Teyvat: Pretender

"Show me how to fly with wings."

Two figures lay on the sandy desert floor: a man and a winged woman, their gazes lost in the vast emptiness.

Silence stretched for five minutes.

"You don't have wings," the woman finally remarked.

"..."

"..."

Ten minutes later, the man responded, "Oh."

"..."

"..."

After another five minutes and five seconds, the woman turned her head towards the man.

"Oh, you have one."

Then she returned her gaze to the void.

"..."

"..."

Twenty minutes passed.

"Yes, I just made them."

"..."

"..."

Five minutes and fifty-five seconds later.

"Shapeshifting?"

"..."

"..."

Forty minutes elapsed.

"Yeah."

"..."

"..."

Five minutes went by.

"Just flap 'em."

"..."

"..."

One hour and 20 minutes passed.

"Damn genius, why didn't I think of that."

Five minutes later.

"...mhm, just flap 'em."

Two hours passed.

"...I will touch you."

"What--"

"GOT YOU, BITCH! HAHAHAHAHA-That'll make it two now, huh, heh."

"You--why are you doing this?" She stood up, eyeing the man.

"Do what?" The man said, appearing genuinely confused.

The winged woman didn't reply. Instead, she fixed her head to face him, noting his closed eyes.

"Don't just stare at me expecting me to say something you're expecting me to say." Getting no reply, he continued, "C'mon, tell me. I have experience as a psychiatrist. I might be of help... Probably."

"Quit the nonsense, and stop making it seem like I'm the problem."

"Hmm? Why did you assume I'm making you the problem?"

"..."

"Sara, are you sure you're okay?"

"..." By this point, Sara was on the verge of exploding, grinding her teeth. Her expression was inexplicable [1], and to add salt to the wound, the guy looked so at ease! The more she looked at the man, the more her control slipped.

And if Dantalion were to open his damn eyes, he'd notice the face of the crow closely resembling a certain Valkyrie.

But too bad, he wouldn't be able to see it because; 'Just because I know how and what caused it doesn't mean I'd solve it.' Is what he said in his mind just as the crow came to him.

'It's not like every problem has to be solved... This isn't even a problem... To me, at least.'

---

Five deep breaths.

Truly her lucky number.

"Sigh... I guess there's no point in talking to you, huh."

"You know that wouldn't work on me, General."

"Well, you're giving me the impression."

"Sara, You've been whiny since yesterday... I'm embarrassed for you for saying that."

"You should get off your high horse, It's annoying conversing with you."

"This isn't you, aren't we best of friends? I even saw you nak--"

"SHUT UP!" Throwing a handful of sand to his face, her cheeks accompanied a blush.

"Sigh..." While shielding his eyes from the sand with his right hand.

"There's no manipulation or some shit like that happening. How many times do I have to say it? Don't you feel tired?"

Why are they in this situation?

Well,

Remember what happened after the duel the day before yesterday?

At first, she's just annoying him, wondering why he did what he did. It's only natural; the Shogun comes first.

And that's kind of a valid reason, so he didn't mind. It concerns the life of his host after all, therefore--I saw the slash then bam! I got this idea to let the Shogun use that sword strike on us!--is what he said.

After hours of Sara lecturing why he shouldn't do something like that again, and him having fun preaching the opposite, the conversation shifted to manipulation.

Yes, Sara seemed to have a misunderstanding that she was being manipulated and now confronting him about it.

Which got her--It wasn't my fault you have trust issues, woman--yep, complete disregard for her feelings.

So here they are, Sara being suspicious of his every word and thinking every shit that came out of his mouth is to get her to do something without knowing.

It became a 'Why do you keep lying and saying this bullshit' situation.

He even created a dog pressing 'HELLNO' every time she asked something.

It's been 2 days.

They're still at it.

"..."

"You don't have to be so hostile, I never actually hid anything."

"... How would I believe that."

"Are you saying to outright just tell you everything without any reason? I don't even know what you want to know."

"That's preferable; you're in my body, so yes." Sara continued. "And you know what I mean."

"You mean 'Fuck you, you're on my turf, drop all your valuables'"

"What? No." She said with a grunt.

"Well, you're giving me the impression." Mimicking just like how she said it.

"..." She didn't reply and just sat her gaze on the sky. 'Yep, I hate this bastard.'

It's also important to note that the Shogun seems to have kept an extra eye on her.

