"N-N-No! Th-That's not what I meant! Not at all!" Her arms failed. "I-I'm just saying that I'm perfectly happy at my current state, okay?! I wouldn't date myself or anyone for that manner and that's perfectly FINE!" She followed behind Yasha, her legs too short to catch up with her. "Do NOT create any potions because I don't WANT THEM!"

"Yes, but all points to you possibly requiring them." When Yasha spoke this time, all playfulness and poking at the young woman had left her voice and was replaced with earnestness. "That is why we're going to your home. I've decided that the best course of action would be to ward the perimeter as much as possible due to our current situation." She picked a few more chips from her bag before grabbing the half-eaten apple that she had been tossed in. She grabbed her caramel mocha–branded by Starbucks, of course–from the bag before closing it by means of tying it which required her to use only two fingers. And it was an odd sight to see being that she kept both her slushy and her coffee in hand, using her middle fingers with an unusual effectiveness to tie the bag shut.

Yoon observed Yasha closely, wondering how easy life must be for a person that held magic. But at the same time, based on their current situation, she knew it was also dangerous. Yoon had to take extra long steps in order to keep up with the Poji's pace. She ate one more gummy worm before crumpling the bag and shoving it into her pocket. Stirring the slushy with her straw, she also drank the last of it–her lips and teeth tinted with a cool blue.

Meanwhile with Yasha, she had let her bag reclaim its place with one of the large loops from them being tied resting gently around her forearm. Her brows furrowed lightly, her gaze shifting between the two drinks within her hand. She took another sip from her barely dented slushy, smacking her lips quietly and taking a second to focus on the taste. Then eyes moved to the caramel mocha, the feeling of the beverage's bottle cool and beginning to sweat off condensation. Her left hand lifted and her ring finger wrapped around the the top which gave a pop when the safety seal was broken. She removed the top and blatantly flicked it off to their right where it gave tiny clanks that were drowned out by the sound of a passing car. She took a moment to taste the coffee, giving a nod of satisfaction when she found that it still tasted as it did when she had first tried one. And barely a two seconds later, she was pouring the coffee beverage into the slushy cup and in turn into the slushy itself, blending the two unlikely drinks into one.

"Yasha that's disgusting!" Yoon intervened, attempting to prevent her from pouring in the rest. "That's a crime! ILLEGAL!" She shrieked. "Stop!" She snatched away what was left of the coffee beverage. "You just ruined a perfect drink! One in which had the perfect ratios of each flavor!"

"Huh?" Yasha was puzzled if not a little insulted for the drink when Yoon had so ruthlessly called her creation disgusting, as well as calling the harmless new beverage a crime. She frowned some. "Now that's rud–wait a minute that belongs to me!" Yasha exclaimed, unable to hold her coffee up fast enough before it was taken from her. " I'll have you know that what was supposed to be a 'perfect' beverage has just BECOME the perfect one! Return that cold caffeinated beverage to me at onc– " She cut herself off when she took a long drink from the concoction within the cup. "–at once!" She finished afterwards.

Yoon felt herself gag when she witnessed Yasha drink from the crime of a beverage she had made. "Besides, coffee is bad! It's basically flavored cocaine!" She argued. "Now let me throw that away--" Yoon hurried her pace to be in front of Yasha now, standing on the tip of her toes to retrieve the slushee cup.

"NEVER," Yasha snatched the cup away from her grasp. "How dare you, with your elastic, colored bears and your twisted red sticks, disrespect the grand creation carefully crafted and tempered from a glorious caffeinated beverage and a blasted subpar drink! An artificial subpar drink at that!" She turned away some to drink more from the slushy cup. "It's delicious!"

"My mom is going to judge you when she smells your coffee breath!" She warned her. And although she wasn't sure if what she said next would do anything at all, she still went on with it. "A-As y-your Keeper or a Keeper or the Keeper, I-I order you to stop!" Yoon was still confused about her title and purpose, but she was willing to use it if it meant avoiding to see such crime.

