shipwrecked || furina & neuvillette

🫧 25 🫧

Neuvillette takes a breath as he walks into his office, trying to regain composure. There was something that Furina wasn't telling him - he didn't know what had happened to her while she was with Dottore, but he knew that she was intentionally keeping that information from him.
"You look like you're in a mood," Clorinde looks up from the desk in front of him. She says it in a joking manner, but Neuvillette isn't in the headspace to find humour in the air.
"Furina will not tell me what Dottore..." he exclaims, aware of how enraged he sounds. "She will not tell me what happened."
Clorinde stands up, moving closer to him.
"Why do you think that might be?" She asks quietly.
"Probably because she knows that I will... I would hurt him. Kill him. Make him pay for the pain he caused-"
"I would say that's definitely got something to do with it, Neuvillette. But she also just may not be ready to talk about it yet. She's been back for less than three hours, you cannot expect her to just... spill it all out to you. Furina is quite closed off at the best of times, I'm not surprised that she's not talking about it."
"I'm beginning to think that he..." Neuvillette trails off, shaking his head. "I don't want her to feel like she has to keep it to herself. But I am beginning to find myself questioning whether he did more than simply try and get her vision." The words taste bitter, poisonous in his mouth. His jaw clenches, before his face softens.
Clorinde doesn't respond straight away.
"She's here now, and she's safe. That's what you have to focus on. For now, you can't afford to let anger win. That's not what she needs. She doesn't need your inner dragon fire, Neuvillette. Right now, all she needs is love and time." Clorinde sighs. "Furina is so used to dealing with things all on her own, it would be unreasonable to expect she would suddenly like talking about her feelings. Where is she, anyway?"
"With Navia," Neuvillette sighs. "She went to go and see the children."
"You didn't go with her?"
He shakes his head. "No, I didn't."
"Why?"
"Because she didn't want to talk about... necessary things." He tells her vaguely.
"So you let her go?" Clorinde questions. Neuvillette turns to face her, annoyance written over his cheeks.
"What?" Clorinde rolls her eyes. "I've read enough books to know that the love interest is always supposed to go after the girl." She shrugs. "Furina will open up, you just need to give her the space, safety and security to do so."
He shakes his head. "How am I supposed to help her begin to heal when I know nothing about the monsters she's facing?"
"Neuvillette - that's one of the marvellous things about humanity. You don't have to know in order to help her. You just need to be there. Listen when she wants to talk, don't pry information out of her."
"She spent five hundred years fighting desperately, all on her own," he speaks. "Do you not think she could do that again?"
"No, actually." Clorinde tells him. "I don't think she could do that again, even if she wanted to."
He nods, sighing. "Okay."
"I don't want to hear any words fly out of your mouth regarding vengeance and revenge and the like. Not in front of Furina. If you must find me every hour of the day and tell me some new way you've decided to kill him, then feel free to do so. I'll give my feedback as always - but you are not to mention it around her."
"Indeed." He speaks. "I shall keep my mouth closed."
"You know I'd love nothing more than slaughtering every last one of them." Clorinde tells him with a cold laugh. "You know that's what they deserve - but it's not what is best for us, for Fontaine, for Furina. I think that he'll be a lot more cautious next time - now that he knows that we have Archons on our side. I don't think he'd be stupid enough to play the same card twice."
Neuvillette nods.
"For now, we need to take advantage of the final day that we have everyone here in Fontaine. We need to decide what the next step forward should be." Clorinde pauses. "And I find myself loathing to tell you this, but I think it would be best if you didn't attend that meeting."
Neuvillette opens his mouth to reply, but she speaks too quickly.
"I think it would be a responsible idea for you to take a few days out of the office, Neuvillette. Away from all of this, away from the office and the paperwork... I just think that perhaps it would be of great benefit to you... to take a break."
"No."
"Why not?"
"I do not need a few days. And I certainly do not need to get away from the office. I am not missing the meeting of the other nations."
Clorinde raises a brow, as if he has said the most ridiculous sentence she's ever heard.
"Why not?" She asks. "You haven't taken a day off in a million years. Take a week off, get yourself together."
Neuvillette shifts uncomfortably, not liking the idea at all.
"Be there for her." Clorinde presses. "I promise that Fontaine will not fall apart in your absence. It's a few days - take a few days to yourself. Wriosthesley is more than capable of attending a meeting with me and we can pass on all the information to you."
Neuvillette shakes his head, still not convinced.
"Neuvillette," Clorinde rolls her eyes. "I'm telling you that if you want her to talk to you and feel as if she can tell you what happened, you need to get over yourself." She tells him bluntly.
Neuvillette glares at her.
"Someone has to say it," she shrugs. "You - and I cannot stress this enough - cannot go and kill him. No matter how angry you are, no matter what he did - you cannot kill him. What you can do is focus on making sure that Furina is safe and as happy as can be. You can focus on working with the other regions of Teyvat and formulating a plan of action for when the time comes. I do not believe you can do that right now."
Neuvillette shakes his head, unclenching his fists. Clorinde is right, even though that irritates him.
"I have not needed to take a break from work the entire time I have been the Iudux." Neuvillette shakes his head.
"Taking break is nothing to be ashamed of."
"Ashamed? I am not ashamed, Clorinde. But it is my duty as the Chief Justice... and as the leader of Fontaine, to work without rest."
"That's it," Clorinde shakes her head, laughing. "Seeing as you cannot be reasoned with, I'm pencilling out the next five days - you're out. Five days, Neuvillette." She opens a desk drawer and pulls out the sheets of paper that he knows are for a leave of absence.
"Clorinde-"
"No. You're not making rational decisions right now, and I think that you need some time to compose yourself. It's five days, I will sort everything out. You know if there's an issue, I'll come to you. But there won't be. You need a rest - the last three days have taken their toll on you and that's alright. I cannot trust your judgment of the other nations right now, so you won't be attending that meeting." She scribbles on the piece of paper and Neuvillette frowns - feeling very out of control. Like nothing is normal right now. Like everything is topsy turvy and upside down. He turns away from her, closing his eyes and taking a breath.
"You know what they say," Clorinde tells him. "A change is as good as a rest. Go on, get out of Fontaine. Take Furina with you. Go and drink the water of another nation or whatever it is you like to do in your spare time. Heavens knows it would do you some good."
Neuvillette nods. "If there is any issue at all, you will come to me for guidance?"
"You know I will."