MyCatGinger

Welcome To Shine City (Season 1)

@Roecoon I think we're the very definition of "socially awkward young adults" ._.
OH WELL

Wolf Manor

Edit: pfffff I watch Carnivale and Twin Peaks regularly, I eat batshit insane for breakfast

@AuntFlavia

Read the above as "I eat batshit for breakfast" and was not disappointed
13849/10

Wolf Manor

Brave the weather, girlie!
I also love the post :') Especially since it features my Lynn's one, true love!

Ah, Monsieur Dubois...
Tu est l'homme de mes rêves.
Je sais que je ne suis pas française mais quelquefois, on doit faire quelque chose...bizarre. Parce que, c'est la vie! Alors, c'est trop courte pour attendre.
Et je te veux.
S'il te plaît...

Really though which rabid twin was which?
Guess we'll never know...

Welcome To Shine City (Season 1)

Finally posted! :D
It's super huge and I'm sorry it took so long but here it is, folks!

Welcome To Shine City (Season 1)

"I...work, yes." Shou bit his words down hard. Would it lower himself as a professor in his students' eyes to tell them he was out, gambling and drinking the night away? It most definitely would. Word got around fast, anyway. Despite his ability, he still felt paranoid: As if dangling on a thin line with his career. He spoke no more of the matter, though his eyes met Shizuka's with more behind them than he could say in just that moment. One part of what she said did stick with him, though.
"...yes. I think I'll try to take better care of myself indeed."

The focus shifted to the animals in the cage, curious and so blissfully unaware they were the topic of conversation. In a way, Shou almost envied their lifestyle of ease.
Or not...
"Injured in a trial, you say? Poor little guys." Shou's shoulders slumped as he examined the hamsters a little closer. You wouldn't be able to tell on first inspection, but there was definitely something off, as if the lingerings of a past injury. Maybe it was the way they moved, the limp in their scurry. But it was all but invisible. Shizuka really was doing an amazing job with them.
...something about them being in her care was soothing to Shou. Out of all his students in her batch, though he wouldn't admit it to her personally without going hot and embarrassed, he was happy she was taking care of them. Her quiet, attentive nature seemed surefire to do them only the best.

He stood up now, almost a whole foot taller than Shizuka's 5'5. He pondered her statement about grading papers for the moment. There really was nothing, and Shou knew she knew, and there was no point in lying through it, perhaps even to just meet her in his office again.
"There's nothing I'm aware of, no." he smirked here, his age being lost for a younger man, in his early 20s, to surface, even if just for a second. It was something about the playful way he teased her.
"You're too good to me, Miss Otonashi. Wouldn't say I won't be jealous if you take as good care of your lover as you do those hamsters."

It was accompanied by a fond ruffling of the girl's hair. At this point, it wouldn't have even been considered weird. Shou had known Shizuka for the entirety of his teaching career at Shine Academy, and she'd always been such a help. Though she was quiet, her presence had a way of reassuring anyone - Shou was sure - that everything was going to be just fine.
Even if the girl herself was a little unsure of herself time and time again. And in Shou's opinion, she had no reason to be.

Moving away from her finally, with the hints of pink creeping to his pale cheeks at being so close to her, and alone in his office otherwise, he went back to the desk and gathered the papers into his shoulder bag. Noticing his coffee had now gone cold, or whatever was left of it, made him sigh as he threw the coffee-to-go cup in the bin just under his desk. Though it was a shame, it certainly woke him up plenty.
Fetching a cigarette from his shoulder bag, he popped it between his lips, unlit for the moment. He gave Shizuka a final smile before walking to the door, holding it open for her to walk through. As she passed, since their paths would turn different directions from that point on, he used the opportunity to say something softly to her, a parting note. Though he was smiling, his eyes remained oddly...melancholy?

"Good luck, Miss Otonashi. I look forward to hearing all about how the recovery process went when the hamsters are better. I have no doubt they'll be right as rain in just a couple more days in your care."

-----

Shou Matsuoka
1:05pm

Errands, errands, errands. There were always errands to run on a Sunday. Grocery shopping took priority, though, and Shou pondered the thought of where to leave his car. Perhaps he'd leave it at the Mochavine, and come back after grocery shopping and walking the dogs, to grab a coffee and go home? That sounded like a better idea.
So, after driving home to drop off the books in the shoulder bag, and just fetching some essentials, and one very impatient Jinxie, he soon found himself settling the Ford into a snug little parking at the otherwise very busy Mochavine. Living out of the city had both its advantages and disadvantages, Shou thought.

Oh well...

