skrrtā¦ā¦ yeah you may have saw my post on the discord gc so basically iāll be dropping xiaoli because i no longer have time for him and it doesnāt seem fair to hold onto him if i donāt have any plans of doing anything. uhh yeah to tie up loose ends iām just saying that heās moving back to china with his aunt and mingxi (sorry alphas n danbi u cant have her) to finish off his studies and provide a stable income for them all. nows ur chance to talk shit abt him heās out of the country at last!!!!! will miss you guys, thank u for being the sickest ppl š¤š¤š¤
with an unpracticed comfort, harim drags his feet across the ground and flops over immediately onto xiaoliās bed and the older boyās back, careless in nature but careful not to make any contact that might see a stray discharge of electricity touching xiaoliās skin..Ā
āyouāre warm, hyung,ā harim says first and foremost. and then, as an afterthought, as though trying to find a good reason that wasnātĀ āneeding human interaction with people who wouldnāt make him shotgun a beer on the spotā for seeking him out:Ā ādo you have bug repellant?āĀ
okay, so, hereās the thingā he thinks that alpha, surprising, are fairly lenient when it comes to initiation, compared to whatever the fuck lotus does.. daunting at first maybe, but thatās the most of it. afterwards comes the ragtag scrap of older years completely shitfaced and repeated chants ofĀ āOHBROYOUCANDEFINITELYDOWNTHREEMOREOFTHATSHITā that gets dialed down to white noise and he finds thatās the best way to survive and stick out amongst other first years.
heād know. he probably has black lungs by now.
so thatās why he promises himself (had promised himself) that first years would receive no biased push or pull from him, that theyād have to eat dust and suck it up and clench their teeth like he had before them because surely, surely there would beĀ some kids with sharp brains. and then he meets jung harim.
no offence to himā itās evident harimāsĀ somehow managed to step across the wooden planks blocking the pathway to xiaoli (and probably slammed his fucking forehead into a few, knowing him). but instead of feeling defensive, the older year somehow feels glad with the presence of someone who canāt cook an egg properly. he chooses to think that itās a small world.
thus, his resolution gets broken and his resolve dissolves approximately a few weeks into his third year.
he shifts on the bed, squinting at the bright phone screen as he hears people outside. itās easy to ignore the raucous laughter, the boisterous sounds that he thinks is happening right outside his window (whatthefuckhellion) and the choking noises made by people whoāve drank one too many drinks. the worst thing is that the bonfire hasnāt even started yet.
whatās harder to ignore are the two knocks, the door swinging open and he doesnāt need to look up to know who it is because they had knocked in 2018, so who else could it be? he scowls at the body that flops onto him, though he does little to movie and locks his phone instead with a shake of his head.Ā āeverythingās warm to you, harim.ā he squirms under the weight again.Ā ājesus ā have you been lifting weights with junhao or somethinā?āĀ
xiaoli hums under his breath.Ā āi do, but apparently it doesnāt work because somehow you managed to get in.ā he twists around, or at least the upper half of his body does. a hand finds its way into the ends of harimās hair, and he pulls at it absentmindedly, running locks between fingers.Ā āhm. i should make you do laps for flopping on your sunbae like that.ā he pokes between harimās ribs.Ā āyouāre lucky iām in a good mood.ā
itās noted that after chaos comes more chaos. apparently, lugging yourself across yards of varying lands wasnāt masochistic enough. the clock strikes 7pm far too soon for his liking and itās not late before he has to crinkle his nose at the sight of the much anticipated bonfire, dipping away from anyone associated with cabin black at record speed because heās not sure his mind can take another second of the thin loyalty if there was any at all. the blend of people is nothing short of confusing and it seems a little too breakfast club for him.
the burn at the back of his throat is unsurprising.Ā
bile or the snuck in alcohol, heās not really sure.
time passes when he has his head in one hand, eyelids drooping down as he hears another alpha hiss from holding a hand too close to the fire (fuckinā dumbass). heād probably fall asleep right there, blanket haphazardly balancing across shoulders if it werenāt for the sharp sting across his ankle. he yelps, teeth bared and ready to bite when he notices who it is and suddenly feels more awake.
