((Shawn Bellamy, homecoming edition)
((Guest starring Ohm as Andrew Lapson))
Shawn shook his head as he watched the crowd dance from the sidelines, sporting a smart shirt and tie along with slacks and a slightly tilted trillby. He never cared much for young love, after all most of the couples on the dance floor were likely to split up before going to college, and those who didn't were only fooling themselves in the long term. Not him, however. He was always above such frivolity, never the type who needed to validate themselves by being in a relationship, a true... How did they put it, sigma? Not that he cared much for such vapid labels, but the description fit nevertheless. Hell, he was never really that obsessed with girls to begin with, unlike some of his friends.
Speaking of whom, where the hell was Matt anyway? Probably still chasing for a date, he figured. Typical. Catching up with Matt and Corbs was about the only thing he was really looking forward to that evening, and with them both indisposed he decided to head out to catch some fresh air.
The moment he stepped through the fire exit however, his face would recoil in disgust as he was hit by the smell of smoked marijuana, turning his head to the side to see it's source...
Prom was supposed to be something else, right?
Parties were one thing, but god. Andrew Lapson was not sure if he enjoyed this one in spite of it being the opportunity at the end of high school. Something that was supposed to make it feel special, but to him it didn’t make it any better than some of the parties he’s been to.
He hadn’t dressed too fancy for it, at least to him. To someone else, he might have looked good in suit, but he still brought the bomber jacket with him, if only for the weird sight of a supposedly fancy dude wearing that over.
People were going around, talking to one another and music went over to make a combo that was getting a bit exhausting to deal with. While stuff was going on between the couples that were around, Andrew discreetly started moving away from the crowd. He could sense that his energy was getting too low to deal with this now, and it was high time for a recharge.
He had taken the time to step outside through the fire exit, and decided to take the chance out here. His good ole’ lighter and a smoke and soon Andrew was huffin’ and puffin’ by himself. Maybe it looked lonely to somebody else, but he needed time to recharge from the stuff going on in there, at least, until someone decided it was high time to crash that.
Upon the sound of someone else there through the door opening, he tilted his head slightly to the side and looked at the arrival.
Andrew did not like what he saw, but he tried to keep it to himself.
“...Hey.” said Andrew after he puffed out the smoke. He tried to keep the grimace away from his face as he looked away from Shawn.
"Hey" Shawn responded, letting out an awkward cough that he could only partly blame on the second hand smoke, looking away himself as he laid back against the wall with his hands in his pockets. He and Andrew never exactly saw eye to eye, especially after what happened to Connor, after which reception between the two tended to be cold at best.
"Quite the, uh... Party, huh, if you can call it that..." he'd say, in apropos of nothing to break the silence.
Maybe Andrew should have covered the cig, or at least give the impression that he was out here doing what he was doing, but the dude had, y’know, a working nose so that was kind of out of the question.
Besides, he would have probably seen the smoke and put two and two together. Shawn was good at that.
Snitches were always good at that sort of thing.
“Sure is.” He answered gruffly. Dude was about as good at small talk as he was.
The corner of Shawn's lip subtly curled downwards in response to Andrew's tone, looking away as he tapped his foot. There was a brief silence that felt longer than it actually lasted, Shawn stewing over his thoughts as he felt the evening breeze against his face, before finally glancing back at Andrew.
"Y'know, I never get why people get so... Obsessed about making sure they have their prom dates, or whether they're the homecoming queen, or yadda yadda... Like, we all know most of us are never gonna see each other again in a year, right? This is all just a brief pitstop before we all go our separate ways, whether that be college, the army, the local dunks or wherever..."
He didn't really care about whether or not Andrew was paying any attention, simply using the moment to speak his mind irregardless of whether or not the other student cared to listen.
"All these... Friendships we make, these relationships, and what have you... All just a blip in the ocean, y'know? All fun and games in the moment, sure, but ten years from now most of us are gonna just forget about each other..."
…
So, they skipped the small talk entirely cause Shawn had taken his reply as an invitation to fuckin’ ramble about prom, couples, hell, high school relationships in general. A lot of shit that Andrew could not give a fuck about right now and this guy just kept going on and on like a broken record.
Like, Jesus, he got that there’s some awkward shit with that kind of stuff, but there’s a reason folks do it?
I’unno, experience and memories and shit?
So you don’t walk into college with your fuckin’ pants down with no idea how to talk to girls, or classmates, or just fuckin’ people at all. You’d think a dude like this would have figured that out, but lonely nights at one’s own room seemed to be what he was hoping for with this shit attitude.
Andrew was not exactly the most sociable guy around, but he could still hold a convo with people if he wanted and not make it this fucked ramble about friendship like he’s some fuck too entrapped in whatever stupid shit folks had goin’. Shawn always came across to him like some awkward narc dude, but this was just weird.
“Why are you out here, anyway? Date bailed on ya?” Maybe that’s why dude is so salty
Shawn chuckled and shrugged, trying to play the retort off. "Same as you I figured, just needed a lil bit of fresh air... Well, I guess not quite that fresh in your case, but hey no judgments..." he said, pushing himself away from the wall with the sole of his foot before spinning around with a smirk.
"And don't worry, secrets safe with me, pal" he'd say, clicking his fingers into a point before making his way back inside.
Once he was out of sight, he'd puff his cheeks and reach a hand up to his forehead to rub his temple. Well, that's an awkward moment that'll haunt me the rest of my life... Aaah well, c'est la vie.
