blooming lilies.

nam minah. xxvi. freelance artist.

[yhminah]

so, y'all lovely people, here i am to introduce you my baby, nam minah! she's actually a revamp of a muse that i had not so long ago and i wanted to bring her back since i missed her so much. as usual, here is her profile and here is her bio; and here a not very good plots page! i can plot through here or discord, i don't really have a preference so just let me know if you guys do, i have no problem giving my discord then! so yeah, i think this is it? i can't wait to plot with everyone 🥰️

as always under the cut a quick rundown of minah and pls do ♡ this post if anything catches your eye and i'll pop up in your ims!

nam minah. 26 years. freelance artist. she was actually born and mostly raised in yunhwa! but moved to seoul for high school and then to paris to attend an art college/school because she actually got an scholarship, so there is where she was living (still sort of is) until she decided to visit her family in yunhwa.

lives in sunjaro street, above the tavern with a roommate actually! (i'll submit a wc about it later) since she didn't want to impose at her parents' house because her sister still lives there. she's working on their relationship with baby steps.

the epitome of being there for the fun and experience, that's basically the reason why she does 99.9% of the things that she does. isn't afraid to try new things (and is usually good at them even in her first try) or do adventurous things, so you know, call her to do anything and high chances she'll always say yes.

very chill and friendly, good at small talking. social skills above 8000 and is mostly minding her business unless for some reason you make your business her business.

seems like an airhead, but she really is not. she's actually pretty smart (pls, look at her perfect grades even during high school) and is very perceptive of her surroundings and people in general.

sort of fickle with anyone that isn't part of her family. she gets attached to people as easily as she gets detached which could affect some friendships and especially romantic relationships (especially when she goes through some of them because she was just curious to where it'd lead), but she's always sincere and doesn't really lead anyone on (idk if this makes sense?? hope it does)

lowkey famous in the art community (so any fans?? as a possible plot??) and she has a couple of important awards that she won back at her apartment in paris. once she was very proud of them but now they sort of feel like a burden.

is going through a very hard artist block and that's why she decided to come back to yunhwa to sort of try to reconnect with her roots and to try to make amends with her sister so talking about which—

they have a very rocky relationship to say the very least. whether it was the case or not, minah was always treated as the favorite daughter in one way or another because she was the pretty daughter and the one good at everything, so her little sister ended up on her shadow more often than not. that made her resent minah a lot even when minah tried her best to save it.

she has always shown a little more affinity to the arts, especially painting, since she was young even if she was basically good at everything that she tried (and since she has always been the curious type, she tried a lot of things) so her parents sent her to seoul to live with an uncle so she could have more chances to explore her affinity with the arts.

her sister, feeling like she'd be left behind, decided to go as well even if she was still in middle school. a long argument ensued, but they both ended up going to seoul. the uncle didn't really... care for them or looked after them that well, he left them alone a lot so minah sort of took charge. besides getting busy with part times so her parents didn't need to spend too much money on her and her sister's lives in seoul.

got more recognition during high school for her paintings and even won some competitions which got her into an art college/school in paris, france after her graduation. sort of settled in there until her art block started and here she is in yunhwa again.

fun fact: got scouted for an entertainment agency during high school but refused the audition because one she was already busy enough as she was and two she never dreamed of being an idol anyway, at that point already having decided to pursue an artistic career, but she does like to wonder sometimes what would've happened if she had been to the audition and got accepted.

[yhserim]

𝐚𝐧 𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 / @yhminah​

his  violin  is  his  first  love. the  instrument  might  not  be  his  last  spark  of  affection  when  the  future  is  a  distant  figment  he  doesn’t  ponder  over  ever,  but  serim  knows  it’ll  be  his  greatest  devotion. his  passion  is  almost  embarrassing  with  how  quick  he  is  to  blabber  about  his  latest  song  adventures. or  how  much  his  fingers  find  delight  in  playing  bach’s  chaconne,  which  he  keeps  on  insisting  is  the  17th  century  equivalent  of  the  macarena. but  that’s  the  sort  of  person  the  boy  is,  and  he  has  no  intention  of  hiding  it  from  anybody  he  befriends. after  all,  if  there  were  two  things  he  needs  to  rescue  if  his  house  was  on  fire  it’d  be  his  axolotl  and  his  violin. his  clothes,  his  laptop  and  anything  else  he’ll  replace.

