• This section is for roleplays only.
    ALL interest checks/recruiting threads must go in the Recruit Here section.

    Please remember to credit artists when using works not your own.

Realistic or Modern hollywood arts: main (open!!)

Reader mode
Characters
Here






Corey Preston


Adriane leaving wasn’t the only thing that she did. As they watched her walk away, the politeness left a rather positive effect on the Preston family.

And as much as Corey wished he could tell them exactly how miserable he was whenever Adriane was around him, the fact of the matter was that she kind of was a pro at this. That being that she was able to fake it and act in a certain way, or at least that’s what Corey has observed about her in the few times they’ve been forced to be near each other since their breakup. Of course, that only covered about two times recently: once at his apartment with Maddie and just now.

And in both times, Corey was coming off of a high that he couldn’t contain until he saw her. And both times he had to grit his teeth through it all.

As his family went on to comment about her, such as:

“Corndog, why didn’t you tell us you knew such a beautiful girl?”

Right, because Corey was just wanting to bring up the worst experience he had before his senior year.

No, he’ll have to pass on that.

“I guess it just kind of slipped my mind,” Corey admitted.

There was a bit of truth to his words. It had slipped his mind just as it had slipped his mind to inform his family of just about everything else that went on at school. There were things that you didn’t hesitate to tell your family, and especially your sisters (or in this specific instance just Christina). If Corey aced a test, he’d text Rina. If Corey found a fifty dollar bill, he’d text Rina, but telling them about his first and only relationship or half the crap that went on at school and on Twitter, that’s something that he just couldn’t. He didn’t want to worry them and, honestly, there were some things Corey needed to keep to himself.

Like the truth about Maddie.

Crap, in all that happened, that’s the one person Corey wanted to go find. She knew she was around somewhere because he remembered seeing her during his performance. He remembered it so vividly because she was the reason why he was able to move on. So he wanted to go find her.

But that meant he might have to disappoint his family.

Frowning at them, he looked their way.

“Hey, I think I might have to take a raincheck on ice cream for now. I..want to see if I can find Maddie.” Corey looked at them with an almost pleading expression. It was like he was asking for their permission or for them to be okay that he’d go off on his own for a while.

“OF course son! We’ll be here! Just give us a call whenever you’re ready!”

His dad was something else and continuously exceeding all expectations Corey might’ve had.

“No need to worry! I’m sure we’ll find ways to entertain ourselves.”

He gave them a smile and an impromptu hug before he ran off in the opposite direction. He just needed to find Maddie. Maybe...maybe things could be better for him if he had some quality best friend time with her.




mood
Need my bestie fix

location
Arts Fest

outfit
Looking dapper





playing...
Blinding Lights
by The Weeknd​




mentions
Adri, Family, Maddie

interactions
Family

tags
Winona Winona


º º code by ditto º º
 






Ava Sanders


She was prepared to wander off with Saint and poke fun at some of the shittier arts projects, but as luck or... well, not luck. Because there was nothing lucky about some random chick wandering over and starting to speak about Saint's cow that was still in front of them since, well, they hadn't had a chance to wander off yet.

Ava looked towards the other chick -- she was unfamiliar. Blonde. Super fucking tall. Ava glanced down and was surprised to see that she wasn't even wearing heels or some shit. She was really just that fucking tall.

Her comments about the meaning of Saint's cow just earned a shrug from Ava because, well, she was also sharing the same sentiment. What the fuck was the purpose of a fucking cow? Sure, she'd heard it from Saint's lips -- the reason that he'd made a cow -- but it still left her scratching her head. Who truly liked cows enough that they'd just sit around and fucking design one and work on making it for months?

Especially for a serious ass grade.

Yeah, just let that go down in his art portfolio. "I made a cow."

Everyone would take him so seriously for that.

"Ask the artist," Ava responded blatantly and pointed a thumb in Saint's direction. "I had the same question. Don't really see a lot of cow shit in art. Or at least I haven't."

She was sure there was plenty of cow stuff in art elsewhere.

And then, the girl introduced herself. Sawyer. And she was lost.

"Ava," she introduced herself simply. "Do you have a project or something you gotta present still for the Festival?" Ava asked. "I don't know where any of the theaters and shit are. I've just been wandering, 'till I walked into Nosebleed, anyway." She finished her explanation and glanced in Saint's direction.

Well, they'd get to bitching about things soon enough.




mood
ugh

location
The Arts Fest, duh

outfit
minus the rips in the jeans, thanks





playing...
i wanna be your girlfriend
by girl in red​




mentions
N/A

interactions
Saint

tags
ditto ditto


º º code by ditto º º
 






Zeph Evermore


Zeph's heart sank when Lin didn't take him up on his idea. He'd really thought that candy would be able to pull Lin from these evil, illegal-ish ideas that he was having, and the disappointment that bubbled in his chest was... it was just a lot. He could already feel his palms growing sweaty. His heart pounding a little harder.

He was gonna get arrested today. Zeph could feel it.

No more stealing bikes in secret and not getting caught.

He'd have a record after the end of today.

“Zeeeeeph,” Lin sang, and Zeph's heart dropped even more in an oh no kind of way, “I knowww what we could doooo.”

Lin let go of Zeph and spun around and, curiously, Zeph watched him. What was he looking at? Was he checking himself out in the reflection of the truck? Or was he just staring into the distance for dramatic effect? Or--

OH HELL NO.

OH GOD OH GOD.

There was still an awkward smile on his face as Zeph's eyes widened in horror as he saw what Lin was thinking. He watched as he grabbed the handle of the truck and it just... it just popped right open! Who in LA didn't lock their car? Huh? Especially at such a large event?

This was just the number one rule in car ownership.

(Or so he thought -- he didn't actually have a car, obviously.)

Zeph watched in panic as Lin threw himself into the driver's seat.

Surely they weren't stealing the car.

There was a reason that Zeph never played Grand Theft Auto, and that was because stealing random NPC's vehicles had filled him with way too much guilt. If he couldn't even grand theft auto in a game where that was the main objective, how was he supposed to do it in the actual flesh? In the actual real life? Real world?

He was light-headed. Faint. His world was swimming around him. He was still smiling awkwardly, because he wasn't sure what else to do, and Zeph glanced around to see if anyone was paying attention -- but luckily, there was no one nearby right now. So he leaned in closer to his friend, an awkward laugh bubbling out of his chest.

"You just... stealing stuff from inside here? Not the umm... not the whole... the whole... truck, right?"




mood
coolio

location
Arts Festival

outfit
no, he's not getting super fancy





playing...
We Like It
by Computer Games​




mentions
N/A

interactions
Lin

tags
ditto ditto


º º code by ditto º º
 






saint andrew taylor


The cow certainly seemed to be garnering quite a bit of attention…or, perhaps more accurately, confusion. First came Maeve, and now, there was a girl who stood a couple of inches taller than himself who made a comment about Milkshake.

“Riveting,” she laughed, grinning.

He shifted his dark eyes over to the girl, giving her a once-over. She held a demeanor that stuck out as one of someone who was obviously uncomfortable or at least unadjusted to this type of environment. She did not look familiar in the slightest. Her clothing wasn’t exactly suited for the occasion, either…though, granted, neither was Saint’s. His stoic expression remained as he looked to her face.

“Art really is something,” continued the unfamiliar girl. “What does a cow mean to the onlooker? Food? Country side? Existential dread? Could be anything really.”

Saint exhaled amusedly through his nose. She was being sarcastic, but it was funny.

“Ask the artist,” Ava said, pointing to Saint with her thumb. “I had the same question. Don’t really see a lot of cow shit in art. Or at least I haven’t.”

“That’s the point,” Saint said in his low, disinterested, monotone voice. He crossed his arms, sparing a loving glance at Milkshake and giving it a slow nod before looking back to the girls. “When someone says to expect the unexpected, your expectation of the unexpected makes the unexpected expected and the expected unexpected…” He gave another slow nod. “It’s the same concept with art…in always trying to make something unique and never seen before, artists make the unique and the unseen…mundane…” Another glance at Milkshake. “So mundanity becomes unique…since you don’t see the mundane very often.” He looked back at the girls once more. “It’s something…normal, an animal that is very common, and yet it still draws your eye to it because it is so normal…” He gave a slight shrug. “It was more supposed to be…thought-provoking than revolutionary.”

“I’m Sawyer,” said the stranger, “and I’m like super lost.”

“Ava,” gave the other girl.

“Saint,” said Saint. “Taylor. Visuals.” He paused a beat, his brows tugging together slightly for a moment before relaxing as he tried to place her name. “Sawyer…,” he repeated. It rang no bells. “I’m assuming you’re new here.”

"Do you have a project or something you gotta present still for the Festival?" Ava asked. "I don't know where any of the theaters and shit are. I've just been wandering, 'till I walked into Nosebleed, anyway."

“Theaters…” Saint breathed out a long breath. “I know where those are,” he concluded. “At least, I saw it on the map of where the projects were, and I trust my memory…” He lifted a hand to his chin. “It should be…just down the hall, actually…” He paused another few moments, and then gave a slight nod, looking to Sawyer. “Yes…well, Ava and I were about to go…peruse the other projects…” He spoke in his typical tired, disengaged manner. “Perhaps that could help give you a look-around, too, if you’d like to follow along and if Ava doesn’t mind…I don’t think that we really had any plans, other than watching other peoples’ work and…giving our thoughts on them.”

Critiquing them was the more accurate term, but he didn’t want to say that so bluntly to a stranger. He wasn’t sure what to think of her yet, and he could not gauge what her reaction would be.




mood
cow

location
the celestial theater

outfit
casual-ish





playing...
god's plan (drake cover)
by our last night​




mentions
n/a

interactions
ava & sawyer

tags
Winona Winona KingofAesir KingofAesir


º º code by ditto º º
 






Ashton West


The longer she waited for an answer, the more her heart started to sink. It was pretty clear to Ash pretty, like, early on that Trevor was going to say no, so now her cheeks were just flushed with an embarrassed red color. The faint smile that had played on her lips had more or less died down as she looked away from Trevor back to the flowers in her lap, which her fingers were still nervously plucking at.

It was dumb of her to ask him -- of course he wasn't going to want to go. Of course. Like Ash didn't even want to go, so why would Trevor want to suck it up and go with her? It had been stupid to ask, especially after she had so stupidly and so bitchily and so... so... so... rudely just like... basically like... insulted his whole idea with the date, which he'd obviously been proud of, and obviously he should've because it was sweet, and oh god.

She just felt nervous.

Or something.

Her stomach hurt.

Finally, Trevor said something about like... being busy. Having plans or whatever, and Ash just gave a little nod of her head. At least they could like... move on and get away from the embarrassment of her being dumb enough to ask him something so... just... dumb. Everything was just dumb.

Luckily, Trevor was good at avoiding awkward conversations and changing the topic.

“I’ll give you t'ree guesses of where, ah, we’re actually going." Trevor said. "It'll be like Twen'y-One Questions, but it's only t'ree questions you're asking. Like...I don't know...it's someplace great and spectacular an' wonderful, an' you should, ah, go ahead. Go on, guess.”

The restaurant, obviously.

Like that had obviously been the plan, but she'd ruined that, so Ash found herself sinking down in the passenger seat a bit, her fingers brushing along the rose stems.

She was, like, pretty sure he just wanted ideas of where to go that she would like.

"Umm..." Ash pressed her lips together, her eyebrows drawing together in thought for a moment. "I guess like... maybe the beach?" No, the beach was sandy, and she was pretty sure that Trevor probably hated sand. Like, it just seemed like something he'd have an issue with. "An... art... museum? Actually, no, those are like... not spectacular all. Like those are totally boring." So she was knocking that one out herself.

She lightly bit into her bottom lip, trying to think of something for a third "guess" that both her and Trevor wouldn't mind.

"Is it... the... umm... aquarium?"

She hadn't actually ever been to an aquarium out here, but hey, fish were kind of cool.




mood
(imagine a little heart emoji here)

location
Arts Fest

outfit
sparkles





playing...
Today
by Olivia Holt (cover)​




mentions
N/A

interactions
Trevor

tags
ditto ditto


º º code by ditto º º
 






LINDSAY MORGAN KAY


This was the first time that Lin had been behind the wheel of a vehicle in fuckin’ months, and Lin’s rush of adrenaline was given a serious boost as he settled his ass in the tattered leather of the stranger’s seat. The feeling of the leather between his hands — just gripping that sexy wheel between his hands — made a wide grin spread across his face. Images of racing cars appeared behind the windshield, and he slammed his foot down on the gas pedal, which gave a solid thunk! as it hit against the carpeted floor. Inside his head were the noises of the engine: nyyyyerrrr, nyyyyyerrrrr, eeeeeee —

“You just…”

Lin looked over at his friend, who stared with wide eyes back at him. “‘uh?” His grin pulled into a confused frown.

“Stealing stuff from inside here?”

“Stealin’ stuff?” Lin repeated, cocking his head as he slumped a wrist over the top of the wheel and turned his body to face Zeph.

“Not the umm…not the whole…the whole…”

Lin raised an eyebrow. “Bro…?”

“…truck, right?” Zeph finished finally.

Lin blinked at Zeph. Blink. Bl-blink. B-b-b-b-blink. (That would make a dope ass beat.) “Bro…,” he repeated. “Broooo…” You’re joking, my man? My lad? My fellow? “Zephy…” He narrowed his eyes at him, leaning towards Zeph to the point that his head and the upper part of his neck were peeking out of the door. He gave him a dramatic once-over with a nod of his head, and then another one, and then he leaned eeeeven closer, only holding his balance thanks to his tight grip on the wheel.

And then, he concluded that he wasn’t joking, and Lin’s face broke out into a wide grin and he let out a loud cackle, flopping back in the seat. With a dramatic “uuuuugh”, he twisted his body even more, setting his feet on the doorframe. He sat one elbow on his thigh, while the other rested on the horn — though he wasn’t pressing hard enough for it to sound.

