cut to the feeling.

The idea of a drive-in seemed quite juvenile to Gaston, but he showed up anyway. At least this was a chance to show off his wonderfully paired outfit to everyone else there. The best thing that he could do was bring attention to himself, and that was something Gaston could definitely do. The engine of his ford 2018 Ford Mustang GT roared loudly as he arrived at the event, hopping out to brush his jacket off and straighten it out. The movie wasn’t playing yet thankfully, but that wasn’t what he cared about; what this time was for was socializing and networking. Well, mostly just telling people about his modeling career if he could because what his last attempt to get his name out there told him was that not many people that also were attending Astra knew much about modeling. And that told him that he had to do all the work of getting actual agencies to know his name. What a bummer. For now, he would do what he could with the tools that he was given. Gaston knew that he was smart enough to use this night to his advantage even with the obstacles ahead of him.

He didn’t see many people around him at this moment, which would be helpful if he happened to get a girl into his car, but right now people were necessary. What the nearest group was doing wasn’t known, but Gaston walked up anyway. “Did someone say my name?” he asked with a smile.

Joy hated driving, so naturally they had cycled to the drive-in. While this had been a great idea for them at the time, they now found themselves feeling a little bit lost; everyone was seated in their cars or in the beds of trucks, but they had no such a place. Luckily, they were able to use their natural charm to find people who would happily welcome them into their group and they cheerfully inserted themselves into their conversation with little apprehension.

When another person approached them and spoke, Joy’s eyebrows furrowed at his words, ❝ I don’t...think so ?? I don’t actually know your name though, so maybe. Is your name Candy ?? We were talking about candy. ❞

Hook had gotten bored about halfway through watching Die Hard. Seeing the Blair Witch Project starting on the screen behind him in the reflection of the car window in front of him solidified his decision. He hopped behind the wheel of his rental car and peeled out of the parking lot to find his way to the next screen. Maybe he was a little too loud while doing it, but oh well. 

He pulled his car into the first available spot, again being a little too loud as he slammed his car into park. Jumping out through the open window, he laid out on the hood of his car again. Ready to fully enjoy the movie. Maybe it was the excitement building up in him from the moment that he’d stepped off the plane that day or maybe he was just trying to be an asshole, but without even blinking, he let out a loud scream. Following it up with a loud laugh, he turned slightly to the car next to him, meaning to apologize to whoever his new neighbor was. “Sorry about that…maybe.” 

Joy really didn’t know how they’d ended up watching The Blair Witch Project. They didn’t particularly like movies in general, but they hated horror movies most of all; why would anyone willingly scare themselves ?? It seemed sadistic to Joy – if they were going to watch a movie it would be something that made them happy !!

When someone near them let out a huge scream, Joy practically leapt out of their skin. They jumped out of their seat on the bonnet of their friend’s car, wobbling on their feet slightly while they tried to catch their breath. Turning around wildly, they spotted the source of the loud noise, ❝ What was that for ?! ❞

Titanic. A long and rather beautiful film about the chaos of the world and two people trying to escape it all. It said a lot about class struggle and restrictions of love. In Snow’s opinion, it reflected everything wrong in the world; that was why it always made her emotional. The insanity of such an event was unbearable but the horror of it all only motivated her to make the world a better place so nothing like this could ever happen again.

As the sun began to set, Snow could feel the anticipation of the downfall. It would’ve been rather thrilling if the crunch of a person ravaging their popcorn next to her wasn’t so prominent. After about twenty minutes of bearing the occasional disgusting sound, she finally decided to turn to the person as it was clear they would not fix their rudeness on their own.

“Excuse me. Could you please try to eat in a more quiet manner? It’s rather disruptive.”

Joy had started out watching Ghostbusters, but they found themselves becoming slightly bored of the film in front of them, so they had chosen to wander to a different screen. On the way, they had stopped by the snack van to order the largest bucket of popcorn they were selling in the hopes that, even if the movie was bad, the food would make it worth it.