 serim  doesn’t  expect  the  excitement  leaving  him  flailing  every  individual  day  to  transgress  into  his  friends  and  acquaintances. students ?  sure,  that’s  part  of  his  job. he  doesn’t  demand  the  ones  who  hear  him  drop  his  recent  tribulation  over  a  mug  of  beer  to  empathize. yet  when  the  interest  travels  to  the  point  he’s  asked  for  a  lesson,  it’s  immediate  how  his  visuals  brighten  even  in  the  evening  dim.

a  casual  conversation  with  minah  also  brings  him  to  where  they  are  now. two  souls  in  his  living  room,  a  simple  stand  in  front  with  a  single  page  of  scales  and  one  violin  tucked  under  her  chin  and  nestled  in  the  crooks  of  her  arm. his  top  teeth  press  down,  imprinting  on  his  bottom  lip,  a  manner  that  befalls  him  when  earnestness  settle  into  his  body  and  makes  itself  at  home.

”  remember  to  hold  the  bow. ring  finger  around  the  centre  of  the  dot  on  the  frog. again  keep  the  pinky  resting  on  top !  ”  even  as  he  spokes  his  fingers  move  forward  to  adjust  her  index  finger  into  a  better  makeshift  lever  position. a  habit  from  old,  when  his  teacher  once  told  him  there  was  no  meaning  to  performing  any  piece  until  he  held  the  proper  pose.

[yhminah]

even if minah isn't exactly in the best terms with her own art, it doesn't mean that she doesn't like to hear other people being passionate about their art. it's actually quite refreshing to see that someone still loves what they do, can talk about it for hours and hours, being clearly enamored by every word related to their art like serim is with the violin. it's refreshing and nice and reminds her of the time that she was the same. she won't say it out loud because she doesn't want to ruin the nice air around them whenever serim is talking about his violin, but it makes her ache a little, makes her miss and want to go back in time to feel that way again — and perhaps fix things before they got to the extreme poing that they are today when there are days she can't even look at a pencil and not want to set it on fire.

and maybe because she wants to feel connected with something the way that serim feels connected with his violin and music, maybe because of a much simpler reason of why not that minah doesn't say no to some casual violin classes by serim since she was clearly not looking for a change of career — even if sometimes she does consider the possibility, thinks that maybe this is a sign that she's not welcomed in the world of painting anymore —, it's a nice distraction, a little change from serim rambling about his passion to him showing her a couple of things. besides, minah has always liked learning new things.

and besides, teacher serim is much more fun than she was expecting. not in the literal sense of the word, but the fact that the young musician almost turns into a completely difference person as soon as he put a violin on minah's shoulder, someone more serious and strict, someone who won't let minah get one single note of the instrument unless she's holding it perfectly. and it's cute, fun, to see such a new side of her acquaintance like that. so of course that, even though serim hasn't even gotten close to crossing a line or anything of that sort, she doesn't take it to heart when the young musician is a little more strict with her.

minah hums softly in reply to serim's correction, lets him fix her index finger as he pleases and then follows his instructions. "like this?" she asks, sending a look from the corner of her eye, after all the violin is a little uncomfortable on her shoulder and to be honest she's a little scared of messing up her position since it took her quite a bit to finally get the right one. "can i play it now, seonsaengnim hwang?" and minah swears that she tries her best to keep the teasing tone out of her words, but it's a little hard, especially when she's so amused at how serim is at a teacher, at the change from the puppy that he's normally to this serious teacher. she could even say that he even seemed a little older.

[yhminah]

yhnari​:

les fleurs du mal by charles baudelaire was a book that nari found herself revisiting often. the french prose had always been somewhat close to her ever since middle school, when she was far too young to have ever read it. she’d read it in french from the start, which had kept it secret from the prying eyes of her classmates. it certainly had helped her learn french all the more thoroughly and fluently. what better, more abstract thing than poetry to sharpen that skill?

a small chuckle escaped her as she picked up her glass, taking a long drink of the vodka and soda. she’d just flipped the page to ‘à une mendiante rousse’- to a mendicant redhead. speak a french poem in someone’s ear and they had a way of falling over at your feet. memories of her high school exploits, loosely inspired by baudelaire, came back to her easily. looking down at herself she wondered if she’d really changed all that much in nearly a decade. still clad in black, though more sedately than she was in school. less elaborate makeup, her hair was black like it had been back then, but she missed the bleached blonde she’d sported up until her father passed.

pulling her long hair over one shoulder, she played with it absent-mindedly, trying to return her thoughts to the prose and away from more painful things. but something more convenient to break her thoughts away came up in the form of a woman, complimenting her book.

nari’s eyes left the book and found herself looking at a brown eyed woman, asking to sit with her. the same brown eyed woman who she’d given friendly waves and nods of the head to so many times. a mute relationship suddenly given volume for the first time. to say it was a surprise would have been something of an understatement. she cast her gaze down at the cover of her book- it was a french edition. there was a brief moment of wondering if she could speak french, too, before she closed her book on her finger to keep it’s place, sitting up a little in her seat. “go ahead,” she gave a bit of an encouraging nod, old habits die hard. “you read baudelaire?” she prodded curiously, noticing the emptiness of the bar. this seemed like a more welcome version of what the men in her life talked about with urinals.

