River Lethe

Okay, maybe she was being melodramatic, but seeing the other’s lips curl in such a way toward absolutely nothing was quite unnerving; thus, Ahyeon found her thoughts to be perfectly justified.

No matter how much effort the young woman put forward, she could not bring herself to draw her eyes from his face. It was as if her gaze had decided on its own terms to outline each feature of his countenance. The man’s psychotic aura had dissipated the near instant he once again began to speak, leaving her breath to flow at a more comfortable pace and her posture to loosen its previously strict hold. From that moment onward, she deemed her inability to look away slightly more tolerable. At least she no longer pictured him straddling her with a bloody knife in hand. (It was very possible that she just wanted a reason to hate his grin, though.)

This time, the petite brunette found Chunji’s words to be easier to focus on than the last; in fact, she continuously tried to tune herself out for a second time, only to repeatedly fail, each slurred syllable of his able to grip her attention and hold it dearly. His claims weren’t heartwarming; they were not comforting, and they didn’t at all speed the rhythm of her pulse.

Okay, that last one was a complete lie, but the idea of it being true made her pinch the bridge of her nose and let out an agitated sigh.

Ahyeon’s hands buried themselves between her thighs while she skimmed her tongue over her lips and forced herself to look in the opposite direction. He was intoxicated! Was she really taking him seriously? Christ, who slipped her drugs?

His second-to final statement reached out for her chin and demanded her gaze to meet his. By this time her eyes were wide with some kind of terror and her lips had sucked themselves in to avoid any possibilities of her having the power to smile.

“I think you need water,” the young woman suggested after a couple of silent blinks.

When the man took her hands in a rather sloppy manner and began to sing, Ahyeon could finally toss any chance of him being serious out the window – a conclusion that relieved her, but also left an empty sensation within the pit of her stomach. It wasn’t long after, though, that she realized her roommate was most likely deep into a sound slumber, in which case the brunette stole one of her hands back, only to lurch forward and press her palm to Chunji’s mouth.

And dammit; he tried to hold on to his rationality that time. He tried to puzzle this out, because as goofy as he acted, something about it felt too natural for him to just write it off as drunken antics. Maybe he was really trying to say something here, and he just…couldn’t find any other way to express it.

So with that state of mind, the song only felt that much more like a good idea as he sang loudly out of key, forgetting any of the singing lessons he learned in choir in his urge to just be heard by the girl next to him. Shitfaced or not, he knew Ahyeon had a brilliant ability to twist things to her perspective, and somehow he decided the way to combat that was to shove his real meaning in her face until she succumbed to it. Or, once again, kicked him in the shin. At this point he could say the odds were at an optimistic 50-50 for which would happen.

His hopes for the best sunk down to his ankles, though, when he felt one of her hands slip free, Chunji fighting not to cringe as he anticipated another battle scar from the girl. Bad reaction time, however, left him sitting idly as he had been, though it didn’t make any difference, seeing that she didn’t actually move to hit him. Surprise shone in his eyes at this, and his words cut out near directly at the soft press of her hand.

This was the first time that night he was willing to admit he might not have been as drunk as he would have liked, because that touch had his cheeks burning, eyes slipping lower for a moment as he soaked in the slight sensation, her hand feeling soft and small and perfect. A pleasant hum escaped, but it was over far too soon, and he pouted up at her as she moved.

Once again, though, her gentleness took him off guard and he found himself smiling up at her, eyes crinkling with a strange adoration since he missed the rather patronizing tone that she spoke with. He had never been stupid enough to think she would act so nicely to him, and it poured over him like a warm ray of sunshine. How could he possibly argue with that?

When he admitted that he had feelings for her too, Fei’s heart nearly beat out of her chest. Would it be ok for her to move on right then and there? Could anyone blame her for wanting to be happy again? And yet, a painful pang of her heart told her that she wasn’t ready. What if these feelings for Chunji were only a rebound? Tao had talked to her about things like that and she didn’t want Chunji to be that kind of person in her life. What if she found that he was only like that and ended up hurting him? No. She wanted to make sure that her feelings were true.

