Realistic or Modern Westbrook

[Winona]

Ariana

Everything Kanen did just served to make Ariana cry more, until he was in the kitchen and she was still sitting between the coffee table and the couch, and was still crying. And then, the front door opened, and Ari stopped crying for a moment in hopes that it was her dad or Uncle Drake, but then... she heard a voice she didn't recognize, and the tears and sobbing immediately resumed.

This new girl wasn't one that Ari really recognized as she came into the room, holding out an ugly looking Spiderman plush. But it was pretty cool, and Ari's sobs gave way to sniffles and staggered breathing as she reached forward, hesitating for a moment and not taking the toy right away. Her dad had always taught her not to take things from strangers, and she didn't know who this woman was, so instead, Ari ignored the toy (however cool it was) and climbed under the table, to resume her sniffling.

Once under the table, she started crying again, albeit not nearly as strongly. "I want... Daddy!" she yelled.

Soap High5ives​

 

[Soap]

Raven

When she didn't take the toy Raven deflated, sighing heavily. Her eyes watched as she climbed under the table and she rubbed at a headache that was daring to break though, Raven didn't take care of children! But she really thought that'd work... shaking her head at the child's words. No way was she gonna call Mason already. Asking for her father? She rolled her eyes. "Yeah. Me too, unfortunately I didn't have that luxury either." She mumbled to herself. Please. She could handle this, of course she can. "Kanen where the f-" Looking towards the kid with a smile, she slid the toy towards her.

Standing up from the floor and wincing as she listened to the child's sobs. Why did she agree to this? Walking into the kitchen. "What the fuck are you doing? Get in there and help me. I came here for you." Smiling ever so faintly as she eyed him curiously.

"Are... you afraid of it--I mean her?"

Winona High5ives​

 

[Winona]

Ash


She just rolled her eyes and ignored the jocks -- after all, Ash was used to it and at this point, their words... okay, it still kind of sucked. So she may have flipped them off before heading off with Mads. At least he'd agreed with her that leaving the party was a good idea, and she was more than eager to follow him out the front door, and breathe in the cool night air. It was such a welcome relief from the hot stuffy air of inside, and it was one step farther from Grace.

"Don't worry about it. I'm used to it." She said with a sigh in regards to the guys, and then followed Madison into the yard, taking a seat down in the grass next to him. Hell, when was the last time she'd sat in the grass? It had easily been years, since she was a child, so this was... kind of weird. But this was also the first time in years that Ash had left a party early.

Ash glanced over at him when he asked about her, and just offered a faint, weak smile. "No, but I'll be alright." And it was true, at least to some extent. Despite everything happening, Ash was determine to pull herself out of this and maybe get better... turn around the rumors, maybe repair her friendship with Grace, and her relationship with Ryder. But for now, she decided to take a lesson from everything Grace had said, and push her own problems aside for Mads.

"What about you? How are you doing with everything?"

Dazzle​

 

[High5ives]

Kanen was pacing circles around the kitchen when Raven finally arrived. He had thought she would come here and fix everything with a snap of her fingers, but then Raven came into the kitchen asking for his help?! She asked if Kanen was afraid of the kid, and he got a big giant shit-eating grin on his face. “I. Am. Fucking terrified.” Kanen responded running his hands through his hair. What the hell were they supposed to do now? There was no one else to call, and Ari was still crying, granted she seemed to be calming down.

Kanen didn’t know what else to do as he spun around the kitchen looking for ideas. His eyes landed on a black sharpie just sitting in the counter top. Boom. Kanen had an idea, it may not’ve been a super impressive idea, but it was at least as good as a knock-off Spiderman doll.

Kanen snatches the market up and uncapped it, testing it on his hand to make sure the it worked. It left a heavy black streak. Perfect. Next he went searching through google images, hunting for a photo of a rose, he’d ne’d something to copy off of, Kanen was a decent artist, but it always helped to have a reference. “C’mon, take your jacket off.” Kanen said, motioning for her to hurry. He hoped that Ari would calm down enough to give Raven her very own purple rose tattoo. Well, color it in after Kanen sketched a rose on Raven’s arm.

“Don’t you dare make a joke about me telling you strip!” Kanen quickly said, pointing a finger at Raven. “Not the time for that!” He added on. It was clear he was very impatient right now. Could you blame him? He’d spent the last twenty minutes panicking over a crying toddler.

Winona Soap

 

[Soap]

Raven

Raven raised an eyebrow as he confirmed her theory, the big bad ‘alleged’ mafia member afraid of a two year old? Huh. Who would’ve thought? Watching him confused but with curiosity as to what his intentions were while he own eyes searched the kitchen, her face fell into realization. And her grin widened at his words, but she made no move to take off the jacket yet. Raven opened her mouth to say something and scoffed in disbelief when he told her off. It wasn’t like she was gonna say that... okay. Of course she was, with a roll of her eyes she pulled off her jacket, settling it in the counter. “Jeez. Chill out. It’s not like she’s going anywhere.”

