Realistic or Modern Auburn Springs

[geminiy]

RYAN MURPHY

@themurphman has set their status to:
don't fuck things up, murph

@themurphman has set their outfit to:
I have exactly three looks and this is one

@themurphman has set their location to:
the bonfire

@themurphman has mentioned:
n/a

@themurphman has interacted with:
Dani, Link, Jess

@themurphman has tagged:
jasmyn gh0stwriter Winona

Ryan had to do everything in his power to not burst out into a fit of laughter at Jess’s scream, carefully balancing himself on the windowsill and ignoring the burn in his arms from keeping himself pulled out. The last thing he wanted was to plummet to an untimely death in her backyard, not just as things were starting to go right.

The protests and excuses falling from Jess’s lips came as no surprise to Ryan, so much so that the boy of many words simply listened and said nothing as she ranted and rambled. Instead, he pulled out the puppy dog eyes as he rested his head on his hands, throwing in a pleading pout just for the fun of it. Did he look really stupid? Oh hell yeah, that’s the Murphy signature look: serving stupidity and idiocy hot and fresh daily for over 17 years. But hell, he was going to get rejected anyways, he might as well ha-

"Alright, you know what, I'll go with you for like... a little bit, I guess. I mean it would just be really bitchy for me to say no after you climbed all the way up here with your peg leg,"

Ryan’s head popped up, eyes widening. Did she just say yes? No, she couldn’t have. People don’t say yes when Ryan annoys them in an attempt to get them to spend time with him. Usually, it ends with someone telling him to fuck off or pushing him away or something… Okay, that sounded really creepy. Ryan Murphy took no for an answer most of the time. But this time, he had zero plan of backing down. Look, Ryan knew that Jess needed to get out of the house and who better to tag along with than someone who is infinitely more embarrassing and foolish than she could imagine herself ever being?

"Give me like five minutes and I'll be out." Ryan nodded his head, giving a playful salute as he looked down to the ground far below him to figure out how to get down.

“Aye aye, Captain Jessie. See you in a few.” Ryan laughed gleefully as he swung himself back over to the drainpipe and began working his way down.

With feet planted firmly on the ground, Ryan hopped the fence gate and made his way back out to the street where Dani and Link were standing. A satisfied smile on his face, Ryan made his way over to his bike and casually leaned against it as he waited for Jess.

"You know, you keep that up and one of these days a Springer dad is gonna turn you into one of those fancy deer head things they hang on their fireplaces," Dani spoke as Ryan hopped onto his bike, pulling the gloves back onto his hands as he laughed at her words.

“Oh come on, I’d be a hot deer above a fireplace.” Ryan teased, trying to ignore the tenseness bouncing between himself and a very silent Link. “You could shove an apple in my mouth and do my hair all pretty. Such excellent craftsmanship would sell well, Dani.”

"Is this the motorcycle that tried to kill you like... three times?" Jess asked from behind where Ryan had pulled his bike, a grin popping up to his face at his voice. "You're seriously riding it?"

“Hell yeah I am. This is my pride and joy, Jessie, don’t talk shit. And I’ll have you know that I actually fixed it up quite well, it’s totally safe to ride now.” Ryan gleamed with pride, patting the front of the bike as if it were a horse.

"Not like he can afford a new one.” Dani joked once again, causing Ryan to shoot her a watchful glare. “You're free to ride with me but I think Ry might cry if you did."

Ryan hopped off his bike as Dani went to hand her helmet to Jess, his hand shooting out to intercept.

“No way, you’re wearing your helmet,” Ryan protested, grabbing an extra off the back of his bike and plopping it carefully down onto Jess’s head, “Jess can wear my extra. Don’t worry, I planned ahead. I would’ve given her mine if I didn’t though. As you just said, I’m already screwed up. If I end up even more screwed up, I might finally be able to join that freak show that’s been touring.”

Ryan’s fingers carefully adjusted the straps on the helmet as he fastened it under Jess’s chin while Dani made some rather awkward introductions between Jess and Link, carefully so that he didn’t actually touch her. Ryan had noticed that Jess had a habit of flinching and moving away with physical contact and, regardless of her reasoning, he was going to do his best to make her feel comfortable.

“You can ride with Dani if that’s more your style, Demon Bike and I won’t be offended if you do; our reputation precedes us.” Ryan offered, ignoring Link’s comment about missing the fun. What about awkwardly standing in the middle of a street under the watchful eye of the psycho old lady with an ex, a best friend, and a cute girl did not absolutely screech fun to him? Sliding onto the bike, Ryan scooted forwards slightly as Jess approached them. Forcing the stupid crooked smirk off his face, Ryan patted the back of his bike. “Your chariot awaits.”

As Jess climbed onto the bike, he carefully used his booted foot to move her feet into the right positions so that she would feel more comfortable.

“Uh sorry for the… proximity, but you’re gonna have to scoot a little bit forwards.” Ryan spoke calmly, trying to ignore the stupid awkward feeling that was only growing by the minute. With Jess firmly on the bike, Ryan turned the bike on and nodded to Dani and Link. “You’re gonna have to hold on to the bike, Jessie, this puppy goes fast.”

Revving the engine rather obnoxiously, Ryan made sure that Dani and Link were following him as they took off down the street. He drove slower than he usually did, meaning that he was actually driving the speed limit and obeying the traffic laws. He was 100% sure that getting himself and Jess arrested on their first hangout outside of school hours would certainly put the final nail in the coffin of their friendship.

Once he made sure that Dani and Link were following, he picked up a bit of speed as they sped off towards the road that led to the outskirts of Auburn Springs. Ryan had only ever been there once with his mother years and years ago. It had been too stuffy for him then, even more so now as he grew to despise the entire town. Maybe the horridness of attending a party in such a posh area would be lessened by the presence of his friends.

Pulling down the side road to the clearing, Ryan carefully swerved slightly off the dirt road and onto the grass as he turned the motorcycle off. The smell of fire burned through the night air, the glow of embers twisting up into the night air not far down the road. A few cars were parked nearby, a pair of teenage girls walking down the path towards the bonfire in the distance. Hopping off the bike carefully and pulling off his helmet with a laugh, he held his hand out to Jess to help her off.

“See? We’re still alive! Not so bad, huh?” Ryan laughed as Dani and Link pulled up. As their bikes turned off, he nodded down the clearing. “Figured we’d walk in, I don’t want any stupid drunk teenagers fucking with my bike.”

º º code by ditto º º

 

[ohdittoh]

DONNA CAIN CAMUS

drugs

his truck, parked at the edge of the forest outside of the bonfire

some of the contents of his floor

n/a

drake

Winona

(tw: drugs, smoking, just...very depressing in general...)

Donna Cain Camus was notorious for sitting silently and watching as people and things and time passed him by, for looking down his nose and having his face betray the judgements that he cast upon the everyone and everything that made its way across his field of vision.

Oh, actually, notoriety implied that people knew him for anything other than his last name, so maybe notorious wasn’t quite the right word to be used there.

Perhaps it was better said in this way: those who had the displeasure of meeting DC Camus could ascertain almost immediately that the boy was not a fan of conversation or other people in general, hence why Donna had never really had any friends. He was judgmental, and snobbish, and antisocial, and as close to an inanimate object that a person could be before they were dead.

Fuck— sometimes, Donna didn’t even know if he was dead or alive.

He’d been told that his eyes were dead, were hollow, were lifeless. To that, he said that it made a lot of sense, the look.

After all, inside, he was lying in a pool of his own blood, hand lying outstretched from when he’d tried to grasp some kind of future, limp from having given up.

Donna slowly opened his eyes as the boy to his side gave a soft laugh. DC’s pale blue eyes peered at the carpet of the ceiling. In the low moonlight, the grey looked nearly black.

He guessed that it was funny, to ask something like that. Here he was, the boy who hardly said anything, talking away about Hell, about if life was Hell, about all of this convoluted, pretentious drabble and shit like that.

He let out a soft snicker.

The shit they’d taken had been really good, he guessed, to make him say all of that.

“Well…”

Donna’s eyes tried to find a pattern in the ceiling, in the random, static chaos of the fibers.

“I…don’t…know.”

Drake’s words echoed and rattled, like he’d screamed them into a muted trumpet.

“I don’t think…they get the same euphoria, ya know? The same rise, the same…high. But…I can’t help but want to be out there, ya know? Feel the same kinda, ya know…the same kinda high, that happiness and shit, without having to…”

Donna’s hand reached up to find his dark, unkempt hair. His tongue rubbed the roof of his mouth.

He could finish that on his own:

Without having to rely on fucking powder. On fucking sticks. On fucking pills. On fucking anything.

I want to be happy on my own. Not because of anyone else or anything else. Not because I made it up on my own—

I want to be happy just because I’m fucking happy.

“That’d make us normal, right?” Drake asked. “Being able to feel without extra shit.”

Normal…? Was that what made someone normal?

"But uh...fuck yeah, I'll go to hell with ya. Ride that little boat down to uh.. the Land of the Dead or whatever the hell it's called. I think that's Greek, though, ya know? Pretty sure I remember reading that somewhere, because I was all…oh my god, I wanna ride a boat to my eternal damnation, or something dumb like that, ya know? Dumb but fun."

Donna found a piece of lint on the ceiling.

"You know all those people, like...adults and shit that are always like...'it gets better,’” Drake continued. "You don't believe that shit, do you? Do you think…it'll be like...this…forever? Even when we're eighty...twenty...that we'll be chilling in the backseat of trucks, doing shit to try and get some kind of rise and feel...like...them?"

The air seemed to ripple with the final sound that had come from Drake’s mouth, and Donna stared at the piece of white lint on the ceiling as he waited for the rattling noise to finish echoing, and then he tried to make sense of what the noise had been in the first place.

“It’s bullshit,” Donna said simply.

His hand left his hair and dropped to his pocket to feel of the cigarettes. Without looking down, he flipped open the package and pulled out a cigarette to place between his lips.

“I don’t think that it’ll be like this forever…just today and tomorrow and the next day…” He clicked the button to his lighter, and the flame greeted him with a wh-ff. He glanced down at the flame, bringing two fingers up to hold his cigarette between. He held the flame to its end for a moment, and then released the button as the end of the cigarette ignited.

He closed his eyes as he took an inhale from the cigarette, and he blew out a long, stream of heavy smoke. “Forever? Yeah, it doesn’t come for fuckups. It doesn’t come for us.” His hand found the box and retrieved another cigarette, which he held out to Drake with the lighter, though his vision was only that of the backs of his eyelids. “Shit that the adults say like ‘it gets better’ and ‘keep moving right along’? They’re just some kind of cheesy bullshit to keep the kids who are worth something to them from offing themselves or getting hooked on drugs or fucking until they lose their minds. Those sayings aren’t meant to work on people like you and me. Those sayings aren’t meant to work on the wastes of space and the ones who are one gram from fucking death or the ones who everyone is already telling should go die in a ditch, should go die along with all of the rest of the useless people to society, should go lay down in that dirt and eat shit with their rotting teeth until they convulse and keel over…”

The cigarette, which he had been puffing between random words, had accumulated some ash, and he tapped the side of the hand that held the cig on the side of his car door. The ash fell to the floor in its slow way, floating as Donna continued.

“They’re meant for the ones who everyone loves, or who at least someone cares about, to find some comfort in or whatever the fuck.” Donna still spoke with the light tone of his, the rumble and gravel and grit of his voice evoking some kind of eloquence in spite of the crude- and bluntness of his words. “They’re meant to keep those people on pushing and fighting until one day they can do some shit that’s impressive or valuable or successful. And they’ll call it cynicism when you realize it or mention it, but those people will always want something in return for keeping that person pushing. They’ll expect money, or affection, or they’ll at least expect to see them or hear from them or get some kind of confirmation that their altruism ‘helped them out’, and it’ll make them feel all warm and fuzzy inside because they saved someone valuable, because they helped someone who could’ve helped themselves who would eventually help them back. But…they would’ve gotten better on their own, without that phrase, and that’s where we’re different from them.”

He brought the cigarette back to his lips for a moment once more. He blew his stream of smoke toward the ceiling, giving a soft sigh. “They’ll look at us, and they’ll say the same things and try to make us feel better, but that’s all that they’ll do. All they’ll do is spit that same kinda phrase towards us, that same fucking bullshit phrase that only seems to work for the people whose lives actually have purpose, and they’ll be secretly praying that we realize that they’re bullshit, do them a favor, and off ourselves so we won’t be a blight on society.” He drew in and blew out another stream. “Do I believe the shit they say?” he repeated Drake’s question. “They don’t even believe that shit, so why should I? We both know the fucking truth.”

