when he noticed the other girl pulling her warhammer, ricky couldn’t help but snort because the action baffled him more than made him feel threatened. in fact, everything about this interaction made him want to laugh. it was ironic how out of all the places in the world, he would have to run into her here, probably about to start an epic verbal fight in the middle of the mall. frankly, taehyung didn’t want to waste his magic in public with everyone watching, so he doesn’t even dare touch his ring at this exact moment. all he does is cross his arms and cock his brow as he looks at her.
“foxes mind their own damn business, but you can keep on calling yourself that, owlie,” he responds. “and i thought i already made it clear i don’t want my phone screen to crack? why on earth would i want to take a picture of you if i’m at risk of wasting hundreds of dollars on a new one just because of your rotten face? stop praising yourself so much. it’s sad seeing you put yourself on a pedestal to make me feel stupid.”
“speaking of stupid, you’re also here for dolls too, kid,” he rolls his eyes, bringing out one hand to show the dolls right in front of her. “what i use them for is none of your business. you don’t see me making assumptions about you while you’re looking at these.”
each jab the other tried throwing at her jisoo successfully ignored it. she was the epitome of ignorance and taehyung obviously saw that. did that bother her? of course not, or else the title wouldn’t even be hers. she let go of her bag to cross her arms in front of her chest. the girl had already gotten tired of rolling her eyes. impressive how excessive things were with him.
“and owls do what? go to the club every night?” in her eyes, the boy was the one causing intrigue. had she started it? yes - and he continued it. they were like children who bickered just for the sake of bickering, and while taehyung tried putting himself in a high pedestal he had been attacking her just as much as she did it to him ( and maybe even a bit more ). “yeah, but they’re kickass dolls.” her eyebrows furrowed closed together as if the answer was obvious.
she ran a hand through her hair to make sure everything was in place before giving him the fakest of smiles. “stop pretending you’re the good guy here. if it were true you wouldn’t have taken all the chances to attack me back. we’re both terrible - i’m just better.”
game — write a drabble of our characters playing video games together.
drabble meme : not accepting!game: write a drabble of our characters playing video games together
even if the start of their friendship was a little bit intense ( as things used to be with jisoo ), she actually managed to tolerate jihyo. there were very few people who managed that, but the other actually held pretty good of a fight - and she appreciated jisoo’s skills as well. most good fighters she had met were just huge assholes about it, which only meant jisoo had to take on the job of proving them wrong.
“oh, you suck.” she couldn’t have been more offended. all the praising she had given her for such a treason like that. “are you kidding me?” her eyes followed luigi as he slowly fell into the darkness. the rainbow road was always known for ending friendships, but she hadn’t had the experience until that very day. a bump and her kart was already flying out of the track. damn it, luigi. he’d always be the weaker brother.
her character was dropped back on the last spot he was seen, already falling several places behind. “i’ll kill you.” the kart was already picking up speed, driving past an item box to be welcomed by the known sound of item generation. bullet bill. “and that won’t be only in real life.” with a click luigi turned into a huge bullet, gaining the extra speed needed to zoom past anyone who was in her way. jihyo’s character happened to be one of them, falling into the darkness like she had done once before. “you suck.”
himself in words has already been one of the hardest tasks for him ever since he started the life of a human, since he was forced more or less against his will to leave his old being, his true nature behind for this; something he never wanted, something he still dislikes so much. so, baekhyun really doesn’t need all that modern crap like emojis, too, to make things even harder on him.
he thinks that he deserves more than having this much trouble.
at least, he’s gotten good enough at reading others and their expressions, their gestures but jisoo’s always been like an open book – to him, he has no idea how it is for others but it’s not like he cares much about that. knowing that he’s probably annoying the girl does manage to give him some sort of comfort. only for a few moments, though. “you should always use the angry face in that case,” he snarls, although, it comes out a little more sulkingly. like she’s offended him or something.
maybe, she did. a little.
he tries to jab her into the side, to make her uncomfortable in some kind of way as revenge. “i never said that i’m good with these things.” and jisoo never said she’s good with teaching him those. but, maybe, always asking her for explanations is because of the underlying reason of wanting to see her and spend some time with her. baekhyun wouldn’t know how else he’d get her to be with him. “how am i supposed to know? i haven’t even experienced most of the emotions those faces have?”
