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THE MANY MEANINGS OF "HEY.": A PROMPT LIST.

i often have these ideas that have no real origin, but i can actually tell you precisely why my brain wanted this: i was listening to "hey, soul sister" by train on a loop and i got thinking abt the fact that we really do just say "hey" for so many reasons. and i wanted to make that your thought of the evening! so happy november, bon appetit, wrap up warm, DO NOT ADD TO THIS LIST, and enjoy your writings!

[ GREETING ]: sender says "hey" as a greeting to the receiver.

[ ATTENTION ]: sender, having just noticed something strange or remarkable, calls for the receiver to get their attention.

[ REASSURE ]: in a bid to steady the unsettled receiver, the sender lightly says "hey" to help them calm down.

[ ANGER ]: the sender sharply snaps "hey" at the receiver, clearly angry about something the receiver has just done or had done in the past.

[ IDEA ]: having been presented with a predicament, the sender suddenly unravels a solution, introducing it to the receiver by saying "hey…".

[ GUILT ]: having just done something that they know the receiver won't be pleased with, the sender sheepishly greets them once they arrive to see the damage.

[ GOSSIP ]: the sender turns to face the receiver conspiratorially, clearly eager to share some new gossip with them.

[ URGENT ]: the sender rushes to the preoccupied receiver, desperately shouting "hey!" to get them to focus on a far more pressing matter.

[ SOOTHE ]: after finding the clearly distressed receiver, the sender pulls them into a careful embrace, gently murmuring "hey…" to try and soothe them.

[ SMILE ]: the sender (who hasn't been smiling up until they actually see the receiver in front of them) lights up with a smile as they greet the receiver.

[ TEARS ]: the sender greets the receiver while very clearly in tears.

[ FAKE ]: alternatively, the sender (who has just been crying in private) hastily wipes away their tears and tries to greet the receiver casually (to varying degrees of success).

[ WARNING ]: when the receiver begins to say things about subjects that are off-limits to the sender, the latter gives them a warning by saying "hey…".

[ LAUGH ]: having found the receiver to be decidedly unhappy, the sender lightly catches their attention before doing something to make them laugh, or at the very least, grin.

[ PROTEST ]: after the receiver does or says something that the sender deems to be unfair, the sender tries to exact justice by saying "hey!".

[ BREATHLESS ]: having clearly just sprinted down to the receiver, the sender tries to catch their breath while greeting them.

[ SAVE ]: after just saving the receiver's life in a very heroic fashion, the sender smoothly greets them while helping them escape.

[ FLIRT ]: the sender meets the receiver in a social setting, and attempts to flirt with them with the very traditional pick-up line: "hey.".

[ APOLOGY ]: the sender, having recently done something that hurt or upset the receiver, reunites with them and addresses the elephant in the room by greeting them with a sincerely apologetic tone.

[ AWKWARD ]: after a particularly rough first encounter, the sender meets the receiver again, and awkwardly greets them with more than a touch of embarrassment.

[ GENTLE ]: having found the receiver in an emotionally compromised position, the sender closes the door and approaches them carefully, gently saying "hey…" to try and get them to communicate what has upset them.

[ HARD ]: preparing to deliver what they both know will be bad news, the sender tries to prepare the receiver by quietly greeting them in a solemn tone.

[ WAKEN ]: walking into the receiver's bedroom, the sender gently shakes their shoulder to waken them, and whispers "hey." to encourage the process along.

[ WHISPER ]: the sender gently whispers "hey" to the receiver to discreetly get their attention without drawing the attention of others.

