on your coattail

You can stand on that podium. Just let me be your sidekick. Damianus, fourth year, foster son of Philoctetes. Not the real Park Hyungsik (ZE:A). Mobile Navigation

[deixphiloctetes]

in need of eyewash;

[minjoork]

his eyes widened, his lips rounded; surprise wielded his features, twisted them into a soft expression of shock. though, in the dark of his eyes, awe gleamed, excitement reigned, warmed the dark umber that pooled. “what kind?” he tossed back, crossed the distance to the mattress where he pulled back the sheet, investigated every fold, every wrinkle that stretched across the expanse of fabric.

though he never found a spider, never found much except a familiar laptop, same model as his old one, same wear around the left corner. his curiosity peaked, except without a spider it shifted, fluttered around until it landed on the clean lines of the laptop he pulled up, turned around in his hands, brought closer to his eyes. “woah, this is weird. i used to have a laptop just like this–sold it like a week ago. crazy, right? where’d you get yours? i thought computers were supposed to be hard to find around here; well, ones like these.”

[deixphiloctetes]

Damien’s face lost its colour, feeling as if his life span has been shortened by a decade when he realised what Isaac was doing. Scrambling to get on his feet, he wasted no time to place a firm grip on the laptop. “I do--” he stopped, almost letting his bad lying habit out when he felt cornered to answer his question without being discovered. He was going to answer ‘I don’t know,’ a typical answer when he lied but it wasn’t going to work on him.

As he tried to find a good excuse, he looked at the laptop and tightened his grip on it. “I borrowed from a classmate,” he finally answered after a delay of three seconds. “So this is definitely not yours.” He could feel perspiration rolling down his cheeks when he firmly denied the other’s implied meaning that the laptop once belonged to him.

[oginosuiren-blog]

yoroshiku

[oginosuiren-blog]

The girl halted her incessant light taps, fist frozen in mid air as she scrutinised the boy in front of her. Pulling her arm back to her side and uncurling her clawed fist, Suiren blinked owlishly up at him, gold eyes flickering back and forth from his face to his bare torso and–ripped jeans…? She bit back the urge to criticise him for answering the door in such a state. In such a state. Just what kind of state was he in? Finally breaking her silence, Suiren ventured, her smile–fanged, though she was oblivious to it–more hesitant than usual. “D-damien?” she stuttered, almost cringing inwardly at her uncharacteristic wavering tone, “all that hair isn’t very… hydrodynamic.”

[deixphiloctetes]

It was no mistake; it was his friend. Blind to the fact that she actually stuttered at his name, her appearance was unmistakably that of Suiren, minus her out-of-world outgrowths. Damien furrowed his brows, staring at her skeptically, not quite closing his mouth yet - a telltale sign of not recovering from the shock. He inched closer, cautiously, and curiously before finally reaching out to Suiren as if he was going to touch her face. 

“What is this?” His voice came out as a hushed whisper while a childish grin appeared on his face. His eyes lit up once he poked her slightly protruding fang. “Where did you get this fangs?”  He was truly fascinated by her getup, not taking his eyes off her horns. Is she dressing up for some kind of event?

[viridxnconstantine-deactivated2]

He has more integrity than his friend did, definitely. Much more quieter and well civilised as well, something she could appreciate considering all the big personalities that are in this school. Pulling out a chair and sitting on it, she waits for him to be done with it while she checks back on her phone whatever of her work that is left to be printed out. Looking up when she hears him speaking to her, she checks back on the computer and have another attempt at printing it out, a sigh of relief leaving her immediately when she sees the papers being churned out. Gathering all of the papers together, she staples them together in a set each as she looks over her shoulder, muttering a soft ‘thank you’ because she sucks at showing thanks and hate saying thanks. 

