Changeling

mpyako​:

💖 give&take 💖 || with my darling 💕

1 for me and 1 for ru @mpxruyi

⚠️

  She can hear Yako well before she sticks her head inside the door to peer at her. This fool again, she muses inwardly before she marks something in red on the paper she is looking over. As she had expected, without even waiting for permission to come in, Yako would wander her way right to the desk and she does. Were it anyone else she would have instantly told them to step back out of her office and try again until they got it right, but this lesson would fall on uncaring ears with Yako.

  “And what might that be this time? Another rousing game of forcing me to wear a ridiculous stripe outfit to an equally ridiculous public event, or would it be teasing me in person instead of over your shitty little webcam at night?”

   At this point Ruyi does look up at the woman before her with a wicked grin. It’s never a good thing when she smiles at anyone. Never. There’s something altogether unsettling about it that chills the soul to its core. Or at least it would if it weren’t Yako that she was taunting at.

  Her nails gather up the papers and photos she was looking at and slide them back into the patient folder before she puts that in the drawer of her desk and locks it. “What is it then? I have a bit of time for senseless whimsy.”

Rather than actually listen, Yako just waits for Ruyi to be done speaking. In her experience, the doctor said a whole lot of words that didn’t mean much when it came to conversations with Yako. Or she attempted to insult Yako. Or both. Yako had long since learned to stop listening to that which she did not want to hear. She actually perks up a bit at the suggestion that Ruyi might be interested in being teased by her, but that’s not what she has come to pitch so she lets the moment pass.

Next time.

“Noooo~,” the girl sing-songs. She twists about in a way that makes her little frilly skirt whirl in a way that would be adorable if she were a little girl, but the way it flashes the skin high up on her thighs is far too enticing for that. Or at least Yako hopes Ruyi thinks it is. 

She returns the sharp smile with a cloyingly sweet one of her own, batting of lashes included.

Finally Ruyi bids her to get on with her suggestion.

“Let’s go on a date-” the words rush out, as though Yako wants to beat the inevitable rolling of eyes, “I choose one you choose one. I’ll plan the first half, you plan the second half, we both have fun.” At the cost of one another’s sanity, Yako adds mentally, mostly-jokingly. 

As if there’s any sanity left to lose.

Felix nodded when she said that she was just on another level, because he totally believed it. He had watched some videos on how busy celebrities were on a daily basis, and he could not have imagined having to juggle so many things all at once. Not to mention having to look perfect and act perfect all the time. It was super impressive to him that people could do all of that a a regular basis.

“What’s that like? Being famous, I mean? Like, is it weird? Do you like it? Is it cool having fans?” He asked, wondering if he himself would have liked to be famous. The idea of making lots of people happy and being liked by lots of people appealed to him, but he also figured that it must have been a lot of pressure. When you were famous, there were a lot of people you could disappoint if you did something wrong. Yeah, no, he was fine just being a normal person. After all, he was the type to crumble under that sort of high expectation.

He smiled as she pointed out the flavours she liked, still wondering what he should get. In the end, he decided on a cone with two scoops of chocolate chip cookie dough- a true classic that you could never go wrong with. “Thanks, Yako~ You’re super nice, I’m so glad we work together!”

It was almost starting to feel more like an interview than an ice cream date between coworkers, and there were few things Yako loathed more than interviews. The endless inane questions that the interviewers were in no way interested in real answers to, the smiles and expectations, the way Yako herself had to not only put on her best persona but also think several steps ahead lest she say something that managed to get mangled into bad PR when the interview made it into magazines. At least this had the decency to not involve cameras. She wasn’t sure if it mattered to her that Felix wasn’t actually going to be using her answers for anything.

As her coworker, though, his word did technically hold some weight. Which meant she had to keep watching herself. How annoying.

“I think the weirdest part is seeing huge pictures of myself in public. I mean, I was doing modeling before, but it wasn’t usually my face they cared about. Just whatever I was selling.” Yako laughed lightly as if this was very funny, indeed. The rest of his questions she let fall into the dead air, what she had come to think of as the Interview Abyss. Focusing on the ice cream seemed like a better idea for the moment.

