Genshin Impact ❦ Oneshots

⠀ ⠀xiao ⠀[his anomaly]

Really wrote another Xiao one, maybe it'll be Scaramouche next. A little bit of degradation sounds real great :D

Slowly getting the hang of writing again

It gets a lil spicy towards the end, but nothing extreme

(🍊 I apologise I am not delivering a full course meal-)

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You had begun to live permanently in Liyue around three months ago, and you still struggled to find consistency in any routines or structures. There didn't seem to be enough time to do everything you wanted and there were too many confounding factors that interrupted any schedules you had managed to scrape together. Unfortunately, there was a certain stigma to the blatant chaos of your life and it followed you no matter what. In a land where contracts, law and order were keys to success, your disorganised self was an anomaly. If you were simply passing through as a visitor or traveller, there would not be a single tinge of shame tailing your physical and psychological mannerisms. That was not the case though. Even if no one in a crowd knew, you still felt as if their brief glances your way were for some reason, and definitely not anything positive.

However, there was one singular thing that had integrated itself into your weeks. Many dreaded waking up to a new week, early in the morning. You had felt the same before - sleeping in was a temptation that had lingered around often, poking at your consciousness with its guilty fingers. Despite this, you started to thoroughly enjoy those days. Today was such a day.

As usual, you wandered towards stone ruins just a distance from the famed Wangshu Inn. The small area of ruins was likely a sort of watch tower, though you couldn't exactly figure it out due to how the upper half had crumbled down. What remained was buried within a vibrant green canopy, with just a hint of the giant stone bricks peeking above the curtains of leaves, barely visible from the highest point of Wangshu Inn. You only knew this information from a certain someone who often surveyed the landscape.

As you neared the ruins, and the scrunching of gravel took over the rustle of dewy grass, you spotted that certain someone, as usual. The figure leaned against one of the remaining walls, likely with his eyes shut, simply listening to his surroundings, and blocking out his thoughts. The sunlight painted him as a simple silhouette, but you could recognise him nevertheless. Xiao. You paused briefly as a mellow wind tinkled past, watching as it tousled his hair gently, slightly changing the course of the sort rays of light illuminating him. At that moment, he defined the mesmerising descriptions of adepti from old literature. He shuffled to a different foot, causing melodic jingles from his various accessories. The subtle sound was enough to bring your attention back to moving towards him.

You sped up your pace, aware that he had probably been waiting there for a while. You knew he didn't mind, as he made it quite obvious that he was more concerned than upset when you arrived even a second late. After all, he was someone who stuck to routines, and took danger as the primary reasoning for deviations. As you continued to walk at a faster pace, the ground below started to gradate into large chunks of stone, which required you to hop slightly between each one. It felt wrong to clear a path through the natural disintegration. Though, it was probably the reason for your downfall at that moment - literally.

As you hopped towards your next stone, it wobbled unusually, tipping back and forth. You cursed, arms reached out in an attempt to balance yourself. Your efforts were in vain as you felt yourself begin to lean backwards. As you watched the world fall by, almost as if it was in slow motion, you mentally prepared for a wave of pain, eyes shut tightly. Your heart was thunderous. Your breaths seemed to be denying themselves. You were falling.