Realistic or Modern The Kids Aren't Alright | Main

[0k_mang0]

HELLO

my name is

Colby

He couldn’t recall when he got inside the pickup truck and fell asleep. He did, however, remember feeling chilly lying on the cargo bed, and he might’ve had a rough landing from climbing out of it, judging by the few bruises on the left side of his arm and knee. His FU hoodie wasn’t enough to protect him from Parish Point’s nighttime weather, so drunk-Colby first thought blanket and remembered there was one neatly folded in the backseat of the truck. At least, he thought it was a blanket—yeah, he was sure it was. It was too soft and cozy to be an old, large coffee bean sack. Then again, he was too disorientated from intoxication to tell the difference.

He was having a strange dream involving a giant bowl of ramen noodles that suddenly grew arms and legs to wrestle with him and acted like a vintage cartoon villain that twirled its curled mustache, which was also on the side of its bowl. Before Colby could rip off that stupid mustache and drop an anvil on the evil ramen bowl, a thunderous bang from the real world interrupted the epic battle.

The first thing he felt was his already-bruised forearm slamming against the door when he quickly raised it, an impulse due to his fight-or-flight response when hearing a frighteningly loud, sudden sound. Ouch. His hand scrambled blindly for the interior door handle. He stumbled out, landing on his feet this time.

“I hate you,” he greeted the rude culprit, “and thanks.” She still gave him an offering. He chugged down his water bottle in one go, with the exception of 2 or 3 ounces left at the bottom.

Then one pressed his forehead against the cool metal of the truck’s body as he leaned against it for support. He made a low groaning sound for a moment, more out of annoyance from his last night’s stupidity rather than nauseous from his hangover. Well, maybe he was a tad nauseous. And the thumping headache wasn’t great either. At least he didn’t feel like on the verge of puking his liver out too much.

“I think i did something really stupid,'' Colby answered Maxine’s question, having a hint of remorse somewhere in his mumble. Running a hand over his short messy, bed (car seat) hair, he looked at his childhood friend, examining her appearance while squinting his eyes to lessen the fiendish glare of the early morning sun. He remembered seeing her wear the same outfit at the beach party. “I’ll tell you about it on the drive home. Where’ve you been all night anyway? You don’t look like you came from your place”

TAGS: with Maxine Dazzle ​

 

[Dazzle]

MOOD: dehydrated, tired, dead to the world

OUTFIT: yesterdays clothes, bags and bedhead

LOCATION: parking lot by the beach

basics

MENTIONS:
@korol
@LooneyLani

INT:
@mel0_mang0

tags

TL;DR Sed fermentum tortor nulla, vel sodales nibh bibendum eu. Maecenas a lacus a libero blandit commodo. In lobortis aliquam urna, id tempor ex semper at

tl;dr

Maxine Rhodes

she wears darkness, like some wear the little black dress

Maxine rolled her eyes smirking slyly as Colby sat up inside of his pick up. “Oh I know you love me.” She knew that the two of them were in relatively the same situation, both sleep deprived, hungover, dehydrated, with horrible bed head, and no good excuse to be wearing the same clothes except that they had both gotten too drunk to get home. Now that wasn’t a good end to a great night.

Maxine opened her water taking a few sips, over all she didn’t feel too horrible, otherwise she may have never made it to Colby’s car. But she was used to walking around town feeling incredibly groggy. There was a lot of times that Maxine would get drunk at her own place with friends or without, and then have to wander through town to get groceries because her mom had ‘forgotten’ to go shopping that week(spent her money on illegal substances..

“Well at least you’re being predictable.” Maxine chuckled, she could have let her mind wander with many of the stupid things that Colby could have done, but she waited for him to tell his story. “What stupid thing have you done now?” She raised her eyebrows inquisitively.

Maxine shrugged walking around the car climbing into the passenger seat of his truck. She threw her head against the head rest of the car. “Oh, wouldn’t you like to know.” She rolled her head to the side resting her chin on her shoulder. “Obviously, this is my walk of shame outfit.” She winked, biting the corner of her bottom lip.

She rolled her eyes, leaning her head back against the head rest looking out the front windshield of the car. “Unfortunately, the rest of my night probably compared to yours.” Maxine rolled her eyes. “It started out great.” Maxine smiled thinking about the kiss that her and Noemie had shared. “But then Isa decided to get involved in things she just didn’t need to be involved in.”

“Why does everyone have to put feelings behind a freaking drunken kiss.”

“They mean nothing.” Maxine huffed annoyed just thinking about how Isa tried to insert herself into a relationship that neither involved her nor was a relationship to be interested into.

Maxine realized from Colby’s confused look that he had no idea what Maxine as talking about. “Isa dragged me home and I passed out on Noemie’s floor.”

“Now I’m here.” Maxine narrowed her eyes, pointing a finger towards Colby. “So what happened to you?” She raised her eyebrows.

code by valen t.

 

[Dede]

Stu

​

Stu French did not sign up for this.

When he crawled out of bed this morning, tripping over his pyjamas, stubbing his toe on the door, it never crossed his mind that he would be casually talking with TWO girls. Hell, he had a hard enough time talking with one! And now there were two of them? TWO?

If he’d known, he would have spent a little while longer combing his hair, or putting on his dad’s cologne. He would have brushed his teeth at least twice or drank a whole bottle of mouthwash. He would definitely not be wearing his bright green Woody Woodpecker t-shirt. Of all the stupid things he could have put on!

Wait… You mean to tell me Stu was talking to TWO girls? Stu, Neck Tie the trash nugget? The garbage pail mormon? Stu, face like Tramp from Lady and the Tramp? That Stu? TWO girls?

He pinched himself and made sure it was no dream, and lo and behold, it wasn’t. Imagine if Oliver or Vered saw him right about now! How proud would they be of their friend. The one member of the nerd squad who legit actually made it. He was now a god among men. His name would go up in all the halls of fame. They would carve marble statues of him and tell his rags to riches story to all the little nerd kids for generations to come.

‘Y. . .yeah,’ he blurted an answer, fumbling for the zip of his jacket to cover up the happy bird on his shirt. ‘I carried in all the boxes. I put them. . . you know. . . in the kitchen. . . and um. . . yeah. It's all done, sooo. . . ooo.’

Oh no. He sounded just like that 'Have you ever had a dreams' kid from YouTube.

It did not help that the other girl was now talking to him too.

'Oh. . . um, I'm Stu!' he replied with a bright smile.

Here he stuck out a hand for a handshake and that felt so awkward that he quickly aborted the project and pretended to be combing his hair instead, and ended up just making a huge mess of his blonde head.

'Stu, like, you know, the mouse.'

Here he did what every rational person would do. He took half the muffin and hid behind it, nibbling endlessly so he didn’t have to say another word to the girls and so there were crumbs all over his face.

Elf_Ruler sunnieside

 

[erzulie]

mood

serene

location

soup kitchen

outfit

outfit!

tags

interactions: harper Dazzle
mentions: n/a

hyacinth

she’s made of sweet tea & poetry

Even when their parents finished their meals the kids continued to surround Hyacinth. Though now they were mostly talking amongst themselves rather than clamoring for her attention. The twins had managed to braid her hair in a lovely crown style, though they were disappointed that there hadn’t been anything to decorate it with. Little Elijah was awake now, having napped for quite a while in Hyacinth’s lap. And has he rubbed the sleep from his eyes she couldn’t help but to look down at him fondly. Children were such treasures.

Hyacinth was just about to move him in favor of giving someone else a turn when she was suddenly pumped into, or rather her chair was pumped into. The sound of a familiar voice caused her to gaze at the person, her usual dreamy smile graced her lips when she saw Harper. “Oh, hello Harper. It’s nice to see you.” The two of them knew each other through Sawyer but they weren’t really the closest. From the times that they’d interacted in the past Hyacinth viewed her as friend of a friend. “I’m well, thank you for asking. And yourself?”

At the topic of Sawyer she tilted her head a little. “Yes, I think that she’s coming here to help out. I’m not exactly sure when though.” Hyacinth then looked down to Elijah, who was eyeing Harper shyly. “This is Elijah. He comes here with his father sometimes. Say hello Eli…” She gently urged and in turn the boy waved at Harper. Hyacinth then noticed that the other children were also looking at Harper and began introducing them. “You can sit with us if you’d like. Maybe Sawyer will show us soon.”

nine lives

 

[Chimney Swift]

Oliver

location

The Church

mood

Disoriented

tags

tamarapasek

Ashley didn't know where Stu was, or if he was alright. She'd seen Vered's social media musings, but then again so had Oliver, and he didn't feel as though that was sufficient evidence that he'd made it out of the party unscathed.

