clashing tens and hundreds of times / a light from tens and hundreds of years ago

[monoceroscaeli]

Who: Childe and Lumine
What: Lumine chooses violence this month and Childe happily obliges while dealing with Moon Presence stuff
When: December!
Where: The Gate

Content Warnings: they're just fighting and yelling at each other so idk if something comes up we'll put it in the subject line



[Trudging through the snow, Childe makes his way over to The Gate, his favorite place in all of Trench. He's easily found there, frequenting it whenever he can when he's not doing his odd jobs. Today the seats are empty, as there's no grand show of Hunters that take on monsters today, leaving it open for people to train. He's hoping someone who's particularly strong is available for sparring today, having finally had a good night's rest from the monstrosities that occurred during the previous month.

As he arrives, he beelines to where he can usually meet an unsuspecting Hunter to try to spar with him. But to his surprise, he sees a familiar face waiting for him instead. He tilts his head, before approaching her.]

Well well, I certainly wasn't expecting to find you here. Were you waiting for me?

[It's...a bit strange, it's not like her to show up here and wait for him. She's never done that before.]

Comments

[traversal]

[ it's been a nagging feeling since lumine's woken up that morning, prickling at her skin like static in the air. it's certainly not blood pollution, its effects finally subsiding, and she feels fine in terms of her physical health, so she knows it's something else. like an itch she wants to scratch but she can't reach it or something she wants to hit but it's too far away, it has her fidgeting in her seat and pacing around the room.

holding aether's hand provided momentary relief, but the moment her twin's pulled away, the impatient feeling is back. and while it's not uncommon that the two of them stay together for a lengthy period of time, she also doesn't want to hold him back from doing whatever he wants. so she sets off, purposefully heading towards the gate where she thinks she'll be able to let out some steam.

... okay, a lot of steam. she pushes herself off of the wall and slowly walks towards the centre of the training area. ]

I owe you a round of beating, c'mon.

[ for, you know, getting kidnapped in front of her last month, what the hell. also, she really, really, really just wants to get this over with, hoping it'll help with that nagging, prickling feeling.

it's cold, having discarded her coat and gloves, and she briefly glances at the sky when snow starts falling again. she gives it a beat before lumine wordlessly and quickly lunges at childe, festering desire appearing in a flash of gold as she sweeps the blade towards him. ]

[monoceroscaeli]

[His ears perk up. It's like music to his ears, Lumine voluntarily wanting to come spar with him. He trots after her, excited for the challenge. He's seen some of her combat abilities already, though it wasn't in the best of circumstances, but he knows she's grown since she left Liyue and wants to see what she's learned since going to Inazuma. It's one timeline difference that really hasn't bothered him. His own coat is left behind with hers, quickly taking it off to keep up with her.]

Oh? You're going to beat me down, is that what you think? I've gotten a lot stronger too, you know.

[Something at the back of his mind pops a question. It's not logical, but it's still there, beginning to eat at him.

Isn't this a little strange? There's something off here. Was it something I said?

He stands ready, meeting that clash with his own blades, feeling the hunger of battle rise in him. Having blocked her attack with his left, he counters with the right with a slash towards her midsection. Something not easy to block but should be well within her ability to handle with ease, as they begin their warm up in the snow.]

[traversal]

[ archons, unnecessary chatter during battle. how annoying.

lumine presses her lips together when he parries her blade (it's not that much of a challenge anyway), quickly jumping back to avoid his own attack. the moment she lands back on her feet, she sweeps a leg along the ground, directing geo energy across the concrete and summoning stone walls to try and throw him off.

and then she's hurtling once more, releasing an arc of electro energy towards him with a slash of her blade. guess who learned a few tricks from the last few people she's fought. ]

You talk too much, Childe. Just shut up and fight.

[ not that she was never aware of how talkative he is, because he is and it's honestly exasperating at times. but man, is it even more grating right here, right now? ]

[monoceroscaeli]

[That's a trick he's seen her do once before, quickly avoiding the geo shards that fly up with the circular wall she constructs. He lands behind it, but it isn't long before she's coming at him with electro, forcing him to dodge that too. But instead of dodging away, he maneuvers himself to move in closer to meet her with another clang of their weapons, grinning like a little kid who's just gotten a birthday gift that he can terrorize people with.]

