the basics.

name » Song Mari

nickname(s) »
Appa/Hyung/Oppa - Because of her style and fiercely protective nature, many trainees and her groupmates have given her the nickname of appa. Some fans call her this as well but it is mostly her nickname among the people she works with. Younger trainees used to mistake her for being a boy and call her hyung or oppa accidentally. At first, it caught her off guard, but now she responds to hyung more than she does unnie.
Prince Charming - Her obsession with Disney coupled with her boyish appearance gave her this nickname among her bandmates and fans.
Navi - She loves playing video games (Legend of Zelda especially) so when she is being annoying or too pushy, her bandmates will call her Navi, the annoying fairy from LoZ: Ocarina of Time.

birthplace » Tongyeong, South Korea
 BIRTHDAY » 93/07/13

hometown » Tongyeong, South Korea

ethnicity » Korean

language » 
Korean - fluent
English - conversational, learned in school as well as some from watching foreign films and listening to foreign music
Japanese - conversational, same reason as english
 

face claim » RaNia's Di [sorry it isn't an actual gallery, it was hard to find one that had a good selection :)]

backup face claim » Miss A's Min

appearance » Standing at 170 cm and weighing 54 kg, Mari isn't generally noted at a typical "beauty". She usually has very short, boyish cut hair (though she isn't averse to growing it out, she just always felt short hair was easier to deal with) that changes colors frequently, depending on what she is feeling (her natural hair color is dark brown but currently it is light brown with lighter highlights; she is thinking of dying it auburn). Her complexion is more tan than most girls because she grew up by the ocean and spent most of her time outside, the palest she has been was after she moved to Seoul to become a trainee. She has dark brown eyes and her lips are forever set in a smirk. She hardly ever goes anywhere without a hat (she prefers flatbrims and beanies) or a necklace that her siblings got for her when she went to Seoul to become a trainee. Her body figure is that of a bboy only less defined (basically, she is more muscular than a girl dancer but only from playing sports). Her legs are longer than her torso, which makes her look taller than she actually is, and she has wide shoulders. Her fingers are long and then with small calluses from playing guitar and she always keeps her nails cut short.

Mari also has a few "body modifications". She has two piercings on each ear (prefers to wear ear hooks than two separate pairs) and she has her nose pierced (stud only, sometimes small hoops). She also has two tattoos: the olympic rings with the phrase "Citius, Altius, Fortius" across them on her left shoulderblade and a small infinity symbol connected by the word young just behind her right ear.
 

style » Mari isn't one to keep up with fashion, girl's fashion at least. She prefers boy's clothes for their comfort and utility but also because she has horrible clothing coordination sense. She is extremely thankful to have someone that picks her outfits for performances and, sometimes, her groupmates that help her pick out outfits that aren't as boyish. Her style is a mostly tomboy with some surfer and themed clothing thrown in but she cleans up well. When she does themed clothing, they are usually based on favorite video game or disney characters (a lot of things you can find on pinterest). When she wears darker clothes, she accents it with a lot of bright colors, specifically neon greens and blues. Combat boots, Nike tennis shoes, and beach sandals are the only footwear she owns personally. When she doesn't have to look too nice for the public, she defaults to jeans, t-shirts, hoodies, and cargo shorts. She uncharacteristically has a lot of jewelry that she enjoys wearing and, as stated early, she never goes anywhere without her necklace and almost always is seen with a hat. She is not big on make up at all, mainly because she didn't really grow up wearing it and it looked weird with her tan complexion when she tried wearing it.

As for dorms and practice sessions, she wears sweatpants and t-shirts or tanktops. Her hair, when long enough, is pulled back by a small pony tail and a headband keeps her bangs and stray hair out of her face and eyes. She enjoys wearing patterned socks with her favorite band logos, animated characters, or general fandoms (i.e. harry potter, stuff like that). Her practice tank tops are usually ripped t-shirts that have dark disney themes or are just paraphernalia she has gotten online. She wears no jewelry except for her necklace and sometimes a very precious ring her father gave her. At airpots, she cleans up a little more so she won't be called out for it, usually defaulting to her Link from Legend of Zelda inspired outfits.

