[ moved to ofgentleresolve ]

rules. selection. return.

@mythvoiced sent in: MORE NELL, MORE NELL~ What are ways for her to wind down after a tough day/night? How does she feel about tough life decisions, avoidant or 'better get this over with as fast as possible'? What's her dream home? Ideal date? 👀 Does she prefer working in silence or does she like ambient sounds or maybe some tunes playing in the background? What's a supposed work 'for children' that she'd thoroughly enjoy as an adult? One work of fiction that feels like home? What are her high fives like, soft, loud, two hands, one hand, is she one of those people that holds your hand a little when your palms connect? ALL THE LOVE, FERRE~ || lena back at it with the WONDERFUL QUESTIONS 🥺

She has to look twice at this curious bystander because most of the time, she’s the one who ends up asking the questions, not the other way around. Between her, Alfred, and Myungdae, she has the least to hide…if one does not count the illegal hacking Nell used to do on the side.  But in her defense, it was a side gig,  the rent in London is always going up, and her employer at the time definitely didn’t have any intention of matching her salary with inflation rates. Hand momentarily off the keyboard, she points to herself, mouthing ‘me, right?’

Yes, they are talking to her.

Her hands go back to the keyboard- wireless with tactile switches; perhaps getting one with linear switches would be better since they make less noise and require less force to press down on, but the sound of typing is so ingrained in her ( and the other two for that matter ), it feels wrong to switch to something else. “I’m a simple girl. Give me my Do*ctor Who marathons and a tub of pistachio ice cream and I’ll be there. Not that any other flavor is worse, but you know…we all have our preferences, don’t we? Myungdae’s got his red beans and Alfred, he’s pretty BASIC. Don’t tell him I said that.”

@jeoseungsaja always sending me some of the best things-

FJKLSDJFLSKDJF ALEX WHY IS THIS SPOT ON WHEN IT COMES TO CIVILIAN SITUATIONS :'D it's ironic that i'm getting to this now bc when it comes to black knight things?? myungdae these days seems to be the reckless one rather than alfred considering that between the two of them he's the one getting injured the most and giving nell a heart attack 🥲 ( maybe a certain detective will help him think things thru- or maybe he'll just enable it who knows JKFLSJKLFDJ 🥲🥲🥲 )

but BUT- why do i see this meme as like, a reaction to maybe....myungdae taking an unwitting step forward in his private life after he reunites with hyuk like-

myungdae: i'm gonna go to the park now nell: oh that sounds exciting :D alfred: jfc about time you got a life

Face marred with a bruise by the mouth and a black eye, she gives the other party an impassive look as her hand throbs. That’s the key to WINNING, truly. As much as it is important to remain standing, what is even more crucial is keeping one’s nerves at bay. If they think she’s willing to escalate, then if they’re smart, they’ll back down.

She picks up the metal pipe specked with blood and hefts it over her shoulder. Wanna keep going? Okay; I won’t hold back.

A long pause, with abated breath. Then the other party relents with their tail between their legs. It’s only when they’re out of sight does she sigh, dropping the pipe and turn towards the person she was protecting.

@mythvoiced sent in: “sometimes life deals you a bad hand, but you can still play your cards right and win.” - Sarang @ Nell? >:3 || when life gives you lemons ( random dialogue prompts. )

But isn’t that how their nights go every time? She can sit in the coffeehouse with Alfred and Myungdae all day long, plan for as many scenarios as possible, and come with as many safety plans as can be crammed into her brain, but at the end of the day, it will not guarantee a VICTORY. That’s the beauty of card games and poker, isn’t it? There’s always a variable in play and that alone make the reason she’ll glance over hours’ worth of CTV footage or listen to a TV series’ worth of gunshots and metal clashing against metal.

It's unnerving, it’s terrifying. That along with the possibility that they could lose. That either Myungdae or Alfred ( or worse them both ) could get caught, which would inevitably lead to her downfall as well ( but she won’t think too hard on that one- ). They all are aware of that possibility each time they enter the field; the chances are never at zero.

Not that Jing would know about that.

Or about any of the Black Knight activities because that in and of itself would be a problem…not that Nell would mind, but Myungdae doesn’t trust her and Alfred, well, according to Alfred, there’s no way anyone ‘that bubbly’ can be REAL. Because they’d just be stupid then. Too foolish to survive here.

