#grey fang

[ivoryheheeheheh]

Kalmar sketch I flung together

[crimsonshadetress]

Inspiration Tag Game! <3

Okay this took some time, lol. Thank you tho for the tag @forthesanityofstorytellers, you're pulling me in for so many fun stuff haha <3

Rules: Show what characters (from shows, movies, books, music, etc. just any media or concepts) inspired your OC! If your OC wasn’t inspired by a character, show characters that you believe are similar to your OC! (Make sure to credit the source material!🖤)

no pressure tagging: @bloodlessheirbyjacques, @the-void-writes, @thegoddesswater, @tc-doherty, @did-i-do-this-write, @cee-grice, @aalinaaaaaa, @approximately-20-unwritten-wips and anyone who wants to join!

Sasin time again, of course! Which is funny because none of them were inspired by anything or anyone initially (except Kil) but since then Daredevil and The Punisher showed characters that are perfect inspos. Some of them even story accurate with what happens to my guys too, but I guess it’s just a thing that those type of characters have most often narratively. Anyway, my inspirations are largely based on the enneagram types I assigned my characters to, so these are basically the same typa characters than them. (no Liahn or Hora kids because I only listed the ones that I found very strong inspos for). Also quotes on the moodboards are from the draft hehe. And the animal art is the artgod Ivan Belikov’s.

Hora Inseo

Inspo: Matt Murdock (Daredevil)

And yes, my beloved Daredevil is fully Inseo save for the religious part. She’s a type 1, with a ridiculously strict moral comapass and the primal need to always be right. She’s determined to keep everyone she loves safe, even if that costs her relationship with everything and everyone. She may not start to roam the nights to beat up bad people, but her moral and personal standards are so high, no one can really hit it, especially not she herself. Striving for an impossible perfection and need for justice, she could be an incredible Prime, if she would just let some of the pressure go and accept that she might be wrong sometimes and that she doesn’t need to push everyone away just to punish herself for not living up to those sky high ideals she thinks everyone should live by.

Grey Fang/Choi Dae

Inspo: Frank Castle (The Punisher)

To be fair, she’s most Frank-like in her youth. My forever loves, type 8s. Although Fang is a healthy one in the period of Sasin, because she’s a “done” character who doesn’t have much of an arc anymore. She’s already through her most defining period of her life, so at 52 she’s basically there as the mentor character to nudge the kids and give some wb insight. Still, Frank’s view and way of speaking is very much Fang-eqsue. She wasn’t one to stop, ever, she just went and did things, so she’d never have a second to start thinking about or face her feelings. She learned to not see them as weakness though and understand that she’s not alone, she can rely on others after all. And therefore, they can rely on her without her being harsh and explosive and just brutally destructive.

Won Luwen

Inspo: Zuko (ATLA) & Special Agent Ben Pointdexter (Daredevil)

Ah yes, those irresistable disintegrated (and sometimes redeemed) type 6s. Luwen is lost and has no personality of his own whatsoever so he’s definitely in a desperate North Star situation (series watchers get it) and will be for a while. His daddy issue is off the charts, while his inner world is crumbling. He’s ambitious for the sake of staying in the good grace of his father, and so he doesn’t abandon him. He struggles with his own morality or lack thereof, and in desperate need to have someone who helps him find himself.

Won Jughon

Inspo: Wilson Fisk (Daredevil)

And yet again my beloved, fully disintegrated type 8s. Jughon is the villain of the story if we want to put labels on them (alongside Luwen ofc), and he is very much Fisk-esque in most aspects. He lost his wife and other newborn kid in a fire, and turned even more determined after that. He fully believes he does what he does for the good of his clan, and to make them great and keep it in its best shape. Alhtough that might not be enough, who knows. He’s an intimidating presence despite his short stature and the fact that he may be blind, but only because he used so much of their clan’s magic that he paid an ultimate prize in order to master it. Also you don’t want to be around him when he loses his temper either. I’m really having the time of my life since we realised with my partner (and partner in storyteller crime) that Dex is basically Luwen and Fisk is Jughon.

[hurrakka]

I am deadass out of ideas rn so I felt like parodying an album cover art :v

[crimsonshadetress]

26!

