tiger, tiger, burning bright

 ❝Now?❞ She asked, brows furrowing in confusion. ❝I don’t give a damn what you do now. I just thought I’d save you the anger and frustration of reading a pamphlet full of lies and bullshit. I bet not even five percent of what was on those papers was true.❞ She smiled, as if she had done him the biggest favor in the world, and in her mind, maybe she had. 

So he should thank her then ... maybe? Well, if she’d done him this supposedly wonderful service by destroying a brochure filled with nothing but lies — he could have done it himself, but it had never even crossed his mind to — then the least he could do was verbally express his gratitude. Maybe. “Uh — thanks,” Ki-Woong muttered, lips curving upward into a small smile of amusement, directed inward. “I feel stupid now. Such a simple solution was staring me in the face all this time, and I never saw it.” He couldn’t even blame it on ignorance, not this time. “So ... yeah. Let’s just forget that ever happened.” She didn’t seem to particularly care what he did after the fact, so he might as well take advantage of that.

      WHAT would it take to drive the cat away for good? He should’ve gotten the message by now. He should’ve figured out by now that he wasn’t welcomed here. If he’d truly wanted Ki-Woong around, Junsu would have deliberately left him with a way to contact him. But he hadn’t. “THE VIEW,” he repeated, arching his brow in skepticism as he decided then to tackle the problem of key retrieval head-on, struggling to find the best solution among the many godawful ones. “I DIDN’T REALIZE LONG, DREARY HALLS WERE YOUR KRYPTONITE. I CAN ONLY IMAGINE HOW OVERWHELMING LAS VEGAS MUST’VE BEEN FOR YOU.” It was nonsense, and Ki-Woong undoubtedly knew that. But that obviously didn’t stop him from stirring the pot of ridiculousness with his farcical replies.

“I KNOW WHAT YOU’RE DOING,” he snapped, thrusting his fingers through his hair as he unconsciously took a step back. “AND I DON’T SEE WHY YOU CAN’T BE MATURE ABOUT THIS AND JUST GIVE ME THE DAMN KEYS.” For someone who rarely resorted to cursing, it said a lot about his mental state. “NO MORE WORD GAMES.”

He was angry — Ki-Woong got that. But bowing his head in acceptance of the heaps of shade he was determined to bury him in and saying nothing at all, even if it proved nonsensical, fell outside the realm of his character. There was only so much misplaced animosity. This boy had been his life, their bond long-lasting and too strong to sever with the invisible scissors of man’s greed and cruelty. He’d struggled to reach his side many a night, the chains rubbing his wrists raw as he yanked and pulled with determined vigor. But all his efforts had meant nothing in the end ... Junsu wanted nothing to do with him, treating him with disdain — and an indescribably small trace of fear. A human wouldn’t recognize the emotion, failing to detect it hidden within the depths of his eyes. But he couldn’t fool Ki-Woong. This tiguri could practically sense it in the stale air surrounding them. “You honestly think something like that could keep me away from you?” Even if he found himself completely overwhelmed by it all, he still wouldn’t let unease or uncertainty stand in the way of their reunion. “And who’s to say the view that has me so spellbound isn’t you?” Caged by two long, plain walls; it was clearly Junsu’s fault.

Lilith had just happened to be walking by when she saw the exchange. It had gotten on her nerves, to say the very least. She slowly approached the stranger, grabbing the paper from his hands and flipping through it for less than a second before ripping it and letting the pieces fall to the ground.   ❝You’re welcome.❞

He wasn’t expecting someone to personally step in and rid him of this nuisance, but when she did, all he could think to say was, “okay.” He supposed he should have been the one to think of that particular solution. Now that she’d done it for him, though, he felt slightly ridiculous for wanting to chase the strange human down and forcibly return the brochure to him. “What now?” He quirked an eyebrow. Was he supposed to say you’re welcome or nod his head and move on? Or ignore the fact that he’d probably annoyed the woman with his reaction? The choices were limitless, or so it seemed.

— She doesn’t know how to respond at first, a little caught off guard by the boy’s comment. Does it being a human tradition mean that others don’t take it as seriously? But — being quite familiar with the djinn community, it doesn’t really surprise her to find that someone clearly not human doesn’t intend to celebrate the new year or truly make a resolution of their own. “Some are,” Alea acknowledges, really not all that acquainted with human customs; just this one, but only slightly. “And I would like to think so. Why else would they name them resolutions if they don’t intend for you to be resolved in doing what is needed to achieve your goal?” Otherwise, it just doesn’t make sense.

— A glitchy GPS — not exactly what she’s hoping for. “I get so easily turned around as it is — I’d rather not have such a thing compound the issue even further.” And with her luck, that’s what it would do … compound the issue.

