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 Posted: Mon Jun 22, 2020 6:01 am
prompt The Destiny City Reservoir opened about a year ago and is an easy escape from the big city. It’s a five minute drive outside of the Eastern side of town and features clear water and sandy beaches--although, the sand here is notorious for squeaking when you step on it. It’s a hot spot for all fun summer activities, but it’s been back in the news recently for mysterious reports of some strange, aquatic monster. Some accounts say they’ve spotted a twenty foot long, snake like creature capable of rearing a long neck high above the water. It’s hard to tell if the videos are doctored, but there are too many rumors to dismiss easily. Something strange might be lurking deep in the water. Are you the type to investigate this or is it enough to dampen your waterfront plans? While you may not ever actually interact with the supposed cryptid, you can spot a strange creature in the distance. And, who knows what youma are crawling in the area, anyway?
Rakovanite wasn't the most apt at dealing with things as part of a group. He played online team games in his civilian life, so he'd assumed that would give him enough experience with working with others that he should be able to handle situations where his abilities alone were insufficient. He could tolerate taking orders from his teammates, and he was observant enough to relay relevant information to others. He didn't mind not being in charge, so long as whoever called the shots was intelligent and decisive.
But working with real people was not the same as working with people over voice communication in a game. Most of those who took the time to get online were likely doing it for similar reasons: to win chiefly among them. And when the objective was to win as a team, it made sense to play that way.
It was different in the real world, in a real scenario, where the objectives of any individual were not so cut and dry.
Even among his own faction, it wasn't always easy to find people who wanted to win by any means necessary. It felt bizarrely as though most of them didn't really want to participate in Negaverse activities at all. They didn't want to hurt people, or they weren't good at fighting, or they didn't have a reason to be here outside of 'they were forced.' Rakovanite didn't understand. Why be here at all if you couldn't commit with vigor? Why did they have so many hang-ups concerning the well-being of others? Why play this game if not to win?
It was difficult to work with them when they didn't have the same objectives he did or when they were limited in the tasks they were willing to perform. Even his Fettelite wasn't as eager to participate in all the ways Rakovanite was...
But he was instructed to try and work with others. If he had a hand in camaraderie with the newest recruits, maybe they could be taught to see things more his way. He should be getting to the point where he was learning to take on some aspects of leadership to the newbies. Rakovanite was a smart man, wasn't he? He shouldn't have that much difficulty manipulating the whims of recruited teenagers if he was only willing to try. Or so said the general who sent him on his most recent hunt. He was to be partnered with a boy named 'Calaverite,' and they were instructed to... dissuade any Order members who may come to investigate the rumors of a sea monster in the reservoir.
They didn't know who would show up, so it was as much recon as anything else. And there was a not-entirely-slim chance that a knight or senshi of higher rank than him may be out investigating. Even if he was careful, Rakovanite would certainly need a partner to stand a chance against anything stronger than them.
He'd been told Calaverite could be difficult, but if nothing else, he was a very useful distraction.
Besides being morbidly curious of the warning, Rakovanite didn't think too hard on it, and he waited on the beach for his new partner to show up. The beach was littered with curious debris and trinkets from the festivities, including a red star charm that Rakovanite decided to add to his collection of unnecessary findings from these events.
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Posted: Fri Jul 03, 2020 1:21 pm
Maybe he was misunderstanding the situation, but Calaverite was starting to feel like the Negaverse wanted more from him than it was willing to give back. He did have these senshi powers, and he did have his own room in Negaspace. He liked being Calaverite... But it didn't matter how much he liked being Cala if there were so many rules and stipulations to follow while he was doing it!
Don't power up in front of anyone. Don't cause a scene in the middle of the city. You have to meet your energy quota every week. Don't talk back when you're being given an order. And there were so many places in Negaspace he wasn't allowed to go! How was that fair!
He'd pouted and whined and clawed his fingers against his general's sleeve as if incessantly tugging on him and being generally obtuse might change his mind.
It didn't, and he was instead given instructions to meet with another agent- a lieutenant, not even worth a shred of Calaverite's respect- down by the beach. Cala wanted to argue, of course, because he didn't want to go piddling off with some stuck up agent boy who thought he could order him around just because he was a senshi (because senshi were, apparently, not always well-received by agents). He would've argued too, but...
Cala had never been to the beach before. He was assured that it wasn't really a beach. There was no ocean near them, but it was as close as they were going to get, and it had the usual hallmarks one might expect of the coast. He was promised that Rakovanite, the agent, wouldn't harass him, and that they should do their best to work together.