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𝑫𝑹𝑬𝑨𝑴𝑺: in the silence of their voices it’s the soft pad of their feet that feeds the rambling of the night. it’s all so contradictory to the war that goes on beyond the walls of their city. the sound of lively music is nothing but maddening and yet they link hands and dance in circles, then line up into rows. the lanterns stain the walls with yellow, flicker and sway when the sisters spin past. it’s a clear invitation to the fates who have ears hidden throughout the city, their song a mockery but a praise to apollo who they drink to— drunk off wine, off good spirits the world continues to turn and her hands are bathed in the artificial sunlight casted from candlelight. her heart is full of a careless liveliness that is a fleeting feeling that she’ll never come to know again. 

then she wakes with fear in her heart. uncertainty floods her when there’s not a single star to count. paranoia sets in that the fates have managed to spy in on her dreams and imprisoned her in that place of darkness unlike anything else she’s ever known. she prays, not to god but to a parent who has long since abandoned her and what answers is the sound of juwon’s breathing on the other side of the room. her source of white noise, calming and even. it’s enough. juwon’s existence is enough. 

sohee has heard stories about the fates from her grandmother. she would sit at her knee with her two other sisters and listen though she would pretend not to. she held onto every single word.

it is said that they’re three beautiful sisters that lure their victims in with sweet song or promise of a cool drink to the thirsty sailor or a home that holds a heartbeat. that with each birth of a newborn child each sister would take part in the weaving of the child’s fate. the eldest, is responsible for death. the second, was responsible for strength and weaknesses. and the third luck, prosperity, and life. her grandmother would stare at each granddaughter then. eyes, cold and disapproving. sohee ignorant as she was would hold her gaze until her grandmother turned away, tired and bid them each goodnight. she never understood the purpose of such tales— other stories claim that the fates cut off the ears of people who have wondered into their embrace to hid them around forests to listen in on those who wander in. was her grandmother aiming to scare them into obedience or were the stories a warning?

in the middle of night when sohee wakes covered in sweat and holding an inherited fear that’s been passed down the line of her ancestors she still could not say the answer.

the stories are vast in number and she once believed they were baseless lies but when fed to a child the words take on a new life of their own and shape themselves into new monstrosities. the fates work their way into her nightmares long into her adulthood years. they feed into her fears— like the call of the void, she can hear them whisper to her in the shadows, at night, wherever light cannot touch then her thoughts become intangible and she’s enable to differentiate memory from dream, nightmares are a reality and control is the furthest thing from her mind. friends become enemies and the fates speak to her using her sister’s tongue to remember her of her promise.

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KIM DOYEON SJYP, 2023

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update: new tumblr is weird omg

is this place like dead dead?

lol

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is this place like dead dead?

lol

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warsk:

It is only here that he ever feels himself: caught in front of her, somewhere between the light and the dark. In turn, he wonders if she feels the same, at a crossroads – how he is the only place where she answers to the dark that holds her, even when the good in her fights so violently against it.

“But it is your doing. This is your doing” His words are adamant; not a single syllable is spoken with the slightest shake. 

“Whether you know it, want it, or not, you call to me in this way, and I simply am answering to your call. And so here I am, Sohee. Here we are, at a crossroads. Accept it and stop running away from this like you’ve done with your own tragedy you call a past.” Behind Sohee, the waves crash and he’s noticed the tides growing stronger, as if preparing for the incoming storm. 

“I’ll gain everything.” 

When he speaks, the saber by his side beams, as if responding to him. It feeds off the red in his voice, glowing brighter even when kept encased in his grasp. 

“I’ll gain much more from the loss than I have ever gained with anything else – and it’s something you’ll never understand.” This time his words seed onto ground: Sohee’s eyes have already grown soft, her words more tender than before. Unexplainably, he sees his own past and history passing through her mind, and somewhere amongst it, hers overlapping the memories, with their childhoods mirroring one another’s. 

Beyond the physics of their connection, she is learning to come to know him, and in turn: 

She is learning the physics of loss and how the void becomes the only thing you come to know.

His words are so harsh yet there is no way to deny anything he says, not when the ring of truth. It’s probably why they hurt so much but her will is stronger, as is her faith in him – she looks at him then to the scar he bears on his body that she gave to him purposely. “I could kill you, you know.” She already almost done so once before – “And end this once and for all.” 

