ad astra

송한별 hanbyeol song to tempt a first star to tremor

[eubyeol]

eujunseo​:

he’s squatting next to a tree a safe distance from the others, his arms wrapped around his knees to transform himself into a sulking, compact ball. they’ve easily got to be the most ill-prepared lookout group on campus, between maggie spreading out a makeshift picnic and himself having ghosted their last shift, and junseo would almost laugh about it if he wasn’t so irritated at the semester beginning like this. the longer the barrier is breached, the more anxious he gets, and anything he doesn’t internalize is taken out on maggie more often than not. he’ll possibly feel bad about it later.

“yeah, maggie,” he echoes childishly, the kind of immature, accusatory tone a younger brother would use. junseo finally stands up then, stretching a bit to wake up his limbs before taking a few steps closer to the others, his arms folding across his chest. he quietly contemplates what maggie suggested as seungah floats in the air, turning to face the wild expanse in front of them instead of meeting their gazes. he’s been getting the sense he’s the problem child out of the four of them, and he’s not trying to ruffle too many feathers this time around — keyword being try. “i’m pretty sure the drakon caused the barrier breach,” he says, “unless you, like, think the university is trying to kill the students?” junseo turns to grimace in disbelief at the other three, though he’d be lying if he said the thought wasn’t mildly terrifying. “do you have brain damage or something?”

“No one has brain damage,” Hanbyeol says, voice dry. “The university isn’t trying to kill the students, although I don’t know what possessed them to send us out here. Not the smartest move, but-” He still wasn’t quite sure why they’d be sending students out to patrol after a student had been killed - it wasn’t one of the brightest moves he’d seen. “- It is what it is, I suppose.”

The picnic items weren’t a particularly bright move either.

“You know,” he added pointedly, looking towards Maggie, “Seungah’s right. There’s nothing out here right now, sure. But if there was, what would you do? Offer them tea? Best pack up - setting out a picnic won’t do us much good.”

Hanbyeol wasn’t usually this short with people, but he was definitely reaching the end of his rope at this point - the stress of a drakon being on the loose was only compounded by how poorly the rest of his peers seemed to be taking it, and having spent the entire morning with two of the more unorthodox responders had soured his mood.

@euxmagnolia​

[eubyeol]

euxkangdae​:

Kangdae looked at Hanbyeol in confusion, the weakness of his voice confusing him, until he noticed the tremor in Hanbyeol’s hands. Due to his advanced social skills, sometimes it felt like Kangdae could hear other people’s heartbeats. He had a high degree of empathy, and it didn’t take much more than a glance for him to understand the emotions of others. 

However, he didn’t need to work hard to understand Hanbyeol was terrified. 

“Hey,” he tried, hoping to calm Hanbyeol down just by talking to him. “You good? Sorry if I startled you, we should be safe under here,” Kangdae promised. However, a creaking groan made him eat his words. Peaking through the slats of the wooden tabletop with dirt falling in his eyes, he saw the roost of the greenhouse was now occupied. The drakon had perched directly above them, the glass and metal greenhouse structure barely supporting its weight. 

Hanbyeol had known some of the people at this school were daredevils - he’d overheard many a conversation about people going to find the drakon on their own - but he was decidedly not one of them. He had zero desire to be in the vicinity of one, much less this close. He sucked in a sharper breath, heart beating wildly under his skin.

“We are not safe here,” he hissed, panic colouring his words. He paled as the drakon shifted its weight, the entire structure creaking ominously. Could it smell them? Could it smell fear like a dog could? Because if so, they were in big, big, big trouble, because Hanbyeol was ready to shit bricks. Blindly, he reached out to grasp Kangdae’s wrist, grip white-knuckled.

[poutaes-deactivated20210321]

beautiful/ˈbjuːtɪfʊl,ˈbjuːtɪf(ə)l/

        pleasing the senses or mind aesthetically.

