JAWS • DECEMBER 2025 EVENT/TDM

[uruz]

TDM & EVENT: JAWS

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Show Me Those Pretty White Jaws

The dream has been coming in waves for those new to Sleep's touch, as a shoreline that never stays still. As a sky that never remembers to include its stars. Beneath it all, there is a voice. Her voice: silk-sweet, coaxing from just beyond the approaching wave that towers like a moving mountain. She tells you to come home. She promises it won't hurt, even if she never tells you what waits beneath. You see the shape just before the dream ends: a massive black tidal wave, yawning wide and black until it looks like a pair of jaws breaking upon you. You don't have time to resist.

You and your veteran Vessels will awaken in water.

There is no surface. No bottom. No sky. No sound but your own heartbeat and the echoes of water being slashed though, dull and endless in the still, frigid dark. You are suspended, weightless— Some may have difficulty to breathe without inhaling water the first few times, while those aligned with the waves will feel it come like second nature. Once you acclimate yourself, you'll notice that around you drift glowing filaments; thin, pulsing threads that coil like jellyfish tendrils, softly luminescent. They curl and twist through the water, and when you look closer, you realize: they show you things. Memories, maybe. Dreams, maybe. Each one unique to your gaze: a hand reaching for yours in the dark, a goodbye that never finished, a face you haven't seen in years. They are what you think love looks like. What you once needed it to be. And when you touch them, they wrap around you, gently, warmly . . . Hungrily— and begin to pull you down.

To ascend into the next level, you must let go. But not everything that binds you wants to be released. The filaments drifting through the water show you what you think love looks like— what you've built it into. They are gentle at first, beautiful even, but the longer you cling, the more they pull.

There are ways to escape them: You may bind your filament with another's and together speak aloud a shared truth: what you believe love really is. If your hearts align or at the very least come to an agreement, the threads dissolve into light and lift you upward. If your beliefs clash or contradict, the threads knot tighter, and something . . . May take interest in you.

Beneath you, something moves. Huge, silent and almost regal. It glides through the deep like a phantom, almost too large to be real. You feel its presence before you see its flash of pearl white and glowing red eyes, three on each side of its face: a shark.

The shark is here to choose its next meal. It smells grief, fear and seeks out trauma most of all. It is drawn to the most unspoken parts of you, the very parts you thought were buried, roused from the tightened ropes of what you crave in your heart. And when it chooses you, it does not bite immediately. It invites, with its jaws opening like a sanctuary and slow towards you.

Inside is I, whispers Sleep. Allow Me to have you whole, and you will be at peace. Show Me love.

Fight against her, or even with your current partner about what love is, and Sleep will open her maw, spilling tendrils from her throat and begin to stalk you. Best be prepared to fight the possessed Megalodon— She will laugh, amused as you do, like a great cat playing with its food. And if you were to be caught, well. You'll wake in the dream's next level with an undeniable prey drive, whether Token or Offering.

She will do anything to keep you here.

NOTES:

• There is no surface visible at first. Light only comes from the filaments. As characters resist, act, or ascend, a faint stained-glass shimmer begins to pulse upward, hinting at the dream's next layer.
• Sound is muffled— speech emerges as bubbles, but meaning travels regardless. Words feel heavy here. Some phrases may literally change the water (turn to light, birth dream-objects, or ripple with tension). You will do better using The Murmur as a means of communication. Luckily you have your mask on!
• The Shark always circles once it senses trouble within you. Sometimes close, sometimes far, but always felt. If characters listen closely, they can hear the echo of One's voice coming from inside it: pleading with a haunted, at times screaming melody.

