Chapter Text
The skies were clear, the birds sung, and the hustle and bustle of Fontaine's docks lent a pleasant, if a bit crowded, atmosphere to the area. Ship hands flitted from one boat to another, ensuring that none of their fastens were precarious or haphazard in the slightest, lest they drift off.
Cargo and people alike were helped out of ships. Here and there, the occasional vision holder disembarked from their ship; a tan, ornamented girl with long, light pastel pink hair, a Cryo vision kept at her side, shouting angrily at her companions, other vision holders. On another area of the dock, an Electro vision swung where it was clasped to its eyepatched wielder, who laughed deeply and then half-heartedly punched the arm of the Anemo wielder who stood at her side. She seemed to have underestimated her strength, or perhaps overestimated his, however, because he fell forward with a soft exclamation.
Those present at the docks for the cause of work were in stark contrast to those who viewed this as, with few exceptions, merely a stop on the way to their vacation, or perhaps the last stop as they returned home from vacation. These people were jaded, hardly able to see the beauty of Fontaine's waters as they unloaded others' cargo. They dressed plainly (or, at least, plainly by Fontainian standards), seeing no point in decorating themselves and adding more things to weigh them down and get stuck in various cargo. They did their jobs without complaint only because they needed the money, and none saw this as their true career goal.
Except for one.
Or, perhaps, four? Did it count if three of them weren't affiliated with the transport agency, but helped, nonetheless?
"C'mon, Man Chai! The faster we load these crates into the cart, the faster we can go explore!" A Pyro wielder, accompanied by a small creature--- evidently 'Man Chai'--- dashed between a docked boat and an almost-overfilled cart, hauling crates up into it. He giggled as Man Chai did something silly, and grabbed the sides of another crate with a little difficulty. Near to him, a certain nekomata who'd come to Fontaine alongside them stared at him, shellshocked, as she struggled to lift a crate no more than half the size of his. She ran a hand through her hair, and chose to consider it a result of his frequent use of a claymore, for her own sanity. Gaming picked up another crate, and just as he was about to haul it over to the cart from the pile of crates--- now much lesser in quantity, he noted with pride--- a shout rang out through the harbour, authority stitched into their tone.
"HEY! Get back here, you crook!"
A man rushed through the crowd, stuffing a wallet in his pockets. On his tail-- figurative, as in this world it needs to be distinguished-- were two Gardes, and eager to get away from them, he shoved away anyone and everyone who was in his way. Gaming, caught on unawares by the shouting, stopped for just a moment.
The man bulldozed past him, and Gaming, who hadn't the chance to steady himself, fell through the remaining crates, knocking a few of them down with him-- into the deep waters of Fontaine.
"Gaming!" Xingqiu was the first to react, dashing over to the water. Rushing to bend down, he hesitated, and Chongyun came up behind him and stared worriedly into the deep blue waters. For as much as the second heir of the Feiyun Commerce Guild was taught how to organise shipping, and the intricates of marine trade routes, and for as much time as he spent near the water at the Harbour, he did not know how to swim.
Kirara, whose tails had immediately gone stiff as rods, glanced over at Xingqiu and Chongyun, hesitating, before her expression grew determined and she turned into her box-cat form, dashing into the harbour, shouting pleas for anyone who could swim.
Chongyun and Xingqiu remained, unsure what to do, staring into the depths of the Fontainian ocean. They could only hope that their friend was safe. They knew, of course, that he could not drown, but what of the other dangers in the water?
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Gaming flailed as he sank. No! He had to get back up to the surface! And the cargo-- No, no, no... How could he mess this up so badly!? Come on, Gaming! Just-- just calm down! Spread out your arms and legs! Float back up to the surface!
He let his body go limp, and he really, really tried, but it felt like the water was pushing against him! A current? A current? No, no, no no no no no...
He opened his mouth to scream, to cry out, for anybody, but instead ended up swallowing a mouthful of salty, sour water. Eugh! What-- why was the water so salty? It practically burned in his throat, and his eyes teared up just thinking about it, and, and, and he was going die here, even if he couldn't drown, he'd, he'd, he'd shrivel up with nothing to drink, he'd--
Get bitten by an underwater creature and bleed out.