It’s an empty threat that falls flat on the both of them and holds no force behind it. “Juwon, you will gain nothing, absolutely nothing.” Sohee reaches toward to touch his cheek, to caress it like a person might do so for a close friend but she catches her mistake before her fingers can make contact with the bruised skin of face. (another one of her doings.) Instead she closes her fingers into a fist, shaking her head again. “And you will lose absolutely everything in process.” 

Only there’s a part of her that does understand what can be gained from the process of lost. Even with being forced to accept that she was unwanted, sold off by her own parents opened so many doors that lead to the dark she’s kept shut out for so long. 

Even just sharing a force bond with Juwon, the more she learns of him, of his past it’s slowly starting to change her line of thinking. Sohee begins to back away from him at this realization and starts shaking her head side to side. 

“How can you take that chance when you’ve already lost so much?” 

It’s hard to look directly at him, knowing what she’s done to him – knowing what they’ve done to each other and keep infiltrating each other's minds like this, one of them were bond to go insane. And now, she’s not so certain it won’t be her. 

“I will not become some puppet in the hand of the empire, last jedi or not.”

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pullstrings:

How masculine of you.

She didn’t say it, but instead quirked a brow at Sohee. She was different than how Jungah remembered, but time had passed and she supposed she was different as well. Most noticeably, her patience for attitude was lower than before. Insubordination was something that resulted in punishment, but Sohee was an unknown variable in the usual process.

“If you wanted to go for a drink, I expect to be taken out to dinner first,” she replied coolly, eyes searching Sohee’s for a moment. What changed? She sighed, not coming up with an answer herself and figuring she wasn’t going to get one from Sohee either. “But I guess it was business talk after all.” She crossed her own arms, standing tall as she stared past Sohee to see if anyone was backing her up.

There was no one.

Odd.

Meanwhile, Minwoo hung back, leaning his shoulder against the wall. It wasn’t worth it to interrupt when he was sure he’d get scolded for interfering. So instead he watch both women, finding some amusement in how they were practically mirroring one another in stance.

“You want him?” Torture was a rough word, one she diden’t like to be associated with but it was inevitable—her grandmother liked to call it interrogation, and Jungah quite liked the sound of that in comparison. Torture sounded barbaric. “What are you willing to give for him then?”

She smiled, loosening her arms slightly and tilting her head.

“That drink?”

“7 years ago, I would have given the world to take you out for dinner.” Sohee responds, her fingers begin to drum impatiently against her upper arm, it’s hard for her to stay patient with anyone, much less someone she used to admire. And she reminds herself that tonight she isn’t here to shed blood, she’s here to preserve it. “Tonight i’m busy, as I am most nights.” 

Sohee moves closer, only to stop once she’s standing directly in of front of Jungah. Here, she’s able to see the other woman more clearly and despite the horrid yellow light, the other woman is breath-taking.

Already too close for comfort and given the advantage of a few inches of height over Jungah, Sohee looks to her bodyguard then smiles at him before she leans forward to whisper directly over Jung-ah’s ear. “I suppose I could make time for you tonight.” 

“I never discuss business out in the open, and around trivial company, but given you’re putting me in a position that requires negotiation then I guess what I have to offer is after we have a drink...” She pulls away then, only to shrug, “we’ll just have to see won’t we.”

“Regardless, let’s go. I talk better after a shot or two.”

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@cespires

Sohee decides to work during that strange hour when the heat of the mid afternoon is so overbearing that even the shade from the apple trees does little to cool anything that rests underneath it — despite this she continues to work. She gathers apples and tosses them into a nearby basket without bothering to sort the ripe from the rotten. Each fruit is the same to her anyway, each poisoned from within.

It’s not as if the orchard is a place worthy of interest. Aside from the trees in perfect rows that continue to grow despite her efforts to kill them off the grass is overgrown with weeds and nettles that shelter snakes and other wildlife. And yet, there’s still a soul that lingers. 

