Hu Tao x Reader - A Morbid Curiosity

Chapter 23: Moonchase Preparation

<Author's Note: This chapter is quite exposition-heavy, as the Moonchase Festival isn't a permanently accessible event, so as to allow late-comers to also understand the events that transpired during this event. Madame Ping talks quite a lot more than I realised whilst I was playing through the event myself, I kept most of it in, but there was a particular section I skipped over in favour of Hu Tao dialogue (as she starts to talk about Keqing's Grandfather and how Madame Ping has watched over the people of Liyue for a long time, she also makes a comparison of how as the time shifts, so do the people - in complete opposition to the Raiden Shogun's thoughts on Eternity) >

Y/N: "I see... so the Moonchase Festival is where the people of Liyue celebrate the arrival of the fall by moonlight?"

Hu Tao: "What do you mean: the people of Liyue? You're one of us too you know! But otherwise, yeah, you got it! The old folks also say that thousands of years ago, this was the time of year when the Adepti would seek the Way."

Y/N: "Seek the Way?"

Hu Tao: "I don't actually know too much about that... But, anyways! It's completely different nowadays. Nowadays, we just eat our favourite foods, spend time with friends and relatives, and enjoy the moon and the flowers... Aiya! Now that I think about it, we basically just do all the things that people like doing and that don't take a whole lot of effort!"

Y/N: "Sounds like a fun time at least!"

Hu Tao: "It sure is! And it'll be even more fun now that I have you to enjoy it with! Plus the Funeral Parlour is running on minimum resources right now, so I doubt I'll be needed there for a while!"

Y/N: "Oh? That sounds nice... but uh- what are we doing now? I'm sort of just uh- following you?"

Hu Tao: "Well, the Moonchase festival is all about foods right? Who better to visit at a time like this for good food than the Wanmin Restaurant?!"

* * *

Y/N: "That's... quite a large bird that just flew off..."

Hu Tao: "Huh, and quite the crowd of people outside the shop too! Oh, Ganyu AND Keqing? My, oh my! Has the Wanmin Restaurant fallen into legal trouble perhaps?"

Y/N: "... And oh? Is that the person I saw before, the one with the fairy...?"

Hu Tao: "Oh? You've met Aether and his companion Paimon before..?"

Y/N: "Well, I didn't really meet them. I just saw them the day of the Rite of Descension, and its not every day you see someone with a Floating Fairy companion!"

Hu Tao: "True true! Although, I'm not sure Paimon is a Fairy... I honestly have no idea what she is!"

Y/N: "Huh... and uh-... why are we hiding around this building instead of just going up and saying hello?"

Hu Tao: "Heh! Well this is way more fun! And plus, there are so many people already, we'd just be adding to the crowd of voices and being a nuisance to the everyday people of Liyue, no? Now shhhh! So we can listen in!"

. . .

Ganyu: "I was getting really worried... Once she gets talking to people, she tends to go off on all sorts of tangents... so I was worried she might have bored you with some stories about me, heh..."

Is she... talking about that big bird that flew off a moment ago...?