Winter was right around the corner. If you looked close enough you could see the frost on people's fingers, the cold making quick runs up their spines and clinging to their throats. Winter was unpleasant in a happy, blue way.

When Winter's first snow drifted down upon a large building with Pledis Entertainment hanging in bold red letters in front of it, five young girls ran out of the building in thick brown coats, gloves, hats, scarves, wooly socks and any other peace of clothing they could fit onto their skinny, little bodies.

Lu sprinted ahead of the others, breathing heavily as she shouted behind her, ❝You guys are never gonna catch me at that pace,❞ and continuing to gallop up the hill leading to the meadow in front of their building. The heavy bag she carried on her shoulder didn't stop her from wanting to win the race.

The other girls ran after her, giggling and in hysterics as Hyojin almost slipped on a melted piece of ice. She glared at them as she helped herself regain balance by awkwardly flapping out her arms, in a very bird-like fashion, only to receive even more fits of laughter from her fellow trainees, best friends and annoying roommates.

Sky stalked behind the four other girls, in a much more calm style, only risking very few snorts of laughter from behind her red scarf as the girls pranced before her eyes. ❝But why – may I ask – do you guys even bother running when you can just walk? It's a must less straining process, I really recommend,❞ she murmured, but the girls just stuck their tongues out at her and continued to gallop like mad horses.

Yuebi ended up scooping a fistful of snow into her hand and flinging it at Saerim, who in response to a snow covered coat playfully slapped Yuebi across the face with her fluffy mittens.

Lu stopped running and started gathering a huge ball of snow, punching Saerim's foot when she tried to destroy it, and in the end deciding to dump it all over Hyojin who fumed at her and started chasing her all over the meadow.

Sky looked gleefully at all the girls, until she felt something hit her back and a war began between her and Yuebi, until Yuebi choked on some snow and the girls had to play doctor for her.

After running around for ages, choking on some more snow and getting very cold with all the snow in their pants, the girls decided to sit down for some calm time.

Lu found a dry patch of grass under a tree, lay down on an old picnic rug she had been carrying in her bag and squeezed onto it with the other girls, taking out some sandwiches, dry seaweed, chocolate bars and a large bottle of water from her bag.

❝Christmas is coming up guys, what do you want from Father Christmas?❞ Saerim asked exitedly as the unwrapped a chocolate bar and began eating it loudly.

❝Well, all I wanted for Christmas was to get into that girl group...❞ Sky said sadly, voicing the thought all the other girls had been thinking.

❝Yeah well, maybe it's for the best?❞ Yuebi tried to be mature.

❝Aww, come on Bi, you did want to be in the girl group, be it for better or worse! I don't even get how Haru and Jangmi got in, to be honest... Haru was always introverted and bullied, I saw Jangmi making out with a different guy every week. I just don't get it,❞ Sky sighed.

❝Its weird... To suddenly want to debut girls who are obviously not suitable... makes me suspicious,❞ Hyojin said through a mouthful of her ham sandwich, as she lied her head down on Lu's outstretched legs.

❝Yeah, but I guess it's them that are gonna to be having the problems and not us, so we shouldn't worry about it any longer,❞ Lu explained, brushing Hyojin's hair out of her mouth before she accidently ate it.

❝Hope we'll find out why they want monsters over humans for this new girl group one day,❞ Saerim muttered, ❝Anyway guys, I really want a puppy for Christmas–"

The girls questions got answered sooner than they would have expected though, as they headed back into the Pledis building, arm in arm and without a care in the world.

❝Ladies,❞ the girls stopped halfway to getting to the stairs that led up to their practice rooms and dorms, as their training coach, Coach Jun stepped in front of them abruptly. ❝I'd like a word with you five.❞

❝Coach!❞ The five girls all bowed their heads politely as the coach led them into Manager Shin's deserted office.

❝As you may know our dear Soyong Shin has left us to go and put together his new girl group in Seoul. I've received news from him that I have to pass on to you,❞ the coach started explaining as the girls looked around the room. The only other time they had been in there was when they had talked with Manager Shin about becoming his trainee years ago.