She turned red as he talked about kissing her again and she looked down, rubbing her own arm. As much as she was tempted, she knew that she should be careful. “Thank you for understanding, Jiji. I don’t… I don’t think I’m ready. I don’t… know what I want and I don’t want to drag you along and give you the wrong impression. I do like you, but… I just want to make sure of my own feelings before I rush into anything, you know?” She looked at him with a small smile, reaching over and rubbing his arm.

“You’re amazing too. With everything I’ve been through, you’ve been right there for me when others weren’t. You, Hongki and Yoochun are the only ones who really seemed to care. I think… I might have lost my mind without any of you,” She said, sighing and leaning into him as they walked. She was, of course, trying to change the conversation from her feelings for him. Was what she had just said considered a rejection? It wasn’t meant that way. Of course she wanted to continue to get to know him. And if she realized her feelings were true, she’d be more than happy to be with him. But after what she had gone through… well…

“That’s the smart way to do things,” he agreed lightly, reassuring himself that things would play out as they were meant to. Even if he didn’t wind up with Fei, they had obviously fallen into each other’s lives for a reason, and he was happy to just have her in his…though he was obviously shooting for the best case scenario. Chunji’s smile was gentle and he wiggled his eyebrows playfully at her as he teased, “We’ve got all of the time in the world, and why waste it?”

But as she continued, his face folded back into more serious lines, though the light never left his eyes. Holding strong was easy when he was with Fei, and letting his mind drift when she was talking was nearly impossible, so he truly did feel like himself again. Those moments were coming back more often, and it gave him hope that things might go back to stable for him permanently. For then, however, he listened and wrapped an arm around her shoulder when she leaned into him.

The talk of her losing her mind hit a little too close to home, though, and he murmured a soft, “I could say the same thing for you. You especially.”  Chunji’s mind had traveled back to Seungri’s words the night of his big meltdown, but he forced himself out of that dark night to stay with Fei. “I’ll always be there for you, though. So you’ll never have to.”

Ah, it was all too much to think about. Why was she wasting her time?

The brunette shook her head as if to force out the menacing thoughts – thoughts which she found useless to consider anyway. The situation was simple; he was an idiot and he had no clue as to what he was saying.

“Oh, congratulations, you almost got yourself more intoxicated. Would you like a cookie?”

Ahyeon rolled her eyes, bracing herself for another moronic response from him despite her question being rhetorical. From that point onward the female decided she would tune out anything else he had to say. It’s not like any of it would be important, not to mention the fact that he had already filled her mind with concepts and inquiries which would undoubtedly keep her up all night and day. It seemed as if he had a bigger impact on her while he was out of it than in any other state, and that itself agitated the young woman. Were her IQ points dropping? How – in any universe – could a drunk man inflict more thinking than a sober one?

She was definitely going stupid.

The brunette’s eyes continued to rest on the other as he responded to her violence, and her brief moment of contentment immediately dissipated. Sure, the actions on her part were fairly relieving, but to see his reaction made her feel slightly remorseful. He deserved it though, didn’t he? He had shown up to her cottage unexpectedly, sang outside her window, and gave her a false confession. She had every reason to kick him. He deserved pain. He was acting like a lunatic!

The harsh jeers toward Chunji multiplied in her mind, adding pound upon pound to push down any guilt as much as she possibly could.

With the next glimpse she got of his features, however, she had to look away. Although she couldn’t give herself a proper reason as to why.

… Maybe she just hated his face.

“I’d happily beyour slave!”

Her teeth bit down on her tongue and she nearly stopped in her tracks, but refused to.

… Slaves die alone.

Finding it to be pointless to even respond, she kept her mouth shut.

Within seconds, Ahyeon had left Chunji as she shuffled to the restroom for a towel. The female gently shut the door behind her before finding a large piece of cloth and falling into a sitting position on the floor. Slowly she began to rid her feet of any dirt or unknown substances which may have come from outside. Though she was done within seconds, Ahyeon continued to rub one heel at a time with the towel, her eyes mindlessly fixed upon the floor as questions began to build up. As if one moment of silence was permission for every problem ever to make its existence known again!

