a song is a poem

›     𝚂𝚃𝙰𝚁𝚃𝙴𝚁   𝚂𝚃𝙰𝚃𝚄𝚂   : open to @poetr1es, @dynast1es

late night,   met gala after party,   𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘰𝘰𝘮 𝘣𝘰𝘰𝘮 𝘳𝘰𝘰𝘮

the night may be young, but ryan is not. honestly, she would be more than happy to spend her evening at home, but an invitation from a close friend has ry dressed up and sipping some fruity drink while lounging at the edge of the room. “ i would never, ” she says, even though she was absolutely on the verge of leaving. “ just no whiskey, please. ” the only alcohol she genuinely doesn't care for — gin, tequila, vodka, rum, all palatable, but whiskey just does not taste good to her.

jayla  did  not  consider  herself  short ,  to  be  completely  honest  she  was  quite  average  in  height  for  most  women .  five  feet ,  six  inches  tall  and  for  the  most  part  she  was  able  to  reach  things  on  a  higher  shelf ...  except  for  some  reason  today .  several  times  had  the  deejay  reached  up  and  even  on  her  tippy  toes  and  still  her  fingers  just  barely  skimmed  the  bottom  but  unable  to  grasp .  it  was  frustrating  her  beyond  belief  and  yet  all  the  sounds  she  had  let  out  and  no  one  had  noticed ?  jayla  pushes  herself  up  one  more  time ,  looking  out  of  the  corner  of  her  eye  when  she  feels  a  shadow  over  her ,  " well  don't  just  stand  there  and  gawk ,  if  you're  tall  then  can  you  reach  that  or  if  not  then  maybe  i  can  climb  on  your  shoulders . "  to  her  it  was  totally  plausible  way  to  reach  if  her  and  the  stranger  were  both  short .

“  yep.  that’s  what  i  said,  "  mel  returns,  refusing  to  sit  there  uncomfortable  for  someone  else’s  benefit.  reason  why  they  don’t  entertain  his  suggestion  with  a  response,  shifting  just  enough  to  not  feel  like  her  ass  was  going  numb.  “  i  want  a  spiked  cider  and  a  massage,  yet  here  we  are.  "

“ fine, ” he says with a pout, kicking his feet like a child. it's less than effective, given the smile on his face. “ one more lap, and then we'll go find some nice padded chairs at the tavern. ” a mug of mulled wine does sound appealing, especially as the temperature drops later in the afternoon. he's still going to behave like a child about not getting more laps on the horses though. “ guess i'll have to rope someone else in tomorrow or something. ”

the  crowd  was  captivated  by  the  actors  on  stage  doing  a  fairly  decent  performance  of  romeo  and  juliet.  josie,  watching  from  afar,  couldn't  seem  to  focus  with  ryan  just  a  few  feet  away.  she  promised  herself  that  she  wouldn't  work  when  she  wasn't  on  set,  but  that  was  easier  said  than  done.  “did  you  see  the  rewrites?  i  asked  some  guy  dressed  like  a  gnome  to  drop  it  off  at  your  door,”  she  said  after  finally  working  up  the  courage  to  go  up  to  her.  “i  think  it  reads  as  more  grounded  now,  you  know?”

“ nope, ” ryan says bluntly, trying to focus on the stage play. not that it's particularly exciting — just a typical rendition of shakespeare, no fun twists or anything. still, she'd take an average play over talking about work while on holiday, especially with josie of all people. “ maybe you'd have less issues if you just took a break for what it is, ” she adds, because being disingenuous is her favourite hobby and having siblings makes one very good at it. “ but sure, i'll read over it eventually. maybe tomorrow. maybe next week. these things can't be forced. ” which is, funnily enough, why her editor also doesn't like ryan much. there's this thing called deadlines, anderson, you could try adhering to them, she can her the voice in her head that sounds exactly like her editor saying.

eyes scanned the area in search of a vendor selling turkey legs — never been to a ren faire before but had heard they were a signature food. everywhere he looked, however, there was only more souvenir stands. his stomach growled.  ❝ hey, ❞   he turned to the nearest person.  ❝ you know what stand is selling the best food? i was hoping for a turkey leg but i'll take anything good at this point. ❞

ryan has spent the morning in and around the palace, exploring the various rooms accessible to the public and finding cozy nooks to curl up with a book — preferable to being dragged hither and thither outside by reckless younger siblings looking for dragons. finally ventures outside towards lunch time, intent on exploring the market to see what trinkets or foodstuffs are on offer. “ i haven't seen any turkey leg places, ” she says, “ but there was a bratwurst stand back that way. ” she's not starving yet, and wants to find some neat souvenirs for her parents before lunch, but noted the sausage stand as she passed if only in case she doesn't spy anything more appealing. “ there could be some more food stalls over that way, though. ” gestures in a direction she hasn't explored yet.