He opened his eyes slowly to stare at his ceiling again. “All we’re going to be— all we’re ever going to be— are the fuckups and the disappointments and the burnouts…the ones with their brains so fried that they can hardly string sentences together unless they’re fucking high, the ones who can’t even fucking see straight because they’re too strung out half of the time, and they’re not going to realize that we’re just doing to to look like them, to feel like them, to feel fucking something.” Donna tapped some more ash off of the quickly-shortening cigarette. “We’re not making it to eighty. To twenty. Fuck, I’m probably not making it another year…”

Donna’s eyes trailed over to Drake, and his eyes met his. “You get that…right?”

FUCK UP

gabriel black

º º code by ditto º º

 

[Soap]

mood :

Idk

location :

Bonfire

outfit :

cold, casual and cute.

interactions :

Mason, Lola, Kelia
Kitsune2202 Xed
Winona

Ambridge

Raven Rivera

He knew her so well.
Raven rolled her eyes, holding back an amused smile at the quick cut-off.

“For your information— I was going to say that I’m the second hottest girl here, alright? Get it right.”

No, she wasn’t about to disclose which girl at the bonfire that topped Raven— in more ways than one of course, but she isn’t about to expose herself so quickly. While she had no problem making… whatever it is that her and the princess going on public, she had an irking feeling that Valerie would rather keep them under wraps. She wasn’t sure how to feel about it, Raven wasn’t a fan of secrets, but it seemed like she was keeping more and more this week.

Mason led her towards a girl in a desperate attempt for Raven to convince the girl to give him the time of day. It wasn’t entirely her fault that girls tended to stray away from Mason when she was near, Raven doesn’t realize how close they seem to others when this was merely their normal.
It wasn’t off to a good start, Mason’s tone of voice never seemed playful, Raven had learned his ways much later, ‘look for the context clues or else you’re not gonna get anywhere besides a ‘fuck off.’’ Their relationship had never been easy for most people to understand, but it was second nature to them.

They just clicked.

“Well, clearly the time apart did her good.” Raven gestured towards her girl with a raise of her brow, a grin playing the edges of her lips and her tone was as light as the conversation.

“Apparently, you’re the hottest girl here according to Mason.” Raven didn’t care at this point if she was embarrassing him, the most it was going to get was a ‘really’ and a smile out of her, that’s good enough, Raven had done her part.

“Not that I’d disagree— but…”

Her gaze traveled around her bonfire and she found herself trailing off once it landed on one person in particular.

She was a sore spot for Raven.

In many ways, really.

It seemed like as much as Raven tried to convince others that she didn’t do relationships, she always found herself in the predicament of wanting one— or, being heartbroken over one.

Which… in her opinion, is ridiculous.

She wasn’t heartbroken.

It hurt.

But her heart wasn’t broken.

Raven Rivera was not fragile.

Despite the night of their break up, she pulled through just fine. The idea that Kelia didn’t is something that stood on her brain more than anything, but Raven knew she was fine. It’d be shocking if she wasn’t.

“If you’ll excuse me, I have an olive branch to extend.”

Barely minutes later, two drinks in hand, a forward yet cautious approach, Raven was in front of none other than Kelia Winslow.

“The Kelia Winslow out for fun?” Raven held the drink out to her with the tiniest grin imaginable. See, no matter what happened between them, Raven wasn’t the type of person to hold a grudge.

Not for something as ridiculous as a break up, anyway.

No matter how much it ached, Raven would never allow herself to stoop so low as to hate the girl she once loved.

“Spoiler alert, angel— forced fun isn’t fun.”

coded by reveriee.

 

[Xed]

I suck at songs so no song

Kelia

"You're going to the bonfire."

"No."

Fifteen minutes. Her mother had been going at this for FIFTEEN WHOLE MINUTES and counting.

Kelia loved her more than anything, but this was getting annoying. The woman was persistent with a giant P. She'd been pestering her about this nonstop ever since she first learned about the bonfire. You'd think it was a crime for Kelia to want to spend the night in and study like a good student rather than go to a bonfire where the only thing that happened was people getting drunk and doing stupid shit.

"I'm. Not. Going."

"Oh you are sweetie. You've missed out on too many other events. You're not missing out on this one too."

Ugh. And people wondered why she was so stubborn. If she didn't hold her ground, her mother would be running her out to every party there was, insisting she have fun and socialise, as if there wasn't anything more important than that.

She grumbled as she sat in her chair, watching as Stacey Winslow rifled through her wardrobe, pulling out clothes left and right as if a decision had already been made that she would in fact be going.

"See?" Her voice was bright as she whipped around, the dress she had bought her for her 16th birthday in hand. "I've already picked out an outfit. Now get changed and get going sweetheart. I'll drop you off on my way to the night shift."

"You're not dropping me off anywhere mom. I have a test to study for."

Stacey's eyebrows shot to the roof at her daughter's excuse as she stripped the dress off the hanger and threw it towards her.

"Oh honey please, you'll ace it even if you got drunk and went in with the worst hangover of your life. Now change and be down in five or I will come up and change your clothes for you."

She shot her a pointed look that promised she would follow through on her words as she stepped out of the room and closed the door.

Kelia threw her head back in annoyance as the dress lay on her lap, her books scattered out on the table in front of her. Why on earth was her mother so insistent? And who on earth wore a dress to a bonfire anyways? It wasn't like going to the party was going to help get them a better life unless she expected her to hook up with some rich springer and get knocked up so she could obtain child support. A ridiculous idea of course, one that her mother would never suggest and would never happen. She'd be damned and fail all her exams before she hooked up with an entitled silver spooned brat. She just wanted to study. Study, do well and get them a better life so that her mother wouldn't have to work all the time and on night shifts like tonight. And yet the one person standing in her way tonight was her mother. The irony. Even if she was right and she didn't really need anymore studying to ace her upcoming test, she still didn't have to go for the bonfire. Nothing good could possibly come out of such an event in the first place. Rich stuck up their ass Springers getting along with Bridgers? The organiser must not have been thinking clearly to even believe such an idea would work.

"Kelia!"

The call of her mother from outside her room had Kelia grumbling as she got to her feet and changed into her dress. She'd just have to play along and as soon as her mother had dropped her off and left the vicinity, she could just leave and walk back home. Her mother would be none the wiser. She stepped out of the room and Stacey immediately fussed over her daughter as she ushered her out the front door.

"Oh you look stunning sweetie. As expected of my genes of course."

The gushing continued all the way to the car until they were strapped in when Stacey suddenly rounded on Kelia with a pointed look after she'd started the engine. "You better not get any funny ideas about leaving early on your own. I expect pictures of you having fun and for you to come home after me. Understood?"

So much for her plan to sneak home. Tonight's shift was three hours though. Not the longest but she wasn't spending three hours at the bonfire, although she could tell from her mother's gaze that there would be hell to pay if she didn't. What mother locked up all of their kids books and studying material when they refused to 'have fun' and hid away their regular clothes so that they'd only have party outfits to wear? Hers, sadly. She went through it once. She wasn't going through it again. Not in her senior year with college apps coming. Ugh. She'd just have to find another way around it, once her mother was away of course.

"Fine." She said begrudgingly. As soon as she agreed, her mother broke into a giant grin and changed gears, driving them out on the road towards the bonfire with a happy shout.

It didn't take long for them to reach the bonfire location. Not with how fast her mother had been driving. You'd think it was an emergency, the way she tore down the street in their dingy little car.

"Remember sweetheart. Have fun, send me pictures and come home late. That's L-A-T-E, late." Kelia waved her off with a nod and a "Yes mom" as she trudged towards the bonfire, glancing over her should to see she was still watching. Hopefully she'd be able to find Rory or maybe Ryan or Dani. Someone she could take a few pictures with who wouldn't annoy the hell out of her and set her off. She paused as she took in the sight of the bonfire and the teenagers gathered around it. All she'd asked for was one quiet evening to herself with her books. Sigh.

Kelia picked out the quietest spot she could find, and sat herself down, busying her mind with thoughts of what to do while keeping an eye out for one of her three friends when someone else wandered in her line of sight. She felt herself stiffen a little. Was Raven Rivera really walking over? She was. When was the last time she'd properly interacted with her? The night when they broke up? She didn't have much time to think about it before Raven was upon her, two drinks in hand and a small grin on her face.

"The Kelia Winslow out for fun?"

She rolled her eyes at the comment, a small smile forming on her lips despite herself. She never said it in so many words, but she always had a bit of a soft spot for Raven. She almost cared for her as much as her mother. Almost. It was why she'd even broken her rules and gotten into a relationship with her in the first place, though said relationship ended six months ago in part because Kelia hadn't broken enough of her rules for Raven.

"Spoiler alert, angel— forced fun isn't fun."

The comment deepened Kelia's smile ever so slightly. A part of her missed this and it stung a little to think it was over, but this was for the best. Anyone with a brain could see that once they lined everything up.

"Tell that to my mom. She's the one who dragged me here insisting I have fun and promising to punish me if I didn't."

The thought had her shaking her head at it's ridiculousness as she scooched over a little to make room for Raven. The breakup hadn't been the prettiest, but Kelia wasn't going to make her stand throughout this entire conversation, however long it was going to last, if she didn't want to. As she looked back up at her ex, her eyes fell on the two drinks in Raven's hand and she cocked an eyebrow.

"You know I don't drink Raven."

| mood: I didn't know studying was a crime | outfit: dress | location: bonfire | mentions: Rory, Ryan, Dani | interactions: Raven | tags: Soap |

º º code by ditto º º

 

[Winona]

Say You Like Me

Jess

Could Jess honestly remember the last time that she had hung out with someone?

Or, well, a group of others?

The answer was an unsurprising, resounding no. Well, other than Val's party, where she'd reluctantly shown up to say hi to Ryan with Indy in tow. The two hadn't stayed around long, of course, because Jess had been ready to leave before she'd even entered the party. This one... knowing herself would have... similar results. Except that it was the whole bonfire thing and Ryan was kind of her ride, so...

It would be harder to ditch.

Although she wasn't opposed to walking all the way back home.

Dani was nice enough, though. Granted, Jess didn't know her that well, and had only spoken to her on a few occasions on Twitter. But she wasn't rude, she wasn't-- ... okay, so she was a bit intimidating and a bit scary. Like to a certain degree, but not to a point where Jess felt uncomfortable speaking with her.

Yeah, that was probably the only reason that she had been willing to come out here and agree to attend the party with Ryan.

It was weird that she felt (mostly) comfortable with these people that she hardly knew, and yet she could barely tolerate ten minutes around others that she had known practically her whole life. Growing up in Auburn Springs had the sort of effect of, well, at least knowing everyone's name, albeit Jess didn't know much pass that. But the point remained that she somehow felt safer with Dani and Ryan than she did with say... anyone else.

"You know, you keep that up and one of these days a Springer dad is gonna turn you into one of those fancy deer head things they hang on their fireplaces," Dani remarked to Ryan, and Jess' lips twitched into afaint smile. "Not like he can afford a new one. You're free to ride with me but I think Ry might cry if you did."

Honestly? Jess appreciated the offer -- and part of her wanted to take Dani up on it. That being said, she decided that she would probably be... slightly less uncomfortable with Ryan. Look, she didn't fully trust the guy, but she did know him at least a little bit better than Dani. And she was... mostly sure that he wouldn't do anything to purposely hurt her, so she shook her head at Dani's offer.

She looked away from Dani as Ryan spoke up, holding his hand out to stop Dani from passing her helmet to Jess.

"No way, you're wearing your helmet," Ryan started as he grabbed another helmet off his bike and came back over to her, dropping it onto her head. “Jess can wear my extra. Don’t worry, I planned ahead. I would’ve given her mine if I didn’t though. As you just said, I’m already screwed up. If I end up even more screwed up, I might finally be able to join that freak show that’s been touring.”

He'd planned ahead--

Had he seriously been planning on coming here and kidnapping her?

Wow.

That or he was just always prepared, but Ryan didn't seem like the kind to always be prepared. He was kind of... well, you know, Ryan. Seemed more like the spontaneous, go with the flow type of fella that didn't plan for anything.

"Oh, uh, Link...this is Jess. Jess, Link," Dani said, introducing Jess to the other guy that she hadn't really noticed.

Woops. Guess he just wasn't that remarkable.

