— * A WORLD / ALONE !

@mercuriial·

the bonfire had come and gone, the funeral had come and gone, and misty hollow was nowhere near back to normal. security at hollow point had increased about four times more than it was before, laura seemed to only be allowed to go home and go to work. not that she minded. it felt safer that way. but she was feeling restless. she needed some fresh air. so, she went to the one place she felt like she could both disappear, and be seen at the same time. the diner. she missed seb anyway. luckily enough for her, he was standing outside. “seb!” she called as she walked over, a smile lighting up her features. “hey! where have you been?” 

sebastian placed a cigarette between his lips, lighting up the stick before shoving his lighter back down in his pocket and taking in a deep inhale. he let out an exhale, now holding the cigarette with his fingers. the diner was busy, packed as lunch time tended to be, but hell, he owned the place — he could take a smoke break whenever he pleased. the male brought the cigarette to his lips once more, feeling himself relax as he took in more of the smoke, holding it in the back of his throat for a moment before breathing out. he was looking out onto the street, not particularly paying anything much attention until a familiar figure came into view. he wanted to smile and almost did, but something held him back from expressing the usual excitement he felt when seeing laura. she looked cheerful, though the authenticity of her high spirits was always hard to tell. “ hey, princess, ” sebastian greeted, settling on a small nod of acknowledgement. he appreciated her question, as though he might be anywhere but home, the bar, or the diner. “ oh, y’know — here and there. back in the kitchen, serving tables, out here every now ‘n then for a smoke. the better question would be where have YOU been ? ” he taps at the cigarette with his index finger, for functional purposes and as a nervous habit. 

@mercuriial· / closed starter / rosemary adler

Andy didn’t know what brought him back here. Of all places in the world to seek out solace, he didn’t know what made him think that Rosie’s apartment would have been the FIRST choice, but his feet just– carried him here. The original plan was simply to take a little night walk, maybe end up at the pier, let his SADNESS wash away but now he was at her door. It would be weird not to knock at some point, right? But what was he even supposed to say? 

Regardless, he went and did it anyway, hoping and not, that she would be home. And after a few moments– the door did open. “ Rosie! Hey, ” he found himself saying with a smile, sticking his hands into his pockets. “ What’s up? You busy? ”

some nights, rosie was out like a light the instant she got in bed and others, she spent hours tossing and turning. tonight though, rosemary had gotten tired of laying in the dark, wondering when sleep would come to relieve her of all the anxious thoughts that stirred in her mind. she laid on the couch, eyes a little red from the weed she may or may not have just smoked just a few minutes ago, while the light of the television filled the darkness of the room. suddenly, she hears a knock at her door, a sound that rips through the trance-like state the brunette had been in. after turning off the tv, she walks over to the door — she was sober enough to be moving okay, but just high enough to not be alarmed by the late visitor. as she opens the door, her eyes widen, definitely feeling fully awake now. “ busy ? um — ” other than the fact that she was stoned ? not too much. “ no, i guess not, ” she answers, letting out a nervous laugh and opening the door a little wider. the girl hoped he wouldn’t take much notice of her christmas themed pyjamas, and — oh god, did she look high ? why was he here ? he seemed strangely cheerful, too cheerful for this time of night and considering what had happened the last time he’d been here. “ sorry, i’m ... i’m just a little out of it right now. everything okay ? ” rosemary tucks her hair behind her ears, in hopes this would make her look a little more presentable. “ d’you wanna come in ? ”

juniper: no... i'm dumb too...

juniper: things were kinda stressful that entire day, i shouldn't have put it on you

juniper: i do mean it, though. i miss you. but now i have you back and i don't want to ruin it. more.

rosemary: your burdens are mine to bear too !! i don't want us to fight but you can always talk to me abt anything

rosemary: seriously. always. and it's my fault if i haven't emphasized that enough

rosemary: & nothing's been ruined - at this point, you're pretty much never getting rid of me

╰     𝑖  .     ›   𝐎𝐏𝐄𝐍   .       @mistystarters

          the   only   location   in   misty   hollow   that   returned   memories   was   the   local   diner   .   the   hollow   diner   was   a   place   jinwoo   cherished   ;   as   within   it’s   walls   ,   his   family   earned   a   sense   of   normalcy   .   he   entered   the   nostalgic   location   and   was   astonished   at   how   little   it   had   changed   .   jinwoo   ,   wrapped   up   in   his   memories   felt   a   sudden  surge   of   pain   centered   in   the   side   of   his   head   .   on   instinct   his   hand   reached   to   cradle   it   a   small   wince   left   his   lips   while   doing   so   .    ❝   my   sincerest   apologizes   .   ❞   he   admitted   in   a   tired   tone   .    ❝   maybe   i   needed   a   cup   of   coffee   more   urgently   than   i   thought   .   does   it   still   taste   like   crap   ?   ❞   he   asked   in   hopes   that   his   humor   would   be   able   to   distract   from   his   sudden   pain   .

