Idol (H.S.S. Member) / Producer / Choreographer.
Gay.
Single.
08/01/2008.
16.
Rat (Korea)
Authored by Etienne.
Offline.
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Post by Taijia Lin on Dec 7, 2018 10:42:35 GMT -8
Tai had woken up that morning to a message from Kangwan on his phone with a link to a YouTube video, and when he'd clicked through, there had been an announcement for global auditions for Kangwan's company, and they listed Seattle as one of their stops. He knew that this was his chance. The auditions were in March, so there were three whole months to convince his Uncles to let him, and he had to tell Anya. He sent Kangwan a quick thank you message, and got up properly for the day. He still had a few hours before school, but he made his way to the hardwood floored room where he had his practice space set up. He did his morning practice with earbuds in, not wanting to disturb the others in the house, but especially not Theo and Teagan who he knew weren't used to how early he got up to practice dance yet. He did his music practice in the afternoons, but dance was morning and afternoon.
He made it to the shower after finishing his morning practice as he heard other people starting to get up. Uncle Sheng had left for Liz's morning training session while he'd been practicing, so he showered downstairs so that there would be less competition for the upstairs shower. The rice cooker, programmed the night before was ready when he got back upstairs, and he made himself some eggs and kimchi to eat with his rice. By the time anyone else emerged into the living space, he was partway done eating, the kitchen re-tidied, and he had left a plate to warm of the eggs and kimchi for other people to add to their rice. Uncle Jin thanked him and ate quickly. Theo also took some of what he'd prepared, but Teagan went for cereal, and Tai shrugged to himself. He definitely wasn't used to Teagan's habits yet. He'd figure out what the older boy liked and didn't eventually.
Tai read for a little while as he waited for the others to be ready to go. Uncle Sheng got home and took some of the eggs and kimchi and rice while Tai was waiting and then retreated downstairs to get ready for the main part of his day. Finally, Uncle Jin and Teagan were ready to go, dropping Tai off at Cedar Beach Middle School on their way to the high school down the road. Tai was one of the first people to make it to school, but he was there just late enough that the yard monitors were out, so he didn't have to go into before school care. That meant he could practice outside in the grass for a little while he waited for Anya to show up. He kept an eye out for her approach and hoped that this wasn't one of the days she got there at the last possible minute because he was bursting to tell her about the auditions.
Anya Young
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Student - 12th grade/Idol - dance/vocal.
Unsure.
Single.
11/15/2006.
17.
Dog (Korea)
Authored by Redeim.
Offline.
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Post by Anya Young on Dec 7, 2018 12:21:33 GMT -8
Anya woke up a little earlier than she usually did, watching any new music videos she may have missed recently and waiting until her alarm usually went off. At that point, she got out of bed and got dressed before going downstairs. She had heard her mom up and about, but was surprised to see Remi was up already. She joined him at the kitchen table, "Do you have class today?" She asked her brother.
Remi looked as if he hadn't slept well, giving her a slow nod after a moment's pause.
Anya shrugged and let it go, figuring her brother was always weird and this was nothing new, and thanked her mom as some eggs and toast was placed in front of her.
"Remi, can you take Anya to school? I have an early appointment and I have to leave about... now-ish."
"Where's dad?" Remi asked in protest.
"I can walk, y'know." Anya also protested.
"Your father's at work already and your school is just a little too far for that, Anya."
"Whatever." The siblings said at the same time.
With the command to do their dishes, their mother left.
It was quiet until Anya was done eating. "Do you want to just skip school today?" Remi asked. He seemed reluctant to get dressed. "I can call out for you, I'm old enough now."
"No." Anya said firmly. She pulled her brother up from his chair. "Go get dressed, I'll do the dishes." She ordered him. She noticed Remi shrug before heading up to his room, and she took care of the dishes as she said she would, humming a Korean song under her breath.
It was still early, but Taijia usually got to school early and they didn't have too many classes together, so she wanted the chance to talk before school started. "Remi, come on!" She called upstairs.
"I'm coming..." Remi called back, exasperated. "It's not even 7:30 why are you in such a rush?" He asked as he was coming down the stairs, pulling on his jacket.
"Just because!" Anya barked back.
The two exchange playful bickers the entire way to her school, where Anya finally stopped bickering long enough to thank him for dropping her off and saying goodbye. She scanned the parts of school she could see for Taijia, seeing him in the grass and running over to him. "Taijia!" She called, waving to him. "How are you?" She asked once she was closer to him.
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Idol (H.S.S. Member) / Producer / Choreographer.
Gay.
Single.
08/01/2008.
16.
Rat (Korea)
Authored by Etienne.
Offline.
