R Y A N - C L A R K E

             it’s  his  first  time  seeing  the  new  face  in  the  flesh  and  while  it’s  a  little  strange,  it’s  not  in  a  bad  way.  they’re  the  same  height  now,  which  amuses  him  more  than  maybe  he  should,  and  it’s  with  a  cheeky  smile  that  he  responds.   “  i  like  your  shirt.   it  must  be  new. ”   he  thinks  he’s  funny,  that  much  is  clear,  but  it’s  a  nice  little  joke  to  help  ease  some  of  the  unfounded  anxiety  he  was  shouldering.   if  ryan  works  here,  it  means  he’s  not  in  trouble  —  though,  arguably,  he  might  have  to  work  on  his  attendance  now.   “  idle  hands.   yeah,  i  get  it. ”   he  cracks  a  smile.   “  hey,  that’s  awesome.  congratulations. ”   he  hesitates  for  a  moment,  unsure  if  they’ve  graduated  past  handshakes  and  fist  bumps  to  hugs,  but  decides  that  he’ll  go  for  something  in  between  by  squeezing  his  shoulder.   nailed  it.   “  i  won’t  hate  seeing  you  around  more  often. ”   in  fact,  it’s  the  complete  opposite.  

@peachybottcm​

she couldnt remember the last time that she was this cold, watching people fight with each other for warmth. eve’d frowned, tucking frigid hands and her phone which no longer seemed to be getting out in the pockets of the slightly oversized tan puffer coat that she was glad she’d bought simply because she thought it was cute; she’d donned it along with the gray knit scarf around her neck and the knit hat and gloves in her inner pocket. she’d wanted to take advantage of the ability to dress in winter garb for once never considering it might actually be necessary.

it was standing up and unzipping to reach the hat that allowed her to catch sight of him. her newest of new siblings. eve excused herself from the table, pushing standing to make her way across the room to ryan. she forced a slight smile despite being so cold. “hey. i didn’t know you were here too.”

   if he was  E N T I R E L Y  honest, he’d not been quite sure how he ended up in the family given he liked to consider himself an adult by now but call it an unfledged need for attention and love that kept him from turning it down; anything was better than being a mudpit baby, whose ONLY parental figure happened to be something he’d hated for centuries now. the only positive he could take was the brother he’d gained — Landon Kirby, who managed to at the very least make him feel like a real boy who had real problems ( concerns too ). being a brother gave him a purpose and he was doing his BEST not to take that for granted. 

in his rather limited friend pool ( or rather - the pool of those that weren’t trying to erase him from the earth ) ryan was a rather favoured member. war isn’t entirely sure when they’d met, but he’d hid with ryan several times when his spouses were being… particularly determined. war settles into the chair next to him, legs over one arm, head over the other, covered in glitter. “ it’s good to see you again. what’s got you brooding and morbidly depressed this time? “ @peachybottcm​

      so maybe the storm was good for bringing old friends into unarranged reunions which had seemed all but  I M P O S S I B L E  until now; he liked to believe there was some IRONY at least because he definitely wasn’t one for putting his best foot forward in an attempt to meet up though, they were more so in touch when they had the time. that was — NICE ( or at least, nice in a not having too many friends way ). “ oh, come on... ” his voice is purposely filled with a tone of maudlin dramatics, something at least partially playful and dramatic because joking in place of accepting facts seemed WAY easier. “ the secret is everything and nothing at all; I gotta seem interesting somehow, ” he finds himself gesturing to the other. “ we can’t all paint ourselves with glitter and look THAT good. ”

landon: where are you? home?

landon: i think someone spelled a boundary up to keep us inside, so that's not a problem.

landon: i'm safe.

landon: though, in reflection, i'm not sure snow could really kill me anyway. i mean, it could, but i'd just come back and it'd be a vicious cycle.

ryan: some...strip club. no, I wouldn't have chosen this place but it was the closest.

ryan: let's not think about testing that theory, whether you'd come back or not..it's not worth it.

landon: hey, are you still at school?

landon: the snow picked up so i guess we're all stuck here until it passes, or until it's safe to go outside.

landon: i just wanted to check and make sure you were staying safe.

Ryan: no, weirdly wishing I was...

Ryan: i'm safe, just don't do anything stupid or go outside for anyone..yeah?

SOMEONE HAD A SENSE OF HUMOR.  harlow would give them that, because she’d also look at a strip club and be like ‘hey, let’s make this place a SHELTER for the may snowstorms.’  the club being packed was good for business in general, alas, just a little snow and suddenly people thought everything in there was free real estate. she couldn’t have the hellhounds drag each one of them to the lower floors just yet. so OLD SCHOOL would have to suffice for now. “YOU. get your sticky fingers off that.” the before i tear them off implied in her tone but left up in the air. who said she didn’t have HOSPITALITY? whether sticky fingers here knew she ran this place or not. 

                  maybe it had been  F R U S T R A T I N G  because he’d made some internal promise to himself to try and be better: to escape places and situations like this but alas when it was a choice between this or freezing to death...the former took the win. it didn’t, however, take much to remind him just how dearly he hated people; when panic became woven in the ENTIRETY of their being it was like trying to calm a swarm of wasps — POINTLESS. “ You’ll probably have better luck if you actually just threaten to tear their head off. ” in his defense, he had considered doing it himself but again when you’re trying to be good it tends to beat the whole objective ( that wasn’t to say he’d stop anyone else ). 

         “  uh,  hey. ”  to  say  that  he’s  surprised  to  see  ryan  at  the  salvatore  school  is  an  understatement.   maybe  he  shouldn’t  be.  he,  himself,  hasn’t  been  here  in  weeks  —  so  it’s  very  possible  they’ve  been  like  ships  in  the  night.   “  don’t  take  this  the  wrong  way  because  i’m  HAPPY  to  see  you  and  everything  but  —  what  are  you  doing  here  ? ”   there’s  a  part  of  him  that  wonders,  no,  dreads,  that  his  attendance  HASN’T  gone  unnoticed  and  they’ve  called  the  closest  thing  he  has  to  a  parent  in  for  some  conference.   (  selfishly,  he’d  rather  go  through  ten  hope  mikaelson  break-ups  than  a  parent-teacher  conference.   )   @boundedbydcrkness​​