Realistic or Modern Apple Pie: The Hometown Slice

[laceanddoodles]

Kirsten

"Well, I can't even imagine. Even just Charleston to here, it's like finding yourself on a whole different planet-- I've never been outside the south, let alone the country. I'm sure it's one hell of an adjustment." She laughed, just a little, tucking the three little stuffies into her bag, managing not to wake Elouise in the process. "Thank you, Peggy."

There was a weight, behind those words. Layers of gratitude with shifted meanings and contexts as you went deeper. Thank you for the stuffies, thank you for not asking questions, for not shouting, for not minding too much her reactions to things. All the things Kirsten wanted to say and yet, couldn't. Not yet, anyway. Darrell was in her head. He was there behind her eyes-- she heard the echo of his voice in the buzz of the crowd, saw his face, or just the angle of his cheek hitting the sun, every time she let herself pause. It was laborious to keep smiling, to keep up small talk and not think about him. Like moving through quicksand, she was just so weary. Still, Peggy was asking about what to do next, and she let her smile brighten a bit. She was just about to respond, when--

"Something to eat would be nice"​

She glanced over her shoulder to see Ryan. He was a welcome face-- he'd never really done anything to really put her on edge. Kirsten was still wary around him, of course. He was big and strong looking-- larger than Darrell had been. It was always better to be cautious.

"Hiya, Ryan-- Yes, it's... very nice. Elouise's slept through practically the whole thing, which is prob'ly for the best."

He spoke to Peggy a little, and then led her to one side.

Kirsten listened to what he had to say, her nerves rising a little with every word he said, but she forced them back down. He was coming to her with this because she was his last resort, he clearly didn't have any malicious intent. She took a deep breath and nodded a little. "I'll-- I'll try and get somebody to watch her the extra two hours. I'll let you know as soon as I can-- Thursday at the latest, okay? So you still have a little time?"

 

[Rumble Fish]

"No need t'thank me, darlin'." The older woman responded to Kirsten's thanks before taking a second to look around as she waited for her answer. There was a lot going on but Peggy's eagle eyes quickly fixated themselves onto the interactions that went on with Kim. While she could not hear what was going on, it seemed that the four way conversation was going well enough that the lurking mother bear could go back to sleep. Seeing her hand over her earmuffs to another boy, he folded her arms. Maybe the young man was on a similar ship to her granddaughter, normally the girl was quite possessive of those muffs and the only reason she could imagine her giving them to a stranger would be that he was finding the noise difficult to handle. Peggy made a mental note to at least remind Kim to ask for them back. Chloe seemed to be chatting with the other young man. But the older woman was only distracted until she and Kirsten were approached by Ryan Combs. Peggy gave the man a smile.

"Ryan son, how are ye?" she asked him warmly as he greeted her. She shook her head a little and lifted a hand softly, "Now I've told ye before, no need for any of that 'miss' malarkey." she gave the man a kind look regardless of what she had just said. As he asked if the pair had been enjoying the festival, she turned to look at Kirsten for a moment, waiting on her to answer before she did. Once the young waitress had told him, she nodded in agreement to her words about her infant, "She's been a wee champ despite this racket going on." She admired the baby for a moment before Ryan spoke to her directly. When he mentioned that she should come to the diner to try out the new coffee beans, she gave the man a wily smile and a friendly point.

"Och ye know me too well, son." She smirked, "I'll be there!" She added before Ryan requested to take Kirsten aside, which Peggy did not protest to and the younger pair moved aside to speak. As much as Peggy wanted to know what was happening with the waitress, it was not her place to intrude on their conversation. There was a weight behind her words that Peggy could not figure out, but there was clearly something more going on here. Her inner bear began to pace impatiently as she stood aside, finally deciding against her unsavoury temptations and looked to distract herself. Peggy did not want to interrupt Kim potentially making friends and she did not want intrude on the pair talking. Peggy sighed and took a few steps away to distract herself with another game while they discussed. Food could wait until they were ready to rejoin her. She finally opted for a whack-a-mole. Maybe she could imagine those fuzzy buggers as the gossipy hens in her sewing group, that would make it more interesting.