The thing is, playing the fool is a tactic in and of itself. Lots of women have done it, Nell knows. Act like you’re not listening and they’ll spill it all without even realizing it. All it takes is a wolf hiding in sheep’s skin.

Sometimes she wonders if that’s Jing’s way of navigating this world. Her way of playing her cards right. It must be more efficient than Nell’s own methods, considering that she’s surviving not necessarily because she knows how to play her cards right so much as because she had sheer luck on her side. In a card game, that would be considered ‘beginner’s luck’, wouldn’t it?

  “ and Alfred thinks that’s gonna work… ? I don’t know… you don’t really seem like the relaxing type to me. ”  he’s never seen Nell as anything but she is now: a flurry of words and ideas. and Taiyang reckons that no amount of Alfred’s free drinks would be enough to contain that. but why contain it anyway ?  “ you’re not annoying. he’s probably just mad ‘cause you’re smarter than him. he can’t kept up with your ‘bambles’, so he’s trying to shut you up, ”  he joked. never a bad time to joke at Alfred’s expense. ( but only because he knows Alfred can take it, just as well as he can dish it. )    “ —all I’m saying is a sword’s more honorable, right? it’s like the difference between a microwave and a sushi chef; anyone can shoot a gun, anyone can use a microwave… but it takes talent to slice somebody up right  …  I think it’s cool when people– you know who’s– pick a sword, instead of a gun… ”  would the professor be flattered by Taiyang’s approval? not likely, he thinks. not that tsundere old man.    “ anyway, here’s to hoping nobody gets stabbed tonight… ( unless they deserve it. ) ”  but most importantly, he and Nell won’t be the ones getting stabbed. still, as they exit, he glances behind them, almost rueful that he’ll be missing out on the action.  “ … you want to watch it go down from a safe, cozy distance ?I know a rooftop with a good view. ”  he suggested it with all the casualness of asking to grab a bite to eat.

She pouts, cheeks puffing. Although whether it’s supposed to make her look cute or otherwise is ( unfortunately ) an option not up to her. “I’ll have you know I am very good at relaxing. NETFLIX AND CHILL happens to be one of my favorite past times- and I mean that literally.” She adds quickly too, for good measure. One can never know if a person’s mind is in the gutter! Not that she suspects Tai, of all people, sharing a crassness similar to Alfred. But then again, they both were born in New York…apparently, living there builds character. “Me, alone on my couch with a bucket of pistachio ice cream and the Doctor Who reruns on the TV. Yeah, great time, you should join me, like I mean, you know, sit on the couch and eat your own tub of ice cream, I mean-”

Ah, yes, more babbling as per usual. Maybe Tai is right after all- unlike him, Alfred has to listen to her every day. “Anyways, my point still stands, if he gives me free refills when I annoy him, that means it’s fair game for everyone else too.”

A nervous chuckle on her part- no matter how meticulously planned these escapades are, it never fails to put her on edge, the adrenaline a strange mixture of both fascination and terror. “I don’t think it’s really…honor that made him pick the sword.” If anything, it might be sheer pride that has Myungdae picking a sword…a ranged weapon would probably fare better in this field: bullets, even arrows in this case. At the very least, Myungdae would come back injured far less often. “You’d have to have, I don’t know, rapid healing factor to make close combat work, right?”

She likes the awkward touch.

Be it in speech, in circumstances, in overall vibe surrounding a place newly visited or a person first encountered, there’s a certain charm to it, a certain je ne sais quoi that makes Sarang wonder about how much dirt lies beneath someone’s ails.

There’s being genuinely awkward, stumbling over oneself because never taught better or always held back, or due to a natural predisposition.

Then there’s the awkwardness of the dishonest.

Sarang prefers the latter.

Which one of the two she could apply to this conversation, she’s more than willing to find out. Reaching for a free-spirited auburn lock falling gently enough to grace her neck - as if perfected, as if drawn, as if staged - Sarang gently tucks it behind her ear while letting her gaze roam ever so curiously, ever so innocently.

“Oh. What a shame, I could have sworn I just saw him walk this way…” An odd man with a repressed demeanour and something about the rights of pigeons, not the kind Sarang would just let walk away, not when she’s got some free time on her hands and half a mind to annoy someone.

Then she turns to smile at the woman. “Someone who trusts his friends, I think? You know, to ask you that favour, he must really trust you. You do look really trustworthy~ And I like your jacket. Can I wait here?”

