welcome to ansong's first ask meme weekend! we hope these can help you all learn more about each other's muses and foster lots of in character interactions! to participate in the ask meme weekend please reblog this post! we ask that you please only send questions to those who have reblogged the post. please try to send out at least five questions or prompts to different muses for them to answer before answering your own! this ask meme weekend will last from november 15th until november 17th @ 11:59pm est. while you can only send in asks during this timeframe, you have up until november 29th @ 11:59pm est to answer any you received! for these, any three emoji memes answered OR any one dialogue starter prompt will count towards next week's activity check (november 23rd)! please tag all these as as:meme001 and, of course, have fun! <3

it’s an unspoken rule that saeroi’s conjured for himself. that is, to not let anyone buy him a drink. no matter how pretty or interesting they are. … callum is an exception. he became one, at least. ( even with the fact that he fits into both of the categories saeroi swore off of. annoyingly—so. ) there was no mistaking the way ears had perked at the offer—the mention of a long island; one of the drinks that saeroi favored above everything else — only because it manages to do the job of making him tipsy. just slightly. the soju hits him like a brick on the other hand, not entirely the best idea he’s had in a while if the buzzing in his head is anything to go by.

he begins to wonder if the long island had been a good idea after all. for callum, unfortunately enough, his tolerance to alcohol was high and one long island was only something to pre-game. but the bottle that came after wasn't what he was expecting, nor were some of the extra shots some of them had been sneaking in between cocktails and small bites. not entirely on purpose, but every gaze shared between the two only seemed to grow in duration each time — three, to be exact. one, when saeroi shows up thirty five minutes late to the agreed meet up time at the bar because he was pre-gaming a few blocks away and looked callum right in the eye to offer his feigned apologies. two, when the blonde is in much closer proximity as they lean against the bar, waiting as the bartender makes a long island and pours callum another draft. except there's nobody around to break the magnetic pull between them that winds up looking like mindless wandering hands occassionally fiddling with the other's pinky finger and reminding saeroi just how petite his palms paled in comparison.

and lastly is now, a significantly more intoxicated saeroi looking up at callum to meet his gaze and almost lose himself in it entirely. saeroi stumbles slightly and it shakes callum from his stupor and uses it as a chance to stabilize his balance. "yeah, i am, and that look is telling me we should definitely start getting you home."

the group sends the two off to grab their taxi outside, bidding farewells and orders to make sure you have your driver pull over if you have to throw up, sae! you better take good care of him, callum! as saeroi's flimsy mess of drunken arms and legs plop ungracefully into the backseat ahead of callum. their driver eyes the blonde through the rearview but says nothing; callum takes it as a signal to buckle both of themselves in.

it's fine, it's fine. you're fine. she repeats the mantra inside her head a few times, trying to will herself to remain calm. there's a small voice inside of her chastising her for being scared of the dark - she's an adult, after all, and it's silly to be frightened of such a thing when there's no clear reason for it. there's more horrifying things out there in the world, but she can't shake this trepidation sinking into her skin, plaguing her mind with all sorts of paranoia. the thought of heading back to her apartment, shrouded in darkness with no other signs of life besides her lone self, to sit there for hours on end until the sun rises, makes her stomach begin to twist. she just couldn't do it. it feels too much like something she can't remember, something she can't make out or understand, but it's something heavy and distressing, looming over her small frame and rendering her helpless. she doesn't know what it is, but she just knows it's frightful, and she's so lost in her own fears that she doesn't even hear the ding! of the elevator down the hall.

"callum," she exclaims quietly, a soft gasp leaving her when he makes his presence known, dropping his bag at his face and addressing her, his voice gentle and warm, grin curving at the ends of his mouth. she feels her stomach twist once more as a flood of emotions course through her - surprise, because he had startled her by suddenly materializing, and then anxiety, because she still feels the apprehension of everything picking at her skin. relief comes soon afterwards, because he's home, and that means she's safe. means she's no longer alone. and then she feels the heavy guilt settle in, seeing his welcoming smile, because she is sure he'd much rather spend his evening relaxing as opposed to dealing with her concerns.

he doesn't pry. he lets her talk and gives her a moment after she's finished in case there's any afterthoughts to come from her end. callum has learned the delicate intricacies of danbi's demeanor, having come to realize her fears of taking up too much space or one's time — a fear he doesn't want her to feel around him. "trust me — i've had much later nights than this," he reassures her, sensing her discomfort. callum reaches out to his keypad to type his passcode to open his apartment door and gestures for her to enter first. "here, come in, it's awkward standing in the hall."

his apartment glows a calming blend of purple and blue from his low lights when she steps in, set off by motion sensors. there's no better feeling than stepping into your apartment after a long day and having things tidy and exactly where you left them. he bends down to begin undoing his shoes and looks up to see that look in danbi's eyes that tells him something is off. "uh, sure, you can try, but i don't know if they're going to answer this late... is there something wrong with your unit?"

