All Lili Can Do In Return Is Nod. Hand Dropping Once The Other Takes The Tissue To Wipe Her Face —

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.

@LGCENT just posted a photo!

fun fact! did you know that the year of the snake is my chinese zodiac? so, as my zodiac intends, and as the clock strikes on the last hour of my birthday, i declare that this will be my year of transformation, renewal and spiritual growth! 

#lgctrainees #lgcent #xulili

“please.” she nearly whines.

picture this: lili — a woman who held all the grace and poise in the world in a singular fingernail. now throw all that grace and poise out the window and replace it with contempt and a blood-thirst for revenge then you’d have the xu lili of today, or more precisely, of right now.

she groans as she feels asami pull her up with all the strength she could muster. “these little urchin — i mean gremli — kids thought it’d be funny to give me a nudge,” that was putting it kindly. feeling herself unsteady at the soles, she uses asami’s shoulder to steady herself before letting go of the other woman’s hand with a grim smile — ‘smile’, really, because lili had nothing to smile about because the kids who tried to unalive her were literally standing beside them looking as disappointed as ever at their failed attempt. 

“now that wasn't nice, right, kids?” she asks a bit more sternly than she should before asami’s comment catches up with her and a hand flies to her head, lips dropping open in horror — “what? oh no — what’s wrong with it?” her hand immediately combs through it, hoping that nothing had caught into the strands. 

Here, surrounded by stuffed animals, all Asami could think about was her niece and if her brother had given her the stuffed bear, she got her when she was born. She’s more than six months old now, certainly a kid could be trusted to have one of those without suffocating or something, right?

Helping the kids felt like a good way to practice, to be honest, since Asami doesn’t have a lot of time to go back to Tokyo and actively participate in her niece’s life. She must learn how to me an aunt sooner rather than later, after all, and volunteering, despite not being her first choice for a Saturday activity, wasn’t all that bad. She enjoys being around children, and after the birth of little miss Mayumi, her liking of the little ones has seemed to increase theoretically. With her busy schedule, it’s not like she sees children all that often after all.

Asami is only pulled out of her reverie when she hears someone ask for help, and she wishes it was easier to find the source, but it really wasn’t since the stuffed animals, “Hi, uhm, I just need a second,” Asami says as she tries looking and see if any of the children are of any help. They aren’t. She must definitely look a little too silly, and she definitely looked comical like a cartoon character when she found the person in need because her mouth opened in a perfect O shape. “Lili unnie, my god, how did you end up there?” Asami offers her a hand and pulls her up. Despite her best instincts, Asami lets herself smile a little, “your hair is all over the place. I hope you didn’t land on leftover candy. Can I help you?”

PIECE OF ME     ୨୧     @lgcminnie     /     “miiiiiiiiinnie,” lili practically whines as she’s pouring over the karaoke book; the song she had wanted to sing after her grand slam of a performance of wicked’s defying gravity was no where to be found. it had torn her hopes of one-upping such a performance that lili wanted a little pick-me-up. and what better than to be the nosy little bee that she was known and hated loved for. “did you pick a song yet? i can’t find the one i wanted to sing.” 

honestly, it was probably in a different book. 

taking a sip of her drink, lili glances around the room — taking in the sights, the stares, and the oh la la : did her eyes deceive her or did someone just get chocolates a day late? very interesting.

“did you see that! i think he just handed her some chocolates,” lili whispers behind a not so subtle hand, dropping it almost immediately when the scene disperses before it can really lead to well, anything — how disappointing. “well, that was a bust. oh right, how was white day for you? did you get any chocolates? someone gave me matcha ones that tasted like grass.” it was gross and yet, out of the kindness of her heart, lili regifted it to the janitor this morning.

