viennaesme-c

[viennaesme-c]

vanessaxyvonne

It wasn’t like Nessa was intentionally being nosy onto the redhead’s crossword puzzle as she took a sip of her chai, completely immersed in her own work, but the empty spaces and question was pretty simple. “McCartney-Lennon,” She said to herself, but unbeknownst to her, the redhead had heard her–or at least heard her mumble. “The two spaces are McCartney and Lennon. They’re the two Beatles with the most songwriting credits.” 

Hearing someone gave her an answer was sometimes a little frustrating. A part of her wanted to take pride in the fact that she was able to fill it out on her own. “Oh, I wasn’t there yet. Still on the vertical ones. I have a weird way of filling these out. Vertical, then horizontal. Always seems like it works for me. Usually, anyway.”

[viennaesme-c]

naseerpaik

…

“Yeah, you spelled Hickok wrong.  16-down, 6 letters for ‘The coward from Deadwood shot him?  H-I-C-K-O-K, not H-I-C-O-C-K…”  Naseer shrugged then.  “Although it’s an honest mistake.”

He was standing in line for his coffee at the coffee shop, but the wait was long (some middle-aged cyclist was getting very picky about his order) and getting bored, his eyes were caught on the crossword.  Not that Naseer was any good at doing them, but he did remember the spelling of Hickok.  Useless trivia, his specialty.  “It doesn’t really matter in the long run.  Six letters is six letters and you got the name right, right?”

Green eyes quickly moved down to the word, tilting her head. “Ugh, I’m an idiot. Thanks,” she sighed as she adjusted it. She rarely made a mistake and she knew that she would have been confused later on as she tried to finish it. As he spoke after a moment, the redhead gave a small shrug. “I would have been confused later on when that word was needed. It always seems to be my luck when I do these. I make one little mistake and it messes everything up. I need to pay more attention, but I get easily distracted.”

[viennaesme-c]

dangerous lies (2020)

[viennaesme-c]

Task 003: Video Diary

Vienna wasn’t used to being on the other side of an interview. Being a sports journalist for the Kings meant that she was the one asking questions and when she was told she had to be in an interview almost made her stomach twist. There’s a lot of her life she kept more private and there was a reason for that. It wasn’t meant to be shared with the world and the last thing she wanted to do was talk about things she wasn’t comfortable with. 

Slowly walking into the room, the redhead looked around giving a small sigh as she sat down in a chair, picking at her fingers as she waited. Hearing her name, she stood up, taking a deep breath as she walked inside. Letting her green eyes scan the room, she slowly sat down in the chair, looking up at the camera. “Oh, well, okay,” she bit her bottom lip as she thought for a moment on if she really wanted to do this or if she even had a choice. There was no way she could back out now, regardless, so she was stuck.

“What was your first reaction upon arriving to the city? What stood out to you the most?” Vienna listened to the question and relaxed a little. Okay, maybe this wasn’t going to be as bad as she thought. “Well, the first reaction I had was there’s a beach. I’m from a more landlocked state, so just seeing a beach that will be near my home was pretty awesome. But, I guess I wanted to live here because it was a small commute to work and I didn’t want to live in Los Angeles. It’s too big of a city for me,” she nodded as she set hair behind her ear. 

“Which neighborhood did you settle in? Do you like your neighborhood? What improvements would you suggest?“ Ah a more deeper question. She was expecting that. “Well, I only lived in Sunset Park for a month, but I lived Downtown for a few years before that. I liked the neighborhood downtown, but I don’t really have that many good memories, so I’m excited to start a life in Sunset Park. I don’t really know any improvements that are needed though, since I’m still new to this area. And I guess downtown was good. I don’t really see a need for improvements. The memories I had has really nothing to do with the place itself,” she replied, giving a soft shrug. Wasn’t really something she thought about, to be honest. She didn’t see a need for someone to need her opinion on anything, so this was new.

