•  ໒꒱ . CHUSEOK # 2024 、

two girls freezing their asses off but don’t you know a gossiping hoe never gets cold? — @lgcmaylin

ever since snow had fallen upon seoul, the chill in the city had only turned for the worse — cloaking the entirety of the peninsula in the near negatives.

and you might be asking: just why was lili subjecting herself to the very cold that was freezing her to bits?

well — there were two presentable answers for such a thing.

one.

lili needed a smoke — badly — and the designated places for such a thing lacked the common decency of having a working heater.

and two.

she needed some space to air out her grievances after the last practice with a certain coach. and oddly enough, lili thought it was tacky to talk shit about an anal coach inside the company — but outside, mere feet away from where the door had safely hit its hinges, and even further away from nosy ears, did she feel comfortable to do just that.

unfortunately, the smoke that flows from pursed lips cease within minutes of another’s arrival. the cigarette snubbed at the sudden welcome, crushed beneath a leather boot, before being replaced with a pack of gum. it wasn’t a worthy substitute but because it was maylin, lili made an exception — just because the other girl quit all those years ago didn’t mean lili would ignore the other’s hard work just to get her nerves calmed.

immediately she flies into the other’s side, arm in arm, as if to conserve whatever heat the other had brought with her. “it’s so fucking cold tonight —” she breathes, the warmth of her breath billowing out into the cold in a puff.

“you’re right,” she sighs — side-eyeing the trainer, utilizing her most famous confused expression: a draw of the brows, the slowing of her lips into a small, perplexed pout. “it also doesn’t help that he’s being so annoying about it, too.”

having been a transplant all her life, lili has been accustomed to not knowing where she’ll be or where she’ll stay. implanted from one place to another, from one caretaker to another — but never to the ones who really matter. so, she mulls over the question — one, to any other normal person, would be considered an easy-going, friendly question. 

lili decides easiest is best.

“los angeles.” it’s where she’s been the longest — so, by default, she supposes she could assume its role as her hometown as necessary.

“and you?” she tried to place the other’s accent but asking would probably be the easiest way to an answer.

Amelia loved the fact that she was a foreigner. She loved using it as an excuse during training and also to mess with other people. Throughout the years, Amelia had gotten out of a number of different scenarios thanks to the fact that she was a foreigner. She'd also made quite a lot of friends thanks to being a foreigner as well which was even better.

Amelia listened to the other girl, using her face as a mask to hide their true intentions. ❛ I get it. Some days are just not your day and when they add training on top of it it's just too much. ❜ Amelia shook her head softly.

Amelia was trying so hard to ignore the look on the coach's face while he stood next to them. Her desire to cause mischief and mayhem was too much right now. Growing up with two brothers had definitely shaped her personality. The fact that the other girl was just as into her idea as she was told Amelia that they would definitely become very good friends in the future.

❛ I'm Amelia. It's nice to meet you, Lili. Where are you from? ❜

dark eyes flicker from his face to the very obvious disarray he called his hair. but she says no more — opting to twirl her pencil around deft fingertips, cheek sitting against her palm as she stares, watching him begin to tidy himself up. an endeavor he doesn’t quite see through when he slumps into his chair and she can only bite back a laugh. 

“offended — oh, so you’re hoping to be unalived before the new year? i see, i see.”

she nods, as if making a mental note — even if such a thing will probably be forgotten by the end of the day, knowing her. letting the spiral leave her grasp, she makes a pout — only to have the item returned to her in due time. “and what is this supposed to be?” she asks, even though the obvious was plain for her to see, re-opening the book to the page he was last at — eyeing the new addition just short of the random doodles she had done earlier. 

lili glances up when one of the coaches appears handing out the game's item to the remainder of stragglers that had passed the threshold of their room. reaching over for the item that had been passed around when she had arrived, she tosses the shuttlecock — the jegi — at him, “제기차기.”

"Huh? How did you know?" He fixes his posture momentarily to check himself in the reflection of the window, reaching up smooth down the unruly strands with only his palms and determination. He quickly gives up, sinking back into his chair with a shocking lack of energy. He pulls his backpack closer to his feet when he spots another trainee cutting through the small space between his desk and the one in front of him. He refocuses his attention on his friend, noticing the smirk on her lips.

"I would be offended if I wasn't top three in your hit list." He snatches the notebook from her grasp, turning it on it's side to read her scribbles. He can't make out anything useful besides some interesting doodles. "Is this how the inside of your mind looks like, Lils?" He teases, reaching for the front pocket of his backpack to grab one of his pens. He adds his own mark on the page, facing away from the trainee to keep her from grabbing it back before his masterpiece was done. It was a simplistic doodle of the girl and a butterfly on her shoulder. "Here you go!" He displays the page of the notebook like it was a work art hung on a gallery wall, placing it in front of her before closing the pages. "I'll stop fooling around... What are we learning?"

request for you to not be a bitch

request denied

FAINTING SPELLS     ୨୧     @lgcjunyi   /   on most days, lili could hardly care about the rigidity of hierarchy and its subsequent rules as outlined by said order. but today was not most days — lili had checked the list once, twice, three times and it has definitely passed the reservation time! 