They sat down near the back of the crowd at one of the other screens, more interested in the atmosphere than in the movie itself, particularly because they has already missed a good amount of it. Joy was surprised, therefore, when someone turned and asked them to be less disruptive. Wasn’t the whole point of a drive-in that it was more relaxed and that people could chat with each other and have a good time ?? ❝ Sorry, I didn’t realise it was bothering anyone. Though I can’t really promise I’ll be any less distracting if my mouth isn’t full of food, I’ve often been told that I talk too much. ❞

“Oh!  Well, that’s fun too!”  Honestly, it sounded more fun, at least in Ty’s opinion.  Being a model seemed like it would get boring after a while, but music had more variety, and of course Ty would always be partial to performers, even if their kind of performance was vastly different from her kind of performance.  “What kind of music do you do?”  

Ty sat up a little straighter at being called an expert, even if she had already implied that she was one.  Validation was always nice.  “That’s true,” she allowed.  She couldn’t really continue arguing against a hypothetical vision for something she hadn’t even seen, especially since she wasn’t very good at arguing in general, even hypothetically and without real investment.  “So where can I see the photos?  What was the shoot for?”  She liked the makeup at least, so she was curious about the rest of it.  Maybe it would even prove her wrong about the glitter.

Joy felt their blush subsiding, now more in their element talking about their music. ❝ Yeah, it tends to be pretty fun !! At least, the performing part is. Sometimes all the other stuff can be...stressful. ❞ Social media and promoting their material didn’t come naturally to Joy, who was so used to putting others before themselves that they didn’t really know how to sell their music to people. ❝ It’s like an indie pop sort of vibe ?? It’s weird, I’ve never really thought about what genre my music would fall under until recently. ❞

Joy’s eyes widened slightly, ❝ You...want to see them ?? ❞ The photoshoot had been fun, but they hadn’t actually considered that people would be seeing the photos. They never felt like they could put anything out into the world that wasn’t perfect, so the fact that the publishing of this shoot was now completely out of their hands was vaguely terrifying. ❝ It was for a magazine, I think the issue comes out next month some time, I can’t remember all the details. I have a few samples on my phone though, ❞ They pulled their phone out of their pocket, unlocking it and opening the photos app before handing it over.

Snow had been making her way around the compound slowly with a book of poems in her hand that she’d borrowed from a library in town. For the last twenty minutes she’d been circling the building and enjoying beautiful words on a beautiful day. What was more perfect than this? 

As she made her way around a large tree for the third time, Snow was startled out of a particularly lovely verse about winter nights by a voice. Releasing a short “Hm?” Snow directed her attention to the person sitting underneath the tree and was welcomed by the flustered ramblings of the stranger and bright rainbow-coloured eyes. As the words died and Snow realized the other’s embarrassment was growing, she decided to interfere.

“Please, don’t worry about it. I like talking to animals sometimes too. It can be fun. Your makeup looks spectacular by the way. It’s absolutely flawless. Really, I only wish I had such a talent, or even such a face to pull it off.” Snow showered the other with compliments in the hopes to release the tension. 

Joy realised that they had disturbed this person from their quiet reading and felt a wave of guilt hit them. While they were the sort of person who wanted to be constantly interacting with people, they were aware that there were a lot of people who did not agree. They let out a huff of relief at her kind words, now feeling less like they had interrupted something, ❝ You do ?? I’m so glad I’m not the only one, you might have really thought I was crazy for a moment there. ❞

Joy’s face quickly flushed at the compliments, ❝ O-oh, thank you !! I think it’s more a credit to the artist than to myself, though. I could never do this on my own. ❞

Ty wrinkled her eyebrows.  She never really got ‘understated.’  ‘Understated’ didn’t stand out – how would anyone ever notice you if you were ‘understated’?  If something was good, more of it was better, as far as Ty was concerned.  She was about to say as much, when the previous sentence got her attention.  “Artist?  Director?  That sounds fun!  Are you a model?”  She could see this person as a model, she decided; they were nice to look at, at least.  And this was a good place to be, if they wanted to be a model.  

“I think they did,” she decided, “and I always wear makeup.”  She wouldn’t say she was an expert, but she definitely had a lot of experience, with all kinds of makeup – dramatic makeup, soft makeup, sparkly makeup.  Even at the gym, she liked to wear lip gloss, at the very least; it made her feel pretty, and she always liked to feel pretty.  So she was a good person to talk to about this.  “It looks really pretty, even without the glitter.  But I still like the artist’s vision more than the director’s.”