“Zeph, Zeph, Zeph, Zeph.” He shook his head, clicking his tongue. “Zephyyy, Zephoooo, Zephaaaa…” And then he realized that the last sounded like him saying Zephyr with an Australian accent, so he snickered and said, “Zepha, mate.” Laughing again, he dropped the accent, and then he suddenly set his face in seriousness. “Zeph, listeeeen. I’m Lindsay, you know meee. Do I look like a criminal to you?” He shook his head, trying to get him to say no, and then he shrugged. “Well, I am one — but not just for kicks, ess-em-aych. I take my criminal activity very seriously.”

He stretched his arm out to give the console a slap, and then snapped his fingers and pointed to Zeph. “This was an easy break-in, y’know, an’ some dumbass just left this shit unlocked. Ess-em-aych, it’s like they’re asking for us to snatch the car — but that would be the most obvious crime.” He shrugged. “So duh. We’re not going to steal the whole truck — and we’re not going to steal the stuff from inside here either — oh, shit, unless he’s got some good CDs in here. You think the guy’s got his mixtape?” He turned around to the glovebox, gesturing for Zeph to get into the other side.

“Anyway,” he continued as he dug, “nahhhh, luhmao. The ideaaaa isssssss…” He leaned up from the glovebox, seeming to have lost interest in what he was doing there, and he instead reached into his satchel again, quickly pulling out a plain black Sharpie. “This is Betsy. Say hi, luhmao.” He grinned broadly. “She’s here to help us, luhmao.” He pulled out another Sharpie. “This is her cousin, Helga. She’s yours.”

As he turned back towards the wheel, he added breezily, “Oh yeah, but also, if I knew how to hotwire a car, we’d totally steal this shit, luhmao. Seems hella fun. You and me are gonna do GTA sometime, luhmao — but baby steps, hehe.”

Uncapping his Sharpie and quickly moving past that point as though it was a minor detail (because, in his mind, it was), Lin furrowed his brows and first leaned forward to the windshield…and then leaned back.

“Hey, wait…” He looked over at Zeph. “Vandalism boring to you now? 'cuz it kinda is to me. ‘cuz we’ve already done that. Boooring…hmmm…” He put a hand on his chin — and then, a few moments later, he gasped loudly. “WAIT, SHIT, DUDE, I’M A FUCKING GENIUS!”

Abruptly, he leaned over to the passenger seat — and promptly yanked off the headrest. Cackling happily, he threw it out his open door, watching it bounce on the pavement with a gleeful expression.

“Off with their headrests!” he cheered.




mood
pranking timeeee lmaooo

location
the celestial theater

outfit
feesh





playing...
voldemort
by lindsay kay​




mentions
n/a

interactions
zeph

tags
Winona Winona


º º code by ditto º º
 

Livanna Moore
"Find the positive in everything. ”


@Livieeee is has updated her status to:
:)
@Livieeee has interacted with:
Nickie, Hunter

@Livieeee has mentioned:
N/A

@Livieeee has set her outfit to:
Sparkly-Sexy

@Livieeee has tagged:
ditto ditto natsukashii natsukashii​

“So, you think I’d be mad…because…”

Dilated eyes glanced from side-to-side, unsure what to say or how to respond to Nickie. She didn’t seem all too mad and that alone had calmed Liv for the most part— not that she was worried anyway.

“I hate you or something? … Like?”

Okay, maybe there was that one time a few months ago where she totally wanted to pull out a knife on ‘itty bitty Nickie’ but she wasn’t sober— to be fair, she isn’t sober now and she definitely wouldn’t have pulled a knife on her in the first place.

“…Yes?” Liv said questionably, confusion seeping into whatever was happening over here.

Character development. Woohoo.

But yeah, there was also that part where she cried.

Huh. Liv doesn’t think she could pull a knife on anybody. Unless it was for sexual reasons or something she could never see herself actively threatening or harming anyone with a sharp blade.

Woah, she was totally getting off track.

What were they talking about again?

Oh.

Right.

Man, it was way easier to just focus on a little bit of singing. Conversations seemed to require a whole bunch of attention that Liv couldn’t spare right now.

It was one thing to ramble.

But to listen?

Liv didn’t even understand what she was listening to.

Some of her words went unnoticed and Liv kinda just stood there, blinking.

“Liv, look.”

Looking.

Totally looking.

My complete and full attention you have there.

Wow, she has really pretty eyes.

Hey, she’s talking to you. Cut the high real quick.

Liv blinked a few times, shaking her head and ‘listening’ intently.

Nickie hesitated, but she continued.

“I’ve been a bitch to you.”

“Oh, nononon—“

You have, but it’s cool y’know.

“Seriously, nothing but a huge bitch. And even in spite of that you… went onstage to help me?”

Well, when you put it that way…

Kidding.

She didn’t regret it. They sounded amazing! At least, that’s how she remembered it.

What if she hallucinated all of that? That’d be trippy.

Kidding. Again.

She wasn’t that high.

Nickie let out a laugh and Liv’s brows furrowed in confusion.

“Fucking insane, Livanna. You’re honestly as crazy as I thought you were…”

Liv wasn’t sure how to respond to that either but it didn’t really sound like a compliment.

At least; the words didn’t— her tone said otherwise but that didn’t stop the frown from setting onto Liv’s face.

“Oh. Um. Sorry?” Her mumbles were kept mostly to herself, they were there— but Nickie had some kind of internal monologue or something going on and she probably didn’t pick up on her unnecessary sorry.

“This whole time, I’ve thought that you were out to get me or something…? I don’t know…I’m just, like…that shit, with the lyrics…?”

Oh!

Nickie laughed again and Liv rubbed the back of her neck, smiling.

Yeah, Liv was still super convinced that Nickie was the one who stole her lyrics but she couldn’t really say that because… well, they were having a good conversation.

Sorta.

“It was stupid, like, really fucking stupid, but I resolved that you were my enemy. It was a stupid song for a stupid school project that no one even really cared about, but whatever. Up until about…like, a minute ago…? It didn’t seem stupid, whatever. Even saying it aloud, it’s dumb as hell,”

“Yeah, hahah— super dumb…”

Ugh, she felt so awkward right now.

And Liv doesn’t do awkward!

She wasn’t really used to this.

Apologies or something.

Is that what Nickie was doing? Apologizing?

Liv was a master at giving apologies but receiving them? She was kinda just waiting for the other shoe to drop, y’know?

She hated arguments.

Anything to do with them.

“So I was a bitch to you…,”

Yes, and?

“and in spite of all of that…you still went out there and helped me. It’s…I’m…I never expected that. If it had been you out there…shit, I wouldn’t’ve done the same. I probably would have been laughing. Shows what kind of fucking upstanding person I am.”

Yes, and?

Liv had no idea why Nickie was laughing but she assumed something about this was funny.

But she didn’t laugh. Instead, she awkwardly glanced to the side of her.

“But had you not gone out there for me, I…that would’ve been it for me. You never would’ve had to see me again.”

“You wouldn’t have to deal with shitty fucking me, you wouldn’t have to deal with my pettiness or my backhandedness or my bitchiness or, like, me constantly bringing up the drama or me, I don’t know, deep down fucking internally blaming you for all of that shit with Hunter — all of that fucking stupid shit, you wouldn’t’ve had to deal with it. It would’ve made your life so much easier and it would’ve been so much easier to…to let me break down onstage, and…”

Liv frowned, brows furrowed and she returned her gaze to Nickie.

“And instead, you came out there to ungrateful, bitchy me, and you sang your heart out with me onstage, and you — you saved my ass…for…for no real reason at all.”

Nickie’s eyes started to water and Liv immediately became nervous.

She hated criers.

She didn’t know how to deal with this!

Oh no, oh no.

“Nickie, I—“

Suddenly, Nickie practically melted into Liv, wrapping her in a tight hug.

What the f—

“Oh—“

Livanna didn’t know what to do.

She stiffened from the sudden contact.

“Thank you,” Nickie muttered into her shoulder and that was literally all Liv needed to hear before returning the overly tight hug.

Awwwwwwwwweeeeeeeeeeeeeeee.

itty bitty Nickie-bear.

Cue the emojis, cue the heart eyes, cue the— everything that was good in the world.

“Thank you so fucking much, Liv, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you — I’m so sorry. I’m so fucking sorry.”

It was SO sweet. She was so sweet.

And Liv… felt really bad.

Why did she feel guilty?

Because she felt guilty?

Maybe it was the drugs messing with her or something, but oddly enough her own heart ached just a bit.

“Hey, it’s okay. It’s like super… okay?”

Nickie kept repeating herself and Liv realized she didn’t really have a choice to reassure her.

“Seriously, it isn’t a big deal at all I just thought it was a running gag with us—“

Kinda.

Kinddddd of.

“People have said way, way worse to me before. The farthest you went has been like, calling me a creep and probably talking about me really bad behind my back because that’s just something you do and I think it’s adorable.”

Not really, but.

“Okay, not really but I still think you’re a great singer and possibly really good person who didn’t deserve to get publicly humiliated on stage just because you got a little nervous— and…”

The stage manager informed the two that they needed to get going for the next set of performers and Liv nodded.

“And… you’re welcome.”

Plus, if I would’ve left you there, and I never have to see you or had to deal with you again…

that’d be kinda boring.

Nickie pulled away first, and Liv swayed on her heels.

“So… I’m just gonna…” Liv gestured towards nowhere in particular.

The brunette walked backwards a little and Nickie did the same towards the stage exit, both opposite sides of each other.

“Hey, Liv,”

Liv glanced up in her direction.

“I’m, uhm…I’m going to be grabbing something to eat?”

Was this it?

Were Nickie and Liv…

Becoming friends?

Was she dreaming?

Pinch her.

Or, well, don’t. She’s actually really sensitive— unless it’s in bed, don’t actively try to hurt her. thanks.

“You should come with me. Like, free of charge, I’ll be paying…I just…”

She could pay for her own food.

Yeah, Liv was kinda limited on the millions of dollars she owned and only got a certain amount of money to spend each month and she always blew it all on stupid, unnecessary and ridiculous things.

But to Liv… everything she bought was precious.

Like that giant inflatable bounce house she only used once that sits in the corner of her apartment.

Woah, woah. Off track again.

“Ice cream is a good celebration,”

She thought about it for barely a second until practically hopping towards the brunette.

“Uhmmmm— heck yeah it is!”

The pair walked left backstage and Liv followed alongside Nickie, of course, feeling much more upbeat and a little less weird now that they got the whole feelings thing out of the way.

Liv rambled on and on, barely even looking ahead, only focusing on the girl beside her. “Plus, the fact that we can celebrate how absolutely amazing we sounded is even more amazing and—

“And, andddddd? Maybe now we can do a collab! We can maybe like, write something really cool and maybe even—“

Nickie halted in her tracks when she bumped into someone and Liv skid to a stop as well, her bottom lip falling into an awkward tug and she let out a hiss of disappointment at who they ran into.

Well, who she ran into.

“What are you doing back here?”

Liv, to the side of the newly ex’ed couple was becoming more and more uncomfortable within the second.

“And like, come to think of it, what were you doing at my fucking performance?”

Her gaze switched from Nickie to Hunter over and over.

“Cheering me on, like…?”

Hunter,

Nickie.

Hunter,

Nickie.

“You do realize that, like, you were impressing no one with that show? Like, news flash, cheering for me to breakdown not going to get me back, Drake, like…?”

Hunter?

“Whoa, who said anything about wanting you back?”

He laughed and some kind of fire sparked in Liv’s chest, suddenly all the more so protective of her new friend.

The small girl crossed her arms, but didn’t dare to say much of anything. It wasn’t her fight.

She wasn’t involved.

“You actually think that I...Nicks, you’re either really dumb, which considering what you just said I don’t doubt, or you’re feeling bad about the way you treated me and you’re just playing hard to get.”

She isn’t dumb.

You’re dumb.

“But whatever it is, trust me when I say this — and you can take it to the fucking bank, Nicks —”

Nickie was completely in the right for breaking up with Hunter.

“— I was only here to show my support for you! I mean, just look at how well you did! They’ll be talking about you for days and you might just have gotten some scouts’ attention.”

Maybe, a small part of Liv was jealous because Nickie actually had the chance to break it off. To get all angry.

But when Hunter and Liv had…

Y’know.

She was just left in the dark. Trying to figure out what she did wrong to make him not interested in her anymore.

She was young, stupid, and really, really, mad at herself for the trust she put in him.

Liv falls too fast.

And far too easily.

“Or maybe they’ll be talking about how you failed and were going to cry or something and Liv came out and saved your ass.”

“Honestly, who really knows, right?”

She hated him.

As much as Liv tries to pride herself on how she couldn’t hate anyone.

Fuck being a good person at that point.

My gosh, this guy freaking sucked!

However, since her name was technically mentioned…

She was now involved.

Which meeeaannsssss.

Liv raised a hand, tilting her head to grab his attention.

“Hi, uh. I know.”

“She was nervous. But thanks to all your cheering and crowd support, the only thing you did was make Nickie stand out more— you actually helped her, if anything, you gained her fans. Good job, Hunter!”

Was she actually patting him on the back?

No.

But it had to upset him to see that his ex was possibly thriving in her career, didn’t it? He was one of those sour exes.

Liv only has two exes.

Newt, bless his soul.

And the gorgeous, ever-so-difficult to deal with Gen.

Despite some of the…hurtful, words she’s said in the past.

Gen was never the one to trash talk on her career or the possibility of her making it.

Liv was already kinda famous, but at least her girl—

Ex, girlfriend.

Had the respect not to drag on her for that too.

“But you’re super right. She did amazing. We were just talking about co-writing something, my manager is already going crazy. I think we’re gonna be something really big.”

Was that true?

No.

Was Liv a liar?

Definitely not, but she had some sort of confidence about something here.

Maybe this was just her way of getting back at Hunter.

Liv would never wish anything overly negative on anyone.

But she genuinely, truly, honestly wanted him to sit down on the coldest of toilet seats, have a bird poop on him, have them forget his french fries when he orders his stupid cheeseburger—

Y’know what?

He deserved to be punched.

Forget all of that.

This dude needed two black eyes.

“You might’ve gotten her some fans, I helped out a little, but Nickie did all of that herself.”

…

“I’m just saying, if people are talking— it’s because she did amazing. You would serioussssslyy have to be blind— or well, deaf if you don’t see it.”

