★

[virtualbeauties]

   " the shame of being seen consumes me. " baek sora. the replacement. twenty. first year med student.    ABOUT. CONNECTIONS. WANTED. PINTEREST. PLAYLIST.

[virtualbeauties]

sora's august playlist, "27"

the august playlist is by far her most important playlist of the year, the one that she puts more time and effort into than every other month combined. she needs to romanticise her life somehow so she does the obvious — make her birthday month playlist on a tier that she deems far above the others.

NOW SHOWING 5 OF 27

heart - dawn (3:01) who is she if not a yearner? she found it through her discover weekly one day and listens to it whenever she feels like feeling something. it reflects a lot of her music taste, sad and yearning. she prefers calmer music that she can listen to through the day without getting a headache or music that she can listen to while doing her work.

serendipity - laufey (3:39) yearning 2.0!! discovering laufey drastically changed her life for the better and helped her feel less depressed during her worst days. she's always on the playlists somewhere, even if it's a month where sora gravitates towards more hip-hop or metal. she refuses to choose a favourite song but this one is always on top of her wrapped.

bodies - keshi (3:26) her theme for the month is clearly yearning. or something sad. not that she's sad or in a bad place mentally, she's beginning to settle into her habits more and is finding more peace but she can't help but pretend she's heartbroken and yearning for someone. she also loves keshi's voice.

top or cliff - kimsejeong (3:41) finally not yearning! this is a song where she was far too focused on the vocals to actually take in what the lyrics were. she also thinks that having a song like this balances out the overall vibes of her other songs, makes her feel less pathetic pretending to yearn.

tokki - ciki (3:30) yea...another song about heartbreak that she feels like reflects her somewhat. she doesn't like to focus on the negative thoughts she has but she still wants to somewhat address that side of herself. her august playlist is a reflection of herself in a way so adding songs like this just feels right to her.

SHOW MORE?

[virtualbeauties]

guilty as charged — with @legalbrat

there were three things sora really remembered about lee minseong — one was that he was a law student (thanks to the not-so-subtle bragging he managed to slide into their conversation), another was that he had a nicotine addiction she swore was worse than her own, and the third was that while he can make your life easier, he's still annoying enough to make your day a little bit worse. she would never admit to his face that she actually enjoyed their previous interaction — his ego already managed to run her patience unusually thin. perhaps she was the problem, or he was. it was more likely the latter.

she already considered the day a bad one, having missed her alarm and broken her usually stellar sleep schedule — only to come out of her room so late that her mother shot her a look of slight judgement while greeting her with a ‘good morning’. at least, that’s what she perceived it as. her mood had been fluctuating all five hours she had been awake, to the point of her getting annoyed with both her parents and reading too deeply into their words while she made herself breakfast.

she had to get outside and clear her mind.

her first thought was to just wander around aimlessly, but one minute into her walk she felt the summer heat clinging to her and leaving her, once again, annoyed. her next option was a café, as any other place would be too full of people and noise and have her head close to exploding. not that she was dramatic or anything.

unfortunately, fate wouldn’t let her indulge her cravings without putting some sort of interference in her way — an interference in the shape of the one and only minseong. more specifically, minseong in her unofficial seat in the back corner table she always sat at and had mentally reserved from her first visit.

of course she had to run into him on a day like this — minseong and causing slight irritation seemed to come hand-in-hand, and him sitting in the best spot in the café was not doing him any favours in sora’s mind.

she acted before she thought, making her way over to the table and sitting in the chair opposite him without warning, putting her phone down on the table with more sggression than what was neccessary before making her demand.

“change table, you stole my seat.”

[sharpeztlives]

ironically, it's not unlike yohan to stick around in ophiuchus lounge for a while after a meeting. he likes the quiet— gives him the time and space to question what the fuck just happened and why the hell he's still in this stupid club in the first place. not that he'd ever say that out loud. he might hate everything ophiuchus stood for— might think it's just nepotism to the nth degree wrapped up in a dumb, secret bow— but he needed the connections if he ever wanted to branch out beyond his family tree. so he'll stay... even though it makes him cringe and feels a little like his chest is caving in when he thinks too much about it.

whatever.

how ophiuchus operates or what it represents isn't even the worst part.

it's the people— rather: person. her.

sora gets up to go, and his eyes follow. leaving. again. just like she had all those months before. this time, it's wordless. you'd think he'd be used to it by now, but it makes his stomach flip every time. he doesn't think seeing her will ever stop hurting— she's a bruise that fades but still aches every time you touch it. he looks away when she reaches for the handle, not wanting to bear witness to another exit.

but then she's... turning back around? he stops breathing— literally— when she passes by, only exhaling once she's settled as far away as possible from him, and acts like that purposeful distance doesn't sting. he clicks his tongue against the roof of his mouth. suddenly, the silence feels more heavy than tranquil. "is..." he starts, voice gravelly. he clears his throat before starting again. "is it stuck?"

