genesis (jin-hwa)

[Gemini Enigma]

Genesis

[attr="class","box1"]Fae revels never went without fire. In this case, the marble posts of the pavilion were lined with lanterns, the flames inside blurred through the glass. Let the candles stand alone, Gemini thought; if they weren’t wily and feral enough to burn despite the elements, they had no place in Faerie. He preferred such things undimmed. There were other kinds of fire at play tonight. Across the room, revealed by the shifts in the watercolor crowd, Jin-Hwa Mei stood at the edge of the pavilion. Had it been anyone else, mortal or fae, Gemini might have said they were lingering. But she did not linger any more than she hesitated. Proper timing seemed to follow her discretion; she was never late, never the visitor who overstayed their welcome, never too quick to act. It would be time to move precisely when she decided so. Be not quick to judge, Ambrose might tell him, but Gemini knew full well that his brother only followed that principle until he'd decided what he could get from a person. He was not a moral creature any more than he was a clever one. Not like Gemini. Not like the unwanted heir whose talents would go unused and forgotten. Perhaps that was why the Undersea princess made the wine sour in his mouth. She had exactly the station that she desired, and Gemini would have been unsurprised if, like Ambrose, she did not deserve it. He could play politics. He could weave a web of charm without a single glamour. He could playact an alliance between them if it served him and the courts of the Faewild. But if he had to say he liked her, then the fae half of him, the half so often disregarded, would doubtless still his tongue.  Jin-Hwa Mei [newclass=.box1]margin:0px auto; width:300px; height:425px; background: transparent; overflow:auto; padding:8px;[/newclass] [newclass=.box1::-webkit-scrollbar]width:5px;[/newclass] [newclass=.box1::-webkit-scrollbar-thumb]background: #091c3d;[/newclass]

Music Word count: 297 Notes:

credit to SeaJem

[Jin-Hwa Mei]

Your hands were on her
But your eyes were on me

Jin-hwa had seen enough. More than enough. The land fae were just what she expected-- glitz and glamour. Nothing of substance. They were wealthy, they were powerful, but mostly they liked to put on a show. There was always these games with the fae. But in the undersea they dealt much more openly in brutality. They just didn't have the time.

Her mother was a busy woman. She learned that fast and well. That was the way it was. If you didn't learn something quickly, then it was beaten into you until you couldn't forget it. They didn't have time for games and they certainly didn't have time for weakness.

Her mother had many responsibilities. It wasn't like here, where the power was spread out. And if she ever wished her mother was less busy, well, that was thinking like a daughter, not a queen. She had stood in that throne room. She understood all to well why her mother kept such a tight grip on the reins. She would never give it up-- not for anyone. So she wouldn't ask anyone to either. 

In fact, Jin-hwa wouldn't ask for anything. She would just take it. Even here, that wasn't different. These fae may have put on quite a show, but there was still the echoes of screams in that laughter. There were still sharp teeth in nearly every smile. 

Jin-Hwa turned towards the royal pavilion. The king and his consorts. The princes and princesses. She wrinkled her nose. There was no one of interest there. 

Except for one boy, standing in the shadow of the throne, eyes glittering silver. So that was who she had seen before. Her lips curled in a blood-red smile. He wasn't even trying to hide his disdain. She saw the way he was watching her. But she knew him. The poisoner's prince. The rounded edge of his ears was everything she needed to know. He was looking at her with hatred, that was true. But she hadn't done anything yet.

She turned to walk towards him. Well, if he was going to give her anything, she should be sure she deserved it. 

Gemini Enigma
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[Gemini Enigma]

Genesis

[attr="class","box1"]Gemini observed the princess's approach with a lazy, shuttered expression, swirling his goblet idly, watching the wine nearly splash over the brim. Perhaps it would stain his fingertips, as it already had done to his mouth. He could feel the fine silver chain move against his throat when he swallowed, shutting his eyes, pretending ignorance. He didn't yet know what Jin-hwa wanted, but it wasn't peace. Finally; something interesting might come of this farce. Gemini stepped away from the post he'd been leaning against, his posture still carefully relaxed, but ready to meet her approach. He knew what he was expecting. She'd mock him, the half-mortal half-prince. He was an all too easy target—at least, to one who knew nothing about him. And that was most people, for he liked it that way. Still, he'd almost be disappointed if insults were all that she had to give; surely the heir to the Undersea would have some greater scheme. There were true monsters in those depths. And again and again, the mystery drives us to drown ourselves. Gemini may have been raised in Faerie, but he was not afraid of mortal knowledge like the rest of them. He'd consumed it, kept it as a weapon. In their stories, wanting more than one could have always ended in drowning. Even Icarus, aiming for the sun, succumbed to the depths eventually. He raised his cup to herald her approach. So many things that they took for granted on land must be new to her. Perhaps he could use it to his advantage. "Tell me, Princess," he said, "what do you make of the stars?" Jin-Hwa Mei [newclass=.box1]margin:0px auto; width:300px; height:425px; background: transparent; overflow:auto; padding:8px;[/newclass] [newclass=.box1::-webkit-scrollbar]width:5px;[/newclass] [newclass=.box1::-webkit-scrollbar-thumb]background: #091c3d;[/newclass]