Lifting the sleeve of her shirt and propped herself on the kitchen counter, motioning for him to come closer. “Alrighty. Let’s see your skills.” Frankly, Raven was worried about babysitting, yes. But that don’t mean it won’t turn out well... it should be fine.

“With the sharpie I mean.” It was kind of hard to flirt with the crying in the background, but it was just a way to lighten the mood. She was sure he wouldn’t mind, besides. It was kind of fun to watch him freak out like this. Cocking her head to one side while he got to work. “Spider-Man is my favorite hero too.”

“I feel like you’re more of a... Captain America guy though.”

High5ives​

 

[Maree]

Theodore Presley

Mood: determined| Interacting with: June |Mentions: Grace
@Moonshadow Soap

Theo scrunched his nose up as she explained what happened. Arguing with exes probably wasn't very fun. He wouldn't know though because Grace was pretty great. He didn't think they had ever had a proper argument. Unless it was over what ice cream flavour they were getting. Why did she always want chocolate? Chocolate ice cream was never as good as actual chocolate. Besides, Strawberry is where it's at. With its delicious pink berry pieces. Wait, he was trying to cheer someone up he really shouldn't be getting distracted.

"That doesn't sound good. Hate is a very strong word, I don't think she hates you. Probably just hurt" he said, sitting on the ping pong table. He only really vaguely remembered June from last year. She kind of seemed to keep to herself so he didn't see why a bunch of people would have targets on her back.

Was he looking for someone? Oh yeah, Grace. He could find her later though. She was a big girl and could take care of herself. Plus she had Belle and Sawyer as well. This girl needed his attention more than she did. "Just a friend but this house is far too big. Plus I have a new mission now, to cheer you up," he said, getting up and laying his bag on the table. He proceeded to search through the bag until he pulled out a bag of those thing sausage balloons and a little pump.

"Did you know that I went to clown camp for a summer when I was 15" he chuckled as he started to pump up a few of the orange balloons. "It was a really weird time but I learned some cool party tricks," he said, twisting the orange balloons together. He pumped up some white balloons and twisted them in with the orange ones. "And for the finishing touch. Here you go" he scribbled some eyes on before holding out a very fat balloon clownfish out to her. "Am I awesome. Or am I awesome"

code by Ri.a

 

[High5ives]

“Really, Captain America?” Kanen mocked. “Me, the guy covered in tattoos and only just recently off drugs, and you think Captain America is my go-to? No way.” He joked, holding her arm softly as he began to sketch the rose. He was careful, focused in on the drawing so much that when Ari screamed again, Kanen jumped. He practically threw the phone across the room, spazzing out just a little bit.

“Jesus Christ!” He laughed, his cheeks turning bright red. It was embarrassing how stressed out he was over just one little kid. He didn’t even bother going over to retrieve his phone. Instead, he just momentarily stopped drawing to check his own tattoo for reference.

“For the record...” Kanen trailed off, focusing in on the petals of the rose. “For the record, Thor has been my favorite super hero ever since I was little.” He finished, just as he finished off the rose. He backed away slowly, admiring his own work. Grabbing a plastic plate, he fanned the sketch, just to make sure it would dry and wouldn’t smudge. He was happy with it. Considering he’d drawn the rose in only a matter of minutes, it looked pretty damn good.

“Now get your ass back out there and let her color your new tatt.” Kanen said, motioning with his hand for her to get out of the kitchen. “You stay in here, and my free tattoo is gonna get a price tag.” He teased, winking his eye and leaning back against the kitchen counter. If she was going to try and flirt, Kanen would reciprocate.

Soap

 

[Soap]

Raven

So maybe Captain America wasn’t the best of choices. She’s realizing that now. Raven watched his as he sketched the rose on her arm. He didn’t seem like the guy she’d fought with online, the guy who’d constantly fought with other people, he was just... genuinely... normal? Was that the word she was looking for? Barely flinching when the phone flew out of his hands, she held back an amused smile and averted her gaze to keep herself from laughing. Normally, she would’ve teased much more. She wasn’t sure why she didn’t.

He seemed sweet. Yeah. That was the word she was looking for. Huh. “For the record...?” Raven waited for him to continue. Keeping her hands as still as possible so he could continue, whenever Raven spoke she was known to make hand-gestures. It was a thing. Lifting her arm as he fanned it, to check out his work. Making a face at the sight of it. Well, it wasn’t that bad... okay. It was pretty good. But she wasn’t going to praise him just yet. “Spider-Man since day one. But... Thor’s basically a god, so, good choice.”

Mildly surprised at his flirting. He never returned it before... maybe drugs did a complete turn around and he came to his senses... kidding. But realistically she wouldn’t ever try them. Raven hated drugs with a passion due to her mother, unwilling to try any substance like it in an desperate attempt to never relate to her in anyway possible. Grinning at his teasing, she hopped off the counter rather abruptly, which made them inches from the other.

