patience

@sujirk

“I should probably get on my laptop and check to see what the weather’s going to be like, shouldn’t I?”  Haseul asks her roommate, as she stands in front of her empty suitcase, which is currently on her bed, waiting to be packed for their upcoming trip to Japan.  She always hated packing, she wasn’t sure why, so really she was trying her best to kind of come up with reasons to keep putting it off.

“I mean, I don’t want to pack anything too heavy if it’s going to be hot, but I don’t want to be caught off-guard if it starts raining or something,” she gives another flimsy excuse as she moves over to the spot where her laptop is and sits down to open it up and go online.  “How are you doing over there? Are you ready? It’s kind of exciting, isn’t it?”

“oh, that’s a good idea...” suji pauses at the younger’s words, a light sweater half folded in her hands as she stares down at the contents of her suitcase. out of all the things she had thought about (and overthought), weather had skipped her mind completely. “no that’s a really, really good idea,” she laughs, looking up from her own suitcase and over at haseul’s. “i think i’m doing okay! though now i’m doubting what i just put in here thanks to you.” 

She really does like it and thinks that whoever is in charge of scouting locations for their videos really deserves a raise.  Every set they’ve had so far was so aesthetic to the concept of the video and it just made it feel that much more real.  “Right? It seems just right, I think.”  She had loved recording Trust Me, knowing that slower songs seemed to be something that fit her voice really well, but for her own personal style, Chase Me was the instrumental that she enjoyed more.

“Exactly! I think it’ll let the girls that maybe aren’t known more for their voices get a chance to show what they can do too, you know?” she didn’t mean that in a bad way at all, she just knew how people viewed groups.  “Everyone’s so talented and I hope everyone can see it.” She nods, and hums in thought.  “Not quite my favorite, but I still love it.  I really hope the fans enjoy it as much as I think they will.”

“Definitely!” Suji nods, “We’ve been doing so much dance lately. I think it’s good for you and the others to have a chance to really show off your vocals on their own.” It was true. From what she had paid attention to in netizen comments and articles that had been written about Eclipse, their skilled choreography was something notable. “Me too.” She replies happily to Haseul. “Maybe we’ll be underrated rookies if we can do more videos like this in the future too. Right?”

@sujirk

eclipse and convex have overlapping schedules. only for a week out of the long schedule of promotions, but it’s a week that kibum intends to take full advantage of. he hasn’t seen audrey or minji in a long time, and he’s excited for the rare opportunity. sure it means they’ll be going against each other on the music shows, but he hardly cares about that – he knows sphere would expect him to care, but he can’t bring himself to. it’s only convex’s second comeback, and they’re not even from one of the big three companies. he’s sure that if either of them have a chance of winning anything, eclipse would have a bigger one. 

eclipse comes to convex’s dressing room to greet them, and they all go through the usual motions of bowing and exchanging albums, but that doesn’t take too long since they’re both rookie groups. they respect each other, of course, but many of the members are also friends, so kibum is soon approaching audrey. “how go the promotions, suji?” he asks, purposefully using the korean name she was given as her official stage name as he nudges her gently in the shoulder. “we’re still at the beginning of ours, but i’m sure a few weeks from now we’ll all look even more dead on our feet than we do now.” he smiles as he looks around the room at the mingling convex and eclipse members, though convex greatly outnumbers eclipse. “how do you feel about your new concept? i think it suits you,” he says, looking down at her dark clothes and dramatic makeup. “we seem to be sticking with the boy next door thing, but i don’t mind it. the songs are catchy, at least.” 

promoting with familiar faces has been a blessing to all of the girls of eclipse- in luxe’s case, she got to reunite and catch up with dabin and meet the other girls’ friends, and as soon as its announced that they’ll also be promoting at the same time as convex, her excitement is evident. (even in spite of the warning look that their manager gave her when she voiced it.) getting able to see each of them in person was a lot different than trying to keep up between texts and video chats, and it made things feel a little less like a dream and more like reality; they were all sharing the same experiences, able to understand the struggles that their trainee friends wouldn’t, and that was more than enough to provide a little bit of comfort. 

ahyoung would have never thought that the day would come where she actually enjoys routine, and actually looks forward to it whenever the time comes near the end of the week – but considering how troubling their vacancy was after their debut, she finds herself grateful to be actually going to music shows this time, to have any kind of work being thrown their way. however, she did find the whole music show rituals and rules to be a little … ridiculous, in her opinion.