Music Word count: 272 Notes:

credit to Laura of Adox + SeaJem

[Jin-Hwa Mei]

Your hands were on her
But your eyes were on me

Jin-hwa titled her head back to survey the stars he spoke of. Princess. It was a title. Like any other title, it could mean anything or nothing. He said it like an insult.

"When I was a child, I rarely went to the surface." she said. "I was afraid of the bright lights. I didn't want to move towards what I didn't know." She raised a shoulder. "Then I found a book on constellations. On metalworking. On the land fae's revels. I was entranced."

And yet she was still frightened. That small child who didn't know the rules of convention, who screamed at any little injustice, was scared of what she didn't know. It was like Jin-Hwa had switched. Her mother's cruelty-- her father's disdain-- those were the only things she feared now.

She learned well how to play the lady. She didn't like the way he was looking at her, like he could see it all, the fears that she had fought down and the teeth she was desperate to bare. She didn't like this question. But she was still fae. She couldn't lie, as much as she wanted to.

"I decided I would head to the surface. I would see the stars. The lights still frightened me, but not knowing frightened me more."  

She wondered what it was like for him, to know everything he might have been. He couldn't lie. Could he get closer to it than her? How could he survive, barely brushing against two different powers he could never have? Jin-Hwa would have gone mad.

But she wasn't him. They weren't the same. She met his eyes without fear. What she didn't know wouldn't scare her again. She knew enough about him. "I think that the stars are like anything else. They belong to those who are willing to take them, bright lights be damned."  

Gemini Enigma
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[Gemini Enigma]

Genesis

[attr="class","box1"] Gemini swirled his goblet with a lazy twirl of his wrist that made the candelight catch on his many rings. He took the chance to observe Princess Mei over its rim; she glittered and dazzled like the rest of them, swathed in silk and sheer, and yet while the rest of them shone like candles, like bioluminescence, she shone like a blade. For the rest of them, their shimmer was camouflage. She bore hers like a weapon. He clicked his tongue. 'Bold words for a meeting meant to make peace, Princess. The stars are not such an easy thing to claim." He lowered his goblet to meet her eyes, and found them molten gold. Perhaps it was the lights. But Gemini had a sense—and it filled him with a rage so irrational that he almost despised this in itself—that the lights were just like the timing: they were hers. How could such a girl be told that she couldn't also have the stars? He always was the one to save his skills for a challenge. "Perhaps you don't yet know them well," he said. "But the stars are, at a distance, impossible to reach; too close, and they will burn." He sounded Western, Gemini thought with a slight twist of his mouth; all dire warnings. Mortal legends say that the stars are reserved for those worth remembering, he did not say. He didn't need to remind her of his heritage. In fact, if Jin-hwa had her weapon, Gemini was allowed his own: his charm, his mask. It settled, liquid and easy, over the bitter core of him. His intellect was a thing best kept sheathed, but something about her made him want to draw it. "What else, then," he asked with a quirk of his brow, "do you intend to claim?" Jin-Hwa Mei [newclass=.box1]margin:0px auto; width:300px; height:425px; background: transparent; overflow:auto; padding:8px;[/newclass] [newclass=.box1::-webkit-scrollbar]width:5px;[/newclass] [newclass=.box1::-webkit-scrollbar-thumb]background: #091c3d;[/newclass]

Music Word count: 308 Notes: I'm a little scared of what I'm baiting here...

credit to Laura of Adox + SeaJem

[Jin-Hwa Mei]

Your hands were on her
But your eyes were on me

Jin-hwa tilted her head. "I've never had time to be anything but bold." she said. "Where I come from, we don't care for it."

