#following the flooding of guili assembly aka my personal 9/11

[qilyns-a]

@yanwangye said ... if the moon smiled,  she would resemble you. / open.

his gaze is gentle but distant as he speaks, looking to the moon as it peeks through the black dust – cover over qiongji. her gaze remains on him, half – startled at the sound of his voice after so long sitting in mutual silence. the moon shines down on the low, muddy waters where the jagged rocks of the formerly paved streets of the guili assembly poke through to pierce the surface, little mountains rising out of the knee – high depths. the lord of rock cuts a figure worthy of godhood even when brow – beaten, sitting next to her on one of the last formations of architecture still standing, but there seems to be less of him now, like if he raised his hand to point at the moon, she might be able to see through it. cold, clear light bleeding through the outlines of his person.

ganyu supposes some part of him went away with guizhong. scattered to the wind, the fine dust of their beings intermingled, or washed out by the unnatural tidal wave that carried most of their hopes for the future with it. so long they've fought this war, only to be left with so little. she knows she mustn't despair while there are still people pledged to live and fight for their archon, but for one night only she permits herself to feel hopeless.

whatever morax is feeling must be far worse. years lived in each other's proximity could not bridge such grief. she reveres him as a god, deeply, and as an equally devoted guardian for as long as memory serves, but she would not claim to understand him as a person. it's not her place to try.

" thank you. " ganyu rubs her eyes, and tries to smile like how she thinks he would want her to, for such a compliment. mostly she feels embarrassed that he still feels like he has to look out for her before himself. it's what guizhong would want him to do, probably, but she's not here, and she won't be here no matter how many times they return to this memory, this conversation. " i – i really ... miss her too ... " the thought alone threatens to split her heart in half, but she won't burden him with that responsibility anymore. if this night marks the end of her seldom carefree, but no less fondly remembered, days of adolescence, then so be it.

" but the moon is smiling at me tonight, like you said. " from behind the clouds or among the stars, day – moon or startlingly bright. it feels meaningful, if only for the fact that it apparently reminded him of her. " i won't keep you – i'll be okay on my own. " more or less. there's almost no one else left here now, save for those haplessly sifting through the rubble of their homes. not so different from the two of them, it occurs to her as she rises up, unsteady on her feet from sitting down too long.

" good night. " a shallow, jagged sigh. and – " i'm sorry. "