⊹ 𑁍 town square.

@ꕤ ⋮ ❛ l. taeyong｡ the sound of a familiar voice calling out his name prompts yohan's face to light up like a summer day's sun, rejecting any coldness from the chilling winter wind that yeongwon found itself wrapped up in. tearing his eyes away from the delectable dishes to face the source of the voice, a wide grin follows as he nearly launches himself at this old friend of his. "YONG HYUNG!" he exclaims, wrapping his arms tightly around the older man for a quick hug. pulling away he greets taeyong's grandmother as enthusiastically before turning back to him, "wish i came in earlier, you look like you went through the trenches from carrying all this stuff. let's sit down so you could rest. my day was...quite something if my late arrival is anything to go by." he laughs sheepishly, rubbing the back of his nape.

•*´¨ ꕥ mini event one: new year potluck finished!
⁺ we do not encourage new threads for this event, although we encourage you to finish any pre-existing ones.
⁺ our second mini event will continue at the beach.

donghyuck was a man of many talents but cooking was definitely not one of them. he wasn't confident about not giving the entire village food poisoning if he were to share his homemade meals so he opted to bring a box full of fresh apples instead. he had managed to work up quite a sweat. the journey from his place to the town square had been a tiresome walk, especially with the fruits in haul. gently, he sets the box near the table, breaking the seal and pulling the sides open to provide easy access for future apple hungry villager hands. he figures he should exchange greetings with everyone but the trickle of sweat down his face is a ticklish reminder of his current dishevelled state so instead he wanders off to the corner to wipe his sweat dry. once he's confident he looks at least presentable, he makes his way back to the center where all the chit chat was happening. "hey, sorry i was late. the apples were giving me a hard time."

taehyung was no baker by any means even if his treat for the event was beyond your simple desserts, like cookies, pancakes, perhaps even bread. funny enough, he found himself failing at cookies more than he failed at this own pastry. canelés, a batch hugging the small contents and faint taste of rum while the other batch laid bare safe for children... perhaps even those who didn't enjoy alcohol to feast. his dearest friend over in paris had shared the recipe and surprisingly enough, he was able to replicate the same taste in the custard and crust that left him overjoyed even thousands of miles away. here he found himself wheeling off multiple boxes of the dessert with a dolly cart to the town square, soon setting his boxes on the table as he bid his hello's with a wide smile.

It was finally one of Sijia’s favorite holidays of the year, the lunar new year was something she felt connected to her first home back in another land. Slowly setting the large jar of fruit punch on the drinks side of the table and unwrapping the stuffed lotus roots out of its plastic, she left her potluck in their places and hopped from group to group to say her greetings. “Happy new year to y’all!”

In a small town with barely anything happening, birthdays and holidays were always an excuse for everyone to let loose. Word traveled around fast when something would be going on and usually everyone at least showed up, even if it was brief. The festivities seemed to be in full swing by the time Hoseok made his way into the town square, still wearing his dirt smudged jeans and work boots. He at least had enough sense to change into a nice sky blue sweater for the occasion so that he didn't look like a total disaster, though. Cradling his gift like it was something precious, Hoseok made his way inside and was already mentally prepared for the onslaught of greetings that came his way as he weaved his way through the crowd in an attempt to get to the table. No matter if he saw someone yesterday or last week, they always wanted to catch up about something. He managed excuse himself long enough to place the serving dish that was generously piled high with marmalade stuffed shortcakes and a jar of the orange jam - courtesy of his mother - on the table for everyone to dig into.

@ꕤ ⋮ ❛ k. yohan｡ even with the chill weather from yeongwon’s winter, beads of sweat persist to form on his forehead from the constant lifting and moving back and forth. he had to help not only carry out the containers of food but also make enough portions of sweet and sour chicken and kimchi fried rice. when he was told that about thirty to forty people were predicted to show up at the festival, he couldn’t show too much excitement, as his exhaustion would win out every year. taeyong spent a good thirty minutes helping out his grandma, who was sweet with all his friends and strangers alike, while senile and demanding with him. after lifting the last box of dakgangjeong and setting it down on the tabletop, he sees a familiar face. “yohan!” taeyong exclaims to the young man, with a smile as bright as the lights illuminating the venue. moments like this, such as seeing a friend after some time, made his efforts feel worth it. “thank god you’ve made it here. how have you been?”

jaehyun waits until there's nobody in the near vicinity of the long table of food, his arms full with two large, long containers containing the sweet potato salad and garden salad with farro. dropping off the food, he then reaches into his backpack to pull out the big bottles of salad dressing: caesar and balsamic. after thar, he leaves, sneaking off to find the most reclusive and isolated area in the town square.

while yohan was in luck that he wasn't working today, due to some of misfortune, he found himself running late as always. if it wasn't the alarm that refused to ring at the time he set it for, it was the fact that he forgot where his mother placed the recipe book at their residence, if that wasn't it then it was the fact that the house was running immensely low on chili pepper flakes. he needed a lot if he was about to feed an entire small town. by the time the dust had settled, the sky was colored in streams of everything in between orange and scarlet. yohan rushes in as carefully as he can with a thermos jar of tteokkbokki and tupperware billed to the brim with crispy gimmari. despite the chaos that had went on from the moment he woke up, the young lad joins the crowd with a beaming smile. placing his food near everyone else's he marvels at all the delicacies that were prepared, "amazing! we're eating good tonight."

