button.

“Oh, many ideas I’ve had have been called stupid, you can call my ideas stupid any time.” Hamish told her sincerely. “Maybe Perce is right and we should move to Korea. Though I’m not sure I could convince Kat to leave all her family.”

–

“it isn’t very nice though. I don’t really like being, like, mean. you know?” which was true. poppy was a girl with a gentle heart. her brow furrowed together. “I don’t know who any of those people are. what are you talking about?”

It felt very silly to say it out loud to someone who wasn’t Percy, but Hamish went ahead and opened his mouth, “I had… just sort of hoped… Everyone had just, decided that one big fight was enough, y’know? That it was all finished after that.”

–

“now I don’t really like to, like, call anything stupid, but I really can’t think of a better word.” poppy almost winced. “I think that, like, no one is stopping until someone wins and everyone else loses.”

where; sure whomst; open

“So it really is happening, then?” Hamish asked, fidgeting with the origami bear he’d taken to carrying with him. “This whole… war thing. Everyone’s serious about it.”

–

poppy nodded solemnly. she was sporting her favorite denim jacket today that was littered with pins on every cause you could imagine, especially anti-war sentiments. “are you serious? where have you been? it’s, like, really bad.”

“I did. I’m not really sure anymore. Uhm– I mean… I also want to be a dad. And I want to have like a ton of cats. But I’m pretty content with where I am right now, to be honest. When your best friend is your boss, makes life a little easier.” He shrugged, a soft chuckle leaving him as he moved to shake her hand and realized he was going to shake the business end of some flowers. “Reggie, it’s nice to meet you, Poppy. And uh– I haven’t met Mina. Dani’s talked about you guys, though. I–uh– I’m seeing her, you know? Dani.”

-

“your best friend is your boss? what do you, like, do? if you don’t my me asking or anything.” after poppy finally figured out how to hold her flowers and have a free grip, she triumphantly shook reggie’s hand. “oh, it’s nice to meet you too!” she smiled. “yeah, I know dani. like I said, I live with her... and mina. you can’t forget mina. oh! you should meet mina too. I bet she’s around here somewhere. she’s really sweet. like a little cupcake.”

“I s’pose that’s a fair way to look at it, too. I guess for me, personally, a gig is more a want than a need. I have other things that take priority now instead of trying to just be a rockstar. You’re Poppy, right? I don’t think we’ve been formally introduced, yet. Dani’s roommate, yeah? She speaks highly of you.”

-

“you want to be a rockstar? what are your other priorities? is that too nosy? I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to be, like, a busybee or anything. I just meant that, uh, I think that’s cool. that is a really neat aspiration and stuff.” her nose twitched. “me? oh. yeah! I’m poppy! hi!” she started to offer her hand, but realized that there was a bouquet of flowers clutched in her right hand that needed to be passed over to the left before she could. “mina’s too. don’t forget mina.”

“I mean, I guess that could be true, but that could also just be considered a job. I think a gig and a job are different. Gig feels more want than need, ya know?”

-

“I think a job is just, like, more consistent. you can sort of expect to go to work every day and get a salary sort of thing, but a gig is more like as needed basis because I think there are people who survive off gigs, even if they aren’t jobs, and they would, like, very much consider them needed.”

“I dunno, I’m not playing my own music. I think a gig means I’d be playing my own music.”

-

“I thought it meant that someone paid you to do something.”

open

“I dunno if I would call this a ‘gig’ so much as just a few little folksongs. I play guitar, they needed someone to play guitar.”

-

“but like, how is that not a gig though?”

Sybill smiled and shook her head, “don’t worry, happens to me too. I’m just trying to say that ‘having it together’ isn’t as necessary as you might think, and as long as you’ve still got the things that keep your life running, you’re probably gonna be okay.”

-

“I mean, I do, like, go to work a lot.” she wasn’t sure if that was what the woman meant or not. “and the, like, rallies and stuff too.”

“Perhaps, but you use them every day. Trust me, the plot is far less essential to keeping the mechanisms of your life moving.”

-

“I think I’ve also like lost the thread on what you’re trying to say.”

who: poppy; @poppypotted thread started here.

With Poppy’s “aaaaaah” Millicent looked down and smiled. She didn’t smile because her friend was so lost but because she had the same thought go through her mind. It was constantly screaming but she couldn’t ever say that out loud. She was a little jealous Poppy could. Millicent was just so …“put together” to the outside world and it wouldn’t be “right” for her to express any emotion without using words. But something about Poppy’s bravery to let out that frustrated sound …

“I completely agree,” Millicent surprisingly said out loud. “I don’t know the plot. I don’t know what I’m doing. I don’t know what’s coming next. I don’t know if I can achieve was I’m supposed to. I don’t know how to –” then she did something even more surprising than using words that had been floating around her head. She closed her eyes and gave her own “aaaaaah” to the sky before looking back at Poppy. “Looks like you’re not alone, love.”

-

poppy regularly felt like the entire world was going to fall apart. that was in no small part the reason she spent so much time protesting and picketing and petitioning for causes that meant something to her and to the world. it was why she wanted to help healing in whatever ways she could and got a job at st mungo’s. it was also why she burst into tears at the drop of a hat, too. she wasn’t sure what made her be that way. her life had been exceedingly comfortable. poppy had always just been very emotional. “you seem like really, really stressed out. do you want to go and get some uh probably not coffee considering the heart rate thing, but maybe get some nice calm smoothies or something?”

open; flourish and blotts (she actually picked a place this time! wild! crazy! stunning!)

“No, no, see, I am absolutely telling you that I have scoured every inch of this bookstore, read ever book on these shelves… thrice… and it is my literal job to go through them, categorize them, and get them where they need to go, and I have never in my life heard of a book called ‘35 magical ways to clear unwanted blemishes’. Maybe a dermatologist is more what you should be looking for? Maybe?”

-

“uh. hi. I’m so so sorry. excuse me, I really don’t mean to interrupt, but uh, there is like. okay if you go out the door and walk in a block that direction.” poppy point to the left. “there is a little shop with this like big pink bubble sign. they have some really nice like face creams and moisturizers and someone there can totally help you.” she glanced over at the shopkeep apologetically. “I think it was actually an article in a magazine, and they just got a little confused. sorry again.”

task 016 || wardrobe