#acetsk

[98blossom]

setting: spanning the years 2013 to 2017, set in an au in which nari’s family is a big player in black market dealings summary: at 13, kim nari is innocent and naive. at 15, she discovers the truth. at 18, nari has changed. at 19, nari is dead. warnings: light gore, blood, scary situations, implied torture, death, and just overall sad vibes  

                    at 13, kim nari is innocent and naive, full of hope and longing. she believes her life is as ordinary as anyone’s, that her family is composed of three utterly normal people, and like many children who grow bored of the routine their parents establish, she wishes for adventure. she dreams of becoming a musician, of performing for audiences in grand stadiums -- even if she’s behind the scenes playing for a singer. sometimes she imagines what it might be like putting on a show in the middle of the street like she’s seen on the internet and wonders how likely she is to be scouted by an agency. at 13, nari believes herself to be just another kid with a dream.

                    at 15, she discovers the truth, or rather, the truth crashes into her ordinary life.

                    she comes home to a quiet apartment -- not uncommon on a tuesday evening when her mother is tutoring her students and her father is likely still at work -- and while nari yells, “ i’m home, ” out of habit on most days, the words never make it past her lips. the living room is a wreck with the coffee table overturned, the lamp her grandparents bought laying broken on the wooden floor, papers and a few magazines scattered around, and a takeout box of jajangmyeon spilled by the couch. her heart is in a frenzy by the time she’s done taking it all in, hand flying to the phone in her back pocket when she hears muffled voices.

                    nari freezes, straining to make out what’s being said and who’s saying it as fear wraps its hands around her throat. is it the intruder? what if they’re threatening one of her parents? if nari were to guess, she would bet the jajangmyeon belongs to her father; mrs. kim scolds him all the time for grabbing takeout when they always have plenty of food at home. with a fresh bout of fear surging through her body at the thought of her dad being in danger, she follows the faint words leaking from her parents’ room. not before she starts dialing 119, though.

                    but just as the operator answers and nari reaches the door, hands trembling and sweat trickling down the nape of her neck, her parents’ door swings open to reveal a giant of a man who looks anything but happy. things become blurry after that.

                    she can’t clearly remember what happens because it happens so fast. she remembers the giant’s rough hands on her, her phone falling and cracking against the floor, the shouts and grunts coming from her parents’ room -- there’s a second intruder, she realizes too late -- and the cold metal pressing against her temple. she remembers how silent the apartment suddenly becomes, how she feels lightheaded and sick and so, so scared. she remembers her father’s face, how utterly calm he appears to be as he keeps his own gun pointed at her captor, and she remembers crying at him, though she can’t remember the words. she remembers barely being able to breathe because the giant’s arm is hard and tight against her neck, wishing, PRAYING that by some miracle, no one will die. that her father will give the giant whatever he wants so that he’ll leave, and everything can go back to normal.

                    it’s clear that god hasn’t heard a single word when the giant’s hold loosens, and he falls to the ground with a dull, sickening thump. 

                    she can’t move initially. nari just stands there, shaking and holding her breath and unable to tear her gaze from the blood beginning to pool around the giant’s head. even as her father races over to crush her against him while kissing her hair and reassuring her that she’s okay, nari remains fixated on the crimson liquid spreading across the floor. she can’t breathe. she can’t hear her father. her father... 

                   he shot the giant. her father shot the giant. her father killed a man without blinking an eye -- her father SHOT HIM IN THE HEAD. he shouldn’t be capable of that, she remembers thinking in her panicked confusion. he’s just a lawyer.

                    at 15, kim nari learns everything she believed her life and family to be is completely and utterly false. none of it is ordinary or typical or normal. normal families have grandparents who fuss and dote on their grandchildren; nari has grandparents who run two businesses, one covering the tracks of the other so as to keep the police who aren’t on their salary unaware of their dealings. she learns that her father, who she believed to be a simple, dedicated lawyer, is the heir to such a business, and though he tried to wash his hands of it, some stains never wash out. she learns that mirae is next in line, but her father refuses to involve her when she’s still ignorant of what’s happened. her mother, too, is none the wiser until she arrives home to a destroyed living room and two dead bodies. it surprises nari that her mother doesn’t lose her mind at mr. kim when honesty is so important to her, but perhaps the shock is too much for her in the moment.