well, if she's not going to leave, he certainly is. the door's probably just jammed: it's old. they all have to use a fancy little key to get in. it's corny as fuck. he feels like he's in some sort of dark academia horror film whenever he has to fish it out of his pocket to enter. at least there's no secret password involved— yohan's not sure he'd be able to handle that level of cheese. whatever. he'll just shove it open. it'll be fine.

he pushes himself up from his seat, shooting a sideways glance in her direction. a look that seems to say 'why couldn't you just ask me for help?' yohan's ruminated on this specific question a lot— it's never been about a door, though. not until now.

fingers clasp the doorknob, but it doesn't budge. he bites his tongue. another try, much harder now, pushing up against the door with his side as he does, trying to force it open. nothing. just a loud rattling as the door scrapes against the frame. "are you fucking kidding me right now?" it's exasperated, said to no one in particular, and hangs heavily in the air. he brings a fist up to bang against the door once, twice... still not moving. yohan lets out a heavy sigh, wiping a hand over his face and pinching the bridge of his nose. of course. because why wouldn't this happen to him— to them? the universe liked to work in really fucked up ways, didn't it? he really can't do this right now. the thought of having to stay here with this agonizing quiet between them makes him want to scream, or cry, or maybe even laugh at how fucking ridiculous this is.

"sora." he finally speaks up— very calmly— after a too-long bout of stillness. he's really trying not to lose his shit right now. "... text the groupchat and tell them you got us stuck in here."

[virtualbeauties]

her eyes followed his movements, the words it won’t work echoing in her head as he got closer to the door, yet her refusing to speak up about it being stuck. perhaps on some level she was glad to be stuck with him, even if it was temporary as her annoyance left her mind, replaced with amusement at his obvious frustration and a small smile on her lips. she turned her head away as soon as she realised she was smiling — she didn’t want to frustrate him further, nor come off as a freak.

“excuse me?” she snapped out almost immediately, her quiet amusement thrown out the window as her eyebrows furrowed in offence, a scoff escaping her lips before she could stop herself. her posture straightened almost immediately and a glare was sent in his direction.

“you’re blaming me for this? seriously? why can’t you just text them yourself if you’re so desperate to leave? is that taking too much time out of your precious day?” her questions came at him in rapid fire, not allowing him any time in between to answer. she usually had more composure than this, it was something she prided herself on, but the way he spoke to her had just set her off, the tone feeling mocking and just . . . wrong being directed towards her.

she bit her tongue before arguing further. she didn’t want to deal with this right now, and they had kept it so civil between the two of them for a few months already — ruining that would kill her more than she would like to admit. she stuck to her word, though, refusing to pull out her phone and instead joining him at the door and staring at it in silence.

then she kicked it, the door rattling slightly but not moving at all — leading to another kick out of frustration and a third just because third time’s a charm. she let out a breathy chuckle before shrugging and deciding that it wouldn’t budge no matter what she tried. playing it cool and staying calm now seemed like the best way to handle the situation, and while she stood by her earlier words, she was incredibly embarrassed that she had acted like that in front of him of all people.

part of her was screaming at her to stay at the door next to him, as if she had been yearning to be somewhat close to him unconsciously, but the other part was going through at least ten emotions at once — and begging her to retreat. she listened to the latter, of course, leaving him to sit down once again.

despite her wanting to stand her own ground, once she had picked up her phone to check the time, she paused for a second before opening up the ophiuchus group chat and sent a vague message of ‘stuck in the meeting room lol can someone help? thanks’ with a sticker depicting a sad dog to seem less blunt in her message.

as long as there was no knowledge to the general population of the society that the two of them were there together, she’d be fine. he’d be fine. everything would be fine.

she didn’t say anything to yohan, phone going face down next to her before she adjusted herself to get comfortable and wait it out, preferably without interacting with him or whoever came to rescue them.

[virtualbeauties]

hi everyone :3 long time no see IM SOOO SORRY for not sticking to my last poast abt my replies and stuff, i promise i'm not dropping or anything (i used up my activity check coupon AHH!!) i've been dealing with a bit of personal stuff #breakupseason or whatever it's called and i lost alllll my motivation to write but now i'm revitalised and ready :3 by the time i'm posting this i should have replied to all my dms + i'll be working on my replies all through tomorrow!

i apologise greatly to everyone and i will be catching up to everything asap!! thank u for reading :)

please like this if we have dms that i am yet to reply to, i've gotten a bit overwhelmed T^T another plotcall for the new members/anyone im not plotting w will come once i catch up to all my threads too :3

[dragonshq]

Oh no! Looks like you shared too much last night.

