what's wrong with me?

Nothing that’s spitting out of Thea’s mouth impresses her. Every whining, hoping, reaching syllable is being pushed off of a cliff when it reaches her ears. She does everything but hold her hand up to physically stop her from speaking. After cutting her off yet again, she opens her mouth to speak with the same authority a queen would have over a peasant on the streets. “I didn’t choose the length of the punishment. If you have a problem with it I’m sure the mayor would love to chat with you about this whole thing, he took it all very seriously.” She looks right at her as she speaks, making it almost a threat. “Great, many people have those skills. I suppose you could file some paperwork and do some editing for me.” Not that she was going to make any of these seemingly simple tasks easy. “When are you available?” 

If there was one thing Dera was, it was patient, and she had no problem waiting outside Thea’s door, progressively growing more distracted  by minuscule things the longer it took to get a response. Finally, she heard her voice and nearly cheered in delight, though after all the noise she had made, Thea’s neighbors already wanted to kill her. It might be best not to give them another reason. Calling through the door, immediately disregarding her previous thought of not further bothering the poor people trying to sleep. “Hurry, we’re going to miss the best hours!” 

Thea slips through the door and Dera entire body relaxes, though she wasn’t aware that she had been tense at all. Thea had been doing….more questionable things as of late, and there were moments that Dera worried she was loosing her. Just brief flashes of insecurity that were remedied by adventures like this. With a smile that bordered on proud, she replied, “I did! They grow increasingly poetic the more I sent, so you should read them when you have a chance. I don’t use iambic pentameter for just anybody.” By no measure was Dera a poet, so in reality they were just shitty lines sent to harass Thea that happened to follow a pattern. The idea of food lit Dera up and without hesitation she stalked into Thea home, immediately seeking out the pantry. Did they need food? No. Did she want food? Yes. This was the simple fact that governed her as she grabbed whatever snacks screamed out at her, asking “Is this ok?” Then without waiting for a response, “I’ll pay you back of course! Also, do you want to drive or bike? This place is kinda on the edge of town so we have a bit of a journey ahead of us.”

“I have no idea what you just said, but I’m sure it was beautiful. One of these days I’m going to print out all of our text threads and make a book out of it. Or maybe just yours, I’m not sure anyone would pay money to read me talk non-stop about Zac and other boys while sleep deprived and possibly high.” Thea laughs and slips her phone in her back pocket so she can finish packing for their adventure for the night. She never fully understands Dera, to be honest, but that’s part of her charm in a way. All the drama and the ghosts, all the mystery and the poems. It’s fun. It’s like being best friends with someone who time traveled from the 1810s or something, it’s been like that since they were kids. 

Denna bit down her bottom lip, trying so hard to keep the next words from leaving her mouth, to no avail. “Technically you put yourself there. If you hadn’t tried to cheat, not only you wouldn’t have gone to jail, but your friend would have actually won. I think the latter is even more of a lesson than the jail part, if you ask me.” She only shrugged next, knowing very well it was too late to take it back. Her next question, however, paralysed for a second. Of course she had seen them, she had been backstage as well. This was serious, this was a lot, this was exactly what she had been fearing all along, and now it was a reality. She could play dumb, but she knew people like Thea enough to realise that that would only make it worse. It took one to know one, and perhaps she was exactly like the girl next to her. Naivety trying to become something else. “What do you want?”, she said. 

Easy. Almost too easy. He would feel bad if he hadn’t done this a thousand times before. She seems way too naive, but if she really wants to play on the big leagues, well, there’s no better teacher than he is. Flashing a charming smile, he keeps his arm around her waist as he guides her through the club towards his group of people. Everyone’s comfortably located at the Olympians’ private booth, free drinks all night - bless Heath, and himself, of course, since his money is here as well. “Guys, this is Thea.” his tone is casual, amused even. “Of course you know Will and Pietro.” Willem is too distracted to notice, but Pietro definitely rolls his eyes. Zac only hopes he won’t tell Naia or something and fuck this thing up completely. He then sits at the table, pulling her down to sit on his lap. “Tell me beautiful, what would you like to drink?”

location: oracle diner date: june 20th status: open

It was getting late out and Preston had just finished up streaming a long session of playing Fortnite. It wasn’t really his favorite but it was what was popular now and a lot of people were asking for it so who was he to deny them? He managed to pull off a couple of wins too, boosting his ego a fair bit. As he stretched in his chair, he heard his joints pop. While Stay Hydrated Bot kept him hydrated, he was starving. What he really wanted was a chocolate milkshake, so that meant he was going to make his way to Oracle get one. He didn’t really want to go by himself so he sent off a couple of messages to see if anyone was up for going. If not, he didn’t care but some company would definitely be welcome.

It didn’t take him long before he had made his way there. He didn’t see any cars he recognized so he just made his way inside. He took a spot close to the front of the diner. That way if he saw anyone, even if he didn’t text them, he could call out to them as they walked by. It was only a few more minutes before he saw someone. “Hey! Over here!”

mount wells’ public library  // june 18th // 4:07pm // open

He’s minding his own business for the most part, just having finished with a student and waiting around an hour for the next one. During the year he liked to hold tutoring sessions on the MWU campus, but in the summer kids didn’t need that kind of intimidation. So he moved to the library, less scary and definitely not filled with stressed out university kids working through the hot months. He’s up going through the shelves of books when he abruptly turns around, assuming no one else would be inside on a day like this. This ends in smacking into the other person, harder than someone should by accident. 

