25 years old, ( she / they / any ), underground bouncer @ daemon, unit #002, ability of darkness manipulation. written by leon, ( he / him ), 26, est.

@butterflymarks . . . !

"don't touch that!"

gyuri’s hand hesitates where she was just about to pick up a seashell. the sun’s setting on the beach, washing everything over in a peachy glow, waves lapping lazily at the line of sand. she’d been out here collecting a few, setting them into a tote bag that she has tucked in the crook of her arm, not really paying attention to anyone else that had been wandering around, waiting for the sunset. she’d slept most of the day and decided to finally venture out, hoping for a less of a crowd.

it’s been something she’s wanted to do for awhile, collect things that wash up on the beach shore. she remembers when she was younger, and her father promised her once to bring her here, once he got his big break, once people knew his name, just one more job and i’ll have so much money to buy you whatever you want. empty promises that went in one ear and right out of the other, but still didn’t stop her from thinking about how nice it would be for all three of them to spend some time on a beach together, where they didn’t have anywhere to go or anything to do, just relax in the sun.

it’s too many years late, to be here, on this beach, by herself. too many years late for a vacation, for her to have an excuse to do something like this.

she’s crouched down in the sand, flip flops and bucket hat and her hair tied up messily, shorts down to her knees and an oversized shirt over her swimsuit. she was planning on going out into the water after this, fearing that she’d already missed all of the good things to find in the sand after a day’s worth of people coming by to pick them up.

“what, is it going to bite me?” she stands, dusts off her hands on her shorts. she half recognizes him, if they’d only seen each other in passing. “you live at silver line, too?” gyuri didn’t really know many of her neighbors, but half of the habit of working as a bouncer is that she tends to remember appearances, used to seeing regulars, remembering the ones she’d kicked out before.

@thegentlesmile . . . !

GREY lounge pants, black tanktop, his cardigan rolled into a makeshift pillow beneath his head as he lie upon a tabletop, slippers left on the floor next to his backpack, one knee upturned while his other crossed over it, bare foot bouncing in time with the song playing quietly from the emergency weather radio which sat next to him along with an open bottle of water and empty can of soda which served as an ashtray for the cigarillo between his fingers. The scent of sweet spice and musk accompanied the smoke trailing from the burning tip as well as his lips as he exhaled slowly, watching the tendrils gradually drift toward the stars overhead.

while gyuri tends to wander around at night, she doesn't always anticipate to run into people. if anything, it's someone returning home for the night, in which the encounter is nothing but a hurried, few second exchange in which she lets herself relegate to the shadows, nothing more than a glance. but spotting li on the rooftop wasn't exactly a surprise, one that makes her laugh quietly as she slips a smoke from the box in her pocket and lights it in the next moment, the small orange flame flickering against her features, stepping closer to his little set up.

"wow, you look comfortable, doctor." she said, rounding the table to take a seat on one of the benches, cigarette pinched between her fingers as her gaze casts upwards towards the sky. shimmering, clear, she lets the muted sound of the radio play on in her ears as she takes a slow, calculated drag, blowing the smoke upwards with a tired inhale as she leans back against the table.

"no snacks?" she thinks she had only seen drinks around, but maybe he's hiding something in that backpack she saw propped up on the ground. she's in her pajamas, which means something like an oversized t-shirt and sweats, feet jammed into shoes with the backs smashed down, hair in a loose ponytail.

she'd stopped caring awhile ago what people thought of her, getting too used to being in an apartment where other people are right outside, when she used to be able to lay out in the grass in the backyard and not think about a thing other than the stars.

maybe something like this is enough to have her forget, for a little while, that the view is surrounded by buildings and other noise, and even on the roof, the stars aren’t as clear as she wishes them to be. her gaze stays upwards, voice quiet as she half pays attention to the smoke between her fingers. "have you been up here long?"

@999kintsugi . . . !

she leans in to nuzzle the ghost of a kiss along gyuri's jaw. gyuri's brought home the air of daemon with her, leather and alcohol and copper—or maybe eunjae's still tasting the blood from the night before. she rolls two fingers over the back of gyuri's neck, massaging that strip of skin above the collar of her jacket because gyuri's clip is messy in her hair again and eunjae knows all about stupid hair accessories inflicting headaches or worse. she clicks her tongue. "maybe you didn't see. the sublevel's off limits for maintenance, which means you actually shouldn't be here," she points out, playfulness gleaming in her eyes.

