Bubble baths & Gifts
In the trunk were stairs to wander deeper into the trunk. “Damned God of Death…” Cale couldn’t help but curse under his breath and sighed, “I suppose I’ll go in…” Choi han seemed like he wanted to interfere but relented because what could actually happen? He was wary absolutely, but this was from their family, what would they give them that would be dangerous?
“Stupid weak human I’ll go with you! This mighty dragon will protect you!” Raon jumped onto Cale’s shoulder, “Raon I don’t think
Cale took a cautious step as he went down into the trunk, Raon jumped down behind him and Choi han followed behind with his hand on his sheathed sword in hand. The stairs of what seemed to be carpeted marble, they continued down until they went down a hall where marble pillars that revealed a familiar villa.
“The Rock Villa…? How did this happen…” Cale said absentmindedly with his eyes on the ceiling that seemed to imitate the marble villa ceiling back home. They walked on carpeted marble floors as they passed rooms that seemed to copy their rooms back home, and then the scent of food wafted the hall where they stood.
“Mmmm that smells good! Familiar-! The human Beacrox! Our chef!” Raon leaped down from Cale’s shoulder and ran towards the scent and Cale ran after Raon right behind him, “Raon- stop-!” Choi han quickly followed behind Cale as worry struck into his heart, “Cale-nim be careful!”
Raon stopped in front of a room before Cale saw stars in his little kitty eyes and ran in and judging from the thump he heard on top of something and he stopped in front of the room with his heartbeat thumping in his ears and out of breath he almost bent forward to take a breath but he held himself firmly.
Cale breathed heavily as he watched as Raon eating cookies and fancy snacks on the table that he recognized from back home. “Did… Beacrox…?” Cale walked in cautiously as he eyed the head of the table where a folded piece of paper and a satchel sat, “Cale-nim! Are you okay?” Choi han came behind Cale as he hung over him looking over him for any injuries.
But quickly he realized Cale’s heavy breathing steadied as he grabbed the note, “What’s that Cale-nim?” Cale opened the paper as he internally groaned at the first sentence of the note, damn god of death. That bastard is getting gutsy in his damn letters.
My Dearest child, Cale Henituse
You may have noticed that this place is familiar, my child a lot of your family contributed to the rooms and gifts that they have given you. In the leather spacial satchel will be a collar with a magical item for Raon, communication crystal balls for you and Choi han that you will be able to contact your family sporadically due to the fact that they are in different realms and each other easily, and lastly, cufflinks to represent every single one of your family members.
The cufflinks were made by Mueller, Rosaline, and Eruhaben working together to make elegant yet useful magical items. My child this satchel is quite similar to the spacial bag that you are familiar with though this is just a bit more practical. I hope this note finds you well my child, do find one of the hollows to contact me soon there is something I miss in this realm that I neglected to say. Nothing that would harm you, only a small imperfection in the quilt of the universe.
Enjoy the meal that your chef made for you in mind, the food that is made will not be always but do always rely on your chef to make snacks and beverages for the 3 of you.
Sincerely, GoD
What the hell does he mean a mistake he NEGLECTED!? Cale’s hands shook in anger and his fist squenched the paper in his hands. “That bastard god of death…” Cale grained his teeth but then sighed as he crushed the letter in a ball and threw it to the nearest wall.
“Cale-nim… are you okay? What was… that” Choi han hesitantly said as he glanced over the balled-up paper in the corner, “I’ll tell you later…” Cale didn’t want Raon to worry about anything just yet. He may be a dragon but he was just a little kid who didn’t need to know grown-ups business if he didn’t need to, and… he looked so happy right now, Cale didn’t want to spoil it.
Cale’s gaze went to Raon who was eating his little heart out with the biggest fucking smile, Cale took the satchel and opened it. “Cale-nim?” Choi han carefully said as he inched closer to Cale hanging over his shoulder and his ear grazing Cale’s shoulder lightly.
He dug in the satchel feeling around for a collar, “Raon come over here” Raon perked up as he ran over to Cale over the table, “Yes human?” Raon stopped and sat on the table in front of Cale as he tilted his head in inquiry. “This is for you, it's something like a puzzle. You get to find out how it works and master its use, I’m sure a mighty dragon will have no problem figuring out” Cale smiled.
