rosi

Jade doesn’t care about taking a piss in the woods while bugs watch. He doesn’t care about the sweat clinging to his body. Actually, he doesn’t seem to be sweating at all.

And yet, you can’t deny that even with the aching exhaustion in your muscles, even with the slick salt on your forehead, even with the tired, wheezing breath fighting its way on every inhale, the forest is undeniably beautiful.

Dapples of light trickle through the branches and, though the sun has surely tried her best, moisture still clings to the big leaves framing the path. The crowded hallways and noisy cafeteria feel like a distant dream. There’s only the sound of your ragged breath and the occasional rustle in a bush that makes your hair stand on end.

Here, you are alone.

Here, you are alive.

The center of a forest brings its own version of peace. Jade’s expression is one of serenity as he puts one step in front of the other, only occasionally pausing to point out some riveting species of mushroom growing from a rotting trunk.

In the most curious of ways, Jade seems at home here.

Maybe being in the center of a forest is like being at the bottom of the ocean. There is nothing - no one. Empty, save for the myriad of creatures who call it home and the sound of your thoughts to keep you company.

A nightmare for the sociable and a paradise for the recluse.

Though Jade walks ahead, he makes sure to stay in your sight. Whenever there’s a fork in the road, or the clear trail becomes fuzzy, he waits for you until you’re side by side before continuing the trek. Upwards and upwards.

At some point, you stop asking how long is left and fall into a rhythm. One foot in front of the other, over and over again.

It’s always when your mind and legs begin to whisper pleas of surrender when Jade calls to you with a smile.

You’ve reached the summit. There for you to reach but never yours to claim.

Sometimes there’s a pool of crisp water, straight from the glaciers. The two of you will peel off your clothes and plunge right in, hypothermia be damned, splashing until you are both shaking from rib-aching laughter and persistent cold.

Jade will hunt down fungi while you eat your granola and down your water and whatever else you’ve packed. Then you’ll lie on the ground wordlessly, enjoying the silence and scenery, until the forest’s little creatures mistake you for a log and Jade comes lumbering back with several poisonous-looking specimens in hand to chase them away.

Sometimes - and it’s not often - there are natural hot springs. Several pools of water, each of a varying temperature, lie in waiting, from scorching hot to lukewarm to ice-cold. Sulfur permeates the air, and the heat makes it difficult to stay in the hotter ones for too long. Your aching muscles gravitate towards the hot ones anyway. Jade is always the first one to notice when you start getting dizzy, pulling you out of the water for a quick breather before your muscles decide they aren’t done quite yet and pull your body right back in.

But this time, it’s just the view.

And what a view it is.

You take Jade’s outstretched hand to climb over that last rock and find the whole world lying in front of you. Every tree a speck, every lake a drop, every road a thread. It reminds you just how small you really are, just how much of the world goes unseen in the distracting minutiae of everyday life.

The air is so clean, so pure, it’s as if you’re breathing for the very first time. You and Jade take a simultaneous inhale, eyes closed and arms stretched out over your heads as if to pluck the clouds from the sky.

At Jade’s insistence and reassurance, the two of you take a seat at the very edge with your feet dangling off the mountainside. Then you swap snacks. Trail mix for beef jerky, apples for carrots, crackers for chips. You never quite feel it’s a fair trade though…

You don’t know how long the two of you sit there, staring at the wide expanse before you, but you try to take in the moment and push away the dread that tries to creep in, insisting that a few hours from now, you will be back at Night Raven College. Back to staggering amounts of schoolwork and restless nights fraught with strange dreams.

The school is surrounded by woods but it’s never the same. It’s never like this.

Time slips its way past and Jade turns to you, opening his mouth to say something. But as he sees that all-too-familiar look in your eyes, he closes it with a smooth smile.

Jade puts his hand over yours and the two of you look out to the horizon together.

Let’s stay a little while longer.

teal hair blocks a perfect view of your necklace, but you can tell by the position of floyd's hands that he's using the forks to help him separate the chain. the forks' prongs scraaapppee slowly against the table and you can feel azul tense beside you from the noise (or from the prospect of the table's surface being damaged).

the mostro lounge has never had a show quite like this. there'd be the occasional singer or band. jazz nights are always fun, and more frequent than one might think. there was even a time where azul tried out a professional juggler.

you had no idea watching someone untangle a necklace would draw such a crowd. at least fifteen people were watching.

