willow / 27 / she/her / gmt-8 / active
The Little Chef
kim narae
jiro ono - once you decide on your occupation... you must immerse yourself in your work. you have to fall in love with your work. Never complain about your job. you must dedicate your life to mastering your skill. that's the secret of success... and is the key to being regarded honorably.
Rules & Guidelines
ㅤplottingㅤㅤI will plot with you, I will brainstorm with you, but we have to be able to have an actual conversation. Do not bother approaching me if you are going to expect me to come up with the entire plot by myself. If that's the case- go choose from the plots I already have posted. I am absolutely okay with random starters as long as you stick to the rules in this section.ㅤwriting styleㅤㅤMy style varies between para and novella. Depending on my muse and OOC schedule I lean more towards literate, light novella. Currently I am not busy and so I will be writing in semi-literate to literate, multi-para third person or longer. I do not expect you to also use third person, however I do wish for mirrored responses, I will mirror your responses. If you would like me to start the thread I will, however my starters are always abnormally sized. Please do not feel pressure to base your responses on the size of my starter, I love to yap.
ㅤname:ㅤㅤwillow.
ㅤage:ㅤㅤ27 yrs.
ㅤpronouns:ㅤㅤshe/her.
ㅤtimezone:ㅤㅤgmt-8.
ㅤactivity:ㅤㅤactive 8/10.
ㅤfriendly:ㅤㅤyes, looking for friends.
ㅤmature threadsㅤㅤI am 27 years old. In order to do Mature Threads I expect you to be 21+ and I will be verifying if the thread is going to be maturely themed. As for the thread itself, we can discuss the content in the case of choosing to commit to a mature plot, please keep in mind though. Narae will be interactable for romance between those born between 1992 and 2000.
ㅤtaggingㅤㅤI do not want anything on my wall for the time being. Threads are to go in rooms and rooms only unless the plot is a mature thread, in which pms are the appropriate location. If you are uncertain where the appropriate place is to post a starter, I am a simple tag away. I do, adore open/random starters. As long as you follow my rules here, again, I fully encourage them.ㅤlimitsㅤㅤDo not poke me before 1 week of radio silence. If you god mod my character, I will not continue to plot with you. I actually have grown to appreciate pre-plotted romance more than dating around in the roleplay. If you think your character would match Nari well, feel free to reach out for the connection so we can chat it over. Lastly, do not start in character drama involving my character without prior consent. My pace varies depending on the threads length and literacy, as well as my OOC life and general muse for the thread. I will keep you updated throughout responses.
Kim Narae
ㅤnameㅤㅤkim narae.
ㅤaliasㅤㅤchef narae, xiǎo shǔ.
ㅤageㅤㅤ29 yrs.
ㅤpronounsㅤㅤshe/her.
ㅤfaceclaimㅤㅤjennie kim.
ㅤbirthdateㅤㅤjan 16th, 1996.
ㅤsexualityㅤㅤdemisexual.
ㅤromanceㅤㅤheteromantic.
ㅤoccupationㅤㅤcelebrity chef.
ㅤoriginㅤㅤwillith beach.
ㅤethnicityㅤㅤkorean-chinese.
ㅤlanguagesㅤㅤkorean, mandarin, english, french.
ㅤstatusㅤㅤsingle.
biography a willith beach local, narae was born into a family mixed in every way one could imagine. her mother's side of the family hailed from china, her father- south korea. while her mom wasn't in her life, having left when she was an infant, her father did his best to raise her alongside his own mother, Zhang Yifei. her grandmother was a beautiful woman, although she was strict in nature and highly expectant, she knew how to truly love someone.
her grandmother ran a restaurant within willith beach named haiyuan, a modest but beloved restaurant known for it's hand-pulled noodles, seafood dumplings, and hearty breakfasts for extremely reasonable prices. due to this, narae grew up in the kitchen. her father worked overseas and was rarely home, leaving narae to assist her grandmother in the kitchen- whether it was kneading dough, slicing scallions, or learning the flavors that made the local seafood pop, narae slowly fell in love with cooking.
once she turned 18, narae, with the blessing of her grandmother, moved away from home in order to attend culinary school. after graduation she began to travel the world's most well-known locations for cuisine, training beneath some of the culinary world's best chefs. by 23, she had not only competed in an extremely popular tv cooking competition, but won by a landslide, catapulting her into the public eye. before she knew it, she was releasing a cookbook, filming for food programs, guest judging on shows, and becoming a well known commercialized face in the cooking community... but the glamour was beginning to fade.