“parles-tu français?” do you speak french. there was no harm in asking. the worst thing she could do in return was ask ‘what’.  or throw her drink on her, but that seemed less likely.

minah obviously beams when the stranger lets her sit with her on the table, not wasting a second in making herself comfortable since she plans to spend quite the time with the other — and hopefully the other can spend that time with her and minah is almost sure that she has considering the experience that she has catching the stranger in the tavern they both have the time for a nice talk. 

“had to.” she replies with a soft hum, taking a sip of her own cocktail. “when i went to art school.” at least in her art school during the first semester, minah had to go through a lot of classes not necessarily related to her choice of art as if to make sure the students would be able to choose what they were going to specialize during the second semester onwards which obviously included reading some classics, some poems even if minah wasn’t very inclined in choosing creative writing as her specialization. she had enjoyed it of course, even though it was hard to learn french when she was forced to learn through literature — not that boudelaire is as hard as reading zola or victor hugo of course —, but when she got the hang of it, it was definitely something that she was able to enjoy.

the question in french catches minah a little by surprise. of course the question in itself was something expected with the topic in hand and the fact that not only the author is french, but the book is in french — and to be honest that was the small detail that made minah actually use it as an excuse to approach the other, was the main reason of her surprise when she caught the book —, but she wasn’t expecting the question to be asked in french, the more than familiar language at this point almost makes her heart ache with the memories it brings to her, with the small feeling of missing her apartment in paris and what it represents, but overall she misses the time she first arrived in paris, when she was young and still full of dreams, full of inspirations and—

“ah, oui.” the artist smiles. “j’ai habité en france pendant cinq—” she tilts her head, trying to count the years she has been lived there to be sure she’s providing the right number. well, she moved there as soon as she finished high school, so actually— “six ans.” then she turns to the stranger obviously excited. “et toi? pourquoi parles-tu français? c’est un passe-temps ou...?”

[yhminah]

@khnyh

living on top of the tavern is actually more interesting than minah thought it'd be — not that she'd be picky and would decide to live with someone else just because it wouldn't be "interesting" enough, after all, her friend is making her a favor and she's just more than happy that she isn't bothering her family as she would if she were living with them — and it's a very nice surprise, because not only she ends up passing a lot through the tavern to get home, she ends up spending quite the time there and consequently meeting some new people and befriending them.

which leads to where she's now.

haneul is a nice person, she thinks, always willing to talk to her whenever he isn't too busy serving other people and it's fun that they can bond over their own kind of arts, haneul being more of a photographer and minah much more of a painter, but they both feel quite uninspired and are trying to help each other find that inspiration again. but not only that, the younger bartender has managed to find his way under minah's wings — a feat that isn't very hard, if she has to be honest, not when she has always wanted to be so caring with someone without worrying about backlash and haneul is sweet, deserves someone to look after him.

which leads to where she's now.

not that yunhwa is a dangerous town, not like a big city like seoul or even paris, but it's still important to not put oneself into too risky situations or at least it doesn't stop minah from worrying that something might happen with haneul on his way back home especially when some of his shifts finish so late. and that's why she's waiting for him to be done, sipping on a lemonade while she waits for the time to pass by and haneul to come back to her when he finishes serving the few patrons at the bar.

"a slow night?" she asks when the other is close enough, seeming to be able to give her a little of attention again. "well, not surprising since it's in the middle of the week, i suppose."

"have you had the chance to eat yet?" minah also asks and there's a light tint of concern on her voice. "i could order something and we could share." she offers even though that's not exactly very work ethical, but then it's a slow night so no one can hold it against them, right?

