they took p i c t u r e s of our ( dreams ); ran to hide behind the stairs. but if they don't come down resist the need to pull them in and t h r o w them away; better to ( save ) the mystery than surrender
t o t h e s e c r e t
Jaejin doesn’t have problems helping out field agents when it comes to more technical aspects of their job. He can clearly remember when he needed the same type of help himself. How was he supposed to talk a big game if he wasn’t willing to help ? So he’s sitting at his computer staring at a map watching as the tracker blinks off and on and off and on again… the agent on the other line of his headset.
Pursing his lips as he listens to the other in the line he cuts them off, time for business.
“The safe is off to the right, we need to move quickly in order for this to work. But I mean all we need to get is a laptop right ? That’s what you said they stored all the info on ?” He asked running a hand through his hair.
despite the urgency of the mission, restrained steps walked him to his destination, as if there was no need for rushing the task. as if there wasn’t a clock ticking loudly right at the back of his mind. but it was essential that he passed the people without letting the slight hint of agitation break out; although he was quite used to the job at this point, these types of missions always left him on his toes.
yao knew exactly what he needed to do. he’d worked with jaejin in the past and also knew he was under competent guidance. still, it was a race against time, and he couldn’t refrain from wondering. what if he failed.
the specialist’s voice called him back to the objective, hastening his steps now that he was out of view. “ got it. i’m at the door now. ” yao unlocked the closed door to the room the laptop was supposedly stored in and, as soon as he was inside, he closed it behind him again, immediately turning to the safe on the wall. he supposed not having it concealed was intentional, to make it seem like there was nothing really important inside.
“ okay... ” yao finally said, staring at the safe in front of him. “ do you have a combination for me or is this gonna be a trial and error sorta thing? ”
were her hands shaking? why? why was it shaking this bad? this was real, this was totally happening and she knew, she damn well knew that she had to do this whether if it was against her will or not. this was her job, she had trained for this for years so why can’t she just pull the damn trigger? it felt as if the world had gone slow, the time ticking as it waited patiently for her decision. would she shoot or not? from a distance she heard a voice screaming or yelling at her but it was… vague. her heart hammering through every inch of her, gun pointed a man who they called the villain or was he? wasn’t she being the villain now? with her gun pointed to his head.
tick. tock. tick. tock. tick. tock. tick. tock.
she was running out of time and her body refused to cooperate. the man who was on his knees with his face that pleaded for mercy as if he was asking her to give her a second chance to change didn’t help her decision making at all. maybe she could bring him to hwarang and have him join them, to train and be a better person. she was ready to put her gun down and tell him of her condition, she couldn’t believe her soft hear won over her raging mind, in exchange for his life when it happened. the next thing she knew, a knife was stabbed on her stomach. the gun that was once in her hand, now lying down on the floor as she held on to her wound, as if her hand hovering over it would stop the blood from flowing─"hey”, a familiar voice called out, distracting her from her own thoughts, thoughts about the past.
immediately she looked up at the other, hands holding on tightly on the paper she was supposed to be reading ( something she did the night before her missions, readingoveranalyzing everything she should know about, making sure she hadn’t missed a thing before her mission tomorrow ) whilst sitting on her desk. “hey” she said in a hushed manner before turning to look at the clock to check the time. wait, what? it was quarter to twelve already? she haven’t even noticed the time. “why are you still up? it’s late.” her voice gentle yet curious, a small and tired smile plastered on her lips.
although living all by himself had its benefits, there was a lot in the agency he couldn’t even hope to have outside of it. for some would be the advanced technology, the many luxuries or the countless places for training. for yao, however, was the pool. at nights like these, he often found himself seeking the quietness of the water, where he could stay for however long he desired. tonight in special he had taken a few good minutes to swim around before going home, enjoying the undisturbed tranquility until sleep came looking. but by the time he’d gotten properly dressed and ready to leave, he was feeling as sleep slowly fled.
even so, he was ready to leave and call it a day, but he automatically checked the time on his phone and the last text messages he’d gotten from ara. the lack of messages should be something normal to him. especially if considering they had talked not that long ago. and also the fact that sometimes they were just too busy to even take the time to reply a few short messages. yet, he automatically put himself on the way to check if she was still around before going home.
as soon as he reached the door and saw the girl sitting on her desk, he leaned against the door frame, watching her silently for a second before breaking the silence with a soft “hey”. her response inciting raised eyebrows and an inquisitive look, clearly suggesting she shouldn’t be the one making that question.
