The Binding Journal
The Binding Journal
A group of young men practice magic and write a journal together.
- This story is based off of a roleplay universe created with Kie, who also beta-read the first chapter. (I made a LOT of changes after she did, however, so there may still be lots of mistakes.)
- Each chapter begins with a journal entry written by a member of the coven. It's followed by a scene written in third person, and then "notes" that were written by other members of the coven on the journal entry at the top of the chapter.
- This is an original story with original characters that are inspired in part by EXO (and potentially other K-pop idols). Nothing in this story is real or meant to represent any actual person.
- Feedback is greatly appreciated.
First Entry
Second Entry
First Entry - Kai
My name is Kai. I'm 18 this year and a freshman at an all-male university in Seoul. I came here to break away from what I know best, so I could experiment with something new. Right away, I met Chanyeol, who turned out to be something familiar in the newest way possible.
I come from a family of magic. At least, I'm supposed to. Only my grandmother actually practices it, while my father never bothered and my mom barely believes any of it's real. I hear that one of my cousins is into it, but well anyway. Magic has always been a part of my life, but it never exactly played it's part before now.
Chanyeol, Kyungsoo, Baekhyun, and Tao come from families with magic like mine. The four of them were already in a group together when I started coming here and soon after that we found Sehun, who also has magic.
There was another, a leader, but he suddenly left shortly after I came around, and in fact he appointed me the new leader. It turns out age doesn't matter much in a coven. Even if I am one of the youngest, I also happen to be one of the most powerful. (Don't you guys think~?)
So, we're a coven, sort of. We're an unusual kind, being all male. (Most powerful witches are women, it's always stronger with them. And yes, even the men are technically called witches.) We also figure that we're a temporary one, but as long as we're learning and actively practicing, it's worth it to stay together for now.
Being unusual as we are, I think a binding journal must be one of the best ways to strengthen our relationship. It's something that a lot of covens do to have a look inside of one another's heads, among other things. About that, witches are way more powerful together. The closer we are, the easier it is to use magic as a group.
On a personal level, I guess none of us are that close yet, with the exception of Chanyeol and Kyungsoo who have apparently been best friends for their entire lives. I think Sehun is kind of into me, but other than that..
We're all civil, anyway, except for maybe one of us.
By the way, if you're thinking that Tao and I must be foreign, you're wrong. I was born and raised in Korea, so just to be clear the two of us have nothing in common.
That pretty much explains who we are~, so for now, stop here.
- Kai
First Scene - Aroma & Writings
The six members of the coven sat in a circle on a hard cement floor. The large warehouse was in good condition, but apparently the company that used to operate here moved onto something bigger, leaving behind the perfect meeting place for the young witches. They've used it for a while, because it wouldn't be a good idea to do magic on campus grounds where just anyone could spot them.
While Kai wrote on the first page of the thick, black journal - the others went on with a usual meeting.
On this day, Chanyeol was sharing his knowledge about aromatic spells, useful because "they help set the mood," and, as he had explained with animated excitement, "Mood can be everything when it comes to important spells."
Raised in an actively practicing environment, Chanyeol has been able to lead several meetings when Kai is too busy... or too lazy to.
In front of each of the witches were sticks of incense, burning into cheap plastic trays. The combination of the smells would be headache inducing, which is why Chanyeol instructed them to try and keep the smells of the incense in front of them reduced.
"Holding the smell back is easier than making one stronger," he explained, "At least for me. And incense is the best way too practice it, cause it's a smell you pretty much see from the smoke and all? I just picture something holding in that smoke and focus my energy into thoughts like that. It works, right?"
Baekhyun held his hands over his incense, as if he could physically stop the scent from reaching his nose. He looked focused, eyes squeezed shut, until just one popped open to look at Chanyeol. "If the point of this is just setting the mood for a spell, how come this is so hard by itself?"
Kyungsoo's tone was patient and soft when he answered that for Chanyeol, "It's for the really big, important spells."
"It gets easier," Chanyeol added, "It doesn't take much energy, you just have to have a good imagination. You have that, Baekhyun."
