bloodbound. (earinor & akira)

What was he sitting around for, though? Nobody was going to come back like this, but alas, the past stayed in the past and if he was frank, this was just what the gods had in store for him for not believing in them, right? Rain was gone, his children were gone and none of that was going to change, even though he was allowed to keep one single person - the one that loathed his own existence so much, it seemed, that he changed from one day to the other. Could Nayantai even do anything about that? He should get out of here, try to regain a feeling in his stupid hand and not let himself be confined to this hut, therefore, he just went and once he came back, there still was no sign of Richard - there rarely was. Sure, he seemingly had a disdain for him to, for existing, for saving him, for not doing anything but what was one wolf going to be able to do when all the fingers were pointed at him for being too close to Rain anyway? Nayantai knew nothing about that, only knew that the person he loved so much never wanted to be king and yet he was, until his dying breath. He grumbled something to himself, wondered why it was that he was the one that survived them all, that always did just that and then wondered where he could go, only for the door to creep open and Richard to show up. Nayantai would have asked what was wrong with his face, but it was painfully obvious that his apology had been taken ... a different way. "An eye for an eye, I take it. Or well, a nose for an eye", he simply said and then moved onto the things that he had wanted to tell Richard in all actuality. "Your best bet is leaving it inside the hut, close to your fireplace. Don't get it wet, that includes wet clothes to clean it, when you leave it outside", he said toward his son - sure, he didn't fancy swords, had no fucking idea how to wield them properly, but Caelan had made efforts to at least get him to be able to use them. Yet, he was still barbaric about any ways of fighting - but he wasn't the one that was skewered by a multitude of spears and still standing like some sort of scary monsters. "It's stupid, but maybe it serves as some sort of motivation: If you can get past me, I'll let you go back home. That means, beat me in a fight - if you can." Richard wouldn't be able to, that was the thing on his mind, so ... that meant that he couldn't go anywhere, either.

Yujin had other plans, in the end, what was he to do at home? Scour the library for some stories, try to beat either of is parents in some game or just prove to someone that he wasn't as stupid as he sometimes acted like? All in all, he had some options but none of them were great or to his liking. Rather than that, actually, he wanted to enjoy himself for a second, think about all the stuff that he couldn't really put into words and then, he just went off, like that, without telling anyone where he was going, when he was coming back - none of this meant anything and all of this was something that made no definite sense. Decisions weren't his to make and the world wasn't what he believed it would be. Sure, there was nothing much to think about and all in all, some things just seemed nonsensical and stupid as was, but what for, really? He spent some time outside, figured he could pick up his coat at some point and when he didn't, he just postponed it to the next day like it wasn't a big deal. Was it, though? Or was all of this just something stupid that he made up, an excuse that wasn't even his to make because he wanted his clothes back but then again, he also wanted to annoy Richard? On his way there, to actually meet the blonde and probably piss him off once more, he took a detour, just for fun, to see some things and as he walked around a bit, who did he find? Richard. Well, at least one of them was trying to be diligent about his worth ethic and Yujin wondered if it wasn't boring to lash out at thin air or something along those lines, but ... why not approach him, then? "You good?", he suddenly asked the blonde that seemingly was trying to catch his breath. "Or do you need some help?"

He'd come all the way here to see this marvelous display of someone being ready to cough up his fucking innards and if he'd been a bit more sadistic than he was, he'd thrown Richard down and made his life even worse than it seemed to be right now - but who could withstand the urge to rearranges someones face if they already looked pathetic enough? Who cared, though - he had no need to, not an ounce of desperation in his body to truly give a damn about the things that were going on right now, instead, he let the blonde catch a breath and just watched him as he went on and on and had stuff pour out of his mouth. "You just look out of breath, that's all", he suddenly commented, scratching the back of his head. Anyone would be, especially if they forced their body to do things that weren't even necessary. Sure, Yujin had done his fair share of that, but he still looked completely average. "Are you a masochist or something?", he blurted out, looking at the blonde that willingly seemed to go to lengths that his body didn't necessarily approve of, especially now that Yujin brought up one of his hands to Richards forehead. "Man, you're scalding hot", he suddenly expressed, while he let the other hand touch his own forehead and eventually took both of them away. Blondie was sick, wasn't he?