“ what are you still doing up this late? ”
yao crossed his arms over his stomach, watching her attentively, noticing something a tad off. he tilted his head to the side a little, almost as if to take a better look and be sure he wasn’t seeing too much into it. “ i thought i wouldn’t even find you here. ” his tone was softer now, a speck of worry lacing it, his voice barely loud enough to disturb the quiet room, “ is everything okay? ”
the art of staying inconspicuous while remaining present ( and not laughably blending into the background ) was a delicate art, one that all hwarang recruits had to master doing before being sent out into the world. in a world of peacocks preening and puffing out their chests, it would be remiss for agents to keep plain, to wear a little black dress and fade into the wallpaper the way waiters and concierges do. in order to blend in to a world of peacocks, one must become a peacock themselves. so agent ivy shook her mane of dark curls and leaned to the touch of her husband, surveying the room as if she could conceivably buy every single one of those in attendance from under the table.
“i think we’d look a little strange without a drink in our hands, no?” a tinkling laughter, as if yao had just said something thoroughly amusing. her hooded eyes regarded him then, a quick second of half-melted resolve, before she slipped a hand into the crook of her husband’s arm – ready to lead him to a more advantageous vantage point. “darling, wont you let me lose a few million in the poker table? i’ll even let you play against me to win it back.”
her voice carried just a little louder than her previous whispers, an addition to the polite chatter of the room; hyera felt herself involuntary shudder for reasons unknown. unhelpful and thoroughly unprofessional, she stamped out the strange feeling in her stomach by focusing upon the task at hand, as per usual– with the feeling of her gun strapped to her left thigh weighing her back down to reality. the beautiful thing only nodded at her partner to take the seat across oval table from her, in order for them to take a full 360 degrees view of the room; of course, with shi yao directly in centre-frame, a perfect cover of a wife to stare dreamily at her new husband, when she’s really keeping an eye at the table just behind his shoulder.
settling on the plush seat by the dealer, hyera could catch a glimpse of him every single time her eyes left her cards. again, the strange feeling bubbled in her stomach. while mentally steeling herself the way she always does, her long fingers threw in a $5,000 chip into the pool– raising an eyebrow subtly at the man directly opposite her as she took a peek at the cards she was dealt. a passable hand, worth a few bets.
so she smiled, a light bluff – before throwing in a $1000 chip into the middle of the table.
all the while, keeping their charge within her peripheral vision. with a small little shake of her wrist, the beautiful thing turned her white gold bracelet around in order to activate the hearing device she snuck onto the beading of the president’s daughter’s blue dress, a small trick she perfected after years of reconnaissance experience.
“let meee- roll the dice! can’t i?”
“alright one more game, babe– i can’t wait to get back to our room…”
“aww stop! you’re so bad!”
hyera almost snorted out loud, masking the tick with a determined bite upon her lower lip – she could only look up at her partner with a secret look, tracing a small circle with her finger on the table before tapping it once.
one round.
as the situation called for, they needed to blend with the crowd as perfectly as they could. no detail was little enough; from the expensive clothes to the jewelry, the feigned smiles from time to time, the terms of endearment. even the glaring gold wedding band ornating his ring finger. they couldn’t leave anything behind. with this, yao jumped over his personal worries to admit that she was right, something as small as not having a glass of champagne amidst a room full of alcohol could raise unwanted suspicions. at this point, he had his doubts any of these people could be genuinely interested in anything other than themselves, but he had been wrong before. and he wasn’t willing to take the risk.
yao took the flute to his lips, taking a sip of the drink as if to subtly agree. the second he moved the glass away from him, there was already a captivated smile lighting his features. with a quick, reflexive movement, he gave her an opening to nestle her hand in the crook of his arm, allowing her the gesture without as much a look to hyera's side. next came an amused chuckle, and only then his eyes turned to hers, both charmed and challenging. “ you can keep your wins. i’m feeling generous tonight, ” he began as they slowly made their way to their new chosen place to keep a closer watch. “ if i happen to win, we can think of a few other ways for you to repay me. ” there was not a single drop of effort to keep the words in a secretive voice. quite the contrary. his tone and half smirk only reiterating the lurking insinuations behind his words, sounding purposefully careless enough for those they were passing by to catch on, something to keep prying ears entertained.
just for a brief second, he was able to steal a glance at the girl sitting a few tables away, located behind the seat he was about to take. a momentary glance before he takes his place on the chair, eyes settled again in front of him while he took the seat, focused on his wife’s frame. from there, as hyera kept an eye on their little troublemaker, he could keep an eye on the other side of the room, looking for any vestige of a particular disturbance.
the cards he was dealt weren’t what he could call a decent winning hand, they were okay to beat another hand if he was lucky enough. although he knew it wasn’t about luck. yao rose his eyes to watch hyera, however, following every small gesture, her smile and then the small circle traced on the table by her finger. a subtle nod in understanding. yao had only to wait for their next step. and while they had no other option than to wait, he regarded his hand yet again, swiftly tossing two chips, one after the other. matching her bet and raising her by another thousand. he allowed the corner of his lips to rise along with his eyebrows then, curious.
