໒꒱ . LGC FAMILY CONCERT # 2024  、

for what it’s worth, lili finds kyoka and her random bursts of word vomit amusing — and since it didn’t take much, mere silence had triggered today’s bout, lili didn’t quite mind listening. (read: keep her entertained throughout her otherwise mundane day full of practices and lessons)

so, whilst picking at her food — she had taken a good two-three big bites before deciding she was already bored with what she had ordered and wished she ordered something else — she looks up at the sudden rush that kyoka takes when gulping her water. “now that you mention it,” lili pauses, letting her eyes wander to the surroundings of the company’s cafeteria scene, frowning when who she’s looking for is no where in sight. “i think there’s someone who’s 04/04/04, but no 03/03/03…”

౨ৎ lupin iii with @lgclili

They're eating lunch (for whatever reason, Kyoka still hasn't figured out why herself it just happened) together in silence when suddenly she brightens at a realization. She whips her head to face the older trainee, a I-don't-have-anything-of-value-to-say-but-I-somehow-think-it-is-of-value expression on her face.

She quickly swallows her food, chugging a mouthful of water to better rinse it down before she speaks. "Your birthday is 01/01/01." She then points at herself. "My birthday is 02/02/02." Brilliant observation, Kyoka. "Is there anyone around with a 03/03/03 birthday? That would be neat, I think."

@LGCENT just posted a photo!

family con is always my favorite time of the year! what was your favorite performance? mine was obviously performing i got a boy and so hot with everyone! will i see you all tomorrow? let’s go another day 💗

#lgctrainees #lgcent #xulili

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."

Alexis Ren by Sarah Bahbah “Kygo, Chelsea Cutler - Not Ok” music video

໒꒱ .  TRAINEE MISSION # 16 、INTERVIEW .

lili had never been the spill your guts, vulnerable in front of the camera kind of person.

but she likens this scenario as a part to play. a role she must succeed to in order to get to where she must. and where that place is is where people liked that vulnerable in front of the camera, spill your silly guts kind of crap. 

so, lili does what she can — musters up the silly little guts that would get her somewhat of a good standing and puts on that darling, pretty smile her grandma loves.

WHAT WAS YOUR FAVORITE MOMENT FOR TODAY ?

“my favorite? it has to be —” she racks her brain for something memorable that happened today: she had almost fell in chicken shit — it literally was everywhere, it was probably all up in the grooves of her boots — the smell was permanently stuck in her nose no matter what jaekyung had tried, she was tired — lili did not want to revisit such a memory. and yet, here she re-tells the tale like it was some funny comedic sketch that had brought her to her tears in joy and jest. a darling smile brought to her lips even if the only thing she wished to say was that she was thankful that the day was finally over. “getting to see all the cute chickens, we even got to see some eggs hatch in the incubator, it was really cool. i’ve never seen that before.”

HOW DID YOU FEEL ABOUT THE CHALLENGE GIVEN TO YOUR TEAM ?

“hard.” probably the most truthful thing she’ll utter this weekend — and it was only friday. despite grinning and bearing it for what she could, today had really done a number for her. “bearing through the chicken coop was … an experience, i was honestly kind of scared — i thought the chickens would attack us. can you imagine getting chased by a chicken?” she shudders at the horror of the thought, for effect.

WHO DID YOU FEEL YOU GOT CLOSER TO ?

she pauses, thinking about it for a good second. even if most of the day she had stuck herself, like glue, to jiah, lili couldn’t deny that there had been quite a number of trainees she had inadvertently gotten closer to. not that she could help it, in between biting her tongue at the complaints that wished spill from her tongue, she knew the others could tell she was having a hard time and, in the end, was thankful for those who helped to make her dire experience even just a sniff better. “i’d say jaekyung? she even offered her towel to me when she saw that i was struggling.” sure, lili was being a tad bit dramatic but the stench was truly nauseating, the viewers would be glad they’d didn’t see lili hurl.

WHAT WAS ONE LESSON YOU’VE LEARNED FROM THIS EXPERIENCE ?

nothing. lili learned absolutely nothing — she wished to say, but knows that isn’t what they came here for. that that wasn’t what the viewers wanted to hear. so instead, lili works the courage of what a menial, less troublesome, more humble person would think: she knew no one of this manner so she was struggling but she makes do — “that it’s good for all of us to take a moment to slow down and feel the wind in our hair.” something like that, right?

