[IC] [c a n c e l e d]

[Boreas]

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9:30 AM, Wednesday, September 16 2020. The sun is shining in the sky, the sounds of upbeat music and rich laughter are abundant on campus today. Classes are not being held for the next two days as staff, students and families are welcomed to the Annual Fall School Festival. The past two weeks of school have gone by in a blink of an eye. With the initial awkwardness of reuniting with friends, getting back into the swing of a schedule and scrambling to pack away all those scary skeletons, the festival was a welcome distraction to the infamous group of seniors. The fun awaits them on the school ground, but first they're met with a large bullentin board plastered with their face and an endearing nickname from everyone's favorite gossip queen. 『whαt cσuld gσ wrσng? 』

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[Cio]

"The Artist 🎨"

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Getting back into the hassle of school after a long summer vacation didn't come easily to many students at Alexandrina Prepatory school. However, this wasn't the case for Mia who had spent her entire summer bored out of her mind. Stuck at a low-pay summer job by day and sharing a modest apartment with her pathetic excuse of a mother by night, Mia's summer had been spectacularly unspectacular. Spending just a few hours in the same room as her mother always made Mia god-fucking-nearly lose her mind, and not being able to hang out with her friends didn't help. Whenever the opportunity arose, Mia had blown out some steam by doing what she did best: recklessly adventuring in abandoned urban buildings and probably trespassing on someone's private property along the way.
When Mia had showed up to school on the first day with bruised knees and a wrist wrapped up in bandages, it didn't take a genious to figure out why. Turns out that making a miscalculated leap from the roof of a garage while worked up because your mother is a fucking türapea isn't the wisest decision out there.

If there was one thing Mia had missed about school above all else, it was seeing her friends. Like, actually being able to hang out with them instead of just seeing them do all the fun stuff without her through social media. As always, the League of Bros was a delight! Mia hadn't had any trouble jumping head first back into the tomfoolery (oh, how she'd missed them). It was refreshing to have some company on her expeditions. And of course there was Kate, too. Kate was just... well, she was Kate, lovely and awesome and as adventurous as ever. Mia couldn't bring herself to tell the older girl how much she'd missed her over the summer, but that was just due to her own shortcomings.
Although most of the students came from crazy rich families (and acted accordingly too), Mia was happy that she'd found her footing in Alex Prep with her kind of people. Even if she still got distasteful looks from some of the really rich brats, Mia had gotten extremely good at not giving a shit. It must've been her superpower or something.

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_{Wednesday, September 16 2020}

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It was around 6:30 AM when Mia woke up in the room she shared with the one and only Charlotte de Hauteville. Mia had been out late as per usual, so waking up this early wasn't really ideal. However, it became increasingly clear that Mia wouldn't be able to go back to sleep as whenver she tried to close her eyes, sleep drifted further out of her reach.
Sporting a solid five hours of sleep, the brunette got out of bed and sneaked around the room as quietly as possible as to not wake up her roommate. Mia didn't need any other reasons for the pretty blonde to hate her — and she was pretty sure Lottie did hate her at least a little — and besides, Mia knew that Charlotte preferred having the room to herself anyway.
After gathering everything she needed and putting on some clothes Mia exited the room on her tiptoes. She still felt a little sore from the mishaps she'd taken part in the day before. There was a nasty looking road rash on her right elbow from a dare gone wrong, and Mia's knee brace was back to stay. Mia wore it most of the time anyway; even when she didn't absolutely necessarily need it, for comfort. She did need it now, though.

Mia plopped down on her favourite couch in the second floor's communal area, yawning as she sunk down further into the cushions. Few people were awake at this point, but Mia didn't mind the quietness. On the contrary, she quite enjoyed it. Being awake when many others weren't made Mia feel like she had the whole school to herself. Those few quiet hours were hers and hers only.

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By 9:30 AM the school grounds were a lot more lively. Music could be heard from outside and students were steadily flowing in and out of the communal area. During her alone time, Mia had gotten some extra studying done. Thanks to the festival there were no classes for the time being, but the brunette liked staying one step ahead of everyone in case something more interesting presented itself to her when she was actually supposed to study.
Enough studying for now. The Festival was there, just waiting to be attended. Mia already had a list of dozen things she wanted to do there -- one of them obviously being a visit to the delicious pastry food truck. Putting her things away, Mia got up and headed out.

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There was a small crowd gathered at the Festival enterance. They were all looking at something on the billboard there, murmuring and pointing at whatever was plastered on the board. As Mia made her way closer, some of the students gave her a look Mia couldn't decipher, but didn't say anyhing. What was the fuss about? Mia pushed herself through and came face to face with a list titled 'The Elites'.

Wait a minute. That was her face. Second row, third from left, that was her. And look, Kate was there too. And Mike. All of her friends, really. As was Lottie and the pretty new redhead girl Mia couldn't remember the name of. All of the students on the list Mia knew, paired with weird nicknames to go. What the fuck?

"Well she could've at least chosen a better picture of me!" was Mia's first reaction. It came out like a groan, followed by a squint as Mia examined the piece of paper closer. "'The Artist'? What's that even supposed to mean?" the brunette exclaimed, taking out her phone to text Kate. As Mia opened instagram to dm her friend, a post from TheMsFortune popped up on her feed.
Maybe I should open instagram more often, Mia realised as she read the caption and let the information sink in. Secrets. That part in particular made Mia's stomach sink. If her name was on the list, it meant that someone had dirt on her, it meant that her privacy wasn't safe from prying eyes. Mia hated that. She hated the thought of being known, and hated the thought of being known by strangers even more. My God, it has that many likes already? Is that even humanly possible?
Mia barely used instagram for anything but messaging and keeping up with her friends. Heck, she had like 16 followers and nine posts, most of them pictures of cool abandoned buildings or messy selfies with the Bros. Why would anyone care about what she had to hide? She'd thought the whole 'Elites' thing had been a joke, for crying out loud! Or had that just been her wishful thinking?



After hitting send Mia turned around and scanned the festival enterance, looking for any familiar faces from the billboard.

[Venus]

A Collaboration Between 🎅 The Fake 🎅 & 👼 The Angel 👼
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While the majority of the Alexandrina Prep students were up bright and early enjoying the vast amount of festivities set up around campus, there was one student not currently partaking in the activities. Marlena Castillo was still very much fast asleep under the white and mauve covers of her king-sized bed, taking advantage of her classmates’ absence and the cancelled classes to sleep off a raging hangover.

The past night had been… Draining, to say the least. During her regular scrolling through social media, she’d found herself staring at a photo of the man who’d ripped her heart out arm in arm with his new wife, and all the feelings she’d been trying so hard to bury came bubbling right back to the surface. The Mexican girl had shook her head, blinked away the tears, and decided to take a few shots of Tequila Rose to drown the pain away. But somewhere between the fifth and seventh tequila shot, her mind had decided to replay their last night together in a loop instead: his touch on her skin, his lips on hers, his promise of loving her no matter what and then getting married that very next day to somebody else... Before she knew it, Marlie was slumped on her balcony floor at three in the morning, alternating between sobbing and screeching along to the lyrics of Rihanna’s ‘Fool In Love’. How she’d made it back to her bed was still a mystery.

Theo watched as the fan above him moved in lazy circles, ignoring the way his glass of water rippled with every beat. Most of the students must have chosen today to be out and about, enjoying all the greatest entertainment that money could buy. Either that, or they were far too cowardly to come and bother him. Otherwise, he might have had a small angry mob of neighbors complaining of his rather spiteful morning activity.

Pressed against his wall were two massive speakers- the kind he normally reserved for the occasional Tuesday night kegger. It had taken him the better part of ten minutes to drag them across his room, scraping a part of the dark wood floor in the process. Nothing that one of the many rugs in his room couldn’t cover.

He wondered if her beloved Rihanna sounded just as good this side of dawn.

When the magical Robyn Fenty suddenly started blasting through the speakers next door, Marlena had wondered if it was all just a bad dream. She groaned loudly and threw a pillow over her head, wishing with all her might for the world to go silent so she could sleep in peace. But it seemed that not even in the saddest of moments would her lovely neighbor for the year would take the foot off her throat, because the music only seemed to grow louder instead of softer. Positively seething with hatred now, the short girl flung the pillow across the room, stormed out of bed and stomped next door.

“Theo?!” Marlena furiously yelled, ignoring the way her head throbbed painfully as her closed fist violently banged against the young man’s loft door. “Theo! Boy, you better open this fucking door right now, or I’ll feed you your own shotgun, pendejo!”

As soon as the banging on his door started, Theo yawned and pulled himself up into a sitting position on his couch, digging his toes into the bear skin rug. He paused to take a drink of water, stretch, pick up a blanket, put some bread in the toaster etc. before finally making his way to the door.

“Marlena. What a pleasant surprise! You are looking radiant this morning,” he said, a cocky smile glued to his face as he leaned casually against the door frame.

In normal circumstances, Marlie’s eyes would have secretly feasted on that perfectly tanned, beautifully freckled bare torso. Today, however, her boiling anger prevented her from wanting nothing more than to wipe that cocky smile off his face with a few solid punches.

“And you’re looking like you could use a fucking black eye,” she growled, choosing to ignore his fake compliment. “Can you tell me why the fuck are you blasting music at this time of day with your fucking speakers pressed against my wall?”

“That’s not a very lady-like thing to say,” he teased. “As for my reason, well, you should know. In this hall we worship Rihanna. It’s in the bylaws that she must be played, loudy, at all times,” he shrugged. “I’m sorry, but this is completely out of my hands. I’m sure you understand,”

If she wasn’t so hungover and upset, Theo’s comment would have scored him some major brownie points and earned him a smile-- maybe even a snort. It was truly a shame that the brunette was in no mood for jokes at the moment.

