#freddie02

[sassa-fiske]

who: @freddiekolbeck when: the 13th (sassa's birthday!), a bit after the news where: outside of waverly

Sassa was leaning against the brick wall at the entrance of Waverly, her arms crossed over her chest as she watched the police officers cross the paths, looking for all the world like they had a purpose and weren't just spinning their wheels in an investigation that had gone on for a year with no apparent leads. Leave it to Greer to ruin her birthday from beyond the grave. If they were even right about that. It'd also be just like Greer to come back from the presumed dead. And it's not like the investigative team hadn't been saying one thing and then contradicting it a few weeks later for a year now.

Meaning her birthday was likely ruined for no reason. Hence the glowering.

She had been there for a few minutes - probably longer than she should've lingered, honestly - when she felt a large presence behind her, Sassa glancing over her shoulder to see her roommate. Her former friend. One of many who had chosen to stay by Greer's side rather than hers. But Sassa was a kind, forgiving person - so she obviously wouldn't hold that against him in a moment like this. "You okay?" she asked as she continued looking over her shoulder at Freddie, her intense focus settling on him now.

[mari-zuko]

who: @freddiekolbeck when: near the beginning of the night where: the commons

Another night, Mari might've been amused by the sight of Freddie approaching in that outfit. But tonight, tensions were high, the greeting of the family members her father was forcing her to partake in dragging on for way too long, and Freddie seemed to appear out of nowhere. Both her and the dean stared at him for a moment, a snort of laughter slipping from Mari (that she disguised into a cough), as her father visibly tried to hold back his anger. "Did you miss the invitation? With the dress code?" he said with a forced laugh, pretending to be jovial, though Mari at least still heard the bite of the words coming through his teeth.

[cara-mrrsn]

“Fuck you,” Cara said lazily, no actual bite in her voice. Though perhaps that was because she was too hungover to much behind it. She let out a pitiful whine when Freddie denied her the water, even as he was already gesturing towards the other side of the bed, even glancing over and seeing the glass not stopping the pout that she had on her face. "You're so mean to me," she said as she reached up to grab it, taking a few long gulps from it, giving him a sideways glance at Freddie as she drank. "Unfortunately," she said, setting the water back onto the nightstand and slumping down, snuggling into his side. "It has to be total bullshit, right?"

as freddie sinks onto the bed beside cara, the strong scent of stale alcohol wafts off her, making him grimace sharply. "bro, you stink." it's a strange place to be -- he knows he should be relieved, but at least you could sleep off a hangover. this discomfort felt embedded into his skin, like there was no escape. "this is mine," he says, then juts his chin towards the bedside table on the other side, where he'd left a glass of water when he'd woken up early morning. rolling onto his side, he asks, "have you seen the text?"

[sassa-fiske]

Sassa laugh echoed Freddie's, not looking back in his direction as she fought the urge to scowl. "Not your fault?" she said, her voice low, steady, anyone who looked in their direction assuming they were having a perfectly normal conversation from afar. Sassa was excellent at pretending, and utterly clueless about what Freddie was talking about. "I think making up whatever narrative you used to justify your behavior is definitely your fault. But I guess we'll have to agree to disagree."

freddie shoots her a look at that comment, even if she wasn't looking at him, one that read: don't even start. he lets out a hoarse, disparaging chuckle so she could hear it anyway, in the kind of way he agreed with her, for once, that it wasn't all that funny. "you can't give me that." whatever guilt he feels towards their situation may be unresolved, but everyone showed their true colours in the end. he might've remained loyal to greer, but she showed him boundless support in return. sassa, on the other hand, was revealed to only use him for her benefit. "you had me in your corner. and you fucked that up. that's not my fault."

