It was obvious enough with all the fidgeting and blabbering that Rhoawyn had taken a liking to Eli. Whether it was because of his devilish charm or some odd sense of dependency he hadn't quite decided. Either reason for her falling for him was fine, inevitable really, but he was still curious.
It made him even more curious when he heard a meek knock at his door. He couldn't lie, he was a bit annoyed by it because he was smack in the middle of folding an extra trench coat for the mission they had been assigned to.
He stopped his folding and moved to unlock the door. It slid open to that unbearably innocent face. The face of his little squirrel as she stood in his doorway, her arms clutched behind her back. Maybe taking a break from mission prep wasn't so bad?
"You know you can't just show up to your captain's room unannounced, right? I could have been trying to strategize or something," Eli quipped.
Rhoawyn looked over his shoulder, spotting the open drawstring bag and the semi-folded trench coat next to it.
"Looks like you were just trying to feed your supervillain obsession again to me," Rhoawyn said, dipping one of her feet over the threshold of his doorframe to test the waters.
Eli moved to the side, extending his hand to invite her in. She kept her back turned away from him, something clearly held in her hands as she plopped down on his bed—making a mess of all his hard work.
"You're lucky I'm not one of those captains that believe in discipline for petty actions," Eli warned, but his smile was ever-present as he yanked his coat from beneath the swell of Rhoawyn's butt.
She gave him an obnoxious grin and slipped something smooth and cold into Eli's hand. He didn't recognize what it was, but he quickly closed his grip around the object, bringing it around to look at it. It was rectangular—small—much like his cards, and when she handed it to him, he snorted at the fluffy squirrel's tail etched into it.
Rhoawyn had mentioned offhandedly that she had an artsy streak, but she didn't get to exercise it as much as she would have liked when she was still living in The Apex. He's never considered he would have a physical representation of that passion in his hand.
"Not that I don't like getting random sculptures of cards, but why am I getting this one?" Eli asked.
"I just thought, since I won't be going on the first mission," Rhoawyn hesitated, "well, I thought maybe if I gave you this then you could take it on the mission with you, and it would be like I was there too. Like I'm not being left behind," Rhoawyn mumbled, kneading her hands into the tops of her thighs.
Eli hadn't considered how not being able to go on this mission would affect Rhoawyn. He knew about her need to be able to manifest, but even after telling her about Cienna, the thought of her actually caring about completing an Imaginary's duties never crossed his mind until now. She had always been obsessed with Departing, getting it all over with as quickly as possible. Eli didn't expect her to want to be involved any more than she had to be.
Eli clutched the card a little tighter, a silent vow to help her manifest in any way he could. But that could only happen after the mission. "And here I thought you hated the nickname."
Rhoawyn scoffed and pushed his shoulder gently.
"I do, but you seem to like it. And you say it so much that I just thought this made sense," Rhoawyn said, averting her eyes to her lap. "And maybe I thought I could make something nice for you as a thank you for The Athenaeum..."
"You're so cute when you're grateful," he cooed. This time Rhoawyn full-on hit him.
"Just keep it as good luck and don't bring up that I made you something ever again," Rhoawyn groaned, hopping off the bed and toward the door, hands curled in frustration at her side.
When Rhoawyn left Eli's room, she contemplated going to one of the smaller training rooms to make another attempt at manifesting. And after a few moments of pep-talking herself in her bathroom mirror, she headed out, but on her way out of their suite, she spotted someone huddled into a dark corner. She couldn't make out who it was at first, but when they turned just a smidge, the light caught on their long, black hair, and Rhoawyn's stomach dropped like an anvil.
Rhoawyn was shocked to find that it was Luci. Luci was covered in the corner's shadow she was squeezed into, laughing with someone who Rhoawyn couldn't quite see because they were standing behind the wall.
