#rachel thread; 001

[carmencarrillo]

𝙒𝙃𝙊: Rachel Hargrove @rachelhargrove 𝙒𝙃𝙀𝙍𝙀: Rachel's House in Summit Lake

Carmen was sure that if she had to unpack any more boxes, she would absolutely lose her mind. They'd moved into this house six months ago now, and there were still boxes that Carmen and Mei hadn't seem to go through. Sure, it was a sign they were spending more time with their family than they were unpacking boxes, but, none the less the boxes leftover where beginning to be a problem for Carmen's bank account as she found herself ordering things that she didn't need multiples of because she couldn't find them in the boxes in her home. Which was precisely why she'd been frustratingly staring at her phone waiting for her amazon package to arrive; at this point though it was an hour past delivery and had not yet arrived. As she sighed, she remembered just a few days ago when she'd gotten her neighbors mail on accident before grabbing it from the mail holder by the door and making her way across the street after letting her wife know she'd be right back. Shutting the door behind her, it took very few strides to make it to the front porch of the other and she knocked, waiting for the door to open. "Hey there, neighbor." she smiled, extending her hand. "We've gotten some of you mail by mistake and I just wanted to deliver it myself. Out of curiosity do you think the delivery people happened to drop off my delivery at your door instead of mine?"

[rorysanderson]

x. status -> closed for @rachelxhan x. location -> blue harbor university library

Rory feels sort of like an intruder, walking around this massive place. He’d’ve gone to the public one, mind you, but the librarian there had told him he’d have better luck finding what he’s looking for here. He won’t be able to check anything out — as he’s not a student — but he’ll at least get to take pictures with his phone, or something. He feels far too old and far too embarrassed to ask for anyone’s help in finding the carpentry textbook he’s looking for, but he realizes his mistake halfway down another aisle of reference books that have nothing to do with what he’s looking for. Sighing, he figures he has two options — go back to the front and ask one of the twenty-somethings for help, or find the nearest person and ask them, instead. Gathering all of his daughter’s courage, he picks the latter, and gently approaches the nearest woman to him. “Hi,” he greets softly, already feeling the heat on his face. “Sorry, I’m — do you know where I’d find books about carpentry ‘round here?” Well, he doesn’t know how he managed to do it, but he thinks he did sound like the lamest human being on planet earth there just now, didn’t he?

[tonibeltran]

x. status -> closed for @rachelxhan x. location -> dreamland market

Dreamland Market has, admittedly, changed quite a bit since the last time Antonio’s been here. It’d only just opened its doors back in his 20s, all clean walls and tidy aisles. He’d spent many a late night perusing the place for a pick-me-up after a long bout of studying — and, later, a long bout in the studio. Now, Antonio’s more impressed that the building hasn’t collapsed in on itself, what with the amount of cracks on the wall and the mysterious odor coming from the vents he can only assume is — well, a health hazard, if nothing else.

Still, Earthwave gives him a headache, with its serene playlist blasting through the speakers and the price markups that would have made his mother curse in her native tongue. It’s shiny and clearly well-kept, but it doesn’t hold whatever fucked up sense of nostalgia Toni’s buried in its essence like Dreamland Market does. Plus, he needs cow milk — not milk made out of all those other things they’re making milk out of now.

It’s when he’s pulling open the fridge door to acquire said milk that he realizes what’s playing on the speakers here — it’s one of the pop songs he’d penned for the latest and greatest pop artist on the charts, having studied her previous work to sand his own prose down to her voice. The lyrics hit his ears like an uninvited guest — and now you don’t call or miss me at all / I’ve finally patched up the holes in the wall / I guess it’s nothing, really — sung in a pleasantly high octave and accompanied by an almost insulting amount of synths. If he listens closely, he’d probably be able to hear the electric guitar he’d played for the demo somewhere in there. 

But he doesn’t listen closely. He’d rather not be listening to this at all, he thinks. He makes a face, pulling out a half-gallon of milk and dropping it into his cart. He turns to the woman beside him in the aisle and, with a half-smile, all southern charm and media training, he asks, “Hi, could you please point me toward the fruit aisle? I need to find a large watermelon to bury my head in.” He gestures up toward the ceiling, where the song continues to blast in its bubbly, upbeat tempo. “Alternatively, if you know whom I might bribe to switch the playlist in here, it might spare me a hair wash.”

