Chapter Text
Lumine rolls her bike and parks it into the rack. Adjusting her thick, white scarf around her neck and smoothing down her coat after a lengthy ride from home, she takes in Fanmu Carpentry and Hardware. She senses a few stares from people walking by. Some kindly greet her with good mornings while others comment on the weather and tell her to stay warm with grins on their faces.
She responds to it with a nod of her head and a small but forced smile.
Despite how long she's moved from her original home to Liyue, it all feels strange to be under the scrutiny of attention. In the same way, some of the children gasp when she arrives at Qingce Village and run up to give her a tight hug with toothy grins asking her how she’s doing and if she’s finally going to play with them. Children have affectionately referred to her as jiejie or as crabby jiejie, and she can’t decide on which title brings more of a twist to her gut.
She pushes those wayward thoughts aside as she enters the building. She’s supposed to be getting some keys made and picked up today along with a few other things in the village. It never hurts to have an extra just in case.
And having a few layers of security doesn't hurt either.
She spots a man at the counter and makes her way to him. If she bothers to recall, he recently came from Liyue Harbor to be an assistant under Master Lu. Apparently, he was deemed too clumsy for the muscle work involving putting things together and was demoted to greeting customers, taking calls at the counter, and filling out less hectic orders.
“I’m Lumine Caelum. I wanted to know if my extra keys were ready?”
His brows rise as he takes her in. “Oh, right. The young lady who called over the phone earlier about locks and hardware. I thought you were helping an older relative with something and they needed the tools for you to pick up. Still surprised that someone wants to live on that property from what I was told.”
With a young foreigner living in a house where civilization is roughly twenty minutes away, Lumine can’t truly fault him with his reaction and words. But she wishes he would mind his own business. She’d be more forgiving if this was one of the elders or even a curious child making such comments considering where they are located.
“Well, I’m that someone.” Lumine dryly says while pulling out a crinkly piece of paper from her coat and sliding it over the counter. “And my house still needs fixing. And keys.”
The young clerk’s eyes widen but he quickly squints at the paper she handed him earlier while adjusting his glasses. “Do you need someone to come to your house to help you install your new locks or anything else? Fanmu can help with the rest of your renovations–”
“Nope. Got that too. I also need everything on this list if you have it in stock.” He looks as if he wants to say something else but with the sharp look she settles him with, he keeps his mouth shut and begins fulfilling the rest of her order. Every now and again he glances in her general direction and Lumine pretends she doesn’t notice it as she fiddles with her phone during the wait.
And once everything is ready, she pays for her things and heads back out into the crisp cool autumn air of Qingce Village.
And narrowingly collides with two familiar faces in the process.
“ Sorry, jiejie! ” Dongdong squeaks out. He points at the little girl who is grinning as if she’s about to tackle him at any moment. “Little Liu was being mean to me! Tried to put a spider in my hair as a prank and I had to run for it!”
“I was trying to get the spider out! You scare too easily for someone who wants to be out on the sea! And spiders have feelings too y’know!”
“Well, that’s because I don’t have to worry about spiders out on the sea!” Dondong shouts. But when peering up at Lumine, his voice grows quiet. “R-Right, Lumine jiejie? …Unless there really are ghost spiders with wriggly arms, s-super sharp teeth, and oozing slime like jiejie from the city said.”
Lumine heaves out a sigh.
Even when she isn’t here, she still gets the children all riled up with her ghost story nonsense.
“Ghost spiders don’t live in the sea, Dongdong. And neither do ghost spiders exist in general.”
He sighs in relief while Little Liu crosses her arms with a huff and a stomp of her foot.
“Lumine jiejie, you’re no fun at all! You should just hurry up and get white hair and dress like an old lady if you're gonna be a party pooper all the time!”
“ Very funny ,” Lumine murmurs.
“But since Little Liu said that,” Dongdong begins. “It’s kinda surprising Lumine jiejie doesn’t have white hair yet with what jiejie from the city says.” And with the puzzled look she settles the young boy with, he further says, “Don’t you know, jiejie? About your house and–”
“ Dongdong, shut it! ”
The little boy gasps and slaps his hands over his mouth, but his friend quickly tugs him to her side and along with her.
