I paced around for hours, I'm empty. I jumped at the slightest of sounds, and I couldn't stand the person inside me. I turned all the mirrors around. And I've grown familiar with villains that live in my head. They beg me to write them so I'll never die when I'm dead. I'm bigger than my body. I'm colder than this home. I'm meaner than my demons. I'm bigger than these bones.
Full Name: Arden Charlotte McKay
Age & Birthdate: 20 years old, born on June 19, 1995
Place of Birth: Seattle, Washington, USA
Occupation: Accounting student, part-time manager at a family business
Face Claim: Lauren Jauregui
So, Arden. What was your childhood like? And how’s your relationship with you family now?
The man was cute, yes --- in that baby-faced, childish kind of way ---, but Arden McKay had no interest in him. There were far too many beautiful things in the world, far too many interesting things, and men were not one of these. Men were the least of these, if anyone was asking her, but, all the same, Arden had entertained the glint in the man’s eyes and the warmth to his tone. Not for him, no! Never for him! See, Arden knew his type: the smooth-talking stranger who vowed to go home with the young lady for the night. But she knew better than that. She knew better, and she knew thus: that he would be willing to buy her a slice of strawberry cheesecake if she even so much as give him her name.
Oh, if there were two things that Arden loved, it would be attention given her and free things handed her way.
So, names have been exchanged, and smiles have been returned. Strawberry cheesecake had been handed Arden, and she was half-done with the man when the question he gave rang in her ears. The look in his eyes said he was expecting something, something like Arden gaining an interest in him, too. Something like Arden asking him questions in return to get the conversation going. But he did not know her enough, no. He did not know that once she was given questions about herself, she never turned back.
And so, Arden, after another bite of the cake and a dab of a napkin on the mouth, answered the question with ease. “It was good. My mothers --- yes, mothers --- are great. Mama always baked apple pie on Sundays, and Mommy let me swim on weekends when the sun was properly out. It was nice. I wish I could go back to it some days, you know? We lived in the same house, and things were simpler.” She could see that this was not the answer he’d hoped for, especially not the part where she’d mentioned her mothers. Still, she continued to answer the questions. “Like I said, we live in the same house, and things are more… complicated now, but they’re still good. We’re all very close! One set of my grandparents stay in one room, and the other set stays in another, and then there’s my parents’ room, and there’s the room for me. We’re all real close under one roof and everything.”
Right, well, how did you say you ended up in Seattle?
The look in the man’s eyes brightened with delight when Arden answered his questions. She could see that he almost perked up, almost sat up straighter. There was, of course, nothing meant with her answers; whether or not he knew this was a different story. See, Arden McKay loved attention. Arden McKay thrived on attention, and would so keep entertaining this man for so long as he was giving the most of his attention to her.
At his next question, Arden batted her eyelashes and flashed a pretty smile. (And god, she swore the man lit up further.) “Weren’t you listening?” she asked playfully. If she would play her cards right, she’d get a free smoothie along with all these. “I didn’t say how I ended up in Seattle, silly. But, now that you’re asking: I was born here. Mommy tells me that the family has been here for as long as it’s been, so. There’s not really much to say about that.”
With a shrug of her shoulders, Arden ended the question and the answer as it was, and then continued eating her cake. As she did, she could feel the man staring at her. She could hear the way he breathed, deeply. She could see the way he looked at her. There was an innocent smile on her lips, though. If he was going to look at her like she was a piece of art, then she didn’t mind.
Okay, thanks. Now – how would you say your friends would describe you to someone who didn’t know you?
The next question came after a few beats, giving Arden the chance to take a few bites of her cheesecake. It was only when she’d finished chewing and once again dabbed a napkin on her lips that she answered. “Bah, all my friends are jealous of me,” she began. “They’d say I was a downright bitch, but they’d never say they wish they were me. They would have strained smiles on their faces, but they’d say they love me. Whatever you do, do not believe them.” She paused for a beat. “Or, maybe, you should. I don’t know. Honestly? I don’t care. They can say what they want.”
Despite Arden taking her time with the answer, there was no hint of hesitation, of question on her features or in her tone. If the man hadn’t been so closely looking, Arden would have been sure that he wouldn’t have known she was kidding. With the strength of his gaze, however, she was to think otherwise. Surely, he could see the small smile on the edge of her lips! Surely, he could see the way her eyes lit up!
The look on his face, however, told her otherwise.
At once, Arden sought to correct herself. “God, I’m kidding! I’m kidding! I’m not a bitch. Okay, sometimes, but --- but not all the time. There’s quite a difference, you know?” The pretty smile that Arden so often wore once more appeared on her lips, this time directed at the man.
Alright. Lastly, what’s your greatest ambition versus your greatest fear?
In the moments that the man took to gather himself, Arden ate the last of her cake, put her fork down on the side of her plate, and once more dabbed around her lips with a napkin. She hadn’t expected that the question given her would be given her, so it caused quite a pause from within. However, it took only a moment for Arden to gather herself, flash another pretty smile, and bat her eyelashes at him.
For as openly as she answered the last few questions he’d given her, Arden knew one thing: this man was a stranger. A stranger. He was a stranger, and Arden owed him nothing. She owed him none of the confusion within her head, none of the questions that she raised to nobody but herself. She owed him none to the way that her fear of not knowing what rules to follow, what things to do, what beliefs to trust, swallowed her alive. She owed him none of that.
And so, as she put the napkin down on the table with one hand, Arden reached for her bag with the other, stood up, and flashed that same pretty smile of hers. “I have to go!” she said as she walked away. “Sorry! I’ll see you soon --- hopefully!”
With that, she turned back and blew the man a kiss.
She would never see him again.
Where would you like to see this character go in the roleplay?
Right now, Arden is confused as to where she should place herself in the supernatural attempt to keep the knowledge of their existence from humans. On one hand, the teachings that her parents have inculcated in her plague her mind; but, on the other, she is seeing some good in people. I would love to explore this confusion within her. I want her to have connections on both sides of the spectrum, so as to further confuse her. In the end, her development will depend on her connections!
This character is played by Admin A in GMT+8.
