ﭼﻮﺭ ﭼﺎﺑﯽ

jang yeeun. carmen, 20. pawn shop employee. formerly of cosmo canyon, currently of district nine. one word, love: curiosity. you long for f r e e d o m. you long to do what you want to do because you want it. to act on selfish impulse. you want to see what it's like. one day, you won't be able to resist.

[seungyieon]

a powerful look

[srxyeeun-blog]

*•.¸♡ business trip ,

[srxyeeun-blog]

srxkyungsoo‌:

He could feel his skin crawl as the people around him were busy being (ugh) happy. The sun was shining and he was starting to think that he was perhaps he was actually allergic to sun light. He could practically feel his skin break out in hives the longer he stayed out in this bright, colorful hell. He pulled at the sleeves of his dark cloak and glared at the child that stared at him with mild confusion. He did realize that he was standing out quite a bit as he was the only one dressed in a heavy black hooded cloak on a bright sunshiny day.

So what if he stays in his shop most days, he liked the quiet. He really really thought that he could be doing something else right now. The booths were filled with more laughing children and he cringed. They were probably stick with sugar and cotton candy and other weird things that children would get their cheeto dust covered hands on. After much fuss and arguing he could feel himself being dragged by his arm.  

It was like a nightmare. The kids were crowded around the booth, but they parted like the red sea when the man in the scary black cloak and the weirdly energetic woman. The booth had the brightly colored green cactus popping up from the holes at random moments, their faces were slightly mocking in how they stared at him with their soulless eyes. “Take this.” A large hammer was shoved into his hands. “Go on, let those cactuars have at it!” Yeeun demanded him. He looked at her and then the booth in front of him and then at her again.  “I don’t want to, I don’t even know how to play.” 

a frown immediately appears on her face at both his refusal to play and the words he’d just said. it’s one thing to say he doesn’t want to play one of the most satisfying games at the carnival, but to claim he doesn’t know how to play is in a league all its own, and she questions his mental integrity if he can’t figure it out just by looking at it. how hard can it be to just assume he has to smack those annoying little shits in the head with the padded hammer she’d just given him?

with an exasperated and exaggerated sigh, she grabs the hammer back from him with such a force that the attached wire gets pulled taut, stopping her from pulling at full wingspan. “really?” she asks him, glaring at him underneath the hood of his cloak and seeming to peer directly into his soul. “you just smack the damn thing.”

in demonstration, she bops the head of the latest cactuar to pop out of its hiding spot, and the next, and then the next, all with high accuracy and speed. it’s a game she’s practically been trained for, and she’d made much loot and prizes from playing these games alone, so much so that she’d been banned from doing so the year prior. “see? easy.” she shoves the toy hammer back in his hand, expecting him to follow the lead she’d just set up.

“if it helps any, just pretend my face is on them, you big, grumpy, black mass.”

[srxyeeun-blog]

*•.¸♡ ride along ,

[srxyeeun-blog]

srxchanyeol‌:

          she’s as dramatic as jiwoo is sometimes and he knows it’s one of the reasons they get along so well, chanmi always amused by the antics of the other two. he can’t help that he’s a sucker for seeing the twins so happy and he especially can’t deny that, after befriending carmen, they’re more joyful these days. his free time is less than it was as a soldier and he can’t always take them places but carmen seems to find a way to keep them smiling while he’s working. even his father seems charmed by her and whenever he asks how chanyeol seems to be the only one unaffected, he can only cough awkwardly to avoid answering. 

          it’s not like he can easily tell his father than the woman they’ve been allowing to interact with the twins so often is a criminal. the only thing worse would be if she was somehow affiliated with that eco-terrorist group and he shakes his head at the thought. there’d be no way to work his way around that one, right? 

          “ relax, she says, ” he mutters under his breath, about to shove his hands in his pockets and begrudgingly follow her lead when she takes hold of his wrist instead. “ hey, i can walk, ” but he supposes he’s not surprised because he was about this close to insisting they take it without him. he can’t explain that one to his superiors either if they ever found out but the way jiwoo and chanmi start tugging at his shirt, he’s shit out of luck. dammit, carmen. 