“Who are you... what are you doing here?” 

The soul is pale and the way it flickers from transparent to solid leaves Sohee uncertain if the ghost will even be able to answer her before it fades entirely — she reaches out to the figure, inviting it to approach her she speaks soft. “I can help you move from this world... is that why you’ve found me?” Sohee stands still, waiting. 

It occurs to her that perhaps this is not an ordinary spirit with a last wish that keeps it bound to this earth. Given the strange aurora that surrounds her grandfather’s home and with the appearance of Hyuna and with it the sun goddess’ pigued interest the area may be a place of interest after all. 

Another thought occurs to her that perhaps this spirit also the force behind the gardens will to survive. 

Sohee breathes out, face unreadable she takes a step forward. “If you’re what i think you are by poisoning the trees i’ve poisoned you. Let me heal you, please.” 

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warsk:

They’re led to a dead end; time’s ticking on. He’s in the strange place between death and living, just as the any of them were in the arena, epinephrine barely, but just enough to keep his feet on the ground. He’s run all his life, and his knees have done enough miles to know when to strengthen and when to tire. But he’s never been chased by death, and his heart’s never beaten this fast – he’s never had anything but himself to run for. His feet race on, for the hand in his own.

Everything might be falling.

“Not the best time for regrets.” He exhales out, leading them to a stairway. Two floors up, he realizes he probably should’ve taken the flight down instead of up. Five floors up, he sneaks a glance over to Sohee, catching the way the light kisses her face and the way the shadows follow her inches close. Ten floors up, he hears clamor beneath them and knows they’ve got to outpace them. Thirteen floors up, he throws himself against the locked door, forcing it open.

There’s a helicopter waiting for them, and his knees do a little more work to combat the strong winds. He pulls Sohee strong, right by his side, always having her a step ahead of him, always having her in front where he can watch her. The doors open and he sees an unfamiliar face he’s never seen – they gesture at them to get on. There’s no moment of hesitation, only because the peacekeepers are only meters away from them, right at tail. He pushes Sohee up, getting in after – and can only hope the card thrown at them is an ace. 

The door closes and the helicopter immediately ascends. As he watches the peacekeepers grow smaller and smaller, he realizes. Ace or joker, it’s a hand they’ll dealt under the table –

They’re playing a game they’re certain to lose. 

Sohee can’t hear anything when she first gets in━ at least nothing outside of the thump of her heartbeat pounding in her ears or the short intake of breaths she can manage. 

Still, with her bow in the crook of her arm and a quiver full of the sharpest arrows rest on her lap, vigilant as she is agile ━ though it doesn’t slip she poses little threat here she sits that much straighter regardless and crosses her legs.

Juwon isn’t afraid to speak first, he lets go of her hand to move forward in his seat to demand answers from whoever has saved them. Juwon wants answers, and rightfully so she decides to remain silent as he speaks but watches him carefully, his hands in particular for any hidden sign or signal to attack. 

Sohee breathes a sigh of relief when it’s evident they’re out of immediate danger. 

Though this comfort only lasts for so long before she bypasses grief entirely as she looks at thhe sequins of her dress, something she might have found pretty in another time but only make her clench her jaw as she fights to keep her immense anger from boiling over. The dress, the arrows, everything she has, even the fact they’ve lived this long is all due to the capitol. 

And the gravity of the situation she’s put them in settles in━ what the capitol has done to them by trying to force them back into that ring a second time, just thinking about it makes her see red and the fact they’re now branded as the criminals in this scenario rather than victims... 

“Juwon.” Sohee says, knowing he’ll be able to hear her through the noise of the aircraft. It’s the first time he takes his eyes off the pilot to look at her but she doesn’t blink, nor move her eyes from the sequins of her dress, flattening them with the tips of her fingers to feel their smooth surface ━ and yet, another part of her remains ready to protect Juwon at any perceived threat. “When we get to where we’re going we have to find a way to take down the capitol.” 