Within Your Embrace, Heavens And Hells Are Only Words To Me & A Mistletoe Kiss 🎄

Before | Present | After

Long ass title, isn't it, lol. But it was made for this song, so it's perfect. Also, well, still, it's that time of the year again, so another attempt to bring back Jaq's mistletoe kiss tag game! No pressure tagging of course, I just still like it way too much as an excuse for a holiday special. This one's also so funny, because it takes place the same night, right after last year's mistletoe kiss for Yune and Liahn, plus I'm already working on a not kiss, but a "continuation" of this night if you will from Inseo's perspective, so. Yay. Also this is the 56 yo Fang and 54 yo Bongju, hehe. 💚🤍

Rules from before: If anyone wants to join in and turn this into a mistletoe tag game for the holidays, I’d love to see yall’s OCs kissing under a mistletoe, or your WIPs version of it! Whether in-world or a modern AU version where mistletoes exist.tagging: @bloodlessheirbyjacques, @tc-doherty, @did-i-do-this-write, @thegoddesswater, @cee-grice, @aalinaaaaaa, @forthesanityofstorytellers, @approximately-20-unwritten-wips, @italiangothicwriteblr, @wildswrites, @odysseywritings

NON-CANON (PROBABLY) | FLUFF | WC: 1,364

The soulful singing gently tumbled outside as Bongju stepped into the cold winter night. His light fabric coat instantly gathered a thin layer of mellow snow, while the flakes touched and melted against his pomaded hair, loosening it up just enough so he felt cared for.

"Did you see them?" he asked, softly clicking closed the terrace door behind Dae as she, too, followed him through.

She cradled her sip of celebratory sour lemon wine. "Who?"

"The girls." Bongju nodded towards the windows, which through a scene oh so warm bloomed, it thawed the glass' crystal-frost into sparkling dew. When he glanced over, Fehn, most definitely in a flurry of teasing, poked apart the rose-tinted reverie Liahn and Yune conjured around themselves. And soon enough Kil and Pheni joined their little group of youth, too, leaving the tumult to themselves to continue the carols alone. They added to the exchange of smiles, laughs and visible grunts, as their words made Liahn's expression gradually more pained. Bongju smiled himself. "They're so openly happy now."

"Mhm," Dae agreed, leaning back against the illuminated stone railing. She was looking into the room with the same solemn contentedness that nestled in Bongju's chest as well. "Good for them. It was way past due."

"Yeah."

Their visible breath crawled towards the stars-littered sky, snow falling ever so softly. Dae seemed comfortable in her long, dark coat, even though Bongju needed to pressure her into it before they headed out. He would have loved to stretch the coaxing out longer, though, so he could bring out his most cherished method of playing into her well-hid vanity. She'd find a way to dismiss his nudges and worries but never when he'd tell her, time after another, how much he adored seeing the heavy fabric drape around her, deep brown complementing her almost black eyes. Or how her white suit fit like a dream, now gleaming under the bright winter moon, some of the golden light from inside reflecting over it, too. He missed his opportunity for such talk for now, but he privately smiled at the rich, dark red shirt under all, that he picked out for her at home before they came. Something that happened more and more.

Bongju rummaged in his coat pocket for warmth and his ornate cigarette holder, careful not to crush the delicate, thin little branch stashed in it. He offered a smoke to Dae first.

"Thanks," she accepted, handing him her drink, so he could finish the glass for her. She still smiled while grimacing at him gulping it down. "I still can't understand how can you all drink that. Liahn at least has some sense, she pushed it aside too. It's dishwater."

Bongju chuckled, lighting her cigarette after he placed the glass down. She wasn't much for sour stuff, still. "If you drink enough, it becomes sweet."

"I doubt that's how it works."

"Why? Sour tends to sweeten with time. Look at you," he teased, and she snorted.

Then, Dae reciprocated the playfulness in his grin. "You can't sweeten something that's always been that way."

"Oh?" Bongju chuckled, mock incredulous, as he slowly sauntered closer. He took one of her crooked lapel in his hand, smoothing it over her chest. The nice fabric caressed his palm gently. "Has it been?"

"You don't think so?"

Bongju hummed, slowly trailing down his hand on her arm, while carefully stepping between her legs. Her teasing's spell would not blunt with the years, as it tempted him into an irresistible proximity. He slid his fingers into her palm that slumbered deep within her pocket. Only to frown when he touched something slender and solid instead of her enveloping, roughened skin.

Dae did not bat an eye when he pulled out the decorated, white berry-spotted branch. Bongju couldn't help the quick, surprised laugh.

"Gods, you." He lifted it into the moonlight, sweet accusation in his gesture. "I didn't expect to see this in your hands ever."

"Well, you tend to be wrong a ton. Besides, it started to become embarrassing that Zhetor sent these over every winter knowing they'll be left unused."

