Diary of a crystalfly

Chapter 7. New friend

The doors of the Ordo were made of quality oak, its thickness enough to drown out all noise when it closed, leaving a sort of reassuring quietness that was calming to the mind. With his hand still on the knob, I heard a huff from Albedo, soft but enough to relieve some accumulated stress from the vastly unpleasant interview earlier.

His office-to-be was large, and evidently unused given the stale air and the simplicity of its design - just some shelves, a desk and an armchair. Dust filled my lungs at every breath, and although the light that shone through the panes made the armchair look kingly, I preferred to retreat into his hair to shield myself from the murky air.

Alice had left earlier, gesturing Albedo to the office he'd be using as the "Captain of the investigation team". And looking at Albedo's unimpressed expression, it seemed like he had no plans of utilising the space at all.

Still rooted by the door, Albedo scanned across the room and locked his eyes on the empty desk. As if the dusty surface revealed to him some untold secret, he simply decided to turn and depart.

"Leaving already?"

The calming reassurance from earlier felt like a hoax when a familiar man emerged from behind a shelf. Albedo's finger twitched at the voice, but he did not turn. He didn't want to. And who could blame him? Because even my own eyes took a trip around Teyvat at the sight of the eyepatch.

Not him again. 

"Don't worry, I'm not here to deride you," Kaeya chided as Albedo turned at him, letting the little scornful look in his eyes fight his battle.

"Really!" eyepatch exclaimed, putting his hands up in the air, "I wouldn't dare say anything to Alice's boy."

At the last two words, Albedo had to refrain from slipping a frown. He folded his arms and straightened himself, perhaps to quite unsuccessfully gather any extra height he could against the tall man.

"Kaeya was it? What do you need from me?"

"It's Sir Kaeya for you," Kaeya retreated behind the shelf and bent over, heaving up a box of items and thumping them over the desk, "I was told to help you with unpacking your new office supplies."

Even though the man was in all smiles, there was something different about his beam from the rest of Mondstadt. It has sort of a...slimy feel to it? Albedo likely agreed with me because I saw his brows furrow.

"Are you still upset about earlier?" Kaeya asked, catching the slight change in expression in an instant. Albedo did not reply, wanting to say "no" as the socially correct answer, yet it pained him to lie to this ass. With two opposing forces pressuring him to an answer, he remained wordless by the door, preferring to let Kaeya evaluate his silence as he wished.

"Look, I'm sorry alright?" Kaeya said without looking up, organising supplies over the desk as Albedo watched, intently , "I thought I was sticking one up for Klee but...I may have gone a little too far."

Kaeya definitely rarely ever apologised. His tone lacked primary sincerity, the kind of sincerity that stemmed from humility, negatively correlated with pride. So perhaps the gesture of apologizing alone should be accredited to him, regardless of its quality.

"Don't worry, I didn't take any offense to it. You're right, after all," Albedo replied, although from the way his voice lowered bland, he most likely couldn't care less about what Kaeya thinks.

But the Cavalry Captain seemed adamant about righting his wrong, because his smile faltered slightly, eyes darkening to a serious gaze.

"No, I was not. I was trying to provoke you, Albedo," he finally abandoned pretending to arrange office supplies and paced forward, "I said you looked like you've never held a sword in your life, and I meant it. Yet, you place a vision openly by your collar as some sort of warning. But then, you also choose to wear that oversized coat of yours to appear smaller so as to let down the guard of those who pick a fight regardless."