Chapter Text
“Do you have any bones leftover? If they haven’t been cleaned, it’s all the better.”
Childe stopped dead in the street. He made it a habit to keep his ears open in the city for any usable gossip, but he hadn’t heard anything quite like that before. He looked around, searching for the source of the line.
“Bones?”
“Yes, I use them in my experiments and I wanted to test regional variations.”
A petite girl with green hair and folded back animal ears under her hat leaned up on her tiptoes, addressing Xiangling at the doorway of the Wanmin Restaurant. She was soft-spoken and fixed her glasses higher on her nose.
“I can order a meal and pick the bones clean myself if needed,” the girl said. “Or dig through the trash if you’ve already disposed of them.”
“You must really want those bones,” Xiangling said. She crossed her arm and smiled. “Is there a specific animal you needed?”
“No, no. Anything is fine.” The girl stood up straight and Childe put his hands in his pockets, walking around to get a better look. An Anemo Vision hung at her neck which made things even more interesting. “I should be able to identify them myself, even with slight variations.”
“Anything we don’t use for broth stock or reuse gets thrown away,” Xiangling said. “I won’t stop you if you want to dig through it!”
“Thank you!” The girl brightened up and smiled. “I appreciate it. Samples are very difficult to get in unfamiliar areas. Normally I’d hunt it down myself, but I’ve never been to Liyue before.”
Xiangling clapped her hands together. “Well then, welcome! Let me know if you’d like anything to eat.”
“Oh! Right,” the girl said. Her expression changed from delighted to flustered as she dug around in a leather bag. She pulled out two large bones, holding them in her hand as she continued to dig. The girl switched the bones for a Mora purse and cracked it open. “This is restaurant. I should order something if I’m going to bother you for samples!”
Xiangling laughed and waved her hand back and forth. “It’s okay. What would you like?”
The girl proceeded to order and paid. Childe snuck into the restaurant and took a seat in the corner, watching. Xiangling let the girl dig through a bin while she prepared her meal. The girl looked through the garbage with no sense of disgust or hesitation. She carefully pulled out each bone, lining them up on the floor with pure dedication.
Childe ordered a drink when Xiangling walked by and he sipped it, more entertained than he should be by the young woman enchanted by bones.
After she finished, she inspected her spoils. The girl separated out about six or seven and threw the rest back in the trash. She gathered her bones and sat at a table near Childe’s to eat her meal with one hand and looking over the bones with the other.
He couldn’t help himself and got up, carrying his drink to sit at the other table.
“Please forgive me, miss, but I couldn’t help but watch you pluck those from the trash,” Childe said. The girl started and dropped one of them. She said, “Oh, dear” under her breath before grabbing it and putting it back on the table. Her cheeks were flushed pink and he smiled brighter. “What do you need all these bones for?”
The girl’s voice came out as a whisper and Childe had to lean in closer to hear. “My experiments. I study bio-alchemy, you see, and that requires a lot of samples of organic matter for testing. One must understand the total structure if you want to rearrange it into something new, and I am seeking to discover if living in a different region affects that structure.”
“You’re testing to see if boar in Liyue are different from boar in…?” Childe trailed off, hoping the girl would fill in the country she was from. She didn’t, so he prompted, “Where?”
“Mondstadt,” she said. The girl relaxed as the conversation continued. “Ideally, I would like samples from all seven lands, but my vacation does not permit travel that far. Liyue will have to do.”
“Are these samples enough?”
“No, regretfully not,” the girl said. “I will have to visit more restaurants. It’s not safe to explore the area outside of the city by myself. If it were only animals, there wouldn’t be a problem, but I have heard word that Treasure Hoarders are thick in this area. I would prefer to avoid confrontation if possible.”
Childe sipped his drink. “It sounds like you could use some hired muscle.”
“A capable fighter companion would be of great assistance, but I used the last of my commission budget on expeditions to Dragonspine for materials.” The girl huffed and nodded to herself. “It may be harder depending on restaurant leftovers, but if that’s what I need to do, I will.”
“Such dedication! What an admirable researcher you are!” Childe laughed, crossing his legs under the table. The girlie was quite serious and he was very bored. “You are also very much in luck.”
“In luck?”
“Because I am a very capable fighter who happens to have some free time.” Childe summoned his bow and spun it, before holding it near his shoulder. “I would be happy to keep Treasure Hoarders at bay while you slaughter game in the wild.”
The girl cleared her throat and glanced to the side. “I appreciate the offer, but you are a stranger and I’m not sure that’s a good idea.”
“My apologies, I should introduce myself,” Childe said. He dismissed his bow and crossed his arms on the table. “You can call me Childe. May I have your name?”
“Sucrose,” she said. The girl watched Childe through the large lenses of her glasses. “Knowing each other’s names doesn’t make us any less strangers.”
“You’re right, but lucky for me, I have people who can vouch for my good character!” Childe turned in his seat and called out, “Hey, Xiangling! Would you trust me to escort a tourist around Liyue?”
“I’d hope so,” Xiangling shot back. “Aren’t you a diplomat or something?”
“I sure am!” Childe exclaimed, laughing. He turned back to Sucrose and kept smiling. “It’d be an awful blemish on my reputation if anyone found out I took some girl out into the woods and killed her over nothing.”
“That is an awfully specific hypothetical,” Sucrose said. She looked at Childe closer until her eyes landed on the mask on the side of his head. She swallowed and tilted her head. “Where are you a diplomat from?”
“Snezhnaya,” Childe said. He had a feeling his chance to learn more about the odd alchemist girl were growing slimmer by the second, but at least he’d had some fun teasing. “I’m currently stationed at the Northland Bank here in Liyue Harbor.”
“My apologies, but I feel I must decline.” Sucrose shoved the bones on the table back in her bag and licked her lip. “Thank you for the offer. I must be going now.”
“Good luck with your hunt.” Childe waved as the girl rushed off and back into the streets of Liyue. He snickered into his cup and finished off his drink. He set it on the table and got up, leaving a hefty tip for Xiangling. “Let’s hope we meet again.”
Childe whistled as he left the restaurant.
A girl like that wouldn’t be satisfied with leftovers. She’d venture out into the wilds of Liyue sooner or later, and he’d be happy to come to her rescue. Alchemists were useful and he could use an edge after Signora made a mockery of him with Rex Lapis. Childe could be charming when he put his mind to it.
“Let’s see what you can do, Miss Sucrose.”