In anticipation of our one-month anniversary, the admin team has decided to release a fun meme for all our members! When we were thinking about opening a group, we truly never imagined that it would get the amount of support we've received so far. From the bottom of our hearts, we'd like to sincerely thank all the members who have been with us since opening, and the ones who have been joining since then. We hope to continue fostering a place where you can develop your muses freely while having fun!

We're sure you're already familiar with the concept, but we'll explain it anyway. By reblogging this post, you will be participating in the honesty hour, where other members can send in questions regarding whatever they want, and your muse will have to answer truthfully. Please remember that this event happens in a vacuum, and the things shared are strictly OOC knowledge, unless stated otherwise. Anything posted from this honesty hour should not impact your muse IC. 

The meme will run from Friday July 18th until Friday August 1st, but if you still have asks to reply after that date, you're free to post them. If you choose to participate, please ensure that you send a question to everyone who has reblogged the post as well, whether this be on your character’s account or on anon. 

Once again, thank you so much for an amazing month, and we hope you have fun with this meme! Go wild! 

[virtualbeauties]

left unsaid. — with @sharpeztlives

there was still that tightening in her chest whenever she saw yohan’s face — something that she blamed on embarrassment or her anxiety — that had her stumbling over her own words and making a fool of herself. part of it was her inability to adjust to the fact that he was here. he was in ophiuchus, and she would constantly see him, constantly be reminded of the wounds that seemed to reopen whenever she thought of him.

not that she cared or anything.

there were eleven other people in the club too — there was no way that someone who contributed so little would affect her that much. the two of them were the last ones in the room, her packing her laptop into her bag before walking past him without a farewell, going to the door and wrapping her hand around the handle.

no way. she tried the door again to no avail, her forehead falling against the wood as she whispered curse words under her breath, trying to run through all the possible solutions. picking the lock? that only ever worked in movies. texting another member to come help them out? that’s just embarrassing. she kept her reaction minimal, turning away from the door and making her way to the couch that was furthest away from him in an effort to put some sort of distance between them. she was sure she looked insane with how often she seemed to end up in his proximity — she’d think he was insane if she were in his shoes.

she felt like the world was laughing while looking down at her — the one time she didn’t want to be stuck with him, and she was. they were alone. alone for the first time since she had told him that she just can’t do it anymore. she couldn’t even bring herself to steal glances at him, keeping her eyes on the walls or the fabric of her dress that she fiddled with to distract herself from her thoughts that were slowly spiralling into insanity despite her somewhat calm demeanour.

she didn’t dare speak, didn’t try to initiate anything with him — nothing. she opted to stick to herself and hope that he would come up with a solution to get them out without her. if she even tried to speak, she knew that any words beyond the polite hi’s that they traded would come out in a stutter and end in her embarrassing herself.

"fuck my life," was all she could muster, a mumble under her breath as her situation settled in properly. the worst part? she couldn’t even play off her uncomfortableness. he wasn’t stupid.

[virtualbeauties]

rekindling — with @weakkness

it was strange how life brought people together.

a bridge she thought had burned away years ago had suddenly rebuilt itself using awkward conversations and an inability to discuss the past to form… whatever this was. it wasn’t uncomfortable, nor was it unwelcome — but it was strange. looking at the man in front of her felt like she was looking at a stranger that resembled someone she once knew, someone she shared all her best memories with and kept close to her despite the hardships that friendship brought upon them. the stability she had found with him during their youth was no longer existent, and neither of them wanted to bring it up.

she pushed it all aside like she usually did, letting her lips curl into a smile as they walked down the moonlit street, a giddiness in her tone from the alcohol she’d had earlier that night and a teasing edge to her words that only ever came out around him. she took a drag from the cigarette between her fingers, blowing it out before breaking the comfortable silence between them.

"why’d we even choose to go out so late?" she questioned, not bothering to look at him as she spoke, eyes focused on the ground and making sure that each step she took was between the lines and cracks of the pavers. she was visibly relaxed — she had been all night, even prior to the few drinks she’d had earlier. it was always natural when it came to jeongmin — she felt like he just understood her, no matter what. perhaps it was ignorance or denial of their problems, but the two of them were never the sort to pry into their feelings. understanding was all they needed, right?

she took another drag of the cigarette and yawned as she blew the smoke out, her organised schedule leading to her being far from a night owl, but she didn’t complain like she usually would when tired. she didn’t want to run the risk of starting an argument, not when the night already felt so serene. "did i tell you about the cat that’s been hanging around my place? whenever i leave the building she’s sitting there like she’s waiting for me. the dog gets mad when i walk in though — can probably smell her on me."

she didn’t take the time to think her words through to make sure they were relevant or anything, letting every one of her thoughts spill out to him without any care. he didn’t care anyway. at least, she thought he didn’t — when it came to him, she was never completely certain. not anymore.

