kaisou | ah, si je pouvais vivre dans l'eau

WHO: Furina & You!
WHERE: Labyrinth / Libra App.
WHEN: Eve of November 20th.
WHAT: The Spirit Realm spits out another person for wet France.
WARNINGS: None at the moment, will update if needed.

LABYRINTH.

[ it had been raining when furina finally placed her head on her pillow. not heavy, mind you, but just enough to make it difficult for her to fall asleep. to allow herself to relax into her bed, to put thoughts of waters rising from her head. truly she had no idea how long she had laid there, anxiety crawling through her limbs, but eventually - eventually - she drifted off to sleep.

a mistake, the most dreadful of mistakes, as the sound of rain seeps into her dreams.

she wakes with a start, a yell caught in her throat, jumping as mismatched eyes scan the room and quickly realize this isn't her apartment. no, no, no, this is her former room in the palais mermonia. panic claws its way up her throat, her mind racing as her feet move independently from the rest of her body.

why? why did she wake up in the palais? why is it so quiet? why isn't there anyone in the halls? her footsteps, slow at first, echo off the walls as she walks through the empty halls. water drips from the ceiling, seeps from the carpets underfoot, and furina's footsteps get faster, more frantic. ]

No, no, no!! It's ─ It can't be! It can't! [ she all but sprints through the palais mermonia, pushing open the large heavy doors and stumbles outside where she suddenly stops. fontaine isn't underwater, it looks as it did right after the waters receded. but where there were people she sees only trinkets; a badge here, a hairpin there, a teddy bear, a camera, and so on. as far as she can see there are only objects of life, of the people who had once been there.

furina walks towards the teddy bear and reaches down, fingers curling around the soggy form, and stands up straight holding the bear to her chest. ] This... this is a joke, right? Just a bad dream brought on by the rain. I'll... I'll wake up any minute now!! Yes, exactly, this is nothing but a bad dream. Wake up, Furina, wake up...

[ as her voice trails off she falls to her knees, shoulders shaking with uncontrollable sobs. ]

─

[ or maybe you've stumbled upon furina after she's found her way out of the labyrinth; which has decided the best place to deposit her is right next to a lake. thankfully she wasn't thrown directly into the lake, but it's close enough to have her scrambling away from it with a panicked yelp ─ utterly unaware of the phone beside her feet. ]

W─what was that?!

► APP, un: regina.

[ it is much later, and with some coaching from wriothesley, that furina even dares to investigate the app. which results in the video feed flicking on with an upside down shot of furina herself, she tilts her head, mismatched eyes widening with sheer delight. ]

─Oh!! Hehe, it is like a Kamera! But it's so much smaller! Wonderful! [ she claps excitedly, looking off screen at another before turning her attention towards the phone once again. she should introduce herself, right? the book did mention that others can see and communicate with her through this, didn't it? well, now that she has gotten it working it would be rude not to introduce herself.

she shifts slightly and clears her throat, putting on her best smile. ]

Hello, people of Kaisou! Stand up and rejoice, for Fontaine's most beloved star, Furina, has graced your lovely city with her presence! [ a laugh and her expression drops slightly, her voice taking on a more somber tone. ] Although I am still uncertain as to how exactly I ended up here, or for what reason I was brought, it is... a welcomed change of scenery.

So, um, one might need to get a proper lay of the land if I am to be here for some time. [ something in the back of her mind feels as though she might just be. ] Thus I implore you, my good fellows, to help me do just that!

[ she'd love some cake right about now. ]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[ she watches the otter swim closer, lips curling into a smile as it puts its shell into her hand. a soft chuckle escapes her, fingers curling around the shell in her hand. funny how such a simple action calms her nerves more than the breathing exercises she did mere moments ago. ]

Oh?

[ as it taps at the vision on her hip, her smile widening just a touch. ]

A gift from the heavens. [ at least that is the story most usually tell, but with the seat of the hydro archon no more... ] At least that is what people say, but I'm not so sure anymore.