"uh huh." she murmurs, because she doesn't quite believe her but she wouldn't ever say anything, can't stop smiling, even, anyways. eunjae brings out the softest, shaded sides of her after so many hours spent sharpened and pulled taut, and maybe she likes the darkness surrounding them, if it means that she can pull eunjae closer just like this. just like she does when she has to seek out places filled with shadow with her, whether it be here, daemon, only ever freely reaching when they're at either of their places, and gyuri doesn't feel like she has to hide.

the shadows always make it so much easier. "how sweet of you, baby. maybe i wouldn't even of noticed." she has a bad habit of forgetting to turn the lights on because it doesn't look all too different to her anyways, and the darkness was more comfortable, lamps always too bright, overhead lighting even brighter, more exposing. she notices eunjae move her arm away and tuts quietly against her teeth. she'd have to look, later, and make sure it's healing well.

"i didn't, i haven't really looked at my phone. i was going to check when i got back to the apartment, i really just wanted to come and find you. work was shitty." she mumbles, voice dragging, but eunjae's familiar nuzzles against her jaw has her eyes slipping shut for a moment, hand reaching back to glide through her hair. her fingers massaging into her nape have her sighing softly, contented, like eunjae always knows just where gyuri needs her.

her eyes open at the statement, however, pulling back a bit to look at her. "ah, doesn't that mean a pretty girl like you shouldn't be here either? breaking the rules for me, hm?" there's a smile playing on her lips, looking over that playfulness that falls over her features. "i guess we're breaking them together. might as well make the most of it."

her hands settle on her hips as she leans down to brush her mouth against hers. it's soft, sweet, everything she needed after a long shift. "does that mean we're not allowed in the building in general?" she groans a little, cursing as she moves to press a kiss to her nose. "or that it's probably just really fucking hot in your apartment, isn't it? do they have other places we can go?"

gyuri should've looked at her phone, probably. it's not like she's going to now, that eunjae's occupying her hands, currently.

@constellieos . . . !

"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.

she'd only agreed to the interview with the express intent to squash whatever article was trying to be written. her dad was caught, he'd been in the correctional facility for years, and she'd made her peace with that even if he hadn't, trying to still find some sort of reach even from where he was— and she didn't even know how, but all she did know was that she wanted people to stop bringing it up.

if anything, anyone fucked over by her dad got delegated to her anyways, probably because her mom got detached enough—read, gyuri should have left this city when she sold that house, but she's here, and everything's too similar to her father, the shadows in her hands, her name, every bit of a legacy she never fucking wanted but here she was, trying to make nice with people who didn't even understand she didn't get anything to make up for it all, either.

whatever. she's bitter. she's got a shift tonight and the last thing she wants to do is spend her day in a bar when she's got to spend her night in one, but whatever. she's doing this for her, because if they make another article it's just a giant fucking honing beacon to come and find her if DREAD ever did someone wrong, and she's a little tired of having to make up for it. she's still not going to send someone his way, anyways.

she doesn't have a reason. it feels something like daughter, even if she's been detached from that kind of feeling for years, now. she's always just been herself. had to take care of herself for that long, too.

it's empty. there's one or two people that believe in daytime drinking and gyuri honestly don't blame them. the letter she'd received gave her a place and a time, but she sweeps the bar with a brief gaze, sees someone sitting up front and decides to give it a try.

"uh.. are you here for the interview? for the— for DREAD?" she winces saying it out loud. catches the eye of the bartender and holds up a hand, hesitating before she sighs, drops her purse on the counter, leaning over in an oversized leather jacket as she slides onto a chair. "whiskey, please." it's low, dejected.

maybe this is a good enough reason to drink before the sun's set. her hair's down, a bit of a dark disarray falling over her shoulders. usually she sleeps in on days like these, to make up for staying up all night. it shows underneath her eyes, as she leans on a elbow, looks her over.

"i'm bo gyuri? his... daughter?" she offers, tone uncaring, expression plain. her nails, chipped nail polish and all, tap against the counter as she waits for her drink.

@feelingsaturated . . . !

"FOR fuck's- yeah." it's half exasperated sigh, half scoff, like jaeyi can't quite believe gyuri actually said it. the mask slips, and jaeyi's too tired to put it back on. "okay, yeah, i did." would it have been worse or better if it was in her head? if gyuri hadn't said it out loud, would it have made it less real? "don't tell me you wanna go check it out, because when i tell you, you'd be the first to die in a horror movie."

maybe the thing about jaeyi is that she listens. there's not a lot of times that gyuri finds herself talking about things without being acutely aware of who's on the other side and how they're receiving it, and after several long years of learning what it was like to have no one interested in her interests— well, why would they, when she has a villain for a father to ask about, but. gardening is hers. it always has been. and jaeyi listens, even as they sit on the swing, gyuri with dirt swiped across her cheek, night air sweet on her skin.

but the night interrupted by the noise that bangs! throughout the surrounding area, and gyuri pulls back from tending to some thorns she'd found, clippers in hand, to notice that its all gone dark. the question's innocuous, really, the power's out, of course something happened to make it that way, but then someone screams.