Of course though, after only moments, the brunette was being pulled out of her mind by the sound of a sadly familiar voice. Ahyeon groaned as she threw the towel across the bathroom and stood up. “I was close to forgetting you, dammit,” she muttered as she opened the door and made her way back into the main area where she had expected to see Chunji, but didn’t.

She just … heard him though.

…

The brunette shook her head as the possibility of him settling into her room came into mind. Without hesitance she turned on her heel and quickly paced herself to her bedroom.

No.

Nope.

Uh-uh.

You better not be in there, you son of a-

Her steps came to a halt in the doorway as his figure came into perspective.

“Okay, you are. Get out.” He was in her room; he was on her bed! Little by little he was penetrating her privacy! This wasn’t fair on any level!

With a childish outlook on this, she lurched forward to grab his wrist again in hopes of literally dragging him out of there. “Christ, are y-” But before she allowed herself to go any further, she released his wrist and sighed. There was no point in getting angry, she told herself. There was no point in becoming upset because it wouldn’t change anything and it certainly wouldn’t help anything. A whine that clearly exposed her adolescence rose up and she closed her eyes for a moment, attempting to calm herself. When she opened her lids once more he was still there, serving as confirmation that she wasn’t going insane.

However, his fantasies about a certain baked good that could never withstand his attention kept him from noticing that Ahyeon had long since tuned him out, so he babbled happily on about his gooey buddies and just how awesome it would be if they could jump into his mouth right then kay thanks. Any of his normal intelligence (if his regular functioning could be referred to as such) was leaking out of his ears, dropping onto the ground below to leave him wondering why he didn’t just act on the impulses that chased him around when he spent time with the pretty brunette.

The pain resounding through him reminded him of why he didn’t just do that. Thank god he couldn’t hear any of the things that she was thinking, because he could act in one of three ways, and all of them would either land him in the infirmary, or kicked from the Cirque. First time in a while his lame ass power had actually kept him safe, rather than having been the thing that had endangered him in the first place. Some people just didn’t like being replicated for whatever reason, he didn’t know their stories.

It seemed like he was really missing so much –the man who was normally so good with body language let so much of Ahyeon’s slip past him simply because he was too inebriated to focus on it, something he would definitely regret later. Beyond their reunion, their conversations and behaviors had honestly never been so familiar, and he would mourn that later if he could even remember it. But seeing as he couldn’t even make out what current-her was saying, he sort of doubted that the finer details of this evening would stay with him.

So he just let go and enjoyed bouncing his sexy heart out on her bed.

His hair flapped against his face at the force that he moved with, a giant grin rested across his features, as he focused on not throwing up the contents of his stomach from this. Hah; people who couldn’t hold their alcohol were pussies. Not that he’d ever know, considering he strengthened his liver before he’d opened his first bottle. If he had the ability to watch out for himself, though, it would be stupid not to take it, no matter how much cooler he seemed for it.

Watching out for himself, as well as keeping himself out of harm’s way never seemed to apply to Ahyeon, however, because he had a feeling she could end him, but he moving out of the way of her strikes just seemed unnecessary. Yes they hurt, but somehow he liked the attention. And if jumping on her bed like a child did anything beyond majorly amuse him, it was to get his attention.

At the contact, he blinked and stopped bouncing, wide eyes locking onto her features, before she whined and he smiled. Somehow watching her reaction like this was really cute, and he couldn’t help the warm bubbling this conjured in his chest at the thought. He smiled largely at her, eyes and teeth sparkling almost anime-like as he kept his gaze carefully on her, lest his alcohol-induced ADHD take him away from Ahyeon when she actually was being pretty tolerant.

The insult slipped off of him like the last one had, but when he had once again gotten his chance to explain his actions to her, he raised his voice, determined to be heard, and slurred through his honest to goodness answers, “I came here because I wanted to see you! I was confused, I don’t know what I want from anyone, but I really like seeing you. I liked holding you. And I’m kind of obsessed with seeing you smile.” Chunji admitted shamelessly, “My room doesn’t have all of that!”