"I don't smell anything," Kai mumbled the feedback, although he appeared so intent on his writing that it was a shock in itself that he even knew what was going on.
Chanyeol grinned, taking even mumbled feedback as great encouragement. "See? We're doing good."
Tao shot Baekhyun a look. The spell was effortless for himself and he expected it was likely easy for the others as well. He wondered how to kindly help Baekhyun, without singling him out for doing something wrong. As usual, no words came to mind. Socializing would eternally be one of Tao's weak points, but at least he was aware enough of that problem.
Sehun, meanwhile, gave a sudden cough. "I'm smelling it."
"Push it back," Chanyeol said helpfully, "Away from your nose." He puts a hand over his own in a demonstration, "Block it. Or focus on another smell completely."
Baekhyun made a slight gesture, as if he wanted to put his own hand over his nose, but he seemed to stop himself and returned to concentrating.
"Okay," Kai announced then, straightening and holding up the journal with an air of success. "I finished the first entry."
At once, Baekhyun's concentration was lost and the smell of his cedarwood incense filled the air, strong and sudden. Though Sehun's nose crinkled and Kyungsoo touched his forehead with the sign of a headache, Baekhyun didn't apparently mind the failure. He turned straight to Kai. "Can I see?"
Kai passed it over, pulling Baekhyun's tray of incense closer to himself. "We're stopping the smell, right?"
"That's the idea," Chanyeol answered.
Kai held his hand out over the incense. It felt right to him. In a split second, the smell of cedarwood was absent and Baekhyun's incense had snapped in half.
"You're not supposed to break it," Tao said quickly. If there was one person he wouldn't mind criticizing, it was Kai.
"I stopped the smell," Kai defended himself simply.
"You didn't have to break it," Chanyeol said, almost quiet.
"But who's going to read this," Baekhyun suddenly began to ask, referring to the journal, "that doesn't already know this stuff? The journal is just for us, right?"
Kai looked thoughtful. "It's for the future..." He smiled, "It could be very valuable when we become the most powerful coven in Korea."
Baekhyun still looked puzzled, but returned to reading the journal entry.
Kai handed him the pen he'd written with. "When you're done, add a comment and a signature."
The journal was past around that way, the rest of the coven taking turns controlling the different sticks of incense. When Baekhyun got Kyungsoo's apple incense under his control, the warehouse started smelling again. Afterwards, Chanyeol moved a little closer to him to quietly offer some advice.
Finally, Tao had the journal and was looking increasingly annoyed as he read. When he finished, he flipped the journal down and stared long, hard, and unamused at Kai.
Kai countered with a neutral expression and finally informed Tao, "You have to sign it."
"I was raised in Korea too," Tao said, in perfect and carefully pronounced Korean.
To that, Kai gave a prideful grin, "We're learning about each other already."
Tao took the pen from the last person that had it, Sehun, and quickly wrote in a comment of his own. Though Kai tried to take back the journal to read, Tao held it out of reach, looking around.
"Who writes the next entry?"
Baekhyun raised his hand, volunteering. As the first and only, Tao handed the book across the circle to him. "Take it home with you. We'll all see your entry at the next meeting."
Evidently proud of the responsibility, Baekhyun beamed and nodded his head.
The rest of the meeting seemed to go on for a while, but at a certain point Baekhyun was certainly having no more trouble containing one smell. They were all trying instead to make one smell stand out.
When eventually the room was filled with Chanyeol's dreamsicle, Tao made the sudden announcement that he needed to get going.
"Oh, it got late." Chanyeol noticed, standing at the same time as Tao. "We're all meeting again tomorrow, right?"
Kai nodded, "Tomorrow."
"Okay, I'll bring some extra stuff if I get home before then."
Baekhyun questioned, curiously, "If you get home?"
"He's staying at Tao's," Kyungsoo shortly explained, words somewhat clipped in a possibly bitter tone.
Baekhyun was quick to get on his feet, shoving the journal out towards Chanyeol. "Here. You write the entry."
