Announcements: Cutting Costs (2024) » January 2024 Copyfraud Attack » Finding Universes to Join (and making yours more visible!) » Guide To Universes On RPG » Member Shoutout Thread » Starter Locations & Prompts for Newcomers » RPG Chat — the official app » Frequently Asked Questions » Suggestions & Requests: THE MASTER THREAD »

Latest Discussions: Adapa Adapa's for adapa » To the Rich Men North of Richmond » Shake Senora » Good Morning RPG! » Ramblings of a Madman: American History Unkempt » Site Revitalization » Map Making Resources » Lost Poetry » Wishes » Ring of Invisibility » Seeking Roleplayer for Rumple/Mr. Gold from Once Upon a Time » Some political parody for these trying times » What dinosaur are you? » So, I have an Etsy » Train Poetry I » Joker » D&D Alignment Chart: How To Get A Theorem Named After You » Dungeon23 : Creative Challenge » Returning User - Is it dead? » Twelve Days of Christmas »

Players Wanted: Serious Anime Crossover Roleplay (semi-literate) » Looking for a long term partner! » JoJo or Mha roleplay » Seeking long-term rp partners for MxM » [MxF] Ruining Beauty / Beauty x Bastard » Minecraft Rp Help Wanted » CALL FOR WITNESSES: The Public v Zosimos » Social Immortal: A Vampire Only Soiree [The Multiverse] » XENOMORPH EDM TOUR Feat. Synthe Gridd: Get Your Tickets! » Aishna: Tower of Desire » Looking for fellow RPGers/Characters » looking for a RP partner (ABO/BL) » Looking for a long term roleplay partner » Explore the World of Boruto with Our Roleplaying Group on FB » More Jedi, Sith, and Imperials needed! » Role-player's Wanted » OSR Armchair Warrior looking for Kin » Friday the 13th Fun, Anyone? » Writers Wanted! » Long term partner to play an older male wanted »

0
followers
follow

Brooklyn West

0 · 2,126 views · located in New York, NY

a character in “In The Concrete Jungle”, as played by BurningBridges

Description

Image
Image

Image
Image
Name:
Brooklyn Rose West

Nickname:
Brooke

Age:
24

Date of Birth:
June 13th, 1991

Sexuality:
Heterosexual

Occupation:
A stripper at Sapphire New York
ImageImage
Image
Image

Likes:
Alcohol and shopping are more than likes for her, they're addictions, and two of the major reasons why she's homeless. It's not something that she would ever admit to, but it also isn't a secret that Brooklyn overdoes it with the alcohol. She's an alcoholic, whether she'll accept the title or not, and alcohol is the first thing she's buying after a night of making money. Shopping was something that was a pastime before she became homeless, and it was something that she held onto for the life of her. In a way, it's a form of therapy. She likes to go to stores and buy things, and pretend that being on the streets isn't her real life. If she has an expensive dress on, or twenty pairs of earrings that'll be lost within the week, she can pretend, even just for a moment, that she isn't living in a dirty basement with nine other people. Her favorite type of food is Italian, she appreciates fancy things (even if fancy is just a step up from the low level they're on), her favorite color, especially when it comes to clothes, is black, and she likes vanilla-scented things.

Dislikes:
Being challenged, her insecurities being brought up, people who are over dramatic, being sober, pretty girls, seafood, winter

Personality:
She lives up to her title of being a bitch. Brooklyn is the type of person who doesn't pretend to like someone or something if she doesn't. The honesty that she possesses could be admirable, but she tends to take that honesty to a level of being unnecessarily blunt and cruel. She definitely has a habit of stepping on other people in order to make herself feel higher up. She's definitely standoffish, and not someone who makes a good first impression, but it's all done on purpose. She doesn't want anyone to think that she's their friend, because she doesn't want to have to deal with the social expectations that come with friendship, with these people. Undeniably, she does see herself as being better than most of the others in the basement, even if she doesn't have any solid reasons to back it up. Though she doesn't exude the most welcoming of vibes, she also isn't extremely aggressive. For the most part, Brooklyn does her own thing. Her passive aggressive and catty sides will rear their heads if you bother her, if she feels like you're stepping on her territory, or calling her out or challenging her. Here or there, she'll mutter a provocative comment if she's bored, but she isn't picking fights with every person she sees.

Most people only see the negative traits that she has, because she tends to be emotionally closed off from the world. She opens up to very few people, and even then, there are things, like her past, that she just will never get into. She prides herself in being strong and in control of her emotions, so she really does her best to never get emotional. If she does, it's usually when she highly intoxicated, and usually comes to the surface in the form of anger and shouting about how much she hates people, or more rarely, crying about how unfair life is to her. Though she tends to be hard around her friends as well, Brooklyn has some admirable traits, such as how self-reliant, independent, hardworking, witty, and protective she is.
ImageImage
Image
Image
Image
Image

Hometown:
South Orange, NJ

Childhood:
From birth to the middle of her fourteenth year of life, Brooklyn led a very average life. Her father worked as a lawyer, and her mother as an account, giving them enough finances to feel secure. When she was seven, her family grew by one, as her little sister Kate was born. Most of her childhood was spent trying out extracurricular activities, making friends, enjoying her family's company, and being your average child. Things only strayed off of this average, yet appreciated path, on the night of her aunt's wedding. Brooklyn and Kate attended the church ceremony but were sent to separate friends' houses that night while their parents attended the after party. The plan was for the girls to sleep over their friends' houses, and Brooklyn did, but a little past midnight, Kate became sick and the friend's mother called their parents to pick her up. Rather than call a taxi, Brooklyn's very intoxicated father insisted he would go to pick her up, drop her off at his parents' house, and then return to the party. He did manage to get to the friend's house to pick her up, but on the way to his parents' house, he veered into incoming traffic. Kate was killed immediately, and the driver of the car they hit clung to life for three weeks before his family decided to pull the life support.

Being a lawyer, her father had enough connections to get out on bail before his trial began, and during that time, he killed himself. He couldn't live with two peoples' blood on his hand, let alone when one of them was his daughter. Plus, the idea of spending a life sentence in prison made his existence seem futile. Brooklyn saw it as selfish. Within six months, her sister died, her father died, her mother fell into a deep depression, and they lost their home due to the mounting legal costs associated with her father's case. She had no time to grieve for one thing before another bad thing hit, and it took a major toll on her level of trust for everyone. When she was in her fifteenth year, her mother married a man, who Brooklyn really only knew well enough to know that he doubled as an alcoholic and a mechanic. She disliked the man, she disliked her mother for marrying him, and for moving on so quickly. She needed time to sort things out, and no one was giving it to her. It was like she didn't exist, and she hated it. After many arguments with her mother, who quickly took to her new husband's drinking habits, and the man, Brooklyn packed her bags and left.

Life on the streets:
Brooklyn was sixteen when she ended up in New York City, with no friends or family, no job, and no experience in a life like this. She spent eight months in a youth shelter. She absolutely despised her time here, but it was here where she got her first job as a bus girl at Finn's bar, and was able to obtain her GED. The shelter was what she needed at the time, because she lacked any connections or skills to help her survive, but she hated how trapped she felt there. It made her want to return home, because while living there would be absolutely horrible, at least she could do as she pleased most of the time. It was too much of a contrast from her, going from having real parents, to losing them, and then having people who were not her parents try to act like they could control her life. She was too smart for this, and didn't think she deserved to be in a homeless shelter, so after eight months, she ended up leaving the shelter. She and Finn had gotten close, as his wife and their teenage son had left him and moved out of the state, and she became like a daughter figure to him. Finn gave up his apartment a few blocks away after his family left, and moved into an upstairs apartment over the bar. There was an open couch, and he offered that to Brooklyn. Now, she had a least a little bit of experience on how this homeless life worked and because she had no better options, she accepted it.

However, soon after turning eighteen, she got a job at a strip club in New York, and started making pretty good money. It wasn't enough to bring her back to the real world that she so desperately wanted to be a part of again, but it was better than the money she was making at Finn's. She gave up the job there because with stripping, came a life of partying and alcohol consumption that basically left her hungover all day after working at night. During this time, she was replaced with Nick, and this was when she met him and Roman. Having friends her age kind of brought Brooklyn back to reality, and before she knew it, she and Nick were actually dating. He had moved into Finn's, and in order to spend more time with him, she moved into the basement with he and Roman. Their relationship gave Brooklyn something to be coherent for, and she managed to get a new job as a waitress at a diner a few blocks from Finn's. She spent her time working as a waitress, stripping, and hanging out with Nick, and it kept her from indulging in the dangerous partying lifestyle of drug and alcohol consumption for a while. However, as she got more comfortable with him, she fell back into the pattern of drinking too much and their relationship became rocky. It got worse when more people started moving in, and Brooklyn had even more of a reason to want to be out of the basement more than ever. Recently, she's hit her lowest point, and she's not even sure where her relationship with Nick currently is. She does her best to stay out of the basement as much as possible, and when she is there, she's either passed out sleeping, or fighting with him. She left her job as a waitress a few weeks ago, and is currently just work as a dancer at Sapphire New York gentleman's club.


