Post #2567723 in Birthstone Spirits: The Great Escape, a roleplay on RPG

"No, no I'm not done talking to you."

Dorian stopped dead in his tracks, and, after a moment's hesitation, he turned around to face General Cress attempting and failing to contort his features into polite interest. It could still be worse, he mentally hazarded. At most he was about to be verbally harassed by a member of the royal family. At best, the other man just wanted the last word in their semi-conversation before leaving. Regardless, he far preferred that whatever this was was happening to him and not, say, to one of the more volatile members of the Month Warriors Team. Which was basically all of them.

He didn't expect, however, to be asked to join the General on a hunting trip. Well, he wasn't asked, really. It was more of a thinly veiled order that was too well worded and reluctantly given to actually be labeled as an order outright. The point remained that his entire day tomorrow had just been planned out for him and he as well as anyone in charge of him (which he limited to Ryou and Haru because there were far too many Guardians for him to be looking at more than what he considered the most sensible two for guidance) had no say in it. There were, he was sure, far better ways to spend his day than wandering around surrounded by strangers loyal to General Cress armed with weapons, hunting and playing nice.

He was left in somewhat of a daze, barely reacting at the hearty slap on his shoulder as General Cress wandered off without asking for a reply. He paused in the hall for a moment before hurrying off towards his own room, dread for the day ahead of him washing over his body and a vague question of how did someone just get gout hovering on the tip of his tongue.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Ryou stayed seated silently next to Haru, hands reluctantly folded in his lap as the February Guardian spoke, but eyes never leaving his crumpled form. It was a wonder, really, how Haru had stayed put together for this long with those thoughts, those orders weighing so heavily on his mind. It wasn't just a setback- this was supposed to be easy after the hoard, after they'd shown off their shiny new month warriors, putting on the facade of them being every bit as heroic as their past counterparts. They were supposed to get royal and religious backing, to get the best support they could in the form of supplies. That's how it had worked in the old days.

But, as he was constantly reminded throughout this journey, this wasn't the old days. Things had changed, usually for the worse. Now the connection between the group and the Crown was more of a shackle, weighing them down with extra responsibilities and attaching them to men who didn't have their best interests at heart. They had to fight in war if so called upon, had to please a man who already seemed bound and determined to despise them. It wasn't Haru's fault, though- that was the world they lived in.

And now he was laughing almost hysterically as tears pricked at his eyes looking downtrodden, beaten down by the world they lived in.

"Haru, come on. It's not your fault," The Monkey Guardian said, honesty dripping from every word. "You're brilliant, okay? I know that things would be a lot worse off if any of the rest of us had gone in your place." Which was true. None of them had the patience or tact for diplomacy as they'd seen in the prison and in countless other little ways.

Hands finally unfolded from his lap, one arm reaching around Haru's shoulders still wracked with pained laughter.

"Things are bad, of course they are, but we could have come out of this a lot worse. If this is what we have to work with, we'll make it work."

There was that subtle we, a gentle reminder that Haru wasn't alone in this, that it wasn't him versus the entire world, even if it did feel like that.

"We're here to help you, Haru," His voice was low now, a deep, soothing sound as he leaned against the man who had taken on the impossible role as their leader, tightening his grip around his shoulder. "I'm here. For anything you need."

And maybe it was the nonexistent distance between them or the hurt look on Haru's face that broke him, but Ryou found himself leaning in impossibly closer, lips hovering over Haru's cheek before he could even recognize his own mistake.

Snippet #2567723

located in Aires, a part of Birthstone Spirits: The Great Escape, one of the many universes on RPG.

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