Guys and Dolls
A series of brief encounters taking place throughout the night, featuring a number of guest appearances...
((Mitch McDuffy, homecoming edition)
((Guest starring Dr Adjective as Evie McKown))
"Woops, sorry bro!" said Mitch as the exaggerated shoulders of his cheap pinstripe zoot suit bumped against one of his classmates, again. He still wasn't 100% sure if his outfit was really all-that appropriate for the Irish mobster look he was going for, had to make his southie ancestors proud after all, but it was an excuse to wear a fedora without looking like total fuckbag so what the hell.
He mostly found himself hovering near the snack table, taking full advantage of the opportunity to help himself to as much free junk food he could get his hands on. Dateless, obviously, not that he was too fussed as it was only homecoming and there was always prom to look forward to. Either way he was out to have a good time, do a bit of dancing, a bit of bantering, make some memories that his older self will reflect back on and go "What the hell was I thinking?"
He was in the middle of helping himself to a cupcake when he spotted a familiar face in the crowd, crumbs dropping from his mouth as he swayed his head to the beat of the song before waving over at them. "YO! EEEEVEEEEEEEEEE!"
Evie had been doing her best not to be noticeable: from the moment she’d arrived she’d only grown more and more self-conscious about her outfit. Her hair was obviously too long for the flapper look, she’d decided, and her shoulders, broad enough that she felt awkwardly mannish at the best of times? In this dress with all its flashy neck-area sparkly bits and no arm covering at all? Yeah. To say nothing of the awkward little veil thing on her head that she could swear was threatening to fall off at any given movement.
But on the other hand, there were free breadsticks, so could the evening be said to be all that bad? Just hang out in a dumb costume with the other dateless goobers and be rewarded with unlimited snacks and drinks, maybe make each other feel better by making sarcastic comments and insisting that peaking in high school is cringe anyway.
And then there was Mitch. The knight in zooted armour there to brighten up the atmosphere. In an ideal world she’d look cool and attractive, but instead his loud greeting has her choking on a mouthful of half-chewed breadsticks and trying to acknowledge him with wordless, headgear-wobbling nods before she’s able to actually speak. Probably why she’s a card-carrying Dateless Goober. That and the paralysing fear of actually asking a girl out.
“My man!”
Wave, finger-guns, adjust silly hat.
“Maidenless too, huh?”
She asks, before catching her own implication. Oops.
“Well, you know, I mean… you know what I mean.”
Mitch wasn't sure if he'd ever seen Evie in a dress. All things considered, she pulled the look off well.. Kinda? Better than he ever could, anyway, not that he could say any of that without it coming out weird one way or another.
He'd make his way over, casually snatching up a pretzel and taking a bite as he sauntered to the beat of the track, before stopping and raising his brow at the maidenless comment. "HMmph?" he'd reply, with a mouthful of pretzel, before gulping it down and letting out an awkward-moment killing chuckle. "Aaahaha, yeah yeah, riding solo tonight. Not like it's the prom or anythin', right?" he'd say with a shrug, still bobbing his head and tapping his foot to the beat of the background music.
“Haha, yeah, true.”
Not awkward at all! Just an awkward turn of phrase, nothing to it! She took a long, self-conscious slurp of soda before continuing.
“Just commiserating a loss over free snacks and dressing like…”She doesn’t have it in her to insult Mitch’s fit, or indeed her own much as she hated being seen in it.“…this, right?”
She gestured vaguely to herself with an awkward chuckle.
“Not very me, is it?”
Not that the music really was either.
"Pffff, hey, I don't exactly look gangster in this monkey suit either!" Mitch replied, stepping back to gesture to his own digs, which looked a size too big for him. "Least this way I get to pay homage to my southie ancestors, 1920s style!" he'd say, before halting his head bobbing for a second. "People wore zoot suits in the twenties, right?"
“Probably?”
Interwar America wasn’t exactly Evie’s strong suit when it came to history, but she was pretty sure she’d read something about them getting unpopular for wasting material during one of the two wars, so it sounded about right to her.
“Looks neat though, and here I’m basically just cosplaying as Elizabeth Debicki…”
”If only I were that hot.” she adds internally, not wanting to bring Mitch down or fish for compliments.
“You uh, you seen Steve around yet? I’m surprised I haven’t heard him already.”
"Aaah, yeah, I can see that yeah..." he'd reply with a nod of his head, as if he totally knew who Elizabeth Debicky was. She was related to the Olsen twins, right? Wait, no...
"Steve? Haven't seen ma boy yet, no..." he'd say, taking a quick glance around the room to see if he could spy him out in the crowd. Granted, as Evie had a few inches on him, she probably had a better chance and spotting him than he did. "Woulda thought he'd be here to see the raccoons though, assuming Becca ain't joshing us"
"Only reason I'm here, to be honest." she lied, the exact opposite of being honest. She wouldn't have come at all if her parents hadn't insisted she'd regret it for the rest of her life if she skipped it. Oh the horror of missing choosing not to dance to music she didn't like, and unfavourably comparing herself to more attractive people. At least there were free refreshments.
"You really think she'll do it? Wouldn't she get like, expelled, for bringing wild animals in on purpose?"
"Iunno..." he'd reply with a shrug. "Totally worth it though, if you ask me"
It was at that point that Mitch noticed that the DJ had decided to switch things up, going from your usual mainstream school-friendly pop to something a bit more... Electro swing? That's what the genre was called, right? A nice bouncy jazz inspired track, mix of old and new for something that felt a bit more thematically appropriate than Ed Shereen or whatever The Bieb was putting out nowadays. Wasn't the kinda thing he usually listened to, but he dug the change of pace, starting to bob his head again and click his fingers to the track.
