it does not take long to get to the kitchen, after all, mark is the master of nighttime-sneakery. it also doesn’t take him long to find his favorite coffee brewer, and snag the box of coffee beans from the shelf. he is quiet while he prepares it, keeping his focus on the whirring of the grinder, but even his thoughts cannot be kept away for long. the noise brings along a white flash, the image of a bulldozer as it scrapes away the remnants of his family home, and then it disappears, leaving mark trembling.
he rushes the finish the coffee and pours it into a mug, taking a huge sip and relishing the feeling of the warmth running down his throat, filling him with peace.
peace, something he hasn’t felt in a long while.
she hates thunderstorms.
when doyeon was younger, her mother used to blame them on the wrath of the gods—which gods, doyeon never really knew, but in her mother’s mind, some divine power was behind these storms. nature alone couldn’t account for the sky being torn open, for the world to shake as deadly lightning flashed above. after the breach opened, the explanation was easier to follow: it was the kaiju. everything could be traced back to the kaiju. it would terrify her as a kid, thinking it was some kind of a (un)holy punishment. she’d huddle under her blankets and and wait for it to pass—and when it did, she would feel foolish about her response.
she feels a little foolish right now, wanting to dive under her covers as thunder continues to rumble outside. the sound of rain hitting her window is too loud in her otherwise silent room, punctured only by the sounds of her own labored breathing. the roars of the kaiju sounded a little like this, she thinks, squeezing her eyes shut. it’s a struggle to remind herself that they’re gone, that they’re safe, that this building isn’t about to collapse like the ones in busan.
busan. she takes a deep breath and counts backwards from thirty, yet she still can’t bring herself to fully calm down. doyeon hates getting like this, old memories threatening to spill over and cripple her in her new life. isolation definitely isn’t helping her state so, after a moment of deliberation, she wraps her blanket around her shoulders and slowly ventures outside. her duck slippers squeak with every step she takes down the hall and to the kitchen.
the complex is deserted for the most part. of course—it’s 3 am. if someone else was wandering around, doyeon would be worried. like, she’s weird for being out here so late, but she can’t sleep and really needs a little pick-me-up to get her mind off things. ice cream should work fine (even if it’s going to kill her; lactose intolerance is a trip), and her mind is already going over all the toppings she’s going to add when—
doyeon stops in her tracks and pulls her blanket closer. the light is on in the kitchen; is someone else here? who else would be hanging around the kitchen at this hour? part of her doesn’t even want to look, but she steels her resolve and pokes her head through the doorway. “hello?” doyeon calls out, voice shaking. a clap of thunder cuts off whatever she’s about to say next and she jumps back with a shriek. “h—hello? is someone else there?” she tries again, louder this time. “please don’t have eaten all the ice cream,” she adds under her breath.
migraines themselves aren’t all that unusual for doyeon to experience, but it’s been a while since one hit her with such intensity. even after taking a copious amount of painkillers, she still feels nauseous, her vision blurring around the edges as she trudges to the kwoon combat room feeling like death itself. the smart thing to do right now would be to lie down and ride it out—but she’s supposed to be doing physical training today. doyeon has a schedule to follow; she can’t afford to fall behind. how is she supposed to improve if she just arbitrarily decides to attend or not?
even though it takes most of doyeon’s willpower to remain focused during the lesson, she somehow makes it through the first leg of it without passing out or throwing up ( or both ). after that, the group splits off to spar with the dummies, and doyeon thinks this is one thing she can do without making too much of a mess of herself—even if her head hurts too much, her body remembers. muscle memory can be a powerful thing, and she hopes it’s enough to carry her through for the next half hour, at least.
but she overestimates herself with one swift punch to the dummy; it ricochets back and slams into her face, sending her reeling back. doyeon trips over the mat and falls to the ground, biting back a cry of pain. she fails spectacularly at it, and the low keening noise that escapes her mouth is fifty different shades of embarrassing—but it’s nothing compared to the sharp, stabbing pain she feels on her face, nor the slow, warm drip-drip of blood from her nose.
she licks it up, then feels like gagging immediately. it is disgusting and terrifying and so red against her skin. doyeon attempts to stem the flow, but even brushing her hands against her nose sends a jolt of pain through her. oh no, what if it’s broken? what if this stupid practice dummy actually broke her nose? panic begins to bubble up in her chest, but no one else in the room seems to be alert to her distress. or they’re simply ignoring her—and she wouldn’t blame them. she should be able to take care of a minor injury like this on her own.
but it hurts and she’s tired and she doesn’t think she can muster the energy to force herself up, much less to the infirmary to get this looked at.