[deixphiloctetes]

Once he’d ascertained that the printer was functioning well judging from how the printed papers coming out on the right tray and how the girl’s expression softened. He turned to check on the girl so he could walk away when there was no problems again and it was when he caught her mouthing ‘thank you’. A closed-lip smile soon appeared on his face, slowly easing his tension from being betrayed by his friend. “You’re welcome.” His voice was barely above a whisper but he made sure to be closer to her enough for him to be heard. He walked away, glancing over his shoulder as he wistfully smiled and decided that it’d been solved.

[deixphiloctetes]

viridxnconstantine

“But you are friends with the asshole who did it, didn’t you? So in a sense, it was you for not preventing your friend’s stupidity to happen.” She did not wait in line to use the printer in the school library for it to break down just as she was about to get her papers printed, all thanks to this guy’s friend who decided to ‘speed things up’ by pressing all these random buttons before freaking out and running off when the machine started making weird sounds and the papers are stuck in the printer altogether. “Fix it.” 

Damien stood there, dumbstruck by the fact that someone whom he considered a friend left him in the mess he just created. His gaze wandered to the last spot where he saw him and frustration flashed over his face when he was reminded that his so called friend could use the printer just fine the other day so he suspected that it was an act of betrayal albeit it was childish. “Okay,” he whispered, glancing at the victim of the misdeed before he turned to the printer, trying to analyse its problem by reading the instruction on the display screen. Open the first tray, it said, and he did - he followed every instruction appearing on the screen. It took him a few minutes (including the time to run to the paper refill cabinet) to finish the task. He finally broke the silence with suggesting the girl to use the printer. “Try using it.” He had nothing left to do in the vicinity after being dragged by the perpetrator and abandoned by the same person afterwards but he didn’t want to cause any more ruckus so he decided to watch if the printer could be used once more. 

[chxrlottebjorgman-deactivated20]

► look out! || charlotte x damien

She had been chided many times because of its potential harm. She had acquired a few bruises all over her body for participating in that activity. But, Charlotte simply could not help it. Bicycling down the stairs was something she thoroughly enjoyed. It didn’t matter that she’s been scolded for such a dangerous activity before. It was fun, and no one was stopping the Arendelle native from her rather daredevil-like hobby. Not even Elias Academy.

Charlotte gripped the handle bars of her bike tightly, a mischievous smirk on her face. She had on her helmet, arm and knee pads, though they probably wouldn’t be able to protect her from the impending danger the activity entailed. Still, her mother had done it before. She would be fine. Slowly, Charlotte pedaled, carefully at first, before picking up pace the more she went. Adrenaline coursed through her veins as she quickly approached her destination: the opening of the flight of stairs. Finally, the bicycle went down, down, down, and her wails of joy emanated around the area. Her grin went from ear to ear while her laughter got louder with each passing second. Her euphoric cheers bounced as her bike went down each step, nearing the foot of the stairs. That happiness was short-lived, however, once a person came to view, unknowingly putting himself in danger, as well as her (though, admittedly, it would mostly be her fault should they both get hurt). Eyes widening in horror, Charlotte screamed, “Look out!”

[deixphiloctetes]

Did Zeus decide to pull a prank on him?

Maybe it was one of those days when he was fully alert and easily picked up the signs of danger coming to him so he could avert an accident. With everything in slow motion, he turned to the source of malicious-sounding laughter from the top of the stairs, getting louder with every ‘thud’. Something, definitely not a human, was coming down at a neck-breaking pace. He suddenly felt a chill down his spine upon hearing a voice, one he’d been trying to forget for years.

Is the ghost back again?

Even before he could turn to affirm the presence of his rival in flesh, his face was already contorted in horror and disgust at the realisation that Charlotte was there. A sense of panic almost took his strength away when he saw that she was riding a bicycle and they were about to crash into each other again.

Not this time, he threw his books away and jumped over to the side. 

Maybe it was one of those days when his curse was back to dull his reflexes. It turned out to be a bad choice. When he tried to avoid the collision with the girl, he tripped over his books and fell to the ground with a loud crash. Another crash followed after and he found himself screaming in agony upon the collision.

