#((Can't really be called a drabble at 1218 words but...

[heiayen]

listen before i go - venti & gn!reader

fluff, angst, mentioned character death, you can call it hurt/comfort? but i’m not sure, it might be ooc a bit, based on a prompt “Would being an atheist prevent me from receiving a Vision?", platonic, 3rd person view

everyone say thank you to @yostresswritinggirl for making this big list with drabble ideas!! ...tho this fic is hardly a drabble- minor spoilers for venti’s story + mondstadt quest i believe

word count: 1218 + fic utc.

venti always valued freedom. 

he would listen to their words, their stories, he would watch them make friends, fall in love or even cry, either from happiness or sadness. and, in a way, it was good to know that his beloved city was doing well even without him. 

it was so important for him to let people make their own choice, to let them do what makes them happy, even if he himself couldn't always understand why. 

but he wouldn't say anything, he would just smile and continue watching them from his favorite places, just like that. 

sometimes he would witness or hear some... more or less interesting things, that would make him blink in confusion. 

"i don't think they would let you go on an adventure like this..." a small group of people was sitting around the foutain, chatting with each other and venti was sitting near them, just slowly playing on his lyre. 

"why not? i can fight, besides, it's not this far away. i would be fine." one of them huffed. ah, so it was a group of adventurers, right? 

"it is a dangerous place and you can't have a vision..." 

venti stopped playing the moment he heard that. 

they can't have a vision? he put the instrument on his knees and took a small glance and the group of people. it was... weird. from when people can't have a vision? did he missed something important? a new rule? not like he would listen to it, but.

it was... pretty surprising to hear, something unsual, at least here, in mondstadt, especially for him. he was the barbatos himself after all and hearing that someone doesn't believe in him was just really surprising. 

"wow, i had no idea not believing in gods prevents me from getting a vision."

okay, he pretty much excepted everything but this. 

he literally sits on the same fountain as them, come on! 

"anyway, whatever! i don't need a vision to deal with some monsters, i'll be fine" they said as they were getting up from the fountain, "i'll just go myself, i don't need your or guild's help."

and this was the moment venti got an idea

.

"do you need a company for your adventure~?"

"aren't you a bard?"

"bard is the best companion you can have, don't you know?"

this short convo led venti to playing a familiar melody on his lyre, next to [y/n]. the idea he had was, quite simple, to be honest. ask them if he can tag along and, for his surprise, they actually agreed. he didn't had anything to do really, and being with someone was always better than going alone. 

"so~ where we are going?" he asked after they left mondstadt and he liked the answer he got a lot. 

"there's this place at windrise that i wanted to visit..." they started, and suddenly venti was even more excited about their trip than he was previously, "not only me, because some of the guild members wanted too, but because of some dumb abyss mages no one really did it." 

"abyss mages at my dear windrise?" he raised his eyebrows, "we need to get rid of them!"

"of course we need to!" [y/n] looked at him, eyes full of little flames. they really were serious about dealing with those mages, it looks like, "it's my friend's favorite place and it really makes me sad that now something like those balls of fur are sitting there and acting like it's their new place." 

he laughed which caused [y/n] to smile. a short, little smile showed up on their face, but also quickly vanished upon hearing the next question. 

"couldn't your friend come with you? i'm sure it would be a lot of fun, rather than going alone." 

they looked away.

there was a second or two of silence, a very awkward silence and venti perfectly knew the answer, the painful answer. [y/n] wanted to finally answer, but venti quickly stopped them.

"it's okay, you don't need to tell more... i'm sorry, [y/n]."

but instead, they looked back at him, with a smile and waved their hand, just like they wanted to tell that it's okay. but, oh, he could see the pain behind their smile. the same pain he went throught. 

"it's... it's really okay, it happened some time already..." the smile faded from their face, as they looked back at the ground. it was truly painful to look at and venti wished he could change it, even a bit. it was funny how just hour ago they knew nothing about each other, and now...

