makes me nervous

dhwjunhee​:

     her answer is entirely unexpected and catches him off guard, his eyes widening as his lips part to return a comment, but finding no words on his tongue. the words should be strange but instead, they sink into his heart, holding him there and reassuring him that he’s going to be okay. everything is going to be okay. the feeling is so strange and he finds himself looking sheepish instead of irritated by the words. you’re precious, her voice echoes, and he hesitates. 

     the revelation that she had been asked to do so (surely by his parents, who else would be quite so overprotective?) should anger him, should frustrate him, but he knows that his parents only mean well. they’re still worried, even though sixteen has come and gone with no incident. no maleficient, no curse, and he thinks that maybe he’ll be okay. maybe maleficient won’t exist in his lifetime. 

     “i don’t need protection,” he says slowly, and he hesitates, “but… if it’s you, i… i don’t think i mind. i don’t really know why — i don’t even know your name—” and right as he says that, she throws her arms around him, and his eyes widen, arms automatically coming up to hold onto her, just as tightly. instinct drives him to do so, and for some reason, it feels right. he doesn’t know why it feels so right but it does. it feels like they were meant to know each other, that she was meant to protect him. 

     “you feel familiar,” junhee says helplessly, not sure how else to express the intense feelings he’s feeling around this girl he doesn’t know at all. “who are you?”

For a brief shining moment, the young woman registered her hug was being returned and it felt like some small, lost part of her had found its way home. Eyes slid shut, the corners of pert lips turning up in contentment. But, almost as quickly as instinct had taken over, Kya broke through it, aghast at such an invasion of the others personal space. She was supposed to be protecting, not harassing! And yet…

Nope!

“Wake up, Kyungah,” she mumbled, palms lightly slapping cheeks as she backed away from the warm embrace, trying to get a hold of herself. As accustomed as she was now to strange things happening, the ranger was dumbfounded by the whole interaction thus far. “Wow, I am so sorry! I don’t know what came over me. I just—” cutting herself off, the befuddled student shook her head once more. “You’re just, special. I mean everyone is special, but like to me specifically?” Kyungah was prone to spells of making little sense, dreamy imaginings had a way of avoiding logic, but even to her own ears the words sounded absurd.

target acquired?

tentatively locked onto one @dhwkyungah​:

some things about retail, danbi finds, simply don’t change no matter what the business is. from convenience stores, to boutiques, to niche places like magic mirror, the tedium remains the same. so does the strange boredom of slow periods on the clock, both welcomed as a reprieve from patrons and resented for the sheer mundanity of retaining a polite mask.

…she could be a lot more sensible about that last point. but, as the fates themselves might say, she’s a pirate at heart. a simple law-abiding lifestyle is never going to sit right with her. besides, she’s got ways to keep herself occupied. to an extent.

thankfully, the slower section of her shift today is saved from being completely devoid of interaction with the arrival of a new visitor. and, if the look on her face is any indication, this first meeting could be… promising, one way or another. there’s a wonder in the eyes of people like her that danbi’s grown to recognize with time. it’s not as ubiquitous as the unsavory types she can never quite escape, but the expression has become a valuable detail to file away.

of course, danbi isn’t going to take things slow if she doesn’t have to. it’s easy to lay foundations where she’s in her element, shift things in her favor— literally, in this case. familiar with both the layout and the inventory of this shop, it’s simple enough to change what’s on display like it’s a routine switch; giving the girl another once over, though, she stops short of flipping everything. best not run her out before danbi can confirm the kind of budget she might be willing to blow on these trinkets.

items settled, danbi leans over the counter, folding her arms and propping up her chin with a loose fist. “welcome to magic mirror,” she greets, voice quiet. “looking for anything in particular? type of item, or magical effect?” her free hand is waved vaguely past her shoulder. “or would you rather speak to the mirror?”

After discovering her special ability, (maybe truthfully even before), Kyungah had harbored a fervent interest in anything with even a rumor of magical ability. The tentative promise of mystical treats and things that defied logical explanation, just like her, was enough to get the destined darling through Magic Mirrors doors.