four years is not enough time to be a full-fledged human and it frustrates baekhyun even more, body slumping over the tabletop so he can lean his head on his arms, piercing eyes sticking to jisoo in something close to expectation. “so, how are you going to cheer me up?”
while it sounded like he was trying to mock her, jisoo did use the angry face emoji more often than most. the creepy red goblin entered her top ones as well, even if it wasn’t one of her favorites. “that’s true.” her shoulders raised in a shrug and her face couldn’t look less bothered. even if jisoo was well invested in the conversation, having her cellphone in hands made her eyes only focus on that. it normally ended with baekhyun whining for attention, but before he could do any of that the girl was already opening their digital conversation.
the jab didn’t really bother her, and all the other really got out of it was an annoyed grunt. her facial expression only changed for a second, too, which would probably make a lot of people disappointed. had it been someone who she despised ( which was something more common than it probably should be ) then jisoo wouldn’t have hesitated on hitting them back at full strength.
she placed a hand on her chest as if she couldn’t have been more offended. “wait. you mean you’ve never felt like a grinning cat face before?” wow. if only his next sentence hadn’t been ten times more unbelievable. “cheer you up? i didn’t know i had to do that.” and so she grinned like a cat. her fingers had already started typing her message and it was weirdly colorful. why should it be her responsibility to make him happy after being the one attacking? “do i need to buy you ice cream or something?” and so her finger pressed send.
〔 ✉ ⇒ braethyun 〕
↪ 👿💢😼☕👺
and so the cellphone was thrown back on the table. it probably made no sense, but if it made baekhyun confused then she would take it as a victory. jisoo placed her elbow on the table and her cheek on top of her palm. after a second of legitimate peaceful staring, she let her head drop to the side. “you’re a grown man. i’m sure you can do it yourself.”
“drabble meme : accepting!date: our characters going on a date
they couldn’t go to the same place twice, he liked to insist, but the times they used to hang out in the same coffee shop were probably enough to destroy that line of thinking. jisoo took her time to comment on it, though ( he was cute when he looked upset ).
coffee was, still, a constant. no hints, but a line of emojis later he told her it had something to do with coffee. no surprise there. she wasn’t much of a fan of driving, so after a taxi ride involving her ignoring the driver while he tried making chit-chat and lots of more emojis to get some new information she arrived at their chosen location - or his chosen location. baekhyun had made sure he’d be the one to pick it that time. he even used the internet to find somewhere nice, and the less work on her shoulders the better.
“a milkshake shop.” her tone was nonchalant. it looked cute, but nothing more than that. for it to have won so much hyping from baekhyun she would have expected something unexpected. “can’t you look a bit excited?” jisoo managed to put on a fake smile which quickly got a sparkle of real after receiving a kiss on the cheek. “wow! a milkshake shop.” a drop of sarcasm - exactly what it needed.
so baekhyun pushed her inside, a bell ringing to announce their presence. the place was mostly empty, except for the staff on the other side of the counter. it wasn’t too small of a space, but it also wasn’t anywhere close to being huge. she kept an unimpressed expression on her face as they moved towards the cashier, and while it would have annoyed a lot of other people, baekhyun couldn’t get a smirk off of his face. it was almost like he thought he had the upper hand. the thing was jisoo was always winning.
they stopped in front of the counter, shared stares, and then jisoo was handed one of their menus. “what the heck is this?” the pictures on the piece of plastic looked nothing like the milkshakes she was used to. the smirk on his face finally made sense, and before she could try turning it back the man pointed at something among the choices. “they have some with coffee.”
“oh, shit, they have one with waffles in it?” “just order the coffee one.”
jisoo could only rest her elbow on the counter, cheek on her palm. they could easily order two, she snapped back, but he was too focused on the coffee to let her have it. maybe those things were incredibly huge and someone couldn’t survive after eating it whole, but the girl still loved a good challenge. as they moved to take a seat she couldn’t help but look back and mouth ‘waffle’ to the cashier who quickly nodded with confirmation. jisoo always won.
