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: Long-term fantasy roleplay partners 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! »

0
followers
follow

Holly Madden

0 · 1,903 views · located in New York, NY

a character in “The Lost and Found”, as played by Writer

Description

Image
Image


Image
Image
Full Name:
Holly Jade Madden

Nickname:
Holls

Age:
16

Birth date:
June 1st

Birth Place:
South Bronx, NY

Homeless for:
2 years

Role:
The Young One


Image
Image
Personality:
Her most notable characteristic is definitely how energetic she is. As long as she is awake, she makes her presence known through her constant chatter and curious questions. She struggles to keep her attention centered on one thing and is known to jump from task to task, and even stop mid-sentence in a conversation if something new catches her attention. She would never go out of her way to insult or be mean to someone, but lacks a speech filter and tends to say things that she overheard and weren't intended to be repeated, or ask invasive personal questions. She's naive, absentminded, inattentive and forgetful, but she rarely does any of this intentionally, and it's mostly related to her ADHD. It certainly gets annoying, especially when there are nine other people stuck in the same room as her, but she usually fails to see any signs of people getting tired of her. She's a cheerful and optimistic person, who, for the most part, is always happy.

One of her major faults is how dependent she is on other people. If it weren't for her sister, she most likely would already be dead by now. She is not intelligent book wise and the same goes for her street smarts. Not only does she struggle to read people, but like a child, she tends to trust everyone and expect them to be just as genuine as she is. Her naivety and overall delayed development is probably linked to her learning disabilities and drug damage done while she was in the womb, but the years of abuse probably play a role in it too. They caused her to become easily nervous, jumpy and emotionally unstable.

Likes:
Candy, dogs, sunny days, nail polish, hot showers, socializing, gifts, attention, watching movies

Dislikes:
Arguments, school, being called stupid, rain, milk, coffee, isolation, silence, darkness, bugs, spicy food

Fears:
"I hate spiders and clowns and the huge rats on the subway."
She has many "normal" fears, with spiders, clowns and rodents topping the list, but her biggest fear is probably school. She did so poorly throughout her academic career and it not only resulted in humiliation in the classroom, but physical abuse at home, so it's tied to painful memories for her.

Dreams:
"I want to get married to... hmm... probably Zac Efron... and have like four babies and buy a house away from the city... and have a swimming pool in our backyard!"
Holly's dreams vary drastically depending on the moment, but they all share the similarity of being virtually unattainable. What would be most beneficial for her at this point would to get her high school diploma or GED and manage to get some sort of normal job and living situation.


Image
Image
History:
Holly was born to a teen runaway mother and a teen father who was never present in Holly's life and probably never would been, even if had he known he was her father. Her mother, Nancy, came from a family that was the epitome of the phrase "trailer park trash". Her father was an abusive addict who turned their tiny trailer into a meth lab, and her mother was too much of an alcoholic to care for her six children. Nancy dropped out of high school when she was fourteen with the intentions of helping to take care of her three younger siblings, help take care of her three younger siblings, but it was inevitable that she take a turn down the wrong path. Drugs and alcohol had always been such a common thing for her, and when she started a relationship with a twenty-two-year-old boy who lived a few trailers down from them, it became a part of her life. She started with alcohol and marijuana, and soon tested out heroin and crack. Using the drugs seems detrimental in itself, but things became even worse when Nancy found out that her older sister was also seeing the boy she was sleeping with. Even worse again, when she found out that she was pregnant with his child. It was an impulsive move, but she fled. She didn't tell her boyfriend or her parents that she was pregnant because she knew that they were going to tell her to get an abortion, or worse. Her family hadn't care for her when it was just her that they had to support, and another mouth to feed just wasn't going to be an option.

She was living in upstate New York at the time and boarded a train to New York City. She didn't know anyone there but was sure that a big city like that would have more resources to help her than any of the other poor, small towns in her area. The fifteen year old was desperate for help upon her arrival to New York, but was told that all of the shelters for teens and women had months-long waiting lists. Even pregnant, she was still addicted to drugs, with her drug of choice being cocaine, and rather than save the hundred dollars she fled with for food or a hotel, she sought out a dealer. It happened to be someone who worked for Rafael Barnes, one of the biggest drug lord's in the Bronx. The dealer thought Nancy might be helpful in their distribution game, and brought her back to their house. A few months later, she had Holly. It's a miracle that Holly even survived the pregnancy with her mother's poor habits, but six months after conception, she was delivered in an emergency C-section. Had the hospital staff really took interest in the family, they may have been able to prevent the poor life that Holly would soon face. She could have been put into foster care or even adopted, but instead, once she had reached a stable point, she was brought home. Home for her first five years was Rafael's drug-ridden home. After a drug raid busted up their group and he, as well as many of the other men in the house were incarcerated, Nancy was forced back out on the streets. This time, however, she had more connections. She had secretly been sleeping with Clinton Wright, the leader of another drug group, and was welcomed into his home.

Her life here actually made her first home seem desirable. Not only was Clinton equally involved in drugs, but he and the men he lived with were abusive and possessive. He quickly claimed Nancy as his girlfriend - something that she probably didn't mind - but he made it clear that he hated the fact that she had a child with another man, despite him having a broad of his own with many women. Clinton never touched Holly, but his brother, George, who resided in the house did. It began as physical abuse. If Holly ever dared to cry in his presence, he'd take off his belt and beat her with it until she learned better. Whenever her mother cared enough to acknowledge how poorly Holly did in school, it would result in abuse as well. School had never been her strong point. She suffers from severe ADHD, learning disabilities, and dyslexia. At her peak, she could read at a third grade level, but after two years away from school, even that has probably become a stretch. She had no academic support at home, and it didn't help that she was attending a school in one of the most underfunded districts in the nation. The school didn't have the resources to help a child like her and she was frequently held back, only managing to reach the fifth grade before she stopped going.

The abuse she was receiving at home only made her more emotionally unstable and unable to focus in school. If the physical abuse wasn't bad enough though, George soon stepped it up a notch. The sexual abuse started when she was eight and continued until the day he was arrested, when she was thirteen. The day of the arrest began normally. Ella had left that morning with her sister to go to school, but when they got home, they found the apartment in shambles. A police raid had taken place and it resulted in their mother, Clinton, and many others in the house being arrested and charged with a multitude of drug related charges, as well as some armed robbery and attempted murder ones. Apparently, they had been tied up in more than just making drugs in the kitchen.

Holly spent three weeks in a foster home before custody was given to one of Makayla's half-sibling's mother. The woman was only looking for the extra government assistance and despised Makayla more than any of Clinton's other children. She made it clear that if she wanted to see Holly or have a say in how she was treated, that she could pay for taking care of her herself. So, Makayla took her and after a few failed attempts at staying with some of Kay's friends, they ended up on the streets.

Job:
For the most part, Holly relies on her sister for money. Finn will give her a few dollars for washing glasses in the back of his bar, but besides that, she just gets her money from her sister.


Image
Height/Weight or build:
5'0 | 95 lbs | Petite figure

Eye color:
Brown

Hair color:
Naturally brown, although it has been dyed bright red for the past 2 years.

Other:
She has no tattoos or piercings. She does have a few scars on her back from the abuse she incurred.

Face claim:
Ariana Grande

So begins...

Holly Madden's Story

Setting

Characters Present

Character Portrait: Makayla Wright Character Portrait: Holly Madden
Tag Characters » Add to Arc »

0.00 INK

#, as written by Bandit
Image
For the past two weeks, Makayla had been feeling horribly sick every morning. She thought it was the McDonald's across the street that she and Holly ate at almost every morning, but after cutting that out, the nausea still persisted. She never actually got sick but it left her wanting to choke up what little was in her stomach. Her morning joint was the only thing that seemed to ease the feeling, but even that didn't leave her feeling normal. She chalked it up to being sick, probably having some sort of weird flu that probably warranted a visit to the local clinic. After spending too much money on buying Holly summer clothes and a taking her to the movies for her birthday, she just didn't have the money for that right now, though. Instead, she doubled up on the amount she normally smoked and tried to reassure herself that it would go away on its own.

The public pools had opened up a week ago, but Makayla had put off taking Holly until today. Not only were the pools flooded with screeching kids from every camp for underserved kids in the city, but she hated swimming. She had never learned how to and had no desire to wade in water that was probably 50% piss anyway. Somewhere along the line, Holly had learned how to swim, and if Holly were a normal sixteen-year-old, that would mean that Makayla could relax on one of the nearby chairs and get some color while her sister busied herself with swimming. This was Holly, though, and that meant that Makayla was forced into the water when Holly refused to follow her instructions to "stay right in this corner", and ventured out to bother other patrons. Apparently, her sister had suddenly become deaf because no matter how many times she shouted her name or told her to "get over here", she would swim farther into the deep end and away from the sides that Makayla was holding on to. It was around two in the afternoon when they got there, and after only an hour, they were leaving. Makayla finally caught up to her after Holly stopped by the ledge of the pool to ask the lifeguard something, and Kay used it as her chance to yank the redhead out of the water for good. "This is why I don't take you places," she reminded her sister as she dried herself off with the towel and then offered it to Holly. She normally had more patience with Holly, but she was tired today. The high of her morning smoke had worn off after Holly's hundredth question on their walk over here about why Makayla didn't know how to swim, and the strong aroma of chlorine was suddenly making her nauseous again.

The public pools also had public showers. The drains were always clogged with hair and they were really meant for just showering off quickly after swimming, since none of them had dividers or privacy curtains, but they never passed up free showers. Makayla didn't give anyone a second glance when she pulled out shampoo and conditioner and some body wash for her and Holly. They kept their bathing suits on and chose showers in the back of the room and that was that. It was nothing graphic, and honestly, no one spending their day at a public inner city pool had the status to complain anyway. She took far less time to change into her outfit than Holly did, and it took a lot of coaxing, and in her already bothered state, a few threats, to get Holly out of the bathroom stall before the still present chlorine stench made her sick.

"What do you want to eat?" It was nearing four o'clock which was still early for dinner, but Makayla was suddenly craving fast food. There was at least a Wendy's and a McDonald's in the area, and at this point, Makayla would be happy with either of the options. She didn't wait for Holly to respond when she spotted the Wendy's closer to them, and led her sister towards it. After a bit of rummaging through her bag, she came up with a ten dollar bill and some change. She needed something to offer Cara to cover Holly's real dinner later that night, even if the blonde wouldn't accept it, and decided to just get a burger for herself. She would fill Holly's water bottle up with the bathroom tap water rather than get a soda, and she didn't need to spend an extra two dollars on fries. Normally, Makayla would have opted for nothing at all if she knew she was running this low on money, but she planned on working tonight and her cravings right now were too strong for her to pass up. "Go pick a table for us," she said to Holly before approaching the line. She knew that if she gave her sister a chance to see the menu, she'd have to deal with her begging her to let her try some sandwich that they both knew was not going to be eaten, or for a Frosty that Holly didn't need and that Makayla didn't have money for. "We'll have one double stack burger and a kid's chicken nugget meal," she said to the young girl behind the counter as she reluctantly forked over the cash. She busied herself with collecting napkins, straws and ketchup while she waited for their food to arrive, and made sure to continuously glance at her sister. As she had proven at the pool and many times before, all it took was a minute for Holly to run off and cause trouble somewhere.

Setting

Characters Present

Character Portrait: Makayla Wright Character Portrait: Holly Madden
Tag Characters » Add to Arc »

0.00 INK

#, as written by Writer
Image
Holly was only upset about her pool day being cut short for a few minutes before her attention was redirected to them showering and getting dressed. By the time they were out of the park, she had forgotten about how short of a time she got to spend in the water and was excited for their next adventure. "Kay, did you know that at the pool, there was a boy wearing a bathing suit with Spongebob on it? And remember when me and you went to the movie theater and saw the movie about Spongebob? And you didn't let me get the Skittles that I wanted--" Holly began, but before she could finish, Makayla interrupted her. "Because I bought you the six dollar popcorn." That was true. "But I didn't get to eat any of that so it doesn't count!" she objected, unhappy with how Makayla continued to interrupt her amazing story. "And whose fault was that? I told you not to put it on the floor, and the second we sit down, you put it on the floor and knock it over." It was the first time today that Holly was sensing her sister was in a bad mood, and that said a lot since it was rare that Holly picked up on anyone being short with her unless she was being shouted at. Maybe she just wanted to hear the story and couldn't wait to hear how it ended as much as Holly couldn't. "Okay, okay, okay. As I was saying, at the pool there was a boy with a Spongebob bathing suit, and he had black hair... but it wasn't really as black as Zero's. Maybe it was blonde, actually. I think it was blonde. So he was wearing the Spongebob bathing suit, just like the movie we saw, and--" Holly didn't notice how distracted Makayla was. It wasn't uncommon and it wasn't something she could be blamed for. Holly was a lot to handle and it was probably necessary to drown out her never ending ramblings for Makayla to stay sane.

When her sister cut her off again, she became too involved in their next stop to remember that she was even in the middle of telling a story. "Where do you want to eat?" That was a good question, and one that apparently took Holly too long to answer, since before she could even begin to list her suggestions, Makayla was leading her to Wendy's. "I don't want Wendy's, though!" she objected as she followed her sister into the building. The whining subsided when her sister tasked her with finding a table for them. What was a simple request became an important job for Holly, who spent the five minutes Makayla was at the counter with testing out nearly every open table in the place, until one by the window seemed perfect. It was close enough to the soda fountain that Makayla wouldn't yell at her for getting up every two minutes to refill her cup so it was always at the top, but still close to the window so she could point out every dog that passed by.

"What did you get me?!" Holly questioned, quickly snatching the kid's meal bag from Makayla's tray. It was an unnecessary question considering that she ate the same thing from there every time they went, but Holly really just liked hearing her own voice. Her next move was to fill up her cup, and as expected, she couldn't just settle for one drink choice. Instead, she poured in Sprite and Coke, a little bit of Fanta, some more Sprite, and then Dr. Pepper. It was another one of her very common stunts and it stilled shocked her when it didn't taste as good as she expected. "One time, Brooklyn told me that to make chicken nuggets, they kill real, live chickens. That's not true, right?" She questioned, apparently not too bothered by the claim since she had a mouth full of food as she spoke.

Setting

Characters Present

Character Portrait: Makayla Wright Character Portrait: Holly Madden
Tag Characters » Add to Arc »

0.00 INK

#, as written by Bandit
Image
Makayla didn't respond to Holly when she questioned what was inside her bag. By the time she looked up, Holly had already dug through her bag and was now on her way to the soda fountain. She was tired, already had a headache, and looking at the measly burger in front of her, knew that even after she finished, her cravings wouldn't be satisfied. What was she supposed to do, though? Their meal left her with five dollars and change and even though she planned on working tonight, there was no guarantee that she would come home with a lot of money.

Makayla was not like some of the others in the basement who had rich clients. She was your average New York prostitute. If she wasn't working the corner of some shady neighborhood, she was spending her night in an equally seedy bar, hoping to pick up some guy there. Sometimes she was brought back to hotel rooms with clean cleans and a hot shower she could take advantage of, but more than half of the time, her work space was the bathroom of a bar, the backseat of a truck, or a drug ridden apartment. Even though her pay was decided on beforehand, it was never more than one or two hundred dollars and it wasn't uncommon for the guy to try to cut that down after the night was over. Makayla was 5'2, barely one-hundred pounds, and desperate for any money she could get her hands on. She wasn't in a position to reject anything, even when it was substantially less than the sixty dollars that the sweaty, burly man she just let inside of her originally promised. It wasn't easy, but Makayla didn't have many other options. She had a high school diploma which was more than what many of the others could say, but Holly negated any benefits of that. Makayla was more than willing to get some minimum wage job. She didn't have enough ego to think that flipping burgers could be any worse than risking her life every night working the streets, but she couldn't adhere to a real work schedule. Her life was just too unpredictable right now, and while she could get away with sneaking out a few nights a week and leaving Holly with Cara, she couldn't ask the blonde to be her full time nanny. That would be pushing it, even with Cara's generosity.

Makayla tried to pretend she didn't notice Holly obnoxiously playing around with the soda machine. She didn't have it in her right now to herd Holly back over and she knew to pick her battles when it came to her sister. Moods like the one she was in right now were dangerous. Holly was so sweet and was never purposely annoying, and Kay really did her best not to snap at her. The teenager had lived a life that was far more difficult than even Makayla felt hers to be and if being peppy and positive was what kept Holly alive, than she knew better than to shoot her down for that very reason.

"Of course not. You know Brooklyn likes to make things up to scare you," Makayla replied, grabbing a napkin to wipe her mouth after the last of her burger disappeared. Sometimes she felt bad for playing into Holly's ignorance. What sixteen year old was shocked to hear that chicken nuggets were made from real chickens? At the same time, it went back to her wanting to protect whatever innocence Holly had left. Her believing that chickens didn't have to die for their fast food meal wasn't going to kill her. "Like that time she told me she was going to get Roman to break my arm right off if I kept touching her shoes, right?" In an expected fashion, Holly had barely finished half of her fries and two of the chicken nuggets by the time that her attention drifted from her food and onto the toy in the bag. It was a sixteen piece puzzle, which, by the look on Holly's face as she thrashed the pieces around in the plastic bag, wasn't going to keep her interest for long. "Just like that," Kay confirmed as she finished off the rest of Holly's meal. Her empty stomach and sugar craving even allowed her to sip down the bold concoction that Holly had created with the drink machine. "Can you ask them to change this for the other toy? The pink key chain one? Because I don't want this and it doesn't look fun." Holly had gotten up before her but once every bit of food was gone, Makayla was ready too. "That's all they have left. Cara will help you put it together later," she replied. With the help of Lennie, her hair was cut short for summer, but it was still wet from the shower and combined with the air conditioning, it was making her cold. It was a complaint she would regret making as soon as they were back outside and the humid air was less favorable.

"You have to go to work again tonight?" Makayla had grasped onto Holly's hand the second they stepped out of Wendy's. The alleyway next to the restaurant smelled like trash and instantly had her on the brink of gagging. She hated how suddenly she was so sensitive to these smells, when most of her life was spent in a tiny apartment that reeked of things far worse than some garbage. Before her meal ended up on the sidewalk, she needed to get back to the basement and the chance of Holly running off to pet some dog or gawk at some expensive toy in a store window was on going to happen today. "Tonight and tomorrow night," Makayla nodded, trying her best to be upbeat in her tone. The pros that came with getting out of the basement and not having to worry about Holly for a few hours were extremely outweighed by how much she hated what she had to do for a living. Friday and Saturday nights were always the biggest ones of the week for her though, and her empty wallet reminded her that she needed to suck it up. "I think you should get a different job, not one at the library, because that must be boring." Yes, she had told Holly that she worked at the library. She claimed that she had to count all of the books to make sure that no one stole any of them. It was a lie that would be believable to no one besides Holly, but Kay knew that she couldn't tell her sister she slept with men for money. Holly had a past of sexual abuse and she wouldn't understand how desperate Kay was. Plus, if there was one place Holly hated, it was the library. It removed any chance of Holly insisting that she come to work with her. "It is boring," she agreed, giving her sister a small tug as the walk symbol appeared and they could cross the street. The basement was only a few blocks away and Makayla was more than ready to crash on her makeshift bed. Even with Holly's antics at the pool, she was feeling more fatigued than usual today. She brushed it off as something that was normal after a night of working, though, and reminded herself that she needed to see if Nick could lend her some weed with the promise that she'd pay him back tomorrow. "What did you and Cara do last night? I don't think she'll be able to take you to the park tonight if it's going to rain." Again, Makayla really was tired and not in the mood to chat, but she was used to putting on a smile for Holly.

Setting

Characters Present

Character Portrait: Makayla Wright Character Portrait: Holly Madden
Tag Characters » Add to Arc »

0.00 INK

#, as written by Writer
Image
Holly was never a big eater and today was no different. It took two chicken nuggets and half of her fries for her to be full and anxious to move on to their next adventure. She didn't notice or mind Makayla finishing off the rest of her meal because it was so typical. Makayla would order something small or nothing at all, knowing that Holly wouldn't finish whatever she ordered and it would save them money in the long run.

She was more occupied with the toy at the bottom of her bag, which sadly, turned out to be a puzzle. It had some cartoon picture depicted on it but even with it being such a simple puzzle, there was no way that Holly was going to put it together to reveal the picture. "Can you ask them to change this for the other toy? The pink key chain one? Because I don't want this and it doesn't look fun." It wasn't so much that her puzzle skills were bad, since she didn't do enough to attest to that, but there was a slim chance that a bunch of cardboard pieces would keep her attention for more than two minutes. "That's all they have left. Cara will help you put it together later." Only after Makayla insisted that they were all out of the other toys did she decide that she would have to make do with it, and the reference to Cara altered her train of thought anyway. "You have to go to work again tonight?" Holly and Makayla hung out with Cara pretty regularly, but the way that Kay said that suggested that she would be with Cara alone. That meant that Makayla was going to work or hanging out with Jackson, but either way, Holly was told she was going to work. She was under the impression that her sister worked at the library as someone required to count books to make sure no one stole any that day. It was a job description that would be laughable to most, but Holly didn't have a reason to not believe it. Her sister informed her that she would be working the next two nights and that she agreed that the pretend job was boring.

When they stepped outside, Holly allowed Makayla to take her hand. Even if it was impossible for her to tone down her energy, she could still sense that her sister wasn't in the best mood today and wasn't actively looking to make it worse. Plus, her next question had Holly's mind going fast enough that she couldn't pay attention to their surroundings as much as she normally did. "We went to the Toys R Us in Times Square that you never take me to because you always say it's too busy, but it wasn't too busy for me and Cara. Remember that time we went so long ago, and there was the whole section of stuffed animals, and I wanted the Golden Retriever dog because its fur looked like Lennie's hair and I was going to call it Lennie Jr., but you wouldn't buy it for me? Well, me and Cara looked again yesterday but it wasn't there anymore, and there were other yellow dogs but then we decided that I shouldn't get one because Alex has blonde hair too and then I would have to call it Lennie and Alex Jr., and I didn't want to call it that. And Cara has blonde hair too, you know, but she said that it was okay and I didn't have to name it after her. So I didn't get a dog stuffed animal because of that, and I really wanted to get gummy bears but Cara said that we couldn't do that because she had to ask you first, and even when I told her you said it would be okay she said no." Holly was talking fast enough that it wouldn't have been possible for Makayla to utter a comment even if she wanted to. "But I didn't get mad at her because I love Cara and she bought me new sandals at Payless and then we went to the ice cream place. Not the one that you and me sometimes go to when the library gives you extra money. It was a different one because it wasn't ice cream. It was frozen yogurt, and I got to push the lever thing and put as much frozen yogurt in my cup as I wanted and I filled it all the way to the top and got rainbow sprinkles and M&M's on it." Going out with Cara was definitely a different experience than going out with Makayla. It wasn't like Cara was bringing her to Neiman Marcus and sending her on a shopping spree, but the little things like not minding how much ice cream Holly ordered, attested to how different her situation was from Makayla's. "And then I accidentally left the bag from the shoe place at the ice cream place but Cara said it was okay." She took what seemed like the first breath in three minutes when she finished her story, and looked over at her sister, looking past her distant expression and expecting a response.

They were only a block or so away from the bar by now, but Holly couldn't tell. Directions were another thing that she was not good at, and unless the dingy sign of Finn's bar was in sight, she wouldn't know how close or far they were from home. She didn't mind, though. Even though it was hot out, her day had went well and she was happy. She got to swim, even if it was cut short, got food from Wendy's and a toy (albeit it a boring one), was able to spend the day with her favorite person, and had the night with Cara to look forward to.

Setting

Characters Present

Character Portrait: Makayla Wright Character Portrait: Nick Moreno Character Portrait: Brooklyn Archer Character Portrait: Holly Madden Character Portrait: Roman Killens Character Portrait: Savannah Stonecraft
Tag Characters » Add to Arc »

0.00 INK

Image



"Haven't seen you two around. I would ask where you were all night, but something tells me I don't want to know."

Taking a sip of Lennie's lemonade, Alex flipped Zero the bird in a playful manner, shaking her head. Her eyes shot up as the door to the basement opened, and one of her least favourite people at the moment, smelling of alcohol, gasoline, and weed. She grimaced at the mixture of smells. She returned to her thoughts, though it didn't last nearly as long as she would have liked before the basement door opened again and footsteps signaled the arrival of Roman.

Opening her mouth to shoot a witty crack at Roman's expense, she shut again once she spotted the blonde girl behind him. Narrowing her eyes a bit, and then widening them in a bit of shock, she reached behind her again for Lennie's lemonade. Sipping it, she intently shot her eyes between Brooklyn and where Nick and Savannah were seated. Poor Savannah. She could see it in Nick's eyes clear as day that he had just fallen for Brooklyn again, and there Savannah was. Sitting right next to him where she had been trying to gain his favour.

Then she looked back at Nick, following his gaze to Roman, who looked like he wanted to run out at any second. If this weren't happening right in front of her, between people she knew, then Alex would have considered this the best free drama entertainment she would probably ever get. However, it was people she knew personally. And she only had one thought running through her mind now.

Shit is about to get interesting.

She watched intently as Nick stood up from where he was next to Savannah, walking over the Brooklyn. She couldn't quite hear what they said, but if the tension in the room grew any more than they would all probably suffocate in it. To Alex's surprise, Nick waved Savannah over to where he was.

As Savannah, introduced herself, Alex heard Lennie off to her side. "Hey Zero, why don't we go grab Brooklyn's blankets and stuff from up stairs?"

Zero didn't so much respond as get dragged away by Lennie, leaving Alex who hissed a quick 'Bastards' at them as they practically ran upstairs with Roman, leaving Alex in the room with the trio who were causing so much tension it was tangible, and Robbie the king drunk. Though admittedly, at the thought of actually having to get up to go with them, Alex felt as though sitting down there may have been the better choice. But she was still in the room. So Alex did the only thing she could really think of.

She leaned back in her chair, kicked her legs up on the table again and crossed them, picked up the Chinese food and chopsticks, and let out a loud sigh.

"You know guys, maybe we should fix Makayla and Holly's stuff up. 'Else Makayla's going to be pissed," she said in a matter-of-fact tone, using the chopsticks to lift some of the Chinese food into her mouth.

Setting

Characters Present

Character Portrait: Makayla Wright Character Portrait: Holly Madden Character Portrait: Cara Forrester
Tag Characters » Add to Arc »

0.00 INK

Image

Normally, Cara would have walked back from her gym in the Upper East Side to the basement. It was an hour and a half trip, but she didn't mind it. Despite the chaos going on around her, it was sort of relaxing for her to be alone, yet surrounded by thousands of people. She could walk and not speak with anyone, yet she wasn't physically isolated from the world. Today, however, the sky was greying and she didn't want to risk being caught in the rain halfway through her trip. The subways and public buses had never been her thing, which again had her disliking herself for still being so picky. At the same time, two years ago she thought she was too good for cabs too, and here she was hailing one. Fifteen minutes and forty dollars later, she was at the end of the block that Finn's bar was located on.

As she approached the bar, she spotted Makayla and Holly walking towards it from the other end of the street. The pair were hard to miss, thanks to Holly's unnaturally bright hair and loud, high-pitched voice. The sight of Holly's mouth moving a mile a minute had Cara smiling before they were even close enough for her to hear what Holly was saying. It faltered slightly when she was able to make out the expression on Makayla's face, though. She looked bad. Cara didn't mean it offensively since Kay was definitely a pretty girl, but her face looked paler than normal and she looked more than exhausted. She had briefly said something about feeling sick a few days back and Cara now assumed that she hadn't gotten over whatever she had then. Holly's never ending supply of energy probably wasn't allowing her to relax and feel better either. Cara decided that even if Makayla wasn't working tonight, she would insist on taking Holly out so Makayla could at least catch up on her sleep.

"How was the pool? It's a good thing you went early, since it looks like it's going to rain," she smiled. She knew she was inviting Holly to ramble on about their day's adventures and she was fine with that. It wasn't hard for her to entertain the girl's thoughts and imagination and hopefully, it would give Makayla some relief from having to listen to it all day. "Hey, do you want to grab a drink at Finn's before we go down? I can only imagine how humid it's gotten downstairs since I left this morning." Cara was oblivious to the drama unfolding downstairs but she already could sense that Makayla was stressed out enough. Maybe a drink and some air conditioning would help that.

Setting

Characters Present

Character Portrait: Makayla Wright Character Portrait: Nick Moreno Character Portrait: Holly Madden Character Portrait: Cara Forrester
Tag Characters » Add to Arc »

0.00 INK

#, as written by Bandit
Image
One of the few positives to Holly's sometimes unbearably long and hard to follow stories were that they were long and hard to follow. It meant that Makayla could get away with simply nodding or giving a "wow, really?" every now and again, and it was sufficient. Most of the time, that wasn't even necessary. Holly would become so entertained by her own recollection of the events that she didn't pause to breathe, let alone see if Makayla had any response. Today was one of those days where that was coming in handy, because as they neared Finn's, the heat was making her body come close to shutting down and she couldn't bring herself to care about the stuffed animal dog or lost pair of shoes that Holly was speaking about. She would feel guilty for thinking it later, but now, she really just wanted Holly to be quiet. If she had more than five dollars on her, she would have bought Holly ice cream just to get five minutes of peace and quiet. She didn't though, and as Holly went on about her day, Makayla's mind was racing with thoughts on how broke they were.

She and Holly's soggy bathing suits in her backpack reminded her of how she had been putting off doing their laundry all week. That would be at least three dollars, or three fifty if she brought Holly, who always insisted on playing that stupid claw-grab stuffed animal game. Holly had been begging her for new sandals and Makayla knew she did need them. According to the snippet she caught, Holly had been careless enough to lose the pair Cara had purchased her, so that would be another fifteen dollars down the drain since Makayla had too much pride to ask Cara to buy her sister another pair. She needed new lingerie for work, and even though she always bought the cheap ones, that would be another twenty dollars too. Adding in the amount of weed she had gotten from Nick with the promise of paying him back, the Advil that she knew she was going to need to buy before the night was over, and the high chance that she was going to need to go to a clinic soon... Makayla knew she was screwed. It left her wanting to cry but as always, she couldn't do that. She had to force a small smile onto her face as they approached Cara by Finn's. This was her life and she was going to have to deal with it, like always. She had to be strong for herself and Holly because if she fell apart, Holly wasn't going to be able to survive either. Kay hated how it felt like the weight of the world was on her shoulders, but she couldn't remember a time when it hadn't felt this way.

