Tuesday, 29 October 2013

A Series of (God-Awfully Unfortunate) Events: Chapter 3

Pairings: OT12, KaiSoo(?) (more later)
Rating: PG 13 (to be safe)
Summary:   In which, Sehun is the new Assistant professor of Language; Jongin mysteriously landed a job in the cafeteria; Kris' English major students are failing; Yixing is the calm Chinese teacher who helps the music club undercover; Kyungsoo is the sweet and oblivious, yet regularly mobbed by fans, Language professor; Luhan is the seemingly sweet Mathematics professor plotting to steal the new Assistant Professor; Jongdae is the snarky Economics professor, with a deadly inner troll; Minseok is the new Electronic Engineering professor whom no one pays any attention to; Tao is the History of Arts professor who (not so) secretly works as a part-time Gucci model; Chanyeol is the grinning Biology teacher; Baekhyun is a diva of a Chemistry teacher; Joonmyeon is the Director of  Affairs, who has no control whatsoever and the Dean of the college is a man so evil that the devil drinks wine with him (by devil we mean Cho Kyuhyun).
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"It's annoying we have to be here at seven," says Minseok as he plops down on the smaller couch.
"Why on earth do we?" Sehun rubs his temples from his chair.
"The Dean says we have to once a month to 'promote punctuality among students'," drawls Luhan from the smaller couch.
"How does that help?!" Whines Jongin. "And where is Kyungsoo hyung...?"
"Who knows, the Dean works in mysterious ways... and Kyungsoo has extra study classes with his first years now," Luhan gives Jongin a very sharp look, while the latter takes a sudden interest in the walls and the ceiling. Kris walks in with a tall black coffee, and Tao in tow, sitting down at his desk and almost banging his head down upon it.
"I need my ten hours," he yawns into the back of his hand, "how the hell am I supposed to function?!" Tao stretches behind him silently like a cat.
"Try sleeping like them," says Tao, jerking his head towards the couch. Kris notices Yixing and Jongdae sleeping on the couch, with Jongdae using Yixing's chest as a pillow.
"That's hardly fair," grumbles Sehun.
"You're riiiiiiiight," Luhan's sudden drawl gives Sehun chills. "So totally not fair." he watches the Math professor rise from his chair and take the Oxford English Dictionary from Kris' table, and bash it twice against the back of couch which causes its occupants to jump awake; Yixing muttering heated curses under his breath and Jongdae yelling, "CHEEEEESE!!!"
"Oops," smiles Luhan, "there was a fly." Yixing glares swords and sabers at him.
"Hand me that dictionary, I see a fly on your head- get of me Jongdae!" Sehun notes the satisfied smirk on Luhan's face as Yixing throws a half-awake Jongdae off his chest. Jongdae slips down to the floor with a cry of, "THE SHIP IS SINKING!! EVERY MAN FOR HIMSE-" Yixing throws a cushion at his face. Jongdae starts, fully awake now and flips his hair, "I'm comic relief, I don't know what you boring people would do without me!"
"Live our lives with sanity?" Wonders Yixing, as Jongdae snaps his fingers in front of the other's face.
"Gull please! I'm fabulous-er than you." Yixing rolls his eyes.
"Wrong Eng....lish.... err.. Joonmyun... you okay?" Kris asks as he sees the Director of affairs emerge from his office and stand in front of them, looking extremely nervous.
He then takes a deep breath and opens his mouth,
"Nananana~nana~nana~na," he sings, absolutely off key, while waving his arms about like an octopus. "Nanana~nana~" He jumped upon Kris' desk, while the latter was too stunned to speak. "Nananana~nana~nana~na," Joonmyun does a little turn, while still flailing and flapping his arms around. "Nanana~nana~ Tranananana~" he stops, making jazz hands at his unwilling audience. Then he jumps off the desk, drops to the floor and rolls away to his office, rising and slamming the doors shut. 
