The theory of flowers

Six

Arlecchino was annoyed with The doctor who forgot to lock the doors of his lab in Fontaine. Could anyone be as careless? she thought. Now she was the one stuck with the task of eliminating the escapees. How ridiculous.

She had spent the whole morning running around Fontaine, taking out the trash, and when the number of test subjects was starting to lessen she saw a peculiar sight. A girl was fighting with a test subject. It was particularly ferocious and it was almost endearing to see the woman use so her whole energy to fight the beast. Arlecchino could tell she wasn't accustomed to fighting and her movements made it obvious. Despite that, she still held a natural grace as she moved.

She stayed back and waited until the girl had defeated the bug to make her presence known. What she saw next genuinely surprised her, she brought the plants back to life. The poison that had been dripping from the bug had killed every plant in its way. Hydro swirled around her until only green could be seen. She hadn't wanted to make her lose focus by announcing herself so when she finally saw the woman putting her hands on her hips, trying to catch her breath, Arlecchino stepped in.

She couldn't help but find the girl adorable when she basically jumped back from surprise. They chatted for a little while, and the girl was even cuter when she opened her mouth. It was a shame she had to finish hunting down Dottore's pets because she could've stayed and listened to her voice for hours on end. Just when she thought the conversation couldn't get any better, when announcing she had to leave, the girl handed Arlecchino a beautiful yellow flower.

"Ah- before you leave, take this"

Arlecchino swore to herself this would not be the last time they saw each other before she thanked her and pressed a small kiss to the top of the girl's hand. She left behind the blushing girl and the moment she was far enough for her form to look like a dot in the scenery she realized she had been too distracted to ask for the woman's name. The next day too, when they saw each other again briefly, she forgot to ask for her name again.

A week later, she met with Tartaglia. She wanted to see how his plan of charming information out of Cyrus' daughter went. He must've had plenty of time to do so. Maybe he had actually succeeded but she highly doubted it.

"Ah, hello 11th. How was your date with y/n l/n?" She asked teasingly and by the look on his face, she had the answer to her question.

"It was far from a date, trust me. At first, she was wary of me and when I finally got her to tell me about her father, she said she hadn't talked to him in years and practically loathed the man. She does not want anything to have to do with him," Childe said with an exasperated look on his face, having to admit that Arlecchino had been mostly right.

"I told you not everyone is close with their family. Had I done the interrogation we would've saved a lot of your precious time. Nothing is faster than breaking a few fingers," Arlecchino answered smugly.

"Usually flirting works perfectly fine but I have to agree that your methods are very effective," the ginger harbinger said while rolling his eyes.

They chatted for a while before Arlecchino checked the time and saw it was time to go to the House of the Heart. She didn't want to make Lyney and Lynette wait too long so she bid farewell to Childe and headed towards the orphanage. It was pretty late in the night but she was still met by the twins as soon as she entered the house. They seemed preoccupied, and Arlecchino wasted no time asking if something was wrong.

"Is something wrong?", she asked.

"Not exactly but do you remember when we told you about the woman that had helped Freminet get away from the group of bandits?" Lyney said, not sure of the reaction Father would have knowing they had brought a stranger inside.