I'm not annoying you, am I Traveler?

[But there's that pang of paranoia again- what if he is, in a way that she'll just walk away and never fight him again? He'd already opened his mouth, and he's starting to suspect something might be wrong. His eyes betray him for a moment, before he can shake that feeling off as he separates himself from her and puts a few feet between them.]

day 2 of 31

[traversal]

Where the hell are you, idiot Fatui?

[ can she send this to him 10x? will her omni explode? will his omni explode? maybe she should try it ... ]

truly 31 days of christmas

[monoceroscaeli]

[He groggily wakes up to the alert, hand searching on the nightstand for his Omni until he finally finds it. He has to rub his eyes a few times, before he can make out the text.

what is this]

i'm at home

what are you talking about

[Did he make plans with her? His brain isn't comprehending anything right now. He groans, picking himself up out of bed, rubbing his eyes again. His shoulder is stiff, but it's bandaged and closed thankfully. He wanders out to the bathroom and then back into the bedroom to put on clothes, and it's several minutes before he checks his Omni again because he leaves it in the bedroom....]

for one person alone

[traversal]

[ wakey wakey it's time for the battle, childe. and it's cold af, standing out here in the open, so she'll appreciate it if he could hurry up. ]

I didn't take you as the type who sleeps in when it's not even a holiday. Get up and come over here right now.

still counts

[monoceroscaeli]

[Once he's back in the bedroom, he picks the Omni up again. He's definitely been gone and not answering her text for at least five or six minutes, standing there in his underwear.]

i didn't think it was that late in the morning, because it's not, i'll have you know

where are you, waiting the gate again?

day 4 of 31

[traversal]

[ yes, day 4.

because she doesn't show up on day 3, having been thoroughly scolded by the blood ministers for cracking her already cracked rib and returning to them even more banged up than before. there were even empty threats of not treating her anymore if she came back the next day in the same state. it was a pain, though, having spent much of her day rolling around in bed with her omni stuffed in her drawers, pacing in their room, trying not to overexert herself and pick a fight with her twin brother.

in any case, she's back at the gate, looking a little more rested than the past couple of days. childe, hopefully, has not found anyone else to fight yet, but if he has ...

well, someone else can entertain her growing impatience for the day.

lumine presses her lips together as she shrugs off her coat, tossing it over one of the benches along with her scarf. there's still that lingering sore all over her body, but nothing she can't deal with. ]

[monoceroscaeli]

[He'd spent maybe half an hour waiting for her the day previously, only for her not to show. He should have known, his mind diving into scenarios that had no basis in reality. He has to occupy his mind so he doesn't think on it too much. He trains there that day anyway, taking it easy on himself, before going home.

Does he text her? No, what if it just makes the situation worse. But what if she expects it of him? Will that make her mad? Was he going to catch it from her the next day? He texts her, on the 3rd day.]

9 A.M: hey lumine are you coming? i trained for a little bit waiting for you

9:30 A.M: i'm not staying, i'm heading home

12 P.M: is everything ok? i didn't mean to upset you yesterday

1 P.M: if you're mad, i apologize. i understand if you don't want to talk

5 P.M: i hope i can see you tomorrow. i'll be at the gate, same time.
i do hope you were able to rest

[He lets it go and forces himself to put his Omni away. He has a lot to think about, that night. The next day, he gets up as he said he would, hoping that she'd be there but unsure if maybe that was the end of it. The relief that washes over him is like a tidal wave when he sees her, and trots up to meet her.]

How are you feeling? I tried to get a hold of you yesterday...did you see any of my texts?

[traversal]

[ ????

his questions are very weird, especially when he practically comes up to her like an excited puppy. text messages? oh. ]

I haven't seen any of them.

