lonely.

Love, trust, fun, friendship and respect all in one person.

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“I’m usually a little bit more stealthy about it. Sometimes the roofs I’m jumping onto and off of are private property, which is where the legality of being secretly Spiderman goes into a bit of a grey area,” he smirked. “Oh, thank you, thank you. I’ll do better next time you catch me in the act. Promise.”

“Ah, I knew it. Good to meet you, Olivia. I’m Milo, but if you ever hear anyone talking about Cat Boy, that’s also me. Such an uncreative name…” he said, shaking his head, “I’m trying to start a rumor that I’m Spiderman instead, would you mind passing that along?”

“Oh Spiderman? You’re not too busy off saving the multiverse?” she asked with a grin, secretly impressed with herself as the knowledge of Marvel came willingly to the fore. She personally hadn’t seen many of the movies, but an intern at the salon went to great lengths to make sure she knew details even if she didn’t ask for them. “Well, Spiderman I will definitely try and pass that along to all my clients, I cut hair so .... a lot of people come through. Seriously, I’m a powerful ally to have--” she joked.

Adam looked over at the machines for a moment before looking back at the woman besides him, her face was familiar but he couldn’t put a name to it, he was always good with faces in a bit of a worrying way, he had a couple times when he had seen someone once on the street then seen a wanted poster but he could remmeber excatly where he had seen them. But it was because of his acute retainign of faces he saw that he was always polite to people incase they actually knew each other in more than just passing on the street and he was having a moment of lapsed memory. He smiled at her thinking for a moment, “Five bucks is a pretty low bet don’t tell me you have so little faith in yourself?” He joked, he hadn’t played an arcade game in years and knew should would probably easily beat him the closest he got was some of the machines at work used for key hole surgerys. “How about 20 and i buy you a drink either way for good sportmanship?”

“No, but I have a five year old that I am constantly losing money too in bets...five dollar starts is a way I don’t find myself completely broke.” the woman replied, wrinkling her nose a little. She often had to bribe her daughter, perhaps money hadn’t been the best way but it was an ongoing, running joke now she supposed, and she was happy to spoil her daughter if it meant that she was happy. She chalked it up to just another thing that she did to make up for the fact that Chloe’s dad wasn’t in the picture. She fell silent as she contemplated the offer, before nodding a little, “Why not? I’m Liv, by the way.”

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Despite having limited skill or practice, Ryan didn’t for a second doubt that she would be perfectly competent at the game that they were about to go play. Stretching her fingers out and cracking her knuckles, Ryan nodded once and let the other woman lead the way. “After you. Pick whichever side of the machine thingy you want, I don’t care a bit,” Ryan said, gesturing to allow Olivia her pick of whatever she wanted. Ryan was stupid and showy and full of ego that she absolutely did not for a second deserve in this instance. “Is there a picture to tell you what the buttons do or something?” 

“...I can’t tell you that, you’re my competition.” she replied indignantly as she chose a side to the machine, and half limbered up trying to bide time as she figured out how the controls worked herself. She stepped up to the machine, her hands poised as she gave the other woman a questioning look, “You ready or you wanna concede already?”

– 

“Let them be jealous.” Greyson smirked, a smug look on his face because even with how bashful he was he knew that the lift would forever be impressive. How it happened he didn’t know, but at some point in the movie the two of them had migrated so that they were lent against each other, back to the tree as they propped each other up and his hand was laced with her own, large fingers playing with her own as they watched the film. If he was honest he had spent more time watching her watch the film, watching as her eyes lit up at certain scenes, how they saddened at others, though his favourite part were her quiet mumbles to the lines that she had already told him she knew, she really wasn’t kidding. As the final song started Greyson heard cheers from all around and Greyson watched as Olivia joined in, a chuckle forming. Bringing their joint hands to his lips Grey pressed a kiss to the back of her hand. “Would you like to dance with me?” He asked softly, leaning in closely to her ear. 