          “ a heart, yeah right ” his language would get more colorful if the twins weren’t around and he thinks there’s something about carmen that makes that side of him come out more. a more blunt side, and he insists to himself it’s not about being more comfortable around her than he is with others. “ go make hearts with the twins, don’t worry about me, ” he shakes his head again, ruffling his fingers through his hair before posing. it probably isn’t too messy right now anyway. looking down, he sees the twins doing exactly that, making hearts and grinning widely and he feels a little guilty that he doesn’t actually mind doing that, just that doing it in front of carmen makes him feel bashful. 

a photograph is just that: a simple picture in time, and she can’t believe that chanyeol’s actually found a way to make even that seem like much more than it is. he’s always come across as a stick in the mud and a stickler for rules, and she’s damn certain that if it weren’t for his siblings, she’d be locked up in handcuffs right now---that is, if he’d be able to catch her, but that’s a theoretical perhaps for another day---but this is a whole new level that she didn’t even know could be reached.

that doesn’t mean it should ruin the photo, though, so as much as she wants to just image the sour expression on his face right at that moment, she instead puts on her biggest smile, making a big heart with her hands and arms, fingertips meeting just above her head. it would be absolute blasphemy to be frowning in a photo with a moogle, after all. “everyone say kupo!” she exclaims, imitating the voice of a the aforementioned creature shoulders rising as her pitch does, bending at the waist to lean a bit to the side.

with a flash, the photo snaps and she’s practically barrels into the photographer as she rushes toward him, trying to take a look at the photo just taken. a smile immediately blooms on her face as her eyes are immediately drawn to the tiny little twins and their wide smiles. they’re obviously overjoyed, happy, and she really couldn’t ask for much more, even when she claims to loathe children and all the chaos and disarray they bring.

her eyes are drawn to her own figure next, posing naturally, heart in a perfect shape, framing her head. it’s not her arms that’s the most striking, though. instead, what catches her attention most is her own smile, the most natural she’d seen it in a while, and it instills an inexplicable feeling of anxiety in the pit of her stomach. she turns away from the camera immediately, searching for a distraction, and naturally, it comes in the form of poking fun at chanyeol. “see, was that so hard?” she asks, speaking as if she were addressing an elementary school child after facing some trivial fear. “now you’ll know exactly what to do for next time!”

[srxchanyeol-blog]

✦ ; wind of change

[srxyeeun-blog]

srxchanyeol‌:

          “ nice try but you’ve gotta pick somewhere lowkey enough. i know you know who i am, ” since his promotion to hive, he’s more cautious of being recognized here and especially around carmen, not to mention he’s never been fond of any fancy type of restaurant if that’s really what carmen would go for just to get the most value out of this. he’d much rather pay her for the device or buy new ones for the twins than go somewhere stuffy and pretentious. 

          no matter how well his family could live now that he’s in hive, he thinks it doesn’t suit him. he prefers simplicity and modesty and it shows most in the way he dresses when off-duty. plain t-shirt and jeans. if he was wearing that now, he’d feel more at ease. “ right … ” his tone drips with doubt and he scoffs after he thinks about it, “ where did you take it from, carmen? how about that question instead? ” by now, he should’ve known better but he almost enjoys how she keeps him on his toes; it’s also another excuse for why he’s been ‘ unable ’ to take her in. 

          he has half a mind to tell her he wouldn’t be satisfied until he knows she’s not stealing and that kyungsoo isn’t selling such falsified wares but he recognizes what would be a useless argument. “ so where is it that you want to go anyway? wouldn’t take you as a minotaur steak person. ” 

she’s pretty sure her eyes have rolled to the back of her head, and if they weren’t attached to her brain through the various muscles that keep them in place, she’s certain they would have rolled out of her eye sockets by now. of course he would set rules on a free lunch, sucking the fun right out of it. she really should have expected as much, but the thought of a free lunch had tickled her fancy a little too much. with a frown that’s more of a pout that anything else, she slouches once again, resting her elbow on the front counter and her chin in her palm.

