l i g h t b u l b s - in the fruitbowl [samples] [dnp] [dns]

[falling-through-stars]

River sighed. The island was growing in population again, it seemed, and she didn’t like it. The reason she’d settled here (okay, so maybe it would be better to add ’for the meantime’) was for the peace and quiet it seemed to bring, no matter how many people were bustling about. For some reason her home screamed ‘stability!’ to her, and the fact that they now had a bunch of tourists intruding on that was just as frustrating as if they were fawning all over her Pokémon!

They were just heading into the main area, of sorts, where people were beginning to unpack and prepare their goods for the people already arriving. Tourists were already pouring in, it seemed, and River had to make the two of them stop, and she pointed at the others.

“You see that, Poli? All those people are coming to the island for the festival, and we’re going to have to live with them for as long as we can.”

The Politoed just blinked at it’s owner and ex-trainer, saying “Poli?” in a confused tone, making the girl smile back at her.

“I know, right? I don’t see why they all have to come here either,” River laughed, hand on the Pokémon’s shoulder, directing her still, despite how long they’d been on the island, “not all at once, at least.”

But it was the festival! And that meant people and noise and an even louder night life! She could practically hear the water Pokémon telling her so, especially with the look she was giving her owner, and River had to shake her head.

“Alright, alright – maybe it makes more sense that they all turn up at once, but that doesn’t mean I don’t like it!”

Her laughter made the Politoed smile and close it’s eyes. It’s three-fingered hand stretched out to grab the Pokémon next to her, only to grab air. Eyes open in shock, the female prodded the brunette beside her and gestured wildly at the empty space.

“You know I can’t let them out yet Poli – they’ll just cause a load of problems this early in the morning, what with their sizes and general attitude of causing problems,” River pointed out, patting the Frog Pokémon on the head. “But I promise, Heracross can come out later, once he’s stopped fighting with Dragonite.”

[falling-through-stars]

paramore - november twenty-ten - misery buisness

“You’re not keen on the beach?” was the sentence that came out of her mouth, before she could even stop it. At first, it seemed perfectly normal to her, until she realised that there was a probably a little air of annoyance mixed with awe that someone disliked the place she liked so much. For a moment, she frowned, before running a hand through the top of her hair. “Erm… That probably sounded rather rude, didn’t it… Sorry…” Lyra tried to smile apologetically, but wasn’t quite sure if she’d pulled it off.

She just shook her head as Ryan spoke again. He was a funny one, he was. Completely off his head on something with a huge amount of sugar in it, yes, but at the same time he was acting a bit like a puppy, even if she’d gone a little weird and started insulting him before. “How do you even have that much energy, Ryan? It’s adorable.” There was no clichéd ‘you’re adorable’ added to the end.

Someone else was awake, with jazzy hair colour (definitely cool) and shouting about his father’s bra. She frowned a little, but shook it off. When he spoke he had a sweet accent, a bit like she’d probably had years before. Did she still have an accent? She doubted it.

“Thanks,” Lyra replied to Jacklyn’s compliment, before looking towards Sol. Someone else from her band, thank God. Okay, so, she did know Ryan and Jacklyn, and felt… well, maybe not completely comfortable, but she was an adaptable girl, so it wouldn’t have surprised anyone if she became friends with a hole bunch of people on this trip. “Yep! It’s just to two of us, and this lot,” she grinned, nudging towards the people from ‘Curse of Death’. “Sleep alright, Sol?”

There was a yell from somewhere else, and Lyra paused. Someone shouting about not being invited out. Another one of their band mates, then she laughed internally. She’d only been introduced to two of them, but this guy sounded the same, and if all of them were an nice as they sounded, this should be fine. It had been her biggest worry, after all, the people. Okay, so maybe I’m not as adaptable as I’d like to think I am.

The other boy didn’t speak when he joined them, but Lyra still smiled at him. Maybe he was a little shy? He didn’t look like this type – he looked kind of scary, actually – but maybe-

Lyra jumped. Someone had murmured something next to her, and she was surprised to find the lead singer, Nate. He wasn’t exactly one of wake up this early, so she grinned and muttered “good job” back. “Now you aren’t missing the day for no good reason.” She turned towards him for a moment, before looking him over, sighing. “You’re wearing the same thing as last night, aren’t you?”

She shook her head. Boys were all the same, weren’t they? Hell, Ash had just appeared in only his pyjamas (which, she had to note, weren’t technically pyjamas) before realising he probably should get dressed. Well, at least he’d had a shirt on, otherwise it would have been a rather cringe-worthy moment, there. Hey, they may be band mates, so she wouldn’t have batted an eyelid, but the others probably would have.

“That would be why we’re going to get doughnuts, Ash – we’re hungry!” she nudged him in the arm, happy to finally see most of the band up. This was more like it.

Everything seemed fine until she heard the word ‘jackass’ and started glaring at Ryan. God, what was he, bi-polar? He was just so frickin’ weird sometimes! “Looks like some mass introductions are in order, yeah?” Lyra glanced at Jacklyn, before nodding to the others. “You don’t know us, we don’t know you, and to be honest, repeating my own name constantly gets a bit annoying. Unless you lot want to do it yourself?” she asked Nate and Sol mainly, but any of the others could have jumped straight in. The Italian boy (were they calling him Alice?), the kinda-scary dark haired one, and the one with the white-blonde hair. They were the ones she needed to learn the names of.

ooc;; there! not quite my best, but there was a lot i needed to put in there... sorry if i've missed something out...

i'm x in x the x buisness x of x m i s e r y
xxxxxxxxlet's x t a k e x i t x from x the x top
xxxshe's x got x a x body x like x an x h o u r g l a s s
xit's x t i c k i n g x like x a x clock
xxxxxit's x a x m a t t e r x o f x t i m e x before x we x all x run x out
xxxxxxxwhen x i x thought x he x was x m i n e
xxxxxxs h e x caught x him x by x the x belt

[falling-through-stars]

It might have been early, but both girls were already up. Daughters of Apollo, it almost seemed to be their duty to wake up with sunrise every morning. Admittedly, the younger of the two enjoyed it a lot less than her older sister, but there was nothing really to complain about. They got to spent a lot more time together now than they ever had, and it meant a lot.

