The Sea-Dwellers [2/2]

[lotusk]

Chapter 2

Sequel 1: The Red Mailbox takes a look at Jongin and Chanyeol's life a year after they reunite. Chanyeol surprises Jongin with a gift in the red mailbox and a very important question.

Sequel 2: Chocolate Stains on My Heart Chanyeol tries to tempt Jongin with a Hershey’s Bar.

Comments

[wolhee.livejournal.com]

this fic... THIS FIC..!!!
the moment i saw it i immediately perked up because hey, there can never be enough chankai in the world, and when i saw that it was based off of /Il Mare/, even more excitement!! It's one of my favorites!

the whole coughing euphamism that you created, that was AMAZING. i loved that, and the date scene at the amusement park, SO CUTE.
it was so bittersweet and made me feel sad for obvious reasons ; n ; b-but chanyeol being so happy and so in love on the rides even though he was by himself... *CLUTCHES CHEST*
"coughs suck" YES YES YES YES....!!

"two years is nothing if i get the chance to see you at the end of it" EVERYTHING HURTS.

after the date where chanyeol never showed my heart just DROPPED. I KNEW IT WAS COMING.. BUT I WASN'T READY... i was literally clutching my face while i read.

THEN WHEN JONGIN FOUND THE FLYER.... a very pterodactyl-esque noise escaped from my throat...!!!
by the time i got to the part where jongin speaks to mr. byun i had to keep looking away from the screen because i couldn't stop SMILING...!!

"it occurred to him that he didn't even have a clue what he looked like: this person he had fallen in love with" I'VE CHEWED THROUGH ALL TEN OF MY FINGERNAILS AND I MIGHT NOT BE BREATHING
"all these truths caused jongin acute pain but that last one wounded him most of all" SAME JONGIN SAME...!!

then the conversation between yura and jongin... YURA PLS...!!! *more internal screaming*

and then finally.. FINALLY! the meeting between the two was perfect! and then cola in the epilouge... chankai cuddles.... CHANYEOL YOU CUTE LIL FRICK..!!!
AND THEN THE HAPPY ENDING!!!!! BLESS...!!!!
I loved the way this fic was written, the conversations between the two in their letters, and the general environment that you created through your descriptions of the sea. it was beautiful! and that ending..!!! *tears quietly stream down my face*

Thank you for writing and sharing this fic! ^^

[lotusk]

Yhank you so much for reading and telling me what you thought about the fic. Your comment gave me so much heart! ;-;

You've watched il mare so you'll know the idea for the cough came from there - I just didn't realize it originates from a poem by Anne sexton. Once I found it I knew what to do with the cough lol. I'm glad you liked it!

I didn't want it to be exactly the same as the films and I hope I did okay with that. Thank you for taking the time to write me such a long and wonderful comment, ilysm!!! And I'm sorry I made you cry!

[durianparfait.livejournal.com]

This made me cry a lot. Was initially daunted by the length but no regrets at all. Ruined my eyeliner so badly I had to remove the entire thing. The part when J made the owl for him, I was just sobbing so badly, I think animals sometimes do really know stuff and have powers. I was just super anxious about what happened to cy that caused him to disappear I was going crazy. The part where they finally meet, I was running around screaming in happiness? Nervousness? Relief? Idk just AAHHHHHHHHJJJHHHHHHHHJJ!!! I loved the pace of the fic(it was just right!!!) and the letters, they make me wish I had someone writing to me like that;;

Will watch the movies once I arm myself with boxes of tissues.
/Shakes you vigorously/

[lotusk]

Sorry for causing you all that stress and for ruining your eyeliner orz! I wish I had someone write me letters like that too :/ I hope it wasn't too traumatizing for you, Mei Mei. Thanks for reading and telling me what you think!

[bluedreaming]

The whole story is kind of like being held in suspension? Like the beautiful blue creating wave but you know it will bury you and you'll drown.

I teared up on the airplane when I was reading about Finn. The idea of hanging in the balance - waiting to find out if someone you care so much about that you can't imagine being without them, waiting to see if they'll live or be swallowed by the waves—the part you wrote about Chanyeol whispering wishes to the owl—that was beautiful and heartbreaking. We don't always come up for air after the water swallows us. There are riptides, lurking in the water. I drew a parallel between Finn and Cola actually, Chanyeol waiting with Finn and a kind of foreshadowing—the idea of Jongin takin care of Cola while he waits for Chanyeol's time to catch up. And maybe something else. The water is so blue it's scary, as it swallows up the sky.

And your motif of ideas are ephemeral, but words are forever. The words between Jongin and Chanyeol are so much forever that they transcend time.