TOKEN EFFECTS

• The dream bends subtly around Tokens, especially at the whims of an Aquamancer. Walls of pressure open before them, and filaments shift course as if expecting them. This can make their path easier, unless they start to doubt their purpose.
• Tokens perceive emotional resonance as currents in the water such as subtle flows of energy. These can guide them (or others) toward escape paths, or signal when the shark is near.
• When a Token speaks or acts with strong intent, the dream sometimes translates it into a symbolic structure: A word might become a floating glyph. A gesture might alter the filament's shape. A moment of clarity might reveal a hidden path. Other characters can interact with these dream-objects, but they're fragile, unstable, and prone to distortion by doubt.
• The deeper Tokens go, the more they feel themselves pulling apart and begin to experience dual awareness: one part dreaming, one part watching— some may even see flashes of within the shark's belly, and One's voice much louder. The deeper they go, the more detached they become, and the more they lack the ability to act at all.

OFFERING EFFECTS

• The shark is more fascinated by Offerings. It circles them often, sensing kinship— or potential. The more monstrous the Offering, the more the shark "pauses' near them, almost curious.
• Offerings feel "the pull" more clearly, particularly Merrows and other aquatic-based Offerings—they can sense where the surface might be, and where the shark intends to strike next. They may even see pulses in the water that others miss, similar to Spider Man's "spidey senses".
• An Offering may experience rapid body changes submerged. Fins may appear, bones may shift, teeth may lengthen without warning and so on. This makes their movement easier or harder, depending on how much of themselves they're holding back or how apt their monstrous forms are at swimming.
• Some Offerings may feel drawn to the shark— not in fear, but in understanding. They may see themselves in it, and vice versa— One's song in particular is hypnotic, and for split moments you may understand his pain through his words. This might make you more prone to being consumed, though, so hopefully your partner can help you out of it—?.

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Watching Me With Eyes Of A Predator

The surface you breach is not water— it's glass.

You strike it with the force of falling sky. It fractures beneath you in a bloom of painted light. For one weightless moment, the dream hesitates, sputters. Then the world shatters, and you fall with the cascade.

Water pours through the crack in the ceiling, carrying you down in ribbons of color and a shattering splash. Stained glass shards drift like petals through the now collapsing roof, and you eventually land not in sand, but upon a cathedral floor, slick with tide. Around you, the water spreads, pooling across the stone and swallowing the walls in a rising hush as it finds escape through the doors.

The cathedral is vast, impossibly so. Its architecture towers, crooked and immaculate, built more from longing than stone. No altar awaits you. No congregation. Only the sensation of having trespassed into something meant to be private. Veteran Vessels may recognize this cathedral as St. Patrick's— before it was drenched in One's blood sacrifice.

High above and surrounding you, the stained-glass mosaics churn with captured light. f you linger beneath one of the window's rays, your appearance may begin to change under the light. You appear as someone else sees you. Be it a hero. A monster. A disappointment. A god. A weakness. A temptation. Even a burden. That version of you clings to your dream-body like a second skin; uncomfortable, intimate, and undeniable. For some, it may be beautiful. For others, unbearable.

If you and another stand beneath the same window, you may each appear as the other secretly imagines. There is no control and no negotiation. Only truth twisted through the lens of want, resentment, fear, or love. And it doesn't go away until you leave the light.

Eventually, the cathedral doors open by dream's will. Beyond them lies a cloister garden: narrow paths, pale trees, and wild flowers that bloom in stillness. At the far end, behind the overgrowth and ruined arches, you see a hollow.

It is a corridor where the dream collapses inward, twisting, warped, half-swallowed in fog and dread. Its stones pulse faintly beneath a shallow film of water. Black tendrils reach from its depths like roots, veins, twitching toward sound, warmth, and movement. You see them dragging matter into the earth, and between them lie bones, contorted and fresh, half-consumed.

And farther still, a body that still breathes. Glimpsed only briefly, A masked man's form is stretched by the hollow's gravity, arms pinned behind the veil. He does not move, or speak. Or perhaps, he cannot. The hollow does not let him go and will not, should you make your attempts. If you step foot in the hollows that have consumed him, you too will be consumed. A three eyed Tod sits at the hollow's edge, a single bushy tail splitting into three, as its body plays with illusion like smoke put to dance over fire. It says, as its head floats up and its maw splits into a grin too cheshire to ignore: Wearing shoes, yet no feet in sight. You'll hear steps pound in the death of night. What is it that you need, to cross this narrow blight?

