ɪ ꜱᴀᴡ ʏᴏᴜ ɪɴ ᴍʏ ᴅʀᴇᴀᴍꜱ ᴀɢᴀɪɴ (ɪᴛ ꜰᴇʟᴛ ꜱᴏ ʀᴇᴀʟ) 🌊
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❝𝑅𝑒𝒹, 𝓁𝒾𝓀𝑒 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝓌𝒾𝓁𝓁𝒻𝓊𝓁 𝑒𝓃𝒹𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝑜𝒻 𝒷𝒶𝒷𝓎 𝓇𝑜𝓈𝑒𝓈.
𝑅𝑒𝒹, 𝒷𝒾𝓉𝓉𝑒𝓇𝓁𝓎 𝓇𝑒𝓈𝑒𝓃𝓉𝒻𝓊𝓁 𝓁𝒾𝓀𝑒 𝒷𝓁𝑜𝑜𝒹 𝒹𝓇𝒾𝓅𝓅𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝓊𝓅𝑜𝓃 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝓁𝒾𝓅𝓈.
𝐼𝓃 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝑔𝓁𝑜𝑜𝓂, 𝒶𝓂𝒾𝒹 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝓅𝒾𝓉𝒸𝒽 𝒷𝓁𝒶𝒸𝓀𝓃𝑒𝓈𝓈, 𝓉𝒽𝒶𝓉 𝒷𝑒𝒶𝓊𝓉𝒾𝒻𝓊𝓁 𝒹𝓇𝑒𝒶𝓂.
𝒩𝑜 𝓌𝒶𝓋𝑒 𝑜𝒻 𝓅𝒶𝒾𝓃 𝒸𝒶𝓃 𝒷𝑒 𝓈𝑒𝑒𝓃 𝒻𝓇𝑜𝓂 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝓇𝑒𝒻𝓁𝑒𝒸𝓉𝒾𝑜𝓃 𝓌𝒾𝓉𝒽𝒾𝓃 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝓂𝒾𝓇𝓇𝑜𝓇.
𝒴𝑜𝓊 𝒶𝓇𝑒 𝒽𝑒𝒶𝓋𝓎, 𝓁𝒾𝓀𝑒 𝓇𝑒𝒹 𝒹𝓊𝓈𝓉 𝒽𝒶𝓋𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝓈𝓌𝑒𝓅𝓉 𝓅𝒶𝓈𝓉.❞
— 𝐑𝐞𝐝/红 (𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐬𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐥𝐲𝐫𝐢𝐜𝐬) // 𝐋𝐞𝐬𝐥𝐢𝐞 𝐂𝐡𝐞𝐮𝐧𝐠______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
☽ 𝐌𝐀𝐋 (𝟐𝟒)
𝐅𝐮𝐥𝐥 𝐍𝐚𝐦𝐞
Wendy Liu𝐍𝐢𝐜𝐤𝐧𝐚𝐦𝐞(𝐬)
Goes by her stage name (Mal), now, almost exclusively. "Mal" is a reference to the island of Majorca (which is spelled 'Mallorca' in Spanish), where she began seriously considering music as an actual career for the first time, among other things.𝐁𝐢𝐫𝐭𝐡𝐝𝐚𝐲
July 7th, 1995𝐙𝐨𝐝𝐢𝐚𝐜
Cancer𝐏𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐎𝐫𝐢𝐠𝐢𝐧
Los Angeles, California, though she spent three years in Majorca, Spain for college, and relocated to New York City when she signed on with 𝕯𝖔𝖗𝖎𝖆𝖓 𝕽𝖊𝖈𝖔𝖗𝖉𝖘𝐆𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫
Female𝐒𝐞𝐱𝐮𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐲
Bisexual______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
𝐍𝐨𝐭𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐌𝐚𝐫𝐤𝐬
Other than her platinum-blonde hair (which is such a pain to maintain), Mal has no other particularly notable features. She does want to get a bunch of tattoos someday, though.𝐒𝐩𝐞𝐜𝐢𝐞𝐬 & 𝐀𝐛𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐞𝐬
Mal's just a plain ol' human. However, thanks to the fact that she's (unknowingly) signed away her soul, Mal's weird dreams and visions (hallucinations???) that feature her dead college girlfriend and the ocean have intensified. She feels like the ocean is calling to her. Is she going crazy????______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
𝐅𝐥𝐚𝐰𝐬
Isn't always the most adaptable to change; has lots of trouble letting go of things, whether it be a person, a place, or even a memory or something intangible; doesn't like to disturb other people or stick her nose into other people's business, which can make her come off as stand-offish and unapproachable; a bit of a pushover-her music has been described as "take-no-bullshit", but that's just her music. Her day-to-day life is a whole other story; has a tendency to just let everything slide until she reaches a breaking point rather than directly confronting the person about it; has trouble opening up to other people and/or talking about her feelings to others. She's quite private; was raised with the 'suck it up' and 'eating bitterness' mentality of traditional Chinese families, meaning that she's prone to bottling things up and never saying anything about stuff that's impacted her negatively; is afraid of coming off as clingy or annoying, so she has a hard time forming close friendships with other people; definitely says what she wants, when she wants to through her music, but sucks at doing that in normal, everyday conversations; isn't that great of a dancer, yikes𝐕𝐢𝐫𝐭𝐮𝐞𝐬
There is nothing hurried about her-instead of the chaotic energy that fizzes off a lot of other rappers/hip hop artists, Mal has a cool, almost reserved air about her; effortlessly cool and confident on-stage (people never have anything bad to say about her stage presence), though she's just a whisker away from awkwardly shy otherwise; thoughtful; observant/perceptive, especially when it comes to other peoples' feelings; patient; diligent and focused; reliable; tries her damnedest to keep every promise that she makes; there's a certain intensity towards her when she's performing that people always point out; loyal; tries to be honest with both herself and others as much as she can; open/accepting and non-judgmental; generally very agreeable and pleasant to be around. She'll talk to you if you strike up a conversation with her, but she won't bother you if you don't______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