"So much for ice prince, that forehead of yours could probably cook an egg", Yujin informed Richard as if he didn't know himself. Whether this dude was really sick or not, though, was none of his business and the fact that he had just come out here to seemingly announce all of that in one swift go, well, was he insane or something? The wolves eyes followed Richards gaze - so he was running around like a madman, with a possible fever and therefore - most likely - a cold and wondering why his lungs were acting up like they were full of sand or dust all of a sudden. "I didn't ask for an explanation, no need to get mad." Wasn't this bastard ever going to get tired of picking himself apart or was all of this in vain, possibly because the two of them were nothing but two idiots that didn't share a care in the world? Whatever came for them seemingly didn't matter, but the fact that someone as unaccustomed to silessian weather as Richard was going to lengths like these, well, it only served as an example of stupidity and unwavering determination that, one way or the other, was going to bite one of them in the ass. For now, it was Richard that seemed like he was going to fall flat on his face and pass out in the snow, though. "Came to pick up my coat, actually. I thought I'd take a detour and who do I find? A melting ice prince."

"Torturing yourself, got it", Yujin answered. For some reason, he felt like just putting his hands on Richard and helping him breath somehow, telling him that it was fine if he sat down for a bit, caught up with his lungs and then moved on - all of them did stupid stuff, all of them tried weird shit from time to time, so it was only logival that at some point, they'd fuck up somewhere along the way and it would be naught to try and punch in so much more time into things that made no sense at all. "And yet you're exhausted, take a break - you won't be doing it half-assedly just because you need a breather", the wolf reminded him, but it probably was going to fall on deaf ears, especially when Richard seemed to be overtaken by his very own frustration. Nothing much happened after that, though. "I think I know the difference between a fever and a warmed up body from extensive training and trust me, in your case, it's not the latter." Yujin was chastising the blonde to one degree or the other, but really, why shouldn't and why wouldn't he? It made no sense to just play pretend, as much as it made no sense to come up with odd things to prolong this situation. Was Richard ever going to admit that he felt bad, that he needed some rest too, or was it all up to Yujin and just grab him, drag him away from his own stupid decisions?

"Why wouldn't it be locked? Don't be silly", he sighed all of a sudden. Even though crime was rare and almost nonexistent, Silesse wasn't an exception and despite everyone knowing almost everybody, it just was a farfetched assumption that nothing could happen out here, especially just because of something silly like that. Why wouldn't people hold back when they had the opportunity to do whatever they wanted? "You're hopeless", he expressed as Richard trtied to put some distance between them and found himself falling down, his body giving in to sickness and in the end, all Yujin could do was walk over and crouch next to the blonde. "You do have a fever, I told you." And with that, he scooped the fallen body up from the snowy ground, held him in his arms and stood up - well, Richard wasn't exactly a lightweight, but he'd make do somehow and that, very much, meant that he'd have to bring them both back to his hut because he couldn't just kidnap someone sick like that. Yujin just made his way through the snow, carrying the blonde like that - he wasn't going to accept any protesting, neither from Richard or his own body, so he better hurried up and brought both of them home. "You're stubborn."

Why not help somebody in need when he could? Wasn't a king supposed to take care of those around him, supposed to care for his vassals and people and then make them feel at home? To be frank, though, Yujin was no king and Richard was no pupil of his, so even thinking about that was wrong, one way or the other. What made it even worse was the fact that he could think about this all he wanted and the only answer he'd be able to procure was the fact that, while he gave a damn about Richard, he really didn't want him to be closer than he needed to be and that was something that he himself kind of didn't actually understand. Did he want to know something, or really anything about Richard or was all of this just the nagging curiosity in the back of his head? "He? Your father? Why would he let you go home?" Yujin was confused, but maybe Richard had pestered his old man so much that he finally caved in and had told him that he could go wherever he wanted if he did something, whatever that was, really. In the end, he had no idea and the mere thought about it was strange. Where would Nayantai let him go and why would he let him go anywhere to begin with? "You can't, if you could, you'd not have fallen flat onto your face right then and there, you dork", he scoffed, knowing that Richard was trying, but no one ever got anything from trying too hard.