“Uh-huh. The first taste is free and all that. Hmm?” With a quick teasing glance at his lips, she backed away. Raven was still in a relationship, well... some kind of relationship. Flirting was as far as she’ll go. She wasn’t a completely terrible person. However, just she hated drugs doesn’t mean she couldn’t make a quick joke about his ‘alleged’ dealing. No, she isn’t going to stop with the air quotes behind it. Everyone’s innocent until proven guilty... even if she was sure he actually had done it.

Making her way out of the kitchen and to the scared girl under the table, believe it or not. Raven was the scared girl a few times, but god. Was she so glad that this girl had way less problems than she did. “Okay. Maybe we got off on the wrong foot.” Raven offered a real smile. Only now realizing that she hadn’t introduced herself... that probably would’ve been a good thing to start out with. “We haven’t met formally, but you should know me as Raven. Ringing any bells?” Realizing

Raven leaned back on her arms, showing the tattoo clear to the child. “Man, I just really hope someone around here can color this rose. It’s such a shame there isn’t any artists around.”

For extra effect, Raven looked towards the kitchen. “Kanen! I thought you told me there was someone here that would color my rose.” She would’ve made a dirty joke about that, but she was sure Ariana wouldn’t appreciate it. Raven channeled her inner actress and sighed sadly, looking completely vulnerable.

...which was probably the only time someone would see her as vulnerable.
Look. I worked hard on this. Please just let the kid freaking color. Love u.
Winona High5ives​

 

[Maree]

Belle Taylor

Mood: 痛 | Interacting with: Raven and Carter
Mentions: Soap Dazzle

Belle shrugged her shoulders softly as Carter said she moved fast. "He was sweet and we talked about it during the play. It didn't really feel fast we kinda just sat on the grass and talked for hours" she explained, taking a sip of her drink. She nodded softly as she delved more into his problems. She would give anything for him to come home safe. No matter how hard she tried to push him from her mind she couldn't. Every night she stayed up late praying for his return, hoping God would hear. "He's definitely having a hard time"

Then the topic went from bad to worse. Carter had googled her? She barely had time to mentally prepare when she brought up the crash. She had managed okay when telling Grace and Mason but that was because she had time to mentally prepare herself. Belle felt a strong urge to cover her ears. They were ringing and it sounded slightly like screaming. As the ringing got louder it started to sound more and more like cries of agony. Her chest started to constrict out of panic. She looked up at Raven like a deer caught in the headlights as she spoke. She barely heard what she had said, her voice being drowned out by the screams. Something about leaving? No. She didn't want to be left again. Then she pressed something into her hand and walked off.

"I-I need a-" Belle cut herself off by standing up quickly, knocking the bar stool over. She pretty much ran to the nearest bathroom, shutting the door behind her. Why would she bring something like that up? It didn't seem to be out of malice but still. She shut her eyes tightly but immediately regretted it. As soon as she closed her eyes she saw them. Her friend's cold dead eyes staring back at her. It was like all three of them were standing right there in the bathroom with her. She quickly opened her eyes again and turned to the sink. Some cold water would bring her back to reality. She really didn't want to close her eyes again so she wet a washcloth and placed it on the back of the neck. The screaming in her ears had subsided and now she was left with almost deafening silence. Why did she have to survive? why couldn't she have just died along with them? Was she just kept alive to suffer? Was that it? A teardrop fell onto her hand. She hadn't even realised that she had been crying. But now that she did her whole body shook as she sobbed.

​

code by Ri.a

 

[Dede]

Neck Tie

Neck Tie shrugged. ‘I saw it on a documentary my dad was watching,’ he said smiling, ‘He likes to watch Animal Planet and Nat Geo all that. Sharks have cartilages, not bones. . . which are more flexible. I think it’s the same stuff we have in our noses.’ He touched and slightly bent the tip of his nose. Why? To make his point, of course.

The aquarium was even bigger on the inside. Beyond the ticket office were large tunnels on end, with sea creatures of all shapes and sizes swooshing and swishing over their heads. The boy couldn’t believe his eyes. He sidled from glass to glass, in quiet and respectful awe of nature. His nose and forehead smudging the pane as he peered, unblinkingly, into the deep blue. ‘Look!’ he said, gasping as a huge stingray glided above them like an aeroplane. ‘Whoa!!!’

Neck Tie had never actually been to an aquarium before. Like all first timers, he worried what would happen if the glass cracked and the whole tunnel came caving in. It was a good thing he knew how to swim! Thankfully, there was a hiatus in the tunnels for him to catch his breath: a room with smaller tanks with all the bright and colourful seahorses and jellyfish he could think of. He spent a long time waiting for an electric eel to show itself from behind a coral, which it never did. He finally gave up and went and found Nemo instead. Then the tunnels resumed, and where it led caused his jaw to literally drop. Sharks!

He gazed in silent wonder at the amazing creatures. ‘I like the hammerheads. . . apparently they're quite friendly,’ he told the girl, then shuffled to the other section where a swarm of sand tiger sharks were chasing each other’s tails in enthralling circles. They weren’t as big as the one in Jaws, but they were still mighty impressive. He fumbled for his phone and snapped a picture of the biggest shark he could spot in the water, then sent it off proudly to @shining_stardust.

