Demons in Teyvat?!

🌸 ℂ𝕙𝕒𝕡𝕥𝕖𝕣 𝟙𝟛 🌊

Childe has been electrocuted before. Because of his hydro vision and electro delusion, he had gotten shocked rather badly more than once. Now that he thought about it, half the scars on his body were probably from electrical burns. But nothing compared to this. The electrical shocks seemed to have went to his brain. Childe.exe has stopped working, Childe thought to himself as he stared at Y/N, who was smiling happily like a cat as she stood beside the green haired adeptus. Childe's eyed narrowed accusingly. He felt conflicted between wanting to challenge the boy (even though he was centuries older than Childe, he still looked like one) and pity. Xiao looked rather uncomfortable, seemingly determined to look anyway but at the girl who rocked on her heels beside him. His posture was stiff, and he stood with his arms crossed. 

"Rather shocking, isn't it?" Zhongli mused. "I did not think the two had met before. Perhaps they may be compatible. However, given the circumstances..." Childe stared at him. "Ha... I don't know what you mean, Zhongli- sensei." Zhongli furrowed his brow at the honorific. "Care to elaborate?" Zhongli stayed silent, but the corner of his lip lifted in a subtle smirk. Childe frowned back at the pair in front of them. Y/N... looked happy. Somehow, his annoyance left a bitter taste in his mouth, and he continued to give Xiao deathstares for the rest of the evening.

🌸🌊

"Hey, mortal." Childe looked up from his bowl of stir fry fish noodles, sighing and pushing the remainder of the dish to Y/N. She lit up, pulling the bowl towards her and poking at the food inside with a chopstick. "I'm listening, go on," He said, trying to sound cheerful- even though it was getting rather hard to do so. Xiao was running through several of the different aspects of demon slaying training, stressing on the importance of increasing speed and agility. He also tended to circle back to the fact that demons were not your average opponent- and their abilities had a wide range. It was interesting stuff, but Childe could feel himself quickly getting antsy as he continued to listen. He wanted to fight, and his fingers itched to summon his hydro swords. He jostled his leg, gazing absentmindedly at Y/N, who was stacking the fish pieces inside into a tower. It toppled over, and he couldn't help but snort at her somewhat dejected face as she moved to start over. "I will not ask again." He winced. Right.

He sighed and stood. "My apologies," He said. "Don't worry, I listened to every second. It was... enlightening." Xiao stared at him, a judgemental look in his eye. "Mortals. You have no respect... You're arrogance will cost you on the battlefield." "Hey, hey, I'm no fool! I never go charging into battle unprepared! Every fight is a chance to get stronger. My arrogance only comes from experience. I have every reason to be so." Xiao glared. Childe grinned, his gaze flickering to his clenched fist, wisps of anemo curling around his fingers. The familiar feeling of adrenaline rushing through his body returned. "Hmm..."

The two of them turned to the table. Y/N held a mouthful of noodles in the air, one hand wrapped delicately around the porcelain while the other was wrapped around the wooden chopsticks. Her eyes were narrowed in disapproval. Childe's mind flashed back to the first week that he had stayed at the L/N mansion, when he and Taki were still on rather shaky terms. They had engaged in a rather heated session of tag, which felt more like a hunter and its prey to him. (Him as the hunter, obviously, and Taki as the frightened baby rabbit) It had ended with Taki with a scraped knee and Childe a sizable lump on the back of his head when Y/N had deemed him responsible for the injury. He still remembered the furious look on the petite woman's face as he wallowed for forgiveness on his knees. Also, Taki, snickering from behind Y/N's kimono, his wound lovingly bandaged and a takoyaki ball in hand. He was a trouble maker, Childe thought. Was. Right.

Now Childe couldn't help but feel sheepish as he stepped away from the adeptus. "Sorry, sorry... we'll behave, right Xiao?" He wrapped an arm around the unsuspecting boys neck, pulling him into a slightly tighter embrace than necessary. The boy stiffened, but nodded along to his words. Y/N stared at that suspiciously, her eyes showing hints of doubt. Finally, however, she shrugged, lifting her muzzle ever so slightly to bring the noodles to her mouth, happily chewing on the food with closed eyes. Childe breathed a sigh of relief. Xiao stared at him, his brows furrowed. "Ah..." He said. He leaned in and whispered, "Y/N can be... forgive my choice of words... a demon when she gets mad." He winced. "Reminds me of my mother, actually." Xiao stared at him with a look of half pity. Childe smiled to himself. Well. It seemed that they were starting to connect a bit, weren't they. Just like Y/N used to say- if he just put a bit more effort into it, he would have a lot more company for his travels. Or as he liked to see it as, more people to spar with, and the adeptus seemed to be a worthy opponent.