𝐘𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐬 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝕯𝖔𝖗𝖎𝖆𝖓 𝕽𝖊𝖈𝖔𝖗𝖉𝖘
1.5 years𝐌𝐮𝐬𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥 𝐀𝐜𝐭
Mal is a rapper and hip-hop artist, known for her fusion of traditional Chinese themes/images with the uber-modern and contemporary sounds of current rap music. Since she's based in the States rather than mainland China, she has the freedom to tackle more sensitive political issues with her music without the fear of state retribution/censorship, a fact that she 100% takes advantage of.𝐏𝐨𝐬𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧
Mal's a solo act, though she does a lot of collaborations with other artists, mostly ones who have incorporated some kind of international influence into their work (i.e. K-Pop stars, up-and-coming singers within the Latin American musical sphere, etc)𝐈𝐧𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐬
Mal took gu qin lessons for much of her pre-college life, and she'll sometimes incorporate it into her songs. Like many, many, many of her peers, Mal also took piano lessons. It was a real struggle, and she's forgotten pretty much all of it by now.______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
☽ 𝟏𝟎 𝐒𝐎𝐍𝐆 𝐏𝐋𝐀𝐘𝐋𝐈𝐒𝐓
ʀᴇᴅ (红) // ʟᴇꜱʟɪᴇ ᴄʜᴇᴜɴɢ
"𝘙𝘦𝘥, 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭𝘧𝘶𝘭 𝘦𝘯𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘰𝘧 𝘣𝘢𝘣𝘺 𝘳𝘰𝘴𝘦𝘴
𝘙𝘦𝘥, 𝘣𝘪𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘭𝘺 𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘧𝘶𝘭 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘣𝘭𝘰𝘰𝘥 𝘥𝘳𝘪𝘱𝘱𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘶𝘱𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘭𝘪𝘱𝘴
𝘐𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘨𝘭𝘰𝘰𝘮, 𝘢𝘮𝘪𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘪𝘵𝘤𝘩 𝘣𝘭𝘢𝘤𝘬𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘴, 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘣𝘦𝘢𝘶𝘵𝘪𝘧𝘶𝘭 𝘥𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘮
𝘕𝘰 𝘸𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘱𝘢𝘪𝘯 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘣𝘦 𝘴𝘦𝘦𝘯 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘳𝘦𝘧𝘭𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘪𝘳𝘳𝘰𝘳
𝘠𝘰𝘶 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘷𝘺, 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘳𝘦𝘥 𝘥𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘴𝘸𝘦𝘱𝘵 𝘱𝘢𝘴𝘵"ᴏᴄᴇᴀɴ ᴇʏᴇꜱ // ʙɪʟʟɪᴇ ᴇɪʟɪꜱʜ
"𝘐'𝘷𝘦 𝘣𝘦𝘦𝘯 𝘸𝘢𝘵𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘯' 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦
𝘊𝘢𝘯'𝘵 𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘱 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘴𝘦 𝘰𝘤𝘦𝘢𝘯 𝘦𝘺𝘦𝘴
𝘉𝘶𝘳𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘤𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘦𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘯𝘢𝘱𝘢𝘭𝘮 𝘴𝘬𝘪𝘦𝘴
𝘍𝘪𝘧𝘵𝘦𝘦𝘯 𝘧𝘭𝘢𝘳𝘦𝘴 𝘪𝘯𝘴𝘪𝘥𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘴𝘦 𝘰𝘤𝘦𝘢𝘯 𝘦𝘺𝘦𝘴
𝘠𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘰𝘤𝘦𝘢𝘯 𝘦𝘺𝘦𝘴
𝘕𝘰 𝘧𝘢𝘪𝘳
𝘠𝘰𝘶 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘩𝘰𝘸 𝘵𝘰 𝘮𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘮𝘦 𝘤𝘳𝘺
𝘞𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘨𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘮𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘴𝘦 𝘰𝘤𝘦𝘢𝘯 𝘦𝘺𝘦𝘴
𝘐'𝘮 𝘴𝘤𝘢𝘳𝘦𝘥
𝘐'𝘷𝘦 𝘯𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘧𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘯 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘲𝘶𝘪𝘵𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘩𝘪𝘨𝘩
𝘍𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘰 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘰𝘤𝘦𝘢𝘯 𝘦𝘺𝘦𝘴
𝘛𝘩𝘰𝘴𝘦 𝘰𝘤𝘦𝘢𝘯 𝘦𝘺𝘦𝘴"ᴄᴏᴍᴇ ᴀᴡᴀʏ ᴛᴏ ᴛʜᴇ ᴡᴀᴛᴇʀ // ᴍᴀʀᴏᴏɴ ꜰɪᴠᴇ
"𝘊𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘢𝘸𝘢𝘺 𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘵𝘭𝘦 𝘭𝘰𝘴𝘴 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘢𝘸𝘢𝘺 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘳
𝘛𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘰𝘯𝘦𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘰𝘯𝘭𝘺 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘺𝘰𝘶
𝘊𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘢𝘸𝘢𝘺 𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘵𝘭𝘦 𝘭𝘰𝘴𝘴 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘢𝘸𝘢𝘺 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘳
𝘈𝘸𝘢𝘺 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘭𝘪𝘧𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘢𝘭𝘸𝘢𝘺𝘴 𝘬𝘯𝘦𝘸...