Silence.
"Please tell me that was drugs and not some stupid routine thing he does!!" Sehun demands staring at the closed door.
"I hope its drugs...." mutters Jongin. Luhan shrugs, and Yixing looks oddly fascinated. Jongdae looks a little disappointed.
"When are we getting an encore?? I want to record that..."
"Lets put it down to mass hallucinations..." Mumbles Minseok. 
"I'm going to go bleach my eyes...." Says Kris, turning away. "Actually retail therapy might be a better cure," pipes up Tao, "do you have money Kris ge?"
"Yeah I'll just need to borrow a beaker of it," says Chanyeol to Baekhyun as opens the door to his lab. "I was going to order but then I forgo— OHMYGOD!!! JOONMYUN HYUNG DROWNED IN THE FISH TANK!!!!" Baekhyun bursts in after him to see Joonmyun with his head in the fish tank, unmoving. 
"SHOULD WE CALL THE OTHERS?!" Yells Baekhyun, waving his arms about.
"HYUNG WHY?!!!?!! DID YOU HATE YOUR LIFE SO MUCH?!?"
"WERE WE NOT ENOUGH?! OHMYGOSH WAS IT A WOMAN?!?!"
"HE WAS SO YOUNG."
"Wow I almost lost my breath."
"AAAAARRRGH!!!!"
"AAAAAAAAAHHHH!!!!"
"WHAAAAAAT?!?!" Joonmyun looks around wildly, his hair dripping water everywhere, the collar of his white shirt turning transparent. 
"But you're dead!!!"
"Holy gods Baekkie what if he's a ghost!!!!??!?!!"
"What the— hey!!! Ouch!!! Hey!!! Stop!!! Stop!! STOP THROWING STUFF AT ME!!! I'M FREAKING ALIVE OKAY!!!"
"Okay..."
"Okay..."
"But what the hell were you doing in my fish-tank?!" Asks Chanyeol after a long pause. 
"I ugh..... I was trying to hear the merpeople."
"The what?!"
"The merpeople," says Joonmyun, holding up an egg the other two hadn't noticed. "I need to solve the riddle and win the Goblet of fire, so excuse me...." He walks out, dripping water in his wake, while Baekhyun and Chanyeol stare at his back.
"Do you think it's drugs....?"
"I don't know Yeol.... I don't know...."
"BUY TWO SLIPPERS GET ONE FREE!!! TWO FOR THE PRICE OF ONE!!!" 
"Joonmyun....?"
"TWO FOR THE PRICE OF ONE!!!" 
"Joonmyun hyung!!!"
TWO FOR THE PRICE OF—"
"JOONMYUN HYUNG!!"
"Hey what the—?!" Joonmyun protests as Kyungsoo drags him into a corner. 
"What the hell are you doing?!"
"I need money to feed my children."
"You don't have any."
"Buy some slippers, Kyungsoo-yah." Kyungsoo sighs.
"Fine, if it'll get you to stop, I'll buy your stupid slippers."
"Yay!!!!" Joonmyun glomps Kyungsoo who stops him halfway, causing his face to smash into the latter's palm.
"Just get it over with.... What. Are. Those.....?" He looks at four banana peels in Joonmyun's hands.
"Slippers." 
A few minutes later, the students inch past a fallen Joonmyun with banana peels sticking out of his ears. No body questions him, having seen Kyungsoo storm off from the location a few moments ago. They know better than to mess with a tiny, angry man.
Over the next few hours, Joonmyun is seen jumping out at students in the corridor yelling "Why so serious?!!!!!" while wearing a horrifying shade if red lipstick that he seems to have mysteriously laid his hands on. Then he's spotted in the cafeteria, staring at the food from a distance while pinching the air before him, telling anyone who asked him he had the force and he was training to be a Jedi. 
By the end of the day, there was not one person, staff or student, who was left unconvinced that the Director was either or drug or on the road to mental breakdown.
He storms into is office as the sun sets, casting long, shadows across the floor.
"Oh my god you're back!!" He rushes in. "I've been worried, I thought he'd do something to you.... Ugh the horrible things I've had to do!!! But it's okay, you're safe now." He hugs the thin frame of the golf iron. "I missed you, all 36 titanium plated inches of you. Don't worry I won't let Jongdae ever lay his hands on you again my precious....." 

