crowned.

“i’ve never once felt any emotion about you, solomon. you’re a total zero in my eyes,” indy lied, keeping her voice as cold as stone. the truth was that solomon made her feel an abundance of things she’d never be able to articulate — mostly, these feelings were negative, but a nagging sense of loss followed her around whenever she thought about the boy, a sort of grief for a friendship that was never meant to be. “are you going to get out of my way or just stick around like a fucking herpes sore?”

indy’s eye was immediately drawn to the pink treat in front of her, the glittery princess inside of her never taking a day off. with ira’s invitation, she picked it up, biting into it, her face the picture of joy as the explosion of flavour hit her tongue. “dude, these are fuckin’ amazing,” she groaned, a hand covering her still-full mouth, “where’d you get ‘em?”

indy looked up, examining the trees surrounding them with a keen eye. “i’m good at climbing them, not so great at getting back down,” she admitted with a shrug, “but i can do it anyway. how high up do you need me to go?”

“i don’t think just ambushing people when they walk past is gonna help, babe,” indy said, laid back and relaxed as she rested her feet up on the spare chair at jace’s booth, a nail file in hand. “maybe you could, like, i don’t know, get the guitar out and give people a sample of what they’d be buying.”

indy didn’t know what to fucking do with solomon anymore. on the one hand, if she lost her shit at him like she so desperately wanted to, she was proving his point about her not being able to take a joke. if she played along with his antics, she was admitting defeat, and the very last thing she felt like doing today was unwrapping her car and clearing it of the mess the boy had made. “i can fucking take a—whatever,” she said, sighing mid-sentence, defeat finally kicking in, “just get the fuck out of my face.”

indy made her way over to maia’s other canvases, face lighting up when she finally spotted the nails she was looking for. bringing them back over the her sister, she shrugged when she was asked what was going on with her, trying to wrack her brain for anything even mildly interesting happening in her life. “not much going on with me at the moment, to be honest,” she admitted, “i’m mostly just, like, looking for work.”

now that indy could see the big box of treats more clearly, she found that she was more excited rather than disgusted or shocked. she loved treats, especially ones being offered to her for free, so with ira’s invitation, she plopped herself down next to him and took a potato donut for herself. “not allergic to any of the things you just said,” she confirmed, “but i don’t think i’ve ever had one of these before.”

a lot of indy’s social media content is dedicated to her art and reeling in more followers / customers. she most often uses instagram and twitter, posting snippets of her art, nonsensical tweets posted in the middle of creative and personal breakdowns, and the occasional thirst trap. is known to get a little wine drunk and make a fool of herself on instagram live.

“am i allowed in on this vision or is it going to be a surprise?” indy asked with a smile, thankful to have stumbled into her friend’s latest project by almost complete accident. she only smiled wider when bea took up her offer to help her out with the modelling aspect of it, immediately striking a dramatic pose. “where do you want me?” she laughed.

“you’re fucking insufferable, matua,” indy said, all of solomon’s jokes not enough to crack her cold and mean exterior. in fact, every joke he cracked only fuelled her anger. “i’m not joking and i’m not letting you get away with this shit,” she claimed, “and you better be planning on cleaning this the fuck up.”

“exactly,” indy said with a grin, before nodding her head, trying to think of where they might be able to find a nail, or something to hang the painting with, at least. “where do you usually keep ‘em?”

“i can take a fucking joke,” indy said, gripping onto the saran wrap as she crossed her arms over her chest like a petulant toddler, her signature stance. “this is fuckin’ vandalism,” she stated, her mood only worsening the more solomon teased.

“well, it worked,” indy confirmed, bumping her shoulder against her friend’s gently. she turned to jace excitedly then, taking in the blush on his cheeks, the grin on her face only widening. “nothing happened? not even a little kissy-wissy?” she teased, making kissing noises to punctuate her questions.

“eh, why not?” indy reasoned with a shrug, knowing it wasn’t everyday that she’d get to witness and consume a sidewalk egg, especially with the cooler weather kicking in so soon. she reached over for a paper plate then, taking a bite of the egg cautiously. 

indy raised an eyebrow, looking back at the camera bea was referring to. she hadn’t seen it before, but now that she had, she guessed it made sense. “taking photos of yourself upside down?” she asked, a teasing smile on her lips, “do you need an extra model?”

indy hummed as she considered her sister’s painting again, her lips pursed in thought. “put it on the wall,” she said decisively, “if you have people over and they ask where you got it, you’ll get to brag that it’s a maia king original.”