Chapter Text
It was cold.
Incredibly so.
Which was weird, because last time you checked, summer was just beginning.
Even in your awakening state you could feel how much you were shivering. The odd thing was that you could barely even feel your extremities to begin with. There was, however, still some things you couldfeel, few as they remained.
Some kind of blanket…
Was there someone there?
It took some effort to try to listen, but you could pick up the faintest sound of a voice, panicked, yet concerned.
You couldn’t make out what they were saying, but just the worried way they spoke to you was enough of a comfort.
A few moments passed as you tried your best to listen to what the other person was saying, before you felt yourself being picked up. The rational part of you knew this was not a good situation to be in, but your primal lizard brain was much more concerned with getting you out of this cold.
You couldn’t remember much of anything after that.
It was warmer now. Softer.
The feeling in your fingers and toes had luckily returned now, and you could feel the texture of the soft, thick, woolen blanket that had been wrapped around you tightly.
You opened your eyes for the first time in a while, looking around the room you were in.
It seemed like this was some sort of spare bedroom in a humble looking cottage. There were a couple of children’s toys strewn about, so this was likely a family home.
At that moment, two people entered the room. A man and a woman of decent age, the man wearing a black and red winter coat and the woman holding a tray with a cup of warm liquid. You couldn’t tell what it was just yet.
As the woman started to speak to you, you finally realized that you actually hadn’t had that much difficulty hearing when you were half dying in the snow.
This was just a completely different language.
Seems like you needed to signal this language barrier to them somehow. Just saying anything should probably suffice.
“Sorry, but I don’t understand anything you just said, ma’m.”
The look they gave you was more than enough to know that they’ve realized what your issue was. They talked amongst themselves for a bit, likely discussing what to do with you now. The woman seemingly got an idea, setting the tray down on the bedside table before gathering some of the toys on the ground.
Before you knew it, they began an impromptu puppet show.
The man held what seemed to be an action figure, wearing a similar coat to the one he was wearing.
If an action figure was wearing it, perhaps it was some kind of uniform?
As he spoke, he gestured with the figure. It looked as though it was leaving through a door and walking forward.
The woman held a doll horizontally, shaking it gently while making shivering noises. That was apparently supposed to represent you, you surmised.
The next part you could actually recall, how someone had found you out in the cold. Guess it was this man.
Now you at least knew the phrase “are you okay” in whatever language this might’ve been.
After the little show was finished, they looked at you expectantly, a silent question of whether you understood.
You gave them a smile and a nod. They seemed happy about that.
Shortly after, the man pointed towards himself, saying one word, which you guessed was his name.
“Pyotr.”
The woman did the same
“Yekaterina.”
These names sounded like they were Eastern European. That at least gave you a vague semblance of where you might’ve ended up.
Deciding you should return their gesture, you pointed towards yourself, giving them your name in return, before taking the cup, giving it a sniff just in case, and taking a sip of what turned out to be the best cup of tea you’ve had in a while.
Two weeks had passed since your stay with Pyotr and Yekaterina began.
By some sheer luck, you somehow had your bag with you when Pyotr had found you. You immediately recognized it when they showed it to you, mostly due to the obscene amount of pins and buttons on it that you’d bought at numerous conventions. In it were a couple of essentials: a charger, a solar powered power-bank, your phone, your headphones, a speaker, and your Switch. At least this way you could keep yourself entertained for a while.
Your grasp on their language had started becoming a quite a bit more solid too, being able to communicate in full sentences now. Being exposed to it constantly really sped things up. That, and the fact that you didn’t have much else to do. It also helped that they had a young son, Ivan, with whom you could practice. It was, however, a little embarrassing that he was better at reading the children’s books than you at your big age.
It was also through Ivan that you found something else out about your location.
When you’d first spotted him, you thought you knew how to quickly establish a connection with the kid.
“Six seven…?”
The confused look he gave you definitely felt humiliating at first, thinking you had somehow encountered the only kid that didn’t know about meme culture and who you now looked incredibly stupid in front of. But then you thought about some of the other things that had somehow passed you by before.
For instance, the lack of plastic in this house. You knew even the most rural of rural areas would have at least some trace of it somewhere, but there was not even a wrapper in sight. Even the toys Ivan played with were all either wood, fabric, or metal, and they didn’t look like they were antiques either. Some even looked brand new. The mega-corps back home would never.
Another thing was the company(?) Pyotr worked for. From what you could pick up on during the conversations at the dinner table, they seemed to have a rather weird hierarchy among their higher-up’s.