And then, of course, came the question that Fei wasn’t sure she was ready to answer. He asked her about the meaning of the kiss, wondering if it was because of feelings or that she was possibly too naïve to realize that a kiss meant more than her usual skinship. She frowned and her pace slowed. She did not stop, but it was no longer the excited pace from just a few seconds before.

“Jiji.. I like you. You’ve been there for me when other people haven’t even been able to look at me. You went out of your way to make sure that I was ok when I know you were suffering too. I just… I don’t know what I want right now. I still love Tao and losing him has put a strain on my heart. I wanted the kiss, but I do not think that I was ready for it or how you would react. I panicked and ran..” She admitted, sighing and looking at her feet. “And yet, I will admit that I do not want it to be the last one…”

Unsurprisingly she handled it quite well, because if she was going to run, she surely would have as he first approached her, rather than now when it seemed quite obvious as to what he was there for. Now it was his turn for either a hit or miss, and he’d be lying if he said that hearing her say that she liked him set him alight with a strange, giddy sensation, like he had just eaten nothing but pure helium for days.

“It’s okay that you weren’t ready,” he figured he might as well touch upon that then, “I like you too,” and boy did it feel scary to admit to that, “but I would never want to force you into anything either.” Chunji offered her a sweet, reassuring smile and he squeezed her hand to try to physically show her this as well, the younger man making his way toward her beach at her pace now, him certainly in no hurry, when it seemed like they’d have a better chance at enjoying it if they dealt with this now. “I…want to kiss you again, as well.” He also admitted, lips pulling up into a sheepish grin like, what could he do?

Being around knives made her too used to injuries and blood; she learned a thing or two about taking care of them so she wouldn’t create more stress for the healers. Truthfully, she should be more concerned, but she believed the teen, wondering how the logistics behind his ability worked at this point.

His apologetic eyes was something she expected after showing the scar, it was usually that, or fear. Or something along those lines. Which was mainly why she tried her best to hide it most of the time, not that she was doing a good job at it now. Xia experienced a strange feeling and froze when he traced over it and winced. She could only guess his thoughts and they weren’t great, from what she was observing. After his comment, it was her turn for her cheeks to flush, it was unusual to hear something good about her scar. If only she knew exactly what she healed from. Though if she couldn’t remember what had happened, there was sure to be a good reason behind her psyche repressing the memory. 

"At least it matches my name." A somewhat dark and crooked smile made it’s way over her lips. "I don’t think I want to remember what I recovered from, honestly." 

Raising the finger to his lips, he sucked lightly on it for a moment, the old habit coming back to him with his focus on the digit, but his hand fell when he saw her blush about his comment on her scar. He stayed quiet as she made her rather dark joke, the man snorting in reply, and then nodding with understanding. Anything that could cause damage like that certainly had been deadly to an extent, and why remember something like that? Once upon a time, he might have chided her and told her that memory was a precious thing, not to be taken advantage of like that, but after experiencing his own amount of crazy happenstances, he knew that when memory gave out, it was a lucky gift.

But enough with that. Fighting off a laugh at how she tossed the machete away, he prepared to change back into his regular form, eyes closing to allow him to focus. If he saw her reaction and got self-conscious, he might get stuck in between forms, which would look even uglier than the transformation itself.

Focusing, he licked his lips lightly, before a loud ‘crack’ rang through the air and he bowed over, spine elongating, as the skin and muscles stretched to accommodate it. They whined with the strain, everything under his epidermis scarily visible through the tight skin, before it suddenly expanded, the skin bagging for a moment as it prepared to stretch over the areas that needed it. His hair shrank back up into his head, dyed itself a dark blue, and exposed his face, which was rippling like a disturbed pond as his skull shifted. The noises sounded like someone was methodically killing someone, but he didn’t let out a single pained sound or open his eyes.

Although her momentarily deep focus had its disadvantages, and that soon became apparent when her mind was practically pulled back into reality by a pair of arms applying pressure to her neck and shoulders in an almost … affectionate manner. At least that’s what she assumed the demeanor was meant to be; however she only felt suffocated and personally attacked while her guard was down. The brunette’s posture stiffened, her breath even coming to a precise halt, and her once narrowed eyes now widened to their absolute limit. The longer he held her, the more nervous she became, and that anxiety soon turned into paranoia.

