ahhhhhhhhhhh,,, okokok

“okay. i won’t forget.” remi looks properly chastised, rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly. “sorry, again.” he listens to sungho’s explanation, if you could call it that, of why he’s so secretive, fidgeting with one of his bracelets just to keep his hands occupied, tugging one of the chunkier beads out and letting it snap against his wrist.

what a bleak outlook on life. remi has firsthand experience with being used for another’s gain - it’s the whole reason he was in korea, after all - and yet… sungho seems like so much more of a pessimist, by comparison. “don’t you get tired?” it kinda slips out, not really meaning to start anything with the other. “like… i’m not planning on staying here forever either, but…” he shrugs a little bit. “it seems like it would be exhausting to think that everyone’s always out to get you, i don’t know.”

remi has a lot of friends on the island, most just that passing sort of friendship he doesn’t expect to last, but that’s okay. he can’t imagine blocking himself off from the world like this, no matter how jaded he got. “i’m not trying to tell you that you’re wrong or anything. i really don’t wanna fight about this, honestly. just… i don’t know. it’s cliché to say that you can trust me, especially since we barely know each other, but i don’t have any ulterior motives about wanting to get to know you. most people around here don’t. some of ‘em, yeah, sure. but most of us are just trying to do our own shit.”

it’s silent for a moment as remi tries to think, to plan out what steps he would have to take in order to go out of town with sungho. he doesn’t even know how far away the capital is from here, how long of a drive it would be. his truck’s not exactly great, he still has to- oh, shit. making a surprised noise as his bracelet snaps, dumping beads onto his lap, remi curses under his breath. “my bad. thinking too hard, i guess. i’ll look into it later though, see if we can make it happen. gotta do a little research about it, ’s all.” having collected all the beads, remi leans over, dumping them into the ashtray on the nearby coffee table to deal with later. that’s a problem for future remi. “did you want to do something today, still, or..?”

Sungho just sat there listening to the other. Yes, he was annoyed that Remi wasn't considering why. Not that he would have any idea about that, but in that moment, the familiar feeling of being misunderstood was front and center. His distance was part of his norm, especially when his behavior in high school escalated. That made him an outcast, as he didn't keep the harmony. He pushed the limit not out of pure rebellion but because of the pressure. Doing the same thing as his peers made him feel more invisible than he already was. Everything revolved around status and bragging rights. Doing the exact opposite gave him freedom because the expectations shifted from meeting high demands to just staying out of trouble.

With Remi's last words, that meant the trip wasn't going to happen anytime soon. Damn, he was looking forward to getting away from everything that was going on. Sungho had already settled on lying that he was visiting the island instead of admitting where he lived. There was too much going on that it was exhausting.

once he's sure he's not gonna fall over anytime soon, remi tugs his hoodie over his head, tossing it aside. now that they're inside, the room is pretty warm, so he doesn't need it anymore. "lemme know if you need me to-" he gestures kind of vaguely up at his chest, indicating the state of his shirt. a birthday gift from daphne, reading 'dungeons & diners & dragons & dive-ins & dives' and featuring a pretty sick drawing of guy fieri as a dragon, but more pressingly, one that he'd cut the sleeves off of a little overzealously, leading to nearly his whole side being bared. it didn't bother him one bit, but some people are weird about side-boob, so better to be polite about it. he'd already messed up once when it came to sungho, anyway.

"mrs. kim makes the best food, dude. she's taught me how to make a few things, but i'm not really all that good at cooking." he'd gone to boarding school, after all. it's not as though he'd had ample opportunity to learn. although he has a little kitchen set-up in his room, it's mostly just for snacking - a fridge, a little counter space, the standard dorm-style set-up he was used to - while the rest of the upstairs was a shared living space for him and mrs. kim, as he rented her extra room, rather than a distinct apartment.

exiting the room, remi heads down to the kitchen, trusting sungho will follow. it's evident from decorations alone that this is not his part of the house, furnishings indicative of an older woman with a fondness for florals, rather than remi's own neon-modern-pop culture style, but his presence still permeates: tucked between family photos and dated pictures of an unfamiliar young man, pictures of a smiling remi, albeit before he'd bleached his hair, and the older woman who owns the grocery store line the hallway, indicating their less-than-normal landlord-renter relationship, his textbooks still strewn across the coffee table from where he'd been cramming for the final, mail stuck to the fridge with a magnet bearing his name. surprisingly homey, all things considered.

Matteo snorted. He couldn't help it. The thought of the sirens having any sort of organizational system was just that laughable. Ever since they formally left them, they had run on anarchy and disdain. Though, if tales and Zia were any indication, sirens were always wild cards, even when they were a part of the merfolk's dominion.

