DUST & SHADOW.

yoo geon. 20. baby agent & enhanced demon.

[geonmia]

The face vanishes into the darkness, only for a fully form to push forward. It invades your space. It surrounds you. As if someone cold–something cold–is hugging you. You feel the cold seep into your body, your bones. Then knowledge. 

You learn things you have heard in rumor. You learn things you have heard in myth. You learn things you have never heard of. Histories of a people who you have never heard of. Islanders living in a way that makes no sense. No technology, no great buildings, no weapons. No enhancements. 

You learn of a taboo committed. 

You learn of a family slaughtered.

“ d e a t h to the u n d y i n g.” 

The form speaks into your mind as these images flash through you. Cementing the knowledge into your mind. 

“ a  p e  o p l e with the g i f t of  l i f e” 

You see a a pair of twins walking hand in hand through this village. You see their mismatched eyes.

You see the fear in the eyes of the village. 

“ to k i  l  l one of y o u r own.” 

The images flash by quickly, you are unable to understand what you are seeing now. White sails, a village killed, a darkness over the land, a city made. The form slowly pulls away and so do the images. The knowledge stays.

“ n o t y e t .…. . curse n o t o  v  e   r “ 

The form releases you. 

“ take   wha t you have   le a r n ed. 

      b r e a t h a   n e w  a i r “

the thing disappears, taking the reflection of his own face with it. geon doesn’t relax yet, not trusting the moment of quiet, and he learns that he is right to do so when it’s suddenly back. more solid, attacking his personal space and bathing him in coldness— dread? geon tries to step back, away from the unknown creature. he tries to call out for help, but his voice seems to die in his throat, never making a sound.

there’s something in his head. something that is not himself, not his thoughts, planting memories that are not his own. it terrifies him. it’s not like when haneul is in his head, gentle and reassuring as she shares her voice. no, he’s tormented by visions of slaughter and blood, of a curse that he had nothing to do with and yet seems to bear the punishment of now. as the thing speaks, geon is hit with the realization that he will not be able to forget this, that he’s been chosen by something to carry this legacy that he didn’t ask for. there’s tears in his eyes, the sensation of a whole community suffering, mourning, too much pain for any one person to bear—

and in the next moment, it’s gone. the thing pulls away, taking it’s strange visions and cold fingers with it. geon gasps, and in the next moment he realizes that he’s sitting upright, that there’s light, and that the creature, whatever it was, is nothing more than an echo even in his own head.

the numbness fades away, pain settling in to take its place where it had been. suddenly daylight is too bright, a headache blossoming beneath his skull before he can think to close his eyes again to protect them. he’s aware that he’s in the presence of medics; he just hopes that they see the way his face goes pale, even slightly green, before he turns his head as his stomach heaves. there’s nothing in him but bile, and yet he still gasps and chokes for several long moments, as if trying to rid himself of some toxin that doesn’t actually exist.

“did it work?” he chokes out as soon as his stomach settles enough to allow him to do so. he doesn’t have a mirror, not yet. he doesn’t know that there’s still black marks on his skin, red eyes blinking back at him. by the time someone shows him, he already knows the answer anyway. he can feel it churning like a bad dream.

[geonmia]

The hand continues to hover just within reach. The inky black surrounding you flickers with flecks of deep blue. Your voice makes it seem to shrink in size, melting into the dark until it forms once more. A mash up of shapes that continuously ship as if unable to decide a form. 

“ wh  a t ……. wh  o ? who   a r e you?”

The unknown creature finally drops its too thin hand. It slinks back, melting into the back, circling around you from a distance. Staying out of reach. 

“ wha t are   y o u ? do you know   ? what a m m i?” 

You see your own face begin to form in the darkness. A splash of color for the first time, but your figure is wrong. It’s you, but it’s not. The eyes on this familiar but unknown face are closed. Black veins run along their face. 

“if. you coul d sav e ever y o ne

    a t  the cost o f y ou rself……” 

The creature waits for your response.

geon doesn’t like the way the shadow of the creature moves. it circles him, out of reach, like a wolf circling prey. geon turns to watch it, at least as best as he can track it in the darkness, wary. he doesn’t want to let it out of his sight, though it’s hard to track. 

it questions him, though it’s already said geon’s name. not his agent codename, but his name. he doesn’t want to give the monster any information he doesn’t have to, so he stays quiet, letting it talk to itself. if it doesn’t want to answer his questions, it doesn’t have to. if this is some sort of fucked up dream, geon can only pray that he wakes up soon.

and then it shows him his own face. like looking into a funhouse mirror, the features just slightly distorted. that feeling of dread in the pit of geon’s stomach grows colder, heavier, more urgent. his breath catches and he takes an involuntary step backwards (or, at least, he tries to; he’s still not sure if he’s really in his own body right now). does he really look like that now? has the black really spread that far, up onto his face? for a moment, geon is tempted to reach out and touch the grotesque image of himself, but he refrains. no, it’s better to be cautious. better to be safe.

you could save everyone at the cost of yourself.

“what does that mean?” geon can’t help his own curiosity. save them how? grand heights agency is already gone, dead. is ‘them’ referring to meia? do they need saving? geon doesn’t know. he just wants to help. he’s always just wanted to help.

“what do you mean?” his voice is a little stronger, now demanding answers rather than quietly requesting them. he doesn’t like riddles like this. not when there’s lives on the line, even if it’s just his own.

[geonmia]

You call out to the nothingness around you. The sound of your voice seems odd in this space. Something within the darkness shifts. Despite there being nothing to see, your eyes can still track the movement of this unknown. 