With their ice creams in hand, Yako led Felix over to a table by the window. Sitting down conspiratorially - something she only ever seemed to do conspiratorially - reminded her of her earlier ideas for Felix. Enough about her. It was time to pick him apart and see exactly who this beloved kid truly was. Yako smiled as she wondered just how long it would take Felix to crack.

“Oh! I just remembered.” Her eyes turned a little serious, with a matching little smile like she was sharing some gossip. “I was going to ask you for a favor. Do you think you could help me with something?”

💥reactive💥 || with taeyong ❄️

Everything he’d buried, everything he’d held back was now unleashed with a fury that would have terrified Taeyong if he wasn’t so lost to his own emotion. He was like winter itself, cold and hard and unforgiving as he hurled icicles into the tree she perched in, the ice growing and spreading over it’s branches at every impact. Around him sleet was falling sideways as the weather reacted to his mood and the storm outside equaled the storm inside. There was no thought in his head now, just pain. Pain that needed an outlet and had no direction and lashed out at anything and everything. 

He didn’t speak. He couldn’t. All he could do was scream as he felt his power double in strength and intensity. The clearing was covered in snow that was getting deeper by the second and the sky was turning grey as the sunlight was blocked behind a cloud. “Why couldn’t you have just left me alone?” His voice didn’t even sound like himself and a part of him was afraid. This was what he was. This is what he’d allowed himself to become and no one was safe from him. He stretched forth his hand and ice ran along the ground intending to root her to the spot so that he could finish what she started. The tears that welled in his eyes froze on his cheeks before they could fall.

As the volley of icicles flew at her, Yako began testing her own powers mid-combat as a sound like the snap of a rubber band echoed around them again and again - a cat leaping from branch to branch, a squirrel skittering up and down tree trunks, a crow taking off before landing on the ground as the same grey fox. Something in her blood pulsed for a moment, begging her to take the form of a wolf, but her body didn’t know the shape. A fox would have to do for now. Yako could find a devil to make a deal with for more forms later. For now, she was playing the devil.

His question called for the drama of evil laughter, so the fox snapped back to the form of a girl, wavering slightly before becoming firm in its shape, and Yako giggled softly and then loudly and then gave her whole body over to the delight of sowing chaos while laughing at this pathetic thing who reminded her so much of herself when she was younger. Her body burned with being stretched and bound and reformed again and again and again and it cut off her laughter with as wolf-like a snarl as a human throat could make.

She was rooted by the lead heaviness of her own abused body even before she saw the strike of ice coming to finish the job. Her voice boomed from a voice box that didn’t seem like quite the right one for her body. Maybe she didn’t need the ice monster boy to finish her off. Maybe her own body would tear itself apart first.

“Nobody ever gets what they want, boy. Pain is all there will ever be.”

🚫 hands off! 🚫 ||  with eunbi

“I would hope so, I am wearing a name tag,” Eunbi commented, tapping the little piece of plastic pinned to her apron. She did not drop the act, if only to annoy Yako, but the smile that crossed her face did have a sharp edge to it. After all, it did not seem like there was a reason to keep the act air-tight.

“But… just who do you think I am, exactly? You say it like we’re in some sort of spy movie.”

If she were being honest, she had absolutely no idea why Yako had sought her out and was talking to her. She had been aware of the other girl for some time, but only in the way that someone is vaguely aware of a seagull eating garbage twenty feet down the beach. She saw no reason why Yako thought they needed to talk. Saw no reason why she would be confronting her like this was the climax of a teen drama.

It was interesting, though. Maybe the only noteworthy thing this strange girl had ever done, to her knowledge. She was definitely intrigued.

As if mirroring the other girl’s lightly vicious smile, Yako grinned herself with far too many teeth and far too little tilt to her lips. Unlike Eunbi, Yako was under no obligation to play nice. “I know you went to see Ruyi, and I know you’ve done that more than once. Way more than once.” There was simply not enough room on the island for two creepy medical-kink yanderes and Yako had already claimed that title for herself. If Eunbi wanted to live in her shadow, the least she could do was give her the courtesy of picking a different doctor to fawn over.