the life of a celebrity was too much for her, the relentless hours, unnecessary politics, and online gossip took away from her love for what she really wanted to do in the first place- cook. as she was struggling with her career, she received news of her grandmother's passing back in her hometown. the news devastated narae, and despite the empire she had carefully built overseas, she found herself returning home immediately.
her hope? to continue her grandmother's legacy within the town, to add her own flavor and style to the mix, and to give willith beach one last fighting hoorah- a reason to continue to fight.
personality narae is warm. she is a personable woman who has a habit of feeling things deeply. whether that is a positive emotion like joy, excitement, or something more negative, she feels with her entire being. she is a hard worker by nature due to her grandmother's expectant hand, often throwing herself fully into whatever she sets her mind to. she keeps her word at all costs, and is extremely loyal. a natural protector of those she loves, narae is a wonderful addition to the lives of those around her.
she has a habit of keeping little knickknacks and memorabilia from the places she has been or the people she has met, assigning emotional value to them equal to the memory they stand for. those in town who watched her grow up know her as xiǎo shǔ (little mouse), because she could always be seen scurrying around with her hands full of food.
she hasn't experienced much as far as romance goes, despite her age... but as she settles back into town alone, she finds herself feeling a bit curious about that side of life.
Alternate Verses
ㅤdownpour.ㅤ
any gender.
any age.
angst, drama, friendship-building.
you’re walking along the beach at night, the rain is intense, soaking through your coat and stinging your face. up ahead, you see someone sitting on the wet sand, hunched against the wind and rain. her hair is plastered to her face, her shoulders shaking. you pause, unsure if you should approach, call out, or keep walking, but something about the sight makes you stop and watch.
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Eternal Bonds
ㅤname here.ㅤ
childhood friend.
he has always been the kind of person who just… fit into my life without me ever having to make space for him. he was there for every summer morning at the docks, for every whispered secret in the market, for every moment i thought i was invincible.
he never asked me to be anything but myself, which is probably why it hurt so much when he couldn’t follow me out of this town.
i told myself i was angry at him, but really, i think i was angry at the idea that someone could be content where i wasn’t. i left, and he stayed, and somewhere in the silence between us, eleven years disappeared.
seeing him again is strange... like finding a piece of myself i didn’t know i’d been missing, one that’s both exactly the same and completely changed. one that i don’t know what to do with yet.
ㅤname here.ㅤ
childhood friend.
in a town of two hundred, they’re the person everyone calls when something needs fixing. floors, walls, wiring, paint- if it’s broken, they can probably make it work again.
they’ve been in and out of haiyuan since they were a kid, sent on errands by their parents or stopping in after school for a bowl of noodles from narae’s grandmother. when narae comes home to reopen the restaurant, they show up with a toolbox and a shrug, saying, “figured you’d need a hand.”
somewhere between sanding floorboards and repainting the windowsill, the work becomes less about repairs and more about keeping the place, and its memories, alive.
friendship, slice of life.
they worked alongside narae’s grandmother at haiyuan for years. sometimes as a server, sometimes helping in the kitchen when things got busy.
they knew every regular by name, every preferred table, every unspoken rhythm of the restaurant.
when narae decides to reopen, they’re the first to offer their help- not just because they know the place, but because it feels like keeping a piece of her grandmother alive.
ㅤname here.ㅤ
rivalry, slice of life.
they went to school with narae and were never exactly friends. they always clashed in class and constantly rubbed each other the wrong way.
when she left town for bigger things, they saw it as her thinking she was “too good” for everyone here. now that she’s back, they’re polite enough in public, but there’s a bite to their words and a subtle effort to undermine her.
now there is always a sarcastic comment about her “fancy city life,” or a pointed remark about her not lasting long here. in a place with only two hundred people, the tension has nowhere to hide.
ㅤtidal wave.ㅤ
friendship, slice of life.
they recently moved to willith beach, drawn by the quiet life and the sea, and they’re still finding their footing in the small-town rhythm. narae keeps running into them around town- at the harbor, at the corner store, even near the shoreline.
their interactions are always slightly awkward, a mix of curiosity and mutual skepticism. they have a different energy than the locals: a little brash, a little stubborn, and unafraid to question why things are done the “old way.”
neither is sure what to make of the other, but the collisions are inevitable in a town this tiny.