A small frown, yet the smile demands to remain, as if she’s too polite to be too… unsubtle. “Is… Doesn’t it kind of… smell like… smoke in here? That can’t be good, is… a device defective? Did I come at a bad time?”

See, Nell has two weaknesses. One: bullshitting on the fly and two: good-looking women. The latter of the two, she tries really hard to keep under wraps although that seems to be a moot point with the number of times she’s managed to make a fool of herself when the latter is in the vicinity.

What? It’s not like she hasn’t noticed, the way Sarang’s ( Miss Sarang as Myungdae refers to her ) hair seems to fall meticulously into place, each auburn strand positioned as if placed there by the hands of an artist.  Or how her voice floats, light on its feet like that of a dancer. She’s not a dancer is she? Nell sure hopes not because she knows for a fact she has two left feet…

Myungdae and Alfred can confirm this. This is the worst thing about only being able to have two co-workers.

“Mmmm must’ve been a look-alike.” Well that’s a terrible comment, but hey, Myungdae isn’t the only 185 cm man lumbering around in a utility jacket and CONVERSES is he? And in the next moment, she can’t help but stiffen- god, why is she gay? “You…you could say that, I mean, that’s probably only because we’ve been working together for years- I mean, well, he comes in to me for his tech problems, I could never be a professor like him you know? Lots of lesson planning and grading and meetings and wow I’m talking a lot aren’t I? I’ll shut up in a second or two-“ The compliment does that for her. Or maybe it’s more of the scent of smoke that does it for her.

♔ ———–

   So she can fix it. Good, that’s what he wanted to hear. A brief nod of approval comes as he allows her to do what she may with his ancient laptop. He doesn’t understand much about technology when it comes to fixing these things, so there really isn’t any point on asking what she’s doing or which steps is she taking to alleviate the problem. The detective just stands there; an arm hanging on the counter as he decides to look about. 

    The place looks pretty empty. Small, too. There’s nothing suspicious about locations like these being somewhat vacant. It’s not as if these types of establishments are popular compared to others, like shopping malls or a bubble tea store. He still remembers the time he made a long line to receive an overly sweet honeydew bubble tea (Jae-Hwan and their odd recommendations) — he ended up shouting at the cashier and almost spilling the beverage all over the counter. Horrible experience, does not recommend, and for what? For a drink he didn’t even like. He sighs at his own memory. This is why he hesitates when it comes to trying new things at times. 

    When he hears a ping, he turns to address the technician. Ah, so that’s the problem. The battery. Again. It doesn’t help that laptop’s charger is beginning to experience false contact as well. And since it’s an outdated model, chargers and batteries are getting harder and harder to find. More expensive, too. This much he knows. 

    But is he going to give up on it? No.      Stubborn even on these things.

    Hyuk listens to her once more. Doesn’t say much, even when she insists on the purchase of a new computer instead of extending the life of this one. Perhaps, other clients are willing to listen to her advice. She seems skilled; able to pinpoint an issue right away — even knows when a device is new or old just by looking at it; by feeling it between her hands. Makes him wonder what is she doing at a local shop instead of getting into bigger leagues. 

    Not that he’ll ask. 

   “I’d…appreciate it if you could transfer my data while I wait for the replacement to arrive. I didn’t bring a USB drive with me.” 

   He also won’t mention that his was stolen.    By a masked vigilante, nonetheless. 

   Eyes move when the basket comes into view, taking note of the variety of drives, all of different sizes and colors; shapes, even. 

   “What time do you close? I’ll be sure to bring it back before you close, I don’t—”

   Wait. His eyes narrow, leaning in to look at the insides of the basket better. Disrespectful is to suddenly submerge his hand into the container and making a whole disarray of flash drives without permission, but what is he supposed to do when he spots a memory stick similar to his? 

   Hyuk hurriedly fishes it out; turns it on its back and feels the familiar engraving with his thumb. It’s not so visible, faded with time; the ‘이’ he drew with a pocket knife on drive’s carcass a long time ago. But he recognizes this; the weight, the feeling of the mark against his finger. 

    Jaw tenses. What is this doing here? 

    He pulls it up for the woman to see; resting between index and thumb.

    “Where did you get this?” 

———– ♔

Getting into the ‘big leagues’ is the reason she got caught up in this mess, to begin with. One might call it arrogance, the assumption that she could hack into a high security company and think she could escape with no consequences. But in Nell’s opinion, it was more of a ‘curiosity-killed-the-cat’ kind of scenario.