This psychopath … exposing my weakness!

Tonight is the night I die.

No … not me. You. I will kill you before you kill me.

When Ahyeon felt her lungs on the very brim of collapse, she finally gave in, inhaling the largest quantity of air she ever had. Of course it was also then that the male began to speak, that making the uncalled-for embrace both more uncomfortable and slightly at ease – each the cause of two different reasons. On one hand his voice and words gave her something to concentrate on, allowing her to somewhat ignore the hug; howbeit what made the situation seem worse was his speech. The answer to her weariness was found neither on his face nor his body, but rather between the lips each butchered statement left.

Reaching the conclusion she did, the leader didn’t bother paying much attention to any claims he made. How could she possibly take anyone in this state seriously?

Of course even if someone had told her the things Chunji was now while being sober and level-headed, she’d still write it off as hysteria or hypnosis or anything else she could think of really. It wouldn’t matter if it didn’t make sense, so long as it lifted a fraction of a pound off her mind.

As the woman continued to inwardly justify each word he spoke though, toward the end of his speech she found herself feeling stiff again. The constant reasoning she gave herself seemed to have lost all effect, and she felt desperate to gain that ability back – the ability she favored over what landed her in the Cirque, her undeniable skill to brush something off, tell herself it’s nothing, and forget about it.

His drunkenness was obviously contagious, if only mentally.

When Chunji had grabbed her shoulders, it only made the internal struggle more difficult. He was now forcing her to look at him! At least that’s what it felt like, because once her eyes locked onto his she felt paralyzed. Ahyeon felt no different from those rare times when she would wake in her bed or cot and simply not be able to move - despite all efforts - her vocal chords losing function to this too and denying her all possibility of even only groaning out of agitation.

And I want you … to drop me from this spell, you demon child!

Inwardly Ahyeon was shifting her weight left to right in a rhythmic way, not unlike an impatient child. After what seemed like half an hour, but was probably a few seconds, the brunette was finally able to look away and even step back – an opportunity she quickly took advantage of.

“How much did you have to drink!?” Aware of her rising tone, she took in a calming breath before continuing on in a manner less … accusatory. “Ah, you’re losing your mind, child. Are you also ill in the head? What’s wrong with you? Coming here and telling me that nonsense …” Contrary to her efforts to not make this scene a big deal, Ahyeon felt her body temperature increase as the urge to inflict pain did as well, and within moments she was aiming for his shin with her bare heel. Instantly after she couldn’t deny that it was then she felt a bit more content.

Ahyeon then reached for his wrist, intending to gain a promising grip on it, and began leading him into the cottage. Even if he was the cause of irritability right now, she couldn’t just leave him outside. She might feel bad- wait, what?

… No.

“Because of you I’m not wearing shoes. If I get sick, I’m making you my personal slave,” she stated more casually than the threat might have called for, opening the door and yanking him inside before sealing the exit once more. “Just go sit somewhere.” The woman released his hand, then realizing that she had no idea what to do from there.

Was she supposed to just let him sit until he fell asleep?

Or poor cold water on his head? That seemed like it would help someone sober up.

When their gazes had locked, his voice had spiked with excitement, the teen’s own focus narrowing down mentally to what pretty eyes she had, even while glaring at him. His mind filled with a warm hum when he had finished, Chunji taking comfort in the fact that she hadn’t interrupted him at any point during his rather incoherent tangent. If anything, he expected her to stay quiet and just enjoy everything in that grumpy way she tended to color everything with, though of course, stepping away was his next idea.

So when she did, it didn’t hit him completely out of left field, but that gave him hope that she would say something, or comment on something that he had just said, and he really wanted to know what she thought, because it was always so hard to read the elementalist. Therefore, it made total sense that she turned it onto him from there –attacking seemed to kind of be her thing with him, at this point.

