As the sun dipped below the horizon, the city came alive in a symphony of lights and laughter. Tall spires of crystal and gold glittered against the starry sky, each building a testament to futuristic design and extravagance. Hovering vehicles zipped along pristine streets as humans encased in glowing balls of light bounced through the skies above, leaving trails of luminescent streams in their wake. Penacony was a mosaic of shifting colors and holographic displays. In Golden Hour, dead ahead, a grand statue of the planet's most iconic mascot—Clockie—watched with a benevolent gaze upon all the city-goers passing beneath his watchful face.
In the distance, there were cascading waterfalls that shimmered with bioluminescent plants and exotic flowers. Soft jazz floated through the air, mingling with the tinkling of glasses and the soft murmur of conversations. Patrons clad in shimmering gowns and sleek suits lounged on plush sofas when they weren't glued to the various rides, attractions, booths, and games that filled the gilded halls. It was a night where reality blurred with fantasy, dreams made manifest, every corner of the promised land overflowing with laughter and honey.
"Ahhh, and it's about time too!" One young woman—a traveler from another world—stretched and yawned, a serene smile spreading slowly across her face as she drank in the wealth of sights, sounds, and smells all around her. "I can't believe the gamble actually worked!" Ordinarily, such a severe slacking off warranted an equally severe disciplinary action, but banking on her reputation, Qingque used ivory tiles and a silver tongue to persuade her boss that Penacony was the perfect planet for her! Of course, she understood that this was technically a "work retreat", but even the most serious and stuffy of work retreats had a bit of time for levity and lightness.
"Oooh! And speak of the Devil again!" Her eyes flashed in delight as she caught sight of a nearby arcade machine standing alone on a red carpet that ran down yet another crowded, gilded hallway. Rather than question the odd location of the console—smack in the middle of a walkway—Qingque only skipped over to the retro machine, beaming. "Wowie! And it's even Mahjong too!" Of course, it wasn't like a real, full game of Mahjong, only a few moves long per play, but for it to be the first game she came across? "This place really IS a dream come true!"
But as with all dreams, one had to wake up eventually. And as with any true gambling, there were losses as epic as the wins.
"Woah!" Qingque was slammed against the buttons of the arcade machine, finalizing a move she wasn't done setting up. She cried out in pain and despair as she lost the jackpot of 100 prize tickets. She managed to look over her shoulder and saw—
"Dah, dah-dah, DAH! Sampo Koski, here! I bet you were wondering when I was going to show up!" (The scene goes slow-mo, and he winks at you, the reader, as he passes by, making his grand entrance). A pack of Bloodhounds were hot on his tail. The roguish rogue chuckled to himself and raised his chin cockily, tossing his glorious mane of wild, blue hair. With a careless, casual flick of the wrist, he tossed something over his shoulder. At first, they looked like little prize eggs from a claw machine, but what came hissing out was anything but a prize.
"Well, it's a prize for me!" Sampo grinned. The white-blue fog curled around unlucky Bloodhounds and passersby alike, freezing them in place. "Of course, you can't fall asleep in the Dreamscape, but this is sort of similar!" he explained. Though of course, the unintended consequence of a gaseous weapon was how far and uncontrollably it could spread. Those unlucky enough to be at the edge of the blast radius weren't entirely frozen. They threw the room into an uproar in their panic as they fought to understand what was happening, and to escape the sudden attack.
Through the turmoil, four green eyes locked, jade meeting wind. For a second, his widened in surprise, then he winked again.
Hey! Then with inhuman speed, powered on by a magical wind, he lunged from the chaos and effortlessly swept the girl off her feet. She barely had time to shriek before they were gone again, the arcade machine she once stood at going up in flames a second later as a fiery Bloodhound fought to free herself and her comrades from the wintery haze.
"H-hey, w-wait! Why me?!" Qingque shrieked as she and the strange man practically flew through the halls. "I- I- I- I promise I wouldn't make a very good hostage! I just spent all my money on rolls trying to get jade tiles, and- and- and-!"
"Oh, don't worry about that, friend! Good, ol' Sampo, here, wasn't looking for money this time! Just a bit o' luck!" His green eyes gleamed.
"W-w-well, I'm not very lucky right now either, am I?!" Qingque continued to demand, still flustered as she clung to the front of his shirt. Oh! First to lose that sweet, sweet jackpot, and then to get roped into… this?!
Even though her trip to Penacony was technically business—and slightly dangerous business at that, recovering a stolen artefact for the Divination Commission—this was way above her pay grade. Mannnn… I was supposed to be able to slack off this trip! I even had that Quantum Imprinter Device customized and everything!
It was a little tool she and several others were tinkering on, essentially a homing beacon meant to attract Divination artefacts to it—or at least sense when in the vicinity they were. That device was supposed to do all the grunt work, not Qingque! Unless… Fu Xuan! Did you foresee this?! Is THAT why you let me go on this Penacony trip?! Did you KNOW it would actually be a whole lot of work?!
