t h i r t e e n ;

After leaving Brown with Indy, she walked down the hall to knock on Raven's door. Ciel came to answer it and he smiled at his crew mate. Roseanne could see into the room and she spotted Raven, working on some stuff at his desk. She greeted the boy with cyan hair and eyes before she looked towards the captain of their expedition. He looked up from what he was doing when she started to speak. "Raven, I think you and I should call a meeting with everyone. I just saw two kids looking for rooms on our floor and I think administration added them to our mission. We should get them to introduce themselves and meet everyone."

He nodded and got up from his chair. He followed her out into the hallway and Roseanne explained to Ciel to meet them in the lounge for a team meeting. He gave a nod of his head and ran a hand through his cyan colored hair before letting out a tired yawn. Out of all the other members in the team, Ciel was the least likely to spend some time with the crew outside of their mandated duties. For one, he liked to rest on his days off. And also, he was beginning to see Scarlet and Seville as mean. He got along with Raven pretty well now, but he didn't want to interrupt or become a third wheel with whatever he and Roseanne were doing. He also got along pretty well with Mauve, but he was always trying to invite Seville along, since they were close. That left him with his only other option as Indy.

On days when he actually felt like going out during his free time, they'd borrow a court in the physical training area and they'd play a game of basketball. But for the most part he liked staying in his room to sleep. They were all pretty fit because of their physical training and their eating healthy, so he didn't need any more of that.

From there, Roseanne went back to her room to find Scarlet still reading her book on fighting techniques. Only this time she had it on the desk in the room and she stood in the middle of the room practicing the techniques she was reading about. As Roseanne pushed the door open, she almost got hit in the face by Scarlet's arm. She probably would have if it weren't for Raven who grabbed her by the arm and pulled her back just in time. 

Scarlet only laughed, finding it amusing. "I almost knocked you out, Rose. You should maybe knock before you come in next time."

Even for Scarlet, the backhanded comment wasn't that bad. Or maybe it was the fact that Roseanne was desensitized to her already. After three years of being on the same team together, most of her comments went above her head and she always forgave her room mate for the things she said. That's just her personality, she'd tell herself. Scarlet was a terrible person, but maybe Roseanne was just stupid for always forgiving her and being her friend despite everything. But Roseanne hated confrontation, and tried to engage in it as little as possible, unless she absolutely saw that she had to. Raven was the same. That was why the two of them got along so well, and it was probably the reason why Seville and Scarlet treated them so badly. 

Nonetheless, Roseanne ignored the comment and nodded at her with a small smile. "I was wondering if you could help Raven and I call a team meeting--"

"Actually--" Scarlet immediately cut her off. Then she proceeded to point out what, to her, was obvious. Though to the other two, it didn't quite make any sense. That was another thing about Scarlet, always providing negatives and always refused to cooperate. But when it came to her asking for favors, she always wanted everyone to be there for her. "As you can clearly see, I'm kinda busy. And that's not my job. That would be his job as captain." She pointed her index finger at the boy with black hair and deep black irises.

When they got back to the dorms after the announcement that Raven would be captain, Scarlet was livid. Before Roseanne had joined the team and it was only three members--Ciel, Scarlet, and Seville--she had been considered as top pick for captain. Then when Roseanne joined and knocked her off rank one, she was no longer considered. For months after Roseanne joined the team, Scarlet made her promise that if she was offered the position of captain, she wouldn't take it. 

"I'm just looking out for you because we're friends. I was training for captain before you and it was so much work. You'll never be able to keep up." She told Roseanne with a saccharin sweet voice, dropping a hand on her shoulder. But Roseanne could feel the vibes radiating off her--anger, resentment, jealousy. She didn't want Roseanne to be captain because she felt like Roseanne had taken the spot from her when Scarlet always self proclaimed herself as the team's alpha. In her mind, she would ultimately become captain, and as her self proclaimed beta, Seville would become her co captain. 

It had taken her months to begrudgingly accept Roseanne as her captain, only to have someone else be the captain instead. And having it be Raven, no less. The one person on the team who deserved it the least, in her opinion. Raven was definitely smart, she would give him that much. But he was soft spoken. His voice cracked whenever he tried to raise it at anyone. He hardly ever even talked to anyone else on the team other than Roseanne. She was like a planet and he was her satellite, always roaming close to her, as Seville once put it jokingly. "Give her some space to breathe bro. You're literally always smothering her." He even once told Raven, making him to red in the face shyly. Roseanne never minded it thought because she was comfortable around him. 

No one respected Raven, and if that was the case, their mission in space was doomed before it could even start. 

"Actually--" Raven started with a glare that was directed toward her. His tone of voice was also filled with authority. He didn't want to be captain. But he also didn't want to let Scarlet get away with talking to them like that. Roseanne was her equal, and he was her superior. She couldn't just cut them off like she was the ultimate presence in their group. He thought to himself that he had to set her straight now before they could be on board the ship already or she'd go about doing whatever she wanted. "She asked you nicely to help us out. And as co-captain of this expedition, we shouldn't even be asking you for help. It is your duty to help us. So please go summon Honey and White, while Rosie summons Indy and Brown, and I'll go get Seville and Mauve. I hope I was clear enough because I don't want to repeat myself, and I'd hate to pull rank on you."

Scarlet stood there frozen for a moment, red eyes widened in shock that Raven had the courage to speak to her like that. He was so soft spoken and quiet that she thought as captain, she'd be able to walk all over him. 

