[ . . . ]
"i'll make sure we won't get lost." he says it pleasantly, a sweet curve to his voice just like the pastries tucked in the crook of his arm. while seohan hadn't minded admiring the garden, and he knew of minhae's relative newness to town, it's a teasing in turn to what minhae had already given him. he'd long perfected the delivery of his words and the careful, peaceful arrangement of his features while he says things— the only recollection of the meaning is a simple shine in his eyes, light on the water.
minhae stares at the colorful weeds that seohan offers him. a moment later, he recognizes them to be flowers. "ah," he says, accepting them with a stiff grace. "you didn't have to. thank you."
he was still acclimating to the absurd variety of colors on the surface. minhae plucks off a petal, rubbing it between unfeeling fingers before it dissolves into a soft, golden shimmer. his magic tells him that it had been soft and cool to touch, perhaps freshly kissed by dew.
"in my home, truffles and amanitas grow in place of your roses and tulips. you would find mycelium instead of vines, coursing through the earth like the veins of an ice giant." the light around his hands thrums brighter for a moment, splitting into thinner tendrils and turning sharp to mock veins running up his arm. then it ebbs again. "but the depths are dark, godless, and inhospitable. if you had gone looking, you may not have returned to meet me," he informs seohan curtly, "and i hate to think of who i may have been standing here with instead."
his attention drifts back to the flowers as they walk. he prefers them, he decides, with their colors as proof of how brightly things could grow under the sun's nourishment.
"why do you say that? don't tell me you've gotten lost with one of your previous partners before. i heard that you've spent a long time in this port." he clicks his tongue as he picks out one of the sweets from seohan's arm, curious if this meant that seohan liked them too. two days after arriving in yeonghae and finding the bakery, he had used a sum of his parents' money to stuff himself with every kind of pastry he could get his hands on. it was amazing, if not a little horrific, how many different ways the people here knew how to present and sell the same kind of sweet, over and over.
something crinkles around the particular pastry he chose. minhae pauses to look at it, remembering how a few that he tried had come with thin, flaky shells. he nibbles on a corner hesitantly.
no. this is parchment paper.
"were these your ideas or part of your parents' itinerary as well?" making a face, minhae folds the paper away from the pastry to take a real bite, regretting that seohan's presence makes it improper to burn the thing for offending him.
THE TEMPLE had long been a solemn, recurring fixture in his dreams. even before he arrived at the port and first came to learn its shape and how it stood between the limits of town and the blackwood, it appeared as a great stone structure at the end of every winding, dreamy path he took. solid, staunch, and silent, it would stand there and wait for him, and even though he couldn't move or couldn't see into the darkness beyond its entrance, he knew that there were monsters inside, ravenous and blighted.
this evening, when he arrives at the edge of town, he finds the sight so familiar that he stops and wonders if he might be having another night terror.
but then somebody else brushes past him -- a mother and a son, her back hunched low to support his bleeding arm -- and the flash of blood sends a fresh wave of nausea through him, and he understands that this isn't a dream at all.
so he steels himself. reminds himself there is nothing to fear, when half of the sun still hangs above the horizon, looking after him. yes, he thinks, and enters the temple.
his symptoms had first crept in two days ago. it wasn't his first time falling ill since arriving in yeonghae, but this was the worst one already, if only because he couldn't understand the damned source of it. this affliction made his skull feel twice as heavy and made it sting to channel his magic; he had given up on the light around his hands when it was too painful to manifest it that morning, and now he feels uncomfortably exposed as he takes in the neat, stony interior of the temple.
"excuse me?" he directs his voice to the first healer he saw, cautious. no one here seems monstrous yet, but his parents had also warned him that rot could take many shapes.
another bout of vertigo washes through him. minhae sways lightly, hand on a stone ledger for balance. the burn scars lashing up his wrist are partly hidden by a woven bracelet he had picked up in the festival a few days ago, small, enchanted buds interlaced with the leather. for good health, the vendor had said. how dishonest.