“ hel l o…. hel l looo…." A voice laced with pain echoes back to you. The something in the darkness approaches, slinking side to side before it stops just in front of you. You see nothing, and yet you see something.

" is any o n e th  e r   e " 

A hand of black ink forms, stretching out in front of you but never does it touch. Hovering just out of reach, as if getting any closer would hurt it. 

"     g   e   o  n." You hear your name. The inky hand with it’s thin and sharp looking fingers reach out to you. 

Do you take it’s hand? 

he sees something, but he also sees nothing. geon’s brain is still trying to wrap his head around it, whether the movement in the blackness is just a trick of his imagination or if there’s truly something else out there. he holds his breath, not knowing if it’s friend or foe, if it wants to cause him harm or help him. he doesn’t like taking chances. he’s stayed alive this long through avoidance, keeping to himself and not putting his trust in anything unknown.

then he hears it. a voice, strained, quiet. it sounds like it’s suffering. geon squints his eyes, struggles to make out what the voice belongs to. nothing. is that it, is that the answer? but then there’s something. a hand, or so he thinks, reaching out toward him. he flinches, but it never touches him, hovering just before him, waiting.

and then it says his name.

if geon could feel anything at all, he’s sure that he’d feel a cold shiver down his spine, a deeply frightening chill. instinct tells him that this is dangerous, that he should proceed cautiously. he hardly dares to speak, to let the mysterious inky creature know how close it is to him.

he doesn’t touch it. but what he does do is whisper, as carefully as he can: “what are you?”

[geonmia]

You have been summoned to take part in a top secret experiment. You are told the risks but you are also informed of the benefits that would come with a successful experiment. Your compliance is requested, but in a way that you can not refuse. A demon agent should be grateful for this chance. A chance to change the world--save the world. 

The serum burns through your system as if your blood itself has turned to fire. You recall, distantly, being laid upon the medical bed. The monitors being attached, and Lerissa's kind voice walking your through it step by step. 

And then the heat. The intense burn that blocks out everything else. You feel as if you have been suspended in time in a pool of lava with no way out. The noises of the small medical room fade into the background. It's just you and the heat. 

The heat turns into a prickling sensation as if you had let your leg fall asleep. Except the feeling is all over your body, numbing your limbs and your senses. The world around you fades into darkness. You are suspended in this darkness, though you do not feel like you are alone. 

Do you call out?

there's nothing that geon wants more than to be human again. maybe it's the indoctrination of his old team leader from grand heights agency, or maybe it's just his own gentle nature battling with the demon's desire for blood and carnage. regardless of the cause, geon doesn't want to be this. he doesn't want to be the monster that mothers tell their children about, the creature that his fellow agents have sworn to take down, that he swore to take down. he doesn't know if it's a blessing or a curse that he kept his mind despite the infection sometimes.

now more than ever, he needs a purpose. in the days since he was made aware of the fate of grand heights, he's been lost, listless, utterly hopeless. his home was gone, burned to ash. not that he ever thought he had a chance of going home, but the burden of knowing that all of the people he had loved are now lost... it's too much to bear. there's not a person in the world who understands how lost yoo geon is right now.

so when the experiment was introduced to him, it at least gave him a shred of hope. or at least, that's what he thinks it is. he's been so numb, so miserable, that feeling anything else was welcome. he wants nothing more than to be human, to go back to some sort of normalcy. so he agrees, and the next thing he knows he finds himself on a hospital bed, lerissa speaking to him gently, and the prick of a needle as an unknown serum is injected into his veins.

it's hot, painfully so. it feels so much like the bite of the demon's claws when they dug into his flesh, the poison that ruined his life back then. geon feels sweat break out along his brow and he grits his teeth to keep from crying out. if he's weak, he'll ask them to make it stop, to call this off. but he can't be weak, not if he wants to be human again. it doesn't stop little pained noises from escaping him, especially as the serum spreads through his body, lighting his nerves on fire as it trickles through his veins. he closes his eyes tight, breathes deeply through his nose, to try to focus on anything other than the pain. it doesn't work.

and then he's numb.

his body has turned to radio static, fuzzy and tingly in the worst way. geon can breathe again, and he gasps, though he's not sure that he would call this relief from the pain. it's just a different sort of sensation, too intense to be comfortable. he opens his eyes to nothing. instinctively, he jerks around, trying to rid himself of something covering his vision. but his body doesn't respond, as if it's not even there at all. then he realizes that he can't hear anything. not the beeps and whirrs of medical equipment, not lerissa's comforting voice, not even the shift of a mattress moving beneath him. no smells either, the sterile stench of the makeshift hospital long gone from his nose.

am i dead?

there's the eerie feeling that he's being watched, that something is lurking in the darkness he cannot see around. he strains his senses and finds that none of them work, or at least that he's not picking up anything at all. if only he had built up his enhancement properly while he still had the chance. if only he didn't need eye contact to send his thoughts, he'd call out nonverbally, not betraying his position. he's still an agent, still wary of the unseen things that promise death, even if part of him believes he has already died.

he finally decides to use his voice, hardly more than a hoarse whisper at first: "hello?" he listens for an echo, for sound bouncing off of something, or does it just disappear into the void? when he speaks again, it's only a little louder. "who's out there?"

[miadoyun]

let me try something

@geonmia​

the front steps of the agency are littered with bags and boxes and various furniture. there exists a small pathway from the door out to the yard unless someone wants to wiggle their way through the various objects that take up the bulk of the space. 

which is exactly what doyun is doing right now. 

