#bailey 001

WHERE: Bella's, coastal area

WHEN: November, 2025

Winter was coming... not to sound all Game of Thrones about it. Stelly knew that they had lived through enough Merrock winters that they knew what to expect, but what to expect... was cold weather. And that meant a new winter coat. Having combed through the racks of the thrift store several times, they were really not having any luck in locating exactly what they were looking for, but Bella's was an option. Buying new might not have been their favorite thing to do, but given that they were donating a whole stack of coats that they no longer wore, it balanced out -- right? Flipping through the rack, one of the thicker, heavier black coats they had been looking at slipped off the hanger and right down onto the feet of the person next to them. Wincing, Stelly bent down to pick it up and let out a laugh, "sorry about that, didn't mean to maim you with winter wear. Didn't realize how heavy this one is!"

Ren felt kind of desperate at this point. She suggested to Lily a couple of hours earlier that they could go out that day. She could show her around the part of the city that Ren was living in, let her get more acquainted with the surroundings, Ren could show her some cool places. It could be a bonding experience of some sort. And it went well at first. Lily was reserved, sure, but she seemed interested and they even stopped to pet a few dogs and then had a long chat about how cute they were. They were baby steps.

But then Lily got hungry and Ren suddenly felt like she ran into a problem. She noticed in the past couple of days that Lily only ate little and that there were a lot of things she preferred not to eat, which was more than okay, but anything she suggested, Lily really didn’t seem to want to eat and she was starting to feel panic-y that she wouldn’t be able to give anything to Lily. Only a few days into fostering and she couldn’t give Lily food she actually liked - how fast of a failure was that exactly? Not to mention it was getting cold and they needed to get inside somewhere warm at least.

So when the Dominos logo appeared in front of them and Lily was reacting to it positively, Ren didn’t even hesitate, she just led the way inside. They took their seats and Lily disappeared behind the menu, which she was still reading when the waitress, she gave her a tired smile. “Hey, I’ll get a pepperoni pizza, and she’s getting...” she looked at Lily who was still looking through the offer. “Sorry, can we get just one more minute?”

— @sierramused

Shit. She was running about fifteen minutes late as she jogged down Broadway, her combat boots thumping on the concrete as her sundress flowed around her in the wind and the large canvass bag on her shoulder flopping against her side. She knew the manager would be looking for a viable excuse for her growing tardiness, but the truth was she’d been struck with muse, getting off work and going straight home to write new songs. She’d been staying up later and in turn, sleeping later, and therefore... running later and later for work. It wasn’t an acceptable excuse, she knew that, so she hoped that instead of running into her manager first, she’d instead see the owner. If she could only make him understand, then the manager wouldn’t be able to chew her out.

So with that in mind, Bailey pulled the back door of the bar open and ran inside, slightly out of breath, as her eyes adjusted to the dim lighting while searching for Matthew. She was looking right while moving left, her gaze readying to shift in the direction of her movements when she ran into something, or rather someone, solid. “Fuck! I’m sorry.” She said quickly, stumbling backwards half a step as her head snapped around to see who she ran into. Oh, well there’s the boss. “Matt, Jesus. Look where you’re goin’ why don’t ya.” She said with an out of breath laugh, bringing a hand up to run through her hair. “You seen Hilary, yet?” She asked, eyes scanning the room around them before landing back on the bar’s owner. “And before you say anything,” A coy smile grew on her features, “My uniform boots are in my bag.”

SWEEPING THROUGH THE DOOR WITH ALL THE DRAMATISM AND GRANDEUR OF ONE WHO FANCIES THEMSELVES A ROYAL ( though this quickly dissolved into an amused grin and a joking salute of greeting ) Frankie entered the studio, prepared to solve the situation of Bailey having creative inclinations, but no current muse.

          ‘ You can thank me for averting the apocalypse later, ’ they teased, taking off their jacket and putting it over a chair, ‘ but I’m here. ’

( She is the focus of the camera, as always. It delights her, most of the time, when it’s a director, friend, or photographer behind the lens. Hell, even the paparazzi are funny sometimes. )