she knew that she should be more concerned about what the dance trainers at royal thought about her dancing above anyone else but kaia was someone who respected the opinions of all those skilled in their respective fields and it was without doubt that jazz was skilled beyond all others in the company when it came to dancing. she was like a firecracker with all this swag, sass and skill that even during dance practice kaia felt she stood out above the dance teacher.
kaia had gotten rather behind on her trainee duties thanks to her obligations to vibrate what with the summer photoshoot and the promotions and so she had been given a routine encompassing what the girls would be going over in her absence that she was to practice and present to the trainers upon her regular attendance. well. that day was coming soon and naturally she needed a second opinion before she went in front of the trainers.
she’d managed to latch herself onto jazz just as lunch was coming to an end in the royal building and, in her trademark backhug, she rested her chin on jazz’s shoulder and pecked her cheek in greeting. her dark hair was tossed over her shoulder and the tank top and skirt ensemble she wore was just perfect for the summer weather and the subsequently hot dance practice room. “i want to show you something during dance practice. i need your opinion.”
the word around seocho was primarily centered around the trainees upcoming evaluations. the merger that put all five of the companies together under one roof allowed for many opportunities to happen between the labels and this seemed to be one of the biggest events to date aside from the samsung commercials. naturally there were mixed reactions and even though she was placed in a pretty masculine dance all things considered, she knew that it was probably twice as worse for some of the guys who were completely unprepared to start swinging their hips and latching onto their inner aegyo.
the chicken caesar salad she was allotted for lunch time -- thank you, nutritionist not! -- was a meal she was starting to pick over once all of the meat had been picked out leaving only the lightly dressed leafy greens and so her attention began to wander. she had been chatting with some of the other girls she knew but while their lunches smelled so amazing and hers looked fit for a rabbit, she excused herself to see if she could seek out some kind of healthy dessert that was a part of her plan.
fortunately she was not the only soul with the thought of something sweet in mind and she was lucky to join the small buffet line with another hungry body. crossing her arms loosely over her chest for comfort, her hip swayed as she settled into her spot to look over at the food made available.
“you’d think that they’d let up on regulations considering all the work we’re about to put in, no?” her complaint was light hearted as she knew that there was no such mindset for the trainers and so the slight pout of her lower lip was short lived.
time flowed infinitely with no regard to the preparedness of those whose lives the ticking clocks affected and kaia certainly was no exception to this rule. it seemed only several days ago she was shooting for one of her last shoots for vibrate before she was tasked with another contractual obligation that brought her now to the royal building with hurriedly explained words rattling around in her head listlessly. she enjoyed both training and modeling but the fatigue that weighed heavily upon her figure from the long hours her jobs called for was inescapable.
at least she did not suffer from jetlag this time around. still she wished she’d dressed a bit more comfortably to mirror her tired bones.
entering the room she was instructed to report to upon arrival, a gathering of familiar faces dispelled the exhaustion from her bones and warmed her features with a welcoming and grateful smile. the task was understood as something that was sure to pose a challenge for her and having a group of supportive people was something she definitely needed. among the faces was one she had not yet seen -- or perhaps had not remembered -- and the rumors of new trainees coming in came back to mind.
ever the bold one, she promptly took her seat beside the girl she had yet to meet and with a soft flip of dark tresses over her shoulder, she turned a kind smile on the girl beside her. “so you must be this new trainee i keep hearing about.” royal was pretty tight knit despite the competition and so it was near impossible for word to not have gotten around. “coming in as soon as we are assigned an evaluation task...” her nose scrunched with a small laugh. “they could’ve went easier on you than that.”
an unprovoked performance to prepare but fun all the same to work in something that felt as if it was made specifically for the two of them. they hadn’t interacted much inside of royal outside of the holiday events that came around every so often but as the talk went around the rap lessons for the day about the latest release by a damn good female rapper, it wasn’t long before they were bonding over just how in love they were with the entire concept. the rapping, the dance, the aesthetic. everything was perfect and being trainees, well, in the future they would be emulating these kind of concepts so why couldn’t they start now.