“What has kept you in Santa Monica? What are you looking to get out of this city?” A small smile formed at the question, biting her bottom lip. “Who is more of the question. I mean, I probably would have still lived here, regardless, but someone gave me another reason to stay. I really didn’t know if I was going to stay here after some rough things happened and then I met Jackson and here I am,” she smiled her eyes looking away for a moment in thought. “I just wanted to make this city a home because I know I’ll be at my job longterm and this is the perfect distance, like I said before. So my job kept me here in the beginning and then someone is keeping me here now. And I’m not complaining about it.”

“What is one piece of advice you’d give to someone who is new to this city?” That’s where Vienna let out a laugh. She tilted her head in thought. “No one ever asks me for advice, I’ll let you know that now. There’s a reason for it, too. Because I suck at advice. The only thing I can say is just experience the city. When I first moved here, I focused on work and there’s some places I still haven’t been to because of how much I focused on work. So I guess do your thing.” She shrugged up at the person in front of her. “I really don’t know what advice to give.” For once, her brain was empty, which was a rare occurrence. 

“Are we finished? I rather not be here,” Vienna looked up at the person who nodded. Taking a deep breath, she grabbed her bag and walked out. She needed a coffee and she really just wanted to be somewhere where she felt comfortable. Letting herself out of the building, the redhead took a deep breath as she felt herself relax. At least they weren’t deep questions that she thought they would be. But it was still enough to trigger memories that she didn’t want to have and now she was going to have to push away the flashbacks all over again.

[viennaesme-c]

vito-mendoza

“Nope, your face looks good to me. You do that every day? You must be, like, suuuuper good at spelling.” He had never done a crossword puzzle in his life and didn’t really have any interest in starting. The only time he looked at a newspaper was when he visited his parents, and the only thing he’d look for were the Sunday comics. 

“That’s good. My luck I would have been looking crazy, which happens more often than not,” she pushed her lips to the side in thought. “Yeah, I think I’ve been doing them since I was twelve or thirteen?” It’s been a good while, she thinks. “It’s oddly relaxing to me, but I love puzzles of all types. Anything that makes me think, I’m happy with.”

[viennaesme-c]

jcksnlngfrd​

Jackson had given Vi free range to at least choose options for the room while he had spent that time tarping up the flooring. The furniture was currently cluttering another bedroom as their whole goal this weekend was to repaint over the stained walls and when he had goals, he kept to them well.

A step back and folding of his exposed arms later and she was starting to swatch up the colors. Brows poised up as she went through her options and the explanations for why she got them till this ‘composed’ was swiped on the wall next to the others. “Okay, but why the fuck would I be mad over a color?” It sounded so absurd. “Maybe if you got like, I don’t know, street paint yellow or a tacky neon. Why wouldn’t I like this one? I’m feeling it more than that weird poo brown.” He pointed to her first option. “Because that ain’t caramel that’s ‘I’ve had diarrhea for three days straight’.” He snorted at his own comparison. “The white we can use for the guest room, maybe. I want a chiller type of room. You know? A place we can really relax in and you know I like it dark when I sleep. This’ll help more.”

Pausing for a moment when he asked the question, she couldn’t help but tilt her head for a moment. “I don’t know. Didn’t really think that part through, but I never was allowed to pick paint colors before so shush,” brows furrowed as she gave a small shrug. “Weird poo brown, what?” Now she was examining, squinting to see if she saw what he did. “Thank you for that image. Now I might be returning that color.” She gave him a side eye, shaking her head. “I just thought it was something different than the real basics, you know?” At least they were different shades, it could have easily been a shade lighter or darker to where he wouldn’t have noticed the difference.

“Yeah, I figured the beige for the guest room cause then we can also just use basic bedding instead of purposely finding something to match along with it, whereas we will see our bedroom every day, so I feel like that will be nicer. I loved this color though. Apparently it’s in style according to the paint guy. Not gonna lie, it was so fun to watch the paint being made,” she smiled, rubbing her lips. Was she easily entertained? Possibly. But it intrigued her to watch it being done. “Okay, Composed is the room color. Although, I just think it should be called charcoal. Why give it a weird name?” Glancing around the room, then looking down at the bucket, the redhead was hoping that was enough. “We should be able to get this done in the weekend, right? I don’t really know how long it will take the paint to dry. And we need to make sure the kids are blocked off. I put the baby gate up, but I think Champ can just run through it like those posters football players run through.” Sliding off the jacket she had on, Vienna felt more comfortable now that she was able to move more freely in the tank top. “Okay, you can do first swipe.”