The part where Jongin describes how he read the story and braced for the worst—that's how I feel reading this story. Because something is so wrong here. What happened to Chanyeol?

And then you hit me with the glass owl dammit I was not prepared for that and furiously blinking back tears in the airplane!

The idea of Chanyeol writing romances for a female audience is ridiculously sweet. I love that picture to pieces, and I love the way you drew out the revelation so that it came at a good time for Chanyeol to be wondering about Jongin's orientation.

That's what you needed the name for!!!! I love it!!

Sweet and funny and maybe a bit heartbreaking? Sounds like someone I know...*wink*

You added Léon!!

I totally understand not wanting to know and yet it's so >< orz

Chanyeol getting excited about the gay romance novels is so cute!!!

the bigger part—the more important one—was because you made me care about the characters so much that I had to keep reading. you basically summed up how I feel about your writing

Of course Baekhyun would be the editor.

The pseudonym for the gay romances—why do you insist on making me cry. It's not nice. It's a good things there's no MERS scare right now because I have a stuffy nose and watery eyes and I want to poke you.

Chanyeol insisting he's late for a date ;;;;;

The line about Jongin's tears ducts working too well.

Yura would totally be super protective and this is exactly Chanyeol—bubbly and fun but oh so very very fragile underneath.

The idea of having lost someone—not being able to remember them at all just bits and pieces cast up on the shore after the storm; the sky is bright and air is warm but the devastation and wreckage of the aftermath are bigger than the calm. You can't be calm when you're waking along the beach, crunching glass beneath your feet. The glass blower. A Syrian child on the shores of Turkey.

There are two wishing owls.

SEXING. YES. YES.

Jongin is so sweet for Cola ♡

The harbor, warm arms, safety, the one who scoops up the wreckage from the waves, the broken glass pieces, and smooths them back together again, that is a perfect ending.

And this was a wonderful story and I adored it. ♡ thank you for writing it!!!

P.s. Sorry I've been m.i.a. all day I was out running about Tokyo with the family I'm staying with and also trying to spare data as I only get 100 mb a day with this plan. ;;

[teatimetaemint.livejournal.com]

I have a confession to make. I've never actually seen Il Mare and I also never made it all the way through The Lake House. I tried watching it when I was a teenager, but it was just a little too boring for me, so I wasn't entirely sure what to expect when I started reading this. Just plot-wise, I mean. I knew that I was going to love the writing because... well, it's yours LOL

I loved the whole letter thing. (That was the one thing I liked about the movie, but it's so much better in a written story.) I've always had a weakness for people writing letters to each other, getting to know each other that way, so I was really happy that a big part of this story was in letter form. You can learn so much about a person that way and you gave us so many delightful insights into their personalities - their likes and dislikes, their insecurities, the little things that brightened their days, the way the other person's letters slowly became some of the most important parts of their lives.
And I really have no idea how you did it, but even though there was nothing overly exciting about the letters (and I definitely don't mean that in a bad way), there was just something addictive about them. They were talking about perfectly ordinary everyday things, but I just loved reading abou them. There was something so incredibly charming about those interactions. I don't know how you managed to come up with all that stuff, or how you managed to make these normal things seem so special, but you did.
Maybe because it was so obvious how interested they were about the details of each other's lives. They were just happy to learn more about each other - no matter how little the detail or how insignificant it may seem to an outsider. You packed so much sincerity, so much affection and care into these letters and that was just incredibly touching. You managed to give the smallest thing a special meaning because they cared. There was something magical about all those letters (and I'm not talking about the 'travelling through time' part).
It was all about the details. Not just Chanyeol telling Jongin the story behind his lucky email address, or how trapped Jongin had felt in his old job. I'm talking about how Jongin loves the feeling of paper or Chanyeol's dislike for Comic Sans (completely agree btw!!!!). That was what made it so beautiful to me.

The whole "date" thing was really cute and really sad at the same time. I mean it was such a lovely thing, but the fact that they wanted to see each other so badly, but couldn't was so sad to me! I wanted them to be able to see each other face to face, to be able to hold hands, to have that kiss at the doorstep at the end of the date. The farther along the story, the more painful their longing became. I mean it was basically blasting off the screen!
But then there was also something beautiful about their whole dilemma. They weren't "together" together, but that didn't keep them from feeling all these things (so eloquent, I knooooow). Their feelings for each other were as real as they could possibly be.