It disappears and only leaves you the riddle to chew on.

Nothing living can cross the hollow, you'll soon find. Nothing except . . . The Nightmares.

Just outside the garden's boundary, you'll find horses built from wind and shadow, flickering at the edge of your vision. Their bodies are black— not the color, but the absence, swallowing all light. Some of their craniums cound be seen, others have a jutting horn of bone from their foreheads. Where eyes should be, there are six: three stacked on each side of the skull, glowing dimly red like distant embers beneath ice. Their manes flow like torn fabric, like drifting vapor that trails behind them like the smoke from a snuffed candle. Their maws are too damn wide to be herbivorous, yet they seem to enjoy the act of grazing. They wait, unchained and wild in a herd.

This is the only way forward. Only they can pass through the hollow untouched. But how to ride one—? You may chase them. You may plead, command, kneel. You may offer them all your need and all your love, promises that you will provide if they become your steed. But they were not made to answer it. For every Vessel, there is one single Nightmare that will choose them, and thus you will choose each other. They have their own personalities, some more aggressive or shyer than others. The harder you reach, the faster they vanish or harshed they will attack if unready. Try to mount one through force, and you'll regret ever trying. Try to bind one, and it will break you.

But if you are patient, if you figure out its nature and how to please it— your Nightmare may come closer. One may circle you. It may bow its head. Their snort is warm and real against your palm. If successful, it will lower itself to its knees. If you've got the height, they will simply wait, patiently, for you to get on their backs (Or not; there are plenty of sassy mares out there).

If you accept, you might not be taken somewhere safe, but you will be taken somewhere true, away from here. And if you force your want upon them, if you cannot let go— you will be left with something else.

In the distance, across the flooded cathedral floor, you may see One again. Flashes, glimpses. Always chasing a mare he never reaches, or the opposite— the mare chases after him.

NOTES:

• If a character successfully forms a bond with their Nightmare, it will return with them in the form of a waking world steed, officially introduced in the next event. You're free to give it the personality you wish.
• If a character attempts to force a connection with a Nightmare at any point (tries to catch, mount, command, etc.), the mare will bite or kick, which Vessels will suffer as a persistent dream-mark that will carry into the waking world.

TOKEN EFFECTS

• Light clings unnaturally to Tokens in the cathedral, especially near the stained glass. It bends around their bodies like a false halo, casting them in divine or monstrous outlines depending on who watches.
• If a Token casts or channels any magic within the cathedral or near a Nightmare, the spell does not manifest, but instead, a cold mist escapes their mouth, and the Nightmare turns to look. The dream rejects force.
• When a Nightmare looks directly at a Token, their eyes eclipse, pupils vanishing into rings of shadow. In that moment, a fragmented vision floods the Token's mind . . . not from the Nightmare, but from another character nearby. It shows the Token how that character once dreamed of them, what they feared, needed, or hoped they would become.

OFFERING EFFECTS

• The stained glass causes a subtle change in scent and physical appearance turning into a more grotesque version of this— Offerings begin to smell or look like what others most want from them.
• Offerings may always know where the Nightmares are, even when hidden. But the more they try to act on this knowledge, the harder the Nightmares are to reach.
• An Offering's body will react before they realize it, flinching from lies, bristling in moments of emotional pressure, pulling away from contact, and so on. They may startle even at gentle contact, as if something inside them is as reactive as they are.

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Where The Delicate Stops

As your Nightmare takes you through the misty hollow, you may begin to notice the empty city of Manhattan as veterans remember. There is no warning but the eerie silence that surrounds you like impossible weights. The cathedral once behind you folds inward— wrong, deep and full of pressure. It bursts through the hollow's path, through the city's street, and then— The dream ruptures.

