LOOOOONG A/N, but I have shit to explain (and I apologize for it)

I wrote 6 versions of this chapter... What you're gonna read is the 4th take on it, and it significantly shifts the tone I had going, although I had already dropped some hints about what's to come (I think). It pains me to do so, but the only way I can think of actually progressing the plot - the actual plot - without getting stuck in slice of life hell is to actually convince myself into writing something I (and likely you as well) hate. Sorry to crush your hopes, but thank you for your interest in the first place :(

btw, no lemons in Mondstadt for the MC. But he does not deserve it yet. I have plans for this, later. And no, I'm not one of those cowards who refuses to pair SI-ish characters (even though our MC isn't a SI, as hard as that might be to believe) with the playables. It will be done :)

Consider this a formal warning:

SHIT GETS ABSOLUTELY VILE AND DISGUSTING!

I COOKED SO MUCH I BURNT THE WHOLE FUCKING KITCHEN.

Silence, awkward silence.

That's more or less the scene ever since Albedo left us two alone to "do our thing".

Here's what I managed to get out of this cutie in front of me. She's Sucrose. She's an alchemist.

Yes, that's all. And yes, that means I got fuck-all from her.

She uttered not a peep since her 'master' left, although it seems she's gathering courage to say something. Meanwhile, I simply sat down and started grinding out the local writing system on the back of the worksheet I kept from class. The less time I spend in the library the better; appealing as Lisa is, I feel like she's ultimately a threat to my mental safety. Physical too, actually.

I hear her pacing around the lab – frantically – and the distinct scratching of pencil and paper. Maybe she's writing her speech...

Everyone here in Mondstadt has issues. Some more than others. This one is right up there with Eula in the mental illness rankings. Eula is a distant second place though – at least she's functional as a human being, or can pretend to be. This one… Lord have mercy on her soul.

"H-H-H-Has… Mmmmmmmmmm-"

Mmmmmmmm what?

Something on her head twitches- oh those are furry ears, but… not exactly cat ears? Wolf? Dog? No… what the fuck are those?

"Has Master… Albedo t-t-told you… what he found?"

Wow, she can speak normally. Ish.

"Not really, no. I've seen him do some concerning tests though, and he more or less kicked me out afterwards. What, do I have magic cancer or something?"

"N-No! Not… cancer. B-But might be… bad too."

WAT

"Y-y-you've seen what your b-blood did to… the fluid… right?"

"Yeah."

"Teyvat, this world, is full of elemental energy… and uh…"

She's getting slightly more comfortable speaking, good.

"T-there's some chance that… you might die… if you absorb too much at once."

"So all I have to do is avoid the rads-sorry, the magic? You got any like… uh… detector thingy I can carry around?"

Her ears twitch.

"What are rads?! Ahh! U-Uh… sorry. Uh, no, I don't have a detector… thingy…"

Bad, Andrew! Bad! Slips of the tongue are bound to fuck you over. Imagine getting fucked over by a Fallout reference.

"Shame! So, besides hostile environment I have to avoid getting blasted by people too hard. Can you tell that to Lisa then?"

"I-I-I don't really… talk… with Lisa much."

You don't talk with anyone, silly.

Fuck, I've had enough of this. Let's get shit going, consequences be damned!

"All you've said is might. What if I get like… super powerful from absorbing a bunch of elemental juice? Give it a try. Come on, I know you want to..."

"I do… but… not here. If you explode, the lab will get m-messy."

"The problem is the lab getting messy, not me exploding? I see how it is with you…"

"N-No! B-Both are bad… it's…"

"No worries, no worries. Just playing with you~"

"Y-You're… just like Kaeya…"

"I'm not as hot as him."

"Y-you're right..."

"HEY!"

"S-Sorry!"

She's cowering in fear! I… I regret my actions. Sucrose, sweetie, sugar! Please, don't be scared!

"Uh... let's uh… let's go do the thing then? I'm tired of being useless and doing nothing with my life."

"R-Right… lets ask the guards… to go outside the walls… for a while."

"Yes, please."

I want to go outside! AAAAH!

And so we head out into the hall. But tragedy strikes right at the door...

"Ah, just the people I've been looking for."

"Don't mind him! We were standing here and listening in on you!"

Kaeya, and a short…brown haired… girl.

I know her.

She knows me. I can tell by her expression, slowly turning into a frown.

"Apologize now."

"Now, now, Amber. First business, then pleasure."

She groans and punches his arm.

"Before you go on your little…" he eyeballs Sucrose and she more or less hides behind me. What, these two got beef? "… excursion, we need to go somewhere. Me and you. Oh, Amber, please accompany them during their little escapade. We'll be right back~"

"Sure! Schedule's clear!"