it was after lunch that they reconvened in the dance lessons and since they couldn’t get the rap part down during this lesson, the least they could do was to start working on the dance as it was, right? no matter what happened, they were going to make this into a duet.
kaia changed into her sports bra / trainers combo and probably wore the most casual clothes she had worn since coming into royal all for the sake of doing this song justice. the dance was pretty badass and it required a good amount of attitude and energy so she would be sure to do it justice as it deserved so. sidling up towards elly, she ran her fingers through her hair and smiled with the clear excitement they had been wearing since they had first heard the song towards her new partner.
what kaia didn’t understand was whether it was just royal or all korean companies that gave so much precedence upon the figures of their idols. she knew that guys generally were more muscular depending on the group type and girls had a slimmer build but she had always chalked it up to their bodies resulting from the excessive practice they were made to do. never had she actually thought someone would be coming at her with a measuring tape and a scale during the middle of dance class.
tw; weight talk
almost out of instinct, her eyes surveyed the other girls around her and she knew immediately without the scale that she weighed the most in the room. even in her shorts ensemble, there was no hiding her curvaceous hips and thighs. a manicured nail scratched aimlessly at the tip of her nose before burying her fingers into her hair in attempts to finger comb it back into place. she was aiming for the back of the line if possible because her own nerves were pretty hard to hide.
her modeling agency had even overlooked her for the runway show held in china even though she was overseas due to her weight, what would her trainers who saw her everyday say?
she made eye contact with another trainee. rose. she seemed like a sweetheart from what she could tell. absently, she observed the other girls figure. she’d have no problems passing. she looked as light as a feather. she wore a soft smile and sought out her spot in line -- which just so happened to be behind rose -- and even though she fought to keep herself composed, the sigh that escaped her lips said it all.
the theatre in the seocho building was certainly impressive what with the amount of seats and the sheer size of the stage that one stood on just in order to perform. even standing on the stage was inspiring for the dj and she had not really stood on a stage of this caliber if she didn’t count her performance for the spring festival and for the initial audition that had gotten her into royal. standing on it now was a truly humbling experience but she was also anxious to get the vocal lesson started for the day.
they would explore the depths of projecting their voices in a musical setting.
the very idea sounded exciting and she was all aflutter with the opportunity. recently her love for singing had come to grow to an equal level as the other skills she practiced and though everyone surpassed her by far, she liked to feel she could hold her own weight. paired off into groups of two, she came to stand beside her partner who was a very familiar face from last years christmas. dark tresses billowing behind her and the soft pleats of her dress whispering against her thighs, she raised two manicured fingers and pointed at him playfully as she drew nearer.
“look who it is!” she chimed cheerfully, lightly poking at his shoulder before letting her hands fall to her side. “i think i got the better end of this deal, no?”
« falling in love » by kaia, rose, yura and seoyoung
❪ 0:00 - 3:47 ❫
kaia was drawn to the spring fest like a moth to a flame and upon seeing the stage available to perform on, she was a moth set on fire. day in and day out she watched talented individuals brave the stage to showcase their talents. some were just regular attendees with a passionate hobby but she knew that some of the people who stepped onto the stage were people who hoped to one day turn the small festival stage into a stadium filled with screaming fans. she just so happened to be one of those people.
she was going to stand on that stage.
her determination was truly an outstanding thing. once she set her mind to it, the outcome was all she saw and what she saw was a stage of beautiful, confident women serving up looks alongside her in a fun, flirty song suitable for summer. she’d played with the idea of dancing while performing live but as the lineup was solidified and practices began, the decision to focus solely on dancing seemed the best course of method.
each day they met to practice, kaia came prepared to conquer a battle that she was now taking head on: dancing in heels. or at the very least shoes that were not flat on the ground. girl groups sometimes got the concept to dance in comfortably cute regular shoes but judging from her seniors in the company and the majority of girl groups promoting, chances were she was not going to have that freedom. she’d fought with her favorite accessory during the winter evaluations shortly after signing with royal and though she was not too diligent with heels during other dance practices, she would be from this moment onward. but she had to take baby steps. wedges seemed about right.
