bloodbound. (earinor & akira)

    • "No, but ... you're right, no buts. Sometimes, it's better to have no one around you rather than everyone, especially if they just wear masks." That wasn't untrue, but still, sometimes everyone needed a bit of fake entertainment as well as someone they could enjoy their time with, as harsh as it sounded. Things changed often enough and while the reality that surrounded many of them was grim, a lot of them were only there to figure things out for both themselves and the ones around them. Yujin didn't mind being used, sometimes that gave him some form of reassurance that at least someone was trying to need something of him, but in the end, nothing came of that and he just looked stupid for ignoring all those overly obvious signs to begin with. "Oh god, please. You want me to take a bite out of you or what?", Yujin laughed, clearly amused by the fact that either something was getting to Richards head or this idiot actually was losing himself because he had no idea what to retaliate for once. Whatever it was, it felt nice to hear someone else being stupid once in a while and even though he didn't want to admit it, Richard could be funny if he wanted to, no? "You denied yourself some alcohol, it's all over the table anyway, just grab a cup - just a fair warning, though, it's probably not like adrestian stuff."

      Whatever moonshine they'd ordered there, it wouldn't sit well with all of them and if Richard couldn't stomach it, well, Yujin would be surprised if he did without having to make a stupid face. "He can do what he wants, I'll be sad either way", he responded, truthfully this time around. While a lot of people were really, really stupid and almost obsessed with not making too many enemies, Shuren was just keen on pissing anyone off that even looked at him the wrong way and once the conflict was getting too much, he was the one that somehow got rid of them - Yujin wouldn't be too surprised if someone actually tried to kill the feeble looking, ill-mannered man in that ice castle. "This? You mean horny and stupid? Not around this time, but whenever they see a new face, they just try to impress. They are basically trying to make a game out of the whole who gets to fuck the stranger first thing when anyone drags someone new here, but right about now, I neither want to partake in that nor do I want them to actually try and get into your pants - if you want that, it's up to you, but I can assure you that you'd rather not do that." Quan was an idiot, Jiahao was probably just better off marrying that fiancé of his and Kun actually didn't really care about any of this, he just - sometimes - asked stupid questions, didn't he? "Twat? Hey, no need to be all pissy at me, Arikins!", he called out, but right then, he also got beaten by Kun at that stupid game and sighed, falling back into that pillow sea. "He wouldn't have gotten that far without help anyway." "I hate all four of you. Can I get shitfaced now, or do you want to call me twat one more time, you stupid dandelion?"
      Looking back, it maybe is like the toy carts you rode when you were a kid. But those toy carts could never go beyond the walls of the lawn. We want to follow the rugged concrete road beyond the wall. As we've grown, we've decided to leave behind the toy cart.

    • Even n a setting like this Richard managed to bury up depressing topics, right? Well he didn't answer anything to that, there was no point in it and if anything he shouldn't be sulking here right? This was the wrong environment, the wrong people to be around and all in all it was surprising that the urge to just run out had somehow vanished. Maybe something was getting to his head, be it either all that smoke hanging in the air and eventually having found it's way into Richards lungs, or the people around him who were in a somewhat good mood and who didn't plaster him with questions despite him being so very different. Silessians generally seemed like they had no care in the world whatsoever. "You're not going to taste anything of me.", Richard replied for some reason in Thrian so everyone could understand it. Maybe he was the one being daring now, or he just wanted people to know that Yujin in fact didn't get into his pants and also wasn't going to. He'd rather take that quiet bastard with the game... wait, what was he thinking about? He wanted none of them and if anything it would have been just a fling. In the end he didn't even... no those thoughts went too far and eventually, as if it helped, Richard reached for one of the cups with alcohol in it. He was kind of hesitant ans smelled on it first. It smelled strong alright! Well, it wasn't like Richard never had any hard liquor, but this cup was a little big for a shot? They drank a lot, didn't they? Richard wanted to take a careful sip but while placing the cup on his lips he threw that plan out the window. He didn't get out of here so he might as well enjoy himself, or at least drink enough to have time fly by, even though it wasn't even dark outside yet. He took a bigger sip, only to kind of regret it. He swallowed and wanted to stop his body from coughing, but he couldn't help it, boxed his fist against his chest and set the cup aside. "Damn..."

      "Sad? What's up, didn't you want to calm down?", Richard asked clearing his throat, maybe he should eat something, but then again... no. He didn't want to embarrass himself even more. On the other hand he didn't have breakfast and he probably needd something that soaked up the alcohol if he planned to drink more. "Just be glad you still have both of your fathers.", Richard said and he wanted to end this topic right here and now. It only made him sad in turn. For now he looked at Quan and Ji-something once more, fighting over something, or not, he didn't really know. "They haven't done anything to impress me yet.", Richard simply pointed out, so the point they were trying to make didn't come across as it seemed. "You don't want them to? And I don't want that either? Why?", he asked bluntly. Not that he planned on letting anyone into his pants, he was just curious. In the end he'd preferred a girl, simply because then he'd know what to do. "Dandelion? Smart, because I have blonde hair... Do you even know how a dandelion looks?", Richard iterated unimpressed and turned to that Kun guy, after Yujin had let himself fall back next to Richard. "If you search for an Adrestian nickname for Yujin, twat is a pretty good one."

    • Bringing Richard here was a mistake, wasn’t it? Not only did Yujin feel like a certain someone wasn’t relaxing at all, no, he also was using the opportunity to show even his most stupid of friends that the prince of Silesse was nothing more than a bigshot, someone that ran his mouth for all it was worth and as that went on, everyone snickered about it in the shadows. Wasn’t that just pathetic? Who cared, though? There was plenty of opium to smoke, plenty of booze to enjoy and the chances of any of them walking out of this room sober were slimmer than zero. “You wanna bet, then?”, Yujin asked, already liking where this was going. He was sure he’d lose the bet, especially if Richard was going to put any thoughts into it, but even so, no one was going to have any fun without ridiculously high stakes and all odds stacked against them. “Give up, he doesn’t want to get fucked by you”, Quan laughed from across the room. “I’m sure he’d not want to fuck any of you horndogs”, Kun chimed in. Well, he wasn’t so wrong about that, was he now? Not that Yujin cared, he theoretically had a girlfriend and theoretically, he could fuck her - but riling Richard up was fun, especially now that he indulged in some booze. “There’s a first time for everything - whatever it’s thrian booze or letting a guy have a piece of you.”