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warsk:

“This isn’t about him.” Even now he feels small, at the mention of Chanyeol. “And leave the ship and the crew out of this. So I’m not the best man the ocean’s ever known. They knew that when they came aboard and decided to sail off the seven seas with me.”  He spits his words out, pulling his chest away from her hovering hands, and her fleeting kisses. 

She’s much too close, and much too luring – and he is only so mortal – playing right in the surface of her palms. 

“Don’t fuck with me. What is it you want – exactly.” His eyes dart between the world she holds in her hands, to the other world she’s trapped him in. He’s surveying the water, and how it doesn’t touch him here; then he’s watching the light, and how it always refracts away from her, as if never meant to touch even the smallest make of her. The next time he faces her, his eyes remain steady and held. He needs to find a way out, before he succumbs to the chaos herself.

“It’s not the book of peace you want. That’s meaningless to you. That’s something you could easily pry out of anybody’s hands, much less, out of a barely secured tower in the middle of a fortressed city.” No one’s warned him to deal with a god, much less of discord. He lifts his chin, holding himself there. “You want something bigger. Something much greater than just a book of legend that supposedly keeps yin separated from yang. Something… something else, much…”

The mark she makes on his back glows, just as his eyes do when he says it next. “You… want the empire to fall.” He takes a step back, assessing her intentions a second time before retaking his step forward. He enters her space, and in turn, enters back into her grasp – right into her hand. 

“I want in.” 

It is divine fun to toy with Juwon because, unlike other mortals who worship the ground on which she stands, Juwon offers a challenge. He is more than defiant even in his stance and fiercely independent in a way even she can never tell who is playing who. 

She laughs, “Your crew trusts you with their lives.” if only Juwon could rid himself of what little good is left within his heart and make his soul as black as hers... “Just like with that sweet prince it’s a trust you try not to take advantage of.” what an excellent demigod he could become in her realm of chaos.

Sohee gives a devil-like smile then bows her head once to acknowledge that he is correct. “I knew you would eventually figure out I mean business and didn’t bring you here to, as you say, fuck with you.” There’s a quirk in her brow when she lifts her head, taking a few seconds to consider all of his words knowing that there’s a trick somewhere. 

There is nothing she loves more than a silly playboy who thinks he can play with chaos and still come out winning in the end and the turn in their conversation is very tempting, piquing her interest.

“The empire is your old home, Juwon.” She fakes concern within her voice, leaning her head on his back to stare at the glowing ‘x’ on his back shoulder. She isn’t concerned with the possible traps that he’s setting, her judgement already overcome with the possibilities of the future of chaos, she can’t help but to smile again at the thought. “Can you do that to Chanyeol? ”

“Do you have the heart to crush her with it?”

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warsk:

“You don’t fucking get it.” 

“It’s… it’s not something you just replace. Not when it was so unreplaceable to begin with. God, it’s not just something you forget. All I do is remember before I go to bed and hope I remember less when morning comes, Sohee. There is no forgetting, that’s not even part of the mourning –” The next time he dares to lift his head, he sees catches the most faint look on her. It’s the way she looks at him: pity, pity. Pity. For a moment, in the realm of Sohee’s gaze, he thinks of haven. 

Haven, a world where everything is a sanctuary and nothing is a gun.

So why is everything a gun.

Her hand lingering by his cheek almost seems homely; comforting. And for just even the fleeting brevity of a second, everything presses up against his chest, which then swells up and floods. He just needs to part his lips to spill out. And yet, this is the part that doesn’t happen – his mouth shut, tongue kept between his clenched teeth. His chest remains a cavity, yet to be emptied out somewhere. It’s a heavy burden.

“It won’t, but that’s how this works. Nothing’s okay and rarely is anything actually alright. But that’s how this place works. That’s what mortals do. We carry on.” His palms close into a fist, just as he closes back up. Soon, the same wary smile, taut shoulders, and feet placed onto the ground beneath. “That’s all we can ever do.” 

