jun li š emperor kaito (kaito) wrote in dunhavenic, @ 2019-03-17 14:12:00 |
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Entry tags: | !narrative, * kit, c: jun li |
WHO: Jun Li, with a cameo from Cecile Polinsky (NPC) ā Emperor Kaito
WHEN: Saturday, March 16, 2019; Late Night
WHERE: Junās home in Dunhaven
SUMMARY: Jun has a dream info dump that leaves him reeling and introspective. And then he has a less than stellar conversation with his future wife.
WARNINGS: Mentions of parental death, spoilers for The Lunar Chronicles
Jun woke up feeling like he had lived an entire other lifetime in a handful of hours even if his own memories measured in years far surpassed those in his dreams. Instead of feeling at all rested from the sleep he had gotten, he felt weary, drained, and like the weight of the world rested securely on his shoulders. It wasn't entirely unexpected considering the fact that the weight was a real, nearly tangible thing in that other life he had dreamed. Prince Kaito--no, Emperor Kaito--did carry that weight on his shoulders. It wasnāt just the sudden loss of his father (the only parent heād had left) to letumosis, or even the fact that he had lost his mother to the same disease far too soon. It was that letumosis was ravaging his nation, his people going too long without hope for a cure in the foreseeable future. It was that he was still too young, too inexperienced, too uncertain to even possibly entertain the idea of sufficiently filling the empirical shoes his father had left to him. And it was Levana, the lunar queen, and her preposterous demands and requirements for some semblance of peace between their nations--between her "planet", and the whole of Earth, even. Kai had not even been blessed with five minutes to process his grief before he was dealing with the latter, and he hadnāt even been able to really consider the sort of Emperor he would be before he was resigning himself to the fact that he would be the sort of Emperor Levana wanted him to be because it was more important for his people to be alive than it was for him to be his own person. It was more important, even, than his own life. And in the midst of all of this was her. Cinder. The unlikely object of most of Kaiās free thoughts and, though the time he actually had to let his mind wander was rare, it always wandered to New Beijingās most renowned mechanic and her awkward ramblings, and the cute grease smudges on her face. He didnāt know if it was some desperate effort to attach himself to something normal, something not Levana, or if it was simpler than that. If it was simply because heā¦liked her. But that was a thought Jun could process later because, at the end of the day, these were dreams and they didnāt really matter, did they? What mattered was how heād felt seeing that sheet pulled up and over the late Emperorās face. What mattered were the few minutes heād been delayed on the lift causing him to miss those precious last moments with his father. What mattered was the way Junās own heart was still racing with fear and overwhelming sadness as he thought about his own father. Jie was in, as far as Jun know, impeccable health for his age, but that didnāt ease his late night worries. Grabbing his phone up off of the night stand, he quickly dialed his fatherās number, cursing as it immediately went to voicemail. He turned off the phone and tossed it to the side before pulling his hands down over his face as he tried to push away the sleepiness, and the worry. Leaning forward, he grabbed his t-shirt from off the floor and slipped it over his head. Then, after a momentās hesitation, he picked his phone back up, found Cecileās number, and called her. His fiancee answered on the fourth ring, just as Jun was about to give up and try to get back to sleep. āHello?ā Jun was forming a response to the greeting, but was taken aback by the sound of her voice. āCee, itās me,ā he started, ādid I, um, catch you at a bad time?ā āWhat? No, I was in bed.ā He frowned. āOh, all right. It just sounds like you had to run for the phone, is all.ā There was a pause. āI did. I left it in my purse, silly me. So I ran into the foyer to get it. Is everything all right? Why are you calling so late?ā Silently chastising himself from obviously having woken her up, he closed his eyes and then replied, āNo, yeah, everythingās fine, Cee. I just...had a bad dream, is all.ā āThatās all? Jun, couldnāt that have waited until morning? Youāre not a child.ā Her voice was teasing, but the words stung, nonetheless. She was right, of course. How long had it been since heād needed comfort after a bad dream? Had he ever needed that? Had it ever been given to him by a mother who was wonderful, if not really the type to console an overactive imagination? He cleared his throat. āI know. I guess I just wanted to hear your voice, see if everything was okay. We havenāt talked on the phone in a week.ā āYes, well, you hear it now. Can we talk later?ā Again, the words smarted. āOf course. Maybe I could drive out there tomorrow. We can spend the day together before I have to head back. I have to be in DC Monday morning or Iād stay the night.ā āNo,ā Cecile answered quickly. Almost too quickly. His frown deepened, but then she added, āI have tea with my book club tomorrow, so I wouldnāt be able to see you for long, anyway. Save the trip for when you can be here longer. Send me your schedule and Iāll coordinate something.ā Jun nodded and then, realizing she she couldnāt hear that response, he said, āYeah, that sounds great. Go back to sleep, Cee. Weāll talk soon.ā He hung up the phone, not entirely convinced that it would be soon. It seemed that, lately, more and more time passed between their conversations and even longer between the times when they actually spent time in the otherās space. Heād asked her more than once to move to Dunhaven with him but sheād made it clear that she would live in DC or Williamsburg, but absolutely had no interest in moving to Dunhaven. This posed a problem, of course, because Jun had no interest in living anywhere but Dunhaven. For now, it was easy to lead two separate lives seeing as they werenāt married yet. He figured theyād have to figure out a compromise by the time they actually set a date, but he was pretty sure the compromise would be his own. That felt too close to Kaiās feelings for Junās liking. With a sigh, he dropped his phone on the nightstand and wished there was one parallel between his life and the Emperorās. If he had a Cinder to talk to, someone who made his heart feel light, someone who shared the weight he carried without realizing it and without complaint, someone who liked his sarcasm and returned it as easily as it was given. And then he felt guilty for thinking it because he did have someone like that and it certainly wasnāt the woman heād agreed to marry. Ash was not Cinder, and he didnāt have a habit of dreaming of her, but he knew without thinking too hard on it that she had been that person for him. But Jun had lost her years ago. They were over and heād meant it when heād told Xing that he couldnāt be the kind of man who could entertain what-ifs. There was a part of him that agreed with his little brother, who wished that things were different, who even probably still rooted for that happy ending heād once believed they could have. But he was a senator now and if he didnāt have his word, and his credibility, then he was no better than those he condemned. For now, he could only hope that Kai, for whatever reason Jun was dreaming of him, would find a way to have the thing that Kai could not. In return, Jun would appreciate the things he had that had been lost to the young Emperor forever. |