Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

The doorway to Furina’s apartment wafts a familiarly delicious scent that greets its owner as she arrives home.

“Oh, welcome back!” Lumine idly greets, donning one of Furina’s spare aprons that, at this point, she had taken ownership over with how frequently she uses it. “I made some bolognese out of the spare pasta, Mondstadt-style,”

Over the past few days, it had become somewhat a habit for Lumine and Paimon to crash over at Furina’s apartment. Admittedly the traveling duo had long since been procrastinating on their preparations to depart for Natlan, the excuse they give themselves is that they would like to lay low for the meantime and simply forget about the looming threats they’d have to face once they reach the nation of war.

Furina, meanwhile, is more than glad to indulge them in their desires.

The excuse Lumine and Paimon initially gave to be invited to Furina’s residence was that they would help her acclimate to a much humbler lifestyle; though such concerns were very much genuine especially after having heard from the Champion duelist Clorinde. Under such pretense, they asserted themselves upon Furina’s apartment, both to help Furina get off her feet while also serving as company to her.

“Mhm, smells good,” Furina greets Lumine back, tossing aside the hat and coat she had donned for today’s shoot.

“I’ll get the plates ready! Furina, join us once you've changed!” Paimon greets as well, silverwares in hand as she flies over to the makeshift dining room tucked away at the corner of the room. “Food’s best eaten when it’s hot!”

“Alright, coming!”

Such became their daily routine for the past couple of weeks. Whenever Lumine had the spare time, she’d stay over at Furina’s place and help her do basic housekeeping stuff. At first Furina was embarrassed over it as she, essentially, was having Lumine serve as her maid. After much insistence though, Lumine was able to win over Furina under the assurance that the favor is doing good for the both of them.

The privilege of having a home to rest at is a privilege that Furina recognizes Lumine had long since forgotten, and she is more than happy to remind her of such pleasantries.

She had visited the traveler’s Serenitea Pot a couple of times now, actually. It is a rather cozy shelter– touristy too in the way Lumine amazingly laid out the various architectures within the abode. Although the preset mansions did prove to be not as amicable to Lumine, as its large halls were too daunting in its enormousness for its lone occupant.

Furina most certainly understands this discomfort.

So now, even though her apartment can barely house herself– let alone two other people, she is more than delighted to have them stay with her regardless.

“How’s the shoot?” Lumine asks as they all sit around the dining table to eat their lunch.

“Very well, though the studio lightings was incredibly…” There was visible frustration in the Furina’s face scrunches up. “Ugh, suffice it to say this apartment definitely feels much more breathable compared to hot artificial lights I had to face,”

“Breathable, huh?” Paimon butts in. “Well, that’s a word to describe this apartment,”

“Stuffy shoot then, I suppose?” Lumine follows. “Well, was the output… err, satisfactory? How were the photos and the panel?”

“One of the better things from today, honestly!” Furina replies, voice now much more chipper. “Everyone was very efficient and accommodating, I’m quite happy with the creative direction they went, and best of all, I was able to leave before lunch!”

Lumine gets infected by the smile that appears on Furina’s face, smiling to herself as well.

“On that note, this food’s amazing–” She continues on, taking another bite of the pasta as if to prove a point. “Though I think that goes without saying at this point,”

Furina does consider herself extremely lucky to be a recipient of Lumine’s cooking– the first time Lumine cooked for her she made an Inazuman dish, even dragging Furina alongside the cooking process. Afterwards, it became sort of a checklist for Lumine to try and cook a dish from a different nation everytime, showcasing both her skills in the kitchen as well as the culinary diversities throughout Teyvat.

It was amazing to receive such a variety of palettes and cuisines, Lumine being able to cook and prepare them pretty authentically too. To say that Furina is impressed was a massive understatement, her repertoire of skills and her natural talent in the kitchen proves her to be better than any chef Furina has ever met in her five hundred years of existence.

“I’m very flattered,” A happy hum escapes Lumine at the compliment.

And all Lumine ever wanted as payment was a genuine compliment, a price Furina was more than willing to pay– tenfold if needed.

The trio continues eating as Furina shares more of her experience during the shoot. Apparently, the shoot was intended to be an interview regarding Furina’s role as a screenplay director for one of the more popular operas, but also doubling as a release to be a reshaping of her public image.

It was Charlotte that suggested this, to let the people learn more about the real Furina rather than Furina the Archon. She kept this offer at the back of her mind for the longest time, as when the offer had initially been pitched, Furina hadn’t considered herself worthy enough for a re-debut.

But now the tides have changed, and she has sufficiently grown as a person. Now deeming herself fit to enter the spotlight once more.

“You should really attend one such interview, Lumine,” Furina says. “I bet the world would love to hear about your experiences throughout Teyvat. No one has as rich of a repertoire as you,”

Lumine simply laughs at the idea.

“I don’t think Lumine can handle the spotlight all too well,” Paimon was the one who spoke up on Lumine’s behalf. Furina can see this, at the way Lumine immediately grew timid at the mere idea of publicity. For someone who shone so bright it was rather ironic for Lumine to be averse to the spotlight.