Sohee recoils away from his words as if he’s slapped her. “No! You don’t fucking get it, Juwon.” Sohee replies back immediately, eyes widen slightly as she squeezes his cheeks, digging her nails into his skin just enough for it to hurt not caring if she draws blood this time. “I am your ally in this, don’t you dare make me the enemy.” she says through clenched teeth.

They’re both breathing heavily now that her mouth is a loaded gun and his words are hovering dangerously close to the trigger of it. “I should go.” she says, too aware of the lie about of her being his ally. It’s such a blatant lie, obvious to every ghost in the room but the ghost like boy that is Juwon who keeps looking at her with damn rose colored glasses.

“I need to go, now.” Sohee moves away from Juwon and staggers to her feet. 

When he speaks again, he speaks of mortals. And for the first time his naivety is something to be envious of instead of something to scorn, feeding into her guilt more than Elymas’s knowing gaze so when Sohee turns away from the door to look at Juwon, she does look at him with pity but not with the reasons he believes. 

Sohee has apologized to him over a thousand times inside her mind for Elymas’s premature death. The secret behind his death keeps continues to eat away at her like a fruit corrupted at the core with bugs ─ the only one that she remembers vividly and the only one she truly regrets.

Her hand falls from were it’s positioned at the door, before she walks back to Juwon’s side and drops to floor beside him, joining him in looking at nothing in particular then speaks as though she’s lost in an old memory, arms crossed over her chest. “What a heavy burden human hearts hold.”

“Oh, and Juwon.” Sohee turns on her side, grabbing Juwon’s throat to make sure he’s looking at her and not past her. “Don’t ever ask me to kill you, again.”

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things you said at the kitchen table. @hcaminus 

i. The filtered light that falls through the spaces in between the trees leave scattered crescent shaped light on her open palms. The solar eclipse, the rare natural phenomenon that everyone spoke of was finally happening but despite what explanations the scientist may give, she knows that the crescent light is but a gift from the sun goddess, a way to welcome her lover home 

ii. Hyuna’s fragrance is that of incense, herbs, and other things familiar. Sohee’s grandfather used to offer incense at an alter of an unknown woman, to a queen whose name has long been forgotten yet would still one day raise from the ashes, or that’s how the story was told before they sat together in silence. 

Her grandfather’s memories are the flame that sparks the fire, she understands that these memories are not her own but when she looks at the red of Hyuna’s lips and the curve of her smile she quickly learns the meaning of endless devotion. “He isn’t here, Hyuna.” ― and why all her grandfather’s dreams end in flames. “He’s gone but you already knew that didn’t you?”

iii. It’s a rarity for Sohee to be considerate of another person. It’s even rarer for her to let them in without question. “I’m sure that the last time you were here it wasn’t anything like this.” Sohee says, walking into the kitchen where the plants on the counter have become invasive and there’s a fine layer of dust and soot on every flat surface. As Hyuna takes a seat at the table, Sohee pushes vines off the stove and the surrounding counters to make room for the paper bag of food she bought from the convenient store down the street. 

“He hasn’t lived here in years.” Sohee wipes everything clean with a dry towel. “No one has lived here in years, except for me.” She looks over her shoulder at Hyuna who is both quiet and observant of her surroundings, she is certain that the other woman has been here before. It’s odd how seamlessly Hyuna settles in, like she always been here and it’s Sohee who is the stranger in this house. 

iv. The thought makes Sohee look away, returning to the task at hand and finishes rinsing out the dirty kettle before filling it with clean water then puts it on the stove to boil. “I’ve never been good at growing things.” She keeps by the counter, thinking about how the plants are reminiscent of her grandfather and liking the idea that his magic is still within this house keeping the plants alive. “It isn’t a secret that everything that I touch dies eventually...”

v. “I think you look pretty when you smile.” Is the first thing Sohee says after she prepares the tea, placing a cup in front of Hyuna alongside a plate of apple slices and oranges. When she does sit down, she pulls her knees close to hug them to her chest and gets a good look at the woman that is across the table from her.

