ABOVE WATER

ABOVE WATER white knuckles, chattering teeth, grins & gales & the promise of home. CHOI JINRI. "aeris." 20. AEROKINETIC.

[xmjaehun]

WINTER SONG—

[xmjaehun]

you don’t need eyes to tell that he’s not a socializer. jaehun’s body language had always been stiff, broad shoulders pulled back and spine straight, most people knew better to stray away. yet some, some, jaehun supposed likely resembled choi jinri, smiles and laughter and clumsy all neatly wrapped in a pretty package he could care less for. but it doesn’t help that she’s everywhere. that they live within the same dorm and two doors down no less. it doesn’t help that she’s friendly, that she tries to extend herself to start any pointless conversation for the sake of it.

it does help that she’s pretty, though.

annoying, but pretty.

nevertheless, he doesn’t miss the squawk that slips through the racket within the building, attentive eyes flicking over in time to watch a certain choi pick herself up from the floor, lips twitching slightly in amusement. as expected, she’s as clumsy as ever. although he almost regretted it, given the fact that she was already heading toward him.

that, was anything but a sign to approach.

“hey.” jaehun retorts idly, dragging blunt nails over the fabric of dark jeans as he eyes her, slightest bit of amusement surfacing. “not falling.” the tone teeters between teasing and jeering, hand lifting to card through soft blonde locks as he leans back further, humming.

“you know if you don’t have the right shoes to walk on ice then you shouldn’t be out at all. much less roaming around narrating your journal. it’s common sense, really.” his eyes cut at her, sharp and piercing. and this is how you know jaehun isn’t the best at offering friendly advice. or well, friendly anything.

“you should go inside before you hurt yourself is what i’m saying.”

[xmjinri]

she huffs, flicking her wrist to rid her journal of the last bits of snow that clung to its cover, attempting to focus on both the heavy handed manner of its grip -- she was told doing such would help 'ground' her, but she wasn't sure if that was always the case -- and the boy in front of her.  oh jaehun, all long limbs, perfectly coiffed hair and words that minced like ice between teeth.  yeesh.

but she knows, (she likes to think), all things cold and sharp are for melting and rolling into shapes more kindly.  so she takes his response onto the heart of her tongue, spinning it into airy, albeit slightly sheepish, laughter.  "touche," she replies, brushing dark hair over a reappearing ear.

the movement is quickly made more jerky the moment he mentions her journal, her jaw dropping open and eyes popping with the same quick, almost wounded severity.  "I WAS WHISPERING," she exclaims, defensive, "BECAUSE I NEEDED TO FOCUS AND FO--aghhhh, okay, okay, okay--" she puts a hand up, as if heralding traffic and covers squeezed eyes with the other for a few, quick seconds. "okay.  groovy.  great."

"anyways," she sighs, hands dropping as they stuff her things into her pockets, seconds before she bounces to her feet, hovering a few centimetres as she wipes herself off.  "i don't really have them?  winter shoes i mean."  she flutters her converse for the sake of both emphasis and drying them.  "snow doesn't happen enough for me to waste money on--” she pulls out her fingers to quote him, “ -- ‘right shoes.’  i've been thinking of making dyi grips or something... maybe by hot gluing chains to a pair, but i don't know."  

softly landing, the brunette's gaze diverts uncharacteristically, the beginnings of a pout underlying her tone.  "i don't feel like going in yet."  

a small gasp parts smushed, stubborn lips, and she turns to look back at jaehun, eyes earnest and apologetic, "but i can go somewhere else, if i'm bothering you."

she kicks an idle foot at the snow, gaze and breath dropping to the ground.  "sorry."

