foul is fair

        Sitting at the bar felt wrong. But being alone in her apartment felt even worse. After the news had been broadcasted throughout the building, Aurelia had been determined to get her mind off of the situation. She wasn’t even entirely certain if she was feeling anything at all. She knew she should have been in mourning; her sister had been brutally murdered. But mourning something who had detested you for centuries felt like a waste of time. There were better things she should have been doing with her time, but still she couldn’t help this hollow feeling inside her, like she was missing something she hadn’t known she needed. Sensing another presence, she held up her untouched drink in salute. “Mourn with me?” she asked, though the note of sarcasm she had meant to lace her words with fell flat.

@ashtonfinryder | closed starter 

  The hallway was quiet as the elevator doors opened, letting Andrew off with a bottle of pinot noir clutched in his hand. The plush carpet effectively silenced his steps as he made his way to Ashton’s door, silently wishing he’d had a cigarette before heading up since he wasn’t sure how long until he’d be able to go for one.

Tristan eyed the other bowl of ice cream for a moment before letting his gaze return to the television screen. He was the millennial here, so, technically — didn’t he have the advantage here?

“Please,” he elbowed Andrew’s side, an easy grin sliding across his face. “Is that a challenge, dude?” Moo Moo Meadows was Tristan’s quick and obvious choice — it was what he always chose, and what he was best at. “I still don’t get how you managed to install this thing by yourself. Aren’t you, like, eighty? Give or take a few?”

     Andrew faked an offended expression as he turned to look at Tristan. “First, I’m not even sixty and we had video game systems like this when i was a kid, they haven’t changed that much. If anything they’ve gotten easier.” He couldn’t help but roll his eyes as Tristan picked an easy course. He was making jokes about him being old but he wouldn’t even really challenge him.

     “We should do Bowers’s Castle.” Andrew called from the kitchen as he shut the freezer door with his shoulder before walking into the living room, carrying two bowls of ice cream. “Or anything that isn’t Rainbow Road. I fucking hate that course.” He placed one of the bowls of ice cream on the coffee table and dropped himself back on the couch with the other, propping his feet on the table as he ate a spoonful. 

Once she realized it was Andrew, she immediately looked to her side and lightened her tone with a smile his way. Andrew– god, when had she last seen him? She checked in on him every now and then (like she did with everyone she knew needed checking in on) to make sure he was still going, but didn’t except to see him at the event. Seeing him in a suit was a spectacle in itself.

“Oh, please, tell me about it– I have a bounty out for my head. I’m sure they would have shot me on sight if they didn’t want to ruin the event.” she mused to him, noticing he had no drink in hand and here she was, teetering on drunk. “No, god no. If I could you know I’d burn this place to the ground. What about you, though? How you feeling?”

     “All things considered that’s probably not a question you want answered. I’m glad to see you though. Especially not dead. Or not more dead than you already were.” Andrew took the seat next to her, glad that she wasn’t opposed to his company. 

ashton: I am pretty cold so.

ashton: wow, that's a hard bargain you drive. basically taking my sugar and running with it.

andrew: nah, you're pretty hot

     “I think everyone feels guilty about some things in their past. Everyone does stuff they aren’t proud of or even things they probably shouldn’t have done. Does that make everyone a bad person? No, it doesn’t.”

Gwen had brought herself to the event for one sole purpose: to get any useful information she possibly could from observation. Gwen had never gotten herself close enough to Lorelai or Sebastian to get any good details she could use for the future, but now was her chance. So, Gwen had dressed herself head to toe in black and showed up, against the warnings and better judgement of being murdered. 

Gwen had already gone through countless drinks by the time she saw the figure pull up next to her, and Gwen didn’t even look over before she began to talk. “Listen, if you’re here to harass me, you can move along. I’d hate to have a fight already break out at this romantic event.” she said, continuing to sip her drink.

     Andrew could count the number of times he’d worn a suit on one hand, and it was still as uncomfortable as ever, no matter how good he looked in it. He wondered, briefly, if getting drunk would make the event more or less enjoyable but dismissed the thought since it didn’t really matter. He searched the crowd for a familiar face, saw a few too many, and settled for approaching one of the few people he trusted to not give him yet another rant about how magical this all was.

@ashtonfinryder | closed starter

     If Andrew heard one more person say that this truce was the answer to everyone’s prayers he thought he might be sick. It wasn’t that he necessarily disagreed with them, it was more that he knew that no one thing could be the solution to everything. Still, he continued to mingle about the overheated ballroom, trying to remain on the outskirts of the crowd while talking to people he’d seen around the building until his head was spinning trying to keep track of all the conversation’s he’d had.

     It didn’t take long for him to get lost in the throng of expensive outfits and effervescent champagne and by the time he realized he was almost in the middle of the ballroom floor and had already begun to feel trapped. Crowds had never been Andrew’s thing—it had been one of his parent’s concerns regarding the trip to Disneyland 41 years ago and nothing had changed—and crowds where half the attendee’s would happily rip him to shreds if they could didn’t sound anymore enjoyable than regular ones. 

ashton: too bad your coffee's a little bitter rn.

ashton: alright fine, you make the bargain then.

andrew: that's cold ashton

     “I try not to remember, nor would I call it a good time.”