Sweet Russian Tortellini 3 - (Genshin Impact, SI x Fem!Childe Antics)

Liyue, I was actually sipping on some water, it was midday.

Scribble, scribble, scribble.

Another day at work, Tartaglia was quite busy with some stuff tied to the banks, I felt confident that I would be spared from surprised from her in a while..

Scribble, scribble, scribble.

Miss Ganyu has been spotted providing Lady Yuheng a batch of paperwork. I am surprised Keqing hasn't asked for her babies on the spot with how smitten she looked. Oddly enough, Miss Ganyu also passed by and offered me a few fresh leaves of tea for personal consumption since... I deserved some help. I decided against asking what she meant, trying to think of it as a helpful effort.

Scribble, scribble, scribble.

I was through the first tower of paperwork. A new batch of permits have been delivered for ratification, and some had been unable to do this chore properly. A recall would happen, but I wasn't the one assigned to face the old geezers that couldn't handle the ever-changing bureaucracy that they had been struggling since they were young. Couldn't fault them, but I had no voice on the matters of changes.

Scribble, scribble, scribble.

I took a pause, glaring at the never-ending paperwork that kept on giving me reason to bemoan my chances to do something else. Like wandering the windy fields of Mondstadt, or even check the rumored beauty of Fontaine's beautiful architecture. All was well today, and I wasn't planning in being surprised.

Scribble, scribble, scri-

Knock Knock

This was not the beginning of a joke, but I was very tense as I first thought that Ajax had mastered the means of good manners. I thought about it, and then I dispelled such novelty.

"Yes?"

The door opened, revealing Lady Yuheng herself and... a certain female Zhongli.

"John, may I please have your attention with this situation?"

I blinked, staring at Keqing and then Zhongli. The former looked somewhat giddy, while the latter looked a bit nervous but also surprised as she recognized me.

"Yes, how may I help you, Lady Yuheng?"

"This here, Zhongli, is a friend of Miss Ganyu. I would like for her to deal with her simple request for permits at once without burdening her too much."

"I could have taken the turn-" Zhongli weakly assured, but the shorter lady shook her head.

"None of that, Miss Zhongli. If you are a friend of Miss Ganyu, then you are deserving of my finest assistant."

Well gee, Lady Yuheng. What a nice thing to say. But I have a feeling that 'Miss Zhongli' actually wanted to not stand out through potential nepotism.

"I will see her case treated with utmost care, Lady Yuheng. But let's not allow some connections to bother your own chores for too long by keeping you here in my office."

The request was fair since poor Zhongli was getting bothered a lot by the circumstance but... Keqing nodded.

"Fair, but I will ask of the matter in half an hour from now, when we are both on break, John."

I nodded, she left and... Zhongli took a seat by one of the available chairs.

"I wish to apologize for the sudden 'care' expressed by Lady Yuheng, she has a particular affinity with Miss Ganyu."

Rex Lapis in disguise appeared surprised by this indirect explanation, but she nodded as she understood my point. "I see... I still don't wish to burden you with chores that-"

"If I was to let you be right now, 'Miss' Zhongli, I would have to deal with the wrath of my boss. Let's just take this defeat and go forward from there."

A small smile perked on her face at that cheeky interjection. Soon she passed me all the documentation I needed for her 'work permit' and her 'income declaration'. She had been hired by Hu Tao already, and I could see the director had wanted this to be solved as quickly as possible since Zhongli's entry at the Funeral Parlor was yesterday.

Despite having the 'proper' documentation, I could tell her birth certificate and her 'Living Condition Declaration' were forged. The former because Zhongli had thought smart to put out a date that made her '18' at this point, while the latter stated an area for her residence that was... well, it lacked any known houses.

This whole effort would be caught and blacklisted had this been caught by someone else but... why didn't it happen back in canon if that's what happened? Did Keqing's sway hit so deep that the unlucky sob that got this job on their hands just rolled with it?

Still, I ignored the glaring discrepancies and had her signing the proper permits. A copy was hers to keep, while the originals were to be stored within the safe archive within the building. All should have been well but... before leaving, Zhongli had another request to remark about.