AND THEN
It basically broke my heart when Chanyeol's letters stopped coming. I knew from the beginning that something like that would happen because of Cola, BUT STILL /sobs ;_____;
AND THEN
CARRICK FINNEGAN
DAMMIT ADELE MY HEART
(As you might have noticed, this is the end of the coherent part of this comment.)
AND THEN
THEN
...
I was so relieved when they finally found each other! ;_______;
That whole epilogue, the fact that they can finally be together, had me all emotional (or should I say extra emotional, because I've been feeling way too much since a few letters into the story!)
And the cookie! My wonderful cookie! YAY TO THE SEXING! I've been so curious about Yixing (especially since this is probably my first time reading a story where someone chose Yixing as Yeol's best friend). And the thought of a sick Sehun just had me all :( But reading about them living together immediately turned it into =D

[teatimetaemint.livejournal.com]

And can I just say how much I love that they still write letters to each other? THAT'S SO DAMN SWEET! And lmao at Jongin bribing Chanyeol with a letter + polaroid combo! xD
This was such a deserving, romantic ending to a beautiful story. And I don't care how many comments you get, it was absolutely wonderful to me! (Okay fine, I do care about the comments because this story deserves boatloads of praise and love!)
Anyway, I loved it, I loved the unhurried pace, the emotional punch it packed and all the little, seemingly ordinary details that made this so special! ♡

[lotusk]

It was such a difficult fic to write. I had to do tons of research from glass blowing to owls to magazine titles but it's all worth it if it makes the fic better. Also omg the plot holes I had to wrestle with bc of the parallel timelines - I had to keep switching things around and fixing things. And I did it all on my own without anyone looking over it so I was worried it was going to be a disaster tbh. But I know I can always trust you to be honest with me and that you'll tell me when there are aspects of my fics you don't like or which don't make sense. So thank you Jenni, for making time to read this and for making me feel like I didn't mess up. Just thank you ;;;;;

[lotusk]

Tysm ansa for taking the time to read it when you have no time at all. Your comment was practically a poem, you have such a gift ;;; Ange said the Owls made her cry too. I was worried they were too hokey tbh but I just had to have them anyway. I had to do a ridiculous amount of research for this fic and it probably doesn't even show lol. But as long as it touches a few hearts and people can get some sense of just how much Chanyeol and Jongin cared for each other, then I've done my job. I hope I did!

"Sweet and funny and maybe a bit heartbreaking"? IDK WHO YOU MEAN >.>

Also, IDK WHAT YOU MEAN by Ofc Baekhyun would be the editor @.@

I love your metaphors about drowning and the references to the sky - like reading a poem. As always. Thank youuuu

[lotusk]

Thank you for liking the letters! They really were about such mundane things and I was so worried readers would be bored stiff and ditch it by 2k in

[yeolis.livejournal.com]

Oh my god adele. This is BEAUTIFUL. So beautiful. Ive never read the book, but ive seen the movie and it's beautiful BUT THIS IS SO MUCH MORE. THE WAY THEIR RELATIONSHIPS BUILDS AND COOOOOOLAAAAAAAA <3 when chanyeol disappeared ugh my heart tightened. Youre such a good writer. The way it reads its... It feels like the sea. The words just flow and its so warm, so... comfortable. Im in love with this fic and ill read it again for sure <3 thank you for writing it

[lotusk]

Thank you so much for reading this, Line. It means a lot to me ;;; there's no book I think? Just the Korean film Il Mare and lake house is the Hollywood remake of il mare. Your comment has made feel all warm and comfortable so thank you ;;;;

[lurv-letter.livejournal.com]

I really cried reading this..truthfully, I've never even knew the movies mentioned in the  story..hahaha..I'm sure I'm gonna search for them.. really love this story.. :)
xoxo ♡♥♡♥

[yeolis.livejournal.com]

Aaaaaaaaahhhhhhh then the korean movie is what i thought was the book lol i'm such a dummie lol

[lotusk]

Not at all!!! I preferred the Korean version to the American version tho. Def worth watching!

[lotusk]

Thank you so much for reading! The movies are definitely worth watching but BRING TISSUES!!! They're much sadder than my story I think

[anita-dee.livejournal.com]

Adele.
mama.
omygosh
hold on let me breathe a second
this was beautiful. i wish my tear ducts would suddenly work like chanyeol's bc i really want to cry over how gorgeous this is? ...this is probably my favorite thing i've ever read from you /and it's incredible./ honestly some of your best writing. the characterization even within the letters... the wonky times that flowed so seamlessly...everything about this fic is /golden/.
i bet you're going to be stubborn and think i'm making this up but /fucking hell/ if that wasn't a beautiful piece of fic.
i've been finally managing to read some fic again the past week but none of them had my heart actually aching along with the prose. I woke up my roommates laughing at pieces and just grinned stupidly at this the rest-- and then it was sad BUT STILL i loved it.
this really is so pretty
i'm feeling blessed i got the chance to read it
thank you so so much for writing this, mama! it's amazing!

