welcome to our first side event ! first, let us introduce you to what are side-events; they are non-mandatory occasional events that your muse can choose to participate to or not.
while missing on an event might mean missing on points, be aware that choosing to take part in it could have positive or negative consequences on your muse. there is also no telling which part of the event will have a consequence either since they will be tailored to make it difficult to guess what could impact your muse. while the final consequences are decided at the same time as the event is created, we will only reveal them the sunday after the deadline. so choose wisely; are you willing to make a gamble with your muse?
COMPANY DINNER
ahead of the concert and chuseok holiday, the company has invited their trainees to attend a company dinner for the first time. with so many new faces joining in, a whole room has been reserved at a nearby all-you-can-eat barbecue restaurant. four tables have been set up with 18 free spots each reserved for trainees; the BLAZing table, the DBSD table, the Haru table and the staff table. where a trainee chooses to sit is up to them, but chairs come on a first come first served basis. here’s what to expect from sitting at each table:
BLAZing: while the five girls are close, they don’t get to see each other too much, so expect it to be very chatty. they will dish on all the dirt and tea of the entertainment industry, especially who to stay away from and how to quietly date.
DBSD: the loudest table. as an active group, the boys have a lot of chemistry. they are as playful as always when together and trainees can expect a very entertaining evening ranging from light discussions to games. everybody sitting at this table will be invited by the boys to the noraebang after the dinner ( do not worry, since they are all in relationships, public or not, it would all be in a friendly manner )
Haru: the boys fall more in the category of coworkers than friends and don’t get to spend much time together nowadays. this is a “no work” talk table. if your muse is of age and likes to drink in good company, this is the table for them. sports, travel, movies, and games are all part of the discussion.
Staff: this might be the least appealing table, but it’s also the most familiar for the trainees and if your character wishes to get on the good side of any trainer or manager, this might be the perfect time to make a good impression.
to have your muse attend the dinner send us an ask with the table where your muse will be sitting ( those at dbsd’s table, please let us know if the muse will be going to the noraebang after or not ). we will update this post to list where everybody is sitting.
to receive +8 SKILL POINTS TO DISTRIBUTE AS YOU WISH, write a thread [ 4 posts of 8 lines each minimum ] with another trainee you haven’t interacted with yet. the thread can take place at any moment of the dinner (karaoke is also accepted).
to receive +4 SKILL POINTS TO DISTRIBUTE AS YOU WISH, write a a 300+ words solo about interacting with a senior artist during the evening. since this is a private and laid back setting, they are all much more friendly and approachable. they do have the same personalities presented before (+ bae siwoo; extroverted, friendly, jokester and talkative), but only choi daehyun and yang joshua remain slightly intimidating.
you have until 19 october 2019 to meet requirements and claim your points. threads can be continued beyond the deadlines but points won’t be collectable anymore. the official tag for this event is lgc:firstdinner.
in order to validate your skill points, please submit the following form on the points blog before october 20:
TITLE: MUSE NAME ∙ LGC FIRST DINNER
- THREAD: +8 ( skill points distribution ) [ LINK ]
- SOLO: +4 ( skill points distribution ) [ LINK ]
he's seated at the dbsd table. he doesn't know how he got here, but that doesn't matter, shouldn't matter. yujin's seated to his right. he trades a few friendly words with her -- in english, in korean -- and sounds pleasantly sober as he goes on about absolutely nothing.
to his left seats a faceless trainee. pretty, but not as pretty as yujin. they chat about the dbsd members, then the blazing members -- some of which he had the joy of personally meeting when he had gone over to pester jaehwa earlier. it's mostly boring talk, so he turns back to the other side and snags another piece of chicken off yujin's plate.
his head spins. he suddenly remembers.
where's alice?
he finds steadiness a few moments later: distant from the dbsk table, closer to the other side of the restaurant, his gaze catches two familiar figures engaged in what seems like small talk.
his jaw locks.
what is she doing?
( never have i ever dated a fellow trainee. beside him, alice drank. he raised an eyebrow. "who?" yonghwa. )
his grip tightens around his empty glass.
she leans in.
he finds himself gritting his teeth, his fingers digging into his already tattered knee. something, something stirs within him---something that knaws on his insides, something that crawls into his throat, threatening to suffocate, threatening to strangle him of all sense of reason. drumming, drumming, he hears it getting louder as the world seemingly falls silent around him.
the glass trembles in his grasp.
or perhaps he's the one trembling.
he doesn't avert his eyes. can't avert his eyes. he lets himself feel it, lets himself thrive in the twists in his stomach, in his knuckles, on his tongue.
sometimes, he can't think.
blank.
it breaks.
shatters between his fingers.
he yanks his hand back, hisses fuck in succession. and suddenly, it's loud again. it's too loud now---people gasp, people scrambling to grab napkins, people asking are you okay? over and over and over again.
yujin's holding his hand now, holding it so carefully, so gently.
he sees glass shards. sees red. he doesn't feel pain. strange. he should feel pain, should feel frightened---but no, he feels something stronger, something sharper. heat. burning, burning, it scathes his skin, makes him restless.
blank.
he's pulled into the restroom. he doesn't know how he got here, but that doesn't matter. when does it ever matter? yujin's standing to his right. she's still holding his hand as she runs it under cold, cold water. he stares at her the entire time. if she says anything, he doesn't acknowledge it; he hears nothing but discordant drumming.
it still doesn't hurt.
he catches her gaze.
there's heat. a different type of heat.
his eyes drop to her lips.
he steps closer. leans in.
blank.
he's got her hoisted on his hips and pressed firmly against the stall walls. she scathes him, burns his skin with her now rougher touch. they make him restless. she makes him restless.
blank.
she leaves first at his insistence.
his head spins, his hand throbs. fuck, it hurts.
blank.