“… or hear it, I guess.”

She tried, alright?
º º code by ditto º º
 




































  • how she's feeling...



    the usual, depressed, but elated to see liv

















Kaash



depression













She could never pin down exactly what it was that kept her going at times. Her life had always been turbulent – even if much of it was by her own design. She had to admit it though, she had lived a privileged life despite of all of the turbulence and in truth if she had came out the womb as a straight woman, it’d probably be such an easy life.

Her mother was a billionaire. Her father was the head Pastor at a megachurch. Ignoring the obvious drawbacks of having Nigerian Immigrant Mother and a pastor father (conservative household) her life was as far as living quality and comfort, wasn’t beatable.

Yet she wasn’t born straight. She didn’t like guys – she liked women. Particularly very feminine, pretty women. Her father – the pastor – was accepting. Her mother -the immigrant- was not. She’d speak Yoruba about the walking sin of her own child as if Kayla didn’t speak Yoruba too.

Maybe that would have made her pursuit of a relationship with Livanna a bit smoother. She could confidently just parade around with the girl of her dreams. Wait, was that how she felt? Why was she feeling so strong when they just started talking? They weren’t even exclusive, were they. Still – she would be absolutely lying if she didn’t already feel so strongly about Liv. The infatuation was running rampant. But that was Kayla. She didn’t like a lot of women, a lot of things in general. It was her apathetic nature. When she did feel though, it was always strong. Probably stronger than it should be.

She rubbed the back of her neck as she moved to the crowd to watch Liv’s performance. She knew Liv wasn’t the biggest fan of her own music and in truth, neither was Kayla, but support was support and she wanted to support her as much as she could. Especially since they were going on a date later in the night.

She took a deep breath as she the performance ended and smiling, before she started to move away from the groups. She was sure Liv had to attend to certain obligations much like she did after any performance, even it was just an obligation to herself to decompress, so she moved away from the performance area reaching for her thc pen and taking a slow pull of it.

There was a moment of zen she got, just from the comfort of the pull before the chemical compound known as Tetrahydrocannabinol started to kick in. It was her comfort zone away from the anxiety of too many people. It was so weird how as a performer she got so much energy from full crowds but as soon as she was apart of one, she turned into a shriveled mushroom.

Similar to how she did when she felt someone bump into her, causing her to drop her pe to the ground. She blinked a few times, cursing under her breath not caring about whoever it was that bumped to her, but focused completely on her pen. She was worried it broke and was not in the mood for trying to procure another one.

She kneeled before the fallen piece of equipment before taking in a deep breath as she inspected it. She took a hit from it in a slow drag, before letting out a bit of smoke signaling that It was still working.

Satisfied. She finally got back to her feet and turned to face the loser who decided to –

Kayla? O-oh hey!

Kayla’s brow furrowed before she quirked an eye a bit in confusion. Why was she acting strange? She wasn’t really understanding it, but she merely shrugged it off. Giving her a smooth ‘what’s up’ head-nod.

What are you doing here?

W-what? What was Kayla doing at her own school’s Art Fest?

She looked at her pen and cocked her head to the side. Was this cart laced with something? There was no way what was happening was real life, but apparently it was. Because Maggie was right in front of her.

“I’m..here…to perform….”
She stated trailing off because she still hadn’t quite grasped the fact of what was going on.
















































♡coded by uxie♡
 






trevor callaghan​


Trevor had good ideas.

Generally.

…sometimes.

…rarely.

But see, this — thiiiis was a great idea.

Making his girlfriend come up with ideas for him.

Genius.

Because 1) that meant that she did all of the thinking, and thinking hurt his head, and 2) that meant that he didn’t get the chance to pick the wrong option, because it was her ideas.

Great.

Great job, Trevor. Good. Nice. Amazing.

“Umm…I guess like…maybe the beach?”

Awful idea, Trevor. Terrible. Bad. Horrendous.

“The beach,” he repeated with a tense chuckle and a smile.

The fecking beach.

Ya know, he and his grandparents used to take trips to the beach. There was something about the sandy banks that made Mary Callaghan piss her pants in excitement — which meant that the trips were awful for Trevor, because she never fecking stopped making him do “fun things”. Like…build sandcastles. Or run in the sand. Or swim in the ocean. Not to mention the fact that his grandmother always forced him into a pair of swimtrunks that matched her own bathing suit. And the ocean smelled fecking rancid, and the sand was gritty and got all in your crotch and in every other crevice, and it was hot and he burned easily and —

The beach was practically hell on earth.

“An…art…museum?”

Those were nice. “Oh,” he chuckled, “that’s —“

“Actually, no, those are like…not spectacular all. Like those are totally boring.”

He blinked, and then chuckled tensely again. “Boooring,” he finished. He gave a nod. “Boring. Boring as hell. Psh, yeah, the only people who like art museums are…babies.”

That was the only thing he could think of on the fly.

“Is it…the...umm…aquarium?"

Take it back — this was a great idea.

He snapped his finger, shaking his head and letting out a soft groan. “Ah, damn, you guessed it!” he sighed, feigning that he was upset.

Thank you, Genius Brain.

You’re welcome, Idiot Everything-Else.

• • • • •​

“So…here we are…,” Trevor said as he came out the other side of the ticket gate, his hand twisting the paper bracelet around his wrist. Why the hell did they keep making these damn things so uncomfortable? They could invent refrigerators that could talk to you and books for blind people to read, but they couldn’t make these fecking entrance tickets at least decently comfortable? And they cost so damn much, too — almost eighty bucks altogether? What, did he look like he was fecking made out of money? They were going to look at fish. It was the equivalent of walking through the Walmart frozen fish aisle, save for the fact that these were alive and probably smelled worse — which was all the more reason for this to be cheaper.

Fish were overrated.

Before you said that it was only uncomfortable because he’d put it on too tightly, that was the way that they were obviously fecking supposed to be put on. If he put it on loosely, it could come off, and then he could be arrested for breaking and entering or something like that, and, God, feck, he was too young and too hot and had too much of a future to be jailed.

Slipping his pinky beneath his bracelet, he approached Ash, glancing around at the fish-themed scenery. “This…is very big.” State the obvious. “I’ve, ah…” He chuckled, lifting the hand that was fiddling with his bracelet to scratch his neck. “I’ve never actually been to an aquarium before…” He dropped his hand to give her an awkward finger gun. “So…it’s your call, darlin’: where do we go first?”




mood
fish

location
the aquarium

outfit
before you say a single fecking word, this wasn't his idea.





playing...
some nights (intro)

by fun.​




mentions
n/a

interactions
ash

tags
Winona Winona


º º code by ditto º º
 
Last edited:






nickie abrams.


They said that love was blind. Like, love didn't give a shit about who was being loved or who was giving love or what the circumstances of the love were. Love just happened. Nickie couldn’t really act like she didn’t say the same shit, either. Obviously, the girl who had been dubbed HA’s biggest simp was a romantic or whatever.

Or had been.

Or fucking something like that.

Right now, she felt that saying — love is blind — repeating over and over in her soul. And also, you know, that saying that got thrown around as something cringey fourteen-year-olds found to be deep: love blinds. Because right now, looking at the boy who she swore she was in love with — the boy who she played a future with in her head every night before she slept, even when they were just talking, the boy who she felt like she was meant to be with and fucking made for — she realized just how fucking…disgusting he was.

Seriously. He looked like a sack of shit, and he talked like a sack of shit, because he was literally a walking sack of shit. Everything that seemed hot about him before — his lack of a filter, the cocky demeanor — all looked so fucking ugly now.

And all of his words stung and made her want to literally knock his fucking lights out.

“Whoa, who said anything bout wanting you back?” Hunter laughed, like it was funny? Like he wasn’t thinking that?

“I did?” Nickie said over his laughter, cocking her head. Though she punctuated her sentence with a question mark, she meant it as a fact. “Because you obviously do, Hunter? Because you’re fucking jealous that I’m out here thriving or some shit?”

He stopped his laughing and spoke again. “You actually think that I…”

“That you want me back?” she finished for him. “Duh, jackass, who wouldn’t?”

“Nicks, you’re either really dumb, which considering what you just said I don’t doubt,” Hunter said. (Nickie added, “Look who’s fucking talking,” but he didn’t seem to hear her.) “Or you’re feeling bad about the way you treated me and you’re just playing hard to get.”

“The way —“ It was her turn to laugh. “Oh my fucking God!” she exclaimed, throwing her hands up. She covered her mouth, shaking her head pitifully. “Oh my God, the way I treated you?” She pointed to herself. “The way I —“ She pointed to him, laughing and rolling her eyes. “— treated you?! Oh my God!”

What was he, fucking stupid?

Yes, Nickie. The answer was obviously fucking yes.

“But whatever it is,” Hunter continued (needlessly), “trust me when I say this — and you can take it to the fucking bank, Nicks —“ He stepped closer and knelt down to face her.

God, she could punch him right now. He was right at eye level — she could get a really good fucking punch in.

Or a kiss.

Not a kiss — what the hell was she thinking?!

She shook her head to shove that thought from her mind. “Say it, dickwad,” she hissed.

“I was only here to show my support for you!”

She squeezed her eyes shut, stepping back from him. “Die.”

“I mean, just look at how well you did!”

She raised her middle finger, using her other hand to cover her face. “Shut up.”

“They’ll be talking about you for days and you might just have gotten some scouts’ attention.”

She dropped her middle finger and opened her eyes to glower at him. “Oh yeah?” she scoffed. “I bet you think that’s fucking thanks to you, huh? Seriously, shut the hell up.”

Hunter straightened back up. “Or maybe they’ll be talking about how you failed and were going to cry or something and Liv came out and saved your ass.”

“Oh my fucking —“

He shrugged. “Honestly, who really knows, right?”

She crossed her arms, pricking up an eyebrow, and she just glared at him. She opened her mouth to snark, but Liv spoke up.

“Hi, uh,” she interjected, and Nickie looked over at her, a confused expression on her face. “I know.”

Nickie looked at Hunter to see his reaction as Liv continued.

“She was nervous,” Liv said.

“Yeah, I was fucking nervous,” Nickie agreed, glaring at Hunter.

“But thanks to all you cheering and crowd support —“

“No fucking thanks to it,” Nickie corrected beneath her breath.

“— the only thing you did was make Nickie stand out more — you actually helped her, if anything, you gained her fans.”

Liv’s assertion made a smirk play at Nickie’s lips, and she snickered, giving Liv an approving glance before triumphantly looking back at Hunter. “Wow, congrats.”

“Good job, Hunter!” Liv said.

“Yeah, good job.” She uncrossed her arms to give him two quick claps, and then she held her hands up beneath her chin to frame her face in the most innocent way. “Your goal of making me fail did the opposite, yay. You can’t even be an awful person well.”

“But you’re super right,” Liv continued. “She did amazing. We were just talking about co-writing something, my manager is already going crazy.”

“Literally,” Nickie agreed, nodding along to the total fucking lie.

“I think we’re gonna be something really big. You might’ve gotten her some fans, I helped out a little, but Nickie did all of that herself.”

“Umm-hmm,” Nickie agreed, glaring at Hunter.

“I’m just saying, if people are talking — it’s because she did amazing,” Liv said. “You would serioussssslyy have to be blind — or well, deaf if you don’t see it… or hear it, I guess.”

Nickie looked to Liv, and then back to Hunter. “Literally, like — Hunter…” She held out a finger, beckoning him closer with a glare. “Baby, honey,” she seethed, “come here.” She walked closer to him. “News fucking flash, s-o-b, no one gives a shit that you’re butthurt over me breaking up with you for leaving out major fucking details that you should’ve told me, and the more you try to hurt me? Yeah, literally the better I’ll get. And the more right I’ll look, because, like, I am right. And the less I will want to get back with you? Because obviously you do want me back?”

She rolled her eyes. “I mean, like, fucking come on! Like, you…? You came to my fucking performance. What, do you still make out with your pillow and act like its me? Scribble my name on your right hand and pretend that’s me? Like…get a fucking life, and stop thinking that — oh my fucking God, stop trying to get my attention, stop trying to make it out like you want me to fail, because even if I do fucking fail, I’m not going to fucking come crawling back to you.”

Her voice was raising as she continued, her face reddening with anger. She took another step closer to him, and, glaring up into his eyes, she hissed, “I may be the fucking bottom of the barrel, Hunter, but you? You’re the literal fucking scum on the underside of it, jackass, and I’m not going back to you.”

As she glared up into his eyes so close to his body, she felt a swell of anger after her words finished. God, she hated him — she fucking hated him.

But…being here, this close to him, she also felt the strong fucking urge —

I could punch him right now, and fucking walk away. Walk away from this fucking piece of shit

God, I really fucking want to punch him.

Or I could kiss him.

God...I really fucking want to kiss him.




mood
...

location
in the hall outside of the backstage exits

outfit
as ready as i'll ever be





playing...
normal
by nickie.​




mentions
n/a

interactions
liv & hunter

tags
Soap Soap natsukashii natsukashii


º º code by ditto º º
 




































  • how she's feeling...



    overwhelmed and frustrated, but fabulous

















Kinni



Freshman(15)-Fashionista-Goddess













Maybe learning how to not immediately go off was starting to grow on her. I mean, she technically did but, she didn’t finish. So I guess the IDEA was growing on her, because the results were speaking for their self. If she had this situation with this tall piece of eye-candy would have gone so much more south.

So she would consider not being so quick to snap in the future.

I'm supposed to hangout with my buddy, Lindsay, but uhh...

Oh. He had a previous engagement. Though she supposed that wasn’t so surprising if she really thought about it. This arts fest was apparently a very popular thing and why wouldn’t someone who had been attending this school already have their day organized.

I got a bit before I gotta find him, so... yeah, I can show you around real quick. Give you a, ahh... a rundown of the... of the Arts Festival.

Oh. Well, that definitely went a different direction than she had thought it was about to go. From his response she was sold on the don’t immediately cuss people out thing. You know what that’s called? It’s called growth, and little not so little Kinni just gained a few EXP for her current level.