"Hey," she offered, releasing Holly's hand for the first time since leaving Wendy's. She knew that Holly would want to share stories of their day so she let her answer Cara's question about the pool. When the blonde then asked if she wanted to get a drink, Makayla was hesitant. She needed something to numb this headache and a couple shots of vodka would do the trick, but she was also unsure if her stomach would be able to handle it. It was so easily triggered over the past few days and the thought of hard liquor was already making her queasy. Plus, she was broke and although Finn sometimes offered them free drinks, she wasn't just going to expect a handout. The reminder of how stuffy the basement was going to be made the decision for her, however, and she nodded, deciding that she would just savor the cool bar and not drink. "I'm not feeling great so I don't think I'll get anything, but we'll sit with you. You're right, it probably is bad down there." It was bad in more ways than either of the girls knew.

Makayla wanted to send Holly downstairs and actually relax with Cara for a few minutes, but she didn't know who was down there and couldn't toss her sister and the responsibilities that came with her onto whoever it was. "Holly, come," she tugged at her sister as she followed Cara in. It was happy hour, a pretty popular time at Finn's, so Makayla knew that she couldn't bring Holly to the actual bar counter. Not only did Holly have a tendency to test Finn's patience, but there weren't even three empty bar stools together. Instead, she found a vacant high top table towards the back of the place and headed towards it. On her way, she spotted Nick lingering by the bar and she didn't need to be standing right next to him to smell the amazing aroma of marijuana. That, more than anything, had her senses tingling. "I'm about to just stand next to you and get a second hand high," she laughed, nudging him as she passed by. She didn't know what had went on downstairs or that he was in a bad mood, but she also wasn't the type to try to make conversation either. It was just a friendly acknowledgement, and maybe a hint that she would be looking to share a blunt later on, before she continued with Holly to the table they had spotted. She figured that Cara was going to stop at the bar to order, and motioned for Holly to sit before doing the same. "We're not going to order anything here. Okay, Holls? Even if Cara asks, because we just ate, remember?" Maybe it was wrong of her to still have a bit of pride when they were already homeless and at the end of their rope, but she hated being so broke and desperate. Cara was always so kind and generous, but Makayla didn't like taking advantage of that. Not when she was supposed to be the one taking care of herself and Holly.

Setting

Characters Present

Character Portrait: Makayla Wright Character Portrait: Nick Moreno Character Portrait: Brooklyn Archer Character Portrait: Holly Madden Character Portrait: Savannah Stonecraft Character Portrait: Robbie Amello
Tag Characters » Add to Arc »

0.00 INK

#, as written by Writer
Image
"Look, it's Cara!" Holly spotted the blonde from the other side of the street and soon realized that they were home. She was excited to see her, and even more so after her story to Makayla reminded her of how enjoyable hanging out with Cara was. Makayla and Cara exchanged greetings but Holly didn't even get out a "hello" before Cara brought up their day at the pool and her mind was racing to explain the day. The cold water. The kid with the Spongebob bathing suit. The strawberry scented shampoo Makayla brought to the showers. There was a white dog that they passed on the way to the pool, and a swarm of pigeons that they interrupted on their walk back. She had to tell her about Wendy's, how they were out of all of the good toys, and how she wanted to go back to Toys R Us again. There was too much for her to say and she didn't know where to start. "It was so fun, right Kay?" her sister gave her a strained smile and a nod of her head. Holly was about to start her narrative of the day's events when Cara suggested they go to Finn's. The two girls were old enough to drink, and regardless of Holly being twenty-one, she still frequented Finn's if Makayla was going. That wasn't to say that she was welcomed there, because even though Finn made an effort to put up with her, he couldn't always put up the front that the others could. All it took were a few questions that he disliked and had answered a million times - why he had an accent, why he left Ireland, why he didn't have a girlfriend and why he liked beer so much - for him to remind Makayla that she was too young to be sitting at his bar.

"Holly, come." Her sister tugged her before she could object or continue her story to Cara, and as they stepped inside, her mind had shifted from the story anyway. Finn's bar was familiar to her but her eyes still wandered whenever she walked in. It was generally the same people who frequented the place but Holly was always curious to see what company she would have for however long they stayed up there. Tonight, the bar was as crowded as it got, which left Holly with many potential conversation partners. There was a woman in her mid-thirties who caught Holly's eye first. The skimpy pink halter top she wore revealed a large skull tattoo on her bare shoulder, and upon sighting it, Holly was intrigued. She wondered why the woman had chose a skull when she could have gotten a picture of a dog or the sun instead. She was sure that she must know Roman, since his tattoos were the most remarkable thing about him in Holly's mind. Others in the basement, including her sister and Nick, had tattoos, but before she could approach the woman, her freedom was again limited by Makayla's grab. She was tugged past the lady, only briefly noticing Nick when her sister slowed her pace to say something to him, and then led them to a table. It was the most isolated table in the bar and had probably been chosen by Makayla with good reason.

She followed Makayla's direction and sat on one of the high chairs, only silent as she tried to process the loud and interesting scene around her. Makayla's insistence that they not order anything had Holly nodding, but only because she wasn't listening to what her sister was saying. Of course she was going to order something when Cara insisted! Why wouldn't she?! Holly didn't understand the type of logic and etiquette that her sister tried to adhere to. She was already dependent on Makayla, so being dependent on Cara too didn't bother her at all. She again, wasn't sure what to say first, and her eyes were frantically moving across the bar as if she were trying to settle on the most important thing to start on. "I need to tell Savannah that Nick is here!" she finally chirped, jumping off the chair and heading towards the back staircases before Makayla could do more than reach out and try to grab her.

As far as Holly knew, Savannah didn't work, and whenever Nick wasn't on a drug run, he was with Savannah. She assumed that Savannah was downstairs and must not have known that Nick was home. Aside from Savannah's interest in writing and reading- two of the very few things that Holly disliked, Holly liked her. Her accent was interesting and Holly never ran out of questions to ask her about England, especially since she humored them more than Roman did. She bounded down the stairs and skipped the last three, opting to obnoxiously jump to the floor. "Savannah!!! Nick is upstairs for you!" she shouted, before even looking to see if Savannah was there. When she did glance around, she noticed Alex at the table eating Chinese food, Zero sitting by her area, Savannah close by... and Brooklyn! Holly's exclamation probably couldn't have come at a worse time but she didn't even remember the reason for coming downstairs when she spotted Brooklyn. Zero and Savannah were probably caught off guard by how tense the basement was, but Holly wasn't aware of any sort of negative vibes present. Brooklyn was back and even if she was the one that Brooklyn was very vocal about disliking, her presence brought a wide smile to Holly's face. "I didn't know you were still alive!" she spoke, not hesitating to kneel down next to Brooklyn and throw her arms around her shoulders. "Did you know that I went to the pool today, and this is Savannah and she's friends with Nick, and she lived in Australia, and Zero is that boy." There was so much to catch Brooklyn up on, and as her eyes fell upon what Brooklyn was doing, she was glad to see that the blonde was going to be staying next to them. She didn't even notice how that had caused her and Makayla's stuff to end up knocked over and shoved into Cara's area, or how Zero was doing his best to fix it. Her mind was moving even faster than it had been at the bar, if that was possible, and before she could utter another jumbled thought to the trio, she was up, passing Lennie and taking Zero's empty seat at the table next to Alex. "Hi Alex," she beamed. She studied the Chinese food containers in front of Alex, but was still full from the meager Wendy's meal and didn't request some for herself. There was one thing she was interested in, though. "Did you get any fortune cookies?"

Setting

Characters Present

Character Portrait: Makayla Wright Character Portrait: Nick Moreno Character Portrait: Brooklyn Archer Character Portrait: Holly Madden Character Portrait: Savannah Stonecraft Character Portrait: Robbie Amello
Tag Characters » Add to Arc »

0.00 INK

Image
Savannah felt as if she were holding her breath, as she waited for Brooklyn to speak. It wasn't until Holly's voice sprang out from nowhere, did she breathe, even if it was only gasp a little. "Savannah!!! Nick is upstairs for you!"the young girl called, and Savannah closed her eyes, yet smiled. She looked at Brooklyn, tension evident in her posture before Holly came running over, and careening into Brooklyn with a hug. She swallowed. She could use a 'Holly Hug' at the moment, the girl was as sweet as can be, and Savannah wouldn't mind a nice big bear hug from the tiny girl.
Image
The girl went on 'introducing' everyone to Brooklyn. "Did you know that I went to the pool today, and this is Savannah and she's friends with Nick, and she lived in Australia, and Zero is that boy." she went on before skipping off.

"Well if you will excuse me." She said to Brooklyn and if she were honest, she was glad that Holly relayed the message so blissful unaware of the tension in the room, Savannah smiled and nodded and went off but not before chuckled. "London, England, Not Australia." She told her before going off to find Nick, wherever he may be.

Setting

Characters Present

Character Portrait: Brooklyn Archer Character Portrait: Holly Madden Character Portrait: Roman Killens Character Portrait: Savannah Stonecraft Character Portrait: Zero Diamond Character Portrait: Alexandra Decoteaux
Tag Characters » Add to Arc »

0.00 INK

Image


No one helped her locate Cara, but Brooklyn was too annoyed to scoff at their silence when Zero came over and started fiddling with Makayla and Holly's things. He probably meant nothing bad by it. In fact, if Brooklyn wasn't so petty and defensive, she never would have looked far enough into his actions to believe him to be acting out of passive aggression. He saw her sitting right there. He knew that she was the one who had knocked over there things. Did he think that by him trying to be the good guy and fixing everything, that she would suddenly decide to do the right thing and join in in helping him? The only explanation she could conjure for this unfamiliar guy caring enough about the duo's possessions was that he was Makayla's boyfriend. Or more likely, he paid her to sleep with him. He was too frail looking for Brooklyn to imagine Makayla and him actually being a compatible pair, but then again, Makayla couldn't have very high standards.