      This had turned into a game that was hardly fair, but neither of them cared, four wolves weren’t going to team up on some poor little sap like Richard and just deny him any chance to fight back anyway. “I brought you here to calm down, no need to care for me or my feelings as long as it makes you feel better”, the wolf responded, accepting his defeat and leaning back as Kun was, well, the winner - which meant he wasn’t going to have to pay jackshit today, but he never did, that damn leech. “I am, but sometimes they’re annoying - whatever, this isn’t and shouldn’t be about me”, he sighed. They’d come here for Richards sake and not his own, but Yujins face changed and he reached for one of the cups with alcohol in them, drinking it down as if its contents were simple water - but that wasn’t that much of a surprise for someone that had grown used to the way liquor was made down here. “My wink wasn’t enough? Shit!”, Quan yelled, wanted to get up and do something - most likely - stupid, but Jia pulled him back down and handed him his own cup. They were doing some sort of damage control right now, weren’t they? “They don’t want anything serious and they’re all horrible in bed, so, unless you just want to be a number to those two over there, and you actually want a good fuck, pick anyone but them”, Yujin explained, leaning over the table to grab another bowl and pull out something that ... well, it was candied fruit on a stick that he handed to Richard. “The fruits are dry as all hell, but no chopsticks needed”, he explained, reaching over to get himself one and then he went back to the playing board with Kun - he’d beat him, somehow, with or without Richards help. “Yeah, at first it’s yellow and all cute before it turns into a puffy little bastard, just like you”, he said, as he playfully elbowed Richard in the side, just before switching places with him. “Twat? Sounds intriguing - what’s it mean?”, Kun asked instead, but Yujin just sighed. “Play with him. Both of you will have more fun - and stop calling me a twat!”
      Looking back, it maybe is like the toy carts you rode when you were a kid. But those toy carts could never go beyond the walls of the lawn. We want to follow the rugged concrete road beyond the wall. As we've grown, we've decided to leave behind the toy cart.

    • "Bet? Not really, you'll just have even more reason to annoy me.", Richard answered. He already ran after him, dragged him to places like this and he if he just needed to snatch a kiss to win something, he'd be even more persistent. He'd had more reasons to drag him to places like this and try to fill him up and besides, Yujin who had a girlfriend he mentioned more than once shouldn't even think about something like that. It was enough that he had shared a bed with him, held his hand for way too long in public and carried him over here. On the other hand maybe Richard just needed to be more convincing when he said no, because up until now it didn't have any impact on Yujin. Such as he was sitting here now, having tasted the pipe and the booze, although he actually wanted to go home instead of befriending some strangers. He didn't have fun and he didn't want fun either. Richard looked up at Quan that basically told Yujin what Richard was thinking and Kun was right as well. Besides, he wasn't some trophy to claim, he was a human being. He didn't need love or anything cheesy like that to have sex, but he also didn't want to be handed around like a slut."Shut up...", he then grumbled, did Yujin have to say that now?

      "I don't feel calmed down.", he responded, actually he neither felt the alcohol nor the opium, he felt pretty normal. Maybe he had said a little bit more than usual, but that was about all, he wasn't magically cured of his mindset only because he sat around with some strangers. The only effect that had was that he'd probably not yell at Yujin for stupid reasons. "I don't exactly want things to be about me either though.", Richard mumbled and watched Yujin drinking a big glass of... whatever that was. Then he looked up at Quan again only to role his eyes a little. He didn't even deemed this worth an answer. "As if I wanted something serious.", Richard blurted out and he almost started laughing about that statement, but he didn't. Maybe the corners of his mouth twitched a little bit but that was all. He hadn't wanted something serious in Adrestia and now there was even less urge to, actually he didn't even miss sex, or did he? "So you're able to tell who's good in bed and who's not? So you slept with them and were unsatisfied?", he asked. That probably didn't happen, but he was in the mood to ask stupid questions that may be able to invoke some form of funny reaction from Yujin. He ended up with something in his hands though and smelled on it before he was considering tasting it. "Will that make me cough too?", he asked untrusting and he eyed that thing as if it was able to kill him maybe. Now Richard really had to contain a laugh because Yujins fucking description was hilarious. Richard just shook his head and eventually was shifted around, the pillows moved and he ended up still next to Yujin but closer at the board. "It annoys Yujin, isn't that enough?", Richard answered and then looked at Yujin. "How do you even know what that means? Who taught you words like that?", he asked the blue eyed wolf, then looked back on the board and made his move.

    • "Fine, you got me there", Yujin sighed. Richard was getting good at looking through his schemes, wasn't he? What made all of this even worse was the fact that he had nothing to defend himself with, that there was nothing that he could do other than accept all of it at face value and hope that nobody would slip up and run their mouths ragged. In all actuality, why would they? Yujin was around and he'd give them all a good beating if they didn't want to play his game - it had always been like that, but in the end, most of the time at least, it resulted in a boy pile and some stupid idiots breaking a limb or two. "Make me, dandelion", he said, well, teased the blonde and stuck his tongue out at him. When had he become that mean? If Yujin knew, well, he'd have an answer for that by now, he wouldn't be the one trying to grasp at straws and come up with some random bullshit that, despite all of his efforts, only sounded like he was making it up the longer he went on about it. Sure, there were things that nobody liked to think about, that nobody liked to admit, but ... Richard and he, himself, weren't that much different, were they? In the end, they had to admit to their wrongs and rights, nothing else, not ever again.

