It’s Like They Said —

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莉莉✽ ₊ plot call

STARTER TITLE    ୨୧     @    /     

BUBBLEGUM LI.LI     ୨୧     @lgchyuk / lili loves games.

but these games, they’re not quite her speed — a little too carefree, a little too slow; results pending rather than immediate, the easygoing nature a far cry from the devil’s advocate propositions she plays in  her daily life. and yet, here she is, pretty little thumbs twiddling the joystick of the nintendo switch joy con as she makes her character — some villager with neon teal hair and pink eyes who the staff had aptly named after herself — run after hyuk with a net. 

and … she may be having a little too much fun — all shown through the way she smiles and laughs, hand hitting his shoulder each time she’s able to hit him with a net. but enough of that — the real joy has yet to come, “okay, so we have to shake trees to get special items. it could be like money or furniture, or like the pink fruits we saw earlier.” she sets her controller down as she explains, pointing out the basic map layout where the trees were all huddled towards the horizon; her character inching a little farther back as she urges him to move forward. “so, go on — just shake them, press ‘a’.”

໒꒱ . DATE LOTTERY # 2024 _ THE DECISION 、

it’s almost sickening the way the nerves crawl upon her skin — because what did lili have to be nervous for? it wasn’t like this was some end of it all will she or won’t she a la the bachelorette; it was whether or not she’d like to — as they say — ‘continue the adventure with their current partner’. and if she said no, she could always call minkyu the next day and it'll be fine — right?

( it would all be fine? )

and as nauseating as it did sound — because whoever came up with seriously needed to be re-enrolled in romance 101 — lili couldn’t find it in her heart to deny it.

even if it went against all her principles — and maybe lili liked to think she was a better person than someone who’d reject one of her closest friends and then be fine with spending the day with them as if nothing had happened — she knew deep down that: she wasn’t a better person.

and she was just the type of person to do such a thing.

but when the cameras rolled and she’s asked the dreaded question, lili is answering before she can even tell herself that her mask was slipping.

“i’m glad it was minkyu — if anything, relieved?” she tastes the word on her tongue — as if testing it, the korean phrase a hard sell for a foreign linguist. lili nods, once she’s reassured that that is what she means. “that my date was with him. i don’t normally share much of my personal life — my childhood with many people — but since i’ve met minkyu before, being able to show him something that’s so dear to me was really nice. i think it made us closer.”

and she really did — think — that it had made them closer, rather in the superficial sense that lili usually built her relationships — in particular with minkyu, bolstering him around town with her black card through meals and little gifts — the fact that this had neither to do with any of the above made it different, made it feel different and lili still couldn’t quite describe that feeling other than … nice. it was — it is nice.

“and i think that’s why,” she pauses, licking her lips as a finger catches a stray hair before pushing it behind her ear — building the suspense through a charming grin and a small, gentle hum before she nods. “i’d like to go on another adventure with him, wherever that may take us.” 

because even if lili pretended that she was fine with burning bridges and acting fine, another part of her — the needier part that had spoken in harsh tongues and pleaded her not to — had already shown too much of her real self in the form of a happy childhood memory for all the world to now see. and she couldn’t deny that because of this, lili — whether professionally or personally — didn’t want the world to see her burn a bridge that she had now, despite her initial refrains, cemented in stone. 

she knows what they’re looking for — it was kind of hard not to know. it’s the usual: creative beyond your means, doing what no one has ever done before — that kind of thing, making a mark for yourself out of the box you called home. 

however, for lili — she hardly cared about the creative process. for lili: it was probably beyond her and her expertise. as long as the song or the choreography didn’t make her look like a laughing stock, she was fine doing something that someone else had put their blood, sweat and tears into engineering.

but now, as she puts her own blood, sweat and tears into whatever this could be — it exhausts her, and she’s ready to take a quick way out; but not before making sure that whatever the fuck this came to be didn’t look like she just pulled it from the depths of who knows where. 

“nah, nonsense — all i need is a new eye.” ( and unwarranted, half-hearted praise ) “i’m trying to match the beat but i feel like it’s coming off as stiff.” and it probably is considering this was far out of lili’s line of comfort. 

playing the song from her phone, lili lets lovely filter out into the quiet. with the help — and a healthy bribe — from one of the other trainees who had skillfully isolated the metronome in the song, she was concentrated on hitting with each move is louder than the mellowed songstress who was mumbling in the background but each move she did felt weird — disconnected, and as she does these movements before rua’s eyes, they feel even more amplified as wrong. 

