Two worlds, one family--

[mombastic]

[ It's strange to be in a world with not one set of memories from another world-- not two, but three, not that Otome can really discuss this with anyone. It's difficult enough, when she wakes up these days, and can't remember if she's in her own home, or her apartment. If she needs to call Fumi to check on preparations for the day, or...

But no. This is her world. And not a school day, so she's stuck trying to focus not on what she's missing or what she's lost, but on what lies ahead.

What that actually is, she doesn't know, but she's out and about today, and there's a strong breeze. Maybe today will be a good day for clearing her thoughts. ]

Comments

[discard]

[This was never supposed to happen.

Leon was supposed to return to his proper home, just like everyone else--it just happened to be his fate that it was going to be returning to his death. That was his proper fate, anyway--that was what he had brought upon himself.

He leaves, and... breathes.

His heart is still beating, and for a moment, Leon stands in the middle of the busy sidewalk, hand pressed to his chest to feel it. To be certain that this is all real, somehow. Somehow, he's still alive.

The strong breeze pulls at his cape, tugging on it and unfurling it, whipping his hair out of his face, but he's stuck just...standing there, staring at nothing, as if trying to process so much all at once.]

[mombastic]

[ She hears it, before she sees him: rumors, whispers, not-so-quiet conjecture, "some weird kid in a pink cape", and something inside of her chest tightens for a moment. Don't, her more rational thoughts warn her. There are explanations for this, ones that don't rely on your hopes.

All the same, Otome hastens her stride, scolding herself the whole time-- until she sees him, standing awkwardly and clutching his chest... and then she's swallowing her disbelief and her shock and fighting to weave her way through the crowd towards him. ]

Leon!!

[discard]

Otome...?

[The name escapes him softly at first--and then he grows more focused, latching onto the one sole shred of familiarity. After all, how could he ever forget her voice?

He scans the crowd, searching for her almost wildly, and when he finally spots the familiar face, he doesn't hesitate; he walks towards her immediately, and it's only because it's Leon and he still is retaining shreds of his pride that he doesn't outright run.

Still, there's no denying that he is getting to her side as fast as he humanly, possibly can.]

[discard]

[School... is not exactly what Leon had hoped it would be, but it's also not surprising to him. A normal high school is a) dull, b) authoritarian and c) full of dullards that he has no interest in getting to know at all. There are classes that he paid close attention to--science, for instance, and language. The things he didn't already know, he's interested in. But he picks up on it fast, and studies on his own when he doesn't understand, and soon enough, there's... nothing that there is to offer to him.

With his general attitude, size and intelligence, too, he's an apparent good target for bullies. Someone coming from nowhere, making people look bad and acting like he's too good for them? Yeah, it's not really a surprise that eventually, there's some attempts at intimidation and bullying.

What is a surprise is that he's capable of throwing both of them to the ground without much of an effort; he doesn't carry Chal to school on Otome's desperate request, but he doesn't need a weapon to handle teenagers.

This is why Otome's getting a call to come in and take her child home, whoops.]

[mombastic]

[ A part of her had seen this coming. Leon was a quick learner, who avidly devoured everything new the school could give to them, but he was already finished with homework before she even made it home, and Otome had wondered if maybe this sort of thing was too easy for him.

She'd shared her quiet pride and concern with Chaltier, of course, but holding a one-sided conversation without Leon to translate feels a little silly.

And now here she is, frazzled from having been pulled mid-lecture to come to the high school. She looks more worried than upset when she enters the office, looking around for Leon.

Except she doesn't get much of a chance, because then the principal is pulling her aside to speak in hushed, rather annoyed tones about the students who were still recovering in the infirmary.

Ah. ]

[discard]

[When he sees her there, he ducks his head a little. It's the first time since the entire situation--he'd refused to back down on it when the teachers and principal confronted him, keeping his chin high and poised as ever. This was nothing compared to dealing with the king and Hugo.

... But Otome... she seems frazzled, and he does feel badly about that.

He'll wait where he's supposed to wait, arms crossed and expression petulant, without a single scratch on him. It would take more than high school bullies to hurt him, which... ironically does not really help his case much that they started it.

And when she's finally free and comes closer--]

This was not my fault. They started the altercation; if they wanted a fight, they should have been prepared for the consequences.

[mombastic]

[ It feels a bit like Take Your Child To Work Day, except Leon most certainly isn't her child (and she's aware that even implying it would probably aggravate him) and so she can't really parade him off too proudly. It's still fairly exciting, though, even if it's just bringing him to the university and giving him the choice of sitting in on the lesson or waiting in the office.