[clementinebriar]

STATUS: closed for @rachelxhan LOCATION: haunted rave

Clem practically kicks the bathroom door open, glaring at any of the bitches in line for a stall that give her a dirty look for it. She’s not here to pee — she knows better than to break the seal this early in the night — she just needs to make sure the stupid slash across her neck hasn’t turned into mush yet. She’s been leaning over a lot. For snorting purposes.

Making her way to the sinks, she stops when she spots a familiar face, all done up and in pink. Grinning widely, she approaches Rachel, leaning against the counter space beside her. “Rachel Han,” she comments, tilting her head. “I almost didn’t recognize you, not ordering a vodka tonic.” She turns herself over to look in the mirror. Slash and gore still in place, it seems. So are her tits, thank god. She leans closer to the mirror, inspecting her makeup while she’s at it, fixing her hair, contemplating her existence — the usual shit you do in the bathroom. 

Finally, she glances back at Rachel with a perfectly arched eyebrow. “Didn’t peg you for a rave kinda gal,” she points out. “Thought you’d be more inclined to, like, pass books or fuckin’ — media literacy pamphlets out to children on Halloween.” 

[seolinah]

closed for @starlingisms // this plot ft. ye-jun + rachel

Ye-jun tapped away on his keyboard. It was easy enough to get carried away once he got started, but that meant he wasn't exactly keeping track of how long he'd been working even after saying it would only take a few minutes. As he paused to rub at his tired eyes, he finally noticed the time on his computer. Oh. Turning in his chair, he spotted Rachel sitting on the couch. He frowned apologetically as he caught her eye. "Sorry... I was just supposed to fix one thing and then I ended up taking care of another problem... Sorry." After being used to always being alone when in his own space, he was still adjusting to the fact that Rachel came over. Not that he didn't want her there, because he did, but this really was all new for him. "I, uh, will try not to have that happen again. Don't want you to be wasting your time by being here."

[henryxburnham]

― SETTING: frederick's farm, bighorn hills. ― AVAILABILITY: closed starter for rachel hargrove. ( @rachelhargrove )

"― I'm tellin' you, Rach, I've done so much research on how hot air balloons work that I think it's gotta be dumb luck that I'm not terrified of something going wrong when if I ever y'know, actually ride in one. Not that we have to go up in one― they're pretty just to watch but my point," Henry paused in their fairly emphatic rambling to smile crookedly at Rachel. "Is that we could if you wanted to and I wouldn't be even a little scared. Out loud, at least." They were perfectly content to stay firmly planted on the ground and admire the balloons from afar but if Rachel wanted to go then they'd go― and manage the Herculean effort of not wondering why they had such a difficult time saying no to the woman at their side. "Otherwise, maybe we can take a break for a bit? My prosthetic's pinching a little and I gotta catch my breath." They admitted, heat prickling along the back of their neck in spite of the fact that they knew they had no reason to be embarrassed. "How about lemonade and a break?"

[saulweissberg]

saul supposed it just naturally never came up, the fact that he was a twin, but he found rachel’s reaction humorous. “i don’t think i have many pictures of us together now, but i’ll look through my photo albums at home and see if i can find any of us.” he thought that maybe there were one or two of them at a high society event back in manhattan years ago, perhaps somewhere online. “we’re more alike than we are different.” he answered with a subtle shrug. saul had gone down the more traditional weissberg route of law, while levi went on to become a professor, but they were both professionals that were dedicated to their jobs; saul and levi were both divorcees, though saul had been married three times and levi had stopped at just one; saul only had one child while levi had two, but they both had complicated relationships with their sons for different reasons. their successes were the same, and so were their failures. “college certainly is like entering a different world,” saul agreed. his own school had only been an hour away from where he grew up, but it might as well have been thousands miles apart. even with his gregarious personality, moving from suburban connecticut to the big city had been a culture shock. and to do it all without his brother, as levi attended school in the midwest? it was a wonder that saul survived.