Somewhere in the distance, Jongdae sneezes.
Elsewhere, there is a maniacal laugh as someone(s?) views video tapes of Joonmyun's herculean tasks.









Saturday, 26 October 2013

A Series of (God-Awfully Unfortunate) Events: Chapter 2

Pairings: OT12, KaiSoo(?) (more later)
Rating: PG 13 (to be safe)
Summary:   In which, Sehun is the new Assistant professor of Language; Jongin mysteriously landed a job in the cafeteria; Kris' English major students are failing; Yixing is the calm Chinese teacher who helps the music club undercover; Kyungsoo is the sweet and oblivious, yet regularly mobbed by fans, Language professor; Luhan is the seemingly sweet Mathematics professor plotting to steal the new Assistant Professor; Jongdae is the snarky Economics professor, with a deadly inner troll; Minseok is the new Electronic Engineering professor whom no one pays any attention to; Tao is the History of Arts professor who (not so) secretly works as a part-time Gucci model; Chanyeol is the grinning Biology teacher; Baekhyun is a diva of a Chemistry teacher; Joonmyeon is the Director of  Affairs, who has no control whatsoever and the Dean of the college is a man so evil that the devil drinks wine with him (by devil we mean Cho Kyuhyun).
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Crouching Gull, Hidden Panda...
[Or: what starts as "Gull I can't explain what I feel" and ends at "You're a model??!"]