She was pulled out of her shock by Raven's voice. "Did you hear what I said, Scarlet?"

She stood up straight now, one hand coming up to her forehead in a symbol of salute. The other stayed by her side and out of view from them. But she had balled her hand into a fist, quaking with anger. 

"Yes sir." She replied and walked past them to leave the room. 

When she was out of view and out of ear shot, Raven seemed to relax, his voice and his expression softening. "That was weird."

Roseanne smiled at him--it was a small smile full of warmth and encouragement. He was still wearing his intelligence class uniform with his blazer, button up, tie, and black pants. His tie was a bit crooked and she stepped forward, reaching to straighten it for him as she spoke. "Sometimes leaders have to speak to their crew with strong words when they step out of line. You're going to be a great captain." And she meant it. He seemed nervous to talk to people and he was rather quiet. But she still felt like he had that quality in him. 

Whenever he spoke, people listened. Roseanne saw what Scarlet didn't. What mattered to her was that their instructors saw it too. He was a good leader.

He heaved a sigh. "I never wanted to be captain though. I would have been happy being your co-captain. I don't want to take that away from you." And somehow, she believed him. Raven had been pushed down by others so much when he was growing up that it was difficult for him to believe in himself. Some people pretended, so that others could praise them. But not Raven. He genuinely felt that he would screw up somehow as captain. He didn't want all those people--not just his crew mates, but their instructors too--to rely on him so much. He thought that things could only go wrong for him. He was only a dumb little boy from the mines after all. 

The mining province was the poorest in their country. For that reason, it was rare to get a child sent to the garden from there. In fact, Raven had been the only Black child taken from there in nearly twenty years. But he had passed all of his exams with ease. The instructors providing the tests had even made him take intelligence exams of the five year olds, one year ahead of him and he passed those too.

They had great expectations for him. 

Raven just didn't want to let anyone down.

"Look, if you really don't want to do it, you don't have to." She said as she straightened out his black blazer too. He had been so concentrated on what he was working on in his room that he didn't even notice his uniform had gotten all out of place. "All I'm saying is that I don't think you should step down solely because you don't want to hurt my feelings. I'm happy and I'm so proud of you. I think you deserve this."

He smiled at her, finally giving a nod of his head after taking longer than a moment to ponder it. "I'm really fucking scared. But I'll do it, as long as I have you there by my side."

She nodded, promising that she would. They both left her room walking towards the rooms of the remaining members who had yet to make it to the lounge. As they were barely leaving Roseanne's room, they saw Scarlet walking down the hall with Honey and White. The two girls smiled at them, while Scarlet kept a bitter scowl on her face at the fact that Raven now had the authority to tell her what to do and she had to follow his orders.

Roseanne went to get Brown and Indy, while Raven went to get Mauve and Seville. The six remaining members went to the lounge to meet up with the rest of the team. 

Since Raven was too nervous to introduce the two new kids, Roseanne was the one to do it. She explained that they would be joining the team and that everyone should make them feel welcome. She then had them go up to the front of the room, where they had the holo screen and a podium, to introduce themselves. They didn't have much to say. The boy was from Province of Lumber. He was currently twenty years old--only two years younger than Raven, Ciel, and Seville who were all twenty two at the moment. They were the same age as Indy, but three years older than Honey. The girl was from Province of Grains, the third poorest province in the country, only ahead of Province of Flowers and Province of Mines. 

As they stood there at the front of the room, it dawned on Roseanne that they were the two kids who were dating. She had heard about them before. The brown boy and the white girl. It was the rumor that started floating around the garden about a year and a half after she and Raven started hanging out together. 

The instructors didn't give it much importance because they were seventeen back when they started dating. But now they were even putting them on the same team together. There had to be something that wasn't right about it.

She was pulled out of her thoughts when the others asked Roseanne and Raven to name the new kids. But the new girl immediately interjected, offering her opinion as she pointed her index finger at the team captain. "I want him to name me though." As she spoke, there was a smirk on her face, her eyes staring him down. Roseanne immediately knew the new girl had taken an interest in Raven, and she was pretty. It made her mind fill up with insecurities. 

Raven gulped back nervously, and thought up a name for her quickly. "Ivory."

He said her name and she nodded in approval. The others then said they could probably call her Ivy for short as a term of endearment. Everyone looked to Roseanne next. Since he had chosen Ivory's name, it was only fair for her to choose the boy's name. He was from Province of Lumber, so she wanted to give him a name that had to do with nature and trees.

"Cedar." She said after a moment.

The boy nodded gratefully. The team spent the rest of the afternoon in the lounge, making conversation and getting to know each other. The girl instantly went to Raven's side andsat next to him, Cedar sitting to the other side of her.

Roseanne heaved a sigh. She didn't want to assume so, but she thought their lives were just about to get even more complicated.

-

another little chapter for you all. 

so today is the last day of my vacation from work, and i actually don't want it to end. that might seem lazy. but its really not that. its just that my restaurant is so busy. and im grateful for that, i really am bc it keeps us all with jobs. but some customers are just so ungrateful and soo mean. 

the positive is that i get to see my crush again. so like i mentioned before, ivory is a terrible person. from the first moment that scarlet brought her along on our group outings, she was ALWAYS ditching her man to sit with raven. and raven always sat with me. so it was always me -- raven -- ivory. always. she would honestly FIGHT whenever she didn't get to sit next to him.

and she'd always touch him. and not just normal touching. like touching him below his belt line touching. but anyway, please enjoy your day!

-clary