TBOAH React To Traveler Cale

The Outlanders Who Caught The Wind (1)

There's an extra at the end of the Author's note. It's about Cale's Harem and its current top contenders, ehe.

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"Damn, this is so good!"

Bud licked his lips, savoring the taste of the dandelion wine Cale got for them. Cage felt the same way, the alcohol has a sweetish and refreshing taste that makes it different from her usual drinks.

Cale, Taylor, Cage and Bud were having their drinking competition while the rest of the (kidnapped) audience in the room sorted themselves out by choosing their respective tables as Red readied the viewing.

Thankfully, all four of them had high alcohol tolerance, so they still wouldn't be drunk by the time the viewing started. The rest of the Teyvat (along with the whales) table watched them have at it, with the children cheering them on.

Lumine and Menogias think that this may not be a good example for the children. But at this point, all of them are pretty much bad influences to each other.

"Ho~? Are you struggling already?" Cage grinned cheekily at seeing Cale's slightly red face.

Cale just immediately downed a glass before replying, "Ah, you don't need to worry, Cage-nim, I just flush easily. How are you holding up, though?"

Cage laughed, "Just getting started! This wine is one of the best I've had! Where's it from?"

"It's made by Dawn Winery in Teyvat. You'll see it in the viewing soon enough." Cale replied.

"Wow, I wasn't expecting Taylor to hold his own this well..." Paimon commented, watching how the weakest-looking person of the four currently had the most glasses.

"Appearances can be deceiving." Menogias said. The adeptus smiled as he watched Cale get into the drinking competition, his previously somber mood now mostly forgotten. He had seen how a young man with gray hair accompanied by two people had approached the redhead and the awkward atmosphere was so obvious that Menogias practically felt it.

Cale wasn't ready to talk to his family yet, but Menogias believed that he shouldn't need to. He had nothing against the children of the second family, they had no fault in this, only the parents. Though, from witnessing Cale's memories, it was easy for Menogias to tell why there was distance between the stepmother and her stepson, from the belief that Cale might have hated her for replacing his late mother. While Menogias slightly sympathized with Violan, he felt that she should have at least done something.

It's the father whom Menogias wants to punch in the face. As a father, shouldn't he be the one to comfort his son after his wife's death, not the other way around? And instead of properly comforting his grieving son, the so-called father had the audacity to avoid him just because of his red hair and even brought home a new wife not even a year later. Even when he tried to talk to his son, he was too much of a coward to push the boundaries until Cale felt like a stranger in his own home, to the point that the redhead finally snapped in his self-deprecation and resorted to unhealthy alcoholism at age fucking 15, all for coping and purposely make everyone hate him.

Worst of all? Deruth fucking enabled it.

Menogias may be an adeptus with rather loose morals due to his time in the war, but he has standards. Out of the five Yakshas, he was the one most influenced by mortals, to the point of taking great interest in mortal activities that Alatus would find frivolous. He has a soft spot for children, regardless of whether they are mortal or not, and firmly believes that they should be able to grow up healthy and happy. Cale was still a child when he began spiraling down and no one did anything to stop him from destroying himself. Not his stepmother, not his butler, and especially not his so-called father.