Dare To Trust

T H U N D E R B I R D 

Represents the soul 

Favors adventurers 

House colors: white and gold

Housepride Aesthetics | Ravenclaw

David rolled his eyes. “Not very nice looking? That’s bullshit and you know it.” He knew he could be intimidating at times ( read: all the time ) but he liked to think he wasn’t an obvious criminal. With how little suspicion he drew to himself, it was impossible for him to think otherwise, even if most of his inconspicuous appearance came from his abilities rather than looks alone. “I don’t look evil, at any rate.” While he didn’t necessarily put weight to the word ( or any morally charged statement, for that matter ) he refused to believe that anyone else could either – at least in regards to him. He was above those concepts and everyone had to know it. “Why the hell would I apologize for that, of all things? It was hilarious!” No doubt Byeol disagreed, but he didn’t tend to take anyone else’s opinions into account. “Besides, you need to get over that ridiculous phobia of yours. Ghosts aren’t even real.” As far as he was concerned, anyway.

He snorted, shaking his head. “You’re the brat here,” he shot back, a bit more childishly than he intended. “What exactly was I supposed to bring? I don’t know if you noticed, but I’m not exactly surrounded by possessions.” His car and his cellphone we about the only things he kept, aside from the array of supplies he used in his less friendly excursions. He shot a glare in Chan-bye’s direction as he patted at his knee, though for the moment he held back the threat at the tip of his tongue – he figured being violently minded wouldn’t go over so well with the rest of the passengers. Especially passengers rich enough to afford first class. “I don’t need your charity. I’m perfectly capable of entertaining myself for twelve hours.” At least, he thought he was. Whether he was right or not remained to be seen. “Jesus Christ, you’re infuriating! This isn’t my first time flying, for god’s sake,” he snapped back, lying. Was it really that obvious that he’d never been on a plane before? Not that it mattered – he’d refuse it either way.

Approximately three hours into the flight, David realized he hadn’t been so right about things after all. While he certainly wasn’t afraid of flying, boredom had set in long ago and at this point he was gritting his teeth together to stop from violently assaulting the first person to make a noise – especially given that such a person was snoring beside him. He grated his jaw together more tightly as Byeol knocked into him, taking a deep breath to try and settle his irritation. The last thing he needed was to kill someone over a flight. “I’m fine,” he said, surprised at how level he was able to keep his tone, “mind your own business.” There was the irritability. “If you want to play a game, that’s fine with me, but don’t go pretending like it’s charity.”

“I mean...it really wasn’t. But! Ghosts are real! If they weren’t real, then how do you explain all of the evidence I found in just my house alone? Or all of the television shows? Or all of the eye witness accounts? Or all of the movies? Or books? Or--” Byeol cut off with a small gasp, taking a second to actually breathe, before continuing with another onslaught of questions. “And my phobia isn’t ridiculous! It is very valid, and justified!” The younger male argued back petulantly, before sticking his tongue out at David and giving a snide look as the older man, also continued to go back and forth. “Awwee, is someone mad? Because I called them a brat? Poor Davey.” Chan-bye teased relentlessly, enjoying messing with the man. “And...that’s true I guess...but, you could have just asked to borrow some of my stuff. I have a lot of things to keep me entertained, and would let you use them. Because you’re my favorite old guy.” He finished with a sweet tone, and smile; but being sure to put emphasis on the ‘old’ part. Just to further annoy the man.

Chan-bye merely stared at David, small and slightly smug smile gracing his features, as he listened. As soon as his friend finished, he made a small humming noise, as if going over the comments in his head. “I mean....I am the one funding you for your vacation....and going to be your main source for just about...everything. Since you know...you don’t know the city...or the language...so, you sort of are my business.” The boy taunted, elbowing the man lightly. “I guess if you really, really, really wanted; I could just leave you to fend for yourself, once we get off the plane. We can see how you do without me. But I don’t think you’ll last very long...if at all.” He snickered behind a hand, enjoying being able to pester David so much. Especially after the whole haunted house fiasco. 

Another four hours in the air. Approximately seven out of the twelve hours, they would be on the aircraft. Somewhere in between pestering David, watching a few programs on his laptop together, snacking, and interacting with his siblings; Byeol had fallen asleep again. Though ever the active sleeper, he’d managed to move from curled on his side against the window to, sloughing in the comfortable seat, and at least once or twice; his head had found its self on David’s arm or shoulder. Once fully awake, he stretched out his limbs, enjoying the pops from his joints for a moment. Only to have the eldest of his sisters, fuss at him about how the pins were coming undone. Just to end the ranting, Chan-bye moved to allow her to re-pin his hair. 

