While the Windblume Festival is in full swing in the city, Venti finds Deaconess Barbara up on Starsnatch Cliff. Originally posted on AO3, linked here! In Mondstadt, the Windblume Festival's activities were on in full swing: from the church to the Adventurer's Guild, the civilians were celebrating by giving gifts to their loved ones, professing their feelings to one another, or in the case of several bardic, musically talented persons... ...up on Starsnatch Cliff, away from the festivities in Mondstadt City. Needless to say, when Venti reached the tip of the mountain overlooking the rest of Mondstadt, seeing someone already up there was perhaps one of the more surprising things he'd witnessed in the day, followed by the traveler trying to get close to him after an eventful day at the Cat's Tail. Even Vind, who Venti could typically find at the top of Stormbearer Point, was in the city on a rare day of relaxation. "Ah, I hadn't realized someone already beat me to the punch up here," he acknowledged the lady's presence as he stepped up on a stable, grassy foothold. "I do wonder—our dearest Deaconess—shouldn't you be merrily enjoying the festival?" "Oh," she responded, turning around. The pale, blonde colour of her curly pigtails and the hand shielding a part of her face couldn't hide the forced smile Venti could feel emanating from her as he put on his own. A practiced one, devoid of all the horrors he'd seen in his time as a god. The deaconess looked back at him. He wasn't wearing his beret, so it was just the tufts of his hair swaying gently in the wind's high embrace. "It's you, Venti." "Hello hello~!" "Hello," Barbara said back to him. It was a soft kind of sound, the one a weary musician would make after having played at an event for six hours straight, and at that point, Venti was quite sure that if he left now, the deaconess would follow him right after to try to tell him

MMD originally posted on Twitter!

During a fight with his former comrade-in-arms Tartaglia, a wanderer is disembodied protecting Nahida, who helps him recover—regain—his lost limbs after escaping. How it all happened was a blur. The arrow, the hydro, the pierce. One second his leg was intact—the next, dropped to the floor, the severed knee glowing faintly, yet not of blood. No trace of the red liquid dripped out from the puppet's body where it'd been lopped off by the arrow. The puppet looked at their former comrade, who now stared back at him with a grin full of nothing but battle prowess after donning his signature Foul Legacy, The Devouring Deep Transformation, which now included the electro delusion he was given to add to his battle capabilities. In the wanderer's ascended anemo form, his hat disappeared, replaced with an aura of the elemental power just behind him. The ascension had come just a tad too late—a split millisecond just after his leg was cast away. The small archon in his hands noticed that fact, her usually kind demeanor quickly escalating into one full of worry and sorrow at her companion—her protector's—disregard of his lack of limb, who merely scoffed as he was hit. A hydro arrow to the knee. It was a clear cut as any. To his adversary, the anemo allogene ****ed his head downwards to meet the Fatui Harbinger's eyes, provoking the harbinger with a sly grin to return the latter's own. He then ran circles around him, making sure the delusion user's arrows

Stelle had been trailblazing with Dan Heng and March 7th for quite a while. Ever since the start of her journey--from the Herta Space Station to Jarilo-VI, and then to many other vast places in the universe--there hadn't ever been a dull moment between March 7th's photos, Dan Heng's cold, distant (and cute) behavior, and the uncertainty of the Stellaron in Stelle's body. Speaking of her companions, Stelle wasn't sure how March could even take some of her photos. Some were in places that she'd have never thought of, such as a background shot of when the Doomsday Beast attacked the Herta Space Station, or even the battle at Everwinter Hill. But she wasn't inclined to ask. Every girl had her own secrets, after all, and Stelle was no exception. Her past, her future, and even her present--it seemed like Kafka, the one who'd dropped her off at the space station all those expeditions ago, was the only one who knew of whom Stelle truly was in the past. But that didn't mean that she didn't have anything that wasn't dear to her now. Stelle sat on the couch in the parlor car of the Astral Express, taking out her phone to look at her contacts list. The car also currently housed two others: March 7th and Dan Heng, with the former gazing out of the window overlooking part of the Herta Space Station, and the latter situated just across from the gray-haired trailblazer herself, looking intensely at a plant nearby. One would think that in that kind of circumstance, there'd be no need to text either of them, seeing as they were just mere arms' length of distance from each other. Stelle scrolled through her contact list, headhunting for a certain emotionless, stoic man. She was well aware that he was sitting just opposite of her, but she couldn't help but smile just a tad as she pulled up their messages contact. It wouldn't hurt to mess with him just

The sky was clear as day. The suns were shining, the birds were chirping, and in all of Teyvat, there'd never been any day like today. In the Favonius Headquarters, the resident librarian, Lisa, was at her desk, tending to the unstocked books on her drawer. "Meow... meow meow meow meow meow," she sighed. Work was as long as ever. Just like any other day, she saw Ella Meowsk downstairs, practicing her Meowichurlian. Lisa smiled at the fellow feline's determination to study the subject. Meowichurlian was a difficult subject, especially since even now, its practicality and usage were often limited to just Meowichurls. Of course, there were also the Abyss Meowages, but those were a different story altogether. After placing a few books onto a high shelf using the beauty of her Electro Vision, Lisa leapt down gracefully from her desk on the second floor and onto the top of a bookshelf on the first floor. "Meowsk," Lisa directed towards her, "meow meow meow meow? Meow meow meow meow meow." At the librarian's greeting, Ella Meowsk returned the favor. "Lisa! Meow! Meow meow meow, meow meow." "Meow..." Lisa nodded her head at Ella's response to her. "Meow meow. Meow meow meow meow." "Meow, Lisa!" The kitten waved to her as the librarian left. Lisa had placed her as the acting librarian for now, so that she'd be able to take a walk in the peak hours of the Mondstadt sun. It wasn't like Jean would know about her disappearance--she was already piled up with paperwork for the day, all of which would need her paw in order to pass through. It was a shame that the Grandmaster was still away.

