rumor mill.
@eunbyulsr ; library, afternoon
remi was never the popular girl in school.
being with kiryung elevated her social status a bit, sure, but she'd always been a little bit out of place, a little bit left of center. remi felt like the definition of anachronistic embodied - born out of place, out of time. of course, she isn't quite positive where or when she ought to have been born, but it certainly, perhaps, was not iri in the 90s. upon further reflection, it had to be admitted that perhaps there is no proper place in time or geography for her. perhaps she is meant to be asynchronous, out of place, ill fitting. regardless, she's never been wildly bothered by this. in high school she kept to herself, largely, preoccupied with books and with the smattering of friends that she did have, content to use her appearance as a defense against the likely bullying and ostracism that might have occurred otherwise. kiryung had spirited her into a different social circle, pulling her along with him like a moon in orbit, like pluto distantly circling the brightness of the sun.
but with kiryung gone, her largely solitary life has returned, focus on her work as an apprentice and on her hopeful future in graduate studies. as a result, there is largely no surprise to finding her in the center of the library on a quiet afternoon, humming softly, low beneath her breath to the music from the earbuds in her ears, coming through an old newspaper. she's working a case, or helping with the legwork for it anyway - she tends to do the grunt work associated with things, being on the bottom of the proverbial ladder (perhaps a stepladder, given its only the two of them) and it isn't always easy.
today, for instance, she's found herself struggling to focus - due in part to the fact kiyong had been by, toying at the tips of her fingers from across the table, leaning over to whisper every half second, snide remarks and sly jokes that bring the ghost of a smile to her face now as she remembers him. his absence aches, despite its recent formation - he's barely a minute or two gone but the world is stiller, colder around her. many would argue its a mistake, to be with him, near him, around him. but in a city of people who think so little about the dead, spare so little concern for the myriad disappearances and losses and deaths, kiyong understands. kiyong suffered as she did, and kiyong knows that kiryung was not always so golden. that he was human. kiyong looks at her as remi, the oddball, not as remi the girl with the dead boyfriend. not as remi, the daughter of the strange shamans up in the mountains. so she lingers at his side regardless, though they play at discretion and secrecy for now.
her frustration with the document search and analysis has her turning, however, to a librarian, ghosting towards the front desk on quiet feet, soft soled leather flats silent against the floor, eyes dark and wide, expression passive - it near always is. "hi, ah, eunbyul?" she questions, remembers her face, her name (from her patronage, from her association with kiyong, from school), lilts it quiet. "i'm having trouble finding the birth records and newspapers mentioning lee jinki, from 1989?"