He played with sunshine and fire in the morning to create the promised dishes, diligently following the recipes, peeking once, twice then countless of times double checking the written methods despite remembering them perfectly. Joon has covered the fares underneath a glass cloches with polished sterling handles. His entrance was mindfully quiet, head ducked and gaze focused downwards on the ground aware of his clumsiness moreover the fear of dropping his labours dominated his forebrain. Only when he'd placed the dishes on the tabletop did he release a huge sigh, the rigid tension ebbing away from his his frame as his shoulders slumped.

with a stack of four assorted cheesecakes in her hands, she makes her way to the nearest table to set them down and set them up. if she could remember correctly, her dad said they were plain new york style, chocolate and oreo, strawberry swirl, and raspberry swirl cheesecakes that they both hoped everyone would enjoy. she also hoped she'd be able to make some new friends in town seeing as she hasn't been back in a while. everyone she knew before were still children when she left, and there were a lot of new faces around just from taking a quick glance. it's fair to say she was nervous about interacting, but she's always been like a storm—wild and powerful. after losing a lot of her hearing, that hadn't changed much to others, but it did kill her confidence a ton. still, she wants to try making a positive impression on at least one person. she just... wasn't sure to who to start with.

shooting minsi a grateful look, albeit tinged with slight embarrassment, wonwoo silently slides into the empty seat beside his favorite noodle shop chef. "heeeey, how's my favorite little chef doing?" the excitement in the younger's voice is contagious, and before he knows it wonwoo is already chuckling, his free hand reaching out to affectionately ruffle jimin's hair. "i haven't seen you in awhile. has the shop been busy?"

she squeezes her arms around jiwoo before bringing a hand up to squish the other's cheek, giggling in regards to the other girl's statement. "i'll get myself a bowl soon, cutie! im sure it's wonderful, hehe." she waves hello as well to the newcomer, gesturing to the seats as she does. "hey wonwoo, come join!"

sensing the male's wariness, minsi laughs. "he's not here yet, don't worry," she winks, then looks back at the small group. "but he's right—these all look too good! i'm glad we get to eat well again this year; it definitely takes expertise to make these."

perking up at the sound of her favorite tea shop owner ( the only tea shop owner ), jimin slinks closer to the latter and throws her hands up into the air. "wonwoo! oppa!" was she excited to see him? yeah. always.

after begrudgingly setting the stacks of octopus skewers onto the table, wonwoo looks up upon hearing familiae voices. "hi, everyone!" he greets, brims already curving up into a small grin before quickly scanning the new additions brought to the long table. "wow, these look so good. how are you guys so ta— skilled?" inwardly, wonwoo gives himself a pat on the back for managing to catch himself before he could say the forbidden t word, eyes roaming warily in case their resident art store owner is around.

jimin sinks into the inviting embrace of her friend without hesitation, a boisterous laughter bubbling out of her as she nods in response. "mhmm! fresh this morning. please give it a try and let me know what you think!"

spotting both of her friends, jiwoo pads over. "jimin! sana!" she opens her arms for a quick warm hug. turning to changmin ( who has eunyoung in his arms ), she beckons him over. "min! over here!"

sana's eyes widen at the new addition, gasping as she regards the scrumptious-looking stew. "oh my, that looks so good!" she faces the girls who placed it on the table, offering a kind smile. "uou made it?"

"you know how i said about starting my diet? screw that, i'm gonna postpone it," minsi mumbles to jiwoo and changmin, eyes practically sparkling at the new additions to the table. thankfully, she managed to compose herself before any actual drool started dripping—she wouldn't be able to take the embarrassment.

jimin drops her big pot of limited edition budae jiggae amongst all the other delicious food and dusts her hands off. "haaaappy new years!"

"hellooo, sailor sana here to save the day with some sushi!" she chirps, raising the platters in her hands up for everyone to see.

at the mention of her name, minsi turns to the direction of the voice. "oh! jiwoo-yah!" she excitedly waves back to her friend and moves to approach her, only to be intercepted by some of the older women in town. minsi conceals her mortification behind quiet laughter as she tries to answer each and every one of their questions—promptly keeping shut and merely grinning to deflect the "are you still single?" ones—before excusing herself to continue her trek towards jiwoo.

