#oh dear diary: sammy / para

[nxttheendxfthestxryarch2]

Double Solo Para: Finding My Footing (Nancy & Sammy)

“Hey, Sam, can we talk?”

“Sure, Nance, what’s up?” Sammy glances at her sister’s reflection in her mirror, seeing Nancy standing uncertainly in the doorway. “Come in. What’s wrong?”

“Uh...” Nancy pauses while walking in, shrugging a bit. “I don’t... know, that anything’s wrong, not really, I mean?”

“What’s up?” Sammy looks worried, getting up and closing her bedroom door, taking Nancy’s hands and leading her sister over to sit on the bed. “You’re scaring me.”

“Sorry, sorry,” Nancy pauses and clears her throat. “I just... I don’t really know how to... talk about this? I guess?”

“Well, you can always talk to me,” Sammy grips Nancy’s hands. “I’m your sister.”

Nancy sighs, nodding slowly. “Yeah, yeah, I know. Um... well... I guess I should probably just outright say it. I’ve been... kinda thinking a bit regarding my gender and um... I don’t really think I know what label fits, but I’m... I want to start using she/they pronouns. Is that... okay?”

Sammy pauses and smiles, visibly relaxing, laughing and pulling Nancy in. “You scared me! Nance, of course that’s okay. We’re friends with Oliver, why wouldn’t it be??”

“I don’t know, Oliver’s our friend, I’m... your sister,” Nancy shrugs, wrinkling their nose.

“Exactly, you’re my sister, I love you, and there’s nothing that’s gonna change that. Hey, you didn’t push me away when I came out as a lesbian to you, right?” Sammy ducks her head trying to meet Nancy’s eyes. Nancy giggles a bit. Sammy smirks. “Right?”

“Right,” Nancy admits with a sigh, clinging onto her. “I love you, Sam.”

“I love you too, stinkbutt,” Sammy grumbles. “When was your last shower?”

“...long enough ago you probably don’t want me hugging you,” Nancy admits, and squeals as Sammy yelps and pushes her off, poking their ribs a bit and tickling them.

“Ew, ew, ew!!”

Nancy laughs harder, nearly falling off the bed in the scramble.

Yeah. Yeah, everything would be okay.

[dxxrs-xpen]

Double Solo Para: Like, Totally Besties

“Like, omg, I totally love your skirt,” says a voice behind her, and Sammy twirls slightly as she turns to face the other girl.

“Oh, thanks!” Sammy smiles, looking down a bit and playing with the ends of said skirt slightly, looking back at the girl and lighting up. “Those heels! Your balance! Holy cow, that’s incredible! I’m Sammy, by the way. Samantha Jones, but, please, Sam or Sammy.”

“Oh, yeah, like, I’ve been wearing high heels like, all my life. It’s so totally nice to meet you, I’m Heather,” the blonde introduces, shaking hands with her. “I’ve, like, seen you around, and like, I totally love what I’ve seen of your wardrobe. Like, you totes know how to shop.”

“It’s so nice to meet you, Heather. Where are you from?”

“Okay, like, I’m your typical Beverly Hills blonde, so me saying I’m from there probably isn’t, like, even that much of a surprise. But, it’s, like, so totally awesome to live there. Not that this place isn’t, like, amazing, I mean, I’m in heaven to be in a land of princes and stuff, right?”

“Oh, I’m actually...” Sammy holds up a hand, but Heather steamrolls right over it.

“Oh, I totally get it. It’s fine, honestly, just means I have, like, a little less competition. We should, like, go shopping together sometime. Like, I would love to have a shopping day with you, you look like you know exactly what to do. I haven’t, like, met any super girly people here, y’know? And it’s so totally hard to take tomboys shopping like that.”

“I would absolutely love to go shopping with you. My older sister Nancy is like, the epitome of a tomboy. Nance is great and all, but the girl wouldn’t be caught dead in a mall. Unless there was something missing or a body or an arson or something. She’s an amateur detective, like our parents.”

“Oh, my, god, like, no way,” Heather says, surprised. She’d seen the amateur detective’s posters and flyers around the school, but she wouldn’t have expected Sammy was the other girl’s sister.