ImageImage
Height:
5'7

Weight:
120 lbs

Hair Color:
Brown

Eye Color:
Blue

Face Claim:
Olivia Wilde

So begins...

Brooklyn West's Story

Setting

Characters Present

Character Portrait: Kiara Moore Character Portrait: Holly Maddon Character Portrait: Brooklyn West Character Portrait: Lateefah Ekwensi-Hart Character Portrait: Isaac Rankin Character Portrait: Colton King
Tag Characters » Add to Arc »

0.00 INK

Location: Manhattan, NY
Date: Friday, October 16th 2015
Time: 3:00 PM

Setting

Characters Present

Character Portrait: Holly Maddon Character Portrait: Brooklyn West Character Portrait: Lateefah Ekwensi-Hart Character Portrait: Nick Moreno Character Portrait: Roman Killens
Tag Characters » Add to Arc »

0.00 INK

Image
Image
Recently, Brooklyn seemed to wake up every day feeling more sick than the last, and vowing to never even sip alcohol again. That promise would be broken by the time that she managed to stand up without feeling like the world was spinning, and she was already trying to figure out what to order upstairs to combat her hangover. She could take a million painkillers and drink a case of Gatorade, but nothing killed her hangovers like more alcohol did. In her defense, she didn't spend all of her life completely intoxicated. On days like today, when she was only waking up around two o'clock, she would try to drink some water, gather a change of clothes, and go upstairs, not to the bar, but up another level, to Finn's private apartment. Brooklyn had actually lived up there at one point, and if any boundaries were set after she moved into the basement with Nick and Roman, she refused to acknowledge them. She had a membership at a gym down the block, and that was where she usually showered, but lately, she couldn't imagine waiting to shower until she got there. This was more convenient, so, Finn's apartment had become her first stop of the day, where she would shower and get ready for the day, even if like today, the day had actually started hours ago.

If she didn't have a handful of dirty clothes and toiletries, she would have went directly from blow drying her hair and putting on makeup, to the bar where she was sure a gin and tonic would help her sort out this massive headache. Instead, she headed all the way back downstairs, and luckily for everyone, including Roman, who she noticed still asleep on the other side of the room, Nick wasn't back yet. It was nearing three o'clock now, so she had been awake for almost an hour, but when she was hungover, it took Brooklyn at least two hours to fully wake up, and even then, her "awake" personality wasn't bright and cheery. Seeing Nick would have catapulted her into bitch-mode, despite her unsure about what they were actually fighting about the night before. It was all a blur, but if it came down to it, she could find something to nitpick to get pissed off about. Maybe it would be the way that he didn't tell her he was leaving this morning, even though she would have clawed his eyes out if he did actually wake her up, or how she hated how he always reeked of smoke. If she wanted to start a fight, Brooklyn always found a reason to do so.

After returning her things downstairs, and noting that she needed to bring her and Nick's things to the laundromat sometime today, she headed back up to the bar level. On her way in, she made a pit stop in the bar's public bathroom to double check her makeup. Just in case Nick did come in, she wanted to be looking good, and more importantly, not hungover. Even though he was bound to know that she had been heavily intoxicated the night before, she hated how he could use that as something against her. How she needed to stop drinking because she turned into such a horrible person, and how she wouldn't know that she wasn't being that horrible person, because she couldn't even remember what was said. Within those few minutes, Nick had walked right past the bathroom and down to the basement, and Lateefah and Holly had arrived in the bar. She was off her game, with a headache that made even the dim restaurant seem too bright, so she didn't even notice the pair sitting at a table as she found a seat at the bar. Finn came over soon enough, but the hand she held up, telling him to stop before he had even started, was basically her universal sign that she was too hungover to engage in conversation before a drink. He read it and obliged, sending a gin and tonic her way a moment later.

Setting

Characters Present

Character Portrait: Holly Maddon Character Portrait: Brooklyn West Character Portrait: Lateefah Ekwensi-Hart Character Portrait: Colton King
Tag Characters » Add to Arc »

0.00 INK

#, as written by Thunder
Image
Image
"Well, well, well, if it isn't Miss Ivy League and her red-headed Energizer Bunny," Colton hummed, an amused smirk fitting his face in a fashion that was typical to him interacting with Tee. Realizing there were only two chairs at the table, he didn't miss a beat in turning to the empty one beside them, taking a chair and sliding it under himself, to make their party of two, a new and improved, party of three. He was definitely a night person, so this occurrence was probably a bit off, even for him. He liked to push Lateefah's buttons frequently, even when they were in public and not in the midst of undressing each other, but he usually did it when he had at least a couple of drinks in him. At the moment, he was completely sober, and resenting himself for it. He had to admit that his head did feel lighter today, waking up without the grogginess of a hangover, but it wasn't like he was purposely trying to cleanse himself of alcohol and drugs. Yesterday afternoon he had spent his last couple of dollars buying weed, which meant that he had no alcohol to drink all night, which meant that he wasn't able to get a good night's sleep. His weed was gone by ten o'clock too, so he was forced to go to bed in a state that wasn't exactly sober, but felt sober to him, and by ten o'clock this morning, he was awake. After many futile attempts to fall back to sleep, he accepted being awake and left the basement, on a quest to make some money.

He had little luck, and after spending hours out, trying to scout out potential pickpocket victims, he accepted that he wasn't going to get more than the twenty-five dollars and the subway card he had found in the one wallet he got. It wasn't bad and would cover a case of beer and some bud, at least. Colton had become the type of person who was okay with living day by day, so it didn't bother him much. Being sober made it worse, because it allowed those thoughts about how he needed to at least get his act together enough to get his job back at the deli he worked for, to resurface. He knew they were true, too. Working at the deli wasn't a real career, but it was steady money and made him a productive member of society. Drinking beer, smoking, and then stealing for more money to do the same, was no way of life, and he knew it, but it was a habit that he knew was going to be hard to break. On his walk back home, he considered making a detour and going to the deli. He was sober now, so that was a good start, and he could appeal to the owner about how he had had a rough week... make up some story about how he found out his mother had cancer or something... and how he needed a second chance. It probably could have worked, but the short term reassurance of his twenty-five dollars was enough to keep him walking towards Finn's, where he was now faced with a fun situation.

"I hope you ordered enough for the three of us, Tee. I haven't eaten all day," he continued, his look mocking seriousness as he strummed his fingers against the table. When the waitress came by with their drinks, Colton was quick to take one of the two sodas for himself. Having lived under Finn's for three years, Colton probably should have remembered the girl's name. There were only a handful of employees there. However, he didn't even have a clue, so he turned his head to wink at her, offering a, "Thanks, beautiful", instead. It allowed him to get by on not knowing the girl's name, and was an extra little bit of fuel to irk Tee.

Setting

Characters Present

Character Portrait: Holly Maddon Character Portrait: Brooklyn West Character Portrait: Lateefah Ekwensi-Hart Character Portrait: Colton King
Tag Characters » Add to Arc »

0.00 INK

#, as written by Writer
Image
Image

"You always make things fancy," Holly noted after Tee placed their order for chicken mac and cheeses. She wasn't complaining, and she was used to Tee having better taste in food than she, but she felt the need to point it out for no reason in particular. She remembered growing up, how Tee was a good cook, maybe even better than their grandmother. Holly couldn't complain about it. When her grandmother became fed up with the granddaughter who couldn't read or sit still for more than a minute, Lateefah was basically tasked with her, and Holly spent many nights consuming whatever Lateefah was in the mood to cook. Surprisingly, as a child, she was probably a better eater than she was now. Now, she ate like a bird. She'd either pick at whatever she was served (and whatever Lateefah ordered), claim that she wanted something else, or say that she wasn't hungry at all. A lot of the time, it wasn't even her trying to be difficult. She just had a small appetite, that seemed to grow ten times larger when sweets were brought into the picture. "Why do you think that her mom named her Iris?" Holly followed up with, a moment later. Although Tee was right, and she would likely fare better in Finn's book by sitting in the small booth and not at the bar, Holly preferred sitting up there more. There were things to touch, and people to look at and talk to, and here there were just salt and pepper shakers... which were in Holly's hands as soon as she noticed them. "And why did you call her a prom queen?" she added, placing the pepper down after a moment, as she attempted to focus on the salt. With each shake, a few of the crystals would fall onto the table top, and before she could help it, her thoughts were moving again. "Do you think it's going to snow a lot this year?"