Chanyeol looked amused and took the journal. "Ah, you can write it next time then."
Baekhyun didn't seem to mind the trade off though. He just made a quick, firm demand. "Write a lot of detail."
First Entry - Notes
Kai broke my incense. - Baekhyun
EXCITED hehe - Chanyeol
Was the part about Tao necessary? - Kyungsoo
You seem more arrogant when you write. - Sehun
You're arrogant in person too. - Tao
Second Entry - Chanyeol
On the outskirts of Seoul where no one can hear you scream............ there's a house. As you step through the fence and near the front door, you can feel a presence. Closer.. and closer... WHOOSH! The door opens, and you neatly place your shoes on a shelf by the door, while Tao's mom kindly greets you!
This is what Tao's house is like, it's very nice. I don't know if everyone knows, but Tao's father is a demon hunter, so there's lots of protective spells that you can even see placed on the house. It's really an impressive and safe home, so I'm surprised that Tao tells me he's looking forward to moving out on his own. Not that my own house is bad... on second thought, I guess I understand after all.
You must be very interested in what we did, right? Tao and I have been spending time together this way since the meeting last week. He kind of became my tutor in dark magic, since it's not something that I'm really familiar with. Tao is really busy though, you can probably imagine. To reach his dream, he does all this physical training, then magic training, his homework of course, we always meet for the coven, and then he makes time to help me too. Really admirable guy!
While I'm writing this, he's studying for tomorrow. Did you know he might even graduate a year early? Tao, fighting!
Tao's bedroom is... just kidding. Maybe he'll write about it when it's his turn? Isn't that enough about Tao? So.. the magic that Tao is teaching me.. (Drink for each time I write Tao! jk jk)
There's a symbol he showed me once before that really stuck with me. It has to do with elemental manipulation, which I guess I always like, but it just seems really powerful. It's so powerful that I dream of it. Our focus kind of shifted to summoning, but at home, I still practice with that particular symbol. One day, will we see this kind of thing as a coven?
It's been a fun day, but even if Tao has to stay up and work hard, my homework is done. I'm ready to sleep! Night night!
- Chanyeol
Second Scene - Dinner & Guardians
It was dinner at Tao's house. Chanyeol always stood out like a sore thumb among the family, from his frizzy lightened hair to his animated gestures. Of course, he was only outnumbered by one. Tao's dad never seemed to be around.
Tao's mother looked very much like him, straight black hair and pointed features. She was quiet like Tao too, but enough of a conversationalist to make dinner entertaining, not too mention a great cook.
Shortly after dinner, Chanyeol was sitting in the floor of Tao's large (and otherwise mostly ordinary, by the way) bedroom, hugging his own stomach. "Tao, I'm sick."
Tao sat across from him, carefully laying out dark stones in a pattern between them. "You ate.. a lot."
"I know," Chanyeol breathed, "It's why I'm sick."
Tao almost laughed. "Should you try some medicine before we do this one?"
"No, no, I'm fine." Chanyeol sat up straight, looking attentively at the stones on the floor. "I understand most of this, but the points here are kinda weird.."
"That's the difference between reaching a dark reality and a light reality. It basically redirects our minds and it also gives us more control. That's important when you're communicating with this kind of spirit."
"It's safe?"
Tao sounded reassuring, "Yes. This is still just the beginning." He added, with a growing smile, "It's not even very useful."
"My favorite kind of knowledge," Chanyeol grinned, "The kind that I don't need."
"It's still a good starting place." Tao looked a bit more serious and shifted in order to cross his legs. "Now, focus your energy."
"Um, Tao?" Chanyeol was looking distractedly around the room. "I feel a presence."
Tao blinked his eyes, quickly losing any focus he had began to gather. Chanyeol was rather good at reading auras and 'sensing' people and such, so Tao was willing to trust that sense. It didn't make much sense for an uninvited presence to show itself here of all places, though.
At least it didn't, until a familiar voice spoke into Tao's ear. "Astute."
There was no body, so Tao could only scowl at an invisible someone. "It's nothing."
