#the forsaken should be allowed to have cell phones that still work for some reason because it'd be funny

[moghedien]

actually the absolute funniest way to reveal Lanfear's identity would be for her to have a scene alone with Rand or something and in the scene there is very clearly something that looks like a cell phone in frame and its just there and it looks like a mistake that somehow never got noticed and then the scene ends with her alone in the room and she just picks up the phone and starts texting Ishamael

[prose-byanyothername]

Cloud Nine (Chapter Three)

Fandom: Mystic Messenger Pairing: Jumin/MC (you) Rating: Fluff Summary: The RFA members say that MC was trapped, but how could anyone claim to be trapped when she said so herself that she was in heaven? Retells the events of MC visiting Jumin in his pent-house. Set between days 7-11 in Jumin’s route. (* spoiler alert!)

[Chapter Two] | [Chapter Four]

Chapter Three: Promises

MC’s eyes fluttered open slowly as she felt a vibrating underneath her pillow. It must not have been long since she first fell asleep because the RFA chat started to blow up in notifications. The dark room contrasted greatly from the brightness of her phone, and she soon found herself squinting as she unlocked her phone. She took a quick look around the area, hoping that Jumin wouldn’t scold her for being awake at this hour. But when it seemed that the area was empty, she touched the RFA app on her phone and decided to see what was going on.

When she logged in, Yoosung immediately started gushing to her about how he played his LOLOL game that he always talked about but this time with incredibly smooth graphics and an immensely fast Internet connection. This indicated that he had probably gotten to Seven’s house safely.

Yoosung★: MC, are you okay?

Yoosung★: Isn’t it super uncomfortable sleeping at Jumin’s house?

Yoosung★: Zen seems worried…

“Zen has nothing to worry about~ I feel like I’m in heaven.” MC reassured him. She was worried that, now, yet another person was going to be overly concerned for her own well-being. After all, she was fine. She was practically enjoying herself here, over anything.

Yoosung later told the brunette that Seven apparently hadn’t moved from the computer all night since he got there and how his eyes were glazed over, as if in a trance. They exchanged small conversations back and forth, mostly bouncing back to the same rush of ardor he felt whenever he played a match. If Yoosung never got a girlfriend, it’s very possible that he could marry that God forsaken game. He stuck around until he was suddenly asked to get off for a reason left unexplained. She barely squeezed in her farewell as he exited the chatroom when in his place immediately came another member.

[Jaehee Kang has entered the chatroom.]

MC:  Hello, Jaehee

Jaehee Kang: Hello, MC

Jaehee Kang: You’re still awake

Jaehee Kang: I also heard that you’re staying at Mr. Han’s penthouse,

Jaehee Kang: but are you sure that you don’t want to go home?

MC: Don’t worry, Jaehee. I’ll go home once the sun rises.

Jaehee Kang: Yes, it will be dangerous to return home so late

Jaehee Kang: I do understand Mr. Han’s concern but if you still feel uncomfortable, you can be honest with me

MC reiterated, once more, that everything was fine and that there was no need to worry about her when she was perfectly safe. She tried to switch the topic over and asked Jaehee what she was also doing up so late, to which she replied saying that she was using her downtime to do more research on Sarah. The Chief Secretary went on to explain to her about how she asked around amongst both her colleagues and other business partners about her company “Sugar Round.” It was apparent that hardly anybody she knew could say anything about it. As for the few who did, however, they expressed their little knowledge about a place that had only been open for a few years. Some even went as far as saying that the it was a surprise that the business itself was still open.

Jaehee also shared that further digging allowed her to discover that Sarah is seen to own many expensive items, as shown in a lot of pictures taken by paparazzi and the like. Later, she goes on to say that there apparently was an “embarrassing situation” a few years back in which all of her credit cards were declined at a shopping mall that she was seen frequenting. It was established in her thoughts that she may make an attempt to check on her credit report, if time allows.

