Shae awoke to the faint sound of techno punk music and screaching rubber.She rubbed at her eyes with the backs of her hands and faintly remembered where she was, and with whom.

"Ok, ok, but can you do a jump shot?"

"Don't answer that, Woozi, he's just tryna bait yah."

"What am I, chopped liver? Of course I can. Check it!"

Shae squinted up at the top bunk matress above her head. Jump shot? What on earth...?

Shae pushed herself groggily to her feet and squinted about the room full of rows of too many empty bunk beds. She noticed that the very top bunk in the farthest corner looked like a rainbow colored mess: plushies, stuffed animals, blankets, pillows, all strewn about in a haphazard array.

Must be Vernon's.

She chuckled quietly to herself.

Then her eyes shifted to another top bunk, which had plain bedclothes, an extra pillow, and had been neatly folded.

Tae's handiwork, for sure.

The sound of screaching rubber and a THUMP THUMP met her ears again. Shae sighed, shook her head quietly to herself, and muttered under her breath, "Boys."

After a quick stint in the washroom, Shae wandered out into the storage facility and was surprised to see that the open ended back half had become a kind of urban basketball court. Small mettal rings had been attached to the back wall and to a back stretch of racks, making for oposing sides at play.

She was even more surprised to see Woozi and Vernon playing two-on-two against Jungkook and Taehyung. All four of the young men were suited up in athletic gear like they were professionals in training. Vernon had his greasy blonde hair pushed back behind a rainbow bandana. Woozi was sporting fire engine red shorts and black t-shirt, with high top sneakers to match. Taehyung was in a baggy white T, with long green sweatpants that had a metallic sheen as he ran about in his white sneakers. Then there was jungkook, in baggy all-black attire, who was now the one dribbling the basketball right in front of Woozi--wearing a taunt in his typically earnest smile.

"I don't know if I'd count that as a jump shot."

Woozi frowned at Jungkook's comment. The small man's arms were spread wide as he shifted from side to side, staying mute.

Jungkook went on, "Maybe what you really need... is one more year to grow into your sneaks, kid."

Shae couldn't help but be mesmerized by the tension of the scene in front of her, of the slow rythmic pounding of the basketball into the metallic floor, and of the sweaty ernestness of the four young men in athletic battle.

Jungkook fainted left. Went right.

Woozi didn't take the bait; he went right, too.

The ball was snatched. Woozi gave a leap up off of his tiny toes as his arms made the perfect chair shape, his wrists the perfect flicking motion. The ball soared. If there had been a net on the hoop latched onto the wall, it would have swished as the ball sailed through it so perfectly.

Woozi didn't need to gloat with his words. He just turned his small, smiling eyes in Jungkook's direction. The pink haired man continued watching Kookie with that smug gaze even as the neon-rainbow whirl of Vernon rushed up to the little Woozi and met him with a double-handed high-five.

"Sick, Woozi. That was perfect."

"Thanks, man."

Jungkook was smiling, amused though not ready to call it defeat just yet. His hands plucked up the ball from near the wall and he shifted the hard leather back and forth in his hands with a comfortable rythm.

The watery sheen of Taehyung's green sweatpants shifted and gleamed, catching Shae's attention all over again. Tae was jogging up to her. The other boys all turned to look, noticing her presence for the first time.

Vernon and Jungkook shouted in unison, "Good morning, Shae!"

She offered a soft, "Good morning," back, but her young Satoor Ai-like friend and her new bunkmate were too busy giving each other challenging eyes.

Tae's starlight smile and rich, soothing voice soon wrapped up next to her, drawing her focus in.

"Shae, did you sleep alright?"

Surprised by the question, she answered, "Yeah, of course Tae! Why do you ask?"

He shrugged. "You slept in a little later than usual. And you look tired. I was worried I might have kept you up last night, and wanted to apologize. It won't become a habit."

"I don't think you're the sole human to blame here, Tae," Shae answered with a soft laugh. "I think the real crime here is what to do about Vernon's snoring--for the sake of us all."

Tae didn't really respond with a complimentary smile to her lighthearted jab. He didn't shift the stiff shrug of his shoulders or the casual slump of his head forward. Shae knew that she was still getting used to this silver fox version of Kim Taehyung, but in that moment there was something about him that made it seem like even though Tae was standing a few feet away... he was actually somewhere a million lightyears away.

Shae tucked this thought away, not wanting to be a neiusance.

"I hope whatever it was you and Jungkook were talking about last night got resolved alright. Seemed like you were both... sparring over something."

Tae's body shifted and he turned to look and see where Jungkook was now guiding young Vernon through how to get better height out of a jump ball jump. They were like springs moving in awkward slow motion, with the pink haired Woozi as their tiny critic.

Taehyung finally answered in a dreamy voice, "Because you are a Satoor Ai, you are both cursed and blessed."

"H-huh?" Well that was random. "How do you mean, Tae?"

His electric blue eyes shifted back onto Shae, and he seemed to be truly looking at her for the first time in their little exchange.

"Because you are what you are: Satoor Ai. You cannot be changed. There is a gift and a burden in that. You're like a queen on a chess board. But Kookie? Me?" Tae's eyes shifted, looking down at his hands. "We are shifting pawns in limbo now. A strategic knight, perhaps." He looked up again, but his eyes were dreamy and distant once more. "Or a rook sacrificed on the front lines. Our curse looks quite different from you."

But they aren't blind servants like they used to be. Nothing is being forced upon them anymore, so why call themselves pawns...?

Shae hadn't felt even a hint of uneasiness from Taehyung since the arena games had unfolded and his Gwangju Ai identity revealed. But in that moment, she felt it. Like something... something was off.

Perhaps he's just tired, too, she reasoned with herself.

"Were you talking to Jungkook about all of this last night, Tae?"

The silver haired man gave a solemn nod. Then he smiled boyishly, and it was as if a raincloud had quite suddenly passed from covering the sun. He was all starlight smiles and delicate gentility.

"But don't worry, Shae. He and I are a team. We will help each other get through this."

Shae sent Tae a reassuring smile. "I believe that, Tae. Now... go on, I think they're waiting on you to play."

Tae gave a childlike grin of thanks and bounded like a gazelle back to where Woozi, Vernon and Jungkook had circled up to argue amicably over basketball techinque. As Tae bounded into the circle, Jungkook slapped a hand onto his back and then his arm spread over Tae's shoulder, pulling him in. The two young men smiled warmly at each other, and there seemed no hint of error in them.

Shae smiled aprovingly at them, feeling a kind of familial warmth in her chest for them both. But she couldn't stop watching Taehyung. She couldn't get the feeling that his clock was ticking just a little out of time with the rest of them.

Shae made about getting ready for her day and by the time she was finished, Jungkook was rapping on the door to the bunks and poking his sweaty head inside.

"Ready for brunch, Shae?"

She gave a quiet nod just as she finished pulling her the flyaways of her braid back beneath strategically arched bobby pins. "Yeah, I'm ready."

Jungkook gave a sharp nod. "Good. Just a heads up, it sounds like after brunch all us newbies are having a meeting with the camp leaders."

"You mean Yoongi and Hoseok?"

Jungkook shrugged his shoulders. "I don't think it's just them."