"Uhh... hi." Jess said, not noticing Link's half-assed smile because Ryan was messing with the helmet on Jess's head. She tilted her chin up so it was easier to adjust the straps, her eyes rolling up to look at the sky because well... where else was she supposed to look? Ryan's fucked up face? No thank you, because that would've just been plain awkward. The sky was a thousand times better than that.

(No offense to Ryan's face.)

(Maybe a little offense.)

Dani said something about being ready to have fun, and Jess pursed her lips together. Yeah, she was... totally... ready. She also heard Link make some remark -- the most and the only thing he'd said since she'd come outside, so she figured he probably didn't like her, but to be honest, Jess could've cared less -- but didn't focus on it enough to pick up what he said. Probably something backing up Dani's claim.

“You can ride with Dani if that’s more your style, Demon Bike and I won’t be offended if you do; our reputation precedes us.” Ryan offered as he finished up with her helmet. She tilted her head back down, now levelling her gaze at Ryan.

"Uh, I mean, I appreciate the offer, but I'll..." her gaze flicked to Dani momentarily before coming to rest back on Ryan and, awkwardly, Jess pointed a finger at Ryan, "I'll ride with you."

As Ryan walked back to his bike, Jess reached up to adjust the helmet on her head, although it didn't really move. Her heart thudded in her chest as she hesitantly walked over, sucking in a deep breath, before climbing onto the bike behind Ryan. Naturally, she sat farther back so she wasn't touching him. Like, she could just... grab... the seat or something and call it a day, right? Like she probably wouldn't fall off if she did that.

“Uh sorry for the… proximity, but you’re gonna have to scoot a little bit forwards.” Ryan said, and Jess quietly let out a well fuck in her head. “You’re gonna have to hold on to the bike, Jessie, this puppy goes fast.”

She hesitated, but relented and scooted forward a touch. Look, if it came down to touching Ryan or falling off a bike and probably dying, well... okay, so it would be a hard choice between the two, but the first option was a touch better of an option than the second. She kept her hands clenched to the edges of the seat, until the bike lurched forward, and instinctually, her left hand reached out to grab Ryan's side, her fingers curling into his shirt to hold on.

The ride to the bonfire, thankfully, wasn't too long, but it was long enough for Jess to decide that motorcycles? Not her cup of tea. Yeah, when she got around to getting her driver's license, she'd just settle for a... cheap car or something. Something with, you know, seats, and seatbelts, and four wheels, and with a top so the wind wasn't slicing against her cheeks, and she wasn't having to touch anyone else.

Jess had kept her eyes tightly squeezed shut for a good portion of the ride, but her dark eyes fluttered open when she felt the motorcycle slowing down. She let go of Ryan, her hand moving back to grab a hold of the seat until they came to a stop, and she let out a breathy sigh of relief.

“See? We’re still alive! Not so bad, huh?” Ryan asked with a laugh as he hopped off the bike and held out a hand to help her off. Jess rolled her eyes, but took his hand and climbed off, but quickly dropped said hand after her feet were back on solid ground.

"Yeah, not bad at all," she mumbled, her words sarcastic as she unclipped the straps of the helmet as Dani and Link pulled up by them. Jess placed the helmet back on the bike, offering an awkward smile towards Ryan's friends as she used one hand to run her fingers through her hair, trying to quiet the mixture of windswept and helmet head that her hair had taken on.

“Figured we’d walk in, I don’t want any stupid drunk teenagers fucking with my bike.” Ryan said, and she glanced towards him as he spoke.

"They could just fuck with it when they're leaving, though," Jess mumbled, not realizing that that probably wasn't really the thing to say as her hand fell back away from her mess of hair. Her hands hung limply by her sides for a moment, before she crossed them over her chest, but then dropped them back to her sides after a nothing heartbeat of a moment. Around them, people were still arriving to the party, and Jess found herself looking at every person that walked past, trying to... what? Recognize people? Place people? She didn't really know -- just that she wanted to know who was here.

The answer, she knew, was basically everybody.

"What are you guys umm... doing?" She asked, her voice growing low as she spoke. "Springer parties aren't... really that great..." She said, although she didn't really have any room to speak on it since she'd been to... what? One? And that had been...

Years ago.

| mentions: N/A | interactions: Ryan, Link, Dani| tags: geminiy jasmyn gh0stwriter |

º º code by ditto º º

 

[Kitsune2202]

With her original companion more interested in being someone's lap dog then anything else Lola rolled her eyes and walked away. She lost interest and has never been the type to fake conversation just for the sake of hearing her own voice or wanting to listen to anyone else. What she wanted now was to figure out how to throw these damn bags into the fire pit, and get a drink. Finding her brother would be a nice bonus, but knowing him he was off on his own adventure and would get here whenever he gets here even if it's the very end.

As her eyes scanned the area for the things on her very short mental list she was caught off guard being approached by not one but two people. Second time's the charm? At least these two were interesting. She definitely didn't expect to be approached by Mason and Raven of all people. She remembered them from back home of course, she was just surprised either of them remembered her at all. Link was the outgoing twin and therefore the memorable one.

She wasn't bitter about that fact because it was just logical. You can't be a homebody and expect people to remember or care about your existence. No matter the fact you were a homebody was to be able to even keep a home. She supposed now that all that time was spent for nothing since they still lost their home despite all her hard work. Now THAT she was bitter about. However tonight she didn't want to be actively angry. She'd get her revenge on this fucked up system in time.

When he called her by name she tilted her head a bit and folded her arms across her chest with a raised, but clearly slightly impressed brow. "Color me mildly impressed. Most people settle for 'Link's sister' if they remember at all." She spoke plainly. Her people skills weren't the best. She wasn't good at flirting or anything, she was straightforward and blunt, so stating that as a fact more so then a dis to everyone.

What hook-ups she's had in the past weren't because she was some vixen, but because of her being an a rare mood for it, and the convenience of the right kinda guy being around that also wasn't about beating around the bush, or shy. That was one thing Bridger guys had on all these Springer softies, they weren't easily intimidated by a girl knowing what she wants and making it happen.

As quickly as she was half way impressed with his speech she lost it with his next comment. 'Left to live with the springers' was an interestingly frustrating summary, and she had to bite her tongue to keep her spite from leaking out because of it. Not like she should blame him. This boy didn't really know her or anything she'd been through. Probably meant nothing by it since he'd never seemed the type to play nice if he genuinely felt some sort of betrayal. Even for one as petty as which side of the tracks she lived on now. While his tone and words weren't exactly friendly by normal standards, they weren't malicious or fury induced either.

She only made these assumptions from her memory of him from before. She was a people watcher while at school for the most part. It paid to be observant both back home and when she first came to Auburn. She kept a low profile and made a deal with the right girl, to keep it that way. Valarie has been a good ally since coming to Auburn, even if the princess is a bitch to most people. However that's not really any of her business or her concern...just an observation.

She saw patterns in everything and everyone, it didn't stop at computer analytics. Plus it's better to learn to understand people so you know how to get what you want from them. The best way to understand them is first understanding their behavior. Know what makes them happy, what makes them tick, what buttons get you the desired reactions. Even if she is incapable of pushing those buttons herself the knowledge of their existence was enough because what she couldn't do herself (thanks to her watchful eye) she could find someone else who could for her. Bribery, blackmail, nothing was beneath her when it came to getting what she wanted.

She simply shrugged releasing her tongue believing it to be tamed, "What can I say? They have better wifi." Letting the witty comment fall from her lips now curved into a smirk. She wasn't in the mood to be upset tonight over trivial things. She'd rather joke about it then correct him. This was the first time she'd been out in forever and she was going to be damned if it wasn't going to be a good one.

"And now maybe some decent company." She added suggesting the addition of her fellow former Bridgers like him made this place any better. Did it? Hell if she knew. Kinda? At least it wouldn't be boring, but that also came with problems she didn't wanna deal with right now. Some people her and Link were better off distanced from.

When Raven finally spoke up about why they were even standing in front of her she was...surprised. Hottest girl here? She by no means agreed with that assessment, but who doesn't like a little ego boost? Perhaps the hottest girl here that he's not already talked to? Maybe, the hottest girl who wouldn't walk away or be intimidated by Raven? That seemed a more accurate assessment.

A short almost chuckle escaped her lips instinctively at the mere thought of her being considered the hottest, "Damn, maybe the time away really did do some good, if you both think so." She replied shaking her head before unfolding her arms as she shrugged moving them to her hips instead, "That or the hair cut, who knows?" As much as the ego boost was appreciated, she wasn't about to let it get to her head since once again it probably didn't mean much since there was no way it was the truth.

Lola was detail originated because she had to be. So, when Raven's eyes wondered, she casually let her eyes follow along till they reached it's destination before falling back to Mason before Raven even finished uttering her sentence. She didn't know the person, so it wasn't her business. But she could tell because of it that she would do exactly as she did and up and leave. See patterns aren't so hard? Predictable was comforting in a way.

With that Raven was off onto her next adventure and Lola was left with Mason. Not how she thought tonight would go, but he was hot so she wasn't opposed to spending a bit more time. "Hmm, you got a strong arm by chance and decent aim?" She asked curiously, "Since you're here wanna help me with some colorful fire entertainment?" She once again didn't feel the need to continue with any small talk, or worse any weird reminiscing of her Ambridge days, or his for that matter.

The truth of the matter is this has all been a distraction from her original three goals on her to-do list. Now that she'd been mildly amused by the two Rivera's she'd like to get back to said list. If he wanted to stay and help great! If not, she would be taking her leave of him like she did the other boy. No hard feelings, she just had an agenda.

Lola B.

"Breakaway"

Mood: This is a twist?
Location: Bonfire
Outfit: Casual but typical
Interactions: Mason ( Winona ) Raven ( Soap )
Mentions: Link, Valarie

coded by incandescent

 

[Winona]

Superman by Boyce Avenue

Mason

It was for the best that Raven fucking wandered off, because Mason was basically fuming over her dumb comments. Hottest girl at the party, yeah fucking sure. Mason simply didn't think that Raven was the hottest, but he certainly didn't think that Lola was. Not that he was going to delve into any of that shit or voice his opinions aloud. That, he had learned the hard way, was the wrong fucking thing to do. Exactly what you should never fucking do, unless you wanted to get a drink splashed in your face, or a foot to the balls, or just a basic slap.

Yeah... Mason scored with girls about as often as he struck out.

However, the getting good at striking out thing was a fucking miracle for the clingy bitches that wouldn't leave him the fuck alone. Surprise, surprise, but all it took was calling some other girl hotter, or just straight up telling her that she was a clingy bitch, and then voila -- you were free.

Mason had the girl thing down to a science.

At least she didn't dwell on Raven's fucking lies, and instead, moved the conversation to ask if he had... a good arm... because she was wanting to make colorful fire? What the fuck? Who the fuck came to a bonfire party to make the fire change colors and not, well, party?

And yeah, he was skeptical, but Mason was a master of keeping a stoic expression on his face -- which is exactly what he did right now. All that let on that he was maybe a little confused about the idea was a single quirk up one of his eyebrows. He let out a small huff, the edge of his lips twitching up into that faint, lopsided, half-smile, half-smirk thing that was so common of one Mason Rivera.

He gave a shrug, his hands sliding into the front pockets of his jeans. "Sure, might as fucking well," he mumbled and walked with her towards the fire. It wasn't like he'd really had any plans for the night.

... Except for the obvious -- drink a bit, fuck a girl, go home.

His usual itinerary, but he could always show off his arm (because of fucking course he had a fucking arm -- he was the fucking football captain, after all) and take a little detour before returning to his aforementioned plans.

Look, with the whole kid thing, Mason didn't get a lot of nights to himself to fuck around. He was going to make the most of this fucking shit.

"You came just to toss some fucking rocks and shit into a fire?" Mason asked as they drew closer and finally came to a stop near the fire. Now, he wasn't the most talkative of individuals, and that was probably evident by... well... him not really saying shit. But hey, Mason still liked to try, and he was trying to continue some kind of fucking conversation with his new companion for a while.

"Sounds kind of fucking lame."

Ah, he was a real conversationalist when he fucking tried.

| mentions: N/A | interactions: Lola | tags: Kitsune2202 |

º º code by ditto º º

 

[Xed]

guess I'm back to school

Conan

subtitle

A peal of laughter filled the air as Conan popped up in front of little Cassie with a pirate's cry. She had tucked herself inside a cardboard box, her tiny hands forming little fists in front of her mouth as Conan reached in and pulled her out, a goofy grin on his face.

