so, this will probably take a while yet, but i have been quietly remaking a ton of bios from several different blogs because i do plan to move my active muses to one big multifandom blog. since genshin is my most active fandom atm, i'll probably drop the url once a lot of those bios are done since the most i really have to do is just copy-paste stuff over. whether i move then or not, i'm not sure, but. figured i would at least announce that i do intend to move at some point.
The banker will return to Snezhnaya soon, and Morax is adamant he will not be forgotten in a hurry. Pantalone's skin is already criss-crossed in scratches deep enough to draw blood, and even now as he attempts to work Morax remains close behind him, winding his fingers through the Harbinger's hair and marring the white skin of his neck and shoulders with as many bruises and bites as he can. What he's not able to conceal beneath the thick layers of Snezhnayan clothing will not be easy to explain to his fellow Harbingers or his god (the word thought somewhat sourly), but they suspect what goes on between them if it's not already a known fact.
pantalone can't help but to chuckle at the other's antics, amusement thoroughly evident in the smirk upon his lips. he is well aware that those scars will not fade. if not because they're simply too deep to be removed completely, then for the simple fact that he wouldn't let them. there is little reason to flaunt them of course, but there is a sense of pride that comes with every little mark, every bruise painted onto his skin. and, perhaps, it also serves to inflate his ego. to no one's surprise. he is well aware he is one of morax's few exceptions. would that not give anyone good reason to place themselves on a pedestal? to be a god's favorite?
he can tell there is the faintest twinge of jealousy behind the rougher bites, as if the other's possessiveness seeped from his fangs to poison the regrator's skin, to taint his body enough so that he can truly stake his claim to it. endearing as it is... there is no point. his loyalty may now lie with the tsaritsa, but rex lapis- morax, was his god first. it is only logical to simply hand over what was his first.
as he does so, he knows of the hold he has over morax. no one will ever have the luxury of running their fingers through his hair or tenderly splitting his skin like morax does, and in turn, no one can have him at his beck and call the way pantalone does. it is no secret that he has always believed in ensuring humans and gods were on equal footing, and the best way to prove his point is to lead by example. judging by the way he has the warrior god himself wrapped around his finger, he can confidently say he has done just that.
“now, before i say anything, promise me you’ll stay calm.” Heizou @ Ayato jyrcbjucv
" it is in your best interest to tell me regardless. " despite the warning tone, he plans to do exactly that. ayato hasn't lost his temper in years and hasn't raised his voice in even longer, but that doesn't make the commissioner any less frightening. he knows it, too, and it's a good thing heizou isn't as easily spooked as others would be in this situation. some would be even more so because he can so easily remain unbothered.
he laces his fingers together on the desk before him, civil smile almost enough to distract someone from the way it stops before it reaches his eyes. calm as he may be, politeness can only go so far. " well? speak quickly, detective. tell me why this has happened on your watch, and how exactly you plan to fix it. "
"You should have more respect for the General Mahamatra, as someone who lost our fight in the first place," Cyno all but growls, fixing his stare on Alhaitham. The scribe doesn't flinch. Solid as stone, and as resilient as a weed, the matra thinks. He stalks towards him until they're mere inches apart (it is, admittedly, a lot easier to be intimidating having bested someone once before... He's not certain he would be able to pull it off at all otherwise, looking up at Alhaitham now). "I will teach you another lesson if I must."
he really hopes cyno has a good idea of how ridiculous he looks, getting so worked up over something alhaitham barely thought twice about. despite cyno's reputation and how dangerous he actually is, he'll find that alhaitham isn't that easy to intimidate. he easily could have found out before this had he just noted the scribe's complete indifference to him going off in his face.
cyno does eventually stop talking, so begrudgingly, he closes his book to meet cyno's harsh gaze below, leaving his thumb between the pages; he doesn't plan to talk for very long, and he really doesn't want to lose his place. frankly, reading is significantly more important than someone else's problem with him, it's always been that way. better for cyno to learn how little this actually gets to him, just in case he gets the smart idea to do it again.