“You may find this hard to believe but,” Lumine pauses, Furina immediately fascinated by the way her words lingered. “I’m very selective of who I trust,”

“Ah,” was all Furina had to say regarding that. Was that a confession of her trust towards her? Or was it the opposite, a declaration of what their boundaries are? Admittedly Furina is self-aware enough to know that her previous actions do not lend her the best credentials for being trustworthy in the traveler’s eyes– then again here she was, crashing over at Furina’s place and willingly making her food everyday at this point.

Or maybe, and this is the most likely answer– Furina concludes. Maybe she’s just overthinking this, what the nature of her relationship with Lumine even is at this point.

She steals a glance at Lumine, of how golden disheveled strands curtain her equally golden eyes, reminiscent of that of the sun. Of how said eyes burned with such intensity, back then when she stared her down at the court, and even now while she does an incredibly mundane thing like cook or eat.

Was it intensity this time around though, or was it warmth? Or was it Furina’s perception that changed?

“Say, Furina,” Lumine asks instead. “If you could go anywhere in the world today, where would you want to go?"

Furina gawks, rather caught off-guard by the direction Lumine took their conversation to. “Why this all of a sudden?”

“Well, you have the rest of the day off now, don’t you?”

“Yeah?”

“You said you’d love to hear about my experience throughout Teyvat, right?” Lumine continues on. “Well, I might as well show you and give you the real deal, right? I’m free, you’re free, we got a whole day left to kill,”

“Am I the world though?” Furina laughs teasingly. “I did say the world would want to know– why divert to my curiosities all of a sudden?”

Lumine simply returns a silent shrug as an answer– a light dusting of pink blossoming on Furina’s face at the realization of the latter’s implications. She paid it no mind but Furina swears she saw Paimon rolling their eyes at Lumine’s cheesiness.

While the implication of visiting wherever in the world caught Furina’s interest, she was partially interested as well as to how Lumine would be able to pull such a feat in the first place. Lumine was known as the traveler for a reason, truthfully at this point she fully trusts that Lumine can bring her anywhere today travel-time aside.

“Alright, miss traveler. Any suggestions?”

To Furina’s bewilderment, a stack of three books suddenly spawns right in front of her– the smug face Lumine now dons being a clear indication as to who the mischief maker is.

“Behold!” Lumine exclaims in childish delight. “The three volumes of the Teyvat Travel guides, all written by the world-famous, somewhat reputable, Alice. Believe me when I say that getting these personal copies was a royal pain in my behind,”

Three volumes for three nations– Mondstadt, Liyue, and Inazuma. As much as Furina wanted to inquire on the whereabouts of the rest of the versions, Lumine’s initial complaints already served as her answer. As she peruses through the books, Lumine’s choice of describing its author as ‘somewhat reputable’ slowly started to make sense. Blowing up cliffsides? Referring to deities as weirdos? Tampering with Fontainian machinery– within another nation? To say that this woman was insane was a massive understatement of the author’ sheer magnitude!

“Takes one to know one,” Lumine jests, to which Furina jabs her in the arm for.

“Hypocrite,” Furina snickers.

Though a specific segment did catch her attention– from the first Volume of the series.

Nevermind the author’s very literal interpretation of the term ‘ascended’, it was the mention of the oak tree that caught Furina’s attention. Long has she heard of Mondstadt’s romantic scenery, tales of this huge tree serving as the hallmark of the nation. She has heard of Vennessa, on how her ascension granted her the title of godhood.

A human becoming a god, a god becoming a human. There was definitely poetic irony to her fascination with the place.

“Windrise is special to me,” Lumine spoke upon noticing the way Furina lingered on the page. “It was one of the places I would see as a safe haven of sorts, a place I could rest at after long days of travel,”

Furina looks at the illustration within the book of this large oak tree, but now she imagined a slumbering Lumine resting beneath its trunk. It felt simple, grounding, but also poetic. It was the first nation Lumine had traversed, and the Lumine now has certainly grown from the Lumine then.

How much has time molded Lumine, Furina wonders.

“Windrise it is then,” Furina nods as she gives her answer, satisfied with the conclusion she has reached wtihin herself. “Though admittedly I am still quite curious as to how we would–”

To her bewilderment, Lumine stands up, quite literally picking her up as she does so. Now stood, Lumine traps Furina within a rather tight embrace, the traveler’s arms circling her waist, her head forcibly pressed to the crook of Lumine’s neck. Paimon seems to have taken some sort of memo, as she also tightly holds onto Lumine as well.

“Wrap your arms around me tightly,” Lumine orders, Furina simply nodding and following along with whatever was happening. “Try to shut off your thoughts, close your eyes, and hold your breath,”

“Will you give a countdown to whatever this is?” Furina asks, mirroring Paimon and clinging onto Lumine for dear life.

“Alright, I can do that,” Lumine replies. “On the count of three?”

“Okay,”

This was most certainly not within Furina’s expectations once she got home. The most she looked forward to was a hearty meal cooked for her by Lumine, and maybe an extra hour or two that they’d get a chance to talk with one another. An invitation to go literally anywhere in the world was not in her bucketlist of things to expect throughout the day.

As she braces herself, a smile couldn’t help but form on her face. As the archon, her life had always been so incredibly exciting, but simultaneously just as exhausting and draining. This, in comparison, was a more pleasant form of excitement, invigorating in the way it refreshes her.

Excitement she can only seem to find within the presence of Lumine.

“Three,”

Furina closes her eyes.

“Two,”

She holds her breath.

“One–”