[It's clear by now that, even when he's not having bad dreams, Yoojin isn't the quietest sleeper. He snores. He mutters stuff sometimes in his sleep, usually nonsense about breaking up fights and time out. Having a slumber buddy nearby seems to curb the worst of his restlessness, though. He does, in fact, catch some Z's out there on the ground with Leona.
Tonight, though, he wakes up with a smothered gasp, cold with sweat.
He can still smell it. The venom. The fire. Blood spilled across stone.
Trying his damned best not to disturb Leona, Yoojin rolls silently over, curls up on his side, and covers his mouth with a shaking hand. It's okay. He'll ride the rest of this out on his own.]
[Try as he might, Leona is no regular human. Yoojin probably wouldn't have woken someone else up, but Leona isn't having his deepest sleeps here, either.
When Yoojin awakens, Leona's back is already to him. It's a sign of trust, not disregard— or perhaps it's just the acknowledgement that Yoojin is too pathetic to stab him in the back or anything like that. It's how Leona would explain it, at least.
Leona sighs. His ears flick back, jarring him from the vague image of his lazy overthinking.
That's fine. He'd rather focus on this than on trying, on trying, on trying to remember the feeling of his prey beneath his hand, inside his mouth. What was that like? Was he really that monster? Was he really always as dangerous, as ruinous as he'd always been told?
It's easier to focus on Yoojin than on that. Maybe it's some sick guilt thing. A necessary penance, that Yoojin keeps remaining so close, that Leona feels obligated to protect him.
His tail swings, batting Yoojin's legs— crossing over Yoojin's hip and tapping, tapping.]
[He jumps a little at the first touch, then exhales at the familiar use of rhythm. Leona's awake. Yoojin drags his hand down his face, then scrubs his knuckles beneath his jawline, where more of the sweat has gathered uncomfortably. He makes his voice sound normal. He's had years and years of practice.]
Ah, sorry, bud. Did I wake you up?
[Yoojin shifts onto his back again and reaches across himself to give Leona's upper arm a reassuring rub. His face, however, he keeps angled away.]
Think I'll go take a walk real quick. I'll be right back.
[Leona doesn't answer immediately, instead slowly rolling onto his back and propping himself up on his elbows. His tail practically smacks Yoojin again, after which comes the brutish question;]
[And there goes any eye contact they were making. Yes, he does, but admitting to enjoying anything ever is for people who aren't walking danger bombs.]
Practically everyone in the world knows a lullaby or two. I'm no different.
I'll make sure to keep all my doubtlessly many disparaging thoughts to myself, right in here. [He finally lowers his arm from his face and taps his chest.] You won't hear a peep from me, promise.
[Yoojin rubs his face one more time with the inside of his arm, then shifts onto his side towards Leona, sure that he's mastered his expression. Mostly, he's right.]
[Leona turns onto his side a bit more, to face Yoojin, pushing himself up enough that he can breathe properly. He doesn't meet Yoojin's eyes, looking anywhere but him, really— and eventually closes them with a sigh.
His voice is rich, but perhaps not as deep as one might expect from him, really carrying the tone of a prince.
It's sweet, when he sings his lullaby in a traditional language he knows very well.
Thula thul, thula baba thula sana; thul’ u bab’uzo fika eku seni; Thula thul, thula baba thula sana; thul’ u bab’uzo fika eku seni. thula seni kukh’in kanyezi ziholel’ u baba, zimkhan yisela indlel’e ziyekhaya sobelekhaya. Tula thula, thula baba sikhona xa bonke beshoyo, bethi buyela ubuye ziyekhaya sobelekhaya. Thula san.]
[Yoojin lets Leona's tail slip free at some point, too focused on listening to his song. Neither the language nor the tune are the least bit familiar to him, and the last time anyone sang a lullaby for him occurred longer ago than Leona's been alive.
There's still something softly, preciously resonant about this. Someone sang this song for Leona, and the song--or those who sang it--were important enough for him to remember.
Smiling, Yoojin stretches out his hand to ruffle Leona's hair, right between his ears.]