"sorry it took me awhile, you know how the ahjummas can get," she laughs, reaching over to give her friend a hug. come to think of it: she reckons it's been a while since she met up with some of her friends? "but how's life going for our dear jiwoo, hm?" minsi pulls back and gives a small salute to changmin in greeting, before squinting playfully at the little girl in his arms. "and who might this cutie be, hm? changmin's been working hard all week, and you're still letting him carry you?"

spotting wonwoo's familiar figure lingering around a table, an idea pops into changmin's brain as the sole of his feet promptly make a beeline towards the other male. "hey, bro! fancy seeing you here." from the playful gleam in his eyes to the wide grin adorning his lips, all of them spell nothing but trouble, and the next line spilling from him only serves to confirm the suspicion contorting the other's features. "can you please take care of these? i can't keep eunnie waiting! you're the best, thanks!" it doesn't take long for changmin to dump the containers into wonwoo's arms, not even giving him a chance to reply. and just when he's about to rush back to where he last left eunyoung, something (or, someone) halts his step. when he looks down, he's met with the sight of his best friend's daughter clinging onto his leg with all her might. and changmin, the biggest simp that he is, lets out the loudest coo in the universe.

it is precisely at that moment, that jiwoo finds both of them. the gentle chiding and little flick to his nose do nothing to dampen his superb mood. instead, changmin lets out a chuckle as he bends down to scoop eunyoung into his arms, allowing her familiar weight to lean against his frame. "how can i say no when she's being this adorable, huh?" the sentence is addressed towards jiwoo, but it's eunyoung that he's facing, his lips quickly landing a loud smooch on her chubby cheek, before turning his head at his best friend's next words; trying to find minsi's figure amongst the crowd.

there’s a little puzzled frown on eunyoung’s face as she looks up, her eyes darting between the boxes in his arms and his face. Despite her uncle moon’s words, eunyoung is determined to follow the other and the moment he has his boxes set down, eunyoung clings onto his legs like the little koala she is, it’s not long before Jiwoo pads over, her hands already empty. “youngie! what did i tell you about running away from me?” she chides, fingers coming to tap against her little button nose. “and you.” she points to changmin almost immediately. “what did i say about spoiling her?” without hesitation, she does the exact same action to changmin’s nose.

jiwoo’s minor annoyance leaves as quick as it comes and she’s soon distracted by her surrounding knowing her daughter is in safe arms. “oh, is that minsi?” She mumbles to herself and as soon as the other turns around, she waves her hand excitedly in her direction. “minsi! minsi! over here!”

once again, minsi needs to thank her intuition; if she had started making the croquettes a little later, she most likely would've been late—and she detests just that. "heya, everybody!" she calls out, clutching the stacked tupperwares containing her contribution to today's potluck with both hands. nearly six years in yeongwon and she still can't get used to the sheer amount of /loud/ that the town's festivities can bring, not that it's a bad thing! she rather likes seeing everyone enjoy their days. "i've brought the promised croquettes, i hope everybody likes it!"

without further ado, she heads to the nearest table and places the containers, before dusting her hands off and looking around. hmmm—a few familiar faces, some new ones. seems like another good year for yeongwon, if the atmosphere is anything to go by.

"eunnie!" if changmin's grin was blinding just a moment ago, it's now literally brimming with the force of a thousand suns as he whirls around so quickly, he almost trips over his own feet. "my favorite lil lady, come give uncle a hug?" he's about to stoop down and wrap his arms around the little ball of bouncing starlight, but the huge pile in his arms effectively prevents him from doing so. slightly saddened, he peers down at eunyoung with an apologetic smile. "wait a minute okay? let me just put these. . . somewhere." after saying that, the male quickly walks towards the long table with purposeful strides, determined to return to the little lady's side as soon as possible.

wonwoo has just finished setting a plate of assorted jeons on the table when changmin comes barrelling in, with a greeting so loud, it may as well be heard even from the opposite side of town. his eyes roll and an exasperated sigh follows, but it's hard to miss the notes of fondness gleaming behind his dark eyes as he mutters to himself, "there he goes again."

the sun is already setting as jiwoo makes her way to the towns square, a very excited eunyoung tugging onto her hand, eventually letting go, her little feet pitter pattering across the sandy uneven path of the town square. “youngie..!” Jiwoo calls out to her daughter, a little shake of her head as she watches her fondly. It doesn’t take long before she spots the back of a familiar figure amongst the many towns folk hanging around leisurely, a smile tugging at the corner of her lips immediately. “Chang—”, “uncle moon! ” It’s eunyoung loud greeting ( read: shout )that beats her to it.

there's an obvious spring in changmin's steps as he walks briskly towards the town square. he would run, but doing so while simultaneously balancing the pile of tupperwares in his arms is quite a hard feat. a feat he's /not/ up for, especially after imagining all his hard work ending up on the cold, hard ground. the mere thought puts a slight damper on his mood, tugging his lips into the tiniest of frown, but the sight that greets his eyes upon entering the gathering spot— the townsfolk mingling around, their joyful chatter filling up the cold winter air — soon returns the smile to his face. "HI FRIENDS AND FAM!!" his voice is loud, even amidst all the hubbub, and his grin is blinding as he moves to join the festivity.