Neck Tie was having the time of his life. Soon they were back outside, but the two decided they still had an hour or so to spare. Next to the aquarium was a small amusement park which they scraped together just enough money to get through on student tickets. The bearded guy at the ticket booth asked why he wasn’t at school and Neck Tie blurted that was visiting the States from England with his sister, and he got away with it because of his incredibly sexy accent.

After that close call, he threw a few darts at some balloons and won a Kermit the Frog plush toy, which he was embarrassed to carry around for the rest of the day. They went on the ferris wheel and he sat little Kermit down next to him. They enjoyed the view from the top and Neck Tie smiled at the sun and then at the girl who was opposite him. Everything was peaceful away from Westbrook.

He spent the last of his spare coins on candy floss, which they shared. Their final adventure was a daunting ride on the roller coaster, whose steep drop turned Neck Tie’s blond hair into a tousled mess poking in all directions. He left the ride panting and vowing never to go on a roller coaster again. Before they knew it they had lost track of time and the afternoon had come and nearly gone.

The pair hurried back to the car knowing they had to be back in Westbrook before dark. But the sun was already dipping behind the distant hills, so with any luck he’d get home before his dad, who was dining out with Elise. As the girl focused on driving, Neck Tie propped Kermit up by the windshield so that it was sitting gracefully and looking out into the road. ‘He’s yours,’ he told her, ‘you know, for good luck.’

As soon as he said that there was a ghastly sputtering of the engine and their car broke down on the wayside. Between them and Westbrook were at least 60 miles, which by the way was the distance easily covered by the world’s fastest shark in less than an hour. Thanks, Animal Planet.

Spoiler

a z u l a mentions: mikaluvkitties

 

[Winona]

Ariana

She had still been sobbing, begging for her father, when Raven came over and introduced herself and Ariana stopped crying long enough to peek out from under the table at Raven. Ari looked at the rose on her arm, quietly debating on whether or not she should come out and, after a moment, Ari crawled out from underneath the table.

Ariana was still sniffling, her breathing a bit ragged as she set down her gold sparkly marker and crossed her arms on the table, looking at the array of markers. "What color?" She asked, her breathing still staggered as she looked over at Raven thoughtfully, waiting for her answer. "You're pretty." Ari said with a smile.

"Daddy thinks you're pretty, too." Ari said before she picked up one of the purple markers -- a sparkly one, because nothing was good if it wasn't sparkly. She walked over to Raven, still a little shy, and started coloring it in. "Uncle K said he's going on a date with you. That's why I had to color in his tattoos." She quickly added in.

Soap High5ives​

 

[Dede]

Martin

The Shakespeare conference had been an unmitigated snorefest, and the only consolation for Martin was that there would be a romantic dinner with Elise at the end of it. But even before that was in the cards, he had first to survive the drinks reception with the other professors — which was a lot harder than it sounded when you were craving chow mein.

With a glass of wine in his hand, Martin nodded away at the conversation and pretended to be interested in Professor Briggs’s symbiotic deconstruction of the Taming of the Shrew. ‘Well there Professor French, you teach history, don’t you? Quite surprising to see you here today.’

‘I also teach the history of literature,’ Martin said.

‘But that’s not really. . . literature, is it? I mean I don’t suppose your students have to memorise any Shakespeare or Molière.’

‘No, I suppose not,’ he admitted, clearing his throat, ‘thankfully.’

He excused himself from the circle of misery and looked around for Elise. Then he went into a corner and thought he might check up on Stu and make sure that the firetruck he heard whizzing by a moment ago wasn’t bound for their address.

There was ringing for a moment, and then silent breathing.

‘Stu?’

‘D. . . dad?’

‘I'm still at the conference. Just calling to check up on you. Have you eaten?’

‘Well. . .’

‘You didn’t eat all our chocolates did you?’

‘No, Dad. . . I’m in Portsmouth.’

‘You’re bored?’ Martin chuckled. ‘Well I thought you’d enjoy having the house all to yourself. I didn’t expect you to be missing your old man so quickly.’

‘No, Dad — Portsmouth.’

‘Ports- What?’ Martin nearly spat out his wine. ‘What do you mean!? How did you get to Portsmouth?’

‘I came with a girl, dad. We were going to Boston. . . To find Kanen.’

‘The girl? What girl? What’s her name?’

There was silence.

‘Stu?! Tell me what's going on.’

'I. . . I don't know.'

'What do you mean you don't know?'

‘I. . . um. . . I don’t know her name.'

* * *​

After the phone call, Martin hurried over to Elise and excused her rudely from her illustrious colleagues. ‘I’m sorry love, we. . . uh, we need to leave.’

He anxiously explained on the way to the car that Stu had gone to Boston with some stranger, and that their car had broken down near Portsmouth. Elise couldn’t have been too happy that she was pulled away from the other professors like that, after all, networking was the most important part of any conference and she had waited all day for a chance to promote her research among higher circles. But Martin had genuine cause to interrupt her. He thought his son had been tricked by some dangerous stranger and that his precious life form could be in danger. God, what if they were some sort of underground gang that went around targeting impressionable kids? He even debated whether to call the police, especially since he still had Officer Richards’s number on his phone.

