Fic Notes: When You Play With Fire (It Burns)

[brittlepin]

If you haven't read the fic, read it here: When You Play With Fire (It Burns)

* Notes: This story was based in the 80's, so only if you have some sort of knowledge that stretches back to that time would you have possibly noticed it :s I mentioned two Korean car manufacturers (Hyundai and Kia) and the latest models they released at the time (Kia Besta van, manufactued since mid 80's, and Hyundai Pony II, which was maufactured from 1982). There was a passing mention of pagers and the political unrest in South Korea. Plus, no cellphones u_u At the time, heavy metal rock was really popular in Korea, so I also passingly menionted Sinawe, who were mad popular in the mid 80's. There might be some inaccuracies and blunders, because I started this story in modern times but at the suggestion of my beta shifted it to the 80's. That time frame fit much better with my plotline and a few other details. Please do not read unless you've read the fic. Please. EVERYTHING BEYOND THIS POINT IS A SPOILER! Compilation of Answers WHERE DID THIS IDEA COME FROM? I actually received a prompt along those lines: "Baekhyun is sacrificed to the Phoenix, God of the temple of the Sun". I've read many sacrifice fics where a person is thrown to the god, and the god and person fall in love at first sight (b/c god is so dashing and handsome, and the sacrificed person has to be a virgin beauty), have sex, story ends ;_; Usually the sacrifice is left tied by the temple until god comes and fetches him when no one's watching, or is thrown into some pit or something until god comes and gets him/her. So when it came to me, I thought, aw hell no! If I found out I were a sacrifice, I'd run like the devil's after me! (And that's what I made Baekhyun do LOL) BUT THEN . . . But since Baekhyun's life revolved around a religion, I needed to plant a seed of doubt, something that would convince him to rebel. Otherwise him running away would make no sense if he'd been surrounded by pious people all his life. Enter grandmother! I made his grandmother an outsider. Since she wasn't a believer she visibly prayed like everyone, but behind curtains, planted doubt in Baekhyun's mind about his own religion and god, and life itself. She didn't do it intentionally, she just spoke her mind. But as Baekhyun grows up, he feeds on her words, especially after she's killed and he turns 17 and finds out he's to be literally sacrificed. Symbolism & Other Tidbits Chanyeol What was Chanyeol? Who is he and why is he the way he is? I told this whole story from Baekhyun's perspective so that Chanyeol's story remains exactly what is: a secret and a mystery. Everything here is Baekhyun's understanding. You could say Chanyeol was god, or you could say he was a titan, or even just an immortal with a special gift. But ultimately, Chanyeol was a Phoenix. He was god in the eyes of those who worshiped him, because he was different, powerful and knowledgeable. They weren't aware of his human form, but his true form: The Phoenix. (You can also say that Chanyeol was just another living thing: like humans, birds, plants, aliens (lol), fairies(lol) etc) Since he lived for so long, he grew tired of the small town, watching people deteriorate whilst calling themselves his followers, and left it to explore the world. Enjoy the "human lifestyle". The sacrifices I didn't put this in the story because I didn't feel the need to (plus the story was moving from Baek's perspective, and this was outside his range of knowledge), but the 'sacrifices' were actually companions sent for Chanyeol. (This would mean that there really was something greater than Chanyeol!?) But since his followers had been 'misguided' over time, they began to kill the sacrifices. Baekhyun didn't know he'd be killed until he was 17. Before that, he only knew he was a 'favourite' of god because of his birthmark. Before that period, you could say he was in denial of his 'true destiny', Even during the sacrificial ceremony, the marks they made on Baekhyun's chest were the same as the tattoos on Chanyeol's. They also drew the Phoenix on his back. Baekhyun mentioned that his tribesmen had the Phoenix on them and Baekhyun had the Light. Chanyeol was the only person having both marks on his body. During the sacrifice, the drawings on Baekhyun were supposed to symbolize that he was more than a person who had to be killed. Those drawings put him on a level similar to Chanyeol. Baekhyun's birthmark Did Chanyeol not know Baekhyun was his sacrifice? Chanyeol did not know who Baekhyun was, EVER. He was simply enjoying himself and helping another person out from the 'goodness of his heart'. Chanyeol was attracted to him as well, something which stemmed from Baekhyun being his eternal companion, but they both didn't know that, of course. He became aware of Baekhyun's link to him AFTER Baekhyun