Tales of trinkets and answers swirled through an oft-empty head as wide eyes scanned a shelf. Fingertips hovered over each new object in awe, little gasps and ooh’s escaping parted lips. An active imagination ran in overdrive as she guessed at useful and unique attributes that were likely far more impressive than reality.

Kyungah hardly registered she’d made her way to the counter, until a voice broke through her enchanted haze. Spinning toward it with color stealing up cheeks, she offered up a sheepish grin to the woman, thankful that she hadn’t adopted the typical overly zealous and loud voice that startled her every time she entered a store. Hands retreated into sweatshirt sleeves, clinging to the hems in an effort to remember they were best kept to herself. “Oh, I was just looking. Most anything magical is particular to me, so it’s kind of a broad search.”

“Wait, the mirror really talks,” Kyungah leaned forward, rapt with attention, “and you can understand it? Wow!” The bemused young woman dearly wanted to speak to it indeed, but about what? How it’s day had been? Was it happy being stuck in one place? “Uh, I probably shouldn’t…”

dhwjunhee​:

     junhee, while not always the most observant of people, is also, at the same time, not completely helpless. he has a 3-dan black belt in taekwondo and has certainly been trained in paying attention to strangers and people around him in odd situations. usually, he doesn’t think too hard about seeing people multiple times in the hallways, especially not when it comes to being at ever after academy. there are a lot of students, relatively speaking, and junhee has been classmates with many of them for a long time. 

     but when he sees the same girl, over and over and over again, his eyes drawn to her as though she’s magnetic, he starts to feel kind of weirded out. she looks sweet, innocent, even adorable, but still, he has a suspicion that maybe there’s something about this that isn’t as innocent as it seems. oddly enough, he’s not really minding all that much. he feels like he should be more weirded out than he really is, and it’s kind of disconcerting. 

     stopping around the corner, he turns back to stare at it. he swears he had just seen her not that long ago. more than anything, he wants to get to the bottom of this. he wants to understand why he always notices her, why she’s following him, and when she peeks around the corner, he makes direct eye contact with her. boldly, he strides over to her, crossing his arms over his chest. 

     “why are you following me?” he asks with a small pout and a slightly accusing tone. strange. he had meant to be harsher, more aggressive, but somehow, it had come out much more gently than he’d intended.

Oh no, he was definitely looking at her. A reasonable call to shrink back, try to disappear or something equally useful whispered in the back of her mind, but the patient student stood her ground. Stealth was out the window. Duplicity a foreign concept to her nature. No, as he marched up in a brazen advance, she stepped out to face the music. Whatever it may be.

“Um,” brows furrowed as a hickory gaze swept over crossed arms and back up to a rather cute pout. Not for the first time in her twenty plus year’s Kyungah wanted to pinch someone’s cheeks but managed to resist. “Because you’re precious?” Fumbling over simple words, the young woman could feel that odd inherent tug growing stronger with the closer proximity between them. Idly, she wondered whether he didn’t sound as angry as she’d expected.

“I—I want to protect you.” Hair swung around cherubic face as she looked down. “No. That’s true, but I was asked to do this.” Rapid blinks accompanied a melancholy sigh. “Please don’t be too angry. You’re wonderful! Of course, people love you enough to want you safe and sound.” Teeth ran over bottom lip as she dared to glance up again. “I’m sure you’re quite capable! And maybe it sounds silly that someone like me could protect someone like you.”

dhwtaehyun​:

living outside the orphanage has been a strange experience for taehyun. he spent his entire life up until now living with a bunch of other kids both older and younger ( though the older stopped being much older as he got closer to being of age ) and now to be on his own is wild. honestly speaking he doesn’t know what to do with himself now. 

there’s no one trying to stop him from being out late, or sleeping in. no one rationing what he eats, or dictating when he goes to bed. no chores being forced upon his weak soul. it’s just him and his general understanding of how society works. 

general because he slept through most lessons on survival. 

and what’s a 18 year old boy with no family and way to much free time to do? not sit around and wallow in loneliness thats for sure. but what to do was the real question. he had gone out and about, exploring the neighborhood, bothered the few friends he has to see if theyre free, and even ate three whole instant ramyeons at the near by convenience store with the store clerk watching him in awe. now he was slowly but surely making his way back to his room when an idea popped into mind. one he has… considered a few times.

