She can smell blood. Taste it too, it's metallic tint washing over her tongue and when she holds her trembling hands up in front of her, she can see it. See it trickling down her palms and then her forearms, gathering in a spike at her elbow and dripping to the floor with the sound of rain pitter-pattering on a roof and it feels just as frequent too. Then she hears the screaming and suddenly the blood is gone from her hands. What point of time is she in? Moments before or years later? She can't decipher her surroundings, phasing into different settings as soon as she thinks she recognises one or blurring when her eyes begin to focus. The shrilling is intense and are surely shredding an unknown someone's vocal cords and they're screaming at her and her approaching blood-less hands and her presence is alone unsettling but her actions are the ones warranting fear. Now her hands are over someone's mouth. There's no transition- they just are. She can feel the heat of their breath against her palms dampened with vapour and the screams are muffled or non-existent at all, it's difficult to tell when all she can hear is a ringing in her ears which throbs achingly in time with her booming heartbeat. Their eyes are blood-shot and glazed over with tears as they dart back and forth as if looking for salvation, looking for a way out. A flash glimpses through her fogged vision, a reflection from glass? A blade? Her stomach twists sickeningly as her hand moves and it feels like she's pushing a sharp object through a starchy pillow and now, there's blood again and her vision is obfuscating her red-stained skin and the ringing is louder than ever and the screams rallying-

Seulgi wakes up with a start, barely repressing the yelp that's already half-way out of when she sits up. She's in a cold sweat, goosebumps pricking up all along her arms whilst her chest heaves in uneven breaths that, neither physically nor mentally, seem to steady her. Her clothes feel damp, sticking to her like wet tissue paper and some of her hair clings to her forehead which wiping gives to no avail. The first thing she wants to do is tear off her blanket and yet she's frozen- more so from shock and horror than fear. These nightmares have been plaguing her as long as she can remember and yet they are progressively worsening each time- like the incomprehensible visions she sees are becoming stiller, more focused, almost tangible. At this, she hastily wipes her wet hands on her clothed thighs; it's her own sweat but her reaction might as well make it the same blood she thought she could feel.

Not even a warming shower can erase the bone-chilling strain which makes her acutely aware of the goosebumps along her arms brushing up against her sleeves. The only thing that stills the stormy sea rocking the boat of her mind is recalling the odd moment of peace her and an angel had shared. Irene had been consuming a lot of her time recently: whether she was trying to salvage an expensive wine-stained article of clothing, scuffling with her in a bathroom, or sitting upon a hilltop in silence, the unusual woman had seemingly appeared out of nowhere and usurped the more important things on her jammed schedule. She elicited a curiosity in Seulgi that she hadn't felt in a long time; getting drunk on the job and being usually very distant was one thing, but whenever she thought she pinned her as an anxious girl, Irene would do something to avert all her expectations again. Alas, she had retreated back to heaven and it was unlikely they'd ever cross paths again for so many reasons that Seulgi doesn't really have the mind to list at the moment.

Being Satan's second command grew boring after time passed. Mostly she supervised meetings and simply relayed information back and forth for the 'big man himself'. She's almost grateful that she's been assigned to take up some grunt work in the form of guarding. It's been a long time since she'd done this; long enough that the memories of it have started to blur and merge into timelines she isn't quite sure actually happened. Earth was unkind to her. She tells herself time and time again, that it was nobody's fault but her own. It's what everybody else said and so, naturally, she believed them.

Stepping back onto Earth's ground is always unusual; before she had died it felt like she could never get away from everyone but now, being from the land of the dead (and the damned at that) meant that nobody alive could see her, not even sense her. Albeit they were affected by her; the act of being a 'guardian angel' or the lesser-known 'guardian devil' is one of balance. One's presence would have a natural influence on a human's actions. A human with only a devil attending would incline to perform bad deeds and vice versa, so the two opposing sides appear to maintain neutrality and, ultimately, push for one's own morals to be the biggest factor in their actions. On this idea, one could argue that there is no need for guarding at all but many, if not most humans, possess a natural preference of evil and, to combat this, guardian angels were introduced but their presence was deemed too intrusive, and so, guardian devils were instigated.

Seulgi's standing outside of a quaint coffee shop somewhere in downtown Seoul. It's yellowed appearance sticking out like a sore thumb amongst the bright, modern and neon lights lining the buildings surrounding it. It was a break for the eyes, the front of it consisting mostly of glass panes that provided a look to the inside. Customers talk animately in conversations she's not privy to and probably wouldn't care for anyway. The silence encompassing her outside is only stirred by the swinging of a dated sign and the general bustle of the city- it makes those inside look like mimes.

