ALEX DOESN’T RESPOND , but the look on his face show’s that he’s glad they’ve moved locations. it’s not a large grin , but a soft one of content. something that dakota was good at getting out of alex. he only takes a few seconds before he settles into his seat to get himself a beer , and then he’s sliding into his respective seat. alex wasn’t closed off , per say – he talked to dakota. he was one of the only ones , actually , that alex talked to. but he was detached – not afraid of feelings , but they were difficult for him , but the way the other could make him smile didn’t go unnoticed. “ i’m glad you ran into me too. ” he responds easily , fingers gently tapping against the neck of his beer bottle. “ and then i’d be standing on the side of the road alone , and i have to say this is much more preferable. ” he adds , green eyes locking with dakota’s only for a moment before he sips from his beer bottle and gazes down the pathway to took to get the tavern , seeing people dancing in the distance. “ we can go home at any point , though , if you need to. just let me know. ”
it’s not that kota has low self esteem ( though the years of bullying certainly would have given him reason for it ), but he still doesn’t quite believe that someone like alex is his friend. no, alex isn’t some kind of hyper-popular, social butterfly sort but he’s awfully pretty and, at least to kota, so easy to be around that he can’t imagine anyone not wanting to be in his position. there’s no doubt that he could befriend anyone he desired and the fact that he’s chosen kota makes him feel awfully lucky. the flicker of a smile on kota’s own lips grows, hearing genuine gratitude in alex’s reply. “far better to be alone together,” he hums happily, meeting alex’s gaze softly and willingly himself not to blush again. he’s already embarrassed himself enough. dakota sips at his sweet drink, reveling in the sugary taste with a contented sigh. “don’t worry about me,” kota shakes his head though the other isn’t looking his way. “so long as you’re here, i’m alright.” a little too sappy? perhaps but he’s already said it.
“there is no way in seven hells i’m doing karaoke. you’re better off asking the pope.” her words served as fuel to the fire; the audience was practically begging the unwilling ‘contestant’ to jump up onto the makeshift stage they had built overnight at the end of the busied street. eyes locking onto the person beside her, beth played the two-for-one card, “the only way i’ll get up there is if i have a partner.”
it’s no surprise that the musician is hovering around the karaoke stage. he’s practically called to it like a moth to flame. it’s been fun just to watch, though, and he has no direct intention of participating ( he doesn’t want to show off too much ) until he’s being asked by the woman sitting nearby. “oh, you don’t want me up there with you, love,” jagger half laughs, head shaking once. “i’ve been known to coax an entire audience onto its feet with the sultry tones of my voice before the song even ends.” it's not even entirely a lie.
EASILY , HE EXTENDS HIS DRINK TO DAKOTA , even their drink choices were representative of who they were as people – dakota preferred sweet , and alexandre drank to , well , drink. he didn’t care for sweet over the burning of actual alcohol down his throat. “ keep it , i’ll get a new one. ” though alex wasn’t the most social human , he talked a lot around dakota. he was comfortable , content , and it was nice not to feel like he was concealing every emotion he had. however , he doesn’t talk again , instead turns and leads them through the crowd to the tavern. he didn’t need kota to talk to know that this would be better then standing on the side of the road next to a busy crowed. the table he finds , quiet , secluded , but still in earshot of the music and the excitement of the night , is perfect for the both of them. “ better ? ” he asks , though he knows the answer. “ not that i don’t like the town but – its nicer to drink quietly. ” his voice is soft , hushed , knowing that silence between them is just as welcome as soft conversation.
one would have to pay very close attention to see the smile that nudges up the corners of dakota’s mouth. his hands curl more protectively around his gifted drink and he’s careful not to spill as they make their way out of the crowd and into the tavern. kota sinks down into the seat gracefully and blinks wide eyes up at alex with an appreciative hum. “much better,” he agrees in a wisp of a voice that’s more like a sigh. already, he seems more in his element and he knows it has everything to do with the fact that they’re in their own little corner of the world, just him and alex. as per usual, that does make some part of his heart stutter nervously in his chest but, for the most part, he’s able to keep his tranquil demeanor in the face of his hopeless crush. “i’m glad i ran into you,” kota confesses, glancing down at his drink. “i would have gone home otherwise.” they both know his anxiety would’ve spiked quickly on his own. alex keeps that from happening without even trying.