it was her turn to use the practice room — and the last thing lili liked was when her time was wasted, especially on a day before her beloved day off. starting the week strong could only be graced with ending the week just as strongly, and unfortunately, in order for that to happen, she had to finish practice. that is, if her patience didn’t wear off as thinly as it was starting to.

looking through the rooms until she comes across the one she had reserved, she peeks into the window — finding it oddly quiet — huh? was it not in use?

opening the door, she’s shocked to find the collapsed girl inside, buffering as she stares, wide-eyed at the girl sprawled in the middle of the room — fuck, was she breathing? did she need cpr? 

how did that go again? 

scrambling to her feet, lili does the first thing that comes to mind, reaching for her water bottle, she dumps it on the girl, that should wake her up, right?

she smiles — probably her most genuine one that week; brow raising in expectation at his suggestion. “why — you’re not offering, are you?” lili has half the mind of accepting if that were the case, but maybe once (or twice or — how many times has she used him for such an occasion? she’s lost count at this point)

“oh, really, now?” her fist fits gingerly beneath her jaw, leaning in upon intrigue at his observations of the day — the retelling of an otherwise boring meeting spruced up at the mention of his mother. “tell me all about it.” eyes sparkling at the promise of something juicy for her eager ears to feast on — gossip, though unsightly, always had its merits in making her feel better, especially on the days her grandmother not-so-subtly ditches her. “how did she look — no, what did she say?”

call it an act of rebellion or a battle of wills — or maybe lili was just tired of playing the role of the ‘woe is thou’ and wounded — but the second she found out her grandmother had once again cancelled on her once again, lili was done playing a facade that was barely holding on by a thread. tape and plaster could do little to hold up what once was, such tools were futile to what true care and attention could do. unfortunately, lili knew such a thing — so, maybe in hindsight, it was better to shed these masks rather than cling to their rugged shards.

abandoning her role to play, sitting there to listen to a meeting that had nothing to do with her except play appearances was not how she wanted to waste her free time. the downfall of her crude decree of renouncing these responsibilities were that they had to fall on someone …. and sadly, that someone had to be yutai.

when she arrives, she comes with a consolation — or was it a perceived condolence? — in tow, a box of chocolates she had picked up in cheongdam on her way over. ducking into the fluorescence of the convenience store, she taps him on the shoulder with a passing hand; nearly missing his cup of ramen as she drops the dressed up chocolatier tote onto the counter. “as a thank you for your service today.”

it was lili’s best way of apologizing, even if an apology would never leave her glossed lips. ( it’s like they say, better than nothing, right? )

“mm, who knows. it would have been more interesting if she had thrown the chocolates in his face.” she says in passing, the melodramatics was lost on her. 

it was unfortunate that lili’s attention span was as flighty as she was but once something sparked her interest, she was like a dog with a bone. minyoung’s unexpected confession has her dropping the page her fingers were currently fiddling with — brow arched, lips parted in what could only be seen as surprise. 

“you’ve never — like never ever?” now, how could that be? then she finds herself doing damage control — righting her appalled face with what she hopes appears as a gentle, reassuring smile. “nooo — of course not, it doesn’t mean anything. maybe they just haven’t found the right time, or the right chocolate!” yea, that had to be it — then the guilt sets in for lying, “or well, is there anyone you’re interested in? or who are interested in you? does has to be someone. people these days even give friendly chocolate, it doesn’t always have to be romantic.” 

minyoung looked up at the sound of her name being called. she smiled sweetly over at lili, who wanted to perform something to wow the crowd. minnie's advice of doing something she has fun with wasn't very good, it seems, as the other was still pouring over the song list. "i'm down for any song! i mean i just did eternal sunshine with junyi. want to do another english song?"

minnie wasn't nearly as observant as lili was. whenever she was in public, lili's eyes were always watching, observing, taking note. minnie didn't really look unless it was something truly interesting. by then, lili would have already clocked what was going on.

she hums, eyes shifting to the scene lili describes with mild interest. lili found it to be a bust but minnie was instantly interested. "oh wow. do you think maybe they have a fling? isn't it super bold to offer chocolates at a company event like this? or maybe is that super genius because it looks like all the other chocolates here?"

when the questioning was transferred over to herself, minyoung blushed deeply. her eyes suddenly became glued to the karaoke book. "i uhm....i've never received chocolates before...." the confession makes her feel a little pathetic. nearly twenty-three years old and she couldn't recall a single time where someone chose her as an object of affection during this time of year. "i mean...i guess it's not that big of a deal, right? i always thought it was kind of... unfortunate that i've never gotten any but it doesn't mean anything...right? right?"

lili could only agree. animal crossing had always been advertised as an easy going slice of life type of game — no hard level, no cheat codes — that is until the new game on the switch had completely changed up the way they played and instead of being a mayor or a random villager of some honky-tonk town, you were now stranded on a base island with all the workings to make it your own. it had taken lili a long week to fully understand the mechanics but after that, everything was like clockwork — so, in kind, she could see where hyuk’s wariness of the game came from.

though, it did not stop her from wanting to push him into a pitfall. 

glancing at the screen, lili counts the branches that have fallen out of hyuk’s pockets and frowns, there was enough … but she was tempted to see him get stung by bees. it was all in the name of entertainment, anyways! hyuk would surely understand, right?

right!

