king's head starters

It was rare for her mind to go completely blank, and Hope thrived on having answers and alternatives if the first conclusion was a no-go, but figuring out what to get two just over the toddler aged children was confounding at best. Perusing the aisles filled with stuffed animals, toy trucks, dress-up costumes, and even lego sets, her heart wasn’t sure what to grab that would carry the burden of just how sorry she was to have missed out on five years worth of birthdays, holidays that ranged from Easter, to Fourth of July, Thanksgivings, and even the most important one to some coming up: Christmas. Looking at the latest display for a new spiderman collection, Hope couldn’t help but wonder, would this be information she could handle learning as time went by? What would Sawyer like and Sage absolutely hate? Did they both have the same interests? Or maybe they were different in some ways. She hadn’t realized her hand was on the glass when someone had tapped her on the shoulder. “Oh!” She exclaimed, “Sorry, was I in your way?” 

“Oh no, I only ordered one–” Olivia had tried to protest, but she failed, and the waitress waved off the woman’s attempt to return the spare peppermint mocha that she had in her hand, merely stating that it would waste if she returned it and to enjoy the free drink. But, too much coffee would send her skyrocketing into chaos with too much caffeine and sugar. She sighed, and glanced around before smiling at a person near her hopefully, “Peppermint Mocha? I was given a free one but drinking two isn’t a good idea.” she smiled softly, “Not poisoned, I swear.”

She had been perusing emails from the wedding planner that she had been avoiding for the past week or so since she had realised she needed to take a trip back to Rhode Island. It wasn’t exactly her idea of fun, but her fiancé had insisted on seeing the town she had grown up in. She frowned down at one in particular, before turning to the nearest person to her and turned the phone screen to show them three shades of ivory that looked too similar to her to tell. “Uh, excuse me do these look the same to you? I’ve been staring too long, they literally look the same to me.” 

“Last call for tonight’s show!” She exclaimed in delight. Aurora had flyers, stickers, pins galore, all situated inside of an antique chest that she had recently upgraded by attaching wheels to roll it around. The perk of being the promoter for the town’s bustling music venue was having the opportunity to get inside the audiences mind to see what other acts they wanted in town, see what made them eager to get out on a night on the town. Flyer after flyer, she passed each one over with a grin that was practically glued to her features. Often it’d been an ongoing gag that she had the energy of a Disney character actor, but with the horror stories she’d heard about taking on a gig such as that, Aurora opted to keep her peace. “What are your plans?” She asked the next person who took a flyer within their hands. “And why is it getting the best deal on mixed drinks at The Octavium?” She said asked in jest, hoping the line was enough to sink the deal. 

Eli liked his job, but there were times he felt a little too suffocated by the elitism at the Ocean Club. A day off was like a breath of fresh air, wandering the streets of downtown. There wasn’t anywhere he needed to be, and there was nowhere he specifically wanted to go. He just wanted to get out and move. This seemed like the best option for that. It was a reasonably nice day, and he found himself distracted by the towns transition into the holidays, not noticing the person exiting a door in his path. That is, until he collided directly with the other body, with an oof. “Sorry, my bad.” He reached down to retrieve a lost item. “I got distracted.”

Open | @kingsheadstarters

Having just bought a bottle of Pepsi from a nearby store, Caleb was not enjoying his walk as the ground was wet and the skies were grey. Not a destination in mind, he was simply just… walking for the sake of walking to fill time. Out of seemingly nowhere, with nothing whatsoever on the ground, he tripped over himself. It was done with enough force that he managed to catapult himself forward, using his shoulder to roll and hop onto his feet like a smooth criminal. “Yooooooo,” Caleb exclaimed with a beaming smile to a nearby spectator. “Did you see that?! Tell me you just happened to be videoing that?” He questioned excitedly. “And I didn’t even drop this!” Holding out the bottle of Pepsi, he seemingly forgot the law of physics as he opened the cap only for the soda to shoot upward onto his face. The air was cold. The soda was even colder, somehow. “Cool, cool, cool, cool, cool, cool.”

