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IC INBOX ( KENOS ).
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â–ˆ To Commune with Set is to stand barefoot in an endless, scorching desert. The sun illuminates all, scalding the shadows themselves out from underneath whomever enters his dominion; the arch of gentle, distant, waves of sand mask the precarious chasms, towering dunes akin to mountains. The sense of vastness, timelessness, is of particular notice, lending itself to the alien, eldritch quality of his mind. There is a dark storm in the distance, and you know intimately that this divine being is far from benign. You cannot bargain with a force of nature. You can only survive it. |
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He does indeed come to perch upon the surface of the water, colliding with it like a hunting hawk descending from the skies upon fleeing prey. His heels digging into the water's surface and hands descending as if to plunge into the depths and try to reach for the young man suffocating among the corruption — the imagery is evocative to Set, beyond measure. It is the same sort of scene he'd observed when he had carved his own brother up and thrown him into the Nile, into Duat. It is the same sort of dark, bleak corruption that pervades his own soul, as it does Childe's own.
It's so sudden, that Childe's plea arrives and vanishes, that he hardly has time to call back — ] I am coming —!
[ Whether it's just Childe being dramatic or not, it doesn't matter.
He's come to feel a little protective of the young man, who had confided his worries in him, who had come to Meridian at his behest ( force, tbh ), and who had not received his fair dues among them. Set wanted more for Childe, more time and more welcome and more room to grow unfettered by Zenith's tranquility, but always — always, such things were within Childe's power to choose.
He goes. To that place in Childe's consciousness where he's called to, his home in Highstorm — a sprint across Kenos that delivers him to the young man's door as sand, pouring through the cracks of the front door, under it and between the hinges, through the keyhole and generally just — ignoring the fact that he might be able to unlock it. He bursts through like a dune, and reforms in the foyer of Childe's home with a snarl: ] Childe! Where are you?
[ Absolutely radiating menace and something protective. ]
If someone has laid hand on you against your will, I will have their head for it!
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Then what was he to do? Zhongli had expected Childe to return earlier than this— not for him but at the very least to return for the shards of his siblings. But it seems like that is the furthest thing from the Harbinger's mind as he acts more like a prisoner in his own house than its rightful owner. Perhaps if Zhongli cautiously broached the subject.
Ah—
And here comes trouble times two.
Zhongli feels Set arrive before the sand swirls into his physical form, gold eyes widened slightly against the black. Perhaps he should not be surprised at all by the other god's immediate arrival if his passionate speech back in Springstar was any indication. Perhaps if Zhongli was in a more rational state of mind he would be appreciative that Childe had finally found someone to confide in, someone's protection he would freely accept.
It was unfortunate and poorly timed that Childe and Zhongli's bitter fight during the Blight had resulted in Childe rejecting Zhongli's divinity only to turn around and find solace in another's. And a war god of the earth no less. The irony rubbed like sandpaper against an open wound. ]
Master Set.
[ Zhongli's nod of deference to the other god's arrival is purely functional— a strict set of procedure to be followed rather than any actual welcome. ]
Please do refrain from trekking in too much dirt into this house. Master Childe is right here if you wish to speak with him and is free to go if he wishes.
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That doesn't stop Childe's lips from curling upwards, though. Who wouldn't be delighted to know someone finds them important enough that they would come specifically for them? It's not quite the same, but it still has him recall the time Zhongli came back for him in this place, too.
How lucky Childe is to have to such fascinating entities straying from the path of the many to focus on him and his well-being, even if just for a little while! ]
...Oh~? You not only heard me, but you even really came for me. I'm truly touched. I called for help... but not for me.
[ The last word is practically hissed out as he turns back to Zhongli, hydro blades forming midair for him to curl his hands around them. ]
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Did they get fed up with waiting around and kidnap yo— haa?
[ The words are accusatory, but abort into a dry, incredulous sound as Childe lunges right for Zhongli with his weapons drawn. It's wild, feral of him — the part of this young man that Set had wanted to nurture in the caverns below, and had used to literally beat the Meridian energy into him. His eyes widen, pupils thinning into dark slits as he half-steps forth, hands extended as if to stop Childe from assaulting the man he cares for,
before drawing back. You know what? Good for him. ]
Maybe you should start by calling him by his name, Zhongli. You keep such defenses between the two of you, it seems like you really do not care at all to connect with him outside of formality and professional boundaries.
[ Yes, he is going to lecture the other god, even if the two before him end up in a fight. Set even steps back a pace, and examines his claws briefly while the two potentially get into it. No need to stop anything! If someone dies, they die! ]
Childe, you were crying and yelling for help — I do not care if you are Meridian or Zenith by your choice, of course I would come for you. Now! Would either of you explain what is going on?
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But still stubborn stubborn Zhongli had hoped that Childe would return from Springstar willingly. Not be dragged back here kicking and screaming by Kaeya and dumped on his own doorstep. Definitely not to have a rival god watching like this was some spectator sport.
Grimacing, Zhongli bites back the violence and unnatural itching under skin as he has spent more time away from Highstorm than is healthy. But that had been a necessity just like this had. He's tired and frustrated. Tired of the useless searching. Tired of the waiting. And most definitely tired of his complete inability to provide what Childe wanted. Let alone what Childe actually needed.
Do better by Childe, hmmm? Isn't that what Set had said?
(Perhaps he had approaching this all wrong from the very start.)
