in cold blood : Xu Mei-Lin

inside of me

PERSONALITY TRAITS :　optimistic, encouraging, hard-working, loyal; secretive, sarcastic, whiny, sensitive

PERSONALITY :　

You know the drill, friendo! Positives are always first!! Aight, so Mei-Lin is one of those stupidly optimistic people who are always like "well hey, it's not the end! You're not dead, so keep on going!" She literally can find anything good in a terrible situation, and sure, maybe it gets annoying sometimes, but other times, it's really a beacon of light in a dark night. That rhymed. Okay, I guess that sort of goes with encouraging as well, because she's always telling people they got this, they can do it, just a little bit more. You know, she's like a mom, always telling her kids they're the best and even if they failed this time, there will be more chances. Just because she encourages other people doesn't mean she stands by doing nothing. Nah, Mei-Lin works hard as , and she's one of those people who stays after practice for five hours perfecting her moves/vocals. Along with this, she's extremely loyal and would go through extreme measure for her friends; if you treat her right, she'd break the ing law for your sake.

Yep, I was too lazy to put any neutrals, so negatives now. Mhm, Mei-Lin keeps her secrets to herself, and honestly, she keeps a lot of her personal life from her friends as well. You'd have to really pry her (or be someone authoritative) for her to spill. Yeah, some of her friends get annoyed because they've been her friends for so long and yet know almost nothing about her life. She's also one of those sarcastic people. ROASTING TIME IS EVERY TIME! Yeah, no, she don't give a single , if she got a roast, someone gonna burn. It can make her seem rude or insensitive, but it's really just her covering up her insecurities :")) Okay and whiny motherer. Yeah. See, this might seem a little weird, considering I just said "hard-working", but hear me out: you can do all your work very well and complain the entire ing time while doing it. That is what Mei-Lin does. She complains the out of her work, but it still ends up getting done, and it gets done well. But I mean, it's still annoying to hear her and groaning about it lol. Alright, last one, sensitive! Yeah. It's like, she can't take criticism well. From her trainers and friends, she'll be hurt, but she'll change herself, right? But if it's hate comments, hoo boi, she'll cry in bed. Of course she gets hurt by those mean comments, but she pretends to blow them off (and then cry later). I think she knows that those people are just jealous, but it doesn't make a difference; hurting is still hurting.

BACKGROUND :　Yo, so Mei-Lin was born in Shanghai to a pretty middle-class family. They didn't have the best, but they weren't living in dilapidated apartments (because SH has a lot of those). Her mother ran a restaurant, and her father was a secretary for the government. Despite what it sounds like, they actually didn't make a lot of money. Anyway yeah I should probably elaborate haha. Mei-Lin grew up a single child, but since her parents always worked long hours, she was brought up with her same-age cousin because her mother's sister was a stay-at-home mom and babysat her.

Anyway yeah. Mei-Lin's childhood was just like any other kid's: average, fun at times, stressful once school started, sometimes scary when her parents would fight. Overall, it was a pretty average life. However, I gotta cut in here and say, since the parents always came home late, they were pretty much always slightly pissed off (from tiredness!), and if Mei-Lin wanted to play, they just couldn't summon the energy. If she wanted to tell them something exciting, they didn't have the energy to listen. This starts her secretiveness.

Anyway, so because her mother's always pretty much always pissed, she started taking out her anger on Mei-Lin and her husband. Her husband, used to her antics, just put up with it as best he could, but Mei-Lin didn't understand. She thought it was actually her fault for making her mother mad, and slowly, she began to distance herself from both her parents (secretiveness as well as sensitivity). Things did get better once her father got a promotion and could stop working overtime so much, but by Mei-Lin was in puberty. Her body was changing, and her thighs were thickening out. Mei-Lin weighed and measured herself, and according to the school nurse, she was perfectly healthy. However, her mother (more on the chubby side) kept nagging at her to lose weight, kept telling her she was fat, kept saying that she was going to end up obese. Mei-Lin now understood why her mother was always pissed and tried to brush her comments off, but it was hard to do that when that was all she heard at meals...

Let's go back to her school life. It was 2012, Mei-Lin was in middle school, and she was choosing classes. Because she had taken piano (liked it) and violin (disliked it; quit it), she didn't want to play in band or strings. She had not taken art lessons but did not have the patience for art (trust me, she'd tried), so she decided to take chorus. And oh boy, that one little decision ended up impacting her entire ing life. She absolutely loved it. She loved singing, loved being up there looking at the crowd, basked in the glory of the applause and praise. Damn boi, was she born to be onstage. However, her parents didn't approve. They were people who barely made it out of college (mother spent her time on boys; father too lazy and didn't study hard enough), so they wanted their daughter to be successful, and the only guaranteed way to be successful is to be a DOCTORRRR (omg so Asian). So yeah.

However, two years later, SM hosted open auditions in Shanghai, and with her aunt and cousin's help, Mei-Lin ended up auditioning and getting accepted into SM! Dude she was so happy, but she was really afraid of telling her parents because she knew they wouldn't let her go.

THey didn't let her go.

But her aunt did! Her aunt made all the schooling arrangements, gathered all the information, and confronted her sister and brother-in-law. She argued for the child's own happiness "because look at you, you two with no ambition, and where did that get you?" She even offered to pay for Mei-Lin's training and everything herself, which Mei-Lin's parents would never be able to live down. So the only reason Mei-Lin actually did end up moving to Korea to train was because of her aunt.

I'm sure I'll talk more in the training background section.

