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Bottles of nail polish lay messily on the wooden coffee table with little gems scattered around. The tranquil afternoon cannot possibly get any better for the (on break) villain, Zhongli, also known as Morax on the job. A pot of high quality Pu’er tea on the side, good old rock music by the up-and-coming musician Xinyan and her girlfriend, Barbara in the background as she finally gets to repaint her set of amber and honey colored nails. Unfortunately, they got chipped on the job, especially whenever she had to go against that god forsaken magical girl, Hotaru! The brunette takes a sip of her tea before she focuses back on her pinky, carefully setting a gemstone in place as her mind slowly drifts back to Hotaru… Her fluffy blond hair, cutesy, frilly clothes that don't quite fit her toned body and that sweet tone of voice that calls out her name…
“YOUR EVIL PLANS END HERE, MORAX!”
Yes, like that. Wait a minute. Zhongli looks up from her hands right at the moment Hotaru charges through her window, very expensive ones, mind you, straight at her freshly brewed tea. She moves just in time, dark ribbons wrap around her body and transform her frilly babydoll into the usual skin tight battle suit, dodging the shattered glass shards with ease. Her gold eyes turn to slits at the sight of her precious tea set getting broken into millions of pieces never to be recovered, mixing with the many, still open, bottles of nail polish. For the first time in her long years of living has she ever been so mad at anyone, and especially not at her newest fascination. Zhongli scowls, her fangs glimmer in the dying light of the sun, “Today is my long awaited break, you- you battle-crazed fool !,” her hands gesture to the table that was destroyed by Hotaru’s entry, “Are you planning on making it up to me? My tea, my favorite nail polish and even my day-off! Are you ‘ heroes of justice ’ so free that you can just crash wherever, whenever?!”
Hotaru flinches. The villain has never used this tone on her even after she foiled another one of the organization’s plans. “I-,” she visibly deflates, “I apologize… What can I do to make it up to you?” Baby blue ribbons unwrap in a flash of light and there Hotaru is, in her (his?) full tomboy-ish glory that has Zhongli’s pupils dilated and tail lowered to the point sweeping the ground. Her hair is different, from the cutesy twintails to a shorter wolf cut. The brunette’s brain finally comes online after a few long seconds, and undoes her transformation as well, forgetting that she still has her (admittedly skimpy) babydoll on. Her ears slowly morph back into their usual rounded shape, tail and horns retract slowly once she calms down. The villain kneels down, careful not to let her bare knees touch the ground, and picks up her gold frame glasses. “Thank the dark lord that my glasses aren’t damaged… Hmm? Hey, magical girl, are you there?” Hotaru jolts back to consciousness and coughs awkwardly, his cheeks on fire, “Um, M-Morax, about your current outfit… Is this intentional?” Her hands wave around panickedly, a desperate attempt to refer to the elder’s current outfit. She coughs as she turns away, “I would also like to tell you that I’m a guy, so you should cover up all the more, Morax. I don’t like you nor your modus operandi but please , just, respect yourself,” he pauses, “And you can call me Lumine in this form.”
Lumine swears he is NOT even a tiny little bit attracted to the person he has fought for years on end. Not. At. All. His eyes are not constantly darting between the messy floor and those luscious thighs- Morax’s cough interrupts his train of thought as ribbons wrap around her body and her outfit changes into a more… presentable one. That being a nice light brown sweater and a darker brown dress. Lumine presses against his thumping chest before turning around to face the villain, “So, what do you want as compensation?” The magical (not) girl discreetly wipes off a bit of drool dripping from the cracks between his lips when Morax flips her silky smooth hair. “Since I am already dressed up, how about we go buy some new nail polish, Pu’er tea and some new books?” She puts on a mask, tugs on the edges of her gloves and holds onto his finger lightly, “There will be consequences if you attempt to run away, Lumine,” a shiver runs up his spine with the way she pronounces his name even through the mask, “And call me Li jie when we go outside.”
Lumine, sincerely, does not remember how he even manages to step outside of the house, hand-in-hand with the person he is supposed to hate, and walks all the way to the nearest mall. He also conveniently notices that it is one that he owns, but it doesn’t matter, as long as the dark organization’s wallet is being drained. The blond gives a look to the employees, telling them not to treat him as their boss and smiles brightly when they nod hurriedly. As they walk to the general store first, Lumine finally notices the number of people gawking at his companion for the day, whispering to each other about something excitedly. He looks over at the brunette and sees her waving her hand at the passersby. Before he can ask anything, she simply points up at the ad above their heads.
There she is, her long hair as if fluttering on the still board with a graceful smile on her lips, “Your fated person awaits” printed next to her gloved hands, adorned with a single diamond ring. Lumine looks back and forth at the board and the woman next to him. Since he has no interest in celebrities and such, he did not realize that Morax, the untouchable general, is the same model who keeps on showing up on the TV. Zhongli simply beams at him before dragging him to the nail polish aisle, staring at each of the small bottles on the shelf carefully. Grumbling at the shelf as if vindicated, the villain looks back up at Lumine, “Is there a limit to what you will buy for me or…?” The blond sighs, “Anything’s fine, I suppose.” He swears her eyes glint like when he messes up during their battles as she grabs a basket nearby and gathers the many bottles she has had her eyes on for a long time and even the decorations are gathered. At the checkout, the male cashier just looks at the magical (not) girl with pity in his eyes while handing the bag over.
