#thread / sangwon.

[dropthedemiurge]

I am finally slowly getting back to writing fics! Reading TSC was surely a good motivation boost for a story that I'm working on x)

Anyway, my Love for Love's Sake boys are back and Sangwon's POV is so fun to write once I pushed through the writer's block.

Hehe. This boy can and will make a throuple out of those two boyfriends, even if he has to insert himself against all best wishes xD

[sllvertongue]

@wraithgaze.

one more for the count. gaenari purrs under his weight as gwisin watches his last competitor take it up with tonight's referee. it's getting heated, so far as he can tell - someone's voice hikes over the crowd, whining now. how the fuck did he win over me? sin hums, taking the cue to start pushing his bike through the last rind of the crowd. it's been a busier night, and in the aftermath of a race, he can see people splitting off into more groups than usual. a few of them see him coming and scurry out of the way before he pushes his bike right over someone's foot again, but for the most part they're like seagulls to crumbs, snatching up their earnings. any other night, he'd be right in there with them demanding his share. before, he means— before, when he needed it. these days it's the air he needs most, the skull-numbing wind whipping against his cheek to shear down whatever bullshit haeran put up with that day. out of the corner of his eye, he spots the only figure he'd been interested in interacting with all night. oh, and this too. he approaches, mouth curved meanly behind his mask. when he's close enough, he nudges his bike onto its stand and unlatches the dark helmet from his chin. with practiced efficiency, he yanks his irritating strands of hair back into a half tie. "decent pools tonight?" he feels the words feed through the voicebox, twisting and stretching the wavelengths of sound beyond recognition. it was the high grade shit, though, he'd made sure of that, never would've picked anything that would lose any tone in translation. any pride. "or maybe a better question would be how much you just lost, hm?"

[sourbead]

‧˚₊∗ " ARE YOU BEING SARCASTIC RIGHT NOW, or should i get my hopes up? "

₍⑅ᐢ..ᐢ₎     @miunsi    !     ໑

ೀ ⠀ׄ⠀ ⠀ " i just love being around you. "

[lgcian]

Hello, everyone!

Thank you for all the sweet welcome messages. I'll respond to them soon.

It's Jaz, your resident procrastinator. I'm the mun behind @lgcxnoeul / @lgcminseo. Please don't ask me why I joined during a busy week. I obviously like to live dangerously. If you'd like to know more about Ian, I have summarized a bit below the cut, and of course, you can read through his profile & timeline. I'm available to plot through discord or through the tumblr chat feature if that's easier.

MEET IAN

Cha Sangwon was born on January 28, 2002. He might have been born in Seoul, but he doesn't consider himself a Seoulite. He spent his teenage years in Melbourne, Australia and has more attachment to that city. He came back to Seoul after graduating secondary school, and attends SNU for Statistics. Numbers are kind of his thing, but acting has his undivided attention now. For now, he has his eyes on LGC Agency and struggles as a trainee.

He has an introverted personality, valuing his independence over anything. However, that shouldn't be mistaken for shyness. He has a rather mischievous, witty banter that he likes to find in others. He can't hide it on his face if he finds the other person boring, or not worth his time. He has trouble opening up to people and has few close friends for a reason. Avoid mundane conversations with him, talk about your interests, and don't be offended if his social battery runs low and he has to dip. It's only way to befriend him.

Currently, Sangwon is estranged from his parents, but he has a close relationship with his siblings. He doesn't see it changing any time soon as the stubbornness runs deep in his veins. He barely speaks about his family, or what his parents do. That part of his life is a mystery for most and he prefers if that were to remain that way (unless it's necessary for plotting purposes). His parents would not be supportive of him being an actor, but that is the least of the issues he has with them.

For the past three years, his experience has been interesting to say the least. He had no background training in any useful skill. Dancing, singing, performing? It was tough to get to a point where he felt comfortable enough to hold eye contact with any of the other trainees. He probably wouldn't have joined the company had he known it would take him a long time to get to a point where it was definitive what he wanted to do. Acting makes more sense to him with the hopes of eventually branching out into musical acting. He likes the challenging aspect of it not being easy to him, but he has an undeniable love for music and becoming an idol is out of the question for him.

