NOMAD.

[hscharoen]

midnight oil

@hsgijin​ — CANOLA, closing

the lock bolt shutters into place as charoen waves through the glass at the last of patrons. canola’s closing relatively early for how late customers often remain, but that doesn’t mean they weren’t treated well as they stumble tipsily over their shoes. laughter comes muffled through the door, and she giggles in return before turning on the heels of her sneakers and leaning dramatically against the frame.

it’s not every shift that the part-timers of canola get to work together, eyes falling on her coworker and sole person left in the bar, son gijin. it seems that jinjoo, canola’s owner, has business or another to attend to, partnering them for the night. now there’s tables to be bussed, chairs to be flipped, and back of house chores to be catered to, but all she can think about is the silenced left at the end of the track.

the blonde takes lazy strides across the bar toward the jukebox, approaching the records on display as she tilts her head slightly over her shoulder. “guess everyone’s headed out to look for those figurine thingies,” she muses, flipping through a couple tracks until she finds one, a 1940′s era song by some pin-up japanese ladies that has a funky groove. something casual to unwind. “what is that scavenger hunt even for? is it part of jeju-do lore, or just for fun?”

shoulders shimmy as she’s satisfied by the bop and starts for the bar. on her way, she takes a rag from the small apron around her waist and wipes down a table, flipping the two chairs on the lips of the surface. once behind the bar, she’s then grabbing a beer from underneath in the small fridges. she’s learned a trick working at canola, and places the edge of the beer cap on the bar. with the butt of her palm, she smacks downward hard, the cap popping off with a fizzle. the beer’s fresh and cool on her tongue as she takes a taste.

“you want one? they’re on me!” (she’ll put a couple bills in the register later).

[hsheeyeon]

food for thought

[hscharoen]

hsheeyeon‌

the baker observed charoen with baited breath, hands fiddling with the apron around her waist. when it came to her samples, everyone’s opinion was important to her but those first taste-testers always made her the most nervous. it always reminded her of the first loaf of bread she baked for her mother, a soft semolina with white flour. she had waited for her mother’s critique in the same way she did now, eyes wide, hands tense. it was like tradition almost. and at charo’s seemingly good (dare she say, great) reception towards the bread pudding, heeyeon clapped her hands in front of her, practically jumping in excitement. this too, was like tradition.

“you really like it?” she asks with a smile, if only to hear charo praise the bread pudding once more. “i just added the usual, but i caramelized the pineapples before hand to lighten that tartness. o h, i did use a bit of this clementine compote i have when i was caramelizing them, just to layer the flavors. i think it came out well.” the words float of her tongue, and she has to stop herself before reciting the recipe for charoen to hear; has to stop herself before giving the younger woman a seminar on bread pudding. 

still, she can’t wipe the smile from her features as she makes her way around the display case and glances over at the card sitting near the samples. heeyeon glances at the card, reading over the words on the small piece of paper — “all trails seem to lead to waterfalls, misty crater lakes or jungle-fringed, deserted beaches. explored by horseback, foot or kayak, Costa Rica is a tropical choose-your-own-adventure land” — before turning her full attention to charoen. “please, feel free to have more while i tell you about it,”

and if you thought she could only go on and on about baking, you hadn’t ever heard heeyeon talk about her trips around the world. soon she’s providing anecdotes about the warm beaches and the feeling of sand in between your toes; the hammocks mounted on coconut trees that just begged to be laid in. if you thought she could only charm others into buying her bread, you hadn’t ever heard her talk about a vacation. “i could go on about it for a while, but i’ll save you from that. just know that it’s a wonderful place to vacation.”

it doesn’t take more than a couple of these instances for charoen to notice how nervous heeyeon becomes when someone tries a new creation of hers. if she was being completely honest, the baker could whip something up on the lower end of her spectrum and charoen would STILL gobble it up like it was the first thing she ate that week. she can almost hear her mother now — fussing over her weight, wondering if she’s balancing all the bakery’s sweets with proper nutrition, insisting on exercise. charoen has to physically restrain from rolling her eyes for real lest she give the wrong impression.

which is hard to do when there’s rum sauce smeared across her lips (goodbye, iridescent glitter lip gloss) and she takes a napkin to wipe hastily while snatching another piece. she could just pay heeyeon for all the trouble, but she seems to notice when charoen slides her another drink at canola and there’s no tab to speak of.

