[800 VIEWS SPECIAL] Star

She moved swiftly through the bushes, following the sight of the little male in front of her, gliding through the wilderness without wavering--

--SNAP--

"So, why don't you come out already?"

"..How did you know I was here?"

A young female crawled out from under the bush, her hair but a tangled jumble of leaves. 

"You weren't as quiet as you thought." Scaramouche glared down at the messy girl.

She shivered under his glare, covering it up with a 'hmph!'. 

Scaramouche rolled his eyes, pulling her up by her wrist harshly.

"What the fuck?!" The girl cried, pushing him away.

"Hey, shut it. And don't try anything."

"TRY anything? I should be the one saying that to you!"

Scaramouche's expression contorted to one of confusion.

"What are you talking about..?" He asked skeptically.

"Well, I suppose I've no other choice." The girl sighed righteously, "I, Mona Megistus, am the great Mondstadtian astrologist!"

"Astrolo- Pfft, don't make me laugh." Scaramouche spat. 

Mona clenched her fists, her arms set next to her torso. 

"W-well, I have work to do, and besides, the stars told me that if I say this, you'll finally leave me alone!" She cried haughtily.

"The stars?" Scaramouche spat bitterly, "Alright, have fun dwelling in your delusional fantasies."

Scaramouche, it's a hoax. My child, the stars aren't real.

A woman's voice filled Scaramouche's head.

Scaramouche, none of it is real. They are tricking you.

That's right. The stars aren't real. It's just a trick.

Wait, did she say work?

Right. 

I had a job to do, yet here I am entertaining a random stranger. Damnit! 

Scaramouche sighed, turning on his heel, continuing his descend down the mountain, not paying any attention to the pouting astrologist who was close behind.

--

"Alright, can you stop following me?" Scaramouche glared at Mona, the female crossing her arms and turning away. 

"I'm not following you, I'm simply going in the same direction!"

"Then where ARE you going?"

...

Scaramouche's expression changed to one of annoyance.

"Don't tell me you're lost."

Mona sheepishly bit her nail, indicating that Scaramouche was correct.

"Agh, you stupid bitch. Since you aren't leaving me alone, I'll help you just this once."

Mona's eyes lit up as she trotted over to Scaramouche.

"So, why are you even in Liyue?" Scaramouche asked the astrologer.

"Ah, like I said, I'm here for work! The stars told me that my master was sick. I love her too much to leave her all sick and gloomy, so I'm here to look after her."

Scaramouche looked at her, a bewildered gaze in his eyes. The concept of kindness was foreign to the harbinger. He had only ever performed acts out of duty and obligation. 

Well, whatever.

Seemed like a load of crap either way.

"Why are you looking at me like that?" Mona gasped, "Have my womanly charms finally reached you??" 

Mona's prideful statement earned a subtle scoff from the balladeer, who insisted that it was a cough.

"As if. Your womanly charms are about as real as my cowardice."

"Awh, I knew I was extremely charming!"

Scaramouche turned his head to face the astrologist in a half second, a look of surprise and offence on his face.

"Are you suggesting that I'm a coward?" His tone changing to an intimidating growl.

Mona gulped, before starting another offensive statement.

"Y-Yes, I am! What are you going to do about it??" She yelled, speeding up ahead of Scaramouche, who rolled his eyes, sighing in annoyance.

He grabbed her arm once more, pulling her backwards, inches away from his own chest. 

Scaramouche scanned her uncomfortable expression, her face comparatively similar to that of a tomato. His eyes lingered towards her mouth, her teeth clenched tightly. He noticed the pink tint on her face, his own cheeks heating up. Do I have a fever?

"Wh- Let go, you pervert!" She mumbled, shaking her arm aggressively until Scaramouche's grip weakened.

"Ow, that hurt. Besides, is that any way to treat the man you just met, but somehow fell in love with immediately?" Scaramouche smirked.

"Hah! Are you on drugs? I don't like you, short guys with hats the size of a UFO aren't my type!" Mona egotistically claimed, turning around and crossing her arms.

"Hmph, well the blush on your face says otherwise, unless you blush at random guys you meet, you PROSTITUTE." 

"Prosti- UGH! Well, the blush on YOUR face, AND the STARS tell me that YOU like ME!"