As if staking her claim to Eunbi’s time and as much of her personal space as Yako was currently able to invade, Yako leaned forward with her elbows on the countertop. There was no trace of a smile left on Yako’s lips, though what appeared to be the slightest trace of the beginning of a pout did begin to show. 

“Honestly, I don’t care who you are. Even if you’re, like, evil or whatever. I care about Ruyi. And she cares about me, so just keep your distance, yeah? Do that and I won’t have to tear your throat out with my teeth while you sleep.”

Felix listened to her intently, eyes wide like he was a child being told an especially exciting story. “Wow, that’s so much stuff! And I thought that having two jobs made me busy…” Not that he was unbusy, mind you, but being busier than the average bear was a far cry from being a singer/model/retail worker/whatever else Yako had said. “Is it hard? You must not have a lot of time to just, like, hang out with friends or take time to yourself, huh?” He asked sympathetically, frowning briefly at the thought. He couldn’t imagine not having time to be with his friends; it was his favourite thing in the world to do, after all.

“Yeah, that does sound fun! Do you get to meet famous people? I mean, I guess you are a famous person, huh? That’s wild,” he commented, almost unable to wrap his head around the thought that his coworker was famous. She seemed so normal, in the best way, so it was weird to think of her performing on stage and hanging out with celebrities.

He was distracted from all of that, however, by the mention of ice cream. When it came to his favourite frozen treat, he had something of a one-track mind. “What’s your favourite flavour of ice cream? Mine’s mint chocolate chip, I think. Or maybe cookie dough? Or chocolate peanut butter… I don’t know, it kind of depends on the day. How about you?”

With the way Felix was looking at her, Yako couldn’t help but stand a little straighter, puff her chest out the slightest bit. Even if she didn’t particularly like the kid, it still felt nice to have him seem to admire her. He was just the sort of kid that couldn’t fake sick if he wanted to, let alone pretend to be excited by or interested in someone if he genuinely wasn’t. “Two jobs is still busy, kiddo,  I’m just on another level, ya know?”

Yako shrugged like it was no big deal, but a smug smile remained firmly on her face as question after question dribbled out of Felix’s mouth at her. It almost reminded her, just the tiniest bit, of when she went to visit Hoshio and recounted all her stories to him while he listened with bright and glimmering eyes no matter how old he got. He was already into his late teens and he still looked at Yako like she was his favorite superhero or anime character. This wasn’t the same, not even close, but Felix was almost similar enough to her half-brother to remind her of him.

“I take off time whenever I want to do whatever I want,” Yako replied in a slight exaggeration. Usually she just snuck away when she felt like taking a break, and there was little her managers could do about it when she shifted to look like someone completely different. It was hilarious to walk out right in front of them as her staff fluttered around in a tizzy looking for her. “Yeah, you could say I’m famous.” The smug grin grew somehow smugger.

Eve’s thumb dragged itself up and down the phone screen while waiting for Yako to be done with fixing her make-up - or redoing it, if she was to be more concerned about word choice. She was supposed to practice, or maybe fool around with other dancers right now, but since she had given a bit too much care for Yako and her messed up whatever, it would be odd to leave it unfinished. To someone’s, or no one’s, surprise, Eve always had this urge to complete whatever she had involved herself in, so there you go. 

When the other demigoddess turned around, Eve couldn’t see any trails of misery left on her impeccable face. That was just another example of how powerful professional make-up could be. Giving Yako half a smile in approval, she put out her cigarette, stood up from the couch, slid her phone in the coat’s pocket and smoothed it out, then walked out of the dressing room, knowing that Yako would follow her. 

When they passed the crowd of staff gathering around the main stage, Eve shouted “Be right back!” to anyone who cared to listen, before leading the way out of Minx and to the chilling road down the nearest cafe they could find. “How good are your punches?” She asked Yako a random question as she matched her space and they were walking side by side, gracefully ignoring all of the curious eyes coming from here and there on the street. 