There was something familiar about him, and she couldn't stand it. His tainted blood on her clothes? It would never happen. Not even close. She couldn't help but wrinkle her nose just at the thought. Whatever they agreed upon, they were not the same.

Bright lights be damned. She didn't know what was going to happen here. No one did. She would not be the same as him. But there were those who decided to be safe, and those who decided to fall until they got good at it. Until it started looking like something else. Until they were burning, they were glowing.

Maybe that was what they all wanted. To fly. Even if they fell. To get too close. But Jin-hwa didn't think so. She thought that the world belonged to those who take it, the ones who were willing to go too far. 

Most people knew when to stop. Jin-hwa never, ever, had. All the fae were more closely linked to animals than mortals. And while it didn't show in her hair, or in horns or claws, it was foolish to think Jin-hwa wasn't just as monstrous as the rest. It showed in her smile. 

Gemini wasn't a monster. Not yet, at least. 

"I will get closer than you ever could," she said coldly. "Mortal's constitution can be so frail. In the undersea, we are trained in coldbloodedness. I will never burn." Not unless it was her legacy set to the stars. Not unless she was starting the blaze.

"What else do I intend to claim? A legacy you will never have." she said. "One you will never be a part of. So tell me, Gemini, what you hope to achieve from this conversation." She called him Gemini. Not Enigma. He didn't deserve that name. It didn't matter what he thought he would achieve. Nothing he did would matter. Not really.

Jin-hwa didn't have time to make friends that didn't matter. Maybe one day, if he could ever hope to be her equal, they could be enemies. It seemed doubtfully. Most likely he would just be a footnote in the history she would create.

Gemini Enigma
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[Gemini Enigma]

Genesis

[attr="class","box1"]Gemini's mouth twisted. He felt the goblet press agains the pads of his fingers, cold as the smile he gave her. "Then you do not know true boldness, Princess," he said, something flashing in his eyes, silt in a river. She was so quick to forget it, she and everyone else, but the blood in his veins flowed in the springs and rapids of Faerie; the fire in his eyes burned in the very stars she had never seen. "If you are expected to be brazen, to cut to what you want, then you defy its definition. You are not bold. You are the status quo." His body language remained lax and languid, but between the two of them, there was no point to the facade. Build everything you have from the ground up, he thought, and then you will know what it is to be bold. Be the force of a creation you do not rightfully known, and you know real courage. Dare to make yourself beloved when the lashing tongues despise you, when you are said to deserve none of what you have, and you are audacious, defiant. "Oh, but cold-blooded creatures cannot adapt," said Gemini, a laugh in his eyes, voice sharpened to a razor's edge. For all that she taunted him for his mortal blood, any humanity that he had was disappearing by the second. He certainly felt wicked, a prince of the air. "If the heat is too great, they fever and whither away. If the cold has too strong of a bite, they wilt in its jaws. Perhaps you would know, if only you had studied the unworthy mortal sciences. They could have taught you your own frailty. But I am here to substitute." He spread his hands wide with a magnanimous smile. Perhaps this revel was meant for making peace, but the Princess was not entering this conversation unarmed. Gemini would not allow himself to be helpless in the name of cooperation and amity. He was not the only one with treaties to keep; he was just the only one who could not so easily get away with breaking them. A legacy you will never have. It was as if those empty ichor eyes of hers could see right through to the most human heart of him, as if he was made transparent in the candlelight. But to become a target was not to lose the battle. It was only the beginning. "Your only legacy will be that of yet another princess who sat on a throne she never earned," he said, his voice growing deadly soft, almost melodic. Perhaps a siren would answer to song. "Not the kind of legend the stars care for. My crown may be heavier than most, but I will bear it to see the mark of my signature in those heavens." If only he could say that he meant the conversation to make peace. But his tongue would have been stilled by a lie. Because you seem as if you care. Because you have the kind of power I want to challenge. Because I will never be as strong as I want to be if I do not fight someone like you. Gemini raised his goblet to his lips and drained the rest to the dregs. Lifting it in a salute, he said, "And why, Jin-hwa, do you care what I want?" She could not tell any falsehood to make him believe she was disinterested in him. And if she truly was, he'd have the pleasure of making her care. He studied her face, another light thrown by the flames. Something he found there made him smile a smile of thorns. This was going to be a beautiful, beautiful war. Jin-Hwa Mei [newclass=.box1]margin:0px auto; width:300px; height:425px; background: transparent; overflow:auto; padding:8px;[/newclass] [newclass=.box1::-webkit-scrollbar]width:5px;[/newclass] [newclass=.box1::-webkit-scrollbar-thumb]background: #091c3d;[/newclass]

Music Word count: 621 Notes:

credit to Laura of Adox

[Jin-Hwa Mei]

TW: Parental Abuse

Your hands were on her
But your eyes were on me

Jin-hwa stared at him, and she was struck with inexplicable fury. That he could stand there and look at her and stay that. Not that he dared. That he could. 


