#astrastart

[rachellgxthel]

It had been nearly a whole year since Rachel had last touched her youtube channel, ever since her mother had found out about her secret hobby. And even though she had been away from home for almost half a year now, the blonde had put off even logging in, that old fear of mother walking in and spotting her always creeping in the back of her mind. But it was a new year and Rachel was determined to not let old fears rule her life, and while she was nowhere near ready to confront the truths that were slowly revealing themselves in the back of her mind, she was ready to get back to what she loved. Painting. So she set her camera and supplies up in one of the common areas when she had found it quietest and began to paint. It was a simple picture, sun shining through gaps in leaves onto the snow covered ground of a busy city street; an image she couldn’t get out of mind since coming back from LA. As she worked, she sang quietly to herself, forgetting that she was still in a fairly public area despite the lack of people around her right now.

[merldadunbroch]

Picking up her glass - a porn star martini that she’d conned the bar man out of two shots of prosecco for when she’d drank the first one while his back was turned - Merida took a sip as she surveyed the room. Partys, she liked, big fancy galas? They made her a little uneasy. Sure she knew the etiquette for them and had been to far too many in her younger years, but Merida always felt like she was playing pretend in a bad way. Fancy and grown up wasn’t who she was and had never claimed to be. But even the scot could admit Astra had really outdone themselves tonight. If this place didn’t scream ‘winter!!! gala!!! fun!!!!’ she had no idea what would. Turning the person she was stood next to she said, “I feel like the only thing missing from tonight is a bunch of fake snow falling gently from the ceiling.”

[dgrxysxn]

Dick was late. And if it had been any other party he might not has felt so bad about it. But this was his first party as part of Astra initiative and he really did not want to burst through the doors after everything had already kicked off. Sure, he liked to make an entrance, but he’d have to live with these people so he was going to hold back on the dramatics. As he rounded the side of the mansion music floated down to him from an open balcony a floor above him and Dick grinned, just what he had been looking for. People were always leaving doors open during events like this. Security was shocking. Rolling his shoulders rubbed his fingers together a little as his eyes sought out the best hand holds in the brick. And then he climbed. Swinging his legs over the side of the balcony he was pleased to note his dark red velvet suit hadn’t wrinkled or been dirtied – not that he was that surprised, he was an expert climber. Straightening his tie, Dick shoved his hands into his pockets and walked into the main room, hoping no one noticed the stranger who seemed to appear from nowhere. 

[lucastremxine]

It seemed that he had only just missed a party weeks earlier upon arrival to the compound. It appeared to be the buzz on everyone’s lips after all. But now it was the new year, the holidays were ending, and he was a new face that event the most recent residents wouldn’t recognize. Lucas had arrived the night before and was not slinking around the halls and exploring his new home. Although many rooms were empty, the halls still seemed to be buzzing. People coming and going very frequently. With all this roaming, it was only natural that he eventually bang right into someone. Nevertheless, he let out a huff as he turned the corner and collided with another person.

“Excuse me.” An irritable tone in his voice as he eyed the other person. He took a split second, regaining his composure despite the pain in his shoulder now. “Be a bit more careful next time, hm?”

[zhengtigress-blog]

Returning from an afternoon of grocery shopping, Tingting found herself with too many bags to carry. It wasn’t that they were heavy for her, but she simply purchased more than expected and didn’t have the arm room. She had to focus on balancing them correctly so that no pieces fell out. It was her fault for waiting until they were all out of food to go shopping, and for being such a picky eater. Still, she turned her annoyance outwards when she made her way up the stairs where someone stood in front of the entrance, blissfully unaware that she was trying to get in the building. “Excuse me...I am trying to get inside. Please let your mind wander somewhere else.”