She nodded a bit as she thought for a moment. His weird wording withstanding, he had offered to give her a bit of a tour and that was enough for her to smile about. She moved along with him as he began to walk and started to walk in line with his stride. She had to admit that it was nice to not have to slow down her walk that she tended to have to do with people ever her own height. She was tall, but she also had extremely long legs (and arms) that made her feel taller than she was.

Though he may have left rather abruptly, she had gotten what she needed out of that exchange. She had met a guy, an older guy, that wasn’t like the rest of the boys that she had met so far at this overgrown daycare for mostly privileged kids. There was something different about him that seemed to have her mesmerized as if she was caught in a trance.

Yeah, sure, he was attractive, but to be frank it wasn’t as if there weren’t hundreds of other attractive boys at the school. Once again – it was an overgrown daycare for the privileged. For the most part. Maybe that connection that she felt just meant they were soul neighbors, waiting to establish a physical connection in physical realm.

Yeah. That was it.

Either way – she offered a slight wave when he dashed off, letting her eyes linger on his disappearing silhouette just for a little bit longer. She didn’t know how, when, or where, but Zeph? He was going to be hers.

She smiled a bit taking a deep breath as she turned on her heels moving towards an area that was more of a common area. She didn’t really have an interest in any of the showcases or performances today and she was virtually here out of the simple fact that she virtually had to be. She needed to show face since she was technically excused from this event and thus missing an opportunity. She still needed to write on what she saw, and she still needed to take in the projects to see what she would do for her next showcase.

When she found a seat, she released her sketchbook from her grip and put it on the table. She took a pencil out and after glancing around to make sure that there were no prying eyes, she opened her little book of secrets and flipped through the several pages. The pages were mostly full of fashion ideas, but every now and then would be a portrait sketch, an environment sketch, or just an abstract one of what was going through her mind.

She wasn’t necessarily the most skilled at drawing, especially since she wasn’t formally trained. Well, not to sell the young woman short. They were impressive for someone who lacked formal training, but they were not mind blowing. It got the job done for what she needed the skills for, and that was her fashion designs.

She looked at a blank page and let her pencil and she let the lead hit the paper. Slowly, but surely she started to draw what was around her. The myriad of people were emerging mostly as ghostly shadows, but there was one ghostly shadow who stood out more detailed than the others.

It had a masculine physique, tall….She probably didn’t realize it but she was drawing from memory Zeph’s silhouette. Aight then girl.












































♡coded by uxie♡
 
Ezra Gray
@EZGoing has set their status to:
wink wonk

@EZGoing has set their outfit to:
less and less clothes by the second

@EZGoing has set their location to:
Ez & Spencer's Apartment

@EZGoing has mentioned:
n/a

@EZGoing has interacted with:
Auggie & Spencer (Twitter DMs from the little cockblock)

@EZGoing has tagged:
qunqun qunqun

[minor tw: illness, hospitals]
Ezra’s eyes remained trained on the photos on the wall, a sinking ache forming in his stomach. Just seeing the faces of his family sent a pang of what could only be described as guilt through his system. Ezra would be lying if he claimed to not constantly be in a state of worry about his family, primarily about his sister. Every day since he left home was filled with worry and concern and, beyond all of that, guilt for leaving her in the first place.

The food on his plate grew colder along with his fingers that he forced to loosen around the cutlery in his palm.

Of course he had changed the subject, no one would expect anything otherwise from the great Ezra Gray. He wasn’t about to spill his whole life sob story to someone he barely knew. If no one ever found out about Nat, Ezra would be more than happy. He didn’t need their pity or their confusion or their concern.

“Sounds like we’re about to kiss, mon frere.”

Ezra blinked a few times. Right, he had been flirting and yeah, he had absolutely been staring. Slowly, a smirk pulled at the outside of his lips as he trailed Auguste’s torso back up to his face, a laugh bubbling from his chest. “Only if you ask really nicely.”

“Your family sounds lovely though, tell me more about them?”

The smirk instantly slipped from his lips. Ezra was convinced Auguste was going to drop the subject of family but there he was, switching it up again. Slowly, Ezra leaned back into his seat as he continued his meal.

“Okay, well…” Ezra trailed off as he searched his mind for the least intrusive possible story he could muster. “Okay so one time, my little sister wanted to have this tea party with me and Spence. She had set up this whole table with little peanut butter and jelly finger sandwiches and hot water from the tap and everything. She was so excited but Spence and I just were not interested since we were supposed to be going to the woods that day.

So we’re hanging out in the field, on the way to the forest, when out of nowhere this little kid in a sparkly purple dress and a tiara comes bursting out of the house with this great big Nerf gun, like double the size of her body big, and just starts shooting us up for being late to her tea party.” Ezra laughed warmly before taking a sip of water. “Nat ended up chasing us for hours through the woods and when we finally thought we lost her, she found us and dragged us back home. It turned out that Mom had raided the toy cabinet and gave her one and told her to give us a piece of our mind. She used to do it all the time, ambushing us with her little Nerf gun, before…”

Ezra’s voice caught in his throat.

Before the hospital beds and the beeping of machines and the little orange bottles on nightstands and the clumps of hair in the sink.

Before their entire world was fucked up.

Ezra stood to clean up the now empty dishes, but Auguste beat him to it.

“I’ll do the dishes, it’s the least I can do, yeah? The meal was lovely.” Auguste offered as he was collecting the plates from the table. Clearly, Ezra didn’t have much of an option.

With a silent nod, Ezra made his way back to the living room, trying the entire way to the sofa to force his mind off of his sister. He needed a night off from the worry, something to distract him from all of that concern that was plaguing him. Besides, he had an incredibly attractive man in his kitchen washing his dishes. Surely there had to be some way to thank him.

When the gentle clinking of glassware and metal echoing from the kitchen ceased, Auguste appeared around the corner.

“Dinner was lovely, but I should leave before it gets too dangerous to bike home, yeah?” He asked out of what seemed like respect as his eyes fixating on the door seemed to do all the talking for him.

“So soon?” Ezra retorted with a furrowed brow. As disappointing as it was to see Auguste leave so early, Ezra wasn’t about to convince him to stay. “I can give you a lift home if you want. It would be rude to allow my guest to travel all that way.”

Ezra expected any sort of dismissal, a refusal of the lift, a thank you for the evening, a firm nod, anything besides a confirmation. Anything besides the words that pulled from Auggie’s lips next, completely catching the artist off guard and entirely by surprise.

“Unless, of course, you want me to stay. Would you like this?”

Teeth gently gnawing at the inside of his cheek, Ezra put on a show of keeping it silent. Not a word was spoken as Ezra pretended to think, the muscles of his face doing their work to keep the grin off his mouth. After the short contemplation, Ezra pulled himself smoothly off the couch and across the room to where Auguste was standing still eyeing the door.

Fingers hooking into the loops of Auguste’s pants, Ezra pulled him closer with a sharp tug as his eyes trailed down to Auguste’s lips. His lips met the dancer’s, warm breath mingling on cheeks and noses in hunger before Ezra pulled away, pausing temporarily to softly bite Auguste’s bottom lip.

“I told you I only bite if you ask nicely.” Ezra laughed as he began leading Auguste down the short hallway backwards by the belt loops.

The door was no more than closed, Ezra’s shirt hastily disposed of into the open hamper in the corner of the room, and Auguste having been pushed down carefully onto his mattress when his phone buzzed. In a groan of frustration and rapid breath, Ezra raised a finger and reached into his back pocket to read the message.

“Fuck,” Ezra groaned as he fumbled to type in his password, “just give me a minute.”

Ezra really, really needed to change Spencer’s name in his phone to Cockblock. Luckily for them both, Spencer had simply been letting his older brother know that he was going to be out at some party all night. Normally, Ezra would have cared, would have faced some sort of concern for Spencer being out all night at some stranger’s house. But Auguste was on his bed and he had steam he needed to blow off so, with a few dismissive text messages, Spencer was off to his party and Ezra was connecting his lips to Auguste’s again.

“Now,” he spoke warmly, reaching over to flick off the bedside lamp, “where were we?”

º º code by ditto º º
 




































  • how she's feeling...



    Distracted, interested.

















Chanel Clairmont



Visuals~ 17 ~ Actress













“Thanks.”

Chanel didn’t bother to say anything, instead she hummed in acknowledgment.

Redirecting her gaze to her reflection in the vanity.

She supposed it was nice.

Had Chanel wanted a thank you?

No.

Was it deserved?

No.

But it was something that was appreciated nevertheless.

Just when she thought it was time to move along, change out of the clothes she wouldn’t be caught dead wearing if it weren’t for the character she was playing.

Stella spoke.

“Do you still get nervous?”

The blonde’s eyes shifted from herself, towards Stella and up to the ceiling, the beams and spotlights, wires, and ladders around her vicinity had almost made her reminisce about her days on set— at least, the roles she enjoyed playing.

In her younger years, there were the comfort characters, sweet, smiley, family-oriented.

As she got older, then came the over-sexualized characters. Charm, seduction, form-fitted clothing.

And all in between there were characters that she’d put her own effort into coming to life because the writing itself wasn’t enough.

Of course there were more.

But there were just a few roles that stayed.

Stuck with her in a way.

There were so many times Chanel believed she couldn’t break out of character.

Anger, lust, heartache.

Sometimes it’d all felt too real… and shockingly enough, she missed it.

There were only so many four minute scenes a girl could perform on stage without wanting the real thing.

She was almost waiting to hear a slate board slam and a yell of action before she was immersed immediately.

A fleeting moment of being someone entirely different from herself.

It might come off as a surprise to some, given the blonde’s tendency to outshine everyone in her vicinity with her stride of confidence and words that dripped ego every time she spoke.

Be that as it may, Chanel Clairmont was not her own fan.

The blonde was never one for liars.

Perhaps she was attempting to gain a point with herself when she decided to answer the sophomore’s question with honesty.

“… Yes.”

The blonde huffed a breath, turning from her chair and giving Stella her full attention.

It was only polite, after all.

“In my truth, no matter how experienced— how much you err on the side of caution, how poised and composed you might be.”

Chanel made a show of her hands, gesturing towards the floor in a swoop motion.

“‘Of all base passions, fear is most accursed.’“

Stage fright.

Performance anxiety.

The fluttered beating nd the stomach churns always pointed towards one thing.

Fear.

Many classify, hide it under labels, or come up with excuses as to why they’re nervous.

It always comes down to the world-crippling fear of not being good enough.

And if you believed otherwise, you were a fool.

A slight shift of her eyes as a thought had warned her that the fifteen year old in front of her wasn’t very… adept in the world of Shakespeare.

Instead of explaining word for word, she put it in a different way.

“Anyone can go out there, smile wide, flutter their eyelashes and run a few lines…”

Chanel stood up from her chair, dusting off the costume she could hardly wait to change out of.

She took precise, slow steps towards Stella a with a piercing gaze that almost seemed intimidating, as if she was sizing up the girl’s worth with nothing but eye contact.

“The real talent? Is pushing away your doubts long enough to get through it.”











































♡coded by uxie♡
 
"Goddess of Chaos"
Magnolia Darrington
@Rebel.lia.on has set their status to:
Time to celebrate!

@Rebel.lia.on has set their outfit to:
Performance outfit

@Rebel.lia.on has set their location to:
Arts Fest

@Rebel.lia.on has mentioned:
Spencer, JJ

@Rebel.lia.on has interacted with:
Kayla ( AkuTheWolfOkami AkuTheWolfOkami )
♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫
♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫
♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫
♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫
♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫
♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫
♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫
♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫
♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫
♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫
♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫

Magnolia watched as the girl before her quickly bent down inspecting and checking the pen she'd dropped in the process. She couldn't fault her for that being a priority those were kinda expensive. At least she figured they were. Maggie had very little sense of the worth of money due to her upbringing. As much as her parents might despise her, their credit cards never did.

Maggie could never deny the fact she was spoiled, she just knew she wasn't a brat about it. Mostly because when she did blow her parents money it was usually either for a good cause, or for her friends rather then herself.

The look on Kayla's face once she did have her attention was all the proof Maggie needed that she needed to take a deep breathe and chill the fuck out. She was weirding the girl out and for no actual good reason. So what if they'd gone a while without talking? Sure Maggie considered them to be close, but maybe that was a miscalculation on her half. What if they were just smoke and party buddies to Kayla? Nothing wrong with that! That's actually what 90% of people were to Maggie.

Despite her cheery outgoing and friendship demanding persona Magnolia Darrington was no fool. She knew that most of her "friends" weren't true friends. She knew if the money, fame, power, her looks, or drugs were gone almost all of them wouldn't stick around. It was a fact. A dreary one, but a fact none the less. She just usually chose not to act on that. She actively choose to publicly ignore that truth, but deep down she knew.

So when people like JJ said "not everyone likes you" She knew it to be true. In fact she knew it better then anyone. Better then even JJ realized.

Perhaps that's why this was weird for her? Why this was seemingly hard suddenly. Because she thought for a moment that Kayla might've started to be one of the 10%. One of those people who'd have stuck beside her no matter what.

A real friend.

But no. Clearly she was wrong, and there was no one to blame for that misconception then herself. Kayla was a cool chick, and she wasn't to blame for Maggie being well...Maggie.

If anything she should be happy for the clarity right?

They were buddies who could have fun together. Point, blank, period. Nothing more, nothing less. And that was OK.

She quickly shook her head letting a forced laugh escape her lips, "Oh no i didn't mean here at the fest! I meant like literally right here! Like were you watching someone type thing. Unless you are up next? In which case good luck!" She gave her a thumbs up.

God she hoped that wasn't still awkward. That was totally a good save right? Not too rambly or anything? She hoped so. She wasn't the smooth talker under pressure that her brother was. She usually came off that way, but that's because usually the pressure was being applied by her to others, not the other way around. There were few situation where MAggie felt genuine pressure and anxiety about things anymore. The perks of growing numb to everything.

Speaking of numb that's what she'd love to feel right now. For the first time all day she finally had the urge to lit up or have a real drink. She needed to get her mind back on track and that was the fastest and easiest way she could think to do it.

"I know you'll kill it. It's you and Newt right?" She asked even if she was 95% sure of the answer due to Newt living with her and all. But casual conversation wasn't steaming so casually from her lips right now and she was mostly just filling in the noise at this point. Plus she genuinely thought they weren't going on till much later because she had originally planned to go see them. However it was totally possible she misheard their performance time or just lost track of time while with Spencer. Wouldn't be surprising if she did, or a first.