Holly was too preoccupied with her salt to notice Brooklyn when she made her way to the bar, but not enough to be able to ignore Colton, who pulled a chair up to the end of their booth. As if it were instinctive, Holly looked at Lateefah with an annoyed glare. She had no real reasons to dislike Carson, but because Lateefah seemed to be bothered by him (and Holly wasn't perceptive enough to even suspect that there was any type of sexual tension behind that act), she felt like she needed to be too. So, his presence seemed like an intrusion, and what made it worse, was that he lunged for her Sprite the moment that Iris set it down. Of course, that had her reaching to Lateefah's, because Holly wasn't going to be the one to lose out because of the very annoying Colton. Normally, Holly would have tried to come up with some comeback to tell him to go away. It would be nowhere near as witty and harsh as what Tee would come up with, but she didn't have many filters, so if Holly was feeling something, she was quick to get to the point of it. However, as Iris stepped away, she had a clear view of the side profile of Brooklyn, and well, the threat of no ice cream had her seriously contemplating her next move for a very long millisecond. "I need to stretch my legs from sitting here all day waiting for my mac and cheese!" she exclaimed as she pulled her gaze away from Brooklyn. It shifted towards Colton, where she returned to her clearly bothered expression, and then to Lateefah, who she offered a cheesy smile to.

Setting

Characters Present

Character Portrait: Holly Maddon Character Portrait: Brooklyn West Character Portrait: Lateefah Ekwensi-Hart Character Portrait: Colton King
Tag Characters » Add to Arc »

0.00 INK

#, as written by Writer
-_-

Setting

Characters Present

Character Portrait: Holly Maddon Character Portrait: Brooklyn West Character Portrait: Lateefah Ekwensi-Hart Character Portrait: Colton King
Tag Characters » Add to Arc »

0.00 INK




Image
╭━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━╮
L A T E E F A H ~ E K W E N S I - H A R T
"Don't make me throw up."

Outfit
Location|| The Basement
iPod|| Pompeii by Bastille
Mood|| Nauseous (Surprisingly)


╰━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━╯







Lateefah pointedly ignored Holly's statement about her making things fancy. It was a Holly thing to say and it all had everything to do with how Holly ate now that they didn't have a home. Or maybe it came with her age...Lateefah honestly didn't know. It was why she had ordered mac and cheeses instead of something else, because even with the addition of chicken - it was the easiest thing to put on Holly's palate. She'd mostly have to worry about Holly picking the meat or something along those lines, but even with her "new" appetite in regards to foods that weren't sugar, Holly scarcely ever turned down mac and cheese.

"Maybe Iris is her favorite plant, Holly," she answered, staring at her sister as she started fiddling with both the salt and pepper shakers, sighing. Not a second later, Lateefah was wiping up the mess with napkins from the napkin dispenser, a small smirk playing at the corner of her lips at the perturbed expression on Holly's face as the girl's big eyes lulled around the room. She was probably wondering why they weren't sitting at the bar and Lateefah was going to let her keep on wondering. "And probably because she was a prom queen. Iris graduated high school last year, remember? She came to work wearing the tiara and you wanted it because it was sparkly, so she gave it to you?" She added, coaxing the girl to consider one of the items Lateefah hadn't had the heart to pawn yet. It wasn't one of those flimsy tiaras you found at the party store, but the harder material and it was still in spectacular shape. Mostly because Lateefah made sure that it was.

"Stop making a mess, Holly, and it's already cold so it probably is going to snow s - " In the midst of both answering and chiding Holly, she was assaulted not only by the sound of Colton's "unwelcome" voice but also by the sudden mix of food smells wafting in the air. It was a bit peculiar for her to be affected by something as miniscule at that and maybe it had something to do with someone opening and closing the front door...but the combined scents of sharp, saltiness and bread and cigarettes and something sweet and something she probably would recognize if it wasn't driving her crazy made her feel...nauseous. It was killing her how the past month consisted of her feeling this way, having to walk outside or escape to the bathroom to rid herself of the bile forming in the back of her throat because too many different scents were hitting her at once.

"It's too early in the evening to deal with you already, King," she warned him, cradling the left side of her head in one hand and forcing herself to breathe through her mouth instead, putting on as much of a composed face as she possibly could. When he decided to make himself comfortable by pulling up a chair, Lateefah rolled her eyes in feigned annoyance, though the unsettled sensation in her stomach persisted. Maybe she just needed to drink something...and then Colton stole the first sprite that they ordered and Holly took one. Lateefah would never take her sister's and tossed a glare at Colton when he turned to thank Iris, leading Lateefah to mutter loud enough for the waitress to hear, "Don't make me throw up." Iris smirked before meeting her gaze and Lateefah, feelingly slightly clammy, requested, "Get me a water, babe. With limes." She glanced back at the two she sat with, trying to smile at Holly's statement but failing because she needed to leave. Now. "I'll be back, Holly. Going to the restroom," and to Colton, with a sharp stare, "Do not antagonize her." She didn't wait for a response from either, just sliding out of the booth and high-tailing it to the bathroom as fast as she could while still only walking. She caught Brooklyn's profile and only thought for a second that she would genuinely take ice cream privileges away from Holly if she so much as even breathed in Brooklyn's direction.

Soon enough, she was in the pub's female restroom and standing before the first open stall she could find. Which was clean thankfully...but nothing would come out. Despite the nausea and the now small headache forming, there was nothing, only an build-up of saliva that she quickly spit into the toilet before flushing it, taking large gulps of air before going over to the mirror over the sink. Lateefah had her suspicions - her denial game wasn't strong enough to deny her her intelligence - but still...it didn't have to be that. It could be close to that time of the month, considering she usually started within the next few days. So what if she hadn't come on last month; she had been unbalanced before, it was probably stress. But there was a sinking feeling in her belly, whether or not she was ready to face it.

Setting

Characters Present

Character Portrait: Holly Maddon Character Portrait: Brooklyn West Character Portrait: Lateefah Ekwensi-Hart Character Portrait: Colton King
Tag Characters » Add to Arc »

0.00 INK

#, as written by Thunder
Image
Image
"Come on, Columbia, don't be so dramatic," Colton smirked when Lateefah commented on him making her sick. He leaned back in his chair, and didn't lose his expression, even as Lateefah got up and claimed she was going to the bathroom, before warning him not to bother Holly. He rolled his eyes, and would have retorted with something smart, had she waited even a second. She didn't though, and instead, he could only follow her with his eyes until she turned the corner. Then, he was left alone with Holly. She looked like she was ready to leave the table too, and when Colton turned to follow look in the direction of her glance, he saw why. There at the bar, Brooklyn sat with a glass in her hand. He was too far away to tell what she was drinking, but he suspected it was alcoholic, and he was jealous. The Sprite would do, especially since it came with a little hit to Tee, but if it were tainted with rum, it would have been even better.

"You sure you wanna do that, Red?" he questioned, swirling his straw around the drink idly as he looked towards Holly. "If I'm remembering correctly, things don't usually go well when you and Brooklyn hang out. She'll get mad at you, then Tee will get mad at you, and that's not cool, right?" Colton was never eager to interact with Holly, and especially not without Tee there. He didn't want her to be his responsibility, mostly because he didn't know how to deal with her. He was the youngest child in his family, so it was never like he had younger siblings to gain experience from, and he rarely saw any younger cousins. In addition, he had grown to resent his father so much, that Colton doubted that he even wanted children of his own. He didn't want to have to give up his own interests, but also didn't want a dependent to be have their life ruined because of that. Besides, Colton didn't even trust himself with his own care sometimes. There was no way that he could ever be responsible enough to take care of a kid, and Holly was one, but right now, he was trying. He figured that it might win him a few points later on, when she was asleep and he could hang out with Tee, in the way that they usually hung out in. "Besides, don't you want to talk to me? You'll talk to everyone else, and not me? Come on, Holly, that's not cool," he said, with feigned hurt.

Setting

Characters Present

Character Portrait: Holly Maddon Character Portrait: Brooklyn West Character Portrait: Colton King Character Portrait: Cara Forrester
Tag Characters » Add to Arc »

0.00 INK

ImageImage
When Cara left the basement on July 4th night, she didn't think that she was never going to return. She was on her way to a club, when she ran into girls that she went to high school with. They invited her to a house party at her ex-boyfriend from high school's new apartment, and she couldn't say no. After hooking up with her boyfriend that night, her plans changed dramatically, and she was at a point where she didn't think she was ever going to return to the basement again. She didn't care about the possessions she had left there, since it was mostly just clothes and personal care items. It was all replaceable to Cara, and she didn't feel an ounce of guilt about leaving it all there. Honestly, she didn't even feel guilty about not warning anyone that she was never coming back.