A shrill scraping echoes through the foyer as the hydro dagger clashes against Zhongli's shield, motes of gold criss-crossing around the god in a wide berth. The Harbinger gets nowhere near scratching him, a hairline crack appearing in the gold the only evidence of his attack. Not that Zhongli has any intention of giving him another opportunity as he reaches out to grab Childe by the throat and bodily throw him down onto the floor. ]
Childe.
[ Look, see. He can listen. He can throw away the formalities— connecting as it were. (Maybe if it didn't sound so sharp anyway.)
Zhongli slides the weight of his palm down to the center of Childe's chest, using his weight to pin him down for the moment. ]
If it is a fight you desire, you may have one but not here where things of immeasurable value to you might be destroyed.
[ He glances back at Set, half to raise his other hand in a showing that he will not escalate his offense any further and half to see whether or not he will intervene. Either way, the other god is being half-addressed. ]
Or you may return back to Springstar alongside your friend. I will not stop you.
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[ Childe stops short only because he's grabbed by the neck and thrown to the ground. Which, ah... hurt or not isn't the point but the air gets knocked from his lungs for a moment, leaving him unable to respond, although he does glare at Zhongli rather accusingly of something when he says his name like that. His teeth clench the longer Zhongli speaks, though, and he'll snap back angrily as soon as he can— ]
Save it, Alberich already pulled that card! There's nothing here that's important to me! Those shards are fake. [ he doesn't know that, of course, but that's what the Meridian is telling him, that those shards were just chaining him down to a side he doesn't belong on, anyway. So what if no one accepts him, it encourages? It will accept him even if the shard-bearers of its cause do not. he doesn't need any of them for the power to change things, anyway, isn't that right?
His discord isn't as bad as Zhongli's, but the nature of the meridian and the nature of the Abyss don't coexist very peacefully, both attempting to take control of feeding on his emotions the more volatile they become.
Oh, he can just go back? Childe could just spit right now, but why should he be surprised? ]
Ah, just gonna let me go back after everything? And here I thought maybe you actually missed me. [ What's the point of doing anything but remaining Meridian, then,of the person he wants to care about him the most doesn't care which side he's on. He growls and if Zhongli isn't going to get out of the way he's going to go try and violently shove him away so he can get up because fuck this. ]
Get the hell away from me! I can't stand you!
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[ In some scholars' interpretations, Set's name is invoked upon charms relating to love and pleasure, but he is no god of pacification and affection. Childe and Zhongli clearly have something deep between them, a chasm that cannot be bridged alone; they're discordant and having such trouble communicating, and Set thrives in the chaos and discord they're inflicting one another. He ought to incite it, drive a wedge between them so deep that even if Childe returns to Zenith, they'll always be at odds within their own faction.
Zenith, after all, was such a boring Kumbaya bunch. They needed some internal strife.
He steps forward once Childe is thrown onto the ground, reaching under Zhongli's arm to find Childe's cheek. To touch it with his own fingers. It means, for Zhongli, that the redheaded god of war is draped across his back; one arm drifts around Zhongli's waist too. He cannot do anything for either of them and their Discord, too. Childe is one step too far from a Savant, and Zhongli's own Aspect is in opposition. He can, however, offer some cutting words. ]
Zhongli came to find you, earlier this month. I scolded him for being so stiff with you, actually. Do you not hear him calling your name so plaintively now? If you are angry with him, you must tell him what you want. Not why you are mad, but what you want from now on with him. Tell him what he is to you, Childe.
[ And against Zhongli's ear, he whispers: ] Be less a god, show him the passion you harbor for him, Lord Zhongli. You want to connect with him, you want him — no matter where he goes, he can go freely... but, did it not feel terrible that he was not with you?
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Set was unpredictable in all the ways that Zhongli found the most difficult to deal with. He had brought Childe over to Meridian, believed Childe was more suited to stay among their ranks, became Childe's confidant and was now here to aid and protect him. It makes little sense for Set to want to mend the rift between Zhongli and Childe if his preference was for the Harbinger to stay and flourish within Set's own faction. So then what could be the reason? Was their something Zhongli was missing?
(Probably. If he had missed all the signs that had boiled over as a result of the last Oracle competition.)
Zhongli shifts to move Set's hand from his waist. Itching fingers wants to do the same for the hand that is touching Childe, but that is not his choice, even as his pride and his arrogance demand that he do what he thinks he right. How troublesome. That these sort of tense emotional situations did not always have a clear correct path. ]
I shall take you words under advisement.
[ And since Zhongli has nothing more to lose, why not make an attempt to show his passion. It was a strange concept since less emotions were usually called for more difficult situations. But where had that gotten him in this? Practically no where.
It was fortuitous as well that Zhongli did not feel particularly embarrassed about his desire to be close to Childe. ]
During those last days of the Blight, you told me that this would always be my home. You requested that I be not a god that acted in the best interests of their people, but your friend. So I have kept this place in your absence, and I have waited for such a time as you wanted to talk or when you were ready to come home.
There is a restlessness in you, a search for something that I do not know how to help you with. Something that Lord Set has seen in you as well.
How could I call myself your friend if I did not allow you to pursue such a path? I have missed you terribly. I do not know if this place can be called if home if you are not here to share it. And of course my preference is that you would wish to stay here in Highstorm. But my regret would far outweigh my loneliness if I stood in the way of you finding what you were looking for.
[ Perhaps not a particularly passionate statement, but look. He's starting to get there bit by bit. ]