Our Peculiar Ways - Stray Kids

1- Peculiar

Peculiar used to be a word describing a good kind of different. What changed?

One of the biggest news-stories of all time. One that took the world by storm, for all the wrong and right reasons. The headlines were all similar, if not the same. The third month into the year 2008. March 25th, the day that the entire world had one thing on their minds.

THE PECULIARS

The headlines, the stories, the entire media that year in the late 2000's were filled with one question.

WHO ARE THE PECULIARS?

The way that Eliza Ellissworth described them made them out as these things that should be hidden away from the world, she even took them from their homes all across the world. From Australia, America and all across her home country England.  Just to claim she'd 'take care' of them. She did do almost that and hide them away, not for long though. Her narrative quickly changed and so did everyone else's on the planet. Photos, edited images, false information, sooner or later they were the enemy. She spent all her time with them, so obviously she was correct? Right? Obviously the Peculiars hurt her and were these terrifying monsters that deserved to be punished for trying to hurt her. Obviously they were petrifying instead of petrified. Right?

Or was it all a lie? All manipulation for one woman to be seen as the world's greatest hero! Saving everyone from the oh so horrendous Peculiars!

What was so bad about them that made 7 year olds, monsters? Kids that didn't understand anything about themselves and were used that fact against them. Easily pushed to their limits until it was dangerous.

Did they stay in the clutches of Ellissworth for long? Well, this is the Peculiars we are talking about. Of course they didn't! They escaped, but not after two years trapped in an old Victorian mansion with Ellissworth. This mansion stood in an almost deserted part of London, where no one was able to come and see the truth. Leaving that very thing, the truth, to be their last thing to hang onto for their right to exist. They were then sent away from the mansion after Ellissworth couldn't 'deal' with them, as such.

They aren't too sure where they actually were, all they knew was that it was horrible. They were seperated and sent into captivity, locked up in dirty cages for the first two months of the 2010s. Chains were hung from practically every place possible, they were weighed down and shackles trapped their hands and feet. They had glasses that blocked out light locked against their eyes and some of them even had their mouths covered. They were, apparently, incapable of using their abilities.

Then again, this was The Peculiars we're talking about.

Sam (Hyunjin) was one firey yet cold 9 year old, he couldn't cope in the cages they were suppressed into. None of them could. But Sam, he could get them out. It took two months but as his emotions builded up, so did his power. One day, after weeks of distress, he quite literally exploded. He froze his entire cell and all the cells around him. The only seven other cells all held his friends, locked up tight and suffering. Until that day, when the ice broke the chains and they all went running, as fast as they possibly could.

They spent hours upon hours chasing freedom and fleeing what had them fearful as ever. They found themselves living in the woods (Felix absolutely loved it) from March to April. Unfortunately, that joyful escape didn't last long because before they knew it, they were being dragged by the necks (quite literally) back to the mansion with Ellissworth.

After another seven months trapped, being manipulated and tortured by Ellissworth, they somehow escaped again. This time it was harder, they created a plan with distractions and stuff like that until they eventually ended up giving up and running. Very fast. They all had their ways of speed, some more obvious than others. That didn't matter though, all that mattered is that they escaped.

They ended up finding sanctuary in the back of an abandoned music store, not too far but far enough from the mansion to be safe. This became their home. Over the first 3 years they lived there, they certainly made it homey. It was a free space for them to learn to understand and harness their abilities freely. Something they had to do somehow on their own, as the ability to do it was stripped away from them before.

They had an amazing three years and when one day they were sneaking out to try and get some extra food (Felix was still learning and many of them were sick and tired of fruit and veg all the time), a guard of Ellissworth's spotted them and they ended up back in captivity in August 2013. They quickly escaped however but still ended up back in the mansion for 3 months until the end of the year. They were sent to captivity again in January 2014 but escaped again and never went back.

They then lived in the music store for 2 more years, thriving and growing their power freely. Felix eventually discovered something that changed their lives forever.

He gained the ability to make a special kind of gum (with the help of the others) that changed their appearance almost entirely and made them unrecognisable as the Peculiars (hense why they have a seperate 'Peculiar' form).

From August 2016 to May 2017, they disappeared completely and nobody except them knows where they went. In fact, most people believed they died.

They, obviously, didn't die. They instead from 2017 lived in Seoul, South Korea and after hiding their Peculiar identities for what they figured would be forever, they debuted on March 25th 2018 (10 years after they were giving the name 'Peculiars') as Stray Kids. A kpop band under JYPE Entertainment.

Nothing really changed from there, until 2024. They kept hidden away, leaving their Peculiar Ways behind the camera.

Until 2024.

Until a news-story sparked the world claiming that the Peculiars were still alive and were hiding.

That was the truth.

Ellissworth never liked the truth.

The Peculiars, more known as Stray Kids in 2024, held onto the truth.

The world deserved to know the truth.

\\OUR PECULIAR WAYS//