Name: Lee Hongki
Age: 21
Gender: Male
Style: Sweet and relaxed, the shy hottie. His nickname with friends is Hunki. Because under his shirt lies a totally slammin' six-pack, and he hates showing off.
:Appearance:

Name: Uzume Li

Age: 19

Gender: Female

Personality: Uzume is very bold and determined. She knows what she wants and she goes after it full force. She doesn't like to be contradicted, especially when it comes to her music. She has a very soft, sweet side, but the edgy persona tends to put all but the most determined out. Her friends are few and old, people she has known for years.

Appearance:

ooc:// So basic plot is that our label is forcing us to work together to make a cross-over hit. Would you like to begin or should I?

ooc:// One hot hit, coming right up!

bic://

With a sigh Hongki leaned against the piano, shrugging off the last bits off sleep. He shook out his body, sending energy to his extremities. Scratching his back the pop boy stod silent for a moment. Satisfied that there were no footsteps to be heard, and no one inthe immediate vicinity that he could tell, Hongki started to dance.

He'd always loved to dance, and had several different styles mastered. The song in his head didn't matter, only the steady, pumping beat. He incorporated all he knew, taking pride in the way heis body flowed through the movements as he put them together. A tight white tank top stretched over his taut torso, pants clad in loose and comfortable shorts. As far as Hongki was concerned, these were his work clothes. His body began to pump blood faster, and his heartrate increased to a level that sent a thrill through hs body.

This was freedom. This was strength. The dancing flowed into one of his idol group's best choreographies, and th words came naturally, flowing through past his lips. It was an automatic kind of thing, this connection. He smiled as he sung, dancing with a certain unmatche kind of joy. Here was where he lived. At the songs end Hongki stood, still alone on the practiced stage, panting yet refreshed. The sweat made his thick, chestnut hair stick to his forehead, and the already tight shirt to his chiseled chest.

  "Oh, my lord. Really?" Uzume said dryly as she walked gracefully onto the stage. She was clad in a thin, tight white tank under a brown leather jacket and a pair of tight dark wash jeans. Her diminuative hight was diminished by the fire engine red stilletos on her feet. With her hair pulled back from her face into a high ponytale and her eyes heavily lined, she presented a tough appearance. "So you are supposed to be my partner?" She sighed as she crossed to him. "I am Uzume."

  Privately, she envied the man that freedom he had shown, that lack of inhibitions. She wished she could be that free, but, that was not meant to be. Already, she did not understand why she was having to do this. Sing with a pop star? Please... But, this was what she had been told to do. This was what she would do. It didn't mean that she had to like it, or him.

ooc:// Yay! Hunki does not want to be mean. ;-;

bic://

He looked to the arrival, shocked. Instinctively he bowed, holding the posture for a second. "Anyeongseo." The formal greeting rolled off his tongue as Hongki straightened himself, the smile tight on his features. Already his partner was being cold and distant. He wondered if he'd done something to offend her. Yes, he knew she was a rock singer, but that didn't mean that they had to be at each other's throats. Hongki dried his face off with a towel he'd set on the piano, taking a drink before approaching the woman, so imposing with her dark clothing and dark eyes. His smile worked into its usual warmth, hand stretching out.

"Hello. You must be my partner. My name is Lee Hongki.  You can just call me Hongki." This was significant, in his eyes. Being older, he could very well have asked that she call him hyeung, meaning 'senior' or 'sir', and out of respect she would've had to comply. Yet despite her rude entrance, he had been kind and polite. Hopefully the girl would see this overture to friendship and warm up a little.

((I do not know ANYTHING about honoriffics, so please correct me if I do things wrong. Maybe Uzume was raised in America... haha that excuses and rudeness.))

  Realizing that she had gone off, again, and let her mouth run wild, she returned his bow, a little sullenly. Taking his hand, she observed him silently for a moment. Well, at least he isn't bad looking... Shaking that thought out of her head, she plastered her normal aloof ex
pression on her face. "A pleasure..." the correct thing to say, but her voice was distant. "So you are to be the lightheartedness to my rock?"

  She really hoped she wouldn't have to work on this song for long. All the pop idols she had ever met were outwardly friendly, but were inwardly trollish. She couldn't count how many had thought they could use her because of her beauty and talent, then throw her away. She thought of her father and shook that memory quickly away. Those things were better left forgotten.