𝘞𝘦 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘺𝘰𝘶
𝘞𝘦 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘺𝘰𝘶
𝘊𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘢𝘸𝘢𝘺 𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘵𝘭𝘦 𝘭𝘢𝘮𝘣 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘢𝘸𝘢𝘺 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘳
𝘎𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘧 𝘴𝘰 𝘸𝘦 𝘮𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘭𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘦𝘸
𝘊𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘢𝘸𝘢𝘺 𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘵𝘭𝘦 𝘭𝘢𝘮𝘣 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘢𝘸𝘢𝘺 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘭𝘢𝘶𝘨𝘩𝘵𝘦𝘳"ʏᴏᴜ ʙʀᴏᴜɢʜᴛ ᴍᴇ ᴜᴘ // ᴄᴇʟᴛɪᴄ ᴡᴏᴍᴀɴ/ᴍÉᴀᴠ
"𝘠𝘰𝘶 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘮𝘪𝘴𝘦𝘥 𝘮𝘦 𝘨𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘴 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘧𝘪𝘴𝘩𝘦𝘴
𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘮𝘪𝘭𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘢 𝘥𝘰𝘭𝘱𝘩𝘪𝘯 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘢 𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘯 𝘮𝘺 𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘴
𝘠𝘰𝘶 𝘭𝘦𝘧𝘵 𝘮𝘦 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘯𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘢 𝘮𝘰𝘶𝘵𝘩𝘧𝘶𝘭 𝘰𝘧 𝘢𝘪𝘳
𝘈𝘯𝘥 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘮𝘪𝘴𝘦𝘴 𝘸𝘪𝘥𝘦 𝘢𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘰𝘤𝘦𝘢𝘯
𝘠𝘰𝘶 𝘭𝘦𝘧𝘵 𝘮𝘦 𝘥𝘰𝘸𝘯 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘰𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘢𝘭𝘭
𝘠𝘰𝘶 𝘭𝘦𝘧𝘵 𝘮𝘦 𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘰𝘱𝘦𝘯
𝘜𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘳 𝘮𝘢𝘤𝘬𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘭 𝘴𝘬𝘪𝘦𝘴, 𝘩𝘪𝘨𝘩 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘥𝘳𝘺
𝘞𝘢𝘺 𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘤𝘩 𝘰𝘧 𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘴𝘦𝘢"ᴍᴏᴏɴꜱᴇᴀ // ᴘʜɪʟᴅᴇʟ
"𝘐 𝘤𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘥 𝘪𝘵, 𝘐 𝘤𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘥 𝘪𝘵, 𝘐 𝘤𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘥 𝘪𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘰𝘰𝘯𝘴𝘦𝘢
𝘐𝘵 𝘪𝘴 𝘢 𝘤𝘳𝘶𝘦𝘭 𝘥𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘮
𝘍𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘶𝘱 𝘴𝘰 𝘩𝘪𝘨𝘩, 𝘐 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘩𝘢𝘳𝘥𝘭𝘺 𝘥𝘦𝘤𝘪𝘥𝘦
𝘐𝘧 𝘺𝘰𝘶’𝘳𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘷𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘩𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘰 𝘰𝘳 𝘸𝘢𝘷𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘨𝘰𝘰𝘥𝘣𝘺𝘦
𝘏𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘰𝘰𝘯 𝘴𝘦𝘢
𝘐𝘵 𝘪𝘴 𝘢 𝘤𝘳𝘶𝘦𝘭 𝘥𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘮
𝘋𝘰𝘯’𝘵 𝘴𝘩𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘢𝘴𝘵, 𝘪𝘧 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘸𝘰𝘯’𝘵 𝘴𝘩𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘵
𝘈𝘭𝘭 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘸𝘦 𝘴𝘩𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘪𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘷𝘪𝘦𝘸 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘴𝘦 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘳𝘴"ʜᴀᴜɴᴛɪɴɢ // ʜᴀʟꜱᴇʏ
"𝘐 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘢𝘴 𝘱𝘶𝘳𝘦 𝘢𝘴 𝘢 𝘳𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘳
𝘉𝘶𝘵 𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘐 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘬 𝘐'𝘮 𝘱𝘰𝘴𝘴𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘦𝘥
𝘠𝘰𝘶 𝘱𝘶𝘵 𝘢 𝘧𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘪𝘯𝘴𝘪𝘥𝘦 𝘮𝘦
𝘈𝘯𝘥 𝘐'𝘷𝘦 𝘣𝘦𝘦𝘯 𝘤𝘰𝘭𝘥 𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘭𝘦𝘧𝘵...
'𝘊𝘢𝘶𝘴𝘦 𝘐'𝘷𝘦 𝘥𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘐 𝘤𝘢𝘯'𝘵 𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘢𝘬
𝘈𝘯𝘥 𝘐 𝘵𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘸𝘢𝘴𝘩 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘢𝘸𝘢𝘺, 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘸𝘰𝘯'𝘵 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘷𝘦
𝘚𝘰 𝘸𝘰𝘯'𝘵 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘵𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘢 𝘣𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘩 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘥𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘪𝘯 𝘥𝘦𝘦𝘱?
‘𝘊𝘢𝘶𝘴𝘦 𝘐 𝘤𝘢𝘮𝘦 𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘴𝘰 𝘺𝘰𝘶'𝘥 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘮𝘦"ᴅᴀʀᴋ ᴘᴀʀᴀᴅɪꜱᴇ // ʟᴀɴᴀ ᴅᴇʟ ʀᴇʏ
"𝘈𝘭𝘭 𝘮𝘺 𝘧𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘥𝘴 𝘵𝘦𝘭𝘭 𝘮𝘦 𝘐 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘮𝘰𝘷𝘦 𝘰𝘯
𝘐'𝘮 𝘭𝘺𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘰𝘤𝘦𝘢𝘯, 𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘴𝘰𝘯𝘨
𝘈𝘩, 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵'𝘴 𝘩𝘰𝘸 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘵...