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Post by Taijia Lin on Dec 7, 2018 20:16:55 GMT -8
Tai saw Anya get out of the car. Remi had driven her today, which wasn't all that unusual, but it was a bit of a surprise that she was actually early with Remi being the one to bring her to school. He stopped his music and tucked his headphones away into his bag as she got closer, but he kept his phone out.
He gave Anya a quick hug in greeting and said conspiratorially, "Hi Anya, I have news!"
He fiddled with his phone for a second, pulling up the video that Kangwan had sent him, and said, "You know how we were talking about auditions? Kangwan just sent me this, and his company's having them here, well in Seattle, in March."
He held out the phone to her so she could look and waited expectantly. He was clearly excited, bouncing on his toes a little bit, he added, suddenly a little bit worried about her answer, "You're still going to come with me right? I can help you get ready for it."
They'd talked about it off and on, but Tai knew that this was something that he'd been deliberately working towards for a few years now, and even before that, he'd been actively learning dance, where Anya had been interested at first because it seemed fun and because he was interested, but it seemed like a more loosely held dream of an idea for her sometimes. He hoped that she still wanted to. He didn't want to do this without his best friend, and he believed that she would get through.
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Student - 12th grade/Idol - dance/vocal.
Unsure.
Single.
11/15/2006.
17.
Dog (Korea)
Authored by Redeim.
Offline.
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Post by Anya Young on Dec 8, 2018 14:29:04 GMT -8
Anya nodded, glancing at his phone as he showed it to her. "Oh, yeah! I saw, well... didn't actually watch it, but I was on YouTube earlier and noticed it. That's cool, though! Was Kangwan in the video?" She asked, but then adding, more seriously, "Of course I'm still coming with you! But..." She hesitated, looking down and kicking at the ground, "You've been practicing since you could walk, practically. Do you really think I'm ready?" She was only serious for a couple seconds after she finished her sentence before giggling. "I need to practice singing more, too. And start convincing my mom and dad I can live in Korea. Ah! I should study Korean more seriously, too! I need to steal Remi's books." She looked to Taijia again. "What kind of things should we prepare? Do you know?"
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Idol (H.S.S. Member) / Producer / Choreographer.
Gay.
Single.
08/01/2008.
16.
Rat (Korea)
Authored by Etienne.
Offline.
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Post by Taijia Lin on Dec 8, 2018 15:17:58 GMT -8
Tai grinned in relief when she said she still wanted to. He told her, "I can help with the being ready and the Korean, and Kangwan told me that with people our age, they mostly care more about potential than how trained you already are. Because we're going to be trainees for at least a few years if they take us. I'm way way more trained than Kangwan was when he got taken as a trainee."
He added, "Kangwan was in the video, he talked in the Korean and the English parts, but not the Chinese part, which seems fair. There were a bunch of people from his company though, so he didn't show up for very long."
He had read all the details on the audition that were up that morning, and so he was able to tell her, "You can audition as a dancer, a singer, a rapper, or an actor. And they'll look at special related skills as well. There are some other categories that are mostly for adults for like composition and stuff, but we don't qualify for those for other reasons. A lot of people audition on more than one, and they might ask you to sing something if you did the dance option as your main option just to hear what you sound like. You would probably want to have dance and then at least one of singing or rap, but dance can totally be what you focus on."
He already had the basics of what he would do, though he'd probably polish up some of the choreo for his audition dance that he'd been using for other things for a while now. He said, "I'm going to sing, dance, and hopefully get the chance to show them that I can play guitar and piano, and you know the speaking three languages thing. But from what Kangwan was saying, that's going to be a little bit overkill."
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Student - 12th grade/Idol - dance/vocal.
Unsure.
Single.
11/15/2006.
17.
Dog (Korea)
Authored by Redeim.
Offline.
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Post by Anya Young on Dec 8, 2018 16:47:03 GMT -8
"In that case, let's do it!" Anya said, pumping her arms excitedly. She glanced at the phone again, even though it had long gone dark again. "I'll have to watch it then, so I can tell my classmates I know him." She joked. Though she had to admit, with KPop being as popular as it was nowadays, especially among her classmates, it was actually fun to be able to say she knew Kangwan. "Do you think I'd make a good rapper?" She asked, not in the least bit serious. Hopefully if she got in, she wouldn't end up in a group like F(x), where there initially was no rapper.
"I'll audition for singing and dancing. Maybe with a focus on dance since I haven't had a lot of singing practice really." She laughed at his mention of overkill talent, "You wouldn't be Tai if you didn't overkill-wow the judges." She told him lightly. She lowered her voice, "do you think being only half will be an advantage for me? Or maybe a disadvantage?"
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Idol (H.S.S. Member) / Producer / Choreographer.
Gay.
Single.
08/01/2008.
16.
Rat (Korea)
Authored by Etienne.
