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Garvin Chips King | M | Mentions; Hikaru, Salvador, Maciej (Ind/Dir). Darla, Milkshake, Kaiser (Ind). *~*~*~* Garvin got a reply from Sal within seconds of him finishing his sentence, but Karu answering him was easier to listen to than reading a message. So he ended up keeping his eyes on where Bulb was laying down. - “I haven’t checked my phone yet, is the group up to anything? Oh, yeah, that’s fine. Fine by me.” - He shrugged, shifting to where he was sitting down on the motel bed he’d slept on. There really wasn’t much going on. Probably for the best, honestly. The last thing he felt like doing was going out on the town with a group he’d mostly met days ago. That he couldn’t even really remember meeting. It was probably fine. His memory was shit anyways. “Tory’s tryna plan a group breakfast. That’s ‘bout it though.” - He glanced down at his phone when it vibrated in his hand again, effectively remembering that he’d gotten a reply. Queenie had answered too now, apparently. Which meant going out on the town was even less of a good idea. As great as she was to have in a group of otherwise nice people, and himself, he was fairly sure that even if the others didn’t ask about him using a cane… Blizzard probably would, and answering shit about it was not on his agenda for the day. Either way though, Pepper’s answer was a lot more pressing than Dahlia ever would be. - ‘Like hell I am. Get your own food.’ - He scoffed at it, clicking his tongue against his teeth and moved onto Bee’s text. No way was he about to do that. - ‘Give me five minutes’ - That definitely didn’t mean five minutes, not with how long she always took to get ready. He really didn’t get why some people were so concerned with their appearances. Not like it really mattered, compared to the damn audacity of Bane’s message. He huffed out a laugh and turned off his phone, grinning at Shade. “Motherfucker thinks ‘m boutta pay fo’ shit? Yeah, sure. I’ll jus’ let ‘em eat breakfast wit Deryl an’ Max. See how that goes, y’know?” - Con wouldn’t last even half an hour with just those two. And that was Garvin being generous, he seriously doubted his friend could get through five minutes like that. But, hey, Lucky didn’t want to suck it up and pay for him? Garvin could find something else to do with his time than eat breakfast and play buffer, he was sure that there was something to do. He’d just have to find it. Maybe he’d do a sweep of the motel room, see if anything needed fixing. Or he could go through his clothes, make sure that whatever he’d brought was all stuff that was actually good for what the group was doing. He couldn’t remember what all he’d brought anyways. He’d end up wearing all of it either way, but it’d still probably be good to go through it. Or, and this really seemed like the best choice to him, he could steal more of Hikari’s snacks. - See? He had plenty of things to do. And if all else failed, maybe he would end up at a bar. So not taking his medication really had been the smart decision there. Functioning was easy, fuck off everyone who said otherwise. He was managing just fine. Maybe he was just better at it than others. Did he even need his medication at all then? - A knock at the door forced his focus away from that line of thought, and he sighed, waiting about two seconds to see if Sunny was going to answer before getting up himself. Maybe he’d been so right that Strike was already showing up to try and convince him to go. More proof he was good at… Whatever he’d been thinking about before. Probably. He wasn’t sure but it seemed likely enough to him. - He opened the door and was greeted by the sight of Castle and Maxine, about just what he’d expected. He raised an eyebrow at just how much Doe had with him and leaned against the doorframe. He grinned, already planning to give his friend as much shit as possible. As soon as he was done asking about why the fuck he was carrying enough stuff to try and shoot a movie. “What’s wit all the shit? Thought ya jus’ wanted to do breakfast. Which, by the way– The fuck? Ya said I had ta pay for m’self, you really think ‘m goin’ if I hafta pay?” |
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Darkseeker
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Maciej W. | M | M: Tory (d), Garvin (d), Hikaru (ind) As Maxi settled on the bed, he was half listening to Tory's ramblings as he reached towards his things for a clean shirt. He couldn't help but take pause, something about how his luggage was arranged was different than he'd had it, or at least how he thought he'd had it, but he kept it quiet. Maxi was well aware of his roommate's penchant for rearranging other people's accoutrements, so the biggest surprise was that it had taken him this long to establish that Maxi's things weren't *just so.