                    she also learns that her father was planning to move their family to america to escape, to keep them safe and starter over, but he was one month too late. 

                    at 16, nari and her family move into the lavish home her grandparents own, and it’s there that nari quickly learns that her life is no longer her own to do with as she pleases. her father’s parents are nothing like her mother’s kind, nurturing parents -- they’re cold and demanding and expectant and BRUTAL and force her to learn about a business she wants nothing to do with. they force her into self-defense classes, then into shooting practice, then personally teach her about the management and financial aspect of their dealings. at 17, they hand her off to someone they trust. he’ll teach her the ropes, they tell her, and she’s confused because they’ve taught her everything she thinks she needs to know and seething because it’s the LAST thing she wants. but she understands that she doesn’t have a choice, even with her father arguing with his parents more often than not about her involvement. if she doesn’t do as she’s told, she’s useless, and being useless gets a person killed.

                    nari wonders if that’d be so bad, especially when her grandparents’ right hand takes her with him to a business transaction -- the safest she’ll ever attend because these guys are regulars, and “ regulars know not to start shit ” -- and she has to watch as he’s shot in front of her. any attempt at running is pointless, but amid the terror coursing through her veins and the urge to be sick, nari feels some satisfaction in giving one of the guys a bloody nose before they knock her unconscious and take her away.

                    she doesn’t like to remember what happens next. it’s a part of her memory she’s tried her hardest to erase, yet she can’t fully block it out -- even at 18, nari remembers each painful detail in perfect clarity. she wakes up in the middle of the night in a cold sweat sometimes, heart racing and blood roaring in her ears as she scrambles to check her surroundings, to prove to herself that it’s all just another memory and no longer her reality. on the worst nights, her hands often search her back as far as they can reach, tracing each scar as a reminder that she has long since healed from that incident, that it’s in the past, that she has survived, and she is safe now. but she still doesn’t feel safe. she can’t feel safe living as she does and knowing what she does.

                    by 18, much has changed. nari has changed. she no longer holds hope that things can go back to the way they were, having accepted that, like her father, she won’t be able to leave the family business no matter how desperately she wants to. she’s fallen into the role her grandparents have forced upon her, learning and training and involving herself willingly even when her parents both ask her to stop. if she doesn’t play the role, who will? mirae? mirae who has graduated culinary school and created her own business? mirae who is blissfully ignorant to the darkness that would swallow her whole if she so much as glanced its way? mirae who is hurt that her family has cut all contact, but who otherwise lives a happy, ordinary life? no. nari won’t allow that to happen. this fate belongs to nari now, and no one else.

                    and she hates it. with every fiber of her being, she hates it. she hates that she may have to kill someone with her own two hands one day. she hates that her family is in constant danger and that their safety will one day be her responsibility -- if they die, it will be her fault. she hates that her friends all believe she’s ditched them now that she lives in luxury, that they’ll never know that if given the chance, she would trade luxury in a heartbeat to have them back. she would give anything to have them, her old life, her old self...

                    she hates that she hasn’t touched a piano since her kidnapping. her fingers grow restless more often than not, tapping against whatever surface they find themselves resting upon, and when nari notices, her heart aches with regret and yearning. yet she can’t bring herself to so much as look at a piano. 

                    it hurts too much. the longing is bad enough, but if she were to start playing, nari knows it would be unbearable. for the sake of her family, she has to leave her first love behind. she has to leave the dreams of her youth behind. she has to leave the kim nari who was bright behind. there’s no place for her in this world.

