circuitice | CALL ME OUT

[ night in mondstadt has always had a certain kind of connotation to it. the connotation depend on the person. a bar, brimming, with patrons looking to let drink dilute the severity of life. a restaurant, replete, with late-night goers seeking late-night meals. the streets, emptied, save for those who made their living in such emptiness. and diluc - who walks the length of the night because only by walking into the night can you illuminate it. tonight, there is an exchange of information. that by itself is nothing sensational. in this city, information exchanges hands and ears at the speed that which boggles even the most robust learners of logistics. the information highway is a physical thing taken wings. diluc is not interested in wings; he is interested in the feathers left behind. the exchange includes a person. this, diluc cannot condone.

it's only in the aftermath that he allows himself to breathe. it is not, however, a celebration of success. the package had not been delivered tonight; there had been an issue with the suppliers. the unsaid: the package is still intact, but may not be so in a week's time. the exchange will be set at a date and time sooner than later. diluc rolls the stiff joint of his shoulder and melts into the dark of the city. there is nothing to do but to continue to observe and wait. tonight, then, the city becomes more obstacle than shield. the street he meanders down is uneven. the echoes of a local club reverberates. he ignores it long enough to observe a figure rounding a corner. diluc makes to walk around - he does not, however, make it.

a glint of blue. a trailing mane. a leg that hadn't been there, but now was, stretched akimbo - and diluc is careened into with the spurious light of a smartphone. he starts, first, and then, the cold of hoarfrost is like the nostalgic touch of a single snowflake upon the edge of your tongue. it should have been sweet. diluc looks, and then, he continues to look. ]

No. [ diluc says, because a ghost has come to life in this town.

but it is, however, a mere ghost. the beat that follows is filled with the slow rustle of cloth. diluc rises, and then, leaning down, reaches out his hand. ] The fault is mine. I had not seen you.

[ and have not seen you. but that, too, does not bear saying. instead: ] Though I do not take full responsibility.

I should have paid closer attention.

[ when the other offers his hand, Kaeya takes it easily. something nagging at the back of his mind, beyond the handsome look of this stranger in front of him. but he isn't a stranger, is he? Kaeya can place a red mane of hair, nearly forgotten in the recesses of his mind.

And yet, here he is. ]

Actually... You're a familiar face to me.

[ his phone buzzes needlessly in the background as he puts it away into his pocket, focusing his attention entirely on the man in front of him, that he'd went out of his way to so gracelessly have a chance to talk to. And something tugs on his heart, which almost made him laugh in disbelief. He thought he had shed that long ago. ]

What luck.

[ and then Kaeya studies the face of the man before him, and if not for the cold glare of his eyes, Kaeya thinks it would be a face better suited to smiling. To being carefree. Ah, and that helps him place a timeframe for this ghost of his past.

he doesn't seem as innocent now. ah, kaeya thinks, but he recognizes me too. what had started off as an impulse to get the attention of a handsome man had so much more potential. ]

I don't suppose you recognize me, do you?

[ kaeya asks, even though he's certain of the answer, regardless of what the other says. ]

[ what luck, kaeya says. diluc, who has not believed in luck in decades, looks at him. the blue of his hair is long, the glint of his eyes is that of a stranger's, with guarded glee that speaks to a hidden, underlying thing of teeth and claw. one does not dress as devastatingly as the man does in front of him to live in a world where platitudes are reality. the phone buzzes, then stills. the weight of kaeya's attention falls upon him - diluc knows, through instinct than not, that kaeya is assessing him back. he wonders what he sees. he wonders what he does not see.

it has been some time.

the weight of kaeya's hand, however, is far weightier than that of a ghosts's. diluc pulls. he lets him go. ]

Are you asking or presuming? [ because he has been identified, as had kaeya. diluc's lips press into a line. ] Kaeya.

[ he chuckles, and takes to dusting himself off. Allows himself to stop looking at Diluc, who is very different from when they were children. In more ways than one. And yet-- well. ]

I thought it would be presumptuous to assume. One tends to meet a great amount of people from the time of being a child to an adult.

I could have been an unremarkable face among many.

Diluc.

[ unremarkable would have never been the way to describe kaeya, who was as bright as a silverine blade, glinting. diluc's gaze travels from kaeya's feet up to the tip of kaeya's hair. he raises a brow. ]

You seem to have gained an eyepatch. [ unremarkable his ass. ] What happened to your eye?

A sordid accident while climbing a tree~

[ he says with a dramatic flourish ]

And you are a lot more serious than you were as a child. I feel like that, in and of itself, is a story.