Brooklyn was beginning to think that she needed to spell it out for Savannah that she didn't want to see her, hear her, or knew she existed. She did not need help, and what kind of question was that asking if she had any luggage? She had the backpack and two boxes that Killens had brought in and a couple of cardboard boxes filled with junk still left at her friend's house. Was this sleepaway camp or a trip to the Bahamas? She glanced up at her, ready to shoot some sarcastic remark about how she must have left all of her Louis Vuitton suitcases at the airport when she landed from her weekend getaway to Paris, when Holly came down. Brooklyn had no right to be surprised. It was her who was coming back unannounced and she knew good and well that a girl like Holly was not going to suddenly grow up over two months. Still, Brooklyn wasn't prepared for the redhead tossing herself onto her without hesitation. If there was one thing that Brooklyn had made clear, it was that even more than she hated Holly touching her things, she hated Holly touching her. Whether it was a hug, an attempt at holding her hand, or playing with her hair, Brooklyn couldn't stand it. Though Holly was the one who tested her more than anyone, it wasn't a hatred that was specific to her. Aside from Nick, she hated being touched intimately by anyone, to a point that explained why she had been irked earlier by Killens doing it. It just made her uncomfortable, especially considering that she wasn't a very sentimental or emotional person to begin with.

Holly's welcoming wasn't appreciated, as made clear by Brooklyn's grimace, and she wouldn't admit it, but there was a part of her that was happy to see Holly. Not only did her presence deter Savannah and save Brooklyn from the aftermath that would come with snapping at her, but there was a part of her, deep, deep down, that liked Holly. The girl offered unconditional love to everyone and such warmth was scarce in their situation. She could appreciate it for all of thirty seconds, but was more than glad when the girl hurried away as soon as she came. Brooklyn had only mumbled (in a tone that she did her best to sound pleasant) "Hey Holls," before she left to talk to Alex. Brooklyn still hadn't really acknowledged Alex but it wasn't necessary. The girls were definitely on better terms than Brooklyn was with Makayla, but they weren't exactly friends. At least, not in the sense that Brooklyn owed her some sappy hug and story about how much she missed her.

Within a few minutes, the rest of her things were set up, Savannah had traipsed upstairs after leaving her with some comment about where she was from - as if Brooklyn gave a fuck - and Roman reappeared. She didn't acknowledge Roman, especially not after seeing that Nick had already gotten to him first, and once she was on her feet, stepped towards Holly, Alex and Lennie. She considered going upstairs to Finn's apartment to shower and get some time to herself. He was the closest thing to a father figure that she had and she felt like she was even closer with him than Nick was. He wouldn't mind her using his apartment and even more so, she knew she owed him an explanation for her side of the story. However, she also knew that Savannah had just walked up the steps leading into the back of the bar, and according to Holly, Nick was up there as well. That was definitely something that she was not in the mood to deal with, so instead, she decided to repeat her question from earlier to the three girls. "Is Cara around?"

Setting

Characters Present

Character Portrait: Brooklyn Archer Character Portrait: Holly Madden Character Portrait: Roman Killens Character Portrait: Jackson King Character Portrait: Zero Diamond Character Portrait: Alexandra Decoteaux
Tag Characters » Add to Arc »

0.00 INK

#, as written by Thunder
Image

If Jackson wanted to work hard, make an honest living and have morals, he wouldn't have chosen the street life. That's right, he chose to live out here. It wasn't a choice in the same realm as Cara's, since Jackson hadn't just tossed the little bit of potential he had out the window for some temporary adventure. His life had already been on a downward spiral when he said 'fuck it' and left his small Pennsylvania town for the big apple. Granted, when he left home he was ignorant to the true reality of being homeless. Books and movies made the life out to be far more glamorous than it was and coming from a middle class family, it took a few months for him to adjust to just how alone and broke he really was. Jackson had been diagnosed with ODD, oppositional defiant disorder, as a child, so crawling back to his family was far worse of an option in his mind than braving the harsh weather and poor conditions, but even for him, this was no honeymoon. Sure, he had the others in the warehouse. Cara and Makayla were fun to share his nights with. Holly was a pain in the ass but her cheerfulness lightened the mood a lot. Considering the amount of blunts Jackson had bummed off of Nick, he had to say he was a decent guy. Roman, Lennie, Robbie and Zero were all alright as well, Alex was smoking hot and was fun to mess with, and he was still considering making Savannah the next victim of his sticky fingers. They were all good enough roommates, especially considering how many mentally ill or just fucked up in general people lived on the streets of New York.

"Hey, I told you yesterday to get the hell out of here. This is a private building and we don't need freeloaders like you loitering around here. You heard me, get the hell out. Go get a real job and do something to contribute to society, kid." Jackson didn't move at first, and only slowly pulled himself off of the apartment building's steps when he reached the filter of his cigarette. He absentmindedly flicked the butt to the sidewalk, met the building manager's gaze with a blank stare, tossed his backpack over his shoulder and left. Jackson was out of place in the Upper East Side of Manhattan and after making it a habit of loitering in the wealthier parts of town, it also became common for him to be recognized and chased away. Most of them forced him away simply because a kid in dirty clothes and ripped jeans with a cigarette in his mouth didn't benefit the prestigous image of their neighborhood. What they should have been concerned about, however, was how he took advantage of the wealthy residents of the area in the form of theft. He wasn't robbing banks or even stores, but two or three pickpockets a day kept him going. All he needed was twenty bucks a day to get by and it usually only took one wallet, or the purse of a nanny from a playground bench for him to stay afloat.

Today he had went with the latter. It was early in the morning, maybe eight or nine, when Jackson had passed by a playground and spotted a couple of kids playing on the gymnasium. Towards the area of benches sat an empty stroller and from a far distance, he was able to spot a purse. He didn't feel guilty snatching it when the woman he thought it belonged to was preoccupied with chasing the toddler on the other side of the park. She must have been working for a wealthy family to be at a park in this area and the meager forty-three dollars he found in her wallet couldn't hurt her that badly. And if it did, well, Jackson wasn't going to lose any sleep over it.

Cigarettes in New York were wildly expensive. He didn't see any pros to the price, but health wise, it was probably a good thing. Jackson had cut down to going through only one or two packs a week simply because he couldn't afford blowing thirteen dollars on a pack more frequently than that. After purchasing a pack of those, another lighter, three tall boy beers and a street cart hot dog, he only had around fifteen dollars left to his name. It should have left him feeling unsettled but he was too used to it by now to care, and spent the rest of the day wandering through the city. There were no easy pick pockets today and he was too lazy to put more effort into his theft, so around five-thirty, after being driven out of the upper east side, he spent a few dollars on a subway ride back to Finn's.

After a long, hard day of doing nearly nothing, he was ready for bed. He would take a nap for a few hours, get some late night pizza, maybe fuck around with Makayla or Cara, and then wait outside one of the seedier strip joints to rob one of the workers leaving after their shift. He supposed it would be an ordinary night until he took the side entrance downstairs and found that Brooklyn was back. Passing by Killens with only a barely noticeable nod of acknowledgement, he headed towards the table that seated Lennie, Holly and Alex, and had Brooklyn hovering beside it. "Shit, Lex. Now that Brooklyn's back, you're gonna have some competition if you wanna sleep with me as bad as I know you do. You know I have a thing for blondes, and this just adds one more into the mix." He knew that no one knew about his frequent flings with Makayla but the same couldn't be said for him and Cara. Cara was always drunk when they slept together and Jackson was basically drunk every night, so neither of them were very careful with where they had sex or who they were waking up while doing so. He smirked as he looked towards Brooklyn, knowing there was a good chance that this next move would land him with a black eye. "It's good to have you back, Barbie," he purred, his hand brazenly slapping her ass in a move far too typical of the boy who just loved poking the beast... or beasts, considering that he enjoyed provoking almost all of the girls in the basement.

Setting

Characters Present

Character Portrait: Brooklyn Archer Character Portrait: Holly Madden Character Portrait: Roman Killens Character Portrait: Jackson King
Tag Characters » Add to Arc »

0.00 INK

#, as written by Cure
The sky grumbled as Roman finished off his cigarette, feeling somewhat better now. After sighing internally, he went back into the basement and briefly locked eyes with Brooke before she turned away from him. He rolled his eyes inwardly, knowing how long Brooke could hold out if she was mad at you about something. Considering she wasn't the most liked person in the basement, and Nick was kind of out of the picture, he figured she couldn't snub him for as look as she was capable of doing. Zero was in the middle of rearranging Makayla and Holly's thing, of which the latter entered the room as loud as ever and ran straight for Brooke, embracing her as though they were best friends.

Roman went over to his side of the room and leaned against the wall. Watching Holly bounce around the room like a ball in a pinball machine was entertainment enough, but after she plopped next to Alex, reading to start another conversation, Killens was already getting weary of her presence. He decided he would busy himself to some planning, figure out how he would pay off Giovanni. Just the other week, he'd bought a cheap notebook and a pen so he could actually work things like this out, since when he tried doing it in his head, everything became jumbled and crazy. The notebook wasn't completely necessary, if anything it was just an accessory, and really just meant to be a distraction. He was good at approximating and could probably guess about what he needed to do and how long it would take to get things situated. As a kid, he could guess the trajectory of a ball, determine about where it would land, just by looking at it and thinking for a few minutes. And then of course when you apply the numbers, it was just basic physics. Still he figured he would give writing it down a try, if not just to have something to do. But as he wrote down on the paper, his handwriting unsightly even to his own eyes, he only reassured himself why he put off things like this. He hated numbers, albeit them just making sense. It reminded him of his childhood, which was just equations and weird, long passages, IQ tests, and the sorts. If he had to choose between listening to Holly talk everyone's ear off or planning out how he would get his shit together, though, the choice was pretty easy.