"Aaaaye, that's a lil more like it!" he'd say, tapping his foot before turning back to Evie. "You wanna, uh..." he'd begin, unsure how really to phrase the question without it sounding like he was asking her out or something. Which wasn't to say he wasn't open to the idea or anything, granted he was completely in the dark as to which team Evie batted for, just that... Well, they were friends and all, and the last thing he wanted was to make things weird between them with mixed messages.
"Was, uh, gonna go dance like an idiot for a bit... You want in?" he'd ask, hoping that didn't come across as meaning more than he meant it to.
“Figure she’s gotta have college plans, right?”
And then, music change. Mitch seemed to approve, Evie was appreciative too. Not exactly her sound either but a merciful respite from the top 40 hits.
“Heck yeah!” she agreed, “Is th…” she went to continue, meaning to wonder aloud if it was that Caravan Palace group she’d heard about on occlusion, but then the vibe changed somewhat. Oh no. He wanted to dance. Even after walking it back a bit to cool down the implication, Evie felt a proverbial knot of anxiety forming in the pit of her stomach. Sure, Mitch was cool, he wasn’t gonna do anything stupid if she turned him down, but it might make things weird between them. But then again, saying yes might too, and Evie really didn’t want to lead him on either. She still felt pretty guilty about Teddie, it hasn’t even occurred to her that he meant it as a date until they’d kissed, and she’d felt like the worst person in the world for feeling nothing beside surprise and a mild revulsion she still didn’t quite want to acknowledge.
The metaphorical cogs turned for a few long, awkward seconds. Evie stood there, doing a fine impression of a deer caught in headlights, bewildered and frozen. Ultimately, as was her default, she chose the path of least friction. Just play nice, be likeable, be agreeable. Then they won’t hate you for that one thing you actually won’t budge on. Then they’ll still want to be your friend. Who’s they? Everyone, really.
“Yeah, I guess? As much as I can, like this.”
The terminally awkward girl gave a sheepish look downwards, towards a dress that restricted her movement a fair bit more than her standard jeans, plus shoes significantly less practical than her usual. Maybe if she had more practice moving in this sort of get up, but… well, she didn’t. Wishing for a moment that the soda had a little liquid courage in it to soften her sudden stab of anxiety, Evie downed what was left of her drink and set the empty cup down and started moving towards more open space.
Just don’t make it weird, just don’t make it weird…
Mitch felt a slight pit in his stomach form as those seconds dragged on, finding himself in one of those all too rare moments that he regretted the words that came out of his mouth. Last thing he wanted was to put her on the spot like that, and he was about to backtrack from the idea entirely when she finally replied.
"Yeah, for sure, no pressure or anything! I doubt I'm gonna be busting any moves out there myself, 'specially not in this..." he'd say, gesturing down to his ridiculous outfit. "But figured it beats sitting around and letting everyone else have all the fun! I'll even dial things up to eleven if that helps, make sure ya look like a pro by comparison... That's what friends are for, right?" he'd say, hoping that cleared the air behind his platonic intentions. He'd then start to make his way out to the dance floor, briefly turning back to Evie as he did so.
"As a wise man once said..." he began, then after trying and failing to think of something clever, he'd simply shrug and say "...fuck it!"
Once he hit the dance floor, true to his word Mitch would begin to strut his stuff, and sure enough he was... Not exactly Fred Astaire. He appeared to be attempting to perform a variation of the charleston, despite having never been taught how to actually do the charleston, and throwing in whatever move came to mind. Clumsy bees knees, awkward moonwalks, The Monkey and of course, who could forget that old classic: The Shepard. Still, despite his complete lack of skill, he still somehow managed to make up for it with sheer blind confidence and an absolute lack of care for what anyone around him thought. He wasn't out here to look good, he was out to have a laugh and maybe help those around him have one as well, to hell with whatever his peers thought of him.
And if it helped Evie crack a smile after what sounded to be a pretty dull night on her part, even if it was a laugh at his expense, then that sounded like a win in his book.
The knot loosened significantly, as it became increasingly clear through his fumbling that Mitch was trying to smoothly make his intentions clear, and that those intentions were pure, so to speak. Just two pals messing about and making the most of the evening.
"Fuck it!" she agreed, though her dance moves started out significantly more conservative than his. Ultimately though, as it began feeling sillier to be self-conscious than to just go for it, she went all-in as much as her dress would allow... mostly just half-remembered Fortnite dances (ironic? impossible to say) until the music was no longer enjoyable enough to move to, and it came time for more refreshments.
((Guest starring Dr Adjective as Evie McKown))
"Woops, sorry bro!" said Mitch as the exaggerated shoulders of his cheap pinstripe zoot suit bumped against one of his classmates, again. He still wasn't 100% sure if his outfit was really all-that appropriate for the Irish mobster look he was going for, had to make his southie ancestors proud after all, but it was an excuse to wear a fedora without looking like total fuckbag so what the hell.
He mostly found himself hovering near the snack table, taking full advantage of the opportunity to help himself to as much free junk food he could get his hands on. Dateless, obviously, not that he was too fussed as it was only homecoming and there was always prom to look forward to. Either way he was out to have a good time, do a bit of dancing, a bit of bantering, make some memories that his older self will reflect back on and go "What the hell was I thinking?"