When Chanyeol looked skeptical, Tao added, "It's something, but you don't have to worry about it."
It was something that Tao very much liked about Chanyeol, that he wasn't too nosy. Evidence of that, he just smiled, trusting, and nodded at Tao. "Okay. So, we're focusing our energy..."
Hours later, when Chanyeol was sleeping, Tao was working on his homework by little light. He could feel the presence now, in fact he was able to sense it himself ever since it said that one word to him. It was distracting, but for the longest time he refused to acknowledge it.
Finally, a body appeared next to him, long legs folded in mimicry of Tao's own sitting position. Intense eyes seemed to glare, and there was an air of superiority rolling off of the white-coated figure.
"Kris," Tao acknowledged him through his teeth. "I'm busy."
Apparently, Kris didn't care. He looked over towards the bed, commenting casually, "Your friend is interesting."
"As my guardian, you're supposed to help me, aren't you? You can at least let me concentrate."
"As your guardian," Kris corrected him, "I'm forced to protect you, which is something else entirely."
"As my guardian," Tao said again, "I thought you were supposed to pretty much leave me alone when I'm not in danger."
"You are." Kris offered no immediate explanation.
Tao backed away from his laptop screen to look towards his bed. "Chanyeol?"
"You're good at being alone, Tao. Stay that way."
Tao never answered before Kris disappeared in a flash of a flame. It was hard to focus on schoolwork again afterwards, so for the first time in a long time, Tao fell asleep with it unfinished.
The next afternoon, Tao and Chanyeol arrived at their coven meeting together, but they split off immediately after.
Chanyeol handed the journal off before getting into an enthusiastic, but quiet conversation with Kyungsoo.
Tao sat, waiting to find out whatever mundane spell Kai was going to try and teach everyone today.
Second Entry - Notes
Thank you for coming. - Tao
Glad you had fun. - Kyungsoo
Demon hunter? Ha, what's that~? - Kai
Hm.. Show us the symbol some time. - Sehun
Demon hunter, what?! Tao is so cool. I want to go too! - Baekhyun
( Back to Top )
A group of young men practice magic and write a journal together.
- This story is based off of a roleplay universe created with Kie, who also beta-read the first chapter. (I made a LOT of changes after she did, however, so there may still be lots of mistakes.)
- Each chapter begins with a journal entry written by a member of the coven. It's followed by a scene written in third person, and then "notes" that were written by other members of the coven on the journal entry at the top of the chapter.
- This is an original story with original characters that are inspired in part by EXO (and potentially other K-pop idols). Nothing in this story is real or meant to represent any actual person.
- Feedback is greatly appreciated.
First Entry
Second Entry
First Entry - Kai
My name is Kai. I'm 18 this year and a freshman at an all-male university in Seoul. I came here to break away from what I know best, so I could experiment with something new. Right away, I met Chanyeol, who turned out to be something familiar in the newest way possible.
I come from a family of magic. At least, I'm supposed to. Only my grandmother actually practices it, while my father never bothered and my mom barely believes any of it's real. I hear that one of my cousins is into it, but well anyway. Magic has always been a part of my life, but it never exactly played it's part before now.
Chanyeol, Kyungsoo, Baekhyun, and Tao come from families with magic like mine. The four of them were already in a group together when I started coming here and soon after that we found Sehun, who also has magic.
There was another, a leader, but he suddenly left shortly after I came around, and in fact he appointed me the new leader. It turns out age doesn't matter much in a coven. Even if I am one of the youngest, I also happen to be one of the most powerful. (Don't you guys think~?)
So, we're a coven, sort of. We're an unusual kind, being all male. (Most powerful witches are women, it's always stronger with them. And yes, even the men are technically called witches.) We also figure that we're a temporary one, but as long as we're learning and actively practicing, it's worth it to stay together for now.
Being unusual as we are, I think a binding journal must be one of the best ways to strengthen our relationship. It's something that a lot of covens do to have a look inside of one another's heads, among other things. About that, witches are way more powerful together. The closer we are, the easier it is to use magic as a group.
