Lackluster

Uncovered

The Fatui Agent's boots click sharply with every step he takes. The small woman trailing behind him produces a more muffled sound as she struggles to keep up with his long strides. Her white soft-soled leather boots pad along much quicker than the leisurely pace she was used to. They are making their way down a long grey corridor. Large rectangle-shaped lights hung at ten-foot intervals, casting down a dull blue glow that almost didn't reach the black tiled floor far below. If she is being honest, the longer she walks these halls, the more skittish she becomes.

'What was this place? Why was she here?'

As she just about jogs to keep up with the Fatuus, she stares holes into his back, desperately hoping he will finally answer her questions. Seven times now she had tried to get him to explain what is happening. This will make the eighth...

"Where are we going?" She pauses, waiting for a response, he simply kept walking. The woman huffs at his silence. "Why am I here?" This time his left fist clinches, but still, he continues to stubbornly ignore her questions.

'He has no right to be annoyed...', the young woman thinks.

Okay...that is actually nine questions, but she can't help it. Y/N is getting agitated. She did not like being in the dark, at all. She wants answers. After the events of just a few hours ago, she needs them. And to be frank, the woman thinks she deserves them. The H/C woman is confused and frightened by the sudden change in her situation.

Just two hours prior, she had been delivering a package to a visiting merchant from Liyue, it had been his first time in Snezhnaya. He had managed to get himself hopelessly lost trying to locate and retrieve his goods. The man only had so long before his visitor's visa ran out and his time was running thin. The merchant had made several purchases from various shops around the main city in hopes that the imported items would make him a great deal of mora back home. Of course, she hadn't seen anything that looked all that valuable among the items she had delivered...just several nick-knacks, some mediocre jewelry pieces, and a few cases of firewater.

The woman had met him at a café just outside of the port. Y/N had accidentally-though happily- overheard him complaining to one of the wait staff about his predicament and had immediately decided to offer her help with gathering his goods...for a modest amount of mora, of course. Everything in Snezhnaya came at a price.

Y/N didn't have a stable job and just enjoyed the freedom that the situation provided her. She would normally pick up the odd commission from the city folk or Adventure's Guild whenever she needed the money. The jobs she did were pretty lackluster, but they paid well enough. She couldn't complain. To prevent injury to herself, she wouldn't take on the harder tasks from the Guild. The woman simply couldn't keep up with the types of adversaries the institution normally dealt with. No amount of Mora was worth that.

Y/N had just delivered the final package and had been heading through the back alleys of the capital toward her small apartment. The place wasn't much, she didn't need anything all that extravagant. All she needed was her bed, washing facilities, kitchen, and her books.

As the woman had rounded the last corner on her route, she stopped walking. There was a Fatui Agent standing in the middle of the alley with his back to her. She tilted her head curiously wondering what he was even doing here. There wasn't anything of importance around the area.

Under the Tsaritsa's command, the Fatui were the ruling force and backbone of her country. She knew that, of course, but the woman tended to try and avoid them as much as possible. Y/N didn't exactly agree with everything they did, even though just about everyone here in the land of Cryo said it was for the greater good. She wasn't so sure about that...but it wasn't her place to judge them. The organization made her nervous.