hungry heart

× …

Instead she directed her attention down to the case and marveled some more. “They’re all so wonderful!” Looking back up at the lady, she asked, “would you maybe have the time to tell me what a few of them do?”

oh, but she is precious. danbi tilts her head, allows herself a little more than a polite smile. “well, of course. the mirror speaks plainly to anyone looking for answers. it’s very intelligent. perceptive, too, which is the reason for most people’s requests to have a chat— and why they tend to walk away at least a little unnerved. our shop’s namesake is not to be underestimated.” she straightens up, palms resting over the edge of the counter. “that’s fair. i know the opportunity can be overwhelming, even if you’re already aware of the scope of the mirror’s power. better not to stumble into a conversation you may not be ready for, right?”

at that, danbi relaxes, folding her arms yet again. rather than resume her previous position, she leans over the glass with an even wider smile. warmer, hopefully, in this girl’s eyes. “that’s what i’m here for.” she sweeps her gaze over the display. “if you don’t have anything in mind, i suppose i should start with the basics here.” she drums her fingers over finely crafted items lined up in the back, wood and stone and metal all carved and twisted into ornamental pieces. “these are novelties, really. each possesses a simple, eye-catching effect; say, emitting a light with a certain word, or allowing a small item of choice to float above it.” shifting towards rows of mundane looking things— bookmarks, clips, little paperweights— placed more evenly between them: “dedicated to the studious type. all boost luck or focus.” then, tapping on the girl’s side of the glass; compared to the previous groupings, which seemed to make sense visually, the neat line of items here is a true assortment. “this is where it gets interesting.”

danbi pauses there, more to catch her breath than to gauge her audience. but if it adds some dramatic effect to her spiel, she won’t let it go to waste. “we don’t know what these do, exactly. they’re certainly not marketed as having a particular purpose; people usually buy them because of their looks, not their function. they do contain some sort of magic, though, so purchasing one of these knick-knacks is… a bit of a gamble. perhaps not great for a gift, unless you have the means to identify the effect. or its recipient does. you never know what consequences may come out of toying with a trinket from here.”

she thinks about moving, sometimes. it’s silly, a hazy idea she lets drift by whenever it crosses her mind. still, it’s enough of a recurring thought to be near-fully formed—

danbi will never get her beloved ship back. not in this life. no use in replacing it, either, with nowhere to go. as she’s learned with her criminal career, however, there’s a second best for just about anything she puts her mind to.

so, moving. not on her own, but with her most trusted allies. accomplices who may or may not have sailed on the jolly roger with her, in another world; the closest thing she might ever have to a loyal crew, in this one. hoarding spoils and drawing plans for future heists, together, from the comfort of… home.

a weight settles in the pit of her stomach when she recognizes this particular whim. perhaps an anchor, she tells herself, when she’s feeling wry. she can tell that this is the next defining moment of her story. it must be, if her blood runs cold to even try imagining life after accomplishing that. but danbi’s only just gotten back on her feet, relatively speaking; it would be foolish to clamor for the fates’ attention again so soon.

the anchor clatters at her feet when she walks past a villa, one dreary day. the sky darkens with the promise of rain as she takes in the papers tacked onto the door, detailing vacancies within. it would be so easy to note down the number. easier still to just walk in and ask for more information…

danbi jerks back to reality as the beginning of a drizzle lands on her face. lashes fluttering, she tilts her face up to the thick cloud cover. fills her lungs with the crisp autumn air. then gives a shake of her head, turning to set a brisk pace down the street. her umbrella swings up, unfolds to shield her before the rain can truly set in. she’ll let the downpour usher her inside, wash the temptation away before she takes another leap towards her last page.

tentatively locked onto one @dhwkyungah​:

some things about retail, danbi finds, simply don’t change no matter what the business is. from convenience stores, to boutiques, to niche places like magic mirror, the tedium remains the same. so does the strange boredom of slow periods on the clock, both welcomed as a reprieve from patrons and resented for the sheer mundanity of retaining a polite mask.

