HOT TO GO!

" you killed her boyfriend . apologize . "

tw: mention of killing spiders, mention of murder ( in a joking way ) .ᐟ

mimi genuinely was not in the mood to deal with hansol today. as soon as she had heard the man's voice approaching her room, her already sour mood had rotted even further. the deepest of frowns on her faces could not even express how annoyed she was. and of course, her darling roommate couldn't just let things lie. especially when spiders were involved.

"hansol. are you kidding me? it's 11pm." mimi looked at him with a glare, pointing to the clear and obvious time on her phone. not only was she trying to relax, but she was also trying to de-stress from a rather shitty day of dealing with her clones whose apparent only goal in their existence was to drive her to absolute madness. "go bother someone else with your cries of talking to ... spiders! i genuinely don't want to hear it right now."

in mimi's defence, the spider had started it. and it wasn't her fault. but would hansol believe that?

she had remembered it clearly. the murder. the cold-blooded assassination of the girl spider's one-true love. mimi's villain arch. the start of her unforgivable career. becoming a hit man to all spiders in their apartment. mimi had remembered it almost to a tee. the situation.

she was watching a movie in her room with her clone when she had first spotted it. although deathly afraid of every crawling bug that walked this earth, mimi had become accustomed to seeing spiders in their apartment. usually, they meant no harm, and didn't even pay attention to mimi. she wasn't who they were here to see, as they usually flooded hansol's room. but her clone was unaware and a bit homicidal towards bugs. she couldn't be blamed — she had manifested after mimi was bitten by a centipede at 11 years old, so her fear of bugs was heightened to the extreme.

and, honestly, mimi should've seen it coming. the quickness in the way her clone got up and found her nearest shoe. the way she approached the spider. "wait — wait, wait! don't ki—" the slam the shoe made as it hit the floor, precisely right above the spider. she never imagined herself wincing at the thought of a spider dying, but it did make her a little bit sad, but more-so, it made her annoyed.

'fuck. hansol is going to be up my ass.'

mimi made sure to calm her clone down enough to where she had disappeared, leaving herself to deal with the clean up and throwaway of the evidence. but, naturally, she was go minji. she would never touch a spider ( dead or alive ), even if she had been dared to. so now, dealing with hansol in front of her, obviously annoyed and with a sad spider in his hands made her feel as if she was going insane with annoyance.

'god — if you even exist, what the fuck did i do to you??'

"hansol, please. i don't want to do this right now. i'm not apologising to a damn spider."

with: @wickedhours location: right outside silver line apartments tw: tbd .ᐟ

coming home from work was something that mimi always looked forward to. she enjoyed her job — but did she love it? honestly, it depended on the day. she liked being able to write. she liked the work she did, she just hated what her work was about. aka, the aeternals. shockingly enough, today had been rather simple. she had spent the majority of it chatting with coworkers, and editing her latest column for publishing. it had been an alright day.

that was, until, she had stepped in a pot-hole and ruined her much-beloved heels that was one of the few that were comfortable enough to walk home in.

naturally, it had happened in front of a lot of people. and naturally, she had cloned almost immediately from the embarrassment. luckily, the clone that had spawned was one of her favourites, and had helped her not only clean herself up, but let her know that it wasn't the end of the world. and after mimi had calmed herself down, the clone disappeared and allowed her to walk home in silence and reflect on her life choices. and she would've been completely fine doing so by herself until she heard a sound right next to her apartment building.

a small, quiet, meow. the cutest little sound she had ever heard. almost on instinct, mimi's head whipped around to find whatever made that sound. a lost cat, maybe?

'is it finally my time?! did it finally choose me?!'

as soon as mimi had seen the cat walking towards her, her eyes melted into a pool of love. "finally ... oh my god, the cat distribution system — it knows!" she exclaimed a little too happily, squatting down and reaching her hand out for the cat to come and smell it. not only was this cat friendly, but it climbed right into her lap to be pet, which made mimi melt even further. her hands ran through the soft fur, already thinking of names to call the adorable baby, and also thinking of how furious, on a scale of 1-10, her roommate would be if she brought the cat home.

'he can't be too mad at me. he keeps spiders for christ's sake.'

