A Winter's Tale

An involuntary trip

Unfortunately, it was already morning. Pulcinella didn't really want to get up. In fact, he wasn't even awake. How big his sleep deficit was, he couldn't say. But he had hardly been able to sleep. Actually, everything was obvious. But he could not cope with it. For a moment he wished Childe back to Liyue, that would make everything easier. But the thought that he had a thing with another guy there, when he apparently preferred him instead and threw a bunch of mora out the window, didn't seem right to him. His mind was circling aimlessly and he didn't know exactly what to do with it all. It didn't make any sense. Childe hadn't come back here for his sake. Then what was all this about "Oh I still like you"? Besides, how could one hold on to something that had never existed in general? And immediately react so pissed off because of a few little jokes.... Such a Dramaqueen.

In addition, Pulcinella was unhappy about the fact that his guest had simply left him standing there last night. He had wanted to drink with him. Too bad about the vodka. Ajax had probably received the most attention that evening. His ... goddamned ... statue! He rolled his eyes and got dressed. He would make Childe regret that on the battlefield.

When he was ready, he set off with quick steps. Once there, however, he found only his haphazard recruits; there was no sign of Childe.

"Where is Childe?" he asked the group of soldiers indignantly.

"He was here briefly earlier, sir, and he said you were about to join us. He said he was going on a mission today," one of the soldiers announced.

"Thank you, soldier," Pulcinella replied, and he had to pull himself together not to snap. You could certainly see and hear his annoyance.

"Train the same thing you did yesterday again. If you have any questions, contact Capitano."

"Is everything all right with you, sir?" the soldier asked in surprise.

"Yes. But I have to fix something," Pulcinella replied, turning on his heel.

#

With quick steps, he headed for the Adventurer's Guild. He could already imagine where this was going. They offered good money in Snezhnaya, but for missions that were sometimes far too dangerous. The easy missions were rather poorly paid, but from the well-paid ones.... rarely anyone came back alive. No returnees, no pay. It was as simple as that here. The people of Snezhnaya knew this, and yet some dared to do the impossible. Earlier, he had forbidden him to participate in these missions; as a Harbinger, Childe had apparently lost sight of the matter. But who needed mora more than anything else at the moment? So it was pretty obvious.

Once there, he also found Childe. He was apparently about to leave, with a few adventurers.

"Where are you going? I need you at work," Pulcinella said seriously.

"I'll make up the shift. It's all good," Childe replied, shaking his head. He was obviously unhappy that he had found him here.

"Where is this troop headed?" he asked curiously. When Childe remained silent, however, another of the adventurers was kind enough to answer him.

"We are on our way to the high pass. Up near the summit dwells the nine-headed yeti. We will take him out before he comes down one day and threatens us," the man explained. Pulcinella looked at him with wide eyes.

"You're going up to the pass in this gear? All right... And do you know that the nine-headed yeti doesn't exist and was probably invented by a drunken recruit to impress his superior – aka yours truly? And that it's probably a common Frostarm Lawachurl? There are far more dangerous things up there than monsters...," Pulcinella warned the adventurers.

"We're still waiting for our equipment.... Wait... Sir! Oh, sorry, I didn't recognize you at all!" said the man embarrassedly, "I actually know you only with a mask..."

"Ah... ", Pulcinella replied, unimpressed. It was true, when he was on business in the capital, he actually didn't necessarily show his face. But right now he didn't care, he just wanted to get Childe back and keep him from doing something stupid. Shaking his head, he watched as the adventurers whispered and stared at him, as if he were something special. He already knew why he preferred to wear a mask. But none of that mattered now. Gruffly, he grabbed Childe by the arm.

"Childe, let's go," he said sullenly, wanting to pull him along. But the other Harbinger put up a fight and pulled his arm away.

"Let go of me! You don't have anything to say to me! I'm going on this mission no matter what you say. Just now I signed up. And I'm sure as hell not going to turn tail now!" hissed Childe.

"Of course...", Pulcinella replied and let go, helplessly. It had always been like that. Childe had always longed for riskier fights. And he had worried each time that his apprentice would not come back alive. But back then he had still had some control over him; now he could no longer stop him. The fear of losing Childe made him tremble, and he didn't know what that feeling was.... "Fuck...!" he muttered, backing away. "You know, Childe... Go ahead then. Go ahead and do whatever you want. I'll go get a hole dug out of the military cemetery then," it dripped like ice from his lips.

Childe looked at him with wide eyes. Then he put his head back and laughed.

"I'm not going to die doing something like that...!" he said, still laughing.

"You better don't dare not coming back. Then I'll kill your corpse again!" retorted Pulcinella, turning away. There was no point. But letting him go now didn't seem right. Worry was eating him up inside as he trudged through the snow. At the time, he had vowed never to get too attached to him for this reason. But it was too late. Of course he was attached to him. So much so that he had wished every day since his damned departure to Liyue that he would come back to him. And now that he was back, he'd love to lock him up and never let him go, especially not to this rotten guy who was pulling money out of his pockets. "Fucking shit!" he shouted, scowling as he kicked a pile of snow that collapsed in on itself.

#

Less than ten minutes later, he was back at the Adventurer's Guild. Out of the corner of his eye, he watched the group of men as they now donned their mountain gear. Irritated, he signed an agreement and went back to the others.

"Hey, what are you doing here-" Childe started, and faltered when he noticed Pulcinella take one of the outfits and put it on.

"You think I'm going to let you run into your misfortune? Somebody's got to save your ass up there," Pulcinella countered with a grin.

"Um... are you serious right now? I don't need anyone to watch my back...!" retorted Childe, visibly offended.

Pulcinella just laughed. "I thought you always wanted to start on an adventure together with me, huh?" he said, grinning.

"Yeah...", Childe answered surprised, "but you always said no... wait, what made you change your mind?", he added thoughtfully. Pulcinella just smiled at him meaningfully. Then he continued to put on his gear.

"So thoughtful... come on. Let's just have fun, huh?" he replied, patting Childe on the shoulder and setting off together with the group.