The sound of the basement door opening and closing caught his attention briefly. Jackson walked through the door, nodding at Roman faintly, before turning back to whatever he was doing. Jackson wasn't his favorite person, but he stayed out of Roman's way, so he didn't really mind him. The guy was nothing but a Don Juan to all the girls in the basement. Killens was somewhat sure that Jackson did it just to be bothersome, but when he made comments towards Brooke, he found it harder to hold his tongue, but Brooke could stand up for herself. Even now as he made his way over to Alex and Brooklyn, Roman rolled his eyes and shook his head, but went back to figuring out how he could get the essentials. He'd messed up somewhere and couldn't focus with Jackson's annoying voice in the background. Of course the guy wasn't aware of the tension that was currently in the basement, so he couldn't be entirely annoyed with him when he entered and went straight to flirting, but Killens still couldn't refrain himself from shooting a Jackson a look. And as he did, he watched as Braden said, with a stupid grin on his face, "It's good to have you back, Barbie," and proceed to smack Brooke on the butt.

Killens only sat for a second, not sure he saw what he thought he saw. But as the anger he'd manage to eliminate with his cigarette came back, he knew there was no questioning it. Typically Roman tried to stay out of people's way to avoid conflict. He didn't want people to associate his occupation with his actual personality, so if he could abstain from most of the drama that was bound to occur in a small room that housed 11 other people, he would be okay. That was most days, but today was different. He didn't so much care about how anyone perceived him as he tossed the notebook to the side and crossed the room in a few, quick strides. He knew Brooklyn could have taken care of the situation herself, but this was one thing Roman wasn't going to tolerate, and Jackson damn sure got lucky that Nick wasn't down here too. He made his way over to Jackson, shoving him out of the way with one hand. "Watch where you put your fucking hands," he said. He did nothing more, only meaning that as a warning. It took all the power within him not to punch him right then and there though. His fuse was shorter than it was on normal days, and Jackson picked the wrong one to set him off. He only hoped that Jackson walked away, because the last thing that was needed was another fight. However, if it came to it, he wouldn't hesitate.

Setting

Characters Present

Character Portrait: Brooklyn Archer Character Portrait: Holly Madden Character Portrait: Roman Killens Character Portrait: Jackson King Character Portrait: Zero Diamond Character Portrait: Alexandra Decoteaux
Tag Characters » Add to Arc »

0.00 INK

#, as written by Thunder
Image

Jackson wasn't completely caught off guard when Roman flew in to "rescue" Brooklyn. He was nearly as close to her as Nick was and as far as he was concerned, Roman was vying for a spot in Brooklyn's sheets just as much as he. Really, who wasn't? Brooklyn was hot and had an attitude to match it. Girls like her who played hard to get and had mouths too big for their own good were total turn-ons. It was probably why Jackson's feelings for Makayla were so different than what he felt for Cara. Both girls were hot and great in bed but Cara was too much of a good girl for him. Makayla had that wit and edge that always left him wanting more. Truth be told, Brooklyn probably topped all of the other ladies when it came to her sharp tounge, but as Roman, the knight in shining armor, had just attested to, Brooklyn wasn't going to reciprocate his feelings any time too. Even the shove that Killens gave him wasn't going to be enough for him to cut his chase for Brooklyn short. If that was all it took, he would have stopped hitting on her the day area he moved in. No, Jackson didn't really think he had a chance with Brooklyn, but it wasn't because some lanky wannabe boxer wanted it that way. It was more so because of Nick, who again, Jackson felt was a nice enough dude, and more so, who would most certainly at least kick him out if he were to make a real move on Brooklyn. The slap on her ass was just a playful move, so Jackson didn't think that counted and didn't get why Roman felt the need to go all superhero on him and step in. If anyone could stick up for themselves in this basement, it was Brooklyn. Not only did she stick up for herself on the defensive end, but she was an active participant on the offensive end too.

"Shit, my bad, man. For a minute there, I thought your name was Roman, not Romeo." It was in Jackson's nature to be sarcastic, and he held his hands up in surrender as if it had been as innocent of a mistake as the words behind his sarcastic tone hinted at. "Don't worry, Juliet is all yours. I'm in the mood for something foreign tonight anyway," he chuckled, adding a sultry wink in Alex's direction as he stepped past Roman and continued towards his section of the room. It was surprisingly one of the neater areas of the basement, but only because Jackson barely owned anything. He had three black t-shirts, a couple pairs of boxers and socks, one pair of jeans, a pair of sneakers and boots, his ID and social security card, and a couple bags of half-eaten chips and candies. He set his backpack down against the side of his mattress and pulled out the plastic bag with the three beers in it. Those would come in handy tonight, that was for sure. Speaking of tonight, and casting his fantasy of getting with Alex aside, he was curious as to where his two "friends" were. If Holly was here, that meant that either Makayla or Cara had to be close by. Makayla rarely went out and left Holly with anyone other than Cara, and especially with Brooklyn suddenly being back, she doubted that she would just toss Holly to the wolves, or better yet- wolf, like that. He considered getting back up to ask Holly himself, but Mister Altruism was still standing guard of Brooklyn, who was now apparently his girlfriend. Which kind of made sense, considering that Nick had most likely moved on to Savannah and Jackson couldn't imagine Brooklyn coming back to that scene, unless she had moved on in her own way. And what better way to do that than to fuck Nick's best friend? It was a move that seemed so in-character for Brooklyn that Jackson was certain it was the truth simply based off of his own assumptions and Killens' recent performance. Aside from all of that, as he cracked open one of the beers and folded his thin, flat pillow in half behind his back, he was reminded of how tired he was anyway. Fighting Roman and scouting out Cara and/or Makayla both seemed like too much work, even if the latter might help quench the sex-drive that had came close to causing the former.

Setting

Characters Present

Character Portrait: Makayla Wright Character Portrait: Nick Moreno Character Portrait: Holly Madden Character Portrait: Robbie Amello Character Portrait: Cara Forrester
Tag Characters » Add to Arc »

0.00 INK

Image

Cara was not going to accept Makayla's insistence that she didn't want a drink. She had spent her entire day with Holly. Of course she wanted a drink. Even Cara, who had the patience of a saint when it came to Holly, was ready for a drink by the time that Holly passed out or Makayla returned from wherever she had went alone. No one could deny that Holly's energy and optimism was infectious but it was draining to deal with for more than a couple of hours, let alone the many years Makayla had been tasked with it. She gave her a knowing look but didn't object as she and Holly took the lead and headed inside. Cara had a feeling that Makayla's reservations with drinking had more to do with money than a lack of a desire to drink. She hated pressing the issue because she knew how uncomfortable it made Kay, and rightfully so, but she also wished that it wasn't such a big deal for her to offer help sometimes. It wasn't like Cara was asking her to accept a thousand dollar check. If she wanted to treat for dinner sometimes at a place nicer than Burger King, she didn't understand why it had to be such a big deal. Again, give her predicament, it was probably something that Cara would never fully understand.

Makayla and Holly gravitated towards the less populated back of the bar while Cara stopped at the busy counter to order her drink. It was definitely best that they sat away from the bar, since not only was it crowded, but Holly was sure to disrupt the patrons who were looking to unwind on their Friday evening. When Finn caught her eye, she ordered two vodka cranberries. Normally she went for more complicated mixed drinks - a Mai Tai, Miami Vice, flavored martini or a Sex on the Beach, but Finn's bar served beers for the most part, and she didn't want to push her luck. She also ordered a virgin Shirley Temple for Holly and left a twenty on the counter to cover their tab, as Finn already seemed engaged in a conversation with another customer by the time she found it in her purse.

She had only taken a couple of steps away from the bar when she spotted Nick and Robbie standing at the other end. It didn't seem necessary to go say hi to them. Robbie was probably already wasted and Nick was probably high as a kite. Making small talk would only make them all uncomfortable and like she wanted for Makayla, they had probably come up here to unwind as well. By the time that Cara had found the table the two girls claimed, it was now only occupied by Makayla. The door that led to the back, "employees only!" area of the bar, was left halfway open, and it didn't take much to piece together that Holly had probably run downstairs for something. Cara took the opportunity to slide Makayla's drink towards her, take the seat across from her and look Makayla over now that she had the chance to. She definitely didn't look good, and it was something more than just stress. "Kay, you really don't look like your normal self," she commented, pausing only to sip at her drink. Knowing Finn, even in the bare way that Cara did, came with its perks. The free basement space was an obvious one, and the overpowering ratio of alcohol to cranberry juice was almost as good in the moment. "I bumped into one of my old friends earlier today and he works at one of the Hilton's over in SOHO. What if me, you and Holly spend the night there tonight? Sleeping on a real bed will be nice and you can shower and relax and I'll take Holly down to their indoor pool or something." The whole "friend working at the hotel" thing was a lie, but Cara hoped it wasn't obvious. She would take the risk of her father seeing she was spending a night in a hotel if it meant that Makayla could actually relax for one night. If she said yes, Cara would end up convincing that "friend" to get them two rooms too, so she could really give Makayla the peace and quiet she needed and keep Holly away all together. She pulled the liquid through her straw faster now, knowing that if it had been so hard to get Makayla to let her buy her a drink, a night in a hotel would be nearly impossible. Still, she had to try. Something was off with Makayla and Cara liked her too much to just let it go without at least trying to dos something.

Setting

Characters Present

Character Portrait: Makayla Wright Character Portrait: Nick Moreno Character Portrait: Holly Madden Character Portrait: Roman Killens Character Portrait: Robbie Amello Character Portrait: Cara Forrester
Tag Characters » Add to Arc »

0.00 INK

Image
Finn's bar didn't offer any of the peace and quiet that Nick was suddenly longing for, but it did offer free beer, and that was going to have to work for now. Patrick Finnegan, who refused to go by any name other than Finn, stood behind the bar with a younger guy who Nick recognized as the extra bartender Finn had hired for the summer. The small Irish pub was pretty crowded, which Nick would have been happy with on a good day, considering how bad business had been all winter for Finn. Tonight, he was even more happy with it, because it meant that Finn was already engrossed in some heated conversation with one of his regular patrons when Nick walked in. The middle-aged man only slid a Guinness towards Nick to acknowledge his presence and it was a gesture that Nick was grateful for. He wasn't in the mood to be dragged into one of Finn's arguments or conversations. The man was the epitome of "the fighting Irish" stereotype and had opinions so strong that Nick was sure he could spend an hour ranting about something as trivial as the weather. Not only did he not have the patience for that right now, but he assumed that Finn was already in the loop about Brooklyn's return. If Nick was like Finn's son, Brooklyn was undoubtedly a daughter to him, and would probably be the first to tell Nick he had to sort out whatever was going on with his relationship with her. Nick had just heard that from Roman and really, he didn't need either of him to tell him what he already knew. He knew he was screwed. God dammit, he knew he was really screwed.

