Why It's Inadvisable to Mock a Girl with Gills
Exploding Dishes and Other Reasons Im Nayoung is TiredNayoung wakes up to screaming. Again. She checks the time. 8:30 am. Too early for this. Nayoung wonders if she'll ever be able to get a restful morning. Probably not so long as she's taking care of nine superpowered hyperactive kids. She sighs and pulls herself out of bed.
Nayoung stumbles down the hall, dodging a ball of water and a leg. She'll have to talk to Jieqiong again. And Yebin. There's barely enough room for the ten of them without Yebin sprawling her limbs all over the place.
"Morning." Nayoung slips into the kitchen and sits at the table as Eunwoo rushes out of the room clutching one floppy ear as the other one bounces with each step. Not again. Nayoung will have to help the other girl get her ears back later. Last time it took almost an hour. In the kitchen, Minkyung and Kyungwon are fighting about…something. There's a floating fried egg next to Yewon's head as she crunches on cereal, totally unbothered by the commotion the other two girls are creating. She's glowing slightly, and she also smells a little singed. Nayoung thinks she must have tried to wake Kyla up. That would also explain Yewon's noticeably flyaway hair. Nayoung takes the egg and moves it back onto the plate that it must have come from. Yewon startles and stares at the egg as if it had betrayed her.
"Sorry unnie." Her light dims a little and she smiles guiltily. "I didn't realize the egg had left."
"It's alright, but just be careful when you're floating bigger things. Like people." It was hard to get annoyed at someone as bright as Yewon. It was like getting mad at a puppy. Nayoung smiles at her and ruffles her hair, getting up to pour her own bowl of cereal. Nayoung dodges Minkyung and Kyungwon. Minkyung somehow seems to have put Kyungwon in a headlock and is giving her a wet willie as Kyungwon struggles to free herself. "You two need to take that to the living room. And wake Yebin up while you're at it."
"Sure, unnie" Nayoung swears she didn't ask for this, but she did want more responsibility. She gets out the cereal and the milk, floating a bowl from the cabinet opposite her.
"MmmmSup." Yebin stumbles into the kitchen. She trips on the floor and her leg flops at an uncomfortable angle. She catches herself on the table, jostling it so Yewon's glass of juice spills over the side, or it would have if the glass had been on the table. Nayoung sighs, putting the milk back into the fridge.
"Good morning, Yebin." Nayoung sits back down at her place as Yebin sits down across from her, reaching back to retrieve the milk and cereal from their respective places. She pours her bowl and puts the cereal back onto the counter across the room. As she's putting the milk back, she sneezes and her arm jerks back into place and the milk goes flying, only to freeze in mid air. Yebin twists her neck back around to see an exasperated Nayoung with her arm extended, guiding the milk into the fridge.
"Oops." To be fair, Yebin does look sort of sorry. Nayoung would believe it more if it hadn't been the third time this week.
"That reminds me," Nayoung starts and Yebin shifts lower in her chair, arms back to normal size. Nayoung waits for Yebin to finish her first bite of cereal. She takes that time to lower Yewon's juice glass back onto the table, startling Yewon again. "Yebin, you need to manage your limbs better. It's fine to spread out in your own room, but it becomes a safety hazard when it goes into the hallway."
"I'm working on it, unnie. I swear." Yebin starts on her usual excuses but gets interrupted by a soaking wet Siyeon followed by a guilty looking Jieqiong.
Nayoung looks between the two before sighing and readying herself. "Explain."
Jieqiong starts to speak but is interrupted by Siyeon. "I was getting my toothbrush from the bathroom and Jieqiong thought it would be fun to play dunk tank without the tank."
Jieqiong splutters. "I was startled! I thought Eunwoo was trying to peek at me again!"
Nayoung hears a faint "Hey!" from somewhere else in the apartment.
Nayoung sighs. It's not even nine o'clock yet. How did she get into this again? Oh right. She asked. "Does that explain the water projectiles this morning? Because I've talked to you about that."
Jieqiong has enough sense to look contrite. "Sorry, unnie. But Minkyung was catcalling and I was taking a shower. I had to defend my honor."
Minkyung appears in the doorway long enough to defend herself. "Hey! If I was going to use my powers on anyone it would be Kyungwon!"
Then Kyungwon herself appears, along with the rack of weights. "You wanna repeat that?"
Minkyung's eyes get wide and she vaults over the couch. "All I meant was that your body is really well proportioned! A golden ratio! I'd kill for it! Help!"
Nayoung drops her head to the table and Yewon pats her shoulder comfortingly. Nayoung raises her head and stands up. "Kyungwon, we agreed. No threatening people with the furniture or the exercise equipment. Minkyung, just because you can see through doors doesn't mean you should. Jieqiong, no water outside of sinks or tubs without my explicit permission. Siyeon…can you get dried off, please? You're dripping onto the floor. Also, Kyla will be up soon so you'll want to be dry." Siyeon's eyes widen at the mention of Kyla and she dashes off, presumably to get a towel.
"Speaking of Kyla," Yebin has finished her breakfast and has put her bowl in the sink without standing up. "Yewon, you might want to check out your hair." Yewon's hands fly to her hair, her glow shutting off as she runs to the bathroom to try to salvage her bangs. Her juice glass drops to the table and Yebin's hand shoots out to catch it, but only manages to knock it over. The juice spills over the side of the table and Nayoung sighs for what could be the twentieth time this morning. "Whoops. Sorry unnie. I got this."