On a personal level, I guess none of us are that close yet, with the exception of Chanyeol and Kyungsoo who have apparently been best friends for their entire lives. I think Sehun is kind of into me, but other than that..
We're all civil, anyway, except for maybe one of us.
By the way, if you're thinking that Tao and I must be foreign, you're wrong. I was born and raised in Korea, so just to be clear the two of us have nothing in common.
That pretty much explains who we are~, so for now, stop here.
- Kai
First Scene - Aroma & Writings
The six members of the coven sat in a circle on a hard cement floor. The large warehouse was in good condition, but apparently the company that used to operate here moved onto something bigger, leaving behind the perfect meeting place for the young witches. They've used it for a while, because it wouldn't be a good idea to do magic on campus grounds where just anyone could spot them.
While Kai wrote on the first page of the thick, black journal - the others went on with a usual meeting.
On this day, Chanyeol was sharing his knowledge about aromatic spells, useful because "they help set the mood," and, as he had explained with animated excitement, "Mood can be everything when it comes to important spells."
Raised in an actively practicing environment, Chanyeol has been able to lead several meetings when Kai is too busy... or too lazy to.
In front of each of the witches were sticks of incense, burning into cheap plastic trays. The combination of the smells would be headache inducing, which is why Chanyeol instructed them to try and keep the smells of the incense in front of them reduced.
"Holding the smell back is easier than making one stronger," he explained, "At least for me. And incense is the best way too practice it, cause it's a smell you pretty much see from the smoke and all? I just picture something holding in that smoke and focus my energy into thoughts like that. It works, right?"
Baekhyun held his hands over his incense, as if he could physically stop the scent from reaching his nose. He looked focused, eyes squeezed shut, until just one popped open to look at Chanyeol. "If the point of this is just setting the mood for a spell, how come this is so hard by itself?"
Kyungsoo's tone was patient and soft when he answered that for Chanyeol, "It's for the really big, important spells."
"It gets easier," Chanyeol added, "It doesn't take much energy, you just have to have a good imagination. You have that, Baekhyun."
"I don't smell anything," Kai mumbled the feedback, although he appeared so intent on his writing that it was a shock in itself that he even knew what was going on.
Chanyeol grinned, taking even mumbled feedback as great encouragement. "See? We're doing good."
Tao shot Baekhyun a look. The spell was effortless for himself and he expected it was likely easy for the others as well. He wondered how to kindly help Baekhyun, without singling him out for doing something wrong. As usual, no words came to mind. Socializing would eternally be one of Tao's weak points, but at least he was aware enough of that problem.
Sehun, meanwhile, gave a sudden cough. "I'm smelling it."
"Push it back," Chanyeol said helpfully, "Away from your nose." He puts a hand over his own in a demonstration, "Block it. Or focus on another smell completely."
Baekhyun made a slight gesture, as if he wanted to put his own hand over his nose, but he seemed to stop himself and returned to concentrating.
"Okay," Kai announced then, straightening and holding up the journal with an air of success. "I finished the first entry."
At once, Baekhyun's concentration was lost and the smell of his cedarwood incense filled the air, strong and sudden. Though Sehun's nose crinkled and Kyungsoo touched his forehead with the sign of a headache, Baekhyun didn't apparently mind the failure. He turned straight to Kai. "Can I see?"
Kai passed it over, pulling Baekhyun's tray of incense closer to himself. "We're stopping the smell, right?"
"That's the idea," Chanyeol answered.
Kai held his hand out over the incense. It felt right to him. In a split second, the smell of cedarwood was absent and Baekhyun's incense had snapped in half.
"You're not supposed to break it," Tao said quickly. If there was one person he wouldn't mind criticizing, it was Kai.
"I stopped the smell," Kai defended himself simply.
"You didn't have to break it," Chanyeol said, almost quiet.
"But who's going to read this," Baekhyun suddenly began to ask, referring to the journal, "that doesn't already know this stuff? The journal is just for us, right?"
Kai looked thoughtful. "It's for the future..." He smiled, "It could be very valuable when we become the most powerful coven in Korea."
