...5, 4, 3, 2, 1, objective is a-go.
- “Your assignment,” Ningguang said, “Is to assist the Ordo Favonius of Mondstadt in dismantling a newly-surfaced criminal organisation that goes by the name of the ‘Abyssi Familia’.”
Exactly one week into their new positions, the 115th generation of the Liyue Qixing’s secret elite forces are given their first assignment; to take down a major criminal syndicate that is surfacing in their neighbouring nation of Mondstadt. Consisting of 5 of the most dangerous personnel across databases continent-wide, their assignment will conclude when all five of their targets are arrested, subdued, or dead.
However, of the five is an enigmatic mercenary by the name of Arsenic - holding claim to the highest current kill count, and without a single failed hit. They are notorious for their weaponization of toxins, their mysterious escapes from assassinations, and for their distinguishing feature of not having a single shred of information or data regarding them. Something which, the Ordo Favonius emphasises, is highly concerning. With the arcane nature of Arsenic and the Abyssi Familia, one could say the Yakshas have quite the unpredictable mission ahead of them.
Catching Air
is a Genshin Impact spy fanfic written by Sub_Reality. A story focusing on the Found Family dynamics of the 5 Yakshas, the race to stop the plans of a powerful criminal organization, the mystery behind Arsenic's chaotic nature, and even the real nature of the now modern Teyvat. While not focused entirely on the pairing, this is a Xiao/Venti fic.
Catching Air contains examples of:
- Agents Dating: Weijiang harbours feelings for Jiayi, with many hints that their feelings are reciprocated.
- Ambiguous Gender:
- Thanks to being covered from head to toe, and obscuring their voice technologically, Arsenic's gender is officially unknown but esteemated to be female due to height.
- Weijiang, despite being based on Bonanus, is refered as with the pronouns "they/them", so they're either trans or non-binary in the story.
- Beautiful Singing Voice: Xiao catches the voice of someone singing while patrolling the streets of Mondstadt, and he's immediately fawning at its beauty and technique despite not understanding the lyrics. After recording the song and taking it to Kaeya for help in translating it, Kaeya is also amazed at the quality voice of the mysterious singer. The fact that the owner of such beautiful voice is Arsenic surprises Xiao.
- Berserk Button: Don't call Weijiang "Wei-wei", especially if your name is Zixin.
- Boom, Headshot!: The Yakshas' first objective is assasinated by Arsenic via a sniper bullet full of toxins to the head.
- Caught on Tape: Xiao accidentally left the recorder in his suit on, letting it record the entire conversation he had with Arsenic to be archived in the Ordo Favonius' database. He's reluctant to reveal its existance to the other Yaksha and the Ordo, despite the useful information, because he left Arsenic go instead of attempting to capture them.
- Code Name: The Yakshas use their canonical names as code names, separated from their original, civilian names:
- Agent Indarias, for Jiayi.
- Agent Menogias, for Yihong.
- Agent Bonanus, for Weijiang.
- Agent Bosacius, for Zixin.
- Agent Alatus, for Xiao.
- Cold-Blooded Torture: When they're not being deadly efficient, Arsenic is known for "playing with their food". Such was the end of an intermediary of the Familia, found dead in his house, bound to a chair with knife lacerations and a bag tied to the head, used for asphyxiation or a mini gas chamber.
- Commonality Connection: Xiao feels this way towards Arsenic over the fact that they both are remorseful killers who were Forced into Evil.
- Convenient Slow Dance: Combined with Dance of Despair. Dancing a historical tango is part of Mondstadt's Eve of Mourning, and Xiao dances with Carmen in order to cheer him out of his grief.
- Dramatic Irony: It's sadly ironic that the archon of freedom has been Forced into Evil by Abyssal powers.
- The Dreaded: Shenhe, the Yakshas' coach and manager, retains her icy personality and implied anger issues, and the five super agents fear to get on her bad side.
- Elite Army: The Yaksha squad is the crown jewel of Liyue's militia.
- The Faceless: Arsenic goes above and beyond to keep their face hidden, wearing an obscuring black mask alongside a hoodie and also wearing a gas mask due to their prefered assasination methods. Justified, since the amount of coverage also works as a pseudo-Hazmat Suit.
- Family of Choice: The five Yakshas.
- Found Family via Work: The five not only trained together under a very strict regime, but were also encouraged to spend as much time together as possible and even live together in their own dorm, in order to foment their camaraderie to the point of being a Band of Brothers. Xiao especially sees them as the closest thing to a family ever since the tragedies of his past.
- From Cataclysm to Myth: The game's fantasy elements, like the Visions and the Archons, are considered myth in the current modern day Teyvat; 2000 years ago, due to the war between the divine, the abyssal forces and humanity known as "The Last Stand", the elemental magic disappeared from the world and the Archons died.
- Gas Leak Cover Up: Twenty years ago, Mondstadt suffered a massive gas leak that destroyed a considerable amount of the city. Turns out it was an estimated cause; the reality is that it was a previous attempt from the Familia to build their Collider that ultimately failed... or did it?
- Gratuitous German: The song Xiao hears is sang in Old Monstadtian, which is German out of story.
- Le Parkour: The Yakshas' suits allow them great movility that they use to maneuver around Mondstadt's buildings during patrols; Xiao in particular loves the feeling of freedom he experiences. Arsenic also moves around using parkour, being extremely fast and nimble.
- The Magic Goes Away: The fantastical elements of Teyvat, like the gods, visions and the abyss, died out after the Last Stand war 2000 years ago. While there's still artifacts and records that they existed, they're considered myth nowadays.
- The Magic Comes Back: The appearance of the characteristic violet colour in Arsenic's eyes, and the Abyssi Familia, indicate that abyssal powers are coming back.
