The Soul of Seoul || Max & Mum
It was rare for him to set foot in Korea, but when he was invited to a conference at North University, he felt it was an opportunity he could not pass up! It had been a few years since he'd been to the South country anyway. He'd be in the city for the next few days and others attending certainly had a desire to get out and experience the night life after spending several hours in lectures an workshops. Apparently, Mum's suggestion of going on a haunted tour of Seoul was not as popular among his colleagues as going to one of the local clubs to have a 'good time' -- not that the tiny doctor would oppose that suggestion as Mum did enjoy dancing and food ... so why not give the club scene a try? What was he going to do alone in Seoul anyway? It wasn't like he spoke Korean. No doubt he'd be a fish out of water on his own.
This Icarus place, though, it was much brighter and more colorful than what Mum pictured the modern club scene to be. In fact, he'd mostly pictured dark places with black lights and glow sticks -- what a treat to learn that there was more variety! The atmosphere was certainly pleasant! The empath could sense the overall 'good vibe' among the patrons, though there was an occasional grumpy gus or someone who was a bit shy and unsure of what they were doing in a place like that. Nevertheless, as he was dragged through the club, he did sense ... something else -- part of him wanted to remove his eyepatch, to just have a quick glance around ... but another, larger part of him said no, to let people have their privacy. Besides, it didn't feel threatening ... whatever it was.
So Mum had fun -- he ate (a lot), and drank quite a bit (which his colleagues marveled at considering he downed five Laughing Buddhas in under half an hour ... which honestly should have made a 'lightweight' like him pass out, but the small pediatrician didn't even act the least bit tipsy. But mostly, he spent his time on the dance floor; he may have been a klutz, but when he danced, he was graceful and agile -- whether it was because he was a mujina or an onmyoji (or both), something about the immediate area around him when he danced just felt lighter, more inviting, and safe. There were no incidents of anyone trying to get handsy or being inappropriate with the other dancers -- just people having a good time.
It was when one of the members of his party, who was undeniably plastered, decided to venture back upstairs to mingle with another group, that Mum decided to follow her at least to the top to make sure she met up safely with her friends ... but once reaching the peak, the woman flung her arms out excitedly upon seeing her friends, not even noticing as she ran off that she'd knocked the clumsy badger off his balance. As he fell back, he reached for the rail to catch himself, unfortunately missing it by a couple centimeters and falling -- hard -- onto his left shoulder, successfully dislocating it with a notable 'pop!', though likely not heard over the music and chatter of the club -- but oh, he felt it! He felt it at the same time his temple struck the edge of a step, scraping. He continued to slide down a few more stairs until he finally came to a stop midway from the bottom.
And for a second, he just lie there while the abrasion to his brow quickly healed. Nobody saw that, right? Nevertheless, he winced and hissed through his teeth.
"Ah, Gravity. My old nemesis. We meet again."