Raon puffed up his chest with pride as he preened at Cale’s compliment towards him, “Of course I can weak human! I will prevail over this puzzle!” Raon waited for Cale to place the collar on him and Cale carefully did making sure Raon had enough room to move it himself if he so wished to.
Raon pawed at the crystal which promptly jingled softly as if it were a bell, Raon seemed to find this intriguing. Cale smiled as he dug around the satchel for the cufflinks that the God of Death had mentioned in the letter, “What else is in there Cale-nim?” Choi han hung over his shoulder slightly as he stared at Cale rummaging through the satchel.
“Eruhaben, Rosaline, and Mueller made mana-imbued cufflinks that represent our family, what properties they hold was not mentioned.” Cale strangled the last few words begrudgingly smoothly without too much strain in his voice obviously frustrated with the God of Death’s lack of explanation for something so obviously important to their task.
He clicked his tongue just thinking about that bastard god of Death but quickly shook his head and brushed it off quickly. No need to show his anger, would only bring trouble if he exploded the first sign of every bastard inconveniencing him. He finally felt several boxes in the satchel which he pulled out promptly with a few tries.
Cale placed the boxes on the table with symbols on top of them all, “Cale-nim are these the magical items?” Cale nodded as he got the last of the small boxes out of the satchel. Choi han seemed very interested and picked one up, “This one should be Lock’s right?” Cale looked up at Choi han then at the box in his hand.
On the top of the small box was an engraving of a wolf with a crown on its head, a delicate gold coated the engraving as it sat in Choi han’s hand. “I only assume so, open it and find out don’t ask me.” Why was he asking him for information that he didn’t know? It was, it should be obvious, Cale wasn’t all-knowing he was simply a somewhat smart and glib tongued scammer.
Choi han nodded as he opened it to find circular cufflinks that had a light blue outline of a wolf that almost looked white at a glance. Deep blue eyes in the middle of the wolf that was glowing compared to the bleak background of the cufflink, Choi han seemed to be enamored by the cufflink.
Just staring before a soft smile formed on his face as he gently grazed the cufflink, “Yes definitely our Lock” Cale hummed in affirmation as he took a look at the selection, one with a gold engraving of a dragon which was probably Eruhaben’s, another of a whale which was definitely Witaria, and one that caught his eye was a pair of cats together.
Cale took the box and carefully opened it as if it was as fragile as glass, in the box was a pair of circular cufflinks. In the middle were 2 cats, one red and the other silver, they curled together into a circle with their tails curled onto each other that looked reminiscent of a yin and yang symbol.
Cale’s gaze softened as he tucked the box in his coat pocket and put the rest of the boxes away for later, Choi han stared as Cale did it and looked towards the exit. “I think it's about the time to go Cale-nim, it's probably getting late…” Choi han seemed to be hesitant to speak but still commented as Raon yawned and then froze while Cale and Choi han stared.
A snort came from Cale who wore a soft smile and nodded, “Yes it seems that it is getting late, we should probably clean up” Cale took a plate from the table with the food and snacks and took a small slice of apple pie to eat on the way. “Okay let’s go human!” Raon jumped down from the table and hopped to the satchel on Cale’s shoulder.
Choi han smiled and took Cale’s hand as he said, “We can explore later but now we must rest” Raon chirped, “Yeah! Listen to the strong Choi han, human!” Cale felt like sighing but just nodded wordlessly as Choi Han guided them back “outside” and up the stairs into the previous Room of Requirements that seemed to welcome them back with a breeze of magic that was practically buzzing in the air.
Cale chose to ignore it and hopped out of the trunk with Choi han following and Raon on his shoulder, “Cale-nim do you need help carrying them?” Cale shook his head, though he would probably say yes in any other situation but thankfully he didn’t need to due to Raon’s magic.
“No need besides I want to introduce you to some books that would be good for you to read” Choi han tilted his head at Cale’s explanation but shrugged as Cale closed both the trunks and shrunk them into his hands. “Okay Cale-nim” Choi han did the same as they cleaned up and went on their way.
