Rose scooted forward a tad in his chair, feeling hesitant yet curious. He watched with amazement as the blood formed into a small sphere and floated in the space in front of them. “That’s amazing..” he breathed out softly. While it did scare him a bit to think about that being used on someone, little tricks like the one Adrian was pulling at the moment. But the thought of being able to stop hearts was much more darkening, in his opinion. “Do you use that sort of thing against others often?” he asked, wanting to get a feel of how hostile Adrian could be- for his own safety.
Adrian felt his lips curve into a slight smile. Rose probably wouldn't think it was amazing when he actually used it against someone. "Well, yes. The blood-controlling thing I use all the time, at least against people who deserve it. The heart-stopping thing I use less, but that's because it can be difficult to get that close to someone when they're shooting at you," He said calmly. While he waited to see what Rose would say to that, Adrian carefully guided the sphere of blood towards the drain in the center of the room, under the table. He didn't want to get anything unnecessarily bloody.
At least Adrian only used it against people who deserved it. While Rose didn’t like violence of any kind, he guessed that it was at least slightly necessary when defending yourself against the Queens Men or other threats. “Can you do anything else? I don’t want to be suddenly surprised by anything..” he hesitantly asked, biting at his bottom lip softly. It was a habit of his that he did when he was nervous. He needed to quit that habit- it was a bad one that was quite annoying.
Adrian looked up at Rose, the blood safely out of the way. "Well…" The word was drawn out as Adrian considered. Should he or should he not tell Rose about the souls? Probably not. Definitely not. He'd tell him later. Or not until he actually fulfilled his deal in full, even. "I'm an excellent shot." He said finally, pulling one of his trusty revolvers out of its holster and winking at Rose. "But nothing else supernatural, if that's what you were asking." He stuck the gun back into the holster.
Rose noticeably tensed when he saw the revolver, biting the inside of his cheek sharply. Guns definitely made him anxious. He guessed he would have to get used to them, though, if he were to join this group. He tilted his head away in the slightest as his face grew warm when Adrian winked at him, shifting in his seat a tad. Adrian was attractive, but was more intimidating than anything to Rose at the moment. “I don’t know how to use a gun or fight. Nothing like that. Is that a problem?” he asked.
The other people of his group would think he was crazy when he introduced them to Rose. They'd probably ask about the name first– anyone who did that would be 'gently' reminded never to bring that up again– and then about the aversion to violence and the inability to fight. "Well, I'm sure you'll pick some things up along the way. For now, you can just help with planning and all that." Adrian decided, pulling his eyepatch back into place. Not being able to or willing to fight would actually be an upgrade from the last few lieutenants he'd had. Maybe Rose would get the "longest life as the Crimson Lord's right-hand man" award.
Rose nodded his head a little bit at what his job would be. While he wasn’t too excited to learn how to fight, he liked the idea of planning and keeping things organized for the group. That was something that he was good at- using his head. Adrian did seem to be trying to make him feel comfortable, at least. “Thank you, I can definitely do that,” he confirmed with a small nod and smile. He still didn’t quite understand why Adrian would want some scrawny, easily frightened boy for a second in command over some tough older individual, but he guessed he was lucky to be off the streets.
"Perfect." Adrian clapped his hands, standing up in a fluid motion. "It's time for the tour. This place," he waved around them, "is more the reception/intimidation building. We have several other buildings scattered around The Bad Part Of Town, and you need to know where each of them is and what their purpose is. Come on." He stepped to the side of the table and walked towards the door. "And if anyone gives you dirty looks, their names are probably Timothy, Alexander, or Eliza. They're glaring because you took their job." Adrian glanced back at Rose, a smirk on his lips. "But don't worry. They wouldn't dare attack you with me around."
