Status: Prompting Closed
This round is now closed to further prompts but remain open for fills and remixes (forever!).
About
"Enter any body of water and you give yourself up to be swallowed. Even the stones know that."
"beauty is terror"
"Would you fall in love with me again, if you knew all I've done? The things I can't undo. "
Calling all lovers of poetry and prose, rhyme and reason, screen and stage. Welcome to the Quotes Round, where every prompt must cradle a quotation (or two, or three). Mix the media and let the synergy birth a new order, or keep it short and let the subtext speak its secrets to the right writer.
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FILL: heart in my chest on wings [4/4]
There was a ginkgo tree behind the rock they were sitting on, and a little cavity about waist height off the ground with a grey tail hanging out like a particularly extravagant feather boa. It swished when it caught onto the lull in their conversation, and then a pair of sharp eyes peered out, blinking when it saw a man and a monkey looking back.
"Pspspst," Wonwoo whispered and then immediately felt silly for doing so.
"Are you stupid?" the monkey sniffed, "Even I know that doesn't work."
"Worth a try," Wonwoo shrugged.
"Aren't you just going to grab it and go?"
"Minghao said I wasn't supposed to, it has to leave with me willingly."
The monkey cocked his head, "Why does it matter? It's just a cat."
"It's not just a cat," Wonwoo sighed, "It's a long story."
"Well, you got to give it something, why should it leave with you?"
Because Wen Junhui needs his heart back.
Wonwoo took a cautious step forwards, arms by his side, carefully watching the cat for any twitch of fear or apprehension.
Eyes flicked towards him, and Wonwoo's heart seized, bursting into a bright ache that dislodged all the air from his lungs. It hammered like a frantic hummingbird, twisting and bouncing towards his throat.
Wonwoo clutched his neck and swallowed, gasping once and then slamming his mouth shut when he felt a violent flutter rush up his body. Something was coming up and he knows, he knows he must keep it inside, out of the light where it can be taunted, where it will be revealed to be the ugly, shameful shape that it has to be.
The cat moved, face ascending a little further out of the tree, tilting its head as if asking Wonwoo, do you have something to give me?
Nothing but words. Wonwoo has words, words in his head that he doesn't dare to think, doesn't know how to wrangle from the sky and into sentences. Words that swirl his belly into a churn and work up his blood to a simmer.
"I don't know how to say it," Wonwoo snatched onto some naive courage that flashed through him, "I don't know how to face you knowing that I have something to say."
Ears flick, grey eyes stay unblinking, locked in.
"Won't you go back? To where you came from?" Something inside Wonwoo shook with every word he released. "I didn't even realise he was living without his heart, and now I wonder how lonely it must have felt, how tiring, to always live unsatisfied, always chasing towards a piece to fill the hole while knowing his heart was already here, in the forest."
The cat's eyes narrowed, and its tail slithered inside, hiding out of sight.
"Please, he needs you because he wants to love again," the words rushed out of Wonwoo, like a wave streaming through a blowhole, an avalanche pushing him towards a crevasse, the verge of something irreversible. "I don't even know who he wants to love."
"It's probably Minghao," Wonwoo rubbed his eyes, "I'm an awful person aren't I? I'm jealous of him, that he was close with Jun once, that he might be close with Jun still. I don't even know if they dated. I think they did. You were in love with him weren't you, when Jun sent you away?"
The cat did not answer.
"It doesn't matter," Wonwoo took a deep breath. The flurry in his chest had calmed down, but he could feel it's presence there still, like a cough about to explode or a bird about to hatch, "Even if Jun wants to love Minghao again, I want you to go back. I want him to be in love because I want him to be happy. Because I'm happy when he's happy."
Sunlight everywhere, undiluted, glorious candour. Warmth from his toes, leaves in his hair. The forest at his back, a chorus echo.
"Oh," Wonwoo blinked, "I think that means I like him." And then once more, with the weight every word like a page being unturned, "I like Wen Junhui."
Everything freezes. The summer snaps, sharp like the crack of a whip. Wonwoo lurches over, coughsâgagsâchokes on the burning in his throat, the shrill scream in his ears and the pain in his chest as something tears away and surges out claws first.
And then silence.
And then birdsong, a caw.
Wonwoo looks down.
There's a hole in his chest and a bird in his hands, a crow, black as night and so light, Wonwoo could barely feel the weight of it on his fingers. It felt fragile, its little heart beating softly between his fingers, bones brittle like pins of spun sugar, so vulnerable to the crush of a human hand.
Wonwoo looked at the tiny, pathetic crow, and knew that he was looking at his heart.
"I see," Wonwoo whispered, lifting it up to his face, "You're so small."