He put the car in reverse and sent a trash can flying in the process. Then they headed right for the highway, doing just slightly above the speed limit. He gripped the wheel nervously as he drove, remembering more than any other parent what it was like to nearly lose a child. But he tried to stay positive. If the traffic was favourable, they could probably reach him in less than an hour.

Winona a z u l a

 

[Winona]

Elise


She had been in the middle of a rather heated discussion over the best way to portray Romeo and Juliet now that everyone knew the story like the back of their hand, when Martin came out of nowhere to excuse her. "I'm sure it'll be just a moment." She tried to reassure her colleagues, before turning towards Martin to see what was wrong, only to find out that little Stu had tried to go all the way to Boston to find Kanen. Elise couldn't have been more horrified or angry as she followed Martin to the car, and they sped off for where their car had apparently broken down. What had that child been thinking? And who was this unnamed girl?

"So, let me just get this straight. Stu left with some girl whose name he doesn't even know to find Kanen." Elise shook her head in distaste, turning her gaze towards the window. Her children may have made many mistakes, but at least neither of them had run off to Boston. And even worse, when he was already suspended and in trouble!

"And Kanen of all people. You know they recently had him on the news for having ties to the mafia. He was always trouble. Ashton used to hang around him all the time. Absolutely disgusting boy that one." Elise may have hated many, many kids, but none quite as much as Kanen... okay, okay, so most of them were on the same level of hatred as Kanen was.

"And how do you plan to punish Stu for this? For running off to Boston when he's already grounded to try and find a filthy criminal?" If it was up to Elise, Stu would be lucky if he ever saw the light of day again. Hell, if it was Elise, this never would have happened in the first place. Her own son was off bettering himself with his father and Elise's parents at work, trying to find something to fall back on since his meager guitar skills obviously weren't going to get him anywhere.

"I feel as if even a simple grounding wouldn't be punishment enough for this."

Dede a z u l a​

 

[DrabberRogue]

Serena was caught off guard. Right as she'd lifted the wine glass to her glossy lips, about to take a sip, she suddenly stopped. She blinked a couple times in that position, momentarily surprised by Caleb's sudden apology. This moment passed quickly, however, as he clarified what he meant. Or covered for himself, either one made more sense. She continued with her sip of wine, taking a little extra time to compose herself before responding. Although she couldn't keep her brow from furrowing slightly.

"I'll get it out eventually." Once again very aware of the dangers of red wine, she set it back down on the counter. Honestly, she couldn't even have the supposed comfort of alcohol when Caleb was around. "I always do." She spoke confidently as always, but her eyes started wandering again she finished speaking. The conversation really was agonizingly slow. Granted that was her fault, but she didn't exactly want to be talking to him in the first place.

The option to just get up and leave was there of course. She didn't really want to be that rude, but it didn't look like she was going to get out of the unpleasant situation any other way. For whatever reason he seemed stubbornly intent on talking to her. Why her? She'd made it abundantly clear that she wanted nothing to do with him anymore, so why not chase one of those girls he'd been oh so interested in when they were dating? Was it because she was out of reach? Did Caleb some sort of weird attraction to things he couldn't have?

Oh look, there went Ash again. Up to another boy. Wasn't he dating... Whatever her name was? The other new girl? Although come to think of it Serena hadn't seen that particular girl in a while. Maybe she needed to listen a little harder, then she wouldn't be so out of the loop on that kind of thing. In any case she didn't spend very much time watching Mads get dragged outside. Her ears were just as detail savvy as her eyes, and were more than able to pick out the nearby Carter's voice saying something about a crash.

Mere seconds later both Raven and Belle quickly left the bar, one outright leaving while the other dashed for the bathroom. What about a simple statement could've caused that? Her eyes wide, Serena raised an eyebrow at Carter, giving her a questioning look before remembering there was someone trying to talk to. Maybe she needed to follow the other girls' example.

"Caleb..." Pursing her lips, she turned back to her ex, exasperation starting to show in her voice. She had taken a sharp breath, but decided against the aggressive words in her head. It was just so frustrating. What was it about cheaters that made it impossible to move on only after they were single? That wouldn't reflect very well on her though, especially with so many people around. In a room full of quarreling exes and dysfunctional friends it felt like she had to at least try to keep her composure. "Why are you doing... this?" Not really sure how to phrase it, Serena just made kind of a general gesture between the two of them. "You're at a party, go have fun." To accent her point, she momentarily looked in the direction of a random girl. Someone who looked single. After all, he apparently hadn't had much trouble doing that when they were dating.

Soap Dazzle

 

[High5ives]

Kanen stayed in the kitchen when Raven left, holding his breath and crossing his fingers. If this didn’t work, he didn’t know what else to to aside from calling Mason. When he heard Ari just talking to Raven, he let out a sigh of relief. Thank. God. Raven was a life-saver. With Ari finally calmed down, Kanen felt like he could breath again. It was so nice to just relax and stop stressing about it.