"this has got to be the lock in of the century," an ignihyde student says, peering over your shoulder.

"i don't think i've ever seen floyd focus this much on one thing," another boy says. you recognize him to be a member of the basketball team. "he hasn't said a single word!"

"he's been here for a solid thirty minutes. how long's he gonna do this for?" a voice from behind you complains.

before you can answer, the forks clatter on the table in warning.

floyd whips his head up. "oh yeah? nobody's forcing you to watch, polychaete," he spits. "try shuttin' your trap for once. maybe then i'll actually get this thing done."

"whose stupid necklace is this anyway?" the boy shoots back, practically begging to die. when floyd bares rows of sharp teeth you know you have a millisecond to respond before the scene erupts into chaos and threatens to tangle your necklace further.

"it's my necklace," you say coldly. "you're welcome to give it a shot if you think you're such hot shit."

complete and utter silence pins the mostro lounge in place. nobody dares to clear their throat or shuffle their feet backwards. of course, nobody dares to approach and accept the challenge either. how can they when both you and floyd are eyeing them in such a manner?

a beat passes before floyd's head drops back down and the scraping of forks can be heard again.

"okay everyone!" azul claps suddenly. a few students jump at the sudden sound following the bout of tension. "nothing to see here. let's let our poor fellow student get back to work!"

the forks clatter again.

"I'M DONEEEEE!" floyd cries out. with one hand, he holds the necklace up high for you to see. proof of his triumph. and sure enough, he's accomplished in thirty minutes what you couldn't in three days: he's untangled your beloved heart necklace.

"floyd!" you cry, snatching your necklace from his hand and running straight into his now-open arms. they don't lose a second wrapping themselves around you.

"thank you so much," you mean to say, but the words are lost against his chest as he gives you the tightest squeeze of your life.

you squeeze right back.

the two of you are soon a tangled bundle of giggles, and when you finally part, your neck is sporting its iconic heart necklace once more.

ruggie bucchi - probable caws

really, truly, honestly, you have no idea where it went.

one minute, it was there on the table in the common area. the next, it wasn't. you had left the room for point three seconds because your roommate was yelling something at you from the corridor. turns out they were just telling you to shut the window, which they could have easily done themselves if they took five seconds out of their precious day.

you were certain someone had stolen it, though you haven't the slightest idea why. it wasn't particularly valuable, you tell yourself, only a string of faux pearls you got from a flea market several years ago.

still, it was trusted. it had kept you company throughout all that time without snapping. you had only taken it off just that one time to examine the clasp and make sure it was still in good shape.

guess that was a mistake.

it wasn't particularly valuable, and yet you were exceptionally upset.

ruggie doesn't even bother to ask if you need help, he starts searching for it as soon as you tell him.

while you search the floor of the lounge, pushing stuffy armchairs aside and upending carpets, ruggie takes on the role of lead detective and interrogates everyone in the vicinity on their whereabouts and alibis. but after nearly an hour of searching you find neither truth nor clue, only the realization that maybe not all cases are meant to be solved.

ruggie can tell you feel bad for wasting his time. he can tell you're thinking of if onlys and should'ves.

if only you had paid more attention.

if only that window was shut.

you should've kept your necklace on.

you should've smacked your roommate and told them to close whatever window they please themselves.

when he puts his hand on your shoulder, he feels like a different person. birds twitter from within the tree outside and the wind rustles the leaves. ruggie's hair swirls in a calm wave of soft brown locks.

"let's go to class for now," ruggie says, grounding, reliable, and sure. "we'll keep looking."

there's no deception in the pale blue of his eyes, no hint of jest or empty words. like he, too, lost something once and knows how important it is to keep looking even when you don't know where exactly to direct your gaze. to believe that what is yours will come, so long as you have the drive to seek it.

you nod, feeling empty and jittery at once. he squeezes your hand reassuringly before the two of you part and head to your respective classes.

ruggie whips his head around to watch your retreating figure, ensuring you've rounded the corner before he does a full one-eighty and beelines right back into the common area.

he searches the carpet, between the cushions, the table. he cross-examines the people in your dorm. he talks your roommate into letting him in to search your room. he even whips out a magnifying class and inspects every inch of the place.

his verdict comes inconclusive.

your necklace is not in the room, and was not stolen by anyone. it had simply and impossibly and inexplicably vanished into thin air.

into thin air.

into thin air?

it hits ruggie instantly.

the open window!

there is no chattering of birds as ruggie hops through the windowsill to search the ground beneath it. he knows they're there though, watching.