"it's probably just because it's dark. someone reacting like that, if they have all of their curtains closed. who knows?" she reaches for the plastic container that carries all of her gardening supplies, pulling off her gloves and putting away anything she's gotten out, wiping her hands on her jeans and standing up.

she looks around, fixing her hair back up in a clip, sighing, pieces still falling down all around her face, messy. "to be honest with you, not really. they'll probably be fine." the darkness has never been a problem for her, if anything, shadows feel more comfortable than being in the light. she's never understood the idea of being in them and feeling more scared— isn't there more safety in a place one can hide?

"how long do you think it'll take them to get it back up? i'm sure everyone's going to be fighting their way out of here in a minute if they don't." she digs around in the little cooler she'd brought with her to keep a few drinks cold if she got thirsty, bringing it over to jaeyi and cracking it open as she pulls out a beer, conversational, settling down on the swing as she takes a drink.

"hmm— twenty minutes? thirty?"

@999kintsugi . . . !

"hey, you! this building is for residents only!"

gyuri turns around, hands slipping into the pockets of her leather jacket at the sound of the voice echoing down the hallway. the power’s out, and these shadows are what she sticks to as she meanders through the building, having just gotten home from a shift at daemon, smelling like alcohol and white chalk and bets. her hair’s a mess, she’s got a streak of blood across her cheek, and half of her energy’s drained just from sticking to the wall all night, herding patrons into the right spaces and leading limping fighters off the stage when they couldn’t see straight. not an unusual one, but she’s still tired, and having to get her way into the building when the power’s out and people are scrambling just makes her feel like she never even left work.

“and i’m a resident, in the building, so i’d have to say that me being here actually makes sense, don’t you think so, sweetheart?” her boots thud down the corridor as she turns around and closes the distance, no longer dragging her feet anymore. the shadows growing down the hallway are too long, too dark, trailing behind her like the stretch and groan of a mouth of a yawn, dark and waiting, curving around her as she comes up close, leans in. her hair falls out of the messy clip she’d put it up in halfway home, evening nighttime clinging to her like warm hands.

“were you looking for me?” she teases, amused lilt to her voice as her own hands reach out and pull, grip on her hips and bringing her closer. no one’s around, and gyuri’s tired, wants a little comfort after a long night, and eunjae was right here for her and she didn’t even have to look.

gyuri’s smiling, the leather on the palms of her fingerless gloves dragging on fabric, a bit like the winner of a bet, a very lucky fortune, as one of her hands comes up, chipped black nail polish tucking a strand of her hair behind her ear, lingering to brush a gentle thumb against eunjae’s cheek. her eyes gleam with the satisfaction of running into her when she would’ve gone looking for her anyways, hands linking together at the low curve of her back.

“looks like i found you all lost in the dark, hm? how long’s the power been out?”

do you think you're redeemable?

“redeemable for what?” she asks, hands busy making a pot of coffee, pouring in the grinds, which had been meticulously crushed by the spin of a manual handle on the grinder, finely done, equally poured. “redeemable for living? for doing what i need to do to survive?” gyuri flops the lid shut and presses the button, turning to lean against the counter, looking at the rest of the apartment, cleanly, orderly. all of it staring right back at her, the little things she’d collected over the years, a result of staying put in a place for too long and getting too comfortable to decorate it. make it something like a home, if it ever existed past those hazy, warm days she tries not to remember too often, if only she paints it through a lens that her longing shapes.

the coffee starts, dripping down into the glass, arms crossed over her chest. “then yeah. all i can do is push forward, and survive, and try to live my life in the best way i can. all i’ve got is what i’ve done for myself, nothing else. so yeah, redeemable, redeemable because i’m just trying to live and i deserve that. i deserve to try. nothing’s been handed to me, i’ve taken every bit of it for myself.”

she reaches for a mug with a chipped handle, some worn pattern fading with every single wash. holds it, looks over the porcelain. “if i just didn’t do anything about it, where would i be now? not here. not making a life for myself. i’ll redeem myself later, when it’s all said and done. when i can look back and say that i did something. lived my life. maybe even be happy.” gyuri laughs, shaking her head. “yeah. something like that.”

do you believe in heroism? in heroes?