“seriously?” an evil laughter; a chuckle; a bite out of her waffle. he looked back at the employee probably to get some sort of satisfaction, giving her the perfect opening to taste his coffee one. as weird as the thing looked it was actually pretty delicious. was it healthy at all? probably not. did she care? certainly not. “yah, you totally forgot, didn't you?”
she poked the end of her jar with the straw, giving him a confused look. a frown slowly formed on his forehead. she shrugged, returning her attention to her mega milkshake. “you really... it’s our fourth year together and you simply forgot about it?”
before he could go on jisoo dug into her bag, throwing a small, rectangular box on top of the table. “i really didn’t think you’d be this serious about it. who do you take me as?” it was right there in front of him to see, but the look on his face showed he was still rather dubious of her memory. a complaint escaped from her mouth, pushing the box closer to him. “just open it already!”
with an unsatisfied look but still too curious to continue their discussion, he opened up the box, taking out the thin white card with nothing but a phrase written on it. “are you kidding me?” he spun around it for her to see even if she already knew what it was. reading it again made her realize her intentions could have very well been misinterpreted, but it was funnier that way. “it’s not like that!” jisoo took the card from his hand, turning it for him to see instead. “it’s written ‘shut up’ because it’s your shut up pass!”
he didn’t look impressed. she wouldn’t have either. jisoo had admittedly stolen the essence of such idea from a drama she watched several years before, but it probably wasn’t something she’d admit to him on the same day he was receiving it. if only he watched the things she recommended him it wouldn’t need to be a secret. “it’s so when we’re having one of our discussions you can use the shut up pass and i’ll be obligated to shut up.” his expression changed almost immediately. hers would have too.
the two of them were more than intense, and expecting a discussion not to appear from time to time would have been stupid of whoever thought so. so baekhyun quickly took his card back. before he could ask about it jisoo added something to her speech. “you can’t use it all the time, though! only once a week.”
“once a day.” “no!” “yes!” “like, three days.” “okay, deal.”
they returned to sipping. a single moment of peace. after much complaining on his side jisoo only kept staring. he knew she was going to say it, and he knew that she knew about it, too. it was all in the eyes; an eternal fight. “and where is my present?” he reached for one of her waffles, taking a bite out of it while she looked very unamused. “you’ll find it eventually.” plop. and the waffle was back inside her jar.
she stared at it, confused, and then she stared at him, begging for it not to be true. “oh, come on, you didn’t!” a hand was placed against her forehead and then she had to think what would be the faster way to deal with her problem. the thing was most certainly at the bottom of her drink. should she drink it all in one go or stick her hand inside?
fuck it.
baekhyun looked impressed while jisoo was very well disgusted. there wasn’t only milkshake inside, after all, but waffles, and cream, and toppings, and while it was all tasty inside her mouth it wasn’t too pleasant against the skin. at the bottom, there was, also... something. she took it out, stared at it with a frown, and then stared at the man in front of her. “what’s this?”
he raised an eyebrow before taking the tiny plastic bag and opening it to reveal a hairpin inside. “what? you thought you were getting a ring?” and so he reached across the table to place it on her hair. it matched her well. he had good taste. “i thought you would have thrown it without protection and made me wear it with milkshake.” he smiled, taking a napkin to clean her hand. “maybe next year.”
drabble meme : accepting!shop: my character taking yours shopping.
“that’s somehow… even worse.” she watched as the other placed different shirts in front of her torso, jisoo serving as a talking mirror to say which one looked nice or not. the truth was they were stuck in a loop. no matter what she tried the older would give the same response. she had taken the other out to the mall after a long time of persistence, but making the deal of letting jungeun pick the store was the worst thing she had ever made in her life.
hot topic. what was up with that place? before she even got to step into the store her face was already all contorted, the simple thought of it able to make her puke. “put the trash down and let’s get out of here.” jisoo reached for the shirt the other was looking at, throwing it back on top of the rack it was found in. she knew the employees - the more mess the better. in fact, the girl had to constantly control the urge to just destroy everything whenever she passed by. “you made me come here and now you want to leave?”
