eupark

[eupark]

     if there was any tangible skill jonas had, it laid in archery. although he hardly had any luck within his classes (due to circumstance, rather than lack of competency), he enjoyed it, too. and when he agreed to help maggie so she wouldn’t come out of archery 1 with a failing grade, he thought it would be good for both of them to spend time outside of jonas following her around like some lost puppy. though, one could argue him agreeing to help her was pretty much the same thing. alas.

     it was a habit he had harbored since he was a young teen; being susceptible to do anything maggie asked him to, and it was perhaps the reason why she had kept him around for so long. each time he used his brain long enough to think about it, he became forlorn and dejected. rather than trying to change his ways and try to find a way to tell her no, however, things always remained the same. he wasn’t as adaptable to change as he thought he was; the way he and maggie’s friendship worked was familiar, and familiar was good.

     he was deep in thought about it as he sat, during a break in their archery lesson. well, as deep in thought as jonas could get while sitting in the sun. “hey maggie,” he called out to her, as if a serious inquiry was about to be posed; instead, his brain sent his mouth in the most ridiculous direction. “if i totally lost all my vitakinesis powers and somehow got hurt. like... shot with an arrow,” he narrowed his eyes. “do you think you’d take care of me? or would you, like, totally not believe me.” @euxmagnolia

[eupark]

euminsoo​.

      if there was ever anyone who could match minsoo’s idiotic preteen boy humor, it was definitely jonas. it was also quite possible that minsoo had a pretty significant influence on that over the years, given how long they had known each other and how easy his STUPID is to rub off on others. so, of course, the ridiculous pun wasn’t so much of a surprise to hear, but it CERTAINLY delighted minsoo, nonetheless.       snickering a bit giddily at the dumb joke, minsoo socks jonas in the shoulder. “you’re such an idiot,” he rolls his eyes, but proceeds to hold his fist out for a pounding in appreciation at the TOP TEIR joke, anyways. his laughter kicks up jonas’s own fades out, never not one to find ultimate joy in taking subtle little digs out of his best bro’s sex life (though, at this point in time, it wasn’t as if minsoo was one to talk).       he’s quick to roll his eyes at the accusation, waving away the other boy’s claims with a hand. “oh please. i’v basically mastered the art of being a third wheel to you two at this point. i don’t even KNOW what jealousy feels like anymore,” he claims, despite the fact that his frail, fragile ego felt nothing but jealousy every time someone would rather hang out with anyone else other than him. damn his prideful leo sun.

+

     jonas grabbed at his shoulder to hold with a wince the second minsoo thwacked him, then used the same hand seconds later to bump fists with him. “i’m your idiot, either way,” jonas said after minsoo’s laughter started. “i kinda think my idiocy grew with you, you know. it’s quite the legacy.” their idiocy was indeed mutual; but it was rather unfair to blame all of it on association with minsoo. jonas likely could’ve been considered one of the most idiotic boys in florence before he found out he was a demigod. and after, but that was another story.

     “third wheel? bro, minecraft crew was meant to be a tricycle. things fall easier with two wheels instead of three.” the analogy confused him, along with minsoo thinking himself a third wheel; but jonas didn’t think about it too much. “but i’ll budge. brosoo time is long overdue anyway. are you free later?” brosoo time usually meant the same thing; gaming with minsoo and crying over minuscule worries. sometimes big ones. either way, it was therapeutic.

[eupark]

euxjoonwoo​.

As they trudged across the campus toward the breach, Joonwoo glanced back with what could be confused for either or a grimace or a smile. He wasn’t sure if he was more excited or concerned to see the breach. A flurry of plans formed in the demigod’s mind in preparation for a possible drakon attack.

“I might be a little curious,” Joonwoo admitted. “It’ would be good to study and figure out how the drakon was able to break through. But listen, if even one small thing seems wrong, we’re turning back around and going to the group, okay? Don’t do anything crazy, I beg you. We’ll look at the breach and call it a night. Got it?”

