jokes.

characters: meiqi, luda, dawon, seola, bona

summary: in which luda is done with all the jokes (or a pun, in this case.)

note: i'm back! i've been wanting to write something for natural unit since idk when, but 2016 - 2017 forbade. but this 2018, i am unstoppable (maybe, unless studies and works eat me up again)

luda doesn't get it. or she does, but she can process only a fraction of the comedy behind meiqi's strange humor.

to her, meiqi's jokes hardly ever appeal to the mass—they're pure peculiarity expressed in incomprehensible combinations of words luda can't even decode by herself (considering she's probably the most intellectual being among the thirteen of them who work in that restaurant.) though oddly enough, someone actually appreciates these jokes luda dubs "flaky."

good thing she doesn't entirely have to deal with meiqi in the kitchen. luda is assigned to do grocery shopping in the morning and fruit picking in the afternoon, so it's just three hours in the evening that she has to bear with all the crazies called her co-workers (yes, apart from meiqi, there is more)

afternoon shift ends earlier than luda has expected. that means she can help in the restaurant if she wants to, or just loll somewhere around the outskirts of town and come back when it's about time. she is opting to do the first choice but bona has grabbed her by the wrist before she can even disappear from the tangerine field. she doesn't want to, but she finds herself in between dayoung and exy while they are having a fight.

luda is tired—she's tired from picking fruits, tired from all the walks she did, tired from having to bear all the physical pain inflicted on her as her seatmates bicker at each other. her brain just refuses to load that moment. good thing exy and dayoung settle on talking about their matter outside so luda can have the table and chairs all to herself to have a peaceful break.

"hey lu," she hears a voice coming from the kitchen corner. "wanna hear a joke?"

luda may be tired, and her brain may be declining to process any thoughts as of the moment, but her soul knows how cringe-worthy seola's jokes are that she's quick to yell a no.

"aw c'mon. where is your cosmic spirit?"

"not with you, oldie"

seola is just about to get all pouty when meiqi nudges her side to whisper something that made her fall on her knees, laughing, "meiqi just made the best luda pun yet!"

it takes great courage (and a bit of her ego to be crushed) to ask what that pun is but luda inquires about it anyway, not minding all the criticisms seola begins to throw at her, "you think we are lame, now you're asking about it? how about hear my jokes first?"

"step aside, i'm asking meiqi about it, not you," luda barks at her as she nears the kitchen counter where the other two are. "meimei tell me about it"

meiqi isn't really going to reveal the lame pun yet but "smol lord luda" is demanding that she nervously says the pun under her breath.

"come again?"

"i said you're ludone with us-"

seola's reactions save the mood, while luda can only palm her face, thinking about how that isn't as funny as she expected it to be. at least the pun didn't come off as weird as meiqi's other jokes. but still, how is that seriously funny, she wonders.

just in time, bona and dawon enter with the snacks they just bought. bona sees seola in the kitchen, struggling to stay upright, "what's up? or… down?"

"she-" seola is clearly out of breath, she points at luda as the smaller girl proceeds to join the other girls outside, "meiqi did a good pun on luda's name."

meiqi can't even talk about the pun anymore because of the embarrassment she got while witnessing luda's reaction, but dawon has her arms around meiqi's waist as she asks for her to tell them about it. she just can't resist dawon.

"i—" meiqi watches luda who is about to exit the place; luda can still hear them from where she stands though. "i thought... luda unnie is ludone with our jokes—"

seola falls on the floor again, even if she has heard the pun three times by then, it still comes off very funny to her. “it’s just so luda,” she thinks, not to mention luda really looks so done at them. bona tries to supress her laughter by biting her lip. and dawon? she's hugging meiqi tight, shaking the tiny girl in her embrace, hanging, barely even making any sounds but she's there, laughing inaudibly.

"oh my god" luda hisses as she twists the knob of the door.

"that was a good one!" even bona agrees.

luda just doesn't get how that is supposed to be funny. “weirdoes” she whispers, getting out of the place to join dayoung and exy outside.

*

back inside the restaurant, the topic of their talk is luda who seems to be very hard to please with jokes. “don’t worry, she just has a different type of humor,” bona assures the rest of them. she’s knows luda better than the three combined so she believes she can state that information as a fact.

“but i really think she hates me now,” pouts meiqi as she serves the steak she has cooked for the four of them. “she never laughs at my jokes.”

dawon pulls meiqi closer for another hug as she assures her luda laughed at her joke…at least once. “and don’t worry, your jokes are really funny,” she adds.

post note: a shorter version of the whole (supposedly) ~short~ story, but it ended up being long. there are many lame jokes in said ~short~ story but anyway i just cut to the chase here (and made it luda-centered)

also, this isn't the original concept for "jokes" (2016) but i lost the notebook where i put the prompt that i was supposed to use for this so i had to come up with a new one lmao. and maybe i’ll upload the complete ~short~ story soon