sebastian stands before jinwoo, a small smile sitting on his lips at the sight of the other who stuck out in contrast to the rest of the room. sophisticated, put together, and well, rich. “ yup, crappier than ever in fact, ” the male nods, resting his hands on the table and leaning forward slightly. the people of misty hollow seemed to have a liking for cheap, inconsistent, and if one got really unlucky ( or sebastian was having a particularly bad day ), inedible food. the one constant within the diner, however, was the coffee. sebastian prided himself on his shitty coffee recipe ( though hot water and instant coffee mix hardly qualified as a recipe ) and the daily complaints only really kept him going. “ anything else for you today ? waffles, eggs, pancakes — i can make ‘em extra shitty for ‘ya if you’d like. ” 

*   open   starter ,   @mistycentral·· .

“ the hell .. ” eyes squinting, gabriel studied the group of kids from across the street who were all flocking to a parked car in the lot, one that was taking up TWO spots instead of one. “ .. is that .. that’s a twenty pound bag of bird seed, jesus — ” the male leans back with raised brows, mildly impressed by the scheme. “ kids sure are getting more and more creative nowadays .. ” he murmured to himself, attention beginning to drift back to the report he had initially been working through.

she stood a few feet away from the other, pretending to be only half listening. her gaze follows his eyes to the car in the parking lot and she has to restrain herself from going over to scold the kids about their parking job. instead, she feigns a smile of amusement, arms crossed against her chest as she looks over at gabriel. “ i PITY their parents, ” kennedy turns her focus back to the kids across the street, this time finding genuine amusement in their excitement over a bag of bird seed. “ you worry about ‘em going out, drinking, getting high on who knows what — when in reality, they’re just losing their shit over a bag of bird seed. pathetic, isn’t it ? ”

open starter: @mistycentral· location: lucky’s tavern

“Mmph, love that journey for you.” Serafina had lost interest in the relatively boring conversation about five minutes ago, but luckily she’d gotten some interesting text messages from one of her producers about an upcoming shoot. Normally Sera was more attentive than this, but she had tried to change the conversation and the person just wasn’t getting the hint. However, her ears soon picked up something interesting and her head popped up from her phone. “Run that back?”

“ hm, let’s see — last time i was here i got fuckin’ wasted, blacked out in the washroom and woke up to some old man trying to piss on me, ” sebastian explains, grin spread across his face. “ right around this point is when you said you ‘ love that journey ’ for me. sound familiar ? ” he looks to the other, more amused than anything else by serafina’s lack of attention span. 

— * CLOSED STARTER ! / @mistycentral​.

rosie: my morning routine is a cup of coffee n a cry in the shower

rosie: try it it’s good for ur skin i promise <3

aside from meetings at town hall, kennedy had been trying her best to stay home recently, in light of henry’s death. there were just too many questions, looks of concern, yet at the same time, a certain level of distance the people of misty hollow seemed to be keeping from her. the way people looked at and treated her was as though they expected kennedy to have all the answers and solutions, while also waiting for her to have some sort of meltdown. staying home though, also meant her house was now filled with paperwork everywhere, old dishes scattered around various rooms, and curtains that hadn’t been opened in days. at the risk of losing her own sanity if she sat at her desk in her pyjamas a moment longer, she’d decided on a prompt outing to java the hut. her coffee at home didn’t quite cut it. so far, her visit was uneventful, almost as though the town had forgotten about the murder. kennedy sat by the window, mug of steaming coffee in hand as she stared blankly at the steam coming off of her drink. hearing steps and a voice approach nearby, she looked up, “ we can’t release any more information about — ” kennedy paused, realizing her words, practically automated by now, were unwarranted. but could she help it ? practically everywhere she turned, someone was wanting to ask her about the state of the case, whether they should be worried, yadda yadda. “ sorry, ” she flashes a smile, too big and too quick to seem natural, “ guess i’ve turned myself into a broken record. would you like to sit ? ”

