Tempting Fate

After opening the Intersection of Fate, Paul, more so out of curiosity than anything else, turned back to ask Lilia, "What do you see...?"

Confused by Paul's words, Lilia didn't immediately respond. Instead, she just stared at him for several seconds before asking, "Is there something out in the hallway...?"

"Right..."

Though he had already been informed that others could neither see nor interact with the Intersection of Fate, Paul was still a little surprised by Lilia's reaction. He could see the entrance perfectly fine, and, if he looked closely, there was even a reflection of the interior within her eyes.

Deciding he would worry about such things later, Paul said, "Wait here. We'll be back in a few minutes." before stepping through the door. From Lilia's perception, his body had abruptly vanished the moment he crossed over the threshold. From Paul's, he could look back and see her staring at the entryway with a completely bewildered look on her face.

Just as Paul was about to ask if Lilia could see him, a voice from behind caught his attention as Xinyan asked, "Did you forget something?"

Turning around, Paul noticed Xinyan, Xiangling, Yaoyao, Kaeya, and Ei waiting on the center platform. He had seen them when he first looked inside, but they had been frozen in time, much like the rest of the world around them. Now that he was inside, time began flowing at the same rate as the outside world.

"No. We just got back earlier this afternoon. Nearly eight weeks have passed since I asked everyone to stay here."

Though she knew time was supposed to stop while Paul was away, Xinyan was still surprised by his words, asking, "Eight weeks?" before giving herself a quick once-over. It wasn't that noticeable, but she did feel a little taller than before.

Before Paul could ask what Xinyan was thinking, Ei took the initiative to bow, saying, "Welcome back, Master." At the same time, Zhongli and Jean stepped through the portal-like door behind Paul, leaving only Xingqiu to keep Lilia company.

With people on both sides of him, Paul became keenly aware that he was standing on a sky bridge without handrails.

Resisting the urge to peer over the edge, Paul made his way over to the comparably less dangerous central platform before nodding towards Ei and saying, "Thanks. It's great to see everyone in good health."

"I wouldn't say that..."

Shifting his attention to Kaeya, Paul's expression revealed a mixture of concern and confusion as he asked, "What do you mean...?"

Shrugging her shoulders, Kaeya adopted a teasing smile as she mused, "I was holding it in before we came inside, so I've basically needed to poop for like eight weeks. Mind if we hurry this along?"

Closing his eyes, Paul inhaled a deep breath before exhaling through his nose and saying, "If you need to go, then go. Now that we're back, you don't need to stay in here."

"Sounds good to me."

Without waiting around, Kaeya slipped past Zhongli and Jean, giggling as the latter sent her an unamused glower. In truth, she didn't actually need to poop; she just wanted to mess with Paul. He was too serious, so Kaeya couldn't help teasing both him and Jean. It helped that they were almost always together...

Waiting until Kaeya had exited the Intersection of Fate completely, Paul exhaled a sigh before turning to the group and explaining, "I'll be leaving for school in a few days, so I wanted to try my luck at summoning before I go. My goal is to summon Ningguang, so I'm going to keep pulling until I obtain either her or Albedo."

Raising her hand, Xinyan asked the question on hers and several other people's minds, specifically, "What's your deal with Ningguang? Plannin' to use her to increase your fortunes, eh?"

Without any hesitation, Paul nodded his head, explaining, "I'm doing my best, but I don't think I have what it takes to govern the Milbots Region properly. I hate dealing with Nobles, and that's bound to affect my ability to make deals. And don't even get me started on our finances..."

Though he had taken a few economics classes during high school, Paul didn't need to be a financial expert to understand that removing hundreds of thousands of gold from circulation would have an adverse effect on the economy. After all, the entire Milbots Region, the most prosperous of the four major regions, only had around 3,750,000AGC in circulation.

Since she was more curious than anything else, Xinyan responded to Paul's words with a simple, "Cool." before adopting a cheeky smile and asking, "Want a kiss for good luck?"

Furrowing his brows, Paul was going to mention it was unnecessary when Xinyan held up her hands, adding, "Hey, now. It was just a joke. You don't need to take everything people say seriously, Paul. Lighten up a little..."

"..."

Lowering his eyes towards the ground, Paul took a moment to consider if Xinyan was right. Well, he knew she was, but it was hard not to be serious when the fate of two worlds was on the line...

Shaking his head, Paul offered a faint, "Sorry..." before looking towards the summoning circle and supplanting, "Who knows? Maybe a good luck kiss really would help..." in a muted tone.

As those words left his lips, Paul bent down and began slotting 100AGC into the groove for currency. It was a slow and monotonous process, but Paul could feel his excitement compounding each time an Acquaint Fate manifested into existence.

When all ten Fates had appeared, Paul took a moment to rub his hands together, muttering, "Come on, Ningguang..." before bending down and placing his hands into the oversized handprints. He knew the RNG Gods rarely rewarded those that coveted specific draws within a Gacha, but it wasn't like he could conceal his desire for Ningguang. Even as far back as his first pull, Paul had considered Ningguang to be the best possible pull...

