#mialoreevent1

seb doesn’t like this, but he’s never been one to question maylin and jinx, let alone disobey them.

he trusts them, and he trusts in himself and his own abilities, but...there are so many variables. there is so much fear. he can see it in the faces of the others and can feel it in his heart even when he tries to quiet it.

he isn’t afraid for himself. he’s afraid because this is an intensive, serious mission, and he will be without his team. no, more that: his team will be without him. 

he knows there must be an undeniable pit in their stomachs, leftover from the last time they were apart for a mission. once again, he will be paired with daesu, and leave his baby agents in the hands of someone else.

the last time he did that, the someone else died, and dojoon became a demon. 

there are differences, though, and he doesn’t know if it’s better or worse. none of the team will be together. well, that’s not true-- aera will be with dojoon, and he thinks that’s probably a good call. juwon will probably be fine with anyone. 

then there’s moon and aether, and seb really wonders if jinx just wants them dead. they hate each other. the amount of squabbles he’s broken up between them are numerous, with no sign of stopping any time soon. usually, seb is optimistic, and there is some part of him that hopes this forced cooperation will rub off on them in the rest of their lives, steering them toward something closer to friendship from here on out.

most of him is just worried, though. 

they’re both good kids. he doesn’t want anything to happen to either of them, and he hopes they can trust each other enough to stay safe and succeed.

maybe he should be most worried about his baby demon agent, but he’s more worried about doyun. the twins are separated, doyun’s new superior is someone he hates, and doyun can already be...a little reckless. 

he’s making the rounds to everyone on his team, just to let them know he believes in them, to give them a chance to ask any final questions, and to try to ease any worries they may have, but somehow this conversation with doyun seems a little more important.

“hey kid,” he calls to him. seb is all ready to go, but everyone is still making final preparations before leaving. (so is he.)

he smiles and puts a hand on doyun’s shoulder. “ready?” it’s a rhetorical question. he can imagine how doyun is feeling. the uneasiness. the fear. the never really being ready. “try not to give jinseo too much trouble, yeah?” he jokes. 

he turns more serious soon, however. “do you remember everything you need to do?”

from your mouth little knives burst free. i return each of them with barely concealed glee.  ( for @miajinseo ) 

       like a fox corned in a barn by a vicious dog. doyun feels the weight of his current partnership. the names blurred past his watch when the announcement had gone up and each second he waited to see his own codename and partner felt like a step closer to his own demise. he knew, seeing the senior agents all together, that he would end up with a junior agent as level one agents are not to be on their own if it can be helped. he wonders if this dread would exist within him if he was a junior agent. is it perhaps the knowledge that he will have to bit his tongue for someone who isn’t his leader? for someone who isn’t his brother? 

         jinseo’s codename resting next to him mocked him. it laughed at him through the screen of his coms device as if the very letters used to form his name wanted to jump out and beat against his head until he was running away crying. taunting him on a school playground while the other kids pretend not to see. this sort of thing would drive a grown man mad and yet its the reality that doyun finds himelf in. 

        he holds his breath. counts to ten. 

        the outside air does nothing to comfort him nor free him from the ache that resides in his chest and neither does it blow away the shadow of someone who should be beside him but is not. his eyes drift over to jinseo--aether--and he feels that same heat bubble in his chest. the red hot feeling that engulfs him more and more these days. its not fair that so many can change tunes when it comes to his brother. 

          “hey, aether.” he bites back every harsh word that wants so desperately to fly forth, the desire to drag the older into the dirt and make him feel sorry. he doesn’t think jinseo even has that in him but its worth the shot? “isn’t the rendezvous point further north? we’ve gone pretty far west but nothing has shown up.” 

            he hopes the tremble in his voice isn’t obvious. he hopes jinseo doesn’t see how tightly he’s clutching his bow and how his eyes dart around the area over and over as if just waiting for something to jump out. he wonders if his expression shows the bubbling nerves under his skin or if he managed to look calm. 

to think that there once there existed a time  where looking back i did not find the shadow that is you. ( @miaxseb​​ )

the senior meeting comes to a close with a grey tinged air floating around everyone's head. the seriousness of the situation hits daesu hard. the knowledge that this required all hands on deck left a sour taste in his mouth as that can only mean the risk and danger is high. the odds of everyone coming back in piece or even alive were low. he’s never been a man of statistics but even he can tell the head agents seemed tense by the number and no matter how they run it there is no getting past the chance of losing someone. 