“i took it off some guy’s hands,” she responds truthfully, though the lie rests in the way that she says it, as if she’d been doing him a favor, and as far as she’s concerned, she was. “he was practically giving them away.” again, another stretch of the truth, because with security as lax as that, he was practically begging her to walk out with what she did---which was much more than she’d given to the twins, another fact chanyeol does not need to know about. “i did him a solid. really.”

she remains straight-faced in her lies, had become far too good at telling them after all those years in what she now considers captivity. she grabs on quickly to the change of topic, though, eyes rolling upward as she goes through the possibilities. as much as she’d love to go to some five-star restaurant and blow all of his catch on three bites of food, district nine isn’t exactly the best place to find places like that. and while the upper districts are a mere train ride away, he’s absolutely right about being seen together at some high profile place, something to which she usually wouldn’t give a second thought, but if he gets in trouble at work because of her, then the twins would undoubtedly suffer some consequences as well.

“hm,” she hums to herself, tapping the pads of her fingers across her cheek, the catalog of lowkey restaurants nearby flashing through her mind. she perks up at the thought of a small ma and pa shop just down the block, a short walk away. “bet you’ve never tried gaia’s best gamjatang.”

[srxyeeun-blog]

*•.¸♡ square up ,

[srxyeeun-blog]

srxjeon‌:

he knows there’s no real danger in a battle simulator. he knows that it’s– a little silly to be afraid of fighting monsters, especially when he knows they are plentiful outside the realm of gaia. jeongguk especially knows that being a white mage of all sorts should give him a little bit of an ease with fighting. healing comes easy to him. so he tries his best to push aside his concern and focus on having fun. 

(he tells himself not to think about avalanche, because he knows it’ll only make it worse.)

jeongguk takes a deep breath, nodding his head along to carmen. he flashes a wide grin at her, boyish and just a tad bit forced. with a hum, he raises his staff a bit higher, wiggling it around as he laughs outloud; its a high pitched little cackle that has a shadow of anxiety hiding behind it. “yeah! i– i can do that.” wall and shell can both protect them if the need be comes; his heartbeat drums a little faster at the thought of possible injury, and he swallows tightly. “and if they get too close, i’ll just club them!” he pats the staff once, twice, eyes crinkled at the corners cutely. he lowers the staff, teeth worrying his lower lip as they slow to a stop at their spot in the queue. 

jeongguk shifts from foot to foot, scuffing his shoe against the ground as he peers around the line– as if glancing near the front would ease his worries a bit. “oh, some extra battle items might be nice…” he mumbles in thought. “it’d be useful is my energy was low…” he’s rambling to himself, and he shakes himself out of it quickly. “i’m kinda excited, the longer we wait.” he rocks on his heels, tongue prodding at his cheek. “the moogle plushes were really cute…”

as much as jeongguk is trying to hide his anxiety and apprehension behind a cute little smile and a laugh, it’s quite easy to see right through him, to hear the shake in his voice and see the subtle clench of his jaw muscles, and while she appreciates his efforts at hiding it, she can’t say that being able to still see it deters her. her eyes are on the prize---all puns intended---and when she gets in this mindset, it’s hard to get her off that track, as unfortunate as it is for him.

“that’s the spirit!” she  exclaims as he tries to pep himself up, though it seems as if he’s mumbling more to himself than carrying a conversation with her, a fact at which she can’t help but laugh. from the moment she’d met him, she’d been drawn to his almost innocent aura, a beam of light in an otherwise dreary world, meant to be protected, and had vowed since then to protect him from the real troubles of the world. whether or not she’s doing it well---well, that’s something only god or allah or buddha can judge, depending on whom you believe.

“i’m glad you’re getting excited because...” her voice trails off as they advance further within the line, stopping only when the attendant makes them, right behind a bright red line. “we’re up next.” she beams at him, hoping it won’t send him into another spiral of worrying and doubt. “i’m going to get you the biggest moogle plushie, yeah? and i’ll get a matching one for myself, too. plus some really awesome items. let’s just do our best, okay?”