She ended up seeing Brooklyn a week later, and had to hear about how rude she was, and how they all thought she was dead. Cara doubted that was true, but she apologized and allowed Brooklyn to be dramatic. Aside from seeing Brooklyn a couple of times over the three months, Cara had no contact with anyone else. She wanted to leave that part of her life behind her, especially since she was too embarrassed to tell her ex-boyfriend turned current boyfriend, that she had ever been homeless. Technically, she told herself, she wasn't actually homeless. She chose to live there. If she really needed to, she could have flown to Florida to live with her grandmother, or dropped her pride for good, and begged her father to let her stay at home again. It was what she did when she found out that her boyfriend had another girlfriend, after all. Admittedly, that didn't work out, which was why Cara was now on her way back to the basement, after three months gone. That was only because whenever Cara was home, her personality shifted. She went from the carefree, simple and kind, to petulant and demanding. For some reason, she was so hung up on hating her stepmother, that she refused to compromise, even slightly, and it always ended in screaming matches where her father would tell her that she was an adult, and if she didn't want to follow the rules of his house, she could move out. The catch, was that he would only pay for her rent if she were going to school at the same time. He had enough money to support her for twenty lifetimes, but he didn't want Cara to just be a trust fund baby. She didn't want to be that either, but she also refused to just conform to what he wanted. Apparently, she was so stuck on wanting to be right, and wanting to seem like she could make her own decisions, that returning back to the basement somehow seemed like her best option right now.

By the time her cab dropped her off in front of Finn's pub, she was questioning that thought process. Was she making a mistake by doing this? After her first meetup with Brooklyn, the brunette treated her normally, but what if no one liked her anymore? She had always thought that she did a good job at being down to earth and seeming like one of them. Cara didn't want to seem like she was spoiled or treating this as a joke, because what was a temporary "vacation" for her, was their reality. They didn't have a luxury gym on the Upper East Side to shower at every morning, fitted with $50 bottles of shampoos and laundry service. In the dead of winter, they actually had to consider whether they could afford to take a cab to wherever they needed to go, while it wasn't even a question for her. She could afford real food, warm clothes, and the security of knowing that this was only temporary. It sucked, but Cara always reminded herself that it wasn't her fault that she ended up being more fortunate than they. Besides, she did her best to share as little about her life as possible. Nick and Brooklyn knew a good amount of it, which meant that Roman probably knew too, and Holly pried enough that she had shared a lot there too, but aside from that, she didn't think people could judge her. The fact that she came in today, in an outfit that definitely screamed 5th Avenue over homeless didn't help her case, but in her defense, when she got dressed today, she had no intention of returning. That decision only came around noon, when her stepmother called a "family meeting" and tried to explain the "house rules" for the millionth time while Cara was on her way out the door to meet friends for lunch at an Italian restaurant, Spigolo. Obviously, things went downhill from there...

As Cara walked into the pub, her first thought was to seek out Finn, ask who was downstairs, and then plan her next move from there. She didn't want to go downstairs and make a scene if everyone was there, because she wasn't interested in attention. It would probably make her uncomfortable, if anything. Plus, now she had to worry about Roman and how potentially awkward that reunification could be. Cara had basically forgotten about their night together since leaving, but disappearing the night after sleeping with him literally left whatever that was, unfinished and unexplained.

When she walked in, the first person she noticed was Brooklyn, and she naturally hurried towards her. She didn't even look towards the other side of the room, where Colton and Holly sat. At least with Brooklyn, there wouldn't be the shock factor of her showing up now. It had only been a week or so since she saw the brunette, and they had actually been planning off meeting up tomorrow night anyway. "Brooklyn!" Cara exclaimed, taking the seat beside her and placing her bag on the counter. "I know this is unexpected and random, but I need to stay with you guys again. Please tell me there's still space!" Though she was pretty frantic, and caught up in explaining herself, Cara noticed the glass in Brooklyn's hand. She hoped that it was just seltzer or Sprite in there, but Cara knew Brooklyn better than that. It was three o'clock, though, so she supposed that wasn't too early to be drinking on a Friday.

Setting

Characters Present

Character Portrait: Kiara Moore Character Portrait: Holly Maddon Character Portrait: Brooklyn West Character Portrait: Lateefah Ekwensi-Hart Character Portrait: Isaac Rankin Character Portrait: Colton King
Tag Characters » Add to Arc »

0.00 INK

#, as written by Bandit
Image
Image
The night before had been an unpleasant one for Kiara. Prostitution was never a glamorous gig, but there definitely were nights that were better than others. On a great (and rare) occasion, she would find some middle-aged man who was in-between on whether he was really going to do this, and hire someone to sleep with him. It was frequently a guy who lived a very vanilla lifestyle and was probably stepping out on his wife for the first time. Usually with these guys, she could fuck him once, and he would think that was all he paid her for. A lot of the time, she'd be able to use the shower of his hotel room, and if she felt like it, maybe even take advantage of the nice room and sleep over with him. Most of the time, however, it wasn't like that for her. Work for her usually consisted of fucking a guy in the bathroom of a bar, or in a cab or alley outside. She didn't work for a pimp, because she had tried that route already and managed to get out, and she wasn't going to go back to it. However, working on her own meant that she didn't have job security, and her clients tended to be the scummiest people one could imagine. She didn't make much money, and sometimes, she'd finish the job and they'd refuse to pay her. What could she do? Run to the police and tell them that she was working as a prostitute and was ripped off? That would land her in jail, if she could even make it that far before the guy tried to strange her, or something.

It was an extremely dehumanizing job, and it wasn't even like she ended up with good money to compensate. Most of the time, Kiara was just barely getting by. The fact that she tended to indulge in alcohol and drugs over necessities played a role in that, though. For Kiara, it was just necessary to get high or blackout-level drunk after working. She didn't want to think about what she had just done, and that was the only way that she could actually escape this reality. It was what she had done last night when she got back to the basement. She spent ten dollars on a cheap bottle of vodka that she had a fair amount of upon getting into bed, and then took the Quaalade that the man she fucked an hour before tried to convince her to take while she was with him. She was out like a light within fifteen minutes of taking the pill, and probably would have slept for a solid twelve to thirteen hours, had Holly not woken her up that morning. She managed to fall back asleep for a few hours, but it wasn't that same deep sleep that she craved, especially when she knew that she was hungover. For a while, she was actually so dead feeling, that she couldn't even muster up the energy to get sick to at least give her stomach a chance to settle down. When everyone started coming in and out, and she was too awake to drown out the sounds, she decided to just get up, though. A good amount of the vodka she had had the night before came up before she was able to leave the bathroom, and then she left the basement. She buried herself in a men's size large NYU sweatshirt that she had taken from the lost and found at the gym she had a membership to a few months back, along with a pair of leggings and combat boots.

She spent most of her day doing laundry, walking, and enjoying the rest of her vodka out of a water bottle. Although Kiara never had much money to shop, she enjoyed going into stores anyway. Sometimes she found the courage to snag something little here and there from stores. It was usually just a pack of gum or a box of Midol, little things that wouldn't be missed much. Usually, though, she just browsed in an attempt to kill time, and distract herself. Today, she found that she had made a good choice by heading into a Trader Joe's, as she replaced the need for lunch with a plethora of their free samples. When her feet started hurting, she headed back to the pub. She wanted something to mix the rest of her vodka with, and she decided that maybe she could convince Finn to give her a glass of soda for free. It wasn't like he didn't give Brooklyn and Nick, and probably even Tee and Holly, meals and drinks on the house all of the time! Then again, Kiara knew that she wasn't close with Finn, and was actually one of the ones that irritated him the most, but it was worth a shot.

Upon entering, she was sidetracked when she saw familiar faces at the bar. There was Isaac, closest to her, and then on the other side, Brooklyn, and was that... Cara? Preppy young blondes weren't a common sight in Finn's bar, and with a closer look, Kiara confirmed it was her. She was definitely surprised to see the girl who had disappeared months ago, but before she got into that, she embraced Isaac from behind. "Glad to see you're alive," she teased as she sat down beside him. Kiara considered Isaac to be one of her realest friends here. She didn't feel like an addict, at least not compared to him, but she knew that he understood what she was doing with drugs. She worried for him a lot, but when she wasn't even in control of her own life, she knew that she couldn't try to force him to change either. They were all addicted things for reasons, and not just because they were rebellious kids and drugs were fun. "So, what've we got here today? Looks like Malibu Barbie is back, trying to engage with Godzilla, for some reason that's beyond me. Who else are we dealing with?" she inquired playfully as she gazed around the bar. She didn't know if Isaac was in one of his downer moods, when he was coming off of a drug or not, but she tried engaging with him anyway.

Setting

Characters Present

Character Portrait: Kiara Moore Character Portrait: Holly Maddon Character Portrait: Brooklyn West Character Portrait: Lateefah Ekwensi-Hart Character Portrait: Isaac Rankin Character Portrait: Colton King
Tag Characters » Add to Arc »

0.00 INK

Image
Image
Somewhere in between her first and second drink, Brooklyn noticed the trio sitting in a booth across the room. She had only tilted her head to the side to look at them briefly, before turning back to the bar, but once she realized that they were up here, it seemed impossible for her to release any of the tension that she felt wracking her bones. "They" consisted of Lateefah, Holly and Colton, but mainly just the first two. Actually, if Brooklyn wanted to be extra petty, she would just say that it only consisted of Lateefah. Sure, Holly was the stem of her issues with Lateefah, but she could deal with Holly. She wanted to deal with Holly, at least. She'd sacrifice the money to buy a roll of duct tape to wrap around the girl's mouth, and a leash to keep her unable to rifle through Brooklyn's things, and then she wouldn't have any problems with Holly. With Lateefah... well, that was an entirely different story. Brooklyn despised her. Secretly, and she wouldn't even admit it to herself, she respected the girl for being an older sister to Holly, but without thinking of that, Brooklyn couldn't stand her. She thought that she could stand up to Brooklyn, as if she were some hero that was rushing in to save the day, when all she really was, was some loser who was probably faking that she had a college degree, and yet, still managed to think that she was superior to her. Even thinking about it, had Brooklyn internally reciting, 'Really, bitch?', as if she were getting ready to engage in one of their frequent verbal (with threats to go physical) arguments.

