The Praised One

“Of course! And I will, in due time, of course. Meanest thou to stay here for now, then?” 

She brushed her tail against the others, as it was much less awkward for both of them than attempting to hold her hand. 

“Hmm…”

“I cannot claim to be well versed in sea shells. I do like the, ah, twisty ones? Like horns, or akin to the shells of snails… But I am quite certain there art a great many I know not of. What about thee?”

Anya let her tail intertwine with Priscilla’s, well in agreement about it being less awkward than holding hands, most of the time. She was careful not to let it get too close to the water, though; a few light splashes were fine, but she didn’t want it to be soaked.

"I think I am content to stay at this depth, at least... but I would not mind a stroll along the shore, either. It would give the best chance of finding you a suitable shell.” Twisty ones... ? She didn’t know which ones those were, but they seemed self-explanatory.

“Of course! That is fine, we do not have to go any further than thou art comfortable, and I would be most comfortable if we stay close! We art here together, after all.” She gave her best warm and welcoming smile. “Truth be told I am not especially proficient when it comes to the depths mineself.”

Approaching the water again she kept pace with Anya, making sure to move delicately so she didn’t make large splashes even in the shallows. 

“So please; do not push thineself, we can simply move until thou wishes to move no more.”

“Similarly, however, I would like you to be as comfortable as possible too... ! That is, if you would enjoy going deeper into the water, I would want you to do so.”

She herself was content to stay at around ankle deep for now, though, just enjoying the waves as they came in. Her eyes closed and she stood with a serene smile, taking it all in.

"Staying close is nice, though. Oh, but do you have a favourite variety of seashell, perhaps...?” Seashells, she’s heard of ‘em. Not exactly the most common thing in a frozen mountain either.

She had to brush some hair of her face to confirm it but; yes! A Point! She rose both arms into the air triumphantly with all the excitement of someone who thought points were very novel and held that pose for several seconds? 

“Oh?” She looked at Anya, then at the water, and then back again. “Oh.” She was looking at her! Time to be confident, she could do this.

“Welll, if thou art sure! The net is not going anywhere.” And despite trying to sound cool about it, her tail was already picking up speed.

“The net isn’t going anywhere,” she repeated, her tail picking up speed now too as she realized both what she said and why she said it, and the fact that it must be super obvious why she said it too. But Priscilla... said yes! So there was nothing to worry about. She’s pretty, that’s all!

“Um... I can’t go out as far as you can... I do not know if it will be as pleasant for you to stay by my side in the water.”

“Maybe…” She trailed off in some sort of agreement, eyes on the ball drifting lazily though the air. Slightly heavier, but what if it shattered? She’d never forgive herself if something went wrong. 

Her tail swaying also slowed when she saw it head towards the water. She was already picking up pace towards the water’s edge before Anya finished. “I’ll get it!” With extreme enthusiasm. However, it required getting a little closer than just to the edge, already making large splashes as she kept trying to position herself under the ball. 

If she was concentrating more on all of her surroundings rather than just up she might have avoided tripping in the waves. However that was not the case and the largest splash thus far quickly followed. Still, she held the ball triumphantly in her hands when she stood, and didn’t seem to be bothered by the water. 

She shook herself as she walked, and then gave the ball a much lighter tap over the net.

“Round two!”

With each splash Anya got a little more nervous... I mean, Priscilla is a big girl—literally. But she was still worried because what if there was a suddenly stronger wave? Or a pit in the sand? Or—oh, yep, there’s exactly what she was worried about, Priscilla tripping into the water.

Anya panicked for a small moment in case Priscilla was hurt and started towards the water, but stopped when Priscilla rose again with the triumphant ball in hand. And then she stared. Like, very hard and very obviously, albeit not intentionally. She didn’t even flinch when little water droplets that were shaken off of Priscilla hit her, nor did she make any move to stop the ball from hitting the sand beside her, costing her a point.

“Um...”

“Art thou sure?” She shrugged playfully. “Perhaps thou tryest not hard enough to be taller.” Followed with a smile and sticking out her tongue.

