cause every n i g h t i lie in bed, the brightest colours fill my head. a million d r e a m s are keeping me awake. i think of what the world could be, a vision of the one i see. a million d r e a m s is all it's gonna take. a million dreams for the world we're gonna make. there's a house we can b u i l d, ever room inside is filled with things from far away. the special things that i compile, each one of them to make you s m i l e.
Everything was still so unbelievable for Sooyoung, she was seeing new things everyday and it still shocked her. This was a new beginning for her, her life was taking a complete turn and starting over again. Even though everything was a huge shock to her, she was still very grateful and happy. Anything was better than staying with her horrible aunt. Sooyoung knew though that she was at disadvantage as she knew nothing about this world but she was going to work hard and maybe someday she was going to able to call this her home. She was walking around campus exploring around when something caught her eye and she stopped in her tracks. Her jaw dropped and she stood there frozen with wide eyes “ wow! “
so maybe kuro was a lot more feline like that human sometimes, and maybe he had a habit of getting distracted easily and playing when he was in his fox form.. because it was actually fun. but that was what he’d been caught doing then there. the large eared fox form had been playing around with a leaf for the past ten minutes, rolling and catching it when the wind tried to take it away, and mostly just having a grand old time whilst he waited for his witch to come back so they could go back to the dorm and he could nap on them. still, when you thought of a demon or a familiar, you wouldn’t think for them to be so attached and in tune with their animal side when they really weren’t supposed to have as high animal instincts in the first place. but still, this was kuro, and he just liked his fox form. when he hears the voice though, is when he’s shifting back into his human form and looking up at the girl from where he was now sitting on the ground, leaf caught in his hand before he threw it away. “what? never seen a familiar having fun?”
hoetaek continues to worry, even though kuro tells them not to, though they are relieved that it wasn’t their fault and they let themself relax a little. “you know you can cling to me if you need to. I know you’ve got claws and everything, but I don’t mind,” they tell kuro, though there’s probably no point in it. hoetaek’s sure they’ve told their familiar this before, but knowing kuro, he wouldn’t want to hurt hoetaek at all, even just the tiniest of scratches. it’s part of what makes him such a good familiar, hoetaek knows that, but still, it’s hoetaek’s job to look out for kuro too, even if it’s just for something as simple as him falling off their shoulders.
they let kuro nuzzle into them, now finally relaxing the rest of the way. their used to kuro being close to them in both of his forms and it’s just as warm and comfortable like this as it is when he’s a fox. they let out a light hum in response to his question, scrunching up their nose and shaking their head. “not great, the only person who’s come up so far was the one you saw just now when you fell, and they were ‘just looking’,” they sigh. “I have a feeling it’s going to be a slow morning, but what can you do,” hoetaek shrugs, mostly with the shoulder kuro’s not leaning on so they don’t disturb him. “it’s nice to have to to keep me company though,” they add with a smile in their familiar’s direction. “did you have a good sleep?”
he smiles a little at the reassurance, shaking his head a little at them, “i don’t like hurting you, even if it’s just small scratches.” it was just something he couldn’t do unless he absolutely had to, and that was more in dramatic and worrying situations that could be dire. but hoetaek could tell him as much as they wanted, and kuro would ever accept it. it just what kuro did.
kuro had a feeling that most familiars and those they were were bonded with were never this close, minus the few that kuro himself had gotten close to. but hoetaek was just another that kuro couldn’t help but care feeply for which usually ended up being his flaw when it came to the fact the other was definitely mortal. that was the problem being so close and attached to mortals.. you always lost them. and that thought alone was enough to make kuro nuzzle closer, hugging them now instead because maybe they had years and years left, but the thought of losing another one made his heart ache. he just tried to force that thought out of his head now, “screw them.. but hopefully you get some buyers soon enough.” he hummed out. “well, slow or not, i’ll keep you company all day.” the familiar looks up at hoetaek then with his own smile. “mhm, it was good enough. i’ll probably sleep later anyway.”
