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sugar-kisser · 5 years

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Kim Hongjoong « Kissing Booth (RW)

orignal warnings: none featuring: Seonghwa, Wooyoung, Yunho, Mingi, San, Jongho, & Yeosang word count: 4911

Life blooms once again after a frosty, but with very little snow fall, winter. You have been preparing a little booth for the upcoming school carnival in three weeks time. All winter you worked on your proposal which you then got approved from your school’s student counsel. You usually aren’t one to go and be so involved with school activities and spirit, but it’s currently the last semester of your senior year. All year you’ve tried your best to live the last year of freedom before enslaving yourself to college with all the work, anxiety, and wallet draining it comes with.

“Oh please won’t you help me with my booth?” You beg your best friend, Mary, a transfer Thailand student who you befriended after being paired up for a project in your photography class- you as photographer and Mary as the model.

“No!” She laughs, “no offense I’m not really about kissing people, especially from this school.” You pout in defeat. But hold up, hold up. Kissing people? From school? What? Well you actually had decided to do a kissing booth for your school carnival. A harmless kissing booth. Your intention is to find a big group of people, boys, girls, and nonbianary students from your school and just have a good time. There really isn’t any harm in kissing anyone, right? There shouldn’t be, no one is forced to do it. Your plan is for it all to be voluntary and if people don’t want to all of a sudden, not a problem for you. You understand if they don’t want to or have a sudden change of mind.

“How about this,” Mary starts seeing you dramatically pout despite her also rolling her eyes at you, “I will help you find people and run the second half of the booth so you can take your siblings around the carnival.”

“Really? You would do that?” You asked almost touched that she would even give up some of her time just so you can take your siblings knowing how much you’re wanting to bring them.

“Yeah,” Mary chirps, “but you can not complain about who I get. I get who I get.”

“Deal!” You laugh. The two of you finally part ways and you quickly hurry to your car and start it up. The drive home is peaceful and before you know it you’re pulling off to the side of the large driveway you share with the three other townhouses including yours. You enter through your front door and immediately greeted by four loud, giggly kids.

“Y/N!” They all cheer and begin jumping and climbing all over you. You pick up the twins, one in each arm and sitting on separate hips.

“Now why aren’t you two in school?” You ask looking down at your seven and nine-year-old brothers, Sammy and Johnny.

“Dad said we didn’t have to go!” Johnny declares before running off back towards their mini playroom they decided to drag from upstairs into the living room with the small tv on playing their favorite show, Paw Patrol. You take a deep sigh and look down the hall at your father’s study. He must of forgotten to send Sammy and Johnny to school; that or he never left his study last night. You look away with a sad feeling growing in your chest a little. You can only hope your father will grow past your mother’s dreadful passing. Ever since it happened three years with the birth of the twins he disappeared into his study and rarely leaves… leaving you to raise your four siblings.

You quickly swallow your sadness when you see your baby sister’s big eyes looking up at you as her head rests on your shoulder.

“How was your day, Areum?” You ask her with a big smile.

“Boring. You weren’t here to play,” she grumbles. You lightly sigh and smile at your only other sister. You feel bad because she’s not interested in the boys’s toys and wants to play with dolls or color with you but you have school five days a week, and you’re not even counting homework then.

“How about we go paint in the garage?” You suggest.

“I wanna paint too,” Jin, the other twin, pouts.

“Of course Jinnie,” you tell him and give them both small little kisses on their cheeks causing the toddlers to giggle.

“Let’s go play outside!” You declare catching Sammy and Johnny’s attention. You set down the twins and all four kids rush to the back door to grab their shoes. You smile and walk into the kitchen and gasp at the sight.

“Hey!” You turn around and look at the kids who look like puppies who deny that they torn up the couch. You sigh and rub your face.

“Please ask dad or me for help. Plus you had your lunch boxes to eat out of today,” you tell them, “we’ll go outside once I clean all of this up.” You turn and look at potentially three different cereals all over the floor and the dried milk on the counter, cabinets, and floor. You quickly get a broom and sweep up all the food and place it into the trash and even clean out the pantry from all the fallen food, which almost looked worse than the kitchen itself. You then move onto the milk and gently clean the cabinets before moving to the counter top and floor. You sigh and run the rag under water, ring out all the milk, and drape the rag over the faucet to dry. You brush your hair out of you face, head up to your room you share with the twins, quickly change into better clothes to paint in, and tie up your hair. You hurry down the stair case and see the four kids sitting on the couch watching Netflix.