He almost gave Remi a pointed look. Matteo was used to people trying to convince him of their ideas. Usually, it involved advisors or a formal open forum of his subjects. A scheduled meeting maybe, but at least political backing. Remi had absolutely none of them and his audacity nearly made him laugh. Though, Matteo supposed, having Jongsu on their side counted in a way.

he does not, however, love to be made fun of. he'd been trying to be nice to matteo for jongsu's sake, but he's fresh out of good will towards the monarch, folding his arms over his chest, posture immediately closed off and defensive as soon as matteo laughs at him.

"i-" breathe, remington. you're in public. "i went through the procedures, they gave me the run-around. three times. you can't blame me for deciding to take an alternate route after they put up so many road blocks." it's what he expects from government, even on a local level. perhaps especially so, given that the local government around here aligned themselves with people who thought their sperm donor made them special. doesn't make it less frustrating though.

kicking you and kicking you and kicking you and kicking you and-

He was already elusive to begin with, so it was easy to blend into the shadows. But, here he was, running into Remi again. Maybe he was fated to keep spending time with this random college student. Well, there were definitely worst things.

"Not getting into trouble again, are we?" he asked, jokingly. Remi seemed like the kind to attract trouble. But, in a fun way. "Are you here to start a water fight at the river? Just so you know, you will definitely be outmatched here."

his wallet's aching just thinking about it. they're not going to go easy on him if they find out what kept him, either. daphne had already given him a hard time the last time he'd ditched her for jongsu, he can't do it again. "nah, the treaty day shit was super boring, the nymph stuff's way cooler. don't have to create my own entertainment here. though now i'm on the hook for buying drinks for the friends i came with, which kinda sucks."

speaking of nymphs... snapping his gum in thought, remi gives jongsu a onceover, not terribly surprised by this turn of events. it seems everyone he meets has some supernatural shit going on in this fucking place. "i mean, there's nothing in the forest that eats cute twinks, right? i'm probably good in that case." he can feel his phone going off in his pocket, rummaging through the pouch of his hoodie - he'd actually dressed for the weather this time! and it wasn't even controversial or anything! unless you somehow found his high school baseball team offensive, in which case, get well soon! - until he finds it.

biggest problem: did you dead ??? wya

"It would have been. I'm sorry for your loss." It felt odd to agree with the urchin, but he supposed it didn't mean a red tide was coming. Matteo still had plenty of reasons to find them annoying.

Though Matteo would have preferred to have kept arguing with Remi, he couldn't pass up an opportunity to show off the merfolk kingdom, especially in regards to his reign. "That net was not supposed to be there, but we do have areas where fishing is allowed. Humans aren't the best at giving back to the ocean, only taking."

Matteo hesitated. It was a delicate topic, though as new blood, he couldn't blame Remi for being ignorant on this one. "My father was a bit... old-fashioned. So, he handled things differently from me." He didn't continue, but all the ocean dwellers knew that his father had let the sirens do as they would in that regard. It saved him the trouble. "You'd have to ask a siren, I suppose. Though, good luck getting a straight answer out of one of them."

maybe he should just have some more champagne instead. especially if matteo is going to tell him, of all people, about how humans treat the world around them. as if one, he doesn't already fucking know, and two, it's his fault. like he personally dialed up humans and told them to fuck up some mermaids' shit.

"i mean, i asked lauren, but they didn't know." they'd just said some shit about minding his own business. typical lock shit, yeah. "it's not like the sirens have a spokesperson or anything, anyway, so realistically, you're a better person to ask. i don't know where your guys' stuff is all located down there, but a lot of offshore energy is usually more than like, 25 miles off the coast, so depending on where all that stuff is, you guys might not even really be bothered by it. plus! the location could definitely be worked out. you guys were here before the humans' energy needs, y'know?"

March 7, 2023: Forest Exploration Day

@hjremi

Jongsu had gone native. It had taken him a few decades to finally get comfortable adopting nymph customs again, but here he was, all natural. He had spent too much time in human spaces, trying to blend in. But, not here. Not in the forest. Not during the revelry.

He wasn't quite translucent like many other nymphs, which he assumed was because of his half-blood heritage. Admittedly, nymphs really seemed to like to play hard and fast with rules of biology. It was all nature's whim. So, maybe he had a slight blue to him for a reason. Hopefully, not in a symbolic way.

