#badabe

[foxyroxysblog]

im blue badabe badaba

[bexsua]

kaleidoscope. feat. @badabe

art's been on her mind a lot lately.

after talking with her grandfather during seollal, she's been thinking about it a lot. been thinking about all the applications for art schools sitting in her drafts-- waiting. she's sent a few, but these things take time. they take trial and error, consistent failure and try until it eventually works.

so sua's been fine tuning anything she can. takes classes for things she doesn't typically do in the art field. sketching and digital art have always been her preferred choice; painting is nice, though. she liked it when her and chaerin did it-- and now with this watercolor class, she's adding a little more practice to the things she'd like to work on more.

sua stares, frowning at her canvas and the colors littered about. they're not...blending right, in the way she imagined in her head. in fact, they look quite ugly, but sua's not sure if that's her own dislike for it or it's actually terrible.

"bada," she mumbles, reaching out with a free hand to tug at the other girl's sleeve gently, asking for her attention. "do you think this looks awful? be honest."

[noelxbe]

practice and mistakes

         at last, noel had escaped last place… though the bottom was still very much where he was placed… second to last, so not last place, but… still bad, still quite quite bad. and this time around he wasn’t just fighting for himself, he was teamed up with two others, and he couldn’t help feel bad, here they were paired up together with noel, a man who had only very recently begun practicing dance. maybe, though not admitted out loud, he hadn’t given his everything during the second round, he’d been a bit too focused on having fun and prioritizing just enjoying this. but this round, not only was there danger of eliminations, and he’d been placed in the bottom two so far, but this time it wasn’t just about himself, he had teammates. he felt bad, he felt bad towards his teammates that they’d been paired with him, but the only thing he could do was try his very best.

he hadn’t really interacted with jinyoung nor bada ( @badabe​ ) much the first round, and it felt a bit awkward, but he wished with his social skills that would soon be over. for a good performance, not only was hard work required, but they had to feel like a team, they couldn’t just all try to outshine each other, that wouldn't create a very well performance. he’s practicing together with bada when he makes a mistake, he looks at her, an apologizing look in his eyes. “i’m sorry” he bows a little, “bada--” … “this move is difficult for me, think you could help me with it?”.

[asanasterisk]

Badabe trying his best to remotely help people against monsters while Watana watches judgingly.

[eunbinbe]

˙ ˖ ✧ — @badabe

"i'm so excited!" eunbin couldn't stop the squeal from escaping her lips as she stepped into the festival. with the help of bada, she had managed to get free tickets to the waterbomb festival, and she couldn't stop buzzing from excitement.

usually, she had practice on the day of the festival, which is why she couldn't attend, but for some reason, the captain had canceled practice for the day. eunbin lowkey thinks it's because he also wanted to attend, but she didn't see him around, so it could have been for a couple of other reasons.

"what do you want to do first? i don't think there's a performance until about an hour later, so maybe we can eat something first? getting out of the crowd later sounds like it'll be a hassle," she explained as she pursed her lips.

[jueunbe]

✦ . ˚ — @badabe

despite not having the biggest following whatsoever, jueun still found herself getting invited to pop up stores for new brands and launches. although she found it skeptical at times, she still showed up whenever she can because they were fun. plus, there was absolutely no harm in expanding her online social circle. who knows where she'll go from here, right?

she's wandering around the building where she's here for some perfume launch when she thinks she spots one of her instagram model buddies. someone she's only spoken to via dm's and comments but that she's been itching to meet. when she gets a little closer, she immediately recognizes bada and rushes to greet her.

"hi! oh my god, i can't believe i'm finally getting to meet you!" bada was one of the freshest models, in jueun's opinion, out there right now, and she recalls falling in love with the profile pictures on her feed. "i'm jueun," she says although it comes out sounding closer to a squeal. "you're so much more beautiful in person! of course, your photos are gorgeous as well, but i'm so excited to see you!"

[benayoung]

* ❁┆confidence is key

bada is on her team.

to bada’s credit, nayoung thinks she’s improved, at least a little. is she talented? no, but succeeding in the industry isn’t about talent. it’s about hard work, and improvement, and maybe a little luck. talentless people can train their way into becoming decent idols, and maybe bada is lucky to be on nayoung’s team for their next challenge.

she supposes that’s subjective. bada seems weak-willed and fragile, given her tears the first time she and nayoung spoke. it’s been a few weeks since then, and nayoung wonders if she’s (wo)manned up at all in the meantime. 

it doesn’t seem like it. she’s still tentative in just about everything she does, and that isn’t going to cut it for the parts nayoung gave her.

bada basically opens the entire song for them, and all she really has to do is talk with confidence. she doesn’t even really have to be good. she just has to pretend she knows what she’s doing, and hopefully she can get that much down by the day of their performance. 

it just comes back to what nayoung said last time: attitude is everything. sure, bada has nothing to really be confident about here. she’s cute, but nayoung suspects bada is one of those girls with low self esteem that can’t see her own beauty, either, so even that won’t do them much good.

once they finish one of their group rehearsals, everyone dispersing to either take a break or go home if they so choose, nayoung approaches bada. 

believe it or not, she doesn’t want to make her cry again; she wants this to be productive. sometimes tears are necessary, though, so she’ll...try to be less harsh, and if bada cries, it’s not her problem.