“hey heeyyy, geon!” he calls out to the other agent. someone who recently had ended up on his team with the whole shuffle. the baby team they are still–as annoying as that is. but he likes geon. another demon agent like his brother though more quiet? he’s still trying to get to know the other. 

“check this out.” he stands on a desk that is sitting rather unbalanced on some of the steps. two crates barely holding it up. “see that stack of books down there? i’m going to move them.” his stance and words are soooo confident. and with no senior agent around, he feels no need to hesitate. 

[geonmia]

he thinks he can trick himself into feeling a little bit better knowing that they are finally getting started on the path to grand heights agency. geon still thinks it’s been too long, though. why couldn’t they have let him go? or at least a small party to scout it out and help who was left? he couldn’t help but sink in despair at the thought of all of those people, everyone he ever knew, dead or dying, thinking no one will be coming for them. he should have run away. he should have done... something. 

geon tries to stay busy, tries not to dwell on it too much and rather do what he can to speed the move along. he’s not much in the way of fun company, though, and he feels a little bad to doyun, who so clearly wants to become better friends. geon would, if he only had the same energy to put into it that doyun seems to.

doyun claims that he’s going to move a pile of books with his mind, so geon stops what he’s doing to watch. he may not be very talkative these days, but he’s still polite. he waits, not really expecting to be impressed, to be honest, but you never know. maybe doyun’s actually been practicing and has something cool to show. geon has noticed that the young agent tends to talk a lot bigger than he executes or bites off more than he can chew, though.

[geonmia]

seeing ghosts.

miajuwon​:

( content warnings // mention of character death )

if there had ever been a comparison of how juwon felt in that moment, it would have to be rather like the abandoned shell of a hermit crab. there’s a longing emptiness that lingers inside him, gaping wide and painful, his heart cracked open and squeezed clean of any happiness that once existed inside him. he’s existing but he’s not sure why, anymore. there’s so much happening around him but juwon can barely bring himself to leave his room. it’s so much easier to curl up in bed and wonder if sieon would have been fine if he hadn’t selfishly taken the promotion to junior agent.

then, maybe, he and sieon wouldn’t have been put on the same team. they wouldn’t have taken that accursed patrol mission that juwon had insisted on stepping out of the gates for. they wouldn’t have even been in that situation where sieon had died.

he should never have come to meia. maybe then sieon would still be alive.

he doesn’t know if it’s better or worse that sieon had remembered

he’s sitting blankly at a table in the dining hall, a plate of barely touched food in front of him, gazing emptily at the food there. a presence seats itself next to him, but juwon barely even notices. he doesn’t really understand who is there, too lost in his own mind to process exactly what is going on around him, but when a thought filters into his head, his eyes having flickered towards the figure without him meaning to, he dimly registers that it’s geon.

it doesn’t occur to him immediately that geon is a demon. sieon had turned into a demon. juwon had killed sieon. rather, geon’s natural timidity and the reliance the demon agent had always shown to him triggers something else, and juwon lifts his head slightly, his eyes bleak and expression exhausted.

“geon…” he breathes, his voice rough from not speaking.

juwon speaks. geon, for as listless and out of sorts as he’s been himself, has heard the whispers of others, always with pity in their voices. they whisper about their worries about geon, the demon, who looks like he’s barely hanging on by a thread. will he stay docile? will he succumb and attack everyone? so far, it hasn’t happened, but geon hasn’t completely rules out the possibility. sometimes he wonders if it’ll feel better, to stop fighting and just... let go. will it all stop hurting then? but he’s heard the whispers about juwon as well, his own vow of silence and the lifelessness in the human agent. he’s lost so much too, geon knows. he doesn’t know what tell him.

he does know how incredibly important it is that juwon spoke at all to him, even if it’s just his name. geon doesn’t have it in himself to smile right now. if he was himself, truly himself without all of the hurt and fear, he might have smiled wide, bumped his shoulders against juwon’s, and tried to get him to open up a little more. but geon is but a shadow right now himself, his own voice lost in his throat, though he has little control over the thoughts in his head when he meets another’s eyes.

it’s me, he confirms, satisfied enough that juwon has lifted his head enough to maintain easier eye contact. geon feels uncomfortable with it, though. he wants to drop his eyes to the floor. he wants to hide, to disappear. but juwon is a friend, a very good friend in geon’s opinion, and he wants to hang on to the ones he knows he has left. and maybe he wants to share the hurt with him, the pain they’re both feeling. maybe he wants to tell juwon that it’s okay, that he’s not alone. geon may not be mouring sieon the same way, but he is mourning his own losses. he knows how heavy and dark the world feels right now.

but he doesn’t have the words for that, not even in his own head. so he settles for simpler words instead; are you going to eat that? what had happened to the voracious appetite that geon had when he first came to the agency? when did sorrow turn his stomach, make it impossible to eat? he can’t blame juwon for a lack of appetite, but he can hope that he can make him smile, even just a tiny bit, with a familiar phrase. maybe if geon tries hard enough to be normal, they’ll both be able to feel it. maybe not today, but someday. he doesn’t even dare wish for sometime soon.

i know, is all he thinks to his friend next, a sigh escaping him as he lets the tiredness take over again. it’s hard to pretend to be okay enough to encourage juwon. he wants to, he really wants to see the other be okay, but it takes energy that geon simply lacks. it hurts so much you’re numb. i feel the same.

[geonmia]

seeing ghosts.