“I just want to fucking sleep!” she screeched at him, getting in his face as much as their foot-long height difference would allow. “Turn the music off right now, or I swear I’ll make you regret it!”

“Funny, I was having the same thought around 3am last night. Who knew we had so much in common,” Theo took a step back away from the door, putting a couple of inches between the two of them. He let out another yawn. “Moral of the story is, guess you're stuck with RiRi all day long.... Unless… Ah, no, you’ll never go for it.”

“Puta madre… What do you want?” Marlie whined in resignation, rolling her eyes and slumping her shoulders.

“How about a good morning kiss from a lovely little lady?”

The Mexican girl couldn’t hold back her immediate snort. How amusing was it to see that his supposed lack of sleep hadn’t interfered with his shitty sense of humor. “Listen, Theo: I don’t know what crack you’re smoking, but you need to lay off of it a bit. It’s frying the two brain cells you had left.”

“Well then, if that is your final answer, guess I’ll go back to my crack pipe. Just know, the next time you come by, the price might just go up,” Theo gave a disinterested shrug before stepping back into his room.

Marlena had opened her mouth to give Theo another piece of her mind when it registered with her that he hadn’t yet agreed to grant her the gift of silence. And as much as she hated what she had about to do, she knew there was no way around it.

“Wait…” she pleaded, placing a hand on his bedroom door to prevent it from getting close. “Look, I’m sorry about last night, okay? I was feeling fucking shitty about something, and I thought that drowning it would make me feel better. But all it did was make me do stupid shit and feel a hell of a lot worse,” she begrudgingly explained, bouncing up and down on the balls of her feet. “I’ve thrown up about three this morning and I feel like I might get a migraine. All I’m asking for is some peace and quiet so I can sleep this off. Do you think you grow a heart and do this for me, just this once?"

Theo watched Marlena, mulling it over. “Fine,” he said, walking back into his room and unplugging the giant stereo. The room became eerily quiet at once. “Let’s just say you owe me a favor.”

"Thankyouthankyouthankyouthankyou!" Marlie happily exclaimed, letting out a sigh of relief. "I'll make it up to you, pinky promise!" she assured him, backing away from the door. "Who knows? Maybe I'll make that morning kiss fantasy of yours a reality one day… You know, when my breath doesn't reek of bile and stale alcohol."

Theo threw himself down on the couch and gave her a dismissive wave. “Yeah, yeah. Just be sure to shut the door on the way out.”

The young man watched as Marlena departed and closed his loft door shut when suddenly his phone buzzed, falling off the table and crashing onto the rug below. With an exasperated sigh Theo leaned down and saw a message from Isaiah on the screen:

This couldn't be good news.

[JrVader]

【Ｗｉｌｌｉａｍ　Ｓｉｌｖｅｒｓｔａｒ】

【Ｔｈｅ　Ｌｏｓｔ　Ｃａｕｓｅ】

"Fuck, Fuck, Fuck, Fuck!!!!" Was the only thing heard from the fourth floor boarding room. William had just gotten up, made breakfast, and was planning to have a good day. That WAS until his phone started blowing up.

Lets go back a few moments, shall we?

After shooting down the last bits of his orange juice, WIlliam went to his room to get changed for the day to come. It was festival day, after all. The school asked William to perform for the new students coming in to Alexandrina Prep. William was a third year in Alex Prep and was already widely known for being a musical genius. He is a skilled vocalist, as well as proficient in the guitar, drums, piano, bass, and violin. After all, he was the son of Mark Silverstar.

Once he reached his room, William checked his phone. Normally, he would be seeing a wallpaper of his mother and father on their wedding day, but today all he saw was notifications from his social media accounts.Confused, William checked his instagram. There were twenty new followers in the span of five minutes. Though he had a pretty solid following on social media, he never had this fast of growth in such a short period.

This is the point in the story where William’s day starts to spiral downwards. He got a message from his friend, Nicholas, through Instagram. I will just let the picture tell what happened…

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1xs9JSNouJ8SSqhsFG8Nr6UY-wMXy6sbS/view?usp=sharing

Now we resume to the present moment…

"Fuck, Fuck, Fuck, Fuck!!!!" This was bad, really bad. Somehow, William has attracted the attention of little Ms. Headass. Better yet, she has dirt on him. He better go down to the fairgrounds to see this with his own eyes.

XXXXXXXXXXX

Once he got here, a crowd instantly surrounded him. Taking pictures, asking how he new Ms. Fortune, you name it, they were doing it. This peeved William to no one. Once he managed to get to the billboard, he saw it with his own eyes. There, clear as day, was his picture with the label “The lost cause” under it. This infuriated the musician to no end. What pissed him off more was that there were more of them. Some with good nicknames, some with bad.

"Who in their right minds would do this?" William mutters to himself. He scans the festival around him, looking to see if there was anyone else in this so called “Elites” that he could find.

[Hero]

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"Yes--Yes--Yes--Yes--YES--YES--YES! YEAH! YEAH--OW!"

The hyper, barbaric battle cry was heard loud and clear, although it was then quieted down by an equally loud thud. A few seconds later, Elliot came out of his dorm room, rubbing the back of his head with wide, blue eyes. Okay, yes, he was probably a little too excited, and he shouldn't have been hopping in place while he had been putting away his now-empty luggage in his closet, but come on! Senior year! Only one more year of mandatory classes and then that was it, and all he had to do was basically just show up! If he could swim through a pool of lard while holding up a brass candelabra, he could do this.

The only thing that could make this any better were his bros--and obviously now that everything was put away like he had promised his sister (who kept telling him not to rely on poor Salem to help him so much for some reason), he could go out and actually see them. The smart thing was to send a group chat asking everyone where they were, but honestly, he was just way too happy, deciding to go out and physically find everyone. The entrance was probably the best place to start, honestly, and as he approached, he already saw one familiar face that he was all too happy to see.

"MIA! MIA! OVER HERE!" Despite calling for her, Elliot ended up pushing his way through, stopping in front of her with a huge grin and quietly trying to catch his breath. "Hey!" As he took a second to calm himself down, he did a double take at the board. Was it a new club? He lingered on 'The Elites' title for a few seconds before going over the pictures, recognizing a decent chunk and not really knowing who the other people were. He stopped at his, squinting at 'The Kyle' underneath. He wasn't The Kyle, he was The Elliot. Well, not the Elliot, Elliot Anderson was a sophomore who also had the name and he was sure there were a few others, but whoever made the bulletin had made a mistake. He laughed to himself, taking a picture for proof before sending it to Salem.

"They got everyone's names wrong, too. I'm pretty sure they're feeling real dumb right about now," Elliot said, shaking his head in clear pity. "What's this supposed to be, anyway?"

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Poking @Cio and messaging @fledermaus.

[KatKook]

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"The Plan B huh? I'm down."

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_{Before the storm}

"Last chance huh?" Said Kate, golden hour, September 7. Kate sat there, hugging her knees as she sat on the hood of her car, overlooking the beach of Santa Monica. At least, she was not alone, she was with her friends some of which she had met on the streets of LA on her way here. "It's never usually the last of anything Kate." Said one of the guys, Kate smiled as she looked over the group of misfits that have gathered here today. This was the life, but of course, it would not last long. Kate enjoyed herself at the very least, and sometimes it was usually all in the moment. Hours of laughter and bonding have passed, and Kate did not want this day to end but life does not work out that way.

Once the new day had arrived, she said goodbye to those who lived in LA and started her drive back to Brooklyn along with her friend who she brought along from the start. Her phone buzzed, in big caps letters it wrote "DAD." She took her phone and pressed it between her ear and her shoulder since she was driving. "Before you say anything, I'm on my way back. Oh, uh... Good morning too Dad. Yeah, I know it's a long drive, I'll be there before you know it. I'll see you soon." She hung up and continued her drive, continuing the exchange of stories with her friend.

The drive definitely did not feel long at all, even though it was a 42 hour drive (not counting the breaks and stop overs). Kate arrived back home, she was immediately greeted by a playful hug by her dad who hid behind the door as soon as he heard her pull up into the garage. Kate hugged him back and exchanged their pleasantries. She even got him a T-Shirt that read "Best Weed Dad." His father said that he loves it before he vowed to never wear in public. Her mom was not home yet, and she liked it that way; she gave her dad a quick pat before returning to her room, she was greeted by a lot of boxes and a whole lot of luggage. She collapsed on her bed for a good nights sleep before she left in the morning.

Morning arrived and her luggage was already gone, she got ready and ran downstairs, her dad had already readied his SUV with all her stuff inside. She saw a glimpse her mother in the living room and knew she had to say goodbye. She walked up to her mom who looked up at her, they awkwardly smiled at each other but it did end in a nice wholesome hug, that was rare but she hoped it would be the norm. They then went off and drove to the airport, Kate got on her flight and waited for what was to come.

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_{Wednesday, September 16 2020
8:21 AM}

Kate awoke to sensation of something warm and vibrating on her face, it was her phone, she must have fallen asleep holding her phone again, she accidentally opened the front camera and saw her zombie face before closing it immediately.. She sat up and looked around, her roommate Calla was probably still asleep, so she did not want to bother her. She looked out the window and she could see people already getting wild with music in the background. She moved to the bathroom, took a shower and got herself ready. She dressed in this outfit before grabbing her essentials and dipping out of the room. She must have spent a lot of time getting ready because it was 9:30 when she came out. Kate was not about to deal with people without a coffee.

She had a quick walk to the comfort cafe to order one of their absolutely divine mocha brews. When that was done, she made her way back to the Alexandrina to see what was going on. Coffee in hand and sunglasses on, she walked to the festival entrance, to see why everyone was crowded around this one little point. She squeezed past through the people, careful to not spill her coffee to see what was going on. She saw the list of students who have are known as 'The Elites' and she scanned through it, she saw Mia first before even seeing herself. The photo Ms. Fortune picked for her was pretty good, she can't say much for everyone else though. "... Plan B? Sounds pretty cool." She was already ready to take that name as her own, it did not seem like it was going to take much for people to start calling her- Buzz! She felt her phone in her pocket and saw a message notification from Mia, she read it and sent her replies.