- Master Poisoner: Arsenic's method of assasination is the use of deadly toxins, either by Deadly Gas or toxic bullets. Their kill count surpases the five hundred.
- Mistaken for Suicidal: Xiao's second encounter with Carmen. Carmen was perch over the edge of a skyscraper, watching the Kerzenparade; Xiao thought he was planning to jump and intervened, but when asked Carmen sincerely denies it.
- Mysterious Waif: Carmen, a young man who Xiao encounters in the Last Stand Monument and gives Xiao very familiar red flags.
- Noiseless Walker: Arsenic's combat boots are deceptively light, and their steps are imperceptible to even Xiao.
- Nothing Is Scarier: There's absolutely no information on Arsenic whatsoever. Not even the Ordo Favonius' intelligence team could find anything about them. And in a time when Everything Is Online and, as Ningguang said, "the walls have ears", a deadly mercenary who's a complete unknown is the thing that disturbs everyone the most.
- Obsessive Sports Fan: Weijiang is a massive fan of soccer, and they were looking forward to the finals of the World Cup being hosted in Mondstadt. Sadly they miss it thanks to Arsenic being spotted that same night.
- O.C. Stand-in: Thanks to the minimal canon information about the Yakshas in the game, the author turned the Yakshas into more of a title that has been passed on to their original characters, with the only exception being Xiao.
- One Degree of Separation: Albedo, the Ordo Favonius' head scientist is the son of Rhinedottir, the head of the Abyssi Familia.
- Past Experience Nightmare: Xiao's past is explored via dreams, and thanks to his Dark and Troubled Past most of them are nightmares.
- Powered Armor: The Yakshas' suits are mix of this, Spy Catsuit and Future Spandex: they're highly techological form-fitting suits with enough armor for protection without restraining movements.
- Reincarnation: There's subtle hints that the deceased archons have reincarnated in the current era, thanks to Xiao's rememberance of Zhongli's eyes shining golden for a second and Zhongli talking about an old close friend from Mondstadt with an "interesting personality."
- Secret Identity Vocal Shift: Arsenic hides their real voice by a robotic voice filter, which also hides the nuances of their entonation, making them sound cold and sarcastic. In reality, Arsenic's voice is actually quite lyrical, dejected and remorseful; in their civilian persona, his voice is coarse and strained, likely due to previous crying.
- Self-Harm: The Yakshas caught Arsenic being sloppily punched by a drunken thug and not making any attempt to defend themselves, implying this is a sort of self-harm by proxy, confusing the Yakshas and the Ordo even further.
- Sinister Surveillance: Used benignly by the Ordo Favonius, and implied to be the case with the Qixing as well. Mondstadt's streets has plenty of security cameras, and the Ordo has complete access to them. Chapter 5 begins with Xiao and Zixin observing the other three Yakshas on patrol from the Ordo's Communications Office.
- Smoke Out: When fighting at close range, Arsenic likes to dissapear amist the clouds of poisonous gas and suddenly reappear with a punch or kick, as Xiao learns in his first encounter with them.
- The Stateless: A DNA search reveales that there's no recorded information about Arsenic's real identity, not even civil nor medical records, neither in Mondstadt nor Liyue. Due to the secrecy of the mission, it's not possible to search in other nations' database but the lack of any info to Pull the Thread is quite disturbing for everyone involved. Considering Arsenic's involvement with the Familia, he was either Unpersoned or his civilian persona is an Invented Individual.
- Team Mom: Jiayi acts as the defacto leader of the Yakshas due to being the most grounded and levelheaded one. She descaletes Weijiang and Zixin's arguments, cares for the group's (especially Xiao's) emotional wellbeing and she's also the Team Chef. Xiao even called her "Jiejie"note by accident because of how much he associated her with that role.
- Trapped in Villainy: Xiao is starting to suspect Arsenic is trapped in the same situation he himself was before due to their seeming disregard for their life, going as far as to imagine Arsenic in the same room he was kept locked as a child.
- Tyke Bomb: Xiao was kidnapped by the people that robbed and killed his parents when he was around 5 years old, and was forced to kill for them for who knows how many years. Now, Xiao suspects Arsenic might be in a similar situation, as they are assume to have started to kill since they were 17 years old and Arsenic themselves believe themselves to be a weapon.
- Vitriolic Best Buds: Weijiang and Zixin are constantly arguing and egging each other, but it's clear they're as close as siblings who exasperate each other due to the amount of trust between them.
- Waif-Fu: Arsenic might be a Fragile Speedster, but they're sufficiently skilled and atletic to land quite the devastating hit and their nimbleness makes them quite hard to take a hold of.
- War Memorial: Mondstadt has the largest monument to the Last Stand in all of Teyvat. The Yaksha's visit allows for the perfect moment for worldbuilding and might have allowed a fortuitous encounter between Xiao and Arsenic outside their "jobs".
- Weapon of Mass Destruction: The Familia's goal seems to be the creation of a machine dubbed the Collider that, after getting more information, reveals it has the potential of destroying a fifth of the entirety of Mondstadt. Arsenic revealing that the previous Collider succeded without destroying that much of the city, implies its purpose isn't wanton destruction.
- Wham Line:
- From chapter 6: "You should’ve taken that shot sooner."
- From Chapter 9: "The previous Collider… succeeded?!"
- Wham Shot: From chapter 6: "But, just before he lost sight of the mercenary, Alatus thought he saw a flash of violent pink encompass the shadowy figure’s eye." This implies that Arsenic has somehow been infected with abyssal energy.
- What You Are in the Dark: Arsenic likes to pour their emotions into a sad song about a lost loved one every other night; a song that gets lost in the fuss and buzz of Mondstadt's night life so nobody would be able to catch it. A fact that makes Xiao's poor attempts at pass it off as manipulation very weak.
