@LGCENT Just Posted A Photo!

nearly wincing at the sound his straw makes as it makes contact with it’s plastic borders, a hand raises to stop him — already feeling the overdramatic and too real ache of a migraine rumbling at her temples. “please stop.” ignoring the fact that it would be her first and only time she ever uttered please in his presence. 

she tilts her head at that — confusion filtering through her features within seconds. “why else would we have coffee?” and lili was far too prideful to head over to jieun’s truck, even if the dessert selection did appear yummier from the looks of the cute banners. “i think they’d rather have a thank you from you though,” her eyes run from him to the workers behind the counter who obviously haven’t taken their eyes off of the actor since his appearance before the stand.

“why don’t you honor them that pretty little actor smile they all love?” 

she almost has to laugh, though, seeing hyunsoo in his element had been interesting. it was definitely a glaring contrast to seeing him at some stuffy party filled with obnoxious social climbers and money-grubbers. 

“hardly — just some annoyance that won’t stop bothering me. maybe you know her.” she fishes for her phone before revealing to him the long list of messages from his mother lili hadn’t bothered replying to. 

There are a number of coincidences that happen within industry when one comes from the background that Hyunsoo does. It becomes inevitable. Children of executives offered positions at studios or pushed into roles by overbearing mothers, bored socialites figuring they will make their acting debut. The industry has and always will reek of nepotism and advantages taken with money.

Needless to say, seeing Lili on the film set comes as little to no shock. Not for any reasons listed prior — on the contrary, he is certain her determination has landed her there just as his did. She would not be subject to walking around in a plague doctor mask ( faceless ) had she a say in the matter and he knows it. And, perhaps, she would not seem so displeased to see him.

To meet her halfway, He pushes past a few young murmuring staff members; of whom giggled amongst themselves when he stood back in awe of his gifted coffee truck. ( Pictures of himself are plastered along the sides on posters that would soon be torn for the next gig. )

"Why are you thanking me? You should be thanking them, too," voice laced with what can only be described as a hint of sarcasm, he reaches for the iced americano, stretching the straw in and out of it with an agonizing scrape before he takes a sip. "You seem particularly... snippy today. What's wrong? Displeased with the movie's premise?"

230428

“i think i passed him briefly in the makeup trailer.” what lili should have done was introduce herself but what happened to being a gentleman? should lili do everything herself? 

before lili could huff at the comment, he’s retracting it and all lili could do was pout — lips formed, whether because she lost her chance to tease him for it or that she was looking for an outlet to rid her of her nerves.

nerves? around jisoo — who knew.

“sure, i suppose that’s what you meant.” she could only believe him at face value, “how do you know we won’t start a fight in the middle of the shoot — strong personalities and all?” wondering where jisoo’s head was at — to put the two of them together, if that had been the case. lili would have thought it be a disaster — strong personalities often were, especially when pitted against another, if not, stronger one. 

if she chooses not to keep it, he thinks it'd be very amusing if a package arrived for her in the mail anyway - which haru and lili likely would be gifted after it was all over, when the shooting wrapped up, but jisoo isn't going to say that right now, as he definitely is no mind reader and cannot figure lili out - even after all these years, tragic. ( or maybe, the better way to say it is, he can figure her out, but its always better to not say it aloud to dispel the moment. )

the corners of his eyes crease as he smiles, nonplussed at her demeanour. it seems... the shoot will run smoothly? permitting that the two mains don't butt heads. "i mean, you know i can if i am in the corner. just don't put me in the corner, and i won't bite,' clearing his throat, he glances in the direction where she is towards and agrees. "perhaps that may be one of the ones selected. we certainly won't only pick one, so there is some variety." everything seems to be coming aligned, unlike the rarity in the sky that will never occur. but for him, the three of them aligning on the same trajectory was enough.

"have you met your co-star yet?" jisoo must inquire, since it is likely that the dual shots will come soon. "i hope neither of you will chase the other away with respectively, strong personalities in very different ways. its a compliment, i swear," he insists, holding his palms out.

“who’s that again? show me a picture.” lili was nothing but a visual learner — it also kept her mind off of trying to figure out how to shove herself into those unseemly nintendo characters. 

maybe she should have taken a page out of minseo’s book and browsed the extensive animal crossing critter catalogue — there was amany of those, the possibilities endless; but she had already dressed as a sexy fox last year; this year she wanted to do something different.

