Chapter Text
The door is open, no one's inside
Just a chair, that smells of the ocean breeze
Its scent will guide you, so I'll keep it safe
So push open the haunting doors
I just hope we don't forget
Where our story starts
Pretty accessories that glimmer luminously in the light, optimistic personalities that outshine the sun, and voices that sing heavenly tunes. They are adept at gaining one’s attention, ensnaring them in their charms, and dragging them down a rabbit hole.
Idols, icons, superstars.
If you look up synonyms for it, the word deity will come up as an option. It's almost ridiculous, how much people value strangers they never have properly met before.
The entertainment industry is full of bullshit but people rarely address that, too engrossed with whatever show celebrities put up for them. If they look happy they must be happy, right? Such a mindset will probably be the downfall of many idols their careers.
Nonetheless, these things mean nothing to the two shining the brightest.
Their journey starts with rumors, the whispers around their worlds, colliding into fragments of memories.
"Viatrix set to debut in March."
"A new one? And a soloist at that..."
"Favonius Entertainment rarely brings out soloists."
"There should be concept pictures dropping soon, or?"
"Hey, that Viatrix... ? Doesn't she look familiar?"
Shutting down his laptop, Childe stretches his limbs before turning to gaze at the other two people lingering in the lobby of Fatui agency. Grinning slightly, he pops down beside Scaramouche, sliding closer to the other as he throws an arm around his shoulder. And then, channeling all his Schadenfreude into the next words coming out of his mouth, he leans in to whisper into the rapper’s ear.
“Viatrix’s upcoming debut has been gaining more attention than your recent mixtape.”
Just in time, he avoids the other swinging out his arm to push him away. There’s just something incredibly funny about teasing Scara. It never fails to brighten his mood.
“Shut it, Childe,” the man mutters, eyes narrowed in a glare. “It’ll die down soon anyway.”
Childe raises an eyebrow. “Will it now? Or are you just in denial?”
The man scoffs, rolling his eyes. He's always so easy to rile up. It's when they start their usual round of useless bickering, that the third occupant of the room speaks up.
"Most of the attention she's been receiving is negative," Signora points out, not even bothering to lift her head from the magazine about fashion she's been reading. Zhongli's face stares back at them from the cover. "Her career might as well be over before it even began."
That ignites Childe's curiosity. Leaning away from Scara, he ignores the rapper's remarks and addresses the model.
"Negative? She hasn't even debuted yet."
Scaramouche grins, obviously relieved like the jackass he is. "Probably fucked up already."
"Yeah, obviously, asshole. But what did she fuck up?"
"Hey, who are you call—"
At that moment, Signora stands up, dropping the magazine on the spot she sat before.
"You know, the usual," she says, her voice ice-cold to the point it feels the temperature in the lobby dropped, "body shaming, that is."
Both shut up then. Not even Scaramouche, with all his asshole tendencies, goes there. It's usual though. How many idols have had to quit the business out of their mental health dropping due to unnecessary and terrible comments? Some turned to self-harm, others completely vanished from the face of the earth. The ones that stayed in the business, pushed themselves beyond unhealthy. It's a cruel thing, really.
"Although," Signora mutters, breaking the stifling silence in the room, "there's another reason."
Her expression. In Childe's opinion, Signora has always been very good at keeping her icy stare, freezing everyone in their spot. She always looks so unbothered by most things, comfortable and assured in her beliefs and skills. But that expression.
It's reminiscent. Like, she's recalling something heavy that clutches onto her mind and won't let go. What could possibly have such an effect on her?
"Just tell us," Scara spits out, as always ignoring his sense of tact.
The model sighs, obviously not impressed by the other's finesse.
"Viatrix used to be a professional figure skater. She quit some years ago, completely vanishing from the public view without a word."
The first thing that Childe notices, is how bitter her voice sounds when she mentions Viatrix's former profession. Storing that away for later, he focuses on her words.
"Why the fuck would a figure skater want to become an idol out of all things?"
"Ouch." Childe grins at the rapper. "You talk like being an idol is a disease."
"Might as well be."
That's where he draws the line.
Narrowing his eyes, he foregoes his cheerful tone. "Watch it, Scaramouche. I'm sure you don't want nasty rumors circulating around the business."
