KISSING BOOTH / HANEUL & SAUL @vapxrlngs
Sleeping on a tree as a magpie only to shift in the middle of the night and to fall was one thing. It was horrid, especially when Haneul had been used to the way of the world she previously lived in: shifting when she wanted to shift, and shifting back only when she wanted to shift back. And then, there were other horrid things, like sleeping out in the cold night, having no comfort. The list went on and on, the items piled up one after the other. But all these were things that Haneul were used to, or, rather, things that she could get used to. It wasn’t as though she hadn’t ever slept out in the cold before; wasn’t as though she’d never experienced being homeless. Haneul was as Haneul was, and she could get used to almost anything.
The loneliness, though, was another thing. She’d been lonely before, and she’d been sad. Anyone who knew Haneul knew that she was a whirlwind: a collection of happiness and sadness all together, all to their highest and fullest potential, and sometimes without a proper shift from one to another. But this loneliness was not like that. It was not a fleeting thing, a thing that came with the wind. This loneliness seemed to be more permanent than most, like an eating monster from within her. It made her jolt in her sleep, made her hurt when she was awake. It made her sad, and sad, and sad; and it made happiness a luxury she felt like she couldn’t have.
The loneliness was eating her alive, and never before had she felt that.
Walking around the small town of Downsville during what these people called a Fall Festival only made it worse. No, it was not the action in and of itself that hurt. Rather, it was seeing others be with others. It was seeing couples holding hands, and families laughing. It was passing by a booth of friends smiling, and then crossing the path of a child who had no care in the world. It was all these that hurt; Haneul had not known before this that loneliness could hurt so physically. She had not known that longing could ache like this, that desire for friendship could feel this way.
Haneul Song was alone in the world --- in this world. She did not know it yet, but she could certainly feel it.
Her feet carried on, carried her on; her eyes wandered as she did. And that was how she came across the booth with a line so long it carried on over to the booth next to it. That was how curiosity came over her. That was how she found him. A dark man, perhaps tall. She had had to walk to the start of the line to see him, and to stand there for a good while just staring at him and at what he was doing. But, all the same, that was how she found her newest distraction.
This was how the story began.