No one had to be better than anyone else. They should function as a team. It would be good for Caleverite to learn how to work with others. Not all of his assignments would forever require him to act alone.
With little more warning than that, he was deposited along the shore, where a boy with bright green hair and wearing a purple coat waited for him.
The agent had his back to Calaverite, though even the senshi wasn't so stupid as to believe Rakovanite didn't know he was here. A general had had to drop him off, so even if he felt confident in ignoring a weak senshi aura, Cala doubted he would just outright ignore that. Still, he'd been told to act as a team, and teammates were friendly with each other.
Calaverite strode the few steps to bring him close to the other man. The pretty waves in the evening sun sparkled like a distraction, and the sand beneath his boots was so soft that Cala really just wanted to stop and touch it...
He really wanted to do anything besides try and make friends with this agent.
But he didn't want to get in trouble again... His general got mad when he started a scene or didn't meet his quote or failed assignments. And when he got mad Cala had to try really hard to be allowed to go back to the city again. He couldn't get there without his general's help, after all...
He could be friendly. He leaned against the agent's back, reaching to drape both arms over either of the boy's shoulders so he could hook his hands together over Rakovanite's chest. "Hi," he greeted, leaning to press the words into his ear on a hot breath. "I'm Cala."
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Posted: Mon Sep 28, 2020 6:18 pm
He felt their auras before he heard or saw anything else. There was the tingle of some source of power nearby- likely a general- and then a smaller one, nearly swamped in the wave of a general’s greater aura. Before Rakovanite could even turn to greet them, the stronger source whisked away, leaving who he suspected was the senshi he was to be patrolling with. Teleportation really did sound like the most handy ability… When you didn’t want to deal with something, you just left, without need for any more complication than that.
Rakovanite inhaled a quiet breath, letting his gaze linger on the waves for just a moment longer. The assignment wasn’t a very thrilling one, but no one had said it needed to be very lengthy, and he couldn’t feel anything besides the corrupt senshi, at present.
No enemies.
At least, not in the sense of any from an opposing faction. But when a pair of arms draped over his shoulders, every muscle in Rakovanite’s body tensed. His breath caught in his throat. His heart stuttered. The words in his ear, ’I’m Cala…’ sent a heat arcing through him, prickling in his stomach. Immediately he felt even less inclined to work with Calaverite, and ever more intrigued, all at once. But Rakovanite didn’t share the other boy’s interest in pleasantries.
He snatched the arm dangling over his shoulders and yanked around, whirling the senshi to stand before him. He was met with a wild tangle of pooling navy hair, spilling out around him and twisting to his limbs. Pale swatches of skin were visible over Calaverite’s chest and thighs, with a jarring amount of bone protruding through. His eyes were dark and red-violet as they peered up at him, Cala’s arm still perhaps a little too-tightly in Rakovanite’s grasp.
“You are my patrolling partner?” Rakovanite questioned, his own gaze narrowing. This was just a child. A skinny, frail, dumb-looking child. He frowned.
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Posted: Tue Sep 29, 2020 6:05 am
Hm… What should he have thought was going to happen? Calaverite had really wanted his new partner to be excited about working with him, and he’d tried to be friendly! But he didn’t even have to get within touching distance to realize that this guy was a huge stiff. When Cala’s arms draped over Rakovanite, and he went entirely still, Cala was already prepared to be yanked around to look the other man in the face, and it didn’t come as any huge surprise to see him already frowning.
He pouted in response, lip jutting out and long lashes pinching to a squint as he glowered at the agent.
“Yes. I said I’m Cala!” He informed Rakovanite in a huff. He swished his lips, batting his lashes at the taller man. Despite Rakovanite’s grip on his arm, it wasn’t very difficult to lean his weight forward into the other man’s chest, scrabbling with his unusually long, unmanicured nails at the agent’s vest. “You don’t have to look so offended by it,” Calaverite grumbled. “I promised my general I’d play nice. He doesn’t let me leave Negaspace if I don’t do what he says…”
“So come on, you have to try to be friendly, alright?” It shouldn’t even be too hard! They were at the beach, and Calaverite had never experienced anything quite like it.
Oh! Right. He wanted to experience it.
Shooting one last annoyed look at the agent, he wrenched himself out of Rakovanite’s grip, whirled around, and began tromping through the sand, toward where the water lapped at the edges of the beach. It was so lovely here, and it sounded so pretty, even. Smelled a little funny, but otherwise. Oh, he really would’ve preferred to just play in the sand and maybe not worry if there were any Order senshi around…
Calaverite flopped to the ground and began working off his boots.