Jongsu had been gifted a skirt made of leaves and flower petals. He also wore a necklace made of river rocks. He took a deep breath. Maybe he really should move back to the waterfall. Though it was easier to get rid of those he despised while blending in among the humans, this had been the place that kept him safe for fifty years. It was his childhood home and he did feel more powerful near the waterfall.

thankfully, it had worked out in his favour - most things do, the lucky little shit - and he'd made many new friends by the time the first week had ended. the first of which, as she will proudly tell anyone who will listen, was a nymph named daphne, who had sat beside him in his sociology class and loudly declared that he was weird looking, but cute, and could she possibly braid his hair for him?

they'd been attached at the hip ever since. although she'd assured him that she was not, in fact, named after the scooby doo character - which like, he kinda figured? he didn't know a ton about greek mythology or anything, but he knew enough - it didn't stop her from calling him the shaggy to her daphne, the two of them always up to something. she's no becca, sure, but no one ever could be.

the revelry is no different. she's excited to show him around, and he's excited to be shown around. workshops about ecology are the exact type of nerdy shit he's into, and to have it surrounded by a party? lit.

currently, he's running through the forest, having been challenged to make it from the lair where the festivities are happening to a nearby clearing before daphne and some of their other friends can, loser has to pay for drinks. although there's a bunch of people around, he can't see any of his friends, turning to look behind him at perhaps the most inopportune moment, crashing directly into someone and nearly falling on his ass.

god had to humble him somehow, and since making him 5'4 and from fucking massachusetts hadn’t worked, giving him something to be insecure about was the next best thing, surely. it wasn’t even his fault, what had happened, he was just the only one left to tell the fucking tale about it. and honestly, even if he wasn’t able to cash in on pretty privilege anymore, remi was still doing pretty damn good. he’d said sungho was the first person in his room in a while, but he wasn’t the first person in remi’s room ever. far from it, in fact.

sungho is actually interesting, though, more than most of the people that attend their school, and definitely more than most of the people remi’s brought back before. those people… they like that remi’s foreign, that he’s new. he talks funny, talks loud, is different. it’s almost too easy. sungho doesn’t give a shit about any of that. he doesn’t give a shit about remi, doesn’t give a shit if he’s funny, if he’s flirtatious, and honestly, that’s what makes him so appealing.

“i mean…” try not to get arrested. try not to get sent to fucking prison. god, which prison would they even send him to? he can’t imagine they’d send a little twink like him to men’s prison, especially given his whole… situation, but- fuck, dude, focus.

“i wanna become an engineer. build cool tech, stuff that helps people, makes the world more accessible. not around here, obviously. maybe in seoul or something.” tucking his knees to his chest, remi hugs them, resting his chin on top of the hole in his jeans. “you have to be good, engineering’s a really competitive field. i can’t fuck around, y'know? i already took some time off school, so i’m already behind. that’s why i’m doing the dual major.” this was his first year back, since… well, making him a second year student at the ripe age of 23.

“why do you look so surprised?” he laughs, grateful to not have to talk about the future anymore. “i barely know anything about you. just stuff i’ve heard from other people, mostly. and whatever i’ve weedled out of you at school. mysterious is almost too light a word. more like enigma.”

as the other stares him down, remi stares at his bedspread, unable to meet sungho’s eyes. he’d thought the other knew. like, c'mon, pot brownies? that’s the most cliche thing he’s ever heard. “c'mon, don’t- don’t look at me like that. i would’ve told you if you’d wanted some. i also kinda figured you knew? since you said that shit about me losing it…” he trails off, shame making his ears feel hot. clearing his throat, he makes an effort to properly apologise, letting his knees fall and turning towards sungho more fully. “i’m sorry. i swear i- i would’ve said something, i wasn’t just gonna like, drug you, that’d be fucked up as hell.”

he must not have upset sungho all that bad, however, seeing as the man’s still willing to go somewhere with him. the capital… that’s kinda far away, isn’t it? and sungho wants to go? with him? “wherever you want.” it’s soft, softer than he planned. embarrassing ass- oh my god. “that’s kinda like, an all-day deal though, isn’t it?” it’s not a no, however.

what a bleak outlook on life. remi has firsthand experience with being used for another's gain - it's the whole reason he was in korea, after all - and yet... sungho seems like so much more of a pessimist, by comparison. "don't you get tired?" it kinda slips out, not really meaning to start anything with the other. "like... i'm not planning on staying here forever either, but..." he shrugs a little bit. "it seems like it would be exhausting to think that everyone's always out to get you, i don't know."

remi has a lot of friends on the island, most just that passing sort of friendship he doesn't expect to last, but that's okay. he can't imagine blocking himself off from the world like this, no matter how jaded he got. "i'm not trying to tell you that you're wrong or anything. i really don't wanna fight about this, honestly. just... i don't know. it's cliché to say that you can trust me, especially since we barely know each other, but i don't have any ulterior motives about wanting to get to know you. most people around here don't. some of 'em, yeah, sure. but most of us are just trying to do our own shit."