Speaking of Spencer he was probably wondering where she was at by now. Or not. Maybe he'd finally escaped be stuck with her and took the opportunity to dip out. She doubted it, but also wouldn't be surprised if he did.

"I was just about to go meet back up with a friend, but if you're going on right now I'll be right there!" She clarified a bit for her. Even if she was internally all messed up, she was her fathers daughter and knew the outside was what mattered. She had to look and sound un-phased. She had to suck it up and deal with whatever residual feelings remained another time. Right now was about supporting her fellow artists and having some fun. Just plain ole fun.

She shot the girl before her a wink for good measure, "But hey if you're not up right now. Wanna get a quick shot or smoke sessh in?" She giggled with her trademark grin, "Like a good luck tote." she giggled slowly feeling more and more like herself. Wouldn't be the first time she or her friends got a lil high before a performance.
º º code by ditto º º
 
Last edited:




































  • how she's feeling...



    the usual, depressed, but elated to see liv

















Kaash



depression













Oh no i didn't mean here at the fest! I meant like literally right here! Like were you watching someone type thing. Unless you are up next? In which case good luck!

Uh. That explanation was….better? Kayla wasn’t sure if it was better or not if she was being honest, but more so that it made more sense in her asking of it. Still it was an odd question. And it was just a microcosm of their relationship as of late.

“I do perform soon,”
she stated plainly as she looked the young girl over, before she looked to the side.

Apathy tended to plague Kayla in almost every aspect of her life, and it was no different than when it came to her relationships. Especially her romantic ones. When she was in the honey moon stage she was expressive, happy, loving, sensitive. She would do surprises, gifts, dates, physical affection. Verbal affection. Then as soon as the first argument ended that honeymoon phases expressive Kayla disappeared.

Though Kayla didn’t consciously do it, her therapist had pointed out her pattern to her repeatedly. She would become apathetic and disinterested in what her partner had going on until she needed to keep up appearances, and then it was just her going through the motions. It was her manipulative nature. It was her codependence. She no longer cared enough to act right, but did just enough to keep the other person from leaving.

Magnolia had been no different though their relationship was not romantic, at least not mutually, it was much of the same pattern. There was maybe four women that Kayla had ever taken serious consideration into a genuine relationship. She had messed with a lot, but as far as relationship goes. It was four: Her first love Jasmine, Kodie, Magnolia and now Livanna. Problem was one of those hadn’t returned the feeling, at least not openly.

I know you'll kill it. It's you and Newt right?

“Yeah,”
she started as she pondered over what she said before offering a smile. Right, two of the people she wasn’t in the best place with now. One in which she was locked into this awkward conversation and one in which she was upset with, but hadn’t actually told him that. It was a bit of a habit of hers that she had that played against her transparent nature. Though I guess it could be said the reason people felt slighted by her was because she was transparent and wore her emotions on her sleeves. She just hadn’t given the reason why.

“It’ll be something new, I’m sure you’ll rock with it,”
she continued about their performance. It was the first time she was attempting something like this and she was excited to get a chance to. Even though he wasn’t her favorite person in the world, she was happy to give her friend this chance and for them to come together as a team. He was going to kill it, and she was going to work the crowd like she always did.

She was even excited for Maggie to see it, but slowly that happiness faded when she remembered that she had feelings for the girl in front of her, and nothing returned which was the entire reason that she had been avoiding Maggie for the most part.

Wisdom would say that she should have just told her that, and maybe they could talk it out. The issue was – she didn’t want to face the rejection. Avoiding her after feeling the indirect rejection would help her avoid that direct rejection.

I was just about to go meet back up with a friend, but if you're going on right now I'll be right there!

She shook her head and looked off into the distance, trying to think of the appropriate way to respond. Though she supposed Maggie’s quick response after took away the need to figure that out.

But hey if you're not up right now. Wanna get a quick shot or smoke sessh in? Like a good luck tote.

She nodded her head with a smile at that response. That was Kayla’s manipulative nature. She’d play her part to get what she wanted, after-all why didn’t she deserve the people who hurt her doing nice things for her?

“I mean I always got time for a smoke session with you shawty,”
she said with a chuckle, being deliberate to add with her to make sure that it was obvious that she was excited about spending time with her. Was it true? Not really. She just wanted a smoke session because she didn’t keep anything on her outside of her pen, for discreet purposes. Oh, and her joint she was going to light up on the stage and suffer the consequences from administration later.

Though in a twisted way, it actually was true. Maggie was her first crush when she touched down to HA. The only one she had developed some type of genuine attraction and emotions for. As much as she wanted to avoid her, avoid that rejection still somewhere deep down she was happy to see her,
“You got a spot ..or…?”
















































♡coded by uxie♡
 
MOOD: hehehehehehe

OUTFIT: Flowy white dress

LOCATION: School
basics
MENTIONS:
Jace

INT:
Stassi AkuTheWolfOkami AkuTheWolfOkami
tags
TL;DR Let's review
tl;dr
Katya

Now Katya had a little something over her sister: that is to say, her little flights of fancy usually turned a profit in the long run. Singing? Profit. It was good PR for concerts, and she was a good face for the company. People knew who she was - and it was directly reflected. Outside of that? She devoted time to her studies, rubbed elbows with the people her father wanted to - basically all that anyone could want from a trophy daughter.

So Stassi was going to actually have to start practicing again. That was exciting. And absolutely hilarious - the little family skate trip. How quaint. How cute. It was going to be funny to watch her, they certainly did not have enough time to actually get together a whole routine.

Katya watched her parents closely - they absolutely despised Jace. And well, Katya wasn’t a big fan as well to be completely frank. She’d only learned about him recently, but he didn’t live up to… well, he didn’t live up to any standard that any person could ever label him on. Especially her parents. Also, Stassi and Jace had broken up already and from what she could tell, things were still bitter.

Whatever, Stassi’s problem if she wanted to give herself more grief. Katya couldn’t really care either way.

She practically beamed when she saw her Uncle Mikhail - it wasn’t really a secret that both of them were very much in love with their uncle. After all, he was far more open and welcoming than anything their parents could’ve tried being. It was natural to gravitate towards him in a way.

But, that is to say, her “beaming” was just a general lightening of her features, no obscenely grand overtly affectionate displays to be found - it just wasn’t the style that they were raised for. Open displays of affection were for something more private and confined. That is to say, the amount of warmth that their Uncle was showing was more viewable as grotesque by her father’s standards.

That wasn’t to say, though, that Katya herself hated it - she really fucking loved her Uncle Mikhail.

“Hello, Uncle” Katya said, keeping most of her inward joy inward. Again, with her father right there it was best to keep things very Russian and very contained for now. Surely her uncle would understand.

“Thank you for attending my performance.” With the pleasantries out of the way, Katya gave her uncle a nice hug - strong. She smiled and waved as the adults were ushered away by her uncle, a little glance over her shoulder as the smile faded from her eyes to regard her sister with a cool expression.

“I will see you at family dinner, no?” She said, keeping the mildly pleasant tone in her voice. There was no need for any more formal grandstanding with the affection and the pleasant friendliness - her sister was well aware of where they stood. “I do hope that you brief Jace a little bit more on how he is to act… A scene would be the last thing that they want.” She said, giving a little head tilt in the direction of where their parents had gone

She wanted a scene - she wanted the whole thing to blow up just a little bit. Give her parents something to sweat over. Maybe Jace’s little heart would finally have the long-coming heart attack. Give out at the dinner table. Stassi had made this whole thing so much more interesting with just a simple invitation.

“I suppose you must start practicing again, though. For our little family skating outing, yes?” Katya said, she wanted to gloat just a little bit. Her sister was never very good at tact - it had been very easy to see where that entire conversation would’ve been going. “Shall we view other people’s performances together or is this where we part?”
code by valen t.
 






Elizabeth Sterling


She'd messed up. Like, that was something that Beth could recognize -- she'd made a mistake in deciding to walk away from Tori and their parents, but she hadn't known what to do. There was nothing she could've said that would've stopped the fight and, to be honest, any of her words would've just been fanned the flames.

So Beth walked away.

For a while, she just wandered aimlessly. She wasn't really trying to go anywhere in particular, and she hadn't seen anyone that she recognized -- so instead, she decided to head to one of the vendors to get herself something to drink. After all, nothing calmed the nerves quite like a cup of hot coffee.

However, while she was waiting in the line for her coffee, Beth's pale wandering eyes stumbled upon someone sitting alone at a table. Kinni. That weird little freshman that didn't know how to write a proper paper. It appeared that Kinni was busy doodling something.

It would be almost rude to disrupt someone busy in the middle of something.

But Beth considered herself to be a treat -- someone that everyone wanted to bless their presence, so she simply purchased two coffees from the vendor instead of the previous one, and then she let her confident foosteps carry her in Kinni's direction.

Yeah, the previous blip in Beth's behavior? The previous little bit of behavior that had been oh so uncharacteristic of her? Completely and utterly forgotten, obviously. Like that was so in the past, and Beth's normal confident demeanor had easily slipped back into place.

There wasn't a single remaining mark that just a few minutes ago? Her hands had been trembling from the stress of what had occurred with her parents and Tori.

Nope, it was in the past. Swept under the rug.

... Well, until Tori inevitably laid into Beth about what had occurred, but she would probably be able to avoid her sister for a while and push that off for as long as possible.

Her lips were pressed into a sweet smile as she slid into the seat across from Kinni, placing both of the coffees down -- one in front of her, and one just to the side of Kinni's drawing pad.

"What are you doing?" She asked as she peeked over at the paper.




mood
ugh

location
Arts Festival

outfit
classy





playing...
It's Still Cool If You Don't
by Briston Maroney​




mentions
Tori

interactions
Kinni

tags
AkuTheWolfOkami AkuTheWolfOkami


º º code by ditto º º
 
Last edited:






Ashton West


So ha to all of the naysayers or whatever, because Ash and Trevor had totally turned around what was amping up to be a disaster of a date. Like sure, an aquarium might not have been like... a super fun place or whatever, but it was better than the Arts Festival and having to completely fake their relationship, and it was way better than having to sit in a stuffy restaurant and pretend to enjoy food that she couldn't stomach.

Yeah, it was easy to tell that, by time they were walking through the aquarium gates with paper bracelets clinging to their wrists, Ash was actually kind of excited. The previous... uncomfortable feeling or whatever it had been had more or less vanished, all of the guilt dissipated and forgotten (for now).

“This…is very big. I’ve, ah… I’ve never actually been to an aquarium before…” He explained as he gave her an awkward finger gun. “So…it’s your call, darlin’: where do we go first?”

Right.

Ash glanced around at the different exhibits, and then gave a helpless shrug of her shoulders. "I've only, like, been to one aquarium when I was younger," she explained as she took Trevor's hand in hers, lacing her fingers through his and giving his hand a gentle squeeze as she tugged him in a random direction.

And that had obviously been back in New York, and Ash couldn't really remember like... anything about going. It'd been some kind of dumb school fieldtrip, but Ash had been more interested in speaking with all of her friends than actually paying attention to the different fish and exhibits.

Yeah, socialization took a top spot in Ash's priorities.

"Oh, oh," she tugged on his hand again and then started walking in a direction of one of the exhibits. Her free hand pointed ahead at the exhibit's sign. "Jellyfish," she said, as if he couldn't read the stupid sign. "Jellyfish are kind of cool, right? Like, as long as you don't get stung or whatever."

They kind of just looked like really squishy balloons with a bunch of tendrils, but hey, it wasn't like there were a lot of cool fish, so... she'd take it.

For said exhibit, the lighting had been dimmed (because Ash's roleplayer is like ninety-eight percent sure jellyfish exhibits are typically dark but I'm not an aquarium expert), with the only real light coming from the tanks.

"Don't trip," Ash warned Trevor absently because like if anyone was going to trip, it would be him. With her hand still holding his, she walked towards one of the nearest tanks, pausing in front of it to look inside at the jellyfish.

Kind of boring, but also kind of cool.

"Kind of pretty, huh?"




mood
(imagine a little heart emoji here)

location
Arts Fest

outfit
sparkles





playing...
Today
by Olivia Holt (cover)​




mentions
N/A

interactions
Trevor

tags
ditto ditto


º º code by ditto º º
 
MOOD: Family amirite

OUTFIT: Something workable

LOCATION: School
basics
MENTIONS:



INT:
Tori ditto ditto
tags
TL;DR Yeah..... this isn't awkward at all.
tl;dr
Bailey

Well. Bailey was not expecting Tori to actually accept the invitation. Honestly what were they supposed to do when confronted with ‘Help! Distraction!’ They’d already made plans with their family to go out. Oh well, guess they were bringing along a little guest

The Reynolds family was about the size of your average nuclear family - a mother, a father, three children. Of course, they were all five different kinds of fantastically brilliant, but for the most part they functioned like your average loving family. It was a nice kind of break between the different kinds of fucked up you could find in an arts school. Honestly, the kids here all needed to go to some kind of therapy (or rehab).

They texted their brother a quick message, saying that they were going to be bringing along a friend.

“Sorry, I’m just giving them a little heads up that I’m bringing along… you. If they ask, by the way, we’ve been friends for…. At least since I got here.” Bailey said to Tori with a quick little smile. “Y’know, like how we’ve been friends since diapers to your parents.”

They got a little text back giving them the go ahead, as expected. Dinner. With a stranger. And Bailey’s entire immediate family. Wooo.

Their brother, D’Angelo, was the clever type - dangerous, I know. A political science major that wanted to work in Congress someday. Their sister - Chloe - an actress/singer, very artistic woman. Fantastic work that she did with her partner who did screenwriting. And their parents - both successful lawyers in their own rights. Of course, Bailey wasn’t very big on detailing their past to complete strangers but… well, to strangers that were currently trying to get through dinner?

Exceptions had to be made here and there. This entire experience was going to be awkward as all hell.

“Tori this is my family. Family, this is Tori.” A very hasty introduction to the entire thing as Bailey was enveloped in a series of hugs by their siblings and parents, praise being collected before the family’s attention turned to their new guest.