In the end, Yujin was happy to see the hut that the blonde called his home right then and there and he was also happy to bring the two of them over there. The blonde had been right, nobody had made efforts to even lock the door, it just was closed shut and so, Yujin just pushed it open and wondered if that meant anything to anyone or if he could be silly enough to think that all of this was, without a doubt, just his own stupidity taking root in his thoughts again. The wolf formed a beeline to Richards room, to the blondes bed and once he arrived there - having shut the door they came in with his leg - he placed the blonde on said bed. Again, he put his hand against Richards forehead, trying to figure out how bad the fever was, but alas, this could be anything - so he had to get the fever down somehow. "Do yourself a favor and get out of those stuffy clothes - where's your sleepwear?", he suddenly asked. Not, that this was going to be a problem or going to kill Richard, but it wouldn't feel nice to wear dresspants and a shirt to bed when he was clearly not feeling like himself, or at least not well enough to spout enough nonsense. "I'm going to get you a cold cloth for the fever, anythign else you want or need?"

"Then you've got to prove him wrong, but you can take your time with that." Nayantai didn't seem like the type to act like that, but what did Yujin know? From the outside, both of his parents seemed calm and not like who they were beneath, so maybe it was just normal for people to have a nice facade on the outside and the more one peeled those layers of, the more rotten the core was. Wasn't he the same? The only person that came to mind that wasn't like that was his older brother, who was just best described as timid and soft and not fit for the role he had been born into, even though, maybe he was and just no one was willing to admit that because they knew that it was stupid to think about. "If you insist", he mumbled as a response, but soon enough, Richard didn't seem willing to fight him anymore, he just sat there and did as he was told - he could take orders without biting back, which shouldn't be much of a surprise, but Yujin was, in fact, surprised. Who cared, though? The blonde was sick and once he recovered, he'd go back to being the asshole he'd been before, at least that was most likely - a fever changed people for a while, not always but sometimes and then they'd go back to their insufferable selves soon enough. "I don't but I want to. I told you, if you need help, I'm willing to offer it."

And yet, the blonde seemingly complied - Yujin smiled at him, maybe that was going to make it more bearable, but something told him that it wouldn't and any and all effort that either of them made in that regard was going to be in vain. Surely, there was a time for everything, but right now, it just would be good if he got Richard to lay down and sleep a bit. "I'll take your word for it", he answered, walked to Richards closet and picked out his clothing, just to hand it over and take that shirt from him, he'd have to wash that, after all, it had soaked up most of the sweat and that meant that someone had to wash it out. "I'll be back in no time", he replied, shut the door to Richards room behind him and then tried to find a piece of cloth and anything that Nayantai could have used to bring water into his hut, which turned out to be a wooden bucket that neatly sat in some corner around the kitchen. Well, where the hell were their cups? Now, he felt dumbfounded, only to find some made of what looked like clay stashed away in the kitchen, grab it, fill it up with water and then he shoved the cloth he'd found in there, let it soak up the water and wrung it out to some degree, before bringing both of those back to Richard. Yujin just barged in, didn't care if the blonde was in the middle of changing or not and then just asked. "Anything else?"

There was no arguing with Richard, huh? In the end, he seemed to always want to have the last word and once he didn't, he just made something up that would let him have it. No wonder that that got tiring at some point and soon enough, Yujin found himself standing in a doorway and found Richard unmoving on his bed, having fallen asleep right then and there in the few minutes that he was gone. He sighed and still put the cloth on his forehead, but he put the cup aside - and mainly because he didn't want to spook Richard, whose clothes he just took with him to ask Nayantai where to put them once he came home, put a blanket over the blonde and then sat himself down at the kitchen table and waited for what felt like and endlessly long time. Richards father wasn't coming home, no matter how much the weather or the time changed as it seemed and eventually, he was just pacing around between one room and the other, sporadically checking on Richard and changing the cloth, or at least washing it out and putting some more water on it to help fight the fever, but he couldn't do more than watch the blonde in his restless sleep and wonder what it was that he dreamed of, what it was that he found himself fighting against, even while resting.

In the meantime, it actually had started snowing outside and Yujin wondered if he actually could consider this something akin to summer or if it was all in vain and applying adrestian logic to thrian weather was insane, but alas, he left it at that, wondered if he was trying diligently enough to make all of this work - and yet, there was no sign of Nayantai showing up or Richard waking up. Was that stupid? Was he just trying too hard, or should he just stay put? Whatever, he'd be at ease if- ... well, why was he feeling uneasy in the first place? Those two could care for themselves, he didn't have to be here and yet he was, yet he endured his stay and frankly wondered where this was going to take him. "Are you feeling any better?", he asked after a while of just looking at Richard as he eventually moved over to him and put his hand onto his head. God, why was he suddenly acting like a mother hen that was scared of losing someone that had never been dear to her to begin with? "Do you need anything?", he whispered, but alas, Richard was sweating and ... crying? Yujin crouched down, brought one of his hands to the blondes eyes and wiped the tears away. "Everything's fine."