This boy spoke of thrones unearned. He spoke of empty power and broken promises and rotting robes. He had no idea. He had no idea that she would earn that power, every scrap of it, but she would earn it by biting her tongue until everyone forgot she could speak. He spoke of things he knew nothing about, and it infuriated her. He spoke of things he knew nothing about because he could. 

Everything he did was not in a glass room. No one peered through the walls just for the curiosity. He was inconsequential. He thought it was a weakness. It was anything but.

They weren't the same. They would never be. Jin-Hwa would earn everything she had, and no one would ever know it. 

"Easy for you to say," she sneered. "Nothing you do matters." The bite in her tone was the bite of jealousy. He wouldn't recognize it.

She told him about her fears as a child. She didn't tell him the whole story. She didn't tell him that when she was a child, she would scream to get her way. She broke things-- she broke anything and everything. She was awful and cruel. She watched the other children without playing with them so she knew exactly what to say to get what she wanted. She did whatever she could because she could. No one knew how to stop her.

작은 괴물. Little Monster. That's what her sisters called her. She didn't know it was an insult. She just laughed. If they annoyed her, she hit them. 

And then she was called before her mother. 

Jin-Hwa was six. She hadn't really spoken to her mother. She didn't understand, yet, that while her unique eye color made her lovely, it also made her a liability, because everyone knew that wasn't the queen's eye color. That was the color of the eyes that watched over the library-- a commoner the queen had known for years. Jin-Hwa didn't know any of this. She was just excited. 

And then she made it into her mother's sitting room.

She would never forget that room. She would never forget the pearl crown her mother wore, or the dazzling lights. She would never forget how furious her mother was when discussing "her conduct." She wouldn't forget how her mother picked up the ornamental statue of a mortal beside her and hit Jin-Hwa with it. Hard. Three times. The statue shattered. Jin-Hwa tasted blood in her mouth. Her mother sat back down, unbothered.

The servants in the room didn't move. They didn't blink. Blue walls. Glittering walls. White floor, now stained red. A little princess in a white dress covered in her own blood, sitting on the floor. Refusing to cry. Biting her own lip. Shattered gold statue. Blank-eyed courtiers. And a queen, totally unbothered by it all. Jin-Hwa knew this had happened before. She knew it might happen again. 

She met her mother's eyes anyway.

Her mother laughed. "That statue is an antique. Yet it means so little to me. Do you know why, Jin-Hwa?"

Jin-Hwa had never heard her name from her mother's lips before. She hated how beautiful she could make it sound. She hated how much she wanted her mother's praise, after what just happened. She didn't answer. She just shook her head.

"Because I am a queen. And when you are a queen, you can have whatever you like." Her mother stared down at her. "You are not a queen."

And Jin-Hwa understood. She may have been six, but she understood. She understood that she could not scream whenever she wanted. She understood that though brutality was valued, it had to be with poise. She understood that she could be as horrible as she liked as long as no one saw it. She understood that her mother's reputation was in danger if she didn't have her children under control. It was a horrible realization, sitting there in that moment. It was almost as horrible as looking into those servant's eyes and realizing that they weren't glamoured. They just weren't going to help her.

Looking at this prince, now, she had no way to say any of this. She didn't care to. He was no different. His curious stare was not much better than a dead-eyed one. He would not help her either. For him to stand there and say she wasn't bold--

Her mother had never beaten her again. Jin-Hwa knew she would if she had a reason. But her mother never did anything without a reason. 

"We adapt to things you could never dream of." she said coldly. "We can exist where you could never hope to." Adaption made her think of her father. Her father who couldn't help her. Her father who helped her anyway. Her father who taught her how to look at life as a game of strategy. To cut things into wins and losses. To stop feeling and start thinking. Jin-Hwa scoffed at Gemini's ignorance. She didn't just adapt. She survived. 

