[ What really brings him here? There's no way that Leona doesn't know... Not with how quick witted he is. ]
What I said wasn't a lie, Leona. [ Not using the nicknames here. ] The pool of people I genuinely like isn't very big so yes. I get concerned when I don't see them for a while.
[ So yeah. Part of him is here because he likes Leona and wants to see how he is doing. ]
That's the entire truth. I'm just here to see how you are doing.
[ There's just... Several steps in that process. ]
Using the shellphone is different from seeing someone in person. Even then you leave me on read some of the time.
[ A smile does start to show on his features. A small one. Appreciative of the fact that Leona is starting to... Well relax isn't the word for it. At least he doesn't look cranky. ]
Sure, I do have questions, but I like puzzles and secrets. Something like what your schoolmate mentioned though just causes some red flags. Between what he said and what I saw on your desk, I just want to know that things are all right.
[ He sighs and rubs the back of his neck. Maybe... Context is needed? Just a little. ]
I might be overthinking it, Leona. Usually you wouldn't need to measure your magic output and be mindful of consequences if it was just exhaustion. Crest holders aren't any different in some cases. We can overuse our abilities as well. For me, that might just make me pass out. For others, they'll... [ Claude pinches the area between his nose. ] We call them Demonic Beasts. They lose all their humanity and there's no way to bring them back.
[ So yeah. Consider him... Concerned because it hits a little close to home? ]
[Leona listens and that…hits a little too close to home. Except that it’s not caused by corruption from cursed relics. Demonic beasts. It isn’t too far from Phantoms or Direbeasts.]
I’m fine. It’s just a precaution.
[Maybe. He’s taken a look at his pen. There’s…more black than he’d like.
He seems to turn something over in his mind before he exhales.]
[ Yeah see... He's not so sure about that, Leona. Claude isn't sure that the other is actually fine. He's seen the lion really use magic without much of a care about how much he's using. That makes Khalid really uneasy.
But he's following after Leona. Hoping for another explanation. ]
[ Khalid enters the study right behind Leona. Sort of. He leans against the door frame as Leona heads to the desk. The question is surprising, though he mouths "octopunk" as if trying to figure out what that nickname means. ]
It's just the immediate direction my mind went in, Leona. [ Still using names! ] You're talking about a device that is supposed to warn you if you're overusing magic. There wouldn't really be a need for that if there wasn't some detrimental effect. Given how the guy's enthusiasm in sharing all of the sudden shifted, my guess is that it's a big deal.
[ He just doesn't know how MUCH of a big deal or what, exactly, happens. ]
Knowing that and considering the passing glances at your work I've taken, I'm guessing magic stones play into that system. It's a system that might need to be replenished, like the crystals in the lamp posts and other sources of light we have here.
Same but not quite. The stones are…there in case the one I use suddenly breaks for whatever reason. Or get taken.
[But Leona isn’t getting to the matter of hand. Not yet. It seems like he’s trying to figure out how much he wants to reveal and how much to keep quiet.
An exhale.]
You’re not wrong though that the stones are to measure out magical output. But there are other factors that can come into play as well if Azul or I aren’t careful. Factors such as negative emotions.
[Leona finally takes out his pen, the orange magestone glistening in the light that combs through the windows in the room before he places it onto the table. There for Khalid to come closer and see if he wants. If he’s that worried.]
Do you recall when I told you about Phantoms back in my world?
Aaaaand why would one suddenly break for any reason? Surely if they measure magic then they aren't overly fragile.
[ Just saying! And no, it's not really getting to the matter at hand. Thankfully, Khalid doesn't have to press. Leona is talking once again. About him and Azul and being careful. Negative emotions...
But he's looking at the pen, at the stone. He doesn't know what he's looking for though. Yet the stone itself isn't sparkly clean. ]
They aren’t, but not anything is truly unbreakable. At some point, everything breaks.
[There are splotches of black in the stone itself. Nothing that covers it entirely, but enough to be noticed. To be concerned about if Khalid knew the truth. Which he will.]
Phantoms are mages who Overblotted; which means that they have overused their magic past the point of exhaustion, pushing past the threshold mages place on themselves. Blot itself can heal as long as a mage rests properly and stop using their magic so much, but combined with intense negative emotions, it can easily push that mage over the edge. The mage will start “bleeding” ink from their person until that ink consumes them entirely and turn them into something else.
