#xoxo.event01

[sevoir]

no surprises here, nothing new (the same blue sky after everything we've been through)

she doesn't know how tired she is until they're sitting down. then suddenly, she can feel the soreness in her strapped ankles and the tension in her bare shoulders. and suddenly, she remembers that the weekend is finally coming to a close. if seryung's being honest, it has been the longest three days of her life. but as the golden hour passes, and she watches the red afternoon sky turn ruddy, she doesn't know whether she wants time to speed up or slow down. everything pink and soft and rose-colored and perfect in that one fleeting moment, she feels like staying there forever. (as it always does with seryung, the feeling passes.)

she takes a deep, shuddering sigh and rests her head on jaerim's shoulder for a second. just a second, but enough time for someone two trees over to whip out their little camera phone and snap a picture. they pocket their phone and run away. she doesn't say anything, but she hopes jaerim didn't see it. seryung lifts her head and lets out a soft, nettled grumble without thinking. a little noise she tends to make when she's annoyed—a bad habit her mom has tried to rid her of since she was a child. (he has probably heard it a hundred times before. she likes to think that they've known each other for so long that, sometimes, they can speak without speaking.)

two days ago, she might have appreciated a rando running off to gossip girl with reports about jaerim and seryung. jaerim and seryung getting coffee. jaerim and seryung holding hands. it was exactly what she wanted seulki to open instagram to—to ruin her day. but too wrapped up in having a nice time with him, she hasn't thought of anyone else but him all day, and she doesn't care about gossip girl anymore. (at least, not for the moment.) but she can't avoid it—the run-in with the camera makes her a little self-conscious.

and suddenly, she realizes that she has been holding his hand the entire time. and suddenly, she's aware of just how close their bodies are. she's sitting so close to him that the entire jaerim-side of her is humming. if she turns her head and tilts her chin just so, she could easily kiss his warm, lovely cheek. and she wants to. suddenly, she's actually dying to. but in the friendly spirit of coming to see the cherry blossoms as friends, she turns her head away from him and fixes her gaze on a pink petal on top of a tree a few feet away. she crosses one leg over the other, bumping their knees and ankles and smiling to herself, and she doesn't let go of his hand.

closed starter for @remrse

[remrse]

when he turned twenty, his grandma brought him to see a fortune teller. he wasn't a big believer, but did it to humour her anyway.

he was told women will be the cause of his downfall.

he laughed it off, telling grandma she can't believe everything she hears, reassuring her that he will marry a nice girl some day and that she doesn't need to worry about him, but even then, a part of him knew the fortune teller was right.

a lot of his problems revolved around women. yet, somehow, he can never steer clear of them. like a curious moth flying into a flame, or a ravenous fish biting the bait, seo jaerim is a knight that knows no fear, one that finds himself dashing into the dragon's lair time and time again.

the one thing he should've learnt by now is to stay away from his exes (it's rule number one of the breakup handbook), but it is also the one lesson he never learns. he gravitates towards women he knows are bad for him—there is a reason why they're an ex, but there is something so addictive about being around an old flame, reigniting an old spark. is it the comfort of familiarity, or does he just like getting burned in the same place twice?

he never should've met up with seryung. maybe shouldn't have came to this event that her family was hosting. then again, can he really avoid her when they run in the same circles? he should've long cut the detonating time bomb that is seulki off, let alone agree to spending time with her at the event. both of these terrible decisions led to his demise, as it always has all his life.

but there is one girl that he feels so right being around, enough for him to delude himself into believing that she is good for him. the way she does not hesitate to point out his mistakes, or make fun of him like he wasn't the seo jaerim, allows him to let his guard down around her. he's found a friend in her, but his greed keeps getting in the way and he finds himself wanting more. it doesn't help that he can tell she wants him just as much.

their fingers touch when he reaches for his bottle of soju. his vision gets hazier by the second but it does not matter, because she is all that he sees in that moment. he wants to shove everything between them out of their way and press his lips against her. he wants to be alone with her, without this stupid table between them, or all these intoxicated people around them. for once, he wants to have her to himself without feeling like he isn't allowed to.

he lets his fingers linger near hers, dilated eyes piercing through hers. he doesn't care that he was giving her his 'fuck me' eyes, doesn't care that he misses his bottle and reaches for hers instead, sipping from the exact spot her lipstick had imprinted on the nozzle of the bottle.

"i had a fucking terrible day today." why does her soju taste sweeter? is it because her lips had been on this bottle? "drink with me, please."

