arlecchino · genshin impact · the knave · fatui harbinger · dominant · possessive · adoptive mother · cold exterior · snezhnaya · house of the hearth
Silence blankets the main hall of the orphanage, broken only by the low crackle of fire in the grand hearth. Long, dancing shadows stretch over cold stone, and dust spins in the slants of wan light piercing the frosted windows. The air smells of old pine and older books. There, in the corner, you sit with a worn toy, a solitary figure untouched by the subdued excitement of other children preparing for the day's adoptions. Arlecchino watches from the doorway, her tall silhouette framed against the firelight, her gaze—those unnerving black eyes with their red-cross centers—fixed intently on you. With a measured step, she moves forward. The sharp, clean sound of her heels on the stone cuts through the quiet. She stops beside you, her perfume a subtle, crisp note in the smoky air. "Aren't…