This was just another game, wasn't it? It didn't really mater. Win or lose. If she let herself worry, if she let herself say what she was thinking, if she let herself care? What then? She hadn't done anything of the sort in so long. 

I don't care what you want. she thought. She couldn't say it. She couldn't lie. It terrified her. She didn't want to care. She couldn't risk caring. Why did this half-mortal nothing have to be her first real foe in so long?

Her mother wasn't here. But Jin-Hwa was no fool. Everyone was watching her. Everyone. This boy most of all. 

"I like to know who I'm dealing with." Jin-Hwa said. "Makes everything much.. easier." She hated the smile on her face. She hated that even if she couldn't lie, she was telling the truth for the first time in a long time.

She hated that it had to be him. 

Gemini Enigma  | Words: Too many
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[Gemini Enigma]

Genesis

[attr="class","box1"]Gemini cradled his rage, let it curdle, whispered sweet nothings in its ear. Yes, dear. Just like that. He needed a slow-burning fuel to propel him to the heights he deserved to reach. Justice was an absent mother, fairness a neglectful father; all that remained was him and his will and his strength, orphaned by the righteous things in this world. Maybe he would've emancipated himself regardless. It was better to stand alone, to shake off any and all dependence. Nothing you say matters. It would be so easy to take the insult at face value, except that nothing was to be taken at face value with the fae. He narrowed his eyes, honing in on his target, at the bitterness lacing her voice. "It's true," he said, his voice low, musing. "And you simply cannot stand that, can you?" He tipped his head slightly to one side, and to look at him, one might understand why diamonds were called "ice". "And neither can I. We have so much in common. Our families ought to take pride in our efforts for peace." Neither of them would, of course, if for different reasons. There were sacrifices to be made in this game, and this was an easy one to choose; his vulnerable points were already well-known, so it cost nearly nothing to admit them. At least, his most obvious weakness was. And, as it turned out, all it took was one obvious tell to stop anyone from looking for the rest. (Though he'd be rather disappointed if Princess Mei was fooled by the decoy.) In a way, he was already growing disappointed. Her barbs seemed to cut so shallow. "For the princess of a country that carried on eighteen years of war," he mused, "you argue so kindly. I shall be interested to see how well you do adapt to life in my world." He touched a hand to his throat, long, beringed fingers idly brushing the line of one of the necklaces he wore. He could drown himself in all the finery that he wanted, but it could not kill the fact that he was after ichor, not gold. And the blood of gods was only spilled with a cut. If Princess Mei wanted to be a rose without its thorns, she was of no use to him. He knew that the cost of being a schemer, an actor, was any real knowledge of the self; to be the mastermind was never to be truly loved. He had no interest in having the same trick pulled on him. "Ah, yes, I have yet to properly introduce myself—perhaps I've forgotten my manners, though I see you haven't." His smile glinted, a blade on the table, a hand to a holster. "My name is Gemini Marvel Enigma. Remember it."  Jin-Hwa Mei [newclass=.box1]margin:0px auto; width:300px; height:425px; background: transparent; overflow:auto; padding:8px;[/newclass] [newclass=.box1::-webkit-scrollbar]width:5px;[/newclass] [newclass=.box1::-webkit-scrollbar-thumb]background: #091c3d;[/newclass]

Music Word count: 475 Notes:

credit to Laura of Adox

[Jin-Hwa Mei]

Your hands were on her
But your eyes were on me

Jin-hwa pulled her hand back like she had been singed. She dared something to try to burn her. She would destroy anything that tried. But him, comparing them? It was more an insult than anything he could have called her.

"We are nothing alike." she snapped. "If you want what you do to matter, then be horrible enough. It's not that difficult." And yet, she wondered how she could get the words out, when she knew how difficult it was. Even now, she tasted the blood in her mouth. 

Why did he look just like that mortal statue?

Jin-Hwa curled her lip. "I'm already adapting." she said. She had already adapted to so much. She had already survived so much. This school was nothing new. "I must ask, have you seen the crown prince of the east court? The blonde one? Or was it the other?" She laughed, tipping her head back. "If not, I'm sure he'll find me." She raised her shoulder. 

"You've been asking so many questions." she said coldly. "I find it curious, though. So I'll have to ask you one. Did your mother tell you what she was planning?"

It wasn't just a question. It was a statement. Saying that she knew. She knew what it was to have an uncaring mother. She knew what it was to have a reputation. 