[srxyeeun-blog]

*•.¸♡ eye for an eye ,

[srxyeeun-blog]

srxphantom‌:

phantom doesn’t consider herself a patient person by any means, and the sore fact that even the simplest of things could flip her switch from amicable to antagonistic gives her a run for her lack of personality, but at this point she’ll take what she can get. even so, there are a few people she could name off the top of her head that can sour her mood even by mention, and carmen is the queen of that list. 

and so why, why ace demands phantom to keep paying the unaffiliated thief a visit every so often is so exasperating to the point where phantom entertains the idea of quitting her job, but alas. a stickler for the rules only when it comes to ace; she’s here at the pawn shop where the aforementioned works, heaving a sigh before pushing open the doors, skin prickling at the joyous sound the bells make when she enters. 

she sees carmen before she has a chance to fully drain the irritation out of her system, and phantom mirrors the other’s gleeful expression with something a little more sullen, barely masking a groan when the other comes around to clap an arm around her shoulder. 

“get off me.” phantom all but spits, spinning carmen away from her, dusting off her shoulder for good measure. rubbing one hand at her temple, she can’t help but to look at the other in exasperation, frowning at carmen’s words. “errands?” she repeats, eyebrows raised. “woah, woah, i thought we’d established i’d paid off the little debt i’d owed you.”

and by little, she meant her life on the line, but hey – who was keeping her accountable anyways? 

despite the duality of their personalities at the moment, carmen’s smile doesn’t disappear; instead, it only grows wider, taking glee in the fact that her antics seem to only grate on phantom’s nerves. it’s a character flaw, she’s well aware, but it’s one she has no intentions of improving upon, finding it far too much fun to test peoples’ patience, something phantom seems to have less and less of the more that they meet up. one of these days, carmen might even get herself killed over all of this, but what’s life without a little risk?

“my dear,” she says, keeping her distance for now, not wanting to come out of the gate running. “are we really trying to put a price on a life right now? is there really such a way to do so?”

she’s being purposefully facetious, right down to the tone in her voice and the way she nonchalantly shrugs her shoulders as if the question she’s asking truly has an answer. of course there’s no other way to pay off a life debt than with another life---a fact she’s banked on and the only reason she’d put her own life on the line to save another---but that doesn’t mean she can’t pretend.

she brushes off phantom’s protest the same way phantom had brushed off her shoulders, forgoing getting into an argument about it because, well---isn’t obvious the debt hadn’t been repaid? instead, she focuses her attention elsewhere, curiosity getting the better of her. “if you aren’t here to make an deposit, then what is it that you’re here for?”

[cutehyunjin]

stop being so pretty

[srxyeeun-blog]

*•.¸♡ i shot the sheriff ,

[srxyeeun-blog]

srxchen‌:

The was chaotic, mostly the loud kids and the mothers yelling at them to “STOP RUNNING OR I SWEAR TO GOD I WILL LEAVE YOU HERE AND YOU WILL BECOME A CARNIVAL CHILD, IS THAT WHAT YOU WANT?” or something along the lines of that. But his job didn’t require him to comment on the lady trying to wrangle her kids together. He just had to scout the area and make sure that no one made a fuss or cause any trouble for the rest of the people that came to have a good time. 

It may have been the fact that he probably wasn’t as observant as he should have, or it may have been the fact that he was thinking that maybe chocobo shaped churros sound really good right now. But he was suddenly it with cold water, that soaked his shirt. It would have been fine on any other occasion, it was a relief if it wasn’t for the fact that he was on duty. 

“What the hell?” he asked the girl, a water gun still gripped in her hands.

oh. this soldier guy seemed really upset, and while she’s had okay experiences with soldier as far as being able to avoid any trouble with them, she doesn’t know if this guy would let her off the hook for shooting him directly in the face with water. yes, it isn’t exactly illegal, but with all the horror stories she’s heard from other people around districts eight and nine, she wouldn’t be surprised if he decided to bring her in for bogus charges like aggravated assault or something.

so, naturally, her first instinct is to run.