As expected, Richard wanted to stop him in his tracks, but Yujin had other ideas and therefore found himself stuck in hell itself - at least that was what he liked to call it. He had been called by a name he didn't know, at least not one that actually was his and he wondered what it was that built itself up in the blondes head, if it was the fever or just him talking complete nonsense, that led him to all of this. "No Dayan here, sorry", he mumbled and shook his head, but continued to wipe the tears out of Richards face. As it stood, the blonde was sick and unsettled by the dream he had been dreaming - there was no need to tell him that his father still wasn't home, or that he had no idea where he was, or that it was just the two of them stuck in this hut because the wind carried around so much snow outside. What was he supposed to do, who was he supposed to impress? God, he didn't know and for one reason or the other, he really didn't want to think about it. Silence was the last thing he needed, but Richard might have been the one that would have needed at least a little glimpse of hope, that found himself doing things far out of the ordinary for him, now that he was sick and calling out for the dead, at least Yujin assumed he was.

"It's fine to say you aren't", he said, as he had to take his hands off of the blonde and instead moved one of them to his back, softly stroking over it in an attempt to provide some sort of comfort. Richard had been right, he was not willing to let go, to move on, not like this - and all of that was just fine, at least in Yujins book. Truth be told, he could try as he might, all of this had to happen one way or the other, didn't it? The wolf didn't care, instead, he just listened to Richard for a while and then he shook his head, despite not being able to be seen by anyone. "I think I'll stay here a little longer, just in case." What else was he supposed to do? Get up, run off? No, instead, he just watched and eventually moved himself up, toward the bed and put his arms around the blonde, hugging him in silence for a while. Yujin didn't want to invade his privacy, wasn't willing to force him to do anything for or with him, instead, he just sat there for a good amount of time before he finally opened his mouth again. "Do you need something else? What about the water you wanted earlier? Or do you ... just want me to keep sitting here with you?"

Richard was hopeless, wasn't he? There was no way to protect him from things that had already transpired and the only thing that time could do for him was trying to let him heal, even if he didn't want to. Maybe the entire assumption that this world moved on without them was stupid, or maybe it was just idiotic to believe that all of this could happen without any of them interfering, but it had. As the world went, it had changed and as people changed with it, situations changed. Yujin couldn't help but pity the blonde, not because he was weak or even unable to push his body further, but because there was no way for him to pretend that all of this was fine, there was no chance for him to even come up with something that didn't sound incredibly nonsensical. Silence was out for the two of them and the whole reason any of them were pretending anything was, most likely, because they didn't want anyone else to see. What was Yujin to do with someone like Richard, someone who had been swallowed whole by the entirety of his nightmares? Gods, he had no idea, so he just sat there, hugged him and rubbed his back, as if any of those actions were going to change something - as if the world wasn't rotten, wasn't torn apart and they weren't sitting in a snowy little hut, somewhere outside of Silesse and waiting for something, for someone to come and just clear their mood.

"Sleep?", he suddenly asked and he wasn't sure if he could provide Richard with that. Sure, he could try and get him to lay back down, bring him some more blankets and clothes to keep him warm, but that was all that he could do - Yujin wasn't able to magically put the blonde to sleep, to force him to fall for cheap tricks and then just pass out, he could just do what felt right and then give it all up. "I mean, you ... we could try? Do you want me to stay here?", Yujin wanted to know, but before he even could take no for an answer, he mentally hated himself for even asking. What was he doing? Richard was no child and he was going to catch whatever he had if this went on, wasn't he? But he couldn't just run off and leave the blonde all alone in this hut, lest he got some sort of stupid ideas - which meant he didn't need to wait for that answer anyway. Yujin kicked off his shoes, now that he still sat at the bedside and then moved himself into the makeshift bed, pulled the blanket over both of them with one hand and used the other to gently press Richard down, to stop him from having to sit up, crouch over like that and hide his face from him, just because he was crying. The one thing that the wolf didn't do, though, was let go of him, he was still hugging him like this and it felt almost embarrassing. "Are you still cold?"