“what do you mean ‘do you really like it?’ heeyeon, you’re going to have to make more if you want anyone else to try it.” and the younger girl can picture the way she would snap at another customer who dares to have a taste. but she has to be nice, she guesses. “listen, i don’t know the first thing you said about ‘clementine compost’ or whatever, but it’s good.”

and as she asked about costa rica, seeing the way the other woman grew excited and started reading off the card as a segue way to her travels, charoen knew she was going to be here a while. not that she minds. OBVIOUSLY, as she seats herself at one of the cute café tables, legs crossed and leaning over the table as she devours the pastry. her own features take on an expression of dreaminess, eyes glassing over as she imagines the scenes described to her.

it only stops when charoen snorts to herself, unable to help herself from saying, “didn’t know you begged to be laid in hammocks, yeon. KINKY.” what? she really couldn’t help herself. nonetheless, she’s already preparing to duck in the chance heeyeon decides to throw a fork.

[hscharoen]

hsjiseong‌

ACTION SHOT.

it’s unlike jiseong to head towards a tourist trap. that’s a lie. it’s like jiseong to head to a tourist trap, wait until peak hours have waned, take a few photos, and then complain to any soul who gives a damn about how overrated the place was. look — he ain’t picky or stuck up. just a connoisseur of travel locations ( self proclaimed ).

but seongsan ilchulbong is nice. unesco world heritage sites are usually nightmares. waaaaay too many people ruining a world heritage under their brand name joggers and the utter inability to take a single decent shot. unless you like portraits. but travel photography is about escapism not claustrophobia. point is, ‘ sunrise peak ‘ deserves its title. the journey to the highest vantage point spaces out the tourists enough.

or maybe jiseong just managed to avoid the peak hours by stopping to frequently to document his hike up the crater. ( shut up. his lack of stamina has nothing to do with this. it’s called stopping to smell the flowers or whatever the full idiom is. look, he didn’t pay attention in class and he’s doing f i n e. back off. )

so without care as to what he might be like in another individual’s eyes, he gets on the ground, kneeling for the best shot. honestly, he would get on his belly if it had to be done. when someone speaks to him.

“i’m not a nature photographer,” jiseong retorts. and frowns, realizing he probably sound really rude right now. cradling the camera in one hand, he swings behind the lady, using his free hand to point her in the direction that you were trying to photograph. sure it included wispy clouds but it was more about the vastness of the landscape below.

jiseong steps back quickly in case he infringed too much upon her space. “definitely not as exciting as ladybugs or feeding a chipmunk though,” he says with a smile, hands coming together to support his camera. “do you miss it?” he ventures, “taking pictures i mean.” his heart quickens because he knows what it is like to be excited about something like this. part of him wants to offer her a go at the camera suspended around his neck. dumb. stupid idea. she’s a stranger for crying out loud but…

jiseong thrusts out a hand. “sorry, i’m kang jiseong. i do this for a living so i got excited.”

at his first response, charoen thinks maybe somewhere in her word spillage she had offended. but suddenly, he’s springing up and now he’s the one guiding her. into really seeing what she had failed to see the entire trek up sunrise peak — the sight behind her.

no matter the sights she has seen or the sights she’s bound to see, the blonde will have the same reaction: a few beats of awe and then her mouth parts just slightly. as if that extra bit of oxygen is necessary to comprehend the image. concluded with a smile, that sort of elation that’s on a level of its own.

“huh, you make a good point. guess i gotta remember to LITERALLY turn around sometimes to enjoy the view.” the same could be said for her life but she tries not to dwell on that.

as he steps back, she turns her smile towards him, oblivious to what sort of space strangers should have. probably why some of her neighbours in her homeland thought her odd, not completely adhering to all the customs. “hi, kang jiseong! my name’s rien charoen.” shaking his hand, she’s already onto her next thought, answering, “yeah, i miss taking pictures, i guess. i think i miss the appearance of having a camera, y’know? like, the polaroid camera i had was antique — probably why it broke so easily. oh! and waiting for the polaroid to develop. you gotta do a little flappy-flap and watch it appear before you like a MIRAGE.” and she’s rambling. must be the air.

reeling herself in, she adjusts the sunglasses perched on her nose and thumbs her knapsack strap. “so you do this for a living? must be really good. got a website i can look up or profile i can follow? i wanna see what else i’ve been missing all this time!”