Next stop, a very fancy tea shop on the next street.
On the way, they stop by a small antique shop where, once again, Lumine’s wallet gets drained. Though, he is indeed impressed with how well versed the general is in Liyue history, considering that she is on the conquest to take over the world. When asked about it, Zhongli just hums and replies with a nonchalant “I was there when it happened.” , which effectively freezes the blond’s already overworking brain until they arrive at the tea place. And then he gets frozen again from just the price range available on the board outside. Lumine has a mall under his name, yes, he is also a magical girl, therefore making much more money than this is easy, but just spending so much on tea? It feels wasteful to him. He can almost hear his twin older sister laughing at him at the back of his mind. A tap on the wrist wakes him up from his many, many thoughts. “Hey, do you have a preference for tea?” Lumine stares at Zhongli, surprised and confused. She sighs and puts two boxes of tea on the table, one lotus scented tea and the other her favorite Pu’Er before slipping her card over to the cashier, getting them packed up. “The lotus tea is for you. I’m not so mean to make you actually pay for everything on this trip.” The little cocky smile that she gives him after that sentence is the last straw for him.
Oh god. Oh my dear lord. He is swooning . He is swooning so badly for the lady who beat him to the ground every Wednesday routinely. Lumine tries to play it off and grabs the bag, “Then let me take the package for you, since I’m the one who should be making it up to you." He beams at her proudly, akin to a retriever bringing a stick back to his owner. Zhongli laughs quietly, seems like the little magical girl also has a naive side to her. "Yes, yes, darling. You can make it up to me at the last stop as well.” Both of them freeze. The earlier ‘darling’ hangs in the air more like a curse than not. The blond stares at her, dumbstruck, flabbergasted and every other word that can be used to describe his current state, and none that is a bad way because his heart is thumping way too fast for it to be. Out of pure insanity, he tugs on her smaller hand. “Just books, right? Then I found this nice place with lots of old books!” She only smiles in response but he knows it’s a positive one and leads them both to the bookstore in mind. His mind keeps on coming back to the warm sensation in his rough palm while his feet go down the same familiar street… To the Dandelion Bookstore, aka, the Favonius Magic Centre’s side branch.
Zhongli looks at the signboard, and then back at him, “You must be joking, Lumine,” she glares, “You did not just bring me to the one place that is filled with my nemesis, did you?” Her tone is icy, a sharp contrast to her earlier warm voice. Lumine shivers when he feels a magic circle form around them. His breath stagnates until the circle is complete. Thankfully, it is only a soundproof and invisibility spell. The man taps his shoe against the cold floor anxiously, “I didn’t mean too, please. I just thought that you would like the vast selection of books available here.” It would be too disadvantageous for him to fight her here with how wide the invisibility spell is. It would take at least 10 minutes for the spell to be broken even with the caster’s focus being on something else. That just shows how capable she is, if not even downplaying it somewhat. He grips onto the transformation key behind his back, “Please, I swear with my honor that I am not lying to you.” She stills before hiding her draconic traits that came out unknowingly. Honor is the source of power for many magical girls therefore oaths upon their honor are unbreakable, unless they want to return to being a normal human. Zhongli grits her teeth, just this once, she will believe in the puny human in front of her. The darkness surrounding them dissipates easily. “Fine.”
They walk through the door without the alarms going off, a step more smooth than the general’s expectation. Lisa, the owner, looks at Lumine and the woman beside him with glimmering eyes but does not say anything, instead opting for a cheshire grin and handing over a basket for their books later. She hums a mysterious tune as she changes shift with another staff member, maybe she should tease the little mint candy about his love life later~
At the sight of the owner walking away, Zhongli just sighs. “You can put the tea in the personal belonging corner, Lumine. Don’t worry about it too much.” The blond sets down the bag and follows her quickly, not wanting to lose sight of her. By the time he catches up to her, the brunette is already putting stacks of books into the basket given earlier. From history books to old novels written by unknown writers, all are equally loved and treated with care despite how fast she is collecting them. Lumine sighs, hoping that Lisa would at least give him a reputation discount at the checkout. They walk together through the many shelves and even the great magical girl feels tired from the many books he is handling. “Hey… would you be interested in stopping now?” Finally, Zhongli is looking at him, curious as to why he sounds so tired and belatedly realizes the number of books she has chosen, “Oh my, my apologies, I always lose track of my book purchases,” she offers him a hand, “Let’s go pay for the works now. I feel bad for tiring you out like this, especially since I still have to bring them home.” Lumine stiffens up. She isn’t going to make him bring all of this back, is she? The elder laughs, amused at how animated the younger man is, “I will handle the rest once we leave, little puppy.” The blond runs after her nimble steps, “Then at least walk slowly!!”