" sometimes you have to fight for the things worth fighting for"

" they say the best blaze burns brightest when circumstances are at their worst "

the Sparkles.

plotline » Alcyone

stage name » Link
Persona » Prince Charming
Position » Main Rapper, Vocalist
Back-up Position » Lead Vocalist, Lead Rapper
individual fanclub name » Faeries
individual Fanclub color » Cyan #45ffff

Singing Twin » Song Da In Wa$$up (Taeyeon SNSD)
dancING TWIN » Song Da In Wa$$up (same) [she's the one with a badge on her necklace]
rapping TWIN » Yura Girl's Day (Yezi Fiestar)
acting TWIN » --- (she's awful at acting; always starts laughing unless she is comfortable with the other person)
variety TWIN » Sunny SNSD

trainee years » 3 years at Stardom Ent, 1.5 year at Jellyfish, 1.5 years at ATLAS
trainee background » Coming into Stardom, she was pretty well rounded with her strengths being in singing and rapping, surprisingly. She was a bit on the clumsy side when it came to dancing so she was happy that her singing and rapping were good enough for her to be accepted. The company put her focus in rap and she was happy with that as her and HyungJin used to sing together all the time and he always made her do the rap because she had better rhythm than him. After meeting Zico, he helped her to further improve her rap skills and helped her work on speed rapping, though she could never be on par with him. Once he debuted, she still focused on getting her skills up to his level but she started to notice a bit of animosity towards her from the other trainees. Partly because of the fact that her and Zico were so close and partly because of her general sort of happy-go-lucky perservering attitude when it came to music, she had a bit of a target on her back. This is when she decided to make the move to Jellyfish to get away from that barrier she felt was blocking her from being the best she could be.

Her move to Jellyfish was also around the time that VIXX debuted. Thinking it to her advantage that they had just debuted a boy group and maybe would soon debut a girl group, she worked her hardest to try and show her skills and further improve. Here is where she mostly focused on her singing and dance, not wanting to gather the same animosity from the Jellyfish trainees as she had with the Stardom trainees. This is where she met VIXX and got some help with her vocals from Leo and Ken, especially working on her high notes. Because she doesn't naturally have a high voice, she had to work pretty hard on her vocals to get to a point where she was satisfied. After a year there, she understood that the company wasn't really big enough to debut a girl band and she didn't want to be a solo artist because she didn't feel good enough. Because she was getting older, she decided to switch to ATLAS to maybe have a better opportunity to debut.

At ATLAS, she felt more at home than the other two entertainment companies. There was something about ATLAS that didn't make her feel nervous or make her want to put up a barrier between her and the other trainees. It was the first time since the very beginning of her trainee days that she felt like she could be herself. This is when she met JiHae and began to for being such a worry-wart about certain things. She was beyond happy when she found out that she would be debuting with the girl. Not just because it meant she could more but because she thought that JiHae's vocal skills especially were something she could strive for.

 

the trUths »

LIKES 
» listening to music of all languages
» playing acoustic guitar
» filming/editing videos
» longboarding
» surfing
» going to the batting cage
» healthy competition
» video games (especially Pokemon and Legend of Zelda)
» nighttime/stargazing

» thunderstorms
» sour candy, especially warheads
» reading manga/watching anime
» everything Disney, her favorite character is Peter Pan
» Studio Ghibli
» cosplaying as her favorite anime and video game characters
» spicy food

disLIKES 
» people who make fun of/try to hurt the people she cares about
» people who don't know her complaining that she isn't girly enough
» being underestimated
» coffee
» extreme cold weather
» men who think they are god's gift to the world
» ignorance and the stupidity that comes with it
» girls hitting on her because they think she is a guy (though she will pretend to be a guy to stop boys from hounding girls she knows)
» alcohol (she's an awful drunk so she just stays away from it)
» overly flirtatious girls
» bullies in general
» being in the middle of large crowds (they give her social anxiety because she grew up in a small town)

habits
» twisting her longer pieces of hair when bored or nervous
» scratching/rubbing the back of her neck before messing up her hair when embarrassed
» humming random songs whenever they pop into her head
» tapping out beats on any surface (can get very annoying very quickly)
» Music ADD (switching songs without listening to one in its entirety)
» biting her lip when she feels she has spoken out of turn
» closing her eyes and smiling whenever there is a breeze
» wishing on falling stars
» longboarding down hallways of the company when she is late for practice
» setting her clocks 20 minutes late so she gets places on time
» not finishing tv shows or books because she doesn't want them to end