"There you are my little pirate! I've finally found you and your hidden treasure!" He blew raspberries on her belly as he held her high above his head, her little arms flailing as she giggled.

"No you didn't! I hid the tweasure elsewhere!" Conan froze and looked straight in her eyes, a look of shock plastered across his face.

"No treasure?" He repeated as he twisted her from side to side, looking frantically, then looked down at the empty cardboard box. "Impossible!" He cried as he stumbled backwards then dropped onto the couch, taking care to keep Cassie on top of him as he flopped onto his back.

"I've lost! Outwitted by a pirate, again! Blast!" He draped his arm over his eyes dramatically as he let his other hand hang off the side of the couch. "It's all over for me. I'm doomed!" He wailed dramatically as Cassie giggled from where she sat atop him, throwing her tiny hands in the air in jubilant celebration.

"I won! I won! Piwates wule the iswand!"

Conan peered up at her, a smile on his face as he took in the look of pure delight that lit up her face as she clapped happily. "You did Cassie. You did." He told her softly as he sat up and scooped her up in his arms. "Time to go to sleep now."

"Aww but I want to pway some more." She protested, an adorable little pout forming on her face.

"Tomorrow ok? Be a good girl for granny now." He gave her a squeeze and pressed a kiss to her forehead as he rose from his seat, smiling over at his aunt who stood in the hallway. He rocked Cassie in his arms and patted her on the back to lure the protesting child to sleep as he made his way over to the older woman. The doctors had said she was better and so discharged her, but she still looked a little gaunt and weak, and oh so small. The exhaustion in her eyes was visible as she reached out to take a yawning Cassie from him.

"Are you sure about this Aunt Tracy?" The older woman smiled as she hummed a lullaby in Cassie's ear, hushing her gently as she coaxed her to stop resisting the urge to sleep.

"I'm sure." She told him quietly as she finished humming the short lullaby to Cassie. "You should go and have fun. You're still a student, you should get to live like one. We'll be alright." She insisted when she saw his hesitation. "See? She's already out like a light. The little tyke won't wake up till tomorrow morning. Go on. You haven't been to a school event in a year. Leave some time for yourself."

Conan's eyes drifted over to Cassie who lay sleeping in Aunt Tracy's arms. She really did look like her, even the way her little nose twitched ever so slightly resembled her…if only she was still around…

"Alright," he relented, "but call me if anything happens ok? I'll come flying home."

"I will, now go before you accidentally wake her up." Aunt Tracy gave him a little push towards the door and he grabbed his jacket from where it lay on the couch, turning around for one last look as he shrugged it on.

"Goodnight." He whispered before turning around to unlock the door and let himself out. As he made his way over to where he had parked his bike, Conan pulled out his phone to drop Kass a text.

"Just finished putting Cassie to sleep so I'm on my way over now. I should reach there in 15 minutes, hope you're ready for the bonfire "

He tucked it back inside his inner jacket pocket then put on his helmet and started the bike once he made sure the spare for Kass was in the same place. It had basically become her helmet over the past year. Even though he had been suspended and hadn't been back to school in over a year, he'd still seen Kass almost every single day because he picked her up and dropped her off at school every day on his bike. Some of the jerks at school had once asked if they were dating but you didn't have to be dating to be nice and go out of your way to do something for a friend, especially a dear friend like Kass. After he had learned about her anxiety with cars and her mother's death, it was the least he could do for her as a friend. He'd never leave any of them to flounder on their own, not if he could help it.

Roughly fifteen minutes later, Conan pulled up outside Kass' house, greeting her with a grin when he saw that she was already outside.

"Hey Kass, I thought I was going to have to honk for you to come out when I got here." He teased as he held out the helmet. "You okay?" After the conversation he had with her about the blowup online with Darcy, he was worried. They'd talked about it on text but he had to check in with her in person, there was no way he could just leave something that important to text messages, especially when it involved not one but two of his best friends. He'd be checking in with Darcy as well when he popped by her place later tonight of course. He disliked the idea of them fighting, especially when he got to know Kass in the first place because of Darcy, and there was no way he was going to let this fight continue if he could help it.

| mood: bonfire | outfit: leather jacket with shirt and jeans | location: Aunt Tracy's house to Kass' house | mentions: Darcy, Kass | interactions: Kass | tags: jasmyn |

º º code by ditto º º

 

[Winona]

Lost Boys

Xander

Bonfire, bonfire, bonfire...

Xander was kind of remembering why he didn't usually go out to parties or anything that would take him around his peers -- because he just didn't quite fit in. It wasn't as if he was bullied here at all like he'd been at his old school, but he did still feel a touch outcast. But that was fine, because the only way to feel not outcast was to throw yourself full force at anyone and everyone. Introduce yourself to as many people as you could, and hope that at least one or two of them would stick to you as friends. That was Xander's genius, foolproof plan, anyhow.

But if that all still failed, Xander had his handy backpack that was filled to the brim with fun stuff to do.

(By fun stuff, he meant only spray paint for graffiti, but still.)

His random meandering eventually brought it over to the drinks table, where Xan poured himself a red solo cup of pop with a touch of alcohol. He brought the concoction up to his lips, taking a small sip, and wrinkling his nose at the bitter taste. He sucked down a bit more of the putrid beverage and then set it back down on the table to add a whole lot more pop. He picked it back up, taking another sip, and gave a satisfied nod of his head when the taste of pop was overwhelming the nasty taste until it was just a bitter aftertaste. Perfect. Getting drunk without wanting to vomit from the taste.

Xander was truly a genius.

With cup in hand, he resumed his random walking until he caught sight of a girl that looked almost as lost and lonely as he was. Ahha. Could he have asked for a more perfect set up than this? He had his drink, he had an equally lost person to introduce himself to and maybe become friends with. And then she could introduce Xander to whoever she might know and then bam, he'd be popular.

He bounded over, a wide, friendly grin on his face as he held a hand out to her. "Hi, I'm Xander, you're...?" He trailed off, waiting for her to fill in the space with her name. "I'm new," he started up again, before quickly clarifying; "uh, well, not new new, but new from the start of the year. Yeah just started here from my old school." Xander explained with a vigorous nod of his head as if he needed to confirm what he was speaking.

Weirdo.

| mentions: N/A | interactions: Prim| tags: Stardust Galaxy |

º º code by ditto º º

 

[Soap]

Wannabe

Mercedes

"You look really pretty,"

He didn’t even know how much those words meant to Mercedes. Believe it or not… well, in her eyes it was pretty believable but not many people had told Mercedes that she was pretty, and that’s not her craving the attention or the compliments she barely had gotten from anyone else but her family... as in her family, maybe like... her dad and maybe Donna sometimes.

She wasn’t boy crazy, or just... seeking to feel special from a random guy or something.

It just felt nice.

Although feeling that way had somehow made her feel like an attention seeker, as if Mercedes was practically throwing herself in the spotlight and awaiting all the compliments to be thrown her way.

Flowers and applause would follow after as random strangers continued to spout their praise for her.

She didn’t want that.

Well, maybe a fraction of it.

Was that selfish?

A slight blush creeped over her cheeks and a smile found it’s way onto her lips, wide as it can be.

“Thank you. You… look pretty too.”

Really, Mer?

“Uh. Handsome— I mean… you know what I mean.”

Mercedes loved compliments, she took them to heart. Unlike Val who’d just shrug and agree with them— okay, well she’d probably say thank you but what she meant was, Valerie was so used to compliments that it was just like a passing good morning to someone random on the street.

Not a big deal.

To Mer, all compliments were a big deal.
It wasn’t a passing good morning, it was… winning a lottery ticket. With like, $200 bucks on it— because she didn’t need anymore money, but still!

“Thank you forrrr forgiving me.” She replied with the same smile from earlier that faded slightly from her face, a small silence sat between them and Mercedes couldn’t help but let out an amused laugh, clearly surprised.

“No, no, no. Definitely not on a date. I came here with my girls.” She gestured towards wherever Val used to be before continuing. “But all this…” Two fingers gestured towards her face, “wasn’t professionally done, as much as I wish it was. I’m no super artist.”

Maybe by now she would be, that is— if her mother allowed her to wear more than a little lip gloss here and there.
“But yes! Drinks! Come on, come on.” Mercedes gently took him by the arm and dragged him towards the keg. She wasn’t sure why she was getting into all this alcohol stuff. Especially after all the stuff happened with CK.

But who cared about making bad decisions?

You only live once or whatever.

Edwin filled up two cups of god knows what, kegs were filled with beer or something right? Mercedes took it cautiously and placed the cup to her lips, taking a sniff before sipping it.

She didn’t like it very much

But that wasn’t going to stop her.

Mercedes cleared her throat and decided to strike up a conversation with Ed, she still can’t believe that Val thinks he likes her.
Outrageous.

Completely and utterly crazy.

Val’s so dumb, sometimes.

“Sooooo, did you come with your brother? Or do you have a super secret hot date somewhere around here?” She teased, as curious eyes glanced around the bonfire before landing back onto Ed.

“I’m a super good secret-keeper, so…”

| mentions: Val,| interactions: Ed,| tags: hery |

º º code by ditto º º

 

[Soap]

mood :

Idk

location :

Bonfire

outfit :

cold, casual and cute.

interactions :

Kelia

Xed

Ambridge

Raven Rivera

“You know I don’t drink Raven.”

An almost bittersweet grin settled onto her lips and Raven didn’t move an inch.

“And you know, I don’t take no for an answer.”

The brunette waited until Kelia had taken the cup from her hands before she took the seat beside her, lifting her own drink to her lips and taking a sip, lipstick staining the cup as she pulled away and Raven’s mind wandered, suddenly filled with questions she wanted to ask.

She was usually blunt, when need-be. But when emotions were involved, Raven always became more… quiet. In an odd sense.

A small pause sat between them before Raven spoke. “I always liked your mom, y’know. She was the fun one.” Raven teased, her eyebrows rose at the end of her sentence, slightly leaning into her.

Maybe it was wrong to act as if nothing happened in the past, but did they truly need to rehash everything? What happened is what happened.

A little friendly conversation never hurt anybody.

That is, unless they were to let it.

“Although you had your moments, don’t worry.” It was hard not to reminisce, simply a glance at the girl and almost every memory came rushing back. It’d feel a little easier if all of them were bad.

But alike most things— there was both, good and bad involved. As simple as it’d be to look back on something and focus on every bad aspect, it was as if the laughter, sweet nothings, and those tiny moments where everything felt alright for once came crawling back up, forcing themselves to be seen.

Wasn’t it funny how the things you wanted became invisible, and the things you didn’t came to light, brighter than before?

“How has Auburn Springs been treating you? On the honor roll yet?” Raven placed a hand to her chest, mocking a gasp.

“Don’t tell me you’ve already made valedictorian.”

Despite her peers, Auburn Springs hasn’t been terribly bad to Raven, her grades were alright, she joined Newspaper, while she wasn’t exactly a shoe-in, they were eager to accept. Whether to seem more welcoming, or whether it was the lack of people who were interested.

Whatever the reasoning, Raven was settling in quite easily.

That doesn’t mean she was suddenly pretending to be one of them, sure, most of the springers didn’t hate her— but that didn’t mean anything to her.

Popularity didn’t matter.

Frankly, the lack of hatred that surrounded her and the springers was great, less drama for Raven to worry about. Even though, at the moment all she cared about was one springer’s opinion of her, none of it really mattered.

It was a nice school.

Good opportunities.

Raven just couldn’t fuck it up.

Not like her last relationship.

“... I joined the paper, it isn’t very interesting, I’ll be honest with you, there’s a lack of… something. If they actually give me a chance, I might be able to change that.”

Suddenly, Raven got an idea.

“Actually, I was thinking on interviewing a fellow ‘bridger’ to see what they think about the school.”

It wasn’t a lie, she was thinking about it.

But this was an excuse to prolong their conversation, because only god knows why she wanted to.

“I’d ask Mason, but I already know his thoughts. And you’re fairly open minded so…”

Raven took another sip of her drink, glancing at Kelia over the rim of the cup.

“Care to be my special guest for tonight?”

coded by reveriee.

 

[hery]

the grass is always greener

Edwin Jarvis

Auburn Springs

Ed smirked, letting out a soft chuckle. Playing it cool was tough for a boy whose cheeks were so red he could only somewhat explain it with the cool, night air. In fact, he’d been so mesmerized by the girl in front of him that there was a delay in the way he processed her words. Pretty?