“It’s very good to meet you, Tori… You’re a Sterling right? We saw your collection. The forbidden romance one in particular was fascinating to us, what is your writing process like?” Well, Bailey could at least count on their dad to try to make conversation. A handshake was offered to the young author.

“Your parents don’t mind that we’re bringing you for dinner, right?” A small interjection from Bailey’s mother. Bailey watched their new friend carefully. Totally not overwhelming, right? Two parents and two siblings - four new people to have to deal with on the tail end of a breakdown. Well, Tori DID say that she wanted a distraction after all. Hopefully this would’ve been enough (though, they did have to get the whole “we are bringing another person’s child to a family gathering” debacle out of the way. Hopefully Tori didn’t mind too much).
code by valen t.
 






Hunter Drake


Hunter didn’t know what was more hilarious: the fact that Nickie couldn’t think for herself or that he was just now realizing it. Everything said up until that last bit was just bandwagon-ing off of what Liv said. Her thoughts weren’t her own and it was pathetic, really. The person he thought had been someone special just couldn’t form her own opinion about someone and even when they had broken up, it seemed to be caused by someone else getting into her head.

Had she always been like this or was Hunter just blind to it?

Not like it mattered, anyway.

Because they were wrong about just about everything. Of course, they were wrong. Why would Hunter want to get back with Nickie? Why would he want to do that to himself? Ignorance was a blissful time, but being made aware of the person she really was, Hunter couldn’t help but feel as though he was finally able to see Nickie for who she truly was. And he knew he was way better off. Maybe he was still upset about all of the things she said after all of the efforts he put into fighting for her, but who cares about that, right?

Right now, as he smiled through her speech, the only thing he could think about was how he was set to go on soon. And how he wanted her to hear his song. Not because he watched hers, but more so that if she truly did hate him, maybe a little nudge off the edge wouldn’t be so bad.


As the thought lingered and as Nickie went closer in, their faces no more than three inches apart, he swore he could hear her heart pound away just as his started to. Maybe it was the habit that wouldn’t die or maybe, being so close to her meant she was actually wrong about not wanting him back? Or why else would she step so close to the radiant sun that was Hunter Drake?

“I may be the fucking bottom of the barrel, Hunter, but you? You’re the literal fucking scum on the underside of it, jackass, and I’m not going back to you.”

Hunter smiled, leaning an inch closer to Nickie. “Is that so?”

As he raised up his hand, he was giving the illusion that he was going to brush the part of her hair that had fallen partially over her face. At the last second, however, he drew his arm back towards himself and ran it through his dark locks. “Guess we’ll never know.”

“Hunter Drake?”

Hunter glanced away from the direction Liv and Nickie were at to his immediate left, seeing a woman holding a clipboard. He raised his hand into the air and smiled at her. “Over here!”

“Amazing! You got on in twenty.”

“Okay thank you!”

When the woman left and Hunter looked back at Nickie. There came a chuckle after the fact as Hunter walked past Nickie, brushing his shoulder gently into hers, though stopping as he said in a quiet whisper, “we both know you’re going to watch me.” His words oozed out as he walked away towards the dressing room.

___________________________
(For convenience's sake, just click this link for the song, arrangement, and voice reference of Hunter's performance. And enjoy the madness!)​

During the minutes before he was set to walk out from the curtains and take his place center stage, Hunter was standing backstage. He wasn't full of nerves, which was weird considering this was going to be his first performance at the arts fest. The first performance where success and failure being his doing. If he went out there and nailed it like he thought he had convinced himself that he was, then opportunities would come his way. Maybe it would mean demo deals, or maybe being a touring musician with Warped Tour.

Honestly, now that he was thinking about it, Hunter hadn't considered that as a potential route he could go next summer. He'd always been a fan of the punk scene and for a few years now, even attended some Warped Tour dates up and down the west coast, but to be featured as a possible supporting act was, honest to god, a dream of his.

But of course, in the event of failure, that's all it will ever be.

And Hunter couldn't let that happen — he wouldn't.

As his name was called, Hunter walked through the curtain to minimal applause. He looked out and saw the crowd. Some of them looked familiar like a few scouts he saw earlier in the evening. He saw some of his teachers, especially the one that helped him get the arrangement just right. He saw some other people he recognized, but nowhere did he see his family. Either they were still in traffic and just haven't managed to make it, or, as Hunter expected, they just didn't come.

Whatever. That didn't matter. The only thing Hunter wanted to focus on was this moment — his moment. He was center stage and the microphone stand had been aligned as specifically requested during his rehearsal. It was lowered just at his chin.

And as he stepped forward, Hunter smiled, looking in all directions that he saw people and said, "Before I begin, I'd like to dedicate this song to a special person in my life. I couldn't finish this song if it wasn't for her. She was both the reason I wrote it and why I finished it." Hunter looked around and didn't see her, but if he knew Nickie like he knew he did, there was no doubt in his mind that she was watching somewhere. "So, wherever you are, this one is for you."

Hunter looked back and the guy in charge of starting the separate track that his entire arrangement was on and in five seconds it would start.

Five.

Hunter took his stance center stage. His face was neutral, his eyes focused.

Four.

Hunter's hands gripped the mic stand. His right hand was placed just under the tension knob (under the microphone) and his left gripped the center. The weight felt right in his hands, the grip familiar from the many hours spent rehearsing this very moment.

Three.

Hunter took in deep breaths, inhaling mostly, exhaling when he started chanting his own personal mantra internally of "You are the man. You are the man. You are the man."

Two.

"You have this," he mouthed as more deep breaths were exhaled mostly. He closed his eyes in those final seconds.

One.

And as he opened it, Hunter would hear the sound of the volume sound effect of it being maxed out and then the one, two claps of cymbals and as the guitars and drums exploded with a raw, visceral energy, Hunter matched it as he jumped up into the air, landing square on his feet, hunched forward intentionally.

His head banged with the beat of the drums, of the hard-hitting riffs, the baseline -- it all was synced with an aggressive stage presence that Hunter took in. His upper body rocked back and forth and when the riffs subsided and as Hunter was leaning forward, foot on a speaker at the edge of the center stage and his body at a diagonal, his hair flowed over his face.

His intoxicating voice oozed the first lines of the first verse with a certain emotion, a certain reason behind it that made Hunter draw in the crowd with his simple runs. He didn't give them everything, nor would he find himself needing to boast long notes.

In the bridge, he lifted his head up, shaking his dark hair out of his face, meeting the eyes of his ex-lover. The words he picked to perfectly describe her flowed out like a stab in the back — only Hunter was making sure to look Nickie Abrams in the face when he spoke them low into the microphone.

"Your name, your face, is all you have left now
Betrayed. Disgraced.
You've been erased."

The chilling quiet lasted only a couple of seconds.

"So LONG!"

Hunter exploded with anger. His voice reaching heights of power, his runs verging on a scream. He sang every word of the chorus with a gradually-increasing ire, all of the emotions he had been feeling since Nickie tore his heart and ripped it in half, all of the angst felt from the betrayal, from the time he spent being by her side, being the person that would speak up for her. He took that and poured it into the song, he seasoned the heartbreak with bitterness and disgust.

Hunter tore into his ex with everything he had. On that stage. For everyone to see. Everyone who had ears and eyes and the ability to feel his words, they'd hear him nail the lines of "I have erased you. I have escaped, the Bitter Taste of YOU!"

And that same fire that Hunter brought across stage, holding the mic stand with confidence. And it brought him through the second verse and the chorus.

When the guitar solo came, Hunter allowed himself to feel the energy of the crowd. There were cheers and hollers. The right kind of energy one wanted to receive from their first on-stage performance. Rehearsal was one thing, but to actually hear them was the kind of gratification that Liv nor Nickie could take away from him. This was the self-assurance that he needed to find that fire of his again.

As his impressive performance came to an end and Hunter belted out the final notes as high as he could. His voice ended up pitchy and his throat dry by the end of it, but the reaction was all that he needed. He didn't even know if Nickie was still around and he didn't care if she was. He saw her for a few moments and that was enough for him. She heard just exactly what he needed her to and, in the end, that's all what mattered to him.







mood
Whatcha talking bout, Nickis?

location
Celestial Theater (backstage) - Music Stage

outfit
Ready to kill it





playing...
The Bitter Taste
by Hunter Drake​




mentions
Nickie, Liv

interactions
Nickie, Liv

tags
ditto ditto Soap Soap


º º code by ditto º º
 
"Focus on me, I'm about to blow them all away"
Stella Bailey
@Steller.Bae has set their status to:
Look at me I'm Sandra Dee

@Steller.Bae has set their outfit to:
Costume

@Steller.Bae has set their location to:
Backstage

@Steller.Bae has mentioned:
None

@Steller.Bae has Interacted with:
Channel ( Soap Soap )
✯ ✯ ✯ ✯ ✯ ✯ ✯ ✯ ✯ ✯ ✯ ✯ ✯
✯ ✯ ✯ ✯ ✯ ✯ ✯ ✯ ✯ ✯ ✯ ✯ ✯
✯ ✯ ✯ ✯ ✯ ✯ ✯ ✯ ✯ ✯ ✯ ✯ ✯
✯ ✯ ✯ ✯ ✯ ✯ ✯ ✯ ✯ ✯ ✯ ✯ ✯
✯ ✯ ✯ ✯ ✯ ✯ ✯ ✯ ✯ ✯ ✯ ✯ ✯
✯ ✯ ✯ ✯ ✯ ✯ ✯ ✯ ✯ ✯ ✯ ✯ ✯
✯ ✯ ✯ ✯ ✯ ✯ ✯ ✯ ✯ ✯ ✯ ✯ ✯
✯ ✯ ✯ ✯ ✯ ✯ ✯ ✯ ✯ ✯ ✯ ✯ ✯
✯ ✯ ✯ ✯ ✯ ✯ ✯ ✯ ✯ ✯ ✯ ✯ ✯
✯ ✯ ✯ ✯ ✯ ✯ ✯ ✯ ✯ ✯ ✯ ✯ ✯
✯ ✯ ✯ ✯ ✯ ✯ ✯ ✯ ✯ ✯ ✯ ✯ ✯

Stella was no stranger to reading body language so she could tell that Channel probably wanted to go. She didn't blame her since she was still in costume. Stella for sure couldn't wait for her performance to be over so she could get out of hers. After all who would like wearing costumes like they were wearing? Still despite that fact their was a curiosity burning in her for the girls response.

She watched the tall blonde before her as her eyes roamed the roam. She didn't originally think her question would've invoked so much thought, but here they were, and perhaps there was always more then meets the eyes with people. Sure in theory that's obvious but she'd met some people around here that it seemed what you saw was exactly what they were. Not much more to it.

Their might be some merit to be had in being so unapologetically yourself for the whole world to see at all times, but it was a merit Stella couldn't fully grasp, and had no desire to indulge in. Showing your whole hand like that? Seemed risky in their industry.

"...Yes" The blonde huffed a breath, turning from her chair and giving Stella her full attention which honestly surprised Stella but she didn't comment or let it show. She just kept her eyes steady and curious as Channel continued to speak, "In my truth, no matter how experienced- How much you err on the side of caution, how poised and composed you might be." She made a show of her hands, gesturing towards the floor in a swoop motion, "Of all base passions, fear is most accursed."

Stella figured she was quoting someone just because no one talks in pros like that in the 21st century, especially not teenagers, but who she was quoting escaped her as familiar as it sounded. None the less it made sense in a way. Like no matter what there will always be fear, despite passion. Maybe even because of it. The intensity of one parallels the other.

An inescapable universal fear huh?

It was a bit comforting tho to know that. Not to know that Fear was inevitable...actually no that was comforting too. To know that these feelings were natural, normal, and experienced even by the most experienced. That there was nothing wrong with her feeling this way. Knowing that it was beyond her control would usually make her feel worse, but somehow this time it's made her feel better. Despite how much of a control freak she was, if it was truly unfixable that was one less fixation to worry about.

She was pulled from her inner thoughts as Channel began to speak again, "Anyone can go out there, smile wide, flutter their eyelashes and run a few lines..."

Her face scrunched up ever so slightly at this remark. Now this was a statement she completely disagreed with. She'd seen plenty of people try and fail at that. She's even seen people puke on stage from the grip of anxiety, and stage fright for a simple class project. Most commonly fainting. Getting on stage, just being up there, with a crowd watching wasn't something just anyone could do. Most? Maybe. Especially if they dared called themselves thespians, but not just ANYONE.

Theirs was a craft that took something special inside of someone to perform and execute even if poorly.

To her surprise the senior got up from her chair and walked over towards her not breaking eye contact. An action with those piercing eyes that might've intimidated most, but not Stella. No she took any challenge as just that. A challenge, and any challenge could be over come with the right moves.

"The real talent? Is pushing away your doubts long enough to get through it."

Channel certainly had a commanding presence which was to be expected. The kind that made her obvious to anyone and everyone in the room just by her stepping foot in it. She didn't have to do anything to warrant it. It was just there. Even now Stella could feel the pressure of her presence especially being so close to her right now. Pressure however is how diamonds are formed. Stella didn't shy away from her proximity in fact she fed off it.

Stella simply grinned and hopped off the directors chair, "Thanks for the insight." She hummed looking her directly in the eyes, "As it's said 'No legacy is so rich as honesty.' So thank you for your honesty." She'd finally racked her brain for whom she'd been quoting earlier. How could she forget Shakespeare? So a little quote back seemed fitting as they were probably going to part ways from here.

Truly she was appreciative of her time and advice after all. She didn't have to, in fact it probably served her no purpose or benefit but she did it anyways. It made her excited for the day they might share a stage or screen together. That was probably a ways away, but Stella was nothing if not ambitious so she just knew it was inevitable.

"I hope you have time to enjoy the show if you choose to come and see it." She smiled. "I'll be sure to showcase your definition of real talent, with a little added spice of my own." She chimed.

There was a confidence back in her tone of voice that'd had not been there at the start of their conversation. A spark in her eyes re-ignited that showed their was quite a bit of fight in this tiny body of hers. She wasn't sure if it was from the girl's words, her actions, or just Stella naturally over-coming her anxieties as her call time approached as usual. Whose to say? Maybe a combination of the three?

