#Latchkey Saints|OC au

[brooklynislandgirl]

"My darling! Will you be my valentine?" She asks, holding roses and chocolates with a smile.

Beth is both absolutely surprised and also not, when she opens the door and finds Rocky on the other side, holding up roses and sweets. Maybe it's the smell that hits her first but Beth has been too long a politician's daughter, has spent too much of her life hiding her feelings beneath a polished veneer.

She invites her friend in by taking a step back and smiling softly. "Of course I will! Come in! I got you somet'ing too!"

On the coffee table is a pink bag with little white and pale purple glittery hearts. Sticking out of it from its throne of imported tea and Korean snack boxes is a build-a-bear mouse, with a little bell collar attached.

She gives Rocky a hug and kisses her friend's cheek before taking the roses in hand. "Pour t'rough dat bag while I put dese in waddah, yeah?"

[brooklynislandgirl]

"Yeah, you can," Beth answers in earnest. She makes her own oils as a matter of relaxation and if she's honest, she has a larger bottle of this particular batch at home. Plus it is in her own nature that if the woman's going to be kind enough to make a big deal about the scent, the least Beth can do is gift her with a token of appreciation. Still, it gets returned to her and Beth tries not to argue on the open street, not good for one's public image. A thing that haunts her near constantly, and has for as long as she can remember. "Korea? Is...is dat....that where you're from? I hear is very beautiful dere but I've nevah been." The closest she's come is Japan, and the less said about that the better. "I was born in Honolulu, O'ahu, but I been in New York for about...well, a long time now." Beth laughs a little but this one is a little brittle, coloured completely by a strong sensation of homesickness. The city is fantastic, she loves the Burroughs and all their various neighbourhoods and peoples but it's nothing like Beth's islands. Oh, and then it makes sense. Try as hard as she might, her pidgin slips through and the woman's curious. "Sorry, talk bird...means usin' local Hawai'ian... uhm... creole." When the woman mentions blood, Beth smiles if a little blandly. She's pretty sure that the statement in its most literal is quite untrue. But that's not something Beth is going to bring up to a stranger ~a potential new friend~ for an entire encyclopedia worth of reasons. "Limelight? So...so you're actually famous an' stuff? I'm sorry, nevah really up on current...trends an' entertainment." Beth avoids most social media, and tries to keep out of the spotlight herself. She also can't comment on being entirely human either. For a split second, she has to wonder if this is some kind of prank. If someone who knows her far too well is pulling her leg. Beth's brows furrow slightly, but still she holds out her hand. "Nice t' meetcha Rockelle? I'm Beth. Beth Riley."

Rockelle tried to educate herself on different cultures but the accent she had, it stumped her. The neko looked confused for a moment, trying to peace together her words and what they mean. Then she realized the words she could be using would be the same for things native to Korea, which were harder or impossible to translate. A pause and her brain began to catch up with the rest of the conversation and she perks up. A hand was extended out to her with a substance in it. Her sensitive nose began to pick up on the smells and damn did it smell good. She gently takes the bottle, inspects it out of curiosity. Not for the reason it could have been malicious no no, just checking for a brand name or something easily recognizable so she can support them! "This smells so beautiful! I couldnt possibly take the entire bottle, please keep it and let others smell how wonderful you are!" She replies, putting it back in Beth's hand delicately and closing it. "I understand, Korea can be just as complicated with their native flowers and fish. Where are you from? I never heard an accent as unique as yours before." She chirps, now going full questionnaire mode to try and gain more information. "I bleed just the same as you! I would like to think I am regular! Just...more in the limelight than others but we are all human!" She gently corrects, knowing she wasnt truly human herself but they can cross that bridge another time. A gentle sigh, a sign of relaxation, feeling comfortable around this new person. It was rare. Maybe her nose didnt fully get a whiff of her perfume, maybe a bit of her species as well. It is a mystery to her but she seemed to be more friend than foe, so she put it aside for the moment. "How rude of me! We have been talking all this time and I havent asked for your name! My name is Rockelle! Very nice to meet you Miss..."

