some metaphor.

anh "annie” cao — bio, replies, hcs, pinterest mathew lahde — bio, replies, hcs, pinterest julien durand — bio, replies, hcs, pinterest michael young — bio, replies, hcs, pinterest

hey, friends ! i’m going to go ahead and leave the roleplay. i know i’m always left wracking my brain when muses leave and i’m not sure how to fill in the gap after they left, so i did a little blurb for everyone below the cut. thanks for all the writing and the great times— see you around ! <3

“yeah, me neither. those shits will probably be too expensive the second they’re available anyway. we’re a small town. we won’t get those.” he shrugged it off. to be fair, he was scared of being too dumb to use them. he could barely use an actual telephone- and he would never go near a telephone booth- it was too complicated. he had used the fax here and there, but he hated it. he liked to stick to his basics. he didn’t like adapting. he liked his register machine. nothing more from that. “i mean, it’s nice, not going to lie. but i also get yelled at for not tidying up my room. at my age?” to be fair, his dad probably forgot he was over thirty. and in some way, it was nice that he was remembered at all. sometimes his father forgot he had a son, so if he thought he had a teenager was good enough for adi. he didn’t want to complain too much for things that gave him a slight joy. “oh, yeah- huge. definitely-” adi rolled his eyes. as if annie didn’t know him enough to know he was a walking dating disaster. “okay, now i know you were not serious about asking me…” he rolled his eyes. “listen, it would be a problem if i had a date. but bringing people over is annoying in general when my parents ask me if that’s who i’m dating. it used to be only girls at some point, now they’ve even talked to me about liking men as well- like… it’s a problem. i don’t want to talk to my old folks about…. sexuality.”

annie couldn’t help but think a little more now on the pros and cons of still living with her family; of course she’d already thought about it enough times to wear a dent in the floor from all the included pacing, but adi was living the possibility, so it was a little different now hearing what he thought about it. then when he mentioned knowing she was only joking around, she set the dilemma aside and chuckled. “sorry, it was impossible not to tease you about it. it was the opportunity of a lifetime.” and then suddenly, living back with her family was looking slightly less appealing than it already was thanks to the possibility of them snooping into her personal life as well. “yikes.” annie couldn’t help but grimace a bit. “that’s... awkward as hell. i’m sure they mean well, but i don’t think anyone wants to talk to their parents about that kinda stuff.” she hadn’t entirely figured the whole sexuality thing out herself, but her dad was the last person she’d want to have that discussion with. “where are they now?” she looked around as if expecting they’d appear without warning, suddenly a bit worried about being pulled into such a discussion. “i can pretend to have a boyfriend or something if they start harping on you while i’m here?”

“crazy ideas?” adi couldn’t say he was even considering anything crazier than just sit under one of those standing fire places or whatever they were called, and laugh at the people rolling down the hill like every single winter special cartoon. it was a favorite pastime of his, he had to admit. “oh, you mean- like.. me going up there? ha! it would be a suicide to me. a fun one, for sure.” adi scoffed and took a sip of warm wine, so far the best thing to ever come from the lodge and every winter thing. “unless you got a defibrillator with you, then i’m down to try it out.” he smirked. he had no plans to move from his seat. “depends. if it’s a young person, then it’s… definitely admirable. they’re trying to better themselves. anyone past thirty-five, what the fuck are they doing?” he laughed softly. he knew he was not exactly old either, but even without his heart condition, he wasn’t sure his hips and knees would hold after a fall. 

mathew couldn’t help but give the other an odd look at his statement, a mixture of confusion and amusement, before chuckling quietly. “i used to ski a little bit past thirty-five.” not by much, but he wasn’t going to let adi know that he was right in his estimate. at a certain point, skiing just wasn’t worth the risk of injury or extended recovery time. “you know... people don’t turn into dust and stop trying to improve as soon as they hit that age. now i’m concerned if you think i’m even capable of opening a pickle jar by myself,” he joked before taking another careful sip of his hot drink. age was something mathew would always laugh about as opposed to be offended by acknowledging, so he found adi’s observation humorous more than anything. “aren’t you getting close to hitting that point? i can’t remember off the top of my head, but i hope you’re planning for retirement soon. the pharmacy has a great deal on walkers right now that i recommend you check out.”

