Board Thread:Role Plays/@comment-5999656-20190205035159/@comment-25582638-20191118221543

/"….. Alright, if you say so. I'll be on my way. Do refrain from moving too much."/ Halle said, picking up his medical kit without a second thought. The man's reply irked him anyway. It was as though talking to someone who had read too much drama novels, romanticizing pain and suffering regardless of the context.

If there's a pain, you patch it up. Not literally savor it for the sake of feeling alive. But the patient had decided, and it wasn't his job to convince him.

Although what the man had said held some truth in it; that he had more urgent matters to attend to.

Namely, the scion of the Arkwrights. The king cobra had a large glass shard stuck in his calf. He didn't know if he and the cowboy were thinking of the same thing, but that's that.

Halle simply stepped aside when Trago dragged the headless body down to the deck, sparing a glance as the fledgling masked girl called Maris pitifully chased after them. Blood and rainwater mopped the floor, the splattering sound of their wet slick touch distinguishable in the midst of the crashing waves.

A second later, the bodyguard resumed walking, making his way into the broken bridge, only to stop in his tracks again as he considered the scene. Wynston was slumped against the wall, obviously treated roughly by how he was dragged earlier. Seeing the heir in such state made Halle look at the stuck up crime lord pacing back and forth, almost shooting daggers in his direction. This wasn't how they were taught to deal with descendants of prominent families.

But doing that would reveal more of the scion's status. He had to play along until the masks are off.

Noticing his approach, Wynston lifted his gaze at the bodyguard, the cracks on his snake mask becoming more apparent under the measly light.

/"Hey, Halle."/

/"Ichor."/ Halle cleared his throat, glancing at the Diaboli’s direction briefly. /"Glad to see you’re alive."/

/"Same to you."/ He said, leaning his head against the wall. /"Though I'm sure the Swan's master isn’t glad to see their hire looking so weak and useless."/

/"Don’t worry about that. The master is more forgiving than the Swan."/ Halle shrugged. /”I’d say you’re a... lucky unlucky bastard in a way. But I’m not here to chat. Let me see if I can pull that thing out without needing surgery."/

After gesturing at the shard, Halle eventually faced the crime lord, as though remembering that he was there. Not that he had anything to say to the other man other than asking-

/”Do you need assistance as well, Mr. Diaboli?”/ --

/"Very well."/

The old man sighed in relief, but he didn't lower his guard yet. The Huntress seemed cooperative, though a bit too cold by how she spoke and looked at him. Her bloodlust was rather obvious, oozing like an overflowing bucket, and still persisted even after they reached an understanding.

It was like dealing with another troublesome young heiress out of many youngsters he had been watching over his whole life as a servant. They were, without doubt, very lively, their behavior passed on through osmosis.

Nevertheless, he was well aware that he and these girls weren't on the same side. And the Huntress' reaction was reasonable, somehow. Did she have personal issues with criminals in general to provoke such bloodlust? Probably. This wasn’t his first time encountering people like her.

Lowering his hands, he moved closer to their position, unzipping his medical kit as he looked at the Huntress once again.

/“Ah… You might wanna cover yourself, lassie. You don’t want to have all eyes on you with that kind of... appearance.”/

The old man promptly returned to his work, bending beside the poor little girl, placing his kit on the drenched ground.

/“Hmmm what do we have here…”/

The man proceeded to assess the little girl’s body, palpating her from jaw and neck up to arms and stomach, watching her reactions to find the pain points. There seemed to be no severe fractures, but there were plenty of wounds to take care of. He could give her morphine, but he wasn’t sure if the girl could handle it in such a precarious state. So instead of pulling out a syrette, he dug up a small bottle of minty gel ointment and applied its contents as gently as possible over the wounds before wrapping them with bandages.

Despite his immersion in his work, he never let the Huntress leave his peripheral vision. -

The Engelnacht heiress observed her little cousin peer over the railings, waiting by her side without uttering a word since the moment the young Bluthardt had told her to follow her. If it were any other situation, Hilda would've taken the initiative to break the silence regardless of the context. But there was an edge in her voice that told Hilda that this wasn’t the time for a casual chat.

Another reason for her silence was out of respect for their position.

Cyzarine belonged to the main family. Hilda belonged to a branch family and a sworn supporter. The differences of their status wasn’t clear until recently, when Cyzarine was beginning to learn to use her position under the guidance of the Engelnacht after years of living in the shadows. And the little devil had showed stronger resistance against many of her decisions.

/”Hilda.”/ Cyzarine’s voice suddenly pierced through her wandering mind, jerking Hilda back to the present.