The staff room is dark when Sehun enters, only lit by four candles on a desk against one side. The others sit around minding their own businesses, occasionally  looking at each other with raised eyebrows. Sehun moves to turn on a light.
"STAHP GULL!!!" Sehun recoils. On one end of the room, Jongdae sits on a desk, with his legs crossed, his eyes closed, hands aloft by his sides and a towel wrapped around his head like a turban.
"Wha-" Begins Sehun.
"Sssshhh, I'm getting feeeeeeeels."
"What the..?!"
"FeeeEEEeeeEEEeeEEEels."
Kyungsoo throws Jongdae a scathing look in the dark as the "ee"s subside. Luhan flourishes his arm towards his right.
"Welcome to Jongdae time, bro." Sehun raises his brows.
"Wha-?" He gets cut off once more.
"Hush gull! I can't explain what I feeeeel."
"Who's asked you to?" Hisses Baekhyun from the couch. Chanyeol looks oddly fascinated. Jongin however stares unblinkingly at Kyungsoo from his chair.
"My Feeeeeels!!" Exclaims Jongdae again.
"What the hell are you feeling?!" Snaps Minseok.
"I'm feeeeeeeling something......."
"What is Jongdae doing?" Whispers Sehun to Luhan and Yixing.
"GULL!!" Sehun jumps when he realises Jongae has some how crept up behind him. "I'm not the awesome Kim Jongdae, right now, I'm The Chensing Masheen." He finishes with a flourished bow, which causes the turban to tumble off of his head and he saves it, except now an edge of the towel covers his right eye.
"Don't ask the question. Don't ask the question. Don't ask the question," mutters Yixing beside him.
"Wha..? Anyway, what is "The Chensing Masheen?"
"Aaaand he asked the question," groans Luhan. Yixing facepalms. Jongdae grins like a cat with cream and and rubs his paws together.
"I'm so glad you asked my ignorant friend," he purrs, "The Chensing Masheen will answer all your most burning questions!"
"What questions?"
"Aaaaand he asked again!" Luhan throws Sehun a dirty look to which he receives a blank stare. Jongdae circles the furniture like a vulture and does his best Dracula stance behind Kris.
"'Vell my leetteel friend," Kris cringes at the sound. "I can tell you everytheeeng! Everytheeeeeng. Vat do you vant to know."
"Ummm... are you identity confused?" Pipes up Jongin. "Cuz the Dracula voice is weird...."
"GULL!!" Kris flinches as Jongdae Jumps on top of the couch. "You are ze confused one!"
"Huh...?"
"Jongdae stop jumping on the couch." Mutters Kris.
"Uh-uh-un gull~ You know this is Jongdae time." Kris rubs his temples.
"Just get off the couch."
"Just get off the couch what~?"
"Please?" Sighs Kris. Jongdae takes one leg off of the couch.
"How about nah gull~" He says in a singsong voice and jumps harder for extra effect. Kris' eyes snap open.
"How about yes." There's something strangely commanding in his voice that makes Jongdae stop for a brief second, which gives Kris enough time to grab the shorter around the mid riff and hoist him up.
"Hey- Dude- What the hell??!!"
"Tao!" Yells Kris, but apparently Tao doesn't need to be told as he grabs Jongdae's thrashing legs and the two hold him between then swinging in the air.
"Gull this is not funny!! You lost a bet to me!! I shall have my Jongdae time!!"
"No you don'- oof!" Groans Kris as Jongdae's bony elbow hits him in the chest. "I've had enough of you calling people aquatic birds and prancing around like Dracula!"
"I will have my revenge I tell you! I will return and haunt you to your graves! Revenge!! Reven-" Thud.
"Oops, that was totally unintentional," grins Tao, as he maneuvers Jongdae past the door correctly. Jongdae glowers darkly.
"Let's go dump this body Tao..." Mutters Kris as Jongdae gives him a horrified look.
The bell rings and the other professors start filing out to their classes. Jongin grudgingly returns to his post at the cateen throwing longing glances back at Kyungsoo as he does, only to bash into Yixing's bookshelf and rush out from under Kyungsoo's very confused gaze.
 Kyungsoo taps Sehun on the shoulder."You don't have to come with me for this class, I'll call for you later, okay?" Sehun nods.
"Umm... hyung?" He eyes Kyungsoo carefully, judging the only sane person in a staff room full of insane people. he thinks it's afe to question him and expect a normal answer.
"Hmm?"
"What was that all about?" Kyungsoo laughs.
"Well, around last sem, he won a bet against us and ever since he gets "Jongdae Time" once a month to piss the life out of us. It usually ends that way too." He sighs. "Well, I'll be off... and uh.. not to be rude... but is your friend okay in the head...? I mean he is the guy responsible for our food."
"He used to be.... almost normal..." Says Sehun, pretty much unsure of Jongin's mental heath himself. Kyungsoo smiles knowingly and picks up his books.
Sehun starts working on reading some student essays and wonders what language he's reading for the most part (it's supposed to be Korean) until someone clears his throat nest to him.
"Yeah...?" He looks uneasily up at Tao. For the three weeks that he's been here, Tao is the person he's spoken the least too, and it probably had something to do with the fact that the other gave off a dangerous emo aura and stuck to Kris like glue for the most part, so he doesn't quite process it when Tao asks him a favour- specially a favour like this.
"You want me to what?!"
"Umm.... go shopping with me....? The mall is fifteen minutes away!" Sehun thinks he looks like an a wolf trying to make puppy eyes, and oddly succeeding.
"So creepy...," mutters Sehun.
"What?"
"I said, what happened to Kris hyung?"
"He's busy... doing Canadian stuff," shrugs Tao.
"Wha- what about Kyungsoo hyung? He could go with you after class."
"He's busy doing Korean stuff...?
"How about Luhan hyung? Or Yixing hyung?" Sehun takes a last shot.
"Oh them... they're busy doing... stuff..." Says Tao ominously.
"Stuff...?"
"It's best nobody knows what those two are up to." He shudders. Sehun wonders, at the back of his mind, if its Jongin that's affecting the sanity level of this place or is the place affecting Jongin? He sighs in resignation.
"Yeah okay, I'll go." Tao's eyes turn into crescents as he gives Sehun an awkward hug (well it's awkward for Sehun) and he runs out calling,
"See you downstairs in five!"


