flowering

EVENT #002 SENTENCE STARTERS

RULES.

this is part of our ongoing EVENT #002: A SNAKE IN EDEN.

if you are open to receiving a random event starter, comment the url of your participating muse(s) and make sure their ask box is open.

— @parkhaein . . . !

seonjae just wants a drink. maybe two, actually, for the day he’s had, inbetween attempting to go outside (the park was too loud too many people too much light and he just couldn’t keep turning the volume of his music up in his headphones to drown out the noise without practically making them speakers), and usually he’d just go back to his room to make something, but he was out of his secret under the bed vodka he kept having visions of breaking. so against normal judgement, he was at the pool, because the bar here should give him what he wants, and then he’d be out of there.

this is one of the (very few) times that seonjae would admit his second sight would actually be handy, but then ultimately fails to even save him from this, which is skirting around the pool to make his way there, someone running past him, which, why, are they running right now on the slick floor, but it bumps him and he jolts and he slips and then— he’s directly splashing right into the pool.

maybe it would be nice, to be in the pool, in theory. it had been a hot day, but seonjae’s in jeans and a long sleeve and his gloves and his boots and it feels decidedly terrible to be soaked from head to toe fully dressed. not only that, but he had made such a big splash and alerted everyone in the vicinity, and now he has to paddle his way out of the pool knowing that everyone knows he fucking fell in.

three drinks? little umbrella? striped, twisty straw to drink it through, one of those little lemon slices? maybe a little too fancy, but seonjae’s just about had it, as he steps out, silver hair dripping into his eyes, cursing his visions up and down because the one time he would’ve loved to not fall in the pool fully clothed, he just had to because he didn’t see it. at least he wasn’t wearing one of his headphones.

so he walks up to the bar, shoes sloshing with pool water and creating little puddled footsteps all the way up to the counter, which he leans, drips, against, and tries to get the attention of the nearest bartender. “can anyone make me a really strong drink? with one of those little umbrellas?” desperation is coloring his words, but he’s not even motivated to cover it over, since the pool deck’s playing some alarmingly cheerful music for his downfall, and he’s starting to get something like a headache, not even bothering to wring out his clothes as he tries to wrestle his wallet out of his back pocket, sticking to the heavy, damp jeans he’s got on now.

“preferably kind of sweet. i need something sweet.” seonjae grumbles, leaning against the counter and already making great work on making a small pool of his own on the counter.

he's distracted when the poor victim makes himself known, but quickly notices when he sees water dripping on his shoe.

"yeah, sure. a long island good- what the," he's unable to stop his jaw from dropping, eyes as wide as saucers. "you sure? you're looking sort of…damp," is all he manages to say. stupid question, probably, but he thinks he's allowed to question the situation a bit.

oh, right. customer service.

co-starring @parkhaein.

THERE'S A MANTRA that goes through his head whenever he goes out and can only hope that things will be fine. it goes like this: i will go out and it will be fine. it's got no actual, tangible benefits — unless he really had some secret luck manipulation lurking on the edges of his genes — but it does help to imagine it in the voice of someone who knows what they're doing, like his sister, or The Therapist, or pan the aeternal who walks everywhere as a tiger and doesn't even care when people scream or run away from him.

having haein around helps too. kiyeon doesn't say it, but he thinks there's a familiar strand of fear that runs through haein too. haein laughs easier about it, kiyeon's noticed. at first it was jarring to hear haein joke about his power so plainly, but now it's a relief, knowing it's not completely impossible for someone to just be normal about it.

"i didn't even realize nite rite had a pharmacy," he sniffs, skirting around a street lamp before falling back into step with haein again. "also, thanks for coming. i always forget where this place is."

it's a warm night, partly cloudless and windy. ideally, picking up his prescription won't take too long. he can feel his body temperature raging in protest at being stuffed into a jacket, but these days it's been harder to keep his markings under control without the blockers, and he really doesn't want the pharmacist to call the aeternals on him again, especially if haein's there. he could live through the mild humiliation of explaining to an aeternal that no, it's just like this all the time, and no, i wasn't going to rob them, but not the guilt of tanking haein's reputation.

so yes, he prefers going out at night. which is fine, since all the fun stuff happens after dark, anyway. like right now where he gets to walk with his friend to a pharmacy.

ok, so it isn't all neon lights and loud music.

sarang felt like her head was going to explode. for once the feeling wasn't self-inflicted, and since the blackout started she had been too distracted by the amount of bodies shuffling to the front desk, the endless requests for the promised free flashlights and candles overwhelming the poor girl. you'd think that she'd be well-accustomed to a crowd after encountering so many with her parents at their numerous film premieres or charity events, but alas... the stress was beginning to get to her.

although she tried to hide it, perhaps it was too obvious.

as if whatever god that was willing to listen had taken pity on her, after a couple hours had passed and after the majority of silver line's residents had already grabbed the last of the supplies provided, she was finally relieved of her duties at the front!

well, it's not that exciting now, considering the current circumstances, but surely it could be worse.

what? it's basically skydiving for him.

