The sound of knuckles rapping against the door breaks Lloyd's concentration. He looks up from his dusty, borrowed desk and sets down the crumbling cement chunk and a pen.
"Yeeees? What is it?"
The door's unoiled hinges rub together in an unpleasant squeak. Lloyd glances at the opening to find his knight slightly wince at the sound.
"My Lord, I did not see you come out to eat."
The man lets out a little "ah," and turns back to his desk to scribble down some notes. Crossing numbers out, replacing them with others, adjusting and adjusting again.
"I am being serious, Master Lloyd. You must eat something. And more than that…"
Lloyd glances towards Javier as the sentence trails off, only to find him standing next to him; pinching his nose shut with an expression that could almost rival one of Lloyd's if not for his protagonisty author-given beautiful face.
"Ugh, you fucker."
He elbows Javier away, jabbing repeatedly. His other hand picks up a dusty, faded paper which he returns to staring at incessantly. Upon closer inspection it appears to have been crumpled and unfolded more than once. He scrutinizes the numbers in his head.
"This violence is a bit excessive, no?" The knight puts a palm up to stop the slowing elbow strikes. "You have been here all day. Look at how many samples you have tried today. This is enough Master Lloyd, come now so you can rest."
Lloyd finally looks Javier in the eyes with his own bloodshot ones. The dust clings to his chin, around his mouth, and in the general area of his forehead where he must have been rubbing his face in deep thought. The stubble is getting a little unruly. And his breath… ugh. The knight feels nauseous taking in this wreck of a workaholic. Even one of his usual ghastly expressions would be better than this.
"Javier, I know I can get the mixture right tonight. I know it. Look, I have, like, twenty more combinations written down, ready to test. I'll just start mixing them and-"
Wrinkling his nose, Javier leans back from the overpowering stench and his master's revoltingly crusty face. He turns away to spare his poor eyes, his back to the young master.
"Sir, I've changed my mind. You don't need to eat yet."
He reaches backwards, tightly latching onto the stinky man's sleeve.
"You must bathe first. To preserve the Frontera name and its dignity."
Pang! A sharp pain stabs Javier's back.
"Urgh!"
The knight turns around clutching the spot to discover that sharp but quickly fading pain was his master's disgustingly overgrown fingernails. The sleep-deprived Lloyd smirks a bit. His cracked lips part and he inhales sharply.
"In the realm of advanced structural engineering dynamic load analysis and strategies for dealing with these comple-!"
"No!"
Javier quickly clamps his hand over his master's mouth. His head and eyelids feel the nearly irresistible pull of gravity toward the floor. Biting his cheek and steeling himself, he sends mana all around his body. Bursts of energy ignite Javier all over. The knight feels his adrenaline spike. He successfully warded off his master's sleeping spell, but his full alertness heightens his senses further. The knight falls to his knees. Javier's stomach churns.
"What's the big deal, huh? The faster I finish this up, the faster I can start construction, and the faster we get the money for our debt. Every. Second. Counts. Don't you want it paid off? Oh, so you're saying you don't care if the Baron and Baroness are in debt forever, hm? I swear…" Lloyd shoots his signature snarl down at his knight, but the words become muddled and fuzzy in Javier's ears.
Javier's stomach churns. Yes, again. And faster. He's doubled over from the combination of his master's disgusting state, the terrible expression on that man's face, and his own heightened senses sending his stomach acids into overload. He shakes with overwhelming nausea. The feeling almost consumes him, but he must not give in. Oh no- here it comes…!
GULP
Javier, shaking, lifts his head. His teary eyes meet the red and bulging ones of the man who did this to him, still lecturing the knight out of his ass. He is not sure if it is anger at the near humiliation he faced or the still-present nausea, but he is shaking violently. One knee at a time, Javier raises himself off the floor.
"Master… huff… Lloyd…"
The knight uses one hand to cover his nose and mouth and the other to snatch Lloyd's notes from his hands in one piece. He sends mana into his legs, leaping backwards to gain distance.
Shiiing-
The sword is drawn.
"Huff. You… have to the… count of… huff… five…"
Javier points it to the paper in his trembling hand.
"Or else… huff I will… mana-blast your twenty future… samples. One."
Lloyd's posture immediately straightens and his eyes widen. His head swivels around, fingers clutching at his hair.
"Two…"
The young master's face contorts as he stops frantically looking around the room to stare at the precious wrinkled paper in Javier's hand.
"Three… Come on master."
Lloyd's fists ball up for a second, and all the tension in his body leaves. He dejectedly steps towards Javier.
"Four… alright." He slides his sword back into the hilt and carefully folds the paper to store in his breast pocket. "Master, let us make our way back now. You will do a better job when you are well rested and fed."
The wilted nobleman follows after his knight. His skin itches, his scalp feels caked by grease, and his nails are uncomfortably stuffed with the dust of concrete. His mouth is dry and tastes of monstrosities, and his hollow stomach groans into the night. But here is his loyal knight before him, leading him to the inn where there are clean baths and fresh water and hot meals. Leading him on foot.
"Guh… you could carry me y'know…"
"Not a chance."
[Javier's approval rating of you has dropped by 1 point]
[Hahahahahahahahhahahahah]
[You shouldn't have been an asshole to him :p]