She kept smiling at him with that signature small curl, yet her face wrinkled into a soft beauty. Tiny snowflakes gathered on her eyelashes, some stumbling over her whitening locks, making her eyes and hair sparkle as they melted. She glowed faintly under the winter night.

Bongju's lips only widened, his chest an explosion of warmth. "When did you ever worry about embarrassment?"

An easy shrug as an answer was all he expected, and all he got. Or so he thought. Dae took a drag from her cigarette without hurry, yet her cold-pinched, reddened cheeks seemed to brighten a hue, barely.

A dazzling sight. One that Bongju could still not get used to, let alone get enough of. And which, for some utterly foolish reason, brought a heat into his face as well.

"You're not the only one who never used them, though," he said, embracing the subtly nervous lilt of his voice. He inhaled his smoke, before putting the stub out on the snow with a soft sizzle. He pocketed the half-finished cigarette for later, as he continued. "Seo didn't ever, either. Though, I know Gyeong did when he first started courting Miseo, and I think Shen, too, found some unfortunate candidate."

Dae chuckled with him, a tinge of mourning colouring the darling sound.

"Right. Seo's been collecting them. Unlike you," she said, keeping his gaze. The jingles, and the people's joy filtered through the windows in a muted grace. A tenderness lingered in the air, Dae radiating it into the night as well. Her eyes glinted from all the lights around them, clearly speaking to him in a language of hers that he only learnt in the last decade. On the tongue of an unintrusive expectation. A gentle hope.

It made Bongju's soul quiver. After all these years, he still didn't deserve such a care. Not with such a past. But she didn't mind it. She surely didn't know half of it, and still she didn't ask about it. She didn't care. So, he came to terms with it. He needed to, when he could be looked at like that — as Liahn could at Yune —, from someone like Dae.

The touch of schoolboy heat in his cheeks spread, as he revealed his own branch, head lowered for a second in sheepish glee. Showing a true face of him that did not erase at fifty-four, either, but what could only come out around Dae in their youth, and gradually more around others as he aged. Contrary to popular belief within his clan, he felt embarrassment like any normal person, even when he used his gifted branches to stole kisses from every lover he'd have. It was a game back then, yet it was a desire, a wish in the moment.

Dae's smile widened subtly, lighting up like the winter stars around them.

"You were right again, after all," he offered in quiet, yet not at all unpleasant, defeat. He placed the branches carefully beside Dae on the wide stone railing. He channelled just a hint into his frozen hands, so when he stepped closer and placed them on her face, cradling like he'd do a gemstone, they were as warm as she'd make him feel, time after time. He stroked her cold cheek, basking in her overwhelming attention a second longer. Then, he leaned over and their comfortingly warm breath entangled when he whispered, "You've always been sweeter than love itself."

She scoffed into their kiss. A muffled, invigorating huff that he swallowed in a a slow indulgence. The sour lemon wine turned candid on her tongue, making Bongju smile. There was no rush in the waltz of their lips. His heart poured into her through every little, gentle movement. And hers did, too. Dae slid her hands under his coat, along his sides, and pulled him into an easy embrace against herself. She held him, as if there wasn't a worry in the world. As if he'd been made for her arms.

And Bongju knew, without a shred of doubt, that he indeed had been.

[crimsonshadetress]

OC Picrew Tag!

Got tagged by the lovely @forthesanityofstorytellers and @thegoddesswater, thanks guys! Love these, and I took the liberty to use a different picrew that I found today, haha. Not that I was waiting for an opportunity like this. It’s way too cool with this Into the Spiderverse theme.

Obv, we’re still in Sasin mode, so here comes yet again a Sasin cast. (excluding the parents cuz it’s a lot already)

Left to right, we’ve got Liahn — the FMC, Yune — her love interest, and Luwen — the (antagonist) MC.

Then Kilto — Liahn’s rabid, overprotective big brother and Fehn — Liahn’s attention-depraved, fashionista little sister, who intentionally tries to look like their big bro as much as she can.

And lastly, here’s a young and a middle aged Fang (it was too tempting) — Liahn’s mentor/ not blood related mom figure, and a young and a middle aged Bongju — Liahn’s uncle figure, and Fang’s let’s say fwb.

tagging: @bloodlessheirbyjacques, @the-void-writes, @tc-doherty, @did-i-do-this-write, @cee-grice, @aalinaaaaaa and anyone who’d like to join!

[crimsonshadetress]

Day of Valentine's be upon ye'! I would love to learn more about Inseo and Fang's relationship. How long have they known each other? What is their dynamic like? How do they best communicate?