[deixphiloctetes]

run for your lives;

[eloisecharming-blog]

A long forgotten talent of hers, Eloise actually enjoys that no one really knows how good she is at track. She had years of ballet to her name but she preferred, or would have preferred if she had been given the choice by palace officials, to run laps than to pirouette. Ballet was easy. Pacing yourself for a 10km run was not. The princess had begun the run with a number of friends but they were left when she discovered their speeds too slow for her liking. She’s at the head of the pack, all too happy to keep her legs working under the pressure, though she had no interest in winning the race. 

She simply just wanted to run.

The second checkpoint comes quicker than expected, the official fussing over her as she collects her water and makes a very obvious beeline to the other side of the road–she’d like to be left alone as she waits. Soon Damien, Damien!, is there and soon they’re off again. “I was doing okay. I don’t know now, I shouldn’t have taken that break” Breaks were her kryptonite. Her mother likes to joke that Eloise could run all the way to London if she didn’t need to stop to go bathroom or eat. Once Eloise stops, she stops for good. “How are you doing?” 

[deixphiloctetes]

“You’re going to be burned out even before you reach the finish line, Eloise.” Damien made sure to let her see his frown despite he smiled laughingly when he did so – he should take his own advice as well. He was going to offer her a cup of water he took earlier but he’d seen that she was already given a proper treatment by someone else. It was a bit unusual to see such a sight considering that she was probably the only one to be treated preciously based on his observation so far but he’d gotten used to seeing the scene in the track field, with the coach being concerned over Eloise. He downed the cup and crumpled it until it became a ball which he threw right away, invoking the anger of Earth loving students. They never went beyond the line of where he had to stop or quit the race but he felt that his ears were going to burst from all those complaints.

When the aforementioned matter finally left his mind, he found that he’d never left Eloise’s side the whole time and he was grateful for that because she was his preferred partner when it came down to running. She may be quiet but he knew her enough to be comfortable. He turned to check on Eloise’s face – the only sure way to know her current state whether she wasn’t pushing herself too far. However, he noticed that something else was amiss. He couldn’t see anybody else aside from his classmate. “Are we the last ones? I don’t see anyone.”

[deixphiloctetes]

waterful meeting;

[oginosuiren-blog]

Weaving through the trees and shrubbery, the familiar coolness of the forest floor was pleasant against her bare feet. Her mother always chided her of the hazards of running about without shoes, but not even having glass embedded in her foot managed to scare her into clothing her feet–though it probably should have. The feeling of the woodland’s damp soil in between her toes usually always managed to calm her down, however, upon realising that the strange boy had followed her, Suiren bit down on her lip and shrouded herself amongst the trees.  Although she could not truly understand the words he had been crying out, Suiren was still able to recognise the traces of despair in his voice but she was still not fully capable of turning around and facing him. Especially when she had not a single clue to what his intentions were. Feeling both guilty and relieved, her large eyes carefully watched the boy as he slowed to a halt, a vulnerable expression on his face. He was short now that she looked at him–truly looked at him. Shorter than she, though that wasn’t saying too much since she was one of the taller children around. (Not that they associated with her, not when she spent all her time in the water and greenwood, not when she was the daughter of the crazy woman by the river.) His clothes weren’t any less strange, but the chubbiness of his cheeks was a disarming trait she shared. He’s just a kid, too, she thought to herself, her statement sounding more like an attempt to convince herself rather than an offhanded comment.  Her eyes immediately widened after wandering down to the purple hair tie in his hand, shimmering beneath the leaf veiled sunlight. A small hand shot up to run anxious fingers through black, twisted knots and those fingers only grew more restless when they only retrieved a stray leaf from the mess. It was her mother’s purple hair tie. Accepting her role in fate’s play, Suiren slowly peeked her head from behind a tree, hoping the meek gesture would be enough to catch the attention of the foreigner.