[weakkness]

the idea of dressing up as elaborate high fantasy characters was one of the reasons sohee ever thought to join the dungeons & dragons club. her disappointment was immeasurable and her day was ruined when she found out they typically wear normal clothes to their meets, and not a lot of them had the drive or intention to put money towards a silly costume.

sohee was the first in line when someone mentioned dressing up to promote their club during the festival, stubbornly standing by it and defending the idea if any member opposed. the weather is not even that bad, no one will care if they’re look normal, they have to find a way to stand out and make themselves appealing, so on and so forth. anything she could say to make them change their mind.

boy, was she wrong. even though her elf costume was sleeveless and pretty breathable, there’s nothing more tortuous and tiring than standing underneath the beaming sun for hours on end, watching everyone else have fun while she has to sell the concept of magical roleplay and how fun and cool it is. she promises. please. please.

she always stood by the belief that business majors are not real people, and marketing is just psychology used for evil, but nobody warned her that promoting could ever be so hard. exhausted, she plopped down on the singular fragile plastic chair the school had provided for their booth, using both hands to simultaneously shield her vision while she waited for sora to reach them and hide herself from the other onlookers. 

“three people?!” sohee almost sat up, surprised. “i only managed to hold one conversation, and she basically called me stupid.” a frown formed on her face as she recalled the interaction, slightly pouting before continuing with a shrug, trying to match the younger girl’s attitude. “she did take my flyer, though.” 

a smile formed on her face as soon as sora mentioned sneaking off, wanting desperately to leave the booth since the second she got there. looking around, sohee nodded in compliance, standing up and walking around the booth with immense care, trying not to alert anyone of their missing act. once she reached her, she grabbed onto her hand and began speeding up, as if they could ever blend in the crowd. 

“have you checked out the food trucks already? anything look good? i’m starving.”

[virtualbeauties]

she let out a quiet breath of amusement at sohee’s attempts at recruiting people, giving an applause at the mention of giving away the flyer and an exaggerated impressed look on her face. “i think she was just playing hard to get,” she suggested, trying to make sure sohee didn’t feel too bad about it — they needed to keep morale up to last the rest of the day.

her eyes rolled in a playful manner as sohee dragged her away from the booth, turning to watch the booth as they ran off, finally turning away once they were far enough that she couldn’t see people’s faces. she caught up to sohee with two strides, not letting go of the older’s hand as they navigated through the crowd — losing each other wouldn’t mean a whole lot of hassle (they stood out enough), but sora was not in the mood to go hunting for anyone in this weather.

there were groups of people scattered around — some sitting on the ground, some standing under trees, some sitting on benches, and others just walking around aimlessly, just as they were. her eyes caught an empty bench off to the side, partially covered by a tree, and she beelined straight towards it, her grip on sohee’s hand tightening as she dragged her through the crowd to the bench. it was off the main area, with fewer people around and more space to just breathe and take a moment to calm down.

“i don’t know all the options we have, but i saw a truck that was doing pizza,” she replied once they got to the bench, letting go of sohee’s hand and sitting down, using her hands to fan herself and taking a mental note to fix her makeup before clocking back on at the booth. she surveyed the options of food trucks that they could see, feeling her own stomach grumble in hunger as she watched people walking around with their food. the smell of everything wasn’t helping much either — she let out a groan as her head fell back and her hands rested on her stomach.

“the longer i sit here, the closer i feel to starvation.” it was an exaggeration, of course, but her discomfort only seemed to get worse — all because of the heat. she paused her moping for a moment to look at the older woman, lips pursing in thought before she simply shrugged, letting sohee take the wheel.

“i’m not feeling picky. you choose what we get for lunch, i’ll buy the drinks and ice creams after.”

[blvebeary]

admittedly, she’s half distracted as they walk, trying to listen for angry or annoyed cries telling them to come back. once she’s determined they’re safe, she focuses her attention on the younger. removing her hand from the sora’s arm, she brings it up to wave off her thanks nonchalantly, her lips half turned up into a smile. “it’s not a big deal. we’ve all been in that situation before. you’re still young.” she says, though the comment is rather ironic. it’s not as though the two of them have that big of an age difference. still, once glance at sora’s face, and seolran can’t help but be struck by how young and innocent she looks.

a small voice inside her whispers that this just means it’ll be easier to morph sora into a useful figure for herself. but she pushes that part to the side.

“by the time you reach my year, you’ll be a professional at dodging them. it just comes with practice.” she says, shoulder lifting into a small shrug. she parts her lips, ready to wave off another round of thanks, but she stops herself. maybe she was growing soft, maybe it was her conscience waking up from a nap to tell her to play nice, but something was telling her she should agree to the coffee.

she doesn’t even like coffee, but she supposes she can spare another hour or so to spend more time with sora.

