embrace the dark. *

     ❝  I’M FINE,  Jakob  —  really  !  ❞  She knows that her protests fall on deaf ears, the butler being too stubborn to listen to her pleas. Yes, she had been having coughing fits since the other day, but surely she was fine, right  ?  (  even if she was sick, he still didn’t need to make such a fuss  !  )  Ashen locks slip over her shoulder with a cant of her head, rosette lips tugging downwards into a slight  FROWN.  She was concerned, really  —  considering how he usually was, he would only work himself ragged worrying over her possibly having a mere cold  !

    @devotaed  |  from  ♔

           ❛     oh.    so  you  do  care.     ❜           not  the  way  you  would  normally  handle  concern,     but,   well                    ❛     or,    is  there  an  ulterior  motive  to  this  as  well?   please,   feel  free  to  correct  me.     ❜          as  though  he  needs  to  be  allowed. 

     ❛  … whaddya mean ? sheesh … i took one two days ago !   ❜      

@devotaed  II Starter Call

“Sloppy, Jakob. Unmistakably so.”

“Just as your tea beggars for improvement, so do does your sword arm. Your stance is off the mark. Pah! We’ll stop here for today. I can already see that you’re sweating.”

            ❛    pleading with you?     i wouldn’t go so far as to call it that.     you’re merely trying to flatter yourself at this point,     tsubaki.     ❜           a huff of air as deft hands cease in their movements,     hovering over an open wound inflicted in the battle just prior to this moment.     he was too proud,     this pegasus knight.     he could not accept aid when it was offered   (  nor when ordered,     as jakob had all but demanded his compliance on several occasions,     and still found himself refused  ),     could not subtly admit that he needed help because he’d faltered momentarily.     and it was,     in truth,     frustrating.     partially because it reminded the butler of his own,     none-too-good habits.     all at once,     his hands pull away,     one clasped against the opposite wrist,     wringing it.     his lips curl into something of a scowl.                   ❛    if it is your wish to bleed out here on the battlefield and cease your work as lady sakura’s retainer,     then so be it;     it will weigh no heavier on my mind than would the contrary.     but if you wish to continue to protect her with the occasional blunder,     then i ask you once more to quiet yourself,     and let me do what i need to do.     the choice is yours.    ❜

             ❛    i was loath to voice my thoughts on the matter,      but since you’ve already done so ... ...     i fear you may be right.     ❜           and it’s frustrating,     to say the very least;     could not one trust the word of another at all,     in this day and age?     they’d followed the directions of the seemingly-genuine village dweller to a tee,     and yet they now found themselves going in circles upon circles,     to and fro betwixt the trees,     a never-ending cycle.     at this rate,     they’d never get to their destination,     much less leave the damned forest that taunted them at every turn.     irate,     his hands fall sharply upon his hips,     and his eyes narrow in frustrated thought.                   ❛    a curse upon the fool that sent us this way,     though even that would be too good for the likes of such a person.     -- what shall we do now,     lady l'arachel?    ❜

                     further now than it’d been prior,     at the very least.     after all,     had they not been fighting mere moments ago?     yes.     and they’d been surrounded -----     by the sound of steel clashing ‘gainst steel resounding all throughout the charged air,     by rallied battle cries,     by sighs and screams and the unmistakable plunk of a soldier falling face-first into the cold earth,     defeated.     but it’s not the sound of immediate battle that scares jakob;     no.     it’s the deafening silence that comes after,     much like this one,     the sort that befalls the field when the front-line has retreated,     and the medics and scavengers stay behind to fix and to take what they can.     her remark,     as such,     causes him to scoff --     a quiet sound which hardly disturbs the blanket of quiet that’s befallen them.     one might take such a moment as reprieve.     looking at the fallen at his feet,     he finds he cannot.     may they find peace.

                    ❛    for the time being,     it certainly shall.     but it will doubtless be upon us again,     soon,     and in greater numbers.     ... so if we’re done here,     milady,     i suggest that we go.   ❜

He doesn’t look at his father when he approaches, fingers twitching once his hand was taken. He could feel his father’s warmth radiate from his fingertips. Without looking at him, he could tell that he was concerned. He felt impotent - he WANTED to get stronger. He wanted to protect those closest to his heart. Yet, what can he do when he was an untrained troubadour? All he knows is what his father taught him - but that wasn’t ENOUGH. It would never be enough, not when the outside world is so much more dangerous than the comfortable life he had lived. The feeling of failure had bubbled up in his chest long before his father came to his side, soon bursting into a subtle feeling of anxiety; the inability to be of any aid other than mere HEALING.

“ Father - ” the word tastes bitter upon his tongue at the moment, but he continues regardless.

“ I’ll be fine.”

                if it’s inadequacy he feels,     trapped as once again,     someone else must come running to his aid -----     he must know that jakob had not meant to make it so.     he’d seen his son in   (  albeit minor  )   distress,     and had come running over accordingly;     as any good parent would have done.     yet,     dwyer seems less than enthused,     less than appreciative of the good-faith,     as it were.     and jakob supposes he cannot blame him.     all those years,     sheltered as a result of his own direct actions.     there’d been no time to teach him of weaponry,     the fine art of battle outside of mending wounds and saving lives.     it was doubtful if the other could properly hold a blade,     much less adequately notch an arrow;      the latter had already been seen.     and while this surely must sting the younger,     singe his pride,     it causes the elder’s stomach to sink.     a familiar feeling of having disappointed.     the bitter taste of regret.     he’d left him to a life on his own for so many years,     what could he possibly have expected -----.

      THERE WAS  a part of the cavalier that couldn’t blame the butler’s skepticism, admittedly so. As much as she had faith if flower fortunes,  (  ah, what happiness they brought  )  she also understood the view of others towards such a foolhardy and unreliable way of scrying into one’s future. Even still, that was part of what made it  SO INFATUATING,  wasn’t it  ?  Soft rosettes purse together in thought as Sofia idly twirls the flower’s stem between her fingers, lashes fluttering slightly as she stares at the other’s face.  

      ❝  I understand, Jakob  —  but would it really be so bad as to give it a try  ?  For         all you know, you could get a really amazing fortune and it could come true  !  ❞

❝We’ve been together for so long that I would hope she remains loyal to me. After all, I am fiercely loyal to her.❞ THE DUO HAD been together since Cherche was NINE and since that point , had been INSEPARABLE . Coming from a life without ANY FAMILY , Minerva was the closest being Cherche had to a PARTNER in crime , and as for MInerva , I’m sure she enjoyed the “ LUXURIOUS MEALS “ that Cherche oft prepared for her , thankfully , with Stahl’s assistance . Jakob seemed IN AWE of Minerva as a whole , and Cherche could see the near sparkle of what seemed like APPRECIATION for her magnificence in his eyes .  ❝YOU’RE FREE to stroke her, if it pleases you. Let’s say, she enjoys your “ presence” .❞ 𝓒✗ █║│♔