They were just coming up to the pavillion now. The taller of the two, Leona, was standing to the left of her sister, Elena who was grinning madly. Despite having been there for a good eight days, nothing made her happier than finally being there. "We have to give an offering first, right?" Ella asked as they took their seats, sounding a lot more confident now than she had before. Leon smiled, nodding her concent, unable to stop herself from letting out a small laugh."I honestly thought you would have known that by now."

Elena just shrugged, not responding. She always asked questions, no matter what. Following her sister to drop their offerings in the fire - she dropped in a bit of what appeared to be bacon, but she had no idea about Leo - it didn't take long for them to return to their seats. Taking a bit out of her toast, the sunny blonde couldn't help but glance up at her sister, wondering what on Earth they were meant to be doing today. It could be anything, really, concidering where they were - rock climbing (with added lava) was always an option, or another failed lesson in sword fighting, or maybe even another go at archery. At least that one was always enjoyed.

Her sister, however, was too busy glancing around. She could see on of the children of Demeter, Cameron, sitting eating some toast, similarly to her sister. There was an orange bow on top her head that made the girl smile. While she cared that she didn't look a complete mess, she didn't care enough to find matching hair accessories for her Camp uniform. Hell, she just had two messy plaits going round her head. Some might find that going over the top, but she was used to it, and had worn her hair like this since she was little. The only other person that really stood out to Leona was Donovan. Son of Hades, she assumed, considering where he sat and how he dressed. She'd never spoken to him, actually, but she'd heard of him. Even now you would hear about the children of the Big Three.

She turned back to her sister, who had began discussing something or other about the myths that she was not trying to learn. Once she was sure she knew what was going on, she glanced back. Something was up. He looked like he needed a friend. Flashing him a smile, she responded with a quick "mhm" to her sister, not really looking at her.


ooc;; EDIT, sorry if it's too long

[falling-through-stars]

paramore - november twenty-ten - misery buisness - kyle james jammeson posner - lookbook - <3

i'm x in x the x buisness x of x m i s e r y
xxxxxxxxlet's x t a k e x i t x from x the x top
xxxshe's x got x a x body x like x an x h o u r g l a s s
xit's x t i c k i n g x like x a x clock
xxxxxit's x a x m a t t e r x o f x t i m e x before x we x all x run x out
xxxxxxxwhen x i x thought x he x was x m i n e
xxxxxxs h e x caught x him x by x the x belt





His phone felt heavy in the pocket of his jeans, but he couldn't do anything about it. He was an idiot, he already knew that. Kyle would kill him. He hadn't even mentioned it to him. There hadn't been a chance. He hadn't wanted to upset him without reason. The fact they wouldn't get to go the pictures wasn't really a reason. Was it? No, not really. Not an important one, at least.

Ezekiel shook his head. It would've been alright, were they close to the CHERUB Campus, but they weren't. They were no where near it, in fact. It would be a rather long journey to the Viking town of Yorvik, and he wasn't looking forward to it. While the attractions of the Shambles and Whip-Ma-Whop-Ma-Gate may seem like an amazing thing to the people in the seats behing him (being the oldest, he'd been given first dibs on the front seat), but they just seemed like pointless riff-raff to him... Well, the latter didn't seem like a complete waste of time, actually, but that was only because of its name, and its reputation for being really, really small. Having said that, they'd probably not get a chance to see it anyway, seen as the mission they'd been sent on was a rather complicated one.

Running over the briefing in his mind, Zekie nodded as he got to each fact. His character had left school at the end of the last year, quitting half-way through his Sixth Form education. He was the adoptive son of Julia McKormick, who was being played by an MI5 agent. He had been picked up from a foster family not that long ago, and had only lived with his 'siblings' for the past few years...

Glancing back at his siblings for a moment, the dark-haired boy frowned. He didn't really know them, having only met them properly at the coordination meeting. He hadn't seen the boy, Aiden, around at all, which was a little strange, seen as he wasn't knew to the opperations. Apparently he was in a few of his classes, but he couldn't be too sure. He learnt one of those obscure languages, as well - one of the ones that only a few people ever chose to do. Finnish, or something.

The eldest of the girls, who he kept thinking was the youngest, was Annabelle, who was far too quiet, but Kyle seemed to know her. She had been sent to him for tutoring, or something. Apparently, she wasn't very good with languages. She'd seemed so tiny at the time though, it must have been a few years ago or so.

And then there was Kaylyn. She was the kind of girl that Ezekiel knew. He had the feeling he'd pulled one of two pranks on her and her friends, and that she may have been involved in one of two of the ones he and his mates had pulled off.

"Shouldn't be long now - an hour of so, I should think," Julia noted, smiling slightly at the agents. Zekie could tell that she was a little unsure of how to treat these four. Apparently, she'd been informed of the existance of CHERUB a long time ago, but something made him think tht she'd never really believed it...

