Groaning like he'd just been beat, Alex struggled to force himself to get up early the next morning. As a nobby, yesterday had been hell for him! First, there was all the oddness at the Gold Pavilion, which weighed heavily and wore on his mind. Then he had a whole day's worth of high pressure sales, and having to deal with various degrees of sexual harassment from dirty old men. Then, just when he'd thought he'd finally be able to go back to his room and relax, Granny and Thorn's sprung their surprise on him!
It was well after midnight when Alex finally managed to crawl into bed and pass out last night, and now, on what *should* be a day for rest and recovery, he was nevertheless forced to get up once again before the break of dawn! "Life hates me," Alex groaned pitifully, as he simply slid into one of the long white one-piece dresses which he'd saved from the Lost and Found storeroom for himself.
Like it or not, time waited for no Alex, and he now only had twenty-nine days to somehow produce twenty-five vials of Silver Mercurial Extract, or else end up as some unknown girl's unpaid assistant.
Bending down to pick up a pair of his shoes, Alex didn't even bother to try and put them on this morning. Simply carry them in his hand, he headed out of his room and directly made a beeline to the girl's dorm, heading to Roselyn's room.
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Thunk… Thunk… Thunk… Banging his head softly against Roselyn's door, Alex closed his eyes and half nodded off while waiting on her to open it.
"Yes?" Finally cracking the door after a few moments, Roselyn's eyes opened wide the moment she noticed Alex standing almost on top of her entrance. "My lord?! What brings you here so early this morning?" Quickly jerking the door open in surprise from Alex's unexpected appearance, Roselyn had to reflexively step forward and catch him before Alex exhaustedly fell on his face from trying to bang his head once more upon the door.
"Are you all right?" Frowning with worry, Roselyn quickly slid an arm under Alex's shoulder and helped tug him into her room so he could flop back and sprawl out on her bed.
"I'm fine," Alex tried to assure her, yawning heavily as exhaustion weighed down bricklike upon his eyelids. "You need to get dressed. Like I mentioned before, we need to leave town quickly today, and we won't be back for several weeks at the earliest. We're on a very tight timeline right now."
"Fine. Give me a minute to change and pack a few things," Roselyn agreed, not asking any questions. Tugging her soft silken nighty off, she tossed it over into the corner of her room, near the chute which was used for her laundry. Streaking naked about her room, she quickly gathered up several different dresses and unceremoniously tossed them into a single pillowcase, before pulling a plain blue sundress over her head and shoulders for the day.
"Is there anything in particular which I need to pack?" She asked softly, as she hurried to stuff a few small, sheathed daggers and short-bladed swords into the same crammed pillowcase. "Should I save room for food? Water? Medicine? Do I need a tent, or sleeping blankets?"
When silence was her only answer, Roselyn turned and frowned slightly when she noticed Alex had already fallen back asleep atop her bed.
"I guess it's just up to me to decide what the essentials are, for a multi-week excursion," Roselyn sighed heavily to herself. Digging in her closet, she had a tent already, and a personal sleeping bag. There was even a few essential pots and pans which came with the camping set when she bought it, if she remembered correctly.
"Taking those into account, what's left?" Roselyn mused softly to herself, trying not to wake up Alex until she was certain she had as much of everything that she needed ready to go first. "Food, water, and basic first aid supplies should do it, I suppose," she tried to assure herself, as she quickly turned and hurried out her door to gather everything on her own.
Alex, dead to the world, never even noticed when she left.
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"Whut de hell?" Sounding a Lot like Thorn as he groggily slurred his speech, Alex blinked stupidly, forcing his eyes open to look around.
"Oh… Sorry," Roselyn laughed lightly, apologizing as she jostled Alex awake while carrying him princess-style down the steps in the girl's dorm. "I was going to let you sleep a few more minutes," she told him smiling. "I didn't plan to wake you until we reached the gates and caught up to Thorn."
"Thorn's at the gates?" Lazily rubbing his eyes, Alex was beginning to finally shake off the last vestiges of sleep.
"He's been there ever since last night," Roselyn snickered slightly. "Apparently you never told him he could go home, so he's been faithfully waiting to see what you might need him to do next."
"I told him to go home last night," Alex mumbled, as his face slowly stared to turn red. "Umm…. Errr…. Ummm… You can put me down anytime now," he embarrassedly told Roselyn as his brain finally awoke enough to fully register the predicament he was in. A fully grown man — and the heir of the Skyblade familyto boot — being carried princess-style by a woman!
Thank the gods that his roommates weren't around to see him now!
"Certainly, my Lor-ady. My Lady-ord?" Laughing merrily, Roselyn stopped walking across the school's courtyard and gently lowered Alex to his feet. "I was just wondering before, my Lor-ady. What do you prefer I call you when we're alone? When we're out in public?"
"No disrespect intended," Roselyn giggled slightly, "but you dress like a woman, and have all the natural curves and mannerisms of a lady. People look a little strange at us, every time when Thorn refers to you as 'Brother', or I call you my 'Lord'."
"Umm… Hell, I don't really care," Alex shrugged, after thinking about it for a moment. "I know I'm still a guy in my heart, but," he admitted freely, "I've already gotten used to being called a 'Lady' by everyone here at the school."
"As long as you're loyal to me," Alex smiled brightly, staring Roselyn directly in the eyes, "just use your own judgement. Call me whatever you want, or whatever you think best suits the current situation and environment we're in. Thorn's too dense to read the room, but you're not," Alex told Roselyn, showing upmost confidence in her.
"Of course, Miss Chitty-Chitty-Bang-Bang." Eyes twinkling mischievously, Roselyn curtseyed lightly to Alex.
Sighing deeply, Alex said nothing in response, as he simply turned and hurried on towards the entrance to meet up with Thorn. They had grass to harvest, and time was slowly slipping away from them moment by moment!
Giggling lightly, Roselyn followed respectfully several steps behind, carrying her packs and tent heavily across her back.