      "You'll feel relaxed soon enough, now stop letting yourself get riled up by the bullshit I'm spewing and at least try - want some more booze?", he suddenly asked, knowing very well what he offered to whom. Naturally, there wasn't much wrong with that and actually, he could have done whatever he wanted, could have at least tried to not sound like a total idiot, but for one reason or the other, he did - and, well, Richard had to be used to that by now, didn't he? "Then let things be about me, about anyone in here, really", he explained before hunching over the table, grabbing the pipe that now sat there and continuining with smoking, now that Richard was that close to him, they could at least act like they were buddies, or trying to become just that. "I know, you don't even want friendships - be my guest and fuck one of them, then. Not that I think you want to." Yujin had a hunch that Richard, if anything, was girl-crazed and yet, he didn't even want any of those. Maybe he'd be up to fuck his girlf-, no, that was off limits and the moment the blonde knew who she was, he'd chicken out anyway. "Why do you two keep talking like that?", Jia suddenly asked, not really occupied with Quan anymore, who seemed like he lost himself in the pipe. "Why do you talk like that?", Yujin retaliated, which only caused the older one to seem embarrassed. Hah, he still was good at this, wasn't he? "Slept with 'em? No, I'm not insane. But people do talk if you ask 'em the right questions - Quan can't fuck for shit, like, he's lazy as all fuck and just bad. As for Jia, well, the guys an almost married man, if his girl likes it, that's going to be it. As for Kun, ... we never fucked, right?" "What the fuck, Yujin." "Hey, I'm just asking!" And as if there was something funny about it, they both broke out into laughter. "It's dried fruit, glazed in molten sugar, I doubt it's going to make you cough." Not that it served any purpose, but then he looked over the board and at Kun, who was putting everythign back into order. "Oh, for sure. There's another really good nickname that pisses him off, I'll tell you if you want!" "Kun ...", Yujin sighed, leaned back and looked onto the ceiling. Wow, it was dark and disgusting in here, wasn't it? "Again, Xu's mom. That woman could curse up a storm and I remember her calling my dad a fucking twat on more than one occassion."
      Looking back, it maybe is like the toy carts you rode when you were a kid. But those toy carts could never go beyond the walls of the lawn. We want to follow the rugged concrete road beyond the wall. As we've grown, we've decided to leave behind the toy cart.

    • "You're easy to read...", Richard mumbled, in the end all Yujin ever did when being around Richard was annoy him, or find a reason he could stick to him to continue doing just that. He wasn't even sure why he dragged him here, to his friends who mostly were occupied with themselves gladly. Well at least nobody Asked Richard any stupid questions and they probably knew that Richard wasn't up for much talking, his face probably said as much. Then again he didn't shut up, did he? He talked with Yujin all the while, instead he rather sat back and listened to whatever those friends had to say to each other, but he wasn't meant to apparently. Yujin who was next to him stuck out his tongue like a child and Richard took the opportunity to shove whatever he had given him to eat in his mouth. "There. Made you.", he simply answered, just handing out facts. Richard then looked back across the room, to anything that was moving really, just to occupy his thoughts and have something to do. He didn't want to talk but not talking was kind of boring too and he felt like he wasted his whole day. Well he did and for what? Yujin had no plans, no agenda, no work to do, so it was easy for him to sink into this kind of shithole the whole day, but Richard got stuff to do right?

      "I just don't really feel up to this...", Richard mumbled and looked at the table. There was a lot of booze and maybe relaxing didn't sound so bad, but on the other hand he missed the reason to get wasted, the sense behind it. Sure it didn't have to have one but all of this situation felt somehow weird. Yujin was trying to make him have fun, but he didn't do a good job with it. Richard felt stupid for coughing three times already, one friend was trying to play with him as if he was a child and the other two just... what did they do? Richard just didn't manage to be as lay back as them even if he had wanted to. Why did Yujin bring him here in the first place? "I don't.", Richard grumbled, somehow Yujins reaction wasn't what he had hoped for and it was kind of annoying. He too another sip from his glass, knowing now what hit him, so he didn't look like he was dying again but that stuff wasn't even very good and actually he didn't want to have a headache the next day. Also, if he started to drink this early and Yujin wouldn't let him leave, he'd be dead the next day. Richard looked up again, didn't understand what Jia was saying, but got the gist of it when Yujin answered. Should he apologize? No, he didn't want to communicate anyway. Richard watched Yujin take another puff and he was kind of annoyed by the fact that he was apparently too stupid for that, but soon enough looked away again and tried to find a comfortable position on those pillows. The exchange between Yujin ad Kun was weird, and Richard looked at them puzzled, then at Jia, as if he knew what was going on, he didn't bother with Quan who seemed occupied right now. "What's that about?", he asked pretty much anyone who wanted to answer. Again he looked at Yujin who didn't seem too pleased with Kuns offer, which was even more reason to take it up. "Sure.", he answered, not caring much about Yujin who had layed back like that. "Doesn't mean you know what it means.", he replied to Yujin and eventually tasted on of those fruit things. They weren't too bad actually, but after his thing was gone he didn't take another.

    • “I might as well be”, Yujin admitted. Sure, the thing was that he didn’t even try to be someone that mattered to anyone, that he didn’t need multiple layers or that he didn’t even want to be someone that he couldn’t figure out - Richard was fine the way he was, even if it was harder to read him from time to time and the wolf had other things to do than baby him around his friends. On one hand, the foreign object in his mouth told him that something was up, but Quans fucking laughter was enough for Yujin to throw another pillow at that fucker and also give him the most shiteating grind that he could muster. “You got me there”, he chuckled, taking a bite, before setting it aside. Sweets really weren’t his thing, but sometimes he’d have to give some bullshit a try and this was the perfect opportunity to make a weirdass grimace. That, on the other hand, seemed to spark a smile from Kun, who rarely even cared what the fuck was going on - he wanted to play games, he wanted to have fun but that didn’t have to include booze, or anything else. “Why not? Mh, do you want some ... no, you probably don’t want to.”

      Bringing Richard to his own booth and promising him some time alone, some nice words and a reason to get drunk wouldn’t rile this guy up - Yujin was sure that he wasn’t going to have fun, especially if it was just the two of them to begin with. “That’ll change eventually, but I’m not going to force myself onto you, so ... I’ll try to tell the others to have some human decency, too.” In the end, they still were stupid, hormonal teens and once they decided that gender didn’t matter, it all turned into a shitshow, didn’t it? Besides, none of them would be hitting on Richard if they did, so that was odd to begin with - Adrestia seemed like it was much more different, as if it wasn’t anything like the things that Yujin had in mind. He lay back, left the game to Richard and Kun and smoked, for quite a while, yucking up the air in this room even more and just enjoying himself - there was no alcohol that he needed, there actually wasn’t anything that he wanted or needed to begin with. “That weird question?”, Quan suddenly asked as Richard had called out, yeah, what was that about? “Yujin forgets shit, a lot - his brain feels like it has holes in it, but I think that’s because that idiot got himself kidnapped once, cut up almost entirely an-“ “Quan, shut the fuck up”, Yujin grumbled, but Quan just shrugged. “He’s just fucking around with us in a verbal sense”, Jia elaborated. “Sure, he does have some weird episodes but he really isn’t forgetful. Sometimes he just likes to annoy, like all of us.” After those elaborations, Yujin was the one that shook his head and grabbed another cup - he’ll be wasted by the time he stumbled out of there and fuck, what did he care? “Don’t you dare tell him shit, Kun”, Yujin cursed, but Kun instead smiled and looked back at Richard, continuing their little game of not-chess. “Lily of the lake”, Kun snorted, then pointed at Yujin and his eyes that he was trying to hide. “If you want to seriously get on his nerves, tease him about his eyes.” “Those shitty blue orbs? What even are you?” “Quan, stop it - he’s your friend and you don’t want a broken jaw, do you?”, Jia seemed like he either was trying to keep some peace between them or he just was trying to make more discord brew among them, wasn’t he? “I’m obnoxious, I get that much - I’m not fucking stupid”, Yujin mumbled at Richard, turning away from his friends. More booze, right?
      Looking back, it maybe is like the toy carts you rode when you were a kid. But those toy carts could never go beyond the walls of the lawn. We want to follow the rugged concrete road beyond the wall. As we've grown, we've decided to leave behind the toy cart.

