CHAMPAGNE SUPERNOVA //

ROMANTICISM DECAYED. ELAINE MARGARET ASTOR—I'M GOOD AT LOVE. I'M GOOD AT HATE. IT'S INBETWEEN I FREEZE. DESIGNER OF THE LABEL ASTORIA. 24. E LIST. ⭐

[elainemargaretastor]

romyasante‌:

“Can’t relate.” It was a deadpan quip, relating back to her days as one of the permanently undead on Vamped. Romy had never given CPR before - she’d received it on screen, but she had a feeling that was not quite accurate. She got down on both knees, watching up at the instructor as they showed them how to do it, nodding in response to Elaine. “Oh yeah, you look dead as shit.” She placed her hands on Elaine’s chest as shown. “Can’t promise anything, I’m mad strong.”

"I think I'm a natural now." Elaine boasts, sinking down into the floor. Her eyes flutter close momentarily, enjoying the blissful feeling that comes with being mock-dead. It was like giving up complete control for a split second - something Elaine rarely ever allows herself to do. She lets out a short laugh, “I’m trusting you to at least inflict the least amount of damage with your strength, please.”

[elainemargaretastor]

thalia-acindina‌:

Thalia joined in on the laugh, quite amused by Elaine. There was no shortage of personalities in LA and she probably should try to connect with more of those personalities. “But you do make a habit of joking about murdering acquaintances?” she replied with a raised eyebrow and smirk. “We’re supposed to be saving lives here.” 

Her eyes flickered to the instructor and then down to the instructions, trying to commit the steps to memory. “I do hope you are the only person I have to do this to,” she mused, moving to sit cross-legged on the ground while the other participants in the class got acquainted with one another. “Not to make this super dark or anything,” she added, with a small smile. 

"Don't worry. I'll happily save yours." Elaine grinned. She doubts 'life-saver' would make the top fifty attributes on a list to describe her, but she could give it her best try. She grimaced lightly at the thought of having to perform these steps in a real-life situation. Her experiences with near death had been few and far between and she hopes to keep it that way.

“I think that’s why we have ambulances.” Elaine whispers with a wink. “I really doubt we’ll ever have to put these skills to use.”

[augustmontague]

Where: Baking Class, LA Resolutions

When: Saturday 4th of January

Who: Open! @thejunglestarters​

A skills event really wasn’t August’s ideal choice of daytime entertainment, but the filmmaking panel he was headed to didn’t start until 3pm and he’d arrived early. Since he’d paid $15 to get in, he figured he should try and make the most of it. After perusing a few different options, he’d eventually wandered over to the where the baking class was about to start, donning an apron and pushing his sleeves up as he got the ingredients out as they were told to. He noticed his lack of spoon as everyone else started mixing their dough, looking around and eventually settling on the person sharing his bench. “Hey - sorry, do you have a spare spoon by any chance?” Worth a shot.

[elainemargaretastor]

"It's your lucky day." Elaine easily replied, extending her now washed spoon out towards the man. “I’m feeling generous enough to share mine.” She worked quickly when it came to baking. It had always been an activity that had calmed her nerves, a skill she’d been proficient enough in to take up in her years abroad. “But don’t you know the first rule of baking is to always come prepared?”

[elainemargaretastor]

dolliemcclairy‌:

“It can’t hurt,” Dollie said cheerfully. Her smile fell somewhat as a thought came to her. “It might hurt more if it dies, though. If it has a name.” She frowned down at her plant, before forcing that thought out of her mind and nudging the pot across the table slightly with her finger. “Our plants could be friends?” she offered. “They have so much in common already. They both have leaves, they’re both moving into new homes today- It’s perfect!” Her eyes flicked up to the other woman’s hopefully.

"They're plants." Elaine dead-panned. Friends? Could plants be friends? Could Elaine shed a tear over another dead plant that wasn’t due to the frustration of losing? Could she bring herself to even name a bunch of leaves? She quickly over-rid the negativity bubbling up inside of her. It was not the time to resort back into bitch mode territory. “Sure. It is perfect. Steven and...” she struggled to come up with a name for her own plant, letting the words waver out into the air. “Well. Mine looks dead anyway.” She poked at the falling leaves, almost resigned to the fact that she’d never be able to care for a plant. “If you can help keep my next one alive, I promise they’ll be the best of friends.”

[elainemargaretastor]

xavierdonovan‌:

She asked him a question that he was used to being asked at this point. He couldn’t really confirm if it’s one she had heard of before, because it really depended on how much of a reader she was and specifically what kind of novels she liked. “Possibly,” he started. “It’s not new, but it’s definitely nowhere near a classic. It came out in the summer of 2018.” His book did blow up quite a bit at first, but it still wasn’t everyone’s cup of tea. “It’s called Mark of Exile.” They were in pre-production of turning it into a film, but depending on if she even knew the book, that could be news, too. “I’m going with my arm,” he said, tapping his upper arm with his other hand for emphasis. “I think placement depends on how big you want it, too - are you looking for something small?”