Interactions: BeyondDandy (Ryan) @ laceanddoodles (Kirsten)
Mentions: FireMaiden (Chloe) Chimney Swift (Dan) Paltajayd (Lyon)

 

[Miracle Corgi]

Darla McFarland
mentions: King Vioogra
- - - - - ​

Darla had been dragging on about her feelings and gazing about starry-eyed, almost missing the fact that Jon mentioned something about his father drinking at home. She scrunched her nose, trying to piece together what he had said. Without hiding her feelings, she moodily crossed her arms and shifted her weight onto one leg before narrowing her eyes slightly at Jon. "If you just talk to yourself like that while I'm talking to myself, well, how am I going to learn more about you?" She said, her voice lowered slightly as if to draw an emphasis to her demand. She then wondered about his dilemma, his slacks would be a problem before the night was through considering the heat. She tapped her fingertips on her upper arms, keeping them folded as she thought. There was a tap in her foot, and her head bobbled slowly from side to side. There was a definite pause between the two of them as she contemplated a solution.

While she could offer to purchase a pair of the seasonal booty shorts they always sold this time of year, she was racking her brain for something interesting. Nothing could be too easy and inconsequential, something she felt would squander the opportunity of being at the Fourth of July festival. To her, this was the peak of summer and if nothing were to happen tonight then it would be as if an omen for the year ahead to be bland. She stepped back towards the table where she placed her food order, and cradled it in her arms again. After a few brisk paces, she had already wandered to a booth that had no customers and asked the fellow local to watch over the food for her mother. It was clear at this point that Darla already had a plan coming together in her head, and she was moving without even consulting Jon with all of the details.

After trusting a vendor with her food, she returned to face Jon with hands on her hips. "I have the solution. Consider it an initiation ritual." She stated, smiling wildly. "We have games here, right?" She started, asking a rhetorical question as if he was already drawn into her plot. "We got the classic dunking booth. You pay to chuck a baseball at a target in the hopes it hits and someone falls into the kiddy pool of water. Usually the jocks do it!" She said, nodding her head as if the last detail she mentioned would mean something to Jon. She was now excitably speaking fast, "The first volunteer usually packs a change of clothes so they're not drenched the rest of the night...Are you picking up what I'm putting down?"

She began to take slow steps backwards, nodding her head eagerly. "We're going to have to move in fast, ok? We'll stake out the area and as soon as that guy hits the water we make a run for his clothes bag. You'll grab the bag, since you're the new kid." Darla was beaming at Jon, hoping that if she looked eager and excited it would be as if she was begging him. In Darla's eyes, this wasn't an outlandish request on a new resident or a new friend. "I'll do something for you, or whatever," She bargained, continuing to step cautiously towards the direction of the carnival games. "It'll be fun and different, this is normal in small towns."

After her last attempt at bargaining, she turned and began her walk towards the dunking booth. With the sudden onset of motion it was clear she was going to attempt it without even considering what Jon might say. Darla quickly entered back into the crowd, hastily maneuvering around couples and families. She was focused on the goal at hand, and that was to steal Jon a pair of shorts whether he agreed to it or not.

 

[Rumble Fish]

Now, Kim was not unused to having her accent pointed out. That did not mean that she liked it though. She knew, among the Southerners that populated the town, she was certainly an oddity with her burr. Most adults would be less abrasive, calling her dialect 'exotic' or 'unique'. People more her age tended to be less civil. Most comments thrown her way were insulting, whether it be tricking her into a particular phrase just to be relentlessly mocked for days by it being parroted back to her in an embarrassingly bad attempt at mimicking, to being asked idiotic and, honestly, very low effort questions and un-creative insults. Billy Connolly or Frankie Boyle, these people were not. Her 'favourite' was being asked if she had ever had her way with the Loch Ness Monster or would even Nessie herself refuse her advances on the account of her being too 'ugly' or 'stupid' for even a monster. Or people diving The Bodyguard style out of the way because "Glaswegians are shankers." and getting her thrown into the principal's office as it seemed she always carried a knife. No, random jock, the scar on her face was not from a knife. People could carry bazookas in this country but God forbid they thought someone had a knife. Needless to say, any mention of her accent or heritage was often met with a glare, some harsh words or simply being made to insult the back of her head; which many did.
But Dan's words weren't of malice, that was clear from his instant apology. Kim's head tilted a little, like a bird, in curiosity. Aside from Chloe, who had by now drifted off to check out some other festivities, nobody was ever interested in it. It was more of a case of his mouth running from him rather than trying to insult. His comment about all the noise caught her attention and the girl only nodded a little in response. Macbeth at this point lied across her feet with his head on her less sore foot, bored with this conversation. If anything, the weight on her feet did help to calm Kim down a little. Having Macbeth around was always therapeutic. It was just frustrating that she could not take him to school, while he was a small dog, he did not put up with horrible people and would make his feelings clear. He was too kind of a creature to actually attack, but they did not need to know that.

