#bexjo

[beclaudine]

icy.

whether it be walking along the streets or gliding across the ice, claudine makes an effort to look as graceful as can be. then again, when she's simply taking a stroll she doesn't need to exert too much effort. it comes with the territory. it's a part of her carefully crafted aura, her luxurious attire and her elegant habits. most of the time, that is. but when she's on the ice, it's not like she can control most of her movements, even if she tries.

claudine doesn't exactly remember how she finds herself in the rink, but she isn't going to sweat the details of that either. it's not like she's completely new to the concept of ice skating, but the last time she had participated in this activity was all the way back in france, her hometown. it has been a long few years since then, other hobbies taking more of her time. truth be told, she doesn't think she's that good anymore—but at least she remembers how not to trip and fall flat on her face.

but it's not graceful enough. she thinks she looks rather stupid, and for some reason, that's bothering her more than the high possibility that she might fall.

either way, her balance is thrown off. still though, she tries to skate as she used to before—at least make it look effortless, somehow. it's not though, and it's made all the more apparent when she nearly slips in front of @bexjo—the most unfortunate bystander.

she lets ouf a small huff, but manages a smile at the boy. "sorry about suddenly zooming onto your path," she offers. "it's been a while." looks and appearances over technique.

[rihabe]

it's cold. this is now her second winter after returning to seoul, previously spending four years in california. you'd think it wouldn't be enough to get used to warmer weather, but apparently it was, because she can't tolerate the chill nearly as well as she used to. she might have to go ice skating by herself after this, if only to warm up. the friend she was enjoying the market with today had prior obligations she completely forgot about and had to run, leaving riha alone. and rather uncomfortable, as she often is if she's alone and not doing something active to clear her mind.

eating also usually makes her feel better, and she could use something hot to drink to shake off the chill, so here she is, in line for street food. she didn't anticipate the line moving so slowly, and she also underestimated how freezing it would be to stand still.

thankfully – well, maybe thankfully – the guy in line behind her strikes up a conversation, providing the opportunity for a distraction. the problem is, he might be hitting on her. to his credit, it's in a slightly more endearing way than many other men would, especially because...he apparently doesn't even know why he's standing in line. riha almost laughs, but figures that would be rude. it would also be rude to question where he's from, even though he clearly as an accent, and it makes her curious.

instead, she just flashes a smile. "ah, sometimes," she answers his first question with a light laugh. then, she adds, "odeng! and i heard they're serving really good hot ginger tea, too, which is honestly the main reason why i'm here. but i might be able to warm up faster if i just go on a run," she considers aloud. she is hungry, though, and eating is important, so she'll just have to endure.

hurry up and wait ;

@rihabe

unlike what most may suspect, jo is not one of the most patient people in the world, even though he tries really, really hard to be. it's not out of any sort of sense of self-entitlement (although his somewhat high self-esteem probably does lend to that), but merely a 'nothing moves fast enough for me and i'm trying to maintain composure politely but i'm slowly going insane' kind of way.

he's never rude about it to the source of the waiting though; as uncivilized as he can be sometimes, jo does have manners and respects the time it takes for small businesses, made to order food and drinks, and other various concessions, but god it feels like time is slowly creeping along and yet getting slower and slower by the millisecond. he tries to quell the urge to bounce on his feet, as if that will make the line move faster (spoiler alert, it never does), but the food wafting from the stall in front of him smells divine, and he swears that his stomach is mere moments away from climbing out of his body and making its way there itself- despite not actually know what kind of snack they're even in line for.

so, jo does what jo does best and looks for a way to entertain himself. this time, it just so happens to be chatting to the girl just in front of him, goofy grin and all as he tucks his hands inside his jacket pockets to warm them again. not only is he being friendly, he thinks, but it's a good excuse to 'practice' his korean, as everyone keeps telling him. (if jo is honest, he's starting to get annoyed about being identified as a foreigner the moment he opens his mouth too, so he's made a promise to himself to get better for the new year(s).)

"soooo... do you wait here often?" he questions, gesturing towards the stall ahead of them, "and followup question... uhhh... what is this line for?"

