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

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

tune

"Mmm, alright." Kuno nodded, gave the whole situation one last glance, and headed back towards his area. It was still pretty early in the day– the sun hadn't even reached its highest point yet– but he was already feeling tired. It made sense, seeing as he'd hardly slept the night before. Still, it was annoying. And since there was someone in there now– Kuno glanced over his shoulder at Theo– he couldn't have a quick nap like he used to be able to. If only he was able to find a spell that kept you awake. One probably existed, though if it had been documented properly was another matter entirely. Maybe he should take the afternoon off and try and find another spellbook. Kuno considered the idea for a couple of seconds, then shook his head. He couldn't do that now, there was someone there! And he didn't trust them enough to leave them alone in the library just yet. With a sigh, Kuno sat down and pulled over the next pile of unsorted books. Maybe if he skipped lunch he could go down there for an hour or so.

There were a lot of books. Theo started to wonder how long this would take them. At the rate they were going, maybe a couple of hours? As much as they loved the idea of working in a library, it's not like they wanted to do this all day. Ah well, today was a test run, of sorts. See how the day would go, then try to adjust how they pleased. They at least hoped they wouldn't take so long that they'd still be sorting into the hours of the night. They chuckled at the thought.
As he set a novella in the fiction stack, he heard a faint hiss. Looking over his shoulder, he could faintly see something crawling in through the window, seeming to be a rope with strange patterns on it. Theo groaned internally.
"Ko," he whispered. "What are you doing here? You're not supposed to be here."
The snake descended to the floor. It's cold in here, she complained.
"Then go back outside and sunbathe or something."
But I'm bored, she hissed, now making her way toward Theo.
He sighed. Ko was stubborn; it would be hard to get rid of her. "There's another human here. Just hide if you see him coming."
Or I could bite him. She stared with her unblinking coppery eyes.
"That is a very bad idea, Ko. Just hide, please."
Ko merely tasted the air with her tongue.

Kuno glanced up from his current book to see that the sun was almost directly above the building. Normally, he would wait a little longer so he didn't have to eat with everyone, but his assistant might be hungry. And he would have to show him where the kitchens were, which knocked simply dismissing him off the table. Kuno sighed softly and rose to his feet.
"It's time for a break," Kuno called, walking towards where Theo was. "I'll show you where the kitchen is." And he should probably show them the place where most of the other people ate, too. He himself ate most meals in the garden, next to the water lily pond. It was quieter there, and if someone joined him, he was actually able to hear them. Kuno stopped a few feet away from Theo, waiting for them to get up and follow him.

(snek shenanigans hehehe)
Ko was already well hidden behind the bookshelves anyway, so Theo relaxed some and had returned to sorting books by the time Kuno came over.
“Hmm?” He looked up from his work to realize that a hollowness had settled in his stomach. “Ah, a break would be appreciated. Thank you.”
They got up, only to feel Ko coiling herself around his leg. Adventure! Her tongue flicked out excitedly.
They resisted the urge to groan with annoyance. “Excuse me, just a moment?”
He uncoiled Ko from his leg, hissing in surprise, then folded up his pant leg so Ko could curl up around it, then pulled the pant leg over her so she would be hidden.
“No biting,” he whispered forcefully.
Biting? Me? Ko seemed to make a sh, sh, sh, sound, possibly laughter. Never.
Theo rolled his eyes, trying to get used to the cold scaly body wrapped around his leg. He straightened and followed after Kuno, folding his hands behind his back.

(Ha, indeed!)
Kuno led his new assistant out of the library and through the palace. It was a large place, mostly because of the many courtyards dotted around. It could be a bit of a maze, but Kuno had found his way around pretty quickly. Theo could probably figure it out too. On the way to the kitchen, they passed a few people, each giving him a quick nod and a 'tae-Kuno'. He returned the nod, slightly embarrassed he couldn't return the greeting. There were too many new people, and he'd spent a lot of the time they'd all used to get to know each other… well, recovering. They finally reached the kitchen, where there were people he actually knew. "Here's the kitchen. The common dining room is down the hall and to the left. Just come back to the library when you're ready." Kuno nodded at Theo, then stepped into the kitchen. His words were probably a little too distant, weren't they? "Um… you can also eat in the garden if you want. I can show you the way," He added, glancing over his shoulder at Theo.