“nice talking with ya, chief, but i gotta jet,” she says, taking one last look at him in his soaked state and, deciding on a whim at the last moment, she decides to spray him one more time for good measure. it really is a hot day, after all. once she does that, she flees for her god damn life, as if a malboro or coeurl is after her and she’s run out of all of her restorative items. if she’s going to get arrested, it sure as hell won’t be for having a bit of fun at soldier’s expense.

[srxyeeun-blog]

*•.¸♡ square up ,

[srxyeeun-blog]

srxjeon‌:

jeongguk should be happy. the carnival is here, there’s happiness and what feels like peace in the air. there should be no reason for his hesitation, his discomfort. though he feels pressured, because he knows of what ace is going to do, what is planned for the ending of this weekend– and he doesn’t know what’s going to happen. so instead, he shoves the the thought to the back of his head. he sighs to himself, and pushes on a wider smile than before– because he’s with carmenand it should always be a fun time with the other girl.

he lets himself be pushed, weakly putting up his fight as he’s nudged to continue on– eyes flickering around them, his excitement growing. just don’t think about it, he tells himself. have fun for the moment. he swallows thickly. 

“oh,” he murmurs, eyes widening a bit. he clutches his staff to his chest a bit tighter– swallowing thickly at the simulator that begins to grow closer and closer to them. it’s daunting to jeongguk, and he lets out a nervous laugh, turning his head slightly to address carmen. “ah…here? i mean…will it be okay?” he questions. “i don’t have a fighting bone in my body, but i’ll…um, try my best?” he gives the other girl a sheepish smile, eyes crinkled at the corners. he returns his attention back to the simulator, making a thoughtful noise. “i hear they have different types of rewards.”

she smiles softly at the other, hoping it will bring a sense of comfort. he doesn’t like to fight; she knows that, but he should at least know how to, just in case he ever gets into trouble and she’s not there to help him. she figures that the battle simulator would be a safer alternative to taking him outside of gaia’s boundaries and fighting all the monsters that roam around on the outside; at least, that’s what she tells herself is her main motive for going for the simulator first. i actuality, she’s pretty sure she’s still got all the winnings in mind.

“don’t worry; it’ll be fine,” she says, trying to ease his worries. she has this overwhelming urge to reach out and pat his head, but the fact that they’re the same age and he’s taller than her has her hand halting before it can reach much higher than his neck, settling for patting his back instead.

“if anything, you can cast some protective spells, right?” she tacks on as they queue up for their turn at the simulator. the line doesn’t seem too long, so the wait shouldn’t be much either. but as their wait goes on, she begins to feel more and more guilty, but just as she’s about to ask if he’d rather do something else, he mentions to prizes given and her excitement builds up again, overriding what little remorse she felt. “yeah! hopefully we can get something good! at least a medium sized plush! or some battle items!”

[srxyeeun-blog]

*•.¸♡ business trip ,

[srxyeeun-blog]

srxkyungsoo‌:

He kept his hood up, keeping his face out from direct sunlight. The outside world was bright and he found himself squinting constantly from the how obnoxiously bright everything was. The people were too loud and happy and there colors were obnoxious reds and yellows and all sorts of rainbows. Everyone was having a good time.

God how he hated it. He was just minding his business, finding comfort in the dim lighting and the piles of clutter that lined the shelves. The fake aura cleansing crystals would have brought more comfort to him than the chaos that was this carnival. He didn’t like the glaring light of the sun’s rays and it was hot. It was so unbelievably hot, it was a sauna but he refused to take off his cloak. It was the only thing that kept the sun from burning him into dust. He didn’t even get a chance to finish his tea before Yeeun climbed through the window of the his home. She started her usual tirade of calling him old and how he was going to die alone in the dark like some hermit in the cave of his clutter that is his shop. She threw his cloaks at him before she dragged him out of his lovely home and into the outside world. 

“Okay, I came here like you wanted. I’m going to go now”He grimaced at the imps (children) ran past him, and the couples that were just too close for comfort pushed past him. 