"ME liking YOU?" They yelled at the same time, "Yeah right, I probably just have a fever!" 

Don't believe the delusional woman, my child. Stars aren't real. They only want to hurt you.

Hmph. The stars again.

..

"Since you're sick, I'll book you a room in that run-down motel nearby." Scaramouche mumbled incoherently.

He's gonna pay for me?

Mona awkwardly avoided eye contact, attempting to hide the butterflies in her stomach. It had been a while since someone last offered to pay for the poor astrologist. 

"W-Well, since you're offering, I'll book YOUR room too!" She cried without thinking, as her own way of showing gratitude.

Scaramouche stared at her skeptically, with a 'What the hell do you mean' look.

"Uh, can't you just book your own room then?"

Mona internally panicked, she couldn't let this golden opportunity slip away. 

"N-NO! You're sick too so I thought that uh, you could rest too!!"

Scaramouche's face heated up, as he opened his mouth.

"You don't mean.."

Mona gasped in realisation, stopping in her tracks.

"n-NO!!! IT'S NOT WHAT YOU THINK! PERVERT!!!" She cried, hammering her fists against his chest. 

"Stop that, you're really weak." Scaramouche changed the topic smoothly, attempting to avoid any more awkward conversation on THAT topic.

Mona huffed, her pride hurt.

"I'll show you weak!" She remarked, pushing Scaramouche down with all of her strength. 

"Woaaah!"

Scaramouche yelped, as Mona stepped on his foot, causing him to lose his balance, falling backwards, pulling her down with her on impulse.

Mona fell onto Scaramouche face forward, her face mere centimetres away from his own. 

Scaramouche stared into Mona's blue irises, her eyes lingering down to his plump lips. She raised her index finger to his lips, stroking downwards to his chin.

"U-uh.." He started, "Can you get off me?" 

Scaramouche pushed Mona off him, sitting up straight as he wiped his mouth with his sleeve.

---

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN THERE'S ONLY ONE ROOM LEFT???" Mona and Scaramouche yelled at the same time.

"I'm sorry dears, because of Lantern Rite, everything else is all booked!" The receptionist of the inn said, "Although I'm sure you two won't have any problem sharing a room." She smirked.

Scaramouche regained his composure.

"Yeah, it's no problem at all."

.

"WHATTT???????????????????????????" Mona yelled as Scaramouche shut the door of their room behind him. "WHAT WERE YOU THINKING?"

Scaramouche sighed.

Mona had just realised that she had went along with Scaramouche despite knowing his name, profession, age, or anything about him. He just seemed.. right. 

"I had a big job today.. I guess I'll have to delay.." Scaramouche sighed, lying down on the bed in the room. 

Why was he helping her? Scaramouche had no clue why he was helping some random broke girl who was stalking him. As the 6th Harbinger he had seen many people more petty and sad than her, however, he had never felt the need to aid them the way he had to Mona. He even delayed his work for her. Why?

"Aren't you gonna lie down?" He asked, "You're probably more tired than I am, crawling in the bushes and all."

"Why should I get in bed with a guy I met an hour ago?"

"Why would you come with a guy you met an hour ago in the first place? Exactly. It doesn't make a difference at this point."

Mona sighed, succumbing to Scaramouche, as she lied down on the bed next to him. 

"So, why were you following me in the first place?" Scaramouche asked, his hand covering his eyes.

"Isn't it obvious? The stars told me that suspicious activity was going on around there. What were you doing anyway?"

Scaramouche scoffed, gaining a frustrated glare from Mona.

"Why are you so skeptical about stars? Haven't you ever seen one before??"

Scaramouche, it's a hoax. My chi-

Scaramouche huffed. 

Shut up old hag, my star is right next to me.

----

a/n

alright im sooo sorry for the extremely late post!!!! i'm currently out camping with fam so can't update as frequently, thus why the 800 views ep came out at 900 views e.e

this chapter was really weird and didnt make much sense even to me, but somehow ended up my longest ever chapter at 1440 words (???) anyway, cya all next update, which will (hopefully) be tomorrow

P.S. CHILDE CAME HOME 💓❤️🧡💕💞💘💛🧡💜💝💗💖💚💜💙❣️💖💕💚💘💚💞💙💛💘💛💖💘💖💕💓❤️💝