artifacts

dependent multimuse for serotoninhq - penned by eli

[artefactvm]

CLAUDIA PINHEIRO DE CARVALHO - she/her, 32, hairdresser

DEMIR “MIR” EKIM - he/him, 32, dermotologist resident

DINESH RAO - he/him, 48, human resources agent

GÜZIDE AYDIN - ze/zem/zir & they/them, 31, nurse

IVAN RINALDI - he/him, 42, airplane mechanic

JONATHAN “JOHN” TAYLOR - he/him, 36, private investigator

KAI OSHIRO - she/her, 41, cardiologist

MIRZA IBRAHIM - he/him, 25, biology masters student & field researcher

XIOMARA “XIO” LOPEZ - she/her, 38, postal worker

YELENA “LUNA” WÓJCIK - she/her, 29, midlife crisis again

[ofcelestiials]

"it's floor time," coletta says, taking a quick glance up at the other before continuing to stare at the wall. "you can join me in floor time, if you want, but know that this is currently an anti-happiness zone."

closed starter / coletta & utp @artefactvm

[artefactvm]

demir was no stranger to the concept of floor time - between aysen and willa. it was a place that could have many emotions, but anti-happiness? that’s the antithesis of it entirely! nevertheless, he sits right down on the floor. “what’s going on?” he asks. “why do you say that?”

[ccmpletemess]

“Oh Claud,” Nina sighed softly, running a hand through her hair. “Okay, this is fine, we can fix it. It’ll be fine,” She assured the other.

It was the exact opposite of what she had told the other she’d do! “But it’s not fine!” she whined. “Not yet, and it’s so gross. What can we even do?”

[artefactvm]

It was the exact opposite of what she had told the other she’d do! “But it’s not fine!” she whined. “Not yet, and it’s so gross. What can we even do?”

[lcvelymxnifest]

[zehra]: you think someone would steal my phone and just randomly decide to text you? there’s so many other people above your name they could text

[zehra]: i could come say it to your face, there’s nothing stopping me

[zehra]: looks like we’re both good at threatening flirting ❤️

[artefactvm]

[yelena]: after seeing an emoji come out of you, yes 🙈

[yelena]: there really isn’t anything stopping you except… i can’t think of something that could

[yelena]: once you think of something, you get a death grip on it, and i’m not necessarily opposed to being death gripped by you right now

[yelena]: don't let that get to your head

[ccmpletemess]

closed starter for @artefactvm ( immy & utp ! )

"I can't tell if this is the best idea you've ever had, or the worst," Immy mused with a smile, shaking her head in amusement. "Are you totally sure about this?"

[artefactvm]

Even as Luna clutched the wheel of her car, she wasn’t quite sure. Despite this, she wasn’t going to let the other know about her insecurities. “I’m absolutely positive,” she said, enunciating as much as she could. “It could be either, but we won’t know until we try, right?”

[wickedthiswaycomes]

She was not a bad mother. She was absolutely not. It was the constant refrain that Bianca reminded herself of throughout the movie-- so what if she was enjoying her time away from Willa? She was allowed to want some time away from her perfect, wonderful, adorable, slightly devious daughter. And it was time spent with Demir and dammit, they never had time just the two of them! She had picked out the movie (she had begged the attendant to please please please just give her a ticket for the kids' movie that was playing at the same time because Willa had an odd fascination with movie tickets, business cards, grocery store coupons really anything that she could get her little hands on), gotten them there on time...she was going to enjoy it!

"It was good, wasn't it?" Bianca questioned excitedly afterward, sliding her hand into Demir's and tipping her face up to see his expression. "I think if a movie feels like it was really short but it was actually really long, it was just a really good movie."

[artefactvm]

How people could critique a movie right after they watched it, Demir never understood them. He always knew he saw a movie in a theater, and perhaps that is the reason why he had a higher rating of it. “You think so?” he asked, squeezing the hand that so quietly slipped into his. “I don’t think it helps that you go into another world when you see a movie. Maybe that has something to do with it.”

They weren’t bad parents for wanting time together, and even though he wasn’t Willa’s dad, he had to tell her multiple times that wasn’t the case. Despite all of this and his obvious and complete love for the toddler, was it bad that he wanted just a bit more time with Bianca alone? (And yes, he would have totally handed Willa a ticket to Magic Mike and dealt with the consequences later. Just like he would give her the dry cleaning coupons that she’d show off to anyone that she’d meet.)