“Okay, let’s go!” You announce and they all quickly jump off the couch leaving the tv on. You quickly turn it off and follow them out into the dimly lit garage. You hit the garage door button too high for the kids to reach. Johnny and Sammy quickly take a soccer ball out just past the garage and into the driveway to kick around.

“Jin if you want to go play soccer before you paint you can,” You tell Jin as he watches his older brothers play. He smiles up at you before calling to Johnny and Sammy telling them he wants to join. “Come on Areum, let’s paint,” you tell your little sister. You both take a seat in the garage and Areum sits down next to you. You pull a canvas off the small table next to you and small water color paints and hand them to Areum. You reach for a water bottle and the small cup she uses to paint and fill it up just slightly and give it to her.

“Do you know what you’re going to paint?” You ask her.

“Nope. I figure it out later,” she cheerfully tells you, “I wanna watch you.” You laugh and turn to your large wood canvas that’s outlined and ready to paint. You pull down the red and white paint cans along with brushes and begin your project.

After a while your focus is broken as you hear the all familiar motorbike enter the driveway.

“Move for Hongjoong boys!” You call to your brothers who instantly gab their ball and hurry to the entrance of the garage, giving more than plenty of room for Hongjoong. Once the teenager’s bike is pulled into the garage of his house, across from yours, the boys hurry back out and begin playing again. You watch you brothers for a moment before your attention is brought to Hongjoong.

Kim Hongjoong, one of the most popular boys at your school. He’s your age as well as Park Seonghwa, one of his seven best friends. They all play soccer or lacrosse as well as being in a choir-like club? Is that even the best way to describe it? Hongjoong and his seven best friends all have a talent for creating music and singing, so they have a club with them as the only members. So they easily have all the girls in school swoon. You on the other hand know Hongjoong semi-well considering you’ve moved across the street from him after your mother’s death. He and his family occasionally help you with your siblings.

“Sammy, pass the ball!” Hongjoong voice calls as he hurries out into the driveway to kick the ball with the boys for a couple minutes. You smile as you watch before you turn to continue to paint.

“Joongie,” Areum calls abandoning her still blank canvas to run up to the approaching boy.

“Arie,” Hongjoong smiles as he picks up the running three-year-old, “Hello Y/N.”

“Hi Hongjoong,” you turn and smile at the boy, “how are you?”

“Good. Got out of practice about half an hour ago. Do you need help with anything?” Hongjoong offers. You ponder a moment thinking over all you have to do but deny his offer as well as thanking him for it.

“Areum are you painting with your sister?” Hongjoong asks setting her down.

“I’m trying. But I don’t know what to paint,” she tells him as she shows him the blanket canvas.

“How about you paint me something?” Hongjoong tells her, “draw me the prettiest thing you can.” Areum lightly gasps and nods her head with a big smile.

“Okay!” Hongjoong smiles at her enthusiasm.

“Take your time on it,” Hongjoong reminds her before standing up fully from crouching down, “if you need me. You know where to find me.” You nod your head and wave goodbye to Hongjoong and he leaves your garage. He takes the ball from your brothers real quick but passes it back to them telling them goodbye before grabbing his backpack next to his bike and heading inside.

“Do you know what you’re going to paint for Hongjoong?” You ask Areum looking over your shoulder at her.

“Yes! But you can’t see!” Areum protectively hides her canvas.

“Okay. I won’t look,” you laugh and turn back to your wooden board and continue to paint in the first coat of red paint. You stand up from your spot and quickly grab your phone from the table and hook it up to your small portable speakers and begin to blast your music. You bop your head and even slightly begin to dance around to one of your favorite songs that happens to come on shuffle first.

“Areum dance with me,” you call to your little sister, crouching down to pick her up. You jump around with her in your arms causing her to giggle.

Hongjoong enters his room and when he hears the music coming from outside he approaches his desk that sits in front of the window, and he smiles as he looks out to see you dancing in your garage with your baby sister. Your younger brothers even join you and you set Areum down so she can dance on the floor with her siblings. Hongjoong stands, leaning up against his chair with his hands watching the five of you dance and have fun, admiring that you give your little siblings so much love while trying to maintain a school, social, and small work life. Hongjoong’s phone ringing takes his attention away from you, and he answers the phone after seeing Seonghwa’s caller ID.

