Rose for a Monster
Emile stared down at the flower, having never seen anything like it. "What in the name of all automated firearms is this thing?" He held up the flower so that his friend could see it.
"Are you telling me you have no idea what a rose is?" Richard raised an eyebrow at the armored Spartan. "It's a flower, man. People give it to show that they like a person. Usually symbolizes love or something like that. It was probably meant for me. I'm sure Kat just had the wrong locker."
"Yeah, because she didn't kick you the last time you tried calling her by a nickname." Emile turned his gaze to the flower just staring at it. "It's for me. I know who gave it to me too."
Richard leaned toward his friend, curious. "Do tell. I would like to know what member of Noble has the hots for a killing machine like you."
Emile sat down on the bench and it protested the weight of his armor. He tried to decide if he should tell Richard. The other man might make fun of him, but then again, admitting it didn't mean that he was admitting he liked the person. "Jorge."
Richard just stared at Emile for a few seconds. "You mean the gentle giant Spartan II that's on the team?" He seemed very surprised by the news. "You mean that tall glass of nice likes you, the short guy at the party that kicks people in the balls for calling him short."
"Hey, I'm not that much shorter than you. Only like half an inch." Emile frowned behind his visor. "But, yeah, it's him. He…I don't know. He likes me for some reason."
Richard grinned. "Well, I'm happy for you man. He could be good for you." Richard grabbed his boots from his locker and slipped them on. "I mean, I've been around you long enough to know that a nice guy like him might be just perfect for you."
"How could a guy like him be good for me? He's much to gentle, he's so much more emotional than I am, and he and I don't agree on anything." Emile felt like crushing the rose in his hand, destroying it to make his point, but he didn't. He couldn't bring himself to destroy the flower for some reason.
"But that's just the thing. He's not a killing machine like you that only has war on his mind. If you were with a person like that then you'd never come out of combat mode. I mean, people say that a soul mate is when we meet someone that's just like us. I don't think that's true at all. Look at me and Kat. Sure, we both don't always follow authority, but I respect the chain of command. Kat couldn't give a damn about rank. I'll admit I'm not the brightest tool in the shed, but Kat would be that tool that you keep in the house, the one with its own case that you use all the time for any job." Richard scratched at the back of his neck. "Honestly I think that a soul mate is nothing like us. I mean, who wants to be with an exact copy of themselves?"
"You do realize that you're as much Kat's soul mate as I am, right?" Emile glared at his friend. They both knew that neither of them had much of a chance with the Lieutenant Commander.
Richard shook his head. "She's my soul mate. It's a completely different matter as to who her soul mate is." Richard finished lacing his boots and tying them, scowling unhappily. "Carter keeps Kat out of trouble when she doesn't respect rank. Kat makes sure that Carter sees us as people, not just soldiers. Kat sees the little things, Carter sees the whole picture. That good enough for you?" Richard let out a long breath. "I'm just saying, don't rule him out because he's nothing like you. Sometimes we need that opposite person to keep us in line." With that Richard walked out of the locker room, leaving Emile to think.
Emile watched his friend go and then looked back to the rose, considering Richard's words.
Jorge looked over the group of dead grunts. They looked to have been cut open and he could guess who did it. "Do you really have to desecrate the bodies?" He looked around and realized that the Spartan III was nowhere to be seen. "Emile?" He called for the other Spartan, searching for his tag in one on the buildings.
"Calm down, big man. I'm fine." Emile moved to the doorway of one of the houses. "If we go through here we can cut through the back yard and straight to the road that will take us down town." Emile vanished back into the house.
Jorge didn't know why he wanted to take that way, but as he was usually the slower of the two he let Emile take the lead. Jorge moved into the house behind him, frowning as he realized that Emile was already on the other side, waiting in the back yard.
Jorge looked through the house, being sure that there was nothing that could sneak up on him. He stopped in the living room, staring at the wall. All the pictures had been knocked down and the furniture was all piled to one side of the room leaving the space vacant. Jorge studied the pattern on the wall, trying to tell if it was what he thought it was. He looked a bit close and could see what looked like streak marks, meaning that the blood had been put on the wall, and from the looks of it, purposefully put in this pattern.
Jorge took a few steps back and took in the whole picture. It looked like a poorly drawn rose. At least that was what he thought it looked like. He couldn't be sure as the lines were wavy. He looked toward the back yard where Emile was still waiting. It was odd that he hadn't told Jorge to hurry up yet. He didn't like being kept waiting. Jorge turned back to the picture and smiled. He captured an image of it and stored it away in a personal file.
He moved through the house, into the back yard. Emile was watching him, probably trying to gauge his reaction. Jorge decided not to keep him guessing. "That was lovely. You know I had no idea a little monster like you could be so adorable."
Emile turned and started to walk off. "Don't push it."
"You do know that roses are supposed to be red, right?" Jorge grinned as he moved after Emile moving over the rubble of a destroyed wall to the road ahead.
"Well alien blood only comes in blue and purple, so deal with it." Emile easily moved his way onto the street and started to head along the road. "Now shut up and move your big butt. We're late enough as it is." They both fell silent as they moved down the street to meet up with the rest of Noble.