[He pauses here, looking at his stone. At his notes.]
[ There's a nod. It's like as he had mentioned before with the cages. Not everything holds forever.
And now that Leona is providing more context, it's barely noticeable but the grip on that pen does tighten. Yeah, he's concerned. Now he understands Leona's silence and tenseness earlier. Khalid hadn't thought that what happens to people who overuse Crests or try to use relic weapons without a crest would necessarily happen elsewhere. Yet it feels so very, very similar.
Now Claude knows that Leona gets plenty of sleep. So the fact that there are still black dots here... ]
[Leona just presses his lips together. Gives Khalid a look.
He knows Khalid can put the pieces together. That Leona sleeps, but he doesn’t necessarily sleep. He’s always on guard, always tense despite his lethargic attitude. But it really boils down to one main fact: his emotional state.
He’s always known his emotional state hadn’t been the best. It’s what led to his overblot, after all. The way that he’d just give up halfway through of doing something when it seems like nothing was truly working out. The way he’d eventually find everything meaningless.]
[ That's not the voice of the carefree man that Leona's more accustomed to hearing. His voice has a very no-nonsense tone to it. The one that a general in the midst of issuing orders would give.
Considering it's also tied to my emotional state, it's not something that'll go away easily.
[Not unless Leona reaches that point of apathy he's been to before his overblot. Before he feels too intensely with his nerves all raw after being brutally attacked verbally like Lilia like that. He likes to think he's gotten better since then, but well, after a whole night of fighting Phantoms and preventing Idia from reducing the entire world into shadows, his blot levels are high again.
Also, it's not exactly an answer, but one at the same time.]
[ Well that certainly does shut Claude up for a moment. Not because Leona said anything that's really hurtful or a final say on the matter. More because his hand his covering his mouth. A sure sign that Khalid is starting to line pieces up and maybe come up with a plan. ]
So then we need to work on your emotional state.
[ He sighs and rubs the back of his neck. ]
Which would be much easier for you to address if you'd be honest with yourself. Even I know the healing process can't really start until you let go of things that are holding you back.
[Don't call him out here. He already knows that. The problem is actually letting go and possibly confronting everything that's been plaguing him since he was a young cub.
His lips twist a bit. Not quite a frown. But...confused.]
Why do you care?
[And don't say it's because they're friends. This level of concern is new for the lion and coming from Khalid, of all people? It throws him off. It's part of the reason why he's kept his distance from him before.]
[ Why do you care... It's a legitimate question. Because he hasn't involved himself too deeply in anyone's problems. Khalid is a man that likes puzzles. Prying secrets out from someone. He enjoys those things and then eh. Usually leaves it like that. This time? Not so much. ]
To be honest, I'm still figuring that part out. I love finding out other peoples' secrets. Mostly, I like being around interesting people. You are interesting enough to hold my attention, but even I realize I don't completely have an answer to that.
[ And honesty is not something that Khalid offers to just anyone. Of course, when he thinks about it. ]
Part of me can rationalize it by saying that, at one point, I might have become you. My parents and Nader cared about me a lot, but it was always "you're not Almyran enough" from a lot of people. Nothing I could achieve would be able to overpower that perception. What I found in Fodlan were people that just didn't care what my origins were and that changed a lot.
It's easy to think about in that way. The idea that one is never enough for the other parties involved. Except Khalid was able to find that group of people in another country where they didn't care about his origins. About who he was.
Leona can't...quite agree. It was never just about his people's opinions on him. From birth, he's been compared to Falena. His kind, older brother who now rules as acting king of their country. How despite all of the effort he's put into for getting acknowledgment from others, they've always chosen to focus on how he wasn't like Falena instead. How the servants kept a distance from him because of his signature spell, the way he can easily turn their country into a wasteland if King's Roar ever spiraled out of control.
Night Raven College had been his escape the moment Cheka was born. Another physical reminder that he will never get that acknowledgement he secretly, so desperately, craved from his own family. Even his own peers don't take him as seriously and he knows that.
A deep breath. Inhale. Exhale. The black splotches in his gem seems to move, but at least it doesn't increase.]
You were lucky then to have been able to find that kind of support.
[Leona can play off as confident as anyone can. Don't show how words can hurt. Don't show any weakness. It's how he's learned to protect himself over the years against the vicious words he's so used to hearing.]
