Heat Lighting [Scaramouche | Reader]

21 - i need you

¡TW! - heavy mentions of both involuntary and self inflicted bodily harm. please do not read any parts that cause you any discomfort.
—

I was happy in the haze of a drunken hour

But heaven knows I'm miserable now

"Oh, you've been in the house too long," she said

And I naturally fled

—Heaven Knows I'm Miserable Now-The Smiths—2:32–

—

"What did you tell her Ei?"

"Only what she needs to know, Miko."

"Don't get bratty with me, that mark is the only thing keeping her from blowing this shrine sky high the next time she breaks down."

"If she knows she can learn to regulate herself and her newfound... abilities."

"She hasn't known about them for her entire life, why would she know how to control them now."

"Because she's an adult. And because she has a tether. She can go back to Watatsumi, she just needs to be told how to make sure her body stays in one place."

"Ei. Are you hearing yourself right now? That girl is a danger to herself and this country. She is the very enemy of eternity you have been worried about all this time. More importantly, if her body isn't staying in one piece, she cannot live."

"She has, she can, and she will."

"Ei you don't understand, her tether is far away and the mark is containing her powers, but the further he goes the more it chokes her body."

"It's choking him too, Miko. I know him. He's staying away because he's afraid or because he doesn't want her to be hurt. My guess is he won't be gone for long. Soon he'll realize that it's better to be close to protect his tether."

"The mark will disappear if he doesn't come back soon, Ei. The Fingerprint only lasts so long, and once it disappears we can't tell if the marks progress or not. Just because it worked for you doesn't mean it will for her. She's more human than the both of us could ever be."

"She is not human. And it didn't work for me, I just cut myself off."

"She. Can't."

"She can."

"Ei, the child thrives off of personal connection you can see that. She can't cut off her emotions. Her life would be void."

"There is no emotion in her situation."

"Yes there is, Ei, cant you understand? She is hurting! I am hurting, she looks exactly like me when you left! Is it possible for you to understand that people don't move on that quickly? Don't you get it?"

"..."

"No, clearly you don't. If you aren't going to help her control her powers, then leave."

"...Miko-"

"Forget it."

—

Scaramouche was, in fact, losing his shit.

His body wouldn't stop convulsing as he tried to stay under the radar in the tall grass. He left Inazuma two weeks ago and now he was spying on Fatui operations in Liyue, the land adjacent to Sumeru. His mission was to find out it Dotorre truly was in Sumeru and if so gain any clues about what he wants with [name]. This reconnaissance had been running smoothly until he started pulsing purple and lighting up the world around him. His body was withering with the pound of a freezing cold heartbeat thrumming in his chest.