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The text was rather recent, so it was either Mia saw it just now or she just forgot to tell Kate about, but either way Kate was shooting her shot to see Mia again, it had been awhile, especially since they do not live in the same area at all. She looked around, standing on the tips of her toes just to see if she could find her friend, but everyone around her was so tall, especially with Kate being the 5'5" mess that she was she could not for the life of her see anyone, and she did not have the best eyesight either. She pulled herself away from the crowd, standing a good few metres away from everyone else, she took a swig of her coffee before sending a follow up text.

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Mia was definitely close, she just didn't know where...

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Mentions:

Interactions: Mia @Cio,

[Komo]

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Chiyo found something buzzing and vibrating on her face, interrupting her sleep. Swatting it away from her face, she heard the loud clunk of the offending object as it hit the floor with a thud. Realising what she had just done, she woke up instantly to check on the status of her phone, worried that she'd just gone and cracked her newest iPhone not even two weeks after getting it. Fortunately, the cover and tempered glass protection she had invested in had prevented any serious damage, and the glass remained in tact without any cracks. Now fully awake, she felt it time to see what was causing that constant buzzing all of a sudden. Scrolling through the notifications, she noticed that it was all social media related, mostly from Instagram and Facebook. There was alot of this Elite thing mentioned that she had no clue about, and the words The Failure seemed to come up over and over again. People seemed to referring to her as that, and Chiyo wanted to know why.

There was a reason she could think of, but it could it really be it? Did anyone know about her secret? She eventually came across a recently taken photo of a notice on the billboard near the festival entrance. There were a whole series of photos there, and she couldn't quite believe it, but she thought she saw her picture present among the rest. Could you still be half-asleep and imagining things? Slapping her cheeks, she moved to brush her teeth and wash-up before heading to the kitchen to make herself a hot chocolate. While many swore by a mug of hot morning coffee or tea, Chiyo liked none of them. Instead, she preferred hot cocoa herself. She swore that a good mug of chocolate on a cold day did wonders for her body and soul. She didn't know if Amelia was up already or not, but the messages to her were coming anyway.

While waiting for her friend to reply, Chiyo had already drained of all of the velvety warm brown beverage she loved so much. Unable to contain her curiosity any longer, she decided to dress proper, and go out to to the billboard in question to see the notice that had caught everyone's attention. As she approached, many in the crowd noticed her and began talking amongst themselves. She was pretty sure she heard the words 'failure' and 'elite failure' again. She could feel plenty of eyes on her, but she ignored them and pushed past the crowd to get to the front, coming face-to-face with the series of photos on the board. Chiyo recognised pretty much all of them, and true enough, both she and Amelia were there on the board. While she occupied the bottom far right, the other girl took the spot on the far left. Somehow or another, they had ended up catching MsFortune's eye and now all of them were Elites, whatever they was supposed to be.

[dh]

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⭐ ⭐ ⭐ The Star ⭐ ⭐ ⭐

When the closing door woke her up at 6:30am Lottie was hardly surprised. This was a regular occurrence with her roommate. She rolled over, buried her head in the pillow and drifted back into sleep. Nothing, not even Mia, was going to ruin her lie in. No class meant no alarm, and Lottie intended to make the most of it.

Mia was annoying at the best of times, but having to share a room with her was torture. Lottie had tried to explain to her mum again this summer that she needed a private room, but her complaints were as ineffective as usual: "I'm spending enough on that school already. You can survive sharing a room." Her roommate would turn up at the weirdest hours with the weirdest injuries and definitely wasn't as quiet as she thought she was. Worst of all, she was too damn nice - all the time. Maybe it was a culture thing, but the only time you'd catch Lottie being so friendly was if she really hated someone. Still, Lottie couldn't deny that a roommate who was never around suited her.

The sun was well up in the sky when Lottie was woken by the buzzing of her phone. She groaned and reached for her bedside table, sending the stack of books she was already well behind on reading for lit. class spilling onto the floor. She got the phone unlocked, but the brightness stung her eyes as she squinted at the time: 9:07am. Her notifications had been blowing up for the last 10 minutes for some reason. It would have to wait, Lottie never did anything until she'd had her morning coffee. Still dressed in her pyjamas she lazily wandered to the second floor kitchen. There were a few other students milling around but none that would break her out of her half-asleep state to socialise. Armed with her usual flat white she retreated back to her room.

It took several minutes of searching under piles of her discarded clothes to find her hormones. Lottie was not the tidiest of people, although Mia had never complained about it even if it did bother her. She popped back a tablet with her first swig of coffee. After a few more sips of coffee Lottie felt a lot more prepared to face her phone. Her initial curiosity gave way to confusion as she scrolled through a lot of new follows and comments about "the Elites". Someone called her a "star ⭐" though, that was nice. She flicked through to her messages and sent a text before continuing with her morning regime.

It was more like 9:45 when Lottie eventually made it down to the school ground. She'd put together an outfit of her favourite skater dress, wool tights and a big cashmere cardigan. It might be sunny today but it was still September in England. She stopped for a moment to admire her reflection in a window - she looked cute as fuck. Today was going to be a good day. She took in a deep breath of fresh air and let the feelings of euphoria wash over her.

The festival grounds were already busy, with music blasting and the smells of mouth-watering foods wafting through the air. But the biggest crowd of all were gathered at the entrance. Even on tiptoes Lottie couldn't spot what they were all looking at and she didn't really want to go barging her way through. Instead she decided to find some breakfast and then try her luck at finding someone who might know more. She found a warm pastry and a bench and settled down, keeping an eye out for anyone she recognised to wave over.

---

Messaging Mailani (@amore).

[Legion02]

Mike, the Hermit

Interacting with: Mia_@Cio

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Mike laid ragtag in his bed. The screen of his computer was about the only thing that illuminated his room. He snored gently away. Until his slumber was disrupted by incessant buzzing. Slowly his mind rose from the depth of a wonderful dream. Very slowly. With a hand, he grasped towards the general direction of the noise: his phone. He caught it the third time around. It kept on buzzing in his hand. Slowly his drowsy brain realized what that meant: MsFortune. A surge of adrenaline shook him completely awake. No slow rise and shine. Like he was under attack he shot up and opened the post. Nothing about him, from the looks of it. Just something about the Elites. Who were the Elites? He had heard rumors about them. Last school year. Whispers were spoken. Someone whose niece who was roommates with a former senior who used to love a girl who said she overheard a guy claiming knew who Miss Fortune was apparently said something. But as with all rumors, there was just no way to be certain. Alas, Mike let out a little chuckle. It would seem these Elites would be targeted now by Miss Fortune for the coming year. Rather content he fell back onto his bed. There was just no way he was part of that group. He wasn’t Elite. He was boring. With boring parents and a boring summer job and boring weekend plans. Well, that last bit wasn’t entirely true. Amongst the League of Bro’s (an ironic name that became just a little bit less ironic over time), there was no such thing as boring plans. They had a knack for making things happen. Perhaps Jayden or Theo were part of the Elites. That wouldn’t surprise him. But no, not Mike.

He would cruise through this last year, get a proper job at some big bank in London, go to a proper university (so either Cambridge or Oxford, probably Oxford. His father was an Oxford man) and, gods be willing, he might get a proper girlfriend. After all that he would get a boring job at a boring office, become a boring bank manager before thirty and then…well he would figure that out then. So with his nerves relaxed he got washed and dressed. He decided against checking up on Jayden. He didn’t particularly feel a need to check in with Jayden. As for the MsFortune, he was sure that whatever small, inconspicuous surprise she had for the Elites at the entrance of the Festival would be traveling like digital fire. He didn’t care though. Not today.

More than a little bit put at ease he exited the room and headed for the entrance of the festival. Like any good introvert, he just wanted to find his friends and passively observe everything. Instead, several heads turned towards him. He noticed it quickly. There was something paranoid in his brain that always told him people were looking at him. Like something was wrong. Long ago he learned it was best not to listen to paranoia. Yet now he felt that little voice getting louder and louder in the back of his head. Reinforced by proof: people were really turning their heads towards him. Then the murmuring began. Was it about him? Was it about something else? He didn’t know. No, no it was about something else. He kept repeating that until he encountered a real throng of people, gathered around a notice board. That was strange. Rarely did the school post anything this interesting. Then he remembered MsFortune’s post. Was she that brazen?

He pushed himself through the crowd. Curiosity fuelling him more than it should. Perhaps Jayden or Theo were on the board. When he finally saw it, it send a shiver down his spine.

Hermit.

He was in her crosshairs now. Worse, so were all his friends. Mia, Salem, Elliot. All of them! Only one word echoed through his head: Shit. Shit shit shit shit shit shit. No, he didn’t want his proverbial closet skeleton to be pulled up for all the school to see. He didn’t want his friends to get hurt either. MsFortune was sometimes seen as just a light-hearted prank. Not to Mike. He had seen entire friendships get sundered by MsFortune releasing secret after secret.

From the corner of his eyes, he noticed someone he instantly recognized. For someone like Mike, catching people in a crowd wasn’t that hard. He made his way through the crowd again until he reached her. ”Mia!” He waved to greet her. He didn’t give a hand or a hug. The whole touchy stuff just wasn’t for him. “You know what all this is about?” He asked as he pointed at the billboard.