She did her best to pretend that the bitch and her annoying sister weren't there, and it took a lot, but soon she was able to focus on just the immediate space in front of her. She kept her eyes on her glass and methodically sipped from it every so often. Before long, she was mentally in her own world, oblivious to the sports game on the television across the room, the loud conversation Finn was having, or the music that was playing on top of all of this. She didn't notice Oliver, or Isaac, or Kiara, or even Cara, until the blonde was literally right next to her and speaking. She left Cara speak without saying a word herself, not because she was shocked at seeing her, but because she was still trying to remain in her own zone. She didn't want to get into a bad mood today, especially when she was still feeling so physically drained from the hangover. However, when Cara stopped speaking, ending it with a request to move back in, Brooklyn couldn't resist smirking. "What? Did they kick you out of the J. Crew catalog that you were living in, or something?" she questioned as her eyes roved over the girl. She looked pretty, and Brooklyn was sure that the outfit was probably worth the amount of money that most of the kids in the basement made in a month. Cara wasn't showy on purpose, but it just happened with her. She was a lot better now (or when she left in July) than she had been when Brooklyn first met her, but it seemed like it would be impossible to fully shake the spoiled rich girl from Cara. It wasn't necessarily a bad thing, especially not to Brooklyn, who lusted over lives like Cara. That was probably the only reason why Brooklyn had accepted her, at first. Because she wanted to be her.

"There's room for you, yeah. I've been looking for a reason to get rid of Lateefah anyway," Brooklyn added, instinctively nodding her head back towards the table she had last seen Tee at. "I can't tell you that all of your stuff is still down there, though. You know how they are... like vultures. Your shit was pawned within a week of you leaving," she continued, still smirking. She wasn't joking though. She doubt it mattered to Cara, since money clearly was not an option to her, even when she apparently had no where else to reside, but she found it funny. And admittedly, Brooklyn had taken a few things for herself. It wasn't like she wouldn't have done that when Cara was around anyway, though. "Did Daddy tell you you were only allowed to have five mansions, and not six, and that's why you're here?" she asked after a moment. A fight with her father seemed like the only reasonable scenario for Cara returning. When Brooklyn had last spoken to her a week ago, there hadn't been any mention of wanting to move back in, but Brooklyn was aware that that was the only reason why Cara was out here. She didn't get along with her father and stepmother, and at least from what Cara said, they "hated her" enough to kick her out onto the streets. Brooklyn doubted that was completely true, but as her drinks started to hit her and make her feel more of a human than a zombie, she was curious.

Setting

Characters Present

Character Portrait: Kiara Moore Character Portrait: Brooklyn West Character Portrait: Isaac Rankin Character Portrait: Cara Forrester
Tag Characters » Add to Arc »

0.00 INK

Image
__________________________________________________________





ImageIsaac was always jumpy coming down...loud noises scared him, turning corners was a big ordeal, on and on, so the arms that went around him made him tense, even though he relaxed the moment he heard Kiara's voice. She was the only one he really wanted to be around in this mood, so he dropped one of his hands to cover her wrist, give it a little squeeze before she moved to sit next to him.

"I don't feel alive," he muttered, running a hand through his hair before dropping down onto a bar stool, taking a sip of his newly purchased spiked soda. The liquor settled heavily in his stomach, but the hotdogs he had earlier were helping, and the whiskey would only help his nerves, so things were looking up.

Kiara Moore was probably the closest thing Isaac would consider to a best friend. He truly did like her, and his heart ached for her on days like this. She still looked beautiful, still looked strong, but she smelled faintly of vodka and her expression was...tired. She'd had a bad night, Isaac could tell. And unlike him, she looked like she actually remembered it. Which just made things worse.

He didn't mention anything though, never did. If Kiara wanted to talk about her work, Isaac let her come to him, otherwise he didn't mention it. They did other things together. Fun things, for the most part. He snorted at his friends' nickname for Brooklynn, but leaned back in his seat enough to glance over at the table the girl in question was at. He'd noticed her earlier, but he hadn't seen Cara.

"Huh," he muttered thoughtfully. "She is back." Isaac didn't have anything against Cara by any means. She was a tolerable person, usually kind. He just didn't...get her. He understood her situation...or, at least, what he knew of it. Parents were assholes sometimes. His certainly hadn't been a walk in the park, and he doubted any amount of money in the world would have changed it, but...Cara was in some kind of weird place. Isaac envied her because she had a safety net. If things got too bad, she could turn around and go home. The rest of them...they didn't have that. And it sucked.

He tilts his head a little as he studies her. Her blonde haired, blue eyed, modeled height self and decides...maybe he doesn't like her after all. On principle. Or jealousy. For multiple reasons. Whatever. He was probably just cranky. "Hope she's not trying to get Brooke to let her stay..." She probably was, why else would she be here?

"Oli's over there, probably doing something weird," Isaac pointed out around another drink. "And Holly's there, with Colton I think?" He could only make the kid out because of her bright red hair, but the back of Colton's head was a little more questionable. "Which probably means Tee's around here somewhere, but I haven't seen her."

Setting

Characters Present

Character Portrait: Kiara Moore Character Portrait: Holly Maddon Character Portrait: Brooklyn West Character Portrait: Lateefah Ekwensi-Hart Character Portrait: Isaac Rankin Character Portrait: Colton King
Tag Characters » Add to Arc »

0.00 INK

#, as written by Thunder
Image
Image
Holly and Lateefah's food did look really good, and it wasn't like Tee would notice if he took a bite before she got back, but Holly would. He had probably already crossed over into antagonizing territory by teasing her about how much Tee loved him, and he was sure the girl would get more riled up if he denied her order and had some of the food anyway. He finished off Lateefah's Sprite, watching as Holly looked at her food. "Chill, Red. I'm not here to eat your food, but it doesn't look like you are either. You know, you have to put it into your mouth in order for it to count as eating. Staring at it doesn't actually count," he advised. He didn't really care about whether Holly ate or not, but if she did take a few bites and in what wouldn't be a surprising move, claim that she didn't want anymore, he figured he could try to convince Tee to let him have it. As he looked back at Lateefah's plate, he considered taking some of hers once again. He wasn't starving but he was hungry, and it did look good.

Still contemplating, he shifted slightly in his chair, so that he no longer had his back completely towards the rest of the pub. As he did so, he noticed that a few more of the others from downstairs had begun to congregate around the bar. There were Kiara and Isaac on one side, which wasn't very surprising. He hadn't seen Isaac in a couple of days, but that wasn't infrequent for him, or anyone, really. They all did their own things, and since a lot of their lines of work required "night shifts", it was typical that even if they were in the basement at the same time, one was asleep and wouldn't know it. A few of Finn's customers sat beside the pair, and Colton skimmed over them quickly, before his eyes fell upon a familiar pair, who brought an automatic smirk to his face. It was Brooklyn and Cara. The former, he smirked at, just because she was so easy to bother. Brooklyn was hot, in that "bitch who hates the world and will punch you in the face if you touch her" kind of way. Colton liked to insist that there was sexual tension between them, mostly on her part, but it was likely just plain, old tension. He wasn't looking to sleep with her, anyway. Firstly, Tee was fulfilling those needs for him, and secondly, he didn't doubt that Nick would kill him if he even tried it. Cara was more of the reason for his smirk. What was Blondie doing back here? Hadn't she found her Prince Charming/Ken Doll to run off into the sunset with? He'd have fun inquiring about that later on, but for now, Cara being back brought another thing to the table. Now, he hoped, Tee would be able to get out more with him. Cara was a lot of things, but she was most useful as a free babysitter for Holly. Maybe now, he didn't have to wait until the always-hyped up girl fell asleep to get some alone time with Lateefah.