Offline.
|
Post by Taijia Lin on Dec 8, 2018 17:49:49 GMT -8
Tai was amused by her thinking about bragging about knowing Kangwan. He'd never really even considered mentioning it to their various classmates, even though he knew that there were a decent number of them who followed Kangwan's group, but he was much more private than Anya. He said softly though, "We aren't the only ones in the school who would have met Kangwan while he was here. Inkar has a younger brother in eighth grade and a younger sister in our grade."
Despite Inkar being one of Tai's more frequent babysitters these days, Tai didn't particularly know her younger siblings. Inzhu, who was in their grade, was an athlete, and she was nice enough, but she had her own friend group.
Despite Anya's joking tone, Tai thought about her question seriously for a moment, and told her, "I mean, I'm sure that you could learn to be a rapper for a group if you wanted to. But that's not something I can help you with. You have a nice singing voice, and I bet if you really wanted to, you could talk your parents into getting some lessons between now and March."
He was glad that she was focusing a little bit more on dance, at least to start with, and he asked her, "Do you want to learn a dance that already exists? You should choose yourself some music so that you can start learning choreography."
Before he could keep working on their plan with Anya, the bell rang, and he started heading towards their homeroom class. He knew that they would get more chances to talk about the plan later in the day.
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Student - 12th grade/Idol - dance/vocal.
Unsure.
Single.
11/15/2006.
17.
Dog (Korea)
Authored by Redeim.
Offline.
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Post by Anya Young on Dec 9, 2018 12:13:51 GMT -8
Anya pouted, playfully acting like he ruined her plans, "Yeah, that's true... But we probably knew him best of the people our age?" She tried, still just joking. She knew who Tai was talking about, Inzhu and her were on talking terms, but in the strange, we know each other because other people know each other kind of way, so they were friendly but not close.
She scrunched up her nose, shaking her head, "I don't know, I can't see me being a rapper." She let out a giggle, "I probably have enough charisma though." She humored it for a bit longer before shaking her head, "no, I want to be a singer, not a rapper." She began following Taijia as the bell rang, though she was lagging a bit, not wanting to yet end their conversation to start school. "Would it be better to have my own choreography, do you think? Ah... But actually that's really hard to do. I'll just stick to a cover dance." She seemed to be talking to herself, but looked to Taijia as she finished each sentence. "Should I do a boy group dance to showcase skills better?" She asked, only barely joking - most girl group's dances were either too simple, or too provocative for someone her age. As they crossed the threshold to the classroom, she was happy to at least have homeroom together with Tai; if they were lucky they could continue throwing ideas to each other.
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Idol (H.S.S. Member) / Producer / Choreographer.
Gay.
Single.
08/01/2008.
16.
Rat (Korea)
Authored by Etienne.
Offline.
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Post by Taijia Lin on Dec 10, 2018 2:25:41 GMT -8
Tai laughed quietly at Anya's pout and answered, "You mean I know him best."
Tai shrugged at her questions and said, "You should do a dance that you like that shows off skill. If you want to do a boy group dance, then that could work, or I bet we could find you a girl group dance or something that you'd be happy with."
He was quiet as they went into class, but as they were about to settle into their seats, he whispered to Anya, "We can talk about it more at lunch, looks like there's announcements today."
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He and Anya were in different classes for most of the morning, other than homeroom, now that they were in middle school. Tai was taking Algebra I, and he would have been a little bit more worried about trying to figure that out scheduling wise the next year if he wasn't planning to be in Korea by that point. It was a little weird to be the sixth grader in a class that was all eighth graders though. Then he had honors science and honors Language Arts to get through before lunch. He knew at least that he'd get to spend the afternoon sitting next to his best friend in class, which was always a lot better.
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Student - 12th grade/Idol - dance/vocal.
Unsure.
Single.
11/15/2006.
17.
Dog (Korea)
Authored by Redeim.
Offline.
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Post by Anya Young on Dec 10, 2018 16:14:34 GMT -8
After homeroom, Anya and Taijia were separated until after lunch, because he was already in honors classes whereas she wasn't. She was at least already in Pre-Algebra, which was a grade above her current level, but nothing compared to Tai or even her own brother. Still, she got good grades, and didn't mind being able to relax for now; she'd worry about getting the best grades and being in honors classes once she got into high school. Even so, if she wanted to transfer to Korea, she would have to keep her grades up. She spent most of the morning trying to think of which dance she should choose, still lost in thought when the bell rang for lunch. She went to her and Tai's usual meeting spot, and snacked on some vegetables as she waited for him.
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Idol (H.S.S. Member) / Producer / Choreographer.
Gay.
Single.
08/01/2008.
16.
Rat (Korea)
Authored by Etienne.
Offline.
