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Nilou had always been a bit…different. In Sumeru, rationality and logic were valued above all else, yet Nilou chose to pursue the arts. She’s also one of the few who, even as an adult, could dream.
It was honestly rather lonely.
For all that people studied and thought and fought over ideas, they never seemed to realize dance took just about as much effort and work as academic studies. Though people did enjoy her performances, for the most part anyway, they never took her as seriously as she would have liked. Not even her parents.
She remembers when she told her parents she wanted to pursue dance.
“Nilou, you’re never going to make anything of yourself if you do that. It’s not worthwhile.”
Her mothers words weren’t harsh, just…dismissive. She hadn’t even looked up from the blueprint she was studying.
(Sometimes, when she’s asked what she does for a living, she’ll say ‘researcher of the performing arts.’ But that usually means people who don’t know her assume she studies other people in the arts, not that she’s in the arts herself.)
Still, Nilou can’t help herself. She hums and dances down the streets of the capital as she pleases, paying no mind to the looks she gets. She’ll dance her heart out and no one can stop her.
She made it look easy, she’s sure, but the moment anyone tried to copy her, she’s sure they wouldn’t come close. Trivialization of her talents is something that always rubs her the wrong way, no matter how much she says she doesn’t care what others think.
(Sometimes, she’ll see an innocent child trying to imitate her, dance like her, only to be reprimanded by their parents and forced to stop.. Because no matter what she thinks, Sumeru does not value performing arts.)
She meets the traveler one day, Lumine and her flying companion Paimon.
Their reason for visiting a place like Sumeru is unknown to her, but Wwhen the traveler asks to see one of her dances, she’s happy to oblige, and more than a little surprised. She almost never received requests outside of scheduled events.
It's just a private performance, with no music and no real stage to speak of, but when she’s done, she gets a resounding applause.
“That was soo pretty!” Paimon exlaims when she’s done. “Paimon loved it!”
“I enjoyed it too,” Lumine agreed, smiling. “It was very elegant.”
“Thank you,” Nilou says happily. “That’s..probaably the nicest compliment I’ve ever heard in regards to my craft.”
Paimon asks, head tilted in confusion. “Really? Do people not like it?”
“No, its not that. iIt’s just…the most people usually just tell me is “That was good,” or some variation thereof. Other times, they’ll just criticize me.”
Lumine frowns. “What? Why? Don’t they know that’s rude if you’re not asking for it?”
Nilou just chuckles humorlessously “I’m afraid you’ll be sorely disappointed if you think that actually crosses their mind. Nobody ever asks if you want input. The way they see it, they’re simply offering well meaning advice, no matter how harsh their words are. ”
Paimon droops slightly. “Oh…? Well, Paimon thinks you’re an amazing dancer, and no one’s going to tell her otherwise,” she then said, crossing her arms with a pout.
“That you Paimon, I appreciate it.”
“It’s pretty obvious you’ve put in a lot of work,” Lumine adds. “You must have trained for years, right?”
As she goes to confirm that, yes, she did train since she was a little girl, she marvels at someone actually valuing her profession, and recognizing the effort she put in to be as good as she is.
Later, the traveler invites her to come with them to Liyue.
“You have to meet Xinyan, Barbara, and Yun Jin,” Lumine tells her excitedly as they head off to the land of contracts. “They’re performers like you, though Xinyan and Barbara sing more than they dance, but I’m sure you’d fit right in!”
And she does. In this hodgepodge group of people from all over Teyvat, Nilou feels more at home than she ever did in Sumeru.
It’s actually Xinyan who pitches the idea that they do a performance together.
“Think about it!” She says as the four of them have lunch at Wanmin. “People from three different nations, all coming together for the show of a lifetime!”
“It would be really cool,” Barbara agrees. “But our styles are all quite different, aren’t they? How would we make that work?”
Xinyan waves a hand dismissively. “Ah, I’m sure we’d figure it out. I can make almost anything work.”
She's right about that much. With a little effort, they were able to blend their various styles into something uniquely them.
If you asked her before whether Liyue Opera, Rock and Roll, Pop music, and Sumeruian dance could ever mesh well, she would have said no. But now, she thinks the answer is yes.
When Sumeru begins to dream again, Barbara suggests they perform there, and Nilou agrees. Who knows, maybe the reception this time would be just a little different