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Taeyeon began to describe the dream she’d had and though Jieun continued moving around the kitchen her attention had stayed on the angels words looking for anything she should know about. The dream seemed innocent enough but there always seemed to be an underlying meaning when it came to dreams and later on she would see if she could find out anything else. “Mmm maybe it means that there’s something before your eyes that you have to focus on before it catches you by surprise?” She chuckled softly, her head giving a shake. “Or it could mean don’t leave your window open because animals are a light.”

Again she was questioned on what she had been doing and though the question sounded innocent enough she had a feeling Taeyeon was politely trying to get her to open up more. Glancing at her friend as she stood up Jieun sighed before smiling. “If we’re going to eat at the table can you set it? That way I can just bring the food over and we can eat while its still hot.” That answered one of her questions. “And I was practicing…mmm it’s hard to say.. it’d be so much easier to just show you. But first, the table.” And with another flashed smile she went back to cooking.

The dark angel’s advice on her dream was sensible yet vague. The dream in itself was both weird and short, so it was understandable that Jieun could not make many deductions. Taeyeon nodded her head, mentally noting to keep her wits about her especially if she came across an owl. “I really hope owls aren’t out to get me, but I’ll be sure to keep my windows locked at all times to be safe,” she replied. Being attacked by an owl was something she did not want to experience. 

“Oui, chef!” Her French accent was certainly not the best, but it was fun to at least try it out. She walked into the kitchen, making sure to stay out of Jieun’s way as she reached for the various items in her cabinets. Because she failed to get real verbal answers from the dark angel, Taeyeon decided to temporarily stop her questioning until after breakfast was over. Albeit, the blonde was a bit nervous for what was to come when Jieun was to demonstrate whatever she was learning. “How much longer until we can eat?” She asked as she sat back down into her seat, the table set for their breakfast of two. 

After a brief moment, she answered the woman’s question with a small grin.  “Me? Oh, I’m from Ireland,” she said, glancing up for a moment.  the detail work was subtle, but very important.  Detailing with an ink pen could make all the difference in a pencil drawing, and Ronan couldn’t wait for the angel to see the finished product. Vaguely, she wondered what had brought a servant of Heaven to Insolitus.  Perhaps it would be rude to ask now, but she would tuck the question away for future conversations.

The sound of pencil against paper was replaced by another noise, one that was more smooth instead of scratchy. Whatever Ronan was using, she did not use it nearly as long as the colored pencils and a few minutes later, she stated that the drawing was finished. Taeyeon immediately relaxed from her pose, allowing herself to slouch forward a bit while stretching out her legs in front of her. “Of course! I’m very excited to see how it turned out,” she said and gave her an encouraging thumbs-up. 

As she stood up, she discovered that her butt was indeed numb from sitting on the wooden bench. “If I model for you again in the future, let’s not have me pose on a bench,” she teased as she walked towards Ronan. The angel stopped a few feet in front of her and waited for the big reveal. 

The portrait was coming along very nicely. Ronan would even go so far as to compare it to the portrait that she had painted of Sehun not too long ago, and that was a work that she had been extremely proud of.  Taeyeon’s features lent themselves wonderfully to the softness of colored pencils,and her relaxed and delicate composure were perfect for Ronan’s assignment.

As the woman asked her question, a small smile played at the selkie’s lips.  She did not look up from the paper, as her pencils were moving carefully across the page, but her eyes had a slight twinkle as she responded.  “My art teacher likes to give us themed projects,” she said.  “She’ll give us one word to be the theme, like Fear or Peace or Bubbly.  This week, her word was Grace.” At this, she did look up at Taeyeon , and a bright grin lit up her face.  “Everyone else is doing something like a bird or a flower.  But all of those seemed too boring to me.  Do you know how rare it is to find a person that just radiates a certain quality?” she asked excitedly, almost bouncing in her seat.  “But when I saw you, the first thing that came to mind was Elegance, Poise, and Grace. It was perfect,” she beamed, eyes twinkling.  

Another blush graced her cheeks at Ronan’s compliment, surprised and happy she agreed to be her muse. It was evident by her tone of excitement that art meant the world to her and Taeyeon felt grateful to once again witness how passionate she was. “Ah, you’re really too kind. It’s a good thing my friend sent me on this errand for her then or else we would not have met. I can’t wait to see how it turns out by the way.” It was a bit ironic that the artist revealed elegance, poise, and grace as the first things to come to her mind when she first saw Taeyeon then proceeded to ask where she was from. In fact, the angel found it funny and she let out a chuckle before turning her head to watch Ronan’s reaction. “You may or may not believe me, but I’m from Heaven. What about you?”

