#yatesevent005

“Coka-hina. No! Ketamine. Someone asked me why I hate the military...” Jade rambled as someone walked into the bathroom, to which Jade smiled a toothy grin. She managed to find a pair of children’s fairy wings somewhere on the lawn outside and proceeded to wear them around the house, looking more like a pixie than Ophelia. She was now in the bathroom, her mesh dress overflowing over the side of the tub like it was water. Readjusting, she patted the fuzzy toilet seat (Hastings was strange for that one) and gestured to the newcomer. “I’m kidding. You can’t see under this red lighting but it’s Fun Dip. Jeez, don’t call the police on me,” she beamed, sticking a finger into the powder and sucking on it with her mouth. She gestured a powdered finger to the other person. “Want some?”

pushing hair off of his forehead, orpheus stepped onto the porch of the hastings house, desperate for a second of fresh air.  “jesus christ, who decided to have a costume party in the middle of june?”  the donkey ears were attached to a headband and, while cute at first, quickly became a nuisance and so they were resting around his neck now.  he took a drink of — whatever was in his cup, he’d let some hot senior he’d never spoken to before mix him a drink.  “i’m sweating my tail off,”  he said as a joke, reaching behind himself only to find that the donkey’s tail was, in fact, gone.  “wait, where the hell did it go?”

@carmenpeck​

there was a word to describe the way seraphina had approached her midsummer masquerade look—and it was ‘dramatic.’ it started with her dress, practically invisible mesh covering her decolletage, torso framed in a corset-like fashion by embroidered vines, flowers, and blades of grass as to not fully expose herself. a fleeting glance and it appeared as though they clung to her skin instead of the thin fabric. the flora extended to wafting sleeves and a flowing skirt, which was just sheer enough that when the light hit it you could make out the high-waisted briefs underneath. watercolors bloomed like artistic bruises over parts of her skin, colors similar to those of the plants on the garment, as if they’d rubbed off on her. and if that weren’t authentic enough, vines—real vines—wrapped around her legs, twisting and tangling upward until they were lost under the skirt of her dress. her dewy skin reflected when met with candlelight and even the makeup around her eyes seemed to bleed and blend together into a murky green fog.

it wasn’t hard to spot elizabeth in the crowd, body dripping in blue tulle and cascading flowers. she stood at the edge of the dance floor, entranced by the scene around her, eyes closing every so often as she danced. she’d twirl and gravity would soon pull the skirt of her dress to follow, svelte arms gracefully raising in the air. if you were standing behind her you’d spot the flower petals that had been nestled into her hair, a few falling around her every so often as she moved, a tree merely rustled by the wind. and if you were in front of her—well, you couldn’t miss her smile, beaming across the space. heavily highlighted cheekbones shone when the flickering light hit them, eyes too dotted with tiny buds, but her lips. they contained a rare type of joy. an undoubtedly genuine one. elizabeth was, simply put, in her element—tapping into someone else. as contradictory as it were. even if it were subtle, even if it were hardly noticeable, it filled her with relief. for the next however many hours she was strapped with two identities, not enough room for the fullness of her day-to-day self. suffice it to say, she’d given into the theatrics of it all.

Gazing with a dazed expression at the chandelier in the middle of the ceiling, Edie was standing still on the dance floor, bodies moving and swaying around her. The joint she had smoked earlier wasn’t helping her attention span, her dance partner tapping her on the arm, trying to get her attention. “Alex! Fuck off! You keep stepping on my toes,” she complained, waving the boy off with her hand, turning to someone else that she recognized. “Hey, can you do me a favor? Can we go outside? I need to look at the stars, like, right now.”