navigare necesse est

🌿 lucy tries hard, really hard, to stop the smirk from forming on her features. though, if he couldn't see the obvious with winnie by now, he wouldn't be able to put it together together by lucy's body language. "yeah, there usually is. but the protagonists are always blind to what's right infront of them by some fear or self imposed inadequacy."

🌺 a familiar smirk sits on kara's lips, the flirting is familiar in a way she couldn't imagine a time when vada being charming wasn't the default. that was her as a person, kara had noticed by now. "it's the truth." she wasn't really known for pointlessly sugarcoating things. "yeah, i was there all night." mostly hanging out with winter, "thought you'd be busy doing... whatever bands do in greenrooms nowadays."

starter: avani ( @grxndvoile ) location: avani & sloane's apartment

🎶 avani glances behind her, as if to be certain todd wasn't speaking to someone else and not her. avani doesn't look in shambles, but it's certainly clear by her demeanour she's not keeping up the normal veneer of refinement. she takes the cardigan in silence, looking down at the garment she'd certainly never sloane wear before. "right." it finds itself slumped on top of the catch-all bowl next to the door. "me? peachy."

bringing  out  everything  else  she  needed,  she  still  chose  to  make  cups  of  chamomile  and  green  tea  before  gesturing  to  them  with  her  head  once  finished.  “you  can  try  mine  if  you  want.  see  which  one  you  like  better,”  she  replied,  shrugging.  she  faced  toward  him,  keeping  her  body  against  the  counter  and  her  arms  crossed.  her  eyes  widened  slightly,  being  caught  off  guard  by  his  response.  when  asking,  she  expected  him  to  say  no  after  what  happened  tonight,  but  instead  her  lips  curved  to  a  small  smile  when  hearing  a  yes.  as  for  her  own  response,  jennie  considered  fibbing,  yet  decided  to  be  honest  in  the  end.  "yeah,  i'm  fine.  just  feeling  a  little  lonely.  that's  all,"  she  replied  in  a  nonchalant  tone,  brushing  it  off  as  if  it  barely  mattered.  “and  i  still  want  your  company.”

🪐 saul settles next to her, unsure really of what to do with himself. but he takes the tea with a gracious nod, giving the drink a cool blow of air before trying it. he parses over his thoughts, "not bad. sweet but... not sweet at the same time?" he looks at her expectingly to help him complete his thoughts, before realising that he was making casual conversation with the woman who three hours ago called him embarrassing. his attention snaps back to the table, placing the glass down on the first coaster he could find.

🪐 "yeah, good part time gig." saul certainly didn't have shame in his work. it helped him keep afloat, while allowing him enough time to focus on his studies. saul glances away from the poster, and back over at mickey. he isn't sure the man's changed that much physically, just obviously a bit older than the last time they'd interacted.

Hazel raises an eyebrow at Avani’s sharp words, an amused smile tugging at the corners of her lips. “Take a picture, it’ll last longer?” she echoes. “Where did you get your insults, a sitcom from the 90s?” She flicks a glance over her then, her lips pursing. “What’s your problem?” she asks. “It’s not any fun to piss you off if you’re already upset.”

🎶 "thought i'd match it to your... fashion sense." avani scans the woman up an down, before returning with much displeasure to her line of sight. "you, being in my way. as always." hazel's not the issue, clearly, but avani has zero interest in giving her anything to weaponise today. "your little obsession with me is cute, but i don't have time to entertain it today."

LOCATION:  shirley's  diner  (  @grxndvoile  )

🌿 "you never know what you want." the playful jeer is accompanied by a look of jest from across the table, before returning her attention back to the menu. "you know what always works when you can't pick? close your eyes, and randomly point your finger at something."

nate turns quickly to glance over at saul, lips drawn tight. "looks like something I'd wear, so I'd say yeah, you do look like an old man." not that nate is old, although he certainly feels it, but he dresses like his high school english teacher. "depends on the vibe. is it a party reunion or a sit down event or...?"

🪐 "more a 'yell at the tv if the football team isn't winning this season' kind of reunion." the clothing choice certainly didn't fit the event, but saul never really seemed to fit the family in general. no matter how much he tried to adapt, assimilate into their hobbies and activities, it just never worked out. he was always the outsider.

It had been kind of disappointing, being on the dating apps. So many people were absolutely awful conversationalists. You'd start a simple chat and you'd get nothing but one word replies or emojis. How was Tabby supposed to find love in this economy?! After the most recent ghosting-though the guy was a bore, so who cared- Tabby went to drown their sorrows at the bar. There had been a spark of recognition when the pretty woman next to her briefly said hello, but Tabby couldn't place it. "Really? That sucks, I'm sorry. Dating's such a crapshoot now. I was talking to this guy, he must have been a Neanderthal from his one word answers, and he ghosted me! Like the audacity!"

🌿 lucy nods, though mostly to seem agreeable. she hadn't put any effort into dating her entire life, until now. she didn't know if it was normal for people to avoid effort nowadays. "mine seemed nice, like, we've been talking for a few weeks." maybe that's all it was, talk. when it came to actually manifesting something off the internet, it didn't seem viable to them.

riley .☘︎ ݁˖ ⋆.˚ the shore store / @grxndvoile

⚓ "i am the wrong person to ask this." while boating was often associated with fishing, riley only ever picked up one of the two skills in his lifetime. "my dad says it does." riley's dad wasn't right about a lot of things, but fishing, he usually had some pearls of wisdom. "i think it's supposed to look like the bugs that fish eat?"

as  he  spoke,  frankie  nodded  her  head.  she  wished  that  he  would  just  tell  her  what  it  was  that  was  wrong,  what  had  happened.  it  annoyed  her  that  he  didn't  but  frankie  was  trying  to  keep  her  temper  in  check.  she  was  trying  not  to  let  it  get  to  her.  "  sounds  good.  "  she  muttered  before  she  ducked  inside.

⚓ as she sits down next to him, riley finds his weight shifting to gently lean against her, before opening his own beer. "we should do this more often." he begins, after a moment of silence surveying the water in front of them. "but maybe... go somewhere new, for a weekend maybe. just... get away from things for a little while together." he knew very well they both had the need to get away every once in a while, if anything the boston trip showed him how much it helped. "i think i need that."

Sloane leaned on the counter, scribbling down some thoughts for the next episode. The aftermath of Tommy’s party and everything Salma had spilled? It was like a goldmine. But then she heard the slammed door and the bag drop, and soon, Sloane’s jaw was dropping with it. “What?” She then scrambled into action, closing her notebook, rounding the corner of the counter and wrapping her arms around her friend. “Oh my god, babe. What the fuck happened? And who do I need to destroy?” 

🎶 sloane was probably the only person in time avani truly felt she could be open to as of late, to show any and all vulnerabilities. sloane had seen her through it all since arriving in this time, since first taking this job. the only reason she was in cider point in the first place. "they baited me... and it worked..." she slumps down into one of the stools at the counter, staring down at the faux marble pattern before looking up at sloane. "i can't believe it..." she's not making sense, but her thought were raging a mile a minute.