[In Leona's mind's eye, there is a mother who loves him sweetly singing, but her face is clouded by his doubt. He cannot look at her without wondering if he is a danger to her. There is a baby in his arms with sweet little red locks and tiny little cub ears, who keeps him from ever reaching any height, and that baby smiles at him like he is warm like the sun instead of dry like the desert. That baby falls asleep to his lullaby, curled in his arms like Leona is not the nightmare that haunts him, like Leona couldn't be the death of him.
Yoojin reaches out and touches him and Leona's eyes open, and Yoojin looks at him like he is something warm, something unterrifying.]
[Slowly, Yoojin turns to look at him again, a complicated expression on his face.]
...Leona...
[Yoojin's no stranger to a trade. The offer, as offhand as it is, reveals that Leona's willing to invest in this.]
Why's it so important for you to know? Or no, that's not it, is it. [He rubs the back of his neck, gaze trained on the ground as he works it out.] ...Why's it so important to you that I tell you?
[Leona looks up above them. He has no reason to rush his answers, so he contemplates, takes his time. He could be honest, he could lie, but in the end the cost is all the same. There is nothing to lose, is there?
So he decides on just a portion of the whole picture.]
This could be the end of it all, you know? No guarantee we'll make it out alive.
Before I went to that Mage's school, I was taught more about magic than they even teach. I didn't go to get an education. Just to be somewhere that wasn't home.
And I've been bored, learning the same things over and over, longer than any other man would put up with.
Now, at the end...
You might be the last new thing I get to learn about.
...That's almost too bad. I'm not all that special.
[He says that without a trace of irony, then says nothing more for a while. Then:]
Did I tell you how my world works? How there wasn't any magic, and then one day, portals opened up to let monsters through, and people started awakening powers of their own to stop them?
In that world, the awakened are assigned ranks based on their stats and skills. They go from A to F, just like in school, with F being the worst--and then there's S-rank, a special tier even above A. Only the very best of the best are considered S-rank. There are only a handful in every country.
Yoohyun, my little brother, awoke as an S-ranker really early on. He was only seventeen. Still in high school.
As hard as I tried, I didn't get my awakening for another three years after that.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
monsterdaddy) wrote2025-04-29 12:06 pm
Graveyard | Week 1 | Thursday
Tonight, though, he wakes up with a smothered gasp, cold with sweat.
He can still smell it. The venom. The fire. Blood spilled across stone.
Trying his damned best not to disturb Leona, Yoojin rolls silently over, curls up on his side, and covers his mouth with a shaking hand. It's okay. He'll ride the rest of this out on his own.]
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When Yoojin awakens, Leona's back is already to him. It's a sign of trust, not disregard— or perhaps it's just the acknowledgement that Yoojin is too pathetic to stab him in the back or anything like that. It's how Leona would explain it, at least.
Leona sighs. His ears flick back, jarring him from the vague image of his lazy overthinking.
That's fine. He'd rather focus on this than on trying, on trying, on trying to remember the feeling of his prey beneath his hand, inside his mouth. What was that like? Was he really that monster? Was he really always as dangerous, as ruinous as he'd always been told?
It's easier to focus on Yoojin than on that. Maybe it's some sick guilt thing. A necessary penance, that Yoojin keeps remaining so close, that Leona feels obligated to protect him.
His tail swings, batting Yoojin's legs— crossing over Yoojin's hip and tapping, tapping.]
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Ah, sorry, bud. Did I wake you up?
[Yoojin shifts onto his back again and reaches across himself to give Leona's upper arm a reassuring rub. His face, however, he keeps angled away.]
Think I'll go take a walk real quick. I'll be right back.
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The hell you gonna walk to around here?
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Nowhere? Just, around.
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You're gonna make way more noise walkin' around.
[and then, unafraid to be the asshole, Leona asks;]
What, you need a lullaby?
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[...
Peeks just a little bit over his arm.]
You sing, Leona?
