REDBIRD.

purple had been his favorite on her and she’d all but banished anything that even remotely made her go down memory line like she was right now, but inevitably the world could not controlled as much as she wished it could with certain things. just because she didn’t like something, didn’t mean she could eliminate it entirely from her life. it wasn’t possible. she didn’t like drinking human blood and she was still made to do it whether she wished to or not.

however, hyomi had to be truthful with herself. the main reason why she disliked being triggered into a past she worked so hard to keep at bay was how it softened her. the atmosphere would shift, like now. with the single flower she was twirling in her hand and just the fact that even the scent that emanated from it was making her cling even tighter to the image of him. that last morning he’d stood in her kitchen. his favorite place, he’d never understood why she never used it.

barely used it would be lying. she simply never was seen there even when he was coming over, even when he was staying the night. she’d had all the excuses in the world to never have more than a bite or two of anything he would be cooking in the morning. at night, she could at least have a bit more strength from what truly sustained to not completely gag at the food, but it’d been established after a little while that jihoon could cook anything he wanted in the morning and hyomi would simply not oblige in eating. not even to feel him be satisfied that he’d managed to make her take a bite. 

she had blamed him, not right out in his face of course. but she did remember blaming him for how easily she wanted to say yes to anyone who would ask her to grab a bite because of the memory of him and how happy it made him to see that she was eating. had it been hard to keep it from slipping past her lips that she was eating, drinking plenty, just not what he expected her to be gorging on? 

of course. 

every morning hyomi had woken up, felt the sting of the sun on her skin, quickly covered every inch of her skin before walking in her kitchen. he would make light of how she was constantly cold. especially to the touch. at least that worked in her favor, him thinking that it was simply a condition she had. like she was human but she was just not as normal as most of them. a simple different human being. 

each time she’d had it at the tip of her tongue, the truth, just there. the same uncomfortable tingle it had whenever she let him talk into biting into the stale taste of a meal. she honestly had felt nauseously disturbed by her own persistence to keep this game going. keep it up until eventually it would all crash down. because it would. she would be losing at this. she’d known that from the moment she’d first left him in her bed in the middle of the night to roam about in her fridge, in a hidden compartment of the appliance machine to find where she hid her emergency bags. 

she’d relied a lot on those when they’d been together. she’d been underfed for most of their relationships. temptation had lurked at every corner, even jihoon had once almost made her cave into the need. what a martyr she’d been then. for what? a love that she’d known would be snatched and broken just as easily as it’d been forged and rooted. 

but hyomi had always been foolish in everything else that did not pertain to her missions. she knew her weaknesses lied in the way she felt, how she felt, how much she liked to dive head first into everything she knew had once been a part of her human self. that was where her mistake had been, in believing that she could still fall right back where she’d been stolen from. that it was okay to let him treat her like she was fragile, more than he was. that he could protect her from herself and the world that surrounded her.

that nothing could ever happen to her as long as he was there, alive, breathing, loving, caring. hyomi had forgotten that he was the one with the bloody target on his back and front and side and right beside him in bed. she would have never hurt him. but being with him was already the happy trigger to invite everything else that wanted to get at her to do what they wished and do what they wanted, they did. 

she closed her eyes before the purple in of the flower could turn itself into the images of shredded--

“do you need any help?” 

that was fortunate and right on time. she latched onto that voice, which she knew. although it sounded less childlike than she remembered it. if hyomi was not cowardly enough to turn around, she probably would be able to catch some of his lines traced across the face of the woman she knew was standing behind her. 

however, hyomi was a coward so she put the flower away and shook her head before leaving the store without another word. he hadn’t just been fond of flowers, he’d owned a family business. a flower shop. that she’d sworn to never step in again. now she had the confirmation that his little sister had taken over it just as she’d always vehemently claimed she would one day. 

this was wrong of her. to step back into it, knowing that they would never have closure because his death had gone unannounced, undiscovered. as it should be. as it always was. hyomi had even been part of that cover up. it had been wrong then to make the family think that their son, their brother had simply vanished, disappeared, left them without a reason why, abandoned them when the woman they’d trusted and adopted and welcomed had simply shortened his life. 

the worst thing about this? she was certain he would have forgiven her. because that had been who he was, and that was why hyomi would never forgive herself for not giving him the chance to choose her or the life he could have had without her. 

