#shimmerseas

  “ yeah... ‘fun’. that’s how I got here. ” he gestures to himself, but there’s nothing visually indicating what he’s talking about— being DEAD. Eunsoo would know what he means, though. if anyone does, it’s Eunsoo. still, it only takes a moment of consideration, before he adds, with a smirk. “ I’d do it again, though. ” it was pretty fun...

she just about manages to keep up with tida’s pace as he speaks, her pen scribbling away on her notepad ( her laptop would be better, but amy can’t pass up on the classic journalism aesthetic ). the coffee shop’s buzzing with music and overlapping voices as always, but it doesn’t take her attention away from her trusty informant sitting across the table     who knew tida would turn out to be such a great source of information, after meeting him entirely by chance?

“alright, i think i got everything     thanks!” she flashes him a wide smile, already excited to get started on the article. normally, amy would already be out the door, a whirlwind as always, but today she had other plans.

“so...” she starts in the most casual tone she can manage, slowly twirling her pen. “i was actually wondering if you could help me with another scoop.” tida would often be the person amy came to first when digging for information, but in this case, she felt he was more involved in the story than usual. she’d notice some odd things about him lately     and, hey, she’s not one to judge; she’s certainly seen a lot of weird stuff in her line of work... but never anything quite as inexplicable as it happened with tida.

it was a long shot to ask him so directly ( amy reckoned he wouldn’t be so forthcoming about this particular topic ), but it was worth a try. what kind of journalist would she be if she didn’t go after this story as diligently as she did with all the others? even if the whispers she heard on the streets sounded bogus and frankly suspicious, she had to make sure.

 “ me too, I guess. ”  a little bit of an amused chirp in his tone; getting a kick out of the fact they had something in common. the solid ground held his home, by birth and familiarity, but there was nonetheless a grace and natural affinity for water which wasn’t quite matched on land. from the looks and demeanor of the Prince, ( not to mention his HEAVENLY PALACE ) he’s guessing there wasn’t much else they had in common, but at least they had that.  “ probably not as much as you, though. ‘never been a water dragon. ” but he knows some people— and he uses that term loosely ( ‘people’ like him; Mazu-‘blessed’)— who could turn into one, though, if only temporarily. more like, channeling the energy of one... magical water goddess stuff, but far far beyond the current scope of his powers. maybe someday, he could try it out... how fortunate of RunYu, he thinks, to have unlimited access to something so coveted!   “ do you ever turn into one for fun? like when you’re bored? ”  he could see why he would get bored. this place looked... desolate.  “ — and where are all the other dragon-people? it’s just you up here? ”  

He  seems  distant  at  first,  immersed  in  the  melancholic  anticipation  for  yet  another  silent  treatment,  wrapped  perhaps  in  forced  composure  anyone  with  a  minimal  common  sense  would  reserve  for  His  Majesty,  only  to  be  dragged  back  to  reality  by  the  words  to  come   ———————————  to  his  pleasant  surprise.  That  speech  gets  him  startled:  Maybe  not  exactly  by  the  words  received,  but  by  that  reaction,  noticeable  yet  subtle,  spontaneous  yet  indecipherable.  Phoenix  eyes  concealed  the  obsidian  irises,  opening  and  closing,  trying  to  make  some  sense  of  such  a  genuineness  never  before  seen.  Or  rather,  a  genuineness  RunYu  himself  witnessed  before  but  promised  himself  to  lock  away  in  the  depths  of  his  memory.  It’s  not  the  time  for  this!  Pale  expression  seem  to  change  so  little,  however,  carrying  a  serenity  that  softly  begins  to  mesh  with  the  slight  furrow  of  confusion. 

dumbfounded. for a few short moments, he wonders if he missed something– something very major; more than a little bit important. ( how could it be possible: to miss not just Seoah falling in love with him, but also, out of it? could he go through life not noticing any of that– ?! only he could be that oblivious... ) but finally, he gets ahold of himself: shakes the stupor of confusion out of his last braincell. it clicks: she was a WRITER, after all. what did song-writers write about more than anything else? love, of course...   

he stumbles into an answer, finally, no longer staring at Seoah wordlessly with a furrowed brow, brain playing the Jeopardy Theme Song as he desperately tried to make sense of her words – the how, the why, the specifics of this timeline of love and loss, the complete impossibility of her liking him, all of it – no, surprised curiosity takes over instead. “ oh. what’s that? a song? ” lyrics, probably: not some kind of sad confession of fading love...

but damn. even knowing that now, he finds himself oddly shaken by words that weren’t even meant for him. the true mark of a skilled writer: she almost made him believe in – and grieve for – someone else’s love story; whatever poor soul inspired this song. or maybe he’s just too scared, at the thought of hearing those words from someone for real, more susceptible to the mere suggestion of them than most... a quirk of a relieved grin, as he jokingly sympathizes.  “ 'kinda glad I’ve never dated someone whose a singer. imagine the song everyone’s bumping is about how much your ex is over you, and you have to hear it like two hundred times a day. sucks to be that guy. ”  but, if they did something bad enough to earn a Taylor-Swift-style callout through song, maybe they deserved their fate.  “ but I guess there’s worse ways to get broken up with – like a text. ” at least they had to put effort into a song...

