Linden
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Presence (3) Steady
Posts: 325
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Post by Linden on Feb 19, 2021 18:46:41 GMT -8
Wine glass held a little further from their body than looked entirely natural, Linden made their way toward Firebringer with purpose and a smile. The smile was a little tight at the edges, leftover tension from the interaction they'd left. Nothing had gone wrong, they'd left before anything could happen, but it was embarrassing to essentially flee a higher ranking Summer whose opinion they were sure could only go down on closer acquaintance. Maybe someday they would do Solomon proud, but it wasn't tonight. It was a bonus that she was already at the chocolate, and the Ogre arrived with a pleased sigh. "This... looks amazing. What have you tried so far?"Firebringer
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Firebringer
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Elemental Ifrit, Presence 3 (Intimidating)
Posts: 634
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Post by Firebringer on Feb 19, 2021 18:55:12 GMT -8
Fire was a little startled at first as Linden appeared beside her. "Oh. Shit. Sorry. I'm a summer, you'd think I'd be more vigilant," she laughs.
She looks just a little bit on edge, but perhaps it is just due to the sudden jolt of a person. "Um. I've tried these like... marshmallow-y raspberry filled chocolates. Not bad. But I'm thinking about just grabbing a giant sample thing and having at it. Maybe go all standard candy box and try at my own terror." She laughs, relaxing a bit more.
"How are you, Linden? I haven't seen you around much lately." She says to them, her hand resting on her hip as she sips on her wine.
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Linden
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Presence (3) Steady
Posts: 325
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Post by Linden on Feb 20, 2021 22:04:54 GMT -8
"Ooh, raspberry. You should definitely just go ham and try everything, why not. I'm holding up alright." They picked up a truffle and squinted at it, gave it a sniff, and then delicately bit down. "Espresso filling, delicious. Kinda weird with the wine but I won't complain." Polishing it off, they nodded. "Yeah, don't think I got to see as much of you at the last couple functions. Vegas really is an experience." It wasn't said like a good thing.
But the Ogre added a shrug afterward, trying to keep things light. "I'm not much for Valentine's Day but Riley invited me, and I'm not about to miss a chance to drink free wine with friendly faces. Let them dress me up and everything, haven't looked this good in years." They grinned, cocking a foot out to the side as if they weren't still just wearing the same boots as any other day. "Really I'm just glad I'm not working tonight. How're things with you?"
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Firebringer
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Elemental Ifrit, Presence 3 (Intimidating)
Posts: 634
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Post by Firebringer on Feb 21, 2021 19:02:06 GMT -8
"Yesss." She says, with encouragement, taking another random one, "Ooh. Let's see what we got," she takes a bite and makes a sour face, "Oh god. It's like a weird dark chocolate coconut, but not in the good way." She swallows away the gross and then laughs.
"Valentines day is a weird kind of holiday. Never been a fan, aside from the excuse to gorge on chocolate and drink the night away with other loners," She tries not to be phased by the mention of Riley. Play it cool. "They really did do a really good job. You do look quality." It was just factual. Another set of proof that Riley is amazing. Clearly.
"Things have been good. Did some training with Kai. She kicked my ass," she laughs, "How have you been?"
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Linden
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Presence (3) Steady
Posts: 325
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Post by Linden on Feb 22, 2021 20:48:14 GMT -8
Linden made a sympathetic face at Fire's second chocolate adventure and took another sip of their wine to wash the coffee taste away. The compliment was waved out of the air by a slender hand, but they still made a show of fixing their collar with a smile. It was easier to accept it as a comment on Riley's taste and skill in knowing what looked good on people.
"Man, Kai can time travel, shoot a bow, get important people to come to goofy events..." They threw a tiny glance back the way they'd come. "All in all, pretty badass. Having a training partner is smart, I should do something like that myself."
"Oh god, me? I'm fine. Work is work, had to haul someone out last night who tried to take a bite out of me, and not in the cute way." Rustling their fingers thoughtfully above the plate, they snagged something with white chocolate striping on the top. "I'm a little tougher on the teeth than they expected," the Ogre added with a grin, clearly unfazed by the experience. "And when I go home my neighbors make sure to keep things interesting. Everyone should have to live in a cheap apartment, keeps you humble."
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Firebringer
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Elemental Ifrit, Presence 3 (Intimidating)
Posts: 634
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Post by Firebringer on Feb 22, 2021 21:47:30 GMT -8
"Okay, but seriously though. She's a star." She bats her eyelashes as if star struck for a moment, obviously as a joke. "And important people don't even look bothered to be here with us plebs."