[hsjihae]

one night in

[hscharoen]

hsjihae‌

The list of clutter in the living room grows steadily by day: books abandoned where she’d last left them, mugs in every nook and cranny, stray socks wedged between cushions and beneath the sang. It’s a never-ending cycle of tackling messes and making them.  She’d recently decided to let the natural order of things fall into a progressive disarray.  Regret hits belatedly, long after Charoen steps foot into her house, and well into the good twenty minutes spent hastily digging through the boxes out front.

“Aha!” A hint of chipped plastic emerges from beneath two old magazines dated back to 2015.  At least the lid’s intact, though the same can’t be said for some of the pots inside.  Ultramarine blue’s been worn down to the pan, and there’s a sizable chunk of vermillion missing.  She makes a mental note to run down to The Islander this week; for now, they’ll just have to make do.

“There’s red wine on top of the fridge.” Jihae sets the palette down and fiddles with her speaker until Kim Minki’s voice creeps into the room, low and sweet.  Satisfied, she straightens up from her spot on the floor and ambles over to the kitchen to retrieve some cups.  “Feeling inspired tonight?”

@hscharoen​

one of the things charoen misses most is painting. it’s been a couple of years since she last tried to do anything on a canvas, save sketching on napkins in café’s along her journeys. it felt as though it was as far as she could go. reintroducing past hobbies after she lost her way felt like trying to jump a gap that her mind widens the longer she hesitates.

that’s why she was so eager to take up the kind woman’s suggestion when she caught charoen tracing fingertips over notebooks and lingering with the crafts of the islander. there was promise of alcohol and someone willing to be there with her when she finally picks up a brush again (whether they knew about it or not).

if jihae’s nervous about what charoen might think of her place, then all she has to do is look at the blonde. there’s a bemused smile on her lips as she peers around. she has to remind herself not to start perusing, as much of a lack of manners as she has. not having had a proper room to herself for very long, she always loves to see where people go at the end of their days. there’s so much character here, it provides a sense of home.

hearing the other woman, she takes it upon herself to skip into the kitchen and retrieve the wine. a hum of satisfaction sits in her throat as she presses her cheek against the burgundy bottle. wine is fun, the best in her opinion. hard liquor is for partying but wine is for inspiring.

“i’m about to be!” she says, moving back into the living room. “i gotta admit... i haven’t done anything artsy in a while; been wanting to get back into it. i mean, i DOODLE sometimes, but that’s just like what i used to do in school. do you only use paints or do you venture into other mediums?”

[hsheeyeon]

food for thought

[hscharoen]

hsheeyeon‌

@hscharoen — ACHIK, 8am

mondays and wednesdays are days set aside for experimentation. for an hour or two, heeyeon slips away from the forefront of the shop and into the large kitchen, apron at the ready as she works her way through whatever recipe she’s tampering with. sometimes she practices on the candidates for seasonal bread, other times its adjustments to current menu items (and just about anything in between). her efforts usually result in a batch of samples that she leaves on top of the display case, anxiously waiting for her customers’ feedback.

today’s creation is a pineapple bread pudding, fresh out of the oven and inspired by her trip to costa rica. as an added touch, she had made a rum sauce that she would drizzle over the sweet dish. 

while the bread pudding and rum sauce were cooling off in the kitchen, she had asked her cashier to write out a little note about costa rica — whatever cute tidbit she could find on the internet. heeyeon would then rummage through a box of tiny paper flags until she found costa rica’s. and only after her little setup was perfect, did she go back into the kitchen to cut the bread pudding and drizzle the sauce on half of it. some clapping and a little dance later and heeyeon was adjusting the bite-sized pieces on her cake stand. 

she’s rotating the cake stand just-so when the sound of the door chimes steals her attention. heeyeon looks up with that warm smile of hers, a greeting falling from her lips, “good morning, welcome to ach — charoen, welcome! you’re right on time! come here.”