“Just some?” Ki-Woong shook his head in disagreement. Because he knew for a fact that most, maybe even all, human ideas and customs demonstrated drollery in some form or another. Very rarely did they abide by their instincts, choosing instead to second guess themselves. And when their instincts did come into play, it was nearly always over the pettiest or smallest of reasons. Even Junsu was guilty of that, considering how quickly he’d run off to Las Vegas after his release. “It seems kind of ... fascistic to me - something to say to make yourself feel better about everything that’s gone wrong in your life due to your own mistakes and bad decision-making skills.” That might not be specific to humans alone, though. Some ailurans were known to chase goals that would forever remain unattainable; he just wasn’t one of them.

      RECOGNITION ignited almost as soon as the first word left the creature’s lips. Closing his eyes — and ears — to the familiar sound and sight of his childhood friend, Junsu debated feigning ignorance and finding another way into his apartment. But short of breaking down the door — and honestly, he wasn’t even sure he was strong enough to get the job done — or punching through the glass of one of the windows — again with the strength issue — there was no other way inside; not that he could think of, anyway. “WHAT’RE YOU DOING HERE?” He muttered, not quite meeting the other male’s eyes as he held his hand out for the keys. Because if he did, there was no telling what expression he’d see on Ki-Woong’s face. Smugness, maybe? 

      “KEYS … PLEASE,” he added, striving for politeness when all he really wanted to do was tuck tail and run away; no pun intended

How he wished things were different. In another time - another place - Junsu would have happily greeted him with a smile, ushering him through the door before he’d even opened his mouth to ask if he could come in. But the humans had gone out of their way to destroy the intimate , close bond he’d once shared with his precious charge, the torture they’d inflicted upon Junsu as cruel and as evil as it came. They’d wanted to test just how far an ailuran was willing to go in order to save his human, and Ki-Woong ... He’d been prepared to throw his life away for the boy. But Junsu had had no idea what was truly going on, finally seeing the tiguri for the animal he was. So his reaction to his unexpected arrival ... Well, it was expected. But that didn’t make it any less harder to swallow. “Oh, just admiring the view,” he answered after a while, flashing a small, fleeting smile. “Is that against human law now?” They had so many laws that keeping up with them all proved impossible.

▎ “Is that a judgy tone I detect? They can’t help being born with such … unappealing attributes, fish gods or no fish gods.” thetis was certain most fish gods would find his comment offensive. “And since my father was once dubbed Old Man of the Sea, I don’t know if I should be offended or not.” but the teasing note in her tone implied she’d already made up her mind not to take anything that was said seriously.

▎”I’ve never heard that one before.” indeed, cats for brains was a new one. “But with all your cat references — and obvious dislike of water — I’m beginning to think feline blood flows through your veins.”

“No scale-lifts for the poor blubbers?” Shoulder lifting in an insouciant half-shrug, Ki-Woong considered doing the polite, human thing and ignoring everything odd in her comment. But he just couldn’t do it - not with that wacky title she’d so carelessly thrown at him. And if she took offense to his amusement ... Well, that was on her. “You mean to tell me several someones once called your father old man ... of the sea? And meant it? Are you sure they weren’t picking fun at his beard? Maybe he had barnacles growing out of it ...”

 ▎ “Not since the last time I deigned to check — and while I have nothing against guppies, I wouldn’t wish to be one. ”

 ▎ “Ah, but I hear swimming can be quite relaxing. Perhaps you should give it a try sometime. Who knows? You may find that you actually like it.”

“Who would? They’re tiny - with bulging eyes and spindly looking tails. The fish gods were not kind to them.”

Nike looked at him in surprised as they bumped into one another, glad at first that she hadn’t knocked over either of their drinks.  Sometimes it is just too crowded in places for anyone’s own good.

Her eyebrow rose when he asked to do it again and she laughed nervously.  “Again?”  Nike looked at the mug still full and pondered his request.  “That bad hmm?  Accidents do happen don’t they,” she added, gently bumping his hand to knock the beer over and smiled.  “Oh dear another accident.  How terrible.”

Ki-Woong blinked - a slow blink, reminiscent of the cat he’d once been ... and still was, truth be told - at her nervous laugh. Did she not receive requests like the one he’d just made often? 

“All the time,” he replied, giving a disgusted sniff at the thought of having no other recourse but to gulp down that godawful drink and pray it didn’t give him hives ... or worse, a hairball. But then she did exactly as he wanted, the back of his hand making accidental contact with the mug and knocking it over, spilling the beer all over the table. It would have been an oops moment for anyone who hadn’t actually anticipated that very thing happening. 

“Oops,” he said with a straight face - added for good measure. 

  ▎ “What do you have against water?”

“Everything.”