໒꒱ . LGC FAMILY CONCERT # 2024  、

she needed this.

what better time of the year to get her mind off of the fact that she was practically an orphan around the holidays. and yes, that was exactly what legacy’s family concert turned out to be: the perfect distraction. 

there is no time for hell raising, no complaints to be said this time — they’ve all been done before and surprisingly, lili had no will to fight them this time around. it’s an oddity, sure, the girl who was so used to having poison for a tongue and fire in her eyes, willingly compliant and obedient to an event she, otherwise, wouldn’t have bat her eyes to. but she was there, day in and day out, practicing like she didn’t already know all the words, repeating each routine and step as if it hadn’t already been engrained into her muscle memory. 

it begs the question:

was something wrong?

it’s a tale she’d never tell. in fact, when questioned by some of her peers, all she does is laugh and reply back:

“what? is it so surprising that i might actually enjoy doing the family concert?”  

because yes — it was surprising.

and perhaps enjoy was too strong of a word.

it was a nice relieve to the mundane and her constant woe is me that came with the autumn holidays. it was just nice to think about something else, really.

when the day comes, lili finds herself lost in the bustle — the craziness of family concert that she doesn’t really have the time to think about how her grandmother had sent her away with a pamphlet of money and her well-wishes typed into a text message read by an assistant who cared enough to take the two hour flight from beijing. 

and with all things considered, as she’s mouthing to so hot, laughing against the crowd’s roars, arms linked with jiah, lili can only think — thank god, i get to do this all over again tomorrow.

his absence doesn’t escape her notice — 

it wasn’t that she was used to him being early, rather she was used to him, well, being there. and the fact that he wasn’t, lili could not help the unease it brought her. teeth gnaw at her bottom lip, pencil scribbling away at nonsensical nothings did little to appease her, and now the anxiousness she felt had begun to swell from within. who else was she to launder her unending, and inconsequent, annoyances to but him — and especially now where the topic of the day was of a history that she had absolutely no interest in whatsoever. who had time for games when the game of life was already taking deep pleasure in fucking with her?

when he makes his timely entrance, she takes note of the on the dot punctuation with a purse of the lips and an amused lift of a brow. “as a matter of fact. you just made the top of the list,” teeth primly hidden behind a smirk as she taps the end of her pencil against his hand when noeul shifts her way. “did you oversleep?” her gaze roams from the reddening of his eyes to the curl of bedhead that had obviously been missed in his haste. 

chatterbox

It was rare when he showed up late on Saturdays, but today was one of those days where everything went wrong for him. From sleeping past three alarm clocks to not closing his water bottle and spilling the liquids in front of apartment door to not being able to catch the the bus.... That should have been the final straw for him. He should have went back to his bed, but instead, he bursts through the door a minute before the educational session starts. It all fell too familiar to him attending his college courses. Was he in limbo? Was he being tortured?

He settles next to Lili, slumping over the table and directly on top of his backpack, which he could use as a pillow. No. He forces himself to sit upright, lifting his hands to rub aggressively at his eyes with the back of his fingers. "What are we learning today? Did you start taking notes, hm?" He playfully leans closer, pulling at her notebook to peek at the page. "Is this your hit list, Lils?" He audibly whispers in English, lisp evident when he utters his nickname for her.

@lgclili

@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

BIRTH NAME   —   li yifei (李亦菲) LEGAL NAME   —   xu yifei (徐亦菲) ENGLISH NAME   —   xu lili (徐莉莉) KOREAN NAME   —   seo yeokbi (서역비), seo lili (서리리) BIRTHDAY   —   january 01, 2001 BIRTHPLACE   —   beijing, china BLOOD TYPE   —   AB ZODIAC SIGN   —  capricorn FAVORITE MOTTO   —

it is not enough to be good, if better is possible.

RANDOM FACTS   —

took ballet for twelve years

born in beijing, she moved to los angeles when she was 7

was adopted by her grandmother when she moved to the usa, there she gained dual citizenship

can speak 3 languages: mandarin, english and korean

her favorite color is baby pink

was about to debut in a low-level company but was dropped from the lineup for 'unknown' reasons

is very much into fashion, enjoys thrifting and calls vogue and harper's bazaar her bible

loves sour candies, her favorite is sour tamarind-flavored candies

claims that her last meal would be an iced americano, sour tamarind candies and malatang

loves spicy food, and the more it numbs her tongue, the better

loves wong kar-wai movies, especially in the mood for love and chungking express

is very into nail art and always, always, always has her nails done

her favorite singers are christina aguilera, britney spears, mariah carey, sza and ariana grande

YEAR END GOALS   —

debut

work on her whistle register

challenge herself with more difficult choreographies

PREVIOUS APPEARANCES & PROJECTS   —

n/a

MOST MEMORABLE EVENT   —

n/a

she waits at the bottom with bated breath — it was barely a hump but still! lili was allowed to have her reservations, especially when minkyu says it’s his first time skiing! lili was not a worrisome person but she would not have filming be halted over something that could have easily been prevented.

