BURN.

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?

“If you are going to ask for blessings, I’m afraid I am…. off duty.”

“Yes.”

He had little desire to waste any more of her time, or his own, than was necessary. He had picked up on the changes in her body language, too, and it wasn’t as if he could blame her for it.

“... blessings?” What? “No, nothing of the sort. You can enjoy your break.”

“You had no troubles ordering that drink.”

It did almost feel... ridiculous, in some fashion, to have to ask this. Still, it was ridiculous in another fashion entirely to have been put in this situation to begin with, wasn’t it? Diluc had to stop himself from heaving a sigh. She’d been kind enough to stop and be willing to listen when she’d had no need to.

    the indents along their jaw threaten to split with how their smile seems to grow, their body joining with a curl of their tail as interest sets its roots deeper in place. there was less of a worry for if mister few-words was truly lost and more for the free space left vacant at his side. a lovely place for alarian to insert themselves, surely. ( for however long that would last. )

    “i could be, but ‘my way’ has lead me right where i need to be.”

    “unless i’m disturbing your vigilant scouting of the mall.” a step forward and they’re swinging themself within diluc’s view again, head given a curious tilt as they kept their eyes glued to that vacant face. how much would it take to get that to change, they wondered? “just standing around staring can’t be all you came here for, right? surely you had something in mind – oh!” as an idea struck their form seemed to straighten with it.

    “or are you the ‘too prideful’ type that can’t bother with asking for directions? i won’t mind playing a guide~!”

Oh, so they were like that? Diluc had heard similar phrases much more than once or twice before, and it... never managed to impress him. Granted, he usually played it off far nicer than this – he knew when to keep up appearances.

If his sigh right now was anything to go by, which it was, he was not interested in that right now.

“You are.”

“As interested as you may be in my business, I don’t feel particularly inclined to share anything more with you.” They seemed too preoccupied with trying to weasel their way into his arms or whatever they’d set their mind to to be of any use to him. A shame. If they’d been anyone else but themself he might have been interested in a proper conversation. “I don’t need directions, or a guide.”

He did take a step to the side, though.

   you’re doing it again, they could hear themself be told. that all too familiar tone as if eyes were being rolled as it was said, playing like a clear recording in their mind. she wasn’t here to say it directly, but alarian had heard it enough that they were already mentally expecting it as their eyes drifted from the display behind the shops window to the reflections cast against it.

   like a moth to a flame; a vibrant red to match their own. with a quiet breath, something  vaguely close to a whistle, the scorpion slipped away from the shop front to fall in to the passing crowds of the mall. matching a flowing stream of people made their approach just a little more subtle – easier to approach their catch, because once they were in arms reach subtlety was tossed out the door.

   "tall, dark and blank faced – you look lost.“ their voice eased into a chipper tune, closing in to lean against an unoccupied arm. tempting to link themselves to it, truthfully, but they’d leave themself something to work towards. personal space be damned. ”crowded doesn’t look like it suits you, you know.“  /  @ragnvinyard​

The whistle was something enough in passing that it barely drew his attention. Towns and cities were busy; sounds would always flood someone’s senses, of course. A whistle was a whistle – with no other information to go by, he could only assume it was only that. It didn’t seem like there would be any ulterior motive to it. No sort of code. Too quiet for that.

Diluc was no stranger to attention. That didn’t mean he was a fan of it. He gave a soft click of his tongue and angled himself away so that the – (...? he didn’t know what they were) – wouldn’t be leaning up so close to him anymore.

“Is that what you’re worried about?”

He didn’t owe them a response, so he didn’t plan to give one. Diluc had already shifted his attention away again, raising one hand to the other to tug idly at his glove. He hadn’t been able to notice anything he thought would come in handy, so maybe he should just go. Not right now, though. Not because of whoever this was.

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.)