HYDRANGEA …thank your muse.

she got distracted, as she always was when that part of her life came rushing back to her. that was the thing with immortality, especially in a world made for mortals. it felt like living a new life with each generations that you were forced to assimilate into. in a way, hyomi understood why some of her kinds wanted to take over and show that they were the better ones to juggle with the fates of this world. because that would mean building a world for immortals, no more hiding, no more rebuilding yourself, erasing traces of who you were so that no one could figure out that you’d never aged at all. 

so much treachery had to go into it that she often times felt divided in all the names, relationships, everything that she’d built and broken. even this one she would eventually have to let go of once the period would end and force her to adapt yet again to another world. for all the love she had for humans, their love for evolution was exhausting and stopping them from truly living in the world as it was, rather than trying to changing each time they were unsatisfied with it. at least if they changed the bad things about it. but no, their habits were always about undoing and redoing the good things because it could be better. 

enough of that though, she blinked at the pot a stranger had kindly grabbed when she’d almost let it drop to the floor. a vampire not being careful or swift enough to stop the fall of a simple object? probably unheard of. but she’d been distracted, because the image of jihoon had come flashing through her mind, as it always did whenever she let herself be tempted to walk in a flower shop. he’d owned one and had given her the love she had for them now in this life. 

hyomi felt herself blinking back the sting she had forgotten even existed in her eyes and quickly gathering back her senses. the world did tend to feel like a deaf storm, a stilled rumble that made time halt in place whenever she caught herself unguarded because of that history. so here she was, holding her hands out to get the pot back, “thank you, it would have been sad to lose it.” 

feykijung​:

( tw: death )

kijung, always curious, gave hyomi his full attention as she went into the details of her mission. he listened to her spiel about power, and stayed quiet, even if his thoughts might different from her own. bloody wars started with retaliation for small unclaimed crimes, which seemed to be what they participated in now. it was a cycle of an eye for an eye and escalation. kijung could be as vengeful as anyone, but he liked to think he knew when to stop too, controlled, careful, intelligent about the battles he fought– usually. even he had his moments. was interfering in this really their place? did he want to go along with it, lest it start, in hyomi’s words, a bloody war? 

his gut told him no, and could he really betray it if he might know better? he would withhold judgment for now, and let hyomi speak the rest of her piece. it was bone-chilling, not because of kijung’s own fear, virtually nonexistent, but because…how could a teenager do such a thing? why would they? he wanted to know the answer to that question. 

but first: “is this going to get me in trouble?” he asked her, gaze probing as he paused in his walking, certain to convey how serious he was. maybe he could help her without getting too involved. maybe he shouldn’t walk with her, lest anyone that could smell him become involved and track him down. would all of the supernaturals be on the same side? surely they would be, against this kind of hunter. 

(he made a note to himself to tell kyu not to go anywhere remote– to try and stay around people even despite his thirst. he would try to send him to class with more blood as a safety precaution, and surely he could avoid any danger.)

it was that thought that helped him lean in the direction of helping, if only because he wanted to stop him. he didn’t want anyone else to die. “does he have motive? are his kills guilty of killing humans, or does he just…do it because he can?” if it was the former, maybe he could understand, and safely stay out of this fight that was more hyomi’s than his. 

still, there was something that came to mind. “i couldn’t pinpoint who it was; it was always during times in the day when lots of people were around, but i would smell death sometimes– just vaguely, but enough for it to be unnerving. it was probably near the end of the week, like you said, because it wasn’t all the time, but i didn’t keep track.” it likely wasn’t helpful, other than to confirm the suspicions of hyomi and her sire. 

missing fangs. it still practically made him shudder.