The smile persisted as Anya moved around to the other side, tail still swaying softly in anticipation. Games were fun after all! That didn’t necessarily needed to be stated, but here she was internally stating it anyway. A chance to play anything with Anya was even more valued.

In fact, the smile only faltered when the ball came hurtling right towards her face. Thankfully it wasn’t the fastest moving object, and through more luck than any other metric she managed to step back and bop the ball…

… Basically straight upwards. It seemed on target, maybe. But it was certainly high.

“Er… Good!”

“Very good, just like that… I’m sure it will be back soon…”

Though she was proud of her shot at first, she soon realized that aiming directly at the other persons face was probably both not sportsmanlike and also just... not a good strategy. You want them to miss the ball, right? So she shouldn’t hit it at them... hm.

Well, she had plenty of time to think about strategy as she watched the ball soar higher. It was just an inflatable beach ball so that thing definitely didn’t come down with any sort of speed.

“...Maybe you should have frozen that one just a tiny bit.” She was proven even more correct when a breeze hit and started to float the ball away from them, and towards the ocean.

She tried her best not to look too worried as Anya… Well,. struggled seemed like a harsh thing to think. In the end she ended up giving a sort of half apologetic smile as she watched the snow leopard inflate the ball.

Red face or not, when it was proudly presented her tail swayed back and forth happily above the sand. “Well done!” She encouraged, rising to her feet once more, then moving to stand on one side of the net.

“Perhaps, though it is no fault of mine thou art so small. I am sure it will make no significant difference.”

“Over the net! We each stand on one side. Thine goal is to get it to touch the sand on mine side of the net, and mine is to do the same to thine. But it must go over, I believe, and thou hits it like this.” And to demonstrate she did her best approximation of an underhanded strike at an imaginary ball.

The praise, even if Anya couldn’t help but feel it was partially out of pity, did raise her spirits about it and her own tail wagged in return. “Well it’s not my fault either... !”

Pretty quickly Anya got the idea that she was supposed to get up and stand on the other side of the net too, so she rose to her feet and stood opposite the net, but a good few feet closer to it than Priscilla. To make the height advantage more fair, you see.

“I see... okay, I think I understand. Like this, then?” She repeated that underhand motion, but with more force than she needed to because she was trying to get it up high enough to reach Priscilla but instead it just took a basically straight line right towards her face.

( @madeinkarlan​. )

It was irritating, of course. Being brought away like this when there was still plenty he was expecting to get done. Ripped away to another world, hm… and one with little in common with what he was used to of Teyvat. True though it may be that Diluc’s Vision had been left… at least a little untouched (an interesting observation in and of itself), too much else seemed almost… impossible.

(Clearly not, though, he supposed.)

There may be none of his usual ways of gathering information, but Diluc was nothing if not adaptive.

… even if not quite in the way he’d prefer to do things.

There were no taverns of the sort he was… expecting here, not that he’d been able to find. But there were shops smelling of teas and caffeine, and a woman who wouldn’t look out of place in Snezhnaya ordering herself one such beverage with all the honed confidence of someone who was far more used to the workings of things here.

(A low bar, to be far.)

“… excuse me.” Not the way he would prefer to act, but one did what they must – “A moment of your time, if I may.”

Ah, the coffee shops... ! There were so many of them in the city, each one with its own flavours and specialty drinks and cozy places to relax and drink... if there was one thing she could pinpoint as the highlight of being brought to this city, it was all the coffee she could indulge herself in without anyone breathing down her neck about her caffeine addiction.

She had just finished ordering hers and was waiting by the delivery counter, taking in the scents with a tail wagging so fast for such a simple pleasure. She was snapped out of it the moment her attention was called, though, the blissful look on her face instantly replaced with one more neutral.

“Oh. Just a moment?” Truly, or was he going to ask for more?

Knowing when bee season was certainly made her smile, but accidentally freezing the beach ball solid did not. 

“Well, not exactly, no… I apologise, it appears I was somewhat… Over enthusiastic.” She sat down next to the feline, not exactly looking defeated per se, more sheepish.  