Yasha came to a brief pause, her eyes moving to Yoon at the "order" she was given. But then she just began to drink even more of it, removing the straw from the equation completely. She tipped the cup further and further up, gulping down the chilly liquid. But it was only after she was finished that it could be noticed–the slits within her eyes wavering slightly but expanding. She shivered before drawing in a deep breath and releasing it slowly, her eyes returning to normal. "Aaaah,~" She let out a soft sigh. "You're a Keeper. I've already told you before that you have no authority over me. And I'm sure that your mother won't be doing any judging for long, not with a paid for and new vehicle in the driveway of you residence now will she?"

"Y-You're gonna regret that!" She said in reference to downing the entire drink. "You are not allowed to use the bathroom in my house! Nah ah, no way!" Neither beverages rested well in someone's stomach, especially when drunken at the same time and at that speed. "If you're going to possess a human body then at least act l-like one! NO ONE DOES THAT!"

"No one wears thick and heat producing clothing on extremely hot days after nearly dying due to them either, so does that mean that you're not acting like a human either?" Yasha asked with her right brow raised in question. "From what I've observed so far within my time here, there are many things that I believed humans not to indulge in. Yet I've come have those beliefs altered greatly from what I've witnessed. Perhaps you just haven't been outside the boundaries of...well, here." She gestured to everything around them.

"WELL NO ONE DOES FREAKING MAGIC HERE!" She snapped back, panting softly since she was already tired previously and also because of the sweater Yasha pointed out. "And I'm perfectly fine being within these boundaries. Unfortunately it doesn't protect from your WEIRD and DISGUSTING," she specified, "drink combinations."

Yasha scoffed. "And tell me, are the words "weird" and "disgusting" used in the place of "I have not tried this before so therefore I will judge this because I have not tried this before"? Because if so, that seems a bit ignorant on your behalf wouldn't you think? And as for no one using magic in your world, I'm afraid that's false. Or at least some form of it. That sweater of yours on the other hand, no one would even dare to wear. Now if you're done, I'd like to–" She came to a stop as a sound met her ears. It was distance and at first shrill yet in some way soft and carrying a tune along with it. It was familiar to her, like she had definitely heard it somewhere, and thus she followed the sound of it since it sounded as if it was further up the street somewhere.

Yoon rolled her eyes. “You’re starting to sound like my mom and it’s not cOoL for those phrases to emit from a teenager’s body.” She explained. “You’d like you what?” Her brows furrowed at the sudden pause. “Uhh, what are you doing? You’re going the wrong way.” However, she followed behind. “Slow down, I can’t keep up!”

"Sssh!" Yashsa hushed her with a hiss as she listened, the sound drawing her in. Some of the people that were also walking the sidewalks were still under her watchful eye–or somewhat watchful eye, enough for her to act as quickly as possible if something were to go astray. Once they reached the end of the block, she looked to her left and across the road, and then to the right until she took the latter direction. This continued until they were halfway down the next block and she spotted what seemed to be the source, hidden just out of the way of the people walking to avoid being stepped on by the rude and harsh people that existed within the world. And now she could hear it more clearly, the sound of a wind instrument being blown into.

"What are we supposed to be following?" Yoon whispered with perplexed brows. She tried hurrying her pace to match Yasha's. "W-Wait for me!" She begged, her choice of clothing not helping at all along with the some of the heavier items she bought from the gas station.

When Yasha finally started to slow down, they finally came across a young boy sporting a dusty striped shirt with a collar that was obviously caked in days, perhaps even weeks of dirt along with a pair of shorts. He sat huddled close to the corner of a–ironically–small corner store that didn't really seem to fit, a harmonica to his lips and his knees to his chest.

Yasha came to a stop, startling the boy. But when she insisted that he continued to play, he, though hesitantly, did so and she stood there and listened.

Yoon blinked as she observed the boy play. She glanced at Yasha. “Please tell me you’re not killing him.” She whispered quietly into her ear. He seemed much too young and too talented to face the wrath and insanity of this so called “magic”, something she still didn’t comprehend. She felt pity for the young boy, and although she didn’t have that much change from what was leftover at the cashier, she still gave him what she had along with a bag of chips.