“not a god damn chance, old man,” she says as soon as the words leave his mouth, grabbing at his robe just in case he’s going to make a run for it. she tugs on said robe, using it as a leash of sorts to drag him further and further into the carnival and all of its sights and sounds and all the things he just loves oh so much.

okay, so maybe he actually hates everything, but this is for his own good! he can’t just stay cooped up in the pawn shop or his apartment all the time, which, she might add, is in the same building, so it’s like doubly sad that he does, and she’s pretty sure he’s low on vitamin d, so the sun is good for him. she begins to wonder if he even has any friends who aren’t her, if he even considers her a friend at all (probably more of a nuisance than anything), but if he’s going to find any, there’s as good a chance as any that he’ll find one here at the carnival.

“here, why don’t you try out one of the games?” she says, dragging him toward the closest one, which happens to be a whack-a-cactuar booth. she figures that since he gets to hit something, he’d probably enjoy it. “take this.” she hands him the attached hammer-like object and pays for the game because he would never, and starts up the machine. “go on, let those cactuars have it!”

[srxyeeun-blog]

*•.¸♡ ride along ,

[srxyeeun-blog]

srxchanyeol‌:

          it sounds counter-intuitive, that having carmen accompany them brings him more comfort and relief than annoyance or anxiousness. she’s a criminal by the book, he knows that, and her dossier is longer than some of the most lucrative he’s brought in before, but children are good with judging character. he can’t deny how much his siblings like her, how much they seem to like clinging to her now and it ironically makes his job easier to have her around. the guilt of bringing jiwoo and chanmi to the festivities knowing that he still has to be on duty melts away with how distracted they are with carmen. 

          brows lifting when she suggests a picture, he’s wetting his lips, considering saying no when there’s chatter in his earpiece, mentions of potential avalanche member sightings and suspicious activity, but seeing the excitement on the kids’ faces makes it damn near impossible and he knows she knows that too. shooting her a mild glare, that he doesn’t realize she takes more seriously than he’s ever meant towards her, he reaches out to pat both his siblings’ shoulders. “ what about the chocobos? don’t tell me we’re only gonna take a picture with one and ignore the chocobos? ” moogles are cuter to him but chocobos seem more practical in the field. 

          “ you don’t have something up your sleeve, do ya? ” he murmurs once he’s closer to her and the kids are both clamoring about the moogle. with half a mind to ask if she’s stolen anything since they’ve arrived, he tells himself to relax more, to feel more at ease knowing that he does trust her enough to watch both jiwoo and chanmi if he did have to leave suddenly. it’s more than what he could say for some of his colleagues, that’s for sure. “ how do you pose with a moogle anyway … ” he asks contemplatively, brows furrowing slightly as he stares, thinking he’ll be too tall for the frame too. wouldn’t it make more sense height wise for just carmen to take the picture with them? “ you go first. ” ‘course he’ll never admit he likes adding to the collection of photos he has of them, including carmen. 

her mouth stands agape, fingers to her chest as she scoffs at his suggestion that she would ignore the chocobos. yes, she’s a moogle fan through and through, loving those little creatures more than she’s ever loved anyone at cosmo canyon, but that doesn’t mean the chocobos won’t be getting some love from her, too. “i am shocked and appalled that you would suggest such a thing,” she says, tone far more dramatic than the situation calls for, "once we find a chocobo, we’re going to take a photo with one of them, too.”

however, once she has her fun with all her dramatics, he says something she should actually feel offended over, but laughter peals from her lips instead because, honestly, she can understand where he’s coming from. she’s the last person who would say she’s any type of good person, and for that reason, she lets his question goes unanswered. even if she doesn’t have anything up her sleeve at the moment, who’s to say that she won’t in the next few minutes?

“oh, will you relax?” she says with a roll of her eyes, pushing her palms against his back in an attempt to nudge him forward because lord knows she wouldn’t be able to do it forcefully. why should she go first when they can all go easily at the same time? “you act like you’ve never taken a photo before.” she changes tactics, moving to the front of him and tugging on his wrist with both her hands, leaning back so she can use the added strength of gravity to help move him along. “if all else fails, use the trusty peace sign. or, if you’re feeling really adventurous, you can even make a heart with your hands.” maybe condescending isn’t the best route to take into getting him to pose for the photo, but it’s always more fun to tease and mess with him. “easy, right?”