[his furina had the jewel, too, but now that he looked at it up close enough: the sigil of hydro, luminescent under the crystal, in the style that he would have granted, a lifetime ago.

the otter abruptly loses all its energy, and it just- lies there, for a moment, looking up into the stars above them.

and then it opens its mouth.]

It is.

[ the otter all but deflates and worry overcomes her features, shifting to face the creature properly. is it ill? does it understand her? the otters in fontaine always seem to have a higher level of intelligence than most creatures, often leading adventures towards buried treasures or friends in need of saving.

but then its mouth opens and she hears a voice she knows all too well, her gaze lifts up and around them, the hand holding the shell held up to her chest. ]

Neuvillette?

[he was so, so, unprepared to hear her say his name. added to how fraught this week was it’s almost too much; he curls towards her, around her, desperate to convey: i should have known. i should have shared that burden with you. i should-]

Yes. Give me a moment.

[there’s an eye-watering moment when he transforms back into his battered human shape, waistcoat, arm in a sling, visible cuts and all.

he tries to sit up, but ends up just lying there for a moment with a faint wheezing sound, much like her deflated otter.]

[ the otter curls toward her, around her, and she hears his voice again confusion plain across her face. she half expected him to appear behind her, but instead, he appeared beside her exchanging places with the poor deflated otter. ]

Nuevillette! [ firstly, sir she has so many questions but before any of that ─ ] No, don't move! You're hurt! [ not once over the last five hundred years has she ever seen him injured, not once has she ever seen him strain himself. ] What happened to you?!

[he sits up ever-so-slowly, not wanting to worry furina, but also it was not a good idea to ottermode this evening.]

I will be all right, [a pause,] Furina. Do not fret. Before anything else, I must tell you: I am, and am not, the Neuvillette you know, but I will keep you safe all the same.

[ she shifts, sitting properly on the ground now, her hands hovering uselessly in front of herself. he is hurt, neuvillette is somehow hurt, and her chest feels tight looking at him in this state. ]

W-What are you talking about? Did you somehow hit your head? You are, and are not, the same Neuvillette who has stood beside me for all those years? Don't spout such nonsense!

[he did hit his head actually! several times. but she didn’t need to know that.]

Settle down. [blunt as ever.] You are no longer in Teyvat. I am no longer the Hydro Dragon Sovereign.

[he grimaces a little, knowing she had quite the high chance of taking that badly.] But I still remember The Little Oceanid, and the fragment of my authority crystallised into your Vision, which has always been yours and yours alone.

I know that! [ she snap, unintentionally, flinching a little as she does. ] The stars at not the same as those in Fontaine, not to mention I stumbled out of some sort of... hole!

[ panic builds again, like a sudden storm, as she tries to wrap her head around his words. no longer the hydro dragon sovereign? the hydro archon's throne was destroyed! his authority should have been returned to him. ]

No! I will not settle down! [ old habits die hard and furina has played the role of focalors for so long that it is ingrained in her very being. ] First you appear before me in the form of an otter, then when you regain this form you are battered and bruised! Now you are speaking this nonsense ─

[ hovering hands find the fabric of his shirt and grip as she lets out a long, heavy breath. none of this makes any sense. ]

[he has had nearly half a millennia’s experience of pacifying this woman and yet he finds that he has absolutely no idea how to make her calm down after. all of That. that had Happened.

he lets her talk herself out, lets her grab him. after a moment- he drops his good hand, on the top of her fluffy head. he does not remember ever touching her so familiarly, but that was then.]

I was in a minor altercation with my brother. I will heal. I know you are very confused. Breathe with me for a moment. Are you injured anywhere?

[ it is the weight of his hand on her head that drains the fight from her, like a damn filled to the brim with raging waters. furina sags a little, breaking eye contact to rest her forehead against him. a minor altercation, does not put the iudex of fontaine in a cast.

just as he asks, she takes a long breath in and then out, exhaling heavily. ]

No, I'm unhurt. [ aside from some superficial scrapes to her knees, she is physically well. ] I woke up in the Palais but there was no one there, there was no one anywhere.

ah, si je pouvais vivre dans l'eau

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