Rose’s brows raised when Adrian was suddenly on his feet and heading towards the door. He stood up quickly and followed after Adrian obediently. He nodded his head in acknowledgement, feeling a bit excited about getting to have a tour of the buildings. When Adrian informed him of the ‘dirty looks’ he may receive, his brows furrowed and he looked down for a moment. How did he already make enemies from this? But he was relieved to know that as long as he stayed close to Adrian, he would be ok. “I’ll stick by you, then,” he said, making a little smile to try and give himself some confidence.
"Perfect." Adrian nodded and turned back towards the doors. He opened them and looked at both the guards. "If anyone else comes with a piece of paper, tell them they're too late. If things get ugly, you're free to do whatever to get them to go away." Adrian grinned at both the guards, then started down the street. Where should he take Rose first? Maybe the weapons house, or the place where most of the people stayed– no, he'd take him to the planning house first. Rose seemed to like that sort of stuff. Adrian turned onto a narrow alley, walking with amazing confidence for someone in a place where murderers probably lingered.
Rose made sure to hurry to keep up with Adrian. Adrian had longer legs than he did so it was a bit difficult to keep up when the other went a bit fast. He stayed decently close to Adrian, feeling wary of the sketchy alleyway. He would normally avoid a place like this at all costs, but Adrian didn’t seemed bothered at all. It wasn’t surprising though, him being the Crimson Lord at all with blood bending powers. Rose wouldn’t be surprised if Adrian had almost no fears. “What if one of the Queens Men or someone else sees us?” he asked.
"They probably wouldn't recognize me. They're looking for a guy with red eyes, and that's not me. And as long as you don't look too suspicious, you'll be fine too." Adrian tapped his eyepatch and turned onto a bigger road. "And if they do recognize us, then we're going to get to go for a run." He smiled at Rose. As long as Adrian and Rose didn't draw attention to themselves, they would probably be fine. Adrian took a few more turns and ended up at a dead-end in front of a short, run-down building. "Well, here we are."
Rose swallowed sharply and nodded his head. “Right, right,” he said softly. He could easily do his best to act natural, and running was something he could do. He used to run on a little track team as a kid. It had always been a bit of a passion of his. Thankfully, he had kept it up so it would definitely come in handy in case something went wrong. When they arrived at the building, Rose seemed confused. “Is this the place?”
"Yep." Adrian nodded, laughing a little at Rose's confusion. "We have to make sure they don't look too interesting, or the Queen's Men might decide to investigate." He walked up to the door, which appeared to be nearing the end of its life. Adrian had to wrestle with it a bit to get it to open. Behind the door was a narrow, slightly crooked hallway that turned to the right after a few feet. "Someone is going to need to fix that door up a little." He muttered to himself as he walked down the hallway. Around the corner was another door, though it appeared way less dead than the first one.
“Oh..” Rose said softly. He thought that made sense. Something flashy would catch attention of the Queen’s Men and that wouldn’t be safe for any of them. Once they were inside the building, Rose felt more concealed and safe. He could finally relax a tad more and not cling so close to Adrian. He paused when he saw the new looking door. Was this really it?
Adrian pulled a ring of keys from the pocket of his dark-colored jacket and flicked through them. "There we go." He stuck the correct key into a lock on the door and turned it. The door opened smoothly, nothing like the first door. The room beyond was small, with stairs that led upwards. A large table dominated the space, covered in books and various pieces of paper. More pieces of paper were pinned up on one wall, along with photos and strings. Three people were standing around the table, and they looked up when Adrian opened the door.
"To what do we owe this pleasure, Sayel?" A slender woman asked, a teasing smile on her face.
"Just showing our newest recruit around," Adrian answered, nodding towards Rose. "Everyone, this is Rose."
Rose followed Adrian into the room, lips parting when he took in the interior of the room. He stayed a tad close to Adrian, eyeing the people hesitantly. He was introduced by Adrian and straightened his posture a bit more. “Hi, it’s nice to meet you all,” he said with a friendly little smile, fidgeting with his sweater sleeve.
Two of the three people smiled back at Rose, but the woman who'd spoken first just stared at Adrian.
"Sayel… is this your new second?" She crossed her arms, a slightly disapproving look on her face.