                    at 18, the dreamer has died, leaving a pessimistic realist in her place. by 19, the realist joins the dreamer in the ground.

                    the day is nothing special. but the weather is nice -- sunny and just a little cold -- and it’s the first day in a long time that nari doesn’t have to worry about the family business. her lips twitch and curve into the faintest of smiles. a day off, all to herself, to spend however she wishes! she can’t help but wonder if her father has something to do with it, if he pulled some strings to allow her some time alone, because he and her mother have complained more than once about how little free time she has between her studies and her training. it doesn’t exactly matter if he’s the reason, but the thought that that might be the case makes her smile a little wider, feel a little warmer despite the breeze.

                    temptation reels her in that particular day. perhaps it’s the sense of nostalgia that blossoms in nari’s chest at the sight of what was once her favorite music store, or perhaps it’s because she’s denied herself of what she loves most for so long -- regardless, nari finds herself stepping inside, swaying to the pop song bursting from the speakers as she shuffles through some albums. she reaches for one she remembers mirae loved only for her hand to knock into someone else’s, an apology immediately falling from her lips before she’s even glanced at the stranger. nari can hardly believe her eyes when she finally does look at the male who towers above her.

                    a lanky young man with kind eyes, messy hair, and long fingers perfect for the piano -- though his features have grown more mature since their freshman year of high school, she knows it’s lee jiyun who has unwittingly bumped into her. his eyes go a little wide upon realizing who she is, lips parting in a silent gasp before they curve into a smile.

                    his smile is just as warm as she remembers. it stirs the butterflies in her stomach, entices a slow, growing grin of her own, and has nari forgetting for a brief moment who she is supposed to be. she forgets that she will one day be in charge of her family’s business, that she will one day have blood on her hands, that she will one day decide who lives and who dies in the name of “ good business. ” she forgets that she is supposed to be the cold, wary grandchild of the kim family. in the presence of an old friend and crush, the persona nari so carefully built melts away to reveal the remnants of the dreamer she quietly said goodbye to shortly after her kidnapping.

                    she’s 15 again, bright-eyed and hopeful.

                  “ you cut your hair. ” jiyun’s voice is deeper but still just as sweet. “ it suits you. ”

                    she decided to cut it when her grandmother pointed out her long hair could be a disadvantage she couldn’t afford against stronger opponents, but nari doesn’t mention that. she just flicks her gaze from jiyun’s feet to his face. “ and you’ve gotten even taller. ” 

                    he rolls his eyes at her, hands sliding into his pockets -- the only way to keep his fingers from tapping restlessly against his thighs, nari remembers. “ still bitter about my little growth spurt, shorty? ”

                  “ there was nothing LITTLE about it! i went from being a whole three inches taller to being a whole three inches shorter! ”

                    they slip so easily into conversation as if it hasn’t been years since they’ve spoken to each other, bantering and bickering and reminiscing their days with their crotchety piano teacher, and though she knows it can’t last long, nari allows herself to enjoy this one, small happiness. she allows herself to accept jiyun’s invitation to grab food, to speak and laugh freely, to whine when he comments on her height and blush when he tells her she’s gotten prettier ( even if, in the same breath, he recalls the time she was missing her two front teeth ) . she even allows herself to exchange numbers with jiyun, knowing that she won’t be able to keep in contact like he hopes she will, but a few texts here and there can’t hurt. 

                    when they part ways, nari doesn’t feel the gloom set in like she expects it to; instead, she feels light. hopeful. and it scares her. but the memory of jiyun's arms wrapped around her as he muttered how badly he missed her banishes that fear to the back of nari’s mind. just this one day -- for this one day, she won’t worry over how horrible this could all go. for this one day, she just wants to be happy.

                    her phone’s text notification rings sharply, and immediately nari checks to see who it is, mind already running through scenarios involving her family and situations gone wrong, but it’s only jiyun asking that she let him know when she arrives home safely. nari can’t stop her smile -- not that she tries -- as she begins typing out a response, searching for the right kaomoji when she hears frantic screaming from in front of her. her head snaps up to see an older woman on the sidewalk screeching and wildly motioning for nari to move, but she understands the situation a second too late, registers the sound of a speeding car too late, attempts to run the rest of the way to safety too late.