@miajuwon

he feels like he’s living up to his namesake these days. a shadow. nothing more than a dark spot floating through life, not quite fully sentient though just short of lifeless. geon thought he was lost when he was wandering in the wilderness for nearly two years. that’s nothing compared to this type of lost. he knows how to navigate meia by now, how to tell which path goes to what part of the complex, but... there’s no direction. no aim. sometimes his head feels like it’s spinning so much that he doesn’t even know what way is up, where’s down, or his left from his right. his entire world is gone, as far as he’s concerned. blown up, destroyed, and he’s not even allowed to go to it to mourn the loss of the only family he had ever known.

ari, he hasn’t tried to send his thoughts so far since he thought he was dying. he doesn’t know if his old friend heard him then, let alone if he can hear him now. if he’s even still alive. are you still out there? if i go looking, will i find you?

as always, there’s no response. there never is, no matter how much he practiced with a person. just silence. his own voice. and, well, haneul’s too sometimes. but she’s quiet right now. he hopes she can’t hear him, his misery. he hopes that she can’t feel the black hole that’s eating away at his chest. when geon looks in the mirror, past the greasy, unwashed hair and sunken, tired face, he’s scared at what will look back at him. sometimes he thinks that the red in his eyes has taken over the white, that the black marks on his upper body have spread further. he runs his tongue across his teeth and swears that they’re sharper than they used to be. he’s so afraid he’s losing his humanity. his dreams are full of blood and flesh, of destruction, and sometimes when he wakes up he can’t remember himself for a few terrifying seconds.

but if there’s anyone who looks worse than geon, it’s juwon.

if geon is living up to ‘shadow’, then juwon is also living up to ‘phantom’. he too walks through the halls like a ghost, pale and lifeless. there’s no light here, no spark of life. the parts of geon that aren’t already shattered crack and break a little more when he sees him, one of his first friends when he came to meia, drifting through life like a dead man. he still has it in him to pity him. geon keeps a wide berth, at first, not knowing if juwon would appreciate the company of a demon so soon after what happened to the other agent. but... geon can’t help it. he’s always been a little too soft, maybe even more so now that he can hardly focus on anything other than his own fear and misery.

juwon’s sitting down, so geon sits next to him. he doesn’t move away, so geon takes that as acceptance that he can be here, that juwon doesn’t hate all of demonkind after what he was witness to. words don’t come to geon’s lips. they haven’t since he first heard of what happened to grand heights, his tongue feeling too heavy to lift. but it’s alright, he can still communicate important things. he leans down, trying to catch juwon’s eye; he can’t send him anything without that. geon takes advantage of the briefest glance.

you look worse than i do... i’m so sorry.

he hopes juwon looked at him long enough to get the message.

[geonmia]

— not alone ;

lunaxmia​:

her lips curl up at the edges even though the stranger on the other side of the curtain certainly can’t see her face. her mental voice, however, is tinged with faint amusement as the stranger resorts to speaking out loud, surely appearing rather insane to the medic who is helping him. at least, him speaking aloud gives her an idea of where he is — she’d guessed as much from the sound of the clattering, but now it’s very clear that the stranger she had startled in trying to calm him down is actually just on the other side of the thin divider. 

‘hello, yoo geon. my name is song haneul.’ she starts with the easiest question first, and she indicates to the medic helping her to pull aside the divider so that she can meet the stranger face to face. ‘as for where i am, i happen to be just on the other side of this sheet.’ she smiles a little when she can see him, dipping her head slightly in greeting, before she considers the question about her power. 

‘my enhancement has always been a little overactive,’ she thinks, not without a tone of hesitation. it’s a grossly oversimplified thought, but she doesn’t need to unload the history of experimentation and pain to this poor child, who looks even younger and more haunted now that she sees him in person. ‘i have always been able to hear too much, and since i have just returned from quite a long journey… there are many more voices than i’m accustomed to. why are you in the medic wing, yoo geon?’

song haneul. he doesn’t know the name, but he doesn’t know most of the agents and citizens of meia. he wonders if he should, if this is someone important like maylin herself or one of the head agents. should he have been more respectful, less demanding for information? god, geon doesn’t know. his head is starting to hurt, overwhelmed and confused and not yet at all comfortable with his new environment. settling into social rules, both new and old, has been a hard adjustment.

but he finally sees her, and being able to put a face to the voice and the name brings a sense of relief. she sounded kind, but she looks kind too. it puts geon at east a bit. a little of the anxiety fades with some unknowns brought to light.

he decides that he doesn’t have to speak aloud anymore. he was always told how rude it was to send his thoughts to other peoples’ heads unwarranted, his eyes always carefully trained down to not cause a problem. but haneul is going to hear him anyway, isn’t she? so he may as well use the enhancement he was gifted with years ago, still weak and underdeveloped as he meets her eyes just to make sure it’s going through, he’s not just crazy.

‘i don’t think i envy you,’ he admits, trying to keep his mental voice soft, though still in awe of the power of this woman. ‘people don’t mind it? i was always taught to keep it to myself.’ meia certainly is a different place. geon thinks he likes it, but he’s still a little too unsure to tell. ‘i... i’ve been alone, without a city or agency, for two years. so they just want to make sure i’m healthy, i think. i’m... getting used to things too.’ he’s a bit hesitant to share the full story even if she probably already knows; his turning, his friend’s sad eyes, the promise of death if he stayed. they’re still painful memories.

