nam min-ji

Plain? Zita looked at the treats again and realized the young fae was right. They were round & powdered, the pecans hiding inside. She nodded in understanding, wondering if there was a way she could spice up the sweets to make it more aesthetically pleasing for the woman's pictures. But she watched her take a bite & immediately lit up with her. "I'm glad you like them!" Zita exclaimed. She set the plate down on the counter, allowing Minji to take more if desired. She hummed in thought, tapping a finger on her chin. "Maybe I can do a drizzle topping? What flavors do you recommend? I made plenty more so we can experiment if you have time?"

The mention of a drizzled topping immediately caused the young fae woman to brighten, "Yes! That will be perfect. Just a little something special on top to make them stand out more," she nodded confident in her suggestion for she considered herself quite the professional, at least in regards to desserts and making them look delicious. "Caramel always goes nicely with most things," her pink lips pursed outward as she considered other options, "and I think pecan and caramel tastes good together."

Minho smiled, to know that he was successful at recreating the likeness of the dessert Min-Ji had described felt like praise to him and that was how he chose to take it. His smile then turned to a little, probably unnecessary frown. “Oh no, then we must have it soon so you would not suffer so terribly on my account.” Then a small delighted gasp left his parted lips. “Twenty! Will it be enough?” It was a little tease directed Min-Ji’s way, but it was all in good jest. His whole expression grew ever more gentle as his dearest friend spoke of such whimsical, adorable things that Minho couldn’t help but finally giggle from the heart. “Ahh, you sweet little tumbling berry fruit, how you make my heart warm! Why, I have forgotten what I’ve been sad about all this while!” With a little flick of his hand, the illusion which Min-Ji likely wouldn’t even be able to pick up let alone taste for it was just that, air painted with magic and nothing more, he made it disappear just like that, not a trace of it left. 

The young fae woman giggled warmly, "Maybe it will not be enough," this she whispered conspiratorially to him with glee. It was such a delicious dessert that she felt rather confident she could eat that much, already having a large appetite when it came to anything sweet.

Seo observed the enthusiasm and the actions of the fae with some curiosity, especially when she took out her phone. She had seen humans use this, but had never really been talking to them or observed close enough, aside from Rosita in the motel, but then the two women had not been the slightly bit friendly. "What do you do with this... apparatus," she asked before the girl was too preoccupied with eating the strange food. She was surprised to hear her native tongue used, which honestly could only be even more into favor for Min-Ji, as far as Seo's few friendly factors went and as far as her friendliness went. The raspberry took her a while to place but then she thought it must be something similar to bokbunja fruit, so if she closed her eyes and concentrated very hard she could be able to recall the taste of it. But chocolate was a modern food that she had not had once upon a time, so she needed to go by the smell of it, and the smell was not very appetizing. "Ruby chocolate does not sound like something that is edible," she said slowly but let the corners of her lips turn upwards, maybe for the first time so far.

"Mm?" The young fae woman momentarily couldn't understand what the other could be referring to when she questioned after an 'apparatus.' The phone which Min-Ji's entire life seemed to revolve around was such a normal and every day piece of technology that she hadn't really encountered anyone who didn't know what it was or what it did, naturally assuming that everyone must know it. "What apparatus?"

If it wasn't for Minji, Ye Xian wouldn't know what pastries & sweet goods she would make that were worth putting out. Everything knew she made, she would immediately tell the woman to come try. First thing in the morning or afternoon if it took longer to make. This time it was pecan meltaways, something she had only made about three times. By the time she heard the door chime shortly followed by Minji's voice, the sweets were done cooling. Ye Xian grabbed a box & placed four of the meltaways in it. "Perfect timing!" She exclaimed as she walked to the front. "Pecan meltaways. I hope you like them?"

