𝒅𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒎 𝒐𝒇 𝒑𝒂𝒓𝒂𝒅𝒊𝒔𝒆.

open to: anyone! ( @nightreststarters )

Even though Gracia stopped ballet lesson as a kid, she didn't stop dancing or self-learning. Her place was a little too small for dancing comfortably, and she had to move stuff around to make space, so sometimes, she would head to the dance studio in town and get a room to herself. Something she did whenever she allowed herself to indulge. That way, she had a massive room all to herself so she could lose herself in dancing for a little bit. She's leaving the studio to head back home when she hears a familiar voice. Turning around to see Dom, she smiles, her cheek flushing a light pink. She hadn't see him since the night of the Wild West party, which had ended with a kiss, but she expected this—to not see him soon. "Oh, my notebook." She reaches to take it. It's a small thing, so it must've fallen out of her bag. "Thank you, Dom. I had my grocery shopping list in there, it would've been a disaster without it. I wouldn't have remembered most of the stuff and I'd have had to do it all over again," she rambles a little, shaking her head and mentally face palming. "Anyway. Thank you again... How are you?" She hopes he's doing better than that night.

open starter : @nightreststarters location : get creative besties cause i'm not

Even after what she experienced in Nightrest, Deniz can't give up on all the mystery. It was the only thing she had left that she actively shared with her parents. "I will be fine, don't worry." She was sure she can go back to that house, or maybe pay someone to take pictures. "I have a few stories recorded and ready to go so I'm covered for three weeks while I figure out if I should — talk about what happened here. I know it might upset a lot of people, but I don't do it to earn money on their suffering. People deserve to know their names, you know? So many good people lost their lives here."

"You better not be telling me this to appease me," she warns lightly, a soft smile on her lips. She knows Deniz will most likely not listen. She just hopes she keeps herself out of trouble. "Oh, three weeks. That's great. Good pre-planning! I'm excited to listen to all of them." She pauses a little at Deniz's words. "Yeah, I get that. I know you're not doing it to earn money on their suffering," she reassures her. "That's... that's insensitive, and you're doing it to shed light." Another pause. "I mean... it'll depend on the person. Some people will refuse to talk, some might be more open to do it. You have to be careful, I guess, who and how you ask."

closed \ @graciagallardc \ location : the bookstore

"You're welcomed in my studio any time, Gracia," They mean it - wouldn't have said it if they hadn't; surprisingly sincere when it comes to their art. "Don't think it'll be your fucking - cup of tea, but you can come whenever." While there's some pieces that aren't Viktor's usual... style, most of their art's simply grotesque. Faces etched pain, reaching hands that'll never grasp what they're searching for - blood and gore, tributes to the renaissance era, when it was socially acceptable to paint a man's head being ripped off by his scorned lover. "I'm proud of you - you know how to count," Viktor teases, small grin - unserious, "And I'll be your first - unless you've got someone's etched somewhere I can't see? Fucking scandalous right there, Gracia. I'm hurt at just the fucking - thought. This is our special connection." They know their words hurt - can't help them from dispelling out of them, can see it plain on Gracia's face even though she tries to let it go unseen; the two of them always had that effect on others - intentional pain. "Am I? Is it fucking - juicy? What'd you write? Is it mean? It better be mean - you can't just write about my pretty face." Knows it's just a joke - but presses on anyways, curious to see what she'll say.

"Okay. I'll let you know beforehand when I want to pass by. I don't want to come at a bad time or when you're really busy. I don't want to intrude," she says, rambling on a little. "Well, let me decide that! I'm sure it's good stuff." She smiles. To be fair, even if it truly doesn't end up her cup of tea, Gracia's non judgmental and knows people express themselves in different ways. She playfully scoff at his words. "Don't make fun of me," she says, though, it's all in jest, clear that she's not actually bothered. "No." She laughs, shaking her head. "I don't have a tattoo. It would be my first, if I get it, that is," she reminds him. "Don't worry, I'm not throwing away our special connection." She shakes her head. "I don't talk about your pretty face in there. What I have in there is..." she trails off, stopping for dramatic effect before she grins. "Wait, why should I tell you?"

