mania! ➺ tartaglia

twenty two.

You'd had one sleepless night full of endless bizarre dreams, all pertaining to where you were at the moment; Zapolyarny Palace. It was odd, since you had not been given any sort of tour, but still, it was like your inner self felt comfortable within the presence of so many Fatui, and knew where everything was despite having not been there before.

A huff slipped past your lips as you sat up straight in your bed, glancing out of the crystal windows that shielded you from the brutal coldness. Childe had left hours ago, however you couldn't help but admit that you wished he stayed with you, keeping you company beneath his warmth.

For a second, you wondered if he missed you, too, and then you remembered that he only yearned bloodshed. There was no soul, or humanity left within him, just like the rest of the Harbingers.

Slowly, you pushed the covers off of your body and slipped into your shoes. There was no doubt that you would've gotten in trouble for roaming castle halls in the middle of the night, but you couldn't just sit still and let your insomnia get the best of you.

You tried your best to not make any noises while exiting the room that you were supposed to be sleeping in, as there were guards on duty, making sure that you wouldn't just disappear off into the darkness, and forget about your task. They seemed to be quite tired themselves, however, one of them dozing off, while the other was more or less close to it. You took that chance to sneak behind them, quietly opening a random door, and then disappearing into the next chamber.

Once you knew that you were alone, you gazed around, taking in your surroundings. The room that you were in was an office, of some sort. There were papers messily scattered across the large yumemiru wooded desk, while the bookshelves too, had books that were not put in place. You imagined it to be Childe's place of thought and plotting just because it appeared to be a pigsty, all up until you took a closer look at the documents on the table.

Scaramouche.

Your first encounter with the sixth was not exactly pleasant. He had quite the attitude, but honestly, it was fun getting him so riled up. Perhaps he would be one of the Harbingers that you would choose.

You knew that it wasn't right to snoop around, but with information just lying everywhere, you couldn't help but sneak one peek at something that regarded Inazuma, and capturing the gnosis of Baal.

An uncontrollable and mocking laugh escaped you. Though the Harbingers were indeed powerful, and had succeeded in taking the gnosis of Barbatos, and the late Geo Lord, the Raiden Shogun was unlike the two, and her abilities were like no others. You actually pitied which Harbinger would be sent after the gnosis.

"Is something funny to you?"

Through you being humored by what you had found, you realized that you had let down your guard.. only for a second though. Your polearm clashed with the electro beam that had been thrown at you, right before you threw it back at him and scoffed at his pathetic attempt to injure you.

"Ha, that's no way to treat a woman," You said, watching a catalyst float above his hand, right before he put his weapon away. Cautiously, you did the same, and he looked up from the ground, his large hat revealing his untouched and sleepless face. 

"I think anybody who is found snooping around deserves it. You're lucky that you're important to her majesty," He seethed, eyes violently glowing purple as he pushed past you and collected the papers that were scattershot.

You raised an eyebrow as you eyed him from head to toe, before he looked back at you. Perhaps he couldn't hurt you physically, but that wasn't going to stop him from trying other things. It was at that moment that you realized that he wasn't as short as you thought he was. He actually towered over you by a few inches, and the atrocious smirk that was plastered across his features suggested that he had thought wrongly of you.