[deixphiloctetes]

The small boy picked up the noise made by leaves rustling, turning around to see that the girl he’d been chasing after, now a few feet away from him although she was hiding behind the tree. His initial surprise was quickly followed by a wave of relief, washing away his fatigue and fear of the unknown – prompting him to smile at the girl. A little different from his previous shy, bashful smile; his teeth were visible and there was a tooth missing.

“Are you looking for this?” He was cautious not to scare her away, trying a quiet approach he’d often used when he tried to befriend small animals and a few big animals when Phil wasn’t watching him. The purple hair tie was revealed when he lifted up his right hand and moved his fingers. “Here.” When his eyes met the other’s, his smile grew and he tried to beckon her to come over to him by gently shaking his hand where what was presumed to be her possession laid out.

[lxunabot]

She nods towards him, a silent gesture of approval is all she does. Unsure about what to do now she clears her throat. “S-sounds good. Should we…meet up again to you know- work on the…p-project?” 

[deixphiloctetes]

“Yeah,” he nodded in agreement, putting the pen aside as he leaned back against his chair, “we should do that.” It was about time for the class to end so they wouldn’t have much time to work on the project if they were to go now. “After school, is it alright with you?”

[deixphiloctetes]

in need of eyewash;

[minjoork]

it was easy to ignore damianus; not in a rude, condescending way, as though he deserved to be forgotten. it was easy to ignore him in the way the lapping of waves at a beach was calming, or the way a breeze cooled rooms as it whistled past windows, though never demanded attention. every one of his movements seemed so calm, uncluttered, and regal that isaac never took notice, only focused on slipping the last tangled webs into the bag; he tied it shut, smiled, sighed a quiet breath. living with his roommate would, it seemed, be peaceful, quaint.

but then he moved, ran across the ground.

isaac stared, traced the path he clamored on. there was a move of a mattress, quite desperate, intriguing. he wasn’t entirely sure what had occurred, whether it had been an appearance of an actual spider or something he said, something he moved. though he doubted anything like that could have such a precise effect, or an acute aftermath. there was something specific on his mind, and he, isaac parker, novel roommate, would be there to help. he stepped forward, pattered towards damianus until he stood at the edge of the bed, eyelashes casting a softened shadow over his eyes. “are you okay? is there something wrong? you hurt?”

[deixphiloctetes]

“Y-yeah, I’m not feeling well,” he spluttered, willing to go with anything Isaac questioned as long as it’d encourage him to leave him alone and his laptop, out of sight. As his anxiety rose, he watched his roommate with bated breath, his complexion turning red. He was about to pull the bed sheet over the mattress when realisation hit him that his behaviour was odd enough to raise questions regardless of his health. “I—“ He closed his mouth, almost making an excuse that could dig his own grave. As much as he hated Phil appearing in his mind, he couldn’t quite dispel him completely when he remembered about his advice – take time to do things right.

“I actually noticed…” His hands shook as he proceeded to pull the bed sheet around the folded mattress. “There’s a spider on my bed so I’m going to remove everything and burn them.” Please believe that lame excuse, man. Please don’t find the laptop. Please make my life easier. He grimaced, bending to pick up the third corner of the bed sheet.

[oginosuiren-blog]

yoroshiku

The first thing she’d done after her roommate notified her that the barrier had gone down, Suiren leapt out of her open window with a gleeful laugh. Granted, she hadn’t gained full reign over her powers as off yet and ended up just barely saving herself from a fatal fall at the very last moment, but no one probably saw and if they did, well, it wasn’t that big of a deal. She wasn’t dead, alright, at least not yet. The next bullet on her list was equally as reckless and spontaneous, if Kristoff hadn’t rejected her offer vehemently–which left her rather put out and woeful because who wouldn’t want to ride on her back, come on. But it was expected considering she’d already dropped him (but caught him just in the nick of time!!) probably twice in his poor life. Whether those incidents were on purpose or not, she would never actually say. And thus, she was left with her back-up plan which by now, she should have already just made her first plan because Kristoff (read: Kuristoppu) was a wet blanket floating through the breeze (not too high though, because he was a wimp). “Damien!” she sang, knocking lightly on his door. “Come out to play!!”