"What do you mean? I'm being serious." And he is. Except Gracia probably won't believe that, and it won't deter him in the slightest. She's never noticed the way he looks at her, and blatantly checks her out whenever there's a chance, so all of his flirting, of course, goes right over her head. Jae would end up being more taken aback if she took him seriously at this point. "Really? Prove it," Jae says, leaning in just a tiny bit more, a cheeky look painted over his features. "Of course, I'm up for it," he mutters, bringing his hand to hers. Now he'd just not relax thinking about how he had to relax. "Of course, it's not strange. What do you think caused it though? Just so I can make sure it doesn't happen again," Jae asks, as if he doesn't know he's the cause of it. Looking down at her slightly, he shoots only a feeling glance at the sight of her hair before focusing back on her face. "Nope," he says lightly, not moving his hand just yet. It's typical of him to be focused, enough to notice the smallest little changes in her. The way she froze, tensed up, had this panicked little look in her eyes whenever he tried anything too touchy. "You look good, Gracie. Relax. You'll already fail our challenge," Jae says, chuckling and taking her hands into his and pulling them away from her hair.

"Sure you are. I'm not falling for that, Jae. I'm not as gullible anymore," she jokes, reaching to poke his cheek. Maybe she's allowed herself a few seconds to indulge in the crazy possibility that he could truly be serious, and that he's not joking with her like he always does, but it's not the first, or second, or third time Jae jokes with her. They've been friends for so long that this is a norm. It catches her off guard when he leans in. It's her first mistake thinking Jae won't take the opportunity and run with it. "You want to do that now? That feels a little forced..." she says, but brushes it off with a giggle, one that doesn't really ease her increased heart rate, so she goes to open her arms, a sort of challenging invite, grinning at him. "You're about to lose," she sing songs, and she expects Jae to back out. There's a satisfied expression on her face when he agrees to the deal, shaking his hand. "I take my deals very seriously, just so you know," she informs him, a faux serious expression and tone. "Oh, I don't know. I mean, I do know. It's aspiration. Maybe this muffin's out to get me or something, although I put all my love and time into preparing it," she rambles on. She keeps her eyes on him, nods at his words, believing him, because well, Jae had no reason to lie to her, and she's always trusted him. She lets him take he hands and pull them away, not making any action to pull them away because she's too overwhelmed by other things. "I am relaxed." She scoffs. "I'm not losing the challenge. I'll win, you'll see. I wouldn't undermine me if I were you."

Bash nodded in agreement with her and smiled - he truly did find solace and peace in this farm. It was all that he knew, and still he couldn't get enough of it. "Don't be. You're too kind." he said, nudging her with his shoulder. "I think it was just a thing that at the time she needed. I could handle my own, whereas she was dependent on them for everything." he shrugged. That may not have been his true feelings about it, but it was what he let himself believe. "Absolutely! It's amazing. We used to get into heated fights me and that rooster. He'd spook me away some days, and I'd wait up all night just so I could scare him awake the next day." he laughed at the memory, "Oh no? Not like that last time?" he turned to grin at her, "I absolutely don't mind having you around so anytime you feel like dropping on by, just do. Specially after picking out the farm's new mascot, Minnie! Now you got to break the news to George unfortunately. He's time is up." Bash looked towards the animals as he thought about it for a moment. "I guess if you really think about it, but most people don't package and sell their pets, you know? That's be kind of weird. Speaking of where's your pup?"

"That makes sense. Sounds like you two were just very different." And that's not a bad thing at all per se, given she and her sister were on opposite ends of the personality spectrum, and yet that never caused any issues or problems. However, Gracia knows there's no rules and none of this is black or white. She laughs at his words. "No, Bash! Don't get into a heated fight with the rooster. He's a good boy. He's just doing his job!" She looks over at him, laughing again. "Not like last time. I promise." She grins. "Though, I hope you've gotten around to looking your doors before going to bed," she reminds him. There's a gentle, soft smile that forms on her lips. "Okay. Good. Thank you. I love coming here, honestly, so I'm glad I haven't driven you insane or something," she jokes lightly. "Bash." She huffs lightly when he talks about them being 'food'. She scrunches her nose. "Don't talk about them like that around me. Just tell me you love your pets," she adds. "Ollie's inside. He ran around so much and then fell asleep." She giggles. "He's still a baby, so he's got so much energy, but he also sleeps a lot."