Out of the luxurious room, the candles dim as the doorway disappears into the walls of the tower. Down the stairs to the ground floor the flurry of students filtered through the halls as they reached the library, “What are you looking for Cale-nim?” Cale only glanced at Choi han but ignored him as he walked to the front desk of Madam Pince.
Cale bowed his head as he asked as quietly as he could, “Could I have a dictionary for English and Korean? Is that possible?” Madam Pince shifted her gaze to Cale with a raised brow, “Third shelf to my left, go all the way down then turn to your left, at the bottom of the shelf there is a section of dictionaries then to the very left of the shelf it should be there.”
Cale smiled softly and whispered, “Thank you Madam Pince” Cale then took Choi han hand as they followed her directions where they found a 400+ page dictionary for Korean and English, Cale sat Choi han down and tried to teach Choi han English little by little.
After going over a few phrases and writing them Choi han turns to Cale and says, “Cale-nim, English is weird and ridiculous. No offense to your teaching skills! I just-” Cale pats Choi han’s shoulder and calmly says, “No I am not offended, why would I be offended this is your first time trying english. Don’t worry, Europeans are weird… and so is English.”
Raon snorted and Cale continued to try and show patterns and help Choi han write English letters for a short while before Choi han got tired. “Alright let’s stop here I’m sure you would like to relax instead of being here with me,” Cale said as he stood up and took the dictionary that they had borrowed from the library.
“Won’t you put everything away while I put this book back in its place?” Cale’s question wasn’t a question. Cale didn’t even wait for Choi han to answer before walking away with the book and Choi han simply nodded as he cleaned up and Raon ran to the table attempting to help Choi han.
Cale put the book back in its place swiftly and for a moment he thought he felt a buzz of magic, on his fingertips which made him jolt away. He glared at the shelf of books and hesitantly reached out the magic with his own, a rush of magic washed over him as the buzzing turned into a chorus of sounds and noises that complimented each other.
He couldn’t make them all out it was so overwhelming, it felt as if his blood was flowing backward , and his mind was going to explode right then and there. His fingers twitched and he felt as if he could barely breathe, as if he was drowning in condensed mana powering raw mana into him.
Numbing static spread to his hand through his torso, it was nauseating. A bile came up to his throat that took all of his will to swallow, disgusting as it was he didn't want to throw up. He didn't need more to think about, his mind was running through every record he had and he felt hot. As if hot molten lava had made a home in the crevasse in his chest.
It was so much, it was too much that he cut off the surge of magic and stumbles back almost falling to the floor, it felt like he could breathe. He took sharp and quickened breaths into his lungs, Dominating Aura activated to oppress the magic when Cale glared at the magic.
The magic hesitantly reached out and having learned his lesson did not reach back but glare at the magic, it faltered and sent a drop of magic that sent a sense of sadness. Cale did not feel any sympathy for whatever the hell was trying to reach our and simply backed away as he shut off Dominating Aura completely as he walked away.
Cale stopped before coming out from the corner to the two waiting, he needed a breath. He needed to calm his mind and compose himself, he didn’t need to stress or worry the both of them with something that wasn’t life-threatening. Or dangerous.
He’ll just have to hide the fact that the magic can feel like that .
He put this hand over his brooch and breathe, feeling his chest go up and down, feeling his lungs expanding and contracting. Remember where he is, he is in a library, he is with one of his most precious children, he is with his most loyal companion. He relaxed his shoulders and walked out into the light.
“Cale-nim shall we go?” Choi han smiled and held out Cale’s satchel in hand waiting for him to take it.
Cale blinked only for a moment before practically melting into Choi han’s aura and took the satchel as he hung himself on Choi han’s arm as he barely whispered into his ear, “Stay with me?” Choi han froze and for a moment Cale thought he was going to leave, “-just until we get back to my dorm…” Cale quickly added before Choi han could speak.
Cale almost begged, “Please?” Cale finally looked up at Choi han who tucked himself closer to Cale and nodded, “Always.” Choi han firmly said as Raon crawled up and tucked himself into the hood of Choi han’s robe meowing softly as he curled himself inside his hood.
