COLOSSUS.

independent tartaglia of genshin impact

[devouringdeep]

outwards​:

"disallowed," kokomi answers sweetly, the smile in her voice falling just short of her eyes. "you'd need to be a registered supplier with watatsumi's port commission. otherwise, i'm afraid you lack the proper clearance."

what is this, the desert? regardless, this man is standing and walking and talking in sangonomiya jurisdiction. kokomi has heard a thing or two through the grapevine—maybe three from the captain of swordfish ii—and were the island not embroiled still in its post-war affairs, she might have received the eleventh far less easily. to his very little credit, he has not yet taken this most opportune hour to stir trouble, nor sow seeds of further discord. which leads to the obvious question:

"are you truly here to fish, though?" the chuckle that leaves her chimes soft, light, still amenable for now in the salt-kissed air. her pearl-gloved fingers tango languidly with a passing jellyfish wisp. "i took you to be in the business of casting different sorts of nets."

“Ah, you caught me,” he fesses up early on, head thrown aback in a mannerly laugh. “The Tsaritsa would like to make reparations, financial and otherwise, if it pleases you. My colleagues assigned to this area are... indisposed at the current time. Her Majesty’s explicit orders were that I provide any assistance you might require around the island.”

Tartaglia is a liar only by ommission. Relations between Watasumi Island and Snezhnaya are of ultimately little consequence. However, the loss of not one but two Harbingers demands a thorough investigation. Scaramouche’s status at present cannot be confirmed and even with opening of Inazuman ports, information does not flow freely as sails do.

“It’s a shame - about the fishing, I mean. I was looking forward to it. In moderation, mind you. Battle and fishing are the two sports that reveal a man’s true character.”

Reports have clued him in on all the particulars of Kokomi’s position as Divine Priestess and role in the war. From the onset, he recognizes that she must be sizing him up, weighing the situation on a ruler’s scale to determine the risks of his presence in her homeland. Tartaglia cannot imagine the burden of walking the path of a warrior with the tender heart of a priestess.

[everwinters]

I BURN, I FREEZE; I AM NEVER WARM. I AM RIGID;                 I forgot softness because it did not serve me.

unaffiliated tsaritsa of genshin impact, written by seren.

[devouringdeep]

everwinters​:

The Tsaritsa is effortlessly graceful, from the dainty way she holds the sweet, spiced tea to her lips, to the flash of her throat she carelessly reveals, pulling her thick hair to drape over her shoulder. It is a rare form of vulnerability, if in name only. As much as she adores Tartaglia’s talent for violence, he is the last to pose a threat to her. A dog perfectly loyal to its master.

“ Your report was, as ever, carefully detailed. ” She notices how jittery he seems, his leg bouncing in anticipation or something else, she isn’t quite sure. The Tsaritsa sets her tea down and idly conjures a fat white snowflake to dance across her open palm. “ However, it is not your report I want to discuss with you. I want to ask your opinion on something, if you would entertain me. ” She looks at him from beyond the sheer black veil hanging over her eyes, gauging his reaction. As his Empress, he has little choice but to oblige her. “ What do you think about him? Morax, I mean. Or, well, I suppose he wants to go by ‘Zhongli’ now, doesn’t he? ” When she smiles, it’s all teeth. “ Tell me what you thought of him. ”

A laugh attempts to distract from the lump building in his throat, the subtle but certain tension that now runs through every sinew of him. Tautness writes itself over his posture and he shifts in the increasingly futile endeavor to seek a comfortable sitting position. The unseeing blue of his eyes chases one distraction to the next, finally settling on the white frost she conjures. It’s a habit not entirely dissimilar from how he manipulates the form of hydro into shapes to entertain his youngest siblings. Unlike Tartaglia, however, The Tsaritsa commands her element visionless.

“As I recall, the two of you are old friends. I doubt I know him as well as you, Your Majesty. I wasn’t stationed in Liyue that long.” Only long enough to have built up enough trust that the slight felt personal. “All he did was show me around a bit.” And invited him out to dinner just about every night until his dragon-like body plummeted onto Yujing Terrace, setting his untold plan in motion. “Zhongli,” he says, realizing the irony that he has not spoken that name since he saw the man-god last. “always expressed a great fondness for the land. For its people, too. There was a quiet strength about him that I... admired. When you have lived thousands of lifetimes, you naturally must pick up just as many stories to tell. I’ll admit not every one was all that interesting nor do I remember each in great detail, but he was quick to share them regardless. That guy really enjoys the sound of his own voice.”