He saw the thing in his peripheral, and immediately he was flailing again, trying to recall anything he knows about swimming, trying to get away, and that thing is coming towards him, and Oh Archons--
The scream that rips out of him lets in mouthfuls more salty water, but he can't find himself caring, because he's definitely going to die, that thing took a bite out of his leg, Oh Archons, oh, oh it's bleeding so, so much, and they're attracted by blood, and there's certainly no shortage of that, and his other leg kicks out and thumps into the side of that thing that bit him, and it runs off.
Pulling his injured leg up to his chest, his breathing calms down for a second-- just a second!-- before he sees something else dashing towards him doubly as fast as the other, shooting through the water like one of Miss Ganyu's arrows.
Oh archons, what kind of animal is that fast?! His breathing quickened, his arms darting out behind him and thrashing around, trying to nudge himself away from certain death, and as the thing comes to be just a metre or so away from him, still approaching, he doesn't stop to think.
He kicks out again, his foot hitting something metal, the creature recoils, and only does he realise that it absolutely was not a 'creature' when they shake off their shock and reach to their neck-- their human neck-- to unclasp their headgear. They shove it down over his head, and as the water is mechanically drained from the headgear, he gains the clarity of mind to make a grab at his injured leg, trying to apply pressure to the wound.
As he tries, and fails, to stop the bleeding, he feels a tap on his elbow and then suddenly a dark blue-- jacket? pullover? whatever-- was being tied tightly around his leg. The diver puts an arm under his knees and another one under his back, then begins strongly swimming upwards. It felt like hardly a minute before his head broke the surface, and then he's placed back on the harbour, just about the area where he'd fallen from, and he can't help but close his eyes and sink into the ground in relief. He was finally back on solid ground!
He's returned to reality by someone shaking his shoulders, very harshly. He opens his eyes and can see Xingqiu and Chongyun in front of him, clearly worried out of their minds. He sits back up and the instantaneous calm-- or kind-of-calm, in Xingqiu's case-- that washes over them is almost comedic.
He pushes against the diving helmet, but he doesn't really know how to get it off. His hands run along the rim of it, feeling all sorts of bits and bobs that are probably the key to getting it off, but, well, he can't even see them. His hands are stopped in their wanderings when other, softer hands grasp the rim of the helmet, brushing against Gaming's as they fidget with the rim, and they quickly pull the helmet off of him
He takes a few quick breaths once the helmet was off, even though he didn't need to-- the helmet had, presumably, been connected to some sort of diving apparel, and it had been perfectly breathable. After that, he turns to the diver.
The colour of their eyes was the first thing that popped out to Gaming. Sure, their pretty, blonde hair was cool, but the light blue sea of their eyes entranced him.
They, too, seemed to be unable to look away, caught in awkward eye contact.
"U-Uhm..."
"A-Ah! Thank you! Thank you so much! That was so scary, I don't know what I would've done if you hadn't gotten me out of there.
"No... I-I didn't... I don't need any thanks. It's what anyone would have done."
"Ahem!"
The four present glanced over at where a pink haired, bespectacled girl stood. At her right was Kirara, and at her left was... a little girl?
The little girl trotted over to where Gaming stood and started messing with the pullover tied around his leg. She pulled out a roll of bandages, seemingly from nowhere, and a couple wipes, and immediately got to bandaging. "Good job stopping the bleeding, Freminet!" She said cheerfully, as though bandaging wounds from people getting mauled by marine creatures was normal for her.
"A-Uhm... Miss Sigewinne? What... are you doing here?" The girl blinked up at him for a moment, seemingly not understanding the query, before responding. "Oh, the Duke came up to visit Monsieur Neuvillette, and he told me I could do what I wish with my time. I heard there were some wonderful shops here, so I took the aquabus over."
