« rewind. / pause. / fast forward. »
you knew of TARTAGLIA's strength in spite of his lithe build, but he seemed awfully relaxed behind the thin sheet of glass separating the two of you. it seemed unlikely for him to pull anything.
you managed to relax yourself, letting out a deep sigh. "i'd appreciate it if you won't keep up your remarks and focus on lessening your sentence."
"of course, of course—the sooner, the better."
you were a little surprised how enthusiastic he was to get this done. did he say that just to throw you off?
...whatever, you weren't about to get shaken up by him.
"alright... let's get to the point. do you remember anything from two weeks ago?"
"i seem to forget... but you know who i won't?"
just wanting for this interrogation to go smoothly, you let him continue.
you sighed. "look, i'm not sure what this is, but i don't think your family will appreciate it when we withdraw from your case—"
"what," the room immediately sent a blast of arctic freeze through your blood at the change of tone evident in his voice. scary how people can quicklychange not only their mood, but the mood at the same time. "how the hell did they—"
"i don't mean to interrupt," a familiar voice broke tartaglia out of that chilling transformation, the both of you redirecting your attention to behind you. "there's someone here to see you."
KAEYA relaxed himself against the door frame, his face not betraying an ounce of his plans. naturally, tartaglia was quick to raise a brow. was quick to raise a brow.
"oh, nobody special i presume... there is a young boy, though. looks about the spitting image of you—how adorable-"
"kaeya," you interjected. it was then you noticed tartaglia's hands shaking from behind the plexiglass. you started walking towards the door. "a word, please."
closing the door behind you, kaeya changed his position to rest on that instead of the door frame.
"that definitely wasn't necessary."
"oh yeah? the interrogation was going a little bit slow for my taste, so i figured that i'd quicken things up a little."
"well, you didn't have to do it like that!"
"i'm sorry, but who's the criminal here?" much like tartaglia's, kaeya's tone grew dark, the glint in his eyes dimming. "he's murdered, [name]—he's a danger to society. he has no regard for others, much less himself. you can't exactly play nice with him."
"i know that!" letting your emotions get true better of you, kaeya and some other officers nearby perked up. "but he's already been tried for that and serving his time. i don't know about you, but i'm focused on his current case. in eyes of the law, he's innocent until proven guilty!"
you took his silence as a push to continue. "i won't stop at anything to prove whatever it is—but as of now, he didn't do anything."
pushing past him to get back to the interrogation room, you then noticed tartaglia was now more relaxed than he was when you first went in. the way his brash confidence replaced by quietness strangely made him look less tense.
"...you didn't have to do that."
"i wanted to," you answered honestly. "it's just something about his tactics that feel underhanded..."
"i'll take part in the questioning," he suddenly blurted it out, much to your surprise. "i'll be out of your hair in no time."
you couldn't help but try and hold in a squeal and your obvious elation. "that's great! uh, i mean... good."
you were quick to get yourself situated, finding a chair nearby to start questioning. "alright... back to where we've started... do you remember what happened two weeks ago? the night of mr. ragnvindr's crash?"
"easy. it was my youngest brother, teucer's birthday. i thought i'd get him a little gift with some money i made at the prison and give it to him in person while i'm at it."
ignoring his casual admittance of jailbreak, you just jotted it down and continued. "is there any reason why anyone would accuse you of the crime?"
"well... now that i think about it, i believe so. i'm not the only fatui head, as you probably know. and let's say we're not exactly... fond of each other."
"hmm... if i had to say... the fair lady, the marionette, and... ah ha! the balladeer."
he was about to give you an answer, but then stopped himself. you knew by how quick he was to pick up after you that he was going to go off on a rant, but he seemed to value your time enough to cut himself.
"if you're going to track them down by themselves, i wouldn't bother with the first two... one's six feet under, though she's moreso toasted," he snickered as if you'd get it. "and the other... i think she's only just annoyed by me. as for the balladeer..."
"he just has something out for me... though i guess that's not saying much 'cause he has something out for everybody."
a dry laugh rang out through the room.
"i see..." seeing that you were reaching the end of your prepared questions, you went to look up to him for one last time. "do you have anyone else that can testify for you?"
"there's my family, obviously. my subordinates and co-workers, though who's to say that they wouldn't break their oaths and commit perjury just to rise up the ranks..."
"...right, i think that just about does it," after a period of silence, you added the final notes and beamed up at him, standing up. "thank you for cooperating."
"thank you for not dropping my case," tartaglia sighed, a smile on his face despite you opening the door, letting two officers file in to fetch him. "and one more thing—well—two more things."
"i meant it when i said you're a pretty one. just thought you should know," the sparkle of sincerity in his eyes caused you to blush. "and you can call me childe. it's quicker, and something tells me we'll be seeing each other more often after today."
he left the room with the officers tight on his trail.
𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞 𝐢𝐭 𝐬𝐨 𝐟𝐚𝐫? 𝐩𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐛𝐥𝐨𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐭 𝐩𝐚𝐠𝐞! <𝟑
