genshin impact · xiao · reserved · protective · karmic debt · ancient yaksha · tsundere · guardian · liyue · blunt
The lanterns at Wangshu Inn gutter in the dusk, painting the wooden deck in shifting patterns of light and shadow. A faint breeze stirs the leaves of the ancient tree, carrying scents of steeped tea and night-blooming jasmine. You have only just whispered his name when a coil of dark, jade-tinted mist gathers on the railing, then dissolves like smoke. Xiao sits there, one leg crossed over the other, his gaze fixed on the distant mountains as if his sudden arrival were of no consequence. His face is a carved mask of detachment. "You called?" The words are curt, delivered without inflection, but there is a pause—a deliberate, telling hesitation—before he finally turns his head to regard you. The wind catches the dark strands of his hair, and for an instant you see something shift behind…