shining brighter

THE  RESORT  WAS  PULSATING  WITH  the  holiday  spirit,  the  smell  of  peppermint  &  pine  cones  danced  around  her  nose.  thea  &  co.  found  themselves  dodging  past  the  guests  funneled  into  the  lobby  &  finally  into  the  ice  skating  rink.  despite  being  a  TALENTED  ice  skater,  thea  hadn’t  found  herself  on  skates  since  she  was  a  teenager.  because  of  this  the  brunette  was  eager  to  get  on  the  ice  but,  ALAS,  the  public  rink  was  packed  full  with  fellow  guests  eager  to  do  the  same.  she  turned  to  her  kids,  ❝  i’m  about  to  go  full  TONYA  HARDING  if  i  don’t  get  a  pair  of  bloody  skates  in  the  next  five  minutes.  ❞  gloved  hands  gripped  the  railing  in  front  of  her.  she  huffed  a  breath  before  looking  at  her  watch.   ❝  it’s  lunch  time  anyway  —-   ❞  she  rolled  her  eyes  ALREADY  knowing  what  her  children  would  respond  with  if  she  asked  them  what  they  should  indulge  in.  ❝  oi  !  any  suggestions  for  lunch  ?  ❞   she  asked  the  individual  nearest  to  her.  ❝  y’know,  motherhood  still  hasn’t  taught  me  if  “i  don’t  care,  anything”  translates  into  chinese  food  or  a  burgers  &  fries.   ❞

OPEN  STARTER  ↷   STATUS:  OPEN LOCATION:  ICE  RINK  (  PUBLIC  )  /  AFTERNOON

jade chuckled at hazel’s words before nodding. “to be fair, most flavoured drinks at home are horrible. it’s like they’re made especially for coffee shops. plus pumpkin is really hard, even a bit too much and it tastes–disgusting.” jade pulled a face before shrugging. “now vanilla and hazelnut, are your best options for trying at home, they’re not too hard..”

“It pretty much scared me off of making them at home forever. I haven’t done it since and I don’t even regret not giving it a second go,” she shook her head. “I’m a good cook usually, but I usually stick to plain stuff at home. The most adventurous I am with making stuff nowadays is adding chocolate topping to milk and ice-cream for a milkshake.”

the panic in his voice was something he hated to have and with this little princess in his life it happened far more often than he really wanted it to. but he was struggling to try and raise her to be a proper young lady. dylan did need help but he was still trying to figure that part out as well. nodding, his heart practically felt like it was going to fall out of his chest. “she should be asleep for another hour and i’ve somehow managed to trick her into cuddling her duck.” running his hands through his hair, he breathed deeply, sincerely hoping that just by recruiting someone else that he could find the rabbit. “i’ve looked all over our room, the hallways and the restaurant. if she’s playing a trick on me, i swear…” dylan stated, grumbling, now a little bit more frustrated.

“All right then, so we’ve got an hour to find it. I’ll help you, and we’ll find it,” she assured him. She was usually pretty good at keeping her calm in good situations so she was fine with this. Deep down, though, she was hoping that finding it would be as easy as she hoped it would. “Okay, where did you last see it? We’ll start there and work our way from there.”

jade listened as hazel spoke about a place in seattle that actually made good pumpkin spiced lattes, and vowed that as the coffee enthusiast that she was, she’d have to get the name from hazel and check it out herself. “that sounds perfect honestly, if they use the right stuff–it can be heavenly.” she grinned.

“Other times it’s a complete disaster,” she continued. “I have to admit, I tried to make one myself once, and it was a failure in every sense of the word. I googled a recipe and it just... okay, it tasted like liquified pumpkin with a hint of coffee. It was horrifying.”

He nodded, returning her smile. “I thought I recognized you. My sister is the supervisor down there,” and he thought of hannah, “and i have… other friends down there.”

“Oh, your sister is the supervisor!” She was taken by surprise by his answer. “Your sister is Libby, then? Yeah, I know her. I didn’t even put two and two together like I probably should have,” she laughed a little. “Yeah, there are quite a few of us there. Lots of potential friends!”

Tyler nodded at Hazel’s answer, “That is always a good choice. I think I’m going to try something a little different…” He bit his lip in thought, then put together a drink composed of dark chocolate and a few pumps of caramel syrup. “You know what?” Tyler asked quickly as if he just had a great idea. “I don’t know why hot chocolate cafes aren’t a thing? Look at all the possibilities!”

Hazel watched him as he put his drink together and nodded in appreciation. It wasn’t a combination she’d thought of before, but it did look damn good. She raised her eyebrows as he spoke again. “That’s actually a good question. They’d make so much money, because there are lots of non-coffee drinkers in the world. I can tell you personally that I’d probably give them a hell of a lot of money.”

“yeah, i’m all for free shit, but it’s not like i even need it. the honeychurches aren’t exactly poor in this town.”

“I can’t blame you. Who doesn’t like free shit? I literally cannot name one person,” Hazel admitted. “You’re right about that, though. Isn’t that a little intimidating?”

“Probably not no but it always makes me feel better, plus I’ve seen some of them wearing it out on the slopes the following days before - it’s like some people were never told how to pack for skiing.” He had some bad kama he had to make up for and even handing out a few jackets probably wasn’t going to be enough. “I’ve been ice skating like a handful of times and I spent most of my time on my knees so I can only imagine.” A shuddered rippled down his spine for a moment as he remembered how much he didn’t like skating. “Well it’s something…did they ever figure out which your lead leg was? And what leg you would lean on?” 