-- hmmmmmmm, maybe secretly not your valentine?

Hi, love and Perhaps Valentine!

I really love this question because those two are my favourites, tbh. I'll break it down into sections, because I had a lot to explain. I hope it’s understandable, though I’m not sure I answered the questions, lol. I’m sorry in advance if I didn’t. Got too into it at one point.

YOUTH AND HOW THEY BECOME FRIENDS

They have known each other for ages. Given that both of them were living in the centre of the clan, and came from important families within, they were around one another constantly like you're around the people you live with in an apartment complex. But they didn't really meet or sought out the other. They were part of two very different groups.

Inseo was and still is an old soul, and a daugther of a high ranked/respected family within the clan, who mostly focused on the duties of such (cultivating her arranged relationship, studying hard, learning to manage the community around them), so she was moving around high society, and important people constantly. She was well educated, hard working, and a fierce conversation partner. Though, rarely got along with her peers.

On the other hand, Fang was always a force of an another kind. She is the daugther of a Burner family, yet had not inherited the gift, so she was mostly in the shadow of her little sister. Which she didn't tolerate in her youth. She rebelled constantly, and clawed a name out for herself in the clan early. While Inseo insisted on earning what she could alongside the laws of their life, Fang took whatever she wanted without compromise. Rules applied to her too, and she got punished when she stepped over, but after a while, it became evident that it doesn't matter. She'll keep living as she wants.

One thing was in common in them, though. None of them could stand injustice. Inseo worked inside the hierarchy and their system to weed that out, especially towards the Demons who were suffering the superstitious ideals. While Fang just smothered any kind of discrimination on the spot, mostly with, but sometimes without a fight. None of them were perfect and they had their own prejudices, but they never stood silent or idle when they witnessed these.

Both of them became a certain master in their craft, also.

Fang could use her Blessing's strengthening aspect on an exceptional level, while Inseo was outstanding in using it in a way that made her the fastest person within the clan in her twenties. Fang was and still is one of a kind in fighting, but Inseo is a close second beacuse of the excellent technical use and her unique way of using their Blessing. They knew about each other, but they didn't care about each other for a long time.

They truly came into each other's orbit when they started to train, and they had been in the same class, and assigned beside each other on assigments, or missions. Turned out, they can’t win against each other in fighting, so that built a base for mutual respect. Fang got a liking to Inseo because she was, among the many, the one who truly had no bullshit. She not just handled what others found “difficult” in Fang, no, Inseo enjoyed playing into it. They argue a lot, but for them, that was and is a kind of bonding, and playing. However, this only laid down a base for liking being around the other.

Inseo was not giving away her trust easily, ever, though. So, for her, they weren’t friends from that much.

Fang, however, was content with seeing Inseo’s reliable and true nature when she spoke up about any injustice without a second thought, even went into fist fights when it was needed. She wasn’t afraid of dirtying her hands, or facing someone with more authority, rank, or anything. Inseo was just as fearless as Fang, although in a different way. Fang found stuff she couldn’t stand in Inseo, or what bothered her in Inseo’s worldview, as they clashed with her own, but still. She earned Fang’s respect, and trust.

Inseo’s was trickier though, because for a long while, she saw Fang a brute, even though she had a kind of respect for her. But that “going against the wall head first so it breaks and problem solved” method Fang usually used, made her unreliable in Inseo’s eyes. Or the least, it was a severe flaw in her eyes that made her wary.

Until one mission, where Inseo got too much into her head, thinking she knew everything better, and ended up losing her temper when things got sideways. Which resulted in getting herself in a situation where her life hung in the balance. Didn’t flesh it out yet, but it was something along the lines of trying to strike a deal with the other country’s underworld gang, but not knowing enough about their workings. Anyway, the point is that Fang without hesitation, went and saved Inseo’s life when shit went down. Because that’s just what she does. She doesn’t think, she just does it. That mission caused Fang to lose the ability to bear children, because of an injury she got there. (not common knowledge) Inseo’s whole view of Fang shifted, she owes her life to her, and her undying loyalty, respect and trust is Fang’s after that.

Their friendship solidified for both of them from that point on.

DYNAMIC

They would, quite literally, die for each other. No questions asked. No hesitation. Which they prove, but I am not detailing that part as one of that is a key thing in the story, lmao. (that might be in itself a spoiler if someone’s really paying attention or a mastermind) Anyway, they can only be 100% honest with each other, because that’s a part of why they’re drawn to the other anyway. They don’t let the other have illusions about themselves, where they at, what’s hurting them or the such. They force it out if needed, but they will have each other face themselves, good or bad, and they will be there to hold the parts until the other can put themself together if it’s a breaking point.