Upon his return, he pulled out his laptop again and scooted closer to David. “Do you wanna watch another movie? I have all of the Lilo and Stitch ones, and the show. We should watch it.” He said, as he set it up. Not really giving his friend the option of not watching, and instead scooting even closer; pulling out a box of animal crackers and offering some to the man. “You can share it with me, since I’m such a nice person.” Chan-bye joked, as he played the first of movie of their marathon. 

Normally, the grounds for a ritual was much grander than the makeshift campsite he and his few local followers had set up, but for a temporary location it’d done quite nicely. The sacrifice and celebration that’d followed had gone uninterrupted and as according to plan, and not for the first time his power had been restored – and the faith his family had in him reignited. In his line of work he’d found that nothing ( nothing ) got them well and charged up like an offering to their Gods, and with their energy spent and spirits rejuvenated they’d been sent off to a long and well-earned slumber… all but one of them, anyway. The good pastor himself had elected to stay and keep watch for the rest of the night and early morning, allowing those that had participated in the ritual to return to their daily tasks while he remained to make sure their site was properly cleansed.

It was only when he turned his back for a moment that the unexpected occurred. 

The sound of one of the remaining tables drew him away from his clean-up and back to the ritual site, curiosity driving him to find the source of the noise. What he found was a curious young man, crouched over and cleaning up the things he’d knocked onto the ground – much more courteously than he’d expect from someone his age. “No need to apologize, son,” he said, extending a hand to pick him up off the ground, “accidents happen all the time. I’ll get the rest of this.” No need to have another snooping around sacrificial supplies – it would likely look odd to anyone who didn’t belong to his close circle of followers. “Regardless, are you quite alright? That table can be hard on the knees,” he continued, his tone as calm and soft as though he were speaking to his daytime crowds – nothing that would indicate he was anything out of the ordinary. “I know from experience.”

Chan-bye couldn’t help his curiosity as he picked up a few items, wondering what they were. Only to whip his head around, and stare up with wide guilty eyes; and just stared. Not really knowing what else to do, he merely accepted the hand to pull himself up. “I’m sorry....I just...I was, I uh...didn’t...sorry.” Byeol apologized, and as soon as the man bent down to pick up the rest of the objects knocked over; the young rebel scout was rushing back to the ground, to help clean up again. 

“Please! I can help! It’s my fault, I should have been looking where I was going, and I shouldn’t have been wandering around your campsite, and--” He cut off, taking a second to actually breathe, and then starting up again. “Oh...yeah, I’m fine...it uhm...it doesn’t hurt too much.” With his enhanced endurance, it would take numerous trips into the table, for him to actually feel any of the pain. “Uhm...so..what is all of this? Not to be like nosey! But! Uhm...it looks like super cool. Is it like...wizard stuff...are you...a wizard? Cause if you are....can you like...show to me a spell? Or...can you tell me my fortune? I love divination, and have like tarot cards and everything! I’m really good with them, and I could totally show you sometime, and....well...yeah, you know.” Byeol finished looking up smiling, and eyes shining with excitement.

He fixed Chan-bye with a harsh stare – using just enough of his ability to make him physically uncomfortable – before he bothered to address his blasphemy. “I don’t look suspicious,” he scoffed, crossing his arms over his chest. “I’m too good-looking for that. And evil, as if!” He couldn’t necessarily argue with the idea that he had a nasty streak to him, but he liked to think his appearance wasn’t as off-putting as his personality. “Besides, there’s no such thing as karma. If there was, it’d take more than dragging you to a haunted house to set it on me.” That, and he was certain being an active serial murderer would make him the least lucky person in the entire world. As it so happened, he felt reasonably content with his life – few things bothered him about it. At least, as far as he told anyone. Any resentment for his situation was well hidden.

Perfectly content to hand the task of putting luggage away to someone else, he placed his bag down near Byeol’s brother. He, of course, was perfectly able to reach the top of the plane, but if there was one motto he lived by, it was one where he never did anything himself unless it was clearly necessary. Afterwards, he slipped into the seat beside Chan-bye, watching as he dug through his backpack for who knows what – very little made sense when it came to him. For all he knew, it could’ve been a full course meal! Or a small army of kittens. “What does any of that have to do with flight times? Twelve hours is too long,” he practically whined, looking over the use of a dreaded nickname…. just this once. Of course, two months was comparatively longer, but he liked to think they wouldn’t be trapped on a plane for that amount of time.

As soon as a smirk spread across Byeol’s face, he knew he was in for some teasing. Not necessarily the effective kind, but with his low threshold for irritation, he was bound to rile him up enough to fight back with less tact. “It’s not my first time,” he scoffed, lying, “I’ve been on airplanes before. How do you think I got to Pansaw in the first place?” Driving, but Chan-bye didn’t need to know that. He’d never claimed to have his rust-bucket of a car before he arrived, had he? He rolled his eyes as the smaller man continued, leaning his head back against the seat. “Turbulence won’t bother me – and neither will anything else, for that matter. I’m above fear.” 