Ah, such was the gift of foresight, and the curse of luck. What went up had to come down. Qingque should've realized her luck was going too good for too long, and the losses would one day be as glorious as the wins. She sighed in frustration as she tried to recall Fu Xuan's face when she first agreed to let Qingque go to Penacony. She'd crossed her arms and sighed, but maybe she'd smirked too. Qingque honestly hadn't been paying enough attention by then, if she ever had in the first place.
"Awww, such a long face for such a small gal!" Sampo's overly cheerful, friendly, obnoxious voice cut through Qingque's despair.
"What?!" she squawked indignantly.
"Ah! There we go!" Sampo pointed at her face, his own brightening considerably. "That's the fighting spirit I like to see! You see?" He jerked a thumb over his shoulder at the few Bloodhounds still giving chase. "As good as their noses are, their eyesight is deplorable! They think poor ol' Sampo is a thief! Well, I am, but not on this planet!" (Not yet, at least…) "But I guess someone decided to borrow my dashing good looks, and now these poor puppies are chasing their tails chasing me! In fact—" Sampo screeched to a halt and finally set Qingque down.
"Ah-! What the-?! Aren't we still being chased?!"
"Look!" Sampo pointed at an ad on a nearby bulletin board. It was a wanted poster. He sighed, shook his head, and clicked his tongue as he approached the poster, ripping it from the board before holding it up beside his own face for comparison. "They just can't get my nose right!"
"Uhhh…" Qingque's gaze drifted back and forth between Sampo and the poorly-drawn poster. "Is that a reference to something…?"
"Ugh. You're killin' me, smalls…!" Sampo sighed under his breath, but he perked back up less than a second later. "Anyway! Look at the time!" He pointed at the Clockie statue in the distance, even though it was facing away from them.
"Woah—!" Qingque's arm was nearly ripped out of its socket as Sampo took off running again. He was well-versed in the art of escape, but the Bloodhounds still giving chance were immune to his wind damage, and the ice of the freezing fog. Maybe it was luck, or maybe an analytical mind, but something led Sampo to the arcade of Golden Hour. He knew it would be populated, easier to blend and melt into the shadows. And as his wild eyes darted around the room, planning his next great escape, he saw Qingque, still locked in on her game, oblivious to the chaos rising all around her. Purple sparks of quantum energy burst and sizzled around her in her excitement as she set up her hand of pixilated tiles…
That's it! My lucky charm! Time to make a lucky strike! Sampo and Qingque thought the same thing at the same time, and while her finger hovered over the red button to complete her move, Sampo's legs tensed, and he prepared to lunge. Now they sprinted through Penacony's polished halls. Or rather, Sampo sprinted. Poor Qingque was still being dragged along by the arm.
"Think you can break 'em?!" Sampo shouted hopefully, grinning as his green eyes darted between Qingque and the barking Bloodhounds. Jade eyes reluctantly drifted to the Penacony police force, and for a brief second, a quantum symbol flashed over their heads.
Oh, mannnn… Think of the incident report I'm going to have to type up…! But there was going to be an even bigger incident report to write the longer she remained entangled in this mess, even though for once, it wasn't of her own making. With a resigned sigh, she flicked her wrist and a handful of tiles shout out of her sleeve, hovering and rotating around her hand. "Hmmm, let's see… Let's see…"
Sampo continued to watch her out of the corner of his eye, interested, and then hers lit up. "Aha!" She snapped and three of the tiles disappeared while one glowed and remained hovering just above and in front of her hand. With another flick of her wrist, Qingque sent the tile sailing over the heads of several stray gamblers, partiers, and revelers. It smashed in a dramatic cloud of purplish smoke against the head of the lead Bloodhound. While they cried out in pain and indignation, temporarily stunned, the two guard dogs flanking either side of them barked and snarled. Damage from Qingque's attack ricocheted off the Alpha and onto the two, smaller Bloodhounds.
"Ha, ha! Got 'im!" Sampo fist-pumped the air. "Great work, partner in crime!"
"Wh-what?!" Qingque died a little on the inside. Great! Now if we get caught, I am SO going to jail! Ugh… I wonder how much Penacony bail is, and if they'd let me try to win it back in the arcades…? She was tempting fate, betting on some good luck to finally balance all of this bad luck. Such was the gift of foresight, and the curse of luck. But what if this seeming bad luck was good…?
Had Qingque not been so distracted by the battle raging around her, she would've felt the Quantum Imprinter Device vibrating in her pocket every time her leg bumped against Sampo's, his pants pockets bulging with tools, tricks, and treasures only he knew how to use. But not every treasure within his pocket was originally his…
Maybe Qingque thought she'd lost the plot, but maybe she was right where she needed to be. Had Fu Xuan, with the gift of foresight, weaponized the curse of luck through Qingque? She wasn't even an afterthought in Qingque's mind as she sent another barrage of tiles flying and exploding over her shoulder.
Beside her, Sampo laughed in delight before turning to look at you, the reader, one last time. "Did you have fun with this character interaction? I certainly did!"
AN: Written at the request of one of my best friends who got me into Star Rail (who is basically Qingque) with one of THEIR best friends (who is basically Sampo). Penacony was my friend's favorite planet so far, and they wanted a Qingque-Sampo meetup, so here we are!