hello everyone!! i’m super excited to be here as a personal enjoyer of cosmic horror and the supernatural :-) i’ll be writing for lee gain, local miserable accountant and the living half of a pair of twins lmao ...... unfortunately i’ll be a lil spotty in the coming days bc i have the worst timing ever lol (in the middle of a move welp), but! if u’d like to plot, please leave a like and i’ll drop by ur dms! also available on disk hoard @ iffy miffy#3901 if u would like to plot there instead!
basic rundown + extras + plots under the cut! (CW: mentioned parents & sibling death)
lee gain, 33, local from what was previously the northern village in the nari village (ok she was there for like. barely 24 hrs), now an accountant in dangam-eup spending her days in the smoking area (see: rooftop) of her workplace
bio/bg tl;dr: born the day before the singing stone appeared which killed her parents, grew up with her identical twin sister (gaeun) and grandmother, gain turned out as the more subdued twin vs gaeun the 'troublemaker’ and was even the vp of their student council during high school, during senior yr gaeun dies under uncertain circumstances which gain may or may have not been involved in
and since senior yr, gain’s been plagued with nightmares and visions of gaeun, accumulating to a lil identity crisis moment when she finds that she has a new mole on her face in the exact spot where gaeun's trademark one was :-)
gave her the death reversed card so there’s gna be some personal change and transformation going on, but is it just metaphorical/emotional??? lol guess we’ll see!
so now she’s 33 and living in an apartment with zero mirrors which. well....... isn’t great but also explains why she looks like she wears the same outfit almost every other day. bc she does
works in an accounting firm so if u need help w business finances and ur taxes then theres that! but her customer service-sona is god awful (as in she doesnt have one) so tread carefully
personality-wise, she’s erm... not exactly the most approachable w those sketchy vibes and all.... if there’s a smoking area at some resto/cafe/bar then u’ll probably find her there / the gym she goes to at like 2am bc she’s deadset on not sleeping most of the time / aimlessly walking around the island
i’d imagine she was just classically?? introverted when she was younger but post-gaeun has both hardened n fractured her shell so now she’s more deadpan + distrusting + rude (some would say a little bit like how gaeun was..... hm......)
re: the supernatural stuff, she isn’t a skeptic but it’s more of a case where she doesn’t want to believe bc then she has to entertain the idea of her dead sister trying to claim her body as an actual thing so.... take that as u will
but now theres that big squid ... welp!
now onto some v poorly thought out plots (i’m much better w brainstorming so pls let’s do that if none of these work)
this is just wishful thinking but someone who knew her from high school as the mild-mannered vp and witnessed/came back to this almost completely diff person that strangely reminds them of someone else
someone who has a familial connection to the northern village that might’ve heard abt the twins who were born right before the singing stone destroyed everything
fellow neighbour in an unnamed apt complex in dangam-eup who might think of her as a shady character not to be trusted bc she rlly does dress and act the part....
maybe u rlly do need help with ur taxes and therefore hire her services but much to ur surprise she actually gets the job done even though she looks like she’s this close to throwing something at u every time u ask a question
ok im stumped but ty for making it this far and i look forward to plotting/writing with u <3
He spits again, once, before he topples himself back against the wall of the building. Tucks his spine against stone and lets the dull ache of it ground him as he waits for wind to cool at clammy skin, avoids the eyes of a not-stranger and jabs his hand into the pocket of his hoodie, hooks his finger in against dented metal. “Practically peachy.” Harang says, even if his eyes are still plastered on asphalt and blown out too wide. He pries open his tin between bitten-down thumb nails and reaches his arm up toward her in an offering, hand-rolled with the sour-sweet smell of cherry tobacco leaking out past the lid.
“You?”
at the sight of him throwing up over the gutter, she almost reaches out, in the same way she would’ve years ago when gaeun would sneak back into the house after a drunken karaoke session on a school night and needed someone to hold her hair up. instead, she keeps her hands tucked away in her pockets, maintaining some distance and keeping a wary eye on harang until he turns around.
she plucks the hand-rolled cigarette from his fingers, letting out a grunt that could pass off as a ‘thanks’, then leans back against the cool wall of the building.
“as peachy as one gets when visiting family,” she mutters around the cigarette, left palm blocking the wind as she takes three tries to light the end. her stare lifts to the star-mottled sky when she breathes out a stream of cherry-flavoured smoke, before she spares the crown of harang’s head another glance. they aren’t close by any means, maybe just enough to be considered acquaintances on run-ins where they can hold something of a proper conversation.
but the noises from the celebrating families down the road are more grating tonight than ever, and it’s still too early to return to her bare bones apartment where she has to gamble her chances on sleeping without dreaming. so gain takes in another long draw, fishes through her pocket, and curls her fingers around a crumpling packet before lightly tossing the half-smushed choco pie onto his lap.
“wasn’t bad enough to warrant vomiting into the gutter though.”
Outside your door, you’ll see a man waiting. He looks to be in his early 30s, wearing a dress shirt and a pair of slacks. His eyes are covered by a pair of glasses and remains relatively unmoving. Maybe if you wait long enough he’ll go away. But he seems to be writing something down on a piece of paper that he slides underneath the door. He looks directly at the window shortly after. It’s as if he knows you are there. The note, when you pick it up, lists an address and a time.
Miss Lee Gain. Go to the Dangam County Police Station at your next availability between 1 and 9pm. Or contact the non-emergency line. Ask for Jang or Kikuchi.