𝘈𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦'𝘴 𝘯𝘰 𝘳𝘦𝘮𝘦𝘥𝘺 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘮𝘦𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘺 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘧𝘢𝘤𝘦
𝘐𝘴 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘢 𝘮𝘦𝘭𝘰𝘥𝘺, 𝘪𝘵 𝘸𝘰𝘯'𝘵 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘮𝘺 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘥
𝘠𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘴𝘰𝘶𝘭 𝘪𝘴 𝘩𝘶𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘮𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘮𝘦
𝘛𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘴 𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘦
𝘉𝘶𝘵 𝘐 𝘸𝘪𝘴𝘩 𝘐 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘥𝘦𝘢𝘥
𝘌𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦 𝘐 𝘤𝘭𝘰𝘴𝘦 𝘮𝘺 𝘦𝘺𝘦𝘴
𝘐𝘵'𝘴 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘢 𝘥𝘢𝘳𝘬 𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘢𝘥𝘪𝘴𝘦"ᴡʜᴀᴛ ᴛʜᴇ ᴡᴀᴛᴇʀ ɢᴀᴠᴇ ᴍᴇ // ꜰʟᴏʀᴇɴᴄᴇ + ᴛʜᴇ ᴍᴀᴄʜɪɴᴇ
"𝘖𝘩, 𝘮𝘺 𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦, 𝘥𝘰𝘯'𝘵 𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘴𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘮𝘦
𝘛𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘨𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘮𝘦
𝘓𝘢𝘺 𝘮𝘦 𝘥𝘰𝘸𝘯
𝘓𝘦𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘰𝘯𝘭𝘺 𝘴𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥
𝘉𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘧𝘭𝘰𝘸
𝘗𝘰𝘤𝘬𝘦𝘵𝘴 𝘧𝘶𝘭𝘭 𝘰𝘧 𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘯𝘦𝘴...
'𝘊𝘢𝘶𝘴𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘵𝘰𝘰𝘬 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘥 𝘰𝘯𝘦𝘴
𝘉𝘶𝘵 𝘳𝘦𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘯𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘮 𝘪𝘯 𝘦𝘹𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘦 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘺𝘰𝘶
𝘉𝘶𝘵 𝘸𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘪𝘵 𝘢𝘯𝘺 𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘸𝘢𝘺?...
𝘉𝘶𝘵 𝘰𝘩, 𝘮𝘺 𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦, 𝘥𝘰𝘯'𝘵 𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘨𝘦𝘵 𝘮𝘦
𝘞𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘐 𝘭𝘦𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘮𝘦"ɪᴍᴍᴏʀᴛᴀʟꜱ // ꜰᴀʟʟ ᴏᴜᴛ ʙᴏʏ
"𝘐 𝘢𝘮 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘰𝘵𝘵𝘰𝘮 𝘩𝘢𝘭𝘧 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘨𝘭𝘢𝘴𝘴 (𝘨𝘭𝘢𝘴𝘴, 𝘨𝘭𝘢𝘴𝘴)
𝘐 𝘵𝘳𝘺 𝘵𝘰 𝘱𝘪𝘤𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦 𝘮𝘦 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘐 𝘤𝘢𝘯'𝘵
'𝘊𝘢𝘶𝘴𝘦 𝘸𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘣𝘦 𝘪𝘮𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘢𝘭𝘴, 𝘪𝘮𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘢𝘭𝘴
𝘑𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘨, 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘨,
𝘈𝘯𝘥 𝘭𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘮𝘦 𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘯𝘰𝘸,
𝘠𝘰𝘶 𝘱𝘶𝘭𝘭 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘭𝘢𝘤𝘬𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘤𝘶𝘳𝘵𝘢𝘪𝘯𝘴 𝘥𝘰𝘸𝘯,
𝘑𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘨, 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘨"ꜱᴡᴀʟʟᴏᴡᴇᴅ ɪɴ ᴛʜᴇ ꜱᴇᴀ // ᴄᴏʟᴅᴘʟᴀʏ
"𝘖𝘩 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘨𝘰𝘰𝘥 𝘪𝘴 𝘪𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘭𝘪𝘷𝘦
𝘞𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘯𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘭𝘦𝘧𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘨𝘪𝘷𝘦
𝘍𝘰𝘳𝘨𝘦𝘵 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘨𝘪𝘷𝘦
𝘕𝘰𝘵 𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘴𝘦𝘦
𝘖𝘩 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘵𝘴 𝘺𝘰𝘶'𝘳𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘭𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘰𝘯
𝘈 𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘴𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘴𝘦𝘴 𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘨
𝘞𝘦𝘭𝘭 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵'𝘴 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘐 𝘣𝘦𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘨
𝘈𝘯𝘥 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘣𝘦𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘨 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘮𝘦
𝘕𝘰𝘵 𝘴𝘸𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘰𝘸𝘦𝘥 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘦𝘢"______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
𝐌𝐨𝐝𝐞𝐥
Soo Joo Park𝐒𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐬 𝐋𝐢𝐤𝐞
Currently, Mal's style is very reminiscent to that of Higher Brothers, VAVA, Awkwafina, and Namewee, just to name a few, but her earlier work has been compared to Leslie Cheung and Leehom Wang. Playlist that showcases her musical style (both old and new) can be found here. Additionally, I imagine that many of her music videos look like this.𝐀𝐁𝐎𝐔𝐓 𝐌𝐀𝐋 (𝐚𝐬 𝐢𝐭 𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐬 𝐨𝐧 𝐀𝐩𝐩𝐥𝐞 𝐌𝐮𝐬𝐢𝐜/𝐈𝐭𝐮𝐧𝐞𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐒𝐩𝐨𝐭𝐢𝐟𝐲)
"A singer and song-writer hailing from the streets of L.A., Mal's fusion of classical Chinese themes and nitty-gritty modernity follows in the footsteps of artists like Leehom Wang and Jay Chou, albeit with a hip-hop twist. Known for her sharp, precise vocals, as well as her playful, defiant, and equally sharp humor, Mal mixes Beijing opera with rap as skillfully as she weaves English with Mandarin. She's been described as 'an ABC (American-born Chinese) version of the Higher Brothers' and 'Migos, if they were girls. And Asian'. Indeed, Mal's cultural pride and take-no-bullshit attitude is very clear throughout all her work; in "Empress Wu Zetian", for example, she proudly declares 'Yeah, I'm like Wu Zetian up all in this bitch...Savage boss bitch, that's my 姓名 (xing ming/name)'."𝐄𝐃𝐈𝐓𝐎𝐑'𝐒 𝐍𝐎𝐓𝐄𝐒 𝐅𝐎𝐑 "𝐌𝐀𝐃𝐄 𝐈𝐍 𝐂𝐇𝐈𝐍𝐀𝐓𝐎𝐖𝐍" (𝐚𝐬 𝐢𝐭 𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐬 𝐨𝐧 𝐀𝐩𝐩𝐥𝐞 𝐌𝐮𝐬𝐢𝐜/𝐈𝐭𝐮𝐧𝐞𝐬):
