Open Starters

Thank God it was sunny and nice out today. Alvaro had really had it with the cold Chicago winters, and even into May, it proved to be quite cold, but today? Today was a warm, sunny day and he was pleased with it, especially after what had happened at the art gallery. He had a few tips on who had started things, knowing the Walshes had gotten in over their head with some other gangs, but he couldn’t connect all of the pieces yet. He was determined to, but he also knew he had to take care of his mental health too. The Lincoln Park Zoo was a great place to do that, something he loved to do with his late husband and his granddaughter. It was a good distraction, as he breathed in the nice air and looked at the lions, smiling. 

the events of the art gallery replayed in her mind, the smoke entering her lungs while she longed for an escape before she was crushed under the rubble. she made it out as quick as she could, trying her best to use the fabric on her dress to keep the passageway to her throat clear. despite all her efforts, after her rescue it was encouraged for the blonde to stay the night for observation — but she wasn’t the priority. “just tell me if he’s here, keeping this from me isn’t going to help!” she huffed, ignoring all of her doctor’s attempts to keep her mind on anything that wasn’t her brother’s well being. it wasn’t like cyrus to not check in, especially after an explosion like that — something wasn’t right and she couldn’t be left to sit here and wait. the doctor took off down the hallway and audrey quickly began fumbling with the iv in her hand, it had to come out — it had to come out now. 

even though she had only been in the states for a month and some change, tatiana found a few places to go and have a decent drink with even better company. the russian was able to knock back shots of vodka like a champ, and figured things would be more fun if she had someone to do them with. she only had 2 shots in her when she settled on sipping on a screwdriver, or whatever the bartender called it. with luck on her side, someone sat right beside her and thats when she decided to make her move. she motioned to the bartender to catch their attention before looking at the person beside her, “whatever they order, it’s on me.”

open to: everyone ( @crimsonstarters​ )

so either the walsh’s had lured everyone into yet another trap– or someone else had ideas of revenge. either way if she were honest with herself, katerina was a little bit impressed. fire and things going boom? those were some of her favourite ways to go about things. bigger numbers, more anonymity. she hadn’t been dumb enough to trust the night, keeping people on her at all times, her own people having smuggled in their own weapons to make sure the vasile princess wasn’t seen with one herself.

all of that out the door now as she swiped the gun off the body of one of her own men. she didn’t have time to grieve– no it was time to get out of the on fire building, and find some safety from the bullets that seemed to be flying everywhere. a graze against her own arm, but not enough to stop the brunette as she shuffled towards an exit, trying not to draw attention to herself. at least not until she noticed a living person near her, holding up her own weapon. the smoke thick, it was hard to tell if they were friend or foe. “unless you have a way out, don’t come any closer.”

hand waving in front of her face to push the stink of smoke away, evelina coughed in annoyance, holding a useless painting over her head to catch any stray flakes of drywall as they cascaded down. bombings were too dramatic for her liking; evelina enjoyed the stalk of her pray and the surprise of her kill. clearing out rooms and rooms felt superfluous; in her mind, it was more fun to pick them off one at a time, using the party as a distraction to end whoever she wanted whenever the opportunity struck. everybody loved a good murder mystery, after all.

stepping over a severed limb, cautious of the spread of blood on her shoes, evelina meandered toward the back corridor, humming under her breath. she coughed again, sensing a presence behind her. dagger sheathed inside the corseted bodice of her dress, evelina rested her hand over it, lifting her chin. “there is no exit. go play somewhere else.” 

   the movies got the suddenness on point; the unexpected events like these don’t come with a warning. they were laughing, even the bartender smiling enjoying the conversation when like a window being blown open everything stopped. glass shattered as he fell, the blood reached so far she felt it on her face. no matter the endless conversations about guns or countless scenes just like this it never prepared you for the first time. jj froze like a mannequin, everything sounded underwater for a few seconds; screaming, more sounds of things breaking and a faint ringing that slowly got louder till she remembered her place.

   her heart picked up speed but nothing came out of her mouth, her mind was blank but also ran a mile a minute on what to do. what should she do? find safety? help people? the room swarmed with people panicking on the outside, while she felt the chaos within. the mans body faintly in her sight keeping the feeling swarming. “f–fuck, what the fuck.”