“S-Sorry, crabby jiejie, we have to go now! Dongdong said he was gonna help me find frogs, right?”
“Y-Yeah! You gotta catch these, um, really big frogs before the sun goes down! Bye-bye!”
And as the children run off, it leaves her to question why so many people here act so strange when the subject of her home is brought up.
Lumine recalls the day she first took in the appearance of her new home. She had considered it a quaint little place the perfect size for a single person. Well, quaint was being too generous. It was old and in dire need of repairs and renovations. To the plumbing and heating, the squeaky floorboards, the thick layers of dust and rust, the molded front and back doors barely having their hinges secured, and the paint and wallpaper either flaking off or fading away. It took a lot of time, but with the help of someone she was well acquainted with from Inazuma, the most glaring issues were fixed or resolved to a certain degree so that she could move her things in.
But there was one particular thing she noticed right away about her home and to a certain extent her property. She hadn’t seen a single rat or mouse scurrying inside or any other kind of animal that would no doubt love to reside in an empty home.
But Lumine refused to complain. It’s less money coming out of her pockets so she doesn’t have to invest in rodent traps, shoo angry birds out, or worry about hostile wildlife. In the end, all she’s left with is her own little home that gives her ample privacy until she wants to stop acting like a recluse by driving or pedaling her bike to Qingce Village.
This is what she wanted.
“‘Home sweet home’ as they say,” Lumine murmurs under her breath.
She tugs on thick work gloves, grabs her new power drill, and gets to work installing an array of shiny metal locks on her front and back doors.
“Normally, people don’t bother going up there.”
Hu Tao, infamously known as Tao jiejie or jiejie from the city by the children of Qingce Village, says this while Lumine places her order of dim sum and a pot of Master Kai’s famous Pop n’ Tea at her table.
There’s a twinge of regret on her part when she decided to humor Hu Tao’s antics for the very first time which have spiraled into this kind of territory. Said antics were equal parts exasperating and equal parts annoying. But she is working and needs to act more hospitable unless she wants to hear a lecture from Master Kai.
So Lumine swallows her stubbornness for work’s sake.
“People don’t normally go where , Hu Tao?” Lumine sighs.
“The place where your house is located. Biyjuu Plains has always been flat but your property is the only place settled on an elevated space with all those trees clustered around it.”
Maybe it's Hu Tao’s outgoing and sometimes outlandish behavior with her pranks, but she is not taking this low-hanging fruit. Not because she’s afraid, despite Hu Tao vowing to one day scare her, but because it’s pure nonsense .
Hu Tao is fascinated by the macabre. The girl loves to talk about eerie legends and folktales, spirits, and whatever else is tied to the afterlife. A lot. Even paints her nails black and decorates all her fingers with heavy metal rings that look like something straight out of an occultist's tome which earns her some disapproving looks from some of the elders. But the children absolutely love it when she arrives by train from the city. They gather around Hu Tao insisting on wanting to hear scary stories or asking questions about the afterlife with the girl happily obliging with animated gestures to match the mood. But her bright smile and equally bright eyes would also slip into something grim when always following up with how no one should tick those who belong to the other realm off.
Hu Tao’s family is in the funeral business and it is a tradition for someone within the family to oversee the Wangsheng Funeral Parlor located in the city of Liyue Harbor. A revelation that Lumine was given by an exasperated Ms. Bai when purchasing groceries from the woman and an order of her special Qingce Stir Fry to go.
Because when Hu Tao visits, everyone gets excited for better or worse and whether one wants to or not.
And the brief conversation she had with Little Liu and Dongdong plays in her mind.
“And are you still using my house as free material to terrify the children here? If you keep that up, you’re going to give them nightmares.”
Lumine can feel Master Kai staring at her from behind. She expects a scolding later even if it equates to a slap on the wrist.