Stone peels backward like paper. Glass liquefies mid-air. The sky above the city pulls itself inside out. Time bends sideways. And from the edges of the dream, something, someone, begins to hunt. Sleep's presence moves like the very shark she chose as a vision of her physical manifestation. She does not speak or rage. But you feel Her, rising like fever beneath the skin of Her world as the hairs at the back of your neck do. She does not want you this deep, and neither does One.

Somewhere within the collapse, you may see them— entwined, shifting, trembling. One's face is turned toward you, screaming something that doesn't reach your ears. Sleep's hands are tangled in his body. She pulls him back with a gentleness that breaks the sky, and he screams, reaching for you with his last breath before consumption. The dream convulses.

The Nightmares bolt with you still on them.

The city rises to meet you from the shadows, but it's not the city you know. Skyscrapers twist at unnatural angles. Streets flood, then dry, then flood again. Tendrils burst from subway grates and gutters, slashing upward like tongues. Streetlights spin like compass needles. Cars levitate, crash, freeze midair. You move through it all at breakneck speed, but the exit keeps shifting— a hole in the world that flickers just beyond reach where you see your body, fast asleep.

Somewhere in the chaos, a few Nightmares are caught. Sleep strikes like lightning— she coils like a viper and tightens like a vice. One touch from Her, and your Nightmare collapses mid-gallop, its body unraveling into smoke and light. No sound. No scream. Just absence. And you fall right off it like a ragdoll.

Others fall beneath impact, too— a wrong turn, a shattered wall, a burst of heat from One's grief. A broken leg. A crash. A wound too deep to ride through. If your steed is lost, you fall. And if no one reaches for you, you stay fallen. Others are near, and their Nightmares still run. All of you have a terrible dread in your bones— if you are caught or left behind, the consequences will be dire. You might not even wake up. So, call out. Cling. Climb. Share. Two Vessels on one mount. Anything to survive and flee as the dreamscape tightens its wrathful grip around you.

Sleep calls inside your spine. You can't make out what She says. One answers, the same blur of garbled words in your marrow. And then, just before the dream can take you, just before you reach an exit— you rise.

Your body lifts from the Nightmare as it paddles the air with desperation, it too rising. You're pulled upward, weightless, as if a thread inside your heart has been yanked by a furious god. You float, twist in the air. Your vision glows white.

We've got you.

And then you wake up— mid-air in the waking world.

Your body slams into your bed, floor, street, soil, wherever it was that you had slept. Reality greets you with terrible impact.

NOTES

• If a character does not find a mount in time, they may be caught in the dream collapse. They still wake— but they wake broken. These characters may wake up bruised, disoriented, or emotionally fragmented, and this can be explored in the next waking world event.

TOKEN EFFECTS

• Any Tether they feel becomes unstable—splintered. For brief moments, they feel it breaking and re-forming again and again, with slight differences each time.
• The more emotionally charged they are, the more the dream pulls toward them; tendrils snap faster, debris veers unnaturally close.
• Their body flickers with signs of their own magic—sigils, symbols, runes— burning just beneath the surface of their skin like constellations. These glow brighter as the dream collapses, as if trying to tear free.

OFFERING EFFECTS

• Where Offerings are grazed or injured, they bleed light, not red. It floats up like mist.
• They hear One's heartbeat, not theirs, and it speeds in panic. It affects their own pulse, the mare under them . . .
• The Nightmare no longer follows the Offering's will—it will respond to their fear instead.