[srxchanyeol-blog]

✦ ; wind of change

[srxyeeun-blog]

srxchanyeol‌:

          he’s stunned and he didn’t think that was possible in his line of work. after all, he’s witnessed and experienced things of a wide spectrum and yet   —   one drawl of officer and he’s frozen on his feet. “ i   —   ” almost forgetting himself, he gathers his composure as quickly as possible, making his way closer to her but his stomps are barely that anymore, his steps lighter and less threatening. so much for that. 

          “ senile, right, ” the little sarcasm he uses shines through the most when he’s talking to her and it’d be a shock to his comrades to see his interactions with her, how speechless she can make him in some moments and yet how annoyed he sounds the next. but the key there is that he only sounds that way. the truth is, he could never be genuinely upset with someone who brings jiwoo and chanmi such joy. they’re even more cheerful when he visits, less words of how bored they were without him and more stories of what they’ve gotten up to with carmen instead. 

          “ so where is it from this time? please tell me it’s a store. ” at least that way, he can pay for the device instead of having to explain to some stranger how he’d recovered their stolen mp3 player with no leads or true explanation for how. not to mention that tracking someone down would be a bitch at this point. “ come on, i’ll buy you lunch if you tell me. how’s that? ”

she genuinely contemplates keeping up her facade, interested in developing this narrative of a santa claus who’s finally gotten so old he’s started to lose his mind, but suddenly he makes an offer she can’t refuse. she doesn’t know if he’s actually that savvy about what a thief like her loves most in the world or if he’s just luckily stumbled upon one of her greatest weaknesses, but if there’s anything on this earth that she loves more than herself, it’s getting something for free. she wouldn’t be proper a thief if she didn’t, now would she?

her lips curl into a wicked smile, eyes shrinking as her cheeks push up against them. even if a free lunch in and of itself sounds so absolutely tempting, she also wouldn’t be herself if she didn’t try to milk this for all it’s worth. “okay...but i get to choose the restaurant,” she says, laying down her terms with finality as she straightens her spine, sitting up properly as she crosses her arms over her chest.

“of course it’s from a store,” she says, and it isn’t a lie exactly. it had to come from a store at some point, otherwise it wouldn’t have ended up in that obnoxiously rich man’s home. chanyeol doesn’t need to know that part, though. it’s not like the man would miss it---he had so many others scattered throughout his home anyway. “satisfied?”

[srxyeeun-blog]

*•.¸♡ business trip ,

@srxkyungsoo

she honestly doesn’t know how she’s managed to do it. for years, she’s tried to get kyungsoo to go with her to the annual moogle-chocobo carnival, hoping to get the ever gloomy and scruffy man out of the pawnshop, but every year, she’s been shot down. she has no idea what’s so different about this year, maybe he finally got fed up with her tactics, but whatever the reason, she’s glad that it’s finally happened.

it’s almost strange to see him out of the shady lighting of the pawn shop and out in the sunshine. he seems so out of place that it’s almost comical, but the sunlight should do him some good because for as much as they bicker, he’s the closest thing she’s got to a family now, much more than anything she’s ever actually had back at cosmo canyon, even with his grumpy ass and all of his nasty habits.

“hey, old man pawnshop, we should try to get you some home decor while we’re out here,” she says, eyes scanning the carnival grounds, immediately enticed by all the vibrancy and color. it’s not exactly screaming interior design, but a little personality in the form of a chocobo or moogle never hurt anyone. “seriously. your place is so depressing.”