“Oh, Silly Lumine. How many times have I told you that I’m not doing that to anyone.” Plucking one of the steaming dumplings of her dim sum with her chopsticks, she cups her hand underneath and takes the time to blow away at the tendrils of curling steam. “I’m only educating them on the principles of being aware and mindful of the other realm. There’s a lot of history surrounding Liyue and this place.” And when taking a huge bite of her food and humming in delight, she continues. “Extends to your dusty property too.”
Lumine arches a brow at that last part. Ever since she moved in and would come to the village, there was always gossip pertaining to why someone like her would want to come to a place like Liyue only to stay in some old house out in the middle of nowhere.
“Well, I’ve been staying at my dusty house for almost four months now, and the only horrors I’ve witnessed are renovations sucking my wallet dry.”
“Sounds like someone isn’t being mindful of the lands.”
She should just leave Hu Tao to her meal and tend to the other customers. Even if her other customers consist solely of a couple from the city visiting family in the village. But that house is hers. If she wants to tear the whole thing down and build another house in its place and flatten the trees and whatever else, the fine print says she’s allowed to.
But thinking about it further, whenever she came to the village for supplies and hardware for her house or to tame her massive front and back yard, she was always met with wide-eyed looks. Questionable ones she always wrote off as thinly veiled assumptions of believing she can’t handle doing anything on her own.
But now, she wonders if it’s because the people believe the same things that Hu Tao does. And all because something is apparently on her property.
“Seems like you're dying to know what I’m talking about,” Hu Tao sings with an impish grin. “You’re not a little curious?”
“There’s a reason why cats have nine lives and I prefer to keep mine above eight .”
“I took you more as a cute bunny rabbit because of your hairstyle. But people like you love to act like there is always a scientific explanation to the unexplained.”
Lumine’s lips thin at that comment. Hu Tao can accuse her of being a skeptic all she wants but she refuses to get herself worked up over made-up ghost stories. And if the only thing Hu Tao wants is to scare her so she can go set her sights on the next victim she deems too serious, then Lumine might as well rip off the metaphorical bandage and let the girl have her fun and be done with it.
“Alright, fine. What is so bad about the property I’m living on?”
She expects Hu Tao to smirk.
The girl doesn’t.
“They say there’s a demon that lives deep among the trees and underneath the earth. At certain times, if you look out into the woods at just the right angle, you can see the earth breathing . Like a chest rising up and down or a heart moving in and out before two bright amber lights appear. Glowing. And as soon as you see them, you can’t look away or even move. And while you’re in this trance, the demon appears and pulls you into the forest and drags you underneath the ground to never be seen or heard from again.”
Lumine stares at Hu Tao and Hu Tao stares back.
And yet the supposed victim who apparently ‘died’ was able to miraculously come back to life to warn someone that lights hypnotize a person before killing them?
She highly doubts that but to humor Hu Tao once again, Lumine forces a smile. “I’ll be sure to leave my lights on at night and barricade my windows and doors with planks of wood. Should I also be worried about a ghostly cult that will sacrifice me to this demon thing under the full moon if it doesn’t drag me first?”
From all those campy horror movies she’s watched, she should be in the clear with her not being a virgin. But Hu Tao is settling her with a disapproving look which is far more unsettling than the demon story if she had to be honest.
“I’ve seen kids take these kinds of stories at a lot more face value than you, Lumine.”
“ Hu Tao ,” Lumine begins with an exasperated sigh. “I haven’t seen or heard anything for as long as I’ve renovated and stayed in that house. And I especially don’t see the trees or ground ‘breathing’. The same goes for the bright lights and–”
“Did you ever go into the woods?”
And this is what somehow takes Lumine completely off guard with all this nonsense about demons residing in the woods or under the ground. Down to her throat becoming a bit too dry for her liking and her heart skipping a beat. And Hu Tao is waiting for an answer with the same kind of face that doesn’t fit someone who carries such saccharine impish expressions.
“I…I walked a bit inside.”
“But not deep inside, right?” Tilting her head to the side, Hu Tao continues. “What about animals? Have you seen any around your home? Chirping or squawking birds? Squirrels or little foxes scampering in your yard? Deers?”