You're right. I was. If I hadn't met Teach and the others my heart wouldn't have been able to open up at all.
[ He sees the dark spots move around. Even if he hadn't just discovered what that is all about, Khalid can tell that Leona is going through it internally.
So he picks up the pen and carefully takes Leona's hand. Places that pen in it and curls Leona's hand around it. Still between his own. ]
The reality is, I wasn't too different when I went to the officer's academy. I used my light-hearted personality and breezy attitude to keep people at a distance. It was better that way. Easier. So I wouldn't be hurt.
[ Khalid shrugs. Offers a crooked grin. ]
I see you, Leona, and I can't say that I find anything lacking. So I'll be there to help, if and when you finally accept that.
[A slightest bit of twitch when Khalid takes his hand, eyes dropping down to the pen he's now holding. How warm Khalid's hand feels against his. But his eyes are focused on the stone.]
Aren't you still a bit afraid now?
[His paranoia. The way he can smell the poison on Khalid even when the other man moves along with his life.
There's...a certain stillness at his words though.
"I see you."
It causes...a stir in his chest. Almost like an ache in his heart but...not entirely a bad one. It's...warm. Hits that inner child of him that has always cried out to be seen. Khalid can feel the way he stills at that, the slight widening of his eyes and how his ears flick forward in his direction.]
Part of me might always be a little afraid. You saw my Crest activate. Now imagine being a child and receiving a fatal blow from the fifth assassin sent that week. A part of me is always going to place a dagger under my pillow but I've moved on from lethal poisons to paralytics?
[ An uneasy chuckle there. ]
No one's perfect, Leona. That's what makes us dazzlingly human. We are capable of growth and change.
[ Leona still feels pretty tense. Of course Khalid knows that the ears mean that Khalid has Leona's full attention. But the rest of the expression kind of. Hmmm. He doesn't know what to make of it. ]
It just means that we can both work on it a little more.
[That's not...exactly a comforting chuckle. He can hear the uneasiness in his voice. How Khalid, despite his bravado, can still be traumatized by it. It makes him think of Kalim and his fear of being poisoned. How he remembers even drinking a juice himself to show the Al-Asim heir it wasn't poisoned with no regards to himself.
But it's enough for Leona to move his grip on his pen a bit to...squeeze Khalid's hand.
Another deep breath. Feels himself relax.]
Wonder where you get that confidence from to believe in that.
[His words are...lighter. The hardness in his gaze easing up a little, not much like a cornered lion anymore.]
[ Good. It means that Claude can slip one of his hands free to place it on top of Leona's. Kind of like making a silent agreement. Shaking hands without actually performing the full gesture. However, there's no way that the meaning behind it can be missed.
Just like Khalid sees Leona relaxing. To be fair, he had expected the lion to get pissed at him. Chase him out or roar at him. Something. But this? This is progress and it also dislodges something in Khalid's chest. He hadn't realized that he, himself, had been tense and is now relaxing himself. ]
What? That people can change and grow? I might have watched it happen just a little.
[ A wink. ]
If you mean regarding that you and I can both work on it? That might be because I know you do care pretty deeply about people in a general sense. You have your own code.
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What I said wasn't a lie, Leona. [ Not using the nicknames here. ] The pool of people I genuinely like isn't very big so yes. I get concerned when I don't see them for a while.
[ So yeah. Part of him is here because he likes Leona and wants to see how he is doing. ]
That's the entire truth. I'm just here to see how you are doing.
[ There's just... Several steps in that process. ]
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He exhales softly.]
Hasn’t stopped you from blowing up my phone.
[But there’s any real bite to it.]
Here I thought you came because you had questions.
[About the pens. The stones. He’s seen the messages, after all. Azul is too much of a blabbermouth.]
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[ A smile does start to show on his features. A small one. Appreciative of the fact that Leona is starting to... Well relax isn't the word for it. At least he doesn't look cranky. ]
Sure, I do have questions, but I like puzzles and secrets. Something like what your schoolmate mentioned though just causes some red flags. Between what he said and what I saw on your desk, I just want to know that things are all right.
