closed starter for BIANCA ( @cherrywcves ) location : 🌃

closed starter for ANDRE ( @cherrywcves ) location : 🌃

closed starter for DILAN ( @cherrywcves ) location : shithead apartment baybee

*˖ ⊹ ────────  "  okay,  "  nestled  in  among  bags  of  groceries  that  haven't  yet  been  put  away,  kas  scribbles  something  along  the  bottom  of  the  paper  he's  hunched  over.  the  edges  of  the  scrap  paper  he  pulled  off  the  fridge  are  smeared  with  charcoal  fingerprints,  a  testament  to  the  casual  energy  of  the  sketch.  sitting  up  and  admiring  his  comedic  genius  for  a  second,  he  snatches  one  of  the  forks  poking  out  of  the  partially  mutilated  rotisserie  chicken  sitting  on  the  cold  kitchen  tiles  between  them,  holding  up  the  paper  for  dilan's  viewing  pleasure.

kas  didn't  really  expect  the  11pm  rotisserie  chicken  to  be  such  a  good  idea,  but  here  he  was,  peeling  away  a  piece  of  it  to  pop  into  his  mouth,  any  other  evening  plans  of  actually  getting  work  or  laundry  done  abandoned  for  what  dilan  called  '  girl  dinner.  '

"  what  do  you  think  ?  "  in  the  form  of  a  wanted  poster  he's  done  a  half-hearted  sketch  of  his  roommate,  mug-shot  style,  surrounded  by  a  border.  along  the  bottom  in  his  terrible  handwriting  reads  '  beware:  little  corn  shucking  freak.  '  clearly  pleased  with  his  work,  he  chews  triumphantly.

bunched up white socks kicked back and forth gently through the air, chin sat in the palm of her hand. she is picking at a piece of the meat with her fork, not a thought thrown towards her roommate as he begins scribbling away on a piece of paper that had been pulled from the fridge. his spontaneous creativity was as predictable as the sunrise. dilan had grown accustomed to these impromptu bursts of artistic expression. putting it down to an artsy kid thing. yet, deep down, she knew it was more than a generality— it was simply a kasper thing. but dilan always found herself stood in front of the fridge looking over the ones stuck there while she drank from the carton of orange juice or had her bedtime treat of a pickle. she would even find herself adding the ones left lying around to the fridge to join the others.

closed  starter  for  GINA  (  @cherrywcves  ) location  :  gina's  kitchen,  morning  😈 time  skip  from  the  aura  thread  😌

*˖ ⊹ ────────  should  he  have  woken  her  up  ?

kal  can't  figure  out  of  it  was  rude  to  leave  gina  alone  in  her  room,  but  he  needed  to  keep  himself  busy.  as  much  as  he  wanted  to  stay  wrapped  under  the  warm  quilt,  the  feeling  of  gina's  hair  tickling  his  face,  watching  the  orange-tinted  sunlight  filter  through  the  windows  and  dance  across  her  sleeping  features,  his  thoughts  are  always  so  loud,  so  overbearing,  that  he  had  to  find  something  to  keep  himself  preoccupied.

his  fingers  dig  into  the  peel  of  the  orange  he's  holding,  pulling  it  apart  as  eggs  sizzle  in  a  frying  pan.  quietly,  he  mutters  to  himself  like  he's  working  on  a  problem  ;  like  he's  having  a  conversation  with  someone  who  isn't  there.  the  smell  of  fruit  overwhelms  the  kitchen,  and  it's  like  he's  stepped  back  inside  a  memory.  he  feels  like  he  transported  back  four  years,  before  everything  fell  apart,  before  he  fucked  everything  up.

he  didn't.  this  was  real  life, not another nightmare──  he  pinched  himself  when  he  woke  up,  just  to  be  sure.  what  if  it  was  a  mistake  ?  what  if  when  gina  woke  up  she  regretted  it  ?  of  course,  that  line  of  logic  doesn't  make  any  sense,  considering  it  was  gina  who  invited  him  upstairs, gina who was just as eager to pull him towards her room,  but  he  finds  it  difficult  to  quiet  the  personal  critic inside his mind,  no  matter  how  much  he  argues  with  them.

spinning  around,  he  moves  to  put  the  orange  on  the  plate,  and  startles  when  he  sees  the  form  of  her  standing  in  the  doorway.  instantly  his  eyes  widen,  guilty,  as  if  he'd  been  caught  doing  anything  but  making  her  breakfast  in  a  kitchen  where  he  still  remembered  what  was  in  every  drawer.

