home is where i want to be

[vibing]

Who: Yuri, Flynn, and Blue
What: Familial bonding ceremony
When: February 16th
Where: Their home in Crenshaw
Content warnings: mentions of torture



By Elle

[ Setting up everything for the bonding ritual is strange. Yuri doesn't love the idea of siphoning his own blood for it, it brings up too many memories of being strapped to a table, blood taken against his will. At least this time the blood isn't freezing as soon as it hits the air. No, instead it sparkles into nothing, and he has to find a way to get it where he needs it to go.

With blood from him, Blue, and Flynn, both of whom's blood looks way more normal, and a lock of each of their hair, Yuri puts together them all together along with the ash and the roses in a small silver goblet he finds at the market. It takes a lot of his salary to traded for it, but it's worth it. It's all worth it. The desire for this, for this sense of belonging, this family, is so strong in him that he can't really hold it back (they chose him, they keep choosing him. They love him, in their own ways, and want to be with him, want to share this with him) (he wants to be better for them, he wants to give them what they need. He wants to stop holding back). The scent of roses rises from the goblet, and he's pretty sure that means he did it right.

The goblet is left outside in the frigid cold, and Yuri checks on it far too late at night, to make sure it's all working as intended. The blood in it glows, the odd milky white of paleblood, mixed with the shimmer of his own dark blood. It's strange, to see it all together, evidence that they aren't what they were anymore. They aren't quite who they were at home, that he and Flynn aren't quite who they were before January, their blood changed, their selves changed.

Flynn's noticed it, and he thinks Blue has, too. He's different, since he changed. Calmer. Less angry. He feels better, and this might just be the next step, the next thing he needs to do, to accept this odd life they've found themselves in. He had a family, sort of, back home. He had Hanks and Jiri, he had Ted and Miriam, he had Brave Vesperia, the people who took care of him, the people who chose him, but this feels different. This is people who don't need him, people who could find others to do what they need, who could seek that in the whole community of Sleepers, and they chose him (they did, they want you, really you). It feels like for once he isn't just filling in a gap, giving people what they need, offering up as much as he can in the hope that it'll be good enough. Now, yes, he's still giving, but it feels different. It feels wanted, it feels like Flynn and Blue might still choose him even if he has nothing left to give.

The evening of the ceremony, Yuri came back from the beach early to spend the afternoon with Blue and cook the three of them a big meal that they can enjoy before the ceremony. He's not really nervous. He's on edge, but more with anticipation than anything negative. He wants to do this, wants to finish it, wants to be on the same level as Blue and Flynn, sharing their emotions in the way that's so natural to Blue. Sharing emotions has never been something he's good at, but having Blue just understand him without him having to articulate it? That's changed a lot for him, has let him feel like the more he says, the more he shows of himself, that none of it is going to he the last straw, the thing that Blue can't handle. And Flynn-- Flynn knowing his emotions has been different, has been odd in its own way, but he's still here, he's still here and says and feels that he loves Yuri so intensely. He can't disbelieve that. There's no way to, not when it's bright and loud and present. He wants to be able to give that back, to communicate more effectively through this language that's so natural to Blue, that Flynn is starting to learn, slowly.

He keeps glancing toward the door, the place where he thinks would be best for this. It just has to be a threshold, but this little house means so much to him, to all of them, he thinks. That's where they're going to do it, standing together in the threshold of their little home, this little space they've claimed as their own, that they've shared so much in.

He offers Blue a hand up after they've finished dinner ]

You ready?

Comments

[firstroar]

[the change in Yuri is undeniable; Flynn may be more keyed into it by merit of their closeness, but Blue finds it hard to ignore, either. it means there's some careful checking to ensure this event? this...ceremony... that it's something he truly wishes for himself. given the way he shies from sharing his feelings aloud, the way he inwardly recoils some feelings when physically near Blue...he has to be sure this won't become a curse he'll regret, because while Blue would find so much joy in deeper connections, it can't come at the sake of harming someone he loves.

that said, in those daytime hours alone he does ask around to locals for their thoughts on the rituals, finding no fear or derision in them, but rather...jealousy! many yearn for the ability to partake in such practices, but their blood is lacking.

so it really is something special, something good...

Yuri's disposition isn't the only curious-yet-pleasant change around the house, as one of the prime ingredients for that ritual seem very keen on manifesting wherever Blue goes. outside his bedroom window, hugging the door, springing up from the ground of any outdoor place he lingers for a while in sprout lush, fragrant roses, more beautiful than anything he'd imagine on his own. it was concerning for only a day or two, because their beauty quickly overtakes any apprehension (honestly, the sword standing straight-up in the middle of his bedroom one day was more startling!).

were there any other people asking, were it for any other reason, Blue would be just as apprehensive as Yuri is in sharing blood. Flynn knows - Flynn was there at the Lumenarium when that pale blood was first drawn; it wasn't a pleasant revelation. here now, though, it seems only right, because it's for these two, the most important people to Blue here.

so when that hand is offered, Blue doesn't hesitate in accepting it with a smile.]

I am. [as he says so, he looks over to Flynn, the echo of the question implied in his expression.

there's a groan under the table before the lion stretches and slinks out, lifting his head to peer over the finished dishes to look at these people with a patient interest.]