One day kaeya's rat tail got cut off because one particularly smart lawachurl ambushed him and pulled on it during a fight so kaeya had no choice but to cut it off unless he wanted a broken neck

Not feeling up to getting beat up as his shift was about to end, he teleports back to mondstat and heads straight for angel's share to let off some steam.

Diluc just so happened to be manning the counter then, he sees kaeya's tired expression first and then his clearly missing long hair that usually fell on his shoulder second. A short flash of conflicting emotions appear on his face for barely a second before he scoffs.

"What happened to you?" He asked promptly. Kaeya who was still rubbing at his bruised pride could only honestly answer "Lawachurl. Edge of liyue. Don't ask." Then a laugh as he follows it up with an order of death afternoon.

Diluc says nothing as pours him a glass, and another, and another. He lets kaeya drink the night away without giving his usual snide remarks of "inefficient knights of favonius" which kaeya found a bit odd at first, but simply ignored after his 8th glass.

The next day, kaeya wakes up sporting the most painful hangover he's had in a while.

Why diluc didn't to bother stopping him from drinking after all those times he kept nagging him about in the past, he had no idea.

All he knows is that there's a lawachurl that deserves to get stabbed today as payback for his hair. So he sets off for liyue with nothing but petty vengeance in mind.

At least that's what he planned to do... What welcomed him at the exact spot where he was attacked yesterday was not a fierce lawachurl ready to pounce, but its cold unmoving corpse, charred until it's almost unrecognizeable.

Standing on top of it was none other than diluc himself, poised, his claymore in hand while also holding a very familiar and very blue set of long locks on the other.

Kaeya had heard stories of these creatures keeping items from their prey as trophies for battles they've won, but he'd never thought hair could be one of them. But more importantly, why was diluc here?

Seconds felt like hours as he continued to watch the man who just brutally massacred the creature walk up to him, it didn't make sense for the ragnvindr heir to be all the way out in liyue on his own, especially when most of his dark knight activities were focused on mond.