[eubyeol]

euxkangdae​:

@eubyeol​

Kangdae looked at his phone anxiously. He wasn’t interested in fighting a drakon today - preferably, Kangdae would go the rest of his life without fighting anything ever again. Around him, many of his classmates were scuttling home. Kangdae was just passing by the potting shed on the farside of campus when a screech overhead made him panic. Without looking, he quickly shouldered into the greenhouse, pulling a passing underclassman into the small building with him. He pulled them both to safety, hiding under one of the tables full of seedlings, before he realised who he’d brought with him. “Oh,” he said. “Hanbyeol.” There was another screech and Kangdae pulled his legs closer to his chest, worried about the glass walls of the greenhouse and getting spotted. He put a protective hand on Hanbyeol’s head, forcing him to duck at the sound of beating wings. 

Hanbyeol was decidedly not pleased.

He had hoped when he’d originally started at the university that any fighting that would have to happen would be in a controlled setting - had hoped and expected that the university’s security would be enough to ward off any strange and dangerous monsters that might just so happen to attack. One would have expected drakons, for example, to have been covered under that umbrella.

And yet, here they were. He’d been hurrying back towards the house - while he loved the greenhouses they were far from his priority at the moment - when the hairs at the back of his neck stood at the sudden screech. Abruptly, he was tugged right back into the greenhouse, his heart beating rapidly as they ducked for cover under the table.

“Oh, fuck,” he breathed, voice thin.

[eubyeol]

euxkangdae​:

“That’s true. If I wanted you dead, I could just sit back and watch you overwork yourself,” Kangdae said, preparing his own study supplies. He liked to color code his notes (he swore it helped things stick in his brain better), and today he was working on his Conflict in the Middle East course. His notes resided in a blue composition book with a matching blue highlighter. 

“If you must know, I’m here to do my own work. Because I have a thesis, and therefore, I must always be working, and I can never have a break,” he complained. He took a sip of his own coffee. “Sometimes, I swear I’m Sisyphus pushing a rock uphill this semester.” 

“Then why don’t you?” Hanbyeol quipped back, frowning a little as he realised that Kangdae was indeed planning to stay. He hadn’t expected people joining in on his study session - at least not for today - and while the other’s supplies weren’t exactly taking all that much space, he knew his own things would eventually end up taking the entirety of the table.

“And you can’t be Sisyphus. It’s not like you’re erasing your thesis every time you take a break,” he argued, amused despite himself. “Besides, that doesn’t look like your thesis at all.” Over some time, he’d somehow grown more familiar with Kangdae’s schoolwork than he’d initially wanted to.

[eubyeol]

euxkangdae​:

Kangdae waited patiently for Hanbyeol to acknowledge his presence, quirking an eyebrow when it took an embarrassingly long time for Hanbyeol to notice him. “If we were in the arena, I would have killed you by now,” Kangdae chided. Hanbyeol was smarter than him (not that Kangdae would ever admit it) so he had to insult him when he had the chance. “You’re lucky that I’m actually here to help you, not hurt you.”  He handed Hanbyeol a cup of coffee. He’d seen the other boys studying in the library the day before looking just as exhausted, and he had a feeling he’d find him here once again. It would be rude to bring coffee for one to a study date, even if unplanned. “Did you even go home last night? Or have you been here since I saw you yesterday?” He sat across the table from Hanbyeol, not bothering to ask if he could have a seat. He made himself at home - dropping his book bag and taking out his laptop. 

“You wouldn’t hurt me,” Was the immediate response. Kangdae - at least to Hanbyeol - was all bark and no bite. Of all the people he knew, he’d even argue that perhaps Kangdae was the most harmless person. “Besides, why would you even want to kill me? School will manage that before you ever could,” he added.

It wasn’t an exaggeration, not really.

Gratefully, Hanbyeol took a sip of the coffee, letting out a soft noise of appreciation. He took another sip after that before he even thought of answering, blinking wearily. “I did go home,” he argued. For a couple of hours, his mind supplied unhelpfully. “But why are you here? Did you need something or...?”

[eubyeol]

sliptide

@euxkangdae​

Hanbyeol’s brain felt like it was melting.

