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147 » only thing that i beg for is your pardon
[He used to go by a codename — Viator, meaning Traveler — but the jig's been up for a while now, and Aether's not really anonymous anymore. Ever since he started making bigger contracts, working bigger jobs, his background hasn't been a secret. It's out there for the highest bidder to find on the black market, and Paimon gave up trying to stop the sale of his information long ago.
The file is brief and to the point. In summation, Aether "Viator" does not exist in any of the government registries throughout Teyvat. Most informants agree that he was most likely a former test subject from the labs of a shadowy, now-defunct group referred to vaguely as the Myrmidons, or MOTH, but it's unclear what they were researching. The fact that he displays inhuman reflexes and firing accuracy suggests some kind of supersoldier project; the fact that there's a suspicious, artificial beauty to his doll-like features only bolsters the theory.
It is known that Aether has a sister. It is known that Aether's sister is so far deep in the darkest recesses of the criminal underworld that it is all but impossible to find her.
Rumor has it that all who have come across "the Princess" have been killed, indiscriminately, and without evidence of their bodies left behind.
In any case. Aether's fruitless search for his sister isn't a secret. The fact that he entered the world of organized crime in search of her isn't a secret, either. He has standards, or so it's claimed. He doesn't take jobs involving human trafficking or slavery; he doesn't kill or kidnap children; he refuses most things that don't involve revenge or justifiable homicide. Contacting him is still a matter of security and clearance, of course: you can't get in touch with the Traveler unless you have the sway of an organization like Mondstadt's Ordo Favonius or Liyue's Qixing on your side, and Paimon screens all his job requests, anwyay.
(Paimon herself is an absolute mystery. Aether only ever communicates with her through earpiece, and few have ever seen her in person. Allegedly, she looks and sounds like a little girl, but the efficacy of her work and the speed at which she crushes the world's best cybersecurity protocols both suggest otherwise.)
As for his current location? Well, at the moment, there's a rumor that the Traveler just wrapped up some business with the Adepti in Liyue (a rival group to the Qixing sometimes, their associates at other times), but others swear that he's now in league with the Kamisato-gumi in Inazuma.
As of right now, only Lesser Lord Kusanali and her group of Sages know the truth: Aether's current job is with the Sumeru Akademiya. He's here to help the Haravatat locate a missing shipment, allegedly stolen by either the Fatui or a local group known as the Eremites. What's inside the shipment isn't for him to know, but the Kshahrewar representative who negotiated his contract assured him that it wasn't anything that would compromise his legendary sense of morality.
I'll be the judge of that, Aether had replied — but even so, he took the job.
This particular operation shouldn't end in bullets or the flash of steel. He's just here to meet a Haravatat operative by the name of Alhaitham — allegedly because the man is one of their best agents, but also completely, utterly unpredictable. Not a good combination, in Aether's experience, but the Sages seemed to believe that hiring the Traveler as a handler for this Alhaitham was warranted. Perhaps they'd tried a number of their own handlers already. He wouldn't know.]
...Alhaitham, I take it?
[Action movies and pop culture would have them meet under cover of night outside the building that they plan to infiltrate, but the reality of their line of work is that it doesn't work that way. Organized crime would not be so appealing if it were not comfortable. As such, he's meeting Alhaitham in a conference room within the Akademiya library. Aether's assuming that the whole place is wiretapped, but that's fine; he's not planning to say anything that would incriminate himself in any way.
The traveler knows better than anyone else that there's no sense judging a man in their line of work by his looks — but even he can't help but wonder why he's been put on this particular job. Alhaitham looks very much as though he can handle himself. The same experimental treatments that froze Aether's youthful looks also gave him preternatural strength, but if they were going off appearances alone, the traveler would be forced to conclude that Alhaitham could probably snap him in half.]
I'll assume your contact briefed you. I'm here as your backup.
The file is brief and to the point. In summation, Aether "Viator" does not exist in any of the government registries throughout Teyvat. Most informants agree that he was most likely a former test subject from the labs of a shadowy, now-defunct group referred to vaguely as the Myrmidons, or MOTH, but it's unclear what they were researching. The fact that he displays inhuman reflexes and firing accuracy suggests some kind of supersoldier project; the fact that there's a suspicious, artificial beauty to his doll-like features only bolsters the theory.