The park fell somewhere odd in the city, so that the large supermarket was on one end and the smaller shops and cafés did better on the other end. Among the shops near the supermarket were higher end clothing stores and even an outdoor market sometimes for fresh produce when it was in season. All in all, Shine City was charming, even during the daytime.

As the German Shepherd cross jumped out of the boot of the car, and Shou carried the Jack Russel and placed her onto the cobblestone pathway before she'd hurt herself, he couldn't help but glance through the large glass windows of the Mochavine.
There he saw many people, but by far the oddest, or the most standing-out, were a pair sitting at a table. A girl with bright blue hair and a man with re-
Shou recognised him! It was Arty. From the cooking class!
He couldn't see their expressions from where he was, but huh...were they on a date?
Must have been.
Shou let out a low whistle with a chuckle to himself, which made Romeo blink up at his master with a rather curious glance, tail thumping against the ground.
If that was Arty's girlfriend, he sure was a lucky guy.
And before he passed the Mochavine, he even noticed a green haired girl going to sit with the duo. Red, blue and green. They could have been a superhero trio.

Also, curiously enough, sitting right by the window, Shou noticed one Junichi Hirose, all by himself. With Romeo and Jinxie in tow, he moved to where the boy was and tapped on the glass to get his attention. His former cigarette had been swapped for a lollipop for now. He smirked at the boy, even giving him a wink after noticing one very pretty blonde sitting not too far over. Shou mouthed a quiet "get some" before replacing the green apple lollipop between his lips.

Just before he left though, it was unmistakable. He couldn't have mistaken that flash of pink hair anywhere else. Though obscured by tables and customers at the busy Mochavine, it was undeniable that April was among the people there. She seemed to be breathless, you could see it in her cheeks. Was she overworking herself?
Shou didn't know that her shift had just, just started.

He found himself gazing at her with a rather entranced smile as she waited table after table. Though, eye-contact was inevitable, it still caught Shou off guard. He'd almost choked on his lollipop!
Giving her as suave a smile he could manage, he pointed at his watch, signifying he'd be around later. Though it was a vague sign, and a hurried one as he briskwalked out of her line of sight, he hoped it would suffice.

On the way to the park, there were many stores indeed. Shou could think about just a few things, courtesy of meeting April being one of the major ones at the forefront of his mind. And like clockwork, he happened upon a florist.
The Enchanted Florist, to be specific.
Hesitating for just a second, he swallowed his breath hard and walked through the doors with the two dogs, a little bell just above the door chiming to indicate someone had entered.

...but there seemed to be nobody there. Perhaps they were just busy? But the sign did say open. So someone must have been there...
Not noticing the young lady fetching a watering can at the very back of the room in his slightly jumpy state, Shou busied himself with admiring the flowers. There were so many kinds, he wondered just kind of flowers April would like.
...though he himself was enchanted indeed by the orchids, and especially the lines of blue that stood out and shone among the white and the pink.

Wolf Manor

I know, boss, I know. ;;
I'm so glad it's finally done aaaaahhh.
Now I can die happy.

Wolf Manor

At long last...
It is finally done, my children.

New post in the IC. Get some!

Wolf Manor

Evelynn Joshi
~2:40 pm

The day progressed beautifully. Jonas had left Evelynn close to noon, and though she had thought she might get bored out by herself, the lake and its scenery proved otherwise. She couldn't help but take some pictures with her mobile phone, useless now without a network connection but still able to pull through in a pinch. She sat with her knees brought up to her chest and used her lap as a mock-table for the sketchpad she was working on. Lazy sunlight fell in patches through the shade of the leaves and made the white of her paper and the white of her dress glow in a warm manner that just screamed ‘summer’. She was drawing the trees on the far side of the lake, and always went back to add another branch, add another detail to a leaf, so remained fully engrossed and growing enchanted with the scenery, and admittedly her own work, too. It was coming together wonderfully. Adding some finishing details on one corner of the page, she looked up, swallowing up the atmosphere and a deep breath of air with a content sigh, before noticing something out of the corner of her eye. It was a small kind of movement, but sure enough, it piqued her curiosity and she turned her head to make out what it was.

Two figures that were just silhouettes at first were approaching, and Lynn grinned. Although she was finishing off, company at any time would be appreciated. She was even more delighted to make out one of the figures as her most recent neighbour, Marceline. Though as they came closer, she realised she hadn't once spoken to the older gentleman with her, with the brilliant white beard. Her eyebrows knit as she tried to remember his name. All she knew was that he was the last person to step into the waiting room at the airport, and though his name was said at least a couple of times over during the past two days, she could not for the life of her remember it. Marci's name was no problem, and it came to Lynn instantaneously as she blurted it out cheerily, when they were a sufficient distance from her, “Oh, hey! Hey, Marci!”