And you were never as flippant. Do you still need stories told to you?

[ he laughs ]

Do you have some free time, tonight?

[ a significant pause. diluc looks. ]

I may be. [ ... ] For an old friend.

I'd love to catch up. If you're willing to call me an 'old friend.'

[ an ironic lilt of his eyebrow: ] If you are still willing to call yourself such.

[ ... ] It has been some time, Kaeya.

It has been.

[ he inclines his head ]

15 years, give or take?

[ he shoves his hands in his pockets as he starts to walk on, bypassing the club, even if that was his original destination. it wasn't the right one for this fateful encounter. ]

I didn't think I'd ever see you again.

[ kaeya walks. diluc's feet still - and then, in increments, he follows. it is a reversal, he knows. it has always been diluc who walked on past the grapevines, and kaeya who trotted behind him. but those days were long passed. fifteen years, give or take - diluc has not counted them, but tonight, the weight of the years wash back.

he shakes his head. what does it mean, then, that they did see each other again? ]

... I didn't either. [ diluc says, softly, into the night. his strides take him to kaeya's side, however. he walks. his nose wrinkles. ] You smell of alcohol and smoke.

Ah, is it that bad?

[ he asks lightly, not allowing himself to look back at Diluc. ]

I suppose I need to get this jacket dry-cleaned, then.

[ he hums thoughtfully, his voice light, unashamed. this is who he is, and there was nothing to hide from. And then, that refrain settled in his head, he allows him to look back at Diluc. admire the lines of his body and how he carries himself-- even if he still struggles to get that red mane under control. ]

I missed it.

[ what 'it' is, doesn't need to be vocalized ]

[ a thin sliver of moonlight, like that of a spider's silk thread. it descends from the crescent of the moon above. it slides down kaeya's back, his silhouette framed between the shadows of two skyscrapers. chiaroscuro, diluc thinks, the art of light and shadow. kaeya's expression is unclear; kaeya's expression could not be more clear. he stands there like a fragment of time returned, and diluc thinks -

it has been too long. ]

... I didn't think you were alive.

[ only under this moon can diluc admit such a thing. because if he had known, if he had even thought, after crepus' death and the descent of violence thereafter, he would have looked.

diluc should have looked. ]

[ his expression softens, that thought somehow comforting. at least he had been blissfully unaware for that long-- long enough that Kaeya thinks it was lucky. For him, for Diluc. Who knows what would have happened if Diluc knew or hoped he was alive. ]

Well, all the more reason to catch up, don't you think?

[ he says as though from the moment he saw that flash of red, he hadn't indulged in a dangerous game of cat and mouse. As though he hadn't immediately knew that his plans of booze and cheap cigarettes were out the window.

did Diluc even have any clue? probably not.

but that was okay. he didn't need to. ]

[ it makes too much sense. diluc is wary of anything that makes too much sense. in a way, the city has made paranoia into form, a shadow of substance that haunts and nips and bleeds. diluc looks at kaeya. slowly, he shakes his head - but his answer is sure: ]

Would you be amenable to a late-night dinner?

Is this an impromptu date, Master Ragnvindr~?

[ he teases as he turns more towards him, taking a step backwards to keep the forward pace going ]

[ the barest flinch of an eyebrow. ]

If this is a date, are you not to call me 'Diluc'?

[ he sees the tension. notes it, and plays as though he didn't. ]

Diluc, then. Or maybe just Luc, huh?

[ but it wasn't a denial. and Kaeya would push his luck as far as he could go. ]

[ ... it truly has been some time. diluc is silent. kae, he remembers. kae. ]

... where do you want to eat.

[ it is, in fact, a concession, though diluc wouldn't go so far as to call it defeat. ]

This way.

[ he inclines his head as he turns around, falling in step beside him. ]

I'm so charmed.

[ diluc breathes out - it is a breath much in the way of a sigh. but he begins to steer them. the glitz of night shines along its streets; it is late, but not late enough for those seeking excitement. ]

You were out alone, then?

Mmhm.

I had plans, but I doubt my absence will be noted.

[ he guides them down the street, and cuts through alleyways, fearless of any potential dangers.

aware that he would rather spend time with the man he hasn't seen for years, a practical stranger. that the buzzing of his cell phone has already stopped. ]

But I'm curious-- you seem to be out alone too. I'm not interrupting anything, am I?

[ plans. vague, but not unexpected. diluc has long since lost the right to ask such a thing. ]

My business has concluded for the night. [ he says, because it is the truth. ] You had a call, however; did you not need to take it?

three thousand years later...

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