Fey 📲 Gracia

"What do you say? Just for a night?" he asks, as if she'd ever agree. Gracia is so shy and innocent in his eyes, Jae can't even fathom a reality where any of his attempts would be successful. Though, it's not to say he hasn't imagined it, in several different ways. "C'mon, Gracie, I think my ego is big enough to handle it. Maybe you're the one who's scared that he'd end up preferring me. I'm a great cuddler,." Jae points out. He rolls his eyes at her counterargument, because any signs of him genuinely flaxing were yet to be seen, especially considering he had a vet to run. He'd never been the kind of person to fold under pressure, maybe because his life had been living constantly under that due to what was expected of him. To be perfect, and great, and whatever bullshit that entailed. Jae knows what it's like to do everything alone, so of course he doesn't want her to live the same way. "You sure? Here, have some water," he says, picking up the glass on the coffee table and handing it to her. He knew his words were usually a bit much, but it was how she fed into his inhibitions that only made him worse. "See why I have to worry about you?" Jae jokes, as if her reaction was something to cause concern, taking the chance to lean in and tuck a stray hair behind her ear.

"Now you're just messing with me!" She laughs it off, even though it's taking every ounce of effort in her to stop herself from imagining it. It's far-fetched—no, impossible—so there's no point to it, even indulging herself in thinking of something ridiculous like that. She wholeheartedly Jae only says these things for the joke of it all, nothing more. She playfully scoffs at his words. "Yeah, I'm a great cuddler, too. I'm not scared." Jae gives great hugs, so she can imagine he's a great cuddler, as well. Anyway. She mentally pulls herself out of her own head back to the topic at hand and focusing on keeping a cool and collected demeanor (even though she's alternating between succeeding and failing, it's giving her a whiplash). The way he rolls his eyes makes her smile. "Okay, listen, I have an idea. How about we both work on relaxing a little. It's fair, no? Whoever fails should do something for the other, what do you say?" She offers her hand as if to seal the challenge. "Unless you're not up for it..." she adds. She takes the glass of water from him. "Thank you. I'm okay! I promise! I mean, I was just coughing. It happens to anyone. It's not strange or anything," she rambles, reaching to drink water to shut herself up. "You don't need to worry about me. I'm still alive," she jokes, and just as she feels like she's come down from that embarrassing moment, he reaches to tuck a loose strand of her hair back. Her eyes are fixed on him, the gesture making her momentarily short circuit. She smiles, forcing herself to break eye contact, hoping he didn't see her freeze like that. "Is my hair a mess?" She absentmindedly reaches to fix it. It's in a messy bun, but she thought it was okay.

"That's always a plus." Issy said, as the grin on her face morphed into giggle which she covered with a hand. She couldn't help but watch Gracia's face as she spoke, the daydream look on her face was enough to make Issy playfully nudge her and tease, "You look so enchanted!" she said, touching her hands to her own cheeks. "You're right, you're right. No need to get ahead of ourselves, but still! I'm so happy for you! Just think about it, we could go on double dates, walk down the isle together, heck we could even have babies together." She had to pause for a moment and let her words sink in before she chuckled, "I'm just kidding, I swear! but that would sounds pretty amazing. Everything except for the babies."

"I'm not enchanted, Issy... I'm just—I don't know, it was a surprising end to my night, that's all," she says, the flush on her cheeks persisting. Surprising in a good way, but surprising nonetheless. When she starts to get ahead of herself, even though it's all jokes, Gracia blinks. "Okay, I need you to slow down." She laughs it off. "Nothing is going to happen. Odds are it was nothing more than a kiss to him. People kiss in parties all the time and most of the time it means nothing." She shrugs, quick to protect herself from unrealistic expectations. It's true she liked to live in her own daydreams as an escape, but she wasn't stupid to neglect reality. "Besides, seeing as how you're already engaged, and I'm, well, very single, and totally okay with that," she adds, just so Issy doesn't try to say anything about that, "you'll be married with babies way before I am." Gracia was good with kids, but it scared her having kids of her own, which was another story and topic entirely.