“Would thee mind? If it is no trouble.” 

But… To say she was having no trouble might not be exactly true… “Almost there..!”

Anya simply smiled and shook her head at the apology, making a small noise of ‘no sorries needed!’ She can do this, she can handle inflating a beach ball. Or so she thought she could; turns out they can hold a lot more air than she expected.

She was still capable of course, but she didn’t wanna make Priscilla wait too long, so she really put her all into the last couple of blows. With each puff both her ears and tail either flicked or shot stiff upright, but at last the ball was finally inflated... mostly. It had a little give, but it was too late to add more because Anya had already sealed it and once-more-proudly presented it to Priscilla, only a little red in the face.

“Summer! Spring..? Somewhere around there? It is the same as bee season.” She shrugged. “When it is warmest I suppose. Ah, well! It is part of the experience I believe, but I also believe we should have our own fun, we need not do things just because.” After all, they were at the beach at the tail end of winter. 

“We do not! Here on the sand, Is that how thee would like to start? Give me a moment and I will prepare the ball.”

And prepare it she did. She took the ball yet to be inflated, pressed her lips over the nozzle and gave it a mighty huff. Too mighty perhaps… It certainly inflated, nice and spherical, but the frost covering the outside was immediately clear and when she let go the frost volley ball fell into the sand like lead.

“Ah…”

“Well… I did bring spares.”

“Bee season...! I know when that is.” Thanks to Priscilla, in fact! She beamed upwards at the crossbreed, her pride worn very clearly on her face about this.

“If it is how you would like to start—I am following your lead when it comes to beach activities.” So she sat down on the blanket, hugging her knees as she watched the balloon inflate... and freeze. And drop, in the exact opposite fashion that a beach ball is supposed to.

“Oh...”

@madeinkarlan​

“So, I know it is not exactly… The season, but it’s still nice weather, is it not?” By most standards, it was cold, far from what you might expect for beach weather. But the two of them had a high tolerance, and best of all… “And we have this whole stretch to ourselves! Wonderful.”

The big blanket had been lain down, along with the big basket (of big snacks) and she had just set up a net, for the beach game! Regular size, but that just made it easy. 

“It is calm enough, but I am not sure if I have ever asked; how fares thee in the water?”

“I don’t think I know what beach season is anyway... so this may as well be ‘prime time’ to me.” she replied. It was still frigid out, and the water even more so when she ventured ankle-deep into the waves. But that was the way she was used to, and truly if it were the middle of summer she might have melted instead.

Crowd-free was always a big plus to her, too, aside from the obvious big plus that just finished setting up the net.

“Sorry for dragging you out all this way...” she said with a small bow of her head. ‘All this way’ wasn’t even too far off of their intended path, Pramanix just felt a bit guilty. But she’d forgotten to tend to her flowers this morning, and her house was nearby, so...

“I will try to make it quick, I promise,” she assured, as they came up to the odd looking setup she’d arranged over her outdoor garden. She didn’t want her flowers to ‘freeze’ over, so she’s set up a large, makeshift cardboard roof over the flowers, the watering can, and the end of the hose attached to her home.

Priscilla simply smiled. She’d been close enough, even if close enough was at least ninety degrees off. She didn’t need much encouragement to start walking either, strolling after her and giving her a gentle pap on the back with her tail.

“Pasta!” She exclaimed excitedly. “A noble choice. I find myself eating much because it is both easy to procure as well as prepare in…” She made a vague bowl shaped gesture. “Larger quantities. I suppose the best always comes with some expense, as is the nature with quality. Art thou looking for work?” She gave a tilt of her head, trying not to make it too obvious how she’d follow up that question.  

“Mine favourite…”

“I do enjoy a little spice, that was not a type of food- or even flavouring- I got to experience before coming here. I have been working mine way up a scale of curries and they have all been delightful.”