jisoo stuck her tongue out, ready to throw up. she knew jungeun had a bit of a problem understanding people, but if she could try even a little bit it would help a ton. “i wanted us to go the mall not to visit its dumpster. i’d rather go to that kids socks store than spend another minute breathing this soulless air.”
hello to our lovely members! this is your admin egg here to share our first drabble meme! this time around, we’re doing something special! not only will you get to have loads of fun writing, but you also have the chance to gain points for your characters !
for this challenge, you will be awarded ONE (1) point for every TWO (2) people you send a meme to! whichever account you send the meme from will be awarded the points, and this works up until you hit ask limit! (you can still send asks from other accounts/anonymous, you just need to stop collecting points after ask limit!)
the only main rule is that in order for it to count for points, it has to be off of anonymous! so with that, have fun!!
she was beginning to get even more riled up since the girl had shown up and gotten in the way, but since they were facing a monster right in front of them, there was really no use in doing something about it at the moment. but sejeong wasn’t going to let the girl have all the fun while she stands idly by, no way. maybe having herself get riled up had some uses as she gripped her warhammer tightly around her fingers with no hesitation when swinging the weapon towards the creature’s upper body while his lower half was being attacked.
unfortunately she didn’t get the final kill that she had wanted, her warhammer returns back to her like a boomerang. “maybe you didn’t see but i was perfectly capable of handling my own back there, thank you very much.” what was her problem? there were plenty of monsters to go around and she didn’t need any help from someone else. sejeong just tries to hold down her frustration to refrain from lashing out of bitterness. “next time, don’t steal my kills.” she straightens up, one finger fixing up her bangs, cleaning off the last bit of sweat from her forehead.
while in attempt to take out her flip phone, sejeong’s fingers fumble to touch the letter that was given to her by the government prior, one that she had almost forgotten about. she wouldn’t think twice to care about what the note said due to it being slightly suspicious to her but… it wouldn’t hurt to talk about it. but with her? she exhaled, stepping towards the girl with arms crossed in front of her chest extending her arm to show her letter that was folded into a square. “two questions. who are you? and two… you didn’t happen to get a letter earlier too did you? because since you’re standing here right now, i wanted to talk about it. assuming every hero has one.”
the other gets a hit on the monster, and even if it wasn’t enough to kill it jisoo got upset she even had the guts to interfere after being made fun of. it only took another strong hit from herself for the monster to crumble to the ground. she stared at her wrist to wait for the points to update. smile up. the challenge had barely started and her score was already pretty good. the c-level monster she had managed to beat not too long ago certainly helped things out.
“next time kill them first, then.” jisoo let the heavy part of warhammer to rest on the ground, placing a foot on top of it to be in a pose of superiority. her green eyes blinked at the purple-themed female, watching as she walked closer. the older could only huff at the question. who was she? “what kind of question is that? i’m rile - or just am right now.” because if the other didn’t know her real name then she’d be at an advantage. “don’t bother with introducing yourself. i ain’t got time to waste with you or your brothers.”
truly, the family had no luck when it came to seo jisoo - or she had no luck with them since they were always there to bother her too. “of course i did. i do steal kills for fun normally, but i’m hunting for points now, dearie.” a hand raised to shake towards the carcass of a monster she had just killed. “well, which rotation are you?”
though he may not look like it, sometimes ricky couldn’t help himself when it came to money. whenever he sees something expensive, the boy couldn’t help but spend his money on the most ridiculous of things as long as they were expensive and pretty. it didn’t even have to be useful for him, nor did it have to serve a purpose for his room’s aesthetics. whatever it may be, if it looks appealing to his eye and the price is a bit higher than he expected it to be, he will get it.
it’s the same case for the angelic layer dolls, though this one came with a history. when he was younger, he was an avid collector of the dolls, owning more than the kids at school thought he would own. of course, he didn’t let anyone else besides his family know about this little secret of his that he’s kept until he went into high school. they’d make fun of him! his reputation would be ruined! he couldn’t risk that just because of the fact that he thought these dolls looked a little cool.
but even so, he keeps them still. he even has them in his closet that he refused to let anyone in. soonshim could bite them and ruin their value while his other two brothers would make fun of him for still keeping and collecting such dolls at 20 years old. the only excuses he has to that is that they keep good memories and, of course, they looked visually pleasing to his eye. they always did, so it made sense.
so he walks in the mall again, observing the dolls closely. he tries to hold back in his excitement as he stares up at them, wanting to make it look like he was going to get some for a little cousin that didn’t exist. the longer he stares at it, the more he can imagine each doll in his closet looking as pristine as ever. but he stops looking as he looks down at a girl who he knew all too well. he wish he didn’t, though. it was surprising to see her here, but that wasn’t the point. the point was he needed to put this annoying brat in her place.
