Game Mode. Fantastic Voyage. - Tumblr Posts
➤ ` GEMIYA. ( vibraea )
۵ ◜𝄞◞ ۵ ┊ A friendly hand is thrown up as she walks up, waving back at the other who had been patiently waiting at their agreed meeting spot. It’s another day and another opportunity to do some more exploration on behalf of the guild. “I see you.” She exclaims cheerfully, closing the distance before holding out a piece of parchment. “So I know we said we’d look for a commission together but I uh… kind of took the initiative. I hope you don’t mind? I wanted to snag it before someone else did.” It was the type of commission that Bennet liked after all, or… what she assumed he liked from having talked with him a few times already.
“What do you think? It sounds easy enough. The scholar wants us to explore a temple and pick up a few items that are specific to that area. Anything extra we find is ours to keep. There’s probably going to be monsters in the way, but I think we can handle them.” Gemiya nods, confident in their abilities despite the bad luck Bennet tends to bring. That and the temple was above ground and already established to be relatively safe; making environmental hazards minimal. Hopefully he’s on board with it.
“We can leave whenever you’re ready but first…” She points her thumb over her shoulder and towards Good Hunter’s restaurant. “Want to grab lunch? An adventurer’s worst enemy is hunger after all!”
The half expected sting of disappointment melted away and small cinders of hope and excitement flared. Lips parted, grin breaking out across scuffed features, a tinge of relief coloring it. Consuming worries of her being a no show — deciding it wasn't worth the pressing risk to party up with him after all — turned out to be for naught. Sticky strings of bad luck had yet to scare off his newest fellow adventurer ! He'd be journeying with someone today, rather than the constant silence serving as his most faithful companion, reminding him of how other members of Benny's adventure team were still on extended leave.
A light jog up stone steps had Bennett bounding across that short distance to meet her halfway, just catching himself when unbalanced weight threatened to send him careening as that last step made contact with a loose rock in his path.
❝ I don't mind. Thanks for agreeing to come along with me. ❞ Outstretched hand took the paper, eyes skimming over the details scrawled on rough parchment. Oh, these kinds of quests. Two person minimum recommendations prompted teamwork, reduced danger and increased efficiency. Thankfully, he had one right here. ❝ Hmm, you're right about that... ❞ Fingers tapped the underside of the jaw, hum drawn to an almost exaggerated length as he pondered her words. ❝ We could drop by. It gets busy around lunch but maybe Sara has couple of spare seats. After that we can start. Hopefully, there'll be a ton of treasure waiting for us ! ❞
➤ ` GEMIYA. ( vibraea )
۵ ◜𝄞◞ ۵ ┊ Feeling the yank of unfamiliar hands gave her cause to be on high alert as soon as she was able to steady herself. The sheer cold had already been enough of a nuisance since walking up here and now she has to deal with a possible stranger putting her hands on her?! Nope. Nuh-uh. Not today! Not– oh. … It’s Bennet! … He’s okay.
The grip on her weapons loosens and Gemiya sloowly guides them back to their place, having been prepared to whip them out to defend herself. With a sigh she collects herself and takes in the situation and her surroundings- in a few seconds concludes that… Bennet was probably taking shelter from the wild weather howling just outside the cave they were in. And Bennet had just saved her from being knocked over by a rather sizeable ice projectile. Something she should have been conscious of but… she could scold herself for that later.
“Uh– yeah. Kind of. I was searching for some starsilver. There’s a weapon that I’m interested in and the blacksmith mentioned that Starsilver would be a great material for it. I haven’t had much luck in finding any though.” Her lips pull themselves to the side in pensive thought, wondering where good places for such metals would be. But before that- “And what about you? Did you get yourself trapped again? Did you at least bring a sweater? You know more than I do how dangerous and cold Dragonspine can be!”
Boy perked at the mention of the city’s residential ( lone ) smithy, ❝ If Mister Wagner's takin’ care of it, it oughta turn out great. If you’d like, I can help out with finding some- ❞
Offer halted, rotund eyes blinking under the veritable barrage of inquiries aimed towards his person. Life’s consistent twists and turns prepared the wayward youth for much of the dangers of the world, but genuine concern ( outside of his dads, because of course they look out / love / care for him and he to them, nothing would change that ) somehow always caught Bennett flat-footed, foreign and strange, yet also always welcomed.
Sheepish grin curved the lips, a beat of surprised laughter tickling them. Gloved finger tugged at the collar of an outfit most certainly unsuited to the cold environment, soon coming to scratch behind an ear doused in a roseate hue. ❝ Haha, sorry. No sweater for me. All I got are the clothes on my back, but I’m good for now. I have a few tricks for keeping myself warm. You don’t gotta worry about me. ❞ Besides, he'd dove into a modest crack in the earth before the freezing temperature could really seep in and chill heated blood, to threaten to ice exposed skin. Some rough approximation of a camp had been pieced together before he happened to spy her silhouette through blustering winds.
❝ I’m on a little hunting expedition today ! I overhead something by the Guild from a party that just returned from the mountains and thought I’d check it out myself. Was planning on being in an’ out real quick but I got... delayed by the weather. Among other things. ❞ Said interruptions consisting of being assailed by a litany of sneaky whopperflowers, falling into a rock deposit and getting knocked by a wild boar into frigid waters. No point in delving into the specifics the day’s woes tossed upon sturdy shoulders thus far. It's simply par for the course for adventures with the luck inherent to this toughened body. ❝ A few looks at those dark clouds were just enough of a heads up to duck for cover before the snowstorm rolled in and the rocks and ice started flying. It’s all good though ! Shouldn’t be too much of a setback. Nothing too bad like a cave in or anything has happened yet. I'll find some treasure in no time at all. ❞
“ you’ve been so quiet. what’s on your mind? ” ( For Bennett!! )
► ❪ QUESTIONS ❫
The flame of optimism to go unnoticed was thoroughly extinguished by Mondstadt's cavalry captain astute observation. Energy dimmed, a peculiar quiet where enthusiasm would once be found, perhaps Bennett shouldn't have been as surprised as he was upon receiving the remark. Yeah, he [ usually ] received a wide berth, space sought to be put between the wary and him / his terrible luck, but others who knew him even a little beyond that might note the unexplained shift in normal behaviour as enough of a clue something was off.
A strangely pitched grunt rumbled from the base of his throat, lips moving to shape consonants and vowels, but efforts bore no fruit. Words failed to materialize and pierce his silence. A thumb jutted at opened mouth — a hint, an indication of the consumption of an item — before he shook his head. A gesture's made towards his throat, straightened hand sweeping back and forth, a slicing motion.
The ability to speak was stripped from him. Any other time he'd jump at the chance to speak with Kaeya but Bennett's left with naught but his thoughts, unable to communicate beyond the scope of body language.
Sheepish grin crept onto his features, a touch guilty, eyes flicking about before returning to the man. The ensuing shrug and heavy sigh's clear: ❛ what can ya do, right ? ❜ In reality, he brought this on himself. The adventurer ate something out in the wild he ( in retrospect ) shouldn't have yesterday and karma came to collect, blessing him with an ailment, afflicting him since rising with the morning sun. He's been at it all day, trying out all kinds of natural remedies. None stuck.
He'd bounce back in no time, as sure as the wind was free ! This incident ought to have used up a lot of bad luck so what awaited him would be a better tomorrow. Hopefully, Kaeya would still be willing and able to talk when that tomorrow did roll around.