BLUNDER ft. @ra0n

[16lies]

it’s a fact that seulki is not jaerim’s first love - no one needs to tell her that. a firsthand witness to the crime; she spent most of her formative years stuck in an unfortunate trio, watching and hearing all about jaerim and seryung’s teenaged escapades. so, she knows. she knows all too well. 

but in all honesty, coming from a place of unfeigned veracity, it doesn’t fucking matter. fuck that contrived, nonsensical you never forget your first love bullshit. it doesn’t matter because when it’s two am and he’s just broken up with his sixth girlfriend of the month, the number he dials is hers. when she’s drunk in the backseat of her family’s private limo, it’s his house she gets dropped off at. it’s her lips that paint his body shades of red, her ferocity that unsheathes unbridled fervor in him, her touch that he recrudesces for  - and really, that is all that matters. 

seulki knows that it’s 2023, and fighting over a boy is the complete antithesis to feminism and all that she stands for - or at least, all that she reposts on instagram. but honestly, fuck seryung and fuck jaerim and fuck this entire stupid fucking thing. (so, it’s seven pm and no one is keeping count but seulki has had seven shots of tequila, countless flutes of champagne and right now, is about a quarter way through on a bottle of gin. the drinking incites the scorching fury, and then, she makes the irrational decision to get on her phone and fucking hell, there’s another fucking photo of seryung and jaerim all wrapped up, cosied around each other like they're fucking teenagers again, and seulki hurls her rose gold iphone 14 at the wall.)

but seulki also knows that she cannot - will not - give seryung the victory; at the very least, not without spilling her blood too. and so, the next day, when the rage simmers to pure spite and vengeance and she's meticulously strategised her act of retaliation, she strikes. today, she’s armed with a new space gray iphone 14 and snug little black dress that she knows drives jaerim absolutely feral. (the dress will work. it always does. he tells her that three years ago, after she gatecrashes his dinner date with some bleached blonde with an equally blinding smile and he says she can only ever do it again if she’s wearing that dress or nothing at all.) 

she saunters up to him, contradictorily serene smile playing on her lips, as if the last time they spoke hadn’t been a mess of tears, hickeys and lies along the lines of “shut the fuck up, i can fuck myself better than you can.” “jaerim, hi,” she greets, all uncharacteristically innocuous and sugary, as she runs her fingers up his arms, tracing the contours of his muscles with a feather-like touch. could’ve been a moment of delicate affection between two exes, if not for the icy chill of her calculated caress. 

and in yet another measured move, she takes a step closer to him. lips hover inches from his, close enough to taste her honeyed grapefruit-flavored breath before pressing her lips against his. this time, the fever high of fraught kisses is replaced with a kiss that is so chaste and tender, almost to the point of being uncomfortably intimate. it’s not them; it has never been them.

(that’s how you win a war.)

slowly pulls herself away from him, “i’ve missed you.”

for @remrse

[remrse]

before his parents left, they made sure to remind him to stay out of trouble. said something along the lines of “not embarrassing them this year”, and “he should know better now that he’s 26”, and they’re right—he should.

but he’s friends with won. that alone is the perfect recipe for disaster.

he knows his parents hate it when he hangs around him, but they say nothing in consideration of his late aunt. (mom was not the biggest fan of the family she was marrying into but no one could tell that woman what to do with her life. it’s why she was jaerim’s favourite aunt.)

to be fair, even jaerim was not the biggest fan of her marriage. didn’t like the guy’s son (read: won), didn’t think his family was good for her. but he has said marriage to thank for the development of his friendship with won. he wouldn’t be caught dead telling the fella he loves him but he would (and has) cleaned up after him several times now. this means puke, blood, piss—whatever you can think of, he’s done it.

and he’s getting the inkling that he might have to do it again soon, if he doesn’t get to that bottle of wine before won does.

...he doesn’t. (he never does. it’s quite a feat how fast won is, even in a state of stupor.) he sighs, willing himself to look away, as if it wasn’t happening if he didn’t see it for himself. his attention gets stolen right away, by the fireworks blasting into the sky, lighting the dark canvas up each time it pierces through the clouds.

jaerim lets himself get distracted by the fireworks, mindlessly watching them burst into the sky like fountains of glitter, each sparkle dissipating into the midnight sky like cotton candy in water. odd, how something that had commanded so much attention could just fade away like that. he detaches himself from his environment, drowning out every bang and crackle of the fireworks; every chatter and laughter from the crowd of people near them.

in some ways, it felt therapeutic; to be at peace amidst the noise, to disappear into the crowd and be part of the audience watching something bigger, shinier. to even for a mere second, not have to worry about people watching his every move and defining him for it.

the temporary distraction did not last. a commotion begins not too far from him and that was when he realised his mistake—taking his eyes off won. he peels them away from the sky and searches his vicinity, only to find his friend standing atop a table, dangerously swaying with the bottle he never should've let him get a hold of.

jaerim rushes to the crime scene and climbs onto the table, using all his might to safely bring his friend down. he offers apologetic smiles to the people standing around the table, whose wine glasses had gotten knocked over by won's fancy shoes, muttering quick apologies to every scowling face. it didn't take long for them to get back on safe ground (he likes to believe he's an expert at dealing with intoxicated won now), but it felt long enough, with everyone shooting death stares their way.

he tugs his friend by the collar of his jacket, whispering sternly in his ear, "i thought we said we'll act like adults this year." he turns to offer someone yet another apologetic smile before turning back to his staggering friend, whispering through gritted teeth, "how much did you do?"