But they are also harsh with each other, just like with everyone else. When they’re beefing, then it’s nasty, at least in the beginning. With age, though, they cool down, and have their differences sorted in a much calmer, less “getting at each other’s most hurtful points” way. Although they can still step on each other’s toes, when tensions are way too high (like in chapter 14, if you’d like an example).

They’re not always around the other, though. Never were. They always liked their individual spaces, and would not cling to the other. Don’t need to. They just simply know that they can count on each other if a need arises.

I didn’t flesh out any conflict between them in the past, although probably had many. But there will be a bit in the story, actually. I’d say a more serious, or relatively long-winded conflict between them would affect them strangely. They would pull back in their shell of not trusting immediately, keeping things ‘professional’. They would execute whatever task they would need together, work together, but they would not joke around, or hang around. They would just go, do, and leave.

But that’s an unimaginable point for both of them. At this point, they literally can’t imagine anything that the other can do that would snap that bond completely. It might tangle it, because betrayal by the other, they do feel at times, given that they still have different views on a lot of stuff. But it would not change the depth or the quality of their friendship significantly. It would take a very deliberate vile act to turn there, probably.

Anyway, yeah, they grew up with the other on their side, so they mostly learnt and grew together. Inseo learnt to be a bit less in her head all the time, letting go some of her perfectionism and self-hating, which Fang taught her, directly or just being herself, by believing in herself and that she, in that moment, with all the information provided in the moment, knows best and makes the right decision, even if later turns out it was the wrong one. Doing her best, in short. And that doing her best is enough. She doesn’t need to beat herself up for mistakes, because it’s only natural. She won’t be left alone just becuase of that. While Fang learnt to stop before she’d run head first into life, think and plan a bit, listen and care for others sincerely and truly. To not be afraid of connecting to them, and open up to them. That hurting is being human. It’s not a weakness, and it’s not the end of the world. That it will pass, but until then, she is needed, and loved, and Inseo will be there. Always.

[crimsonshadetress]

To give a little bit more context to you guys, and have some faceclaims paired to whatever I'm yapping about when I'm talking about Sasin, here's a little list of the POV and the important side characters. The lore and the clans are not yet explained in anything, I know, but I might make a masterpost to that too. We'll see.

⌖ tag ⌖ ship ⌖ pinterest ⌖ spotify

⌖ tag ⌖ pinterest ⌖ spotify

⌖ tag ⌖ pinterest

⌖ tag ⌖ pinterest

⌖ tag ⌖ pinterest ⌖ spotify

⌖ tag ⌖ pinterest

⌖ tag ⌖ pinterest ⌖ spotify

Gotta leave here the link for the WIP intro in case anyone got interested. Taglist and all that fun stuff are in that post.

[crimsonshadetress]

His Grey Fang

Something that needed to come out through one of my current favourite characters.

TW: MENTION OF DEATH | GRIEVING | CHARACTER EXPLORATION | WC: 1,276

The vigil neared its end when Dae first wished to leave.

It was a nudging feeling like the cold breeze in the birthing thought of coming dawn. Black shrouds hunched over the tables as if the guests, too, were waiting for their turn on the burial ground. The mass’s soft buzzing blended into the quiet noise of the city underneath, careful words and misty eyes mourning a man none could have known truly.

“Were you close?” asked a shrivelled elder Dae didn’t care the name of.

“Not really.”

The man’s slurring expression stretched into confusion and then blankness. Like everyone else, he too searched her face, dry cheeks igniting the silent resentment only this moment could. He didn’t bother her further.

Dae stayed put on the hard wooden bench for half an hour longer, hands wrapped around a barely touched, sour drink. She didn’t speak, she didn’t listen. She was avoided, alone in a crowd of hundreds. A few years younger girl sat at her family table with shineless eyes and a shaken posture. She clutched a portrait of Dae’s grandfather. Her father and aunt sat at the main table beside the girl, receiving condolences, and Dae found that right. The only ones with a right to grieve.

When she finally left, ashen skies waved over the city. People raced along in their graphite colours, and it was strange how the stopped time oozed out into the world from the vigil. Downtown had nothing to do with a closed-up, sickly man, but it misted for him, clouds like smoke hardly keeping their tears to themselves.

Bongju meandered beside Dae, hands in his pockets. “Are you going back to work?”

