#maneo:starter

hangry (adj) bad-tempered or irritable as a result of hunger.

AN OPEN STARTER FOR: ANYONE

It had been a while since Jiwoo held her guitar. Music, to her, was like turning back the clock, traveling and returning to a previous life full of dreams and hope. She embraced the music and in turn the music took control. The young woman found herself in a different world. A world where life was as easy as strumming her guitar. Her fingers strummed the strings with a master’s technique. She surprised herself that she could still play well. Jiwoo could feel her soul become one with the music and she unleashed her emotions into the song. She didn’t know that she needed this as badly as she needed to breath. 

As she reached the ending chords, Jiwoo felt herself slowly come back to reality. She gave a last grand strum that those rock stars did in the movies. You know for the dramatic effect. She stared at her reflection in the mirror, her face was glistening with a light sheen of sweat, makeup still intact. She could still grab some food and drinks from the convenience store at The Square with just a little freshening up. After she deemed herself presentable enough, Jiwoo took her wallet and made her way down to the convenience store.

OPEN STARTER FOR: INVICTUS

It was a rather peaceful mid-afternoon in the sunrise bar.

Luciano as the second in command, always made it a point to be inside the premises.-- that is, if he had no important business matters to attend to. He quietly trudged towards the rooftop to simply hangout and just enjoy the quiet summer afternoon.  He did have to make the most out of the lull. Soon, this place would be filled with rambunctious patrons and he would give up his space for them.

The wolf plopped down on one of the couches by the window and grabbed his sketchbook. It was known to the members that Luciano could often be found in the exact same spot doing the exact same thing, drawing. He started sketching a random scenery and it took a while before he realized that he drew his old hometown, Daegu. It had been weeks since his birth mother knocked on his door and asked if a Shin Soobin lived there. It shook Luci to the core that it took him a solid ten seconds before he even answered. “There’s no Shin Soobin here, Ma’am. I think you’ve got the wrong address.” 

“But you look like my son.” 

“I’m sorry but my mother died years ago. You’ve got the wrong address, Ma’am.”

Luci ran his fingers through his hair in irritation. He had been perfectly fine. He could genuinely laugh and not be scared after the attack that happened two years ago. Why did she have to shatter everything again? She came like a hurricane that destroyed everything on its path. It’s like he’s back at square one.

‘Fuck, she never really cared about you. Until now she doesn’t. She only cared about herself.’ Frustrated, Luci tore the drawing from his sketchbook and threw it in the garbage bin. 

This was risky, but that didn’t seem to matter as much as he stood there on the subway, fully dressed in his disguise and in desperate need to feed tonight. Well, feed and also just have a good time. He could probably go another two nights without eating thanks to his last meet up with Mason, but it was on his mind to get a decent meal if he could tonight. By the time he made it to Itaewon and his first club of the night, he made sure to use the window in a neighboring storefront to fix the blonde wig affixed to his head with glue and make sure his makeup was touched up to perfection. Pulling out his fake ID that said his name was Achara, Zero moved through security with no problem, his skirt short enough and the plunging neckline showing off his contoured cleavage enough to let him pass through easily.

Two drinks into his evening though, he was bubbly and chatty and smiling like a fool as he saddled up to the bar and shouted another drink order with a wink and thank you thrown in for good measure. The bar tender was cute and always made the last two drinks pretty strong so he was hoping the flirting would be enough encouragement to keep it going. However, when Zero’s heel slid against the wet surface of the floor, he nearly spilled his entire drink on the body behind him. Instead, most of it ended up on him. “Oh...oh, I’m sorry. Shit, I didn’t get any on you right?”

it’s been almost a week since somin’s come out of her coma and being trapped in bed for most of the day is slowly killing her. she’d asked iseul to bring her more plants from home and they have been helping, but the doctors and nurses only let her out of bed for physical therapy and sometimes to go to the bathroom. the first few days in the hospital were the worst, but the last few days haven’t been that great either. she considers herself lucky that seojin’s there to take care of her even if he has been throwing weird glances her way and being uncharacteristically gentle with her. even if she was in a weak state, somin would never consider herself fragile. she can take care of herself. to be fair to him, it seems like most people that come in and out of her private room all seem to be particularly cautious with her. there’s always someone asking if she wants water or coming in to make sure she’s comfortable. it all just seems a little excessive to her.

for once this week, though, she actually feels a little excited. she get’s to have visitors! the only people she’s had contact with so far is seojin, jaehwa, iseul, and her nurses. the witch is excited to be able to see some of her friends even if the guilt is still eating her alive. she’s grateful that seojin kept her secret all this time more than anything. she hopes she’ll be able to stay clean, but she doesn’t know if it’s a possible goal at this point. it’s only been a few days, but she already misses the high. she shakes the thought from her head when there’s a knock at her door. her eyes light up and she sits up a little straighter, even if it pulls at her sore muscles. “come in,” she says, hoping it’s a new visitor and not the same people she’s been seeing repeatedly the last few days. nothing against the ones who have helped her, but she needs a little bit more social interaction that what she’s getting right now.

alone, in her home- binding herself to a near pitch-black bedroom, nara’s mind and her curse was in action. she didn’t fear the darkness surrounding her, but the darkness in her own heart, feeding off her consciousness. that would explain why she was cowling into the corner as if her mind wasn’t the culprit.  where else can she run though?... when her enemy is herself? 

this wasn’t like any other mind facing a mental demon either, this was something far beyond it. the power her conscious had was foul, and didn’t care for boundaries- even now, it manifested an infant boy; knowing that she’d come crawling toward it, her arms outstretched, crying. ignoring the voice cutting into her.