    • Yujin was the one in a weird mood now and Richard had to admit, that he rather had him fucking around and force Richard to do this and that. Richard had never done shit on his own, that didn't change, all things that were new were kind of scary. Not scary in a sense that he shit his pants, or that he didn't want to walk into it, just scary in a sense that he didn't want to embarrass himself and that he didn't want to be disappointed. When Dayan was still alive he had been the one dragging him around. Sure Richard got the hang of it, came up with stupid ideas to compete with his brother, had his own mind eventually, but all the firsts were brought upon him by Dayan. First time he drank alcohol? Well Dayan did and asked Richard to try it. He did and in the end there wasn't anything scary about it, it had been fun and it continued to be in the future. Now that Richard didn't want to do anything anymore, he probably would have needed him even more, but only because he acted like a bitch, didn't mean his brother magically appeared to tell him that he was an idiot. Maybe Richard was better off trying to enjoy himself instead of desperately trying not to and maybe... just maybe... he needed Yujin to accomplish that. "Want some what?", he asked curious, not sure if Yujin meant what he said or just tried to make Richard curious, so he could manipulate him further. He lied, Yujin wasn't easy to read.

      "You're not going to force yourself onto me?", Richard asked and had an inner fight asking himself if he should laugh right now, or play it cool as he tended to be. Yujin seemed down and a joke didn't come across as good when he didn't at least smile, but instead of that he poked Yujin between two of his rips. "You do nothing else since I know you, dumbass..." It was supposed to be a joke... somehow. Why was he being nice? Maybe the fumes in here were at fault and maybe he was better off drinking a big gulp of his cup to blame everything on something. He did actually and put his glass aside afterwards. Why'd he done that? Yujin seemed like he wanted to be alone and Richard found himself talking to the other guys eventually. Every information he was able to gather about Yujin was good information. He found himself agreeing with Quan, even though Jia had another opinion on the matter but Richard kind of believed that Yujins brain was mush at times and he didn't act like he couldn't remember, he just seriously wasn't able to. "Weird episodes?", Richard asked and looked at Yujins friends, then at Yujin, only to shake his head. "Forget it, I don't care." He did, but he himself didn't want to have people know about certain things, so it was only fair to give Yujin the freedom to not share anything he didn't want to share. What fell from Yujins lips next Richard didn't understand, but Kun didn't seem to care. Richard made another move on the board while he listened. "Ah that.", Richard simply said. He wasn't one to talk about any of this, then again he didn't hate his blonde hair. Sure it made him different out here and not fit in, but he was a sheep and he was proud to be a sheep, there was nothing to be embarrassed about. Richard looked on the board again, made his next move and snatched all of Kuns pieces in one last devastating attack. "I win."

    • Was he sad? Upset maybe? No, that wasn’t it, he was in a weird mood that he really couldn’t make any sense of. Was it because Richard was just being weird, getting chummy with his friends or was it because those shitty fumes finally got to his head? Whatever the reason, Yujin was out of it and that probably seemed noticeable, at least when some chucked another pillow at him. Without much of a word, he took it up and threw it back into the direction it had come from, only to start some sort of pillow throwing war that went on for a while, until he pocketed all of the pillows and Richard seemed interesting enough again, or at least his voice. “Alone time. We can get our own booth if you want to get away from these idiots”, but Yujin knew that he wasn’t all that entertaining on his own, especially when he started to feel like this and when one shitty comment was going to throw him over the edge. For now, he lay there, barely even moving from the place he was in and enjoying some of the silence, even though it never was silent in here. “Pass me the pipe”, Kun said and Yujin complied, taking a puff and then, he grabbed one of the small cans on the table and stuffed the pipe once more. Whoever was going to pay for all of this?

      “Ouch”, he exclaimed upon feeling Richards finger into his ribs. He really couldn’t catch a break in here, could he now? Somehow, it seemed as if any of his attempts to just gain some sort of peace and quiet were broken into pieces. “I know, I am a twat”, the wolf replied and then took one of the pillows, put it between his upper arm and his head and lay there, on his side, watching over the table and the game that was about to be over soon anyway. His friends were talking about him again, weren’t they? “Nothing bad”, Jia told Richard and he wasn’t wrong, even if the blonde already said he didn’t want to hear it, or at least pretended he didn’t want to. “It’s better to ask him anyway, he’ll eventually give you an answer if you keep pestering him”, Quan tacked onto that and once that Richard had announced he’d won, Yujin sat up, put his arm around Richards shoulder and chuckled. So, that’s how that had gone, huh? “That meaaans, Richard isn’t footing the bill - and it also means I have to win against any of you or I’ll be fucked”, Yujin announced, then looked up and something seemed to hit him. “Actually, Quan and Jia haven’t even played to begin with, so I guess one loss is better than being a pussy.” “Yujin, I fucking hate you.” The wolf snickered upon hearing that and Kun sighed, giving one final smile and a “thank you for the game” to the blonde, before making room for Quan that actually came over and let himself fall onto Kun’s initial place. Brown hair, brown eyes, all of which was barely held together by anything anymore and despite the darkness in here, this guy reeked of alcohol, of the fumes that had taken root in his clothing and his eyes were probably red from the constant daze he found himself in. “You couldn’t even beat Richard if you tried to”, Yujin grumbled. “Don’t care, I just don’t enjoy being called a pussy by some braindead whore”, Quan said, then started to put up the pieces on the board. “Do you even want to play? Or do you want Yujin to make a fool out of himself? That’s always fun.”
      Looking back, it maybe is like the toy carts you rode when you were a kid. But those toy carts could never go beyond the walls of the lawn. We want to follow the rugged concrete road beyond the wall. As we've grown, we've decided to leave behind the toy cart.