“i’ll look out for it!” it was entirely possible that she had sent to his business email and he only checked his personal account, or possibly texted his other phone. “we’re gonna cope this way tonight and talk about it later, i think.” was it better to get high or blind drunk to forget his worries as a fifty-two year old man? saul wasn’t sure. maybe both were pathetic. “hm, can’t say i do.” which was a bit strange, since saul was pretty sure he knew everyone in blue harbor, or could at least put a face to a name. at her surprise over being his potential fourth wife—if he was ever insane enough to get married again—he threw his head back with a laugh and then dropped his features into a grimace. “okay, i guess that says more about me that i’d jump right to marriage!” well, he was an extreme man. he took everything to the limit, what else could he say? “still, i’d say it’s an honor. some of my ex-wives may have a differing opinion on that, though.” when she looped her arm through his, saul led them towards his car parked down the street. by the time they arrived at his lexus, the joint had been finished and he gave her a quick kiss on the cheek with a promise to call her later that week before he parted her company and drove home for the night.

END SCENE.

"You have a twin?!" For some reason Rachel could not compute that in her mind, it didn't seem to add up with all she knew of Saul. For some reason he just seemed like an only-child, not that it was anything against him, because in fact she was an only-child. But to hear not only that he had a sibling, but shared a womb with someone made her once again reassess all that she knew of Saul Weissberg. "No, you definitely didn't tell me, now I want to see a picture! Asses your beautiful punim against his. Are you guys complete opposite? Or pretty similar?" Rachel wanted to know everything, as per usual. She was curious to know more though, she always found he had something fascinating to enlighten her with, usually about himself. "Oh yeah, it was a whole new world for me. I mean I was a pretty independent kid, what with my mom and dad both being the best surgeons in the country, yadda yadda. But I had to still re-learn independence once I got to California, just because it was different."

She let out a soft laugh at his admittance, to which she felt like she should make her own. "Honestly, I don't know if it's the weed, but I'm also starting to wonder whether or not I actually did send it to you. I'll re-send it though or send it for the first time so that way you don't have to scroll to look for it." Rachel shared as she didn't mind either way. As much as she liked to be right, she was also feeling a nice high coming on, which meant she didn't feel as great a need to be right. "You're okay, Saul, really. That sounds good! Do we want to talk about said other shit? Or are we coping this way instead?" She gestured to the joint as well, trying to figure out the direct course of action. Snickering at the way he asked about if he knew the lyricist, she gave a small shrug. She had not idea if Saul knew Antonio Beltran, she had only just had the dots connected herself about he being part of Elijah's band. "I don't know, maybe? He was probably just talking out the side of his mouth though. Name is Antonio." Rachel offered up, unsure if that would draw any type of recognition from the lawyer. She could be the last to make that connection, and maybe Saul knew of the man. Her brows raised as she took her complimentary scolding. "I would be?! Well damn, Saul Weissberg, I'm very flattered. Who said anything about getting married though? I definitely haven't!" Rachel had no idea if wanted to ever get re-married, it felt like something that she shouldn't even think about until she even had a relationship of some form or kind. Which, she really wasn't even sure if that would happen either. So, she had never made a list of potential second husbands for Saul to be on, hence why she didn't say it back to him. "Well Walter doesn't fault you for being a cat person, he thinks cat people are just as valid." She offered with a grin, appreciative of his other compliments, unsure if he was just saying them because he was high, she had a feeling he was confident enough to say them sober. "Yes, let me escort my handsome gentleman prospect to his vehicle and help with his fortnightly...partakings along the way." Rachel looped her arm through Saul's with a laugh, she'd been watching a bit too much Bridgerton and a good amount of Jane Austen movies too.

[wontgodowninhistory]

「 🌈 : @r4chelamber 」

YELLOWJACKETS STARTERS // accepting

based on this ask: ❛ They’re all lucky to have you. It’s pretty rare to have a friend who’s relentlessly got your back. ❜

that was just how loyalty worked. and above all things robin buckley was loyal to those she cared about. there weren't many but she treasured the few that she was lucky enough to have in her inner circle. a soft blush was accompanied by a shy smile, robin just wasn't used to receiving compliments and never knew how to react. it made it even more flustered when it was given to her by a beautiful girl. she didn't need to draw attention to that but she was doing a terrible job at hiding it.