Baekhyun still looked puzzled, but returned to reading the journal entry.
Kai handed him the pen he'd written with. "When you're done, add a comment and a signature."
The journal was past around that way, the rest of the coven taking turns controlling the different sticks of incense. When Baekhyun got Kyungsoo's apple incense under his control, the warehouse started smelling again. Afterwards, Chanyeol moved a little closer to him to quietly offer some advice.
Finally, Tao had the journal and was looking increasingly annoyed as he read. When he finished, he flipped the journal down and stared long, hard, and unamused at Kai.
Kai countered with a neutral expression and finally informed Tao, "You have to sign it."
"I was raised in Korea too," Tao said, in perfect and carefully pronounced Korean.
To that, Kai gave a prideful grin, "We're learning about each other already."
Tao took the pen from the last person that had it, Sehun, and quickly wrote in a comment of his own. Though Kai tried to take back the journal to read, Tao held it out of reach, looking around.
"Who writes the next entry?"
Baekhyun raised his hand, volunteering. As the first and only, Tao handed the book across the circle to him. "Take it home with you. We'll all see your entry at the next meeting."
Evidently proud of the responsibility, Baekhyun beamed and nodded his head.
The rest of the meeting seemed to go on for a while, but at a certain point Baekhyun was certainly having no more trouble containing one smell. They were all trying instead to make one smell stand out.
When eventually the room was filled with Chanyeol's dreamsicle, Tao made the sudden announcement that he needed to get going.
"Oh, it got late." Chanyeol noticed, standing at the same time as Tao. "We're all meeting again tomorrow, right?"
Kai nodded, "Tomorrow."
"Okay, I'll bring some extra stuff if I get home before then."
Baekhyun questioned, curiously, "If you get home?"
"He's staying at Tao's," Kyungsoo shortly explained, words somewhat clipped in a possibly bitter tone.
Baekhyun was quick to get on his feet, shoving the journal out towards Chanyeol. "Here. You write the entry."
Chanyeol looked amused and took the journal. "Ah, you can write it next time then."
Baekhyun didn't seem to mind the trade off though. He just made a quick, firm demand. "Write a lot of detail."
First Entry - Notes
Kai broke my incense. - Baekhyun
EXCITED hehe - Chanyeol
Was the part about Tao necessary? - Kyungsoo
You seem more arrogant when you write. - Sehun
You're arrogant in person too. - Tao
Second Entry - Chanyeol
On the outskirts of Seoul where no one can hear you scream............ there's a house. As you step through the fence and near the front door, you can feel a presence. Closer.. and closer... WHOOSH! The door opens, and you neatly place your shoes on a shelf by the door, while Tao's mom kindly greets you!
This is what Tao's house is like, it's very nice. I don't know if everyone knows, but Tao's father is a demon hunter, so there's lots of protective spells that you can even see placed on the house. It's really an impressive and safe home, so I'm surprised that Tao tells me he's looking forward to moving out on his own. Not that my own house is bad... on second thought, I guess I understand after all.
You must be very interested in what we did, right? Tao and I have been spending time together this way since the meeting last week. He kind of became my tutor in dark magic, since it's not something that I'm really familiar with. Tao is really busy though, you can probably imagine. To reach his dream, he does all this physical training, then magic training, his homework of course, we always meet for the coven, and then he makes time to help me too. Really admirable guy!
While I'm writing this, he's studying for tomorrow. Did you know he might even graduate a year early? Tao, fighting!
Tao's bedroom is... just kidding. Maybe he'll write about it when it's his turn? Isn't that enough about Tao? So.. the magic that Tao is teaching me.. (Drink for each time I write Tao! jk jk)
There's a symbol he showed me once before that really stuck with me. It has to do with elemental manipulation, which I guess I always like, but it just seems really powerful. It's so powerful that I dream of it. Our focus kind of shifted to summoning, but at home, I still practice with that particular symbol. One day, will we see this kind of thing as a coven?
It's been a fun day, but even if Tao has to stay up and work hard, my homework is done. I'm ready to sleep! Night night!