His head fell onto the book in front of him with a quiet thunk, and he let out the weariest sigh he’d possibly ever sighed. He’d been doing relatively well with the chapter so far, but at some point - he couldn’t quite recall exactly when - the words had all started to swim together, and he’d just realised that he’d read this very page thrice. To make matters at least lightly worse, he hadn’t retained any of it from even one of the read-throughs. Clearly he was getting nowhere.

Maybe, just maybe, it was time for a break. He sat up straighter now, nose crinkling in distaste as he took the final sip of the coffee that had long since gone cold. He’d have to get a new cup on his way back to the house if he wanted any sort of caffeine buzz, it seemed. With another sigh, he pressed the palms of his hands against his eyes for a beat, which turned into two, which turned into a solid five minutes of him trying to fight the urge to fall asleep entirely. When he opened them, however, he was met with a pair of legs that decidedly hadn’t been there when he’d closed them. Hanbyeol frowned, tilting his head up to see that it was, in fact, a familiar face.

“Kangdae,” he greeted eventually.

[eoniahq]

MEME SUNDAY › demigod questions.

NOTE: send these emojis out to other muses’ participating in meme sunday to hear their answers to these demigod-based questions!

⚔️› was your muse ever sent on any quests during their time at the demigod camp they attended? (if they ever attended one at all). 🙊› has your muse ever accidentally exposed any of their powers in the company of a mortal? do they know what the mortal saw instead, thanks to the mist? 👩🏽‍🤝‍👩🏼› was your muse’s mortal parent (or guardians) always aware of them being a demigod? 😮› what’s the most dangerous thing your muse has experienced as a demigod? 🔁 › if your muse could have another gods powers, what would they be? 😬 › has your muse had unfavorable encounters with any gods (godly parents excluded)? 💖 › has your muse ever dated a mortal? if so, how did they avoid revealing their secret? or did they spill the beans? 👨‍👨‍👧‍👦 › does your muse feel like their half-siblings are their actual siblings or are they closer to acquaintances? 👩‍👧› has your muse ever wanted a different godly parent? ⛎ › when did your muse first realize they were fluent in greek? 🇬🇷 › how does athens compare to your muse’s hometown? ❌ › is there anything about being a demigod that your muse would give up if they had to? 🎨 › what are the biggest similarities your muse shares with their godly parent? 👨‍❤️‍👨 › how did your muse’s mortal parent and your godly parent first meet? ☕️ › has your muse ever used any of their demigod abilities for any sort of personal advancement (i.e in sports, relationships, school, etc.)?

[eubyeol]

euhaze​:

❮ @eubyeol​​ ❯ 

hazel cradles her fourth latte of the day, hovered over her laptop as she reads and re-reads another draft of her proposal. her advisor was adamant about the deadline and she was putting forth all her energy into making it absolutely perfect. she’s already running on a solid three hours of sleep and barely holding on, but she wasn’t going home until the draft was revised and submitted. only fifteen more pages to go…

sliding the computer to her side, she extends her legs and lays out on the small patch of grass where she’d been perched for the entire morning. break time. she soaks in the bright rays of the afternoon sun, sliding on her shades as she leans all the way back and lets her eyes flutter closed. she was not napping! she just needed to rest her eyes for a minute… two minutes. thirty? by the time someone notices that she’s completely comatose on the ground it had to have been more than an hour.

when hanbyeol comes across her - and a good while later at that - he’s first quite alarmed. he hadn’t been at first (people slept on the grass all the time), but the longer he’d watched without any sign of movement, the more worried he’d been. after all, it wouldn’t make the university look good should people come across someone baking in the sun. most cookies spent a shorter time in the oven than this person had spent right in the middle of the sunlight so far.

once he’d approached, however, he’d come to the rather quick realisation that this was not in fact the stranger he’d expected, but instead someone familiar. his concern vanishes, and he’s suddenly very, very unimpressed, raising a brow to peer at hazel’s form on the grass. a foot bumps gently against the bottom of her own shoe in an attempt to wake her up.

“i hope you’re not planning to roast out here,” he says eventually, pulling up his shades to peer at her.

[ihavetofart-deactivated20150908]

[tamper]

[sugaa]

✌ ✌