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glrlghost​:

THE RABBIT HOLE,     LATE EVENING.     [ … ]    @ O P E N

The soda in her glass looks like vodka, one large cube of ice floating atop the liquid. Zehra crosses a thigh above her other, the black outfit she dons for the evening rustling with the movement. The smile is slippery, leech-like as it sticks to her face, beckoning the fellow companion closer. Her accent is thick,  a dull serrated edge of a knife now since her time in Russia.      ‘Are you about to tell me I look lonely, hm?’ 

—

It’s not unfamiliar territory, this descent into the avant-garde courtesy of The Rabbit Hole, but each night spent within its lacquered walls unfailingly provides a singular experience. The question playing at Mirae’s mind as she sketches an impression of the lounge singer — donned in vintage Givenchy, her keen eye can tell — is simply one of what mystery the night might unfold, and where this particular rabbit hole might lead. The answer: a stunning woman with an intriguing voice, her words inquiring and accusing all at once. Mirae swallows, unaccustomed to questions in the form of introductions, but replies nonetheless, “I don’t think anyone could be lonely if they’re dressed as well as you. Good clothes are a better comfort than friends, sometimes.”

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*IT / GIRL. 

*NAME: Mirae Seong *AGE: 25 *OCCUPATION: Instagram Model / Aspiring Designer *AFFILIATION: civilian *PINTEREST: here !!

»»» mouthing the lines to classic movies; sipping from a bottle of warm champagne; perfect posture; kitchen cabinets used to hold shoes rather than crockery; the wet imprint of lipstick on crystal cut glass; cash tucked away in unlikely places — first-aid kits, shoeboxes, and the backs of picture frames; sentimentality traded in for rationality; dreams deferred but never abandoned; trying on different personalities like each one's a pretty new dress, monogrammed initials; kissing a tissue and pretending it’s a cheek.

BASICS, HISTORY, & EXTRAS UNDER THE CUT !!

BASICS.

NAME: Mirae Seong 

NICKNAMES: tbd.

AGE: 25

D.O.B.: tbd ( but im getting gemini / libra / possible pisces vibes for sure )

HEIGHT: 5′10.5″

GENDER / PRONOUNS: Cisgender female / she, her, hers

BIRTHPLACE: tbd

CURRENT RESIDENCE: Dalston, London.

LANGUAGES SPOKEN: English, Korean ( native ); French ( intermediate )

AFFILIATION: Civilian.

OCCUPATION: Instagram Model / Aspiring Designer

ECONOMIC STATUS: upper class (?)

okay technically probably upper class but v much with the mentality of working / middle classes thinking that it could all blow up in smoke at any moment, so really doesn’t quite live the upper class lifestyle, if you will.

EDUCATION: Higher Ed Certificate in Fashion ( Central Saint Martins ); BA in Fashion ( uncompleted )

SEXUALITY: idk and tbh she hasn’t figured it out either!

RELATIONSHIP STATUS: single

CHILDREN: none.

POSITIVE TRAITS: adaptable, business-savvy, hard-working, vivacious

NEUTRAL TRAITS: big-thinking, eager, frugal, idealist

NEGATIVE TRAITS: dependent, insecure, oblivious, pushover

CHARACTER ALLUSIONS: Alexa Chung, Cinderella ( no i’m not ashamed ), Cassie Howard ( that 4am routine, baby ), Holly Golightly, Sansa Stark, Serena van der Woodsen, more tbd.

HISTORY.

( aight so the brain abilities are not at 100% yet so this will likely be an unedited list of life events until i can go in and organize it properly )

trigger warnings for: parental death, terminal illness, racism/prejudice

Growing up, Mirae developed a certain fondness for symmetry. Her mother, blessed with the palindromic name of Ava, was her first introduction to the concept — a woman whose beauty was as revered as her charm, and her financial status as admired as her charitable efforts. She was an actress, eliciting equal tears and smiles, the kind of young starlet who was nowhere until suddenly, she was everywhere. The most remarkable thing to the young Mirae, however, was that no matter how much fame her mother acquired, no matter which trip they went on to accommodate her work schedule — their relationship remained in perfect balance, both growing like flowers towards the same shared sun.