“i wasn’t looking at your owl face, you brat,” he replies with an annoyed look on his face. “i’d rather take a picture of a fucking troll than take a picture of you. i don’t want my phone screen to crack, thank you very much.”
a rookie and a special class walk into a store. there will probably be punches if someone crosses the line ( all puns intended ).
if jisoo sometimes even got to disrespect her own father then who was the random fool ricky to compare? she’d probably say he hated him, but she used that word so often that it started to lose meaning. her hand pulled warhammer closer, the main move for anyone who was bumped outside of their house. of course, she knew the other wasn’t there to steal her, but every minimal detail mattered, and she wanted him to know how much unwanted he was in the area.
“owl? you know very well this is the face of a fox.” she enjoyed her titles, and reminding a desert fox was something people told her since she was a child. she did not care about his fascinations for the animal; it was hers before it was his. “i never suggested taking a picture. you just thought about it because we all know you wanted to.” jisoo threw a strand of behind her shoulder, eyes rolling in the process. he was so childish it made her want to puke. “also, you’re looking at fucking dolls, ricky. how old are you again? twelve? or do you use these for something else?”
technology has always been something that easily managed to confuse him, something so complex that advances and develops further and further seemingly by the day, one device with even more functions and features being released after the other. and, by now, baekhyun’s pretty sure that he’ll never be able to keep up with it, he’ll never be able to fully understand it.
he thinks, it’s kind of embarrassing.
eyebrows draw together into an annoyed frown as he continues to stare down at the screen of his cellphone, messaging app ready and the small function that allowed him to use ‘emojis’ opened up as well. there are just so many and it’s giving him a headache, baekhyun tired from the constant confusion over things like these, over the science behind his cellphone. he should be able to get it, should be able to understand it – in the past, he’s been a monster. he’s been a figure in the shadows everyone feared, everyone tried to avoid to no avail. but now, he’s getting pissed about a tiny little device with countless little faces that display too many different emotions. baekhyun hasn’t even felt half of those emotions, like, ever.
“what the fuck is water polo?” he asks, eyes flickering away from the message he’s been writing. or trying to. a groan escapes him, the only appropriate way to release some of his anger. “why even are there so many of those things? there’s happy and unhappy. i don’t need hundred other ways to say that,” baekhyun almost whines in frustration as he drops simply drops the phone. “i hope you know that you suck at explaining those things.”
her middle finger pressed against the space between her eyebrows, not wanting to get permanent marks out of pure disappointment. with each day that passed, it seemed like baekhyun discovered something else he didn’t know about. somehow, jisoo was there to listen about it with his incredibly nice words. in some way, it reflected her own thoughts as well. what the fuck is water polo? it echoed inside her head. she couldn’t help but let a sigh escape from her lips. the frustration bottled inside had to leave somehow.
“it’s like people playing handball but in water.” she set her hand free once again, hiding it under an arm as she crossed them over her chest. “what about angry? i’d use a lot of those right now.” a thought about sending him a message filled with emojis came to mind, but she had just gotten her hands cozy and there was no way jisoo was dropping comfort for baekhyun. “or the disappointment face!” she opened her mouth in a sarcastic happy smile. it always took time for coffee to have an effect, but tiredness was a constant. “it’s like showing your expressions through text, but using round, yellow faces with void eyes.”