[servetel.livejournal.com]

this is brilliant. honestly, i never teared up while reading a story but this time i was really touched. it felt so personal, the letters were so cute and emotional and their development was seen through the way they changed their style of writing and expressing themeselves . i was soooo captivated by everything, your style, the way you use your words and how you portray their characters. i'm losing my words because wohow, how to describe this? everytime you gave hints about what happend to chanyeol in the future gave me tummy cramps(???) because they were both slightly worried about his sudden disappearance and it was somehow also lurking in their minds. omg i keep on checking the spelling of my words because it was so beautiful that i keep forgetting my english 😁. thank you for writing such an amazing story, i was waiting for it since i heard you were writing it.(im sorry was i too stalkerish? hope nothing i say will upset you! :( you are wonderful and talented!)

[lotusk]

Thank you so much, ash, for reading this ;;; you know how down I've been about this fic so this really means a lot to me. A LOT. I'm sorry I whined so much orz. I wouldn't dare think you're making things up after I got that lecture so ... Thank you, child.

[lotusk]

Omg thank you so much for noticing that the letter writing style changed as chankai got more comfortable with and attached to each other. I think you're the only one who's commented on this and I'm so happy bc I was trying really hard to get that message across. How the letters started off really short and impersonal and evolved into so much more.

And your English is perfectly fine! I understand it perfectly! And thank you again for reading and commenting on this. Your comment really cheered me up ♡ because I feel like no one is reading this fic?

[servetel.livejournal.com]

i think there are alot more people reading this story(unless you know better and lj has a feature that shows author how many people are visiting an entry?idk, lj confuses me so much 😵) but they are too shy to comment? i mean, i spend close to 30 minutes trying to come up with the courage to post my comment, too afraid that it you will find it somehow childish or annoying😳. i also wish more people would comment on stories because it gives a lil' bit of courage to shy readers to also post their comments. i remember there used to be more people commenting on stories but now it feels like that unnecessary "fics are just guilty pleasures" attitude is back? idk im rambling and probably bothering you but i'm happy my small comment cheered you up!!! keep up that happinness!😁

[lotusk]

Actually, I can tell how many logged in readers have viewed this fic? Which makes me even sadder because my immediate reaction is that they read it and didn't like it? And that's why they didn't comment? So I've been really sad and discouraged for days and may delete this fic bc it's made me so sad :/

Thank you so much for overcoming your shyness. your comment means even more to me now than it already did /hugs. Most writers just want to know their stories have touched readers somehow. I'm luckier than most writers as many of my readers leave me comments. I don't expect an essay? Even a simple thank you or I like this goes a long way. So when readers like you leave long ones, it's a true gift.

So thank you again from the bottom of my heart! And I hope you'll say hi now and then. Come say hi on Twitter! I'm @lattelotus - just tell me your LJ username when you do so I'll know it's you ok?

[yuku-chun.livejournal.com]

Remember how I said I have to wait till my next break to read...?
Well the cute letters seduced me and then I was all caught up and tangled in the feels and I might have had some tears in my eye (yes, I'm more of the jongin-kind of person with well working tear ducts...)

I absolutely adored this story and I didn't even mind the sad part, though it usually makes my stomach twist and ache because I'm way too emotionally attached to stories.... huh.
So, I'm really happy that I decided to read this today (though it screw up my working schedule but who wants to write a termpaper when they can read great fanfiction, anyway!?)
I honestly can't believe you've been so discouraged by the lack of comments to make you want to delete this piece of art.
One can see how much work and love you put into that and I just like it so much more for that undescribable feeling you can't put a finger on.... I guess it's that "Adele-vibe" that I always encounter when reading your work.
I just generally love the way you write and I'm still overwhelmed by all the emotions and beauties I found in this story but now fail to name in detail... Damn. I guess it already starts with naming a dog Cola.

I think I will take my time to read all the other stuff you've written and I haven't read yet now because I just realized again how much I'm missing out on.
I guess that's it for now, sorry for the rambling btw.
I do that a lot in comments for your stories because I'm too emotionally invested in them...

[lotusk]

You have no idea how much this means to me, Yuku! Lol at the Adele-vibe; I'm not sure what it is but I hope it's a good thing. The dog was named Cola in the original Il Mare so I can't claim ownership for that name. It was the perfect name so I couldn't bear to come up with a new one! Thank you again for reading and commenting and I look forward to hearing what you again lol. Good luck with your term paper - I'm sure you'll ace it!

[springmaid.livejournal.com]

I'm already half way through, but I will finish reading this later (tomorrow), I promise. Just have an early call time at work tomorrow D: