@0rainy0muses0 asked: { Laios for Kabru } "You know…I think I could deal with the lying. Yeah, I could absolutely deal with the lying. You're not the first person to lie to me, you know. A lot of people have." Laios looks exhausted, he hasn't been sleeping well. A lot of things have been weighing on his mind as of late. "It's the…it's the…y'know. The absolute firm belief held by everyone that I meet that I'd apparently throw all human races to the monsters if I could! Like I'm some kind of psychopath!" In fact, Chilchuck's called him that before, to his face even. Everyone he meets for more than five minutes seems to be convinced in this. It's very draining. "Nemari, Shuro, you…even Chilchuck and Marcille to some degree. The only one who doesn't look at me like I'll snap and start feeding you to walking mushrooms is Senshi. How is…how is that fair, to me? Huh? You all act like I don't have feelings; life I'm DEAF or something! I can hear when people talk behind my back, I just don't call you out on it 'cause I'm outnumbered and I don't know if anyone would defend me! It's really really really REALLY EXHAUSTING!!!" Laios stands, seized by a rare fit of anger, and kicks over the pot that's been boiling on a magic circle he drew. Nothing was in it besides water, so he doesn't feel bad for spilling the water, and he stalks off to go cool down somewhere where no one can see him cry and make fun of him for that too.
Kabru was the sort to pride himself on being able to read people well. It was a skill- no, not that. It was a talent. One that he’d devoted so many hours to while under the care of his adoptive mother. Observing, learning what did and didn’t cause a reaction. Tracing the lines of similarity until he had constructed a perfect web of how to make someone like him. It was easy. Familiar. Follow the pattern and you were in. Follow the pattern, and you could learn everything about someone.
And then, Laios Touden busted into his life with all the grace of a minotaur in a china shop.
Suddenly, his methods didn’t work. A sly smile, eye contact, and kind words didn’t do it. His pattern fell apart before his eyes, the glass mask that he kept between him and everyone else shattered. And it scared him more than anything.
Fear made him revert to the basics. The knowledge of how to kill a dangerous person. Dangerous, like someone who seemed to favor monsters over people. Who had their eyes light up with wonder at a creature aiming to kill them, but had negative interest in another human being.
He knew he recognized this fellow. Kabru saw him on the surface a few times with his old group- when his sister was still there. And every time he tried to approach, he was ignored completely. Laios never looked at him once, and every attempt to form the first threads of a bond were dashed. The other never even noticed him.
So what else was he to think, except that this person might be dangerous if placed in the powerful position of the Lord of the Dungeon? Monsters would thrive, humans would not. Monsters would reproduce and grow in population until the dungeon couldn’t hold them all. It would crumble, and the monsters would flood out… it would be Utaya all over again.
But contrary to his fear, he didn’t kill Laios. It would be easy, and humans would be safe. But he didn’t. Because he wanted to know, to understand. Kabru understood that his fear was based on trauma… And he never meant to let that show to Laios, not without context.
Only a few moments pass before he follows Laios. Stepping up alongside him when the other stopped. He didn’t look at his face, instead staring forward at a blank point on the wall. He took a deep breath in, before letting it slip away. Context was needed. So he would give it.
“When I was a kid, the village I lived in thought I was the child of a succubus. My eyes were too strange for them… so they ostracized me and my mother. I was too young to know at the time, but they did. Then, when I was just about seven… a dungeon in the area broke open. Too many monsters, not enough people managing their numbers. And… Utaya was swarmed. Everyone died. I watched them all be killed en mass. My family included. It was completely by luck that I didn’t die too. Outside of a dungeon, where we can’t just come back with a spell.”
Kabru hated talking about this. Hated baring his soul to anyone. But if he didn’t want what he’d tried so hard to build with Laios to crumble… he had to. He sat in place, crossing his legs, now staring down at his own hands. Hands weathered by combat, hands that have wielded weapons and killed people.
“I hate monsters. I don’t understand them at all. That day, they weren’t like animals, or anything even remotely similar. They weren’t eating, or surviving, or doing anything of the sort. They were killing. Just killing. So I hate them. I think they’re the worst things in the world, and I think we’d be better off without them.”
At long last he looks at Laios, crystal blue eyes sparkling a bit. His eyes were wet, his face was miserable. It felt like he was ripping open his chest and baring his vulnerable heart to this man. It hurt. God, it hurt.
“Then I meet you. Someone that sees something in these things that I just don’t. And that scares me. You are the first person I’ve ever seen speak about monsters, with their eyes lighting up and their pitch raising as they talk about something that they enjoy. And that scared me. I couldn’t see what you see. So I wanted to know you, to be friends with you. I want to see what you do. Do I believe you like monsters more than people? Yes, I do. Do I believe that you would make a dungeon that benefits monsters more than people? Yes, I do. Do I believe that you would intentionally cause harm to innocent humans for the benefit of monsters? No. I don’t. But I’ve seen what happens when a monster population grows too large for a dungeon. And I can picture it happening again. You loving these creatures, wanting them to flourish. And them flourishing. Until the dungeon collapses. And people die…”
Kabru swallows hard, looking forward again, lowering his head against the knuckles of his interlocked hands.
“You scare me, Laios. Your potential scares me. So I apologize for coming off like I think you mean harm. I don’t want to excuse my behavior. What I did was wrong, and I hurt you. But I want you to understand. My actions have not been from a place of thinking you’re bad. Not been from anything that you’ve yourself done. It’s my own past. And my own fear that is coloring my actions.”