“’Course. Someone needs to, and I rather have Father have his time.”

Her friend nodded, understanding. He didn’t look at her face to find something, instead, he watched the sky, waiting for the inevietable drench.

“He was the one encouraging you to fight, right?” he asked after a time, the only person with an un-blurred face under a dawdling, white sun. Dae lit a cigarette, scoffing.

“Encouraging, sure. We haven’t talked besides the family necessities, he just bought me a punching bag and a bandage. Said I had talent, while he didn’t know who I was at all. He didn’t even try to figure it out. But you know well he had talent, yet he never offered to teach me. And when I chose to do something else, he didn’t ask, just went to find another — not even blood relative, might I add — grandchild to pester about it.”

“Are you angry with him?”

Bongju was generous enough to not sound surprised.

“No. I didn’t know him, Ju. I can’t be angry with someone whom I don’t even know.”

“Is that right?” he mused, standing aside while she opened the office’s creaking door. “I suppose it is. Then you're not upset at Inseo, either?”

Dae didn’t turn on any light, leaving only the grey-white outside brighten the small, musty area. She sat before the packed table, months of backlog watching her just as pityfully as the masses. “No reason to be. It wasn’t her choice to be nearly closer to the old bear than Father. They had something strong in common that no one did, was all.”

And no one could choose with whom they had that connection. Dae realised that long ago, hoping it would ease the yearning to find her own person for it. She pulled the first paper from the pile, remembering how her grandfather’s big eyes saddened when she first decided to join the office rather than the ring. He said she couldn’t be stirred away from anything she sunk her fangs into. The strangeness of the feeling gripped her chest again. She understood his passion, yet they couldn’t share it. A brick heart could not fill another.

Days had gone by like a black and white film, silent and faded on the edges. Dae worked, falling into the repetitive rhythm well. It could have occupied her mind if it wasn’t already full. Shards of moments made her stop in her tracks from time to time; moments with the old bear. Moments she thought she had forgotten. Moments she thought insignificant. The holidays where he recited the first moves he learned in his youth to her Father. The dinners where he never picked at the food, not eating, nor plumping, ever. The family gatherings, where the only topic he could think of was Inseo’s accomplishments, told to Dae with unending pride.

A skinny man, like every thin branch on the leafless trees. A white beard and ponytail, like the early morning wisps on the horizon. He became a ghost of her childhood, following around in corners Dae wasn’t aware of in a long time. There was no talking, yet there was always a thank you when she forced a conversation. There were no questions, yet there was always a praise when he caught her practising. There was sadness in not knowing her doing it. There was resentment in longing for a question from him. She worked, and remembered. She contemplated, and wondered: what to mourn if they had no connection at all? Could she truly lose the absence of someone? She didn’t know, so she continued working and remembering, until one day, it was time to empty his apartment.

Dae volunteered, finding it hard not to.

The grey horizon clung to that day, too. Mist tumbled within stone buildings and warm bodies in a stuffed, but somehow desolate city. It always calmed Dae, for reasons she couldn’t truly grasp. Her grandfather kept calling her Grey after Father told him that fact. Dae didn’t mind the sound of it.

She stopped before the apartment’s door, realising she never stepped over its threshold. She knew where he lived, but he never invited her in, never let her enter. The stubborn brick of her heart was thrown into a blaze. She pushed back the entrance with force, letting it shut behind.

Grey.

Dae stood in a wholly grey room, with so sparse of things she would have thought no one lived there for a lifetime. Essentials, bookshelves, a punching bag in the middle of the hollow living room, and practice dummies beside it. All the books, bandages on the one coffee table, or the bags’s leather spoke about a thousand usage. Few, easy, barely ever spoiling food filled the joke of a kitchen area.

Dae swallowed, taking the framed portrait of herself as a babe from one of the shelves. It was dated to a few days after her birth. She put it back, and noticed another one on the other case, two years later. That was how it went on, almost every shelf and commode holding a framed version of her, up until her present self. Beside those, there was Inseo, not overruling, but complementing her portraits.

None of his martial accomplishments were displayed like those pictures.

Dae choked on the lump in her throat. Her tears welled up, then warmed her cold cheeks as they fell. It wasn’t sadness, it wasn’t regret. It wasn’t anything like before.

She kneeled beside the coffee table, touching the used, but still sturdy red bandages. She picked it up, and ever so slowly wrapped around her knuckles. There was every drop of stubbornness in those tiny rips on the textile, one she inherited from the very man himself. A connection she yearned to have — and always had, after all.