#wx:intelligence

Living in a family that hails the elements of Air and Nature, the lads temperamental being was labelled as uncontrollable and too much for his adoptive parents and siblings as the lad gets in trouble for blatantly saying his opinions out loud, almost classifying him as one who has anger issues. Might be elemental generalization. Ha Joon wanted to tear himself away from the shadow of his older sisters, the thirst of always proving himself was always there. Every achievement he received was always topped by something his sisters did. “Fire descendants are great’ this ‘Fire elements are respected’ that. Where was that for the past 17 years of his life.

As soon as Ha Joon turned 18, he went to Maruhan University, permanently moving from to East of Maruhan’s wall as he lived his life living up in the North. Ha Joon aka Slade took up Speech and Language Pathology as his college degree, a relatively unknown course as it was overshadowed by its OT’s and PT’s, being in the same field of Rehabilitation Sciences. There, he was able to aid fairies with troubled speech from their battles or accidents from training. In his four years in Maruhan University, the lad seemingly bulked up for having to workout in order to keep up with the stressful environment of being in a Medical related field. In his part time, he short learned how to use a Martin Jaguar, a kind of bow that fits the lad perfectly; allowing him to aim with accuracy.

 While in M.U., Slade was able to adjust his personality, adapting from the pleasant attributes of his friends. He is someone you can quite label as a people pleaser as he can tweak his personality to the person he’s talking to. You can frequently hear them say to him “Oh wow, you really get me!” but it just might be his people pleasing personality and ability to mirror them as well, probably also because he’s a sweet talker ( self proclaimed ).

gaslighting tw , internalized sexism tw

ₓ˚. ୭ ˚○◦˚. aged sixteen.

the element of fire has always been known to be an intense power; therefore people either stay away from it in fear, or worship it as they were blessed with such grace by the great fairy of living flame. there is a saying in the kwon family that kwon heeyoung, his mother, always tells him, “don’t deny your fire, my dear, just be who you are and burn.” these words have been drilled into yohan’s head ever since his childhood, and he will always be reminded whenever his mother drag him along to the maruhan’s shrine. kwon yohan is not a pious worshiper like his mother – especially when she becomes someone he does not recognize, as if possessed whenever they receive their ‘blessings’. if anything, yohan would prefer to not have maruhan being associated to his name, or vice versa. kwon yohan is a nobody unlike maruhan, yet his mother insists that he could be somebody.

“if you ever start having fear for fire, you will never be able to attain blessing and power from maruhan.” his mother’s words would play in the back of his head like a broken record. it gets louder when he was presented as a specialist; not being able to wield his mother’s, no- maruhan’s fire – because she believed if she prayed hard enough, even if her son is not born as a winx; was not born a female, she prayed hard enough to think yohan would be able to manifest wielding flames as she did. the disappointed look that his mother gave him after seeing the oracle’s vision, has scarred him because this is something that he cannot control.

“mother, just because I was born from hearth does not mean i could ignite flames as you do. please do not hold high hopes that the greatest fairy of living flames could blessed any man’s livelihood. I do not fear, mother. is that not enough? do you truly wish for me to burn in the flames and rise only as ashes?” was what yohan could only say aloud in his head and not in words to his mother. and somehow he is thankful that fairies like his mother would never in a lifetime read minds, or yohan may think that he would disappoint his mother for the second time.

ₓ˚. ୭ ˚○◦˚. aged eighteen.

his mother look really happy on the day of his eighteen birthday; the party is luxurious since his mother was also elected to being a head of a political party, it seem fair for her to celebrate it with yohan’s birthday.

“may i get everyone’s attention?” his mother calls out the audience in their penthouse with little clinking of a fruit fork to the wine glass she holds. what announcement would his mother make. “i would like to share the happiness of not only my son’s birthday, kwon yohan, and of course, not forgetting my gratitude in being elected, but I would like to announce that my son will be betrothed to a lovely fire winx!”his mother announces in glee. other guests starts crowding around yohan and offer their congratulatory. this was not discussed between him and his mother, tough it is not like yohan had any way to convince the head of the family’s decision otherwise. kwon yohan could only fake his smiles in gratitude when his mother shoots him a facial queue.

“mother, shouldn’t you have at least ask of my opinion on whom I wanted to marry, or even get married at all?” yohan ask desperately. “it would not matter, we have set this arrangement and i will see to it that you get marry to the fire winx for the better of both ours and the bride’s family.” yohan looks bewilderedly at his mother – no, at the head of the family. “I am only eighteen!” he exclaims, his tone in rage. “manners, kwon yohan.” his mother snaps at him. “i was sixteen when I married your father. and what did that benefit me?” his mother replies equal anger. yohan takes a deep breath, to hold onto whatever conscious he has left. “if you knew what benefited you from marrying young, and what not, you would not do this to the lady who is engaged to me. what about my benefit? none!” he tries to reason with his mother.

