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dutybcrne · 4 months

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Rehashing/Redoing Adelinde hcs, now updated to match info of the story:

She is, by birth, Snezhnayan. Her real name is Ada Dorokhova.

She had no family to speak of, save her brother, Lev Dorokhov older than her by five years. The two were raised to join the Fatui ranks, as they had no other family to turn to.

Addie's brother had gone on to become a Pyroslinger. She remained a low-ranking operative, as he kept insisting he didn't want her to take on more dangerous missions. She learned diplomacy and banking instead, as well as picking up the various languages of the other nations and intel-gathering.

She did however learn to use his gun, at his insistence. She became a far better shot than he, even able to shoot a Mora coin from considerable distance with ease. It was this skill that allowed her to join her brother's company, in spite of her lower rank.

While dispatched to Mond, she and Lev took to intermingling with the locals out of uniform. While it was clear they weren't locals, many assumed and were told they were Fontanian to make things easier on them. It was during these times and interacting with the Mondstadt people that her brother began to have doubts about the Fatui's cause and the things they were taught to believe about the other people. He began to think that they could run from the Fatui and live a peaceful life here in Mondstadt. Because of him, she almost began to contemplate such things too

While expressing these thoughts to her, their company leader had overheard and had him arrested, intent on sending him back to Snezhnaya. In the ensuing struggle, Lev had been killed by his fellow Fatui.

She had been beside herself with grief, but even seeing that and knowing just how close the two had been, their superior officer kept telling her it was for the best, as a traitor like that would only hinder their mission. It was that very grief that had her taking up her brother's gun and turning it against her own comrades, slaughtering them all in a fit of rage.

She can scarcely remember anything from her rampage, save her feelings of grief and anger. From the moment she picked up her brother's weapon and took the first shot through her company leader's head, it was all a murky fog.

She does remember coming to and meeting Crepus Ragnvindr however, having stumbled across the Dawn Winery in running from the Fatui's now ravaged camp. She almost killed him too, had his abrupt query about her well-being and clear distressed concern not caught her off-guard.

After he talked her down and hearing her tale, he first offered her his coat to stave off the cold, then a place in his staff and a home in his manor as he helped treat her wounds. She rejected it promptly, not trusting why he would offer such a kindness to a Fatuus, though him outright lying to the knights who happened upon them and the carnage she'd wrought, that she'd been a mercenary who protected him from the Fatui, had been enough to sway her to trust him more. Especially when he'd left his coat in her care, a last comfort he could offer her and a promise to meet again before they'd part.

It would take several meetings after that before she would take his hand and be led home. During that time, she changed her name to a more local-sounding one, and took to using his cover for her, working as a mercenary in the meantime, occasionally running into him at the Angel's Share whenever she'd stop by for business or leisure. Or to observe him and the sort of man he was, to chat with him endlessly whenever his foolish little sun-bright smile would bloom upon seeing her. Each and every time, he'd ask her to come home with him. Each and every time, she would refuse, and tease perhaps he could try better the next time.

She accepted a year after he'd first made his offer.

Apart from being hired as a maid, Adelinde had also served as Crepus' personal aid and guard. She worked hard to hone and maintain her skills in every aspect she could, taking to her role with utmost dedication. It was perhaps this that wound up leading the rest of the staff to fall in behind her without question, even after having been regarded with suspicion by them due to her sudden disappearance. After all, it became all too clear to them that everything she would say and do, it was all for the good of their master.

She did develop feelings for Crepus, but never acted on them, especially after he'd gotten together with Diluc's mother and the lad had been born. She never faulted him for it nor did she dwell on them, much less seek to have them recognized or returned. Rather, she used them as incentive to better care for him and the young boy, even after his mother was out of the picture. This arrangement felt much more comfortable and right to her, anyways. She would never have changed a thing, even looking back now.

She taught Diluc how to use a firearm, as her brother had her, at the curious child's request. Seeing the lad so hard at work to try and improve to match her her did remind her of him at times, which never failed to make her heart ache.