hands leave the surface of the cake stand, and she motions for the younger woman to come closer. beside her, the cashier chuckles, already anticipating her employers’ impending rant. “come, come. how are you? did you eat yet? i just made this pineapple bread pudding; half of the pieces have rum sauce over them and the other half don’t, so you can take your pick. i got the idea from my trip to costa rica, and let me tell you, i managed to find the perfect balance between light and firm. i may use it for bread of the month, but i’m taking a poll.” 

when the short sales pitch has concluded, heeyeon steps back and clasps her hands in front of her, brows raised expectantly. 

sleep schedules don’t exist in charoen’s world. nor does ACTUALLY sleeping. it was one of those reminders she has yet to shake. a fact that she has made some mistakes. this one is just a little harder to outrun. with time, it’s gotten easier, and she can shove the few numbers of actual slumber to the back of her mind. at least there’s midday naps!

even with working at canola sometimes late into the night, she still finds herself tumbling out of bed early in the mornings and pulling on the first articles of (clean) clothing she can find, brushing her teeth, waking up to bastille. what really gets her going is walking outside homestay to morning dew and giving generous kisses to kongie’s forehead, one of the lees’ roaming dogs. best of all is jumping on her bike, sliding on a pair of circular gold sunglasses, and daydreaming the entire way to the bakery.

stepping through the doorway with a melodic chime, charoen takes a spare moment to close her eyes and inhale the sweet aroma. achik bakery is so homey, full of sunshine and heavenly pastries. gods, she wishes she could bake like heeyeon. the extent of her baking and cooking skills were ramen and steamed veggies.

“morning, heeyeon!” she greets, pushing her glasses up into her hair. then stars dance in her eyes at the sight of the pineapple bread pudding. with a passing and whispered greeting to the cashier, charoen keeps focus on the pudding as she approaches the display case — mindful to keep her hands off the glass. “i’m good, i’m good. heeyeon, this looks AMAZING! may i?” and she takes a drizzled piece, not so lady-like as she takes a large bite. she freezes. and then melts. “okay. wow. what the hell did you put in this ‘cause i’m addicted. you have to tell me more about this trip to costa rica or else i’m leaving tomorrow morning to see it — i mean, EAT IT myself.”

[malamente1992]

[hscharoen]

hsjinjoo‌

FRESH START.

jinjoo’s busy setting canola up, inventory having been taken in the morning; setting up the tables and chairs is easy work when the bar’s so small, and the long bar counter just needs a quick wipe down for it to be presentable. she’d run her newest hire through the whole process just in case, but living above her place of business means jinjoo’s usually going to be the one opening up. plus, she likes the routine of it, and charoen’s better off getting acquainted with the bar itself before canola opens its doors.

the part timer is busy with a drink that reminds her of forget me nots, a swirl of cool tones against the setting sun. jinjoo finishes setting the coasters up on the last table and turns on the jukebox, flipping through the songs to select an upbeat pop song, one of the american records that its previous owner had provided her with. she does a little spin to the intro, walking over to the counter where charoen’s testing out her concoction.

“ooh, that’s pretty,” she says, smiling at charoen. the younger girl makes a self-deprecating comment and jinjoo has the instinctive urge to prove her wrong, so she leans forward to steal a sip—and her nose immediately wrinkles up. sometimes self-deprecating comments are actually warnings, huh. “charo, what did you put in there?”

though the drink is subpar, the song definitely isn’t, and as charoen washed down the taste with some water, she’s dancing in place to the jukebox. that was one of the best parts of the joint — she LOVES jukeboxes. they’ve always held some measure of sentiment to them that she could appreciate. they stood the test of time in an ever-changing world, and that was the sort of thing she hoped would happen with her.

drawing herself out of that moment’s gap of existentialism, charoen sighs. a hand spins the mentioned drink on the bar. “i mean, i only glanced at a recipe i found online but i figured CAREFULLY portioning the alcohol wasn’t really necessary?”

looking up at jinjoo and the expression on her features, she starts to think maybe experimenting with the owner’s stocks wasn’t the best idea nor gave her any brownie points as the newbie. she snatches the drink up, says a silent goodbye, and dumps it down the drain, ice cubes clacking around. wiping the condensation off the counter, she tries to play it cool by smoothing over with, “don’t worry, though! i practiced some of the menu’s drinks beforehand so at least i’ll get those right. to be on the safe side — i hope people order beer.”