"hey," he loud-whispers to the tree. "have you seen a pearl necklace 'round here?"

"i can't say, i can't say!" a voice replies. it's almost musical with how light it is, and ruggie recognizes the accent to be one of a young poecile.

"he's mean, he's mean, he's mean!" another voice replies, similar in cadence.

"who? you can tell me, you can tell me," ruggie insists.

seven bless animal linguistics.

"he's too big, much too big! big and mean and scary," a third voice adds.

"who, who?" ruggie feels much like an owl. "i'll help ya out, i swear!"

the three little birds murmur between themselves, their language too colloquial for him to understand in full.

"shiny, shiny into the tree. that tree's all his, and not for me!" the third chirps finally. the three birds take to the sky and head right for the forest without looking back.

ruggie's on the hunt a moment later, scanning every nearby tree until he spots it dangling from the limb of a tree, glittering in full glory. he has to stand on the tips of his toes to reach it, but as his index makes contact with your beloved necklace, an agitated, accusatory cry nearly blasts his eardrums open.

an inky black crow stares ruggie right in the eye, daring him to get closer.

"i don't speak corvus," ruggie calmly says in poecile. "and i don't care much to try to understand. i have to deal enough with our headmage as it is."

ruggie loops his finger around your necklace. the crow puffs its feathers up and screeches once more.

"life's not easy," ruggie continues, sliding your necklace off the branch, "but you should only steal what you need to survive. don't you know what happens if you get caught?"

ruggie's ears are flushed back, eyes gleaming with mischief, and the crow - about to pierce the air with another scream - changes its mind midway through. a strange and silent understanding passes between the two, odd pair they are.

hyenas and crows. necrophagous and unlucky. sly only because nature forces them to be.

ruggie holds the necklace up. "i'm taking this back." gesturing to the trees in the area, ruggie hits the final nail in the head. "and this is my territory now, so i don't wanna hear about any trouble. my friends live here, you see."

the crow gives one final screech and flies up in a blur of black, away and away until ruggie can see it no more.

three small birds can be seen landing on the tree outside the window as you return to the lounge, uneasy from the animal languages quiz you probably just bombed and from the prospect of never finding your necklace ever again.

"ruggie!" you call out, breaking into a smile as you spot his approaching figure. "how was class?"

"same old, same old. mostly just practicing stuff."

behind his back, ruggie thumbs the pearls in his hand, white and shiny. it's an inexpensive imitation he knows would receive your richest smile upon its return.

ruggie can't wait to give it to you.

and maybe, one day he'll be able to give you the real thing too.

lilia vanrouge - machiavellian

the end always justifies the means.

were you losing your mind because your necklace had gone missing? yes. the whole cafeteria knew about it.

but it was worth it!

unbeknownst to you, the culprit was right there beside you, munching on mediocre cafeteria lunch like he didn't just swipe your necklace right off your neck without you noticing just so he can clean it.

the silver was tarnishing - what else was he supposed to do! asking you if he could polish it would be no fun. no fun at all.

it was actually too easy to steal your necklace. the choice between flan and cheesecake must have been too much for your poor, indecisive mind. you barely reacted when he made his move. centuries of living, training, scouting have honed lilia's muscles and instincts to spot an opening before it shows itself. if you can move before your opponent has time to react, victory is assured.

you barely even blinked.

he out to scold you for that, then train you to do better. he's might not always be around after all.

technically, the necklace was his. he had come across it during his travels when he accidentally stumbled upon an ancient cave filled with wild, one-of-a kind riches and shelves and shelves of ancient scrolls.

he doesn't know what compelled his hand to reach for it, but something deep within him back then must have known you were coming along, because the necklace he found suited you too well.

it wasn't overly ostentatious or bejeweled with fat gems to weigh you down. it was simply you.

despite the fact that it was obviously valuable, the silver chain and jewel looked tarnished and faded. apparently spending a millennia in an underground cave and then another few centuries in the bottom of a drawer and then three years at night raven college doesn't keep a necklace in pristine condition.

he had cleaned it before giving it to you, of course, but maybe there's just something in the air on sage's island that wants to dim the light of anything that shines too brightly.