* As the boy on the bed opposite him continued chattering, he wasn't surprised that people were content to go to breakfast. This troop of crazy individuals was highly food motivated, and Maxi was no different. He quite enjoyed sitting down for a meal that wasn't out of a can while they were driving around an abandoned town. Maxi hummed, amused as always at the arguments over food that were inevitable with this group. However, this time, something caught his attention. He'd thought the fifth member of their party's name was Jack. That's how he'd introduced himself, at least. Nevertheless, Maxi wouldn't be astonished to learn that members of the group had been omitting important details of their lives. His eyebrow quirked, and for a moment he considered bringing it up, but shrugged it off. Tory was always throwing nicknames around like there was no tomorrow, and he wasn't about to bring something up, especially if it was a mistake. This whole morning was being kind of trippy, so it was probably just something he'd forgotten. When Tory was finally finished with his long-winded spiel, and decided that they would just go in search of the rest of their posse, Maxi finally got up, and went in search of his shoes. It took him precisely two minutes and thirty-two seconds longer than usual to find them, which would normally have irritated him immensely, but he couldn't bring himself to even make an offhand comment about not being able to find anything with the new arrangement of his bags and miscellaneous against the foot of the bed. Plus, if he had found them as quickly as he would've liked, he would've had to stand in the doorway for almost ten minutes while Tory decided whether to bring the entire hotel room with him or not. The only item that Maxi really deemed imperative that he was sure his room buddy had grabbed was the pepper spray. His lack of affection for Hikaru's dogs was not something he flaunted, nor was it something that wasn't obvious when he was near them. Knowing that Tory had something in case they went berserk was a soothing thing to keep in the back of his mind. Maxi leaned against the wall, patient as ever, but couldn't help his amusement at the business of his roomie, whose head full of thoughts had him walking out of the room, silent and distracted. He was sure that once the thoughts had run their course, Tory would perk up again, and be more conversational. Thankfully, he was right. A few moments later, he was back to his bubbly, chatty self. Loquacious was the word Maxi liked. Or possibly garrulous. Using ten words where you could use one. It was something that delighted him greatly about the boy walking next to him. He turned his attention to the phone pointed his way, but Tory was walking sort of off-kilter, and Maxi could barely tell what was on the screen. Without thinking, he reached out to steady Tory's hands, his fingers half curling around the phone in front of him as he listened to the explanation of the restaurant that was apparently on the top of the list of places to visit. It looked very Tory-esque. Health-conscious was the nice way to say it. Even so, he smiled brightly.
"Juice. Amazing. I'm looking forward to it," he said optimistically.
Before he could try to either get his head fully around the fact that they would be eating rabbit food in a few minutes, or try to coax his friend into choosing a more invigorating food choice, they were reaching the door that led to Hikaru's room. Reflexively, Maxi winced. He could already hear the dogs moving inside, which made him want to pass out. But they were Hikaru's babies, he reminded himself, and lingered close to the doorway as Tory knocked. Maxi frowned. Jack. Or what had Tory let slip? Gary? Something odd. No, he chided himself. Better word. He had a wide English vocabulary and he went with odd? Maxi was honestly a little disappointed in himself Try 'unconventional' perhaps. Or 'eccentric'. He pursed his lips as he tried to remember the actual name. He didn't think it had been the full name, probably a nickname. It wasn't something he'd heard before, and not being able to instantly remember it had him pressing his tongue into his bottom teeth. *Oh well.* He huffed, his attention being pulled back to the conversation happening in front of him, and he automatically frowned at the slightly cutting words being thrown around.
"Hey, wait," he cut in, gently nudging Tory out of his way. "I can pay. I don't mind. I wanted everyone to come." |
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Lightbringer
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Darla Keys | She/Her| Mentions: Salvador, Maxi (dir.) Garvin, Hikaru (ind.) Darla finished making sure she had her belongings. And then checked a third time. Just to be safe. She grabbed her satchel, threw on her combat boots, and left her room. She raised her brows at the little gathering in the hallway before scowling. Seems the boys had decided to go ahead and without her. She said she would be five minutes, didn't she? "So the peanut gallery was about to leave me behind, huh?" She scoffed, shooting an extra mean spirited glare specifically at Salvador. Probably his idea. Asshat. The conversation quickly shifted though. Seemed like they were currently in a heated battle with Captain Jack Nicknames, arguing about who's paying for breakfast- lame. She flicked her hair, shoving past Tory a bit to go further into the hallway. "Didn't realise we were checking out already," She added, eyeing the practical mountain of stuff Tory had seemed to deem necessary. God- honestly she almost didn't have a comment for it besides rasing her brows. She was completely dumbfounded when Maxi finally cut in- offering to pay. She sighed, rolling her eyes. Seven hells- why was she with this group again? They were all adults, surely they could pay for their own food?