“Ah fuck! I’m sorry, wasn’t trying to take you out I swear. Didn’t bruise anything did I?” 

“Thank you.” She does take the muffin. Ideally, she’d like to come right out and tell this girl that she wasn’t that bright, just liked receiving compliments –making her somehow Zac’s perfect archetype. An archetype he would use up like an old tube of toothpaste. She hardly cared about to warn her. If you were that naive you deserved it. He’d drop her in a week, she knew that but that didn’t mean for a moment that it didn’t piss her off. There was nothing special about this girl. “Good, can’t imagine why you wouldn’t be okay with it. You do realize how consequences work don’t you?” She doesn’t bother waiting for an answer. “Anyway, it will be three months of volunteering. I have a couple questions though. What are your strengths? ”

She had just come in for some ice cream. Chocolate or maybe cookies n’ cream, it didn’t matter. Somewhere between looking for the unhealthy snack in the frozen aisle and thinking about the disastrous week she had been having (okay, perhaps the shots of tequila at the bar had some influence too), Naia simply lost it. Hot tears fell down her face and it wasn’t until the other woman spoke up that the designer realized she wasn’t alone. “No, no. I’m fine,” she lied, wiping some of the tears away. “I’ve just got something in my eyes. Maybe it’s too cold in here.”

Location: Abandoned House Date: june 12th, 1:17 Status: closed @crawfordthea​ Prompt: ♖ thea and dera try to break into a place in the middle of the night.

Like in all older towns there were a variety of dilapidated houses with their share of stories speckled about. As a child she would listen to all the urban myths that children would whisper to each other in hushed tones, even if most turned out to be fake. As she grew, her attention drifted from what other children said, to what adults whispered. Bad luck resonated around this house they said. Five couples in seven years, had to be some kind of record they said. Naturally all of this made Dera fascinated. The last couple had moved there to live out their retirement, but had sadly died of old age within a year of moving in. It was the exact type of place that Ghost Hunters would be interested in, making it the place that Dera wanted to be in. It was on the market again for sale and during an open house Dera had taken the time to scope the old place out. She had made sure a second story window was unlocked, and just hoped that the realtor didn’t notice when they were locking up.

After the disaster that was the Miss Mount Wells Pageant, Dera decided that her and Thea needed to spend some time together and communing with spirits seemed like a perfect excuse. Dera wasn’t the type of person to force people to talk, so she wasn’t going to push Thea into a conversation about what happened, but some time together would do them both good. It started with a series of incessant texts to Thea, and then she showed up on Thea’s doorstep at one in the morning. She rapped her knuckles on the door, “Thea!” She called, “Thea, I need you! It’s time to go break into private property!” 

“Oh for fuck’s sake...” Thea sits up, taking off her cooling mask and moving to the front door. She’s been avoiding texts and people as much as she could all day, trying to ignore whatever fake concerned probably mocking shit people sent her way. Because they’re going to forget about her going to jail anyway, people in this town always do. They might not be interesting enough to have big scandals like this one every weekend, but they are boring enough to have other things to worry about. Like their jobs, or their scholarships, or their business, or their whatever the hell people who spent as much time as Sebastian from The Little Mermaid on the beach did.

Zac is passionate, he always has been, and he isn’t afraid to show it. The moment he notices she’s relaxing into the kiss, his other arm snakes around her waist, pulling her even closer. Some place behind them, a loud cheer suddenly erupts. Damn, he hopes Rhiannon isn’t here, or none of these people dare to tell her about this. Otherwise, Thea is fucked. She’s the sheriff’s daughter, though, so that must give her some kind of protection, right? Or maybe he just doesn’t care that much. Both his hands move to her hips, asking for silent permission to move forward. “Nice.” He whispers, pulling back but only a few inches. “My friends are over there. Do you want to go meet them?” Never for even a second he stops to think she might be with someone else there, some of her own friends. They’re not as important as he is after all, right?

“Okay.”, Denna replies, leaving any second part of that sentence lingering in silence. She couldn’t shake off the feeling that Thea has something up her sleeve, and that there is no way she’s being this nice for no reason. Still, she doesn’t let her paranoia get the best of her and climbs into the taxi. As soon as the other girl speaks again though, she realises she’s fallen into a trap. Thea’s address is not that close to her home, but it’s actually on the way, so at least that’s something. “What things?”, is the first thing she says. “Uhm, fine, I guess? What about yours?” Bad question, journalist. 

Rhiannon doesn’t bat an eye at the suddenly very small girl stuttering beside her (though it was absolutely her intention to achieve this effect). She already had a vendetta against the girl, simply due to the fact that she was cute –the Zac interest simply pushed it over the top. “Sure.” It’s quick, like a bowling ball slipping out of your hand. She hands Thea the drink, assuming she would continue standing there waiting for her own. “While you’re here I guess we should discuss what kind of work you can do for me –well Reach Out and Read.” Technically. “I’ll be over there.” She points vaguely to the right side of the room, taking her drink back without warning (could she really handle two at once?)