“Yeah, and my best friend Lily is... well, a mechanic. She does pretty great makeup though.”

“You poor thing, like, omigod, I can’t imagine what you’ve been going through. But it’s okay, I’m totally here with you now, and like, we’re so totes besties now, right?”

“Absolutely,” Sammy agrees, linking arms with the other. “Let’s grab lunch.”

“OMG, like, totally, you read my mind. Lead the way.”

[dxxrs-xpen]

Double Solo Para: Partner in Crime

Sammy walks into the garage with lunch. She hasn’t heard from Lily in a while and it’s actually pretty worrisome. Finding her friend pouring over a scattered mess of paperwork on her workbench, she laughs. “Save me a seat there?”

Lily’s head shoots up in surprise, looking at her. “Sam! You startled me.” She walks over to meet her halfway. “What’s this?”

“Lunch. Y’know, that meal that happens around the middle of the day? Food? Important things for life?” Sammy chuckles as she hands Lily a bag from a local fast food place. “Got you chicken, hope that’s good.”

“Sounds great,” Lily answers. “Anything else?”

“...what are you doing?” Sammy’s eyebrows furrow. “I feel like you’re trying to get rid of me.”

Lily chuckles. “Well, not intentionally. I just don’t know if you should be wrapped up in what I’m doing right now.”

“Whatever it is, I wanna help,” Sammy answers, walking around the other to go take a look at the papers and what looks to a casual observer like the scribblings of a madwoman.

“No, you shouldn’t--” Lily starts to rush over when some words catch Sammy’s attention.

Sammy lets out a low whistle. “I didn’t think you hated her that much.”

Lily sighs. “Sam, you should’t have seen any of this--”

“Are you planning to do this on your own?” Sammy whirls on her heel to look at her friend curiously. Neither one seeming to pay any mind to the music they can both hear.

“Aye?” Lily looks confused. “I mean, I don’t want things to get out of hand, besides, I guess... I’ve always done things on my own. It’s just what I’m used to.”

Sammy thinks, snapping her fingers. “Lily, I’ve got it!”

Lily cocks her head slightly as Sammy continues.

“You need a partner in crime Someone to share in the view Why see all of the world and all of its glories Without a friend to tell your stories to?“

Lily pauses, raising an eyebrow a bit as she thinks over the offer. After all, she’s gonna have to get out of Auradon for a bit when this is over, and she... was planning on going alone.

“Someone to stand at my side Two extra fists in a fight! Why should the road be long and lonely?”

Sammy adds, gently pointing in her face with a sparkle in her eyes, “Why not team up?” And Lily joins her on the next line, “We’ve only got tonight!”

Sammy walks over to Lily’s car and leans back against the hood as Lily continues thinking the idea over. Lily shrugs.

“If no one’s around to hear it, Does a falling tree make sound?”

“Are we heard or seen or anything Without a friend around?” Sammy meets, crossing her arms.

“The old Great Wall, the Taj Mahal, Yes, they all have merit,” Lily muses, getting into their bags of food on her workbench now.

Sammy is practically bubbling, “But this traveling fair could take the cake Because you get to share it!”

Lily pauses, pulling out one of the side carrots with Sammy’s meal and holding it up. “Carrot?”

Tossing it to her, Sammy catches it and carries on her train of thinking.

“You need a partner in crime,” “I need a partner in crime,” Lily agrees in response.

“Someone to share in a laugh!” “Someone to share in a laugh...”

Sammy stands upright now, starting over. “Running a race without a pace setter?”

“I’m out of place...” Lily nods as she walks over, meeting the other halfway as they sing together, crossing their arms and standing back to back, “Without my better half!”

Sammy slides out away from her but turns back and points to Lily. “With you--”

“The fun is two-for-one,” Lily finish as she herself spins out away from Sammy, also turning back and pointing to her.

“And choc full of surprises!” Sammy agrees and then continues, “With you the line moves twice as fast--”

“And no one realizes!” Lily sings with her before continuing on her own momentarily. “To do whatever we do now will merit reminiscing.”

