#❄️𝐭𝐰𝐨 𝐬𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐚𝐦𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐢𝐧 𝐯𝐲𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐩𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐫.❞ ┋main verse.

[frcstwinded]

@lastvigil​:  "how long has it been since we spoke? feels like years." (( going off that soft ask w/ smol ! kaeya ... ))

years was such an understatement, especially after everything that happened. 

their home was gone, ruined by the cataclysm, and now they both carry the burden of the aftermath, stuck wandering the lands because the gods said so. the last time they spoke, it was hard to remember the very last conversation - maybe it was during the cataclysm it’s self with heartfelt goodbyes. the last true memory of any conversation they had was when kaeya asked to be lifted up and see the world from a higher viewpoint. 

a smile graced his lips, one genuine and heartfelt as he chuckled at the memory and sipped his wine. how he wished he was that optimistic child with the world as his oyster again.

“wasn’t i an optimistic child back then. always wanting what was best for khaenri’ah, and asking to be on your shoulders to look down at our problems and hope they go away over night, all because i believed ‘i am the prince and i said so’ was the way the world worked? how times have changed, and how reality has jaded us.” he reminisced, the poor youth he had frozen away and now he’s the being he is now, conflicted in where to stand in his new world.

“i do hope you understand that the child you knew is just a memory now... i’m not the same, open book as i was. maybe for you, hui, i’ll let some truths out, like how i find it rather amusing that you’ve appeared to have embraced your mother’s legacy. are the emerites treating you well?”

[frcstwinded]

@noctuafought​:  "the knights always so inefficient that their own captain doesn't even have a cavalry to manage. such a shame, truly." // I'm not sorry

“you realise the entire time you were cavalry captain, no one ever saw you with a cavalry either. you always ran off and did everything else, so actually do your old job before complaining to me, diluc. also, by the way, they trust me as their quartermaster and their funding is still in peak condition, so who needs a cavalry, when i’m their money master~”

[frcstwinded]

@lastvigil​:  well then. this was . . . not an unusual request, especially from one so young. hui blinks —— grateful that for a split second his look of bewilderment was obscured by a passing servant, and the hands that were clasped behind his back slowly unwrap themselves as he knelt before the prince —— nodding slowly with a faint smile at the corners of his eyes.     “   . . . of course, your highness.  ”      every prince deserves to be at the top of the world, after all. well, on the shoulders of a man as tall as he, that is. (( littol!kaeya that we briefly mentioned in IMs ... ))

if anyone saw this child with knowledge of the present day, none would assume this child was the same cavalry captain who lives under a burden of lies. yet, there stood a five to six year old kaeya with arms raised and a proud smile on his lips. young and full of hope, his request to ride the knight’s shoulders and feel important - ignoring the fact he is a prince - for a few moments.

upon hearing the agreement to his request, the young prince couldn’t help but cheer and almost immediately began trying to climb up his frame, failing miserably as he did and he huffed a little. “um... i didn’t think this through... how do i get up? i can’t fly.” he realised sadly as he shuffled his foot. “can you pick me up?” he asked with bright blue eyes, the star pupils wide and almost pleading. 

[frcstwinded]

@lumitris​:  “Klee is bad girl. So Klee can’t come play. I have to reflect my actions in confinement.” She’s putting on very sad, sad face. She knows what she’s done. “But if maybe, Kaeya asked Jean if she could still go out and play juuustt for a little while. I promise I won’t start anymore fires for a WHOLE week.”

a little chuckle left kaeya’s lips while he leaned against the wall near klee’s designated “solitary confinement”. listening to her complaints about being locked up, the cavalry captain fished into his pocket and pulled out a key that he totally didn’t make behind jean’s back. putting it into the lock, he unlocks the door and opens it to see klee properly.

“or, i can use my authority and let you out for good behaviour? i can tell jean to let you stay free later, right now you owe me a trip to see a new friend.” he remarks with that ever confident smirk.

[frcstwinded]

@inyvat​: ‘ there's some good in this world ... and it's worth fighting for. ’

good and evil is such a basic concept, boiled down to what is right and wrong essentially. though a noble goal none the less, it half made kaeya want to laugh. where was this good in the world lumine saw? 

did it birth itself in the span of his unconsciousness and hid away from his circles? or perhaps, she wasn’t privy to the true evils just yet. why snatch away that hope? it does not matter, he decides to play along with the hope she had, his long dead like the nation he loved.

“noble as always, dear honorary knight. i can see why other’s view you as a beacon of hope. so, tell me, lumine, how are you going to protect those small dashes of good?”

[frcstwinded]

“didn’t ask for a breakdown on my family history, which i already knew and played dumb on purpose to see reactions. knowing those reactions, i probably will recreate that history in pure spite now. i mean they deserve it, i just wanted to go on holiday while the festival is on because people bore me.”

[frcstwinded]

@torrentide​:  what the hell did you think would happen?

tilting his head at the question, kaeya - who was leaning on one of the pillars of the golden house with a confident smirk - shrugs a bit initially. apparently, having fun in a ‘fair’ duel isn’t allowed when you instigate it, but the retaliation is perfectly fine to be fun. how can the prince complain however, given how barely thirty seconds ago, the ginger threw him against said pillar he is now leaning against as a retaliation for using his abyssal powers to teleport around the arena and backstab him at certain intervals. 

no one said abyssal use wasn’t in the rules, was the argument he wanted to use, but that would likely result in him getting attacked as a result, so he decides to play coy and hums.

“i don’t know, i wasn’t expecting a chokeslam followed by you throwing me. half want you to do it again, honestly. but come on, childe, being fair is boring when we both know killing each other is just a waste of energy. loosen the rules, just for me~?”