SUNDAYS HAD NEVER QUITE FELT REAL TO GUS. ‘ BAD VIBES ’ was usually how he put it whenever he was caught out & grumpy, shrugging it off rather than diving into his inherently sloppy explanation of liminality that was heavy on the hand-waving and always wrapped up with the simple fact that he just didn’t LIKE existing most sunday afternoons — and, sadly, today was one of those very sundays that gus wished he was still facedown in bed. instead, he was stuck faking busy at a dime a dozen, splitting his time between watching the clock and aimlessly reorganizing the shelves to cutdown on dust. he hummed under his breath, trying to place the generic pop tune that crackled lowly over the sound system, but he didn’t get any further than a peeved thought about the permanent volume setting before he heard it — her — rosie. his gut gave an uncomfortable twist as he turned away from the shelf, meeting the other’s familiar gaze with a confused pinch of his brows. “you have my schedule memorized?” and that was NOWHERE close to hitting the self-deprecating tone that he’d intended, fuck. gus winced and shook his head. “sorry, hey…” a heavy pause blanketed them and he forced himself not to fidget — sunday was official cursed. “are you, uh, shopping for something specific?” gus managed, close to slipping into customer service mode, “point at anything and you can get it for a quarter, limited time offer — the stickers are already locked and loaded.” his words came out lighter this go around, hand lifting from where it was braced against the shelf to wiggle the ancient price gun.

she wants to roll her eyes at gus’ immediate response, but he isn’t wrong.  over the two years she’d been back at misty hollow, rosemary had put together a rather extensive list of ‘ gus danger zones ’. the two had broken up years ago yet she had never quite learned how to stop herself from searching for him in any place she walked into. in spite of her efforts to avoid the other, she hadn’t decided whether she secretly wanted to see him, though standing before him now, she was leaning towards no. “ no, um — i come here almost every sunday. i don’t usually see you here so i just figured ... ” she trails off, eyes hesitant to meet his as they drifted back and forth from him to down at her shoes. rosie’s grateful when his tone lightens, and maybe just a little disappointed he was taking their surprise run-in so well. she, on the other hand, was not. while the pair had crossed paths from time to time, they had never really had to interact at all aside from exchanging polite smiles or nods of acknowledgement from a few feet away. still, she tries her best not to panic ( not visibly, anyway ). “ i’m just looking around, really. i was hoping i’d find some things new in stock — y’know, stuff that doesn’t have layers of dust accumulated on ‘em quite yet. ” that could’ve been all — this was her out. the brunette could have very easily left the conversation here, coming up with some lame excuse and simply walk past him. but she’s too CURIOUS to leave, wanting a little more information than what could be seen on his instagram to sustain her mind for when it wandered to gus. “ so, um, how’ve you been doing ? ” rosemary attempts before slightly regretting her words and cringing at herself, “ sorry — is this too weird ? am i making things weird ? ” a small laugh escapes her and she makes no effort to stifle it, hoping the other was also appreciating the comedic awkwardness of the situation.

rosemary: so is our fight over yet ??

rosemary: i miss u and i have stuff to tell u so.....

“ i don’t know, ” she sighs softly. “ maybe he’s gone senile, ” lou shrugs casually before she’s pulled into an unexpected hug by the other. eyes widen for a moment and then instinctively, she wraps her arms around rosie in return. “ hey, it’ll be fine. we can GET you a drink, no biggie, ” lou says in a low voice, small smile on her lips as she attempts to comfort the other by stroking the back of her head. hands coming around to rest on rosie’s shoulders, she pulls away for a second so she can face the girl, “ i just realized — maybe it’s a bit cliche but how about we play THE FUNERAL by band of horses ? that’s a good song, you like that one right ? ”

rosemary releases a soft exhale, chest feeling a little lighter in lou’s embrace. for a second, she feels more at ease upon hearing the other’s soft and familiar voice, offering rosie words of comfort as usual. but it’s not long until the eerily quiet ambience of the room catches up to her and her chest tightens up once more. the two pull away and she manages a smile, gaze still fixed on lou while attempting to blur out the rest of the bar. “ yeah, okay — ” rosemary nods slowly, “ i doubt anyone will really be listening anyway, yeah ? ” she asks, though more of a rhetorical question to say aloud the reassuring words to herself. “ i just ... can’t believe he’s gone, y’know ? i thought the whole misty murders thing was a thing of the past but i guess misty hollow’s always gonna be fuckin’ cursed or something. ”