For plots, I do love brainstorming with other muns and seeing what best fits our characters. I'm open to negative plots too since I know his personality is a bit rough around the edges. (Important: Sangwon is currently a senior trainee so if anyone still needs a thread for the trainee mission, please hit me up!! I need one and would love to write it out.)

[twig-tea]

Thoughts on Love for Love's Sake before the last 2 episodes air

Going into the finale, rather than making guesses, I'm just going to lay out some facts that we know, some of my own observations and assumptions, and capture my out-standing questions.

They showed in one of the flashbacks that the mysterious "sunbae" (who MyungHa confirmed he's forgotten outside of the flashbacks when he was looking at his notebook) had him filling out a questionnaire about what is happiness;

and the mini-missions are written as answers to questions in (as MyungHa confirmed) his own writing.

So I think the missions are ones that MyungHa accidentally set for himself while he was drunk. The ones we've seen so far:

Like-minded friends/companions

Lack of insecurity/uncertainty

To be understood/known

And the game designer has turned these into actionable side quests for MyungHa, ostensibly so that MyungHa learns to work at trying to achieve happiness.

But it strikes me that the measures for "success" are not very accurate to actual results.

For example, raising 3 mllion won won't actually prevent YeoWoon from experiencing anxiety or living in uncertainty. And gaining 100,000 followers on instagram certainly doesn't equate to being known or understood, not in the way it sounds like it was probably meant when it was written.

And this is validated by young YeoWoon who has a very specific picture of his family being intact when wishing for happiness:

The game, meanwhile, is destabilizing as MyungHa successfully makes changes to the original story that align, theoretically, with 'making YeoWoon happy', but deviate from the story.

And we know MyungHa does not believe in prescribed fate

So I have faith that MyungHa is going to find an alternative to wiping out all of his changes or seeing his grandma die or YeoWoon get hit by a car, because he's not going to accept the outcome as described. He's going to get YeoWoon a happy ending.

But beyond that, what is all of this about? Who is the sunbae who wrote the novel/game and why can't MyungHa remember him beyond the murky flashbacks?

Who is cheering MyungHa on towards a happy ending in his notes app or email or whatever that is?

And what about those weird other text messages about following folks who looked like you, breaking vases, etc? I've had a few wild theories, my favourite being that they're re-routed text messages from YeoWoon to his grandmother; but honestly them being either YeoWoon or a secret other real world person sending them to MyungHa in future is most likely.

Also who is KyungHoon's LDR? I'm going to clown theory this one as a sibling of SangWon, because he mentioned he's had feelings since childhood and they are childhood friends because their parents knew each other.

Last thing I'll say: There is clearly an element of getting MyungHa to fight for his own happiness in this story; I hope they'll continue the thread of having him learn to trust/rely on others, being brave for the present since you the future is uncertain, and letting go of a sense of responsibility for everyone and everything as part of that learning how to be happy.

I'm super stoked for this finale!

[feuqueerfire]

Love's For Love's Sake Live Blogging

Let's Go Cha Woongki! I've also seen it get good reception in general. Just Finished Death's Game where the main character lives different people's lives and in this one, he gets isekai-ed into a webtoon. And last month I also watched Twinkling Watermelon where the main guy gets transported to 1995 where he's the same age as his dad. They all have missions (Death's Game: don't die in the person's body, Twinkling Watermelon: he thinks it's to prevent the accident, here: make the guy happy based on the first few mins of ep 1).

Ep 1: Happiness (Feb 1)

I thought he fell into a webtoon but seems like it's a novel being turned into a video game

lol pretending to know the grandma by reciting facts from the novel, reminds me of Eun Gyeol pretending to be Yoon Dong Jin in Twinkling Watermelon

Also like theoretically this is age difference right? I was thinking of they're 1 year apart, I thought they'd be same age but actually it's like (Korean age) 18 and late 20s

Awoo, this really is reminding me of Twinkling Watermelon cuz mans has no money lol (+ following around the dude like Eun Gyeol did with his dad Yi Chan)

Wait, so this is a video game slip and it's in the time period from when the MC was a teen? so his old home is still his home and his grandma is still alive (even though seems like he had gone to a diff high school - is this one a fake? - from his commentary at the beginning)

Ouch, the grandma being alive is also similar to the great grandma in Twinkling Watermelon

Oh, so Myungha did indeed go to this high school as a kid? Since apparently everybody knows about Mad Dog Myungha and the kids steer clear of him

lol Yeowoon straight up being like "What do you mean about our relationship [that I have to like you more for us to be near each other]? Do you like me?"