Hongki's smile took on a more sincere warmth, and he nodded. The twinkle in his rich dark eyes read genuine boyish delight, added to by a chuckle. "I suppose that will be so. I admit that I'm not the best singer. Maybe you could do the lead there, and I could sing back-up, with maybe a section of rapping. That is what I'm best at, I think. That and making other people sound amazing, with my terrible voice."

He scratched his cheek, grinning sweetly. He really wanted to make a good impression on this girl. Recognizing her from her solo hits, he knew she was very good. Her talent had earned her many faithful fans. His only desire was to please both his fans and hers. Not the kind to come into something like this, he'd read her fan's comments as well as those of his own fans. Her fans loved her edgy style and beautiful voice, while his loved his sweet, shy nature and rapping voice, which was a deep, rumbling bass, hard to come by and very distinct. With that, it was easy to please both groups.

   Uzume sighed. "Very well. Where shall we begin? I have heard some of your work and thought it to be unique." His eagerness was almost endearing. Almost. Right now she was waiting for the other shoe to drop and for him to reveal what he really was. No one was that nice, no one. Uzume resolved to stay distant as she moved past him to the piano. She trailed her hand down the keys before she seated herself and began to play.

   The music drifting from the keyboard was haunting, eerie, but beautiful. Humming with the tune, Uzume just let the sound come naturally. She was thinking, about the situation, about her partner, and this was her way of coping. When she played and sang, she felt the most like the person she wished she could be. What she didn't know was that her relaxation and passion filled her face. It broke past her cold mask and showed the world who she was. Her fans knew, and that was why they loved her so. The Uzume who was singing was even more beautiful than the Uzume who was not.

Nodding, he actually blushed. As far as he figured it, that was about as close to a compliment as he would get from Uzume. He could tell she was holding herself at a distance with cool purpose, and wondered at it a moment before giving up, accepting it as a riddle he would never solve. So he followed her to the piano, and was completely floored.

The minute she began to play, Hongki began to see why she was so loved by her fans, and maybe why she was so cold in person. This was her soul, and he was seeing it, there on her porcelain doll face. Overcoming his initial astonishment Hongki began to rap out a beat, making it a little slower than he usually would, let to dance to, more to keep the listener entranced with the melody. It was a mindful rhythm, not loud or overbearing, lifting up the music rather than forcing it to take second place.

And when he sang, his voice did the same for Uzume's stunning vocals. He lifted her higher tone, polishing it with his low notes, twining through the melody with a soft counterpoint, like a pedastal on which her voice would stand. His harmony added to the feel of the tune, sweet where he felt it would be sweet, and disonant where the grating, ringing effect of such a sound would be suitable. Despite himself Hongki searched out Uzume's eyes, meeting her gaze with an uncertain smile, that read, 'Is this right?'

  Uzume, lost in the music, feeling the beat in her heart, allowed herself to smile at him, without realizing it. Then her eyes closed and she was singing a wordless melody that wrapped around his voice. She was suprised, in the deep part of her heart, that he had picked up where the music was going so quickly. The hard rockers she usually sang with had a way of powering through, forcing the music to do what they thought it ought.

   Maybe this time the song can be what it wants to be... She continued singing, the melody telling a story, flowing from sweet and innocent, to cold and harsh, to pounding with anger, back to hopeful and scared. It was her story, though few would ever know it. She stopped when the music flowed to an end, breathing hard and the slightest shimmer in the corner of her eye. She prepared to shut herself down again, slowing her breathing and hardening her heart. Hongki, she suspected, had gifts faw beyond what she had heard. To have him match her like that, singing her heart's story, frightened her more than a little.

The smile on Hongki's face, becoming understanding. It was his true gift, apart from his dancing or rapping or any of that. He had a gift with music. He could find a melody, and its source. In his heart something had come through, finding the center of this song deep under Uzume's hard-as-diamond exterior. He resisted the urge to reach out and brush the ghost of a tear from her cheek, though his fingers twitched with it, hanging at his side. Her smile while she sang had been enough.

"That was beautiful. I knew from listening to your music that you were amazing, but this was... Mind-altering. Now I am truly glad that we were called to work together. It will be an honor assisting you in this." As he spoke he thought about the song, and what it could have meant to her. He read the story, the emotion, but did not yet know how it connected, only that it was a major part of her life.