he’s sworn a silent truce with himself to behave this spring revelry, completely determined not to cause a repeat of the year prior. zhiyuan could shiver at the memory: how he’d let himself get a bit too drunk for the sake of a cute boy, how he laughed so hard he knocked over a trashcan, how a dryad staff lectured him about littering in their forest, how said cute boy completely left him after the fact. definitely not his best moment.

it’s more of a challenge than it should be, all things considered. small things wearing his composure thin, like the forest itself was praying on him making a fool of himself.

he’s planted himself at the flower crown station for now, neutral territory between the dancing and the rest of the ruckus. but he finds himself at his limit, however, when the person sat next to him shows off their haphazard creation of a crown, a proud grin lighting their face despite the art before them barely holding itself together. zhiyuan is trying, he really is, to hold himself back from just laughing at the sight of it all, palm cupping the way his grin warps in an effort to contain the cackle fighting his escape his lips.

“wow…” he huffs out, “that really is… something.”

it sucks. he knows it sucks. he still pouts whenever zhiyuan starts to laugh, shooting the other his best hurt look. "i'd like to see you do better!"

"had to make it big, anyway, because i was making it as a gift for you, and your head's huge." grinning, remi sets the - objectively terrible, it's horrid, really - flower crown on top of zhiyuan's head. "look at that! he's a model, he's a movie star!"

Matteo's eyes widened. Despite his dislike of this Remi, he was intrigued by the concept of hearing aids. "Well, we don't really have these among my people," he said. "No real need for them considering how we communicate. Well, at least underwater. We begin echolocating even from the womb."

If they didn't echolocate, they would die. Something would eat them or they'd never be able to speak to each other in battle. Frankly, it would be a mess.

He silently willed Squirtle to be a little less behaved and just take a tiny bite. Sure, he was a baby, but it would still hurt. "You almost got a tattoo of a-" Oh, he meant the Pokémon, not his turtle. "A dandelion?" He did not see the connection here. Humans were an odd bunch.

"ah, yeah. my friends and i got matching tattoos. my suggestion was to get the squirtle squad, but they decided on dandelions instead." he's not about to show matteo the tattoo, given where it's located, but the monarch doesn't actually care either way. "something about symbolism, i guess." thriving despite everything, like dandelions in the cracks of pavement, if he remembered correctly. not exactly accurate, but hey. "squirtle squad would've been cooler."

matteo liking pokemon is... unfortunate. at least he's got a basic-ass favourite. makes him less tolerable that way, which is kind of the point. "i didn't know they did fishing in this area. surprised you guys didn't get it declared a no-take zone." he'd heard that the waters were... less than welcoming to humans. lock had indicated that there used to be boats more frequently, whenever he was young, but remi hadn't seen any since he'd arrived. "cool that you saved him though. is stuff in the water like, a problem around here, even?"

Matteo stared quizzically at the things in Remi's ears. He wasn't sure what they did (if they weren't waterproof, he supposed it made sense he hadn't seen much of them before). "What are those exactly?" he couldn't resist asking. Maybe the Little Mermaid did have a point, being all that curious.

Jongsu would probably be upset if his little friend drowned, but Matteo could still stick him in a very large bubble. Just for a little bit. They shook their head. No, not today. They were supposed to be the noble monarch, especially with the rumors about what they had done to their family. No one needed to know that the transfer of power had been less than peaceful.

"my... hearing aids?" confusion colours his voice. maybe matteo thought they were airpods, or something? surely he's not so out of touch with the common people that he's never heard - ha! - of a deaf person before. "see?"

pulling it out makes the world go quiet on that side, the din of the party all lopsided as he can now only hear it on his right. he tips his head to that side unconsciously, as if tucking his ear towards his shoulder will abate the tinnitius, but he holds the device in the palm of his hand for matteo to see even still. he'd stuck a little smiley face sticker on this one, to match the stick-and-poke on his hand and the frowny face sticker on the other. watching matteo warily, remi tries not to flinch about it, resisting the urge to close his fist protectively - these things were expensive, and if matteo like, chucks it into the ocean or something, it's gonna take a bit for him to get a replacement, and he'll be pissed the whole time.

please don't make it weird, please don't make it weird, please don't make it weird. he can't stand it whenever people get that look on their face, that poor little remington look. "they make waterproof ones, but i can't swim anyway, so there's no point, y'know? what am i gonna do, hear myself take a shower?"

a little uncomfortable about the situation - he wasn't lying when he said matteo gives him both the heebies and the jeebies - remi puts the hearing aid back in. just in time, too, as someone approaches them, startling him, as he hadn't heard them coming.