"the apothecary told me that i need to go through the temple to place any orders for their stronger herbs. is that something you can--- do?" minhae presses his lips together tightly as he tries to keep his focus on the healer. perhaps it's this place. perhaps it's making it worse.
hiii i wanna get some even threads going for minhae, so if anyone wants to write smth for the event, like this post and i'll write us up a random starter !! i'll go off of any plotting we've done, but it's also okay if we haven't finished plotting/haven't done any! since minhae's p new to yeonghae, we can always have it be their first time interacting <3
i put some ideas are below the cut, if there's one u prefer just lmk!! otherwise i'll randomize smth from this list or specific to our muses. :~)
minhae bought one of the tainted flower charms from the enchanted florist and now there's some lesser darkspawn following him ? cue him running into muse while he's trying to run get rid of it.
minhae is just minding his own business poking around market square during the festival when someone pickpockets him. naturally he goes to hunt the pickpocket down and ends up finding muse. muse wasn't the pickpocket, but maybe they end up going with him to find the person ? maybe stop minhae from shooting a fireball into their face bc that's not how justice works around here ?
muse runs into minhae close to midnight on the road to the wetlands, apparently getting ready to find that tree altar alone. maybe muse was planning to visit the altar too or they think watching him slosh through the mud is going to be good entertainment or they don't think he should go alone bc the night is dark and full of terrors, but either way, they end up delving into the wetlands together?? maybe get into a dire situation.....
muse runs into minhae doing some kind of ritual down the beach in an attempt to speak to his sun god.....maybe muse is interested in the ritual too or just wants to see what actually happens? minhae opens it up to them at some point too, insisting that muse could also ask the sun god a question, but whether muse actually buys into it or not is up to you. idk, maybe moments of melancholy! minhae is confused why he hasnt been able to speak to his god!
muse and minhae cross paths on their way to that pirate ship from the event and end up looking around the ship together, maybe trying to understand more where it came from or what the items are for?? maybe we can work in whatever they took from the trove ?
[ ... ]
he registers this as a sort of invitation, which hopefully means that he's allowed to do this — approach the pile of what looks to be rubbish to observe it more closely. "do you need help disposing of this ?" he feels quite charitable. he doesn't even think he'd ask for anything in return.
minhae tilts his head at the initial answer and the apparent honesty of it. good, he decides, he was fortunate enough to find somebody who wasn't an imbecile.
"dispose of it? why would i do that?" confusion flits across his face, an emotion too quick for him to rein back — an unbecoming habit that's been happening more frequently, when no one was ever truly watching here. a second later, he smooths out that frown, forces himself back into that well-worn mask of politeness and wonders if perhaps the strangers simply doesn't know about the rituals of the old ways. his parents did warn him that the blight had done irreparable damage to more than just the land, but it has been troubling to see the full extent of it.
"no. i'll dispose of it myself when the time comes. i need your help keeping the fire." minhae extends a hand to the plentiful space around the small pyre, faint tendrils of light manifesting around his wrists to gesture, like fingers, to anywhere that the stranger is permitted to sit. "my name is yoon minhae. it's important that i do this while the sky is clear, or i don't think that the sun will be able to find us so easily."
he curses his slip as soon as he hears himself. he doesn't think, he knows. the only uncertainty here is whether the presence of a potential non-believer might turn away his god.
instead of summoning a flame, he reaches for the bundle of cloth at his side, unwrapping it to reveal the ritual mirror lying face down, and the jagged dagger lying next to it. minhae picks it up. he looks up at the stranger, neutral, calculating.
"i will also need a blood offering."
minhae is not a good liar, but he is good at repeating pieces of the truth. if this stranger were of the sun's flock, surely they would know that blood would not be required until the conclusion of a successful ritual.
[ . . . ]
so he fills, like water, tries to not spill over, fill just right. his hair’s still a little damp from earlier, combed back, seawater clinging to him and the suppression of anything else that makes him seem less than human. there had been nothing in the water to tell him of what to do, hasn’t, for years, other than the cradle of waves that knocked him back and forth down below, beckoned him deeper even as he rose up for air.
he’ll do this right, as reliant and unyielding as a morning tide, sweeping the beach right over. he’ll do it right. not as he’s always been, but now should be.