[viennaesme-c]

[viennaesme-c]

lexa-maxwell

It was another long day at the office and Lexa was lucky enough to escape to grab herself a coffee. As she made her way to the nearest Starbucks, she could already see the line getting longer and quickly jumped in before the one guy standing near the table tried to make her way in. That was when her phone rang. As she put her AirPods in to listen to her assistant panic about a simple operation, she simply said, “Just leave it alone and I’ll do it,” with an annoyed tone until she heard someone else talk to her and she pointed to her ears. “Phone call.” 

Eyes widened when she realized that the woman wasn’t talking to her, shaking her head. “Sorry. I didn’t see,” she pointed up at the phone. Setting some of the red hair behind her ear, Vienna moved to take a drink of her coffee as she pushed her lips to the side. “Are you okay?”

[viennaesme-c]

Moving into a new home with Jackson was something that Vienna was excited for. As they slowly started to make the house a home, they really decided that the bedroom needed new paint. As hard as it was for them to agree on things, Vienna thought three neutrals were the best options to try out. Dragging the buckets into the, now, sheet covered room, the redhead looked over at her boyfriend with a smile. “Okay, so I got three colors. I figure they could work for other rooms that could just add some dimension, but anyway. So, I have two neutrals and a color that you might kill me for getting,” she gave an innocent smile as she looked at him. 

Opening the one bucket, the redhead showed him as she painted a small square with the color. “Okay, this is caramel. I feel like this is a good neutral to use with royal colors. Like burgundy, royal blue, emerald,” she trailed off as she opened the next bucket, a color slightly lighter. “This is just cream. Basic, but still okay. And then this,” she opened, hiding the lip so he couldn’t see it. Slowly painting a small square of a more darker gray, Vienna showed him. “This is called Composed. Now, don’t get mad,” she pointed at him. “I could use this color for my office if you don’t like it for the bedroom, but I think it would look really cool. Very modern and we can use dark brown or black, then break it up with some white. Not to mention this flooring is amazing to help with keeping the room light, even though this is a darker color,” she nodded in thought. “So what do you think?” @jcksnlngfrd​

[viennaesme-c]

vito-mendoza​

Vito was taking his daily walk through the park with Snoopy. Snoop was sniffing and peeing on every nearby tree, as per usual. While he was waiting for the beagle pup to finish sniffing a trash bin, Vito found himself standing next to a pretty redhead. He hadn’t realized he was staring at her until she spoke up. “Oh, sorry, I was just waiting for my dog. What do you got there?” He pointed to the paper in her hands. 

The smile slowly formed when she noticed a dog by her, glancing back up at the man in front of her. “Don’t worry. I was worried I had something weird on my face that made you look. I wouldn’t be shocked in the least if that was why.” Green eyes lowered down for a moment, holding up the paper. “Just the crossword puzzle in the New York Times. Nothing too exciting, but it’s a daily thing for me to do.”

[viennaesme-c]

@jcksnlngfrd

“She rested her head against his and felt, for the first time, what she would often feel with him: a self-affection. He made her like herself. With him, she was at ease; her skin felt as though it was her right size.”

— Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. Americanah. London: Forth Estate (2013)

[viennaesme-c]

Task 1: Headcanons

Vienna Esme Calhoun, Twenty Six, Sports Journalist for the LA Kings

tw: shooting, domestic abuse

5 Headcanons about: Appearance

Her hair is naturally red. She has heard every ginger comment in the book and then some.

She’s muscular. She works out daily, whether it be MMA, boxing or even just running. She takes pride in her ability to now protect herself when she needs it.

She has three tattoos: A Matilda tattoo on her forearm, a beauty and the beast quote on her foot and “though she be but little, she is fierce” on her ribs.

Leather jackets are her best friend. She wears them almost daily.

She has multiple scars from her last relationship, the most notable being a bullet wound scar and a scar underneath to fix her broken shoulder from being shot.