....squirtle? like.... the pokemon?

”i don’t know how to respond to that in a way that doesn’t hurt my chances of seeing you again, so i’m just gonna take the l and shut my mouth.“ better to be honest about that, at least. they’re both guys in their 20’s, which is… literally marvel’s target audience, but he doesn’t have to be all that bright to realise it’s not a label sungho wants. plus, for as pretty as sungho is, he kinda reads more like a weeb, if remi’s honest. like if they’d gone over to sungho’s instead, remi might unearth a waifu pillow or spot some wrapped manga. maybe a figurine or twelve, if he was deep into it.

try not to go extreme and try to take down the government. well…

remington clifford, wanted by the fbi for questioning in regards to an eco-terrorism group based out of cambridge. the dandelion tattooed on his hip has never felt more like a brand.

he laughs, hoping it doesn’t sound too fake. ”right, yeah. i mean, the computers are for work. place like this doesn’t pay for itself.“ his parents send him money sometimes, sure, but it’s kind of sporadiac, as they don’t want to clue the literal fucking fbi into where remi’s staying. for all they treated him like a show pony and a social experiment sometimes, they’re at least good for that. ”i won’t bore you with the details or anything, because like… it really is boring, even to computer guys. but yeah, ah, no hacking here, no worries!“

fuck, dude, could you be anymore awkward? he blames the brownie, honestly. maybe sungho was right about him losing it.

”okay, first of all, her ballerina friend was way hotter, make no fuckin’ mistake about that one. and second, didn’t they like, shun him down into the basement in the first place for being all fucked-up looking?“ he’d only seen the movie like once, at least that he can recall. not his favourite musical, always more of a rent person, which he supposes should be obvious, considering his whole… him. gesturing vaguely towards his own face, which there is no way on god’s green earth that sungho hasn’t noticed, but he’s sweet to pretend. it’s pretty short-lived, however, as remi abruptly decides he doesn’t want to hear whatever it is sungho might have to say about it, if he stops pretending. ”actually, nevermind.“

sitting up, remi glances over at the tv, watching as nana and hachi go shopping for those damn strawberry glasses. ”not in a bit, no. i’ve been before, to like check it out, or whatever, but engineering exams fucking suck, dude. i’ve been holed up in here for weeks working on my stupid final project.“ he puffs out his cheeks in annoyance, hugging his knees to his chest. ”you should be grateful, you know. you’re the first person i’ve had over since i started really working on it.“ there’s a light teasing tone to his voice, greasy on purpose.

they’d been here almost the same amount of time. that’s fun. no wonder their paths didn’t really cross, with sungho trying to keep a low profile, and remi having to take a solid year and a half after his arrival to figure out how the fuck to speak korean enough to survive. ”mm, maybe. maybe i’m bored with my small-town life, and i need some beautiful, mysterious city boy to whisk me off my feet, make me feel alive.“ he pushes at sungho with a laugh whenever the other teases him right back, giving as good as he gets. ”shut up, i told you they’re for work! don’t be a brat.“

leaning over to where he had left his own soda, remi pops it open, leaning back on one hand to face sungho. ”we can go out somewhere if you really want, y'know. i’m not like, some hermit who shrivels up under the light of day. i just… i don’t know, man.“ he shrugs a little bit. ”every time i see you, there’s always a fuckton of other people around, y'know? like the library, the caf, whatever…“ not to mention, sungho wasn’t exactly a social butterfly. part being selfish and wanting sungho’s undivided attention, part not wanting to give the man a chance to run away before remi can make his move, even if it’s only friendship that he moves towards. ”it’s stupid, nevermind. i’m high, don’t listen to me.“ he shakes his head, taking another sip before setting his drink aside. ”did you wanna go out somewhere, then? i can drive, we don’t have to walk.“

Sungho had noticed Remi's scars but had enough sense to not say anything about them. He may have tried to hide it, but his self-esteem wasn't the highest, so why even bring attention to a sensitive topic? Life was difficult already, but add pretty privilege, insane expectations, and classism to the mix, and even already attractive people were going to struggle with such a beauty standard. Sungho may have fared better, but his attitude was such a turn-off. An example of deceiving looks because his smartass mouth, better than you aura, variety of mental health issues, and general indifference were masked by his celebrity-like face. Remi was the exact opposite of everything he knew, and yet there they were together in a room. without trying to kill each other.

