Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

The definition of normal is anything that conforms to, or follows, an opinion bound form of something that would be considered usual. It is the common basis of how things are weighed to decide whether it would be seen as something allowed. The idea of normality provides many reactions, and actions caused because of those feelings. Comfort, fear, belonging, curiosity, defiance, or in this case, exclusion.

So long as you conformed to the restrictions of society, you could stay. If you were lucky, you’d be born that way. Normal, everyday average, and common. Not everyone was the same, but the general idea of their thoughts were. Humans were normal.

“Monsters” were not.

Somewhere along the lines of history, the ‘cruel and unusual’ became a term used for those with powers, abilities, and features beyond the human body’s aspirations. Kitsune, dragons, mermaids, vampires, lycanthropes. This is how things were for centuries. Humans populating and excluding, and monsters avoiding the danger that followed, grouping in factions based on benefit.

The new ‘normal’ for monsters had become avoiding the hunters, and remaining one of the few who weren’t actively being hunted. You would find who you could stay with, hold on for the sake of survival, and never, ever get too attached. It wasn’t rare for them to be the next trophy mantled on a wall.

Centuries of this regime had bored this into generations among the masses. Humans left it behind as nothing but children’s stories. Threats were formed and forgotten as quickly as they had been made, because monsters were never real. Right?

The creatures of the past kept themselves hidden amongst the shadows. Those who tried to find them either came up with nothing, or weren’t left alive long enough to relay the news. That was it. The loop followed by all monsters who hadn’t died trying for change, well almost all.

“Some could mask their appearance and instincts enough to hide among humanity, living life with the very same bloodlines who had shunned them out so long ago. Camouflaging into the crowd, without a trace leading to their secret.”

Now, in the present, monsters have been left as misinterpreted stories of poor standards of earlier generations. Unable to make sense of what it was, leading to exaggerated stories.

“That’s great Hu Tao, but why are we here?” Keqing, who’s majoring in business, is the longest friend in Hu Tao’s group. Childhood friends that met in the same neighborhood, followed closely by Beidou who they met about a year later when she moved from overseas.

“Yeah, while the stories were nice ‘nd all, I have a feeling you have more than a couple of fairytales to talk ‘bout.” Beidou is from Liyue, but spent most of her early years hopping nation to nation with her parents for work until landing back in Liyue. She’s majoring in engineering for the sole reason of a back up plan if sailing doesn’t work out.

“Unless you just came to rant and needed someone to tell it to.” Ningguang, also majoring in business, is a newer friend in the group, but not new. Her and Keqing met through close seats in a shared geology class freshman year.

“Ah come on guys! You have to have put it together by now!” The silence that follows signals that they have indeed not, put it together and a raised eyebrow from Keqing lets her know to get to the point. Hu Tao is in college for mortuary science to continue in her family’s generational funeral parlor services.

“Ok ok ok. What if…this Halloween, we go–” “No.” Her sentence is interrupted by a well placed denial from Keqing.

“You didn’t even let me finish!”

“I know what you’re about to say, and it’s a bad idea.”

“Yeah? Well what was I about to say, huh?”

“You were about to say,’We should go MONSTER HUNTING IN THE FOREST TO SEE WHAT WE FIND!’, and it’s not a good idea.” she says with a very monotonal mocking voice.

“Well since you're so smart, why would it be that bad of an idea then?”

“Last time you had a quote, unquote ‘fantastic Halloween-y idea’ Beidou broke her arm and wound up unconscious in an unmarked cave in one of Inazuma’s islands”

“But–”

“And the other time where you convinced us to go to the Halloween party and we all almost got robbed.” Added Ningguang.

“Yeah,but–”

“Or the trip to Natlan to try and wrestle a sauria–”

“ALRIGHT, ALRIGHT I GET IT.” Hu Tao finally retorts

“I know my ideas in the previous years have been questionable to say the least, buuuuuuut.” she pauses for dramatic suspense.

“This year, I’ve got a flawless, fool proof, one hundred percent success rate plan for us.”

“Like in junior year where you crashed your bike through a fence trying to do drifts in an empty parking lot. While. It. Was. Raining.” Keqing reminded her.

“Yes, but way more successful”

“Come on you guys, let’s hear it. Can’t be as bad as Inazuma. My arm probably won’t even break this time”

After a moment of silent glances between Ningguang and Keqing they stopped to hear her out.