" my respect isn't free for anyone, and you are no exception. maybe if you focused more on the real problem instead of me, you would earn that respect. " with that, the book becomes his main focus again, and he very deliberately readjusts his earpieces so they fit comfortably on his head once more. soundproof and effective, what a miracle.
“i don’t need you right now.” cyno for al-haitham jfc
typical. leave it to cyno to immediately refuse assistance before it's offered, as if it was even going to be given in the first place. it just so happens that their work aligns in the desert today. that doesn't mean alhaitham plans to make cyno's business his own. it's likely that someone is going to end up on the wrong side of his spear today, and luckily, alhaitham is just here to study. if cyno's worried about him getting in the way, he really shouldn't be.
" how bold to assume i showed up for you. " he raises the worn notebook in his hand and nods to it, as if the mahamatra couldn't see it clear as day. " obviously, i'm only here to take notes and to research. as long as your business doesn't interfere, we won't have a problem. "
having said all that must be said, he tucks said notebook back under his arm and turns as if to leave the other alone. but, before he gets too far, " if you find that you actually can't handle whatever it is you have to do, " as if cyno would ever have difficulty doing his job; he only brings it up to be a nuisance, " you know where to find me. "
logs in and lays down. good morning, i accidentally thought too hard about zhongli originally wanting to stop being the archon because subtle signs of erosion are already popping up—probably have been for a few years—and the last thing he wants is for the people of liyue to have to defend themselves against their own god, hence the test with osial in the first place.
but while he never really wanted to leave, the fact that the results mean he has to stay only makes him even more concerned for liyue because osial already proved to be too much, and sure that was only against a small group of people + the adepti, but had there been more people, there would have been more casualties anyway, and he wasn't going to allow that to happen. all this tells him is that if osial was too much, then liyue still wouldn't stand a chance if erosion took him over, and he's just ended up trapping himself in an incredibly tense position.
staying so close just ends up putting everyone in danger, but willingly deciding to leave before he knows they can handle themselves is just as bad. there really aren't many possible outcomes. either liyue advances quickly enough to mostly protect itself when he inevitably loses himself, or it doesn't, and he can't get himself under control before he completely loses his mind.
one of my favorite story elements is "character way past their prime can still absolutely wreck you, leaving you to wonder just how powerful they used to be"
he doesn't need to do this anymore of course, but he's an exceptional thief seeing as he basically had to be when he was younger. if he didn't have food / supplies or couldn't resell things, then he'd suffer because of it, and stealing things helped with both of those problems. nowadays, though, he's still incredibly quiet and happens to enjoy startling people by moving silently.
he has symmetry ocd, and it's blatantly obvious should anyone peek in his office or just watch how he does things. if someone's clothes are off center, he won't even ask, he'll just straighten it himself. or, if something of his is uneven or unbalanced, that alone is enough to make him uncomfortable or even anxious that something bad will happen unless it's fixed immediately.
having grown up in liyue, he takes contracts / deals / etc very seriously. to back out of a deal or break a contract is to personally slight him, and he unsurprisingly doesn't take kindly to that. should someone aggravate him, his personal favorite way of balancing the playing field again is to act as though they're still on good terms, then gradually make them more and more reliant on his funding before cutting them off completely. he knows exactly how it feels to be left with nothing, and watching it happen to someone else is basically his form of entertainment.
and since this one's a little uncomfy, under the cut it goes <3
as a child, he actually had a younger sister named baozhai. unfortunately, there was a point in time where funds were lower than they had ever been, and there just wasn't enough to keep four people going. their solution was simple: sell off one child, keep the other fed. he has no idea what happened to baozhai after that, and he wasn't allowed to ask for more details at the time but @barbatosguidesus gave me the excellent idea of having her eventually escaping and becoming a treasure hoarder, so i'm going with that!! pantalone just doesn't know it. since it was embedded into his head at a young age that children could basically be discarded like trash once they took up too much space or lost their use, is it really any surprise he can work along dottore so well??