1X1 with arvanien

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Hawthorne

Hawthorne frowned a bit at Celeste, realizing what she was doing. The captain wasn't completely ignorant to how Arion and Basil were acting. If he wasn't mistaken, the two of them were crushing on each other a bit. There was no way he was going to let this get out of hand. The last thing he wanted was for his little sister to fall for Arion. Hawthorne crossed his arms over his chest, silently glaring at the three of them. Though, Basil was too preoccupied to care about her brother's grievances.

Basil

Basil's cheeks were a bright pink as she shook Arion's hand delicately. " It's lovely to meet you, Arion. My brother speaks very highly of you." she smiled up at him, though not so her teeth showed, " And you don’t have to call me ma’am. I’m just Basil. " She wasn't quite sure what to make of Arion. Her heart beat just a little faster as soon as she had caught a glimpse of him. Arion was obviously a powerful Quell and very handsome, even with the blood trailing down his lip and jaw. It was rather funny to think that he was nervous around someone as unassuming as she was.

Noticing his busted lip more, Basil reached into her pocket and took out a fancy looking handkerchief. It had her name and a tiny rose stitched on one of the corners and smelled faintly of her perfume. " You... have a bit of blood on your face" She explained, offering it to him shyly.

Juniper

[arvanien]

Celeste bit back a giggle. Somehow, she thought it was funny when Hawthorne was disgruntled. He seemed ready to order Arion to do thirty push-ups. Arion himself wasn't looking normal either. Celeste had known him for years but never had seen him like this. She picked up her water bottle and took a sip to hide her smile.

Arion smiled a little back at Basil, painfully aware of his sinewy, scarred hands with their slender fingers contrasting with her small, soft ones. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Basil," he managed to say smoothly. Arion couldn't help noticing how adorable Basil was. Her emerald eyes were lovely, and the way she spoke held a certain charm. Arion forced himself to stay in reality; he had no chance with her anyway. Also, he knew Hawthorne was protective of her.

He was completely taken by surprise at her offer, never expecting anything like that. "Thank you," he said, making eye contact with her. He slowly took the handkerchief, pressing the corner against the cut. It helped, but the blood just kept on coming from the small wound.

[rubyrocketboots13]

Hawthorne

Hawthorne gave a small huff in annoyance, mostly at Celeste. She seemed to enjoying this way too much. Somehow that seemed to annoy him more than the fact that his sister was falling for the red haired Quell. Hawthorne shuffled through his papers to keep from strangling both Arion and Celeste. Part of him wanted to break this up, but he told himself that he was just being over protective. Basil could handle herself, but he had never seen his sister act this way before. It tugged at his heart to the way she blushed and smiled at Arion. Hawthorne had been friends with Arion for a long time and he knew how... unstable Arion could be. He didn't want to see Basil get hurt. Or at least that's what he told himself. The truth was a lot more complicated than just that.

Basil

Basil couldn't help but notice the scars on the backs on his sinewy hands. Though, she knew better than to ask about them from personal experience. Scars could be painful reminders of the past; which was one reason Basil preferred to cover up her own scars. She was sure this was probably true for Arion's scars as well.

" You're more than welcome", She smiled, her emerald eyes sparkling brightly. Her cheeks were still flushed pink as she met his gaze. Basil looked away, shyly smiling at the floor. She didn't know why Arion made her so flustered like this. Brushing her bangs a bit more over her eyes, Basil cast a glance over at Hawthorne. It surprised her a bit to see him glowering at them over the papers he was holding.

Juniper

[arvanien]

Celeste chewed her lip, struggling to keep from laughing. Hawthorne's face was priceless. She had to admit it was cute seeing Arion like this with Basil; she'd never seen this side of him before. Arion might be mentally unstable, but he knew how to treat someone with ultimate respect and love.

But she felt like she'd burst out laughing at any second, which would probably make Hawthorne even madder. Excusing herself quickly, she went swiftly out of the training center after mouthing "good luck" at Arion. She headed straight for the library, where she was certain she would calm down.

Arion felt slightly helpless as Celeste left. What was he going to do without her? He was either super smooth or painfully awkward; there seemed to be no in-between. Arion wasn't quite as perceptive as Celeste was though. He carefully folded the delicate handkerchief, resolving to give it back to Basil as soon as he washed it, because right now it was soaked with blood and pretty nasty. He felt kind of bad for dirtying something so clean and pretty. But, it would provide one more opportunity to see Basil in the future. The thought itself made him brighten up a little. He caught himself staring at her and abruptly yanked his gaze away, accidentally meeting Hawthorne's instead. Seeing him glowering didn't disturb Arion, though.
"What's wrong, Hawthorne? Did the secretary print the documents in Comic Sans instead of Times New Roman pt.12?" Arion couldn't resist quipping, grinning crookedly.

