meredith

“Why’s that?” He asks with a far more serious tone than he means to, just wondering where the person comes from if she doesn’t come from Silver Lake. He get’s that sense about her, he can practically smell it on her now up close. But then she’s sliding away at the sight of blood and he licks his lips, wiping his fingers unceremoniously on the side of his jeans. 

 “No, I’m not about’a rob you.” He thinks to mention he doesn’t have his hunting knife on him anyway, but decides it might put the other off entirely. Not cool to joke about such things, rings his sisters voice in his head. “I just wanted ‘ta compliment your skates. Where’d you get em? Think you can outrun a bear in these?” And why is he asking, maybe because he’s bored and has a new face a new captive. For the moment. 

⚘

“Well, because unless you also just flew in from Lesotho after a two year tour...”

Such a boy, Mere thought, watching the kid wipe his blood on his own jeans without a second thought. It took more effort than she expected not to tell him “no, icky”--like some of the children she used to work with. “...’you gonna be okay? That sounded like it hurt.”

Brows raise and she finally smiles again when the other starts coming nearer, another player to one of her little tricks. Though it wouldn’t be a trick, she’s helping, honest, but in a foolish mood she can’t resist if the other person is a willing participant. “If it were a clever pick-up scheme, would it be working?” She asks, coy for a moment before dropping the plush act. A bright little smirk lights up her features and she continues on, “you’ll know the game soon enough. Let me think.” And this game is always best with strangers. It calls upon an old but useful skill of accurately reading people.

“I am partially blind in my left eye, I use essential oils to scent myself, I’m wearing four rings right now, and I always tell the truth. Now detect my lie.” She says cryptically, narrowing her eyes with sights full of treachery. 

⚘

Really, when Mere said that it was just a joke but Rose played along, which did drag a light-hearted chuckle out of her. “I’ll tell you when we’re done here.”

The more they spoke, the clearer it became that Mere had stumbled across an odd fish of a person...or maybe, that odd fish stumbled upon her. It was interesting at least, and wasn’t this why she’d packed up and moved to a new city? For new experiences, new people? In any case, it was a hell of a lot more fun to indulge this little distraction than it would be to immediately turn tail and get back to the problems in her reality.

But...just her luck, Rose picked a guessing game. The worst. Mere’s habit of second-guessing every decision she made would work against her here but she tried not to let that anxiety show as she considered the options Rose gave her. At first, it felt a little too easy. But then, why play at all if you were going to be lazy? Mere took her time thinking in silence, looking Rose over as if trying to reason out exactly what kind of person she was just from the few minutes since they’d met.

“Hm...I’m gonna say...you’re not blind.”

“Ew no, why would I want to live…” Brooke paused, finally processing what the woman had originally said. In an aim to not offend her entirely, the actress shone her a forced smile of sympathy. Damn, she was good at her job. Her eyes peered around, not really sure who she’d even be looking for, she knew nobody of use in these apartments, and her ‘booty call’ would probably just make the situation worse. “I’ll let you borrow my phone, if you promise you’re not a thief.”

⚘

Well, damn. Mere couldn’t help but feel a little smaller at the blonde woman’s response; there was that L.A. judgment she’d been hearing about. As rude as that little comment was, Mere just offered a smile back, albeit with a touch of salt around the rim. “Oh, the units are pretty nice, actually, for the price. Not everyone wants to spend most of their money pretending to look lavish.”

When Brooke offered her phone, Mere was tempted to take it just to get out of searching the rest of her bag. But the mention of thievery pushed it too far past her pride to accept and she bent back down to resume looking through her things, matching Brooke’s phony friendliness through her expression. “That’s okay. I wouldn’t want to get my dirty, working class germs on it. Who knows where these hands have been, right?”

It’s the tail end of his day after work and taking new pictures for his scrapbook when he’s on his bi-monthly walk to pretend like he keeps up with his health. He’s taking strides along concrete, hands in his pockets when he catches sight of another on-goer sliding and dancing lightly in her skates.

