inked

park jiyeon | twenty-one, part-time tattoo artist and student. residing in sinseong condos.

[ecxjiyeon]

The crowded elevator hadn't quite appealed to her. By no means was she scared of enclosed spaces — and even if she was (spoiler: afraid wouldn't be the right word but she certainly wasn’t too comfortable in them), it was unlikely that she would broadcast her fear for the world to know. Plus, she was on the twenty-seventh floor, and walking down twenty-seven flights of stairs didn’t appeal to her very much. So when the next elevator appeared barely a minute after the other left, with only one person inside (Jiyeon’s heart soared for joy; close contact with too many people was usually too much of a hassle to deal with), she almost felt herself leap inside like an Olympic athlete reaching the end. 

She didn’t, of course. 

She did, however, shoot the person a small smile, glad that it was just going to be the two of them in a rather spacious elevator. Also, the fact that he looked rather harmless made the entire situation more appealing to her. Having already been forced on an errand by a friend (’please’, she had begged, with puppy-dog eyes and Jiyeon couldn't refuse) was bad enough — prolonged contact with strangers would have made the entire situation worse.

And as she thought those words, it was almost as if the sky had decided to play a prank on her. A loud thunk and a clunk followed barely a mere second later, accompanied by the flickering of lights and then the complete blackout (save for the light from the LCD indicator), Jiyeon felt her heart rate elevating immensely.  

“Oh shit,” she whispered. This was not good. Not good at all. 

[ecxjiyeon]

An apple can be found on the woman's doorstep-- nondescript but perfect, in every aspect, a glowing red. Utterly tempting, only one thing accompanies the fruit: a note, scrawled in fair handwriting; 'a gift.'

Jiyeon wasn’t expecting anything other than her morning newspaper. And, truth be told, she had only signed up for the paper because she found a coupon code attached to a newspaper on the train — free news for three months (not that she perused it thoroughly anyway) seemed harmless. So when she found an apple on top of her newspaper, she was intrigued. And a little bit worried. But mostly intrigued.

“Hmm,” she said, blinking her eyes a couple of times to make sure it wasn't the lack of sleep playing tricks on her. She was immediately reminded of Snow White — the fairy-tale her kindergarten kept on repeating for gods know what reasons. It was a poor excuse for a children’s story: did they not realize that there was implied necrophilia? Now, how appropriate was that for a children’s book? And, shouldn't they have known  never to retell a Grimms story? 

But, she felt as Snow White did, the immense temptation of the apple. It was perfect in every way yet utterly indistinguishable. There were nothing that she could garner from the apple, nothing she could remember for a later date except that it was glowing. No bruises, no labels... nothing. But there was a note that accompanied it: “a gift”. 

Shrugging slightly — it was a gift, after all —, she took a decisive bite of the apple. 

[ecxminho]

Honestly, if he were a meaner and louder person, he probably would’ve laughed at this point. Not to make fun of her or anything—well, maybe a little. She sounded so earnest though, and it was hard not finding that wonderfully amusing. Minho didn’t bother correcting her on the toilet paper idea. Not really damaging unless it was inside the apartment or if he was the one who had to clean up the outside of it.

He did, however, correct Jiyeon on her understanding of the saying, because that was just a travesty. “No, you’ve got it all wrong,” he said, shaking his hand. “Well, no, actually. You’re getting there. It means revenge is best when it’s done coldly, like in cold blood. Or like you said, when it’s done later, unexpectedly. A few days seems too short, but he’s probably already forgotten it by now.”

Just thinking about it made him cross his arms and frown. “Who does he think he is, strutting in here offering coffee that’s already gone cold. I put that in my mouth too. Disgusting. We should spit in his.”

[ecxjiyeon]

“Actually,” she said, laughing sheepishly as she did. “I had no clue what that phrase meant. I mean — I used it, sure —  but I was never really certain about its meaning.” She laughed again, feeling incredibly silly. “But, hey, now I do!” She had never realized that the phrase ‘in cold blood’ had anything to do with ‘revenge is a dish best served cold’ but, upon further thinking, it begun to make sense. 

Talking about that poor excuse for a person was enough to rile Jiyeon up again. “Argh,” she said, shaking her head furiously. ‘Don’t even get me started on him again.” There was just something pleasant about feeling a shared sense of distaste for a person that made her feel the emotions even stronger and clearer. “No one asked him to bring coffee right? To get our hopes up like that and then to crush it —  that is just plain cruel.” 