Therefore, she was only able to question him in private or off-duty.

'And this bastard dare waste those precious times with his stupid games??!!! OUTRAGEOUS!! THE THINGS I WANNA DO TO THIS GUY!! JUST THINKING ABOUT IT FILLS ME WITH DELIGHT!! FILLING HIS SINUS WITH CONCRETE AND PUTTING WET SOCKS ON HIS MOUTH AT NIGHT WOULDN'T BE ENOUGH!!!--'

"I just want an answer." In contrast to her thoughts full of all-good and holiness, her face has the same expression as a rock, nothing at all.

Dantalion, seeing his BESTO FRIENDO being a whiny bitch instead of just finding it out on her own, decided to give her an answer; "I don't think what I'm about to say, if not already been answered before, is not what you want to know."

"That's fine... But if it were just useless information... yet you keep hiding it? HEHE.."

'You're contradicting yourself! Oi!' He yelled in his mind while staring at Sara.

Shifting the space to what he saw in Inazuma through his stalking of Sara.

He shifted the space to Inazuma City.

The Kujou State, to be exact.

But why?

Glancing at the startled crow; 'She would be more relaxed and less suspicious in a familiar environment.'

Even though Sara has been going in and out of HIS desert; 'It seems nothing beats the place where you sleep and take a shit.' She still treats the place as somewhere foreign.

"Sara, you're hurting me, y'know." With a smirk plastered on his face.

"Hah?!" Kujou Sara said in a stereotypical delinquent-like expression.

"You're the only person I know and the only person aware I exist." While walking inside the Kujou State.

Feeling Sara following behind.

He continued; "Our meeting may have not been the ideal one, I know you--"

"Shut up, none of those would work." While looking at Dantalion's back. Through the month they've been together; 'The concept Trust shouldn't be in the same space this bastard inhabits.'

Her basis?

This;

--Summary of what happened--

Sunday

Inside her room in Dantalion's space.

There's a 42-inch display.

Controller buttons can be heard.

While the speaker carries the sound effects of sword slashes and monster attacks.

Two individuals can be seen sitting on a couch.

One holding a controller and the other just watching what's on the screen.

Dantalion controls his character to kill the boss.

Doing a hit-and-run tactic.

Kujou Sara watched as he kept dodging and hitting the monster.

After a few more moves.

She watched as Dantalion used a fireball--

Then the game paused.

"If you want to play, just say it, no need to block the screen."

Sara looked behind her, noticing she had indeed unconsciously gone closer to the screen.

Dantalion handed the controller to her.

She took it and sat back on the couch.

"Once you cut into them, back away." He watched Sara playing, her whole arm moving as she controlled her character.

She keeps swinging the controller around as if it would help to move around in the game.

"Yeah, like that."

Now she's fighting the boss he was fighting before she blocked the screen.

"Oh, you can't run in while he's doing that move, you'd get destroyed."

"..."

And yep, she indeed got destroyed.

..

..

After a few more tries...

Frustration started showing on her face.

"Uh-huh." Dantalion nodding. "Good job defeating a tutorial boss."

"...That's a tutorial boss?" She turned her head fast, looking at the Dantalion--tell me you're lying--and unfortunately, he's not.

"Don't throw the controller..." He could feel it; she was about to do it.

As he saw Sara continued playing.

"Now, ignore that treasure chest--" He warned her.

But before he could finish what he was saying.

She opened it.

"-that's a mimic."

She watched her character get eaten by a malnourished chest, clicking her tongue while cracks could be seen on the controller.

And the last straw.

"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHA" While patting her shoulder aggressively.

"YOU--IT'S YOU! You turned the chest into a mimic the moment I opened it! YOU LOSER SON OF A BI-"

"HAHAHHAHAHHAHHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHHAHAHAHHAHAHAHHAHAHHAH" His laughter got louder as he heard her excuse

Sara in her rage-quit state, infused her hands with electro and smacked the controller to Dantalion's laughing face.

There is no trace of the room and the game after that.

Unreasonable?

---

"Sigh... Sure, Sara, Sure." Said with a--What do I do with you--look, she's too suspicious of him, not that she has that much trust in him in the first place, but still.

'This seems so unnecessary... Aren't we BESTO FRIENDO--Damn, I can hear his voice...'

-Chapter END-

A/N:

[0]: I should stop reading too much MTL; I forgot how to write for a few days.

[1]: I can't explain it, bruda.