and so his comment won a snort. if anyone deserved criticism between the two it was most certainly him. it was true jisoo wasn’t meant to teach people anything - or being taught, either, but that was for another time. the girl was still never in the mood to let people assume she sucked at anything. “maybe you’re the one who sucks at learning. it wouldn’t be the first time.” jisoo finally gave in to deliver a shrug, freeing her hands to reach for her own phone. “people shouldn’t be taught how to use emojis; it’s like a natural second language.”
destroying monsters became part of her daily routine since becoming this way and she wasn’t completely opposed to it if that meant that she could take out all her frustration out on them and swinging her hammer in hopes that it strikes their vital spots. it felt satisfying with every monster she defeated with her weapon and knowing she had managed to completely stay alive after. she really thought she was getting stronger with every chance she had gotten, honestly.
today was really no different, holding her hammer with the back of her hand with her eyes locked on the enemy. sejeong ties her hair up in a high ponytail and adjusted her bangs just to make sure she could see properly before she decided to run towards the enemy during the right time. she disappears from her own hideout in order to stand behind the monster she’s targeting, rushing towards it with the intention of killing it.
there was one blow after another and another, the son of the bitch wouldn’t just go down with just one or two strikes but she wasn’t going to give up. it was being worn out, she’s sweating like crazy from the rush but at least there was some damage being done to the thing. she dropped to one knee, as if the monster looked farther away but she wouldn’t falter, rolling her shoulder in order to keep the tension away before pulling herself up again. “alright- this one should do the trick…” she says before attempting to finish it off but she was caught off guard for a moment, seeing another shadow coming from behind her and her eyes felt as if they were burning from surprise. but now she felt sort of angry, annoyed that this girl could be so greedy right now.
“excuse me. who the hell are you? isn’t it rude to steal someone else’s kill?” she confronts the other with a familiar coldness in her tone.
with each step that moved her forward it also brought an energy up her bones that kept her moving in a constant growing speed. it almost felt like it all came from the rocks her boots dared to crush under her feet, but the destructive feelings inside of her probably had a big part in the process.
her posture was bad, which meant it was perfect. her back was kept straight but bent down to give her more speed. the warhammer was held back to help with the air dynamics until she reached the spot for a swing. jisoo wasn’t necessarily strong, and she wasn’t much of a strategy person, but the skill within her had always been there. she knew the base she needed to know to be effective. with all the strength she carried the weapon was brought forward, hitting the big monster from below.
“well, i’m about to be this guy’s grim reaper!” with both hands she brought warhammer back down, hitting the monster against the ground. it still wasn’t done for, so she jumped back to regain strength for the next blow, smirk quickly growing at the sight of victory. “and - full offense - you looked like the prey here.”
jisoo had no problems with technology. she managed to use any kind of common machinery, knew how to drive a car, owned multiple social media accounts and kept people updated on how stupid baekhyun was.
her eyes threatened to shut at any moment, the repeating questions about emojis draining the energy inside of her. it was a rather uncommon situation to find the girl in. people like that normally got an angrier version of jisoo and not a calmer one. if a random kid had asked her to teach them about emojis she would have probably cursed at them to go bother someone else. yet, there she was.
baekhyun sat by her side, poking at the phone screen in confusion while she reached for something on the table. slender fingers pulled the packaging to both sides, unwrapping the candy in beautiful simplicity. once the flavor reached her tongue she smiled. coffee. it was one of her known loves, and if she couldn’t drink it then its candy form would have to do it. her eyes slowly started regaining strength, staring at the boy’s choices with disgust. “whatever you’re trying to say i’m pretty sure you won’t need to use a person playing water polo to express it.”
the competition was perfectly designed for her. they had to go out and beat monsters up as if that wasn’t the one thing that brought her joy. the fact they couldn’t just attack any monsters got up on her nerves, but she took the restriction with a forced smile. there should be enough troublemakers to get her score up.
it was good summer was starting to slip away so it wouldn’t be too hot to do outside activities, such as going for walks, or killing monsters with your magical hammer. after her classes were over, and she had done any other thing she was supposed to do, jisoo walked all around busan. she still kept her hair up to avoid unnecessary sweating, though once she transformed it would all fall back on her shoulders anyway.
the noise of destruction was one she knew particularly well, and as soon as it reached her ears it brought a smirk to her face. the hero held onto the strap of her bag as she ran towards the source of the sound, hoping it’d be a monster and not just some stupid car accident or something. it didn’t take too long for the strap to be ripped apart, and with a beam of light, her clothes quickly changed from the casual look to her magical uniform. her black hair turned a shade darker and fell on her shoulders, just as expected. “get out of my way! it’s mine!” with ungloved hands jisoo held onto her warhammer, eyes burning at the sight of a familiar weapon. she needed to beat something up, and if sejeong wouldn’t let it be the monster than the girl would take the beating.