She helped train Elzer in the use of firearms as well, in addition to helping train him to manage the Winery while Diluc grew up. With Elzer, she gave him the extra learnings she'd picked up with the Fatui to ensure he would be the best possible servant for the Ragnvindrs. He is the sole living person in Mond who knows the full extent of her origin, Crepus having been such, previously.

The one who reminded Adelinde of her brother the most though was Kaeya. She saw it in the gentle kindness he exuded, in the love he gave, the shyness he carried himself with yet always pushing himself to stand proud beside his more confident sibling. She saw it in his sharp wit and love of stories, the way his eyes shined in excitement at each and every one. She will never admit it, even if prodded, but it is for that reason that he was her favorite of the two. Still, she doted on both equally, adoring them both with every ounce of love her heart could muster. They were as much family to her, as the others in the staff and Winery came to be.

She and Crepus were both aware of Kaeya's heritage, the man having confided to her that Kaeya's eyes resembled those of Khaenri'ahns from legends he'd read. They both resolved to let the boy come clean at his own pace, as they felt he deserved a home, regardless of his origin, just as she had been given that chance. She made the greatest efforts to ensure he felt as welcomed as she did, that he adjusted well and personally tutored him whenever he needed the extra help. Every effort she could give to make sure he would feel safe in this new home.

Addie did eventually admit her feelings for Crepus some time before Diluc's eighteenth birthday. She had never intended to, but has done so only because he had directly asked her regarding them, and she refused to lie or keep secrets from him. She never had, since the day she'd begun to work for him, after all. As happy as he had been to know of them, and as relieved as she had been to know he was alright with it, they were never truly able to navigate what could come out of them, as Crepus died soon after.

In learning of Diluc's intent to journey to Snezhnaya, she cashed in a few favors with her old mercenary buddies and a few Fatui folk she knew without shadow of a doubt she could still trust to have them look after him the best they could. No doubt he would be hard to locate, with what limited information she could have and provide, but if it could make the difference between life or death for him, she would take every measure she could.

She admitted as much to him when he returned, through relieved tears and choked sobs upon seeing him.

She was not only one of the first to learn of his intents to moonlight as a vigilante, but his greatest supporter. She resolved to ensure not a single alibi of his could slip, to ensure each and every one of the staff would remain nothing but loyal to him, and resolved to personally take care of any 'loose ends' should it really come down to it.

Adelinde has personally stopped many a home invader over the years, from the start of her service to Crepus, to the present day, and never fails to sleep without both her own and her brother's guns prepped and ready at her bedside. She also frequently patrols the manor in the late hours, and there are no shortage of guns specially hidden around the manor for her to make a grab for in emergencies.

No, she will Never tell Diluc where they all are.

#hc; adelinde #death mention tw #//THERE WE GO #long post for ts #//Some things are flexible to be amended; depending on other person #//But ye #//I need to add her to the muse list; but yee #//She has kept various things from her time in the Fatui; and discarded others #//Of what she did keep; it was her brother's gun; his badges; and his Pyro delusion #//She tended to keep it pinned under her apron; right over her belly #//Out of sight; but always close in case she needed it in a pinch #//Due to Crepus' death because of a Delusion; she now keeps it locked away in a drawer #//She is always tempted to fetch it and keep it on her person; fretting if it was the right choice to keep it away #//What if there may come a time when she needed its strength; but foolishly didn't have it on hand?#//She loves Luc and Kae too much to want to risk them seeing her actively using it; much less inquiring as to why and HOW she has it #//She is not ready to admit her past to them; not really out of shame; but bc she worries it may Complicate things for them #//And that's the LAST thing she needs #//Her boys have enough on their plates as is #//She did contribute to the efforts to root out traitors within the KoF #//The moment Kae told her of it all; she took up scrounging for intel and anonymously or otherwise subtly tipping Kae off as best she could #//Anything to help avenge Crepus and clear his name to the Knights. She has never Once forgiven what they did to him #//And never will. Any respect she yet has for the organization; she owes to Kae and Jean

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