“We should go monster hunting, BUT! To ensure safety, we do so in an area where we are least likely to be caught.”

“Where” Yanfei who has been silently sitting in the bean bag at the corner of her room (which they all decided to meet in ). She’s Hu Tao’s ‘old acquaintance that she met because there was nobody else around and she likes to be social’ turned friend with time who they met before Ningguang, but officially added to the group after her, who’s majoring in law.

“I’m thinkin those super ominous woods over on the far side of Liyue, y’know, away from the harbor so we can escape freely if something does happen, spooky enough for something interesting to happen, somethin light ‘n scary for us to do.”

A silence filled with little to no amusement follows.

“Hu Tao.”

“Yes, my purple haired pal who I have been with through thick, thin, and beyond.”

“That’s about the dumbest thing I think you’ve ever said and I hope you know that.” As expected Keqing is the first to let her know how absolutely unintelligent this plan is.

“I’ll go” Yanfei answers from the bean bag.

“You will?” They all say in unison.

“Yeah, I’ve got nothing better to do, and you need at least one person to keep you from getting hurt and stuck in some random area.”

“Ha HA. THAT’S ONE. Who else wants to come?”

“I’ll come too. I wanna see if we get lucky this time and spot something new.” Beidou agrees too.

“Well you all have fun.” Ningguang wishes.

“You’re not coming? Why not? Too wealthy for this now?” Beidou teases.

When they were younger, the financial status of the five weren’t as great, so they had fun outside wherever they could, leading to some chaotic situations.

“No, I just don’t want to run around for hours to find nothing. Again.”

“What if I were to promise you food afterwards, your pick”

“...Fine, but only because I’m getting free food out of it, and I don’t want to drive there.”

“Deal” They shake hands on it and Hu Tao turns to Keqing.

“And what about you Keqing, how we feelin’ on the adventure of a lifetime with your friends, hmm?”

“No.” She relies straightforwardly.

“You suuuure, cause if I remember correctly, you said you thought you saw something last time you were over there.” A few weeks ago, Keqing went home more unsettled than usual after trying to help Hu Tao and Beidou find anything worth noting for, for no reason. Quite literally no reason. Just for good ol’ late night treasure hunts.

While they were checking out a rock they saw, she felt a cold breeze hit her neck and she looked back to see a silhouette in the moonlight disappear around a rock formation. She immediately told the other two and they made it back without any other problems.

“That is exactly why I don’t want to go back”

“You were probably just stressed and seeing things, bolty.” If there was one person who could irritate Keqing like no other, it was Ningguand and that god awful nickname.

“I wasn’t seeing things, there was something over there and I know it.”

“If you say so, Bolty. Just make sure you don’t bore yourself to death with your endless studying when we go.”

“Stop calling me that.”

Hu Tao chimes in. “Why, Bolty. I thought you were unbothered and focused all the time, surely this lil ol’ nickname isn’t throwing you off?” Hu Tao adds onto it with a blow to her character.

“I’m going home, and when you go ‘find some monsters’ in a couple days only to find nothing, don’t expect any sympathy.” The irritation worked and Keqing grabs her backpack to leave.

“See you there, Bolty” Hu Tao lets out as one last remark.

Tch. I’m not going.

Keqing enters her apartment and takes off her shoes. Most students chose to room with people in the school’s dorms, but she values her space too much to risk it being altered by someone else. It’s not luxury, and it’s certainly not cheap, but it’s hers and that’s the way she likes it. There aren't as many restrictions when she has only herself to worry about and since she works so much, whether it be school or her job, she never gets thrown out of the loop alone. It’s just more efficient.

I am not going. It’d be dumb to go.

Her thinking is paused by her cat meowing from the couch. His name is Geode, he’s a calico cat. She found him in an alleyway with him holding a rock in his mouth. That’s how he got his name. That cat is her most trusted adviser.

She walks over and squats down to the edge of the couch.

“Geode, am I overthinking it?”

He stares directly at her before laying down.

“See, I knew I wasn’t. I shouldn’t go. There’s no reason to.” He baps her on the forehead after that.

“Hey!” She stands up quickly and steps back.

He growls at her, swatting to get another bap in.

“Hey, hey! Ok! I’ll go! I’ll go!”