Tingfei’s plan for the afternoon hadn’t been to look out for a sleeping familiar whilst he studied but that’s what he had ended up doing. The person who had been in the seat previously had seemed to be in quite a rush but hadn’t left out telling the warlock ‘make sure no one wakes him up in a bad mood’. From what Tingfei knew about Kuro though the fox familiar was certainly going to wake up grumpy when he realised he’d been sleeping on a cold hardwood table instead of someone’s shoulder but the deadline of his latest essay was telling him not worry about that too much for now. He bit his lip to keep himself from frowning as an instant frown took over the other followed by all the complaining he had been expecting from the moment he sat down. “It looked like you were sleeping just fine.” He said with a soft sigh as he looked over at Kuro now in human form. “They said they had a class they needed to get to by the way.”
he could’ve been grumpier, definitely was possible, but he supposed that it was a lucky thing that he’d at least had a good amount of sleep since he’d fallen asleep. so that was definitely a plus here. but kuro was surprised to see it being tingfei who the fox had ended up ranted to, and he didn’t exactly know him all that well, but kuro knew nearly all witches and warlocks that came to keisung at this point. perks of being a familiar that just wanted to help out, and just spent a lot of time around them in general. “maybe to you.. but sleeping on a table rather than a soft surface is killed on the back, no matter what form. ” kuro huffed out, sitting on the edge of the table now instead. “ugh.. they could’ve woken me up instead of just putting me on the table..”
Elly had debated on if she should move the fox to somewhere better than a table. she guess that it was a familiar and it must not be very nice to sleep on something like a table. But she decided against it thinking it wasn’t her problem and just got a poetry book and start reading by the same table the fox was sleeping on. Some time went by until Elliana sighed and placed her book down, she couldn’t let the poor familiar sleep there, as she was about to move the fox gently onto her lap the animal woke up and sat up. Elly stared back at the fox until it jumped off the table and into human form. “ Isn’t that a conversation you should have with the person who put you there ? I was about to place you on my lap if that makes you feel any better/small> “ she responded and picked up the book she was reading.
he sighed at least at being met with a voice that didn’t exactly seem irritated by his outburst, but kuro didn’t respond straight away as he stretched a little and tried to get himself used to being awake suddenly. he was still tired as hell-- but kuro was pretty much always like that. so there’s wasn’t much difference. “probably.. but that would mean i need to go and find them and it’s easier just to let my thought flow freely for a few moments to whoever is around to hear it, ya know?” he sighed. “but that does make me feel better, even if i’m awake now. i only like sleeping on other people-- tables are horrible. hard surfaces are a bitch to your back.”
there weren’t many people that knew of dongmin’s favourite place, in fact, he was certain nobody knew of it. it was in a secluded area, an area that was definitely prohibited. but did he care? of course not, he was a demon, after all. he didn’t care about anything. it was late at night, the sky was dark, the clouds slowly floating by as the moonlight glowed down at him. you could say it was the only glow on dongmin, his dark hair and everyday dark attire giving the opposite effect. he knew there wouldn’t be anybody around this time of night, so he knew he had no fear of being himself and working on his art. he found some sort of freedom of cooping himself up on the edge of the cliff, overlooking the view and the nightlights beaming. the soft echo of late drivers in the distance, the sound of the wind flowing by, the leaves against the tree flowing. it was relaxing, he enjoyed it so much. with his drawing pad in his lap, his left hand clasping onto the corners while his right hand held his pencil, he worked on his art. his hand flew freely, quick and smooth strokes against the paper as his eyebrows and forehead were creased in concentration. after a few minutes of sketching, he quickly flipped his drawing pad shut with a loud noise.
raising his head up, he didn’t need to turn around to know there was somebody amongst him, which was highly unusual. “i know you’re there.” his cold, loud voice was hard, his jaw clenching slightly. “if i were you, i’d leave.”
kuro likes to scour the area in his fox form at any time of the day where he could, liking it mostly because sometimes he met new people, and other times he just saw interesting things that he’d maybe missed before. one time he’d found a secret entrance to the academy, after all, so his exploring did him well. and tonight was just another one of those nights. and that was why he was slowly making his way up, when he saw the silhouette of a figure, and curiosity took a hold of him once more. though kuro could instantly tell it was a demon as he approached, slowly coming out of his fox form and into a human one and he approached quietly, even if he knew he would be noticed soon enough.