Hobbies 
» spray paint art
» playing video games whenever she has time on her 3DS
» collecting mementos in the form of hats or jewelry from the places she visits

trivia 
» She loves sports and goes to the batting cage on a regular basis now that she can't go to the beach and surf
» When she can't go to the batting cage, she finds a small park nearby to play basketball in.
» Her favorite colors are turquoise and green
» Her favorite animal is the sea otter
» She is a er for romantic comedies and sports anime
» She absolutely loves animated movies
» She has a little sibling complex (she frequently sends them packages from Seoul)
» She sends her family souvenirs from all the places she visits
» Some of her spray paint art is hanging in the offices of her coaches (Stardom, Jellyfish and ATLAS). She also gives her friends specialized paintings for their birthdays instead of buying them things
» She calls older guys "hyung" instead of oppa. However, she will call the guy she likes oppa.
» She sometimes tries to make Disney songs into raps to practice when she's watching them.
» She has an extremely high metabolism from always being an athletic kid so she can eat a lot more than most people
» She will always choose taking the stairs over using the elevator
» She was the main girl in Block B's Tell Them MV and one of the girls in Team Red Tiger in their NalinA MV.
» When she skypes Zico, it usually ends up being a call with all of Block B until Zico shoos them away or goes into the bathroom to get away from them.
» When the controversy with the interview in Thailand happened, Mari was the one that shaved Zico's head for him.
» She was the main girl in VIXX's Voodoo Doll.
» After she left Jellyfish, she was asked to come back to be the girl in Lyn & Leo's MV Blossom Tears because Leo wanted to act with someone he was comfortable around. Lyn is still the singer in the song.
» She absolutely loves children and animals.
» She hopes to be able to promote the Olympics in Korea one day along side her father and brother to gain more excitement for the competition.
» Because of the dialect with which she speaks, at first it was a little difficult for other people to understand what she was saying. 
» When she was younger, she entered and won a young teen surfing competition.
» She can't keep her room organized at all unless she is forced to. She calls it organized chaos.

the pillars.

PERSONALITY »
POSITIVE : Protective, Accepting, Hard Worker, Charismatic [on stage], Kind
NEGATIVE : Spacy, Stubborn, Bad Temper, Foul-Mouthed [sometimes], Skeptical
NEUTRAL : Challenging, Impulsive, Blunt, Optimistic, Competitive

"I've got your back." Mari is extremely protective of the friends that she has made throughout her life. Her parents taught her to cherish the people she loves and she shows that by protecting them. She will stand up for and fight for her friends if need be, even if it puts her image and career in jeopardy. She has always had the mindset that the people in your life are more important than the things. This protective nature started around the time when JoongKi was being bullied in school and it carried over into all of her relationships. She also tends to be protective of children and animals more than most. If she sees kids being bullied or people picking on homeless animals, she will step in and stand up for them without need or want of a reward for it.

"Believe me, I've seen much weirder things." Growing up in a small town with a best friend whose family owned a record shop and where she got hit on by girls for looking like a boy, she has always been a bit off. Her family was pretty well known in the town because of her parents' occupations. She takes the world in stride and accepts even the strangest of things as something normal and useful to the world. If someone's strange tick or habit comes out while they are with her, she'll brush it off and smile. She embraces the differences in people because she truly believes it is the strange things about a person that makes them who they are. She does tend to be a bit informal around people because of this which can make some people angry.