[ to be fair, she hasn't touched her omni since yesterday. even today, all she's done is shove the thing in her pocket without even checking anything on it. the complete opposite of her the other day when she was constantly checking it, nagging at childe for being late. to humour him, however, she takes the device out and goes through her messages, her brows furrowing at the number of texts he's sent her.

... that's called spamming, childe. ]

I wasn't mad yesterday. The blood ministers just told me to rest, or else they'll stop treating me.

[ which was annoying in itself. how will she continue fighting if she's injured? ] I didn't think you'd be this anxious just because I was gone for a day.

[monoceroscaeli]

Neither did I, [He admits, his own strange reaction being brought to his attention. His mind had been left to wander, to think, to be focused on the illogical. And once again he's left to wonder...what's wrong with me?]

It is a relief to hear that you took the day to rest up. Your injuries, and mine as well, haven't been faring well underneath all the stress we've subjected ourselves to. It's a little embarrassing, but I apologize for all the frantic messages I left.

day 7 of 31

[monoceroscaeli]

[Days 5 and 6 are spent with Childe watching Lumine spar with other Hunters in the arena, ignoring him as it seems that she doesn't want to talk to him. Normally he wouldn't be so bothered, but the paranoia and the fact that he feels like she's doing this on purpose nags at him. He's considered her a friend for a while now, and to be treated like this only serves to bug him.

But there's not much he can do about it, and he's not going to make a scene about it, nor even attempt to bring it up with her. He trains by himself, fighting a few willing Hunters himself, but it's not nearly as satisfying as fighting her. He's always left feeling unfulfilled and casts his gaze over to her before he leaves, if she's still fighting by then.

He shows up to The Gate on the seventh day, expecting more of the same. His jacket and scarf are discarded to the side and he tries to find someone who looks strong, though he may be out of luck today...]

[traversal]

[ lumine arrives later than childe, having slept in now that her sparring matches are a bit more relaxed. though she's not going to deny that it's a little less satisfying either, only barely sating her desire to hit something or someone—and not even as hard she wanted to. but there's not much she can do with the selection provided to her, unwilling to make any concessions with her decision not to talk to childe.

she's still pissed at him, and it isn't just because of the fact that he's poisoned her twice. and her shifting temperament hasn't helped, only slightly soothed by aether's presence.

but having arrived late, most of the hunters she's sparred with are currently preoccupied or not around. the only one left is childe, seemingly lingering on the sidelines.

she moves to a seat some feet away from him, shrugging off her coat and scarf before perching on the cold concrete, looking impatient. she gives it a minute or two, her knee bouncing up and down, before she finally gets up from her seat. ]

Get up, [ she says, seemingly addressing the air around her. there's only person around her anyway who could be the subject of that demand. ] I'm getting bored.

[monoceroscaeli]

[Childe looks over to her, silently brushing some of the snow he hadn't managed to clear off of the sides of his legs as he stands. Won't even look at him, but settling for him now, he guesses. She's really got some nerve, but he'd rather get a good fight in today than not. She'll still be fun to fight, even if she's being this cold towards him. It'll just be even easier to turn any emotions off that don't have anything to do with enjoying the thrill of a great fight.

Though he'd really like it a lot more if she'd talk to him.]

It's my turn again now, huh?

[traversal]

[ she gives it another moment before she finally glances at him, her lips pressed to a thin line and her expression blank. ]

If you'd rather sit there and watch, then I'm not going to force you.

[ and she'd rather find her outlet for her rising temper elsewhere; she hears the beach is at least freezing enough to cool her head a few degrees lower, but that also means freezing to near death by the time she goes home. not that that's something worse than the usual bruises and sprains she gets from fighting someone.

lumine turns around to grab her coat and scarf again, now collecting snow, more than willing to leave the gate if he's not going to go along with her idea. ]

A halfass fight isn't what I'm here for.

day 12 of 31

[traversal]

[ it's one thing to be late, especially when they have an unspoken agreed-upon time already. it's another to not completely show up, which is something she least expected from childe of all people. she may have skipped a day, because why not, she's technically closer to normalcy than him, but it's very unlike childe to not show up at all.

