#syxmina

[syxjaewon]

‘bed bugs’

@syxmina

the night tastes like soot and iron, something burnt to a crisp, to a coal flavor that sits on the back of his tongue like a plague, festers and conspires to scratch his throat every time he swallows and no amount of water gulped down seems to sooth it. he suspects it’s something like exhaustion eating at him, the dryness in his throat akin to the lines under his eyes, the permanent scowl across his features, the crease in his forehead, gold eyes distant but sharp and frustrated at everything around him, growly and inconsolable. he’s been avoiding his own bed for two days now, gritting his teeth at the pain his leg tugs at him, having to drag it across the floor like a severed limb, even though it still hobbles beneath him, the cane perched under his palm keeping the agony to a middle.

but he suspects it’s time to find somewhere to hide, and despite the added pair of eyes in her room, mina has always been a source of protection for him, same as he knows he is for her; two souls surviving the maelstrom of the universe together and all its falling meteors and war-toned explosions. he wanders into her room without making a sound, without announcing himself or initiating eye-contact at all really, despite her already inside, jasper at the heel of her bed. the pup gets up and pads over to him as he leans back against the wall and unlaces his boots, sheds his coat, his hand eventually giving the dog what he wants in the form of a couple of pats and pets and ear-ruffles. jaewon has no idea why pets don’t hate him as much as humans do, but he and jasper have never been on bad terms and given how the pup’s tongue hangs from his lips, almost a smile, eyes friendly but tired just like the rest of them, he doubts they ever will be.

[syharper]

sisterhood of the travelling guns

@syxmina

six inches of solid heels collide with the floors of serenity’s hallways, a steady and confident step that leaves no room for question or hesitation. harper lee is officially a part of serenity’s crew now, a paid crew member, a guardian angel for all those who can’t protect themselves whenever they touch ground. a free person with no strings attached whenever they’re up in the air - or that’s what she likes to believe at least.

but after her initial interaction with jaewon and the normal hustle of settling into her very own quarters, there is one specific place she needs to go first. a specific person, someone she can’t hardly not greet first now that she knows that they’re aboard as well. which is how she ends up standing in the door opening of the mess hall, eyes focused on the blonde haired woman seated there. casually leaning against the door post, harper clears her throat.

“what’s a beautiful woman like you doing sitting all by herself?” she questions, in that familiar tone of voice that a lot of people tend to use whenever they try out a really shitty pick-up line, assuming it’s going to get them a long end with whoever they’re trying it out on. obviously it never works out that way, especially not when harper and the blonde woman are gathered together. after all, united they stand strong.

already starting to grin shortly after the words have left her lips, harper pushes herself up from the doorpost the minute mina’s eyes are on her, and she easily lifts her hands a little, as if presenting herself.

“surprise,” she chimes at the same moment, grin widening further as she can no longer control the excitement that’s honestly bubbling beneath the surface at both seeing the other woman again and realising that they’ll have plenty of time to spend together. “guess who just got hired to be part of your crew?”

[syxjaewon]

‘i double dog dare you’

@syxmina

jaewon is off to the side of his ship, the cortex connector pad in hand as he checks over the electrical systems, using his time in port in what he deems to be a wiser choice than most of the rest of his crew, running off to lose themselves in the bright and fantastical lights and glamour of the capital city. personally, jaewon thinks it’s much too cold for a celebration like this, gentle sihnonian breezes tugging at the long sleeves of his shirt, but while everyone else is riling up to go have fun, he’s decided to stay with serenity and clean her up a bit while she sleeps in port, so at least something productive will be happening while they’re here. this and, well, one other errand he’ll be getting to tomorrow.

he pushes that thought away with a frown, shaking his head a bit while golden irises sharpen against the coils and wiring, the fuses threatening to knot soon, but for now they’re suitable-- a constant state serenity seems to be in. something bright and blonde catches his eye suddenly, from the corner, and he peeks up to spot mina, almost surprised to think she’s heading out into sihnon until he recognizes the look on her features; she’s not happy. she doesn’t frown exactly, the ex-soldier abhorrent of giving away any such obvious details about herself, an iron mask plated over her lips, her cheeks, her tongue, a will as pitiless as bronze, but to mechanically enhanced senses like his, she’s an open book. most eyes don’t pick up the subtleties of mina’s character shimmering through her countenance, but jaewon can’t remember a time when he couldn’t, the vague atmosphere of her discontent something he’s quite familiar with by now.

“what’s wrong, mina?” he asks, barely raising his voice to meet her from a few paces away, knowing he doesn’t need to; she could probably hear him from the other side of the ship. he re-administers his attentions to the electrics, even as an eyebrow lifts. “don’t try to tell me you don’t like festivals now…”

[syharper]

I wasn't sure when or if I'd see you again but the universe keeps surprising me apparently. Somehow I'm still surprised you're here, but I couldn't be happier to have you on board.

on anon, tell me what you think of me and i’ll try to guess who it is

“tell me about it,” harper agrees instantly, giving a quick nod of her head. “the universe sure knows how to keep us on our toes, doesn’t it?” and honestly, out of all the people that could use ‘again’ with her, there is not a single one she isn’t happy to see as well, so she doesn’t quite care who it’s from exactly, she’s just glad that they like having her around again too.