daesu finds himself thinking of his team. the junior twins who are so different in personality and yet so like and who he finds himself so proud of every time he witnesses their growth. he thinks of the baby on his team who seems to be holding onto a lot. who needs a guiding hand and he can’t help but wonder if he is even the right man for the job. 

his chest feels heavy as he pushes through the doorway to the weapon keep. his clearance allowing instant access and its been so long now that he doesn’t even pause before heading towards the supplies areas. already geared up in most of his mission uniform, all daesu needed now was armor and supplies. to do anything he can to prolong his own life and the life of those around him while out on the field. the title of leader rest upon his shoulders like a weight he never wanted--even though he has been a team leader for years now. 

the weight of leading fellow seniors into a dangerous district leaves him feeling sick. 

his body moves in a rhythm that shows years and years of practice and routine. a small black combat bag is taken from a locker with his team name labeled on it. a nod shared with alistair who passes by to continue setting up supplies everyone is going to need. he doesn’t waste any time on words as right now he isn’t sure his words would sound right. 

footsteps alert him of someone approaching--tense and ready even when still within the halls of the agency. his head raises just enough to catch a glance and he feels himself relax is only just a little. a sigh blowing past his lips and he shifts his position to be leaning a hip against the counter. “seb.” he greets, not quiet meeting the others eyes as the weight in his chest grows heavier. he thinks about the last time they went on a senior ranked mission. he thinks about how much it hurt to watch his closest friend go through that horrible incident. ( he thinks about his own team, still so young and so full of energy. he thinks about the cruelty of the world  to force them to grow up so fast ). 

there weren't many ways that insoo could mentally prepare for returning to large missions. physically, he was in the medlabs preparing go bags for the teams. his usual teams, sparrow and  falcon, had been spread out into temporary smaller teams so he wanted to ensure everyone would be prepared to the best of his ability. plus, it would probably alieve lily of any extra work.

it was rare that the labs were this packed at once if it wasn't to mass-treat agents and insoo kind of missed the peace and quiet he usually had to prep. two years ago he would've been with the other juniors prepping their weapons and ammo, now he was prepping gauze and emergency adrenaline jabs. his guns were still safely nestled in their holsters, but they were no longer his priority. the two babies assigned to him for the emergency mission would grab him the necessities... at least he hoped they would.

things were hectic after the briefing but insoo made sure his workstation was functioning, if they missed something while out in the field he would only blame himself. in this field of work, he couldn't afford to learn from his mistakes, he'd need to actively think ahead of the possibilities.

looking over to the other section he could see lily, who had been given the responsibility of leader of the support area and smiled back down at his desk. she was technically still the same level agent as silk, but her skills and experience were far beyond his own- he had a lot to learn from her. she was currently working alongside her assignee sun, doing something related to mission prep. insoo's smile slowly slipped from his face when he felt a presence creeping behind him; whenever the sun would set, the moon would rise.

@miaxjunghwa

Either this mission was more dangerous than he had expected, or they were very unlucky. This duo ran into too many demons along this path to the point that Cheng, typically an overpacker, was running out of ammunition. And yes, it was only like 6 something still in the morning. 

Racking the last bullet into his rifle, he dropped to a kneeling position with his supporting hand on his knee to improve the balance. Since this bullet was so precious, it must hit on target perfectly.

And after that...

Cheng's eyes flickered towards his injured teammate, whom he had propped into a sitting position against the tree behind his back. At this position, nothing could get to her without going through him first. The young agent stirred uneasily in her unconsciousness, sweat gathering above her brows. Earlier in combat, she was thrown into a tree. While there was no visible wounds and she was able to recover quickly enough to retaliate, damage was still done. Keen to complete the mission, she kept her pain to herself for some time, dismissing Cheng's questions though her cheeks became paler with each step that she took.

Internal bleeding was what Cheng suspected and when her coordination began to go due to her blurred vision, he carried her on his back and accepted no further protests.

After this final bullet, he'd have to switch to the dagger. While Cheng was actually better at close range combat, such a fighting style would mean he'd be unable to keep an eye on his teammate.

The bushes rustled and Cheng's thoughts drifted back to the situation at hand. He could afford to worry about everything else later, for now, he must take care of whatever was lurking in the woods.