showed him the birthmark. Chanyeol didn't jump onto anything because Baekhyun didn't believe in him. He hated his religion and was running away from his god. To make Baekhyun happy, Chanyeol decided to go with Baekhyun's plan and free him of his tribe. What about the other sacrifices? Chanyeol never had a chance to come across them because they stayed within the borders of their town. Baekhyun and Chanyeol were only able to meet because Baekhyun ran away. Additionally, Chanyeol had knowledge of what might/did happen to the sacrifices. He was already tired of his followers so he let them be. Then came Baekhyun, rebelling, refuting and a different version of fire. This stirred Chanyeol into action, because he finally met a sacrifice. The death at the filling station That is a symbolic moment and one of the most important parts of the entire fic. It represents two things. First, it is a literal representation that those people killed their own god, their own religion. They're derailed, detracted, and they don't even know it. As mentioned, the true followers of the Phoenix left the tribe when their religion began to get distorted. Those who were left behind obliterated it. Second, it reminds us of the Phoenix's most treasured power: rebirth, regeneration, reincarnation. Only those who made it to the end of the story will be able to experience the feeling and meaning of this, haha. The accusatory "You" as everyone burned Did people recognize Chanyeol? Chanyeol left a millennia ago. The people who recognized him were those whom he had encountered at the filling station. As anneliesegyi put it, "I'm back, bitches! Bet you thought you'd seen the last of me!" D.O's Role Did Chanyeol know the truth about D.O and purposely approach him to play into his hands/ the grand scheme of things to keep Baekhyun to himself? Or was Chanyeol truly unaware & D.O leading the tribe to them was their bad luck? Chanyeol really did have good (non-selfish) intentions towards Baekhyun. He was helping him get away and he would have let Baekhyun go to be happier, after all, Baekhyun was running away from him. Baekhyun might not have known, but Chanyeol did. The tribe finding them was pure rotten luck on their part. A person's religion isn't on their face, so D.O's betrayal was an unforeseen incident (Baekhyun was passed out to check for any hint of the small Phoenix tattoos the tribesmen have, and by that point in the story, he had grown comfortable and started feeling safe to be too careful). Chanyeol's original intention had been to see Baekhyun off. But when his own followers kill him (plus, Chanyeol is already pissed at them from the past) he comes back and ends it "once and for all". Messages to Take Away Religion is a journey I didn't really state it openly, but I wanted this one message to pass through: that religion is a journey. When you don't explore it, it makes you puppet dumb, so you need to venture out and seek answers, find the truth! Question it and let it excite you. Baekhyun's story is my message in literal terms. He went out with the mind to run away from god, and ended up finding him instead. The followers of the Phoenix followed the High One blindly. They never questioned him or the morality of their actions. They killed people for blasphemy, were going to kill a child, and who knows what else they had done. As Baekhyun mentioned, they cheated, killed, were infidels, criminals, YET, asked Baekhyun to be pure. That's hypocrisy right there. They didn't follow a god, they thought they did, but in reality, they followed a human (the High One) and because they were brainwashed, they didn't realize they'd been blind sided. Because of his grandmother, Baekhyun thinks for himself. He questions the people and their intentions. He concludes that he's not going to die for people like them. Without his grandmother, he might actually have been a willing sacrifice. Baekhyun, on his journey, finds god. The irony of the situation is that Baekhyun is running away from god, and finds him. Even more ironic is that Baekhyun doesn't have faith in a god his tribe teaches him about, but an 'infidel', Baekhyun's grandmother, was the one who's words led him to god instead. The people are hardcore followers of their religion, pious to a terrifying degree and they lost god somewhere in the past. Isn't it funny they kill their god by their own hands? They saw the true face, couldn't comprehend it, didn't believe it because their version of everything was distorted, and they killed him, never accepting they had wronged him. Even when I mention that Baekhyun finds god, it doesn't necessarily mean that he finds a religion or something to bow down to. It simply means that he found peace. He found something, someone, to believe in, to accept and love. Don't let others put you down When people point their fingers and say, 'You're surely going to hell for doing