the dance was cute and, honestly, relatively easy if you were just dancing it without performing vocally so all she felt she needed to do was put a bit of her own flair upon it to truly make her part feel like her. there was varying levels of skill when it came to dance much like the actual group they were mirroring and so the pressures shouldn’t have been too great but the obvious factor that three of them belonged to a highly competitive company was not something that could be ignored. at least for her. practices were taken as seriously as if she was going to dance before the coaches back at royal. she put herself into the performance and resonated as kaia the performer and not simply someone who enjoyed to dance every now and then.
by the time the stage called for them at the spring festival, kaia was ready.
( 0:00 - 1:11 )
they looked the part of a well put together group clad all in varying outfits of pink and white to exude the lovely spring atmosphere as they took to the stage in their respective spots. the song was so upbeat that even just by hearing the tropically infused quirky beat, kaia’s smile was not hard to grace her features. the dance was based entirely on the feeling of the song and it was easy to fall into it. sometimes slow and sensual, sometimes fast with more calculated moves but always with the kind of energy that made one get out of their seats. she did her personal best to try to preserve that feeling through until the end even when her part called for her to be at the back of the four.
any dance that called for her to freely move her hips or exude the sexy charisma that she naturally possessed was one that came naturally to her. there was no struggle she felt as she felt the music down to the tips of her toes, her body rolling along to the beat accentuating the shape that she loved so dearly. she bounced with sheer joy, the ponytail she wore bounding behind her with the same commitment she put into her moves. her smile was bright and even standing before the crowd on her while the powerful raps blasted through the speakers, she didn’t shy away from enticing, energetic body rolls and eye contact that overflowed with the shine of someone truly loving what they were doing. her hazel eyes were alight with joy as she played with the audience, strutting about as the lyrics called for a queen, her hand flipping her hair back before a kiss was delivered from her fingertips as the chorus synced the four of them back up once again.
( 1:44 - 2:28 )
as she guided herself across the floor, her chest popping along with the beat, she blessed the crowd with varying flirtatious smiles and manicured nails snapping soundlessly with her movements. once her hands buried themselves beneath her ponytail to lift the waterfalling dark tresses for an almost pinup pose as she looked out to the crowd with a soft wink and silent kiss. taking to the front once more, she came forward with enthusiasm before bouncing back into place with the girls. they rolled their hips in unison, a motion which she naturally put emphasis into especially when stopping on a dime, before falling into a movement that called for succession. as her fingertips touched her chest, stomach and hips, her ponytail billowing with each swing of her head, she did not lack in blatant eye contact with the crowd before her, the same playful smile on her face reaching all the way to her eyes despite the subtle roll she gave her body to make it just a bit more alluring. bringing herself to the front once more, she lightly arched her back to give a small roll to her hips as her final moment alone, the chorus energizing her once more.
( 2:47 - 3:47 )
stepping into line, she delivered a kiss as she bent forward before her hands found her hair and her hips swayed as she took her steps off to the side to let someone else shine. each step incited a roll throughout her body, each one more sensual than the last, until her knees met the ground. softly, her hand rested on her knee, her hair, the air and her hair once again before she rose to head off to the side where she belonged. she threw her head back so much so, her body falling into the rising motion, that when she began to bounce, her hands pushing at the air, her ponytail had landed over her shoulders to encase her in dark tresses. her hips rolled with pointed fingers at the motion, eyes alive with a seemingly tireless happiness, even as she moved into the changed choreo for the chorus at the end. twisting her body into a soft roll, she faced away and just simply allowed herself to feel the music as their bodies bounced until they returned to their original positions they began in.
her breaths were heavy and her thighs did ache from the dance practices and the exertion she used for such an energetic performance but her smile was genuine. she didn’t know the exact words to describe it but...