[rubyrocketboots13]

Hawthorne

Hawthorne rolled his eyes, though cracked a small smile. Somehow Arion's quip had a way of defusing the situation and put him a little more at ease. After all, Arion wasn't a threat to Basil. Even though he still didn't like the idea of Basil liking Arion, he wasn't going to stop them from talking to one another. The captain willed himself to relax a bit, " Nah, the forms are just fine" He said distractedly, reading the papers over. His eyebrows furrowed closer together the more he read. " Hey, I'll see you two later. I'm going over to my office if you need me." Hawthorne said, excusing himself as well. He walked out of the training center with the stack of papers in his hands.

Basil

Noticing Arion staring, the green haired Quell blushed a little harder. Basil was terribly self-conscious about her appearance and it didn't help that she couldn't stop blushing. She nervously bounced on her toes as she listened to Hawthorne. " Okay, see you" She said cheerfully. Part of her wanted him to stay, even if he was a bit grumpy. Basil was just a little awkward whenever she was around new people. She never knew exactly what to say or do. Silently Basil wished she had her brother's arroganceself-confidence.

Lightly bouncing on her toes, she fumbled to come up with something to say. " So... you're in the Royal guard?" Basil asked. Though, she could have smacked her self for asking something like that. Obviously he was in the guard, why else would he be training here? Why am I so awkward? Basil thought, groaning inwardly

Juniper

Juniper was still in the library, pouring over different fiction books. He loved the old legends and myths. He had sat down in one of the aisles with two stacks of books on either side of him. The librarians kept giving him strange looks, but Juniper was too absorbed in what he was reading to care about them. Not that he would have minded even if he did notice. Juniper was used to the strange looks and disapproving whispers.

[arvanien]

Arion looked after Hawthorne as he left.
"Okay...see you later I guess." He said lightly, trying to ignore how awkward he felt. He absentmindedly thought how adorable it was when Basil bounced on her toes, then forcibly told himself he needed to SNAP OUT OF IT. He couldn't afford to fall in love; it wouldn't suit him well. He was sure any guy would make a better boyfriend than he could ever be. What kind of boyfriend stayed up, night after night, screamed and cried in the rare times he slept, and forgot to eat? Besides, Basil was way out of his league.

Arion picked nervously at the bandages wrapped around his knuckles as he tried to avoid looking too much at her, which proved to be a challenge. "Um, yes." he answered. He was feeling too nervous to notice her awkwardness. "Are you?" He blurted without thinking. He bit the inside of his cheek, cursing himself for asking something so stupid. Basil was obviously not part of the guard, he'd never even met her before! He ran his hand through his unruly hair, a habit of his whenever he was flustered.

Celeste

Celeste entered the library, heading straight for the fiction section. She hadn't exercised too hard at the training center - something that would have usually disgruntled her, but she was too lost in the events that happened there to be upset. Arion being in love was just as likely as Hawthorne eating steak. She could see why he liked Basil, though. Was he going to do anything about it? Her train of thought derailed when she saw the young man sitting in front of the shelf she was just headed to. He was surrounded by two stacks of books, and he was completely absorbed in a book. He was quite good looking, but she couldn't help noticing that he was a Howler. Celeste paused momentarily, then walked up to him. "Excuse me, could I reach past you for a second?" She asked. It wasn't hard to be nice to someone who looked as disarming as he did.

[rubyrocketboots13]

( XD I laughed wat to hard at " just as likely for Hawthorne eating steak". That's going to be my new favorite saying lol)

Basil

" Me? Oh, no I'm not in the guard" Basil said, with a slight shrug," Only the very best fighters make it past basic training.". It was every schoolboy and girl's dream to make it into the Royal guard, but only the most talented warriors made it through Hawthorne's rigorous training. Basil hadn't even attempted to sign up for the job for two main reasons; her brother wouldn't allow her to join and she doubted if she was skilled enough to even consider joining.

Her gaze briefly wandered over to Arion's busted knuckles as she continued. " Though, I have helped out Hawthorne occasionally. Mostly just simple things like reconnaissance and helping out with training." She smiled a bit, looking up at him" You know.... it's funny we've never met before"

Juniper

Juniper looked up from his book, spotting Celeste. " Oh, hello miss" He beamed cheerfully," Be my guest". He moved out of the way so that she could grab the book she wanted. He couldn't help but notice her striking blue eyes. Juniper thought that they were gorgeous. Finding his voice, he said cheerfully," If you don't mind me asking, what book were you looking for?"

[arvanien]

(Haha I thought it was accurate!)

