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 Posted: Sun Mar 20, 2022 4:45 pm
Bloodstone never spoke much when he arrived to tend to Ganymede’s wounds. It seemed like they were no closer to figuring out a way to break her transcendence than when she was first brought in, which meant it was important to keep her alive at least a little while longer. Once they had what they needed, her destroyed starseed would be worth the extra time it took out of his day to come down to this dark cell.
He didn’t say anything when he reached the cell door, didn’t say anything when he started working on the wrappings of her wounds. The bloody ones were removed, the wounds checked for infection, some ointment slathered on, and none too gently, and new bandages were applied.
There was no need to discuss things, no need to talk about courts or what her purpose was or her life outside of being trapped there. Bloodstone didn’t care. The sooner he could be done with this, the sooner he could get back to making sure no one was giving Roselite a hard time. The sooner he could work on getting Carnallite the promotion she deserved as well.
This time was no different. Just as it was no different that he had a bag packed by Roselite to give to her. Food of some kind usually. Kinder than she deserved, but Roselite was like that.
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Posted: Sun Mar 27, 2022 8:08 am
Sometimes, Ganymede didn’t mind the silence. Sometimes, she even preferred it to conversation, given that few of her conversations ever got her anywhere. Bloodstone would be poor company under normal circumstances, but here, in this cell, in the depths of the Dark Kingdom, Ganymede found that she didn’t despise his presence.
Rarely was he gentle. His methods were quick and efficient; Bloodstone did what needed to be done, and nothing more. Ganymede got the impression the food he offered was the result of someone else’s efforts, but at least he wasn’t threatening her, or taunting her, or otherwise making her existence here even more miserable. She could appreciate his straightforward approach, even if he had few other redeeming qualities.
“Who can I thank for this?” she asked, unwrapping a turkey sandwich. She knew what deli it came from by its packaging. “You don’t strike me as the type to go out of your way to feed a prisoner so well.”
Ganymede savored the first bite, chewing slowly. As time went by, it got easier to ignore the pain of her wounds while Bloodstone treated them, even when he made no effort to avoid the more tender areas.
Often when Bloodstone came to see her, Ganymede considered asking about Lysithea, who hadn’t been in to heal her in quite some time. In the end, she thought it best not to draw too much attention to what she knew about Lysithea’s loyalties, lest that put her in danger. With any luck, Lysithea had made a successful escape.
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Posted: Sun Mar 27, 2022 10:56 am
He had no desire to talk to Ganymede, which was why he didn’t whenever he visited. She was lucky that Roselite had such a bleeding heart, and that he didn’t want to upset Roselite by not taking the food with him. He considered throwing it out a few times on his way to the cell the Princess was kept in. Or maybe be cruel and eat it in front of her.
But it had been given by Roselite, who was often too kind for his own good.
“One of my lieutenants. Roselite,” he answered. Maybe because he was bored. Maybe because he thought that Roselite did deserve some kind of recognition. Even if that seemed pretty useless since it was Ganymede being told. It wasn’t as though she was going to start telling all of her friends in the White Moon about the turkey sandwiches a Lieutenant Roselite bought her.
For good measure, Bloodstone was purposefully harsh in testing how her healing bruises were doing. He had to make sure they weren’t causing her too much pain, otherwise it could be a sign of internal injuries.
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Posted: Sun Mar 27, 2022 12:09 pm
“Give Lieutenant Roselite my regards, then,” she said, and took another bite.
In her boredom, she tried to imagine what sort of person he might be, to serve under a General like Bloodstone. Young, most likely; the Negaverse liked to recruit teenagers. Maybe he still had some light left in him, if he was kind enough to acquire food for a prisoner he’d never met. She liked to think most of them started with their hearts in the right place, that they truly believed they were doing good.
The lies they were fed made the atrocities they committed easier to bear. Anything could seem reasonable when it was done for the greater good.
Ganymede hissed into her next bite. Bloodstone’s fingers pressed into a particularly sensitive spot — not anything Ganymede was concerned about, considering she was meant to die here eventually, but Bloodstone seemed intent on keeping her healthy enough for an extended stay.