"I'm going to go see where your sister is," he said to Holly, as he turned back to look at her. "You've got to stay here and guard the food, though. You see all of those people by the bar? They're all hungry as hell, and, oh, damn, Isaac's over there too. He told me the other day that mac and cheese was his favorite food, so you definitely can't leave this table, or he'll take it before you even notice. Alright? Wait here, guard the food, and I'll be back in a minute with your sister." The comment about Isaac was, of course, a completely made up situation, but he felt like Holly was the type of person who needed that extra insistence that she needed to stay at the table. Especially with Cara randomly back, and only a few yards away, he was sure it would be hard to get her constantly-fleeting attention to focus on staying at the table. If anything, though, she had seemed insistent on him not eating her and Tee's food, so he surmised that maybe she would care enough to want it to protect it from Isaac, the newfound mac and cheese bandit. He didn't give Holly much time to respond, knowing that no matter what she said, if she wanted to get up, she was going to do it anyway. Instead, he headed towards the back of the pub and waited outside of the women's restroom, deciding to catch Tee before she got back to the populated bar. He could spring the good news on her, and maybe she'd be up for some alone time before clocking in. He eyed a storage closet across the small hall, and thought that no one would notice if they slipped in there for a few minutes...

Setting

Characters Present

Character Portrait: Holly Maddon Character Portrait: Brooklyn West Character Portrait: Cara Forrester
Tag Characters » Add to Arc »

0.00 INK

ImageImage
Ugh, typical Brooklyn! Cara thought at Brooklyn's initial greeting. She was so difficult and snide sometimes, but Cara was used to it. She just maintained her pleading look, resisting an eye roll, even as Brooklyn pushed on, making fun of her situation. Cara knew how ridiculous this all was, or at least, how ridiculous it all probably seemed to everyone who didn't know what it felt like to be her. She was being spoiled and delusional to the real problems of the world, maybe, but Cara didn't think it was fair for her feelings to be invalidated simply because the others here had it worse than her. It wasn't her fault that they had been dealt a bad hand in life. Was she supposed to just act like her life was peachy and perfect, just because they couldn't get their acts together? That mindset was something she was able to extend towards some of the people in the basement, the ones who she thought had potential, but just weren't using it. It didn't, however, cross over to the ones likes Holly and Tee. As Cara peered around curiously, she picked out Holly sitting in a booth, but didn't move towards her, and instead, spun back around as Brooklyn kept talking. She knew that Lateefah and Holly were two people who didn't deserve to be out here. They deserved security and safety, and a real life. Those were all things that Cara had just given up in order to prove a point to her father, or make herself seem independent... or something. She didn't really know what she was aiming for by doing this, but it felt like the only option that she had right now.

"Shut up," Cara complained, slapping Brooklyn's arm gently when she finished speaking. "But seriously, please don't tell anyone that I was home and stuff. If you haven't already. Like, just say that my grandma was sick and I had to go visit her out of state or something. I don't want everyone to judge me." Again, Cara considered that maybe this was her thinking that she and her problems were far more important than they actually were again. Brooklyn had said that the others had taken the things she had left behind, so that obviously didn't suggest that they were too worried about her or her whereabouts. Still, she didn't want to be known as that girl who was a joke. Not anymore than she already felt like she was. She didn't want pity, since she knew that she didn't deserve it compared to everyone else, but she also didn't want people to brush her off as not understanding anything about life, because she felt like she did.

"I didn't tell anyone anything. Not even your lover boy," Brooklyn objected, giving Cara a side-eyed smirk as she finished the rest of her drink. She wanted to order another drink, but she knew that she didn't need one right now. She was drinking to kill her hangover, not prepare for tomorrow's. Brooklyn honestly hadn't told anyone where Cara went. She hadn't done it to protect Cara, because at the time, that wouldn't have made sense. She had only kept Cara's location a secret, because Brooklyn liked having more knowledge than other people. It made her feel powerful, and in control.

"Thanks," Cara responded, although this time, the eye roll was unstoppable. She didn't even chide Brooklyn for calling Roman that, because she didn't want to get into that subject right now. It wasn't something that she was excited to think about. "I think I should go say hi to Holly. Come over... if you're going to be nice." The second part of the sentence was added with a warning look, and was spoken when Cara had already gotten off of her bar stool and started towards the booth on the other side of the bar. The redhead was sitting along at the table with a bowl of food in front of herself, and one by the other side of the booth. At the end of the table was an empty chair where Cara had seen Colton in moments before.

"Holly!" she squealed, standing on the outside of Holly's side of the booth. She extended her arms, and for the first time, realized that she had missed living in the basement. Maybe it wasn't so much the living that she missed, but the people. Like Holly. A girl who was so willing to give love to anyone she crossed paths with. She was fun and energetic, and gave Cara a sense of family that she hadn't felt in a while, or maybe even ever. "I missed you! You look so pretty! Where's Tee?" she spoke.

Setting

Characters Present

Character Portrait: Holly Maddon Character Portrait: Brooklyn West Character Portrait: Lateefah Ekwensi-Hart Character Portrait: Colton King Character Portrait: Cara Forrester
Tag Characters » Add to Arc »

0.00 INK

Image
Image
Brooklyn had no desire to follow Cara across the bar, over to where Holly sat. She glanced backwards and watched Cara prance over to the redhead, but turned back around, uninterested, a moment later. Brooklyn couldn't say that she truly hated Holly, because despite the vibe she put off, she wasn't heartless. She saw Holly as being the same outgoing and cheerful and full-of-love girl that everyone else saw her to be, and those were all traits that were not hate-worthy. Brooklyn didn't like when the rambunctiousness, lack of boundaries and respect for personal space interfered with her life, and she didn't hesitate to snap at Holly when it happened, but she didn't hate her. She hated her sister for trying to intimidate Brooklyn for putting Holly into her place, but she didn't hate Holly specifically. Still, she wasn't going to go out of her way, leave her seat by the bar and purposely engage with Holly when she was still trying to nurse this resilient hangover of hers.

She shook her glass, which was now empty aside from a few ice cubes at the bottom. She could've ordered another one... and her body was telling her that that was the right thing to do, but it was half past three, not eleven o'clock at night. She wasn't trying to get drunk, just allowing herself to be awake while not feeling dead, and maybe it would take a few minutes to feel it, but she decided to give those first two drinks a chance to do just that. She left her empty glass on the counter, not even looking towards the other end of the bar where she heard Finn's booming laugh coming from, as she stood up. Finn was incredibly good to all of the kids in the basement, and his kindness had been extended to Brooklyn before any of the others. It wasn't uncommon for Finn to refuse to accept payment on drinks and food from some of them, especially the girls, but Brooklyn was at a point where she could afford to pay for her own things. Somehow, she always ended up spending enough where despite her good pay, she ended up with only a fraction of it by the end of the month, but regardless, she always forced Finn to take some of it. The couple of hundred dollars she would give him a month was nothing compared to what actual rent would cost her, and she doubted that it even covered the amount of free alcohol he let her have.

She didn't tell Cara that she was going back downstairs, and even as she headed back and briefly saw Lateefah and Colton chatting down the small hallway where the bathrooms were, she didn't utter a snide remark. She didn't have the energy for cattiness at the moment, and now that she was showered and felt clean, she decided that she might as well rest for a little while and let the hangover die off. With Holly upstairs, at least she could count on having peace and quiet for a few minutes, so long as Nick stayed away too. As she relaxed on her bed, she noticed that some of their storage containers were skewed differently than how she had left him. It was clear that someone had been rummaging through their things, and she could tell that it was Nick. It striked her as odd that she hadn't seen him up at the bar, but as she did a double take, she remembered that Roman's bed was now vacant. Nick must have come down while she was upstairs, woken up Roman, and the two were off together somewhere. It wasn't unusual, but Brooklyn decided that if she was in a petty mood later on, she'd use Nick running off without even checking in with her as a complaint against him.

Setting

Characters Present

Character Portrait: Holly Maddon Character Portrait: Brooklyn West Character Portrait: Lateefah Ekwensi-Hart Character Portrait: Colton King Character Portrait: Cara Forrester
Tag Characters » Add to Arc »

0.00 INK




Image
╭━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━╮
L A T E E F A H ~ E K W E N S I - H A R T
"Sweetie, I wouldn't trust you with my Prada and we both know I can't afford it."

Outfit
Location|| Finn's Irish Pub
iPod|| Pompeii by Bastille
Mood|| Amused


╰━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━╯







The left corner of Lateefah's mouth curved until her lips parted and she was snickering at Colton even believing for a second that she would leave him alone with Holly purposefully. Granted, their current interaction spelled nothing but good nature. However, Lateefah was far from unintelligent. There was no way in hell she would leave her sister with Colton for too long without worry. He would get too irritated fast and Holly...Holly might actually run away. And then they would all be in some kind of trouble because there was only so much Holly couldn't do on the streets of New York if she ran out because she was being emotionally overloaded. She did, eventually, give an impressed raise of her eyebrows at him being able to convince Holly to stay still.

"Hmmm...such a gentleman," she remarked on a purr, amusement dancing with the lilt of her voice, her smirk widening once Colton got to the gist of why he had come to the back of the pub. Which...of course, led to them. It wasn't a conversation she typically lived having at work. Particularly when Holly was but a ways away, the others were probably lurking around, and well...they were at her work. Off or not, this was where Lateefah worked and while a heated thrill raced through her at the idea of giving in for the first time this week, she really couldn't. Maybe for a few minutes...