Girl, not 300 days to make Cha Yeowoon happy or face penalty: death

This is actually good so far, I don't know why I'm surprised necessarily but the recent kBLs I watched (Bon Appetit, Love Class 2) were not very good, I guess. And the quality difference is usually more stark when going from a full kdrama to a kBL webseries but the quality doesn't seem that much lower this time; I wonder if there being a video game isekai concept contributes to that.

Ep 2: Friends (Feb 1)

Cha Woongki plays Kyunghoon who I guess is gay and so has no friends?

Is it also difficult for Korean speakers to decipher if they mean "like" as romantic or platonic in this convo?

Ouch, Yeowoon have negative affection levels for everybody but having the worst (-100) for himself

Fighting on the roof is scary, what if someone falls off?

pls not this firstly yeah almost falling off roof but then Myungha catching the bully in his arms

Do I have to keep track of all these bullies, why are there so many bro?

Oh, seems like I'll have to at least keep track of Sang Won since he and Kyung Hoon are... friends? bullies him? love interests? who knows

lol from the on-air thread on r/boyslove, I realized that Sangwon apparently wants Myungha for himself and they're setting up a love triangle lol I thought he was gonna just like Kyunghoon and was bothering Myungha for who knows what reason

Ep 3: Affection (Feb 1)

ahhh okay lol I really was so silly and the brewing love triangle just flew over my head but now Sangwon is like Myunha hyung I'll take you home/take me home etc and Yeowoon cutting in like sunbae... you said you'd sleep over at my place.

Like I'm not a big love triangle fan but this is good idk, I'm unexpectedly enjoying the little possessive pulling the two are doing while 1) I'm not sure who out of Sangwon and Yeowoon know they have gay intentions toward Myungha and 2) Myungha doesn't know they're doing a little dick measuring contest with him in the middle. throw in the fact that they're both younger than Myungha, so Sangwon is calling him Hyung in a cheeky/bothersome way who took it upon himself to start calling him hyung while Yeo woon still uses Sunbae

Ah, one dead parent, mothers who ran away, living with grandma (one of them sick and died).

Myungha is 29 years old

I'm so confused, Sangwon lives with Kyunghoon and his younger sister? Since their family friends? And she and Sangwon are also models for an ad? But it might change to a different pair including Cha Yeowoon?

Kyunghoon's younger sis name = Shia

Why would Cha Yeowoon call him at that restaurant with Shia smh he wouldn't bc he's been ignoring Myungha all day - should've made a better choice to have Shia realize he's close with Yeowoon

I really can't tell where Shia/Sangwon/Myungha are at right now, Shia and Kyunghoon's house?

I had glanced at the ep3-4 on-air thread on r/boyslove and I'd seen a mention of "a kiss, though in an unexpected way" or smth so when Yeowoon stepped forward when Myungha got off the bus I was like ...is he gonna kiss him wtf?

but instead he's like "There's a woman's scent on you. Is this why you were late?" like oh okayyyy lol sudden jealousy again

AND THEN SHIA CALLING BEING LIKE "oppa don't forget we're meeting day after tomorrow!!" and Yeowoon freaking leaving lmfao firstly she's more of a fan of yours than Myungha's but funny lad

Awooga, I knew the shoe gifting wouldn't go well but I was maybe expected an Outburst from Yeowoon but instead... the affection level going from 0 -> -10 -> -60 -> -99 (the second lowest we've seen other than Yeowoon's own -100)

Oh, the brand is Sangwon's mom's brand. I thought it was just cuz Yeowoon didn't wanna be seen as a charity case but the brand in addition must've stung

Agh, why is Sangwon being such a dickhead, his "kinda bully-ish but not really, mostly harmless" schtick was working for me

I'm usually irritated/turned off by jealousy plots and yet here in 2 diff cases I'm like hehe this is fun???