"that old bat had it coming." robin wasn't going to sit and listen to a rude old woman insult and treat her co-worker like dirt. she didn't care if she was at her job that she desperately needed. "he would have done it for me." and that statement was very true. steve had her back as much as she had his.

at least the girl standing in line behind the old lady seemed amused and not angry about how a customer had been treated in her presence. she didn't need two people complaining to keith about her if the nasty lady really did decide to talk to her superior as she claimed she would. "so...um how can i help you?"

[genvm]

la notificación de un nuevo correo timbra en tu aparato electrónico mas cercano y con batería. ¿recuerdas la invitación que aceptaste para ayudar a la ciudad?. ¡tenemos increíbles noticias!. los ejecutivos de GODU y VOUGHT han seleccionado con escrutinio profundo al equipo, y si el correo dice SOLICITUD ACEPTADA, eres parte. la directora LEAL les dará un discurso que irradia valentía y esperanza, antes de ser llevados por VOUGHT a su edificio en el centro de la ciudad.

INFORMACIÓN VITAL

( # ) PERSONAJES NO JUGABLES

DÉBORA LEAL , directora de GOD u. morena baccarin

STANFORD EDGAR , director ejecutivo de VOUGHT. giarcarlo esposito

CATE DUNLAP , asistente ejecutiva en VOUGHT. rachel keller

LOS SIETE.

( # ) SUCESOS IC

001. el correo de aceptación ha llegado a todo personaje inscrito y presente en este canal. brinda un horario de espera a la oficina de la directora y su permiso para faltar a clase los días necesarios ya admitidos por cada facultad.

002. en la oficina se le hará firmar un estricto CONTRATO DE CONFIDENCIALIDAD por todo lo que suceda, escuche o vea durante la misión. muchos estudiantes se retiran de la oficina como negativa, pero estos reciben un borrón de memoria por la trabajadora de VOUGHT , CATE DUNLAP.

003. la directora brinda su discurso, alentandolos personalmente antes que la asistente los lleve con automóviles polarizados a la torre VOUGTH. una vez allí, les entrega sus trajes dandoles menos de 1 hora para cambiarse y vayan a la cima de la torre, donde STANFORD EDGAR, les espera.

004. STAN EDGAR apenas los nota al llegar, y son llevados al centro del salón con LOS SIETE en medio de una acalorada discusión. SUPERSONIC es quien se acerca a saludarles , aunque tampoco se ve muy contento. CATE DUNLAP ordena silencio, para que EDGAR les pida a cada SIETE que se lleve al menos a uno de estudiantes para que empiecen su rutina de hoy antes del mediodía con sus misiones ya establecidas, retirándose al siguiente instante.

EXTRA:

les recordamos que los dados / elecciones serán por discord, donde en el correr del día de hoy encontrarán el canal respectivo para todos los inscritos.

el desarrollo de las dinámicas grupales, será por la plataforma tumblr.

tendrán hasta el domingo 3 de noviembre para participar en discord y formar la primera ronda de equipos, y comenzar sus threads grupales.

el tiempo ic, constará de 5 días como lo estipula el contrato.

la duración de la primera ronda será de 10 días, del 4/11 al 13/11 en tiempo ooc. el tiempo ic dependerá del desarrollo de sus threads, pero cada personaje podrá tener hasta tres rondas como máximo.

los resultados de participar en la dinámica tendrá consecuencias en el ranking del personaje, al estar las hazañas de los SIETE siempre seguidas por cámaras oficiales como civiles.

de ahora en adelante, se le pedirá prioridad a los threads con la dinámica, pero es posible seguir roleando sus threads iniciales del evento como sus flashbacks. todo estos, previos al suceso 001.

eso sería todo, ante cualquier duda está el main o el discord. ¡les leemos!