He was in the middle of helping himself to a cupcake when he spotted a familiar face in the crowd, crumbs dropping from his mouth as he swayed his head to the beat of the song before waving over at them. "YO! EEEEVEEEEEEEEEE!"
Evie had been doing her best not to be noticeable: from the moment she’d arrived she’d only grown more and more self-conscious about her outfit. Her hair was obviously too long for the flapper look, she’d decided, and her shoulders, broad enough that she felt awkwardly mannish at the best of times? In this dress with all its flashy neck-area sparkly bits and no arm covering at all? Yeah. To say nothing of the awkward little veil thing on her head that she could swear was threatening to fall off at any given movement.
But on the other hand, there were free breadsticks, so could the evening be said to be all that bad? Just hang out in a dumb costume with the other dateless goobers and be rewarded with unlimited snacks and drinks, maybe make each other feel better by making sarcastic comments and insisting that peaking in high school is cringe anyway.
And then there was Mitch. The knight in zooted armour there to brighten up the atmosphere. In an ideal world she’d look cool and attractive, but instead his loud greeting has her choking on a mouthful of half-chewed breadsticks and trying to acknowledge him with wordless, headgear-wobbling nods before she’s able to actually speak. Probably why she’s a card-carrying Dateless Goober. That and the paralysing fear of actually asking a girl out.
“My man!”
Wave, finger-guns, adjust silly hat.
“Maidenless too, huh?”
She asks, before catching her own implication. Oops.
“Well, you know, I mean… you know what I mean.”
Mitch wasn't sure if he'd ever seen Evie in a dress. All things considered, she pulled the look off well.. Kinda? Better than he ever could, anyway, not that he could say any of that without it coming out weird one way or another.
He'd make his way over, casually snatching up a pretzel and taking a bite as he sauntered to the beat of the track, before stopping and raising his brow at the maidenless comment. "HMmph?" he'd reply, with a mouthful of pretzel, before gulping it down and letting out an awkward-moment killing chuckle. "Aaahaha, yeah yeah, riding solo tonight. Not like it's the prom or anythin', right?" he'd say with a shrug, still bobbing his head and tapping his foot to the beat of the background music.
“Haha, yeah, true.”
Not awkward at all! Just an awkward turn of phrase, nothing to it! She took a long, self-conscious slurp of soda before continuing.
“Just commiserating a loss over free snacks and dressing like…”She doesn’t have it in her to insult Mitch’s fit, or indeed her own much as she hated being seen in it.“…this, right?”
She gestured vaguely to herself with an awkward chuckle.
“Not very me, is it?”
Not that the music really was either.
"Pffff, hey, I don't exactly look gangster in this monkey suit either!" Mitch replied, stepping back to gesture to his own digs, which looked a size too big for him. "Least this way I get to pay homage to my southie ancestors, 1920s style!" he'd say, before halting his head bobbing for a second. "People wore zoot suits in the twenties, right?"
“Probably?”
Interwar America wasn’t exactly Evie’s strong suit when it came to history, but she was pretty sure she’d read something about them getting unpopular for wasting material during one of the two wars, so it sounded about right to her.
“Looks neat though, and here I’m basically just cosplaying as Elizabeth Debicki…”
”If only I were that hot.” she adds internally, not wanting to bring Mitch down or fish for compliments.
“You uh, you seen Steve around yet? I’m surprised I haven’t heard him already.”
"Aaah, yeah, I can see that yeah..." he'd reply with a nod of his head, as if he totally knew who Elizabeth Debicky was. She was related to the Olsen twins, right? Wait, no...
"Steve? Haven't seen ma boy yet, no..." he'd say, taking a quick glance around the room to see if he could spy him out in the crowd. Granted, as Evie had a few inches on him, she probably had a better chance and spotting him than he did. "Woulda thought he'd be here to see the raccoons though, assuming Becca ain't joshing us"
"Only reason I'm here, to be honest." she lied, the exact opposite of being honest. She wouldn't have come at all if her parents hadn't insisted she'd regret it for the rest of her life if she skipped it. Oh the horror of missing choosing not to dance to music she didn't like, and unfavourably comparing herself to more attractive people. At least there were free refreshments.
"You really think she'll do it? Wouldn't she get like, expelled, for bringing wild animals in on purpose?"
"Iunno..." he'd reply with a shrug. "Totally worth it though, if you ask me"
It was at that point that Mitch noticed that the DJ had decided to switch things up, going from your usual mainstream school-friendly pop to something a bit more... Electro swing? That's what the genre was called, right? A nice bouncy jazz inspired track, mix of old and new for something that felt a bit more thematically appropriate than Ed Shereen or whatever The Bieb was putting out nowadays. Wasn't the kinda thing he usually listened to, but he dug the change of pace, starting to bob his head again and click his fingers to the track.
"Aaaaye, that's a lil more like it!" he'd say, tapping his foot before turning back to Evie. "You wanna, uh..." he'd begin, unsure how really to phrase the question without it sounding like he was asking her out or something. Which wasn't to say he wasn't open to the idea or anything, granted he was completely in the dark as to which team Evie batted for, just that... Well, they were friends and all, and the last thing he wanted was to make things weird between them with mixed messages.
"Was, uh, gonna go dance like an idiot for a bit... You want in?" he'd ask, hoping that didn't come across as meaning more than he meant it to.
“Figure she’s gotta have college plans, right?”
And then, music change. Mitch seemed to approve, Evie was appreciative too. Not exactly her sound either but a merciful respite from the top 40 hits.