Reapplying the makeup was a relatively quick affair after Yako decided to skip the complex designs of what she had on previously (before she cried it off) and went with brightly saturated colors and stick-on rhinestones. There was even a tiny cherry one, which she put by her eye and complimented with a strawberry by the other eye. One last smattering of glitter and she was good as new. Almost. She was good enough, anyway.

The rest Yako managed to sort out with the slightest of shape-shifting. No more puffy red eyes or veined temples or dark circles, just a cherubic face that looked ready for the stage. That was all that mattered really. In the meantime,  Yako would have an hour to reset her mood to match her persona a little better; that would be plenty of time. When she finally turned back to face Eve, Yako put on her best showbiz smile. For a second her teeth glinted with a preternatural whiteness, each one just a little too sharp before they settled back into their usual omnivorous shape. Yako hoped Eve would appreciate the subtle display. It said “I’m ready” far better than her words possibly could, especially to this particular partner in crime.

The approving smile already put Yako in a slightly better mood. There was little that Yako enjoyed more than the approval of her favorite people, and Eve was high on that particular list even if Yako wasn’t quite sure that Eve felt the same. She followed as Eve took the lead. Clearly an interesting idea had possessed the other demigoddess. Yako waved daintily at the staff as if she hadn’t just broken down crying and fled the building fifteen minutes prior. “I’m assuming you mean literally? Pretty good, if I had to say so myself. Why?”

1 for me and 1 for ru @mpxruyi

“Ruyiiiii~”

At this point the hospital staff knew better than to try and deny Yako entrance to the building and to the office that served as her destination within it. Even if they tried, she would always come back again and again with different faces until she managed to get in disguised as a visitor for some patient or other. A few times she flew in through one of the open windows upstairs. Once she even jimmied open a locked window in sheer manic desperation. The nurses had told her off for it, but they had learned their lesson about Yako.

The sing-song of her voice carried down the short hallway to Ruyi’s office, breezing past the grimaces of uneasy nurses, bouncing off the linoleum floors, echoing through the maze-like warren of the hospital corridors, and finally catching against the closed door of the doctor’s office. Most likely it was open. If it wasn’t, it would be soon enough.

But Yako knew Ruyi didn’t want to have to get another part of the building repaired.

Yako knocked politely, a little rhythmic tune that mimic’s Anna’s in Frozen. She didn’t wait for an answer before letting herself in.

– time skip to after work –

The rest of their shift passed rather uneventfully, and luckily quickly because Felix was very excited to take his new friend (or so he thought, anyway) out to the best ice cream place on the island. He could barely contain his glee as they locked up the store, one of his signature sunny smiles on his face. How could he not be happy, after all? Going to get ice cream with a friend sure beat going home and going to bed.

“So you’re also, like, a singer? As well as being a model? Right? What’s that like?” He asked as they walked, glancing over at her curiously. He could not imagine what it was like to be a celebrity. Did she have fans, he wondered? Probably, but it was wild to think about. Actually, it was wild to think about someone being talented enough to be famous and have fans in the first place– he certainly was not good enough at anything to be famous for it, if you asked him.

“It’s probably hard, huh? You must be really busy.” Which just made him all the happier that she was taking the time to hang out with him. “But fun, too, right?”

If nothing else, it pleased Yako to find that Felix did relatively well with closing up the store. She had thought he would be rather more incompetent, but the fact that she was able to lazily straighten up the merchandise while he did the harder work of closing out the register and whatnot made him at least useful in her book. Which was a better place to be then wherever the kid had been before. A useful little idiot, Yako mused, if only more people in the world were like him. But they weren’t, so Yako would have to make do with this one.

She almost found it funny how quickly she had started looking at him as both competitor and tool. Not that funny; the whole idea of it also ticked her off.

“I sing, I model, I perform, I travel a little. I sell cute clothes at a cute little store with a cute little coworker,” at this, she shot Felix her best bubbly little smile, “and also do some brand rep for them at the same time. That’s most of the modeling I do, at least when I’m not doing photo shoots.” The kid was right; Yako was definitely busier than the average person on the island. Yet she somehow managed to always to make time for messing around.