āoh, itās just you,ā xiaoli says absentmindedly, squinting as to make out the figure of yejun. sucks to suck.Ā āwatch where youāre fucking stepping on,ā he tacks on as an afterthought, and then proceeds to throw a half assed grin at him. he raises the bottle, hand shaking just a little.Ā ādrink?ā
āi - iām sorry, shit - !ā she gasps, collapsing to knees with deep, gulping breaths. all the bones, all the vines fall in her lead, landing on the earth with a resounding thud again. āplease donāt - iām sorry, i didnāt mean to almost hurt you again - please, i donāt want to - ā a shuddering gasp, girl trying to bury herself in the dirt with the rest of the bodies. āgo - please. i need to - need to calm down and i donāt want to accidentally - ā
thereās something powerful in the way earth grows ć ” something that exceeds him, really, goes over his head entirely even if his abilities are ones that go underneath the ground. but thereās still yet a person that leaves him as curious as ever herself, picture perfect when it comes to the word meek, yet easily bubbling with a sort of power underneath that he knows heās been able to witness first hand. it intrigues him, leaves him gnawing on his bottom lip until it draws blood and wonders how much he can push her.
yet heās not as stunted in empathy as others believe he is, and thereās a wave of surprise that flickers on his expression when she collapses behind him, fingers digging into the ground, a mess of shuddering noises and he has the decency to feel bad. he wants to step forward ć ” would step forward, if it werenāt for the collapse of vines around her and he stumbles back.
his fingers curl into a fist unknowingly, hesitant in the way he approaches her and he nudges a weed away from where it creeps towards her. itās a mess and he considers splitting the earth entirely just to swallow the mess whole.Ā āhey,ā he murmurs, and surprises himself at the docile tone he holds. another step, and he crouches, giving her enough space to breathe.Ā āexhale ć ” ever, listen ć ” shit, itās fine, itās just me, donāt worry.ā
( / thereās nothing much to decipher from xiaoliās expression other than pure contempt. to say the feelingās mutual is a complete and utter understatement. ) we went back for him, havenāt you heard? ( / all mock heroism, the self-satisfied grin to match. wouldāve coiffed his hair up too for the full effect, maybe had he had the time and the free hands to do it, neither being anywhere near possible for the past half hour ) ( / from the corner of his peripheral then, yejun spots them: a figure suddenly struck by some phantom case of good luck. fuck. ) ( / his sprint quickens to match xiaoliās ) youād really be doing us a favor if you could do that right now. ( / he nods in the direction of some scrawny initiate, who seems to be getting the hang of the leap frog routine with his suitcase. no oneās said anything about having to play fair. )Ā
yeah, i know because i had to drag her and that puppet across ć ” (Ā ā / he makes a noise DISTRESSINGLY similar to that of a pained animal, but pretends not to see yejunās shit eating grin just because heās not in the mood. ) (Ā ā / his eyes flitter across to the initiate. )Ā fuck, poor kid. wait, grab onto a tree or like .. whatever, fall, if you want. (Ā ā / he considers yelling out an apology but that seems to be the worse thing to do. so he just blinks, an arm tensing as the crack on the ground underneath the initiate grows even more, shaking its nearby land and xiaoli almost trips over his own fucking creation. embarrassing. ) ( ā / he only allows the crack to reform when the boy falls off in a particularly nasty way and winces just a little. ) ohĀ ć ” shit, shit. (Ā ā / he hisses, quickening his steps even more. ) if he starts crying, itās you thatās going to be babying him.
(Ā ā / in hindsight, it was probably dumb for the entirety of gumi to share a single brain cell and assume that muuido was nothing if not a relaxing few days. but still, xiaoli thinks that doesnāt count for the absolute tsunami of a headache that swarms as soon as thereās a blare of noise, and then all hell breaks loose while heās still in the middle of yawning. ) what the fuckć ” (Ā ā / he sits up, only to see that his entire cabin is empty except for him and decides whether chivalry is dead or not. ) (Ā ā / jiyeonās voice is still painfully shrill in the early am of the day and so he decides to pack the fuck up and get out. )Ā
(Ā ā / the packing takes an upsettingly short amount of time considering thereās barely any equipment left in the place and heās out the door before he has time to rub out the patterns marked onto his cheek from his sleeve, a tell tale sign of a good nap. ) (Ā ā / itās absolute chaos, people running hand in hand, someoneās screaming and others just look flat out wasted. ) (Ā ā / amidst it all, he sees her ć ” and he knows everāsĀ seen him too. so he does the smart thing. ) (Ā ā / a few long strides to reach her, bag knocking into her shoulder as his fingers tighten around her wrist and he drags her with him. ) run, run, fucking RUNRUNRUNć ”
the abyss opens up and thereās nothing to do but be swallowed up.