She and Sammy join back in together as Lily reaches out an arm and Sammy spins to join her.

“With two I finally feel somehow That something isn’t missing! I have a partner in crime-- Someone to share in the view! Why see the world and all of its glories Without a friend to tell your stories to?”

As Sammy spins, she takes Lily’s outstretched hand but carries on past her, Lily swinging her over to her other arm. As their arms stretch out, Sammy finally comes to a stop, both of them giggling now.

The two slide apart as they let go, the slide turning into a quick chassé and spinning out till they’re on opposite sides of the garage with Lily back beside her car.

Now that they’re on opposite sides of the garage though, Lily starts move in towards center with a few graceful ballet steps that Sammy mimics staying in place.

Once Lily reaches center, Sammy takes a breath before make a graceful run towards her. When Sammy reaches her the two move fluidly to allow Sammy to roll across Lily’s back, landing on her feet and both of them do one spin to get out of their positions before launching into an extremely elaborate handshake.

As they finish, clasping both arms across each other in the end, they break away and turn, leading Sammy to do a simple kick ball change, which Lily then copies, before Lily herself meets it with a single flap.

Sammy copies that and the two carry on with the back and forth steps for several minutes, each getting more difficult with each other before with a shared grin the song changes pace again.

The two now hop into a short set of jazz squares and slide in together. Lily spins away and high kicks, bouncing her hips with a point as Sammy does the same in the opposite direction. As they both land in the pose Lily was in for bouncing they slowly turn away from each other, swinging their arms across in front of themselves as a circle outstretch and slide into perfect splits that they hold for a beat.

Then they swing their legs both in front of them and jump to their feet with their arms outstretched, backing up into each other intentionally and jumping, turning to face each other and beaming.

Reaching, they both take each other’s hands and push them out till they are their full arms’ length apart, bringing their feet in and swinging each other in a circle. Once they have momentum going they break away, spinning out in opposite directions and landing with their arms in third (per ballet standards, anyways).

Lowering their arms, the two run wide but loop back to be on opposite sides of Lily’s workbench, face to face, they both hit their arms neatly across from each other onto said workbench and do a shortened version of the handshake from earlier, the entire time bouncing their feet back and forth between crossed and uncrossed.

Then they swing out away from the workbench, looping back around it and crossing each other’s paths away from each other., stopping not long after they crossed, however, and grapevining first to their rights and then to their lefts.

With a quick spin they land into a short series of hand motions and spin right back together, back to back, every action now mirrored by each other as they first do a short series of kicks and then take a few steps forward and back back into each other, raising their back arms up and out momentarily,, then their other hands clasp and Lily spins Sammy who swings out wide before coming around to face her.

As quickly as they’d come together they again pull apart, no more than their arms’ length allows, keeping their hands clasped. both of them lean their bodies out somewhat diagonally and pull themselves back up together, still mirroring each other’s steps.

Sammy suddenly jerks Lily around in front of her and Lily spins out, taking Sammy’s other hand as she lets go of their initial grasp. They have a quick almost “tug of war” at their linked hands and pull apart, turning away from each other and crossing their arms.

Sammy first almost skips backwards a step. Then Lily. Then Sammy. Then Lily, and so on until they’re back to back again and they turn around and hug each other.

Lily uses the hug to lift Sammy and turn her to her other side. Sammy does the same, slowly moving them back over to Lily’s car when Lily repeats it again.

As they reach Lily’s car they pull apart, Sammy sliding across the hood to the passenger side. Both open their doors at the same time and slide into their seats. They then look at each other, lean said seats back as far as they can and kick up their feet on the dashboard. They rest there a moment before mockingly punching the air like they’re hitting a fake drumset and pull themselves back up, setting the seats back up and turning to point to each other again, singing together.

“You need a partner, a partner in crime Two extra fists in a fight!”

The two pop their legs back out the car doors but lean back and turn their heads to look at each other.

“Stuck in a sticky situation? Lucky the trick's collaboration Why should the road be long and lonely?”