Gaming was... hesitant, to say the least, about having some little girl bandage his wounds, but she did so precisely with a sort of confidence usually reserved for professionals, so he chose not to comment on it-- the thing hadn't bitten down too hard, so it probably mattered little whether a professional bandaged him or he did it himself, as long as it was disinfected.
Xingqiu, on the other hand, had no such reservations. "Miss, do you have any qualifications? While I'm sure he appreciates the help, I'd much rather my friend be treated by a professional!"
The bespectacled pink girl who'd initially caught their attention extravagantly emoted, clearly less than amused by Xingqiu's statement. "Madame Sigewinne is the Head Nurse at the Fortress of Meropide! She's one of the best on Teyvat, thank you very much!"
Something like recognition flickered in Xingqiu's eyes. "I've heard of Miss Sigewinne, of course. My apologies, my liege, I simply didn't expect her to be so... young." The pink haired girl, if reluctantly, accepted Xingqiu concession.
"Right, well, if there are no problems... ah, right, introductions! My name is Charlotte, reporter for the Steambird, one of the best! The diver-- the one that saved your friend-- his name is Freminet! And, ah, he's... gone." Charlotte loudly tsked, and explained his disappearance to the group. "He's shy, and for as much as anyone's tried to get him out of his lonesomeness... ah, well. Anyways, I can probably find him whenever he's done diving, if you've anything you need from him, but I doubt... oh, was that part of your cargo?"
Xingqiu and Kirara looked where she had gestured, only to find one of the crates that Gaming had knocked underwater sitting inconspicuously on the ground. While they were staring at it, the diver, Freminet, popped back up. Once he saw that people were staring at him, he froze for a moment before ducking back down. Another crate was rolled up onto the deck.
"Well, that's kind of him, I guess. Anyways, given that the mysterious Duke of the Fortress of Meropide is on the surface for the first time in however many months, I'd like to try for an interview. You can find me around the Palais Mermonia tomorrow if you need me or Freminet.
With that, Charlotte trotted off. Sigewinne tied a little bow of the bandages on his leg, and stood. "I'll be off too. Please don't excessively stress that leg too much in the next few days, and make sure to get some sleep, but you're fine otherwise."
Another crate rolled onto the deck, and Chongyun sighed. He walked over and heaved Gaming up in something akin to a bridal carry, bring Gaming to the cart and setting him on the edge. "Sit here, Kirara and I will take care of the rest of the cargo."
Xingqiu made himself at home next to Gaming, and while the other two worked, Gaming leant into the side of the cart to rest. Xingqiu, in turn, leant into him. "I wish Chongyun would carry me like that..."
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Freminet hid his head in his pillow. After bringing up seven crates, the boy with the cryo vision and tassel, who seemed to also be a claymore user, told him that all of the crates were accounted for, and had thanked him.
That morning had been deceptively calm-- he'd had breakfast at Lutece with his siblings, and had let himself drift for a while at the bottom of the sea he didn't even need to use the sea to muffle the sounds of his tears, it had been a wonderful week! And then he saw the brown-haired pyro wielder, falling in with large brown boxes-- crates?
He'd been incredibly concerned for a split second, before seeing the pyro vision. At which point he'd only been moderately concerned-- sure, they wouldn't drown, but who's to say they could make it back to the surface?
And then he saw the blood, and his concern spiked right back up. There were creatures in the sea that were attracted by blood, and those creatures could hardly be considered nice. Sure, they'd gotten used to him and some of the older gentlemen who were skilled enough to dive that deep, but just because they'd been a little bit-- what was that word, domesticated-- didn't mean that they would be friendly.
And that's to say nothing of whatever made them bleed, because surely, they hadn't been bleeding when they first entered the water, right? If they were, his observation skills had failed him miserably, and he'd better hope that Father didn't find out. Or should he just tell her outright, so that she could help him do whatever he needed to fix it?
So Freminet had swum closer as fast as he could-- maybe even nearing his record speed, actually. He probably should have predicted that in their panic, the person would assume he was another sea creature, but it still caught him off guard when he'd felt something violently connect with his helmet.
