Conmutual (Genshin Impact oneshots)

Xiao & Venti: The (un)fated encounter (Part 1)

It was another quiet and dark night over Dihua Marsh. The place is known to soothe with the beautiful symphony of frog croaks, water flowing, and the silent company of the moon. It is often where many beings (including people, hillichuls, archons, and sometimes, a certain yaksha) come to have peace and quiet to calm their disturbed hearts and souls, as it is away from the crowds without being too dangerous to be at.

For Venti, Dihua Marsh is not a place he often has to go to. He, as the Anemo archon, is often happy to see what Mondstadt has become -- a free and romantic city. Whenever he walks along the city, he loves to see people of Mondstadt enjoying themselves in the bar, where he also sometimes get himself a few alcoholic drinks, often not without persistent convincing to poor Charles that he is perfectly able to drink. 

The serving of happiness and content Venti feels with the state of Mondstadt is never once served without a few portions of melancholy and unexplainable pain -- usually when reminiscing how the city of freedom came to being. There were days when he would take his ciders to the statue of Mondstadt, where he would sit in his friend's hand like he used to, and talk to his beloved friend about the many trivial things he saw in Mondstadt... the Mondstadt his friend dreamed day and night for. 

Fly, fly away. Like a bird in the sky. See the world on my behalf... To the heavens may you fly...

These were the last words the dear friend of Venti had said to him before he took his last breath. And for the centuries ahead, Venti remained loyal to his promise -- to fly like a bird around Mondstadt, to see the Mondstadt his dear friend never got to see. 

But there were days when it becomes too painful for Venti to think about how he can never "see the world" on his friend's behalf. As the Anemo Archon, he had lived for the longest of time. He knew clearly that the dead will never feel, hear, or see anything anymore. Whatever he sees will be his alone if his friend was never alive in the present... These were the days when Venti will drown himself with alcohol, for inconvenient truths often pierces the heart harder than any sharpest sword can. Alcohol helps Venti forget the inconvenient truths and often after drowning himself in it, he could continue to be loyal to his promise to see the world on behalf of his gone friend....

Sometimes, even alcohol is not enough. These were the days when Venti had to travel away from Mondstadt as he cannot bear the pain of looking at the city without being constantly reminded that this is the very city his dear friend dreamed for, only to be denied from seeing since the first very first day the city is born. He often ends up coming to Dihua Marsh. For this is within the realm of his another dear friend... who is very wise, so wise that it hurts sometimes, and who will certainly snatch his alcohol away from him, which he can't have it... So he will usually simply stop by Dihua Marsh -- the only place that is adequately away from Mondstadt and Liyue to let the moon be the only company to comfort him...

This very day, Venti has once again travelled to Dihua Marsh to heal his wounds, when he found that he is not alone like he usually is...