That threat isn’t empty and everyone in the room knows that. Childe possesses the luxury of being Tartaglia, the current number one idol in the show business. If he wants something spread around, it will spread around.
Signora scoffs. “Please, Scara’s reputation is already at its lowest—there’s not much that can save nor damage it at this point.”
The rapper turns to stare at her with an indignant huff. “Bitch?”
Great. Childe groans, standing up to take his bag. “I got practice, see you later.” Hopefully, like, never but life’s not fair. They both mutter some halfassed goodbyes, too busy glaring and insulting each other. Just like that, he leaves them behind.
As he walks in the hallways, he takes out his phone to check his messages. Countless notifications and messages litter his screen and he feels the exhaustion sweep into him. Archons, answering all this is going to take hours.
Just as he’s about to close his screen and put the phone away, a word catches his eyes.
Viatrix.
It’s the news app he’s installed, so he could keep up with things going on in Snezhnaya. Being busy with his career means that he’s stuck in Liyue 24/7. He’d still like to know what’s happening back at home though. Of course, he has regular phone calls with his siblings and parents. Plus Teucer faithfully writes him E-Mails every evening which he makes sure to reply to as immediately as possible. His manager knows that there’s no way he’ll skip answering them a day, no matter how busy his schedule is. If Anthon, Teucer, or Tonia send him a mail or even go as far to phone call him, they’ll get a response in less than 24 hours. His family will always come before his job. Of course, Ajax is willing to balance these two things out but he draws a line for his little siblings.
That said, he’s got the news for Liyue filtered on as well. It’s the place where lives and works, after all.
Clicking on the article, he’s not sure what he expected to see.
His first thought upon laying his eyes on one of the two pictures embed in the post is, “Viatrix is cute.”
And she really is.
Blonde, fluffy hair, framing her face gently and golden eyes, that seem to bore into him even through a mere picture—it leaves him curious as to what kind of person she is. If that wasn’t already enough to wake his curiosity, it would definitely be the next picture. The article’s focused on speculations about her being some former pro figure skater as Signora mentioned before. Apparently, the skater left quite the impression before just quitting one day and leaving the scenes—he’s not too sure, he only skimmed through the article, way too engrossed with the second photo.
It’s a girl, definitely younger than the woman in the first picture. Her hair is longer as well, pulled back into a bun, decorated with white flowers—he’s never seen them before. Unlike Viatrix, the girl’s outright smiling brightly, looking quite vibrant. And the clothes she’s wearing. Definitely a figure skater, he concludes, as he notes the intricate details of the dark dress and the way it fits her body nicely.
He can see why people are so quick to decide she might be the former pro figure skater—he himself is convinced of that fact after comparing the two pictures. Now, that leaves him only more intrigued. Grinning, he finally puts his phone away as he hums a quiet tune. Ajax can’t wait to see her in action, can’t wait to see if maybe she should have stayed a figure skater.
She’s already getting a lot of negative criticism, which is sure to take its toll on her career if she doesn’t change these opinions soon—her debut will certainly be an interesting event.
It’s just that no one exactly knows what to expect other than the conflict about her identity—which is neither proven nor denied.
Favonius Entertainment doesn’t speak of the matter and doesn’t drop any hints about her debut—a terrible tactic, to be honest. It’s working out so far though, considering Viatrix isn’t completely unknown to the public and with all those rumors spreading around, curiosity about the upcoming idol is only growing.
Childe doesn’t expect to meet her anytime soon but he does. The reason for this meeting is Zhongli. The man has made a good career as a model slash actor—people absolutely adore him. Although he comes off quite charming to the public, he’s the reason Childe feels like he’s going to lose most of his brain cells. He doesn’t understand how one man can be so incredibly knowledgeable and yet somewhat so clueless.
“Let me guess,” he says, smiling at the other, “you forgot your wallet again?”
Zhongli nods his head, seemingly unbothered. The nerve. The model should be the most bothered about this, after all. Childe shakes his head, sighing.
“I guess I’ll be pa—”
“Ah, no, it’s alright,” Zhongli interrupts him, lifting his hand. “A friend of mine will bring me the wallet. She’s able to stop here for a moment on her way to her workplace.”
He blinks. “You have friends?”