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OOC NOTES

➤ Welcome to Somnia's third TDM, which doubles as the month's gamewide event!
➤ This TDM is considered game canon. You are free to have your character remember as many details as possible when they wake up.
➤ Only new characters are free to experiment with the Vessel options, Token or Offering to your liking; this is a dreamscape, so multiple/different situations for you to really test which option you like most is possible. Current characters must remain as their chosen Vessel type unless you requested a switch, which can be done on the Taken page.
➤ All TDMs take place within a dreamscape, meaning characters can interact with the setting without needing to apply. Come have fun with us!
➤ Veteran players, I ask to please refrain from making post-event threads for the time being! We have some important information to take into account in next month's event when characters are slated to "wake up". At the very least, please wait for the information to be offered on the next plotting post. Thank you everyone for your patience!
➤ Please comment on the TDM's INVITE TL if you are a new player interested in joining the game, but don't yet have an invite. Current players or the mod may reach out to extend an invite. Once you've got one, please don't forget to comment on the Invite page so you may properly link it in your reserve and app.
➤ Questions? Please direct them to the designated questions comment linked below!

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Soo Won | Akatsuki no Yona | Bloodwright | Current player, new character

[protectorofkouka]

(cw: Akatsuki no Yona spoilers, Soo Won is from the recent chapters so please let me know if you would prefer to avoid spoilers. The first prompt is arguably harder to avoid spoilers in order to convey Soo Won's complicated view of love, but I can tone down the spoilers for the other prompts.)


I. Show Me Those Pretty White Jaws

[The silk-sweet voice and recurring dream were irritating. Soo Won was in the middle of something and he did not appreciate the interruption. He didn’t waste time trying to understand why he still needed to breathe in a dream, gods didn’t play by the rules after all. Instead he swam for the only source of light in the dark depths. It was a shame he didn’t have time to appreciate the beauty of the glowing tendrils. As he reached for one of the tendrils he was shown a memory.]

A.) Love is the precious memories we carry with us

[Soo Won was visiting the palace gardens with his mother. She was still healthy and her smile was like a flower in bloom, before it withered away. It was cherished memory for more reasons than just his mother and when he heard his mother calling his name he already knew that he and another young boy with dark hair would drop down from the tree. A young girl with crimson hair shyly hid behind her mother before young Soo Won persuaded her to go see a cat with him and Hak, the other boy. The three of them were inseparable after that first meeting and the scene rippled into another precious childhood memory; the winter they all got a cold after a fierce snowball fight. His father’s command for him to defeat this illness carried more weight now that he suffered from the crimson illness that had plagued his family for generations. The last childhood memories was when Hak told Soo Won that he was his goal.]

B.) Love is sacrifice

[They were all precious memories but that was the past and Soo Won pushed away the tendrils that lightly wrapped around him. The tendrils responded by wrapping tighter and showing him different memories.

He was still a child, but his gentle smile had turned cold. The nine year old commanded the respect of everyone in the room as he calmly reasoned that they should wait to avenge his father until they see what kind of king his uncle became. The memory rippled again, this time showing Soo Won with his mother. He had the same cold expression as he explained that he had two boxes. One had Yona, the other was Kouka kingdom. The glowing tendrils wrapped around Soo Won’s wrist as he stated that he could never put Yona’s box first.

Soo Won’s eyes narrowed sharply. What an annoying trick. He yanked his arm from the clinging tendrils when the memories changed again.]

C.) Love is trust

[These memories were from the present and he hesitated when he saw Yona support him on the battlefield. Even after he murdered her father and trampled her and Hak under his ambition she stood by his side when he needed her most. The tendrils dragged him down as the memory shifted to Hak, beaten and battered from the battle to the point that he could barely stand, yet he used the last ounce of his strength to give Soo Won a blood stained pouch before collapsing in Soo Won’s arms. The last memory showed Hak being pulled into a chalice by the draconian talons of the dragon gods. Soo Won wore the same shell-shocked expression at Hak’s words. “I’m counting on you.”

His hand clenched into a fist. This was too cruel. He had decided that he couldn’t lose Hak and Yona and now once again he was forced to let them go? He refused to accept that and he will cut down anything that gets in his way.

