Chapter Text
Sucrose still didn’t know how Amber managed to drag her out of her lab today. She was right in the middle of modifying her hypostasis replica before Amber bursted in, declared that they were going out for a stroll together, then pulled her up off her chair. Sucrose only had time to turn off the burner and remove her goggles before the two were out the door. But she couldn’t say she really regretted it. The sun was warm, the breeze was cool, and thankfully there were a lot less people out today so her anxiety wasn’t flaring up as badly as it usually would. At least until a small procession of people started walking through town towards the Favonius Headquarters. Both girls recognized them immediately and Amber was quick to explain.
“Negotiations with the Fatui. I was told I didn’t have to be there for this one so I decided I wanted out of the city for the day.”
“And you wanted me to come along because…?”
“I wanted to hang out with you!”
“Oh! So you were killing two birds with one stone?”
“Pretty much!”
The two continued to walk around the group, passing faceless diplomat after faceless diplomat. Then, as they seemed close to getting clearing them, Sucrose accidentally made eye contact with one, who she could only assume to be the most important of the lot. A man with light blue hair, unsettling red eyes, and mask covering most of his face. Sucrose let out a small scared yelp, then stared at the ground as she walked. Not to go unnoticed by Amber.
“Hey, you okay? What happened?”
“I made eye contact with one of them. It…It freaked me out…”
“Which one?”
“Their…the leader of that group.”
“The one with the creepy red eyes?”
“Y-Yeah.”
“Can’t say I blame you. Rumor has it that he’s kind of insane.”
“That’s not helping!”
“Sorry! Sorry. Let’s just get out of here. If we stick around any longer, Jean might see us and change her mind about letting us get out of the meeting.”
The two of them continued walking towards the exit, now trying to keep their heads down. Sucrose, despite her fear, let her curiosity get the better of her. She looked back at the man, hoping his back was turned. Only to see him staring at her, a rather intrigued look on his face. A chill shot down her spine, freezing her in place for a very long moment. And without taking another second to think, she ran out the gates, surprising Amber. Realizing that she probably got spooked again, Amber chased after Sucrose, hot on her heels.
“Sucrose! Hey, wait up!”
“Don’t wanna stay! Gotta go!”
“Okay, I get that! But how are you this fast?!”
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Dottore couldn’t help but laugh. People around these parts were so easy to frighten. That fox girl was especially timid. A bit surprising to him, but what could he have expected, anyway? She was raised by these soft-hearted idiots. As he was considering his options he was very rudely interrupted.
“Sir…? Is there…”
He barely spared the guard a glance, more so glaring at him from the corner of his eye.
“Make note of this. I believe I will be extending my stay here for a little longer. There’s something I want to investigate.”
“A-As you wish, sir!”
The guard quickly returned to position as Dottore took the time to analyze what he saw. It took all his strength not to abandon the negotiation all together. He had something much more interesting to set his attention on. But of course, still had to pretend as long as he was within the city walls. At least he had something to look forward to after the miserable peace talks were over. He smiled to himself then finally began making his way to Favonius Headquarters again.
“It seems you weren’t as quite as much of a waste of my time and energy as I thought.”