🌺 — “Oi… One more time” he grumbled, running his fingers through his hair before leaning forward and grabbing chopsticks to slurp up some more ramen noodles. “Pronunciation is key. Why is this so hard for you?” He didn’t really mean to sound as harsh as he did, but his annoyance was obvious. Perhaps this kind of thing just came naturally to him and was more difficult to others, but he needed to make certain that they got it perfectly or they were going to end up blowing their cover immediately.
“You’re supposed to be someone who’s spoken this language nearly your whole life, but you’re sounding like someone who just picked it up as a hobby.” He clicked his tongue before wiping his chin with the sleeve of his shirt. He enjoyed his job, but he hated the way others didn’t take it as seriously as he did. Sometimes, he’d wished he’d taken up being a professor at some college or something. But then there’d be more of people just like this one. “Do you think my time is meant to be wasted? Just because this is my job doesn’t mean I couldn’t be doing more productive things right now like learning a dead language.”
“ can you show me how it is supposed to sound one more time? ” with a final note written down, yao raised his eyes to look at the other, the small notebook he’d been using sitting idly on his knee now. it was filled with annotations that, supposedly, should help improve his pronunciation faster. so far, however, it hadn’t been all that helpful, hence why he’d sought the specialist’s help. despite all the frustration that had started to rise a good few minutes ago, however, he opted for not letting it get to him. “ i know we’ve been here for a while and i’m sorry for taking so much of your time. i really am. but... ” yao stopped, slowly breathing in as he closed his eyes for a moment and raised his brows, his mind a little heavy with all the repetition. “ don’t know why this is so hard, ” he blinked, opening his eyes again with a subtle shake of his head, as if to dispel the small hint of tiredness. “ i’m sorry. just——a few more tries and i promise i’ll be out of your sight for today. deal? ”
MISSION: protect the south korean president’s
daughter from possible assassination attempt
COVER: the new mr and mrs xiao enjoying their honeymoon
OPERATIVES: ivy + @yacshij
all things considered, these kinds of missions are usually the best option out of many. glorified babysitting, if you will, in which the ‘glorified’ part only entails a colourful arsenal of firearms. the president’s daughter was a lilting, beautiful thing. foreign-educated and so thoroughly reckless, it wasn’t the first time that a hwarang agent had been assigned as covert security detail; possible assailants would be perfectly aware of security in the typical sense, of five or six men in dark suits and dark sunglasses surrounding a drunk twenty-three year old girl, hardly inconspicuous. such babysitting would’ve been entrusted to younger agents if it wasn’t for the very real threat that came to the blue house, this time, the president was forced to take the threats seriously.
so agent ivy stood tall, draped in white silk and diamonds– the only way one could stay incognito in a vip room full of billionaires and their trophy wives. roulette table laced with men with far too much money in their pockets, handful of chips thrown carelessly across the velvet table, hyera flitted over to her ‘husband’s’ side after taking a slow turn around the room. a flute of champagne in each hand. her dark eyes were trained at the table of shrieking girls almost at the centre of the room, it seems as if the president would be forced to sell off a trade deal to finance his daughter’s next poker hand.
“everything seems secure, from what i gather no one around here even knows who she is.” voice velvet soft in rapid mandarin, hardly loud enough for any eavesdropper to pick up above the raucous noise of the next roulette table. to outsiders, it might seem like her secret smile was a product of love, the very image of a shiny newlywed couple in their honeymoon. but her heart betrayed her otherwise placid features, for when her eyes were hazy and soft, her stomach flipped over and over with some strange sort of trepidation. hyera almost shuddered at the close proximity to shi yao, almost, as if only she was in any shape or form less talented than she truly was. but agent ivy never wavered, and with a natural little flick of her wavy tresses, she managed to glance subtly at an equally raucous group of hong kong rich kids. “nothing seems out of the ordinary, as of yet – she might not need much babysitting after all.”