[noelxbe]

out on the ice

noel loved ice skating, but he mainly did it during the winter months, which meant he hadn’t been ice skating since february, so it’d been a hot minute. he was a bit busy with project green and preparing for the mini concert that axis labels would be holding, but he made sure to find time for ice skating. he’d realized breaks were important, and he didn’t want to overwork himself, getting out and ice skate would help calm him down and once he was done here he’d be ready to return to practice.

“you said you were good at ice skating, right?” he looks shortly at jo ( @bexjo ) before returning his look to his own skates, making sure they’re tied properly. “i often go with friends who aren’t very good” he looks up at jo again “it’s still fun, but i have to help them a lot and hold their hands” , “i assume you won’t need me to hold your hand out on the ice?” he smiles at the other. “are they tied properly?” he points at the other skates, “if so, let’s go out on the ice”.

[beyuwol]

lately, yuwol thinks that he has been too... self-deprecating. it comes with the territory, he'd never known himself to be confident about anything other than being a violinist, credits to his parents. even now, as an idol trainee with a public performance under his belt, he still believes he lacks in so many areas, both visible and invisible to the naked eye. he knows this ingrained thought process of his will easily become his downfall if he isn't careful, so he has been working to think a little more positively. it takes a bit more effort each day, but he's getting there.

however, there's no beating around the bush here. not when it comes to this. yuwol sucks at ice skating. it's a renowned fact that's further being proven today ( embarrassingly so ).

yuwol has no experience on the ice rink, whether leisurely or not. he never got to learn, nor had it crossed his mind before either. unfortunately, yuwol has a horrible habit when it comes to refusing people too, especially when they're skilled smooth talkers who are probably used to convincing fussy customers to sign up for whatever they're offering. in this case, it's the free outdoor ice skating rink.

at first, he tried to tell them that he doesn't have a pair of skates, only for the staff to say that they're happy to lend them. next, yuwol admits that he never skated before, only to be met with: then this is the perfect opportunity to try! he can't even refute that properly.

so here he stands now, leaning against the fence, having no clue what to do with his feet. he's just staring at them. only when he hears a familiar voice does he look up, seeing jo approaching.

yuwol smiles, sheepish. "is it that obvious? i must really be... out of place, then." he's not going to hide his lack of experience, there's no use lying just to save face. "how long have i been standing here awkwardly like a flickering lamp post?"

he lets out a sigh, still holding onto the fence for dear life. "no, i've never done this before... and i wasn't planning on skating today either. but... i was convinced." peer pressured, more like, but he digresses. "you seem to be a natural, though."

don't freeze--*

@beyuwol

it's been years, a decade, maybe, since jo had been on the ice. it used to be something he thoroughly enjoyed- back during the days before his brother learned a professional sport from his love of the ice and back when things were, well, simple. for a while when jo first arrives and realizes there's an ice rink, he only stands on the sides, watching the eager participants like he was having an out of body experience instead of standing right there.

it has to be minutes, he thinks, before one of the attendants is asking if he needs a pair of skates, and his mind flashes back to his own pair that he found just a few weeks ago while he was unpacking, haphazardly tossed into a box that one of his friend's shipped to his apartment. uhh... he hesitates, before shrugging and accepting the offer. going through the motions of fixing his socks, checking blades and tying laces, jo can't shake the deep feeling of deja vu he has, and when he looks to his left he half expects anna to be there, with eli waiting for them both at the entrance to the rink, teasing them for being too slow.

his eyes drift in the direction of the rink, and instead of his brother, he sees a vaguely familiar face instead, looking a little frozen at the entry, and he can't help but smile to himself, making his way over.

"if your goal is to blend in by being as still as ice, being on the ice is a better start." jo jokes gently, remembering the first time he was in the same position, and how much time and encouragement he needed. he politely sidesteps a pair of kids that came behind him, stepping onto the section of rink right in front of yuwol. "you've never done this before, have you?"