‘i have to admit, i’m not buying it, nara. you didn’t love, taejo.’ 

 she didn’t even think to respond, her mind was set on wrapping her arms around her baby.. taejo. but, as she expected, the moment her fingertips grazed his the child morphed into herself like she was looking in a mirror-.. except this one had black eyes and livid dark intent. the look-alike walked toward nara, a sinister smile on her lips, taunting her. the skinwalker recoiled, dragging herself back into the corner. 

‘your weeping does not impress me.. a killers tears, does not impress me’ 

nara this time had something to say, covering her face with one arm and holding up a sword with her other, using that to block the double from coming closer. “be quiet-.. be QUIET.” hearing the other continue to speak, nara repeated herself over and over, swinging her sword until she was chasing ‘herself’ around the house. her mind was literally, taunting her- so much that she didn’t even care that she destroying her home, she wanted her.. it, whatever it was, dead. 

eventually, nara was lured out of her home, looking for her enemy. hearing steps around the corner, maybe a voice, her paranoia sprung into action; and before she knew it, she’d pinned a random person, and her sword was pointed right at their neck. blind to the fact, they weren't her. 

wiping the blood coming from her nose, she sniffled. “does this impress you, hmm? i can kill you right now. i can- i will do it.” 

OPEN STARTER

Jiwoo is a simple girl. If she likes something, she would get it. She might stumble and get a few scrapes on her way but she would try her very best. That way no one could ever tell her that she failed because she didn’t try. It was her dream to become a writer. The fairytale books that her parents read to her, opened her imagination at such a young age. Although for a blundering girl like Jiwoo, keeping her head in the clouds proved to be dangerous.

As an aspiring writer, Jiwoo worked part time in the local library. Being surrounded by books brought her a sense of comfort and peace. The people she encounters on a daily basis gave her inspiration on what to write. Being a librarian gave her an excuse to people watch as much as she could and it wouldn’t be rude. 

The brunette then tied her long hair in a messy bun, it was a preparation for the arduous task of putting returned books on the shelves and replacing misplaced books on their proper places. She put on her earphones and bopped her to the music. Jiwoo then grabbed the cart full of books and made her way towards the rows of shelves. 

“People still read Twilight huh?” she muttered to herself as she put the book carefully on the shelf. 

open starter!

Luciano di Soriano graduated with a degree in Fine Arts from Seoul National University. A scholar from the start until the end, one could say that Soobin is definitely a great artist. Despite using his skills on his business, Soobin still dabbled in painting and photography for his hobby. 

“Good Afternoon everyone!” He smiled brightly at the students of varying ages who gathered in the classroom. “I’m Luciano di Soriano, you can call me Soobin. I’m also fondly called Bright and I own Bright Events.” The werewolf clapped his hands and walked towards the center of the room so that every student could see him. He eventually revealed that they would be going outside to use the building as a model that would help the students apply the lights and shadows.

As he roamed around and observed the paintings of his students, Soobin wondered how he was roped into teaching a weekend class. He cursed at his inability to say no to any of his friends. He could have been napping or working on his next art exhibition instead he’s got a whole afternoon of teaching art. Don’t get him wrong, he loves art. What he wasn't fond of was teaching. 

Soobin was fixing up his stuff when a student approached him at the end of the class. “Uh...is there anything I could do for you?” he asked, not even bothering to look at the student. “I hope it’s art related cause if it’s anything else, I don’t think I’m the right person since I once drank the water I dunk my paint brushes in instead of my coffee. So yeah, what art related stuff can I help you with?” Soobin finally lifted his head and smiled.

running a stall on sundays at her local marketplace sounded extremely taxing and really just not worth the energy. why would she wake up exceptionally early on a sunday to open up a tiny shop when she was already getting paid as the second-in-command of amaranthine. a friend of hers in an online dark witch community had shared a few tips about opening one up and said how fun it was to interact with people from different walks of life. after the first sunday in her own stall, she had to admit that she agreed.

this morning she was feeling under the weather, though. somin’s not sure if it’s from all the unfortunate events that had happened recently, or maybe she was actually getting a cold, but it’s days like these that she thinks about hiring an assistant of some sort. she gets much more business from that shop once a day than most people would thing. there’s at least five customers she knows are coming to pick up finished projects that she already has packed as well as at least a dozen other projects she’s still working on. some are customer requested and others are new things she’s working on to sell. most of the time, she truly does enjoy it. it’s always interesting to see the people who show up, and what everyone’s looking for. it helps that she doesn’t turn down most peoples request for the right price, even if it goes against her own morals.

she gets to the market early to set up tables and displays, putting everything—jewelry, pendants, stones, potions, herbs, candles—in their rightful places with a flick of her finger as the crystal around her neck glows faintly. footsteps enter the archway already and she turns with as much of a smile as she can muster, “welcome to julia’s apothecary!”