vlanche - venti x reader

15: A Twinge of Hope ~♪

[unedited]

SCENE I

Staring down at the mistake of an archon whom you had just impulsively (and not regrettably) shoved onto the ground, it became obvious to you that by causing a scene, all you were truly doing was just falling into another one of Venti's sadistic traps. He wanted you to get angry, because he wanted you to get in trouble and embarrass yourself, and sure, it'd take a strong effort to remain calm and contain yourself, but you had to, because there was no way in Teyvat that you were going to let the pathetic little bard win this battle.

You eyed him with agitation, counting to ten in your mind in order to ease the flaming rage so that you could claim victory over him this time. This type of tension was typical of you two in the past, before and after your friend Braid's untimely passing. It was entertainment to you to hit heads with Barbatos, and the feeling was most definitely mutual on his end as well. In fact, sometime in your history, you had even kept tallies of the times you won the fun little disputes between you and him. And you took so much pride in rubbing it in his face that you were the better troublemaker of the two. So, you certainly weren't going to pass up this wonderful opportunity to humiliate him.

With one lofty inhale, and a brilliant plan in mind, you couldn't bare to wait even another second. Aggressively, you flung your pointer finger towards the green-clad bard who had now readjusted his position off of the tiled floor and back onto his feet. He slightly flinched at your sudden movement, but expecting you to play into his games, the mischievous and sly grin still remained plastered across his milky face.

One of your hands glued to your hip, and the other targeted straight at Venti's nose, you began with a statement that no one could've seen coming in a million years.

"Sir Pathos." You exclaimed with a hearty seriousness. "This man tried to kidnap me!"

The words echoed on a continuous loop throughout the vast and empty room, with every knight in ear shot now focused on the alleged kidnapper.

Stunned to silence, Barbatos' jaw dropped to the floor, having absolutely no idea what you were talking about. "Wha— I..."

"I don't want to hear it!" You yelled, cutting off his defense and trying your hardest to hide your growing grin. "You tried to kidnap me in front of the cathedral yesterday!"

Still undoubtedly flabbergasted, all Venti could make out were incomprehensible stammers while attempting to defend himself. "How did you... I— What?!"

In response and purely just to get him in even more trouble, you giddily continued the exaggerated reiteration of events. "Please arrest this man, Sir Pathos. Yesterday, when I was still a very weak and injured girl, this man attempted to kidnap me outside of the cathedral doors while I was vulnerable and alone." You dropped your outstretched arm and feigned a traumatized expression, gloomily lowering your eyes towards the marble floor. "In the end I managed to fight him off, but... it was really hard and really scary..."