* 𝑹𝑬𝑴𝑬𝑴𝑩𝑬𝑹 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐧

        she tensed at the click of the door, jaw clenched, breath held. but, then came his footsteps and his voice, still caught despite the bass that hammered through the earbuds she had in place.  her body hadn’t learned that it wasn’t needed –  the hyper-vigilance. ‘cause this was leo’s place and it was just him and just her. sure, she stopped looking for a safety net years ago, but his, even if threadbare and patched, should’ve allowed respite. it was never that easy. rowan paused her music, tossing both phone and tangled cables onto the couch as she pushed herself off. padded feet made their way into the kitchen. “ my house. so possessive. what happened to mi casa es su casa ? ” all in jest. her work uniform had been traded in for one of his t-shirts after all – a sure sign of unspoken comfort. hell, if she had greeted him with a kiss on the cheek, table set for dinner, they could’ve gotten away with a movie magic display of domestic bliss. but, the table was empty sans his backpack and an envelope of cash she placed there earlier; the week’s earnings. something a little less desirable. rowan was a terrible cook anyway. “ pasta sounds good. anything that’s not fryer-ready sounds good actually. feels like lickety splits’ specialty grease is gunking up my insides. ” she leaned her back against the counter, watching him move around the tiny space. “ evan’s cool with me selling at fannie’s this weekend, ” the unnatural insertion fell off her tongue with ease, “ s’want me to rip up some lettuce leaves ? toast some bread ? i’m ripe and ready to earn my keep, chief. ”

open to anyone @irvingstarters​

        leaned  against  a  moderately  secured  tent  support  pole,  nashs  honey  brown  optics  watched  with  a  slight  twinkle  of  amusement  as  lara  skipped  right  onto  the  carousel.  it  was  almost  a  sharp  pain  in  his  chest,  remembering  lara’s  first  winter  fest  to  her  sixth  one,  today.  it  was  moments  like  today  that  they  realized  how  fast  she  was  growing,  and  how  little  time  he  had  to  realize  it,  except  seldom  moments  such  as  these.  shuffling  back,  nash  takes  his  juul  from  his  hoodie’s  pocket  and  takes  a  long  drag  as  far  away  from  families  and  little  ones  as  possible.  he  was  aware  of  a  presence  making  itself  known  directly  beside  him,  and  a  nonchalant  peace  sign  was  thrown  up  as  an  informal  greeting.  

*  an  open  starter  for  @irvingstarters​  .

she  looks  disgruntled  as  she  steps  from  in  front  of  another  exhibit  ,  brown  hair  still  wet  from  her  time  earlier  in  the  tank  .  despite  winterfest’s  startling  propensity  to  return  every  year  ,  meral  is  hardly  ever  prepared  for  the  rowdy  children  and  negligent  parents  that  it  brings  .  “  i  get  that  it’s  cold  ,  “  the  woman  begins  ,  chewing  on  a  stick  of  cinammon  gum  that  she’s  shoved  into  her  mouth  .  “  so  cold  that  my  nose  has  been  pink  since  i  came  outside  this  morning  .  the  kind  of  cold  that’s  close  to  freezing  .  and  when  i  say  don’t  touch  the  glass  because  the  seals  will  splash  you  -  shouldn’t  the  children  listen  since  no  one  likes  freezing  water  ?  “  a  brief  pause  that  makes  it  seem  like  she’s  waiting  for  a  response  ,  meral  barrels  on  anyways  .  “  –  so  explain  to  me  why  i  had  three  seperate  children  tap  the  glass  and  get  me  splashed  .  if  you  see  johnny  ,  susie  ,  and  mary  ,  i  have  beef  with  them  .  “  she  lets  out  a  huff  as  she  turns  to  the  person  she’s  been  venting  to  .  “  anyways  ,  what  do  you  think  of  the  new  aquarium  lights  ?  pretty  ,  yeah  ?  “  

       lithe fingers brushing against the grass, frederica ponders how long it would take for her to reach the soil, the same way her dog used to before he was sent to a pet trainer. game of throne-esque, out of the five dogs golding siblings had, hers was the only one ripping up the grass and ruining everything, as mrs. golding liked to state. mind cralws back to the present with her friend’s voice. “mhm,” fred nods, unable to come up with anything remotely soft and hopeful and gentle as hers. “that’s nice of your mother to say that. feels like a poor thing, but cool.” the second words leave her mouth she feels the regret,  scratching at her heart like an annoying cat left alone. not her favourite emotion, but the thing that bothers her the most is, the fact she’s feeling it. “everyday is a birthday, a friend of mine once said. we’re not friends anymore, but i guess it doesn’t make it less true. you’re alive and well and nothing else? kind of boring, don’t you think so?” still absentmindedly playing with the grass, a smile envelops her expression. “you sure your mother wasn’t a mary oliver superfan? sounds like something she would write.”