Ed couldn’t help furrowing his brows at the absentminded compliment, a flash of concern brushing across his face. “Pretty” was one of the last things he longed for Mercedes to call him, the more desirable candidates being somewhere along the lines of dashing, mature, sexy, and/or Daddy.

Kidding. Sort of.

The short boy put on his best nonchalant act, a crooked grin meeting his puffed-up right cheek. With a small, dismissive wave and a laugh, Mer’s error (Merror?) had been entirely put to rest, at least on Ed’s part. The icing on the cake, of course, was her calling him handsome, to which he could only respond with a frozen, motionless smile. His jaw hung open and, for a few seconds, Edwin looked as though he’d been transmogrified into a blankly excited statue.

Ahem. He coughed, breaking the silence, then coughed again in a manner not dissimilar to a car coming back to life. “Thanks,” he finally replied, his attempt at a cool, monotone remark all for naught due to the wide grin stretching across his face. Ed wasn’t exactly the most complimented guy around—playing it off like it was nothing was something he had little to no practice in.

His heart skipped a beat as Mer confirmed herself as dateless for the bonfire; how could this opportunity get any better? “Well, I like it,” he drawled, catching himself staring into Mer’s eyes a moment too long. She really did do a good job on her makeup, at least in Ed’s professional opinion. “Nothing like that strawberry lipgloss disaster in grade school,” he teased, knowing full-well her puffy-lipped allergic reaction did nothing to deter him from pining after her.

The butterflies in Edwin’s stomach went feral as Mer tugged him by the arm, and for a split second it almost felt like they were on a date. If only it was that simple. “H-hell yeah!” he exclaimed, caught off guard by their closeness.

Once the pair reached the keg, Edwin grabbed a cup and spun it flat across his palm, utilizing a bartender trick his father had imparted upon him. It looked sort of cool, especially for a cheap, easy trick. The boy smiled proudly at Mer, then filled the plastic cup to the top with beer. He then filled his own, sipping a little before refilling completely. He grimaced; not to be picky or anything, but this cheap shit was leagues worse than the expensive stuff back at the Jarvises’ estate.

Ed scratched the back of his head at Mer’s question, amused by her lightheartedness. Few things eased him the way Mercedes did, and it was novel knowing she didn’t even have to try to be adorably charming. “Nah, I came all alone,” he half-lied, leaving out the part where Syd totally gave him a ride at the request of Sam, who had some stupid, bullshit “cool guy” errand to run.

“I was hoping I’d find a friend or something here,” he admitted, taking a large sip of the beer in his cup, “Thank god you came. Not to be a dick or anything, but everyone around is so boring.” He let out a derisive laugh, shaking his head. “Everyone’s been so serious and shit, too, lately.” After finishing off his beer, he refilled his cup with gusto. Ed needed a boost for his courage. Fast.

“Did your girls just up and leave or something? That sucks.” He wasn’t particularly surprised, especially if one of the girls he suspected was there was Val. Stupid bitch. Why was a girl like Mer friends with that demoness?

| mood: coooool | outfit: clothes | location: bonfire | mentions: Syd, Sam, Val| interactions: Mer | tags: Soap |

 

[Kitsune2202]

If Lola was honest she was fully expecting him to blow off her offer and go find some hot girl to chat up. She was surprised he actually agreed even if he seemed to be bored by the idea. She supposed it seemed less boring then standing around which was her thoughts on the matter. The little kinda smirk on his lips was even kinda cute, but she wasn't going to focus on that. After all this was Mason Rivera she was talking to right now. No good would come for focusing on anything appealing about him.

He started walking closer to the fire which didn't make sense to her but she followed anyways. She'd asked if he had a good arm because she wanted him to throw in the material from a distance not right up close to it. Part of the fun was going to be people watching the confused Springers not understanding what was going on. However as she glanced around it was obvious that most people were too drunk to care about what was about to happen or close to it. They'd probably still give off that dumb ass look because they were too drunk or high on something to put two and two together even with it right in their face.

Worse case scenario he was the one throwing it in not her, so if anyone had anything to say it'd be to him. She was too low-key for anyone to probably even notice she was next to him. She was used to being in someone's shadow, she found a bit of solace in it actually. She didn't need the world to notice her. In fact you get away with more in the dark then in the limelight.

He tossed in the first bag and it promptly and vibrantly changed the flames to a bright light green which was her favorite color an finally she felt like her night was beginning. Something about the emerald embers lit a fire in herself and she felt alive. It was a wonderous sight! Her first full unintentional smile of the night gracing her lips, and just as suspected people freaked out a bit around them causing her to laugh at them. She was certain she saw one dude piss his pants. This Disney raised batch of babies probably thought maleficent just arrived to the party.

The only thing that would've made it better was if she'd been able to catch up with Jade and them and gotten some fireworks. The noise, and sparks flying around would've made things even better.

Of course she had to be reminded that she wasn't enjoying the show on her own by his comment. Ugh she knew he didn't actually want to do this. She'd never understand why guys or people agreed to shit they didn't like? Why cause she batted her eyes?

She raised a brow at his comment her hand resting on her hip, "Of course not, but it's more entertaining then standing around doing nothing like half the dull fucks around here are doing. The other half are trying their luck on people they've got zero chance with and will post their cringy sob stories on some app all night." She gestured around with one hand to the honestly very lame and tame bonfire. She thought with more Bridgers around it'd be more lively, but so far she was wickedly disappointed. "If I wanted to just stand and talk I'd go to school." She rolled her eyes internally gagging at the thought.

With that she reached into her bag and brought out another bag to hand to him, "If you've got something more exciting in mind then I'm all ears." She dropped one of the bag into his hands, "Outside the obvious of drinking and fucking of course. That's a given and already on the to-do list."

She smirked grabbing the last bag tossing it into the fire as hard as she could watching it turn a vibrant teal blue. Without even turning to look at him, her eyes still on the prize she spoke with a simple shrug of her shoulders, "Plus even if it's lame, it's something different. Don't you ever wanna just experience something different?"

Sure finding her brother was also on the list, but he didn't need to know that. People probably already thought she was too attached to Link as it was. Not that she cared, that's her brother and fuck you if you're gonna judge them for being close.

However she tended to steer clear of Link talk around guys because to talk about him was to think about him, and to think about him was to hear his nagging voice in her head telling her 'No, not allowed, your grounded, I'mma cut the wifi' and other bullshit because apparently in his eyes they weren't twins she was a little sister the equivalent of a child and couldn't have an active libido, but he could do whatever he wanted. Ugh. It's hard to even kind of flirt with that in your head. Not that this was her trying to flirt cause oh god if it was she needed help, but if sex was on the agenda tonight she could do a lot worse then Mason.

Lola B.

"Breakaway"

Mood: This is a twist?
Location: Bonfire
Outfit: Casual but typical
Interactions: Mason ( Winona )
Mentions: Link, Jade

coded by incandescent

 

[Winona]

Superman by Boyce Avenue

Mason

Colored fire felt a little fucking childish to him, but Mason was clearly a huge people pleaser. So, even if he thought this was a dumbass and even boring as fuck idea, he relented -- and no, he didn't bitch about just how fucking dumb he thought that it was. Nope, he kept that fucking kind of negativity to himself. Hey, just because he was an asshole, well... it didn't mean that he had to drag everyone's mood down to his level all the fucking time.

Yeah, yeah. Surprise, surprise.

Fuck you.

So he'd taken the shit that she'd given him, and he'd tossed it into the fire. As dumb as he might've thought this was, his eyebrows did perk up in a momentary look of surprise and -- dare he say it -- awe as the fire took on a light green hue.

It was still childish as fuck, but maybe it was a touch kind of cool, too.

Similar to the negativity, Mason kept how impressed he was also to himself. She didn't need to fucking know that he thought this geeky nerdy shit was cool or some fucking thing like that. With how fast shit spread through these two towns, well, it would only be a matter of time before the whole fucking school was all up in a fucking tizzy and teasing him about being a nerd or some shit.

"Not bad," was all he remarked in regards to the changing colors of the flame -- but alas, if someone were to listen closely enough, they might hear the slightest inflection in his tone that implied that he thought it was a touch better than "not bad." Perhaps a slight air of "oh, that's fucking cool."

He glanced over at Lola as she spoke up, and inwardly, he cringed a bit at her breakdown of the night, and how this was better than trying to go home with someone tonight. Well, look, he did know that there were a fair amount of fucks who'd do just as Lola had said -- go home alone at the end of the night, and fucking bitch about it on social media. Mason called about half of those his friends, and the other half his competition.

The first part had been in Mason's agenda tonight, of course -- get some girl to go home with him, or, rather, let them take him home. Mason never hooked up in his own apartment. As one might expect, total mood killers included: screaming mom on the other side of the door, two beds because you shared a room with your brother, said brother probably being in the room, and toddler toys scattered throughout the place.

Yeah...

He chuckled, giving a slight shake of his head when she asked if he had something better on mind, as long as that something better wasn't drinking or fucking.

Well fuck him.

"That was my to-do list tonight," Mason explained with a casual nod of his head. Look, the guy was at least honest about what his intentions were or whatever the fuck it might be considered. He gave a shrug as if it was no big deal, his dark eyes turning away from Lola to look at the fire. "Get drunk, fuck, uhh... probably find Drake or some shit, go home." When he uttered it aloud, it sure did sound lame.

His dark gaze shifted back away from the fire to settle back on Lola. "Nothin' wrong with doing that kind of shit, either," he said, growing slightly defensive of his rather fucked up lifestyle. "It's what parties are for."

| mentions: N/A | interactions: Lola | tags: Kitsune2202 |

º º code by ditto º º

 

[Xed]

I suck at songs so no song

Kelia

Kelia glanced at the cup Raven held, then the girl herself. Normally she would put her foot down and say no but…she looked around at the crowd of other students, she was going to be stuck here for a while yet and a little alcohol might actually help her get through it.

"Fine, but just one." She added as she took the cup from her, swirling the liquid slowly before taking a sip. She could never get use to the burn it would leave in her throat. How anyone could drink more than one or two cups of the stuff was beyond her, much less chug it. It was one of the reasons why she disliked parties, because everyone seemed determined to get as drunk as possible and nothing good came out of being drunk. You just did stupid stuff, which just made the whole idea of drinking till you had no clue what you were doing even more stupid.

“I always liked your mom, y’know. She was the fun one.” A wry smile formed on Kelia’s face as she glanced over at Raven’s teasing, stiffening slightly when the other girl leaned a little into her. A few months ago, this was normal, now it felt…a little odd, and…bittersweet. She missed it, talking to Raven, spending time with her like this, she missed her, more than she had allowed herself to admit. But this was for the best. Breaking up was the right thing. Even if moments like this made her miss what they had.

"Sure, smarty pants.” She replied as she took another sip. The cup was in her hand, she was thirsty, and she doubted they had anything else to drink at this bonfire. “You know, she liked you too. Still does. To the point that when we were together and even now, there are some days where I wonder if she’s forgotten that I’m her daughter, not you.”

It was another headshaking thought but her mother made no secret of the fact that she thought Raven was great for her. She could still remember the day she’d come home after their breakup and she told her mother what had transpired. Needless to say, Stacey Winslow had not been pleased to hear the news, and she made it crystal clear, telling Kelia she was a stubborn idiot who ruined a good thing and cursed the fact that her daughter had inherited that wretched gene from her. In her opinion, breaking up prevented things from turning into an even bigger mess. Thankfully her mother left it at that and hadn’t brought it up since.

Beside her, Raven continued to chatter away, teasing her about whether she had already made honour roll or valedictorian. Normally that was the type of comment that would have irked her, in fact if it weren’t Raven, she might have taken it as an insult. Maybe it was the atmosphere, or the fact that it had been so long since they shared a moment like this, but tonight, she didn’t feel that usual prickle of annoyance that followed such words, whether they were jokingly said or otherwise.

“Not yet. I plan to but being here tonight is definitely not going to help any, even if my mother is convinced it’s already mine.” And frankly, from what she’d seen so far at Auburn Springs, she doubted there would be a student who could really challenge her for the position, but she wasn’t going to take anything for granted, that was the first step to messing up anything, and she wasn’t about to mess up the chance to get a better life for her mom. Becoming valedictorian was just the first step. After that it was scholarships, law school, the bar, getting a job at one of the top law firms in the country and earning enough so her mother would never have to work another night shift again. She had the whole plan all charted out, she just needed to make sure she stuck with it and didn’t stray from it like she had before.