Dom looked at her outstretched hand for a moment, unable to stop the bewildered expression on his face as he tried to remember how long it's been since he's done something as simple as reach for a hand to help himself up, instead of throwing hands. Still, he reached out to hold onto Gracia's hand, grateful to be holding onto something while he felt like he was moving through quicksand, and it had nothing to do with the drugs in his system. At her question, though, he quickly dropped his hand, feeling defensive, mostly because he knew the fight had completely been his fault. If it had been the other way around and if Grey had been the one drunk and high, Dom wouldn't have let him drive anywhere either. "Nothing." The default answer, one that immediately disappointed himself. "Guess I still wanted to do things Grey doesn't like to do anymore. Didn't like it when I blamed his girlfriend for it," Dom shrugged. It wasn't much of an explanation, but it was the only one he had, the one he latched onto, doing anything to justify why he laid his hands on his best friend like that.

Gracia's never been a judgmental person, and she doesn't know the other side of the story to form an opinion. Either way, she just wants to help Dom sort out whatever he was feeling, if only for a little bit. She's not stupid to believe she'll do much in a simple night, but if he merely wants someone to just listen to him, she'll do that. "You'll be fine, you know. You and Grey, I mean. Friends fight," she says lightly. She's a believer that things always work out in the end. Holding onto hope was what helped her through the tragedies she had seen. He repeats her words, but Gracia is studying his features for any indication of how he feels now. The whole walk back home had passed so fast that she didn't even realize they were standing at her place till she looks around. She smiles softly when brushes her hair back. It's an unexpected gesture that it makes her cheeks flush a light color of pink. "You don't need to thank me. I'm here to listen any time you need it," she promises. "Thank you for telling me and walking back with me," she adds, keeping her eyes up at him.

"It's not your fault you're not as fucking - artistically inclined as I am." A jest - but Viktor doesn't believe most people are as artistically inclined - or talented in general - as himself, ego inflated beyond compare. They pause for a moment - talking about anything involving Natalya is off-limits, a topic they avoid more than the plague. "Just the one - think she'd be fucking appalled if I brought our last name into the picture." Even as the golden child, the apple of their parents' eyes - Viktor knew that Natalya never cared about being a Samuels, no sense of pride from their name. "Here," They tap their chest, right over their heart - eyes fixating on the sidewalk ahead of them, expression stonier than it was before. "She didn't like you," Because now the topic's too raw, and they need to retreat somewhere. "Thought you were too fucking - nice. Was wholly convinced you have a fucking - Burn Book somewhere, scribbling away everything you hated about people. Do you? Kinda hot - I'm into it."

"As artistically inclined as you?" She giggles, amused by how confident he sounds. "Now I have to see some proof, Viktor, no that I mean I don't believe you, because I totally do. It's just that all this talk has me curious," she jokes, trying and failing to suppress a smile. The way they pause, and the way their expression turns stony speaks volumes to Gracia, and she takes this a as clear hint that it's not something they particularly want to talk about. She nods at his words, a soft expression on her face. "If she's the first person you've tattooed her name on you, does that make me the second?" She's redirecting the topic back to something light and fun. All she hopes is that she hasn't bothered him. Gracia blinks at the straight forwardness of his words, it gives her a whiplash of sorts, not entirely sure if he's joking and just messing with her, or he's being completely honest. It makes her feel awful if his sister didn't actually like her, not that she expects everyone to like her, because that's just unrealistic; however, she tries to regain her cool by smiling and lightly pushing him, trying to ignore the first part of his sentence. She hopes the expression wasn't apparent on her face. "I do have a burn book," she jokes. "You're on the first page. Don't tell anyone though."

"Yeah, yeah I know," Deniz waves a hand dismissively, she wasn't too concerned about the potential consequences. "It's less of a hassle that's for sure, but you know I love a good mystery. Besides I don't do it for every story, otherwise I'd have to spread out air dates." Even if she wanted to, it was unrealistic when you think about it. "Off-limits makes it sound even more intriguing, don't you think? I might try again in a couple of days. I might get lucky and leave before anyone else shows up."

"I used to enjoy a mystery, but not after... you know, the past few months. It all hits too close to house now," she notes. "And you're putting yourself in trouble," she reminds her, trying to redirect the topic back rather than focus on the atrocities they've experienced. "What's your next story going to be about? Do you have any plans?" she wonders. "Deniz. They might check the place out more regularly now because they caught you there."