“all the aunties here were super cute, too, maybe their fashion sense here is another lesson to remember.” 

a hand shoots up — “wait, wait — i said i sucked, i didn’t — do you think i’m a loser?” should she get her ears checked? did she, lili xu, actually sound that bad for ichika to immediately dismiss her as the affronted and absolutely — totally uncalled for — damning title of ‘loser’?

she feels herself default — not from discouragement — but the shock. never had lili ever felt herself feel so crestfallen — so rug pulled out from under her bewildered. again, it begs the question of: why was lili even here?

lili groans, feeling a crease iron itself permanently between her brows in concern. “was it really that bad?” lili was no japanese maestro but even she didn’t think she had failed as miserably to deem it — oh, god, lili didn’t even want to repeat it again.

she sniffs, bringing the stylus back to the document she had pulled up on her ipad where the rest of her diligent — but messy in the way a chaotic mind like lili could only understand — notes lay. “fine, if that’s what you think is best.” she taps the end of the pen against her cheek as she thinks.

“it’s supposed to be a mock of some hosting event, right?” she asks for clarification — “how would i even begin?”

In all honesty, Ichika did feel for some of her trainees. She had assumed that they would come with more experience but seeing that someone like Lili was being asked to perform without much exposure well, the more she thought about it, the more on-brand it seemed. When she was a trainee, there had been girls who had been chosen to take part in LGC Girls Japan with very limited Japanese, and some of them had been given more lines than she had. As long as you were able to make it work, what was the problem? Or so, she assumed the mindset was. 

“You are not a loser,” she replies even, shaking her head slightly. “You’re only a loser if you do not try.”

And to her credit, Lili does try. Ichika had dipped her toe into learning Mandarin over the last year, but for someone to ask her to host with a trace of fluency would have been hard. “You /are/ improving.” She assures the younger woman, “So long as you show effort, that’s what’s important. I want you to keep practicing your pronunciation and I’ll see about preparing you a phonetic script to practice with. If you can show confidence in speaking and continue to practice, a lot of errors can be forgiven. I’m sure you experienced that when you first came to Korea, as well.” 

Unlike the other two, Ichika knew that Lili went through a similar situation when she came to Korea years ago, and with that alone, she knew Lili was not a loss cause. “Actually, how about this: I want you to write down what you want to say and we can work on translating it. We can work from there.”

super late plot call for the trainee mission ! if anyone still needs a prep & activities thread, lili is free to take up a couple ! please like or reply and i’ll hop into your messages ♡

HOW TO SAY I'M FUCKED IN JAPANESE? where lili probably shouldn't be in this workshop and yet, here she is — @lgcichika

she shouldn’t complain, really.

wasn’t this what she meant by she was interested in hosting — looking back, lili hadn’t really thought they would have taken such a small mention so seriously. at least, this is what she tells herself as she sits across from ichika and tries to find rational in why she was lumped into a workshop for a language she didn’t know a lick about.

still, she was no quitter, even if said workshop expected her to speak a whole-ass dialogue and such for some mock hosting gig as the evaluation. no, even then, lili was no quitter.

but — she did think they could have cut her some slack. just from the basic phrases and such that ichika had gone over in passing earlier with the rest of the group, lili was still having trouble wrapping her head around it all and this is after going over her notes thrice in the last half-hour. “i know, i suck — but i swear, i really didn’t know any japanese going into this so i think … really, i’m quite the improvement, wouldn't you agree?"

໒꒱ .  莉莉 ✽ PLOT CALL _ q4

calling for plots because we are always very, terribly late plots juseyo

⤷  TRAINEE MISSION 019

VOLUNTEERING _ open !

SETLIST DUETS _ open for 2 !

lili's duet options are: - close to you by the carpenters - love by keyshia cole - if i were a boy by beyonce - romeo n juliet by clazziquai

⤷  HALLOWEEN 2024

lili is going as bayonetta! i'm open for both despite not collecting points for both, i just would love to see more interactions for this baby !

ET TU, ALICE _ open !

FACTIONS _ open !

ONLY HOTTIES SHARE A BRAIN CELL. must lili say more? — @lgcmaylin

time flies and once october comes knocking, lili’s favorite holiday is nearly here — second to her birthday, of course. ( and that’s nearly a month and some away )

shocker, lili loves being a scream queen — it was practically her birthright but with the proposed concept for the party, this time, she finds herself struggling to wrack her head for a costume that would fit the bill. it wasn’t like lili spent her time playing games — not when her grandmother practically left no room in her adolescent schedule to actually enjoy her adolescence with adolescent things like, well, video games.

and while she’s at least heard of the games — she can’t say she can recall a character from the top of her head except that weird italian plummer and lili had already deemed that he was decidedly unsexy and well — she wanted to be the opposite of that.

can you say mamma mia!

“i want to dress sexy this year … is that too much to ask?” her eyes scan the halls, halloweek had chanced upon them without so much of a hello. the white rabbits stuck to miscellaneous things were the crumbs to the game — a bit much considering she had more dire, sexy problems to handle. finding one hidden in the crack of a door, lili rolls her eyes as she reads the ‘take me’, letting the card sway back and forth caught between her fingers. “do you have any idea of who you’re going to be for the party?”