Chapter Text
“So, you’re telling me that a 14 year old boy was able to knock down several of our
Lieutenants without breaking a sweat in under 10 minutes?”
“Yes.”
“ A 14 year old boy,from a seaside village, with no previous combat experience?”
The man on the other seat of the car gulped, already aware of how absurd his claims were.
“Y-yes.”
“...Is this some type of sick joke? Are the other Harbingers trying to waste my time for a prank?”
“ No my lady, i swear this is all true! Once you see the boy, you’ll understand.”
Pulcinella’s patience dwindled inside that car, moving towards one of the various Fatui training camps, dedicated to training new recruits. The sudden news peeked her interest but also her skepticism, maybe the problem isn’t the child’s enormous strength, but rather the incompetence of the staff and coaches in that camp.
Upon arrival she was immediately taken to the basement of the facility,where ill-behaved recruits are sent for punishment. On the way she saw multiple man, some being well-equipped soldiers, laying down and groaning because of their wounds, several of them had deep cuts and another one seemed to have lost an eye, if this really was a joke, then it just stopped being funny.
In the very last room of the basement, one being protected by multiple gates and being watched at the door by two soldiers, she saw a young boy with blue eyes and ginger hair having his hands and feet chained to the wall by very heavy chains, the type used for bears and other fearsome creatures.The sight was almost comical, all of that tension and build up for this? A small, young boy that can't even handle the weight of these chains?
Pulcinella felt a small weight on her chest, maybe she felt a bit of pity for the boy? Until he looked up to her, and saw the look on his eyes...that look...wasn’t one that belonged to a child.
Interesting.
She crouched down to be around the boys height and looked at him straight in the eye, like a mother or a kind teacher would do, but instead of saying comforting words, she just kept staring in silence, studying, analysing. If there was a thing Pulcinella was proud of, was her keen eye when it came to talent. She was able to judge someone’s entire life and personality based on looks alone, so realising that this boy with eyes more dead than one of a dead fish has something weird but definitely entertaining going on is not hard.
Her moment of pondering is simply interrupted by the child charging at her, bonking his forehead with hers with all his strenght, and who guessed it? It was a good bonk, actually managed to hurt her and she didn’t see it coming at all.
ouch
“You fool! What do you think you are doing!” One of the guards that were just watching yelled. “Attacking a harbinger is a felony of the highest degree! This crime shall be paid- with your life!” The men acted as if he was the one being attacked.
“Hey, shut your mouth, i’m the one giving the others here.”
Pulcinella simply responds, launching a cold glare to the guard who stops on his tracks immediately.
“I’m, i’m sorry my lady.” Poor men saw enough action for today.
Then her gaze came back to the boy again, who was squirming and frantically trying to battle the chains holding him back with no success, now he was truly acting like a captured wild animal. She held back a laugh once again, that scene was truly comical.
“ Hey, hey, calm down now.”
She crouched down once again and held the boy by the neck, lifting him up without putting in any effort, hm,he kind of looks like a kitten, being held like that, heh, cute.
“I’m, i’m going to kill you!”
Oh wow, so he was already jumping at death threats? Yep, that was it, at that moment Pullcinela couldn’t hold back the laughter anymore, and she let out a wheeze she swears consumed all the oxygen in the body, the act made even the wild boy stay still. She was acting so unprofessional, harbingers aren’t supposed to act like this y’know, but the whole situation was so surreal at this point, who cares what the others would think.
“Oh, you talking a lot of shit for someone who is chained down y’know?”
She just dropped the boy on the floor like a sack of potatoes and crouched down again, maybe the impact against the cold floor would make him settle down a bit.
“Threatening the life of a harbinger is not something which is taken lightly, kid. If this was normal circumstance, you’d be executed on the spot.”
The child looks up to her, and his expression has no fear in it, only anger, determination. Good, perhaps coming here wasn’t a waste of my time after all.
“However, killing you would be such a waste, i can tell you are full of passion and tenacity, two things i think the youth of nowadays lacks. Perhaps, a better use for you would be in our frontlines?”
The kid looks up at her, his expression changed to one of wonder, oh, but not of child-like wonder,no,no,no, this was not a kid hearing about a fairytale and imagining himself becoming a knight.That was the look of someone with a burning ambition looking at a golden opportunity that they cannot,under any circumstance, let it go.
“Oh, but don’t get the wrong idea, this is still a punishment.”
The boy smiled, and Pulcinella smirked back, huh, seems like they understood each other pretty well at that moment.