Arion

Arion was slightly confused by Basil's initial statement. To him, basic training had been relatively easy - even fun. He listened attentively to her as she continued, finding himself watching her full lips. Arion had never been particularly self-conscious before, but now he clasped his hands together as he noticed her gaze rest on his damaged knuckles, trying unsuccessfully to make them as inconspicuous as possible. Arion had shapely hands, but they weren't exactly beautiful now.

As she looked up at him, he tore his gaze from her lips and met her eyes. His mind went blank for a split second before he recovered. "I guess it is pretty unlikely," he said finally, trying not to blush. "I've known Hawthorne for years and he's talked about you before, but I've never..." He trailed off uncertainly, shyly averting his gaze. "It's a pleasure to finally meet you though," he said sincerely. "What made you come here?" He asked, in an attempt to recover the conversation.

Celeste

Celeste, in turn, was a little taken by surprise by Juniper's beautiful purple eyes as she pulled the book off the shelf. She had never seen anyone with purple eyes before. Juniper's friendly and polite demeanor was quite disarming, making her almost forget that he was a Howler. Smiling cheerfully at him, she said, "It's Red Rebellion by Tova Leadenwing, one of our bestselling authors. What is your book called?" She returned in a friendly way.

[rubyrocketboots13]

( XD Yep! )

Basil

Noticing how Arion tried to cover up his hands, Basil felt a bit bad about making him uncomfortable. She hadn’t meant to offend him in any way. After all, she knew what it was like to be self-conscious about unsightly scars. Basil shyly tucked her bangs behind her ear, revealing the scar over her eye. She hoped that the gesture would help him feel a little less insecure about how beat-up his hands were. Quite frankly, Basil thought he had lovely hands, even though they were bruised and scarred. It was easy to see that he trained very hard- she assumed that was why his knuckles were busted up. Though, the green haired Quell wasn’t going to ask. Instead, Basil looked up to meet his hazel eyes.

Her heart beat just a little faster as she noticed the beautiful golden flecks in his hazel eyes. Basil’s cheeks flushed pink as she wondered why she had noticed something like that. Shyly, she turned her gaze away from the handsome Quell and tried to focus on the others training in the center. “He has?” Basil said, a bit surprised that Hawthorne would bother talking about her to Arion. Cracking a real smile, she gave a bubbly laugh, “All good things, I hope?”

At his question, Basil hesitated slightly, unsure if she wanted to tell the complete truth or not. “I had to deliver those papers to Hawthorne from the mayor, Since I was coming into the city, I thought that I’d deliver them.” She shrugged slightly. “I was really headed to the marketplace to buy a few things” Basil said, fighting with her hands a bit. It was the truth- mostly. It was a little strange that someone of her status would be doing her own grocery shopping; after all Hawthorne and she had servants to do that.

Juniper

Juniper smiled as he ran his hand through his messy, but still cute, brown hair. He had never met a Quell who was as charming as Celeste. Most either brushed him off of looked at him disapprovingly. It was nice to meet a Quell who was friendly to him for a change. “Red Rebellion? That one sounds interesting” He said cheerfully, “ I chose A Stone Dragon in the Garden by Aya Thomas. It's quite good so far!" Juniper smiled back at Celeste with a youthful happiness. " I just love most fantasy books, the authors are very imaginative. "

[arvanien]

Arion

He was a bit surprised at the scar over her eye, but did not think that it was unsightly. Scars were more than superficial blemishes; the smallest one can tell part of your story. Besides, the scar was nothing compared to her lovely green eyes. Slowly, he stopped fidgeting with his bandages and let his hands fall by his sides, although somewhat stiffly.

Arion couldn't help noticing Basil's blush, but he had no idea why she was blushing. He found his face growing warm in response and dug his nails into his palms. Arion was sure he'd never been in a more awkward position in his life, not even when half the population thought he and Celeste were "perfect for each other!". He blushed harder at her smile, thinking it was the cutest thing he'd ever seen. "Yeah," he said nervously, inadvertently going back to playing with his bandages. "He says you're an expert painter." He was so flustered, he couldn't remember anything else Hawthorne may have said.

Arion nodded at her explanation, though he was wondering the same thing. He dismissed it though, assuming that she was one of the noblewomen who liked shopping for themselves. Though he wasn't sure why she hesitated. The papers were probably of a private matter, he figured. He decided not to press the matter any further; it was none of his business anyway.

Celeste

Celeste smiled back, her blue eyes sparkling. She thought his messy hair was adorable. Juniper was already reminding her of an adorably overgrown puppy. "Interesting," she remarked. "You're right, it's what makes these books so outstanding! Though, Miss Leadenwing is one of those authors who probably uses a spinner to decide which character gets killed next." She giggled.