@miahelios

the atmosphere is tense. it usually is on a mission, especially one that takes them so far from home, but sebin can't help but feel that this is worse than usual. it certainly did not help that there's discord in their scouting party; janus and helios' fight. sebin had stayed out of it, keeping his distance and trying to watch their backs while the pair fought. but there was only so much any of them could do. honestly, he wishes janus had waited to air out his grievances when they were safely back at the agency. but what's done is done. all they can do now is pick up the pieces and move forward.

or maybe they can't. sebin just wanted to check in with home base, update the status of the senior party. but something's not right. he keeps getting static, blurred messages that don't quite make it through. this isn't normal. he wonders if he somehow broke his communicator. he jogs forward a few paces, falling in step with daesu to check in with him if it's a comms problem or just a rook's communicator problem.

the benefit of being an underachiever is that you can be back at the safezone just in time for everything to go to shit.

actually, jj and gaeul have been here for a while now. they did about the bare minimum they could as far as scouting went, returned to the safe zone, and were about to start playing tic tac toe with rocks because they had nothing better to do. that's how you know they hit rock bottom (no pun intended, for the most part.) jj and gaeul playing tic tac toe. surely they would've invented a more entertaining game within about thirty seconds, but still. the fact that they even had to consider it.

everything started kicking off when word began to float around that com devices were down. sure enough, jj checked his own only to come to the same conclusion. well, anyone that didn't come to that conclusion would be dumber than burglars from the home alone movies, and they got thwarted by an eight year old multiple times. sure, the eight year old was smart or whatever but he's pretty sure those guys were too stupid to know how to read.

"coms are down agent mist," he reports, even though he's sure gaeul probably knows already too. for whatever reason, they're both out here in the field, so he might as well treat it like an actual mission.

besides, if coms are down, it is a little concerning. celest is usually on top of things like that. it concerns him that he doesn't even know what any of this is for, either. who or what are the senior agents looking for? did they look into it sufficiently? are they sure whatever distress signal they intercepted isn't a trap? they sent the most important agents out there. what happens if the entire team gets wiped out? he has some qualms with this strategy, but he's just a baby agent with even less sway than most because jinx hates him, but maybe jinx should come up with better strategies if she doesn't want feedback.

now's not the time, though. he knows this. lerissa arrives right before jj asks gaeul if they should try to figure out if they can get any coms back online. he pays attention-- watches as she treats suhwan and seoyun who are almost dead? how did he miss that? suddenly too much is going on. his mind races, and where usually he would try to steer clear of lerissa-- nothing personal, it's just the med wing that he has beef with --now, he wants to do what he can to help.

she calls for anyone technically savvy to do what they can to get local coms up, and he looks to gaeul. "i was just about to suggest we do that before she came," he says. now they have express permission, which jj never really requires, but ensures their important business of saving the entire mission won't get interrupted.

he starts off toward the local coms tower, squints at the screws on one of the panels once he arrives, then busts out one of the screwdrivers in his backpack. yes, he packed screwdrivers. he figured all of these agents would bring a plethora of weapons and typical supplies. who else would be prepared for technical disaster? probably only him and gaeul, and probably agent lurker, who's currently out there with the other seniors. that serves as both a comfort and point of terror for him, but he tries not to think about it, and instead unscrews the panel, getting a good look at the wiring inside to make sure everything looks as it should from this angle. if he had to guess, this incredibly convenient meia-wide coms outage is probably a result of hacking, but he wants to check this first-- definitely not because he just wants to see what the inside of the local coms tower looks like.

"hey, somebody stuck some gum in here," he says, only to add, entirely deadpan: "just kidding."

        briefings like these definitely weren’t her favorite. she didn’t think that anyone really liked them. before any mission, it always felt like the air was sparkling with electricity, nobody knowing what the superiors had planned. throughout the briefing, yejin couldn’t help but to fumble with the stack of papers she had in front of her, hoping she wouldn’t get thrown into action. she wasn’t in the mood for another injury. however, her wishes didn’t come true as she heard that she would have to push forward into the river block along with the other senior agents. biting her lower lip, she just gave a nod at the suggestion – after all, she wanted to help. 

        when agent helios ​was announced as leader of the team, she could lean back and relax a little. she feared, maybe, just maybe, she would have to lead everyone and the pressure of that was always immense: if anyone got hurt, it would be partly the leader’s fault. taking notes during the meeting, she finally closed her laptop when they finished, waiting until most people left the room. when her gaze wandered over daesu, someone she had worked with for a while now, she could tell he wasn’t exactly looking ecstatic. for a few moments, she thought of something to say, maybe smalltalk would break the thick silence surrounding them.