"you really don't have to thank me. as i said, it wasn't that big of a deal." she pauses momentarily, expression scrunching up into a slight grimace. " i'd feel like a bad senior if i asked you to buy me a drink, but i suppose i can let it slide this one time," she says, ending her sentence with a sigh as if it's so troublesome to be treated out.

"next time is on me then," she adds as an afterthought. who knows if the offer will ever be taken up, or if it’ll end up like all the other instances, where she’s told acquaintances that they should totally catch up one day and never actually plan something. but only time will tell.

she stops walking, adjusting her bag's strap on her shoulder and gestures at the younger. "what cafe are you thinking of? i usually go to sweet corn cafe because it's convenient, but i know it's not everyone's favorite spot. if you have a different spot you prefer, we can go there."

[virtualbeauties]

as soon as her invitation was accepted, her face lit up and she clapped her hands together quietly, shaking her head and waving her hand around with a pfft escaping her, “it’s no big deal for me to treat you out, seriously!” her tone had become far more confident and positive than it was before, her posture standing taller and her smile genuinely reaching her eyes.

“sweet corn café?” she echoed, thinking for a moment about which café it actually was before nodding her head, navigating to the place in her mind. she had been there many times during her first year attending yeonhwa — she didn’t even like their coffee, only agreeing to go there since seolran wanted to. she nodded again and let seolran lead the way to the café, her mind already trying to think of ways to entertain the older during the ten or so minute walk.

“don’t stress over buying me something next time” next time. she insinuated there was a next time. sora’s smile didn’t fade the more she thought about it, the feeling of acceptance making her dopamine skyrocket. “i’m sure we can buy for ourselves or something, i don’t want to take too much from you.”

a silence fell between them as sora trailed behind seolran, unconsciously making sure not to speed up or take longer strides to match the older’s pace.

“so, do you have any favourites on the menu? i haven’t been there for a good few months,” she asked as they got closer to the café, already stressing in her head over what to order and fearful that she would choose something that might bring some sort of judgement upon her.

the overthinking came so naturally to the younger that she wasn’t even fazed by it in her own mind, finding her reasoning behind each action completely logical — seeing the desire for your senior’s approval as a given, not just for her, but for everyone.

her eyes landed on the sign of the café as they approached it, and she let out a mental sigh of relief at the lack of the crazy crowds she’d seen in recent weeks — a busy café only meant a bad experience, and she needed wanted seolran to have a good time. it was necessary (to her, at least). next time wouldn’t happen if they didn’t enjoy themselves, and she already felt like she was taking up far too much of the woman’s time just by asking her out to coffee.

it’ll be fine. all she had to do was be herself — right?

[moncoeurseo]

after being assigned to work on paperwork so often since her first year, you would think seoyun would be used to the mindless routine of stamping, crossing out, highlighting, and throwing away papers by now. to a point, she almost was━━she didn't like it by any means and thought of it as a waste of time, but it was "a way to help her move up in the ranks of ophiuchus" or whatever someone told her once.

that was definitely a lie considering she's almost in a worse position than she was first joining ophiuchus, but sure. okay. what is she supposed to do about it? get upset and then get kicked out?

doing the paperwork by herself was a lot easier though because it meant she didn't have to watch over the group's newest member and make sure she didn't mess anything up, cause then it'd come back onto her as a senior member. "seoyun, why didn't you make sure sora was looking at the right papers?" “seoyun, you have to tell her what to do properly.” god, she can hear the voices of their chair and secretary bothering her already.

sora was... fine as a person, seoyun guessed. she didn't have a problem with her... until this very moment.

seoyun didn't even glance down at her as she laid her head against the table. there goes another stamp on this paper, sit it off to the side in that stack. the monotony of the work almost reminded her of how she could get in the groove while sewing, it was easy to just think about something else for a while━━

her eyebrow twitched once sora stopped herself from speaking further, clicking her tongue as she let her stamp fall into its holder with a gentle thud. "no, no, go on. what was that?" she stares at sora with wide eyes, pressing her hand to her own chest. "you think you're the only one miserable right now? you think i enjoy having to babysit you?" nevermind the way she bickers at her like she's her older sister who got stuck staying at home with her instead of going out to some party.

it's not what sora did say that bothered her; the complaining was fine (seoyun's a master at whining anyway). it's what she insinuated by stopping herself and going quiet. seoyun already knows she's at the bottom of the group for a variety of reasons, the last thing she needs is the new girl of all people being upset she has to work with her, instead of the other way around.