"Confirm...!"

Gaining a hit of fervity in his eyes, Paul immediately shifted his attention to the blue meteor that had appeared high in the sky. He knew it would have no effect, but, for a very brief moment, Paul attempted to 'will' it to change colors. Instead, his expression gradually formed into a deadpan as the meteor maintained its blue hue even after splitting into ten.

"I should have accepted the kiss..."

Since his words were more of a joking complaint than anything else, Paul was a little surprised when Xinyan squat next to him, arms resting on her knees as she remarked, "It isn't too late, ya know?"

Rolling his eyes, Paul managed a snarky smile as he tapped his left cheek and droned, "Sure. Go ahead and plant one on me. If it works, I'll worship you as my lucky goddess from this moment onward..."

Rewarding Paul's words with a light shove, Xinyan adopted a cheeky smile and suggested, "How about this. If I kiss you and it goes well, you have to stop acting so bashfully when we're in the bath together. I can't explain it all that well, but it makes me feel really weird when you won't even look at me."

Furrowing his brows, Paul considered refusing, but Xinyan preempted him by grabbing his head and planting a long and unnecessarily loud kiss on his cheek. Then, with a faint red hue coloring her cheeks, she pretended to ignore him and began slotting gold coins into the summoning circle on his behalf.

"..."

Figuring nothing would come of it, Paul ultimately remained silent and just began helping Xinyan slot gold into the tiny, coin-sized notch. If her good luck charm really did net him Ningguang, he wouldn't complain even if her condition had been to meticulously wash every inch of her body. It would have been incredibly awkward but ultimately worth it if he could preserve his funds. After all, even Ningguang would find it difficult to turn an empty coffer into the mountain of gold he would need to obtain everything from the gacha...

"Want another...?"

"Huh...?"

Looking to his side, Paul found Xinyan staring directly at him with a far more prominent shade of red coloring her cheeks. He didn't think it was possible, but he couldn't help asking, "Do you like me...?"

Instead of responding to Paul's words with her own, Xinyan gave him a much stronger push than the playful shove from before. As a result, Paul ended up being knocked onto his side as Xinyan stood up and returned to her original position in an apparent huff. When she noticed him staring at her, however, she adopted one of her characteristically playful smiles and just stuck her tongue out at him...

("Did I fucking miss something...?")

Looking to Jean as if she would somehow be able to explain things, Paul was left feeling at an utter loss as she pointed to herself and asked, "Did you want a kiss from me as well...?"

"Oh, gods..."

Covering his forehead and eyes, Paul did his best to suppress his growing feelings of exasperation. Then, even though it made him feel like a bit of an asshat, Paul ignored Jean's inquiry and focused all of his attention on the summoning circle, whispering, "Please just come out..." before taking a deep breath and shouting, "Confirm...!"

Following Paul's outburst, the sky in the distance split open as a vibrant blue meteor appeared from within the void. When Paul saw its color shift to purple, equal parts excitement and trepidation washed over him as he asked, "There's no way, right...?"

Demonstrating that Xinyan really might be his lucky star, the blindingly purple meteor split into three purple and seven blue comets. This was enough to cause even Zhongli to mutter a soft, "Oh my..." as everyone else became nearly as excited as Paul usually was.

Though two of the purple lights turned out to be weapons, one bow, and one catalyst, Paul's jaw nearly hit the floor when the person that emerged from the center was a young girl with white hair bound into a very stylish hairdo. She was wearing an Maid outfit not all that dissimilar to Zhongli's, but the thing that stood out the most was the reddish-orange tassel that dangled between her neatly parted bangs.

"No fucking way..."

Crossing her arms, the elegant-looking girl brought one of her fingers up to the side of her lips as she remarked, "That's quite the peculiar thing to say to someone you just met. Are you disappointed by my arrival...?"

Though she could tell Paul was the furthest thing from disappointed, the white-haired girl couldn't help teasing him. She was a little concerned by the youthful state of her body, but she found Paul's youthful stupefaction rather endearing.

Breaking Paul from his reverie and taking the white-haired girl by surprise, Xinyan burst into a laughter so jubilant she eventually keeled over, falling onto her butt before lying down and holding her stomach. As for everyone else, they were nearly as bewildered as Paul. The only exception was the ever-stoic Zhongli, who asserted, "Welcome, Ningguang. Our Master has been awaiting you for some time."

"Oh...?"

Hearing Zhongli's words, the white-haired girl, none other than the famed Tianquan of Liyue, Ningguang herself, adopted a faint smile as she looked to Paul and mused, "That makes things a little easier..."

Before Paul could ask what Ningguang meant, the latter took a few steps forward before kneeling down so that their faces and eyes were less than 20cm apart. Then, with a half-smiling expression that exuded equal parts confidence and severity, she inquired, "Paul Notos Greyrat...what are your thoughts on marriage?"

...

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