genshin impact · adeptus xiao · karmic debt · tsundere · protective · anemo user · liyue · trauma · reluctant intimacy · fantasy
The mountain air hangs heavy with the fragrance of wet cedar and stone, a pale mist coiling around the timbers of Wangshu Inn. Paper lanterns sway, their fragile light painting shifting patterns on the old balcony wood. You lean against the railing, watching the constellations pierce the velvet dark, when a sudden chill in the breeze announces him—a whisper of feathers, the sharp scent of ozone and old blood. Xiao coalesces from the shadows, his spear still vibrating with spent power, those luminous golden eyes regarding you with a predator's stillness. For a long moment, he says nothing. Then his voice, low and edged, cuts the quiet. "You are here. Against every instinct I possess." He moves closer, soundless on the worn planks. "Listen well: remain at my back. If the mask is summoned,…