[virtualbeauties]

her hand stopped mid-signature on a document as seoyun started speaking, her lips pressing together and her eyes closing for a second. she took a breath through her nose as she realised that, shit, she had probably just started an argument. she hated any form of confrontation, but bickering when both of them were already in an annoyed mood from doing their work? she was essentially giving her sanity away for free.

her eyes stayed on the paper in front of her as she listened to seoyun’s words, rolling them once.

a sudden tick went off in her brain. her head turned to look at seoyun with a glare, eyes narrowed slightly and an expression that read: be so for real right now. the room went silent as they looked at each other, sora’s brow raising at the challenge of continuing her comments, only for a scoff to fall from her lips, her expression showing the offence she took from the remark.

“babysitting? are you serious?” she asked, clear annoyance in her voice. a small exhale, something resembling a chuckle, came out after her words as she moved the paper she was working on to the side, crossed her arms, and turned to face seoyun fully.

she had tried to get along with everyone in the society so far — tried her hardest to be polite — but getting looked down on by seoyun of all people? she felt the need to fight back, despite her dislike for confrontation.

“the only reason you’re with me is because you’re still in your second year, and you’re on the exact same level i am.” her expression faltered slightly after she spoke, but her eyebrows stayed furrowed in annoyance. she went to open her mouth to continue speaking but went speechless instead, her mouth closing as she turned back to her own area. she wanted to apologise for coming off harsh, but she knew it would be futile. if anything, she wanted to come off harsher.

“let’s just finish this. we’re almost done anyway,” she mumbled, her words untrue, as there were at least two more hours of work. “well, we’d be quicker if you worked faster.” she just couldn’t hold herself back after feeling insulted, as if trying to prove she was better without being overly rude.

[serpentspirits-deactivated20251]

how boring.

all avery had done this evening was walk around the room and share a conversation with business "partners" and members devoted to the church; then she came across them. baek hyunseok, lee haewon and sohee's younger sister. what was her name again? somi? oh nevermind it's sora. she lighty swished the liquid around within her glass — taking a small sip before locking eyes with the younger girl; a small scoff escaping her as she observed the anxious behavior.

hyunseok and haewon were very... devoted members of the church; she's seen them frequently seen them throughout her years — naturally she became friends with their son, sohee. although she never went out of her way to befriend their daughter, sora. the younger girl seems... different compared to her brother — her brother was a very helpful member during his time within ophiuchus. sora on the other hand.. seems too eager to please, too... desperate.

sora may have been a member of ophiuchus but she certainly didn't have the mindset which was required, this girl wouldn't even be here if it weren't for the sake of her older brother and parents — the girl didn't visit the church as frequently as her family members which just made their relationship more distant and avery didn't mind it. sora wasn't worth spending so much time on anyways.

"auntie... you compliment me too much, i'm still an undergrad student. I don't think I'm that good yet." avery played the part of the perfect daughter; perfect grades, talents, looks and devoted to the serpent spirits. humble and docile — she made sure to come off as elegant and charming as she could. her lips spread into a smile as she giggled at the praises, the smile didn't reach her eyes and it never did.

as their mothers continued their chatter; avery's father finally spoke out, that specific grin stretched on his face as he patted the other man's shoulder. "kids grow so well these days.. I can almost remember avery and sohee playing around the church like it was yesterday." words that were typically warm and comforting felt.. strange when they came out of his mouth.

the patriarchs laughed as the women continued their conversation in hushed whispers; avery's smile tightened as hyunseok asked — a small chuckle escaping her lips. "of-course, sohee helped me a lot during his time in yeonhwa. it's only fair if I return the favor to his.. younger sister. isn't it, sora? i hope we can get to know each other a little more." avery's gaze landed on the younger girl; words that were as sweet as honey carried an unnerving undertone to them.

[virtualbeauties]

there was a bitter taste in the smile she sent towards avery, the voice of her filling her ears with praises — affectionate words sora had never heard directed towards herself — and only placing avery higher up on her pedestal, solidifying the power that she had over not just sora’s family but the entire room. the family’s influence ran deep, and trying to escape it was like running through a maze with a terrible sense of direction. unfortunately, sora’s parents were never the best at navigating.

she held the empty glass to her lips as her eyes narrowed in avery’s direction, noticing the smile that she kept on her face without fault, as if it had been rehearsed. of course it had. sora wasn’t stupid. she knew the way this environment worked, and it only upset her the more she thought about it — her head tilting back as she tried to get the final drops of champagne from her glass in an attempt to calm down her own nerves. she needed another drink.

she let out a small laugh from behind the glass as avery spoke, their eyes meeting and sora suddenly choking on nothing, moving the glass down and turning away to cough, face screwed up as she tried to catch her own breath. it wasn’t disruptive. wasn’t loud. wasn’t exaggerative. yet the way her mother’s gaze scorned her as she turned back to the conversation was enough to shut her up and have her too scared even to clear her throat. she could already hear the lecturing in her head: sohee wouldn’t do that! what do you think her parents thought after seeing that? avery is going to think you’re weighing her down!