[vigilaent]

#𝚅𝙸𝙶𝙸𝙻𝙰𝙴𝙽𝚃  :  a  selective  low  activity  superhero  multimuse  blog  for  characters  featured  in  the  dc  universe,  heavily  based  in  rocksteady  studio’s  arkham  knight  and  gotham  knights,  influenced  by  other  media  such  as  batman:  unburied,  batman:  under  the  red  hood,  wayne  family  adventures,  hbo’s  titans,  +  some  comics  as  i  read  them.     very headcanon heavy.

an  ode  to  :  corruption,  generational  cycles  thanked  and  broken,  the  body  bled  and  divided  among  the  hands,  love as violence,  violence as religion,  religion as love,  and  being  born  again.     re - made  04/18/23.     performed by jean,  23,  they/any,  cst.

muselist.     opens.     dossiers linked below when available.

quick muselist.

dick grayson.     mixed media,  headcanon heavy.     pinterest. jason todd.     headcanon and arkham based.     pinterest. bruce wayne.     unburied and 2022 based,  arkham influenced.     pinterest. gar logan.     titans and headcanon based. koriand’r.     titans and teen titans influenced. rachel roth.     mixed media,  teen titans influenced. selina kyle.     very divergent,  original portrayal. jessie umeh.     original character,  arkham based. jim gordon.     2022 and unburied based.     testing. cassandra cain.     wfa based.     testing. komand’r.     hc based,  titans influenced.     testing. vic stone.     hc based,  doom patrol influenced.     testing.

dash rules.

000. . .     disclaimer.

just a little one !     i am very new to the dc universe and find myself often overwhelmed with the amount of comics there are to read.     i’ve got the spirit,  but i may or may not know the basics about your muse when it comes to canon dc characters.     i apologize in advance,  but it’s nothing a little plotting can’t fix,  so if i pop into your ims with stupid questions about your portrayal, this is why.     but as always,  if you’re still down to clown,  i am very much too !

001. . .     activity.

i'll be frank : i write pretty sporadically, and this goes for ic and ooc interactions. i can get overwhelmed juggling responsibilities often, and socializing is one of the first things to go.     i un  /  fortunately work 40 hour work weeks,    and only get every other weekend off,  so my schedule makes consistent activity difficult on top of my focus. if i can successfully plot something with you, i find my muse is sooo much more involved, but i'm contradictorily bad at it due to the reasons above ; it's truly hit or miss, and i understand if that becomes frustrating for any of my partners.    sometimes i’ll be able to get out a couple drafts a week,  others merely once,  or not at all. if i haven’t replied or answered something in a while,  please know it’s nothing personal, i’m just taking my time until i feel good about what i can put down.     writing is a hobby i enjoy, but if you're looking for a blog with any sort of regularity, this isn't the one for you. i have other rp blogs i try to run as well,  therefore i might be very slow on this one at times.     i can be quite the flaky rp partner,  so i apologize in advance for that and completely understand if my antics   [  or lack thereof  ]   result in an unfollow. if i go longer than two months without activity, i'll try to make a hiatus notice.

002. . .     following.  

because of the previously stated,  i’m also highly selective with who i rp with.     i want to not to bite off more than i can chew,  and for the sake of pacing myself,  my activity will be reserved for mutuals only.     if my thread count gets too high for my liking, it's not uncommon that i drop threads, but i will absolutely try and let you know if that happens.     duplicates are always welcome <3   [  let me know if you need me to tag same - muse posts and i’ll be happy to !  ] i regularly go on softblocking sprees to keep my follower count semi - low, but do feel free to re - follow if you feel like the stars merely misaligned for our first bout of mutual following and i'd be very down to give it another shot. on that note, it'll take me a week+ to follow back sometimes, as i like to read through not only rules, but dossiers and verse pages, especially for ocs, so it can take a hot minute.

003. . .     etiquette.

the basics  ;  don’t be an asshole,  any transphobia,  biphobia,  homophobia,  racism,  whitewashing,  pro - shipping,  incest,  etc,  will be blocked on sight.     no godmodding,  please cut your threads,  continue asks in new posts,  etc,  and no stealing of any personal concepts of mine.     loose inspiration is fine,  but if i see repeated similarities,  i may or may not approach you about it.     formatting - wise,  here is an example of my prose style.     i primarily use big ol’ text and static or no icons,  beta editor + xkit rewritten,  but feel free to format however you like and i’ll try to match you somewhat. since my concussion, however, i will no longer be threading with super small text or anything heavily formatted, as this can strain my eyes and make headaches worse, even with my glasses.