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Posted: Tue Sep 29, 2020 7:10 am
Rakovanite hadn’t promised anyone that he would play nice. He acknowledged the benefits of sometimes working in a unit consisting of more than himself, but he’d certainly never promised kindness to anyone. He just wanted to get in and out with as little mishaps as possible. In an ideal world, they simply would have been silent all night long, and nothing of import would even happen.
He stood stiffly, arms folded behind him, as the other boy flounced off across the sand. “Not allowed to leave Negaspace?” He repeated, brow pinching.
It was… an apt punishment, he suppose, for a basic who couldn’t teleport out. It would be easier to keep an eye on him until he could be supervised in Destiny City. But it also seemed just a tiny bit suspicious. Would anyone notice that Calaverite’s civilian form was frequently missing? The boy looked young enough to still be in high school, where his presence, or lack thereof, would be noted almost daily.
And then the boy dropped to the sand and began to remove his boots.
Rakovanite’s focus swiveled first one way down the beach and then the other, before returning to Calaverite, as if fearing that someone might see him. “What are you doing?” Rakovanite demanded quietly as he moved nearer to the senshi. “We should move out of the open, back toward the trees or caves, maybe. It would be inconvenient to be seen by the enemy before we see them.”
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Posted: Tue Sep 29, 2020 7:51 am
Calaverite looked up at his partner through large, pouty eyes.
He’d just said he was only sometimes allowed to leave Negaspace, and he wanted to do stuff he’d never done before while he had the chance to be in Destiny City. Rakovanite hadn’t outright said he couldn’t, but that demanding tone suggested he wasn’t pleased at what Cala was doing. And there was no way, no way, he was going to let some random nobody the same rank as him tell him what he could or couldn’t do!
Finished with his boots, Calaverite began to peel off his thigh-high stockings, tossing everything into a disorganized pile in the sand. “I won’t be in the open,” he snorted. “I’m going to be in the water! The monster is supposed to be in the water, so the senshi will have to investigate the water. Don’t be stupid.”
Besides, he’d never played in any amount of water like this before. Even if it wasn’t exactly the ocean, it still looked pretty close to him!
And if that wasn’t reason enough, they’d be able to tell when a White Moon senshi showed up. Their auras would give them away. There wasn’t any reason to hide! Calaverite slapped his arm bands and his tattered drapery down on the ground before he set off at a brisk pace toward the water. It was chilly where it lapped at his toes, and the sand felt much denser here than it had back where it was dry. He cinched his toes and smiled down at the gentle waves.
“Rakovanite, you should get in too. Don’t you want to observe the monster? You’ll never see it from back there.”
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Posted: Tue Sep 29, 2020 8:29 am
’Don’t.
Be.
Stupid.’
There weren’t many times in his life when anyone had ever said any such thing to him. His criticalness and preparedness and forethought into situations was what Rakovanite considered his only true skill. No one ever had any reason to call him stupid. He was immediately affronted by the words, jaw dropping into a tiny ‘o’ as he took half a pace back as if physically buffeted by the statement.
He recovered quickly, jaw tensing and mouth setting into a thin line as his frustration spiked. “It will hinder your ability to escape if someone does show up and decide to attack you,” Rakovanite stated. If anyone was not seeing reason, it was this boy…
And yet he was still undressing.
Rakovanite’s mind flicked rapidly through the ways he could stop this. Attack him from behind? Subdue him with physical force? It felt unlikely that would help the situation. Calaverite had the mind of a six-year-old. He would surely screech and rebel. The general who had paired them together said that Rakovanite should try and manipulate people not as reasonable as himself.
He swallowed and felt weirdly uncomfortable even as he said the words, “What if… we play a game in the trees. If you hide, I will try and find you.” Heat crept for his cheeks. This sounded stupid. And it wasn’t part of the assignment.
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Posted: Tue Sep 29, 2020 9:20 am
Calaverite tiptoed his first steps into the water. The chill wasn’t his favorite, but the awe of the new activity mostly dwarfed the discomfort of a little cold. Besides, the summer air was warm against his skin, with a pleasant breeze gusting him forward. He wondered where that monster was… Probably not very close to shore, if it was very big. He’d have to swim a long way out to see it, he bet…
“Hm?” He cast a look back at the agent, but in Cala’s mind Rakovanite was already someone easier to ignore than try and communicate with. He just wanted to stop Calaverite from doing anything fun, like most other people. “They’ll have to find me in all this water,” he retorted flippantly. “And they won’t find me.” Nobody would come, anyway. He was sure of it, so Cala had little reason to be worried about Order trespassing on his free time.