The fact that was also something she had thought was strange about her property leaves a veil of uneasiness in the air. Stubbornness however forces Lumine to fire out another retort than agree with Hu Tao that, yes, that is extremely odd there have been no signs of wildlife around her home or trying to get into it.
“Renovations could have scared them off since animals don’t like loud noises–”
“Animals have a much more keen sense than humans. If they feel certain energies are off, they won’t be anywhere near it. No different than flocks of birds in the sky one moment with a terrible storm coming the next. Or a dog barking at something you can’t see but they most definitely do.”
And Lumine doesn’t want to look at Hu Tao as if she’s waiting for another one of her logical retorts.
“What’s wrong, Lumine? I thought you were a skeptic?”
“I am a skeptic,” Lumine firmly corrects. “And there is nothing in the woods.”
“Well, If you don’t believe me, go check for yourself. The woods are the only neighbors you have out there. Just be sure to be mindful of your surroundings if you do.”
She’s about to ask how would Hu Tao know that but remembers she has long been visiting Qingce Village before her arrival. The girl did share that she likes to hang around Wuwang Hill in her free time. And neither would it surprise Lumine if Hu Tao dragged friends to explore said areas with her like some kind of extracurricular activity to prove the existence of the supernatural.
“Miss Lumine, can you come in the back for a second?”
Mentally, she’s beyond joyed that she’s freed from this conversation despite her about to hear a lecture in exchange. Hu Tao’s eyes are heavy on her retreating form but Lumine gives her a tight-lipped smile and walks with a bit too much enthusiasm to put distance between them until she parts the curtains.
“Before you scold me, Master, I–”
“Scold you? Ha! It looked like you were in need of a little ‘saving’.” Master Kai chuckles as he moves to retrieve another teapot from the shelf. “Is Little Tao bothering you again?”
She watches how his hands tremble and remembers how his son had spoken to her a few times when visiting the village alongside his wife and children. Shared that his father takes on too much work and should consider leaving the teahouse to someone else with his old age. But regardless of that, Master Kai never once looked at her like she might be trouble when first arriving in the village. He had even offered her a free cup of tea despite her constant insisting she was fine but setting the cup down for her anyway with a smile. If it wasn’t for him, she wouldn’t have this little side job that Master Kai pays her too generously for.
Lumine retrieves the pot from the shelf in his stead and gathers the satchel of prepared tea leaves and spring water for him as well.
“‘Bothering’ is a broad word, Master. And despite me still learning Liyuean, Hu Tao told me she’s eighteen so calling her Little Tao might be overstretching it.”
Master Kai blinks a few times before chuckling. “Forgive this old man’s memory. It feels like only yesterday when she would come to this village with her grandfather. Such a small thing. Bouncing about on her heels and swinging their hands together in laughter. Her grandfather was a good man. Left us much too soon.”
She can only listen and nod. Feels like such subject matter isn’t something she’s allowed to say anything to.
“But family… family is such an important thing as well. And we should always keep them in our hearts.”
And bitterly, she disagrees because not all families care.
“I see that look on your face, young lady. I mean it.” Master Kai’s tone is firm. “Keep your family close to your heart. Even if things get in all disarray, the ones that truly care will be there for you when you need them. However, I do understand you have your reasons for keeping to yourself. But perhaps you’ll one day understand this old man’s words in the future. Well at least before my spirit goes to pass on. If not, I may very well be added to Little Tao’s repertoire of ghost stories with me haunting you until you do.”
Her lips form into a smile. “Thank you, Master, and… I’ll try to keep that in my mind.”
“Well, I also hope you remember your manners. That attitude of yours takes on the form of vinegar rather than honey.”
Lumine scoffs. “Master Kai, if this is your way of saying I won’t find me a husband any time soon because of how I act, then I’m going to keep saying, let’s keep it that way.”
“Young lady, I’ll have you know my son said similar to me around your age. Said no woman would marry him and that it was fine because he never wants to be a husband or a father. And yet here he is happily married with children and wouldn’t have it any other way. Fate can be one fickle mistress.”
In that case, Fate can go kindly fuck herself.