[sassa-fiske]

Her eyes rolled, Sassa making sure Freddie saw it before she turned away from him, lips pursed out ever so slightly. He had a way of getting under her skin, betrayal and irritation and perhaps a lingering sense of longing mixed into all of that. But mostly, the irritation. Or maybe the betrayal. "Oh. So you did notice that," Sassa said, the retort said with utter coolness, not looking up at Freddie even as the bitterness slipped out, her eyes tracing the path of the investigators across the campus for a few moments longer. "Funny." She didn't elaborate, didn't explain - but it didn't require any explanation to be understood that she really didn't find it funny at all.

whilst there were people who were scared to be seen with him, there was sassa who never seemed to shy away. he thought it was genuine, until greer revealed the truth: that sassa was simply pulling the wool over his eyes. he doubts she's changed since then. she could probably turn anything to work in her favour. "whatever you don't want it to mean," he shrugs languidly.

her sarcasm elicits a small huff of a laugh from him. considering everything that had come out about greer, highlighting just how much he didn't know about her, he wouldn't be surprised if they'd secretly reconciled. it was annoying, considering he'd told her everything. "exactly. so, why do you even care?" he asks immediately, though for once it wasn't an attack, curiosity clear in his tone. "she made your life hell."

[mari-zuko]

"Freddie," Mari said, a hint of reprimand in her voice, cutting off any retort her father might have had - mostly out of surprise that he'd be so blunt in his response. Though she shouldn't have been, after what her father said. And honestly, he had deserved it, implying Freddie's stint in rehab had been out of choice. Granted, he was a New Englander through and through - she shouldn't have been surprised that his similar views on therapy and the likes applied to addiction as well.

"No, Mr. Kolbeck, that's not what I'm saying at all," Dean Zuko said, his tone still affable, charming, appearing to have a lovely conversation with the young man in front of him from all intents and purposes to anyone else. "Mari's exemplary. Been nothing but help with the investigation into...." his voice trailed off, shooting a look towards his daughter before he started speaking again. "The disappearance. Unlike someone like you, who vanished right as she did and only reappeared when the trouble seemed to be wrapped up."

Mari kept a small curl of a smile on her lips, not wanting to catch anyone's attention. "Dad," she said this time, speaking through her teeth. "Not the time or place," she added, eyes flickering towards an approaching set of parents.

freddie's lips slowly spreads into a roguish smirk at the dean's response, clearly surprised to hear this come from someone who cared so much for appearances. the way he says rehab makes it sound so dirty, and maybe if he wasn't so used to it, or hadn't lost all semblance of respect towards him, freddie would've taken a hint of offense to it.

he gives mari a subtle look, one that says: don't worry, i've got it, shooting a small wink in her direction for good measure before returning his focus back to the dean. "are you suggesting my addiction is convenient?" he still wears the same smirk from a few moments ago, though if anything he now feels the same anger he'd just seen in mari's eyes. "is that an official statement? i wonder what would happen if i tweeted that..." then, an impudent hand rises and lands on the dean's shoulder. "don't worry, i won't. you've got enough to deal with and i'm sure deep down you're kicking yourself you didn't have mari smoke crack from the age of five."

[sassa-fiske]

"What is that supposed to mean?" Sassa scoffed in response, glancing at Freddie with her eyebrows high on her forehead, disbelief etched in all of her features. Was she supposed to somehow leverage this into good publicity? Of course, someone like him probably would manage to.

Someone like Greer, too.

Always managing to shine, to float onto the bright side of things. Unlike her, who always seemed to manage to draw the short straw. And yet, Greer was allegedly dead. And Sassa was still standing here, feeling closer than ever to her past self in the familiar spot beside Freddie. Though, of course, he had to retreat back to the safety of Greer - even now. "You mean Greer and I? Oh, yeah. All the time. Had sleepovers, braided each other's hair, spilled all of our darkest secrets." That sarcasm should be obvious enough for him.

the lack of reaction from sassa does little to fuel him as it usually would on any other day. he looks at her, as if to make a quick calculation, and tells himself it’s not out of consideration for her wellbeing but rather the little fulfilment he would get from continuously prodding that he considers a momentary ceasefire. after all, they had been friends, once. “all publicity is bad publicity for you, isn’t it?” okay. a ceasefire after he gets the last word in, though the delivery does fall a little flat. now, standing side by side, separated with the business of their peers, the picture is not too unlike the moments in high school when he’d catch her alone, despite greer’s propaganda. “did you guys even talk? like, after high school, i mean. when you were both here?”