The silence between them sits heavily like humidity that makes their shirts stick like a second skin. The temperature is abnormal for a day on the edge of winter yet she doesn’t mind a bit and she repeats words that she’s certain Hyuna has heard before in this kitchen long ago and from another person.

“You’re always prettiest in the morning.”  

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tracker things I owe:  @warsk x 5, Star Wars thread (ur right I am biased against everything in that thread and I love it), sinbad au, hunger games au(binCH, I BET U THOUGHT I FORGOT), regular verse sohee/jujukuma (can u believe),and another one I can’t remember  @baudellare pre-raphaelite/old painting au (which btw we need to discuss paintings and which ones we wanna use) // “things you said when you thought i was asleep.” Meme SEETHING HDU I REFUSE TO ACKNOWLEDGE UR FC CHANGE BACK TO SULLI. I can’t see all of a sudden, I don’t know. @hcaminus​ “sohee the intern gay” thread ur words not mine  @cespires​ ghost (in the shell) garden au @pullstrings​ idk what to call our thread tbh 🤔//plotting  @illucinoire “things you said in the dark.” meme btw are you kidding me? Ive been meaning to fight u for throwing me into a constant !!!!!!!!!! state everytime I open my drafts for the last two months. 

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warsk:

She speaks of the woods and he reminisces again; their sabers crossed just as their bodies seem to. Sometimes he imagines them in another universe. There where they speak to each other without blades for tongues; touch each other more tenderly. 

(This is not the place.)

“Call me what comes to you most naturally. You’ll be nothing but right, if that’s what you want.” He can’t escape her and it’s all the same the other way round: this is what doesn’t seem to realize. “Do you think this is something I’m doing?” He steps to the side, only to stand right ahead of her, right across from where she is. “I can only meet it half way. You’re standing on the other side of this, you’re just as responsible. We’re both responsible.” 

He looks past the scenery behind her, one unlike any he’s seen in the universe. And she is just the same, girl from nowhere, unlike any other. He’s looking past the scenery and into her, reading her and searching for the vices that keeps her here. He’ll find the rifts, and he’s sure he’ll have her, within the confines of this universe and the next.

“Answer me, Sohee.” 

He’s holding her here, her eyes, her body, to the way she never seems to belong anywhere she is. How belonging nowhere is the space that connects them: how the absence of a space is the only one that belongs to the both of them.

“Where are you? Where do I find you? Answer me.” 

Sohee’s fingers twitch until she balls them up into fists by her side to resist reaching for a weapon to defend herself and threaten him with. Instead, she’s doing it again, giving him time of day when she should given into the urge to run, perhaps even hide. 

“I can only meet it half way. You’re standing on the other side of this, you’re just as responsible. We’re both responsible.”

“It’s not my doing ― none of this is my doing!” She interrupts him with a threatening bite in her voice, wishing that he would stop looking like a lost boy and more like the mass murderer that he is. Unconsciously she relaxes her fists but still remains ready to summon her staff if needed. And the lightsaber if desperate. “Ever since you infiltrated my mind I haven’t been able to erase your presence since.” 

Ironically, as she grows stronger it’s getting harder to keep him out. 

Sohee shakes her head side to side to tell him no, unable to move the rest of her body. Then she’s fighting the thoughts, images, the self doubt that perhaps he’s right and she is wrong that comes from looking into his mind for too long. 

“You say I’m born from nothing therefore you already know I have nothing to give you, what do you gain from this? What will you gain from killing Skywalker?” She doesn’t want to see it all again but she does. Juwon murdering his own father, feels his conflict, can nearly understand his rage and empathize with his fear. 

“Your heart will only tear more.”