The kick to the head had made him a little dizzy, and he still had a bit of a headache, but it was fine. He had fastened his pullover over their bleeding leg, which, thankfully, didn't look too bad, and unclasped his helmet to provide them with a bit of air-- he didn't need it, and neither did they, but he'd heard that others preferred to breathe while underwater, and they might be sensitive to pressure. Also, the seawater tasted awful, as he could personally attest to from before he'd gotten used to it.
He'd brought them back up, and as soon as they hit the ground, most of the tension left their body. Other kids-- their friends?-- had panicked over them, and they'd asked some questions of them. Freminet, kneeling at the side of the deck, knew that the pyro user couldn't hear them with the helmet on, and could see the switch flip in their head as they reached up to push at the helmet.
As Lady Furina knew well, it took much, much force to get the helmet off that way, without it being prematurely loosened, and they seemed to realise there was probably a clasp or something. Their hands fumbled, and Freminet started to get embarrassed for them, so he reached over and fidgeted with the rim for just a moment, adjusting it and gently pulling it off of their head.
Their eyes were closed and they breathed deeply for a few seconds. There was no real reason to do that, they'd been breathing just fine before, unless something was wrong with his helmet or his air tank, and oh, how embarrassing would that be...! That would've suffocated them, unlike in the water... how awful! He hadn't checked his helmet in a while, perhaps..? But no, Lynette always said that if he thought there was something wrong, but there was nothing he could do about it, his thoughts were better spent on something else.
He resolved to not think about it, and noticed his gaze had slipped to somewhere in the distance. He looked back at the pyro user, and found that they were already looking at him. They were... beautiful, and Freminet probably maybe definitely shouldn't be thinking about that first, but well...
The pyro used awkwardly broke eye contact with him, and then awkwardly thanked him, which really wasn't necessary! He just did what any good person would've done! Freminet tried to object to it, but before he could make his case, he heard someone pipe up from a bit away. A very familiar someone.
He scrunched his eyes up and shook his head slightly, looking towards the three newcomers. They were; a foreigner, though he'd heard of Kirara, of course; Charlotte, who would've teased him endlessly if she'd caught him entranced by the pyro user's eyes; and Miss Sigewinne, who he hadn't seen since that time he'd nearly dissolved a few weeks ago... it felt like it'd been a few months.
Speaking of, was it too late to send a gift of thanks to Mademoiselle Clorinde? Lyney would disown him if he found Freminet thanking the Duke or the Head Nurse after they'd practically engineered his almost-death, but the Champion Duellist hadn't been involved, to his knowledge. He shoved it in a box along with his potentially scuffed helmet, to deal with later.
The new group had started chatting with those present, and Sigewinne had begun to treat the bleeding leg. Once his pullover had been unfastened, and the others distracted, he'd seen it fit to swipe his pullover and leave.
He'd gone down to the depths and collected the crates that he'd seen fall in along with the pyro user. Some of them had been heavy, but few heavier than his claymore, which he'd occasionally wielded with one hand. Really, it wasn't that bad-- he just pitied the people who had to move them on the surface, when gravity was more apparent.
After lugging up and going down to fetch all of seven crates, the cryo claymore-wielder on the surface told him that all had been accounted for, and he'd made his way home, where he was now.
Lyney and Lynette wouldn't be back for a few hours, so he went to his room and took out his tools, summoning his mask. While there was nothing he could do about it earlier, now he could check up on it and see whether or not anything really had happened.
And speaking of that box of things he resolved to think about later... Lyney had spent half of dinner the other night talking about how Mademoiselle Clorinde and Lady-- sorry, Miss-- Furina had shared a box of chocolates. He'd placed weird emphasis on how they seemed really happy to be eating the chocolates together...
Well, as Lynette would say, this wasn't something that required energy spent overthinking. He'd get her a box of chocolates and ask Lyney or Lynette to give them to her at their next performance in the Opera Epiclese. Lyney had said that the Champion Duellist would always be in the audience, sitting next to Miss Furina.
When Lyney and Lynette finally got home that night, Lyney drew the story of Freminet's day out of him, and proceeded to tease him for the rest of the night about it.