"What's your plan after college? You're giving up a lot for a grade. Life is more than that." Was there bias like that? Sungho did come for the upper middle class, so even with high expectations, there was a sense of leisure and pleasure that was the real foundation of life. "Me? mysterious?" He was surprised that the word was used to describe him. "Anyway, the east side can be lively if you want that kind of life." Hearing the word brat was closer to the truth than mysterious, which was causing him to laugh. "I'm around people out of necessity, not because I enjoy it. My major, unofficially, is networking and making connections. That can be the difference between making a deal or not." He was being honest but managed to tact some other information on so he wasn't too vulnerable.

sungho is actually interesting, though, more than most of the people that attend their school, and definitely more than most of the people remi's brought back before. those people… they like that remi's foreign, that he's new. he talks funny, talks loud, is different. it's almost too easy. sungho doesn't give a shit about any of that. he doesn't give a shit about remi, doesn't give a shit if he's funny, if he's flirtatious, and honestly, that's what makes him so appealing.

"i mean…" try not to get arrested. try not to get sent to fucking prison. god, which prison would they even send him to? he can't imagine they'd send a little twink like him to men's prison, especially given his whole… situation, but- fuck, dude, focus.

"i wanna become an engineer. build cool tech, stuff that helps people, makes the world more accessible. not around here, obviously. maybe in seoul or something." tucking his knees to his chest, remi hugs them, resting his chin on top of the hole in his jeans. "you have to be good, engineering's a really competitive field. i can't fuck around, y'know? i already took some time off school, so i'm already behind. that's why i'm doing the dual major." this was his first year back, since… well, making him a second year student at the ripe age of 23.

"why do you look so surprised?" he laughs, grateful to not have to talk about the future anymore. "i barely know anything about you. just stuff i've heard from other people, mostly. and whatever i've weedled out of you at school. mysterious is almost too light a word. more like enigma."

as the other stares him down, remi stares at his bedspread, unable to meet sungho's eyes. he'd thought the other knew. like, c'mon, pot brownies? that's the most cliche thing he's ever heard. "c'mon, don't- don't look at me like that. i would've told you if you'd wanted some. i also kinda figured you knew? since you said that shit about me losing it…" he trails off, shame making his ears feel hot. clearing his throat, he makes an effort to properly apologise, letting his knees fall and turning towards sungho more fully. "i'm sorry. i swear i- i would've said something, i wasn't just gonna like, drug you, that'd be fucked up as hell."

the auditory cues aren’t much help either. human clothes are so weird, the donning and removing of pants sounds about the same. its the shapes that give him more clues, the bunching of a fabric-y shape around what ren would guess is the knees? it’s interrupted though, footsteps approaching with a relative haste, more shouting. 

he’s not sure what ‘fuckhead’ means. he’s heard it before, sure, but hasn’t gotten the opportunity to ask. it definitely gets the now-unbelted-man’s attention, though. the shape turns toward the approaching footsteps, but that’s all it does before it crumples to the ground, the resounding crack loud enough to give ren a reason.

instincts are a weird thing. ren’s never really been sure his developed quite properly, but its harder to tell without moments like this. instinctually speaking, a blind person might duck or back away, something to get further from the person who’d levelled the ,,, horrible man. one might even call that a logical choice. ren’s instincts, however, are tied to the water– and his puddle’s just about dried up. 

with the man out of the way, he can check on the would-be victim, pushing himself to his feet and taking a few unsteady steps towards the figure on the ground. "hey, you okay?" it's hard, for a minute, to understand what exactly is going on. they almost look... blurry? like their skin's struggling to keep all their bones in place or something. remi rubs at his eye with the hand that doesn't hurt, brow furrowing, trying to figure out if it's his eyes playing tricks, or if something seriously non-human is going on here. "woah, hey- ren?"

it took him a second to figure it out, sure, but he gets there eventually. answers his question about non-human or not, at least. "water? yeah, i have- hold on-" moving back to where he'd dropped his belongings, remi rummages through his bag, tossing things aside perhaps a bit too carelessly for all his new stuff that's in there, before producing the large metal water bottle he carries with him. he forgoes the straw, instead unscrewing the cap, bringing it back to ren. without thinking too hard about it, he sticks two fingers into the water, running them down the side so the stickers covering the outside of the bottle are slightly wet, hopefully allowing ren to see the bottle more clearly once he's got it in hand. taking ren's hand in his, remi brings it to the cool metal, making sure ren's got a decent grip on it before letting go. "it's in here. there's no lid."