Slowly, Kanen peeked around the corner. He didn’t want to come out too early and undo everything Raven had just accomplish. He just took a look, watching for a moment as Ari colored Raven’s arm.

With that problem solved, Kanen could finally get his pizza bites...The pizza bites that were done twenty minutes ago...the ones smoking...in the oven...

Kanen just sat there staring at the oven. All this had been caused by the stupid pizza bites, and now they were just pieces of charcoal on the oven. Fucking bullshit. Granted it was his fault for never taking the pizza bites out of the oven, but still, he was hungry damn it. “I burned my pizza bites!” Kanen called out from the kitchen just before he emerged in the front room holding his phone.

“I’m gonna order a pizza instead. Any requests?” Kanen offered. He really didn’t care, just so long as pineapple wasn’t on the pizza.

Winona Soap

 

[Twin Fantasy]

Charlie McAllister

"H-hippie songs?" Charlie's face went red. "They're not..." Just because he played a guitar and smoked weed didn't make him a hippie. Right?... Right? And- goddamn, why was he getting phone notifications from Twitter right now?... Whatever.

"I don't, uh..." Drinking was alright, but mingling sounded like psychological torture. These people didn't even remember him, or where the fuck he'd been. Sure, he could pretend to be new. Reintroduce himself. Reinvent himself into someone completely different. Someone with a much cooler name than "Charlie", maybe like, "Pierson" or "Travis" or something like that. Anything but his own name, really. A name he shared with a goddamn Always Sunny character.

Charlie hastily turned the notifications off on his phone. Whatever they were talking about wasn't of interest to him. In fact, it was just kind of embarrassing.

"I don't wanna talk to people." He put it bluntly, though his voice still cracked a bit as he spoke, like he didn't really want to say it. "I'm not... uh, good at it... and if I get drunk in public and do something stupid, then my life really will be over, I mean- I thought I was being pretty quiet. Over here. I'm sure people can hear the music, right?"

Where else would he go? A friend's house? His only friend lived in Alabama, for fuck's sakes.

Interactions: Dazzle​

 

[Soap]

Raven

Raven silently thanked whatever god had helped her, because the kid came out from under the table. A small smile formed on her lips. "Purple's my favorite." Narrowing her eyes playfully at the younger girl. She was adorable. It wasn't as surprising because Mason and... dare she say it Adriane, were honestly attractive. Despite her mother's terrible personality, she managed to have a cute kid. Good for them. "I know." She grinned at the compliment, "You're pretty too. Ten times more than me really."

Surprised was written all over her face. Mason talked about her? To... his kid? Really? As flattering as it was, for his sake she really hoped Ari hadn't told Adriane. Or, well... she was kind of counting on it now, Raven would die to see her face when Ari said those words. "Huh." It was more than intriguing that he'd called her pretty. Kids don't lie though. At least... it didn't seem like this one did, and it probably wouldn't be too far fetched if the other Rivera thought she was cute. Because of course, Raven was hot.

She knew it. What's so wrong with that? "Right. It's true. We're going out on a date." She nodded, thinking back to the twitter messages they'd had. She wasn't going to tell her the truth and say that they weren't actually going out. Why make her think her 'uncle's' a liar? Kanen came out of the kitchen around that time after yelling about some... pizza things, and decided to talk about more pizza. Raven wasn't a picky eater. "No requests, whatever carrot-top wants." Glancing over towards the kid. "Do you eat pizza?" What? She was curious.

"While you're doing that. I'll just be sitting here thinking about our date."

Raven pulled up her phone and scrolled through twitter while Ari did her magic with her free arm, many many messages happened between a certain blonde and her, and it was probably the only time Raven was actually speechless. "Fu-" Right. Kids are around. More than a little disappointed it was just because of the alcohol. Raven replied to the other messages with a roll of her eyes.

"So, what's your honest opinion on your mama. You like her?" Raven didn't.

Winona High5ives ​

​

 

[Winona]

Ariana

Her eyes widened when Raven called her pretty and for a moment, Ari stopped coloring to look at Raven in surprise, then smiled and went back to coloring. "I know." She replied simply to the compliment. What? Mason had made it his mission for his daughter to think that she was amazing, so he always told her how adorable she was, how good she was at coloring, etc.

She looked up as Uncle K came back into the room and for a moment she froze, scared that he would go back to yelling, until he started talking about pizza. Ari huffed, taking her marker and walking back over to the table. "Pizza is icky." She declared. Okay, so she actually would eat pizza, but being a toddler meant arguing with things like this. Plus, Ari's version of "eating" pizza was just eating the cheese off of the top and then leaving the rest untouched. Cheese was the only good part, after all.

Ari didn't offer more of an opinion on food, instead picking up a red marker since, well, that was her favorite color. And everything looked better with a little bit of red. She looked at Raven for a moment when she asked about her mother, and Ari had to think hard about it. "Yes I love my mama." She finally said. "I love daddy more. Mommy makes me stay at her house so I don't see grandma." Ariana explained, and let out a heavy sigh. "I miss my daddy." She was so used to seeing him every day, after all.

