Satiate Me

❝ the gods are not cruel, they are merely curious. ❞

❝ i have seen empires rise like prayers and fall like silence. ❞

❝ immortality is a slow kind of hunger. ❞

❝ even the divine grow tired of being worshiped. ❞

❝ i once loved a mortal. now the stars whisper his name. ❞

❝ the sea does not forgive. it only remembers differently. ❞

❝ they called me a myth to make me easier to forget. ❞

❝ the sun envies those who can set. ❞

❝ every prophecy is just nostalgia disguised as fate. ❞

❝ my hands remember the shape of creation. ❞

❝ even the gods kneel to time. ❞

❝ i wore divinity like a wound. ❞

❝ there is no glory in eternity, only repetition. ❞

❝ i loved you in every age, and none of them were kind. ❞

❝ the altar still smells like your prayers. ❞

❝ lightning does not ask for forgiveness. ❞

❝ to be feared is not the same as being known. ❞

❝ my heart beats slower than centuries. ❞

❝ the constellations were once my mistakes. ❞

❝ you built temples for me, but i lived in storms. ❞

❝ love, like prophecy, never asks permission. ❞

❝ i have turned grief into galaxies. ❞

❝ mortals call it tragedy. we call it memory. ❞

❝ i spoke the world into being and have been silent since. ❞

❝ the ocean taught me patience, then drowned me in it. ❞

❝ i am both the curse and the cure. ❞

❝ eternity is not mercy. it is echo. ❞

❝ he swore devotion, and i answered with thunder. ❞

❝ the moon only reflects because it cannot burn. ❞

❝ i am the story the poets feared to finish. ❞

❝ divinity is just loneliness with better lighting. ❞

❝ mortals die once. gods die endlessly in legend. ❞

❝ the fates never speak, but their silence threads everything. ❞

❝ i have loved across lifetimes, and each time, it ruins me. ❞

❝ creation was easy. enduring it was not. ❞

❝ my name has been worshiped, cursed, and forgotten, in that order. ❞

❝ the stars are just old gods pretending to be light. ❞

❝ i do not dream. i remember. ❞

❝ he prayed for glory. i gave him consequence. ❞

❝ thunder is only my heartbeat caught in the sky. ❞

❝ i built the world, but i cannot rebuild myself. ❞

❝ every offering is a confession. ❞

❝ i envied mortals their endings. ❞

❝ the divine bleed in metaphors. ❞

❝ i carved your name into eternity, and eternity flinched. ❞

❝ even olympus trembles when the heart remembers. ❞

❝ i have walked through centuries and never found forgiveness. ❞

❝ the gods are not kind, but they are honest. ❞

❝ i loved you like ruin loves beauty. completely. ❞

But that’s how life works, making sacrifices to find answers- she paused quickly with her thoughts. Realizing how similarly she was thinking like her tormenter, it made her sick.

The momentary lapse of Naomi's concentration did not escape the consultant's notice. Alas, the conclusion they both reached is one that is unfortunate yet their best option to date. He can understand if this revelation disturbs her.

Although Zhongli cannot be certain how far down the proverbial rabbit hole her thoughts have taken her. He'd been poised to ask when Naomi responded.

"I see. Then perhaps you may find the journey pleasant. We will need to travel to Qiaoying Village by boat from the piers of Yilong Wharf. If I may ask: do you happen to live in a seaside town?"

Keqing. Cyno gave a curt nod as he listened, branding that name in his own mind, all while at the same time taking notice of just how much Zhongli knew about the governing body of Liyue and its history.

He imagined that, were this man to ever visit the Akademiya, he would easily fluster even some of the most outstanding scholars in the Vahumana Darshan... perhaps even the Sages themselves.

Not only that, he seemed to speak with a certain degree of... passion? Gratification, maybe, even behind that well-poised and dignified air of his. Almost as if Cyno could see a hidden light shining behind the man's eyes.

His gut instinct summoned the image of a very old man reminiscing about his days of youth... only Zhongli did not look much older than himself.

Then again, if Xiao had taught him anything in their brief time together, it was that looks could be extremely deceiving.

"The Traveler and Paimon were always particularly reserved when it came to the details of their journey... I'm beginning to understand why." They sure had a knack for stumbling upon crisis after crisis, it seemed. The good news, from that, was the reassurance that those two would be as discreet about what they had witnessed while in Sumeru, as well.

On that note, the General chose to pursue his own curiosity.

An approving smile graces the ends of the consultant's lips at Cyno's remark.

"Indeed. I have heard a fair share of tales regarding their travels. Their journey is quite an eventful one."

Zhongli takes the momentary lull in conversation to deliberate over his next words before he posed his request.

"If you are not opposed, may I take a look at this 'suspicious device' the Conqueror of Demons spoke of? I myself am a collector of sorts where it comes to antiques and artifacts, perhaps I could offer up valuable information after examining it."

That such innovation existed is somewhat of an amusing and curious thing. He cannot deny the fact that a part of him is quite interested to know what the criminals are planning to do with his essence.

Upon being questioned about his identity, Zhongli's smile widened a fraction.

"In a manner of speaking, yes. Along the same vein: I am but an ordinary mortal with broad connections."

Keeping you Warm <3

".... very well," he answers, taking in the white flowers now on his desk. They were admittedly nice, and compared to the underworld, they smelled fresh. Sad that they wouldn't stay beautiful and vibrant for long, but for the moment they were here.... Well, Orcus did like them. His fingers ever so light and gentle brush over the petals. A small drop of dew wet his skin and Orcus brings it to his lips. Even if he did complain, or was being difficult, he did appreciate Achlys looking after him and the underworld, to be honest. It did even help ease his headache to a certain degree.

"It's a mystery. Truly. We should definitely try solve it some day," he agrees, putting the documents Achlys brought back to him on the bottom of the pile he was going through. It's not like he had a lot of them left. Laziness just had him in a chokehold. He wanted to go out, to the fields above and laze around in the sun.

"We should," Achlys answers drily in turn. He tries his best to avoid rolling his eyes at his superior when he notices him shoving the returned documents into the pile. The probability that the gate-keeper will come back to finding it on his own desk again is quite high.

Sliding one to Orcus across the table, he'd been in the middle of rummaging through his pockets for his lighter when his superior's prompt caught his attention.

"What?" Brows furrowed in immediate suspicion. "Sir, if I hadn't known any better, I'd say this is entrapment."

Achlys rounds the corner and paused by the side of his desk.

"You sure you want your subordinate to get up close and personal with you? People will talk, you know?"

Save the cat!

(i love them, i really do)

the original pic down below 👇