If Mirae had to pinpoint when that sun began to darken, she would do so with ease. A man came into Ava’s life, and with him, step-siblings ( WC ) who had no interest in forming family. From then on, Mirae grew up between London and a sprawling estate in the countryside. Her step-father believed in strong moral values, which meant living in a multi-million dollar manor in a small town populated by off-branches of nobility for greater spans of time than in the multi-million dollar townhouse in the heart of the city. In truth, strong moral values meant traditional English values, which in turn meant classism and nationalism intersecting with a hefty dose of prejudice. It meant — more precisely and most specifically, that when her mother fought her last fight ( not of ancient wars or aliens, but instead against a terminal illness which took her too quickly from this world and on to the next ), Mirae found herself relegated to the background of her fractured excuse for a family, acting as nanny to her younger step-sibling and lady’s maid to her older one. It meant endless grumblings against modernity and the influx of foreigners, supporting the crown no matter what scandal they became embroiled in, and teaching your step-daughter to sit straight and act pretty. That they move to Paris when Mirae is twelve changes none of these things...

...but it did further the love of fashion she had since childhood, pasting together images in a scrapbook of ensembles for her mother to wear. She studied the city streets more frequently than she did her classes, watched Project Runway religiously, falling asleep to Tim Gunn’s catchphrase of ‘make it work’ every night and waking up to a copy of Vogue magazine each morning. In public, she was allowed — and certainly expected — to be smart, talented, and charming. Even despite her stepfather’s glaring distaste for a stepchild he never had any intention of raising without her mother, he instilled a work ethic into the young girl — albeit, only in certain specified areas. The idea of work itself ( and what careers would be acceptable in his upper-crust eyes ) were never directly mentioned. Fashion, when it’s brought up, was quickly discarded as a thing for girls of lesser means. 

At eighteen, she’s given the opportunity to prove herself and designed her older step-sister’s cotillion gown, a couture gown beautifully crossed between Westwood and Mugler. It was the crowning achievement of her youth, the very garment she hoped to get her into fashion school — financial help from her stepfather be damned. At the end of the evening, however, it returned to her in tatters, ripped and stained and presented not in the custom garment bag she’d created for it, but in a trash bag. The thought for escape was already brewing, but it only hurts more to hear the people who should be family say: Get out. Leave.

Mirae returned to London not long after, but found herself barred from the homes she once grew up in. The bank account she was meant to have access to upon turning eighteen is similarly kept out of reach without explanation. By luck, grace, or pity, she’s taken in by an old friend of her mother’s ( WC ) and gets the chance to acclimate herself to a life without much support. She takes a job as a costumer’s assistant, heedlessly willing to take any kind of job which could further her design portfolio and help her pay for rent. The idea to turn to social media hits her during a cast party, with numerous photographers swarming the cast and crew as they wore clothes she’d helped design and customize.

Her instagram quickly became a museum of well-lit shots of her designs and selfies of her striking features, and amassed a remarkable following in hardly any time at all. It would be all too easy to simply post never-before-seen photos of her late mother and gain reputation through those means, but Mirae had no interest in invoking the name of a woman long-gone as a way of building clout — nor did she want to reveal any connection to her stepfather and his family. Six years into the social media game, Mirae accumulated 900k followers, bolstered of course by the likes of Baldwins and Hadids sporting her limited-availability designs and sponsors paying for front-row access to fashion weeks all around the world. 

Curating a life online is a full-time career, complicated by the fact that access given to the masses is precisely what fuels her financial status. At the end of January, following a party to celebrate hitting her first 1mil on Instagram, Mirae was the victim of a robbery. No stranger to weaving diamonds out of absolute dust, she’s done her best to spin it into something positive for social media, and has since seen a giant boost to her stats in the past few weeks. But, the fear is still there, and forever a girl seeking balance in an entirely imbalanced world, she’s now thirsting for revenge. 

HEADCANONS.

Her step-father attempted to have her rebrand herself as ‘Mireille’ and take his surname so she might ‘better fit in’ with Parisian high-society, but she abhorred at the idea of shedding the one eternal thing her mother had given her, and has never once looked back.

Mirae is consistently obsessive about improving herself. She reads Proust and Camus and Joyce repeatedly in the hopes of expanding her mental horizons, attempts a sudoku puzzle before bed every night, and attends ballet barre classes every week.