“I only had, like, two.” He protested in that slow, plodding way he had when he actually tried to think about what he wanted to say, “Okay maybe I didn’t finish the second bottle totally, but I almost did!” Chanhee seemed quite proud of himself, and like he had previously stated, her comment about him potentially having lost his mind just slid right off of his back. Of course he had expected that argument, seeing as she had already said it to him once that night, so he only responded to the part that he found relevant to everything he had just said, “You’re what’s wrong-“

But before he could finish, the horrible blunt pain of being kicked reached his brain, his reaction time nowhere near fast enough to get him out of the way in time.

A whine of pain escaped, and he doubled over, his face actually flashing to another for a brief second, as it bent downward. Loss of focus for someone like him always meant something going wrong power-wise, and being drunk and in pain certainly took the cake. His eyes turned golden and slitted, them resembling the pretty beast tamer that had kissed him the last time he had seen her. Chunji had never been one to compare faces, and he wouldn’t start now, but in a bleary part of the back of his mind, he knew he would never dare transform in front of Ahyeon. Somehow, he felt that if he disgusted her with the baggy skin, loose muscles and the crunch of bone as it reshaped, that she might never talk to him again.

The tell-tale feeling of change hissed through his veins and he quickly clamped down on it, trying to stamp it out, when she grabbed his wrist and his focus came back just in time, Chunji’s own face meeting the light as he looked back up. Being jerked forward had him compromise his sore shin, but he had felt worse, so he naturally stumbled into stride with next to no issue. He barely had time to wonder where she was taking him, when they started into the cottage. Eyes going wide, he stared at the back of her head, wondering if the kick to the shin had been some Ahyeon-form of acceptance. There was still so much he had to learn.

“I’d happily be your slave!” He responded cheerily, Chunji imagining cooking for her and washing her hair with the sense of near-disturbing glee that suggested he was actually meant to be a housewife.

Drifting away on thoughts of actually being allowed to touch Ahyeon’s hair, he snapped right back to reality when she mentioned that he could have a seat somewhere. Like any guy, the first place his mind went to would likely get him in trouble –but, being drunk, he couldn’t quite seem to care.  Nodding his thanks to her, he kicked off his shoes, then wandered back into the house to see if he could puzzle out which bedroom was hers, the man looking into each room until he found the backwards version of the one he saw from outside. Of course, harassing her housemates had been an accident, but he was a man with a plan, and no one could stop him!

Seungri nodded when Chunji asked to be walked back to his tent, but from what Seungri could see, there was a chance that Chunji would collapse before they made it back. Chunji had run quite a long way and he wasn’t willing to let the other hurt himself. So, instead, Seungri moved and picked Chunji up bridal style and cradled him against his own chest. “Just relax, I’ll carry you back. You look exhausted,” He said, smiling softly down at the shapeshifter. He was happy that he had finally managed to get the other to calm down. He deserved to be happy, he didn’t deserve the tears. The friend that he had lost was still alive somewhere, so even though he was not here physically, he was ok and Chunji should be able to find comfort in that at some point.

“I think it’s best if neither of us go back to work tonight anyways. I’m sure Hongki will understand. He might be an asshole but he does care for all of us all the same,” He said as he walked back towards the tents, smiling softly down at the other as he carefully picked his way over roots and around trees. “Next time, don’t go running. What would have happened had I not seen you and decided to follow you?” Seungri asked, adjusting Chunji to where the both of them would be more comfortable. It was lucky he actually knew where Chunji’s tent was, now that Seungri thought about it it was just a few tents over from Dara’s.

His hands went up to grip at Seungri’s shoulders, and he stared up at him with wide eyes, though he had no reason to mistrust him at this point. After a moment, he nodded, the smile soothing down the ragged sense of panic that had no business cropping up, and he let go of the additional hold, Chunji just enjoying the ride, as silly as it sounded. Letting out a soft sigh of relief, it quickly followed by a chuckle, he shook his head slowly, feeling the need to defend the leader he didn’t know very well. “I’ve never though he was an asshole. Just someone that knew what needed to be done to keep the Cirque safe and on track. To be honest, he’s always kind of intimidated me, but that doesn’t make him a bad man.” The kind words were a sign, if a weak one, that his mind had reverted back to his normal way of thinking, the shapeshifter not liking for anyone to be spoken unfairly about, unintentional or whatever.