[geonmia]

— not alone ;

lunaxmia​:

the yelp and clatter of medical equipment on the floor startles her, physically jumping in response, and she’s glad abruptly that she had asked the medic to take a short break before they continued on, having wanted to help the other person quiet down. but the reaction that comes from the person on the other side of the thin curtain surprises even her in its intensity, because in all honesty, she’s only had contact with people who are familiar with her. she’d forgotten how strange it might be for those unused to it.

but no, the follow-up thoughts indicate something else, and she blinks in surprise, her own startled reaction calming down quickly in the face of the other’s utter panic. ‘it’s okay, calm down, it’s just my enhancement,’ she thinks firmly at the panicking male who is apparently behind the curtain. 'you usually can speak to people? but you can’t hear them?’

the implication is fascinating and haneul can’t help but wonder if that’s why the boy’s voice had been so incredibly loud in her mind. had he been projecting it through his power, and she had picked it up strongly because of her own enhancement? she hasn’t ever really met anyone with a similar power, so that’s another interesting thing to consider.

'everything’s okay. i just wanted to help you relax a little, but i guess that backfired. what’s your name, little one?’ she might not be able to see him at that moment, but they’ll meet later. for now, she can tell that he needs reassurance, and so she keeps her mental voice very soft, comforting, warm.

the voice is back. not with answers to the questions he asked, but with reassurances. they work; geon’s able to observe the voice more carefully this time, no longer so absorbed by fear that he doesn’t know anything other than that something entirely out of the ordinary is occurring. female, he realizes. and it sounds warm, a bit soft. kind. he thinks that he likes it, even if he’s still a bit nervous. part of him still doubts that something isn’t completely and utterly wrong, but two years of surviving alone has taught him to always be skeptical.

“where are you?” he repeats again, because he still doesn’t know who this is coming from. how strong is she that she’s able to project her voice to him without knowing him? without seeing him? geon can’t imagine it. he never really thought about how truly weak his enhancement really is... not that he’s ever had much of a chance to improve it. “i can’t send thoughts to people i don’t know unless i see you. how... how are you doing this?” there’s a bit of awe in his voice, a hint of jealousy in his mind. for all of the physical strength that being a demon gave him, a stronger version of his enhancement was not one of the supposed perks. not that there’s many perks to being a demon.

he’s not sure that he’s any more relaxed, but at least he’s thinking about new and different worries since the voice started talking to him. is she really as kind and friendly as she seems in his head? what does his voice sound like in hers, if she can even hear it? he suspects that she can, apparently she knew he was stressed even if he didn’t say it out loud. that’s weird for him too; he’s always tried to keep his thoughts to himself in case anyone didn’t want them.

“yoo geon,” he answers aloud, still not sure what he should be doing. “who are you?”

[geonmia]

You receive a message from JINX to show up for a meeting in her office. When you enter you are greeted by JINX and SOL seated on one side of her desk. SOL motions for you to take a seat across from them. A hologram of your profile is pulled up in front of the two head agents. 

“Hello agent SHADOW.” JINX greets, there is a grime expression on her face. SOL is smiling at you, but it does not reach his eyes. “We unfortunately have some bad news for you. A correspondence from GHA was received, and we felt it necessary for you to view it.” She taps something on her desk.

A notification pings on your communication device, a new message from JINX. A video message plays. 

“We don't know the full status of GHA or anyone in it just yet, but we want you to prepare for the worst.” SOL continues, stepping around the table to offer comfort if needed. 

“Moving forward things are going to change, and we need all agents ready to face whatever may come.” JINX says. “We are going to be summoning you again later today to discuss anything you might know or remember from your former agency. For now, take time to digest what you have just learned. Dismissed.” 

SOL will lead you to the door. He places a heavy hand on your shoulder as a sign of support and comfort. “Good luck, agent.” 

he's surprised and nervous when he's called into a head agent's office. geon can't help but wonder if he's in trouble, if they're suddenly not as interested in helping demons heal from the darkness and they're sending him out to the wilderness again. he supposes that wouldn't be so bad, he hasn't had that long to settle in here and get soft, but he'd be sad at the lost chance to be human again, however slim that chance was. but he's surprised again when he enters the room and is greeted not only by jinx, but sol as well. that nervousness grows, settles into some cold, hard stone in his stomach that makes every breath feel a little more difficult. even before they say anything, he can sense that something is wrong. he keeps his eyes trained on the ground, scared to let his thoughts slip into their minds lest he give away his nerves by mistake.

“We don't know the full status of GHA or anyone in it just yet, but we want you to prepare for the worst.”

the worst. that stone turns to ice and grows heavier, dropping in his gut and knocking the wind out of him. that's not possible. grand heights agency could never fall. it was a military base, it's been there for hundreds of years without fail. the agents they trained were the best, the most disciplined, the strongest... the worst would be that the building was razed, burned, crumbled to nothing more than a memory of a time past. the worst would be the civilians they protected slaughtered or turned into black-eyed demons, hungry for their pound of flesh. the worst would be... it would be ari, and all of his strength, laying in a pool of his own blood with all of the fight taken out of him, leaving only glassy, unseeing eyes staring up into the heavens.

geon feels dizzy. he feels nauseous. he doesn't know if he wants to cry, throw up, or run out of the room entirely. where would he go? back to grand heights? to try to salvage whatever life may be left there? it's too late, he realizes. if he hadn't been turned, if he was there, would he have been able to save them? is this his fault? is this his fault?

the agents dismiss him and he feels like he's walking through a dream. it's not until sol claps his shoulder that it hits him like a ton of bricks. he doubles over as if in physical pain, black mist leaking from him as that demonic energy attacks him at his weakest, and lets out a low, painful wail.

they're all dead. they're all gone. i never got to say good bye. is this my fault?

