𝐂𝐈𝐍𝐄𝐌𝐀, i-land

010.

「 CINEMA ‧₊˚ * 🎞 」
╰► 010.   fire

WITH HER BEDHAIR COVERING HER EYES, HARU MADE HER WAY TO THE KITCHEN FOR BREAKFAST. A yawn left her lips as she made the effort to push her bangs aside. She looked ahead to see Sunoo, Jaebom and Sunghoon in the kitchen, eating their breakfast in a comfortable silence. "Sup," Haru threw them a wave, the 3 shyly bowing in return.

Now to more important matters... What would she have for breakfast?

She decided on a bowl of cereal as it was the easiest option. Quick, easy and nothing will burn down while she makes it. She poured the milk into the bowl, following with the cereal. A gasp cut her off before she could finish pouring the cereal.

Bewildered, she looked up to see Sunoo with his mouth agape. "You pour your milk first?"

Haru failed to hold back a laugh. "Yeah, and?"

"Just..." He paused for dramatic effect, "Why?"

Sticking her bottom lip out, Haru merely shrugged, going back to pouring her cereal. "I dunno... I just like it this way. It stays crispy."

"So you're one of those people..." Jaebom muttered from beside his friend, shaking his head disappointedly.

Haru rolled her eyes, "At least my cereal isn't soggy and sad looking. If i wanted sad looking mush I would eat oatmeal."

Sunoo let out another gasp, making Haru laugh.

"Burn," Sunghoon muttered, holding in a laugh as he got up to put his dishes in the sink.

"Your cereal's gonna overflow though?" Sunoo's offended expression changed to a rather concerned one.

The girl dropped a spoon into her bowl of milk with a handful of cereal innocently floating on the surface. She carefully spooned some into her mouth. She finished chewing and her lips parted to speak again, "I go a bit at a time. Once I finish I just add more."

"Wow, you're insane..." Sunoo gaped.

"Insane, smart, same thing..." Haru chuckled again. "Anyway, how are you two adjusting?"

Sunoo and Jaebom shrugged, "Okay I suppose..."

"So not very well?" Haru leaned into the counter. She saw right through them.

"I don't know... It's kinda hard to wrap my head around the fact that we're i-landers now..." Sunoo sheepishly rubbed the nape of his neck.

"The GROUND was more comfortable," Jaebom admitted.

Haru nodded, leaning into the counter, "I've been meaning to ask, What is the GROUND like?"

Jaebom stuck his bottom lip out as he gave it a thought, "It's much smaller than I-LAND. We don't have as much stuff so we all have to share and teach each other."

"You only get black clothes there," Sunoo hummed.

"To be honest, I like the sound of that," Haru shrugged, "I'm not digging the neons."

Sunoo shook his head, "The clothes here are much more comfortable."

Sunoo added on, "You get attached pretty quick. I miss them to be honest..."

"I bet this is all pretty intimidating to you two, huh?" Haru muttered, the pair nodding meekly, "Maybe time will help you adjust... But you're one of us now. Don't feel afraid to speak your mind."

The two sheepishly nodded knowing they wouldn't do that anyway.

「 ‧₊˚ * 🎞 」

THE I-LANDERS WERE HARD AT WORK, PRACTICING THEIR PARTS REPEATEDLY and making decent progress. Although, that couldn't be said for everyone. Inevitably, the newcomers were struggling to adjust to learning on their own. Unlike the previous mission, Haru noticed that there wasn't much help or group practice going around just yet. Everyone was off in their own bubbles, going over their individual parts and recreating the moves that repeatedly played on the screen of their iPads. As much as she wanted to, she didn't offer her help to anyone just yet. Maybe she was influenced by everyone in the rest of the room? Maybe she just didn't feel confident enough to offer her help yet? Either way, she found herself in one of the corners of the practice room, eyes closely following the movements of the dancers in the demo video.

Her limbs moved on their own, following the dancers as closely as her brain would let her. It didn't take that long for her to nail the footwork, then the arm work. Eventually, she'd memorised the entire chorus.

Haru let out a pant as she kneeled down to stop the music. Her throat was parched and out of breath. Short break it is.

Her slender fingers ran through her inky locks, turning her head around to glance at the others. Nothing had really changed since she'd entered the room. The gap between them and newcomers was present and very obvious.

The sound of approaching footsteps pulled her out of her thoughts. She looked up to see K looking down at her.

"Hey," Haru muttered.

"Water?" He held down a new bottle that Haru very graciously took, chugging down half of it.

She wiped her mouth, "Thanks."

K sat down beside her, letting out a short grunt. He looked exhausted as well.

"Are you also taking a break?" She asked.

"Yeah, a short one," K hummed in confirmation, "How much have you gone through?"

Haru stuck out her bottom lip, "Just the chorus for now. Went over the rest but I only have the chorus memorized."

"Same. I'm almost done with the chorus though," K shrugged.

Haru turned back to check up on the other i-landers, "Are we gonna have group practice soon? The newcomers are struggling a bit."

K merely shrugged.

Haru let out a sigh. She had a bad feeling about the current state of the ilanders.

STAR SPEAKS AGAIN
i always find a way to bring up the milk before cereal thing in my fics LMAOO all my ocs put milk before cereal bc i said so

anyways hello hello everyone 🫶 long time no update unfortunately

ive started uni recently so thats been occupying a lot of my time. to apologize for the wait and also bc i dont like this chapter that much, im gonna be double updating! enjoy 🙏🙏