“if you would’ve asked me when i was younger, yes. i believed in heroes. i believed in the people that i thought could be heroes, like my father. he was a hero to me without even trying, just— that he could go out there and volunteer himself like that, to help people. i wanted so bad to believe in heroes, to believe that he could be one. i wanted to believe in my dad.” there’s a storm raging outside, battering against the windows, orange table light and a stack of books, filled with the messy scrawl of her handwriting.

she’s got pen ink on the side of her hand from writing too long, slumped over in her chair in glasses with her hair askew. bandages on her knuckles, results of a fight gone wrong at daemon, someone not leaving as quietly as she wished they would every single time. a split lip. leans her chin on her hand, tapping the end of her pen on her cheek. “but then i don’t think he really believed in me. not me, and not my mom, because i don’t think he ever went out there to do that for us. maybe in the beginning, maybe before it all went wrong.”

“you’d think that they’d encourage people to be heroes. these aeternals— whatever, it’s not really my fucking business, but— whether it was heroes or the villains or just my father, maybe in my heart i wished he could be a hero. i wished being a hero was enough for him. i wanted my believing in him to be enough, and it wasn’t. you can want to save people all you want, but they have to want to listen.” she remembers one of the last times she saw DREAD, standing over the body of someone scrambling back towards the wall, begging for mercy, tendrils of darkness enclosing like a trap, and knew she couldn’t recognize her father anymore.

“maybe i’d ask for help if i felt like there was anyone to even ask, but who’s going to do it better than me?” she blows a strand of hair out of her eyes, tucks it back behind her ear with the back of her wrist messily, not doing it quite right. her hands are covered in old, worn gardening gloves, dirt streaked across the fabric, the hot afternoon sun burning down a shine on her brow as she tends to the flowers. knee deep in the dirt, she digs and roots around to tuck them back into places that are neat, orderly.

a blow of air. that hair keeps bothering her, falling down into her vision as she bends over to tend to the earth. “sometimes you ask so much you realize how pointless it is to try. i’ve only ever got things done doing it my way, so asking others for help doesn’t come to mind as often as that. i’d rather get it done then wait for someone else to figure out whatever the fuck they’re going to do.”

THE BASICS . . . !

25 years old, born in '99, she/they any/every one is fine !

in #002 because she likes the privacy/access to the community garden and she wanted to be out of the way, anyways

fell into working as an underground bouncer @ daemon due to her abilities/the connections she'd made over the years, but you can see her doing stuff all over the club, sometimes she helps make drinks, sometimes she's backstage directing fighters around, etc.

she's known as KNIGHT around daemon or just if you're involved with her anywhere outside of the collective, she usually doesn't give out her real name, doesn't see the point

has the ability of darkness manipulation, which usually means she can turn a whole room dark if there's any kind of darkness she can build off of in the first place. uses shadows like it's the consistency of clay, usually turns them into weapons/armor to cover herself in fights or altercations. they can be zapped out by any kind of light and only last a few minutes, anyways, usually really shadowy/translucent even if when formed they've got a force to them, kind of similar to water !

she has shadow form, which allows her to become made of shadows, no longer solid and become transparent, and usually it starts in her hands whenever she's using her ability and spreads the longer the duration she's using it

this leads to her shadow teleportation, which allows her to teleport to another shadow she can see within sight once she's fully in shadow form. it gets difficult to become fully solid again if she's in shadow form too long/is teleporting too much, so she doesn't do it often/for more than she needs to

her shadow memory lets her get pieces of sound/sight/smell/emotion of anything that's been within the darkness in the last hour, and it's usually pretty disjointed/she's unable to piece together much other than context clues. it's cleared with light or if the duration of time has passed

maybe she's not too talkative, but she's just been through a lot and she has Walls up, mostly finds peace through gardening/tending to her flowers, but it also leads to her pretty quickfire temper if you mess with them/something she cares about

very protective, outspoken, no nonsense, likes fighting for what she cares for because if she doesn't who else will !!