as the scent of death grew stronger as they grew closer to wherever hyomi brought him, so did his hesitation. it was so familiar, however, and he let out a long sigh. “yeah, it smells the same,” he confirmed. he could only assume this was where the last kill was, or at least one of them– another vampire, scent too faint for him to distinguish anything other than that. “how long ago?”

was a life without trouble really in the equation where it concerned them? hyomi was a little surprised at his question, because as far as she was concerned, the moment the bite took and the moment one had woken up with this thirst for human blood that was sure to never leave unless you lost your life after you had lost your soul. it was all over. peace would never be part of your life anymore. being human came with its price, but being more than that doubled or even tripled these conditions despite the idea that it was supposed to make it better. 

but they were hiding from the world, while at the same time trying to keep themselves from being hunted by the likes of those who hated the idea of humanity being preyed upon by their kinds. so kijung, who had been doing this for far longer than she had, asking her if this would get him in trouble. it was slightly laughable. perhaps the brain did halt itself at the age you were turned and cared none for how long your lifespan was. so she wasn’t going to take that like a question that needed to be answered. he might not like what she had to say about it.

like many other things that seemed to just tick him off now and then. his temper was not always welcomed, as far as she was concerned. she liked doing everything she did with a peace of mind that she knew would always be short lived because of her living conditions. so of course she was slowly rethinking this strategy of having invited him to join her in this hunt. she’d thought it over and over again, but he had been the only point of entry without arousing too much suspicion on herself. 

the job she did required secrecy not only from mere mortals but from the immortals too. the council at times came to her sire and hyomi might not know who exactly, but some of these targets were politically inclined more than personal. at least the majority of them. “so far, it’s been said that his kills hadn’t had any historic of attacking humans or feeding to the point of harming any humans lives.” as against the act of drinking off someone’s neck she was, she also understood the pleasure behind it and how it was inherently part of who they were. she couldn’t resent anyone who did not want to give up on the luxury itself. 

“so most likely that he does it because he can.” most hunters did a lot of things just because they could. but so was it for most vampires and werewolves. she couldn’t speak on witches, but humans had a tendency to be cruel simply because they had the ability to as well. supposed they weren’t that different when it came to the violence they could perpetuate on their own kinds, or those who they felt were different or below them. however, she was glad to know, despite her earlier reticence, that kijung might have noticed something suspicious. if not, she might have been led on the wrong path to follow and that would mean starting over from the first hint she’d gotten during her investigation. on going since the second death. 

however, before she could even comment on that something else had gotten the chance to raise the hair at the back of her neck. a tell tale sign that whatever it was that her senses were alerting her to could not be good. she halted completely before turning around the alley she’d meant to take them. the word scent and kijung’s question of how long ago the first kill had taken place nothing but an echo as she zoned in on whatever she could grasp. quiet footsteps, so quiet that one would go so far as to wonder if they were trudging on air. it was the movement in the air and how infinitely silent the heaviness of the body was attempting to blend in with the element that was giving away the action itself.

coming back a little sooner than intended and with a fc change! it might have been just four days but it did its thing! maybe because i was off for more days before that welp. anyways, i’ll resume activity this week. 

LILY …hurt your muse.

the bathroom is plunged in a dim sort of atmosphere, these places are known to not really want more lights than necessary. hyomi understood the idea behind it, everyone else was always surrounded by the brightness of the element. all the time. asking for it. sometimes risking death if they went too long with it. winters could be unforgiving in some places. she in fact had enjoyed travelling to some places where the season itself was harsher, where the sun was always dimmer for months. although the backlash when she came back to south korea did not make it worth it. would she ever consider relocating eventually? possibly. 

she’d been here for a long time. it was starting to feel like too long. that thought aside though, something was off about the room itself. something she’d never truly caught in this bar itself. it was quite secluded, served only one type of clientele and strictly forbade any one who was not fed by blood to even think about coming in. yet something was off. she’d known it the moment she’d seen a hooded figure slip behind a regular customer. she’d smelled the nervousness, the eagerness to be let in and she’d caught the words thrown at the bouncer she’ll be quick. 