"HOLY SHIT!!! That's you!! And that!! And that one too!!"
"Wh-wha- hehe.. you must be seeing things...."
"No I'm positive it's you!" Sehun flaps the magazine at Tao's face, while the latter takes a step backwards.
"That's just some, very good-looking guy, who happens to look like me," insists Tao. Sehun raises his eyebrows and points to the two posters on either sides of the display window of the store.
"What about those?"
"Same, ridiculously good-looking guy."
"I don't believe it! You're a Gucci model??!"
"Shhhhh!!" Tao covers Sehun's mouth with a hand. "It's supposed to be a secret!!"
"Pfft, everyone knows," says a soft voice behind Sehun, causing him to jump into Tao.
"Tsk, tsk, kids these days. Mind the PDA," says another voice. Sehun detaches himself from Tao and looks to see Yixing and Luhan.
"You practically wanted us to know," says Luhan. "You left all those magazines when they came out and dragged us to the mall all the time."
"You've been played kid," grins Yixing. Sehun raises an eyebrow at Tao who blushes.
"I-it's not like that! I really do have stuff to buy," he says, ducking behind a shirt rack.
"Sure~ Come on XingXing, our job here is done~"
"Don't call me that."
Sehun watches the two of them leave and looks at Tao.
"How did they get here...? I thought they had class...."
"Noooobody will ever know..." Tao's voice wafts over from the shirt section.
"Talk about your crouching dragon, hidden panda," sighs Sehun. Tao peeps out from behind a section of fluorescent shirts and grins at him.
"You can pick anything you like, you know? One for free. I'll put it on my tab."
"You can do that?" Tao nods. Sehun returns him a grin of his own. "You're a good man, my friend."
"So we're cool?"
"Oh we are colder than cool," says Sehun before attacking a sunglasses stand with gusto.
"Err... okay then..."
"Is there a price limit?"
"Yes.."
"We're a little less cool now."

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This is a picture of the staff room and Suho's office.
I hope to get better at humor as I write so please bear with me and I'm happy to receive suggestions.

Xie xie,
ElfinJoy
P.S- in the summary, if you click on the highlighted names, you will get images of the members as I imagine them to be in the story! Also if you click the highlighted words when Sehun talks about Tao being a model, you'll see the pictures (I think you'll want to, after all who doesn't want a hot Taozi!) 

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Cut Scene 2: Kim Jongdae and his Tape again.

"So wanna go get gelato later XingXing...?"
"I told you not to call me that, Luhan."
"Why?? It sounds cute!"
"No, it sounds silly."
"What? Dude! I've given you the most amazing name on planet earth and you slander it like that!! For shame Zhang Yixing! For-"
"SUUURRRRRPRIISE!!!"
"AAAAARRGH!!"
"HEY! Get off of me Luhan!" Click. 
"Oh my pure blackmail gold."
"What the hell Jongdae just give it back!!"
"What the hell Lu, get off of me!!"
"Ooo you two are so precious."
"Get off of my lap you oaf!!
"Who are you calling an oaf!!?? I'm as light as a fawn! And give that back Jongdae!!"
"Nope my pretties, I'm so milking this one! Mwahahahhah!!"
"I think my thighs are dead."
"Shut up XingXing! Get back here Kim Jongdae!!"
"Catch me if you can~ Mwahahahhah!!"
"No Xing- Put that diction-"
"Stop right there!!"
"Nope~ Mwahaha-" THUNK!
"Uhh.... we might have to dispose off of his body XingXing." THUNK!
"Huh... looks like I have to dispose two now..."
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Wednesday, 16 October 2013

The Blessed: Chapter 2.

                                           Συναντήσεις (Synantí̱seis)
                                                                       Meetings~ 


