[Legend of Sun Knight] fic: My Friend, the Pope (in-training) - Part 3: Ceo
Title: My Friend, the Pope (in-training) - Part 3: Ceo
Fandom: The Legend of Sun Knight
Words: 1,832
Summary: Grisia wasn't chosen as the Sun Knight. This is the legend of the strongest Pope in all history. AU.
Notes: This was one of my bullet points that jump-started the entire idea. :3
Previous part
Part 3: Ceo
During one of my joint hair dyeing sessions with Roland, I met his friend, the pope-in-training.
Well, "met" is probably not the right word to describe our first encounter, as it makes it sound like we came across each other and exchanged pleasantries or something along those lines, and that wasn't quite what happened.
At the time, Roland and I were in his room, mixing and applying our hair dyes. We had to make our own hair dyes, since we had already used up the bottles our teachers gave us to start us off. They'd refused to give us more, explaining that it was now our responsibility to acquire hair dye, whether we bought it or made our own.
Buying it would be quicker, but as holy knights-in-training who didn't receive much pay, we were pretty much dirt poor, and after my teacher's warning about thoroughly concealing my identity while buying the hair dye so as not to let the public find out the Storm Knight didn't naturally have blue hair, I just thought it easier to make my own hair dye instead. I doubted anyone believed that there really were people out there born with blue hair, but as the Storm Knight-in-training, it was my duty to maintain the image of the Storm Knight passed down through the ages. I definitely did not want to be the one destroying that image!
At first, I had been dismayed at the tasks given to us, both having to dye our hair and having to acquire the hair dye for doing so, but I was at least consoled by the fact that I would not be alone in this. Roland would be dyeing his hair just as much as I would be dyeing mine. At the time we received the news, I'd darted my eyes at him, sneaking a look at his serious face. He'd accepted his teacher's instructions without a single complaint. I'd quickly copied his expression and nodded at my teacher as solemnly as I could, trying to indicate that I too knew how important the task was.
I soon found out, however, that it was not that Roland thought hair dyeing to be a grave matter -- he was just a very serious person who took everything seriously, be it a task from his teacher or a pursuit of his own. Often, I would see Roland practicing at the training grounds after hours. From time to time, the Sun Knight would stand and watch, head shaking.
Maybe Roland was even taking it too far.
"This child is no fun..." I once heard the Sun Knight mutter. However, it must have been a figment of my imagination, for in the very next second, the Sun Knight sported a smile on his face as he drew his sword and joined Roland in his training. They were always a sight to see.
The point was, whether it was dyeing his hair or practicing his sword, Roland faced everything with the same seriousness. Since he had been ordered to dye his hair, as the Sun Knight must have dazzling blond hair just like how the Storm Knight must have bewitching blue hair, he would habitually dye his hair way before his roots started showing. Roland would come to me and gesture to his hair, indicating that it was that time again, the time to maintain our hair together. Whenever this happened, I would nod. Then, after completing my duties for the day, I would bring over a basin and all of my hair dyeing supplies to Roland's room, which was larger than mine.
This time was no different. First, we focused on preparing our own hair dyes, grinding the materials and mixing them. Then, we took turns dyeing the other person's hair. As I helped Roland apply his hair dye, I conversationally said, "You know, Roland, if you didn't cut your hair so much, it would grow slower and you wouldn't have to dye it so often, I think."
I figured that was how hair had to work. After all, people were always telling me that cutting my hair would make it grow better and faster, so the opposite had to be true too.
With my gloves on, I lifted part of Roland's hair -- it was indeed very short -- to get at the strands close to his scalp. Like always, I barely saw any brown peeking out. Roland was very diligent... But we probably needed to ease up a bit if we didn't want to ruin our hair before we even became the official Twelve Holy Knights. We still had many more years to go.
I would always remember what Roland said next. I had never pegged him as a hair expert, and he really wasn't one, so it was surprising hearing him talk about the intricacies of hair. Roland glanced at me through the mirror and said, "I don't think that's true. Grisia told me that cutting your hair makes it healthier because the split ends get trimmed, but it doesn't make your hair grow faster. Hair grows at a fixed rate."
Apparently, the topic had come up between them before when this Grisia person had first seen Roland's dyed hair, and Roland had pondered about the rate of his hair growth and how often he would need to dye his hair.