“Well if I ever meet someone, I’ll be sure to bring him here to enjoy your one-of-a-kind Pop’n Tea. How’s that sound, old man?”
“Sounds perfect!” Master Kai laughs. “And he better be a good man who treats you right or he’ll have a steaming brew of my famous tea served on his face.” He lightly swats at her shoulder with a grin before snapping his fingers. “ Ah! Before I forget. I wanted to say this but our conversation led elsewhere. Little Tao is a good girl despite her love for pranks and certain stories. But she does mean well. Whenever you’re not assisting me here and she comes for tea and lunch, she always asks about my ‘grumpy assistant’. I believe she wants to be friends with you even if her way of doing so is on the unorthodox side. Give the girl a chance and be less harsh on her, yes?”
And despite Master preparing another batch of tea before she gives him an answer, Lumine looks back at Hu Tao’s table. Sees the girl on her phone and twirls the cartoonish ghost charm around her finger.
“By the way. What did Little Tao say to you? You seemed pale in the face when you came back here.”
“Oh, it’s nothing, Master,” Lumine says. “Only Hu Tao trying to scare me again.”
And it’s definitely not working.
After helping Master Kai close up the teahouse and a quick stop at Ms. Bai’s for two servings of her famous almond tofu and Qingce stir-fry to enjoy later, Lumine returns home. Besides the few swirls of clouds on the horizon, the sun is still out with the sky having pinks and oranges creeping into blues.
She fiddles with the keys to her door but stops as she looks out at the thick cluster of bushes, tall grasses, and trees in the distance.
She always found nature relaxing and found comfort in the ever-changing skies throughout the day and the twinkling of the stars at night. Scenic backdrops were a personal favorite of hers to photograph. Clients especially enjoyed them when contacting her for commissions. She’s even taken pictures of these very woods multiple times without a single thought of dread that something would come out and snatch her up.
Hu Tao’s words or rather dare inside the teahouse replay in her mind.
No. There is absolutely nothing out there. It’s the same woods she would always see every time she steps outside of her house or stepped right back in. She barely pays it any mind. And after a long day of being on her feet and pedaling her bike, she wants to relax her mind. Have the t.v. running in the background as she sifts through old photographs she took during her travels between bites of her dinner and dessert.
But when opening her door, Lumine again peers over her shoulder. At first, she hesitates to lift her gaze from the ground but eventually looks directly at the trees.
Lumine waits.
In her mind, she dares for whatever is out there to actually move. See the so-called spectral lights that would be the catalyst for being dragged into the depths of the earth to never be seen again.
She waits with her shifting her hold on her keys. That if something did scurry out towards her in a mess of scraggly elongated limbs on all fours, it would get shanked with the not-so-pleasant edge of a key in the neck, eye or whatever she manages to make contact with.
She waits.
Her eyes dart at every focal point that would garner suspicion, but she isn’t sure what to fully focus on first. It was akin to discovering what was out of place in an eerie picture book, and once one spots the difference, it jumps out at them leaving a heart beating too quickly in the aftermath. Whether it’s the swaying of tall trees, the dance of tall grass, the rustling of bushes, or even the earth moving for something to erupt from underneath.
Lumine waits and waits…
And nothing happens.
The grip on her keys slackens as she steps inside her house with an exasperated sigh.
Ridiculous.
She doesn’t bother to close the door behind her and chooses to deposit her things on the nearest surface. Lumine grabs the closet object she can swing in the slight chance she comes across something that would dare get too up and personal with her. Unfortunately, all she has at her disposal is an old umbrella she purchased from a trip to Inazuma a year ago with little pink kitsune and sakura blossoms. The opposite end has a nice long point despite it being blunt but it will have to do.
Thanks to Hu Tao, she now can’t give herself any semblance of a peaceful mind with paranoia leeching in.
And the brisk stride she had carried when storming in and out of her house, simmers down into hesitant steps. The closer she gets to her open door, the more the thick woods creep into her view until she comes to a complete stop.
She’s right there. In front of the source of her newfound paranoia.
Lumine takes in a deep breath and exhales.