——

The day of the carnival finally comes around and Mary had managed to get together a group of eight people which you thank them all. You were even surprised to see she managed to round up Seonghwa and Wooyoung for the job. You explain the rules and run down of the show and let them know they can back out at any time. You send everyone off to just hang out and you hear a familiar voice call after you.

“Y/N! I’m sorry I’m late. I made sure Mary had everything she needed for your siblings,” you turn to see Hongjoong hurrying up to you, an extremely shocked expression on your face. Three of the eight boys from the club ATEEZ? Wow, this might actually be a successful night. But Hongjoong? He’s one of the last people you would of expected to have joined your booth, personally you thought.

“Hongjoong. I didn’t know you signed up?” You tell him.

“It was more of a last minute decision. Seonghwa talked me into it,” Hongjoong cheekily smiles while slightly scratches the back of his head.

“Oh,” you laugh, “well he can explain everything to you. I’ve got a couple last minute things to set up.” Hongjoong nods his head and heads over to his other friends who smirk devilishly at him.

“So you came,” Seonghwa smirks as Hongjoong puts his hands into his leather jacket, “you have a plan?” Hongjoong puckers out his lips and shakes his head.

“Oh this is gonna be good,” Wooyoung laughs.

“I don’t have a plan. But I know someone who does,” Hongjoong clarifies for the two boys who instantly shut up, but raise their eyebrows in interest, “you just gotta wait and see.”

“He’s got no plan,” Wooyoung mumbles crossing his arms causing Hongjoong to roll his eyes. The three boys continue in conversation with one another as you finally finish setting up the last little bit of your booth. You made sure the deck leading out onto the small stage had no liquid spills and that it was clear of all hazardous items except a table you could potentially and accidentally walk into if you’re not careful.

“Hey Y/N!” One of the girls calls for you. You turn to find a few girls Mary is friends with that you aren’t to keened about. But Mary is also a popular girl, so you can’t blame her for being friend with who she wants.

“Hana,” you politely greet, “what’s up?”

“I know I originally signed up to go first, but is there anyway I could change that?” She asks.

“Yeah, of course. What spot would you rather do?” You ask her.

“I think Jade and I want to switch spots,” Hana explains pointing to the girl to her right. You nod you head and quickly make the change.

“Not a problem. Jade that means you have about a minute before you need to go out,” you smile at her before walking over to check on everyone else.

“Why do I have to do this again?” Jade asks rolling her eyes while spitting her gum into a small trash can.

“Because I don’t want Hongjoong to think I’m a jerk. Y/N and Hongjoong go years back,” Hana explains as if the reason was obvious.

“But I don’t want Wooyoung to think I’m a jerk,” Jade counters.

“I’ll make sure he won’t,” Hana reassures her friend. Jade takes a deep breath before grabbing the blindfold from a stage hand who quickly approaches the girls. Jade walks back up to Y/N.

“Hey Y/N, do you mind if I tie the blindfold around you and take if off you to put on me? If any of that makes sense? I just don’t want to ruin my makeup or hair,” Jade explains. You find the request a little weird, but you want to make sure everyone is happy and agree to it. You hand your clipboard off to someone else and turn around for Jade to tie the blindfold around you.

“Good luck,” Jade snickers in your hear before pushing you past the curtains. You trip and fall onto the floor of the actual stage. Your body tenses in fear and embarrassment when you hear a bunch of people laugh and clap.

“Hey. I thought Y/N was running the booth, not one of the contestants,” Wooyoung states as he peeks through the cracks of the curtains from the other side of the stage.

“She shouldn’t be? Why is she out there?” Hongjoong asks hurrying up next to Wooyoung to take a look. Hongjoong could visibly see her shake.

“It’s now or never,” Wooyoung looks at him, “quickly go off the side right there.” Hongjoong bolts off the side of the stage and quickly approaches from the back of the crowd. Just as someone was about to walk up on the stage to help you up Hongjoong stops him and takes the stage instead.

“You okay?” Hongjoong asks while trying to mask his voice.

“Yeah. Just tripped coming out,” you answer nervously. Hongjoong takes your hands and helps you up.

“Don’t be nervous,” Hongjoong smiles looking at you.

“I’ve just never kissed anyone before. That’s all,” you answer him with a small shy smile, but Hongjoong had already known this. You were slightly known as someone who didn’t go around dating people especially with the life you live.

“You’re going to be fine,” Hongjoong whispers, not even trying to mask his voice.