(6:05 pm KST; Seoul, South Korea)
Kyungsoo watches the boy ahead him carefully. Jongin presses his nose into the glass of a petshop and on the other side, a golden retriever pup does the same, wagging its tail, sticking out its tongue, and greeting Jongin with a doggy "hello" through the window pane.
Jongin grins and contemplates going inside, but an impatient snort reminds him of his current situation.
Kyungsoo walks behind him once more, eyeing the exposed skin of Jongin's neck, hoping that Jongin will chose a sparsely populated lane, where he could quickly obliterate Jongin's existence, before the kid figured out who he was. Though, it seems Jongin at least has the presence of mind to walk through the busiest of Seoul's streets, while in the company of a secretly homicidal stranger. Kyungsoo has to acknowledge that sense, while crackling his knuckles in impatient anticipation and planning.
Jongin looks behind and smiles widely at Kyungsoo for some obscure reason, while the latter feels a tiny stab of remorse in his inhuman heart. Oh well, at least he mentally thanked the kid.
.
.
.
(6:07 pm KST; Incheon International Airport, 48 km from Seoul, South Korea)
"I'm sorry, can't you drive faster?!"
"I don't think he speaks Chinese Lu..."
"Its an emergency! Please drive faster!"
"I'm sorry sir, the traffic is too thick."
"Calm down Luhan."
"I have a really bad feeling about this Xing!!"
"We can't do much about it.."
"We can't lose him too."
"We won't, I'm calling Tao."
.
.
.
(6:09 pm KST; Seoul, South Korea)
"Where is your house? Its not safe for you to be walking around now that your powers have awakened." Kyungsoo of course does not mention he is Jongin's biggest threat currently. Jongin stops and sighs.
"I'm sorry... I was walking around a bit... this Blessed One thing is a lot to swallow... is it okay if I go home at all?" Kyungsoo raises an eyebrow. "I mean, in all of the movies, the hero goes home, amd some monster kills his family..." Kyungsoo rolls his eyes.
"You're hardly close to a Hero." Jongin colours.
"Not like that but..."
"But you're right, we should figure out a place for you to lie low." And for me to get rid of you.
Jongin nods, missing the dark look in Kyungsoo's eyes.
He walls off of the main streets and takes a by lane, barely peopled and slightly dark. He takes a right from lamp post, turning to Kyungsoo as he does, "there is this place all the wrong kids from school used to go to, everyone knew of it. That's the only place I can think of right now..." Kyungsoo nods in agreement. Jongin turns right. Kyungsoo flexes his neck, before reaching his hands out to grab the back of Jongin's neck. There is the sickening crack of bone as Jongin, barely aware of what has passed, slumps forward onto the hard sidewalk.
.
.
.
(Suspended time; Seoul, South Korea)
"I can sense him..."
"Tao should stop very soon."
"What if we're too late?"
"Well— look everything's moving again Lu..."
"Let's hurry"
.
.
.
(6:09 pm KST; Seoul, South Korea)
Jongin takes a right from lamp post, turning to Kyungsoo as he does, "there is this place all the wrong kids from school used to go to, everyone knew of it. That's the only place I can think of right now..." Kyungsoo nods in agreement. Jongin turns right. Kyungsoo flexes his neck and hears a loud thump and a few curses. He looks past Jongin to see two Chinese boys, the shorter of the two, having bumped into Jongin, was now apologetic, while the taller one eyed Jongin suspiciously.
"Are you Kim Jongin?"
To Kyungsoo, the taller one had the pretty face of the kind that Zeus, if he looked down from Olympus might snatch up in his talons.
"I suddenly became a lot more famous," said Jongin nervously.
"Are you Kim Jongin?!" The taller snapped. Jongin took a step back and nodded.
Kyungsoo surveyed his options, chances were that these boys were more of the Blessed, in which case his plans were moot.
"That's great, I'm Luhan and this is Yixing." The shorter one smiled languidly. "Do you have a passport?"
"I-I think so... why?"
"We have a safe house, in Beijing."
"Beijing..." Jongin turns to Kyungsoo, whom the two Chinese notice for the first time.
"Who is this?" Asks Luhan, narrowing his eyes. Kyungsoo smiles nonchalantly.
"Kyungsoo, and you won't need a passport."
"Why?" Asks Yixing.
"Because he's a teleporter"
.
.
.
(5:15 pm, CST; EXO Studios, Beijing, China)
"What are you doing?" Wonders Yifan as he reclines on the lounge chair in the living room. Tao bites his nails while pacing up and down in front of the bay window overlooking the main street.
"What does it look like," he murmurs. Yifan sinks deeper into the couch and exhales deeply.
"Give them time, they're in another country. Its not like they can telep— WHAT THE—??!!" A small, slender and pale man appears on the couch next to him. Over the stranger's shoulders he sees Luhan on the floor and Yixing underneath him.
"Oh he finally got it right!" Exclaims Luhan, his right hand over his eyes,  not rising yet. A tan boy lifts himself out from behind the couch. Yifan shrieks and shrinks back into his side of the seat. Tao has a horrified expression to rival his.
"We-we made it?" The tan boy asks hesitantly. The one on the couch looks around with piqued interest.
"Yeah," mumbles Yixing weakly, and Luhan jumps off, only then registering his presence. "Welcome to HQ."
------------------------------------------------------------------------
A/N- The reference to Zeus was this story.