"According to Mal, 'Made in Chinatown' is, above all, a reclamation of Chinese-American culture, and it's easy to see why; Mal takes racist stereotypes and turns them inside out and upside down without missing a single step. The album's titular track is a cheeky, upbeat tribute to Chinatowns across the world, while songs like '#RiceBunny' and 'Empress Wu Zetian' challenge gender roles and sexism in a distinctly Asian-American way. In addition, Mal demonstrates her vocal prowess in 'The Streets of Shanghai' and 'Lucky', where her usual pacy rap takes a backseat to crooning neo-soul and dance-pop sounds. 'Made in Chinatown' is both an acceptance and a celebration of a culture that is too Asian to be American, but too American to be Asian; the perfect debut album for an aspiring Asian-American hip-hop star."𝐖𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐛𝐞 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨 𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐲 𝐚 𝐡𝐮𝐦𝐚𝐧/𝐬𝐮𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐧𝐚𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐚𝐥 𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞?
Yes, 100%! So I changed my main audition to Mal because I saw that you needed more humans with zero connection to supernatural world + there didn't seem to be any people auditioning with characters who make more hip hop-esque/rap music? But if you needed someone supernatural and/or K-Pop for the diversity/balance of characters in the group, I am TOTALLY willing to play Angie! Literally I am having a mid-life crisis because I can't decide for myself who I'd rather write for, so having you decide solves many problems. LmaoAlso, I have a supernatural background ready to go for Mal if needed
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☽ 𝐁𝐈𝐎𝐆𝐑𝐀𝐏𝐇𝐘 (𝐒𝐔𝐌𝐌𝐀𝐑𝐈𝐙𝐄𝐃)
𝑻𝑾: 𝒔𝒖𝒊𝒄𝒊𝒅𝒆 𝒎𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏. 𝑭𝒐𝒓 𝒇𝒖𝒍𝒍-𝒍𝒆𝒏𝒈𝒕𝒉, 𝒄𝒍𝒊𝒄𝒌 𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆
—Mal grew up in Los Angeles, on the edge of Chinatown. Her father, Daniel Liu, owned a Chinese restaurant with her mother, up until the two of them got divorced
—Mal's father got re-married to a woman named Rosa, a year after the divorce. Rosa's son, Miguel, had been Mal's best friend since they were in kindergarten
—Mal grew up speaking Mandarin Chinese, as well as Spanish (once Rosa became part of her family)
—Mal had always known, somehow, that she was into both girls and guys. She thinks that she leans way more towards girls, though
—As a child, Mal fell in love with rap and hip-hop, and experimented with it in middle and high school, though she was always too afraid to admit it to anyone. Not only was she Asian (and she'd never seen another Asian rapper before), but she was also a girl, so part of her was afraid of the rejection she was sure to face if she ever told people what she wanted to do
—In college, Mal majored in foreign affairs and music, with a minor in Spanish. She studied abroad in Palma de Mallorca (now just Palma) for three of her four years in undergrad
—In Palma, she met Marina, a girl from a tiny seaside village in Andalusia who applied everywhere she could in a desperate attempt to get away from her super Catholic and super conservative family. Mal fell head-over-heels for her (her smile! Her compassion! Her love for nature! Her love for the ocean!), and the two began officially dating
—Marina was the one who encouraged Mal to take her music seriously, and she was all for Mal expanding into hip-hop and rap, despite the fact that she was Asian and a girl
—Two years into their relationship, Marina's neighbors-who were in Palma on vacation-caught sight of her holding hands with Mal. The neighbors told her parents, and long story short, Marina was forced to drop out of school and go back home
—Marina's parents forbade her from leaving the house and/or contacting anyone at all, and Marina couldn't stand it. She eventually snuck out and took her own life by jumping into the ocean
—The news of Marina's suicide hit Mal hard. She finished college in Palma, and went back to the US in order to try to find a record label who would sign her...but nobody wanted to sign a girl whose songs barely had any English in them, and were filled with obscure references to the ocean and Marina
—In addition, Mal started getting vivid dreams about Marina and the sea, and Marina was all that she could think about, day in and day out
—One night, a particularly strong dream led Mal to a series of increasingly incomprehensible Google searches about mermaids and sirens and selkies and the supernatural in general. And there, on some sketchy conspiracy theorist site, was 𝕯𝖔𝖗𝖎𝖆𝖓 𝕽𝖊𝖈𝖔𝖗𝖉𝖘...though Mal didn't think much of it, at first
—It was her best friend and step-brother, Miguel, who snapped Mal out of it. He told her to get a grip and write about something else, if Marina and the dreams were driving her crazy
—Mal took his advice. She began dedicating her time to rap and hip-hop instead of always moping around and remembering Marina, and Mal thinks that it was her fusion of English and Chinese, of Beijing opera and trap music, that finally made people notice her. And as she threw herself into her celebration of her heritage, the dreams began to fade away.
