The 12th Fatui Harbinger

The Okiya (M)

*WARNING* Mentions of prostitution, non-con, predatory behavior, and PTSD.

Yuria sighed as she soaked in the Onsen. In the morning, she had played the Goto for a private tea ceremony hosted by one of the Kanjou commission officials, and in the afternoon, she had performed a traditional twin sword dance for a high ranking Samurai's birthday reception. For her evening schedule, a Tenryou commission official had thrown a big sum of money to rent the whole entire banquet hall of the Okiya, along with all of its courtesans and Geisha, including her.

The attendants cleared their throat to let her know she should wrap up her bath, and Yuria nodded silently as she got up. They helped her dry off, and dressed her in the most exquisite embroidered white and blue kimono. Yuria smiled as she took a big whiff of the glaze lilies she had imported from Liyue. They were climbing the list of her favorite flowers. The attendants pinned them one by one into her hair, along with a few gold and sapphire accessories. The flowers brought out the blue in her eyes and made her look ever more ethereal.

She paused as the sapphire earrings they helped her put on reminded her of someone... If her eyes were the color of glaciers and the summer skies on a sunny day, his eyes were a darker blue, the shades of distant seashores, deep and tranquil as the oceans, dark and mysterious as the star-studded nights. They say the eyes are the window to a person's soul... but she could never tell what Childe was really thinking. Childe's eyes rarely twinkled or had emotion. His eyes somehow captured the light around his orbs, and as she gazed deeper into them, she found herself increasingly lost within the darkness of his gaze. Had the thought of something more with her ever even crossed his mind? What they would look like after Inazuma fell to its knees? Or was she simply just his latest high?... a dream he would inevitably awake from? Did he even... miss her? Yuria hated the fact that she was here alone, catching feelings for him. You knew he was a series of walking red flags, she reminded herself. Perhaps he had long forgotten about her already. After all, she was the one that suggested they find new partners anyway.

Yuria hadn't seen him for almost two weeks as she readjusted to life back at the Okiya. She no longer stopped by headquarters. She only met with undercover Fatui as she resumed her duties from her chambers on the compound, communicating via secret letters on an as-needed basis. It was critical that she not blow her cover until they completed their mission. And this meant that of all the Fatui, Childe was the one she could absolutely not be seen with. Tales of his battles and destruction in Liyue had spread far and wide across the nations of Teyvat, and the Eleventh Harbinger had a fearsome reputation as Snezhnaya's weapon of war. Childe was too reckless. Too many people knew what he looked like.

Before she could overthink her way into the night, the attendants gave her a nudge, signaling that she was ready. Yuria stared into the mirror. Of course, without a doubt, she was beautiful. Big expressive aquamarine studded eyes framed by long dark lashes, flawless snowy white skin, a delicate small round nose, and sultry pouty lips that had been painted a cherry red. Her pale pink locks resembled the sakura blossoms at the break of dawn, and they had been pinned up into an elaborate bun as glaze lilies of different sizes adorned the space between each twist.

It had been awhile since she had accepted a joint banquet with the other women in the Okiya. Although she tried to dress a bit more modestly to differentiate herself from the actual courtesans that sold their bodies, Yuria knew that wouldn't stop the men who would try to grab at her. Her mind started to recall the times where their hands kept crawling, reaching past her robes, as they groped and squeezed. Even though she was well capable of crushing them with a snap of her wrist, her elemental powers were off the table due to the vision hunt. No matter what her status was as a flower*, at the end of the day, they were still paying customers, and Yuria could only cry for help and pray the guards would come on time.