“Well,” Chaerin took another sip of milk, “you know I was on ‘probation’ of sorts right?” Slightly fidgety fingers took hold of a cookie and dunked it into the milk, eyes cleverly finding a way to avoid directly looking up at the younger angel. “You know that I was supposed to be learning a lesson and repenting a past offense?” Of course Taeyeon knew, but it was the prelude to getting out the main point here. 

The cookie came up out of the milk dripping and soggy from how long it had stayed beneath the surface. Chaerin made no move to actually eat it. Instead, looked up at Taeyeon finally and let the news out. “I took matters into my own hands and blocked off God. Shut out the light. Now, I’m on more of a hit list for angelic rouges than on probation.” 

She proceeded to dip her Oreo into the glass, watching it absorb the milk yet careful not to leave it in for too long. Before the cookie could break, Taeyeon dipped her head down and stuffed it into her mouth. With her mouth occupied with chewing, she nodded her head twice to signal that she knew both pieces of information. She swallowed the cookie then she waited for Chaerin to get to her point. 

The younger angel felt a mixture of emotions as she tried to process the fact that her unnie was officially a dark angel. There were so many questions she wanted to ask, but instead of voicing them, she sat there in silence. The possibility of Chaerin going rogue never occurred to her. Taeyeon thought that the older angel would eventually return to Heaven and prove to the higher angels that she was worthy of trust and resume her duty of guarding the gates. But now she was on the run, her life in danger as they sought to rip out her wings as punishment for forsaking God. 

“Why?” That word was all she could manage to say as she stared at Chaerin and tried to keep her unspoken promise. Underneath her feelings of confusion and worry, Taeyeon felt a twinge of sadness in her heart as she came to realize that she unknowingly lost a part of Chaerin. And the worst part was that she was oblivious to the whole thing. She failed her unnie. 

❊ - Your character has too much candy and decides to share! Write an open starter and tag it with ‘iaopen’.

The weight of the basket was surprisingly heavy and it took the angel a few seconds to register the three words he said. “Uhm, it’s not Halloween yet...” she said in confusion. Why was this half-naked stranger randomly giving her candy? “And trick or treat is what you say to receive the candy while in costume...” This really didn’t make sense. The guy looked like he just rolled out of bed with his messy hair and lack of clothing. “But thank you, I guess. You wouldn’t happen to also be handing out sugar and cocoa?” It was worth asking since he already gave her free candy.

The selkie followed the woman’s gaze to the jumble of art supplies, mulling over her question.  “Well, I suppose you could really take anything as long as you clean the brushed and return them.” she replied, face still glowing with happiness.  Turning back to the girl, she was practically buzzing with gratitude.  “Hmmm well you can just sit down, and act naturally.  Any way you prefer.  I’d like it to be a resting face, so not too smiley or anything.  Also, that way your face won’t hurt,” she said with a small laugh.  

A smile appeared on her face once hearing that she had the freedom in choosing how to pose. All she had to do was act natural and relax her face. “That sounds manageable enough, I hope I don’t disappoint you,” she commented as she followed Ronan back to the bench. As the artist gathered her things, the blonde sat down on one side of the bench, tucking one ankle behind the other. She placed her right arm on the wooden arm bench while her left hand sat comfortably on her lap. Instead of facing directly towards Ronan, she turned her head slightly to the right and focused her eyes close to the corner of the room. Remembering the artist’s request of a resting face, the angel relaxed her facial muscles and made sure to remain still and calm. Once ready, she nodded her head and only the sound of pencil against paper was heard throughout the room. 

Taeyeon focused on her breathing to ease her nervousness, reminding herself not to breathe too fast or too slow. A faint blush tinted her cheeks at the artist’s compliment and she couldn’t help but to look at Ronan with a flustered look on her face. “No, this is my first time doing this sort of thing,” she replied. Realizing that she moved her head, she quickly looked at the spot she was previously staring at. “Ah, sorry! I moved my head,” she said with a frown as she attempted to regain her composure. When she began to feel relaxed again, the angel had a question. “So what sort of drawing project is this for?”

The idea had been for them to meet up and go off campus for pizza, of course that had been before they opened the door only to find that the flood gates of hell had opened and let loose their fury. Pursing her lips the brunette glanced first to Taeyeon and then to Chaerin. “Sooo…about that plan B.”