At this point, it really seemed that Seungri could do no wrong, anyway –so his words about Hongki were more of a distraction to himself than anything else. That distraction couldn’t clear everything away, though, and he answered the question rather shakily, “I would have kept up until I collapsed…or passed out from the pain. Then when I’d wake up, I’d likely just have stayed there…” It seemed so detestable at that point that he shivered, Chunji curling closer to the elder, like he could protect him from himself. Well; it was what he had done, but even in this state, he knew that was a stupid thing to believe.

Those thoughts shut him up until Seungri asked which cot was his, and he gestured vaguely as he answered, a hot blush covering his cheeks at the care, no matter how appreciated it was. When he had been tucked in, and the elder lightly moved his hair, he nearly started crying again. This man was so kind, it nearly hurt of its own right. “I’d like that,” Chunji answered quickly, eyes still showing a horrible, pained despair, “Please, stay.” He couldn’t recall the last time he’d needed someone like this, the shapeshifter flashing back to when he was little and scared of the monsters in his closet.

Ahyeon opened her palm wide and laid it flat over the glass’ opening. Without much effort, but rising tension in the muscles of her hand, the brunette pulled half of the liquid contents toward her palm where the water then proceeded to slowly seep through her flesh. Absorption was a slower process than one would expect from her. Then again, she wasn’t physically built for such things.

The leader then set the glass - half full - gently on the bedside table with her other hand before she began to observe her newly hydrated palm. If she could do with water as she pleased, both internally and externally, then why couldn’t she produce it? What was the point? All abilities had their restrictions, and she had to respect that, but this really made no sense to her.

However moments later the semi-melodic voice of another silenced all prior thought only to openly welcome curiosity with an elevated brow. Concentrating on the words, her expression grew in terms of perplexity. She, along with her room and cottage, was being called pretty. If that didn’t say ‘drugs’ she didn’t know what else did. The female wanted to say she recognized the voice, but never had she heard anyone from the Cirque sing - other than Jeongmin.

When she was called out, Ahyeon stood from her mattress to make her way over to the window. She failed in her short attempts to peek through, the light from within the room causing it to be nearly impossible to see outside. The short woman quickly turned around and headed out the room and soon out of the building altogether. When she went for the area that laid just outside the window of her room, Ahyeon stopped the moment he came into view. 

What. An. Idiot.

“Yah, what do you think you’re doing?” She asked, careful to not raise her voice too loud, unwilling to make this seem like a big deal. It was kind of creepy though. Really creepy actually. 

Ahyeon wasn’t even sure if she wanted to see Chunji, but a part of her just didn’t care. Anyway she had to show the man some type of sympathy, for he was close to one of the lost three. Though Ahyeon didn’t particularly know how close, she knew it was enough to probably strike him pretty hard. Not to mention the fact that the man just sort of seemed … sensitive. 

Not that any of this really gave him the right to sing outside her window though. 

What he hadn’t expected, it turns out, was exactly what happened. Ahyeon apparently didn’t understand the romance that went along with talking to someone outside their window. Unless she thought looking down at him was rude, or that being put into Rapunzel’s role was insulting. He couldn’t completely understand it then, but that couldn’t keep him from nearly jumping out of his clothes with shock when she came outside, him having missed the sound of the house’s door opening.

“Ahyeon!” His expression lit up brightly, the man recovering quickly at the realization that she was right here next to him and he could actually touch her. This was pretty big for him, so he obviously had to react accordingly, Chunji turning to her with a smile that practically glowed with the warmth he felt. “You’re here!” And right as he said the second word, he turned then launched himself at her gleefully, his arms wrapping around her neck as he embraced her dramatically, just like in that romantic comedy he had seen earlier. Damn he had cried like a baby…but there was no need to cry now, his singing had worked!

Slurring pretty badly, he continued, “I came here to see you… I missed you lots and lots and I know things, things didn’t go badly last time we saw each other…” Hiccuping, he leaned down and nuzzled her cheek with his, before continuing almost sadly, “But I didn’t want you being mad at me…I don’t care if that gives me brain damage. If you couldn’t understand my actions then, I want… I want you to know now.” Tongue barely getting those out, he pulled back and looked at her with an intense glint in his eyes, before finishing with a strong, “I need you to know how much you mean to me. Don’t ask me how or why, but I just want you.”