She's suddenly all smiles, and gives Sucrose a big old hug. I begin to head out with Kaeya, still able to hear Amber's "hushed" trash talking.

"...he hasn't done anything weird to you, right?"

"N-No…"

"He's a pervert though. I'll make sure he doesn't defile you!"

"D-D-Defile?!"

Kaeya holds back his laugh as I cringe to death. That stupid little incident is going to follow me to the grave.

I was wondering where he was taking me, but this is a very nice, welcome surprise.

*knock knock*

"You may enter."

"Greetings, Jean."

"Hello!" I greet her with a smile. How can I not?

"I… can see you're doing fine? Please have a seat, both of you."

"Oh, he was not as cheerful on the way here. Add another not so secret admirer to the list. How many pages does that make?"

"Around 20 or so."

Lots of competition. But Kaeya, buddy...

"I'm not ashamed to admit it, if that's what you're trying to do. Look, Jean. Miss. You're really attractive. I really like you. I don't know if its love, but its certainly a crush."

Jean chortles and Kaeya pats my back.

"I didn't expect you two to get along so well."

"Do we?" / "Do we?"

She smiles.

Fuck.

Clearing her throat, Jean puts on her serious face once more. "Andrew, regarding your contract. All of your pay will be going straight to Nita until the debt is cleared. The rate will be one thousand and five hundred More per week, that's as high as we can go. This is agreeable, no?"

I don't have much say in the matter, do I?

"Yes."

"Good… still, there's a chance she may choose to settle things in a more agreeable manner, and quite soon at that. Albedo has taken it upon himself to clear the… misunderstanding surrounding your condition, at the very least. Consider the charges dropped - if not by her own word, then by Knightly decree."

She reaches below her desk and takes out a new sheet of paper.

"Please sign this. It's a rather… short document, as you can tell. The vagueness of your tasks made it quite challenging to sketch up a proper contract, so you'll be signed up as a general assistant to Alchemist Sucrose."

She reads me the (small) contract in full, and I sign it – with a shaky, but legible, local script.

"Okay, awesome. Anything else?"

"How are your classes going? Lisa isn't exactly the best tutor..."

I laugh.

"No, not at all. But it's going well, as you could see!. It's all very… familiar, actually."

Kaeya side eyes me. SLIP! OF! THE! TONGUE! You fed him a different story! AAAHHA IDIOT. Paint more targets on your back, will you?

"That is good."

If I wanted to snitch on Lisa, this would be the time to do so. But I'm no snitch, especially when I like the flavor of sexual misconduct she brings to the table.

"So… are we done?"

Lowkey, I don't want to leave. I want to stay with her, here, forever. Kaeya has to go though. Shoo~

"Ah, there was one more thing, regarding your accommodations. That's quite important."

"What, I'm getting moved out already?"

"Yes, that's right."

"That's the first I'm hearing of this."

Kaeya seems surprised by the news as well. My life is a fucking mess and I can barely keep up, so I can only imagine how it looks from the outside.

"So, where am I crashing now? The stables?"

"Sucrose's home."

"What."

Kaeya simply scoffs.

"Jean, are you sure about this?"

Wow, he does not trust me at all.

"No, but Albedo insisted."

"He's being awfully kind to me, huh?"

What, he trying to set me up with his student or something?

"I very much doubt he sees you as anything more-"

"Kaeya."

Oh man, that zipped him shut quite fast. The women of Mondstadt are terrifying.

He brings his hand to his chest and says, with (some) genuine regret in his tone "I stepped out of line. I apologize."

"As I was saying. You will be staying with Sucrose come next week. Until then, the curfew still applies. I don't want, nor do I expect any incidents to occur once the move is complete. Am I clear?"

"Yes ma'am."

"And this goes the other way around too. Sucrose is…"

"Weird?"

"...weird, yes. If there's something that's bothering you, or if she gets too carried away, please, ask her to stop. She will comply. She is a gentle soul, despite her quirks."

I could tell.

Something important must be asked, though.

"Does she know, and has she agreed to this?"

"Not yet, to both. But... we know her. She will."

"And can I talk to her about this or..."

"Yes, please inform her as soon as possible."

Kaeya rubs his hands together.

"We shouldn't keep her waiting too long then, else you won't have much time to go beyond the walls."

Jean perks up once more, with a somewhat nervous look on her face...

"What's this about?"

"Oh, he and Sucrose are simply headed outside for an experiment."

"Please, please, please, do not explode anything or yourselves!"

"That's… not entirely under my control, per se."