Shivering a bit as she remembered her first taste of the —  she felt it was a crime to call it a coffee —  beverage and pulled a disgusted face again. “We should serve him cold coffee instead, the next time he arrives.” 

[ecxminho]

dinner ][ minho & jiyeon

( ecxjiyeon )

Minho checked on Jiyeon, and after confirming that she was done with the session, he slipped in to grab her tools and then left her alone to finish wrapping up. She had only been working here for several months, but she seemed like a decent person and they got along well enough. If anything she was a good worker and tattoo artist. The customers all adored Jiyeon and her work, and opening up the parlor to tattooing had been gaining them more and more customers as the weeks went on.

Once he cleaned up all the tools they used that day, he stuck them in the autoclave and let it run. By the time he walked out to the front again the parlor was empty. Well, besides for Jiyeon. “You got everything? I’m going to close up soon, I’m starving,” he called out to her, stretching his arms out in front of him. Now that he thought about it, he didn’t remember seeing Jiyeon eating dinner today either. The evening brought a continuous string of customers and there hadn’t been much time to do anything else but tend to them.

"Want to grab something to eat? My treat," he offered since he was, technically, the boss here. "What are you feeling like eating today?"

[ecxjiyeon]

It was a long day. Following a three-hour lecture with a six hour shift, Jiyeon had barely had the time to grab herself a snack — much less an actual meal. Though, to be honest, no matter how much her stomach grumbled or how much she whined about it inwardly, she enjoyed the pace at which her life was progressing. School was still progressing at an easy pace for her and her work was enjoyable, despite the strange hours she found herself often leaving the place. But, still, she was ecstatic that the shop was closing. There was just a sense of fulfillment that accompanied ending work 

“Yup, I’m all set,” she said, smiling brightly for a second. She did not want him to think that ending work was such a joy — even though it was. She was grateful for the job: not many people were hiring tattoo artists and most parlous were already equipped and well-acquainted with each other. So, a part of her wanted to refuse his offer. But, as she heard her stomach rumble slightly (accompanied with a slight coloring of her cheeks — that was embarrassing, and even more so in front of her boss), she nodded her head slowly in agreement.

“Hmm,” she said, deep in thought. She couldn't just randomly choose something that would be too expensive — he had offered to pay, after all. Wondering if it was a bit too much, she said tentatively: “Well, makchang would be nice, but I’m up for anything.” 

[ecxjiyeon]

“I have to fix this on my own.”

“No,” she said, her voice firm and stable. There was a tone of clarity and steel within it that translated clearly (even without the use of much gestures) — Park Jiyeon was utterly and irrevocably serious, and not taking no for an answer constituted being serious. 

“I was at fault too,” she said, pointing to the shattered ceramic pot on the ground. She was going to refund the pot (she had thought gardening would be a good thing for her to do, but her cactus died within days — she didn’t even know they could die —, her rose grew to the colour of dirt within hours — she does not possess any powers leading to death and decay, but her thumbs certainly weren’t green —, and apparently watermelons do not grow in pots) to the nursery, but there it laid on the ground shattered (as her dreams of becoming a gardener was). 

“And,” she said cheekily. “How could you possibly fix this?” 

[ecxjiyeon]

“I think there’s something on your face—”

Ah, she’s late again. Desperation and tiredness crept up against Jiyeon as she leaned against the glass window of a cafe near their designated waiting spot. If she had allowed herself to enter, she would have sat there comfortably with a cup of coffee and refused to leave — even if her friend were to reach within the next hour or so. But she had already satiated her hunger with a piece of chocolate (or.. perhaps it was two three pieces of chocolate she had popped into her mouth, well aware of her friend’s tendency to be extremely late).

So when a stranger approached her with those words, she couldn’t help but be alarmed. The last time she had food was… the chocolate she had eaten about an hour ago. Horror surfed through her entire body as she furiously thanked the person, while looking for her phone to reflect her image in the screen. “Ah, thank you,” she said, though her words came out in a flurry as she peered carefully into her phone and a large mark of chocolate marred her cheek. 

Great, she thought. It was the cherry on top of a very large disappointment of a cake or — more aptly — the chocolate drizzle on top of a very large disappointment of a cake. 

[ecxjiyeon]

"I will make you hurt."

“Now, now,” she said, smiling brightly at him. “We are but humans, aren’t we?” A part of her wanted to correct herself — human was too loosely a term for the residents of Eden, but it was one she was comfortable with. So, she stuck with that, albeit it being a tad bit inaccurate in terms of terminology. 

