Chapter Text
A soft and gruff sigh pushed from the plush seam of your lips when you finally put down the heavy crate you had been holding. Your sore arms sang in relief when you dropped the heavy load, your knees aching as you stood up straight and stretched your sore back. You dusted your gloves off with how much dust had accumulated on them, straightening out your uniform as you took a brief moment of reprieve.
You had been moving and stacking crates for at least the past hour. You had gotten bored at least over half an hour ago but at least it kept you busy and most importantly, kept your superiors off your back. Another long sigh breezed past your lips. Working for the Fatui wasn’t exactly a spectacular job, especially when you were pretty well at the bottom of the barrel with the title of grunt, a step above cleaning robots but not by much. The hours were long and the pay was…well, it could keep you living that was the most important part. One of the reasons you had been attracted to the job opening in the first place was because the bar of entry was extremely low. As in, the bar was basically in the dirt. No prior experience required and as long as you were willing to take up arms, they hired anyone on the spot.
You honestly couldn’t care less about the whole “overthrowing the rules of the world” spiel they had given you on your first day. The information went in one ear and straight out the other as you smiled and nodded along like you actually understood what was going on. You didn’t have grand ambitions such as that. You were visionless, in a world where elemental mastery let people do some extraordinary things. You were blessed with no such gifts. When you were younger it definitely bummed you out a little, since some of the people you knew had been gifted with visions, blessed by the world’s archons themselves to lead a life full of adventure. But as you grew older, you stopped romanticising the thought as much. You just wanted to make ends meet and survive. That’s all you wished for now.
You straightened out your uniform, the standard given to all female staff to make you all practically look the same from a glance. The only thing that made you stand out among the other women was your size but that never hindered you with any physical labour and so no one really complained. Well…there was the occasional whisper and snide remark here and there, gossiping behind your back and laughter at your expense but you had gotten used to that too growing up. You were usually fine, depending on the day and how your mood was. Most days all you were thinking about was how much longer you had until you got to go home and get off this hell hole of a factory floor.
You adjusted your mask as you started to count the boxes in front of you. There were only a few left to go and when you finished moving them, it would be your break time. Something you tended to look forward to, when you got to get off your feet having mostly standing and walking all day. Most days. It depended on which Harbinger you were assigned to that day. When you first joined a few months ago, you had been part of the Damselette’s troupe. But she never really seemed to need much help. You had only seen glimpses of her in passing. She reminded you of some kind of wood nymph in the way that you’re not really sure whether she actually existed or not. So since the Damselette didn’t do anything with her troupe, you were split up mostly, depending on the day and who needed the manpower the most.
It was usually either The Doctor or the Knave and on rare occasions, the Regrator. You’re not sure which company you preferred working for and you took a moment to think about it as you went to get another box. Your echoing footsteps were drowned out by the noises of other soldiers working in the factory. It was always a cacophony of noises and bodies crammed into these wide open floors. Some were unloading weapons and food supplies to be disrupted among the troops. Others were packing pallets to be shipped out to others deployed in Teyvat’s other nations. Some tinkered with machines and others were doing menial tasks like you, just whittling away the time, counting down the minutes until you could clock out and leave for the day.
You grunted as you picked up another box from the storage room and slowly made your way back over to the pile you had been making, your mind wandering again as you thought about the different factions under the Harbingers. The Regrator’s troops were mostly okay. They barked orders just like the rest of them and seemed completely loyal to their leader. So loyal that even a single mistake could make someone break down into tears at supposedly failing their overlord. The Knave’s company was actually pretty good to work with. Most of the staff were amicable and willing to help you if you didn’t understand something. It was mostly full of women and you felt pretty safe working amongst them. They weren’t slave drivers like Regrator’s troop but they were always so tight knitted that the extra help usually wasn’t needed. Which was a shame you always perked up when you were assigned to her company for a few days.
And then there was the Doctor, your current assigned Harbinger. You had never personally spoken to the man before. Why would you? You were just your run of the mill grunt. But you do briefly recall you had seen glimpses of him, even had walked in his general vicinity, scooting your way behind him when you saw that odd crow shaped ornament over his shoulder, a soulless eye staring at you from a distance. It had given you quite the fright and you had scurried away quickly to go and calm your poor nerves. You were assigned to his company the most. And every time it made the tension wind tight between your shoulders. You were always on guard around here. Most people who worked here were a bit on the blunt side, didn’t treat you nicely and to top it off you were always constantly afraid you would have to take a trip down to the Doctor’s lab. There were always various rumours surrounding the man, talks of experiments and a mad scientist. The most prominent rumor was if the Doctor personally called on you to go down to his lab, it was highly likely you weren’t ever coming back.
It made you shudder to think, ice lancing down your spine at the mere thought that the nasty rumours dug up. You were always silently hoping that it never happened to you. You kept mostly to yourself anyone, so there was no way you would earn the eye of a Harbinger. To them, you were barely even worth the dirt beneath their boots. Which was fine. You kept your head down, begrudgingly took orders, even for tasks you didn’t like, and earned your pay.