…she could be a lot more sensible about that last point. but, as the fates themselves might say, she’s a pirate at heart. a simple law-abiding lifestyle is never going to sit right with her. besides, she’s got ways to keep herself occupied. to an extent.

thankfully, the slower section of her shift today is saved from being completely devoid of interaction with the arrival of a new visitor. and, if the look on her face is any indication, this first meeting could be… promising, one way or another. there’s a wonder in the eyes of people like her that danbi’s grown to recognize with time. it’s not as ubiquitous as the unsavory types she can never quite escape, but the expression has become a valuable detail to file away.

of course, danbi isn’t going to take things slow if she doesn’t have to. it’s easy to lay foundations where she’s in her element, shift things in her favor— literally, in this case. familiar with both the layout and the inventory of this shop, it’s simple enough to change what’s on display like it’s a routine switch; giving the girl another once over, though, she stops short of flipping everything. best not run her out before danbi can confirm the kind of budget she might be willing to blow on these trinkets.

enter @dhwjunhee​​ to the rescue:

the lakeside looks picture perfect today. it always does, by virtue of whatever pleasant destiny it must be tied up in, but the softly blowing breeze seems to bring a promise of only good things with it. with the sky above so clear, and the sun casting a warmth on her cheeks almost defiant of the season, danbi’s willing to believe for an afternoon.

she basks in that warmth from the edge of the water, sitting cross-legged and hunched over the open bag in her lap. tilting her head back, danbi shuts her eyes tight, honing in on the details that make up the relaxing atmosphere. drifts into a daydream of the kind of sunbathing she’d be free to do if she were… well, free: out on open ocean, laid out on the deck of a ship. rocked halfway to dreamland by rolling waves. admiring a stolen bauble by holding it against the bright light in her eyes, turning it this way and that to see how it sparkles.

well, there’s one thing she can do. danbi thrusts one hand into her bag, digging around until she feels cool metal against her fingertips. the sight of gold and glittering jewels stop her from stretching her arm up, though, free hand immediately twitching to the picks buried deeper among her things. perhaps she could pry a gem or two from the face before giving the thing over to the peaceful waters before her.

the idea is rejected almost as soon as it forms, distant sounds of a strolling family drifting close enough to stay her hand. danbi scans the area around her, tunes out a child’s laugh that would otherwise make her flinch in favor of focusing on the sound of the watch she lifts to her ear. but that dimly noted detail chips enough of her patience away that the timepiece is thrown into the lake within the minute; danbi watches the ripples fade into still waters, brows furrowing even as she shakes off a grimace.

returning to a regular life feels a little bit like waking up from a long dream. the actual process of being released, reacquainting herself with her home, confirming that the last place she worked would not take her back… she checks off every task that seems a given for a newly minted ex-con without stopping to think, let alone plan. she’d made so many plans while waiting out her sentence; now that she’s free to put them into action, though, she only feels like being an ordinary citizen.

it’ll pass. shouldn’t take more than a day.

there’s a moment later, when she’s rifling through the linens stacked in the closet, that she thinks her prized lock picks are gone. a chill passes through her body as she searches a little faster, willing herself not to make a mess in her panic. but a memory rises up that relaxes her shoulders, sends her over to her mismatched bedding; a decidedly slower, thorough slide of one hand under the mattress yields a familiar hooked point, connected by a thin silver ring to a number of different tools. it only takes one good tug to retrieve the whole lot of them.

danbi sits cross-legged on her bed, after. counts out the picks one by one. lingers on the lucky ones, tracing telltale marks of use that recall heists that went fantastically, miraculously well. while she’s replaced many pieces of this set over the years, these special few have been with her for a significantly long time. none of them will be utilized just quite yet; she’s still got to sift through all those plans she made. do all the research she couldn’t do while confined. perhaps she’ll make time to polish them up.