"there's light from the stars," he jokes. "worst case scenario, i can use my phone flashlight." not that he needs to make more of a case as she seems willing to come with him. "we don't have to swim. i was just going to dip my legs in the water," he explains as they make their way up the stairs.

three hours and forty minutes into the blackout. somewhere in the distance, sound of sirens can be heard echoing through the city. a crick has settled in his neck for the past hour, lack of circulation rendering his legs numb, though minhyun remains cross-legged on the concrete floor regardless. in silence underneath clear night sky, awaiting for the never-coming return of power; he hasn't even picked flashlight for himself, rendering it futile, a drop of defeatism he finds himself diving into. for all purposes, kim minhyun is, in this absolute mess of a situation, invisible.

what are aeternals for? flashiness of front pages, face plastered across small screens on prime time, a simulacrum of convenience and personal gain; but when real people need —

the air outside was considerably cooler, but still not enough in this summer heat. is there anyone in the building with ice abilities? maybe they can team up and be some sort of a/c unit (again, literally). some sort of heroes these people are--but he supposes if everyone saw things the way he did, those with powers would be tied up to some machine to produce energy instead of running around fighting crime. there's probably some politician out there petitioning for this cruel, albeit more productive, use for them, but haein wouldn't know.

"don't panic, but i think there's something behind you." @parkhaein / silver line apartments pool

and as though the loud bang wasn't frightening enough to drive the bejesus out of yunseo, haein says something so jarring, so uncalled for, to the older male that the latter whips his head around without missing a beat, frantically looking out for that something, expecting some horror, beyond the capacity of his imagination, to appear out of the shadows and grab him by the neck.

but there is none, and his knee-jerk was nothing short of a precedent for a near concussion, the liquor cabinet standing barely an inch close to his temple.

"ah, haein-ah," yunseo grumbles. "remember i'm your hyung." which is to say that he'll always rely on that trump card whenever haein tries to do something funny to him. the other may be ahead of months working here ( and even farther ahead in the aeternal game... well, was ), but that shouldn't be any sort of invitation to make yunseo the object of his twisted pranks. not when yunseo can't really bring himself to reprimand haein. "please don't do that." it comes out rather mousy, squeaky, but whether haein has heard it or not, he can only hope haein gets it and gets out of his hair.

he's not afraid of the dark, no. the sea can get dark, hauntingly barren even, but that doesn't terrify nor intimidate him. then again, it's probably because it's the sea...

( yunseo reminds himself not to take a deep dive into #horrortok next time, lest it feeds too much into his imagination. )

he goes back to wiping glasses, throwing wary glances at haein every so often. the poolgoers seemed to have already vacated the area completely. with their phones as their only source of light and the situation at hand not looking like it'll improve anytime soon, it's not unlikely of him to react acutely to his surroundings, even if it is as vague as a 'there's something behind you.'

he leans up against the bar and takes a deep breath, bored out of his mind. he would've already left the rooftop if not for not actually knowing if he's still considered on the clock during a blackout. the broadcast did say not to worry, but the explosion was enough to tell him it's probably something villain related. nothing for a civilian like him to worry about.

with: @parkhaein location: silver line apartment building tw: tbd .ᐟ

"why did it have to be you?"

despite the obvious disappointment and slight anger that was obvious in haein's tone, mimi had to admit that she was glad to see him. their relationship over the past few weeks had been ... less than admirable. for whatever reason ( though, mimi most likely did something to trigger him ), haein could not stand her. wherever she went and he happened to be, he always took his leave.

'do i stink? am i ugly? am i annoying? ⎯ i haven't even spoken to him that much! what is his issue?'

it had all started, initially, when mimi tried to start conversation. she didn't know if it was what she said, or how she said it, or even what she thought about, but for some reason, haein tried to avoid her at all costs. whether it was in the laundry room, or in the communal space, or even when he saw her randomly in public, there was always a flash and sudden man floating away ⎯ far away from mimi, which left her confused and slightly annoyed.

ending up with him this way now, it all made sense ... and it was a little funny. her head and arm slightly hurt from the impact, but she was sure that haein hurt more. honestly, she hadn't planned to run and tackle him to the ground, but there was an enormous bug which was threatening her life. she jumped on the nearest person she saw ⎯ who, being fair and in the dark, was hard to see anyway.

"oh! what do you mean, why me? listen, you're not my first choice either!" mimi huffed, quickly getting off of him and off of the floor as soon as she realised her embarrassing mistake. a mistake that isn't as embarrassing in the circumstances, but would come to haunt her when she couldn't fall asleep and the heat was slowly eating away at her at 5am. "listen ⎯ putting whatever weird differences that you have with me aside, can you help me? it's kind of urgent!" she waved her hands around a bit erratically and almost as a crazy woman, but she did need help, and she wasn't above begging for it ⎯ especially when a bug was involved. "my roommate isn't home right now and i really need the help! so can you just .. help me get rid of this roach? it's dark and i can't see it, but i feel it crawling everywhere!"

but what else could she do to entice him? surely, from his behaviour, it was obvious he didn't like her. what she had done to deserve this treatment? mimi had no idea. but she could think about it once she had a bug-free apartment.

"here ⎯ i'll even pay you!"

"you let a roach crawl all over you?" he grumbles as he gets to his feet, rubbing at his sore behind. what a literal pain in the ass. "and you touched me with your roach germs. why the hell would i help you?" great, now his skin is itchy too. the thought of being in indirect contact with one of those bugs was starting to take over his mind now. he needs to take a shower, fast. who gives a crap if the water is cold.

wait, isn't this the reporter lady? another weird scam to get him to speak, he sees. either that or she really does has a bug problem, but how is any of that his business? he only left his room in search of a vending machine that he was totally not going to jiggle a drink out of, not to deal with whatever this is.

20 QUESTIONS TO ASK IN THE DARK

RULES.

this is part of our ongoing EVENT #001: LIGHTS OUT IN PARADISE.

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