[ He sighs and rubs the back of his neck. Maybe... Context is needed? Just a little. ]
I might be overthinking it, Leona. Usually you wouldn't need to measure your magic output and be mindful of consequences if it was just exhaustion. Crest holders aren't any different in some cases. We can overuse our abilities as well. For me, that might just make me pass out. For others, they'll... [ Claude pinches the area between his nose. ] We call them Demonic Beasts. They lose all their humanity and there's no way to bring them back.
[ So yeah. Consider him... Concerned because it hits a little close to home? ]
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I’m fine. It’s just a precaution.
[Maybe. He’s taken a look at his pen. There’s…more black than he’d like.
He seems to turn something over in his mind before he exhales.]
Just…follow me.
[He starts making his way to the study.]
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But he's following after Leona. Hoping for another explanation. ]
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[Entering the study, he makes way over to the desk.]
I assume enough given you’ve told me about Demonic Beasts, but what else?
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It's just the immediate direction my mind went in, Leona. [ Still using names! ] You're talking about a device that is supposed to warn you if you're overusing magic. There wouldn't really be a need for that if there wasn't some detrimental effect. Given how the guy's enthusiasm in sharing all of the sudden shifted, my guess is that it's a big deal.
[ He just doesn't know how MUCH of a big deal or what, exactly, happens. ]
Knowing that and considering the passing glances at your work I've taken, I'm guessing magic stones play into that system. It's a system that might need to be replenished, like the crystals in the lamp posts and other sources of light we have here.
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[But Leona isn’t getting to the matter of hand. Not yet. It seems like he’s trying to figure out how much he wants to reveal and how much to keep quiet.
An exhale.]
You’re not wrong though that the stones are to measure out magical output. But there are other factors that can come into play as well if Azul or I aren’t careful. Factors such as negative emotions.
[Leona finally takes out his pen, the orange magestone glistening in the light that combs through the windows in the room before he places it onto the table. There for Khalid to come closer and see if he wants. If he’s that worried.]
Do you recall when I told you about Phantoms back in my world?
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[ Just saying! And no, it's not really getting to the matter at hand. Thankfully, Khalid doesn't have to press. Leona is talking once again. About him and Azul and being careful. Negative emotions...
But he's looking at the pen, at the stone. He doesn't know what he's looking for though. Yet the stone itself isn't sparkly clean. ]
I remember.
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[There are splotches of black in the stone itself. Nothing that covers it entirely, but enough to be noticed. To be concerned about if Khalid knew the truth. Which he will.]
Phantoms are mages who Overblotted; which means that they have overused their magic past the point of exhaustion, pushing past the threshold mages place on themselves. Blot itself can heal as long as a mage rests properly and stop using their magic so much, but combined with intense negative emotions, it can easily push that mage over the edge. The mage will start “bleeding” ink from their person until that ink consumes them entirely and turn them into something else.
[He pauses here, looking at his stone. At his notes.]
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And now that Leona is providing more context, it's barely noticeable but the grip on that pen does tighten. Yeah, he's concerned. Now he understands Leona's silence and tenseness earlier. Khalid hadn't thought that what happens to people who overuse Crests or try to use relic weapons without a crest would necessarily happen elsewhere. Yet it feels so very, very similar.
Now Claude knows that Leona gets plenty of sleep. So the fact that there are still black dots here... ]
So why haven't you stopped then?
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He knows Khalid can put the pieces together. That Leona sleeps, but he doesn’t necessarily sleep. He’s always on guard, always tense despite his lethargic attitude. But it really boils down to one main fact: his emotional state.
He’s always known his emotional state hadn’t been the best. It’s what led to his overblot, after all. The way that he’d just give up halfway through of doing something when it seems like nothing was truly working out. The way he’d eventually find everything meaningless.]
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[ That's not the voice of the carefree man that Leona's more accustomed to hearing. His voice has a very no-nonsense tone to it. The one that a general in the midst of issuing orders would give.
He is very serious about this. ]
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[His ears flicks at that tone. It makes his lips twist into a frown.]
What?
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[ What is it going to take to make these little black spots go away? And why are you still using magic in this state? ]
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[Not unless Leona reaches that point of apathy he's been to before his overblot. Before he feels too intensely with his nerves all raw after being brutally attacked verbally like Lilia like that. He likes to think he's gotten better since then, but well, after a whole night of fighting Phantoms and preventing Idia from reducing the entire world into shadows, his blot levels are high again.