“bada,” she gets her attention. “everything you do is still so...timid. you open the song for us, so you need to at least pretend to be confident. attitude is everything, remember? have you been keeping a notebook like i suggested?”

she tries not to sound accusatory, and keep her voice level and objective, genuine questions more than anything else. chances are bada will still be terrified of her regardless.

* ❁┆  @badabe

[bejinyoung]

there's a reason why they watch all night long moon jinyoung performs finesse by bruno mars with dance team a (@badabe & @noelxbe) for next gen teamwork evaluation

it will be their turn up on stage soon. he wrings his hands, massaging his thumb into the palm of the other as if he’ll be able to squeeze the stress out like lemon juice from the meat of the fruit. he presses into his own flesh until it nearly hurts. jinyoung doesn’t know if he’s ever been this nervous for a performance. he’s confident in his own abilities, in how much effort and practice he put into the choreography these past days. he knows that he has done everything possible to prepare. but he’s not quite sure he feels the same confidence in bada or noel.

as far as next gen has gone, he’s only had to worry about his solo performances. that was fine. no one was relying on him and he didn’t have to rely on anyone else. he prefers independence most of the time; it’s what life has taught him out of necessity. it’s not his first time working with a group, though. he’s danced with his fellow teachers in showcases, he’s been in and out of different dance crews that perform on the streets. he didn’t have to worry about his teammates then; they were all capable professionals in their own right. any mistake would be a total fluke and not a lack of practice or ability. he misses them now. 

this performance is the most high-stakes mission he’s ever been given. win or go home, that’s what it feels like his options are. can we even win? he wonders. they’re at a numbers disadvantage to begin with; dance team b has one more member than they do and skills much more evenly balanced than team a. were we set up for failure? he’s watched enough survival shows to know that they love an underdog story but don’t always give that happy ending.

jinyoung is startled from his negative thoughts by staff quietly escorting his team to the stage. it’s time. his breath nearly catches in his throat; an unfamiliar surge of panic flutters in his chest. he doesn’t like this feeling, this anxiety that he hasn’t felt in years. while he knows consciously at this point all they can do is their best, he wonders if he should have practiced more, taught bada and noel more, just worked more to get them to a place where he feels confident taking the stage with his teammates by his side. maybe it was an impossible task in the little time they had to learn and prepare this performance.

he takes his place on stage, inhales a deep breath, and forces a bright smile on his face as he bows and greets the judges. he glances at bada, then at noel, and shoots each a nervous smile (he hopes it’s more reassuring to them than it feels to him). the music starts no more than a handful of seconds later.

finesse is upbeat and quick and the movements begin as soon as the first drum beat hits. jinyoung is ready. but his eyes still move anxiously around the stage, looking for his teammates to see if they’re keeping up. he nearly loses his position in his distraction but recovers soon enough. blend, he reminds himself, don’t overdance this; you want to look like a unit, not a soloist, he takes a gasp of air and sighs through the movements while he still has the breath to do so, trying to calm the anxiety that has him moving a fraction of a beat too quickly in some parts.

jinyoung just feels off. he likes the choreography they were given; it’s bright and cheerful, a little cute without being saccharine sweet. there’s plenty of places for each member to shine, so maybe why that’s the reason it only serves to frustrate him more when he feels himself not living up to how he looked in practice. it must be the nerves; he hasn’t been scared of a performance since he was just a little kid. he loves the stage and the lights, the attention... hell, he even loves critique that only makes him a better dancer. what he doesn’t like is the lack of control, his own inability to trust out on display for the world to see.

he swallows down those emotions as much as he can, minding his expressions on stage. but does his brow furrow when he’s not in the center? maybe. does he catch himself in a frown after he feels his shoes slip a little bit on the slick surface of the stage? perhaps. he knows the judges will pick up on these details. it doesn’t matter if he’s the best dancer in their team if he regresses every time he stands before them; they’re bound to notice that.

despite the war going on in his head, he still tries to do his best on stage. there’s lots of opportunity for ‘killing moments’ in the choreography. despite the fact that he can’t wink, jinyoung knows how to make about a hundred other expressions and gestures. he grins with a finger-heart before gesturing as if throwing it out to the judges; he rehearsed the moment until it became muscle memory and not even his own wandering mind could sabotage it. at least he has that, and his looks, and the fact that he’s still probably the best dancer on this team even on a bad day. hopefully those all count for something.

the song comes to an end, jinyoung striking the finishing pose on time without stumbling. at least he was able to finish strong. he’s breathing heavily, but he’s sure to smile to the cameras trained on their faces, taking advantage of a possible ‘ending fairly’ edited into the show. he knows that’s how these things are won half the time. but finally, the lighting changes, and jinyoung relaxes from the pose and bows to the judges again, thanking them for their time and for watching his team perform.

god, he hopes he did enough.