+

     even with a flashlight, it was still difficult to see much of anything on around eonia’s grounds. as the two walked, jonas’ flashlight was sent whirring left and right to investigate sounds; usually sounds that had been generated by them. maybe he was more apprehensive for a threat than he had let on. maybe. still, he was like, 99% sure that nothing would happen to them. the patrol had been too quiet.

     “maybe the barrier isn’t as strong as everyone thought,” he shrugs, looking over at joonwoo despite not being able to see him well. “or maybe someone was messing with it. who knows? i don’t even know how the barrier works besides, like... i don’t know how it works at all, actually.” which, really, wasn’t rare. he must’ve missed that part at orientation. he heaved a sigh at joonwoo’s plan. “sounds boring... but fine.”

     then, there was a sound from beyond the two of them --- far more than a rustling of leaves or a snap of a branch. “shit. what was that?”

[eupark]

eujunseo​.

       “ for betraying me, ” he declares, huffing as he looks at jonas with large, expectant eyes. if jonas can feign injury while literally possessing vitakinesis, junseo thinks it’s perfectly fair for him to amp up his own emotional wounds, subtly pouting in the hopes that jonas will feel GUILTY enough to purchase boba tea for him or anything else ( junseo’s nothing if not a master schemer ). “ you do know alistair isn’t real, right? ” it’s a question echoed hundreds of times before, with the same pointed gaze and tilted head junseo always employs to emphasize his points. “ what does he have that i don’t? muscles? ughhhhhhhhh. ” heaving a dramatic, dejected sigh, junseo picks his backpack up again, swinging one strap over his shoulder and then the other, his hands holding onto them like a schoolboy. his eyebrows raise up impatiently as he glances towards the laptop screen, signaling for jonas to hurry up, but junseo’s overgrown bangs prevent them from making an impact. “ it’s okay. we should probably go get boba or coffee for motivation before we go to the library, though. ”

+

     “of course i know he isn’t real,” his brows furrowed, as if he was equally confused and offended at the inquiry. alistair may have been a character who he had a pathetic emotional attachment to... but he could keep reality straight. most of the time, anyways. his gaze strayed from junseo back to his screen, and he began pulling up the save-screen. “i just think he’s neat.” junseo’s next question brought a laugh to jonas’ lips. what does he have that i don’t? muscles? he looked back at the other after hitting ‘quit.’ “i think you’re neat, too. i think it might be the swords, though. or the hair...” half the reason he had dyed his hair blond? perhaps. “he also programmed to be nice to me. that’s a plus.” jonas added on as an afterthought, and there was a near roll of his eyes at junseo glancing toward his computer screen. a few moments later, the game finally shut itself down. jonas closed the laptop promptly and hopped of his bed, searching for his backpack nearby. “boba sounds good,” he nodded, backpack then in hand. he knew junseo wasn’t the biggest fan of coffee, and it’d be easier to just go to one place before they headed to the library. “i’ll buy, since i totally missed your text.”

[eupark]

eubeck​.

  beck’s arrival to the music room was accompanied by an eyeroll. apollo kids were nothing if not utterly predictable. while he’d been dutifully working his shift at the infirmary, the rest of his house had gotten busy stripping the room bare. still, a lone figure sat in the room, holding what looked to be the last guitar. jackpot. beck wasn’t above using flattery or bribes to get his hands on the instrument. the fact that it turned out to be jonas just made the job easier. 

   in most situations, it was jonas who came to beck, always desperate to be liked in that pleading puppy dog way that was simultaneously a little bit endearing and a little bit nauseating. the role reversal was unsettling, but he could work with it. “can’t even make an exception for your favorite brother?” his wording was intentional, of course. he rarely made reference to apollo’s other children being related to him, and he especially never omitted the “half” in “half-brother”.

    he suspected jonas would know exactly what he was doing, but it couldn’t hurt to turn on the charm. this was serious business. either he was getting his hands on the guitar jonas was holding, or he’d have to find a different source of entertainment. that piano had needed tuning since sometime last year, and at this point not being the sucker to tune it had become a point of pride.