it had started when a few of his coworkers from illusion had pitched the idea of a group outing at the carnival. all of them like to celebrate, the dark at night, most enjoy the season as a whole. they’d had food, a drink or two. one of the girls had brought a flask filled with homemade spiced whiskey they’d shared, not enough of it to go around for anyone to get more than buzzed but definitely enough for daeho to have a good time.

and then there’d been the dare. daeho doesn’t get creeped out easily - he watches bad horror movies for fun sometimes, in the dark in bed - but the friend he’d been with had, turning around after the second corner to hurry back towards the exit. daeho could’ve gone with him, but the maze is well-decorated. he likes exploration. and, more importantly: he’d wasted money on this he’s not willing to throw out the window this easily.

so he spends the next few minutes poking at props, laughing when he hears screams in the distance and trying not to scare himself into startling. it is, admittedly, less easy when you’re in the middle of it all and know you’re by yourself. after the third zombie jumping out at him he takes a moment to gather himself, leans against the wall and stares at the huge spider head hanging down opposite him. if he were a head taller, he could probably get his hair tangled up in the fake webbing.

maybe it’s because he’s engrossed in looking or maybe because the soft padding they’ve put on the ground muffles sound so well, but daeho jumps when someone walks right into him, a bit wide-eyed as he turns towards the guy - and realises it’s just callum, who’s reaching out to steady him. “dude, you scared me. what the hell, i thought there was nobody in this section.”

he feels dumb that he's lost his group and now he's wandering the maze alone. the warehouse they decided to build the haunted maze in also clearly has poor ventilation, enough that callum has to fan himself with no reprieve. the way daeho’s shoulders are tense, just slightly, doesn’t go unnoticed, and guilt prickles again at the edges of his consciousness. it’s easy to forget how disorienting the whole setup can be, even if they’re both supposed to be here to have fun.

callum shifts his weight to his right foot, glancing around at the dimly lit, web-strewn surroundings. shadows flicker and twist unnervingly with every strobe flash, and the scent of fake fog clings heavy in the air. he's accustomed to the stuffiness and overstimulation, but without anyone with him, it feels a little lackluster. "no," he answers daeho a little too quickly; clearing his throat and wiping his nose, he shifts his weight to his other foot this time. he's not lost — just temporarily isolated. "i mean... i got separated from my friends, so i've been waiting here for a bit to see if i could find them, but it's been awhile. i don't know if they're that severely lost or what, but i'm thinking at this point it's probably better to just meet them all at the exit."

her face buried against his neck, her smudged makeup threatening to leave itself on his uniform as she clung to him following him from the building. she winced slightly as she heard the club owner fussing behind them. usually, she'd have apologized or at least pulled out the weapon of her tears so she didn't get banned but she was sure, as one of their most loyal patrons, they wouldn't be that mad at her. she even offered a loving wave and a pout as they made their way outside.

the furrow of his brows can't even say enough about the confusion he's feeling as body falls against him, petite and warm. it's then that callum asks his partner if he's got an extra shirt or sweatshirt in his bag to cover june's exposed upper body. he tries to push back club patrons in their walk of shame out of the building, the sea of curious eyes following them out through the door and into the parking lot where their firetruck had been parked.

callum sits her down in the back, trying not to draw much attention to her hands consistently finding their way back to his bicep each time he tries to scoot to the other side. he prepares some paperwork while she drinks her water in hopes of sobering her up as quickly as possible. "here," he passes her a small pile of papers and an accompanying pen and evades making direct eye contact. "it's required by the department. i need you to sign where the x's are to sign off that you've been cleared by the fire department to go. it's just a thing people have to sign if we show up." prying june from a locked bathroom at illusion was not part of callum's bingo card tonight.

he eyes the emptied bottle of water held in a death grip and stands to grab another from his bag. "keep hydrating," callum instructs. his voice is low and gentle, not intentionally bossy, but firm. he knows in the back of his mind this sort of scenario could potentially get her into some trouble. he bites his inner cheek and runs his tongue over the bottoms of his teeth, thinking through his options in a moment of silence before sighing and raising his gaze to meet hers again.

he knows this could potentially play out in countless ways he's not really sure he wants to mull over for too long, because if he does, he's going to change his mind. "let's give it a few minutes, and i'll take you home." the overhead lighting illuminates the highlighter over her cheekbones and comes to the biased conclusion that her wonder woman costume must've been an absolute knockout. he remembered her mentioning it to him days prior to the holiday after he'd mentioned the conversation with nic to her, only now connecting the dots.

though disheveled, june still managed to glitter.

