[closed]

[saxum]

🧙 WHO: Zhongli and Childe
⚔️️ WHAT: delivering dick
🕒 WHEN: July
🗺️ WHERE: the Ash Mountains
⚠️ WARNINGS: Childe............. aka there is going to be violence

[ Having gotten used to checking the quest board on occasion for opportunities to gain a bit of extra gold, the trip up to the Ash Mountains seemed like a relatively easy task. Traveling long distances was never a problem for him, and being able to explore an area he hadn't investigated just yet could prove to be beneficial in the future. He'd become very keen on trying to understand as much about Camelot's surrounding land as possible.

Everything had been precisely planned, just as he'd want everything he did to be.

Except for the extra company that just so happened to decide to join him. However, Childe hardly proves to be a burden, and as they come along another day of traveling to their destination Zhongli anticipates it shouldn't be much longer until they can make their delivery and head back down.

They start to come across the opening of a cave just as the sun begins to set, and while Zhongli can easily keep going and he's sure Childe could too, they need to be able to reserve their strength for the final push toward the research site. ]

Darkness shall be falling upon us shortly. This should be a suitable location to arrange camp.

Comments

[commediadellanime]

[A delivery job doesn't seem all that bad - it's better than assassinations, debatably, even if it's much more dull. He's also glad to tag along with Zhongli, for as strange as their relationship is right now. Their friendship. They're definitely friends.

Which.

Is weird.

It's funny, how nothing in Childe's life goes how he expects it to. He sets out for an adventure, and ends up falling into the Abyss instead. He gets sent to Liyue to steal Morax's gnosis, turns out he made a contract to just give it away anyways. Coming to Camelot wasn't in the cards, and forging a strange friendship with an ex-archon is just the icing on the cake.]

You think so?

[He sets his pack down, looking around.]

Seems like it might be alright, yeah. Real quiet.

[saxum]

Traversing the rest of the path without light shall prove difficult, and you require rest.

[ Even though Zhongli's fully aware that he exists as a mortal in this world, its difficult for him to think of himself as needing basic human needs like sleep and food, so his consideration is skewed far more easily toward Childe. Even if he's not particularly a normal human to begin with. But pushing themselves further through the night would be unnecessary. ]

Hǔpò. [ Zhongli calls for his familiar, and the yellow seelie appears in a flourish with that usual, cheerful bubbly sound. ] You shall assist with keeping watch.

[ The seelie makes more noise then gives a spin before floating over to hover over Childe, circling around him for a few rounds and then flying off to investigate the nearby area. ]

[commediadellanime]

If I need rest then you need rest too, Mr. Zhongli.

[The formality stays for now, but in a few weeks time…

Still, he’s not about to let him forget his shiny new mortality.

A part of him does want to push on, but if they stumble across anything that needs to be fought, he wants to be in the prime condition for it. It’s not exactly the challenge he wants.

He watches the seelie curiously, holding out a hand for it as it circles him. Pelmeni watches on, seemingly unimpressed, before the slime bumps up to Childe and knocks into his knees. With a chuckle, he reaches down to pet him despite the fact his hands come away wet.]

You’ve got a tent, right? Not that I mind sleeping under the stars!

[saxum]

[ He chooses to say nothing to that regard and instead watches the curious slime silently. While Zhongli fully acknowledges the limitations his body has with the mortality this world has given him, he still holds the impulse to live exactly as he used to, without much regard to his well-being and the things he needs in order to survive as a "human". Even if Childe does have a point. He feels exhausted, and so quietly he takes a seat on the bare ground, putting down a satchel he'd brought along that at least holds some minor rations and water. ]

If you'd prefer to settle within shelter, I may construct something for us.

[ AKA he absolutely did not bring a tent. He's an ex-god, what makes you think he knows anything about camping?? If you want to sleep, you lay down on the ground and you rest. That's it. Comfort should not matter. At least not to him.

But Zhongli does use his kinetic energy to bring over a nearby large-sized rock that Childe can sit upon if he'd like. He can even use it as a pillow too! ]

[commediadellanime]

You know you're just as vulnerable to exposure as everyone else, right?

[He should have planned for this and brought a tent... Stupid Childe, thinking Zhongli would be responsible. For a man who shaped a country, he's awful... Airheaded, sometimes.

At least he thought to bring a sleeping bag.]

You've really got to get better at remembering you're just as mortal as I am.

[He nudges Pelmeni aside, before setting his pack next to Zhongli and looking around their campsite. He stretches his arms over his head, humming.]

I shouldn't even ask if you've brought food with you, huh?

[saxum]

[ Zhongli has a moment of consideration before he responds. ]

Perhaps you are not entirely incorrect.

[ He's not admitting it though. But of course there's no reason to dwell upon it. Its not as if he has any real concerns for his well-being while he's here. He knows how to endure the worst of conditions, and while Childe himself is just a human when it comes down to it, he isn't exactly very normal either.

Pulling the satchel to rest between the two of them where they're situated, Zhongli opens it up and pulls out a few items at a time. ]

Our provisions should prove suitable. It is not many, so we must ration as we can.

[ There's a canteen of water, a large loaf of bread, a parcel of sliced meats. Kind of old-fashioned, but there's also a few more modern things recommended to him by the shop keep he got supplies from: granola bars and packets of dried fruits, a bag of jerky, and a good ol' fashioned can of spam.

Zhongli pulls out the spam and simply stares at it. ]