Colourblind

Finding his way around the villa was quite a challenge. These days it felt like everything was, though. Nothing new. He just had to adjust. Not an easy task. At least it was keeping him occupied for a while, so he wasn’t constantly sitting in his room and feeling sorry for himself. After his meeting with Allison, he came out of his chambers a bit more often. Actually being outside, on the balcony in the back of the mansion, worked kind of therapeutic. He had picked up his old hobby of drawing, and in that extent, tattooing. Thanks to practising, he was getting used to his new perspective, and he had given himself some fresh ink on his lower arm. Purely to keep himself busy. It wasn’t too bad either. A moment of light in the darkness that had seemed to have taken over his life.

Today was as dull as the past few weeks though. He couldn’t quite find the motivation to actually do something useful. He was just wandering around the hallways, to get familiar with where the furniture was. He had bumped into way too many corners now and he was getting sick of it. Romeo held his left hand against the wall, as a way to guide himself around and feel the objects he couldn’t see. It wasn’t the fastest way of getting around, but it helped not to get hurt. And like this, he could actually focus on other things than just walking around.

Which was the exact reason why he suddenly picked up voices in the great hall. It was Nathan, one of the guards, who was having a conversation with a female visitor. He was slightly frustrated, or so he could hear, trying to explain to her she had to leave her weapons at the door. Slight amusement shimmered in his amber eye as he realised what was going on. The man made his way around the corner, still holding on to the wall. She had gotten his message and had actually come all the way to Sunfall. How heartwarming. ”I will take it from here, Nathan”, He said, drawing the attention of the guard towards him. He took a deep breath and for a second it seemed like he was going to protest. A sigh sounded though, and the guard marched away again. Romeo focused his attention on Lexa next. He wasn’t wearing the eyepatch, as he hadn’t been planning on going outside. So he was exposing the wound to her as he met her gaze. He didn’t expect her to comment on it though. She was smarter than that. ”Welcome to Sunfall, Raccoon.”

&Lexa

It appeared he was right in time to save poor Nathan from Raccoon’s wrath. Granted, the man wasn’t the smartest around, but that was exactly why he was the perfect guard. Didn’t ask any questions but performed his duties with determination. If he had a set list of tasks, it was a certainty that all those would be finished by the end of the day. He paid attention to details and he got things done. So if he was assigned to guard the door and let no one through with weapons, he would fulfil that task with the stubbornness that was now annoying the Commander. Luckily he had gotten used to listening to him, even though he was not the most authoritative person around anymore. It was purely because of Maverick, but it meant he was safe here. Which was exactly the reason why he had come to Sunfall in the first place.

Obviously she didn’t quite agree with his choice, as he was then greeted with a complaint. He tilted his head slightly to the right, which made him a bit dizzy. Thank the Drowned God for that wall. ”Awful drawing?” He repeated her, followed by a sigh. ”It wasn’t that bad”, He continued. ”Besides, I can’t write. At least you got my message”, He said with a shrug. He could have asked someone to write it for him, but he hadn’t. ”And hmm, a reason”, He said, pausing for a second. That was.. A good one. ”Not really. But you’re here now, you might as well stay”, He stated, a barely noticeable smile gracing his lips. He would never admit it, but he was.. Glad she was here.

The drawing had been a true piece of art. She better appreciated it. It was a guess who would die first, as he had already cheated death twice. A long life wasn’t meant to happen for the both of them. If he died first though, that drawing would be worth a lot of gold for sure. Not that she cared about gold, but it was more to make a point here. He had done his best and in the end she had gotten the message. It was quite a surprise she had actually shown up. He hadn’t really expected her to, since she was indeed a very busy rodent. ”If you were that busy, you wouldn’t have come in the first place”, He replied, knowing she was just teasing him a bit. He was falling back into his old habit of teasing her back, which was a welcome change, honestly.

It was almost as if the old Romeo was still there, wanting to come back. But he didn’t want to hope. He had fucked up and there was no way he could recover from it. When he thought about a place to go, he was limited in his choices because of what happened. ”Sounds like a plan”, He said, after which he turned around and started walking towards his chambers. Luckily they were on the first floor, to prevent he had to climb any stairs. With his hand still against the wall, he managed to get through the hallways without running into any furniture.

When they arrived, he opened the door to his room. Elodie was out, he didn’t know where she was. She didn’t need to explain herself to him anymore anyway, she just did whatever she wanted to. The room was a mess, almost a reflection of how he felt. There were drawings everywhere, torn up paper scattered on the table and the floor. In the corner of the room, he had set up an equally messy desk with tattoo equipment. The most cleaned up part of the chamber was where Elodie was usually sitting, on the couch. So he walked over to it, carefully, and sat down. On the table sat a tray with wine, which seemed to be endlessly supplied here. ”Suit yourself, if you want”, He said, nodding at it. ”So, how have you been then?”

Normally he would have taken her outside, if he had actually had the time to prepare for it. Because she was right, she was busy. So her arrival had been unexpected for sure. The sun seemed to shine every damn day, which meant he couldn’t just walk outside when he felt like it. No, he had to cover his wound with a dark piece of fabric, otherwise it started hurting in no time. Another reason to hate his current condition. Now he had to take her to his chambers, which were clearly home to someone who was not in the right state of mind to take care of it, let alone himself. Elodie would perhaps not be pleased when he sat down on the couch that was low key claimed by her. As long as he didn’t touch her books though, it should be fine.

It was unnecessary to ask her not to pay attention to the chaos. It was.. Quite hard to miss anyway. The Commander declined his offer of wine, but it didn’t keep him from pouring a glass for himself. With the usual struggle that was his new little trick to not spill all over the table, he managed to fix himself a half full glass. Meanwhile, she started giving him updates on how her life had been since their ways had parted. ”Is this the time where I can say I told you so?” He asked, seemingly very innocent. ”Because I told you so”, He continued with his signature smirk vaguely showing. ”I guess he had it coming”, He then said with a shrug. So had he, with the whole getting stabbed in the eye situation. The only difference was that he had survived, even though he hadn’t really deserved it.