[yhminah]

— see you again;

@yhnari

maybe it's because minah lives just above the tavern that she ends up spending so much time in it, especially when she doesn't have much else to do, not when she's not painting anymore — considering how nothing comes out right these days — and she doesn't have any work that isn't painting. besides, visiting his family is always a russian roulet and minah sometimes just doesn't have the mental strength to deal with her sister going off at her and then putting their parents in a tough spot, especially when she's the intruder now, she's the one who moved out of the house— of the country and then decided to come back because things weren't great anymore.

very selfish and convenient for her, minah thinks, so there's only so much she can mess up in here. actually, she shouldn't be messing anything up at all—

but well, that's besides the point and minah does visit her family sometimes, she's not that awful of a daughter.

the point is that minah does visit the tavern quite often more often than their family maybe and she's familiar with some of the characters that show up regularly, like the bartender who helps her trying to find her inspiration again in yunhwa, like this girl that is always drinking and at this point they're polite enough to greet each other, even if briefly and quietly, whenever their eyes meet and tonight is supposed to be the same, but when minah's eyes find the familiar figure on her usual table in the tavern something else catches her eyes.

les fleurs du mal is a book that she never thought she'd see in yunhwa especially in its mother language, not when it's such a small town and she has met people who knows how to speak english, sure, japanese, of course, but never french. it makes her perk up and her eyes sparkles a bit. even if south korea will always be the home she was born into, minah has spent enough time in paris to also consider it a second home and if she has to be honest, the artist can't deny she misses being able to speak french with someone.

that's why she orders her drink from the bar and approaches the stranger that seems engrossed in her reading. "if i had known you had such great taste in literature, i'd have approached you much sooner." minah says in a light tone. "do you mind if i sit here?" and maybe it's a little too shameless considering how there are a couple of empty tables around the tavern, but minah doesn't mind. the worst thing that can happen is the stranger saying no and then she'll go back to minding her own business.

[yhminah]

— wildflowers in spring;

@yhsejun

minah sort of feels bad that she didn't remember how beautiful yunhwa could be in spring. even if paris and even seoul have their own charms during the season of flowers, there's something different about her hometown, something that takes her breath away in a different way and she takes it as a sign that maybe today, maybe today, she could start finding herself in her art again, or to at least there's a start of something in there that she can miss.

that's why she invites sejun to a picnic in the wildflower garden in the naminsan forest, tells him that if he's feeling like trying something they could bring their sketchbooks and just doodle away, try something without any commitments to perfection or even for it to be something and she makes sure to reinforce that so the younger boy won't feel pressured since that would defeat the whole purpose of the picnic. minah knows by now that forcing and pushing too hard won't lead her anywhere, or just anywhere even close to where she wants to get and considering how much sejun opened to her about his own struggles, it won't do him any good either to have expectations of what is going to come out of their little session.

it's supposed to be relaxing time and not stressing time.

"spring time is always so nice." minah sighs in delight, her page still only filled on the corners with warm up circles and other geometric shapes since she doesn't know if she's sketching the scenery or something more abstract. "the weather is so nice, the flowers are so nice. even people seem a little nicer on spring, don't you think?"

"also you should eat more." she pushes the kimbaps she made for their little outing. "you're still growing so it's important that you eat a lot, so you can be a big and healthy boy." she says in a light and teasing tone, reaching out to ruffle sejun's hair like a grandmother would with their grandchild.

[yhminah]

@taejunyh ; yunhwa locations starters

"i wish we were allowed to feed the koi fish."

minah is staring at the pound, completely entertained by the movements of the fishes, how they swim around and how pretty their color schemes are, how an amazing painting they could become. it almost makes her itch to at least get a sketch out of them., but then she remembers how frustrating even something as simple as sketching has become to her, how nothing feels right no matter how much she tries to work and tweak what she's drawing, imagine doing something much more elaborated that is what was forming on her head before it was swallowed by the black whole of her art block and the negative mindset that comes with it.

the artist almost lets herself be swallowed by it too if not for taejun's words snapping out of her spiral of thoughts. she smiles at him and it's easier for it to reach her eyes. "yeah, but then i don't think koi fish like tangerines." she teases him, referring to the fact that taejun is always giving out tangerines whenever he has the chance. it's cute, she thinks, and at this point minah just can't help associating the younger boy with the fruit.

everything is a little easier with taejun, she thinks, even when they were still back at seoul and he was supposed to hang out more with her younger sister than minah herself. maybe it's because he's always so sweet, so thoughtful with her, from when he helped her with the dishes and stayed by her sides whenever she stayed over for dinner at his parents' house back in seoul to now when he's trying to help her work through her art block by getting her into all these nice places in yunhwa, places that he thought were beautiful enough to be inspiring, artsy and definitely landscapes that would be easily found in aesthetic places like tumblr or even photography contests, or not so magnificent places like now, taking her to see the koi fish at yunhwa plaza.

it's very touching, what taejun is doing and minah just wished she had more ways to express her gratitude for it, to find a way for taejun to understand how much his effort means to her, but nothing seems quite enough no matter how much she tries. "talking about feeding," she starts casually, smile still in place. "should we go out to eat something? my treat of course."

