flightless bird

OPEN START: @wilmingtonstarters​ LOCATION, DATE & TIME: the hideaway, saturday, 3/28, 11pm

Jacob had gotten into a rhythm working security at the Hideaway. It wasn’t a solid gig - he filled in when he was needed, and most of the time, he knew it was just an excuse for Bree to spend time with him, but he didn’t mind. With his trailer destroyed and the beach house needing a new roof, he’d been holed up in Katie Lynn’s apartment, and while he’d hadn’t been especially hard-pressed to purchase a new truck (as he’d lost his during the hurricane) and get back to his full-time job as a plumber, he was still more than happy to come and spend a few hours making sure no one got too rowdy at the bar. Presently posed at the door checking I.D.s, Jacob would pause over the one thrust in his hand, raising a brow as he looked up to the owner. “I’ve already kicked out four assholes trying to live it up during spring break. You’re not going to be the next, are you?” It was unclear, truly, whether or not Jacob was joking. One might suppose that was the point.

If Elena had been considered something of an extrovert before, it certainly didn’t hail in comparison to now. Her inability to stay in her apartment for longer than a few hours at a time was growing thin, her sleep suffering and truly, she couldn’t comprehend why considering she’d been so far removed from the destruction of the hurricane in the weeks before hand. The need to surround herself by people, by noise and the familiarity of normalcy had brought her to the hideaway after a few drinks with some of the girls in her building. Jacob’s rough voice enough to draw an easy roll of her eyes, “When was the last time you even heard of me being kicked out?” She didn’t often cause problems, and generally.. when and if she was involved in something, she was later considered too innocent looking to have been the cause and generally let off the hook. Not that she’d expect it every time, but Elena simply wasn’t the type in the first place. “C’mon, Jake.”

After everything, Elena might have like to think she was shocked when after two hours of already being in the office that morning, Sam was yet to show up. Not immediately worrying, but certainly out of sorts for the him in the length of time she’d worked for him. With everything that had swept the town from it’s feet, it was perhaps a little more understandable and kept her from taking too many drastic measures. After several unanswered phone calls, Elena went the extra step to move around the remainder of his meetings and conference calls for the next two days, forwarding everything else to her own cell, she left with the full intention of stopping by his place before calling around to see if anyone had heard from him.  Despite having her own key for emergencies and those times she’d taken up the spare room after late nights, Elena knocked several times to no avail. Questionable, considering his car was still sitting in the drive. With the internal agreement that she’d just pop her head in to check, she let herself in and lingered a little in the front foyer, “Sam? Sam, you here?” Noise from deeper within the house bringing a simple sigh of patent relief as she made her way towards the kitchen, heels clicking against the flooring loudly. “I tried to call you when you didn’t show this morning..”

                       She was still jumping out of her own damn skin. Every little sound had her wary, an innocent wail of a child across the room had her quickly tending to her quiet daughter, and that scream of the tea kettle on the stove behind the counter? Lord. Naomi would remind herself that not only had their beloved town been through a great amount of tragedy, something they all still were recovering from, so had she. She wondered if her cousin was having any luck sleeping as of late as for her? She got more shut eye when Raelynn was first born than she was getting now. “Oh, goodness, I’m so──” Naomi’s hands immediately reached out to balance herself when a shoulder collided with another familiar figure right outside of the reopened Bespoke, then moved to adjust the planner and bag she balanced in one elbow. “Sorry. I clearly have my head in the clouds today.”  

                      Letting out a puff of air in frustration, Weston ran his hand over his head while the other gripped onto the handle rail near the marina. He didn’t do will sitting idle. Never one to stand still, never one sit out when it was all hands on deck. With Wilmington in a state of recovery since Hurricane Selena hit plenty places had to undergo a bit of cosmetic work and the marina had been one of them, with numerous docks and pilings broken down during the storm. “You come bearing gifts?” He asked the person beside him that had just rounded the corner, at least putting on a little bit of a light mood when they came with a sack, sure enough lunch for the work crew. He couldn’t be doing much heavy lifting with the risk of his stitches flaring and with that awful limp he still had in his balance… but he was still there and present. “The boys are gonna love you.”

