CRY ME A RIVER

             “Hey, blondie!”

“traveler? my name’s lumine, actually.” she replied with a furrowed brow, wondering if he was mistaking her for someone else. “um… very creepy thing to say, but thanks for the warning, i guess?” lumine gave a nervous smile, nodding slowly. “fun, i guess.”

-

“...”

his words only caused the back of their neck to warm, even without the memories of their life together, howl still had the charm about him. a presence that drew them in, that only made her want to get to know him all over again. they could butt heads, there was always that push and pull between them, but it didn’t seem to be as prominent now as it was when they first met. maybe there was something to be said about reuniting making everything feel sweeter. “i can promise you i am about as boring as watching paint dry, i don’t think i’ve ever been one to surprise someone.” she replied with a laugh, easily falling on self deprecation when she didn’t know how to respond, when a compliment made their cheeks warm. it was an easy way out of it. but his smile, the way it caught all of her attention at once, it only brought more and more memories back with it. moments becoming clearer and clearer as they stood together. conversations around madame suliman, of a far off war that grew closer and closer each day, about memories forgotten even back then. howl moved closer then, and sophie stood, eyebrows raised, waiting to see just what had caught his own eye. “my– my dress?” she asked easily, heartbeat rapidly increasing as his hand reached out. “i made it myself, actually. i had one similar back home, so i thought i would try to remake it.” it was one that she always remembered wearing, the one that always appeared in any memories or dreams. it only felt right to wear it again, to have it back. 

“well you know where to find me should you find it,” they replied easily as they worked on putting everything in its place. there was a twist in their stomach, a warmth in their heart at the fact that howl was putting so much thought into such a small gift. into something that had originally just been mentioned as a joke. “are you sure? i really wouldn’t mind–” sophie replied, pausing as he seemed set on paying for it, and so she just followed along with his words, nodding. “well, the hat i can have done relatively quickly, they take me anywhere from around six to twelve hours. sometimes a little longer depending on the level of detail.” she explained, “a cape however might take a little longer. no more than a week, but i’ll need your measurements. and of course whatever the design you have in mind.” it wouldn’t be too hard, but she would need a few days to fully complete it, and hopefully he wouldn’t mind waiting till she made sure it was up to her own standards.

“i would like nothing more,” sophie nodded, pulling their jacket on as she buttoned it. “it’s been quite some time for myself as well, if i’m honest. i don’t take a lot of time away from my work.” she replied, smiling a little as she grabbed a scarf from the coat rack by the door, tucking it inside their jacket. “ready?”

-

“That’s nonsense, Sophie, you are quite the company if I say so myself”, Howl said dismissing her description of themself. He had met a lot of people through his years here in Washington and while he had matched with some interesting and entertaining crowds, no one had been as engaging as Sophie for some odd reason. Howl felt an inevitable connection with her, as if they had met before.    His dreams about her still caused confusion, but he was determined to understand the meaning behind them. “You are a beautiful and smart girl; I am definitely intrigued to know more about you, that’s for sure”, Howl grinned. There was a moment of fluttering warmth in the air after his words and right before he brought up the topic of her dress. “You have talented hands, it is a gorgeous dress”, the wizard added with a little smile.

“Definitely, I will try to find it before the holiday season is over; I am trusting these days’ magic for some inspiration to find the charm”, he grinned. In fact, if he could find it before Christmas, it would be great; Howl had a feeling that it could be a fun and nice little present. “Excellent! What I need is a black top hat, maybe with a gemstone on the side... what do you think? Would it be too much? I want to add my own personal touch to such a classic”, he explained. “Ah, I can come over this week for measurements, as for the design...”, Howl searched for something in his pockets until he finally pulled out a folded sheet of white paper, extending it to them. “It’s just something that has been in my mind for a while”. The design was a large coat that worked in fact as a cape with a pattern consisting of pink and blue diamond shapes. “Take as long as you need, I would not trust anyone else to tailor that for me”, he admitted.

Howl smiled and opened the door for her while offering his arm for them to hold. “Well, you will probably have to extend the closing hours, darling, because I will be stealing you from this place every now and then. There is so much to see out there”, he said with the smile widening. “Ready and excited”, he finalized before they started walking towards their destination.

(¸.• ♛ → she does like hurting people maybe in a way but no, she wasn’t here because of that and this weren’t the hunger games and she doesn’t need that, she wasn’t that sadistic like maybe clove was. “no, nothing about hurting people or anything like that.” she says shaking her head once but with a small smile and nodded. “okay, then let’s get going.” glimmer now walked where he was. “okay so how we are suppose to do this? just marking the numbers and that’s it?” she wasn’t sure how to play some games, this place was different from her district.