"Amber will be accompanying them to make sure nothing of the sort happens."

Kaeya quickly reassures Jean, and the blonde immediately relaxes.

"Good. That is… good."

She looks us both in the eyes and picks up her pen once more.

"That is all. You may leave."

Her life is miserable. Holy shit…

The bootleg JoJo villain and I leave the lady's office.

"We need to talk."

"Sucrose is waiting…"

"I know."

We walk for a while and… he shoves me inside an empty room, making me fall on my ass.

"Jesus… what the fuck is up with you?"

It's a bit hard to get on my feet after getting knocked around, but I manage. I stand with my back to the wall and readjust my glasses.

"Maybe that knock to the head wasn't quite as strong as you said-" the floor around this dude begins freezing over! "-because I remember you saying you didn't remember a thing before getting rescued."

I fucking knew it. All it takes... one little distraction...

"And I don't. I just said it seems familiar."

"That's not how it works. Who are you?"

He conjures a blade and puts it to my neck. Its metal is sticking to my skin, completely freezing. That's gonna leave a mark, even without cutting.

"Andrew Nowak. 25, single. Not into men."

"Let's try again. Who are you?"

A little streak of red flows down the blade. I gulp and… kinda freak out.

"Look man, Jean knows all about me, I didn't lie to her. I also told Eula where I'm from but she didn't buy it, I think. I-I kinda came here out of nowhere, ya know? Haha… I uh… crashed on my way to work, got hurt real bad, and before I could realize bam, I was right there in the snow with those two! Turns out I'm in another world haha, unless you guys got a California hiding somewhere… God have mercy on y'all if that's the case... Please don't kill me…"

"Another world? Interesting… Anything else to add?"

"I'm not into men."

He chuckles and dispels his blade. I fall to the ground like the little bitch I am, only for him to extend his hand. I swat it away and get back up by myself, with a struggle.

I rub my neck and, not at all surprising, my hand comes out red. The frosty psycho produces a tissue and wipes my neck clean. "It's already stopped bleeding. Count yourself lucky I'm so refined with my bladework."

"Just my fucking luck. Not one, but two icy psychos in my life. And they both hate me."

I don't know how I'm not crying. Or running. Or screaming. I might be getting used to the insanity.

"Oh, I don't hate you. In fact, I'm intrigued by you. What say we get a fresh start, as friends? Genuine offer!"

"Hard pass."

"You'll come around."

"Doubt it."

"Let's go. Our fun little detour has lasted long enough. And there's plenty of things I must tell you!"

"Hard pass."

"It's about Sucrose! Come now, you want to know, don't you?"

"…"

He puts his arm around my neck and gets real close. Fuck off.

"There's some rumors floating around about the little minty miss. They say she runs some very… stimulating experiments in private."

"…"

"I wouldn't know, since I don't make it a habit to snoop into a lady's private affairs. But those rumors come coupled with a few others about how she uses hilichurls, or how she funds her research with money from fat, old merchants. Some even say she even takes on dogs!"

Well... she is white. I still don't know what a hilichurl is, by the way.

"…"

"You wouldn't suspect a thing, looking at her. So shy, petite and cute… but you know what they say, right? It's-"

"...always the quiet ones."

"That's right my friend! And now that you're going to be living with her…"

"You want me to gossip. No."

"Not gossip, no. I want you to inform me of the veracity of these rumors."

"Why would I?"

"Because I'm not giving you a choice~"

Fuck you.

We round the corner and a girl – Amber – comes running. Only to slip and fall face down, ass up.

God damn, those are some short shorts. I can practically see her ass cheeks poking out. Very good! That's about all I need to see to get my mind out of the gutter that Ice Bitch 2.0 dragged it into.

"Ow!"

She jumps right up. Yikes, this one seems like a handful too. Ice Bitch 1.0's hyperactive fuck-bunny. Yes, she's wearing some bunny ear looking things on her head, hence the ridiculous nickname. Fuck-bunny.

"How did you guys manage to burn 30 minutes already?! Sucrose is getting awkward to deal with so let's go already! She's waiting outside!"

She grabs my hand and drags me out.

"S-slow down!"

She's… so strong! It's gotta be intentional! She's crushing my fucking hand!

"What the fuck do you mean his cock gets hard whenever he's blasted with a Vision?! This has got to be a fucking joke."

"Is such language necessary?"

"Shut it, you pasty brat. My place, my rules. Don't like it, call me to the Headquarters."

Albedo sighs.

"That won't be necessary. Here." He hands the woman an envelope with… 1500 Mora. "You'll receive one such envelope every week."