It was safe to say she didn’t sleep nearly as much as she should.

💥reactive💥 || with taeyong ❄️

Her smug satisfaction in watching him squirm was more than just disturbing. It was sickening. To think that anyone could enjoy another’s pain like this, it was unfathomable to him. He felt his eyes flash blue for a moment and winced as he held back the enormous surge of power beginning to radiate from him. The grass under his feet froze solid and broke as his frost began to leak out of him. No! He had to stop this! “Yako please! I don’t want to hurt you! Just go!”

He could feel the blood pounding through his veins as ice crystals began to form at the tips of his fingers. He crouched down willing it back as best as he could. It was all for naught as Yako persisted and drudged up everything he had tried so hard to bury and forget. His aura grew colder, deeper, reaching out from him like hands and destroying the vegetation around him. He almost didn’t hear her over his own thoughts raging in his head but he did and his eyes snapped open, glowing blue and cold as winter itself. “SHUT UP!” The hold on his power broke with his shout as frost, ice, and snow shot forth from him in every direction as his powers grew too violent for him to control. She wanted him to snap and now she would regret it.

“Hurt me?” The giggle settled into a smile that stretched into a grin and flattened, finally, into a snarl. Things were about to get serious. Yako could feel the temperature of the air drop as Taeyong shed cold like feathers off a molting bird. “You think you can hurt me?” The laughter that came from the tar pit that Yako was convinced was her heart no longer held even a hint of entertainment or excitement. It was pure malicious intent, something between a cobra baring its hood, ready to strike, and an injured, cornered fox ready to go down fighting for its life. She - no, he, Taeyong - was about to get what was coming to her- him. This was about Taeyong still, everything was his-

her fault.

Another sound came from Yako now, a shrieking growl that sounded for all the world like a heart breaking. “Nothing you can do can hurt me.” She had already been hurt far too much. And now she was going to hurt more, hurt in the way that she deserved to hurt. Maybe, finally, this would kill her. Maybe now she would be killed in the name of justice.

It was a sweet fantasy, but not one Yako’s body would let her indulge. As the girl thought about whether to dodge, her body acted for her. Where there had previously been a girl, there was now a grey fox diving away from the burst of cold and then pouncing to the air as a sparrow to avoid being hit. As her tiny talons clasped the bough of a nearby tree, they turned to legs again as her form snapped back into that of her human self.

mpyako​:

🚫 hands off! 🚫 ||  with eunbi

Eunbi knew she was being followed. She was not stupid, and she was hyper-vigilant, so she had clued in to Yako’s presence just moments after the other girl decided to start going psycho stalker mode. However, she was not worried. She recognized her new shadow as the girl who often hung off of Ruyi like a desperate kindergartner with a crush at city events. Not a threat, she was sure. Not even close.

It was actually sort of amusing, the way the girl hung around the cafe for hours, waiting for her shift to end. And for what? To spy on her? Why? She did not really care, if she were being honest. She had always thought anyone interested in a freak like Ruyi had to have a few screws loose. And she was not going to dwell on the motivations of someone who probably belonged in a psychiatric hospital.

Besides, she wouldn’t learn a damn thing no matter what she did. Nothing that mattered, anyway.

She was aware that Yako was waiting for everyone to leave to do something once the cafe closed, but she feigned surprise when the other woman addressed her, anyway. She let a mask of alarmed innocence slide onto her face, making a soft noise of shock as she looked up from cleaning the counter. If she was going to deal with whatever bullshit this wannabe was going to pull, she might as well have her fun and mess with her.

“I’m sorry? What do you mean?” She blinked, mimicking the sweet, simple doe-eyed girls she saw in the cafe every day. “Have we met?”

If there was one thing Yako knew on sight by now, it was someone pretending to act innocent. It was a move she herself often pulled at interviews and events. Her fans wanted to believe that she was an innocent little girl, the princess of their fantasies, and so she played the role. It was all part of the game. But someone as familiar with the art of playing dumb and cute as Yako was could just barely identify the telltale signs. The subtle flatness of tone. The eyes widening just a little bit more than was natural. Even the noise itself struck Yako as overkill; there was not a single worker in the food service industry that did not hold a burning grudge against the last person lingering in their establishment. No matter how innocent Eunbi seemed to be, it was simply impossible that she hadn’t known Yako was there.