004. . .     shipping.  

i’m all about exploring meaningful dynamics,  whether they be platonic,  familial,  antagonistic,  pre - established,  etc,  so feel free to shoot me a message if you’d like to plot something out between our muses !     while the mun of this blog is 18+,  smut just really isn’t my thing  ;  referenced  ‘ offscreen ’  as it were is fine,  as are nfsfw headcanons and such,  maybe fade to black  /  time skips,  but for the most part,  you won’t find any roleplayed smut on this blog.     this of course is muse dependent and does not apply to any underage muses.     romance is fine to some degree,  but again,  if they are a child, such as raven in her hbo titan’s verse,  anything beyond lighthearted and innocent experiences are off limits,  no exceptions.     if i see you’ve aged up a minor character for shipping purposes,  it will result in an instant unfollow.     if at some point i flesh out adult verses for them,  these shipping rules will not change.     on that note as well,  i do prefer to rp with muns who are also 18+.     i don’t see your age somewhere in your rules or pinned,  it will affect my willingness to follow.

005. . .     memes.

memes from anyone,  anytime,  for the muse or for the mun,  are always welcome,  and often a go - to ice breaker of mine since starter calls make me nervous.     please don’t hesitate to send a good handful since i try not to cage myself into answering ones i just don’t have muse for.     i find if i force stuff,  i’m just less likely to ever actually get it done,  so don’t feel like you’re overwhelming me if you send more than just a couple for me to choose from.     please remember to specify which muse your asks are for unless it’s to one of my sideblogs.     if you want to start a thread from an ask,  i greatly encourage it since i try to write most answers as potential starters anyway ! lastly, any memes in my tag aren't expired. if i don't want them sent in anymore, i'll delete them from the tag.

006. . .     triggers.  

this blog leans horror - adjacent in many ways,  and this blog will be portraying that accordingly,  including trigger - heavy content such as  :  depression,  ptsd,  panic attacks,  violence,  murder,  kidnapping,  self harm,  smoking,  abuse  /  neglect,  animal death,  horror elements,  cannibalism,  torture,  brainwashing,  death  /  resurrection,  religious imagery,  etc,  but i will try to tag it as  ‘ trigger // ’.     on that note,  please do keep in mind  :  any abuse present on my blog will be in headcanons or backstories,  never actual threads.     if i’m writing with villain muses,  physical harm may be present,  but i refuse to roleplay any domestic  /  animal  /  harm or abuse in any form.     my personal triggers are visual eye gore,  visual self harm,  and visual vomit.     please do feel free to say something if i forget to tag a post and i’ll try to tag it for you right away !

whew. all that said, i'm jean, 23, white, and i use they/any pronouns ! thank you for taking the time to read my rules,  and rest assured if i follow you,  that means i’ve read through yours as well <3 discord is available for mutuals upon request.

007. . .     blogroll.

enslaughts.     a medium activity horror - heavy multimuse. dvrast.     a selective jesper fahey.     low activity.     follows from enslaughts. vigilaent.     a selective dc multimuse.     low activity. wayfares.     a selective western multimuse.     hiatus. greatloss.     a selective slow five hargreeves.     hiatus. clericlost.     a selective slow william byers.     hiatus. mindsflayed.     a selective slow mind flayer + vecna.     hiatus.     follows from clericlost.

[dailydanielchoi]

Daniel nodded, understanding the appeal of Rachel’s perspective although not sure if he’d ever be willing to relinquish that much control over his life even for something as simple as picking a movie. He could relate that the weight of decision-making could sometimes be too great, though. “Well, at least you’re trying something new,” Daniel continued, appreciating the honesty in her response. Then, with a light chuckle, he added, "Anyway, best of luck with the movie. If we cross paths again, you’ll have to let me know how it went. Whether it’s amazing or awful, I’d like to hear the verdict." His smile widened as he gave her a small nod of encouragement. “Maybe this will be the start of a new thing for you.”