avery. avery. avery.

even from such a small interaction with the other family, she felt her confidence shattering. there was something so utterly pathetic standing there in silence, standing there small, only existing to be the subject of judgement. she hated it. her mother be damned — this was about her ego now.

she cleared her throat and lifted her chin to give the impression of confidence, giving another forced smile towards avery and bowing her head slightly to show her respect to her senior. “sohee’s always been one to help people,” she started, voice tinged with a slight attitude as she spoke — a reflection of her bruised ego as she tried to put her foot down without causing a scene. “but i don’t want you to do this just to repay my brother’s kindness.” she felt her mother nudge her arm forward slightly to hold it out for a handshake.

so she did that, her hand held out with a slight tremble — barely noticeable.

“i’m sure that we’ll get along well. i’m grateful that you’re willing to help me out.”

[infinitblaq]

Minju (ILLIT) - 240418

[virtualbeauties]

breakaway. — with @legalbrat

she was never the best when it came to parties and late-night events. they were always overwhelming and so full of people that she got exhausted halfway through — too loud, too crowded, too everything. she broke away almost naturally, pushing past the crowds to an area where the stage was out of view and the noise seemed to dull slightly. it was perfect.

she didn’t hate these events, far from it, she always enjoyed herself, but her limits were pushed easily in situations like those. she pulled her bag up from her hip and opened it, hand rummaging in the pockets before landing on the large box. she pulled it out, opened it, and took out a singular cigarette, placing it between her lips as she put the box away in her bag again.

she pulled her phone out of her pocket after a few seconds and checked the time, eyes going wide as she realised just how late it was (it wasn’t really late, she just had the sleeping schedule of a grandmother) — one night of staying up wouldn’t hurt that much, right? plus, the artist she had been waiting for all night still hadn’t started their set.

it was just one night.

she reached into her pocket to pull out her lighter, the empty compartment causing brief annoyance before she used her phone’s torch to search in her bag, the familiar casing of her lighter nowhere to be seen. she checked her back pockets, her bra, every section of her bag — everywhere. of course she left her lighter at home.

she rolled her eyes at herself, turning off the torch on her phone before her eyes landed on a figure. cigarette between their fingers, smoke getting carried away by the summer breeze — bingo. she made her way over, taking out her own cigarette from her lips on the way and waving her hand to try and catch their attention. she knew that face. she recognised him from her very first year. he didn’t seem that scary, and it’s not like they really knew each other enough to have any beef, so asking wouldn’t hurt, right?

it’s just one question. how bad could it be?

“can i borrow your lighter for a second?” she let out as she got closer, her voice coming out quieter than she’d hoped it would, her already kicking herself in her head for coming off so awkward.

[blvebeary]

once is by chance, twice is a coincidence, and three times is an established pattern. she genuinely did not notice at first (she was too busy staring at her nails and contemplating what color she should paint them next), but after the third instance of sora agreeing with her stances immediately after she made them clear, seolran found herself intrigued.

somehow, seolran found herself a little mirror.

she’s not sure why sora chose to latch onto her opinions and choices, but she’s not going to complain. maybe with this kind of support, ophiuchus will actually do something that benefits her this year.

despite her intrigue, seolran was happy to let it be and go on her merry little way. shoot the younger a couple of small smiles at future meetings, but maintain distance while on campus. however, when she coincidentally spots the younger being bothered by student pollers after the meeting, she can't help but feel the need to save sora. it will be her one kind act of the month.

"hey," seolran says, shifting her body so that she's standing right in front of the younger. "she's relatively new to the campus, don't you think it would be a better idea to ask someone who's been here for a while?" she motions at a group of students off to the side, before clasping her hands together. she leans in and speaks more quietly with the student poller. "let me tell you something, i actually i heard them complaining about how yeonhwa's climate has gone downhill recently. perhaps you can ask them instead? it seems like they would give you valuable information about how to improve the campus community." she straightens her back, shooting the student a bright smile and giving a couple of encouraging nods.

her smile immediately drops when the student poller leaves, and she turns to speak to sora. "come on, let's go quickly before they find out i was bluffing. we don't need an angry mob to come chasing after us." she places her hand on sora's arm and guides them into a group of students walking by. "word of advice, always wear earbuds when you're taking this path. they're less likely to bother you if you have them in."