I immediately wondered who this Grisia was, this person who knew so much about hair and who was even talking with Roland about it. Not a lot of people even knew that Roland didn't naturally have golden hair. Getting Roland to dye his hair was one of the first things the Sun Knight had Roland do. The only reason I even knew Roland's hair color wasn't natural was because my teacher was the hair dyeing expert. He had been super smug when the Sun Knight had come to him for assistance, so smug that he had even let me out early from my character training class that day, saving himself a lot of frustration too. It can't be very fun trying to teach me how to flirt. You'd have a better time trying to teach a rock than trying to teach me, and that's saying something.
Roland's eyes darted toward my hair through the mirror. "Is that why you're growing your hair out? You're hoping it will grow slower the longer it gets?"
My hair was now past my shoulders. I hadn't had it cut ever since I had been chosen as the next Storm Knight. I planned on growing it even longer.
"Sort of," I mumbled, hoping he wouldn't dig further. If growing my hair out didn't make it...grow slower, that did defeat half the purpose, and even I thought my second reason to be silly. I swiped at his hair some more and shifted my eyes away from his reflection. I tried to keep myself busy, but it didn't work.
"What's the other reason?" Roland still asked.
I gave his hair a tug, small revenge for Roland's straightforwardness, but I couldn't blame him for wanting to know. I'd be curious too. Face warming, I murmured quietly, "I thought it would be a good confidence booster, considering how I'm not exactly the largest person around."
Roland was much taller than me, and so was Georgo and Chikus. It wasn't just height either. I was too slim. I felt tiny next to them. Nothing like a holy knight. I really needed my growth spurt. Like, yesterday.
"So, you're compensating with your hair?" Roland asked in reply, a small, amused smile tugging at his lips. It looked good on him -- it made him look kind. He'd confessed that he wasn't very good at smiling, but I thought he was going to do just fine. At least, much better than me and flirting. I just wished he wasn't so amused over my situation! I was already embarrassed enough!
"He must be doing the same..." Roland murmured and chuckled before looking back at me. I almost thought he was laughing at me until his words registered -- he was amused because of someone else.
I didn't know who exactly he thought was doing the same as me. I had a guess, but I wasn't sure. I was just glad he wasn't laughing at me. I swallowed. "I guess... I am. Sort of. I mean, you've seen how long the Judgment Knight's hair is, right? And well, he is one of the most impressive and confident people I know."
And by having long hair, I meant really, really, reaaaally long hair. Chasel Judgment's hair reached below his waist. Coupled with his black robes, he was always a swirl of flowing darkness. If I could even obtain half of his impressiveness, I would be all set.
Roland looked contemplative. "You're right. Even my teacher defers to him, and my teacher..."
He stopped halfway in his sentence, seemingly not knowing how to finish it. Knowing Roland, he was probably too respectful to badmouth his own teacher. Instead, he said, "It seems impractical to grow your hair out."
"Has your teacher said anything about long hair?" I wondered. Sun Knight's hair came to his shoulders, though it was far shorter than Judgment Knight's. It seemed likely that he would want his student to grow his hair out. Instead, Roland's hair was cropped fairly short. It only reached slightly past his ears.
Brows furrowed, Roland replied, "He did suggest that I grow my hair out, but then he changed his mind."
"Really? Why?" I asked, curious.
Roland opened his mouth, but I never did find out why. In the very next moment, the door burst open with a blast of holy light even more effective than the Blaze Knight's foot.
"Roland, you'll never guess what I learned today!" a cheerful voice exclaimed from the door. Immediately afterward, I heard a sharp intake of breath, and the voice scolded, "Roland Sun! Don't you love the God of Light anymore? Tsk tsk! Bringing a girl to your room!"
I stared at the small figure at the door. If I didn't know better, I would have thought the person to be Neo Sun's child, but the Sun Knight was only allowed to love the God of Light and never women, so surely he didn't have any children.
Still, blond hair and blue eyes... and hair around the same length too. However... such a hairstyle on Neo Sun made him look strong. On this teenager... it only made him look feminine. He really had no room to talk, considering I'd only just realized he wasn't a girl. Combined with his small stature, I'd say that he looked more like a girl than me!
"Grisia might be compensating too," Roland said to me, amused smile back on his face.
So this was Grisia, and this was the person Roland must have been chuckling about. I didn't think this person would look more like the Sun Knight than Roland did. If I were Roland, I would definitely diligently dye my hair too.
I looked at Grisia, who was possibly even shorter than me but whose hair was quite long, and replied, "I think you're right."
That was how I first met Grisia, the pope-in-training. Right after our quips -- he hadn't been very happy about them -- he showed us exactly what he had learned that day.