Embarrassing, really, especially if one considers how say, Alfred and Myungdae got recruited. But here she is now and no matter how boring it gets, working retail and the customer service counter in this hole-in-the-wall repair shop, it’s for the better, considering her ( and Alfred’s and Myungdae’s ) nightly activities.

She’s better behind a screen than in front anyways.

That and the pay isn’t too bad…at the very least, it pays the bills and not to mention she gets extra to pour into her Netflix binge watches and again, her nighttime activities. Being a VIGILANTE ( or the tech support ) gets expensive, after all.

She wonders if that’s why the King has picked this place of all places to get his laptop fixed? He’s lived in and worked in Seoul for most of his life, hasn’t he? So he would know the best places to get his electronics fixed at the best price.

Or maybe he’s just low on cash. Like her. And Alfred. And Myungdae.

Either way, she bites the inside of her cheek as she types out the product number on her laptop. It’s an incredibly old model- one that would probably cost more to maintain than say, just buying a newer one and therefore, one that would be easier to fix, should problems of the technical kind arise in the future. And just looking at his laptop? There’s a good chance he’ll be coming back in for more maintenance problems.

Why does he have to be so STUBBORN?

In a way, it reminds her again, ironically, of Myungdae. Although the facades are different. If Myungdae hides his iron will behind a wall of stoicism paired with a velvet voice, then the King doesn’t even try to hide it. He simply pairs it with a thinly veiled temper.

“…Right. I’ll ring up your order first and then I get to transferring the data on your hard drive to a new one. We’ll be open until five, but it takes longer, we can call you when it’s ready to be picked up-“ She blinks. Wait, why is he digging his hand into the basket? That’s supposed to be her job! “Uh, sir, you don’t have to grab one right now; I can do that for you-“

But that line of thought quickly gets thrown out of the window. She stills before swallowing the lump in her throat. Oh no. Oh no.

“Uh…” Her brain freezes. Or maybe it’s going so fast, she can’t track any coherent thoughts from any of the paths it’s taken. A USB drive that she had extracted the information from a few weeks ago after the Black Knight had stolen it from the King- she had kept the drive since it was a perfectly functional USB drive and, one can never have too many USB drives and it wasn’t like the original owner was ever going to have it again, not like there was any way of returning it especially since the Black Knight isn’t known for returning what he steals from whence it came from. All thoughts she realizes though, go back to the main issue at hand:

Oh god, how is she supposed to explain this one?

“That’s a good question sir, I mean, a lot people come in here and often forget about their flash drives, which like, I don’t understand why they would do that because who knows what kind of information they leave on there. You know, one time, I opened up a flash drive another gentleman left behind- it was filled with pictures of his porcelain doll collection; he gave them all headshots so it was like they were looking at you in the photos, couldn’t sleep for at least three days straight and-“

he hesitates– looks back at the location nell is eager to bounce from; curious about what danger does ( or ‘doesn’t’ ) exist, according to nell. it’s an inconvenience, when he can’t explain to her that guns don’t pose much of a threat to him ( really, none at all, unless they were magically enhanced ), and therefore if there was trouble oncoming, he probably should stay and make sure nobody less-invulnerable gets hurt … but he can’t say that; he would sound crazy if he told nell why. and so he weighs the proper response for a moment, looking thoughtful … ( unless they were pointing their guns at the sea, it’s not technically his problem, and furthermore, guns are just annoying; if he can avoid them, he prefers to. ) it’s decided then: making sure patrick’s friend stays out of the line of fire is important, too !

   “ – yeah. ”  he lifts his plastic cup to eyeline as they make their way out of the area;  “ i just got a drink from alfred’s. if i get bulletholes in it, i don’t think he’ll give me a refill… ”  and what a waste that would be.  “ i miss the days when people had good old fashioned sword fights to the death when you crossed them– that’s the way it should be, ”  he declares, apparently opinionated on this matter.  “ – well, not that i was alive to see it– ”  ( at least, that he remembers… )  “ but I imagine it would’ve been a lot cooler back then. right? ”

Perhaps she should have been used to their presence by now- five years and counting of unacknowledged work in exchange for protection should have her acclimated to the presence of bullets and gunshots and even swords and fistfights. And yet, even now, she still flinches when Alfred sets his firearm on the table.. When Myungdae unsheathes his blade. Hearing the sharp cracks of guns fired and of steel clashing against steel and sometimes material even softer isn’t much better either.  How Taiyang has accommodated himself to such an environment is beyond her, especially at such a young age.