“oh, sorry — did i scare you?” seoah lets out an abashed chuckle once she realises what she has done, pulled out from the trance by tida’s string of questions. it is a strange habit, though perhaps one shared by many writers. scribbling songs in her head as her mind drifts past the sea of memories and half-finished conversations, uttering words that she doesn’t mean to divulge to listening ears. “it is, i was just thinking out loud.” astonishing her company when they are in the middle of preparing for dinner probably isn’t the best idea, not when chopping boards and knives are being used. 

her gaze drops the the pieces of vegetables on the chopping board from the ensuing ramble, she listens intently and offers a faint nod in response. while it is not a rare opinion, she cannot explain the twinge that twitches in her chest as he says it. or maybe she can, she just doesn’t want to admit it. not to him, not even to herself. why bother starting something that can never stand a chance? she likes them enough like this, him with his silly jokes and her with her mouthful of thoughts that he hasn’t grown tired of. it is better this way, for them to remain friends when the alternative has the potential to be so devastatingly ruinous. 

@shimmerseas​​  —  tida & lyn.

   when ice & new were called into the office, lyn couldn’t help the worry that rose in her chest — the way it always seemed to when she went from a group setting to 1 on 1. she was outgoing as a general rule, but felt most comfortable in a group setting where there was less pressure to constantly participate in conversation. still, she liked tida from what time they’d spent together with the others, & so did rai ( a feat that was nothing to be snuffed at ), but this would be the first time they’d hung out just the two ( or three ) of them & she couldn’t help much but wonder if they’d be able to carry a conversation without ice & new to help facilitate. in the end there was nothing to worry about, a fact she knew deep down already. they’d found more in common than ever before, the most recent topic being a personal favourite of hers: terrible, over the top, reality shows.

        ❝ god, everyone on the show is just... wow. i find it so hard to believe they aren’t just playing characters. i mean, did you see what sean said during his aside with the camera? he’s about to get himself kicked off if he’s not careful. ❞

   she speaks in hushed tones, her attention gone from the play in front of him. luckily, they were in the back of the audience, letting them get away with conversation where they might have otherwise been scolded by nearby watchers. even so, her words remain whispers for fear of evoking the wrath of the people in front of them, & worst still, appearing disrespectful to the actors on stage.

   it had started with her leaning back on her hands, the texture of the grass pressing into her palms even through the blanket they’d laid on the ground. her gaze lifts from the pop up stage to the beautiful day around them. the park was busy, but not stifling, from the foot traffic, the air feeling fresher than most days & the sun flitting through the movement of the leaves in the tree above them. but of course her mind eventually went to rai, as it so often does. & the sight brings a smile to her face. she knew tida had lost interest in the play some time ago ( not that she could blame him, the rewritten version of the show wasn’t exactly a masterpiece ), & at some point had started playing with rai. the soft giggles from her daughter in combination with the genuine smile on tida’s face made her heart flutter. just for a moment.

   then a conversation began again, quickly moving from one topic to another until they could no longer remember their starting point. she had no complaints though, she was happy to find how easily she could talk to him without the aid of her cousins. as their chat continues & naturally tapers off yet again, her gaze wonders once more. this time it’s caught by a bustling crowd beyond the stage at what looked like some sort of a pop up flea market.  

“You’re a wet blanket.” Siwon leaned back in the chair, eyes falling on Tida and holding his gaze. The expression wasn’t said with any malice; on the contrary, he had a smile hidden behind the glass that was raised to his lips. “As in, you’re no fun. Listen, I understand the…hesitance, but hear me out.” In a lot of ways, he was offering the other man a job, but it wasn’t a regular 9 to 5, pushing papers in the funeral home’s office. “People come through here and they want answers; they want closure.” Of course, yes, sometimes they wanted the combination to Auntie Eunjae’s safe, but that was a different story altogether.

“I’m just saying that people pay good money for any bit of information about loved ones that have passed on.” Siwon shrugged nonchalantly, as if that were something that should be common knowledge. “I’m just here to help.” So he dabbled in the magic of the dead – necromancy, they called it. He called it a gift, one that afforded him the opportunity to live a good life. So what if a few of them went sideways once in a while. It was all there in the fine print that most didn’t bother to read anyway.