“We are all prone to hurting each other,” Jiyeon said as she shrugged, eating the ice-cream that she held on her hand as if she had no care in the world. “That’s the way the world works.” Her positivity might seem strange, but she had always believed that they were just mere speckles of atoms formed into a body of consciousness for a while, nothing more and nothing less, and she was contented with being exactly that. 

[ecxjiyeon]

"Do I make myself clear?!"

At the sheer volume of his words, Jiyeon couldn’t help but jump slightly. 

As much as she liked to think she was good at handing confrontations, arguements and scoldings, Jiyeon had never truly learnt what the proper etiquette was when it came to doing so. Should she bow her head down in shame (but what if she wasn't in any fault — and who is likely to think they are the perpetrator in any given situation?) or should she take it in stride (but why should she be the one suffering — it takes two hands to clap, anyway)? She liked standing her ground and arguing her way through but she was never really any good at speaking coherently when her emotions were running high.

“Crystal clear,” she said, resorting to a short mumble of words, her face flushed red in embarrassment and her lips pursed together. 

[ecxjiyeon]

I still have a few more memes to do but I have to go offline already, so I’d do them tomorrow! I’m still up for plotting so if you are looking for new connections, my inbox will (always) be open! 

[ecxjiyeon]

"Is this seat taken?"

The sounds of about a hundred other people in the coffee-shop created a sort of static in Jiyeon’s head, almost like a pleasant form of white noise. And as she sipped her black coffee (no sugar, no cream and, god, no milk), she couldn’t help but zone out. This was her time, a good break from work and school, and a time for her to revel in the sheer volume of the atypical sort of the silence the coffee-shop brought. 

“Oh,” she said, jumping slightly as she heard another voice (one that was way too loud to have been from another table’s conversation) directed her way. “No, no, this seat is empty,” she said, quickly gathering her things so they laid strictly on one-half of the table. She shot a smile in his direction and introduced herself, “Hi, I’m Jiyeon.” 

What better way to enjoy a nice cup of freshly brewed coffee than with a new friend, no? 

[ecxjiyeon]

"Revenge is a dish best served cold."

“Which is why we are waiting so long to get back at him? Oh, come on now,” she said grumpily. “He would have forgotten what he had done — and where’s the fun in that?”

Jiyeon eyed the tissue paper box in the corner of her eyes and grinned, her mind already thinking up one devious plan after another. “Maybe we could TP his apartment with tissue paper instead of toilet paper!” But once she said those words out, she realized the cost associated with that and begun shooting her own idea down. “Ah, that’s not a good idea. Perhaps I’m not as good as revenge as I thought I am,” she said, her voice trailing off. 

“Alright.” Her voice was definite and there was a steely gaze in her eyes. “We’d evoke revenge on him days later.” That’d show him, she said, her inner self laughing manically, almost as if she was a Disney villain. 

[ecxjiyeon]

"Oh, wait! Please! You dropped this on the ground!"

Jiyeon was walking along the streets, the glare of the sun blinding her. She was on her way to buy some groceries — she should have made it a routine but there never was really any system in her life. So, often, she found herself going to the groceries with a list of items haphazardly written and too many for her to single-handedly carry back without some help. 

Upon hearing the stranger’s shout, Jiyeon stopped in her tracks and turned her head: was he talking to her? And, in his hand, she spotted her wallet — the pattern on it distinct from even that far away. Eyes widening in surprise, Jiyeon hurried back and begun profusely thanking the individual. He could have easily taken her wallet and the money inside of it but he didn’t. And he had saved her the embarrassment of reach the cashier without any cash to pay for her purchase.

“Thank you, really,” she said, her eyes widening in gratefulness. She paused a second, wondering if she should offer him a free drink or something but quickly thought against it — good karma is a decent enough of a repayment, she thought. 

[ecxmemes-blog]

➤ The Greeting is intended to be sent to strangers and friends alike, serving as an interesting way to spark conversation, no matter how bizarre the situation may be! Roll a number between 1-30 and send the prompt to my inbox, and I’ll write up a drabble or starter based off of what you send me. ➤ Make sure to send this out to others! It’s no fun if you get five memes while none of the people who sent them to you get nothing back. Make sure to keep the meme going! ➤ No one-liners! Try to be as creative as possible, and don’t be afraid to let your imagination go wild— as long as it’s reasonable, of course.

[ecxmemes-blog]

PROMPTS !

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[boryes]

random gifs of park jiyeon