High5ives Soap​

 

[High5ives]

Kanen was just absolutely baffled. He had spent his entire childhood living off of frozen pizzas, and now here Ari was, challenging his very way of life. What little kid doesn’t like pizza?! Like seriously, pizza was a gift from whatever god there was, and it was a gift Kanen treasured. Kanen’s first instinct was to ground Ari. How dare she denounce Pizza. That was a sin. Downright evil really. He probably would’ve gone through with it too, but Ari wasn’t his kid to ground... Ari would get away with it just this once.

“Well pizza doesn’t like you either...” Kanen mumbled to himself, softly of course so Ari couldn’t hear. He wouldn’t want to start another tantrum or something.

He scrolled through the Dominos app, eventually just settling on a pepperoni pizza and some wings. If no one else had any preference, Kanen would spoil himself. It only took a couple minutes to put the order through, and soon enough, Kanen’s phone was in his pocket and he’d taken a seat on the couch in the living room.

Raven said something about their fake date, and Kanen just shot her a look, staying quiet as Ari talked about her mom and dad. “You can probably see your dad tonight before your mom picks you up again.” Kanen offered. Whether Mason liked it or not, Kanen would make it happen, even if he had to go and drag Mason out of the party.

Kanen wasn’t really surprised Ari likes her dad more. Adriane was a self centered bitch. There was no way in hell she was a decent mother.

Winona Soap

 

[Soap]

Raven

She wasn't going to argue with the two year old about pizza. Raven caught Kanen's mumble and it brought a smile to her face. Pizza was pizza. Food was food. What else was there to it? However, when the pizza actually did come and she didn't eat it... Raven wasn't sure what the hell to do. She can't cook. Surprising that the child actually cared for the devil woman, but she didn't say anything about it.

Raven was genuinely curious if Adriane actually took care of her child. Even she had to put herself aside for her own kid, right? For Ariana's sake. She really hoped so. "Your dad's kind of cool." As if she'd give him a real compliment to the girl who tattle tells on everyone? Please.

Agreeing with Kanen's words, she shrugged at the girl. Being careful not to move her arm. "Yeah. He'll be back soon, partying isn't all that fun." It wasn't a total lie, if she was being honest with herself, a night in with pizza and company... well, it sounded like it'd beat any party. "So, what'd you think about that doll? I mean... I could always return it to Spider-man. But I think he'd feel a little bad we didn't accept his gift."

"Maybe Kanen wants it?" Raven looked up from her position on the floor towards him. "You want it Kanen?" It was so not meant to sound sexual. But... well... It's Raven.

Winona High5ives​

 

[Winona]

Ariana

She really hoped that she'd get to see her dad before her mother took her. It used to be alright, when her dad would stay over at her mom's, and they would all lay in her bed and watch Spiderman until they all fell asleep. It had been the best times of Ari's life, but now for some reason, her dad had stopped coming over and although her mother still laid in bed and watched Spiderman with her, it wasn't the same. She was always on her phone, either texting or whispering angrily into it, as if she thought Ari couldn't hear.

After adding some much needed red streaks to the purple rose, Ariana was speechless when Raven mentioned that the doll was a gift from Spiderman himself. "What?" She whispered, dropping the marker to the floor and rushing over to the doll. "Don't touch it, Uncle K!" Ari yelled and snatched it off the ground, giving Kanen a dirty look with her nose all scrunched up. If it was from Spiderman, there was no way that she was parting with this gift.

Ari turned back to Raven. "You know Spiderman?" She asked, her voice a breathless amazed whisper.

High5ives Soap​

 

[Dazzle]

Mads


Mads pulled at the grass in front of him even though it was mostly dead. He leaned back on his hands, starring up at the stars. "Just dandy." He smiled, what else could he say. His father was a depressed and locked himself away constantly, his mother was dead. All he had was Rae, moving here was supposed to be a new start, but here he was. Once again wishing he could disappear. "Life sucks you know, horrible people walk around free every day, but yet there are kids starving, sick kids without any hope." Mads felt like his problems were small compared to most people.

Madison was wishing he grabbed another beer before leaving the house. "Sorry, I don't like to bring everyone down." All Mads wanted was everyone to be happy, he couldn't be happy himself so why not try to help others. Their happiness would at least brighten his mood temporarily. Rae had been trying to convince Mads to go to therapy for years, but he just kept smiling acting like there was nothing wrong. "I'll be fine." He smiled running a hand through his hair.

Winona

Zach


Zach felt a bit bad for the kid, but it wasn't his fault. Zach felt his phone buzz, looking down at it a DM from Belle. Learning that Charlie had been even told to not come to the party, and rudely showed up to play his own music. "Dude, its not my fault you have no where to go." He huffed.

"You came to this party, even after Belle told you not to, but yet here you are. You show up and hide in the corner, rather than actually trying to make friends." He shook his head. "Like come on dude, I'm sure some coffee shop would pay you in tea to hangout and play your guitar." He reached his hand out to the kid. "But you seriously got to go."