    • "I think you're the one wanting away.", Richard pointed out and he was somewhat surprised by that offer. Was that why he said he wanted someone with him to find an excuse? An excuse to get lost and have some peace and quiet? Actually Richard was surprised the owner didn't reprimand them for being as noisy and for ruining the other customers time like that, but he didn't care either way, he wasn't the one being noisy to begin with. Richard actually moved out of the way when Yujin started a pillow fight and just silently waited until it was over. Eventually Yujin claimed all of the pillows for himself. He wasn't quite sure what kind of relationship all of them had, Yujin didn't seem all too happy with his friends at least half of the time. "I don't care either way.", Richard concluded, he wasn't let off the hook no matter where he was and at least when there were four other people, Richard didn't have to engage in any conversation, he could just lean back and listen, or entertain himself with his own thoughts, but those mostly weren't entertaining. Yujin passed the pipe but he probably didn't intend to let go of all those pillows which gave Richard even less space here, but that was fine for now. He had his own episodes, where he suddenly got incredibly claustrophobic, but triggers for that was less little space and more the wrong topics, so he was fine.

      Yujin made himself comfortable and at least he didn't hide away anymore. He just watched and followed his friends conversations and probably also the game Richard won. Richard didn't intend to pester Yujin right now, he already had told him about his scar and he wasn't quite sure what his friends were going on about, either way, if he just started asking stupid questions he wasn't better than this idiot Yujin, so he didn't and just noted what the princes friends said somewhere in his head. Suddenly he felt something heavy and turned his head toward Yujin who almost hugged him right now. "Ah... what?", Richard asked all the while trying to squirm his way out of that sudden touch. H was way too tame around more than one person, wasn't he? Well in the end he didn't want to ruin four peoples moods... for whatever reason. So what was this? Richard couldn't have paid anyway, so good thing he wasn't half as bad at most games. What now? Yujin had to play against Quan or Jia? Was this some kind of tournament? Richard looked at Kun and just nodded awkwardly and suddenly found himself up against Quan. Well he looked like he could use some sleep and those brown hair were also not that common for Silesse, right? Maybe not all Silessians looked the same after all, this guy looked rougher than Yujin or Kun did. Well Richard probably looked the least rough... that was annoying. "I... don't really get it. I already won, but I can beat you too, if you want me to?" If it meant he didn't need to pay that was more than fine, because he had nothing to pay with in the first place. And better do it before Yujin got him drunk or high.

    • "Sometimes I do", Yujin explained to Richard, as if he'd actually been asked about it. If he gave it a thought, maybe he did want to be away for a while, did want to be somewhere else where nobody would even bat an eye because of his stupid face or the fact that his eyes didn't match, the fact that he, in itself, was not fitting in here and that meant that he, for one reason or the other, had to be someone that not only was not worth giving damns about but also that he, of all people, was just another leaf falling onto the forest floor and remaining there until he decomposed. Such was the nature of his life, the nature of people and that was anyones ultimate goal in life, without any doubts. At some point, neither Richard or he himself were of any importance, they'd find themselves to be nothing but singled out material, as minor figures in myths, if anything. "Would you even want to be alone with me?", Yujin asked, knowing all too well that not only was he annoying, probably already an open book to Richard and aside from that, after being glued together by the hip - or forehead - for multiple days in a row, the wolf wouldn't mind if the sheep just told him that no, actually, he couldn't stand his presence any longer, once they were by their lonesome. Instead, he took a gulp - for confidence.

      Finally, he relinquished most of the pillows he was holding onto, threw some of them back where they belonged or just let them fall all around him. The entire furniture, if one could call it that, was nothing more than pillows stacked onto pillows on a strawmat floor with a wooden table in the middle - sure, there was something to be found here, like tins and cans and games or containers of booze, but all in all, the layout was pretty simple, aside from the seemingly intricate sliding door, that was that way because ... why, actually? "We normally play games and whoever loses, or is at the bottom of the list, pays the accumulated bill of all of us in here", Kun explained to Richard from the sidelines and while he had nothing to fear, at least now when it was about these kinds of games, Yujin knew exactly that both Quan and him were fucked once it came to anything that needed them to use their brains for real. The problem was, well, Quan was an idiot and a loudmouthed bitch and he himself had what seemed to be a block of cheese for a frontal lobe that barely powered up when he needed it. Instead, he pulled Richard a bit closer, now that he was trying to get away. "Just try him, Quan isn't shit - he bluffs", Yujin reassured him, to which Jia was probably mouthing something along the lines of 'he's right', but Quan wasn't going to let that get to him. "Beat me too? Pff, sure, give it a try then." "He's still bluffing." "Shut your trap." However, Quan eventually shook his head and actually gave Richard a glance. "You don't have to play against me if you'd rather see your court jester struggle."
      Looking back, it maybe is like the toy carts you rode when you were a kid. But those toy carts could never go beyond the walls of the lawn. We want to follow the rugged concrete road beyond the wall. As we've grown, we've decided to leave behind the toy cart.

    • Well there was one thing Richard learned today and it probably was that alcohol made Yujin somewhat of a crybaby. Was he always like this? Glooming as soon as he got something to drink? Richard wondered. It was weird, because Yujin had be the one who dragged Richard here to make him calm down and have fun, Yujin neither seemed calmed down, nor as if he was having fun. Richard was about to look forward again, at the table, Yujins friends and the game they played, but he got distracted once more by Yujin. He turned his head towards him once more, looked at his face to discern what kind of answer he hoped for, but why would Richard give exactly that to him? Either way, he needed to think about that question for a moment, then averted his gaze again and shrugged his shoulders. "I don't care either way.", he replied. Bein with Yujin and his friends or with Yujin and his lonesome wasn't very different to Richard. He didn't want to be here in the first place, the company didn't matter therefor, but he dealt with the situation as good as he could. Why exactly? To make Yujin happy? Or because he already had learned the the prince of Silesse always got what he wanted?