[deixphiloctetes]

It was awfully loud for an evening and he’d lost his count of how many times he’d heard a scream although he was sure that he could count on the fingers of one hand. Or two. He didn’t find anything alarming about the unusual disturbance outside his dorm room. Not every damsel is in distress. It could be someone’s prank. Each time he heard another noise, he averted his gaze to the door, almost failing to resist his curiosity to go outside and investigate the matter. He’d spend a second longer each time it happened and turned back to his study notes, reluctant to leave his comfortable bed.

He soon found a reason however; he kept tossing and turning in his bed for the past few hours, shortly before he heard the first scream. He did not only feel itch all over his body but he also felt as though the room was burning. His t-shirt felt too uncomfortable, almost suffocating him so he got up from his bed, removing his t-shirt and clumsily running over to the air con. Confusion crossed his face when he’d ascertained that the air con wasn’t malfunctioning. Maybe it was just him, he thought as he made a mental reminder to ask someone about it.

Just then, he heard an unmistakably playful voice so he rushed over to greet his friend. “Suiren--” Her nickname was caught in his throat, an abrupt change in his excited demeanour - he stared at the other behind the door with his mouth agape and his eyes widening in shock.

[deixphiloctetes]

notice

to the following people i’m writing/plotting with:

axrdevereaux

cyrusmaximoff

eloisecharming

isaacparker

lxunabot

pehades

plxholloway

oginosuiren

mxhercules

My schedule allows me to be active only at night during weekdays and on weekends so my pace has decreased significantly. The reason I’m notifying every partner I tagged and everybody who wishes to rp with me is that I want to rp comfortably - so you can make a choice whether to start, continue, or drop the thread with me. I don’t bite, I’m just a slow but understanding tortoise.

p.s: I won’t be active this weekend bc I have a run tomorrow and it’s Monday after that. I’ll try to do as much as I can though!

p.p.s: Damianus is a satyr during the event; it’s his true form currently. Hmu if you’re interested! 

[deixphiloctetes]

in need of eyewash;

[minjoork]

“see, we’re just meeting and we’re already helping each other out. i’m isaac parker, this is my face, my life, my passion; i’m into bugs and science, you?” he had always wondered how meeting a roommate would unfold; he had imagined streamers swaying from the ceiling, had thought of a champagne bottle shooting its stopper towards the corner as liquid spilled out; he had thought there would be music, some softened, quiet dance between them–a mingling of some sort.

he had never thought it would include him heading to the kitchen to reappear with a set of large, pink gloves that almost squeaked as he brought them over. “here are these.” he mumbled, handing it to him before his own limbs began to pick webs up again, snatching the stray strands from the ceiling, catching them from the corners. he cleaned on his feet, on his knees, sometimes on his stomach as he searched for strays under the furniture. the empty spaces gave him time to think of their unruly meeting. isaac shoved webs into a trash bag as he glanced over, studied his frame, wondered what was happening between his ears and if it included him.

[deixphiloctetes]

“I’m Damianus Philoctetes,” he drawled, sliding his fingers down from his forehead to his eyelids. He wanted nothing else after going through what had just transpired – his plan was just retreat to his bed and pretend that it was a nightmare; he’d just deal with it when tomorrow comes. But he didn’t want to sleep in the presence of spiderwebs. Assisting Isaac was the only way to speed up the cleaning process and hence he didn’t hesitate to take the gloves he’d requested for after a careful consideration.  Uttering a quiet expression of gratitude, he made his way towards the different corner, intending to stay away from the source of his great distress, trying to avoid his eyes whenever he could – because when they’d temporarily solved his disinclination for coming into a room filled with spiderwebs, the only thing appearing on his mind was the pictures on his laptop.

Damn, why did he do that?