[chrischenyan]

He’d been murmuring to himself all day. Now that Tingting had returned to China for her training, Chris was the only one in America promoting the Jade Palace. It was a little sad to see her go, and it also made him wonder why her training seemed to take priority over his own, but he liked to think being here made him special. He was a bit better than her at speaking to people after all. Then again, it could just be more urgent she returns due to her importance. It would be deluded not to see that she was the front runner to take over one day. Any hope the other five had of such a thing was small in comparison.

Astra had set up a magazine interview with Chris for a local fitness journal, nothing fancy, but it was enough. He went and bought a few of the previous magazines to see if he could figure out some sort of template for the questions he’d be asked. Walking in to the lobby of the compound with his nose in the magazine, Chris squinted at an unknown word. He wasn’t sure how exactly it might be pronounced although he’d probably heard it before.

“Excuse me…uh, sorry. Do you know what this word is? I would like to sound firm in my response.” Chris asked the nearest person, not even thinking to try and give them context first.

[livrebelle]

@gasstonlegume

After a couple of days, Belle was finally feeling like she was settling into the dorms and Los Angeles in general. There were times when she still felt like a small town girl lost in the big city, but thankfully she had met a handful of extremely kind people who did everything they could to make her feel welcomed and at home. She was adjusting much better than she ever believed to be possible, plus a couple of phone calls here and there to her father made everything nearly perfect for Belle. He seemed to be doing well and she didn't feel as guilty as before for leaving him, even if it was still nagging at her again here and there.

Belle was on her way back to her room, a handful of books clutched tight to her chest. It had been another successful trip to the public library; she was as fast of a reader as ever, devouring book after book in a couple of days. She was already befriending the librarian and she couldn't be more pleased, since her recomendations never seemed to fail Belle. She was happily perusing the cover of one of the books she rented when she felt herself bump into someone, making her clutch even tighter to the books to make sure no harm came their way. Thankfully, none of them fell to the floor, though Belle's body did wobble slightly, but there was not enough force to send her to the ground. " I'm sorry, I wasn't paying attention to where I was going. " Belle apologized sincerily, finally looking up from her books to come eye to eye with what she had assumed to be a stranger. " Gaston? "

[terencewright-blog1]

“Yup, yeah, I know...Okay but have you – no, no dad you have to log in first,” Terence sighed, picked at the stray sugar packet on the arm of the chair he had decided to occupy. All he had wanted to do was double check how to change a fuel line and now it had been 20 minutes of trying to explain how to log into netflixs. “Have you clicked in the box? You need to click in the box before typing,” looking up he caught the eye of the person sitting opposite him and mouthed a ‘I’m sorry’. “Look, dad, I’ve got to go. Ask mom, she knows how to do it. Yeah, okay, mhm, bye. Bye.” Hanging up Terence lowers his phone and gives the other person a sheepish smile, “Sorry if I disturbed you or anything. Parents and technology, right?”

[circusfreakty-blog1]

There really was no better way to enjoy nice weather than to find an open stretch of grass and do some stretches.  And handstands.  And backflips.  Some might call it showing off, but Ty never understood what was wrong with that.  She was really good at this -- what was so wrong with people knowing it?  If they wanted to look at her, let them.  She certainly did not mind.  There was one problem with practicing outside, however -- the people who weren’t watching her.  The people who were just walking.  Ty was a little bit in her own world, so she did not notice the approaching person until she landed her last handspring right in front of them.  “Oops!” Ty giggled.  “Sorry.”

[shegoes-blog1]

Why did she have to go all the way down to the lobby to pick up an order she didn’t even make? Wouldn’t they just take no for an answer? Just leave already. She didn’t even like mushrooms and yet here she was, standing outside the compound in the California heat trying to figure out who ordered a large pizza that the delivery boy insisted came for her. She would normally just pretend it was hers except the bill was $30 and it wasn’t even a kind she liked. Another person began walking through the front doors and, looking to rid herself of the delicious burden as soon as possible, Sheridan turned to them.

“Hey, you! Yeah. Do you want this pizza? ‘Cause this is, like, the second time one’s been buzzed to my room and I’m not ordering them.”

