[ he isn't a kid anymore, and it's funny to think of himself as a kid back then when it was less than a decade ago. Then again, for someone who has silently come to terms with his own mortality, and that there's probably not much left to his life to burn further, that feels like forever ago. Is that just another example of the completely separate worlds they come from? Zhongli doesn't remember, but it doesn't change the facts, either.
But he feels like a kid again when Zhongli holds his face like that, when he sees that fondness and affection that he thought he saw once upon a time back then but realized it had all been his imagination.
He puffs his cheeks out a bit, admittedly not having a good argument to counter with. It's true Zhongli did get here on his own. And he isn't suffering physically for the most part. There's a helpless sigh that escapes him in defeat, but why is he being punished specifically like this? Zhongli didn't come here to make memories, that's just the endearing positive on circumstance.
Why did you come here? Do you remember me only because you hate me, too?
He really can't figure it out.
Still, Childe can't help but prefer whatever farce this is in front of him to his cruel thoughts. Because in the end it really is a farce no matter how real Zhongli now might want this to be. It's a farce because he's missing exactly what confirmed their time together was never realistic in the first place.
( ... but, all right... when has he ever done anything other than continously indulge the other, anyway? That's probably what he's recalling and interpreting as generosity, as well. ) ]
Aha, all right. I can let you reciprocate since you asked so nicely. [ and yet Zhongli remembers stupid subtle unimportant things that he should have forgotten with his mind deteriorating as it is. The idea of contracts and promises and their equal significance is simmering he should have long forgotten or even simply failed to think of in this context. It's not even to do with memory loss so much as almost anyone would fail to bring that up after so long simply because there were such large gaps to fill in with broader, less intimate, and less intricate information. So why does he bring it up so easily like it's something he kept in his thoughts daily? ]
Mhm, you got it. Promises.
[ he wants to just so thinking about this already, but Zhongli keeps hitting the right buttons that it seems like it's out of his control.
I know you would never allow yourself to break a contract, but what promises could you hope to make me that won't be broken when you'll soon forget them all, anyway? ]
Okay okay, as you like, then. I'm listening right now~!
[ Admittedly, it all feels like trying to make amends right now more bthan feasibly create new promises and new memories, even if Zhongli can't remember anything he might want to make amends for. Such nitpicking isn't revealing a big deal in the long run, of course, if it makes Zhongli hap—
...Oh.
(... Did you come here to die on me, Xiansheng? You wouldn't do that to me... ...or would you? ) ]
no subject
But he feels like a kid again when Zhongli holds his face like that, when he sees that fondness and affection that he thought he saw once upon a time back then but realized it had all been his imagination.
He puffs his cheeks out a bit, admittedly not having a good argument to counter with. It's true Zhongli did get here on his own. And he isn't suffering physically for the most part. There's a helpless sigh that escapes him in defeat, but why is he being punished specifically like this? Zhongli didn't come here to make memories, that's just the endearing positive on circumstance.
Why did you come here? Do you remember me only because you hate me, too?
He really can't figure it out.
Still, Childe can't help but prefer whatever farce this is in front of him to his cruel thoughts. Because in the end it really is a farce no matter how real Zhongli now might want this to be. It's a farce because he's missing exactly what confirmed their time together was never realistic in the first place.
( ... but, all right... when has he ever done anything other than continously indulge the other, anyway? That's probably what he's recalling and interpreting as generosity, as well. ) ]
Aha, all right. I can let you reciprocate since you asked so nicely. [ and yet Zhongli remembers stupid subtle unimportant things that he should have forgotten with his mind deteriorating as it is. The idea of contracts and promises and their equal significance is simmering he should have long forgotten or even simply failed to think of in this context. It's not even to do with memory loss so much as almost anyone would fail to bring that up after so long simply because there were such large gaps to fill in with broader, less intimate, and less intricate information. So why does he bring it up so easily like it's something he kept in his thoughts daily? ]
Mhm, you got it. Promises.
[ he wants to just so thinking about this already, but Zhongli keeps hitting the right buttons that it seems like it's out of his control.
I know you would never allow yourself to break a contract, but what promises could you hope to make me that won't be broken when you'll soon forget them all, anyway? ]
Okay okay, as you like, then. I'm listening right now~!
[ Admittedly, it all feels like trying to make amends right now more bthan feasibly create new promises and new memories, even if Zhongli can't remember anything he might want to make amends for. Such nitpicking isn't revealing a big deal in the long run, of course, if it makes Zhongli hap—
...Oh.
(... Did you come here to die on me, Xiansheng? You wouldn't do that to me... ...or would you? ) ]