the skies to the water was pitch black and the only source of light was the person in front of her.

"Hello there beautiful." Stelle murmured out, her mind still half forming into lucidity.

There was the tiniest, nigh unnoticeable raising of an eyebrow from the woman in front of her.

Kafka, her mind supplied.

Red was perhaps the first thing people would notice from the woman. That or her beauty. Or both. Stelle certainly noticed the latter before anything else, then the subtle feeling of kindness that was emanating from the woman. One that wasn't transmitted from her face or emotions, but from the way she held her. Propping her up at a comfortable angle, shifting slightly whenever Stelle herself moved, making sure that she was alright.

It wasn't the first thing she noticed, but it was what stuck.

It was only after that did Stelle notice the red, the maroons and the burgundies. It fit, adorned on her in simple patterns that seemed to highlight her poised manner. She seemed like a Queen, looking over her faithful subject in worry.

Or perhaps that was just what her addled mind conjured up in its attempt to wade through the haze.

There was a prominent exhale of breath from the third person in the room. A person whom she hadn't noticed before, stifling a laugh.

Pretty women. Stelle corrected her earlier thoughts.

Her mind didn't supply the name of the shorter woman. But Kafka spoke up, bringing Stelle's attention back to her.

"Listen," The woman holding her spoke. There was a note of finality, one that made Stelle instinctively stiffen. "You might not understand what's going on, you might even be in a daze."

Stelle closed her eyes and listened to the woman. Kafka spoke about how things may seem confusing now, how she would have to endure it until it made sense. How she would meet and find friends and companions, people she could call family. How she could find her place in the universe.

What was once a murky darkness in her mind was different, she still felt like she was barely floating on the surface, as if she could slip and go back underneath at any moment. But the sky was no longer pitch black, a countless amount of stars now filled the sky, illuminating her path forward.

"Kafka." Stelle spoke, opening her eyes and interrupting the woman.

Once again Kafka's poker face held. The micro-expressions and how she cut her sentence short were the only indication that she heard her.

"You don't have to continue, I already know. My path is to travel amongst the stars right?"

That elicited a melancholic smile from the stoic woman. "Yes." Kafka nodded.

Stelle sat up and gently grabbed one of Kafka's now free hands. She brushed her lips ever so softly against the woman's gloved knuckles.

"Then one day my path will lead me to you, once again. When that happens… don't be a stranger, alright?" Stelle smiled.

Kafka blinked twice, her lips parted ever so slightly and the tiniest tell tale hint of a blush appeared on her cheeks. It complimented her wine-red hair well.

It wasn't much of a reaction, but Stelle would consider it a win.

A quick glance over to Kafka's silver haired companion found her near goggling at them. There was a bright blush on her face and her mouth was open, exposing her chewing gum to the world.

"You as well." Stelle couldn't help but add, shooting a wink towards the smaller girl.

That got her what she was looking for.

The silver girl eeped and swiveled around, turning her back towards Stelle. Her hair was short enough that Stelle could pinpoint the creeping blush that went all the way up to her ears.

Cute.

Kafka chuckled. "Alright then. When you ask so nicely I couldn't possibly say no. Silver Wolf and I have to go soon, but you'll be getting new companions soon. Rest for now. You'll need it."

The red inclined woman moved to get up, but stopped when Stelle tugged her arm just the tiny bit. Stelle moved Kafka's hand until it was just about cupping her own face, and kissed the palm of her glove softly, before letting go and lying back down.

Another dust of red colored the woman's cheeks. Stelle mentally counted that as another win for her.

The newly awoken woman closed her eyes, she heard the footsteps of her acquaintances weaken until they were gone completely.

Stelle didn't realize she was so exhausted until she was already asleep.


Voices woke her, someone was near her… above her? Two voices, talking about CPR and how someone had a weak pulse.

Her eyes fluttered open, someone's face was blocking her view. A face that was gradually getting closer and closer to her.

Wait… were they going to give her CPR?

"Wait-" She spoke up quickly in an attempt to stop whatever sort of situation she somehow was in within moments of waking up.

Luckily, she didn't have to. A hand came out of nowhere and all but grabbed the incoming face, shoving it backwards and replacing it with ANOTHER face.

A very, very cute face.

"She's awake!" The cute face said.

Her light pink hair nearly tickled Stelle's nose. Her eyes held an interesting complexion. They shimmered, going from a bright blue on the bottom of her iris to a close maroon at the top. It complimented her hair well, leaving nothing but a favorable impression.

Adorable.