The first thing in the next day is to take the laptop to his friends who could help him in removing the aforesaid pictures, he reminded himself while he furtively peeked over his shoulder, wondering if he knew about his other identity – he felt grateful that they didn’t exchange their names. Just alias, year, and location. In the very moment, his eyes laid upon something he’d carelessly forgotten, something that could give him away! His eyes widened at the laptop, barely obscured by his backpack, lying on the creamy coloured bed. Ignoring the spider webs on his clothes, he ran across the room and dove into the bed as he scrambled to pull the mattress over his belongings including his laptop. 

[deixphiloctetes]

kaleidoscope;

[plxholloway-blog1]

“But it kinda is! Don’t we need fillers to describe the athletes? Like, number 27 with his well-sculpted biceps landed a touchdown– except this is soccer, so that might’ve been a bad example.” She turned her attention back to the practice game, nose scrunching at how she couldn’t keep up with the ball. She really wasn’t made for the sports life, Perriane concluded. “Salary, that’s what my job needs.” If it wasn’t her best friend running the news team, she wouldn’t have joined. The activity’s just another mean of bothering Emrys, if not the whole team itself. “Yeah? He’s really good, isn’t he? As expected from our captain! I should write that down and quote you, so the entire team would hunt for you.” She joked, peering over her shoulder with a playful grin.

[deixphiloctetes]

“Score!” The heat of the practice game got to him as he became absorbed into it, pumping his fist in the air and clapping enthusiastically. Surprisingly, he didn’t fail to catch Perriane’s words – had it been another similar occasion with different person, he wouldn’t try to engage in a conversation with the other. “Try that. I’ll turn the team back on you by saying that it’s fabricated by you,” he retorted in a serious tone, shrugging his shoulders when he caught her looking at him before he broke into a fit of laughter. “You won’t do that. Right? Right?” About placing his hand on the other’s head, he remembered about the sweat and wiped it off his chest before he patted her head. “Why are you doing this job? Shouldn’t you ask someone to help you? Someone with knowledge and experience.” He leaned forward, implicitly suggesting himself by pointing at himself.

[deixphiloctetes]

in need of eyewash;

[minjoork]

“his son.” he said with a proud gleam in his eyes; at the mention of his dad his features pulled and tugged, let a warm pride pour in; it softened in the right places, tightened in the others, until his eyes were thinned, faint crinkles framing them. there was no bigger compliment than comparisons to his father; he was still learning, observing, though comments like those made his day.

“i like you already–come over here.” isaac crossed the space between them, tossed the spiderwebs to the side and hoped the trash can somehow caught them, though he’d forgotten its location. he moved until his arm slung around the stranger’s, pulled him closer to him. “don’t be scandalized about the webs–they’ll be gone in a while. quicker if you help. i don’t know what else you could fear; i mean, i’m handsome, charming, smart, perfect roommate. the view is terrible, but the window is clean. there’s food in the fridge already since i tend to be picky. what else could you hope for?”

[deixphiloctetes]

That was meant to be a nickname out of jest – he didn’t even know that Spider Man truly existed.

At the boy’s declaration of fondness, he thought otherwise, feeling an odd sensation when he grabbed his arm and remembering that he hated getting intimate with a stranger – a new roommate fell in the category. Not just he could feel goosebumps erupting, he felt something else rising inside him. How did he not notice his fervent headshake? “No, they’re just yucky—“ he tried to protest, trying to wiggle his way out of the sudden task assigned to him and repressing his true opinion about his roommate.

He just wanted a normal roommate, not an amazing one.

Damien stared at his roommate without uttering a word, looking as grim as his bleak future with his new roommate. His frown deepened at the prospect of living with his roommate for a long period, wrinkles becoming apparent and the corners of his lips twitching. Breaking the short-lived silence with a heavy sigh, he turned away from him, extending his hand towards him as he reluctantly agreed to help with cleaning. “Fine, just lend me your gloves or something,” he muttered, rubbing his forehead.