[syxjaewon]

‘ favorite song? ’

the smile is gentle, small, tucked between one heartbeat and the next, his eyes cascading downwards quickly, shifting from the thief’s gaze to the metallic flooring, which is somehow cooler than the moon of the boy, somehow less nerve-wracking than their eyes pinned to each other. he holds the sturdy, tanned, old guitar in his lap, his fingers still strumming lightly over the strings, nothing in particular for the past hour, but now suddenly they start tapping a melody.

“we were on boros once, my platoon and i, trying to take back this segment of land that had been nicked by the purples, and we were all huddled together in this dark, dank drench and– i dont know if you’d been to boros before the alliance settled it officially, but damn, no other planet could manage to be that fucking cold, and it was in the dead of winter.” a ghost of a shiver slides down his spine at the memory, the sight of his own breath, soft falling snow, icicles and crystals peeking out from the edges of the ground around them as he held some eighteen-year-old kid, desperately trying not to die. “we’d gotten stuck down, surrounded and starved, half of us bleeding out, and mina and i were trying to keep this soldier calm while he… well. anyway, she started singing this stupid lullaby. something from harvest i think.”

a soft, simple tune, relaxed despite the images of explosions it carries with it through jaewon’s mind, the way the hush had fallen over the camp at the sound of her voice. “it wasn’t much and it wasn’t enough to save anyone from death but…” his eyes flicker back up to kafka’s, catching him in the ghost of this moment. “there’s nothing quite like seeing hope or peace on the face of someone dying.”

[syxjaewon]

‘and here begins forever’

@syxkafka , @syxmina

a blanket across one arm, two bottles in his other hand with cups and treats balancing, jaewon makes his confident way through the hull of his home, the metal lit up and hued red and purple and orange from the glow of the comet, the shine casting shards of light across his features playfully. he barely stops for anyone, takes no questions, gives no answers, an uncharacteristic grin settling on the edges of his lips, the brightness of him impossible to ignore. he is all flare and brilliance tonight, the gold in his eyes bright and shimmering like wine, his countenance flamed with mute excitement and expectation. he’s not entirely sure of what, but for just tonight, he’ll let himself be filled brimming with it.

he comes into the bridge, black boots rushing past the two empty pilot seats, the autopilot whirling, the two at the helm somewhere distant for at least just a few minutes, hopefully bathing in the cascading majesty elsewhere. jaewon has no patience for them tonight; there are only two faces he wishes to see for a while, only two he longs for. he comes down the three steps onto the flat level in front of the pilot’s station, spreads out the blanket, sets the dishes and the alcohol down. everything is drenched in red, the comet crawling away from him, and he knows he’ll need to make a wish soon. he pulls off his boots, his coat, his inhibitions, his blackhole gravity, and sighs. relaxes. waits.

[syxjaewon]

▲ Would you miss me if something happened to me?

of all the millions of memories throughout the war that stick to his ankles as he walks, the ghosts latching into his skin like tiny hooks dragging on him with every step he takes, there is one bright moment that shine in his mind whenever he thinks about the prospect of losing mina. of something happening to her, something bad; her going to a place he can’t reach, where he can’t touch her.

they tell him that she’s missing, that her platoon infiltrated enemy camp and only a handful returned, broken, battered, bruised, leaderless, and his heart plummets into the ground below him, the world tilting off-axis, his muscles constricting, his own body out to suffocate him as though he doesn’t already have enough war fronts. despite however many times he demands to be allowed to go after her, to make sure she’s at least alive, that she still could remember him, she still could be saved, he’s denied. she’s not part of his duty roster, he has other people depending on him, and this is what it means to be torn in two, to be ripped to shreds. it’s not the first time he’s argued with his superior, but it’s the first time he’s ever really wanted to punch him in the face for telling him to stay.

stay and wait like a dog. he has to be forced out of the tent, forced to shut up, forced into submission, and told that if he breaks rank, he’ll be labeled a deserter, he’ll be just another problem for the independents to deal with. he’s put all his trust and belief into this war, and this is the first moment he regrets everything, this is the first moment he realizes it’s not worth it, nothing in the verse is worth being this cut open, this brutally raw.

nothing is worth losing mina over.

“i’d miss you,” he admits, slowly, carefully, inhaling the smoke of his cigarette, his lungs desperate for the grayness it provides, the flame in him low and smoldering. “but i don’t think i’d have to worry too long– you’d probably find a way to fight even Death in order to come back… right?”

[syxjaewon]

headcanon: Once when Jaewon was leaving after only staying for a day, Mina ran across town to see him. She thought about kissing him but the moment she saw him and all the people around she chickened out and instead tackled him in a hug claiming he is never allowed to leave without saying goodbye.

ACCEPTED

mina my secret softie, she’s such a cutiepie. this isn’t difficult to imagine, especially since jaewon hates goodbyes, hates giving them, hates getting them, never feels like he has the right wording ( a feeling he experiences quite often ) or the right responses. he probably often did this to mina, at least in the beginning, and probably there at the end, unable to say a farewell just because he never knew how long he’d be gone for and sometimes she’d look at him like he was supposed to say something about coming back, which was always a hope but never a certainty. and out of everyone on the crew, he lies to her the least.

also hell yeah the kissing thing asfksjdfghdf