that another vampire had possibly let a human slip in the bar was not a worry. at least not to hyomi, she could careless. however, if the human was hiding in the bathroom she must be well aware of what she was facing. forget the touch of something more than the human blood hyomi could sense, she had not been in the guest list. she stood for mere minutes in front of the mirror just to tell exactly behind which of these stalls she could smell it the strongest, her reflection, red eyes, slight frown. hyomi had a tendency to let herself forget that she was more than what she seemed. 

an immediate threat, and there were a dozen of them behind the door of this bathroom. which she deliberately took her time to lock before pushing at every stalls, knowing which one would reveal the intruder and yet taking her time in pushing each of them open. slow in her hunt. she’d never felt hurried in anything, for her control of what she needaed to do, for her preciseness and quick ability to analyze and think and act, she’d been rewarded with the triple efficiency of it. 

there it was, the stall she was looking for. the lock broke under the force of her hand shoving it. the metal left a sudden sound of shattered metal, the door of the bathroom stall met the wall with twin like sounds and she was face to the hunched back of the hooded figure, having been shoved forward. she’d been leaning against the door. had hyomi had knowledge of this? yes. could she have avoided the stranger to possibly have a part of her body shoved right into the toilet facing her or the wall itself? yes. but hyomi was not the one trespassing. so the faint hint of skin having been broken and blood having been spilled from a wound she could not see but smell was none of her concern. not even considering where the stranger was. however, if hyomi was correct about what that blood tingled her nose with--she might just be safe from being drained of it. 

it’s his sister who really commands their booth. she’s the expert, the loving hands who raised the flowering plants from seeds bred and cultured from her own nursery. she’s also an attraction herself; fair skin and big eyes a lure for the shallow human men who don’t know what other sorts of charms a gwiin witch has up her sleeves. hawon knows she thinks it’s funny, how they’ll spent big and keep coming back to spend more just to get her attention. if only they knew, or even paid the slightest attention, to the delicate engagement band on her finger. perhaps a moonstone setting isn’t as traditional as a diamond, but it’s far, far more meaningful for a witch couple.

hawon’s a free set of helping hands today, the little brother who’s more than happy to hang out with his sister for the day in exchange for her gratitude, hopefully able to be cashed in on at another time. and she gives him his own little corner of their booth for whatever he’s got to spare. the charms he’s selling are mostly fake, a few real ones for the true witches who may visit his sister’s booth. his stronger skill is in palm reading, and he’s still tracing over the lines of his last customer’s hand in his head when the woman approaches the booth.

the boy puts on his most winning grin and gestures across the booth to all of the potted plants and seedlings. “my sister is the botanist, you’ll have to talk to her about specific recommendations about the plants. but she raises them like they’re her own children, so she’ll only let them go to good homes.” he winks, always the charmer, and then focuses down onto his own skill set. “these ones here are last year’s crop, dried and preserved, so their properties are all the more concentrated. what are you looking for? something light? protection? i have all sorts of charms and concoctions.”

he holds up a locket, silver plated and not all that expensive in actuality, but it’s a pretty little charm. it’s stuffed with dried wolfsbane and vervain, not inherently magical but will still keep werewolves and vampires away from the average human. “this is a protection charm. it’s pretty too! take a look.” he offers it over to the woman, thinking himself a very clever salesman. he has no idea how badly he’s misjudged the situation.

hyomi would be the first to admit she didn’t understand much of anything about magic. in fact, she kept herself so far removed from them, by choice, that she didn’t know anything else but what she’d heard, seen and taught by various encounters. but she did keep more so among vampires and humans than she did anything else. she just didn’t see the point. the little spells she’d caught here and there, the potions she’d been given during certain missions they’d all seemed so whimsical. to this day she considered magic as that little thing that didn’t make sense. 