[Cio]

A collaboration with @Hero (Elliot)
_{Other interactions: @Legion02 (Mike) & @KatKook (Kate)}

---

Mia's head whipped around at the sound of her name being shouted. She was met with the sight of her favourite puppy dog of a man, Elliot, pushing his way through the crowd to meet her. It was impossible to ascertain from Elliot's voice whether he was aware of the whole Elites situation or not, as his excitement could've been born out of anything. That's the thing Mia most liked about Elliot - he always brought sunshine wherever he went. The man seemed to have this uncanny ability to make Mia enjoy herself in a way that made her forget everything that made the world such a shitty place to live in, if only just for a moment.
"Hey man," the brunette greeted with a grin as the himbo (and Mia used that word in the fondest sense possible, thank you very much) reached her.

Elliot's attention was quickly averted as he, too, noticed the list on the billboard. Mia rested her hand on Elliot's shoulder as she observed his reaction to the piece of paper. When Elliot sincerely pointed out they got the names wrong, Mia had to further lean on him to keep her balance as a joyous laughter broke through. After spending a few beats gathering herself, Mia leaned back and met her friend's eye.
"Damn, you're totally right," she agreed with a somber face, not even a hint of sarcasm in her voice. Elliot was too pure in Mia's eyes; she'd never maliciously make fun of his low intelligence. Only in a friendly way.
"I'm as lost as you are, although I think it's got something to do with Ms. Fortune. Think we made it into her list of Elites, whatever that means," Mia contemplated. The Estonian took a brief look at Elliot before continuing, her brow furrowed in confusion.
"Dunno why she'd make me 'the Artist' though. I don't paint... or sing, or whatever."

Elliot shook his head once more as he pocketed his phone, lips pressed in a frown as he looked back at the board. After a few seconds of silence, he snapped his fingers, feeling an understanding. “I got it,” He said, feeling the clarity. “You’re a work of art, so artist--no, that...doesn’t seem right...not that you’re not hot but I don’t think I get it, either.” He sighed, scratching the back of his head.

He squinted at some other names and faces, reeling back as he suddenly remembered what she said. “Wait, MsFortune like the one from Insta? Like...I thought that was just some troll account with pretty pictures. Though, that’s most of Insta,” He shrugged, clearly making little effort in actually understanding what was happening.

Mia blinked a few times as she took in Elliot’s attempt at explaining the situation. Even though it went nowhere, Mia couldn't help but softly smile at the man's words.
”Damn, I thought you were onto something there,” Mia sighed with Elliot, feeling at least a little better about the nickname thanks to him.
”Maybe you’re the Kyle ‘cause like… it’s a reference to something maybe? Someone named Kyle, someone famous,” Mia offered in return, although she was absolutely lost as to why Elliot had gotten the nickname he did as well.

”Maybe you’re right and this is all just an elaborate troll. None of the names make any damn sense... Unless Kyle is your middle name,” Mia added. The brunette took a few breaths to think over her words, trying to maybe find an answer that hadn’t been voiced yet. She came up empty.

Despite the uneasy feeling at the bottom of Mia’s stomach - this whole thing wouldn’t end well for anyone - she let a little grin tug at her lips.
”Hey, it’s definitely one of those word thingies,” she said with a playful nudge to Elliot’s side. The English word was escaping her, and she had to look around for it a bit. ”Word shortenings… a lühend, a... it’s like abbri-something, right? KYLE obviously stands for: Kind, uhh Youthful? Legit, and the E is for Elliot!” Mia mentally cringed at herself.

Elliot looked relieved at Mia’s explanation, laughing as he nodded. “See, that makes way more sense,” He agreed with her explanation. “Mostly because my middle name is Johnathan, but I don’t think MsFortune would know that. But she doesn’t seem to know my first name, either.” He shook his head in disappointment.

He fell quiet for a moment, the gears in his head whirring at a mile a minute. “So then...A for Awesome, R for Radical, T for Turbulent, I for...Intelligent, S for Super Awesome, T for--wait, no, they’re missing the ‘M’ for your name,” He gasped, shocked he found a flaw in her explanation, though he then added, “I really thought that was it, too…”

Mia smiled at Elliot, chuckling as she shook her head and sighed.
”Hey, at least we tried. I think you were totally close to figuring it out,” she assured, trying to push away the growing uneasiness. The whole ‘spilling secrets’ part of the instagram post was haunting Mia with its existence. Were these some sort of code names for all of them? But they had used their real faces…
Mia’s phone buzzed in her other hand then, informing her of a new message. ”Wait, I think that’s-” she began, only to be interrupted by another person calling her name.
Mike? Phone forgotten, Mia turned to greet the confused man. She remembered him being labeled ‘the Hermit’ on the board, and while it was more than a little mean, Mia couldn’t help but understand where MsFortune had been coming from. At least one name made sense.

”Hey! Me and Elliot were just trying to figure that out actually,” Mia answered with a shake of her head. Even though the circumstances were odd, it was good to see Mike around. Her accent always started to become more pronounced the longer she talked in one go.
”I initially came here to find that food truck that sells pastries and waffles, the Belgian one that comes like every year,” the brunette continued, reminded by the faint scent of delicious waffles reaching her nostrils. (They were nothing compared to Mia’s absolute favourite waffles that could only be gotten from that one bubble waffle place in Tallinn, but they were competent enough. Thinking of those waffles just made her miss Estonia more. Curses.)

Mia’s phone buzzed in her hand again, reminding her of its existence. ”Oh!” the girl exclaimed as she remembered the unread messages. Mia was hoping they were from Kate, and for once her hopes were fulfilled.



”Kate’s looking for me,” Mia informed, looking up from her screen.
It didn’t take too long for Mia to spot a familiar jean jacket in the crowd. Kate would’ve been much harder to spot had Mia not been 5’8” and familiar with most of Kate’s closet. Mia gave Elliot and Mike a glance before tracking Kate again.
”Kate! Behind you,” Mia shouted at the other girl’s turned back, raising her hand halfway to do a little wave.

[ineffable]

Instagram Post

---

---

Cass was tired to say the least, throwing her phone and Macbeth onto the bed before flopping onto it, her hair a mess. Her back ached from having hunched over the book at the nearby coffee shop and she quickly stretched it out before taking a deep breath and launching herself from the bed in the direction of her coffee machine. Before long she had put in a Keurig pod, the small room was smelling of coffee and she had placed a nice Sinatra record on her turntable. Cass hummed under her breath as she sipped on her black coffee and began to rearrange her record collection...for the third time that day. God, was she a boring person. Cass chuckled sourly to herself before she continued to gingerly sort her beloved collection.

By the time she was done arranging her record collection (this time by color) and consumed a total of 3 mugs of coffee, Cass was dead tire. She risked a glance at her watch and groaned when she realized that it was way past dinner time. Her stomach grumbled and Cass reached over to her phone, which was blowing up with Instagram notifications from everyone attending the fair. Of course, she didn't want to go, not today. She was tired and she had just dealt with another screaming match with her brother on the phone. She definitely wasn't in the greatest state to paste on a smile and act sensibly at a school event. But...Cass scrolled down to a picture of what she could discern as candy floss through her cracked phone screen and her stomach grumbled once more. Fine.

She walked over to her mirror, redoing her eyeliner, swiping on some red lipstick and grabbing a knit cardigan before pulling her greasy hair up into a bun. There. She looked somewhat presentable. Cass grabbed her bag and was almost out the door before she doubled back to the mirror. Who was she kidding? Looking presentable was important. She couldn't dress like she had back then and risk getting made fun of again, no matter how old she was now. Cass sighed before she carefully braided her hair and twisted it up into an elaborate bun, grabbing a pair of gold triangle earrings that she carefully poked through her closed up ear lobes and changing into a skirt that whispered scratchily against her thighs. A spray of perfume that Cass coughed on and she was ready...again. She ditched the cardigan and grabbed her leather jacket before she left. At least she could look a bit like herself.

By the time Cass had walked herself over to the fair she was feeling out of it. The masses of people, the fake smiles and laughs. She was done with it all. But still the scent of pretzels in the air and spun sugar pushed her forward to the entrance where most people were crowded around. What was going on? As she walked up to it the people around her turned to look at her and whisper. What the hell was this?

Cass walked up to the board only to get an eyeful of both her own face but also her friends and a bunch of other people that she didn't really know.

"THE REJECT"

Was written under her picture. She breathed through her nostrils and stepped back. Someone knew. Someone knew about her backstory, something that she'd kept under wraps for so long. And now it was up here for everyone to see. Cass shook her head, her fingers trembling as she slipped her phone out of her pocket and wrote a message to her friends. They had to see this because they were up there with everyone else. And she didn't know if it meant the same to them but she always knew when someone was out for her. And here it was. The tell tale sign.

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[Lionhearted]

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---

_{Time: Morning --> Afternoon
Location: Room --> Gym --> Fair
Interacting with Cassandra Clairian@ineffable}
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_{▔ 7:00AM}

Jayden woke to the birds; the idle chirping combined with the faint glow of the sunrise created his ideal alarm. One deep breath and a few blinks, and he was out of bed already. The floor felt cold beneath his feet as the breeze from the open window created goosebumps along his skin. Being an LA native, it took quite some time before he could adapt to the change in weather, but something about the crisp air was soothing to him, despite its frigid bite. Jayden pressed the 'play' button on the touch-pad installed within his wall, his morning playlist filling the room euphoniously. Instinctively, he moved to his walk-in closet, separated from his room by a glass door. He continued his morning routine with ease, though he still had to remember to consider his roommate. Perhaps, to him, the music wasn't as endearing and the cold breeze made the inside temperature uneven; a bad habit of inconsideration Jayden continued with.

Jayden fixed his massive breakfast, packed his things, and hit the gym. The campus was quiet in the morning, and that was something he found himself to enjoy quite a bit. It contrasted LA's busy atmosphere, and it was actually nice to hear the sounds of nature amidst the silence. His workout was rigorous, per usual, and his post-gym routine followed. The morning went the same as it did since he started at the school -- a routine he was getting accustomed to. He even waved to Mia in the communal area, though he wasn't sure if she'd noticed him. Making friends was typically easy for Jayden, and he was normally outgoing, but he liked to have his morning routines uninterrupted. Maybe he'd see her at the festival.