"your cheesecake is softening," lilia notes calmly, pointing to your untouched plate.

"lilia," you say, "my necklace is missing. how can i possibly eat at a time like this?" you furiously rub at your eyes with the sleeve of your uniform and try to ignore your scudding mind and the lump in your throat. "you gave it to me."

"don't worry my love," he assures in that all-knowing tone of his, "it'll turn up."

"but you gave it to me," you repeat. "you gave it to me and i lost it."

"nothing is ever truly lost. maybe you simply forgot it on your nightstand?"

"maybe..."

grabbing your fork tightly, you finally dig into your room-temperature cheesecake, deciding to look for it after classes are over.

lilia gives you a soft smile.

how fragile the human heart is, how easily it believes. even so, the end always justifies the means. sometimes a little suffering is necessary.

you find the necklace on the small table beside your bed, just like lilia said. somehow he always seems to know everything.

as you hold it up to the light, the big green gem in the center twinkles before you, beaming and wonderous. you wonder who else had worn it before you, what they were like, what memories they held. has the necklace always been this bright?

"it was looking rather sad so i polished it for you," lilia calls from your doorway. you hadn't even heard him enter.

"you could have told me," you say, voice holding no malice.

"i didn't know you liked it that much."

"of course i did. you gave it to me."

"you look rather good with it on." lilia gives you a cheeky smile. "it's a stylish piece, though i daresay it doesn't compare to you."

you step closer. "daresay?" you whisper, tilting your head to the side.

lilia puts his hands up in surrender. "heheh...you caught me. i know it doesn't."

you laugh.

it was a little enjoyable to watch you squirm and panic in the cafeteria, he must confess, but nothing compares to the sight of your eyes crinkling with mirth, the melodic sound of your joy.

the necklace is only part of a matching set. if he ever craves to hear that sound ring true again, he can always gift you the earrings.

or the bracelet.

or the crown.

truthfully you thought that first request would have ended as soon as the topic was brought up, but here you are, with your back turned to leona kingscholar as he fiddles with the clasp of your necklace, once again.

"can you help me put my necklace back on?"

what you thought would have ended with a decisive, disinterested "no" turned instead into a somewhat strange routine that now requires neither verbal plea nor acquiescence. just the awkward holding out of the chain and the shrug of a shoulder as leona agrees to help you put your necklace back on, just like he always does after alchemy.

it takes him maybe a minute tops, but those simple, precious sixty seconds seem to stretch to an unbearable eternity. he can probably hear you gulp as his hands approach the back of your neck. his hands radiate a warmth that send bumps along your arm, the rhythm of his breath audible in his proximity to your ear.

his fingers barely even graze your skin. polite and focused on the task in front of him. sometimes though, you feel the phantom of his lips against the curve of your neck. there's likely no other way to see the necklace with the dim lighting.

you might be imagining the whole thing, but you always hold your breath anyway, stuck in the limbo between one eternity and the next.

the gem that would hang from your neck is most likely a fake. the jump rings are annoyingly small. the pathetic clasp holding the whole thing together is even more annoyingly so, and makes it nearly impossible for you to put your necklace back on yourself without proper lighting and infinite free time.

still, you wouldn't trade this thing for the world.

and though he rolls his eyes, leona hasn't complained once.

not as he gently takes the necklace from your hands. not as he steps to stand behind you, his back to the wall and his face facing your hair. the smell of your shampoo always hits him instantly, engulfing his senses in a way that isn't overwhelming, but that leaves him strangely dizzy even after you thank him with a smile and walk away.

maybe that's why it takes him so long to clasp the two ends of your necklace together.

then again, maybe it's just the fact that the clasp itself is so frustratingly small.

riddle rosehearts - overattentive mind

it had been bothering him for the past three minutes.

he wasn't even listening to you.