... Not that she'd turn down free food.
Accepting it was very tempting. She'd have to remember to actually think about Maxi. Right now he seemed the most tolerable. Maybe even pleasant? Though his weak reaction to the dogs did him no favours in her books. She was about to say something about him sounding desperate to suck up to the others- but decided against it. See? She could do all of that self reflection crap and be nice if she tried. "Well I'm payin' for myself. I don't need any y'all holding buying a mediocre meal for me above my head," She stated with a huff. See? Very mindful. Nice. Considerate. She was the lady, and she was paying for herself. Maybe it would teach the others some halfway decent manners. Or at least get them to shut up if Maxi's offer hadn't done that already.
And it sounded like everyone was coming along.
Oh goody. |
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Salvador "Tory" Castellano // He/Him // Mentions: Macy, Garbo, Hikaru, Darla Tory held out the phone for Macy, but clearly he hadn’t held it out far enough. Macy reached out immediately to steady it, and Tory’s brain exploded with mixed emotions. Most of them sounded something like aaaaaaaaah. He hated people touching him. He hated people touching him without asking him first. He … kind of didn’t hate Macy touching him, but it felt horribly weird and awkward. He quickly pulled his hand away, and then tapped and scrolled needlessly for a few seconds to pretend he had a good reason for yanking the phone away. Fortunately, the conversation continued in a normal fashion, and in fact Macy seemed genuinely enthusiastic about Tory’s mention of juice. Tory felt a glow of pride, and he felt bolstered for now. Especially because he knew he was going to have to deal with a slew of complaints and laughter from Garbo and Darla. Garvin he could deal with, and he never minded when his friend teased him relentlessly. Darla was another story. Well, if she didn’t like the restaurant she could just go somewhere else and he would be glad to see her go. Trying to reassure himself of his choice, he added, “They have a kale-" Before he could finish, he was cut off by the door opening. He immediately stepped back behind Macy - like that would help at all - and his hand hovered over the pepper spray. Just in case one of those murder dogs came charging out. But all that appeared in the doorway was Garvin, and Tory immediately relaxed back into his usual stance. He eyed Garvin’s outfits and clucked his tongue, but made no further comment. He felt the need to straighten a few things, but that would require leaning way into Garv’s personal space, and that meant Casino would be way in his. And that was a big no from Tory. He treasured his personal space. Almost as soon as the door opened, Salt was tearing into Tory, who simply rolled his eyes and tapped the ash off the end of his cigarette. He thought he spotted a flash of fur in the room and hovered to the side, trying to put Garvin, Macy, and anything else he could between himself and the dogs. Garv finished his little insult-complaint combo, and Tory was about to say something biting and dry in response. But Macy cut in to diffuse the situation. Well, not that it really needed diffusing, per se. Tory was very used to insulting Garv, and being insulted by him in return. Insults rarely got under Tory’s skin, unless delivered by a certain blonde-haired trash bin. Still, it was such a caring and protective thing of Macy to do. He did always seem to know what to do. He was so kind. And clever. And his hair was nice. It occurred to Tory that maybe he should offer to pay just to help Macy out. But that sounded like too much effort and a lot of complications. So instead he just commented offhandedly, “Good thing Macy’s a lot nicer than me. You’re lucky someone’s willing to let you freeload, Ammo.” He paused to take a drag on his cigarette and added, “We’re going to Green Gardens.” He didn’t bother to show Garv the restaurant, or even elaborate at all. If this man could eat a rat, he was definitely going to be alright with whatever kind of restaurant Tory picked out. Tory had gotten his restaurant of choice, approved by the all-knowing Macy, so he was in a pretty good mood. That, of course, was not to last. He got the sensation of a cheese grater scraping his nerves as he heard a horribly familiar voice behind him. He didn’t bother turning to look at her. He didn’t need to. He knew exactly what she looked like - walking up with her hips swaying, flipping her hair, coming to wreak havoc like a mean girl in a teen drama. He could almost hear the bad early 2000s music accompanying her. He clenched his jaw and kept his eyes trained on Garvin, but it was much too late to try and keep their conversation going now. He was peripherally aware of Dara giving him a scratching look, and staunchly refused to so much as glance in her direction. His attempts to ignore her, however, were made much more difficult when she shoved past him. He tensed and pulled away, jerking his arm back sharply like she was covered in mucus. Her rude gesture was immediately followed by a rude comment about how much Tory had chosen to bring with him. Tory knew better than to respond, and anyway he couldn’t think of anything clever to