‘you all right?’
he looks up from the sink. yang joshua. of course, it's yang joshua. “yeah,” he answers.
joshua reaches over and shuts off the water. ‘should go home.’
“‘m tryin' to.”
( beside him, alice drank. he raised an eyebrow. "who?" yonghwa. he went quiet.
of course, alice dated. she came here years ago, made a life for herself here. how stupid of him to think that nothing had changed since their time in seattle.
--- but still, she reminded him of home. )
joshua speaks, the words are silent.
“. . what?”
footsteps resonate within the empty restroom. they bring joshua closer. he looks away.
‘i asked, do you want to be here?’
he knows what's coming. another lecture. another nod your head if you understand. his fingernails dig into his palms. it hurts.
“do i have a choice?”
‘you always have a choice.’
it warrants a scoff. he remembers the last time his parents called him: april 25th, to tell him not to come back home.
‘you're not the only one. we all have personal matters to deal with. so grow up and deal with yours.’ he catches ezra's gaze, pins it down. ‘the company has choices too.’
the warning hangs over his head, hangs a little too close. his grip tightens along the edge of the sink. he’s gonna puke.
blank.
blank.
blank.
he somehow manages to stumble back to his dorm where he falls onto the bed, flat on his face. it’s not as comfortable as his own bed back in canada. it’s not as warm, not as welcoming. but it’s second best.
to know one thing about jewon is to know that he absolutely despises large gatherings, especially when it doesn’t concern anything work related. some would say that this, whatever this dinner is for is important, for some bullshit reasons including making appearances, for reputation or whatever, maybe a good excuse to get closer to the experienced idols. god knows what goes through the managers heads sometimes. he doesn’t need to appear on anything, if he wanted to make a name for himself out there he’s going to do it with his vocals and talent, thank you very much. he looks up to the groups present, he does, despite the feeling of slight jealousy stinging his stomach; but yet, he can’t bring himself to enjoy any of this at the time being. he hates the stench of alcohol, people talking way too loudly for anyone’s goods, all the inessential mingling especially with him.
he slips a quiet sigh from his lips, thank god for the staff table. escaping all the people striking unnecessary small talk with him wasn’t difficult, but it was time consuming and again, unnecessary. the stuffy atmosphere completely rids him of any before present hunger. still, the sight of at least one person he can tolerate is enough to considerably raise his spirits to bring a small, crooked smile across his face. quietly as he could, he walks towards to seated male, bringing his lips to right behind his head, a whisper of “boo.” falling from his lips.
he should have changed seats last minute to be with jun. anything would be better than being right next to choi daehyun. it’s not like he’s mean. in fact, he hasn’t said anything that could or should be interpreted as such. but his aura is so powerful and intimidating that jin can’t even bear to look him in the eyes more than once. he’s a man of few words and of little expression, almost jinyoung’s complete opposite. he probably sensed how scared the younger was since he was careful not to look at him too much after their brief discussion.
jinyoung, not knowing what to do with himself, exchanged meaningful looks with the girl sitting in front of him. she also seems terrified by daehyun’s presence. it’s not like jinyoung thinks he’ll attack them or something, but... maybe scold them? see through them? discover all of their secrets? something like that.
midway through the dinner, jinyoung excuses himself and glances over at jun’s table to see if they he could sneak over there, but he decides against it. he can do this, right? he doesn’t always need to be clinging to his best friend. so he steps outside, hoping to gain some courage before going back in. he hears the door chime a few seconds later. it’s the girl from before, @lgcxcharlie. “oh, hey!”
there's no surprise here; the ones sitting at the staff tables aren't what people would call the life of the party. maybe even boring. and jun isn't doing much to break the stereotype. he doesn't talk much, doesn't engage much, tries to fly under the radar as much as possible. his goal is for people to recall that he was there, but not exactly recall anything about him. how can someone born and raised by parents who live for the limelight turn like this? jun likes to believe that they suck the need of attention out of him when he was still just an infant. in fact, it's by exploiting their 'family' image that they gained their fame back. proves his theory.
anyway, he cannot wait to go back to the dorms and get some rest. chuseok holiday is always a difficult time of the year him; when everybody is going back to their family, the last thing he wishes to do is going back to his family. so he avoids it by sometimes crashing at his brother's or sometimes staying at the dorms if the others are all gone. he's not sure yet what it will be, and for now, he has to survive this evening first.