"I would never..." Yasha whispered back to her, closing her eyes down as she listened to the boy's music–his song, a small but sorrowful smile coming to her lips. She could feel it. She too felt pity. Not only for the boy, but also for Yoon as she watched her place attempted to give the chips and change to him, only for them to fall through his cupped hands when he tried to accept it. "Can't you feel it, Yoon? He's already dead." She opened her eyes, walking to the boy and kneeling down in front of him.

A beam of the late evening sunlight managed to catch the boy's body, his body becoming translucent. Yet he smiled at them both, smiled at Yoon for attempting to give him the money.

Yasha gathered the change and held it out towards the boy. "Don't worry, it truly is meant for you. Go on, don't be afraid. It's yours to keep." She looked up at Yoon. "Isn't that right?"

"H-Huh?" Yoon felt her eyes widened when she was told the boy was dead, a feeling of sickness washing over her. She didn't understand why she was seeing something that wasn't supposed to be there, or why the little boy was even there. Her eyes lowered and she frowned in sadness at the thought. However, she nodded softly at what Yasha asked her, looking at her momentarily to whisper if there was any way to bring him back.

Yasha shook her head sadly. For it to be the spirit of a child let her know, if the many other things that she had experienced hadn't already, that there were things that this world and the one she knew had in common. One of them being that no matter who it was, man, woman or child, sometimes the jaws of life showed no mercy. Her eyes drifted back to the boy. "See? Now go on. It's time for you to crossover into a better place. Somewhere spectacular. You'll be safe there."

The boy looked to Yoon again, then to Yasha. His hazy eyes and ghostly figure seemed as if they wavered in the air with each movement that he made, even the smallest ones. He considered what he was being told until finally, his hands reached for the blonde woman's. His eyes began to be overcome by a soft blue light that spread across his body until it burst into snow-like flurries of light that went unseen by the other passersby, just as the child had.

Yoon fell silent, her eyes leaving the boy's and instead staring at the nothingness to the side of her. Her frown seemed to deepen some more as thoughts accumulated in her mind. It seemed more than just selfish how an innocent life couldn't be saved, but so many other things could be done with the use of magic. She also disliked the fact she even had to witness that. Yoon eventually turned around in silence and continued her way home, this time not really waiting for Yasha. She felt extremely uneasy about what she had just seen.

Yasha on the other hand remained where she was for a few seconds, closing her eyes. She could still here the music from the boy, and it sounded distant despite her still being in the same place as she had been. She placed the change where the boy had been sitting and said a few words from ancient prayer that were said to bring peace to those who were having trouble passing on. Afterwards, she stood up and brushed herself off, taking a look up at the sky. She stood there for a few more seconds until the sound of the harmonica gradually faded. May peace be with you, child.

Yoon kicked a pebble on her way, her eyes more on the ground than on her surroundings as she crossed the road. She wanted to shove her hands into the pockets of a hoodie, however, there were none in the sweater she currently wore. Today was just an entire mess in her eyes. Not even the sugar of sweets could ease her. She just wanted to go home, receive a scold from her mom and an insult from her brother, and lock herself in her room. Yoon didn't want to be anywhere else besides under her sheets for the next weeks to come.

Yasha eventually caught up to Yoon after a few more moments, but she didn't say anything immediately when she did. Instead, she was paying much more attention to their surroundings now, being that she had noticed something beforehand. She flipped open the vanilla folder that she had found from before and shuffled through some of the pictures before closing it back and folding it in half to where she could slide it in her pocket. She muttered something to herself until she spoke a little louder. "He's within a much better place, that child. And its because of your doings. Remember that," she said. "Continue on your way home hastily. Stop for nothing and no one. I'll return shortly."

"i did nothing." Yoon mumbled with a lowered head. She didn't turn to make contact with Yasha, and instead continued forth in her rather quick walk. Her neck had sunken into the crook of her oversized sweater, trying to make herself less visible as possible.