     jonas was slightly surprised when he turned the doorway and found his own roommate, beck. the situation itself felt funny; beck approaching, clearly wanting something instead of the other way around. it might be a first. then, the other demigod calls himself jonas’ brother and... yeah, it’s definitely a first. “who said you’re my favorite brother? apollo has...” he trailed, gaze wandering in the distance with his brain to come up with some obscure number, all while his fingers plucked softly at the guitar strings. “i don’t know. too many kids. so what makes you my favorite? yifan could be my favorite.”

     though he spent all this time joking --- he’d be lying if it hadn’t felt nice to be verbally claimed by the half-brother he spent most of his time annoying for the fraction of acknowledgement. it was certainly more than their father had ever done --- even if beck was faking it. “anyway, i thought you were more of a bass kind of dude. wouldn’t guitar just be... i dunno... less fun?”

[eupark]

euxseungah​.

She kept her phone up to eye level so he’d see how she rolls her eyes. How can he be so dumb? “Listen to yourself, are you really asking me that?” It’s almost like he was there for comedic relief but how is it funny? “I have classes I need to ace, training as well and the last dinner I had with someone was to finalize my schedule for my photoshoot at the end of this month. When and where do you think I’ll find the energy to find time to date?” Probably the most exciting event of her life recently would be the Drakon’s existence. Seungah shook her head at him. “I’m too busy, Jojo. When was I not busy?” Forcing a smile at him and blinking her eyes as to make a point of him just being a complete fool for actually assuming such. 

 “Keep your stupidity in the farthest depths of your being, for the love of all Olympians.” Groaning at his plan, which was obviously stupid and the fact that he might just do that. Who knows? Seungah can be quite unpredictable and most demigods are just waiting for a chance to prove themselves. They’re not just demigods but heroes in their own right. All they need is one chance to bring the fight and win. “How about this? You stay the hell in your cabin, safe and sound. Then I’ll let give you snacks from South Korea when my package arrives.” Raising an eyebrow at him. Anyone would be a fool to turn down Seungah’s offer. Her family does own malls and so her snack box alone takes are full of amazing choices. 

 “Trust me, if my little haul makes you hungry. Wait till my boxes arrive.” It’s better that they get their stomachs filled rather than the drakon’s with another one of their kind letting their impulses get the best of them. “I’m getting three boxes this time, not just two, Jojo.”

     with seungah’s exasperation with him, he only half listened to the questions she threw back his way. familiar melodic sounds beyond his room then started, grasping his attention with ease; perhaps once he and seungah hung up, he would go and investigate. as if on cue, however, his attention returned to his friend with her final question. when was i not busy? jonas shrugged. “i dunno. i think the issue is you don’t want to date, maybe.” he shrugged again. but what did he know, anyhow? he hadn’t exactly been an expert on seungah’s life, nor had he ever taken up enough responsibility to deem himself too busy for dating. and, anyway, the non-existence of his dating life always stemmed from a lack of an interested party rather than time.

     jonas couldn’t help but grin at the other’s contempt for the stupidity that continued to fall from his lips. it was mostly a joke, but the plan had some appeal to it; it would give him something to do other than wasting away in his dorm room. “ah, staying here to be safe and sound is the last thing i want to do. i mean, i’d like to stay safe and sound... just not in the apollo house. how’s zeus housing? lively? electrifying?” the pun was far from funny, but he didn’t give seungah much time to respond before he continued with his questioning. “how about i walk over there? you can share with me now and you won’t have to worry about sharing with me later on when you have more.”