"Also, there is something that... 'Miss Ganyu' asked me to do. In your regards."

Frowning, I was soon received a small envelope containing a letter. Zhongli looked intrigued as she clearly didn't know the content of it, but merely left since this letter may not allude to 'intimate reasons'. I waited a bit longer before opening the envelope and checking why Ganyu sent me a letter through her meta-'mommy'.

And what I found was something that truly left me uneasy.

Mister John, I hope this letter finds you at a time of positive mood and health.

I am writing you this message to ask of you if you would be interested to have lunch today at the Liuliu Pavilion, just so we could spare a few words together. I understand this may appear a bit strange, but I wish to interact more with you.

With great hopes for a bright future for you,

Miss Ganyu, Secretary of the Liyue Qixing.

I frowned, I tried to look left and right for something that could help me decipher something that really could make this anything less than a sudden request for a date. One I couldn't just say no to considering the method behind this sudden situation and-

Wait, shouldn't Ganyu be unaware that Rex Lapis was going 'Incognito' for the time being?

As I was contemplating the sense of things that this mere letter and how it found its way to me, I was yanked out of my thoughts by a certain someone that had told me that she would be back.

"So, how did it go?" Keqing asked quite loudly by the doorstep, stepping inside as she noticed that Zhongli was no longer there. My eyes widened and I crushed the letter between my palms.

"Good. A normal process."

She smiled widely. "Glad to hear that and... is everything fine, John? You are a bit pale on your face."

"Low on sugar," I mumbled quickly. "It's snack break, so I just need something to eat."

The girl nodded, beaming that I had done well and-

"Oh, and John?"

I froze up, seeing how happy she looked in that moment.

"You are... You are my best friend. I hope you know that."

I swear I saw her blush a bit before she bolted away, leaving me confused with that curious confession. I knew I was a close associate, but I guess I was the one that interacted the most with Keqing about non-work-related stuff.

Still, I couldn't help but feel this was some sort of a red flag. I just...

I just didn't know how right I was about it.

Liuliu Pavillion. It was lunchtime. I was sitting at one of the tables and... Ganyu had just entered the building.

The Cocogoat was the Goat. No doubt in that. Not only she had the curves, but that outfit was down-right sinful when united with her beauty. However, I wasn't one to surrender to the Ganyussy. Perhaps in the past, had I not been given the chance to make some personal impressions of her, I would have gone 'aoooga' with her hotness but...

She hardly catches a break from work. And I caught her sleeping by her desk- does she even have a home? And I don't mean Mt. Aocang. I know where Keqing's home was, but Ganyu just doesn't have a viable address in case she was missing. It was expected of her to be at work all the time that it made sense that her sudden disappearance after the Liyue Archon Quest because she 'felt unable to relate to the Harbor' crashed the entire system.

And as she sat right beside me as we exchanged curt greetings, she frowned at the menu.

"You haven't ordered yet?" She asked, and I felt a bit surprised by the question.

"No. It's common for everyone to be sitting at the table before ordering food."

Ganyu appeared surprised, then sheepish. "O-Oh, I didn't know that."

"Is it your first time spending time in a restaurant, Miss Ganyu?"

She shook her head. "No but... It's the first time doing so with someone else."

Her smile was several gigawatts bright, but it had also some straining to it.

"I see, well... Let's order our food."

At her nod, I called for one of the waitress to get our orders and, as it was Ganyu's turns, I found her struggling to find something fitting. Since she couldn't eat meat, she had to avoid most of the plates, but what was left was far from pleasant to her taste buds.

Ultimately she settled for some tofu despite not being too pleased with that choice and... I used this time to inquire more on her situation.

"So... what led you to ask for this hang out, Miss Ganyu?"

The half-qilin turned to me with a calm look. "Well, I wanted to return the favor for your gift two days ago."

...A gift? What was she- Oh!

My brain rebooted in that moment as I recalled what had been a half-baked idea to remove the smelly Qingxin bouquet that Tartaglia had brought from his 'little morning routine' a while back. The flowers were difficult to find, and while they seemed to live for long, their smell seemed to deteriorate with ease even with the best care provided to this.