That said, Oliver appreciated Ashley's honesty. She could've said something dismissive like 'I'm sure they're fine' or 'don't worry so much', which would have been deeply aggravating as well as possibly even more worrisome than the unvarnished truth. He briefly pondered whether he should thank her for her frank answer, but ultimately just nodded in silence.

If Stu was alright, he would almost certainly be here at the soup kitchen. After all, it was Stu's father who was running the program. Oliver supposed that he'd find out soon enough whether his friends were safe, but that left his other pressing question: whether Stu and Vered still wanted to be friends at all. Oliver had ample reason to believe he might have already blown his chances within a single day. Even with only foggy disorganized memories of the day, he knew himself well enough to realize that he was far from the most charismatic kid, and had probably made numerous strange mistakes and unusual reactions. From his awkward mannerisms to his limited capacity for speech, he had an exceptional ability to be too offbeat for even the most open-minded folk. Oliver was aware of this. He wouldn't be surprised or even particularly sore if Stu and Vered had already grown weary of him. All this in addition to the fact that he'd accidentally assaulted someone with a crab, then promptly pulled a knife and stabbed someone. It didn't matter much that the person at the receiving end of his blade was Ryan, who everyone hated. Similarly, it didn't matter that the circumstances of the stabbing made it clear that Oliver was acting out of self defense. None of it made a lick of difference, he thought. He had still made himself look completely unhinged.

Even if they had given up on being his friends, the least Oliver could do for them was pay off their shared debt to The Sleeping Hedgehog. He didn't care that Tatum had insisted she pay it off as an apology for drunkenly lambasting him. Oliver wanted to do it as an apology for causing so much anxiety and strife. Perhaps it would not be enough to save his first ever friendships. But if that were to be the case... it would be better, then. to part ways with an act of kindness. That was how he rationalized it, anyway.

"...There are a lot of us here," He thought out loud, leaning back into the wall as he gradually felt more dizzy staying on his feet. This would be a bad place to faint. His gaze wandered the room, a small flash of fear in his eyes as if he expected Ryan to come crashing through the door at any moment. "Everyone is tired, I think. I don't know why they all want to be here." He paused, pondering for a moment with his head tilted slightly to the side. "They're all friends, maybe. Friends do things collectively. Like ants--" He wasted not a second after this analogy, adding impulsively "--I hate ants.", thinking nothing of the implications of the extended simile. "...Ants are eusocial..." Now he'd completely derailed from his original point, unable to even remember where that thought had originated.

He looked visibly disturbed by his own confusion. His lower lip quivered, one hand unclenching from his pocket to pull at his hair. "Ashley... we're going back to school tomorrow, right?"

code by g o l d i e l o x x

Spoiler: Plain Text

Ashley didn't know where Stu was, or if he was alright. She'd seen Vered's social media musings, but then again so had Oliver, and he didn't feel as though that was sufficient evidence that he'd made it out of the party unscathed.

That said, Oliver appreciated Ashley's honesty. She could've said something dismissive like 'I'm sure they're fine' or 'don't worry so much', which would have been deeply aggravating as well as possibly even more worrisome than the unvarnished truth. He briefly pondered whether he should thank her for her frank answer, but ultimately just nodded in silence.

If Stu was alright, he would almost certainly be here at the soup kitchen. After all, it was Stu's father who was running the program. Oliver supposed that he'd find out soon enough whether his friends were safe, but that left his other pressing question: whether Stu and Vered still wanted to be friends at all. Oliver had ample reason to believe he might have already blown his chances within a single day. Even with only foggy disorganized memories of the day, he knew himself well enough to realize that he was far from the most charismatic kid, and had probably made numerous strange mistakes and unusual reactions. From his awkward mannerisms to his limited capacity for speech, he had an exceptional ability to be too offbeat for even the most open-minded folk. Oliver was aware of this. He wouldn't be surprised or even particularly sore if Stu and Vered had already grown weary of him. All this in addition to the fact that he'd accidentally assaulted someone with a crab, then promptly pulled a knife and stabbed someone. It didn't matter much that the person at the receiving end of his blade was Ryan, who everyone hated. Similarly, it didn't matter that the circumstances of the stabbing made it clear that Oliver was acting out of self defense. None of it made a lick of difference, he thought. He had still made himself look completely unhinged.

Even if they had given up on being his friends, the least Oliver could do for them was pay off their shared debt to The Sleeping Hedgehog. He didn't care that Tatum had insisted she pay it off as an apology for drunkenly lambasting him. Oliver wanted to do it as an apology for causing so much anxiety and strife. Perhaps it would not be enough to save his first ever friendships. But if that were to be the case... it would be better, then. to part ways with an act of kindness. That was how he rationalized it, anyway.

"...There are a lot of us here," He thought out loud, leaning back into the wall as he gradually felt more dizzy staying on his feet. This would be a bad place to faint. His gaze wandered the room, a small flash of fear in his eyes as if he expected Ryan to come crashing through the door at any moment. "Everyone is tired, I think. I don't know why they all want to be here." He paused, pondering for a moment with his head tilted slightly to the side. "They're all friends, maybe. Friends do things collectively. Like ants--" He wasted not a second after this analogy, adding impulsively "--I hate ants.", thinking nothing of the implications of the extended simile. "...Ants are eusocial..." Now he'd completely derailed from his original point, unable to even remember where that thought had originated.

He looked visibly disturbed by his own confusion. His lower lip quivered, one hand unclenching from his pocket to pull at his hair. "Ashley... we're going back to school tomorrow, right?"

 

[Dazzle]

MOOD: depressed/distant

OUTFIT: outfit

LOCATION: Church

basics

MENTIONS:
@Iskolde

INT:
@le reveur

tags

TL;DR Sad harper coming home after party @ soup kitchen

tl;dr

Harper Anderson

when you wear a mask for so long, you forget who is behind it.

“It’s nice to see you too.” Harper kept a small smile on her face, it was rare to see her without one most days, even after tough nights. She did not know Hya well, but she knew she was overall a good person. Plus, if Sawyer was going to have her around more often, she might as well get to know her. “I’m good.” She nodded answering Hya’s question. She was fine, wasn’t she? Nothing new was happening, going to the hospital was tough, but Hayden had said the kid would be okay. That should have relieved her anxiety.

“Oh good...” Harper pondered how she had ran off from Sawyer when she saw Hayden carrying Oliver off the beach. “I had to leave a bit early from the party, I think though most people left after what happened.” Her voice trailed off thinking about how if Ryan had decided to fight Hayden, he may have been in the hospital himself. Harper hated the idea of any of her family members going back to the hospital. She was always scared someone would never come back out.

Harper noticed how shy Eli was towards her, she understood of course. Meeting new people was tough, even for her. “It’s very nice to meet you Eli, I love that name.” She pressed her hands into her knees standing back up, her legs tingled from the lack of blood flow getting to her toes. “I can see you are all very fond of princess Hya here.” A smirk grew on Harper’s face, she could tell the kids were very fond of Hya and enjoyed the attention she gave them.

“Did you kids enjoy your meals?” She smirked looking at the cleaned apple trays across the table. “I can tell you must have hated the pies.” She laughed. “You didn’t even leave a scrap for the mice.”

Harper placed her hands on her hips. “Anyways... I haven’t heard from her since last night, so I was hoping maybe you had… You guys are pretty close right?” Harper didn’t want to push too much, but she did wonder how Hya felt about Sawyer, she was almost sure that they had similar feelings for each other. But Sawyer was easier to read than Hya, Sawyer had been Harper’s best friend. So, it was easy for Harper to tell when Sawyer was speaking the truth or just trying to be too cool for school.

Harper shook her head. “Thank you for the offer though.” Harper wasn’t exactly looking to sit down for a long conversation. Had she not walked into Hya’s chair she would have avoided her all together. Harper leaned her hands into the back of the chair in front of her.

code by valen t.

 

[Dazzle]

MOOD: Content

OUTFIT: outfit

LOCATION: Park

basics

MENTIONS:
NA

INT:
@TexasKingPin

tags

TL;DR Sed fermentum tortor nulla, vel sodales nibh bibendum eu. Maecenas a lacus a libero blandit commodo. In lobortis aliquam urna, id tempor ex semper at

tl;dr

Astraea Dupante

there are so many beautiful reasons to be happy....