[geonmia]

Haven’t We Met?

mia-zer0​:

Sero pokes his head out before darting back, remembering the other is ‘armed’ as well, before remember it’s just water. He rolls his eyes at himself and comes out from cover, weapon down as he eyes the rest of the field. They seem secluded, for now. 

Yep, that’s the demon. Sero remembers running into him a little over a year ago out on the borders of the West Ward, back when he still had a family…He’d been out hunting for small game with his pistol when he’d run into Geon in a similar manner, shooting first and asking questions later. If he remembered right, he’d winged the guy and probably run off just as fast as the demon had, both of them equally spooked.

But now, Sero just looks annoyed, a slight improvement to his normal interactions with demon agents. The other’s actions are somewhat off-putting. Something not right about an agent being so scared, even if–and especially if–they are a demon. Doesn’t he have like…bloodlust and shit?  “Better than you being out there, I guess.” He pauses, and an awkward beat plays between them for a moment…before Sero can’t stand it and he lays it out bluntly. 

“Look. I’m not gonna apologize for shooting a demon. Plus, you’re still alive and kicking. My aim’s improved since then.” Yeah, okay maybe he needs a bit more tact than that. “At the very least, I’m sorry for shooting you so suddenly. I should have had better trigger discipline, since you could have been human and all.”

he’s not sure how to react. if the other agent had been treating him with hostility, he could cower and try to show that he’s really not a threat. if he had chosen to ignore him, geon would be happy to do the same. but no, the agent seems to size him up, recognition dawning on his expression and settling back into something no worse than just mildly bothered. geon doesn’t know why his very presence annoys the other, but more than that he doesn’t know how to react to it. should he apologize? he’s not sure.

“um, yeah, i guess,” he agrees, not because he believes it, but because he thinks it’s the response that the other wants to hear. geon would have to think long and hard if it’s actually better for him to be part of the agency. it was selfish of him to beg to be taken here, the idea of a cure too tempting to pass up even if it’s not yet discovered. it’s not like he ever wants to hurt anyone. sure, the instincts are there, clawing away at his insides and making him feel a horrible guilt whenever he lets his thoughts wander there. but he’s nervous just mildly annoying someone.

geon can only blink dumbly at sero’s apology; the words all make sense but it takes him a few extra minutes to process it. “oh, um, i understand,” when he was human, he was trained to shoot demons first and ask questions later too. he can’t fault the other for having the same mindset. but he can’t quite help but feel like he’s being threatened right now. geon’s just not sure what he did to warrant that. “i didn’t know there were people around there. i was, uh, i was really trying to avoid any then. the agency i came from would’ve shot me on sight too so... um... thank you for missing?”

god, this is awkward. geon would rather take a water gun spritz to the face right now just to break this up.

[agustdawn-deactivated20240906]

« Yeosang looks like a painting omg » - @vallkyr, 2022

[lunaxmia]

— not alone ;

all it takes is just one voice in the silence to not be alone.

@geonmia

routine medical checkups are part of the routine now that she’s back, and she’s never particularly minded the medical wing. perhaps that’s because she’s never had the misfortune of being afraid of needles or anything of the sort. it’s not the first time she’s received a checkup since she’d returned, one of the important parts of making sure that her extended mission out in the wilderness hadn’t left a permanent effect on her.

there are thin curtains up around her to give some semblance of privacy as the medic asks her questions, and she responds in the way she’s most comfortable, through her mind — something that sometimes offputs people, but haneul is far too used to it to set it down.

but it’s a little difficult to concentrate when there’s the sound of someone worrying very loudly in the area next to her, her eyebrows furrowing slightly in consternation as she tries to focus on just one voice. unfortunately, the voice is louder than her medic’s, and she ends up focusing more on that. finally, she sighs, holding up a finger gently to ask the medic wordlessly if they can take a short break.

‘it’s okay, it’ll be over quickly. you don’t have to worry quite so much.’

[geonmia]

we’ll want you to come back regularly so we can monitor your progress, the medics had told him when releasing him from their more intensive care. geon has always followed instructions, so he returns to them dutifully for checkups and blood draws. even though it makes him nervous. even though he’s a bit anxious about being around so many people for the first time in two years, and he doesn’t like the way the needle pokes and stings a bit when it goes in, and he’s just overall still feeling very out of place in meia. maybe it sounds silly, but he never had a chance to learn how to be a demon among men before becoming completely isolated. it’s overwhelming to try to figure it all out now, to say the least.

he has no idea how loud his worries are. his eyes are always carefully trained down, always cautious about his thoughts showing up in someone else’s head uninvited. it’s another thing to worry about now that he’s around humanity again. but maybe that makes it worse, because as he studies the marks and scuffs in the floor, all he can do is think about how he doesn’t know if he should really be here, if he’ll be able to stay in control of that gnawing feeling for blood and chaos, if they’ll ever find a cure for him.

and then suddenly something else breaks through the stormy clouds that are geon’s many worries. a voice, a thought that is not his own. for the first time in his life, geon is hearing a thought, not sending it.

he yelps and startles physically, knocking over a tray with the movement and sending medical equipment clattering down on the floor. “who was that??” he looks around, his view of other patients obscured by the curtains in between each cubicle. “i heard you- i heard you-” that’s not supposed to happen. that’s never happened. geon doesn’t know what it means and it terrifies him.

