Chapter Text
Freminet hates it here. It's too loud and crowded and he knows he stands out from the locals. But if he didn't follow Lyney and Lynette to Liyue, he'd be alone at home. And Father had reassured him it would be fine....
"Minet?" Lyney pokes his cheek, pulling him back to Teyvat. "You okay? We'll be at our hotel soon..."
Freminet just nods. He won't admit how overstimulating the environment is, but the mention of being at the hotel soon was a relief.
Lynette takes his hand as further support, and he stays close to her.
Lyney's words were true, and they're at the hotel after about ten minutes. It's much quieter here, and far less crowded. Freminet lets out a breath he hadn't realized he was holding. Lyney gets the key to their room from the receptionist, and they head to the elevator.
"Ah- Hey, can you hold that?" A young boy shouts to them, and Lynette catches the door. The boy grins. "Thanks, sorry, this big guy's kinda a hassle to get inside!" He chuckles, holding a lion mask over his head. The boy has brown hair, but the undersides are dyed red, a style that matches his hazel eyes well.
"It's fine." Lynette says simply. And that should've been the end of it, but of course, Lyney pipes up.
"My, my! What do we have here?" He grins. "A fellow performer, might I assume?"
"Oh, yeah!" The boy smiles. "I do Wushou Dances! This is my puppet." He says, moving its mouth. "What do you do?"
"Magic shows." Lyney smiles. "I'm Lyney, of 'Lyney and Lynette's Magic Show'." He says, voice full of pride as he crosses his arms over his chest.
"Oh, magic shows? I think I heard of you on the program for the Lantern Rite!" The boy seems excited at the mention of magic. "How do you do it!? Do you have to use your visions?"
"Ah-ah-ah! A magician never spills his secrets!" Lyney smirks. "But if you must know... No. We don't use our visions, we're just naturally magic-"
"Mechanisms." Freminet mumbles.
"Ah- Freminet!?" Lyney pouts. "Don't tell on me!"
"Sorry..." Freminet mumbles. He was just trying to be part of the conversation. ...Father said that would help his anxiety.
"Mechanisms?" He hums as the elevator dings, finally up on the top floor. "Ah- Sorry, we'll have to chat later. I'll see ya at the lantern rite!" The boy grins, and runs off.
Lyney chuckles. "My, he's energetic. He seems like a natural performer!" Lyney hums.
"...You're annoying." Lynette says simply, and Lyney feigns offense. Lyney goes to banter, but Lynette is already taking Freminet along to their room.
"Wh- Heyyy!" Lyney follows after them, "You two are too boring."
...Lyney and Lynette have left to bring their props to the stage, and Freminet is home alone, in a hotel, with nothing to do. Usually he's just... brought along with Lyney's antics as Lynette tries to stop Lyney. But by himself, he just goes diving. And Liyue apparently has heavy regulations on 'swimming'. So, he finds himself just reading whatever he can find. He grabs the small pamphlet sitting on the nightstand, looking at the Lantern Rite's shows. ...Nothing interesting to Freminet, he's not much for crowds, and the interesting shows aren't enough to convince him to go. But one does catch his eye: 'Gaming's Musical Wushou Dances'. Wushou dances... That's what that boy said he did. He must have been Gaming. Hm. Maybe Freminet would go to see that one, it was right before Lyney and Lynette's show, so it wasn't like he'd have to go out of his way or anything... Yeah, maybe it could be fun. Freminet grabs his journal, finally knowing what to write for today.
Dear
Freminet pauses.
Dear future me,
We arrived in Liyue today. Lyney and Lynette are setting up their magic show. We met this boy with a lion puppet on the way to our hotel. I think his name is Gaming. He does Wushou dances. I think that sounds cool. I want to see one.
Freminet pauses, thinking.
I wonder if fish can perform shows.
That night is the first night of lantern rite shows, and sitting in the crowd, Freminet regrets coming so early. It's too crowded, even if Freminet is sitting alone. He finds himself zoning out with his overstimulation, his surrounding getting blurry and-
"Excuse me?" A blue-haired boy taps his shoulder to get his attention. Freminet flinches, as he's drawn back to his senses. "Sorry! I didn't mean to scare you."
Freminet hugs his mechanical penguin, Pers, to his chest. "...It's fine." He mutters.
"I just wanted to ask if me and my friends could sit here, it's a little difficult to find somewhere with four seats." The blue haired boy smiles politely, a girl and a boy, both with darker blue hair behind him waving.
"Um- That's fine." Freminet mumbles, looking away.
"Thank you!" The boy smiles, and he and his little group sit down, leaving a seat between Freminet and the group. "We're just here to see our friend Gaming." The boy smiles, and Freminet looks over at him.
"Gaming?" Freminet says softly. "I think I met him at a hotel... Um- Is he the Wushou dancer...?"
"Yeah, that's right." The boy smiles. "It's his first proper show, so we came to support him."
"His first show...?" Freminet mutters, looking toward the stage as the lights around go out, leaving just the moonlight and lantern light.
Drums. There are drummers lined up around the stage, and they start to play as Gaming walks onto the stage, still mostly hidden by the dark.
And then the entire stage blooms into light. Oranges, reds, and small hints of green light up the large lantern on the stage, as well as some LEDs on Gaming's lion mask. The brown-haired boy grins as he starts his performance.
His acrobatics are amazing, done mostly with his legs as his hands are occupied holding and operating the mask. But the most impressive part? When he dances... on the water! Standing on it like its solid ground, doing kicks and flips like it was nothing. He kicks the floating lanterns into a staircase and stands at the top as the music ends.
Freminet's just... sitting there, eyes wide and practically glittering as he looks up into the sky at Gaming.
Beautiful.
It's... beautiful.
Everything about it. From the music, to the visuals, to the dancer himself.
It was... amazing.
"...Wow." Is all Freminet can whisper.