“god, it looks silly, doesn’t it?”

honestly speaking, rua wasn't that interested in choreographing.

thinking about having to come up with different steps and moves then combining them into something that'd be presentable as a full dance is a tall wall she's not sure she wants to try scaling - but as it goes with all things she's taken on since becoming a trainee, she's at least open to trying. she'll never know if she might end up liking something if she doesn't give it a chance so when it was basically a requirement to focus on their personal creative skills, rua chose what she felt were the most appealing to her out of the given options.

still, she wasn't quite confident in what she picked; it showed in how she had absolutely no idea what she should be doing but not wanting to appear like she needed to be hand-held through the entire thing, rua opted for googling choreography tips and looking up videos on youtube for ideas and inspiration in the corner of the practice room she had claimed for herself. no one had to know, right?

that is, until she hears someone calling her name which causes her to look up from her phone in surprise, as if she had been caught doing something she shouldn't have. when she processes that the person--whom she remembers (hopefully, correctly) to be another trainee named lili--who said her name was not trying to expose her and instead, was asking for her advice on something, rua feels a small sense of relief - but only a little bit and the feeling doesn't last for long either.

she's not sure how much valuable input she can give considering she was just searching everything up a mere moment ago but rua doesn't want others to find that out. so she smiles and says, "i don't know how much i can help but sure," before walking over to lili and nodding. "what move are you trying to do?"

there’s a warmth that blooms, it’s very pit carrying the weight that had carved itself deep into her stomach away — as if it had been all a dream, the stress, the pain; the fear — but it’s no dream, the scar that became of the burn she had received months ago was the very reminder that this was far from some fairytale awakening at the beginning of one of her favorite folklores. 

“a very pleasant surprise, i should hope.” 

she isn’t sure if the constant adrenaline had caught up to her or if the relief had weakened her senses but she feels faint, but the dreariness in her voice is light — akin to a small laugh, one that could be similar to joy, her knees feel heavy.

what had miyu said about the gardens?

“what do you mean by twenty days?” had it already been that long? lili had lost count once her supply had run short and she had fended herself with some herbs she had found in the nearby brush. was there something amiss by staying so long? “is it forbidden to stay longer than so? shouldn’t it be called the forbidden gardens, then?” she laughs, the delirium not quite making sense to her, nor why she suddenly felt as if she was losing grasp of her rationale. 

“how funny. it’s so funny that we’re both here! out of all the place to see you.” her eyes flicker to the instrument slung along the other’s arm, “oh? i think i might’ve seen some sap back where i was hiding, i also might have tried it — it kind of tasted like honey water.” 

even though the voice says they mean not to harm her, miyu keeps her guard up still. she's not naive; it could be a trap.

she watches as someone emerges from the bushes, eyes squinting trying to make out the figure's features. she's taken aback by the other girl's rapid movements, startled that she would grab her wrist.

"lili?" it takes miyu a moment to realize who's standing in front of her, eyes widened in shock. they hadn't seen each other in so long. years had passed by since she had last made her acquaintance. "it's been so long. i-" she cuts herself off, shaking her head not knowing the words to say. "this is quite the surprise."

"honestly, i'm not really sure," she chuckles. "i don't know what drew me to the gardens, but something told me to explore them. currently i'm trying to look for a certain kind of tree, one whose sap i can supposedly use to polish my weapon," miyu lifts up her arm, showing lili her instrument. "and you? what brings you here. hopefully you're not trying to stay for twenty days, right? i'm already beginning to feel woozy and i've only been here a couple of hours."

BY GOOD WILL OR GOOD LUCK? is this lili being nice or is it just luck? — @lgckyoka

one would think — if you’ve been through one thing, something similar to it would be a breeze?

well, to lili, she’d say you were dead wrong. 

( because no two things could be the same, there was always something different )

thankfully, this was not one of those times — these were one of the times she’s able to bless her lucky stars for being so god-damned, four-leaf clover lucky. but perhaps luck had nothing to do with it — because, again, if you’ve been through one thing, you’ve been through it all. 

and since lili had painstakingly gone through grueling work to learn japanese just for some mock hosting gig that never saw the light of day — to do it again, but in korean — a language she would say she was a little more than familiar with, well — lili would tell you she just won the lottery.

that is how lucky she thinks such a task is.

a breeze, it would be — despite her initial belief ( read above ) — because wasn’t hosting all about self confidence? and apparently, lili had that in spades.

and by her good fortune — maybe she was feeling nice or maybe she felt bad for kyoka — she saddles up next to the other after an afternoon lesson, glancing over at the other’s notes before pointing at a phrase she notices with her sparkly pink pen. 