[eupark]

euoliverw​.

oliver had to say he was pretty excited about being asked to tutor someone. while he had the luck to have a godly parent bless him with natural artistic abilities, he was well aware of the own effort that had to be put in. a little push, some learning about technique and theory, could be needed. helping someone with this, he could definitely do.

then, the door opened and he made eye contact with jonas. and as he heard his greeting, oliver thought that this, he definitely couldn’t do.

oliver’s interactions with jonas have been very limited. he knows jonas was… something to his best friend, alex. them being ‘something’ has resulted in oliver only having seen jonas in the progress of avoiding alex, and by extension oliver, leaving room for no interactions. an awkward acknowledgment must be there though, considering the way oliver sees jonas tense.

he can almost feel the awkward tension that has suddenly filled the small studio room. by now, he has probably been quiet for too long than what is considered appropriate. “oh, hi,” oliver greets. he clears his throat, if only to avoid the silence. “do you, uh…” oliver gestures behind himself, towards the easel he has set up for this. there are two stools placed in front of it. “do you want to… you can paint and i’ll, uh, i’ll give pointers.”

oliver stalks towards the stools and sits down on one of them without waiting for jonas’ response. he hopes jonas skills are enough for them to spend the rest of the session in relative silence and oliver not having to interfere that much. he’s already exhausted. “just… tell me if you need help.”

     gods, did the fates have fun toying with jonas like this? they must have... otherwise it was divine intervention by his father somehow. it had to be; it felt like a grand prank sprung on him by no other than apollo. jonas was sure oliver was nice and all but there was... awkwardness that spared them from ever having to meet each other, or formally interact like two normal students might have. them alone in the same room felt weird and equally cruel.

     yet it somehow seemed crueler to jonas to up and leave before anything could be accomplished. and he did need the help. so he found himself nodding at the other’s words, then there was a slowly paced walk to the open stool. “i mean, yeah... i’m kind of, like, totally helpless with the whole art thing,” he shrugged his backpack off and took a seat, gaze dead-set on the easel in front of him. “i don’t think i can even really draw a straight line, much less paint, so... don’t ask why i signed up for a painting class. i really couldn’t tell you why i did.” although jonas talked an awful lot completely unprompted in a space of comfort, his word vomit only got worse when there was the slightest bit of discomfort.

     then, he suddenly turned to oliver, hoping to garner enough attention for the other to do the same. “how do you get, like... i don’t know. when i’m told paint something my brain just goes blank. like, what do i paint?” how do you generate ideas for paintings was the question he was trying to ask.

[eupark]

juyeon in glasses 🤓

[eupark]

group chat › minecraft crew.

juntheraccoon: if it's a billion years old why isn't it dead?? 😵

juntheraccoon: noooooooooooooooooo i don't wanna kill a dragon 😢😢😢😢😢

juntheraccoon: and definitely not with u guys no offense but ur a healer and a thief so i will have to protect u 🙄🔥🛡️

juntheraccoon: jonas i know u just want to do that to get a girlfriend u are sooooo obvious 👩‍❤️‍💋‍👨

minsoocraft: because billion years old creatures are like... impossible to kill duh

minsoocraft: DRAKON!!!!***

minsoocraft: a SPEEDY thief, thank you very much. and i'd easily leave you two LOSERS in the dust when the drakon tries to eat us 😘

hayoungsbf: its the ~immortality~

hayoungsbf: what's so wrong with wanting a gf wtf.

hayoungsbf: we're like the opposite of the 3 musketeers how do we manage with ZERO loyalty from a speedy thief who also wants us to join him 🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔

[eupark]

     boredom was eating away at him. if he wasn’t on patrol, he was with junseo or maggie; if not with either of them, he was wandering campus grounds alone when he definitely shouldn’t be. if not doing any of those things, he was rotting away in his shared bedroom, solace found in strumming his guitar blindly, as he was lying down. he bothered beck every now and then, too; but that lost its fun after awhile. god, if only the drakon problem was taken care of. he could go back to nights spent gaming at hermes house and sit outside during daylight hours. jonas would definitely deny if asked, but he was almost starting to miss his classes, too. almost.