Olivia hadn’t quite spent a night like this in a long time, perhaps not even since her early twenties before she’d married her ex. She wasn’t even aware of the moment that they had moved closer, only that they had managed to somehow end up leant against each other, and she felt comfortable, a comfort that hadn’t been felt in a while. Her eyes remained somewhat glued to the screen despite being aware of his every touch, her thumb brushing over his hand every now and then as she mouthed the words. It had been a few years since she had last watched it, and she still knew it all, even more than before. She was more involved in Greyson, their hands, and the screen, so involved that she jolted back to reality and turned her attention to him fully, glancing down at their hands with a smile before leaning a little closer as he spoke. Liv smiled, “I’d love to.”

“Those definitely want all of your money. You’re right in thinking that. It’s truly a scam.” Cassie knew that was true. You never won with those things. It was most definitely a rigged game. “Great.” Cassie smirked and shoved a few coins into the Pac-Man machine. Watching as the game lit up she started to play. Successfully making it through three levels before dying. 

“I’m glad someone sees my way of thinking, I definitely get a few weird looks when I bring it up. Which .... I do, randomly. Sometimes.” she was rambling, but she knew that there was little to do to stop it, the alcohol had full control of her speech. She leant against the machine to watch the woman play her rounds, wincing a little as the third level became her last. “Ouch, that sucks.” she replied, “Not a bad effort though.”

– 

“I wasn’t here, I just moved back.” She beamed as she released the other from her grip. It was odd how comforting she was and Luca hadn’t even gotten to speak to her yet, not properly but here she was in the flesh. “I got a job offer in Boston and I didn’t want to pay city prices having just dealt with new york for so long I figured here was close enough.” Listening to the other explain why she was here the womans face changed, she hadn’t seen Olivia in a while but the two of them had kept in touch and she knew enough to know what had happened, everything that she had been through. “Well shit, and you picked little old Salem, well I can’t say I’m not thrilled you’re here. I finally have someone I can go out with and Chloe, oh god I bet she’s so big!” 

“I’m so happy to see you,” the woman replied, realising just how much she had needed a friendly face and familiar one at that. Luca had been a great friend for so long now that it had honestly felt like such a relief to see her, “That’s amazing, what’s the job?” she asked, indicating to the bar, “Do you want a drink, or are you here with someone?” she asked. Discussing Chloe always brought a bright smile to her face and tonight was no different, “She is, I can’t believe how big she’s getting and I don’t know how I feel about it. I miss my baby, but she’s this little person with opinions and imagination, and silliness and I just... I adore her,” she replied simply, a smile still tugging on her lips, “She’ll be so excited to see you, she’s always bugging me for trips to visit you.”

-

“That’s a typical curse,” Elaine said. “First we need to see if she’s a Griffyndor or a Slytherin,” she added with a laugh. “Talking about that, you’re ready for Halloween? I got a ton of new goodies at Omen. I still need to take some pics and post them on Instagram but I’ll be sure to have them up by the end of the week.” She also needed to talk to Eva about it to know how they were going to be working. Maybe add some discount for every item or perhaps a contest or a quiz. She was sure the young woman would be able to come up with something. “Oh, fuck!” Elaine cursed and stared at her. “You need to do my make up for that night!” Takin her phone, she looked for the right picture and showed it to her. “Don’t tell anyone but I’ll be Bellatrix Lestrange!” 

“Oooh can we do a sorting hat ?” she asked with a grin, “When she hit 9 and 3/4 months I did a sorting hat challenge, you know like the ones you see on tiktok these days where the baby crawls to the onesie she wants. Chloe picked Slytherin, I have high hopes.” she joked. It had been a proud moment of her life, watching the moment her daughter picked her house. She claimed she’d be like her mom now, but she knew that her daughter was a quintessential Slytherin, she could see it in her day to day behaviours. “I am not ready though, at least for the night time. I actually do have a sitter though, I’ll take Chlo trick or treating, she wants to do Kim Possible and Shego, so I get to be Shego that’ll be great. Might just keep that costume on.” Olivia loved halloween, but had never been a town that inevitably would celebrate it as much as she figured they would here. “Oh I’m definitely down to do that, name a time it’s yours. I’m working until three and then taking Chloe out.” she replied, leaning to look at the picture, “Oh man you’d be perfect for it! Seriously, sure you’re not related to her?”