"Exactly! Like I got to go to see a movie, which is really what I was craving and so I didn't have to get all bogged down by the details." Rachel didn't often fixate on the multiple steps, but she just hadn't felt like making a choice today so it felt good to have someone make it for her. Rachel often was decisive and had to be the one to make choices, to relinquish some of that was surprisingly not scary. "Yeah, no matter what I think that I'll at least say I've seen it." She said with a small chuckle, smiling back in his direction before shaking her head at his question. "Nope, I mean I've been with friends before and let them decide what we go see or what we go eat, but never asked someone I don't know." Rachel shared, not seeing a reason to seem experienced when he could easily ask her more questions that would mean she would have to make up more answers.

[onebigerror]

@r4chelamber

REALISTIC SEX FOR SEXUAL SUNDAY! // accepting

based on this ask: “this isn’t going to work out, is it? do you maybe want to do something else? watch a movie? anything?” ... for max !

well, this couldn't be more embarrassing. not only was she attempting to have sex with her best friends ex girlfriend, she was failing at it. "yeah. i guess you're right. i'm sorry." the make out session had gone so well and it had progressed naturally from there. and then it got awkward. she wasn't sure what went wrong but she blamed it on her own lack of experience. "this doesn't mean i don't like you. because i do." max hadn't expected to like the other girl as much as she did and that alone made her nervous. "we can try again later." at least she hoped they could. rachel looked beautiful and being the nerd she was for taking pictures, max wanted to capture the moment forever. "would you mind if i take some pictures of you. you just look gorgeous." a blush tinged her freckled cheeks as she reached for her camera on the nightstand by her bed.

[berriiesandcream]

rachel & gabe: i’m his little downtown doll (001). 🍓

SHE grew to like this routine, as a broadway ingenue. as soon as the curtain call was over, as all the flowers were being thrown on the stage and as noisy critics and interviewers left everyone alone for good, rachel would hurry her way out of the theater. she would throw on her outfit, which rarely consisted of more than a trench coat with a flowy skirt and blouse underneath, and rushed her way to her new favorite place. she had heard about the bar from one of the technicians during the interlude and soon as she took their suggestion into consideration and went for a visit, she got hooked. it was a bar like any others, loud, sort of smelly and where everyone ended up being smashed. what, or more like who, really caught her attention was this tall and built man she had met. right from the start, they hit it off — flirted, even. every time they met sort of felt the same. there had been one too many nights since then. she would order a glass of rosé, which would be filled by gabe again and again. she would ask him about his day, him asking about hers. and, eventually, she would end up rambling about how hard it was to be a star. usually, they would laugh it off and move on. that night, however, it was different.

he made a promise, perhaps a dare, and the next thing she knew, she was chugging her drink and following him in the cold breeze of the night to his place. her heart was racing and beating so loud she could almost ear it. when he unlocked his door and invited him, her impatience reached new highs. "about what you said at the bar, before we left..." rachel stepped closer to the man, a wave of timidity forced her to look down. she tried to convince herself that a little impulsivity never hurt anybody. the worst that could happen was him mocking her, which he had done plenty of times during their no longer impromptu encounters. and the best made her core clench around nothing. "when are you going to fuck the brat out of me? or do i have to beg for it?"

@thechiyonosakenyc​

[tefibetancourt]

you aren’t from illinois,

and tefi thanked god every day for that fact! there was a lot to hate about her home state of pennsylvania, but at least it wasn’t illinois. chicago was a cool city, but other than that, what did the midwestern state have? acres upon acres of corn? all these stupid fucking trees? her revenge plot against foster was the only reason she had to be in blue harbor, but once that was completed, she had no idea where she was to go from there. she wasn’t welcome in her parents’ home, and not one of her three siblings would be willing to let her stay. maaaybe diego, if she begged, but he’d probably only last a week before he kicked her out. her house of cards was delicately built, and when it would finally crumble, she’d have no foundation to rebuild it. completing her revenge would satisfy her, but it seemed like it was going to kill her, too. metaphorically, of course.

tefi took a steading breath. “philadelphia.” no use mentioning the state it was inside of, since like chicago, nothing outside of philly mattered. at least pennsylvania had pittsburgh, though; she couldn’t name another city in illinois before moving to blue harbor. still, it was vast sea of nothingness between pittsburgh and philly—there was a reason why they called it pennsyltucky. her hometown was basically a city-state to her, much like vatican city.