Nothing is living out there. Absolutely nothing. And she’s going to find nothing and then go back to her home. She’ll also let Hu Tao have it the next time she sees her in the village.
Despite the nerves settling in like rocks in the pit of her stomach, Lumine presses on. Squeezes herself between gangly tree limbs and branches, stepping over rocks and large tree roots peaking above the surface, and holding the handle of her umbrella like the hilt of a sword. Fallen leaves and twigs crunch underneath her boots the deeper she gets.
All seems fine so far–
A sudden sharp edge brushes up against her lower leg and Lumine lets out a horrifying shriek and blindly swings her umbrella this way and that. In the process, the tip of her boot catches over something hard resulting in her falling face-first to the ground. She hisses from the impact but dread settles knowing she has to get up and peer around to look at what touched her.
Lumine swallows, exhales a shaky breath, and slowly looks behind her.
A branch. A stupid branch is the culprit and one that also snagged a hole in the leggings she wore under her jumper sweater dress.
Lumine curses as she picks herself up, and looks for her umbrella to find it half submerged in… something .
Her hand hesitantly reaches out before wrapping around the handle to feel an obvious weight on the other end restricting it from coming loose.
She swears to every possible god that exists in this world that if she sees something as much as lift its head from underneath the ground to peak at her while holding the other end of her umbrella she’ll –
Lumine grits her teeth and quickly grips the handle with both hands and gives it a harsh pull back, heart racing against her chest as she stumbles but catches her balance with her umbrella now freed. Along with it is a conjoined dripping mess of dead leaves and something that looks suspiciously like a dark mossy gelatin-like substance. She shakes it off and it falls to the ground with a wet squelch. Her gaze settles on the spot her umbrella was submerged before she gasps and shifts her attention to the horizon.
Was there ever anything in the paperwork saying a pond was out here?
Pushing her bangs out of her eyes, she laughs. Feels the tension leave her body with each passing second. Hu Tao scaring her had its silver lining in the end. She would have never known a place like this existed if she hadn’t explored it. This water needs some serious cleaning but she’ll have to figure out what to clear down to make this a more accessible path in the future.
Now then, the next mystery to unveil is to find out what she tripped over.
She turns around and finds something rising off the ground covered in leaves and vines. Using the pointed end of her umbrella to move the long vines away, she sees some kind of stone peeking through. Crouching, Lumine grabs a hold of it and pulls until it finally breaks with a snap.
It’s some kind of marking, no, etching in this stone tile. Time has weathered it down and she imagines the color would have been a brilliant white in the distant past. She should have brought her camera but her phone will have to suffice for now as she takes a few photos. Once satisfied, she lowers her phone and spots a rather strange sight when tilting her head.
The marking seems to be glinting. Almost gold in color. She takes her umbrella and wedges it between the stone tile and dirt and pushes it down, and after a bit of struggling, it eases up with a plume of dust erupting causing her to move back in a fit of coughs with stinging eyes. Waving away at the dust cloud until it dispersed, she peers into what lies underneath to see darkness. Quickly, she activates the flashlight on her phone to get a proper look.
Upon further inspection, the hole isn’t deep. With a little shuffling on her part, she could reach the bottom with her hand.
Something reminiscent of a rock or maybe even a large solid mass of dirt is resting on top of a bed of shriveled-up materials, and when picking one of them up, it feels extremely light and brittle. Almost like a leaf but looking at it closely, it seems to be one of many flower petals.
Shifting her attention to the more obvious and bigger find, Lumine scoops it up, brows furrowed as she turns it around for a better view. It has some noticeable weight to it that’s for sure. Clumps of caked-on-dirt give underneath her nail and fingers as she scrapes and picks away at the surface until a gold glint peeks through similar to the etching on the tile. And soon, a strange geometric shape is revealed. Lumine quickly takes a few more pictures.
With her moving her hands this way and that to inspect her interesting find, a section pushes out. Moving her hand to the spot she had touched and pushing it in with her finger, another piece slides completely out as well. The more she wiggles, pulls, and turns the other sections, the more the object becomes smaller and smaller.