[bexria]

bexjo

the gift of advice-*

@bexria

so far, jo has a sweater that looks like something anna would buy for herself, a makeup brush kit, and is currently browsing handmade jewelry when he spots someone who at least looks like she might be a better option when it comes to picking things than he is today. "excuse me," he greets, sidling up to the girl sheepishly. "i'm trying to get a gift for my sister and i... really don't know what a girl would like best." jo laughs, easily recognizing that it sounds like a cliche movie line more than the genuine question he's asking, "you look like you, uh, have a better opinion than i do so i was wondering what kind of gift you would want if it were from here?"

for ria christmas starts the moment halloween is over. usually she lives with her parents and they refuse to put up christmas decorations on listen to christmas music just because it’s november first, but temporarily (is it?) she’s staying at her brother’s apartment, and he isn’t home, he’s busy with something at lime entertainment is all he said. so when it became november ria went out and bought christmas decorations to decorate her brother’s apartment and listen to christmas music, and nobody can complain, it’s just ria and her brother’s two pets, who can’t complain because, well, they can’t speak.

though she decorated her brother’s apartment by herself she of course helped her parents decorating their house still. and though she began her gift shopping in november, she’s still far from done with it. her brother and parents always spend way more money on ria than she spends on them, but ria also has a lot of friends to give gifts to. so she’s browsing around, maybe something could work for someone here.

when a stranger approaches her she assumes they want her number, she’s a pretty girl and mainly when random men come up to her it’s because they want to ask her out or something alike. but she’s positively surprised to what she asks, and he seems nice, genuinely nice, and she’s not in a hurry anyways. “sure” she nods “i would love to help” she sends him a smile. “personally i would be glad about make up or a pair of really cute earrings, or something personal, like a handmade gift or something she’s really in to… do you know if she likes any specific things or has any hobbies?”.

[beseira]

bexjo

a foodie in need--*

that is, until he takes one bite of... well, whatever it was that his nose and stomach convinced him he wanted. and now, the vibe is ruined completely and jo just wishes he could wash his mouth out with anything other than what's in his hands. in his desperation, he notices a girl that he's run into several times, because she's been visiting the food stalls too- except she seems to actually be enjoying everything. "uhh.. se.. seira?" he takes a guess and prays he remembered her name correctly, because he overheard someone else say it and she responded once before. "do you want this?" he offers the untouched portion of the snack to her, "i thought i would like it," jo laughs. "i guess i was too ambitious. but i don't want to waste it either."

seira isn’t picky, far from it, very very far from it, the only thing she won’t eat is chocolate but that’s simply because she’s allergic to it (i know, how sad), but besides that she’ll see food and she’ll want to eat it. her brother used it as a joke, bought bizarre things for her to eat, always thinking ‘this she can’t possibly want to eat’ and then well, she would eat it. her old members joked about it as well, giving her bizarre food combos, and she would eat them all, some of them not too enjoyable, but for her they were eatable.

and it’s not just that she’ll eat anything, she’ll eat everything. it’s like her little body is never full, there’s always space for more. she’ll go out to dinner and everyone will say they’re too full for dessert, such thing would seira never say. and if her friends can’t finish their food, seira will gladly help them, hence why she got the nickname ‘human trashcan’. if she had the money, all she would be doing is eating, but she’s not exactly rich from being a barista, so she doesn’t have the money to eat all the time (which might be a good thing thinking about it).

she’s been here before along a friend, but there was so much food to try so she’s come back today in an attempt to try even more food. good thing she isn’t spending time with her family this christmas, else she would’ve needed to use all the money she’s been spending here on plane tickets and gifts for her family (though truly, she misses them and kind of wishes she could’ve spent christmas with them). she’s all over the place, from trying one thing to trying another.

she’s surprised to hear her name, but goes in the direction of the one who spoke, soon met with words she’s happy to hear. “yeah of course!” and she’s quick to grab and eat it, man, it would be so easy to poison seira… “eh!” her eyes light up “it’s amazing” she’s said that about basically everything so far (even a glass of milk). “how do you know my name?” she questions as she continues eating whatever he gave her.