—She started creating music in the style of VAVA or the Higher Brothers; it's a mix of traditional Chinese influences/instrumentals with uber-modern rap/slang and aesthetics
—Her musical style is known for fusing Chinese elements, such as Beijing opera, traditional styles of ethnic minorities, and Chinese classical orchestra, with hip-hop and mainstream pop in a "chinked-out" or China Wind music/中国风 -esque style)
—Her earlier music has been compared to the Cantopop/Mandopop styles of Leslie Cheung and Leehom Wang, but she does a lot more hip hop-influenced stuff now, and her newer songs sound more like Namewee/Higher Brothers/VAVA
—Mal was still trying to find someone to sign her when she remembered 𝕯𝖔𝖗𝖎𝖆𝖓 𝕽𝖊𝖈𝖔𝖗𝖉𝖘. She talked to some of the higher-ups, and they promised her fame and fortune and the opportunity to become a bona-fide Asian American hip-hop star. Mal signed on
—She's started to get international attention thanks to both 𝕯𝖔𝖗𝖎𝖆𝖓 𝕽𝖊𝖈𝖔𝖗𝖉𝖘 and her music videos
—Her older songs-i.e. the songs she wrote and self-recorded before releasing them on YouTube and Sound Cloud, when she was still caught up with Marina-have many LGBTQ+ themes and allusions to the ocean...especially the supernatural creatures that originate from oceans. She has way too many unfinished songs about mermaids
—Mal's normally quite reserved, but she feels like she can be who she wants to be and say what she wants to say when she's performing and/or recording her music. When she's in the studio or on stage, it's like the whole world fades away and it's just her and her music
—The dreams and visions started going away when Mal began dedicating more of her time to music that wasn't related to Marina, but they have only strengthened after she signed on with 𝕯𝖔𝖗𝖎𝖆𝖓 𝕽𝖊𝖈𝖔𝖗𝖉𝖘. She can feel the ocean calling to her. Is she going crazy????
—Is so focused on the weird dreams and trying to get over the girl she lost that she hasn't noticed her friend Angie's completely fucking obvious infatuation with her. Oops?
—NOTE: the dreams aren't supposed to have any sort of supernatural meaning! They were just a product of Mal not being able to forget Marina and always obsessing over her. However, in the group info, it says that people who sign their soul away to 𝕯𝖔𝖗𝖎𝖆𝖓 𝕽𝖊𝖈𝖔𝖗𝖉𝖘 may end up going mad/losing their sanity, so I wanted to play around with that angle via the dreams, if that was alright! Let me know if I need to change anything!______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
☽ 𝐄𝐗𝐓𝐑𝐀𝐒
𝐋𝐢𝐤𝐞𝐬
Mal is always down for Asian food, provided that it's not super duper spicy and/or super duper sweet (she's the person that gets 25% sugar and 0% ice at boba places. Blasphemy, I know), nothing will ever replace her mother's tofu with bokchoy or tomato-egg stir-fry or cucumber salad, old Chinese TV shows like the '86 version of Journey to the West or My Fair Princess remind her of lazy summer afternoons and a time when life was much, much simpler, she's secretly a huge fan of those bougie vegan organic sustainable magical algae spirulina places (the kinds with smoothie bowls that are $15 apiece and fancy 'house-made nut milks'-you know what I'm talking about), even though they charge an arm and a leg for one drink, what isn't there to love about subtle Asian traits?, has a soft spot for poetry in any of the three languages she knows (English, Spanish, Chinese), animals of all shapes and sizes (and Marina got her really into aquatic animals), admires Eminem as a rapper/for his music (even if she doesn't necessarily agree with many of his lyrics), admires many hip-hop artists/rappers in general for their music and/or how they've revolutionized music (even if some of their personal lives are more....questionable), she will ALWAYS stan her fellow female rappers, loves any Leslie Cheung movie ever, it's basic but she love love loves both The Joy Luck Club and Crazy Rich Asians, Mal will always be interested in the ways Chinese people get around the government's censorship laws (grass mud horse, anyone? Or rice bunny?), leather jackets (faux leather, of course), leather anything TBH, combat boots, lunar new year is always hype AF, thinks that Lou's outfits in Ocean's 8 are INCREDIBLE, she secretly enjoys chocolate/nutella soup dumplings𝐃𝐢𝐬𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞𝐬
Was never really into white rabbit candies (she thinks they're way too sweet), when her parents/other Asian parents get on her case for not eating meat (like okay, she can understand where they're coming from, given the standard of living in the countries they grew up in, but also....she's perfectly capable of getting enough protein without eating meat, thanks), climate change deniers, traditional Chinese characters are a PAIN, when stupid frat boys get all snarky about "girly" alcoholic drinks (those "girly" drinks have more alcohol in them than your shitty beer and probably taste 100x better, kthx), hates the trend of rap music having lyrics that are.....quite problematic????? Especially when it comes to gender roles/stereotypes????, NYC weather (it's way too cold all the damn time), the fact that some people think she's not a "real" rapper just because she's 1) Asian and 2) a girl, super religious folks who think that the LGBTQA+ community is "sinful" or whatever, when book characters are white-washed in the movies based on the books, ya girl CANNOT do horror movies (which is quite unfortunate, because Angie finds them more hilarious than scary and will always make Mal watch them with her. Mal's kind of a wimp, and covers her eyes for 99% of the movie's run time. The other 1% of the time is spent looking up the plot on Wikipedia so she knows what happens in the end), honestly fuck Donald Trump amirite, not a huge fan of cornbread𝐒𝐩𝐞𝐜𝐢𝐞𝐬 𝐎𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐯𝐢𝐞𝐰
Mal's just your typical, boring-ass human______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
☽ 𝐌𝐎𝐎𝐃𝐁𝐎𝐀𝐑𝐃 & 𝐃𝐈𝐒𝐂𝐎𝐆𝐑𝐀𝐏𝐇𝐘
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☽ 𝐇𝐄𝐀𝐃𝐂𝐀𝐍𝐎𝐍𝐒 & 𝐒𝐓𝐎𝐑𝐘𝐁𝐎𝐀𝐑𝐃
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☽ 𝐈𝐍𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐆𝐑𝐀𝐌
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________𝕯𝖔𝖗𝖎𝖆𝖓 𝕽𝖊𝖈𝖔𝖗𝖉𝖘
Comments (1) -
☽ 𝐒𝐓𝐎𝐑𝐘
Note: most words that are italicized denote that they are being spoken in another language, and are not translated to English. Only Mal's father consistently speaks a different language, so I've just written his dialogue in italicized English
"Why are they making you dress so FOB-y for this video?"