She turned a glare on him, deeming his rough treatment unnecessary, but the expression faded quickly. Her gaze caught on a glimmer of red in his ear, nearly concealed by a lock of hair.
Thoughtlessly, Ganymede reached out to move the lock of hair aside.
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Posted: Mon May 02, 2022 1:09 pm
Thoughtfully, Bloodstone smacked her hand away from his face.
His eyes narrowed on her, clearly displeased by her sudden boldness to touch him. Or at least his hair.
What he didn’t understand was her shift from glaring at him to… something more curious. He didn’t know why, and just assumed she was going to try and claw her nails into his face at the first chance she got.
“We can have your nails removed if you use those as a weapon,” he warned, because just in case she forgot where she was…
He was tempted to just leave. Maybe take the rest of her lunch with him. Just to prove a point.
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Posted: Sat Jun 04, 2022 7:02 pm
Ganymede nearly dropped the sandwich.
Not because he smacked her hand. The part of her that could still think knew to expect a response like that. It was what she saw when he moved that left her weak, suddenly — weaker than she was kept, constantly drained of energy. Her face paled as if she’d seen a ghost.
Bloodstone’s hair shifted out of place to reveal an earring. To anyone else, it might have looked inconspicuous, but to Ganymede… there was familiarity there, deep down where ancient memories occasionally stirred.
“Altamira…”
She remembered a face, not so very different from Bloodstone’s, harsh and cold, with sharp features and a grim air. She remembered the rainfall on Jupiter, the thick clouds which obscured any sight of Ganymede, and a glimmer of red in the ears of a familiar man, just before the end.
“Where did you get those earrings?” she whispered, not quite accusatory — almost reverent with thoughts of the past.
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Posted: Sat Jul 30, 2022 10:39 am
Her reaction was strange. The earrings? Bloodstone lifted his hand to touch them, although they were simple earrings as far as he was aware. Nevermind the fact that he felt drawn to them when he saw them on the Merchant’s table.
“I obtained them from a traveling Merchant,” he said truthfully. There was no point in lying to someone who was going to die, anyway. She was clearly not thinking clearly. There was nothing special about the blood red earrings.
And yet she looked as though she knew them.
He didn’t respond to the name she used. It could have been a place for all he knew. Maybe she was just remembering a location as she looked at the earrings.
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Posted: Sat Jul 30, 2022 10:59 am
“A Merchant,” she said, then let out a sudden, sharp bark of laughter.
Unless there were others, she knew the Merchant he spoke of. She’d brought the cup he gave her back to Ganymede, where it belonged.
If Bloodstone had given any other answer, Ganymede might have thought his discovery of the earrings to be pure coincidence. But the cup belonged to her world, and Sessrumnir’s necklace — that was no coincidence. Which meant the earrings weren’t either. They’d been given to Bloodstone for a reason, though perhaps neither Bloodstone nor the Merchant truly knew why.
“Those belonged to Altamira,” she explained. “A Knight of Ganymede. I remember them. I asked about them when I was young. They seemed… valuable. Significant. Maybe a gift, or… a keepsake. They were made with someone’s blood.”
Her gaze lost focus. In Bloodstone’s place, she imagined another man.
“You never told me whose blood it was.” She laughed again, descending into breathless giggles, though nothing about the situation was funny. “Bloodstone...”
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Posted: Sat Jul 30, 2022 5:22 pm
The woman was clearly delirious with pain and trauma from whatever else went on in this cell when he wasn’t there to tend to her injuries. He was sure she’d been harassed by others. It was none of his business. It wasn’t his job.
His eyes narrowed on her as she laughed and giggled, but he simply moved further away from her, collecting his things to leave.
“You are clearly mistaking me for someone else. Just because I have similar earrings as this Altamira doesn’t mean I have any connection to them.”
Earrings made from blood seemed… interesting. But he wasn’t going to let himself worry about it. Especially not when Ganymede seemed to be speaking as though he was Altamira. And seemed amused by his name. Which was picked at random from a database.
“I guess you’ll never know,” he shrugged as he picked himself up from the ground so he could retreat. Although once he was out of her direct line of sight, his hand reached up to thoughtfully touch an earring, before moving on with his life.
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