"You did something." Yasha corrected. "If not, then he wouldn't have passed on." However, she said no more than that. Instead, she started across the street once again, not minding the traffic while she headed in the opposite direction and eventually disappearing into the crowd of people on the other side of the street.

"--i said I did NOTHING!" She interrupted before Yasha could even finish. However, when she turned around, she found herself yelling at random strangers that stared at her in surprise and concern. A blush spread across her cheeks and she gulped. "s-s-sorry--" She apologized quickly, feeling as if she was about to burst in tears. And that's when her walking became a sprint to her home.

Yasha moved through a group of friends hastily on her way back down the street, her expression solemn. That is, until she encountered across a Bakery Plus store a couple of blocks down. Her brows wriggled, and she stood in front of the place, her foot tapping. Focus...I need to focus. She told herself.

[Eight minutes later.]

"Eight choco-tacos, two jelly donuts with sprinkles, e–eleven glazed fried honey buns? A double shot espresso...a-and four oreo sprinkled lemon filled–"

"Two salami-meatball combo subs, two wheat bagels with strawberry cream cheese, two steak and cheese bagels, one plain bagel with jelly, a veggie burger and a philly cheese steak, yes. I believe that's correct," Yasha said, giving the man a friendly smile from her seat at one of the tables. She also thanked the other employee that brought the last of her three big bags full of what seemed like everything there was to have. She handed off two hundred dollar bills blindly. knowing that it would cover whatever there was to cover in every way. She didn't really have a care for the money either way, along as it got what she needed. She stirred her coffee, pushing the bags to the space in front of her so that she had enough room to open the folder again. She figured that she was enough out of sight thanks to the bags, one of them in which there were also things for Yoon and of course her mother for when she got there. She thought of it as a welcoming gift, a good start with the mother after the salon incident.

After what felt like half an hour, Yoon found herself now walking up the stairs of the apartment her family rented a room from. As if the day wasn't bad enough, the elevator stopped working so she had to walk up at least seven floors. She cursed under her breath, but she frowned–her eyes holding signs that she had been crying for the past few minutes.

For the next couple of minutes, Yasha searched through pictures of who to her were random individuals, making sure to keep each piece of information with the photos that they were organized with. Some of the photos were blurry and a little harder to make out, but enough for her to make out some facial features for what good it could do. And though it was just another observation of the ones that she already seen, there was one in particular that stood out, the same one from earlier. By the gauges within her ears, the ear piercings and the nose ring, she could tell that the individual was still somewhat youthful. The woman's hair was a unique, vibrant woodsy brown.
And if there was something that Yasha began to notice about the picture is that it looked as if it had been taken from some alternative source rather than actually taken by a camera. But what she had noticed before was that the club that the picture was taken in front of was one that she was vaguely familiar for some reason–a place called "Soirée Epicée". She grabbed a bagel to munch on while she skimmed through what she found to be basic information on the woman. It was eerie just how much the Droven had managed to gather, and it made her even more concerned with how long he may have been within this world exactly. But if there was one thing that she was sure about, it was that coming across something so crucial had been merely dumb luck and coincidence on her part. And now the fact that she had taken her current vessel when she did brought a little more relief.

When Yoon finally reached the door, which was cracked yet had a sign that said "Home Sweet home" in Korean hung in the center of it, she released a tired exhale. She followed with her usual routine to retrieve her keys, until realization hit her that she no longer had them. Her eyes closed briefly and she swallowed hard before her trembling hand lifted to knock on the door.

It only took a few seconds before a desperate voice was heard on the other side, struggling to unlatch the locks. "Y-Yoon? Yoonie?!" Her mom unlocked the last of the locks and opened the door, visible concern yet anger painted all over her face. "어디 갔었 어?!" She shrieked. "네 형은 홀로 남겨졌다!" She said about her brother, and slapped Yoon's shoulder some in disbelief. "I call you and call you and no answer!"

Yoon felt as if the tears she was trying to prevent were about to burst out. She bit her lip some, not even knowing where to begin. She didn't want to begin anywhere or drag her mom into something she didn't deserve to be in. "I-I'm sorry, 엄마..." The young woman said with lowered ears.

