#BROKER&DECIMA THREAD 002.

[stellarhistoria]

"Yes, ah... actually, I could probably just send them both a message right now to let them know we're running around and might stop by Mondstadt. Two of them have my vision, after all." he says with a quiet understanding that showing up out of the blue would make one of them very huffy and he hates seeing them pout over something, small or big.

he looks up towards the sky as he falls silent, continuing his long legged stride with easy pace to follow, breathing slow and quiet, almost as if he were sleeping while awake. only for him to blink and jolt back to reality and shake his head, smirking at something. seems he got a response back.

"Seems like both my first chosen and my daughter are in Mondstadt right now. Meaning his wife will also be in town nearby. That will be fun." his gaze drifts back to decima, reaching out to place a hand on their head to ruffle their hair gently. "You'll be able to meet people I brought from home."

" And I love you, too, " You responded quietly, blinking a little as you glanced at him. It's been... centuries now, since you've last felt the love of a parent. ( you missed your dad to death. ) But you were slowly starting to slowly regain that parental love, thanks to Broker. You paused for a moment, before shaking your head.

" You haven't-! " There was some enthusiasm lacing your words, your eyes sparkling a little. You were always interested in hearing about others' and their personal lives, it was always so interesting, and it always offered some insight of people you wouldn't know.

" Chaotic duo... That just sounds like my older brother and I when we were kids, or my friend Mari and I, " You couldn't help but snort a little. " I wouldn't know anything about the one who lives in Fontaine, but I might've heard about the one in Mondstadt - I live in the Whispering Woods, but I still might've heard about them! Tell me about them. "

[stellarhistoria]

"No need to thank me, my dear. You know well I'd always love you." he hardly hesitated from saying it, almost leapt directly at the chance to do so. he loves decima, the same way that a parent loves their child even when they hate the world - or themselves being a part of that world. he only smiles patiently, a sort of calm that would make most uneasy but to decima it was a reassuring one.

the expression that twists across their face makes a soft bout of laughter bubble up to the surface, eyes crinkling at the edges with familiar crow's feet to adorn his older features like the telling aspects of his avian likeness. it was no surprise, at least to him at this moment, that decima would be surprised by his admittance of having kids.

"Ah, yes. Have I never mentioned those two before? Chaotic duo." he'd dare not mention the brat that consistently gets away with tomfoolery being his very first chosen. damned fool. "One of them lives in Mondstadt- well some distance away from Monstadt, near the Dawn Winery. The other lives in Fontaine. Quite a distance from each other."

" ...Thank you, " Your voice was soft as you listened to him. He had a point - anyone who loves you should love you for you, with no mind paid to your past.

And yet your past defined you. Would you really be Decima without your upbringing in the Khaenri'ahn royal court? Would you really be Decima without having bared witness to...

You thought for a moment about it, you decide that you'd still be you. Perhaps a different version of you, but you're still Decima, and by the gods above you deserve to let yourself be happy. Someone's face popped in your mind - as your cheeks grew a bit flushed. You knew at the very least, they'd always love you. You were forced out of your thoughts for a moment as the other mentioned having kids.

And by god you were puzzled for a moment.

" ...You have kids? " A brow raised. " ...Yeah. I'd like to meet them. If they're your kids, surely they're good kids. "

[stellarhistoria]

"Always welcome." it's a gentle acknowledgement of their thanks, as well as letting them know that, indeed, with him, they would always be welcome. should the world shun them, hell and kingdom come, NASCIEN would always welcome decima HOME. bring hellfire and bring icy depths, decima would always have a home beneath wings that have carried & seen the world wide.

perfectly manicured nails, painted always black, fidget and mess with the ends of his hat, head bowed in understanding. he too, understands what it felt like, to not be accepted for who you are, for what you are. to be shunned for a past that didn't make you any less human, no matter your descent.

"I think, and this is my own personal opinion," he begins with a solemn sincerity, smile warm as its ever been. "anyone who loves you, loves you with and without your past. Borne as a shackle or worn as a weapon, you are you. Anyone who loves you should rightfully understand that. At least, that's what my husband insists. It took a long time for me to believe that."

he pauses.

"A slight derailment of the topic, but... would you like to meet my daughter and son?" he knows it's news to hear that this old featherbrain has kids, but perhaps it would cheer them up. "They're both night owls, so we'd be rightfully on track to meet them at this hour."

" ...Thank you, " Your words were but a murmur as you found yourself chewing your thumbnail a little, and dear gods you were nervous about talking about this. It felt like Celestia's eyes were down your neck - like there was a target on your back whenever you simply think of how the weight of the world post tragedy has shaped you.

" I just... it feels like I've been robbed of what my life could have been, you know? " A pause to think about your words. " And yet these people seem to think I deserve to be cursed like this. " An accidental slip up - you intended to say 'those who survived', rather than 'i.' Another pause. ( you were trying to think of how to backtrack, and your brows knitted together. )

" ...Do you think if I, myself, ever have a family, they'd be proud of me for simply being Decima? Or do you think they'd resent me when they find out who I really am? " A deep question - a rhetorical one. It was something that always haunted the back of your mind. You couldn't fix your earlier slip-up, so you simply accepted the fact the cracks were slowly starting to open.

[stellarhistoria]

a quiet smile winds itself through soft lips of a god bound ever more by his inability to remain. decima, of all people, knew well the price of CURIOSITY, and the regret that filled your soul when you gave yourself entirely to it. which is why he questions little, and lets fragments of times he never knew flit to him on the breeze - one last gift from an old friend among the tree boughs.

their slip up has green eyes jolt from staring at the rim of a cup to catching the briefest of looks of uncertainty in the historian's features. a slip up, or something more? ( part of him, wanted to laugh and say it was okay. the rest of him, knew the danger of an archon, past or present, adopting a mortal child as their own. )

"... I do." he says with little grace. "You are, to me, always Decima. You are who you want to be, and who you are right now. You are yourself, before you are anyone else's, my dear."

You knew the heroes are never happy, and that the villains never win - you knew this. You've read the stories of the heroes of Teyvat, and how a commonality of it all is they're laced in tragedy. And the villains... oh you've seen them firsthand. You paused for a moment.

" ...I just want to feel like I did something right, " You mumbled. " I mean, for gods sakes, Dad- I mean Broker. The way people across Teyvat talk about certain circumstances, it feels like the people across Teyvat think that those affected by it deserved it. " Were you speaking from experience? Perhaps. But you wouldn't express that. Your brows furrowed a little as you tried to collect your thoughts.

" I just want to feel like the world doesn't consider me a villain or a hero, I just... want to be regarded as Decima. "

[stellarhistoria]

"Decima..." his expression contorts briefly into a shape of bemused sorrow, not knowing quite how to handle that particular situation ─ it was his own, after all. "Heroes are never happy, and villains never win. So be neither. Be something new."

@stellarhistoria for broker / lyric starter call / cool knife bro

" Some days I feel the hero, other days I feel the villain. "