Meow.
Wonwoo glanced up. The cat is now leaning outside of the tree, back curled, front paws out and eyes laser-focused on the bird in Wonwoo's hands.
Wonwoo shook his head, "This is not for you, not yet." He carefully, gently transferred the bird to one hand, and stepped closer to the tree, gesturing to the hole in his chest, "But there is space for you now, right here. Won't you try it?"
The cat closed his mouth and eyed Wonwoo warily.
The forest whispered, rustled in the wind of a summer sun at noon, turning like a grandmother about to wake.
âDid you hear? The young man has space
â Oh he's handsome too, this is fine body to live in.
âThe fields need to be harvested by the sturgeon moon
âI need an ambulance, please somebody
âI'mcomingI'mhungryI'mlonelyI'MCOMING
The cat hissed, snarling at the air with bared teeth, and then it was jumping out of the tree, paws outstretched, claws digging into Wonwoo's shoulders and body swinging into his chest. The forest quietened.
"Ooof," Wonwoo winced at the pain, barely catching the cat in time and barely catching his balance. It was astoundingly heavy, heavier than a bag of rice for certain. Minghao was right, it was a big cat, one of the biggest and fluffiest Wonwoo had ever seen. Its fur was shiny and luscious, opulent and healthy, like it's just been brushed. He wanted to pick it up by its pits and see how long it stretches. Instead, he scooped up its bottom with one arm, holding it close to his chest, filling in the hole withâ
There wasn't a hole anymore.
Meow.
"Hello there," Wonwoo said. It didn't look like a stray who's been living in the forest, more like a pampered house cat that's been lounging on human beds and finger fed fresh meals. "Someone's been looking after you, haven't they."
It purred, pushing its soft face into Wonwoo's cheek.
"Don't worry, I will look after you now."
"What about the bird?"
Wonwoo blinked in surprise, it was the monkey, who he had completely forgotten about once he started talking to the cat. He cast a sidewards glance.
"Oh don't look at me like that, I eat dreams, not hearts," the monkey squatted down, "Are you going to keep it?"
Wonwoo looked down at the crow in his hand and he felt the cat move to peer at it too.
It was small, but there was strength in it as it stared back at the two of them with a glimmer in its eye. Wonwoo remembered how it fluttered in chest, how violently it resisted his oppression, how it fought its way out into the world with beak and claw.
Wonwoo relaxed his hand, unfurling his fingers.
Wings open.
"No," Wonwoo replied, "It deserves better."
Wonwoo pushes up, and lets his heart fly free.
Re: FILL: heart in my chest on wings [4/4]
I donât even know where to begin. Invoking æŹ in 2025 IS UNBELIEVABLE.
The way you wrote Minghao here, he is so much. So himself. Entwining him with the imagery of the forest, of birds (how alike he and Wonwoo are, hello foreshadowing), the tea ceremony, the painting and poetry and Tagore. I am obsessed with his characterization. Itâs fascinating that this is all from Wonwooâs POV. Wonwoo sees immediately what Junhui saw in him. Of course Junhui would like someone like this, artistic and elegant and beautiful in the summer light. (me too junhui) Wonwoo admiring Minghaoâs feet, how he points with them, dainty. like a child meeting their best friend's other friend EXACTLY. Minghao sees and names Wonwooâs envy, his competitive streak. But does he see Wonwooâs desire? Does Wonwoo see his own desire??
Minghao knowing that Wonwoo would succeed because Junhui himself sent him. Wonwoo, unable to acknowledge this, because he canât acknowledge /his own/ feelings, let alone the blinding and hopeful possibility that Junhui might feel the same. In the end it doesnât truly matter if Junhui returns his feelings. Because Wonwooâs journey is about confessing to himself, finding his own heart, even as that journey is tied inextricably to his feelings for and devotion to junhui. AhhhhHHH what a lovely twist on the confession trope and also a perfect execution of a character ~haunting the narrative~
"You'll savour it more when you have less," Thank you philosopher Xu *heart hands emoji* also cannot stop laughing at the concept of Mormon Wonwoo. Not only your world-building but your setting-building, the description of this specific forest and lodge, is beautiful and atmospheric. So many descriptive turns of phrases tickled my brain it would be impossible to list them all. Wonwoo hitting his head on the windchime <3 he is JUST A GUY <3
Itâs been years since I read Kafka on the Shore and there are absolutely references here that are going over my head. but youâve taken all the parts of Murakami that are most fascinating and breathable and wondrous to me and youâve made them your own and itâs!! So SO good!! The magical realism!! The hints at possession/spirits/souls. The dreams. THE DREAMS. "ç, the clarity of nature as a taste." your touches on multilingualism, of 8junâs shared language being another point of jealousy/contention for Wonwoo. Iâm obsessed. âA man left his shadow onceâ followed by he dreamt that he was being choked by his shadow, and he dreamt that he was falling from the sky but Minghao is living whole, Minghao is not the man who left his shadow⊠oh ho ho there are so many stories here. I love how gently theyâre referenced. It feels like looking at an apartment high-rise in the middle of the night, when only a handful of windows are lit, and you get these heartbreakingly intimate glimpses into other peopleâs lives that then just fade away when the light goes out. Jeonghan in his little houseboat, leaving his husband and returning (assuming it is Jeonghan hmmm). The talking monkey (LOL). Minghao being known to others as more of a dog person (I see what you did there!!).