Upon opening the door, she's hit with waves of senses, the first of which is the noise. A sea of low murmurs, the sound of when a large group of voices merges into one continuous hum which occasionally lowers in volume when the din caused by staff busying themselves behind the counter clatters too much. The intense smell of coffee is the next thing she notices, it's overwhelming scent causing her shoulders to heave and push back when she takes a deep breath of it. It's relaxing and familiar and it almost feels like if she approached the counter lined with delicacies powdered with sugar and currants, they'd gleefully look up from the tills and take her order. One of the walls is compiled of small bricks unevenly spaced and jutting out of the otherwise flat surface and Seulgi scrunches her nose looking at it; it would hurt to crash into that. She can see cocoa powder gathering at the bottom of people's glasses of hot chocolate in a viscous form that wobbles when they bring it up and tilt it to their lips and it reminds her of the small things she misses in life- the sweet things.

Eventually, she tears her gaze away from the eccentric decor which she would much rather take in with a steaming cup of coffee because there's an impatient woman standing over another who is hunched over her table, two hands firmly secure around a cup of hot chocolate which she blows at occasionally. Her hair is long and a deep shade of brown with tips dyed blonde that sway dangerously close to the liquid tottering so very close to the point of overflowing (Seulgi can already make out the light brown trails on the white ceramic which point to that this has already happened). Her eyes are big and wide and her cheeks are full; she's young- likely in college and, most of all, she's human. She must be Yeri. The devil thinks that maybe if her bleach-tipped hair were to dip into her drink it would become the same colour as the rest of it but before she can snicker at the thought, her eyes are drawn to the woman above her who's inescapable impatience is clearly brewing.

"You're late." She says when Seulgi reaches the chair opposite Yeri who doesn't apologise; the woman always did like to trace the line where the boundaries of her authority waver.

"But you're Sooyoung-- the 'great Joy', no?" Seulgi answers, her previously fascinated expression fades into her usual facade. "It seems like you handled the few extra minutes well."

"Of course I did," Sooyoung retorts stiffly, her softly-shaped eyes not meeting Seulgi's. "Doesn't mean I enjoyed them."

"Mm," Seulgi brushes off her tiresome and spiritless complaints. "Well, I'm here now, am I not?"

"Yeah- you are," Joy says it with a quizzical tone, regarding her with what seems like caution. Sooyoung is quite a bit taller than the horned woman with hair the length to match; she's bored easily and irritated more often than she's bored but they tolerate one another's presence. Mostly. "Fancy you doing the same work as me."

"Yeah, don't sound so pleased about it," Seulgi replies curtly, her top lip curling as if she had forgotten that she didn't actually come here for a catch-up and a coffee like she so wished. "I wouldn't have chosen to be here."

"I get the feeling you'll take those words back soon." Joy responds cryptically, flashing a vague smile afterward.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Seulgi an eyebrow, giving another scan to her surroundings, trying to track wherever Sooyoung's gaze is resting- a target which she eventually gives up attempting to locate.

"Nothing, I just think you'll grow to like it," The taller devil shrugs and Seulgi doesn't entirely believe what she just said. Her hands rest on the back of Yeri's chair who doesn't react in the slightest. "There are rumours spreading you know."

"About who? What?"

"About you."

"Me?"

"Yeah, you and some hornless girl," Joy says as if she isn't too sure of the words she's reciting either, possessing no idea that the sentence had made Seulgi's stomach lurch violently. Her eyes narrow, as if she knows more than she's letting on. "And absolutely nobody I've asked recognised her."

"Is that so?" Seulgi replies like the rumours are news to her. The space between her neck and her collar is feeling a little too hot right now but she resists the nerve to tug it away from her. Instead, she lifts her arm and ensures that her hair has fallen around her horns correctly, the movement shifting her clothing in a way that provided her with a little relief. She was unsure as to why she was so nervous; her and the angel never engaged in any activities other than a chat. And a fight. Other than that, she had left. Perhaps it was bad enough that'd she had let Irene go. "How unusual."

"Yeah, it is really odd. Especially since I asked a lot of people."

"Did it ever cross your mind that the majority of people wouldn't have seen anything at all?"

"Ah! So you're admitting it?" Sooyoung rounds her chair, sidling up the side of the table like she's sneaking closer to Seulgi who merely watches her with little intent to respond. "You were with someone?"

"That's not what I said, Joy."

"Sounds like it to me," She stands up again but now that's she cl