royals;

It was just the demo she was listening to, with its synthesizing sound and bouncy music. The lyrics were in front of her as she listened to it again and again to hear the rhythm, study the inflection of the one who sang the demo, and alternatively imagine hers, Seoyoung’s, and Nayoung’s voices instead as Lemon Syrup. She would like to admit that ‘Magic Girl’ held up to its title and reminded her of animations she was a kid, Sailor Moon in particular, but also of Card Captor Sakura. That part she couldn’t deny feeling some sort of nostalgia and pride that she was involved in such a group. There was just one big and personal hurdle that Seolhyun herself had to get over... 

This ‘hurdle’ was what caused Seolhyun to let out a pained groan as she sat on the couch. She should be enjoying watching whatever program Naeun had up now, but her mind was occupied with the big news they were thrown recently (aside from their upcoming comeback, as exciting as that was). “Ugh, why does this have to sound so cute? I keep listening to it and I feel like there’s no way around performing it without sunshine smiles and aegyo.” Don’t even get her started on the dread she imagined their choreography was going to be. This “Aing” song has more of that sound she’d expect their male fans to love more. She’d just be predicting it now.

Despite the complaints that she had, her initial thoughts about this new subgroup was mixed with it leaning more towards good. Seolhyun’s still not sure though. “Why do you think they gave us this concept? Why do you think they gave me this concept?” she asked with a dry laugh.

♦ 2008XX – luxurious steps ;

She decides to try again from the very beginning, starting from the centre of the room and walk towards the mirror with a sway of her hips. Her gaze is fixated on the positioning of her hips as she does so, and swinging her right leg in front of her left foot that plants as her support. 

Her attention is set solely on her reflection, barely noticing the knock until the door opens and she turns to look. She’s– She knows who she is. She’s seen her in Naeun and Nayoung’s group, and she’s reminded herself to learn their names as best as possible. But she still reminds herself that she’s the hoobae here, and she bows immediately at the other female with a sheepish smile. “Hi seonbaenim. Uhm… feel free to.”

She scratches the back of her head. “I don’t mean to take up your time and all.” Oh god, this is awkward. I don’t know what to say. “I’m just… trying to pick up some choreography and make my own, but nothing seems to look right no matter what I do.” 

Now I’m just rambling.

Seolhyun bowed back at the other after the greeting, but then waved her hand dismissively with a smile from the other’s comment. “Don’t worry about it. I was the one who came in here after all, right?” As a senior, there was some responsibility she held looking over the trainees. Sure, many of them were able to practice and work on their own, but having another set of eyes and ears comment on said work could also be productive and enlightening. There was only so much that Luxe could practice on their own, but perhaps she could also learn a few things here and there watching other people dance, too.

What Seolhyun liked most about this Oh Boy choreography was the fact that they put attention to what was around their necks; a prop that was going to be a part of their choreography, and some of their moves would not be the same if they did not have it on their person. A tie with a hidden string in the back to loosen and tighten it really made it easy to use them while they learned the choreography, though Seolhyun was also curious how to tie a real necktie. Unfortunately, aside from their manager and other staff that walked around during the day, she really didn’t have one of those ties available.

But she digressed.

Now, most of their choreography had been sexy in their own ways, mentally listing all of their songs so far and the key sexy points to each. For Oh Boy, there was a charm in it that came from being sexy in an office setting, with those two words not commonly put together from not only her personal experience at the company, but also what she saw on TV and other dramas. Though she guessed this choreography could also be tied with their Short Skirt choreography, when some of those did look like sexy office workers. Oh, that would be a fun thing to connect together if they have their own concert, right? 

While the tie was out of place with their practice clothes, Seolhyun still continued taking pictures with her casual attire while snapping her bandmates’ as well. Some put a few more minutes of practice in while the rest took a break, and Seolhyun took out her camera to candidly collect pictures on how diligent some people were of learning.

heyseolsister Have a wonderful Chuseok, everyone~ ❤️ This is the time to enjoy what you have and be thankful. Stay healthy. Eat lots of food and songpyeon. Appreciate your loved ones. Olympias, I also hope you’re doing well. ^^

naughty, naughty ★ zoella

it’s almost second nature to her now whenever someone had their phone up in front of a mirror. smiling naturally as she tightened her hold around seolhyun, nayoung leaned towards her even more, getting ready with her fixed posture as she let the other pick and choose the right filters. it’s common for her phone to have a tone of these photos too, useful for fancafe or social media or really just to keep as a good memory. 

the shutter sound rang, and she laughed, stepping away to give the other more space. “send me, send me!” she added, swinging her arms side to side in part stretching and just the need to move about. after all, she’s always that antsy person whenever excitement was piling inside her. letting seolhyun take the lead with the logistics, nayoung tried a few hand movements in front of the video before she nodded.

they both practised enough to know the choreography without much mistakes. it wasn’t absolutely perfect, but nayoung was satisfied with it as it was a good cover. or so she hoped - if they performed the same way they did during practise, then the dancer’s going to be more than just elated. 

her smile slipped slightly as she stood in position, hands raised and poised. and once the melody registered in her mind, nayoung moved in sync to the other girl. it’s vital they both get their duo choreography timed right, least they accidentally sock each other in the face ( didn’t happen, thankfully, but there were a few close shaves when they started the song, that resulting in a lot more laughter and soft apologies, quick hugs and more laughter. ). stepping out when she’s out of frame, she made sure to observe seolhyun’s frame as well to give pointers if neccessarily. 

and then, they should be ready. 

