Star-Crossed [ G. Impact ]

five | V

ミ☆

turns out, the items she found in the ruins made it into her inventory after all. she was washed over with a wave of relief when the blade appeared in her hands with a bright flash. even the artifacts had somehow been stowed away in the magical void of her inventory.

when she made it back to the harbor, she was met with a concerned zhongli who noticed the gauze wrapped around her head first thing. as soon as she had managed to reassure his fussing, inazami walked in and yielded the same exact reaction.

(y/n) could only dream of being loved by those two as she was, and the fact they cared so much for her warmed her heart. after explaining the situation, both of her friends were left thankful for the man who had brought her back to safety, but inazami crossed her arms suspiciously.

"what if he did something perverted and you didn't know because you were passed out? how did he know you were there in the first place? i highly doubt any normal person just wanders around ruins like that and just so happens to stumble across a pretty girl such as yourself,"

"i know a few people who wander around ruins for fun. i even met two scholars named soraya and bao'er who were hanging near guili plains!" (y/n) argued.

"just make sure to stay away from creeps, okay?" inazami put her in a headlock and knuckled (y/n)'s head affectionately.

"ow! ow! ow! okay, okay, i will!"

after she had checked in at the parlor, she visited an antique shop nearby and asked them to take a look at the artifacts she found. the girl was met with an immense amount of positivity when she allowed the clerk to inspect the items, and her eyes almost bulged out of her head when she heard the total they tallied up to—around 20 million mora.

since they were from times during the archon war, they were apparently extremely valuable to researchers, and the clerk wasted no time in offering a bid for the items. and who was (y/n) to turn down such a deal?

the only thing she decided to keep was the blade. of course, she had been too scared to open it again just in case something were to happen, but she knew she'd have to eventually. it would take some time before that ever happened, though.

     in the meantime, the girl would find herself attending the rite of descension, which was only a few days away. the city had prepared almost everything already, and all that was left was the ceremony itself.

‑ˋˏ◈ˎˊ‑

"(y/n)! i'm sorry i'm late, i had important matters to take care of before i could come here..." ganyu panted, knowing fully well that she had spent the last two hours trying to make sure her outfit wasn't too similar to last year's rite of descension. she lifted her hands off her knees as her friend linked their arms together, cheerfully tugging her towards the upper yujing terrace.

"don't apologize, you look amazing, yu!"

before (y/n) had taken her leave after her training at the jade chamber, ganyu had brought up going to the rite of descension together to meet rex lapis in person. they tried to convince keqing to join them, but she declined by saying she would be busy helping ningguang with preparations.

the ceremony took place around noon, and the weather was perfect for a day like this, with lazy clouds accentuating the baby blue sky. people of various ages and tourists from faraway nations even came to witness rex lapis' descension; certain bubbly energy was in the air that she was thoroughly enjoying.