“Hongjoong?” You ask. But instead of Hongjoong answer he lightly and quickly presses his lips to yours. You never thought you would find yourself kissing your neighbor, one of the few people who is there for you daily despite his own life. But maybe you should of seen it coming? When Hongjoong pulls his lips away, leaving you breathless, he pulls the blindfold off your head. You hair slightly stands up in serval different directions which he lightly laughs and pats down your hair. Everyone cheers around you which only prompts Hongjoong to take your hands and kiss your cheek before the two of you of you disappear behind the curtains and backstage. You pass by an almost fuming Hana, but Seonghwa and Wooyoung slowly clap.

“Didn’t think you’d have the balls Joong,” Wooyoung teases before turning to you, “he hasn’t shut up for weeks about this,” Wooyoung gestures to the booth, “and he hasn’t shut up about you for months. And I mean months.” Seonghwa quickly smacks the younger boy upside the head to shut him up.

“Excuse the child,” Seonghwa tells him before slightly leaning in, “but he wasn’t lying.” Hongjoong smacks him causing both boys to laugh.

“I am here! Don’t start!” Mary calls hurrying backstage, holding both twins and having Sammy and Johnny quickly following her.

“He improvised because Jade and Hana planned something,” Seonghwa tells her.

“So you’re telling me I missed it!?” Mary exclaims setting down the twins.

“You knew?” You asks.

“Well duh,” Marry smirks, “but thank god. Because look how cute you two are and your siblings already love him. It’s perfect.” You cheeks turn to a deep pink, but you’re quickly distracted by your siblings running to you.

“Hey guys,” You smile and ruffle each of their hair and give them all hugs.

“Y/N we wanna go play!” Jin demands.

“Guys. I can’t take you out just yet I still ha-“

“Don’t worry about it. I can take over from here. It’s why I came early,” Mary cuts you off, “well that and there was a whole plan, but I’m here now.” You laugh at your best friend before standing up to hug her.

“Thank you,” you tell her before turning around to your siblings. Areum already in Hongjoong’s arms.

“We’re ready,” Hongjoong smiles, only causing you to smile wider. You offer to carry Jin and pick up the small three-year-old when he nods his head.

“We’ll take good care of everything here. Don’t worry!” Mary calls after you six when you walk out.

“Don’t run too far ahead please!” You call after Sammy and Johnny who also immediately take off.

“They’ll be fine. I’ve got my eyes on the trouble makers,” Hongjoong jokes.

“You didn’t need to do that earlier,” you quietly tell Hongjoong after a minute.

“What do you mean?” Hongjoong stops walking and you stop as well.

“You didn’t need to save me from that embarrassment. I know I’m one of the last people you’d ever want to be with,” you explain to him.

“Y/N, what are you talking about? I actually had this whole night planned. I mean Hana and Jade went and messed it up a little. But I don’t regret what I did. I’ve wanted to do that for a long time,” Hongjoong counters, his face dropping in slight doubt.

“You even say he’s soulmate from other life time,” Areum states and Hongjoong bewilderedly looks at Areum and then looks at your wide eyed expression.

“Areum where did you hear that?” You ask her.

“Your diary,” she giggles.

“You said I’m your soulmate from another life time?” Hongjoong smiles, instantly finding something to tease you about, but at the same time trying to save his own sanity of falling deeper in love with the girl standing before him.

“I- I mean. I wrote it thinking we wouldn’t be soulmates this time around. But I don’t know…,” you start, ��I guess is was just because of how easily we connected and how well we are around each other. You know, I’m pretty sure I wrote that during one of my sleepless nights.” You try to save yourself from this, but Hongjoong doesn’t seem to let up any time soon.

“So you think of me as a soulmate,” Hongjoong repeats taking a step closer towards you. If you thought your cheeks earlier were a deep pink, they’re now red and almost on fire.

“Can’t deny it now. You’re stuck with me,” Hongjoong giggles before taking your free hand and pulls you along to a booth Sammy and Johnny have been patiently waiting at.

“Alright who want’s a toy,” Hongjoong asks as he sets Areum down on the floor.

“You came to the right booth kids,” Yunho, one of Hongjoong’s other friends leans over the table to greet the kids, “Mingi get the rings!” Mingi, Yunho’s best friend and another from the ATEEZ music group, gathers up a bunch of rings for the kids to throw.

“So I assume the plan worked,” Yunho leans off to the side for the kids to have room to throw the rings. Hongjoong picks up Jin and Areum and places them on the table to help give them an advantage due to their height. You might as well dye the color of you cheeks pink at this point in the night.