With that, Lily kicks her left leg and pulls herself up and out of her car as Sammy does the same with her right. “We’ve only got tonight!”

Closing their doors they both walk around to the front of the car. “A partner in crime!”

Looking at each other they pause and take hands, raising their free hands as they hold out the very last note. “My partner in crime!”

Sighing, Sammy leans back slowly as she lets go of Lily’s hand. “So?”

Lily thinks. “I could use the help, sure.”

“Yes!” Sammy grins. “Let’s get to work, then.”

(Song: “Partner in Crime”, Tuck Everlasting OBC)

[dxxrs-xpen]

Double Solo Para: Unlikely Friends

She’s late, she’s late, how did she lose track of time like this-- Sammy scrambles to get herself ready and together. She pulls the necklace on quickly, checking in her mirror that her hair’s still in place before slipping into her shoes and rushing out the door... right into another girl walking down the hallway, knocking them both to the ground and spilling the other girl’s box of... whatever she has, everywhere.

“Oh, so sorry,” Sammy’s saying, as she moves to sit up and turn to help the other girl pick her things up, as the other is saying, “Careful, lass!”

Sammy smiles softly. “That’s a Scottish accent, right? My sister had a case in Glasgow. She doesn’t talk about it much.”

“Aye,” the other girl, a fellow redhead, answers. “Spot on.” Looking her over, the other notes, “Going to the ball?”

“Oh, yeah, of course. Wouldn’t miss it,” Sammy laughs a bit, glancing over at her. “You’re... not, I take it?”

“Not at all. I need to work on my car. Figured now might be the time to get it done. I’m Lily, by the way.”

“Sammy,” she answers with a smile. “Here, let me help you pick up--”

“Oh, believe me, you don’t want to do that. My tools are all dirty and you’re all dressed up. Don’t worry about it,” Lily interrupts, starting to pick everything up.

Ever the diva, Sammy’s hand snaps away from the... whatever that is, that she’s reaching for. Lily snorts and rolls her eyes, shaking her head. “Let me guess, a princess?”

“Well, my parents certainly tell me so, but no. Not at all.” Sammy chuckles. “And you?”

She notices that Lily bristles at the question and her face and tone darken. “I’d rather not talk about it.”

“Completely understandable,” Sammy answers reassuringly, which seems to surprise Lily a bit.

Shaking her head, Lily finishes packing her box back up, getting up and wiping her hands on a rag hanging out of her pocket before reaching down to help Sammy up on her feet. After Sammy’s up and steadied, Lily picks up her box. “You’re running late, aren’t you?”

“Yeah, I am. Probably missed my ride. Ugh.”

“My car is functional. Noisy, and not the cleanest, and may require pushing in the last stretch, but functional.”

Sammy cocks her head. “So, you’re a mechanic, I take it?” She doesn’t say no, though, as she walks with Lily towards the garage.

“Training to be an engineer like my dad, but it’s a place to start. Why? You don’t seem like the type to take interest in that sort of thing.”

“I’m not, personally, but I’m kinda curious about it. I mean, my sisters are detectives, my parents are detectives, my mom’s also a fashionista like me... I don’t have a lot of exposure to other trades.”

“Ah,” Lily remarks, chuckling. “Well, you’re free to join me out in the garage sometime if you just want to get an idea. Though I get the feeling you won’t want to now.”

“Nope, now, you were offering your car?”

Lily laughs and shakes her head as they reach the garage, leading the other over. “Let’s get you there as fashionably late as possible, lass.”

“I like the way you think,” Sammy snickers, as they both climb in and Lily puts her tools in the back.

[dxxrs-xpen]

Flashback Solo Para: With the Chance We’ve Been Given...

Ever since she could remember, it feels like she’s always been caught in the middle of her older sisters’ arguments.

Sammy never could figure out why. She loved both of them, why would she have to pick sides? Why should she?

Mom usually steps in and takes her away when Delia really yells at Nancy. So from a young age, Sammy was always peeking at her mom’s vanity and watching her put on makeup. It sparked her curiosity and her interest.

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Nancy was off on her first real case. Delia was steadfastly ignoring Nance’s calls. And Sammy?

