#perfection is the only answer: avalon ericsdottir

[storystartsanew]

Closed Starter (Oakley/Holly/Avalon): Emergency Meeting

Oakley rushes into the room, Avalon hot on his heels. They’d almost crashed into each other on the way into the building. He looks at Holly with wide eyes. “What’s wrong?” 

Avalon hugs herself tightly, looking Holly up and down, making sure she’s not hurt. “Are you okay? Did something happen?” 

@nxttheendxfthestxry

[storystartsanew]

"I don't know if that's comforting or not." Avalon says with a small sigh. "But I know for a fact that I'm not gonna ask my big sister for help scavenging for information about my glorified fuck buddy. Mostly because I know I'm probably going to end up getting my heart broken, and I don't want to think about what Holly would do if she knew who broke it."

#59 - ( @storystartsanew )

Send me 1-100 for a starter based on the song on my wrapped. #59 - "rapunzel", emlyn

"Honestly, I should've realized something was up sooner. I mean, it always felt like he was lying, and when you think about it a little longer than I had been it just stops making sense. I was practically a secret, and then he acted like I was supposed to be his princess."

Dahlia gags on the words and shrugs, shaking her head. "Whatever. Live and learn, or something. It's not like that was the first story or even a bad one. Just me being the unaware side chick in someone else's story, and other assorted nonsense that makes up my so-called love life."

@storystartsanew

[storystartsanew]

Closed Starter: Out With A Bang

Oakley finds Av fussing over a snack table. She's not frazzled, which is a good sign, but she looks stressed. He gently grabs her shoulders from behind. "Av, take a breath."

She jumps, startled by the sudden contact but relaxes once she recognizes the voice. She swats his arms away as she turns around to face her brother. "Oakley, I love you, but not cool!"

He just smiles and shakes his head. "I didn't mean to scare you. How's it all going? Everything has looked amazing from what I've seen."

Avalon rolls her eyes, and looks down at her clipboard. "It's going well. It'll be going better once this snack table gets restocked." She looks out towards the dance floor with a soft smile. "I'm just glad everyone seems to be having fun. If we're lucky, the craziest thing that'll happen tonight might be a proposal."

"A proposal? You know something I don't?" He scrunches his eyes in confusion. There are plenty of people who could be getting proposed, but he hadn't heard anything about it through the grapevine.

"No, it's just something a friend said." Her cheeks go a little pink at the mention of Séraphina. "She was worried one might happen. I haven't heard of anyone actually planning one, but it does seem like the place."

Oakley's eyes light up with a hint of mischief. She's right, now is the perfect time for a proposal. It's almost midnight. He looks around for a moment, before finding the person he's searching for.

Avalon's eyes widen as she sees the thought form in his head. "Oakley, no. You do this every time. I'm not giving you free food for this."

He chuckles and shakes his head, ignoring her in favor of running off to grab Billy, a huge smile plastered on his face. "Come on, I've got a plan."

@nxttheendxfthestxry​

[storystartsanew]

Hannah knocks on the door excitedly, bouncing a bit, feeling a lot better just at what they were about to do. "Helllllloooooo!"

Avalon takes a moment to check herself in the mirror to make sure it doesn't look like she's been crying. Satisfied that she looks fine, she goes to open the door with a bright smile. "Come on in! Thank you for doing this, really."

[storystartsanew]

"I refuse to die without learning at least five languages."

[storystartsanew]

Avalon scoffs and rolls her eyes. "Y'know, you're on such a high horse for someone who started this conversation by mocking alcoholism and mental illness. I may 'represent' the monarchy, but at least I'm not that shitty."

"If only people understood that alcohol has a better use than being a drug for the mentally unstable."

[storystartsanew]

"Coffee is key to my survival."

[storystartsanew]

Saoirse rushes to the other girl's place, not bothering to knock and just using her own telekinesis to flip the lock before pushing the door open. "Avalon? I'm here."

"...in here!" Avalon calls out from her living room. She's thankfully not pinned under anything, but she is sitting on the floor next to a pile of glass that was once her coffee table. There's a pretty nasty gash on her forehead from where she fell and hit it, and several cuts along her body where glass shards embedded themself into her skin while she tried to get up and away from it all.

"It's worse than it looks... No." She pauses for a long moment to try and come up with the right words for what she's thinking. "It looks worse than it is."