“slow down, ski bunny, we don’t want you melting the mountain.” her giggles are muffled by her gloves.

“but a higher one?” she’s amused by his eagerness but she nods, nonetheless. “alright, i think we can do another after this, let’s see if that little hill wasn’t some fluke, alright?”

she’s thankful to be back in the lodge after an afternoon of skiing — it had been fun but the cold had started to get to her. her skii clothes while fashionable were not exactly the most functional to wear on the slopes and after an hour of being out on the mountains, the chills had started to seep into her bones.

walking beside minkyu, she pokes at his side, once more eager for a hint to the surprises he had teased earlier. “so, what’s next? a hot air balloon to whisk us to some snow getaway?”

They say the bunny hill is the easiest, but Minkyu’s legs clearly didn’t get the memo. The moment his skis tilt forward and gravity takes over, his knees wobble like jelly, his balance teetering on a razor’s edge. Clutching the ski poles with the desperation of a man holding onto life itself, he hurtles downhill - not so much skiing as he is surviving.

What takes mere seconds feels like a slow-motion lifetime, but somehow, miraculously, he makes it to the bottom. No falls, no dramatic wipeouts, just a slightly chaotic descent ending in a wobbly slide to her side. He’s anything but graceful, especially compared to her serene glide, but he’s in one piece, and that’s what matters.

“Phew! Not too bad, huh?” he grins, striking an exaggerated victory pose, chin tilted high in mock pride. It only takes a second before he dissolves into laughter, the tension melting from his shoulders.

Then he looks at her, really looks, and the admiration in his eyes softens his smile. “You looked like a gliding princess up there,” he says earnestly, voice warm. “Seriously. So pretty.” And he means every word. “Let’s go to a higher one next,” he says, his grin widening. “I’m all warmed up now!”

any other day, one where the sun wasn’t in her eyes or the wind wasn’t messing up her hair — or where lili wasn’t paranoid that chicken shit had gotten underneath her fingernails — maybe lili would have tickled her competitive bone. but no, apparently that day was not today. and lili knew a losing game when it’s been had and from the get go — soap? was no winning contender in anyone’s book.

it wasn’t as if the people around here went through soaps as quickly as they would water — they couldn’t be that dirty, could they? she sniffs, trying not to appear too miffed by the idea before turning back to emi.

“surprised — why?” she feigns her own little raised brow in confusion, a smile playing on her lips as she looks at the juice cups. her finger dances in the air around them as she tries to choose, “which do you recommend, you’ve been here all day — which has been selling the most?” 

she swore, just when she thought she had legacy figured out, they wanted to throw another curveball-- like sending them out into the country, having them feign for themselves, or at least it felt that way sometimes. really though, all mimi could do was cackle at the different shenanigans they had been put through. it was all in a good fun, and honestly, she hadn't realized how sick of the practice room she was until they were heading far far away from it.

fresh air would do her some good anyway, it had been a rough couple of weeks.

and she liked competing. it was fun, it lit a fire under her, even more so when she realized she was losing. so to say this weekend had been... eventful was an understatement. it was nice to get closer to the trainees and unnies, though.

sometimes, this makes it easier to feel like she fits in.

juice selling was going well, and the team was excited, hushed whispers around their future spoils of vicotry when the voice rings through and emi turns, blinks a bit at lili as she tries to hide her snort. she takes the bill with ease, moving to get change, and gestures to the juices. "take your pick, take your pick. i am a little surprised you wanted to get one from us, though." she admits with a chuckle.