Sammy wasn’t getting caught in another fight. So mom was teaching her how to put on her makeup. What colors to avoid with her hair and eyes and complexion, what she could make work.

She’d spent years cultivating her style and now making her makeup match her wardrobe was a piece of cake. It was actually fun.

Mom mentions her eye for details. Sammy thinks about it and, yeah, she does kind of have a point. And it gives the young diva an idea.

So she sits down at her desk, pulling something up on a computer and practicing based on the ideas she sees. True it’s just pieces from her own wardrobe but... it’s a way of testing how they look.

A few hours later her mom checks in to tell her dinner’s ready and sees Sammy hard at work, designs all around the room. Daphne chuckles a bit and simply compliments her on her skills before telling her dinner is ready. Sammy kind of acknowledges it, putting some finishing touches on an outfit before getting up to eat.

And she doesn’t think design is necessarily her dream job, it’s just... an option. Plus, this was a great way to coordinate her looks for the next few weeks.

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Sammy screams excitedly, dancing through the house after reading the letter. An invitation to intern underneath a REAL fashion designer in PARIS?! This was a dream come true! A chance of a lifetime! This couldn’t possibly be real life, could it?

Nancy takes the letter and reads it herself before getting up and searching something on the computer. “Huh, that’s weird.”

“Nancy, don’t ruin it,” Delia scolds, but comes over to read it anyways, her eyebrows furrowing.

Sammy slowly comes to a stop and her face falls. “What is it?”

“Minette is apparently behaving really strangely lately. And she’s been receiving a lot of death threats to her studio lately. I guess she’s been super erratic because of it,” Nancy answers looking away from the article.

Sammy groans. “So it’s probably a mystery and the internship is a cover, right?”

“I don’t know, maybe not. You can always call the number on the bottom and find out.” Nancy shrugs, handing the letter back to her.

So she does and she was right, they wanted her to solve the mystery but the thing is, Nancy and Delia solve mysteries, not her, so she rejects it and tells them to contact one of her sisters.

And they choose Nancy because they know her name. Of course. Sammy actually feels bad for Delia this time around. Because it could have just as easily gone to her.

It should have gone to her, but Sammy loves both of her sisters, so she says nothing.

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When the letters from Auradon Prep arrive, Sammy absolutely jumps at the chance. As much as she loves her family, it’s hard living with people whose wardrobes she can’t take seriously as your only company. Like, come on now.

Plus, it’d be a great chance to meet people like her, fashionistas and get to swap clothes with them and just... in general, it’s going to be a whirl of a time. Who knows, maybe it’ll even help alleviate the fighting between her sisters.

Sammy can’t WAIT to get started.

[nxttheendxfthestxryarch2]

8 Muse Para - Welcome to the Gang

“Like, omigod, Audrey!”

Audrey’s head whips around, smiling and mirroring back the other. “Like, omigod, Heather!”

Heather laughs and hits her arm as the two hug tightly. “Omg, omg, it’s so good to see you again! It has been too long. How have you been?!”

“Oh, you know, all over the place,” Audrey laughs. “How are you? I always meant to catch up again after--”

“Ah, ah, ah,” Heather puts a finger to Audrey’s lips. “Come with me. I, like, so totally think you should meet my friends.”

Heather’s friends, as it would turn out, were in the school garage, working around a van. “Like, hey guys, this is--”

“Audrey Possible!” A familiar girl exclaims when she looks over.

Audrey laughs. “Sylvia Dinkley! Hey!”

Sylvia rushes over to greet her. “Audrey, I haven’t seen you since that cleanup in Scotland! How are you?!” She hugs the other tightly.

“Doing great,” Audrey laughs. “All over the place like always, you know. How are you? Gosh, Scotland feels way, way too long ago.”

“It definitely does,” Sylvia nods, smiling, setting a hand on her arm opposite Heather, who looks between the two.

“Like, when did you two meet?”

“You first,” Sylvia laughs. “You’re the one who brought her.”