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@gnosem​ asked: ❄️ / 🌿 –Childe x Lumine (Feel free to pick whichever. I just felt both could be fun and couldn’t decide on one)

send  🌿  for  our  muses  to  be  caught  under  mistletoe . + send  ❄️  for  our  muses  to be  caught  indoors  due  to  a  snowstorm .

of all the people she could be stuck inside with alone, of course it was childe. the one person she knew would go out of his way to try and get a fight. noticing he had paused next to her, lumine looked up, her face dropping into one of sheer annoyance as her gaze returned to him. “absolutely not. try it and i’ll break your arm.”

-

“Woah, hey--- I was just joking”, Childe laughed while stepping back with hands in front of him. He walked towards the windows and leaned on the edge while looking outside. “Guess you’re trapped with me for the night, Traveler...”, he sighed; the falling snow brought blurry and distant memories of Snezhnaya and his family, “well, no reason to be gloomy about it. At least we are in the comfort of my home; so... you better get used to see me grand part of the night, blondie”, he teased with a smirk. Tartaglia tapped on the windowsill before heading to the living room. To say it was a humble apartment would be a lie, Childe had made some good money since he arrived and it showed. Furniture and decoration were lavish in a rather minimalistic style, but the brick accents and the cracking fire gave the whole atmosphere a cozy feeling.    “What do you wanna do? We can always confess crimes and sins before St. Nicholas arrives with presents in some days”.

“Look at those babies baking alright!”, Itto exclaimed while leaning down to look into the oven. “Mr. Santa Man is gonna LOVE these cookies and deliver some pretty nice gifts in return, what do you think, Lumine?”, Itto raised up with hands on his hips and a big smile on his face.

             DING!

“Ah, they are ready!” Itto crouched excitedly to open the oven and get the first batch of cookies out ( it would be the second, but his hunger got the best of him ).     “Come with papa, cookies!”.  He approached to grab the tray, but of course, he burned his fingers the moment he touched it. “Ow ow ow ow o-- ehem-- I mean... they are very hot-- not hot enough to burn me of course but-- let me take them out for you, yeah? I don’t want you burning those pretty fingers of yours”, the oni declared before reaching for the kitchen mitts and then for the tray. “There we go. Man, they smell SO GOOD. We should totally try them so we uh... can be sure they are good enough... don’t you think?”

(¸.• ♛ → “anything i want?” she asked, looking at him now slowly smiling a bit, now that was interesting and something was interested in. “fine, it is a deal and yes, i’m a bit of a lucky charm, let’s try that again and remember what we are going to do afterwards.”

-

“UH...”

She shook her head, wanting to dispel any worry even though her jolty sort of movements probably weren’t the best way to achieve that goal. “I’m not hurt. It was just a long shift.” And though she didn’t mind night shifts there was something about walking home, exhausted, while watching everyone else start their day, just made her feel out of place in this city. “I….just needed a moment before I went home. And maybe a warm drink, or a coffee. I don’t know. I’m sure I’ll find something.” She had the path back to her place basically memorized by now at least, but she still wasn’t used to all of the different. “Actually, if you know a cafe nearby that would be helpful.” Chihiro definitely didn’t need the caffeine, but she felt too frazzled to just let herself go home and crash.

-

“Do I?” He asked with a small laugh. “I don’t think I’ve ever heard that one before.” Giving visions was always an odd experience. The people who got them were ones he cared about to some extent, people he found worthy, but he also knew he’d have little other influence over their lives. It was a small gift to a stranger, where he hoped they would carry it well and benefit from it, but couldn’t do much beyond offering the power. He knew who Itto was, in a vague sense, but he never expected to actually run into the man. “If it’s a scam don’t you think it’s better to spend your money on something that isn’t another ticket?” Despite knowing it wasn’t his responsibility he found himself at least wanting to try to make sure Itto didn’t go give all of his money to a lottery system that definitely was not meant to be fair. He would try not to get too involved but he he did want to see how the other was doing, plus he did have a rather unique personality. It wouldn’t be a boring conversation. “I’ll do it if you really want to give it a try, but there are a lot of other very interesting stalls. Have you looked at any of them?”

-

“and how would you know it’s an improper moment unless you’re already watching me? is this how i find out you’re a fly on the wall in my shower, xiao?” the blonde teased, knowing he wouldn’t ever actually consider something like that, but finding amusement from messing with him a bit. “so, is this you asking me to help you acclimate to this new world? because i can definitely do that. and i will be giving zhongli your number immediately.”

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