Blissful Bite ─ Venti x reader

15. ; CHANGE OF NARRATIVE

ErRoR - Temporary system change.

The doors of the strategy room swung open. His emerald green eyes glanced at his other colleagues, their faces expressed indiffence, tiredness. He gave a short nod of acknowledgment and moved on.

When he sat down, Nahida, rather buer, was the first to break the silence they were caught up in. She cleared her throat with a long-lasting look she focused on her hands, spasmed while resting agitated on the table.

"There is something that has been bugging me. The irminsul too has noticed." She stated calmly, looking up into his eyes. She was shorter, younger, and yet equally wise if not wiser than the oldest archons present.

Compared to the others, she was a soft hearted soul from all sides, and the ordeals and anguish she faced were just one of the many challenges that shaped her as a deity of this world. On the other side, the figure beside her with magenta hair displayed the opposite.

Raiden Ei, or Beelzebub, slammed her fist on the desk. She was filled and driven by furiosity.

She likely couldn't believe what she heard. She must've figured it even before Buer elaborated.

Her eyes darkened, and she seemed like she'd strangle the anemo God at the next opportunity.

That claim wasn't far off with their fair share of uneven opinions and values. Additional problems that made the rift bigger were that Beelzebub didn't like Barbatos in general. She couldn't even put a font on sometimes. She was very direct, while his personality edged at masking his discomfort and playing problems down to solve them. The specialty he possessed was soothing people, which came in handy actually quite often.

Two opposites were said to attract, but not in this life with these two. Even the slightest chance of a platonic relation was denied by their nature.

Strictly work, that was all it needed to be.

However, she seemed to appreciate his ability in somewhat solving the problems most of the time.

"Why did you let her in when you know she's a hunter?" she exclaimed, throwing her hands in the air. The irritation was underlined in her voice when she kept glaring at him like he'd be her next victim to a thunderstorm death.

One of the oldest and calmest put a hand on Beelzebub's shoulder. Her stiffed posture seemed to relax when her hands dropped slowly down to the table again.

He turned to look at the others and then him. The dark male didn't say a word. The silence remained another few minutes. Until he spoke, "Barbatos, this is a risky business, and you know it." Morax wasn't half as agitated as the magenta haired God, but his stance was steady and stoic. He was full of himself while appearing calm and collected like the old warrior and protector he was.

The Geo archon was an old brick head when it came to plans and contracts. The threat they were forced to face was bigger than the assault in Liyue. Thus being said, he wasn't too pleased when Barbatos let a message reach him as his reply was less polite than expected.

"I can not deal with your antics in case that's why you send me here, but if it isn't true, you'll pay."

The dark-haired archon sighed, and he went with his hand through his dark hair. He groaned, they didn't understand, they didn't try to, and that was the issue. Yet he persisted, "I'm aware of that, but if she'd learn the whole picture-" he was cut off by the platinum haired short sized dendro archon.

"We can not be sure that she'll know the whole picture." Buer protested calmly and crossed her arms. She pinned him down with her argument and backed him off into a corner.

"Stop letting your feelings get involved." Mroax argued, "You're not the only one who lost dear friends."

That's when he took in a shaking breath. His hands spasmed with the veins in his pounding, all while feeling the warmth of blood circulating faster.

He was right. They all had lost dear friends, and just because he feared to lose the key to Teyvat's problems...

He shouldn't argue with that. There was no justified reason for him to get defensive, no matter what he might have said if he would. He knew he did, he wanted to, but he bit on his cheek, took in the pain to stumble back into reality, where such things are more complicated than pushing your own desires and hopes onto others.

Sometimes, you had to submit and listen.

Sometimes, you had to compromise and stop forcing blunt solutions on other people, and that sometimes was then.

"I understand she looks like a friend you once held dear to you, but that doesn't excuse endangering us ALL." Furina, Folcalors human like counterpart added, she swung one leg over the other and crossed them like her arms. She didn't stop there with her honesty, "Everyone held someone dear here, and as much as I appreciate the cards you have at hand. In the end, it's a dangerous thing to play pretend." Furina

"However, she could help fix the erosion," Venti-no, Barbatos suggested, "that was the plan, at least until all of you argued I was lost in some personal agenda." He chuckled, "as if I'd cancel that," he crossed his arms and tapped his fingers on them, glancing into the round and seeing the faces morph into truthful regret.

They had underestimated him again, besides maybe Nahida and Furina, who weren't all too surprised by the idea.

--

Only bits came through. The voices I heard were muffled. I never understood more than a few words through the thick, winged doors I tried to catch them from.

I felt someone pull me back with so much force that it threw my body back and startled me. My heart skipped a beat as my eyes went wide.

Fuck.

I got caught.

I smiled at him innocent, and he grabbed my wrist. His face grew grim rapidly. The frown I saw unsettled my bones and melted the control in my muscles when I looked at him. "So it was you, you stole the paper." he said, I felt my heart skip a beat. My  No, I made a mistake.. or did he figure it out despite my attemps of hiding?

I had to keep calm. Yes, a calm state of mind was important.

Oh, archons, what was I supposed to do? Oh, please, let's not have any complications with him.

Please.

Not this hellspawn grump.

——✧･ﾟ: ★,｡･::･ﾟ☆
RAINEE's NOTE;
I have another milestone I reached by fulfilling the probationary period I had in the school I'm currently in.

Also, sorry I didn't feel like doing anything like uploading, so im practically 2 days late since it's Monday rn :,)

But hey, at least I'm doing good with school and writing ^^