âWhen I'm in the forest, I want to walk in as a whole person, my full weight sinking into the earth. When I'm in the rain, I want every part of me to experience the rain. When I wake, I want all of my body to face the morning, even if waking is difficult." And finally, this part. HWA. hwa!!!!!! How could you. How could you take the original Murakami quote and rework it in such a way that synthesizes what you were talking about re: living deliberately, being mindful of time and thought and brainspace and community, in a world which wants us to give these things up. How beautifully this echoes those sentiments. How could you have made me tear up like thisdfjkshfjksdkgjdl. I haven't had a chance to read your longer post on convenience and community yet but I think about what you said on living, and living through the efforts of others, frequently. His brain itched for a game or the dopamine of a youtube video but he doesnât, he canât, and this line implies that Wonwooâs whole mind/body/soul, his genuine individual effort, were needed to find Junhuiâs heartâto find his own heartâthat the effort itself is exactly what matteredâ (how could you have done this!!!!) ;___; <3 (also now I am wondering what it means that Wonwoo let his own heart go free -- will junhui need to quest his way to the forest, too, in order to bring back wonwoo's heart? or were their intentions different enough that wonwoo is now free to love whomever he chooses, unlike junhui who /gave up/ his heart with the intention of loving no one? as always love to think and philosophize over your plots hehehheh)
Thank you + how dare you + in awe of your brain + this one will live on in my heart so bad + HAPPY 17HOLS BABYYYYY!!!
Re: FILL: heart in my chest on wings [4/4]
your prompt was awful (complimentary), I didn't even know I had this story in me until this prompt dug into my soul and pulled out a a never-ending chain of handkerchiefs all going back to my old essay on kafka/murakami's metaphors, my ongoing ruminations on how to live this life, and recent conversations with an oomf about seventeen's differing motivations as an artist.
Which is to say, the story emerged at midnight fully feathered (Wonwoo goes into the forest to find Junhui's heart, and can only retrieve it by giving up his own), but as I wrote over 3 nights, I realised there was so much more I wanted this story to say: about life, about philosophy, about love.
I did think of several epilogues for the story:
- crow lands at Junhui's window
- Minghao makes a call to Jun to come visit, a crow caws overhead
- Wonwoo dreams of fishing with Jeonghan on his lil houseboat (ctrl-paste from in the soop 1)
âas you noticed, in the end it was never about jun reciprocating, but about Wonwoo's journey to look at his own heart and set it free (metaphorically and literally).To your question as to what that action means, yes all those possibilities are now open to Wonwoo, which is the important thing. That ending felt right because I always believe that loving others come from loving yourself first, and even at the end of this story, Wonwoo is not quite there yet (which is why Wonwoo's heart is described as small and brittle, and Jun's as fat and nurtured. Jun's đ”ready to loveđ” because someone has been looking after his heart). The crow now needs to grow strong until it can one day fly back to Wonwoo (or Jun, hehe). Like everything this year, I realise it's never about the result, but the journey. And for the journey, to put in the honest work because if your heart is in it, nothing will ever be a waste.
The more I wrote the more I thought about how the forest means something different to each of the characters: Minghao, Wonwoo, Jun, Jeonghan. Wonwoo's experience is close to Kafka's (i.e. going through the forest as a metaphor to confront yourself). For Jun, it is a place to hide his heart, to lock it away far away so that it can not affect him, whereas for Minghao, being next to the forest reinforces his need to stay whole, to reinforce his seams, to fight his shadow even as it seeks to destroy himâoh klav your prompt is like a virus I'm fighting. There are so many stories in here because of you.
As for Jeonghan, lets say the relevant data points are:
- bodies without a soul are prone to possession
- wonwoo dreams of jeonghan on the houseboat that night, after seungcheol's call
- the monkey tells wonwoo that he hasn't been dreaming
- jeonghan has cut a soul from it's body before
- Ms Hong's son died young
u___uâïžSome other treats for you!!