“and what do you plan on doing if i don’t?“ he hummed out, brow raising despite not even being given a second glance as he turned to look at the moon for a moment. “will you try and throw me off the cliff? intimidate me? this is a free place, dongmin, it’s not hell anymore.“
oh, the irony of coming into a haven dedicated to study and academia only to not do just that as neglected assignments grow high enough where it could challenge mount everest — one would think, twenty damn years of studying music composition would turn you into fuckin’ franz schubert or even the man, the myth, the legend: bach. it was only reasonable to assume that with this e x t e n s i v e repertoire of baroque and romanticism ( only to name a few ), she might as well have directly contributed to its emergence, or hell, just simply invented it. but thoughts aside, the library serves no purpose to her with its minimal noise and dusty, yellowed books, yet she still finds herself seated indolently reclined with legs stretched out under the table as slim fingers fiddle with one of her many lighters, its flame continuously sparked on and off in a jaded manner as a way to tend to her subliminal restlessness. her focus is stationed at the kindled orange, paying no mind to the sleeping fox in front of her until it speaks up; her, in turn, providing the least attention in the form of a quick glance, only to grant it back to the lighter. ❝ if you wanna know ‘uncomfy’ ❞ she begins, placing emphasis on his choice of colloquialism in pseudo sincerity, ❝ i’d suggest you try falling out of the fuckin’ sky and then getting back to me. ❞ it’s then that her lighter runs out ( which was initially already low on butane ), followed by a quick ❝ ah, shit, ❞ as she closely tosses it on the table in disposal.
his eyes narrow a little at her as he leans against the table - of course he’d be talking to a fallen angel of all things. and it wasn’t even like kuro had anything against them either, he didn’t give a shit despite the fact he was apparently the exact opposite of these ‘divine’ beings. but her words did irk him honestly. “sweetheart,” he turned around then, leaning with his hands on the table instead then, “i know you’re butthurt about being kicked out of your holy ass place, but you should try burning in hell and living years and years of watching everyone you love die, over and over again, and not be able to do anything about it to the point that you’ve actually considered letting someone exorcise you back to hell-- then get back to me about how fuckin’ shitty your situation is.” it wasn’t really often kuro let any sign of aggression or anger show suddenly unless he was provoked-- which was usually when someone he cared about was threatened anyway, but he wasn’t exactly the happiest right now. “because it isn’t. so fucking think your words over before you say them, huh?”
kuro’s weight is warm and comforting on hoetaek’s shoulders—they’re used to his constant presence. for as long as hoetaek’s been at keisung, kuro’s been around, and after thirteen years (especially these ones where they’ve been bonded) hoetaek notices it more when he’s not there then when he is. so of course they notice when kuro suddenly slips from his sleeping position. they’re distracted by the student that had walked over, however (who, it turned out, was “just looking” and not worth hoetaek’s time anyway) and while they do move to catch their familiar, it’s too late, and kuro’s already hit the ground and changed form.
“are you okay?” hoetaek asks quickly, concern tugging their lips into a frown, and they take no notice as the student begins to walk away again. they examine kuro’s now-human form for any sign of an injury that needs attention, their frown not lessening even after they don’t find anything obvious. “did I move too much? I’m sorry,” they add, running their hand sheepishly over the back of their neck, kuro’s absence still a lingering feeling there. “did you want to go back to sleep?” it’s true that hoetaek has been asked why their familiar sleeps so much and ‘don’t you think it’s odd?’ but hoetaek doesn’t, not really, kuro’s been on this earth for a very long time and, all things considered, they can’t exactly blame him for being tired.
sleeping is just something that kuro does, something that he loves because it’s just.. it passes the time for him and he’s at least glad that being a demon doesn’t stop him from being able to sleep peacefully, and sleeping on hoetaek just makes it better. so when he falls off, he just wines under his breath and sighs as he looks up at the other.