It is known that Aether has a sister. It is known that Aether's sister is so far deep in the darkest recesses of the criminal underworld that it is all but impossible to find her.
Rumor has it that all who have come across "the Princess" have been killed, indiscriminately, and without evidence of their bodies left behind.
In any case. Aether's fruitless search for his sister isn't a secret. The fact that he entered the world of organized crime in search of her isn't a secret, either. He has standards, or so it's claimed. He doesn't take jobs involving human trafficking or slavery; he doesn't kill or kidnap children; he refuses most things that don't involve revenge or justifiable homicide. Contacting him is still a matter of security and clearance, of course: you can't get in touch with the Traveler unless you have the sway of an organization like Mondstadt's Ordo Favonius or Liyue's Qixing on your side, and Paimon screens all his job requests, anwyay.
(Paimon herself is an absolute mystery. Aether only ever communicates with her through earpiece, and few have ever seen her in person. Allegedly, she looks and sounds like a little girl, but the efficacy of her work and the speed at which she crushes the world's best cybersecurity protocols both suggest otherwise.)
As for his current location? Well, at the moment, there's a rumor that the Traveler just wrapped up some business with the Adepti in Liyue (a rival group to the Qixing sometimes, their associates at other times), but others swear that he's now in league with the Kamisato-gumi in Inazuma.
As of right now, only Lesser Lord Kusanali and her group of Sages know the truth: Aether's current job is with the Sumeru Akademiya. He's here to help the Haravatat locate a missing shipment, allegedly stolen by either the Fatui or a local group known as the Eremites. What's inside the shipment isn't for him to know, but the Kshahrewar representative who negotiated his contract assured him that it wasn't anything that would compromise his legendary sense of morality.
I'll be the judge of that, Aether had replied — but even so, he took the job.
This particular operation shouldn't end in bullets or the flash of steel. He's just here to meet a Haravatat operative by the name of Alhaitham — allegedly because the man is one of their best agents, but also completely, utterly unpredictable. Not a good combination, in Aether's experience, but the Sages seemed to believe that hiring the Traveler as a handler for this Alhaitham was warranted. Perhaps they'd tried a number of their own handlers already. He wouldn't know.]
...Alhaitham, I take it?
[Action movies and pop culture would have them meet under cover of night outside the building that they plan to infiltrate, but the reality of their line of work is that it doesn't work that way. Organized crime would not be so appealing if it were not comfortable. As such, he's meeting Alhaitham in a conference room within the Akademiya library. Aether's assuming that the whole place is wiretapped, but that's fine; he's not planning to say anything that would incriminate himself in any way.
The traveler knows better than anyone else that there's no sense judging a man in their line of work by his looks — but even he can't help but wonder why he's been put on this particular job. Alhaitham looks very much as though he can handle himself. The same experimental treatments that froze Aether's youthful looks also gave him preternatural strength, but if they were going off appearances alone, the traveler would be forced to conclude that Alhaitham could probably snap him in half.]
I'll assume your contact briefed you. I'm here as your backup.
no subject
There's a frown touching his small, delicate lips. Alhaitham is surely testing him with this, but he doesn't like the calm, neutral expression that's practically frozen on the man's face, even as his hands slide up and down Aether's thighs and waist — seeking a hip holster, most likely?
Aether can help him with that.]
Not there. What you want is right...
[He takes hold of Alhaitham's wrist, sliding his palm slowly, slowly up his belly and his chest, all the way to — his underarm, where he's wearing a shoulder harness beneath his suit jacket. There it is, there's his pistol. Loaded, safety on. A sensible type of weapon, maybe a bit smaller than what Alhaitham himself would use, but no less lethal.]
...here.
[Quite an unconventional way for Alhaitham to ask to see his new partner's choice of weapon, but Aether doesn't mind. He's more concerned about this man's tendency to test his boundaries, and getting that tendency under control.
There are certain ways of getting monsters to become more tame. Aether thinks about them as he settles more firmly into Alhaitham's lap, staring him down, his own expression just as unreadable, but perhaps — perhaps just a tiny bit more heated.]
You can play with it, if you'd like. But be gentle.
no subject
Gentle?
[ He asks and there's something in his eyes similar to amusement. ]
That's surprising. I heard the Viator can take anything, no matter size and power.