it's common courtesy to listen when someone is talking but no matter how much he wanted to, he couldn't command his focus back on your words. you were talking about your day. how long it had been, or how hard your classes were? or maybe you were talking about how long the cafeteria line was?

finally, he couldn't take it anymore.

you take a sharp inhale as his outstretched fingers make for your chest, but you don't take a step back. you only watch in silence as riddle, with the most careful and precise of touches, flips the backwards pendant of your necklace back over and heaves the biggest sigh of relief you've ever heard in your life.

he jerks his hand back just as quickly, flexing it for the briefest moment before it lands innocently back at his side.

his eyes jump from his feet to your necklace to your eyes. though now he could again see the curious, bright color of your pendant's glass, it never could seem to rival your eyes, cradled in the moonlight streaming from the heartslabyul tea room.

"my sincerest apologies for...that," riddle says, clearing his throat. "the chain was all twisted, it was bothering me."

your lips turn up and part to mouth the words thank you, eyes glittering in a way that makes riddle unsure of why the stars even bother coming out.

riddle's breath catches in his lungs, cheeks flushed a color the night swallows but his heart surely knows.

you continue where you left off, though riddle finds himself distracted by something else entirely.

damn the overattentive mind.

jamil viper - if you care

watching you turn over the whole scarabia dorm in search of your beloved necklace whilst having it tucked away in his palm may be cruel, but how else is jamil going to prove his point?

if you care about something, you should hold onto it.

he's well aware he's being a little mean, and there's no doubt you'd attempt to throttle him if you knew, but your furrowed expression is a rare sight. and a cute one too.

"jamiiilllll," you half-whine half-demand, throwing another seat pillow over your head. "help me look!"

it took you nearly eleven hours before you realized it was missing. you were completely devastated. jamil had taken one look at your sorrowful expression and known that you had finally realized it was missing.

you're not even sure how it happened, just that when you reached up to fiddle with the little gemstone - a nervous habit of yours - your fingers had only met your empty collarbone.

"i already searched the scarabia lounge for your necklace," jamil says, because it's technically the truth. he did search the lounge for your lost necklace after kalim's latest party had concluded. it's just that he didn't say that he had found it.

that night, jamil viper had noticed your necklace was missing a mere five minutes after it vanished from your neck. it took him the whole night to find it, inconspicuously searching the floor and telling lingering students to get up so he can "fix the pillows."

the chain must have gotten tugged on during some game you were playing that night and snapped, sending the chain and pendant flying in different directions, because he found the silver trail hanging off one of the lanterns strung on the ceiling.

its small size aside, the crimson gem was much more difficult to find amidst the rich decorations of the dormitory. the multitudes of colors, patterns, and textures made it almost impossible to spot, but he had found it nestled in the central medallion of the ornate carpets in the lounge, hiding in plain sight. no one was around to see the puerile grin growing on his face moments later, realizing he could drag this out for a little while longer.

you toss a throw blanket with more force than necessary, nearly whipping a passerby in the process. you were becoming desperate now. jamil could tell by the panicked look in your eye, the way your fingers would twitch as if wanting to reach for a necklace to fiddle with, only to remember that it wasn't there.

shooting jamil another look, you snap, "c'mon jamil, are you really just gonna stand there?"

"yes," he replies, but he gets on his hands and knees anyway and begins to feel the spaces between the seat pillows you have yet to turn over.

four seconds later, jamil pulls out your necklace from between the cushions (which he had actually pulled out from his pocket), declaring that he had found the necklace.

you take one look at the chain dangling innocently from his fingertips and nearly weep with a conglomerate of disbelief and relief.

"ohhhhhhh seven, thankyouthankyouthankyouthanyouuuu jamil!"

he laughs as you practically lunge for your jewelry. his hand moves up and out of your reach. his grin grows wider. "if you care about something, you should hold onto it."

you cross your arms. "yes, yes, yes. i know."

"do you?"

"i do," you say, fingers twitching again. "can you give it to me?"

"no." jamil's smile sheds its coyness. an ecdysis for something inexplicably softer that emerges without regard for who is there to see. "i'll help you put it on," he says, gesturing for you to turn around.

you oblige.

with the softest of touches, jamil loops your necklace around your neck and clips it, knowing that if you care about someone, you should hold onto them too.