minhae is late, though he didn't intend to be. in the beginning, when the yangs summoned him to discuss the letter from his parents and confirmed exactly what bargain they had enclosed in that envelope, minhae had entertained the notion of not showing up at all, wanting to see if the serious grievance would somehow manifest his parents right there to haul him back through the moon door and into his chambers.
but that morning, he had woken to sunlight streaming in through the slats of the little room above the theater he now called home, touching the open letter on his desk. when he looked, the light struck the seal bearing his family sigil, and it seemed to glow like that flame in what they called the lighthouse, which the books called a warning.
fearful, minhae had gone right back to his wardrobe to prepare for the outing.
but everything that came afterwards had been beyond his control.
the yangs had tasked him with meeting seohan at the victory gardens. despite the weeks minhae had spent attempting to memorize every path in and out of the port, his pathfinding was still hopeless, and he'd become lost anyway. yeonghae was more than could have ever fit in his imagination, and it seemed that there was something new to take note of every day. the trees grew right from the ground and no one carried around lanterns even when it became dark; the sky was even bigger than the ground, which he didn't think was possible, and on the days it was clear, he could track the sun's journey from one horizon to the other, to that mystical, unseen place it chose to rest at the end of every day.
it's halfway down by the time he finally finds himself across the gardens. he finds whom he presumes to be seohan quickly --- the pearl and the dragon were etched into many pages of his family's history books, and seohan wears the sigil clearly and openly on his chest. but the objects in his arms make minhae falter, just for a few minutes, out of sight.
seohan looks good and proper, holds himself in a way that would have earned a grave, approving nod from his parents if they were here. he stands like a prince. then again, minhae thinks, his parents and his grandparents before them always spoke of the yangs as if they were royalty. perhaps seohan had convinced himself of the very same.
it isn't until he finally approaches that minhae notices the faint dampness to their hair.
"yang seohan?" minhae closes his umbrella and tucks it away by his hip, where his bag rests. light ripples over his hands, the tendrils dimming as he grows distracted assessing seohan in front of him. be good. be courteous. his parents' hands on his shoulders, heavy. do not falter. seohan smells like the sea. minhae's lips thin into a mild, placid smile. "did you pluck those flowers from the reefs, my prince?" be pleasant. he should have thought to procure some flowers too.
SPRING didn't have a face until he reached the surface. at home, in the dark, the seasons had no reach beyond the gap in the rock, and all minhae knew of spring was an extraordinarily blue sky.
there were more colors up here. and more light, of course — warm and resplendent, so far-reaching that he was delighted to stand under the shade of some awning and still be able to put a hand out to feel it. in those first few days on the road, he had insisted on keeping the windows of the carriage down, so that the light could stream in and his god could feel him close. he'd imagined his first month in yeonghae unfolding in all kinds of ways, but he had thought most of all that his god would find him and commune with him before his alliance with the yangs, at least, so that the sun could advise on whether it was a good match, but the sun hadn't so much as sent him a sign since his arrival.
his parents certainly had their own opinion about it, which they said was the sun's will. but, minhae thought, he would have really liked to hear it from the sun himself. the ritual was the only thing he could think of doing.
he'd taken to carrying an umbrella when his skin proved unfortunately easy to burn in the sun, but for now he set it aside so the sun would have no trouble finding him. his ritual mirror laid next to it, wrapped in cloth until he finished building the necessary pyre. he just couldn't get the damned thing to stay up.
minhae frowned at his pathetic pile of rocks and sticks. in the distance, the waves roared. he wondered if he should have chosen someplace other than the beach.
he glanced around. there were a few people nearby, a lot of unfamiliar faces for that festival, but none of them seemed particularly helpful. then he glanced in the other direction, and there was his first stroke of good luck all week, in the shape of somebody much closer—observing? no one ever stared at a ritual so openly.