say in response. He knew he would think of one much later, when it would be totally useless. He would just look like an idiot if he tried to say something now. Still, he couldn’t help giving her a sideways look that said clearly, “Whatever.” His annoyance spiked as she rolled her eyes at Macy. Oh, was the concept of generosity short-circuiting her brain? Big surprise. She cut in, telling Macy she would pay for her own meal. Well, goodie for her. Especially since nobody offered to buy you food, Tory thought spitefully. He sucked in a breath full of nicotine smoke and gazed down the hallway disinterestedly. Wow, Darla, your hair’s looking extra frizzy today, he thought to himself savagely. It wasn't a great insult, but it was the best he had. He would have liked to have said it, but several things held him back. Partially desire to be mature, partially determination to be disinterested, but mostly the idea of the ten much worse insults she would sling back at him. So instead he said to Garvin, “You two about ready to go?” He leaned slightly to try and look in the door. “Coming, Hikaru?” he asked more loudly. He just wanted to say something so Darla wouldn’t keep talking. “He’s not gonna bring Cujo 1 and 2 with him, is he?” he asked Garbo, readjusting his backpack strap and then wondering immediately if Darla was laughing at him over it. And whether Macy would notice her laughing at him. “Hurry it up, anyway,” Tory said, though he lacked the force of will to actually sound demanding. |
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Garvin Chips King | M | Mentions; Maciej, Salvador, Darla (Ind/Dir). Hikaru, Milkshake, Kaiser (Ind). *~*~*~* “Hey, wait, I can pay. I don’t mind. I wanted everyone to come.” - Garvin blinked. And then grinned as he reminded himself that Max was just fucking nice. Or stupid. Or wanted something. He’d figure it out eventually. Probably. No matter what it was, there was no way he was about to say he hadn’t expected it. Not with the frown Maxi had given moments before. He’d been ready for having to do some convincing. But, well, he wasn’t about to complain about it. Even if Hen was just being nice in order to get something. Free food was free food, after all. - “Good thing Macy’s a lot nicer than me. You’re lucky someone’s willing to let you freeload, Ammo. We’re going to Green Gardens.” - Tory’s comment was a lot more of what he’d been expecting, and he huffed a laugh as he glanced over at Pepper. Either way, the place they were going to seemed fine enough by the name. There wasn’t much he wouldn’t eat though, so he probably wasn’t the best judge for that. The food was going to be free on his end, and that just immediately made the place alright. Complaining about free food was fucking stupid thing to do. He was about to comment on the choice anyways, when his eyes flicked over the two at the sound of DQ’s voice. Which, that made it a new personal record on getting ready, he thought. Less than an hour. Good for her. And then he realized his gloves were still on. So he shifted, crossing his arms to hide them in the crooks of his elbows. - “So the peanut gallery was about to leave me behind, huh? Didn’t realize we were checking out already.” - He snickered to himself, and then snickered some more at Bane’s reaction to her. How Doe could handle him and not her, he had no idea. He’d probably done worse shit than she ever had, and he’d probably done some of it in front of Mic too. Plus, he insulted Strike all the time. Either way, Dahlia was hilarious in her own right. Lucky’s reactions to her were what killed it though. - “Well I’m payin’ for myself. I don’t need y’all holding buying a mediocre meal for me above my head.” - He shook his head and sighed. So close and yet so far. Probably for the better anyway though. She seemed like the type to buy the most… Whatever the fuck the word was. Least cheap? There was probably any actual word for it. He didn’t care enough to figure out what it was. She seemed like she’d buy the least cheap shit if she wasn’t the one buying. He watched her for a moment from behind the glasses that he, for some reason, hadn’t thought to take off before she showed up, and looked back at Sal when he spoke. - “You two about ready to go? Coming Hikaru? He’s not gonna bring Cujo 1 and 2 with him, is he? Hurry it up, anyway.” - Garvin would’ve laughed if he didn’t know that Cam was actually afraid of the dogs. He still had to force himself not to laugh anyway. It was hilarious. Dogs were great, it was always the owners you had to keep an eye on. But, well, keeping an eye on people was probably a good idea just in general. He shrugged, letting his tone drop into something casual, and decided against asking what ‘Cujo’ was. Something he didn’t actually need to know about, probably. “I ain’t even wearin’ shoes yet, man. Gimme a minute or two, I dunno.” - Plus, he needed to take the gloves off. And the glasses. His sight wasn’t so shit that he really needed them anyway. Which was lucky for him and probably unlucky for Deryl. She seemed like the type that’d try and steal people’s glasses. So he stepped back into the motel room, glancing over at Motto as he did, since he’d never answered Sales, and found him sleeping again. He wished it was that easy to fall