“no.. it wasn’t you, don’t worry about it,“ the familiar sighed, pushing himself up then and shuffling over to hoetaek again. “i stretched and slipping,“ which was something he was going to try and not do again, because it was never fun to slip off of someone, and it wasn’t exactly the first time he’d done that before either. but kuro lets his head rest against their shoulder then, almost nuzzling in despite being in human form, but the feeling of being a fox still lingered on him. “i better not, i’ll keep you company instead-- how have your sales been going since i’ve slept?“
kuro wasn’t even sure when he’d been moved off of the shoulder of the one he’d decide to sleep on, only just now realising it as the small fennec fox stretched out and realised his claws were digging into a hardwood table, and not someones clothes.. and that was enough to startle kuro into an awake state anyway. last thing he remembered was being in the library with someone else, warm and cozy.. not on a table curled up-- if anyone knew him well enough, it was that kuro hated sleeping on surfaces that weren’t soft or other people.. he just liked body heat and feeling close to others. so with a frown that probably evident on the fox’s face, kuro sat up and surprised themselves with the sight of another in the seat that his friend had been occupying before. he stared for a moment or two though, before jumping off the table and into his human form. “some people are so rude. i’m trying to take a nap and i just get placed down onto the table instead-- do you know how uncomfy that is on your back? rude.” then again.. he must’ve been in way too deep a sleep, and he didn’t really care who he was talking to right now.
saturday morning. hoetaek lays a sturdy, deep purple mat down on a patch of grass by the campus greenhouses. they squat in front of it, pulling a number of items out of a large wicker basket and placing them carefully for display on top of the mat. it takes the better part of fifteen minutes for hoetaek to unload their assortment of potions, crystals, bundles of herbs and flowers, each item with a hand written label with neatly penned descriptions and prices attached. once they’re satisfied with the displa,y they stand, muttering a soft incantation to conjure the final touch, a sign attached to a wooden pole and stuck into the ground that reads: hoetaek’s apothecary.
it’s generally not very busy around this part of campus, especially not on a saturday morning. but this is also not the first saturday morning hoetaek’s set up shop here, not by a long shot, and those looking to buy will know where they are. they take a seat behind the mat, crossing their legs and pulling out a pack of tarot cards from their pocket, shuffling them slowly as they wait for the first customers of the day. hoetaek’s not a seer—as much as they wish they held that particular power—but that doesn’t stop them practicing with these cards. while their readings are not completely inaccurate, most of the time, they’re definitely not worth as much as even one of the items sitting on the mat. but still, hoetaek likes to bring their cards along, it’s something to offer when a customer doesn’t find anything else to suit their fancy. witches got to make money somehow.
speaking of customers, it’s not too long before the sound of footsteps has hoetaek pausing mid shuffle, and they look up and the person with a bright smile. “good morning! anything in particular I can help you with today?”
it was probably a little well known by now that kuro didn’t leave hoetaek’s side often unless he was going wandering or to pester someone else. but most of the time on mornings like this, the familiar stayed put by his witches side. and that was what he was doing as he’d managed to curl his way around hoetaek’s neck over their shoulders whilst in his fox form, ears covering his eyes in an almost too cute way. people probably thought he slept too much, but really, he didn’t care, he had all the time in the world to sleep and that was exactly what kuro would do on a morning like this unless hoetaek needed him to wake up.
still, after some time of snoozing, he hears the other talking despite his sleeping haze as someone approaches.. but it’s of course, at that point in time that kuro goes to stretch out and readjust his position.. that he ends up rolling off hoetaek’s shoulder instead. he tries his best not to cling to them, knowing he might scratch, but there’s a small whine from kuro as he hits the ground. which is the only thing that prompts him back into his human form, earning a more human groan this time as he doesn’t even bother trying to get up or look at the two above.