She grabs another chocolate that has some kind of caramel looking glaze. Gotta be with the gooey caramel, right? She takes a bite and is pleased at her correct assumption. "If you ever want someone to pick a battle with, feel free to hit me up." She needed to train. She'd been getting lazy with how social she's been. There is a sigh thinking about that.
"I can't even imagine some dude trying to take a swing at you like they thought that was somehow a good idea." She shakes her head, "At the same time, when someone is asking for a bad day, they tend to go overboard." She takes a sip of her wine.
"Living in a shady apartment though is the best. My apartment back where I used to be was this dank little 2 bedroom. The place should have been condemned, but we always just told people who came over that the crappiness 'gives the place character'." She laughs. Her mind though did begin to wonder... Linden is Riley's date. Meaning Riley was eventually going to come find them... Should she escape like mad hell or just let interactions happen and not be a scared kitten running from a cucumber?
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Linden
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Presence (3) Steady
Posts: 325
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Post by Linden on Feb 23, 2021 8:34:30 GMT -8
"Yeah, when some folks are low they want to go all the way; why get your ass half-kicked when..." They trailed off with a shrug, leaving the sentence open-ended. The reasons people took a swing at a bouncer were myriad, and mostly stupid in Linden's opinion. The ones that concerned them most were the folks that wanted to get hit; the Ogre could oblige, but it felt sour. If Linden wanted actual fights they wouldn't be picking them with self-loathing bar crawlers.
"To character!" They raised their wineglass with a laugh, toasting the garbage they'd lived in. "When its all you've got, you make the most of it. You had roommates, back before? Years ago now I lived in a house with five other people; sort of had to flip a coin to tell which day was going to be great or awful." Finally taking a nibble of the chocolate they were holding, Linden was a little disappointed to find it was just what it looked like: milk chocolate with a fancy drizzle.
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Firebringer
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Elemental Ifrit, Presence 3 (Intimidating)
Posts: 634
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Post by Firebringer on Feb 23, 2021 18:26:51 GMT -8
"Yes, to character!" The Elemental laughs as she clicks glasses carefully with Linden. She always had that intrusive thought that one day she'll accidentally shatter a glass.
"Yeah. Officially, I had one roommate, but at any given time we had four or five people crammed in that apartment. One perpetually sleeping on the couch, another on the porch. One on the floor. And we had two cats, Gizmo and Loki. They weren't feral, per say, but they were very particular about who they let pet them. I loved them to pieces. Such sweet nuggets."
She smiles fondly, thinking about those older memories. It was kind of heart breaking to go. Maybe she'll get another cat here. Maybe Talia liked cats. Maybe they cold bond over it? More random intrusive thoughts. She picked up another piece of chocolate, biting down on it to find some kind of marshmallow like filling. It wasn't bad, just not great. She takes another sip of her wine.
"Now, were your roommates the kind who lived in drama or were they a bunch of ghosts? Mine were a bunch of ghosts unless we were drinking or smoking or watching anime. ...well, I guess that's more often than I think. Huh."
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Linden
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Presence (3) Steady
Posts: 325
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Post by Linden on Feb 25, 2021 21:29:54 GMT -8
"Gizmo and Loki! You really are a Gremlins person," they said with a chuckle. Linden might not know much about Firebringer yet, but Gremlins was earmarked for her in their brain after 90's night. "My roommates were really great individually but all together? Mayhem. We really only had one ghost, and it was mostly because he didn't want to get sucked into things. There was a couch on our tiny porch and we'd all pile on it and smoke... sometimes after we had enough to drink we'd make a bonfire and throw the bottles in. Sometimes they even got the fire hot enough the bottles would melt."
"Neighbors loved us." Their smile was brash, but the undertone of sheepishness was clear. "And, yes, we did get evicted."
Pouring themself a little refill, Linden changed the subject. "You moved here to be closer to your sister, right? How's she doing?"
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Firebringer
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Elemental Ifrit, Presence 3 (Intimidating)
Posts: 634
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Post by Firebringer on Feb 25, 2021 22:16:34 GMT -8
Fire grinned. It brought back fond memories. And some crap ones, but mostly fond. Something weird about nostalgia and the bad times being more distant.
"I can only imagine the gorgeous art that could have been created with those melted bottles," she giggles a little bit, taking another sip of her wine. "Sorry you got evicted though, that must've sucked. I've been there more than a few times."
She takes another piece of chocolate, a caramel one and eats it, looking pleased with it. Though, when Linden mentions her sister, she seems to look a little more calm rather than excited. "She's doing well. In a production of Little Shop of Horrors and she is kicking complete butt." There is a look of pride in her eyes.