Joy blushed profusely at her question, not expecting for her to ask if they were a model. Because, Joy ?? A model ?? That would be crazy !! While they didn’t have low self esteem by any means, they were endlessly flattered by the unexpected compliment, ❝ Oh, n-no !! I’m a musician, but apparently that involves photoshoots now too. ❞

Still slightly flustered, Joy tried to detach the praise for their makeup from themselves; she was admiring the artistry, not the person wearing it, so they simply had to stop blushing. ❝ You think so ?? Well you sound like an expert, so I’ll have to take your word for it. Thank you !! I tend to trust the vision of an artist more than a director’s, I suppose, since they know more about their craft. But then I guess the makeup isn’t isolated from the rest of the shoot, so the director knows how to make it all cohesive. ❞

❨ TASK S I X ❩ –– reflection.

Jack: you're welcome!!

Jack: okay whoever wins has to make the other a milkshake from scratch (he says, pretending to know how to do that)

JacK: sounds like a deal?

Joy: 👀👀👀

Ty had been in a lot of different towns and cities in her life, particularly over the last few years, and one of the things she liked to do when she arrived somewhere new was walk around, get a feel for the place, even the ones she was only in for a few days.  Since she would be living in San Francisco for a lot longer than that, she certainly needed to see the place.  It was pretty, she decided, but she had seen prettier.  She liked it, though; she was excited to live here.  

As she passed a very large tree, she heard a voice, which was a little bit surprising, considering she didn’t realize anyone was around, but not unwanted, especially since they were asking about makeup, which she loved.  She turned to look, only to find out they hadn’t actually been talking to her, but they were now.  She giggled.  “Well, that’s silly – the bee can’t answer you.”  Now that she was close enough to see their makeup, though, she could give them her opinion, which would probably be more helpful than the bee’s.  “I think your makeup is cute – it reminds me of the circus!”  A high compliment, in Ty’s world.  She had had her own makeup done similarly in the past.  “I think it needs more glitter though.”

Joy smiled up at this person who probably thought they were insane and opened their mouth to speak, before they were distracted by the bee moving away from the bottle cap and taking flight off the end of their finger, ❝ Well now they definitely can’t, we might never see each other again !! ❞ They laughed to themselves, before remembering that they were supposed to be proving that they weren’t crazy and shaking their head.

They blushed slightly under her gaze, not used to people analysing their face in such a way, ❝ Oh, thank you !! Apparently the artist wanted to use more glitter, but it “messed with the director’s vision.” Something about being bright and proud, but also understated ?? ❞ They were surely spouting nonsense, the entirety of the shoot had been a blur truthfully and so they were simply recalling snippets of conversations they’d barely been a part of. ❝ I never wear makeup, so I couldn’t tell you whether they achieved that or not. ❞

Jack: i ate a good lunch okay don't worry

Jack: i might eat too much sugary things but that's just because dessert is delicious and that's not my fault!

Jack: let's start a band after i win the race

Joy: ok good good O:)

Joy: this is making me want a milkshake now but i don't have any ice cream :(

The brunet couldn’t supress a long, almost monotone sigh as he softly slammed his fist on the vending machine. his first thought was try shake the metal monster a bit, which he attempted to, wrapping his arms around and shifting his feet so as to create movement, to no avail. it must’ve looked funny to whoever was monitoring the security camerage and were looking at the live footage with norman’s appearance, to see such a slanky guy seeminly try to carry the metal box. in reality, this was just an attempt to try retrieve the purchased snack, which had become stuck as it dropped. 

    norman tried pressing the panel buttons once more - again, action which was proven to be fruitless. he’d run out of change to try purchase something else and push the drink out, and there was only so much his technology and engineering-related knowledge could help him with. he approached the other person, remaining a few steps away as he motioned at the machine & asked:

    “ do you… by any chance… know how to fix that thing ? ” 

Joy was practically skipping down the halls, full of energy they didn’t know what to do with after being cooped up inside for the last few hours. They finally felt like they were getting somewhere with the song that they were writing, so they decided to reward themselves by getting an unreasonably large amount of sugary snacks from the vending machines and having a movie marathon.