The Blessed: Chapter 1.

 “Boy and girls, please be very careful of the artifacts. If you look to your right, you’ll see the Greek section and to your left, is the Egyptian section, now this way please…”
“Psst~ Jonginnie~ Psst~”
“What?!”
“I’ll bet you can’t run over to that vase and touch it and come back.”
“I’ll bet the same, goody-two shoes!”
“Don’t you guys have better bets to make?”
“Aww, scared much?”
“Hey, Jong! Too full of chicken?”
“Of all the lame jokes to make… fine, I’ll go and touch the stupid vase, it’s an urn actually.”
“Ooo~ an ‘u~rn’, very fancy~”
“Bunch of silly… stupid… people… there! I touched it, hap- oh shit!!”
‘Darkness… darkness… doomed to eternal darkness… then why is there that-? Why is there a crack in the shroud of Tartarus…? Are those… human voices?’
“The idiot dropped it!!”
“Oi!! Hurry!! Put it back!!”
“Run!! Here comes the guide!!”
“Holy hell! Seongsaengnim!!”
“WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU”RE DOING?!?”
‘Is Tartarus opening again…? No, that cannot be, no one else seems to have seen the light... who’s voices are those?’
“Ahh… Seongsaengnim… I was… I wanted a good look at this art work, looks like it’s from the Corinthian era… hehe…”
“You should have asked then. Now get back in line Kim Jongin!”
“Yes sir!”
‘Kim Jongin…? Is he the one who freed me?’


  Απαρχές (Aparchés)
            