The dream resonated with his strong intent and a familiar sword appeared in his hands. He responded with a sharp chuckle. The sword was more proof that this place wasn’t real. The sword of the crimson dragon king would never come to him. His bitterness was a fleeting thought as he promptly attacked the tendrils that were dragging him down. Unfortunately for each one he cut, two more sprang up and latched onto him.

His ire rippled through the Murmur with a commanding echo.]

I do not have time for this. Let. me. go.


II. Watching Me With Eyes Of A Predator

A.)

[Soo Won slightly winced as he cut his hand on a piece of stain glass. His gaze became distant as he felt a strange thrum of power coming from the wound. There was unnatural shimmer to the small trickle of blood that poured down his hand and where the blood touched the shape of scales carved into his skin. With a hateful glare Soo Won tore off a piece of his robe and tied it around the wound.]

How annoying.

[He muttered as he looked around. The church was foreign to him but it did feel similar to a temple. He lingered beneath on of the window’s rays as he looked for clues. Unknown to him, light clung to him like a false halo, casting him in a divine or monstrous outline depending on the eye of the beholder.]

B.)

[There was a hint of remorse in Soo Won’s eyes as he turned away from the masked man’s plight. He silently apologized. He didn’t have time to consider any new pieces on the board. All that mattered was getting back to Hak and Yona.]

Wearing shoes, yet no feet in sight?

[He mused out loud as he explored the gardens. The Nighmares were a mesmerizing sight and his eyes widened with a hint of wonder that outshone his urgency for a moment.]

Ah, I suppose they meant you then.

[Although the Nightmares were like not like any horse he knew. Still, there was something familiar about the proud way they carried themselves and he showed no hesitation as he held a hand out to one that reminded him of his own steed back home.]

I’m in a bit of a hurry. Could you help me?


III. Wildcard

[Surprise me with your own prompt! You can also plot with me on plurk Nicholaj, Discord: 2thNicholaj, or PM, whichever is easier for you. I'm will also match format to what is most comfortable for you. Enjoy!]

II. B.

[untilldeath]

[Till frowns heavily. The creature behind him keeps headbutting him from behind gently- but with enough force that he occasionally stumbles forward. And when it doesn't nuzzle its head against him aggressively, it attempts to lick his face.]

Ugh... what are they, actually?

[protectorofkouka]

[Soo Won watched Till's predicament with a hint of amusement in his smile as he curiously stroked his nightmare's skull. The smooth bone felt foreign but the shape was familiar.]

I'm not entirely sure. I've never seen horses like these before.

[untilldeath]

[He frowns at the beast and gently tries to push it away. Stubbornly, it remains close, though. He relents with a sigh and gently strokes its head for a moment.]

Horses...? Yeah, okay, that makes sense. I've seen pictures of those in history books. I guess these guys could sorta look like them.

[protectorofkouka]

You've never seen a horse before?

[That was surprising given how prevalent trade was nowadays. Was he from somewhere that was more isolated from the rest of the world? He had always enjoyed hearing stories about the world and his curiosity was piqued.]

What was your home like?

[untilldeath]

You don't really wanna know. It's just depressing shit.

[It feels like he's asking for sympathy or pity or something when he talks about it all, and he doesn't really want that.]

But no. The whole world that humans originated from back home was destroyed. So all the animals that once existed there are long gone, except for what the Segyein carted off before the end, I guess.

[protectorofkouka]

[Soo Won's hand stilled and his eyes slightly widened as he struggled to hide how shaken he was by Till's words. The entire world was destroyed? A chilling possibility came to mind as he remembered the darkness that had covered Kouka. Had they failed? No, even if he fell and this was some kind of dream or afterlife Hak and Yona would still protect everyone. But then what was the world Till was talking about? He hadn't been gone long enough for the entire world to be lost. None of this made sense. It couldn't make sense. He had to be missing something.

The nightmare was ignored as he turned his full attention to Till, his gentle curiosity sharpened into an iron resolve to unravel this mystery.]

Forgive me for prying but would you mind telling me how the world was destroyed?