Sitting down at the first table she saw in the cafe with available chairs, Ember sighed before taking a long sip of her drink. “Do you ever wonder if maybe people just.. y’know, all get together one night and decide ‘hey, I’m going to be an asshole tomorrow for absolutely no reason’? I.. I’m pretty sure they do, because today has been full of grumpy, grumpy people, they.. they definitely had an asshole meeting last night, and everyone was invited except me, apparently. I hate this day,” she rambled quickly, looking up to the other person. “Sorry. Ignore me. Go back to your drink, I can be quiet, I promise.”

The streaming cacophony of noise within the cafe was what kept her there so long, streamlining caffeine like it was running out. It wasn’t as if she’d come here for any other reason than to drown out the sound of silence within her apartment, the restlessness that seemed to have dug in beneath her skin left her with a the very confronting possibility of loneliness. “It’s the full moon,” Elena chimed in, “I mean..-- that’s a bit of a cop out, but if you’re looking for a reason that’s a place to start, that and people are genuinely just.. assholes.” Even though she was the one selling the notion, she knew it was believable enough. “No, it’s okay. I don’t mind hearing about it, saves me from becoming the next grumpy asshole at least. Rough day?”

Location: Charlotte Hospital Emergency Room. date: tuesday 10th

“You’re doing it again.” Elena muttered beneath her breath, not willing to make too much of a scene among those waiting, however, the incessant sound of Sam pacing back an forth before her was enough to drive a nun to insanity. While stream lining candy might have been bad enough, the smell of another bag of skittles alone might have tipped her over the edge, the pacing had always bothered her. Where she might have seen his worry the moment he’d received the phone call, Elena had been well aware that it lingered well before hand. Too close to the man after so many year to not understand the small, near impossible to notice ticks that told her how deeply buried his concern for others lay. “Come on,” she stood, slinging her bag over her shoulder, “You need air.” Statement, not a question as she looked up at him, pointedly. “The nurse has my number, she’ll call if anything happens. You can spare five minutes.” 

“You’re not even going to attempt to give me a good name, at least?” Carlos was glad that she could have the confidence to tease him despite the fact that they’d only truly hung out once before. It was the thing about her that had most drawn him in when they first spoke and it was a nice reminder now that there was still some level of interest, at least for him. Sure, he could hope that it was mutual but he had also always been a rather realistic man. With eyes full of curiosity and wonder, he watched her closely as she spoke, knowing that she was watching him with perhaps as much apprehension. 

“Right. The game.” As he spoke he nodded towards the giant television screen behind them. He himself wasn’t truly fond of watching sports but he wouldn’t be surprised if she was since there was little that he actually knew about her and thus far she’d proven to be a rather interesting person. “You’re definitely not intruding on anything other than me being alone with my thoughts.” He reassured her. “Besides, I’d love to hear all about what you’ve been up to.” 

“I thought cats hated water,” the irritation within her voice one that was pointed and not nearly directed at a passerby, not while she glared upwards at the ginger cat clawing at the branch of a tree. It was truly, a hate-hate relationship, the elderly woman upstairs always insisting on allowing the ginger demon to perch on the fire exit below and meow to it’s own hearts content while Elena just tried to get through another impossibly early morning with that sound ringing in her ears. And the mice? God, the mice it left at her window. “Come on you little..--- if I have to listen to your ma’ cry and moan because you’re out here in this weather I’m probably gonna’ end up in handcuffs or something.” The woman upstairs, however irritating on her worst days, was still one of the nicer neighbors she had and when she’d refused to come out in the ongoing rain and pleaded with Elena to try and bring her cat inside. It’d been like swallowing nails. Now, stood outside in the street, soaked to the bone and irate. “I can’t afford to pay my own bail, I can only just afford to live here.. so.. quit being an asshole and come down..” Animals, she loved. But cats? Oh, those, she’d never find in her to understand. As if there weren’t enough asshole humans around,.. “- I promise I’ll stop calling you satan. How’s demon sound? You like that a little more?” Impossibly so, Elena would swear black and blue that he simply knew the longer he waited to come down, the more it’d annoy her. The malicious intention of a making her miserable, clearly something set out ahead of time and perhaps the storm was just a bonus. Groaning, she moved a little closer to the tree, looking for a vantage point, “---You’re gonna’ make me come up there, aren’t you? You’re really gonna’ try me like this, huh?” 

locatated at beespoke coffee & dry goods. open to everyone ( @wilmingtonstarters​ ).