Yeowoon's "blank/stoic" character kinda makes the actor's acting meh but still fine. Average for a kBL

Ep 4: (Feb 2)

ohhh the negative effect stuff is why Myungha kept Yeowoon at arm’s length

Affection: 1

“if you do [all] this [for me], I’ll misunderstand” awooo

Affection level: 18 wow

oh lol that’s the kiss. myungha kissing that other homophobic bully to shut him up

lol Myungha being nonchalant about the fight/kiss w Takjoo or whatever while Yeowoon is having a crisis (including “I want to kiss him”)

Yeowoon switch up to cute puppy is kinda sudden but we'll see how it goes

Ep 5: Relationship (Feb 2)

D: That random cafe was run by Myungha's mother who abandoned him? ouch

In the r/kdrama on-air thread I think is where I saw somebody mention maybe those texts from the anonymous number (that kinda seem like they're watching Myungha/talking to Myungha) is actually from the sunbae whose story he's in?

Shia knowing both Sangwon and Yeowoon like Myungha

rip Sangwon is pitiful here, esp with just how much Myungha doesn't care about him

oof, another confession, this time from Yeowoon

oh Myungha really is a terrible man, how could he have Sangwon keep an eye on Yeowoon and now interrogate about how he was doing during the day plss

Kyunghoon with his bf who went abroad

ah, so they're gonna do the "make the best of the little time we have" route?

dead fish kiss but it's fine i suppose

Ep 6: Love (Feb 2)

Shia convincing Yeowoon that on the first date you give a sunflower lmaoo

oh the door to door diff rooms was scary, is the game glitching? I suppose we're on the 6th ep out of 8

doing all this in public makes me nervous ngl esp when Yeowoon was just surrounded by a bunch of girls

"Hyung, you seem like someone who doesn't know how to receive love" woah

Bro idk what's going on and why is everything scary

Ep 7: Choose (Feb 2)

idek what this choice because of system errors is? like what's going on girl

Oh... it's whether grandma or Yeowoon is more important? And the choice will have the other killed or smth?

bro wtf from 2 hundred and smth days to just 15 left?

what does that even mean Yeowoon doesn't think Myungha likes him romantically? What does he think they are doing even then? Or does he mean like... the amount?

Ouch, the "why can't you rely on me" from Yeowoon hurts cuz it's true

Ouchhh, Yeowoon is sooo cute and pitiful while getting broken up with

Bro omg what's going on, he's being deleted?

Ep 8: Choose (Feb 2)

owwww they forgot Myungha

Oh, Yeowoon is remembering and he can also use the pen?

Is this present day Myungha after having gone back to his OG universe?

oh nvm, seems like it's his original life like wishing to disappear, grandma dying, gf breaking up w him

oh my fuck, that one is the actual worst. going to his mom's cafe -> introducing himself -> a child calling her mom -> she's like no i'm not her, you must've come to the wrong place and leaves

oh wait, he died? what about the novel... and video game convo?

aw, Yeowoon changed the mission to "make Ta Myungha happy"

dang, they're in different days, that's crazy

I'll be honest, I don't fully understand everything because I'm just dumb af

but it's a happy ending nonetheless

okay enough kissing this is a lot but at least it's not deadfish

So, the game ended right? And Myungha's just living in this life now? No more possible system errors or whatever. And I guess Yeowoon knows at least a bit about what the game stuff is, so that's nice.

Vaguely I'd noticed that Yeowoon and Myungha have a lot in common (not just the self-hatred lol but even like one parent abandoning them, the other dying, the grandmother they live with, etc.) and the mission becoming "make Myungha happy"

Also, they don't necessarily talk explicitly about suicide much since we find out in ep 8 but this is also a "isekai after suicide" drama, just like Death's Game and this one actually kind of gets to the roots of his problems that led him to commit suicide (self-hatred, rejection, being unloved/unable to love, etc) via the story and interactions while Death's Game kinda just "fuck you, you selfish bastard, don't you know others want to live, how dare you kill yourself." And at the end of Death's Game, when he goes back to his life, there is no difference in his actual situation (beyond his mentality and knowledge ig but no like... material change based on what actually led him to his decision_ vs in Love for Love's sake where they was like an actual difference in his life (he got a whole new life lol)

General Thoughts - First Watch:

Cool concept, don't know how much I actually understood though lmfao So did the drunk ramble at the beginning with the sunbae not actually happen - the whole time that was some sort of Entity who was putting Myungha into the game because he'd committed suicide but regretted it? And also Myungha's like 29 year old brain lol but I guess he's gonna just live at 19 and get a chance to redo 10 years of his life, with Yeowoon by his side. And it's not really a "game" probably, just a different version of the world 10 years earlier? It was cute, the concept was nice, the early 2 eps were Very promising and last ep was touching but the middle (esp 5-6) were quite meh for me. It has people really talking and discussing and dissecting it though, which is a fun aspect.