Theo followed, trying to keep track of where they were going, but it was a little distracted by the snake coiled around their leg. I'm getting dizzy, stop moving so much, she would complain, and then the next moment go, You're so much warmer than that library!
When they reached the kitchen, Theo felt themself becoming rather uncomfortable with all the people around. It was too much for them, and besides, going by themself would reduce the chance of someone asking questions, or Ko getting paranoid and causing an incident. Even staying with the one person who happened to be their parents' murderer was better than being stuck with all these Opreian folk.
He nodded. "Yes, I'd like to see the garden, please."

Kuno silently cursed but managed to keep his face and voice mostly neutral. "Okay. Let's get some food first." He waved towards the spread of food. It looked like today was bunyu-gune (a simple soup of noodles and vegetables) and sol-majey (a small cornmeal cake). Kuno ladled himself a serving of the soup, adding a cake to the side before heading out a different door. They could go back the way they'd come, but it would take longer. At this point, he was assuming that Theo was following him. He should have been nicer, but it was annoying that his lunch was getting interrupted by someone he didn't know. Then again, this could be Sol's way of encouraging him to get to know his new assistant better.

They dutifully followed behind him, helping themself to a serving of soup. A homesickness started coming over them, as they wished it was the classic seafood dishes of their homeland that were being served, not… this. It would be suspicious of them to complain though, so they remained silent.
He stared at Kuno. He got the feeling that the other man was once again annoyed, and he once again wondered why.
Can I bite him now? Ko’s question held an eager tone.
He rolled his eyes. “No,” he said, hoping the hum of chatter in the room would hide his voice from Kuno.

Kuno glided down a hallway that quickly emptied into the gardens. They were decently large, full of native plants and trees. Kuno paused briefly in front of a bed of solar qbi-kiqei, small golden flowers he used for spells, to inspect them. They'd been planted recently, and though it wasn't his job, he wanted to make sure they were doing okay. They really were beautiful flowers. The flowers seemed to be doing wonderfully, so Kuno moved on. The path wound through a small grove of delicate trees and ended at a large pond dotted with white water lilies. Kuno headed towards a low table sitting near the pond and sat down. He'd managed to set down his food and settle down before he remembered that Theo was also there. "Oh, uh… feel free to sit down." Kuno waved at the table, then glanced towards the pond. Sol, he really needed to work on his social skills. This was just getting painful.

Theo looked all around, the beauty of the flora around them capturing their eye at every turn. They didn't have plants like this back home, in Indri. Theo was usually more interested in the fauna rather than the flora, but curiosity tugged at his mind, and he couldn't help but ask, "What are those flowers?" when they stopped at the bed of golden blooms.
The table was placed in the perfect spot, Theo had to admit. No one else was around, and the scenery was quiet and beautiful. For a moment they stood there, staring at their surroundings before they heard Kuno speak. They nodded and sat down. Ko, finally sensing that they at finally stopped moving, uncoiled herself from their leg. Theo resisted the urge to shudder as the imprint of her body was left on his shin.
Still wary of the soup, he stirred it absentmindedly as he took to staring at the librarian, seeing if he could gauge his weight and height. He did not have the best social skills either if he was being honest. He wasn't sure how or if he wanted to strike up a conversation.

"Those flowers?" Kuno asked, frowning at Theo in confusion. "Solar qbi-kiqei. Golden dew-blood, if you want it in Neza." Anyone should know what those flowers were since they were such an important flower. Then again… many of the occasions when that flower had been used had to be stopped during the war. Still, it was a little odd.
Kuno quickly put that thought out of his mind. Being suspicious of everyone had been a good habit to have during the war, but it would only cause trouble now. People tended not to like being suspected of some dark secret. In order to keep the thought out, Kuno reached into his menileofe, a small pouch that hung on his waist, and pulled out a book too large to actually fit in there. Theo didn't appear to want to talk, so he wasn't going to make things painful and try to have a conversation with them. The book contained spells, both ones he knew and ones he was trying to learn. Kuno flipped to a particularly interesting one he'd yet to get a hang of and studied the page, taking bites of his soup as he did. Every once in a while, he would mutter a few words under his breath.