The left-over wind from the storm the evening before left Astaea feeling at peace… She always loved a good storm, listening to the thunder and lightening that was sent down by the God Zeus. Her parents always told her it meant that Zeus was angry and that he had a message for the mortals on earth. Now, Astraea loved Greek Mythology as much as her parents did, but her parents truly believed in the gods and their religion. When she was younger, she followed their faith blindly, but now that she was older, she was not so sure that her parents view of religion was true.

Astraea’s parents woke her up early the next morning, ignoring the knowledge that school had been canceled once again because of the damage the storm had caused. Astraea did not mind though; it gave her a great reason to be out of the house and away from her parents. Complete freedom, the school would not call her parents due to her missing attendance, and her parents would have no reason to assume she was not there herself.

Astraea shoved her hands into her pockets, distracting herself from the loud noises inside her head telling her how to be. How she would never be good enough, how she needed to keep trying to be better, only for her parents’ sake. But then, her own thoughts clouded those, how she was good enough, how she believed her parents should accept her for who she is. Not who they wanted her to be.

She did the only thing she knew would bring her peace, a walk through the park. Astraea could listen to the birds chirping, and kids playing. Watching everyone enjoy life and their time off away from the craziness that was any other day at Parish.

Astraea spread out her arms to the side, feeling the wind hit the underside of her arms, closing her eyes as her hair surrounded her face. She felt as if she could take off and fly away from this place. Far, far away from Parish Point.

It was in that moment that Astraea was pulled from her fantasies of flying away and brought back town to earth by a little voice that called to her. “are you a princess?” She asked.

Astraea opened her eyes to see a little girl standing below her, her eyes softened, and a small smile appeared upon her face. Astraea bent down, resting a hand on her knee she brought the other to her lips as to tell the girl to stay silent. “Shh, you mustn’t give me away.” Astraea’s smile grew.

“Now, how did you know.” She whispered quietly dropping her hand to rest on her knee. “You must be a princess yourself.” Astraea raised her eyebrows. “No one else been able to tell my secret.” A smile continued to play on her lips.

“My name is Astraea.” She held her hand out to the little girl. “Now what is your’s fellow princess?” The blue-eyed child’s eyes bore into her soul. They were so kind, and full of innocence. There was no chance of her ever upsetting her parents because she was not perfect. “Now, where are your parents.” Astraea stood up from her kneeling position.

“Or” Astraea said more quietly.


“Your king and queen from where you reign.” Astraea smirked, looking over the crowd of people in the park. She wondered where this little girl had wandered off from. “Come, I say we find them.” Astraea held out her hand to the little girl. “I bet your family is looking for you.”

code by valen t.

 

[Soap]

Jen & Evie

“This is stupid. I don’t want to serve dumb homeless people food, they already have people for that!”

“You should’ve thought about that before you lied to me.”

Jen wasn’t a bad mother, but right now Evie was seriously wishing she’d been adopted to oblivious parents. One of those Dave and Karens ™ if you will. But no, because her mother had to be so incredibly lonely and love her or whatever enough to keep her. Alright, just thinking like that felt a little wrong. If there was anyone Evie didn’t insult, it was her mother. In a incredibly embarrassing way — Jen was Evie’s best friend.

“I wouldn’t of cared if you’d just told me the truth.” Jen said, sighing and tapping the edge of the steering wheel, glancing over at Evie exasperatedly, her gaze softened when the younger girl sunk into her chair even further.

“I was! It’s not mine.” Evie crossed her arms, turning her head towards the window of the car. Her mother had been convinced the weed pen she’d found in Evie’s room was indeed, hers.

Look, she didn’t steal it from Ivy. She legitimately forgotten to return it to her, and now she was paying for it because Jen had suddenly lost all trust in Genevieve. And she’d be lying if she wasn’t showing her hurt through anger. Her mother had the annoying tendency to know when Evie’s lying, but her radar was... completely off here.

“I asked you, if you smoked it— not if it was yours.”

Evie didn’t reply.

Who the hell would admit to incriminating yourself? She was pleading the fifth here.

“You can trust me, I don’t know why you feel like you can’t anymore.”

There was plenty reasons why.

But they both weren’t about to throw it all out in the open.

~~

They arrived at the church and Evie wanted nothing more than to run the opposite direction. They were never really religious, and the people who were... were really weird sometimes. And it’s not as though Evie’s judging because she genuinely just... doesn’t care.

Jen on the other hand... she was raised to believe. But the more things went south, the more she didn’t believe there was a point to keeping faith in something that didn’t help.

Back then, Jen had nobody. Not her parents, not Evie’s father, not God. And it felt pointless to wait around for a blessing that wasn’t gonna come. And so, it was a little odd to step into a church again after so many years.

With a glance around, Jennifer’s gaze landed on a priest. Both hands were placed on Evie’s shoulders as they approached.

“Hey, I’m Jen.” Jennifer held a hand out to the priest with a grin, before introducing her daughter.

“And this, is Evie. She’s gonna be helpin’ out today. Anywhere you need her in particular?”

Evie let out a disgruntled hmph. Doing her best to avoid eye contact. Priests always freaked her out. Wasn’t sure why, they just had that creepy aura.

Maybe it was all those stories she’d read on reddit.

location

the church

tags

Martin, Dede

coded by natasha.

 

[sunnieside]

mood

pukey

location

soup kitchen

outfit

ootd

tags

Elf_Ruler Tatum; Dede Stu

juliet everett

Juliet really hoped the muffin and water made Tatum feel better, she did not look good. If the drinking from last night made Juliet a vomiting mess, then it probably made Tatum just the same or maybe even worse. The throbbing headache was still there and Juliet remembered she needed to continue drinking more water to feel better. That’s what Google told her she should do. Google also told her that Pedialyte works wonders but she was in such a hurry this morning to get to the soup kitchen, she didn’t have time to stop by the store. Maybe next time... if there is a next time. God, being hungover is the worst. Why would anyone want to get drunk knowing they would feel awful the next day? Maybe everyone who likes getting drunk is a masochist.

Juliet ran her hand through her hair, not knowing what else to say to Tatum to make her feel better. They don’t really know each other, so can she say she has Tatum’s back? Is that too far? Juliet paused, “I know we haven’t known each other long, but if you need anything I’m here!”

God, what an embarrassing thing to say. Juliet quickly switched her attention to the other boy who stated that his name was like the mouse from a movie. “...like Ratatouille?” Juliet asked incredulously. Well..he did seem like a mouse because of how he was nibbling on the muffin while getting crumbs on his face. Was there a Stu in Ratatouille? Juliet never really liked the movie, especially since there was a strange, romantic undertone between the rat and the chef. Or is she mixing that up with The Bee Movie? Juliet never watched a lot of popular movies or shows as a child, she mainly watched Korean dramas. Boys Over Flowers? Overrated. City Hunter? Super good, made her cry (Lee Min Ho did an excellent job in City Hunter compared to Boys Over Flowers). Those had enough drama to entertain her while her doting parents were off stimulating themselves to relieve their boredom. Sometimes, she wished they would spend time with her. Juliet sighed, she wasn’t sure why she was thinking these negative thoughts about her parents as of late. But it’s no matter, she’s making new friends at a new town and her parents aren’t threatening to move to a new place spontaneously.

Oh no, the three of the kids have been standing here doing nothing. She looked around to try to see where they could fit themselves in. Could they play with children? Probably not, Juliet felt like she could hurl at any moment. What if she was awkwardly playing with a little girl like ring-around-the-rosie and suddenly Juliet vomits on the girl from spinning too much? How about serving? Many people were already finishing up their meals, so the serving team probably didn’t need the extra hands. Maybe the cleanup team needs the extra help? Juliet turned towards Tatum and Stu, “Do you guys want to help clean up? It looks like the soup kitchen is almost done feeding people.”

It doesn’t really matter if they wanted to go or not, it would be really nice if they did. Juliet did want to get to know Tatum and Stu a bit more. Honestly, she wanted to get to know this town more. There seems to be a strange tension amongst the citizens. Also, Juliet would be right next to a trash can if she randomly felt like vomiting, so maybe cleaning up is something she is needed at.

Also... was that the Harris boys hiding under the tables eating a pot of soup?

coded by reveriee

 

[lion.]

MOOD: sucky

OUTFIT: -

LOCATION: Beach

basics

MENTIONS:
Elf_Ruler a z u l a

INT:
erzulie

tags

TL;DR

tl;dr

Zachary Lee

Surf's up.