Kelia chased away memories of her failed relationship, shifting her focus instead to her new school. The last thing she needed was to get sentimental. Even if she had enjoyed the time they had spent together, and those happy moments they shared were some of her happiest, because what use was it anyway? Indulging in memories of a past long gone, a past that they was never going to come back. It was pointless and much better for them both to move on instead of getting hung up about it. Studying at Auburn Springs had not been part of the plans either, but it was a welcome one. The facilities were amazing as were the resources and classes, even if her fellow new students were often less than ideal company on whom all of it felt wasted.

It was nice to hear that Raven was able to join the school paper and pursue her passion. Honestly though, she couldn’t see the other students giving her the chance she deserved because of the stupid school rivalry. It was ridiculous how tightly both sides clung to it and for reasons so idiotic she couldn’t be bothered to remember them.

When Raven proposed an interview, Kelia took a long thoughtful sip of her now nearly empty cup. An interview on Auburn Springs, she wasn’t very keen to be honest, but if the interview would help Raven then sure. She didn’t want to get in her way and she liked seeing her succeed. It wasn’t like she was going to have anything better to do at this party anyways and to be honest…spending time with her like this was…nice. Since she was stuck here anyway and her plans to study were a wash, she might as well enjoy herself.

“Auburn Springs…has been not too bad actually. You do know I'm probably going to be talking more about the facilities and such than the people, right? After all I spend more time on studies than socialising." She doubted Raven needed the reminder though. After all, that was one of the many things they had fought about. Her refusal to make time amidst her studies to spend with Raven. She had made time though, just apparently not enough. But that was old history. She didn't want to ruin tonight by bringing up reminders of painful memories. Now to find some way to just steer away from that.

“Ask away.” She offered a small smile as she emptied the rest of her cup. “I’ll answer you to the best of my abilities.”

…..​

The interview was going a lot more smoothly than she had expected. Conversation was flowing, and she had smiled and laughed a lot more than well she normally did, which was, not very much at all. She was already on her second or third cup of alcohol? She couldn’t quite remember but she was enjoying this, and it was reminding her of all the reasons why she had broken her rules for Raven in the first place, how much she had liked her – still liked her.

“…anyway, I think that pretty much answers your question. Anything else you need from me Raven?” They’d been going for quite some time now, and her cheeks felt warm though she couldn’t tell if that was from the heat of the bonfire, the alcohol, or something else. How long had they been talking for now? An hour? More? Less? She honestly couldn’t quite recall, but it was probably about time to end the interview soon. Which meant this nice little moment, well conversation they were having was going to end. The thought made her heart sink a little.

“Last question, thoughts on the interviewer? Hate her still?”

Hate her? Surprise marred Kelia’s features as she turned to face Raven. She had, had many feelings about and towards Raven in the time that she had known her. Affection, frustration, annoyance, love…but not hate. She brought her hand to Raven’s face, tucking a stray strand of hair before cupping her cheek as her eyes softened, a faint hint of sadness in them as they studied Raven’s features. Was that what Raven thought? That she hated her?

“I don’t hate you.” Kelia admitted softly, as her fingers gently stroked her cheek, her face drawing closer to hers. “I could never hate you,” She whispered, “I want you to know that.” As she finished her words, she pressed her lips to Raven’s in a gentle kiss, closing her eyes, as her hand on Raven’s cheek guided her closer to her still.

She didn't want to see Raven upset, it stung to think that she might be hurting her again when one of the reasons for their breakup, at least for her, was so they could stop hurting each other. This was the only way she knew how to prove she wasn’t lying, that her words were real, and truth be told, a part of her missed this feeling, missed them, even if they could never go back.

| mood: please don't be sad | outfit: dress | location: bonfire | mentions: N/A | interactions: Raven | tags: Soap |

º º code by ditto º º

 

[Stardust Galaxy]

Primrose didn't know how to feel she wasn't sure if she was the odd one in that scene in front of her or it was them that were the odd ones in her life, for sure it was a strange feeling and not a pleasing one, the memories of what was her view on Auburn Springs was making her feel uneasy, was it so much her hate towards the place or the fact that she was feeling that her life was falling, call her dramatic, she didn't care, after all, the main reason she was there, besides her mother not wanting to deal with her, it was her fault that she ended up having those hostile relationships, but in to be honest she really didn't care what her peers thought of her, she was there to become a ballerina not to find her new best friend, but she never thought that it would have backfired that way, maybe if she should have pretended just like she did when she was a kid, maybe she wouldn't be here, but it was done and now she needed to face the consequences of her actions.

At the sight of all the strangers with their red solo cups, she wondered if she should just blend between the crowd, get something to drink, and just leave, after all getting back to her father's house was not exactly exciting and at least having some alcohol in her system would help to make it more bearable, but at the same time, she was thinking on drinking on a bonfire, when the people in it had her age or at least a year older, she was sure that the alcohol in it was one of those cheap ones that only numb you and taste it horrific, and Primrose wasn't going to venture herself with alcohol of unknown precedence that would end up blinding her, she wasn't that desperate.

Maybe she was too much into her own thoughts that she didn't expect someone actually talking to her "Hi, I'm Xander, you're...?" the guy started to introduce himself as he continued to ramble how he just exchange schools or something along those lines, Prim wondered why he decided to tell all his life, didn't the look she was giving him was enough to tell why are telling me all of this? I guess it was her way to say don't tell me about your life without saying don't tell me about your life, but apparently, the guy didn't read the room.

Even if she didn't want to hang out, she still held his hand on a shake, sure Prim didn't want to become best friends with him, that was for sure the last thing on her list of priorities, but she had manners after all, but if he really thought that after this they were going to be close friends, she was definitely going back to New York even if she needed to go back walking "I'm Primrose" She replied, without adding the fact that she just moved out, there was no need to get personal about their lives after she mentioned her name she started counting the seconds until he would say the same sentence that everyone said when she introduced herself "Like the character of the Hunger Games?" it was just the norm and it was getting annoying, and don't misunderstand her, she didn't hate her name, but knowing how her parents were so into fitting the social norms, she still wondered why they named her with such a peculiar name.

"So I want to assume all of this, is kind of new to you since you just changed school. Do you even find all of this fun?" She asked, not knowing if she was regretting or no starting a conversation with this Xander guy.

Location: Bonfire | Mood: Irritated
Outift: Here | Interactions: Xander ( Winona )

Primrose Wright

Code by Stardust Galaxy​

 

[Kitsune2202]

A man of soooo many words this one was. To be fair she wasn't complaining since if he was talking her ear off she'd just be annoyed. She did it as a tiny point of victory that his comment after finally seeing what she was doing was a relatively positive one. Call her a nerd or whatever you wanted she didn't care. She was a girl who knew what she liked, knew what she wanted and was unashamed of that. She wasn't going to hide any of that from anyone because what did any of these fucks matter in the grand scheme of things?

Nothing. No one mattered to her except Link. For all she cared everything and everyone else in this whole damn city could burn.

What had any of them ever done for her? She was 100% loyal if anyone ever actually earned that loyalty, but where was anyone when they were starving? Where where they when her mother died and they were being bounced from home to home? Where were they now when they were forced from everything they'd ever known to live like the enemy in a cold heartless house.

She'd never dare call anything about this home. She didn't even know what a home was anymore. She couldn't even use the quote home is where the heart is because she wasn't sure where that was either. Her heart has been closed and out of commission for a long time now. So much so she can't remember if it ever really worked to begin with.

She liked to think so as to not believe herself a complete monster. That she was indeed human and had some semblance of humanity in her that she just didn't know how to properly express because the world is full of shit heads.

Hearing his chuckle sort of pulled her from her thoughts and the flame. Mostly because it was unexpected. He seemed to keep doing that. Perhaps she hadn't paid as much attention to him back then as she originally thought? Or had being here in Auburn already started to slightly change him? Either way she wasn't against it. She liked things that kept her on her toes. It kept things entertaining, and life not so...well horrid. It brought the faintest bit of color to her usual black and white viewpoint.

"I never said there was anything wrong with it." She replied simply with a shrug of her own glancing back up at him, "I just..." She paused a moment pressing her lips together a moment before looking back at the flames. This didn't need to be some deep conversation about her internal beliefs, and struggles and dreams. No one needed to hear all that about her after all. She doubted anyone wanted to.

"I like that shit too, but sometimes I want more then just that." She didn't know how to help him understand. Outside of this that's all she'd wanted too. Have some fun with a drink, maybe a body if she was in the mood and around someone worth it, and find Link. She let her face relax back to it's neutral state because hell no was she about to let him see the inner her. The her that no one had earned the right to meet yet.

"What's wrong with wanting to add a little spice once in a while to the mix?" She added. She treated this like everything else. Sure drinking and sex was fun but that's all anyone ever always does at every party ever since the dawn of time. Like fuck was it a crime to want more then to be content? She was so tired of just going through the motions. Everything she did was usually to get out of that funk. To finally live and stop just surviving.

She wasn't sure if he understood, or if her ever would. She wasn't sure if anyone would ever truly understand her, and she was learning to try and be ok with that. Learning that explaining herself was pointless and that was fine. She didn't need to fight to be known. Not here.

With the last of her bags now gone and her light show over with she was ready to accept the rest of the night for what it was. Typical. "Well you did what I wanted, so let's check something off that to do list of yours next. Wanna join me and grab a drink?" She asked curiously. She gestured with her thumb pointing to where she knew the beers and stuff were probably at. Sure they were in someone else's cooler, but that's never stopped her before. As stated Lola always knows what she wants, and how to get it. She'll be damned if anything stops her this late in the game.

Lola B.

"Breakaway"

Mood: This is a twist?
Location: Bonfire
Outfit: Casual but typical
Interactions: Mason ( Winona )
Mentions: Link

coded by incandescent

 

[Winona]

Lost Boys

Xander

"Primrose," he echoed, rolling the name around on his tongue. Yeah, Xander was one of those people -- the kind that liked to repeat what was said to them or, at the very least, he liked to repeat the names that were spoken back to him. He cracked an easygoing smile, though, as he lifted his hand, pointing a finger at her. "Like the flower, yeah? Pretty name. You got a nickname or nah?"

That's right -- Xander's brain hadn't made the connection between Primrose and The Hunger Games. Or maybe it had, but it had been such a fleeting thought, so he'd just... completely skipped it over. Hard to say with the boy that clearly had about two braincells to rub together, because his other braincells were off doing backflips or had been killed by the amount of times he'd sent spray paint straight into his face and inhaled the nasty air.

(His heart was truly in the right place, but he wasn't the smartest of fellas.)

When she asked if he found any of this fun, Xander's lips pursed together for a moment, his head doing a slight tilt to the side, and his gaze turning upwards as he tried to think that whole little question over. Hmm... had he... did he... find all of this fun? He finally glanced away from the sky for a moment to look back around at the rest of the party -- the drunk dancing teenagers, the fire that suddenly exploded in a fiery, lime green explosion (which was actually pretty flipping cool if you asked him), and he though it over. Did he find this kind of nonsense actually fun?

After he had his answer (which to Xander felt as if it took him hours to come to the conclusion of but, in reality, had been maybe teen seconds), he looked back towards Primrose. His smile brightened, stretching and spreading across his face, until he let out a small laugh.

"Nope!" He said with a shake of his head and another laugh. "Nah, but I'm like... new, ya know? So I kinda want to really, really find people to hangout with and make friends of and stuff but I'm all like... 'oh no, how am I going to do that if I just sit at home?' So I was like, 'oh, I'll go to that bonfire thingy that the Springers do every year or whatever!' So then I grabbed my backpack," he patted one of the straps over his shoulder for emphasis, "and then I walked my way down here and now here I am. But I can't say that I find any of... this," he gestrued around wildly, "fun."

His definition of fun was a lot dumber.

(Aka just graffiti, but still.)

"I'm guessing you don't find this all too fun, either, huh?"

| mentions: N/A | interactions: Prim| tags: Stardust Galaxy |

º º code by ditto º º

 

[Winona]

Superman by Boyce Avenue

Mason

After his little explanation of why he was here, and basically just defending his lifestyle of fucking and drinking, Mason was actually surprised when Lola didn't just... spit in his face, cuss him out, maybe flip a finger at him. Fuck, she even went as far as to say that she also kind of enjoyed some of that shit, but that she just... what? Wanted a change every now and again or some shit?

Mason didn't get it. People that didn't fuck themselves up every weekend.

Well... he got it and he didn't get it. People that wanted to just fuck off, or could afford to just fuck off, that didn't feel it was necessity to be numb over the weekend in order to give themselves enough fucking strength for the week ahead... Mason maybe envied those people a small sliver of the time. Not that he'd ever fucking admit that, and it wasn't so much an envy as it was...