Let's just say... Appearances are very deceiving!
to be continued
Next part
Fandom: The Legend of Sun Knight
Words: 1,832
Summary: Grisia wasn't chosen as the Sun Knight. This is the legend of the strongest Pope in all history. AU.
Notes: This was one of my bullet points that jump-started the entire idea. :3
Previous part
Part 3: Ceo
During one of my joint hair dyeing sessions with Roland, I met his friend, the pope-in-training.
Well, "met" is probably not the right word to describe our first encounter, as it makes it sound like we came across each other and exchanged pleasantries or something along those lines, and that wasn't quite what happened.
At the time, Roland and I were in his room, mixing and applying our hair dyes. We had to make our own hair dyes, since we had already used up the bottles our teachers gave us to start us off. They'd refused to give us more, explaining that it was now our responsibility to acquire hair dye, whether we bought it or made our own.
Buying it would be quicker, but as holy knights-in-training who didn't receive much pay, we were pretty much dirt poor, and after my teacher's warning about thoroughly concealing my identity while buying the hair dye so as not to let the public find out the Storm Knight didn't naturally have blue hair, I just thought it easier to make my own hair dye instead. I doubted anyone believed that there really were people out there born with blue hair, but as the Storm Knight-in-training, it was my duty to maintain the image of the Storm Knight passed down through the ages. I definitely did not want to be the one destroying that image!
At first, I had been dismayed at the tasks given to us, both having to dye our hair and having to acquire the hair dye for doing so, but I was at least consoled by the fact that I would not be alone in this. Roland would be dyeing his hair just as much as I would be dyeing mine. At the time we received the news, I'd darted my eyes at him, sneaking a look at his serious face. He'd accepted his teacher's instructions without a single complaint. I'd quickly copied his expression and nodded at my teacher as solemnly as I could, trying to indicate that I too knew how important the task was.
I soon found out, however, that it was not that Roland thought hair dyeing to be a grave matter -- he was just a very serious person who took everything seriously, be it a task from his teacher or a pursuit of his own. Often, I would see Roland practicing at the training grounds after hours. From time to time, the Sun Knight would stand and watch, head shaking.
Maybe Roland was even taking it too far.
"This child is no fun..." I once heard the Sun Knight mutter. However, it must have been a figment of my imagination, for in the very next second, the Sun Knight sported a smile on his face as he drew his sword and joined Roland in his training. They were always a sight to see.
The point was, whether it was dyeing his hair or practicing his sword, Roland faced everything with the same seriousness. Since he had been ordered to dye his hair, as the Sun Knight must have dazzling blond hair just like how the Storm Knight must have bewitching blue hair, he would habitually dye his hair way before his roots started showing. Roland would come to me and gesture to his hair, indicating that it was that time again, the time to maintain our hair together. Whenever this happened, I would nod. Then, after completing my duties for the day, I would bring over a basin and all of my hair dyeing supplies to Roland's room, which was larger than mine.
This time was no different. First, we focused on preparing our own hair dyes, grinding the materials and mixing them. Then, we took turns dyeing the other person's hair. As I helped Roland apply his hair dye, I conversationally said, "You know, Roland, if you didn't cut your hair so much, it would grow slower and you wouldn't have to dye it so often, I think."
I figured that was how hair had to work. After all, people were always telling me that cutting my hair would make it grow better and faster, so the opposite had to be true too.
With my gloves on, I lifted part of Roland's hair -- it was indeed very short -- to get at the strands close to his scalp. Like always, I barely saw any brown peeking out. Roland was very diligent... But we probably needed to ease up a bit if we didn't want to ruin our hair before we even became the official Twelve Holy Knights. We still had many more years to go.
I would always remember what Roland said next. I had never pegged him as a hair expert, and he really wasn't one, so it was surprising hearing him talk about the intricacies of hair. Roland glanced at me through the mirror and said, "I don't think that's true. Grisia told me that cutting your hair makes it healthier because the split ends get trimmed, but it doesn't make your hair grow faster. Hair grows at a fixed rate."
Apparently, the topic had come up between them before when this Grisia person had first seen Roland's dyed hair, and Roland had pondered about the rate of his hair growth and how often he would need to dye his hair.