Huffing slightly, he reached down to pull the chunky headphones out of his bag, along with his iPone. A couple of clicks of the home button, and a little tapping, and suddenly he had a mixture of Panic! at the Disco, the Killers and Paramore blasting in his ears.



ooc;; his outfit looks a bit like this. sorry its so long, i got a bit carried away :p

[falling-through-stars]

████████████ ❖ ████████████████████████

»» Ｅｚｅｋｉｅｌ Ｂａｒｎｅｓ
lost 'til you're found »»»» xx angel of mercy how did you find me where did you read my story
swim 'til you drown -- we all fall down pulled from the papers desperate and hardened seeking a momentary fix



Well, the two sisters seemed happy enough. Or maybe just Alice did, I'm not sure. Tori was a little... stiff, like she didn't know what I'd ask. It was simple enough, right? Just a pleasantry. Everyone used them. It was manners. She might not have expected manners, seen as our pseudo-soap opera lives were so fricking muddled, but she was going to get them. I'm not rude, or anything.

I winked slightly, just as my (sadly) older sister came in. I hadn't even noticed, just having a 'bonding moment' with my step sister, wondering if she was kidding about having a scrapbook for all of the photographs. "Oy!" I tried to puch EJ's hand away from my hair, "Why's everyone talking the Mick of my hair! Get off!" It took only a minute for her to move, but whether it was because she knew I didn't like it, or had just had enough, it was anyone's guess. Once she was gone, though, I tried to flatten it down once again. Not that it made any difference. It'd always look a mess.

But Eliza looked... distracted, almost. Like she didn't know what to think. I don't think any of us did. We were two families - maybe even three, if you thought about it - that had been forced together by the parents some of us shared, while others had just been stuck in. We didn't all fit, and we wouldn't. But they seemed like nice enough people, so I wasn't going to let this get to me. I wasn't. "Can't I at least get something other than my clothes to wear, twinny?"

Mum was in the room now, and was currently smoothering poor little Benny. It's not fun, trust me. I wasn't jealous of him, not at all. Or, at least, I don't think I am. I don't miss her as much as I used to. She pretty much just left our lives, and we only saw her every so often.

Shrugging slightly, I turned back to Alice. "I wouldn't know what there is to do, I'm affraid. I just swim, or float there. I don't do much else." It was true - jet skiing wasn't my thing. Boating was alright, but I'd honestly rather be in the water. I'd done fishing before from a boat, but it wasn't as much fun as when you were in the water. Kayaking... hadn't ended to well on my behalf. I couldn't do the whole 'rolling over' thing, so it hadn't been too good for me. "You can definately come with us, though, if you want to, right, Eliza?" Oh, she better not say no. That would be the last thing we need right now.

Standing up, I brushed my hair back slightly, turning to my dearest twinny. "Is anyone else coming with us? Like Dory, or someone?" I knew how much he liked swimming. We'd have to tell him, just to be kind; it wouldn't be fair to leave him hear while we went ourselves, especially if Dad or Ron wouldn't take him.



ooc; ...

[falling-through-stars]

████████████ ❖ ████████████████████████

»» Ｅｚｅｋｉｅｌ Ｂａｒｎｅｓ
lost 'til you're found »»»» xx angel of mercy how did you find me where did you read my story
swim 'til you drown -- we all fall down pulled from the papers desperate and hardened seeking a momentary fix



I grinned slightly as Tori ran off to get changed. I think I might have won her over, just by asking about swimming. She must enjoy it, or something. I suppose it is kinda fun, but I'd rather just mess around than actually do any lengths. I'm not paticularly good at it. Turning to face Alice as she spoke, I blinked in suprise. Had I sounded hostile? I didn't mean to (then again, I'm not good with first impressions). "What? Oh, no, don't worry about it. If you want to come, come. I don't mind - I'd quite like to get to know you, anyway, seen as we're family an' all." Nodding to her as she headed upstairs, I took a sip of my drink, before putting it on the side.

Looks like Tori's back, the funny thing. She seems pretty sweet, even if she did only have a bikini top and a pair of shorts on. I was about to suggest something a bit more 'extreme', as she put it, when mum said something for me. Now that isn't exactly the nicest thing to say, is it? "I thought you said that you were taking Benny to see the horses?" I asked, hoping it didn't sound too cheeky. I didn't mean it, but I didn't exactly like having some people that I were just getting to know turned against me by my own mother. It's not my fault if the girls would rather go with me and EJ than with her. If it wasn't for the reaction it was sure to recieve, I would have said it, as well.

"I- I think I'm gonna go get changed. Be back in a bit." I don't think I could've legged it any faster. Oh, dear, way to take things badly, Zekie. But I don't like getting angry, I don't like getting frustrated, I don't like anything to do with those things! And standing there in that kitchen was just plain awkward. I didn't have anything against Mum, not on a level that would affect out day to day interactions, at least. I might have a few hard feelings about how much she cares about Benny, but why should I hate her for leaving? There was nothing messy about it - it was even a little too perfect, if you ask me! Yet here she is, turning people against me, and trying to make everything extremely complex and difficult to deal with!

The door swings shut behind me. I must have passed Dad on the way up the stairs, I'm almost sure I did, but I didn't say anything. Phelan must be in the other room, getting ready, because I can hear someone else upstairs. Unless it's Alice, or course, but I think she's already down. Or heading down, at least. I grab my bag, pulling it over to one of the beds, colapsing in a heap. Who's bed is it? I don't actually know. Neither do I care, too be honest. It's somewhere for me to sit while I search out my trunks. Not that they really count as trunks. They're more shorts, actually.

It doesn't take long to find them, burried underneath a pile of once neatly folded clothes. Oh well, I can deal with that later. For now I get to go and relax in the (hopefully) warm-ish waters of the lake... though they are more likely to be cold, no matter how much I wish otherwise.