Zhongli raises an eyebrow at him and Childe lifts both his hands in a placating manner.
“Aww, come on, Zhongli. I rarely see you talk with other people—it’s a totally normal question in this situation.”
Before the other can retort, the sound of a bell ringing enters his ears. He turns to gaze at the door, out of instinct.
And whom he assumes to be Viatrix walks in.
There’s no mistaking that messy, yet adorable haircut and those ostensibly gleaming eyes. She halts for a moment, gazing around the room until her eyes land on their table. She’s staring past him, he realizes suddenly. At Zhongli. He connects the dots in his mind as he watches her approach their table, footsteps quiet. She stops before them, nodding her head slightly.
“Lumine,” Zhongli addresses him and Childe blinks. That is the first time he heard her name. His eyes widen for a moment before a grin spreads across his face. That article he read.
The professional figure skater had the exact same name.
That’s too much of a coincidence.
“Thank you for stopping by,” the model continues, standing up to receive the wallet, which the woman got out of her bag. “I know you have a rather hectic schedule with your upcoming debut.”
Childe leans his chin on one of his hands and grins, deciding to gather her attention. “So, you’re Viatrix?”
He wants to see it. Her reaction to being addressed by Tartaglia. There are many people who would kill for this moment—yet, he somewhat just knows that she’ll be different. At first, she doesn’t react but then slowly, she sets her gaze onto him. Aurous eyes bore into him, just like in that photo but definitely more intense, more alive. Her facial expression is apathetic as she stares down at him. Yet, there’s something in her eyes, hidden behind that glow—he wants to dig it up, to carve out whatever she’s concealing from the world, watch her unravel—but he shoves these thoughts down and waits for whatever she’s willing to show now.
Then she speaks up and he feels his heart freeze for a moment.
“I’m sure you know the answer to that already, Tartaglia.”
Her voice while still relatively light is unexpectedly deeper than he assumed, but it’s what’s behind that garners his attention. There’s lurking confidence in that voice, one of reassurance and understanding. She talks as if she knows what she will get out of it as if everything will fall into place as she wants it to.
Childe smirks at that. How interesting. He likes it when things turn livelier. Then he softens into a pleasant smile and nods his head at her. “Caught me there. It’s nice to meet you Viatrix.”
“Pleased to make your acquaintance as well, Tartaglia,” she mutters before turning her attention back to the model. They exchange a few pleasantries and he stares at her, taking in every detail. Truthfully, he didn’t expect this rather... cold personality? Maybe distant fits better. She’s not cruel nor does she look uncomfortable talking with Zhongli (he’s also curious why the two know each other but he’ll just bother the actor about it later). Maybe with her bright appearance, he expected her to be more... cheerful? Animated? He’s not sure but it’s certainly not whoever the person before him is. Childe doesn’t mind though. He’s sure she’ll make a nice addition to the show biz if her debut doesn’t flop.
Standing up as well, he speaks up once again, “I’ll be paying either way, Zhongli.”
The man turns to face him, slight wonder in his eyes. “Not that I’m complaining, but may I ask for your reasoning?”
Childe waves him off. “I’m used to paying for you.”
Then he glances at the blonde-haired woman with a grin. “Plus, I’d really like to buy Viatrix a drink. You won’t mind, will you, pretty girl?”
She doesn’t reply at first, tilting her head instead. Oh? She’s clearly searching for something in his words—how cautious of her.
Then she shakes her head. “No, thank you.”
“Hm, is there a specific reason as to why?”
Her next words take him out. In a good way.
“I’ll let you buy me something as congratulations once my debut hits the charts.”
Then she nods her head at Zhongli in a farewell and leaves the coffee shop without giving him time to respond.
Amazing.
That was definitely a challenge.
Excitement courses through his vines—Tartaglia hopes she isn’t just uttering empty words. It would be quite boring if she turns out to be terrible after this provocative challenge.
Her debut turns out to be anything but terrible.
The moment March hits, it drops without a warning and causes a large commotion. Tartaglia doesn’t have time to check it out until after lunch, too busy with some pre-planned appointments and practice. So, the moment he gets a break, he takes out his phone and pulls it up.