What was he going to do with the likes of Richard? The blonde was obviously sick, seemed to have other things on his mind and yet he drifted back to where the two of them were, found himself caught up in a loop of things, or so it seemed - and Yujin could only watch and offer some support, not knowing what to do with the rest. Maybe it was foolish of him to think that Richard cared, or that the blonde even knew himself at this point, but Yujin didn't know either, did he now? In the end, the two of them found themselves at a crossroads, at some point where anything that usually was familiar wasn't and where all of the things he thought would be good for him weren't. What was this, if not torture and what would it be, if not his own downfall? All he could offer were his condolences, his empty words that weren't meant for anyone and that would only fall onto deaf ears, but he wanted to hear none of that, frankly, he only cared about making all of this a bit more endurable for someone that just woke up and couldn't stop crying, that seemingly didn't know what to do with himself and all of that was fine, wasn't it. "It's alright, you're not alone", he whispered at the blonde, as if loud sounds could hurt him, or disrupt the weird moment they were having. What was this, really?

He'd have to leave at some point, someone would start to worry, especially when all he had said about this was something along the lines of, he'd pick up a piece of clothing he'd left, then he'd come home - and had not specified where he was going. Sure, there was going to be someone that wanted to know what the fuck was going on, where their prince was, or why he was craddling someone in his arms that had lost so much, but soon enough, Yujin took his hands off of Richard, just for a second, and slipped out of his own coat - if one could call it that - to pull it around the blonde and secure it with his own arms, lest it would fall off. Now they were back to him hugging Richard and he wasn't sure if he was still shivering or if that was just his imagination - even though he was terribly hot. "I'm not going anywhere", he suddenly declared, as if that was of any importance. "You can fall asleep whenever you want and I'll still be here holding you when you wake up, alright?", Yujin mumbled, he'd lost his marbles for sure now, but else was he supposed to do, now that both of them lay under the same blanket and he was the one that felt responsible for the sick, crying guy in his arms? Whoever would laugh at him, he didn't care - nobody had to know about this and if he was honest, as long as Richard felt better somehow, he wouldn't mind doing this.

What was he supposed to do? Just move, leave once Richard fell asleep or watch him like that and contemplate why he was doing it? Yujin had no idea, instead he stayed where he was and kept holding the blonde close, as if the world around them would fall apart if he didn't - as if nothing was going to matter once they gave up on something like that. Sure, they had each other, but really, how well did they even know one another at this point? It was stupid to believe that any of this was for them, or right with them, instead, they just seemingly were there to make life endurable for one another in this moment and if Yujin was honest, he didn't mind, not one bit. Though, it seemingly didn't take long for him to fall asleep from here on out, Yujin needed a while to even comprehend what was happening and if he could just decide on this without even asking anything. Sure, he'd have to come up with something, would have to devise a plan about how he got out of trouble if his parents asked, or if he should get up to close the door, but in the end, none of that was worth it, especially not when someone was sleeping in his arms and had looked like he was going to give out or give up any second, everytime he just had shot him a single glance. Was this what it meant to be miserable beyond recognition, or was all of that just in his head?

He fell asleep eventually, once he felt like Richard was resting easy and there was no need for him to go anywhere any longer, simply because silence was all he knew for a while and even when the door creaked open, Yujin didn't even care. Sure, a piercing gaze met the back of his body, but from the likes of it and the faint way it shut the door to Richards room, it was Nayantai, who most likely had more questions than answers to what was happening right here and right now. Though, the wolf wasn't as tired as the person he held in his arms, still, yet, he dreamt of entirely different things and once the sun made its way through the blanket of clouds above, he was wide awake - who wouldn't be if a raging ball of light was shining in their face from the heavens above? Apparently Richard, who'd come closer and seemingly nuzzled up to him and now he was the one that had to play the waiting game, so much in fact, that Yujin actually took the time to shove some blonde strands of hair out of Richards face and yet, he still went back to hugging him eventually. Was this supposed to work like that? Was he imagining things? Making up weird shit as he went on and on in his head about how this was perfectly normal, that nobody was flipping out about his absence and that he wasn't doing something that friends wouldn't do for each other? "Oh, look who's awake!", he almost breathlessly chuckled as Richard slowly but surely woke up. "Are you feeling any better?"