  She was not prepared to hear a compliment coming from him. Not after that. It caught Uzume off guard and rendered her speechless for a moment. When her voice came back, it was not with the words she had intended, nor the ferocity. "I... thank you. You have a gift, yourself. Few could harmonize so well..." Liar, she thought to herself, No one ever has... "I... am honored... as well." Her voice was shaky, but she didn't realize how much of herself she was revealing. No one had ever been with her when she was coming down from a song like that. She was suprised that there was a kind of comfort in his presence.

  Uzume mentally beat herself for letting her guard down. This was asking for trouble. She wanted to trust him, for some reason, but knew better. Nothing good ever came of that. She clothed herself in ice again. "I... must go. We will meet tomorrow at the same time for pratice." She almost jumped up from her seat and fled.

   Back in her hotel room, Uzume allowed herself to cry finally. There was still a part of her hoping that he would call her. The bigger part, however, called herself a fool and resolved to be as cruel to him as she could be, in order to distance herself.

When the protection went back up, Hongki nodded internally. Whatever it was she was guarding, it would take the girl some time before he was willing to let anyone see it. Hongki was a patient man, and quite persistent in the gentlest fashion. So as she ran, he stood by the piano, counting to ten after she was gone before leaving the stage. Quickly he dressed in plain acid-wash jeans and a t-shirt, throwing his black leather jacket on over that.

He wandered the shops, looking for something. One did not visit a new aquiantance without some kind of gift. What he really needed was the perfect thing, and was wracking his brain for ideas. It had to be warm, friendly, but not forcefully so. At the same time he thought through what he was going to say. That was the hardest thing he'd done all day. Eventually he settled on a boquet of flowers. White carnation for remembrance, cosmos for peace, gladiolus for strength of character, hibiscus for delicate beauty, and star of Bethlehem for hope. He combined them in a crystal vase, trying is best to arrange them artfully as his halmeoni had taught him.

Thus armed he went to her hotel room, after asking for the number from the desk clerk. He wrapped his knuckled gently against the door, running a hand through his hair in an automatic nervous reaction.

  Uzume was sitting at her vanity brushing her long dark hair. After her crying jag, she had stepped into the shower and come out feeling refreshed. She was now armoring herself with her favorite things, the soft floral scented shimmer lotion one of her American friends sent her from Bath and Body Works, a silk spaghetti strap tank in bright red paired with short black shorts in the same material, both with white dragons curling their serpentine bodies across them. Her hair was dry and she let it hang loose, brushing the soft waves untill they shone.

  When she heard the knock on the door she stood to answer it, expecting it to be the chocolate cake she had ordered from room service. Instead, she was confronted by a large crystal vase full of beautiful flowers and wearing legs. "I... huh? Hongki? Umm... come in..." Once again, the man had startled her into dropping her shell. She stood back, allowing him to come in, and watched him with a confused look on her face.

Yes! He smiled to himself as she let him in, feeling the shift in her mood. Catching her off guard, he had made it harder for her to bring up tht block. Stepping in he bowed, quickly stepping out of his shoes. He held the flowers a littler lower, peeking his face over the blossoms. "I am sorry to come unannounced, but I thought that maybe you would like to come out with me. Since we are working together, I think it would be nice to get to know each other as colleagues and fellow musicians. Since we both share a passion for our music, surely there must be something else we could find to talk about."

He gave her his most disarming grin, pouring non-threatening boyish charm into his warm chocolate eyes. This had to work. If he could get her open up even a little, maybe he could help. Plus, he liked being around her, for whatever reason. It wasn't just that she was pretty. He felt as if maybe she felt about music the same way he did, understood its inner workings and deeper meanings.

  "I... um... Thank you..." She said, taking the flowers and setting them on the table. "I actually just ordered room service, I guess... you... You could stay and eat, if you like..." Everything sensible in her was screaming for her to not do this. Inviting the man to eat in her private room was so not like her on so many levels. Still, something in her was all but begging her to open up and let him in. She resolved to be nice, but hold herself back from him.

  Invitation extended, she bustled about her room, straightening up, tossing dirty clothes into her hamper and placing the cap on her lotion. She moved the flowers to a smaller table and lit the red candles that rested on the larger dining table. As she was cleaning, the bell rang again, this time with the actual food. She smiled at the bellboy as she tipped him and took the plates. "Will you stay? I ordered chicken and broccoli alfredo, and they always send to much."