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“I think you can definitely have traits of two houses. After all, Harry could have been a Slytherin or a Gryffindor. He got to choose. So I think you can choose to be a Ravenclaw if you want!” Lainey hummed, nodding, before a chuckle bubbled up when the other mentioned her daughter was only five years old. “Five might be a bit young for the later movies then.” They agreed, remembering how quickly the movies went from light-hearted, magical exploration, to dark struggles with the nasties of the world. “Maybe give it a few more years.” 

"That’s what I always thought, my brother never agreed.” she replied, half rolling her eyes at the thought, the amount of arguments over the dinner table, just one of the millions that coloured their childhoods. “Yeah, can’t wait to watch them with her. but equally not looking forward to the conversations over some of the stuff that happens.”

“It’s funny cause that high score is about to have Paige King on it.” Confidence wasn’t something Paige lacked at all. There was too much of it some had told her, but it only made her want to flaunt it more. The game seemed simple, destroy asteroids with a spaceship. Which, following old video game logic this was probably about to be unforgivably hard. But Paige couldn’t back down now. So the game started. Alcohol was not helping her reflex or maneuvering skills. But she was doing better than she initially started. By the time her lives were up she had a relatively decent score, but the boss seemed to be better than she was.

“Aw, it’s always such a shame to see such confidence when it’s about to be broken,” the woman replied teasingly, the beers she had consumed added some much needed bravado for the brunette. She pretended to limber up, stretching a little as she scanned the game ahead and tried to refamiliarise herself with the game layout and the rules. She hadn’t played this one since high school but how hard could it be? She could almost feel the way it used to be, muscle memory somehow helping her to believe she had this. That or the confidence that alcohol had brought her, leaning against the machine as she watched the woman’s efforts, “She was valiant, but alas it was not good enough.” she teased, cracking her knuckles “Ready to be schooled?”

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The smile on Avie’s face now was one she gave to everyone… but the sight of this adorable little girl melted the steel behind her eyes. She’d always preferred animals to humans - never more so than since her divorce - but children would always be the exception to that rule. She softened, like a weight had been lifted from her, and beamed at the kid and her mom.

“Oh goodness, a cat of your very own? Well, aren’t you the luckiest girl in Salem,” she smiled. If she had to guess, she’d say this kid was around five years old. Old enough to be friends with a cat without it being a serious danger to either one of them. “I’ve actually got a whole room of cats, want to see? Do you think you can count the cats in there? I bet you’re smart enough.”

Leading the ladies to the Cat Room, Avie finally spoke to the little girl’s mother. “She’s so sweet. Have you had pets before?”

Whilst Chloe was usually quite friendly, and she would often spend time talking to all different people, the young child was still slightly shy when it came to meeting new people since she had moved to Salem. Being removed from the only home she’d really known, whilst it had been a good move, was still something the younger Hamilton was adjusting too. She glanced up with a shy smile that turned a little brighter the more she stared at the woman, and she nodded a little with a grin before glancing up at her mom to see if it was okay to go. “Sure thing honey, go for it.” she replied, gently leading her along with a reassuring smile. 

“She is, I’m biased though.” the woman replied with a chuckle, though she was lucky with her kid, being blessed with the sweetest and most compassionate kid in the world. “Uh, we have yeah. We had a cat back in California. I mean, technically he was my cat I adopted him when I was twenty one. He was abandoned in New York, and when we moved here I didn’t want to put him through the major upheaval and honestly... he is obsessed with my dad. He misses this one apparently,” she indicated to her daughter, “They were great friends, honestly think I might have a future little vet in the making.”