     not long after realizing his own boredom, he had stopped strumming his guitar, sat up in bed, and made the rash decision to leave the room; taking little else but his own person with him. though the noise of the apollo house had diminished throughout the day, he wasn’t too sure they ever quite understood the meaning of quiet hours. jonas didn’t mind much. it just meant that he could sneak a little bit easier from one room to the next without being noticed. and soon he stood, outside of yifan’s doorway, with no plan but a growing, overbearing smile. “nothing,” he quickly answered as soon as yifan became aware of his presence. “i’m just boooooored... what are you doing?”

ft. @eupark​

as much as yifan wants to offer his help to improve the situation in any way possible, he knows fully well that he was incapable of that. it’s a jab at his ego, having been capable of most things throughout his life but if there’s one thing he does as well as acknowledging his own strengths, it is facing the reality of its limits and in this case — drakon. yifan’s only combat skill is archery and even that, he does as a sport and not to hunt down a whole ass monster, whom he doubts would even flinch at an arrow shot at him. as much as he hates the idea of being useless at a time like this, he came to terms with it and decided to channel his energy in another output, to work on his vitakinesis abilities. if he finally masters this skill then he could offer aid in the healing process, to whomever paid no heed to the rules and broke out to hunt the creature, retuning scathed from the battle field. that was the least he could do in this situation and he hopes to do it well, if actually doing it was even a possibility at this point. 

what better time than now, that he is stuck in the apollo house, to work on his vitakinesis abilities? he is already a hard worker on an average day but now, faced with more free time and a catastrophe that had befallen the campus, he feels even more pressure to do better and finally master this skill. the thing about yifan is, he works even better with pressure so it isn’t astonishing to see him buried nose deep in his vitakinesis notes all day, everyday. while he’s usually too sucked into his books to take note of his surroundings, a presence looming by the door didn’t go unnoticed by him this time as he looks up to grab the cup of coffee on his table. he jumps a little in his seat, sighing when he realises who it was staring at him from the doorway. “yes, jonas?” he swirls his chair around to face the other with a raised brow, “what do you want?”

[eupark]

     instead of returning to his room after his patrol shift, jonas decided that he would rather keep wandering the campus grounds than return to apollo’s housing; though he regularly thrived in the bright environment designed for people like him, he had to admit that all of it was getting to him; injured being tended to, and his half-siblings wrapped up in the same crisis that he was. more than three hours away from all of it was all he needed. accidentally becoming a drakon’s midnight snack be damned.

     truly a demi-god’s curse, jonas had never been anywhere near quiet on his feet when he wandered; stealth was hardly ever on his mind. but when a branch snapped underfoot and a curse could be heard in the distance, he was suddenly praying to every god and goddess he knew for him to not get caught on his little excursion. he wasn’t hurting anyone by being outside of apollo housing during a crisis; not really, anyway.

     soon, however, the figure of another being became clear in the distance, allowing him to know that it wasn’t a monster stalking the grounds but another demigod; likely female, by the silhouette of long hair, but he could never be too sure. so he kept on forward, until he was close enough for his presence to be known without yelling. maybe an offensive approach would work in his favor. “are you on patrol? where’s the rest of your group?”

━━ ✦ ( @eupark)

volunteer lookout had been so much more boring than expected, and it really didn’t help that serin ended up with the latest shift. truthfully, the only reason she even volunteered was to have a valid reason to get out of the aphrodite house and stretch her legs, but now she’s bored and sleepy. being a sitting duck with the rest of her lookout group hadn’t been any less uneventful than just staying within the confines of her dorm, and she wondered if she should have just spared herself the torture of being stuck here. needless to say, what happens next is serin stealing away from her group in search of something more exciting to do. though it’s not like strolling around the campus grounds had been any more action-packed either, so she decides she might as well return to save her lookout group from undue worry.

just as she’s about to turn a corner in the direction towards where she left her lookout group, a sudden noise causes her to jump ten feet in the air. “what the hell…” she mutters to herself, and despite the slow rising panic in her chest, serin wills herself to get her shit together and not freak out over nothing. how unlucky would she have to be for it to be the drakon, right? the odds are probably one in a million. then again, a student was actually unlucky enough to have been killed by that drakon. still, she sucks in a deep breath to brace herself for what she will come face to face with and turns the corner anyway, with a forced resolve, because she’s yoon serin and she is not going to let herself back down in the face of a random noise.