      "So you count the losses of each person?", Richard asked. Well he was ahead now and he was pretty sure that Kun had been the fiercest component of them all, so he didn't worry too much, still if he had to pay he definitely was in trouble and Nayantai or Yujin had to sav e his ass, he wanted neither of which. Richard wasn't sure if Yujin meant what he said and Quan looked like Richard had offended him a little bit, well that was his specialty right? Richard actually just wanted to raise his chances of not having to pay, but he wasn't sure how far they'd drag that game so he didn't want to ask what the better approach war, because he didn't want to seem greedy, or if he owned nothing to begin with, even if it was true. Richard looked at those red and tired eyes of Quan, he was pretty confident that this guy didn't manage to form a coherent thought anymore, so eventually it didn't matter what he did, but he usually didn't back down from a challenge. "My what?!", Richard suddenly blurted out. Well e understood those words but... what the fuck? "You've challenged me, so go ahead and make your first move." He wouldn't back down if someone challenged him, that was not like him at all, at least not lately.

    • It wasn't the alcohol or the drugs specifically, it also wasn't the mix of both - Yujin had figured that out by now. Sometimes, comments were enough to just do something to him and completely ruin his mood, other times he wasn't even sure what he himself was doing or why it was important for him to even keep up with all the shit he should be doing. Quite frankly, his entire head was a mystery to him and now that he thought about it one more time, maybe it wasn't so bad to not know himself all that well and maybe it actually served some purpose for him to be who he was, prince or not, simply because fate always had something odd in store for all of them. "It's not like I do, either", he responded to Richard, who was desperately seeking to make all of this more fun, despite knowing it wouldn't be and that, on one hand, meant that both of them had to figure something out and on the other, they would probably pick their favorite victim for the night sooner than later. "Yeah, pretty much - and whoever has the most losses at the end of the night pays up, as simple as that. If you can't pay with goods, well, there's other ways", Yujin laughed, but after that, he just went on to watch this incredibly boring - and actually not that one-sided - match.

      How late was it? Gods, Yujin didn't know and he, frankly, also didn't care. The pipe had made its rounds around the entire damn table and at this point, he was pretty damn certain that if he was handed that thing one more time, his skull was going to burst to pieces. Alcohol and drugs had molten into one another and while none of the side effects were, usually, pleasant, Quan had been knocked out and was now resting his head on Jia, who really looked like he was the most sober of them and Kun, well, after the last scuffle or something, he'd buried himself beneath a pile of fucking pillows. It had been oddly quiet for a while, but dandelion ice prince sheep guy wasn't gone just yet - Yujin wasn actually surprised about that. At one point, when he didn't feel like his head was actually slowly sliding off of his neck, he forced himself onto his legs, sighed deeply and looked at the miserable pile of wolves and half a sheep, before he grabbed Richard by the collar to pull him up was well. Was this guy good at playing dumb or just fucking wasted? "This was ... nice, but we should go", the prince announced and once he found that Richard could, indeed stand, he grabbed his hand instead and pulled him towards the door. "Any objections, pretty boy? If not, get a move on." How likely was it that Nayantai was going to gut them alive if they showed up at Richards place like this? "On a scale from one to I'm super fucked, what's going to happen if I drop you off at home like this? How many broken bones would your dad give me?"
      Looking back, it maybe is like the toy carts you rode when you were a kid. But those toy carts could never go beyond the walls of the lawn. We want to follow the rugged concrete road beyond the wall. As we've grown, we've decided to leave behind the toy cart.

    • Well Richard was good as long as he didn't need to pay however, he wasn't even sure what Yujin was hinting at. The game wasn't over as quickly as he thought, but he had won and then let other win and lose, because he wanted to keep his zero losses and Yujin, Quan and Kun needed to figure out who'd lose one more time and needed to pay up. In the end Richard kept watching and drinking, but he still couldn't figure out how he was suppose to inhale smoke without coughing it all out right away. He tried again, the more alcohol he drank, but he still didn't manage it. Also, he was hungry and had just eaten away on that candied fruit, because he was too stupid to use chopsticks and didn't want any more people to know exactly that. Still it wasn't only the booze that got to his head, he didn't need to smoke himself to be affected, but at first all it did was making him tired, great. Well actually if he just fell asleep he didn't need to deal with all those people, right? Eventually he let himself fall back on the pillows and just started to listen to the conversations the others had, all the while watching the smoke filling up the room and paint interesting figures. Eventually time flew by like this and he didn't even notice that the others stopped talking.

      Richard looked to his side when he felt movement and a shadow hovering above him. "Ugh... damn... can you be any less gentle?", Richard asked when he suddenly was pulled on his feet by his collar. His brain still functioned good enough to check the neckerchief around his neck and fix it to cover all it needed to. He'd gotten rid of his coat at some point, but that thing stayed on as always. Suddenly being on his feet wasn't pleasant at all and he was tired, though as always he didn't look forward to a good nights sleep, that was probably the reason he was still awake. "Stop pulling on me...", he grumbled, but followed Yujin who suddenly felt the strong urge to go home, what was up with that? "What's your problem?", he grumbled, well Richard actually had calmed down in the process but his chill mood was destroyed right here and now. Richard rubbed his eyes for a moment and then broke free and turned around to get his coat and put it on. He wasn't going to lose another one. "None. He's not violent and I can go home by myself.", Richard answered and eventually brushed past Yujin to get outside to breath in some fresh air. This wasn't the first time he was incredibly drunk, but there was something else mixed to it. Everything felt like it was turning, but not necessarily in a bad way, but he immediately took a break once outside and leaned against the next wall. It was dark outside... what the fuck?

    • They had had their fair share of fun in here, Yujin knew as much, but he wasn't going to get stifled by any more nonsense and wake up tomorrow in the same fucking booth to do the same fucking shit. Actually, once he was done here, he'd need some time away, not only from his friends but also from the booze and the smoke, lest he'd turn into someone like Quan who, by all means, should probably consider some substance withdrawal, at least for some time. Richard, on the other hand, had just dozed off then and there and while that, by all means, was nothing bad, the only thing that was left to consider was, well, the option of whether or not they were going to come back here anytime soon. The sheep would be welcome there without him anyway and as long as he could keep up with the games, he'd never have to pay for a single one of them, but that was about it - there didn't need to be anything else to it. "Did ... that actually hurt? Sorry, wasn't my intention. I can't feel myself all that well", Yujin grumbled, but at least he was genuine about it. Opium always took him out and if it didn't, for whatever reason, the alcohol put the nail in the coffin and seemingly lowered him five feet underground, too.

