#foulesque

@foulesque

Yet, he acts like the obedient dog to the Tsaritsa who is logically the one who rules their countrymen with an iron grip. Logically, it is right to side with Fatui as it is their largest and strongest organization that embraces Teyvat with its agents, ants all around acting as eyes and ears, countless mindless fools who are forced to continue serving the Archon who represses their true potential like no one else. Logic is both a treasure and a curse, Sokolova notices. With this boring skill, she is able to play and slip through holes in the system established by Fatui and Snezhnaya, this world even.

The logic that goes with the government's rule is boring, following orders of the one who gives you privilege and possibilities to do whatever you wish... such an easy way to attain power. It almost makes her laugh how it's him who is telling her how boring it is. The unreasonable one in the eyes of the society is her, the rebel who has gone against the ruling power - their God, their Archon, their Tsaritsa. Unreasonable, foolish, downright mad. However, Zarina remains smiling in the face of the infamous Harbinger. Always calm, always collected, always relaxed. How can one behave like this? Experience far beyond one's imagination.

" Then would you say that the leaders of the rebellion in Snezhnaya all those years ago were unreasonable and exciting? " Zarina brings her hand up to her chin as she tilts her head to the side. However, her smile disappears, turning into a sour and upset expression as she reaches up to take a glass of water.

The history of the Ashen Hawk rebellion has been repressed, naturally, to not let any other country speak of it. There have been several families which escaped Snezhnaya during the civil war all those years ago, her alibis including, even before that. Mistress Serebro remains the longstanding ally and alibi she uses for more than ten years, a woman who exists for sure and a person who has been working with Sokolovs under the radar for far too long. The demon that the silver-haired woman was, she is as clean and clear as the white snow itself. Not a drop of blood reflected on the surface yet it all hides thousands of bodies, all turning to ashes the longer they're hidden. This play acts as an information exchange, giving the other a picture of who she is... a faux one, but enough to not be a full-blown lie and not a full-blown truth. A mix, a tale untold.

@foulesque

" I never took you as a poet, Tartaglia! You keep surprising me. Well, with how you spoke of the Aurora Borealis' shows, I should've expected it, " Zarina notes on his words immediately, gaze shifting from thoughtful to sly before turning away to look down at her spear. She must continue to sharpen it, continue to make sure survival will be prioritized.

For someone who has a family and a place to belong, he certainly speaks confident bullshit. Only when you lose something do you know how much a room with a family means. Zarina can bite back, but she stills herself as she only chuckles at his ignorance (as she puts it). The maiden of ice and frost continued to sharper her spear, not caring to look up at the Harbinger who seems to thrive on the reactions of others just like she is. Then again, Sokolova knows all too well how those minds work. Men and women who have yet to lose everything do not understand the blessings they have on their hands. They are still humans with weaknesses and it's something she'll use for her own benefit, even if it means abandoning her humanity. There's nothing worthy in this world, her light is now only the one she emits herself in the depths of the abyss to allure those who wish for a change.

" Some people find it better to live with their fears. Not everyone is as brave and courageous as we are, Tartaglia, " or not everyone is as monstrous as they both are, weapons in their own right; one finished and one yet to be finished. " Some people wish to have a room they can live in, be it physically or be it inside their mind. Not everyone is safe out there, not everyone has the power to move on. You would be quite an asshole for inquiring about such things from others. " Zarina smirks now as she looks at the beauty of her blade, putting it away. It is not her true weapon, only a borrowed one from one of the Adventurers they've met on their way here. A moment of thought passes before the woman looks at the mad dog of Snezhnaya once again (her nickname to him persists, how cruel). " We are the powerful ones, one way or another. We are survivors of Snezhnaya. We have been forged in cold flames and baptized in the icy waters of our homeland. "

MA'AM

PRE LAST ASCENSION. ( ABOUT : TARTAGLIA ) - A fellow Snezhnayan! Isn’t that awesome? He is such a fantastic example of how far we can go. I mean, you know that he’s pretty famous, right? So many people respect him and fear him, but it’s for a good reason. Hah! The fact that you kicked his ass makes me want to watch that fight myself, just go to the past and watch it. He said Mistress Serebro’s plays are praised! I’m so glad to hear that. We’ve been working on those for hours on end with all the staff. Listen, just make sure you don’t underestimate him, Traveler. I wouldn’t want you to be one of the people he’s left to bleed out under the snow. 