[xmjaehun]

WINTER SONG—

when winter comes around, the cyrokinetic spends most of his time outdoors. of course, this is expected more than anything. unlike ravi around this time of the year, jaehun freely lounges out on school grounds, nestled within inches of snow in utter content. 

tonight hadn’t been different. although he reckons ( deep in the back of his mind, a tiny voice brings up a valid point ) that his time should be wisely spent back in the lobby with the rest of his peers, hanging useless ornaments on dead greenery to celebrate a holiday most of their nation took for an excuse to go dating than anything. but then, he remembers, even with the addition of such wonderful weather — he’d rather slam a car door on his frozen tongue.

back against frosted glass, he’s able to hear the festivities within the building anyhow, taking quiet note of the holiday carols blasting through, joyous laughter, and the occasional bickering—all coming together in a bastardized harmony that could be heard through the open door of the lobby entrance.

yeesh.

he made the better choice in coming out here.

[xmjinri]

winter in jeju is rarely a wonderland washed in white.  more often, it is a collection of gales nipping at cheeks and rubbing them red, rather than a feast for the eyes and a chilling pinch of the nostrils; so naturally, when the landscape of jeju colours itself the exact opposite of sorry pitch, jinri is more than happy to explore its depths, recording them with earnest enjoyment in the square pages of her journal.

"today," she murmurs, scribbling and walking along in the snow, "jeju is an island sleeping.  it is wrapped up in white blankets.  from inside, it looks awfully warm, but outside now, i am cold. i like it very much, and regret not bringing my camera with me today.  worry not, dear journal!  i will plaster you with pictures of a rare and gorgeous jeju white winter.  we have too few of these for me not to. i will also make sure to call harabong tonight and see him tomorrow, to see if the cold is treating him well.  the coat of youth is not avai--" her pen jerks, slipping off the page, she squawks, and her feet trip right over a particularly hard snowdrift that had hardened to ice.  embarassment stains her cheeks a bright sanguine, and she jerks her head to and fro, trying to comfort herself with the idea of solitude, that no one had seen --

-- but such is made impossible by a certain oh jaehun.  she feels the tips of her ears and fingers burn for the sake of disappearing into the air, and scrambles to pick up her utensils while offering a supposedly casual, "hey."

materials gathered, she tries to dig her vanished fingernails into her palms whilst cooly (at least she hoped it came off as such) asking, "whatcha doing out here?"

[xmsiwon-gone-blog]

Pain. A deep breath followed. Metal objects around him rattled and levitated for a moment, his concentration lapsing with the stimulus. He gritted his teeth, and closed his eyes. The objects fell back down, a messy orchestra of metal against surface rang around them. 

All seemed to be fine, until the refrigerator flew from within the kitchen towards him. It’s plug rattling noisy on the floor, like a tail.

Opening the freezer, he grabbed a bag of ice and immediately applied it to the burn. Sighing in relief, his eyes almost rolling to the back of his head, Siwon had a contented smile on his lips.

Picking up the fallen towel, Siwon wrapped it back around his waist and with a flick of his finger, the refrigerator flew back to it’s rightful place. Moving to the female student, he smiled, reaching over to hold her hand before handing the bag of melted ice that was in full contact with his regions, to her. “Help Saeng take care of this.” He said, giving her a heart before making his attempt to escape.

[xmjinri]

TRAPPED between looking and not looking, her expression mimics that of a dying trout onshore. before she can utter any sort of response, the cafeteria falls to chaos and she shrieks, covering her ears and dropping to the ground instinctively.  wide, wide eyes watch the refrigerator approach with a detached curiosity, and she shakes her head, somewhat convinced she must be dreaming.

the brunette watches the man, focusing on keeping her gaze up, intensifying horror seeping into her features with the continued lack of a pained response.  that could only mean one thing -- an inability to recieve full sensory response.

nerve death.

a moment of carelessness resulted in her ruining sex for this man forever.

 and children?  dear lord, he could say goodbye to ever having those.

fuck.  fuck.

guilt goads her to the point of near tears, leaving her dispondent as he guides her hand to hold the ice in front of his crotch.  all she really manages is a weary, "why?"