asleep. Not at the moment though, obviously, he was getting free food. - He decided against waking him up though. Less people for Magic to pay for if Sunny didn’t come, after all. Which meant more funds. So. It was just the better option. Besides, if Shade had wanted to come then he should’ve stayed up. So Garvin ignored him and walked over to the nightstand his stuff was at. If there was anything he was better than others at, it was getting ready in a reasonable amount of time. Taking off the compression gloves and glasses he was wearing was easy, putting on the pair of boots he’d brought with him was easy. Mostly because they didn’t have laces but still. The hardest part was finding a jacket that had the nice, secret, inside pockets. Because no fucking duh. He didn’t know how bad crime was in the area, and he was not about to risk losing anything. - He still found one fairly easily though, a simple leather jacket with his signature patch on the back of it. The patch was clean, he’d gotten better at making them over the years. It still didn’t feel like it really belonged there, not with him wearing it. He put it on anyway, grabbing his wallet, his phone, his lighter that never seemed to want to work for him, and the pack of cigarettes he had in the nightstand. All of it went into one of the inside pockets the jacket had. - He left the room, closing the door behind him and grinning at Con as he started walking. No way was he about to stand around with free food waiting for him. “Well, Opium, looks like ya don’t hafta worry ‘bout the dogs. Hikari’s sleepin’ again, so all’a those three ain’t comin’. Fo’ the better, prob’ly, since sum places don’t let’cha bring ‘em in.” He paused, hummed mostly to himself in thought. “Why don’tcha like dogs, Salsa?” |
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Darkseeker
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Maciej W | M | M: Tory, Darla, Garvin, Hikaru (ind) -- Maxi frowned as even more people gathered in the hallway outside the door. Normally, their banter was fun and easy-going, keeping up with the steady heartbeat of their group, and making sure everyone felt included and at least vaguely appreciated. However, this morning, it was all cutting remarks and cold comments that had him very off-balance. His offer for paying for the boy in the doorway had been picked up by at least two other people, bashed, and thrown back in his face. He was really just trying to be polite, it was how he'd always been taught. He huffed softly, and let himself be pushed into the background of the conversation. Better to be left out of the sharp words anyways. He watched the group as they jostled around, moving far enough back that he was somewhat set back from everyone else. Darla was making jabs at Tory as always, and he almost spoke up at that, but he knew Tory could handle it. Plus, then he'd probably get yanked back into the conversation, and he was much more content only watching. Tory was still keeping half an eye out for any rabid dogs who might come busting through the door, and he honestly had no idea where Hikaru was. After a lull in the conversation while Garvin stepped back into the room to get all his things around, Maxi pulled out his phone as a distraction, and managed to get in the way of the cleaning woman who passed by him, which immediately made him feel like a horrible person, and he started apologizing profusely, even though she was quite genial, and didn't seem at all bothered by the posse gathered outside the random room. Gavin came back out a moment later, with far more accoutrements than before, and Maxi caught a glimpse of the pack of cigarettes barely peeking out of the pocket of the other's jacket, and a grimace flashed across his face. He really didn't like the scent of cigarette smoke, and although he was willing to put up with it for the sake of his roommate, for a variety of reasons, he was less than thrilled to know that another member of the group also smoked. He had never seen the appeal. Lung cancer in the future for a moment of feeling a little happier? What had this world come to? He caught up to the group as they set off down the hall, Hikaru left behind to gain more sleep. Gavin was already yapping again, and Maxi lingered close to the back of the pack of people, not wanting to catch up enough to be in step with Darla. He vaguely heard Garvin ask Tory why he didn't like dogs, and a million reasons flashed into his head. They're big. They're loud. They have sharp teeth. Most of the time they're terribly trained. He's never once seen a dog he actually thought was cute. They make him sneeze. They're always going after smaller animals. Maxi has always had more affection for cats, but would never tell Hikaru. He was honestly glad that he hadn't been the one who had been asked, because he probably would've taken two hours to fully explain all his reasons. Even so, he picked up his pace to be a little closer to Tory, just in case he needed backup. Dog people, Maxi had found, got easily pissed when you said that you did not in fact want their slobber-machine leaping at you, and he would hate to see Tory get flustered or worked up without someone who would agree with him. |
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Winter 
Night 