“That’s a smart way to go about it. I appreciate what you’re doing.” MC expressed her thanks for going beyond her means to help Jumin in matters aside from work as well

After some time having a girl-to-girl moment with one another, it was shown that yet a new person joined them in the RFA chat. It was Zen — and it looked like his overprotective mode was still kicked into high gear.

ZEN: Aren’t you really uncomfortable right now? Be honest

ZEN: He’s not comparing you to his cat, is he?

ZEN: It’s okay, you can tell me.

“Zen~ Don’t worry. He’s been incredibly nice.” MC was close to adding in the reasons from tonight’s occurrences in particular to explain how and why to further back him up on her comment, but she didn’t want to come off as a girl who wanted him for his luxury and privilege. After all, the only thing she wanted was him.

Although apparently it was made clear that he was different to her, according to Zen and Jaehee, but in a good way, it seemed. They collectively went back and forth talking about how Jumin “usually was” or how he seemed to look happier when he talked to her. It was odd for MC, because she never really picked up on it or thought about it that way — possibly due to her own feelings.

Zen repeatedly criticized Jumin for hiding away from his problems and work by leaving them all to Jaehee. MC could sense their frustrations. After all, Zen, himself, is overly protective out of his own nature, while Jaehee couldn’t even hide how stressed she was anymore. She felt that while she did agree that Jumin should go back to work, her heart told her that the workaholic he is doesn’t want to do this necessarily on purpose. His internal struggles, alone, are a big enough issue. Undeniably, she sympathized with him on how hard it’s been on him lately — and she made it clear that she would continue to defend him on that.

Jaehee Kang: Besides,

Jaehee Kang: I’m sure that Mr. Han is much more interested in

Jaehee Kang: protecting Elizabeth the 3rd

Jaehee Kang: or you, MC, now that you two have actually met

MC thought to herself how absurdly the latter sounded. Jumin? Interested? In her? Fat chance. Although it also seemed like Jumin Han wasn’t exactly the kind of person to just go out of his means for just anybody. Possibly. She made the decision to keep quiet rather than boast on that note. Sure, Jumin was incredibly polite to her, but she wanted to lay low on her feelings a bit more until she was sure.

“It must be so difficult to him to have his father involved.” She sighed aloud as she typed this in response to them, a clear look of worry spread across her face as the conversation went on about the current situation.

Zen also pointed out that “Mr. Trust Fund Kid” — as he called him — must apparently be pretty lucky to have someone who is always thinking about him even when he wasn’t around, to which she rebutted with her own concern to get him to stop thinking that way. She did, however, agree that Mr. Chairman was clearly making the wrong decision in this fixed marriage he was planning, as per Jaehee’s considered thoughts.

MC reiterated to the two that she was okay with staying until the morning — for she was tired, anyway — and she expressed that Jumin’s priority was her safety, anyhow. Secretly, she was enjoying this anyway, and since he seemed so inviting, why did she really need to leave so soon?

ZEN: You are too caring, MC… T_T

ZEN: He’ll be fine without you

Jaehee Kang: I don’t know if he will be fine…

Jaehee Kang: but I am concerned for your safety, MC

Jaehee Kang: Both you and Mr. Han are adults,

Jaehee Kang: So I trust that you two make the right decision

Jaehee prayed to God continuously that Jumin would finally make an appearance at the office in the morning. She even went as far as hoping that sending MC over to his penthouse wasn’t a mistake. What is it about Jumin that concerned them all this much? MC wondered. She said she would continue to watch for herself, but that there was really nothing to be concerned of.

“Don’t worry too much, guys. Jumin just needs time.” She affirmed this, sticking to her guns.

MC sighed in relief as the focus of the conversation finally shifted some time after. Zen proceeded to change the topic to brag about his new role, while Jaehee reeled in excitement. As one of his biggest fans, he seemed happy to talk more about himself to someone that he knew was always excited to hear news about him. It also appeared that this was a great stress-reliever for her as well, so naturally, it was a mutually nice feeling.

