He keeps his eyes trained forward as they walk side by side, and when she answers his question he suddenly realizes how absolutely lost he is about the situation and what the easy route may be on informing her on what exactly he was– if there even was one. Shaking his head once, he exhales a sigh, trying to keep a positive mindset and a smile plastered on his face had ultimately stopped working– and now he was filled with worry and doubt if this was the right idea. Renier never got close to mortals, he wasn’t one for it, knew the consequences well enough to stay away from them; and the thought of her presence in his life quickly becoming nothing but a hazy memory once her life span was up was enough to seize at his heart. But he couldn’t stay away from her, knew it was near to impossible; not that he had tried. Though he knew he’d fail now if he did.
Maybe things would be easier this way.
“Just… thought it’d be nice for you to get to know me better, y’know?” He started up once more, finally moving his gaze to settle on her own as he offered a reassuring smile– that didn’t seem so reassuring. His pace slows ever so slightly to match her own, and he quickly fills the silence with a sip of his drink. “I was thinking about it the other day and I’ve realized how… close we are. And just– you don’t really know anything about me. Or my background. So I wanted to… maybe show you the real me.” He nodded slowly, finding great comic relief in his unintended pun; though he doesn’t quite show it and opts for taking another drink of his tea.
Clearing his throat, he knew he’d gone too far to retrace his steps now– and the only thing to do from this point on was to push forward. Finally coming to a decision to start with the easier parts of his past, Renier began, “I grew up in Italy– Verona, actually. My dad is Italian, and my moms part Korean. I grew up in a prestigious family; we’re pretty well known back home. My last name is Vitalli–” He turned to her then, lips quirking up into the slightest of smiles. “If I hadn’t told you before. I have a sister, but she passed away a couple years back– she was great. Her name was Lumine, I think she really would’ve liked you. But that’s not the point right now,” He muttered, dismissing the topic with a quick shake of his hand; as if to clear the air around them. He was rambling and jumping from topic to topic, but he really didn’t know where to start or end.
“In my family we have… close relations with a group of people that we call our Keepers. You’re familiar with magic, right? I’m sure with everything you’ve told me about your friends and such you know that… other things in this world exist with us too.” He hummed, stopping for a moment to collect himself as his heart continued to hammer in his chest; the blood pumping in his ears almost becoming irritatingly unavoidable. “The Keepers are sorcerers, I guess. They have these… ties over us and essentially when we’re born we’re assigned a Keeper to serve for the rest of our lives.” A frown quickly takes over his expression then, and the scowl that makes its way across his features is one of detest. “We’re called Guardians. We’re born to protect them. And I didn’t want to spend the rest of my life doing that, so, I ran away. And now I’m here. This is probably a lot to take in and I may sound like some kind of fugitive on the run or a prisoner who’s just escaped but it’s been a couple years already– and I’m not dangerous to you, anyway. Just tell me if this is getting too weird for you, okay? I don’t want you to think I’m some kind of… crazy man.”
With her arms crossed over her chest, she seemed to have the utmost interest in his voice and his words. But didn’t she always? Her finger tips tapped lightly against the hoodie she had decided to wear, as she looked up towards him, her eyes trailing over his face as she inclined her head in the slightest. “I don’t disagree. I’ve always wondered, but never thought it was the right place to ask. Or maybe that you didn’t want me to know or something.” Trailing off, she turned her head back to the front, in the distance she could see the park coming into vision and as the dogs guided them, strides took them closer. Now, Hyuna wasn’t always intuitive, but there was always something that struck her as odd about Renier. For once, he healed impossibly fast when he happened to get a dent or bruise with his line of work.
But also, that he disappeared for long periods of time, without much word or contact and that despite all that she had told him about herself, he was never one to share. He listened, always. Which wasn’t a negative thing by any means, but it came across as surprising in a world of humans who were so self absorbed in themselves. There was one other thing. At the mention of her now ex and what he had been, Renier seemed to be at high alert at the time, as if he knew what a shinigami had been without Hyuna having to explain it.
Now as his story wore on, pieces of the puzzle began to flow together. “Renier Vitalli.” His name like liquid over her tongue as she hummed it out, it wasn’t easy for the natural born korean to say considering it wasn’t of her normal tongue but she’d learn it and memorize each of it’s sounds. “You mentioned that you had a sister once, at my birthday.” That much she remembered, she had been surprised at the mention of the sister considering he seemed to be utterly alone in the world when they had met. She hadn’t been mistaken, considering the reveal had told her that his sister was long since dead. The tea met her lips as he went on, jumping from topic to topic, showing her that he was indeed nervous about whatever he had to tell her.
Which she found to be utterly endearing.
“I’m more familiar with magic then I’d want to be. Or at least, the realm of the fantastic as I’d call it.” A snort passed her lips, remembering that once she had been the owner of a death note and that was what she was referencing. Tapping her fingers against the cup as she hummed. “But you already know all my adventures into that world, really.” Reaching up, she pushed her hair from her face, scrunching it at his words. On her end, she couldn’t imagine being in that position. Being forced to protect someone for the rest of her life, with no say in the matter . Then again, here he was being her bodyguard, intriguing. “Huh? Crazy person?” At that point, she had been lost in her own thoughts for the moment and turned her head towards him. “Why would I think you are a crazy person, I’ve heard…much more wilder stories if you want my honesty. But then again, I kind of had a feeling you were more than you appeared to be so maybe that’s why I’m not…really off guard.” Reaching up, she pressed a single finger against her lip for a moment as she looked away from him.
“You know, it’s funny for one, you ran away from protecting a ‘keeper’ but ended up with a job as a bodyguard.” As they came upon the entrance of the park, she took to letting the dogs run free by dropping the leashes to the ground, they were well behaved enough to come back. Though, they didn’t run far or some didn’t at all. Thor remained at his mother’s side, and Yukine trailed after Renier with the utmost interest.
“You say that Keepers were sorcerers? But if you are just human…that makes no sense-” Now, Hyuna was running wild with her thoughts, but of course, as she kept her arms crossed but her hand began to float around now that it was free from the confides of holding her leashes. “…So what are you? You can’t be ‘normal’ or ‘human’ if you protect these ‘Keepers’.” Of course, she made air quotations as she spoke of them.