"come on, you're coming home with me." she spoke to the cat, the softest of smiles on her faces as she scooped the animal into her arms, walking inside of the building to start the rest of their lives together.

with: @contoursilver location: random bar/café in the city tw: tbd .ᐟ

this was probably a shock to no one but herself, but mimi was getting extremely tired writing for and about the aeternals. every article she was assigned to — oh, the aeternals did this, or oh, this happened with the aeternals. it was always about them and nothing else. there was no creativity. whenever mimi had offered another topic, or asked to write about something else, it was quickly rejected, and a news story about the aeternals was thrown into her hand with a message from her editor like: "you could write this better", or "we can't let them beat us to good scoops like this!"

it's why, much to mimi's disdain, that she had gotten her newest assignment: interviewing the daughter of a … failed-aeternal.

she couldn't exactly understand why she had to do it. family was usually never involved in these articles to respect their privacy, and unless the aeternal was from a whole family of them or extremely famous, no one really cared about what their family members had to say. so why was she interviewing an-almost-aeternals' daughter? mimi couldn't fathom the answer.

why would anyone even care about that?

mimi had made sure to arrive early to their meeting at what she had assumed to be a café, but was actually a mix of a café and bar, giving her some time to look over her questions and prepare herself for a boring, 45-minute session of hearing how amazing and selfless this random girls' dad is but was really just a narcissistic piece of shit, and how he deserved more.

"do you have anything non-alcoholic?" mimi asked the bartender, ignoring the sideways glance they gave her for asking for ... well, a non-alcoholic drink at a bar. "actually — can i just have water? two of them, please." she added, offering a smile to the bartender who simply complied and went back to cleaning glasses as soon as they were done. waiting for the girl, who she did not even know the name of, gave her a chance to see how dead bars were on a random weekday afternoon.

realizing they are both being rather loud, he shushes her while taking a quick peek around the space, in case anybody else is hiding too. lowering his voice, he whispers to mimi, his breath warm and rushed. “are you also looking for the complaint? did you find it?” carefully brushing past her, jaeyeol begins opening and closing shelves of a nearby desk, which he knows belongs to the person who had threatened to write a complaint about them. his fingers move deftly, almost frantically, as he searches. “have you checked here yet?”

tw: mentions of drinking & consumption of alcohol

seeing jaeyeol, and realising that she hadn't, in fact, gotten caught by her boss or an HR representative and was on her way to being fired allowed her to relax way more than she had anticipated. a loud sigh of relief flowed past her lips as she lowered the flashlight towards the floor, and followed him to the file cabinets. it would hopefully be much easier to find the complaint now that there was two of them. plus, jaeyeol was the master of stealing ( which had been self-proclaimed by mimi herself ), so if anyone could find that damn report, it would be him — with her aid, of course.

"i've checked everywhere in this office, and i can't find it!" she groaned, heading over to a different file cabinet she had checked twice already. "i looked through all the files, and nothing! i don't know where they put it." she added, thinking out loud with her next statement. "maybe they hid it? maybe they know we're here — maybe this is a trap!"

so, perhaps, she was being a bit dramatic. but in a world of superheroes and supervillains, you couldn't be too sure who people were at work!

but instead of going on with her theories, mimi simply decided to keep looking. she looked through the file cabinets, on the desk, under the desk, beside the desk, on other people's desks, even her coworker's desk, and yes — even her own desk. and she had found something. something that wasn't their complaint file, but something that might make their searching even easier and a lot more fun.

"jaeyeol ... guess what i found?" mimi called out in almost a sing-song voice, holding up a bottle of alcohol found in her coworker's desk. a bottle that was strictly not allowed during work hours. "they're hiding alcohol, but we get a complaint for working too hard? ha! that's rich.." she spoke as she walked over to him, the bottle still in her hand. perhaps she was being petty, and perhaps she just wanted a drink. this was pretty expensive alcohol, anyway. and who would be stupid enough to leave it behind?

burglars were a real thing in this city.

"wanna have a drink?"

"ooooh .. this is a good question. do you think the building is going to burn down, though? is there evidence on that? because, if so, we should really report it to the building management — ugh, let me stop getting distracted ... "

"i don't really have 3 things i really care about getting ruined. i don't have a pet or anything, and besides a few plushes here and there, everything can be replaced. i guess .... i do have a necklace my grandmother gave me, but i always wear it. if this was the case that it was just kinda .. laying around my room, i would grab that. and — i guess for 'i-didn't-leave-him-behind' purposes, i would make sure my roommate was safe. only if he was nice to me that day, though!"