“Ah,” Theo said quickly. “Just needed to recall the name.”
He cursed himself for not holding his tongue. Clearly his asking questions looked suspicious, and he was going to risk discovery if he keep looking for answers via conventional means. Perhaps there was something in the library he could take a look at to familiarize himself.
They continued to stare at Kuno. It was hard to tell how tall he was when sitting, and the weight was especially hard when he had the table in the way. Of course, they could come up with random estimates, but Theo didn’t want to make a mistake. They sighed, finally deciding to try the soup. It was surprisingly much better than expected. They switched their focus between their food and Kuno’s book. They felt Ko slither up his arm and curling around his shoulder, flicking her tongue in Kuno’s direction. Theo sighed. I guess there’s no way to talk her out of this. Can’t hide her now, he grunted silently.

"Hmm, alright." Kuno went back to reading, moving on to the next spell. He quickly finished his soup and moved on to the sol-majey. After finishing that, Kuno cast a quick glance at Theo to see if he was done eating. He froze, staring in confusion at the snake on Theo's shoulder.
"You have a snake?" Kuno tried, pointing at the snake in case Theo wasn't aware. Well, he was probably aware. He just wanted to make sure. It would be a real shame to have his assistant get hurt on the first day, though that would allow Kuno to try one of his newer healing spells. Apparently, it was a combination spell for both healing and purifying water. Very interesting, and it worked for water, but he didn't know about the healing part. No one had gotten poisoned recently, and he doubted they would let him try to help him with a spell that may or may not work. He could probably poison himself and try it out, though that posed the question of what poison to use… Kuno shook his head and focused back on Theo. This wasn't the time to think about all that.

Theo sighed. “Yes, I have a snake. And she’s really annoying and obnoxious, so just a warning. But she doesn’t bite. Do you, Ko?” he glanced at her pointedly.
Was it glee that was sparkling in those slitted eyes? I want to bite something, she said.
“Then at least bite something that’s not one of us,” he groaned. “And let me eat in peace.”
But that means moving away from youuu, the snake whined. Biting ball?
They sighed again and reached into their pocket, producing a thick wad of cloth and handing it to Ko. Like lightning she struck it, burying her fangs in the cloth. She hissed with satisfaction.
Theo carefully let go and let her have it. He returned to eating, avoiding eye contact with Kuno.

"Ah. Okay." Kuno stared at Theo. He didn't really care about the snake– he'd had lots of experiences with them, especially in his childhood. Still, he thought it was a bit weird that Theo had one as a pet. Maybe that was just because he'd never had a pet himself. Kuno looked back down at his book and figured he could take a little time to make a few new jars. He didn't want to go back to the library just yet, but he also didn't want to move to somewhere else. Hopefully, Theo wouldn't ask any questions about it. That was why Kuno generally practiced magic and did anything related to magic away from people. They asked too many questions. He liked to answer questions, especially about magic, but too many were too much for him. Kuno pulled a pair of small jars and a couple of lengths of silver twine out of his menileofe and set them by his book.

“And before you ask, she’s not my pet,” Theo said. He’d gotten questions and comments before about his snake friends being pets, and he wanted to get it over with before it happened again this time. “She’s my friend. An annoying one, but a friend nonetheless.”
As they ate, they watched Kuno in fascination. They weren’t really the type to delve into magic or anything of that sort, especially of the Opreian kind, but seeing Kuno now made him curious. He simply waited to see if Kuno would do anything with the jars and twine.
Keeping his eyes on the other man, they asked, “Ko, when was the last time you ate?”
Three days ago. Her hiss was muffled.
“Then why do you feel the need to bite?”
She seemed to make a hmph sound. There’s a difference between feeling hungry and wanting to bite, dummy.
Theo rolled their eyes. “Whatever. It just came into my mind.”
They went quiet, still watching Kuno but trying to avoid eye contact.

"Oh." Kuno nodded, picking up one of the pieces of twine. A snake as a friend… well, he didn't have anything to say about it. He carefully tied the twine around the neck of the jar, double knotting it. "Tejen", Kuno whispered, running his fingers over the knot. That spell wasn't necessary, but it did ensure the jars lasted much longer. The first time he'd made these types of jars, he hadn't done that spell and the twine had unknotted after a while. He'd reached into his menileofe one day to find it full of powdered charcoal. That was something he never wanted to happen again. Kuno glanced over at Theo, but they seemed to be having a nice time talking with their snake. He looked back at the jar and linked pointer fingers over it. "Enal." The twine flashed gold for a second, then reverted back to its normal silver. Kuno reached down and picked a small stone from the ground, dropping it into the jar. He was pretty sure it has worked, what with the flashing and all, but it never hurt to check. Kuno picked up the jar and flipped it over. The stone fell but stopped at the mouth as if it was covered in glass. Success. He picked the stone out and threw it back onto the ground. Now the next one.