“Oh, like, totally,” Heather giggles, addressing the group a bit, who have all stopped to stare a bit. “So, like, WOOHP had me out in Italy following up on a break-in to this like, super-super-super top secret records facility. Like the place looked like a dumpy old shed as a security measure top secret. I met Audrey because, like, she and her parents were assigned as this ambassador’s security team following that break-in and the theft of some important info.”

“We kept running into each other in the field without any clue who the other was,” Audrey giggles. “Heather’s boss had to officially introduce us for us to stop trying to arrest each other.”

“And then, like, she and I teamed up to catch the guy who actually stole the information,” Heather nods quickly.

“That,” Sylvia says, “Sounds like a team-up I’d wanna see.”

“Oh, you totally would’ve,” Heather giggles. “Okay, so like, it’s your turn, Sylvia.”

“Okay, okay,” Sylvia laughs, holding up her hands. “So, there was this... incident, in Scotland, that Nance and I told you guys about before, that I was called in to help clean up the last of it when it was all over. Cathedral got some information that there was going to be an attempted prison break and called in additional reinforcements...”

“My parents and I,” Audrey holds up a hand with a laugh. “Sylvia and I were introduced and then immediately made into partners for the prisoner move. Fortunately it was largely uneventful.”

“Largely uneventful? One of the transit trucks was blown up, Audrey,” Sylvia raises an eyebrow.

Audrey shrugs. “Yeah, but no one got out, and everyone survived, and all the prisoners were safely moved.”

“...point,” Sylvia remarks.

“Okay, now, can you back up?” A boy sitting on the roof of the van sits up the rest of the way. “Who exactly is this?”

“Oh!” Audrey smiles. “I’m Audrey. Audrey Possible. Unaffiliated world-saver and average high school student.”

“...follow-up question,” he continues, “How in the hell are you... that?”

Audrey laughs. “My mom launched a website to try and get hired with the tagline ‘I can do anything’, and... some people took it a little further than she expected it to go. So she kind of became this teenage hero on accident, then brought my dad in with her, and then now, I’m involved too. What do you guys do?”

“...you have a point, actually,” he admits. “Grayson Fenton. We’re the Clue Crew. Mystery solving gang.”

“Oh, cool!” Audrey laughs. “And right up the alley of these two,” she nods to Sylvia and Heather.

“Exactly,” says the person underneath the van, who rolls out from under it and revealing a redheaded girl. “Lily Montgomery, I’d shake your hand but ya probably don’t want tha’, lass.”

“Nice to meet you,” Audrey waves with a smile.

“Nancy Jones,” adds one of the younger girls, getting up and shaking Audrey’s hand. “Though, professionally, I go by Nancy Drew. Funny story, it’s actually my mom’s maiden name, not a reference, but I couldn’t pass up on the chance.”

“That’s so cool,” Audrey smiles, shaking her hand. “Nice to meet you, Nancy!”

The redheaded girl in the skirt sitting over by a bunch of tools-- likely Lily’s, Audrey reflects-- waves. “Hi! Sammy Jones, Nancy’s little sister. Well, Samantha, but please, just call me Sam or Sammy, everyone does.”

“Hi, Sammy!” Audrey smiles.

Someone else pokes his head out of the van, barely looking up from... whatever it is he’s working on. “Hi, Oliver Robinson, he/they, currently customizing our console and radio, don’t mind me,” and just like that they’re gone into the van again.

“Oh, okay,” Audrey blinks, surprised.

“Don’t mind them,” Nancy laughs. “Oliver’s super great usually, just, struggling a little bitty bit with the mechanics.”

“My little sister is the inventor, not me,” Oliver whines from in the van.

“Mind if I take a look? After all, family motto is kind of, ‘I can do anything’, and all,” Audrey giggles.

“Be my guest,” Oliver hops out. Audrey nods and climbs in, taking a look at everything he’s pulled out and is trying to wire.

Smiling a bit, she sets in to work on it, even if she is kind of making this up as she goes. She’s got this.

And somehow, she’s already got a great new group to be around. This was shaping up to be fantastic.

[nxttheendxfthestxryarch2]

Tag Dump - Sammy

[dxxrs-xpen]

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