[geonmia]

to lend a hand

ashmia​:

she can’t say she understands.

her eyes take in the younger agent, seeing the desire to want to take part but not knowing how. she doesn’t understand because ash has never been someone to shy away from what she wants. she also isn’t a demon agent but that’s neither here nor there. demon agents and non demons agents are all the same to her. thanks to her ability, the playing field is normally even. but while she looks at geon and wonders how he manages, she finds herself wanting to help. it was the same feeling she felt when they had met in the medic wing. 

so she smiles more and makes sure to keep her body relaxed. wanting him to feel comfortable with her. for geon to know there is a safe bubble here with her, no matter how worried he might be around the other agents. “we’ll have to find something to do together then! it’s good for training and the head agents want to see how everyone reacts during these.” she whispers the last half as if its some kind of secret.

though to get the other agent into a game with her, ash wonders if she needs to do something to make him feel more at ease with her. an idea comes to mind and her hand slips into her pocket and she pulls out a dark blue cloth. “hang on–” she eyes the cloth then eyes geon. “actually, can you help me out with something?” she holds out the cloth. “i never manage to tie it well on my own so can you help? i need to dull my enhancement for a while before I get a headache.” normally she would have been wearing it already but the three legged race would have torn it off. 

geon doesn’t know how he got so lucky to make a good friend in meia right off the bat. he thanks whatever lucky star was with him that day that he ran into that scouting party entirely by accident; what they brought him back to was overwhelming and frankly scary sometimes, but ash has always been kind, helpful, gentle with him. he thinks it’s a little funny, a demon, tough, resilient, and lethal, being so scared of his own shadow that a human would stop to console him. geon supposes he isn’t very good at being a demon, though.

“oh, does your head hurt?” geon frowns, concerned, as he takes the cloth from the young woman and dutifully performs the task that’s requested of him. he’s careful not to get her hair caught in the knot. “is that too loose? i can redo it,” he likes being helpful, he likes feeling like he belongs here. ash always makes him feel at ease. “do you ever wish you could just... turn it off? at least my thing only works when i’m looking at people.” he didn’t hide anything from the meia agents, not even his enhancement. not that he can send thoughts to ash; her eyes are covered or she’s negating his enhancement, there’s no in between.

he’s a bit nervous now that she’s told him that the head agents use the games to evaluate the younger agents. will they see geon’s shyness as being a poor teammate? will they see him avoiding the action as being flighty and unreliable? he frowns; he hopes not. but he supposes that he just has to trust that they’re wiser than his anxiety gives them credit for. “what did you want to do?” he asks ash, since she seems to know better than he would. “everything looked fun.”

[mia-zer0]

Haven’t We Met?

event thread with @geonmia

Well, this was sure a way to blow off steam. The water gun fights had been a bit intense, but getting drenched, while somewhat humiliating, was a welcome cold shock to his system. Projectiles (except for bullets) he was used to dodging…but water arched in such a weird way that he was getting hit a lot if he didn’t take cover. Hence him hiding behind a corner of a wall now, preparing his next move. Maybe if he moved to more central cover, he’d be able to get a better sight line on the enemy–

Sero forms a plan in his mind, his body starting to move with a goal ahead of him. At least, until he darts out from his hiding spot and lets out an embarrassing yelp at the sudden person–no, demon–in front of him. He stumbles back behind cover, ready to shoot, the face of his enemy processing in his mind, confusion and surprise coming over him.

“Wait…what the fuck are you doing here?!”

[geonmia]

geon has been sticking to his namesake for most of these games, hiding in the shadows and trying not to attract too much attention to himself. he’s still too new, still too unsure about where he stands with everyone in meia. at least they seem nicer about the whole demon thing than anyone in grand heights was, for the most part. still, he doesn’t want to press his luck too far, especially when someone presses a water gun into his hands and tells him to have fun.

what he does instead is runs and hides. he doesn’t want to shoot anyone, let alone get shot even if it is just water. but he’s taken entirely by surprise when he’s very nearly run over by someone running out from under cover. geon yelps, stumbles back, but manages to keep his footing.

it takes less than a second to realize why this face looks so familiar: the last time geon had seen it was out in the middle of nowhere, wandering and doing his best to avoid humans and demons alike. this human took a shot at him, a good one that hit, but geon managed to live to tell the tale. he’ll admit, his blood runs a little colder when he connects the memory to the person in front of him now. he’s scared.

“ah-” he takes an extra step back. even if they have nothing to hurt each other with right now, he can’t help but be a bit wary, “i, um, sorry, i just got here a couple of weeks ago...” should he mention it? should he bring up the fact that this person shot him once upon a time? geon’s not sure what the proper etiquette is for this situation.

[ashmia]

to lend a hand

event thread with @geonmia

it’s always interesting to meet agents who haven’t been around for a while because so many of the people existing in these halls are people she knew before meia was meia. yet here is this demon who apparently had been out in the wilds before ending up here. she’d been tending to him in the medic wing for a while now and now that the training week is here she finds herself seeking him out. 

“hey there, geon!” ash jogs up to the other agent, a small grin on her face and her clothing covered in dirt and grass stains. she’d just got down with another three legged race when she’d come across the other. 

“what are you doing? have you played any of the games–sorry, taken part in the training.” she hides an amused smile behind her hand at her slip up. ash knows this is supposed to be training of some kind but it feels like a field day they would have during school.  day for fun and messing around. it’s nice sort of, to be able to relax a little. “i was just about to hit up the drinks then probably check out the battle simulation? wanna hang with me for a bit?” 

