a fatal attraction

𝒎𝒊𝒏𝒋𝒊 𝒉𝒚𝒖𝒏𝒈 . ᴍᴀɪɴ / ᴩᴏꜱᴛ-ᴀᴩᴏᴄ . 𝒎𝒂𝒘𝒖𝒍𝒊 '𝒎𝒊𝒍𝒐' 𝒚𝒂𝒃𝒐𝒂𝒉 . ɢʀᴇᴇᴋ ᴍYᴛʜ . 𝖠𝖲 𝖶𝖱𝖨𝖳𝖳𝖤𝖭 𝖡𝖸 𝖲𝖠𝖸.

[skytaught]

SKYTAUGHT — multimuse blog for hopehqs. AS WRITTEN BY SAY.

minji hyung — main / post-apocalypse ( an empty pack of marlboros, the sensation of electricity down your fingertips, hair tied up in a messy bun, old sweatshirts and dark eye circles, stacks of books and old cigarette butts, the taste of a dream never achieved. )  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . intro / pinterest

mawuli ‘milo’ yeboah — greek mythology ( a fist made of knots and electricity, muscles rippling across his back, roaring laughter and bright smiles, his heart beating out of his chest, jaw clenching with flames burning his chest, scuffed black combat boots. ) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . intro / pinterest

[skytaught]

... 𝒎𝒂𝒚𝒂 & 𝒎𝒊𝒍𝒐

          IT WASN’T OFTEN maya found herself in the clinic for herself , but this particular night she’d met a bout of clumsiness and fell from the stairs. as much as she wanted to hide her dalliance with gravity , she couldn’t write her own prescription. hence , the doctor unable to tear her gaze from the other’s finger.   ❝   oh , i’m sure it’s exactly as bad as it looks ,   ❞   she replied. maya was no specialist on hand anatomy , but it certainly didn’t look normal.   ❝   in fact , as much as i hate to say this , i’d bet you twenty that it’s broken. i do think you’ll be fine , though. been a while since someone died from a hurt finger.   ❞

          milo widens his eyes before squinting at the purple coloring of his finger. “broken?” he snorts. “no way. in fact, it feels perfectly fine,” he adds. no, in fact, it didn’t — but he wasn’t about to admit that to her. “hold up, don’t you work here?” despite it all, he was much too intimate with the staff of mercy clinic, partly because hope is so small, and partly because he’d sustained enough minor injuries that he was practically almost a regular here. almost. “what’re you doing in the waiting room?” 

[skytaught]

... 𝒌𝒂𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒊𝒏𝒆 & 𝒎𝒊𝒏𝒋𝒊

          KAT KNEW SHE was cutting it close , but she hadn’t expected to be barred entry.   ❝   what ? no , it’s only fifty - seven. i have three more minutes ,   ❞   she insisted , bringing her phone out to show the other. she hated being that person , but cutting through the cemetery took a good twenty minutes off her walk. it wasn’t like she was planning on staying. in fact , she did her best to move through the graveyard as quickly as she could.   ❝   please ? i won’t stay.   ❞

          expression blank, minji shrugs at the blonde. “what are y’going to do in three minutes?” even though she recognizes the woman as someone who cut through the cemetery, she still treats her as if she didn’t know why she is here. “not sure why you’d want to walk through the cemetery at this hour anyways,” she adds, referring to the rapidly descending darkness. 

[skytaught]

... 𝒇𝒓𝒂𝒏𝒄𝒊𝒏𝒆 & 𝒎𝒊𝒏𝒋𝒊

verse: post-apocalypse  ╱  location: mercy clinic  ╱  status: open

        “ i’ll need this back after — ” she states while agile fingers swiftly wrap a makeshift bandage around the other’s open wound. finally, she secures it with a safety pin and the brunette straightens up in her seat with a soft exhale.  “ but i can’t really do much else for you. as usual, just keep it dry and clean, ” she shrugs. “ considering our lack of antibiotics, it’s natural for stuff like this to heal a little slower. but i heard they’re going on a supply run soon, so .. maybe they can find something for you, hm ? ” 

           minji grits her teeth as the bandage is wrapped around her leg. it is truly her own damn fault for activating an old trap — her mind had been floating elsewhere and her usually cautious step had made its way into carelessness. as soon as francine is done, she pulls her pant leg down, pretending not to grimace as she moved her leg down from the bench. “don’t worry about it — you know i’m a good patient.” she sounds irritated, though it has nothing to do with the doctor’s demeanor. “how long do you think?” she asks, chewing on her cheek. “it’ll be nice to get back to the forest soon.” with the upcoming winter, many of the animals were lethargic from fattening up for the cold. made it easier to hunt, not that she needed the help. 