[frcstwinded]

he takes the sign and tosses it, before grabbing the braid to yank him in for a kiss. he isn’t paying shit.

he sets up shop right at a very busy spot and places a sign that says, "a kiss from the traveler = 10,000 mora." before sitting down and waiting.

[frcstwinded]

“i think my weekly visit to the golden house proved that childe is a bottom for my strikes.”

[frcstwinded]

@erabundus​: "do you condemn people for stepping on worthless ants, too?"

“just because you do, doesn’t mean we all do.”

[frcstwinded]

@eonsadrft​: ❝ Not really. What shocked me is know the idea of other me wanting to be pegged. Now I saw everything. ❞

“it doesn’t shock me, people are very fun to see when they show true colours, don’t worry about it.”

[frcstwinded]

well since i’m not gonna be active a lot during kaeyas real birthday, might as well write out each verses feelings on their birthday. in general, kaeya has no clue when his true birthday is, due to khaenri’ah using a different calendar compared to teyvat, so the reason he “celebrates” it.

for all verses: before khaenri’ah fell, kaeya was spoilt by his mother and father, but it never got to kaeya’s head. when he was seven and eight, he snuck out and give anything he didn’t fully want to children who were struggling, finding more joy in that. 

main verse: it’s a very cruel day in his mind. he doesn’t celebrate it himself, but others drag him into celebrating it nowadays. growing up with crepus and diluc, they made every birthday special, and kaeya kept hold of every card and still has them to this day in his office stowed away, but he cannot bring himself to look at them. kaeya never had a proper celebration ever since crepus died, he just went out drinking, but he longs for a birthday where he and diluc can just be brothers again and celebrate him entering the family. the 30th of november was picked by crepus because that was the day he found kaeya and took him in as his son.

fatui verse: kaeya feels detatched from his birthday, given how he was raised around the fatui he didn’t really have anything “normal” to fall back on. it wasn’t until rosalyne began convincing some of the fatui - even pierro - while kaeya was young to treat him as a normal child and remind him of that truth, even if he was the prince of khaenri’ah. as he grew older, he did get the odd thing but he didn’t expect anything, but when signora died, kaeya began hating his birthday. she was what made it relevant, and now she’s gone, kaeya wants to hate it, but with some members still honouring her wish now she’s gone, he can’t find it in him to denounce his birthday as a thing of celebration. the 30th of november was picked by signora because that was the day he found himself being taken in by the fatui.

abyssal verse: honestly doesn’t care he even has a birthday, probably needs reminding by the abyss like yo you’ve gotten older. he’s so out of touch with his humanity in this verse it’s honestly a redundant day to him. the 30th of november was picked out of randomness, unlike the other verses that had reason for this date.

[frcstwinded]

@eonsadrft​: ❝ Hey pirate, kneel down a moment. ❞

letting out a chuckle, khaenri’ah’s prince turns to the other with his head cocked to one side. the temptation to pick apart the other for his own amusement was there, yet he decides to play along. though he does not kneel, kaeya leans forward with curiosity as he examines the other, head tilting to the other side as he does.

“oh i’m sorry, but pirates don’t kneel without learning why. you don’t seem important nowadays anyway, so lets be equals... well, if your little ego can handle that.”

[frcstwinded]

@snowaliity​:  stretching herself out beside him in her snow leopard form tatiana was happy to rest her head upon his lap,  long tail swaying behind her all the while.  she simply wanted to relax with him.

to notice his own archon simply wish to relax in this form, it made the khaenri’ahn prince chuckle a little as he leans back on the chair he sat on and allowed her to rest her head on his lap. being gentle with his gestures, kaeya ran his fingers through the snow white fur with a low hum leaving his throat. sometimes, it was just better to be this way, and he couldn’t help but enjoy it.

“you’re more than what they say, i’m glad you trust me.”

[frcstwinded]

@ragnvindawn​:  “   little brother, look!   ”      here comes a young diluc jogging up to kaeya  ——  holding what appeared to be a stray cat in his arms. it was almost as big as he was,  &  the look in those crimson eyes full of concern.     “   do you think father will let us keep it? it could keep the pests under control in the vineyards.  ”      the feline itself was completely white with blue eyes  ——  save for the tip of its tail, which was a deep shade of black.  ((  soft!little ragbros . . .  ))

while looking at the calla lilies by the lake, kaeya’s ears perked and he turned over to see his brother run over with the stray in his arms. gently holding out a hand, he stroked the cheek of the cat and smiled brightly at it before looking at diluc with a bit of worry in his one visible eye. still awfully new to a second family and being a more ‘normal’ person, kaeya wasn’t too sure where to go with this and as such, gave a shrug.

“i mean we could ask master crepus if we can?” he replied, still afraid to call the other dad or father like diluc can do so naturally - he didn’t fit in like the cat could, but he didn’t say that. “he might let us just keep them as a pet as well, the pests usually are dealt with by his staff.”  an alternative kaeya much preferred as he looked back at the direction of the winery. “do we sneak them in or be honest?”

[frcstwinded]

@gunnhildred​:  ❛ i will not ask where you came from. i will not ask and neither should you. ❜

as if you’d believe my origins, jean. 

that was the original thought running through his head. it was the unfortunate truth kaeya has, he isn’t from mondstadt, anyone who paid attention to history and his eye can tell a mile away his origin is not of teyvat as a whole. as such, the prince knew the acting grand master had every suspicion this is the truth about him. 

taking a deep breath, he regained composure from his deep fears of being found out and simply smirked at jean. prying into each other is beneath them both, he knew this. but, the amount of secrets and vague responses kaeya gives, it was a dangerous game and the route merely leads the curious to endure the need to expose truths. it seemed jean, rather subtly, was one of those people if she was closing this route down.

“why would i ever pry, acting grand master. our secrets are our own for reasons, and i do not want to ruin our friendship.”