"I can handle it, don't worry!" Mari has always been one of those people that works hard at whatever she does. Putting her full concentration and effort into whatever task she is given, she always does her best and to the fullest of her abilities. She can get lost in a trance when she is working on a rap or trying to get a dance down and it takes some time for people to get through to her when she is in "work" mode. She wants to be the best of the best so that her parents and siblings will be proud of her and so that she can prove to herself that everything she has gone through and the sacrifices she had to make to get to where she was were worth it.

"I'm Shooting Star's Main Rapper -winks at camera and smirks-" Mari plays the role of the fierce and charismatic main rapper of Shooting Star with grace and ease. She loves to play up the fans and the camera with her boyish looks and rapping skills. She owns the stage with as much charisma as a veteran rapper and she uses it to her advantage. It's like a switch she can flip on and off when she goes on the stage. Her off stage persona has just as much outgoing attitude but lacks in the fierceness she portrays. It's more of a happy pride that she exudes more than arrogance. She's the one that takes all of the group pictures and forces her way to the front with her crooked hat and signature smirk. 

"I'm always here if you need me." While her participation in the world can be a bit limited, her observation skills are better than most. She loves to listen to people talk about themselves and their lives and does tend to eaves drop on people's conversations without meaning to. She is an exceptional listener and offers her ears, mind, and advice when she notices something is upsetting her friends or groupmates or even that lonely guy at the bus stop. Mari gives really good advice, even if she hasn't experienced what the other person is going through. She is able to put herself in their shoes and figure out a way to help them. However, she isn't too fond of ranting unless there is a clear reason behind it and it is leading to a situation where they need advice.

"You can do it I know you can." Growing up with an Olympic Trainer for a father, Mari and her siblings were always challenged to do their best and that is something she brought with her to Seoul. Whenever she sees someone that is struggling or seems to want to give up, she challenges them and helps support them to get them back on their feet and find why they love to do what they do again. She can get a little pushy, especially when she was a trainee and didn't understand why some of the other trainees would complain about the work they were given. She does have quite a bit more stamina than most people who haven't been doing things all their life but she still expects people to give it their all.

"The ocean was calling me...I had to go" From impulse buying to running through a flock of pidgeons to make them fly away, Mari has always been an impulsive person. It isn't really a good thing or bad thing because she is mainly under control but it can come out at odd times, especially in her early days as a trainee and right after they debuted. She was more impulsive when she was younger, escaping to go surfing or to hang out with HyungJin and her parents would freak out trying to find her. Over time they understood she would always come back but when she was very young just as the twins were being born, it gave them quite a fright. She is a person who usually acts before she thinks and she's trying her best to work on it.

"To be perfectly honest..." Mari grew up in a family that were always honest to a fault, which made her become a rather blunt person. This can be good and bad. She is honest about everything but will tell some white lies when she picks up on cues that it would be better to do that. She is very upfront about the advice she gives and isn't afraid to tell someone something that might hurt their feelings, especially if she knows that it is better for them to know this than to learn about it later. Despite the fact that she is blunt, she is completely oblivious about her own feelings, especially when it comes to loving someone. She tries to brush everything off and the only way to get it through her head is to be blunt with her.

"We are going to be the best of the best, I just know it!" Usually being optimistic is a positive trait, and for Mari, being optimistic is great. However, her optimism can have its points of annoyance, especially because she is a morning person. She has a naturally loud voice and she embarrasses her groupmates when they do any sort of competition by cheering for them loud enough that they have to take her microphone away. Her optimism spun from her excitement of finally being in the career she always wanted and it helped her keep her head up when she was switching companies and dealing with everything that came with that.

"You think you can take me? Give it your best shot." With a trainer for a dad and a speed skater for a little brother, Mari was always in the center of competition. She loves it and thinks that it helps her grow as a person. However, she can get a little too much into the competition to the point where it isn't fun for people anymore without knowing. She becomes completely focused on the task at hand and loses sight of the world around her. It has helped her to get better as a rapper and she has won a few video game and surfing competitons with it but it puts a slight damper on her ability to work in a team.

