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"Can you even walk, princess?"
Ning Guang shakes her head absentmindedly, completely unaware of what is wanted of her and by whom. The file folder and her day planner lie joylessly in a puddle of mud. The murky water reflects the sky - the sunset blue gently fading into blood red.
The soft leather of the bag is stained with the blood of one of the scum who dared to attack her, and a smirking woman squats in front of her, examining the scratches on her palms. The woman`s eyes are brown but in the dim light of the streetlamps they appear red, like the rose petals in a champagne commercial.
Her eyes are as sly as a fox's, or rather one eye - the other is hidden by bangs, and under the bangs is a dainty black bandage. Leather pants around her magnificent steep hips, and seem to Ningguang attractive and beautiful snakeskin, which hands reach out to touch. She must be going crazy after all, because there just couldn't be that much red in one square meter: in the sky, in the puddle, on her hands, on her bag, even on the brickwork there were drying splashes of red.
"Okay, you don't have to answer that, but it's in both our best interests to get as far away from here as possible before they wake up."
The stranger pulls out a pack of paper napkins from the pocket of her leather jacket, pulls a knife from the stomach of one of the men, which was originally intended for Ningguang, and flings it from the pier into the sea. The sea gurgles, accepting the human gift, and falls silent. The only way to find the knife is by scuba diving.
The other three are still breathing, but weakly and painfully.
"Can you even walk, princess?" The blonde rolls up the sleeve of her coat and stares blankly at the flickering, crooked lettering. It's written in black on flesh. The woman closes her eyes again and sighs heavily.
"Cops. We should call the cops," she thinks, but speaks instead:
"We need a drink."
The stranger brushes her bangs back from her eyes and bursts into a barking laugh that sounds so infectious that Ningguang is now smiling too.
"I definitely like your approach, princess. Now get up," the lady holds out Ningguang`s folder, bloody bag, and a planner that she picked up from the ground moments before.
"My bike is around the corner."
The whole ride to the bar, Ning Guang thinks about what the hell went wrong. To begin with, the breakdown of her car doesn't seem so random now.
The initial shock has passed and her ability to sober up and analyze has returned to her. She's also thinking about the fact that an evening dress isn't the most typical choice for a motorcycle ride with a stranger.
"A very attractive stranger, by the way." - Ningguang thinks aloofly as she inhales the smell of the stranger's hair and grips the seat tighter with her legs.
The bar has a lively atmosphere and the inside, thank Archons, is better than it looks from the outside. Quiet jazz plays in the background and the air smells of hops and roasted meat.
The red-eyed stranger sets her companion down on the less crowded second floor and heads down to the bar. A little less than five minutes later, there are glasses on the table: a two-finger whiskey for Ningguang and a cold-breathing glass of dark beer for her.
"Beidou."
"Ningguang," the blonde shakes the outstretched hand and takes a sip from the glass. Her fingers are still trembling, but the alcohol is a hot magma flowing down her throat, giving her an overpowering sense of balance. It was cold, but now it feels good. Scalding hot and pleasant. Even her hands hardly hurt at all.
"Two questions," Beidou says. "These people certainly sure knew how to fight, Princess. Street thieves don't become Kokutsu-Dachi when they wanna steal your wallet or stab you in the stomach."
The brunette sipped from her glass and then took another look at her companion: ivory-colored hair arranged in some high and insanely elaborate hairstyle, with many braids and smooth twists. There were pearls and gold in her ears, and the graphic arrows smudged just a little, adding a pinch of humanity to this chilly statue.
"Why did they try to kill you and are you free Tuesday night?"
Ningguuang sighs heavily and giggles a little hysterically, tilting her glass. The whiskey settles lightly on the walls of the glass, settling bitterness on the root of her tongue and with a pleasant warmth in her stomach.
Usually, people would start sucking up to her when they heard her name and somehow capitalize on the acquaintance, but this woman... Not only does she have no idea who Ningguan is, but she single-handedly scattered the attacking armed men and went to drink beer in a bar as if it was just an ordinary Sunday.
"I'm the head of Qixing. For the last couple of years, our party's been in the lead in parliament, and not everyone likes it, I guess. Of course, I've been sent threats before, but not like this," the woman waved her hand indefinitely.
Beidou chewed her lip thoughtfully for a while, miraculously managing not to smear her lipstick.
"Qixing... Hmm, never been interested in politics, but it sounds cool. So, what about Tuesday?"
It seemed like Bei Dou was mocking. You couldn't have lived in Liyue all her life and not know at least who ruled the country. Either she really didn't care, or she was just a brilliant actress, probably both, though she would have made a good bodyguard. A sudden thought pierces whole Ningguang`s being like a dagger - the blonde pulls her lips into a soft smile, considering her new acquaintance.
"Do you like sweets?"
"I do. Especially after dinner with a lovely lady," she squinted, but there were still devils dancing in her purplish eyes. The brunette raised her glass, sipping a little more of the heady beverage. The not-so-careful movement made her jacket slip down, exposing her shoulder. It looked like a carefully planned coincidence.
Licking the rest of the malt off his lips, he looks up from under his lashes.
On Beidou's sparkling tanned skin, "We need a drink" was written in Ningguang's perfect calligraphic handwriting.
There was also a bottle of some strong alcoholic beverage, a black pirate flag, waves, and some unknown symbols around a sword cutting the body of a huge sea serpent. The serpent had seven heads, and the steel, even from here, seemed as cold as frost and very sharp. Symbolic.
"You owe me wine and dinner," Ning Guang squinted her catlike eyes, carefully removed her shoe under the table, and slowly guided her foot up the other woman`s leg, "And I owe you dessert and pleasant company."
A scalding hot hand gently strokes the blonde's slender ankle. Beidou squeezed her fingers a little, then slid a little higher and lingered on her calf while the woman herself sipped a little more of her beer with the most innocent of looks. She takes a sip and smiles, looking so peaceful and calm that something warm, but definitely not whiskey, spills between Ningguang`s ribs, sitting across from her.
Ningguang would personally rip off the heads of all the bastards involved in today's incident. She would make time in her busy schedule to bake a meringue roll and get the sweetest and most flavorful raspberries she could find from the ground, definitely red-red. She also definitely wants to have this particular woman as her bodyguard and, apparently, the desire is mutual.
2.11.2021