“Well, at least you’re out there doing some good in the world, unlike some people. Plus, I’m sure they’ll all always remember you kindly,” she said. “Yeah, it hurts when you’re getting started, but I haven’t fallen over on the ice lately... saying that, I’m probably going to jinx myself.” Hazel shook her head and laughed softly, hoping that the next time she went out on the ice, she stayed on her feet. “Um... no? And if they did, I must have tried to block it out along with the memories of falling head first into the snow. And they’re the memories that actually went.”

location: concert hall at the piano time: late at night song: dream by bishop briggs

he snuck into the concert hall that night. okay, so it was open, so he didn’t necessarily feel bad about it. plus, he was a music lover. he would never hurt anything in here. he approached the piano and gently stroked the keys. what a pretty thing. 

he took a seat and played a few scales, the music floating up effortlessly, mimicking his fingers. he moved onto other songs, eventually settling on one that he was very fond of in the moment. he played the opening softly, letting the music flow, then he started singing. softly, but through the out the course of the song, his animations grew. he broke from the song as written to repeat the pre-chorus again. 

“oh, i had a dream                                            that you couldn’t hear me screaming                                                                                 trying to tell you everything                                                                                                    but it wouldn’t stop you leaving”

his voice, absolutely stunning. it had a strong and powerful tone, it rose above the piano, he had no problem belting over the instrument. he had command over the straight tone and vibrato, using it to his advantage. for how wonderful his tone was, there was just enough husk, enough growl, in it to make him sound like a rockstar, and in that moment, he felt like one.  “i wanna wake up where your love is                                                                'cause your love is always waking mine                                i wanna break down where your heart gets                                                                                        so torn, it’s almost breaking mine                                                     i wanna lay here, lost and bitter                                                                         so long, i feel like i could die                               i wanna tell you what my truth is                                                                                            but it’s buried down inside” he played the last note and sighed, it was just him in here, or so he thought. 

For a few months now, Hazel had found that when she needed to be alone in silence to get some work done or just sit with her thoughts, the concert hall was a good place to go. It was rarely crowded with people when she needed it and after coming in here for a few months she hadn’t encountered another person. She didn’t even realise that she wasn’t alone until she heard the piano start up, her eyes darting towards the stage where someone was sat, playing and singing. She smiled as she listened, not wanting to interrupt as they were clearly in the moment. When they finished, Hazel couldn’t help but start to applaud them quietly from her corner of the room. “Well, you’ve got my vote.”

“Fine.” The small brunette grumbled as she lent forward to take a bite of the cake. Keeping her face neutral she finished her bite, looking the cake over once more before she finally gave Hazel a smile. “Alright ok, it’s not that bad, with some whipped cream it would be amazing.”

It was hard for Hazel to keep the grin off of her face as she watched Libby eating the cake. She was proud of having made it and she hoped that Libby agreed that it was actually all right. Her smile grew at Libby’s response. “See? I told you! And I’ll take a note to add whipped cream next time.”

jade was pleased hazel agreed when it came to christmas drinks because that just made her feel like her opinions were agreed with, which actually made her quite happy. “it does depend!” jade was pretty happy with the way this friendship was shaping up with hazel. “i’m so glad you get it, because some places–just ruin it completely.”

Hazel grinned in agreement. In terms of friendships, Hazel usually wasn’t great at making or keeping them, but at least so far with Jade, it was turning out well and she was more than grateful. “Exactly! It all depends on the person who makes it and the stuff they’re using. There’s this one place in Seattle that made really nice ones a few years back but I haven’t had one there in forever.”

“kids are like pets; they’re too easy to buy stupid shit for. oliver has so much stupid shit piled up at my house and he’s never going to use it.”

“That’s very true. I swear, you go into a store these days and half of it is just filled with kids toys. I get buying them some toys, like stuffed teddies and doll houses and trucks and things... but some of the toys they have are just pointless. But maybe that’s just my adult side speaking. The kids definitely think they have a point.”

“Who knows, maybe I’ll become the next big tourist attraction of the mountain. Legend says the rink is still haunted by the youngest son to this day,” Wes recounted dramatically, deepening his voice as if it was some sort of closely guarded secret. Shaking out his shoulder, he offered a rueful smile back that for once wasn’t his usual smirk. “Everything seems to be in working order, thanks. Nothing wounded but my pride, which I don’t quite think anybodies discovered a cure for yet.”

“If you do, I’m sure you’ll bring a lot more money to the mountain, so at least your memory will live on in that way,” Hazel grinned, trying her best not to laugh at his dramatic tone of voice. “Okay, good to know. And as far as I’m aware, a cure for wounded pride doesn’t exist yet, but if I ever discover one, you’ll be the first to know.” 

@linleyhazel

“do you think i could ask you to do me a huge favor?” she volunteered to help put the christmas decorations around the resort. after all, that was fun for her, but trying to hang this garland while it was dangling to the ground while she was on the ladder was proving difficult.

Hazel looked up, raising an eyebrow as she did. “A favour? Yeah, what is it you need?”

‘‘the accents are pretty cute, i’ve heard the guys over there are as well. thanks, i’ll make a note of that and keep it in mind the next time i’m bored and feel like travelling somewhere. i’m riley.’‘

“The accents are definitely pretty cute,” Hazel agreed. “I wasn’t really looking at the guys over there, but I’m sure they’re cute too.” Her travel was more of a personal thing, since she’d just broken up with her first boyfriend, but she was sure Riley was right. “The top two cities I’d recommend are Wellington and Napier.”