Operation: Make Zhongli Smile Forever

Part 7 - Angels and Igloos

Childe rushed straight into a group of hilichurls, slashing his way through their bodies with immense agility using his hydro blades, picking up masks and discarded arrowheads as he moved through the crowd. Zhongli simply stood back and let him have his fun, bloodlust flaring in his stormy eyes as he swiftly pulled out his bow.

"You're doing it wrong," Zhongli called out over the sound of Childe's laughter, "your grip on the bow is wrong and you're shooting at an angle. The bow should be upright, not tilted." Childe returned to Zhongli's side after picking up a scroll from one of the samachurls.

"Since when are you a master of archery? Last time I checked you used a polearm," Childe chuckled, stowing away his weapon.

"In case you haven't forgotten, Tartaglia, I was the god of war. I have a wide knowledge of weaponry," Zhongli grinned, holding his long spear to Childe's chest in a playful way, "and that's not the only area I'm knowledgeable in." Zhongli stowed away his polearm and in a swift movement, raised a massive stone pillar out of the ground.

"Woah," Childe breathed, walking towards the pillar and gently placing his hands on the hard surface, "it's like... it's like it's alive."

"Geo energy," the Archon simply responded, walking next to Childe and graciously climbing up the earthy pillar, steadily standing on top; as if on cue, the wind around them picked up, causing Zhongli's hair and attire to wave in the breeze. From atop the pillar, he reached his hand down to Childe, pulling the ginger man up with him; when Childe finally regained his balance, their hands remained together, their bodies pressed together on the small surface.

"Couldn't have made it bigger, could you?" Childe joked, turning around to face away from Zhongli; in return, the consultant chuckled, looking out over Childe's head at the land around them.

"Barbatos really has no taste when it comes to landscaping. It's too flat," Zhongli remarked, looking at the horizon as the land stretched around him, "I'd erect a mountain there." Zhongli pointed to a flat stretch of land, completely vacant and unused; Childe chuckled, jumping down from the pillar.

"Of course you would," the Harbinger laughed, looking back sideways at the huge snowy mountain; Zhongli mirrored his movement.

"Would you like to visit Dragonspine?" Zhongli asked, gently coming down from his pillar before it disintegrated into dust; Childe's eyes lit up and he nodded quickly, causing Zhongli to chuckle a bit.

--

Dragonspine was significantly larger than they had expected, towering high above them and completely covered in a sheet of pristine snow, fluffy and undisturbed. Childe rushed in without much thought, falling into the snow face first. He flipped onto his back, opening his mouth to let snow fall onto his tongue.

"I missed this," he sighed, frantically making a snow angel; Zhongli walked over hesitantly and sat down beside his friend.

"It doesn't snow often in Liyue, I do admit. Sometimes in the winter months on the peaks in Jueyun Karst, but still rarely," Zhongli mused, sitting somewhat uncomfortably on the snow, the cold seeping through his clothes; Childe seemed entirely unaffected. After a brief moment of silence, Zhongli felt himself being pulled down from behind, his legs slipping away until he was entirely on his back; the Harbinger beside him laughed, pushing the man beside him into the snow.

"Make a snow angel," Childe said, stretching Zhongli's arm out onto the snow; hesitantly, the Archon moved his arms and legs, creating an admittedly sloppy snow angel, but an angel nonetheless. He sat back up slowly, looking at the dip he created; Childe laughed at him and drew a small smile on where his head was.