“i am not losing it.” he’s not pouting. it would be embarrassing if he was pouting. “okay, so like, maybe i overindulged, maybe. but i earned it!” he’d just finished his final for the coastal engineering class the day before. which like, hey remi from the beginning of the year, don’t take that fucking class. it had been unnecessarily difficult, and they couldn’t even do anything with the things they learned, since the people that lived in the water wanted to be bitches about it. surrounded by the largest renewable resource in the world, but noooo… can’t do shit with it.

taking two cans of soda from the fridge, remi rolls his eyes as he rummages around for the stupid timer. he must not have shut it off properly whenever the brownies had been finished, because it’s rattling the whole damn counter with the vibrations from whatever drawer he’d shoved it in. “you seriously don’t know who jarvis is? but you know bb-8? dude. if anyone else in this town tells me they don’t know marvel, i’m gonna move to the sun.”

aha, success! he flicks the little switch, tossing the now-still timer back into the drawer. “jarvis is the ai from ironman. and way cooler than bb-8, for the record. well, maybe not in this case, since it’s just a custom voice for my echo.” those things were stupid easy to jailbreak - privacy first, privacy second! - but he didn’t even need to in order to accomplish that, as jarvis was a standard option available on them.

remi freezes as soon as he sees sungho, eyes scraping over him, before he makes himself look away. damn whatever horny lizard that lived in his brain for wanting to immediately crawl on top of the other. you can’t be eye-fucking him already, dude, he just got here. “here.” passing the soda over to sungho, remi sets his own aside, hitting the button on his tv before collapsing onto his stomach beside the other, letting out a heavy breath. exams got him fucked up.

“fuck, dude, i can’t wait for summer. i finally don’t look like the phantom of the fuckin’ opera, so i might actually be able to go to the beach.” his scar tissue had been healing pretty well, according to his doctor. so well, in fact, the little stick-and-poke tattoo he’d given himself on the back of his hand, which had already looked kinda shitty to begin with, had distorted further, the smiley face turning into some weird grin.

once the television loads properly, it begins auto-playing whatever he had on last, which from sound alone appears to be some anime he’d put on before going to sleep the night before. he’s not really even looking, turning instead to look at sungho. “are you staying in hanjeong for the summer? you live in the city normally, yeah?” he kinda vaguely recalls that, from some half-conversation they might’ve had between studying.

"Do I look like I watch Marvel!?" Sungho questioned in a defensive tone, "Plus, BB-8 could beat up the Avengers; hell, even we could." He was referencing an online meme that said the Avengers were so weak that almost everyone else could defeat them in battle, "Anyways, it's cool you know how to mod like that but not go extreme and try to take down the government?"

He was only half serious, as mass media often showed computer-inclined people to be hackers and anon troops in a never-ending war to overthrow "the system". It was probably usual for Remi, but Sungho asked for a soda specifically because that was something he was denied during his upbringing. Some things were considered uncultured and outside the family image, though his Mom did allow them when it was just the two of them. Sungho wasn’t liking how, in this short time with the other, he was getting reminders of his past. Remi was decently nice and all, but so far, this may not be a long-term thing if the reminders keep coming.

"Why not? He was rich as fuck and had the hottest woman after him," Sungho replied after drinking a third of the can in one go. "School got you that bad; you haven’t gone to the beach". There was disbelief in his voice. Sungho went at least twice to get away from everyone and decompress. Sure, there was some danger with the sirens and mermaids, but he didn’t have any contact with them that he knew of. For him, everyone was human until stated otherwise. He was unconcerned with the culture war, as he had no stake in it. He was at Hanjeong to get away from his family.

try not to go extreme and try to take down the government. well…

remington clifford, wanted by the fbi for questioning in regards to an eco-terrorism group based out of cambridge. the dandelion tattooed on his hip has never felt more like a brand.

he laughs, hoping it doesn't sound too fake. "right, yeah. i mean, the computers are for work. place like this doesn't pay for itself." his parents send him money sometimes, sure, but it's kind of sporadiac, as they don't want to clue the literal fucking fbi into where remi's staying. for all they treated him like a show pony and a social experiment sometimes, they're at least good for that. "i won't bore you with the details or anything, because like… it really is boring, even to computer guys. but yeah, ah, no hacking here, no worries!"

fuck, dude, could you be anymore awkward? he blames the brownie, honestly. maybe sungho was right about him losing it.