"Where were you?!" The older woman asked again. "Why no p-phone with you? Why a-abandon shop and brother!"

Yoon sighed. She wasn't in the mood to deal with this, and before she knew it, tears were streaming down her small face. She pushed past her mom and rushed inside to her room, locking her door immediately.

Yoon's mother blinked in shock when she saw her daughter crying. It also seemed like she had been running for a long time with all the sweat and redness on her face. She shook her head to herself in disappointment, shutting the door seconds after.

Back at the Bakery Plus, Yasha continued to snack on some of what she had while reading through more of what she had. And the further she read along, the more she found herself feeling uneasy about what she saw. Some of the faces on a lot of the photos of the people were marked with a large X while others had their faces scratched out. It wasn't until she was lifting one of the photos from the back of the folder did she spot the thick corner of folded paper that had slid out, the edges of it a tint of blue. With furrowed brows, she carefully grabbed the corner of paper and tugged at it lightly to avoid scattering what she had gone through so far.

Upon pulling the paper all the way out, she caught sight of the lines or red that marked the paper and when she began to unfold it, she started to realize what it was that she was looking at. It was a large map. Her eyes went to the top where she read, "United Statis?" She had never seen the word "state" before, being that it wasn't one that actually existed back where she came from. But she had heard of it and had enough common sense to figure out that it must have been of a kingdom of some sort, seeing the many labeled points that she saw that included the names of rivers and landmarks and cities. Some of them were circled, others having a large black X that she could tell were made by marker.

Her thoughts ticked in her head, and she went back to photo of the woman that she had been looking at earlier, finding that the bits of information on her and something on the map had something in common. Florida... From what she was able to find out months ago, that's where she currently was. Which only further proved her suspicions to be correct. And that's when she noticed that the outlined area that signified Florida had multiple Xs scattered around that used to be former points that had been made. Two and two quickly came together and formed the metaphorical lightbulb that lit her thoughts. Folding the map quickly while scooting her chair away from the table, Yasha grabbed her coffee cup and drank what little was left of her second cup and returned everything to the folder before closing it and preparing to leave.

Yoon stomped into her room, ensuring the door was locked before she took off her clothing rather angrily and roughly, cursing to herself in Korean and changing into an oversized kimono pajama. She kicked her shoes off her feet, grumbling some to prevent herself from crying. And it didn’t take her long before she crawled into the bed and covered herself with the blankets completely.

As the sun sunk further and further below the horizon, the Orlando slowly but started to die down in preparation for the night owls, party animals and the workers that were finally going home for the day. And with Halloween just around the corner, there were many places that were hosting theme based events and pre-parties everywhere that showed that people were really getting themselves settled in for the real deal. But in the vastly growing shadows that came with the setting sun the unforeseen lurked and prowled, awaiting the opportunity to close its clutches around its prey.

-

link

Her fingers ran down her face slowly, gently. The reflection in the mirror stared back at her with a resentful glare, stringy and damp dye-ridden brown hair hanging passed her shoulder and being slightly longer in the back by a few inches. Knowing that she was going to have to redye it, sometimes she wished that she would just switch over to using wigs instead of hair dye. But at the same time, she new that that would result in her having many more wigs than she felt comfortable keeping. Not only that, but dyeing it–as much of a chore as it became at times– at least gave her something to do whens he really needed it.

Her gaze averted from herself and she let out a sigh, moving away from the sink and over to where she had left her fluffy and snug lavender bathrobe hanging and retrieved it from its hanger, slipping it on and tying it at the waist. She let out a your-nights-are-my-mornings-yawn and stretched on her way out of the bathroom, stopping briefly to check the analog clock that hung on the wall across from her bed which in turn was also across from the bar countertop to the kitchen. She had to squint just a little to see where the arms were placed since it had become a guilty habit of her not wearing her glasses. Almost three hours. Three hours until she would be out of space of her studio apartment and off to the club across town where she worked. In the mean time, she had already planned on picking up a Monster and a Redbull from the gas station down the street for the night ahead along with a small bag of cheddar and sour cream bag of Ruffles–a task that was nearly ritualistic at this point.