I'm alright in just my swimming trunks if it's just me and my family - my close family - but with Phelan, Tori and Alice down there, I leave my t-shirt on over the top. It doesn't really go, to be honest, both of them being different blues, but it'll have to do. I might be completely self-concious around people I don't really know, but I don't mind looking like a complete fool, clothing wise. Hell, I've worn women's tights before, even if no one really knows that. It was for fancy dress, I swear!

Going back downstairs doesn't take long, but heading back into the kitchen does. I'm calmer, even if it was only a few minutes since what I'd said. Mum might not have taken it the wrong way, for all I know, but hey, out is out. "Morning, Phelan," I smile slightly, hoping he doesn't feel to bad about my Dad and his boyfriend being here. I hope it doesn't happen the same to Ron, but I doubt it would. I don't mind the fact Mum's remarried, and that her husband's here. Though, that could be because of his Irish accent. I've always been a sucker for an accent, and Irish is one of the best I've ever heard. "You alright?"



ooc; i wonder what it is about this roleplay that makes me write so much!

[falling-through-stars]

we're having a miracle on ☂ earth
MOTHER NATURE DOES IT ALL FOR US [break] ☁


█████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████
IT'SIT'S A ↺ MIRACLE

IT'S A ↺ MIRACLE
IT'S A ↺ MIRACLE
IT'S A ↺ MIRACLE


Waking up on a morning was always something interesting at the Matthews household. Carter would be the last up, as usual, but when his eyes did flicker open, it seemed so odd to be doing it of his own accord, at the time that the alarm clock suggested. Huh. Normally his sister would be up by now. Booklyn was normally up and running by this point, her far too loud music pounding underneath him. Instead it seemed a lot calmer, the Shins or something. His mum's music.

Oh, that's right. Brook was at college. No matter how long she wa gone, Carter still had a habit of forgetting. But now wasn't the time to think about it. Was he late? Probably. He wouldn't have long to get ready, so he'd have to start soon. He didn't want to be late. But, then again, the only way he ever made it out in time was when he had his own personal (though admittedly unwelcome) wake-up call at the hands of the now so much more grown up sister. Even if more people expected them to argue like hell, they didn't. They actually cared about each other, and there lives had pretty much revolved around each other, at one point. Mainly when they'd both strted gymnastics, actually. It was her who introduced him to it, after all.

"Carter!" he could hear his mum call, just as he tied the lace on one of his shoes. "You're going to miss the bus!" Oh, damn! He'd completely forgotten about the deal he'd made to get the bus to school. Jumping up and running down the stairs, he grabbed the end of the banister to spin himself around, ending up at the kitchen door. Hey, years of doing fussy bits of footwork had paid off, and his balance was pretty good, if he did say so himself. The backpack was hanging on the back of the chair, and it only took a few steps to grab it and something to eat on the bus. A cereal bar, or something. No time for anything other. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see his mum shaking her head, humming along to the song currently playing on the CD player. "Have a good day, sweet heart," she laughed, just as he shouted "bye!"

He made it to the bus stop just as the vehicle arrived. The bus was packed, as usual. Everyone was rushing around, trying to find somewhere to fit, rushing off to who knows where. Carter had to shake his head at the people who were clearly just getting the bus to meet someone. Why this early, honestly? Surely there was some better time for them to go out? He was pretty sure that there was, seen as none of them seemed to be in as much of a rush as everyone else. Like him, for instance, who ended up staying standing, just for the ease of getting on and off the bus. He rested against one of the windows, wondering how so little dancing kit could weigh as much as it did. The studios were open that afternoon, and the instructer had suggested he go and use it after school. Sounded good to him, except that it meant carrying around the back full of kit, which was making the already pretty heavy bag seem even worse. Or maybe it wasn't actually heavy - maybe he just wasn't used to anything but his school satchel for carrying work in. Yeah, that was probably it.

The bus came to a hault, and Carter pulled himself from the window. "Thanks, mate," he grinned, hopping off, using the words he'd heard his mum say so many times. The weird thing was, there was someone else getting off. Jordan, he thought to himself. When did he get there? Carter just shrugged it off, though, and headed towards his first lesson. The boy was already gone anyway off on his scateboard. Now, where was he going again? What lesson did he even have? Oh, yeah, classical composition. Should be alright, if he was honest. Not too hard, but not easy. Never easy. God forbid it.

The teacher was already there when Carter arrived, and he glanced at his watch before heading in. Good, he wasn't late. That would've been annoying, especially concidering his teacher. Smiling over at the older man, he took his seat quickly.


{ ooc ; sorry it's so long! the rest will probably be shorter }

[falling-through-stars]

Once again, Lyra had gone and made herself late for something. It wasn't an uncommon occurrence, by anyone's standards, but this time it was annoying her. The combat boots she'd been trying to find for the past few days had turned up under her brother's bed - he'd been adament that he hadn't put them there, and that the Nargles had done it - only to have broken on her when she tried to pull the zip up. Just her luck. And seen as fixing spells weren't exactly her speciality, it was no surprise that it took almost forever to pull of the not-quite party-ish look she was going for. All she had on was a baggy grey jumper (three-quarter sleeved, so she didn't completely overheat herself) and some black shorts. There had been a little bit of temptation to where the trilby that had been placed in the bottom of her trunk since arriving at Hogwarts, but it was the kind of thing that a lot of people would think of as crazy, and that was the last thing Lyra wanted. It had been the reputation of her mother, and since then the blonde had spent most of her time trying to avoid people having the same reaction to her. The success of that, however, was pretty uncertain, especially with rather unusual things coming out of her mouth without her thinking about it.