The sound of her voice immediately hits his ears and he blinks—he’s almost unsure as to who he’s hearing. It’s so unlike the person he heard in that small coffee shop but that’s clearly Viatrix in the music video. Her voice is one thing. Very pleasant to listen to but perhaps not that especially outstanding, at least not in that song.
But that’s not an issue he realizes the moment the purpose of the debut becomes clear. The melody shifts around and the video gives time for a dance break—that’s when she truly starts to shine. Confident, sharp movements that seem to cut into the air.
Tartaglia himself isn’t a terrible dancer but he can’t match whatever is going on with her. Singing? Yes, he’d outdo her without too many struggles. Dancing? He’d lose.
He would lose.
Tartaglia grins.
The thought alone seems ridiculous, considering he’s the number one idol on the charts currently. However, honestly, if he entered the same competition the only reason he might win would be popularity. That thought excites him—how long has it been since he wasn’t confident in his victory?
After finishing the video, he stands up and puts his phone away. There’s energy pumping through him—he shouldn’t waste any time and start on improving himself. With that, he spends the rest of the day practicing. After finishing practice and eating dinner, he emails his little brother back and then lies down. He’s got a few things he wants to do tomorrow but in the meantime, he’s content with all these realizations.
He can’t wait to compete on the same stage as Viatrix.
“Lumine,” he whispers the name out into the dark, testing the sound of it, “so lustrous.”
Tartaglia likes it.
The next day he messages Zhongli in the morning. It’s a simple text, which comes directly to the point.
“Can you send me Lumine’s number?”
Except life’s a bit more difficult than that.
“Why would you need her number, Tartaglia?”
“To buy her a drink.”
Because her debut song is on the damn charts, just as she told him it would be. It’s a catchy song, so of course, it’s there. The staff surrounding him that morning kept whispering about it, the song sounding out of someone’s speaker during breaks. He can’t blame them, the memory of her movements still engraved in his mind. Abyss, he can’t wait to see it in real, with his own eyes and not through a damn screen.
“I’ll ask her beforehand.”
He waits until evening. That’s when he gets a reply from Zhongli.
“Here’s her number. Please do not give it out without permission.”
Tartaglia scoffs. As if he would do that. He out of all people knows how important privacy is.
“Thanks ☆ ～('▽^人)”
Humming a song, he tips in her number and then immediately sends her a message.
“Hey, girlie ☆*:.｡.o(≧▽≦)o.｡.:*☆”
“Tartaglia?”
“Yes, the one and only!”
“Do you need something from me?”
“I promised you a drink, didn’t I?”
“Oh, you were serious?”
“I’m hurt, girlie! Of course, I’m!”
He eventually manages to convince her into joining her for a meet-up at a discreet coffee shop, where not many people will be able to recognize or bother them. Childe’s honestly looking forward to it, excited to be able to ask her about her dancing skill. Does it partially come from being a former pro figure skater? Did she know how to dance beforehand? He can’t wait to ask her all that. His schedule remains hectic, but he made sure to keep a spot open for that meet-up.
Weeks later, he sees her waiting in the coffee shop, reading a book.
“What are you reading?” He asks her as he walks up to her.
Lumine doesn’t even flinch as she replies, “Rex Incognito.”
Sitting down the opposite of her, he grins. “The book they turned into a movie last year. A movie in which Zhongli played the main character?”
She nods her head as she puts the book away. “His acting in it was very entertaining to watch.”
Then she gazes at him, eyes gleaming in the light. “Is there any particular reason for this meeting?”
“Hm? Didn’t I tell you already? I want to buy you a drink.”
“There’s something else though,” she points out, “I can tell that much.”
Ah, truly, since meeting her she’s been nothing but interesting company so far.
“You’re right,” Tartaglia admits finally, chuckling a bit. “I’m just very curious about you.” Right to the point.
That’s when her neutral expression shifts a bit and confusion becomes visible. “Curious about me? Huh?”
“Your skills, your attitude... your behavior towards me,” he lists out, grinning at her dumbfounded expression.
“I can’t wait, Lumine,” he says, watching as her eyes widen a bit at the use of her name, “to compete against you.”
We met the night the stars fell
Into my memory forever more
The most important things need no words
A gift left from those summer days
Kenshi Yonezu — Spirits of the Sea