- Chanyeol
Second Scene - Dinner & Guardians
It was dinner at Tao's house. Chanyeol always stood out like a sore thumb among the family, from his frizzy lightened hair to his animated gestures. Of course, he was only outnumbered by one. Tao's dad never seemed to be around.
Tao's mother looked very much like him, straight black hair and pointed features. She was quiet like Tao too, but enough of a conversationalist to make dinner entertaining, not too mention a great cook.
Shortly after dinner, Chanyeol was sitting in the floor of Tao's large (and otherwise mostly ordinary, by the way) bedroom, hugging his own stomach. "Tao, I'm sick."
Tao sat across from him, carefully laying out dark stones in a pattern between them. "You ate.. a lot."
"I know," Chanyeol breathed, "It's why I'm sick."
Tao almost laughed. "Should you try some medicine before we do this one?"
"No, no, I'm fine." Chanyeol sat up straight, looking attentively at the stones on the floor. "I understand most of this, but the points here are kinda weird.."
"That's the difference between reaching a dark reality and a light reality. It basically redirects our minds and it also gives us more control. That's important when you're communicating with this kind of spirit."
"It's safe?"
Tao sounded reassuring, "Yes. This is still just the beginning." He added, with a growing smile, "It's not even very useful."
"My favorite kind of knowledge," Chanyeol grinned, "The kind that I don't need."
"It's still a good starting place." Tao looked a bit more serious and shifted in order to cross his legs. "Now, focus your energy."
"Um, Tao?" Chanyeol was looking distractedly around the room. "I feel a presence."
Tao blinked his eyes, quickly losing any focus he had began to gather. Chanyeol was rather good at reading auras and 'sensing' people and such, so Tao was willing to trust that sense. It didn't make much sense for an uninvited presence to show itself here of all places, though.
At least it didn't, until a familiar voice spoke into Tao's ear. "Astute."
There was no body, so Tao could only scowl at an invisible someone. "It's nothing."
When Chanyeol looked skeptical, Tao added, "It's something, but you don't have to worry about it."
It was something that Tao very much liked about Chanyeol, that he wasn't too nosy. Evidence of that, he just smiled, trusting, and nodded at Tao. "Okay. So, we're focusing our energy..."
Hours later, when Chanyeol was sleeping, Tao was working on his homework by little light. He could feel the presence now, in fact he was able to sense it himself ever since it said that one word to him. It was distracting, but for the longest time he refused to acknowledge it.
Finally, a body appeared next to him, long legs folded in mimicry of Tao's own sitting position. Intense eyes seemed to glare, and there was an air of superiority rolling off of the white-coated figure.
"Kris," Tao acknowledged him through his teeth. "I'm busy."
Apparently, Kris didn't care. He looked over towards the bed, commenting casually, "Your friend is interesting."
"As my guardian, you're supposed to help me, aren't you? You can at least let me concentrate."
"As your guardian," Kris corrected him, "I'm forced to protect you, which is something else entirely."
"As my guardian," Tao said again, "I thought you were supposed to pretty much leave me alone when I'm not in danger."
"You are." Kris offered no immediate explanation.
Tao backed away from his laptop screen to look towards his bed. "Chanyeol?"
"You're good at being alone, Tao. Stay that way."
Tao never answered before Kris disappeared in a flash of a flame. It was hard to focus on schoolwork again afterwards, so for the first time in a long time, Tao fell asleep with it unfinished.
The next afternoon, Tao and Chanyeol arrived at their coven meeting together, but they split off immediately after.
Chanyeol handed the journal off before getting into an enthusiastic, but quiet conversation with Kyungsoo.
Tao sat, waiting to find out whatever mundane spell Kai was going to try and teach everyone today.
Second Entry - Notes
Thank you for coming. - Tao
Glad you had fun. - Kyungsoo
Demon hunter? Ha, what's that~? - Kai
Hm.. Show us the symbol some time. - Sehun
Demon hunter, what?! Tao is so cool. I want to go too! - Baekhyun
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