forum secrets only the sun knows // O/O // Closed

Started April 23, 2021 by @MarDeColores this is not it kids

tune

"Nothing, just…" Elia glanced at Lainei. "Tell us if there's something wrong, okay? I know this is going to be hard, no matter what the outcome will be and we just want you to know that we're here for you. Everyone is. You don't have to go through this alone." Kuno blinked, the answer surprising him. He'd thought they wanted him to do a sweep of the area, or maybe figure out something else. But they'd just… wanted to let him know they were there for him. It was nice, he supposed. Though he didn't like that they saw through him so easily.
"I… uh, thanks," Kuno managed, blinking at them. "If there's nothing else, I should go check in on Theo."
"Ah, yes, your assistant, right? How is he doing, by the way? If they want to get out now, I'm sure we can manage it," Lainei said.
"I already offered that. They said they didn't want to leave." Kuno explained. The queens nodded slowly, seeming vaguely disappointed in the answer. It was understandable–the fewer people they had to worry about, the better. "Don't worry, I'll take care of him." He bowed his head to the queens, then hurried out of the room. Theo would probably be in the library still. Kuno needed to figure out where he was staying and direct him to somewhere safer if it was in a dangerous part of the palace.

Theo closed his eyes. He still felt lightheaded, so he tried to breathe deeply. What was going on? They had gotten sick before, but this was something else. Slowly, slowly, he pulled themself to their feet, holding on to the bookshelf. Something in his head cleared, but he still felt unsteady.
“You didn’t bite me, did you Ko?” They asked.
Of course not, you would have found the bite mark first thing.
Theo chuckled softly. “Just wondering.”
Still moving quite slowly, they made his way around the library. Maybe you were moving too much, so your body wants you to stop moving, Ko suggested.
“I’m sure… I’m sure I haven’t been in here that long,” he murmured. They stopped and shut their eyes again, putting a hand over his face.
Theo?
“Just… just give me a moment,” they murmured. He sank to the floor again.

Kuno pushed the door to the library open quietly. His movements were slow, the events of the day starting to catch up to him. "Theo?" Kuno called, glancing around the library. "Are you still in here?" He started walking through the shelves, looking up and down for Theo. "Theo?" Something caught his eye at the edge of one of the bookshelves, something that didn't look like books. In fact, it looked like Theo. "Theo!" Kuno gasped, hurrying towards them. "Is everything okay?" There was a chance he'd just sat down to take a break, but Kuno wasn't taking any chances after everything that had happened today.

Theo tried to breathe, but it never seemed to be enough. Heavy breathing turned more labored.
“Why is everything so bright…?” He kept his hand over his face, not realizing that Kuno was there, calling their name. Suddenly, the lights in their vision seemed to dim, and they became aware of Kuno’s presence.
“Kuno…” he murmured. “Oh, I’m fine. It’s alright. I just feel weird.”
That seems to be a horribly inaccurate description of your predicament right now, he heard Ko say. She had slithered onto their shoulder, though Theo couldn’t tell if that made things better or worse.
“Shut up, Ko…” he coughed. “I’m fine, I’ll get over it.”
There was a ringing in his ears now. They groaned and swayed a little, so they shut their eyes and tried to steady himself. The ringing grew louder. His muscles failed him, and everything went dark.

Kuno dropped down in front of Theo, eyebrows furrowed in concern. They didn't look alright, not at all. He had no idea what was wrong with them, though. "Theo, I don't think–" Theo started to sway, his eyes closing, and Kuno was suddenly very sure that he wasn't okay at all. "Theo!" Kuno lunged forward, catching him before he could fall over and hit their head. "Ajix," he cursed, carefully laying Theo down on the ground. "Theo, nanar wuj!" Kuno leaned over him, gently tapping his cheek. Sol, this wasn't doing anything. He needed to get Theo some help, and this sure wasn't it. He did know a spell for waking someone up, but the ingredients were back in his room. He hadn't thought it was a spell for everyday use, though he was regretting that now. Kuno had no idea what had happened to Theo, but maybe if he could wake them up and ask, he might be able to help. Kuno carefully picked Theo up and started towards the door as fast as he could. Sol, let this not be something serious. He didn't want to… he didn't want anything to happen to them.

Just before Theo fell, Ko slithered out of the way. She circled back and curled up on his chest, hissing and flickering her tongue at them. She stayed there, hitching a ride when Kuno picked Theo up.

Mother and Father were angry. He was sure of it. He could feel it. They could feel something else too. Fear, perhaps? Was it their own? It was big, rooting itself at the base of his skull. His fear was like a chalice, holding Mother and Father’s rage inside. What had they done? Was this their punishment? Were they hurting him?
I’m sorry. I’m sorry, I’m sorry. I don’t know what I did but I’m sorry. Please. I want to die, but not like this. Not by your hand. Please. I’m sorry.

Kuno received a few strange looks as he hurried back towards his rooms, but he ignored them. They could wonder about it all they wanted. He just needed to get Theo awake.
"Sol, please help them," Kuno murmured in Oprei, trying to open the door to his room without jostling Theo and his snake too much. It took too long, but everything was taking too long in his opinion. He kicked the door closed and headed straight for his bed to lay Theo down. "Where is it, where is it?" Kuno muttered under his breath, starting to riffle through his many jars of spell components. "Ah, thank Sol." Kuno pulled a jar full of dried flowers about the size of his thumb from a shelf and crossed back over to Theo. Kneeling beside them, Kuno retrieved one of the light orange flowers and placed it on their forehead. "Nanar," he whispered, gently pressing the flower into Theo's forehead. It burst into a shower of orange sparks a second later. Now all he could do was wait. If Theo didn't wake up… Kuno didn't want to think about what had happened to him.

