“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?"
“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.
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?”
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."
“wishful thinking.” lili says, because the horror that maylin had wished would not happen — comes sliding right in on a silver cart. presented in a decadent array of vibrant colors were the cherry on top to an already embarrassing ensemble. in a way, if this had been circa met gala 2019, lili would have passed it off as camp — perhaps avant garde. but this was neither 2019 nor the met gala.
and it was obvious, this type of dress that had been all the rage for the time it had been in should have stayed there.
“god, i really should not have eaten that salmon skin roll for lunch.”
it surely had come back to bite her in the ass — or more specifically, in the form of attire she was to grace national televisions in the upcoming weeks ahead. sigh, the things she did for fame.
“i love sushi as much as the next person, but i’m not lady gaga — i don’t want to wear what i eat.”
siren.
this had to be some kind of karma put onto maylin for all her days of complaining and teasing the innocent.
there was no other explanation as to why she was standing here wearing - well, she knew the day would come when the songs were announced for the senior trainees. it was popular during its release date and resurfaced recently in the charts. she's seen many people perform it in the past, and all of them wore the sushi on top of their heads with a smile on their faces.
and she had no choice but to smile as well, while her eyes were dead to the world and regretting every second.
with dress rehearsals and fittings hitting them all like a wave, maylin showed up in her usual black and neutral attire as she waited for her turn. when she spotted a familiar face, she immediately went over to @lgclili and linked their arms. "please tell me i'm not the only one gagging at the thought of wearing a certain outfit." she whispered, speaking in Cantonese. "maybe they'll spare us all and we only get the dress, or something completely different. i simply can't accept our fates here."
the delusions, that's all her mind was filled with at this point.
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?"
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.