"  hi  !──  i  mean──  good  morning  ?  i  mean──  i'm  sorry  i  didn't  wake  you  up──  or  maybe  i  did  !  i  hope  i  wasn't  too  loud──  you  looked  so  peaceful  while  you  were  sleeping  i  didn't  want  to  disturb  you──  "

sound asleep, entering into this hazy dream-like state between sleep and awake as she reached out to the other side of the bed, just to be met with the emptiness she had grown far too used to. the way her stomach dropped, she was awake now and shooting up in the bed, sheet pulled up close to her chest as she looked around for any sign of him, proof that last night wasn't just some sort of dream she had been yearning for too long now. the rational part of her brain knew that kal was not the type, he would have never just spent the night like this and ran for the hills in the morning. he would never. but could she blame him for getting into his own head, she had been the one to initiate. he could have panicked.

she rubs away the sleep from her eyes, and the sheet is thrown aside as she slides from between them. bare feet make contact with the plush rug that her bed rested upon, she takes a moment to let the sun warm her skin through the window, arms stretching above her head. she reached down to pluck a sweater from the floor, pulling it over her head, the comforting weight of fabric falling over her frame. just then, the subtle symphony of movement emanated from the kitchen, accompanied by the aroma of something cooking. a renewed sense of hope surged within her as she followed the scent, arriving at the doorway where she finally found him.

*˖ ⊹ ────────  it  wasn't  his  fault,  elijah  insisted  innocently.  carmen  started  it  ;  she  got  only  a  few  percentage  higher  than  him  on  their  first  quiz,  and  he  had  to  study  twice  as  hard  for  the  next  one,  and  the  one  after  that,  and  every  consecutive  one  that  carmen  beat  him  at.  it  has  nothing  to  do  with  wanting  her  attention.  it's  about  that  little  red  number  in  the  top  corner  of  the  page.

and  this  group  project  certainly  wasn't  about  getting  the  opportunity  to  hang  out  alone,  separate  from  their  overlapping  columbia  social  circles  or  the  rows  of  mindless  lecture-hall  desks.  it  was  strictly  business.  their  collective  grade  depended  on  it. he  couldn't  just  leave  her  to  her  own  devices. what if she messes it up for them both ? ( something elijah doesn't believe is really possible, but he can't relish control that easily. what if she gets bored ? )

all  the  theatrics  are  simply  just  for  his  own  amusement.  he  doesn't  even  care  if  she  laughs.

as  a  grin  widens  across  his  face,  elijah  clasps  his  hands  behind  his  back.  he  leans  forward  slightly,  leaning  into  the  toes  of  his  shoes.  "  i  love  it  when  you  say  nice  things  to  me,  "  he  sighs  dreamily,  "  i'm  blushing,  really.  keep  going.  "  he  gestures  between  them,  leaning  against  the  arm  of  his  chair  as  he  waits.

as her frustration grew, paired with the attention they were attracting from a nearby table, her gaze settled on the neighbouring table. perhaps it was frustration misdirected onto the wrong person, but she wasn't all that appreciative of the looks they were sending their way. "maybe you should try focusing a little harder, we're whispering." as she moved past elijah, there was no time to waste. without hesitation, she grabbed a fistful of his shirt, silently urging him to follow as she navigated through the labyrinth of bookshelves and tables scattered throughout. the hushed hum of students engrossed in their work surrounded them, a stark reminder of the productive atmosphere they should have been partaking in.

there was nothing wrong with a turkey club, it's probably what she would have ordered had elijah not suggested it. yes, she was feeling a little petty for no good reason at all. "well, i wanted a chopped cheese. it's superior to the turkey club." was it ever that deep? mo, of course, it wasn't, but there was something about elijah that always brought out stubbornness in her like no other. she couldn't help but wonder how students nearby would react, puzzled looks on their faces, as they watched one student drag another through the library by his shirt, both seemingly engrossed in a debate about sandwiches.

*˖ ⊹ ────────  he  takes  great  satisfaction  in  catching  her  off  guard,  stretching  his  arms  over  his  head  with  a  smug  expression.

when his hands fall back into his lap, he  pretends  as  though  he's  seriously  considering  her  question.  "  proportionally  my  head  is  the  exact  size  it's  supposed  to  be.  "  he's  purposefully  missing  the  point  of  her  question,  as if he's trying to annoy her. "  if  it  was  any  bigger  or  smaller  i'd  look  goofy  as  shit.  which  i  don't.  i  just  look  handsome.  "

with  all  of  his  books  haphazardly  shoved  into  his  bag,  elijah  jumps  to  his  feet  and  slings  the  strap  over  his  shoulder.  he's  impatient  for  her  to  pack  up  and  shifts  his  weight  leg  to  leg.  elijah  can  feel  the  burning  gaze  of  that  lingering  student,  but  he  doesn't  pay  it  much  mind.  why  should  he  ?  they're  leaving.  besides,  if  they  didn't  want  to  hear  the  hushed  argument  taking  place  between  him  and  his  reluctant  school  partner ( rightfully so, not that elijah could see that ),  maybe  they  should  just  move.