“i think i’m all warmed up now, and my hands are ready to twist and turn. what do ya think - let’s give it one formal go and then check the footage?” nayoung pressed her hands together. “and if we’re done over the next hour, what do you say we go for a quick, quick break for coffee or tea? let’s go!”

Before she forgot about it, Seolhyun was already opening up Kakaotalk to send the pictures to Nayoung. Some of the could probably be touched up to make them brighter a little bit or something, but that was something that could be left at a later time. They had more important matters to take care of while they were in the studio, and she really wanted this recording to be amazing. 

This type of choreography was something Nayoung and her almost prided themselves in this kind of expressive dance. She remembered their Royal Survival days having a similar choreography for one challenge, and then for their first fanmeet that happened right at the beginning of this year. It was unfortunate that in their profession and genre that there weren’t many opportunities to really show it off, but thankful that they could make it and upload it themselves when the inspiration came to them.

Her expression changed to something more serious when they ran through the choreography from beginning to end, something that went along the lines of expressing what the song was about, that naughty, mischievous cat-and-mouse game with someone. That was something she wanted to show with her eyes and her mouth, checking herself in the mirror as she did so. That was just as important as getting the crisp angles of tutting that Seolhyun had no doubt the two of them would do well at. 

Denim was something that Seolhyun didn’t want to wear too often. This type of fabric was so thick and constricting, she knew she couldn’t move around in it the way she wanted to. But this was part of the concept they were going with this time for their album, and she only had to wear it only for this  photo shoot. This was something that she could endure enough of and not complain too much. And when she wasn’t in front of the cameras, the jacket would be coming right now.

During her time in front of the set taking her picture, though she went with her usual poses at first. Simply standing in the middle, legs slightly apart, three-quarter angles as she looked behind her, those kinds of poses. But with their concept in mind and what their songs were about, her other poses should really try to imbue that. For some ideas, she held onto the flaps of her jacket to look a little tougher, then asked the photographer if that was okay to go with. She then went to do something more in her comfort zone with one part of her denim jacket hanging off of her shoulder, exposing the sleeveless underneath. Her expression also changed the moment the photographer asked for something, and then tried her own with a story in mind and how that would make her feel. Seolhyun just loved being in front of the camera in any type of form, wanting to be someone easy to shoot and didn’t need to be directed for /everything./

heyseolsister A deal is a deal. @hjonghyunn ㅎㅎ But really, Convex’s song is so good! Congratulations for your 1st place. ^^~ #CONVEX #울고싶지않아 

SEPT 17

**********************

Based on what they saw of the storyboard and how their ‘Ah Yeah’ music video would go, Seolhyun was going to be the sweet, maybe passive kind of person when speaking to a man while Euijin’s character would be the complete opposite of that. Whatever aggressive thoughts someone may think about this relationship, Euijin’s would have no hesitation to show with her words and her body language (though with her experience, Seolhyun also knew that Euijin would act like this regularly too). It was an amusing turn of personalities, but Seolhyun wouldn’t say that she was as ‘passive’ as her character in this music video. At least it meant cute outfits.

With Seolhyun’s part as a news anchor finished, the directors moved on to get it ready for Euijin’s side of the scene while filming another member. It was resting time, or rather a play time, for the others, so Seolhyun took her spot again behind the news anchor’s desk. “Euijin ah, you should come over here,” she said while patting the empty chair next to her. She complimented the red dress that the other was wearing and settled into her chair. 

“I feel like a professional sitting here. Like I want to look straight at the camera and have a go at being a reporter.” Seolhyun pointed towards the prop studio camera pointed at them and then cleared her throat, speaking with as formal a voice as she could. “In recent events in the Luxe dorm, main rapper Ashe-ssi, was allegedly shouting expletives at the TV screen when she lost a match of Overwatch. The other members reported with, quote, ‘This is normal from her.’ end quote. The action still raised concerns of Ashe’s well-being. Something like that.”

Seolhyun would be listening to these demos in her sleep until they finally record them, during these months while they were getting their album together, it was too common for the song to be playing in her head randomly during practice, thinking of the lyrics and humming to herself in different pitches and octaves as a way to not only harmonize, but determine what might sound good and what would be comfortable for her to achieve. They were going to spend all day recording these tracks anyway, and they had to be open to how the sound producer wanted these tracks to come out as. Maybe something they recorded before was okay, but now wanting to take it to another direction, needed to go back in and try again. 

