Slightly less monstrous boys: prequel

[lamia]

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

Comments

[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.

[lamia]

There was only one mistake, which Su-jin found impressive. It wasn't a simple character. He made the correction, emphasizing it with more pressure as he traced it out against Silvio's hand.

[typhlotic]

Tilting his head as if listening to the sound of the word rather than just feeling it, he waited for the correction before trying again on Su-jin's hand. This time he made the adjustment that he'd felt to see if he'd done better this time.

[lamia]

Feeling the change, Su-jin smiled and nodded his head. "That's right. That means 'wolf.' My language at that time didn't have its own syllabary, so we wrote with the characters we borrowed from the North."

[typhlotic]

"When did your country obtain a written language?" Unless Su-jin had been away long enough he didn't know. But from his understanding, even languages that borrowed from others usually developed their own traits over time. Spanish was like that.

[lamia]

"I believe it was shortly after I left. Maybe within a century or two if I recall the encyclopedia correctly. I spent over a year, almost two, getting here to Europe. At that time, it was difficult to get news of the East." He smiled softly and turned Silvio's hand over, giving a little pat. "It's a little easier now. People have drawn maps and written histories of the whole world!"

[typhlotic]

"It's definitely easier these days." Not completely easy due to conflicts in the world and so on. But a lot easier to be sure. "I'm glad you have access to that stuff now. So you can learn what happened to where you came from."

[lamia]

"I used to be very interested in what was happening there, but the longer I was away..." He paused to wet his lips, breathing out softly. "When news was over a year old by the time it got to me, it stopped feeling important. I've spent more time here in Europe than I have in my homeland."

[typhlotic]

"I like that you've been here though. It meant I got to make a new friend." One who didn't mind that he was weak and fragile right now. Who was willing to help nurse him back to health.

"I think I want to try sleeping a little. You're welcome to stay though. The company is nice."

[lamia]

"I brought something to read," he said with a smile, his way of assuring Silvio he would, indeed, stay. "I'll be here until you ask me to take my leave."

[typhlotic]

"Sounds...really good actually." He smiled at him then shifted so he could settle down to sleep. Honestly he just passed out rather than drifting off, his body too exhausted and needing to heal. But being able to smell his new friend there brought comfort and he was able to sleep for hours peacefully.

He'd known that he was lonely but he hadn't realized how badly he'd needed a friend in this past decade. Now that he had one again he could hardly believe how good it felt.