x - accepting! - 🎧 for me to shuffle my playlist and use the first line of the next song as a starter
“We go about our daily lives understanding almost nothing of the world.” – from Moonlight by Ramses B
A haggard sigh rattles the very framework of Seoul, jostles her ribs and sways her spine. Vertebrae protrude beneath near translucent skin, erecting sinuous shadows along the expanse of her back. The city bristles with the wind that cuts through her throat, and she resigns with a slump, slender shoulders sinking forward. Two chimes of the bell, then three, and there’s four. Her muscles scream for relief, to relax after a full night of entertainment, but still her citizens refuse to sleep. They are stricken with persistent insomnia and buzzing, scattered thoughts in their tiny heads. The minute hand taps six as Kyungsoo trudges along the sidewalk, the soles of his shoes scuffing against the pavement with every step. He, too, breathes a gentle sigh. Sleep will not grace him tonight.
Lips pursed and head down, he sullenly stares at the pack of cigarettes in his hands, still shiny with its coat of plastic wrapping and an ugly yellow price sticker. Purely from curiosity, he had swiped it from the counter but realises only now that in his haste he’d forgotten to nab a lighter. Red would tear his throat out with her own hands if she found him with these, and she wouldn’t stop there. She would look down at him with her burgundy lips pulled into a thin line, jaw clenching sporadically and tidy brows knitted together in disappointment. An unpleasant sight, if there was ever one. He just wanted to try one, to see what all the fuss was about. Maybe he would look cool, or something stupid like that. And no one was there to tell him what a stupid idea that was.
The boy sighs for a second time and takes a seat on the short barrier of concrete surrounding a spot of greenery. Overhanging branches, lush with leaves that appear almost blue beneath the shower of nearby neon signs yelling OPEN, offer some shade from the wide-awake streets. No more than a minute passes before his ears pick up the tell-tale rhythm of footfalls, the wind picking up and tousling already unruly hair. Raising his gaze, Kyungsoo finds a stranger on their way to pass him; he straightens up a bit and fusses with the item in his small, restless hands. The plastic crinkles noisily, and the city exhales heavily once more, pleading for her citizens to just. go. home.
a voice vexed with ruin comes ringing in his ears & it feels like its been a lifetime since he had last heard their voice. the sickness of his mind outshines his solemn expression, lifting the frowning crescent to pull on strings as his cheeks raised.
choikang knew he would be back again.
this time he had a little more of a fancy footwork, the roots sliding along the soles of his feet as he turned to look their way. a sincere apology it may be, but why apologize for being undead? it meant all his fun had come back to their rightful master, the man that held them so delicately in his hands only to be crumbled all over again. this was what they wanted, no? because he couldn’t think of any other reason as to why they were standing before him once more.
“i bet you are.
i bet you’re tired too.”
because that wary little head needed a place to stay for the night & he was more than ready to offer. like time-lapse their murder replayed, the sweet touch of his skin against skin with torture ripping through his ears. god. his vision went black as he craned his head back, eyes lost in the back of his mind as he rewetted the movie over & over again. to this day they were still he sweetest kill, the one that tasted just as good as he imagined all the way to when all life left their cold body. they were in his arms, then they were gone—& now they were back begging for more.
with a careful step he advances, arms inviting asking for an embrace. strangely out of character, of course, but to remind them that they were his in such a simple touch would be more than enough to remind them what he did to them. from what he recalled their memory continued to phase with each passing life they crawled to after their murder, but he was sure once they were in their killer arms they would remember him again.
SEND ME ┼ FOR MY MUSE’S REACTION TO WALKING IN ON YOUR MUSE
25 - Mun’s choice / mun’s choice was to roll again.24 - Crying
“Why are you crying, child?”
A vengeful spirit - the aura surrounding the creature curled up in the corner was a twisted version of what it once used to be: a human aura. What once used to be dull and uninteresting, now as it withered and with time grew thorns, it didn’t escape Lucifer’s attention.
Although usually he didn’t get himself involved with ghosts and ghost-alikes, something pushed him to approach the figure, croach beside it and hold his ice cold hand out. Not out of respect, nor out of pity as he couldn’t care less for the beings that were once human, but out of sheer boredom that usually got the Fallen attracted to most of the things he took interest in.
The cold hand was within the male’s arm reach, palm opened as if he was waiting to take the spirit’s hand in his. No magic used, not even the most subtle charm that would picque the male’s curiousity to lift his head. Lucifer waited patiently for the male’s reaction.