“Heck yeah!” she agreed, “Is th…” she went to continue, meaning to wonder aloud if it was that Caravan Palace group she’d heard about on occlusion, but then the vibe changed somewhat. Oh no. He wanted to dance. Even after walking it back a bit to cool down the implication, Evie felt a proverbial knot of anxiety forming in the pit of her stomach. Sure, Mitch was cool, he wasn’t gonna do anything stupid if she turned him down, but it might make things weird between them. But then again, saying yes might too, and Evie really didn’t want to lead him on either. She still felt pretty guilty about Teddie, it hasn’t even occurred to her that he meant it as a date until they’d kissed, and she’d felt like the worst person in the world for feeling nothing beside surprise and a mild revulsion she still didn’t quite want to acknowledge.
The metaphorical cogs turned for a few long, awkward seconds. Evie stood there, doing a fine impression of a deer caught in headlights, bewildered and frozen. Ultimately, as was her default, she chose the path of least friction. Just play nice, be likeable, be agreeable. Then they won’t hate you for that one thing you actually won’t budge on. Then they’ll still want to be your friend. Who’s they? Everyone, really.
“Yeah, I guess? As much as I can, like this.”
The terminally awkward girl gave a sheepish look downwards, towards a dress that restricted her movement a fair bit more than her standard jeans, plus shoes significantly less practical than her usual. Maybe if she had more practice moving in this sort of get up, but… well, she didn’t. Wishing for a moment that the soda had a little liquid courage in it to soften her sudden stab of anxiety, Evie downed what was left of her drink and set the empty cup down and started moving towards more open space.
Just don’t make it weird, just don’t make it weird…
Mitch felt a slight pit in his stomach form as those seconds dragged on, finding himself in one of those all too rare moments that he regretted the words that came out of his mouth. Last thing he wanted was to put her on the spot like that, and he was about to backtrack from the idea entirely when she finally replied.
"Yeah, for sure, no pressure or anything! I doubt I'm gonna be busting any moves out there myself, 'specially not in this..." he'd say, gesturing down to his ridiculous outfit. "But figured it beats sitting around and letting everyone else have all the fun! I'll even dial things up to eleven if that helps, make sure ya look like a pro by comparison... That's what friends are for, right?" he'd say, hoping that cleared the air behind his platonic intentions. He'd then start to make his way out to the dance floor, briefly turning back to Evie as he did so.
"As a wise man once said..." he began, then after trying and failing to think of something clever, he'd simply shrug and say "...fuck it!"
Once he hit the dance floor, true to his word Mitch would begin to strut his stuff, and sure enough he was... Not exactly Fred Astaire. He appeared to be attempting to perform a variation of the charleston, despite having never been taught how to actually do the charleston, and throwing in whatever move came to mind. Clumsy bees knees, awkward moonwalks, The Monkey and of course, who could forget that old classic: The Shepard. Still, despite his complete lack of skill, he still somehow managed to make up for it with sheer blind confidence and an absolute lack of care for what anyone around him thought. He wasn't out here to look good, he was out to have a laugh and maybe help those around him have one as well, to hell with whatever his peers thought of him.
And if it helped Evie crack a smile after what sounded to be a pretty dull night on her part, even if it was a laugh at his expense, then that sounded like a win in his book.
The knot loosened significantly, as it became increasingly clear through his fumbling that Mitch was trying to smoothly make his intentions clear, and that those intentions were pure, so to speak. Just two pals messing about and making the most of the evening.
"Fuck it!" she agreed, though her dance moves started out significantly more conservative than his. Ultimately though, as it began feeling sillier to be self-conscious than to just go for it, she went all-in as much as her dress would allow... mostly just half-remembered Fortnite dances (ironic? impossible to say) until the music was no longer enjoyable enough to move to, and it came time for more refreshments.
((Lillian Larsen, homecoming edition)
((Guest starring Gundham as Rebekah Hayes, BlizzardeyeWonder as Liya Polaris and MostlyHarmfull as Ethan Kemp))
Lily wasn't sure as to whether or not this is what the homecoming organisers had in mind when they set the Roaring Twenties theme, but hey, The Cabinet of Dr Caligari came out in 1920 so she figured it had to count.
Of course, whether or not anyone would even realise she was dressed up as Cesare the spooky somnambulist was another matter. With her black turtleneck sweater, black jeans, triangular panda eye shadow and black lipstick, most folk probably just assumed she was reverting back to her goth phase. She maybe could've dyed her hair black or worn a wig to complete the look, but figured it wasn't worth it for just a homecoming dance.
Still, even though she hadn't secured herself a date or anything, she was looking forward to seeing how the night panned out. After all Rebekah had threatened to unleash a swarm of raccoons on everyone if she became homecoming queen, so naturally Lily voted for her, and there was no way in hell she was going to miss out on the fireworks. And so she mingled about with a glass of punch, catching up with whoever she could bump into as the evening went on. No raccoons for the moment, so it seemed, but it wasn't long now until the homecoming king and queen would be announced...
Liya didn't like the 20s look. Yeah, flappers were cool and all, but it just wasn't her style. She came here in a black and white suit and called it good. Lazy, but whatever, fuck the teachers who thought of this shit, it wasn't like anyone else was going to follow the theme any better. Or so she thought.
She squinted from some distance away at - Lily, was it? It was kind of hard to tell, but she seemed to be aping the look of that guy from The Cabinet Of Dr Caligari. Going for a black and white movie look was actually kind of inspired, damn. Lily was one of those people who Liya didn't like necessarily but did want to pick the brain of like a bug under a microscope back in the day, but that was a pretty fucking weird angle to try and talk to someone from, so for now she just kinda... stared from across the room.
