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Today was boring. extremely so.
Venti didn't know why; He's always very hyper and would always be up to something. whether that be annoying Diluc at his wineary, playing with the local dogs, singing at his usual spot surrounded by a crowd or even trying to get in Angel's Share to annoyed the cat barista—but ah... There was so many cats, he couldn't even step close to her! (he'd still have to keep his distance from her because she is a cat as well).
So why wasn't he doing anything today?
How come the usual over-the-top Bard was slouching down on one of the branches of the Windwine's tree? the biggest tree of all actual.
He hasn't gone there much, not after traveller at least. And oh, the wind was definitely much more nicer to him than earlier.
Venti was slouched down, quite lazily with his instrument in hand, ready to either sing a song or.. whatever. When he heard movements.
They were so quiet that he ALMOST couldn't have picked up on them. Fortunately, he may be weak but his archon powers were still with him.. even with his gnosis gone.
Curiously and carefully, he crawled on his stomach to look below better, and tilts his head when he sees a strange colored dog tail wagging above the tall grass.
A dog? what's a stray doing all the way out of Mondstadt?
Venti thinks to himself.
Of course, his nature got ahead of himself and he was seconds on going down when the body below shifted to a sitting position.
And oh, it's in fact, 𝘯𝘰𝘵 a dog, but a strange looking dog girl with green hair and cool-looking yellow eyes. She was mumbling on to herself and Venti was just staring at her, trying to piece out if he knows her from somewhere.
oh? oh..? oh! yeah, isn't this that uh.. Albedo's...was it?— assistant? or was he getting this completely wrong? Whatever, her name was..
"Sucrose!"
The girl flinched but looked around for the owner of the voice before landing on Venti who was waving at her on top of the tree branch.
It was scarily amazing how good her eyesight was even with the glasses. Must be dog genes.
It took a while for the girl to respond, clearly frozen in shock and trying to figure out 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 to respond with, but in the end, she waves.
"Hey, you remind me right? Venti the Bard?" She nods at his introduction and immediately stands up.
Thankfully, she waits till Venti lowers himself down and comes to her, panting like he ran a marathon, yet that smirk on his face never disappeared.
"What are you doing out here? I don't.. see you often" He says, crossing his arms, just harmless curiosity.
Now that he's up closer, she really does resemble that of a dog. Fluffy dog ears and a short tail underneath her black shorts, barely noticeable considering she has two annoying capes or whatever you called them.
Not that.. no, Venti was extremely interested. Not trying to deny it.
Sure, he had seen dogs, plenty of them in fact! Stray, or not. He loves all. They're the best! But never had he met a dog person, an actual DOG person before!
"...and I'm just restless that's all"
Oh, right, she was talking wasn't she?
Venti completely got lost in his thinking. He totally didn't hear what she said, not at all. He made a cheeky smile and scratched the back of his head.
"Cool! Hey, so.. what breed of dog are you?"
Sucrose tilts her head, and..𝘱𝘩𝘦𝘸, doesn't realize that Venti didn't listen to her (probably—hoping) short rambling, and responds
"I don't know, I'm just a dog hybrid"
"Are you one that allows pets?" He asks, leaning in.
"uh, pets?" She repeats, her eyes widened a bit before she looks down, possibly in thoughts. Her ears twitch and it was so so so so so so cute! Dogs were cute after all! Venti just wanted to reach out and pet her
Obviously, all good dogs deserves 'em. And she looks like one that needs a good long pet.
"Yes pets!"
"the kind you give to.. animals?"
"duh?"
Her cheeks flushes out of embarrassment. Never had anyone come up and ask to pet her. Not only was that awkward and weird, but it was like universal language for people to immediately recognize that hybrids did not tolerate petting.
At least. That's what her research about Diona states...
Yet, she finds herself nodding slowly. Apparently that was enough for the Bard to giggle and ruffle with her ears like they were his lyre. Not entirely uncomfortable for the girl (Venti hopes but she isn't saying anything so-) but it was odd.
Venti’s fingers slipped into her ears, light at first. They twitched immediately, folding back before springing up again, and he laughed softly at the reaction.
“Oh… you really do feel it.”
Sucrose let out a small, flustered sound, her tail swaying despite her efforts to keep still. The more absent-minded his touch became, the harder it was to stop reacting, her face growing warmer by the second.
He lingered a moment longer, clearly enjoying himself, before finally pulling his hand back.
Unfortunately, like all, Venti's excitement dies out and he stands up to wrap his arms around Sucrose dramatically
"uwahh, I'm so tired" He cries, "But playing with ur dog features made me so happy!"
Sucrose just looked at him, but he still continued
"Let's do it again yeah? see you tomorrow?" He ruffles her hair and leaves without giving the dog girl a chance to respond.
Doesn't matter if she comes back or not, the wind would tell him where she was whenever he felt like it.