exomeme | part seventy two

i replied nonnie! it'd be easier to get the thing if you bt

1,980w. the first part is here: http://exomeme.dreamwidth.org/21446.html?thread=89370566#cmt89370566

can i finish writing this before hp ends? nobody knows

ahh i just had a listen. i like it gj anon n_n

branch

leaf!

lmao this is.. not the reality i wanted... u___u

again, i've done this before and once you allow point deductions, the wank is inevitable. it doesn't matter what exceptions/safeguards you put in lol the whole thing will explode on you

lol yeah. it could be so fun, but i dont trust meme for this at all

Lu Han is the spitting image of his mother, Minseok thinks, even down to their posture: they both sit high-backed, shoulders hunched in a tiny bit, and it feels almost like they’re facing off with each other. “It’s very nice to have you, Minseok,” she says, smiling at him. “I’ve heard that you’re a very good friend to Lu Han. Thank you for staying by his side.”

“I should be thanking you, for letting me stay over,” Minseok replies, watching as Lu Han’s mother makes them cups of tea.

“Not at all. Minseok, why don’t you tell us a little about yourself? Lu Han doesn’t say much about you, besides how much he enjoys your company,” she says. “What do your parents do?”

Lu Han, though, cuts in before Minseok even begins to think about making something up. “I haven’t told you about what a great student Minseok is, have I? His grades are amazing, he’s at the top of our year in Defense Against the Dark Arts and in Arithmancy,” he says, moving his cup away before his mother can pour a bit of milk in.

If his mother is taken aback at his outburst, she doesn’t show it. “Arithmancy? That’s quite the difficult subject. Are you, perhaps, aiming to work at Gringotts?” she asks.

“No, I’m not sure what I want to do yet,” he answers slowly.

“But he’ll be fantastic at whatever he does,” Lu Han asserts, “he’s a good student all-around.”

His mother smiles. “If only it could wear off on you,” she says. “Minseok, I’d appreciate it if you could help him as much as you can. Lu Han could do with the positive influence.”

“Lu Han is a good student too, he hardly needs my help,” Minseok cuts in, feeling a bit awkward for interrupting what feels like a family argument.

“I’m aware of what kind of student Lu Han is, and I hesitate to agree,” she replies. “Have you considered Curse-Breaking, Minseok? There are so few qualified Curse-Breakers nowadays, you’d be paid well for your work.”

“He said that doesn’t know what he wants to do yet, mother,” Lu Han says. Minseok’s always known Lu Han to be self-assured, not the type to react when somebody’s baiting him. Seeing him so upfront is strange -- but Minseok knows why, and it makes him wish he could reach out and touch his shoulder, tell him you don’t have to go so far, Lu Han.

Silence follows. Lu Han’s mother takes a long sip of tea before putting the cup down, ending the quiet with the sound of porcelain against porcelain. “Your father couldn’t make it, and I have to leave tomorrow morning,” she says. “Lu Han, please be sure to treat your guest well. I have work to do, so I’ll be in the study. Please call me when you’re ready for dinner, and I’ll begin preparations for it.”

“Thank you,” Minseok replies, reaching to grab Lu Han’s hand and pulling him out of the room as fast as he can.

They sit in Lu Han’s room, and Minseok waits until Lu Han is ready to talk. He stares around the room, looking at Lu Han’s things -- the miniature broomstick that flies around, the posters of idol groups and Quidditch teams mixed with each other. His bookshelf is filled with a mix of Muggle books and Wizarding ones, including everything from A History of Magic to Batman comics to a flying handbook to what looks suspiciously like Wuthering Heights. He almost wants to ask about it, but before he can work up the nerve to break the silence, Lu Han says, “I’m sorry. About that, from before.”

“Don’t be sorry,” Minseok replies quickly. “You’ve probably got your reasons, right?”

“Yeah,” Lu Han says, before sighing.

Minseok inches a little closer. “Do you wanna talk about it?” he asks.

“About the part where I warned you not to say you’re Muggle-born? Or the part where my mother just openly looked down on me in front of somebody she knows is my friend,” Lu Han says, rather cynically. There’s a pause, and then he adds, “Sorry. I didn’t mean to snap at you.”

“I know you didn’t. And about whatever you want to talk about -- you don’t owe me any explanations, you know? Just... if it’ll make you feel better,” Minseok replies softly.