Although Finnegan's served the purpose of a bar more than a restaurant, aside from the long bar counter, there were tables scattered about the place. They were generally just used by people who wanted to sit more privately with friends and order drinks, but Finn did have one waiter and one line cook in the back for those who wanted something to eat. The menu held your typical pub stuff: burgers, chicken fingers, fries, onion rings, and the likes. It certainly wasn't the quality of a five star restaurant but after a food beers it was bearable. Again, the fact that Finn liked Nick enough to put his tab on the house made it taste all the more better. He had eaten with Savannah only an hour or so ago, but as the Hispanic kid who doubled as the lone waiter and busboy passed by with two plates of onion rings, he realized that he was hungry again. "Mind telling 'Rique to make me a burger?" Nick said when he had caught the kid's attention. He knew Finn's line cook, Enrique, well enough to go back there and ask him to make it himself. Nick had actually met Finn by taking a job as his dishwasher and spent many days under Enrique's watch, but honestly just didn't feel like getting up. The kid nodded and hurried off, and Nick returned to the foaming beer in front of him.

The familiar voice that was quickly matched to Robbie, who had chosen a seat a few down from his, reminded Nick that Finn's wasn't the best place to go to get away from people he knew. It was following by a touch to his back and the soft voice of Makayla commenting on how much he smelled of marijuana. That brought an authentic smile to Nick's face but luckily that was all he had to respond with, since she didn't stop to chat after leaving him with the comment. Nick liked Makayla. She was independent and didn't cling to anyone, despite having the weight of keeping herself and Holly alive on her back. When Brooklyn was around, he sometimes wished that she would just let Brooklyn be Brooklyn, but even he knew that was wrong of him to expect. While he was usually okay with being Brooklyn's punching bag, he couldn't expect that of others. Makayla took a lot of shit from Brooklyn and when she snapped, it was usually very justified. Over the past two months with Brooklyn being gone, any reservations he had about her had disappeared. He saw clearly how she did try to keep Holly on a leash and that she didn't get into fights with anyone else, so if it wasn't already obvious, it was by then that Brooklyn had been the problem in that situation all along too. Especially with Roman distancing himself after Brooklyn's departure, Nick had grown to enjoy occasionally lighting up and talking with Makayla.

His burger came out pretty quickly but by then, he had already been through one and a half beers. He usually smoked more than he drank, but even his high wasn't enough to keep him calm at the mere thought of Brooklyn and Savannah living in the same space. Tonight was going to have to be a night where he doubled up on the weed and alcohol. He couldn't imagine getting through it any other way.

Setting

Characters Present

Character Portrait: Makayla Wright Character Portrait: Nick Moreno Character Portrait: Brooklyn Archer Character Portrait: Holly Madden Character Portrait: Roman Killens Character Portrait: Savannah Stonecraft
Tag Characters » Add to Arc »

0.00 INK

Image



When Brooklyn asked where Cara was the first time, Alex hadn't quite been paying attention. She was rather absorbed in her own lack of thoughts that came with the exhaustion she was feeling. She glanced up when Robbie announced his departure, her eyes sliding over to where Zero was fixing Makayla and Holly's things once Robbie went upstairs. A small smile graced her lips in approval. The kid, as she fondly called him, was probably confused as all hell. It took her a moment to realise that he had came after Brooke left, as had Savannah, and so he'd never met the other blonde girl. Poor kid.

More than that, she knew she'd have to talk to Nick at some point. Not because she was of any particular importance to him, but more because he must have been stressed out of his mind at this point. With the realisation she'd had that he was still in love with Brooke, after having seen the look in his eyes when she walked into the room, she knew that he was now caught in the almighty cliche romantic trap. Torn between the girl that had once been his, and a girl who wanted to be his. He was a hell of a ladies man.

Alex could see why. She'd had her own crush on him too, after he'd agreed to take her in and let her be a part of the group. He'd been everything she considered ideal at the time. His confidence and warm friendliness had drawn her in. The fact that he was very, very attractive helped as well. Then she got over it.

When the bundle of energy and enthusiasm and words that was known as Holly came bouncing down the stairs, Alex flinched. She could very well remember the the dislike that Brooklyn had for Holly's personality, and prepared herself to verbally defend the younger girl if needed. But, to Alex's surprise (she supposed that she should give Brooklyn more credit for this), it wasn't needed.

When Holly wrapped her arms in a hug around Brooklyn and her words came flying out of her mouth, Brooklyn only quietly murmured a quick "Hey Holls" before Holly finished and moved on to her next victim. Alex.

"Hi Alex."

"Hey Holls," Alex smiled warmly. There was something infectious about Holly's smile that made it impossible for Alex to not smile around the redheaded girl.

"Did you get any fortune cookies?"

Alex's eyes quickly darted to the interior of the bag that Lennie had brought. Seeing the telltale plastic wrapper and orange-ish coloured cookie inside, she nodded. Alex reached into the bag and took one of the cookies. Handing it to Holly, she said, "Lennie got some, and we saved them just for you."

"Is Cara around?" Alex looked up at Brooklyn, now standing beside the table. Alex shrugged.

"Not to my knowledge. Probably out doing something," she answered, using the chopsticks to put a last bit of the Chinese food in her mouth before setting down the container.


In a string of luck that seemed to be endless that day, Alex's favourite dickhead walked in in the form of Jackson.

"Shit, Lex. Now that Brooklyn's back, you're gonna have some competition if you wanna sleep with me as bad as I know you do. You know I have a thing for blondes, and this just adds one more into the mix."

"Fuck off, Jackson," Alex said casually, as though it was something she said every day. Which, to her credit, it was something she said every day. She both heard and, in the corner of her eye, caught the slap. She let out an internal groan, knowing that Brooklyn was liable to slap the crap out of Jackson back. However, that didn't happen as Roman crossed the room faster than Alex could think 'What an asshole'.

She pretended to pay attention to her nails, watching the exchange out of the corner of her eye.

"Watch where you put your fucking hands." She heard Roman growl the words at Jackson. At that, she looked up, only to see Jackson be his usual asshole self.

"Shit, my bad, man. For a minute there, I thought your name was Roman, not Romeo. Don't worry, Juliet is all yours. I'm in the mood for something foreign tonight anyway." With the wink in her direction, Alex characteristically responded with her favourite means of expressing her feelings: sending her middle finger pointed at the sky. Watching Roman standing there fuming, she stood and made the few quick strides to her own neat, little living space. It was relatively organised, a few cheap but waterproof plastic containers holding her clothes, shoes, and few valuables alongside her mattress. She reached down for her bag, counting out $200 of the total amount in there. She made a mental note to set aside $500 for Makayla to help take care of her and Holly. Folding up the four $50 bills to hide them in her hand, she walked over to Roman. She placed a hand on her should to let him know he was there, and in the moment he un-balled his fist she slipped the bills into his hand.

"Use wisely," she said with a wink, walking back. She was planning on dividing up the money between everyone anyways, and had decided to reward Roman with the nice secure feeling of having money in his possession first. Setting aside more for herself, who had done the work, and Makayla, who had both herself and Holly to take care of. Not to mention cutting out Jackson and Robbie. Assholes.






Setting

Characters Present

Character Portrait: Brooklyn Archer Character Portrait: Holly Madden Character Portrait: Roman Killens Character Portrait: Savannah Stonecraft Character Portrait: Jackson King Character Portrait: Zero Diamond
Tag Characters » Add to Arc »

0.00 INK

Image


Alex confirmed that Cara wasn't around, and Holly's presence reminded her that Makayla had to be near by. Of course. It was just her luck that the one person she liked, aside from Roman (who wasn't on her good side now anyway), was out when she needed someone to hang out with. The only positive was that Savannah didn't slow her pace going upstairs and as the door closed behind her, Brooklyn was at least reassured that she could go a few minutes without that annoying voice. "London, England. I'm from England. I'm sooo foreign and international and cool. Look at me, Nick. Did you know that I know met Queen? In fact, I fucked Prince Harry himself! Listen to my accent!" Brooklyn had known Savannah for five minutes and hated her already. It really only took one glimpse in her direction for that fate to be sealed, but when she opened her mouth a few minutes later, it only enforced how much Brooklyn disliked her. It was a good thing that Nick hadn't reemerged with Roman, because if he had, Brooklyn definitely would have snapped. In her melodramatic and petty mind, she recalled (or possibly made up) a memory of Nick stating how hot he thought girls with accents were. Typical Nick, fucking some English slut the minute I walk out the door. She didn't think her mood could get any worse.

And then Jackson showed up.

On a good day, Brooklyn could appreciate his quick wit and laughable attempts at charm. If he wasn't such a dirty, aggressive and horny little punk, she imagined that they could be friends. His shady comments, when they weren't directed towards her, were sometimes at a level she could respect. His remarks today had her at an eye-rolling level, but when his hand landed on her, any ounce of patience or positivity in her body evaporated. He was out of his mind if he thought he could lay a hand on her. Even if Nick had done something like that, especially in a room full of people, he probably would have heard it from her. Maybe she had just forgotten how obnoxious Jackson could be, but that caught her off guard and with her current mood, posted her over the edge. Brooklyn was good at keeping her composure though. She didn't knock his teeth out like she wanted to or attempt to break his wrist into a million little pieces. Before she knew it, Roman was over there, probably trying to do just that, but as quickly as the altercation had started, it ended with Jackson backing off in an expected smart ass way.

She was still trying to figure out why the hell Jackson thought he could touch her, and allowed him to walk off. The basement housed twelve people but it wasn't very large and he couldn't get very far. She had time to formulate the best response and waited until he was on his mattress to approach him. There was still a strong part of her that wanted to kick him in the face or better yet, below the belt, but as she passed by the stairs that Savannah disappeared up, she remembered she needed to save some energy. She couldn't release all of her anger onto someone as useless as Jackson when there was a bitch upstairs trying to steal Nick from her. She hated the way that thought sounded. As if she really cared that much about Nick where it would bother her that someone would steal him. She was the one who had called him every foul name in the book and left him, yet she felt like now that she was back, he had to drop everything and run back to her. Dealing with Jackson would be simpler than that.