Send me ┼ for my muse’s reaction to walking in on your muse | 4. Being attacked
( ❃ ) — Her walk was fast, the gaze swaying from left to right meanwhile hurrying through the streets. She was restless after she had lost her target who escaped through a huge crowd of Humans; something which the daughter of Ares wasn’t quiet amused of. Yet she was able to locate a screaming voice nearby, a familiar tone of screaming and someone begging for help.
Hyojin frowned as she hurried up, yet paid attention to not be too loud with any motions; her slim fingers wrapping around the gun she had carried around. Pressing her back onto a wall behind her, carefully peeking around the corner to watch her target getting into a fight; A fight which seemed to be started by himself. Reason enough to raise the visor and let a bullet run through the head of the Man in front of the stranger. A few seconds of silence passed, before she dared to walk out of her hiding place; just in case this guy was dead.
Her gaze was hovering over the now fresh corpse; kneeling down and opening the jacket of one another immediately to get out an item she had been searching for; turning around to find the beaten up stranger; her hand disappearing into a pocket to pull out a tissue; handing it the Male. “You didn’t see anything, alright?”
thelostyukwon --PIANOS AND CLOCKWORK; with clocks we play, and waste the day away; one of our muses is at the piano attempting yet again to master Clocks, the other happens to walk by the door, enticed by the music…by the end of the day, they are playing together…rain a soft pitter patter on the windows.
Jinyoung looked at his reflection in the mirror, scrunching his nose at the fancy details of the sleek suit that he wear for the little performance he’s going to pull on a friend’s wedding (a friend of a friend, the story was little complicated but somehow there he is, looking all neat and dandy and will most-likely gaining some cash at the end of the show).
He doesn’t usually sing for weddings, it’s suffocating to use suits and acting all neat because he have office work from Monday to Friday that requires him to use collared shirt and trousers and sappy songs are not his cup of tea. But who is he kidding when money is the first thing that comes to mind after waking up?
So here he is, fixing his wrinkled suit while he stepped his foot inside the two-story building that’s located in the alleyway of Garosu-gil, and when he pushed the door to the cafe and indulges himself in the sweet scent of roasted coffee beans, he realized that peoples have been looking at him weirdly--perhaps as if and how the whole setting doesn't even look wedding-y and all the visitor were dressed too casually for a bridal event, so he learned while scanning his surrounding.
He was close to get panic, his eyes searching for the loophole so he could run away in heartbeat, but it's suddenly raining outside and he knew that this is a total bullshit. Are these peoples trying to mess up with him? False information? Did he got conned by a friend-of-a-friend? It took him a moment to orient himself, to register what’s actually happening—perhaps he’s on the wrong address, he told himself as he stood near the cafe entrance awkwardly, only to be approached by one of the clerk who informed him that the wedding is due tomorrow (he stood out from the crowd because of his outfit, apparently).
Jinyoung only laughed, shaking his head and plastering a wide smile as if to reassure the other that everything is alright and this is just one of the cosmic joke that the world is pulling on him; and isn't that how he always cope up with problem? Laugh it off, forget it never happens. And he only followed the clerk (a male, his height was almost on par with him--his gaze were friendly and welcoming) who lead him to the second floor.
This is where the wedding will be held, he said as gesturing at the Victorian decoration which adorned the room. Everything is dressed in white, chairs were arranged neatly and there's a boudoir grand-piano placed on the corner of the room, separated only in a distance of few meters away from the audience seats.
And he peers at the clerk curiously, asking whether he can try to play out the piano to "practice". The clerk strangely approved to his idea and left Jinyoung alone after reminding him not to "touch anything else" where he only replied with a simple shrug.
So without further notice, he settles himself on the stool, admiring the fancy setting and the luxurious instrument, and he realized how trying to pull on a solo performance is more nerve-wrecking than trying to amuse group of peoples with his playing.
"It's been awhile," he said, finger grazing at the keys, stroking it lovingly and gently, and this is why people call him mad for his adoration towards instruments. But he truly thinks that the instrument is beautiful. 88 keys, all dressed in black and white, but it's producing a more colorful tune than the entire rainbow spectrum.
Does he even made sense with the equation? No, most likely, it's he and the piano with a little left of sanity anyway. With a classic approach of do re mi fa so la si do, he begin his impromptu performance. Beethoven 5th Symphony--which was perhaps a bit too dramatic and unfitting with the whole rainy atmosphere, but Jinyoung doesn't mind.