Rebekah rearranged her corsage for the fifth time in as many minutes. She'd been fidgeting with it for most of the night, with increasing frequency as the results of the vote drew near. If she worried about this little frilly thingamabob, then she wouldn't have to about the impending cheerleader civil war. Dani was the odds-on favorite to win, but Rebekah knew that Chloe had been garnering a lot of support as well. To Rebekah's horror, one or two people had even mentioned wanting to vote for her. She'd tried to vocally shut down that idea wherever she could, because any vote for Rebekah was a vote that wasn't going to Chloe or Dani. If two people voted for Rebekah, and the difference between Chloe and Dani came down to one or two votes, then it'd be her fault for luring votes away from one and delegitimizing the victory of the other. There was only one thing worse than having Chloe and Dani at each other's throats, and that was having both of them at hers.
And that wasn't even the worst of her worries. The raccoons... well, the raccoons were in place and ready to go. It'd taken a lot of phone calls, a quick detour on the way to the school, and all of the cash she had in her wallet, but she'd finally found a way to make good on her campaign promise. And if everything went according to plan, then maybe, just maybe, the tension would be broken, and then things could go back to normal. The votes would be read, the winner would be announced, and Chloe/Dani would bask in her glory while Chloe/Dani glowered and Rebekah patted her sympathetically on the arm, and then after the queen looked radiant for a bit, and the dance was about to start up again, she'd give the signal and then boom! Raccoon time. And everybody would be so busy laughing and being happy about raccoons that they'd forget to hate Rebekah and each other. That was the hope, anyway.
Lily hadn't noticed yet that Liya was observing her from a distance, too busy finding herself distracted by the sight of Fitz wandering about with a camcorder. Probably wanted to catch Rebekah's inevitable victory on camera, or perhaps more accurately the chaotic aftermath. She was so distracted in fact, that it took someone bumping into her from behind to alert her to her surroundings. "Oh whoops! Sorry abou-"
"Woah, hey, watch it gothzilla!" Shawn Bellamy interrupted with a callous chuckle, brushing himself down as he passed on by.
Lily would glare bloody daggers at the back of Shawn's head, her face scrunching up as she found herself hit by a brief bout of self-awareness about how her hips looked in those jeans, before sighing and doing her best to shrug it off. "Masshole..." she'd mutter under her breath before sipping her drink some more, turning her head to make sure nobody else was about to bump into her.
It was at that point that she spotted a familiar face not too far away, her mood instantly brightening up when she recognised it to belong to the apparent belle of the ball herself. Whilst the two weren't exactly besties they got along well enough, especially with Rebekah being one of the kookier girls on the cheerleading squad, even going so far as giving her some pointers for her Salem witch trials tour. So naturally she couldn't help but wander on over and say hello.
"Well hey, if it isn't the Raccoon Queen herself!"
Rebekah's face broke into a grin. She hadn't heard the nickname before, but she immediately liked it. Definitely something that she would get on a t-shirt.
"Hiya!" she said brightly to the other human, "You look really good!" She only mostly meant this, because Lily's panda costume was pretty inaccurate. Pandas had existed in the 1920s, though, so Rebekah approved of the decision overall.
Rebekah waved at Fitz as he passed by, then blew a dramatic kiss as he pointed the camera in her direction.
"Isn't this fun?"
"Aww, thanks! I was gonna dye my hair black to complete the look, but just... Like, I think it looks fine without it, right?" she'd reply, not realising Rebekah had mistaken her outfit.
Lily would turn and wave to Fitz as he passed by them with his camera, a smirk on her face as she turned back to Rebekah. "So... Spill the beans, where've you stashed 'em?"
She wasn't expecting a real answer, despite her curiosity, since deep down she suspected Rebekah's big promise/threat to be an overexaggerated bluff. It wasn't as if Rebekah was wearing one of those big victorian crinoline dresses, so if she did somehow sneak a dozen or so feral raccoons in, she'd of had to hide them somewhere in the dance hall without anyone being none the wiser.
"Stashed what?" Rebekah asked, looking momentarily confused. "Oh! The raccoons!"
She looked around conspiratorially, making sure that the camera wasn't trained on them before leaning in to whisper into Lily's ear. "They're here. Just waiting for their cue. They can't come out until after the vote is announced. It'd be too distracting."
Rebekah's eyes flicked towards the gym storage room where the raccoons were currently awaiting their debut. Hopefully they'd hurry up and get the votes read before it got too stuffy in there. Otherwise she might have to pay extra, just out of guilt.
Leant in close as Rebekah whispered in her ear, stifling a chuckle before raising her brow in confusion. Waiting for their cue, huh? Assuming she wasn't pulling her leg, that left her with a lot of questions, least of all how she managed to rangle a bunch of wild animals and sneak 'em past security.
Unless...
"Aaaah, I see..." she'd reply with a knowing smile, thinking she'd sussed out Rebekah's insidious little plot. "Well, hopefully shouldn't be waiting much longer, think they're gonna announce the homecoming King and Queen aaaany minute now"
Rebekah gulped. "Oh, you're right. I should probably get over there to keep Dani and Chloe from tearing each other's heads off. They're like two queen bees trying to live in the same beehive sometimes..."
