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 Posted: Mon Jul 12, 2021 7:26 pm
“Rose, do you have a minute?” Bloodstone asked after they were dismissed from the meeting before the venture into the Rift. Carnallite was probably lingering around, watching the cats, but before they did anything exceptionally dangerous, Bloodstone wanted to make sure Roselite was at least a little better prepared.
Especially since they weren’t going to be on the same team.
He waited until the Lieutenant met him out in the hallway, and then led away from the crowd of people leaving to do whatever they were going to do.
“It’s going to be dangerous. If you don’t feel up for it, you don’t have to go,” he said before Roselite could say anything. It would be unfair of Bloodstone to make Roselite go if he wasn’t comfortable.
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Posted: Tue Jul 13, 2021 6:07 pm
It was strange to hear such a cold, severe man use a nickname for him, but Roselite couldn’t dislike it. Nicknames spoke of intimacy and familiarity, even fondness. Roselite was pleased to have someone in his life who felt comfortable enough with him to default to a short version of his name.
And was that concern he sensed? Or was Captain Bloodstone questioning his abilities?
Roselite hoped for the former but expected the latter.
Either way, he flushed faintly and ducked his head.
“I… I want to,” he said. “I want to go, I mean. I… I’m here to help, so… I think I can be useful.”
He hoped he could be useful. His skills were not many, but observing his surroundings for clues, tracking a youma? Roselite thought he could do that, and do it well, if he could suppress his fear long enough.
“Why?” he asked, his thoughts taking a sudden turn. Roselite lifted his head to meet his Captain’s eye. “Do you not want me to go?”
Bloodstone hadn’t seemed against it before. Maybe he really was having second thoughts.
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Posted: Tue Jul 13, 2021 6:48 pm
Bloodstone drew in a breath and let it out slowly. He was afraid that Roselite would say that. He wasn’t going to order him to do something dangerous, but if this was something that Roselite wanted to do, then he wasn’t going to stop him. He was quite capable of making his own decisions.
“You can go if you think you’ll be useful,” he said, not wanting to tell him he didn’t want him to go. “But there’s something in my office I need to get for you, first.”
He was hoping to save it for later. Maybe when Roselite was promoted to Captain or whenever he finally got recognition for all the paperwork he’d been doing for everyone else.
Instead, Bloodstone held out his hand for Roselite to take, and when he did they would be teleported to his office.
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Posted: Wed Jul 14, 2021 5:21 pm
Roselite’s flush deepened as he took Bloodstone’s hand.
One second they were in a sparsely populated hallway and the next they were in Bloodstone’s office. Roselite released Bloodstone’s hand, assuming the gesture was meant for teleportation and nothing more. He could relax in the office, at least. It was the most familiar room in the castle to him, the desk neatly organized, the filing cabinets carefully arranged.
“This makes things easier. I was going to pack us coffee anyway,” Roselite said.
A small table sat on one side of the room, square and large enough for four seats, but with one side pushed against the wall, all they could manage was three. Atop it was a coffee maker and a growing assortment of teas and coffees. Roselite and Bloodstone normally stuck with the latter; Roselite kept the tea there now in case General Faustite should stop by.
He began the process of preparing a pot of coffee, digging around in a set of drawers near the table to find a couple of insulated thermoses, large enough to last them a while (though certainly not the full two days, with the way they usually drank it; they’d have to be sparing with it to accomplish that).
“What did you need here?”
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Posted: Sun Jul 25, 2021 12:56 pm
He made no comment about Roselite saying he would be packing coffee. It was expected that his Lieutenant prepared everything necessary, anyway. And he wasn’t entirely sure how to offer his appreciation, so he didn’t.
Instead, he went over to his desk and pulled out one of the drawers at the bottom to fish for something he’d stored away in there that he didn’t need, but he thought Roselite might have use of it.
“I wanted to give you an extra bit of defense,” he said, figuring there was no reason to beat around the bush when he was going to give it to Roselite anyway. “I was waiting until I had enough to submit my recommendation for your promotion to Captain, but since we’re going into the Rift, and you don’t know how to fight, I thought you might be able to use this now.”