"okay, first of all, her ballerina friend was way hotter, make no fuckin' mistake about that one. and second, didn't they like, shun him down into the basement in the first place for being all fucked-up looking?" he'd only seen the movie like once, at least that he can recall. not his favourite musical, always more of a rent person, which he supposes should be obvious, considering his whole... him. gesturing vaguely towards his own face, which there is no way on god's green earth that sungho hasn't noticed, but he's sweet to pretend. it's pretty short-lived, however, as remi abruptly decides he doesn't want to hear whatever it is sungho might have to say about it, if he stops pretending. "actually, nevermind."

sitting up, remi glances over at the tv, watching as nana and hachi go shopping for those damn strawberry glasses. "not in a bit, no. i've been before, to like check it out, or whatever, but engineering exams fucking suck, dude. i've been holed up in here for weeks working on my stupid final project." he puffs out his cheeks in annoyance, hugging his knees to his chest. "you should be grateful, you know. you're the first person i've had over since i started really working on it." there's a light teasing tone to his voice, greasy on purpose.

they'd been here almost the same amount of time. that's fun. no wonder their paths didn't really cross, with sungho trying to keep a low profile, and remi having to take a solid year and a half after his arrival to figure out how the fuck to speak korean enough to survive. "mm, maybe. maybe i'm bored with my small-town life, and i need some beautiful, mysterious city boy to whisk me off my feet, make me feel alive." he pushes at sungho with a laugh whenever the other teases him right back, giving as good as he gets. "shut up, i told you they're for work! don't be a brat."

Deadly Class #3 (March 26, 2014)

normally, ren wouldn’t even consider going into town on a day that wasn’t rainy; the wet weather wasn’t a perfect way for him to visualize his surroundings, but its certainly better than the alternative– a sea of darkness, a cacophony of sounds he doesn’t have the strength to parse, air thick with the dry heat from the sun and the varying scents that line the busy streets of hanjeong. 

that’s where, of course, ren ends up. it was silly, really. he didn’t even need to come into town today, just wanted to walk around and absorb the energies. fortune favours the bold and all that. bold certainly isn’t one of the things that ren is feeling right now… but dwelling on that isn’t going to get him to water. 

okok, first point of order: get to water ! it’s easy enough to think to himself, and its a good plan, really. in a place like hanjeong, all directions lead to water eventually. that’s the beauty of living on an island. he takes a moment to concentrate, block out the other senses, focus on his hearing. even a splash, something that will give him an indication as to where he could possibly be. 

-

"it's... a picture of a man?" lock furrows his brow, looking over the card that had gotten remi so excited.

"it's not- byun baekhyun is not a man. he's like, a modern day god. you wouldn't understand, they don't make photocards for whatever weird goth music you listen to." is lock a cure guy? he seems like a cure guy.

"a modern day god using a frog hat filter." lock doesn't seem impressed. "what's all this other stuff, then?"

"those are the other inserts. there's another photocard in there, i think. you can have it if you want it. consider it the start of your collection." he doesn't care about the little ids the album comes with, really, and besides, he has all the green ones already.

lock fishes the photocard out from the pile remi had abandoned - he normally treats his albums better than this, but this is like his fourth time trying to pull froggy baekhyun, so he's got more than enough copies of the album by now - and turns it over, looking at it for a moment. "this guy kinda looks like you." that attracts his attention. which member could lock possibly be talking about? "see?"

he glances at the card.

"dude. i'm flattered, but mark lee does not look like me."

-

honestly, he could blow the person who'd introduced him to lock, his lifeline of sanity in this pleasantville-ass place, but his time might be better spent sucking up to lock instead. the siren had politely but firmly turned remi down, whenever he'd tried to blow him, but that doesn't mean remi can't try to get on his good side in other ways.

lost in some half-baked fantasy about how best to go about that - lock likes spooky stuff, right? bats and spiders and shit? maybe he can... - a flurry of movement attracts his attention, pausing in the entry of the alley he'd been passing as he sees someone brought down that way, draped over another man's shoulder.

that's... weird, right? like, even for hanjeong.

nobody around him seems to be inclined to act on it, so he guesses it'll have to be him. sorry, froggy baekhyun. don't get ruined. kicking his board up easily, remi tucks it under his arm before darting into the alley without much more than a quick prayer that this doesn't blow up in his face.

neither man seems to have noticed him, even though the one on the ground is obstructed from his view by the other. whatever, suits him just fine. gives him a second to come up with a game plan, anyway. he shoulders off his backpack, setting it and his skateboard aside, spying some construction debris nearby. he doesn't really wanna use his skateboard for this: he really likes this one, and whenever he'd broken a truck on it some months ago, it had taken ages to get a replacement, so he's not exactly keen on destroying it just yet. a quick once-over is all he needs, before fishing a piece of wood that'll work out of the pile. he might only be 5'4, but his attitude's definitely 6'2, deciding to make his presence known.

"hey, fuckhead!"