werites | this is still so funny

[ ah, so she isn't a sumeru native then... although it does make him pause for a second. ]

How long have you been staying here so far?

[ she said she was used to deserts, and mondstadt does not have any deserts. ]

On this trip? I just got here yesterday. But this isn't my first time in— oh, look out!

[a sudden gust of wind sweeps past ryo - and then, as the wind dissipates, an arrow drops to the ground instead of impaling him. sheba turns toward the direction the arrow came from.

there's a few hilichurl shooters up there... which means there are probably other hilichurls nearby.]

They don't look too tough... unless you'd rather try to outrun them?

[do they like. have time. to fight every batch of monsters they come across.]

[ thinks about how neither of them know the tragic hillichurl lore

hmmm. well, they should be easy enough to take out, and he is actually curious to see her in action. it's better to get that out of the way now against an easy adversary than something tougher. ]

We can take them out.

[ he has... a crossbow, because it's the closest fuckin thing to a gun in this place and he misses them ]

[someday they will learn the lore and sheba will feel awful about her choices here but today is not that day.

anyway. first things first, since they've committed to a fight, it's better for them to have every advantage they can - so sheba twirls her mace again as it materializes into her hand, and both she and ryo will feel a surge of strength within them as ~~their ATK gets boosted~~ the angel spear psynergy takes effect. a moment later, the wind swirls around her before she darts forward, grabs one of the hilichurls by the scruff, and then leaps up into the sky before slamming them back down again. she definitely would not be able to jump that high without the wind boosting her up, and a shockwave of elemental energy bursts out as she slams it back down.

that hilichurl is hella dead. goodbye. sometimes everything you do is overkill because you're from your canon's endgame canonpoint.]

[ huh.

he watches her as she does this, intrigued. a hillichurl charges at him, and he just aims the crossbow and fires because he is a cheater. they're both cheaters. it stabs its target. ]

Ah, you're good at that.

Thanks!

[sheba grins at him, then turns on her heel and smacks an approaching hilichurl with her mace. it goes stumbling back, and then a moment later it's swept away by a whirlwind.

goodbye, hilichurls.]

These things are easy.

[heading back to the main road!]

[ there they go....

but onward, once again. ryo is quiet for a lot of the journey, only occasionally asking questions about where they're heading and the like.

after a while, though, ]

I'm curious about something.

[she answers them as best she can, having picked many of the answers out of the locals' heads when she was doing her own prepwork for this commission...

but when he speaks up about being curious, she looks up at him.]

Yeah? What about?

How often do you go to Sumeru? You said you wanted to travel more.

[ and from monstadt to sumeru is no short distance, for people who are forced to walk like non-traveler genshins are apparently forced to do. ]

Not as often as I'd like! I end up taking on a lot of commissions through the guild in Mondstadt and normally I'd feel bad just leaving them hanging, but the Traveler came by recently so a lot of the commissions are already handled... so here I am!

[she shrugs.]

The desert's beautiful, don't you think? I mean, I know it's a lot of sand and all, and it's really hot out during the day, but I still think desert sunsets are the prettiest.

[ oh, she knows the traveler? then again, from what ryo knows, it seems like almost everyone does.

but he considers it. ]

I don't normally watch sunsets.

Well... judging by the time, you'll probably get to see one when we get to Aaru Village!

[she smiles.]

I'm kind of looking forward to it!

[ sappy...

he looks up at the sky, frowning at the position of the sun. it would be easier if he could just check his phone, but he's now used to judging this kind of thing the old fashioned way. ]

You sound like a romantic.

You think so?

[she sounds amused - she's never really thought about it that way. she knows what she likes, and desert sunsets are among them.]

Aaaanyway... I hope we'll be able to see whatever the "strange sightings" the Guild was talking about are. I'm gonna be kind of disappointed if we just get out there and it's a totally normal day in the desert.

It's vague enough that it could really be anything-- and people do tend to panic at anything they don't understand.

[ so

there is a real chance they might just find nothing. ]

Yeah, no kidding...

[she shrugs, unconsciously bringing up a hand to fiddle with the fake vision clasping her cloak shut.]

Well, I guess if we don't find anything out of the ordinary, that's an answer in and of itself.

Perhaps the missing people simply died by being careless?

[ like

if you don't know what you're doing, it wouldn't be too difficult to just die in the wilderness ]

That's a possibility, unfortunately. Plenty of idiots underestimate deserts, thinking "oh, it's just sand."

[she shrugs.]

If that's what happened, it's not gonna be easy to find anything unless we get really lucky.

[ he nods his head, and then pauses. ]

Would we still get paid, you think?

We should be! They're paying for our time going into the desert and the investigation we're doing to get them answers. "There's nothing there" is still an answer, even if it's one they don't want.

[she shrugs]

If they try not to pay us, it's gonna be a problem... for them.

[she will mind read them and find something to blackmail them with so they pay if they try to cheat them :/ ]

Well, we'll just see what happens.

[ unfortunately ryo would just shoot them.

this is a really bad duo to try to cheat money from actually. ]

[this is truly a terrible duo to cheat money from so hopefully the adventurer's guild will not do that!

in any case, the rest of the trek to aaru village is easy enough. sure, they run into a few more hilichurls along the way, but that's nothing they can't handle. no sandstorms to speak of, which means the people back at caravan ribat were just paranoid, or they're going to have some trouble when they head further into the desert.

it's a bit before sunset when they arrive.]

I don't know why people back there were so worried. That was an easy walk.

[sheba stop judging people you barely know challenge...]

Anyway, we made pretty good time. It's probably safest if we set out for our investigation in the morning - unless you prefer to move through the desert at night when it's not as hot?

The heat doesn't necessarily bother me. I came pretty prepared for it.

[ so, he doesn't mind either way. ryo isn't particularly tired, but he realizes it would seem strange to not be even a little after they traveled so long and he isn't supposed to be used to desert travel, so. resting is fine.

he goes to sift through his bag. ]

We might as well get some rest and set out in the morning, in that case.

[better safe than sorry. sheba also doesn't feel particularly tired - but who knows how long that will last once they're trekking through the sand again.

she stretches a little as ryo digs through his bag, tilting her head slightly to one side with curiosity.]

I can gather some information from the locals tonight, too. The researchers we're looking for traces of likely stopped here on their way to their research site.

[so, maybe she can pluck some info out of their minds - even if they don't want to share it.]

...looking for something?

[ hm, she really is a curious one. which has its pros and cons-- being stuck with someone on a mission who doesn't notice their surroundings usually ends up being a headache and more like babysitting. the downside is that she is obviously nosy.

he pulls out a small book. ]

I like to take notes.

[ which isn't a lie. sometimes you used to be a scholar and the habits do not die. ]

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