                    at 19, approximately 3 : 15 pm, kim nari is dead. she has her regrets, mostly concerning mirae who may be forced to take her place and who still doesn’t know how much her little sister has missed her all this time. she regrets leaving her parents all alone to deal with her grandparents and not acting like the teenager they knew she wanted to be. she regrets becoming exactly what those old bags wanted her to be instead, but she doesn’t regret the blissful ignorance she provided mirae as a result. she regrets having to give up music, denying herself everything that made her feel happy and alive. she regrets the pain jiyun will feel when he never hears from her again as well as the pain that will pierce him if he ever finds out what happened to her. 

                    she doesn’t regret meeting him that day, though. she doesn’t regret spending all that time together, feeling more like herself than she has for a long time. she doesn’t regret entering that music store, giving into her longing for the first time in ages. she doesn’t regret allowing her old self to reemerge. she regrets trying to kill the old nari in order to survive because that’s all she’s been doing these past few years -- surviving rather than living. 

                    she hopes in her next life, she chooses to live.

[acejaehwa]

AU: Moodboard 01/??: Game of Thrones: House Lannister

In which Jaehwa is an ambitious, morally ambiguous Lannister.

“A Lannister always pays his debts.”

The Iron Throne is mine.

[acentrpg-blog]

( * for our second task at ace, we will be exploring alternate universes with our characters ! 

this task officially starts today and will end on march 19th. for the 2 week period in which the task is ongoing, members can post up to 3 self-paras and 3 moodboards per week. as usual, members are allowed 1 moodboard and 1 self-para per week to elaborate aspects of their character in canon. the details of the 2 additional self-paras and moodboards per week must be related to your character in the setting of any AU you want. however, you can only create for an AU twice--once in a moodboard, and once in a self-para--before you must pick a different AU.

in summary, a total of 12 musings can be posted from now until the 19th. you are allowed 1 canon moodboard/self-para and 2 AU moodboards/self-paras per week. you can only create 1 moodboard and 1 self-para per AU.

i’m excited to see what you come up with! let’s have fun with this, y’all~ )

[acexbyungchul]

moodboards >> 10/? : gotham city sirens AU

song byungchul as pamela isley or poison ivy, a villain well-known for his ability to exude lethal antigens and intoxicating pheromones. these powers have always been with him, operating on a hardly noticeable level, but did not make themselves known until they were forced to the surface. at a young age, he was taken captive by a scientist that admired his beauty. the scientist believed he possessed the potential to be greater than human, and wanted to perform tests in hopes of stimulating mutant genes. it wasn’t until the scientist’s experimentation proved successful that byungchul could make his escape. too frequently, he has been taken advantage of by those enthralled by the pheromones his powers involuntarily produce in others, and now, he despises being perceived as alluring. anyone that objectifies or targets others find themselves being returned to the earth. if he were able to change his methods, redeeming himself as a superhero would not be impossible; however, for obvious reasons, he has difficulty trusting people above plants. thus far, he has only felt comfortable enough to allow kulap and nuri into his life at an intimate level. in order to protect them, he has helped them build an immunity to the biochemical toxins of his person. in doing so, not only can neither of them be poisoned by him, but they can no longer be poisoned by anyone. kulap kitsuwon as harleen quinzel or harley quinn, a whimsical and childish villain whose powers were born out of an abusive relationship with one bank chaiprasit or the joker. after psychologically tormenting kulap into submission and obedience, bank grew bored with how easily malleable kulap was and became more fascinated by what all the younger might do for him. curiosity laced with murderous intent: would kulap die for him? one of bank’s many attempts to kill kulap resulted in exposure to a radioactive vat that, to bank’s frustration, increased kulap’s bodily resistance to harm. having already exhausted the possibilities of manipulating kulap any further, and no longer able to hurt kulap physically in the ways he desired, bank realized the only option he had left, if he wished to continue harming kulap, would be to abandon him. he derived pleasure in kicking kulap back onto the streets. love-sick and disillusioned, kulap continued believing that bank could do no wrong. it was byungchul that helped him realize the truth. because of this, kulap became quickly infatuated with the older, and later found himself equally as affectionate for nuri, who offered to help them exact revenge. lee nuri as selina kyle or catwoman, a grey-moral thief that tends to align with those he feels most strongest towards as opposed to actually picking a side in the fight of good vs evil. after the death of his father, nuri found himself most often aligning with the needs of his remaining family, even if that meant going outside the law in order to support them. having to resort to criminal methods at such a young age took a toll on him; the use of a villainous alias for so long has permanently created a divide in his personality, creating two distinct halves as a psychological means to disassociate himself from his life of crime.