Twin Fantasy

Carter


Carter put her head in her hands, rubbing her forehead. I should not have said that, "Ha... I sound like hagrid." She mumbled to herself. 'focus Carter focus' She slid herself off the barstool, standing up the barstool that she knocked over before she started making her way after Belle. "Belle? Belle! Where'd you go?" She meandered her way through the halls. 'Wow this house is even bigger than I thought' She thought to herself, really believing she may just get lost.

Carter began knocking on the door of a bathroom, "Belle? Are you in there?" She leaned her head against the door. "I'm really sorry." She slid herself down the door, sitting on the ground. "I didn't mean to sound like such an asshole." She tapped her fingers against the door. "Let me innnn.... Unless Belle isn't in here, then oops?" She giggled again, wiggling the door knob. 'oh its unlocked' Thankfully she had guessed right and found the small red head curled up on the ground. "Please let me say sorry, I'll buy you a drink... Oh wait.. You bought all the drinks.... Next time we go out.. I'll buy your drinks"

Maree​

 

[Winona]

Ash


Wow, there was seriously something wrong with Mads, and everything he said just worked to bring the mood down even more. Ash tried to focus on the conversation at hand, but the whole being drunk thing definitely didn't help much. "Yeah, but, if you dwell on all the bad you'll just drive yourself crazy. And it's not like only bad things happen. Good things happen, too. Like, kids in the hospital getting over their sicknesses, or murderers getting killed. Good things."

Okay, so maybe her being out here to comfort Mads was the worst idea ever, but there wasn't anyone else around to do it. And Ash would be damned if she lost another friend tonight. She reached over and gently patted him on the back, then wondered why she was patting him. "You know, it's alright not to be okay all the time, right? Like, no one is okay all the time, and it's alright to talk to your friends about what's happening or whatever." Yes, okay, all she had to do was stay focused.

"Like, I'd rather sit out here with you and talk about the meaning of life and why you're so sad then be in there with you pretending to smile. I mean, your real friends aren't going to care about you bring them down." Was Ash actually talking well? Were her words making sense? Was she getting through to him? And was it just her, or was the world spinning ever so slightly? "Umm... so do you want to talk to me about it, or do you just want to sit in silence and mope? Because like, if you want to do the silent thing, I'll just sit here and support in quiet silence." What? Sometimes just having a friend sit by you was more than enough.

Dazzle​

 

[High5ives]

Daniel
After the little accident with Ash, Daniel was left more or less alone at the bar. Fine by him, and rum and coke sounded pretty good st this point, though Daniel didn’t dare do anything more than sip it. Over and over again, he found himself ambushed by one drunk girl or another, each one doing their best to try and ‘woo’ Daniel enough to get his phone number. Frankly, Daniel wasn’t amused and eventually decided he had enough of it.

He stood up, walking over to one of the far corners of the room where he could just hide and relax. There were less people here, meaning Danny could just relax and watch everyone else mingle. Some kid to his left was playing his guitar, not bothering one of course, but it was just loud enough for Daniel to hear. The guy was pretty good honestly, Danny wanted to compliment him on it, but he didn’t seem much like the type that wanted to be bothered.

He just silently listened, watching the party go on.
Like most good things though, it didn’t last too long. Some meathead came along to fuck it all up. Danny ignores it at first, hoping the guy with the guitar could handle things himself, but as soon as Charlie started talking, it was made clear he wasn’t the confrontational type. When the other guy tried telling Charlie to leave, Danny had enough.

“No, he really doesn’t have to go anywhere.” Daniel said, standing up from his seat and coming to stand between Zach and Charlie. “C’mon man. Leave him alone, he isn’t bothering anyone. Jesus, go get a drink and get laid or something. If Belle or whatever is pissed, you can blame that shit on me.” Danny offered.

“But I’m not going to let you just kick him out. No one likes to be left out from things. If strumming his guitar is how he likes to party, cool. Who cares. “

Dazzle

 

[High5ives]

“You want it Kanen?”

Fuck yea. No doubt.

The words rolled off Raven’s tongue just a little bit too well. Kanen’s jaw tightened as he looked down at Raven. He tried to hide the fact that he was a tad bit flustered, but it really wasn’t going well from him. Kanen could feel himself blushing, and suddenly the room felt a million degrees too hot. Kanen had however seen the messages on twitter about her being with Alaska though, and as much as Kanen would’ve loved to put Ari to bed and continue this conversation, Kanen was about to tempt someone’s relationship. “I don’t like to share.” Was Kanen’s only response.

Luckily, Ari saved them from an awkward silence. Kanen smiles as she snatched up the Spiderman toy and turned on him. Jeez, toddlers could be feisty. Kanen sure as hell wasnt about to try and wrestle the plushy away from here. (Not like he had a reason to anyways.)

Kanen would’ve said something else, but after Raven said she met Spiderman, Ari was astonished. He didn’t want to ruin things for her. Let Ari and Raven talk about Spiderman all night. Kanen was content being left out of the conversation, just so long as Ari was happy.

Winona Soap