The only downside was being here with Rakovanite. He rolled his eyes.
“Maybe we can catch the monster, if we’re lucky, and we can use it to lure out all the Order people. Then we can just kill ‘em when they’re not expecting it.”
A game did sound fun, though. Rakovanite didn’t look like he was very good at games, so Cala was sure he could win. He paused a moment as he pondered the offer, now knee-deep in the water. He could wait until Rakovanite had his back turned, and then he could just slip out of the trees and go swimming again. He doubted it would be very hard to trick one dumb agent.
But then, a fleck of silver darted over his toe.
Calaverite’s gaze whipped down. There was another. And another! There were fishies in here. All pretense of being interested in Rakovanite’s suggestion were immediately gone. Calaverite squealed in delight and galloped through the surf, chasing the little silver fish.
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Posted: Tue Sep 29, 2020 9:52 am
For a shining instant, Rakovanite thought he had won. He thought this was surely how you manipulate children. By tempting Calaverite into a game, he could coerce the senshi into hiding and silence while they waited to see if any senshi would investigate the rumored monsters. This was how they could work together. This was how they’d handle this patrol.
Then it wasn’t.
No sooner had Calaverite paused to consider his offer, that his attention was abruptly diverted. From his place away from the water, Rakovanite couldn’t see what had snatched the other boy’s focus, but he assumed some kind of life had swam up.
Rakovanite’s frustration returned with the force of a truck smashing into him. He had been so close. “Calaverite!” He called, trying to remind the senshi that he was still here. “Calaverite, wait!” But Rakovanite wasn’t so dim that he thought the other even heard him over all the sloshing through the water he was doing. Rakovanite may as well not even exist for all that Cala cared about his presence now.
Urgh! What was he supposed to do? Stay on the beach and wait? Go after him? Why didn’t this stupid boy listen? They probably wouldn’t have even had to do much of anything if teh senshi would just stay put-
Rakovanite nudged up his glasses to press the heel of his palms to his eyes before smearing his hands down his face.
No, this was fine. They probably wouldn’t have to do anything. Rakovanite could stand on the bank and listen and wait and watch while Calaverite did- whatever the ******** he wanted because Rakovanite didn’t care what he did. If someone did show up, Cala could be an easy target in the water for them to be distracted by. Rakovanite would just be patient by the treeline, out of immediate view. He slunk backwards, keeping to the shadows provided by the trees as he leaned his weight back against a trunk, and cast his gaze to observe Calaverite in the water.
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Posted: Tue Sep 29, 2020 9:57 am
Oh, the cold was slightly less bearable now that most of him had been submerged.
The school of fishies was much faster than Cala. They darted away from him, before another batch took their place. If he moved too much, they fled, and no matter how he tried to grab them, they were always much too quick for him to even touch. “Aw, c’mon!” Cala whined at the creatures as he continued to follow them away from shore. “I’m not gonna hurt ya. I promise.”
The sky was growing slightly darker now, with the vibrant oranges and pinks from when he’s first arrived settling into deeper shades. The sun still peeked over the horizon, making the waves and creatures glint, but it was harder to see what exactly was underfoot now, and the long, tattered edges of Cala’s fuku dragged heavily through the water.
He was going deeper and deeper into the reservoir, but he thought absolutely nothing about how the water lapped up to his hips, then his chest, then his chin.
By the time all the fishes were well out of his vision, Calaverite was standing on his tiptoes in the sand, head canted back to try and prevent any waves from sloshing against his face. Hmm… He didn’t actually know what he was supposed to do from here. He’d wanted to be in the water, and now he was, but since he was starting to not be able to see too well, perhaps he should head back… He shimmied to face the other direction, only to see that the shore looked unreasonably far away.
Eh? He hadn’t walked all that way, had he?
Even with his powered body, it just felt like it would be way too hard to go back all that way unaided. “Rakovanite!” He yipped, shimmying on his toes to try and get more stable footing back. “Help! Come get me!” He called.
“Rakovani-!”
A wave smacked his head from behind, immediately cutting off any other communication. It yanked him down and dragged him backwards, pulling him deeper. Calaverite fumbled to right himself, squirming in any direction to either try and get his feet back to sand or his head back to air, but nothing was anywhere. How could that be? He flapped with his arms, and kicked with his legs, but the mass of wet hair and fuku tangled around him, making it harder to move or see or breathe.