Stella would of course add her own flare because she didn't want to just push her doubts aside and 'get through it' . No she wanted to do so much more then that. She wanted the thrive in it. She wanted to shove her doubts in the back corners of her mind and cage them up where they belong so that she could shine and live in her moments on stage. To her it was like the difference between Living and just surviving. She didn't wanna just survive. Not in this or any other aspect of her life.

She didn't always see acting as becoming someone else. No, for her it was sometimes finding the bits of herself in these other people and learning to explore the different realms of possibilities through them. The what if's and the could've been's. She didn't escape into her characters she lived through them. Because even if she's never admitted it aloud? She always takes a bit of each character she's ever played back with her to her real life. For better or for worse...

"I should get going it's about to be my call time." She gave a small wave, "See you around!" She spoke confidently before tuning to walk towards her stage because she was certain they'd cross paths sooner rather then later now that she was here.
º º code by ditto º º
 
"Queens without Kings are historically better"
Naomi Elizondo
@MiniMimi has set their status to:
Fuck this...

@MiniMimi has set their outfit to:
Fancy pants

@MiniMimi has set their location to:
Arts fest

@MiniMimi has mentioned:
Alex, Evie, Dalton, Adri

@MiniMini has Interacted with:
Nate ( Winona Winona ) Eli ( geminiy geminiy )
☽ ☽ ☽ ☽ ☽ ☽ ☽ ☽ ☽ ☽ ☽ ☽
☽ ☽ ☽ ☽ ☽ ☽ ☽ ☽ ☽ ☽ ☽ ☽
☽ ☽ ☽ ☽ ☽ ☽ ☽ ☽ ☽ ☽ ☽ ☽
☽ ☽ ☽ ☽ ☽ ☽ ☽ ☽ ☽ ☽ ☽ ☽
☽ ☽ ☽ ☽ ☽ ☽ ☽ ☽ ☽ ☽ ☽ ☽
☽ ☽ ☽ ☽ ☽ ☽ ☽ ☽ ☽ ☽ ☽ ☽
☽ ☽ ☽ ☽ ☽ ☽ ☽ ☽ ☽ ☽ ☽ ☽
☽ ☽ ☽ ☽ ☽ ☽ ☽ ☽ ☽ ☽ ☽ ☽
☽ ☽ ☽ ☽ ☽ ☽ ☽ ☽ ☽ ☽ ☽ ☽
☽ ☽ ☽ ☽ ☽ ☽ ☽ ☽ ☽ ☽ ☽ ☽
☽ ☽ ☽ ☽ ☽ ☽ ☽ ☽ ☽ ☽ ☽ ☽

Naomi handed him back the joint and waited patiently for his reply. It wasn't needed but even casual conversation required...well conversation. Giving back the bare minimum was fine. He apparently had done a few paintings, that even he didn't seem too excited about. She didn't really expect more of an answer then that all things considered. She's known him for quite some time after all. It was kinda nice to know that in this big crazy messy school some things stayed the same. their was consistency even if it was small.

Then again what else could he say? To try and verbally describe his work would probably do them a disservice. It was for the best that if she was genuinely curious about it that she'd just go take a look for herself. Was she that curious? Not really. This was small talk...really small talk, but still counted. So the odds of her walking all the way over to the art exhibits was slim to none. She couldn't think of a single person in that department she felt close enough to to warrant the extra steps.

She merely nodded as he mentioned helping out Evie, and of course Dalton being a prick. She didn't really talk much to the people in the plastics department despite her history with a few of them. Never really saw a need to. Just like Nate here, once their fun was done there wasn't any good reason to keep hanging out or to keep in contact beyond a hey what's up in the hallway when passing.

No strings meant once the tie that binds is gone you are in fact free. The only one she'd once held a candle for as more then that was Adriane, but they grew apart as people tend to do. They grow into who they wanna be and sometimes that's not compatible. Some turn into damn near the equivalent of a waste of space, and other turn into bitches. Just is what it is. Not that she disliked Adri, she just knew there was no place for girls like Naomi in her world and vice versa.

Though she supposed that it made sense for him to be involved, being he was dating Evie officially now and all. A surprise because of how adamantly both parties were against dating prior. Tho considering both had been in relationships before it made sense that they might change their minds. Naomi held similar beliefs about dating but she'd held firm to them her entire high school career. Yup in the past 3 1/2 years Naomi never had an official girlfriend or boyfriend. Short lived flings for the win since day one.

Did she have regrets? Nope.

Dating bread a kind of misery that she had yet to feel like anyone was worth the trouble of going through with. After all it always ends in misery because either you break up or one of you dies.

So she'd pass on it, even if it seemed like Nate and Evie were enjoying their change of mind. She supposed it would be nice to always have someone in your corner supporting you. She wondered briefly if she should check in on Alex.

Wait, woah, NO!

That's a weird thought to have right now. Why? Because Alex was NOT her girlfriend. Sure she could show some love and support as a friend...but would that really be how it was seen? Would that really be what that is? They'd been non-stop since the start of the year, and even if she tried to slow down a bit after their Halloween kiss, it wasn't really by much. She wasn't sure how to slow it down after that. It felt like there was slowly becoming only a couple options for them and Naomi wasn't sure she was ready for any of them.

Avoidance seemed like the best option at the moment and the festival had proven an excellent excuse for some space, but after today that'd be over. And she'd be back to her uncontrollable urge to be around her again. The urge to do whatever it took to keep a smile on her face. Ugh it was going to make her sick to her stomach. Was she simping? No, Naomi Elizondo did not simp. Even for gorgeous, smart, clever, hilarious, girls like Alex.

One sickening feeling was replaced by another as he mentioned being glad that this was going to be their final Arts festival. Normally she'd 100% agree, but the thought did nothing but resurface all her barely repressed emotions. She'd spent this whole day trying desperately to quell them and bam just like that they were back as if she hadn't been higher now then she'd been all year.

Nope it seemed no amount of weed was going to ease her mind, and more importantly her heart. This second piece was a passion project, and because of that she couldn't just pretend like it was like any other piece. Realizing now that this wasn't going to serve it's purpose she knew she needed to get some air. Fresh air, and away from people. Well as away as she could get in a crowded event like this. All she knew is as nice of a guy as Nate could be he couldn't help her. Not with this, not with her emotions. He didn't strike her as the emotional or sensitive type.

"Thanks by the way. I think I'mma head on I should be presenting soon." She smiled tossing up a peace sign in his direction. Because they didn't talk feelings, or thoughts. They smoked and fucked, and they couldn't really do one of those and the other wasn't working enough right now. She made her way to a common area that was a bit more spacious even if still crowded. She'd hoped with it being a little later in the day some people would've started going home, but she knew better then that.

She stopped and pinched the bridge of her nose closing her eyes. "Relax" She whispered to herself as she took a deep breath. "It's one song. You can just read it...or it can go in the pile of songs that'll never see the light of day like all the others." Ugh admitting it was soul crushing. what she didn't know was one of her better peers was near by. She really needed to learn how to be more observant.
º º code by ditto º º
 






trevor callaghan​


(tw: suicidality mention)

Seeing as he was a writer — and a poet — it was almost an obligation for Trevor Callaghan to have some sort of fascination with the ocean. Throughout the ages, authors had found inspiration from the blue-green waves and the seafood and the mysterious creatures within, and Trevor was no different. As a matter of fact, he had written a poem once about the ocean for an assignment about recycling in fourth grade.

The Ocean
Sean Callaghan

The ocean smells
like fish and dead things
If no one recycles again
good riddance​

(He had always been such a positive person who always put effort into stupid assignments.)

He failed that assignment, which turned him off from ever writing about the ocean again, but there was still a part of him — the part that favored poetry and art — that did have an affinity for the ocean. At least, he was a fan of the ocean as a concept. There was more undiscovered about the ocean than there was about space, after all…the ocean was really the final frontier. Walking with Ash reminded him that conversation that they’d had at the lock-in — where, ya know, he’d told her, ya know, that he would want to go to the bottom of the ocean, in some dream scenario where he wouldn’t die, wouldn’t have to smell any of the fish, wouldn’t have the dread and panic of being that far underwater, and that was true, but that was also very unrealistic, and the pessimist knew that as a fact, too.

But feck it, ya know. The ocean was pretty when you thought about it, and when you saw the imagery of it on the walls of this aquarium, and the fish didn’t smell…that bad, ya know. Some of them even looked neat.

But really, it wasn’t the ocean, or the idea of the ocean, or the jellyfish that Ash pointed out that Trevor was thinking if as they made their way through the large aquarium. For once, he also wasn’t thinking about every possible way that this could go wrong — he didn’t think about the possibility of the glass overhead breaking and everyone drowning or the fish jumping out of the tanks and eating them or some fish deciding that it’s had enough and eating all of its fellow tankmates.

Well, he did think about those things, but he didn’t fixate on them.

No, instead…instead, he forced himself to focus on — on the moment. Like Gen said, ya know. Christ, he had no idea how he’d gotten to the point that he was listening to a virtual stranger’s advice for something, but…as they walked about, he tried that faking it ’til you make it shite…and…

And by the end, he was feeling it. Ya know, by the end, he was smiling, and he was laughing with her, and not even in a forced way.

But there was still that pain in his chest, as though he was being pressed against the wall. He ignored it and didn’t try to figure out what it was, but it was…fecking there.

There was still an elephant in the room. Still things that they hadn’t addressed.

And then, as they came out of the last tunnel of stingrays, Trevor felt a sudden nervousness again. He swallowed hard, glancing down at the hand that he had laced with Ash’s, which was growing sweaty again, and he followed her arm up to her face.

He — yeah, he remembered the plan again. Suddenly, he could recall the third step.

“Hey…,” he began, his brows knitting together. “Can we…get away?” He gave her a smile, and then realized how that sounded. Blinking a couple of times, he chuckled, “Ah, I mean — I mean to a bench, a bench, ah…”

Glancing around, the nervous boy found a bench, and he led her over to it, sitting down beside her and dropping her hand.

He placed his hands on his thighs, staring at a fixated point on the ground. All of the muscles in his body were tense, and he drew in a sharp breath. This felt like — like the fair again. Where he’d confessed to her. But…but this time…

He swallowed hard, rubbing his hands against his thighs. The weight on his chest was heavier now, but he lugged in another breath. “Hey…,” he started, and he drug his eyes over to Ash. “Okay…so…” He smiled dopily, and then sighed. “Damn it, I told myself I wouldn’t be so fecking awkward,” he muttered to himself, and he let out a chuckle. “Whatever. Here it goes. Speaking from the heart — I thought I’d try it instead of being an insufferable fecking arse,” he half-joked.

He opened his eyes again. “I’m just…I don’t know. Ash…” He shook his head slightly. “I — I…ah…I guess I’m just…” He swallowed. “I’m…I’m — I’m sorry.” That burned his chest to say, but he looked to Ash with a serious look in his eyes. “I am.” He gave a nod. “I’m sorry.”

He sighed softly. “When we got together, I said that I was…bad news or whatever the hell. Which…” He breathed in a deep breath. “Yeah. Yeah, ya know. I am. I mean, I’m an arse, I’ve got my head up my arse all the time, I treat my friends like shite — my friends like my enemies — an’ I…I just act like you don’t exist so much of the time. I mean, just — like, ya know, I don’t talk to you. I lie a lot…a lot. Or…maybe not lie…okay, lie.” He shook his head at himself. “I told you to — yelled at you ta shut up before. I told you to stop apologizing and stop crying and shite. Like that did anything. I’m tense, constantly, always on edge, always looking for the negatives. I’m condescending and tightly-wound and when I’m sober I’m stuck in a pit of my own self-loathing and overthinking.”

God, these plaid pants were tight.

No. He wasn’t going to let himself — let himself shut up now. Even as his chest hurt, even as his pride was begging him to stop, Trevor continued. “I’m jealous…over…petty shite. Because…insecurities. Or shite like that.” His jaw was slightly clenched in self-hatred, and he chuckled beneath his breath. “God, Christ, listen to me. I can’t even apologize,” he whispered. “I can hardly realize I’m wrong. An’ — an’ I’m selfish. Shoot me, I’m growing self-aware...“

Shoot me.

Breathing out a sigh, he looked at Ash again, speaking to her once more. “Those are just a few of the things that I’ve…been in denial about, or that I’ve acknowledged but only to whine about.” He muttered, “Really fecking bright. I’m so upstandin’…Jesus Christ.”

Speaking up, he continued again. “Lock-in night, sitting there with you…it made me really realize that I didn’t know you. Tha thing is, Ash…we’re basically strangers. You know a lot about me, probably, since I never fecking shut up…but I don’t know about you. I don’t know your favorite color, I don’t know, like — like, what you like, I don’t know the…well, hell, I don’t even think I know your birthday. I know what kind of alcohol you like, and that’s about it. And…that’s not how I want it to be. I want to know you — really know you. I don’t want you to just be my girlfriend because…because you just are, ya know.” He swallowed, shaking his head and looking away from Ash and to the ground. “I’m…I say I’m bad at relationships, of all kinds, but…it’s…it’s just because I don’t want to try to be good. Or — or didn’t. Or I just…I don’t know, I’m so pessimistic that I was counting the days internally, waiting for this to fall apart, because…I don’t fecking know. I just…didn’t want to try.”

He went quiet for a moment, and then repeated, “I didn’t want to try.”

All the shite he’d said registered with him again, and he felt the sudden need to pass out.

He gulped in a breath, though, and looked up at Ash. “Now, though,” he said with firm eyes, “I do. I talked…I mean — I just…today — today an’, an’ lock-in an’…an’ just being around you more made me realize — I want to try being a good…everything.” He drew in a deep breath through his nose, giving her a slight smile. “A good boyfriend, ya know. A good friend, a good listener. I told myself at first that being a decent one would suffice, but I don’t want to do that. I don’t want to be just mediocre — I want to be, ya know…good. Which I fecking suck at, but hell.” He tucked in his lower lip for a moment, pressing his upper lip to the skin before speaking again. “B-Because…because now, as — as much as I want to act like everythin’ is okay — right now, things are…they’re awkward. Tense. I don’t know…painful. I like — I like you, and I like this, but this — this just doesn’t feel good, how it is.