ALEX SUDDENLY FEELS BAD FOR NOT HEARING dakota speak to him , but he’s so ZONED out it takes a bit of a push for his ears to tune in to what’s happening around him , his mind always speeding through thoughts quicker than alex liked. his body turns , back facing the crowed so he’s more focused on dakota now and almost BLOCKING him from the busy happening behind them. “ do you want to try it ? it’s a bit sweet for me but you might like it. ” alex responds easily , a soft smile appearing automatically across his lips. “ are you good here ? with the crowd , i mean. i was thinking about going to the tavern just to SIT away from all the people , if you want to come. we’ll still be able to hear the music. ” which , alex thinks in his head , is why he liked stationing himself at leros tavern.
he bobs his head in an agreeable nod, holding out one hand to accept the drink. any longer out in a crowd and he may need something stronger but, for now, it’ll do. a quick sip tells kota that he does like whatever this is that’s being served -- sweetness is his specialty in more ways than one. dakota nearly sags in relief as alex offers to move them elsewhere. the prickling sensation of being so surrounded by people would’ve driven him mad. he feels much better being alone -- alone with alexandre. “please,” he trills, flashing a momentary smile before gesturing for his friend to lead the way. he’s never had to say much when it came to alex -- probably for the best since he never thinks he has all too much to contribute anyways.
the shutter clicks a moment before jagger moves. it’s as if he has this all figured out, which is entirely likely. he lets go of his camera to let hang around his neck. “i don’t know. maybe you’re just this vain because i haven’t shown you any of the outtakes i have from shooting you. i’m pretty sure there are a few you wouldn’t want to see.”
jagger hums -- a long drawn out sound as he languidly crosses over towards mason. “i’d be this vain either way, pet. don’t get too ahead of yourself.” he raises a hand in a vaguely dismissive gesture, smiling all the while. “outtakes are merely proof that i am a human and not a god. just because i have to blink on occasion doesn’t mean i’m any less attractive.”
ALEXANDRE ISN’T A FAN OF SOCIAL EVENTS , but it slips his mind that the street party is tonight. he wasn’t the best at DATES , and he hardly remembered it was already march. so what started as him going for a drink turned into him standing on the side of the street , thankful that there was a stand giving out FREE DRINKS and regretting the fact that was he was now stuck within a crowd , the idea of weeding through it to get home basically out of his mind now as he prays he doesn’t get pulled into the street to dance. he’s zoned out , staring into this drink , when he hears a voice directed towards him. “ pardon - ” he speaks , french accent thick in his tone. “ i’ll be honest , i WASN’T listening. could you repeat yourself ? ”
he’s actually been standing next to alexandre a while. there’s a quiet comfort in being close and in social events like this one, dakota tends to latch onto familiar faces until he’s sure he’s being a burden. naturally softer toned, kota isn’t too surprised when alex doesn’t hear him though it does still bring an embarrassed flush to his cheeks to be asked to repeat. “oh, um,” he stammers, sidling a bit closer so that perhaps alex can hear him better, “i was just asking if that was any good? your drink, i mean.” he tips a chin towards alex’s hands. his own are empty in comparison so he tugs at the hem of his shirt just for something to do. nervous habits, even around someone he finds comforting.
“wait!” mason called out, almost stumbling as he ran to follow the person who had stepped in front of his view moments ago. “can you do me a favor and stay where you are for a moment? the way the light is hitting you right now is amazing.” he waved his camera. “not a creep. promise.”
instinctively, he stops at the shouted request. but once mason gets the chance to explain, jagger’s dramatically rolling his eyes. of course, he does pause for the picture -- he’s too vain not to -- but he turns towards the other with a scoff right afterwards. “the light always hits me the right way. it’s called having no bad angles. a blessing and a curse.”
[ axel auriant , demiboy , he/they ] hey , there’s DAKOTA KENNEDY the 21 year old local that i met recently. it’s easy to tell that they’re pretty KINDHEARTED but you’ll learn they’re pretty SOFT-SPOKEN too. they’ve been living on the island for ALL HIS LIFE and often spend time around LEROS SOAPS AND CANDLES if you’re looking for them. [ nat, 24, she/hers , cst. ]
if jagger is hell then dakota is a little slice of heaven. he’s a new muse and uses he/they pronouns so, just a heads up, i’d love it if pronouns matched whatever i include in my threads. he’s not had it super easy but he came out soft and sweet for it so do we mind? no. i mean just LOOK at him i’m so endeared.
dakota’s life didn’t start out all too bad. he was born to a middle class family who had kind of a cute tourist-meets-local love story. they already had an older daughter and desperately wanted a son.
both his parents had full time jobs to make ends meet and so they were passed off to relatives or put into a childcare center quite regularly. a naturally quiet child, being in an unstable environment and exposed to plenty of different people, he kind of shied away from interacting. it didn’t help that his sister was extroverted and would essentially talk over him -- he was grateful to be in the background
he and his sister grew incredibly close as a result. she was his only friend -- his rock. his interests were her interests and as a very feminine little girl, that’d include dress up and makeup and basic little kids things. this shouldn’t have been an issue because softness has no gender but dakota was bullied for it.