"you. hello." minhae eyed them up and down. they looked useful, at least. "do you have nothing better to do for the next minute?"
hiii i wanna get some even threads going for minhae, so if anyone wants to write smth for the event, like this post and i'll write us up a random starter !! i'll go off of any plotting we've done, but it's also okay if we haven't finished plotting/haven't done any! since minhae's p new to yeonghae, we can always have it be their first time interacting <3
i put some ideas are below the cut, if there's one u prefer just lmk!! otherwise i'll randomize smth from this list or specific to our muses. :~)
minhae bought one of the tainted flower charms from the enchanted florist and now there's some lesser darkspawn following him ? cue him running into muse while he's trying to run get rid of it.
minhae is just minding his own business poking around market square during the festival when someone pickpockets him. naturally he goes to hunt the pickpocket down and ends up finding muse. muse wasn't the pickpocket, but maybe they end up going with him to find the person ? maybe stop minhae from shooting a fireball into their face bc that's not how justice works around here ?
muse runs into minhae close to midnight on the road to the wetlands, apparently getting ready to find that tree altar alone. maybe muse was planning to visit the altar too or they think watching him slosh through the mud is going to be good entertainment or they don't think he should go alone bc the night is dark and full of terrors, but either way, they end up delving into the wetlands together?? maybe get into a dire situation.....
muse runs into minhae doing some kind of ritual down the beach in an attempt to speak to his sun god.....maybe muse is interested in the ritual too or just wants to see what actually happens? minhae opens it up to them at some point too, insisting that muse could also ask the sun god a question, but whether muse actually buys into it or not is up to you. idk, maybe moments of melancholy! minhae is confused why he hasnt been able to speak to his god!
muse and minhae cross paths on their way to that pirate ship from the event and end up looking around the ship together, maybe trying to understand more where it came from or what the items are for?? maybe we can work in whatever they took from the trove ?
hiii 🌱 i'm duha and this is my lovely sorcerer and princess of delusion, minhae (he/him ok, xe/xem + neoprns ok). he comes from an old rich family, who lived in yeonghae before the blight and founded the reflection's light temple to worship the sun until the blight drove them north and underground, where they've been secretly living since. 😖 as u can imagine, they've been pretty out of touch with reality, and still believe that the surface is an inhospitable place infested with darkspawn, that he must somehow call upon the sun-god to save.
so, now, you'll find him performing at the butterfly theater or occasionally whiskey's tavern, putting on performances that involve his magic or simply telling stories / orating / generally trying to get more ppl to recognize his sun-god. or putting on rituals, face to the sun. or in odd places seeming a bit lost, a bit out of time. as expected
i'll link his half-finished pages below ; like this post and i'll reach out for plots, or we can go with chemistry and just start writing !
bio - profile - plots - inspo
background recap:
born under a "prophecy" that he would be the one to reconnect with their god, ultimately sacrifice himself as its vessel, and cleanse the world of shadows, etc etc. by doing so, he can make the world a safe place for his people to return to and ensure that blights will never happen again.
the first step to this, in his view, is to reestablish control over the reflection's light temple, which he thinks is now littered with heretics who don't even know a thing about the sun god anymore!! they don't know the origin of its name!! no wonder they were punished by the blight!!
arrived in yeonghae abt a month ago, arranged to marry into an influential family, which his parents are hoping will get them that first foot back in yeonghae's door, yk
celestial sorcerer who sources most of his powers from the sun. i described his abilities in his profile more, but basically, his powers are mostly offensive/destructive (similar to fire), with an emphasis on holy purification ? has some minor healing abilities from the other domains too, but it's suntouched healing so it kinda hurts to be healed by him.
fucked up most nerve endings in his hands + feet through some "trials" involving fire and proving himself in his childhood. can't feel anything in his fingertips/palms now. as a remedy, he semi permanently manifests tendrils of light around his hands/wrists which he uses to interact with objects, and that's how he "feels." it's not the same, but it's better than nothing.
personality + general demeanor:
he's inspired by a combo of dany & melisandre from GOT and a book called klara and the sun, hence all the sun-isms…sorry
very devout, very spiritual. very staunch in his beliefs (because what else is he as his own person ha ha) and can come off as argumentative and abrasive because of it, but it stems from a very deep-seated fear of god. or so he thinks:
though he knows it's not proper, and he isn't really aware of this yet, he conflates god with all other things he fears, like his parents and the unfathomable depths of their disappointment ; darkspawn, which he's never seen before but just Knows are horribly dangerous ; the abyss, completely unknown.
he's been raised to play the role of their savior in his people's little myth, and yes it has gotten to his head, not all in the good ways. 😦 he's so insistent abt his beliefs because it's like if he can't do this, then what was he made for?
