Verisimilitude (GI Various x Reader)

Chapter Forty

        I was in the middle of telling Thoma about everything that'd happened recently when Lumine and Paimon showed up. I raised a brow at them in surprise. I wasn't expecting them to be finished so soon. I hadn't even finished talking about everything that happened in Liyue yet.

"Hm? That was quick... You resolved it already?" Thoma asks them. Paimon rubs her head.

"Um, actually we're having a little trouble..." She admits and Lumine nods.

"You're going to have to help us help you." She states. Thoma tilts his head, curious about what could be stumping the two of them.

"Oh? Well, by all means, tell me what you need. I'll help as much as I can. Getting you to go fixing things when you've only just arrived is quite a demand." Lumine nods, slightly miffed.

"What do you know about Werner?" Lumine asks.

"Oh, that guy? I'm familiar. He used to be a bit of a sorry sight, selling shells that he'd collect on the beach just to get by. But he seems to have suddenly shot up in the world recently. I can only assume he must have found himself a patron after leaving the International Trade Association." Thoma explains.

"Huh? You're saying he used to be a member of the International Trade Association? So he's an outlander, too?" Paimon asks and Thoma nods slowly.

"Yes... couldn't you tell when you spoke to him?" He asks them and Lumine hums to herself.

"He did seem like a Mondstadter to me." Thoma gives Lumine a confirmative nod.

"That's right, Werner was born in Mondstadt, then went into the shipping business, trading between Liyue and Inazuma. When Inazuma closed to the outside world, he was one of a group of outlanders that ended up stranded on Ritou." Thoma explained. Paimon frowned at the information.

"Huh, what a bummer..." Thoma continues.

"The International Trade Association was initially very generous to him, but over time, with decree after decree, the association members found it increasingly difficult to make ends meet..."

"So, he left the association and turned his back on them!" Paimon exclaims, finishing the story in her own way. Thoma laughs, shaking his head.

"Haha, I'm sure it's more nuanced than that. I believe even the most ungrateful and cold-hearted of people still have some amount of gratitude and warmth left in them somewhere." Lumine narrows her eyes down at the ground as she thinks about something before her eyes light up. She's planned something.

"Got it. I'll go back and talk to him again." Paimon glances over at Lumine.

"Really? Is that all you need to know?" Paimon asks her and she nods. Thoma and I wave the two of them off.

"Something tells me she's come up with a smart way to solve this..." Thoma states, glancing over at me. I nodded, agreeing with him.

"Lumine's really smart and can hold her own in a fight. So it doesn't surprise me that she managed to figure out a way through that guy." I explained to him.

"Tell me more about her, would you? You've been traveling with her all this time so you must have been able to get a good read on her, right?" I nodded.

"I feel like I have... We don't keep secrets from one another. Or, I at the very least, try to not keep any from her and I try to be as transparent as I possibly can. There's times where I'm forced to keep what I know a secret, but often times, I share what I know with her and she does the same for me." Thoma gets a look on his face as he mulls over what I'd said.