What the fluff?

[mirrormirrormeme]

what the fluff?

▶ character and preferences. you know how it is.

▶ visit this generator*. feel free to copy/paste any items of interest into your initial top-level comment; otherwise, let others reply to you with a prompt and go from there.

▶ thread til you can't thread no more!

* This generator churns out NSFW prompts as well. If you're not interested in seeing NSFW at all, you can use this other option (produces prompts in the "character a & character b" format) or this one (includes a bonus random AU setting for fun). Use what you want, kick what you don't.

Comments

[luminarily]

I want to.

[If he's going to stew in his thoughts, then at least he won't have to do it alone— and there's no world where she'd refuse his silent plea for comfort, either. Especially when he's like this, wilting from whatever is troubling him, trying to stay strong in the face of an invisible enemy. So Lumine perches herself on the arm of his chair and folds his hand into hers. Closes her eyes and leans into him to share her sleepy warmth.]

The same as usual. We took a delivery to Dawn Winery, and then cleared out some hilichurl camps. She was in a really great mood. [A quiet, amused hum.] Paimon complained about not being able to keep up with her. So Amber treated us to Mint Jellies afterward to make up for it.

[ironwind]

I see... That's good. Sounds like fun.

[His response is a little distracted, but the intention behind it is genuine; soon, he's let go of her hand, if only so that he can press a bookmark into the page that he was reading. Closing the book again and setting it aside, Aether leans back in his chair, enjoying the faint warmth of his sister's presence beside him, even though he's certain that she would like him to open up, and he, for reasons he can't even himself articulate, does not want to.]

I was helping Kaeya with some... [Abruptly, he remembers with a grimace that Kaeya, being Kaeya, swore him to secrecy for really no reason at all — but Aether's a man who keeps his promises even if Kaeya is not.] I was helping Kaeya with a thing so I could get into the library, and...

[He trails off, largely because he's said too much. Why would he need to get into the library when the door is open for anyone to enter? Why enlist Kaeya's help over Lisa's, for that matter? Well, he isn't bearing any new Electro burns, so everything must have gone well for him...]

I didn't get Mint Jelly afterward. But it was fine. I enjoyed it.

[luminarily]

Mmm. I see.

[He's so obviously holding something back now. But at least with this, Lumine now knows who to bother if— when— she needs to intervene in whatever situation Aether's getting himself into. Kaeya is a sneaky man, almost unflappable, but she's spent plenty of time with Master Diluc, and she's not afraid to call in a favor to get some leverage on the Cavalry Captain for her brother's sake...to say nothing of getting Lisa involved.

But that's for the future. Lumine sets the information aside for later, reaching out to lightly tug on the end of Aether's braid. When they were younger and he'd somehow hit his growth spurt before her, she liked to do this as a joke, to remind him she was still there with him even if he was too tall to see her. She never broke the habit, and doing it now is a comforting gesture— especially when, in her exhaustion and his refusal to talk, she can feel that old, familiar fear of being left behind creeping into her stomach.]

I'll get you one tomorrow...if you wake up on time for a morning run with me. So don't stay up too late.

[ironwind]

[The familiar tug to his braid makes him smile. She's always done this whenever she wants his attention, incongruously shy where she's normally rather bold, and he's always found it impossibly endearing for what it expresses without words. He mock-sighs, leaning back still further in his chair. He looks up at her upside-down.]

But I hate running!

[He doesn't, actually; he spends most of his time running around in the wilds, or scaling mountains, investigating one mystery or another, in the same sort of way that the mystery of Eberhart is plaguing him tonight. But it's just the sort of thing he would complain about to make a point, and he's making one now.

It's more of the setup to a joke, actually, because he suddenly stands up, and with a swift movement, slipped his arm around her back and the other one behind her knees — careful to sweep up the tail of her skirt, too, so that her modesty is preserved as she's being princess-carried in his arms.

Is she heavy? Well — impolitely, yes. Maybe a little bit. He's not that much taller or bigger than she is, once she finally did catch up to him (and maybe because the early growth spurt unfortunately also stopped a bit earlier than he would have liked). But it's fine, really; he could lift a grown man Zhongli's size if he really put his mind to it, and if his arms are straining just the barest bit for a dainty girl like Lumine... he's her big brother! He's not going to show it.]

I'd rather lift weights instead. See? One, two, one, two...

[He makes a slight show of hefting her up and down, bridal-style in his arms, as if she's a loaded barbell and he's deadlifting her. Notably, it is mildly uncomfortable and demeaning, but he's not a monster; he's left her plenty of room to, somewhat predictably, pummel or kick or complain. Sibling antics, you know?]