Yeah, no, he envied those fucks.

The fucks that also got more than one day a week to fuck off.

Mason loved Ari -- he wouldn't change any part of his life for anything (well, that was a damn lie, because he would -- but not the Ariana part of his life) -- but that didn't change the fact that there were countless nights that he laid awake, staring at the ceiling, and wondering if this was just fucking it. If he was never going to be happier than he was then and there, squashed up against the wall with a toddler passed out on his arm. If this was going to be his entire fucking life, if anything would get better, if anything could get better when he was already stretched so thin.

He couldn't aim for anything better because he was too fucking busy trying to hold together what little shit he had.

So yeah, while he may have envied the fucks that would come out to these parties to toss bags of shit into the fire to change colors, he also... would never understand that. Nothing numbed the soul or gave fuel to an ever wavering fire quite like alcohol.

A small, half-hearted grin briefly touched his lips before faltering away in favor of his typically stoic expression. He'd heard that dumbass fucking saying plenty of times before -- "it takes more muscles to frown than it does to smile!" -- and every utterance had just made him frown more.

Scowls were easier to hold on the face.

"Yeah, sure," he said, giving a small tilt of his head to gesture for Lola to follow him, even if that was fucking obvious. "Any tips on dealing with the Springers? Since you've been fucking stuck here longer than me, and I'm having kind of a hard time not just... smashing my head into a wall every fucking time one of them tries to fucking speak to me."

Mason led her back towards the drinks, and he wasted no time in fishing around in a cooler for two beers but, as he straightened back up and held one of them out for her, he realized there was every chance that beer wasn't her style. Fuck, he hadn't even met too many girls that would accept a beer, or be able to take a drink of it without gagging or bitching about the flavor or some shit.

(To be fair, Mason also kind of wanted something stronger, so he wouldn't even mind if she did turn it down.)

| mentions: N/A | interactions: Lola | tags: Kitsune2202 |

º º code by ditto º º

 

[ohdittoh]

angeline jumper

the bitch

There were two things that made a weekend a “good” one, by Angeline Jumper’s standards: sex and tears. Sometimes, the two went hand-in-hand, and the weekend got bumped up to a “fucking amazing” weekend, but other times, it was just one or the other.

This weekend had involved only the latter, and so she chalked it up to a good one— or…hmm, perhaps this was an exception to tears only equating to a "good" one, because these tears were just...extra sweet because the girl absolutely fucking deserved what said tears.

Hmm…yes, Angie was yet undecided how exactly to rank this weekend. Did it deserve a “fucking amazing” review or not? That still remained far up in the air, so she'd neglect to label it at this time.

Oh, right! She’d forgotten to tell that story, hadn’t she?

Angeline had made that little bitch Jessica Jake cry!

Making Jessie cry was always one of her favorite things, honestly. There was nothing like revenge via salty tears.

Sunday was practice with Theodore, as usual. Preparation for the figure skating competitions that Angie had gotten consecutive blue ribbons at was already underway, though the major one wouldn’t be until the early part of next year. She’d spent the hours after Theo left skating across the ice and trying to get every move perfect, and her calves burned today from all of the work. What was the pits was that her mother had said that she saw a bit more pudge on her than before and was restricting her from eating more than a thousand calories every day until it was gone. It was what was good for her, though, so she didn’t want to go against her mother’s wishes. She was hungry when she woke up and went to bed, but it was alright. It was just so that she would do goodie the competitions, anyway. It wasn’t any big deal.

Oh, right. She’d also written that poem thing for the literature club meeting Monday. The fact that she had to write poetry for the club when it was only supposed to be about reading was really stupid, but “stupid” was a common thing in that club. They might have been called the “lit” club, but no one had their lights on upstairs except for herself.

She liked poetry enough, she guessed. It was nerd shit and honestly a waste of time, but whatever.

Angie walked into the room where the club was meeting, pushing her hair over her shoulder with one hand while the other held her printed poem in it. It was almost time to start, so most of the chairs that were in the circle in the center of the room were occupied. Eyeroll. She wasn’t going to subject herself to sitting next to one of those disgusting plebeians when the only reason that she was in here in the first place was to have something else to go on college applications.

Thankfully, there were three chairs in a row that were unoccupied, and Angie lowered herself into the chair in the center of them.

Her ever-present smirk rested on her face as she crossed her legs. She sat her poem in her lap, and she sat one manicured hand on top of it. She poised herself on the edge of the seat, and she waited for the meeting to begin as she inspected her nails to avoid having to look at any of the crusty club attendees.

mood
ew. < 3

location
the room where lit club is meeting < 3

outfit
yes, i'm a rich bitch. yes, i wear sweatshirts sometimes. yes, we exist. < 3

playing...
(you're the) devil in disguise

by elvis presley​

mentions
jess & theo < 3

interactions
you'll see < 3

tags
you'll see < 3

º º code by ditto º º

 

[ohdittoh]

KATEE NAUSBAUM

the snitch

Katee Nausbaum’s Saturday night had…fucking sucked.

No, no, no. You didn’t get it. You really didn’t get it.

Katee had cried. Which was a normal thing, right, totally normal, totally cool— er…not cool, but ya know, not surprising—…totally “all in a day’s work”.

But…he had cried in front of Natalie Brannigan.

Yeah…yeah. Yeah, that one. The one who he was hopelessly in love with—

Er. Not in love. In love would be creepy, yeah. He wasn’t creepy. He was…endearing! And neat!

And also a fucking weakling who had cried in front of Natalie Brannigan.

Yeah, she had told him to go and die…but…that was something that he got a lot, ya know. Plus, it wasn’t like he didn’t deserve it. He was…bugging her. Being annoying, like he always was.

He was still kicking himself. He didn’t know if he could show his face in front of her again, honestly.

He was…so fucking embarrassed by…all of it.

Just right when he was starting to make her like him. He, like, felt it. He knew that it was coming— the day that she’d finally agree to one of his date proposals.

And then he had to go and fucking cry.

He was honestly dreading today. Not because he was going to get bullied again, because he was used to that. Not because he was going to have to go through another day explaining to his teachers that he had forgotten his backpack at a bus stop on the first day and that he was too poor to afford another one and that was why he was carrying everything that he needed around like a pack mule, because he’d finally gotten used to that.

It was because he couldn’t talk to Natalie.

Every second that he hung out with Natalie— or…followed her around— he just felt…happier. She seemed like a bitch, yeah, but he could tell that there was more beneath there, and it just…it made him blush and swoon and get all googly-eyed.

But he couldn’t do that anymore, because he’d cried in front of her.

Damn it.

He kept his head down as he got off of the rickety, old bus. The hand he had in his shirt’s breast pocket rubbed the sleek plastic of his inhaler, and he gnawed at his lip.

He hoped no one else knew. He expected to get punched, but he really, really didn’t want to be.

He lifted his eyes as he reached the walkway, dropping his hand from his pocket to hold it at his side. He slowed his pace, and he tried to walk closer to the edges of the walkway so that he wouldn’t arouse any attention whatsoever.

He spotted a person by the door, though, that made a small smile come onto his face.

For a moment, his dread washed away. He quickened his pace again, and the closer he got, the broader his smile got, until—

“Xander!” he called, waving his hands excitedly. “Hey!”

mood
hey!

location
the front of the school

outfit
something

playing...
monster (under my bed)

by call me karizma​

mentions
natalie

interactions
xander

tags
Winona

º º code by ditto º º

 

[ohdittoh]

CHELSEA KADER FREUD

the fucking king

The bonfire Saturday hadn’t gone exactly as Chelsea had expected. Of course, it made sense that he hadn’t expected to tell his best friend “I almost fucking died and didn’t tell you— now don’t kill the people who did it to me, thanks”. That wasn’t the kinda shit that anyone ever really planned to tell. You didn’t see many people pencilling into their busy schedules “9 pm: tell your darkest fucking secret to your dumbass friend and try to keep him from murdering the people who did that shit to you”.

When he had come home late Saturday night (or early Sunday morning, however you wanted to see it), his mother had been awake. The fucking bitch asked him about his nose again, and Chelsea gave the same answer as he always did as he pushed past her to get to his room: he had broken his nose falling off of a bike; it was nothing; it felt fine, yeah; that was the truth, and he needed to go now. As he was leaving, his mother had told him with a sigh not to forget that his elder sister was coming for dinner tomorrow, and Chelsea had headed to bed.

Deana, as promised, had arrived on Sunday evening, and she had brought another rich, unattractive, twenty-something asshole that blew smoke up his parents’ asses about how great of a girl their daughter was and how much he had looked forward to meeting them and how much he loved the place and how great the whole family was.

Something about him pissed Chelsea off. He was shifty and hid his hands too much, and Chelsea wanted to knock his fucking lights out.

Ana and Donna’d had some kind of argument— if something like what happened could even be called an argument. His bitch of an older sister picked at the little burnout for staying in his room the whole time that she was there, and Donna sat back and took it with that fucking dead, disgusted look on his face that made Chelsea bite back anger.

Why the fuck did he always look that way? The pretentious little bastard was no better than a sullen fucking possum. To say that he pissed Chelsea off was as much of a fucking understatement as saying a hurricane was a light mist.

The visit with Ana had concluded with the same formalities always. A lot of “we loved to see you”s and “I’ll miss you”s and “you should come over this time— or this time”s.

Chelsea didn’t give much of a sendoff besides “see ya”. He didn’t really care to see his bitch of an older sister or any of the assholes that she had sunk her manicured claws into in the first place, much less any other time soon.

The rest of his time on the weekend had been dedicated to violin practice. He had a meeting with his instructor Wednesday after football practice to discuss his senior recital further, which really made him realize how fucking close he was to being out of the shitshow that school had become and finally going to college and getting what he’d been waiting to get his whole life.

He couldn’t decide if he was looking forward to it or if it pissed him off.

Chelsea adjusted his earrings, glaring at his reflection. His bruises had healed, and the date that the doctor had given him to come back was this Thursday, which meant that he was probably almost fucking done with having these damn the nostril tampons shoved up his nose.

About damn time. He fucking hated not being able to even fucking breathe.

If it was healed by Thursday, it would be just in time for Homecoming, too, which was a plus. At least now he wouldn’t have to go to the biggest game of senior year with a nose on its fucking period.

Last year, he had run for long and won with Valerie. “King and queen” of the school as juniors was treated like some kind of impressive feat, but it wasn’t really, considering that they were, even at that point, the king and the queen of the school.

They had broken up, though. Chelsea had had a couple very short-term relationships throughout this year, but he was in none right now, and he didn’t know who the hell he was going to run with. You could say that he was cutting it close or whatever the fuck you wanted to, but he was going to fucking win, regardless, so there was no worry about time. Even without a runningmate, Chelsea was going to sign up to run for king at some point today. He had it in the fucking bag.

Obviously. Chelsea Kader Freud was the fucking king. There was no contest.

The people who could take him down? No one fucking cared about them. The only person who knew their names was Dex, and that guy knew everyone.

(Also, telling Dex about them had made them seem far less foreboding. If he had someone who he knew could help him destroy them— even though it was a dumb as fuck idea and he wasn’t going to let him do that— it felt like they were nothing at all. That made sense, because they were fucking nothing at all.)

Thinking about the lack of a running mate, though, was really pissing him off.

The only girls who had offered to run with him were little fucking freshman who were desperate for attention and hugs from their mommies. It made no fucking sense.

Whatever. It was fucking whatever.

With a long sigh, Chelsea walked away from the bathroom mirror and went to his bedroom. He closed the book of neatly-written notes that he had left open on his desk after last night’s studying session and put it in his bag, only recalling upon seeing it that he had a fucking AP Human Geography test today. He knew that he would ace it, but they were always such time-consuming pains in the asses.

He slammed the front door as he exited the house and made his way to his vehicle. When he arrived at his dark car, he opened the doors and dropped himself into the driver’s seat, and then he buckled in and drove off to the school, classical music playing lowly over the speakers.

For once, his ears could rest on the way to school; his mother had said that Valerie was driving Mercedes to school today, so that saved him at least one headache.

He pulled into the parking lot, driving around the lanes and turning into the one that had his parking spot in it.

When he arrived at his parking spot, he saw something that made him grit his jaw in irritation.

Someone had parked their fucking motorcycle in his spot. That someone was still on their fucking bike, too.

Muttering expletives beneath his breath, Chelsea drove into the empty spot beside his— his brother’s parking spot— and he turned off his vehicle. Throwing his bag on his shoulder, he glared at the helmeted figure to his right.