Min-ji hummed with interest as she stepped forward, the young fae woman's nose wiggled as she sniffed the air around the boxed up pastries, already able to smell their sweetness wafting into the air. They didn't look very cute and this she was honest in, "They look rather plain, don't you think?" Their coating of soft powdered sugar was kind of fun but aside from that, the orbish sweet cookie looked simple and not very aesthetic at all, "I'd have a hard time getting good pictures of them," she said honestly, picking one up and out of the box, her fingertips dusting with powdered sugar. One bite was all it took though for her reaction to brighten, gleaming in her eyes as she looked at Zita, "Oh! But they're delicious! It almost makes up for how plain they look."

~~*~~

Min-Ji tapped around on her phone screen a bit longer, speaking as she did so, "I like to be called many things," she looked up suddenly and gave the woman now sat across from her a very stern expression as she continued, "but nothing rude. Only sweet things," she returned to smiling and returned her attention to her phone, tapping onto the next filter to apply it and now began to type up a caption and some tags for her post. "I'm called Min-Ji most of the time though. What's your name?" She completed her post, tapped the final button to post it to her social media and then clasped her hands over the screen, dark brown eyes looking back up to the other woman as she smiled cheerily and expectantly.

Duncan motioned with a very polite gesture of his hand when the napkin was offered back to him, refusing it and allowing Min-Ji to keep it. “A painting.” Duncan revealed finally, turning back to the stairs that lead up to the last level of the house - the attic. “Of a man whose pursuit of eternal beauty had cost him his soul.” As he spoke, he ascended the stairs, opening the widened trap door to let himself pass through. He did give Min-Ji a glance and extended a hand for her to hold onto, should the young fae woman need any help going up. The stairs were pretty stable and converted to an actual staircase instead of the usual pull down stairs. But the faerie had her wings out which might influence her balance. Duncan had always been a gentleman enough to mind these details, even for a stranger, and she’d given him no reason so far to become intentionally neglectful of this. 

Min-Ji hummed with interest as she followed after Duncan, "Eternal beauty. I like the sound of that." She always fancied that she would be beautiful eternally, fae like her were blessed with long lives and so could theoretically stay young and beautiful for centuries. She paused momentarily when he did and glanced to his offered hand, not something she needed but she took it anyway, not to be polite, but simply because it was offered and she enjoyed the pampering however moderate. It made her feel important and special even if the intention wasn't meant to do so. She just was mindful of her wings following behind her, keeping them closely folded against her back, though after having done so for quite some time now she was feeling the need to stretch them out but would keep that for later. Of course, once she'd ascended the stairs with Duncan's help, she was pleased to find that this space was far more spacious than the previous ones and that she could in fact stretch out her wings ever so slightly without fear of bumping them into something delicate and fragile like below in the main showroom of the shop. So after releasing his hand, she allowed to extend her wings behind herself in a half curl so the white points of her feathers could rustle out a bit more comfortably before settling back against her back.

Seo observed the fae creature with more interest as if the idea of getting her hands on the sweets woke up an energy source within that had been until now rather tame. She wondered if there was a ball of magic inside her and once again had to take a deep breath to savor the sweetness before letting it out so that she would behave herself for the time being. She had attacked two people in this city and had learned quickly that it was a very bad idea. So the woman in white in front of her, currently turning around with enthusiasm, was very much safe for the time being, if she remained in the borders.

"Okay!" Min-Ji replied all too quickly with a very chirpy response and didn't hesitate at all with the suggestion that she could consume both and her new friend none. The young fae woman happily produced her phone and took some quick aesthetic photos of her two chocolate covered fruit skewers with the stall she'd bought them from blurry in the background of her image and then tucked her phone away, she'd edit it later and post it on her social media pages. Despite being in Greywood, she managed to maintain a very huge social media presence, at least in the niche content world she'd curated. Once that was done, Min-Ji promptly and eagerly bit into the pink chocolate fruit, pulled it from the skewer and ate it while released a hum of delight. "Ah, neomu mas-iss-eo," she exclaimed in Korean. It's so delicious! "It tastes like, uh, uh, creamy, cream and sweet raspberry. It doesn't taste like white chocolate. I think it is... what is it? Ruby chocolate? Do you know it?" She asked with her large eyes gleaming.