"it's okay to not still be over it, you know." he gave them a smile, reassuring smile, even though he knew it wouldn't be enough, "you can talk to me, if you want to. suffering alone is hard, and despite that we know each other for very short time, i don't want to see you sad."

there was another moment of silence, and venti even though that maybe, maybe [y/n] doesn't want to talk about it, but then, they started talking and with each word-

"i'm not really sad about their death anymore, i've learned how to live with it, but..." they took a deep breathe, "i prayed a lot. i prayed every night because people told me to do it, but it felt like all gods were just dodging all my prayers, every single little one." they finished with a bitter chuckle.

it struck him like a lighting, things starting to make sense. and for some reasons...

"i'm so sorry, [y/n]..."

...he could swear his eyes started to water a bit.

.

"we did it, [y/n]!" he called happily when the last abyss mage got hit by his arrow. he saw them smiling, finally. he walked closer to them and held his hand for a highfive.

"it was a bit tough, don't you think?" they said as they did the highfive. their clothes were a bit dirty, cheeks dusted with ash from all those fights with pyro mages.

"you did great! who taught you wield a sword like that?"

"i did it myself, actually..." they admitted shyly, "i always liked watching swordfights, so one day i started training, and now here we are. but hey, you are good with your bow too!" 

venti just chuckled as an answer and started looking around. now, without all this chaos, he was able to admire the view. it was truly a pretty place and now that he knew the story this place held-

"i, uh, will stay here for a bit" [y/n] said as they walked away from venti, just few steps foward. they sat on the grass, putting the sword beside them, "but... thank you for your help, venti."

they looked at him last time, with most genuine smile he saw today, and looked away. he also smiled, more to himself and started quietly walking toward them.

and they, a light wind came, and so the feeling of something being placed on their neck, and when they looked down-

an anemo vision was shining lightly, hanging on a golden chain. [y/n] blinked few times, confused what just happened. they looked behind them, just about to ask venti what happened, but-

it was just them and light, warm wind dancing around them.

i actually made myself sad while writin’ this. this got A LOT sadder than i planned it to be. the title is from listen before i go by billie eilish cuz somehow i ended up listenin’ to this song while writin’ and i had no ideas for the title. yes. the way [y/n] received their vision is most likely not canon but SHHH it fits. 

[toras-muse-cabinet]

Mint drags her brother by his wrist towards where she had already arranged to meet with the Mobians who had posted an ad looking for a Speed player for their Extreme Gear team. She wasn’t dumb she made sure the meeting was in a nice public cafe and was bringing her Big Brother along but she was really excited, a real Extreme Gear team!! And they needed a player of her exact skill set!! This could be her chance to get famous!

Sorrel stumbles after his excited sister a small fond smile on his beak. He didn’t quite catch what had made her so excited in the first place, what with her talking almost as fast as she runs, but he did catch something about first time meeting and going to a public place for safety. He was very proud of his sister showing at least a tiny bit of maturity even if it was pretty basic.

Mint takes a seat that can be seen from the street, Sorrel taking the seat next to her while they wait for this mysterious meet up.

“So.. Now that you are calmer, what happened?”

“These guys are looking for someone to be the Speed Player in their Extreme Gear team! I could become famous Sorrel! Maybe even more famous than Sonic~”

Sorrel chuckles at the excited chatter from his sister as she quickly dissolves to talking much faster than anyone can listen. He gives a tiny frown at the idea of her rushing off to join some Extreme Gear team... that race system seems kind of brutal and lawless... He doesn’t really see the appeal in it but... He focuses on his sister’s practically shining face.. It would make her really happy huh? Sorrel smiles softly resolving to support her best he can.

Just as Sorrel comes to his resolution a Kangaroo mobian and Sugar Glider mobian take up the remaining two seats at their little table. Sorrel gives them a quick look over, deciding immediately the Sugar Glider is relatively harmless. The kangaroo on the other hand... this one could be dangerous. He had on knee high boots, they looked to be steel toed from the shape, as well as a Camo vest. This guy meant business and Sorrel wasn’t sure yet if that business was something he would trust his sister to.