"Aye um," she cleared her throat, "Bin here fur years but, guess it's never left me." she added with a forced chuckle and smile. He seemed calmer now that he had the muffs which did help to settle her jumping nerves. "It was my gran who named him Macbeth, she loves the play too. It-um, it's probably good that he's no' nasty like he was. Granted, he's only a wee dug." she shuffled her foot a little that woke up the pooch, who then busied himself by snuffling around the long grass after a frog that had hopped along. She scratched the back of her neck, a little nervous now that she was left with these two boys she did not know. She needed something to distract herself.

Just as she thought about this, Kim felt her stomach rumble, hearing it was impossible with the amount of noise, something Kim was not normally thankful for but was in this situation. Looking around, she noticed the area that sold food. Peggy had wanted buffalo wings, and she figured now was a good time to get them. But Kim did not like chicken from the bone. She gulped a little before turning to the pair, looking at the ground to avoid their eye contact. While they both seemed like friendly guys, the girl did not feel settled enough to let her guard down. Not to mention she had barely spoken to the other young man, but he seemed to be with Dan so it would have been rude to exclude him.

"Um... I'm gonna go see about gettin' some food, uh... y'two wanna come? I'll buy?" That was a polite thing to do, right? Her mum and dad would've given her different answers. Heather would want her to while Duncan would insist that it's not usual for a woman to buy her own food. But... well, they weren't here so she just had to wing it, despite feeling very lost without their guidance. Not to mention that thinking any more about her late parents would've sent her into an even further downward spiral that she did not wish to experience again. "D-do either of ye know if there's someone who's made chilli? I-I normally have chilli for dinner on Thursdays." she added, pulling her hoodie's cuffs further down her wrists to make sure they were hidden. Now that Chloe was not here, she did not like the thought of being on her own in this massive and horribly noisy crowd.

Interactions: Chimney Swift (Dan) Paltajayd (Lyon)

 

[Paltajayd]

"what-"

He'd just barely met her and now she left the group, no answer to his question. Did he do something wrong? Was it wrong to ask way around here?

More and more thoughts trying to explain what had just happened came to him, dissolving quickly as they arrived. She must have her own reasons, and concluding with that last thought the case was close, for now. The task upon him was far more complicated. Both finally understanding each other and him being in the middle of the way couldn't get any more... awkward. Of course he'd been in similar situations, but being in the middle of a town that still felt new to him made things way harder. For now, Lyon resolved on to just follow them.

"Uh, I guess we can tag along yah" He answered uncomfortably, not having much of a choice here between staying in the middle of the town square and having someone to walk with. To be honest, he just wanted to leave, hope to see a friend of his or maybe just a familiar face, any excuse to just let them be and not feel like an extra. Even if Dan was now a closer persona than anyone else around town, apart from his neighbors back at home, this all felt lonely. But the word 'chilli' lit his way out of the mental labyrinth.

Judging from the smell, he remembered the chilli stand being not so far away from the one where he bought the buffalo wings still warming up his hands. Hunger was killing him at this point, but his willpower was strong enough to shut his mouth on it, but not his stomach from grumbling. He looked away from the group to recall everything that had happened until now "I think there was a stand that served those, somewhere over there" pointing over to a zone close to the stand he last went to. He didn't even knew if the same booth he went to could have what she was looking for, not that it matters anyways, even less with a distressed girl and Dan by his side.

Mood: Distant
Location: Town Square
Interactions: Daniel, Kim
Tags: Chimney Swift Rumble Fish

 

[Chimney Swift]

MOOD: Enthused, if a little faint
location: The Town Square
❛ interaction ❜ Paltajayd (Lyon)
Rumble Fish (Macbeth, Kim)

✦ DANIEL ESHEL-DONOVAN ✦

Daniel blithely swayed back and forth on his feet, listening to Kim's response with only a slight nod in answer. Oddly, the earmuffs made it easier to detect and isolate sounds, which made her accent easier to comprehend, and they also made his internal sensory activity all the clearer.