Guinevere looked apologetic to the other. "I'm sorry I haven't heard of your name -" Aside from a work computer, Guinevere was only a little familiar with media. Therefore, she didn't know the other, and couldn't really say she knew what the other's job was.

The young fae woman gave a little humming response as she leaned a little to the side, "Sometimes I am famous," was her playfully accurate reply. "Only to those who know me," Min-Ji gave a smile back as she laughed, bubbly and sweet like champagne. She was vain but she also didn't mind when people didn't know who she was, it was often better that way.

~~*~~

Min-Ji gave a nod to confirm that was what she wanted to order and then waited, playing around on her phone in the meantime, taking a couple of selfies and quickly editing them in her photo app before posting it on her social medias. As an influencer, her job didn't have set hours and so she was technically always working in some way. When the treats she'd ordered arrived, Min-Ji squealed with delight at the sight of them and again proceeded to take pictures, but she was so proficient with it at this point of her social media career that she knew exactly how to position the cheesecake and milkshake so that her picture was just how she wanted it and replied off handedly, "I didn't say," when asked what her name had been.

Seo suspected that maybe the candy girl in front of her was not able to feel the coldness of her skin due to the layers of her white jacket and gloves so she did not fault her. If she were honest she herself hadn't seen too much change in the color of her skin when she had turned, having spent such long times outside of the sunshine. While there was a whitish sheen to her skin now that would be associated with a walking dead person, there was also a tint to it that looked somewhat human and made her skin look like glass.

The young fae woman hummed in delight at the sweet treat which her new friend had pointed out, "That does look delicious! You have a good eye!" Min-Ji uncurled her arm from her companion so that she could step forward to the shop clerk and ordered two skewers of what appeared to be some kind of fruit covered in chocolate. Naturally, Min-Ji had to have a pink one and a white one for those colored were of more interest to her than the traditional brown chocolate color.

“A very silly name indeed for a food.” He agreed softly, smile gentler and more honest than it was a few seconds ago. He nodded again with an almost childish hum when the reasoning behind naming it a croffle was explained. A wishful sigh left his lungs as she continued to explain how it looked and tasted like, the fae man immediately wanting a croffle to try now. He uncurled an arm from where it hugged him around his chest and swirled a finger pointed downwards at the mattress cushion of the chaise, as if in attempt to stir the air in that bit of space. At this gesture, an image began to take form, an almost perfect depiction of a croffle Min-Ji had just described now sitting on an illusionary plate on the chaise cushion between them. “Like so, like this?” He questioned, ready to change the illusion if he got it wrong somewhere.

Minho's illusionary magic was always so impressive for Min-Ji to witness who had never managed to get a good grasp on it though some illusion magic was meant to be accessible to most fae. She just never seemed able to focus long enough on what she wanted to create in order to do it so whenever she managed the image would always end up somehow altered or disfigured as a testament to her distracted thoughts. Seeing how a very real looking plate of a croffle now between them, the young fae woman clapped her hands together softly, "Oh. Oh yes that looks just like it!" If she was unaware of his illusionary magic she might have thought he had conjured it up and would try to take a bite from it but she knew it must certainly only be an illusion despite how perfect it appeared.

"Oh, I did, hope you missed me too" she replied, though it wasn't entirely truthful. Missing people wasn't something she often experienced. Her mind typically didn't dwell on others when they weren't present, except for a select few who defied that pattern. Min-Ji was undeniably one of those exceptions. She was happy to see her and was thinking it would've been better if they had spent more time together lately.

Min-Ji didn't hesitate to point out exactly Rosita's own thoughts, humming as she pursed her pink lips together in a pout, "Hmm. Awful things. You'd rather surround yourself with awful things than spend time with me. I see how it is. You must not have missed me very much at all then," Min-Ji pouted playfully, not really taking offense but most definitely acting as if she were horrendously upset. Only briefly though for she was never good at pretending she was one way when she was another and she was for the moment too giddy to feel anything else, so the downturn of her lips lasted only for a few seconds before turning upwards again.