"Uh...sorry I missed that..." Seemingly contradictory to her hard working nature, Mari can be a rather big airhead. She tends to get lost in her thoughts when she is going through some personal issues that she isn't sure how to bring up in conversation. When she comes back to the real world, she has usually missed something very important and ends up asking stupid questions to get brought back up to speed. Variety shows love that about her because she can always be good for a laugh. She can also be rather childish and teasing at inappropriate times and enjoys letting her crazy side loose, but it usually is at the wrong time and makes the people around her irritated or mad.

"I can do it myself!" She doesn't give up on things even when they seem to be hopeless and, though many times it doesn't work, those few times that she manages to complete the task, she feels an extreme sense of pirde and tends to rub it in other people's faces (though not extreme, more like a snarky, off handed comment). When she became a tranee, people told her that she wouldn't go anywhere because she was just "some small town girl with her feet stuck in the ocean". This stubborn attitude can sometimes cause a problem when it comes to practice. On the one hand, she is a hard worker but when she can't fully grasp something, she will work and work until she has exhausted herself and even then she'll say she isn't tired. 

"Would you just shut up for like a second??" Admittedly, it takes awhile for Mari to get to this point of anger but, once she snaps, everyone should watch out. She speaks harshly and tends to lash out when she is in such a state. It usually comes from being stressed out and someone says something at the wrong time or she is at the peak of frustration and someone asks her what is wrong. It takes awhile for her to calm down, though it can take less time if she has her favorite candy and puts some music or a Disney movie on. If it gets too bad, she'll sneak away and go to the batting cage. There was one point in time where she even called HyungJin to tell him she was coming home and he managed to talk her out of it. She can sometimes have a foul mouth when she gets really angry but that is rare.

"-eyes you up and down with a raised eyebrow- uh huh..." Growing up with a mischevious little sister plus a close knit family, Mari has learned to be wary of a lot of things. She has become so skeptical because of pranks her younger sister used to pull on her she has difficulty trusting anyone. She always checks everything to make sure no pranks have been pulled and this can take the fun out of plans or surprises that people. She doesn't mean to be so skeptical of things but it was how she grew up and how she came out on top once her younger sister got smart enough to plan detailed pranks.

background » Mari's mother and father met in downtown Seoul. Her father was a newbie in the training world and was there to meet his mentor and to check out some speed skating prospects for the next olympics. Her mother was on her way to her last performance of her university career, already lined up to join the Busan Philharmonic Orchestra when she graduated. The two of them ran into each other, literally. Sheet music and notes went everywhere and mixed together. It was love at first sight. The two lived in Busan for awhile before HyunJoon proposed, both marriage and a move to Tongyeong, his hometown. Though it was a change for ShinHye, she accepted without delay and was excited to become a music teacher at the local middle school. They were married and a year later, Mari was born.

Since she was a child, Mari had always been outgoing and loved living by the ocean. Whenever her father wasn't training, he would take her to play in the water. When Mari turned 6, the Song family was blessed with not one more child but two. Her twin siblings were born and became the light of everyone's life. When they were old enough to walk, they followed Mari around everywhere. She began singing in order to get them to go to sleep when her parents couldn't do anything about their crying. She also started to learn how to play acoustic guitar so she wouldn't wear out her voice. Her mother noticed her talent for music and especially rhythm and decided to help Mari learn to hone her skills. It was around this time that Mari met HyungJin and they became friends.

As she grew older, she came into her own style of song and rap. By the time she was in middle school, she was the talk of the town, and not just because of her skill in surfing. She was constantly asked to do small performances at the record store or to enter the school talent shows. To get away from everyone asking her to perform, she would take her siblings out to the ocean and they would swim and surf together. Her siblings were the ones to tell her that she should try and make her musical ability her career, or become a professional surfer (which resulted in them being thrown into the water). She began to think about it seriously but wasn't quite sure how to bring it up in a way that would make her seem confident.

She changed her style when she entered high school for the ease of taking care of herself as well as her thinking it matched her image better. Her parents were a bit against it at first (her mother complaining that she cut off her beautiful hair) but eventually they grew to be okay with it. When she explained that this was her wanting to be her own person, they understood. This began to let her open up about possibly going to Seoul to audition for an entertainment company. This also began the teasings and flirtings at school.