           Mayor Carson have advised our residents not to panic…. Remain indoors… The  sound of one Kevin Hoffman was easily heard through a busy coffee shop, especially as everyone stopped in order to pay attention to what was said. She didn’t blame the murmur that came afterwards— what did that mean for the people of Wilmington. Her eyebrows furrowed as she lowered her sigh to the phone she had in hand and started Googling for some information pertaining to Charlotte, she had not been there in years, but it was still the place she had been born. Her mother and father were buried there somewhere. She didn’t want it to be taken down by a storm, no matter how she insisted she didn’t have anymore ties to that place. After scanning a few words and sighing loudly, Corinne took a sip from her steaming hot coffee and wondered if Taylor was worried about her. Should she pick up if he called again? Probably not, maybe she could ask her parents to give him some news ( the adoptive, alive ones, not the dead ones ) or maybe Katie could help her with this. She raised her eyes to the TV again and it was talking about possible evacuation plans. “This is ridiculous— can you believe that? They speak about evacuation plans and don’t want people to panic… it’s counterproductive.” Corinne spoke to no one in particular, and scoffed, shaking her head.

While she’d never quite found herself in the oncoming throng of a possible panic, she knew the feeling well enough to simply feel it from those around her as they listened in on the tv broadcast. Kevin’s familiar voice somehow made it a little less threatening to her, then again her entire history with mild panic, fell on the shoulders of her parents. Without them around, it felt strange to feel anything other than wandering curiosity. “Think they’d panic no matter what they were told,” She shrugged, noting far too easily in her own mind that the Mayor had insisted that people not panic -- and what was wrong with a little more time spent inside? It was beyond her. “They’d be demonized no matter what they told people, regardless of the outcome..--- Guess they’ve gotta say something.”

The bake sale. How could he have forgotten about the bake sale? He’d signed up a month ago when Mrs. Daniels has approached him in the pick-up line, Sophie practically buzzing with excitement about the fundraiser for their next field trip, but it had always felt like a distant, far-off prospect. But now, quite suddenly, by Miles estimation, the day was here - and he had nothing to show for it… 

“I’m dead,” Miles proclaimed, rubbing at his temples to try to release the pressure from the stress headache he could feel coming on. “Where am I going to get three dozen allergen-free cupcakes in the next three hours?” 

Watching Miles stress out was only... mildly cathartic. The mildly amusing opportunity only willing to remind her that whatever stress she’d felt that morning when she’d woken up, didn’t surmount to that with closed in on all sides of him now. Instead, she sat, legs dangling from the counter with a bag of veggie crisps sat comfortably in her lap as she slowly but surely picked away at them. “Dude,” an audible crunch settled as she threw another one into her mouth, “Go buy them.” She shrugged. Her mother had never taught her to bake -- then again, her mother hadn’t taught her a whole lot more that she actually remembered beyond, how to extort thousands of people out of their money, but that was neither here nor there. “Who’s gonna’ know they’re not allergen free? Who the fuck has time for that in the first place?”

Aspen really needed to take the edge off. She had to work a double shift today at the restaurant and though it meant more tips, it also meant double of the bitchy customers. She had to bite her tongue multiple times. She had promised her friend that she would go out for drinks, but her friend had already left the bar by the time Aspen had arrived. She had ordered herself a Ballast Point Pineapple IPA, something to sip on but nothing to get her too drunk. She examined the bar, noticing a huge Connect Four in the middle of the game room. She scanned for anyone willing to be her enemy for a couple of minutes. She approached someone, “Hey, sorry to bother you, but do you wanna play Connect Four with me? I’ll get you a drink if you win.” 

@wilmingtonstarters​

Owen laughed at her comment, settling more comfortably into his seat. “I still got mine, y’know. ‘Bout five years older than I am — you know, ‘cause you don’t wanna be twenty-one on the ID, that’s suspicious — and it had my high school headshots. You know what I looked like in high school? Not twenty-fucking-four.” He’d always been tall for his age, but the muscle and the facial hair came later. Way later. “S’long as you bring my mother or one’a my aunt’s flowers, that’s your invitation. They’re a sucker for pretty girls who bring ‘em gifts.” He teased, though it wasn’t exactly a joke. Owen couldn’t count the amount of friends and former girlfriends who’d fallen into his family’s good graces from such a small gesture. “C’mon, that sounds plenty. You always sell yourself short? Bet none of ‘em would be reruns to me — you know the last time I sat down to watch a tv show? S’been a hot minute. I’ve got a hard time sittin’ still.” He shrugged. “Speaking of which, we gonna hit the dance floor at some point? I’m gettin’ antsy here, Flores.”

