footsteps in the sand open.
time: 15:55
it is quiet in the business district.
paper, plastic, cardboard, and electronic signs cover doors and windows and streetlight poles; their myriad and colorful messages announcing the candlelight vigils and early closures to accommodate a city set to mourn. and jung haejin wonders, not for the first time, if this had been intentional. support a public event, sway those public hearts and keep the gala and its inhabitants away from the public eye.
it is so quiet that each of his footfalls echo across those empty roads. his voice too. a subtle introduction to the evening's coming symphony.
"i know, meimei. i won't."
the world glitters in heaving petal pinks before falling back to a rumbling aquamarine, metaflux forever in pulsating motion. its nebulous movement one he tracks across his destination's visible floors. but there's nothing amiss. so far. he keeps watching as jung jaehee's stern tone continues to fill his ear, demanding promises he won't be able to keep now. haejin waits for the moment she has to breathe. and when she does —
"i've arrived. i will text you when i get home tonight. call me if there's any trouble at the vigil. have a good night, meimei."
hour: 16:03
"but sir, you're early."
pearl white teeth shine in the auction house lights as delta's captain smiles at the guards before him. it is a warning unheeded.
"yes. intentionally so. have you called your manager yet?"
the dim bulbs lighting their brains visibly flicker before one guard breaks from the pack. jung haejin waits. until, white-faced, wide-eyed, and breathless:
"open the door."
hour: 16:10
bare fingertips drag along the final table set up in the rotunda.
( cold dishes hitting its surface, idle gossip whispered nearby as decorations were hung into place, a layer of dust from too many months ago, scissors, a vigorous crayon ripping through paper and — )
as unremarkable as the rest despite faint concentrations of metaflux along its edges. black leather slips back over his hands while he weighs the options. an evolver? older materials? metaflux infused tools?
only, there in the distance: a form he recognizes eating up the distance between them. his contemplations hide themselves in the shadows of his mind as the mantel of captain hangs itself across his shoulders. dark eyes fall to the ground for a split second.
"watch your step," he calls. "there's a hidden sunken hole in the path by your right foot."
