A Truth For A Truth ( Scaramouche X Fem Reader )

| A Pesky Plant |

The journey to the border took the whole day however we successfully left Snezhnaya without any major problems. For some reason, I felt as if Scaramouche and I had broken past a wall that was hindering us. By sharing things about ourselves and being honest with one another, we were able to understand each other much more.

I felt as if talking to him wasn't so hard. Believe it or not, we even argued less than usual. We were able to converse better as two people and there was less of an awkward gap between us. Of course, things can't change that drastically over such a short period of time so we still struggled to keep snarky remarks and insults to ourselves but it was more light hearted. Well, that is what I wanted to believe anyway.

Upon exiting the border and putting some distance between us and the snowy lands of the cryo nation, we came to a stop in a cave. Scaramouche pulled the portal ring out without a word and began to send sparks of electricity flying as he attempted to get it to work.

"There's no shame in admitting you have no idea what you're doing, Balladeer. Really, it's ok," I said gently.

"Have some faith, would you? I've done this before. Sometimes it just need a bit of-"

He was cut off when a small explosion sent a poof of smoke from the ring. Just as I was about to make my disappointment known, he threw the ring at the nearby rock wall and it swirled with roiling clouds. In the centre, an image began to form. Something green and colourful was blurry and hardly visible but it definitely seemed somewhat like Sumeru.

"You were saying?" asked Scaramouche smugly.

"I'm saying get your ass moving. I want to get this Sumeru trip over and done with. Go on." I motioned with my head for him to go first to which he rolled his eyes and grabbed my hand.

He pulled me towards him until we were side by side. The portal only remained open for a short while and so he attempted to hurry us along by dragging me through with him. After this, we walked through the portal simultaneously. The trip felt like what walking through walls was like; it was nauseating and gave me an ear ache. Once we appeared on the other side, the portal seemed to swallow itself and disappear. The humidity that wrapped around us was suffocating.

"Man it's been a long time since I've felt the heat of this place," I sighed.

"You've been here before?" asked Scaramouche.

"That's right. I was a student at the Akademiya and graduated maybe... 300 years ago, I want to say? I can't really remember anymore. I'm sure I left the certificate in my house in Mondstadt," I thought to myself.

Scaramouche gaped at me with disbelief and confusion. "You know it's really hard to believe anything you say. All the immortals I've met aren't really the type to share their life stories so hearing you openly share your experiences... Well, I'm a little sceptical."

I shrugged. "There's a whole lot more experiences I have left to share. Whether you believe me or not, doesn't matter. I only enjoy telling the story. It's part of my job as a bard. If you're curious about anything else, let go of my hand and I'll tell you."

Scaramouche glanced down at our hands that were still clasped before he hastily let go and grimaced. He resorted to walking past me swiftly and ignoring my mocking remarks.

"Look, don't touch, remember Scaramouche?" I called from behind him with a visible laugh in my voice.

"Ugh, just be quiet. I was disoriented from the portal. Now hurry up or we won't even get there by tomorrow," he snapped.

"Get where? We are in the middle of a jungle. Where are we going to meet these so-called informants of yours?" I asked, joining him by his side.

He inclined his head towards me with a bored expression. "Port Ormos. There's a tavern there called Djafar Tavern where Eremites like to socialise and trade information. I am hoping to trade some secrets for information about a person who goes by 'The Traveller'. I believe this outlander will become a difficult factor to deal with when we head to Inazuma so it's best I gather as much information as possible. At the same time, I can send the letter to the Tsaritsa from there."