( Although in all technicalities, she was around his age when she crashed into the disaster zone. She won’t mention that. It’s already strange enough knowing there’s at least one other person aside from Alfred and Myungdae that knows the truth behind the Black Knight. Why did Myungdae blow the cover again? )

@guttersniper​ sent in: " -- i dunno. i just ... listened to people. " he doesn't mean it to be a brag. her struggle at grasping the native language isn't something he's going to ridicule. it's hard, and he knows she doesn't have to forcibly adapt to these sorts of things -- alone, no less. he hopes she doesn't, anyway. she's got myungdae and alfred. she's got pack. his head tips, in slight. " i could help you practice. 'f you want. " @nell!

She’s read about it once or twice before. Children have elastic brains, which makes picking up a language and not to mention developing a native accent, much easier for them than for adults. It’s a concept that can easily be applied to other areas too: she picked up the language of computers and programming ( Java, however, was horrible to learn; once the last exam ended, she switched over to Python and C+ and never looked back ) when she was in middle school. Most people in the industry, she knows have been speaking the language of ones and zeros since at least their secondary school days.

The same cannot be said for KOREAN. Or any other language that isn’t English, for that matter.

“I mean, it’s good that you can pick it up easily; I’ve never been good with languages- I took six years of French in secondary school and I can speak almost as well as a toddler… actually my French teacher said a toddler would be lucky to get a cohesive sentence out of me.” She tilts her head, hands over her keyboard pausing for a moment. “Huh. No wonder why he said I was better off not taking the IB exam. Save myself a quid there.”

She’s rambling again though isn’t she? How embarrassing, especially considering that Mutt, well, he doesn’t seem like the kind of bloke to talk much about himself, does he?

( Myungdae’s in the same boat. Alfred too. They should make a CLUB at this point, really. )

She turns back to her laptop, back to a familiar language, one that she knows like the back of her hand, one that she translates without a second thought- it comes in handy really when it comes to covering the tracks of a certain masked hero in the dead of the night. Not that anyone else is supposed to know that.

♔ ———–​

  “Are you looking for Patrick?” 

  Hyuk’s back in Europe for a few days, visiting his dear friend after a long time of relying on the phone to communicate. Even though he cannot stay for long (he just started working for the Gangnam Police and also decided to continue his studies by joining a postgraduate program, though he’s on a break from that), he still takes any droplet of time he can to spend it with his best friend. 

   Awkwardness in posture, a hand moves to cover part of the bandages stuck on his forehead with his hair. Even if he’s careless about what might people say about him or his rather rowdy attitude, he’s not exactly dealing with just a random someone at the moment. This is a person Patrick considers precious, a person who brings his dear friend happiness in ways that Hyuk is very grateful for. So, in that sense, let’s just say that…well…her opinion matters. 

   Felicity. Patrick’s sun. 

  Hyuk then realizes that his hand is also bandaged; knuckles covered by gauze that Patrick recovered from a drawer last night. He clears his throat; limb stiffly falling to his side, letting fingers slide into the loose pocket of his shirt. 

  “He’s…not here right now. But he said he’ll be back soon…if you, uh, want to wait for him.” 

———– ♔

SO THIS IS HYUK LEE. Or as Patrick refers to him, Lee Hyuk. Patrick mentioned his best friend would be staying at his flat for the next few days. Of course, Felicity’s seen pictures of him before, on her boyfriend’s phone but as any scientist would tell her, the hypothesis is merely that. A theoretical to be tested. And sure, she has heard countless tales from her boyfriend himself, all of which have painted a very bright picture of the man standing at the doorstep, but again. She wanted to see for herself, who this person exactly is. This person her boyfriend trusts intimately without a second thought. Her boyfriend, who keeps almost everyone at bay when it comes to revealing his innermost thoughts and feelings.

“Something like that.” She holds up Patrick’s beloved copy of The Illiad. “He left this at my flat- thought he might want it back.” The bandages on Hyuk’s forehead and hand don’t go unnoticed either- Patrick did mention his dear friend being prone to…injury. Which would probably also explain why Patrick is so apt at first aid even if he isn’t studying medicine of any kind.