LIKES :

▸ cats: never been able to keep one due to parents' allergies, but she fed the stray cats sometimes
▸ cute clothes: pls see my huge rant on her closet XD
▸ calligraphy: okay so this is one of her biggest regrets, not ever learning how to write Chinese calligraphy (don't feel too bad, most people can't)
▸ food: well, I mean... her mother owns a ing restaurant...
▸ Chinese music: like the ancient style songs
▸ sunny and windy days: preferably both at once

DISLIKES :

▸ violin E string: if you're not familiar with it, it's the highest string on a violin, and it's... E4, I believe? Yeah I don't like it either (I play viola lmaooo)
▸ rainy days: it just makes her sad and bothered and the humidity ugh
▸ skyscrapers: bit weird, since she lives in Shanghai (and now Seoul), but it makes her feel caged in
▸ the colors gray and brown: idk it's just dull and that's not her style (bonus if you get the subtle EXO reference lol)
▸ zucchini: yeah, this is just because they look like cucumbers but THE TEXTURE IS SO DIFFERENT OMG and not saying she won't eat them, but given them and another vegetable, chances are she'll take the other one lol

HABITS :

▸ hands cannot stay still when she's nervous
▸ runs her fingers through her hair when she's flustered
▸ bites the inside of her lip when she needs to hold back a roast
▸ humming under her breath when her mind runs (it could be in any situation, like nervous or bored; but never angry lol)

HOBBIES :

▸ writing stories
▸ playing piano
▸ studying history: look Chinese history is DAMN long, and you can study it for your entire ing life and still have more to study in the afterlife, and she's really ing interested in how similar/different Korea and China's history/culture is
▸ trying her hand at rapping: she has a good rhythm sense, but she can't spit out the words so fast lol

TRIVIA :

▸ one of her favorite music groups is 7Sense (Chinese girl group; specializes in the present-day interpretation of ancient music)
▸ her weibo is @琳琳_永恒 (it's a cringy name lol) ((literally Lin Lin forever))
▸ her favorite kpop groups are Super Junior and Infinite
▸ she wears Guess Seductive (for female) ((perfume))
▸ lowkey has a crush on Jay Chou but shhh no one told you that
▸ actually really ing good at math

the special ones

RELATIONSHIPS :　only include those who are important and matter to your character

▸ mother — Li Wenjun (45) / restaurant owner / strict, determined / 7/10
Most of Mei-Lin's insecurities stem from her mother. Although admittedly, her mother just didn't want her daughter to end up overweight like herself, but the way she handled it was bad. However, after Mei-Lin got into SM, Wenjun bragged about her to all the neighbors.

▸ aunt — Li Wenshi (47) / stay-at-home mom / supportive, firm / 9/10
Mei-Lin was practically raised by her aunt, so of course they're close, and of course Wenshi knows what Mei-Lin really wants to do with her life. Aside from being her mentor, Wenshi also serves as a second mother to Mei-Lin, a person whom she calls in her darkest times.

▸ cousin/best friend — Cai Jiangbo (16) / high school student / brash, carefree / 10/10
Jiangbo is a guy who happens to be Mei-Lin's closest friend and cousin. They were raised together, and even though their personalities differ a lot, they're always there for each other, and Jiangbo unashamedly supports her.

the trainee

PLOTLINE :　Honey Drop

POSITION :　vocal (main vocal?)

STAGE NAME :　Lin

TRAINING YEARS :　2014-present

ENTERTAINMENT COMPANY :　SM Entertainment

TALENT TWINS :　Vocal: Lovelyz's Kei / Dance: Red Velvet's Yeri

TRAINING BACKGROUND :

▸ Mei-Lin made it into SM Entertainment! However, she'd heard about all the hardships trainees go through and was lowkey really scared. However, the company training wasn't as harsh as she'd expected, and that really motivated her to do well. She couldn't speak Korean very well, so she could only rely on the other Chinese trainees and her minimal Korean learned in class. She absolutely loved working with the people at SM and got along with pretty much everyone due to her sweet nature (as long as she's not roasting people). However, there was just one problem: there was a guy three years older than her who was a complete two-faced . Well, anyway, she worked as hard as she could to be able to become a part of the next girl group (since RV had already debuted).

the interview with mnet

how did you react to enrollment in the show : 

▸ I'm really surprised! I'm not very good at Korean, and I've never had any activities, so I was really happy to be able to be in this show.

how will you interact with the other trainees : 

▸ I hope we can all become friends! Oh, I know that we'll have to compete against each other, but still, this is just a show, right? We can still be friends afterwards.

Who is your pillar of support : 

▸ My aunt and cousin! My aunt practically raised me, and my cousin is my best friend, and I know they're both rooting for me!

Do you think you will win : 

▸ Well, I sure hope so, haha. I... don't think I have as good of a chance as the other trainee from my company, or even the trainees from the other companies, but I do hope the viewers will like me.

Finally_Home: Maggie

LAST WORDS :　Omg I'm so sorry-- this was so low quality I'm doing this and I'm really tired and I just did another applyfic before this so my memory might be sorta ed and I know I cussed a lot lol but yeah if you need me to change anything, just ask.

PASSWORD :　CLC's Hobgoblin

SCENE REQUESTS : 

▸ MMMMM Mei-Lin fangirling to SJ and Infinite bbys
▸ Her attempting to make friends with literally everyone?
▸ Her and Summer Sun roasting away but ending up with her in tears (bonus if he ends up flustered and tries to comfort her awkwardly)
▸ Dude I just realized I wrote Mei-Lin really similar to Apple Pie plotline (but of course I'd happily change if you want) so it'd be nice if you had Mei-Lin x Apple Pie interactions

turn in : story : cheatsheet