[srxyeeun-blog]

*•.¸♡ ride along ,

@srxchanyeol

of all the people she knows---all the shady characters, shop regulars, members of avalanche, high roller customers---chanyeol is the last person she would ever imagine she’d be touring around the carnival with, chocobo and moogle memorabilia in tow. it’s not that she abhors the idea; rather, it has more to do with the idea that he abhors her. but in that vein, she supposes it makes sense that he’s decided to tag along with her an the twins; this way, he’d be able to keep an eye on her, all while keep his siblings safe.

and she supposes it’s admirable that he’s so protective over them, but is it really all that bad that she’s taken a few things to give them a better life? in the end, aren’t they both working toward the same goal?

in any case, now isn’t the time to ponder ethics. now is the time for fun and games and the celebration of moogles and chocobos, and what better way to do that than to take photos with them! a grin immediately appears as soon as she spots to photo op, and it’s not long before she’s tugging the trio along, skipping backward toward the moogle and what she’s assuming is its assigned photographer. “you have to join us in the photo,” she says to chanyeol specifically, wondering if he’d even be the type to do so, especially considering he’s got a piece in his ear, a telltale sign that if he’s not on the job, he’s at least on call to be so. “you can’t say no! right, guys?” this time she turns her attention to the two excited children, hoping they’d join in on her prodding. “it’s, like, memories or something!”

[srxyeeun-blog]

*•.¸♡ i shot the sheriff ,

@srxchen

she’s parted with her partner of the day for a bathroom break, battling long lines and dirty restrooms just to empty her bladder, but decides that since she’s had to deal with all of that, she might as well fill up the water gun she’d won from one of the various games. once she’s done so, she practically skips out of the public restroom, water gun in hand, aiming at other carnival goers with no regard for targets---women, children, couples---they’re all free reign as far as she’s concerned.

gleeful laughter escapes her as each person turns around and she makes her escape, hiding behind other people, booths, whatever she can find. her mischief comes to an abrupt end, though, when her less than stellar aims misses her initial target and squirts water directly into the face of one of the soldier guys patrolling around. a few choice curse words slip past her lips in a hushed whisper as they make eye contact, and she forces a smile on her lips that she hopes will help defuse the situation before she blurts out the first thing she can think of.

“warm day, isn’t it?”

[srxyeeun-blog]

*•.¸♡ eye for an eye ,

@srxphantom

things are slow going at the pawn shop today, and while it’s pretty slow on many of the days that she’s working, giving yeeun time to think about her next heist or admire her manicure, it’s exceptionally slow today, so much so that she begins to wonder if a particularly powerful time mage has decided to come by and fuck with her for no reason (or maybe she’d stolen something from him before; she really can’t be sure anymore at this point in her life). 

she contemplates taking a nap to help pass a few hours, but the familiar jingle of the front door’s bells immediately kill her plans, forcing a frown on her face. however, once she sees who it is, the corners of her lips reverse, painting a grin on her face far too saccharine to be genuine.

“phantom,” she greets the girl, dragging her name on in an almost sing-song quality, sitting up and walking around the front counter display to drape an arm around the other as if they’re the best of friends knowing they’re more like business partners than anything else. they say generosity goes a long way, and in this case, it’s gone a very, very long way, especially considering that carmen’s generosity had less than altruistic intentions from the start. “what brings you around these parts today?” she pouts, as if she’s discovered something quite saddening. “i’m sorry, love. i haven’t got any errands for you to run today.”

[srxyeeun-blog]

*•.¸♡ square up ,

@srxjeon

it’s that time of year again, those three precious days she enjoys even more than her own birthday. not only is it a carnival celebrating those precious yellow chocobos, but most importantly, it’s a carnival celebrating the cutest creatures alive, the almighty moogle. so of course she’s going to be there, enjoying all the sights and sounds and activities and prizes, actually working toward winning them instead of just taking them when no one’s looking.

but there’s no way she’s going on her own. there’s so much more fun to be had when dragging someone else along, especially because that other person has two extra hands to help her carry around all her winnings. it’s just an added bonus that yeeun genuinely enjoys his company and looking after him, but those are emotions for another day (hopefully another day that will never come).

she’s taking steps behind him, hands placed on his back as she gently pushes him forward throughout the grounds of the carnival, eyes bright with wonder and joy. she looks at each attraction and activity, almost overwhelmed by everything, unable to decide on where to go first---that is, until she sees it: the battle square. as far as she’s concerned, it’s easy money, and with jeongguk by her side, it’d be even easier. “come on!” she says with excitement, grabbing him by the wrist and pulling him toward the battle simulator. “let’s go here first!”