“So this is where I’m guessing you’ll be spending the majority of your stay here. Whenever you’re not filming for your show, when you need to work on your upcoming album, or when you don’t feel like staying at your temporary dorm— you can come here.” Isis said as she led them into the building.

    The ‘here’ in this case was a creative space that she and her friends had renovated a few years ago. It had something for everybody, just the way she and her friends intended it. The main floor that she was showing them was heavily designed by her friends Jay and Aaron, as they were music production majors and they’d turned the space into a producers dream, comprised of a disjointed soundboard made of  mismatched components, a recording booth, and the walls lined with various instruments.

    As she turned to show the group of boys the space, she didn’t miss the way some of their faces lit up as they recognized the equipment, particularly Namjoon, and the shorter, pale boy she knew to be named Yoongi. She smiled and went on, not pausing as she showed them the other areas of the building. The rooms permanently smeared in paint by Vanessa, the open windowed area that she and Thomas frequented, but the room she really ‘claimed’ as hers was a small room, with plush carpeting, minimal furniture and a tall bookcase that was filled floor to ceiling. 

    The boys made small comments here and there in Korean, and sometimes spoke small English exclamations like ‘cool!’ or ‘wow!’. The night was wounding down as she led them back into the main room and sat them down at a table along the far wall. She sat down at the head of the table and paused as she got their attention. 

“So along with Nate and Tony, I am also going to be a mentor of sorts to you all while you’re going to be staying here.” She paused as she saw their heads nod along slowly, showing they understood the gist of why she said.

“Since I’m the closest in age to you out of all of your mentors, I’ll probably be around you the most. My skills really lie in the writing aspect of what you do. I’m here to help you grow as lyricists, as writers, and most importantly as thinkers—as people. The purpose of you all coming to LA, was to learn about hip hop, to learn from experienced and knowledgeable people. You’ll be dealing with a lot more than simply ‘hip hop’ because it isn’t simply a genre a music. It’s a way of life for many people and it didn’t start as a fun little game that anyone could play into. I’ll be opening your eyes to things, I’ll be right alongside you as you experience and learn.” 

    She paused, letting that sink in. She knew that the majority of her words probably flew over their heads, but they knew that she was being serious and they watched her silently. Namjoon, she noticed, realized what she was saying, as his head nodded along as she spoke with his gaze fixed on the tabletop. 

“Also I’m here if you ever have a problem with anything or if you have a question about something. Tomorrow you’ll be shooting for your show, so you’ll all be spending the first part of the day with your mentors and then you’ll be brought here and we’ll spend the rest of the day doing something.” She paused in her pseudo-speech and checked the time. She saw that they were slowly approaching 10 o’clock and smiled as she realized she still had a good hour with them

“That’s all I really have for now so you all can make yourselves more familiar with the space.” She finished and stood from the table.

“I’ll just be in this room if you need me, okay?” She said more than asked and made her way into ‘her’ room. 

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

    The group watched as she walked from the room. Their eyes trained on her back until she disappeared around the