[skytaught]

... 𝒑𝒊𝒏𝒂𝒓 & 𝒎𝒊𝒏𝒋𝒊 

Her heart was racing, Pinar just wanted to keep walking forward. With a sigh, her eyes met the person in front of her and she nodded in disagreement to her words. “I just– had the feeling someone was following me. I’m probably just being paranoid. Is it strange if I ask you to walk with me? I swear I don’t leave too far away from here.” She could judge Pinar or even decline the plea. After all, Pin was probably just overreacting.

          minji cranes her neck, trying to see past the woman’s shoulders. honestly, it’s too dark to make out anything in the rapidly swelling shadows that defined the winter season in hope. “where?” she asks, feeling a burst of adrenaline course through her chest to her limbs as she reached inside her jacket for the pepper spray she’d always kept on her body. like always, she kicks into action and takes a cautious step forward as her eyes fall upon their surroundings. “how far away do you live?” 

[skytaught]

... 𝒓𝒐𝒎𝒊𝒓 & 𝒎𝒊𝒏𝒋𝒊 

Romir had a tendency to get lost in his tours. He tried to make each one unique with his own personal anecdotes, or tweaking which stories he told. Today, he seems he might have gotten a bit too animated in his story, leaving him to find he was without his keys at the end of the night. Tracing your steps as a tour guide is… quite the feat. Leading him to run around town trying to find them. His last spot, the cemetery, he was one his last shred of hope. “Oh no, no worries,” He raises a hand to gesture dismissively. “I just came to ask— have you seen some keys? I think I might have dropped them and I’d like to be able to go home this evening.” He gives a nervous chuckle, anxiously pushing his hair back.

          if the other is a picture of anxiety, minji is almost the opposite, standing perfectly still with an inscrutable expression on her face. “keys?” at that moment, she pulls out hers jangling on her large key ring. “i dunno. i don’t go around double-checking the ground for loose crap, y’know.” she lets go of the lock and faces him, hands shoved into her pockets to protect them from the rapidly cooling air. if minji was mean-spirited, perhaps she would have locked the gate and walked away, but really, she just disliked being bothered. sighing, she pulls out her hands from her pockets and ties her hair back. “so? when did you come around?” despite what she’d said about not checking the ground, she knew every nook and cranny of the grounds day by day. 

[skytaught]

... 𝒎𝒊𝒍𝒆𝒔 & 𝒎𝒊𝒍𝒐

        miles leans in from their seat to get a better look at the guy’s finger and visibly grimaces, pulling themselves away soon after. they never were very good at this sorts of stuff. really, why do you need to get up close and personal with someone else’s physical health ? gross. the day miles watched a kid in their gym class get his knee tore open after a game of capture the flag gone wrong was the day he changed his mind about being a doctor. “ i dunno dude, that thing’s pretty ugly. i think you’re better off just cutting it off, ” miles responds with a small shake of their head. though, they’re half joking, of course. half. 

         milo isn’t bothered by their off-hand joke — sure, his injury was painful, but he wiggled his hand around, testing the limits of his muscles. “not really an option,” he muses, “unless you wanna help?” he waves his finger in the other’s face, subconsciously picking up on their disgust and needing to exploit it. “hang on — why are you here?” milo stares, before pulling him and his hand away with a scowl. “oh no, man, don’t tell me you’re sick.” 

[skytaught]

... 𝒋𝒊𝒏𝒉𝒘𝒂𝒏 & 𝒎𝒊𝒏𝒋𝒊

they don’t normally come to the cemetery  —  every dead person they’ve ever known is buried somewhere else  —  but one of their patients today asked if jin could deliver flowers to his wife’s grave on his behalf, since he’s not up to driving or walking at the moment. the flowers are fresh, they’ll probably last till tomorrow  —  but jin has a pretty full day tomorrow  &  they’d like to savour their lunch break.  “  bugger,  ”  they say ruefully, dropping their head.  “  i only need five seconds to drop this–  ”  they gesture to the bundle of flowers  “  –off, as a favour  —  i’ll be in and out before you know it, i promise.  ”

          it’s the casual way in which they speak that lets minji on to the fact that he wasn’t here for a personal reason. over the years, she’d seen the way family members and friends came by, at times solemn, at others almost manic in the way they attended to their loved ones’ graves. it’s what makes minji believe him and immediately open up the gate again, gesturing in. “do you know where you’re going?” 

