Renner watched with sharp eyes as Blue Rose assembled in her chambers.
Lakyus walked in with an air of aristocracy as befitting the station she was born with, contrasting her sharp eyes which scanned the room with a gaze of the soldier she wanted to be. An air of tiredness seeped through the cracks in her posture.
Evileye glided in, her red coat fluttering in dramatically. Renner wondered if that was a clever bit of magic, but never heard of wordless magic and shelved the idea. Underneath all of the movement was a back that was a little more hunched than before; a gaze that refused to maintain its' normal alertness.
Tia and Tina flanked Lakyus, expressions as unreadable as ever. They swept the room as the de facto team scouts. Renner wondered if the bags under their eyes were always that noticeable.
Gagaran walked in at the rear, boasting a shit-eating grin that could light up the cloudiest of rooms. It seemed that whatever issue that was eating at the rest of Blue Rose certainly left her in a better one. A bet might have been a pretty easy conclusion, but Renner would guess otherwise.
Renner's gaze sharpened as it finally landed on Blue Rose's newest member. Even among her own sources, the man seemed inhuman. Tales of how he casually tagged along to one of the best adventurer groups in Re-Estize without a word spread like fire since his emergence. A strange man who never showed his face to the public, who ripped apart monsters as if their skin and bones was merely paper and quills, a man who by all accounts should be beyond the trivialities of kingdoms, of empires. Rumors were always exaggerated something fierce, Renner knew, yet all rumors had a grain of truth.
Renner was determined to have him under her hand.
She started her assault with her signature opening smile and greeting as the members of Blue Rose sat down, absentmindedly responding to Laykus' attempts at small talk. Tia and Tina never joined her, but Renner held out hope that one day Blue Rose would feel comfortable enough to sit down in their entirety and pledge themselves to her. Or just spill all their secrets.
Delta hopped, skipped, and jumped his way toward his seat with an incredible measure of ignorance in the setting and mood. A power play, Renner realized, hidden behind the childlike facade of ignorance. He seemed to read the room layout with incredible accuracy before he even entered, must have taken note of the lack of obstacles in his path before executing such finely controlled air movement.
Renner tuned back into Lakyus' opening drivel. "...Let me introduce our newest member of the team, Delta."
Renner's gaze was finally allowed to rest on the man (thing?), imprinting his characteristics into her brain. His outfit was a story in and of itself. The pockets that lined his chest spoke magnitudes of his preparedness. One could only assume what scars lined the man sitting underneath it, someone who clearly lived beyond countless mistakes and lived to see the tale.
A flag or insignia of some sort sat on his right shoulder, yet its origins mystified Renner. A royal member was expected to know all they can about future allies and enemies, yet not once did that flag appear in her studies.
His grotesque mask completed the set, forcing her responding smile to become a little more strained than she would have hoped.
It was only natural to fear the unknown, and clearly Delta had that in spades.
"Hello Delta," Renner said warmly, "my name is Princess Renner, third princess of Re-Estize. Though there's no need for such formalities with me." She waved him off nonchalantly.
"Alright alright!" Delta replied enthusiastically, to which every member of Blue Rose looked disappointed. Renner's eye twitched as she mentally listed reasons why ruining him would be unhelpful for her plans.
"Seriously, Delta?" Lakyus sighed and passed a strained smile to the princess. "Delta only knows how to speak relatively simple phrases. We're only still understanding him now."
This was his entire plan then, Renner realized. He gave away his cards so he could choose to not play the game. She would show him then. He would crack eventually, and when that day came he would be putty in her hands.
Renner giggled as she put a hand to her mouth. "Ah, I'm sure he'll find his bearings soon. He's only been here for a few months at most, is that right?"
"Yes, as far as we know." Lakyus returned.
Evileye elaborated at Renner's curious gaze. "It's unfortunately a bit hard to wean information out of someone who can only say what boils down to 'yes' and 'no'."
"Agreed." Delta chimed in.
Renner giggled again, but quickly schooled her countenance to something more appropriate as if she couldn't mold it at the turn of a dime. "As fun as this conversation is, we need to circle back to the main points of the meeting. Time is of the essence, or so I've heard when it comes to your raids."
"Right." Evileye led. "We hadn't intended on attacking Eight Fingers so directly until we gathered more information-" -at this Lakyus shot her a warning look- "-until Delta wound up being the target of one of their kidnappings. He then proceeded to brutally murder all of the goons there."
"And that's why people saw him all bloodied that morning, then." Renner pieced together. While this story didn't seem to paint a complete picture of the man's abilities, Renner thought it nice to get confirmation on his combat prowess. At Evileye's nod, she continued. "So then are you suggesting a more direct approach?"