Lynn noticed her and the older gentleman were chatting, and she was curious as to just what it was about. The party last night? The Wolfs? Their lives before coming here? Any of those could have been plausible, but Lynn never would know, as it the conversation cut when Marci noticed Lynn. Though, she wasn't displeased.

“Ah! Hey Lynn, what's going on?” the other woman called with an unmistakable smile, and even waving with a similar unmistakable energy. Lynn waved back, though a little more subtly and a little less swingy, even if only for the moment, since she found herself quite curious about the man with Marci. As they finally neared where Lynn was sitting, Marci, never missing a beat, motioned to the gentleman and explained, “Oh, uh, Lynn, this is Gray Birch. I guess you two haven't properly met yet?”
In response, the gentleman lifted his hand in a casual two finger salute greeting, his manner laid back and polite all the same. Lynn was just about to get up to shake his hand and supply the traditional ‘Nice to meet you’, especially since he was much older, and so Lynn was taught in the typical Indian household to thoroughly respect your elders, when he spoke, “Ah, there's no need for such formalities anymore. After all this insanity I suppose we're all in this together now.”

Letting out a sigh in relief that she hadn't just offended anyone by being too formal, she returned the two-finger salute with a little laugh. “We haven't met properly, no.” she smirked at Marci, “But he's quite right. You can call me Lynn, Mr-” She caught herself just in time, lips curving into an embarrassed smile, “...Gray. Gray is good. Whoops, hah.”

There was a warm, comforting, if refined, aura about this man, Evelynn had decided. Despite his age and wisdom, he really was just as lost as they were in this hellish place, and that reassured Lynn, even if just slightly. He smiled warmly as he placed the object he'd been carrying on the ground at last, and Lynn's eyes lit up at noticing it was a picnic basket. A very big picnic basket. As Gray spread out a picnic blanket he retrieved from the basket, Lynn only just heard him mention to himself, or probably Marci, “That young man sure does think of everything.” before he took a seat on the blanket, motioning for anyone to join him there.

Lynn gladly moved over to the blanket after just a second of pondering, dusting herself off and sending a little sprinkle of grass back onto the ground, before she sat herself down on the edge, legs to one side and the sketchpad shut - with the pencil stuck in as a bookmark for now - and shoved back into her canvas bag, which she's put on the blanket just next to her. “A whole picnic out? Ooh, my... But I'm curious, hm. This young man you were referring to. Would that be Félix?"
She visibly bit her bottom lip here with a sheepish smile, slight colour rising to the tan of her cheeks slowly but surely. The events of this morning lingered in her mind, and she decided she most definitely would be ringing Félix up for ‘breakfast in bed’ in the near future. Changing the topic before things got any more flustering for her, she continued, "What brings you two out here? A coincidence I'd see you here! Jonas was here with me earlier."

Marci gestured to Gray, and used the same hand to push her hair back behind her ears, before she spoke, “He invited me to check the lake out - figured it was a nice day and my hangover is finally in retreat, so why not? How long have you been out here?” As she spoke, she put her journal down on the blanket too, not too far from Lynn, and then removed her hoodie and placed it beside the notebook. Lynn noticed she wore what appeared to be a swimsuit under the hoodie, and reminded herself internally to see if she brought one. She probably hadn't, thinking this was a trip for work related purposes after all, and didn't expect to go swimming. If she did, it'd have to be in the nude...something that made her shudder at the thought of, since she never imagined she'd be doing that of all things at a place like this.

“The one and only.” Lynn had almost missed the last bit Marci left before she, all too hurriedly, moved forward with her camera and began snapping pictures of the landscape. Something seemed definitely off about the way Marci reacted to his name, and though Lynn wanted to press it, she had to satisfy herself with a ‘what happened’ sort of glance at Gray, who conveniently missed the entire exchange and probably looked really puzzled. She sighed defeated, “Huh...I see. That's nice of him...”
She decided to drop the topic for the moment, subconsciously curling up just a little at the bad feeling she had about what happened with Félix. “Been out here for a while...ever since breakfast, I think. That was at…um.” instinctively she threw out her right hand and, finding no watch, moved to dig in her canvas-bag to fetch it, checking the time with a little gasp. “God, it’s been hours now. I was out of the house - err, manor - before noon!”

