darkstorm

over the course of their friendship lucy has seen benny, kitty and Emmett do some of the dumbest things — she’s even had to take part in some of these dumbass activities. and sometimes (mostly in the case of Emmett) lucy has no choice but to sit back and endure ridiculous conversation. so much so that she bought a stuffed cactus toy to hit her friends with whenever they did something particularly dumb. the cactus had gotten a lot of use, and benny is the one she has to use it on the least — or at least they used to be. “Benjamin,” over the last month benny has been going through it, his complicated relationship with his exe leaving them in a consistent state of confusion and frustration. Lucy felt for him, she even understood where he was coming from. but she was always firm in her belief that if mel wanted to talk to benny she simply would — and the lack of incoming calls and text messages indicated she didn’t. taking her stuffed cactus out Lucy points it at benny, narrowing her eyes at him as she gives him a warning. “call her and you get hit twice.” @bennyshippe

if there was a deeper meaning behind shock’s words they go right over lucy’s head. though, in her defense, she doesn’t know theres anything more to it than joking words — she doesn’t know to look yet alone where to. so, instead of concern all lucy does is roll her eyes, tossing a few pieces of popcorn in shock’s direction with the hint of a smile on her lips. “do you feel accomplished now that you’ve said that? you feel cooler?” @shockbordes

Dropping down to the seat besides the other girl, Shock brought the glass in her hand up to her lips for a sip as she looked her ex over. “Your friends drag you here?” she asks, assuming that had to be the reason Lucy was actually at the masquerade. Not that she could say anything about that, considering she also wasn’t attending of her own accord. @itswyldstyle​

not many people would be bold enough to sit next to lucy and open conversation without even the smallest sign of an invitation. but she’s not surprised at all when she finds it’s shock dropping down in the seat next to her. “kitty seemed really excited,” force was not the right word, not by a long shot. lucy would follow kitty and benny into literally anything, the promise of seeing them happy enough to make her put up with even the most obnoxious things. “It’s hard to say no to her.” she shrugs before looking over at shock to give her a once over. “you look nice. here with your boyfriend?” it takes a lot of effort on lucy’s part to not let bitterness wrap itself around her words. it takes even more out of her to even bring him up, usually avoiding the topic of pierson altogether when it came to shock. but she knows there’s very few reasons why shock would show up to something like this, and he’s at the top of that list.

returning to the table with a plate of food, benny sits back down in the chair he had claimed as his own upon arrival to the ball. “i got you some cheescake bites,” he offers, setting the plate down in the space between himself and lucy. “i wasn’t sure if you’d want anything else, but cheesecake seemed like a safe enough option.” plus the dessert table had been far less crowded so early in the night - he had a plan to circle back to the other ones for some more substantial food later. @itswyldstyle​

when lucy had agreed to come to the ball, she did so knowing that she was more than likely going to be spending the bulk of her night at the table alone. kitty and benny would run off to have fun or mingle with their other friends, and lucy wouldn’t stop them -- especially not for something as selfish as because she was bored. a part of her preferred it this way. so when benny comes back to the table with a plate of food she’s caught between being happy for the company and wanting to free them of having to waste their night with her. “what the fuck else do they have that cheesecake is the safe option?” she asks. cheesecake always seemed like a polarizing dessert -- cream cheese not necessarily most people’s cup of tea. “but you’re right, i do like cheesecake. thanks.” was that one of the many things she’d never told benny and kitty? probably. she’s just about to reach across the table to grab a forkful of the dessert benny brought when she pauses. “you don’t have to stay here and keep me company if you don’t want to. you know that, right?” 

(↠ event starter for @itswyldstyle​ )

    —- “bit eerie, huh?” edric asked, motioning to the mingling ball-goers with his head. it was a bit eerie, but only in the idea of what masquerades used to be. the head to toe disguises, the feeling that something nefarious lay around the corner. “wonder how many are going to show up looking exactly like the phantom.“

sometimes lucy wonders how people can be so bad at interpreting signals. it’d been years since she’d willingly given off the impression that she was open to conversation, especially conversation with strangers. her social circle purposely small and consisting of three of the friendliest people she’d ever met so she could get away with not having to do all that much socializing. it was a lonely lifestyle choice, but lucy wouldn’t trade the act for anything because it kept her heart protected. so, when some kid sits next to her and begins a conversation completely unprovoked she can only stare at him in bewilderment. “not really.” she looks away and out at the people dancing and mingling. “given every other weird thing that happens on this island idiots waltzing in masks seems pretty normal.” and she means that -- people disappeared at one of the last events she went to, while she’s expecting something ridiculous to happen tonight as well, she’s hardly concerned about the masquerade aspect of the night. “please, just about every one will because there’s not an original bone in most of their bodies.” rich coming from a woman who’s whole sense of individuality is mostly a ruse. “did you need something?” she asks, finally letting her gaze fall back on the boy.

Sitting back in one of the imax seats, with the screen above programmed to slowly spin across the world, showing the different arrangement of stars during the time he’d already preset. It was his go to place when he needed some time to just… think or process. Or when he just needed a few moments alone. Though even then Benny was never one to turn down company, especially not from one of his closest friends - so when Lucy entered the theater, a grin grew on his face. “Hey,” he returns his own greeting, eyeing the snacks and bottle of lemonade she’d just set down in front of them. If it were anyone else, they would have asked first before just grabbing one of the bags of party mix, but Benny knew Lucy well enough to be fully aware that she’d brought the snacks specifically for him. Opening the bag, he pulls out a pretzel and one of the barbeque tortillas, popping the first one into his mouth and offering the other out to her on instinct. “What are you doing here?”

lucy settles into her seat next to benny, looking up at the projection of the stars they’d set up. she was kind of grateful she’d found him here of all places, never passing up an opportunity to look at the night sky -- simulated or not. smiling a little, a small genuine expression usually reserved only for benny and lucy, she takes the tortilla chip from his hand and pops it into her mouth. “i was bored.” the words are said casually, a little shrug even added on for emphasis, even though that was not the full truth. naturally, lucy had made the trip out to the space camp because she missed him the past couple of days. but admitting that just wasn’t in her immediate plans, better to think that benny would just know that on his own. “what are you doing in here, nerd?” as much as he loves space (it’s not even something that could be argued, benny loves space more than anyone else on the planet) she doubts he’s just hanging around here just because. 

if she were being totally honest with herself, lucy loved the holidays. she’d always kept the vision of a perfect christmas close to her heart -- surrounded by the love and warmth of people who cared about her, feeling special for once in her life. but lucy would never admit her dreams of a white christmas and singing obnoxious carols with her best friends to anyone, yet alone shock. “what? you don’t like listening to strangers sing ‘deck the halls’ off-key?” lucy smirks, refusing to look away from the group of people dressed in ugly sweaters singing in the middle of the park for anyone that would stop and listen. “come on, let’s go join them, i’m sure you’ll do great.” @shockbordes 

lucy scrunches up her nose, small frown deepening on her features as she looks at the mess of wrapping paper in front of her. lucy had never been someone who put much effort into wrapping presents for people, content to do whatever looked like the least amount of care or effort -- which usually involved tossing the present in question into a gift bag and calling it a day. but this year lucy had decided to give it a shot, but not without asking benny for their help. it initially seemed kind of silly to need supervision, but as she stares at the too short ends of her wrapping paper and how it barely even reaches the middle of her present, lucy is now fully aware that she needed benny’s help. “this is stupid.” she grumbles, discarding the messed up paper so she can start again. “how do people get their presents to look so....neat and cute?” @bennyshippe