[eupark]

     the apollo house wasn’t exactly the quietest house to be living in on a normal day; the presence of a threat on eonia’s campus made it even worse.. between operating the infirmary and housing some of the loudest children who actively sought out to soothe themselves with music --- well, it  had began to resemble a disaster. not far off from their father’s image, one might suppose.

     since he had volunteered for one of the patrolling shifts near the breach, jonas had missed the initial onslaught in the music room. the room had been left to near ruins, with instruments taken from their rightful place in favor of an apollo child’s room, or the infirmary, to help soothe both the tending and the injured.

     save for one guitar, and the grand piano that always remained situated in the same space. instinct, obviously, drove jonas to the guitar. then, footsteps sounded from behind them, signaling another one of his siblings entrance into the room. “i already called dibs,” he hadn’t; but that didn’t stop him from caressing the guitar like a child might’ve. “good luck carrying the piano.” @eubeck​

[eupark]

euxjoonwoo​.

@eupark​

Now Joon Woo was always up for a bit of excitement if the opportunity presented itself. Just because he’s a nervous wreck doesn’t mean he doesn’t enjoy having fun. But what Jonas asked prompted a raised eyebrow.

“There’s a Drakon running around campus, but you want to go to where it broke in?”

The barrier wasn’t far from where their patrol group was stationed. It had been a pretty uneventful night—something for which Joon Woo was glad for. Nothing happening meant no one dying. Still, he’d be lying if he said he wasn’t curious to see the breach. Regardless, he knew Jonas would go whether Joon Woo accompanied the guy or not. As an RA and his senior, Joon Woo felt it only necessary to make sure Jonas didn’t get himself into too much trouble. With a sigh, he turned to the other two in their patrol.

“We’ll be right back. We’re gonna go do a round around the campus.” With a nod at Jonas, he got to his feet and started towards the breach.

     his thoughtlessness was almost always inevitable; but, when asked about the impulsive things that came out of his mouth, his thoughtlessness came to the forefront of things. the way joonwoo reworded his idea back to him, going to the break-in sight of a dangerous monster, it suddenly felt stupid. he still wanted to do it, though.

     “nothing’s happened since we got here. nothing’s going to happen if we’re just closer to the nothing that’s been happening.” sure, easy for him to say.

     jonas could only hope that joon woo wouldn’t be a stick in the mud and tell the patrol of his plan; and it was only then that he began to worry about the possibility that he would. the other, however, did the exact opposite, and convinced the others that they’d be doing nothing more than taking a simple stroll. color him impressed.

     “see? i know you wanted to see it too.”

[eupark]

euxmagnolia​.

          once jonas’s words vibrated her ear drum, maggie sat up straight, smiled wide, placing the phone on speaker to the annoyance of the rest of aphrodite house. a piece of her almost wanted to egg the urgency of her messages longer, the attention too intoxicating to simply pass up. “hi, jonas,” she sighed, then paused. “i’m okay— well, i’m inside, and i’m alive, and i am safe.” there was barely a break between her words to allow jonas to chime in, but she persisted that this phone call not yet end. “are you okay? you didn’t answer me.” by didn’t answer me, she meant he took more than three minutes to reply, but the impatience was strong.

          maggie took a minute, one short minute, to think; she knew he would answer her messages eventually, answer her urgent phone call, answer to her request to come over, if she asked. but she felt guilty in a sense, asking him to danger himself for her. really, though: nothing bad would come from a quick trip outside, right? “it’s not… important, if you’re busy. but i burnt my neck on my curling wand this morning, and i don’t know. it’s just uncomfortable. and i’m bored.” eyes scanning the pictures she collaged on her wall, she smiled. “come over? please? it’ll make me the happiest demigod in greece, and i made chocolate chip cookies earlier.”