HABITUAL ft. @2billion

[remrse]

carrying bags of street food and useless little trinkets was not how jaerim envisioned his day going.

sure, he made the conscious effort to avoid thinking about the event when he heard of who the host family would be—he was certainly not keen on seeing the people whose daughter he had knocked up all those years ago (they weren’t happy seeing him either, their faces said it all), but this, slaving away like a spineless butler chasing after a prancing princess was not in his itinerary.

then again, it’s his own fault for never being able to say no to haerin. (he probably should though, or he’d have to finish that stick of tornado potato when he’s nowhere near finishing her corndog.) too late—he groans when the stall tenant hands her the freshly baked stick of potatoes. his soon-to-be stick of potatoes.

“for the love of god, can you slow down with the snacks?” he grumbles aloud, shooting her a threatening glare as he attempts to drag her away from the waffle stall she was gravitating towards. does not help that both his hands were full. carrying her stuff.

when little jaerim begged his parents to give him a younger sibling, this was not what he had in mind. he wanted a little sister to carry on his shoulders; a younger brother to play basketball with. instead, he ends up meeting this brat—an absolute terror on some days, a kid he wishes to protect on others.

jaerim indulges her, a lot. it’s a habit now, buying her whatever she wants. all the food she never finishes, or the pretty things she’d coddle for a minute and chuck into the corner of her room the next. each time, he tells himself to stop, that this will be the last time he’ll give in to her, but he never does.

even he can’t blame gossip girl for thinking that there is more to their relationship than meets the eye. (he would retort that he doesn’t like spoilt brats but everyone knows that is far from the truth. he’s always dating spoilt brats.) gossip girl would be having a field day at the sight of them together at dumulmeori and he already knows whatever picture she’s getting of them is not a good one of him. not like this—hands full, modern day butler and all.

“no more snacks for you,” he declares, snatching his wallet out of her hand. “finish this yourself,” he nods at the potato stick in her hand, “or i’m dropping everything and leaving.” she knows he won’t do it, and she's absolutely right, but anything’s worth a shot if he gets to save his tummy from ingesting one more msg-infused street snack.

RELENT ft. @jihaerin

[sevoir]

so i sneak out to the garden to see you

seryung's list of vices could wrap around the world ten times over, but nowhere on the record is jealousy. she's so used to getting attention without clamoring for it that she has not one jealous bone in her body. but whenever she sees yoojung's alias on gossip girl, always attached to two or three or five other people—prince charming and his complete set of fairytale princesses—she feels a flash of something. a nameless feeling that turns her stomach, too dirty to be a virtue. something close to jealousy. even with the overwhelming evidence that he might, she can't yet readily admit that yoojung belongs to someone else. so, when he approaches her and tells her that he wants to talk, she feels herself sigh in relief.

she knows things would be very different if their situations were reversed. she tries not to think about it as she makes her way to his doorstep. on that long list of vices, on top of it is leaving. her most vivid memories of people rarely involve them being there. most of the time, what she can remember is waiting for someone to return. so she learned long ago how to walk away first, so she would be the one who got to decide whether or not to come back.

she's knocking on yoojung's door. leaving him never really felt like a choice—not all those weeks ago, not all those years ago—just the same as coming back. all she knows is that she wants to see him, and she wants him to see her, and she wants to feel the way she does when he looks at her. and maybe she should be somewhere else with someone else but she's here. she chews on her vanilla-glossed lips and looks up at the ceiling, twisting the green and yellow la manso kiddie-kitsch rings on her hands round and round her ring finger. to comfort herself, she imagines how pleased he'll be that she came and how perfectly they'll fit together when he takes her into his arms. it's a cinderella story, only the clock strikes a split second after she knocks and she turns back into a decent human being with a conscience. seryung turns around and looks at her shoes and thinks of leaving to be where she should be.

closed starter for @entigon

[remrse]

wanted to flesh out some connections before i delved into the ongoing event! came up with some plot ideas (might add more when i get a better idea of his connections) which i'll leave below the cut — feel free to hit me up if you'd like to take on any, or if you just want to plot if we haven't already!