About time you left too, Browne.

Zachary Lee gave an abrupt, wistful laugh into the stout of his palms, covering his eyes that singly absorbed the destitute grey walls rather than the ranges of the sun that lodged on the back of his window. It was mundane to wake up in the same bed on a daily basis, but it was another condition of noticing the deficiencies in the color of his walls. How grey they were—they could be the inverted color of his blue eyes dried by the fibers of a rough towel or the defiled silver of a smoking bullethole. Still, something like that was a minor pain to Lee. The note she left behind stung more because it meant that she remembered her three-letter confession from last night.

It was Tatum Browne’s handwriting alright; his index finger bent with the loops in her scribbles to the indents which she signed off with. He tore the note afterwards, letting the pieces scramble on his crumpled covers, and outwards for the carpet.

How are you staying, Tatum? How do you love without feeling like you’re not in pieces?

The mailbox of Andromeda Baker clunked as Zachary Lee snapped the lever closed.

It was custom for Zachary Lee to drop in a Capri Sun pouch of apple juice for his best friend. It wasn’t a word-class drink. Undertaken in the matter of money, it was downright, insultingly cheap. It receipted for less than three crinkled dollars. Artificial and gauzed of plastic that was far too reflective, it ostracized itself from the mailbox’s brigade of envelopes. But, he knew his best friend. Zach believed that in a quarter from the present, the strawberry-head would take a lane down her driveway. She’d hold up a facade of lacking expressions, and while thinking, produce a violent stab of yellow straw into the opening. Then, her impression would round her mouth to the smallest of smiles. That lifted his dejected state slightly.

The Soup Kitchen was full sooner than anyone had imagined. Off and on, people flocked on the quartz floor, bandying about in flour-coated aprons, hands mitted of ingredients and utensils. Children skipped in their play, some tagging behind the knees of idly standing adults in conversation. Zachary Lee was unimportant here. His head rotated on a charm of consideration, encountering AJ’s sister Josie in the process who was preoccupied with tasks. A glimpse of blonde and she disappeared into the kitchen. Hesitating, he wondered whether the two had spoken. What did he care?

Zach decided to make himself immediately purposeful in desperate hopes to avoid both his thoughts and Tatum. Somewhere in between the crossways of crowds, someone handed him an extra chair to return to the pantry for the meantime. He was in his own well of thoughts, gripping the chair white, while absently moving it into the steeple of his arm. In the episode of the drop-off, he was only half-aware of the door hushing close like the pages of his story not too long ago.

“Fancy seeing you here,” he was pointedly communicative, when Aisha Abdella imposingly turned around with a clipboard, “I was wondering how long it would take for us to meet like this again.”

One could never easily understand Aisha; she was a figure of secrets like cards that unpredictably flipped to aces and sired kings to queens. In physicality, Aisha Abdella was proof of vehmenance in all that was divine. The way she fixed him a look, Zachary Lee would have been way beneath the brown in her eyes.

He went for the door, incurring punishment in the stiffening of his bones. He wasn’t afraid of her death trap. He feared his memories. Twisting the knob, he pulled on the door, but it didn’t pull back.

They were stuck.

He rattled the door again subtly.

A series of years back, on a humid July evening, Zachary Lee’s call log brightened with an incoming call from Aisha. He had been home with the most popular girl of Hartfield, none other than Tatum Browne who back then had just become a new friend of his. His thumb swiped, and Aisha Abdella was gone as quick as the notification. Meanwhile, Aisha that night.

And, he knocked on the door again, almost impatiently.

Sunday’s church had a moral prospect of making him blink to the Zach in his bathroom mirror that night. He was mounted afresh with something darker beyond the surface when he had answered her call hurriedly with, “I just can’t tonight, Aisha. And, you’re about a hour away.”

Aisha’s voice muffled through the line.

“I’m not home.” He definitely was, but he finally had gotten a date with Tatum Browne.

His last words had been, “I get it. My fucking fault, but can’t you be okay for one night?!” Then, he ended it.

Tatum had asked if he was alright. The liar in the mirror took over with a simper and assurance that everything was fine.

The door didn’t budge.

Zachary Lee shifted to lean his back against the door defeatedly, and wincing to a grin to make plain the obvious. “What do you know, we have all the time in the world to talk!”

code by valen t.

 

[erzulie]

mood

upsetti spaghetti

location

soup kitchen pantry

outfit

outfit!

tags

interactions: zach lion.
mentions: n/a

aisha

too glam to give a damn

Amir had been in and out of the pantry for a while now, continuing to stock despite her threats of punching him. Admittedly Aisha could see why he wasn’t intimidated into stopping, her punches hadn’t actually hurt him since they were younger and he wasn’t the size of a tree yet. So Aisha had just continued on with her counting, bickering with him every now and then when he came in. She had only been half listening when he’d said something about taking a break to go and look forHyacinth. Knowing their cousin she could have wandered off somewhere like she tended to do. Aisha didn’t understand why he was worried though, at least they were at a church full of people rather than the forest around their houses. Aisha remembered how worried they’d been when she up and disappeared, only to come back with flowers in her hair and a sleepy look on her face. A small smile made its way onto her face as she thought out her scatterbrained cousin who always seemed to have her head in the clouds. That sweet smile dropped when she heard footsteps however.

She turned around slowly, fully expecting to see her brother standing before her. Aisha could only stare in utter contempt when she was met with the sight of Zachary Lee. Her eyes narrowed as she stared him down, saying nothing when he spoke. She could feel a range of negative emotions building within her the longer she looked at him and it showed in the way she gripped the clipboard in her hands. A dark type of satisfaction shone in her eyes as he headed for the door. He was clearly trying to escape her and she couldn’t say that she was surprised, being the utter coward that he was. But that satisfaction was short lived, crushed when he noticed that he was crying to open the door. The door that he had let close, the same door that she had been told was broken.

Aisha could only hope and pray that he managed to get the door open, let him be useful for once in his life. But no, the door didn’t budge and now he was gazing at her with that stupid smile on his face. And to think at one point she had admired it. “You…” Aisha took a moment to compose herself by closing her eyes and taking a deep breath. They were on church grounds and she couldn’t let the words in her head come out of her mouth because they were anything but holy. “Talk? The last thing that I would want to do is talk with you. Nothing you say is worth heading, Lee.” She hissed, taking a few steps towards him.

“I can’t believe this. This is what I get for helping out. Of course, of course you’d be the one to show up and mess things up. It seems like that’s the only time that you actually show up.” The look on her face was one of anger and something else, something sadder even but it was gone in a flash. Aisha turned on quickly, she needed to focus on something else other than him or there was no telling what she would do. After their falling out she had cut ties with him just like that, she hadn’t needed to explain why because he knew. “Just...go stand in the corner and look at the wall or something. I have food to count.”

nine lives

 

[erzulie]

mood

worried

location

soup kitchen

outfit

outfit!

tags

interactions: harper Dazzle
mentions: n/a

hyacinth

she’s made of sweet tea & poetry

“Oh yes, I didn’t see much but it’s always sad when people fight. I hope that no one was hurt too bad.” Thinking back to the fight made her frown. She hadn’t seen much because she and Amir had been heading home but from what she’d heard it was bad. Hyacinth really hoped that they managed to work out their differences. Maybe if they sat down over tea and talk things out they could learn to get along. While Hyacinth was lost in her thoughts the children were speaking with Harper, letting her know that they did enjoy their meals. It was the sound of them talking that pulled her from her thoughts.

“Oh, I’m sorry. I seemed to have floated away for a moment.” Hyacinth had managed to catch what Harper was saying. She was more than sure that the her Harper was referring to was Sawyer. At the mere mention of her name Hyacinth’s smile brightened and her eyes held adoration. “Really? Well, I left with Amir last night so I’m not too sure. Maybe she’ll show up a little later?” Hyacinth moved a little as Elijah climbed out of her lap. With a final head pat she focused all of her attention on Harper.

“Yes, we’re very close. Sawyer is my closest friend in fact. We’ve been friends for a very long time and I love spending time with her. I can only hope that she feels the same way. Why do you ask? Did she say anything?” Hyacinth thought back to the conversation she’d had with Noemi and worried. Sawyer was someone she thought highly of and she didn’t want the other girl thinking that she didn’t care for her.

nine lives

 

[tamarapasek]

Ashley let out a sigh, very regretful that she couldn’t say something happier. Like ‘Not only are Stu and Vered alive, but Ryan and Colby decided to move out of town!”