Sadly, there wouldn't be time to explain the complex hierarchical processes of bee societies to Lily just now, but she'd be sure to pull her aside later and give her the rundown. Then again, anybody who loved animals enough to dress as a panda at homecoming probably already knew that stuff.
So far, homecoming had been a relaxed affair for Ethan Kemp, who did something more or less passed as dancing in tune with music.
Parties were normally places that demanded Ethan's attention, the force of habit compelling him to look out for his peers. But this was a school event, so there were numerous adults around who even got paid for this, allowing him to fully enjoy the music. His costume was that of a typical mafiosi anyone would recognize from The Godfather. Uncreative, but unlike his hallooween costume, he actually could move and see and dance.
He still failed to spot the girl that bumped into him while running past.
"Woah!"
Thankfully, they only grazed each other instead of colliding. Ethan wanted to apologize, but the girl - he believed her to be Rebekah - was already scurrying away in a quick tempo. However, he caught Fitz training his camera at them, meaning that this little blunder would forever be remembered.
Looking at the girl disappearing in the crowd, Ethan remembered Rebekah's big promise and couldn't help but get curious. Would she do it? Were there really raccoons at this place?
Probably not. After all, they were high school seniors, not elementary students. Rebekah surely wouldn't go through with something so childish, right?
"Sure, of course..." replied Lily, her smile slowly fading as she began to pick up on the genuine concern in Rebekah's voice, watching as she dashed away in such a hurry that she almost knocked Ethan over.
Lily couldn't claim to be the biggest expert on cheerleader politics, but she knew enough to be aware of how... Messy, it could get. Sure she didn't think something like being crowned homecoming queen was that big a deal, but that's just because she wasn't really involved in that world. For Rebekah though, who despite her oddities was very much a part of that scene...
Maybe it would be for the best that she didn't tell Rebekah who she voted for.
"Moments captured imminently before disaster..." she'd mutter under her breath not far away from Ethan, her eyes on Fitz with his camera making sure that the events that were about to unfold don't go undocumented.
((Guest starring Gundham as Rebekah Hayes, BlizzardeyeWonder as Liya Polaris and MostlyHarmfull as Ethan Kemp))
Lily wasn't sure as to whether or not this is what the homecoming organisers had in mind when they set the Roaring Twenties theme, but hey, The Cabinet of Dr Caligari came out in 1920 so she figured it had to count.
Of course, whether or not anyone would even realise she was dressed up as Cesare the spooky somnambulist was another matter. With her black turtleneck sweater, black jeans, triangular panda eye shadow and black lipstick, most folk probably just assumed she was reverting back to her goth phase. She maybe could've dyed her hair black or worn a wig to complete the look, but figured it wasn't worth it for just a homecoming dance.
Still, even though she hadn't secured herself a date or anything, she was looking forward to seeing how the night panned out. After all Rebekah had threatened to unleash a swarm of raccoons on everyone if she became homecoming queen, so naturally Lily voted for her, and there was no way in hell she was going to miss out on the fireworks. And so she mingled about with a glass of punch, catching up with whoever she could bump into as the evening went on. No raccoons for the moment, so it seemed, but it wasn't long now until the homecoming king and queen would be announced...
Liya didn't like the 20s look. Yeah, flappers were cool and all, but it just wasn't her style. She came here in a black and white suit and called it good. Lazy, but whatever, fuck the teachers who thought of this shit, it wasn't like anyone else was going to follow the theme any better. Or so she thought.
She squinted from some distance away at - Lily, was it? It was kind of hard to tell, but she seemed to be aping the look of that guy from The Cabinet Of Dr Caligari. Going for a black and white movie look was actually kind of inspired, damn. Lily was one of those people who Liya didn't like necessarily but did want to pick the brain of like a bug under a microscope back in the day, but that was a pretty fucking weird angle to try and talk to someone from, so for now she just kinda... stared from across the room.
Rebekah rearranged her corsage for the fifth time in as many minutes. She'd been fidgeting with it for most of the night, with increasing frequency as the results of the vote drew near. If she worried about this little frilly thingamabob, then she wouldn't have to about the impending cheerleader civil war. Dani was the odds-on favorite to win, but Rebekah knew that Chloe had been garnering a lot of support as well. To Rebekah's horror, one or two people had even mentioned wanting to vote for her. She'd tried to vocally shut down that idea wherever she could, because any vote for Rebekah was a vote that wasn't going to Chloe or Dani. If two people voted for Rebekah, and the difference between Chloe and Dani came down to one or two votes, then it'd be her fault for luring votes away from one and delegitimizing the victory of the other. There was only one thing worse than having Chloe and Dani at each other's throats, and that was having both of them at hers.
And that wasn't even the worst of her worries. The raccoons... well, the raccoons were in place and ready to go. It'd taken a lot of phone calls, a quick detour on the way to the school, and all of the cash she had in her wallet, but she'd finally found a way to make good on her campaign promise. And if everything went according to plan, then maybe, just maybe, the tension would be broken, and then things could go back to normal. The votes would be read, the winner would be announced, and Chloe/Dani would bask in her glory while Chloe/Dani glowered and Rebekah patted her sympathetically on the arm, and then after the queen looked radiant for a bit, and the dance was about to start up again, she'd give the signal and then boom! Raccoon time. And everybody would be so busy laughing and being happy about raccoons that they'd forget to hate Rebekah and each other. That was the hope, anyway.