tefi took a sidelong glance at her savior. “where’re you from?” she returned the question, almost sure that they weren’t a blue harbor local.  something about them read as… east coast. their previously curt tone, maybe. they were all gentleness now, as if tefi was some cornered animal. maybe that wasn’t too far off from the truth, with dirt and debris twisted in her perfect hair.

terry. her savior had a name. another sidelong glance, appraising but quick. “really? you look more like an amanda.” she thought randomly. “i’m estefania, but everyone calls me tefi.” and it’s spanish, she almost said. people usually asked her about the origin of her name, but not always. “why do you live all the way out in the woods, terry?” she inquired, slowly breathing in and out. after three days among the trees and fresh air, she failed to see the appeal of living out in the boonies.

Shivering, eyes wide with fear and hunger, the stranger must have faced quite an ordeal in this unfamiliar forest. Forest Lake’s woodlands were comparatively smaller to those they encountered over the decades, but the trees always had a way of imposing themselves. The trees stood tall and unyielding, and—Terry conceded—yes, might have carried the weight of the world’s indifference. However seasoned of a hiker Terry had been, however much they loved to fold into the earth, they recognized the treacherousness of the paths as the trails narrowed, or as the markers on the trees had been swept away by wind or erased by the slow weathering of time.

The forest here was dense, thick with brambles and undergrowth. The great white oaks—the state tree of Illinois—had stood with little regard for the people who led smaller, shorter lives. The trunk of the tree in which Terry had asked the stranger to rest was rather rough and knotted, with the bark peeled away in places. The light had begun to arrive now, though, filtering through the leaves like fractured shafts. 

They always found it a bit beautiful. But to those who did not speak its language, Terry could very easily see how it could turn cruel. They couldn’t help but recall their own childhood, in their father’s business partner’s farm, having hidden away in the tall grass—a hide and seek with their best friend drawn out too long—and in the bales of hay where the Callahans kept their livestock, the cows mooing through the night. They had loved the sense of disappearing into the landscape, becoming part of it, invisible but tethered. Of taking stock of the subtle rhythm of the earth beneath them, this hum of the natural world that was never quite far. 

Clearly, that had not been the case for the woman next to them. Her body trembled, the sobs quieted but still lingering. The grounding exercise had produced only mixed results, the more practical part of it—identifying sights, sounds, and textures—failing to root her in the way it had always worked for Terry. Still, the shake of her head and her renewed motivation to get out of the forest was palpable. Shaken out of her reverie, Terry nodded. “Okay. Good.” They resumed the familiar walk toward their log cabin, matching the other’s pace. 

It was her sudden outburst—I fucking hate Illinois!—that pulled Terry from their internal reverie, their focus narrowing back to her. “You aren’t from Illinois,” they said, less a question than a statement of facts. Though, they recognized, a person could hate the state in which they were born. That just had never been the case for them. It would explain several things about the stranger, though—her disorientation, her unfamiliarity with the woods. Terry had been a New Yorker, to be sure, but they were acquainted with the woodlands by virtue of their father, their brothers, their birding community, their Sev… It wasn’t for everyone, this quiet but intense life. 

“Where are you from?” Terry asked, they asked, their voice gentler now. It was a way to make conversation just as much as it was an attempt to distract the stranger from whatever thoughts she might have had in her head. And, after a beat, as if suddenly remembering their courtesy, they added, “My name is Terry, by the way.”

[maddoxjoseph]

@rachgarcia

His eyebrows shot up as he looked at the flat tire. “How the hell did you even make it here with your tire that flat?” He turned his attention to the girl who was standing by her car. She had come in and told him she had a flat. Joseph was surprised that she had driven it here, but maybe she was in the area. They did have a very limited location for where they could be with the mist. The tire was the definition of flat. He was a bit impressed that she managed to let the air pressure go so low. that took a certain level of finesse. “Did you hit a curb or run over a nail? Or did you just forget to change the tire pressure?” He wanted to know what he would be working with.

[lovepersists2]

“you truly spend time with susan under your own free will?  without coercion?  are you certain you’re not falling apart like all of your brothers?”

@govtdna​   |   starter call!