“Ahhhh it did!” Yunho cheers.

“How many people knew about this?” You ask, not really directed at Hongjoong or Yunho.

“Way too many. I couldn’t count them on both of my hands,” Mingi calls as he stands closer to the bottles to watch the kids throw them, “Yunho most of these kids have better aim than San and Jongho.” Mingi states as Johnny lands his second bottle, Sammy trying to land his second, and both the twins just landing their first. Yunho looks behinds him and laughs seeing the messy of the other rings on the floor.

“What prizes do you guys want?” Yunho asks the twins when they run out of rings first. Areum points to a small little kitten which Mingi retrieves for her immediately, and Jin looks around and before he could pick Mingi pulls down a small Paw Patrol toy.

“How about this? Hongjoong is always singing the song,” Mingi laughs.

“Look Jinnie it’s your favorite too,” Hongjoong points and Jin thanks Mingi for the toy.

“And what would you two like?” Yunho lays his arms and practically his chest on the table to be eye level with the boys.

“I want the dinosaur please!” Johnny points to the little dinosaur at the top.

“And you?” Yunho looks over to Sammy.

“The penguin please!” Sammy points to the baby penguin. Yunho smiles and pulls down both toys and hands them over.

“You guys should go play San and Jongho’s fishing game!” Mingi tells them before leaning down to the kids, “they have candy.” The instantly cheer and you and Hongjoong stare at the cheeky boys in disbelief.

“Hey we’re just trying to promote,” Mingi shrugs his shoulders. Hongjoong and you follow the kids who are tracking down the fishing game booth.

“There!” Jin points before taking off towards the booth.

“Well you must be Y/N’s famous siblings!” San crouches down to greet them, “Hongjoong always talks about you guys.”

“Are you here to play?” Jongho asks crouching down holding four fishing poles for them.

“Yes please,” Areum tells him. Jongho hands everyone the poles and San even moves the pool closer to them.

“Pick up three fish,” Jongho explains holding up three fingers.

“They better not be put on a sugar high,” you tell the two younger boys.

“We would never,” San cheekily smiles at you causing you to laugh.

“I caught one!” Areum giggles pulling up a fish. San reaches down and takes the fish off her hook so she can get her second fish. The other boys quickly collect their three fish as well as Areum. Jongho quickly prepares their four little bags of candy before handing them over. The all thank him and San goes to open his mouth.

“We’re going to go see Yeosang. We’ll be on our way,” Hongjoong stops San who smiles brightly before waving at the kids. Hongjoong guides you and the four kids towards the mini ferris wheel in the back of the carnival.

“They let Yeosang be in charge of this?” You ask looking over at Hongjoong.

“Nah. He’s just helping the kids on an off. A professional is operating it,” Hongjoong laughs before looking at the kids, “you guys wanna go on the ferris wheel?” They all nod their heads so Hongjoong collects their candy bags and stuffed toys and calls Yeosang’s name. The blonde haired boy looks up from his phone and waves at them. Hongjoong points to Yeosang and send the kids running his way.

“Why do I feel like you planed this entire thing? Almost like the entire carnival was set up for them?” You laugh taking a seat next to Hongjoong on a bench next to the ferris wheel.

“Well,” Hongjoong starts, “I knew whether or not you were going to do a booth your siblings would come, so I begged, and I mean begged, for the boys to have booths for younger kids so they could play and have fun. I knew they if they had fun you would be happy.”

“Well thank you,” you tell him and boldly grab his hand, “it really means a lot.”

“I do really mean all of this,” Hongjoong tells you, “I’m just afraid you don’t see me the same.”

“Are you kidding?” You laugh, “Hongjoong. I’m so touched that you’ve done all of this just for me and for my siblings. How could I not just fall in love?” Just those eight small words that formed one simple sentence sent fireworks off in Hongjoong’s heart.

“Y/N!” Sammy’s voice calls from the top of the ferris wheel. He sit’s with Areum and just below them is Jin and Johnny. All four of them waving. You and Hongjoong wave back at them.

“Y/N,” Hongjoong calls to you as you watch the ferris wheel move again and watch the excitement in your little sibling’s faces.

“Yeah?” You turn to face the boy who now is turned more on his side on the bench.

“How about we go on a picnic tomorrow. The little ones can come if they want. I don’t mind. But as a real date?” Hongjoong offers.