Why would someone leave this out here? Unless she stumbled across someone’s treasure and they hid it like a time capsule.
A clicking noise is heard but a sharp pain flashes against her skin causing her to drop the object to the ground with a hiss. Inspecting her hand, a red line is centered across her palm with a bead of blood forming a tiny trail that drips onto the stone tile.
She hopes it doesn’t need stitches or gets infected–
Lumine blinks. Looking up, she notices how dark the sky has become. But peering down at the thing she found, she grimaces.
If it did belong to someone, it can go right back where it went if it’s going to carve open people’s palms.
“ That’s enough woodland adventures for today.”
And with that settled, Lumine kicks it right back into the hole it came from along with all the little pieces that she removed, covers it back up with the strange etched tile, and makes her way back out of the woods before the skies turn pitch black.
She deserves a glass of wine for this.
Cleaning up her wound, she finds out it isn’t deep at all despite how much it was bleeding earlier, but with a quick smear of antiseptic and a square-shaped bandage, Lumine finally gets to settle down with her plans for the night. And after scraping the last bit of tofu and popping the remaining mushrooms from her stir fry into her mouth, she stretches her arms over her head with a yawn. Turning off her television, she sleepily blinks at the array of photos spread on the opposite end of the couch.
Some of the pictures she took were of the alluring forests of Inazuma with its rich shades of purple and bright blue fauna. Others were the tall extravagant palaces and lush gardens of Sumeru. She always wanted to go to Fontaine next. She was supposed to go long before even coming to Liyue.
One lone picture catches her eye, and she reaches for it. It’s of herself, all dressed up and leaning into a man who has his hand perched on her waist with a smile. A beautiful bouquet of white flowers he had gifted her, is cradled in her arms.
She remembers him taking her away by the hand from a banquet he had invited her to. Being under the night starry sky, and him showing her a garden of the same flowers she loved so dearly.
What was once a memory that warmed her heart, now elicits a flare of nasty bitterness. She balls the photo up, ignores the sharp edges pressing into her skin, and throws it against the wall. Lumine returns to her sorting and gently tucks them inside a folder only to lift her head and observe her small living room.
She thinks she heard something reminiscent of a thud somewhere.
Maybe she was hearing things–
The thudding noise returns, but this time it sounds as if it was against a wall. Getting up, she moves in the direction she thinks she hears it, but believes it could be something she hastily stacked in another room that fell over. It sounds logical enough and puts her mind at ease as she makes her way back to the couch.
Until it happens again.
Lumine shifts her attention to the window this time. She stares at it, waiting to see if the sound returns. And with a pregnant pause of silence…
It does.
Quickly, she pushes away the curtains and peer into the glass. Only her yard and the thick woods in the distance meet her eyes, and she pulls herself away with a heavy sigh.
Great. She’s getting herself all worked up and paranoid. Even with all the renovations, this house is old. She just needs to call it a day.
Throwing away her trays and swallowing down the last bit of wine from her glass, she gets ready for bed.
She tosses and turns that night. Wrenches the covers over her head and then under her chest with huffs. Flips her pillow around only to flip it back over again in aggravation. In the end, she decided to rest across all her covers and found that marginally better than sleeping on her side before her body finally surrenders to sleep.
A loud noise prompts her to awake with a sharp breath. She observes her room dimly illuminated by the moon before reaching over her nightstand and turning on her lamp for proper lighting. With a quick glance at her phone, it reads 4 AM much to her groggy displeasure. Pulling on her robe and slipping into a pair of slippers, Lumine investigates. And the thudding noises from before return. Over and over again. Louder almost booming.
And it’s coming from the direction of her front door.
Lumine wearily approaches it, stomach in knots the more the distance shortens.
It's just the house making noises. Nothing else. And she won't find anything on the other side.
Like a bandage. Just rip it off and get it over with to have her peace of mind.
She swings her door open after unfastening each lock and sees nothing other than her front yard and car. But when Lumine's gaze lowers, her heart lurches inside her chest as she recoils back.
There on her porch lies the very object she had returned to its hole deep in the woods. And not only that, it was put back all together again.