Also, it's not exactly an answer, but one at the same time.]
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So then we need to work on your emotional state.
[ He sighs and rubs the back of his neck. ]
Which would be much easier for you to address if you'd be honest with yourself. Even I know the healing process can't really start until you let go of things that are holding you back.
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His lips twist a bit. Not quite a frown. But...confused.]
Why do you care?
[And don't say it's because they're friends. This level of concern is new for the lion and coming from Khalid, of all people? It throws him off. It's part of the reason why he's kept his distance from him before.]
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To be honest, I'm still figuring that part out. I love finding out other peoples' secrets. Mostly, I like being around interesting people. You are interesting enough to hold my attention, but even I realize I don't completely have an answer to that.
[ And honesty is not something that Khalid offers to just anyone. Of course, when he thinks about it. ]
Part of me can rationalize it by saying that, at one point, I might have become you. My parents and Nader cared about me a lot, but it was always "you're not Almyran enough" from a lot of people. Nothing I could achieve would be able to overpower that perception. What I found in Fodlan were people that just didn't care what my origins were and that changed a lot.
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It's easy to think about in that way. The idea that one is never enough for the other parties involved. Except Khalid was able to find that group of people in another country where they didn't care about his origins. About who he was.
Leona can't...quite agree. It was never just about his people's opinions on him. From birth, he's been compared to Falena. His kind, older brother who now rules as acting king of their country. How despite all of the effort he's put into for getting acknowledgment from others, they've always chosen to focus on how he wasn't like Falena instead. How the servants kept a distance from him because of his signature spell, the way he can easily turn their country into a wasteland if King's Roar ever spiraled out of control.
Night Raven College had been his escape the moment Cheka was born. Another physical reminder that he will never get that acknowledgement he secretly, so desperately, craved from his own family. Even his own peers don't take him as seriously and he knows that.
A deep breath. Inhale. Exhale. The black splotches in his gem seems to move, but at least it doesn't increase.]
You were lucky then to have been able to find that kind of support.
[Leona can play off as confident as anyone can. Don't show how words can hurt. Don't show any weakness. It's how he's learned to protect himself over the years against the vicious words he's so used to hearing.]
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[ He sees the dark spots move around. Even if he hadn't just discovered what that is all about, Khalid can tell that Leona is going through it internally.
So he picks up the pen and carefully takes Leona's hand. Places that pen in it and curls Leona's hand around it. Still between his own. ]
The reality is, I wasn't too different when I went to the officer's academy. I used my light-hearted personality and breezy attitude to keep people at a distance. It was better that way. Easier. So I wouldn't be hurt.
[ Khalid shrugs. Offers a crooked grin. ]
I see you, Leona, and I can't say that I find anything lacking. So I'll be there to help, if and when you finally accept that.
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Aren't you still a bit afraid now?
[His paranoia. The way he can smell the poison on Khalid even when the other man moves along with his life.
There's...a certain stillness at his words though.
"I see you."
It causes...a stir in his chest. Almost like an ache in his heart but...not entirely a bad one. It's...warm. Hits that inner child of him that has always cried out to be seen. Khalid can feel the way he stills at that, the slight widening of his eyes and how his ears flick forward in his direction.]
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[ An uneasy chuckle there. ]
No one's perfect, Leona. That's what makes us dazzlingly human. We are capable of growth and change.
[ Leona still feels pretty tense. Of course Khalid knows that the ears mean that Khalid has Leona's full attention. But the rest of the expression kind of. Hmmm. He doesn't know what to make of it. ]
It just means that we can both work on it a little more.
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But it's enough for Leona to move his grip on his pen a bit to...squeeze Khalid's hand.
Another deep breath. Feels himself relax.]
Wonder where you get that confidence from to believe in that.
[His words are...lighter. The hardness in his gaze easing up a little, not much like a cornered lion anymore.]
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Just like Khalid sees Leona relaxing. To be fair, he had expected the lion to get pissed at him. Chase him out or roar at him. Something. But this? This is progress and it also dislodges something in Khalid's chest. He hadn't realized that he, himself, had been tense and is now relaxing himself. ]
What? That people can change and grow? I might have watched it happen just a little.
[ A wink. ]
If you mean regarding that you and I can both work on it? That might be because I know you do care pretty deeply about people in a general sense. You have your own code.
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