OOC // Provide your final answer to the random encounter in character. You may respond as you see fit in a reply to this submit. This will count for activity.
it’s 8:53pm by the time she rounds the corner to the station and it’s not until 8:57pm when she drops the cigarette stub into the gutter before walking inside, shades perched on the bridge of her nose sliding down ever so slightly as she pushes the door open.
when she had received the note earlier in the day, courtesy of the persistent fucker who couldn’t take a hint, she had half the mind to ignore the request entirely. she has no interest in involving herself with their island’s little police force, unlike gaeun who had been well-acquainted with their station’s waiting area. and frankly, she hasn’t got a clue of what could possibly warrant this, unless one of the tourists reported her for her general demeanour. again.
but the fact that he explicitly stated it was a non-emergency works out in their favour. better to rip the band aid off in one go than let whatever this may be fester into a bigger problem.
which leads her to where she is now, grimacing at the fluorescent ceiling lights that do nothing to quell her sleep deprivation induced migraine. a young man, swamped in his uniform like a child playing dress up, passes by her with a stack of papers in his arms and she just manages to snag him by the sleeve, stopping him in his tracks.
“hey, i’m here for…” she glances at the wrinkled note in her hand. “jang.”
unfurling the long strip of cotton around her hands, gain lets out a low exhale as it lands on her sneakers, spilling over onto the floor. she rolls her wrists slowly, unclenching her fingers and examining her knuckles for any broken skin. the gym lights above her begin to flicker, as they always do during the late hour, and she catches sight of a moth fluttering around the finicky lightbulb when she tilts her head back to get the last of the water from her bottle.
no matter how much she drinks, it’s hard to get rid of the weird feeling on her tongue. a sensation that only made itself known after the encounter on the beach from a week ago. it’s as if a strange film coats the surface of it, her tongue, and she swirls the water in her mouth a little longer before she swallows, wiping her lips with the back of her sore hand.
a quick glance at her phone tells her it’s still too early.
so she stands up and heads towards the vending machine filled with protein bars and energy drinks. there’s one can left, but she spots the other late night regular by the weights and hesitates for a second. if she were any nicer, she would ask him if he wanted a drink as well.
but it’s been a while since she’s had the capacity to care much for others, so the rumble of the vending machine cuts through the white noise in the gym as it expels the last of its energy drink supply. she does, however, approach him instead of turning back, taking a large gulp from the can.
hello!! so sorry for going ghost for a bit there, but i’m all settled in for the most part and i do want to get some things up for gain so pls consider this post as a little starter and plot call! if we were in the middle of plotting and i suddenly disappeared, i’ll either msg u to catch up or try work with what we had going on. alternatively, pls feel free to reply with any ideas and such! i’ll be capping starters at 3 for now, but for any further likes i’ll msg u to plot :-)
chuseok is a simple affair when your family members are housed in urns shelved away in a glass cabinet.
she doesn’t make a habit of visiting her great aunt’s house; it hardly seems reasonable to travel all the way across the island to seomyeon only to be greeted with resolute silence and a wary stare. some of the old villagers from their home moved to the same area and still live there, therefore carrying old tales and rumours with them. it used to be far easier to tolerate when she could share the weight of it all.
so when she does, it’s a quick affair, done late in the afternoon so that she can go through the usual motions of cleaning and muttered prayer with ease, away from prying eyes. extra thought is given to gaeun’s, more as a precaution than anything, and gain makes sure to leave a pack of choco pies beside her urn. call it an offering or a bribe—neither have been particularly helpful.
the sun has long set by the time she makes it back to her neighbourhood, her pack of cigarettes woefully empty in her pocket. she makes a turn for the convenience store, but stops when she sees a familiar silhouette in her go-to alley nearby her apartment complex.
“hey, can i bum a smoke?” gain asks, approaching harang with her hands in her pockets. only when she walks further into the alley does she notice something off about him, the celebration from the families by the main street blocking out what she now realises is the sound of gagging. “uh, you okay?”
The cigarette you leave behind sizzles against the cool, moist rocks. At the very least, you seem resolute in departing from the scene, despite your slow pace compared to the rest of the crowd. Rather nonchalant for a crisis, don't you think? You think you're in the clear until something hits you in the back of your head. Should you look back, you would see the discarded cigarette now resting at your heels. It's coated with a thin film of slime. The same on the creature's appendages. Maybe it's best you start running.
OOC // You are not required to write out a lengthy response but do note that your character’s actions for this encounter will be remembered for the future!
over the course of sixteen years, gain has long come to terms with how unconventional her priorities may appear.
as in, there is a certain level of nonchalance she has for other issues, no matter how dire, that seems to pair well with the overwhelming paranoia over the hijacking of her own body.
really, how could a giant squid even compare?
so gain parses through the panicked crowd without even widening her stride, grimacing at the shrill cries and the shoulders bumping into her. she's especially grateful for the shades perched on her nose when she hears a cut-off yell coming from a figure in her peripheral that disappears just as quickly as they had arrived.
and maybe because of that, she speeds up just a tad bit.
not that anyone really notices.
she's tempted to light another cigarette by the time the crowd begins to thin out and reaches for the pack she keeps in her breast pocket.
then it hits her.
her gut tells her not to bother looking back, but half the time she listens to that gut feeling, she ends up getting the short end of the stick. so she looks back—or well, it's more like down—frowning at the sight of her used cigarette coated in slime.
fingers grazing over where it had hit her, she pulls her hand away to find the same slime on the tips of her fingers.
"fuckin gross..." she mutters around the unlit cigarette between her lips.
she wipes her fingers on her pants, then pulls out her lighter, taking in a long drag before making her move. not once does she properly look back, towards the sea.
and if she's walking a little faster away from the scene, you didn't notice.