he's been a silent observer for a while now, entertaining himself with the smallest things, like how the glass of this girl is about to fall on the grill and ruin the meat that has been cooking for a couple of minutes. will it tip? will it stay? it's been a minute and there's no telling. he could as well also just... "excuse me." he calls over softly. "y-your glass..."
lgc company dinner — ☆
featuring choi daehyun and yoo wonjae
this was not how she pictured things would pan out, not with choi daehyun looking at her, mouth moving but no sound reaching her ears, just muffled noises and (maybe) ringing. “i-i… y-yes?” she stutters, unable to tie words together to make a coherent response. charlie looks down on the spread before her, wondering what it was that daehyun was motioning to. at the back of her head, she knows what it was that he was asking for, but with him looking directly at her and asking her to hand him something, with that voice, and those eyes, the young girl freezes.
charlie had expectations of how the dinner was supposed to go. she thought about not going in the first place, but she figured it wouldn’t hurt to attend company socials. she can’t keep skipping these things and make excuses because someone will eventually notice. things started to go wrong when (thanks to one good friend!) she finds herself sitting in that table, surrounded by the most unlikely of people. peaceful and quiet was far from what she had to deal with, and breathing was not an option either because one of the few people who scares her was sitting in that very table. then, it was followed by a series of interactions, laughter, small talks, and having to actually engage in conversations and respond sensibly, enthusiastically. to make things worse, she actually hears someone call out her name, out loud from somewhere at the far end of the table. she was laughing along with when she realizes it, and she lets out a rather loud, “yes?” in english, eyes scanning across the table before it lands on choi daehyun.
tonight was, perhaps, taking a toll on the young girl because she keeps hearing and not hearing things. but before their small (confusing) conversation could catch any more attention, someone comes to her aid. ”here you go, sunbae!” someone hands an empty glass over to daehyun, saving charlie from the possible wrath of one choi daehyun. her heart starts to calm, and she was slowly coming to her senses -- even her hearing, perfect timing! she’d roll her eyes if she could. and she keeps going, if she suddenly excused herself it may elicit unwanted attention, no matter how minute.
”let’s calm down, charlie leong…” she mumbles to herself before drinking a glass of water, but being interrupted almost instantly by yoo wonjae coming from the direction of restrooms. “are you alright?” she turns to look behind her and bows her head lightly, an instinctive greeting these days. “yes, i’m alright, sunbae.” she smiles at him before he walked back to his seat. charlie was certain she is not going to the noraebang after.
Bored. Simple enough, Hyunggeun was getting bored to death by this company dinner, sure socializing has always been quite enjoyable for Hyunggeun, he likes, no he loves talking with other people, however… dinner? Not so much his thing, Hyunggeun has never been much of a big eater, and that’s well known. Hyunggeun blames this on the fact that he’s a picky eater, there are just too many things in this world which does not taste very good. Hence when you don’t eat much then going out to eat isn’t exactly the most exciting thing ever, Hyunggeun was enjoying the dinner, don’t get him wrong, it was fun talking to his fellow trainees and the staff, but he did also kind of just want to get home already.
Hyunggeun had gone to the toilet, splashed his face with some water, the night was tiring him out, it was fun talking so much, but it made him exhausted. He looked up upon hearing the door open, to see a familiar face. Hyunggeun hadn’t left the table he had been seated at, at all, so he had only socialized with the few fellow trainees at the table and the other staff members, seeing another friends was nice. It doesn’t take a second before Hyunggeun’s arm is around the other’s shoulders and Hyunggeun ruffles their hair. “Jin! Are you having fun? I’m not sitting at your table so I know you must be missing me!”¨
he’s a familiar face. a familiar face she’s spent almost three years somewhat awkwardly not-quite avoiding. it had been another story once, one of shy glances and choroegraphed intensity, working at her brother’s studio, dancing together. and then it had been first kisses and held hands and dorky snaps sent back and forth.
and then it had been, i’m moving to seoul. and then it had been, i’m auditioning, and then it had been, i’m training. and then it had been, i don’t have time for this, long distance doesn’t work. that should have been the end of it. had she regretted ending things with him? of course. but she’d been on a new path now. she had to move forward, commit to her dreams, to her passion, to something she hopes will become a career. signing with lgc had been the change she needed, thee starting point for her new step forward.
only, a year later, she’s leaving the building and almost walks straight into him. still the same. maybe taller, maybe colder. his satoori grating a little rougher now, than it had back at home. she’s almost used to be surrounded by the supple smooth seoul sounds. so his boisterous exclamation surprises her in that moment.
it takes them years to become even okay in passing, letting the awkwardness thaw out a little more, bit by bit. but they’re not ready for this. he takes the last remaining seat at the table and of course, it’s right next to hers. of course, when it’s time for a smoke break or what have you and most of the table is gone, to return only later, circling the room as one does, the two of them are left in a frigid limbo beside one another. there are only inches between them but it feels like a gulf, wide and deep.
“so....how’s training been going lately?” she questions, stumbles over the words. they come out in a garble of seoul and busan sounds that don’t fit together. like she’s trying to absorb the people around her and reflect back what they’ll like best. maybe she is, maybe she’s insincere. a fake.