When they turned the corner towards the vending machines, Joy jumped slightly at the loud noise caused by someone attacking the machine. Their expression soon turned to amusement, however, when they realised that this violence had been provoked by the snack getting stuck. ❝ I don’t, sorry !! I suck at technology. But I am gonna be getting a lot of things from here, maybe we can push it down with what’s above it ?? ❞

Diana rolled her eyes. “I mean stuff like work stuff. Stuff for my business, you know? We’ve talked about this multiple times before. The interior design business, Joy.” She assumed that once she’d spelled out for her (somewhat of a) friend that they would get their iconic realization face on, which was both an amusement but also an annoyance for Diana. The feeling was an accurate representation of their relationship: it was a push and pull back and forth in opposite directions, but for some reason she couldn’t make it stop. At this point, it was easier just to give up trying and let the relationship continue until it fizzled out if it had to.

“‘Frowny lines’ are my brand, remember?” she asked, obviously rhetorically, not bothering to look up from the brightly-lit screen before her. “And as you can, so are permanently strained eyes, clearly.” Diana just listened as she heard the flipping of sheets of paper, just not remembering that Joy wanted to be a musician. In reality, she thought that dream wasn’t realistic and probably wouldn’t work out, but it just made the blonde so happy that to crush them proved harder than it would have been if it was anyone else. The idea of them having a ‘minor breakdown’ over their work cause Diana to look up from her computer, messing with her hair a little bit since it’d been sitting on one side practically all day now. “What makes you so stuck on it? Is there something wrong with it? Do you need to fix something about it?”

Joy tried their best not to be offended that Diana assumed that they never listened to her, but they couldn’t help the childish pout that crossed their features. ❝ I know that, genius !! I meant, what are you working on specifically ?? ❞ They resisted the urge to move around the table and peer at Diana’s screen over her shoulder, knowing that such a move would go down very badly; instead, they simply fidgeted slightly in their seat and reached for a gulp of their tea.

❝ Of course they are, how could I forget ?? You should really lower the brightness of your screen, ❞ Joy couldn’t help but give the unsolicited advice, worried for their friend’s eyes, ❝ Or try and do whatever work you can on paper. And, take more breaks. ❞ They glanced back down at their notebook and frowned unhappily at the words that mocked them from the page, ❝ I just can’t get the lyrics right... ❞ With their lower lip caught between their teeth as they spoke, it was almost uncertain whether they were talking to themselves or to their companion.

With the weather being as nice as it had been, if not a little hot, Henrik wanted to spend a little more time outside the walls of the constellation compound. Of course, he’d deciding to bring his trusty journal and pencil with him, prepared to spend the afternoon lounging around in the grass and brainstorming new ideas for inventions. Henrik pressed the call button for the elevator and patiently waited for the double doors to slide open. Once the elevator arrived, Henrik stepped in and exchanged an awkward smile with the person already inside. It was a familiar face if only vaguely, he’d seen them around the compound but never actually spoken to them before. 

The doors closed and the elevator started to descend. Everything seemed to be working perfectly fine at first but after passing a few floors the entire elevator came to a sudden stop. Henrik pressed the button for the ground floor again but the elevator didn’t budge. “You don’t have any problem with confined spaces, do you? Because if you do then I don’t think I should tell you what I have to tell you. Not that you wouldn’t find out if I didn’t tell you. I assume you already suspect what I’m going to tell you anyway.” Words rushed out of his mouth, he had a tendency to ramble when he was nervous. “I think we’re stuck.” 

Joy had tried to stay in their room and actually be productive, but predictably that had only lasted for an hour. They simply had too much energy to sit still and remain inside, so after a little while they decided to just give up with a frustrated huff. The only downside to going outside was that they had to put actual clothes on. Voting for a simple pair of denim shorts and a t shirt, Joy stepped out into the corridor and practically skipped down the hall. They would usually take the stairs down, but the elevator appeared right as they walked past which had to be a sign, right ?? It only went down one floor before someone else stepped in and Joy smiled brightly at the vaguely familiar person that they were now sharing such a small space with. All was going well, until it juddered to a halt and they stopped moving completely. ❝ マジ ?? ❞ They spoke mostly to themselves and so didn't even realise that they had slipped into Japanese, as their inner monologue often tended to do; Joy stepped forwards to press the ground floor button a few times too, only to reach the same conclusion that they were, in fact, stuck. ❝ I think I’ll manage, are you okay ?? ❞ Truthfully, Joy hated small spaces. They just needed to move and burn off their abundant energy, but there was nowhere to go. So although they already felt like the walls were closing in on them, they were trying their best to stay calm.