doyeon sucks in a deep breath. counts to five, ten, twenty, but the erratic beating of her heart fails to subside. her sense of direction is dubious at best on a good day, but she entered the academy prepared to like, work on that. she was supposed to do better here! instead, she’s lost, despairing as she rounds the corner only to find another empty and winding hallway. the same doors line either side and she can’t even look at them for help—room XXX is the same as room XXXI as far as she’s concerned.
in her defense, the academy is massive—much, much bigger than doyeon could’ve ever imagined. she thought she was prepared for all of it: done the research, prepped extensively, memorized blueprints, etc. she was so sure everything would be great. turning over a new leaf and everything! but it’s clear now that she had no clue what she was going to be up against. and like, maybe this will be a good story years down the line, but right now she does not want to be bested by a complicated building layout. if she can’t even figure her way around the academy, how the heck is she ever going to survive her actual training?
she finally stops upon reaching a dead end. it’s her fifth one in the last two hours. doyeon’s starting to think that maybe wandering around aimlessly is not the best way to get unlost—if that’s even a thing. swallowing a growl of frustration, doyeon slumps against the wall and sinks down. maybe she should’ve drawn a map on her hands, or on that dirty napkin she shoved in her pocket when she couldn’t find the trash bin during orientation. at least she wouldn’t feel so hopeless then.
all she can pray for now is that someone stumbles upon her before it’s too late. or on her corpse, at the very least.
hi there!! i’m really late on the intro train here but i’ve been busy with exams anyways hello, i’m the mun of doyeon here, nineteen year old cadet and future... um... we’re not sure yet. she’s part of the strike group personnel but at rank c, she hasn’t really decided what she wants to specialize in! she’s mostly a good girl who tries her best to keep up with her fellow cadets, but she doesn’t really have any outstanding skills or grades :’D she’s cursed with being average.
i have a profile and a bio page up for her but i completely fucked up and forgot to make a plots page. so! i would love to brainstorm some stuff with everyone! feel free to hmu via tumblr im--or i have twitter & discord available upon request. you can also hit like on this post and i’ll come to you. i’ll drop some facts about doyeon under the cut as well i know her bio is really long but yay happy opening exordium ♡
dear deceased dad was a military man; originally aimed to become a ranger but failed out of the program so he joined the strike troopers instead. was killed during the attack on busan (probably got crushed under a building or something yikes)
mom is alive & well, member of the kaiju worshiping cult, the buenakai. she lives in the bone slums in hwaseong and works for the church built in the kaiju remains there. doyeon up and left her without a word so they don’t have the best relationship
born and brought up in busan and was there during the attack. took refuge in a public shelter along with her mom but the whole ordeal fucked her up and left her with an unhealthy fear of the kaiju
after busan, spent some time with her mom’s kaiju-worshiping cult and kind of... began thinking like them, really began to believe that the kaiju were gods who were gonna wipe the world of sinners and create a new paradise for the chosen ones whooooo existence is futile and mankind will never win against the gods
after operation pitfall, she was able to her open her eyes to the fact that humans weren’t doomed and there was hope after all, yeah. though she could never fully shake off the ‘kaiju are all powerful gods who’ll come back and punish the world’ mentality, she packed up and fled the cult the minute she turned 18
took her a couple of tries to join the ppdc because they kept rejecting her application but hey, she finally made it!
a pretty private person, especially cagey about her past. she hates answering questions about herself and her history so she’ll do just about anything to deflect, including but not limited to somersaulting away from the situation
actually she’s just really bad at interacting with not cult-ish people in general; it’s not like she’s shy or unfriendly--in fact, she likes people? just being around people in general?--but she’s awkward with social conventions and cues and how to hold a proper conversation. but she’s trying and that’s what matters
cares a lot about everything: people, emotions, reputation, her grades, fate of the world, puppies, food aid campaigns, etc. a regular bleeding heart that sometimes gets taken advantage of but she’s okay with that; really just wants to help people and be useful in some way
crippling insecurities what up, not limited to: her fear of the kaiju, her inability to contribute to the ppdc in a significant way, shame at her past association with kaiju cultists, her own shortcomings, fear that no matter how hard she tries she will never be better than she is right now... the list goes on. tries her best to internalize everything but she’s not good at lying or hiding things so the cracks are there
suffers from insomnia due to nightmares--kind of par for the course here. lactose intolerant but loves her ice cream. works out a lot (a gym rat) and always up for a good spar (though it’s not because she needs to work out her inner aggression nope). always stressed out about something and her hair’s going white thanks to it, lit
jaeger/ppdc fangirl... or was when she was younger. still likes to hang out and talk about jaegers or new tech or old heroes, etc. has some old posters and action figures hidden in her room too and she gets all sparkly eyed when showing them to people
idk i’m running out of things and this is long enough, please love us
kaledo-art
origamiaround
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