“A noble choice for a noble girl.” Unfortunately noble girl, she would say, but she didn’t want Priscilla to feel bad about the unintended negative connotation of the word. “It’s all the better that I can’t afford to eat there every day, because it is as you say, very easy to eat too much... but work? I... am not made for work...” she softly responded. She was hardly cut out for being a Saintess, and that was a job where everyone catered to you!

“I rarely find that it is! Yes, that sounds like a wise decision to me, I am quite familiar with the route on foot from here, though I wonder what effects this… Weather, may have had on the rest of the city.”

She gave a very bright smile, kneeled down and adjusted Anya’s pointing hand ever so slightly… Considerably, it was a considerable adjustment. 

“Hast thou any favourites when it comes to dining in that ward? I believe we should approach with an open mind but it doesn’t hurt to be optimistic. The food there used to be quite different.”

“... I was close.” No she wasn’t. Better luck next time, Anya. With her direction adjusted (embarrassing...) and enthusiasm renewed at the optimistic thought of food, she started on her way, her tail briefly wrapping half-heartedly around Priscilla’s leg to give it a tug to let her know to start following.

“It’s so hard to pick a favourite... but there are a number of places I enjoy more than most in Cotes. One place, just on the corner of one street connecting Cotes to Golden, has some of the best pasta I’ve ever had...”

“Why defer when then thou can experience.” She said with full confidence, but didn’t move as if she was about to. Yet. 

“Hmm…” She tapped her chin in thought, but thoughts were banished head empty when the snow fall came. She watched enraptured, smiling with glee after the swirl and failing the urge to clap enthusiastically. “Beautiful as always! I am certain such a blessing will further our cause. But by thy word we should head in a different direction? Or perhaps force one of those places open… To compensate them afterwards, of course! This could be a matter of life and death.”

Back home, such blessings were normal, and while people were always varying degrees of happy to receive them, Anya hadn’t been so profusely praised for them until Priscilla. It was hard for blessings to not feel like busywork sometimes (which she’d never admit to Mount Karlan herself) so it was a nice change of pace, she thought.

“Perhaps towards Cotes, then, since I came from Archimedes? It should be easy enough to see the tree to guide us, since public transportation would be of no use...” Well, more so than it was for Priscilla anyway.

“Well… That is what it looks like, to me at least… I suppose one might say they art simply huddling for warmth, but the one who says that would not be me.” Priscilla placed a hand on her hip and looked very proud of herself for a moment. “Of course! This is a known thing, I like to believe I offer some of the best cuddles in all of Spirale city.”

“Well, unfortunately I am no expert on breaking things, I did try to persuade what had crystallised over mine door to shatter with a bit of force, but I was unable… And I am stronger than I may look. Regardless, I am sure we will find some solution!”

“You are the only bee expert I know, so I will defer to your expertise. Cuddling it is.” The best in the whole city... one day, maybe, she might be able to experience that for herself. For now, she was still unsure what to think of the pocky kiss. No, she hadn’t really stopped thinking about it for the past several weeks.

“And you already look plenty strong to me, but I will take your further word for it. However, I can say with certainty that nothing on the direct path between my place and yours remains open...”

Priscilla always enjoyed those little ear flickies, as well as the sight of the other’s tail swinging gently about. It always made her respond in kind, whether she realised it or not.

“They cuddle, mostly. It’s their season off to put it in nice terms, we do what we can to make sure they don’t exhaust themselves trying to stay warm or run out of food in the colder months.”

“Of course, I will do mine best to make sure thee do not go too hungry either. I’m afraid that getting back into the manor is beyond me, so I suppose the next best thing would be to head into the city and see what may still be open?” 

Anya didn’t actively notice Priscilla’s tail picking up its own wagging speed, but subconsciously she did, and hers increased in speed as well. An upwards spiral of tail wagging encouraging more tail wagging encouraging more tail wagging...

“They cuddle?” she asked, sounding a little surprised. Bees didn’t seem like the... cuddly type to her? She tried to imagine it, zoning out for a moment as she did. “They cuddle... so if you are miss ‘Prizzy Bee’ herself, does that make you the biggest cuddler of them all?”