Meetings
a little excerpt of my AO3 fic about a dnd i played a while ago. The Guardians "Did you get hurt again?" she muttered, her mind moving in all sorts of directions. Was this the same injury as before? Did he just feed the crows his eye, and was this why she had such a hard time finding him?
"Yeah, a little," he said with a small laugh. "I got in the way during a training exercise to push a student out of the way, and I got hit," he said nonchalantly, as if him missing an eye was no big deal.
"That sounds awful, is that how you—" She gestured to his face and the place the bandages were.
"Yeah, I lost my eye because of it," he said matter-of-factly before flashing her a smile. "But don't worry, it'll grow back," he said casually to her. The intrigue about this boy grew more in Renalia.
"Really, you can just grow it back," she said, a little astonished at this revelation.
"Oh yeah, as long as some piece of me remains, I can grow back pretty much anything," he said, almost sounding proud of it.
"Is that why you took the hit then?" As she processed this, her caring nature couldn't help but shine through despite the oddness of this interaction.
"Well, yeah, I can grow things back; the other student would have seriously gotten hurt if he'd been the one hit," he said with his perpetual smile still in place. "So I took it instead. I don't feel pain, so it's ok."
She frowned at his explanation. "You know, just because you don't feel pain and can regenerate doesn't mean you should be putting yourself at risk," she said, almost scolding him.
"Sorry," he said, sensing her mood. "I just want to make sure if it's between me or other people about to get hurt, it's me since I'm more durable," he said, his smile a bit less prominent but not disappearing.
"You should take care of yourself too, you don't need to take every hit" she said shaking her head a bit at his words, " also you need to eat I never see you in the cafeteria" she questioned him.
"Oh, I don't need to eat food," he simply said again, causing Renalia's mind to spiral into so many questions.
"You don't?" she said raising an eyebrow trying to understand this strange but fascinating boy to her.
"No, I mean, I can eat, but it does nothing for me, plus I'm unable to taste things," he explained with that constant smile. "So I don't eat."
"i see" she said mostly to herself as if she was putting a puzzle together, " so you come here instead?" she looked around at the place, again noticing how well kept it was he must spend a lot of time here.
"Yeah, I like to make sure those who Anthenium has taken to her embrace have a resting place that's well taken care of," he said, looking past her into the memorial stones around them.
So, he was a cleric, Renalia thought to herself, recognizing the name Anthenium as the goddess of death. "Well, you are doing a really good job; the place looks much nicer than before," she said with a smile, that feeling of dread she had before slowly fading into a warm, pleasant feeling.
"Thank you, I do what I can," he said, his voice sounding a bit different than before; there was a palpable earnestness to his voice.
"Oh, I almost forgot," she said, hitting the top of her forehead with her palm and smiling, shaking her head, almost forgetting one of the reasons she had come looking for him. "The entire class is gathering tonight for a small party. Would you like to come?" she said with a warm smile.
"Would that be ok? I don't want to make anyone feel bad; I hear sometimes people don't feel well around me," he explained, describing the feeling she had been struck with when they first started talking.
"I think it would be fine; I don't feel unwell around you, so our classmates might also not feel unwell," she said, trying to reassure him and hoping this would motivate him to come.
"oh, ok then I would enjoy attending very much" he said with a bigger smile now.
"Neat, I think you'll have fun Nero" saying his name reminded her she hadn't properly introduced herself to him, she stretched her arm out to him " Renalia Sonales" she said a little embarrassed it had taken her this long to introduce herself, " nice to meet you."
Nero shook her hand gently; he didn't feel anything but the warmth of her hand, which felt nice, but Renalia felt a shock of electricity followed by an unnatural cold. Nero's hands were freezing. "Nero" He said, grinning at her, unaware of the reaction he had caused in her.
"So, uh, Nero, do you need help around here? I mean, I could help so you can make it to the party without worries." She offered her help, wanting to find out more about him, and this seemed like a great opportunity to do so.
"I would very much enjoy your company if you'd like to help," he said with a soft, bell-chime-like tone, his deep purple eye falling onto her blue ones. She couldn't help but notice him, especially his hair; she found the color fascinating up close.
The two of them would spend the rest of the afternoon talking, eventually finding out about the crows, Henry and Tharja, who always followed Nero even before he had joined the academy, a fact that brought a smile to Renalia's face. She was impressed by the bond between Nero and the crows. She would continue to ask as many questions as she could of Nero. Some had answers; others he could not answer. Nero had suffered memory loss a few years ago and was unable to recollect much of his life before Denthro and the academy, something that reignited Renalia's curiosity, trying to speculate and put together things about Nero. Eventually they would end up hanging out until the sun had set—a beautiful red and orange sunset. She looked at him one last time with a smile; they had been watching it under the tree she first found him at.
"Well, Nero, this has been tons of fun, but I think I should get going to see if the others need help setting up for the party, but I hope to see you there." She got up, dusting herself off.
"Thank you for all the help today. I also look forward to seeing you; it's been really nice to spend time with you," he said, his voice again breaking into this earnest tone.
She couldn't help but smile as she walked away from him; today had been a really productive day, and she had finally accomplished the task that had seemed impossible all these months. She was pleased with herself and with the conversation she had with Nero, now making a goal for herself to see him at least once a day.