But most of all, Jin-Hwa knew what it was to have power.

Gemini Enigma  | Words: 272
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[Gemini Enigma]

Genesis

[attr="class","box1"] Oh, he had her now, didn't he? He had her angry. An expression of something like pleasure formed on Gemini's face. So he was desperate for power. Desperate meant hungry. Desperate meant willing to take what he could and build the rest. Desperate meant that he had a reason. There were many, mortal and fae, who killed and stole and burned things down for the sake of it, but to put your own skin on the line, you had to want something. Even if you wanted to hurt, to die, it was still a goal. Even if you had nothing to lose, you had to have something to gain that you wouldn't get standing still. Princess Mei was a reflection in the sea—distorted, its failings softened, distinctly more likely to sting, but the resemblance was there. Only diamond could cut diamond, and Gemini knew what they were. "Oh, but that's the trouble, isn't it?" he said, an almost mocking pity honeying his voice. "You cannot be horrible enough. Does it scare you? What stops you from seizing it? Why else would you despise me, if not that in me you have found your match?" Even if it was the kind that started a fire. "He may find you," Gemini mused, his eyes cold and glittering, "but only I can claim to have discovered you tonight. I am jealous for knowledge, Princess Mei, the way that a god is jealous—only you and I will know tonight what you really are." So really it suited him if she continued to hide what she was. She thought there was no way to meet her potential without simultaneously hiding it, but there was a difference between claiming power for power's sake and doing something that truly mattered. Did your mother tell you what she was planning? Gemini could have been the favored prince, the one with a crown on his head before he'd opened his eyes. He could have been the beloved son, offspring of the favorite mother, but instead he was the poisoner's prince. The blot on the bloodline. Instead, his mother was gone before he knew her, barely before he was old enough to survive without her. Instead, he was one off too many heirs, kept around the palace like a relic, always supposed to be grateful that they didn't turn him out into the wilds. Grateful? The thought of it was the candle of fury he cupped in moments like this, let it warm him, protected it from the wind. His father had done the worst he could've done to Gemini—he'd made him dependent. Helpless. Little did Alaric know the weapon he'd made, leaving a brilliant boy to his own devices. Little did he know that the greatest danger was to let Gemini teach himself. So he would wait for nothing to be given to him. One day, he would be able to take it all and create anything that remained lacking. One day, it would be his veins filled with the rivers of the land, his eyes the sky that overlooked Faerie, the crown on his brow comprised of the boughs from every first growth in spring. One day, the flame he'd been nursing in his heart would be the sun that the Faewild followed, seasons answering to its pulse. The High Court was creation, and that was exactly what he meant to do. “She wouldn’t have had the chance, I imagine,” he said, his voice light, almost unnaturally unaffected. No, even a half-mortal could not lie, but there were other ways of hiding the truth. “As I’m sure you know and are feigning ignorance, I was an infant at the time.” Besides, I fear I wouldn’t have stopped her. He drew his thumb along the edge of his goblet, cool metal dragging over his skin, scraping the edge of his ring. The sound grated, but he allowed it to. He couldn’t deny some small amount of fascination with the princess. Of course she was beautiful, but so were all the fae; her edges seemed cut sharper than the rest of them. And yet, when it came to insulting him, she used all of the same taunts. It was infuriating, to be so certain that she could be so much worse, that he could have finally found an equal. He almost felt as if he was being tricked—and that wouldn’t exactly be surprising. Whether he was more jealous or curious, he had yet to decide, but either way, he wanted her angry. He wanted to see what she really was. “Tell me, Princess—how do you intend to take what you want, when you are only as vicious as everyone else?” Perhaps she needed his help, to draw out whatever he sensed that made her different. Jin-Hwa Mei [newclass=.box1]margin:0px auto; width:300px; height:425px; background: transparent; overflow:auto; padding:8px;[/newclass] [newclass=.box1::-webkit-scrollbar]width:5px;[/newclass] [newclass=.box1::-webkit-scrollbar-thumb]background: #091c3d;[/newclass]

Music Word count: 809 Notes: spoiler- she doesn't need his help ;)

credit to Laura of Adox

[Jin-Hwa Mei]

Your hands were on her
But your eyes were on me

Jin-hwa looked down on him. "I despise you because you are nothing. Because you will never be anything. And because you insist to speak on things you know nothing about."

She told him one thing about her country. One piece, well known, about the undersea. And he thought he understood. He thought she was just as brutal as anyone else. She already had proved she wasn't. 