So, one day, feeling particularly annoyed by their smell in the morning, I put the bouquet in a tray and just left it at the Liyue Qixing's counter where Ganyu was sleeping at. I left fast enough to avoid awkward explanations, but I guess she caught me leaving so she knew it was me.

And she thought I did so as a gift. I just wanted to pragmatically get rid of it without having them put in the fucking trash.

I felt bad, and I felt 'annoyed' by the irony of getting caught in that situation.

"I see... I just didn't expect for you to offer this kind of... returns."

"It's alright. I- I admit that I didn't plan this through as I would have wanted, but it is not too difficult... right?"

Is she actually asking me if she is doing well?

"Yes."

She beamed again, and I couldn't help but feel like I was a dad trying to introduce my daughter how to behave in a restaurant.

As our food arrived, Ganyu didn't look too pleased with the Tofu, but she still ate it nonetheless, while I enjoyed by meaty rolls on skewers. The meal was satisfactory, but I could tell that Ganyu looked a bit off about it.

"Are you alright, Miss Ganyu?"

She tensed up, eyes wide open and then she appeared embarrassed. "Y-Yes. It's just... I wanted to talk about something myself, but I don't know what to bring up."

To a normal civilian, that may sound absurd. Everyone has something to say, even if it is quite banal. But as someone that knew Ganyu's bland life, I would say that her repertoire of stories was quite limited between 'too embarrassing' or 'non-existing'. So, while one would normally make the mistake of asking about her family or about her childhood, I asked her something I knew wouldn't embarrass her too much.

"Is that so? How about you tell me how you feel right now?"

Ganyu lowered her gaze. "N-Nervous. I just said I would like to say something too, but I feel like I can't contribute to the conversation."

I slowly nodded at this.

"And you feel like that you are not doing much by not speaking up, yes?"

She nodded back, and I offered a smile.

"Ganyu, may I be a bit honest with you?"

Her eyes turned to me, questioning but giving me permission to go on.

"I think you are underestimating yourself when it comes to social interactions."

She tilted her head to the side. "How so?"

"Well, while it is true that it would be 'symmetrical' to return a story with one of yours, hanging out doesn't always involve talking. It's a matter of enjoying some quiet and pleasant times with someone else. And I can tell you that you are not doing anything wrong right now."

Her eyes widened at this comment.

"Really? I-I mean, do you think so?"

"I know so," I replied confidently. "I am not having a bad time, and I can assume the same goes for you."

She finally smiled and nodded.

"And that's what really matters. We are not doing much but hanging out."

The girl nodded in agreement, somewhat relieved by my admission as she leaned back to enjoy more of her tofu. This time, albeit the taste was unchanged, the girl seemed more pleased with the food. And that was... it.

After paying, Ganyu thanked me for the good meal as I paid for both, and soon we split as we left for our respective next destinations. While I knew Ganyu walked back to her chores, I got back to... home. And I found Tartaglia snoring deeply from the couch in the living room.

I was 'warned' of her presence there by the broken door, but I was surprised to find her so drained and depleted. I walked up to her, groaning about 'not covering herself properly' and as I was about to put some covers on her frame, I got snatched up by the woman - my face firmly planted between her boobs.

"You're late," Tartaglia yawned tiredly, cuddling up with me. "Where were ya?"

"Therapy session," I flatly replied, looking up at her face. "Boss' crush has troubles with social interactions."

"Oh. Okay," She replied calmly, seemingly satisfied.

...

"Wait, isn't your boss' crush a big-tiddy goat girl?"

"Half-qilin, but yes. Go to sleep, we just chatted."

I could tell that Ajax wanted to press more on this out of jealousy but... she felt a bit delighted I wasn't fighting my way out of her tight hugging so...

She just let it go this once.

AN

The plotline expands but... no MCxGanyu. Or MCxKeqing. What I can say is that someone is getting the chance to become a 'mistress' to some extent. And this is out of the MC's empathetic perspective.