...nope. Nope to the nope-ity nope nope.

Not here.

"Awww, don't tell me smooth as a rolling storm Colton King's been all hot and bothered all week cuz of little ol' me," she teased, left hand rising discreetly so that her fingers could trail up abdomen to his chest leisurely, taking a measured step towards the male while her eyes flicked over to the rest of the pub. She seemed to recognize the back of Brooklyn disappearing, but any of the others remained (hopefully) oblivious. Returning her gaze back to Colton, Lateefah smiled, bringing her face close to his, fingers creeping teasingly to the collar of the shirt he was wearing, eyes slightly hooded as she proffered, "How about this, hot stuff? You let me get through this shift, I'll see if I can convince Cara to take care of Holly for the night, and once I'm done, I'm all yours for the night." It gave her pause, fleetingly, that Cara was even in the vicinity, but Lateefah didn't give herself or Colton a chance to think on it any longer.

Without preamble, she fisted the collar of his shirt in her hand and then captured his lips with hers, the press of her mouth against his firm and heated. It didn't last long, but even Lateefah wasn't immune to the effects of not having had sex for the entire week. She'd just been really busy and honestly, she should not feel as alive as she did when she kissed Colton. Yep, not a thing she should feel and she should go back to teasing. Now. Pulling away, Lateefah took a breath before expelling it on a grin, releasing him and walking away, but not before tossing a, "That is, if you can last that long," over her shoulder before appearing back into the main vicinity of the pub.

Immediately, her eyes trained on her sister and the blonde she was seated with whom, she had no doubt about now, was Cara. Painting a smile on her face (and no, the smile did not also have something to do with kissing and teasing Colton at all), she approached the duo, sliding back into her seat and training the blonde with a seemingly unwelcome stare. At least, it could have been perceived as unwelcoming if the smile biting at the corners of her lips didn't spell out the warmth she held for the not-exactly homeless girl. "Well, if it isn't Princess Blondie returning to the rest of us peasants. We good enough for you now?" Her words weren't as biting as they could have been, but there was a residual sting from when Cara had left, and instead of acknowledging that, Lateefah turned her attention then to Holly. "Eat your food, Holly. It's going to get really cold."

Setting

Characters Present

Character Portrait: Brooklyn West Character Portrait: Lateefah Ekwensi-Hart Character Portrait: Colton King Character Portrait: Oliver Mitchell
Tag Characters » Add to Arc »

0.00 INK

#, as written by Thunder
Image
Image
Colton didn't really think that Lateefah was going to go for the idea of a quickie with him. He didn't believe that because he didn't think that she, personally, was against the idea, but just because she was too responsible. She wasn't going to leave Holly alone in the dining area of the bar, she wasn't going to fuck him in the closet of her workplace, and she wasn't going to be intimate with him when everyone was awake and could quite possibly walk in on them in the act. He knew that there was just as much lust in Tee as there was in him, and when she pressed her lips to his, it only proved it. She was probably partly doing it to keep him enthralled, to give him a preview of what she was promising for later, but he was sure that she got a thrill out of it too. Ever since she had recalled how poorly her ex had preformed in bed, Colton had made it a bit of a mission to make sure she got just as much out of the experience as he did. It wasn't just to make her happy, but to prove that he was as superior in bed as he talked himself up to be.

"I'm holding you to that promise," Colton called out as Lateefah headed back into the main area of the pub. She was right, that it was going to be hard for him to hold off until then, but he was going to get time with her tonight, whether it meant him pouring a bottle of Benadryl down Holly's throat himself. The kiss had lifted his mood substantially, and rather than follow Lateefah back out into the pub, he decided to leave their interaction at that. He would let her finish eating and then working, and wait to bother her again until he could really get her back for leaving him with just a kiss.

He didn't have the money to afford pub food right now if he planned on eating later, or maybe even grabbing a late night snack with Tee, so he turned and headed downstairs. On his way down, he passed Oliver, who was walking up the stairs, but he didn't say a word to the guy. Colton found him to be odd. Not just in terms of him not seeming to socially fit in with them down there, but just his demeanor in general. Granted, in the month the guy had lived with them, Colton couldn't recall having one real conversation with him, but he wanted to blame Oliver for that. Maybe he was just quiet, but Colton took it as being standoffish, like somehow, the guy thought he was better than the rest of them. Was it that he didn't drink alcohol? Did he want some sort of trophy for being straight edge? Colton didn't get it. It was one thing to live that lifestyle, and he had considered that maybe Oliver was a recovered addict or something. That was all good and well, but he got the vibe that Oliver didn't just not want to use personally, but that he frowned upon other people who did drink and use drugs. He supposed that the drug thing was understandable, but when you lived below a bar with nine people, seven of whom were actually legal to drink, what delusional version of reality were you living in to act like consuming alcohol was an act of blasphemy? Colton didn't get it, and honestly, he didn't care to know Oliver anymore than he barely did.

He continued into the basement without a word and planned on settling into his bed to relax for a few hours. Even though he wasn't exhausted, sleeping would prevent him from wanting to consume any of his alcohol or waste any money on food for the time being. However, after only a moment on the mattress, he heard rustling from the walled off section of the basement that Nick and Brooklyn resided in, and figuring it was Nick, he headed over. Spending a couple of dollars on a joint to help him pass out couldn't hurt that much... but alas, when he turned the corner, he found Brooklyn laying there, and not Nick. "Damn, I was hoping you were Nick," he admitted, tucking the five dollar bill he had taken back into his pocket. "But, hey, even better. What do you say we make an exchange for some of your boy's weed? I'll give you fifteen minutes of 'The Colton Experience', and then you give me just enough to roll a blunt. Doesn't even need to be a fat one, I'll give you a discount," he offered, leaning against the wall with a provocative smirk on his face. He relaxed his form, but mentally knew that with Brooklyn, he needed to be prepared for a physical attack in instances like this, where he was purposely being a jackass.

Setting

Characters Present

Character Portrait: Brooklyn West Character Portrait: Colton King
Tag Characters » Add to Arc »

0.00 INK

Image
Image
Brooklyn was treated to a mere five minutes of peace and quiet before being interrupted. She wasn't a heavy sleeper unless she was going to bed drunk, so even in her close-to-sleep state, she was aware of the footsteps coming down the stairs. They didn't actually bring her out of her restful state, though. That came when those footsteps neared her space and Colton's voice forced her to peel an eye open. Although it would have been more likely that Nick would have been coming into their area, she knew it wasn't him even before looking towards the man in the doorway. Nick's footsteps sounded different than the ones that she now matched with Colton. Plus, she expected him to be coming down with Roman. Seeing Colton in front of her was less surprising than it would have been to see some of the others like Isaac or Oliver, but it wasn't anymore welcomed. Colton was amusing at his best, and completely irritating the other 99% of the time. Now, he fell into the second category.

He wanted some of Nick's drugs, in exchange for "The Colton Experience", which, knowing him, meant that she would be lucky enough to let him fuck her. She didn't like what Nick did for a living and had made it clear that she wanted no involvement, so she wouldn't have given Colton anything, even if he had offered her a thousand dollars. But sex? With him? As if that was supposed to benefit her? She knew that he knew he was out of luck, but she still scoffed at him in disgust. "Keep fucking dreaming, Colton," she said, propping herself up on her elbows to get a better look at him. "Kiara's the twenty dollar whore around here. Why don't you leave me alone and go see if she wants a turn at 'The Colton Experience'. I'm sure she won't even mind Lateefah's sloppy seconds." Brooklyn really hadn't seen anything more than Colton and Lateefah talking by the bathrooms, but like Colton, Brooklyn could also be provocative and appreciated moments where she could bother people, or at least incite a reaction. She didn't like Lateefah, and she didn't like Kiara, so insulting them while also telling Colton to get lost seemed fitting. It wouldn't have surprised her if he came back with some slick remark as well, but after speaking, Brooklyn relaxed back down on the mattress.

Setting

Characters Present

Character Portrait: Brooklyn West Character Portrait: Colton King
Tag Characters » Add to Arc »

0.00 INK

#, as written by Thunder
Image
Image
"Come on, if I was fucking with Lateefah, I wouldn't be going for you. That girl would cut my dick off or some shit. She's crazier than you think," he claimed with a shake of his head. He was still smirking however. It was a look that was hard to shake when interacting with Brooklyn, or at least when interacting with Brooklyn and she was still lying down. Had he caught her in a bad mood, he probably would have been out the door already. Surprisingly, this wasn't a bad mood for Brooklyn. Colton didn't know her extremely well, not like Nick or Roman, but he had lived with her for three years, and that was a pretty long time. He had been down there during times when he was sure she was going to stab Nick and he'd have to figure out how to hide the body just to appease her, so she wouldn't kill him too. He always thought that she had that crazy bitch look... the kind of girl who seriously looked like she would kill you if fucked her over. That was probably being dramatic, but Colton knew that there were more boundaries with Brooklyn, and he didn't push all of them like he would with Tee to get a rise out of her. It wouldn't end well for him, and not just because Brooke would stab him. Also, because he didn't want to upset Nick like that. The guy was an easy person to live with, and in moments like now, was even more appreciated because he was chill with giving Colton weed for reduced prices or letting him pay him back a few days later when he had the money. He was no where to be found now, though, and Colton didn't feel like pushing Brooklyn any more by asking where he was, when she laid back down.