Well, it seems they didn’t have to worry about eye contact. Kuno looked way too focused on his magic anyway. Theo couldn’t blame him, their own gaze was glued to what he was doing. Their eyes widened as the twine flashed gold, and they leaned forward slightly when the stone stopped at the mouth of the jar. He was reluctant to admit to himself that he was impressed. This was Opreian magic. Wasn’t it evil? Wasn’t this the same magic that imbued the blade with the power to slice mother and father’s necks? Why then, was it so fascinating, so captivating to watch? Perhaps that is why they died. The magic held them fixed, they couldn’t react fast enough. Theo couldn’t stop a bitter chuckle from escaping him. Well, they hadn’t seen the sword being enchanted, of course. That seemed to be the fascinating thing about this. Knowing what was done to allow a mundane object to do incredible things, seeing it for yourself- that was what mother and father were unaware of. Was it possible they didn’t know? Had they told them that this was evil merely because they had seen it do evil things?
He felt something soft rub against his cheek. “Stop it, Ko.” He pushed away the snake, who had been shoving the cloth ball in his face out of pure desire for attention.
You’re mean. She hissed, slithering around his neck and stopping at his other shoulder.

Kuno repeated the process with the other jar, doing the same checks he did with the first one. He carefully set the two new jars into his menileofe. They would be filled later. Kuno looked over at Theo when he heard the laugh coming from their direction.
"Are you okay?" Kuno asked, glancing between Theo and his snake. Hopefully, he hadn't just been laughing with his snake, and Kuno just randomly butted in on their conversation. Still, he was rather protective of his magic. After the end of the war, he turned to magic to keep his mind off of… everything, really. It was something he loved, and on top of that, it meant safety. It was Sol's blessing to the Gealei people, after all. Kuno was pretty sure he needed a blessing or two. "Um, never mind. Are you done eating?" He glanced down at the table, eager to get the rest of the day over with. After he finished his work in the library, he would go down to the beach and work on his attack spells. It was always nice there, and attack spells were always fun.

Theo glanced up at him. "Hmm? Yeah, I'm fine. Why do you ask?" Then he registered that Kuno said never mind. "Oh. Um…" He glanced down at his bowl, surprised to find it nearly empty. Did he really find the dish that good? Well, he still didn't think it compared to the Indrian shark fin soup. He pushed the bowl away from him. "I'm done. You want to head back to the library?"

"Mmm, iesa." Kuno nodded and stood. "We should take these back to the kitchen." He picked up his dish and started back down the path. After a few steps, Kuno glanced behind him to make sure Theo was following. Given that they had needed guidance to get to the kitchen, he guessed they would need help to get back too. Unless they had managed to memorize the path in one go. That was a small chance, though, and he didn't want to abandon Theo in the gardens. "I apologize if I'm acting rude. It's not my intention. I haven't had a lot of social interactions in the past…" He trailed off, trying to figure out just how long it had been. "Year, I think." Kuno glanced back again to give Theo a small smile. Hopefully, that would make up for all his ignoring and such.

Theo followed behind him, holding his bowl with Ko still around his neck. He was about to ask the snake to hide somewhere so no one in the kitchen would be alarmed, when he saw Kuno turn back to him.
They raised their brow, though not because of Kuno’s lack of social interaction. It may just be because he didn’t know the truth about them, but they hadn’t thought he would be so considerate. It was once again difficult to imagine this man as the one to kill mother and father, but of course, that didn’t matter.
“Oh no, you aren’t being being rude,” they said. “I haven’t had a lot of social interaction either… at least, with other humans.”
He didn’t return the smile, but a strange feeling rose faintly in the back of his mind as he looked upon it. He blinked, quickly dismissing the feeling as he murmured for Ko to hide under his sleeve. Once she did, he continued walking with Kuno.