* braeden lemasters, cis male + he/him  | you know nixon parker, right? they’re twenty three, and they’ve lived in irving for, like, three months? well, their spotify wrapped says they listened to closer by kings of leon like, a million times this year, which makes sense ‘cause they’ve got that whole led lights surrounding his room, far too many computer monitors on one desk, the dark circles under his eyes from too many hours of streaming, the bounce of his knee from caffeine thing going on. i just checked and their birthday is may twenty third, so they’re a gemini, which is unsurprising, all things considered.

* lalisa manoban, cis female + she/her  | you know eden niran, right? they’re twenty two, and they’ve lived in irving for, like, ten years? well, their spotify wrapped says they listened to what you know by two door cinema club like, a million times this year, which makes sense ‘cause they’ve got that whole pressure on keeping her life secret, the lace of lingerie in pictures, the smell of weed lingering on her clothes thing going on. i just checked and their birthday is august eighth, so they’re a leo, which is unsurprising, all things considered.

                     𝒕𝒉𝒆  𝒃𝒆𝒂𝒄𝒉  𝒘𝒂𝒔  𝒔𝒐  𝒑𝒆𝒂𝒄𝒆𝒇𝒖𝒍  𝒂𝒕  𝒏𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕.  in  a  way  that  leo  really  didn't  understand  how  he  deserved.  not  that  this  place  was  created  for  him,  it  was  just  that  he  ended  up  there.  he  was  sure  that  he  should  be  back  on  the  streets  of  new  york,  "  this  place  is  kind  of  beautiful.  i  hate  to  admit  it.  "  the  cigarette  balanced  between  his  lips,  smoke  encircling  his  own  head  as  he  passed  the  bottle  of  wine  back  to  nadira.  "  do  you  ever  miss  new  york?  "

                      𝒕𝒉𝒆  𝒍𝒊𝒕𝒕𝒍𝒆  𝒑𝒖𝒑𝒑𝒚  𝒘𝒂𝒔  𝒑𝒓𝒂𝒄𝒕𝒊𝒄𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒚  𝒋𝒖𝒎𝒑𝒊𝒏𝒈  𝒊𝒏𝒕𝒐  𝒉𝒆𝒓  𝒂𝒓𝒎𝒔,  gamon  happily  scooping  it  up  but  letting  the  worry  set  on  her  face.  looking  around  the  town  square,  she  had  to  take  a  chance  on  asking  someone.  the  redhead  walked  around  a  bit  before  stopping  at  the  first  person,  "  hey,  is  this  your  pup?  "  she  held  up  the  dog,  smiling  as  it  tried  to  lick  at  her  face.  "  they  were  just  wandering  into  the  street  and  i  got  worried.  "

                      𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒊𝒓  𝒕𝒂𝒃𝒍𝒆  𝒘𝒂𝒔  𝒒𝒖𝒊𝒆𝒕,  𝒂  𝒄𝒐𝒖𝒑𝒍𝒆  𝒔𝒐𝒇𝒕  𝒎𝒐𝒎𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒔  𝒑𝒂𝒔𝒔𝒊𝒏𝒈,  before  gamon  spoke  up  to  break  the  silence  again.  even  if  they  weren't  super  close,  they  were  building  some  sort  of  friendship...  right?  "  do  you  ever  get  uncomfortable  at  the  idea  of  robots  being  able  to  think?  i  read  this  article  online  about  how  people  actually  fear  it..  do  you  think  they're  scared  of  an  uprising  or  something  like  that?  "

                      𝒈𝒂𝒎𝒐𝒏  𝒘𝒂𝒔  𝒂  𝒍𝒊𝒕𝒕𝒍𝒆  𝒆𝒎𝒃𝒂𝒓𝒓𝒂𝒔𝒔𝒆𝒅.  there  was  six  months  of  living  in  that  town  under  her  belt  and  she  was  still  sometimes  lost,  not  like  it  was  even  a  very  big  town.  it's  just  that  everyone  knew  everything  so  rarely  any  of  the  buildings  had  signs.  you  were  just  supposed  to  know  these  things.  "  i'm  sorry  to  bother,  can  you  point  me  in  the  direction  of  the  post  office?  "