“Five years? I see, I see..-- you were clearly just hoping for the thrill of getting caught.” Elena laughed, unable to really picture Owen young. “I need to see this, I need evidence of you being some twink with a fake ID. You’re showing me that.” Lithe fingertip extended in pointed fashion, a hint that she wasn’t going to forget and he couldn’t get out of showing her either. “As long as that somehow guarantees me an unofficial adoption into this alcohol fueled family of yours even if it’s just to watch, I’m all in. I’ll bring as many flowers ass my tiny ass can hold.” Truly, it was.. a heart sore for her, the idea of a big family all together. The noise, the smells, the sheer amount of love, left Elena with an ache in her chest knowing what possibility she might have once had in having that, was shattered. “Yes. Absolutely. -- just so I can listen to people blow smoke up my ass and inflate my ego a little more by talking up how social my life must be.” It was but.. not everyone held much agreement with the idea of a woman so busy, wasting what was left of her time out at bars. “I get it though, I’m not saying I’ve watched the reruns.. just that they’ve been playing, but come on Mr Busy body, if you can’t sit still, maybe I’ve missed more with you than you’re letting on.” Half the time she was buried in her own work, or nursing a hangover from the previous nights antics. Elena not nearly one to sit still either. “Ohhh,” she emptied her glass quickly, fingertip wiping at the corner of her mouth as her hips shifted to find the rhythm of music, her other hand tapping at the bar to hurry him up. “Let’s go then, I gotta know whether you’ve got two left feet or not.”

          “Vibe?” He questioned further, before scoffing at the sheer suggestion. He sure as hell didn’t have any fucking ‘vibe’. Or, so he had assumed in his eyes, of course. Not that there was anything wrong with it, but he sure as hell knew he attracted women. Sure, a few guys had given it a good go, but alas, he was as straight as they came. “You can eat your fucking words, Flores, trust me. You and I both know how straight I am, but she doesn’t need to know that.” And hell, she clearly thought he was into women, by the obvious glances and desperate attempts to grasp his attention, which had unfortunately failed. “Just hurry up and get rid of her, alright?” He shook his head slightly before shuffling on his feet to avoid her eye contact once more, this time looking down to his beer before taking another swig of the cool liquid. “I’ll take the compliment on my dress sense, but that’s about it.” He really did know how to style himself, at least, if not much else could be praised. “Now, are you gonna bite your tongue, and get this sorted, or shall we just go ahead and get outta here?”

“Vibe,” repeated if only to further taunt him knowing that he was far from what she mockingly claimed of him in retrospect of the woman who couldn’t find it in her to look beyond Everett entirely. Elena held absolutely no doubt at all in her mind when it came to his sexuality - a fact he’d proved well and truly over time. “I mean, I guess I know,” the sweet, near saccharine tilt of her voice paints a near mirror image of innocence as she cants her head and turns a little more to face him. “What? You can’t walk over there and tell her you’re not interested yourself? You’re gonna’ stand there and ask me to do all the dirty work for you? What kind of woman do you think I am?” She was, in fact, that woman. Noted far too easily as she stepped into him, hooking a finger into the loop of his jeans to tug him a little closer, fingertips soon trailing up across his chest until they lingered along the sharp edge of his jawline. “I was joking,” The softened breath of her voice taunting as ever, “About your dress sense. It really sucks and you should probably opt to avoid clothes altogether.” 

“I really wish I was one of those people that could actually lick their elbow. You remember in school when some smart ass little shit tried to convince everyone it was impossible and then one contortionist kid proved them wrong? I was always the idiot trying knowing I couldn’t do it. But seriously? I just thought I’d be more than this. No idea what, just.. – more.”

“Giving up on my parents? Are you fucking insane? We’re talking about the same people right? I spent my whole life thinking that my parents were absolute saints only to find out they’d risked everything and lost other peoples money and livelihood, just to stay in the good graces of people that they shouldn’t have had a damn thing to do with in the first place? Do you know how long it took for me to get people to stop looking at me like I was them? I never gave up on them. I tried – I really did try to fix all the things they broke, but I never saw them making much of an effort to keep me from being part of that damage. So if you wanna’ talk to me about who gave up on who, remember that they were the ones who were meant to protect me, not the other way around.”