( SOL ⋆ SPEAKS ) hello !!! i apologise for my fall from the world and sudden absence.. i will answer plotting messages ╱ be around later today or tomorrow, i promise !!! thank you for your patience!

"and, uh, who is that?"

tw: brief mention of drowning .ᐟ

the speed with which a very drunk mimi falls over from the fear his voice induced is one that should be checked on. then again, mimi was anxious enough deep, deep down with the knowledge of what exactly she was doing. she had just never imagined to be caught doing it. this was all just a silly, drunk prank after all! she hadn't even been able to unlock the liquor and taste the liquid which burned her throat that she oh-so craved. perhaps this was a sign to .. slow down.

but she didn't, of course. "ah! — oh, god. yunseo! you scared me!" mimi yelled, but not at all in a loud tone. she was still on the floor, looking up at him and wondering why he looked so .. different ( he was upside down in her eyes ). his new look caused a few drunken laughs to fly past her lips, finding the situation serious, naturally, but also being unable to hold herself back. "i was .. uhm- thirsty! and this — oh, her." she narrowed her eyes at her clone, who rolled her eyes back at mimi. "this is my clone. don't mind her. it was all her idea!" she pointed, ignoring the gasp her clone made and trying not to laugh anymore. slowly, she got up, a half-drunken beer can in her hand that she honestly found more disgusting rather than worth drinking.

in her drunken state, mimi swayed just by standing, offering an occasional 'woo' and 'woah' whenever she leaned too far and had to rely on her legs and arms to keep her steady. she clumsily made her way closer to the pool, admiring the water — and also trying to escape from the bartender's wrath.

"anyway, what are you doing here? isn't the bar closed?" she asked, a bit suspicious in her tone, as if he wasn't the bartender and as if she wasn't trying to steal alcohol earlier before he had arrived. her legs brought her to the edge of the pool, all-too-tempted to jump in, but there were many voices in her head that screamed at her not to. "or, did you want to drink with me? honestly, i get it. i'm a great drinking partner! i'm not even— oh, shit- shit!"

naturally, in her drunken state, she had over-estimated her balance when leaning too close into the pool, and had, of course, fallen into it. fully clothed. just like she had previously planned to. however, she had forgotten than in an impaired state, it was even harder to get your limbs to do what you wanted.

'what — what the hell?! am i drowning right now?'

with: @rrachnid location: silver line apartment building, unit #1002 tw: tbd .ᐟ

"my room was getting too hot, can i stay here for a while?"

as soon as she heard his voice, along with seeing the shadow of him walking into her room, mimi felt an existential dread fill her body and mind. not only was she barely surviving with 2 fans — one big one on the floor that barely reached her, and one handheld one near her face, but she was also tired, overstimulated, and wanted to spend the night in peace and hope that the blackout would be fixed soon.

but of course ji hansol would never let that happen. he wouldn't give mimi that satisfaction.

"um, no?" she said plainly and matter-of-factly. "this is my room, don't you have a fan? i remember you specifically saying you wouldn't share it with me." mimi added, her eyes narrowing at him in the dark as she finally shined her flashlight on her phone this way. she thought a bit more about it until a thought grew in her mind, a now shit-eating grin appearing on her face. "ohh, unless ... it died? "oh man .. i really wish i could help. but i enjoy my alone time ... you know, girl things and all that. truly, really wish i could help. my fan's about to die, too!" these were such obvious lies, which was made apparent by not only the words she spoke, but also the fact that she was trying her hardest not to burst into a fit of laughter in front of him.

normally, she might've helped him. there were a few times in their ... roommateship ( ? ) that they actually got along. in fact, mimi could count on her one hand how many times that had actually happened. but now, she was hot — she was annoyed at the electricity, and her clones were clawing their way out, especially to talk to hansol.

"just open a window or something. i hear it's really cool outside."

"it's hard to say. honestly ... i used to really wish i had a different ability, or that my ability was better and i could control it better, but now, i don't even know who i would be without this ability, you know? it sounds cliché but as much as they annoy me, i'm really close with my clones ... and i think i would be really lonely without them."

"don't use this against me, by the way. i'll beat you up if you make fun of me while being vulnerable!"