Fumi's pulled out her laptop to take notes on this segment, because right now, it's more Otome's area of expertise-- she'll leave the talk of bacterial reproduction patterns to her friend, but right now, she's focused on explaining how to handle a patient losing a limb.

Some students may or may not be texting, though at least most of them are pretty attentive. ]

[discard]

[Leon's...well, it'd be a lie to say he wasn't excited. This sort of thing is a double-whammy of good; it means he's finally learned enough that Otome thinks he'd be able to keep up, and it means he gets to see her doing the job she seems to enjoy so much.

He's pretty starkly aware that he's younger than...well, everyone. At 16, and small for his age at that, it's plenty obvious. But he ignores any looks he gets, focused entirely on the lecture.

Otome teaches well, after all; he should know by now that she's a good teacher.

But...well, when he glances around the class after a moment, he sees the person a few seats away on their phone instead of listening. That's...unacceptable. Which is why said student is going to get the flattest of Leon glares until she feels his eyes burning a hole in the side of her head. She meets his eyes. She balks and hurriedly looks at Otome instead.

Sometimes, Leon forgets that he's actually pretty daunting looking when he wants to be. (But this is important.)]

[mombastic]

[ Otome misses the look he gives one aimless student, but she does look up, to see him focused-- and hm. He's shown more interest in the lecture than she thought he would, so maybe it's about time to get him more involved. ]

All right, let's split into pairs-- we're going to work on tourniquets. Leon, will you come up here so I can demonstrate?

[discard]

[College treats Leon much better than attempting high school for the hot moment that he did ever did. He's only 16, yes, but he has the sort of discipline and work ethic that a lot of college students can only dream of, and he's intelligent enough to handle it; he settles in easily enough, and while he doesn't really have much in the way of friends, he at least seems engaged enough in the source material and classes.

So he's consistent.

Every day, he's up early to make breakfast for the both of them, to look over his homework once more and then to prepare to go to class. He doesn't really mess around, and his schedule is really consistent.

Until it isn't.

It's been cold, recently, and honestly, Leon's immune system hasn't seemed to have entirely recovered from...well, dying. Whatever bug he caught, it's knocked him right off his feet; the minutes drag on in the morning but he doesn't get out of bed, curled up in a ball of half-awake misery as he is.

Whoops.]

[mombastic]

[ Whoops indeed. Otome's up and going over her notes, but when she walks into the main area and there's no breakfast smells - shamefully, she's almost gotten used to this being a daily thing - she can immediately tell that something's amiss.

She's at least nice enough to knock on the door first before she opens it, whether he answers in the affirmative or not. But spotting the miserable blanketed lump, she's quick to go go over there and drop to her knees beside the bed. Just one look tells her enough, but to make absolutely sure... ]

Let me feel your forehead.

[discard]

[There's a vague grumble from the blanket pile.

And then he shifts enough to poke more than just messy hair out of the pile, blearily opening his eyes and peering at her. Still, seeing her face seems to properly make it sink in that something isn't going quite right this morning; his brow furrows, and then he hoarsely manages:]

Otome...? What time is it?

[Is he supposes to be getting up right now...]

[mombastic]

[ This isn't the first time this has happened, but it's been awhile since it has, thankfully. Maybe because Otome's been busier raising a kid again, a teen this time, or because exams are fast approaching-- but either way, she's almost surprised when a group of the more bawdy students stop her in the hallway and start talking animatedly. About a little one-on-one private tutoring session, about her exercise routine, about their exercise routines, the expensive high schools they'd come from--

... And Otome just looks faintly amused. Boys. ]

[discard]

[Boys.

But there's someone who is very much not amused. He was intending to meet up with Otome outside of her office, but when he sees the commotion down the hall, he has to go see what's up--and when he does, he freezes.

Of course Otome's popular. He's always known her to be, and he's only ever known her to tolerate and humor, and never actually reciprocate. But... the thought strikes him that if she did, what then?

(If she did, could he really handle her paying that much more attention to someone else?)

After wavering in indecision for a moment, he straightens his shoulders, puts on the best knight face he hasn't had to wear for some time, and steps forward.]

Otome, are you prepared to leave?

[The look she gets is infinitely warmer than the look he proceeds to level onto the other students.]

[mombastic]

Oh-- [ Otome's surprise transforms into a warm smile, just as the students shoot him warning glares. Leon, please. Read the mood. They're hitting on your mom here. ]

Yes, in just a minute, Leon. I think Takeru-kun had a question about the material--

[ and yes Takeru sure did, or is just BSing, because he sure does start a rambly response?? ]

[penitentials]

[He doesn't actually disappear for long.