That confused mixture of emotions hit him like a truck, but that all died down when he looked down at his girlfriend. How could she make him smile like that? It wasn’t fair. “I don’t know what I expected, but now I see why you fought to see it. What did you think of it?"

[ofcelestiials]

“i just can’t decide which one looks nicer,” naritra sighs, holding up the two wood flooring samples. “dusty barn or early frost? my heart is absolutely torn in two.”

closed starter / naritra & utp @artefactvm

[artefactvm]

Xio felt like she spent an eternity looking at those samples. “I don’t know which one is which, but this one is beautiful.” With these words, she pointed to the early frost sample. “It reminds me of a barn…. Oh, don’t tell me that’s actually early frost!”

kirana sat there quietly and listened to claudia speak until she said the last sentence and then kirana let out a loud gasp and gently hit her friend on her shoulder. “claudia! no! that’s horrible! i swear guys are the worst.” she said dramatically as if she could talk with the fact that she’d been engaged five times. “what did you say to him?”

[artefactvm]

“No!” she exclaimed. “That’s the thing - I just shrugged it off and ghosted him.” At least he had the same idea, and she hadn’t heard anything from him. No blocking necessary. “Usually it’s out of their mouth first thing. Why wouldn’t I have heard about it then?” She had to wallow in her misery. Claudia had awful luck with dating, so why did she even try? “At least with eight cats, I wouldn’t have to worry about that happening. It’s getting more appealing by the minute….”

[artefactvm]

“Oh my god!” Claudia called out as the action happened before her eyes. It wasn’t like she was much help - she was stuck in a boot, anyway. How did this person manage such a trick? A wonderful reminder that bikes were just metal after all. Metal that could be squished together. “Are you okay?” What great luck, honestly.

[c0wabungaz]

    ❝  𝐢’𝐦  𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐞,  𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐮𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲.  i  bet  that  looked  pretty  scary  ──  are  you?  fine,  i  mean.  ❞  all  he  has  to  prove  for  it  is  a  scrape  on  the  palm  of  his  hand  and  of  course,  a  constant  reminder  that  he  is  still  not  much  of  a  charmer  when  it  comes  to  conversation.  ❝  if  it  makes  you  feel  any  better,  bike  accidents  are  quite  common.  but,  only  a  third  of  them  involve  vehicles.  i  guess  that’s  just  my  luck,  right?  ❞  they  chuckle,  trying  to  add  a  pinch  of  lightheartedness  to  the  scene  that’s  disrupted  half  the  street.  

[artefactvm]

“I just watched it, not was a part of it like you. I’m fine, only concerned because you were in it.” Claudia had her own share of accidents, but crashes on a bike haven’t happened to her since she was like ten years old. That time, she had broken her arm. Luckily, she had bounced back quickly. She couldn’t say her current injury allowed her to do that…. “Do these things happen to you often?”

[ccmpletemess]

closed starter for @artefactvm ( sully & claudia ! )

Sully had just finished firing off a text as he stepped outside of the coffee shop, slipping his phone away in his back pocket as he finally glanced upwards. Noticing someone trying to enter, the man immediately stood to the side, holding the door open for the the woman to walk through. The familiar figure caused him to furrow his brows for a moment, before his face lit up into a grin. "Hey! It's you again," The very gorgeous woman he kept bumping into, time and time again. "Claudia, right? It's almost like it's fate, us constantly running into each other like this."

[artefactvm]

Usually, Claudia made coffee at home or in the salon, but she wanted something not from a k-cup. So, that’s why she was heading to the coffee shop after an appointment. She was still wearing her apron, she rushed out so fast!

What she didn’t expect, however, was to enter the shop just as Sully was exiting. Just like she didn’t expect Sully to be the person in the aisle when she needed something from the top shelf, or when they met at the Maple Moose after an awful day and ended up sitting next to each other at the bar.

The fact that he recognized her both made her want to smile, but hide at the same time. The last time they saw each other was with the station there as well and she knew what the others called her. Was it her fault that she fell? Okay maybe, but still!

“Maybe it’s fate, or maybe we have the same brilliant ideas. Don’t they say that great minds think alike?” But he called her her actual name! And he was awfully cute when he was smiling…. Well, even when he wasn’t, but even she could admit he was especially cute when he was. “Please forgive me, I’m awful at names. I know it’s… Kissler? Lt Kissler, if I’m not mistaken?” However, she had no idea what Lt was and pronounced it exactly as it was spelled. “Your uniforms luckily gave that away otherwise I’d be a lost cause!”