[storystartsanew]

Flashback Closed Starter (Avalon, Oakley, Holly, Etc): A Coup For Graduation

Avalon checks herself in the reflection of her phone one more time. Not a hair out of place, her makeup perfect, everything is as it should be. She is the epitome of the perfect princess. She puts her phone in her little clutch and takes a deep breath, smoothing out the skirt of her dress in anxious preparation. This has to go perfectly. There isn't room for error.

Oakley shakes his head a little when he sees her. While she may look put together from the outside, he can see she's nothing but an anxious pile of nerves. He pulls her in for a big hug when he reaches her, squeezing her tightly. "It's okay. We've got this, I promise," he whispers softly before letting her go.

She just nods and sighs herself, dropping the act for just a moment when she looks at him. Just his scared little sister, trying to do everything in her power to keep the people she loves safe. It's gone almost as quickly as it came, replaced with her perfect persona once more the moment she lays eyes on their parents. She pulls away from him to greet them. "Mom! Dad! Hi, I'm so glad you came!"

@nxttheendxfthestxry

[storystartsanew]

Avalon looks up from her phone at the mention of coffee. She should probably see that as a sign of being a bit too addicted, but she'll worry about that another day. "The coffee shop's just a block down that way." She points towards the shop. "The drinks are pretty amazing. I would know, I'm there pretty much whenever I'm not in class." She chuckles a bit awkwardly and smiles.

Open Starter: Something Stirring

Libitina had come strictly for her siblings and nothing more. However, she figured knowing her way around the place may be helpful in the long run. She walked calmly down the street, looking around as she memorized every shop and house she passed by. It truly was a shame such a cute place could be found so boring to her. She sighed as she walked, humming softly to herself, “I sure hope there’s a good place to at the very least get a coffee.”

[storystartsanew]

Devora was out and about, shopping for some new jewelry. She hummed in thought as she held up two options to whoever she chose to drag along with her. “What do you think? Silver or gold hoops?”

@infamousfailure

Avalon cocks her head slightly as she looks at them. "I think it depends. They both look so good on you, honestly! Do you mix medals or do you have a preference one way or the other?"

[storystartsanew]

Closed Starter: The Proposal

Avalon takes a deep breath and checks over all of her material. She has charts and graphs, all the data she needs to prove that this will work. It’s a good plan, and it’ll help start the way towards independence for those that want it and democracy for everyone. She just has to convince Ben that it’s worth it. 

She double checks her presentation and gathers herself, waiting for the door to open. When she sees Ben walk through, she smiles doing her best to hide her anxiety in a calm professional manner. “Hi, thank you for meeting with me, really.” 

@nxttheendxfthestxry

[storystartsanew]

"I'll be nicer, if you'll be smarter."

[storystartsanew]

Double Para: The Paper Plan

Avalon sees Pity sitting at the cafe and sees her opportunity. She plops herself down into the seat across from him with a smile. “Just the person I was looking for.” 

He looks up from his laptop, startled. “What? I-”

“Avalon. Ericsdottir, it’s nice to finally meet you in person. We were both members of the school newspaper at AP. I joined just a bit after you left.”

He blinks a few times, just staring at her. It takes him a second before he shakes his head and clears his throat, running a hand through his hair. “Um. Hi, I guess. Why are you looking for me?”

She grins and taps a small drumroll on the table. “I need your help. We don’t have a reliable source of news in town. The school paper here is basically dead, and the town paper is just Auradonian propaganda.” 

Pity shakes his head. “ What do you want me to do about it?” 

Av pulls several sheets of paper out of her bag to hand to him. “Addersfield Gazette has an open position for a new Journalist Internship. I want you to apply. With your background and the fact that you stepped up to make sure everyone was safe in our last crisis, you’re a shoe in.” 

He looks through them as she talks. It’s everything he needs to apply for the job. She was very thorough. “Why don’t you just apply? Seems like you’d be just as qualified. Maybe moreso.” 

Avalon laughs. “They’d never hire me. I might be the golden child of the Ericssons, but I am also a staunch anti-monarchist and I am very vocally against the way Auradon handles its government.”

He raises an eyebrow and shakes his head slightly. 

“You on the other hand, are the diversity credit they desperately need, you’re dating one of Auradon’s sweethearts, and you’re someone that other VK’s might actually listen to.” Pity looks at her incredulously. Avalon just shakes her head. “You can’t tell me I’m wrong.” 