4 Headcanons: Relationship/Academics

Vienna has only been in two serious relationships: the one with her ex and the one she is currently in. She met Jackson at the gym and he was by her side throughout getting injured, healing and the trial. She’s never felt this way about someone and she tries to make sure he knows it.

Jackson is also her best friend and they sometimes have the sense of knowing what the other is thinking. ( @jcksnlngfrd)

Vienna graduated high school at sixteen and college at twenty. She skipped two grades when she was five.

The woman is too intelligent for her own good. She has a pretty good photographic memory and accidentally can turn into a know it all.

3 Headcanons: Home Life/Languages Spoken.

Growing up in PIttsburgh, Vienna had the ability to experience city life as well as rural life, due to her grandparents having a farm.

She has what they call a “PIttsburgh accent” and doesn’t realize it until someone says something

She is able to speak fluent English, French, ASL and knows some Russian due to her job.

2 Headcanons: Workplace

Vienna’s job is essentially in the Staples Center because she works with the LA Kings. She’s the one that interviews the coaches and players during the game.

There are times she will travel to different arenas for games, but she mainly is at the home games.

1 Headcanon: Defining Moment

Vienna’s defining moment was the night she got shot. After a few years of feeling safe and secure, only for him to find her changed her life completely. All of a sudden, she felt like she wasn’t able to go somewhere without the feeling that he was close behind her, even though he was in jail. After that night, she truly realized how short life is and once she was healed, she tried to get back on the mend to live a normal life. That night will always be a moment in her life that changed everything for her and it still flashes back to her often.

[viennaesme-c]

Doing the daily New York Times crossword puzzle was one of Vienna’s favorite parts of the day. It was a way to relax and just not think about what was going around her. Although, that sometimes had it’s downside. Hearing a voice, green eyes raised up to someone standing in front of her. “Hi. Can I help you?” @santamonicarp-starters​

[viennaesme-c]

Name: Vienna Esme Calhoun Birthday: October 31, 1993 Hometown: Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Career: Sports journalist Accent: Pittsburghese

TW: Shooting, domestic abuse, hospital, abuse

Bio

Vienna was born to two drug addicts that gave the child up for adoption as soon as she was born, leading her to be adopted by two doctors that were unable to have children after the birth of their daughter.

From a young age, she showed signs of intelligence, learning to read and be able to do basic math at the age of four. When her parents signed her up for kindergarten, she was able to skip to second grade, becoming one of the smarter kids in her new class.

Easily, Vienna graduated high school at the age of sixteen and went to UPenn to study Public Relations and Journalism. She graduated when she was twenty and moved to Santa Monica to get a job with the NHL to be in PR.

Always being curious about her biological family, Vienna decided to look up her parents, finding out that they both overdosed not long after they gave the child up for adoption. It was something that hurt the woman, knowing that she would never be able to meet them.

As book smart as she is, she was never good with relationships. Once she moved to Santa Monica when she was twenty, she met a guy named Finn, who ended up being extremely abusive. After two years with him, Vienna was able to escape and she moved to get away from him.

Settling herself in a small apartment, Vienna thought she was safe again until a few months ago in March of 2019. After hiding from Finn for three and a half years, he showed up at her door out of nowhere and shot her in the shoulder.

Slowly getting herself back to normal, Finn was sentenced to life without parole and Vienna kept moving forward with her boyfriend.

Recently getting a home with Jackson, they are settling in together with their two dogs

Personality

Vienna is highly intelligent, not really knowing how to tame it down. People tend to consider her a know it all, but she never tries to do it on purpose. (Consider her more of an Amy Santiago type intelligence)

She’s a huge reader and spends most of her free time with her nose in a book, which can make her awkward in social situations.

She’s extremely friendly, though and always wants to be there for people.

She is passionate about her job and loves working for the NHL as she grew up with season tickets to the Penguins games since she was a baby.

Due to the abuse she suffered from her ex, she tends to be weary of guys that she meets outside of work, keeping a wall up that only comes down when she is extremely drunk.

After getting shot, Vienna has taken up boxing and MMA, it becoming one of her passions, along with hockey. Her learning the two sports has made her grow a shell that keeps her safe.