Choi han led Cale down to the dungeons and to his dorm, Cale slowly slipped off of Choi han’s arm and turned to Choi han and Raon who stared wordlessly waiting for him to speak. “I’ll tell you why is the morning, right now I want to rest and slack. Good night” Cale tried to have a steady tone as he sent the two of them off to have their own alone time.
Cale sighed as he went through the dormitory and instead of returning to his bed, he decided to take a look at the community bookshelf to see what they had. Cale grazed the spines of the books until he landed on one that made him pause, “Hmm. The theory of wandless and nonverbal magic… doesn’t look too bad,” Cale took out the book carefully as he turned to search for a spot to sit.
His gaze scanned the entirety of the common room until his eyes spotted a green plush armchair turned slightly out while also having a window to the lake behind it. Red light almost peaked through the window through the murky waters that would only see up to 3 meters out.
Cale walked over to the armchair and sat down, opening the page to read, it was nice to simply sit and relax. After a while, he started to skim the text instead of actually reading the book, sleepiness tugging at his eyelids as if warning him that it was almost time to sleep. Luckily he didn’t need to go to be d just yet and he closed the book as he heard someone call his name.
“Henit- Cale!” Draco called out by the opening of the common room and quickly walked (bordering on running) towards Cale and stopped in front of him. Cale’s gaze goes up to Draco who was basically standing over him, “Good evening Draco what do you need?” Tilting his head slightly as his earrings jolt slightly making a jingle noise.
Draco’s face flushed slightly before he brushed it off, “Cale I didn’t see you in the great hall for dinner where were you?” Cale thought before he gave a lazy smile and half-closed eyes that made him even more alluring. “Choi han and I went to the kitchen to be more… private. I hope I didn’t offend you” Draco shook his head.
“No, no you did not, that- Choi… Choi han to you is familiar in a castle of well… unfamiliar. I don’t blame you and I’m…” Draco paused and took a deep breath as he almost whispered, “I apologize for brushing off your nicknames, it's just that I have only been called such names by my family… I didn’t mean to offend you earlier,” Cale didn’t know what to think, what the hell was he talking about?
Without Cale’s permission, he blurted out monotonically, “What nonsense are you talking about?” Cale could only stare as Draco’s brows raised in surprise before smiling in relief, “Then a misunderstanding then? I think we both didn’t say what we meant…” Draco’s eyes softened as he gave a small smile.
“Oh I guess I forgot but I wanted to invite you to a study group with some of the other 3rd years and I made for the most part every subject. Would you join us?” Draco’s hands held each other trying not to fidget too much. Cale smiles as he nods, “Of course it's nice to help our fellow students, I would love to” Draco practically lit up.
“Thank- I am good. I’ll see you in the library a second second from now” Cale nodded as Draco returned his own as he walked away practically brimming with confidence and also childish giddiness. Cale sighed in amusement before he took the chance to take a look at the time, it was probably about the time the wind elementals would come to report.
He closed the book and put it back on the shelf before going into the dorm where he took out his trunk with the clothes and took out a pearl white robe with some undergarments, a giant fluffy towel and a pair of slippers to take with him in the bathroom. Ignoring the other boy that was in the room he made his way to the bathroom and carefully looked for a shower or a bath.
In the books it only ever mentioned the Prefects bath and never the normal student’s baths so to say he was more than curious, this would probably decide if he would use it or take his chances with trying to find the bathroom in the Rock villa.
Walking past a row of rooms presumingly to change in the morning or other private necessities that Cale chose to ignore until he found a room with sanded stone to an impossible smooth surface with a small vent at the very top of the roof.
Ahead of him was a pearl white tub sanding on silver feet that was decently sized, at the mouth of the tub was a silver and seemingly no spout or faucet from anywhere he could see. To the side of the tub was a towel rack with a small place for where a bar of soup sat along with a wash towel.
Cale hung his clothes and towel on the rack as he quickly stripped his clothes and went to step in the tub and right as he stepped in water rose from the bottom and quickly filled the tub along with making bubbles pop out of nowhere. By then Cale was already sitting in the tub unable to do anything about it.