With that in mind, she skipped over to a basket recently washed clothes to grab a dull yellow t-shirt that had stains around the breast pocket and shoulder area from where a brown shirt had bled onto it. It had been thrown in with the darker colored clothes by accident one day when she was just trying to get washing them out of the way and was rushing through the chore. And though it was just a plain old t-shirt, it had been her favorite one and still was. The stain to her just gave the shirt character. She grabbed a pair of faded jeans to where and a thin undershirt with long sleeves that was just a shade darker than the first shirt that she had grabbed, this one having the purpose of hiding the peach colored ink that was used to make the tattoos that marked her arms. though the one on the left side of her neck that looked like it continued unseen across her shoulder would remain visible. And then it was back to the bathroom to prepare a few things for when she got back, which included her disguise for her performing alter ego.

~

Ah, here it is–.

There were three knocks on the door to Yoon's residence almost an hour later, and on the other side of the door Yasha stood holding the bags from the Bakery Plus along with two additional ones that had been acquired before she had gotten to where she was now. It hadn't taken too long for her to find out Yoon's location. Ironically, that had been the easiest part of it all while everything else hadn't exactly been...easy. Not to her at least.

The door opened a minute or so later when it had been knocked. However, the person who greeted Yasha was no longer an elderly woman. Instead, it was a young boy–around 8 or 10 years of age. He had straight black hair that was already in need of a haircut. He raised his head for his brown eyes to meet with Yasha’s crumbs of cereal scattered around his lips along with dried bits of chocolate milk. He blinked at the stranger, his eyes now going to the bags of sweets and gifts she carried. He looked back, debating whether he should take one and run back inside. And just when it looked like he was going to let her inside, he slammed the door on Yasha, his loud squeaky voice calling for his mother prevalent behind the wood. There were a few exchange of words heard, before suddenly the door opened again and it was Yoon’s mother that greeted her this time. She had switched from her work uniform into comfortable clothing with including a white blouse and sweatpants with fuzzy socks. Her eyes squinted at the woman before her, and because she couldn’t always remember her own customers due to the many she had every day, her head tilted and she assumed the worst. “R-Rent no due till next week!”

The infamous monthly dues, Yasha thought to herself when the older woman mentioned rent. Now that was something that she was familiar with, and she was pretty sure that her own landlord was almost on the verge of giving her an eviction notice due to the number of times she'd avoided paying rent. Not that it was on purpose every time of course. Just the majority of the time. "Good day to you ma'am. I can assure you that I am in no fashion associated with your landlord." She gave the woman a smile. "I'm Lauren, a new acquaintance of Yoon's. I also come baring gifts. May I come in?" She used the name that belonged to her vessel rather than her own when she introduced herself just for safety measures. There was no telling who or what could be listening.

Yoon's mother's eyes squinted further now based on what she heard. It was a phrase she hadn't heard since her daughter's elementary days. She was slowly beginning to close the door, leaving only a small gap to peak outside this time. She concluded the young woman must've been crazy, one because of the haircut and two because she'd never met any of Yoon's friends and it seemed weird that they'd come around at Yoon's state. "One moment." She held her finger up to this so called "Lauren" while glancing behind her.

"YOONIE!" The elderly woman began, only to finish her statement in Korean regarding an unexpected visitor that may or may not be acquainted with her that also came baring gifts.

And although faint, Yoon's voice was heard behind her locked door. "TELL HER TO GO AWAY! DONT FALL FOR HER TREATS!"

This gave her mother a clue that perhaps this Lauren did know Yoon. She turned back and peeked her head out of the door. "Yoon in room." She informed her. However, she couldn't let an opportunity of having a friend of her daughter's over. It had been so long since the last time that happened. "Shoes off. No run or sneeze without elbow." She slowly opened the door some more.

When she heard Yoon's voice from within the apartment, Yasha rolled her eyes. Such a child. Her attention went back to the door as Yoon's mother poked her head out of the door. She couldn't help but to think back to the spirit that had been freed when she was informed on where Yoon currently was.