Last save file name : @ccjisoo
You’ve been spotted!
> Activate stealth mode.
Hyunsoo was, for all intents and purposes, paranoid. When a human had seen as much as he had in his short lifetime, it seemed only natural for him to constantly look over his shoulder. Monsters lurked in every corner. Aliens wore the skin of people to blend in with human society, but he could see through them. They passed him on the street and sent a recognizable chill down his spine. He could sense it ㅡ when something was not quite right.
The girl following him gave him that chill. It was a sensation that was undeniable; more than the feeling of being tracked like some sort of prey. The cautious human tightened lithe fingers around the strap of his school bag as he weaved himself into the large crowd of commuters in an attempt to throw her off. A thrumming in his head as his heart beat faster and faster prompted him to clench his teeth. He had definitely seen her before. She had the same determined, watchful look in her eyes.
Did she know he knew? Did the council of Reptilian elders decide to send a skilled huntress after him to silence the human trying to spread knowledge about their existence?
Although Hyunsoo was shy, unassuming in demeanor, he knew the only way to stop the game of cat and mouse was confrontation. Perhaps if he said something to her in public, she would know he caught on. The thought alone made his chest throb in agony. His personal safety was on the line, and he was not one to wait around until he was abducted to be interrogated by a highly intelligent alien species.
He swiveled on his heel and made a b-line for the girl, expression wracked with confusion. “I thought I told you to stop following me.” It was a lie, of course, but the several heads turning their way could at least ensure a modicum of security.
investigation was in no way her forte. jisoo was the kind to snap her bag and start throwing swings at anything that acted funny - but the thing was humans liked acting funny too. after signing the contract, heroes lost their power to detect other magical beings, and for her not to mistake an awkward human who couldn’t properly use a vending machine as a serial killer card was a harder task than it sounded like.
she’d normally cry about how all that boring work was something the harmony team was supposed to take care of, but being on the rookie team forced her to do everything at least once for the pleasure of learning. at least finding someone weird to observe wasn’t too hard to do.
the boy had attentive eyes himself, and it only helped her case. if he had to keep his eyes out then he certainly had something to hide. she once sat on the other side of a small cafe, pretending to have a useless conversation with a friend when in reality she was observing his every move. one other time jisoo had to just stand there and watch him restock on toilet paper. if she had ever hated the job that moment had certainly made her rethink her choices. finding him on the streets that very day, though, was nothing more than a lucky coincidence.
jisoo was on her way to teach someone how to use emojis but decided following her prey would be much more productive (and fun). the streets were packed, so she doubted he’d actually notice. her feets slowly came closer, not wanting to lose him in that sea of useless people. it was hard to spot her blinking, not wanting to miss a single suspicious movement. as it was used to, her right hand kept holding onto the strap of her messenger bag, ready to transform whenever the time was right. all she needed was a sign. all she needed was a movement. all she needed was something.
he turned around and she thought about just keep on moving - but he didn’t let her. what was once the big cat following its prey, observing its pattern, and waiting for the best moment to attack, quickly became an ambush. he stood taller than her, forcing her eyes to look up. as faces started turning around to look at the situation her mind was quickly filled with different options. she could simply call him crazy and keep walking as if he had mistaken himself, but that’d probably make her lose sight of him and ruin any other opportunity to keep observing him in the future. she could just transform and start throwing punches, but if she were to be wrong it’d just end badly for everyone involved.
in the single second that it took for a million thoughts to fill her mind people stopped and stared. the grip on bag got stronger, tightening her fist around it. jisoo was no actress, but she was also good at anything she tried. “but mom’s getting worse and she keeps asking where you are.” her eyes somehow turned bigger, looking up at the taller as if her life was the most miserable thing anything could believe in. “they’re all worried about you. please, don’t just let them wonder.”
