An unfortunate accident, or an attempted assassination?
Y/N, the gender neutral partner of Hu Tao now heads to Sumeru to uncover the answer of what exactly happened to their girlfriend, and to free her from whatever ails her now as a result of that...
Y/N: "Ah, sorry. I should really get going now. Me and my friend have a plan to keep to and all—"
Shop Owner: "No worries! No worries! It was a pleasure doing business with you. Heh. I hope you'll return soon for future business with us!"
Y/N: "Perhaps I will. But I'll only have need of blueprints going forward I'd imagine..."
I could hear the shop owner trying to persuade me otherwise whilst I walk away from her, after all, she probably thought that she could swindle me more in the future with her extortionate prices for timber. But I only folded to her persuasion attempts because I wanted the resources tonight, so that I'd have them on hand if they were needed for anything.
But I cared not for her honeyed words, and so I simply walked away from her and towards Collei who was still kneeling down on the ground with her head down and her hand pressed tightly against her chest which was rapidly rising and falling with her rapid breathing. Seeing her still in this state had thus raised my worries for her tenfold, and I quickly made my way beside her and knelt down in front of her... being mindful not to touch her just yet.
Y/N: "Collei! Are you alright?"
Collei: "y–yeah *pant pant* i'm fine... *pant pant* just... did a lot of... *pant pant* a lot of walking today is all..."
Y/N: "I see... is there– Is there anything I can do to help you? Any medicine I can fetch you? A drink of water maybe?"
Y/N: "Here. Let's at least get you sat down somewhere more comfortable, okay? Like that bench over there. And it's in the shade too, so we can get you out of the sun as well which might help."
Collei: "i... o–okay..."
Still panting for air, Collei listened to my recommendation and she slowly brought herself back up to her feet and limped over towards the bench that I had pointed to a second ago. I really wanted to give her a helping hand, but she seemed to not really be much of a fan of any form of physical touch, so I thought it best not to... although I did stay close and prepared to catch her in case she stumbled and fell at all...
Eventually, after a longer time than I would have liked, Collei finally managed to make it to the bench and she then took a seat on it... albeit in a clumsy fashion where it sounded like she knocked her thigh up against the bench as she went to sit down. I also heard an accompanying inhale of air through clenched teeth, as if Collei was trying to hide the pain of it behind her breathing.
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Y/N: "... You okay?"
Collei: "y–yeah— ow... never better..."
Y/N: "Did you cut yourself just now? Or was it just a knock?"