the lock picks are tucked in the inside pocket of her jacket when she goes out for a late-night stroll. they jostle as she goes, against each other and the heavy chain that’s been hidden for a full year, now. she walks a winding route to a cliffside overlooking the surf, weaving in and out of the boundary of the forest. the sound of the sea comes gradually, reaching over various woodland noises like a voice calling out; calling her home. the ache of keeping herself at a distance is almost welcoming, now that she’s regained the freedom to walk as close as she dares.

under the light of the moon, somewhat fragmented by scant cloud cover, danbi holds up that hooked point against the glittering ocean. she may chafe against the ending foretold for her, but the meat of her destiny can be a grounding thing at times such as these. all she needs is the water, the glint from a bit of curved silver, and the knowledge that she’s still got a long way to go, and the pull to honor what pieces of her fate she does embrace locks back into place.

co-starring the unsuspecting @dhweunbyeol​:

danbi doesn’t get many opportunities to practice. while she much prefers getting use of her lockpicks, the residences she’s most curious about sneaking into have long abandoned keys in favor of passcodes. which… is fine, really. danbi couldn’t accomplish as much as she has by only getting in through the intended entryways. she simply feels a greater sense of pride wielding her prized tools to get through a door, as opposed to the more brutish task of prying or breaking a window open.

all of this is to say: danbi needs to work on bypassing those blasted keypads. luckily for her, the building she lives in uses those keypads. and there just so happens to be a promising room one floor down for her to test her methods on.

she thought about going for a vacant apartment, in the early stages of this particular plan. it would cut out the potential for getting caught entirely, as long as she timed her attempt right. but the longer she thought about it, the more danbi’s interest turned to her fellow tenants; she makes sure to time things, regardless. might as well pick someplace lived-in, and take a little souvenir of her success.

so one afternoon, she heads out for a stroll. buys herself a jacket that looks so nice, she can’t help but change into it before heading back home. steps off the elevator right before her floor, stops at a door that’d be right before hers, and takes out her phone as she sets her fingertips on the keypad. it’s not so hard to guess a passcode for one with a social media presence like this girl. danbi bites back a smile as she slips inside, not even sparing a glance around her; she’s more interested in gauging the worth of everything in the immediate vicinity as she closes the door. a cursory glance doesn’t reveal much, though, so she flips the switch as she walks in— and stops short at catching a sound besides her steps. a soft, even sound that she wouldn’t have noticed, if it didn’t suddenly change with her entrance.

danbi leans rather heavily into the villainous nature of her destiny. she learns about it fairly young, so she’s predictably excited about Who She Truly Is. emulating that kind of life as a rebellious teen proves similarly entertaining; honestly, she’d consider herself a destined if she had an ambiguous end, rather than a bad one.

alas, the consequences of embracing things are unavoidable. and fucking painful, too, in more ways than one. so danbi tries to balance stalling for time, basically, with maintaining the type of life she leads. meaning, she changes jobs sort of frequently, jumping from one low-level gig to the next, and she hunts for opportunities to steal any chance she gets. it’s the closest she can get to, like, pillaging and plundering in a modern day city.

on that note, danbi is an ex-con. only spent a year in prison, but it’s on her record. she’s doing her damned best to make sure she doesn’t add to it— or at least gets away with shit for a good, long time before getting arrested again.

if you’re looking for her, and she’s isn’t off on another break-in attempt, your best bet is the magic mirror (when she’s on the job), swan lake, or down the rabbit hole.

but if kids show up anywhere, danbi goes out of her way to steer clear.

now, connections!

with how often danbi quits and finds a job elsewhere, she’s probably got a lot of acquaintances she used to work with.

and with how often she picks pockets and breaks into places, she’s also probably familiar with a number of people who might not know her, in return. until they run into each other for some other reason.

fellow thieves would be welcomed as well— she doesn’t want to tempt fate again by assembling a group to lead, but she does like making allies in the ‘business.’ if she takes the lead in arranging things here and there, well, that’s not quite the same, is it?

but also i’d love a rivalry. between another criminal, or with a do-gooder! or both.

also, the person who caught her that one time that led to her one and only conviction. i’ve got some ideas, but i had to put it out there.