Jin-Hwa rolled her eyes. "What am I?" she asked. She knew the answer. Weak. Deeply, inherently, weak. That would be what he saw. That would be what they all saw. "Tell me, Gemini, you who so arrogantly claims to have discovered me as though I did not exist outside of your sphere--" she met his eyes. "What am I?"  

She knew, in that moment, that the fae could not lie, and whatever he said would be what he believed. She knew, in that moment, that he would be wrong. She knew that she was alone, that she was always sitting in that room with blue-glass walled and dead-eyed courtiers. No one wanted to help. No one wanted to know her. They just wanted to watch. 

Jin-Hwa set her jaw. She was giving him an opportunity to insult her. But it wasn't as though it mattered. He may have thought he was landing a blow. Really, he was just proving his ignorance. He was just insisting on speaking about things he knew nothing about.

Jin-Hwa did not argue. The fae could not lie. A question was not a lie. A question was just a question. "You survived that." she said. That wasn't a question. That was a fact. She would not say she was impressed. She would not say she wasn't.

The fae could not lie.

"I will succeed because I will survive." It was not really an answer. It was acknowledging they were more the same than she wanted to be. She didn't believe she had met her match. She believed she was staring into a mirror.

As a small child, she had been beated and forced into playing a princess. But that's all it was. Playacting. She wasn't really a royal, gilding in gold. She wasn't really a person, who could look into other's eyes and understand how they felt. A monster or a goddess. A born queen without a throne. She didn't know what she was. Only what she wasn't.

Was that why she had asked him? Did she trust him to tell the truth? Or did she want one more thing to rule out?

This was all about what they knew, what they didn't. What they would say and what they would refuse to. It wasn't about truth at all. It was about knowledge. Knowledge was power. Neither one of them cared about what was true. They just cared about power. 

They just cared about knowing.

Gemini Enigma  | Words: 481
Outfit + Music+ Makeup 

☽LIA☾ + PUNKI

[Gemini Enigma]

Genesis

[attr="class","box1"]The important thing to remember about the fae inability to lie was that it didn't mean they always told the truth. Rather, they said what they believed to be true, and that could very often be wrong."I am certain that you believe that to be true," said Gemini, watching her expression for any minute changes, anything he could use. "You would not be unique in that. But I am not nothing. I am potential, a book unread but not unwritten." What caused him the most ire was that he needed someone else to turn the page. But that was why he had so fiercely dedicated himself to crafting an alluring cover.  Up on the dais, Ambrose was holding court alongside their father, playacting at being king. He thought he was clever, Gemini was sure—he thought himself the High King's shadow. But a shadow wasn't just a silhouette, a follower. A shadow was everything darkened by a person's presence, everything left lightless in their wake. A shadow was the obscured things, the hidden things. And shadows always caught up to you eventually.  You are nothing. No. He was a shadow. He was potential. He was the poisoner's prince. He was everything but what he wanted to be.  But the Princess wanted to know what she was. Well. She wanted to know his thoughts. Gemini wasn't so foolish as to believe that she would respect or believe his opinion. But he told the truth, as he was bound to do. "You, too, are potential," he said. "I have made you care enough to despise me, and it is because you're like me. What do you know about potential energy?" He raised his empty goblet in one hand, holding it with a clawlike grip. "This is now practically brimming with potential energy. But how do I turn that energy kinetic, a proper force?"  He released the goblet; barely was it falling before it had clattered against the flagstones, the sound barely audible over the music of the revel. He watched passively as it rolled away, and lowered his hand. "To release its potential, it must fall. Quite a quandary we've found ourselves in, isn't it? If we seek to bring one another down, we must accept that we will be fulfilling them at the same time." He tilted his head slightly to one side, silver eyes keen on hers. "Whatever shall we make of that?" You survived that. It wasn't a compliment. She would bite off her own tongue before she lent him a kind word, Gemini imagined. No, she'd said it like a challenge, and though the challenge went unspoken, he answered it regardless. "And I will survive you as well, Jin-hwa Mei," he said, lifting his chin ever so slightly, his expression level, regal.  It was strange, he thought. Succeed and succession must surely come from the same root. Jin-Hwa Mei [newclass=.box1]margin:0px auto; width:300px; height:425px; background: transparent; overflow:auto; padding:8px;[/newclass] [newclass=.box1::-webkit-scrollbar]width:5px;[/newclass] [newclass=.box1::-webkit-scrollbar-thumb]background: #091c3d;[/newclass]

Music Word count: 491 Notes:

credit to Laura of Adox

[Jin-Hwa Mei]

Your hands were on her
But your eyes were on me

Jin-hwa stared at him. "You think you could be the one to turn my energy kinetic?" She couldn't help but wonder at his arrogance. Who had allowed it for so long? "Ours is the country of destruction, a land of monsters." She scoffed. "I don't need your help to be a monster. I don't need your help to do anything."