It's just for a night, a few hours, and into the morning hours. For a few hours, Leon's just gone as if he was never there, except that all of his belongings remain and everything is just as it was.

And when he comes back, he's different. He's the same... but different, and the mask on his head is drawing stares, Judas knows, but he's not going to try to get rid of it. Thankfully, it's early yet so not many people are out and about--and really, he's sentimental, so he's hovering outside of Otome's apartment building, hesitant and uncertain.

He's been through a lot, and he's honestly not sure how long he's been gone.

Should he even go back to Otome like this?]

[mombastic]

[ It's up to him. If he does decide to knock, or to further investigate, he'll find that a.) the door is unlocked, and b.) Otome isn't there. It's too early for her to have gone to work, and she would have locked up if she had.

Granted, if he doesn't look, he won't know she's not inside, but the simple truth is that when she'd discovered that Leon simply wasn't there and didn't come back within an hour, Otome had flown into a very desperate panic.

And has, in fact, been out ever since then, frantically searching for her son. ]

birthday;

[discard]

[He never really felt any reason to bring it up.

It wasn't even that he was willfully avoiding it. It was just that... birthdays were never a part of his world. His birthday meant nothing to anyone, he'd always known, and so there was no reason to bring it up.

But...

He always remembered the date even so.

And when he spots the calendar and makes a note of the date--well, he lingers.

Seventeen, huh?

(Can he possibly still be seventeen with all of the things he's been through...?

And yet... he thinks that very well must be true. It's his birthday, and now he's seventeen.)

But that's all there is to it; a moment later he shakes his head, and moves back towards the kitchen to begin making breakfast. At least it's a weekend--it means it's relaxing, today.

[mombastic]

[ Otome's actually not far behind him, and although somewhat tired, she's still taking note of the way he pauses in front of the calendar. Today...

As far as she knows, there's not any major holiday or any type of event happening today. It's a weekend. But all the same, something about the date had given him pause and therefore, Otome's curiosity is piqued.

For now, though, she'll keep her thoughts to herself, calling in the direction of the kitchen. ]

Good morning, Leon!

[mombastic]

[ It's taken some time, for things to calm down enough-- a lull in the fighting, where Otome can catch her breath and tend to the injured. And check on Leon, of course, who somehow never seems to be too far away. ]

... I was actually wondering... how did things with Stahn go?

[discard]

[Leon is definitely never too far away--he didn't come all the way to another world to not be near Otome.

(And when he's near Otome, Fumi makes fewer comments about dissecting him to see if his anatomy is the same as people from their world.)

But at that... he blinks.]

I believe we reached some sort of agreement before he left, if nothing else.

nightmares;

[discard]

[Despite the fact that his life has settled somewhat, into this sort of peaceful calm... Leon still has nightmares. For the most part, he's able to keep them to himself, and if he has darker circles under his eyes every now and then...it doesn't have to be mentioned.

But when he has nightmares of the people important to him dying because of things that he did, instead of his own death--then it's a little harder for him to shake off.

He creeps out of bed uncertainly, shuffling over to Otome's room, messy and disheveled hair making him look far more his age than he typically does--and carefully pushes open the door. He just...wants to see if she's okay.

That's all.

But the hinges creak, and he winces.]

[mombastic]

[ It's hard to say how deeply Otome was asleep-- whether she's just a light sleeper, or whether she's merely trained herself to be ready to wake up at a moment's notice. Maybe both. But what really matters is that when the door opens, she's already sleepily propping herself up with one hand and blearily blinking at the figure there. ]

... Leon?

new year;

[mombastic]

[ In a sense, it's strange to think that Leon's been with her this long, while on the other hand, it's strange to acknowledge that he hasn't been with her longer. Slowly but surely, he'd adjusted to a world not his own, and accepted her as family when they weren't blood-related. He had things he wanted to accomplish here now, and Otome had done her best to guide him while letting Leon handle certain things on his own-- often at his own insistence.

But now, hovering outside the closed door of his room, she slowly tilts her head and frowns. ]

Are you sure you don't want any help with your kimono, Leon?

[discard]

I am [guh, his sleeve slips and he fumbles] --quite certain--!

[He's struggling.

He's struggling so much. The clothing is completely foreign to him, entirely complicated and trying to put it on is making his head go in circles.

On the other hand............. he's embarrassed.

That's literally the only reason he hasn't accepted her help. It's just that he's an embarrassed teen boy who thinks he should be able to handle this on his own.]