“yohan.” his mother calls out, sounding very calm. “you will marry her. If you cannot wield fire, then she will”. Both mother and child falls silent, replacing whatever heated remarks that were exchanged earlier.

his family from his mother’s side, coming from a lineage of successful light fairies, had a lot of prestige and money before they went to war and ended up in ruins. his mother is specially bitter about it because their side won but it doesn’t feel like it to her.

sort of obsessed with getting the family reputation and money back and that’s why she’s lowkey disappointed when her first child ended up being a boy. he still had a loving upbringing though, albeit a little stricter than other parents would usually do since mom wanted him to be the best specialist and dad just went along with it.

four years later he gets his little sister and as much as she becomes the apple of their mother’s eyes, kahi is very aware that if the expectations on him are high then he can only imagine how they’re for his sister so he becomes protective of her.

lowkey considered a genius by his parents, however it was only due to his hard work on his studies, home training and whatever else his parents thought he should do/be good at because he didn’t want to disappoint them.

gets into sma with flying colors, being told that he could easily fall into either categories for specialist and in the end he chooses to be an intelligence once because he personally feels he’s better with strategy and knowledge of magical beasts.

despite it all, kahi isn’t very much of an ambitious person and if it were for his choice alone, he’d probably live quietly with a small business and his family. however, he feels bounded to restore his family and if anything, he’s there to protect his sister because she seems genuinely interested in getting all that glory and money back to their family and also because as any good light fairy he’s as much of a perfeccionist as they can get so he doesn’t feel comfortable in doing things halfassedly or leaving them midway.

the kang family was not as perfect as they pretended to be. it’s the classic tale of a married couple who were also married to their jobs, sometimes forgetting that their five children existed and leaving them to depend on themselves more often than not. they were a couple that had always prioritized their goals over anything else, and it’s been like that for the both of them long before their marriage. their union was one of convenience more than love, and they were the type of people who were good enough at acting in order to avoid suspicion. the truth that they desperately try to hide is that their families each had connections in a sector that the other wanted to reach, and it was much easier for them to meet their targets by faking it ‘til they made it.

the only issue with this decision of theirs was the fact that they decided to have five children together, of whom were all desperate for their parents’ love and attention that eventually they followed their paths hoping the two would notice. yoosung could only watch as his older sisters all began to find their own passion in life, ambitions manifesting with the hope of their parents becoming proud of them. it was never their intention to create a breadwinning family, but the positive feedback that resulted in the revelation of their children’s desires was enough to pull them back a bit to finally give some long overdue recognition. yoosung, who was still too young to figure out his own goals, really felt what it was like to be embraced with the warmth of a parent at six years old—even if it was only temporary and ingenuine.

as the young boy grew up, he watched as his four older sisters began to branch off from their small unit and become fiercely independent. while his oldest sister, who was eight years older than him, still took time out of her precious schedule to take care of him as she always had, he began to see less and less of her as time continued to pass. he was only a child who wanted to be loved and held by his family, but they were all busy becoming their own people and began to leave him behind to figure everything out himself. years would pass and the dinner table that would usually seat the five children in the evening during dinnertime, soon became an unexpected table of one and even though all of the children were home, the house had never felt so empty.

he pretends to not hear the way his extended family speaks of him at family events. while they praise his sisters for going above and beyond when making names for themselves in their fields, they ridicule him for straying far behind, unsure of where his future lies since he, too, doesn’t know what his life goals are. they always mention how his sisters had known what they wanted out of life by his age, ready to take the maruhan by storm and all he could think about was how he is still considered a child in fairy years, and shouldn’t have to think about his future so quickly when he barely knew so much about himself to even begin figuring it all out. his parents stopped defending him, adding more fuel to the fire by intentionally throwing him under the bus—clearly it’s so much simpler to be on their side as opposed to asking their own son, or extending a helping hand where he could’ve used it.

it was his oldest sister who takes the most pity on him, suggesting that he enroll for seohae magic academy when their reopening is announced. while he knows that she’s unconfident in believing in him, at least if he was accepted into the school he could become something great, right? thus, he participates in their pre-enrolment assessment without much thought to it. he figured that if he got in, perhaps the skills that he obtains as a student will help him with transitioning into a new path if he decides he doesn’t want to become a guardian. if he didn’t manage to get it, there’s no room for disappointment since no one expected that he would get in, either.

so imagine his, and everyone else’s, surprise when they find out that he’d been accepted. kang yoosung, who held a reputation of being a freeloading slacker amongst his family, had been accepted into the prestigious sma? while he had only wanted them off his back after years of torment, it seems like all of their attention is suddenly on him, curious as to how he would fend in a completely new environment like this. it’s almost like they want to see him fail after years of not expecting much out of him, since he was so unlike his parents and sisters from the start. he’s never known what fate has had in store for him, and has always been uncertain of the future that he didn’t know about, but being accepted as a student had really began to change his perspective.

preparation of soil

…  haksu grips the farming scythe in his hands, the one that he uses to cut wheat. the wind is so strong, he can barely keep his footing, but he spreads out his stance and squints through it.