Mint quickly bounces to her feet shaking first the Kangaroo’s hands then the Sugar Glider happily announcing “Hello! I’m Mint and this is my brother Sorrel! You need a Speed player right?!”

The kangaroo looks a little shocked at the chipper greeting, given how cold the girl had been on the phone “Yea... I’m Kicks.”

The Sugar Glider smiles gently, sweet as her namesake “N I’m Honey~”

They both glance to Sorrel expecting him to greet them but he’s still analyzing the situation, a small frown on his face. Mint sees this and makes a face but presses on with the topic at hand “I have a lot of notes about my running speed! I’m ranked one in my school back home, though I rank at 9 here it’s only because I’ve not been here long! I’ve never used extreme gear before but I’m a really quick learner so I can figure out Extreme Gear super fast I swear!”

Kicks listens patiently, considering what she has to say “N why should we pick you ova any otha candidates? What do ya got that no one else does?”

Mint freezes at the question frowning, she’s never really had to stop and think about it. Outside of races just being fast was unique enough, What did she have that was unique other than her speed? Her tail taps against the chair while she thinks, not enough to make a loud sound just enough to make a soft ‘paf paf’. Finally she speaks again “Well.. I guess I’m pretty unique in that I can maintain my speed when going through water. Not many can claim that feat~”

Kicks smirks seeming amused by this response, but Honey pipes up curious about this “Wait.. really? Why would you even practice that?”

Mint smiles bouncing “The best place to practice in the village is the park, and there’s a swimming pond across the middle so instead of weaving the woods around the pond I started diving in and swimming across it during the hot months! I can swim the whole thing in one breath and leap back out to keep running~”

Honey tilts her head curiously “But.. doesn’t the wet feet make it hard to keep running?”

Mint shakes her head lifting her foot to draw Honey’s attention to it “My claws help me keep a grip on the ground.”

Honey looks at the claws and turns to Kicks excited “Kicks she’s like.. the best candidate so far?!”

Kicks huffs a little scratching his head “’cept the part where she’s neva used extreme gear.”

Honey rolls her eyes “It’s not like it’s hard to pick up! If you can balance on a skateboard you can balance on an extreme gear board! Besides she clearly can learn on her feet and that’s the most important thing for a racer!”

Sorrel tilts his head slightly listening to the pair argue, eyes narrowing when they mention how dangerous the races can get and that Honey’s almost broken an arm during practice on several occasions. They seem to agree Mint is the best candidate and offer her the position right then. Sorrel stands abruptly causing his chair to screech horribly against the concrete.

Kicks whips to look at Sorrel standing up suddenly as well, knocking the chair over in the process, already on the defense thinking Sorrel is about to pick a fight.

“This all sounds very dangerous and stupid. How can I be sure you won’t hurt my baby sister in all of this?” Sorrel hisses, annoyed at the possibility his sister might be dragged off into some reckless racing ring.

Mint hops off her seat grabbing Sorrel’s arm whining “Sorrel nooo!! I really wanna join their team! Please~”

Kicks scoffs at the idea of Mint getting hurt “Ya listening bird brain? Honey said almost got hurt. I’d neva let them get hurt unda my watch.”

Sorrel’s eyes narrow at the name calling sizing the other up before another pleading whine from his sister seems to calm him a tad.

“Fine. But I swear to god if Mint gets hurt on your watch, whatever hurt her is getting kicked into next year and then you will be kicked into the next century.”

Kicks rolls his eyes stepping closer holding out a hand, treating the other’s words like they are hot air. No one can out kick a kangaroo as far as he’s concerned, “Deal.”

Sorrel steps closer as well grabbing Kicks hand, digging his thumb spur into the other’s hand “Good.” He hisses quietly enough that Mint doesn’t hear “Break that deal the next time you feel my spurs they will be venomous”

Before Kicks can even process the threat Sorrel is letting go of his hand and has turned to leave “Come on Mint, s almost time for your shift with the post office. You’ll need to let them know about all this racing business too.”

The pair of Platypus siblings walk away from the Kangaroo and Sugar Glider with nothing more than an excited wave from Mint.