not only that but his father would kind of gently enforce the toxic masculinity onto him in such a way that made dakota even more timid with his self expression. like he wasn’t aggressive about it but ‘maybe you’d be bullied less if you took up a sport, son!’ trying to help but really, that ain’t it.
his interests didn’t go away with time like his therapists suggested (he had a stutter and didn’t speak much because of it so his ‘rents forked over money to have him see a behavioral specialist and a speech therapist -- they’d diagnosed him with anxiety but did help him overcome the stutter!)
if anything, he felt more comfortable and himself when he was engaging in them! his sister didn’t even have as strong an interest in fashion, design, and makeup artistry as he did. she still let him play around with her products though and until he felt confident, she let him use her face as a canvas.
buuuuuuut his bullying had conditioned him to keep quiet. so he explored his gender identity and sexual orientation in private while trying to present as just an ordinary boy in public. his sis was really the only one who he’d tell about his points of confusion and really, he’d not be half the person he is today
literally had like one or two friends throughout schooling. just because he wasn’t outwardly expressing the ‘oddities’ that made him a target of bullying didn’t mean he suddenly had confidence abounds. literally jagger’s opposite in that he doesn’t want attention or need to be surrounded by people. his sister and his best friend(s) were enough!
everything was going fine until it came time to enter the dating field. by this point, he was very certain he wasn’t straight ( and even more certain that his gender wasn’t terribly concrete ) so he felt left out and out of place.
even if he were out, he was shy and awkward and didn’t really know what to do. probably had a crush on one of his friends (if they were a guy) but never said anything about it for fear of rejection and some internalized homophobia. like he was so used to suppressing that even as he grew older, it was just habit at this point.
when he was 18 and never been kissed, that’s when everything kind of came to a head. at a dumb high school (or the greek equivalent?) party, he ended up in some sort of 7 minutes in heaven situation with a boy! the boy was forward and a bit pushy but definitely comfortably bisexual and so he eased dakota into kisses and touches and, tbh, shortly after they started dating.
AGAIN THIS IS GETTING LONG SO IF YOU READ ANYTHING, START HERE
dakota’s first (and currently only) relationship wasn’t terribly healthy. at first it was kept in secret but his boyfriend urged him to come out and, after a lot of pressure, he did so. first to his parents and then to his friends. before he was ready to reveal their relationship to his school as a whole, though, his boyfriend took that step for him.
it was toxic but subtly enough where dakota didn’t see any warning signs. his boyfriend liked having his pretty little kota on his arm and dakota, for his part, was happy with the attention it got him. people were more or less accepting of his status but he wondered if it was only because of who he was dating -- no one seemed to care about him before.
kota let himself be pushed out of his comfort zone a lot. his boyfriend was his first everything and the dependence worsened over time. his boyfriend grew accustomed to having all of kota’s attention and it’d spark jealousy if he’d hang out with his friends or even be seen talking to another boy. there was emotional manipulation and gaslighting and kota let it all happen because shy awkward and anxious, remember?
he was dumped in a messy breakup about a year ago. it’s really set kota back /romantically/ and sexually. again, he’s jagger’s opposite. where jag is a veritable sex fiend, dakota is? not even on the radar right now.
the one thing that’s kept him going through his hardships is actually a youtube channel? it’s either his own or one he’s started with his friend but it’s his little passion project. right now it’s nothing too big and popular but he gets to reintroduce himself to makeup and shares storytimes about his gender exploration and even has started giving advice on how to avoid a relationship like the one he’d had and failed.
personality wise -- soft soft soft. he’s like a baby deer -- timid and unsure about a lot of things. he’s a very kind and compassionate soul and tends to give all of himself to people (which got him in trouble, obviously). he’s a loyal friend but doesn’t have a lot of friends. spends a lot of his time looking for cute little aesthetic things to add to his youtube layout and generally keeps to himself. flirt with him if you want maximum shyness. that’s all i’ve got -- i’ll add to him as i too get to know him!
[ harry styles , cis male , he/him/his ] hey , there’s JAGGER CHRISTIAN the 24 year old tourist that i met recently. it’s easy to tell that they’re pretty SELF-ASSURED but you’ll learn they’re pretty OSTENTATIOUS too. they’re visiting from CANADA and HAVEN’T visited before. they often spend time around LEROS BEACH BAR if you’re looking for them. [ nat , 24 , she/hers , cst. ]
if you dared go below this read more, welcome to hell -- also known as my precocious devil child jagger christian (that surname is supposed to be ironic because he’s as far from holy as can be) ANYWAYS he’s a muse i’ve had for literal years now, morphed to fit a wide variety of groups so hopefully, this iteration of him will flourish and prosper.
born out of scandal, jagger is the illegitimate lovechild of a washed out former english rocker and his canadian groupie. he was in a committed relationship at the time, traveling on a north american tour and one thing led to another and jagger was conceived.