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_{▔ Early Afternoon}

Jayden seemed to have missed Mike this morning. Granted, he forgot he was even in the apartment. Hopefully he didn't overhear his loud, obnoxious singing or get too disrupted by the sound of the blender used for his post-workout smoothie. Regardless, he was dressed in a casual outfit appropriate for the weather that thankfully warmed up since this morning. Jayden had minor regrets for wearing a white shirt, but he had plenty more in his closet. The khakis were tight to his legs, though he liked the way it revealed the tone of his thighs and the round of his butt. His shirt even seemed too small, but it was only at his chest that made the buttons pull tighter.

The afternoon brought him to the fair grounds with his shades on to hide his eyes so nobody could see him staring back at them. The looks he got were assumed to be from his status on social media, though Jayden did get satisfaction from the occasional gawkers that couldn't hide their admiration.

A half-smirk on his face and a cool, nonchalance in his step remained up until he halted at the crowded bulletin board. Jayden shimmied his way through the pack of students, apologizing to the ones he'd bump with his broad shoulders. Though it didn't take him long to pick out what they were crowding about since he could see past all the shorter heads. He squinted his eyes, scanning through this list of students until they widened at the sight of his own name. Jayden didn't feel any embarrassment, nor achievement, but he was shocked to find himself already placed within the hierarchy of the school.

'Casanova'.

Jayden first heard of the term when he went on a trip to southern Italy, adopting the name back then. Admittedly, the name brought back a rush of memories he came to miss, but it brought him a form of pleasure to have the title resurface. If that were to be his identifier, then he didn't mind that.

As he squeezed his way out of the bunch, he began looking around for something to keep him occupied. Perhaps an event or a gathering where he'd have to engage with others -- an opportunity to make friends. Maybe there was a food stand he could get something to eat at, even though he'd just ate. He brushed his hair back, scouting through the students that began to fill the fair grounds. His mind began to wonder if any of the other 'Elites' have shown up to the fair and what their thoughts would be on the matter. Walking aimlessly, with naturally long strides, he accidentally bumped into a girl texting on her phone. Jayden hit her hard with his torso, his chest bumping her with force before his reflex kicked in and he reached out to grab her before she'd potentially fall. His hands landed at her waist, unintentionally pulling her into some sort of romantic hold.

Jayden let out a playful chuckle, followed by a cheeky smile. He'd hope his charm was enough to not get a slap in the face.

"Oops."

[Karisma]

the brooding bros

c o l l a b o r a t i o n w i t h @Kautalya

_{i n t e r a c t i o n s. none at the moment
l o c a t i o n. Dorm ► Kitchen ► Festival Grounds}

---

^{——————————————
6:05 AM - Dorm [Room 223]
——————————————}

It wasn’t strange for Ezekiel to be under his covers, usually wrapped from head to toe in a protective layer. It wasn’t strange for him to be scrolling through his Instagram timeline—especially this early in the morning—and it wasn’t strange that he barely had gotten any sleep last night (as if he ever gets any sleep), mostly spending his time on his phone reading an e-book, or watching YouTube with the volume low.

Eyes hanging low and his lips pressed in a tight, thin, line; Ezekiel huffed out a sigh loud enough to shake the bed, as his eyes traveled to the bold outline of the numbers: 6:05 AM. It was so so so early and his sleep was interrupted by the loud tremors of his nightmares. Ever since he was young, Ezekiel had trouble sleeping because of some nightmares, but it usually occurred after his modeling gigs. The most you could say was that maybe–just maybe, Ezekiel was just tired and drained from everything and anything at once (but he’ll argue by saying he hasn’t done anything worthy enough to be so tired of this empty life he holds.)

Ezekiel groaned.

He hated when he got like this.

“Okay.” He huffed out, and in a flash, the boy hopped out of his covers, his feet touched the floorboards of his room. His disheveled brown locks, his baggy white t-shirt that hugged his lean build, his tired droopy eyes that were of a dark brown (his eldest brother used to tease Ezekiel by saying its of a ‘poop’ color and wasn’t anything special–Ezekiel opted out of his modeling gigs for a week because of how insecure he got about his non-special eyes), and his 5 o’ clock shadow, all characterized the young boy known as Ezekiel. Stepping out of his room, the first thing he did was check the littered plants that surrounded the room.

Touching the leaves of the plants, and speaking softly to them (whispering praises), Ezekiel’s mind was completely somewhere else. Usually, he wouldn't be this tired but not sleeping for two nights in a row killed him. He was always sleeping and always lounging around to the point that his roommate, Tobias Macaya, would do everything a mother would. And although Ezekiel hated it at first—he would be woken up on time, tucked in, and at one point Tobias read him a bedtime story? It was a strange warm feeling but Ezekiel rubbed it off as Tobias being too into his caretaking role and taking this more as a joke than anything else—

He was so tired.

“Oh.” Ezekiel turned towards the voice, “You’re up.”

Ezekiel hummed in response, returning back to his plants.

“I was just about to wake you.”

“Yeah.”

“It’s early.”

“Yeah.”

“And you’re up.”

“Yea–”

“If you say yeah again, I swear to the lords above, Lysander.”

Ezekiel turns around, narrows his eyes and snorts. “And what are you going to do?”

Tobias stepped backwards—just a little bit—and stared down at the smaller boy before him. It wasn’t strange for them to bicker at times being as how they knew each other already for two years, but there were cases where Tobias didn’t exactly know whether Ezekiel was joking or not (Was he mad? Did I insult him? Did I offend him? What can I say? What can I do?)

He must’ve looked so stunned and confused that Ezekiel shook his head and chuckled, “That was a pretty bold statement.” The boy turned towards his plants again, “Cassandro.”

Tobias looked up the ceiling and back down—a method he perfected as an alternative to rolling his eyes—then turned his attention back towards Ezequiel.

“Not smooth dude—” Crossing his arms, “—using my thing against me? I said your middle name first, you can’t use that again–yeah, nah, nope.”

Ezekiel’s spits out a yawn. “A kid.” He turns around and shuffles closer to Tobias. “You’re a kid.”

Tobias had no comeback to that, aside from the fleeting thought of saying “I know you are but what am I?” But he knew that would’ve most likely proven Ezequiel’s point even further. So, he kept his mouth shut.

“Plus,” Ezequiel drawled, nonchalance dripping from each syllable. “Who said you owned middles names, anyways?”

Tobias squints his eyes, “I don’t own middle names. I just—uhm—uh—clai—claim the comeback.”

“Nice clapback there, Cassandro.” Ezekiel snorts. Again.

Tobias opts for a clipped sigh as a response and walks towards his bathroom, taking Ezequiel’s snort as a sign to leave. He had spent all night binge watching a new anime series—he really doesn’t remember if he actually ever closed his eyes—so his patience wasn’t the bottomless pit it usually was.

He looked into the mirror to stare back at lifeless eyes and dark shadows hanging right under, proceeds to wash his face and then brush his teeth. Tobias showers and gets ready all in the span of 30 minutes, walking back towards their shared space to find Ezequiel exactly where he left him.

“Dude.” Tobias says. He flings a clean towel towards Ezequiel. “Go get ready”

He waits for a response.

Silence.

“Ezequiel,” Tobias takes a deep breath. “Lysander Brown.”

A twitch of a shoulder. Tobias grins.

“Pickles and Carrots are able to wait until you’re done for their morning pep talk.” Tobias starts, voice muffled—but still teasing—as he slips on his t-shirt. “I’m sure they don’t like morning breath on them this early either.”

Ezequiel’s head whips around to face Tobias, his eyes narrowing in disgust. His hand defensively going towards the pink tipped succulent he had just been whispering to. “This is Corn, you uncultured dumbass.”

He then points to the plant next to Corn (which, Tobias noted, looked exactly the same as Corn) and deadpanned, “And this is Onion.”

“Right, right.” Tobias raised his hands placatingly, dropping the socks he had just picked up in the motion. “You never really introduced me, so like, can you really blame me?”

He barrels on ahead with the clear intent of not letting Ezequiel get a word in and continues, “But really, you should start getting ready. I wanna go make some breakfast before we head down.”

Breakfast this. Breakfast that. Get ready. Get dressed—does he ever shut up? Ezekiel lightly placed down his succulent(Corn) and kept his eyes steady on Tobias. Without uttering another word, he pushed past the taller boy (with the intent of aggression but then it turned to a slight nudge) and shut the bathroom door behind him. Taking off his t-shirt and boxers, Ezekiel stuffed himself in the shower. He tapped his head against the wall and sighed, his locks sticking to his forehead while the warm water hit his face.

He had hoped that his face wasn’t so—awful. Dragging his hands over his face, Ezekiel took in a small breath and wrinkled his eyebrows together (he was so tired.)

(Apparently Ezekiel’s shower time was taking like 5 hours because he heard the rapid knocks at the door and Tobias asking if he was dead in there or something stupid like that.)

^{——————————————
9:20 AM - Kitchen [Common Area]
——————————————}

Their time at the kitchen was spent with Ezekiel teasing Tobias over his burnt egg, stating that if it were him, the meal wouldn’t have been so burnt. It was funny to see Tobias flustered (seeing as how Ezekiel often took notice that Tobias doesn’t go out of his way to show when something is bothering him.) His eyes wandered off to the entrance of the common living area and heard the boisterous sounds of the students. Tobias rambling in the background about how his cooking isn’t so awful so there was no reason for Ezekiel to make fun of him like that; while Ezekiel chewed on the piece of bread and listened to the murmurs and pitter patters of the students outside of the common area.

“Festival.” He interrupts.

“Huh?”