[mari-zuko]

Mari winced at Freddie's response - she had braced herself for the expected irreverence, but even still had perhaps hoped for this to go more smoothly. Her father scowled at the pajama clad male standing in front of them, Mari pressing her lips together as she tried to hold back from showing a reaction in any manner. Namely, amusement that Freddie challenged the dean in such a way or any hint of a similar sense of disdain for this entire event. She knew, at least, her father wouldn't cause a scene, not in front of all the families and donors and such that were currently clogging up the commons, no matter how much he wanted to. "I'm sure you have more," he said as he offered Freddie a smile. "Returning to college despite your struggles. Avoiding all the suspicion of one of your childhood friends disappearing while you were in rehab." Of course the dean knew all the details of Freddie's absence. "Mighty convenient for you."

"Dad," Mari admonished softly, a flash of anger coming to her eyes as she glanced over at him. She didn't know if he intended for there to be a threat dangling in his words regarding Greer, but the situation being used, being made light of...it was enough to have even her speaking up to him.

“must have…” after freddie heard invitations had been sent out to all families, he caught himself idly scanning the room every now and again. he’d be left with disappointment in himself for childishly looking for his parents when he knows he’s better off without them. he’s sure he’s not jealous of his friends whose parents are present, especially as he sees mari with her dad. and maybe, partly to prove this fact and partly to save her from her misery, is why he’d waltzed up to the dean. “but that is not the right attitude, dean dean. it’s thanksgiving.” he grins at mari. then, as if a new idea has sprung to mind, his focus shifts back to the dean: “let’s all remind ourselves what we’re grateful for. why don’t you go first? you must have a lot.”

[sassa-fiske]

Sassa rolled her eyes at Freddie, barely holding back her sneer at his words. She was already irritated, and the promise of pity being dangled over her was the opposite of something that would make her feel better. Instead of retorting - or showing just how angry she was - a heavy sigh fell from Sassa's lips before she gave a small shake of her head. "Weirdly enough, a murder investigation popping up out of nowhere tends to put a damper on birthday plans," she said, shrugging in a mirror of his motion as she looked back out at the going ons of campus, students giving the police officers a wide berth. "Don't bother, though - I wouldn't want you to feel sorry for me regardless," Sassa continued, these words muttered under her breath.

seeing sassa stood by the walls all alone on her birthday takes him back to a time when he wouldn't have thought twice before joining her. his consolation was usually something as simple as a hand made birthday card in the form of a folded post-it note and half of his own chocolate bar. however, like all things in life, freddie has always taken the easy way out. it was easier to pick greer over sassa.

and, even today, he picks easy over everything else. it was easy to dismiss the alert as the latest doings of a shit cunt. it was easy to regard it as highly as he does clickbait, which was not at all. someone, out there, was trying so damn hard to make things difficult and he was not going to fall for it. the zany he'd taken a few hours ago following the alert also makes it easy to walk up to sassa and plop himself against the wall next to her.

"yuuuuup," he says, smacking his lips together to really make the 'p' pop. "nothing to really worry about, to be honest." he shrugs. "don't tell me this is what you've got planned for your birthday." shouldn't she be taking over their room whilst getting ready? "i really don't wanna feel sorry for you."

[cara-mrrsn]

Cara lifted her head slightly, her bleary hungover gaze settling onto Freddie as he came back into the room from god knows where. Shifting ever so slightly so there was actually space for him, she grabbed her sunglasses from her beside table to push onto her face - if she was going to be kept awake, something needing to be done about the sun. "Only if you're willing to share," she said in a raspy voice - for once, motioning towards water (presumably, at least) instead of anything that had made her this hungover in the first place.

setting: in their room @cara-mrrsn

he'd finally gotten himself up to fill up his water bottle that'd remained empty for the past few hours despite the painful headaches and horribly dry throat. he's not really sure how long that took, from the sink to going back up the stairs but when he returns he sees cara lying in her bed. he walks up to her languidly and points to the empty space next to her with his bottle. “can i?”