Her first move was to kick the large beer can out of his hand before it could reach his lips again. She made sure it toppled over and that its contents spilled onto the concrete ground before smiling at him. It wasn't even as icy as her earlier one for Savannah, but the king of sarcasm would know that it was not given with warmth. "Touch me again, and I will fucking murder you, Jackson." She crouched down next to him, giving him a second to formulate a jackass response and open his mouth to say it before backhanding him across the face. It wasn't hard enough to leave him with more than a red mark and a few minutes of stinging, but she wasn't trying to injure him anyway. Jackson wasn't worth it when she had a bigger problem waiting for her upstairs. As she stood up and turned back to Roman, who she remembered was also going to be a problem, she watched Alex make an exchange with him. It was subtle and quick and Brooklyn couldn't tell what she had handed him until she stepped closer to him and saw him glance down at the handful of money. "Looks like you're treating for dinner tonight," she said, forcing a strained smirk to her face. She hated Jackson. She hated Nick. She hated Miss England. It would be burning too many bridges for her to hate Roman right now too, and his reaction to Jackson's slap had redeemed him in her eyes. She was confused about why Alexandra had given him the money, but didn't question it just yet. She needed to get out of that stuffy, humid basement before Holly could say something and piss her off even more. She tugged Roman towards the back staircase that led to the alleyway. "You must really suck at street fighting if you've resorted to becoming Alex's prostitute," she teased, once they were out of earshot of the others.

Setting

Characters Present

Character Portrait: Brooklyn Archer Character Portrait: Holly Madden Character Portrait: Roman Killens Character Portrait: Jackson King Character Portrait: Zero Diamond Character Portrait: Alexandra Decoteaux
Tag Characters » Add to Arc »

0.00 INK

#, as written by Writer
Image
The most interesting part of the fortune cookies were always the cookie itself, but since it took half a second for Holly to consume it, she usually had time to focus on the fortune inside too. When she was with Makayla, she could normally toss the small paper to her and have her read the fortune too her. Makayla wasn't here though, which briefly reminded her of the bar and the tattooed woman she wanted to talk to, before her attention again fell upon the fortune in her hands. Holly could read. Her dyslexia made it difficult and tiring, and her ADHD left her with very little focus or motivation to try and improve it. That, combined with other learning disabilities had put her significantly behind the accepted level of reading comprehension for a person of her age. The fortune was only one sentence but after about ten seconds of trying to decipher it, Holly gave up and crumbled it into a ball. She peered into the bag that Alex had pulled the first cookie out of and without asking for permission, took a second one out from inside. She had just popped the cookie into her mouth when Jackson appeared, and the scene that quickly unfolded left her frowning. She had busied herself with a third cookie so she only watched as Jackson hit Brooklyn, Roman shoved Jackson, and a few minutes later, Brooklyn slapped Jackson.

Holly didn't like fighting, especially physically. Every house she had grown up in had left her with some sort of abusive memories. The earlier memories mostly involved men beating her mother up, but by age five, she was the victim of physical abuse too. Most of those memories were kept hidden away in the back of her mind. She would never speak of them, not even to Makayla, but watching other people fight reminded her of them. It wasn't too dramatic. She didn't suffer from flashbacks or worry that Roman or Brooklyn were suddenly going to turn her anger on her, but she still wasn't comfortable with people she loved hurting other people she loved. Luckily, Jackson was one of the few people she didn't like, and since he was the victim of most of the violence, she settled with frowning and not trying to intervene. Besides, there was one last fortune cookie in the bag and Makayla wasn't there to stop her from helping herself to it. Knowing that there were no cookies left in the bag, she decided that this must be her lucky fortune and with the small paper in hand, got up and headed towards Roman and Alex. "Does one of you know how to read in American?" she asked, realizing that both Roman and Alex had accents. "Because this is definitely my lucky fortune and I need you to tell me what it says because it's too small for me to read." The least embarrassing way for her to say that it would take her thirty minutes to spell out each word herself and then string them together to possibly understand whatever the fortune read. As she thrust out her hand with the paper, she noticed how Alexandra seemed to be handing money to Roman. "I want money too."

Setting

Characters Present

Character Portrait: Makayla Wright Character Portrait: Brooklyn Archer Character Portrait: Holly Madden Character Portrait: Roman Killens Character Portrait: Alexandra Decoteaux
Tag Characters » Add to Arc »

0.00 INK

#, as written by Cure
Before he had the chance to pull away, Alex had taken his hand and wrapped his fingers around the cash. The act took him off guard and he visibly stiffened and watched her hand as she spoke. When he finally looked at her, albeit hesitantly, she was flashing him a big smile.

"Take it? For me?" she said. "It's a present."

Roman no longer cared to debate with her. He jerked his hand away from her and grumbled, "Fine. Whatever," before he quickened to put space between him and Alex. This was why he didn't talk to her, or anyone. He didn't like being surprised with money, or people holding his hand. With Nick and Brooke, he knew what to expect. Well, at least most of the time anyway. Alex probably thought he was too prideful to accept the cash, which wasn't really the case. Before he got into fighting, he tried different ways of making revenue, and one way was having sex for money. It didn't really work out, and it was a pretty traumatizing experience for him. Taking the money, in his eyes, only seemed to affirm that he was okay with that. And maybe Alex was fine with it, but he didn't want anything to do with it. It felt wrong for more reason than one, and he planned on returning it when she wasn't looking. And if she continued to object, he would just have Brooke bite her or something.

Before he could turn away though, Holly had appeared, much to his dismay. He didn't necessarily dislike Holly. She was really nice, almost unbearably nice, and it was funny how interested she was in his tattoos, but her timing was almost always terrible, like now. He didn't have it in him to entertain her, but no matter what kind of mood he was in, he knew enough that he couldn't just be mean to her. He took another moment to decipher her strange question about reading "in American." Considering neither him nor Alex were American, he was even more confusing. He looked at the small slip of paper in her hand, realizing it to be a fortune out of a fortune cookie. Before he could so much as answer her, though, Holly said she wanted money too, apparently seeing Alex giving Roman the cash. Before she could further that conversation, Killens turned Holly away and took the paper from her.

"Fortunes are worth a lot more than money. Let me see." Roman unraveled the tiny slip and read it aloud. "Love is around the corner." He blinked at the fortune in front of him. It sounded more like a horoscope than a fortune. From the look on Holly's face, he realized he probably should have made up a fortune, a boring one, that wouldn't leave her asking a million questions, but it was too late. And sure enough:

"What's that mean?"

"Uh," Killens said slowly, trying to figure out how else to explain something so simple. "It means someone that you love is close by." He glanced about the room as if it could offer him some type of answer. "Isn't Makayla upstairs?" he said. "You love her, so you should go upstairs and show her this so you can have good fortune," he said, handing it back to her. To his relief, she snatched the paper out of his hand, exclaiming excitedly, "Oooooh! I like that! Okay, I'll go show her!" And before he could respond, she ran off. Killens turned around to see her go up the stairs, but she was already halfway up by the time he did so. Now was definitely time to leave the basement. He had had enough conversations to last him a few days. Killens grabbed his jacket beside his mattress and made his way over to Brooke, not allowing her the chance to make a smart remark, which he knew she would.

"Save it," he said. "Let's just get out of here." With that, they left, entering the mugginess of the city, the sun casting orange over the skyscrapers' shadows, and the sound of angry horns greeting them into the thick, humid evening.

Setting

Characters Present

Character Portrait: Makayla Wright Character Portrait: Holly Madden Character Portrait: Savannah Stonecraft Character Portrait: Cara Forrester
Tag Characters » Add to Arc »

0.00 INK

Image

Cara wasn't oblivious to how quickly Makayla was consuming her drink, but she didn't comment on it. The least that the girl deserved was a drink and Cara would have been more than happy to buy her a second one had she made it clear many times before that she didn't like her buying things for her. That's why it didn't surprise her when Kay politely denied her offer for the hotel stay. The reason made sense. Of course Holly wouldn't understand that Makayla couldn't afford to keep them in a hotel and spending one night in what would probably seem like heaven to her would be hard to recover from. It made Cara feel horrible, really. Not only did she have the power to take herself off the streets at a moment's notice, but really, she could do the same for Makayla and Holly too. Her penthouse had ten bedrooms, far more than her father, his wife and she needed. Not only that, but it would just take a short conversation with her father to secure Makayla a job as someone's secretary or assistant. She wouldn't be making millions, but Cara knew what a difference a $10 an hour, safe and respectable job could do for Makayla. She could get Holly back into school, save up for her own apartment, go to a community college and get a degree, and get a job that she would love. It was that easy. The only thing standing in the way of it all was that Cara wasn't ready to go crawling back to her dad. It was immensely selfish and sickening, but that was how much her pride was costing her now.

The thoughts had her chewing on her lip as she instantly responded to Makayla's question. "Of course she can hang out with me! Is she down--" Cara stopped mid-sentence as Makayla's attention was diverted to Savannah who passed by their table. The curly-haired girl must not have heard Makayla's inquiry in the loud room, for she proceeded past without even a glance in their direction. It had answered Cara's next question though, on where Holly had disappeared to. With one look towards Kay's empty glass, Cara pushed hers towards her. "You finish this for me and I'll go check on Holly," she insisted, hoping her attempt at being stern would stop Makayla from trying to object. She headed into the back room of the pub and just as she was about to open the door to the basement, it swung open and Holly appeared. "There you are! I was just coming to find you," she smiled. "I have to show Makayla my fortune so I can get good luck! Roman said so!" Holly exclaimed in her normally excited tone. The smaller girl grabbed her hand before Cara could examine the tiny piece of paper Holly was waving, and pulled her back into the bar. Only a minute had passed since she left, so she found Makayla where she had left her and smiled apologetically as the bouncing redhead interrupted the lone minute of solitude that Makayla would probably have all day.