Her siblings began to become more interested in things once talks of Mari joining an entertainment company started. Shiwan became more interested in piano and her mother would teach her at home. JoongKi became interested in speed skating and her father gladly took him to his training facility and began training him to one day compete in the Olympics. Mari was mainly left alone to study and practice for her future audition that she kept syking herself up about. Her parents were pulled back into work and so she became in charge of picking up her two younger siblings from school. This is where she started to notice that JoongKi was being teased and stood up for him against the bullies.

When she was finally starting to get serious about auditioning, she found that there was an audition for Stardom Entertainment that was starting soon. This made her become curious about what she could do with the rest of her life, given a relatively new company. What if she could make this passion she had for music and performing into a career? That night, she spoke to her parents about it and they were surprised but very supportive (though her mother started to complain that she wasn't ready to go off on her own). They were happy because it was the first time she had truly decided on something for herself. Her little siblings, on the other hand, were a bit less happy when she decided to do it because they loved her too much and didn't want to let her go to a place where they wouldn't see her. As a compromise, the family went to Seoul to support her during her audition. Her parents loved being able to show their kids where they met.

With the support of her family and despite her younger siblings' protests, she auditioned for Brand New Stardom at the age of 16 with rapping and some vocals. They were amazed with her skill in rhythm at a young age and her vocal control. She was accepted as a trainee and when she told her family, all five of them were the focal point of a lot of glares for how excited they were. At first, she was a bit homesick and would video call her family whenever she had free time, her siblings trying to convince her to come back home. Once she became used to the schedules (and met Zico and the rest of the trainees that would become Block B), the calls became less frequent though she still tried to do it at least once every two weeks. 

[Trainee history detailed previously] She hopes to apply for university at some point in her career and study Athletic Training.  

family 

 

» Father | 8 | Song HyunJoon | 48 | Olympic Trainer | Outgoing, Supportive, Stubborn, Kind | Mari is a bit of a daddy's girl and he loves to dote on her. They sometimes get into big arguments because of their similar personalities but he believes in her abilities more than almost anyone and supports her decisions, even if he doesn't know the first thing about music.

» Mother | 7 | Song ShinHye | 47 | Cellist, Composer | Overprotective, Sweet, Tempermental, Forgiving | The two of them are not as close as Mari and her father but they do get along really well, especially since Mari inherited her musical skill. Being her mother's first child, ShinHye does put quite a bit of pressure on her to be a good older sibling but not so much that Mari can't handle it. 

» Younger Sister | 9 | Song Shiwan| 17 | Student, Pianist | Quiet, Stubborn, Creative, Mischevious | Shiwan loves to bother her older sister about looking too boyish but she really looks up to her and admires Mari's musical ability. The reason she started playing piano was because Mari would sing and play a little bit of guitar when she was younger to help her sleep. She is quiet around everyone but her family and she loves to remind JoongKi that she was born first.

» Younger Brother | 9 | Song JoongKi | 17 | Student, Speed Skater | Happy, Loyal, Perservering, Airhead | JoongKi adores his older sister and is jealous of Shiwan because, like his father, he has no musical ability. Mari used to protect him from bullies before she became a trainee and so he really looks up to her and is proud to be her younger brother. He brags about it a lot at school.
 

friends/rivals 

 
 

» The Derp Brigade | 10 | Woo JiHo [Zico] | 23 | Leader of Block B | Derp, Protective, Strong (mentally, physically, and emotionally), Complete Dork | The two of them met as trainees under Stardom Ent two years before Block B debuted. They ran into each other in the hallway of the company and instead of apologizing immediately, the both made derp faces at one another and started laughing. After Block B debuted, she left Stardom Ent to join Jellyfish, though she is thankful for the training she got there. The two of them trust each other completely, being a huge form of support in the entertainment world, and Mari looks at him like a brother. Zico knows and understands about how homesick she gets and, when his schedules are free, he does his best to come and visit her. They don't see each other in person often, settling for skype and phone calls, but when they are together, no one can pull them apart. They are often seen being derps together on Instagram.