authority issues bc of it. finds comfort in structure/direction/command like finding a god to follow, but also, he's never had the room to understand who he is as a person. but also x2, he wouldn't even know where to begin, so he goes back to the structure...so on.
has a tendency to run out of energy every few days and withdraw into himself, though he kind of views that as a shameful thing. he wishes he didn't have human needs and could just burn with righteous energy 24/7 like the real sun, but.
he spends a lot of time these days sitting at the cliff's edge @ the end and watching the rocks and the water. he's never seen this much water in his life, tbh.
frequently wanders the roads/the blackwood and the beach in his full formal garb. your muse could join him if they want, or maybe bail him out when he's out there in his full mantle and cloak and it starts to thunderstorm lmao.
plots:
he has some established plots here ! i might add some more but we will see .
minhae: i can fix you (eyes start glowing w the fire of 9 thousand suns) . muse, who is just trying to mind their business:
he's terrified of darkspawn (thinks that the only kinds of darkspawn are the lesser, more bestial ones), so i think it would be fun for him to discover a darkspawn muse's secret and learn more about them that way ? if you're looking for drama for your muse, he's def the type to hold secrets over someone's head to gain smth from them. we can plot it out!
someone to spiral into codependency with ... like, ok. one must imagine that in the search for god/the truth of god, u would have naturally tried to find it in other people at some point right? right ?
muses from other old family names who had some friction with the yoons before the first blight. i'm thinking specifically of families whose reputations were damaged or downright ruined by the yoons, who used to hold a lot more influence back in the day and could have convinced a decent number of people that a family was "consorting with the darkness." minhae and your muse would have heard of each other's family names and would definitely be aware of each other's existence since minhae arrived. we can plot out how they finally meet and handle all their nasty family history.
objects of his obsession 😦 in the way where ur muse intrigues him so much for some reason and he is incapable of not yapping in their ear when they're around.
worshippers of the weave for him to throw down with 💥 jk! but ideological rivals sound sooo fun to me, esp when, yeah, maybe the rivalry started bc of their different beliefs, but now it's just a knee-jerk reaction to Hate the other!! then we can throw them in a situation where they're forced to work together or be in eo's company for a horribly long time hehe.
a muse who is close with his future partner in marriage aka @/sinkpearls and tries to get to know minhae out of politeness/some other reason... minhae can be an acquired taste, but maybe for the sake of appearances they have to at least try to get along.
i haven't decided yet where he's living atm, but if someone had room to take him in about a month ago, could they temporarily live together... i love writing plots where they're just such Distinct People who are abruptly thrown together and forced to adapt to each other ykwim...
a muse who can get him loosen up a little, maybe. who can get him to stop holding onto his faith as a shield maybe .
someone who realizes there's something wrong with his hands and could maybe try to heal them? bring a little feeling back into them? or not . but it's the thought that counts to him.
anything ! everything ! i love angst and drama and exploring Less Savory Themes esp in contrast w minhae's obsession w virtue and justice and purity (despite not always embodying those traits himself lbr). let's write it out 💫
POSSESSIONS BELONGING TO THE LAMB, THE BUTCHER, AND THE HOUND:
1 / THE CARRIAGE
wrought in dark iron and gold, carrying you in its dark-curtained belly. that which delivers you to your destiny.
2 / THE ROPE
for all good lambs must be still and docile when their time comes.
3 / THE HARP
a hand harp, in the shape of a crescent moon, purchased from one of the first towns you encounter on the surface. its dulcet notes will buoy your voice, allowing it to carry easier through the air and into those who will need to hear your songs the most.
4 / THE DAGGER
a small, sharp thing, to be easily concealable. the hilt is obsidian inlaid with gold and the blade is dark, steel forged from the dark fires of your home. your parents would explicitly forbade you to bring such a thing; dark suspicions breed dark outcomes.
they are not here to tell you anything, now.
5 / THE BODY
since you were born, you have carried it over your shoulders, like the pelt of some animal hard-fought and won. this is the vessel that someday your god will fill with light, and yet your people used to stare in such horror, such fear. none would tell you which it was: was it the lamb or the hound? which shape are you under its open jaw?
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