[yhminah]

@yhanran ; yunhwa locations starter

“there’s a weird band coming to the tavern- i gotta see them”

minah is still trying to get used, if she has to be honest, with the fact that anran is so friendly with her. of course that the other was never exactly hostile, but it was very clear at least in the start how much they bought minhee's fights and pain instead of taking minah's side — which, of course, didn't upset minah since she also thought that she was at fault for their failed relationship in one degree or another —, but since that talk in the beach that they have, anran was much more friendly, seeking minah and offering her help to try to amend her relationship with her little sister.

it's sweet and minah appreciates it because lord knows she needs all the help that she can get since she clearly doesn't know what else she's supposed to try when her little sister barely listen to her, when they can barely spend time together without ending up in a fight.

but it still catches minah off guard when anran comes to her, inviting her like they're friends.

"oh?" minah raises an eyebrow, clearly amused with the adjective that anran decided to use to describe what kind of gig that is happening in the tavern. "i'm assuming it's a good weird and not a bad weird."

to be honest, minah isn't in the best mood to leave her apartment for the night but, well, she was never good in resisting anran's pretty eyes and besides the tavern is right below her apartment so it isn't like she'd need a ride back home. so she just ends up— "ok, we can go see this weird band at the tavern." then minah pretends to be paying attention to something on her phone for a moment, just enough to get her to gather courage to, "and you can sleep over if the show ends in a late hour" she offers softly. "since i live right above the tavern anyway.

[yunhwahall]

yunhwa locations starters! 

naminsan forest area

    “who goes there?”

    “is there someone behind me?”

    “you went into the forest alone?!”

    “i don’t trust anything with the word ‘sorcerer’ before it.”

    “you up for a hike?”

    “i’ve never seen so many flowers before…”

    “wait, you live at the inn?”

    “isn’t it scary working at the inn at night?”

    “uh i think the sun is setting.”

    “should we stay here until morning?”

    “don’t you know what happens in those woods?”

    “i’m not going to the woods. it’s way too scary!”

    “these flowers are sacred- have you heard the story?”

sunjaro street

    “how many shops have you ‘just browsed’ in?”

    “you’re going to the vet? that can’t be good.”

    “maru’s bistro is the best restaurant in town!”

    “maru’s bistro is easily the worst place to eat in town.”

    “let’s shop at the boutique! i’ll be quick i promise.”

    “you’ve been shopping here for an hour.”

    “let’s go drink.”

    “there’s a weird band coming to the tavern- i gotta see them”

    “i have a gig at the tavern tonight! will you be there?”

    “haven’t we passed that handmade candle place twice?”

    “hardware store? for what?”

    “we could walk this street all night, if you want.”

    “let’s stay here until it’s dark and all the signs turn on.”

yunhwa plaza

    “why’d we decide to hang out in the most populated place possible?”

    “i wish we were allowed to feed the koi fish.”

    “should we just go to the gas station for food?”

    “haemyung artifacts? but there’s nothing to do there…”

    “wait, you’re going to the doctor? for what?”

    “i need to go pick something up at the post office.”

    “have you been to yunhwa town hall? it’s so beautiful there.”

    “yunhwa town hall has been the same for years. it’s the ugliest thing yunhwa has.”

    “there’s a class i wanna do at the community center, do you wanna tag along?”

    “should we take this to the police station? they’ll know what to do.”

    “let’s make some cookies for the fire department!”

    “this place is so lively- i love it.”

    “this place feels too crowded. let’s get out of here.”

    “have you ever seen it so empty… it feels too quiet here.”

    “excuse me, do you know where ___ is?”

moonjaedo beach

    “i think you have some sand… uh… on your…”

    “isn’t it too cold to be in the water this time of year?”

    “what do you think that weird hut is over there?”

    “should we go test our fishing skills?”

    “i love sura cuisine! we should go together sometime!”

    “i hate sura cuisine. that place is filled with rich jerks.”

    “i don’t think fishing is going to work on the beach…”

    “you brought floaties?”

    “i don’t know how to swim.”

    “haven’t you see jaws?!”

    “why are you drinking something warm on the beach…”

    “the beach is closed… let’s go anyway.”

    “the beach is closed… now what?”

** thank you to the hard work of yumiyh for the creation of these lovely prompts!!

[leaderirene]