[brooklynislandgirl]

@gweld-angylion {{this open starter}} In the grand scheme of things, Beth knows that she's often mistaken at first glance for a child; barely five feet tall, not even a hundred pounds soaking wet and in full winter gear, and she does have a penchant for brightly coloured scarves and blue, shark-patterned wellies. And trudging her way toward the subway, half-asleep on her feet after a gruelling sixteen hour shift? She might not have been paying as much attention as she could have. So when she gets yanked backwards, it takes a moment to find her footing with any sort of grace. Her coffee goes flying from her hand and splatters over the sidewalk ~free of snow and ice~ to steam forlornly like some Rorschach blot. Startled into alertness, Beth doesn't try to yank her arm away from her would be rescuer, instead only staring up at him with wide green eyes and perhaps a lingering trace of mourning for the lost caffeine. "I s'pose I should say... mahalo? Uhm, unless you intend t' mug me in which case, I'll gladly hand ovah my purse, no need t' t'reaten violence."

[brooklynislandgirl]

how do you like ur steak? is it just as juicy as you? *insert sheesh face here*

TMI Tuesday || Always Accepting

"Oh, dat's not mine," she says as they order dinner together. It doesn't dawn on her that Rocky is being flirtatious in a fun sort of way. If anything, she takes it as just part of her friend's charm. "Is f' my braddah. He's gonna be workin' late tonight an' I don' wan him to eat...whatevah dey considah food where he at." Beth proceeds to order her own meal, the mushroom risotto with a garden salad, garlic toast, and lemon-water. It's not yet five o' clock, too early for a pinot grigio. She waits for Rocky to place her own order before continuing her explanation. "I'm mos'ly pescatarian. Only eat fish and even den, not so much. Prefer vegetables an' stuff. I hate da way meat animals are raised and cared for, if an' wen dey are, an' I hate da idea dat somet'ing have to die jus' t' feed me." And what she doesn't say is that she swims in her Mother's arms as herself and in the shape of her closest kin. She runs as a deer. Flits from flower to flower some times as a butterfly herself. When one can change into another living being, it changes their relationship with other creatures. "But I'm also not da kine to judge someone else's dietary wants an' needs. People who do are supah obnoxious, t'inking dey got some right to live another person's life. But if ya curious, he likes it medium rare. Bloody a lil bit but cooked."

[brooklynislandgirl]

@smolcuriouskitten {{a confection!}}

As they regard one another, Beth can't help but feel a certain sort of twinge. Not like an interrupted nerve-impulse, and not the sort of distasteful hitch at the back of her throat when it came to certain people ~especially the gossip peddlers with the constant cameras and the very leading and biased questions, but more like the comforting stroke of a feather down her nose, or the soft scent of rain on an evening breeze. The woman is certainly very real. She would not be so solid if she were strictly a creature of the dreaming lands or of the shadowed umbra. Not a ghost. Not quite fae, though that feels more suitable. But as she's told herself a million times, prying into a stranger's secrets is the height of rudeness…so she lets it pass. She ~the woman~ doesn't really seem like a threat after all. Too kind, too friendly. "Oh! Dat! Uhm, mahalo! For reals. Is…It's…it's lei flower…ah…plumeria. An' naupaka. I don't t'ink de…there's a mainland translation for what is that." Beth lowers her head and pulls out a little brown bottle with a tiny cork stopper treated with what looks and smells like beeswax then hands it toward the woman. "Essential oil. Here. Take it." Then Beth takes a step back, colour suffusing her face to make her resemble a beach at sunset; golden skin and deep blush. "Oh, no. I'm jus' regular. Not like you. You should be on runways, billboards."

