...Generally. I don't quite know what she's planning, but if it was what the Tsaritsa wished, I would lay the world at her feet. I'm a weapon for her to wield as she sees fit. Whatever her goal, it's my job to see it through. Even if it doesn't align with my own morals.

[Childe's voice is very clear, unwavering. His devotion to his Archon runs deep. He was her sword, her vanguard. He was honoured to enact her will in any nation, through any means necessary, she only needed to ask.

Casper's question catches Childe off-guard, and he lightens up a little. Just a little, his voice growing softer, fonder, as he speaks of his youngest siblings.]

Family trouble? Oh, no. Things are fine. They just signed me up for the Fatui to keep me out of trouble. My parents and elder siblings know about the chaos I tend to stir up, but the younger ones... They think I'm a travelling toy salesman.

[They thought he was a hero. Tonia still called him her Knight.]

I try to keep it that way. They don't need to see how awful the world really is. They're just kids.

[Childe firmly believes this. He needs this, for their curiosity and innocence to stay in tact, for the cruelty of the world not to run them down and break them and mould them into a weapon like it had moulded him. Childe doesn't spare a moment to think that maybe he could be projecting an unhealthy amount of his own wishes onto them.

He was so normal.]