[ If it's an innuendo or a threat, it's impossible to tell considering his expression stays placid, not even a wave in that cerulean sea.
His long fingers do slip under Aether's jacket though and pull his gun out of its holster. He weighs it on his palm --ah, it's loaded-- before he wraps that around the stock and it's really too small for his hand, but he supposes that makes it perfect for Aether's. It obviously bears a small caliber too, but it's the kind that can make a neat, minute hole where it matters if the one who shoots is precise enough or close enough --and Alhaitham is sure that Aether can manage both things.
He slides it back into the young man's harness without a word, before he grabs his hand and mimicks the assassin's motions from earlier: he has it slide down his skintight tee along his abs, before he steers it to the side, his pants' pocket, right by Aether's inner thigh. The shape hidden in the fabric is more difficult to tell, but surely someone with as much experience as the mighty Viator will be able to recognize a switchblade. ]
no subject
Finally they come to Alhaitham's pants pocket. Aether can tell it's a switchblade, but he slides the long object out of the agent's pocket anyway. He doesn't have an interest in taking the blade out of its handle, or threatening Alhaitham with his own weapon, or anything of that sort — but what he can see of the weapon without unsheathing it is thick, surprisingly ornate, and beautiful. This is certainly no common box-cutter; this is the kind of thing that can easily take a life.
Aether smiles.]
I didn't take you for the type to bring a knife to a gun fight.
[Mischievously, the mighty Viator plants the sheathed switchblade in the dip of Alhaitham's sternum, letting his beautiful body cradle the weapon. Aether's eyes are openly admiring and analyzing the lines of Alhaitham's chest and waist, his uncommonly handsome face. Hmm, by the smirk on the traveler's lips, he's almost certainly thinking of size and power...]
I think I'm going to like you a lot, Haitham.
no subject
[He replies to the joke with the ghost of a smile on his face and by his tone it's impossible to say whether he's teasing him in a harmless way, or outright taunting him, like he really doubts he's as strong and capable as they make him.
He scoffs from his nose when his body is used to hold his weapon and if he were anyone else, he would probably blush under Aether's shameless scrutiny, like he's scanning him for purposes that don't require fighting together, but tangling under bedsheets together.]
Oh? Like me a lot in what ways?
[He plays naive with a tilt of his head, bangs sliding away from his eye. He decides to ignore the too friendly way he was addressed, just for today. See? He's a good guy, he doesn't need a baby-sitter at all. He catches his own blade then and drops it back into his pocket.]
Say, is your little fairy listening to everything we say?
[He has no way of knowing whether he contacts her only when he needs to or if she's always on standby.]
I'm really shy, I won't feel comfortable like that while we're on a mission.
[Viator without Paimon means he could just as well be blind, from what he's heard about them. But if she's privy to all the information Aether will learn during this job as well, like a two for one deal, who is to say she won't betray The Sages? Alhaitham doesn't trust someone he can't meet --someone he can't physically retaliate against.]
Your word she's to be trusted means nothing to me. I showed you my goodwill today. [He nods towards the devices he's broken.] So, two days from now, on our first assignment, you do the job without your fairy. [He taps his ear.] Or I do the job by myself and you deal with the consequences. [He shrugs.] That could mean no money for you.
no subject
You heard the man, Paimon. I'll catch up with you later.
[Paimon huffs from the other end, but it's a sign of Aether's own goodwill that she's audible at all; he could easily switch the volume settings so that she's only talking to her Viator. "Just so he knows, Paimon doesn't like him!"
Chuckling, Aether quirks an eyebrow like he intends to keep that in mind, then switches off his earpiece and slips it into one of his pockets.
Having done so, he slides off of Alhaitham's lap with an easy movement of his hips, one that rocks a little and — it's hard not to notice — implies a very pointed control over his body. He straightens himself back to his usual height, shrugging his braid back over his shoulder so that it swings behind his back.]
Ready to start planning our entrance, then? [He lolls his head from side to side, rolling his shoulders loose and spry.] Your superiors told me that they want us to investigate a private banquet that Ayn Al-Ahmar is hosting in partnership with the Fatui. Seems as good a place to start as any.
[Conveniently, he won't really need Paimon's tech backup at a party.]