Rewatch: September 2024

There are a bunch of shows I wanna rewatch, from this year and the previous year's, and I wanna kinda save it for December as the month where I do rewatches but I think it's good to also have a few here and there.

This one falls under the "I think I might like it more on a rewatch" category. I was meh about the show's execution but I think with the way people's spoke about it + some Tiktoks I've saved (1, 2), I can be more into it - especially the characters and their romance like woahhh the "do you like me the same way I like you? you don't" "why do you think that?" is wild, why did that not break my brain the first time.

But I gotta rewatch while doing some other stuff so uh, hope that doesn't lessen the experience too much...

Ep 1: Happiness (Sept 7)

"Why are you drinking like you're trying to kill yourself?" "People don't die that easily"

the water/wave sounds as he's waking up. I saw people mention it after the last episode aired

Cha Woongki ;-;

the texts from the sunbae are a pretty cool incorporation

I understood a lot more this ep because of knowing the whole story obviously but also because now I know what tf a debuff is lol

Ep 3: Affection (Sept 7)

Myungha's mother abondoning him and running a cafe by the beach reminds me of Palm from Never Let Me Go, another show I gotta rewatch soon

why are they using girlfriend and she/her for Kyunghoon's long distance friend/bf

Yeowoon waiting near Myungha's house with ice cream + literally sniffing him and saying "there's a girl's scent on you" and "is that why you came back so late?" and then just leaving after the girl calls Myungha is truly so insane like woahh baby's first jealousy plot

the shoe thing and subsequent affection level -99 hurts so bad but even more is the "don't follow me" from myungha to yeowoon bc yeowoon sees it as myungha pushing him away and caring about sangwoon but actually myungha just didn't want a debuff to hit yeowoon since affection levels are negative again

Ep 4: Progress (Sept 7)

I do think I'm liking the show more this go around because from my comments above, I think I was more "sure whatever" in these 2 eps (except the ep 3 jealousy) but I'm more fond of the characters now.

Ep 5: Relationship (Sept 8)

Aw man, I felt bad the original time and this time too about how much disregard Myungha had for Sangwon lol because he kinda ends up with a similar fate as Yeowoon in the novel that Myungha got so worked up about. not saying that i'd want Myungha to be into him or anything but aw

Ep 6: Love (Sept 8)

the tiny acknowledgment that Myungha is indeed dating some kid and it might not be appropriate

I don't really get the stalker thing still

Ep 7: Choose (Sept 8 - 10)

oh he chose to keep Yeowoon’s high affection even if it’s just 14 days left rather than 100 days with affection reset to 0 because he thinks parting with good feelings is better and isn’t guaranteed

the breakup aw

This one ep took me 3 days to watch smh watched a few minutes a day

Ep 8: (Sept 10)

alright

Overall: It's alright. I think I enjoyed the middle bit a bit more this time around but I'm still not super attached to the characters and this time, I got really bored by the last quarter even though it's supposed to be really quite emotional. The rating stays the same.

Rating - original: 6/10

Rating - after rewatch: 6/10

[tlltaleheart]

@wraithgaze.

[...] and if they were here for minseo and they were clueless enough to bring blade along, for minseo--- sangwon would burn the whole city down, fuck the rest of it, maybe that would finally make a good news report, the emptiness of his apartment, that desk he used to be so proud of, it was about time, anyways, for sangwon to see it all turn to ash, wasn't it?

his body wakes before he does, pulled towards the voice before he can think of whose it is. body lolling forward, he might've stayed in the dark if not for the cold, abrupt weight of a chain around his wrists and a voice that says, wake up for me.

for sangwon. of course. for sangwon, he lifts his eyes open. there's barely any light and yet his vision spasms, bright flashes dancing in his periphery, and it's only when the flashing becomes stinging that he realizes there's something wrong with his optics. "sa---" for sangwon, he remembers their cover at the last second and the imperative that no one else can know, but it's not fast enough to keep the whimper from the back of his throat. "hyung?" he jerks forward again, a blind but instinctive animal that wants--- needs to see sangwon, needs to feel him the way he was before all of it went to shit.