he supposes itās expected ā thereās not much he can fight against, anyways, when his own actions are seared onto himself like a constant reminder of sin, everything that rots and has been rotting inside of his for years. there was only so much he could keep it bottled up until it explodes into something ugly and xiaoli, for one, has never been good at dealing with the consequences. a wave of panic suffocates him, leaves him breathless for air that isnāt there.
scraped knees, dried blood stuck underneath his nails, smudged across his temple and hands, the epitome of pathetic is what heās always been in his eyes, but now heās brought it to another level. i did that, he thinks, feet dragging across the pavement and he almost trips over a crack, i did that to him. to both of us.
(had it always been there?
always waiting, patient and subdued?)
he suddenly feels as if heās going to throw up and his hands shake as pulls out his phone, dialing the numbers, the only ones that matter to him at that moment. he bites his nails, and as soon as the other picks up, he canāt help but sob.
āhyung ā ā breathing ragged as he chokes it out,Ā āhyung, i did something bad.ā
( / if this race was any indicator, the world could be on the brink of an apocalyptic disaster and that wouldnāt be enough for them to even try to get along. ) ( / yejun had assumed he and cody wouldāve been joined at the hip for this whole thing. alpha solidarity? what a fucking hoax. ) what, did you leave jugeum out of your kumbaya stunt or something? ( / now that raises a genuine cackle out of him. heād never dreamed to see the day where heād be actually happy to see that thing tag along. ) ( / to their left is the line of hurdlesāa straight shot to the finish line, except everyoneās been all aim and miss as they try to jump and run with their baggage ) ( / he throws him a look. ) maybe if you actually got up on time you wouldnāt have been left behind. ( / he pauses to skirt around a log ) and itās not like our cabin was on fire, so what excuse do you even have?Ā
(Ā ā / CONTRARY to popular belief ā alpha members donāt actually run around like headless sheep in a flock upon meeting gumiās very own natural disaster! but he supposes prejudices are hard to stamp out, especially in the middle of an apocalypse and so settles for the look of distaste yejun throws at him. ) (Ā ā / xiaoli bites the fuck out of his own tongue. ) woah, what, did you cure the damn thingās migraine or something? get off your high horse, i know itās more unfortunate than the fact that youāre jaegerās vice captain, but weāre on the same team here. (Ā ā / barely, but still. he has to dip to avoid a tree branch that swings at his face, and tightens his hold on the bags slung over his shoulder. ) oh, babe, if you wanted flashy iāll just drop a fucking boulder on us next time. (Ā ā / he throws him a glare and anybody could suspect they were from different cabins. ) are you hurrying up or what?
( / itās only a matter of time before theyād see it: full moon, blood moon soon to hover in the sky ) ( / heās speeding at the pace of pulses, fully maxed out on desperation ) (Ā / the dim flickering of a torch ablaze is slowly becoming visible andāfuck, is he about to cry? heās going to fucking cry. ) ( / cabin black surrounds him within a tangible radius, from the front or behind ) ( / the sound of footsteps grows louder and louder until suddenly it matches with his. uh.Ā ) ( / in momentary panicāall thanks to the trauma from the shack just a few minutes priorāĀ yejun nearly swivels his head to look and itās none other than one of the two alpha pricks theyāve got with them. ) ( / somehow he can summon the energy and oxygen to scoff ) where the fuck have you been?Ā
(Ā ā / really by now, the only reasonable wavelength of thought that everybody seems to be on is osprey are on fucking crack.Ā their giant fuck you! to every single student, from initiates to 4th years, it seems is nothing short of fantastic. )Ā (Ā ā / but somehow even god laughs because he sees someone whip around from in front of him and he almost hurls a goddamn pebble at them. ) (Ā ā / his mouth automatically forms into a scowl, voice raised in a poor imitation. )Ā āwhere the fuck have you been?āĀ sorry, yeah, had to bake cupcakes with ever and yunseo noona ā even made a friendship bracelet, want to see? (Ā ā / he scoffs back. ) where dāyou think iāve been, genius? itās more like where the fuck have you been ever since you left some of us to die in the cabin.