"Please actually stand up to do it. Just because you can-"
"-use your powers doesn't mean you have to." Nayoung hears her sentence finished in her own voice. It never stops being weird.
"Good morning, Sungyeon." Nayoung turns in her chair and smiles at the girl. She always wakes up later than the rest of them, so the morning madness was almost never her doing. Except for the Shattered Window Incident. "Is Kyla awake yet?"
"I don't know. I wasn't going to touch her to check. She builds up a charge when she sleeps, you know?" Sungyeon shudders. Being the designated Kyla waker-upper came with being her roommate. She and Yewon had suffered more shocks than the rest of them combined. Nayoung sometimes feels bad for them, but at this point, changing the rooms would be an even bigger issue. Although, not sharing a room with Minkyung and Kyungwon would be nice. And she'd love to be able to change behind the privacy screens without Minkyung's constant whistling and lewd comments. And Kyungwon's arbitrary rearranging of the beds. And…
"Nayoung unnie?" Nayoung startles out of her thoughts to be met with Yebin examining her closely, holding paper towels soaked with juice. "You were just staring into space and smiling. It was creepy." Yebin tosses the paper towels into the trash and goes to get dressed, presumably.
"It was a little weird." Sungyeon is rummaging through the kitchen drawers. "Has anyone seen the rubber gloves? It's my turn to wake Kyla up-Oh! Found them." Sungyeon hold the pink rubber gloves up in victory and exits the kitchen while pulling them on and…crossing herself? Maybe Nayoung should rethink the rooms.
"Good morning unnie." Nayoung is met with a drier looking Siyeon followed by a Yewon with much calmer hair. "Is this anyone's fried egg?"
Yewon crosses the room to the sink to start on the dishes. "It was mine, but I forgot I made it. You can have it."
"Thanks!" Siyeon grins and rolls her sleeves up, her hand starting to get red.
Nayoung's mind suddenly flashes to the Exploding Plate Incident. "Don't even think of hearing that up on that plate. Get a pan. Remember what happened last time?"
Siyeon sighs and stands to get the plate that's still on the stove. "That was once and I'm so much better now."
Nayoung doesn't budge. "Still. And that was a month ago."
Eunwoo stumbles in, ears back to normal, but now sporting gills. Siyeon opens , but Eunwoo glares at her. "Don't even."
Siyeon raises her hands, one still glowing red. "I was just going to ask if you wanted part of the egg." Eunwoo relaxes and starts to respond, but Siyeon shuts off her hand and continues. "Also, does anyone else think something smells a bit fishy around here?"
Eunwoo lunges, gills flaring in anger, one ear disappearing only to be replaced by a rabbit ear. Nayoung freezes her and backs her up to within reach, unfreezing her when she has a good grip on the girl. Nayoung adjusts her grip on the struggling Eunwoo and leads her out of the kitchen. "Come on. We need to get you straightened out."
As Nayoung leads Eunwoo down the hall, she hears Siyeon calling out from the kitchen. "With those gills, you might even be able to sneak a peek at Jieqiong!"
Nayoung tightens her grip on Eunwoo, who has visibly perked up at the thought. "Don't even think about it."
The two of them stop in front of the bathroom and Nayoung knocks. A muffled Kyla responds. "Occupied!" A few seconds later, a pajama-clad Kyla exits the bathroom, trying to get her flyaways under control. She freezes at the sight of Eunwoo, who is trying to cover her gills with one hand and her ear with the other. "Unnie..?" Kyla looks confusedly at Nayoung who just nods her head at the bathroom.
"We need to get to the bathroom." Nayoung nods her head at Eunwoo and Kyla jerks into movement, stumbling out of the way with a mumbled apology. She half stumbles the rest of the way to the kitchen, still trying to get her hair under control.
Eunwoo escapes Nayoung's grip and attempts a dignified walk into the bathroom, but with the combination of gills and one rabbit ear, it comes up short. "Let's get this done." She examines herself in the mirror, playing with her ear. "I can hear really well out of this one."
Nayoung nods and enters the bathroom after her, shutting the door. "You know what to do. Concentrate. And don't get angry. That gets you nowhere."
Eunwoo nods, furrowing her brow and staring intensely at her reflection. Sure enough, the ear disappears, replaced by her own ear. She turns to Nayoung, smiling in victory. "Got the ear." She turns back to the mirror and frowns, concentrating again. She spends a minute like that, brow furrowed and neck veins bulging under her gills. She gives up and sighs. "I'll just wear a scarf." Nayoung knows well enough that arguing will result in Eunwoo sprouting a snout or a tail or something.
"Get ready and wait in the living room. We're going out today." Nayoung prays silently that her plans for the day won't end in any accidents or any more nameable Incidents as she walks down the hall to her room.
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A/N
Hey guys,
I hope you enjoyed this little thing. I think that I've made their powers pretty clear, but I'll probably put up a quick list of powers with the next chapter.
(It's worth noting that's I'm the only one who has proofed this. So if you could point out tense inconsistencies and misspelling in the comments, that's greatly appreciated.)
See you next time!
Elly
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