Those Among Teyvat

LIYUE | Continuation

ZHONGLI

A relieved sigh left [name]'s lips as she sunk down on the bench near Liuli Pavilion. Her feet ached, something she had gotten used to the feeling of but still hadn't grown into the insufferable amount of heaviness that followed it.

Today, she didn't have to work as late as she had a few nights ago. The lights around the streets of Liyue were just beginning to light up, their orange, yellow, and red glow becoming the natural hue of the night. [name]'s [e/c] eyes reflected them as such until she tilted her head up to the soon starry sky.

She still couldn't get used to her new home.

Liyue itself was beautiful, anyone could see that. Each nation has its own beauty...but when you've experienced a vastly different beauty almost your entire life, it's strange when that view changes over two years.

The woman pulled her gaze away from the sky and back down at her aching feet. The flaring pains in her soles still remained, but now they just pulsed with soreness, slowly ebbing away as they did many times before. She sure wished that these flats had more support to them...

"Excuse me," a familiar, silky voice reached [name]'s ears, her own thoughts occupied with how she was going to spend the rest of her night. She lifted her head, attention now focused on the man who stood in front of her. Dark brown hair, and those striking, amber eyes... Yes, how could she forget?

"Yes..." She nodded slowly, "hello."

The feeling of recognizing each other was mutual, both could tell from that part. Out of courtesy, [name] had moved herself to the end of the bench so that Zhongli could sit on her right. His name resurfaced from the night she had met him, the only hint of his name from the slip of paper she happened to pocket.

"Are you not working tonight?" He questioned, moving to sit a respectable distance on the bench. For a customer asking that to someone they had only seen through her work, it was odd, but for some reason, [name] didn't mind it.

"I just got off of my shift," [name] stared down at her knees, wishing that she could just bring her feet up and rub them. They were no longer in as much pain as they were earlier, but the need was still there. That would have to wait until she returned to the safety of her home.

"I see," he sounded a tad disappointed, "I was looking forward to repaying your kindness from the other night."

If her kindness cost 400 mora, her kindness went by pretty cheap. She shook her head, sitting up straight rather than slouching, and turned her head to the man on her right.

"It's fine, really. Four-hundred mora off my paycheck doesn't make a difference to me." She assured, knowing full well that she'd be getting a bonus from working that same, long night. Besides, [name] only had herself to take care of, even if she accepted the four-hundred mora, she'd just be adding to a larger pool of mora she had set aside.

"I accepted your offer because I could see that you were in a hurry," Zhongli's attention now fully rested on [name], but she kept her gaze locked onto his, "now that I have the mora on hand, I'd be more than glad to pay the lost amount from that night."

[name] quickly put a hand up and shook her head, just in case he'd try and hand over the coin right now. Maybe it was a good thing she did so as she had caught him in the short gesture of moving a hand towards his rightmost pocket.

"Please, I'd rather you spend that on another meal. Perhaps one with a friend." She spoke not from experience, but from knowing how the struggle of earning and spending mora went. Even with friends, you can only expect so much.

The hand that had reached for, what she could assume was a mora purse, came to rest on his leg which calmed [name]'s heart a bit. She didn't want to keep on insisting on him keeping the money, but she would if that's what it took. This man was much more stubborn than she thought.