                       𝒕𝒉𝒆  𝒅𝒊𝒏𝒆𝒓  𝒘𝒂𝒔  𝒃𝒖𝒔𝒚,  𝒃𝒖𝒕  𝒈𝒂𝒎𝒐𝒏  𝒘𝒂𝒔  𝒍𝒖𝒄𝒌𝒚  𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕  𝒊𝒕  𝒘𝒂𝒔  𝒉𝒆𝒓  𝒅𝒂𝒚  𝒐𝒇𝒇.  she  took  at  seat  at  the  counter  so  that  the  waitresses  wouldn't  have  to  worry  about  her  as  much.  looking  next  to  her,  she  recognized  the  person  sitting  next  to  her  slightly  from  them  coming  into  the  diner  before  while  she  was  working.  "  hey  there,  hope  you  don't  mind  that  i  took  this  seat.  it's  my  day  off  so  i  get  to  eat.  "

                        𝒕𝒉𝒆  𝒄𝒐𝒇𝒇𝒆𝒆  𝒃𝒖𝒓𝒏𝒆𝒅  𝒕𝒉𝒆  𝒓𝒐𝒐𝒇  𝒐𝒇  𝒉𝒆𝒓  𝒎𝒐𝒖𝒕𝒉  𝒂𝒔  𝒈𝒂𝒎𝒐𝒏  𝒕𝒐𝒐𝒌  𝒂  𝒔𝒊𝒑,  a  small  hiss  coming  out  of  her  mouth  as  it  did.  "  jesus  mary  and  joseph,  that  is  hot  as  all  get  out.  "  the  redhead  shook  her  head,  trying  to  take  another  brave  sip  before  making  a  face.  "  okay,  fine.  i  won't  be  drinking  that  any  time  soon.  "  a  small  sigh  escaped  her  lips  before  looking  across  the  table,  "  thank  you  for  asking  me  to  coffee.  it's  nice  that  someone  offered  this.  it's  been  a  little  lonely  being  new  in  town.  "

                        𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆  𝒘𝒂𝒔𝒏'𝒕  𝒎𝒖𝒄𝒉  𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕  𝒈𝒂𝒎𝒐𝒏  𝒉𝒂𝒅  𝒐𝒏  𝒕𝒉𝒆  𝒂𝒈𝒆𝒏𝒅𝒂  𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕  𝒅𝒂𝒚  𝒃𝒆𝒔𝒊𝒅𝒆𝒔  𝒍𝒂𝒚𝒊𝒏𝒈  𝒊𝒏  𝒕𝒉𝒆  𝒈𝒓𝒂𝒔𝒔.  the  blanket  was  soft  under  her,  her  eyes  closed  as  the  sun  beat  down,  and  she  felt  at  peace.  more  so  than  she  had  in  months.  there  is  just  small  moments  in  the  world  she  had  to  be  grateful  for,  including  right  now.  "  you  know  my  mom  used  to  say,  all  that  matters  is  that  you're  alive  and  well.  i  feel  like  as  i  get  older,  i  really  understand  that.  what  do  you  think?  "

                         𝒕𝒉𝒆  𝒕𝒐𝒘𝒏  𝒔𝒒𝒖𝒂𝒓𝒆  𝒘𝒂𝒔  𝒐𝒏𝒆  𝒐𝒇  𝒈𝒂𝒎𝒐𝒏'𝒔  𝒑𝒍𝒂𝒄𝒆𝒔  𝒕𝒐  𝒑𝒂𝒔𝒔  𝒕𝒊𝒎𝒆.  the  noise  of  people  walking  through  and  how  kind  everyone  seemed  to  be.  it  was  a  good  little  town  even  with  the  layer  of  mystery  that  she  wanted  to  uncover  there.  the  benches  were  all  full,  much  to  her  chagrin,  but  she  was  happy  to  see  one  with  just  a  single  male  sitting  there.  that  was  probably  her  best  bet,  "  i'm  sorry  to  ask..  "  she  put  on  her  best  smile,  trying  to  appear  as  kind  as  she  was.  "  do  you  mind  if  i  sit?  i  promise  i'll  just  read  my  book,  all  the  other  benches  are  taken.  "