>>the replacements

“Mmh,” she grumbled a bit. She knew they were working toward something, but she was a little annoyed at how long it was taking. “I’m excited to see fans too… it’ll probably a better crowd than at the bars. Maybe if we’re lucky they’ll send us on… I think I remember seeing Journey on one of those shows.”

“oh my gosh, i didn’t even think of that! imagine if we get invited to perform at an awards show. like real rockstars. this is crazy...” the young girl gushed, trying hard not to beam. “you know what i really want to do? that show where you get to compete in the olympics, but with other idols! i want to learn how to do archery...”

“it’s fine. i didn’t cuss anyone out or anything,” dain said, waving her off and shrugging. “i wasn’t flirting with the mc that overtly. people will just take it as a joke.”

“or they’ll say you’re trying to hard to get attention, or that you made the mc uncomfortable! liberty is going to be so mad... you’re going to get yelled at, unni!”

she scrunched up her face. “uh… yeah? that’s what being a trainee is. learning things on a crunch and performing them to the best of your abilities. but i guess you wouldn’t know what being a real trainee is like.”

“yeah, i barely had to do any of that,” taeha agreed, oblivious to harin’s obvious distate towards her. “just like.... learning how to present myself to a camera. which you probably already know, too! especially with you being on idol project! i was such a huge fan of you on the show, i’m sorry you didn’t last longer!”

“At least one of us is getting the hang of it, I guess,“ Taeri snorted. "I get the media stuff, but the rest of the training... I thought that we were ready to go, and that’s why they signed us.”

“maybe we were ready to go to be a band, but we need tweaks to be an idol band,” taeha mused, resting her head on her sister’s shoulder. “i’m excited to meet fans! do you think that we’ll ever get to go on shows like weekly idol? i’d get to be in the same room that aj was in... on the same show....”

“that’s very cool, actually–  do you guys write all your music, then?” she liked taeha. they were close in age, and taeha made her feel comfortable

taeha nodded emphatically. “we always have! i do less than others, and mostly just make drum compositions that fit what everyone else has already written, but it’s a collaborative effort! is diadem not doing that?”

harin had to bite back some choice words. she’d been training for how long? they’d promised her she’d be in the next group, her debut was coming soon. and then out of nowhere, this kid was signed, and almost immediately about to be debuted. it wasn’t taeha’s fault, but god, hara was bitter. “i know,” she answered bluntly. “a week or so. i don’t remember. i’ve had so much trainee shit on my plate.”

“oh man, do you need to learn a new arrangement every week?” taeha asked. she was getting some training before blacklist debuted, but most of it was media training, and a bit of polishing. she didn’t know what idol training was like. “that seems like it must be so busy!”

“It is weird,” Taeri agreed with her sister. “Media training sucks ass, but I guess they need a certain cleanness so it doesn’t piss off investors.”

“you know, i’ve been kind of good at that! the trainer said i had good energy the other day!” taeha said brightly, grinning. “it’s weird having trainers critique my drumming, though. like.... i thought i was pretty good, but apparently i have a lot to learn....”