[skytaught]

... 𝒄𝒂𝒕𝒕𝒍𝒆𝒚𝒂 & 𝒎𝒊𝒏𝒋𝒊 

     distressed  and  slightly  annoyed.  caz  rubbed  her  temple  with  her  free  hand.  “i’m  a  nurse  not  an  astrologer  or  whatever  dumb  fuck  invented  daylight  savings.”  her  eyes  looked  out  onto  the  distance,  rarely  did  she  ever  visit  the  graveyard  during  nightfall.  the  headstones  lined  up  in  rows  illuminated  by  nothing  more  than  whatever  faint,  natural  light  was  left.  “yeah,  i’d  prefer  it  if  you  did  come  with  me.  it  looks  really  spooky  at  night.”  caz  walked  through  the  gate  and  turned  to  wait  for  minji  to  follow.  “don’t  take  this  the  wrong  way,  but  wasn’t  there  another  groundskeeper  around  here ?  they  were  much  more  approachable  than  you.”  she  muttered  the  last  bit  under  her  breath.

          if minji had heard what the other had said under her breath, she pretended not to hear it — it was grace, as duck always said. these people’s loved ones are gone, min, he’d chastise, y’gotta offer them some grace. she grits her teeth, shoving her hands in her jacket pockets as she shuffled behind the unwelcome visitor with the ghost of a scowl tugging at her lips. “duck?” minji kicks an errant pebble on the path, watching it bounce down the concrete. “yeah, he’s — was approachable all right. death makes it easy to get right up there and say whatever you wanna say, huh?” despite all her restraint, minji couldn’t control herself from getting in one more snarky comment. 

[skytaught]

... 𝒓𝒊𝒍𝒆𝒚 & 𝒎𝒊𝒏𝒋𝒊

“ Wait! ”  Riley lets their skateboard roll over into the grass as they continue forward on foot at a quick pace.  “ I’ll only be a sec, pinky promise, cross-my-heart-hope-not-to-die-because-that’d-be-morbid-here-of-all-places, and all of that, besides — ”  Fingers fumble with the items in their bag, hunting for some kind of peace offering.  “ — well, okay, to be fair, I thought I had something better to offer you. ”  Riley pulls out a single, smushed flower from their bag along with an assortment of random trinkets ranging from an old tech deck to a worn lighter.  “ — but uh… I have extra of these things, so if you’re really in the mood for the original fidget spinner,”  they pause for dramatic effect, wiggling the mini skateboard in their fingers with a big grin,  “ I can bring you one tomorrow, or — oh! ”  A pile of change and twix bar are held out for the woman in front of them.  “ What do you say? Twix bar plus seventy-two cents for an extra five minutes? Unless of course now’s the time when all the ghosts and vamps come out, then I guess I can wait. Not trying to be the next victim of interest on some true crime podcast. ”

          minji watches them pull out various items and knicknacks from her bag, organic and inorganic, bordering on the impractical. for minji, who is relentlessly utilitarian and un-flashy, none of it hardly appealed to her. in the end, it’s the twix bar that sells it, and she unravels the chain from the gate as she pockets the change and candy bar. “who are you here to see?” asked because in part, she’s curious, and in part, because she knows the general location of everyone buried in hope’s only cemetery. she’d spent many days walking through, memorizing the engraved names that would be there for her lifespan and beyond. 

[skytaught]

... 𝒘𝒊𝒍𝒍𝒐𝒘 & 𝒎𝒊𝒏𝒋𝒊

     after managing to get east out of their parents home all those years ago, willows contact with their parents ground to a halt, well as much as it can when living in the same small town. she had popped to the store to pick up something for dinner when she bumped into her mother. the rage that filled her after their ‘conversation’ - really it was more her mother asking her to visit and willow promptly telling her to fuck off - caused her to storm off, completely forgetting about the dinner. it was only after hearing the others voice did she realise where she’d wound up, just how far she’d walked . “ oh - yeah don’t worry about it ” turning to head back when she realised how quickly the sun was setting. “ uh… actually - any chance of a lift back into town? i didn’t think i’d end up out here ”

          minji finishes wrapping the lock around and closing the padlock — the only reason she’d closed a bit early was the fact that she didn’t like hanging around the edge of town in the dark, alone. she usually had more staff patrolling with her, but tonight it was just her, the headstones, and the rapidly setting sun. no, she didn’t want to give the other person a ride back to wherever they lived — but she wasn’t cold enough to leave her hanging around to walk back into town. a beat passes, and she nods, almost imperceptible, before heading over to the parking lot not even looking over her shoulder to confirm she’d accepted the ride. “how’d you end up all the way here?” she asks, if only to check if they were following. “most people try to walk away from all the dead bodies in the ground.” 

