#tindoyeon

Lower One's Eyes but with TindoYeon.......

The circumstances of this encounter matter of course but my especially angsty idea is that they meet while Tindoiimu is still on the run and Soohyeon thinks she did all that. Tindoiimu could just flee but her guilt about failing Soohyeon drives her to try and approach her. She tells the rest of Morgan's Marvelous Circus to hide and run off if things take a turn for the worst. Sophie tries to pry a little but quickly comes to understand what this means to Tindoiimu so she backs off.

Tindoiimu carefully approaches, hands up, and tries to apologize first and foremost. The thought passed her by that maybe she should try to explain the truth to Soohyeon. Tindoiimu has no way of proving herself and doesn't believe anybody would believe her without evidence. Soohyeon responds in a kind of stilted manner, that there is no room for apologies any longer and that Tindoiimu must be brought to pay for what she has done. She speaks the words very firmly but the conviction behind them is anything but. Tindoiimu tries to defuse the situation a little but Soohyeon brings the ultimatum down on her that she either surrenders or fights, and Tindoiimu chooses to fight.

Soohyeon fights here in an uncharacteristically aggressive style. Her usual style is very graceful to the point it almost looks like a dance she performs in lockstep with her opponent. This time she's channeling a lot of unresolved anger and frustration into her attacks, making them less fluid but making them much stronger.

There was always a small hope in Soohyeon's heart that Tindoiimu might strive down a path of peace. That she would do what was right even if it hurt her and that they could work together, hand I hand, towards a brighter future. This dream was destroyed long ago but it is only through this encounter is it really over and that deeply troubles her. Her aggressive combat is a reflection of those emotions. It goes without saying she isn't trying to kill either, or even trying to win the fight. Her direct blows are just that, an outpouring of her heart and heartbreak.

Tindoiimu is usually a pretty aggressive fighter herself but now she fights with a counterattack style. She deflects and redirects Soohyeon's attacks to land her own strikes in, keeping distance between them the entire time using her staff. Soohyeon is still nimble enough that Tindoiimu struggles to avoid her attacks so she has to resort to deflecting. Soohyeon is still freakishly strong as well so even when properly dealt with Tindoiimu still ends up taking chip damage through the fight.

Tindoiimu has resigned herself as being some sort of slave of fate in some sense. She cannot change what she has done and the path before her seems ever narrow, all she can do is bare what her actions have wrought. This manifests in her more defensive style, eager to take blow after blow because she thinks she deserves it. She hurt Soohyeon, she hurt everyone, a few gashes and torn bits of clothing aren't close to what she's caused others. At the same time she keeps fighting instead of surrending, because there exists a faint hope buried so deeply in her heart that maybe there is still a way to that hopeful future. Now that Tindoiimu has people depending on her, wishing for her happiness, she can't back down anymore and has to keep fighting.

The fight is a brutal slug fest to the onlookers (the whale has to look away) where neither side seems to ever cede or gain any ground. Tindoiimu tries to mutter out half apologies during the melee but Soohyeon shuts herself out of listening to them, only focusing on the strikes of her fans. She is afraid if she does her conviction will waver and once again the butterfly will slip out of her reach. Soohyeon gets fatigued quicker but Tindoiimu is substantially more injured from having withstood so many blows. They're both bloodied, with clothes in tatters locked in an almost dead heat. Soohyeon, however, seizes upon Tindoiimu momentarily lowering her guard and knocks her own onto the floor. She stamps her foot onto her chest and points the blade edge of her fan towards Tindoiimu's neck.

Soohyeon looks down at her and asks one thing "Why?". Tindoiimu tries to turn her eyes away but the blade pricks her skin, Soohyeon wants her to look back while she speaks. Tindoiimu can't explain the true story in a curt way and in a sense it doesn't even matter. Her warpath brought her to the tree and what difference did it make that she changed her mind at the last possible moment and Juan Yun came in to renege that decision? So she thinks a little bit, the blade still shakily pressed against her throat, a heel crushing her ribs, and while bleeding out slowly.

"It took me too long to recognize the love I held for the people of the east and for-" the blade draws a prick of blood as it pushes slightly deeper which quiets Tindoiimu. Soohyeon looks on the verge of tears, the words inspiring mixed feelings within her. Soohyeon was never one to easily fall for a lie but she believes what Tindoiimu says without question, and it burns her. Soohyeon always wondered upon the "What if" of having confessed sooner and this seemed like a confirmation of her deepest regret. She doesn't want to hear what comes at the end of that sentence for if it's what she thinks it is she would be unable to bear that pain. Tindoiimu senses that and merely accepts her fate instead of continuing. She said all that she felt was necessary to say, all that she could have said that meant anything at all to somebody she once cared so deeply about.

BOOM

A smoke bomb goes off right on top of Soohyeon, dazing her for long enough that a torrent of water is enough to knock her off her feet and off Tindoiimu.

Morgan's Marvelous Circus never forgets a member of the crew, even a temporary one and so the quickly make off with the injured Tindoiimu before Soohyeon can come to her senses. Soohyeon tries to give chase but between the physical and emotional toll she finds herself unable to. It's all just so painful. She just falls down onto the floor and starts crying. Weeping. Why? That's all she can think. Why.

It hurts of course, to have those memories burst forth again. It's a dull, throbbing pain that's been worn down by the years yet it doesn't hurt any less. It's just less sharp. She ran out of tears a long long time ago so she can only stare in mournful silence at the fluttering wings of that butterfly.

It does, however, provoke a bit of wistfulness in Soohyeon. That maybe this butterfly is a message from her, a symbol of her distant affection. Soohyeon knows this isn't the case, of course, but she can dream, it's all she has. She thinks that maybe Tindoiimu is out there thinking about her as well, seeing her face within the churning ocean waves. It comforts her for a moment, to know that her burning love, her trust self had taken root inside another person.

The thought inevitably spirals downward. 'Is it selfish of me to take solace in this?' is the thought that takes root in her mind. Soohyeon knows all too well this pain of seperation; so why is it that she wants Tindoiimu to feel it too? It's a question she cannot truly answer.

'Would it have been better if I said nothing?' is the thought that always follows. She could have just kept her mouth shut, and all these feelings sealed inside. It could have remained an unobtainable dream of hers, always out of reach. She knew if she ever tried to grab the sun it'd just burn her. She understood all of this then and yet her hands still clawed through the burning heat so as to hold the sun, if only just for a moment.

It's a foolish line of thought, entirely unaware of her own feelings. She knows in her heart that if she never said anything than the regret would have crushed her. If not then it would have eventually swallowed her whole. Nothing but endless deliberation over what have might have been. It would have killed her.

The butterfly quickly flutters out of view, snapping her divergent lines of thought together.

Soohyeon just....

Soohyeon just loves Tindoiimu and hopes that maybe Tindoiimu does too. That maybe in pouring her heart out that Soohyeon provided some comfort to Tindoiimu. The knowledge that she is loved, that no matter what that Soohyeon's heart is only for her.

Soohyeon just wishes things could have been different.

I'm not in active creation of anything and probably won't do anything more but I check up on my stuff occasionally and for some reason there's this one guy, always the same guy, who keeps messing with the TindoYeon pride flags and text. Who are you??? Do you hate TindoYeon or just gays??? Why do you keep doing this??? My discord is right there, just message me if you feel like calling me a slur.