Je T'aime

Chapter 11: The Comfort That Carnage Brings

Aether walked past Ying'er's shop. He could get the perfume another time. Maybe when Furina is with him. The more important part is that he could probably get Zhongli to meet up with her. Have a chat over some tea... Would Furina like tea? Or wine? ...No. Scratch the wine. If they both get drunk, then it would take Zhongli forever to get them to be sober. 

So he just scratches it off his list. He's gonna stay sober. No matter how tempting the wine might taste... But if he gets belittled once more for looking too young to drink, he's gonna lose it. 

But Ningguang's waiting for him and so he looks around, sword ready to be drawn...

A sword that's very... very hungry for blood. 

Perfume

You use your right hand to mash the herbs until a sticky substance comes out

Furina was tired after playing another round of popping balloons with Paimon. It was fun. Being around the white fairy felt liberating. It doesn't really help that they both share similar interests in food, cute things, interesting stories to share and amazing people that they've met. Not to mention, that they are both talkers. 

Guess it was only natural that she'd be swayed when Paimon gave her the opportunity to live in the Teapot once the people started to... 

Doubt. 

Because once they doubt the prophecy will-

Oh God. 

It was happening again. 

Those random aches on her body. Her back feels awful. She could've sworn that she had proper posture. She always does. But why was it acting up? Well. She knows why. It's just something that her body does. Her body just hurts sometimes. Sometimes it would feel like her heart stopped working. Sometimes it felt like her ribs were trying to burst out of her chest. Sometimes it would feel like her shoulders ached, her neck would hurt or her throat would be dry even though she hasn't talked or sang all that much. 

She wants to talk about it.

But she's the Hydro Archon.

Can't she heal herself? Do the gods really need medical assistance if they're greater than mortals? 

So she kept it to herself. As long as she wasn't THAT badly hurt. It was just something she had to tolerate.

But that's not the only thing that her body does to her. 

It feels awful to sometimes feel like you're going to throw up. But there's no vomit coming out. She should be thankful for that. She doesn't want to see the deserts she enjoys be mixed up with her saliva and stomach fluids be outside of her body. But that feeling of nausea still remains.

Sometimes she just feels out of energy all of a sudden. Like something inside of her died. And now she doesn't want to do something, but she still has to do it. Even if she does do it, it feels like a monumental task to be done. And when she thinks of doing it, her head hurts.  

Every time she thinks about the prophecy, she feels helpless. She knows that it's awful for her. To not do anything about it. To just give herself some time to be alone. It feels so paradoxical. That in order for Fontaine to live, she has to die inside little by little. 

She doesn't know why she has to do this. She just has faith that it will work out as long as she has to keep pretending that she was Focalors. The perfect Hydro Archon.

Not Furina.

The imperfect performer. 

But she slipped. The prospect of... actual friendship from a small white fairy was a temptation greater than she could ever resist. And now she was facing the consequences of her inability to find a solution to an impossible problem. By going on vacation with her friends... Wow. What a great Archon.