“mm, i think we should try a couple more trees. maybe we can get some more coins.” she supplies, in what is a helpful tone, trying to disguise her need for amusement with a considerate grace.

“i think it looks easier than i thought”, hyuk found himself saying, slowly his suspicious aura fading, giving place to a more comfortable and trustworthy person; he could admit it was hard for him to open up immediately to people, especially when he was playing an important role, as a trainee contracted to work for an important brand. “i guess it helps when the joystick fits this good in my hands, don’t you agree?”

he didn’t really remember the last time he played games in a videogame, his parents ensured he could have everything he wanted, but he never thought about that, not when they all looked so expensive. so hyuk played the part of pretending he knew what he was doing and absorbed what people around him did, so he could still be a part of the cool kids gang.

“a stone for an axe? axes look important, maybe we should try to find it then.” he replied, scavenging his pockets, emptying them to show it to lili’s character. “this is what i have, do you think it’s enough for a net or should i shake more trees?”

other than a keratin treatment, lili would be aghast to have a lick of bleach touch her virgin hair. her fingers reach for her unsplit ends with a testing eye before flicking the hair over her shoulder, “i would,” kyoka was right, lili would look good in pink — as she looks good in anything — her ego was showing. “but i’d rather not, i love being brunette.” 

it would probably lili’s only boring flaw — the fact that she had never wanted nor ever would want to dye her hair another color. 

“people can be such antis,” and in their line of work there were many of those. not that lili was a good person, herself, but she was far from a 일진 of the likes that were constantly getting thrown around in media these days. “try not to hang around those bad apples, okay?” 

her chopsticks tap her silver tray, glancing at what she had leftover on it ; "do you want my potatoes?"

She tucks a strand of her hair behind at the unexpected compliment. "If I have the money one day," Kyoka solemnly begins, "I want to dye my hair pink and green, like a strawberry." And then she promptly hides her face behind her hands at that declaration, mumbling something about pineapples again. Once she's recovered from her own words, Kyoka adds, "But I bet you'd look super super pretty in pink too!"

Nodding along to Lili's words, Kyoka takes the time to finish off the rest of her plate. "One person in your school who hates you and-" she collides her fists together into an explosion to illustrate her point.

"Yup! Everyone had stage names too, so that technically our real identities are private." She shrugs. "But the entrance exams are all posted anyways and people can guess age orders based off stories so it's not that helpful." Besides, all the academy girls knew each other, so really, everything was an open secret.

years of living in los angeles had not prepared her for korea’s winters. even in the years she had been here one would think she’d grow used to the cold — wrong, lili would never be used to this bone-chilling ache that came with every gust of wind. 

it was so fucking cold.

“we’re crazy, fucking crazy.” she stutters out through a shiver, and yet — makes no move to leave. chewing on her piece of gum to a point that she thinks the gear in her jaw would grow loose. a hand raises to offer it to the other, “want one?” it didn’t help the cold but maybe it would quell the ache whenever her breath passed over her lips and she felt that chill again.

a roll passes her eyes immediately upon hearing the complaint. while she hadn’t been there, lili could only imagine just who mailing was talking about because it was probably the very same coach who had chewed her out the week before for not pointing her toes — and her toes were pointed! 

one could only point them so much in sneakers, you know!

she sighs, “so annoying. he’s probably a company plant — maybe someone’s sponsoring him. where does he get the audacity to ask us to learn a routine we learned only ten minutes ago.” even the greatest needed at least a fifteen minute window — including a break! it was ridiculous — it wasn’t like legacy was some kind of low-level company. lili had seen her fair share of those. 

“there’s no way he’d be acting that way if there wasn’t someone backing him.”

cold was never welcomed in the life of maylin. not that she had any choice but to endure it, she never welcomed such weather with a happy heart.

it felt suffocating to bundle yourself up in large layers and even larger jackets. she knew the majority were sweating underneath such clothing, which made it even worse. fleece-lined stockings were becoming her best friend whenever the brunette wanted to scatter the streets in her familiar skirts and boots. though, she never tried to wear such a thing during practice hours.

which, said hours were pissing her off due to a certain coach doing way too much to get brownie points from others. that was the most annoying part of her day, other than the snow.

she was so heated, that taking a step outside seemed like the only way to calm the soul down and breathe in some fresh air. it seemed as though lili had the same idea, even if she needed a moment to exhale a thing that maylin no longer craved.

"we're both freezing our asses off, yet we would; rather stand out here than be inside." she laughed the moment she was close to another, her language switching immediately with ease in her friend's presence. "can you believe that guy today? he's truly on some kind of high horse… who's kissing his ass?"