“I would love that,” you smile.

After your siblings got off the ferris wheel you decide to call it a night since it was already an hour past all of their bedtimes. You take your siblings home, Hongjoong following behind you on his motorcycle to make sure you all got home safe. He even helps you put them all to bed and make sure their teeth are brushed from all the candy they ate. After you walk Hongjoong to the door and the two of you stand at the doorframe, Hongjoong just outside and you just inside.

“Thank you again for tonight,” you tell him, “and thank you for helping getting them to bed.”

“You know I always love to help you,” Hongjoong smiles and the two of you stand in silence for a moment before Hongjoong takes a step closer to you. He reaches out for you cheeks gently and places a feather light kiss to you lips for goodnight.

“I’ll see you tomorrow,” Hongjoong smiles when he pulls away. He waves and walks down the porch of your front door and to his house. You slowly raise your fingertips to you lips and smile, still barely feeling his lips on yours. You close the door and head to bed yourself.

Hongjoong opens the door to his room and closes it behind him, flipping on the light. He tosses his keys and his jacket onto his bed before looking over at his desk, something catching his attention. He walks up and picks up the canvas Areum had drawn for him a few weeks ago. A childish portrait of you was painted on the canvas with the words “soulmate from life” and Hongjoong smiles brightly. Finally figuring out what Areum meant when she wrote it down. Now he for sure knew himself. If they were soulmates in a previous life, nothing was going to stop him from being Y/N’s soulmate in this life.

#ateez #ateez imagines #ateez kim hongjoong #ateez hongjoong #hongjoong #ateez x reader #atiny #carnival #ateez au #high school au #kpop imagines #ateez drabbles #ateez scenarios #kim hongjoong

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altitudeofalcatraz · 1 year

Note

I would love to hear about your iterator ocs!

Alright!! Once again, gonna try keeping it as simple as possible, nothing too detailed! (Copying RI and WOTM from the post before this, using this as some sort of master list i assume)

There is art in this as well!! Might have been too much but I like being extra about my ocs

Haphazardly Throwing Needles HTN is the third eldest iterator of the local group. Back when the ancients were still around, they always had a distaste for them, thinking they were making too much of a fuss over the cycles. If they were really good enough to transcend, then they should be able to do it themselves without the help of supercomputers. They always were bitter towards the ancients, refusing to help them as much as they could, which sparked a multitude of arguments. When the mass extinction happened, HTN felt immense relief, as the ancients only ever caused negative effects on them.

Even before the extinction, HTN didn’t bother much with trying to solve ‘The Great Problem’, preferring to research the local flora and fauna instead. With the ancients gone, they could focus even more time into this. When they first found out about the rot, they grew curious about its creation and upbringing, and in a careless experiment, purposefully tried to grow the rot in their systems. It ended up working, and unlike many iterators, HTN was quite content with it. Over time, they modified the rot and helped it grow, creating an almost mutualism relationship with it. The rot would feast on the fauna around the superstructure, and in turn protect and surprisingly keep HTN in good conditions, causing them to be one of the most resilient structures of the local group. There is little life in the superstructure besides the rot, due to the constant feeding and absorption. The Machine does visit HTN, and is almost always met with rudeness and bitterness. This comes from a place of care, though, as HTN is concerned about Machine’s reckless travelling around something dangerous like the rot, as they still don’t have full control of it around the superstructure.

Sight Through Blindness STB is the eldest of the local group, and is treated with the most respect. During the time of ancients, she was rarely chatted with, left to focus by herself. STB was built by the ancients with no overseers nor sight, as they believed being able to see the outside world would only distract from work, and that being confined to herself would make her work diligently and quickly. She had been reinforced over the course of the cycles, making her more resilient to outside forces. STB did not mind the lack of outside stimulation, doing as she was ordered and working tirelessly to help with whatever was needed.

After the loss of the ancients, STB finally opened up, establishing connections with the local group more often, now helping them with problems instead of the ancients. She still works on trying to solve the great problem, even if she herself doubts it ever working, since that was what she was made to do. She is very thoughtful and patient, taking time to listen and help the iterators with whatever they are troubled with. This makes her a very popular go-to for the group when they are stressed or overworked. Surprise visits from The Machine are always exciting for her, as they are the only thing to have ever entered her chamber for more than just maintenance. She is very gentle with them, and makes sure to always prep Machine for their next journey.