[brooklynislandgirl]

Formless ghosts of darker empathy and she shakes her head. "I'm not…I'm not someone who needs or wants… if ya feel ya goddah do somet'ing, mebbe make one donation. Animal hospital, women an' children shelter, reading program…somet'ing li'dat. If ya like my oils den I would considah makin' 'em for you an' ya friends f' continued good deeds." Anyone could pick up a Forbes magazine and find her name listed only below a handful of people, including her auntie and the Admiral. She contributes more than most people make in ten years toward charitable and artistic endeavours while still trying to lead as quiet a personal life as she can. She takes the business card that is offered and slips it inside of her purse. Beth will eventually file it away where appropriate in the little binder she keeps for such things after her therapist said she needed to become more organised. Beth notes the change in the woman's demeanour. She recognises that brief glimpse of sorrow though she doesn't really know what the root cause might be. She also doesn't feel it's her place to pry any more than she'd allow Rockelle to ask her questions about her brother, about any of the other people or things that break Beth's heart on a regular basis. It's Beth's turn to scrunch her nose when Rockelle mentions her father's tactics in correcting her behaviour when she was younger. Something about her saying she agrees with it doesn't sit well with Beth but then maybe Rockelle's dad was not the same kind of monster that Beth grew up with. The Admiral's shadow still thrusts her in the dark whenever it falls over her and there isn't a moment's peace when they are so much as in the same city. Fortunately the old man tends to stay in DC for the most part, his visits to the City few and far between. Beth can't help but blush a little deeper and looks away when Rockelle compliments her pidgin. It isn't as thick as when she first arrived on the mainland and extensive practice of diction when she's around people she doesn't know well has taken most of the dialect's teeth. Beth lets the comment about her family slip passed unaddressed. Things tend to be more complicated than she can explain where her cousins are concerned, and how in their opinion Beth is merely a thing to be tolerated. Any straying from their convictions could make short work of her life. She instead follows the gesture toward the billboard, and then she turns her head to try to catch the music. "Oh. Wow. Uhm, I'm sorry den dat I…didn't realise but on da oddah hand, mebbe you can say your disguise is a success." It's nice to know she's just as awkward with other women as she is with men. "Sure. If…if dat's not like gonna take up your time. I don' really…"

Beth doesn't really know how to make new friends.

Seeing as Beth wasnt used to having gifts declined, her nose scrunched. She felt bad for declining it after the face so she let out a soft sigh. "Tell you what, how about I give you the money for the value of the perfume? I would love to have it but I feel bad with not compensating for your craft! Or may I offer you a postion as a professional perfume maker for myself and my dancers!" She continues, shuffling through her purse and handed her a business card.

"Sadly...Its the same in Korea as well. Some of the sweetest people you would ever meet but many take advantage. I wish people didnt take kindness for weakness." Her tone was hard to place, sad and full of angst but it was clear she needed to hear that herself. Her attention was turned back on Beths words, her nose scrunches, nodding.

"My life is exciting, I cant complain! I agree, people stare since they dont want to approach. I guess everyone wasnt taught the same. My dad would always tap the back of my head when I stare at people growing up, some people need that." She jokes with a chuckle. Her eyes widen a bit as she changes her tone for a moment to explain. "No no its okay! I apologize! Im not knowledgeable about certain dialects, I love the exposure! Dont change your sound, I love the flow of your voice, its like a beautiful song with notes that follow behind you as you speak!" She reassures, nodding a bit.

"They would love to see you!" She chirps, smiling happily at her. When she assures her suspision of not knowing her, she points to a nearby billboard which showed herself holding a mic with sparkles, advertising her concert coming into town. "And if you listen to the song playing in the store, thats me! Im undercover so many people havent figured its me quite yet...I love my fans but peace never hurt anyone ever now and again." A soft sigh left her lips.

With the conversation, coming to an end, she tilts head then thinks for a moment. "If you like, we can both stop for a coffee for a bit. I would love to keep talking with you, you have been so sweet."