+

     jonas’ computer was left essentially forgotten as concern etched its way into his features. the tone of maggie’s voice sounded off; from there, he assumed the worst. drakon attack at the aphrodite house? maybe someone else had gotten hurt. maybe her. “did something happen?” he asked, as soon as her explanation was through-- as soon as she assured him she was safe. “yeah, i’m fine i was just... busy,” playing a game i’ve played a million times over. “i was going to respond in a few minutes. sorry. are you really okay?”

     for once, his attention was quick and sharp; though, painfully so as he waited for maggie’s response. then, a sigh of relief could be heard over the line when she answered. i burnt my neck on my curling wand this morning. that, he could reasonably rectify. he wasn’t sure he could do anything in the face of grief, if that had been the case of maggie’s discomfort. “i can heal your neck for you,” he interjected as soon as she asked for him to come over. he waited until she was finished with her request to start again. “sorry. can you sneak me past your RA? i mean... actually, i think i’d risk it for chocolate chip cookies.” sure.

[eupark]

euxseungah​.

-

Just as she had stepped in the dorm, her dear father’s statue looms over her as a reminder that she’s not just anyone and she hates everything about it. “I don’t like you.” Seungah tells the statue as she shakes her head and instead of flying to her room, she walks like a normal human being. As she was lying on her bed, letting the cold lull her to sleep, she receives a text. A drakon? She sits up and furrows her brows. What the hell was going on? 

Seungah knew better than to panic, but she wasn’t one to make rational decisions and luck wasn’t always on her side so she grabs her phone to call Jonas. He better keep his ass safe or else she’ll fly over to him and tie him up to his bed. She decides to face time him and as soon as she sees him, she raises an eyebrow. 

“Hello, Jojo.” She greets him. “Why are you asking me like that? Do I look like I’m going through some bad breakup?” Seungah huffs, climbing her bed and watching Jonas on the screen. “I’m fine. I just got in. I was out buying snacks.” Grabbing the paper bag and showing off almost every item she had bought. “Sadly, my favorite chips were not available and I don’t think I’m getting the package from home anytime soon.” She pauses. “You’re safe, right? You’re not planning to do anything stupid, right?”

+

     confusion crossed his features at her questioning. “i’m not, i just... i don’t know. are you, though? going through some bad breakup i don’t know about?” for whatever reason, jonas seemed to have plans to talk about anything BUT the problem directly. he was still trying to rationalize the entire thing in his mind; it was easy to forget the very mortal part of their existence as demigods.

     “stop you’re making me hungry,” he groaned as seungah showed him her haul. “all i have are the last few things my mom sent with me back here before the semester.” which wasn’t much --- between him and junseo, his supply of italian-specific foods became scarce rather quickly. jonas took out one of his earbuds, half out of dramatics and half out of a desire to keep an ear out for any of his siblings.

     a laugh soon found him. “well, i’m planning something stupid now,” he teased, shifting slightly in his seat. “i’m gonna go outside with my bow and just... sit. maybe call the drakon some names. what do you think? i think a month of archery yard pickup, but not...” jonas cut himself off before he could say drakon dinner. “what do you think? think i could pull it off?”

[eupark]

eujunseo​.

*

      hestia housing is empty, quiet, and on a good day, junseo would enjoy that, but the university’s collective tension about the drakon attack has rubbed off on him in a way that makes him feel almost unsettled in his own dorm. his SOS texts to jonas to bring pepperoni, although a definite perk, was more of a half-baked scheme to get jonas to hang out with him than anything else ( junseo never considered the possibility he could die on such a crucial mission, but jonas had the option to refuse, so ). the sound of italian has him leaping off of his bed, greeting jonas with a bright smile as he opens the door. “ you’re such a chivalrous italian knight, ” he responds in korean, tugging on jonas’ wrist to jerk him inside with all the force his twig arm can manage. he’s trying to give no indication of his stress, but his entire body is noticeably tense, a contrast from the playful lilt of his words. “ do you think drakons like pepperoni? i’d be willing to share if he just, y’know, promised to stop eating students. ” 