So adorable, in fact that she wouldn't have minded one bit if she was the one to give her CPR. Should she pretend she was dying? Would that work? No, probably not. That would just put herself back in the initial scenario.

Also that was manipulative. She shouldn't rely on the kindness of strangers to take advantage of them.

She would do this the old fashioned way. With small talk and one liners.

No, wait, focus. She needed to focus. There were plenty of things she needed to sort out before she could even think about how she just wanted to squish this woman's cheeks and see her pout.

Like where she was. Or… who she was.

"Are you alright? What's your name?" The light pink haired girl asked, her multicolored eyes glimmered with worry.

Cute. Stelle thought. Too cute.

Questions could wait. Figuring out her situation could wait. That was an issue for future Stelle. For now, the only need she had was a single minded focus on wanting to see this adorable woman in front of her blush prettily from her words.

"I'm Stelle… and yours are?" She asked the two.

"Nice to meet you, I'm Dan Heng." The black haired man spoke.

"I'm March 7th!" His companion said.

March 7th and Dan Heng. Stelle briefly wondered if they were the companions that Kafka was talking about, but pushed that thought to the back burner. She had more important things to worry about.

Namely the extremely suave and most certainly not embarrassing one liner she was contemplating on saying.

Could she do it? Yes.

Should she do it? Eh…

Would she? Of course.

Was she prepared for the consequences in the event that it failed? Not at all.

Stelle made up her mind, nodding in acknowledgement towards Dan Heng before she turned towards March.

"I'm not sure if I'm alright…" Stelle started, trailing off.

"Oh no! What's wrong?" March asked her earnestly.

There was a tiny twinge of guilt creeping up at how worried her statement seemed to make the girl, but she had already said too much to back down now. Stelle wasn't a quitter.

"When I look at you my cheeks get warm and my heart starts beating faster. Do you happen to know what I'm sick with?" Stelle dipped her voice just a bit, and winked at the girl.

Stelle was expecting a flush, maybe a cute squeak and some stuttering. Where and why she was expecting such a reaction was unknown to her, her memories only extended back to earlier today, but it seemed right.

What she was not expecting was for the girl to panic and place a hand on her forehead.

"Your temperature seems okay! Uhm! I'm not really good at medical stuff but I know some people who are-" March rambled.

Stelle blinked, wondering if she had butchered the delivery somehow or didn't make it obvious enough. She glanced over at Dan Heng and-

Nope. He was giving her a deadpan stare that basically screamed how he wanted to be anywhere but here. It wasn't her issue, it was a March issue. Stelle waited, counting up the seconds in her head to see if the girl would calm down. When she reached twenty she decided to step in.

"March." She called out.

The girl continued to ramble on.

"March, I'm fine." She reiterated.

"Huh?! You're okay now? Your sickness passed fast!"

"N-No, I was never sick."

"Eh? Then what happened?"

"I…" Stelle faltered, was she really about to explain what she tried to do? No. She wasn't; she already felt like crawling into a hole. "Can we just move on?" She pleaded.

"Agreed." Dan Heng spoke up.

Uhm… I don't really get it but okay! We have to report back to the lead control zone anyway!" March continued on.

Dan Heng let out a sigh. "I'm going to go pick up Arlan. You two… try not to die."

Stelle raised an eyebrow. That didn't sound reassuring at all.

Speaking of, she actually had next to zero idea of what was actually happening, or even who those two were. She only really had their names and nothing else. Was it entirely possible that she was just lulled into a false sense of security by Kafka's words about finding new companions and accepting things while coincidentally actually running into people who would turn on her in a second and leave her for dead?

She… probably should have gotten a bit more information out of them before trying anything.

Stelle looked at March 7th.

March 7th looked at Stelle, she tilted her head in question.

She wondered if it was possible to die from a cuteness induced heart attack.

"This is so exciting!" March exclaimed, clapping her hands together. "This is like when the party meets a lone traveler with a mysterious past only for them to hold the key to saving the universe!"

…What?

Was she allowed to say that?


"Ohhh! That was a pickup line. Stelle you're so funny!" March declared suddenly, minutes later.

Stelle wondered if the fall from jumping off the platforms would kill her.


Start May 1st, 2023

Emd May 2nd, 2023

Words: 1831

Haha brain rot goes brr. Stelle is a feral animal that goes dumpster diving on the regular but still has flirty lines in like every third choice its funny as heck. Next chapter will likely be actual chapter length (3k+) since I'm actually taking this somewhat seriously and I'll probably have an update to my genshin fic in the next two weeks. Thanks for reading.

-FN.