When invited in she gave the mother another smile and did as instructed, taking her dress shoes off where she stood by stepping on the heels of each one individually and then wiggling her feet out of them since her hands were full and slid them to the side of the door. She also made a note to find more comfortable shoes altogether. She stepped into the house with her fuzzy socks on her feet, thanking the older woman as she did so.

Yoon’s mother closed the door on Yasha’s way in. She watched her take her shoes off, and replied with a small bow to her gratitude.

Yasha was now inside the small but cozy Park house, which held a simplistic design compared to the previous mansion they were in. She could smell that the tiled floors were recently swept with a lavender-scented item. However, the most noticeable things were the few pictures that hung on the wall. Pictures of families from decades ago, along with ancient relics that seemed to be a collection of family geoms (similar to the famous katanas). There were also small dragon and tiger figures made out of jade along the edge of the non-working fireplace. These were all traditional items that had been passed on to Yoon’s mother and eventually would become hers as well. Well, except the many childish drawings from her brother that hung here and there with masking tape.

The elderly woman pointed at a certain door in the corner of the one-floor apartment. “Yoonie there. I bring snack!” She exclaimed excitedly.

When she entered the apartment, Yasha couldn't help but to instinctively eye her new surroundings, even if it was only a brief gaze across what filled the room's limited space. And though it wasn't as big as the larger house owned by her vessel and now herself, she didn't mind it at all and couldn't help but to feel the homey air that the place held. Something that really caught her eye were the jade figures that had been crafted into the shape of animals.

When Yoon's mother spoke, she followed the finger of the woman to the door in the corner that was secluded, yet didn't seem misplaced to where it would feel as if it was an add-on to the apartment in her opinion. She was going to tell the woman that making snacks wouldn't be necessary since she had covered that for the most herself, but the excitement that she displayed influenced her say different. "Thank you, ma'am." She gave a smaller version of the mother's bow before turning to the door that had been labeled as Yoon's. She approached the door, speaking when she stopped a few inches in front of it. "I take it that you're aware of my presence here. Will you allow me in, or will you be willing to come out for a while?"

Yoon lifted her head slightly from her pillow, her hair disheveled even more. “What... d-do you want? I’m not in the mood to see more corpses... or talk to one, for that matter.”

Before Yasha could say anything, a small figure brushed past her thigh. It was no other than Yoon’s mischievous brother who because of the bad conditioning of the house, was easily able to unlock the door with a paper clip and smack it open. He snickered, holding his nerf gun as he ran inside.

The ruckus of course made Yoon peek out of her blankets, where the center of her forehead and her neck was hit with the plushy and sticky side of the nerf bullet. She shouted in Korean, cursing at her brother in annoyance before smacking him with a pillow as he tried to escape.

As Yoon's younger sibling went to escape out the door, Yasha stepped aside, snickering some after her initial surprise at the boy being able to open the door so easily. "I must admit that he's has quite the precision with that toy of his. If it were real, you'd most definitely be in trouble. Though for the entirety of the 'corpse' bit, "shell" would be a more suitable term being that this vessel won't rot nor decay as long as I inhabit it. And since I'm well enough alive myself, it therefore cannot be considered as a corpse." She stood at the doorway, bags in hand. "As for what I'm here for, there are a number of reasons actually. The first of them are these," She held up the bags from the bakery. "Still warm from my journey here. Another is this, sense you'll definitely be needing it for more due to reasons that we are both well enough aware of."

A tied white bag smacked the top of Yoon's head and bounced off onto the edge of the bed, almost falling to the floor. It was tied tightly around the rectangular object within it–a rectangular box.

"There is, of course something else of importance to get to, but first...I need to ask your mother to direct me to the restroom." And with that, Yasha was already heading off to where she could hear Yoon's mother.

Yoon groaned to herself as she popped the nerf bullets off her skin, only to be hit on the head by the white bag Yasha through. She rubbed her temples with a grumpy expression, rolling her eyes at what she said and leaning off the edge of her bed to pick up the box and see what was inside. However, once she saw that Yasha stepped out of the room, she also reached for a sweet inside the other bag from the bakery to snack on.