[He was tempted to ask about the Segyein as well but perhaps he could spare Till some discomfort. It was clear that it wasn't a pleasant subject so he would try to only ask what he needed for now.]

[untilldeath]

The Segyein destroyed it.

[He shrugs. This is ancient history for Till, so it doesn't affect him as much as someone who maybe newly experienced it.]

Blew most of it up. They're like... Overpowered beings. Humans and the technology they possessed at the time didn't stand a chance.

[It was stupidly easy to destroy. What chance had humans possessed against millions of beings just like Sleep?]

The Segyein don't look at us as equals. They look at humans like...how people probably looked at horses I guess. Something to domesticate. They keep humans as pets and for entertainment.

[And he sure as hell knows how fucked up it all is.]

There are countless worlds and they've dominated every one they've come across. That's why this place is so weird.

[He hasn't figured it out.]

. . . It's supposed to be Earth. But, uh... Earth was annihilated. I don't really get it.

[protectorofkouka]

[Soo Won's eyes widened as his careful composure broken with a mix of shock and wonder.]

Did you say there are multiple worlds?

[That could explain why their stories didn't match but multiple worlds? The world was already vast so the concept was a bit difficult to grasp. But still, the possibility was mesmerizing! What were other worlds like? He felt disgust at the Segyein's crimes and he briefly considered how he would fight against an enemy that controlled multiple worlds, but it wasn't enough to overshadow his wonder.]

[untilldeath]

[Till snorts at the clear surprise on the other man's face.]

That's the part that surprises you?

[Of course, for someone who grew up in the aftermath of creatures conquering other planets, that kind of knowledge doesn’t seem so mind-breaking. But he supposes that, once upon a time, it probably was for a lot of people.]

'Course there is. More than you could ever count. The amount that’s habitable narrows it down some, but even then, there’s more than you could imagine. A person’s world seems vast until you realize they’re all kinda, more or less, like little specks of sand on a beach. Just a tiny part of something bigger.

(cw: human trafficking, akatsuki no yona spoilers)

[protectorofkouka]

[Soo Won shrugged, his expression subtly twisting with a hint of a weary smile.]

Sadly human cruelty and greed, ah wait, my apologizes, I meant the cruelty and greed of others doesn't surprise me. [Other than the gods humans were the only beings on his world so he was still wrapping his head around the concept of other beings and he quickly corrected himself with an apologetic smile before continuing.]

The scale is much grander, but regrettably people were exploited and sold on my world as well.

[Thanks to Yona they were able to put a stop to it on several occasions but it wasn't enough to get rid of it. Maybe if he had more time to address the problem, but that was never an option for him. With the limited time he had left, he had to prioritize making Kouka a strong country that could protect itself not dwell on the people he couldn't save.]

Re: (cw: human trafficking, akatsuki no yona spoilers)

[untilldeath]

That's some bullshit.

[He sighs. He can't imagine why anyone would do that, especially to their own kind. Well, maybe if they thought they could escape something themselves. But Till wouldn't ever think of snatching someone's freedom away like that. It's difficult to fathom.]

Even still, I think I'd take my chances with actual human beings.

i-c | akayona spoilers here!

[resplendences]

[ yona was less astounded than she could have been, to find herself underwater. hadn't the chalice held a sea of blood? zeno saw this truth far before she had, because of the whims of the dragon gods. they would show him a hell, and show her an empty paradise, because a fragment of a god is expendable...and the crimson dragon is not.

(it fills her with revulsion. it makes her furious.)

what is surprising is the flash of a familiar sword and, more than that, the sound of an achingly familiar voice. she approaches on instinct, glimmering gossamer winding around her arms as surely as his, and

reaches out to stay his hand, wrapping her own around his at the hilt of the blade. ]

Wait.

[ firm, but gentle ]

Yona my precious! Thank you so much! (also more akayona spoilers)

[protectorofkouka]

[That voice. As her hand wrapped around his he felt himself relaxing against her. His soul suddenly felt weary as if he had finally been given permission to rest.]