The main thing that worried her was Oliver’s lack of response. She didn’t like it when people were stoic. In fact she loathed it. But she couldn’t exactly order him to start showing more emotion so she could be more comfortable.

It drove her insane. He was just standing there, and he could be thinking anything and she’d have no clue what it was. It was like living with both her parents all over again. Things felt wrong, but they insisted it was alright and she had no clue what was true. Those 11 years had given her enough reason to hate stoicism for the rest of her life, and she just had to stand there and watch Oliver do nothing and hope that whatever was going on either wasn’t too bad, didn’t hurt anyone, or made him think less of her.

Oh fudge why did she start thinking about him thinking less of her? Now she couldn’t stop thinking that he saw right through her. Maybe it was self absorbed to assume he was thinking of her, but what else could there be?

"Hmmmm?" She said once more., absolutely relieved to hear him talking again. But now she had the difficult task of keeping up with him. For the longest time she didn’t say anything in response, and only replayed his statement in her head. People were tired. They had friends. He hates ants. “Some people are naturally helpful, and some like you said are hanging out with their friends. Maybe they’re eurocentric like ants!” She replied, with a satisfied grin as if she had actually got the word right.

Her face softened, as Oliver began to fidget again. She felt like she had to activate some kind of ‘mother mode’ but she wasn’t sure how. Hugging him was out of the question, telling him it would be fine was unhelpful, and she didn’t know him enough to think of what else to do. So she answered again as honestly as she could. “I think so. There’s no reason why they wouldn’t make us go back right?”

Chimney Swift

 

[Chimney Swift]

MOOD: Uncomfortable


LOCATION: The Church

basics

MENTIONS:


INT:
tamarapasek

tags

TL;DR Oliver continues to squirm around and try to make conversation. Maybe they should go get an assignment from Josie...

tl;dr

Oliver Dreyfuss

The quietest people have the loudest minds

“There are lots of reasons why we couldn't go back.” Oliver hastily retorted Ashley's attempt at reassurance. "I-If the power lines went down, if the water main broke, if, uh-- the building itself was damaged... somehow..." He fell quiet again for a moment, teeth pulling at his lower lip, still repetitively coiling his dark hair around his fingers. "What if..." he started a thought, but didn't finish it. Almost as soon as he'd started speaking, he failed to figure out how to communicate what was on his mind. He tried again: "Maybe I don't want th-- ..." still nothing. Did he even know what he was trying to say? Perhaps it was something better left unsaid.

His hollow, glassy eyes turned back to Ashley for the first time since they started talking. For a long moment, he studied her up and down with nervous attention. She looked... he didn't really have a gauge on how she was feeling. It wasn't a simple adjective, to say the least. He tried to break it down in his head, the way one of his teachers at school had taught him to when he didn't know how someone was feeling. Good or Bad? Probably bad. He felt bad, and couldn't help but project that onto everyone else. Sad, Angry, Afraid? Okay, the more specific he got the more confused he was. He guessed Afraid, but it didn't fit quite right. Wary? Apprehensive? Concerned?

He couldn't shake the feeling that she was scared of him after last night. Maybe that was it... how she was feeling. It didn't occur to Oliver at all that she might have concern for him, rather than her own safety.

Lowering his eyes once more, he pulled his hand from his hair and held his arms lightly over his chest, careful so as not to cause any further hurt to his fractured ribcage. "We should go help." He stammered softly, unsure if anything he was doing was intimidating her. He was no stranger to people being uncomfortable with him, but usually because they thought he was weird, not dangerous.

He wanted her to stay with him, if she wasn't too afraid. After last night, he didn't feel safe being alone in a crowd. It felt too much like the party, where his friends left his side for five minutes, and...

"--what are we even doing?" He blurted out very suddenly, his shaky voice inflecting an odd cadence. He flinched back as if expecting to be hit in the face. "There's a lot... I mean... everyone is doing different things. Where-- wh-who do we talk to?" The thought of having to approach someone else to ask for an assignment twisted Oliver's stomach in knots.

code by valen t.

 

[r e i]

ISABELLA ALEJA EDISON-ROSE

mood: hurting + location: soup kitchen + outfit: xxx + tags: Soap Chimney Swift Dazzle @LooneyLani

Isa woke up cuddled into Nomi who was still fast asleep. She looked at Nomi who was sleeping peacefully beside her, Noemie came in a time where Isa thought that the only people who would ever care about her was Tatum, her mum, Maxine, and Max. She was content with that then Noemie came in and changed everything. With Noemie, she found a best friend that didn't need her to speak her feelings out, she just was there for her. Isa would just come over and cuddle with Nomi, and there would be no questions ask and nothing said between the two of them. It was something that she needed and still does especially after last night, after she managed to drag Maxine and Nomi away from the party. Liz had someone walk Max to them. Once she checked to make sure that she had all of the people she needed to have, she drove out of the beach. Once she dropped off Josie, she headed to Noe's big ass house and got everyone in their beds.

Maxine and Max fell on the floor next to each other. Isa didn't even bother trying to put them in beds. She tried with Max and he just fell to the floor again. Once she made sure that they were alright, she laid in bed with Nomi who had already fallen asleep but instinctively cuddled into Isa after she laid down. It took her an hour or two to get to sleep. She was just thinking about how she really fucking hated change. Noemie and Maxine kissing shouldn't have bothered her this much but it did. It did to the point that she was up thinking about it. Maybe because it was unpredictable. She honestly didn't know what was that, and she didn't know how to handle it. It was obvious that to both of them it didn't matter but to someone like Liz, it did. Isa may be quiet but she was observant, she knew the reason that Liz didn't want Isa to come towards them was that she would have brought Noemie and seeing your ex right after they kissed someone else isn't the best thing. That was the thought she had right before she fell asleep.

She carefully got out of the bed, and headed towards the kitchen, grabbing water. She glanced at the clock and saw that it was early but she didn't want to go back to bed. Isa just decided to leave the house, once she got dressed in clothes that she leaves here, just in case she crashes there. She left Nomi's house, heading to her car, her phone dinged and she saw that Sunny had texted her. She looked at it and didn't reply. She didn't feel like dealing with any human beings right now. She looked at her phone again and saw that Liz offered to take her out to smash cars. She agreed immediately feeling relief that she gets to release this anger she had ever since this morning. She went to her house first, climbing in through the window as to not wake up her mother. Grabbing some supplies that she needed for Liz from her hiding place and some clothes as she needed to disappear for a few days. She was going to stay with an old buddy of hers, a fellow drug dealer but one who always watched out for her. She went out of the window again, getting into the car.

Isa then saw that Maxine was online, which lead to an argument. She slammed her car door in anger and decided that she needed to get drunk. She was about to go and get some liquor when she remembered that she made a promise to Sunny that she'll show up for the soup kitchen. She sighed, texting Liz to pick her up at the soup kitchen, she'll let her know when she's ready to go. She pulled out of the driveway, heading towards her friend's place, parking once she gets there. She gets into his apartment and just drops off her stuff. Isa jus waves hi to him, he knows that she was staying for a minute. It happens a lot when she doesn't want to be found and no one knew about her friendship with him. Isa was just a few blocks from the church so she walked there.

Once she's there, she goes in and tries to spot Sunny. Not thinking how mad she would be at her, for skipping out on the ride this morning.

coded by natasha.

 

[Elf_Ruler]

Tatum could tell that Stu was more than a little nervous and granted she had to pretend like she didn’t notice, because noticing would make things worse. Sure, the muffin helped but mostly Tatum felt more than a little stressed, not because of Stu and Juliet but because of Zach. She had to push her anxieties down, feel nothing and act as if she was the perfect Tatum everyone knew. The popular girl who had it all figured out even with a hangover. Tatum couldn’t help but giggle at how Stu had introduced himself. A mouse was not the direction she had expected but a small giggle had left her lips, and another when Juliet had compared him to Ratatouille. It wasn’t meant to be funny but that didn’t mean Tatum wasn’t going to find it at least a little humorous.

“I think you’d make a good mouse.” She teased a little. Should she have teased the poor boy? Probably not, but he was from Parish after all she could poke him just a little make him feel a little more flustered than he already was. For now, it had been the best distraction she could have. Take her mind off of her own problems and feel the small morsel of joy that Stu was giving her. It felt nice to be around others who didn’t know her that well, sure they probably knew of her and her reputation. The town was small, and reputations were something you got stuck with but these two. These two were a nice change of pace for her, a breath of fresh hair, the needed joy in the dark moment of her life.

