Ft. Ava - Blog Posts
lila startles at the sound of ava's voice, her eyes lifting from the rippling surface of the pond to meet the girl she hasn't properly spoken to since before everything unraveled. her posture stiffens instinctively, but there's no edge in her voice when she speaks – just a quiet sort of guilt that's lingered ever since lizzie's name became something they don't say out loud anymore. “ava, wait,” lila says, rising slowly from the bench. the soft morning light catches on the tired lines under her eyes, evidence she hasn't been sleeping much either. “you don't have to go. it's a public bench. you probably have more of a claim to it than i do.” she swallows, the words tasting heavier than she wants them to. “i didn't know you came out here. not until after.” a beat. “i'm not here to start anything, i swear. i just… couldn't sleep either.” there's a pause, where she glances down at her hands like she's bracing herself. “i never got to say i'm sorry. not just for what happened. for – everything. for what i did. for what i let happen.” her voice cracks slightly, but she forces a soft breath out and looks up again. “you don't owe me anything, ava. i just… i'm sorry.”
status : — closed for @xfwildflower
location : — the reflection pond
Dawn has only just begun to crack the night sky open when Ava makes her way to her favourite bench at the reflection pond. Another night of staring at the ceiling with a whirring brain has led her here - if she’s plagued to be an insomniac for the rest of her college days, she may as well make it scenic. Everything feels different in the dull glow of the rising morning - softer somehow in the quiet hours before the rest of the campus wakes up. A serenity the brunette is actually looking forward to bathing in when she rounds the small bend of shrubs and finds someone already there. “ Oh, ” Ava murmurs quietly, halting her stride. The night’s weariness seems to catch up to her in that moment when she recognises the frame, and with it all the uncomfortable messes Lizzie had made with them. “ I didn’t think anyone else would be out this early, sorry. I’ll go. ”
It's always a debate in her mind; just how much would she give the residents of any place she settles, even just for a day or a few months, the truth of herself. In this moment, however, it was a side of truth. No, she wouldn't rat the woman out. In fact, she found a sort of adrenaline in the woman's action. "I haven't decided yet actually. There's a pretty sick green and blue one I've had my eye on for a while but I'm also thinking three shades of purple that just came in. In again, I'll probably end up getting them both." She was, after all, a sucker for wigs. In fact, reds were typically used AS Hashtag. A mask on top of the mask safely tucked away in a place no one would find. "I think fun and shiny but I'm not above a full face of makeup. Oh here, look." she says, pulling out her phone to look up the wigs she had been looking at.
Frozen in place while the other looked over the display, brown eyes wide as Ava waited for some indication of whether or not Arie would sell her out for what she'd seen, the hairdresser realized that she vaguely recognized the woman as one of her neighbors. They'd only crossed paths a few times, as was bound to happen living in such close quarters in her already miniscule hometown, but she really didn't know much about Aretha personally. So when she took on a chipper tone, making it clear that she didn't intend to snitch, Ava's lungs deflated with relief, returning Arie's smile with one of her own. "Well, what does your new wig look like? It's kind of my area of expertise, so I can help you find just the right thing to make the whole look pop," the brunette boasted, flipping her own raven locks back with a flick of her free hand. Hoping that her offer to help could serve as a token of her gratitude for her silence, Ava turned her attention to the palettes of eyeshadows across the aisle, the tube of stolen lipstick still burning a hole in her pocket. "So, are you just looking for something fun and shiny for your eyes and lips, or did you want a full face worth of new makeup?"
If there was anyone who'd understand the itch and pull to do something NEGATIVE in town, it would be Arie. Her choice in poison was damage and destruction, however, but she'd never ever shame someone else's vibe ... maybe to their face, depending on the choice. Some simple thievery wasn't enough to make her want to ruin the other's life simply by looking for a whiff of her existence in code. No, in fact, she digged whatever excuse the other could have for finding the other with the burning hot lipstick tube, figuratively and acidic-ly threatening to eat a hole in her jacket pocket under the risk of being caught. Arie glanced at the display for a moment, probably not quelling the nagging feeling the other felt, but breaking eye contact for just enough time to pick up an item as if to investigate.
Her eyes move and she smiles at the other. They met, maybe, once or twice but Arie found herself splitting her time between the station and various places horrendously. "Hey-ya! I need a new wig but with every great wig, comes the need for makeup that matches." If it's not obvious that she had seen it, it might not be all that obvious that she wasn't going to draw attention to the fact.
( july 25, down the rabbit hole underground mall ) @anchoragestarters
Ava knew this was a bad idea. Worse than that, she felt like she was regressing, resorting to something she used to do for kicks as a high schooler, and she wasn't exactly eager to revisit the tumultuous days of her adolescence. On the contrary, it was embarrassing for the youngest Adler to admit to herself that she was even considering the possibility of petty theft as a way to entertain herself. But after the events of the last few months, a newfound sense of restlessness had settled into her bones, refusing to let her function normally without feeling like she wanted to jump out of her skin, so she was itching to do... something to quiet the festering feeling brewing in her gut.
Ambling through a cosmetics stand, she looked around to make sure no one was paying close attention to her, eyes running over the items on display with practiced disinterest. She let her fingers run over the merchandise, picking up a few tester items and eyeing them for a moment before she wandered over to the array of lipsticks. Carefully slipping a tube off of the display, Ava tucked it into her jacket pocket, a small grin blooming across her lips at the long-dormant thrill that ran down her spine over the miniscule victory. But of course, that was the exact moment she looked up and made eye contact with someone just a few feet away. Did they see that? Should I just play it cool? She was usually quick on her feet, but in that moment, the brunette felt like a deer in headlights, tactlessly blurting out, "Uhhh... heeeey. What brings you here?"