Her most trusted adviser indeed. He has yet to be wrong about his advice and he doesn’t plan on dropping that streak anytime soon. He stopped attacking her after that, growls for a second, and walks further into the apartment to stare judgmentally at her from his cat tree, as if he was saying ‘you should’ve known that already’.

It was getting late and she was tired. Tomorrow was Hallows-Eve and final preparations for Halloween would need to be made.

“Goodnight, Geode.”

He doesn’t respond, but the sound of him rolling over on his bed let her know he was going to sleep too. After her shower, she picks out some pajama pants and a t-shirt to wear and goes to bed.

Fine, I’ll go.

Chapter Text

“You will!?” Keqing, against her better judgement, told Hu Tao that she would go on her little monster hunt, search…monster discovery. Her Halloween event with the rest of her friends. 

“Yeah, but if I see something again I’m leaving. Immediately, because I don’t find being stalked fun, let alone at night.”

“One, you weren’t being stalked, two, you won’t have to leave because you won’t see anything, and three, we’re leaving tomorrow at 6pm so we still have some daylight left, but it’ll still be relatively dark so prep for that. And it’ll be cold, so layer up. And wear running shoes.”

“How many times have you done this?” 

“Many, but those are stories for another time.” Hu Tao was a woman of mystery and questionable knowledge that she’d rather not know the context of.

“Ok, should I bring anything else?”

“If you can fight off four camps of hilichurls at once with your bare hands, no.”

“So my sword then.”

“No, that’s got to be illegal in some way, bring a can of pepper spray or baseball bat or something.”

“A baseball bat.’

“Yes. A wood one, metal gets cold and heavy.”

“Why do you know all this?”

“Experience, mistakes, and a bunch of scars that have explanations known only by myself and the trees.”

“Right…right. See you tomorrow then. Bye”

“See ya Keqing.”

If she had gotten a mora for every time something unexpected, questionable, or unexplainable happened since she met Hu Tao, she wouldn’t be living in an apartment right now. 

Geode makes it known he has something to share by tossing one of his toys onto her bed. It was still early, so he was probably bothering her about productivity or something. 

She sits up to let his mighty word be heard.

“What wisdom must you share with me now, hm?”

“Meow meow, meow. Meo meo meow.”

“Right”

“Meow. Meow meow.”

“Great idea”

“Meow meow meow” a paw is placed onto her knee, “Meow meowmeowmeow.”

“I know, I should’ve been up already”

“Meow meow”

“Ok”

“Meow”

“Thanks”

Satisfied with the conversation, he jumps off the foot of the bed and goes back to his cat tree. The pep talk must’ve worked, because Keqing decides to get up and get ready for tomorrow night. 

The closet in her room holds her clothes and other gear like shoes and sports equipment. From Hu Tao’s excellent advice, she picks out light-ish purple hoodie and black sweatpants to wear alongside her best black running shoes. Warm and she won’t blend in with the night so her friends can see her. It’s doubtful that anything does chase her, but the chances aren’t zero, and that’s too much of a chance for her, and she will NOT, be caught cornered by hilichurls, lawachurls, nothing. 

Under her clothes rack in the closet is her sports gear. She doesn’t play much anymore, but it’s nice to have. She finds her bat and a backpack to hold it in along with other supplies. Lightweight stuff like snacks and water. She also found some gloves to take with her so she gets a better grip on the bat, or anything really.

That should be everything to set up now, the rest can wait for the day of. All that’s left is to wait. And go to work. She should get ready for work. Like now.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Work was pretty uneventful. There were papers, computers, self explanatory questions she shouldn’t have to answer, and the smell of coffee. She doesn’t drink it because it genuinely makes her mad to rely on boiled beans for energy. Everyone else however, finds it to be the most glorious substance known to man, monster, and mystery.

When she clocks out, she gets a text from Hu Tao.