he needed to get a 2 for his door. and thats how he finds himself ( not so ) quietly outside of a door with a 2 on it, using one of the chopsticks given to him at the convenience store, to try and pick away the number 2 from this persons door. he thought he was being sneaky enough so when the door suddenly flies open he’s very unprepared. his face meeting he floor in seconds. “aaaaaa….” maybe she won’t notice him… 

Whatever she’d expected to find on the other side, it wasn’t what she did. If it hadn’t been for sharp hearing the odd scene could’ve easily been missed. In truth, she wasn’t immediately sure if that was a good thing or not. Her brain had barely registered the young man’s presence, let alone the wooden instrument he’d been using against her door, when confused gaze followed him down in another shocking twist. “Goodness!”

Head cocked to the side as she studied the figure now huddled upon floor of the narrow hallway. Well, that certainly wasn’t a forest creature! And that noise… Shooting a glance over her shoulder the ranger wondered if there was some sneaky, horrible apparition behind her that had so frightened the poor fellow. Confirming there was nothing more than her ordinary apartment with twinkling fairy lights glowing against the walls, she swooped to kneel down with a hand outstretched in supplication, “oh dear, please don’t be frightened. I didn’t mean to startle you. So sorry— I just… I thought—”

It wasn’t every day that Kyungah was approached for an important task. Between her upbringing with the humble Kim family and less than outstanding scholastic achievements, she wasn’t sure why people were so willing to ask her for help. Besides, of course, always doing her best with their requests. If the young lady were to think extra hard, she would suppose the long list of efforts since her middle school days might give more credence to her abilities than she did. Whatever the rationale, the Song’s approached her and she answered, gladly.

Keeping an eye on Junhee proved easy enough, probably another reason for her selection. Considering their same age and proximity at the Academy, she didn’t really consider it weird to follow him around. Then again, she didn’t really consider much! And there was something weirdly... right about trailing after the wealthy man.

Carrying out her duty, the young woman thought she caught a glance from the blond and froze, wide-eyed where she stood. Fingertips sought out a lacy daisy clip pinning back wavy chestnut hair and pressed against it as a teeny, awkward smile broke over her lips. The earnest ranger sidestepped behind a nearby corner and leaned against the rough stone, not quite sure why she was hiding. There had been some talk of discretion, but why would their son care if parents had asked someone to look out for him with love and worry in their hearts?

Speaking of which, fist pressed against her chest, realizing her heartbeat had accelerated. Huh. Cautious and slow, she dared a peek around the corner, hoping he hadn’t taken too much notice.

Pages rustled in velvety throw covered lap as she tried to make sense of numbers and letters that were supposed to be understandable. But…

“The answer is tofu, right?” Hickory hued eyes glanced down at the tiny body nuzzled into the crook of her arm and she ran fingertips over unruly fur absently. You’d think after all these years, she’d stop asking animals rhetorical questions, but no. At least Saja usually didn’t bother to answer. Certainly not when she was deep in a nap.

With a sigh, Kyungah closed her book and eyes, slumping back on fluffy pillows. The extremely limited pool of energy saved for homework had been depleted once more. Her decision to keep going in school consistently brought a damper to typically wonderful days. If it weren’t for the lovely people, (and possibly more importantly her parent’s expectations), she’d give it right up to live a hermetic life in the forest.

Thinking about said parents encouraging words, the tired student nearly missed an unusual noise. Cracking open sleepy eyes, dark gaze lazily swung to the apartment door as more little scratches against it reached her ears. Carefully extricating her dear bunny friend, she set her on a pile of warm blankets. Kya slowly stalked across smooth floor, brows furrowed as an often absent brain pondered just who could be outside. The Cottages had a security office, but if a creature had managed to make their way here to ask for help, a normal security guard wouldn’t likely know how to handle that. Hopefully, everything was okay.

Then again, people were always warning her about being more careful. But those were all just horrible stories! People couldn’t actually do stuff like that! Keeping that in mind, she swung the unlocked door open. “Hello?”