This story contains spoilers for the Sumeru Archon Quests! Don't say I didn't try to warn you... "World... forget me..." And so the world did forget. The tree of Irminsul--which collected all information through leylines that ran throughout Teyvat--had Rukkhadevata's existence completely erased from everyone's minds... including from Nahida, Rukkhadevata's incarnation. Paimon's mind went blank as well, and the whole motion of going through with it was a bit more than what the traveler had expected. After all, rescuing a god and saving Sumeru was the original plan... not erasing one from existence completely. Yet they still remembered. And as Nahida told them about the tree and how it was affiliated with the Dendro Archon, they were to set off on another journey... another nation. But before they truly left, they did one more eventful thing in Sumeru: they took down a shady event that was happening down at Port Ormos. Namely, the Nilotpala Cup Beast Tamers Tournament.

"Sayu! Come on, you know that carrots are good for you." Across the table from the small ninja, a shrine maiden sat. She could be said to essentially be Sayu's caretaker--watching over her in order to make sure she was doing what she was supposed to. Whether it be work for the Shuumatsuban, eating her vegetables, or just making sure she wasn't slacking off in general, this was what Kano Nana was tasked with. It'd been a request from the Kamisato Clan specifically, so she didn't find any reason to refuse at the time, thinking that it wouldn't be that hard. Looking over a Shuumatsuban member didn't sound all that difficult, especially due to their high regard within the power structure in Inazuma. Right? Well, yes and no. For one, Sayu, as a member of the Shuumatsuban, was highly adept in hiding--which made sense, given her resume. Her ninjutsu skills, derived from the Yoohoo Art, were amazing at playing hide and seek with the maiden, and she often found herself being the one trying to find the little lady. Though she could never understand why Sayu would want to hide from her, at least the little tanuki girl wasn't going off and doing anything dangerous. Then again, she was always sleepy... so whenever nighttime came, Sayu never resisted following through with several nighttime tasks, one of which was going to sleep. That was probably the easiest task to get Sayu to do. "No!" Sayu huffed, crossing her arms. Kano Nana sighed, being well aware of Sayu's habits for a while now. "It won't do any good for your height if you keep this up, you know," She reasoned with the Shuumatsuban member. Vegetables not only contributed to a healthy diet, but also to one's growth in some way. She ate her vegetables and she grew--it'd make sense to apply that same logic to Sayu. "It's just 15 carrots." "

> Huh. > Paimon, this is where you wanted us to go to? "Yeah! What, is there something wrong with Paimon's taste, huh?!" > Well... > Not exactly, but... A cold, female voice pierces through the air like ice. "Put your back into it!" And in return, a smaller, more exhausted voice replies. "I-I am, Auntie Shenhe!" Upon hearing those two familiar voices, the traveling duo stopped dead in their tracks. They were currently at Jueyun Karst--on a side quest actually, to obtain some Jueyun Chilies for Xiangling--when they had heard the two exorcists' voices. Instead of going all the way into the adepti's abode for the spicy specialties, the traveler had pitched to Paimon about going to Qingce Village instead, as it would've been a less intrusive act according to Liyue customs. But alas, Paimon did not fancy the idea for fear of it being too 'mundane', so here they were. She really

"Master Tighnari, Master Tighnari!" A light breeze came from the door to Tighnari's study as a curious head poked in. Collei. "It-it's the sky! The sky... it's opened up!" "What?" He rose up from his chair, and it screeched across the wooden floor horridly. He shook his head at the thought. No, Collei wouldn't lie to him. She was a bad liar--that much was true due to the amount of time they've spent together--but that was absurd. How could the sky... just open up? Did she mean to say something else, but couldn't find the right way to express it? "C-come outside, you'll see," Collei persisted. She fumbled with opening the door all the way, but eventually just pushed it open as Tighnari walked over and they peered at the sky. And she was right. Something--or some

During the Liyue Archon Quests, the traveler had asked the staff at Wangshu Inn of the "adeptus on the rooftop", and were met back with Smiley Yanxiao's almond tofu. Upon bribing the wary adeptus with said tofu, he had told them that it tasted of the dreams that he used to devour. A light, mellow feeling, full of warmth and love. However, as with all things, once the dish was devoured, darkness would continue. "Do not come close to me, mortal. Doing so will only bring you harm." His words were clear as day--as dark as night. Soon afterwards, he disappeared in a flash of light. However, seconds before he did so, he mentioned to the blonde outlander... "...if you ever need me, call out my name." A symbol of trust? Or a blessing from beyond? His puff of smoke and silence throughout carried nothing else to show. And time passed.