“Festival.” His eyebrows furrowed when he sees the confused face on Tobias never changing. “For real? The festival, dumbass. There’s a festival going on.”

“Alright, yeah? Uh? I knew that?” He watches as Tobias places the dishes in the sink. “Why? You going?”

“Thought you would.” He says, dryly.

“Yeah man, it's a festival.”

“Yeah. A welcoming festival.” Ezekiel makes sure to say, as if to say it’s going to be boring so there’s no point and lets just stay in our dorms for the whole day before we have to go through the torture that's called school—Tobias finishes washing his dishes, turns around and grins at Ezekiel.

“More of a reason to go.” He continues, “dumbass.”

^{——————————————
9:45 AM - Bulletin Board [Festival Entrance]
——————————————}

“Huuuuuh.” Tobias says, “Zombie?”

They both find themselves staring up at the bulletin board, their hands by their sides and their bodies relaxed. Ezekiel’s hands are stuffed in his black hoodie's pocket, hair in braids while the freckles that are scattered on his face wrinkle upwards in his expression of annoyance.

“Ugh, at least you didn’t get old news.” He continues, “What am I? An old man? The fuck.”

“Bueeeeeeenooooo,” Tobias laughs and turns to face Ezekiel, “You talk to plants, man.”

“Pause.” Ezekiel turns to Tobias, “Someone who watches anime should not be coming at me about my damn children. Dique bueno, shut the fuck up loser.”

“Welp.”

“See what I mean?” Ezequiel rolls his eyes and stares back at the bulletin board. “Whatever, It’s dumb shit anyways.”

“Language, sir.”

“Fuck. You.”

Then, as if on queue, they both turn to walk deeper towards the festival grounds, the crowd already swallowing them in.

---

[KatKook]

---

"Been awhile huh?"

---

——————————————————
_{9:51 AM - Bulletin Board}

Kate tiptoed once again just to see if Mia was amongst the crowd, why does everyone have to be so tall? Frig. Her eyes darted from one tall guy to another, this was honestly getting frustrating at this point. She took a swig of her coffee before feeling a buzz in her hands from definitely not Mia, instead it was the Golden Gals™ group chat. She immediately swapped to see what it was, though she accidentally opened some silly spam message about a nigerian prince or something before she saw the text.

——————————————————

——————————————————

After a quick response, she took a step back in the grass, she pouted and scrunched up her nose since the frustration of her not finding her friend was a bit on the annoying side, especially since she did not reply at all, she thought they were tight; Kate then started furiously typing with her free hand to Mia about her ignoring her- "Kate! Behind you!" A voice behind her called, and she immediately jumped in response and exclaimed in her mother tongue, "Ay putang ina! (Oh Fuck!)" her coffee splashed around a bit as jumped, so she hoped that Alexandrina's grass liked coffee. She quickly composed herself and turned around to see her friend, well... Best friend at this point, Her annoyed look from someone making her jump immediately went away as soon as she saw her face, her definitely definitely got better. She shoved her phone back in her pocket and jogged up to Mia, "Dude you scared me! Like holy fuck it's like not even 10 AM." Said Kate before chugging the last bit of her coffee and tossing it in the nearby trash bin. She turned back to Mia and looked her up and down, but eventually more up since Mia was taller. She blinked and took a step forward and took both of her hands, smiling wider than a kid in a candy store "Yo I missed you, like real hard, real bad... Hard... Bad hard, I missed you like real bad hard." Said Kate, rubbing her thumbs against her knuckles. She was pretty touchy with her close friends, and she was not afraid to show that at all.

"I'm going to assume I still can't hug you out here, alright alright, you owe me one whole ass hug, but I'll forgive you if you get me away from all these guys." Said Kate as she scanned the area, filled with men. She moved closer to Mia, and away from the main crowd practically turning Mia to face her. "So... Uh... How was your break? Do anything cool? Go places? Start a revolution? Try out new food? Come on tell me what's going on in Mia world!" Said Kate, she was really really happy to be here again, since home was not much to enjoy. She actually preferred being here in England rather than New York, and she preferred both places over the Philippines. What would make England the best place on earth is if her dad lived here as well, but life does not always work that way.

---

Mentions: Cass @ineffable, and everyone else in the Golden Gals

Interactions: Mia @Cio,

[Sage Orion 0312]

Ember Grove Dormitory ➙ Fairgrounds

---

^{♪Heart Song♪}

"It's just... not working out between us." Hendrix sighed pinching the bridge of his nose.
"Honestly, I'm not even sure what I did wrong this time."

Jupiter had arrived at Alexandria Prep almost a week ago. She had been so excited to start this new chapter in her life that she moved in early in order to get her affairs underway. Everything was set just how she wanted. Her bedroom had a bohemian ambiance to it. While most of the walls were a rich creamy color, one surface, in particular, had been detailed in a red brick facade. Tapestries of mandalas littered the area, as well as a few posters she had collected over the years. At night the stringed lights she painstakingly hung up made the small dorm somewhat magical. Almost mystical.

At the moment she was sitting cross-legged in the middle of her bed, surrounded by nothing but a few stuffed animals and rumpled sheets. The cell phone pressed between her left ear and shoulder. Demonstrating an extraordinary ability to multitask. Hendrix, her older brother was on the line while she was playing one of her favorite video games. The concentration it took to pay attention to both tasks caused the blonde to nibble on her lower lip.

"Yeah. No surprise there... She sniffed, spamming the "B" button on her N64 controller.
"I've always told you that Cassandra was bad news. Ever since day one she has been trying to turn you into one of her puppets. So controlling. Such a bi-"

She stopped short, momentarily distracted from her monologue. Ocarina of Time was one of the best video games in The Legend of Zelda series. One of the major villains had just drastically reduced her character's life in a single blow. It was also Jupiters' favorite video game of all time. Currently, she was in the middle of a battle with Shadow Link, one of the bosses in the Water Temple. The incessant beeping of a low heart count could be heard shrieking from the foot of her bed. There her precious N64 sat plugged into the flat screen T.V.

"She isn't that bad you know. She's just..." Hendrix paused suddenly, his easygoing tone transforming into one of incredulity.
"Wait a minute. Jupiter Ann Lennon. Are you playing that stupid game AGAIN??? Seriously?!"

Jupiter pursed her lips as she dodged yet another attack. It was a well-known fact in the Lennon household that the 18-year-old had always had a love of videogames. Her preferences usually focused on RPG, adventure, strategic, and puzzle-based archetypes. However, Ocarina of Time was especially meaningful. She must have completed the storyline at least 14 times... She couldn't help it. In a way, a nostalgic emotion was tied to the cartridge. Worries that plagued her always seemed to disappear whenever she played Zelda. It helped make the stress of moving and starting a new life that much easier.

"I don't know what you're talking about. I don't even own a console." She murmured sarcastically before finally defeating her enemy.
"Yesssssss." She cheered in triumph while throwing her left fist in the air. An action short-lived since her phone had slipped out of her grip. She caught it in mid-air just in time to hear her brother's response.

"Mhmm. Suurree." He frowned after a moment.
"Listen, little sis. You promised me that you were actually going to go out and have a normal life with this new change. No more of that socially awkward bullshit."

"That's weird coming from you. Before you moved out you were always so overprotective." Jupiter murmured, remembering a time in middle school where Hendrix scared off one of her classmates. The boy had been to juvie a few times... but still.
"You literally frightened everyone away. Told them that they were a bad influence or something."

She took a moment to pull the cell phone away from her cheek in order to check the time. It was 9:30 in the morning. With a frown, she leaned forward to turn off the console, but not before pausing and saving her game.

"You know I only did what I did because I love you. No one messes with my little sister."
Jupiter rolled her eyes at the sentiment.

"A promise is a promise... The academy is hosting this carnival function thingy. Kind of a way for students to get to know each other. I'm getting ready to leave now..."

She looked down at her jeans and began tracing an outline along her thigh with her index finger, a nervous habit that manifested in kindergarten. After the teacher taught her how to spell for the first time, Jupiter had started writing invisible words on her body. It was silly, but in a way it was like sending herself a comforting note. A secret reminder. Emphasis on thoughts that were otherwise too quiet.
On her right thigh, she wrote: "You got this." Her finger drawing each letter in cursive loopy handwriting.

"Thats my girl." He crooned affectionately.
"Be safe. Call me when you get home."

"Will do..." Jupiter murmured before ending the call.

With an exasperated sigh, she stood up and approached the bathroom. Taking a moment to once again check her appearance in the mirror. Every day around 5 a.m. Jupiter always woke up determined to see the sunrise. Unlike most people, she adored mornings. Mornings provided time for daily rituals such as; making tea, yoga, and meditation. Afterward, she would feel accomplished and proceed to shower in order to get dressed and ready for the day. More often than not, once finished she would have time to do whatever... like play Zelda, draw, or watch T.V.
After staring at her reflection and meeting her own gaze, her rose-colored lips curled up in a small smile. Blue eyes that reminded her of the sea, of her mother, twinkled in the dim lighting. The color had always been extremely calming. They were the eyes that had tucked her in bed as a child. The eyes that had kissed her goodnight. Quickly, she swallowed back a surge of home-sickness.
Her golden locks fell past her shoulders and ended in loose waves just above her hips. Today she wore a simple black tank top, faded blue flares, and a moss green hoodie. Looking down she took comfort in seeing her lucky Converse high tops peeking back up at her. She was ready. She just needed to take that first step.

Inhaling sharply, she scooped up her keys. And before she could stop herself, she was out the door.

The entrance to the carnival was bursting with pedestrians. Jupiter couldn't help but grin at the sight before her. Beyond the sea of people she noticed a few things in particular. A ferries wheel, numerous food vendors, and a petting zoo. Games like ring toss and balloon darts promised prizes such as teddy bears and foam hats. There was also a...