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Post by Taijia Lin on Dec 11, 2018 0:22:12 GMT -8
Tai got to their spot outside not long after Anya did, glad that it was still nice enough out to eat outside, though he knew it wouldn't be for much longer. He was already wearing a slightly too big sweater to school because it was chilly out. He was coming from a further classroom than she was though, so he wasn't surprised that she made it there first.
When he got to their meeting spot, he opened up his neatly packed lunchbox and took out the various things that he'd packed for himself that morning. He asked her, "Have you thought of a song? Honestly for singing or dancing, or one that you could do both at the same time. Honestly, if there's a song, even if its a little easier, if you get do the dancing and singing together, that would probably impress them."
He started eating, waiting for her response. He had some ideas if she didn't, but he'd rather that she picked a song that she really wanted to do. He knew that she wasn't going to do something nearly as complicated as he was doing, but that was OK. He wanted her to show off what she was good at.
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Student - 12th grade/Idol - dance/vocal.
Unsure.
Single.
11/15/2006.
17.
Dog (Korea)
Authored by Redeim.
Offline.
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Post by Anya Young on Dec 11, 2018 16:04:53 GMT -8
"I had a hard time narrowing it down. But there are some girl groups I was looking at; namely Red Velvet, and also BoA does some more complicated dances sometimes. But also since I've mostly been learning from you, I'm more accustomed to the male dance routines... So I was also thinking maybe..." She winced, clearly still unsure, "BTS? Though in the case of singing and dancing at the same time..." She faded off, seeming to mull that thought over as she pulled out her sandwich and took a bite. "Maybe still Red Velvet." She said, a hand covering her full mouth.
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Idol (H.S.S. Member) / Producer / Choreographer.
Gay.
Single.
08/01/2008.
16.
Rat (Korea)
Authored by Etienne.
Offline.
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Post by Taijia Lin on Dec 12, 2018 1:31:59 GMT -8
Tai giggled a little bit quietly at how indecisive Anya sounded. He told her reassuringly, "Don't worry about picking a song that I know the dance for. I can learn it and help either way. I already have my auditions basically ready whenever. There's some polishing I'll do, but I practice every morning and evening anyhow. We have a little over three months to get you fully comfortable with something."
He'd learned plenty of girl group dances, and he'd even taught several of them to Anya over the years, but she was right, they'd been doing more boy group songs recently. He said, "It doesn't sound like you really want to do a boy group song though? I don't care which one you decide on. You can show that you're a good dancer with potential either way, so you should pick something you like because I'm going to make sure you practice it a lot. If you want to do a Red Velvet song, they've got cool choreo and we can adjust something so that you can do all the parts. Is there a particular song you're thinking of? That's the one you seem to keep circling back to. You don't have to choose tonight, but soon so we've got time to practice."
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Student - 12th grade/Idol - dance/vocal.
Unsure.
Single.
11/15/2006.
17.
Dog (Korea)
Authored by Redeim.
Offline.
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Post by Anya Young on Dec 12, 2018 22:33:15 GMT -8
Anya looked at him amazed for a moment before letting out a sigh, despite a smile being on her lips, "I guess instead of laying around until my alarm goes off, I should start practicing..." She mused to Taijia. For now, she was only joking, but she knew eventually she would have to take her practice seriously.
"I do really like Dumb Dumb. Ooo or maybe Peek-A-Boo. Or Ice Cream Cake was really popular..." She tapped her chin in thought for a moment before shaking her head, "But I don't like Ice Cream Cake, so either Dumb Dumb or Peek-A-Boo." She finalized. She looked to Taijia, the end of her sandwich being held near her mouth, "Do you have any opinions on either song?" She asked before eating the rest of her sandwich.
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Idol (H.S.S. Member) / Producer / Choreographer.
Gay.
Single.
08/01/2008.
16.
Rat (Korea)
Authored by Etienne.
Offline.
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Post by Taijia Lin on Dec 12, 2018 23:14:49 GMT -8
Taijia replied, tone entirely serious, "You could set your alarm earlier and do your practicing early on purpose."
While he knew that her seriousness level wasn't quite the same as his, he also hoped that if she was actually going to try to audition with him, she'd take it at least sort of seriously. He knew that she would when they were practicing together, but that only happened a few afternoons a week, though he guessed that he could make sure that they ran through dances at lunch if the weather was good, which was a big if going into the winter.
He thought about the two songs that she'd mentioned and finally said, "I like 'Peek A Boo' a lot better as a song personally, but you're the one who's going to be listening to it over and over and over again for months. Are you thinking sing and dance at the same time? I feel like 'Peek A Boo' might be a little harder vocally, but I'm not sure, they both seem pretty similar."
He kind of hoped that Anya would be able to give him a decision before the end of the day so that he could learn the dance that week so that he could help her with it.
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