“Aaaaahhhhh, well....you sort of, do. Just a little bit...you’re not like...very nice looking, you know.” Byeol commented with a grin, before shrugging. “Whatever you say. Just remember, that my little prank war rebellion thing; doesn’t stop, until you give to me an apology for the haunted house.” The boy taunted again, as he scooted into his seat and ceased his digging; pulling out a medium sized Scrump backpack. Opening that and digging into that one next, for his earphones. “Honestly...twelve hours isn’t that long. You sound like a brat.” Chan-bye teased relentlessly, using his hand to hide the endless stream of chuckles. “I told you to bring things on your carry on, that will keep you entertained. Since I’m so nice, I will share my stuff with you.” The rebel scout stated, patting the older male’s arm in a somewhat condescending manner. 

Continuing to dig around in his bag, Byeol finally pulled out a juice box and small pocky box. Opening it as he listened to David defend himself, unable to help the small scoff of amusement. He turned in his seat to talk face to face with his friend, lazily sipping from the straw of his drink; then shook his head. “I don’t know Davey there are many other ways of getting from some other place, to here. Maybe you took a train? Or bus? But...I can tell that this is your first time on a plane.” Of course he didn’t actually know if this was David’s first time on a plane or not, but teasing him was still just as much fun. “Okayy....if you say so...I’ll make sure to remember that, when you’re all tense and fidgety at the first rock of the plane.” Chan-bye finished, turning to face the correct way and fastening his seatbelt; sending one last smirk towards the man, as the aircraft began moving. 

Not even three hours into the flight, and Byeol was already out cold; using the plush backpack as a makeshift pillow. Earphones still pumping out music, as he snored lightly. Another thirty minutes of blissful sleep, did he wake up; pausing the music and stretching out his arms. Being sure to over dramatically do so, and ‘accidentally’ hit David a few times in the process. “You look bored, David...do you wanna play a game? I brought cards, and I have my 3DS and a spare one, or you can watch a movie with me.” Chan-bye offered sweetly, already having a way to mess with his older friend with each given option.

He’d been wandering around the shadier parts of Pansaw when the little fox found him, and though he hadn’t been expecting the visit, it wasn’t necessarily an unwelcome one. Putting his hands on his hips, he stared down at the animal with a brow raised and a smirk stretched across his lips. “What are you doing out in a place like this, kid?” he asked, though of course he didn’t expect a coherent answer while the boy appeared to be a fox – especially not with an envelope clamped gently between its teeth. He stooped down to take it when it was offered to him, giving the animal a quick scratch behind the ears before he stood back to his full height. He didn’t know what was in the damn thing ( could’ve been another prank, for all he knew ) but he figured if it was urgent enough for Chan-bye to come find him, he might as well have opened it.

Besides, despite the constant string of threats David snarled at him whenever they were in each others’ company, he was something like a little brother to him. Even the rest of his family had seemed to be perfectly content with letting him into their home, and while he’d never exactly been one for the whole togetherness thing, it’d been nice to feel wanted. It’d been a long time since he’d found any acceptance in others, and despite that he had no doubts that’d his true colors would be much less easy to swallow, he decided to enjoy it while it lasted. After all, with sparingly few friends and no relatives to speak of, he had to take what he could get. 

As it happened, the envelope in question had held an plane ticket and an invitation to a vacation, of sorts, and thus he found himself making his way through the Pansaw airport, grumbling to himself about most of the process – at least he could skip security. “Hey, I was getting through security. It’s not exactly a short process,” he lied, his tone a bit more defensive than necessary. He’d never been on a plan in his entire life, let alone in first class. The amount of money it took to buy the goddamn ticket was more than he’d seen in his entire life! When they finally boarded the plane – more quickly than he’d thought – he followed Byeol back to where they were assigned to sit, turning back to face him when he mentioned exactly how long their flight would be. “Did you just say we’d be in this damn thing for twelve hours?” he asked, a bit more dramatically than what was necessary. “I thought they’d have made planes faster by now.”

Having huffed at the obviously rhetorical question, Chan-bye had just nudged at David’s leg until the man bent, and took the offered envelope. Giving a small yip in acknowledgement at the scratch, and making sure David opened the envelope and retained the information; before trotting off to go and pack his things. 