He pushed out, taking his keys from the ignition, slamming his door, and dropping his keys into his pocket, and he walked over to the parking spot beside him.

He came to a stop in front of the motorcycle. Maintaining a reserved voice and a stoic expression though his eyes were glaring, Chelsea spoke to the helmeted person.

“Hey,” he said. “You’re in my parking spot.”

mood
fuck

location
the school

outfit
something preppy

playing...
gives you hell

by the all-american rejects​

mentions
dex, mer, & val

interactions
whoever the fuck is on that fucking motorcycle

tags
you'll see

º º code by ditto º º

 

[ohdittoh]

DONNA CAIN CAMUS

the disappointment

(tw: drug usage, drug effects, just general depressing-ness. it's donna. what do you expect?)

As the powder from his sinuses dripped down the back of his throat, Donna Camus remained unflinching. The taste of the thick mixture, an odd mixture of bitter and sweet, was one that he used to be revolted by but had grown to relish in. The blend numbed his throat and his nose, and he slowly lowered the finger that he had pressed to his nostril, leaning his head back with a soft groan as he dropped his straw to the table.

Donna slowly slumped down in his chair. He dropped his hands to dangle by the sides of his chair and exhaled deeply. His eyes sank closed.

At 7:31 on a Monday morning, he was doing lines off of the scuffed mahogany desk that his father had bought him for his studies after having run out of his brother’s medication to crush up.

Saturday night, after Aar— Drake had kept him company and used up a good bit of his good shit, he’d had that pit digging inside of him again— the one that he knew meant was the craving for more, more, more, even though he was higher than a kite.

He’d used it all once Drake had left.

Sunday, his father had apparently opened the notice that the school had sent two weeks ago regarding Donna’s performance in school. Though Donna chose to say that he made straight Cs, that much was a slight exaggeration, and his father had come in to berate him for his sixties and for his...twenty-seven (or twenty-nine? Somewhere around there) absences. He had said something along the lines of “damning his future”, tossed another pamphlet at him, said that if he didn’t straighten his act up, he was going to die in a ditch somewhere as a disgrace to the family name.

It was all stuff that he’d heard before, but it had been a while. It seemed as if Donna was such a fuck up that his father had finally had to speak with him again.

How impressively thoughtful of him, to “talk” to the son who he had said a maximum of one hundred words to over the past two months when all that Donna surely deserved was being ignored.

A small smile came onto his face. It was bittersweet, because Donna knew that, even though he was a fuck up, none of that mattered in the arms of the euphoria that he was slowly ascending to.

To the drugs, he was no different than his brother, who was no different some whore on the street.

Hard drugs loved him better than anyone else could because no one else could.

He sat for a long moment, until he could feel it all kicking in— the rush, the pulsing in his veins, the quick beating in his chest that thudded in his ears.

He slowly opened his eyes, looking at the shuttered window in front of desk with the fresh eyes of the comforting drug. Everything felt vivid. Though he could hardly smell, he could feel and hear and see more than everything. It was as if he had been seeing things at three percent capacity and the dial had been turned up to one-hundred.

He was awake, alert, and somewhat alive.

His smile cracked wider across his face.

Slam!

Donna flinched a blink. “Sh—…,” he started, glancing frantically around himself, but he trailed off when he realized that the noise was from outside of his room.

He breathed out a long breath. “…shit,” he finished in a dull voice.

It was probably just Chelsea, slamming around and being an asshole because that was his one personality trait just as being a fucking druggie was Donna’s.

Donna’s eyes moved to his phone, which rested on the corner of his desk, and he picked it up, clicking on the screen. The light burned his eyes, and he blinked another flinch before setting his eyes on the time.

7:44.

“Shit,” he stated.

He was going to be late.

It wasn’t like it mattered. It wasn’t like his attendance or late record wasn’t already fucked…

He didn’t even know what kept him going anymore.

He stood, though, and the world looked like it was captured through a high-definition camera. The edges of the objects in the image before his eyes smeared as he moved to put on his beaten-up, black backpack.

With a soft sigh, he looked back at the table, and he felt that familiar itch.

One more line.

“One more line,” he agreed, setting his bag back down, approaching his desk, and lowering himself into the chair once more.

One last line before he leaves.

• • • • •​

Donna’s truck was filled with the smoke from the cigarette between his fingers, and each cloud that the boy exhaled added to the cloudiness. Donna’s eyes glanced down to watch the speedometer’s number climb higher and higher as his hand moved to turn his music up, if such noise could be called music. It was ear-shredding-- electronic screeches and discordant guitar-thrashing with some pitch-shifted voices screaming about dying. It was shit that people on drugs would listen to— which made sense, since Donna was the one listening to it.

As he pulled up to the school, he didn’t care to slow down. He made his way towards his parking spot.

When he reached it and began to turn in, he realized that there was a shiny, dark blue vehicle in the place that should have been empty.

Chelsea. Chelsea had parked in his spot, and he had almost rear-ended him.

For a moment, he considered barreling forward and into his brother’s precious car, but, with a deep, slow exhale, Donna shifted into reverse and drove out of the spot, then shifted back into drive and steered his truck into a spot down the row somewhere. It was surely someone else’s spot, but Donna didn’t care to consider it. They could find another spot, if they must.

He opened his door and dropped the butt of his cigarette to the pavement, slipping on one strap of the backpack resting in his passenger seat. He slowly stepped out of his tall truck, not using the step for assistance, though it was a long way down.

He made his way to the cafeteria, posture as stiff as ever, though he was still riding the short high of the drugs that he had ingested before coming to school. The resting sour expression on his face remained as his eyes shifted around the faces of the people in the hallway. The details of everyone’s faces were so much sharper, and he could tell just how little they cared about everyone outside of themselves in even high definition.

He grabbed the breakfast plate as he passed the line, scowling slightly. He had no appetite whatsoever, and the bright yellowness of the eggs seemed plasticlike to him. He grabbed a fork as he passed the containers that held the utensils, though he wouldn’t be using it, and he made his way to the back of the cafeteria.

Why he had come here early enough for breakfast when he hadn’t been in four weeks was anyone’s guess. Even Donna didn’t even know. It seemed that he had just been compelled to, and that was all that there was to it.

He lowered himself into a seat at an empty table at the back of the cafeteria. It was darker back here, and much less noisy, and he had more discretion.

He hoisted his backpack into his lap, digging around inside until his hand closed on his vape pen. Deeply exhaling, he turned the power on, and then, hiding his head and the pen in his backpack, he breathed in a long drag from the pen and exhaled a cloud of vapor. It hit his binder and clouded out from there.

He looked up and around himself, studying the faces of the people in the distance.

In his drug-induced alertness, he could one again recall just why he despised being around people.

They all looked so fake.

His expression soured even further.

He was glad to be alone. At risk of sounding pretentious, others were such a fucking waste of his time.

mood
high & judgmental

location
the cafeteria

outfit
sweatshirt & sweatpants

playing...
fuck up

by gabriel black​

mentions
drake & chelsea

interactions
you'll see

tags
you'll see

º º code by ditto º º

 

[Winona]

Aristocrat by New Politics

Natalie

As anyone would've expected after seeing the treacherous events that Natalie had been objected to at the bonfire, she had had an absolutely wretched time. Not that it had surprised her, of course, seeing as how the Springers simply ruined everything that they touched or attended. Her own night had been cut short following her having to leave since someone had so rudely spilled his alcohol all over her.

Honestly. She wished to know exactly what she had done to deserve the ogling of... ugh... Katee... Nausbaum... like, seriously? Natalie may have not been the nicest person, but she had always given her old possessions to charity and hey, she'd even tossed a quarter at that man who'd been passed out in front of the coffee shop that one time. Surely, these small acts of kindness were enough to grant her immunity from... whatever he was.

And yes, she was choosing to ignore the many, many times that she had been less than stellar in the nice department.

Unfortunately, the universe seemed to not be in agreement with Natalie's take on the entire situation since it continually sent the little simping disaster her way. And continued to send it towards her because, apparently, no matter how many times she viciously tried to tear him down, he kept coming back. Like a... rat or something. He kind of looked like a rat, as well, so it was a fair assessment.

But, Natalie was nothing if not an optimist. Yes, she could paint that simple fake smile across her face, and she could arrive at school and put yet another horrible weekend behind her. There would be nothing that would be able to bring Natalie down, least of all a horrid little Bridger.

Besides, she needed to appear happy. Natalie, being the clearly star pupil that she was in Auburn Springs, had been selected for the beautiful opportunity to show a new girl around the school. Clearly, they had realized just how amazing the tour she'd given to Dani had been, so she'd been their first selection. Clearly. Like, trust her, that's definitely how it had gone down. It had nothing to do with them asking a few other people who hadn't wanted to do it, before settling on one Natalie Brannigan. No, she clearly had always been the first choice because, to be honest, who wouldn't put her first?

Now, Natalie headed towards the front of the school. Her gaze shifted across the people around the front of the office, until she caught sight of a girl that she didn't recognize -- and clearly, the girl didn't look like a Bridger, so by that assumption... she had to be Primrose. Ugh -- what a trashy name. The only thing worse than having a name after some kind of plant (hippie -- eww) was being named something trashy and tacky like, after a gemstone. You know, something that just absolutely screamed "Omg I'm destined to be a stripper like my whore mother" like... oh... Jade.

"Hello," Natalie greeted as she came to a stop in front of the girl and held out a hand. There was a pleasant smile painted across her face. "You must be Primrose, correct? Like the little girl from The Hunger Games?"

Ugh. Imagine having to be linked to the child that died because she was too "good." Dumb book.

"I'm Natalie Brannigan, I'm supposed to show you around the school." Her tone was just as pleasant as the smile that was so carefully painted across her face.

| mentions: Nut, Jade | interactions: Primrose| tags: Stardust Galaxy |

º º code by ditto º º

 

[Winona]

Angel with a Shotgun

Rory

Weekend? Not half bad. Rory had managed to keep Ian in one piece, so she always considered that to be a win. If her idiot little brother could make it out in one piece, Rory considered it to be an excellent day or weekend or whatever the fucking time frame might be. Yeah, her standards for fun and good were dangerously fucking low. But hey, if you were in the same place she fucking was with the same pessimistic attitude, your standards would be at that same low.

Either way, the bonfire had been pretty much a bust for her because she'd spent the whole time babyproofing and bubble-wrapping anything dangerous that Jade and Ian might come up with. She knew what Jade liked to say about her behind her back -- that she was boring, that she was this, blah, blah, but... Jade didn't have a little brother to try and keep out of trouble. As much as she might look like she gave a single fuck about Ian, she'd never put his safety first like Rory did. She just wouldn't because for Jade, the fucking thrill would always be over keeping in one piece and safe.

Naturally, as was easy to assume of the siblings, Rory had arrived to school with her little brother in tow. However, he was quick to take off after they'd shown up, and Rory was quick to go off in her own direction.

The twisting hallways of Auburn Springs were still incredibly unfamiliar to her, and Rory found herself having to halt at more than one interval so she could try and remember which way to go to her locker. Eventually, she solved the maze and managed to make it to her locker but, as was typical, she'd forgotten her combination -- so, several minutes later of cursing under her breath and the occasional palm smack into her locker... and Rory was finally in.

She shuffled through the books in her locker, occasionally glancing to one side or the other for a familiar face. Look, Rory didn't need anyone -- she liked to make that perfectly clear, because she did like to think of herself as an independent person -- but... the school was still unfamiliar, and Rory liked familiarity. Anything unfamiliar that was thrown at her made Rory feel like she had been thrown off her game, like she had lost her balance.

So the instant she saw Kelia round a corner, a relieved smile broke out of her face.

"Hey," she called out to her old friend, and she gestured with a hand for Kelia to come over to her locker. She relaxed a bit once Kelia was beside her because, yeah, one could say that Rory was almost always on some kind of edge. Rory was the kind of person that was consistently checking over their back, constantly waiting for whoever was going to be there to stab her in the back next.

Except that with Kelia, she didn't have that same fear. Instead, she could relax, because she knew someone had her back.

"You went to the bonfire, right?" Rory asked off-handedly as she grabbed a book out of her locker before slamming it shut and turned towards Kelia. "What managed to get you out of the house? Someone bribe you with extra credit, or...?" There was a teasing grin on her face as she leaned her shoulder against the locker.

| mentions: N/A | interactions: Kelia | tags: Xed |

º º code by ditto º º