there's something unnerving about the darkness - perhaps that the shadows can be deceiving, forming inky silhouettes that morph into things from nightmares, or the fact that there is no shadow at all, but in the shrouded abyss sits the hint of something sinister and wicked and all things frightening. the onset of panic gnaws at her each time she encounters the dark, but she can't put her finger on what makes her so uncomfortable. she has no recollection of anything traumatizing, like being locked in a dark closet for hours or watching a particularly terrifying film, but then again, danbi doesn't seem to remember much at all - simply, she just knows she doesn't like the dark, just like how she knows she likes matcha, gardening and soft and endearing, doe-eyed stuffed animals. speaking of which, one of her beloved plushies is held close to her chest in one arm as the other raises up, knuckles curled and gently rapping against the front door of callum's apartment.

under any other circumstances, she wouldn't be bothering him - she knows that being a firefighter means working both late and odd hours, and that being home at all probably doesn't come frequent to him. but danbi wasn't sure where else to turn, not when she had woken up in the middle of the night to her apartment being pitch black and her phone dead, having died sometime during the night due to the power outage. she had been so disoriented, waking up startled in the darkness, having grown accustomed to the soft glow of her fairy lights in her room to keep her safe, that it was a wonder she even managed to make it over here after wandering around her apartment and bumping into almost everything she owned.

things move slower. people get quieter. the world sleeps and callum can breathe. there's a fog that surrounds his memory of how he ended up being twenty-seven and a guy who just wishes he could be in bed by sunset when everyone else his age still seem to have the gumption to stay awake for much, much longer. the younger lieutenants at work impress him, really — the way they can work a twelve hour shift and still manage to find themselves at illusion; perhaps its the adrenaline that turns these men into insomniacs. callum falls under that spell sometimes too, though not so much with the party scene — more-so the countless hours he's spent staring up into the dark at his ceiling apartment because all the articles these days that tell him how bad it for your circadian rhythm to stare at your phone in the dark (and he can only imagine how much worse adding alcohol would be on top of it).

it doesn't frighten him; if anything, he welcomes it with open arms. maybe he just needs a really, really long session in a sensory deprivation tank.

it's been another countless long night that makes callum even more excited to go home, shower off the smell of smoke and go to sleep for a million years (the irony). his boots trudge heavily down the hallway as he wonders to himself why he chose the farthest room from the elevator — nights like this just made the walk feel like eternity.

except tonight there's danbi's figure standing at his door, adorned in her pajamas and looking quite distressed. it's late, too. his heart softens and in her presence finds the coil in his back to spring his shoulders back to life, readjusting his posture to stand taller even despite the weight of the day still heavy.

"hey," he greets her softly, careful not to be too loud to disturb their neighbors. once he's closer, he can see the clear look of distress tangled in the furrow of her brows. callum drops the duffel bag he'd had slung over a shoulder at his feet and immediately feels that need to begin fixing things creep up from his core, through his torso and up to his neck. it's inevitable.

being an instructor or two short, she'd taught more classes in the past week than she'd taught in months meaning that her little body could barely keep up with the pace of what she was asking. a night at illusion was something of a miracle after how much energy she'd spent earlier that day. still, she wouldn't let a little bout of sore muscles and lightheadedness stop her from pursuing the perfect pocket of the beat to dance to. a few shots and a martini down the hatch and she was ready to go.

Hour One. june's feet carried her across the floor as she danced in sync with perfect strangers, throwing her hands up above her head as her body moved to the beat. she was intoxicating with the way she moved. Hour Two. june downed another drink. the alcohol is having the opposite effect on her and she can barely keep her eyes open. Hour Three. june's heading to the bathroom. as much as she doesn't want to admit it she's sleepy and she's hoping a small splash of water on her face will wake her up.

it's a feeling of confusion that spills into familiarity; watercolors seeping from one shade of blue to something more subtle. june's voice catches him off guard, a quick volt of astonishment shooting from the tips of his fingers down his body, past his torso, through his calves and all the way to his feet. he's glad he's kneeling, because the way she has completely stupefied him on the spot would have probably made his knees buckle. he blinks back at her in response, the hard drive in his head lacking the processing power to register this fast enough.

"what?" he manages to answer back, dumbfounded, but doesn't respond in english. but what the fuck — callum didn't know june knew english, and he most certainly knew that accent from somewhere. it's going to leech onto his brain for the rest of the night and until june is back home. she's just so intoxicated that she's just talking nonsense, he tells himself to avoid thinking too much into her comments; for now, he compartmentalizes his surprise and gives his own head a small joggle to get himself back to his task at hand. whether he knew june or not, he was on the job, and he had to prioritize her well-being over anything else.

"june," he says again as he reaches to guide her hand away from his face and settles it back in her lap. callum gets a better view of her now: eye makeup conglomerated at the corners of her eyes and down onto the apples of her cheeks. she looks tired, but the kind of tired callum thinks was something he'd given up ages ago. he turns to ask his partner to go get a bottle of water from the bar. "hey, i know you've probably had a lot to drink, but we have to take you home now. my partner's grabbing you some water. let's get you outside."