Now back in present time, he let out a small chuckle at David being held up at the security gates; but it was understandable. “Well...maybe its because you look very suspicious David. It’s understandable though, you look like...very evil. It was probably karma for dragging me into the the haunted house.” Chan-bye jabbed jokingly, as they walked down the spacious aisle of the first class section. He stopped right in front of their aisle, exchanging a few words with his brother in Korean; before stepping into the row to take the window seat. “He is putting away my luggage since I can’t reach, you can leave yours and he’ll do the same.” The youngest of the group told David, as he sat in the comfortable seat and began digging around in his backpack. 

At the dramatic question, the rebel scout couldn’t hold back a laugh; shaking his head as he pulled out his phone. “Davey....we’re flying straight from Pansaw to Incheon, so we have the most time possible for the vacation. It is a two month long vacation, so we will spend the first month in between Incheon and Seoul; then the last one we will fly to Busan.” He explained, then noticed how fidgety his friend seemed to be. A small smirk spread across his face as he pounced quickly on the risen opportunity. “Is this your first time on a plane? I sure hope that you don’t mind the turbulence that usually happens, I hear that first timers on planes get super sick. And like....nauseous...probably have to run to the restroom to throw up. Yikes.” Chan-bye said smugly, sending a message to his friends that he would be there in a couple of hours. “I mean...if you can’t handle a little turbulence, how will you handle all the trains and busses we will be taking? Poor little Davey, don’t worry. When I was scared of riding on planes, I would sit with my sisters or huddle up by my brother. The only difference is...well...I wasn’t old, I was six.” He chuckled as smugly, leaning back comfortably in the seat as he waited for David’s response.

davidkeros:

Admittedly, the fact that he’d only gotten a soft yip from the fox was more than a bit surprising. While not hated by animals as a whole – although he and dogs seemed to share a mutual dislike for each other – feral ones in particular didn’t tend to be too comfortable in human company. Then again, the fact that there was a wild fox in his car at all ( a car he’d left comfortable locked, at that ) was something of a mystery in and of itself, and so he had to wonder whether the damn thing had been given one too many handouts. It was an unfortunate habit of the more compassionate, after all, to see something cute and wild and immediately assume their help was needed – damn false saviors, the lot of them. No wonder so many animals became roadkill.

After a moment or two of watching the fox, he grew bored and turned back to try his luck at sleeping, settling down in his seat and closing his eyes. Just when he’d finally begun to drift off, a loud – and most certainly not fox-like sneeze snapped him to attention, and he whipped around to see just exactly what had happened… and was immediately met with an embarrassed ( and naked? ) man. He blinked twice, trying to get his exhaustion-clouded brain to work through the situation, turning back just before the stranger yelped at him and bringing a hand up to pinch at the bridge of his nose. What was it with strangers and breaking into his car? “Jesus Christ,” he muttered to himself, only looking up from his position when the man slid into the passenger’s seat, a look of exhausted disbelief spreading across his face.

“Okay, kid,” he said, barely listening to the ( rather awkward ) introduction he was given, having reached the acceptance stage of the situation. “I’m going to give you, say… thirty seconds to explain yourself, and if by the end I’m not satisfied, I’m stabbing you to death.” Despite the threat, his tone was more matter-of-fact than angry, and his facial expression had passed from confused to something closer to boredom. “So, get talking, then. If you’re not here to steal my damn car, why the hell are you in it? I don’t even care about the whole…” He trailed off, gesturing vaguely in Byeol’s direction. “…thing you’ve got going on there.”

“Well...to be very fair, sir; I don’t think...thirty seconds is...well you know...enough time.” Chan-bye began, digging into his bag to pull out a small Pocky¨™ box; and taking a stick out to put in his mouth. “I’m pretty sure...I’ve used like...half of that time already. In my opinion, you should...give someone more time to explain; before you stab them to death. Especially since you know...it takes...like..well..time, to process the threat and everything.” He rambled, eating the chocolate covered stick and looking out the window at the rain; still heavily coming down. 

After staring off into space for a few moments, he snapped his attention back to the man in front of him. “Oh! Uhmm...yeah...I’m not like...really sure how to steal a car. I mean...if you just left the keys in the car...and the doors unlocked...then...I guess i could steal it. But ahh...yeah...I don’t know how to hot wire a car...or uh...drive for that matter.” The boy admitted, with a sort of embarrassed chuckle; continuing to eat. “Anyways, I was here because I was walking home. But then...it started raining...and so I didn’t want to get all wet and sick and cold; so I thought I would sit in here and wait for a little bit...until it cleared up a little bit. I thought it was you know..abandoned. so that’s why...I’m here.” He finished with a large exhale, sinking further into the seat and holding the box out towards the man. 

“You can have some...ahhh...I don’t know your name, but uhm...sorry for breaking into your car.” Chan-bye finalized, staring back out the window with a dazed look. “I like watching rain..its..entertaining; don’t you think?”