The brunette reassured them both that Jumin will come to his senses and even extended further thanks Jaehee for all of her hard work, because she knew she didn’t need validation but that she was still a human being. After some time, the thee of them came to the realization that it was growing later and later, as goodbyes were made and, one by one, they signed off of the messenger for the evening.

MC felt her drowsiness disappear as she stared ahead at her smartphone, checking her usual apps and even playing a few games afterwards. She had lost all sense of time until she heard a rustling noise from the couch, a head of jet black hair peeking from the other side of the room. So that’s where Jumin went to sleep. Of all places, however, why did he choose the sofa?

“MC? Are you still awake?” He looked over at her upon seeing the light from her cell phone.

“Oh, hey Jumin.” She shrugged as her eyes remained fixated on the screen, her fingers moving in a fixed, rhythmic pattern. “Yeah… I can’t sleep…”

Jumin’s own eyes squinted in both worry and focus as he dragged his pillow and blanket over to his bed. He took a seat in the empty spot next to her, peeking over at what has her attention.

“Hmm, I’ve never seen this feature before.” Jumin scratched his chin in confusion.

MC giggled, pausing her game as she finally took a lot at his face in this darkness. She pointed at her screen. “Jumin, don’t you play games on your phone, too?”

“Games… I don’t have time or interested for any those extra features.” He laughed lightly at her comment. “Still, it makes me curious as to what gets so many people to flock towards things like these that are so popular. The only other one of those ‘apps’ that I downloaded on my phone was the one we made for C&R, and of course, the RFA messenger.”

She took some time to show and explain to him what she was doing, even offering him to play a level for her so that he could try it for himself. MC started realizing more and more how almost-alienated he was from the life that she and other “normal” people lived. It seemed that she was more sympathetic rather than jealous, if anything. There were a lot of little gems in life that he was clearly missing out on.

They laughed together as she showed him more of the game and how far she had gotten. When she grew tired of it, however, she quit out of it and went back to the main screen. A moment of silence arose between them, to which MC proceeded to mindlessly swipe through her screen. She glanced at the time on the right-hand corner, locking her phone afterwards as she stared at the ceiling.

“What are you thinking about?” Jumin asked.

“Nothing…” She replied in a bit of surprise. With how dark it was, how did he even know that she hadn’t actually closed her eyes yet?

“It can’t be nothing.” He retorted, sitting up as he made further attempts to examine her expression.

MC sighed, wondering if she was a lot easier to read than she thought. “There’s too many things, to be honest. I’d be spending the rest of the night telling you what’s on my mind… Besides, shouldn’t you be going to sleep, Jumin? You’re going to the office in the morning.”

Jumin thought about how practically foreign it was to have someone who contained even the smallest ounce of worry to be showing some sort of concern for his well-being. “Touché, MC. But you have to promise me that you’ll get some sleep too.”

“Hmm… Maybe.” She playfully smirked.

“Well, I guess you don’t give me much of a choice. I’ll have to keep an eye on you and sleep here for tonight then.” He returned the tease, pulling a bit of the covers that she was under and inching in more towards the middle as he situated himself. “Who knows? Maybe it’ll be good for the both of us.”

“Uh…” MC froze, her eyes widening as she felt him motion himself closer. Her heart wanted to jump out of her chest. “U-Um… I don’t think this is very appropriate, Jumin.”

“But why not?” He shrugged as if this was casual. “Besides, this might be better for the both of us.”

“I… I just… don’t think…” She didn’t want to finish the sentence, hoping it wouldn’t drive him away or send the wrong message. Although, she was unsure of him being here when they weren’t even “a thing.”

Jumin smiled as the two of them now faced one another, although it was clear on her face that she was still uncertain of whether this was proper or not. His hand reached out to gently run his fingers through her hair. “Don’t be ridiculous. You know well that I am not that kind of man. It’s not like we’re going to do anything, are we not?”