      "Sorry", the wolf mumbled and actually let go of the blonde, who was already inquiring why he'd been forced out of his comfortable catatonic state to get his ass up. The answer was, well, uh ... what exactly? "None, I just want to go home and save you the trouble of sharing a bed with one of those fuckers." They all had lost it completely and while Richard was elaborating on something, going on and on about it all, Yujin let it flow in through one ear and right out through the other, because, well, he wasn't a good listener to begin with and right about now, the only thing he wanted was to share a bed with someone that would at least be suffering from the same things tomorrow morning, nausea included. "If you say so", the wolf only chuckled, already trailing after that one guy that actually took all of this for a joke - yeah, Richard, couldn't smoke for shit, but he still spent hours inhaling the same air and he'd tried, even though his body wasn't actually into the mere idea of smoking to begin with. Outside, the cold and crisp air hit Yujin almost like a brick that fell right onto his head and he, like Richard, needed a second to compose himself. Yujin stretched himself, then went over to the guy that took a wall as his support. "Let's go home now before you decide that a nap in frigid snow is nice", he simply explained, already grabbing Richards hand again and dragging him along - they both needed a change of clothes, a bath before that and actually, his own bed sounded nice for a change, so off to the ice castle it was. "The stars are pretty nice!"
      Looking back, it maybe is like the toy carts you rode when you were a kid. But those toy carts could never go beyond the walls of the lawn. We want to follow the rugged concrete road beyond the wall. As we've grown, we've decided to leave behind the toy cart.

    • "You grabbed me by my collar, of course that hurt...somehow...", Richard gave back, actually he was pretty sure if he hadn't been wasted like that it would have hurt even more. Sometimes just a slight squeeze made his body tense when it came to any area around his neck, but it didn't matter anyway, not right now. The air outside felt nice, his eyes had become teary from all the smoke and he needed a while to get them to work again and not be all cloudy and somewhat itchy. Was he going to throw up? No, even though everything was kind of turning and packaged into some soft substance. Richards head felt heavy, but he actually managed to just lay there for hours without thinking of Adrestia, his brother, or his current situation, right? That was a good thing, though now he ruined it and let out a deep disappointed sigh, even though no one around him had any context. "Why sharing a bed? I can go home... and even if not, sharing a bad doesn't mean any more than that.", Richard answered puzzled. Yujin was the only one still concerned with who was going to fuck whom, right?

      Richards hand got grabbed once more and he again was pulled at to follow Yujin. He looked at the floor which moved strangely and then at the sky that Yujin mentioned. He actually looked there for a while before snapping out of it, not second guessing where he was going, but it soon enough got apparent. "I have an important question!", he suddenly announced. "Actually two.", he added and thought about it for a second. "Won't your father be mad about you coming home like that?", he asked, then shook his head, while he still stumbled after Yujin who dragged him through half of Silesse the second time today. At least he didn't carry him. "Doesn't matter but... are glasses in your castle made out of... well glass or ice? Because it's really hard to spot the difference and they wouldn't melt if it was ice they were made out of right?" That was apparently his important question right there and he had speculated about that fact a while when he was laying in all of those pillows. It was actually nice to think about something very very stupid for a change, even if he currently couldn't pick stupid and not stupid apart. "Your blanket's aren't made out of ice, right?", he also wanted to know, he'd be freezing! "Actually out here doesn't sound so bad..."

    • "Sorryyy", Yujin slurred his words at this point, but he wasn't actually not sorry - the thing was, well, he hadn't even thought about it hurting from there on out and had just taken it all in, had considered it to be the lesser one of all the evil things that could have happened and ... his own thoughts didn't make sense anymore, they were skipping point and places, they were trying to form coherent things out of stuff that never was meant to sound good from the getgo. "I mean fuck. If one of those guys drags you home, you're done for", he sighed, but that actually wasn't true, no, instead he felt like he was the one that somehow was getting jealous over what, exactly? Richard wasn't his and he had made it clear that he'd rather not be anyones anytime soon, if at all, but that was, again, something that Yujin neither wanted to see nor hear about, almost as if it didn't matter any longer and he'd already sent that girlfriend of his to hell, in his thoughts at least. Silence wasn't anything he wanted to deal with either, so, he wasn't going to quit yapping like the stupid little dog he was, wasn't he? "Actually, there's something I've wanted to tell you", Yujin mumbled, but that didn't go very far, instead, he looked out for Richard, lest he fell over his own feet.

      "You? ... Uh, yes? Ask away?" Was he less baked than Richard or had his personality just made a 180 degree turn? Since when was this guy actually having fun asking questions and not complaining about being guided around the entire place, dragged along by some prince? This was something new, but Yujin dragged it off, only to break out into laughter in the dead of the night. "My dad? No, we're fine - that's why I asked about yours", Yujin claimed, but it did depend on who saw him. If it was Muhan, all was fair game, if it was Shuren, he probably would have had some problems tomorrow, but drunk Yujin decided that sober Yujin would just take over by then and all was well. "I ... Richard, are you okay?", he suddenly giggled, stopping in his tracks for a moment and grinning at the blonde like the massive idiot he was. "We have, uh, like, uhm. Cups? But they're not made of glass ... we do have some glasswares? But if you ... like, um, made a cup out of ice, wouldn't that melt when it, like, touches your lips? Because they're warm?" Suddenly, as if to prove something, he got a bit closer to the blonde, but ... "I mean, I'm sure my lips are warm, I think ... yours?" What the fuck was going on here? And why on earth couldn't he talk like a normal person? "No, my bed's made of, uh, trees? Wood? Like, the frame. And uh, I, uhm. It's pretty comfortable. And I have more than one blanket, that's made of, uuuuh, wool?"
      Looking back, it maybe is like the toy carts you rode when you were a kid. But those toy carts could never go beyond the walls of the lawn. We want to follow the rugged concrete road beyond the wall. As we've grown, we've decided to leave behind the toy cart.