Mal started at the sound of Angie's voice. She turned around, glancing at her friend. "FOB-y?" she echoed, bewildered.
Angie rolled her eyes. "Yeah. FOB*. You know, like rich international kid from China who probably goes to a UC. Jeez, Mal, I was in Korea for five years and I'm still more hip to this stuff than you are."
Mal shot her pink-haired friend a dry look. "I was in Spain for three. And those three years happened to be when I was in college, which is where these international students are from, I presume."
Angie stuck out her tongue. "I didn't even go to college. I win."
"Your cousin is a Lambdas bro," Mal pointed out, but she let it go with a good-natured grin. "So how is this a FOB outfit?"
Angie gave her a critical once-over. "Nike shoes, Adidas sweatpants, Supreme T-shirt, one of those Kanken jackets that looks like a puffy, fur-lined turtleneck...you even have hair to match, though I'd say you need the brownish bleached hair instead of the blonde to get the full effect. Add in a face mask like the ones I wear, and you'll be set. Shouldn't we be, like, offended by this or something? These people are clearly catering to the FOB crowd. Not even FOB, actually. Just straight-up China and South Korea. You look like you come from Chengdu or Shanghai or Seoul or something, not L.A. This is racist. Cultural appropriation!"
"Oh, hush up," Mal replied, rolling her eyes. "If anything, I look like Avril Lavigne. I'm blonde, and eugh-look at all this eyeliner."
Angie's gaze met Mal's in the dressing room mirror. "Nah, the eyeliner's good. Say what you want about Micky or whoever runs the HR stuff here, but they get good make-up people." She shrugged, flipping her hair over her shoulder. "At least the make-up isn't FOB, I guess. I swear, what's up with all Asian girls wearing the same damn shade of lipstick? You know what I'm talking about, right? That cherry pink-ish shade?"
Mal shrugged. "It goes well with black hair and brown eyes. What's wrong with that?"
Her friend let out an exasperated huff. "It means that none of my friends ever have other shades of lipstick I can borrow, that's what's wrong with it."
It was Mal's turn to let out an exasperated, but amused, huff. "Tragic."
Angie's voice was deadpan, though she was grinning at her, fake fangs on full display. "Incredibly." Her gaze flickered downwards to her phone for a moment, before coming back up to meet Mal's. "I'm going to bounce before I get yelled at for distracting you or something. KFT after? Or should we stop by Jessica's instead? Let's do Jessie's place, actually. Michael wanted me to get red bean buns for him."
Mal made a face. "Angie, I don't know. I don't know how long I'll be. You know how it is with music videos."
"Well, I can wait. I'm going to be in the area all day. Text me when you're outta here." And before Mal could utter so much as one word of protest, Angie turned on her sparkly five-inch heel and flounced away.
As Mal had predicted, the music video stuff ran long. She was pretty beat by the time the producers said they were done for the day, but she texted Angie anyway. She could definitely go for some bubble tea and red bean buns. Ooh, and maybe Chipotle, too?
Thirty minutes later, she and Angie were walking down the street, huddling together in the frigid winter air. "I fucking hate the cold," said Angie, her teeth chattering loudly.
"Me, too. I miss California weather."
Angie groaned loudly. "Mal, don't remind me of San Diego winters. They're like spring-time weather here," she protested. "Now I'm even colder."
A short while later, the two of them strode into the Asian bakery and cafe that Angie's friend Jessica worked at, weighed down with the addition of one (1) delicious burrito bowl from Chipotle. As expected, Jessica was standing behind the counter.
"Jessie!" Angie called, waving. Mal nodded a greeting, smiling at Jessica, who had come out from behind the counter once she'd caught sight of them. Her hair was dyed a warm, honey-brown color, and pulled back in a messy bun.
"Hey. What's up?"
Mal took a seat and surveyed the bakery-slash-cafe. It had a really modern aesthetic, all dark wooden floors and polished glass and streamlined edges. It was also empty, save for the three of them-understandable, given that it was a Friday night.
Mal let Angie handle all the talking, too preoccupied with her Chipotle. As she peeled back the aluminum covering and attacked the sofritas and salsa, she heard Angie ask Jessica for red bean buns for her cousin, and the two headed into the back storeroom together.
When they emerged, Angie came out carrying a black box with a cute bow on top-the red bean buns, Mal presumed-as well as tall pink cup, filled with what Mal figured was just milk tea.
"Aren't you lactose intolerant?" Mal asked in between bites of her Chipotle, watching Angie sip the tea through one of those big bubble tea straws.
Angie rolled her eyes. "Have you seen my SAT content at all? Every single thing is about how us lactose intolerant people still drink milk tea, Mal. Seriously. Get hip."
Mal laughed. "Sorry, Angie. I try." She paused, trying to remember what Angie was referring to specifically. "You mean SAT as in subtle Asian traits, right?"
Another eye-roll. "Duh. Speaking of SAT, actually, can you translate this?"