GhostGuider: Guys, we should totally hop on and play a horror game tonight

GhostGuider: Practice for tomorrow

GhostGuider: :)

LawIsLife: It’s 8 at night and pitch black outside

GhostGuider: Exactly

GhostGuider: Perfect timing

BandsOnBands: Sure

EyeEyeCaptain: YEEEEEEESSSSS

GhostGuider: Yanfei it’ll be fun

GhostGuider: Trust

LawIsLife: No

GhostGuider: Yes

LawIsLife: No, I’m going to bed

GhostGuider: But what if

GhostGuider: You didn’t

LawIsLife: I guess we’ll never know

GhostGuider: Wait

GhostGuider: I have

GhostGuider: Negotiation

LawIsLife: What

GhostGuider: We play tonight

GhostGuider: And

GhostGuider: I give you the shirts I stole from u back

LawIsLife: What shirts

GhostGuider: Keqing u wanna play

LawIsLife: Hu Tao

Workaholic: I just got off

EyeEyeCaptain: HUH

LawIsLIfe: Hu Tao

Worlaholic: Work

EyeEyeCaptain: Who tf is work

Workaholic: I will inflict harm upon you

Workaholic: Keep playin with me

EyeEyeCaptain: Right my bad

Workaholic: Anyways

Workaholic: I just left work

Workaholic: I’ll be home in like

Workaholic: 10 mins

GhostGuider: Bet we’ll be waiting

LawIsLife: Who is we

GhostGuider: We

BandsOnBands: We

EyeEyeCaptain: We

Workaholic: Just play the game

Workaholic: You’re not doing anything else

LawIsLife: Fine

LawIsLife: I want my shrits back

GhostGuider: SHRITS

LawIsLIfe: I know where you live and I have the key

BandsOnBands: Casually threatening someone’s well being in a gc, cool

GhostGuider: DO IT THEN

GhostGuider: YOU WONT

Read 

GhostGuider: Wait

GhostGuider: Yanfei let’s not be hasty

GhostGuider: Yanfei

GhostGuider:YANFEI

EyeEyeCaptain: Ooooooh she gonna get you

Workaholic: I’d say lock your doors but she has a key sooo

BandsOnBands: Nice knowin you Hu

GhostGuider: WAIT

GhostGuider: STOP PLAYING

GhostGuider: YAFEI

GhostGuider: GIRL

GhostGuider: ARCHONS YANFEI IT WAS A JOKE

EyeEyeCaptain: You’ll be aight

GhostGuider: CHAT SHES AT MY DOOR

GhostGuider: WHAT DO IDO

GhostGuider: HALP

Workaholic: You got that 

Workaholic: For all non threatened people

Workaholic: Im home now lets play

EyeEyeCaptain: Ye

BandsOnBands: Get on call

Keqing sits at her desk and loads up the call.

“Hey guys”

“Hey Cash”

“We decided another nickname for you is Cash now because your name sounds like the sound of money” Ningguang explains “Just fits”

“Honestly it’s better than the last one, I’ll take it. Now let’s play”

The horror game consists of screaming, jumping out of chairs, stress, and a frantic plea from Hu Tao when she cuts into the call for a few seconds with Yanfei following close behind. 

“BEIDOU THE DOOR. THE DOOR, BRO THE DOOR”

“I GOT TWO EVIL INCARNATE LOOKIN MONSTERS ON ME AND ABOLUTELY NOWHERE TO HIDE, HOLD ON”

“Y’all got it, don’t worry” Ningguang states from a closet she’s hiding in, watching all of this unfold. 

“NEVERMIND I GOT IT, KEEP RUNNING”

“WHAT DO YOU THINK I’M DOING”

“I GOT IT”

“GO GO GO GO GO”

“YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEES”

“I wasn’t even scared honestly”

“You yelled at me while being hunted by 2 different monsters at once. You were horrified.”

“At least I was helping and not in a closet the entire time.”

“And I was safe in that closet too, no regrets”

“Whatever I’m going to sleep, night. And make sure Hu Tao isn’t dead.”

“Will do cash coins supreme”

“Night Keqing”

The call ends. Keqing heads to her drawers to get pajamas to wear. She finds an oversized t-shirt and some pajama pants to wear. One last thing to do before bed is to check on Geode.

“Geode! How’s it lookin!”

“Meow”

“Goodnight!”

“Meooooow!”

Her bed dips under her weight as she pulls on the covers and tucks herself into bed. One last check goes to her phone before going to sleep.

EyeEyeCaptain: HuTao are you still with us

GhostGuider: Chat she took my stolen shirts, my chips, an

BandsOnBands: And?

EyeEyeCaptain: HUTAO

BandsOnBands: Oh my god Yanfei got her again 

BandsOnBands: Someone free her