From what you could understand, it belonged to the queen of this nation, the CEO was a clown, and they also work for the government…?
Not the kind of familiarity you wanted to have here but oh well.
All of these findings combined made you come to a realization. Either you were in a strange version of the past, or you weren’t on earth anymore.
You were gunning for the latter, because you didn’t really feel like being burnt at the stake for just being unwed. The lack of misogyny you’ve received so far definitely supported that.
A soft knock could be heard on the guest room door. It opened slightly to reveal Ivan. “Miss? Papa said he has to talk to you.” His shy voice was uncharacteristically serious.
Heading towards the kitchen, Pyotr was sitting at the table, the look on his face not giving you any good vibes.
“I talked about you with my colleagues.”
You blinked. On its own, this shouldn’t be as important as he made it out to be. You knew there was something else coming. Something you wouldn’t like hearing.
“They told their bosses, and now I have to take you to the palace with me.”
What?!
“Am… am I being arrested?”
The conflicted look he gave you didn’t make you feel any better. “I don’t think it’s anything bad. You have been with us this whole time and haven’t done anything illegal yet.”
You sighed, resigning yourself to your fate. There wasn’t really anything you could do about it. Maybe this would get you some answers you’ve been wanting.
“I hope that I could at least borrow one of Yekaterina’s coats.”
The closer you got to the palace, the more things became clear to you. It turned out that Pyotr worked for some kind of paramilitary government, which definitely gave you some red flags. Especially since the place looked very Russian, albeit, with some pretty odd looking tech.
When you entered the palace, it wasn’t even that much warmer inside. Looking around, it seemed like everyone had opted to keep their coats on indoors. You followed suit.
A tall blonde with almost impossibly long hair was standing near the door, and when Pyotr noticed her, he quickly bowed. “Fair Lady, I’ve done what’s been asked of me.” She looked down at him, not even bothering to spare you a glance. With a quick “hmph”, she turned around and walked away.
You gave Pyotr a concerned look, wondering if workers rights were even a thing here. He just shrugged it off with a smile, stating that this by far wasn’t the worst mood he’d ever found her in.
As the two of you headed further in, you saw two shorter women arguing. Or rather, it was more of a one-sided argument from the one with the windup-key sticking out of her back, (You wondered how the hell that even worked), while the other lady, an elegant looking woman with pinkish black hair seemed to just sit there, nonchalantly taking it all in with her eyes closed.
A little further than that, a boy with the widest hat and the weirdest bowl cut you had ever seen was talking to a man with minty hair and a slightly beaked mask. Aside from their hair and outfits, nothing much about them stood out to you.
Before you could even begin to look into the next area, the scent of tobacco hit you like a freight train. You had to work really hard to hold back a cough. The culprit was a dark haired man with glasses, an ashtray with at least 7 recently used cigarettes next to him. He looked like he was having polite conversation with…
Wait.
Hadn’t you just seen that guy?
Leaning backwards, you peeked around the corner you just passed where the minty haired man was still talking with bowly boy. Leaning forward again, you still saw him talking to the smoker, as if he hadn’t just seemingly magically teleported between rooms. Or maybe there were two of this guy? Were they twins? Or maybe…
You shook your head. Maybe your mind was just playing tricks on you. Everyone in this building has been a weirdo so far, with the sole exception Pyotr, of course, but for some reason, you couldn’t get this particular weirdo out of your head.
When it seemed like you almost reached the final room, you passed by two more masked men. One of them was wearing a half mask, while the other had his face completely concealed by some kind of helmet thing.
Turning towards Pyotr, you gave him a concerned look. “Is this normal here…?”
He shook his head. “No, actually.” He said calmly. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen all of the Harbingers at the same time like this.”
Your eyes widened. Those people were the higher-up’s here?
At least the people in charge here had the common decency to outwardly show that they were strange, unlike most politicians you knew.
A bell tolled, which caused most of the people you’d seen to walk into the same room. That was probably where they would be holding a meeting of some kind.
That was when Pyotr started pulling into the room after them.
“Hey woah, what the hell?!” You panicked, not really wanting to be in the same room as all of those people. Looking at him for some kind of support, you were only met by a steeled look in his eyes that was focused on what was in front of him.
When you entered the room, the man in the half mask spoke.
“Thank you for escorting her. You are dismissed.”
Looking back, you saw Pyotr leaving the room, trying his hardest not to look back, knowing he’d left you in the wolves’ den.
