"Crooked" (Rose)
Merlin and I stayed up half the night waiting for Gaius to return and pouring over every book on creatures we could find. Scared as we were of what this night would bring, we retired anyways.
When we emerge from our room in the morning, we are greeted by the sound of a loud belch.
Merlin heads over to Gaius, who slowly turns around, slightly teetering.
"Ooh," Merlin takes in his expression, "You look terrible." As brash as it was for him to say so, he wasn't wrong. Gaius looked very peaked. "How much did you drink last night?"
Instead of answering the question, Gaius snaps, "You don't look so good yourself. What's your excuse?"
I'm taken aback by this, as is Merlin.
"What?" Merlin asks, sounding as jolted as I feel.
"Gaius …" I begin.
"Ssshhh," Gaius holds his hand up, palm out, facing Merlin. "Too much talking." He pauses. "I have a head like the inside of a drum, and a mouth like a badger's armpit."
Gaius may not always giving the most defined of analogies, but they were never this crude or distasteful.
"Ugh," Merlin crinkles up his face. "Badger's armpit?"
"Make yourself useful," Gaius barks, "Go to the market and fetch my breakfast." And just when Merlin opens his mouth to respond, Gaius talks over him. "Away!" As Merlin's eyes widen at his behavior, Gaius once again commands, "Go!"
Shooting a sideways glance at me, he starts for the door. Not wanting to be left alone with this crooked version of Gaius, I join him. Just in time, too. For as we open the door to leave, another giant belch erupts from behind us.
Significantly disgusted, I walk away, glad to be leaving our chambers.
"Educated Guess" (Merlin)
"Is it just me or does this strike you as something much bigger than a mere out of character attitude?" Rose quizzes as we tread to the courtyard.
"It's definitely not just you," I answer without doubt. "I know for a fact that Gaius would never be THAT condescending."
"It's true that Gaius can be harsh, but that was not his kind of harsh," she adds. "It was just mean!"
"There has to be a reason …" I trail off.
"Merlin," Rose says softly. Although she meant nothing cryptic in her tone, hearing her say my name in that manner sends my mind spinning. I mean that in the best possible sense. "This may be a bit of a stretch," she continues, knowing that the real stretch here was Gaius demanding his breakfast be brought to him from the market. "However, do you recall the paragraph that touched on the subject of possession and the tell-tale signs of it?"
I sharply tilt my head to the side and pause my walk briefly. "Yes, I do… Amongst the symptoms was erratic behavior. But other than that, I have no idea how we'd confirm the goblin possessed him."
Now she stops for a moment, and after some swift brainstorming, her face brightens up. "I have an idea."
I laugh lightly at her sudden excitement. "What's that?"
"Follow my lead," she says raising her eyebrows mischievously.
Once we reach the marketplace, she effortlessly flits around to the vendors selling things that Gaius- well, our normal Gaius- cannot stand the sight of, let alone consume. Then as she places all the compiled "goods" into my arms, it hits me.
"Let's go deliver Gaius his 'favorite' foods," she smiles slyly.
"This is gonna be good," I mutter and turn on my heel back to the castle.
Back at the door of the physician's chambers, Rose takes a deep breath, then proceeds inside. "Gaius, we brought you your favorite breakfast foods. It was Merlin's idea, since he feels simply awful for releasing the goblin in the first place."
"It's about time he did something other than anger me," Gaius comments. "Just leave it there. I'll consider eating that poorly picked slop when I get back."
"Where are you going?" Rose asks hurriedly.
"What do you mean? I am going on my rounds, clueless girl," he shirks her.
Her face is crestfallen. Gaius teases me often, but he never speaks down to Rose. Ever. "Oh," she says quietly. "I'll gather my things then."
"Whatever for?" he raises a cynical eyebrow at her.
"I'm coming to assist you, as I always do," she replies meekly.
"Well, today, you are not. I don't need you pestering me all morning," he snaps.
With that, he charges out the door, leaving behind a very defeated young lady.
"So much for that," she says sadly, peering down at her feet.
"It's alright," I say, stepping over to her. I place my one hand on her shoulder and the other under her chin, causing her to look up into my eyes. "You can come with me today … And, as much as I hope that Gaius would never actually treat you that way, we'll go looking for the goblin, just in case. I still think your recollection brought about an educated guess."
She nods slowly, "Thank you… No use in stopping now. Let's get to it."
That's another thing I really appreciate about her: her determination to keep moving, despite the obstacles she's faced.