Most of the people were already there when she managed to finally get to the Room of Requirements, combat boots firmly fastened up over her long socks, no longer broken. Everyone was just mingling amongst themselves, and Lyra had to glance around to try and locate anyone that she could go and talk to. She could barely see anyone, but the blonde hair of two very specific people was a bit of a clue as to where she needed to go. Scorpius and Delphinus; Delly, actually. Lyra struggled quite a bit with her friend's full name. It just seemed like a complete mouthful, even if she'd never say that to her face. Scorpius wasn't as bad, and calling him by some kind of nickname would have been the worst idea she could possibly have come up with, anyway. He just wasn't that kinda guy, and that was even more obvious when she managed to make her way through the crowd, and find only him. "Hey, Scorpius, where did you sister run off to?" she asked the boy, spinning around to try and find her. "I could swear she was here a minute ago. It's pretty hard to miss the blonde hair... Never mind..." She could just about see the other girl messing around with everyone else. Winter and the others were probably around there as well, if she had to guess. Though she could be wrong.

Spinning back to the boy, she smiled over at him. He was too busy sitting here doing nothing, and that completely defeated the point of being at a party. "Hey, why don't you come and play? It's gotta be more fun than just sitting there," Lyra laughed, pulling at a few curly strands of her hair. He might only be a year older than her, and the same age as her brother, but he was a lot more intimidating. It wasn't surprising, really, when you thought about who his father was, but it was still a scary to be asking him. "Otherwise Delly will probably be over here, pestering you about it." If it had been her, Lyra would have been up straight away. Her brother was the one person who could really get under her skin at times, and like all siblings, they fought pretty easily. "'Course, you could stay here and mope if you want to. Dell's just over there, so it would be hard for me to walk away." Shrugging slightly, she did just that, turning around at taking a few slow steps. "It'd be a waste, though."

[falling-through-stars]

Lyra was tempted to roll her eyes. Really, why was he so proper? It wasn't like they'd never spoken to each other before - they were both pureblood, so the Malfoy family had nothing against her and her brother - but Scorpius still acted like she was a total stranger he'd yet to have a conversation with. Shaking her head slightly, she couldn't stop herself from pointing this out. "'Miss Scamander', Scorpius. Really? No need to be so formal, you know." She would have laughed, except that it was almost pitiful. If it wasn't for the fact he was her friend's brother, she'd probably have asked him to dance out of pity. If she knew how to dance, that was. And there wasn't really anything funny about that. "Yeah, well, see you then," she huffed slightly, before continuing under her breath; "you bloody emo..." Talk about frustrating. Especially seen as she'd made such an awful exit from the conversation. And a slightly over-dramatic one, if he'd heard her. Not that he could talk about over-dramatic when he would probably spend the whole of the party just sitting there. If it wasn't for the fact he was her friend's brother, she'd probably have asked him to dance out of pity. If she knew how to dance, that was. Now where had Del gone?

She found her around the Butterbeer Pong table, and Lyra had to grin. Oh, that was a fun game. No matter how bad you were at it, you could still have a laugh about it. Actually, the worse you were, the more of a laugh it could be. Not that she was that bad at it. She was pretty average, actually. Depending on the day, she'd either miss completely, or just about manage to get it in. Never a good shot, but a couple of lucky, hilarious ones. If her mother had been there, no doubt there would have been some comment about unusual pixies helping her with her aim on the good days, but not here. Not now. Thank God. "You playing, Del, or is the plan just to stand here and watch?" she joked, glancing over at the blonde Slytherin girl. It seemed pretty crowded around here, and if she'd been alone, Lyra would have been swamped. She wasn't a particularly tall girl, and a lot of people here seemed to be taller. It might have just been her, though. "I'll play too, if you can put up with the embarassment of my shitty aim. We all know where that get's us, so I'm all too happy to cheer you on if it'd save you the loss of street cred." She shrugged, hoping to be allowed to play, but knowing it was more than likely some of the others would just make a complete fool out of her because of it. "even if I don't play, I'll still be wanting a couple of shots, though."

While she waited for her friend's reply, Lyra glanced around the room. Yep, there was definitely a lot of tall people here. But where were the people she would actually like to see? Winter should have been around, at least, if not the others as well. Maybe Del would know. "I wonder why no one else has turned up yet; any ideas?" She folded her arms across her chest as she spoke, leaning her weight back only one foot to make herself more comfortable. "I bet a giant game of Butterbeer Pong would be a lotta fun." A laugh escaped her, and her hands went to tug on the bottom of her grey jumper.

There was a break in the conversation, like the natural place for the next person to start talking. Except it wasn't natural, because there was more that the blonde wanted to say. And nothing was going to stop her. "You know, the only person I've seen is that older brother of yours - Scorpius - and might I say, he's as much of a git as ever. I'm sure you know who I'm on about; really moody and more than a little egotistical?" Yes, Lyra was still miffed, and that would never be a good thing. "Not any chance you could enlighten me as to why he's so frustrating, is there? He called me 'Miss Scamander', you know." She added to the end, as if it made any crime he committed twice as bad.

[falling-through-stars]

Taking the train to New York wasn't as bad as Diego had thought it would be. He'd lived in DC for almost four years now, and he had to wonder why he'd never done it before. Admittedly, it took almost five hours, but so did a trip to York from Sunderland (which was a trip he made constantly back in England). Okay, maybe it was closer to three... two and a half... but it still felt the same. He liked train rides. They were peaceful. What he didn't like was the Underground, but he'd had to take it anyway. Cassie better thank him for this.