far from her the idea of thinking that she made sense, or werewolves did more than witches. but still, magic was something that most human felt was so foreign, it wasn’t just a myth like vampires and werewolves in their movies. magic was spoken of with wonders, without fear, with the idea that it could open doors to so many unknown truths. whether they be of dark or white, magic was the one thing that even humans could believe in without being harmed. was it that she hated the fact that witches could live among humans without fear of ever hurting them? even better, they protected the human race with some of their spells and potions. something that was sure to be frowned upon if she ever told any of her kind that she would much rather go extinct than to let the world be void of human lives. 

because hyomi wanted to protect humans before anything else. from herself, and from anyone and anything else. that had always been the lingering goal at the core of it all. so the envy could be why she’d discarded any and all interests she might have grown into the idea of magic and witches. she couldn’t even find it in herself to be mad at the locket he was giving her. the vile acidic stench of it would not be missed to any other vampires--she could sense one or two that had halted when the locket had been put forward. 

“it would be effective, of course if you weren’t handing it right to what it should protect against.” 

she leaned away from the held charm as she spoke softly, she swallowed and still she felt her throat heavy as it welcomed the bit of hydration from how dried it’d turned at the vervain that could be sensed inside the charm. mixed with something else but she couldn’t quite take her senses away from the threat of the poison meant to harm her. 

“can i get something less poisonous? for children, something lighthearted and that i can carry?” 

she looked down at his table for anything that could take away that bitter taste on her tongue and her eyes fell on a butterfly shaped locket that she was quick to point at, a purple gem--most likely not real, lodged in the middle of it, if she focused away from the vervain and more on it, she could smell lavender, “what does that one do?”

                                                _winter 1814 ; spring 1815_

chunghee had been born with nothing but dust to bite on. she’d known the streets of her village more than she’d known the warmth of an embrace. she’d run among the same type of children, abandoned at birth or after a few years but they all had one thing in common. they ate like the poorest. they worked like the poorest. they stole, they got chastised. they huddled together in abandoned places and hurried out when they were found to be ‘squatting’. it wasn’t the most rewarding of life.

but the orphans she’d grown with, she’d kept with her. she’d guided, despite not being the oldest. she’d stood up for so many of them and taught them so many tricks to get further in the shadows. tricks that she’d learned herself, with practice, with the whips of the soldiers that would roam the streets and would have the fortune of catching her in certain devious acts. 

the running joke in their mischievous group growing up had been how she hadn’t been executed yet for the amount of petty crimes she’d been caught. but that was the idea. she’d liked the notoriety, because as much as she’d been caught they’d never managed to keep her long enough for a sentence. she’d been a child, small, a girl, basically not as important as the bigger and adult criminals out there. then she’d met her first mentor in this life. 

yet again caught and locked, this time with a criminal that had had more luck than chunghee herself. he’d taken a look at her and nothing else until she’d been called by one of the prison guards by the nickname she’d been given. red fury. because as much stealth as she did possess, chunghee had grown the reputation of fighting and playing dirty without a second of hesitation.

whatever she’d get her hands on to fight back, you could be sure she’d use it whether it cost a life or not. survival had been her first and most important purpose in this life. the nickname had stuck each time she’d been thrown back in, a running joke and a spat her way with each passing months and years. she’d been all but 14 when she’d crossed path with the most wanted of all thieves. 

in this area, everyone had heard rumors of the shadowy figures using his combats skills to make things right. this criminal had not been like all the others, he’d been stealing from the rich to give to the poor and he’d been defending the poor citizens at night who did not have the luck of being guarded by the walls the kingdom had or the guards the kingdom had. 

a vigilante in his own way, but a merciless one that made the kingdom’s laws look weak by doing their work and made a mockery of the safety of the wealthiest. that had been her first taste of what it looked like to fight not for your own gains but for the idea of a better future for the ones you cared for. for the better future of those underprivileged. 

in that cell, the man had looked old and faded. white hair, white thin beard and dirty, he’d looked like nothing. but he’d said her nickname with the voice of a man who had all the luxury in the world to find a distasteful tone touch to it.

in short, he’d offended her. she’d fumed. then he’d asked her, ‘do you want to learn how to never be caught again?’ 