Such was the life of an artist, but for the others who had more lines than her and Zoe, had more time in the studio and needed to take more breaks in between to rest their vocals for the next session. Seolhyun was sometimes curious what it would be like to record a full song that was just her own. Naeun and Seoyoung were given that opportunity earlier on in their careers for… which one was it? Their second mini-album? But they were both known as the /vocalists/ in their group. Seolhyun would more likely be given a dance break or an acting role than a solo song from the way the public knew their images. But what’s to say she couldn’t ask for one later on once they were more established?

She went into the booth with her paper full of notes. Having warmed up her voice earlier when Euijin was recording hers, she was ready to go after a few more sound checks. Recording went the way it usually did with the usual repeats to get the sound just right. At one point, her voice cracked in the middle of one of her lines, which she felt embarrassed about but laughed it off. That was just all in a day’s work of an idol.

mixology. 

{ tw: alcohol }

“yeah, i like the ones that have juice. sweet and fruity drinks are the best.” seoyoung nods at seolhyun’s comment. anyone can throw together a simple orange juice and vodka, but now is the time to get creative. “maybe you could make a gradient with orange and cranberry? i wonder if it would stay in place.”

her eyes go wide when seolhyun pulls out the agar powder. “whoa, that’s awesome! i’ve never seen anyone make jello shots before.” she’s encountered them once or twice, but never had the chance to try them. it certainly seems like the most fun way of consuming alcohol. “i bet you can make some fun things with that. like different shapes and molds.”

while seolhyun sets up the water to boil, seoyoung places a few ice cubes in a glass and drizzles some blue curaçao over them. it’s bright blue, so of course it caught her eye. she’s pondering what to mix into it when another idea strikes her. “i wonder if you can put alcohol into popping boba,” she says, a mischievous sparkle in her eye. “you could make some crazy bubble tea.

“probably would get you drunk pretty quickly, too. or maybe that’s just me,” she laughs. “i don’t know how you are, unnie, but i’m pretty lightweight.”

tw: alcohol

“I think that would be a cute thing to do, make these alcoholic gelatin into different shapes. I think there just needs to be a good way to get them out…” From her experience, she already knew that jello didn’t always come out in one piece, and that kind of depended on how bouncy it was. Seolhyun had watched so many videos on how to make gelatin with varying suggestions and numbers. The comments gave her more of an idea of how it would turn out if she followed these instructions, so she ultimately ended up with one she thought was easy to follow and not that complicated. While the water was boiling, she measured out how much agar needed to be used, and then poured some of her juice of choice in it to get it to… as the instructions said, “bloom.”

Tutting was its own beast of a dance, requiring all the limbs involved to work together. If something was off, then the whole flow of what they were trying to accomplish was not going to look as good. But she also loved the expression that this art form put light of, specifically how they would use their arms and each of their fingers in isolation to form shapes and illusion of movement. With enough practice, they could make their fingers look like a flowy wave from pinky to pinky. The same went for putting their arms together and moving them in ways others would have to rewind and look back asking “how did they do that?’ 

This was not for everyone to learn when it required a special type of hand-eye coordination, and sometimes needing to rewire the way some of her fingers would move together. Much of their time was spent looking at the mirror making sure that her and Nayoung were synchronized as well; if Seolhyun was going to be in front of her, when her arms go down, Nayoung’s arms went up. 

She had no doubt that they would be able to get through this and be able to record it by the end of the month. Seolhyun wanted to think of this upload as something like a gift for the fans for waiting for them, a tease that they still have things up their sleeve and that they were still very much working hard behind the scenes. There was recording, learning their own dances, and of course the occasional senior performance study. 

What they were recording might have been a practice while they were wearing their training clothes, but their colors still matched Naughty’s black and white without looking too casual. There was more preparation than what meets the eye when Seolhyun also sprayed the fronts of her hair to prevent the strands from falling haphazardly in front of her face. 

Seolhyun wasn’t sure if all girls with long hair agreed with this, but she would rather grow her hair longer than cut it really short. It was a kind of pride she had to see what length it would grow to, despite the extensions that would be added for their performances and video shoots. Several centimeters didn’t seem too bad to cut this time for their next concept, and maybe her hair could grow just a little bit longer if she maintained it well.

She greeted their hairstylist with a sleepy but anticipated hello. Her hair would be just a little bit lighter this time around, which meant being around the chemical smells of dyes and creams. Seolhyun already had her phone charged and ready to read more webtoons and watch videos waiting for the dye settle into her strands. Though her process was not as bad as Euijin’s when hers required bleaching her roots, and she did have to feel sorry for her poor hair going through so much to reach its pretty color. 

“I expected that they would not copy the same ending as their first movie. I think it would be too boring if they followed the same plot, too much like the original, you know?” Seolhyun commented to her stylist. The time passed faster when there were things to talk about, and thankfully who she was talking to also had enough experience under her belt to talk while she worked.

So, she also had questions about different hairstyles to try out, but also of other accessories she could probably buy and use on her hair to make it a little more fun. With a different hair color, Seolhyun had the added challenge of hiding it whenever she was out in public. A hat would be the easiest form to hide it, stuff her hair in a big hat and go with it that way? But throughout her random researching, she also saw that braiding hair and then using bobby pins to wrap around their head would be the easiest to have the hat to lie comfortably.