"there's something wrong," he mumbles, vision swimming with light. he doesn't remember what happened but it doesn't take much to piece it together, and it has to have something to do with the chemical taste on the back of his tongue and the heavy weight in his limbs. had they drugged him? cut into his optics? it explained the pain in the back of his eyes.

it takes just a split second longer to finally realize the worse problem the link he'd placed between his vision and sangwon's, and how could he have been so stupid, so fucking oblivious, felt so safe within their private link that he forgot he'd just created something that the world could finally wrap its greedy hands around.

he doesn't even wonder who it is this time. this isn't the first time he didn't make it home and it's not a concern, whatever they think they can do to him, whatever these hounds ever think they can change when all of their money is sitting on the ocean floor with the wreck of his parents' flight. sangwon is. sangwon still has things to lose.

"are you hurt?" he tries to blink away the tears gathering in his eyes, feeling one spill but doing absolutely nothing to ease the stinging. "i can still feel them. they're in my eyes." it makes his skin crawl, that feeling of an unseen pair of eyes watching behind his. if they were still tapped in, how long until they noticed they were awake and came for them again?

his vision is inconsistent, at first sangwon slumped across him, before cutting into a reflection of the room and his own body sitting across from him, his own sightless eyes. minseo struggles to adjust to sangwon's field of view. he sees that he's bound to the base of an old radiator, precariously close to some jagged edges of broken pipes. beyond that, he thinks he sees a staircase that leads somewhere up and out of sight. then the feed cuts, and he's staring blearily at sangwon again.

"you have to cut off the link," he rasps. "i think they're still connected to mine. i think--- they can get to you like this, you have to keep them out." snap the tether. let it go. there's fear in his voice as he says it, but sangwon should know it's for the best, that they need at least one working pair of eyes between them if they want a chance of getting free, and that minseo trusts him with his life. with everything else he has.

minseo brushes his shoe against his weakly. it's the best he can do for now, the best they can have.

[risingphnx158]

✧ ･: ༶ TRACKER.

✧ ･: ༶ UPDATED ON 17.06 @ 2PM

―  ❥ THREADS ― [ 14 ]

[ THE SKIES ] ♡ SANGWON. | MY FAVOURITE RIDE | replied ♡ SANGWON. | JUST SPRINGING AROUND | replied ♡ DAEMON. | NEW YORK HELL-ISH WEEK | to reply * ♡ GABRIELLA. | BERRY NICE TO PICK YOU | to reply * ♡ SEONGJIN. | HAPPY MESS DAY | to reply * ♡ LOGAN. | INSTANT SKATE MATES | to reply * ♡ HYEONJU. | STRANDED PARTYING | to reply * ♡ CHIWON. | LET THE CHAOS REIGN | to reply * ♡ HANEUL. | TRAIN TRIP | to reply *

[ THE SEOULSTICE ] ♡ HEEJIN. | INK ME UP | to reply * ♡ KYONG. | CONVENIENT INCONVENIENCE | to reply * ♡ KYONG. | INKED STORYTIME | to reply * ♡ SEUNGAH. | BE MY GUEST | to reply *

[ EVENTS ] ♡ YUNJIN. | SPRING BLOOM FESTIVAL | to reply *

―  ❥ PLOTTING ― [ 00 ]

?????. | ????

[scngwon]

here is a mini starter call !! if you’re interested in a thread with sangwon, give this a lil like and i’ll write one up !!

[sllvertongue]

@wraithgaze.

[ . . . ] "will you show me where you had your bike before the race?" he casts a gaze to where sin holds onto the handlebars, eyes searching over the body, the metal. "if it'll make it there. might as well look around. if they're as stupid as i think they are, that means they're messy, too."