itās not like heās possessed by anything. jugeum is just a figureālike a mannequin! donāt tell me you go to department stores and jump at those, too? alsoādonāt insult yejun, heās older than you. ( / * tsking quietly, yunseo uses her wrist to swipe at the loose hairs by her temple. seems like sheās playing mediator for both legacies tonight. \ ) ( / * but the fact that xiaoli reallyhasnātseen the figure thatās on all fours, crawling behind her instead of walking behind her like usual, makes her scowl slowly melt into grin. \ ) so remember when i said we forgot jugeum? we went back for himābecause of course we did. ( / * middle fingers on both hands curl all the way to the palm, and yunseo raises her ring finger higher. jugeum raises to its full height slowly (for effect, of course). the robes on him hid him well. \ ) guess iām dying here tonightātell them to cremate me, then turn my ashes into a tree or something.
( / * the banter eases her jitteryness, as it does, and she throws her priorities in order, musing out loud. \ ) do you wanna go aboutā¦4 meters at a time, just us? and from there i can attach and pull juguem from wherever he isā¦from a one to a ten, how good do you think youād be at clearing loose rocks?
(Ā ā / he wonders whether the 50/50 blend of horror and exasperation on his face is VISIBLE, or whether she just chooses to ignore it like the petty 4th year she is and theyāre not best friends but xiaoli just knows the latter is more likely than not. ) (Ā ā / he covers his mouth with his palm, gaze skirting over to the thing that sits on her hand and he stifles a disbelieving laugh. his first thought is holy shit. the second is wow, they went back for that thing. the last is, unsurprisingly, because he canāt seem to blame yunseo for anything,Ā kim yejun, you dumbass. ) oh. the puppet. you did go back for the fuckinā puppet. ( ā / PAUSE. ) noona, i ā i know senior year is hard, but thereās no reason to self destruct like this. (Ā ā / at least, not before theyāve won the race. )
(Ā ā / lest he does something stupid ā like actually offer to carry the damn thing ā he nudges a rock with his foot and watches the ones in its proximity shatter immediately. ) oh, yeah, donāt worry about the rocks, worry about yourself. and that thing stays at least two metres away from me. (Ā ā / he nods, satisfied. ) and you know ā worse comes to worse, we need to distract opponents or something ā you can just hurl jugeum at them, right? riāiāiāight?
( / * so if sheās already seen yejun and yujin on the road, at some point the worldās gotta bring cody or jaein or xiaoli crashing into her life, right? yunseoās pretty certain that they might have headed off before her and gotten a head start, what with the debacle of forgetting jugeum at the cabin and everything. \ ) ( / * itās as sheās brooding about the setback that she sees the back of his head. she tries hard not to smack him right across it. \ )Ā Ā āi blame you, xiaoli! if you werenāt so squeamish i would have kept jugeum in the cabin and yejun and i wouldnāt have forgotten to bring him in the craziness of this race!āĀ ( / * but to have gone what sheās gone throughāmaybe this is one situation in which leaving jugeum behind might have been the better idea. a chunk of her time is spent trying to get him from place to place, leaving only 3 fingers between both hands for practical use. but youād never catch her say that out loud. thatās xiaoli might have had a point, that is. \ )
ābut i suppose youāre usefulāat least with this part.āĀ ( / * the look cast over the rocky shore is analytical. any of these rocks could be loose, leading to a sprained ankle or a gashing leg wound. neither sound appealing. \ ) ( / * rocky terrain is a challenge in general. balancing her own safety with the safe passage of jugeum? thatās going to be a doozy. yunseo chews on her bottom lip, thinking out loud. \ )Ā Ā āyou running this section with a partner yet, partner?ā
(Ā ā / at this point, thereās no doubt in his mind that gumi wants nothing more than its students back on stretchers, horribly traumatized or both. he momentarily considers cursing out at the sky, but decides that heād probably get hunted by some other poor cabin and he, for one, wants to graduate with two feet. in times like these thereās a difference, mild but still existent, between fun and death, but when he manages to stumble across the too familiar fourth year, he knows for sure itās the latter thatās most likely to occur. ) (Ā ā / if anyone asks, he didnāt flinch when yunseo, in her 161cm of terror, takes a step towards him. ) iā you canāt possibly blame me for that! i donāt know how youād stay in a room with that all night long and itās not my fault yejun lost all his brain cells during first year so he didnāt remember to pick him up either.
