Hellebore: Chapter 2
"The measure of a good person is to do good when they could easily do nothing"
Lavender Rask muttered bitterly to herself as she trudged her way through the thick forest. Her rifle kept getting snagged on tree branches and low-hanging vines, and everything below her waist was covered in a thick coat of mud. That incident with the Lurker hadn't been very enjoyable. The bloody thing looked like a log! How was she to know it was secretly an amphibious Grimm that was more like a mouth with legs than an actual animal!
Lavender sighed, and not for the first time that day, as her willowy purple cape fluttered in the breeze, caught on some branches, and tugged harshly on her shoulders as she tried to pull it loose. She tried to jerk it free, but it was firmly wedged in the branches. She was so preoccupied with this task that when she realized she could hear someone, or something, approaching, she was incapable of reaching around to draw her weapon. It'd be embarrassing, she thought, to die while stuck to a tree. She'd be a footnote in the most humiliating ways an initiate had died. Not exactly the sort of thing she wanted to go down in history for…
"Need a hand?" Came a distinctly feminine voice. A very pleasant one at that. Lavender felt her face heat up in embarrassment as she turned pathetically and shrugged. At least, she tried to. She could only manage a half turn and a sort of weird angling of her right shoulder in the general direction of the speaker.
"Uh…if you wouldn't mind, that'd be fine." She said amicably, as if this was some ordinary, everyday interaction. Lavender turned enough to see the girl walking towards her.
Oh. Oh my. She is…she is…quite…attractive. Very attractive…hot damn.
Tall, blonde, dressed in a form-fitting equestrian-style gear worn under a pale-gold corset that showed just enough skin to be intriguing but not immodest, with dark leather pants and tall, fur-cuffed boots and matching gloves, this girl was hard not to appreciate. Lavender would probably give an even more detailed (and possibly indelicate) assessment of her were it not for the pressing matters at hand.
"You got a partner yet?" The girl asked. Lavender blinked. She's so...damn. Straight to it.
"Because if you do they aren't being very helpful."
Lavender slapped herself mentally. Partner, as in teammate. Not what she had in mind.
I am a massive idiot.
"No." She said, giving an answer to both questions in her mind. The girl had a small smile on her face as she helped Lavender untangle herself.
"Been happening all day. Really annoying." She grunted as she shook her cape free. "The name's Lavender. Lavender Rask."
She extended a hand to the girl, who looked down at it momentarily before taking it.
"Nice name." Lavender tried not to blush. "I'm Honeydew. But my friends call me Honey."
"I can imagine why…" She tried going for a jovial tone but cringed when she realised how rude it sounded. She felt like dying from embarrassment,again, and re-evaluated the most humiliating ways someone could die. Thankfully, the tall girl only nodded with a look of acceptance. A playful smile crossed her face.
"Yeah. I don't know why my parents would even think of that name…" Honey knew she was lying to herself. She knew perfectly well why.
"You know where we're supposed to go?" Lavender asked. Honey shrugged.
"If I'm being honest? No." She paused for a moment. "Do you?"
"Well, I think that I saw a structure in this direction- "She pointed vaguely downhill, in no general direction. "But I was falling from the sky, so I don't think I saw it clearly. Can't be too sure."
Honey raised an eyebrow, and Lavender tried not to keep her expression neutral when she realized she really, really liked that look.
"I didn't see anything on the way down. How did you? Semblance?"
Lavender nodded soundlessly.
"I can see more clearly with my Semblance. See things that other people can't. I process information much faster than normal. It's helpful."
"I agree. Very helpful." Honey agreed easily. "You any good with that?" She said, pointing to Lavenders rifle.
"Reasonably so. Well, I haven't died yet, so I've got that going for me." She laughed weakly. Honey looked down at her clothes critically.
"It seems you lost a fight to a mud monster though." She smirked. Lavender looked down and felt her cheeks alight. Again. She had momentarily forgotten how dirty she was. She decided to play it off.
"Nah. You should see the other guy." She waved her hand dismissively though the air, drawing a smile from Honey. Lavender laughed at her own stupid joke, but also at her own embarrassment.
"Care to join me?" She asked, with more confidence then she felt. Honey took one look around and nodded.
"Haven't got much else to choose from, do I?" She said simply. Lavender felt a little part of her die inside when she said that. Honey, seemingly sensing her disappointment, carried on.
"But I think that even if there were, I'd still choose you."
Lavender perked up immediately.
"Really?" Be professional! Be professional!"I mean…uh…thanks!"
Honey smirked again, and Lavender resisted the urge to blurt her love for her right there and then. The two girls stared at each other for a moment or two before Honey raised her eyebrow again.
"Well? Lead on." She said playfully, slapping Lavender gently on her back. The pink-haired girl squeaked in surprise before she jumped into action, leading an increasingly bemused Honey to the supposed site of the relics.
As partners go, Honey had certainly found an interesting one.
As for Lavender, she was wandering how long it'd take for her partner to cease being her partner in only one sense of the word…
It'd be an interesting four years for the two of them, that was for sure. Lavender could already envision the sort of fun they'd have together and the experiences they'd share. It'd be quite the adventure.
Lavender and Honeydew would not be alone in these experiences however, and out there, somewhere, at this moment, were their other two teammates.
And they too were certainly going to be an interesting pair…