MC admitted to him that she had never been in a relationship before, and that she wasn’t sure how things worked — without also trying to hint it out to him that she was implying anything about being with him, in particular. She always thought that people should not sleep in the same bed unless they were married.

“Okay, MC…” He said after some time of explaining that the thoughts she had were different than what actually happens. “If you feel so strongly promise me that you’ll go to sleep, and I’ll move back to the couch afterwards if it will really make you feel more comfortable.”

“Promise?” She pursed her lips, holding out a pinky close to her face.

Jumin chuckled amusingly at her gesture, having never really something like that before. He was quickly explained to about how the significance of the small action withheld a strong, rather profound agreement between both parties.

“I know that it sounds really silly.” MC twiddled with her thumbs. “But I’ll be honest, this has been something that I’ve been doing for a long time, and so far, it’s worked pretty well for me.”

“Alright…” The warmth in his smile was eminent. “Promise.”

“Promise!” She lit up as brightly as he did, her pinky out again. He held his own out of the opposite hand, and they joined fingers shortly after. They shared a laugh after doing so, the smile on their faces lingering.

MC then outstretched her arms as she made another big yawn, her eyes blinking slowly as she felt herself grow even more tired a lot quicker than she expected to.

“Sleep.” His voice lowered as he continued playing with her hair, watching her drift slowly into sleep from the comfort of his touch.

“O... kay…” She muttered softly, fighting sleep now.

And before he knew it, she was asleep. Her body gently rose up and down like the soft waves of the ocean, her soft breathing indicating that she slumbered peacefully. There was something about the way her vulnerability on her face that made him feel tranquil despite all of the stress he had in the world. There was something about her warmth — so sweet and welcoming — that made him want to stay close to her.  

“Sorry, MC, but I’m hoping that this is going to be the only time that I’ll ever have to break your promise.” He whispered to her, smirking lightly as he continued to find solace in watching her peacefully rest. In tow, he followed shortly after and he found himself calm enough to fall asleep with her.

[weirdspookystories]

Liminal Nightmares

    Complete disorientation. You find yourself by the sea, on a relatively short cliff. You have no memory of how you got there and the location is entirely unfamiliar.

    You’re a little light-headed and your legs feel weak a moment. You sit on the soft grass to gather yourself, focusing on your breathing. It is at this point you smell something on the bracing ocean breeze. It is familiar and not entirely unpleasant, nutty like burnt hair. The unseasonably-warm sunshine falters behind a wall of rippled cloud, mirroring the calm sea, the light fading gently. Clear and cogent thought seems a little out of reach for a moment. You are in a state of shock, but in a peaceful way. The time is unclear but the daylight suggests mid-morning.

   Closing your eyes and forcing some concentration through the haze, you reconsider current events. Part of you actually welcomes the mystery and tranquility of the apparent teleportation following worrying recent changes at work, and the impact the increased stress has had on your home life. It’s taken a physical as well as social toll on you, too. Troubled sleep with haunting nightmares leading to a constant tiredness. You’ve felt very distant and detached recently; not yourself. As a result you’ve been living life through a sludgy veneer of aching and mild dissociation, a limbonic state of uncomfortable grogginess.

    You realise your sleeping patterns must be causing more trouble, as the only plausible explanation you can think of for your strange situation is an extreme case of somnambulism, sleepwalking. It worries you,then, why you might have subconsciously attached to this place. Why was it relevant to your sleeping mind? Images of hooded cultists from your nightmares are brought, with a pang of dread, to mind. This felt like a waking nightmare, and you pinch yourself just to be certain. It hurts, though the pain lingers a little too long and your other senses are dulled. Your vision is a little fuzzy, too.