"She seems happy with the move, which I'm glad for. I was worried she'd feel displaced with how different here is from the east coast."
She pauses, considering, "Which reminds me, how long have you been around here? I don't think we've ever gotten into that."
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Linden
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Presence (3) Steady
Posts: 325
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Post by Linden on Feb 27, 2021 12:10:42 GMT -8
"I get that... I'm West coast, born and raised, and living a little further into the country has been interesting even for me. Must be a pretty big shift from East coast. I'm glad Vegas seems to be working out for her, though, and acting! Very cool." Linden didn't want to admit that the only thing they could remember about Little Shop of Horrors was the man-eating plant, and thus asking who her sister played would simply be embarrassing themself.
"Oh, I've been here a little over a year and a half, took me a minute to put my toes into Lost society. Had to figure a couple of things out first- you know." They shrugged. "But I needed somewhere to be and I had some fond memories from partying here with friends, when I was a little younger. Felt like a place I could be myself, more than where I was before. Not that that's saying much: it can be a real crapshoot figuring out where it's safe to be like me. Being trans," they clarified after a moment, realizing they were being pretty vague. "I don't stand out as much here."
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Firebringer
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Elemental Ifrit, Presence 3 (Intimidating)
Posts: 634
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Post by Firebringer on Mar 3, 2021 13:40:48 GMT -8
She nods, listening, occasionally sipping at her wine. There is a sympathy there, less about standing out, but just being able to exist in being seen as you are. It is demeaning and humiliating being in a place where you have to keep it all bottled up inside where nothing makes sense. The dysphoria. The sorrow from lack of acceptance.
"I'm sorry you went through that and I'm glad you found your way here. I feel like the Lost are a little closer to getting it. Transformed, not in the bodies we are supposed to be in, or feeling on a completely different spectrum. Especially in terms of gender. I hope the general people are stepping closer to becoming welcoming and/or just not giving a rats ass what is going on in someone else's life unless they are invited to. And even then, there are limits.
"You are really loved and appreciated here, Linden. I hope you know that," She says with a smile before picking up another piece of chocolate, biting down on it and making a gross face. "Oh dear god. Why would they put this sour taste in a dark chocolate and... coconut? What? Urgh."
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Linden
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Presence (3) Steady
Posts: 325
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Post by Linden on Mar 4, 2021 11:09:41 GMT -8
Linden listened, gently swirling the wine left in their glass, and nodded both at Fire's general apology for the world, and the assertion that the Ogre was loved and appreciated. Their feelings on the Elemental's words were mixed, for reasons they both could and could not identify; a flare of annoyance at equating transness with being ripped from reality and put through who-knows-what, the idea that being Lost made anyone more predisposed to empathy. Over the chocolates at a Valentine's event wasn't the time to get preachy, though.
They knew Fire, at least a little, and didn't think her words about how they were regarded were false, but they couldn't tell if they were sincere either. Well-intentioned, dismissive? They couldn't organize their thoughts well enough to respond in the moment, it was a knot they would need to take home and untangle slowly.
"Yeah. Man, that coconut gets you every time," they picked back up with what might've been a laugh. "Need a lil coconut detector." On the heels of that borderline nonsensical suggestion, they finished what was left in their glass and helped themself to more wine.
"I'm a little worried how much chocolate I'll eat if I stay this close to the table." It was the beginning of an exit, the first shoe of an emotional moonwalk.
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Post by Solomon on Mar 4, 2021 12:52:53 GMT -8
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Firebringer
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Elemental Ifrit, Presence 3 (Intimidating)
Posts: 634
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Post by Firebringer on Mar 5, 2021 22:29:30 GMT -8
There was something about the way to Linden spoke after that just felt weird. Did I fuck up and say something stupid again? She tries to search back on her words. Were they insensitive? Sensitive topic... or was she reading into it too deep? Maybe she was. She wasn't sure. She tried taking a deeper look before they could successfully 'moonwalk' themselves away.
As she's doing that, she feels the eyes. Really heavy eyes. Staring her right in the back. She turns slightly and finds Solomon's gaze upon her and she grows a little stiff. Oh god. What have I done now? Is it my existence? I feel like...
"Hey. We should take again soon. Maybe hang out sometime and get our fisty fists on or just chill out and watch Gremlins or something." She gives a smile to them, "I think I'm being summoned... pray for me?" She then makes a really awkward 'eek' face and puts her hands in a praying position. One might even describe her face like the grimace emoji. She turns and looks over, "See you soon hopefully!"
Begrudgingly, which is really just in that awkward 'holy crap did I do something wrong' kind of thing, she walks over to Solomon to see what's up, drinking the rest of her wine in a good chug along the way.
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