Rhoawyn had not had the chance to have a proper conversation with Luci since their mini disagreement at the assembly. She did not want to admit it at first, but the short time spent at the IOB—spent becoming an Imaginary—had altered her perception of The Apex a little more than she would have liked. Altered her perception of Departure. I should apologize. Try to make amends.
"Luci, hey," Rhoawyn called out hesitantly, waving her over.
Luci shot her head in Rhoawyn's direction, her face coloring with shock before it faded into crease-cheeked annoyance. She shooed at whoever she was talking to and nodded Rhoawyn over to where she was standing—completely ignoring that Rhoawyn had done the same thing.
Rhoawyn closed the distance between them, leaning forward at the hips to see who Luci might have been talking to, but she was met with the view of a wall. Was she talking to herself? That is a little weird though...at least it's weird to have a full-blown conversation with a wall. Isn't it? Maybe it's some kind of new-age therapy.
As Rhoawyn tried to reconcile with what she had just seen, Luci glares at her, arms crossed, and frown deepening by the second.
"So...why'd you call me?"
Rhoawyn startled out of her thoughts, "Oh, I just thought it was a neat coincidence to find you here, you know, outside of my suite."
"Mhm," Luci hummed, uninterested.
"I just think that maybe we got off on the wrong foot," Rhoawyn explained.
"Nope. We definitely got off on the right one, at least until you started blathering on about Departure and everything," Luci countered.
Rhoawyn scratched the back of her head, eyes downcast, "Look, I know that the things I said after the assembly might have rubbed you the wrong way. Back then, I couldn't really understand why anyone would be against Departure."
Luci sized her up, "Guess that beating you took from the Mare the other day knocked some sense into you?" she asked with a raised eyebrow, but the corners of her mouth lifted up into a smile.
"I guess so," Rhoawyn chuckled awkwardly, finally looking Luci in the eye again. "So I just saw you standing out here..." talking to the wall "and I thought it would be as good a time as any to apologize for making you feel uncomfortable. I get it if you don't want to accept it, or be friends or anything. I'm just... sorry," Rhoawyn breathed out in a rush.
Luci twisted her lips, tapping her foot against the loud alloy of the ground as if trying to think over whether she wanted to accept Rhoawyn's apology. She released a sigh and nodded.
"Ok, apology accepted," Luci decided, outstretching a hand just like she had on the first day they met. "Let's start over. Hi, I'm Luci."
Rhoawyn laughed. "I'm Rhoawyn, it's nice to meet you...again."
"Glad there won't be anymore animosity between us, or else this mission we have to team up for would be unbearable," Luci said.
"Mission? You mean the ambush?"
"Yeah, since one of your members wouldn't be able to complete it, we... oh," Luci paused at the defeated look on Rhoawyn's face.
"Surprise, that member is me," Rhoawyn sighed, and an uncomfortable silence settled between them.
Luci spoke up, "Sorry, it just slipped my mind I didn't mean anything by it. "I'm actually just here to deliver the notice at the Techromancers request. Jace was busy, so he sent me to do it."
"Oh, so you weren't just talking to the wall then? It was one of your members?"
"Nope. Wasn't talking to the wall," Luci said, raising an eyebrow, "but it wasn't one of my members either. It was someone from another squad. Their manifestation is invisibility, that's why you couldn't see them." She looked unsure, nervous even, as Rhoawyn watched her rubbing what she assumed are sweaty hands against her thighs.
"I wish they could have uncloaked so I could have met them."
"Zee's a little shy, that's why they stay cloaked. But I'll introduce you guys the next time they're around?"
"Yeah, that sounds co-" the slide of Rhoawyn's suite door stopped her mid-sentence. She turned to find Eli standing there. When his eyes landed on Luci, his shoulders slumped.
"Don't tell me you guys are friends again? I thought whatever happened at the assembly spared me having to babysit more people than I already have to," Eli said, pouting.
"Well, you're definitely not going to like what I'm about to tell you," Luci rolled her eyes.
"What's that?" Eli asked.
"Looks like we're teaming up."