“I feel it, and I try to ignore it, but I really can’t. It feels like I’m — I’m walking on eggshells an’ that you’re walking on eggshells, too, and…and you can’t really be you around me. It’s been like that since…” He trailed off, and then he chuckled in self-pity, looking at the floor. “Fuck, since the start…”

Lifting his eyes back to Ash, he shook his head. “And I — I don’t want it to be,” he stuttered. “I-I-I — I don’t want us to be the couple that got together because shrug, or because their friends pressured them into it and they convinced themselves that they had crushes, or because, I don’t fecking know, God decided to throw them into a teen drama and the writers wrote us as a couple with no chemistry.” His face was serious. “I don’t want the dryness, or the blandness, an’ I know why it’s there. It’s because…” His eyes trailed away. “It’s because I don’t — I-I don’t…I don’t…”

He went silent for a moment.

Fuck.

“I don’t try,” he finished. He looked to her, quieted for a moment, and then spoke again. “It’s because I’m apathetic towards everything but still want to be in control. It’s because I put no effort into anything and still expect good results, and I just — I don’t want to do that anymore.”

As the last of those words resonated through the air, Trevor felt the opposite of what was supposed to fecking happen at the end of a long spiel. Instead of the weight being lifted from his shoulders, it crushed him more.

Christ, he had a headache.

Christ, he was pathetic.

He shook his head, laughing softly at himself. “Feck, I’m an author. You know. I’m supposed ta be good with words, but instead, I’m a stammerin’ mess…”

He looked at Ash, and he tried again. “L-Lock-in…being there for you? I want that feeling without the panic. I want to be at your side and feel connected to you without being afraid of something. I want to try listening to you. I want to try apologizing. I want to try not…I want to…I want to try not being a jealous fuck, and I want to try…really caring about you — and showing it. Not just…not just because we are dating, but because I want to be dating. I just want to try out this dating thing, for real.” Deep breath through the nose, a silent moment. A shake of the head. “I said that at the weekend after Halloween in my self-loathing apology and did nothing, but this time, I mean it. You deserve that, and you haven’t gotten that so far, and…and I’m sorry. I’m sorry that I haven’t. My sorry hardly redeems me, but…I am sorry.”

Nodding to the words he wanted to emphasize as he continued, Trevor spoke with a serious, still voice, as though every bit of his heart and determination was put into his following vow. “I care about you, Ash. I want to start showing it. I want to make sure you know it — and I want to…I want to see if we can really be more. I say we make this an attempt at love — or whatever…this is supposed to be, at least, and if we don’t make it…” He gave a small smile. “At least we tried, right?”

As the rhetorical question rang through the air, Trevor smiled at his girlfriend, a sureness in his gaze.

And then he remembered something, and his serious demeanor was broken once again by nervousness. “Hey, I’ve…” He patted at his chest, and then at his pockets. “I’ve got…” His hand found the bulge that he was looking for, and then he gasped softly. “Ah, wait, okay — okay, okay, ah…”

He looked over at his girlfriend, giving her a nervous smile. “Okay, okay.” He breathed in. “Okay, I’ve got — got somethin’ for you. Ah…close your — wait, no, you can keep your eyes open. Sure. Yeah. Okay.”

Nervously, his wildly shaking hands reached for his pocket, and out came a medium-sized black velvet box. Opening it and turning it to her revealed a necklace with a simple, glittering star charm on it. “Girls like necklaces…?” he said, and then he realized that wasn’t what he was supposed to say, and a nervous laugh bubbled from him. His hand was shaking so wildly that she could probably hardly make out what the necklace was. “I — I wanted to get you something special. I just — I…ah, I wasn’t sure if you’d like it, but…” He shook his head slightly, clearing his throat. “Yeah.”

Giving her a smile, he continued nervously — which meant his words were a bit rushed and difficult to understand, but still. “Take it as my resolution. To, ah…officially…do….and be better. It’s…just…me saying that I hope we can…I don’t know, start all over, kind of. From square one. Trevor and Ash, dating. Trevor and Ash, the duo that works, even against all odds.” He pumped his fist at his ribcage, giving a small, “Yeah.”

Clearing his throat again, Trevor felt his face heat up preemptively as he prepared to ask Ash the thing this had all been leading up to.

C’mon, Trevor.

You can do this.

She’s your girlfriend.

Your hot girlfriend.

Who could totally reject you.

But no.

No, no, she couldn’t reject you, I mean, look at you.

In your…plaid.

And…

Feck, just get it on with.

Swallowing hard, he cleared his throat again.

He wound up choking on some spit, and he hacked into a clenched fist for a solid thirty seconds, but he quickly swallowed hard and tried to recover.

“Agh,” he groaned painfully, and then he cleared his throat and swallowed again. Looking to Ash with glossy eyes, he tried an awkward smile and giving her a thumbs up before pressing his shaking hand down on his thigh. “Ah, I, ah….I kind of…want to start out my…my whole…us, new us thing by…asking…you…”

God, that was awkward.

He shook his head, laughing at himself softly. “Wait, feckin’ — I said I wasn’t going to be awkward, ah…well…feck, ah.” He reached his sweaty hand up to run it through his hair, giving her another smile. “Sorry, I’m — I’m nervous to ask this because…you…” His smile twinged up. “You, me. We’re…would you dance? No, I mean, what I mean…you…would you…”

Gotothedancewithmegotothedancewithmegotothedancewithme.

“…save a dance for me?”

…close enough.




mood
deploying operations of the "be a good boyfriend" variety

location
aquarium

outfit
before you say a single fecking word, this wasn't his idea.





playing...
some nights (intro)
by fun.​




mentions
n/a

interactions
ash

tags
Winona Winona


º º code by ditto º º
 
"Goddess of Chaos"
Magnolia Darrington
@Rebel.lia.on has set their status to:
Time to celebrate!

@Rebel.lia.on has set their outfit to:
Performance outfit

@Rebel.lia.on has set their location to:
Arts Fest

@Rebel.lia.on has mentioned:
Spencer, Lucky, Josie, Remi

@Rebel.lia.on has interacted with:
Kayla ( AkuTheWolfOkami AkuTheWolfOkami )
♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫
♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫
♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫
♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫
♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫
♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫
♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫
♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫
♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫
♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫
♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫

Kayla spoke so plainly, so matter of fact like that it made Maggie feel almost guilty for being so...extra? expressive? Off? There were a lot of possible word combinations honestly and they'd all probably be accurate in their own ways. The girl's apathy used to be nothing more then an interesting quirk to Maggie, but right now it felt like a vacuum creating space between then two.

A distance that Magnolia genuinely didn't want there, but had no idea how to prevent or mend. In theory there was nothing to fix, nothing was wrong. the only person acting differently was her. So in theory the only part of this equation that needed solving was herself. Being the problem wasn't something Maggie was a stranger to, in fact in most scenarios she saw herself or her family as the problem.

So why was this different?

Not that she believed Kayla to be the problem...not consciously. She genuinely just didn't understand why she felt the way she did. A sentiment she'd been feeling more and more lately with even her other friends. Remi...Lucky...even Josie to an extent. Not nearly as much as the other two. Josie more confused her then she being internally confused about her.

With the confirmation of her performance being soon and that it was in fact with Newt, she couldn't help but feel like the response was a bit short. Not in just her usual way of speaking, but the vibe behind especially the second part felt different. She couldn't put her finger on it and quite frankly she didn't want to pry anyways. Whatever it was wasn't her business if she didn't want to openly talk about it with her. "I'm sure I will! I can't wait." She smiled in return laying that bit to rest.

Spencer was waiting on her, but she felt bad just saying hi and dipping even though she really shouldn't. There was nothing for her actually to feel guilty for. It's not like they'd talked or made plans for today or anything. She knew that, but there was still this odd tug inside her urging her to stick around just a bit longer. Despite not owing it. She had every right to give her the deuces and go back to her new friend.

When Kayla agreed to a quick smoke she nodded and pulled out her phone to DM Spencer saying she'd catch up with him a bit and that something had come up real quick.

It wasn't a lie. Getting to spend time with Kayla felt like a rarity even if it wasn't technically. Sure she was busy with Liv lately, but it's not like it was a big deal, or like they hadn't seen each other at all, or like Kayla was turning her down left and right. Even if she was that wouldn't be an issue because well...Kayla didn't owe her anything just like Maggie owed her nothing. Any time spent was convenient and opportunistic in nature as it should be.

Maggie as usual was splitting her time between quite a few people as of late anyways. Between Lucky/Josie, Sometimes Kian and a few other newer party buddies, and then of course Remi more often since his Championship confession. Well...after promptly avoiding him for a bit at first. Because how else would Maggie solve problems if not avoiding them until she felt like they faded away on their own?

However...that was still a topic she'd rather not think too much into right now.

"I'm all set, and we can sneak away to a spot this way I think." She giggled with a shrug just kinda guessing. The point was not to be super obvious, but honestly who would stop her? As arrogant as that sounded, it was part of the brand so even if she was caught the tabloid wouldn't say anything they've not said a million times before. The school wouldn't do anything against her parents management team so what did it matter?

Truth is, it only mattered to her because it might matter for Kayla.

She lead them through an 'emergency exit' door but knew it's not like there was an alarm for it or anything because why would there be? She reached into her bag and pulled out a plastic baggie with a joint inside of it. Mostly so it wouldn't have to touch all the other random stuff in her bag. She gave it to Kayla before pulling out a lighter, "I'll even let you have the first hit." She chimed with a grin curled onto her cherry lips thinking about how nostalgic this felt.
º º code by ditto º º
 

Alejandra Cortez
"I know, I know, the siren sound.”

@Realex is offline
...

@Realex has set their outfit to:
Laney vibes

@Realex has interacted with:
Simone

@Realex has mentioned:
N/A

@Realex has tagged:
natsukashii natsukashii​

She had one of those contagious laughs.

Not in the sense that Alex laughed too-- that was technically the meaning of having a contagious laugh in the first place.

But… it was kinda just…

Nice.

That sounded a little stupid.

But Alex was a little stupid from time to time.

Tonight had probably been the worst night of her life and somehow, Alex still found herself smiling purely because of the company. The brunette watched Simone in mild concern as she took the sunglasses from her, placing them to the side and shrugging.

“It was just a lot out there, mucha presión.”

Alejandra nodded, biting the inside of her lip. She didn’t say much, she just listened.

Alex figured that’s what most people wanted.

Just someone to listen.

And she was more than happy to oblige.

She lifted herself up on the crate beside her, her long legs dangling and hitting the side of the box softly thudding against it.

“I needed to step away from the spotlight, ya know?”

If anyone knew how that felt, it was Alex.

Maybe she wasn’t always the main focus of attention. But when she was, she despised it.

Which is only one of the reasons why she’d never make it as a model.

“I’m more of a… behind the scenes kinda girl myself.”

Alex glanced over at her, watching her features carefully.

It was odd.

Simone was never one to be quiet, she was always the loudest and brightest one in the room.

And to see that light of hers’ dimmed… it was just unsettling. Although she still had that little spark of whatever it is that makes her so vivacious.

“I understand needing a break, but you did amazing out there.”

She wasn’t just saying that.

It was true.

Maybe Simone didn’t make the clothes by hand, but she was a stylist.

They… chose what looks best and run with it.

Okay, maybe that sounded kinda easy but if you compared Simone’s taste to Alex, it was a huge difference. She wouldn’t have known what color went with what let alone pair things with mesh scarves, polyester skirts or…

Was polyester even in style?

What even was polyester?

Oh, now she’s thinking way too hard about something she couldn’t care less about.

Simone's theme… or meaning… or… whatever it was, it was pretty cool. Alex could appreciate fashion on a budget. Even though she wasn’t one for fashion in the first place… she wasn’t blind.

Alejandra persisted with her compliments. “I’m serious! I may not be a fashion expert, but everything you chose was beautiful.” Maybe Simone was already aware of how great she’d done and genuinely just needed some time away from everyone to recoup.

But it was always nice to hear, wasn’t it?

“I’m just saying... if there’s anyone who belongs in the spotlight, it’s you.”

The brunette leaned over the smaller girl, ignoring how close they were to each other as she did, taking the sunglasses once again before she continued.

“If it isn’t about your ability to be absolutely astonishing inside and out and you actually need a moment alone, I can make myself scarce.”
Alejandra placed the sunglasses upon Simone’s head, careful not to get any hair entangled in the wire frames of the aviators. She always had a thing for sunglasses. Never mind that weird schtick of wearing sunglasses at night because it gave her a mysterious vibe.

But Alex made a mental note to save up for a pair that she actually liked and not something she found at Walgreens for five dollars.

“A crown fit for a queen.” She said, grinning.

Simone was a good distraction of all things disastrous that went down tonight.

Maybe it wasn't a permanent fix, and it didn't suddenly make everything she went through tonight better-- but she didn't make it worse. Alex assumed it was practically impossible for Simone to make any situation worse.
º º code by ditto º º
 
Reader mode
You must log in or register to reply here.

Users who are viewing this thread

Total: 12 (members: 0, guests: 12)

Similar threads

Veil Walker
Fantasy The Academy of Telvaria
2 3 magical school mystery political intrigue
Replies
57
Views
1K
York_vs_Lancastor
York_vs_Lancastor
HALO.
Fandom 𝙏𝙃𝙀 𝙉𝙀𝙒 𝙈𝘼𝙍𝘼𝙐𝘿𝙀𝙍𝙎 - Main RP [OPEN]
advanced literate grp novella
Replies
1
Views
89
HALO.
HALO.
fairyfawn
Realistic or Modern greenwood falls (rp)
angst drama fluff
Replies
6
Views
108
mintyo
mintyo
JoshAfton
Multiple Settings Age of Steam and Steel (IC) (OPEN AND ACCEPTING)
Replies
0
Views
38
JoshAfton
JoshAfton
Hell0NHighWater
Multiple Settings Life's A Game ⎨IC⎬
apocalypse dark fantasy dice system: d20
Replies
17
Views
391
Nellancholy
Nellancholy
Back
Top