She looked back up as he spoke about wanting to go on a walk. “Well… umm..” She really didn’t want to go on a walk, she had been planning on spending the day away from most of the group of freaks that she lived with. Freaks said in an endearing tone, of course. However, she knew that she wanted to talk to him too, to clear out all of the confused feelings that she had left him with. Her heart and mind raced together as she tried to piece her feelings together. She had thought about it a lot in the days since their last encounter.

Fei was still in love with the man whom she had lost, that much was true. Would that ever go away? She had been told that it wouldn’t, just that she could learn to love other people and that each love would be different. And it wasn’t that she loved Chunji, no. Her feelings weren’t quite that developed, but they were obviously there. Yes, she had finally admitted to herself that she did like Chunji. And she knew that the one she had lost wouldn’t want her to wallow forever. She had lost him, she had lost Gongchan and she had lost so many others before. Didn’t she deserve to be happy for once?

When her face had gone red, however, panic welled up in his chest as he thought she had caught him staring and he started to squeak out an apology that got cut off abruptly when she agreed to his accompanying her to go swimming. Blinking at that, he swallowed down his nerves and smiled at her almost shyly, the tips of his hair flickering red for a moment with his fleeing embarrassment before they resumed the blond shade, his courage restored.

Smiling warmly at her in return, he vowed, “Your secret’s safe with me” before his stability melted with a happy smile, Chunji’s cheeks going a lighter pink that showed that he enjoyed this, but was much more used to a touch like this than anything else. Honestly, the only reason he blushed at all was because he hadn’t entirely chased the image of Fei’s accented chest out of his head. But no one needed to know that, after all.

Xia was the surprisingly brave one, “I make it a point not to skewer people, it’s not really polite." With her lame joke, a small giggle bubbled out past her lips. Not being able to help herself from laughing a bit. “I’m sorry, I can be a bit dark sometimes. It’s easy to forget people don’t know my humor or get how my sarcasm works sometimes." Xia’s face focused back to his—which was also hers, and slowly reached out to ghost her fingers over his cheek, nose and eyes crinkling in delight. After pulling her hand back she did a quick walk around him, even through his clothes, which were much looser on her frame, the details seemed to be pretty accurate. 

There was a pause and Xia’s face became dark as a thought came to her. “Well, there’s one detail I’m sure you wouldn’t have guessed." Her voice was quiet, a tone even herself couldn’t quite put her finger on. Without thinking, she lifted her shirt up enough to show Chunji the bottom ends of her scar. She wasn’t sure why she did or when she suddenly became so brazen to lift her shirt to just below her chest. The middle of the x was almost showing. “I can’t remember when I got it, but yeah." 

Of course the light touch of the safe, middle part couldn’t satisfy him, so he moved his finger to the edge, and let out a slight yelp at the small cut that came to be. “You weren’t kidding,” he spoke seriously, not sounding bothered by the slight spike of pain, though it faded into an amused grin at her joke. “Don’t apologize!” Chunji waved it off airily, “It’s amusing. And it’s hard not to get a little jaded around here.” A wry smile twisted its way to life on his borrowed lips, though it faded to a more honest one as she further examined his replication.

He stayed perfectly still as she examined his imitation, Chunji smiling to himself at the attention, as he relaxed his posture so he would look more natural. When she stopped with a darker look, though, he froze, the man worried that he had done something to insult her. Maybe the size of her butt? Girls tended to get easily offended about things like that…he thought he had kept everything in proportion though! But as she voiced the thing that troubled her, he blinked in surprise, his cheeks coloring as she lifted up her shirt. The personal part of that faded when he caught sight of the scar, however, and he traced it gingerly, and then winced just a bit as he felt his own skin transforming to mimic it beneath his shirt. “No, I couldn’t have known,” he answered softly, eyes apologetic as they met hers, “But in a way, scars are just as beautiful as any other feature. They represent recovery.” A soft smile curled at his lips.