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[And there goes any eye contact they were making. Yes, he does, but admitting to enjoying anything ever is for people who aren't walking danger bombs.]
Practically everyone in the world knows a lullaby or two. I'm no different.
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[Yoojin stops trying to slap Leona's tail and catches the end of it instead, running the pad of his thumb over the tuft of rough hair.]
I wanna hear.
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Course you would. Why wouldn't ya.
[A sigh, and he rolls his eyes.
What doesn't he owe Yoojin?]
Fine, but I don't wanna hear any complaints if it ain't to your taste.
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[Yoojin rubs his face one more time with the inside of his arm, then shifts onto his side towards Leona, sure that he's mastered his expression. Mostly, he's right.]
I'm listening.
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His voice is rich, but perhaps not as deep as one might expect from him, really carrying the tone of a prince.
It's sweet, when he sings his lullaby in a traditional language he knows very well.
Thula thul, thula baba thula sana;
thul’ u bab’uzo fika eku seni;
Thula thul, thula baba thula sana;
thul’ u bab’uzo fika eku seni.
thula seni
kukh’in kanyezi ziholel’ u baba,
zimkhan yisela indlel’e
ziyekhaya sobelekhaya.
Tula thula, thula baba
sikhona xa bonke beshoyo,
bethi buyela ubuye
ziyekhaya sobelekhaya.
Thula san.]
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There's still something softly, preciously resonant about this. Someone sang this song for Leona, and the song--or those who sang it--were important enough for him to remember.
Smiling, Yoojin stretches out his hand to ruffle Leona's hair, right between his ears.]
...You've got a great singing voice, you know.
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Yoojin reaches out and touches him and Leona's eyes open, and Yoojin looks at him like he is something warm, something unterrifying.]
...Yeah, yeah.
Ain't much I ain't good at, y'know.
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Like hearing.
I can hear it, y'know.
The way you sleep.
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I don't know what you mean.
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Must be Mr. Wright I hear whimperin' like a cub in the night, then.
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[Mmmnnghghg.]
Do I make that much noise? [Sighing, he sits up and puts his head in his hands.] I should go sleep somewhere else, I guess.
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You don't think now would be the opportunity to start being honest?
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Last time I took that kind of opportunity, a sharp guy like you got one over on me with something I didn't want to talk about.
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And you have no reason to trust me.
[Leona leans back on his palms.]
So, then, what do you want in exchange?
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...Leona...
[Yoojin's no stranger to a trade. The offer, as offhand as it is, reveals that Leona's willing to invest in this.]
Why's it so important for you to know? Or no, that's not it, is it. [He rubs the back of his neck, gaze trained on the ground as he works it out.] ...Why's it so important to you that I tell you?
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[Leona looks up above them. He has no reason to rush his answers, so he contemplates, takes his time. He could be honest, he could lie, but in the end the cost is all the same. There is nothing to lose, is there?
So he decides on just a portion of the whole picture.]
This could be the end of it all, you know? No guarantee we'll make it out alive.
Before I went to that Mage's school, I was taught more about magic than they even teach. I didn't go to get an education. Just to be somewhere that wasn't home.
And I've been bored, learning the same things over and over, longer than any other man would put up with.
Now, at the end...
You might be the last new thing I get to learn about.
no subject
[He says that without a trace of irony, then says nothing more for a while. Then:]
Did I tell you how my world works? How there wasn't any magic, and then one day, portals opened up to let monsters through, and people started awakening powers of their own to stop them?
In that world, the awakened are assigned ranks based on their stats and skills. They go from A to F, just like in school, with F being the worst--and then there's S-rank, a special tier even above A. Only the very best of the best are considered S-rank. There are only a handful in every country.
Yoohyun, my little brother, awoke as an S-ranker really early on. He was only seventeen. Still in high school.
As hard as I tried, I didn't get my awakening for another three years after that.
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But he wanted to know, asked to listen. So he sits up, after that, pushing his hand through his hair and scratching at the back of his neck.]
At a lower rank,
[he finishes.]
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just. just trust me just trust me
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