"...This is cold?" I glanced at Scara in confusion, once we'd stepped off the ship, onto the docks. "This is pretty much London in the winter. I was expecting Dragonspine, or something."
"You're just weird." Scara deadpanned. "It's cold. It gets worse in winter. You're lucky we got here in the summer months."
"If you say so." I chuckled, unzipping the thick jacket I'd been given. It kinda looked like the type of jacket pyro fatui agents wear, but gladly, I'd been spared the mask. I wouldn't have minded the knives, though. "You look cute all bundled up in your jacket, though." I grinned.
"Shut up." he scowled.
"Make me."
"I will literally give you to Dottore to experiment on." he threatened. "Don't test me."
"Sir, the only person allowed to experiment on me is Albedo." I scrunched up my face in disgust. "And besides, it was implied in the manga that Dottore experimented on children from Mondstadt. He's gross."
"Sounds like something that psycho would do." Scara shrugged. He didn't look particularly surprised.
"So, where are we going?" I asked curiously, almost struggling to keep up with Scara. Seriously, he's short, but he moves fast.
"Zapolyarny palace, obviously." Scara replied. "Dumbass, where did you think we're going?"
"No, wait, hold up, we're going to the Tsaritsa's palace?" I questioned.
"Listen the first time, would you?"
"...Do I have to meet her?" I asked.
"You don't want to?" Scara glanced back at me.
"The way Zhongli and Venti described her, she sounds scary." I said. "But...I guess she could be cool? Meh, I don't know."
"Make up your mind."
"Whatever." I shrugged. "Don't we need to summon Aether too? I mean, we have the gnoses, but we don't really know what to do with them."
"I messaged Childe ahead of time to summon him." Scara explained. "Now would you shut up?"
"Damn, you hate my company that much?" I giggled. "I mean, I know I'm annoying, but wow."
"You're this close to having your guest privileges taken away." Scara warned me.
•❅──────✧❅✦❅✧──────❅•
"Ah, (n/n)!" Childe exclaimed as soon as we stepped into the palace. Honestly, I was terrified of the Tsaritsa, but the her palace was gorgeous. It looked like the Kremlin in Russia, and all the bright colours and spiraling towers looked out of place in the snow and grey skies that surrounded it. "I haven't seen you for a while!"
"Childe!" I exclaimed with just as much excitement. "You have no idea how bored I've been without you to mess around with!"
"Are you saying I'm boring?" Scara said, almost sounding offended. I, of course, didn't answer, and instead went to hug Childe, which he gladly returned.
"I have so much to show you." Childe ruffled my hair and pulled away, smiling. "You're gonna love it here."
"I can't wait!" I smiled brightly, taking my jacket off. Compared to the cold outside, the palace was really warm and illuminated by glowing torches.
"C'mon, I'll show you to your room." Childe tipped his head in the direction of what I assumed was the hallway that lead to my room. "Oh, and Scara, the Tsaritsa wanted to see you."
"Understood." Scara nodded "Bye, (y/n)." He said, walking past us off into one of the other hallways.
"Bye bye, Scara!" I waved after him, following Childe. "So, what are we doing now? I haven't done anything stupid and fun since I went to Inazuma. Xiao and Albedo do a good job of keeping me in line...mostly."
"Heh, so eager to cause trouble already, (n/n)?" Childe laughed. "For now, you just need to settle in and meet the other harbingers. And besides, it's not like you did nothing in Inazuma. I heard you fought the Shogun."
"Yup, and I've got the ugly scar to prove it." I sighed, tapping my chest.
"I see you learnt a thing or two from me." He chuckled. I guess he was right, I mean, before meeting him, I doubt I'd have been chaotic or reckless enough to take on a god.
"Yeah, the others weren't very happy about it." I joked.
"Yeah?" Childe opened the door to one of the rooms, and stepped in, with me following him. "Not even Lumine?"
"Oh, definitely not Lumi." I held back laughter. "She was the first to lecture me about safety and thinking things through. And then Scara did it all over again."
I glanced around the room and smiled. It was warm, and pretty, what with the soft glow from the fireplace and the bed covered thick blankets and different shades of red and orange adorning the room. I wouldn't have guessed I was in the domain of the Cryo Archon, honestly.
"Ah...I just realised all my stuff is still in Lumine's serenitea pot..." I trailed off.
"Scara didn't let you bring your stuff?" Childe asked, frowning.
"It's more like he kidnapped me in a spur of the moment thing and I wasn't prepared for it at all." I chuckled nervously.
"Ah, well, don't worry." Childe smiled. "Tell you what, as a thank you for my time in your world, I'll take you out to get new stuff later, how's that?"
"Sounds fun." I smiled. "Thank you!"
"No need to thank me, (n/n)." Childe laughed. "For now, you can borrow something from me."
"Do you live in the palace too?" I asked curiously.
"Nah, I live with my family in the city." Childe said. "It's not too far from here, but I do have a room here too with some stuff. C'mon, let's get you changed and then we'll meet the other harbingers."