Deafening Silence DS is the fourth eldest of the local group. The relationship with the ancients living on top of him was very straightforward : he provided them with their needs of living, and they provided him with the same. There was never any conversation between them, a very silent relationship. All he did was work, never communicating with anything, including other iterators. Some wonder why he was even given access to communications, with the lack of activity from him.

After the mass extinction, DS almost immediately stopped working on the great problem. He had no purpose to do it anymore. In his eyes, it was worthless, only doing it because the ancients were around to watch him. For many cycles now, DS has essentially been doing nothing. The only thing he worked on after the extinction was finding a way to hack into the chatlogs and gain access to private chats between iterators. All he does nowadays is sit at the bottom of his chamber, acting lifeless, watching chatlogs of the local group without ever responding. The group is aware of this behaviour, and have tried countless times to contact him, never getting any replies. Some have sent overseers to his chamber in the past, but he almost instantly deactivates them, causing most to give up on that route. The Machine has never directly interacted with DS, as he has found ways to block Machine out, such as clogging pipes and tunnels to deny access.

Denial Of Normality

DON is the second eldest iterator of the local group. When she was first built, she wasn’t instantly put to work, given a bit of time to study and get used to the world around her before fully indulging herself in various problems and tasks. Due to this, she grew very intrigued in the surrounding fauna early on, taking any free time she could to play around and research it. Ever since her creation, she’s always been the most prideful and egotistical out of the local group. Constantly she separates herself from her puppet when speaking, having to remind anyone that talks to her that she is in fact, more than any simple creature can understand, and her puppet is just there so they can comprehend her. Her pride does not mean she doesn’t have kindness, as she is very active within the local group, and is welcoming to help out when needed.

After the extinction, DON ditched any work the ancients wanted and focused on studying and creating genetically modified creatures from the fauna nearby. It was messy at first, but she got the hang of it, creating many experiments from whatever her heart desired. Most of the life around her superstructure is said modified beings, very little creatures from beforehand exist, as they have been killed by the newcomers or have fled to new land. Overtime, her experiments have gotten more drastic, creating some things that shouldn’t be possible by normal standards. At some point, she began to practice modifying already alive creatures, starting by experimenting on her puppet and overseers. She was the creator of The Machine, originally making it for VSH and WOTM since they had no experience in genetic modification. She gets visited by them sometimes, often engaging in training and playing with them to keep up on their skills.

Violent Sky Hues

VSH is the fourth youngest of the local group, made shortly before WOTM. they were made unusually high up in the sky, far above the clouds and other superstructures. This caused the group of ancients living on top of them to be isolationist towards other groups of ancients, communicating only with those on the structure. VSH was frequently talked to and communicated with, the ancients treating them as simply another member of the civilization, making them very fond of the ancients. Despite them originally being built with the great problem in mind, when they were actually finished the ancients instead simply gave them the task to provide for them and keep them company.

When the mass extinction happened VSH was saddened, but their sadness turned into curiosity, beginning to start a hobby of collecting, reading, and archiving pearls left behind by the now gone civilization. They could not easily gain these pearls, so with the help of WOTM they convinced DON to make The Machine for them, as a way to transport pearls from structure to structure. VSH considers themselves Machine’s “dad”, getting visited by them the most due to the frequent pearl shipments. VSH gets very violent if something tries to remove the pearls from their chamber, resorting to instantly killing the thing that attempted it. Besides that, they are very lighthearted, and talkative, constantly in some sort of chat with WOTM.

Harmless Abandonment

HA is the youngest iterator of the local group. When the ancients were still around, they had begun building HA, only to abruptly stop due to reasons unbeknownst to the local group. They had most of the necessary equipment to run, minus communications, but suffered from constant malfunctions, buildup, and breakdowns. They were also never equipped with overseers, causing them to be unaware of the outside world. For a long time, they were not powered on, laying dormant in the background.

When the ancients disappeared, the local group took it upon themselves to try and power on HA. Using The Machine as their carrier and messenger, they slowly transferred materials from their own cans to HA, in an attempt to build as much as they could with the slugcat, and get him running again. The main contributors were VSH, WOTM, DON, and STB. RI wanted to help, but the group fought against it as he was unstable already and could pose liabilities if transferring stuff from him to HA. After countless cycles of work, they had finally gotten a response from the unfinished iterator, using Machine to retrieve messages from him. After his initial awakening, Machine has been sent a multitude of times to continue helping to repair and fix whatever they could. During these adventures, they would bring outside items they found to HA, who often used them to decorate his puppet. Since HA does not have access to communications, VSH and WOTM both have a couple overseers near him at all times to talk and check up on him, which he appreciates. Occasionally the other iterators also send over overseers to have a chat, but those overseers don’t usually stay for long. Since their main communication is through overseers, HA rarely interacts with STB, as they have to communicate either through another iterator or Machine.