You returned to your previous pile of boxes to stack on the new one, grunting under your breath as you heaved the heavy box on top of the others. You idly rubbed at the back of your neck as you caught your breath, feeling sweat prickle along your skin. It was always good to keep moving in the frozen tundra of Snezhnaya, even with four walls surrounding you there was a nip in the air that made your lungs burn when you breathed in deep. Dust particles tickled your nose and made it itchy but you were able to suppress your urge to sneeze, the feeling being postponed to come back around probably at an inopportune time. You decided to straighten your pile of boxes before getting the next one and as you did, you heard two voices behind you slowly approaching.
One voice you recognised as your team leader and you had to resist the urge to roll your eyes so hard they would disappear into the back of your skull. You didn’t like him. No one around here really did but you were all willing to put up with it because no one really wanted to replace him and take his job. Especially since sometimes he would have to answer the Doctor on the occasion.
Fate must have had a wicked sense of humour. Probably because you had thought about the mysterious Doctor one too many times, enough to summon his presence.
“You.”
Your shoulders jumped up to your ears as the conversation behind you was cut short and someone seemed to be speaking directly to you. You quickly turned around, your eyes growing wide and mouth coming ajar in shock at who was addressing you. Il Dottore was standing only a mere few feet away from you, head turned in your direction which, you assumed, meant he was staring directly at you. You knew he was. Goosebumps prickled along your arms when you could feel piercing eyes upon you behind the mask that obscured half of his face. You suddenly felt the urge to curl up in yourself and make yourself seem smaller. His attention, however brief, was making your nervous system shriek in agony. Your brain had to take a moment to catch up and you were painfully slow with responding, throat bobbing as you audibly gulped.
“M-Me? Lord Harbinger sir?” you asked as you pointed to yourself.
You saw your team leader scoff and the action made you flinch. At least you used the proper honorifics for the Doctor. You didn’t doubt that you would have lost your head otherwise. The Doctor turned his body more towards you and it made you nervously shift your weight from one foot to the other.
“Yes. You” the Doctor confirmed.
You knew it was probably a stupid question to ask but at least he didn’t scold you for it. You lowered your hand, your fingers having started trembling as the Doctor directly addressed you. You noticed a clipboard and pen poised in his hand but you couldn’t see what was scribbled on it from this distance.
“I need you to go procure this week’s register and bring it to me” the Doctor continued. “Now, preferably.”
Your brain was still struggling to catch up. You heard what he said and retained the information well enough. You were still trying to get over that he was talking to you. It felt like if you breathed wrong in his direction he may snap at you, all those rumours about the Doctor’s temperament surfacing at the forefront of your brain once more. You struggled to peel your tongue from the back of your teeth and respond in a timely manner. You were grateful that this Fatui mask covered your eyes. It felt like your eyes were about to bulge out of your skull. All you offered in response was an unintelligible noise stirring in the back of your throat.
“Uhhhhhhhh…”
Your team leader was about ready to snap at you that you were certain of, his hackles raised beside the Harbinger as a deep frown tugged at his lips. Before he could openly start berating you, Il Dottore continued to speak. A short and sharp sigh whistled through his teeth.
“Do not make me repeat myself.”
Those few words alone kicked your sputtering brain straight into overdrive. You started to nod your head vigorously, immediately springing into action lest you incur the wrath of a Fatui Harbinger.
“Y-Yes of course Harbinger sir right away” you stammered with a response.
You departed quickly, almost breaking out into a sprint across the factory floor as a mix of both anxiety and fear lent you fuel to burn. Your brain scrambled to think where this week’s register was but you quickly realised it was something your team leader kept in his office on the second floor. It made you scowl as you took the steps two at a time to race up them, your loud footsteps echoing down long corridors. So, your team leader forgot to bring this week’s shipment data and so you had gotten the task to go get it. You hated having to cover for other people’s mistakes. But since the Doctor had asked for them himself, you weren’t about to argue. Il Dottore was also known to be pedantic with this type of stuff too. He always personally took stock of every week’s shipment, considering most of it ended up in his lab.
You raced into your superior’s office, found the documents with relative ease and promptly ran back down the stairs to go take it to the Doctor. Your heart was lodged somewhere in your throat by the time you made it back, your body shaking as you tried to hold back your raggard gasps of air. Being in his presence made everything feel a little bit suffocating as you slowly approached the two men, their conversation dying down as you held out the papers for the Doctor. You hoped he didn’t notice the tremble of your hands.
“The register you required, Lord Harbinger sir” you said.
He immediately took the offered papers from you without another word as he turned his attention to read it. You stood there awkwardly for a long moment, not sure whether or not you were allowed to leave. You turned your head in the direction of the team leader but he offered you no assistance as he seemed to be engrossed in his own paperwork. After another long moment, you awkwardly cleared your throat between the rasps of the pages.
“Was that all, Lord Harbinger sir?”
“Hm?” Il Dottore glanced in your direction, seemingly having forgotten about you the second the documents were in his hands. He waved his hand in dismissal. “Yes, yes that is all. Return to your duties.”
You gave a polite bow and turned on your heel, your limbs feeling stiff as you walked away from the scene. You immediately ran for a quiet place to hide, gather your nerves and calm down from that terrifying encounter you just had. It felt like it was going to take forever to dislodge your heart from your throat, your mind still racing and playing the past few minutes over in your head. You hadn’t expected any of this at all today as the Doctor’s voice rang in your head and made your ears itch.
This was going to haunt you for the next couple of days.