Work Text:
“Your beauty is beyond compare.”
Esmeralda was going to scream. Then she decided she would cry. Then maybe, she would do both at the same time. Who was in there, stealing her sweetie? She ought to burst in right now, and stake her claim as the one true future wife of Dietrich!
“What are you doing?” Fabio glares at her, disapproving. “I would ask if you would stoop so low as to spy on him, but I suppose that’s on course for you.”
“I’m not an eavesdropper!” Esmeralda says as she presses her ear closer to the door to eavesdrop.
“Very convincing.”
“You don’t understand! There’s someone in there, and sweetie called them beautiful!”
That alone is enough to catch Fabio's attention. Loathe as he is to admit it, Esmeralda did have an uncanny ability to beat interested parties away from their esteemed leader. Second to Fabio himself, of course. “Move aside!”
Fabio presses himself against the door too, listening for any sounds.
He hears, “Your eyes are like unparalleled jewels. I have never seen such a hue.”
Fabio grinds his teeth. His hands shake with overwhelming emotion. Was he being replaced? Was Dietrich’s attention doomed to simply be a fleeting moment in this long life?
The two of them somehow manage to press even closer to the door their entire frames seething with jealousy.
“Your beautiful midnight hair — if I stroke it will you flee from me?”
Mikaela walks by and sees her two very strange companion pressed to the door frame. She considers asking, and decides to walk away.
“Mikaela!”
“Mikaelaaaa!”
Esmeralda bounds over, grabbing her arm as she drags her to Dietrich's door. “Did you know? My sweetie… has a sweetie!”
“I’m sure that’s not true,” Mikaela laughs.
“For once her brain might be working.” Fabio mourns. “Come closer, listen.”
Mikaela allows herself to be pulled over. If both Fabio and Esmeralda were on the same side, surely there was something that had raised their alarms. She joins the duo against the door, hoping she doesn't come to regret it.
“You are a natural born hunter. Look at the quality of your blades.” Mikaela couldn’t believe her ears. She presses closer, straining to listen.
The click of the door precedes disaster, as all three crash to the ground. Dietrich stares at them. Held in his arms is a black cat. It blinks slowly before leaping out of his grasp, gracefully padding away.
"I need to wash the ceiling at Ares's temple," Esmeralda stutters, running away in embarassment.
"I need to..." Fabio stands in silence. No lie seemed suitable, and he turns to walk away. He hopes Dietrich didn't notice he stumbled on his robes ever so slightly.
Dietrich tilts his head in mild confusion, before turning his gaze to Mikaela. "Haven't we completed our divine services this week?"
Unbelievable. Mikaela sighs, shaking her head in disbelief. Was that the question he wanted to ask rather then why all of them were piled at his doorstep? What a strange group of people. "Have a good night."
Dietrich seems to accept this and nods in acknowledgment, before shutting his door once more.