[skytaught]

... 𝒍𝒐𝒖𝒊𝒔𝒂 & 𝒎𝒊𝒏𝒋𝒊 

        lou’s approach halters at the other’s words and immediately, brows knit together in confusion as she tilts her head at the girl ponderingly. “ what, are the dead all going home, or .. ? ” they joke lightly with a small smile. arms tug at the certainly-not-thick-enough jacket they had on, wrapping the material tighter around their body. maybe they should have thought this solo-rendezvous through a little better ― this is just getting embarrassing at this point. “ what if i promise not to go grave-robbing ? hm ? pinky-swear. ” she offers, pinky out and all ― another joke. maybe (hopefully ) she’ll laugh this time.

          the other’s joke isn’t lost on minji though she refuses to break her hardened expression for a smile. it’s cold, the wind has picked up, and she wants to get out of here instead of loitering around making small talk with this person. in the rapidly darkening sky and the lone lamp by the gate, their features are blurred, though minji supposes that her glasses that she refused to wear would’ve helped. “so are you here to see someone or not?” she asks, tilting her head to the side inquiringly. “i can tell you now that the last person who attempted to dig up a grave was not happy with what they found.” after all, the cemetery at hope wasn’t some ancient egyptian pharaoh’s tomb with riches lying underneath. 

[humorblr]

[lexilhoward]

#???

[skytaught]

FOR     :      open     ／     VERSE     :     greek myth     ／     LOCATION     :     mercy clinic, late morning

          milo never took to injuries well, if only because he saw wounds as a sign of weakness, a representation of something to be pushed through and obliterated in any way he could. and yet here he was at the clinic, nursing his rapidly swelling finger after he’d accidentally slammed it into a door on his way out to go to work. he was annoyed with himself, moreso than usual, at how stupid he could be when he was in a rush. “i know, i know, it looks fuckin’ gnarly,” he starts, “but it’ll be fine, right?” he grimaced. 

[skytaught]

... 𝒏𝒊𝒄𝒐𝒍𝒂𝒔 & 𝒎𝒊𝒏𝒋𝒊

            nicolas  chuckled.  ❝   sorry  ,  must’ve  missed  that.   ❞  he  responded  while  inspecting  the  coffee  beans  closely.   ❝   my  daughter  has  a  sweet  tooth  as  well  ,  hence  why  we  go  slightly  overboard  on  the  pastries.   ❞  he  looked  behind  him  to  uncover  a  platter  of  winter  themed  sweets  he  needed  to  review  for  the  seasonal  menu.  nicolas  retrieved  the  decorated  platter  and  placed  it  on  the  counter  between  himself  and  the  younger.    ❝   i  assume  you’d  be  far  more  helpful  with  this  ?   ❞  his  hands  gripped  the  edge  of  the  countertop.   ❝   i’m  far  too  old  to  have  a  sweet  tooth  and  you  look  like  you’d  know  better.   ❞  he  returned  to  his  beloved  coffee  beans.   ❝   but  if  you  change  your  mind  ,  i’ll  have  a  cup  waiting  for  you.   ❞

          he’s kind, first of all — the light chuckle and easy reply all reminders of something ( someone ) she didn’t have. minji didn’t trust it, like she didn’t trust most people, though she admits that the offer of the sweets is a kind gesture she’s reluctant to turn down. everything on the plate is beautiful, splattered with reminders of the upcoming holidays. she hated the holiday season, but the sweets look too tempting and she picks one up and bites. “why not get your daughter to try them then?” she replies in between chews, eyeing the man with a hesitant side-eyed glance. finishing the piece up, she picks up another, unable to stop herself from the sugary goodness placed in front of her. “they’re good though. do you make them?” 

[skytaught]

... 𝒋𝒊𝒏𝒉𝒘𝒂𝒏 & 𝒎𝒊𝒍𝒐

*  open starter  ;  mythology verse  ,  the mechanic’s workshop in town

the air is thick with grease in the dimly-lit workshop, with only a weak fluorescent lightbulb hanging from the ceiling to illuminate the entire room. but jinhwan moves through the space without the slightest hindrance  —  they’ve spent so much time here, they can navigate it with their eyes closed. they look up at the sound of footsteps, sighing as they see who it is  &  making an educated guess as to why they’re here.  “  it’s not done yet,  ”  they say, trying very hard not to sound as annoyed as they feel, because the boss would be pissed off if they were rude to a customer.  “  we’re still waiting on the right parts.  ”

          furrowing his brow, milo crosses his arms. “no, i’m here to drop of my car,” he replies. he’s been here before many times, given that hope was mere dot on the vast expanse of the state. it was suffocating at times for milo, who’d recently had an itch to move from the remote alaskan bush for his hometown, a mere fifty miles away from new york, the city that never slept. here, in hope, it seemed as if sleep was the norm — even the sun seemed more tired here, hanging in the sky with a languid glow that slowed the town down. but every time he’d even thought of moving in the last few years, something stopped him. “so, you going to give me the paperwork or not?”