Chongyun spent the night in the towns inn, thinking about the events that transpired. There was no demon, just a wild girl. A very wild girl.
It bothered him greatly, thinking about what he could do. He needed to see her again to find out what was happening, why she was harassing the town. He was also incredibly curious to know about that kiss...
Chongyun shook his head at the thought and laid down for the night. He needed his rest if he was going to confront her again the following night. He tossed and turned until the sun was rising, his sleep was incredibly broken apart and he was disheartened when the morning sun rose.
He spent an hour laying in bed, dreading the moment he had to get up and start his day. Once he finally did crawl out of bed, he prepared himself mentally for his day. Today he was to question the townsfolk about Lumine, who they had all thought was a demon.
"The demon stole all the food from my shop!"
"It stole my daughters clothes!"
"It stole all the rope from the construction site!"
The stories went on and on about how these 'demon' had been stealing food, clothes, random assortments of items that could've been confused for someone's camping trip supplies. Chongyun pieced together relatively quickly what was happening. She was just trying to survive in the wild with whatever she could find in this town.
Soon, Chongyun's questions changed from what was it doing to what did it look like, what was its behaviour?
"It was a dark shadow with a tail and ears, I almost thought it was a mountain lion!"
"It was like a skeleton! So thin and lanky, it was freaky!"
Chongyun felt almost guilty as he listened to the people describe her. He wondered if these words were the reason she stayed hidden away. He decided to start asking questions about the town itself, only to discover it was a relatively new established village. It had only been lived in for no more then a year before stories of the demon began circling. Maybe this was her home before it was theirs...
Chongyun spent his entire day talking to the people until finally, the sun began to set. Everyone was quick to hide in their homes once the sky turned orange and the crickets started to chirp. He heard doors lock and worried whispers from the streets as slowly but surely, the town became deserted, with Chongyun being the only sign of life in sight. He watched the sky darken, and made his way to the last place he saw her.
With a backpack slung over his shoulder, he pushed his way into the brush and weaved through the trees. The dim light between the trees allowed him to see clearly enough to keep an eye out for Lumine. It wasn't long before he saw her blue eyes glowing in the moonlight. She was still, almost like she was trying to stay hidden, but her efforts were minimal. She felt a strong trust in Chongyun and believed he wouldn't cause her harm.
"You came back," she cooed as he stepped closer to her.
"I did some investigating today," he spoke up, "I think I understand now."
Lumine stepped out of the bushes, her hair was messy and tousled like she had just woken up. Their eyes met at equal level as she was slouched and sluggish in her posture.
"I brought you some things," he said, dropping the bag down in between them, "would you like to sit and join me?"
"Yes... we sit together," she chirped, quickly bouncing over towards him and sitting by his feet like a house cat waiting for praise. She looked up at him with expectant eyes, and with a sharp intake of breath, Chongyun sat down beside her.
He began pulling out a manner of different objects, some food he had bought, a sleeping bag, and some candles. He lit a match and started to burn the wicks of the candles to provide them with some light. At the sight of fire, Lumine flinched away from him, but dared not move until knowing his motives.
"It's okay, it's just so I can see better," he said softly as he created a small well in the dirt to sit the candle in. "My eyes aren't as well versed for the darkness as yours."
She stared at the candle with intensity, the flame flickering with her breaths. She didn't realise that his eyes wouldn't be like hers. When she saw him, she thought he was her kin. She wasn't so sure of that now.
Chongyun handed her some of the food that he brought and she happily accepted as the two began talking. The only way he could resolve the situation was to know why she was here, and the reasoning behind her actions.
The two spent a long time talking and talking, most of that time was spent working around the language barrier whenever Lumine forgot a word or didn't understand what Chongyun was saying. He slowly began to feel pity for her as he realised she'd never had a home outside this forest, or a family. He came to understand that the construction of the town drove away the wildlife in the area, thus reducing her food source and creatures she could hunt. He questioned whether or not he should take her back to Liyue Harbour, but he knew he couldn't leave her here.
"I just have one more question," he asked as the two of them stood up after their small picnic was over. "Why did you kiss me yesterday?"
Chongyun felt his cheeks beginning to grow hot as he remembered her behaviour. No one had ever kissed him before and he grew shy thinking about it.
"What's a... kiss?" She asked, her head tilted to the side as she had done before when posing a question.
"I-it's uh... something two people do to show great amounts of affection," he tried to explain.
"Oh, do you mean this?" Lumine was quick to lean in once more and plant a kiss on Chongyun's lips. His face turned red and Lumine sat back to observe his reaction and await his response.
"Y-yes..." he stuttered as he began digging through his bag for a popsicle.
"The people, I see them do it when they are happy together," she explained. "So I do with you, because you made me happy."
"Oh uh, you misunderstand," he mumbled before taking a small bite out of his popsicle, "people only do that when they like each other."
"I like you," Lumine said, her lips twitching up into a small smile.
"No no no, not like that, it's uh," he struggled to find the words to explain the complexity of the word love to a woman who had but a vague grasp of the English language, "like when you think someone is attractive, you like them in a different way."
"Attractive?"
"Uh, like, pretty?" He questioned, wondering which word she might know that could hold the same or similar meaning.
"You are pretty," she stated simply, still struggling to grasp the concept being explained to her. "Do you think I am?"
Her head once again tilted to the side and her tail swung behind her. Chongyun stopped for a moment and stared at her in the darkness. She was tall and slender with large eyes and wispy amber hair. The cat ears and tail added such a unique charm to her. For the first time since meeting her, Chongyun had considered what he thought about her appearance.
"You're beautiful," he mumbled, blush spreading on his cheeks.
"So we can kiss then," she said matter-of-factly. "Yes?"
Chongyun awkwardly scratched the back of his head. Would it be wrong of him to tell her it was okay if she didn't know the true meaning of the action?
"J-just once more..." he mumbled, his eyes fixed firmly on the ground.
Lumine stepped forward and took his face in her hands and lifted it up to look at him.
"Silly boy," she said, shaking her head, "I am not that stupid."
She gently pressed her lips against his once more, the kiss was soft and tender. When she finally pulled away, she had a smug smile on her face, while Chongyun was blushing like mad.
"I learned what a kiss was this morning."