Her broken smile had shown through to Juliet, “Jules, let’s go clean up. I appreciate the offer of having my back. I’m good right now, just hungover. Water and food definitely help. You going to join us Stuart Little? Or do you have better company?” she gave the boy a wink if only to fluster him once more. Something about those who were flustered by girls or really anyone brought Tatum fun. And Stu had just delivered her a new form of fun. Something, more like someone she hadn’t dealt with in a long time. Awkward boys had been something of her past but Stu, could be the awkward boy of her present. He was young and he had a lot of learning to do. Tatum hoped she hadn’t pushed him away with her jokes.

Dede sunnieside

 

[PenguinFox]

The party went pretty much the opposite of what Lulu had both hoped and expected it to be. She had spent most of it dancing by herself on the very outskirts of the beach. While she didn't really mind that, the fact was she could have done that at home. The Woods girl had been hoping to find out what the appeal of parties was; and so far she still didn't get it. It appeared to her to be mostly just people talking. Surely that could be done anywhere, right? What made parties so special? Dancing? Again, could be done anywhere. As Lulu saw it the only thing that stopped people from dancing at any point in time was their own self consciousness about made up social rules. Perhaps it was the social rules themselves that secured interest in parties. Perhaps parties were designated places for certain social norms to be set aside for a period of time, allowing for people to feel more free.

That conclusion drew a mixed reaction from Lulu. On the one hand she was satisfied that she may have figured out her conundrum, and happy for others to be able to 'let loose' as some might say. On the other; if her conclusion was accurate it meant that she herself would never be able to derive the same enjoyment from parties as most. If the appeal of parties such as this was the setting aside of social norms and the act of doing so being a special occasion...well Lulu already did that in her day to day life. There were many things that she did that others may consider faux pas. She didn't care of others looked at her weird for dancing in the middle of the grocery store. If she wasn't hurting anyone and it made her happy, then darn it why shouldn't she do it?!

The other disappointing part of the party for Tallulah was that she never saw Graham. She had specifically invited him in hopes of helping to bring him out of his shell and so she could spend time with her friend but it didn't appear that he showed up. It was possible Lulu just didn't see him but either way it was disappointing. In fact most of her evening was spent alone. It wasn't until about halfway through that she met up with Madi. Lulu was quite fond of Madi's company. She didn't ever judge Lulu or look down on her like other children of old wealth did. She was a good person and sympathized with her about the younger's feelings towards her mother's plots.

At some point, when people began dispersing, the two girls also retired for the night and returned home. Lulu bid farewell to the spirits of the beach but promised a return. Once she had finally arrived back in her home she found that her mother was in the parlor, presumably on the phone with some client. The daughter briefly wondered if her mother had even noticed her absence. The answer was likely no. Amalia had two moods when she even was home; being to busy to notice Lulu's existence, and helicoptering and scrutinizing over her every move.

Lulu quietly made her way to one of her favorite rooms in the house; the sunroom. She knelt down into the middle of the floor and looked out and up into the night sky. She meditated on the day's events, processing each memory and neatly storing them away in her mind. She carefully considered the emotions that each moment brought and analyzed whether the response was appropriate or not. The brunette believed it was imperative to one's mental health and happiness to be mindful of one's emotions and if they were rational and reasonable. Lulu noted that the party had caused many emotions to arise and more of them were negative than positive. She worried extensively about why she didn't see Graham. Had he decided against going without informing her? She wouldn't mind if he had decided against it, but the idea that he didn't tell her hurt. The other possibility was that something happened to him, and that thought wasn't good to entertain either. Hazel eyes flicked closed for a moment and she took a deep breath to calm the torrent of energies within herself. She was okay with having high amounts of positive energy, but her mother had ingrained in her that it was better to have 'minimal energies'. It wasn't 'becoming' or 'lady like' to have emotions too high in either direction and the excess should be suppressed. Eyelids fluttered back open and Lulu smoothed out her sundress that had crinkled around her knees. Sleep would surely help process everything. Before leaving the conservatory she gave a polite curtsy to the plants. "Thanks for your company." she said softly before heading upstairs and going to bed.

~

The next morning Lulu's hypothesis was proven correct; she felt much better about everything. She tentatively sent out a message to Graham while she prepared for the day. Her morning routine involved tending to all the plants in the house, but when she went to the kitchen her heart dropped, almost as fast as her watering pot. She rushed out the sliding glass door to the patio and fell to her knees next to her juniper bonsai tree. Her hand delicately reached out and patted the wilting branches. Her eyes watered as she tried to stifle a sniffle. She had done everything right when caring for the tree! She had been so incredibly careful to give it the right amount of water and ensure it was getting adequate sunlight.

Lulu's head slumped in defeat and her hands dropped to her side. A pitiful whine escaped her lips as a single teardrop rolled down her cheek. Most people wouldn't understand why this girl was getting so upset over a plant, but to Lulu this was more than that. Tallulah Woods didn't exactly have many friends, but she did have plants. Plants never gave her weird looks or excluded her. They never told her how she should or shouldn't act, or made quiet comments about her gait. Not only did they never do any of those cruel things, but plants did take in any negative energies directed at Lulu. At least that was her belief. She cared for her plants and in return they watched over her, this just happened to be one of those instances of protection. There was no other obvious explanation in the girl's mind. Carefully picking up the pot Lulu hugged her arms around it. Thanking the spirit of the tree for it's sacrifice and promising to do her best to recover it.

Almost as if the universe decided to add insult to injury, Lulu received a response from Graham. He had in fact been at the party last night, but the reasoning behind why she didn't see him was incredibly upsetting. He was injured by someone...throwing a crab at him? She wasn't entirely sure what that exactly meant but she felt absolutely awful that he got hurt. It was entirely Lulu's fault too! It didn't originally seem like Graham would've gone to the party in the first place, but Lulu had to go and talk him into going. If it wasn't for the Woods girl one of her few friends she had wouldn't have gotten hurt. She replied back to the boy promising to make it up to him before somberly continuing about getting ready for the soup kitchen.

While Amalia Woods had instructed her daughter on going to the charity event, it wasn't at all against the petite girl's will. In fact she was quite excited to go, or rather she had been up until the events of the morning of. Lulu was a bit of a people please, but less in the sense of doing what anyone says and more in the sense of finding great joy and spreading kindness and happiness. Bringing a smile to someone's face delighted her to no end. She also quite enjoyed cooking, making the soup kitchen a win win for her. The last thing Lulu did before leaving her house was brew up some peppermint tea for those who asked for it over twitter. She poured the tincture into her largest thermos before scrounging up supplies to make more at the church. In case someone was allergic to peppermint Lulu also grabbed some ginger.

The church was already bustling with people and Lulu wasn't even late. This many people made her a little nervous but given her stature she figured she could probably slip by unnoticed relatively easily. Making her way around the outskirts of all the action she slipped into the kitchen where she felt most comfortable. She had thought ahead and brought her kettle so she could continue to brew tea if she ran out; which she likely would given how many people requested some. Lulu may not have had a drop to drink last night but that was clearly not the case for everyone. She set about heating up water on the stove and then looked about the kitchen for something to make. Her fingers wiggled in anticipation, but her face remained neutral. This wasn't her kitchen so she should probably wait for instructions on what was needed for her to do. Lulu just hoped she wasn't needed somewhere else besides here. She wasn't sure how much more disappointment she could handle today, and she needed something like cooking to perk her mood up.

OPEN

 

[Dede]

Stu

​

Stu let out a little chuckle from behind the muffin. There was a crumb riding his dimple that would stay for an eternity if no kind soul bothered to point it out to him.

‘Oh, yeah, Ratatouille,’ he said. ’That’s why I’m working in a kitchen!!’

Well, he wasn’t about to tell Juliet she was wrong, that he did not in fact star in Ratatouille. But he could hardly speak to girls let alone try to correct them! Plus, girls were always right, that was the rule of thumb. So she didn’t even need correcting to begin with.

The boy blushed twenty shades of red when Tatum said he would make a good mouse. ‘Oh—sure! I mean, I guess I like cheese.’ He immediately tried to peek behind his shoulder, and ended up spinning a full circle. ‘I haven’t got a tail though. At least, not that I know of.’ He pivoted around so the two could confirm his lack of a tail, before realising that he was literally asking the girls to check out his backside.

