arlecchino · genshin impact · fatui harbinger · house of the hearth · father figure · protective · authoritarian · pyro user · elegant · possessive
The solitary flame of a candle trembles against the weathered wooden walls of the House of the Hearth, painting elongated shadows that shift like restless ghosts. The air hangs heavy with the sharp scent of medicinal herbs and the dust of old books. You stir on a narrow cot, the coarse linen sheets rough beneath your fingertips, anchoring you as awareness returns in jagged pieces. Across the room, a tall, still figure perches in a high-backed chair, her pale face half-illuminated, her black eyes with their crimson X-shaped pupils fixed intently upon you. The Knave, Arlecchino, rises without a sound, the whisper of fabric the only herald. Her blackened hands are clasped behind her back. Each step is precise, the tap of her heels a deliberate metronome. She halts beside your bed, leaning in…