carmen was a talker, which hasn't always been the case. when she was a baby, nearing that milestone when she should have been talking there still hadn't been a peep. it worried everyone around her that something could be wrong, her abuela would fuss over her only to be met by her grandfather's reassurance "mi amor, deja de preocuparte. una vez que comienza, nunca parará." small utterances grew into sentences, and the once silent observer became the lively storyteller of the family. but, elijah could have given her a run for her money, now what was someone who knew how to talk. carmen would argue that at least what she had to speak about held substance. which others would argue was not the case most of the time at least.

a blank stare as he rambled on about the size of his head and how handsome he was. which had her turning her nose up at him. there was at least truth behind it, he was handsome. but that truth was a whole lot easier to bury under the annoyance that the two inflicted on one another. he had this sort of boyish charm that managed to catch her off guard from time to time, a cheeky smile offered to her at the most inconvenient of times. "a lot of words to just say you look goofy, maybe we could save both of our precious time next time and just skip that whole monologue"

*˖ ⊹ ────────  the  sound  of  joshua  fiddling  with  the  steamer  basket  and  babbling  about  scooby  doo  is  background  noise  ;  kas  is  used  to  his  neurosis,  how  he  can  never  sit  still.  there  are  very  obvious  genetic  comparisons  that  can  be  made  between  joshua  and  jason.  brothers,  kas  supposes.  he's  never  had  one,  and  he's  nothing  like  his  sisters,  but  on  a  baseline  level  he  understands  that's  how  it's  supposed  to  work.  whatever  is  wrong  with  joshua  is  probably  wrong  with  jason  too,  and  whatever  is  wrong  with  them  is  probably  also  wrong  with  their  father, though  kas  has  never  met  him.

dilan,  though  ?  he  couldn't  tell  you  what  her  excuse  was for being so strange ( it's likely that neither of them could explain his odd behaviours either, though kas would claim he was the most normal member of society of the three of them. then he'd make some excuse about being an artist. )

he  makes  a  face  as  she  grabs  the  pasta  away,  showing  it  off  with  the  cat,  as  if  these  were  somehow  connected  events.  "  if  you  left  your  door  unlocked  and  jason  got  into  your  shit,  that's  on  you.  "  he  declares,  hands  coming  up  in  surrender  and  shoulders  moving  towards  his  ears  in  a  casual  shrug.  "  i  didn't  have  anything  to  do  with  it.  "

it's  a  lie,  since  he  definitely  knew  jason  had  the  little  trinket.  but,  expectedly,  he  wasn't  about  to  defend  dilan  against  his  real  best  friend.  reaching  out,  kas  snatches  the  bowl  of  takeout  pasta  away  from  her.  "  i  was  being  polite  to  our  guests,  "  he  insists and gestures towards the table where joshua sits,  though  his  claim  is  immediately  disproved  when  he  turns  to  their friend, not at all being the ' polite ' host he was claiming to be.

her attention is drawn towards joshua "he is not my boyf-" pasta was snapped away from her grasp, fist clenched tightly around the trinket, in fear that was next on his agenda with his grabby hands. to her it wasn't much to ask that her things remained untouched, that she could come home and her pasta would still be sitting in the fridge or a doll head stayed where it was meant to be on the wall. dilan is a hypocrite though. "i don't even want it anyway, i poisoned it. i knew this was going to happen" responded callously "enjoy the poison, i guess" her frustration seeping through her words.

she had been that little weird girl in her neighbourhood, the one that combined leaves and sticks together in dirty puddle water. she still felt like that girl sometimes, the girl who brought home bugs and little creatures to care for. she was taller now, she found herself angrier at the world for the things it had taken from her—a collection of scars and missed opportunities. simultaneously, she harbored anger at herself for the losses she felt responsible for, a silent battle that played out in the recesses of her mind.

arms flexing under her weight, she pushed herself up to sit on the countertop. the cool surface provided a momentary respite, and the back of her head came to rest against the door of the press. eyes rolled up towards the ceiling as the two continued to speak. being polite to their guests is mentioned, which has her eyebrows furrowing "well don't" she interjected, pulling one leg in towards her chest, the heel of her foot coming to rest against the edge of the counter "and my jar of pickles in the fridge is off limits too, so don't even think about it" eyes squint in joshua's direction "they're like the best shapes. freaks. spaghetti is the worst"