♛ A knife in my heart couldn't slow me down ♛

[devouringdeep]

Who: Childe (and the rest of you wildlings)
When: All of October
What: An open Catch-all for the Bastard (bc I feel he's gonna need it this month)
Warnings: Mild self harm (as in, "exclusively just to trigger the dimension shift" kind of mild), brief mentions of gore, suicide mention

Comments

HE DESERVES IT OK

[devouringdeep]

[The response gives him pause, and he tilts his head a bit to the side as he regards Noah before he's reaching out to give the boy a signature hair ruffle. Not too violently, as he doesn't want to permanently fuck up any styling Noah has done to it. Which is probably not very much, but still.]

Me neither. How you holdin' up?

[silentabyss]

[There's no styling, because Noah has never heard of a hairbrush in his life, and normally his hair — which is getting a little too long on account of he hasn't cut it in several months — gets put up in a half-ponytail at the back of his head to keep it out of the way, but that's not the case today. Unless Childe is assuming that the black tips and roots are styling, which he might be, because it's not like Noah goes out of the way to broach the topic of "hey what's up my hair is changing colours, again".]

...I'm fine, I guess. I don't sleep just in general. [Time to play hot potato with his problems!] What about you? You leave today, right? Are you... are you nervous?

[devouringdeep]

[There's a slight upward quirk of his brow, but he lets Noah brush things off without calling him out on it. Mostly because he's made the mental note to ask about herbal sleep aide recipes while back in Morepesok. It wouldn't be too hard to memorize, surely, and he can broach the topic with Nene on his return to ask if she might be able to grow the necessary ingredients in her gardens.

They're teaming up on you, Noah. Watch out.]

Oh, a bit. Restless, mostly. I'm looking forward to seeing the little ones again, and perhaps getting some work done. [He leaves out the tidbit that "work" would probably mean whipping the troops of Liyue back into shape, time allowing. Or carrying out the Tsaritsa's decrees. He brightens, straightening up a bit and untucking the paper wrapping from under his arm and holding it out for Noah to take.]

I also wanted to give this to you before I left, just in case you miss me while I'm gone. [He's coated it in like a metric ton of scotch tape, folded up to mostly resemble one of those bubble envelope things. It's about 12"x8", thick, lumpy, and a bit heavy. It's also blue.]

[silentabyss]

[Noah will not sleep and you cannot make him sleep.]

If I were going, I'd try to get work done, too.

[He's coming for your ass, Dantalion.

But, uh, derail real quick—]

What's... what's this? Is this a gift?

[Noah like, actually cried last time someone gave him a gift, which was back when Amami gave him a suncatcher from the student store. This would be the second gift he's received in his life, if he doesn't count the fact that he received the Moonstone from Misty while he was lying on a stone slab half-dead anyway. That's not really a gift so much as it is a curse nowadays, thank you Harque for discovering time magic, please take it back.]

...can I open it now, or do I have to wait?

[He asks, as his lil hands are already making way through the tape.]

[devouringdeep]

Of course you can open it now. I've gotta take notes for the next one in case you don't like this one, after all.

[He's folding his arms, cocking a hip against the row of lockers and watching Noah's excited little gremlin hands get to work on the parcel with one of those Big Brother Core smiles. The genuinely bright and sunny kind, a hint of excitement mixed in there in anticipation for Noah's reaction.]

Two of those you can keep, the last one... Well. Honestly you can go ahead and keep that one too, it's getting a bit chilly after all. [Childe played rock gacha this month, and once Noah defeats the tape he can see that he's repurposed two of the five that he received. The first and last ones he pulled, in fact, the latter having been carefully chiseled into one of these crescent moon shaped gems, though it's a bit crudely done and little rough to the touch, given he didn't have the means of polishing it.

It's also not as pretty, unfortunately. Bc it's a rock and not a crystal.

The first rock has been transformed into a small stone hatchet, the edge carefully sharpened enough to do a fair amount of damage depending on where you swing it. Reinforced by a leather strip that helps keep it steady on the branch that Childe set it into, the wood smoothed and sanded as much as he could managed just by running it against the bricks outside. There are more moon carvings burned into the wood for decoration, along with further leather strips around the butt to make a comfortable and secure grip. For maximum efficiency.

He cut up the leather bag that he had his squid in for all the leather bits.

The third and final object is a familiar one; a red scarf - Childe's spare - that has been neatly folded and slipped beneath the other two. It's responsible for the majority of the bulk given its length, but the fabric feels soft and comfortably worn from years of use. Sorry Noah, it doesn't exactly match your color palette but at least it will keep you warm.]

[silentabyss]

[Oh, yep, Noah's crying, thanks. It really doesn't take much with him, does it?]

I— you— [give him a second,] You... did you make these?

[He traces his fingers over the stone moon, carefully so not to accidentally slice his finger open and cast them both into the void as Noah is simply prone to find himself in. For a moment, he seems hypnotized, and then he's looking at the hatchet and holding it up so that he can eye the leatherwork, the burned carvings... he's not crying, you're crying.

People don't just... give Noah gifts.

Noah stares at the gifts for a bit longer, running his hands over the scarf too, before he bundles everything back up and tucks the package under his arm so that he can lean forward and give Childe a one-armed hug, muttering out a quiet thank you so much against the guy's shirt.]

[devouringdeep]

I did! Although I'm not the best stonemason around, so they're a bit amateur. I know a guy in Liyue that might give me some pointers while I'm back home in exchange for some money, so maybe I can try again to make something a bit more--

[It's only when Noah's tucking up against him that Childe really notices the tears, and a momentary jolt of surprise is taking hold over his facilities before he's uncrossing his arms to wrap them around Noah instead. It's one of those big warm bearhugs, fingers carding through the boy's hair in an attempt to soothe him.

He'd worry that he'd offended Noah if it didn't feel like the exact opposite.]

Hey, hey. It's okay, I've got you.

[silentabyss]

I'm not— [pulls his head up and shakes it,] I'm not crying because I'm upset I— I just don't normally get gifts. Th-this is the second one I've gotten in my life.

[Which, uh, says a lot about Noah's parents!

He's quick to stop crying, though, getting control of himself after the hug and drawing away swiftly, he's sorry for the sudden affection, he just has some things going on in his head.]

...thanks. Um. I'll return the favour.

[Buddy that ain't how gifts work—]