“more of a nerd than the one who came up with this quasi-alice in wonderland treasure hunt? what’s with these cards?” though fun to find, she was wondering what the point of these were. and yet again, another ‘eat me’ falls into her hands.

Halloween never gets old for maylin. every year brought something new and exciting for the dancer to try out. planning her costumes a month in advance was the way to go, but with this new theme, she could never use it unless she was lucky next year. to say she wasn't pissed off is an understatement.

there was no way in hell she could come up with something cool on such short notice and her disappointment showed in her expression, bottom lip jutted out into a pout as she ventured out into the decorated halls of lgc. whoever created this theme would get some words from her (anonymously, of course).

"whoever picked this year's theme is a nerd... who wants to dress up as Nintendo characters? what are we, five?" maylin grumbled, eyes scanning the halls for any sign of some kind of card they had to retrieve. she had already found the 'drink me' card stuck inside the beverage machines. why she participated in these things, she doesn't know. but it was a good excuse to be at lili's side while they chatted. "after doing a lot of research on who even belonged to the franchise, I did find those bayonetta characters. they are the sexiest characters I could find."

and possibly the only fun characters that ranged between any mario or animal crossing game that seemed to be their most popular creations to date.

tongue in cheek, lili couldn’t help but feel the amused grin tug at her lips — albeit ruining the forced frustration she was trying to portray. her gaze remains passive, flickering from the coach who stood warily at the side, trying to appear busy despite obviously listening in on a conversation he could not understand, to the girl before her.

“you could call it that.”

so, this truly was their plan b — the girl all but confirms it to herself as she places her yogurt cup down and leans back against the mirrored wall where she was currently ‘resting’. finger tapping against her knee before making up her mind, “fun?" her eyes dance mischeviously at the word, "what did you have in mind?”

There were times when Amelia just didn't want to do anything. She was just... existing. Sometimes she was tired, drained, and just didn't care. Sometimes the upbeat and bubbly girl just needed a break. She needed to recharge too. It wasn't easy always being happy and upbeat. Some days Amelia felt like she didn't care.

Today was not one of those days.

Amelia was incredibly happy today and for some reason felt mischievous. She was currently looking for her brother when she was pulled aside by one of the coaches who asked if she could translate. Amelia nodded and followed the staff member.

Upon hearing her native language, Amelia's eyebrow cocked. Perhaps this could be her fun. She smiled and pretended as if everything was ok. ❛ Let me guess. You're not feeling it and they keep pushing you? ❜ She inquired in Mandarin. ❛ Would you like to have some fun? ❜

lili had always been an only child. 

( and she definitely acted like one, too )

fortunate for her as she never wanted siblings and she had always wanted more attention than any of her respective legal guardians could ever give. but a sibling arises in the form of one parker su. it was funny, really. how quick they clicked, how odd that despite being from the same state — sure, california was big but it wasn’t that big — that despite it all, she found his presence to be not as annoying as she would have expected. is this what a sibling relationship was like for others?

( she wonders if her grandma would adopt parker, too )

rather than seeing him, lili hears him and can only guess to what is causing his burst of concern. and while it wasn’t unwarranted, lili — sincerely — couldn’t find what was wrong with her outfit.

did he find it offensive that she was wearing a dress from last season? 

she snorts, toe of her heel meeting with his ankle gently as a jab for his nagging. “lilian?” an amused brow rises, “who’s that?”

then she frowns at his fussing — hands making no move to do as he says because this ensemble was not meant for a coat to cover ( the coat was but a mere accessory to withstand the chill but other than that, lili was bound by the inherent belief that she’d rather die pretty than badly dressed ) — her hand running through her hair as she lets his words go from one ear to the other before lips purse and she groans, “you said i was going to be meeting your friends, of course i had to make a good impression. don't i look like someone you'd want to meet your friends?”

sure, her personality was rough around the edges but lili assumed that a pretty dress and smile would at least soften those jagged parts — kind of a trojan horse a la miu miu sort of thing?

yes, that shall be her optimal reasoning for wearing the sheerest dress possible on what could be the coldest day of february. tugging on his arm, she pulls him along, amidst his english woes, “okay, okay — i hear you. i’ll make sure to stay close to the radiator at the restaurant. let’s go — like you said, it’s freezing.” at least her gloves could fight off the frostbite, she thinks. 

little red packet

@lgclili and parker spend some "sibling" time together

At this point, it was pretty par for the course for Parker not to go home during any breaks, even when he had them. For as long as the flight was back to California, the time that was typically allotted seemed way too short, but as a trainee, it had seemed more doable just based on how much he missed his family; however, that had been simply out of the question this year. Even more so when the Seollal break was only four days, but this year Lunar New Year seems a little less lonely. For one, he had Hyuk to spend time with, but more than that, somewhere along the line, he managed to sort a dinner together with some of his favorite people: Yichen, Yuxi, and Lili. 