You slowly turned back around towards the group, all of them staring at you silently. Your heart was pounding, though you tried your best not to let your anxiety show.
The man in the half mask spoke once more. “Do you know why you were brought before us?”
You blinked, looking at him almost offended by even the idea that he assumed you already knew what was happening here. The fucking audacity!
You couldn’t hold back your irritation as you spoke. “Actually sir, I genuinely have no clue at all why the GILF version of the phantom of the opera,” you pointed at him as you said that, before moving your finger towards the next one.
“Book-tok bait,” the tall man in question tilted his head in confusion before you moved on to the next.
“Mitosis Jones,” this made the minty haired man chuckle softly, a knowing smirk on his face. Perhaps he already realized why you had given him that specific nickname.
“Little miss can’t-see-shit,” the lady didn’t react, not even opening her eyes.
“Yee-yee ass haircut,” the boy looked like someone needed to hold him back from attacking you.
“Chitty chitty bang bang,” the lady with the key seemed too confused to even be offended.
“The living chimney,” a cough left the dark haired man, and you could also hear the minty haired one chuckle again.
“And a blonde version of lady Dimetrescu,” you finally pointed towards the blonde woman. “Would want anything to do with me, quite frankly.” You finished your tangent by crossing your arms with a huff.
“May I leave now, because I am confused, exhausted, and craving a sense of normalcy, for fucks sake!” You began to turn around, attempting to leave the room again before the old man spoke again.
“Don’t you want some answers, young lady?”
You stopped in your tracks. He had you cornered there. Of course you wanted to know more about what you’d somehow gotten into, but on the other hand, you really didn’t want to get any more involved with these people after having probably offended at least half of them. Turning back towards them again, you glared at the older man. “I’m giving you one chance.” You spoke sternly. “Don’t fumble it.”
A knowing sigh left him, a few of the others doing so as well.
“From your reactions so far, I can ascertain that you are unaware of your status as a Descender, correct?”
You looked at him incredulously, eyebrow raised in confusion. “A what now?”
The minty guy chimed in. “An outlander, an alien.”
Okay Mr wise guy, thanks for clarifying.
You sighed. “I already had a hunch, to be honest. I literally went to bed at home and somehow woke up out here in the snow. It was either that or some kind of timeline fuckery.” An irritated look crossed your face. “I’m not sure which is more preferable, now that I think about it.”
Placing your hands on your hips, you looked back at the old man, eyebrow raised. “So, wanna tell me why I’m here now, or is this just a way for you to waste more of my time?”
The old man crossed his arms, taking a deep breath. “Her Majesty the Tsaritsa has ordered us to ensure your safety. We have not been told her reasoning for this request, but we are in no place to question her decisions.”
You stood there, stunned at the notion. More than anything, this made you even more confused than you were when you walked in. Luckily for them, the fact that they didn’t seem to mean you any harm did manage to get you to calm down a little.
“But unlike you, I can still question her. I’ve had no problems with the family I’m currently staying with, and see no reason why there’s any need for it to change.”
The minty haired man spoke up once more. “I hypothesize that it has to do with your status as a Descender. Word of you has already traveled amongst our ranks, and it won’t be long before it spreads to all corners of Teyvat.”
This was definitely far from ideal. Worst case scenario, you would basically be confined to the palace for an indefinite amount of time. You might’ve been kind of a shut-in, but at least back home it was of your own volition.
Already having guessed what you were worried about, the old man spoke again. “You’ll still be allowed to roam freely. It is only outside the palace that one of us must be there to escort you.”
You huffed, crossing your arms. “And here I thought I barely had any privacy back home…” Looking back up at the group, you raised your eyebrow. “Could I at least know exactly who you people are, seeing as I probably have to spend most of my time around you now?”
After the meeting adjourned, you lingered in the meeting room for a bit to collect your thoughts. This was now the second time within a month that your life was turned upside down by forces way beyond your control. You were, however, glad you’d thought of taking your stuff with you when you last left Pyotr’s house, since there was very little chance that you would go back there any time soon. Now you had to acclimate to a whole new place again.
Maybe you should start by getting some new, weather appropriate clothes…
The sound of someone clearing their throat behind you made you turn around.
It was the minty haired man, whom had introduced himself as Dottore. He was standing with his hands behind his back, a polite smile with a sinister undertone on his masked face.
“There is something I need to discuss with you.” He spoke calmly, before he held out his hand, motioning for you to take it.
“Please, come with me.”