“is this what you wrote for the exercise earlier? the one about improvising a music show scene?”

@LGCENT just posted a photo!

i do nails, what's your superpower?

#lgctrainees #lgcent #xulili

FILE: LILI _ PLOT CALL _ q2

SUB: EVENT

⤷  RE: TRAINEE MISSION 017

preparation thread: open !

bonus thread: with anyone i haven’t threaded with yet ~ !

⤷  RE: WORKSHOP OPPORTUNITY 002

lili is open for plots ~ she is gonna struggle hard b/c 1) she knows 0 japanese and 2) hosting is probably her weakest skill

“i suppose,” begrudgingly, lili concedes — as per the rules of this year’s party, going outside of nintendo seemed taboo, staying within the realms of it seemed too safe. this appeared to be a healthy compromise. “better them than another peach and daisy.” nothing against them, but lili did not care for frou frou and petty coats. 

“thank god they’re hot.”

it crosses off at least one of lili’s halloween conditions.

“a prize?” a glimmer finds its way into her eyes, “now that’s something i’d play for.” what was a game with no rewards? but with what usually rolled around halloween with their sunbaes, lili was surprised there wasn’t anything more spooky underfoot for them. “maybe they’ll reward us with a day off or a gift card.” and if she had the choice, a day off would be first on her list. 

maylin didn't say another word as she pulled out her phone from the back pocket of her low-rise jeans. lucky for them both, she had already saved a few photos to her album, saving her the time to try and spell out that name again. "here," holding her phone out for them both. "bayonetta is the one with black hair, and her best friend, Jeanne, is blonde. they were the only interesting ladies out of all Nintendo games… and I'm surprised they let it pass."

from all the videos she watched, the dramatics and overly sexual posing made the dancer laugh with pure amusement. if anything, it screamed them in the best way possible and if they could dress as any character, there was no way they'd get in trouble for the costumes.

locking her screen, and flipping her phone to the back where her own card, 'open me', lay in the plastic case like it was some photocard. "who knows what's going on around here these days? did they say we would get some sort of prize for finding these cards, or is it just for fun?"

the poke on the nose cause a ripple effect: a wrinkle of that very nose, a soft slap to the hand and a scoff all at once. “you’re no fun, at least give me hope that there’s someone.” her eyes roll, body deflating into one of resignation at the thought that minyoung had little to no prospects to analyze or gush over. “let’s forget the track record, hm — you’re not some race horse! there has to be someone.like now, anyone here you’d call eye candy? crush worthy at least?”

lili’s own eyes take a gander at the selection at their disposal; from the trainees currently pouring over the karaoke stand to the others that loitered around the free food supplied by the company; even lili might have to admit that there may be slim pickings these days.

“tch,” her tongue clicks, head shaking. “i guess he’s already a lost cause because ‘smart’ is probably the last thing i’d use to describe him.” 

"that's what i thought. i guess i was just too unattainable." it's disheartening to think but minnie genuinely wasn't interested in any of the boys that asked her out. two of the five that have ever asked her were boys she didn't even know existed. one was from a different school. how was she supposed to get into a relationship when men were asking so brashly?

she knows lili was being nice but the truth is, despite her confidence, it seems like guys just...glossed over her. she was fun to banter with but that's all she was: fun. when was someone going to get serious?

being that it was lili, minyoung should have anticipated that the other would cling to the specifics of her verbiage. not really gives leeway to a maybe, which implies that there's something there to investigate. and lili latched on in a heartbeat. aish, minnie keep your big mouth shut sometimes, eh?

"it meaaaans," minnie drawls, her finger twirling in circles at the other as she speaks. "that i'm not even on the radar. so there's nothing to even talk about!" the twirling stops towards the end of her statement, with minnie poking the other on the nose. "boop! all forgotten. there's nothing to know about. nothing will ever come of it anyways. especially with my track record."

her eyebrows lift but a part of her feels like that's all lili was willing to divulge. "well if he were smarter he'd do better." is all she leaves it as, allowing the other to have some things to herself.