Requisite Betrayal

RB is the second youngest of the local group. When built by their iterators, they were specifically designed around the kill code taboo, both subconsciously and consciously doing whatever they can to keep their superstructure in perfect conditions. They were meant to exist for eternity, the ultimate guide and solution to the great problem. The ancients did constant work and repairs on them, keeping them constantly up to date and working 100% functionally. They were built in such a way that they could survive even with minimal water, by running on something similar to a ‘battery saver’. They were rarely treated as a living thing, ancients too focused on making sure they were physically intact to care about their mentality.

Even after the extinction RB continues to run in excellent conditions, facility having modified creatures within to do minimal repairs wherever they can access, keeping them ahead of the other iterators. They are very blunt and logical, not understanding jokes or casual chatting and preferring to have discussions about work and other scientific things. A while after The Machine was created, RB had made his own purposed organism, The Rogue. It’s purpose was much like the creatures inside of their structure, keeping RB in as perfect condition as possible. They were occasionally sent on missions to other, older structures of decaying iterators to ‘borrow’ (steal) things such as neuron flies and rarefaction cells to use as replacements in case any of RB’s parts were damaged and unable to be repaired. The Machine occasionally visits RB, but when The Rogue is around they usually don’t stay for long.

Reckless Infatuation

RI is basically a middle child in terms of iterator ages, directly in the middle of eldest and youngest. During creation, he was very haphazardly put together, as the ancients building him weren't very fond of the work they were doing, and so "gave up" during the process. This caused a lot of mechanical failures to happen, most notably the seemingly random miniature explosions that happened around his superstructure, especially frequent inside the chamber where his puppet was. Due to these unpredictable and sometimes dangerous explosions, he was deemed unfit to live on, and so he never really had ancients near him during their existence. The only ancients that he ever came into contact with are those sent to try and fix his failures when they occurred, and even then that was sparse. This sparked some form of clinginess in him, as he was very social and constantly sought attention. Anytime the ancients would come into his chamber he would try and prevent them from leaving in any way he could, causing strain on him and his puppet. The last visit he ever had with an ancient ended up with him getting ripped off of the arm that connects him to the wall (cords/umbilical still intact.)

He currently still has access to communications, and constantly pesters any iterator in the local group when they care to listen to him. It's mostly STB, VSH, and WOTM that he talks to, as they are the most open to the constant chatter. RI loves The Machine, labelling it as one of his best friends, becoming ecstatic whenever he sees them. The Machine, on the other hand, isn't too keen on visiting him, as he has a habit of trying to cling onto and prevent them from leaving, which never feels good.

Whispering Of The Many

WOTM is the third youngest iterator of her local group, made shortly after Violent Sky Hues (VSH). The ancients that built and lived on her were lively, very. . . "Dramatic", in her words. They'd always have some drama, some argument, some issue going on, and WOTM was all ears to listen in and learn about the situation. Many would come to her for problem-solving, second opinions, or even just to rant and ramble. Over time she basically became the iterator equivalent of a gossip girl. It was a common occurrence for her to talk about the latest argument or problem to the local iterators, and sometimes other iterators entirely. Not only did she listen in on all of this, but anything interesting that she overheard was likely to be written into data pearls, for safekeeping (she thought it was fun to record all of this and look back at it, since there was never a dull moment in her civilization and she wanted to keep memories of it.)

After the mass extinction of the ancients, she entered an almost depressed-like state for some cycles, she was unused to the sudden silence of the world around her. With the help of the local iterators, she quickly left this state, and now spends most of her time chatting with the local group or helping VSH archive pearls. She treats herself as The Machine's "mom" of sorts, despite not creating them, and takes great pride in her relationship with them.

#rainworld #rain world #rainworld downpour #rainworld oc #iterator oc #art #altitudes art #altitudes chats #rw haphazardly throwing needles #rw sight through blindness #rw deafening silence #rw denial of normality #rw violent sky hues #rw harmless abandonment #rw requisite betrayal #rw reckless infatuation #rw whispering of the many #rw the machine #rw the rogue

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