[b]Roleplay Title:[/b]
Hold My Flower
[b]Setting:[/b]
70 years ago | 18/4/1075
[b]Characters Involved:[/b]
Valiant Mancini (aged 49)
Pemperknackle Abernathy (aged 59)

" I don't know if I can do this." Valiant said softly as he tentatively looked himself over in the full length mirror in front of him. Despite all the fancy clothes that Pemperknackle had helped him pick out, he still felt that he had no confidence and that he would surely be rejected.

" Don't be ridiculous!!" His friend laughed, tightening the tie around his neck, " She's totally in to you. You shouldn't give up so easily!"

"A-Are you sure?" Valiant perked up like an excited puppy. Maybe she had said something to Pem about him?! Maybe there was some actual hope! " How do you know?"

" Beeeeeecauseeeee," Pem said matter-o-factly, finishing up the tie and then clapping him on his shoulder, " If she wasn't into you, she would have let that behemoth of a brother heal you instead!"

After hearing that, all of Valiant's excitement deflated and his shoulders shagged. It wasn't exactly the kind of reassurance that he wanted....but maybe there was some truth in Pem's words? He thought back to a couple of weeks ago when he was taken to the Solae potion shop. His right eye had been gorged out by a hostile vampire whose intent was to harm the King, but despite his best attempts, Belzeneff had gotten hurt. During the commotion Belzeneff had tripped over himself and received a small cut on his ankle. Because of this, the Royal Healer refused to treat Valiant until the King was completely healed. Enraged, Pemperknackle had taken him to the town's potion shop that was said to be ran by a family of Healers. They had met the daughter Dionysus on multiple occasions in the past whenever they got hurt, but it had never been something to this extent.

It took some time, and alot of work, but she eventually stopped the bleeding and Valiant from [i]dying[/i], but his eye had been irredeemable and Valiant had to face the fact that he would never use his right eye ever again. He was distributed a ghastly looking eyepatch and a shiny new discharge form as a thanks from the King. It was true that Belzeneff had promised to have another job lined up for him once he fully recovered, but without his Protector title, what more could Valiant do with his life? Being a Protector like his ancestor Valhalla was all that he had want to be, all that he had trained for, and once he became one he had thought, [i]'This is it, this is what I will be doing for the rest of my life. I'm set.'[/i] But fate was cruel and only allowed Valiant to live out his dreams for a short 22 years before viciously stripping him of it. But...he couldn't say that it had all been for nothing. On top of saving Belzenff's life, Valiant had fallen in love.

There had always been a lingering attraction to Dionysus Solae, the young Healer, but Valiant never acted on those feelings. Being in a relationship while being a Royal Protector was hard to maintain. The only reason it had lasted so long with Jenessa was because she was in the same line of business and they saw each other everyday, but even that relationship eventually disintegrated in a matter of years. Valiant had been more than happy to live out the rest of his life without a family if it meant protecting Belzeneff, but that was before he met Dionysus.

Even through the searing pain of his lost eye, Valiant was memorized by Dionysus' beauty. The entire time she was healing his eye, he couldn't stop himself from looking at her in all her elegance. Even with his blood on her hands she managed to retain all her beauty and by the time his wound was closed, he had fallen completely for her.

But after living a life of being beautiful, without any imperfections or setbacks at all, the sudden loss of his eye had taken a giant chunk out of his ego. How could anyone find him beautiful, or even desirable, now that he had a massive hole where his eye once was? Any confidence that Valiant once had in his appearance had all disappeared and he began to accept that he would die alone. But like a true friend, Pemperknackle wasn't going to let Valiant beat himself down for the rest of his days, so after a month of allowing him to grieve, Pemperknackle bought him some fancy dress clothes, flowers and handed him a reservation ticket for the fanciest restaurant in town.

" C'mon Pem..." Valiant said, coming back to the conversation from his thoughts, " that doesn't mean anything...She was probably just being nice. There's no way she would never go out with me..."

Pemperknackle could not [i]believe[/i] that his once so egotistical friend had been reduced to this emotional mess, but he did his best to stick with him and do everything he could to return Valiant back to normal. But enough was enough and Pemperknackle was [i]done[/i] with playing the good guy. He firmly grabbed Valiant's shoulders and turned him so that they were facing face-to-face, giving him the best stern glare he could muster into Valiant's remaining eye, " Listen to me Valiant. I am sick and tired of you feeling sorry for yourself! You lost your [i]eye[/i], not your life. So stop acting like it!" He shook his friend's shoulders roughly, " Dionysus isn't as stuck up as you! She doesn't care about what you look like, or that you're missing your eye or any of that. It's what's inside that counts! I don't know what kind of bullshit relationship you had with Jenessa, but Dionysus is really good for you man, like [i]really[/i] good. I know that the two of you can be happy together, you just have to take a chance!"

Stunned into silence, Valiant could only nod weakly. He had never thought that his [i]personality[/i] could count more than his looks, but if Pem said that it would..." You're right." He said eventually, causing Pemperknackle to release his shoulders. " If I don't try then I'll never know, right?" It was like Pemperknackle had breathed new life into him and Valiant straightened his posture, giving him one last look in the mirror before turning to grab his coat. " I'll be back later, I'll tell you how it goes!!" He said excitedly as he closed the door after Pemperkanckle waved him goodbye. Now left by himself, Pemperknackle finally breathed a sigh of relief, glad to see that the life had returned in Valiant's eye. And who knows, maybe he as right and the two would be blissfully happy with one another for the rest of their days.