...Merry-go-Round??? OMG. Score! Her thoughts screamed in excitement causing the blonde to pick up her pace.

However, she didn't get far due to the fact that a group of students were squeezed tightly together. All of them attempting to catch a glimpse of what appeared to be a large poster. Most of the students were taking pictures with their phone. Texting and sharing on social media like crazy. A little curious by the commotion, Jupiter squinted her eyes in order to see the advertisement more clearly.

The Elites.

The sign proclaimed proudly. Below the statement were portraits of students who looked to be around her age. Under each photo was a label. "The Hermit," "The Fake," even one known as "The Plan-B."

Harsh... Jupiter thought, wincing at the last nickname.

Frowning, she started to leave. All her life, Lennon tried her best to avoid drama like the plague. This abnormality was a good example. As she walked, a familiar image caught her eye. Stopping, frozen in shock, her eyebrows raised in amazement. Stifling a gasp she leaned forward and stared at a Facebook profile picture she had posted a few months ago. "The Know-it-All" was written just under her chin.

"Original." She scoffed, her voice flat.
The crowd around her was buzzing with words such as; "Miss Fortune" and "Famous." Words foreign to Jupiter since she very rarely used social media. Unfortunately, no one seemed to know the reason for the listing.

"Why would someone do that... What reason do they have?" Talking to herself seemed to be the best way to deal with the uncertain emotions swirling around her head.

"I mean it's no secret that I'm a little smart. Why tell everyone about it? I don't even know anyone around here." She moved almost in a daze towards the Merry-go-Round. Hopefully the beloved attraction would bring some solace to her recent turmoil.

The ride attendant looked to be a college student. He was probably just working the carnival in an effort to earn some extra cash. He was tall, lanky, with short red hair and a freckled face. A blush fell behind his wire-rimmed glasses as Jupiter smiled politely. In response, he smiled shyly and waved her through the gate.

"Thanks... Carson." She finished after reading his name badge.

Taking her time to carefully choose a noble steed, she finally settled on a brown horse just as the ride began to move. Merry-go-Rounds always reminded her of the amazing childhood she experienced. Every weekend her father used to take her to the Portland mall to ride the "horses." Almost as if by magic she started to feel happier. Less stressed.
She tilted her head back and spread her arms out wide on either side. Acting as though the metal horse was somehow flying through the air.

After a moment the ride started to slow down much to her chagrin. A goofy persona began to take over as she dismounted the horse. The Merry-go-Round was still spinning as she landed on her feet. A mischevious grin on her face caused by the fact that she was posed as a surfer. The ride like a spiraling sea.

[Legion02]

Amelia Evreux

Interacting with: Chiyo_@Symphoni

---

Amelia was, in fact, already up. In fact, she had been for three hours. First, she went for an early morning run, then a shower, then some healthy breakfast and finally she ended up in the library to read her favorite book. She didn’t want to wake up Chiyo, who seemed to prefer sleeping in. Not Amelia though. Even when she was young she was up and about early in the morning. Like a little bundle of energy. These days she learned to direct that energy somewhat. However, she had a strict ‘no phones in the library’ personal rule. To her, it was a little safe space she could find everywhere. Somewhere she could get away from the whole humdrum of social media and the likes. She liked it. How could she not? But it was a bit much sometimes. However, right at 9:30, she felt it was high time to get up and do something useful for the day. Apparently there would be a welcome festival and she couldn’t wait to drag all her newly made friends to it!

The moment she reconnected her phone to the world wide web though, it nearly literally exploded in her hand. A constant stream of tags, mentions, chat messages and other things popped up. Going down far too fast for her to read it all. One thing stuck out though: The Elites. Who were they? She swiped a few notifications away until she came upon a few messages of Chiyo. They were both Elites!? What did that even mean? Everyone in Alexandrina was an Elite.

At the fairground, she waded through the crowd. Completely ignoring the billboard. First, she wanted to find her friend. Which she did: “Chiyo!” She exclaimed as she hugged her tight. A hug Amelia meant. One she used to spread her love. “So what’s all this about The Elites?” It was a genuine question. Somehow Amelia had managed to dodge any mentions of Alexandrina’s most notorious gossiper: MssFortune. She hadn’t even read the introduction post. And as she had utterly ignored the billboard, she just had no idea what was going on.

[Boreas]

@fledermaus & @Amore collab

══════════════════════════

Buzz…Buzz…Buzz…THUD!

“Ugh.. what the fuck..” A hand emerged from under the plush comforter swiping to the left out of habit. Though unlike in her own room, Lora’s arm swept through the empty space not making contact with her usual bedside table. Which meant...

Great.

A soft groan sounded from her as she reluctantly blinked her eyes open, a smooth white ceiling stared back at her and she could make a shape out of the corner of her eyes. Well, and she could feel him, radiating heat beside her. The buzzing of what she suspected were incoming messages and not her alarm sounded again, and again, it was annoying, his soft snoring was more pleasant than the incessant vibrations of the phone on the floor.

One eventual look to her right had washed away the initial panic she had about waking up in someone else’s room and welcomed in a rush of memories from last night. Specifically the parts of her next-door neighbor’s, and sister from another mister, impromptu concert. We all loved Riri, but tequila induced shouting at 2 in the morning was not a vibe, and that’s how she ended up here creepily watching her other best friends’ peaceful journey through dreamland.

BUZZ

That phone had to go.

“Salem~ Salemmm… pleaseee do something with your phone.” Lora’s voice was quiet as she gently poked at his cheek, trying to stir him awake as nicely as possible.

Salem groaned at the disturbance, swatting at Lora’s hand and muttering under his breath, “No you.”

The comeback was a natural instinct after dorming with Elliot for the past couple of years. He was prepared to roll back into his dreams when he, too, felt the vibration of his phone which he apparently forgot to silence. Reality settled into him gradually and he became hyper-aware of Lora’s breathing. Waking up next to Lora or Elliot always left a warmth in his chest; it wasn’t until a couple of years ago that he realized he was quite the cuddler.

“Mornin’, Lorelei.” He croaked because nothing started off a day better than trying Lora’s patience. He groped around the sheets for his phone until his hand found the source of their irritation.

Glancing down at his phone, Salem realized why his phone was ringing when he typically leaves it on silent: the texts were from Elliot. Ever since their stint with the Korowai in Papua New Guinea, Salem customized Elliot’s settings to never be on silent. He figured it would save them a lot of trouble in the future (it didn’t).

“It’s Elliot,” Salem told Lora, leaning against the headboard while reading over the texts, “Uh, I don’t know what I’m looking at, but apparently Elliot doesn’t know what a ‘kyle’ is.”

Salem tilted his phone towards Lora so she could see the texts and, maybe, could make some sense out of it.

Lora read the text messages through squinted eyes, the stylized black letting under Elliot’s name made her laugh.

“You haven’t seen that meme, let me show you, that’s actually hilarious.” No longer disoriented from the grogginess of sleep she easily located her own phone and sat up, sitting cross-legged beside him. A few taps on her phone screen had her eyebrows shooting up as she scrolled through her Notification Center, “Well, looks like Ms.Fortune left us all a cute little ‘welcome to school’ gift.”

Lora’s tone was a deadpan as she turned her phone screen to him, the collage dedicated to the elites shared the screen with the incoming bombardment of notifications of fans and haters tagging her in the post, and commenting on her newest post (taken by yours truly) with the cute wolf emoji, “ ‘The Wolf’, it’s kind of hot, maybe I should change my handle to include it.”

“Lucky,” Salem muttered, frowning when he saw his name, “I’m ‘The Fool’ which is beyond uninformed and entirely ridicu- do you think they’ll have pancakes at the fair, I really want pancakes now.”

He shuffled out of his bed and tossed through his clothes in his dresser until he found something comfortable. “You going to your place to get clothes or do you just want to borrow one of my shirts again?”

Lora yawned in the middle of stretching her arms above her head, “I need to go see if Mari is still alive, and then drag her ass out into the real world. But thanks for letting me crash here cutie, I missed cuddling with you.” The little wolf wore a playful pout as she wrapped her arms around his waist in a quick hug her voice a coo full of affectionate, “I’ll probably make my way to the festival eventually, after rounding up the hoes. You better go save your boyfriend from himself.”

“Well, husband actually, but it isn’t legally recognized in the UK.” Salem coughed, slightly uncomfortable. “But yeah, I’ll hunt him down. Maybe he’ll get pancakes with me”

His hoodie made his voice more muffled, but when he pulled it over his head, he just grinned at Lora and messed up her hair. “Get your wolfie ass out of here, then. And remember,” Salem turned towards her, his grin crooked and his curls everywhere, “wolves and fools stick together, our room is always open to you.”

With a suave snap of her fingers into dual finger guns, Lora made an otherwise silent exit from the OG bro cave and headed back to her own castle. A shower was needed, and a certain Off-key-Rihanna-belting princess needed rescuing from herself, and probably from Mr. Big Buck Hunter too.

Those two needed to just fuck and get it over with Jesus.

To: Reina
GOOOOD MORNING ANGEL
I’m coming over, so brush your teeth, vomit breath isn’t sexy!

Salem turned back to his dresser to ruffle around for some socks, and when he couldn't find any, settled on wearing some sandals — despite England being cold and wet most of the time. Then, he had to search for his phone which he had stashed god knows where only a minute ago. He nearly had to flip his mattress to find it and it only shook free from his bed when he ripped the sheets off. The phone went flying out of its proverbial fishnet and hit the wall.

"Fuck me," Salem groaned, and a quick inspection revealed that his phone was, indeed, cracked.

Nevertheless, he had a mission – or, more apt, an adventure – to embark on.