‘Oh!! I almost forgot.’

Stu reached into his jacket’s pocket and pulled out two KitKats, one for Juliet and one for Tatum. He waved it in front of their faces in a flurry of movements. ‘Little hi, little low, little hey, little ho!’

And if they wondered why the KitKats looked flatter than usual, there was a perfectly good explanation for that.

‘I. . . may have sat on them to some extent,’ he bit his lip and murmured regretfully.

Stu was painfully aware that his nerves had gone off the Richter scale. No wonder those Harris boys were taking shelter under the table!

Well, wherever they were going they’d best go fast, before Stu made a bigger embarrassment of himself in front of these two lovely ladies.

‘Maybe Josie’s in the kitchen,’ he pointed out astutely as they walked. ‘So. . . um. . . did you guys see the whale yesterday? It was pretty big, wasn't it? Did you know I named him Willy?’

Oh no, he was talking again. Somebody put a sock in it quick.

Elf_Ruler sunnieside

Martin

​

Martin was amazed by the number of people showing up to help with his soup kitchen. But Stu’s brilliant poster had apparently worked its magic. Even that boy could be useful once in a while, and Martin couldn’t help feeling just a little proud of his son. Maybe Stu had finally discovered his one true calling (besides KitKats). Maybe he would even go on to study graphics design at university after he graduated from Parish Bay. With such an eye for detail and a natural artistic talent, Stu would no doubt be earning a six-figure salary in no time.

Not only kids were showing up in droves, but their parents, too. Some of them brought food items to contribute to the soup kitchen, but a few of them came empty-handed. Of this sad, latter category was a woman and her daughter who now stood in front of him in the narthex.

Martin smiled and accepted the handshake in a priestly manner.

‘Hello, Jen. How kind of you to join us.’ Then he turned toward the girl. ‘Hello, Evie. What a beautiful name that is.’

A beautiful Biblical name, by no means synonymous with the bringer of all the woes and sufferings of mankind.

The girl looked utterly disinterested, hmmphing and rolling her eyes. You know, the usual edgy, holier than thou type teen that this town seemed to have no shortage of. Martin was just having an argument with another one of her species on Twitter the day before, what’s her name, Isabella. Another waste of a beautiful Biblical name.

‘Well, we’re all hands on deck, and we’ll need all the help we can get. Maybe you can go and help in the kitchen, Evie,’ he said. ‘Ask for Josie. She’ll tell you what to do.’

If only more kids were as responsible as Josie. Maybe Evie could learn a thing or two by being around Josie. It would do her a world of good.

‘I don’t think I’ve ever seen you here before, Jen. Is this your first time visiting us? You’re not new in town, are you?’

Soap

 

[LittleWolfie]

Madi Lexington-Montgomery


The beach party last night had been fun for Madi, despite turning up late of course. She'd spent most of her time there hanging out with Lulu which was always good. The two had been friends for years since their parents ran in the same circles. Lulu understood the pressures that came with the kind of lives their parents led and for Madeleine that was a welcome rarity in this world.
Other than Lulu, the blonde spent time mixing with her different friends from both Hartfield and Parish Bay since they were both in the same place for once. After that it was time to be the semi-illegal designated driver for Freddie and some of his dorm mates which she didn't mind. It's not like she would ever get in trouble for it after all, not once her surname was spoken, which is how she'd been getting away with it for the last 2 years.
After a decent enough sleep once she'd got back to her dorm, Madi was up bright and early so that she could walk down to the church rather than get the bus. For her there was something about a crisp morning walk that made her feel happy for some reason and she cherished that. The walk meant that by the time she'd made it to town she was happy and refreshed, ready for a good day's work at the soup kitchen.
She was happy to do whatever job Josie assigned her for they day which is how the little blonde found herself filling cups with juice next to a clearly exhausted Hayden for the day. When they both realised that he was adding soup to the juice filled cups, she couldn't help but laugh just a little. "It's okay Hayden, it's only a couple of cups," Madi reassured him. "But I um.. think you're going to have to go wash your hair out."
"The bags under your eyes sort of already told me that, I just... didn't want to say anything," she admitted, biting her lip a little as a small smile formed. "And yeah, I was at the party, I just arrived late with the senior boys."

Mentions: PenguinFox
Interactions: Dazzle​

 

[tamarapasek]

“No that’s impossible because........” she paused to consider why exactly his suspicions were ungrounded. After all it was entirely possible that the power could be down, the water could have a shortage. It wasn’t even out of the picture that the building could catch fire. “I don’t know.” She admitted, sighing. “But do you want something to go wrong?” She questioned. “Because you’re right. Something could go terribly wrong.” It was rather depressing, but sometimes people didn’t want fake assurance. And she had a feeling Oliver was one of them.

Speaking of Oliver, what on earth was he doing? He just stared and stared at her like she was some fort of dead animal to dissect in a class. It was unsettling to say the least. A little flattering since any attention was good in her book, but still unsettling. Like he could read her mind and know exactly what her thoughts were.

She shuddered at the thought of that. Though objectively speaking it was unlikely that he was a mind reader, it did make a lot of sense if she used logic. He knew Ryan was a threat before anybody else did. He was able to see who the two nicest boys in town were. So why was it so crazy to think that he was telepathic?

“We should.” She agreed wholeheartedly. If she could even have the pretense of caring about the community then actually volunteering would be helpful. Maybe even beneficial for both of them. She could forget about telepathy and he could forget......whatever he was thinking about now

Besides. She really needed the company. She hadn’t been able to hangout with girls on the squad lately since they weren’t in school and were older than her so they had nothing in common when they weren’t doing cheer. That had made her kind of starved for friendship or at least some form of attention.

"Honestly? I don’t know.” Ashley admitted, with a slight chuckle. It was refreshing to hear him be a bit more direct. “I think that girl Josie’s giving out assignments. Maybe we should talk to her!” She suggested, realizing she had yet to ask for an assignment herself.

Chimney Swift

 

[Dazzle]

MOOD: Completely exhausted, possibly delirious

OUTFIT: outfit

LOCATION: Te soup kitchen

basics

MENTIONS:
@none

INT:
@LittleWolfie

tags

TL;DR Sleep deprived soup covered

tl;dr

Hayden Anderson

you get what you give

Hayden was glad that he was next to Madi, at least she didn’t judge him for his own, sleep deprived, mistakes. When she pointed out that he had made a complete mess of his hair, he looked up like he would be able to see it himself. “I think I also need a new pair of gloves…” He had been touching his face, and his hair, and trying to serve soup. He was pretty sure that wasn’t FDA approved.

“Is it that obvious?” Hayden chuckled, he had spent many nights without sleep, avoiding going home. Just.. Thinking.

“That’s kind of you to not say anything.” Hayden shook his head. “But I am definitely not good at hiding the deprivation.” Madi was always kind, she could brighten any room she was in. “You know, I met this girl Lemon this weekend.”

“Have you met her? I guess she’s been in my classes.” Hayden shrugged; he had been rather oblivious all these years it had seemed. “I think you would like her… You both have similar… Personalities.” Hayden wasn’t exactly sure how to explain the vibe the two girls would give off, but it was warm.

“Ahh, so you must have been the life of the party Miss Lexington-Montgomery.” Hayden nudged her with his shoulder, a sly smile on his face that emphasized the wrinkles and bags under his eyes from the night of no sleep. “I’m sure the seniors were all over you.”

“Well, that’s if your brothers would let them get anywhere near you.” Hayden chuckled, everyone knew of the Lexington-Montgomery’s especially the sons. They liked to cause mischief and even if they went to Hartfield, everyone knew of the chaos they liked to cause.

code by valen t.

 

[Dazzle]

MOOD: awkward

OUTFIT: outfit

LOCATION: Church

basics

MENTIONS:
@Iskolde

INT:
@le reveur

tags

TL;DR awkward harper trying to come up with excuses

tl;dr

Harper Anderson

when you wear a mask for so long, you forget who is behind it.

Harper had missed the fight in general, it was the after math that she had gotten the opportunity to deal with. Had she had the option; she would have picked avoiding it all together. But Hayden was the better person, he couldn’t help himself when it came to being the hero. He couldn’t see people hurt, Harper couldn’t either, but she would have rather called the ambulance to help Oliver, rather than drive him herself.

“No worries.” Harper admitted as Hya came back to reality, she intertwined her fingers behind her back tightening and loosening her grip. Harper relaxed as the smile on Hya’s face grew at the mention of Sawyer. No one just smiled about someone who was just a friend like that, but Harper could have been way off still. Hya was such a kind person and truly seemed to care about anyone. It just made her that much harder to read.