Mal put down her fork and leaned forward, reading off of Angie's phone screen. "Why does BLACKPINK like to read," she said, glancing up at Angie before directing her attention to the screen again, her eyes drifting downwards to the punchline. "Cause they hit you with that-oh! That's funny." Mal grinned, silently re-reading the joke.
"Uh, Mal? Not helpful."
Mal looked up find Angie watching her expectantly. "It says 'cause they hit you with that 'du du du du du'.** Y'know, 'cause ddu-du ddu-du?"
Angie took her phone back and read it again, snorting derisively. "Yes, I know BlackPink's most famous song, Mal. And that was a shitty pun."
"Well, I liked it," said Mal, a mischievous look on her face. "You only say it's shitty because you didn't know the character for du."
Angie made a face. "I already know how to say 'read' in English, Spanish, and Korean. Shouldn't that be enough?" she answered teasingly, swirling her straw in a circle. "Honestly, I don't even know how I survived in Korea for five years. I sound like a valley girl or something when I speak any language that isn't English. What's the Korean equivalent of a valley girl?"
Mal chuckled at the image. Angie, a valley girl? Not likely.
"Well, for what's worth, you don't sound like a valley girl in English," replied Mal, helpfully.
"Gee, thanks. I'm touched."
Mal had just gotten back to her cramped apartment when her phone rang. She checked the caller ID-it was her stepbrother, Miguel-and immediately answered. "Hey, Miguel. What's up?"
"Wendy! Quick, serious question. Can you teach me how to swear in Chinese?"
Mal frowned. "What? Why? Dad can teach you."
"Your dad said he wouldn't. All I know is cao ni ma. I need to add more, yo."
Mal frowned, again. "Why would you need to know?"
"Because there was this guy, you know, comes in and asks for the tofu and bokchoy, and I said aight it'll be a few minutes and he goes 'no, I ordered ahead I'm not waiting', but you know that this fucker didn't do shit, and so he starts going off at me and I yell vete al carajo back at him because I'm not trying to get my ass thrown in jail by cussing him out in a language he can understand, you know? But his buddy calls me a maricón and all sorts of shit-real homophobic, that dude-so the only other thing I can do is yell cao ni ma over and over again, which isn't that impressive, right? And it gets Mom on my ass, 'cause she knows what it means. You see my problem here?"***
"Uh?"
Miguel's voice took on a pleading quality. "Please, Wendy? Pretty please with a cherry on top?"
"Just ask Dad, dude. Chinese cuss words are boring anyway. And I'm pretty sure you aren't supposed to swear at customers like that?"
Mal was pretty sure she heard her step-brother whisper shit under his breath, but she couldn't be certain. "Dude, who cares? He fucking started it."
She rolled her eyes. "You're useless."
"Yeah, whatever. Oh, Daniel wants to talk to you. I'm giving him the phone."
A second later, her dad's voice came through the speaker. "Wendy, how's life?" he asked, his Chinese laced with notes of a Nanjing accent. "I bet it's cold up there in New York, huh?"
"Oh, yeah, for sure. Super leng. What's it like in L.A.?"
"Ehhh, it's sixty or seventy degrees right now."
Mal grinned ruefully. "I wish it was like that here."
She and her dad chatted for another few minutes, before Mal glanced at the time. "Hey, I can't be jiang-ing dian hua for too long," she told him. "I have to get up early tomorrow. I'm pai-ing a music video, and I think the they want to finish it up soon."
"No problem, I'll talk to you later then. You're coming home for Chinese New Year, right?"
She smiled. "Wouldn't miss it for the world. Bye, Dad."
It took Mal the good part of an hour to fall asleep. She spent thirty minutes tossing and turning, unable to shut off her mind as she tried to distract herself from what she knew was coming. And when she finally did fall asleep, she dreamed of her. Again.
She's in Palma, on the beach. She knows this beach. It's Marina's favorite spot to do her homework.
No, it was. It was her favorite spot to read and do homework. She's gone, Mal reminds herself, but god, god, it all feels so real.
Mal looks around. The sky is blue, the sun is shining, and the sand is warm beneath her feet. Against her own will, she starts walking.
Where am I going? she wonders, blearily, struggling to make sense of the situation. She is aware, distantly, that she's had this same dream before. Somehow, she knows that she is going to walk until they get to the Serra de Tramuntana, the mountains that she and Marina biked through countless times, and she is going to stand at the top of one of the peaks, overlooking the ocean, and she is going to stop. And she is going to stay there for what feels like hours, staring at the water. And somehow, in some way, she is going to hear Marina's laughter in the waves, she is going to hear Marina's name in the breeze, she is going to see Marina's smile in the sand.
Somehow, she knows all this. And yet she still keeps walking.
This time, though, the dream is different. Mal is on the same rocky overlook, hearing Marina's laughter in the water, when there's something new.
Jump, the sea seems to whisper. I am here, Wendy. I am waiting for you.
Mal jolts awake, gasping for air. She's disoriented for a full minute, squeezing her eyes shut until she can make sense of where she is.
Shaken by the dream, Mal rubs her temples and sits in the silence of her bedroom for a few more minutes, before she reaches for her phone on the bedside table. The screen reads 4:31 AM.
Mal unlocks the phone, scrolling through her notifications. It's mostly just stuff from a week ago that she never cleared...besides a message from Angie.
Intrigued, Mal opens the text to find....to find another meme, with the message 'this is me'. She reads it, snorts in agreement, and taps back a quick 'YES' before setting her phone back down.
This time, when she goes back to sleep, there are no dreams.
*Note: in this context, the word 'FOB' does not imply anything negative
**Original post
***All the non-English words in this paragraph are pretty offensive, so I'll leave it up to you guys if you want to translate them or not