By: tenkumo
The first thing Venti does as soon as he steps foot back in Mondstadt, is make a beeline towards Windrise, eager to sit between the branches of Vennessa's tree. The second thing he does, obviously, is skip his way towards the Angel's Share.
Venti is ready to play his new ballads, freshly composed, but he's stopped in his tracks as soon as he enters the tavern, when he's greeted by gasps and swarmed by a crowd.
A few of the younger patrons are whistling appreciatively, and he curtsies with a grin in their direction, but most of the others are laughing and jovially patting him on the back. "Congratulations on the growth spurt, little bard", he's told, as he laughs with them. "Now you finally look the age you're saying you are!"
Venti can't help but play along. To him, he had already looked the age he pretended to be, but it leaves a sour taste in his mouth that he'll never be the age he actually is.
He pushes a couple of morbid thoughts to the back of his mind, and makes his way to the counter, ready to sit in front of Diluc and annoy him properly. He has already been offered enough drinks to make him reconsider his usual begging routine, but he'd be lying if he said he didn't miss the grumpy redhead.
(How delusional would he be to hope he missed him too?)
"Good evening, master Diluc!", Venti greets him instead, noticing that the other man is glaring at him like usual. "Come on! I haven't been around in months, you could at least welcome me back!"
"What happened to you?", is all that Diluc says, almost deadpan.
Venti lets out a laugh. "Straight to the point, huh?"
Not that he could blame him. As the other patrons had already pointed out, Venti is taller now, he has some faint muscles on his arms and shoulders from excessive use of his bow. There are still two braids framing his sweet face, but the back of his hair has grown longer, now tied in a third braid that's resting over his right shoulder. He's ditched his hat (replaced by a simple cecilia blossom) and his little cape (ruined within the first month of travel), and he's wearing sturdy boots with wide, floppy brims instead of his old shoes, deemed unsuitable for a long journey.
"I look older, don't I?", he wonders aloud, melancholic.
Diluc scoffs. "That's an understatement"
"Well? Aren't you going to compliment me as well?", Venti chuckles, then stands up for a second and lets himself fall back on his stool again. "Ah, master Diluc, you're still taller than me... is there really no hope for this poor bard?"
He gets another glare from Diluc, before he goes back to ignoring him as he cleans the glass in his hands.
"Come on, are you really not happy to see me?"
"Happy to see you're safe? Yes", Diluc mutters, sparking some hope in Venti's chest. "Happy to see you in here? No. I'm tired of you trying to swindle something to drink out of me. And if you think I forgot about those two crates you stole from the winery before leaving...", he adds in a threatening tone as soon as Venti starts laughing again.
"Oh, those crates", he lets out a fake sigh. "You'll be happy to know that I didn't even get to drink the wine inside, then"
Diluc raised an eyebrow. "Did you break the bottles by mistake?"
"Ah, not really. You could say that someone got to drain them before I could"
"That's what you get for stealing"
Venti pouts. "Don't be like that, I'm sure I'm mourning the loss of those crates more than you ever did. How about you pour me some Dandelion Wine right now to make up for it?"