(Ā ā / another glance over the area theyāre supposed to pass and half of him feels lucky that heās not as useless as a marionette, but the other half wonders whether a broken leg, even with his abilities, is the least of their worries. ) i guess i am now, partner. (Ā ā / a brief moment passes, and he squints into the distance as he tilts his head thoughtfully, like heās wondering how heāll get them safely across and then fuck the terrain up more. he suddenly turns to her. ) hey ā noona, isnāt it better that you didnāt bring jugeum? you would have died here.
( ā / for something thatās supposed to be RELAXING he canāt help feel a spark of disdain at the mess university students manage to make of themselves. itās to be expected, gumi isnāt gumi for no reason ć ” but after having to step over the 3rd passed out body of the night, he finds himself crinkling his nose, drink shaking as he slams it onto a table. ) jesus, donāt latch onto my ankle.Ā (Ā ā / gone is the original thought that maybe he had drank too much, when heās struggling to find someone on their two feet too. )
(Ā ā / of course, being only mildly less wasted doesnāt stop him from stumbling into a room, dark and occupied by one other awake person that isnāt him. suddenly, he wishes he had downed the contents of the left behind glass. ) oh, you. (Ā ā / his voice is slightly slurred, throat dry. between him and jang danbi, heās unsure of whether this chance meeting is good or not and it really fucking sucks, he realises belatedly, because even in the dimly lit purple of the room, she looks like that. ) danbi ć ” (Ā ā / a hiccup. )Ā ć ” jang danbi.
xiaoli vc: hey i know you really wanted an invite to my sweet 16 and i didnt give you one so im just here to say that... i didnt give u one
hi iām (super late wtf) yuji and iām hyped to be here! anyways let me introduce you to zhou xiaoli, a revamped ver of my old muse (pour one out for the homie) and apparently a whole headache. if youād like to plot, please like this or im me! similarly i have a discord over @love mark lee or perish#6921 or you can simply message me here.Ā
(Ā BIO / PROFILE / ABILITYĀ )
zhou xiaoli: 3rd year/20, alpha, geokinesis
(based loosely on mitsuko souma from battle royale)
had a pretty rough childhood, was born out of wedlock and so his father resented him greatly. p much didnāt like his family and only had passion for dancing from the age of 4
his younger sister mingxi was born when he was 9 and he truly loved her to the moon and back and still does! soft moments only here
when he was 12, his mother died in a car accident. making things worst, his father abandoned him and mingxi and they had to relocate to seoul to get taken of by their (luckily) loving aunt
at the age of 14, he discovered his powers during a robbery gone wrong when he attacked the man out of anger and landed the thief in hospital with 15 stitches and a broken rib. a lil awkward to explain but luckily the man had memory loss
spent high school strengthening his powers (spoiler alert it worked)
but yeah graduated high school and realised that dancing wasnāt going to provide a stable income for his family so he ultimately gave it up (regretfully) and, seeing as his grades were sexy, decided to pursue neuroscience in gumi uni
putting on an innocent face + manipulative + aggressive = alpha
oh yeah forgot to mention heās a sugar baby/cam boy too. he has a part time job as a waiter, but when funds are too low he works as a cam boy for that extra income and he has a fairly large fanbase/following
doesnāt really care about the āstigmaā and shame of basically selling your body because he sees himself as too desperate to care. however alpha definitely wouldnāt condone it, and he doesnāt show his face at all so itās unknown by everyone :^)))))))
personality wise? kind of jaded and indifferent, i suppose, after being through a lot. he knows moreso that he doesnāt look like a typical alpha, and so prefers to exploit his more naive looking appearance to deceive/trick people (esp. during games hahahhaa) and to get what he wants
therefore heās manipulative and frustrated with the way the world is, so he has a lot of anger bottled up inside of him
on a happier note he absolutely adores his sister to bits and would do anything for her. also irrelevant but he loves michael jackson, 80ā²s music, clueless and tarot cards
