#the atrium

"you're being too harsh on yourself, yulia." "please, dankovsky, just be on your way. i beg of you. thank you for helping me, but now... i need to be alone." "i know that look. it's the look of a person who's about to do something desperately foolish." "even if i want to do something foolish, i'll hardly be able to. you see it for yourself. everything i make limps and doesn't work."

There was so much music, and the tones of it just filled her with so much joy that She couldn't help but hover on the edge of everything. Tucked away on her bench with a plate piled high with goodies She'd been brought by the girl in the Diner, She watched over the back as people mingled. Everyone was smiling and they all looked so glittery and beautiful. It felt like forever since she'd felt an entire place be happy, like the walls were smiling, too.

closed starter for @survivalxofxthexfittest

Maybe Ria and Ember weren't as mad as he had suggested when he heard about the party and saw them with all the decorations - the Wexley looked nicer than ever and maybe that's what everyone needed. Even a grump like him could use a break from landscapes full of debris and half-rotten corpses. Maybe that was survival too. And then after a short conversation with his brother, he also thought he was a hypocrite - inviting Emily to play games only to question the purpose of a birthday party in the middle of an apocalypse. Besides, didn't Tobias deserve a damn birthday party?

Obviously, his first reaction was that he'd help Mal set up everything in The W, but wouldn't attend. Not everyone liked that option so Zach soon found himself making plans for that evening, and promised Emily he would meet her there. When the day came, he even thought he could pick her up so they'd go together, but when Eric stormed into Zach's studio asking for help ("Any clothes I could borrow so I don't stand out? Of course, black is more than fine!") he knew they'd be taking that elevator to the first floor together.

"No, they swam back to the shore on a raft together, but I'm not the next Clint Eastwood."

"But the parallels are striking," teased Zach, and their laughter grew louder as the two left the elevator and glanced around, each pair of eyes scanning the atrium for a different female. Zach wanted to find Emily before she thought he might've stood her up, and Eric... Well, Eric was curious if Miss Pirouette would appear there at all, or maybe she had spent too much time in the darkness to let that much light in.

"Fuck that, women are trouble. One day you're a happy guy, banging a cute chick you met and the next you're this fucking close to dying on a raft 'cause your plane got shot down."

Zach hummed in agreement. He knew Eric wasn't being serious and he had every right to still be bitter about how his relationship with Veronica ended. He chuckled again at the whole "actor/accident/near-death experience/raft/making it back with another survivor" similarity they had been laughing at for a few minutes.

"No. Stop it. I'm not doin' Clint Eastwood impressions so you can make fun of your brother almost turning into some crisp but bloody firework. Besides..." He jerked his head to let Zach know he should turn around. "You don't wanna get caught agreeing that women are trouble now," he added with a smirk and greeted Emily with a friendly smile and a nod, before walking away.

So, Zach turned around, knowing exactly who he would see there and... — He had seen Emily so many times, but it had to be the first time she looked like this and he instantly understood that the last train to We're Just Friends via I'd Never Look At You Like That has just left the station.

"Okay, so... I think we finally finished washing all the linens from the unused rooms, and going through the clothes by season... I think... I think that's the last of it."

Over the winter with Mal on the mend, Ember had been distracting herself from her grief and guilt by doing whatever odd jobs she could manage to figure out herself with... mostly minimal... help along the way. Changing the lightbulbs above the stairwell doors in the hallways, watering plants, airing out rooms, at one point she'd even managed to teach herself to patch little knicks in the wall with some putty she'd found in Mal's office.

"You look stunning. I'm glad that you liked the dress." Speaking as he came up beside her at one of the tables lined with goodies, Tobias lifted a plate and plucked a few of the colourful cookies off their platters. "Seems silly to make this all in favour of me, but... as long as people are enjoying themselves." Oh, how he wanted to ask her dance. To sweep her off her feet and spin her around the room, but there was many an eye on them and he worried what news Lane would have for him once they were freed from Quarantine. He just wished he could not think about it all, enjoy his buzz, and her company.

She was fighting for June to have some semblance of a childhood through all of this. Small moments or experiences she could have that would remind her joy and hope still exist. Hannah had tried to shelter June from the worst of it, telling her that this sickness was confined to the east coast and the rest of the world were actively working on ways to help. Maybe she believed it. Or maybe she was just pretending to.

The arrival of the Fischer twins had given her an idea— it was silly and maybe selfish considering the bigger problems at hand but Hannah was going to ask anyway.

Her confidence wavered for a moment as she laid eyes on his tall frame. His curls were so lovely, they gave him a softness that was out of place with the rest of his appearance. She steeled herself and approached with an excited smile.

“I heard you like to poke people.” I like to be poked.

No—Hannah. You were here for June. Focus.

She desperately wanted an orgasm (or two, or three) to wash away the months of stress that clung to her.

“Would you do an ear piercing? I guess, people here trade for things. I could.. try to find something you’d want for it?” She was proud of how non sexual she worded that. It had taken restraint.

closed starter for @aggieturner

Eric liked parties; for booze, for food, for beautiful women, and for meeting influential people who could help him make his dream come true... Eric liked this party for entirely different reasons. It had nothing to do with drinking or flirting, and it would be unfair to everyone involved and their efforts to say that the apocalypse had lowered his standards. Far from it. Like any other guest (hopefully) he had learned to appreciate the small bits of normalcy they held onto. And human as Eric was, he had also re-learned to look for something more than beauty in women. "Trust" was too big a word but an unnamed "something more" fit perfectly. Now that he didn't feel like his failed marriage defined him in any way, or showed that he was a horrible man, he slowly drifted back to how he was before. Before an unknown point from his past changed him.

Dwelling too much on such matters? Of course, it's a fun evening, not some Eat, Pray, Love.

He wouldn't call Aggie his date, but damn, did his mind decide he could be hers, just to make sure she enjoyed the party in her own way. Judging by the crumbs encircling her petite frame when he spotted her, her own way didn't differ that much from Eric's. Food.

He finished his drink and walked over, wishing he had brought Doom with him, but he and Zach left the dog napping with his favorite toy.

"Hey. It's me." He smiled a little - giving her a moment to recognize him dogless. "I didn't think you'd come here," he added, unable to hide how surprised he was to see her there.