+

     his lips form an exaggerated smile the moment junseo opened his bedroom door. jonas was not only thankful that he made it to hestia’s housing in one piece, but also for the fact that junseo didn’t seem as nervous than what his brain had conjured when he was walking across campus.  jonas allowed himself to be pulled into junseo’s room, deciding against becoming an immovable force for the other. “people say chivalry is dead, but obviously they haven’t been keeping up with those in the pepproni industry.” he laughed at his own joke, pushing the narrative of junseo’s gleaming compliment. then, he settled his duffel bag at the foot of junseo’s bed and leaned against it. “do you think drakons can like, talk? i keep googling them but it just tells me the same stuff minsoo said... like they’re really old dragons. which i don’t understand, but you know.” he shrugged. “if you want to negotiate with him and find out if he can talk, i’m not opposed.”

[eupark]

     the setting was familiar to his unconscious mind; darkened skies falling upon the land, screams heard for miles, fallen bodies in his peripheral, and the scent of blood. it’s a warped version of the final quest of dragon age, tailored to his fixed, third dimensional reality. the dreamscape had haunted jonas’ unconscious mind for a number of years... but with recent events, it had only become more prevalent.

     his bow was knocked for the hundredth time over, and sweat refused to cease in dripping from his brow. jonas shot arrows aimlessly at the large, vaguely winged and scaled creature that lingered half a mile beyond him. it was a fool’s errand, the long-distance shots, but he didn’t alter his stance, nor his placement from his foe. there was a metaphor jumbled within the mess, something possibly freudian about jonas’ dream slash nightmare self never being able to reach the thing he needed most to defeat, nor see it up close. another arrow released. nothing. the creature howled to mock him.

     jonas reached for another bow in his quiver, but before his fingers could lace themselves around one, a familiar voice filled his ears from a distance, drowning out both the screams, and the creature’s howl. jinwoo. the boy dropped his bow arm and turned to the other. though jonas never remembered him once his dreams were through, his dream-self always remained acquainted with the child of hypnos. “things will change when i kill that thing.” what things, he didn’t know.

     before he knew it, something shifted. the creature in the distance was different, the skies brighter, and the bodies previously sensed around him... gone. the setting was calmer, clearer. yet somehow more danger lingered. it was just him, jinwoo, and what his brain rationalized as the monster that had killed one of eonia’s students only days prior; the drakon. “of course i have... haven’t you? being sure everyone’s out of harm’s way? or, i don’t know... like, being remembered for something?”

@eupark​​

      Honestly, the notice of staying indoors didn’t really stop Jinwoo from doing whatever he had planned to do for the week. Being the child of Hypnos really had its perks since he could just… enter dreams and wreak havoc on his unsuspecting friends and people who are unfortunate enough to encounter him. He wasn’t technically leaving his dorm. Therefore no harm was done and he wasn’t giving his RA an additional reason for worry. 

      Hoping that the other was in some way asleep, he sought out Jonas’ mind, feeling familiar weightlessness consuming his entire being before entering the plane of dreams.  “Do you come here often, stranger?” he inquires teasingly, duly noting the current state of the dream. With a raised eyebrow, Jinwoo turned to Jonas with an unimpressed look, definitely judging him for their surroundings and shook his head, letting out a disappointed sigh. “You know every time I come here, I really expect it to be different… You really are breaking my heart, ” he placed his hands on his heart, feigning a hurt expression as if his heart truly aches for the other and pretended to wipe away tears. How dramatic. 

      Settling on the ground, he started to mess with the dreamscape a bit, pondering to himself about what he could influence the environment to conjure up without necessarily being detrimental to the two of them. “Have you ever thought of fighting a drakon on your own like one of those heroes in books?” he asked, holding an unnerving, mischievous gleam in his eyes along with a cheshire grin. It was obvious that Jinwoo had a plan of sorts.