He could feel now, instead of a vague mix of anxiety and discomfort, that he hadn't eaten in hours, which wasn't good in the hot sun whatsoever. Feeling dizzy, he stopped bouncing on his heels and started shifting a bit to find a steadier position.

"Um... I'm gonna go see about gettin' some food, uh... y'two wanna come? I'll buy?" Kim finished, and Dan nodded eagerly as Lyon agreed to tag along. "Yes please!" He said in a tone that rang with relief, flapping his hands by his side slightly. "IIt's good that you're buying. I only have five dollars and it's for the bus ride back home. I'm hot. I want ice cream." As he finished rambling, he tilted to the side a bit, as if trying to keep his balance. His face was still blushing a faint red, but had an undertone of pallor that looked odd against his olive skin. Without even really thinking about what he was doing, he slid his arm around Lyon's for support. This was unusual for him, made clear by the slight grimace that crossed his face: normally he hated touching and being touched.

"Let's go!" The enthusiasm in his voice still hadn't faded, seemingly unaffected by his sudden physical disorder. Still holding the crook of Lyon's elbow, he smiled excitedly, tilting slightly away from Lyon to assuage some of the discomfort of the touch.​

code by fudgecakez

 

[Rumble Fish]

Dan's eagerness to go with her sent a wave of relief wash over Kim, though she did note the slightly less willing tone from Lyon. Was that a bad thing to ask of them? Should she have asked? Maybe Lyon had other plans and was just being polite? Kim gulped a little as she straightened herself up as they began to make their way towards where Lyon had pointed. She wished Peggy was here, she would know what to do. The older Glaswegian woman had a firmer grasp on how to interact with younger people, or people more her age. Kim was never good with people her age, even when she was a child, she found herself more drawn to older kids and adults. She could remember, back in Scotland between the ages of four to eight, the family spent Hogmanay (New Years Eve as she would have to explain every year to people here) at her father's best friend's house. Now Kim loved her 'uncle' Hugh and her dad's friends, but there were young kids there, her age and they were far too loud and frantic. Hugh's teenage daughter, Kate seemed to understand so would allow Kim to hang out in her bedroom, read her books and play her Playstation. In those four annual almost 12 hour events, both Kate and Kim completed the Crash Bandicoot trilogy and almost succeeded in the Spyro trilogy before she had to come to America. Kim thought about Kate a lot, she wanted to message her but could not find the nerve. The world needed more Kates.

Kim was violently thrown from her thoughts as the support of the crutch was suddenly removed and she let out a pained yelp as her skinny frame hit the thankfully dry yet hard ground, winding her harshly. As Kim coughed, she felt a weight on her back as Macbeth jumped onto her back, whimpering and sniffing in her ear, as if questioning if she was okay. Kim groaned and tried to get up, but with her weak hip, she could only sit up. As she did, she spotted the cause of this unexpected tumble. The unfortunately familiar frame of Moe Pratt.

While most people giving Kim grief were content to simply sneer comments or be petty, Moe and his small gaggle of minions took it further in making things physical. Moe himself was no bigger than her or even the two males accompanying her. Nothing stood out about him so she could only assume that was what caused his unsavoury behaviour. He was the type to push anyone and everyone around that he had just the smallest amount of power over, but the second he was faced with anyone slightly bigger or smarter than him he'd squirm away like the rat he was. He fancied himself as one of the jocks, wanting to rub elbows with the big boys, the charisma, uniqueness, nerve and talent to do so. While many of the footballers were as thick as overstuffed haggis, they had those things going for them. With a growl, Kim struggled onto her feet, but before she could get the crutch back, she saw that it was in Moe's grubby hands.

"Give us the cruch, Moe." She grumbled, not in the mood for this malarkey. She knew that she could end this quickly by simply calling for Peggy but the guilt complex within the girl would have felt bad. Already it was becoming difficult to stay upright. Macbeth, at her side had gone uncannily silent and was staring hard at Moe, blinking sparingly. Anyone with even a shred of experiences with dogs would know that this was the last thing dogs did before lunging. Moe smirked smugly.