This obsession, if you will, leads to her having a breakdown just as habitual as the components of its lead-up. It’s not an uncommon sight for her to cry while going through her early morning routines, or for Mirae to wonder if she’s any good or if it’s time for her to rethink her life. This, of course, is the side of her that social media is simply not allowed to see.

The happiest, busiest, and arguably toughest years of her life were at Central Saint Martins, when any money she earned went directly to her education and the furthering of her career. She lived in a cheap flat with three roommates, then quite enthralled with the ability to come home to others who were eager to see her — who enjoyed her presence and supported her dreams. Free of the stifling eye of heer step-father and not yet introduced to the suffocating hand of social media fame, this was perhaps the last time Mirae was purely herself.

WANTED CONNECTIONS.

this list got ... long, but if none of these vibe with you and you’d still like to write against Mirae, just let me know and we’ll come up with something <333

the robber(s): obviously, we can plot out how much your chara stole from her and why — I just wanna play around with this so bad! i absolutely adore the dichotomy of mirae starting her adult life very much in a place where she could’ve stolen in order to get by, only to grow into someone who then gets targeted by those who mayhaps also need to steal in order to get by, etc. Also super duper down to play around with it being a gang hit, or even someone in her inner circle who was just getting close to play her! Basically, give me anything and everything for this pretty please <33

clients: what it says on the tin! These people solicit her to design something for them, or style them for an event, that sort of thing. Whether they’re doing to gain clout via Mirae’s celebrity-adjacent status, or they actually believe and see her talent, we can def play around with whatever their relationship is!

step-family: these are littered throughout her slapdash bio, but it really would be so cool to see how Mirae and her step-siblings interact now that they’re all adults and ( arguably / hopefully ) not under the control of the step-father. I imagine there’d for sure be unresolved hurt on Mirae’s end, but I’m all for exploring sibling dynamics of all kinds, so yeah!

stalker: i just think ... this sounds chaotic and messy and i’m here for it! the trope of ‘stalker’ is defo a lot to put on another character, so i’m definitely here for mirae seeing them as a stalker but there being far more to the story that she simply can’t see just yet.

uni connects: Mirae fell short of finishing out her degree, but I’d like to think that she’s retained some of her friendships since then. It’d be esp fun to play around with uni friends who fast-tracked to major design houses upon graduation, or perhaps old advisors who are disappointed in the trajectory of Mirae’s life. 

romances, et al: i think mirae is the type of girl who falls in love v easily, but finds it hard to commit. i do envision some of her romances to be for show / social media, while some are mayhaps born from a shared artistic passion that often spills over into something borderline toxic. I’m down to play around with different shades of romantic connects, for sure!

Not 100% sold on the idea just yet, but I'm toying around with the idea of pre-Instafamous Mirae probably did a bit of the old Seeking Arrangements thing, particularly when she was pursuing a degree in fashion and needed to pay for school. This would definitely need to be plotted out way more thoroughly, but defo write me if you’re interested and we can sort work it out!

fashion friends: you know those indie sleazecore groups of friends that dominated fashion and tumblr photography and such circa 2013? very that!

more specifically — that core group of friends ( likely fellow fashionistas, artists, models, photographers, etc ) who stick together at every event, throw last-minute parties where they discuss art and philosophy and do karaoke until the sun comes up, dress each other up in the most ridiculous outfits and go out for fish and chips at 4am. 

in particular, i’d adore her having a friend she’s been staying with since the robbery!

security for hire: Mirae is definitely a bit fearful for the robbers to return, or for this to inspire more people to target her, so she’s been screening potential security officers to guard her while she’s home. I don’t think that she’d even necessarily go for someone with the fanciest credentials — just someone who she reasonably feels safe with, or mayhaps even someone who ( even before getting put on her payroll ) protected her from a crazed fan, drunken asshole, etc.

gang connects: Mirae’s unaffiliated, but she’s eager for payback, and if the police can’t figure out the culprits ( which...ofc they can’t! ), she’ll likely get desperate enough to turn to something a bit less...civilized. She’d be a bit hard to get 100% on board right off the bat, but I’d ofc love to explore some of those connections — especially if it means her realizing what she’d need to give in return for the help, etc. 

anything and everything ofc!!

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tag dump !!