"too easy, yeah. don't worry, you're not the only one who lost out on that tonight," sin tells him, raising an eyebrow. there's surprise and satisfaction in his voice. "thought you were here for the money, s'all." blade questions the ease of it the same way she would, a strange little reminder that if she looked down, she'd find more common ground between them than she thought.

but that'd be too easy, too. if she wanted easy conversation, she'd call someone up at la mariposa---or sin would be here every night, taking up every racer who put their name down on the list. this one tonight should have been the highlight of his night, but now the win didn't even sit right in his mouth. not when those fuckers were still out there in the crowd.

a sneer tugs at his mouth at blade's words, like a cult. "sounds about right. i'm sure you know their type. they need him calling the shots, but i don't think it's got anything to do with loyalty. i think it's 'cause there's nothing in those heads that can think for themselves."

he eyes the floating embers of blade's smoke. maybe once he cashes out, he can trade blade a slice of it for a light.

"yeah, why not. wheels are still hot, i'd say it has another half hour before the tires start to give out." with an irritated grunt, he hauls his bike off its stand. like he suspected, the tires are still warm enough from the race that he can push its weight along easily, but soon it's going to need a mechanic.

motioning for blade to follow, he leads them away from the crowd. it's easy to escape notice when the wasp and his followers are still in the middle of rallying themselves up after that "robbery of a loss," and soon they round the makeshift stands where the audience normally sits. there are a few booths here, traces of oil and rubber from last-minute tune ups from other racers and their mechanics. sin's entertained the idea of getting one before, but now this seemed like the perfect reason why that was a horrible idea.

"here. left her for a few minutes when i had to piss. i can't believe i have to worry about getting someone to watch my bike now, like we're in grade school." he toes at the sand, near the half-faded imprints of where he'd dragged gaenari in and out of the small pen.

the way it looks, he feels like an idiot for just leaving her there. the pen isn't even locked, just a small, informal corral where racers left their bikes when it wasn't their competition yet. there are still a few bikes around, but with most of the races out of the way, it's mostly empty, save for some busted parts strewn about and a small black toolbox at the other end.

"weird." he jerks his chin towards it, frowning. maybe blade's onto something. "mechanics usually get touchy about their tools, don't you think?"

[sllvertongue]

@wraithgaze.

[ - - - ] "it's not even worth joining the betting pools in your races anymore. have half a mind to take it up with the ones in charge, it's almost like it's fucking rigged." he drags his eyes up to the sky and immediately changes the course, finds there's really no where else he wants to look between the two. "don't you have business somewhere else? having to watch you race is enough."

there's something endearing about blade. it's in the unhappy pixels of his mask, the tone that his voicebox does nothing to hide either --- sin finds him fascinating, like turning over a glass ball in his hands. it's far from the first time they've had this conversation, and blade's consistency continues to surprise him for someone who seems so intent on hiding his hand. "or, maybe, one of these days you could try putting your bets in my odds," sin sighs, lifting a shoulder in a shrug. "i make it so easy for anyone on my side of the ring, you know."

in reality it's none of her business, and nothing that he really, truly cares about. everyone had their reasons here, and he knew better than most to fuck with whatever compelled people to throw their money into chance. hell, he did it too, when a matchup seemed especially promising at the underground. the rush of winning a bet and proving some kind of upper hand over fate --- yes, sin understands, and he thinks he can understand that air of restlessness he senses from blade too. past the thorns around these conversations, there's always a faint and vaguely troubling feeling that blade might not be so different from haeran after all.

"i do have business elsewhere, don't worry. i'll be out of your hair soon." he pets over gaenari's handlebars idly, watching the commotion still bubbling over in the distance. it looked increasingly troubling, but that was to be expected. he had done his due diligence before tonight and acquainted himself with his opponent, through the words of the other competitors who'd had the misfortune of matching against him.

"it was almost rigged tonight, though. in your favor too." he nods towards the spectacle. "that one. calls himself the wasp, with his gaggle of friends who think they own the place by buzzing around him. you ever seen him race someone else before? bikes have a habit of careening out of control or bursting into flames right before a match with him. i caught a nail lodged in one of my tires, waiting to pop out mid-route and toss me into the waves." he taps his boot against gaenari's back tire, a particular spot in the inner bend where tape had been wrapped tightly around the shape of a nailhead. "now i've gotta get her fixed up."

true disdain drips from each modulated word. sin slips out a packet of smokes to distract himself with before he's tempted into something more judicious and stupid. "but since i have your ear, blade," he tilts his head lazily in his direction, eyes glittering with intrigue for how he might respond, "did you happen to see any of them before the race, fucking with my bike?"