she moved slightly away from him then, far enough to breath, yet straying close enough to mark her territory. that’s what protective new wives do, right?
yao stood quietly near a roulette table, hands buried deep in his black pants' pockets, his gaze gripped by the much familiar activity in front of him. years of training taught him this lane of work allowed no room for any sort of attachments to one's past, yet he couldn't properly restrain the memories incited by the evocative surrounding. given the serious grounds of the mission, however, it was his job to strip from those feelings; here he was agent jonquil, assigned with the sole task of preventing a twenty-three-year-old from meeting a cruel——and hopefully avertable——fate. there was no shi yao. merely mr. xiao at the eyes and knowledge of those around him, an exultant newly-wed spending an expensive honeymoon with his beautiful wife.
the thought pulled him off his mind, guiding his eyes elsewhere, to the feminine figure coming his way. his disguise permitted him a look of contemplation, a look of something more that wasn’t entirely for the sake of keeping their cover believable. yao accompanied her with his eyes as she approached, reminding himself there was yet some more to keep buried tonight, not only the strange sensation of reminiscence. but it was easier said than done.
as she closed the distance between them, yao leaned in just a bit to catch the swiftly nearly-whispered words in his mother tongue. he mirrored her subtle smile; to stranger eyes and ears, there was nothing more than a couple exchanging a few words in private. her words prompted him to look around, at the men sporting their expensive black suits and shiny watches; the women flaunting their jewelry in combination with their outfits, all apparently too busy and trapped in their own world. the prospect of ending the night without any major occurrences and be done with it was, without a doubt, tempting; at her following words, he nodded. “ from where i stand, everything's in order, too. no potential threats, it seems. ” yao gave in response, too self-conscious of their closeness. even after she stepped away just a few centimeters. “ nevertheless, ” he began again, leaning a little too close to deliver the whisper more confidentially, another smile painting his lips to mask the real content of their conversation. “ we still have to wait and see. something might still come up, so don’t let your guard down. ”
yao took both his hands out of his pocket, one wandering to his wife’s waist, delicately resting there as he inched even closer. dangerously so. lips ridiculously near her ear; that was a behavior more than common to a married couple, however. but certainly, not a gesture that should make him as nervous. “ and we should probably go easy on the alcohol. always a bad idea in these situations. ” he said as he took one of the flutes of champagne from her, finally retreating. if his worries were exclusively for the possibility of endangering the mission, though, he wasn’t sure himself.
Hello, I’m Lumi!!! Let’s just take a moment to watch this attempt of an introduction get super awkward because it has been literally years since I’ve done this. hOWEVER, I am super excited to be here and present my child to you. I’ll probably have a bio or something of the sort up for him soon, but let’s be realistic, i’m slow, so who knows when soon’s gonna be... for the time being, I’m gonna leave some info on him under the cut, also a few ideas of wanted connections and such. If you’d like to plot, feel free to hit me up or like this and I’ll come to you as soon as I see it!
( zhang yixing, cismale, he/his ) — Welcome back, SHI YAO. I’m surprised you’re still a FIELD AGENT! Congrats! You’re TWENTY-SEVEN years old? Our agents usually don’t last that long! :O I see you’ve been given an IRISH SETTER. Funny how it seems they work harder than you! Can’t wait for another lovely day of you being PATIENT. Though, if we’re being honest, we really know you’re more SECRETIVE. Welp, have a good at work, Agent JONQUIL. I really don’t care! I’m a robot, I have no feelings. ( lumi, 23, gmt-3, she/her )
BACKSTORY
Yao doesn’t know his biological parents. Why they didn’t keep him, is anyone’s guess; he never had anyone who knew about what really happened, no family whatsoever to tell him anything about where he’d come from and why he’d end up somewhere so fucked up.
He was raised by a man he always took for his grandfather. A compulsive drinker and gambler, a man who was always involved in some kind of trouble. His childhood wasn’t the brightest, that being so, he didn’t have the best education and they were always jumping around the country, running away from debt collectors and the law. Or trying to, at least.
At this point, his life was nothing but a big lie. With them moving around so much came the need of fabricated stories and a lot of pretending to sustain them. Every month they were someone different and had a different background. Even though with time Yao got really good at the whole pretending thing, he also realized there was never room for a real him.
When he was 16, however, things took an ugly turn. After a few years of successfuly dodging their pursuers, they came to a point where there was no running away anymore. His grandfather knowing this, gave Yao all the money they had left, a passport, a backpack and a name. It was the end of the line for him, but for Yao, it could be his chance of getting out of that life and maybe do something good with it.