To: Marilyn MonBro
yoooo bro
this lady fortune girl on some other shit fr fr
where r u

[Bee]

---

---

_{I fear before the fire
True as Mary Magdalene
Creature of desire
Come just a little bit closer to me
Step just a little bit closer to me}

The world was not ready for the King family. Not the day Rose and Lora were born, and certainly not now. Rose King was the second of the King twins, but that didn't mean she wasn't any less anything compared to Lora. Sitting at her bed at nine something in the morning, Rose was staring at her phone, scrolling through. She had gotten up a while back to commence her daily routine. Showering, doing her hair, beating her face, putting on her outfit for the day. Rose had long been past the stage where she needed to dress spectacularly for the first day of school. She was stunning and bold enough to carry herself in such a confident and badass manner no matter what sort of outfit she wore. Saving her best fits for the first day of school was something she found to be a giant waste of time. Why look super good for only one day when you could look good every day? There was no such thing as wasting a good outfit if every single one of her outfits was a good outfit. That was Rose's policy and belief for a while.

Because she was a King, she'd gained quite a bit of notoriety among Alexandrina Prep. One could say that she had a reputation of sorts. Rose was well aware of what her reputation was among the students, but that was something she really couldn't have cared less about. Sheep followed the opinions of sheep, and wolves need not concern themselves with the opinion of sheep. She didn't even know the names of those who were spreading rumors and secrets about her. She didn't even know what exactly they were saying about her until some of it just so happened to float around to her circle. Like most rumors, they were completely unsubstantiated and simply put, libel and slander. No, she didn't sleep with that dude recently. No, she didn't sleep with him either. As a matter of fact, she didn't sleep with any dude recently.

Puffing upward at her hair, she decided there really was no point in waiting anymore. She didn't even know why she was waiting. Lola was off somewhere else. God knew where her twin sister went, but it wasn't really any of her business. Lola had her own thing, and Rose had her own thing. They stayed out of each other's business and it was only fair that they kept it that way. Occasionally, they'd tell each other things, and then they'd tell each other things and that was that. Rose had a good inkling of what was going on and what her sister was actually up to, and she didn't need a text or anything of that sort to confirm. Rose just knew.

Slipping out of bed, Rose made her way down to the festival. She found the idea to be rather charming and unique. No other school in the world, let alone the country, did something like this. Taking two days off to give the students and staff some time to unwind and have some fun before things really got down to business and got serious. That was something Rose had quickly grown to be appreciative of, and the festival was always something that Rose had appreciated at her time at Alexandrina Prep. She would've liked it if it took place later in the year, but she wasn't opposed to having it now. It was a good way of saying "welcome back!" to all the students of Alexandrina Prep.

Making her way there, she noticed there was a crowd gathered around nearby at some wall. In her many years of life, being gathered at a wall definitely meant there was something. Whether or not that something was worth her time was something she would find out with time. Making her way there, she gently shoved her way through the crowd. Everyone seemed to be discussing the contents of the board, looking down at their phones and posting pictures of it. This had to have been really good, there was no way something that sucked would garner this much attention. Hopefully it was something like a puppy or a petting zoo. That would've been real neat!

But instead, it was something along the lines of the polar opposite. There were a bunch of faces plastered all over the bulletin board and labels attached to it. What exactly was it? Looking through, she eventually found a picture of herself, and subsequently, the label that was assigned to her name. The Flake?! Rose was beyond confused. Most of these made sense, but Rose, a flake? There was a rather confused look on her face as she turned around and pulled her phone out. She had to tell Lola about this. There was no way that she was going to let something like this slide and go unnoticed. Rose King was NOT a flake!

[Hero]

---

---

"Yes, Mom...No, Mom." Juliette had repeated the same four words for what felt like all morning, phone to her ear as she unwillingly listened to her mother's rambling. It was a lot of 'be careful' and 'behave' and a few other jabs here and there (including one on how her last picture made her face look fat so now she would obsess over that for the next fifty-two hours) but otherwise, she was used to it by now. In a way, it did help her nerves, at least, so instead of freaking out about how she wanted to make a good impression on the senior class and make some new friends, now she was just freaking out about her classmates probably noticed her fat face. Fun!

Spotting what she assumed was a welcome board, she silently thanked God for the out of the phonecall. "Okay, Mom, I have to go," Juliette said as she tried to peek over the slowly forming crowd. The board of pictures and labels came off as weird, and it took her longer than it should have to notice that it wasn't a welcome board--or at least not one that she had seen. Was it some kind of practical joke? She thought of ignoring it, but as soon as she spotted a flash of red, she did a double take. What the--that was her! And they totally stole that picture from her Instagram! Ugh, she loved that picture, she managed to get her hair absolutely perfect despite the constant wind. Her only real regret was not taking a picture of the rest of her outfit, but she had been feeling kinda blegh because of all the--

Wait, wait, wait, no, no, now was not the time to start reminiscing! More importantly, she needed to know what the heck was under her picture. 'The Bird'. Like, what? Did they find out about her secret shower karaoke sessions? She knew she shouldn't have sung so loud, but once she was in the mood, there really was no stopping her. Except, she didn't know anyone that would know about that. She was new here, how could anyone know anything about her? She let out a small whimper, whatever previous calm she had shooting away as she nervously chewed on her lower lip. She messed up already without even knowing it! How could she be considered anything on her first day?!

---

[fledermaus]

Isaiah woke to the news of Ms.Fortune. Unlike others, the one who told him wasn’t a student - it was his grandfather’s assistant who called him, scorn wrapped around his faux politeness. Isaiah spent the next thirty minutes listening intently to the assistant telling him to fix the situation as it reflected badly on the Yamaguchi name. To Isaiah, the situation didn’t seem that bad, and was actually quite pleased with his assigned nickname. ‘The Gentleman’ had quite the ring to it. Even so, if his grandfather was pissed off, then Isaiah was pissed off.

The phone call had him worked up, once he hung up and the assistant said goodbye with a sneer Isaiah could just picture. Sitting on his bed, Isaiah rubbed his eyes in annoyance before grabbing his phone and texting his friends the news. Well, friend. He doesn’t have many friends, but a lot of people have declared him their enemy or most hated person and Isaiah prides himself over not remembering any of their names.

He sent off his text to Theo, and waited for the reply. Unsatisfied with Theo’s answering texts, Isaiah donned his expensive coat and shoes to saunter (because he saunters and definitely doesn’t speedwalk) towards Theo’s room. He sent off another text, alerting Theo to his incoming presence.

Theo had taken the time to move the speakers away from his Marlena’s wall. But that was where his motivation died. The speakers now lay in the middle of the floor, bunching up one of the animal skin rugs. Theo had taken to laying back on the couch.

He watched his phone flash and buzzed, alerting him to another message. Undoubtedly Isaiah. But the lack of pay back from moving his speakers across the room had left him absent of all energy.

Isaiah didn’t give him the time to check his phone. A few minutes later there was a sharp and familiar knock on the door. With another yawn, Theo pulled himself off the couch, at least bothering to pull on a robe for this guest, although tying it shut seemed like one step far too many.

Theo opened the door. “Hey bitch, what's up?”

Isaiah squeezed past Theo, surveying the room with an idle eye. Casting a curious look over his shoulder, Isaiah said nonchalantly, “Redecorating? I think the juxtaposition of the speakers on the animal carpet really brings out the bad taste in interior design.”

“Glad you brought the thesaurus with you to this morning get together,” He said, shutting the door. “But please come in, make yourself at home. Help yourself to food...I have left over tequila and other things,” he said, tossing himself on the couch again and gesturing towards a rather well stocked bar. “And then maybe, just maybe, you’ll tell me about whatever it is that seems so important,”

Isaiah sent Theo a long-suffering glance. He jumped onto Theo’s bed and sprawled like a starfish, staring at the ceiling and hoping Theo regretted his ‘make yourself at home’ comment. “Some person on social media has given us and a couple of no-names nicknames. We’re practically viral, and not in the usual sex-way that you are used to.”

Isaiah scrolled through his phone to find the post, carefully avoiding liking any photos of the woman his grandfather wanted to set him up with, before landing on the infamous Ms. Fortune post. Annoyed all over again, Isaiah chucked his phone at Theo and trusted Theo to catch it (if not, Isaiah could always buy a new one), “See for yourself.”

Theo reached out and snatched the phone, casting a bored glance at Isaiah before turning his attention to the screen. “The Fake?” Said Theo, his tone sharp. “What the fuck is that supposed to mean?” His eyes skimmed the rest of the list. “I get the Fake and you get the Gentleman? I honestly don't know what you're upset about. Seems to fit you just right,”

His eyes scanned the list one more time. “ The Angel? The Angel of Death would be more accurate,” He thought to himself before tossing the phone back at Isaiah.

Isaiah caught it, surprised that he did because he wasn’t even trying at that point, “I don’t need anyone to be in my business right now. Besides, aren’t you even the littlest bit irritated by it?” Isaiah pushed himself upright to give Theo a full 4k view of his displeased face, “Someone posted my picture up in public - that’s an invasion of privacy and supremely fucked up.”

“Oh I am, but of all the nicknames on the list, I’d say you got off easy,” Theo pulled himself up into a sitting position. “So, what are you going to do about it?”

Rolling his eyes, Isaiah pushed forward instead of commenting, “I’ll probably flash some money until the problem goes away. I’m going to head down to the festivities right now, ask around - or, better yet, pay someone to ask around.”

Isaiah paused and stared at Theo’s speakers. Hiring a private investigator would be the best bet, most probably, and the money wasn’t a problem, either.

“What are you going to do about it?” Isaiah asked, after refocusing on Theo.

“Sit and wait for now. But I’m not just going to let this go,” Said Theo, joking of course, but then there was that look…

“Yikes,” Isaiah whistled, finally making himself uncomfortable in Theo’s house. “Well, I have to go google private investigators. Have fun…” Isaiah gestured towards Theo’s general demeanor, “...stewing, I guess.”

With that, he sauntered (and definitely didn’t sulk) out the door.