"it's not too late to change your mind," he added half-heartedly. mimi could abandon ship as soon as she stepped foot out of the bus and kiyeon would only wish he could sprint off in the same direction.

was it not too late? honestly, mimi wasn't really sure what she had signed up for. all she knew that it was slightly intriguing, and a somewhat good use of her time. after all, kiyeon — her new .... friend? would be getting helped just by her accompanying him and agreeing to everything he said. all she had to do was simply show up, and for mimi, that was the easiest option. plus, he looked so ... in need of help when he had practically begged for it on the street.

she briefly wondered why he chose her — had she looked friendly? not busy? perhaps she looked like a good liar. whatever the reason was, there was something in mimi that told herself it was too late to back out, and that leaving him now would really fuck up her karma.

"don't worry about it, i'm not looking to change my mind." she reassured kiyeon with a small smile, hoping to seem confident on all this. the odds were, somewhat, in their favour. not only was mimi an okay liar ( this is a lie ), but due to her ability, she could read the thoughts of his sister in case she needed to come up with anything to buffer the awkwardness or even any suspicion she may have. "and you, don't look so nervous. that'll give it away immediately."

once the bus had arrived at their stop, mimi got off first, waiting for kiyeon to join her. they stood somewhat silently for a few moments, staring at the hi-dine sign and almost waiting to see who would make the first move — or even, who would talk first.

mimi decided it might be better if she did.

"so ... are you ready?" mimi asked, attempting to break their slightly awkward silence and direct him into the restaurant. she opened the door for the both of them, nodding in the direction to walk in as they made their way into her workplace. "is she here already?" she whispered to kiyeon, eyes quickly scanning the restaurant to see of any unfamiliar faces — but only mainly seeing familiar ones.

'god, i hope no one recognises me.'

"probably ... when i moved back to korea, so recently — i guess? honestly, when i moved back home from the states, i was really hopeful i would get a job super easily. i applied to all the biggest publishing houses and news stations, but they all rejected me. the herald was the only one to accept me. i didn't think it would be this hard to get a job, you know? i'm like .... i have a master's degree from harvard! harvard! and yet, no one seems to care." she sighs, her slight disappointment evident.

"i thought i would be someone who could bring change and write about stuff that was going on in the world — to help people. but now, all i get assigned to write about is the aeternals. it kinda sucks, you know? you imagine being such an important figure in the face of change and you fall into the cycle of what's 'popular now'. maybe one day i'll get to write what i want. anyway — sorry for rambling. this is a bit of a heated topic!"

with: @thalasxae location: silver line apartments pool & bar tw: mentions of over-consumption of alcohol, drowning

there were times in mimi's life that she genuinely had to sit back and reflect on her choices. and during a blackout, what else was there to do but that? the silence and darkness, paired along with a particularly shit day had allowed her to reminisce on the good times and briefly consider another career path.

not only did she have to work on an interview with an aeternal for her latest column, but she also had to work a shift at hi-dine, which was one of the only places during the blackout to maintain its electricity, which, essentially, only meant one thing.

intensely annoying customers on an annoyingly busy shift.

there were only so many times she could answer, "i don't know when the lights are coming back on" and "maybe try calling the government, or something" to her customers questions. she tried to care, she really did. but she was already annoyed, and a busy, unforgiving shift left little room for mimi to actually act as if she cared for her job. but when her manager came around, you could see mimi quickly shift into a bright smile.

needless to say, as soon as her shift had ended at 22:00, her coworkers were sure that they had never seen mimi change clothes and exit a building faster. although going home was a bit of a worse option than staying at work, she would rather do anything else. like, literally — she was in a sour mood, and as someone who rarely ever drank, getting drunk was the only thing on her mind. but where would she get alcohol?

she didn't really want to pay for it and she was sure that her roommate would skin her alive for drinking his. so naturally, as soon as she got home, she searched through their shared fridge and stole his alcohol. it was deserved after having to put up with him all these months.

"mimi ... maybe you should slow down." her clone spoke, joining her only a little bit after she began to drink. her clone was right, after all. she should slow down. mimi rarely ever drank, and by the 2nd shot, she could feel herself slipping into a giggly and tipsy mess.

"don't be so ... augh, what's the word?" she got up after a bit of a struggle, giggling at her own clumsiness. "don't be such a debby downer!" she laughed at the words saying it in english to further enhance her point, but she was sure that she probably just looked stupid. "anyway, i want to go to the pool. should be open, right? might be better than staying in the dark with you."

she ignored the way her clone rolled her eyes at that petty statement, heading towards the pool without a bathing suit or a towel in hand. but hey, who wouldn't want to jump into a pool fully clothed during a blackout?

when she actually made it to the pool, she was happy to see it had been deserted. no one else besides her, and unfortunately, her clone. but then, aside from actually swimming, she noticed the bar. empty. no one there. free drinks.

