There’s A Warmth That Blooms, It’s Very Pit Carrying The Weight That Had Carved Itself Deep Into

truth be told, lili had been using the fact that she was a foreigner as her golden ticket. not being able to understand this or that had done wonders for getting over-zealous coaches to get off her dick back, even if she 100% did understood this and that, they didn’t need to know that, right? right. 

and it seems that the girl before her had the same exact idea in mind.

“not really, just felt —” she pauses, thinking over her words. “today wasn’t my day.”

she snorts, eyes passing over to the coach who still hasn’t let up, hovering to the side — trying his hardest to understand a tongue he’d never quite master. “obviously.” for that — lili could not help the smile curl upon her lips, warm and welcoming — something so much unlike her, lili would have felt a chill roll up her spine if she had been the one to have seen it firsthand. 

so she stands to her full height, shoulders rolled back as she picks up her forgotten yogurt cup and takes the other up on her offer. “what did you say your name was?” she tosses the cup to the far-end bin, off to the side. "i'm lili."

Amelia feels some what connected to the other female. It was like she was similar to her and enjoyed chaos as much as she did. Of course, her being of Chinese descent too made their connection even better. Amelia maintained her expression in order to hide her true intentions from the staff around them.

❛ Yeah I've been there before. Is there a specific reason or-? ❜

Amelia noticed the other female's eyes and a slight smirk appeared on her face. So perhaps she was up for some fun and a chance to mess with the coach. Amelia, still speaking Mandarin, explained her thoughts. ❛ Well, clearly the coach can't speak Mandarin so we could have some fun with this. I'm feeling chaotic today. ❜

“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?"

thank god it’s not the ugly burger outfits she had seen during the briefing. it was the least they could do — hitting rock bottom in terms of stage outfits shouldn’t be a given, not when they were already putting their vocal chords on the line with the atrocitious catallena screech.

( honestly the sound alone had begun to haunt her in her sleep )

she steps towards the selections, cycling through the arrangements with a pursed lip — fingers flipping through the outfits with an discerning eye, noticing that the names had, in fact, been hung alongside the attires. oh, it was as bad as she had feared. 

“i hate to be the bearer of bad news.” she didn’t, it was probably one of her favorite things to do — but this was maylin, and lili couldn’t help but have a soft spot for the girl. so, she chooses to ease her into the burn — if one could call it that. “but — alright,” turning away from where she had spotted their name tags alongside the outfits, she takes maylin by the hand and corners her attentions.

“would you rather be a tuna nigiri or a salmon maki?”

 not that it would matter, but wasn’t it more fun to build the suspense?

the silence came rolling in, along with the carts of hats that stared back at the girls. maylin could have sworn she saw sparkles for a split second. while the others were giddy and filled with excitement to wear such clothes and perform on a stage that would be broadcast to the public, maylin could feel her blood temperature drop for a second.

talk about the digital footprint.

the brunette's arms dropped to her side in sudden disbelief. she figured this round of costumes would be a bit more unique and different, though, this was as unique as it got and with how significant it was for the actual song - there was no avoiding her fate. "i truly can't believe i will have to talk about this exact moment when we all debut. we'll never live this down." dramatically, yes, but every word that came out was true.

"do you think we get to pick out which outfit we want? that would at least allow me to not feel so burned."

@LGCENT just posted a photo!

happy international women’s day 💝 to all the hot and powerful women, it’s your day so treat yourself to something nice on me ✨

#lgctrainees #lgcent #xulili

she turns around to gag, the overwhelming smell of chicken shit may  have gotten to her. this was absolute torture — she had no idea how yoomi was doing that, eyes taking in the way the other drops the last remains of dirt into a bin; nearly jumping out of her skin when she sees some of it scatter into the air from the abrupt collapse of weight into such a compact place. 

lili tries to wipe the grimace from her face but she fears it only further enhances the look of wariness that rides along a chagrin smile. she was convinced their management hated them — why else would they drop them into the middle of nowhere doing manual labor when there were far more appropriate ski resorts, zen retreats and water parks to otherwise spend more engaging and family-friendly variety time at? 

farming was so boomer.

“hm.” is lili’s only response, lest she say something she knows she shouldn’t.  from today, lili did not have hopes for tomorrow. picking up a nearby rag by the tip of her forefinger and thumb to place it in the bin they were to wash later that day.