He couldn’t swim. He’d never tried to before!
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Posted: Tue Sep 29, 2020 10:08 am
Rakovanite watched the other boy through dark, unblinking eyes. He kept his other senses alert, waiting and expecting that something else would appear on the periphery of his awareness, but there was nothing. The shadows stretched longer as the sun first clipped beneath the edge of the horizon, and the sound of waves accented the faint rustling of tree leaves. Nothing especially odd appeared in the water or out of it, so Rakovanite just watched Cala until the boy was little more than a speck of head peeking above the water off in the distance.
And then he was gone.
Rakovanite thought absolutely nothing of it as Calaverite’s head disappeared beneath the water. This wasn’t the ocean, so they likely didn’t have to worry about any particularly dangerous creatures snatching him up for a snack. The waves were present, but they weren’t as powerful as a true tide.
And Calaverite was a child, but he still looked old enough to at least know how to swim. He wasn’t that juvenile. So Rakovanite continued to do nothing but wait for the span of several long seconds.
It wasn’t until an arm flailed up out of the water before rapidly sinking back down that he started to wonder if something wasn’t right. They were here because of rumors of a monster in the water, and no one had admitted with certainty that it was a youma. Certainly Rakovanite didn’t sense any youma nearby. His body tensed, and he shifted a pace forward as he tried to see if anything else was going to happen…
But no other information was forthcoming. Calaverite didn’t breach the surface again, and Rakovanite knew immediately that it was not a favorable situation to allow his partner to die on a first meeting. He strode briskly toward the water, unclipping his vest, unzipping his coat, shredding the fabric of his waist sash before breaking into a sprint toward the water. The rest of his garments would be inconvenient, but unlike Cala, who went under once and disappeared, Rakovanite was not unfamiliar with swimming.
He dove once the water was deep enough and set out quickly. Time was of the essence.
Even if it wasn’t the ocean, the reservoir was still vast, and there was still so much ground to cover between him and Calaverite. Fortunately, there were still flailing arms, and an infrequent gasped shout to guide him.
Cala wasn’t dead, just panicking and growing more and more distraught. Something in the water could have hurt him, so Rakovanite needed to be careful as he approached, especially now that darkness was more heavily upon them, leaving little to see by.
When he reached out and brushed a chilly, still, but solid figure, Rakovanite grasped at it, and hauled upward.
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Posted: Tue Sep 29, 2020 10:22 am
He was… so cold. And so tired. He couldn’t breathe or see or hardly even move besides how the water decided he should move. Cala’s toes couldn’t find purchase in the sand anymore, and without anything to stabilize him, he could quite make it to the surface, besides when he was able to give a particularly powerful splash to propel himself briefly upward. He inevitably sank again, and the waves smacked down on top of him.
This wasn’t what he’d wanted…
He’d just wanted to play in the water with the fishies… Now his limbs felt heavy and his chest burned with desperate need to breathe. The chilly water was starting to have an effect. Calaverite wanted to keep struggling toward the surface, but it was getting so hard, and everything was so dark.
He’d called for Rakovanite, but the agent didn’t come, and now he was just going to sink, sink, sink until the reservoir devoured him. Rakovanite wouldn’t be able to find him once he lost sight of him.
This was it. Even being Calaverite hadn’t helped…
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Posted: Tue Sep 29, 2020 10:49 am
Rakovanite dragged at the limp body until it was hoisted close to him. Calaverite offered no resistance or aid to his efforts; he was just a weight that Rakovanite had to struggle with as he fought to find his own footing in the reasonably deep water. He’d grown up swimming in the pond behind his house, so he was no stranger to unsteady terrain in deep waters.
It helped that he did know how to swim, and his powered body provided him the strength he needed to get Calaverite out of the water. Once he could walk effectively, the rest of the trip was easier.
But no less worrisome.
Rakovanite dragged the boy’s arm over his shoulder, using it as leverage as he tried to move quickly. Calaverite hadn’t said or done anything. He was just a limp weight that Rakovanite was dragging around, and the shore was still so distant.
“Just hang on,” he grumbled, tone close to a hiss as he tried to rush.
The water smacking against his legs slowed him down, Cala’s weight was heavy in his arms, the darkness made him stumble. But Rakovanite had no choice but to just keep going and hope that Cala was still alive enough to be revived. Rakovanite didn’t know if a starseed would mend drowning.
