((Warning! Slightly unconventional pairing, but all in good fun, and not as a serious attachment.))

"So, I see you're all… awake…"

This isn't the first time the party has taken turns exacting revenge for something he's done, but Raven certainly hopes it will be the last. He sits, wincing, and rubs the back of his neck, unable to meet anyone's eyes. Even though he can see Yuri and Judith are more amused than offended by his current predicament, Rita is red-faced and looks even more furious than usual, and even Estelle's cheeks are rosier as she scowls at him. The expression doesn't suit her very well, he notices. Karol is preoccupied with watching Rita's countenance nervously, as though she might accuse him of being an accomplice.

"No hard feelings, right?" manages Raven, attempting to smile, but it quickly turns into a grimace as Rita slaps her fist into her hand menacingly. Estelle starts trying to voice forgiveness, but quickly halts, glancing uncertainly around at the others. Yuri simply looks at him impassively, arms crossed, leaving it to the rest of the group to decide his ultimate fate.

However, Judith—darling Judith, thinks Raven with as large a smile as he dares (not very)—regards him mildly and merely says, "I want the whole story before we move on. We've got time to spare, after all. Where did all this start, anyway?"

The others glance at her unreadably, and Raven heaves himself to his feet quickly, wincing. A story is something he can provide, even if it won't excuse his actions entirely. Taking the group's silence and subsequent simultaneous stare as agreement, Raven clears his throat and attempts to defend himself to the group, all of whom sit down suspiciously as he begins.

It had all started when Rita allowed him to borrow her newest book on advanced artes for him to skim through, just to check if there were any for archers there. Fortunately, or perhaps unfortunately, he found one: Cupid's Arrow.

Its only effect was to distract the enemy—that is to say, cause them to become wildly infatuated with the first member of a similar species they saw. Moreover, the arrow dissolved into healing energy upon striking the victim, so it would leave no physical wounds.

That was good enough for Raven. He would not spend yet another Chosen's Day alone. He had had quite enough of being lovestruck yet lonely—and, more importantly, he was very, very tired of being patient about it.

"What even is Chosen's Day?" snaps Rita, interrupting. "I've never even heard of it before."

"Really?" asks Raven, frowning. How could she not? "I don't know when exactly the stories started, but legend has it that there was once a man of considerable status who charmed every girl he met. Can't remember his name at the moment, though. Anyway, every year on his birthd—"

"Spare us the history lesson, old man," sighs Yuri. "Rita, we'll fill you in later. Get back to the story."

Raven stayed up the rest of the night practicing the incantation, so he wasn't feeling too rational the next day. He decided to practice on someone from the group before he actually did what he intended to do—

"Which was what, exactly?" asks Estelle, sounding hurt. "You could have seriously hurt someone! How could you risk our—?"

"I told ya, when I don't sleep, I don't think," shrugs Raven, warily keeping an eye on the still-angry Rita as he spoke rather than meet Estelle's eyes, as would be politest. As far as he's concerned, survival ranks higher than manners. "It seemed like a good idea at the time. Besides, if you've been alone for as many years as I—"

"Cut it out," growls Rita threateningly, and Raven cuts it out.

As he was saying, he had decided to practice on Rita. His logic at the time was that if Rita was allowed to hit him without anyone stepping in, then he got to get her back at some point. Besides, if the spell was right, then there wouldn't be any injuries anyway. Well, at least no physical ones, and that was what mattered.

He'd shot her in the leg from behind a rock—just in case the spell failed, he hadn't wanted to mortally wound her, anyway. After Rita was finished jumping and spitting out a few choice curses, holding her leg despite the fact that the wound had closed as it was supposed to, Estelle showed up to ask what was wrong.

You should have seen the way Rita blushed! Raven, keeping an eye on matters to observe the effects, chuckled to see the expression on her face—wide-eyed crimson, visible even at a distance, as she stammered that she was fine. Of course, he wasn't one to want to cause her the pain of unrequited love—

"The pain of unrequited love?!" shouts Rita, and stands up to sock Raven in the jaw one more time: he reels backwards, holding his cheek, as she sits back down. "Seriously?!"

…So, he shot Estelle, too, since her back was to him and all. She squeaked in the most adorable way as she fell forward onto Rita, who flailed beneath her, tangling herself in the princess's white-and-pink dress. Raven didn't stick around to observe whatever might have happened afterward, though, because he had a mission to accomplish now that he knew the arrows really worked.

It was time to find Judith.

"I knew it," smiled Judith, looking incredibly and stunningly smug, and Yuri glances at her with something a little too much like admiration. Raven stifles a jealous growl and stares at the ground until he's sure it's safe to look up again. If he has to deal with their stolen glimpses one more day—

Before he can continue his story to distract himself from his irrational envy (why would she pick me over Yuri Lowell, anyway?), Estelle speaks up shyly, blushing deeply. "So… you didn't see… anything else? After I fell, I mean?"