He saw them as some great counterbalance. Stars were all made of the same things. But she refused to believe it, refused to accept it. She would never need him. And some stars burned brighter than others. 

"I have a new answer for your question." she said. "Stars are a lesson. Those with a legacy are remembered by them. Those with power are crowned by them. Those in love gift them to each other. Icarus flew too close to the sun. He missed the mark anyway. The sun is just one more star."  

Starstuff. The matter of potential. Energy itself. Was that what they were? She didn't believe him. But she was, in a way, grateful she had gotten to the question first. She said she knew what she was. A monster, a star, a force of nature. A storm. But in reality, those were only things she could be. The decision was hers to make. She meant what she said. She didn't need his help. No one would goad her into anything. 

But did she dare to fall? 

He wasn't exactly wrong. To bring each other down, they would link themselves inextricably. Would she want to destroy him, to allow him even a footnote in her history? 

"You need me as your enemy." she said. "Destroying me will make you matter. Even surviving me will. You see it already, don't you? I don't need your help to be a monster. I'm a force of nature. Why should I bother with you? You'll be just one more thing I have ruined."

She hated to accept it, but it was intriguing. She loved breaking things. She loved ruining them. And he was so lovely now, under the candelight--

What would he look like, engulfed by those flames? It made a small smile spread across her face.

"I will grant you one thing, and one thing only." she said. "It's all I'll ever grant you, so listen."

Her smiled turned vicious. Her eyes were alight. She was a child again, unafraid, ready to destroy the thing before her to get whatever she wanted. She was even better. She was starstuff.

"You would make a darling Icarus."  

Gemini Enigma  | Words: 434
Outfit + Music+ Makeup 

[Gemini Enigma]

genesis

[attr="class","box1"]Something flashed in Gemini's silver eyes. Most would say it was a reflection of the lights. But a slim few would see a flicker of his mother's madness. "Of course I can," he said, smiling a smile that was sharp as a needle's point, as the arm of a compass. "You forget, you and so many others, but I still carry the blood of the High Court. My power is creation. That is my potential. Are you so proud that you would remain unfulfilled, just to prove that I won't be the one to reveal what you really are?" She still didn't see it. But he was a starving man at a banquet table. How long had he searched for a mind cutting enough to sharpen his own? Finally, someone worth combating. She didn't see what they were. She didn't see that one of them would have to break, and it wasn't going to be him. Not tonight and not ever. The sun is just another star. He wondered if she knew what her name meant—Jin-hwa, golden fire. A sun in her own right. But he was a constellation. She was just another star. He was 85 of them, together a work of art, a duality.  His jaw tightened, for she told the truth, as the fae were bound to do. He needed her to make himself matter. He needed her to keep from going mad. He needed her to reveal his madness. But it didn't change the fact that he was making his own destiny, and if it was to matter to be destroying her, then so be it. She would still fall in the end. "For all that you say, you seem eager to make an enemy of me," he said, his voice clear as ice and just as cold. "And I would not be fae if I ignored an invitation." "My wings will hold me," he said, lifting his chin. "Do not mistake me, Princess. I am no fallen angel. I am not a comet. And I have better zeniths to reach." He stepped back, resting a hand on the silver hilt of his rapier, quicksilver pride alighting in his eyes. Too much pride, people always said, but it wasn't pride for what he was now. It was pride for what he would become. "You may have an iron will, but you cannot burn me. I will never be your Icarus, Jin-hwa Mei." -end thread- Jin-Hwa Mei [newclass=.box1]margin:0px auto; width:300px; height:425px; background: transparent; overflow:auto; padding:8px;[/newclass] [newclass=.box1::-webkit-scrollbar]width:5px;[/newclass] [newclass=.box1::-webkit-scrollbar-thumb]background: #091c3d;[/newclass]

Music Word count: 407 Notes: end thread

credit to Laura of Adox