Nari’s heart skipped a beat at Anna’s answer. No matter how many times Anna agreed to see her–her true self, not the dazzling image she’s spent her life perfecting–it still felt like a risk. Thankfully, her unending need for reassurance was matched by Anna’s hunger for acceptance into wytchkind. They were two sides of the same coin, and that coin could probably use some therapy, but such was life. Everything in Nari’s world was either perfect or dysfunctional and at least with Anna that dysfunction could be something beautiful and fun.
“I’ll set a timer,” she teased before hanging up with a wink. Asami wasn’t here at the moment–Nari’s senses were dull and grey from the lack of magic–so she threw open a window and lit a cigarette with the lighter she kept on her key ring. Even when she didn’t have magic, she still needed fire. She climbed up on the windowsill and looked out at the darkening city–her city–and took a slow drag. Sunset was always her favorite time of day because it meant that night was coming. Smoke drifted off into the air and Nari stared at it, momentarily transfixed before a chime from her phone brought her back to the present: a text from her father, who wished her ‘good studies’ and urged her to ‘remember who she was.’ Nothing else could have spoiled the mood faster than that.
She put on a school girl’s jumper stained with fake blood–even when Nari was incognito she still wanted to be noticed–and looped a disguising glamour charm around her neck. She had been teaching Anna how to make them and while her progress had been relatively good, Anna’s still weren’t good enough for a destination filled with other supernaturals. The charm Nari wore was half of a best friends necklace with the other half, of course, belonging to Anna. If the feeling it represented was genuine it would be too much authenticity to bear and if it wasn’t the gift was a joke too cruel for even her twisted tastes, so Nari had told Anna that it was easier to enchant both of the piece at once than to cast the same spell twice on different trinkets. She saw Anna’s arrival text and threw the door open with a bang. “Hey, bitch! It’s been too long”
●︎ when: march 19th, 2021
●︎ where: high rise apartments, yeoui island
●︎ with: @gilded-nari
anna’s beaming smile faded at the drop of the call. the first thing she caught sight of was grandma’ strung out on the couch, a lighted cigarette in her limp hand close to falling on the wooden floor. her shaking head didn’t stop her from tidying up the living quarter, ashing the cigarette, turning all the appliances in fear of the worst. but ultimately, she bolted from the house in a span of six or so minutes. she has never called her grandma’s house ‘home’. she left that word in the states, burrowed beneath opulent boulevards. the words slipped from her mouth once around her housemates, but a quick jaded line quickly veered the topic elsewhere. certainly she would need a year or two more to consider the dorm home, either. anna worked out her immediate present as home, the reflection and duality of herself she couldn’t look away from. a lone breath escaped her once she was out in the streets. as light fades to black, the sunset leaving remaints of warmth, she walked in a daze to the bus stop with time to spare.
she practiced her routine halfheartedly on the way to and while waiting, languid limbs rehearsing dance moves ingrained in her bones. inside the mind she trailed a vast arena stage and invisible spectators she performed for, placing a thin red line between present and future. her movements forgotten under the evening sky, the few denizens scuffling about, glancing at her oddly, did not place a dent in her confidence. the crowd in her head went into a frenzy, chanting her name. the bright lights from an approaching bus blind and bring her back on the ground. she pardoned herself to the driver, settling in the first row of seats for the half hour ride back. she fought a strong urge to rest her head on the window, heavy-eyed; coming in and out of a cat nap. to a restless young heart, this was enough to reset the day into night. by the time she stepped out of the bus, she was fully charged, fingers idly messaging nari, seconds away from their dorm, and a ‘good night’ to her grandma’.
as the door flung open, she raised her arms in the air on cue, bent wrist and all, reassuring nari she would be up to no good. “hi, bitch! seriously, a day without you has been unbearable,” she emphasized by throwing her arms around nari, hugging her tight. sizing up the outfit nari pulled together, she puckered her lips approvingly, a hand trailing the blood stained details, “you look too good!" as real as their connection was, anna still found herself reverting back to old roots. she winced at the accent in her words, the exaggeration in her tone a farce of it’s own. the mixture of korean and english a testament to her unsettled nature. “hm, i could go as like, a sexy janitor to match your vibe?” she asked, taking the other by the hand to regress to the bedroom. she indistinctly grasped at the necklace nari gave to her, rubbing her thumb over it for reassurance, nerves, out of joy, all of it. waiting for approval, or to be molded into another idea.