"Yep." Adrian gave her a blinding smile with a warning edge on it. "If you see Alexander, Timothy, or Eliza, try to placate them." He turned to Rose. "Ignore her. This way to the library." Adrian crossed the room to the stairs, then started up them.
Rose was pleased when two of the people smiled back at him, but it faltered when he saw the look the woman was making. He knew that look of disappointment and doubt. It was familiar to him, thanks to Malachi. “She doesn’t seem to think me being the second is a good idea…” he murmured softly as he followed Adrian up the stairs.
"Yeah, she also thinks every problem can and will be solved by violence. Don't worry about her." Adrian opened the door at the top of the stairs and stepped into another room. It might have been spacious once upon a time, but now it was stuffed to the brim with bookcases and books. There was a single solitary chair, but every other surface was taken up by books. "So, this is our library. Most of these books were stolen, and most of them are about the Queen's Men or battle strategy. Feel free to look around– we also have a few 'how to fight/steal stuff successfully/perform surgery' books." Adrian grinned. The library was the result of a lot of time, and he was quite proud of it.
Rose felt slightly reassured by Adrian’s words, but he still thought that he would have to keep an eye out. He followed Adrian to the library, and he looked around in complete awe. He loved reading and had a strong passion for learning. This was perfect to him. “This is really great,” he said with a smile, looking up at Adrian for a quick moment.
"I'm glad you like it. We'll get you a key to this place once you've seen everything. Now, onto the next stop." Adrian turned around and started back down the stairs. The three people below were absorbed in various stacks of paper, so he didn't disturb them. Their next stop would be the weapons house. He was pretty sure Alexander would be there, so he could tell him that someone else had taken his dream job in person. Alexander probably wouldn't blow up on the Crimson Lord– anyone else would probably be in a fair amount of danger.
Rose gave a bright smile and a little nod of his head when Adrian said he would get him a key. It was so different for someone to just be offering him material things like that. He followed Adrian further down the stairs, glancing at the three individuals who were reading alongside as they passed. Guess they were busy and couldn’t talk- not that he minded, he was quite shy around new people.
Adrian hurried out of the room, locking the door once Rose had exited. "We'll be going to the place where we keep all the weapons next. Even if you never touch one, it's still important for you to know where they are. Just in case you need them." He heaved the first door open and stepped out. The area was, as usual, empty of anyone. However, he could hear some shouting coming from the direction he wanted to go. Normally, he wouldn't mind having to deal with that, but he had Rose to think about as well that day. "We'll be taking the long way there today. I'll show you the proper way some other time."
(Hey, I have no clue if you are still active, but I had gotten busy with starting college and all, but now I am back and have found the motivation to write with others again. If you are still around, I would love to either continue this or start a new storyline. Whichever you are more comfortable with would work)
(Hi and welcome back! I kind of forgot where I wanted to go with this, so if you're cool with it, I can propose a new idea. :)
(Hey, yeah! If you have a new idea you can go on ahead and throw it out there)
(Alright. I have this world that might be very interesting, but you can decide on that. And please ask me if you have any questions, I'm bad at explaining myself. Basically, here's what I'm thinking: there was a civil war in this country, with most of the people of the country fighting against these people from another country who came in and took over because they wanted the resources that country had. The people of the country managed to win the war, getting rid of the old queen and king. Their child, however, was deemed okay to live by the new rulers on account of the fact they had no idea their parents were so terrible. The new queens' choose one of their favorite people to keep them company, and those two slowly become friends while also finding out that they hadn't totally gotten rid of the old royals' followers. So, to sum it up: enemies to friends (or maybe more) finding out plots and then trying to destroy them. I have a child for the favorite person, so you would have the child of the old rulers.)
(Oh wow, that is super interesting! I like that idea a lot. Could you tell me some about your character so I get a general idea of them before I make mine?)
(Yeah, sure! I'll just link his character profile. If you go to history, I basically have the entire history of the war in there– you don't have to read it all, it's very long. Kuno)
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