“Well, you’re seeing me at the end of the night, after all the wine and kisses have stolen my lipstick,” Milo smirked, pouting his faded-red lips. “It’s been a successful evening, though. Haven’t had to tell anyone very bad news.” 

This was a bit of a half-truth - he had seen some things in the cards tonight that didn’t bode well for the subjects of his readings, but there was a time and place for those kinds of things. People didn’t come here to him tonight for the whole dirty truth, they came for the fun and mystery and extravagance of it all. Much like his current outfit, he could clean things up nicely if he had to. 

“What about you; have any questions for the stars tonight?”

Babies were just tiny, drunk adults, Ravi was convinced. Stella had had her very first taste of cotton candy earlier in the day– just a bite– but now, Ravi was beginning to think he’d accidentally given her jet fuel. She was a rowdy one on a regular day, but her non-stop energy and need to run literal circles around him had him casting a glance around almost desperately for someone he recognized to give him a chance to breathe. He’d absolutely done it to himself, but he was still new at this. 

Sending out a mental SOS, he didn’t see Stella in time as she reached out and, with the kind of death grip she shouldn’t have been capable of, fisted the bottom of someone’s costume. Ravi jumped immediately into action, trying to pry her hand open and release the unsuspecting poor soul who’d found themselves caught by his tiny goliath of a daughter. “I am so sorry,” he said without looking up, still working to pry open her tiny how-the-hell-is-she-so-strong hand.

“Enjoying your food?” Liv grinned down at Chloe, her mini replica, as the younger Hamilton looked up at Olivia with a wide grin. She was enjoying all the festivities, it had always been a favourite holiday for both of them, always going all out for the halloween celebrations no matter where they were. Coupled with facetiming with the family back in California earlier that day, Chloe was feeling on cloud nine and happy, something she hadn’t seen in her daughter in a while. “What do you wanna do next?” the woman asked, and Chloe mumbled through a mouthful, “’aunted house?” she managed. Olivia had been about to reply when she caught someones eye, “Oh hey, we were going to check out the haunted house have you been in yet?”

The Vineyard | @kingsheadstarters​

“The next woman that tells me to take my shirt off is goin’ to get charged for a show.” he took a sip of his water, already wishing that he could just skip to the drunken festivities and find someone to lose himself in for a couple of hours. “I mean, I’m all for doin’ a strip show for the ladies but still… I know my worth.”

The man couldn’t help but sit and scrutinize the reference photo that had been handed to him. Aless was all for giving his canvas’ creative freedom but sometimes that bled into the overall piece being cohesive. Though he didn’t mind doing consultations on top of dishing out the Halloween inspired flash tattoos that his shop was offering, this one was truly throwing his entire world off of its axis. “I’m gonna be honest, I don’t know how well this is going to age over time. It might look cool to some capacity, but then what you just wanna keep coming back here for a touch up?” He passed by the reference and drummed his hands on the table top trying to think. “Maybe we can go for something else or are you married to this?” 

“I understand that, and I told you I’ll be back in the office in the morning,” Nico said, holding his phone tightly to his ear as he tried to find a spot away from the blasting music. “And you can’t email this to my assistant? …Alright. Yeah. Email them to me then, I’ll get to it within the hour. Yeah, you’re welcome. Don’t call me again. See you tomorrow.”

Shaking his head, he put his phone back in his pocket with a sigh. The irony of a man dressed as Tyler Durden making corporate phone calls at a party was not lost on him, and he needed a drink or six to deal with it. He tapped the shoulder of the person closest to him. 

She was, of course, not the only Marilyn at the party. But she’d made sure she was the best one. The tangerine gown shone like fire, so bright she couldn’t even care that she was slowly freezing to death. That didn’t stop people from commenting on it, though, but she just kept flashing them her everything-is-fine smile.

“If the diamonds won’t keep me warm, the alcohol sure will. Speaking of which, I’m running low. I didn’t love this one… what should I get next?”