...Yona?

[How was she here? She couldn't be. The gods would never show a mere descendant of the crimson dragon the same kindness as they did to Yona, especially after he stabbed their beloved king's corpse. It was just another trick. His grip on the sword tightened again and he met Yona's gaze with a cold fury in his eyes.]

You're mistaken if you think using her face will keep me here.

<333

[resplendences]

[ for a moment, she's taken aback. she doesn't let go even as she gives him a long look, surprised and sympathetic.

still, her voice is cool when she answers. ]

Isn't that exactly why I can't be an illusion? [ cool, sad, but without bitterness: ] The promise of "Yona" wouldn't be enough to bind you anywhere. Your mother or father, my aunt and uncle, would be the more likely move. Wouldn't it?

Re: <333

[protectorofkouka]

[Soo Won's soul ached at the cool sadness in Yona's voice. It was a familiar pain, one that felt more real than the fragile happiness the memories tried to ensnare him with. Yona mattered more to him than he had realized, but he lost the right to say that to her. Instead his cold expression simply softened with a hint of a sad smile.]

I suppose you're right.

[He relaxed his grip on the sword, which started to fade as his strong intent weakened.]

Although that doesn't explain how you are here. What happened? Where is Hak?

[resplendences]

[ his small smile is nearly echoed in her expression; the softening, now that they aren't at odds. there's no purpose to being at odds in this situation. and she...doesn't want to be, in some tender part of her heart.

she's gentle as she lets go of his hands. ]

I don't know. [ with a shake of her head ] I was alone when I found myself here in the water. I was hoping...but you were the first person I've found.

[protectorofkouka]

[Soo Won tried to ignore the confusing ache he felt when Yona withdrew her hand.

His eyes narrowed slightly. Ah, this felt familiar. It reminded him of when they thought Hak was lost to the flood. He was just as unsure how to respond now as he was then. He had never wanted to be at odds with Yona either but he made his choice. He broke the precious bond they shared and he had no right to comfort her.

His hands had been tied back then so he couldn't search for Hak but it was different here. He wasn't the king and the frustration and desperation he couldn't acknowledge when Hak went missing guided his hand.]

Then let's go find him.

[resplendences]

[ her head comes up, and for a moment she only gazes at him in surprise. the answer is unexpected; though if asked, she couldn't say what she expected him to say. they grew up together, but she's still learning so much about him. ]

Do you think he's here?

I love your Yona! Thanks again for this lovely thread!

[protectorofkouka]

[Soo Won noticed Yona's surprise. Ah maybe he overstepped. They weren't the children who grew up together anymore. The memories made him careless and his tone sharpened as he turned his focus on the board in front of them.]

I didn't expect to find you here, yet here you are.

[He thought he would never see her again. If Hak succeeded in bringing her out of the chalice he would've accepted his punishment, but seeing Yona here without Hak left him unsettled. He pushed the confusing feeling aside as he tried to free his hand from the tendrils.]

We can search for him while we look for a way out. Starting with these things.

<333

[resplendences]

[ it's a good point. she hadn't expected to find him here, hadn't she? and here he is. and here she is. and maybe it isn't so surprising that he'd want to find hak. despite everything that's passed between him and hak and yona herself...he doesn't mean either of them ill. he isn't happy for anything bad to happen to them. all those years they grew up together were real, she just didn't have a complete picture of what soo won knew, or what he was dealing with.

and it's the same now in many ways, isn't it? he doesn't have the complete picture of what she knows, or what she's learned, or who she is now. in this respect, they're the same.

not to mention that hak would think her so silly for giving up on his presence here. hadn't he promised to always be by her side? hasn't he kept that promise? ]

Mm. Let's go find Hak.

[ and. deal with these tendrils. considering hers, too, are ever-winding around her ]

This is...about love, isn't it?

[ how ironic. how cruel. ]