A Single Spark (Scaramouche x Reader)

Chapter 26: The Bard's Mission

"Oi! Wake up sleepyhead!" a cheerful voice shouted. A light breeze blew the hair out of your eyes, and you were face to face with Venti the Bard, as cheerful a morning bird as you ever saw.

"Morning," you mumbled before turning back over. The covers were snatched off of you, and you sat up to glare at Venti.

"Ah ah ah, (y/n)~ You, me, and Kunikuzushi are going on a little scouting mission!"

"Then get out and let me get dressed," you replied groggily.

Venti closed the door and you could hear him humming as he walked down the hallway. Sighing, you swung your legs over the bed, stood up and stretched, then got ready.

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A polite way to describe the anemo archon is...bubbly. For a scouting mission, he sure was talking A LOT. Mostly about random stuff. A bird, a weird looking flower, whatever. Kuni was not having it. He grumbled the whole time, and absolutely despises Venti by now. He always tried to position himself protectively between you and Venti.

"Hey, (n/n)," Venti started while you were stopped for lunch. You looked up from the lotus flowers you were preparing.

"Yeah? What is it?"

"Do you wanna hear a story?" Venti asked.

"Sure," you said absentmindedly. There's nothing else to do while you wait for Kuni to get back from hunting.

"The winds tell me everything I need to know," Venti began. As if to emphasize, the leaves began to rustle. Venti took a deep breath and looked up at branches swaying back and forth.

Oh? Now this was curious.

"450 years ago, I happened to come across a gust of wind from Sumeru. Normally, the winds from Sumeru are hot, fragrant, and full, with a hint of underlying stress about them. But this particular current of air was different."

Venti had changed into a completely different person. His eyes were glazed over, showing only wisdom embedded deep within centuries of experience. He grew calm, serene. This is how an archon holds himself, not a bard.

"The winds spun a tale of blood that had been shed, and those who had witnessed it," Venti continued.

"It told me of someone who had a glass half-full because they sacrificed to let others live to the fullest. This person had seen death, had almost been claimed by death, but never gave up on their dream of freedom. It was you, of course." He chuckled, then swung his legs around to get in a more comfy position.

"How do the winds work like that?" you interrupted.

"ShhHHHHHhhHhhhHhhhH" Venti replied.

"The winds tell me everything, past present and future. I knew you would be a great hero, "The Liberator," so I offered you an anemo vision, but the electro archon beat me by a few seconds. It's a shame, really. Anemo is a much better element."

Kuni took that moment to appear, in all his glory. He had been pissy all day, and now he had something to fight about. The chaotic side of you was bubbling, and you leaned back to enjoy the show, munching on some lotus flower crisps.

"What do you mean anemo is better? Electro is clearly superior. At least it makes decent elemental reactions!"

"Whaaaat?" Venti replied. "Anemo is much more versatile, and at least I won't get shocked in the rain!"

The atmosphere crackled. "Maybe we should just see who's better then," Kuni threatened.

The wind began to blow, concentrated around the archon, "Watch who you pick a fight with," Venti said light-heartedly.

You laughed as you prepared the meat. You knew you could distract them with some sweet madame.
Sure enough, it worked. The minute the aroma of sweet meat reached their noses, they were begging in front of you like stray dogs, all conflict resolved and forgotten.

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After lunch, you continued scouting, and that's when you found a Fatui camp that was pretty far into the border. You glanced at Kunikuzushi and he nodded.

"Stay here," you told Venti. He didn't look pleased.
You and Kuni rushed in from opposite directions. With your claymore, you ambushed a guy with a geo delusion, killing him immediatly. Kuni was able to take out a burly man with a hydro delusion right away.

There was, however, a cryo gunner, who had had time to prepare.

Kuni charged the entire field with electro energy, taking the gunner's shield down fairly quickly.

Then you went in for the kill.

You rushed forward, and slashed across his stomach, bowels spilling everywhere. The gunner's mask fell off, and you crushed it beneath your boot.

"LoNg LiVe ThE TsAriTsA," you mocked.

Venti stood there, pouting. "You should've let me join in the fun," he whined. Then he dejectedly turned around to head back to Wangshu Inn.
Kuni spoke up just then "Instead of heading back to Wangshu Inn," he said, "we're supposed to rendezvous with Zhongli and Xiao at a camp they have allegedly set up this afternoon in Windwail Highland."

Thank goodness Kuni was the one with the directions, because Venti immediately got sidetracked by a butterfly.