Meanwhile, in the kitchen which was only a few feet away from Yoon's room, stood the elderly lady skillfully chopping fruits. She had placed a white bowl onto the bamboo tray, sliding pieces of pineapple, pears, and raspberries into the container. She carefully drizzled honey on top and decided she would also heat up some dumplings she made last night.

Once the box was out of the bag, the the arc of blues, reds, and just a burst of color in general that marked the it would be the first thing that stood out within the frame of a black phone screen; both were plastered across the top of the white box, and along the sides in silver was the brand name 'iPhone'. Yasha had gotten the device based on the advice of the employee that had been servicing her. She had gone into the store with the sole person of getting the most efficient one that she could find, and when she made this clear, what Yoon now had in front of her was what she had been provided.

Yasha came to a short-lived pause when she came across the mother slicing through the fruit. The fact that it was fruit being chopped alone made her feel a little better knowing that she was the sole reason that all of the "choco-tacos" were gone before she had even gotten all the way down the street after leaving the bakery.
She stood there only a few seconds before speaking. "Excuse me Mrs. Yoon's Mother, but would you be so kind as to show me to the restroom?"

Yoon's mother blinked when she heard the voice from behind her, closing the microwave so it would finish heating up the dumplings. "Bathroom?" She repeated before it clicked in her head what she meant. "Oh yes yes." There was no need to take her to the one bathroom since it was a small apartment and everything was near each other. She pointed again, this time to the smaller room that was besides the dormitory she shared with her son.

"고맙습니다," Yasha replied, placing her hands together as a show of gratitude before going off towards the bathroom. Once she reached it she opened the door swiftly and stepped inside, closing it behind her and locking it. She took one brief look around, fishing her hand into her pocket and pulling out a piece of smoky black chalk. And there within the bathroom she would remain for the next five minutes or so.

"천만에요--" Yoon's mother stopped mid-speech, her eyes slightly widening when she heard the woman thank her in Korean. She figured Yoon had taught her previously, and instead laughed out loud, calling her cute in her native language before doing so in her third. "Cute cute~Kiyowo!" She clapped her hands in glee before turning back to retireve the dumplings and set them on the plate besides the fruit.

Raven, who had spent an extra fifteen minutes arguing over whether or not she wanted to put on one of her caps or not, was finally stepping foot outside of her studio apartment. She had decided to just throw her hair into a messy but doable bun that was just as loose as the strings to the scuffed and year worn, calf-high pale yellow and black checkerboard vans that she wore.

She tucked a pair of Hypepods–which were pretty much knock-off AirPods that had saved her around a hundred bucks and were perfect to her–into her ears and pressed play on her phone. The music helped her with avoiding accidentally making eye contact with people. She had a scooter, but since the store wasn't far at all, she tended to trying to enjoy walking when she felt like it. And she actually did at times. It was just that she was...paranoid, sometimes.

But now that she was all set, she started down the street, "The Highest in the Room" by Travis Scott slowly beginning. It was a song that had a catchy sound to her, though she couldn't relate to the actual words to it at all despite knowing the lyrics. The thump it had to it, or so she called it, had caught her ear the first time she had heard it. And with her being the way she was about music and her job in general, that was enough. She had been listening to it for the passed week trying to find out how she could incorporate it into a music mash or remix.

By the halfway point of the next song, the store was already in sight across the street.

~

Yasha pushed her finger down on the toilet's knob, washing it flush despite not using it at all. Dropping the chalk back into her pockets, she dusted her hands off, nudging the sink's cabinet close with her foot. She went along to turn on the water for a few seconds, resisting the urge to pace back and forth in thought.

Even in what seemed like a comfortable home, she was wary. The sigils though by themselves were weakened by her lack of mana, in great numbers they could prove more tedious than one would think. Tedious enough to give one the time to escape if need be. She turned off the water, letting out a sigh before exiting the bathroom and heading back to Yoon's room.