unlike his criminal counterparts, nuri’s strength comes from rigorous training. it would not be untrue to say that his only “super” power is the immunity to toxic chemicals, and even that was given to him by byungchul as a token of trust. these two had crossed paths many times in their endeavors before finally deciding to ally with one another, because even the most self-isolating of individuals take comfort in the company of those who are similar to them.

later, when byungchul brought kulap into nuri’s life, and he heard of the horrors the youngest of the three had lived through, offering his loyalty was no question. like byungchul, he wished to protect kulap. when the idea of vengeance came to the table, it was nuri who assumed charge of planning their operation, and kulap and byungchul offered no complaints-- of their trio, nuri had survived the longest in the throes of gotham and did so without the use of abilities beyond a human’s. clearly, he was best fit to lead.

[dcizzv]

kosum aromdee - moodboard 3/? {modern day alice (in wonderland) au}

“is it mad to pray for better hallucinations?”

[lluxzero]

bang myungsoo - moodboard 4/? {modern day robin hood au}

“keep your chin up and someday there’ll be happiness again-- you’ll see.”

[acejaehwa]

AU: Moodboard 02/??: Heaven/Hell- Lucifer.

In which Jaehwa is a fallen angel of heaven.

“And so the most beloved and beautiful of God’s angels fell to Earth and became the devil, Lucifer. A punishment for loving him too much.

[acentrpg-blog]

( * for our first ace task, we will be making music playlists for our characters ! these playlists will be worth 1 point per song until the playlist reaches 10 songs. that is to say, if your playlist has 11 songs, it will still be worth 10 points, and so on. if you wish to make a second playlist, your second playlist will be worth 5 points regardless of the number of songs on this playlist. the concept for your second playlist must be different from the concept of your first playlist. when you’ve made your playlist, please make a post including either a link to the playlist or a tracklist of the songs. if you don’t make a post about your playlist, you won’t be eligible to receive points! )

[acexbyungchul]

moodboards >> 9/? : teen wolf AU, in which @acexnuri​ is now his best friend’s keeper when the full moon comes, but he doesn’t mind byungchul’s lunar affliction and feral-based superpowers. quite the opposite, in fact. he thinks he might like it if byungchul decided to bite him someday.

got a curse we cannot lift shines when the sunset shifts there's a cure comes with a kiss the bite that binds the gift that gives.

[98blossom]

moodboard: harry potter au -- in which nari is a hufflepuff with a fondness for magical creatures and plants

HOLD ON to me as we go as we roll down this UNFAMILIAR road and although this wave is stringing us ALONG just know YOU’RE NOT ALONE

[acejaehwa]

Valentine’s Day isn’t just a normal day... it’s my birthday. Allow me to bring the love to your life.

[dcizzv]

kosum aromdee - moodboard 4/? {greek mythology au: persephone - queen of the underworld}

“he saw my bones beneath, and gave me half his kingdom.

do you really think i are the fruit unwillingly?”