    • "I't fine...", Richard mumbled and still he let himself be dragged along. He wondered how late it was, it was dark outside and up until now he hadn't seen a single soul. Most of the windows were dark, no lights, most of the people probably slept until two idiots came by and talked way too loud fot the middle of the night. They were in there a whole fucking day, right? No wonder Richard felt weird and still a little bit hungry. Those tiny little snacks didn't really do much to feed him and he refused anything that would have needed chopsticks. "Done for? How... I can take care of myself...", Richard mumbled and looked at his hand for a moment. Yujin was the one holding it right now, dragging him home although Richard could have just went home to his own hut. Well actually he should, because Nayantai probably was worried sick when he didn't, but... what but? Whatever. "What makes you different? You're dragging me home too.", Richard inquired and looked up again at the back of Yujins head because there was nothing more to see right now. "What is it?", Richard asked, why didn't Yujin just tell him? He had no clue what it might have been, so he couldn't really speculate.

      Richard asked his questions, asked right away as he was told, only to have Yujin wake up even more people in the middle of the night with is laugh. "I mean you did spend almost a week in my bed, it's only fair if I get to use yours now.", Richard voiced his thoughts, somehow this made sense, right? And going home seemed too far of a journey, it probably took him more than fifteen minutes in his current state, if he even made it. Well he surely would actually. "Why wouldn't I be okay?", Richard asked, he felt fine, tired but fine. Richard almost ran into Yujin when he suddenly stopped, but he stopped as well, almost tumbled back a step again, but stood his ground and looked at Yujin who had turned around to him. It was kind of hard to focus on his face and the small clouds their breaths formed melted together while they stood there like this. Yujins explanation was hard to follow and Richard wasn't sure if the reason was that Yujin was just talking crap, or because Richards brain was already half asleep. Richard looked at Yujin without a single thought left in his head. "At the moment I'm actually very cold.", he answered truthfully, still standing there, looking in those blue eyes that reflected the moonlit sky. Richard actually chuckled the first time since he got here. "Sounds like you only have a frame and some blankets. Have you ever had your tongue stuck to something because of the cold?" That was a random question... well... Richard didn't know why he asked this.

    • "I'm glad", Yujin replied. They both weren't going to survive the night out here if they just spend it doing useless stuff, especially if they would only walk, then wake some people up, then fall on their faces and remain there and the next morning, they'd be human popsicles or something. Yujin wanted to spare himself and his little friend said fate, but that wasn't something new. Who actually wanted to freeze to death to begin with? All of that sounded somewhat counter-intuitive, all things considered, especially if one of them still wanted ... what did they even want, besides the obvious? "Uh, I don't doubt that but two people are always better than one, you know? And like this, I can just keep an extra eye on you!", the wolf proclaimed, even though Richard could probably defend himself if one of his not-yet-friends got rowdy or wanted something that he wasn't willing to give them just yet. In the end, it was up to the blonde if he even gave enough fucks about one of them to bed him, but whatever the reason, all of those were naught for the night. "I don't have any intentions to have sex with you, though!" And why was he acting like that was something special? Dear gods, he had a fucking girlfriend and somehow that was an achievement to him? Yikes. "Uh ... this is embarrassing but, it's kind of lonely having one big bed to myself, especially now that we shared one."

      There had to be some explanation for this, they had to come up with something and suddenly, he was more concerned about the what-if state of things than the actual things that were happening. What was he doing there? Claiming he wasn't going to fuck this guy despite fully intending to? Classy Yujin, classy. "Excuse me? Yes, yes it is." A drunk Richard, someone out of his mind, was funny and all jokes aside, they probably didn't even have time for something like considering if they wanted to sleep together, they were too fucking out of it - they would fall headfirst into his bed and then just doze off, until someone woke them up or they regained conciousness themselves. "We both did smoke quite a bit and uh, thrian liquor? But you look like someone that can hold his alcohol." If it was consumed in moderation, that was, especially now that both of them paid the price for being greedy and bored, without having eaten much to begin with. There would be a way to get something in the castle, once they got a move on, but right now, this was fine, wasn't it? "Come here, let me warm you up, then", he said, putting his arms - and parts of his own coat - around the blonde, that was actually getting giddier - and somehow prettier - by the minute. "I have a mattress too", he added, as if that was of any importance and then wondered what the blonde wanted to hear from him. "Uh, I guess so? Who hasn't? Jokes aside, do you want to ... uh, you know?"
      Looking back, it maybe is like the toy carts you rode when you were a kid. But those toy carts could never go beyond the walls of the lawn. We want to follow the rugged concrete road beyond the wall. As we've grown, we've decided to leave behind the toy cart.

    • It was cold, wasn't it? Alcohol usually kept Richard warm, not that he needed that in Adrestia, but it did, but here even that wasn't enough. When the sun was out, when it was day it was actually fine, even with his own clothes, but now, like this he started to shiver a little and his fingers felt stiff. They only left the hut minutes ago and yet he froze, Silesse at night was no joke and the longer the night went on the colder it would get. "Who's saving me from you though...?", Richard asked raising an eyebrow, but he soon enough got shut down anyway. "I know.", he pointed out, even know he remembered Yujins girlfriend, so of course he didn't want to sleep with him, not that it mattered to him, or did it? Whether he wanted to have sex or not, it kind of felt odd to be shut down like that. Oh well, who out here wanted a sheep anyway? "That's all?", Richard asked after Yujin told him what he wanted to get off his chest. He had expected something else, since he first made a secret out of it and made it sound like it was something special or outrageous. Maybe Richard had hoped Yujin had dumped his girlfriend, but why exactly? This was stupid.

      "Just don't brew me any tea!", he pointed out remembering the taste from last time even in this state. It had been horrible, it tasted like poison and medicine at the same time, both of which was disgusting. He really didn't want any tea, unless some of Yujins servants brewed one, then it probably was fine, they'd know how to. "Went to a party at least twice a week.", Richard explained, he knew how to drink even though he didn't for a while now and most of the time there was only wine in Adrestia, even though there was the possibility to get harder stuff too, especially stuff from Alster or Fhaergus. Stenz had some good stuff as well. Richard kept just standing there when Yujin suddenly put his arms around him that for some reason, even though it was freezing out here were warm. "I'd probably be less cold if we stopped standing her...", he pointed out, but he didn't move anyway. This was actually fine and slightly warmer than before, though it didn't help Richards hands much. "I haven't slept on a matress since I got here...", Richard pointed out, he didn't, just a mountain of fur, which was comfortable enough, but nothing like home. And there he thought Yujin slept on a block of ice, well maybe it was comfortable in his bed after all. "I haven't.", Richard answered as if this part of the conversation was of any importance. Then he looked at Yujin puzzled. "Do I want what?" Keep going? Yes?