[hscharoen]

ACTION SHOT.

@hsjiseong​ — JEJU, somewhere in nature

guided tours? maybe one day. but that day is not today. it’s been a couple of years of being her own guide, namely travelling further south through thailand, a bit in south korea, and now she’s here.

jeju is beautiful, and she’s smiling not for the first time at the nature. a gentle wind caresses her shoulder, the sun warm on her face, and she has half a desire to take off her shoes and socks to feel the grass between her toes. that part’s not as wise considering her often need to climb the first cliff she spots in order to gain a better view of the land. blisters are NO friend to her.

her hands feel oddly empty when she spots yet another islander toting a camera of their own. their’s looks nice, expensive, advanced. certainly foreign to someone with her experience. the whole idea of taking pictures is to just point and shoot at will, with whatever sort of device she has.

despite herself, charoen finds herself approaching the man with the camera, lifting a (self) manicured brow. he’s positioned at such an angle that she can’t possibly imagine what he’s actually taking a picture of.

“i can’t figure out if you’re taking a picture of the wispy clouds or a ladybug i haven’t found yet,” she starts as way of introduction. a finger taps her chin. “i used to take pictures — polaroids. but i broke it, got too excited. they were feeding chipmunks at this reserve in thailand and i dropped my camera fumbling it. i DID get to feed a chipmunk, though!”

[hscharoen]

FRESH START.

@hsjinjoo​ — CANOLA, shortly before opening

a glance at the dainty watch on her wrist and she tries not to let the anxiety settle in her belly. instead, it comes out as a smirk. good thing she didn’t gamble, it was a dead give away. but she does attend to canola now and while she nailed the interview, promising to pick up the trade swiftly, she never tended bar before either.

garnishing the glass as a final touch, charoen takes a deep breath and jams a straw through the ice. the purple and blue tones collide, and it looks delicious. LOOK, being the definitive word here.

footsteps are heard, and without looking up, the blonde puts her effort now into not spitting up her concoction. sweet and sour is supposed to compliment each other, not sting the tongue and taste all around bad.

“mmm,” says charoen, nodding in approval as she continues. “this tastes like those potions you would make as a kid with cleaning products you found under the kitchen sink. the up-side is that the fumes then and the alcohol now will both go STRAIGHT to your head.”

[hscharoen]

aaaaaahhhhh!!! hi there, ya’ll (why did i say that) i’m so excited to be here 🥰you can call me catty, i’m 21+, est canadian, and i’ve brought forth my little wayward soul — charoen! there’s more deets about her under the read more, including links of interest. anyway, smack dat heart if you wanna plot. oh, and i have discord for those who want! 🌴(disclaimer, the “i” and “n” keys on my macbook are like, broken, so pardon any future uncorrected typos!)

(tw: drugs)

issa baby 🌸💖✨

only 23 but facing such existential crisis, calm down

immediately after high school decided “i wanna travel the world!”

has only been a couple of places, namely inside thailand

gets by with odd jobs

likes to pack up and leave every time something spooks her (or she catches feels, calm down)

loves the ocean but will only go as far as she can see her feet cause sharks nope nuh uh

dream destinations include cambodia, iceland, and new zealand

always eating — check her knapsack for snacks

likes to call her younger brother randomly, check in

now we’re getting deeper here

she’s basically running away from her past and a little bit from herself

has a former addiction to a particular hard drug which sort of ruined her life but in secret because the shame of her family finding out was worse than trying to fight her addiction

she sort of lost her way, lost all her interests, didn’t see much of a future

hence the travelling

couple with commitment issues, is a tough cookie to pin down

BUT tries her hardest and pretty friendly to be around, so please don’t be shy to get to know her more and plot! i left her story pretty open for a reason : )

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[lalisachu]

lisa, don’t do this to me

[997]

What do you do for a living

i try my best

[sunshineysprinkles]

A quick list of things you are not:

damaged goods.

a burden.

worthless.

a failure.

stupid.

a waste of space.

weak.

a lost cause.

alone.

[alreadyghostts]

axel flovent - forest fires

[lovestationn]

♡ lisa moodboard ... like or reblog - psd: @plasticluvspsd