#stargrace

it usually took a lot more than threats and brute force to make him sit down at the infirmary—that much had been proved by anyone ordered to escort him to the butterfly state. shouting, fighting back, whatever he could use to skip such nonsense and go back out there as soon as he could, he’d do—a waste of precious time to sit around when such minor wounds could wait until another demon would have been taken down, another village would have been freed, another family spared the terrors that lurked outside.

it was the path he has chosen for himself, the very thing that kept him going through every day, 

so—when it came to catch a sight of the ( recently named ) wind hashira sitting on a bed, no movement in the room but the ones of his medic ( relinquishment in the way he gazed at his own hands, frowning but nothing more ) you’d know that his condition was far more critical than you could imagine—this time, not only physically, but emotionally as well. 

“    oh,    𝒔𝒐  𝒔𝒐𝒓𝒓𝒚,    ”     he  crows,    daintily  stepping  through  the  mess  of  his  ruined  factory.    (    ah,    he’ll  find  tartaglia    &.   have  a  talk  with  him  later,    nevermind  the  fact  that  dottore  abandoned  it  himself.    )    arms  outstretched,    he  turns  his  face  towards  the  goddess  that  has  deigned  to  grace  him.    “    i  didn’t  realize  they  were  causing  such  trouble    [ ... ]    i'll  be  sure  to  clean  up  properly  next  time.    ”

with  a  flourish,    he  turns  fully  to  her,    exposing  shark  like  teeth  with  his  smile.    “    please,    do  feel  free  to  look  around.    i’ve  little  need  for  these  things  anymore.    ”

𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐩𝐨𝐤  𝐡𝐚𝐬  𝐚𝐥𝐰𝐚𝐲𝐬  𝐛𝐞𝐞𝐧  𝐚  quiet  town;    even  with  ajax’s  tumultuous  year  before  being  sent  off  to  the  fatui,    it  remains  sheltered  in  between  the  mountains    &.    the  snow.    visitors  like  her  are  few,    if  any  at  all──    which  is  exactly  why  he’s  decided  to  take  lumine  out  to  town.

“    you  know,    the  little  fox  writes  of  you  often,    ”    andrei  says  conversationally,    hands  by  the  blazing  fire.    (    the  snezhnayan  winter  is  always  so  cruel;    he  can’t  imagine  how  ajax  must  feel,    after  coming  from  a  place  as  warm  as  liyue.    )    “    nothing  embarrassing,    though,    i  promise!    but  the  tales  he  spins  are  quite    [ ... ]    𝒂𝒎𝒂𝒛𝒊𝒏𝒈,    to  say  the  least.    ”

──    soft  footsteps  makes  him  open  them,    the  dog  at  his  side  perking  up  to  greet  them  immediately.    “    ah,    um,    ”    he  says,    staring    up  at  the  refined  lady  in  the  entrance  of  the  room.    awkward,    stilted;    tohma  doesn’t  know  what  to  do  with  himself,    hands  wrung  in  his  lap.    he  tries  not  to  wince  at  the  pain  in  his  shoulders  at  that,    instead  offering  a  small  smile.

𝗶𝘁’𝘀  𝘁𝗵𝗲  𝗹𝗲𝗮𝘀𝘁  𝗵𝗲  𝗰𝗮𝗻  𝗱𝗼,    𝗿𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁?    after  all,    she’s  the  one  who  brought  him  here.    “    can  i    [ ... ]    help  you?    ”