[rebcrnrcth-blog]

Raven wasn’t used to being around so many new people. Hell, she had just really started getting used to all of Dick’s friends back home and some of them took some time to tolerate. She was enjoying herself more than she would like to admit though. The giant Christmas tree set up in the lobby of her building along with all the different ones put up over the campus were really putting her in some kind of spirit. Raven stopped to stare at one of the smaller Christmas tree and took out her phone as she did. “My friend will love this. She loves all that shiny shit,” she said to no one in particular as she snapped a picture of the tree.

[thecrxcodilehook-blog]

Hook had gotten bored about halfway through watching Die Hard. Seeing the Blair Witch Project starting on the screen behind him in the reflection of the car window in front of him solidified his decision. He hopped behind the wheel of his rental car and peeled out of the parking lot to find his way to the next screen. Maybe he was a little too loud while doing it, but oh well. 

He pulled his car into the first available spot, again being a little too loud as he slammed his car into park. Jumping out through the open window, he laid out on the hood of his car again. Ready to fully enjoy the movie. Maybe it was the excitement building up in him from the moment that he’d stepped off the plane that day or maybe he was just trying to be an asshole, but without even blinking, he let out a loud scream. Following it up with a loud laugh, he turned slightly to the car next to him, meaning to apologize to whoever his new neighbor was. “Sorry about that...maybe.” 

[merldadunbroch]

The month of October seemed to pass in blur of orange and brown and confusion. Merida wasn’t exactly sure what she had done the whole month, but suddenly it was November and the anual texts from the family started rolling in asking if she would be home for christmas. Raising an eyebrow, the red head had to give her mum credit, she’d really out done herself this year by not only getting the triplets to text her but by also posting her an actual invitation. Holding the cream coloured card up, Merida took in the cursive writing, the gold print of the family crest and rolled her eyes. “Does your mum invite you home for Christmas with an actual physical invite?” She asked, turning to the person stood next to her, waving the card in the face without caring about seeming rude.

[dgrxysxn]

Frowning, Dick looked at the text notification on his phone again, trying to make sense of his brothers nonsense and if he should be concerned. Surely Damian hadn’t really locked Tim on the manor roof for a night and half a day. But even as he thought it the acrobat knew it was entirely possible. Rubbing at his forehead with one hand Dick tried to pick up his cup of coffee with the one still holding the phone, but he misjudged the distance and sent the cup falling, dark liquid spilling across the table. “Shit!” As quick as his reflexes were they weren’t quick enough to stop more of the coffee from spilling, glancing around he called across to the person nearest to him “Hi sorry have you got any napkins?”

[rachellgxthel]

"Thank you!” Rachel said again to the lovely person who had served at the concession stand as she carefully turned around, a large drink in one hand, a bucket of popcorn cradled between her elbow and chest, five different packets of sweets in her other hand with a tray of nachos balancing precariously on top. It had occurred to her as she payed that maybe she’d bought too much, but she had never tried twizzlers before and the bag of ‘confused’ skittles had just looked like too much fun to pass by. Trying her best not to bump into anyone Rachel made her way back to her spot only once there did she realise that sitting back down would be an issue. Bitting her lip the blonde tried drop the sweets onto the floor, but felt the nachos slipping too and had to stop. “Crap,” she muttered quietly, pouting a little as she tried to work out how to proceed.

[astridhxfferson]

She didn’t know that the local little restaurant would be this full on a Tuesday. To be fair it did have five stars online and it was a pretty tight space. Astrid just knew that she hadn’t had lunch, didn’t want to make dinner tonight and was beyond hungry. She really didn’t want to have to do this but a new table just opened up and she didn’t know when another one would. Desperate times called for desperate measures. Clearing her throat, she approached the sole person waiting ahead of her. “Don’t be afraid to say no, but do you think we can get a table for two? I made it all this way and who knows when another table will open up.”