She spoke to Marci primarily, since she noticed one Gray Birch was quite lost in his own world, staring off at the lake. Lynn mentally slapped herself at the notion that he was old and his hearing deteriorating, so he probably hadn't heard her, but nervously laughed to herself with a tiny inward shrug, when he mused fondly, “What a wonderful view! I can hardly wait to get in the water… But first, we can’t let this fine plate go to waste.” and at that moment, as if right out of a clip from a grand, tropical holiday movie, he pulled out a silver platter - Lynn wondered if silver platters were all they had at the Manor - containing more cured meats and cheeses than Lynn could even place! She'd be lying if she'd said she wasn't salivating at that very moment. It only got better when Gray, or ‘the magical food-bringer’ Lynn had internally dubbed him, pulled out a small, round basket with a napkin over it. He pulled it off to uncover a pile of sliced French bread, and Lynn's stomach growled insistently as the older man fished out a bottle of red and a corkscrew, and began opening it up.

Marci happened to be taking pictures all throughout the ceremonious uncovering, and when it was all done, finally sat herself down on the blanket, and as if welcoming her, Gray finally popped the cork off. Lynn shot her an ‘Oh, I’m dying to see’ sort of smirk when she finally put the camera down, and the photos that poured out of the slit kept coming and being arranged by Marci on the grass. Her smirk turned curious when Marci gave her a sort of expectant look Lynn couldn’t place alongside the question she asked, “So, seen anything creepy out here yet, Lynn?”

The brunette’s eyebrows knit as she thought, trying to remember just what it was the bearded man had said to her. “Personally, when I was out with Jonas earlier, he said some things that I thought were...spooky, but I dunno. The lake seems pretty nice. It’s really calm, and really pretty out here.”
Here she paused briefly, and changing the topic quickly, her eyes found Gray’s. “Goodness, look at this spread! Seems you really did get everything for a perfect picnic.”
Well, it would have been perfect. The one failing factor was the fact that there only happened to be two glasses, something for which Lynn looked a little disappointed, but only for a split second. Of course she hadn’t expected them to bring another glass! Why would they, after all, when they had made plans for a picnic among themselves?!
Being reminded of her own thirst by the red wine swirling and glittering in the bottle, Evelynn fished out a half-full water bottle from her canvas bag, laying limp and piling up against her body, and once she had spun open the cap, brought her lips to the rim and sipped idly. Her dark eyes swept gently over the landscape to the lake again, “...aah, I’m sure the water’s lovely. I might just dip my feet in, too.”

“Well, Kim told me what Jonas told her, but…” Marci began, though as if an indication from the heavens themselves, she happened to notice how Lynn brushed it off as if it was no more than the wind. Picking up on the left cue, she changed gears, “I’m sure everything’s fine, yeah?”

Unfortunately, for all the girls’ efforts, or mostly Lynn’s, to divert the conversation, it came back to bite her indirectly. It seemed Gray was aware of it too, and he asked Marci if Jonas had told her a “chilling” story, too. As he waited for her answer, he had taken to gently, with the skill of a refined wine-drinker and the grace of his sturdy hand, pouring the wine into the two glasses before he stopped mid-way and seemed a little thrown off. “Oh dear! Now this is just absolutely terrible, we should have asked for more glasses, in case something just like this were to happen. But now we don’t have enough!”
Before Lynn even had a chance to complain, the glasses were thrust into both her and Marci’s hands, and they couldn’t have given them back because Gray, even for his age, got to his feet ridiculously quickly. Lynn, yet again for the umpteenth time this afternoon, mentally smacked herself.
She didn’t know if he had read her mind, or if he was just excited, but he was smiling when he added,“I’m going to get in the water now, and by the time I’m out, we can just switch off.”

Marci was the first to speak between the two girls, having just finished spreading the last of the pictures on the grass and, to Lynn, she seemed just as surprised to have the glass of wine thrust right into her hands, "Oh, are you sure? I mean, I can do without it for now, and it was your idea, so-”
And here surprise turned into a tiny, awkward panic.

“I didn’t really think it was...real, I gotta admit.” Lynn bit her bottom lip embarrassedly, a little ashamed to admit she didn’t believe Jonas as much after all. She had wanted to believe him fully, she truly did, but especially after sitting out there in the heart of the sprawling lawns of the manor, surrounded by beauty and tranquility as far as the eye could see, it seemed way too unlikely.
“It all seemed too...dream-like. No, actually. Too nightmarish. Like something out of a horror movie. I’m sure there’s honestly nothing like that here.” She had been sipping from the water-bottle when her hand now held the glass of wine, making her choke awkwardly between a surprised attempt to complain, and a surprised attempt to speak, “Really, I-I’m fine too! I shouldn’t! Not this early, at least, I…”
She trailed off, her eyes meeting Marci and her being minutely reassured that she wasn’t the only one considering the situation a little unfair, “Err...uh.”