"oh, this is too easy." she thought out loud, slowly making her way towards the bar despite her clone's protests. due to the blackout, no one was around anyway, and it was especially easy to sneak in. but there was ... only one problem. "where — where the hell is the alcohol?"

"this is such a morbid question.. what in the world?" nervous laughter is all that can be heard. it's a question she really doesn't want to think about ... but the fear of never leaving — never moving forward scares her more than she wants to admit. "but, if i'm going to be honest ... i can hope all i want, but the rent is cheap and it seems like the only assignments i'm getting at work is to write about the aeternals. it's not what i want, but .. i have to pay the bills somehow."

"but hey, if you notice i disappear off the face of the earth one day, don't worry. i'm not dead — i just had a mental breakdown and escaped to thailand and am living off the land."

with: @invsibl location: the herald tw: mentions of drinking & consumption of alcohol

the idea had manifested in mimi's mind soon after the blackout happened. it was, at first, the snippy thought of one of her clones. an encouragement to get rid of the bullshit complaint against her and jaeyeol. who would even do such a thing? sure, most of the time, they talked more than they actually did any reporting. and sure, maybe they were loud in the office in their disregard for actually working during work hours. but to get a complaint about it? how insulting!

'they're probably just jealous we're both better reporters than whoever sent it in. i'll just .. get rid of it.' is what mimi thought as she quickly got dressed and made her way to the herald. because of the blackout, it was easy to sneak into the building, and even easier to sneak into the HR office to try and find wherever the complaint about them was. it wouldn't be that bad if she got rid of it, right? after all, she was doing both her and jaeyeol a favour, and if the complaint just happened to disappear, no one could trace it back to her.

the security cameras weren't working during the blackout anyway.

"fuck, where the hell is it?" she grumbled, looking through all the files and cabinets she could find with the bright flashlight on her phone shining. "where is... oh! go minji — resume, transcripts, where the- ah— here it is, minji and jaeyeol, 'complaint' my ass." she rolls her eyes as she says it, hands on the very thin piece of paper as she read over the complaint. her eyes quickly scanned over it, noticing that, not only was it a baseless complaint, but it wasn't even worth going through the filing process.

'well ... might as well get rid of it!'

but as soon as the thought crossed her mind, she heard something. a movement that wasn't her own. the movement of a stranger — and during a blackout, that was the last thing she wanted to hear.

"shit— shit, shit, shit!" mimi quickly hid behind the nearest desk she could find, slowly peeking over as she squinted her eyes to try and see who it could be. was it the HR director? her editor? someone who forgot their things at the office?

many thoughts came to mind, but the steps of that stranger only grew closer, and her anxiety only climbed higher — so much so that one of her clones appeared next to her, which quickly got a hand slapped over her mouth to shut her up.

'okay, i'll make a run for it with you. do not get in my way, or so help me—' mimi thought, communicating with her clone who only nodded after a roll of her eyes. and after a count of 1, 2, 3, mimi shot up from behind the desk, making a run towards the door, but running into the wall — or a human, she wasn't exactly sure. but there was something that felt all too familiar about what she had run into.

"ow— what the.." in a false sense of strangeness, mimi turned on the flashlight on her phone once again, shining it at what she had run into, only to narrow her eyes and sigh rather loudly at who she saw. "jaeyeol? you scared me! what are you doing here?"

"i want to say it's easier to make people love me. i feel like i'm pretty ... likeable? there hasn't been many people who disliked me, i think? oh! — except for that one guy on the lacrosse team i wrote about in college. i had to do a review on him 'cause he was the 'star athlete', but to me, he was just a pretty face with an average performance. not to mention that lacrosse is so boring! it's safe to say ... he ended up hating me for the rest of the year, but i got a 100 on my assignment for being the 'bitchy reporter' no one else was brave enough to be. i'm still not sure to this day if that's a compliment or not."

"hmmmm ... why do you want to know? are you writing a story on me or something? — just kidding! heh, uhm .. let me think about this, i'm moreorless an open book. hmm ... i guess what no one else minus my parents know about me is that my grandma was one of the lead researchers on cloning science? i inherited my ability from her, and she was one of the main scientists who really investigated cloning and gave us the research we know today. she's pretty cool!"