Cassie... that's who he was going to meet. It'd definately be a lot of fun seeing her. They got along pretty well, and maybe Vixen would be there as well. He couldn't remember what they'd decided, except that the three of them would share a room. God, they'd get some odd looks, one lad and two girls sharing a room. He didn't even want to know what would be running through people's heads. It would be so much easier if everyone knew he was, well, gay. Less weird looks to put up with, that way. Or maybe more, it depended where you went. And what time of the year it was.

The hotel was only about five minutes away from the station, but it was sunny out, and Diego had his sunglasses pulled over his eyes. The lobby was well lit, but still pretty dim when the UV was being blocked out. Should he wait for his friends? That would be the polite thing to do, but it would also be easier to get the key now. There was someone already at the desk, though, so the British boy took his time in getting out all of the things he needed - namely his ID, which he could never find when he needed it.

Getting a key was pretty simple, though the questions about who the two other people he was sharing with were pretty awkward. The look on the girl's face when he explained that it was Cassie and Vixen (too obviously female names) would have been priceless, if it wasn't for the uncomfortable feeling in his stomach. When they asked why he was in New York - turns out he'd given the lady the wrong passport, though he luckily had both in his bag (having a duel citizenship was just annoying at times) - it became a lot clearer as to why he was sharing with his two friends. It's pretty hard to miss when the words "pride weekend" are said.

Once he had the key, there was little he could do but just sit there and wait, fiddling with the key card and his British passport. Somewhere in the back of his mind stopped him from staying like that constantly, though. Slipping the passport back into his pocket, he pulled out his phone. If Cassie knew where he was, then he could go and ditch his bag.


to;; cassie
from;; diego
i've got the key for the
room! 204, i'm heading
up there now to drop my
bag. i'll meet you in the
lobby?

[falling-through-stars]

"The emotion; it was e-lectric. And the stars they all aligned. I knew I had to make my, de-cision. By I never made the time. No, I never made the time." Benny was muttering under his breath, pretty sure that it was the only thing that would stop him from going insane from the rather slow, bass-less piece floating around in his head. It was one of two things he could think of doing to get the song out of his head, so he was currently doing both. He just hoped the Dimitri didn't notice the second thing.

Skipping stone had never been a talent of his, and watching others manage it was just fasinating. Scared the people he was watching, sometimes. More than once he had found himself in an awkward position with some girl or other trying to ask him out. Their reactions to his answer had ranged from complete understanding to, well, anger, which just made him question the sanity of women on a whole new level. They were odd beings, definately. But the fact was, Dimitri made it insteresting on a whole new level. He seemed like a complete sweetheart, and wasn't bad looking, either. Stark white hair, though, which was a little odd. Actually, he was odd in general. Not that Benny was going to get involved in anything like that.

One. Two. He lost count. Dimitri looked terrified, like something was hurting him. Not physically, though. Mentally. And Benny was on his feet, hand outstretched. He wasn't the most experianced of healers, but he still had some of the instinct. And the other boy was in pain, and all he could do was stand there. He couldn't even see what was hurting him, but there was a feeling he didn't want to - not even a little. There was something there (instinct told him that) yet what it actually was...

"I don't think y'u crazy," he spoke quietly, frowning before moving a little closer to where Dimitri sat. He looked at a complete loss, and all Benny could do was head closer. In the end, he pulled himself up next to the other boy, legs crossed to keep his feet out of the water. He was almost tempted to take his shoes off and dangle them in, but it wouldn't help much, not when the rare son of Persephone would probably want to be up soon. He was seeing spirits of dead people, if Benjamin could understand him right. That must have been terrifying. Did he even have anyone to talk to about it? Probably not. Everyone thought he was schizophrenic, which was slightly off-putting to talk to him. Even he didn't exactly talk to him, and Benny had a reputation for being the nice guy. Hey, I just noticed something - his accent is the complete opposite of my Mackam English one. Southern, I think. Kinda like the weird one you here people put on when they want to sound American...

"What? Listening in on the resident psychopath that your siblings like to make fun of?!"

Benjamin jumped. He'd been so lost in thought he hadn't even registered the fact that the other boy would probably find the fact he was just sat there rather odd. He hadn't even noticed the finger tapping against his leg. "Sorry if I offended y'u, mate, but I just wan'ed to know if you were alrigh'," he apologised, running a hand through his hair. "You looked pretty spooked, so I though y'u might like some company - someone to talk to, y'u know? Maybe to take your mind off wha'ever you saw, if y'u want. It helps to talk." He spoke with some level of knowledge about all of this. Nightmares were just about the only constant in his life, and they weren't exactly very fun to go through. "'Course, if y'u don't want to, I don't mind. I just though' tha' I should try and be friendly, y'u know? Seen as there are a lotta people who ain't very nice to y'u."



{{ o.o.c. my failed attempt to write like he has an accent ^-^; also, sorry it's so long. i got a little carried away... }}

[falling-through-stars]

Holier than thou? Really, that was just clutching at straws, concidering he'd just admitted that he was full of faults as well. It was like Dimitri wanted a fight, rattling off excuses that were honestly putting himself into a harder position when it came to Benny. Or putting Benny in a harder position when it came to Dimitri, either way. "Clairvoyance? That's your way of thinkin' of it? Mate, your talking t' the son of the prophecy god! Clairvoyance has nothing to do with it. Trust me," he added to the end, trying not to shake his head. Clairvoyance was the perseption of something that couldn't be sensed with the five human sense - oh, like, say, every single nightmare a demigod has ever had?