“anything would be better than this.” she returns, trying to swallow another gag as she stands to yoomi’s left. god, when they said they were going to get some fresh air — lili did not think getting poisoned by a chicken’s excrements would be a part of that definition. "i wonder if my career as an idol doesn't work out, i guess i could moonlight as a farmer." she tries to joke, even though, deep down lili knows the last place anyone would ever find her would be on a farm.

⇢ ˗ˏˋ bock bock b***. ࿐ྂ

@lgclili

being forever the optimist, losing wasn't something that ever really bothered yoomi. now, they didn't technically lose anything, but it felt like her team had gotten the more strenuous of two tasks as she cleaned out the chicken coops with the rest of her fellow trainees.

sure, yoomi would've much more preferred to pick fruit from tree than be scooping up chicken poop right now, but she was simply grateful that this wasn't her daily life and that once this show was over, everyone could go back to their chicken poop free lives.

she and lili had finished taking out all the old bedding, all they needed to do was clean out the poop, sprinkle the powder they were given to ward off pests and put in fresh new bedding. "c'mon lili, we can do this! we're almost halfway done. after this we'll never have to think clean another chicken coop in our life!" yoomi flashes her friend a bright smile, trying to keep her spirits up as she swept up all the dirt and poop they had discovered under the bedding.

"yummy." yoomi sarcastically thought as she emptied the last of the dirt into a nearby bin. "okay i think that was the worst of it, let's change all the bedding now and pray that we get a better task tomorrow." she nods, laughing softly as she swiped sweat that was building up on her forehead.

HOW TO SAY I’M BORED BUT LIKE REALLY, REALLY BORED? lili knows english but apparently not the english that matters — @lgcasami

strangely enough, despite living in america — namely the palm-tree lined yards of bel air — for nine years, lili still considers english her second language; even if she confuses her mandarin more than her los angeles-accented english, she stills tells herself that she’s far more fluent in her mother-tongue than any other language she learns after the fact. and perhaps that is why she’s now stuck here, in english class, relearning grammar structures and how english really makes no fucking sense but here they are — still learning it for the sake of western advancement.

( a part of her wonders why she didn’t just take japanese lessons again, at least she’d be learning something worth her while )

it is with these thoughts that she looks to asami. good ol’ asami, always there to take her mind of the boring present and the relentlessly annoying english grammar system that makes no sense whatsoever. “so, did you learn anything new today?” she asks, actually curious if anyone else had listened to the lesson and had not dazed off like she had. “or are you regretting taking english and wished you took korean instead?”

request for you to not be a bitch

request denied

୨୧     W     :     FINDING YOUR INNER VARIETY STAR   _   1

lili and silly — though a cute little rhyme — had never been remotely said in the same sentence. nor should they ever because lili was not silly — not funny in the way people found comedians a laugh; not inviting or a ray of sunshine that was often seen in variety-dols these days; the funny bone had surely skipped her, in some way or form.

in short: lili is no variety star.

sure, she can crack a joke; murmur a hmm and nod her pretty head at any question come her way, but variety was it’s own beast. and lili had no interest of taming it. it was fine to watch on a boring saturday morning, but comedy and variety had never been her strong suit.

so how she had landed a spot in the workshop is beyond her — but she enjoys it, learning new tricks of the trade had never been boring to her. they are all things she can recall from shows she’s seen in the past but had never once thought to reiterate or replicate, because she knows, despite all this fro and fray, she will not become the variety star they’re looking for, not when her worst fear was looking stupid in front of thousands — no, millions on national television.

(dreams of millions laughing at her for voice cracking was a close second but such things should not be thought into the universe, lili thinks)

it’s uneasy, stepping out of her oh-so-comfortable comfort zone. but at least astrid is nice and her voice is soothing to listen to and her tips are fun and inviting; so lili keeps them in mind, writing them in her notebook with her cute and pink gel pen thinking that a fun color only suited such a fun activity. sealing them in her mind for a rainy day — if that rainy day ever came. 

so much had changed in the scheme of hosting. rather than the direction of lines being read and executed, not only were they expected to improvise, they were also implored to do so with an ease of a natural — even if the language spoken was far from your native tongue.

even more so, in these cases.

all while being as confident as possible when faced with the barrel of a red-lighted camera, airing live to thousands across the nation. and worse — millions across the world. 

it’s these types of pressures that didn’t bother lili — but the fact that they acted like they were doing a service to them. improvisation of a music show scene was beyond a day’s work — unless your goal was to be a host at the end of the day and well, since lili didn’t like to call herself a all-rounder for nothing.