It was about a quarter to six when Parker’s cab pulled up not too far from Daerim-dong. Even when a good deal of Koreans were taking the time with their own families, he could still see a few people making their way here in there. Thanking the driver, Parker adjusted his scarf and looked around, hoping to spot a Lili. She hadn’t met either Yichen or Yuxi before and had insisted on meeting up with him beforehand, a request that Parker couldn’t refuse. Even if they weren’t related, all three held a special familial place in Parker’s heart, but especially Lili. 

“Ah! Are you crazy!” he called out when he called her. Parker’s furrowed his bows and switched to English to sound more like his own mother.  “Lillian, you’re going to catch a cold! Yes, your dess is cute. Button up your coat!”

“no, no —” her hand immediately shoots out to take chaekyung’s arm again, raising the other’s hand to her forehead again. “check it again, i definitely feel something coming on.”

when the rouse is called — lili frowns. method acting, her ass! “everyone does that when they feel faint — me, i’m everyone and i feel faint, i swear it.”

she didn’t feel faint — but how was chaekyung to know? weren’t symptoms like these supposed to be subjective? 

“maybe it’s because your hands are so cold.” it was definitely not because lili wanted to be escorted out of this bird-infested hell.

( just when she had thought they had finished another trainee returns with a ha! just then — lili feels her eyes roll to the back of her head, her blood running cold )

"fine, be that way, abandon me in my time of need!"

she did as she was told, bringing her hand to lili's forehead to check her temperature. huh. the warmth of her skin felt normal. chaekyung wrapped her arm around the older female, this time placing her hands on both of their foreheads to compare temperatures. nothing. her hands weren't that cold, so she should have felt it if lili's temperature was higher.

her eyes narrowed as she squinted at lili. "your temperature's fine... and you look," she paused, scanning her from head to toe, "totally healthy." chaekyung let out a gasp followed by a low whisper, "your acting's so bad, unnie. the moment you said 'oh' followed by my name, you gave yourself away." as she said that, she pulled her arm away and gently pushed lili back so she could stand on her own. "nobody does that when they feel faint."

໒꒱ . TRAINEE MISSION # 15 、REFLECT

this is stupid, she thinks. 

it’s a waste of time, is another thought that boulders by, when she’s saddled with the sash that cinches her waist and nearly ceases the blood flowing along her thigh. when fingers curl into said sash, she feels her veins pop and her body tense against impact. it wasn’t that lili couldn’t play the game — she could if she really, reallytried to — it’s that she would rather be doing something that wouldn’t ruin her hair that she had spent all morning straightening out and give her blotchy bruises that would take weeks to go away. something like kite flying or throwing those sticks around.

what was it called again? yut … something …

yutnori, was it?

it was harmless — throwing around sticks until one or the other gets mal and is back to the beginning.

yeah, that was easy — that was fun. lili had enjoyed that. would probably go as far as to say it was one of her favorite games in the last few weeks. because that wouldn’t result in bodily injuries being subjected under the guise of friendly competition.

yeah — that. lili would much prefer doing that instead of being thrown about like a rag doll in the eyes of some murderous trainee who lili had probably fucked over sometime this year. ( not a joke, also not funny — and lastly, ow )

thrown onto her back — she cries foul! 

that time she really must have dislocated something, her shoulder? her neck — her entire left buttock, perhaps? something to excuse her from the ordeal of basically being pretzeled minus the salt. the round lasts for less than a minute, a flash dance of limbs leaving her breathless and finally she’s removed from the ring, left to nurse her ‘wounds’ by the side with a horrifying grimace upon her lips. the aching at her hip was sure to leave one of those nasty bruises she was hoping she wouldn’t be getting. 

but alas, said murderous trainee just had to throw in some type of special taekwondo move into the mix. 

once more, the thought crosses as she hisses at the pain now echoing from her pelvic bone: 

stupid, stupid, stupid.

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.”

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.”