Realistic or Modern Soul links [Artehauz+junedingo]

[junedingo]

It was an unusual day for Rufus.

The sky was dark with rain clouds, the light fall of water droplets making a musical cascade against the roof and windows of the car he rode in. He was watching the traffic passing the window with a blank stare, this thoughts occupying him too much to enjoy the ride. Like the sky above, his mood was murky and grey.

Thunderstorms like this were rare for California, about as rare as it was for Rufus to be riding in a car all alone, off to a destination that would take him away from the estate grounds for a while. As he sat in the back seat of the sedan - the driver in front ignoring the spirit guardian while he brooded angrily - he reflected on the events that had led up to this. He understood so little of the situation, and he had far more questions than answers. He hated working in this state, uncertainty was not a familiarity to Rufus. He liked being sure of himself, of his place, of what was expected of him, yet as the late summer rain came it brought him no solace in himself. While he'd resonated with the violent cracks of thunder the evening before, the morose patter of rain didn't comfort him in the slightest now.

Rufus only knew one thing for certain: that he needed help in finding answers.

Eventually, the car came up to his predetermined destination, a hospital. Rufus looked up at the large building, not knowing that he was being dropped off at one of the finest hospitals in the region. He had no frame of reference, never having been to a human hospital before, and having spent very little time outside the family's estate or associated property. He was a guardian of the family land, he didn't need to be traveling, and other than a little bit of curiosity now and then, he honestly didn't want to much either. The one that wanted to see the world wasn't him, but his twin sister. She was the one who was always going on about other countries, meeting spirits of all sorts.

Rufus felt his teeth grit as his jaw tensed at the memories.

The driver of the car stopped right in front of the hospital's main entrance, which had a covered car port luckily enough. Rufus wouldn't have to walk around in a soaking wet suit then. Without a word from the driver, Rufus let himself out the back seat, shutting the door behind himself before making his way into the building without a look back. He had only a second to be concerned with getting lost in the giant place, before his thoughts all halted as he made eye contact with a pair of matching green eyes.

"Mother."

The word was one he used often, but today it wasn't spoken with affection. Instead, there was a low pitched growl to his tone, perhaps even too low for the human ears around to hear. His mother gave no sign of emotion to his tone though, and instead turned, just expecting her son to follow. Of course he did so, like the well trained spirit he was, though he kept a distance between them, and made no attempt to converse. He was still beyond upset with her, for her indifference. The callousness cut Rufus to the bone, and it hurt yet made him angry at the same time.

Once they reached the right hall and stopped at the correct door, Rufus paused, because he recognized the voice of the estate Madam inside. Even for how much emotional turbulence he carried, the ingrained deference to authority held. His mother strode forward and gave the door a short knock to announce them, and once they were given permission to enter, she stood aside to let her son in without her. He gave her one last harsh glare before doing his best to hide the anger.

"Yes. Good. This is the one I've arranged for you," the Madam said, referring to the male spirit dressed in the staple family uniform of a simple black suit. The spirit himself inclined his head in respect to the woman, yet again going through the motions as his thoughts were occupied with questions on how exactly to get what he needed. He didn't care about the exchange between the humans.

"I'll leave him to you, then," the Madam said to Rufus after addressing her son, who once more nodded politely to the woman by stamping down his emotions as best he could. He waited until the door closed, and listened intently as the click of the high heels the Madam had been wearing faded down the hallway before he dropped the well trained act of an obedient spirit. Without the Madam or his mother around, he didn't have the patience to act like everything was hunky-dory.

Rolling back his shoulders, he bent his neck a bit and felt the vertebrae there audibly crack, and looked at the human he was now in charge of keeping safe. Most humans looked pretty pathetically weak to him, but he did sense a good amount of spiritual energy, which while it didn't impress him or anything, was fine enough.

"You haven't changed much, have you?" he asked, smirking a little meanly at the other man. He spoke in regards to their shared moments as youngsters, how he remembered Weilin was moody and never really held any presence in a room. He walked closer, the smirk fading into a scowl. "There's been a lot of fuss over you, a lot of talk back at the estate. Weird, that there's so much worry for someone who doesn't even want to be part of the family, but none for someone who has always worked hard for them."

 

[Artehauz]

Freedom from his oppressive family structure was so painfully close to being Weilin’s. He was able to live on his own. Not only that, he was in the city while his family remained in their own little world on the outskirts. It felt like he was always meant to live life that way. There was no mother to watch his every move and shake her head disapprovingly. Even better, he hadn’t heard a lecture from his father in months. From the way he was treated, one would probably assume Weilin was some loud mouth party animal who was always diving into trouble. He couldn’t be further from that, around his parents anyways. He was practically mute the moment he returned back home. Their actions might come from a place of love and care, but they were suffocating. He blamed his sheltered up bringing on why he was in the hospital now, but of course his parent’s thought it was something so much larger.

Two days prior, it was a Saturday Night. Being an adult of drinking age, Weilin decided to go out for the night. Something that was admittedly slightly out of character. Expressing himself was still something he had to gain confidence in, and when faced with the ability to actually have fun: he still thought of his parents and their judgmental eyes. Even when he didn’t have to return home to them at the end of the night, he would fear they would somehow know every move he made. That night though, he had the support of a couple of his friends. They were going out as a group, and the bubbly excitement of a group of college students pregaming for a night out had convinced him he could go out and have fun. Where Weilin placed the blame on his parents was here: he had no idea how to drink properly. Being so sheltered, his excitement took him further than he should have gone. Weilin got messy drunk. He didn’t do it often, so when he did, he was a lightweight. Alcohol gave him the confidence to act free of generational shame though, and so he was very social despite his usual personality.

Flush faced and with drunken, low, eyes Weilen spotted a very handsome stranger. He was tall, with broad shoulders and a sharp jaw. With his bubbly new drunk persona, Wei asked the man if he could buy him a drink. The memory made him mortified. Weilin was not out- and if he was sober he wouldn’t have done that. At the time though, he was thrilled because the man actually offered to buy him a drink instead. Was it all the soju Wei drank, or was the man actually handsome? He’d likely never know, because he couldn’t remember a thing past the drink the man got for him. He wound up in the hospital, from what he and his doctor’s believed to be alcohol poisoning, but if you asked Weilin’s parents: he’d survived an assassination attempt. It was honestly laughable. In what universe was he a target worthy of an assassination attempt, not to mention being strong enough to survive it? It was alcohol poisoning, and his parents were over reacting. Still, they insisted that they offer Weilin spiritual protection… in the form of Rufus.

Unfortunately, Weilin remembered Rufus. He was equally disappointed to hear he remembered Wei. Weilin was convinced no one from his past at home really truly knew him. Rufus was no exception, so his comment just made Wei smile sarcastically. His smile dropped though as Rufus kept on speaking “What are you even talking about?” Weilin asked him, confused how what the family talked about was his problem when Rufus knew he wanted nothing to do with it all. “I wish they’d stop fussing over me too… You’re saying what, that you’d wish they’d fuss over you instead?” Weilin pressed, unsure of what Rufus was talking about. He was in the hospital, after all, he wasn’t necessarily in the best condition to speak in a bunch of obscurities. “Believe me- you don’t want it.” He muttered, sinking further into the bed in annoyance. Rufus was barking up the wrong tree. Wei wanted nothing to do with this more than anyone in the world.