"How nice of you~"

"It's Mr. Andrew that's working for this. Thank him, not me."

"No."

"I understand why you did what you did, but this is not fair to anyone. Will you not reconsider?"

"…"

The tension builds for a moment. Albedo notices she had shifted around slightly, likely to get easier access to the dagger she keeps on her person. He hopes she understands he's the wrong person to trifle with like this.

"Look… I'm not budging on the debt."

Very good. She relaxed her posture once more. She's now leaning her chair backwards, balancing it on the two rear feet.

"Regarding your accusation…"

"tsk Fine, do as you please. Fucker was knocked out anyways. My bad, I guess."

"Can I get that on writing?"

She sighs, but complies.

"Happy?"

"Yes. Thank you. I'll take my leave now."

"Yeah, yeah, get lost. I need more alcohol and herbs, by the way. Tell that fatass Dwayne to come here, or at least make sure your boss lady does her job. Varka at least had his shit together! It's been weeks since I sent that letter and your Logistics people still haven't come here. Any of these hunters get rammed by mother piggy or run into a nasty wolf and that's one more orphan for the Church." She taps her Vision. "There's only so much she can handle."

"I understand."

Albedo closes the door and breathes in the fresh Springvale air-

*crash*

*thud*

"OWWW, FUCK!"

Seems the chair betrayed her.

Nita is… a rather disagreeable character. Albedo wonders if that's how she always was, or if its yet another consequence of the violence she went through. This was his first time meeting the girl – he'd only read or heard other Knights talk about the macabre case – one of, if not the worst in Mondstadt's recent history. An almost perfect reproduction of the vile tales that marked the Lawrence's reign of terror, long, long ago.

And indeed, a disgruntled Lawrence clan member – one that had been freshly expelled for dishonoring the clan – was the source of these crimes; along with 4 other men, formerly Fatui, who had been abandoned by the Tsaritsa and turned to banditry along Mondstadt's roads.

The abduction of a Katzlein family from Springvale on a snowy winter night – father, mother, eldest daughter, younger brother. They were carried to a cave in Dragonspine, where the bandits had settled.

They first beat the boy, aged 11. One arm and one leg, broken. The weeping mother was undressed, her tail and ears cut off. They had branded her with hot irons, and then her clothes were wrapped around her head – they had taken to pouring freezing water on her. They then impaled the father on a spear. Every movement only dug it in deeper, increasing the agony.

As for the daughter, the men had forced themselves on her, with her dying family as audience. Come morning, all but one were dead. Vision in hand, the survivor crawled away from the freezing mountain, back to the world of the living.

There was no reasonable motive other than the Lawrence's storied distaste for peasants and "beasts". And bandits, no matter how violent, rarely bothered attacking villagers so brazenly. They relied on merchants to make a living – if they scared them off, they too would have to move. There was nothing to be gained for them, and Albedo doubted taking a woman, attractive as she may be, would be sufficient to convince them to such a foolish attack. There was also the matter of the abduction itself. Springvale is home to hunters, and frequently harassed by hilichurls and wolves. How could no one notice? How was there no alarm, no sentry t hat took notice of the commotion? There was an even darker plot at work...

So, in truth, no one knew the 'why' or the 'how' of the attack. And the 'who', the real 'who', was also a mystery. The only clue is a small, but very important divergence between the victim's claims and the Knight's investigations. The Knights only found 5 bodies, aside from those of her family. She claims there were 6 men in total. But no evidence supported that.

It had already been a year since the investigation was stopped. Albedo had some time on his hands, now that he managed to completely dump Andrew on Sucrose.

He felt this was the right thing to do. Seeing the girl only reinforced that position. He was not "heartless". Not entirely.

Albedo hailed the carriage driver, who began preparing the transport back to Mondstadt. He had already walked all the way here, and with night soon falling, he wanted to get home quick. Klee was waiting for dinner, after all.

"Perhaps the answer is hiding right beneath our noses…"

"What's on your mind, sir Knight?"

"Oh, nothing. Just thinking out loud."

The blonde driver simply nods and rouses the horses to motion.

Hiding in the shade of a tree, a sister watches the carriage leave towards Mondstadt.

It was rare to see the Chief Alchemist so entranced by something other than his paintings. She just had to know.

So she stalked and eavesdropped. And she is not pleased. Not at all.

She had already tried to find the culprit. If she could not crack the case, who else could? Unlike many others, she also had experience with bandits and their ilk. She knew how they thought, how they worked, better than anyone. She was one of them, and she was also in the girl's place, long ago...

She scoffs.

"Arrogant… you will do more harm than good."

She slips away in the darkness, unnoticed by all.