He let himself indulge with the whole process, admiring the soft tune that produces by the keys and ignoring the mistakes he made every now and then as he accustomed himself with the instrument. He missed this, the high feeling he gets from producing a beautiful sound from the piano and how his finger danced in the keys.
He's not a master of piano or anything for that matter, but he have a piece or two that he already mastered--something he manifested from his girlfriend daily (it's such a win-win situation to have a musician partner, he thinks proudly), or any piece of that matter, but he was far too indulged in the whole performance that he didn't realize the slight creak coming from the door, totally ignoring the fact that someone is staring at him the whole time, peeking in to Jinyoung's rendezvous with the piano.
The other man looked like as if he's in daze when staring at Jinyoung. A mixture of both confusion and awe were imbued on his monotonous expression, perhaps he's not used to listen to such emotional piece he's listening to--as how Jinyoung always does it in his performance: rough and raw with subtle hint of grace. And he wrapped it up with playing the last section in allegro, then there's a pause where he takes a deep breath before glancing up, letting his calloused fingers in the keys while he glancing up curiously.
"Oh hey, Silver."Jinyoung snapped out of his reverie as soon as he recognized the other, an old acquaintance he recognizes from the years he used to spend on performing in the streets with his Fender guitar, a man he used to respect so much for his , and he greeted her as if he just met him yesterday, his lips curled up in a faint smile.
The other man doesn't look like as if he recognized Jinyoung, but he gave him a faint nod anyway, it's normal of anyone else in this matter to not recognize him in his neat-cut, jet black hair when he was previously famous for his ash blonde hair.
"Do you want to play this too?" Jinyoung offered, raising his brows while gesturing at the piano. "It's better than just standing there like a statue, you know--" He jests with chuckling softly, hoping that it'll break the ice and deafening silence following them, and Yukwon replied it with a smile--a thin smile that's formed out of a casualty.
"Can I just listen to you instead...?" Yukwon said with the same monotonous tone, and there's a gazillion questions that Jinyoung wanted to throw to him, of 'Why are you even here', 'How did you get here' or even 'Did you even know me?'--but acting oblivion, in this matter, is one of the thing that Jinyoung excels at, so he chose not to ask, not to delve in thought or questioning Yukwon's existence in the room and nod his head, "I guess." So Jinyoung said, once again letting his calloused fingers danced in the keys while peering at Yukwon curiously.
"Any request, man?" Yukwon shakes his head, "Anything." he responds, shoving his hand into the pocket while returning to his silent state.
Jinyoung isn't much of a conservationist in this matter, but he feel obliged to speak up when the utter silence enveloped themselves, so he began to talk about a random piano facts-- "I don't usually play piano, I love guitar more--but I'm always enticed with the whole sound produced by it," so he began, not considering the fact that it probably bore the hell out of Yukwon.
"I heard that it's called The King of Instruments--or perhaps you've known about it already? There are various kinds of tone that it can produces. Guitar only had 4 to 8 strings, but piano have 88 keys with an average of 230 strings--" And that's when Jinyoung starts to indulge himself with the whole sound of music, drowning himself in the soft tune while his fingers danced around deftly in the piano keys,
"--Ave Maria by Schubert." he mutters while closing his eyes, a sleazy grin on his face as he thew Yukwon a faint smile, not knowing why he bother telling him about what piece he's playing in the moment when it's a complete tranquility that Yukwon is probably seeking.
On the contrary with the dramatic performance before, Ave Maria sets the environment in a fairly melodramatic ambiance especially with the almost discreet tapping of the sky with the leaves and the slightest friction its made between the earth and the water. Jinyoung doesn't even bother to talk any longer, or glancing at Yukwon for that matter.
It's always breathtaking and emotional of him; he might be obnoxious but he's strangely sensitive when it comes to music, and there's a sudden shifts of weight in the stool, a warmth of a human radiating besides him and as he snapped his eyes open while starting to play it out slowly, there's four hands playing out in the piano.And once again they both indulge himself in the music, seeping into the sadness tone they both produced in the keys, not minding anything and defying all odds in the matter.
No words were spoken between the two men, and Jinyoung forgets about his second-hand embarrassment while he's now living in the present, constantly taking a deep breath as he listened and played throughout the performance.--
All is as if the world did cease to exist. The city's monuments go unseen, its past unheard, and its culture slowly fading in the dismal sea-
His words made her blink and she couldn't help but frown a little as she looked at him. ❝E-Excuse me? Me?❞ Cherrie looked around, wanting to know if he really said that to her.