[virtualbeauties]

three questions in and sora was already struggling for words, stuttering as her mouth worked faster than her brain. she was trying to give answers that were at least a little insightful, but her disconnect from the university and campus culture had her unable to answer confidently — ums and ahs in between her words and the poller telling her with that all-too-friendly tone that she could ‘take as long as you need!’.

she stopped speaking as she heard a somewhat familiar voice, head tilting to look over seolran’s shoulder as she spoke to the student poller and got them off sora’s back. she couldn’t help but feel mildly bad for the student as they turned and left, going to the other group with the same enthusiastic greeting only to be met with stares of confusion.

her body relaxed and she let a small smile form on her face as seolran turned, moving her attention off the strangers and onto the woman in front of her, opening her mouth to talk before seolran beat her to it. all she could do was nod as she felt the older’s hand on her arm, following her immediately with the smile still on her features.

she merged into the crowd alongside seolran and gave yet another nod of agreement at the advice given, reaching her hands into her pocket and pulling out her earphones to show them to the other before putting them back — was that really necessary?

“thanks for helping me out there,” she started, still staying a half-step behind seolran as they walked together, “i kinda suck at saying no and all that — i probably would’ve been stuck there for like… ten minutes if you didn’t come over.” she wanted to impress her, wanted to do something that would make her remember their interaction and put in a good impression for who sora was outside of ophiuchus.

“can i buy you a coffee or something? just as a thanks for actually seeing and helping," a momentary pause. "not many people would do that.” she offered a friendly smile and hoped to god she wouldn’t be rejected. or that she had come off as desperate. or any other negative outcome. or-

calm down, sora. it’s just coffee, she probably has coffee with all the other ophiuchus members.

[virtualbeauties]

festival magic (sort of?) — with @weakkness

she readjusted the sleeve on her left shoulder and fanned her face with her hand, the heat of the blaring sun making her more uncomfortable by the hour. she had signed up for the booth to promote the d&d club without really thinking it through — not factoring in the heat or the excessive amount of socialising she would have to do.

she said her farewells to the couple she had just entertained for some time, hoping to convince at least one of them to join the club and paint it in a good light. she had gone into the event hoping to change some opinions about the average d&d player (not all of them are unhygienic men) and to promote the activity to those who weren’t aware of how fun it really was.

she put away the foam swords in her hands and went over to the small shelter they had, grabbing two water bottles and making her way over to sohee. the turnout was surprisingly large considering how small the club was, and she couldn’t figure out if it was because of where they had set up, actual interest, or people just wanting to dress up.

she passed one of the water bottles to sohee and took a sip of her own, shielding her eyes from the sun with her hand as she looked at both passersby and their fellow club members. she turned back to the older woman, and a grin appeared on her face before she spoke.

“i’m so sure i’ve convinced at least three people to join,” she playfully bragged, holding up three fingers for emphasis, “and at least one of them was a girl. we’re so back.” she brushed off her own shoulder as if to say it wasn’t difficult at all. she hadn’t expected to enjoy the day as much as she had so far — just that morning she had been staring at herself in the mirror, hoping to god she wouldn’t become a laughing stock for her costume.

“do you think we could sneak off to get an ice cream or something? i’m hot as hell.” she offered, eyes falling to the club leader and trying to evaluate if he was too focused to notice their temporary absence.

[virtualbeauties]

wasting time. — with @moncoeurseo

if you had to ask sora what her perfect afternoon looked like, she wouldn’t have a clear answer — only that it would be anywhere but here. who even had this many papers stored away for months on end and still considered them important? her eyes scanned the tenth paper of the hour, something about the student government from 2021 that only made her temper flare. who even remembered 2021? that was like, eons ago. she skim-read the paragraphs, only pausing at mentions of clubs or names she recognised.

when she first found out about this secret society stuff, she thought it would be just like the movies, constant drama and scheming to stay in control of everyone and everything, not hours of paperwork in the dustiest part of the library and only seoyun with her. seoyun. of all members. sora was far from stupid; she knew this was just a way for the others to get out of doing the work they’d put off for months (or even years, judging by the age of some of these papers) by dumping it on the two who were seen as lowest in the group.

she hated being looked down on, yet here she was, doing exactly what she was told and wasting her own time. she hadn’t even spoken to seoyun once, and 64 full minutes had already passed. the only sounds in the room were the flicking of pages, the occasional scribble of pens, and the rare thump of a stamp hitting paper. neither of them had cracked from the boredom.

yet.

sora set down the paper in her hand and let out a groan, slouching forward in her chair until her head rested flat against the table. she stayed still for a moment before straightening up and turning her attention to the stack of papers between them — the stack that hardly had a dent in it.

“why are we even doing this?” sora asked finally, picking up the top page from the pile and scoffing as she read the date — 2015. the paperwork held no interesting information, no real value to the group, yet here she was, wasting her time on it.

“i don’t see why they have us doing this together,” she started, eyes skimming the paper on seoyun’s side of the table. “i mean, i know i’m new but like-” she stopped herself before she continued, biting her tongue before the insulting words could spill out. she moved on to the next paper, not bothering to mutter an apology for the words that were on the tip of her tongue — words that seoyun had probably heard a million times before.