“It may be too early for liquor, but wine is a special sort of thing. You drink it to accompany the finer things in life, not just to get drunk. Thankfully there are enough fine things around here to warrant a few bottles now and then.” The suave gentleman teased, making Lynn’s cheeks go hot. She never did receive attention like that positively, because it always threw her off guard and if she could help it, she’d perhaps not be a squealing, pleading mess more often than not. However, it seemed his word was final, and he left the wine in their care, stepping determinedly forward and kicking off his shoes with an excitement or a vigour Lynn couldn’t place.
And then he took off his shirt, and as if on cue, Lynn’s jaw dropped.

He was absolutely covered in tattoos.

Everything flowed into each other, from the clock-face on his right shoulder which blended into sands and the crescent, half and full moon down his arm. Similarly, his left arm was covered in tattoos but not so much sticking to the theme of time, with compasses and bizarre beasts that Lynn couldn’t even place. Fortunately, there were some animals even Lynn recognized: A cow, a lion and a big cat with rosettes. Lynn wasn’t sure exactly what it was in the split second her eyes fell upon it; there was just so much to take in. Her eyes finally settled on a circle tattooed onto Gray’s lower back, made of a snake eating its tail with the centre filled in to resemble roses. Though Lynn had no idea what snakes had to do with roses for, she didn’t have the ability to ask.
If she had, she would have noticed an inscription in the center of the roses which read, ‘Henry Calhoun Birch, 8/22/94 -- 10/17/14’

“Whoaaaaa.” Lynn barely even made out Marci from the corner of her eye quickly sitting her glass between her thighs and snapping a picture of the tattooed masterpiece that stood before them as he looked out into the water. Though she’d be much happier sitting there gawking forever at Gray, his body in an impeccable condition for his age and now in full view in the shorts-style speedo he wore, in a way that made her kind of jealous that she probably wouldn’t take care of her own body in that way so she’d be all saggy and wrinkly when she got to his age – she really didn’t even know how old he was, and on top of that she dared not ask, either – she was snapped out of the trance when only just managing to clink her glass against Marci’s incoming one as she declared, “Well, cheers, then.” with a grin.

“Let’s just hope the water is warm.” The older gentleman, formerly staring fondly at the lake, now made his way down to the edge, leaving the two girls alone.

“Whoa! Cheers indeed, hah!” Lynn gave Marci a bashful smile, a little apologetic for her previous distractedness, and so quietly bringing the glass to her lips as the girl next to her called out to Gray, “Let me know how it is!”

Lynn lazily focused her eyes on Gray as he made his way down, and her lips idly sipped from the swirling red drink. They were drawn away from the wine only when Lynn brought the glass back down, finally noticing the darling little collection in its entirety laying on the grass right next to Marci. Some of them were still drying, though a lot of them were dry already, and after all, Lynn had been dying to see…

“Hm, Marci.” She shot her a side-glance. “May I…?” she asked in an almost awestruck tone of voice, glass held similarly to Marci’s earlier between her thighs and her hand gesturing out at the pictures. Her free hand moved to play with the edges of the sundress she wore, and simultaneously tug at it and straighten out the edges.
Fortunately, Marci was quite happy to share her work, after being snapped out of idly swirling the contents of her glass, she gave Lynn a green-light smile. “Oh. hah, yeah sure. Go ahead.”

“Thank you.” Lynn bowed her head in an exaggerated expression of gratitude, before her fingers moved to the photos and she busied herself with browsing through them, ever admiring the talented young woman’s work.

Welcome To Shine City (Season 1)

@ChaoticFox

Hello there, darling sweetness! :D
Just browsed over your post (I'll make mine soon, excitement!), and I couldn't help but notice its length...
I know it's a lot to ask, but since the bossman would have liked a longer post, could I trouble you so to extend it, please? ;;
Since we're 'advanced' after all, too. We'd like a tiny bit more quantity, though the quality is brilliant!
Perhaps more on what our lovely Lexi is thinking? Or feeling (in depth!) or doing, or her later plans or thoughts or ideas and
Whoopsie. But you get the drift, no?
Thank you!

rainy art dump [art requests]

Oh, how gorgeous! :') The experimental brush technique makes them even better, in my opinion.

I've got a request, but it might just kill ya, ohohohoho.
How about a snow leopard? The rosettes will be hard to do, but they're my favourite animal...