But in the end, all he could do was shake his head. There was no point arguing with this boy, clearly. He was a lost cause when it came to reasoning, and even the odd comment to something at random - especially to odd comments, actually. Dimitri didn't realise how lucky he was to have the Hunters on his good side, most of them hated the sons of Apollo. They'd met their father, and seemed less than pleased by how he acted around them. 'A flirt', one of the girls had once told Benny, 'and completely full of himself'. It addled him, slightly, to find out that his father had been... well... you know... hitting on so many other women. He had half-siblings, he wasn't an idiot, but it still wasn't a pleasant thought to think about how many people his dad had probably come on to. He was almost pleased for the change of subject, even if it wasn't the nicest one.

"Y'u not meant to enjoy being an outcast, Dimitri -" it was far too tempting to call him Dimi instead "- that's the point of it. If you're alone, you aren't strong enough to defend y'urself. Y'u can't keep your hopes up when you've got no one to talk to." He sighed slightly, knowing exactly what he would have been told at school. "'If I am given a formula, and I am ignorant of its meaning, it cannot teach me anything, but if I already know it what does the formula teach me?'" He hadn't even registered that he'd said it loud enough for the other boy to hear, but he didn't have time to find out.

Warning alarms. He scrambled to his feet. Real ones? Could be. Could also be some prank by the Hermes Cabin. Still, it would be better to be safe than sorry. His bow and quiver were still sitting on the rocks, and he could feel the little celestial bronze knife at his belt. It wouldn't be much help against any monsters, though. "Real or not?" he asked the other boy, glancing around. What was going on? He took a quick glance over to the girl at the other side of the river, wondering whether she thought it was real or not. He didn't want to be the only one running off to arms, looking like a complete idiot in someone's prank.

Taking a few steps back to the rock, he threw the quiver of arrows across his back, the composite bow in hand. It was pretty small compared to the long bows you'd see in movies and things, but it was the one that Greek Infantry Archers favoured. "What d'you think? Should we go?"



{{ o.o.c. ... }}

[falling-through-stars]

It was pretty boring staring out of the window for this long. Nothing had changes, scenery wise, for about an hour. Probably more. How many songs had she gone through? That'd be a good way to check...

The music was blaring in her ears over the chatter of the coach. Honestly, Tori couldn't care less that she was probably missing a bunch of important conversations from the people around her. She wasn't antisocial - anything but, in fact - yet being surrounded by people in close quaters wasn't paticularly nice. Claustrophobia? Maybe. Maybe not. She didn't mind that time she stayed in the caravan with her family. But, then again, that's family. Most of these were people that she'd only ever seen this once, and would probably never see again once all of this was over. She was nineteen, for Christ's sake! She didn't feel the need to talk to someone constantly!

"Actually, what was that about being antisocial?" the brunette asked herself with a laugh. Her voice was low to stop herself from being labelled as schizophrenic, or whatever else someone who didn't know anything about psychology would have said. Because that's what people did - made stuff up about vital infomation like that. She'd know. She was hoping to go into psychology one day... Well, either that or end up in the music buisness. Though she was definately leaning more towards the music buisness.

As she waited patiently for the bus to come to a hault, Tori closed her eyes, leaning her head back. It kinda sounded like Barenaked Ladies... Actually, it really sounded like Barenaked Ladies. That wouldn't do - the song was educational, almost. Hell, it was off a comedy programme. She double tapped the white plastic block on the earphones. It clicked twice, not that she could hear it, before something else began to blare. Ah. Turin Brakes. Not quite what she was looking for, either. Another double click. Oh, wait. This would do. Vampire Weekend. Much better. The bus came to a hault, and Tori felt her head jump forward, but didn't react. She wanted to be last off the bus, so that she didn't have to rake for anything, or wait in any long queues. Instead her dark eyes remained closed, staring into nothingness, until it finally seemed like a goos time to get off.

Her guitar didn't have a proper case, but it didn't really matter. She'd had it for so long it was battered to death anyway. The black cloth one was more because the strings could get damaged. Convenience wasn't even an issue, not with the red and green strap. Between that and her bag, waiting for the key was pretty impatient. The lads' bus had been sitting outside when they'd arrived, and her heart fluttered slightly. Friends was a good thing. College had been stressful for her, taking the psychology courses and the music courses and being just about the only person who didn't know what they were doing with their lives. Honestly, Tori had no idea what-so-ever about things like that, but the waiting made her ill. Once again she just tried to focus on the music in her ears and pushed the rest out.

She removed the cover on her guitar, just carrying it over her shoulder so that it was pressed against her back, barely noticing what was going on around her as she ditched her bag, pulled on a pair of ski socks (extra warm and cozy) and headed back outside. Her friends - and everyone else - joked that music was her drug, and honestly, it practically was. The only consistence in her life, at times. But she didn't care. It made her feel warm, despite the fact that her hands were only covered by a pair of fingerless gloves and currently shoved in her pockets to keep them warm. She'd skiied when she was younger, but she'd never really been to a place like this. To be going with the school was amazing...

Something caught her eye, and Tori pulled one of her earphones from her ear, carefully clicking on the minus end of the white plastic. "Hey, Harper!"



{ ooc ; sorry the post isn't paticularly good for the amount there. i wasn't sure what to write and had about ten minutes to write it... }

[falling-through-stars]

"Bus ride was pretty s**t, but I'll live," she shrugged, before pausing a minute. "Though I have the feeling that people would be ashamed by the lack of witty comment coming from that." Shaking her head slightly, Tori nodded at the guitar in Harper's hand. "You still practise, right? Because I'll be waiting for a jamming session, Harp!" the brunette laughed, feeling the weight of her own guitar on her back. It had been years since the two had started lessons, and it was beginning to feel like it. How old had she been when she first got a guitar, anyway? Seven? Even the children's guitars were too big at that age, for anyone, and Tori wasn't exactly big anyway. Having said that, it seemed even weirder thinking back to when Harper strugged with the size of his guitar, concidering how much bigger he had been (and pobably still was) than her.