For a few moments, he watches as Lu Han stares out the window, glassy-eyed. Then, without warning, he starts talking: “In the East, people think of Muggle-born wizards differently than here,” Lu Han explains, voice flat. “It seems better on the surface, I guess, but I don’t think it is. To enter Wizarding school, you have to pass an aptitude test, and everybody is ranked based on that. If your rank is bad, the quality of your education will also be lower, because they think you won’t be worth decent teachers. But if you’re Muggle-born, then nobody will help you prepare for the tests in the first place.”

“And then it becomes a self-perpetuating cycle,” Minseok says, filling in where Lu Han trails off.

“Basically. So people just start to believe that anything that comes of Muggles is a waste of energy... and that’s why my parents don’t understand why I, you know, like Muggle Studies and all that,” he murmurs. He sighs and rests his head on Minseok’s shoulder -- “They think it’s a waste of time.”

Minseok puts his arm around Lu Han, rubbing circles into his back. “Your mother doesn’t seem like a bad person, you know,” he replies carefully. “Decent people can believe in the wrong things, too.”

“Yeah. But it’s hard when they’re your parents,” Lu Han mutters.

He doesn’t have a response to that, so they sit together quietly, leaned against each other. It’s comfortable, he thinks. Lu Han is comfortable.

The next day, Lu Han’s mother leaves, and Lu Han perks up considerably. “Muggle shopping,” he insists, nearly pushing Minseok out the door after they’ve finished eating breakfast. He can tell Lu Han is forcing himself a little, but decides not to mention it -- after all, if there’s anything that’d cheer Lu Han up, it’d be a trip into Muggle London.

As they get off the subway and start walking towards the mall, Lu Han starts worrying about whether he has enough Muggle money -- “Don’t worry about it,” Minseok reassures him. “My parents gave me one of their credit cards, I’ve got it covered.”

“A credit card! Let me see,” Lu Han says, holding his hand out expectantly. “I’ve read about the theory. Magnetic strips and all that, it’s amazing.”

He hands it over. “Careful to not let anybody see the numbers, though, I don’t want my parents to become victims of identity theft or something,” he says, watching as Lu Han examines the card carefully.

“I don’t get it,” Lu Han says, passing it back a few minutes later.

Minseok smiles. “Yeah, neither do I.”

Just then, the mall comes into view, and Lu Han stops to stare for a few moments. “Wow, it’s bigger than I thought it’d be,” he says, looking almost childishly delighted. “It looks so different from Wizarding London, can you believe they’re in the same city?”

A few people glare at them for stopping in the middle of a crowd; Minseok smiles apologetically and pulls Lu Han forward. “Come on, I’ll treat you to Starbucks, so hurry up,” he says.

“What’s a Starbucks?” Lu Han asks, letting Minseok drag him ahead. Minseok just smiles and walks even faster.

On the way back, Lu Han exalts their trip so reverently that Minseok’s pretty sure that the other people in the subway car are backing away from them slowly. “Amazing, I can’t believe Muggles manage to fit so many things into such a small space without magic,” he says happily. “And the electronics store! I’ll have to save up and see if I can buy one of those eye-cellular-phones someday.”

“Just iPhone,” Minseok corrects. “I’ll get you one for your birthday, if you really want one.”

Lu Han lifts up the bags he’s holding. “Because you didn’t get me enough stuff today?” he asks.

“Birthdays are different, okay! Besides, you’re the one always treating me when we go into Hogsmeade,” Minseok retorts.

“I’ll have enough material for at least four club meetings,” Lu Han says. “I can do one on apa -- department stores and another on credit cards. And definitely one on Starbucks.”

Minseok smiles. “So you had fun, then?”

“Loads of fun,” Lu Han answers, grinning.

His parents, he knows, are definitely going to ask him what exactly he spent so much money on when he gets back home. But seeing Lu Han so cheerful -- it’s worth it, Minseok thinks. It’s worth it.

The next day, Lu Han brings Minseok to the basement of the house. “Sorry, it’s filthy,” he says, wincing slightly at the dust clouds being thrown up at their feet. “We don’t come down here very often. And ever since our house-elf passed away, we just... didn’t really bother with cleaning the place, I guess.”

“It’s alright,” Minseok replies, even as he narrowly avoids walking face-first into a cobweb.