Yao ended up in Seoul, Korea, at the front door of a lady he’d never seen or heard anything of. She took him in as if he was her own son, however, as if she’d known him her whole life; she gave him a bed to sleep, food to eat, clean clothes and a place that quickly started to feel a lot like home. She became a mother to him. He finally got the chance to properly go to school and have a decent part-time job, to have friends; he finally had the chance to figure out things for himself, to figure out who he was. A fresh new start, just for him.
Just a couple of years after, when he was about to turn 19, he was approached by Hwarang to join the organization, and he accepted because it seemed like a good turn of events, considering everything. (he doesn’t know it, but his mother was a former hwarang member. and also the lady who practically adopted him, and she knew his mother. so he received the offer probably just because of her. but will he ever know abou this. who knows.)
After joining the organization, he made it his life. He was very devoted to his training and did the most, you know, not to suck and lose the opportunity. At first he didn’t know how to feel about the whole idea, but nowadays he’s very passionate and committed to the job.
Outside Hwarang he leads a pretty normal life, lives in a small apartment with his Irish Setter, her name is Eva and she’s the most precious and important thing to him (and to me).
PERSONALITY
Yao is very eloquent, and although quiet in nature, he’s not shy. It takes a lot to get on his nerves and you better not get on his nerves, because it doesn’t get pretty when he’s angry. He doesn’t like confrontation or anything like that, but he doesn’t let people talk shit to him, if he needs to stand up for himself (or someone he knows and cares about) he will.
He doesn’t trust people. It comes without a surprise, I’d say. He grew up around people that were always sidestepping certain subjects whenever he asked about, people who never told the truth, people who lied to get what they wanted, etc. Even though he knows there are good, true people out there, he just can’t fully trust. He’s very insecure about this, actually, that people are always hiding something, or pretending to like him for whatever reason; it never feels real. My poor insecure child.
Speaking of hiding. Yao doesn’t talk about his past. He doesn’t talk about his life in general; that doesn’t apply just to co-workers or people he barely knows, it applies to friends too. And it also isn’t about him not wanting to talk about, it’s just that 1) he doesn’t often feel like he has anything interesting to share and 2) nobody asked, so he takes it as a hint that he probably shouldn’t tell.
Yao’s very observant and he pays attention to a lot. Even small details. He doesn’t tend to forget that easily, as well, so if somebody tells him their favorite ice cream flavor today, chances are he’ll remember even months later. Deep down, he makes the effort to remember because he likes to impress people with these little things.
He’s a good shoulder to cry on, a good person to tell a secret to, to vent, a good person to tell all your embarrassing stuff, the best friend to call drunk at night, to share compromising stories/pictures, because he would never judge or spread anything about it.
On that note, he hates gossip. Irrelevant, but throwing this info out there for whoever wants to know.
Also, Yao was born on January 10th, 1991. A whole Capricorn. And bisexual.
WANTED CONNECTIONS
Gimme best friends. Wheter someone he’s known since training days or someone he met after graduating but became fast friends. OR BOTH. There’s always room for more than one best friend.
I’d also love to have that unlikely friendship, where they’re so different in all aspects, but in some way ended up getting real close. Neither knows how it happened, but it’s not like they’re complaining.
Someone that maybe isn’t actually a close friend, who he goes after to talk when he needs to get something out of his chest or just need the company until he feels better. Pretty vague, but basically someone that listens and understands without asking a lot of questions. Something like that.
I would also love a flirtationship.
A carnal relationship. It's just sex, it's always been just sex and it's always gonna be just sex. or will it
Give me someone that actually gets on his nerves. Someone that seriously or just playfully enjoys irritating him, that likes to go against everything he says or anything of the sort. at this point i need this ajdhkeh i need this connection in my life. (it can also work for a friend. or enemies with benefits ~cof cof~anyone?~cofs~)
An ex would also be nice. But I’m not gonna specify if they ended on good terms or bad terms, because that would be nice to develop depending on their personalities and dynamics, so if anyone’s interested, we can discuss it
I know these are just a few and there’s probably a lot more that could be added here, but for now, I’m leaving at that. I know I was pretty vague with the connections as well, but it’s actually because this is just the very basic, I like to discuss it in more detail when we plot, in case anyone’s interested. We can brainstorm, mix two connections, come up with a new one that fits better for the muses, so no worries. come plot and there’s gonna be a lot of ideas for everyone!!!!