this this and that' 'Blah blah is going to heaven for being so and so', this one bit comes from those careless statements. We don't know God's heart(?) so we have no right saying such things, just as we have no right putting words into god's mouth. It's up to God. He decides who's fit for where, what, and why. Just as we're not EXO's parents and have no right screaming at them what they can and can't do. LOL. Sorry, I just had to put this in here :p The tribe declared Baekhyun impure and said he'd incurred god's wrath on them. But Chanyeol said to Baekhyun "I accept you." Chanyeol's wrath had actually been directed towards his followers. Those people died blaming Baekhyun, believing, even in their last moments, that they were being punished for the 'crime' he'd commited. I read this somewhere and I really thought it was worth sharing: "Won't it be funny if you hold a grudge against me over something God has already forgiven me for?" This isn't directly related to my fic, but my message is still the same. Don't let others put you down by their thoughtless statements. Just because someone says you're unfavourable in god's eyes doesn't mean it's true. They don't text with God and they certainly aren't gaining god's favour by making you feel bad. The common thing... I've presented these messages in a religious context, but they can actually be taken without them as well. Because the story flowed keeping a made-up religious community in mind, I broke things down to keep it alike. But the messages are simple messages that everyone could do well to believe in: - Life is a journey. There's no denying it. We all search for something throughout it. There will come a time, a moment, a day, a morning or evening, an hour, or long months when you'll be conflicted about your existance, or the purpose and meaning behind your birth. Unless you truly don't give any fucks :p But I've been through that stage as well, and I've made peace with myself and my surroundings. Finding peace, I believe, is the purpose of everyone's life. Everyone looks for something that makes them content, whether it's a murderer or a saint, and everyone finds it in different things. - Don't let others put you down. Don't you EVER fucking dare believe in what others tell you about you -or others for that matter. The best thing you can do is experiment and experience for yourself. I'm not telling you to flip tables and refuse help and advice. What I'm saying is, if there's something you believe in, something you want and know you can do, go for it. There's only one life and you're living it right now. (Wow this is so good, I'm going to use this in one of my fics!) They don't know you better than you know yourself. They don't know your heart or your mind. If there's someone telling you you can't do it, then all the more reason to shove the I DID IT in their faces. (For me it's I WILL DO BETTER THAN THIS NEXT TIME AND THEN I'LL SHOW YOU most of the time :s) Staying positive is the key! Remember, everything comes in its own time, the good and the bad. So if you're having a hard time, never forget that the good will come, and when it does, it will be rewarding. If there's anything left, don't feel shy about commenting and asking. This post came into being because similar questions were coming up. I've also enabled 'anonymous commenting' on my account so if anybody doesn't have an account, they can still talk to me. You can also drop a message on the AO3 post, where you'll be able to know when I respond. If you have a twitter then you're a lucky seed because I have one too! You can ask me there, or if you feel too shy, you can DM me, I don't mind! I also have a tumblr, where I've enabled the ask box, so you can still talk to me if you don't have an account. I don't think I can make it any more easier than this. Well, these are the only platforms I can respond to on any confusions you might have. I hope no one was offended or felt targeted by the theme of the fic. I didn't mean to hurt anyone's sentiments. It was just something I cooked up for fun, but ended up being far more than I initially intended for it to be. P.S, I'm pretty sure I've left out explanations for some things. I remember there were a lot of things connected to something or another, but I can't remember them too clearly at the moment, and the ones I remember aren't things to fret over. There were many more underlying messages I placed in the fic here are there, and more than half of them can be taken in a religious context LOL but can also be taken in simple meanings. All up to you, dear reader. It would be wonderful if you share your own interpretation and thoughts about what you read. I also enjoyed reading the guesses people made as they were reading (BECAUSE EVEN THOSE WHO FIGURED OUT THE TRUTH LOST TRACK HALF WAY HAHAHAHAHA). Everyone lost it at the filling station scene though x'D I love myself.