> æŹ Minghao is absolutely the inspiration for the Minghao in this story, along with in the soop wonhan fishing aesthetics, I thought about artist!minghao from that soop where he paints the shadows of the forest and had to terminate that thought with an axe because I started thinking about a killing commendatore AU (which takes place on a mountain with an artist going through a creative block and has to kill his shadow)
> the tagore poetry collection is of course, stray birds (which felt too pointed to name)
> monkey is inspired by the murakami short stories A Shinagawa Monkey and Confessions of a Shinagawa Monkey (paywalled), which is about a talking monkey that steals the names of the girls that he loved
> sappho fragment 31 is the one about jealousy (the lover looking at the beloved looking at someone else) - it was so fun to think about Wonwoo as someone who is content to love from a distance until some competition comes in and sets the heart in his chest on wings
thank you for listening and reading + how dare you for prompting and seeing my soul + happy 17hols and happy new year!
Re: FILL: heart in my chest on wings [4/4]
The towel was warmer than expected, as if recently dipped in tea and not just tap water. It gave Wonwoo an obligation of ritual, to follow the grains of wood across its breadth, to clean each table slowly, methodically like a man of culture.
Oh the murakami of it all⊠the beauty of exercising mindfulness during the mundane (and jww feeling like an impostor even as he does it lmao)
There's a look on Minghao's face that's halfway between a pout and a frown. It makes him look younger, petulant, like he knows he's right but doesn't know how to explain it.
LMAO i can see him down to the exact microexpression (any gose in which he gets falsely accused of anything).
As a fellow xmh lover I am so completely charmed by his characterisation here. Xu Minghao the teacher, the painter, the dancer and owner of designer sneakers. Who is certain and comfortable and knows unknowable things and holds influence it seems like no human should. He's perfect and he's the perfect foil to Wonwoo who canât even bear to look directly at himself
Minghao ignores him. "Interesting. Acting was the reason he gave it up in the first place."
"Gave what up?"
"His heart, of course." Minghao raised an eyebrow, "Aren't we talking about Jun's heart?"
Oh I know EXACTLY what conversation sprouted this idea omg⊠And we never reached any conclusion about âWhat is it about acting that Jun finds so compellingâ except âmaybe itâs because it gives him a way to receive love as someone other than himselfâ and how youâve taken and expanded that concept into: he has to literally DIVIDE HIMSELF into parts to pursue his craft. He can receive love (whether via his career or on a personal level (Wonwoo) ((Minghao))) but at the cost of his own ability to give that love back UGH its idolverse meta all the way down
"Can't you stay?"
Jun stood up on the ledge and the wind seemed to pick up him with its breeze, "Where can I stay, Wonwoo?"
This is one of those scenes that gains insane combo points on the reread because now i know!!!! Jun I know exactly where you can stay!!! Wonwoo doesnât (yet) but I do!!!!
With the amount of canon references weaved into this, I can only imagine how many Murakami (and other) ones there are that I didn't catch. I have said this to u before but your dedication to and passion for immersing yourself in creativity as not just a thing to do but as a way to move in the world is so inspiring to me and I feel very lucky to be able to witness and read the things that come from that!!!
Re: FILL: heart in my chest on wings [4/4]
yes yes, this story came out so smoothly because of our recent conversations about seventeen's motivations as artists, murakami, the hotel fic, and what would each of the sebongs look like if they existed there (and now I will be thinking of your boojun fill!!) I was alr in the trenches with the meta and when I was hit with klav's prompt, all the ideas were within arm's reach, ready for rearranging. like why is jun so afraid of being perceived? why can he only be sincere if he's acting? why junnie, can you say I love you 100 times when drunk but grow embarrassed when wonwoo shares this knowledge??!! why are you afraid of being known as someone who loves others???!!!
- one thing I could do under firewall was watch loop xmh clips on rednote, that man has so many microexpressions and all of them are petulant
- another thing from our conversations is learning that there are many ways to write (and to feel about writing), just like there are ways to live this life. when I finished writing, I realised how the forest may seem dark and malevolent but actually it offers different forms of catharsis to different people, depending on what they want (jeonghan, minghao, jun, wonwoo). and then going back to edit, I wanted to make sure that whatever life advice minghao gave, it wasn't prescriptive but rather understanding. sometimes you need to stay whole, but sometimes you need to send a part of yourself away. both are okay!! as long as you are living well!!
thank you for reading and for being part of the process!! <3 no fic is an island etc etc.
Re: FILL: heart in my chest on wings [4/4]
Re: FILL: heart in my chest on wings [4/4]