❝Mr Shin would like to have a phone call with all five of you together. He says it is on serious matters regarding Poison. I know nothing more,❞ he glanced at the phone in Yuebi's hand and nodded, then silently left the room.

Yuebi stared at the phone in her hand. ❝Um... okay.❞ She searched through her phone hurriedly until she found Manager Shin's number, hesitantly clicking on it and making the sound go as loud as she could so the others could hear, even though Saerim still ended up squeezing their cheek against Yuebis own rosy one, as if she wouldn't even be able to hear the voice coming from it even if Shin was actually standing right beside her, screaming in her ear.

❝Hello, is this Jung Yuebi calling? I hope you have your friends there with you, Ching Lu, Lee Saerim, Park Hyojin and Kwon Sky?❞ They heard his deep voice and glanced at each other, not sure what they should expect from him, hoping with all their hearts they hadn't been kicked out of Pledis.

❝Y-yes Manager, we're here.❞ Hyojin's voice shook.

❝Good. I'll get down to the business then.❞ the girls gripped onto each other in fear. ❝As you may have realised by now, the two girls I picked for this girl group are not the most pure people we have seen before. Sung Joonyung first offered the opportunity to me months ago. He had been looking over the girls for a while now, due to the fact they had been reported for multiple bad incidents through their years of training, and Sung decided to take it in his hands to punish them, or so, twist them enough to make them innocent and pure idols. He asked all Managers to give him permission over the girls. I, as you might know, allowed him to become Poison's CEO. He has persuaded me and the SM and Bighit managers that we should make use of these girls and get money on them. All of them are extremely beautiful and have talent, all we have to do is get the black out of their blood.❞

There was a long pause as all the girls stared at the phone. ❝What's in this for us?❞ Lu asked, not feeling great about this whole situation.

❝You, my dear ladies, will help them become pure again. You will go to Seoul as their staff: makeup artists, backup dancers, whatever, whatever. You will have the job of finding out about their past. We have some bare outlines of their problems and Sung knows how to help them, but basically Haru is harshly bullied for her race,❞ he said it in glee and the girls couldn't help but pity Haru for talking bad behind her back too, ❝and Jangmi has insecurities about her brother. I want you guys to keep them out of trouble. Now I must go, we are meeting up with the other members. I'm expecting you in Seoul soon... The pay is good, so don't miss out on this.❞ And then that was the end.

Yuebi stared at her phone in disgust as if she could see Manager Shin's face right through it. ❝We're supposed to be happy about this job?❞

❝Wonder how much the money is?❞ Sky asked.

❝Probably good for just wanting to make these girls suffer.❞ Lu frowned.

❝But its good, right, we get the money without having to be part of the girl group?❞ Saerim tried sending a positive shine into things, but only ended up making the girls stare sadly at her.

❝All about the money. Right,❞ Yuebi said, not sounding as if she was actually happy about that at all.

❝Right...❞

♡♡♡

+ So that's the teaser with the trainees, I honestly don't know how much more I can give away

+ magsandzoey, SadieLor, RainDrop-13-, minyooniverse_ and btsaesthetic-: thank you for the characters and sorry again for not getting accepted. I know I'm not going to be able to show the true colours of your characters due to not enough screen time, but I still hope you will support

+ I tried making even screentime (I hope I did it well ·_· ), but in the next chapters it will be only the ACTIVE trainees who get ANY screentime. I hope you've taken that to heart, I'm not going to be nice about it

+ This applyfic is still VERY much open, so continue recommending and tagging. I haven't gotten any good forms for Autumn Crocus, and none of the appliers are even active, so I'm very afraid I'm going to have to choose a character who applied for a TOTALLY different slot, or who's form I didn't even like that much :(

+ Next character reveal will (hopefully) come soon and I gotta go Naruto away now and read Harry Potter

-mimi ❥