Just as she was about to sit down, Tori found herself wrapped in a pair of arms. "Hey Ada," she laughed, hugging back. Now this was a girl she'd missed on the bus ride over. "Who'd you get put next to, anyway? Anyone we know?" Hopefully not. Everyone the little group of friends had known since childhood, even if they weren't that close anymore, would have been at least civil around any of them. Or, at least, she hoped they would. More than once it had been pointed out that she had far too much faith in humanity. "Still, I told you to bring something to entertain yourself. I didn't get anyone to talk to, not like if I'd been sat next to you, but I did get my iPod to drown them out. Have you ever tried sitting next to a group of overly vivacious cheerleader-types that have probably slept with more lads than Chase has girls?"

Shaking her head slightly, she sat down next to Ada, watching as the couple beside her played out their greeting. As much as she felt like it was trespassing on something that should have been private, Tori could help but grin and glance up at them. They were adorable together, she had to admit.

And then someone voiced her thoughts. "Shut up Chase," she snapped, not even bothering to try and keep her civil attitude around him for once. There were more reasons than anyone else probably realised that she wasn't keen on the boy. "At least they can manage to have a actual relationship." It didn't even register that Harper was saying almost exactly the same thing, but with a bit more vocabulary thrown in. Still, she realised that it would probably be easier to let the other boy finish his argument, even if it was pretty hard not add her own snide comments. Folding her arms to stop the annoyance, something in the back of her mind tugged her into the reality of what she was doing. 'The human nature of insecurity means that the body often makes physical barriers to keep others away. The arms are often folded to hide the person away from 'attack', or keep someone out physically. Within this position, the location of the arms against the torso and use of the hands can mean seperate things. Head falling back from where she had ended up, Tori closed her eyes. She needed to stop reading psychology books.

"How about we tell some ghost stories huh? Get this party started?" one of the teacher suggested. Tori frowned again. Ghost stories weren't quite her forte. She knew a couple from books they had to read in school, but that didn't mean she at all liked them. They were more her brother's kind of thing. So, when Harper put his hand up, she almost groaned outloud. This was the last thing she wanted to hear. Not that he was bad at story telling, or anything. She just didn't want to hear whatever it was that he came up with. It wasn't until about halfway through that she realised something. Harper would probably be the least likely person of the group to tell a story that would truely make her squirm. No matter how bad this on was, the others would most likely be worse, and it was almost nerve wracking.

Out of curtousy, she waited until he was finished to lean over to Adamina. "Hey, Ad, do you have any idea why people like ghost stories? They're terif- terrible." she corrected at the end, making sure to keep her voice to a whisper.


{ ooc ; ... }

[falling-through-stars]

If there was one thing that Tori loved about her best friend, it was her ability to go off on a complete scientific tangent. It seemed a lot more interesting than some of the things other girls would come up with. "I suppose it's the same reason people love roller coasters and cliffhangers and those giant spinning things you get at theme parks." There was a break in her train of thought as she began to wonder what they were actually called. All she knew is that they would lift you up, swining back and forth, and spin you round at the same time. It wasn't paticularly nice, but it was better than one of the ones that spun round and jumped up and down - there was no harness for that, and more than once she'd seen people hurt themselves. "Adrenaline is the only legal drug that they could never remove."

And then Ada suggested music. Tori could have hugged her, if it wasn't for the fact she was so close to her husband. That would have been slightly awkward. Reaching over to the single earphone that had been playing on silent since she arrived, she grabbed the plastic controls, ready to flick it up slightly, when Kari walked in. Oh, great, now she was going to have to be sociable and listen to some of the ghost stories, just so that she didn't seem rude to her friend. "Hey," the brunette smiled, shaking her head at the comments Chase had made before letting himself become absorbed in what would probably be his next... conquest? That didn't sound right. Victim would probably fit better. "It's wasn't that bad, actually, Kari. It-" she cut herself off as Harper's brother headed over, beginning his own story. She was poised to turn her music back up, when she actually started to listen.

Okay, now this was a story she could enjoy. It had a different edge to the other ones, that meant she could listen without cringing at the amount of gory details and the feats of the disturbed minds involved. Though, that could be because of the oddly religious undertone, which was a bit weird to hear coming from one of her friends mouths.

Rolling her eyes as Charlie's asked Kari to dance, Tori leaned closer to Ada for a minute. "What d'you say I go and break up Chase and his little girlfriend giving each other eyes?" she whispered, a smirk gracing her lips. Yes, it was childish. Yes, it would end in her own embarsssment. Yes, it would end in some argument. And, yes, it would probably end up with rumours going around that she liked him, but hey, she would wish her worst enemy into the hands of Chase Coy, and the look on his face when he realised what she'd just done would be amazing. So much so that she didn't want to wait for a reply. Hell, even if Ada said 'no', she'd probably do it.

Standing up, Tori headed to sit beside him. A look of complete contempt almost appeared, but she managed to keep it in check. With a quick glance at the girl he'd been making eyes at, she laughed. "Having fun?" she asked, trying to sound as sincere as possible. Year ago - and I mean years - she'd had more than just a crush on the dark-haired lad, but now it seemed completely gone. "It seems like you've already found someone to keep you happy." There was a tone of annoyance that couldn't really be avoided.


{ ooc ; sorry it's so short... }