Slightly less monstrous boys: prequel

[lamia]

{ wolf meets vamp }
💮 su-jin 💮 silvio 💮

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[typhlotic]

"They ache. They always ache. But it's getting better." Still, he wasn't going to refuse a rewetting of the cloth. So he held it out for Su-jin to go do that. Better to take care of his eyes rather than just let them get or be worse than they already were.

[lamia]

Taking the proffered cloth, he dipped it in the bowl of water he used before. The water was cooler now and it trickled quietly when Su-jin wrang the cloth out.

"Here," he murmured as he pressed it back into Silvio's hand. "Do you usually just... suffer alone during the full moon?"

[typhlotic]

Taking the cloth, he put it back over his eyes. For a time he was quiet and it almost seemed like he might not answer. But he spoke softly in the end.

"Yes. It's not safe for others to be near me. I won't put them in danger."

[lamia]

A frown bowed his lips. Oh, of course he understood the necessity of it. That didn't mean Su-jin had to like it. He, too, is quite far longer than comfortable before he speaks up again.

"I don't know how long I'll be here -- months, years, decades -- but if you don't mind, I could make a habit of coming by after... to look after you."

[typhlotic]

His respect for Su-jin had already been strong but it was growing more and more with every passing second. Not only had this guy gotten him home but he'd taken care of him and then come back after the full moon. It would have been fine if he stopped there, Silvio would have totally understood.

Instead Silvio was hearing him say he'd come back every full moon to take care of him. There were a lot of emotions that swelled up in the wolf and he let out a laugh. Because how was his new friend even real? He'd not witnessed anyone like him since...

Since his pack.

"I might start thinking I dreamt of you and you're not real at this rate."

[lamia]

"I'm very real, I promise." Maybe it was strange that he wanted to help someone who was practically unknown to him. That's just how Su-jin was: very tender-hearted. He barely knew Silvio, but he already felt deeply for the wolf. A lone wolf. An unnatural and tragic thing. Not unlike himself.

[typhlotic]

"I'm glad. I really am." Because he'd been alone a long time for a wolf. Even a decade was too long for a wolf to go without a pack. Having a friend now felt so...so damn good.

[lamia]

"So we're agreed," he stated rather than asked. "For as long as I'm here, I'll come by to make sure you're doing alright." And, as long as he was local, he could visit outside of the full moon, too. Like a real friend.

[typhlotic]

He laughed softly and nodded at him. "Yeah. We're agreed."

Because he wasn't going to turn down finally having someone in his life again. As a wolf he needed this so very badly. As a person too. Ten years of isolation had already been...far too much.

[lamia]

"Good." He's sure with the wolf's hearing he'd know when Su-jin was approaching, so he wouldn't end up surprising Silvio. "Will you be alright alone tonight? I didn't tell my companion I would be gone for the night..." He wasn't sure Silvio would want him in his space at night.

[typhlotic]

"Yeah. I'll just be in a bed instead of the basement this time. It's actually a lot more comfortable than usual for healing." He sounded like he was joking but he really meant it. This was far better than his usual situation and he'd be able to rest better that night because of that. "I'll be fine. I'm tougher than I look right now."

[lamia]

"I'll bring some things to read to you. Is there something you prefer? I have access to a very extensive library. Fiction, poetry, histories, biographies." Some of it is even in Spanish!

[typhlotic]

"Anything. As long as I get to listen to you I'll be happy." He meant that. Su-jin had a soothing quality to his voice and a calming atmosphere to his voice. Silvio was drawn to it even after only a short time of knowing each other. Even if he couldn't understand the language he knew he'd enjoy listening to Su-jin anyway.

[lamia]

A slow smile spreads over his lips. "I'm afraid my accent is just as bad in any language."

[typhlotic]

"I kind of like how terrible your accent is. So I don't mind." It would be nice just to listen to him, regardless of how terrible he sounded no matter the language. "I only know Spanish anyway."

[lamia]

Su-jin accepted it long ago. Did that stop him from trying his best? Not really. But he wasn't all that embarrassed by it anymore. He could always use the excuse that he was a foreigner. He gave a little laugh and shook his head.

"Will you correct me if I mispronounce something? I still struggle with names and places."

[typhlotic]

"Sure. As long as it's in Spanish."

He knew maybe a word here and there in other languages and that was it. But his native tongue? That he could offer corrections in.

[lamia]

"I'll try to find something in Spanish." If he couldn't, there were other books in Romance languages that might not be too far from Silvio's understanding. Italian, French, Spanish... all very similar.

"I don't know how different my native language is after all these years. We wrote using something called hyangchal. It assigned our native phonetics to the characters used in what's now called China. Your Western writing systems were difficult for me to learn, initially."

[typhlotic]

"I'll admit I don't know what they use in China. Is it really that different?"

Part of being in the woods for so long was that he'd been pretty isolated. There wasn't a lot he knew about the outside world aside from some stories that travelers had shared with him. And only if they weren't scared of him to tell them when he was saving them.

[lamia]

"They use symbols that encompass entire words or ideas. They're unlike Latin letters which represent sounds. The library I have access to is extensive, so I can find things in many languages I know to read to you. And I can translate if you like."

[typhlotic]

He couldn't even picture it. There was no way for him to really. So in the end he held out his hand to him. "Could you draw one of the symbols with your finger on my hand? So I can feel it?"

[lamia]

Taking Silvio's hand in his, he guided it a little closer. With his free hand, he traced the symbol: 狼. He made a slow work of it so Silvio could feel each stroke. Then he retraced it at a more natural speed.

"This means 'wolf.' My people say neugdae."

[typhlotic]

Silvio went still so that way he could really focus on feeling what Su-jin was doing, frowning in concentration. A look that was clear even beneath the cloth on his eyes. It was so strange, so different from any word he'd ever known in his life. What did it mean? He wasn't sure.

But then Su-jin told him and he smiled. "Could you write it one more time? I want to remember it."

[lamia]

A soft smile touched his face and Su-jin nodded as he complied. He would write it out as many times as Silvio asked. He carefully traced out each stroke of the character into Silvio's palm once again.

"Much of the writing in the East, while I still lived there, was like this."

[typhlotic]

"And this means wolf..."

He took Su-jin's hand in his own. He was mostly having to imitate what he felt but he tried to write it onto his palm anyway before holding out his hand to be corrected on any mistake he'd made. This was something he wanted to learn correctly.