❝ i was paying attention to the target, ❞   narisa retorted, arching one brow, challenging them to say her focus should've been elsewhere.  ❝ we aren't on a battlefield. ❞   closing out the week with a mock battle rather than watching jousts would've been more fun. if only. she picked up the bow, checking that it hadn't been damaged, before walking over to dislodge the arrow from the tree.  ❝ i had just pulled it taut because i was about to shoot. weren't you paying attention, hawkeye ? ❞   nowhere near mature enough to not throw his accusation right back at him.

they pick up a bow from a rack, testing the draw weight as they mull over a response. “ focusing on the target and being aware of your surroundings aren't mutually exclusive, ” he says, then shrugs. “ but hey, nothing happened — well, the tree might disagree, but it's but a tree, so. ” laurie gathers a quiver of arrows to go with the bow. “ my scout leader always made us practice un-drawing the bow as a default response, ” they say nonchalantly. “ so, i guess my instinct is to call anything except that wrong. which, i mean he was kind of strict and old, but it is kind of what you want when messing around with pointy objects. ”

      "  this  is  making  my  butt  hurt.  "  always  the  reason  why  they  hadn't  enjoyed  the  sport  in  general,  pretty  to  watch  from  afar,  never  her  cup  of  tea.  "  one  more  lap  and  then  we're  done  ?  "  asks  hopefully  from  atop  the  huge  horse  they'd  chosen  because  of  looks,  and  now  regretted  the  decision.                      

❝ do you intend on partaking in the jousts, ser knight? ❞   a smile played at the corners of her lips. other's armor didn't look as heavy as the knights she'd watched but undeniably pretty.  ❝ i'd place my bet on you. ❞   some of the jousters hadn't left her impressed — likely scripted, but if they wanted her to risk money they all should put on a good show.

“ well, when such a pretty lady asks, ” ryan says, batting her eyelids dramatically, “ i suppose i could give it a shot. ” dropping the act, she shrugs. “ don't know that i'd be any better than these guys, horses are not my strong suit. ” she's been practicing horse-riding throughout the week, but still isn't entirely comfortable with the idea — and holding a lance and shield while also controlling a horse seems a little daunting. “ i do wish there was a fencing contest or something like that. ”

the bards' song filled the air with an infectious merriment. izzy would've also been clapping along to the beat like the crowd if she wasn't holding a cocktail.  ❝ do you think we'd get in trouble if we got up on stage and joined in on the performance ? ❞   surely not, she thought. they the guests meant to enjoy themselves, and they were playing the role of nobility; the world was their oyster.

“ well, what's the worst that would happen ? ” laurie says pragmatically, “ they'd kick us out ? tell us to sit back down ? there's plenty of other things to do if it does come to that. ” mulls it over for a moment, then shrugs. “ worth a shot, i reckon. ” he glances around, looking for a person in charge they can run the idea past, but sees no-one. setting down their own glass off to one side, laurie stands and gestures to izzy to join them. “ c'mon, let's do it. ”

      "  that  was  anticlimactic.  i  thought  that  it  would  look  different.  scarier,  maybe.  "  intentional  on  dragging  them  with  her  to  go  and  see  these  elusive  creatures  and  animatronics  that  were  hidden  amongst  the  trees,  their  preference  when  it  came  to  things  like  this  anyhow,  to  wander  around  and  see  what  the  foliage  and  fauna  were  like  rather  than  the  finery  inside.  "  welp,  thanks  for  coming,  i  guess.  i  wanted  it  to  breathe  fire,  but  we  can  always  get  what  we  want.  "                

PAUL MESCAL Hamnet | Behind The Scenes