» Prince & Princess | 10 | Cha HyungJin | 25 | Record Store Owner | Passionate, Flamboyant, Idiot, Flirt | Mari grew up with HyungJin in Tongyeong. He was the older kid that she annoyed by following him around. He inherited a record store from his father, the place where the two of them met. Their completely different personalities cause a lot of arguments between them but every one of those arguments ended up with the two of them blasting music in the shop and dancing around like idiots. When they were in school together, they would use each other to get rid of unwanted flirtations, more Mari using him to stop girls from hitting on her. She calls him her "princess" and, though at first he was annoyed with the nickname, it grew on him. HyungJin always sticks up for her when they hang out. Once she became a trainee, they didn't see each other as often but when he visits, they usually end up going to the music store or recording studio so he can critique her rapping, singing and dancing, usually getting irritated with her dancing and helping to fix it. He is currently serving his 2 years in the military.

» Resident Puppy | 7 | Jung Wooshin | 19 | Batting Cage Desk Clerk | Quiet, Observant, Persistent, Dork | When Mari first moved to Seoul to become a trainee, the first thing she did was to find a batting cage nearby. She knew that she was going to need an outlet for when times got stressful and since she didn't have her family or HyungJin, she needed to find a place where she could let her athletic side let out the stress. Wooshin was 13 when Mari came to Seoul and they met and he was rather quiet and kept to himself. She used to a little bit because he reminded her of her little brother. Over time, she helped him to open up more and once she debuted, she went back and filmed his reaction to the news. He is still very much a quiet person but she can rely on him to help her feel better when she comes in to swing some stress away.

» Umma & Appa | 8 | Kim Jihae | 22/23 | Leader of Shooting Star | Caring, Understanding, Perfectionist, Bossy | Being around the same age, Jihae and Mari knew of each other before the group debuted, especially with the amount of training Mari had had with previous companies. The two of them, though seemingly an unlikely pair, are the complete parental unit of Shooting Star. Jihae is the caring and understanding umma while Mari is the appa that is super protective and loves embarrassing the younger members, especially on variety shows. Mari loves to mess with the fans emotions by doing lots of couple-y things with Jihae though that's all because she feels the closest to Jihae out of all of the rest of the group, though not to the point of best friends. Mari gets on Jihae's nerves a lot because she is a rather messy person and Jihae is a perfectionist.
 

the only one.

love interest » Jung Taekwoon | Leo (VIXX)

backup love interest » Jang Hyunseung (BEAST)

personality » Leo is a very serious person when it comes to work and puts his whole heart into whatever he is doing. On stage, he portrays confidence and his vocals only enhance that. Off stage, he is a very shy and awkward person. He is terrible at expressing his true emotions and is often misinterpreted or considered to be a mean person because he isn't good at getting his feelings across so he doesn't say much of anything. It also takes him an exceptionally long amount of time to feel comfortable around people, enough to where he tries to open up about his emotions. Leo is an extremely athletic person, playing basketball and football when he has free time. When they are on variety shows, he can be an extreme airhead and he hates cameras. He is also extremely soft spoken when he speaks. He is absolutely terrible at aegyo and his bandmates about it all the time. He gets embarrassed easily and will do his best to get his groupmates to stop hounding him with questions when he's feeling shy.

love story » Mari and Leo met when she transferred from Stardom Ent to Jellyfish. Due to the small size of the company and how naturally outgoing and friendly Mari is, it didn't take long for her to make friends with the boys from VIXX. She became close to Leo and Ken because she admired their vocal skills and wanted a chance to be coached by them. At first, Leo was skeptical of her because she was too different from him personality wise. However, when he found her outside of the studio playing basketball by herself, he decided to take a chance and go and talk with her. They bonded over their love of sports and competition. She was the only other person besides the members of VIXX that could make him laugh and could without him getting upset or irritated. He was the most upset when Mari decided to switch companies but he didn't really show it, though his groupmates knew how he felt.