Gagaran laughed heartily. "That's our princess for ya!"
Laykus sighed. "Yes. When Eight Fingers figures out that the kidnapping happened on one of our members they'll shoot up the security. With one of their bases down all of their guards will be investigating the area instead of guarding bases, which will be our time to strike."
"And when will that be?" Renner pried innocently.
"As soon as possible, though we'll strike in a week from now." Lakyus replied. "We actually came to you for help; We found the locations of their main bases through some intel we picked up during one of our raids which led us to them." At Renner's frown Lakyus continued, passing over a few papers. "We've cross-referenced them to previous intel, and it matches. Feel free to take a look at it." Lakyus assured her.
Renner scanned the map carefully. While it was true that her own intel lined up with the map, it was odd to consider just how Eight Fingers, a notorious crime syndicate, was sloppy enough to let all of this information loose against such a brazen and well known adventurer group as Blue Rose. It reeked of the word 'trap', yet her intel...
Maybe she had to re-frame her thinking. What sort of places would contain this sort of information? Standard raids from this group usually just contained a couple knockouts and drug field burnings. This must have been from a base that contained members who knew other base locations...
She glanced briefly at Delta as she worked everything together. Yes, the kidnapping base must have been it. But even then, the thugs' literacy rate is likely atrocious. They must have interrogated one of the men, that's it. She suppressed a smirk. My move, then.
"Well, it's a shame potion prices have increased or I would provide you more of them for this," Renner paused and sighed dramatically, to which all of Blue Rose looked somewhat sheepish about. Nfirea's comatose state became quite well known after his grandmother spiked her prices in response to it, and adventurer's pouches were a few silvers lesser after that. The price spike even incited rumors that Blue Rose purposefully did it in order to keep low rank adventurers down, rumors which were crushed with extreme prejudice by their own members.
"Well at least those bastards who hurt him are dead too." Evileye muttered.
"-but I can still bring along some of the royal guard." Renner continued as if nothing was said. "A week should be enough time for them to gather."
"Princess Renner!" Climb spoke her name almost reverentially, a tone that Renner herself adored.
"What is it, Climb?" Renner tilted her head inquisitively at her knight.
"I wish to join the mission!" He spoke loudly, banging his right arm into his chest.
"You too kid?" Gagaran leaned back. "You sure?"
"Sure." Renner smiled at him. She was so proud the love of her life would risk death for her, so proud of the man she was molding him into. Then he could die and she would save him and care for him while he was weak! Truly, there was no better way for her knight to lose than in a low-risk environment like this one where his body could be easily found. She could even stick him onto a higher risk team without any of thes-
"...Renner?" She snapped back into focus at Lakyus' call.
"I'm sorry, I seem to have lost myself for a moment there." Renner stiffly replied, irked that she was taken out of her fantasies. "What was it?"
"Ah, well I was just wondering about the team divisions. We had originally intended on-"
"My apologies, but where might Delta have gone?" Renner said as she scanned the room.
Lakyus shifted uneasily as Climb tensed and gaped at the previously occupied seat. "Delta tends to-"
"He always just disappears when we start planning. He's only in it for the battle." Evileye interrupted. "What? It's true." She glared back at Lakyus.
Renner did not like her odds at securing Delta's favor. If Delta was just another battle-crazed soldier, his allegiance would be easy to call into question, though she doubted anyone would listen to her as the third princess. It seemed like he had a propensity for attacking 'the bad guys', given that he didn't kill the others who were kidnapped or random civilians. Was it just a matter of being known as 'good' and framing her enemies as 'bad' before others beat her to it...?
Yet it was fun to play his game. She would find his tells, his vices, his interests. It was all a matter of time. And when she did, she would make him run circles to keep them safe. Just like the rest of them.
"By disappear..." Renner trailed off.
"He happens to… blink out of existence, for lack of a better term." Lakyus supplied after a moment.
"Oh." Renner paused. The team's silence was telling to Renner that they still didn't have a clue about Delta's capabilities. [Teleport] and its successor are known skills, but require a sufficiently powerful mage as well as spoken words. They also generate a glowing circle, though the lesser known [Dimension Move] did not generate a spell circle.
Delta broke all the rules of convention at every given opportunity, and Renner loved it.
"...What were you saying about the team divisions?" Renner asked, trying to steer the conversation back on track. She still had her nightly routine to complete with Climb after all, and a princess needs her beauty sleep.
A/N: I had a really hard time writing from the perspective of a verified sociopath like Renner especially when it came to her obsession with Climb, but I really wanted to continue with this fic while I still have time this summer so here it is. Critique is always welcome.