THE BACKSTORY . . . !

when she's younger, she doesn't understand that when she hides in the shadows, she becomes one with them. she loses sense of her physical form and becomes one with the darkness, which she hears the whispers of other voices, of other moments, left behind for her to find like words in a book, picking up the pieces but not knowing what to do with what's left, but feeling.. peace in that

her father is convinced, as long as she's known him, that he's meant to be an aeternal, but his power of darkness generation just means their house is always dark and he really can't do much with it, and it always ends up falling apart. he tries and tries and keeps failing until he finally gets fed up and instead of just.. being her dad he just decides to go ahead and be a villain about it !

starts getting into a lot of trouble to try and get some kind of attention after failing so much, growing up she just expects him to either not come home/be unavailable/she's throwing him a sandwich her mom made out of the window as he's on the run, etc

so it's mostly just her and her mom until her mom gets fed up with it and Leaves.. right when she graduates high school . but doesn't take her with her because she just reminds her of her dad. she just kind of coasts for awhile by herself with her father checking in/sending money every now and then and its Cool . until he gets put into the correctional facility

she tries to work a lot of odd jobs because she didn't really have plans past that, a mechanic and a grocery store attendant and all sort of things but she just can't keep up with the house and so she sells it for extra money and moves into the second chance collective. it's her only other option, and she figures if this is what she can do for some cheap rent and some peace and quiet, then..

stumbles across daemon and the issue she has is that her name sparks a lot of recognition with people who knew her dad/were fucked over by her dad/wronged by her dad and so she has to deal with the Aftermath, and since she was an only child and she hasn't heard from her mom in years well. she's dealing with that on her own !

so she starts working as an underground bouncer, because apparently her father had run up quite a tab at daemon, and starts trying to pay back/do work for the people who still have beef with him herself, and starts going by KNIGHT. the fights intrigue her, she gets to use her powers more often, starts refining it into something she's used to/feels more in control of, and she gets paid doing it !

she doesn't really feel aligned to good or evil or whatever, she just needs money and something to fill up her time and when she's not at daemon she's just trying to live a Normal life, and when she joined she noticed numerous empty plots in the garden and was like. well i'll fix these too . and started filling them with all kinds of flowers ! it's really cathartic and she likes taking care of something/seeing results and it Works

so she's KNIGHT at daemon and around people she doesn't really want to know that she's her father's daughter, but it's been kind of getting around anyways, and what she really cares about is just living a peaceful life.. she keeps trying to stay out of trouble but it just keeps finding her ! what's a girl to do.. she just wants to know how her father is still getting into so much shit even though he's in there (she still hasn't gone to visit him, don't ask !!!!)

THE PLOTS . . . !

you knew her dad/were fucked over by her dad doing general Villainy and like, maybe you wanted revenge and you found her instead and she's like . i cant fix it or give you money but if you need me to do something for you (within reason) then like.. yeah but sorry my dad was a freak to you

you frequent daemon and you guys always see each other there and you hang out/have a drink sometimes and maybe watch the fights together

you fight a lot at daemon and gyuri is like.. lowkey always rooting for you because your fights are always interesting and she can appreciate your form . maybe one day she'll fight too but she likes asking you questions about what it's like/how it feels. maybe you can convince her one day

she had to remove you from daemon one time and you run into each other at the collective/somewhere else and shes like .. sorry i was doing my job .. do you want like ice cream or something . my treat

she's not really a bartender at daemon but sometimes when it's slammed she makes a few drinks on the side and one time she made you something and you've never had it taste like that again so you find her again guarding a door somewhere and so she keeps making you Your Drink special whenever you come in

you frequent the community garden at the collective/are into gardening too and you both always just silently garden/plant together and you share that together and maybe you don't even talk much . maybe you just enjoy the flowers but gyuri like, buys you seeds and tends to your stuff without messing it up whenever you need it . maybe you're just in the garden a lot and you always see each other in there and she tells you about her flowers if you wanna listen (she has never talked that much in her life)

you're the person who's making so many resident complaints about her ?? something petty like she tracks dirt on the floor or the room's always too dark whenever she's in it and there's just running beef between you two for no real reason but it keeps turning into a bunch of petty stuff anyways that neither of you can really stop

(fem muses only) idk anything messy.. flings, exes, fwb, etc. you guys knew each other in the past and it was just supposed to be a friends thing but it kept spiraling way past that . gyuri just kind of ghosted one day and she feels guilty about it but she just cant handle anyone else getting that close to her, maybe it would have been good if she didnt leave . haunted by the what ifs etc

you are involved with other Villain oriented goals and were involved with her father/see her potential and think that she might be a good villain like her father, maybe even Better if she really put her heart into it/collaborated together and shes like . maybe . what's in it for me

one time she hears your voice in a shadow memory and she recognizes it in real life and she's like . odd that i know this but are you doing okay after that / i was worried about you and never knew if i'd find you again. yes i just heard it in the dark but i had no idea who you were or where you went after its been a Great Mystery to me that you just solved