   It is at this point you no longer feel alone, here. This intensifies into a sense of complete vulnerability, sat on the exposed seafront, lost. You quickly get to your feet, looking around. You feel a little paranoid. On edge. With a satisfying enough answer and your previous calm dissipating rapidly, you decide it is time to find a way home. There are pylons on a hill, at the horizon, surrounded by gradually-more-dense woodland. Big metallic blemishes on the landscape. It feels vaguely familiar somehow, and you feel the only man-made landmark you’ve seen is your best bet as far as choosing a direction. You begin to walk, purposefully and confidently, in spite of the gentle sensory fog. You can’t even fool yourself into confidence, though.

    This is when you see them. In the distance, behind the forms of trees, the suggestion of shadows can be made out. They move unnaturally and methodically, however. It is hard to be sure, but their movements are eerily humanoid. Memories of sleep paralysis grope at your faltering reasoning and as they do you begin feeling strain on your leg muscles. It’s almost as if the presence of these mysterious shadows are thickening the air itself. There’s a strange calm in the quiet and slowness of this place, but you feel a little too cold and completely drained of energy.

   Walking inland a short-seeming stretch of time, you reach the woodland. Despite being less exposed you feel nothing good can come of the woods. The magic wilderness, warned of in old fairytales, the memory of which floods you with nostalgia and a longing for the comforts of home. You attempt to quicken your pace but struggle to; your legs feeling too heavy, the exertion too great. A brisk walk is as fast as you can move, even as you burn with adrenaline and fear from the sight of another shadow moving out of place. Beams of light are scattered evenly and mottled by the trees, but you are fairly sure you saw something you absolutely should not. Still, you are hopelessly lost in the woods…you decide against every natural instinct to call feebly out to the possible stranger. No reply, and, in fact, the whole woodland goes silent; even the trees and breeze die out. Like the sun fading behind clouds and like your own dimmed senses. Completely afraid, you back carefully away from the apparition, movement seemingly even more of an effort now, your pace painfully slow at best.

   There is an unknown, unseen force in these woods. It seems to be applying just enough pressure for you to understand your total powerlessness. Or perhaps allowing you enough freedom to enact maximum emotional torture. You think perhaps the woods are not silent but you have been deafened somehow, and in this unfamiliar, unnatural place, this thought terrifies you more than the sudden quiet did. What unholy sounds would you hear if the veil was lifted? You are lost in more than one sense, and all you can do is keep walking at an achingly meandering pace, with only thoughts of home and safety to keep yourself from giving in. You notice numbly that you have been walking in a circle, trapped in disorientation.

You feel this place is cursed somehow, forsaken.

   While it feels that days must have passed, no time at all has, the weak sunlight burns on from the same position behind endless seafloor-wrinkled clouds. You’ve reached the hill, and see a small building through the trees, by the pylon. Hoping there is a worker, or at least a phone inside, you climb up to the simple block of slight familiarity in an unfamiliar wilderness. Guided there, as you were, by every fibre of your sense and reason, it feels like a great achievement in this hostile environment to have arrived.

   The door is ajar and the single room is a bare concrete cell, but inside there is a little warmth and shelter; it feels remotely safe. You also notice you have a lot more freedom of movement, you feel a sense of relief as if you’ve surface for air, and you can hear again. You know you can’t stay though. You are trapped and cornered here, which is perhaps even worse than exposure. There’s something out in those woods and you have to get home, so, while you can move freely, you decide to make a break for it.

   Immediately out of the building you stumble and are trapped again in the monotony of dulled senses and imprisonment of your movement, though it seems to be getting worse, rapidly, your muscles now straining more than ever before for excruciatingly little movement. You are a few steps from the industrial shell when you bear witness to the shadow people, but your screaming is internal and silent. The bland palette of the world has twisted into a sickening array of garish vibrancy, everything suddenly too bright. You are immobilised in the presence of these entities. You are utterly helpless and alone. They close in.

   Complete disorientation. You find yourself by the sea, on a relatively short cliff. You have no memory of how you got there and the location is entirely unfamiliar.