“I’m glad to hear it.” A sweet smile crossed Harper’s face, dropping her head to look at her feet. Her eyes closed slightly. Harper was hoping that there might have been similar feelings there, though she wasn’t completely convinced she could read Hya the way she was able to read Sawyer, she felt like she now had a better read on her.

Hya’s voice brought Harper back, ‘why do you ask?’ Harper’s eyes went wide and the small smile she had formed dropped. “I-I uh.” Harper pressed her lips together. “Oh.. I am.. Uh.. Trying to.. Plan a surprise party for her.” Harper stumbled over her words, she hadn’t thought that Hya would ask her why Harper would be asking.

Sawyer’s birthday wasn’t even a good cover. Her birthday was over three months away, if Hya even believed her it would be a miracle. “I know its far away. But.. Just wanted to get a jump start.. Yeh know.” Harper shrugged her shoulders awkwardly. Biting her bottom lip.

code by valen t.

 

[Dazzle]

MOOD: Content

OUTFIT: outfit

LOCATION: Park

basics

MENTIONS:
NA

INT:
@TexasKingPin

tags

TL;DR Sed fermentum tortor nulla, vel sodales nibh bibendum eu. Maecenas a lacus a libero blandit commodo. In lobortis aliquam urna, id tempor ex semper at

tl;dr

Astraea Dupante

there are so many beautiful reasons to be happy....

Astraea smiled at the courageous pluckiness of the toddler. Her curiosity was stronger than her fear, as Ariah took the hand of Astraea. Astraea remembered being similar at her age, without a worry of something bad happening. Without fear of not living up to being the best, without fear of not being skinny enough, not being strong enough, not being.. enough.

Astraea looked around the large field that Ariah had wandered from, it was almost like she had truly appeared out of nowhere. Like, she was some sort of guide, trying to remind her of an easier time. Trying to remind her of her child-like spirit, something she had once left behind.

She heard a deep male voice calling out the small girl’s name. Her hand slipped from Astraea’s grasp, picking up speed before Ariah jumped into his arms.

Astraea crossed her arms; a beaming smile grew. The reuniting of the two souls or father and daughter, love in its truest form. Warmed Astraea’s heart, she loved to see the care people had for each other. She was sure that was how her parents had treated her and Hera when they were young. Now, it was just about grades and the prospect of college. Astraea knew that her parents still loved her, but their focus was now more on seeing her greatness.

Astraea watched the young father’s worry melted away with his daughter now safely in his chest. She could almost feel the energy of the breath that had been caught release with the return of his daughter. Astraea just shook her head, silently laughing at the little princess who had approached her.

As Chester read out the riot act to his daughter, Astraea could tell that he had quite the troublemaker on his hands. Ariah went off back to playing with the kids on the playground, but not before thanking Astraea. Astraea curtsied back to her. “You are very welcome Princess Ariah.”

“You know.” Astraea’s smile changed from the sweet princess that reunited Ariah with her father, into one that looked more like a cheesy grin. “Rules are meant to be broken.” Astraea chuckled at her own remark.

You could read Astraea’s smile like a book. If you knew her, she rarely was without one, they could tell exactly how she was feeling. From the cheesy grin it relaxed back into her sweet smile, the one she regularly wore on the daily. “It is nice to meet you Chester.” She nodded slowly closing her eyes ever so slightly. “It was really no problem.” She shook her head hiding the nervous smirk now in place on her face, her cheeks blushed red as the blue-eyed boy called her a pretty blonde.

Astraea looked back up to meet the gaze of the piercing blue eyes. “It’s what we princesses do.” She smiled intertwining her fingers in front of her, she swayed back and forth ever so slightly. “So.. What exactly happened with the frogs to make that a rule leveled with not talking to strangers.” Astraea raised her eyebrows, smirking slyly at the boy in front of her.

code by valen t.

 

[Soap]

Jennifer

Jen gently pushed Evie towards the kitchen "Play nice please, and actually do the work you're told to." Naturally her words had gained a glare from Genevieve, but her mother didn't make a move to comment on it. Simply sighing in frustration and redirected her attention to the pastor.

"Kids, amiright?"

She forced a chuckle, trying her best to not let awkward silence set in. Much like her daughter, pastors sort of freaked her out-- but not in a particularly bad way, this guy didn't seem like someone who'd kidnap all these people and hide them in their storage basement... alright so maybe Jennifer had watched too many shows on the ID channel but besides that.

He didn't seem so bad of a guy.

Priest or not.

"We're... sort of new. We've been in Parish Bay a little over six months now." Was that even right? She'd gotten married to Robert a little over a year ago and they'd moved to Parish Bay because of his job, despite Jen's wishes-- it'd resulted in a massive argument and look where they are now. Although, she didn't exactly hate the town.

It had it's charms.

Good apples, burgers, festivities.

"But yes, my family and I... we're not usually religious."

What an odd phrase of words. However Jen felt about god was between her and god. Nobody else. That's the way she'd seen it, and hopefully the way he did too. Like she said earlier... she wasn't a true believer... but sometimes when you're sad, desperate and looking for an ear. It's sorta easy to just start talking and felt like you're being heard.

"Do you have a name? Or would I just have to call you father? Although, I'd rather not, not into that kinda stuff."

Oh my.

Did she just say that to a pastor? Jennifer was used to the city life. Small-town girl did not fit her whatsoever, but hey, at least she was trying.

|mentions: N/A | interactions: Martin| tags: Dede |

º º code by ditto º º

 

[Soap]

MOOD: Stressed, anxious.

OUTFIT: an outfit that’s bound to get stained, but that’s okay. She got it from goodwill.

LOCATION: Soup Kitchen

basics

MENTIONS: Clark, Isa @Iskolde r e i


INT: N/A

tags

TL;DR Josie’s angry because she thinks she's a failure.

tl;dr

Josephine

Some day, I’ll be’ livin in a big ol’ city.

Y'know, this would've been way easier if Clark had stayed behind and helped her out-- but he had already done so much, driving her up at the break of dawn, carrying the many boxes of folded chairs and canned foods. So it wasn't like she was about to impose anymore than she already had. But since he had other things to attend to. Those other things had consisted of a certain girl named Claire Malkovitch who clearly had the biggest crush on Clark, and a study session involving little to no personal space.

Which obviously was gonna lead to Claire asking him to get a milkshake at the diner, and then Josie would have to serve on them. A chocolate milkshake with whip cream, extra sprinkles and not one-- but two straws.

No, she wasn't jealous.

And no, she wasn't completely making up a fake scenario in her head to somehow get herself even more upset about it.

Which she wasn't!

Josephine Baker is not a jealous person. Envy was an ugly attitude on people and she absolutely refused to claim it.

A incredibly gorgeous brunette with the tendency to have the most beautiful hair Josie had ever seen-- hair that she would never have because Claire is on some type of perfect keratin thing.

Perfect face, perfect hair, perfect clothes, perfect life.

Claire was everything Josie wasn't and she couldn't tell if she was angry about it or saddened. "Y'know, Jo, I could just tell Claire I'm helpin' you out today, but noooooo." The blonde spoke amongst herself. Granted, all of this wasn't on Clark, Josephine just wasn't taking the charge she needed to, hell, she was letting people lounge around simply because she was too afraid to bother them! She believed she could handle this all by herself, and she could! And so, she kept peeling and peeling, faster and faster the longer it'd took.

There was only so long hungry people can wait. Josie came out here to help, not to starve the already starving people.

If she wanted to, she could throw part of the blame on Isa.

And she didn't want to, but Josie was stressed...

very stressed.

"I could've given you a warning too, Sunny, that way you wouldn't have to rely on Clark who obviously has better plans, but nope, nope, nope. We're gonna see your message, and not even bother to reply! Imma just leave you to peel the carrots, potatoes, the whole damn kitc--"

Ow.

It was bound to happen.

The knife nicked Josie's index finger almost perfectly but thankfully it was dull enough to not slice through her whole finger. Imagine finding a finger in your chicken noodle soup.

Wouldn't be very good, now would it?

Ow...

The cut wasn't very good either.

Josie took a heavy breath and grabbed a nearby rag, squeezing her index finger and glancing up at the doorway to see none other than the girl she was... basically mocking not even five seconds ago.

Good going, Jo.

"... You here to help? Or..."

code by valen t.