The piece of mason had splattered a few people by him, and he was caught in a state of shock as he stared at their broken limbs. The dead eyes partly removed from their corpses staring back at him. “I don’t know what we expect anymore. Always crimson and darkness. Right, Speed?” A jagged breath unleashed with the realization as chaos was in a throw around them. The other person’s blood dripped down from his face, but then a much more closer dagger struck his heart. Speedy’s messenger bag sanctuary of the Art institute was crushed under a sphere of wood that came out of the painting frame. “Speedy!” His voice breaks and shrieks with anguish as he rushed to the rubble. Not minding that his form was becoming covered in rubble and crimson while he started to try to move out the sphere covered in blood. “No, no no no no.” He hushed whispered as his voice cracked against the busted foundation.

once upon a time, abraham wished someone would appreciate his art the way these people did, but those days had long since faded. his art was worn with pride, etched into his skin with ink and blood in lines and shades of black and gray. rolling his shoulders, the walsh stood before a painting, it’s swirls of black, yellow, white and scarlet thick against the canvas. the lines were so thick, they cast shadows on the wall beneath it, the track lighting forcing the jagged valleys of the painting to appear deeper than they were. it was purposeful in it’s anger; there was torture in the painting, but total grip of control. glancing at the little accompanying card, he tilted his head, dark streaks of black falling in his vibrant gaze. “damn, this is oil?” he muttered under his breath. “bet this fuckin’ thing took at least a month to dry.” 

Events like this happened sometimes in the city and well, she had a thing for pretty dresses. This, was of course, a secret since she didn’t go around flaunting this fact with her hard exterior and propensity for more stereotypically masculine clothing but she really did enjoy dressing up and going full femme. Plus, some of her friends would be here and that was a nice thing look forward too. She loved art and the stories behind each piece and well, the free alcohol couldn’t hurt either. 

As she walked around, gazing upon the many paintings, statues, and art fixtures, she stopped at one of the many she recognized from her art history classes in college, admiring it. 

“It’s so cool to see these pieces up close, don’t you think?” she asked, directing her comments to the person next to her.

STATUS.  open to anyone !   (  @crimsonstarters​  )

STATUS.  open to anyone !   (  @crimsonstarters​  )

Location: The Art Institute; Outside 

Open to: Everyone | @crimsonstarters​

“Is my mind just playing tricks on me again, or is this bitch actually smirking at me? Staring at me like she knows all my dirty little secrets?” she muttered aloud, her dark hazel eyes narrowed suspiciously at the painting before her, feeling oddly unnerved by the all-knowing look on the painted woman’s face as she stared right back at her. The two of them having what seemed like a very intense staring contest, although it was a contest that Diamond would inevitably lose. “I don’t like it, it’s fucking creepy.”

location; open bar

there used to be a time when zoe really felt like she belonged at these events and she was longing to get back to it. fake it until you make it seemed to be her mantra of the last six months and that night was no different, except that she felt more real and less like she was faking. leaning against the bar she looked around, clearly impressed at what had been put on. “it looks good, don’t you think?” asking the person next to her, “though i’m not sure how an open bar will go around all of these paintings.”

gods rosie had always loved this place, the paintings telling their own stories and the vivid memories of her mother taking her to see them when she was little. of course she’d had no idea that her daughter would fall in love with the stuff and that she would make a career out of art, but it was nice to at least get to think of the good times. standing in front of a painting she could only smile as she felt someone stand next to her, “did you know this actually used to be an olympic sport? they really used to consider being a talented artist to the same level as being an accomplished sportsman.”