[lxunabot]

The android nods, handing her pen to Damianus and pulling out another one from her bag that she could use. She watched him carefully, seeing as he still wasn’t sure which empire they would do. Yet she still stayed quiet, no intention of picking something for the both of them. No, she would go along with whatever the male said. After all, it was something she couldn’t avoid.

[deixphiloctetes]

Uttering his verbal expression of gratitude, he took her pen and quickly wrote down the names mentioned by Luna. There were some moments of hesitation in making the list; spelling wasn’t his forte. “I’ll look up about them in the library after class,” he declared his intention as he made a small note above the list. He turned to Luna, wondering if he’d done anything right.

[deixphiloctetes]

waterful meeting;

[oginosuiren-blog]

Instinctively, the girl nearly retreated behind the comfort of the nearby building’s wooden column, though she managed to stop herself at the last moment. Their little rural town did not receive many visitors, let alone foreigners and upon the sight of the smaller boy’s smile, Suiren tensed, the grip on the box of sakuramochi her mother sent her to pick up tightening briefly. He looked strange. But then again, considering her slightly ruffled clothing and still-damp, frizzy hair, Suiren was in no position to spout judgments based on appearance. And she almost won against her prejudice, if her eyes had stayed on the boy’s figure and hadn’t strayed to the hairy silhouette that she presumed to be his father. It took quite a bit of willpower not to cringe. Taking a deep breath, the girl managed a small, stiff wave in delayed response before turning on her heel and taking off in a run, her nine year old mind a bit too jarred by the wooly creature that stumbled into their sleepy town to realise the purple tie holding up her tangles had fallen out. People just shouldn’t be that hairy.

[deixphiloctetes]

Since he laid his eyes on the girl, he realised about her harmless curiosity although she was reluctant to give herself away – something he’d always done when Phil had guests over at home so he could relate with her. A social recluse, having found his small hope in learning about the possibility of making a friend, one who doesn’t know about his father and his story back home, decided to go after the girl. He poked Phil in the tummy for his attention and left him with a short message that he’ll be back.

Soon enough, he reached the spot she was standing just seconds ago, almost missing the hair tie on the dirt when he quickened his pace to catch up with the girl. He picked it up without much hesitation, full of certain that it belonged to the girl because he remembered that she was running with her hair blowing in the wind.

“Hey, wait!”

Throughout his pursuit, he initially wanted to conceal his presence so he won’t frighten her but being a stranger in a new place, the gap between them had increased over time and staying quiet had lost its purpose after he struggled with climbing over the tall rock – a path different from the girl’s. “Wait, please!” His voice lost its firmness it once held, helplessness evident in his tone and his expression. With his arms flailing, he leaned against the cold surface of the rock as he listened to the water rushing… It seemed that they were near the river.

[deixphiloctetes]

run for your lives;

The sound of a gunshot ringing in his ears, his rapid heartbeat accompanied the patter of footsteps, and the occasional, breathy chatter made him fully aware of his current state in the meet – he wasn’t leading the race but he managed to get ahead of the majority. To his disappointment, he’d reached his limits. Resisting the temptation to quit and relieve the burning sensation in his lungs, he stopped catching up with the best runners, adjusting his pace so that he could keep running without letting his fatigue to get to him. Despite many experiences ended with him dying at the end of the race, he still let his competitive side get the best of him; he should’ve known that starting off strong doesn’t fit his stamina. By the time he reached the second checkpoint in the form of a male volunteer wearing a yellow armband, his breathing became less shallow and participants whom he’d marked at the beginning of the race were long gone. He didn’t know if they were ahead or behind but quenching his thirst was his top priority. In the midst of waving and nodding at other people as a gesture of acknowledgment and support, his face lit up at a familiar face. Maybe she could update him on the current standing. “Eloise!” Taking another cup of water to be passed to his classmate, he jogged over to her spot and prodded her to continue, be it running or walking. “How’s your progress? Doing well?”