Taking over the Abyss

71- Committing one of the Six Cardinal Sins with Bro

Fontaine's predicament left you feeling troubled. Although you and Wriothesley worked something out to together, Tartaglia had brought up that Arlecchino had something plotted for you. You assumed she still wanted Signora back, but had no idea what her game plan was in trying to involve you so deeply with Fontaine's problems. It's not like trying to bore you to death questioning Tartaglia would get you to have a change of heart and release your Harbinger in exchange for a gnosis. Maybe she wanted to show off how shoddy Fontaine's legal system could be, given that Tartaglia had been seriously questioned about his involvement in a string of murders that started when he was an infant.

Minding your own business sitting outside in your nice courtyard, you busied yourself browsing through various different pictures of lamps. Kaveh had recommended some different interior and exterior design catalogs to you, helping his fellow Kshahrewar alumni out by naming off quite a list. Flipping the page, you hummed to yourself and marked off a few. Whether you ended up buying anything didn't matter so much as it worked to help relax you.

Something as mundane as looking at furniture for fun did wonders for your mental state. That and you wanted to get some lamps to put around Enkanomiya. Ah, how you wished you had access to the teapot menu. It'd make things much more convenient for you, and everybody else. Even better if you could load in creation codes...!

A pair of hands covered your eyes, a familiar voice whispering into your ear with a playful lilt, "Guess who~?"

"Alice," you tried to sound a little surprised, for her sake. With the whole Durin plan you'd expected her to show up sooner or later. "I thought you would've spoken to Albedo, instead of me."

Alice removed her hands from over your eyes, giving your cheek a little pinch. She couldn't help but take a moment to fawn over the alchemist in her care, "It's so kind of him to help out his older brother, don't you think? He's really come a long way, the sweetie~. I've already had a chat with him, I just needed to come and visit you. By the way, love what you're doing with the place."

"Thank you," there wasn't really a need for you to question how in the world Alice knew where you lived, or how she managed to get in in the first place. Alice would do what Alice would do. You offered her the empty seat at your little garden retreat table.

Alice took the offered seat, adjusting her concept of a hat to make sure it sat flatteringly on her head, "I understand the two of you are working together to stop Durin from hurting anybody in Mondstadt, so I'll get right to it. Freedom always has a price. Are you willing to bear the potential consequences for your actions?"

Hearing Alice take on a more serious tone of voice had you straighten in your seat. You knew, deep-down, that getting involved with Durin meant getting involved with something related to a member of the Hexenzirkel witches. "If it means helping Durin and the people of Mondstadt, I'm more than willing."

"Albedo gave the same answer," Alice nodded approvingly, "that's good. When you create something, you need to take responsibility for it. A certain friend of mine had a nasty habit of washing her hands of her creations, and now... well, hopefully none of us see that big one anytime soon~."

Her words sent a shiver up your spine. What other critters had Rhinedottir made? So long as she didn't make Shin Godzilla...

"Anyway!" Alice clapped her hands, and produced a small dodoco from her pocket. The dodoco had a cute white beret on its head, and a yellow star on its forehead, "Normally, doing such a thing like bringing back a dragon from the dead would warrant a show of force, but really, I wouldn't want to cause any undue stress to poor Leiptr. Instead, I'll let our dear Nicole speak with you! She's a little busy, and can't be here in person, so I made this adorable little dodoco just for her!"