After some seconds, Theo stirred. Ko flickered her tongue and slithered off of his chest, which heaved, rising and falling. Their eyes fluttered open, but then they quickly closed again. His lip curled back and a moan forced its way out. Everything felt heavy. Everything was brighter than it should be.
They stayed still, breathing heavily with their eyes closed. For a moment they could not remember anything. What was going on? Where was he? Then he felt something cold touch his hand, something scaly. A snake. Ko. Memories began filtering into his mind. They tried opening his eyes again and found Kuno facing him.
"Kuno…" they rasped. "Wh– what…"

"You're awake," Kuno whispered, the statement more for him than it was for Theo. "You collapsed in the library. I didn't know what had happened to you, so I brought you here to wake you up." He set the jar of flowers on a nearby table. "Are you thirsty?" Not the most constructive question, but it was the only thing he could think of. "What can I do to help you feel better?" He asked next, hoping it was something he could do. If not, then he supposed he could take Theo to the healers. The only problem with that option was that the healers were very busy with everyone who'd been injured earlier in the day and probably couldn't help Theo for quite a while.

Theo stared at him for what felt like a long time. Everything was heavy. He didn’t want to move. He was now aware of the pain at the base of the back of their skull. And yet, more then that, the strange emotions from earlier returned, now more violent than before. Something like sorrow, like grief, or regret, stood at the forefront. Their brow knotted together and their lip quivered. What was happening to him?
He answered none of Kuno’s questions. Instead he murmured, “I’m sorry. I’m really sorry, Kuno.” They took a careful, shaky breath. “You— We’re at the brink of war, and I’m sure you’re stressed already, and I just had to go and pass out like this. I don’t want you to worry about me. You shouldn’t have to. I’m just…” the pain made him groan and shut their eyes again. They trailed off, clenching his jaw and small beads of sweat forming on his forehead.

(I'm mostly alive! Hi. Sorry for the long wait. :)
"No, no, you're alright," Kuno murmured, shaking his head. What Theo had said was true, but he didn't really care about that right now. All his attention was focused on the person lying on his bed. The impending war didn't exist inside these rooms. It couldn't or he'd lose his mind. At Theo's groan, Kuno quickly reached into his menileofe and pulled a jar of solar qbi-kiqei petals out. "Here, eat one of these," Kuno said, pulling a petal out and whispering "lei ujai" over it. "It should take the pain away." He held the petal against Theo's lips, not wanting to make them move any more than they had to. He hoped to Sol this would help them. It was terrible seeing them in pain and feeling as though he couldn't do anything about it.

(Hello! Missed you! ^^)

It would have taken too much energy to resist or say no, so Theo took the petal in his mouth. It was then he realized that everything felt numb, too. They swallowed it with difficulty, and afterwards returned to more labored breathing.
“I’m sorry,” they murmured again. He closed his eyes. “I… I deserve this anyway. Just don’t worry about it.”
Gradually, their muscles relaxed and the pain receded. They did not notice though, as he was still numb and focused on breathing.

(Once again, a long wait. I apologize. Life has kicked me in the face. I'll try to be more consistent in the future. :)

"There's no need to be sorry, Theo," Kuno said, putting the jar back in its spot. He pushed some hair out of his face, carefully inspecting their face. "What do you mean, you deserve this? The only ones who could possibly deserve this would be the canyu and those who followed them. And I'm sure they're paying for their crimes in menile-muna. Those who perished in the war, anyways," Kuno sighed softly, wishing he hadn't brought up the canyu. Especially with what was going on at the moment. Still, he wanted to comfort Theo as best as he could. He had no idea why they thought they deserved feeling like that, but he didn't like it. They were a wonderful person as far as he could tell, and wonderful people didn't deserve to feel so terrible.

(It’s okay! As you can see, I’m also having trouble staying consistent, and life has also been kicking me in the face :)

Theo was quiet, staring at the man. They let out a shaky sigh as he mentioned the ’canyu.’ Why did he have to bring them up? Why did he bring the war up, too? This was a bad time. Mother and Father might haunt him now too, if they haven’t been already.
His eyes opened, but they glanced away from Kuno.
“This must be… a punishment,” he murmured. “I must have done something. Or I didn’t do something.”

(Just two writers getting slowly kicked down the road of life, except life seems to be aiming for our faces. I love that for us. :)

Kuno carefully adjusted his sitting position, figuring he was going to be staying there for a while. Well, no, he was. It was his choice. He'd stay there as long as Theo needed him.
"A punishment?" Kuno echoed, frowning lightly at Theo. They weren't looking at him. What had they thought they'd done to receive such a punishment? "I… I don't think Sol would do something like this," he muttered, shaking his head slowly. "But is there anything I can do to help?" Kuno asked, completely changing the subject. What they were talking about now seemed to not be helping Theo in the least bit, so he figured it was best to stop talking about it entirely.

“I don’t think it’s Sol who is punishing me,” Theo whispered, almost imperceptibly. They watched as Ko wrapped herself around his arm, flicking her tongue out affectionately. She seemed to be worried, though she did not really understand the concept of punishment, and so had nothing to say. He appreciated her being here though. The feeling of her body around their arm made them feel more stable, like he was actually here.
“If I am being punished, then there is nothing you can do. I deserve this,” he replied. Still, they avoided Kuno’s eyes.