too little, too late

[pokerap]

Fandom: Original
Character(s): Zvei & Fiona
Word Count: 1,410
Summary: Fiona's upset again and seeks Zvei out, as usual.
Notes: Yet another old draft! I was trying to figure out Zvei's voice and internal dialogue here + develop his relationship with his friend.


“Zveiiiii,” The whine greets him before the woman herself, and from the tone of voice and the length of the final sound of his name, it’s obvious she’s upset about something. Hardly a surprise when it comes to Fiona - the woman’s always dealing with some sort of emotional crisis.

So naturally, she seeks him out. Him, the bastion of emotional understanding and sympathy.

“Fiona,” He greets her with the usual smile as she pushes the door to his office in. “To what do I owe the pleasure?”

It’s not really a pleasure, and they both know it. It hasn’t been a pleasure from the first time she did this, and now they’re so many times in that he’s lost count. But she continues coming back to pester him with her troubles for reasons that are entirely beyond him.

The blonde fighter is currently twirling a strand of hair around her finger, lips pursed in a pout that makes her dour mood all the more obvious, even to him. “Aziv,” She says, like that explains everything. Given the emphasis on the name and the way she saunters into the room like she owns the place, kicking the door shut behind her, Zvei can surmise that they’re (once again) going through relationship drama.

“Did he reject you again?” How many times is that, now? He doesn’t ask it, but he thinks it. Very loudly.

Given her skeptical look, she can probably tell, but she chooses not to comment on it. “He didn’t reject me.” Though given that the pout hasn’t faded in the slightest and she doesn’t bother to elaborate, it seems it’s time for twenty questions. Again. Really, he doesn’t have time for these sorts of games.

And yet Zvei sets his pen down anyway, resisting the urge to sigh. Fiona takes her usual seat on the corner of his desk - he’s long since stopped putting papers there simply so she doesn’t sit on them whenever she shows up unannounced to complain. This really has become routine, hasn’t it?

“Did he start dating someone else?”

“No.”

Zvei inclines his head a bit as he thinks. “Did he insult you in some way?”

A brief moment of consideration before she sighs. “No.”

Well, that covers most of her usual complaints. “Did he ignore one of your achievements?”

“Sort of,” Fiona says, tightening that strand of hair around her finger before letting it go. “He was ignoring me entirely for her.”

Zvei resists the urge to rub at his temples, even though he can feel a headache forming. He glances longingly at his notes - he was really getting close to a breakthrough here, he thinks - before he moves to stand. Fiona’s light violet eyes follow him, her head inclining slightly in confusion. “You want a distraction, don’t you?”

That seems to be a suitable answer and Fiona finally smiles. She is rather cute - objectively speaking - but it isn’t really a surprise that Aziv’s been stringing her along for literal years at this point. The man’s too clever to actually give Fiona what she wants when he can just use her for as long as her loyalty lasts. She still hasn’t realized that.

“Yeah. That sounds great, actually.” She says and holds out a hand expectantly.

With that, he offers her his arm and they take their leave from his office, as they’ve done so many times in the past when Fiona’s feeling down. Sometimes she threatens to actually date him, but considering how quiet she’s being today, it seems she’s really troubled by whatever Aziv was doing this time.

The duo stop at Fiona’s room, as usual. She unlocks the door and ushers him inside, moving to dig through her overflowing drawers for something. She’s been with Ruby Dawn for far longer than Zvei and her room reflects it; there’s plenty of homemade pink and purple decorations to make the room have a nice cozy feeling, along with a great many knick-knacks and trinkets on the desk, complete with an alarming amount of large weapons carefully displayed in racks on the wall. The juxtaposition might be a bit strange for some people, but for Fiona? This is a completely normal thing and one of the first things Zvei learned about her. This is a woman who loves battle as much as she loves being cute.

And speaking of being cute... “Here we go!” She produces several small vials filled with brightly-colored paint. “Help me out, I need a new color.”

This has become routine for them as well. Every time Fiona’s particularly down, Zvei distracts her by painting her nails some new color. Her choices today are a bright, obnoxious lime green, an eye-searing shade of red, or a deep purple that’s nearly black, catching the light in oddly beautiful ways.

He hums his appreciation as he picks up the third and Fiona laughs. “I knew you’d like that one. It’s yours.”

“Oh?” He asks, glancing from the paint to the fighter. “What makes you think I want it?”

Given her smug grin, she thinks she has him all figured out. “You wore the last one I painted on your nails until it began to chip. You could have just washed it off, you know.”

“I thought bright pink looked perfect with my attire, actually.” He responds just as easily, which earns a loud laugh from her.

And so they begin their usual ritual - she points for the green and he gets started, carefully cleaning her nails and applying the new paint. Fiona’s nails are always kept in top condition despite her handling of large weapons; it’s something Zvei has never understood, but he’s never seen her with even one broken nail. Perhaps she’s secretly using magic to strengthen them. Though he’s never seen her use magic before either...

“I wanted to say thanks.” She says, unprompted. “So that’s why I’m giving it to you.”

Zvei inclines his head a bit as he works, signaling for her to continue. She doesn’t for a moment and he glances up; Fiona’s expression is a bit softer than usual, but she’s not smiling. She’s not frowning either. He’s not really sure what to make of that expression. Usually she’s so easy to read because her voice and demeanor always clearly spell out her feelings, but right now he has not a single clue what this is supposed to be.

She looks up at him; he must be staring. “So... Thanks.” She finishes, though it’s hardly the sort of thing that warranted a pause for that long.

“You’re welcome?” He sounds just as confused as he feels and it earns a soft giggle from her.

Fiona wiggles her fingers at him to remind him of what he was doing and Zvei gets back to work. “You’re a good friend, Zvei.”

Friend. Is that what they are? What a strange word to use on him, of all people. He hums in response, simply to fill the space before she can give him a weird look - that tends to happen whenever he doesn’t respond and people expect a response, after all - and it seems to work well enough.

“Let me do your nails too. This color’s a better fit for you anyway!” Fiona insists once he’s done, grabbing his hands before he can try to escape.

Zvei lets her, because there’s no saying no to Fiona. That’s simply the way things are.

—————

When he takes the Aeli and feels its power course through his veins - their veins - she’s the first to stand before him, spear at the ready. There is no hesitation in her eyes, in her expression, in her voice. She says she’ll fight him, she’ll put a stop to this madness, and he can tell that there isn’t anything he can do to get her to stand down.

“You’re a good friend, Zvei.”

No, but you realized that too late, didn’t you? He thinks as he impales her with one of the Aeli’s branches. Another branch grabs her by the neck and flings her away - the sickening crack as she lands indicating that she won’t be getting up again.

A better person would have been upset by killing their friend. Zvei isn’t.

That’s simply the way things are.