He slapped Calaverite to the ground on his back the second they were out of the water enough such that the gently lapping waves wouldn’t disturb him.
From here he was clueless.
Of course he’d seen people in movies perform CPR, but it was certainly nothing he was talented at, or even really understood on a basic level. He gave Calaverite a shake to hopefully jostle him into awareness, but it didn’t seem successful.
Rakovanite was immediately frazzled. The longer he waited, the less likely it was that Cala would be okay. BUt he just didn’t know what to do. His throat stung, and his heart hammered in his chest. He couldn’t have wasted the time and effort to go out into the water if Cala was just going to die. He had to do something. He had to do something.
His fingers skittered uncertainly over the senshi’s chest. He hovered over him, as if looking for some other way, some knowledge of how to proceed. But there wasn’t anything to do besides fumble around with a vague sense of knowledge he’d gotten from television shows, and just hope that if it didn’t work no one would be offended at him for not trying.
He touched his palms to Calaverite’s chest and waited a fearful beat, just one extra second to see if he was okay… Before he had to start doing compressions.
Rakovanite was sure there was no way to know if it was working or if he was doing it right, but he counted to the pace of what seemed like a normal heartbeat to thirty, before dipping down to touch his lips to this unreasonable senshi’s mouth. If he would have just listened and played the stupid game in the stupid trees-
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Posted: Tue Sep 29, 2020 11:09 am
Calaverite’s heavy lashes fluttered but didn’t lift as he felt a weight over him. Something was uncomfortable, but his body was still too heavy and too cold to be able to react. Even if he could, what would he do?
His mind felt addled and confused, as if blanketed by a thick haze. Everything that had happened over the course of the past several minutes felt distant and muted, like it hadn’t really happened to him, but to someone he’d been watching, instead. It was a bit like watching tv and then the cable abruptly going out. It was annoying, and you wanted to see what happened next, but it was still someone else’s problem to deal with. Not yours.
He heard soft, muffled words overhead, accompanying the heavy discomfort in his chest. His fingers twitched. His toes curled. A heat touched to his lips, and with it warmth flooded down his throat.
Calaverite twisted to his side and spluttered up a mouthful of water, chest heaving and body shaking as he choked up water onto the sand. With that touch of warmth, all the sensations that had been pushed to the side smacked back into him. His throat and hsi chest burned. His eyes stung. He felt bruised all over. His arms and legs felt heavy and weak, and it took only a moment for him to lay back down in the sand, trembling uncontrollably with frightened sobs as even the events felt more rooted in place.
He might have died. He’d certainly thought he was going to. And no one would come to save him because no one knew or cared where he was…
And then his watery gaze focused on Rakovanite, whose hands were still hovering over him, who was dripping wet with water, and who had a peculiarly daunted look in his eye. Yes, he had called for the agent to come get him. He just hadn’t thought he would. Calaverite swallowed the lump in his throat, but his voice still crackled when he spoke, “Y-you came and got me…?”
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Posted: Tue Sep 29, 2020 11:24 am
Calaverite leaned over to choke up a lungful of water, and it was as if every fiber of Rakovanite’s being that had been holding him taut all broke at once. Rakovanite let out a staggered sigh of relief as he slumped back to sit on his knees. The messy, wet tendrils of his hair slopped forward into his face, and his glasses dotted with water droplets began to fog in the warm air.
He hadn’t killed Calaverite.
Ultimately, they still hadn’t achieved anything on this assignment. He hadn’t been able to take charge of one dumb boy, and they hadn’t faced off against any encroaching White Moon. But no one was dead, and that seemed like a huge victory when weighed against the uncertainty of moments prior.
The boy was still obviously shaken and disheveled, but he’d spoken, so it seemed likely he would make it, though Rakovanite suspected they should probably still get out of here as quickly as possible, so someone from the barrack healers could make sure Rakovanite hadn’t broken anything in Cala’s chest that he shouldn’t have. With Rakovanite’s extremely limited knowledge of the subject, he really didn’t know if he should immediately expect everything was fine.
He brushed slick hair out of his face, and mumbled out a quiet, “It would have been inconvenient to lose you on a simple scouting assignment. I want my general to trust that I am capable, so for you to die when there were no enemies even present… It would look bad,” he explained. “I had to save you.”
His gaze turned upward, toward the darkening sky. “We should call for transport. Even if we have been gone very little time, it seems unlikely there is anything else for us to accomplish in this state.”
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