“so uhhhhh … let’s be honest here. they give us blankets for our dresses and stuff and expect us not to fall asleep? like uh … hello?” the girl points out while she settles next to suji in their waiting area, with nothing left to do for the next several hours besides twiddle their thumbs until it was their time to go up – how was she not expected to go to sleep when they know how early they’ve had to get up for this? “maybe one of us should like … distract the manager or something … tell him his mom’s hair is burning and he has to go help her … the sky is falling or some shit …” ahyoung laughs, bringing the fuzzy blanket that’s resting upon her legs up until it’s covering half of her face, “or maybe we can hide in the corner and sleep upwards! make a blanket fort for privacy! but that would probably grab more attention, huh…” she thinks through, lips pulling into a disapproving line before she uses the blanket to cover the wide yawn escaping her mouth – almost as if it needs to be proven how tired the girls are at the moment.

💌  ↝  sending transmission to @sujirk  ‧ ‧ ‧

“you’re completely right!” she laughs before the action turns itself into a yawn. “i feel like i’m a zombie,” she replies to ahyoung’s remark about their lack of sleep, and not being able to nap unless it was a certain time of the day. “maybe we’re in school again and our nap time is rationed.” her brows raise at the potential conspiracy that might be the source of their banned napping, her head falling onto the other’s shoulder for lack of audrey being willing to hold it up on her own. 

@sujirk

“The set looks so pretty, doesn’t it?” Haseul muses as she waits off camera with Audrey, waiting for their time to go on set and film their parts for a special music video that they were making for their fans.  It was a great idea, she thought, something that would show how much they cared about those that supported them.  “I mean, it’s kind of simple, especially compared to the last one, right, but it’s still just… nice.”

Maybe she was just in a good mood because things had seemingly been going well for the group recently, making their “second” debut of sorts with their alternate concept and going on shows, she was having maybe the most fun she had had since signing with KT five years earlier.  “I love this song too, I’m always a sucker for slow songs with great melody.”  She looks up at her roommate, trying to read her expression. “What do you think?”  

“It really does,” Audrey can’t help but agree with the younger, nodding. “I think simple is good though, it fits the song so well.” And that was the truth. If she were asked, Trust Me is one of her most favorite songs, and arguably her favorite one to record. Chase Me had its appeal to her with its choreography and its edgier concept that played closer to her own liking, but this song and its simple melody took her heart whole.

          if the past few days have taught her anything, it’s that, yes, she should’ve brought one of the blankets from their living room with them when they left this morning. it’s cold as it is when they leave in the first place but when sleep is an luxury they can’t get enough of, it’d be much better to take a nap with one than without. the potential bulkiness and inconvenience of bringing a blanket around is one of the only things stopping her and she had to dig deep into the boxes she keeps at her sister’s place to find her solution: a thick cardigan almost as long as her, one that could nearly sweep the floor if she knelt down just a little. 

          plopping down next to audrey in the waiting room, she brings it with her, already nestling her head against audrey’s shoulder and pulling the cardigan over them. “ i promise to share if you let me rest here. ” not that she genuinely thinks audrey would say no but it’s nice to offer, a joke really because ariel would likely cling if she was told no anyway unless the other was upset. 

something everyone seems to be learning quickly is that music show waiting rooms tend to run cold. it’s something that all of the girls are having to adapt to in one way or another, because performing cold is a whole new aspect. audrey’s solution so far has been a child-sized blanket, just big enough that she can cover her shoulders or her legs while they wait. (if they really had the option, she would bring a personal heater, but something in her dares not ask the question.) she assumes the rooms tend to be cold simply to provide a cool relief when returning from performing, but audrey, who seems to be perpetually chilled, has yet to actually experience said relief.