she’d ignored him--for ten seconds before looking up from the bent of her arms across her knees and taken in some air. the constantly simmering anger had always been the hardest thing to rid herself of. she hadn’t learned of his name then, or during his teachings, or even after he’d been taken out of their cells to be executed, or even after he’d managed to escape before said execution.

chunghee had stayed in that cage with this old dying looking man for months, she’d reached her fifteen years in that cell. but she’d come out feeling like a lifetime had passed her by and less angry. she’d lost half of her madness, she’d instead been more of river, walking back the same road where she’d always thought she had to run.

she’d let the dust across her cheeks sit still instead of trying to wipe it off with the bck of her hands, like she’d always thought she’d needed to do to clean herself up. she’d felt taller than the obstacles she’d always met, she’d walked with his voice in her head. then she’d stolen a horse on her way to a new beginning and had rode it until they were both exhausted to rest by the stillness of a stream. she’d dismounted with that feeling she still carried with her everywhere she went.

she had to take her time with the fair. ( @feyhawon )

her first had been overwhelmingly alarming for various reasons, but the main part was what could be sold at the vendors stand. she’d been warned of course, to not trust everything she was given or told that she was being given. but that was easily discernible, it was also easy to tell what was a real potion from what was simple water and some herbs that didn’t really--do much. 

so whenever hyomi had to bring someone along for the first time she felt it was her duty to also warn them of the same things she’d refused to listen to during her first tour. however, she liked to think she was trained, ears, nose, sight--enough to not fall for the same things she’d fallen for the first time. or the second time. or the third time. her less prouder moments had definitely occurred at this fair and she still had a slight tinge of resent for having been swindled so many times before. 

never enough to endanger her, but enough to almost put her in a risky situation with so many human eyes around. whether they were humans who knew what to expect or not, she still didn’t enjoy them being in the known of who she was. that was private and she wanted to be given the option to share it should she have to. so she still kept her distance from them, especially at this fair. besides she was back for a very specific reason. an idea that came to her with spring finally settling in, rain and flowers. 

grey skies and warm colors. her students had been delightfully soaking in the weather too and she’d promised a gift for the whole class. she rarely ever sought out magic but children were deserving of a little bit of more than the reality they were forced to be trapped in. so she was at a stand, that she’d sniffed a few times during her first and second visit, she had to spot the right ones so doing her research and observing before deciding was important. this stand looked genuine enough. at least, she hoped this time her judgement wouldn’t fail her as she made it first in line after a few minutes of waiting and tilted her head down at the range of products being offered before settling her gaze on the man behind the table.

far from her the idea of using other people by any means necessary to obtain what she wanted.  [ @feykijung ]

however, she was no angel. never had pretended to be, never would try to be one. had this been why despite the distaste of being turned into what she was now, she’d still settled and let it take over as easily as she’d let anything else she’d done in the past to survive do? maybe. or maybe hyomi was just realistically inclined. she knew what she had to do in order to keep her conscious free of the idolization of perfection. 

there would never be anything flawless in this life. she’d been abandoned after her first cries in this open world and that had been the first indication that she’d been a glitch from the beginning. a stain that needed to be scratched to make the canvas of her parents’ lives blank again, so they could start over spotless. at least, she’d grown to think that over the time. 

before her last time as the simpleton of a thief she’d been. good times. 

now she only ever thought of that aspect of her life when she was ready to do something questionable and she needed the incentive to stop thinking of consequences or of moralities. nobody outlived moralities. she needed information, and any sources she could dig it from was good enough to exploit. would it have been better if someone she knew wasn’t that type of source? sure. but this wasn’t anything new, so why act like it was?

so, true, she’d fabricated a little white lie about a rogue hunter and her checking to see if kijung would like to join her tonight to walk down the dark alleys of where some of his victims had been cleaned up after the fact. it was a start up behind an abandoned building before they would make their merry journey along the darkest sides of the city. knowing she had other intentions, and her new target was looking like he might be somehow linked to the school where kijung was going. a professor or a member of the council. whatever it was, it was not a human affair for once. she much preferred those.