Lily hadn't noticed yet that Liya was observing her from a distance, too busy finding herself distracted by the sight of Fitz wandering about with a camcorder. Probably wanted to catch Rebekah's inevitable victory on camera, or perhaps more accurately the chaotic aftermath. She was so distracted in fact, that it took someone bumping into her from behind to alert her to her surroundings. "Oh whoops! Sorry abou-"
"Woah, hey, watch it gothzilla!" Shawn Bellamy interrupted with a callous chuckle, brushing himself down as he passed on by.
Lily would glare bloody daggers at the back of Shawn's head, her face scrunching up as she found herself hit by a brief bout of self-awareness about how her hips looked in those jeans, before sighing and doing her best to shrug it off. "Masshole..." she'd mutter under her breath before sipping her drink some more, turning her head to make sure nobody else was about to bump into her.
It was at that point that she spotted a familiar face not too far away, her mood instantly brightening up when she recognised it to belong to the apparent belle of the ball herself. Whilst the two weren't exactly besties they got along well enough, especially with Rebekah being one of the kookier girls on the cheerleading squad, even going so far as giving her some pointers for her Salem witch trials tour. So naturally she couldn't help but wander on over and say hello.
"Well hey, if it isn't the Raccoon Queen herself!"
Rebekah's face broke into a grin. She hadn't heard the nickname before, but she immediately liked it. Definitely something that she would get on a t-shirt.
"Hiya!" she said brightly to the other human, "You look really good!" She only mostly meant this, because Lily's panda costume was pretty inaccurate. Pandas had existed in the 1920s, though, so Rebekah approved of the decision overall.
Rebekah waved at Fitz as he passed by, then blew a dramatic kiss as he pointed the camera in her direction.
"Isn't this fun?"
"Aww, thanks! I was gonna dye my hair black to complete the look, but just... Like, I think it looks fine without it, right?" she'd reply, not realising Rebekah had mistaken her outfit.
Lily would turn and wave to Fitz as he passed by them with his camera, a smirk on her face as she turned back to Rebekah. "So... Spill the beans, where've you stashed 'em?"
She wasn't expecting a real answer, despite her curiosity, since deep down she suspected Rebekah's big promise/threat to be an overexaggerated bluff. It wasn't as if Rebekah was wearing one of those big victorian crinoline dresses, so if she did somehow sneak a dozen or so feral raccoons in, she'd of had to hide them somewhere in the dance hall without anyone being none the wiser.
"Stashed what?" Rebekah asked, looking momentarily confused. "Oh! The raccoons!"
She looked around conspiratorially, making sure that the camera wasn't trained on them before leaning in to whisper into Lily's ear. "They're here. Just waiting for their cue. They can't come out until after the vote is announced. It'd be too distracting."
Rebekah's eyes flicked towards the gym storage room where the raccoons were currently awaiting their debut. Hopefully they'd hurry up and get the votes read before it got too stuffy in there. Otherwise she might have to pay extra, just out of guilt.
Leant in close as Rebekah whispered in her ear, stifling a chuckle before raising her brow in confusion. Waiting for their cue, huh? Assuming she wasn't pulling her leg, that left her with a lot of questions, least of all how she managed to rangle a bunch of wild animals and sneak 'em past security.
Unless...
"Aaaah, I see..." she'd reply with a knowing smile, thinking she'd sussed out Rebekah's insidious little plot. "Well, hopefully shouldn't be waiting much longer, think they're gonna announce the homecoming King and Queen aaaany minute now"
Rebekah gulped. "Oh, you're right. I should probably get over there to keep Dani and Chloe from tearing each other's heads off. They're like two queen bees trying to live in the same beehive sometimes..."
Sadly, there wouldn't be time to explain the complex hierarchical processes of bee societies to Lily just now, but she'd be sure to pull her aside later and give her the rundown. Then again, anybody who loved animals enough to dress as a panda at homecoming probably already knew that stuff.
So far, homecoming had been a relaxed affair for Ethan Kemp, who did something more or less passed as dancing in tune with music.
Parties were normally places that demanded Ethan's attention, the force of habit compelling him to look out for his peers. But this was a school event, so there were numerous adults around who even got paid for this, allowing him to fully enjoy the music. His costume was that of a typical mafiosi anyone would recognize from The Godfather. Uncreative, but unlike his hallooween costume, he actually could move and see and dance.
He still failed to spot the girl that bumped into him while running past.
"Woah!"
Thankfully, they only grazed each other instead of colliding. Ethan wanted to apologize, but the girl - he believed her to be Rebekah - was already scurrying away in a quick tempo. However, he caught Fitz training his camera at them, meaning that this little blunder would forever be remembered.
Looking at the girl disappearing in the crowd, Ethan remembered Rebekah's big promise and couldn't help but get curious. Would she do it? Were there really raccoons at this place?
Probably not. After all, they were high school seniors, not elementary students. Rebekah surely wouldn't go through with something so childish, right?
"Sure, of course..." replied Lily, her smile slowly fading as she began to pick up on the genuine concern in Rebekah's voice, watching as she dashed away in such a hurry that she almost knocked Ethan over.
Lily couldn't claim to be the biggest expert on cheerleader politics, but she knew enough to be aware of how... Messy, it could get. Sure she didn't think something like being crowned homecoming queen was that big a deal, but that's just because she wasn't really involved in that world. For Rebekah though, who despite her oddities was very much a part of that scene...
Maybe it would be for the best that she didn't tell Rebekah who she voted for.
"Moments captured imminently before disaster..." she'd mutter under her breath not far away from Ethan, her eyes on Fitz with his camera making sure that the events that were about to unfold don't go undocumented.