That was to be the first of many mistakes, surely.

Yako did have to admit, though, that the act was a good one. It caught her off guard for a second as Eunbi slid into a well-rehearsed act of the same girl that Yako so often pretended to be. Not that she was impressed. There was simply nothing impressive about this little trollop, and Yako was on a mission to expose that fact or die trying.

Not that Eunbi could kill her, even if she wanted to.

Felix nodded energetically as she reaffirmed what he had said, seemingly pleased even though it was obvious that she was completely uninterested in the conversation. He was good at ignoring those kinds of social clues, though– which was maybe not a good thing, but he did not think it was a bad thing either. Especially when it came to family, it was good to be able to look past little things like that, right?

“That hat would look nice on you,” he commented with a smile when he noticed her picking it up. He hadn’t had any fashion sense to speak of before starting his two jobs, but being around fancy dresses and cute apparel all the time, he felt like he was starting to get the hang of what looked good and what didn’t. He had some small idea of what looked good, anyway.

“Huh? Why not?” The idea of not eating too much ice cream was a completely foreign one to him, considering he ate maybe a few too many sweets on a regular basis– but hey, that demigod metabolism kept it from affecting his physique. “Yay! Sorbet is great for hot days, right?” He commented cheerfully, smile bright as the sun. They were going to be great friends, he was sure. “Do you know the ice cream parlour downtown? They have the best flavours~”

“Would it?” Yako wondered vaguely. She was sure that it would; berets tended to sit quite well on her sleek hair, and they looked especially good when she grew out some bangs. It would be an easy enough shift. Yako simply wasn’t sure the beret itself was special enough to warrant a place on here head. A plain pink beret? Maybe if it had a little cherry pin, but not a boring one like this.

There wasn’t a boring bone in Yako’s body.

Felix’s outburst left Yako nodding along in a pitifully amused way. Either this boy was extremely sheltered, extremely stupid, or both. Both seemed like a safe bet at this point. But hey, if she was going to study the way Felix wielded his stupidity like a social catalyst, she was going to have to tolerate his idiotic company long enough to do so. Heck, she might even enjoy watching him flounder like a very stupid fish. Or she might grow more and more agitated about how likable he seemed to be. Maybe she would attack him later. Or maybe...

She wondered how susceptible the boy was to the power of suggestion. Just how far was he willing to go for a “friend”?

Evie?

One of the Mayan demigoddess’ eyebrows arched up incredulously at the nickname Yako had just called her. If Eve’s memory served her right, no one had ever used that name on her before. That nickname, spoken by the other demigoddess’ voice, exuded too much cuteness that it could make Eve’s face twisted in disgust. But beside the arching eyebrow, other parts on her face remained still. What should get more of her attention now was Yako’s suggestion for a hot chocolate. And her mascara-stained cheeks. 

“Gosh, just clean up your face first, okay?”

With that, she grabbed Yako’s wrist and pulled her back inside the club, heading towards their dressing room as she got no patience left for all the prying eyes and questions eagerly to be thrown at them. 

Eve didn’t even know why she got herself into this. It felt like she was babysitting her colleague, watching Yako fixing up her make-up through the mirror. A black trench coat on had already cover her sparkling costume underneath as she half-lay on the couch behind the Japanese demigoddess, silently enjoying her cigarette. For the first time maybe ever, she allowed herself to really look at Yako while putting on make-up, conveniently recognized how pretty Yako actually was beneath those layers of powder and lipstick. She had never asked Yako why she had ended up being here, or what caused those tears to fall. For the first time since they had met, Eve realized she didn’t know a thing about this co-worker of her. 

“We still have about half an hour,” she informed as Yako reached the final stage of her make-up routine, “still fancy a hot chocolate?”  