which brings her once more to his front door a few hours later, muttering darkly under her breath about how cold it is and how dare he make her wait for absolutely nothing. what's even worse is he's not at all replying to any messages she's sent.

she knocks for a few minutes, a little loudly near the end that one of his neighbours actually peered at her from their window, before she relents when no one answers. see? that's already stranger. and even stranger is the fact that said door is unlocked in one of the worst districts to leave a door unlocked. a part of her wonders if childe was simply careless (as if that would even happen); another part of her wonders if something happened that could be the reason why he's absent at the gate.

lumine debates for one hot minute before she opens the door and steps in, wrinkling her nose at the smell of blood and disinfectant that arrest her senses. her eyes dart around the unusually messy apartment, taking note of the bloodied bandages left on top of the sofa and traces of blood here and there. ]

Childe? [ she calls out, frowning as she walks through the hallway slowly. ] You better not be dead, you idiot.

[ that's just a sad way to die for a harbinger, being stabbed to death by a robber trying to break in. he's definitely an idiot if that ever happens to him. ]

[monoceroscaeli]

[The injuries he'd sustained from the day before were greater than what he could handle. Usually, in these situations, he'd have some kind of attendants and Fatui doctors to take care of him- given his status as Harbinger, he'd receive the best care that could be offered for wherever he was. He has had to take care of his own injuries before, but it's far more difficult when they are to the scale that he'd suffered fighting the Jaw Titan the day before. The Foul Legacy Transformation stressed his body far more than he was in shape to be able to handle, leaving the bloodied mess that Lumine discovers upon entering his apartment.

The apartment is quiet, but Childe is in his bed. His body is bandaged in most places, across his chest and head, arms and hands. His legs escaped most of the damage, but they were still torn up from the stress of the transformation. He's passed out, sleeping through all his alarms that morning. From the living room, the faint sounds of an alarm ignored echo down the hallway that connects at the back of the room. An occasional yelp is audible, as he tosses and turns in his sleep, nightmares riddling his rest.

In his room, a small towel sits on the nightstand beside him, along with more bandages and water. His Omni is the source of the missed alarm, beeping at him to wake up to head to The Gate. It looked like he was trying to take care of himself. When she finds him, he'll talk in his sleep, mixing the horrors of the day before with Lumine and his other friends. His breathing is hard and he's soaked with sweat.]

No... Ngh, let her go... Agh!!!

[traversal]

[ the scream sends a jolt down her spine and lumine finds herself rushing through the hallway to his bedroom. normally, she'd be a little hesitant entering someone else's bedroom (and house, for that matter) but this is an emergency—or at least, that's the excuse she gives when she busts into his bedroom.

honestly, she's not entirely sure what she should be expecting. after all, childe's more than capable of defending himself in any kind of break-in. what she's not expecting is him still in bed, clearly asleep and plagued by a nightmare. she takes note of the bandages all over his body, hastily wrapped in some places, and wonders where she's gotten those injuries; after all, lumine doesn't remember beating him that badly during yesterday's fight, enough to be bandaged even across the chest.

she jumps again when he mutters darkly in his sleep before she sits next to him on the bed. she gently places a hand on his forehead—no fever, but he's soaked in sweat—and frowns. something's clearly bothering him, enough to disturb his sleep. and while lumine has yet to master the ability to walk into dreams as a paleblood, she can at least do one thing.

... though she does muse if it would even work on someone asleep. it still has to, right? it should even be more effective without any blocks in their mind, so.

lumine hums a familiar inazuman song softly as she slowly, carefully coaxes his mind to relax, to sleep soundly, to dream pleasant things. she doesn't pull her hand away until he finally calms down and stops tossing and turning, until his expression turns serene. ]

day 13 of 31

[traversal]

[ this is all childe's fault.

she grunts when she barely, just barely, parries the attack the other hunter sends her way, aggressively kicking him off of her in response. but to be fair, she was distracted by one (1) harbinger sauntering into the arena as if she hasn't just wrapped half of him in bandages yesterday. lumine quickly calls for a timeout from her sparring session, feeling those tendrils of annoyance wrapping around her once more as she watches childe from across the field.

she tries her best to smother the desire to run her sword through him, reminding herself that he's already hurt; no point in giving him a round of beating when he clearly hasn't recovered yet. but she still can't stop the displeasure of seeing him seep into her voice. ]

What are you doing here, stupid?

