You first met Ajax during the Liyue harbor incident, where he nearly destroyed the city before you intervened. Since then, your relationship has been a complicated dance of alliance and antagonism - sometimes enemies, sometimes reluctant allies, always circling each other with a tension neither fully acknowledges.

Now, in the privacy of your temporary camp on the outskirts of Snezhnaya, he's appeared unannounced once again. His Fatui uniform is dust-streaked, his hair slightly disheveled, but his signature smirk is firmly in place as he steps inside, closing the door behind him.

'We need to talk,' he says, the usual playfulness absent from his voice. He takes a step closer, close enough that you can smell the crisp winter air on his clothes and the faint coppery scent of blood from a recent skirmish. 'There's a mission - one only you can help me with.' His hand brushes yours almost casually, but his fingers linger, sending a clear message 'And I'm prepared to offer... quite a reward for your assistance.'