❛ it’s strange — how fear can change someone. how it can change ... so much. ❜ her tone toes the line between fragility and strength, hands folded over her skirt.

akane knows what it’s like to be afraid. it was both demon and seraph on her shoulder. ten years ago, on the gigantic — watching her own death in the eyes of another, threatened by death’s embrace. even when she lost her parents, fear had followed her. it haunted her in her sleep, crept under her skin, burned in her nerves. 

but fear also molded her into who she was. to the esper, the seer, the shifter —  the dance between epiphany and danger were your closest companions. she knows this, but childe’s words realigned her, reminded her of what she must do. what she and crash keys have prepared to do in this history and countless others.

it was time to end this, once and for all. for all of their futures.

❛ i swear, we will put a stop to radical-6. ❜ she declares, eyes narrowing with a glint of resolve. this was who she was: a woman forged from the pyres of hell and the wisdom of the heavens. her word is her will. nothing shall sway her from her goals, not even the unknown and uncertain. 

❛ please, stay in touch in case anything happens. i trust you, childe. ❜ her fingers hover over her profile, the papers they forged for their infiltration. ❛ we’ll be back, soon.❜

@foulesque​ sent: [ coated ] receiver finds sender covered in blood

It had been an abandonment of the intimate confession, a departure from a warmth unforeseen by both vicious parties - he... hadn’t expected to see him back ( was it enough time to get his own bearings ? ).  Humiliation had danced between the two men back then, brash vulnerability collapsing on pity of a brazen foe.

Claymore is brandished ( filthy with blood ) before it’s placed to his side, not defaulting to the offensive despite the presence of copper-stained pasts ( the depth frets over the source of the blood ).  ❝  I did not expect to see you again,  ❞ he comments, cadence neutral as to not allow the uncertainty to seep through the cracks of his composure ( who did you kill ? ).  What am I to do with you ?

❛ i have to start over, again. ❜ akane’s hands are folded atop of her lap: head hanging low, eyes almost devoid of any life. she hoped to report back to headquarters with any semblance of hope, only to be brought back to the beginning.  ❛ six billion are going to die. the first radical-6 patients have left dcom. sigma and phi are in the hospital ... ❜ and with them, the virus. to think, they were the source of the pandemic all along.

this was how it begun. this was the future they’d feared. 

‘ you should see me as a threat. i will tear down everything you know until there is nothing left of you. i am a walking threat. ’ @ keqing

grave suggestions - dark | accepting.

“You’ll tear down everything I know until there’s nothing left of me? Don’t make me laugh.”

The Yuheng’s eyes are alit with a rage she’d long thought was behind her since the initial discovery behind Osial’s awakening. Yet, the source of her anger had remained the same. He had been a threat at one point in time. A threat to Liyue. A threat to the people. A threat to the years upon years of tradition and history that they worked to upkeep. A threat toward the prosperous future that Keqing aspired of Liyue to reach while she was still alive.

But he had no longer been deemed a threat of that scale the minute that catastrophe was settled. It wasn’t much of repayment for all the collateral damage he caused, but there was some satisfaction for certain members of the Qixing to see him around the harbor struggling with some small task or another. For some, it brought a bitter smile to their face in their amusement. Keqing, however, remained firm in her stance of utter distaste.

“Fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me. Yes, the people of Liyue are recuperating from the devastation that you caused with your very hands, but it would be optimistic at best to think that we would ever allow such a tragedy to happen again.” She scoffs. “You are but the smaller piece of a bigger force at hand. Don’t you ever overestimate your own position, Childe. ”

Quick on her feet and in reflexes, she swipes her foot across his own, watching as he loses his own footing in an instant to topple over onto his back and fall on the ground. For someone so renowned for his combat prowess, he should have had better reaction time. The fact that he probably let her do that only serves to piss her off even more. Her sword pierces down into the freshly dampened grass just beside his head, rain from moments before dissipating beneath the force of her own fizzling electricity. The Harbinger before her brought about disastrous tides of waves that could crash down and engulf one in an instant if they weren’t vigilant. Should his words amount to anything other than the increasing irritation that prodded at the mind, she would be the bellowing thunder that struck him down.

“Save your warnings for those who really need them. You’ve shown your hand to us all before. The extent that you harbingers will go to meet your ends is well understood. As for you, Childe, as an individual, you’ve also been accounted for. Don’t think that our own intelligence lines aren’t keeping a close eye on you even as you’ve been delegated as the Fatui’s busybody and upkeeping the most menial tasks after your own failures. No longer permitted the okay to wreak havoc to an entire nation - I can only imagine how bored you are. But your hands are tied. Am I correct?”

How she wished she could have just stabbed him without feeling the need to save face and her own dignity. Once she feels that her point has come across clearly, she yanks the the blade out of the soil with ample amount of strength of someone of her stature. She brings herself back to a stand, dusting off her attire from certain debris.