Unless you’re waiting for a lovely retirement notice, any letters issued by the Governing Body rarely contain good news. Your team leader hands you an ivory envelope with a silver seal, upon which an image of two swords clashing is embossed. Whichever secretary had been told to write your name has impeccable handwriting.
Once you decide to open it, a dark grey paper is crisply folded three times. It reads the following:
Greetings, SEO JISOO.
This is a formal notice that you will be placed into Rotation B, as ordained by the Governing Body. We will be arriving for an impromptu observation to see how you perform when group dynamics are suddenly, inexplicably changed. We are intrigued by the Busan League’s high performance and are considering you for an elite mission. It’s of the highest caliber and will possibly require the assistance of humans and/or cards, which is why it is essential to test your adaptability.
The elite mission your league is being considered for will pay generously, as well as contribute to your ranking when an official inspection is scheduled. In addition to monetary reward, we will allot funds to upgrade your training room equipment at HQ.
Currently, we are also considering the Changsha and Saint Petersburg leagues to be assigned this mission. We can only choose one, so know your competition and be prepared to perform. Be brave. Be bold. Be ready to work as a team.
- The Governing Body
when her team leader decided to step a little bit closer, letter in hand, jisoo knew she was in trouble. it wasn’t too hard of a thing to happen, which only helped fuel her constant frustration - but she didn’t give them a word. instead, all she delivered was a grunt and a roll of the eyes before taking the delivery from the other’s hand.
her eyes paid no attention to detail, breaking the seal opened to get it over with as fast as she could. the extra folding was only meant to be bothersome. maybe some found it mysterious, or even something close to being elegant, but as her fingers started to search for the message inside, the paper almost ripped a handful of different times. although the news inside weren’t as bad as expected, jisoo couldn’t help but furrow her brows at the second line. “B?!”
the rotation groups were supposed to be equals - all under the same stupid ‘spiderlily’ team - but, no matter which context you were in, ‘b’ was always worse than ‘a’. she could feel her blood boiling while her eyes kept running through the sentences. any exciting news they tried delivering seemed to be crushed by some other stupid thing. she’d have to work with humans? and cards? as if any of those things would be good enough at anything to be of help.
how could the governing body even think of trusting them when they had been at war ever since their release? the beautifully prepared letter ended up crushed inside her fist, quickly turning into litter. had they never learned about texting? all the mail they sent out would probably end up turning into trash. but jisoo had no time to think about nature - she already had herself to take care of. when it came to a change in the group she’d always be the first to react, though not normally how her teammates wanted her to.
following orders was stupid when she knew she was right. it wasn’t like she ever died (or managed to get someone else killed), so wasn’t her point proven enough? the mission still meant a gain of status, and maybe even a promotion. the things she’d do to get rid of the spiderlily title almost felt endless. jisoo was still unsure if working alongside cards would be worth it, but maybe following orders from a captain wouldn’t be too hard if she joined a different team right after.
she had never had much of a passion for dolls, not even when she was a child. of course, she had them - and a lot of them, at that - but jisoo owned a lot of things she did not like. that was the power of money; you could buy all you wanted, and then whatever was left.
the angelic layer dolls, though, were definitely something else. they just went ahead and kicked ass while looking fabulous - just like jisoo would often do - and it was certainly something that had caught her eye. the girl was also pretty good at certain video games, and that angelic layer was no different. as she’d normally call others, ‘nerd’ was still not in any way applied to her. the girl was no greasy, computer addict, and her face was better than that of any loser you could find lost on the webs.
her expensive shoes made a loud sound whenever she stepped, circling the dolls just like a predator walking around its prey. her eyes looking somewhere different from where she was walking towards forced her to bump into someone who dared be in her way. jisoo was quick to furrow her brows and stare at the other being as if she wasn’t at fault. the facts were she was never wrong, and you simply had to accept it. the red that reached her eyes was no new image, though, but it only seemed to keep her eyebrows together. “what do you want, richard? i know my pretty face attracts people but you can just look at it through your phone.”