With no weed, and only a few cans of beer that he was trying to save for later, Colton was bored and sober. He figured that he could sleep, that was something that he could always do, but it was so much easier after a nice blunt. As he headed towards his section, he stopped by Oliver's and rummaged through one of the guy's boxes. He didn't know much about Oliver, but one thing he did know, was that he was pretty scrawny looking. Colton didn't think of himself as being much of a bully (despite what some of the others thought), but if Oliver happened to have come down and gotten pissed off about Colton clearly invading his space, he would've punched the kid square in his face. It was obviously wrong, but Colton didn't care. Besides, he didn't find anything worthwhile in the box and left for his own mattress empty handed. As he relaxed onto his mattress, used to how thin and lumpy it felt, he couldn't get the thought of Lateefah's promise out of his mind. If Brooklyn wasn't behind that thin wall, he would have curbed his urges himself, but for now, all he could do was hope that he could fall asleep, so the end of her shift would feel like it was sooner than it did while he was awake.

Setting

Characters Present

Character Portrait: Kiara Moore Character Portrait: Holly Maddon Character Portrait: Brooklyn West Character Portrait: Lateefah Ekwensi-Hart Character Portrait: Isaac Rankin Character Portrait: Cara Forrester
Tag Characters » Add to Arc »

0.00 INK

#, as written by Writer
Image
Image
Cara didn't seem to be so sure that Brooklyn would be nice to Lateefah, and even Holly knew that to some extent as well. Even if she liked to believe that Brookyln and Lateefah were both good people, and could both be nice to each other if they just tried, she knew that it likely wouldn't happen. It didn't stop her from wanting it to happen, or still wanting Lateefah to come along with them, but after Cara questioned Tee about her relationship with Brooklyn, she had moved on to address Holly. Though Holly had a fair amount to say on the topic of her sister and Brooklyn's friendship, or lack thereof, her thoughts shifted to Cara's words. "They sell vests at Forever 21!" Holly interjected quickly. Really, she had no need for a vest and if Cara hadn't been wearing one at the moment, she probably never would have asked for one, but it was on her mind now. "Tee knows all about clothes and they sell vests there, right?" She was pushing the topic for no good reason, but it was typical of Holly to have a flighty attention span, and yet manage to get hung up on certain things for a few minutes. Like why Tee loved mac and cheese, (with love being a complete exaggeration that Holly had somehow come to believe), or yesterday, how she had insisted her sister fix her purple nail polish multiple times throughout the day because she wanted to be perfect. Today, maybe it was going to be the vests. Or so it seemed that way until Kiara and Isaac approached them.

She was greeted by a playful tug at her ponytail by Isaac, and then by Kiara pushing her further into the small booth to make room for herself. Both had Holly frowning, though it wasn't a very sincere one. It was just a lot for her to process at once, when still accounting for the music, general bar chatter, television sounds, and all of the sights in the bar as well. "Cara was visiting her grandma in Florida!" she informed the two new people as she reached towards Kiara to slide her soda back in front of her. "That's where I'm from, and me and Tee went there one time too, but not to see Cara's grandma," she explained quickly, before sipping her soda. She looked at Isaac and Kiara but didn't notice anything particularly off about the two. Maybe it was because both of them were frequently drunk, high, or coming off of a high, or maybe it was because the bar smelled of alcohol already, so it was hard for her to completely pin the smell of vodka on Kiara. Either way, she didn't comment on their appearances, and tried to focus on the conversation. All it took was Kiara to say that she wanted to hang out with them for Holly to be on her feet, and stepping over Kiara to get out of the booth. "We're getting ready to go shopping!" she corrected Kiara as she moved. "I'll tell Brooklyn we're ready to go!" She was already scurrying away from the booth as she finished speaking, and moved quickly enough that she made it downstairs without being stopped.

"Oh, Broooooooklyn!" Holly sang as she reached the last step. She picked out Colton in his area but didn't even scowl in his direction, as she was too preoccupied with bounding towards the walled off area that Nick and Brooklyn slept in. "Brooklyn! Brooklyn! Brooklyn!" she continued on her way, before stopping abruptly in the open door space when she found the brunette on her bed. "Hi," she grinned, once the girl acknowledged her. "Me and Kiara and Cara and Isaac and maybe Tee are ready to go shopping and we want you to come," she stated, and by the time that one sentence was finished, she was hovering over Brooklyn's bed, reaching to touch the girl's hair automatically.


Setting

Characters Present

Character Portrait: Kiara Moore Character Portrait: Holly Maddon Character Portrait: Brooklyn West Character Portrait: Lateefah Ekwensi-Hart Character Portrait: Colton King Character Portrait: Cara Forrester
Tag Characters » Add to Arc »

0.00 INK

ImageImage
Cara had never been really close with Isaac, and Kiara had been the new girl before she left, so she didn't know her that well either. What she did know had allowed her to like Kiara, though. She had a light, free way about her, despite being in such a dreadful situation. So, she offered the two a plain smile when they approached, but didn't respond with more than that at first. She could see it in Kiara's appearance that she was intoxicated, but from what Cara knew, that wasn't anything peculiar with the girl. Isaac... she was more wary about him. It related to her background, likely, but just knowing that he did "real" drugs, the hard ones, made her think poorly of him. It wasn't to an extent where she would ever be rude to him, and for the most part, she really pitied him, but if they passed on the street two years ago, she probably would have muttered to a friend about him looking like white trash.

She watched curiously as Kiara nudged Holly farther into the booth to make room for herself, before inquiring about what their plans were. Though she smiled, she didn't respond. It wasn't necessary because Holly was quick to explain that they were going shopping, and before those excited words were even out of her mouth, she was climbing over Kiara to go find Brooklyn... which gave Cara a perfect excuse to get away from Lateefah, now that she spotted her rummaging through her purse. She knew that meant that Lateefah was going to give her money, and though Cara was already pushing back in her chair, she relaxed for a moment when she joked about not having kids. It really did seem like Tee was Holly's mother. She was the person who was responsible for her, and who dealt with all of the craziness, and just the way that Holly interacted with her too, reflected how much she trusted Tee. Though Holly seemed to love and trust everyone, it was different with Lateefah. Cara didn't remember what it was like to have a mother of her own, but she felt like what Holly and Tee had was like a daughter-mother relationship. "I'll see if she'll eat later," she assured her, standing up now.

She couldn't actually leave the table though, because Lateefah's hand was out of her purse now. It was always an event that Cara was uncomfortable with, and when she saw the girl pull out a fifty dollar bill, she felt even more uneasy. She couldn't accept that money! Not to buy Holly something that she likely had no need for. Normally, she would have just accepted it for the time being, and then slipped it back into Tee's bag later that night when she saw her. In this amount, right before Tee departed to spend her night working this same, deadend job, Cara just couldn't do it though. Not when she was still feeling guilty about how this wasn't really her life, and how it was for everyone else. Cara considered that she was probably overthinking it. Tee would've just given her ten dollars and told Holly to hold off if they were struggling that badly, but obviously, they weren't in Cara's position. Not anywhere close. "Just give it to me later. I hate having cash on me," she insisted, pushing the cash back towards Lateefah. "Besides, I really don't even think we'll end up going somewhere to buy a vest, and you know she never gets like that with me. We'll have fun, and if she really needs anything, it'll be my treat. Okay? I missed her, treating her to a silly little vest is the least I can do."

Thankfully, Holly leaving gave Cara a reason to leave too. "I'm going to go grab her and then we'll probably head out through the basement. I'll let you finish that in peace," she said, first looking towards Isaac and Kiara who seemed interested in joining them, before winking at Tee who was back to eating. She didn't want Lateefah to shove the money back into her hands, or for Brooklyn to murder Holly, so she left Tee with a playful smirk and headed down to the basement. It was... strange to be back down there. Really strange, actually. Nearly everything looked the same as when she left, but she noticed that her area of the basement was now occupied by someone else's things. Brooklyn had preempted her for that, but a part of her considered that this wasn't meant to be. She wasn't supposed to be here anymore! And yet she was. And there was Holly's energetic voice forcing her to stop overthinking things, and hurry into Brooke and Nick's area without even acknowledging Colton. "It's okay, Holly. We can catch up with Brooklyn later. She looks really tired," she said, placing a hand on the girl's shoulder in hopes of being able to guide her away from Brooklyn just so they could leave. She was one of the people who actually found Holly and Brooklyn's interactions to be amusing. At least, the part before Brooklyn threatened Lateefah and Holly, and then Lateefah made it clear that she wasn't backing down, was amusing.