“i’m not saying it’s bad luck not to build a snowman before christmas, but... it’s bad luck not to build a snowman before christmas.” annie had already grown tired of being stuck inside for the winter activities, so now it was time to brave the cold and do something snow-related outside before she got restless and did something reckless like try her hand at skiing once again (she hadn’t faceplanted too badly, but had been far from graceful). “do you have anything we can use for the snowman? i’m volunteering my scarf and... scrunchie? i guess a snowman can have a half ponytail somehow. we’ll figure it out. why the hell not.”

     “are you kidding ? you’d place first. even if i have to accidentally smash someone else’s globe.” the young woman deadpanned with a shrug and then chuckled. “i’d place, like, seventh in that contest.” she admitted with a shrug. “the holidays in new york are all about shopping, complaining about the weather and ice skating. not a lot of fun if you love the snow and are too broke to shop at new york prices.” ali replied with a laugh. “of course i have. i used to come here with my dad a lot.” alicia nodded. “i’m gonna be rusty at painting these but i will try my best, i promise.”

“i wouldn’t say i’m a snow globe making expert,” she pretended to brag, “but if there was a contest on it, i’d place at least third.” the confidence came with the fact that annie made a snow globe practically every year once the lodges opened up— they were extremely customizable and she found them calming once shook as the snow settled down. with everything that had happened in shrike heights so far, calm (but still fun) was exactly the kind of atmosphere she was looking to partake in. “i know it’s probably a little corny compared to whatever cool things they do in new york for the holidays, but still. you’ve made one of these before right?” annie asked as they reached the table.

“Well I guess that’s one way to find out. If he tries charging you more than like 60 bucks he’s probably got a bone to pick with you, Annie,” he joked. She didn’t handle nearly as much of the shit Ian did in their past. He admired that integrity though he had a feeling he didn’t have an intimidating bone in his body and he was pretty sure that was clear to others as well; that was probably why he spent more times as the target than anything else. Still he’d rather be seen as a pushover over an asshole so it all came out in the wash. “It depends on the cookie I think. Some stuff is hard but you can make cookies out of three ingredients if you wanted,” mixing up one to one ratios of things couldn’t be that much harder than store bought. Ian wouldn’t know though he enjoyed the work that came with baking and never found any part of it a chore. “I got a roll of those PIllsbury’s Best cookies the other night. For a premade dough it wasn’t half bad.” 

 He hadn’t expected to be asked further about cooking. It caught him off guard. He was usually the one listening to others, stoking them with further questions that he was surprised to be put in the other position. Ian found himself to be a pretty boring individual that was why he surrounded himself with the folks he did. He shrugged his shoulder he’d never thought about cookies in the realm they played in and it was throwing him for a loop. “Sometimes, yeah. Nothing crazy though. Just pigs in blankets or like mac and cheese sometimes. We usually order a pizza or something most of the time,” he confessed. Nothing beat pizza especially when the group often wound up with an ability to acquire the cheesy delicacy for free. “We’re not a band of kings so I don’t know how much access our campaign would have to sugar, you know? If I tried making the food they’re packing with them on their adventures it’d be pretty bad. Hardtack is pretty bland stuff.” The group would have to have some pretty phenomenal rolls for Ian to foresee them ever in a situation where they’d wind up getting some cookies. 

“it’d be just my luck i show up and it turns out i did fight him once,” she chuckled, somewhat proud of her history even if it could cause a little issue every now and then. most people were over their high school days anyway. annie already apologized where she saw fit— not to everyone, since not everyone deserved a sorry based on the situation, but that didn’t matter right now. she could make a list of enemies later. thankfully the list of people who held grudges was pretty short. instead of focusing too much on that, she listened to ian with a few nods to show she was paying attention as they walked.

“sounds like you guys like to keep it sorta realistic then.” she was admittedly curious about the group, but at the same time, annie wasn’t confident in her ability to keep up with something as detailed as d&d, so she kept it to the occasional question. she paused her reply to do a quick scan and turns into the proper isle as she looked for the last of her foods— snacks. “you should be able to have pringles then!” she exclaimed suddenly. “it’s just ground up potatoes and water, and a really cool chip press.” of course it was probably a little more complicated than that, but if pizza was alright, why not barbeque pringles? she reached up on her tiptoes for two of the cans before setting them carefully in the cart. “i think it’d be cool if you did a feast day or something. if you ever needed help, i’m not great at cooking or anything, but i could chip in.”