And observant as ever, Jackson with his eyes on the person grooving and jiving, walks straight into a pole. Upon being abruptly stopped, he decides he may as well walk over to see what’s up and hope curiosity won’t kill this cat. “Hey, cute skates. Wanna give em to me since you’re not goin’ anywhere with ‘em?” He asks, tapping two fingers to his lower lips and finding that they come away with a bit of red. “Haven’t I seen you before?”

⚘

At the clanging sound of someone’s face striking aluminum, Mere turned over her shoulder without losing her footing at all on her skates, brow furrowing at the man. That was embarrassing. Her brow furrowed deeper when he came her way immediately after, asking if he knew her.

“...that’s pretty unlikely,” she mumbled in answer. At the sight of the blood coming away from his face, Mere grimaced and rolled around to face him, pushing her feet in such a way that put several more inches between them. “You’re not about to try and rob me, are you? Because that would make no sense. Unless you’re a women’s seven.” 

Callan hadn’t been this intoxicated since before his stay at rebels rehab four months ago, but he had reason to celebrate. With Ecstasy were due to release their ep on Halloween, which was less then two weeks away, and everything was now finalised and ready to go. It had been an incredibly long journey but he’d made it. 

Callan had positioned his drunk self into one of the booths at Dungeon, a place he hadn’t visited for what felt like forever. The table was cluttered with empty shot glasses and pints, a sign that he was thoroughly enjoying his night. However, his eyelids felt incredibly heavy as he tried to focus and listen in to what his friend was saying, before he yawned loudly. “Alright dude.. Hang on. Say that again..” The musician slurred, his body noticing the difference without the use of cocaine. His energy levels were reaching naught. 

@slchat​

⚘

This guy was wasted. It was pretty clear. Mere wasn’t usually one to involve herself in other people’s fun, but she couldn’t stop staring at the shot glass dangling precariously from his fingers as his head dipped once, twice...

“You’re gonna spill that on yourself,” she said finally, her voice drowned out by the bass blasting from the speakers around the club. The man sat up, coming back to alertness, but didn’t move much, nor did he seem any closer to noticing the still-full shotglass close to tipping over as his drunken grip slipped. “I said, you’re...fuck it.” 

Puffing air from her nostrils in amusement, Mere leaned in just enough to swipe the shot glass out of Callan’s fingers and tip it back herself, before setting it down on the table with his twenty other buddies. “You look like you’ve had enough anyway.”

Brooke never usually left her house to venture out to the other complexs around Silver Lake. However, she’d had a meeting with a fellow actor about a certain scene they were due to film, or in other words, she’d met up for a booty call. As most of her ‘practices’ ended. As she exited their home, she noticed a woman she hadn’t seen before struggling with her bag, but wasn’t bothered enough to assist.

However, she was intrigued enough to wonder who she is, and found herself wandering over with a curious expression. “What are you looking for?” She asked, straightforwardly, without an introduction. “Can’t find your keys?”

⚘

Mere sighed as she dug around elbow deep in her bag, waiting to feel that familiar plastic case against her fingers. A shadow stepped into her space, draping over her and her bag and Mere looked up, squinting against the light and bright hair. 

“...my keys are inside there. I’m supposed to move in today. But I guess I’m a little late.” Punctuality had never been Mere’s specialty. Or packing. She huffed, exasperated, and started checking different pockets. This was why you didn’t just shove everything into one bag... 

“You don’t happen to live here, do you?”

Rosemarie smiles at the woman’s response, taking at least a little enjoyment in throwing someone off if it’s all in good fun. She doesn’t take insult, assuming the other person doesn’t mean any, and stands to come closer, head tilted as she looked up to meet the others gaze. “Yes, like a child, and the timing of our meet doesn’t matter so much does it?” She absolutely saunters to the other form, a devilish look in her eye though the game would be simple and without suffering. 

“Would you like to know where you need to go or not?”

⚘

Something was up with this one. Usually when Mere thought that, it was a bad thing. She was pretty non-judgmental, other than when it came to making sure she never ended up in the wrong place, at the wrong time, with the wrong person. But she didn’t feel threatened so much as...fixated on. Mere wasn’t exactly used to that, but flexibility was important in this world. 

“I guess not,” she chuckled, stroking an eyebrow out of exasperation before standing up tall and giving in to the allure of the random encounter. Mere shot one last look at the empty leasing office, pushing her bag right up against the building for safe keeping and heading over to Rose compliantly. 