( truly — lili was just complaining to complain )

but in today’s case, as she sits next to kyoka and looks at the other’s notes once more — unprompted and concerned — she tries to tweak the frown on her face, “how did you feel about the lesson?” she asks, after having looked over the other’s notes, and having seen all the question marks. “it was kind of a lot, right?” 

Kyoka’s not a complainer. She happily does what she’s told unless there’s something else that catches her attention, in which she then gets distracted. But that’s beyond the point. Point is, rarely does she ever feel upset or slighted with what’s expected of her.

What that doesn’t mean though, that she never has any negative emotions. Like now, pure confusion and maybe a teensy bit of frustration creeping in too.

What, a whole script for a music show scene? Wasn’t a music show hosting just a simple who what where when why? Who changed that format? What happened to it? Where did this new expectation come from? When did it become a thing? Why?

Ah… too much thinking, not enough answers. Her brain is turning to mush, she can feel it already.

Kyoka is still staring at her notebook, eyes already glazing over when a voice knocks her out of her trance. “Huh? Oh, ummm yes,” she squints at her notes, which really was just a row of question marks and nothing else, “my notes. Yes, they’re my notes.”

the date lottery is far from lili’s reality — if anything, it’s her very own acting reel that she needs to polish up. and lili ain’t no actor — but what she is is competitive. so, she plays the show like how she plays her most precious, most interesting of games.

the more she can make the viewers believe that she’s falling for minkyu and his charistmatic charms — and vice versa — the more rewards she hopes to reap. ( whatever rewards may that be —  it keeps things interesting ) at any rate — from the subtle twinkle she spies in minkyu’s gaze; an unspoken agreement seems to form extended from their previous verbal wager — at least they’re on the same page.

“you’ve never skiied before?” the declaration would have otherwise bothered lili — why else would we be at the slopes if you don’t know how to ski? but she remains patient, calming that irritating little devil in her in favor for the calm and tranquil persona she was trying to portray; her brows furrow in a gentle confusion before her lips form a precious smile, almost amused at the thought.

“well, you’re in luck. my grandma has brought me to the slopes almost every winter without fail,” her grandmother had brought her once and left her to fend for herself with strict russian instructors. “so you could say i got a lifetime of snowledge.” kill her — kill her now. her smile brightening despite the cringy dialogue, trying not to laugh at her own demise as she looks to minkyu.

“i’ve been told i’m a good teacher, too.”

no one has ever — on this earth — told her such a thing.

her surprise is paused — a slow lift of the brow as she watches minkyu descend upon one knee. “thank you.” settling onto the seat, she quickly undoing her moon boots in favor of the ski boots that minkyu helps her into. a hand reaches out gently to hold his shoulder to still her movements as she digs her feet, one after the other, into each boot; making sure they’re properly in and not loose. leaning close to inspect her shoes, she turns her chin to look at minkyu, the hand at his shoulder squeezes it lightly, in kind, as her smile is practically beaming. “they fit perfectly, shall i help you with yours?”

From the very beginning of their fake dating experience, one thing Minkyu has been consistently grateful for how effortlessly Lili aligns with his vision of what to portray: the perfect blend of sweet, romantic gestures designed to set hearts fluttering, both among the fans and the ever-adoring staff.

“Well, well,” he muses, a playful lilt in his voice as he sweeps a hand through the crisp winter air, guiding her past the entrance gate toward the ski rental. “You and I, my dearest Lili, are about to embark on our very own ski adventure, from way up there,” he points toward the towering peak of the slope, “all the way back down here.” The distant echoes of laughter and excited chatter from other skiers weave into the moment, painting a picture of a perfect winter wonderland.

He exhales, a chuckle escaping as he admits, “I have to be honest... coming from Busan, where the sun is king, I’ve never actually been skiing before.” His confession is lighthearted, almost sheepish, as they step into the rental shop, where an employee has conveniently already prepared skis in their sizes.

But rather than simply handing Lili her pair, Minkyu’s expression softens. With an easy grace, he gestures for her to take a seat on the wooden bench before lowering himself onto one knee. His usual bravado gives way to something gentler; his voice quieter now, almost intimate.

“Let me help you put them on.” he says, fingertips brushing against the bindings with care. Because even if this is all for show, he’s determined to make it feel real.