so before i get to honesty hour stuff and all, it is i, kat, back at it again and look this better be my final kid or i stg-- but this is kuro, he is hoetaek’s familiar and he’s been on earth since 918, aka the start of the goryeo dynasty.. he is a fennec fox familiar ( basically the cutest fucking thing on the planet ), and tbh he isn’t your typical mean and evil demon type familiar, he actually takes his role very seriously and he’s never liked harming humans to live, but eh, he’s a demon, just a familiar overall though
but anyway, under the cut i’ll give his summary but i actually have a full bio for him for once here, and his profile here!
his real name is kiwoon but he goes by kuro because one of his old witches gave him that name, she was japanese
but basically he was brought up to earth at the very start of the goryeo dynasty by a prince called seungjong who was actually a warlock and bound with him
very respectable and favoured man like he was a great guy and kuro did actually fall in love with him ( kuro spent a lot of time in his fox form bcos of the fact they’d kill him if they found out there was a demon in the palace )
when seungjong died he had to run away, and it was heartbreaking for him but he stuck around until his death and it hurt a lot, but he ran away and started feeding off human souls and making deals to obtain a human form
basically for years after that he just kept binding and unbinding with different witches and warlocks and he had good and bad experiences but overall he just watched them all die, go mad with power, or kill themselves with it though he tried to be the best he could be for them despite it all
things kind of changed when he met ha-jin when she was 19 in 1896 and it was the first witch he’d agreed to bond with who he would make a bond like he had with seungjong again.. and honestly she didn’t want to be a witch, she didn’t care about it and all she wanted to do was run a flower shop honestly
he was by her side through everything and they watched the world break and fix itself together and he just stuck with her and loved her, he couldn’t help it
he never told her, and instead he helped her get with her husband and he helped her raise her kids and then her grandkids too and he helped her as she grew old and got all over her dreams to come true, like he just looked after her
when she died, he stuck by her side in his fox form and just curled up with her, and after that he spent 3 years at her grave refusing to move and go anywhere, and the grandchildren and children came to make sure he was alright and after a while he left, and eventually he came back and helped to watched over the family again anyway
he refused to bond with another as well, and ultimately it did start leading him down a volatile path where he just took human souls for fun and to take them, he hurt people, he turned dark and it was bad because he had more than enough human souls to last him a life time but he was so angry at the world for taking ha-jin
either way, he ended up at keisung around 20 years ago, and he met hoetaek when the other came to keisung and he took an immediate liking to them and wanted to look after them because of how young they were
and ultimately it led to them bonding because hoetaek didn’t want him to go down the dark path he was already going down, and kuro needed it as a way out so he accepted and he is glad
but he has been through a lot of shit, he’s watched the world break too often and he’s just watched hell all over again every few years, and just.. the easiest way i can describe it is that he is so tired of the world, like he is so tired and he’s just old
like he seems okay for the most part and he goes about everything fine, but literally the longer he goes, the more tired he gets until he just feels like it might be easier to go back to hell - it’s why sometimes he goes into phases of not entirely being there and just staring out into space instead because he’s just distancing his mind
that being said, he did distance himself from mortals and others for a long time after ha-jin’s death like he didn’t want to get close to people who could die again, but honestly, he couldn’t stop himself from doing it because he is a people person and just, that’s why he gets into those trances sometimes of disappearing in himself
also he does spend a lot of time in his fox form so expect it tbh, and he will come and curl up on you like he doesn’t like sleeping on random surfaces in his fox form, he’d rather curl up on someones lap, or shoulder and stuff so just be warned, he’s sweet though
that being said though, he is very protective and loyal to hoetaek and if you so much as threaten them then you’ll need to deal with kuro appearing because he is very intune with his feelings and emotions and his attachment to hoetaek, like their bond is extremely close because of how protective kuro is of them