“Alright. I’m curious. What are we playing? Or is this just some clever pick-up scheme?”

THE BABY OF THE FAMILY NOAH had never really took any of her sisters seriously when they told her to be aware of her surroundings. if she had then maybe she wouldn’t have nearly had a heart attack at the sound of someone speaking. all the years of stranger danger kicked in and she took a small step back away from them only slightly relaxing when they said there was a chance her car might start back up. “ really ? ” she started with a giant grin though it quickly faded. “ well i mean yeah but i didn’t think that’d be enough to fuck me over like this ! this car has gone through worse battles than me ⚘ going muddin last weekend. ”

⚘

Mere winced when the girl was startled; a gesture instead of an apology. Noah stepped back--and whatever her reasons were, Mere took a step back herself, not wanting to make anybody uncomfortable. 

“...people mud all the way here in California?” Mere was so amused by that. Even in the northern country where she was raised, that was a ‘sport’ enjoyed almost exclusively by displaced southern boys whose daddies owned meager land next door. A girl like this? She could hardly picture it.

“Well...you should probably make sure you didn’t bust your oil pan before you try turning on the engine again, just to be safe.” Giving the young woman a cursory look, it was clear that she was way over her head in terms of knowing how to deal with this. But since Mere was too new to the area to know where to send her... “I can take a quick look, if you want. At least you’ll know if you have to get towed out of here.”

winnie gave the other a small smile and nod, standing back to let the other look through the houseware. she glanced over to the front of the door to the pile of books that the other referred to, laughing to herself slightly. “yeah. i wouldn’t trust half of those books. a couple have missing pages, unidentifiable stains, and worn out spines that could fall apart at any second. i usually wouldn’t take them, but a donation is a donation.”

⚘

Mere mostly kept her eyes on the shelf while she and Winnie spoke, tipping different items back with a finger before tucking them into her arm to hold. The corner of her mouth pulled tight in a deep, half-smile as Winnie told her about the books.

“Yeah, well. Just because something’s damaged doesn’t mean it doesn’t have value. I bet you’d barely even miss those missing pages if you didn’t know they were gone.”

There’s a glint of something sourly sweet in Rosemarie’s eyes, something playful but sinister like she knows she might only be wasting the other woman’s time. But she’s already left waiting around when the rental office is left empty anyways. Rosie crosses her legs, straightening her back with a few relieving pops. “I do not work here no, I apologize,” and it seems like she’ll leave it at that for a moment, until she’s shower her teeth, tilting her head, and speaking again. 

“I can show you to the lord of the land? If you’ll play a game with me? It’ll be quick I promise.”

⚘

Mere nodded pitifully as Rose confirmed she was shit out of luck, resuming her search through the bag for her phone. Only, the stranger spoke up again. Mere looked back, brows raised, taking the time she didn’t take before to really get a good look at the person talking to her. Rose was looking at her with interest, but the reason why was a mystery. When she finally said what she wanted, Mere was quiet, trying to process the request coming to of her out of the blue. 

“Game? What, like kids?” She questioned, lost but amused, her smile faint. “’You that bored? You just met me two seconds ago.”

“– And that’s why I can confidently say that there is no ghost in the men’s bathroom of Ready Player One. I repeat, there is no pisser poltergeist,” Bowie says before he signed off his Instagram live, his phone held out in front of his face as he glided down the sidewalk on his skateboard, narrowly avoiding a nasty spill when he lowered the phone and realised he was about to collide headfirst with a large bag. 

( Close one. ) 

He grinded to a dead halt, one foot off the board as he tilts his head at the somewhat frantic scene before him. 

“Hey, are you alright good pal?” 

⚘

Mere didn’t notice the approaching skater until it was almost too late; instinctively, they flinched at the loud sound of his board scratching against the concrete, shoulders dropping once the danger had been avoided. 

winnie nodded silently, glancing back down at the books she had in front of her, taking a few quick notes as she let the other browse around. hearing the other acknowledge her again, winnie raised her head. she smiled softly as she got up from her seat and moved around the counter. “we have a couple of things,” she said, taking the lead to show the other a small shelf of houseware. “we have a few plates and cups, some silverware. clothes is usually what we carry but sometimes we’ll get a few gems like these.”

