[ everyone knows the cavalry captain of the knights of favonius is a notorious liar - to his enemies, to his friends, perhaps most of all to himself. and the biggest lie kaeya tells himself is this: that khaenri'ah is a dead nation and its people long gone, and any remnants that may linger behind are simply the echoes of ghosts best left to rot. whatever lineage and duties he may have carried burned away with the cataclysm; the last thing anyone needs to remember is the existence of a lost prince, whiling away his days in the city of the enemy.
so when jean assigns him a mission to chaperone klee in the exploration of the chasm in liyue, alarm bells immediately start ringing in his head. he has vague recollections of a mysterious chasm being mentioned way back when, serpentine excavators sent in to find...something, the details of which hadn't exactly been within a child's purview. coupled with everything else - the historical records of abyssal monsters emerging from its depths centuries ago, the recent ban on mining, the reports of hilichurls entering with explanation - and it all paints a ominous picture that while he doesn't have a full grasp on yet, he knows he wants no part of. not him, and certainly not klee, who should be nowhere near the sort of sins staining the soil of his homeland. it'd taken but a moment to contrive a convenient escape; an offhand comment about how helpful it would be for good hunter to have a stronger stove, a momentary lapse of attention as he chatted with sara about her busy work schedule, and he soon found himself tossed back into his office to think about his actions.
he should have known better, really. there's no outrunning the weight of his past, in the end.
that same evening, his ears still ringing from jean's harsh scolding, the thing that had once been his eye suddenly throbs. it isn't pain, not exactly, but rather the wrenching sensation of a sick wrongness - like the sound of metal grating against metal that sets his teeth on edge, like a pulse where no heart should beat, like looking up to find the false sky cracking. time blurs, morphs into shadows flickering on the walls; he doesn't know how long he spends hunched over, dripping with sweat, one hand pressing down hard against his eyepatch, but the pink blush of dawn trickles through his windows by the time he regains enough of his senses to check. and if he had any delusion left of his symptoms being mere exhaustion and alcohol deprivation, that's quickly blown out of the water when the reports start filing in from his informants in mondstadt, liyue, dragonspine, all saying the same thing - hilichurls suddenly collapsing in agony all over the map, with no explanation as to why.
well. there's no avoiding it this time, it would seem. the knights of favonius can hardly ignore such a strange phenomenon, and he can't afford to send someone in his stead to investigate and come back with the wrong information...or worse, the right one. he supposes he should be grateful for small mercies - at least klee won't be in tow this time.
he doesn't head straight for the chasm proper; he's no delver or researcher, after all, and his particular talents are best suited for gathering information elsewhere. instead, he drops into the tavern at the nearby inn and starts striking up conversation with the locals. the innkeeper takes a particular liking to him after seeing how he's free with words and freer with coin, and soon they're exchanging gossip about work and life and everything in between.
"business has gotten a lot livelier since they reopened the mines," she says, cupping her chin. "why, you're not even the first foreigner we've seen in these parts recently!" at this, kaeya's smile sharpens, eye gleaming in predatorial interest. ]
Another foreigner, hm? [ he leans in with a friendly smile, tossing the woman another coin. ] What are they like? Not as charming as me, I hope.
@carceral; ( the curse ruled from the underground down by the shore )
so when jean assigns him a mission to chaperone klee in the exploration of the chasm in liyue, alarm bells immediately start ringing in his head. he has vague recollections of a mysterious chasm being mentioned way back when, serpentine excavators sent in to find...something, the details of which hadn't exactly been within a child's purview. coupled with everything else - the historical records of abyssal monsters emerging from its depths centuries ago, the recent ban on mining, the reports of hilichurls entering with explanation - and it all paints a ominous picture that while he doesn't have a full grasp on yet, he knows he wants no part of. not him, and certainly not klee, who should be nowhere near the sort of sins staining the soil of his homeland. it'd taken but a moment to contrive a convenient escape; an offhand comment about how helpful it would be for good hunter to have a stronger stove, a momentary lapse of attention as he chatted with sara about her busy work schedule, and he soon found himself tossed back into his office to think about his actions.
he should have known better, really. there's no outrunning the weight of his past, in the end.
that same evening, his ears still ringing from jean's harsh scolding, the thing that had once been his eye suddenly throbs. it isn't pain, not exactly, but rather the wrenching sensation of a sick wrongness - like the sound of metal grating against metal that sets his teeth on edge, like a pulse where no heart should beat, like looking up to find the false sky cracking. time blurs, morphs into shadows flickering on the walls; he doesn't know how long he spends hunched over, dripping with sweat, one hand pressing down hard against his eyepatch, but the pink blush of dawn trickles through his windows by the time he regains enough of his senses to check. and if he had any delusion left of his symptoms being mere exhaustion and alcohol deprivation, that's quickly blown out of the water when the reports start filing in from his informants in mondstadt, liyue, dragonspine, all saying the same thing - hilichurls suddenly collapsing in agony all over the map, with no explanation as to why.
well. there's no avoiding it this time, it would seem. the knights of favonius can hardly ignore such a strange phenomenon, and he can't afford to send someone in his stead to investigate and come back with the wrong information...or worse, the right one. he supposes he should be grateful for small mercies - at least klee won't be in tow this time.
he doesn't head straight for the chasm proper; he's no delver or researcher, after all, and his particular talents are best suited for gathering information elsewhere. instead, he drops into the tavern at the nearby inn and starts striking up conversation with the locals. the innkeeper takes a particular liking to him after seeing how he's free with words and freer with coin, and soon they're exchanging gossip about work and life and everything in between.
"business has gotten a lot livelier since they reopened the mines," she says, cupping her chin. "why, you're not even the first foreigner we've seen in these parts recently!" at this, kaeya's smile sharpens, eye gleaming in predatorial interest. ]
Another foreigner, hm? [ he leans in with a friendly smile, tossing the woman another coin. ] What are they like? Not as charming as me, I hope.