A few months after she switched companies, ATLAS got a call asking for her to come by and participate in a music video with Leo for his and Lyn's song Blossom Tears. Leo refused to act with someone that closely without being comfortable with them. ATLAS let Mari be a part of it as long as she could keep up with her own training as well. Mari was already aware of her growing feelings towards VIXX's Main Vocalist when she accepted the job and when she saw him in person for the first time in awhile, she felt her heart start racing. On Leo's side, his emotions were confusing him but all he was certain of was that he was happy to have someone that he was close to acting alongside him because he was sure it would help the acting flow more naturally. He was also happy to see her again because he missed playing basketball and just talking with her. He would also never admit this but he missed her teasing him. During the duration of the music video filming, Leo found that instead of just acting, he was actually expressing how he was feeling and it scared him. He knew that after the filming they wouldn't be able to see each other for awhile and he decided he would use that time apart to try and fix the feelings.

However, this wasn't the case. When the two of them finished the filming and went their separate ways, the feelings between them only grew. They would message each other every day if they could and every few weeks, if they weren't busy, all of VIXX would video chat with her and at the end it would be just Mari and Leo talking, not wanting to hang up. Mari's trainee friends and Leo's groupmates kept pushing them to tell the other person how they felt. So, one day close to when Mari was to debut, Leo noticed that she was seeming a bit stressed when he called her. He invited her out to play a few games of one-on-one basketball and she accepted. Once they had played until they were tired, they both collapsed on the ground with Mari's head resting on Leo's stomach as they tried to catch their breath. Once Leo caught his breath enough, he muttered something under his breath causing Mari to turn her head to look at him and see him with his arm over his eyes and his face and ears bright red. Sitting up, she heard his next words clearly. "It's okay if you don't...I'll understand..." Which made her even more confused. She sat up completely and raised her eyebrow, asking him to repeat the first thing because she hadn't heard it. This made him visibly gulp before sitting up beside her and hugging his knees to his chest. 

"I asked if maybe...you wanted to...go out with me...as my girlfriend..." 

At first, she was floored that he actually liked her back but once she came back to reality and realized he was still waiting for an answer, she smiled brightly before leaning towards him and kissing his cheek as confirmation to his question. They have been secretly dating ever since, Leo told his groupmates about it and, after Shooting Star debuted, Mari told her groupmates. Now every time Leo calls her, video or phone, Mari can always count on the rest of VIXX to tease the two of them.

interactions » Because of their different companies and hectic schedules, they don't get to see each other in person as often as they would like. However, they manage to message each other every day whenever they have free time and at night they do their best to make time to call each other. Every few weeks they do a video chat on the computer and every month or so they sneak out together to play basketball or go to the batting cage. When they are together in public around people that don't know, they just seem to be close friends. Leo keeps his usual poker face though he has admitted it is harder around her because he really just wants to hold her hand or hug her from behind. She teases him as usual and when she knows that no one is looking, she'll squeeze his hand lightly or slip notes into his pockets. If she visits VIXX, they act very close with each other, usually her sitting next to him with his arm around her or her sitting between his legs with his arms around her shoulders. They aren't a couple who is super open about PDA, prefering to keep more intimate things to their private time. The scenes in VIXX's MV for Love Equation where Leo is playing basketball is a tip off to when he asked her out.

Relationship status » Secretly dating with only their groupmates knowing about it --> Still secret unless it becomes an issue and they have to go public with it
 

last words.

comments/suggestions » Sorry if I went overboard on a few things. Once I start writing, sometimes I can't stop hahaha and i put way too much research into some things...Tell me if anything is confusing or if you need me to cut back on something because I know it is a lot of writing to go through. I'm sorry this took so long and I hope you enjoy my character! Good luck choosing and thank you for considering my character :)

scene requests » 
- Any sort of variety show where Mari embarrasses her group mates
- Her introducing Leo to the group (and them being confused as to how the two of them work together)
- Zico being extremely protective of her
- Her siblings coming to the dorm to visit and the girls fawning over her little brother until he gets shy
- Group bonding of any sort
- The rest of Shooting Star dressing up like Disney princesses while Mari dresses like Prince Charming for a photoshoot

password » 
Fanclub = Wishes
Debut Song = Gossip Girl - Rainbow