“Still, maybe not the best way to put that.” He chuckles and runs a hand through his hair. “What does this even help? It’s not like I’ll be able to change much as an intern.”

Avalon’s eyes get a mischievous glint to them. “That’s the beauty of it. You don’t need to make a change. I’m going to get the school paper off the ground. All you have to do is listen. They have to be getting reports about what’s going on, even if they’re not publishing them. If you can get the information, then we can print it in the school newspaper anonymously to actually get it out there.” 

He shakes his head, chuckling dryly. It could work. If they didn’t immediately realize that it’s him feeding her information. But there are ways around that. It’s not like they know each other all that well. He has to admit it isn’t a completely terrible idea. He sets the paperwork down with a sigh. “You’re a little insane, but okay. I’ll do it.”

“Really? I thought that was going to be a lot harder of a sell.”

“I could use a change of pace, and you’re not entirely wrong. Auradon isn’t very forthcoming with its information. People deserve the truth.” He holds out his hand. She smiles as she shakes it. This is going to work. Addersfield won’t know what hit them. 

[storystartsanew]

Open Starter: Finishing Details

Avalon smiles as people start to trickle into the ballroom. She goes over her list one more time, double checking everything is perfect. It's going to go well. She has a good feeling about tonight. Walking over to one of the flower displays, she adjusts it just slightly, mostly just needing to nervously fidget with something.

She almost doesn't notice the person who walks up next to her. Looking up from her task, she smiles again. "Ready for a great night?"

[storystartsanew]

Solo Para: The Phone Call

TW: Mentions of Self Harm

Avalon jumps when her phone starts ringing. The screen lights up with the dreaded name she doesn’t want to hear from. ‘Dad’. She debates just not answering, but that seems worse in the long run. Taking a deep breath, she picks up the phone and slides her thumb across the accept button.

“Hi, Dad. What’s up?” She says as she puts it up to her ear.

“I saw your new post on InstaRoyal. New hair?” Her dad sounds tense, it sets Avalon on edge. She’d known this was coming, but it still scares her.

Avalon takes a deep breath. “Yeah, I thought it was time for a change.”

“Sweetie, we talked about this.” The conversations play through her mind. The incessant need to be the perfect family drilled into her.

She takes a deep breath and keeps her voice even. “It’s just hair dye, dad. I’m nineteen. I think it’s okay if a nineteen year old princess dyes her hair once in her life.”

“You need to be respectable, Avalon,” he snaps.

“And I am.” Her voice tightens, but she takes a breath and puts a lid on her anger. “I had it done really well, and I’m going to take care of it so that it doesn’t fade weird.”

“What on earth possessed you to do it in the first place?”

Avalon shrugs, even though she knows he can’t see her. “It’s just been really stressful lately. I thought it would be something fun to do.”

Her father sighs loudly. “There had to be less permanent stress relief options.” She finally snaps, her anger bubbling over. “I could always cut myself. See if that gets your attention.”

“Avalon!”

“What? That’s what Holly did! Or did you not notice that either.” There’s a moment of silence on the phone before he responds, with a formulaic excuse he’s given countless times. “Your sister has serious mental health issues that she chooses not to address. You should not be following in her example.”

Avalon scoffs. “Are you telling me I’m not allowed to have serious mental health issues, Dad?”

“No, that’s not-”

“Holly’s issues are a direct result of your shitty parenting, Dad.” She’s on a roll now. It all comes tumbling out. “And so are mine. You’ve spent so long trying to make sure you had the perfect family, you never stopped to realize you fucked us all up in the process.”

Silence fills the air once more before her mother’s voice answers, “Avalon Miriam Ericsdottir, you will not speak to your father like this!”

Avalon laughs sarcastically. “I will speak to him however I damn well please. I am a grown adult. If you two can’t hear the truth, that’s on you.”

Her father’s voice comes back on the line. Of course, her mother ran instead of seeing the truth. “We never should’ve let Oakley transfer out there. He’s a bad influence on you too.”

She rolls her eyes and laughs. “Oakley? You really will just blame everything on us before you take an ounce of responsibility. I have green hair now, Dad. Deal with it.”

She hangs up the phone before he can get out another word. There will be hell to pay for this, but it’s worth it. Freedom comes at the price of her parent’s approval. She’s slowly learning to accept that fact. This is just the first step.