Tartaglia grins then, meeting the dark face that sits opposite him. “Pantalone rarely has anything good to say about Liyue, so I didn’t know what to expect aside from the briefing.” He nearly grimaces remembering the earful the Regrator had given him earlier with regard to his expenditures. “Although it was a nice place, I’m glad to be home.” Here.

[devouringdeep]

everwinters​:

The Harbingers are the jewels of Her Imperial Majesty, but he is one of the most beloved. From his smile to his looks, he retains the almost child-like innocence she saw in him when he was first brought into the ranks of the Fatui, but she knows what lingers beneath it. He is carnelian and amber, her lionhearted boy, sharpened into a weapon of her own design. Each Harbinger is capable on the battlefield in their own right, but Tartaglia is made for it. He is covered in blood shed in her name and it becomes him. It makes him hers and hers alone.

“ A wise answer. ” She smiles as if amused and steps down from her icy throne, each footstep echoing hauntingly through the empty audience chamber. “ Come. I should like to hear how your assignment in Liyue has been. ” The Tsaritsa does not wait for him to follow, merely assuming that he will, and heads for a door that leads further into the palace. The interior is a maze of ice, kept warm by magnificent fireplaces and grand ovens, if only to keep from having to constantly replace servants. She leads him into her private parlour where refreshments have already been laid out: hot tea, steaming bread, and fresh golden honey cakes. The seat she takes is less extravagant than the one sitting in her throne room, but no less elegant, cut from white marble and draped in silk and fineries. She gestures for Tartaglia to sit.

“ Signora has already given me a formal report, but I am eager to learn of your time there. ”

Homecoming is always just a little bittersweet. The lines between work and home blur too much when he returns to the house he grew up in after reporting to the Tsaritsa at Zapolyarny Palace. It had been easier to seal all the tolerable parts Ajax into the letters he sent his younger siblings on away missions, but Tartaglia belongs to Her Majesty and the balancing act takes more out of him than he’d care to admit. Teucer’s outing to Liyue, he’s certain, shaved at least several years off his life. However, when the Tsaritsa smiles at him as she does, none of it matters. She bests him without ever setting foot on the battlefield and looks upon the violence he leaves in his wake with a fondness that not even Ajax’s parents could.

Childe does not need to be told to shadow her, simply follows at her heel like a faithful dog, finally halting at the seat she designates him to stay. The palace as he remembers it seems unchanged though he has always thought it lonely that her private rooms are not made to entertain more company. Sometimes he dares to wonder if they are more for show and even imagines her sitting alone at the tables when her harbingers have not been summoned.

He will not eat before the Tsaritsa has made a selection of her own, but Childe grins in appreciation for the lengths she has gone to receive him. “Quite the reception,” he remarks. Mention of Signora, however, and Liyue by extension, remind him of being played for a fool. “Lovely place. Water runs without freezing there, y’know? It’s no Snezhnaya, but the people all spoke highly of its—” His voice speeds up, leg bouncing slightly. “Archon. It seems that man has as many names as he does faces. Anyways, my paperwork should have gone through the same time as Signora’s. Did you find it lacking in any way? My findings are more detailed in that report than I could hope to relay to you in person. I’d be happy to oblige if there was something in particular you wanted to know of my time there.”

[devouringdeep]

@everwinters​ asked: ❛ will you defend yourself? ❜ she is perched upon her lofty throne, in the heart of the Zapolyarny Palace, frigid as the winter that blankets her lands. ❛ from me, i mean. ❜

he bears teeth in boyish smile, rising to the words like a challenge but still displays nothing short of the utmost reverence, knee unmoving from where it is planted against the glassy floor of Her palace. few are granted private audience with the tsaritsa and tartaglia knows it is the highest honor to count himself among her ranks. he’d like to believe it more than wishful thinking that he could pose any suitable challenge, but the next time she steps down from her throne will be to a new world order, bloody path carved by her most devout followers because she has a vision unlike any other that ajax like countless others would readily give themselves body and soul to.

the question is laughable, almost. his name is hers and he remains unwavering in service even as she makes an enemy of every nation in teyvat. “there is no defending against Your Majesty,” he does not say in flattery but a statement of indisputable fact, then raises his head to look at her like the personification of salvation. "i would do so only if you asked it of me.”