Beginnings~

(3:25 pm KST; Seoul, South Korea) 
Jongin grins as he walks out of the school grounds for the last time, the trip to the museum from the previous summer, still fresh in his mind for some reason. It was a good thing he was known for being an academically interested student. He’d been let off by the teacher on the excuse of ‘wanting to get a better look at Greco-Roman art’ and only he had noticed the hairline crack on the side of the black urn… a fact he was more than happy to keep to himself.
He turns homeward, only to have a short stranger cut off his path.
“Excuse me, are you Kim Jongin?” Jongin looks at the stranger in wonder. The stranger is almost a head shorter, all baby-faced, wide-eyed, soft cheeks and milky skin. Jongin is a little shocked (maybe more than just a ‘little’ awed) and the stranger waves his hands in front of his face. Pretty fingers too…? Jongin snaps back to reality and the stranger slowly asks again,
“Are. You. Kim. Jong. In?” Enunciating every word clearly as if Jongin is either hard of hearing or stupid or both. Maybe Jongin is because he mutely nods. The stranger smiles brightly. I think I need shades…
“Great. I’m Kyungsoo, and I’ve been waiting for you for over a year.”
“…say what?!” Jongin pivots on his heels. Crazy stalker! Crazy stalker alert!! He starts walking as fast as he possibly can in his graduation robes and sends up a prayer that the crazy stalker won’t follow him. One block down the road, and Jongin looks back to find no trace of the guy. He breathes a relieved sigh and decides to walk home the long way.
“Hello again.”
“AAARGH!!” Jongin jumps a foot into the air at the soft voice next to him. Not again… “Look buddy, I don’t know who you think I am, but I certainly don’t swing that way. So you’re pretty and all, but sorry. Nope. See ya’!”  There’s a firm hand on his shoulders and the next thing Jongin knows is that he’s being pulled backwards. “Yah!! Yah! Let go! Let me- HELP!! HELP ME!!! I’m BEING KIDNAPPED!!” His screams were met by odd stares from passersby, who wondered at his mental health. At almost a head shorter, Kyungsoo certainly looks like the kidnapped one, except, muses Jongin, they obviously can’t feel the rock solid grip.
Jongin feels a strange sense of panic that renders him unable to fight this smaller, lithe stranger who should ideally have blown away with the wind, or so thinks Jongin as he mentally panics, while physically screeching like a banshee, till Kyungsoo has had enough and he claps his hand over the other’s mouth. Jongin’s screams turn to muffled gasps, as he begins to feel oddly discomforted at the touch. Kyungsoo’s hand smells of the warm summer earth, and fresh grass, Jongin's senses begin to cloud over as he feels slightly dizzy. The aroma of the earth is suffocating now, as he squeeses his eyes shut, his body having long succumbed to being dragged around. The dizzyness is numbing. Kyungsoo stops, sensing something wrong. Jongin grinds his teeth to stop the pain. His vision turns black. He feels a strong rush of air. The ground gives way from beneath his feet as he lands face forward into soft grass.
Jongin opens his eyes to find himself in a park, that should have been about a hundred meters away. Kyungsoo blocks his sunlight as he stands over him, with his head cocked to one side as if studying a specimen in a laboratory. Jongin bolts up and shakes an accusing finger at him.
"YOU! WHO THE- WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU??!! HOW THE FREAKING HELL DID YOU DO THIS??!!"
"Me...?" Kyungsoo whispers quietly. "No, I did none of this..."
"Then how...?" Jongin's words die away as Kyungsoo looks very meaningfully at him.
"Welcome to the family fledgling, you are one of the Blessed."
"Wha....?"
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(2:45 pm CST; Beijing, China)
"Oi! Luhan... Luhan!!"
"Ye... Huh- wha- what...?"
"You passed out again... "
"Xing..."
"Yes...?"
"Tickets.... Seoul. I've.. found the last one."
"Wait- what? Luhan?! Come back- dammit!"
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(3:45 pm KST; Seoul, South Korea)
"I'm a what...?"
"A Blessed One."
"So what am I, like a holy Harry Potter? You're kinda tiny for a Hagrid though..."
"What is a 'Harry Potter'... and however big a Hagrid is, I assure you, I'm a thousand times bigger."
"What are you.... how the hell do you not know what Harry Potter is??!! Any way, what is this "Blessed One"?
"There are twelve of them-"
"Then how is it a 'One'-"
"SILENCE!" Kyungsoo slams his fist into the trunk of a nearby tree, leaving a wide crater on the surface and his hand miraculously unscathed. Jongin pales.
"Umm... nevermind... so Blessed One...?"
"There are twelve children, each blessed by a God or Beast, to protect the earth in their absence."
 "From what? Like psychopaths... serial killers.... the government... aliens from outer space..?"
"What gibberish is that...?"
"Wha... what are you... are you like me?"
"It isn't important."
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(3:00 pm, CST; Beijing, China)
"His name is Jongin, and- damn! Why is this taking so long??!!"
"We're bound by traffic laws, Luhan."
"To hell with laws, just drive faster Yifan!"
"Don't yell at him Lu..."
"You guys don't get it! We can't afford to lose another one..."
"We won't, okay? Have some faith."
"Faith has forsaken us, Xing, what's the use?"
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(4:00 pm, KST; Seoul South Korea)
"There are others like me? Whatever 'me' is..."
"Yes, and you... are important." Kyungsoo walks forward a few steps, contemplating on the next course of action. Ideally, Jongin should be disposed off of. Being one of the Blessed, he is an immediate threat, even if the boy isn't aware of Kyungsoo's nature...yet. Then again, a teleporter, and an inexperienced one at that, isn't much of a threat alone. Kyungsoo looks over his shoulders and sees the slumped form of the tan boy on the bench. Dusk is approaching. Soon the sun will abandon this face of the earth. Darkness is something Kyungsoo is used to, not in this form, but it is still a welcome shroud. He looks over to Jongin once more. One quick snap of the neck and everything would be over, wouldn't it...?
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A/N: This series was inspired by Greek Mythology.