/”Yes?”/

/”How's your injury?”/

Cyzarine then turned to face her cousin. Her voice had grown quieter, and would've sounded gentler if it weren't for the voice changer. Hilda could see her gaze fixed firmly on her shoulder.

/"It's fine,"/ She said, reflexively covering her bandaged wound with her other hand, conscious of her cousin's stare. /"Nothing serious."/

/"I see."/

They both fell silent again, but this time Cyzarine stretched out her hand, moving Hilda's hand to the side to see the blood-stained bandages. Displeased at the sight, the young Bluthardt brought out fresh batch of bandages and proceeded to dismantle the old ones. /"I'll replace them."/

What followed was a rather quiet affair. For the first few minutes, Hilda watched the young Bluthardt tend her wounds. She was exhausted from the barrage of problems she had faced tonight, the last one particularly sore she didn’t want to linger on it. But the tranquil atmosphere between her and Cyzarine helped her feel a bit more at ease somehow, allowing the Engelnacht heiress to think of nothing but what would come next.

She was just waiting for her cousin to finish up.

/"Is there something you want to talk about?"/ Brunhilde started, making the young Bluthardt pause to consider her question.

/"Yes,"/ Cyzarine answered, retracting her hands from the now-tied bandages. /"But I don't know where to begin."/

/" Don't think too much about it."/ Hilda said encouragingly. /"Just say whatever comes to mind."/

She wasn't surprised to find out her cousin was angry at her. She had been expecting it, at least in its peak, for sending her cousin away from the battlefield.

It didn’t take long for the young Bluthardt to reply with a question.

/"Am I a nuisance to you?"/

Suddenly, Brunhilde froze, caught off guard. Her mind scrambled to know why her cousin was asking something so ridiculous. It didn't help that Cyzarine asked it in her typical, clueless tone, almost like that of a child's.

/"What…? No, you were never a nuisance. What gave you that idea?"/

The young Bluthardt swallowed her saliva, clasping her hands behind. She felt a little hesitant about bringing this up, but the need to just clear things up with Hilda was difficult to ignore.

/”Based on my observations,”/ Cyzarine said. /“Back in the facility, you knew I’d come to your aid. I always have you back. But you had the guards take me away instead. This wasn't the first time you did this to me, misdirecting me this way. Before, you would outright welcome me to join the fray... things you normally want to do together no matter how dangerous it is. I know you can handle yourself, but I couldn't help but notice that you just ‘‘stopped’’.”/

Brunhilde exhaled loudly, becoming more both uncomfortable and tired compared to her quandary with Lustra

/"I only did it to protect you. You always put yourself at risk, you know that?"/

/“I think I can manage myself just fine. I appreciate your concern. But I don’t want to be treated like a helpless child you have to tuck somewhere.”/ Cyzarine said. Her voice was toneless again, seemingly calm. But the frustration she had felt earlier was brewing once again,

/"That’s not...Darling, the dangers of our trade didn’t really dawn on me until Tina died that night,"/ Hilda said, pausing as she watched her cousin grew tense at the name. She too felt tense, but she tried to keep it inside. It had been a long time since they touched this.

There were nightmares that came with it.

/"I shouldn’t have let you take that mission."/

Cyzarine broke their eye contact, looking at the sea instead. /"I got her killed because I wasn’t good enough.”/

/"‘‘We’’ got her killed. I almost got you killed too.”/

The duo grew quiet again, but the silence only last for a few seconds.

/”I’m not taking chances again, darling,”/ Hilda said. /”I don’t know what I would do if I lose you too.”/

Cyzarine didn’t say anything, the growing turmoil inside her dissipating in an instant, superseded by something more subdued and calmer. It was faint, but she noticed the tinge of sincerity when Hilda said those words. That didn’t happen often. Hilda was irritably averse to showing genuine emotions, even to her own friend. Cyzarine had no idea when did this problem started. But this made her realize that she had forgotten that Hilda, despite who she had become, retained remnants of her past self underneath.

And that this person was afraid of something.

/“I understand,”/ Cyzarine signed. /”But if you want to keep me safe, you’d have stop voluntarily putting yourself in danger.”/ /“... Like what?”/

/“Unnecessarily agitating our relatives.”/

Hilda snorted. /“I thought you hired me to do just that.”/

/“Not really, just tone it down, please...”/

As their conversation continued, the motor launch steered even nearer to the shore, maneuvering carefully through the reefs and rocks jutting out the dark waters. The change of scenery didn’t escape duo’s notice, and anticipated the people that would be streaming down the deck soon to disembark the vessel.