[ccmpletemess]

open starter ( laurie & utp ! ) location: anywhere that makes sense !

Laurie was used to people staring at him, given his family upbringing, and then his choice in career. Lately, the looks felt different, half of them more judgemental. Feeling yet another person's gaze on him, he sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose before turning towards them. "If you've got something to say, say it."

[artefactvm]

Kai wasn’t the type of person to stare unless there was a good reason. This time, she had been squinting, taking forever to read his shirt. Oops. “Oh now I get it! I only saw the back of your shirt. Guess it’d have been easier if you were walking past me instead.”

[ccmpletemess]

open starter ( weston & utp ! ) location: anywhere !

"Well, that was embarrassing," Weston grinned, pulling a slightly face. Having tripped over practically nothing, he'd jumped back to his feet almost immediately, approaching the other who'd absolutely seen him fall on his ass. "Did you get it on camera? Reckon I could go TikTok viral?"

[artefactvm]

“If you ever say ‘reckon’ again, you’re not gonna be tripping over air.” He might have been joking (maybe), but what could have been expected from Mirza? “Maybe some section of TikTok would love it, but I don’t think so.”

[ofcelestiials]

“are you —” kyrie pauses for a moment, glancing at the sketchbook for a moment before looking back at him “— is that supposed to be a compliment or?” despite this, she knows that what she can do with a pen and paper isn’t quite as good as what she can do with the things most people have in their cupboards. “but yes, actually.”

[artefactvm]

“It is a compliment.” What he left out was that him and words didn’t agree sometimes. “I believe you, it’s just… it’s too pretty.” That was probably as best as a compliment that Mirza would ever say. “If the actual product looks that good, I don’t think I’d ever be able to eat it.”

[ccmpletemess]

"Hey, no, don't apologise," A frown graced his lips, almost relieved when she agreed to get food. "That sounds good, we can go there. I'll stay sober and drive if you want? That way I can make sure you get back safe?" He wasn't one for drinking much anyway. "I'm sure they'll have something on," Tian shrugged his shoulders, knowing nothing about sports.

[artefactvm]

“How can I not apologize for something I caused?” Maybe she was using too formal English for this, but Tian was basically a stranger now, so did it matter? “Yeah, surely something’ll be on even if it’s a rerun. I would rather watch someone else run around instead of us, honestly.” She paused for a moment, thinking about her own car. She was sure it’d be fine there for the night. “How many beers do you think it takes for me to get drunk, Tian?” Claudia couldn’t help but laugh despite the fact that over the years, he probably did know how many it took.

[prcttyvxnom]

closed starter for @artefactvm ( uzel and guzide )

"guzideeeee!" uzel said, walking over and throwing his arm around his cousin. "if it isn't my favorite cousin! how are things going? is work still exhausting for you? my job is exhausting and i don't think i'm doing a great job but you know i try." he said.

[artefactvm]

Unfortunately, Güzide could hear him coming from a mile away. Well, not unfortunate to zem - he was family! Like actual family. In that stance, ze could wrap an arm around his back, and that was good enough in zir eyes. “When work makes you feel less tired, is it really work? Bright side, there’s overtime pay. Did you hear they were trying to make me night shift? Like no way!” When Uzel put himself down, ze wanted to roughhouse with him until he admitted he wasn’t awful at something. “You try, and considering we haven’t heard something on the news, you’re doing great.”

[prcttyvxnom]

open starter location: any bar, restaurant, cafe, etc.

"i've never ordered here before, what are your recommendations?" thorn asked, eyeing the person closest to them. "if i stand here trying to pick i'll either order one of everything or be standing here until they close. not sure anyone would like that."

[artefactvm]

“I’m pretty sure Rafael would like that,” Claudia laughed. “The owner, I mean. Shows they’re open or they get your money.” Okay, taste buds were on the line. “The menu changes all the time, which is fun sometimes. Are you looking for sweet, salty, or sour?”

[ccmpletemess]

closed starter for @artefactvm ( talia & utp ! )

"Ha!" Talia huffed in amusement, scoffing slightly. "It's actually pretty adorable that you think that'll work, honestly. I really can't wait to prove you wrong."

[artefactvm]

“What do you mean that won’t work?” Demir retorted. “It’s a proven and tested theory - don’t give me that ‘it won’t work one day stuff!’ If you’re so sure, what’s your plan to prove me wrong?”