Childe Blurbs - Tumblr Posts
you’ve known ajax for as long as you can remember. from the barren winter of your youth to the maze-like woods by morepesok, all of it is inextricably linked back to a hesitant, earnest grin and shining blue eyes.
somewhere in the woods is a crack in the ground. it’s stark against the snow—but rather unremarkable otherwise. he joked about falling in sometimes—“maybe someone took a wrong turn while ice fishing. what do you think?”—but you’d always drag him away before he got any other ideas. after all, ajax had always wanted an adventure for himself, however nervous he may be. (personally, it gave you chills, and not just because it was snezhnaya.)
that all changes when he goes missing at 14.
you find him three days later standing over the crack, as if he’d just crawled out. once upon a time, it’d just been a strange landmark, perhaps a start of some story. whenever you think about it now, you’re brought back to fresh, scabbed scars, deadened blue eyes, and a confident, terrible smile.
you suspect ajax died sometime within those three days.
his new thirst for violence frightens his parents. his siblings are too young to know any better, so the night he’s sent away, you make a promise to wait for him.
“you make a pinkie promise, you keep it all your life. you break a pinkie promise, i throw you on the ice.” his eyes have never been brighter. “the cold will kill the pinkie that once betrayed your friend…”
you curl your pinkie around his. “the frost will freeze your tongue off so you never lie again.”
he smiles then, something unfamiliar and unsettling. “oh, when i return, i’ll take you on the greatest adventure there is.” and as you watch him leave, you think the wind howls fiercer than ever.
a few years pass. you hear about him sometimes, about his promotion to harbinger, a few rumors about his battles. (they call him something else now.) you keep your promise for the most part, but decide to visit liyue one summer for something new. it’s nothing like snezhnaya, jade city and sun-drenched land, and above all—it’s golden. it’s a dream.
you’re speaking to a tall consultant when you hear him.
“hey! it’s been a while, comrade!”
when you turn around, you’re met with blue eyes and a smile—all teeth and no hint of that young boy you once knew.
you think childe, tartaglia, is a stranger to you.