“Anyway, most of the protective charms on the house are rooted here, in the center of the base. I think there’s a few more on the doors and windows, and maybe some on the fireplace. But I guess you’d have to ask my parents about it, to be sure.” He pauses, and then smiles ruefully. “Sorry, I’m not going to be much use to you here, I don’t anything about these enchantments work.”

“No problem, I just wanted to look at them anyway,” he says. “My parents are architects, so I guess the curiosity comes from them.”

“Archi-whats?” Lu Han asks blankly.

“Architects. They design and help construct houses and buildings, that kind of stuff,” Minseok explains.

The concept of having to design to build, he knows, is a bit foreign to Lu Han, so he can’t blame Lu Han for just shrugging in reply. Living in Hogwarts, it almost feels half-foreign to him, too -- he’s almost begun to take it for granted that he can wave his wand and make things arrange themselves the way he wants it to. He dwells on the thought as he walks, and he almost bumps into Lu Han without noticing he’d stopped.

“Here it is,” Lu Han says, pointing to one of the pillars. In the dimness, the symbols etched onto the stone glow a gentle blue -- runes, Minseok knows, to strengthen the power of the charms cast upon it.

The first thing that Minseok realizes is that the spells cast upon it are still far above his level of comprehension: the enchantments wrap around each other, combining and changing the higher up they go. There are some fundamentally unfamiliar charms, too -- ones, he assume, that are from the Eastern school of magic. He’s skilled enough to interpret them and understand what they do, but not yet enough that he understands why they work.

“Oh, I kind of recognize this bit here” Lu Han says, jerking Minseok out of his quiet reverence. “It looks a bit like a Chinese character, it means ‘to hide’.”

“This is really something,” Minseok murmurs. He almost wants to touch the pillar, as if getting physically closer to it would help him comprehend -- but he knows that it’ll just repel him away.

“Most Wizarding houses have something like this, but yeah, ours is a bit unique --” Lu Han cuts off suddenly to sneezes a few times, rubbing at his nose slightly before looking back up. “Sorry, the dust is too thick,” he says apologetically.

“Let’s go back upstairs,” he replies, even though he wants to stay. “I’ll come back and look at it more another time.”

anticipating!!!

ohh we might just kill meme in one go then. hunger games where everyone dies

"He really feels sorry for the fans. He knows that being a fan is difficult, so after every performance he tries so hard to bow and wave towards the audience — this is gratitude expressed from the bottom of his heart. This person, is also always the last to walk down the stage. Even when the lights have already dimmed out, he is still unwilling to leave. He really can’t bear to leave his fans."

— Director of CCTV talking about Zhang Yixing

unf get dem connections

cries and curls up with you tbh ;;;

sighs sadly because i totally wanted to play with the selu and sexing more but ig i can't do that if both sehun and lu han are dead lmfao

i haven't even thought that far yet but ig when one door closes, another opens, as the saying goes....

;u; ♥ sobs i love him so much

sob it's less surprise bc it continues from the previous layhan ones but ty anon!

i hereby declare your stan card officially revoked

rubs small circles on your back ;;

poignant ;~;

i gave him more than half last time, you guys need to help me out

half his points

ugly laughing rn

i wish they would just not talk about him individually i feel like it's rly awkward for everyone...

da, qt baek fanartist? ;~~~~~;

networking his way into my heart

if this were a legit thing on lj or tumblr i can't imagine how big it would get, like imagine a r&g kind of summer exchange but with this mechanic

part seventy two

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hg: roots and leaves, pt 2 (team dage)

Re: http://exomeme.dreamwidth.org/21894.html?thread=91833478#cmt91833478

Re: hg: roots and leaves, pt 2 (team dage)

Re: hg: roots and leaves, pt 2 (team dage)

Re: hg: dark after dawn (team yixing ): )

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Re: hg: roots and leaves, pt 2 (team dage)

Re: hg: roots and leaves, pt 2 (team dage)

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Re: hg: lu han dies (team cccm)

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Re: hg: lu han dies (team cccm)

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Re: hg: lu han dies (team cccm)

Re: hg: roots and leaves, pt 2 (team dage)

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*

Re: hg: bye world (team kai)

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http://exomeme.dreamwidth.org/21894.html?thread=91859846#cmt91859846