My Dear Friend | Chilumi

The Flower Stand

Childe and Lumine had parted after their meal yesterday and had promised each other a sparring match for today in the evening, and dinner afterward to celebrate the winner. Yesterday she had convinced herself that she wasn't in the mood to spar, but Childe, as always, convinced her to say yes with his inviting manners and enticing words. Lumine had thought to herself that this would be a similar "date" to last time and blushed at the thought. She spent the night restless and could only feel excited to see her friend again and have some real fun for once. 

Paimon kept asking about Childe all night. What he wrote in the letters she had read in secret if she was excited, how did she feel now that he was back in town? Lumine shut down most of her questions, mostly because she didn't even know what to answer most of them.

Childe had promised Paimon a premium chef experience at Wanmin restaurant with unlimited food and she obviously said yes. He had yet again managed for the two of them to end up alone.

Lumine spent the day at Wanshu Inn. they decided to sleep in a nice place so they could shower and pamper themselves. She did some easy missions for the customers and owners of the Inn early in the morning which paid the fee for the night and gave them some extra Mora for savings. In the afternoon, she read a love story and kept adjusting her outfit and her hair in the mirror before leaving the Inn and heading to Liuye.

They hopped on a carriage heading to the city and talked about this and that. Lumine's excitement could be felt by any stranger. She hadn't spent time with any of her friends (except Paimon,obviously) recently and attributed her thrilled mood to the spontaneousness of the whole thing.

They arrived in the late afternoon, tipped their driver, and headed out to the marketplace to kill time. Lumine walked through the streets of Liyue harbour accompanied by Paimon looking at the nice things that merchants were selling, she looked at a beautiful necklace at the jewelry shop but put it back down as soon as she saw the price. She would maybe come back for it another day after a couple of commissions. Paimon spotted a flower merchant and convinced Lumine to take a look. A stunning Cecilia flower caught her eye and she knew to buy it. She found a mirror and carefully placed it in her hair, alongside her other flowers, hoping a certain boy would notice the difference in her looks. She felt pretty and Paimon made sure to let her know that she was beautiful. She smiled and kept walking the busy streets up to the rendez vous point at Northland bank.

The red stairs were especially shiny and red this evening. The golden sunlight hit perfectly on the tall buildings of the city and reflected like a mirror on the resting sea. The air was comfortable and not even a breeze was in the air. It was a perfect evening.

Lumine kept walking up the stairs and approached Northland bank. Nadia was outside the bank and barely acknowledged the traveler. Quietly She turned the handle and slowly opened the door. She usually is not so slow but she felt as though this time she needed to be quiet. As she opened the door, she heard muffled voices coming from the hall. She slowly passed her head through the doorway and analyzed her surroundings. There stood her red-headed date, his back facing the door while he spoke to someone smaller in front of him. Lumine could not hear what was being said, but it was not long until she could see who Childe was speaking to. She froze, terrified. Paimon came through to see what was taking so long to go through the door and let out a squeak when she saw what her friend could see. Alerted by the sound, both men faced the Traveler. She knew she was no match for two harbingers and did not dare draw out her sword. In an instant after what felt like an eternity, she gasped aloud to the man she had foolishly begun to trust too soon. She knew what to expect of a harbinger, of him working with colleagues, but it still hurt nonetheless. She especially knew not to stick around to find out what could happen next. One man's eyes widened as big as the moon while the other one snarled.

She backed away through the door so fast neither could have placed a word, hoping neither Scaramouche nor Tartaglia would dare follow her through the city. She ran as fast as she could through the sea of people going out for the night, she ran for as long as she could to the edge of the town. She didn't know if she was followed nor if they had called out her name, all she knew was that she was holding on to her best friend, running and crying and those were the only things she could manage right now.

She finally arrived at the giant statues outside of the city and hid behind one of them to catch her breath, sit down and cry some more. Paimon tried to console her and protect her in any way she could. But the damage was done. She was betrayed even though she told herself to keep her guard up. She knew she was the only one to blame in this situation, hoping someone like him could change was like hoping for snow in the summer.

Lumine then heard her name being growled in the wind.