daddy collins fully intended to keep jagger a whole ass secret. he was already paying child support for a daughter he had back in england -- he didn’t need another scandal to sink his already tanking career.
soft spoken and young, jagger’s mum was on board for AVOIDING the drama that would come with revealing her pregnancy but her parents had other plans. they basically outed their daughter to the press to entrap rocker collins. his management thought it best if he made an honest woman out of jagger’s mum and so the england soul settled down in canada.
it also solidified the end of his proper career, becoming a family man, so naturally he resented jagger for it. using whatever funds he had saved up / gained after selling his england properties, he started living this lavish and reckless lifestyle of house parties and debauchery, basically leaving his now-wife to do the child raising.
to say jagger’s relationship with his father was complicated would be an understatement. his mother was easy to love and she seemed to put her son’s happiness above her own. however, her condition-free affection meant jagger didn’t have to work for attention; he ended up craving the same from his father.
baby jagger idolized his Cool™ dad. through rose colored lenses, he had everything. tons of friends, confidence, musical talent (debateable) and an apathy that was enviable. jagger wanted to be just like him.
he wasn’t... a good father though. he brushed off his child’s love and practically ignored that jagger even existed. he wasn’t a good husband either -- this would all come to a head when his parents divorced. it wasn’t so much of a mutual decision as it was his mother packing up her things and leaving. the last thing jagger remembers is her kissing his forehead and saying something to the effect of i know you’d choose him anyways.
any good traits jagger’s mum may have imparted upon him -- charm, poise, manners -- warped under the sole influence of his father. his sweetness became a tool of manipulation, his politeness gave him a better-than-thou narcissism. he was turning into his father.
his complicated upbringing made him finicky and aloof. he’d let his own father break his heart early on and so he became guarded, hiding behind the plentiful things his dad’s lifestyle awarded him by proxy. as a teen, he’d partake in the parties and drugs and hookups going on practically daily. he’d get these intensely passionate interests only to have his mood completely changed on a whim, too noncommittal to even bother the upkeep of a hobby or fad.
he dated constantly and hooked up with even more frequency. sex was his outlet in a way that’s probably unhealthy but like? it felt good and made him feel wanted and desirous and so he owned that. combined with his raucous and tempestuous lifestyle, he took on a modern day dionysus trope, orgies and all
music was the only thing that kept his interest. see, where his father’s talents had an expiration date, jagger was actually gifted. kind of a savant of sorts. he’d learned piano by the age of 7 and had mastered all sorts of instruments. he always returned to his first love though and so it wasn’t really surprising when he befriended other musically inclined kids and formed a band in high school. they ended up being the only friends he’d be able to maintain longer than a few weeks -- shared interests and passions and whatnot. they were successful in ways his father wishes he could’ve achieved so young.
THIS IS GETTING LONG SO IF YOU READ ANYTHING, START HERE
the death of his friend and, subsequently, the band falling apart is something that’s troubling him deeply behind the surface. he’s sinking into his bad habits worse than ever -- drinking, drugs, blocking people out and never letting anyone in for longer than a few hookups. quick fixes.
his bandmates are getting to see the anger that’s always been brewing behind the surface of the pretentious party boy. basically the one constant in his life is being threatened and so he’s lashing out but to anyone else, he’s got this surface level confidence that borders on too cocky.
he’s still into his fads, never letting anyone tell him what he can and cannot do, wear, think, say etc. he’s spending on his father’s dime but also probably splurges a lot of the band’s paychecks on his ostentatious outfits or crazy parties. jagger thinks about maybe going solo because hey, he can do it all! sing, guitar, keyboard! but also that’d require him to commit to something so... maybe not.
personality wise -- he’s flirtatious and smooth perhaps to the point of being annoying. he doesn’t look at people as anything more than a temporary part of his life. opportunistic, he wants everyone to like him or at least want to be like him. puts up lots of fronts and puts on airs. overall just very overdramatic, extra and always, ALWAYS down for a good time.
what's your opinion on like being too pretentious?
you think oscar wilde’s gucci floral suit wearing angel ass spent his last gay breath making a witty remark about the wallpaper so that we could all live like a bunch of repressed 16th century puritans? are those glisteningly fresh rose petals going to throw themselves all over your scarlet chaise lounge and fake fur duvet? is that first edition of albert camus you bought at a thrift shop in paris going to lovingly read itself? y'all are really out there saying god gave us the ability to order cinnamon cappuccinos and buy herringbone tweed blazers and recite ovid to our friends only so we could not do those things? as it is with all paths in life, so long as you’re self-aware and not bothering or hurting anyone, you go ahead and be as pretentious as you want! it’s so much fun!!