I immediately wondered who this Grisia was, this person who knew so much about hair and who was even talking with Roland about it. Not a lot of people even knew that Roland didn't naturally have golden hair. Getting Roland to dye his hair was one of the first things the Sun Knight had Roland do. The only reason I even knew Roland's hair color wasn't natural was because my teacher was the hair dyeing expert. He had been super smug when the Sun Knight had come to him for assistance, so smug that he had even let me out early from my character training class that day, saving himself a lot of frustration too. It can't be very fun trying to teach me how to flirt. You'd have a better time trying to teach a rock than trying to teach me, and that's saying something.
Roland's eyes darted toward my hair through the mirror. "Is that why you're growing your hair out? You're hoping it will grow slower the longer it gets?"
My hair was now past my shoulders. I hadn't had it cut ever since I had been chosen as the next Storm Knight. I planned on growing it even longer.
"Sort of," I mumbled, hoping he wouldn't dig further. If growing my hair out didn't make it...grow slower, that did defeat half the purpose, and even I thought my second reason to be silly. I swiped at his hair some more and shifted my eyes away from his reflection. I tried to keep myself busy, but it didn't work.
"What's the other reason?" Roland still asked.
I gave his hair a tug, small revenge for Roland's straightforwardness, but I couldn't blame him for wanting to know. I'd be curious too. Face warming, I murmured quietly, "I thought it would be a good confidence booster, considering how I'm not exactly the largest person around."
Roland was much taller than me, and so was Georgo and Chikus. It wasn't just height either. I was too slim. I felt tiny next to them. Nothing like a holy knight. I really needed my growth spurt. Like, yesterday.
"So, you're compensating with your hair?" Roland asked in reply, a small, amused smile tugging at his lips. It looked good on him -- it made him look kind. He'd confessed that he wasn't very good at smiling, but I thought he was going to do just fine. At least, much better than me and flirting. I just wished he wasn't so amused over my situation! I was already embarrassed enough!
"He must be doing the same..." Roland murmured and chuckled before looking back at me. I almost thought he was laughing at me until his words registered -- he was amused because of someone else.
I didn't know who exactly he thought was doing the same as me. I had a guess, but I wasn't sure. I was just glad he wasn't laughing at me. I swallowed. "I guess... I am. Sort of. I mean, you've seen how long the Judgment Knight's hair is, right? And well, he is one of the most impressive and confident people I know."
And by having long hair, I meant really, really, reaaaally long hair. Chasel Judgment's hair reached below his waist. Coupled with his black robes, he was always a swirl of flowing darkness. If I could even obtain half of his impressiveness, I would be all set.
Roland looked contemplative. "You're right. Even my teacher defers to him, and my teacher..."
He stopped halfway in his sentence, seemingly not knowing how to finish it. Knowing Roland, he was probably too respectful to badmouth his own teacher. Instead, he said, "It seems impractical to grow your hair out."
"Has your teacher said anything about long hair?" I wondered. Sun Knight's hair came to his shoulders, though it was far shorter than Judgment Knight's. It seemed likely that he would want his student to grow his hair out. Instead, Roland's hair was cropped fairly short. It only reached slightly past his ears.
Brows furrowed, Roland replied, "He did suggest that I grow my hair out, but then he changed his mind."
"Really? Why?" I asked, curious.
Roland opened his mouth, but I never did find out why. In the very next moment, the door burst open with a blast of holy light even more effective than the Blaze Knight's foot.
"Roland, you'll never guess what I learned today!" a cheerful voice exclaimed from the door. Immediately afterward, I heard a sharp intake of breath, and the voice scolded, "Roland Sun! Don't you love the God of Light anymore? Tsk tsk! Bringing a girl to your room!"
I stared at the small figure at the door. If I didn't know better, I would have thought the person to be Neo Sun's child, but the Sun Knight was only allowed to love the God of Light and never women, so surely he didn't have any children.
Still, blond hair and blue eyes... and hair around the same length too. However... such a hairstyle on Neo Sun made him look strong. On this teenager... it only made him look feminine. He really had no room to talk, considering I'd only just realized he wasn't a girl. Combined with his small stature, I'd say that he looked more like a girl than me!
"Grisia might be compensating too," Roland said to me, amused smile back on his face.
So this was Grisia, and this was the person Roland must have been chuckling about. I didn't think this person would look more like the Sun Knight than Roland did. If I were Roland, I would definitely diligently dye my hair too.
I looked at Grisia, who was possibly even shorter than me but whose hair was quite long, and replied, "I think you're right."
That was how I first met Grisia, the pope-in-training. Right after our quips -- he hadn't been very happy about them -- he showed us exactly what he had learned that day.
Let's just say... Appearances are very deceiving!
to be continued
Next part