The water was warm enough for him not to the care, the bubbles were a pleasant surprise that was welcomed. Cale hung his feet on the lip of the tub before leaning back on the wall on the tub, Cale had to force himself to open his eyes due to how comfortable it was.
Chaos, Destruction! Cale we are here to report our findings!
Oh you’re taking a bath I hope we didn’t intrude
Yes yes! We must report our findings! Cale Cale!
Hello? Hey!
Cale’s eyes snapped open as he heard the wind elementals in his ears, Cale took off his earrings right-? Wrong. Cale reached for his ears as he, unfortunately, found he had not taken off his earrings, he must have forgotten about them… damn. Cale groaned and curled his legs towards him as he submerged half his face under water but not enough for the water to go to his nose. But with the bubbles in the way? It looked as if Cale was submerged in the water.
Chaos, Destruction! Don’t drown yourself! You can’t!
You’re not allowed to! If you drown then who will we be able to talk to!?
Cale please don’t drown yourself.
Yeah what they said!
Cale sighed causing bubbles to fly in the air as he rose from the water and splashed water on his face to wash away the bubbles as he sat up. Cale leaned back with his whole body and tilted his head on the lip of the tub looking up to the ceiling, “Tell me about Harry Potter first, then Draco” Cale stated firmly as he hung his legs on the lip of the tub and crossed his legs.
Oh yes! The Harry Potter human!
Yeah so tell Cale already.
Chaos, Destruction! The boy said that he was being pursued by a criminal called Sirius Black!
To murder the boy!
Chaos, Destruction! The boy and the blondie fought outside the hospital wing!
“Potions” was boring!
That teacher bullied the Harry Potter human!
The teacher looks like a wet bat…
Snipe? Snape? I think that’s it…
Chaos, Destruction! Permanent scowl!
Cale heard as they spouted information after information and Cale finally got irritated enough to use Dominating Aura, “ Enough .” Cale practically growled as the wind elementals paused, “Good. Now tell me about Draco if you have nothing else to say about Harry.” If he could see the wind elementals then he would be seeing them nod obidiently.
Right… yes umm
Chaos, Destruction! Nothing else Cale!
Okay I guess it's my turn…
The Draco Malfoy boy mentioned not “exposing” you, odd as it was it seemed genuinely threatened when the Potter boy mentioned “nymph”
I apologize that I didn’t get the whole conversation it was very muffled, and words that were not said
After he attended classes with you and a girl who clinged to him when you left, perhaps her name was Pastry? Pixie? Pansy? I’m afraid I wasn’t paying attention to her
Anyway after your interaction with the Malfoy boy she was staring daggers at you
Be careful.
Cale hummed as he closed his eyes, “If that’s all you are dismissed.” a chorus of affirmative and agreement answers as they faded away and Cale finally relaxed in the bath as he thought of slacking in the bed instead of the tub where he is vulnerable. He decided to wash himself with the soupy water letting all the grime and stress go down the draine when he got out the tub and tucked his feet in his slippers.
Grabbing the warm fluffy towel around him being big enough to wrap around him like a cape as he grabbed his clothes and went to go into the many changing rooms outside of the bathes. He slipped inside and quickly put on his undergarments and robe over everything.
He tied the belt around his waist as he made more room for his torso leaving the sleeves of his robe slipping off his shoulders. If the night was younger Cale would have adjusted them, if he was less lazy and wanted to be presentable he would have fixed it. Cale does not care, he wants to slack for the rest of the night.
Cale took the towel and put it over his shoulder as he walked into the dorm where all of his dormmates were present, not that Cale cared all that much about if they saw him with a shoulder out. Sure, they were “teenagers” but they were still kids who had not seen the real world and so so ignorant.
Cale walked over to his bed closed the curtains and made sure to put privacy wards on them before lying on the bed and drifting asleep. Outside his private bed, the other 3 boys stared with flushed faces, and all their eyes met. “Are all young nymphs supposed to be that alluring?” Blaise was the first to speak. Theodore’s brows shot up as he sputtered and threw his book at Blaise’s face, “Have some DECENCY Zabini!” Blaise fell on the floor.