And hopefully come out of the Rift alive, since Roselite was insisting that he wanted to go.
When Bloodstone straightened, he held a small wooden box, mostly covered in dust except for where he’d brushed it off. “I found this when I was cleaning up the office. I don’t need it, but it seems to have some latent magic that could help,” he explained and opened the wooden lid to reveal a bracelet made or some kind of metal. It was old, but the origin was unknown.
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Posted: Sun Jul 25, 2021 6:01 pm
There was a lot for Roselite to unpack. Not that Bloodstone said anything that required a lot of unpacking, but Roselite made a habit of overthinking, and this occasion was no different.
Bloodstone was actively monitoring him for an eventual promotion to Captain — which should have been obvious, since that was the way of things, but it was difficult for Roselite to envision himself as a Captain, to the point that he assumed he would never make it beyond Lieutenant, and he was content with that. The thought that someone like Captain Bloodstone was quietly observing him with the intention of submitting a recommendation sent Roselite’s heart up his throat, where it blocked his airways until he swallowed it down.
Perhaps even more startling, Bloodstone had what, for him, equated to a gift. Roselite stared at the box, then he stared at the contents of the box, then he looked up at Bloodstone and struggled to find the appropriate words to say… well… anything.
“I…”
He didn’t question the age of the bracelet, or whatever magical properties it might have, or even where Bloodstone came by it. The castle was old and decrepit and housed all manner of strange things. Surely there were other such objects to be found if Roselite looked hard enough.
That Bloodstone thought to give it to him at all was the shock of all shocks.
“Th-Thank you,” Roselite said, forcing his clumsy tongue to work again. He left the coffee maker running and made a nervous approach. “I…”
He was pleased to accept it, even if the reason it was being given to him was because he could barely defend himself without assistance.
“I’m honored, Sir… That you would think of me…”
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Posted: Sun Jul 25, 2021 6:20 pm
Bloodstone didn’t seem to mind that Roselite was stammering again. It was just who he was, and maybe one day he would be comfortable enough around him to not. But until then, he wanted to at least give Roselite a better chance at survival.
“I don’t want you to have to rely on someone else to save you,” he explained, although maybe he should have said something not as harsh? Was that harsh? He didn’t want Roselite to get hurt because of the failures of others, so a little magical bracelet should be enough to at least buy him some time. Hopefully.
“I won’t have anyone else to do my paperwork if you died,” he further explained, wondering if that was more acceptable. Probably not. It seemed rather selfish of him, but didn’t he not care if people thought he was selfish? Roselite was usually too nice to everyone and would surely be taken advantage of if he wasn’t careful, so having a little extra defense was only logical.
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Posted: Sun Jul 25, 2021 7:11 pm
Someone else in Roselite’s position might be offended that Bloodstone seemed so concerned about the prospect of having to do his own paperwork. To Roselite, it hardly mattered; he was pleased to be useful enough that Bloodstone would mourn his passing, even for something so inconsequential as that.
Besides, he liked to think there was more to it than paperwork — that Bloodstone would actually miss him, in his own way.
Before Bloodstone, Roselite lived a lonely existence. Some might argue he still did, given that Bloodstone wasn’t the talkative sort and they didn’t do much more than exist around one another, but Roselite awoke every day grateful to have met him.
“Thank you, Sir,” he said again. For once, the simple response didn’t feel inadequate. That was all there was to say — and all that Bloodstone would expect of him.
Roselite didn’t wait for Bloodstone to remove the bracelet for him, assuming his Captain would do no such thing. He took it himself and fastened it to his wrist, concealing a smile as he ducked his head.
He wouldn’t gush over it. Roselite wasn’t the type for that behavior, and he didn’t think Bloodstone would appreciate it anyway. Instead, he showed his gratitude in the only way he knew how, the only way he thought Bloodstone would accept: he got right back to work preparing their coffee.
Even so, some of the nervous tension in Roselite eased.
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