⚘

Mere followed at a small distance as Winnie led her through the store, fiddling with the straps of her back as she looked around at the racks of clothes around them. 

“Nice, thanks.” When they reached a small shelf’s worth of what she was looking for, Mere nodded at her appreciatively and started looking through what they had, still glancing around the store in case anything else caught her eye. 

“...books, too? There was a mountain up at the front.”

It was a wonderful day for a walk, and an even more wonderful day for a little frolic in the fields – as Rosie would put it; a little time lost in the throws of someone else’s bed, only for a moment. It explains her location and her glow and her mischievous little smirk as she watches another person walk by. Then she’s bending over and ripping open her bag much to Rosemarie’s dismay, it breaks up the happy fluffy air around her and turns the city back to it’s dingy gray from her pink clouds. “Something wrong, lovely?” She calls from her distance, sitting on some steps, sensing some frustration in the other person.

⚘

Mere looked straight up as someone else called to her from across the way, squinting against the sun and trying to make out the face of the person speaking to her. It was slightly startling to be called lovely by a stranger but Mere tried not to make it weird, flashing Rose an anxious half-smile as she withdrew her hands from her bag and stood up. Mere gestured to the rental office behind her with a jab of the thumb. 

“You don’t work here, do you? Or know who does? I need to pick up the keys to my new place but no one’s here.” 

STANDING HANDS ON HER HIPS as plumes of hot white steam came off of her engine which whined and hissed as antifreeze sputtered out of the transmission. “ oh well this is just fucking great - ” walking around the engine over and over again as, if by sheer will she could get her car to stop overheating. she’d been driving her dad’s 1997 jeep wrangler since her fifteenth birthday when her dad gave her a very emotional speech about how pop pop had given him the very same vehicle for his fifteenth and now, it was finally her turn to drive it. now she only wished she’d gotten something less cute and boxy and more, gets her to her job interview on time. “ god ? ” she started squinting up at the clouds, “ is this some sort of joke ? am i just not allowed to get a job because this is the second time something’s happened before i got to an interview - ” gasping she pointed an angry finger at the clouds, “ it was annabelle wasn’t it ? she made you a deal. ” letting out a scoff before finally looking back to her baby. she’d never been in a situation like this, anytime she had car trouble back home she’d just call her dad and he’d come bring the tow truck and take it back to their family’s garage. now, she was all on her own. “ what do i do ? ” she said the words more for herself than anyone else, panic finally starting to set in. @slchat​

⚘

Mere watched from the sidewalk as the girl in the street made a little scene, walking around her smoking car and lamenting her situation towards the sky. It was a little dramatic but Mere took pity and wandered closer, eyeing the hissing engine and finally overhearing the tail end of Noah’s question.

“‘You just have to wait. It’ll start up again when it cools off but you can’t...” Mere trailed off as she noticed the deeper damage and the fluids leaking out of the bottom. “Uh oh...’you hit something?”

@shredderisms

when winnie decided to make the jump to work and go to school at the same time, she definitely bit off more than she could chew. she sat behind the counter of the register, a sea of books resting on the surface. being a college student, studying business especially, her time was practically always occupied with late nights of writing essays and reading books. the balance of work and school was almost overwhelming for winnie, but she gives it her best shot with it all, more determined since it’s her last year of classes. she had her shift at the funkytown thrift. luckily for her, the store was empty, giving her time to catch up on assignments she was behind in. the sound of the bell at the front door caught the girl’s attention, causing her to huff softly before closing up her books. she painted a small grin on her lips for the person walking up to the counter. “welcome to funkytown thrift, how can i help you?”

⚘

“Just looking,” Mere said without thinking as she stepped into the thrift store, backpack over her shoulders. Since she was new to the city and still had a few days before starting work, exploring the area was her goal for today. Funkytown was one of the first places she’d wanted to check out.

Mere only got a few steps past the counter before stopping, though, pausing before turning back to the woman behind the counter. “Actually--sorry, you don’t sell any housewares here, do you?”