Yuri sighs, hiding his face in his hands briefly; Raven, meanwhile, raises an eyebrow, unable to suppress an amused grin. "Why, Princess, what are you suggesting?"

"Nothing!" shrieks Rita, wide-eyed, before Estelle can answer, and Raven grits his teeth at her unexpected, high-pitched exclamation. "I'm only sixteen! Who do you take me for, you?!" She and Estelle, sitting next to one another, exchange a long and silent look; Rita lets out an annoyed exhalation and closes her eyes in something between exasperation and defeat.

"Rita, don't let it get to you," begins Judith comfortingly, but Rita stands up and cuts her off angrily, with a pointed glare at Raven, who backs up instinctively. Of all the people he doesn't want to cross, Rita is top of the list, though he has a tendency to forget about her wrath at inopportune times—such as yesterday.

"I had been saving my first kiss!" she yells, and Raven's eyes widen (he shoots a quick glance at Yuri, who is staring between Rita and Estelle like everything suddenly makes sense). Now he gets it. He had inadvertently robbed Rita and, presumably, the princess of the Empire of their first kisses—to someone they don't genuinely feel for, as far as he knows. Oops.

"W-well, anyway," he stutters by way of continuation, and Rita sits slowly back down again, eyes trained on him as though figuring out how best to mutilate him.

After a bit of looking, Raven found Judith standing by the shores of a river, talking to Yuri—who happened to be fishing for dinner at the time, knee-deep in the water with his back turned. Raven, just having nocked an arrow, was aiming carefully for Judith when Karol, crouching next to him, suddenly asked him what he was doing.

He started and accidentally let the arrow fly, and turned to him crossly to try and reprimand him, but Raven had no idea that while he was trying to tell Karol off for surprising him, his grand plans had already failed. Another Chosen's Day eve had passed without a date.

"So that was the pain in my back," laughs Yuri. "I thought Judy had thrown something."

"And you turned around," gripes Raven, hanging his head, "and saw her. It woulda been useless to try and get her after that, since she just woulda fallen for you." He tries not to let too much accusation into his voice, since he really does respect him a great deal as a warrior and as a person. He just wishes he wouldn't outshine him in the eyes of all the ladies simply by existing.

"Of all the things to remember about yesterday, you remember the pain in your back?" laughs Judith, standing on one hip and looking Yuri directly in the eyes, and Raven melts a little at the gentle teasing in her voice. If only she would speak like that to him once in awhile. "If that's really more memorable than the rest of the evening, I'm going to have to practice a little more."

"Judy!" hisses Yuri, eyes wide, and Raven could swear he's a little more highly colored than usual, but forces himself not to wonder how far, exactly, they've gone. The answer, he thinks, will not be in his favor, and knowing for certain will only depress him more.

He forces his glance to the other three before him in an effort to distract himself, but Karol and Estelle look vaguely nonplussed as they observe Yuri and Judith (Rita, like Raven, prefers not to watch them flirt). Yuri's fists are clenched as he whispers to her fiercely, but she's too busy laughing softly to listen, and tucks a strand of his hair behind his ear.

Raven sighs ruefully. He might have known this is how it would end. A plan created on no sleep doesn't usually work out. This was karma telling him he shouldn't forcibly infatuate sexy Krityans. This was his own fault, and it had really been doomed from the start. What had possessed him to think this would ever work?

"Er, Raven?" asks Estelle hesitantly, and Raven starts, looking down at the princess. She looks distinctly concerned, and warmth floods his artificial heart briefly: though he would never dare think of her the way he does so many others—the way he does Judith—the fact that she cares is touching nonetheless. "Is something… wrong?"

Raven forces a smile, which he knows full well is unconvincing, but what else can he do? Yuri ignores him whenever he mentions how lonely he is. Judith teases him, and half-flirts with him, in the most infuriating way. Rita tells him to suck it up, and accentuates her meaning with a few punches. Estelle tries to sympathize, but she simply doesn't comprehend the core problem. Why would she? She has friends and admirers wherever she goes.

Karol might actually understand, what with his weird thing for that Nan girl, but he isn't experienced enough for Raven to be able to talk to him about all the problems that come with loneliness.

"I'm fine," he says quietly, and turns his back once more on the group. He hears Rita ask what's with him, and smiles somewhat sadly as he closes his eyes. Oh, Rita, I wish you knew.

Raven could understand why the universe would choose to thwart him on any other day—but why, oh why, did this have to happen on Chosen's Day?

((Okay, this ended up a lot sadder than what I had envisioned, but whatever. Hence the dual Humor/Drama theme.

Happy Chosen's Day nonetheless! You get free internet cookies if you caught the rather obvious reference. Of course, on this calendar, it takes place in summer… but that's another story…))