behind all of the kicked-up debris is his mother. nature’s light emits in rays from her eyes, her open mouth, and the ends of her fingers, as trees sprout with full force from the ground, decades of age ringing into their trunks with every passing second. between gnarled redwood trunks and jagged pine needles, twin red eyes set the air ablaze.

sowing

… at the market, he hands pink apples out to people who look hungry. discounts fly about, accepted every time they’re asked for, but most fairies deposit a standard price per ounce and walk away with bags of colorful fruits and vegetables.

before the sun dips beneath the horizon, he treks home munching on a white peach. then, haksu sets off on his evening routine — he  makes sure the sheep are safe, locks up the chicken coop for the night, and whistles high for ginkgo to come inside. but by the orchard, he stops, turning towards the ring of trees in the distance.

normally, their voices escape him. but as wind sweeps between their branches, through makeshift tunnels created by whorled wood and lush leaves, the trees seem to cry something fierce. it’s a reminder that the barrier does not lie far from the edge of their orchard, just past the final fruit tree.

(that tree grows delicious golden pears in the spring, and then nothing at all for the rest of the year).

add fertilizer

… his mama isn’t a forceful person. when she uses magic, it’s with song. sweet melodies spun for the wheat and the radishes, little ditties for the apples, soft humming for the potted flowers indoors, as they curl towards her and open their petals. (haksu cannot carry a tune to save his life, and nowadays he is too embarrassed to join in, but when he was little, he remembers singing along with her and watching the plants twirl and dance.)

there are no songs tonight. the long whining howls of the beasts fill the air, and the notes that leave his mama’s mouth are frantic and desperate. fear wrings away the soft fullness of her voice.

haksu swings his scythe, shoulders aching. this is not new to them — gritting their teeth through beast attacks while living so close to the edge of the border — but with this many coming in, he does not know how long they can hold on.

irrigation

… this is cursed land, people say. it has a tendency to hemorrhage wild beasts and strange magic, leaving a taint on the dirt. but generation through generation, the mothers of the family shared an opinion that no earth can be purified without life. in turn, no life can be sustained without earth.

so throughout everything, they always stay. when a beast’s claw marks rut the ground, they use the grooves to plant anew. when cursed fire razes the orchards down to ash, they cut away what’s burned and look for the surviving buds, ready to regrow.

haksu doesn’t share the same blood, but he can carry the same sentiment. he works the earth with his hands, watching the leaves fall and kiss the ground, listening to the sound of birds tittering, mayflies buzzing off the water and carried into the air upon a breeze.

(he is a boy with three mothers. one of them was a nature fairy, who left him in the forest when he was a child, to be looked after by the elements. his two others are the ones who found him and took him in; of light and of nature. eomma and mama.

although, to be truthful, it is ginkgo who found him first, and brought him to the farm, his small hands fisted into the sheepdog’s white pelt.)

harvest

… help doesn’t come until the last of the light has petered out from her eyes, and she falls to the ground like a leaf. she looks ashen, like she used up all the life that was inside of her, and gave it to the earth.

after the final beast is blasted away, haksu is too rattled to let go of the scythe. beasts’ blood soaks into the earth like toxins, and the air is deathly silent, void of birds or bugs. the pear tree has fallen, its splintered trunk like an exclamation point in the distance.

someone comes by, one of the reinforcements; she hands him something - a paper.

“…i ain’t gonna fit somewhere like this.”

“you’d be surprised,” she says simply, and she watches him for a moment — a gaze laden with hope, or perhaps expectation. haksu feels a stab of guilt as he crumples the paper up and puts it deep in his pocket.

storage

… beast blood soaks the earth. the trees become twisted, gnarled, and bare, fruits rotting while they are still on the branch. haksu works tirelessly, overturning soil, spreading water, picking out pests. but nothing seems to help — not without his mama’s magic. (he even tries to sing to the earth, soft tunes that dance on and off key, but perhaps he shouldn’t have hoped for results.)

when there are no more pink apples to give, haksu seeks charity from others. he’s met instead with words that stay ringing in his head for days.

the earth ‘round there’s tainted. it’s about time you and your family moved. unless it’s already tainted you, too.

“they’re all dying,” he tells eomma quietly one night while they’re sitting inside, watching over mama’s mana-sick form. his shoulders draw in. “even the damn apples... i can’t do nothin’ about it.”

we ain’t forgotten where you came from, boy. just unnatural for a child to be found in that damn forest…

“it’ll take time,” eomma says, but haksu can tell she looks grim underneath the lamplight. he watches her as she reaches over, passing a bit of light to her wife, a small star-shaped spark upon her index. “things won’t heal properly for a while… but it’ll heal.”

“how…?” he asks. he can’t look over their wrecked fields without feeling a pang in his chest, a prickling feeling of loss. he’s helpless in the face of it, and frustration from fruitless efforts boil over. “how’d they get it all back, ‘specially after the war?”

someone wanted you dead when they left you in that place. maybe it would’ve been better if you stayed.