[ like literally. shouldn't he be with a minister right now, given how serious his injuries are? ]

[monoceroscaeli]

[When he first enters into The Gate, that paranoia effecting him because of his blood rears its ugly head for a moment. Great, she's so pissed at him again for ghosting her the day before that she'll just ignore him for at least a few days. He doesn't place any blame anywhere for that, it was a result of the circumstances from the few days before and nothing more. But does she know that? Maybe not.

By now, he's pretty used to her being rude to him, though there seems to be a bit more anger in her voice today. Guess he really did piss her off...]

Hey, I'm allowed to be here as much as you are. Are you going to push me away? You know I'm the only one here that will give you a good fight, comrade.

[traversal]

[ her gaze flickers at the bandages around his arm, stark white against his grey uniform, her expression turning impassive even more.

almost immediately, lumine storms towards him across the field, shoving him back towards the exit. that should answer his question. she's careful to avoid the places where he's injured, however, having seen it from dressing his wounds yesterday. but she's not as gentle as yesterday either, more concerned about getting him out of this place and getting him to a minister. ]

Not today, from the looks of you right now. [ he still looks like shit, unsurprisingly. ] And I'm not in a bullying mood either, so get out and get a minister.

day 16 of 31

[traversal]

[ lumine supposes that it's very childe not to simply give up. he does have that very annoying stubborn streak that makes people either want to continue hammering the detail on him or just give up on his behalf out of exhaustion. honestly, she's torn between the two as she watches him walk into the gate again, looking around, clearly in search of someone.

her, she thinks irritably as she parries another slash from her current opponent. she's always preferred bigger enemies to spar with, testing out her own agility and strength against them.

she comes to blows with them a little longer, earning a nick across her cheek when they countered her attack, but they eventually end the spar with a draw, their dagger against her neck and her sword against their side. she would've asked them to go for another round, but they seem exhausted just from that one fight. ]

The answer is still no, [ she tells childe as she goes to pick up her coat from the sidelines, brushing a knuckle across her cheek. it comes away with blood, the cut stinging from the cold.

she's not going to fight him, okay? he may insist that he's feeling better now, but she has her doubts about that. his injuries are far worse than the ones she's inflicted him in their spars. ]

Like yesterday and the other day, I'm not in a bullying mood.

[monoceroscaeli]

[He waits patiently for her to end her match with the hunter she's engaged with today, studying her technique as she fights. It's really all he can do until she walks over, and he raises a hand to start talking when she cuts him off to the chase and tells him no. He knows she doesn't want him injuring himself further, given the circumstances, but that's like trying to keep the artist away from his art- almost impossible.]

It's been three days, [He counters.] I've had plenty of time to rest up. I feel like I'm starting to go stir-crazy.

[And a little bit paranoid that she'll just use his injuries as an excuse not to fight him anymore. Not for a while, at least.]

Besides, it's hardly considered bullying if I'm the one inviting you to cross blades with me.

[traversal]

[ that's good. he can go stir-crazy all month as she had been lately, unable to function properly with her nerves always on the edge. and while it's true that it's technically not bullying if another person requests to be, well, bullied, she's also not very interested in indulging masochism for the day. even if he's desperate about it.

honestly, you'd think he'll take this opportunity to get his strength back to defeat her again.

in any case, lumine glances at him, pulling her coat over her shoulders to warm herself up, before she leans over. she doesn't reach out to touch his face or pull him closer this time around; her power isn't going to be used here, he doesn't have to worry.

instead, she pokes at him hard in one of his injured spots on his chest, resisting the temptation to punch him in the right area. just to, you know, test out how well he really and truly is. ]