[geonmia]

he still jumps at every loud sound (which there are a lot of; it seems that someone, somewhere, is squealing with joy, or frustration, or something just out of sight). he’s not really sure where he’s welcome. would people look at him with fear and distrust if he tried to participate in the archery contests? maybe, they certainly would have kept an extra close eye on any demon with a weapon in their hands back home. he doesn’t want to burden anyone by trying to participate in the three-legged race; who would want to be bound to a demon, after all?

so geon simply wanders from site to site, game to game, never really joining the crowds or participating in anything nor vanishing entirely. he wants to participate, he wants to make friends, but he doesn’t know how to be... this. the demon agent. dangerous in nature but softer in spirit. 

the smile that spreads across his face is one of relief when he hears ash calling his name, someone who he thinks he knows where he stands with. she’s always been nice to him. even though he’s not her patient anymore, he still thinks that she’s taking care of him.

“not... really,” he admits, shaking his head. he doesn’t go into details; he thinks that she’ll either scold him for being so worried or be sad on his behalf. neither are helpful reactions. “i’ve watched, though. it looks like fun.” he’s embarrassed. he misses being human, when everything was simpler and nothing had to be second-guessed. or maybe that’s just geon being overly considerate in ways he doesn’t have to be.

he nods, trying not to be too enthusiastic and pathetic when ash invites him to hang with her for a bit. he still doesn’t know if he’ll be welcome in any games, but at least he’ll have someone to watch them with. “yeah, that sounds good!”

[geonmia]

hi all its @epsilonmia again with a muse that absolutely ran me over, hence why sebin had to go and now geon lives !

i’ll but the spark notes version under the cut (along with some plot/thread ideas) but please check out his profile and background and shoot me a message if you’d like to plot!!

so tl;dr:

born in/around grand heights agency but has no memory of his parents; most of his upbringing was actually in a group home setting for orphaned kids. this is also where he met his best friend, a boy called ari, and got the great idea to become a grand heights agent someday

and they both did! but before that, geon realized he was enhanced. he’s reverse-telepathic; he can only send thoughts out, not read other people’s minds. he has to establish a “connection” first though; with strangers he has to maintain eye contact to send his thoughts, but with more practice he can be short distances away and not have to see them to communicate.

long story short, there was an accident and he was turned into a demon during a field mission. the grand heights attitude toward demons isn’t as forgiving as meia’s is plus the senior agent he was working under was especially intolerant and would put down any demon regardless of if they were an active threat or not. so with the urging of his friend, geon ran away from grand heights to survive.

he’s lived in the wilderness for almost two years now. he never truly lost his mind but there were probably moments when it was pretty darn close. he avoided humans, always a little scared that they’d be grand heights agents hunting him down, and would squabble with other demons for resources. somehow he survived all of that without going crazy!

but as a result he kinda lacks a personality now. he’s jumpy and afraid of everything, distrustful that people actually like him being here in meia, and just generally doesn’t want to be either killed or thrown out in the wild again. he just wants to help people.

speaking of, he got to meia by accident. even though it’s only like a 3-4 day walk from grand heights, he somehow got so lost in the wilderness that he never ran into it before. he heard someone being attacked by a demon and got involved in the fight to get the demon away from the human. turns out the human was a meia agent and after the team realized that geon was not a threat, they took him home with them and he joined the agency!

he’s actually really new btw he’s only been in meia for a couple of weeks at most so he’s still very jumpy and still finding himself and his place here

aaaaand some plot ideas!

i would love to have someone be the agent or on the team that first found him... we’d have to talk about what happens next but maybe they feel a bit responsible for him since they’re the reason he’s here now?

because of his enhancement, accidental eye contact sometimes has consequences. he has an annoying song stuck in his head (like baby shark), and after making eye contact, now your muse does too. i’m so sorry.

fun fact: he’s always hungry. we’re not sure if that’s a demon thing or a “i’ve been out in the wild living on tree bark and berries for two years” thing but regardless, he’s gonna timidly ask if you’re gonna finish that meal/snack/whatever you’re eating, and if not, can he have it?

there’s nothing geon wants more than to be human again, so even though he’s still somewhat in recovery and coming back into himself, he’s always there for meia’s demon testing. if he can be part of finding the cure, he’s happy to give his blood, have his vitals taken, whatever it may be. that said, it’s exhausting. he can fall asleep anywhere, so maybe your muse sees him dozing off somewhere unusual (on the stairs? in the middle of lunch? literally standing upright?) and tries to check on him. warning: he’s always jumpy and scared when he’s woken up.

he’s afraid of heights but that’s also why he got into parkour back in his old agency; to try to get over that fear by having skills to keep himself confident and safe when up high. it’d be fun either to have a friend who’s also into that and either wants to train together or learn from him, or maybe someone who sees him jumping on the roof and screams at him to get down!!!

less amicably... the timing of his arrival at meia is rather suspicious... he’s an agent reported dead in a neighboring agency almost two years ago who suddenly shows up again as a demon... coincidentally after kaiser’s resurfaced.... your muse has every reason to distrust him and want to keep a close eye on him.

i would also love to see him interact with muses who loathe demons, because honestly he thinks he deserves that. he’s scared of himself, of that bloodlust that he keeps carefully contained. plus the “no second chances” policy of grand heights. 

he’s a baby agent who’s already very well trained, though he is a bit rusty. he originally was a sniper, but now that he’s a demon he feels like he should put himself on the front lines since he has a little better defenses than the average human. so training partners in general: someone who he can work with to build those sniper skills back up and maintain them, someone who’s willing to practice hand to hand combat with a demon (and remind him not to bite; he might’ve had to go a little savage out in the wild), someone who wants to help test the limits of his enhancement... anything

i’ll add more things as i think of them!! but this is what i’ve got in the meantime