this same song and dance

4

Teucer remained at his post for the rest of the morning, occasionally conversing with the other agents in the unit and getting to know them better.

The day unit had fifteen agents total. Five were in the infirmary from jumping out the window (or rather, from landing underneath the window), leaving the other ten to rotate duties. They divided into pairs, stationing themselves in the office, in the hall, outside the window, and on patrol. The final pair was sent to represent the Eleventh's unit in the official investigation of the break-in.

Teucer's partner for the time being was Agent 1029. Over the course of their morning spent together in Lord Tartaglia's office and on patrol, Teucer discovered that Agent 1029 had never traveled outside of Snezhnaya, had a weakness for carrots, was an only child, and always had to be issued two pairs of boots during uniform fittings on account of having differently sized feet,

For his part, Teucer cautiously revealed that he still lived with his parents, disliked spicy food, was the youngest of several siblings, and had ordinary feet. He also unwittingly dazzled Agent 1029 with his reflexes by catching a stack of falling plates in the cafeteria during their lunch break.

The following week was a strange one. Since several members of their unit were still recovering, they were somewhat short-staffed and required to work more closely with each other than normal to ensure Lord Tartaglia's orders were fulfilled.

Not that there were many orders. They had been brought together to serve the Eleventh during his time in Snezhnaya for the upcoming Harbinger banquet (and accompanying festival), but they never actually met him during that first week. They would receive word that he'd arrived at headquarters, but he was always elsewhere when they went to report to him. No matter how fast they were, they consistently kept missing him and showing up just after he'd left.

Since they never interacted with him directly, Lord Tartaglia didn't seem quite as terrifying as the rumors made him out to be. The tasks he assigned them were relatively simple, if somewhat repetitive.

Secure the components for several war machines to serve as decorative pieces for the Eleventh's area of the banquet/festival. Assemble said components to make sure they were complete and fully operational. Once that was confirmed, disassemble everything so that it could be reconstructed at the actual venue (from their correspondence with Lord Tartaglia, it seemed like he wouldn't have cared if they simply transported the finished pieces as they were, but they'd been told by the Fourth's unit that powering up war machines on the premises was prohibited, even if they were purely for decorative purposes).

And so on and so forth. The orders Lord Tartaglia issued were few in number but large in scope. Some days they were scattered about outside taking care of things, and other days they were all trapped at their desks beneath piles of paperwork and permits and party favor prototypes for the public.

The most boring duty by far was attending investigation briefings regarding the break-in at the Eleventh's office on the first day, and taking notes summarizing what had been talked about to present to Lord Tartaglia. Since he seemed to be unusually disinterested in the proceedings (judging by how their summaries were accumulating into an ever-larger, untouched pile on a corner of his desk), everyone else in his unit was also the same way. There was a lot of busywork to get done, after all.

As temporary assignments went, this wasn't a terrible one. Teucer worked with other agents he wouldn't have met otherwise. He got to eat way more cereal from the cafeteria. His hours were much the same as at his usual position, although the upcoming festival would necessitate some overtime that he had yet to warn his family about.

Speaking of his family, there was something that came up during the course of his work that was less than ideal.

Namely, finding out that Zhongli was apparently cheating on Ajax with none other than Lord Tartaglia, Eleventh Harbinger of the Fatui.