Yako nodded, allowing herself to be pulled up and back into Minx, past a group of visibly confused performers doing their own rehearsals, and to the dressing room so she could take care of her makeup. Seeing her own face in the mirror made her grimace. It was safe to say her makeup was very much ruined and would need to be entirely redone. It was a good thing makeup came like second nature to the rookie idol.

All the while, Yako considered Eve’s role in this particular meltdown of hers. She knew full well that Eve was not the sort of person to buddy up to anyone, not without something to gain. The fact that Eve was being as patient with her as Eve was capable of was a testament to either the value the other demigoddess felt their connection contained or the pity that Eve most likely felt for Yako in this embarrassing moment of weakness. Maybe it was a little of both.

Reapplying makeup was quick and easy, especially given the fact that half of it had been minor shapeshifting anyway. Her lips were still a rosy red, re-glossed and highlighted in just the right way. Her face was smooth and unblemished with cheeks that glowed a rosy red. Again all she needed add was some highlighter. The only thing that really took some redoing was her eyes, as they had to be cleaned off and entirely reapplied. Practiced hands made quick work of it, and a wave of Yako’s hand over her eyes took away the remaining redness from crying just minutes before.

It was as if nothing had happened at all.

Once again Yako looked picture perfect, even if she didn’t feel like it.

💥reactive💥 || with taeyong ❄️

Your fault. It felt like a knife drove itself into his heart. Your fault. She couldn’t know. But she did somehow. Or so it seemed at least. He took another step back as his emotions began to churn inside him making him feel sick. His voice wavered slightly. “I don’t know what you think you know, but you have no idea what I went through. What I deal with on a daily basis.”  

This was bad. His control had improved considerably since the last time he’d crossed paths with Yako but the last thing he wanted to do was test his luck. Even if she did deserve it. He could already feel his power lapping at the edges of his control just from listening to her. “I would never forget her. Never.” He couldn’t say her name. He couldn’t even think it. It was still so raw and painful. “Yako I know there’s no love lost between us, but for both our sake’s, one of us needs to leave. I really don’t want to do this with you right now.” He didn’t want to threaten her. But he knew the dangers of his powers and she didn’t. 

There. With each strike of her pick, the ice of Taeyong’s cool exterior cracked further and further. Eventually he would have no choice but to shatter. And then...

And then...

What? What was Yako doing this for? Why did Taeyong’s unhappiness bring her such satisfaction? The two of them weren’t so different after all. They were practically family, at least as far as life on this island was concerned. Yet she wanted him to suffer.

Like she suffered.

It was far too easy to prey on Taeyong’s self-blame. It was the cornerstone of so many peoples minds that it was almost impossible for it not to have been true about something. Even if whatever it was she was needling at him for wasn’t his fault, Taeyong was just the sort of person who would blame himself anyway. And if it was, well...she was about to witness the result of that kind of bottled anguish and pain.

ive got my eye on u, @eunbixmp!

To say that Yako had found Eunbi’s workplace by stalking the other girl through the city would have been a gross exaggeration of reality. It also would have been technically accurate. Every time Yako had passed Eunbi, often in her way in or out of the hospital, the other had seemed to just vanish after getting a good distance away. Did Eunbi have some sort of teleportation powers or was she just really good at skulking away? Whatever it was, Yako hadn’t cared enough to find out.

Right up until Ruyi had casually mentioned Eunbi in a conversation. At that point, Eunbi took up the role of Biggest Threat in Yako’s mind. And Yako couldn’t have that. If she was going to have a rival, she at least wanted to know a little more about her. There was no way this Eunbi girl was even close to as good as Yako. Didn’t matter at what, but she just couldn’t be better. So Yako followed Eunbi to the Flower Mill where the other appeared to work as a barista.

Really? A barista? There was no way on earth Ruyi would be interested in someone that...common.

There had to be something else.

So Yako ordered drink after drink, slowly working her way through about half the menu before it was finally time for Eunbi to close up the cafe. After waiting for so long, Yako waited just a little longer until the other patrons had left before taking a stand in what should have now been a closed and mostly empty coffee shop.