Messenger of the Harbingers [Genshin Impact]

𝟛

After that dinner yesterday, Tartaglia insisted that you don't have to wear a mask when you're with him. He swore to protect you, and, as he said :

"- It's a lot more fun to talk with someone when you can see their face. And besides, you shouldn't hide something as cute as your face."

The next two days went absolutely the same. Of course, the whole documentation thing was getting really tiring and boring. You started hesitating, that just maybe fighting for your own life is somewhat better than filling out reports for the third day in a row now.

The only person keeping you going was Tartaglia. His jokes, smile, and overall his presence was somewhat soothing, you felt welcome and appreciated.

You only noticed that something was wrong on the fourth day.

Childe was unusually quiet. As you both sat in the office filling out the paychecks, Tartaglia seemed to be incredibly slow. You tried to unnoticeably check up on him. And then you saw the eye bags under his eyes. The young Harbinger was sleep-deprived. But why?

Once again, a not-so-distant memory flashed before your eyes. He would stick quite a big pile of documentation into his bag every time after work.

"- I haven't finished these today, I'll finish them right before I go to sleep." - He'd say and flash you a smile.

Was he staying up late just to do some papers? But why? He even skipped dinner with you yesterday just to do some documents? Poor Harbinger was so tired it looked like he was about to pass out. Suddenly, you remember the words of Tsaritsa herself :

"𝕀 𝕖𝕩𝕡𝕖𝕔𝕥 𝕪𝕠𝕦 𝕥𝕠 𝕓𝕖 𝕞𝕦𝕔𝕙 𝕞𝕠𝕣𝕖 𝕥𝕙𝕒𝕟 𝕛𝕦𝕤𝕥 𝕥𝕙𝕖𝕚𝕣 𝕒𝕤𝕤𝕚𝕤𝕥𝕒𝕟𝕥. 𝕀'𝕕 𝕝𝕚𝕜𝕖 𝕪𝕠𝕦 𝕥𝕠 𝕓𝕖𝕔𝕠𝕞𝕖 𝕥𝕙𝕖𝕚𝕣 𝕗𝕣𝕚𝕖𝕟𝕕 - 𝕤𝕠𝕞𝕖𝕠𝕟𝕖 𝕥𝕙𝕖𝕪 𝕔𝕒𝕟 𝕥𝕣𝕦𝕤𝕥. 𝕆𝕗 𝕔𝕠𝕦𝕣𝕤𝕖, 𝕨𝕙𝕒𝕥 𝕀'𝕞 𝕥𝕣𝕪𝕚𝕟𝕘 𝕥𝕠 𝕤𝕒𝕪 𝕚𝕤 𝕥𝕙𝕒𝕥 𝕥𝕙𝕖 𝕓𝕖𝕥𝕥𝕖𝕣 𝕞𝕪 ℍ𝕒𝕣𝕓𝕚𝕟𝕘𝕖𝕣𝕤 𝕗𝕖𝕖𝕝 - 𝕥𝕙𝕖 𝕓𝕖𝕥𝕥𝕖𝕣 𝕚𝕤 𝕥𝕙𝕖𝕚𝕣 𝕨𝕠𝕣𝕜 𝕢𝕦𝕒𝕝𝕚𝕥𝕪. 𝔻𝕠 𝕪𝕠𝕦 𝕘𝕖𝕥 𝕨𝕙𝕒𝕥 𝕀 𝕞𝕖𝕒𝕟? 𝔹𝕖𝕤𝕚𝕕𝕖𝕤, 𝕪𝕠𝕦'𝕝𝕝 𝕓𝕖 𝕒𝕤𝕤𝕚𝕤𝕥𝕚𝕟𝕘 𝕥𝕙𝕖𝕞 𝕠𝕟 𝕥𝕙𝕖𝕚𝕣 𝕞𝕚𝕤𝕤𝕚𝕠𝕟𝕤. 𝕊𝕠 𝕗𝕣𝕠𝕞 𝕟𝕠𝕨 𝕠𝕟 𝕀 𝕖𝕩𝕡𝕖𝕔𝕥 𝕥𝕙𝕖 𝕓𝕖𝕤𝕥 𝕣𝕖𝕤𝕦𝕝𝕥𝕤."

And with that in mind, you finally decided that you've had enough. You need to fix everything. You looked at Childe once again. His head hung low. You sighed.

"- Hey, Tartaglia." - you spoke softly.

He tiredly smiled at you as you made your way to his desk. He looked up to you. Now his eye bags were even more evident.

"- When was the last time you had a normal night's sleep?" - you ask.

"- What do you mean by that? I sleep every night, tight as a baby!" - the young Harbinger chuckles.

"- You don't have to be a genius to figure out something so evident. Say, what's wrong?"

Tartaglia sighed. He looked like he was hesitating. For what looked like the first time in his life, young Harbinger was at the loss for words. He hesitated, but after a few moments he spoke :

"- I thought that maybe... Just maybe... If we finished this earlier, I would be able to show you around Liyue, since I promised you, and you know... Spend more time with you?" - He murmured.