"What, no hello?" He sneered.

"Naw, why would I? I don' like ye." Kim grumbled bluntly, hoping to just get this over with so the trio could go and eat.

"Well, uh... nobody likes you and yet you still hang around. When you aren't having abortions." He answered, which made Kim stop in her tracks, eyes wide in shock.

"Huh-Wot!?"

"I mean, why else would you fuck off for three months?" There was a disgusted sneer in his tone. That question jarred Kim and she could not answer it. Was that what people thought? She knew how people in this area felt about that subject. Even though that was completely untrue, Kim had no answer. If she blurted out the truth, it would just be ammo for him. Never mind her initial intention to deal with this herself, where was Peggy?!

Mentions: Chimney Swift Paltajayd

 

[Paltajayd]

Kim's abrupt fall left him without words, even rushing to help but unable to do a thing since she got back up by herself. Only a light touch of care on her back and a quick scan to her face and body if she was hurt anywhere. Her crutch was missing on the floor, but thankfully a boy in front had picked it up for her, though... he didn't seem so empathetic anymore by the looks on his face. Even less after Kim's blunt request and honest opinion on him.

But the guy's comments disturbed him. It wasn't just the disgusting action of picking on the only person from the group who's handicapped, the only one who can't retaliate as anyone else would. It wasn't his uncalled presence, immediately rejected by Kim at first sight. The trigger for Lyon was the abortion comment, trying to use it as a detrimental factor of her dignity as a woman, and being raised as a city boy surrounded by the art community taught him other points of view. Looking back at her stumped face momentaneously confirmed what the boy had just said, although Lyon couldn't really tell if it was commotion that left her without words or if it was truth devouring her, at this point the last words from the kiddo were dancing around in his mind without letting him think straight. The annoyance from this random dude mutated to anger in a matter of seconds after the accusation, and if he spoke nonsense again, fury would take the stage pretty soon.

One quick flash. His pocket knife wasn't ready, but he could just whip it out from his right pocket and threat him if he wanted to go the easy way. It had worked quite well the only two times he used it, both of them in the dark alleyways of downtown Philadelphia. The first time was a boy packed with corroding fear, a swiss knife being held by his trembling hand against a coke addict with clear withdrawal symptoms. The second time being a quick shank in the armpit of another one of his clients. He remembered the feeling of the blade piercing ever so swiftly, guilty pleasure of his own after running away from the scene to hide at his friend's basement until day rose again. Having anger management problems only worsened things for him, after a couple therapy sessions at the age of 13 he still found trouble at controlling his temper, especially when it came to stressful moments like this one. Count to ten, breathe in and out slowly, settle down, think before you do anything.

"Don't mess this up" He thought.

He closed his eyes to take a deep breath, calm down and leave the pocket knife as last resource, plan B never failed him and this time wasn't going to either, right? He then moved onwards, leaving Dan and Kim behind his back to confront the guy. It was a risky move anyways, people would think it was a mug and he could end up in jail so easily... a quick thought made him revocate the use of the knife and instead, focus on his fists as last resort. And who knows how would Dan or Kim react to that.

"Who the fuck do you think you are?" He asked with a face of revulsion towards him, following up with his speech "She could've done whatever the hell she wanted those 3 months and that has nothing to do with you you lil' dipshit. You say abortion like if it was a sin, honestly man just give me break we're not in the 19th century anymore. And what the heck's wrong with you? pick on someone who's on the same level as you you c***." At this point he couldn't care less about the idiosyncrasy of the townsfolk around those topics, he only defended what he thought was right and the bullied girl from the bully, nothing else. His hands in his pockets, confident and deeply staring at Moe's eyes as if looking down on him, no way he was backing off from this one. Not in a million years.

"You have three seconds to give me the crutch." and Lyon was dead serious with the one and only warning. Taking her crutch away from her was already an agresion to Kim, so if this ended up in a fist fight, it would be perfectly justified in his mind.

"one..." He started the count out loud for the rest of the people around to look over, gain support from them and maybe... just hope this makes the Moe guy back off before a things ended up worse.

Mood: yo stfu
Location: Town Square
Interactions: Daniel, Kim
Tags: Chimney Swift Rumble Fish