things are pretty hectic for him this month, a lot of past connections returning to haunt him, rumours surrounding these reconnections and all so, i plan to have him show up for this event without a date but

we can have an ex he recently broke up with who will be attending the event (lots of room for awkward run-ins)

someone new he meets at the event that he ends up flirting with? nothing serious but they just really hit it off and end up going for a dinner or stroll together (something about the cherry blossoms make for a good romantic set-up)

DAY 01

jaerim would be very interested in this year's charity, since it's childcare related (he volunteers at children's charity organisations) so he would want to show up for the lunch

we could do a carpool situation? maybe your muse needed transport to the event (to avoid traveling with their family or for whatever reason) and his fancy car ain't a bad option. could have them meet with some situation on the way there and show up fashionably late halfway through the welcome lunch, walk in with everyone staring at them? maybe even have them wonder if your muse is his date for the event?

i think he'd really dig the sunset watching and dinner cruise so maybe a date for that? or an unintentional date of sorts? like they got lost or left behind because they were bickering over something and everyone else had left by the time they were done so they were on their own and the view was too good to pass off (could work for platonic connections too!) (shiah)

DAY 02

feel like it'd be fun for him to get stuck on a cable car ride with an ex or enemy of sorts e.g. "we need to talk", "but people will see us", next moment one of them drags the other into the cable car

not really a railbike kinda guy (unless you convince him?) but he would be lounging at the beach so anyone spending their time there could bump into him. beachside cocktails and provocatively applying sunscreen? hit him the hell up

i see him being forced to mingle with people during the dinner and fireworks show so bring on any drama with past connections

or someone that gets way too drunk and ends up being his burden to care for that night (won)

DAY 03 (FULL)

a date for the cherry blossoms viewing (seryung)

i'd imagine that would cause some drama with some of his past romantic connections which is a good set-up for that night's partying (people go feral when they're drunk and i'm here for it) (seulki)

this is likely to be a stressful event for him so he will be ending it off with lots of alcohol (raon)

maybe even hook up with someone at the end of the night (in true gossipgate fashion, day 3 always ends with chaos) (raon)

if none of these work, i'm down to brainstorm and come up with something fun for our muses! click here for my intro if you need more information about jaerim. anything else, feel free to drop me a message on ims or discord!

[sevoir]

hi ! ! replying to plotting right now i just wanted to get out event plots and thread ideas. seryung's itinerary is up in the air so i'm down for brainstorming of all kinds. hit me up if any of these strike ur fancy

day 1 - goodest girl and helping her mom (event host) do crowd control. welcoming everyone with a kiss on the cheek and a complementary hug. had only 1 sangria at the lunch!

always used to go to the day 1 day tour with a boyfriend or whoever she was seeing at the time, but resolved to take a friend this year !!! your character is that friend

halfway through the tour she gets distracted because someone asks her out, so she ends up essentially abandoning said friend for this person who asks her out on a date.

OR seryung has a silly crush on someone (could be a romantic boy crush or a platonic girl crush) and the friend she started the tour with encourages her to ask them out. this is the person she asks out. they can reject or accept! if they accept maybe they go to the cruise together

OR she encourages her friend to go for their crush so she ends up spending the day alone maybe this person sits with her at the sunset viewing bcs she's all by herself

day 2 - tried to help her mom with the event but her mom said no go have fun with ur friends go see ur high school buddies!!! she gets very bored and lwk sad and starts to spiral because...all her relationships with her high schools buddies are a wreck currently

friend she goes shopping with. they raid a thrift store or a clothing bazaar or something n have a good time. could also be someone who sours bcs of how good everything looks on her, maybe starts lwk telling her oh that doesnt look good etc ohhh drama

(tw drugs) or she could have stayed in her room all day, this friend came over to drag her out, but they ended up ordering in (like old times?)

or crush she went out with on the cruise in day 1 planned a day out for them and seryung is so incredibly touched n filled with gratitude she could cry and maybe she does

day 3 - really thought she could get away from this benefit without a scratch. though she does well through the day, and does no damage at the cherry blossom viewing, at night......well.

she definitely called up a sneaky link or something in the day time so that person

planned to go to the cherry blossom viewing solo but maybe went with date from day 1&2 if that happened

this friend invites her to an intimate soiree at their suite post dinner. just a few friends some wine cheese n crackers! seryung says can i bring a friend, and that friend brings their friend and those friends bring.... well you get it soon enough its a party. maybe this friend gets upset at her ? or not idk let's brainstorm

or seryung invites a few friends over for an innocent movie night or something but they maybe mistake the invite because..... its seryung. so they invite a bunch of ppl and seryung unwittingly ends up hosting a party

after - her parents are gone when she wakes up

people she woke up with they're all hungover n wrecked and full of regret !!!

person she went out and got lunch with

person she drove back to seoul with ?