[xmsiwon-gone-blog]

“Ahhh~ Nothing like fresh coffee in the morning.” He sighs, finishing his coffee in one go. Glancing over, Siwon blinks. “What are you looking at?” He said, turning to walk away before…

“Whoops”

[xmjinri]

LAST NIGHT was a mere other in a series of nights sleepless, and so it's with a combination of annoyance and defeat that jinri makes her way to the cafeteria early, in hopes of reaching the part of the day where being conscious wasn't so bad faster.

such was her first mistake.

she does her best to ignore the fact that there's only two people in the cafeteria -- her and the weapons training professor, wearing a mere towel around his waist.  she is too tired to care -- and working as a delivery girl, had seen far worse -- deciding to study the patterns of the tile than acknowledge the mess in front of her.

"i'm just in line sir," she replies, words hitching on the backside of a yawn as she begins to make her own coffee.  the aerokinetic finds a special kind of peace as the brown ambrosia curls up in her cup, happy to watch it gather -- this peace is shattered with the sound of a soft whump, her eyes seeing far too much at far too early, and her wrist, flicking boiling hot coffee at the male's exposed regions.

"SEONSAENGNIM!"

[xmsooyeon-blog]

     IN ALL HONESTY, sooyeon probably would have burst out laughing right then and there at the sight of her student’s little.. dilemma, but already creating a temporary reputation of being the “christmas tree dictator” at the event, she couldn’t just dispose of her facade that quickly.

not when she was having so much fun, of course.

“do you think that’s an excuse?! huh, choi jinri?!” she shout, having to bit down on her lower lip to refrain from laughing at the image of the brunette equally struggling with the ornament and her sweater — granted, you could tell she was half-kidding from her fluctuating harshness of voice, but maybe she was just being biased because the victim in question was a member of her own, personal squad. “i have dozens of other trees to monitor being put up, and do you think i’m gonna just stop and take a break so you can untangle a fucking snowflake from your shirt?”

( the ridiculousness level of this situation was clearly through the roof at this point. )

[xmjinri]

FLINCHING is all she can do at the screeches of her mentor, no matter how teasing her words may be.  it was only natural, with there being a steel to the voice of jung sooyeon that jinri wished laced her spine.  

unfortunately, flinching only pulls more of her sweater apart, and at this point, she is left (nearly) tearfully wondering if the unit that was "choi jinri's outfit" would make it out in one, whole piece.  the brunette couldn't help but hope this wasn't true, though she had said goodbye to things of more significance; the outfit was cute, and she wasn't ready to part with it in such a ludicrious manner.

"NO!  it's not, but, but, but... uh," she was discovering, unfortunately, that increasing embarassment made a horrible muse for things as simple as speech, "it is what's actually happening?  just, close your eyes or something and it'll be okay, don't worry, i got this.  i’ve got this!"

probably.

[xmsooyeon-blog]

     IN ALL HONESTY, you couldn’t blame sooyeon for letting all of her authority at the school go the tiniest bit to her head — but could you blame her? she spent hours of her days standing front of a lecture hall of bratty students, forced to monitor assessments and actually teach them. so sure, she wasn’t ashamed to admit the fact that she’d grown to become more of a.. surveyor than an actual doer when it came to large scale projects like this.

( cue the incessant stream of nagging. )

“what the hell do you think you’re doing?!” she snapped at her next unlucky victim. “we’re trying to set up a fuckin’ christmas tree here — not the goddamn leaning tower of pisa.”

[xmjinri]

SOMETIMES she feels like the threads of the universe themselves have decided to work in a way to tangle her up in their muck; it’s the only way to explain how severe her lashes of bad luck seemed to get.  a clear example would be the current moment -- a moment of kindness -- weakness? -- had spurred her to put her things aside and help a fellow student put up their ornament: an interesting, bejewelled and jagged affair that, by the time she had managed to put it where requested, had become entangled in her sweater. 

“no,” the aerokinetic huffs to herself, tugging in a way that only manages to both make it worse and the tree shake.  dark eyes desperately dart downwards, only to make contact with a very displeased jung sooyeon.

she ducks her head in apology, swallowing a shriek as she feels more thread join the knot and leave her jumper, replying, “i’m sorry!  i’m just...” her expression grows sheepish, “... stuck?”  it’s not a question choi jinri, you know what you are, “stuck!  i’m stuck.”