She hadn't heard of it. But she also hadn’t devoted a lot of her free time to books since she was still in high school. Her collection gathered dust on the shelves and most of the titles were fashion biographies and collections of poetry. She couldn’t think of the last best seller she read that hadn’t been recommended by someone she was trying to impress. Most of what she read these days were magazines and contracts. “Oh, I heard it was really good.” Elaine easily fibbed. “I’ve been meaning to grab a copy. My best friend raved about it.” Sometimes the little white lies came easy to her, and she never could stop them once they were out. “I’ll have to read it now.” She made a mental note to pick it up, not that she thinks she will. “I’m thinking of something small.”

[elainemargaretastor]

salazarelias‌:

In some instances, Elias Salazar could be pretty standoffish. It was kind of half his natural state anymore; it was a defense built after many years of trying to hide his parents neglect and absence from… well, everyone. He was an adult now with many years past that, but it was hard not to see that default state. Sal had kept it at a bay for right now though, opting for the other half of his natural state - the one who was a little more welcoming and charming. That Sal still kept things light and breezy, never diving into any deep topics. You could either have one or the other Sal in the moment, too rigid to find a way to blend them together. “Alright - but only if you promise,” he quipped. “I don’t know if you can tell, but I never work out, so I’m a bit of a weakling,” he joked. “I’ll go ahead and play the dying victim first.”

Elaine couldn’t help the loud laugh that tumbled from her lips. Her idea of a workout included an hour tops at the gym, twice a week, in which she split half the time slowly walking along the treadmill and the other half on her phone. “I’m actually weaker than I look.” Elaine promised. “So we share that in common. It won’t hurt a bit, come on lie down.” She instructed, her eyes flitting towards where the instructor was once again practicing on a dummy. She bit down on her lower lip, brief concern flooding through her. Could she seriously damage someone if she did it wrong?

[elainemargaretastor]

thalia-acindina‌:

“That’s the best offer I’ve gotten all day,” she replied with a smile. The class had been useful so far, if not tedious. Besides, she knew how to put on a band-aid and apply pressure to a wound. Thalia was in LA, as long as she could do that, she could just call 911. 

CPR was the only thing that might save a person’s life here so at least she could try to learn it well enough. At least there was no blood involved. “I’m Thalia, by the way. I thought you should know my name before placing your hands on my chest,” she teased. 

"I actually prefer my victims nameless." Elaine teases, flexing her fingers out in front of her in  preparation of mimicking the CPR movements. “It makes it easier, you know?” She tilts her head with a shrug before breaking out into a laugh. “Sorry. I’m Elaine. I promise I don’t usually make it a habit to joke about murdering strangers. But we know each others names now, so are we really strangers?” She ponders for a second, feeling a slight rush of adrenaline from the day coursing through her.

[elainemargaretastor]

romyasante‌:

First-Aid was on the top of the list of recommended skills for Romy to learn, which honestly felt like shade from her publicist but she could hardly complain. She was right, after all. Everyone dreaded the idea of partnering up with strangers, but Romy had never been particularly shy, and nodded in response to the woman besides her. “Sure! Cool - break that promise and I’ll just sue.” The grin that went along with the comment made it clear she was kidding. “So, do you wanna to die first or should I?”

"I've never played dead before." Elaine laughed, easily slipping down onto the floor. She arranged her body in a slightly off-kilter arrangement, one leg splayed out to the side. “Is this any good?” Her voice had a slight wobble running through it, genuine concern for if she was the best dead patient in the class. She closed her eyes, poking her tongue out to the side for fun. “Be careful. I don’t want to actually break any bones.”

[hankxwilson-deactivated20200207]

Who: OPEN @thejunglestarters​

Where: Greek Theatre, Griffith Park, Los Feliz 

“So self defense.” He says, sitting down on the matted floor and glancing at the person next to him. A danger, to see if the other would even want to talk to him, but he does so anyway. Might as well right? This should have been a chance to mingle, get to know new people, get to learn new things. It always has been since he moved to LA. “Felt like it was the only one worth taking, or at least one of the very few. But what brings you here?“”

[elainemargaretastor]

"It never hurts to be prepared for the worst.” Elaine replies. “You never know when someone is gonna corner you in the back of a dark alley, shouting at you to hand over your bag.” She quips, brushing her hair behind her ears. “Not that it’s ever happened to me,” She rushes out. “Yet.” She brandishes it with a smile, and then a bad reenactment of one of the moves they’ve been taught. “I wouldn’t wanna meet myself in a dark alley after this class, I’ll say that much.”

[ffsfrederick]

“Why did I sign up for this activity you wonder?” Probably not a single soul there wonders about it, but Freddie will tell them anyway. “Well, if that dimwit Jennifer Lawrence can do it on hunger games, so can I.” And there’s the fact that everybody knows non-famouses love celebrities with a weird hobby or quirk, or even a weird pet. Maybe archery could be his thing, since there was no way in hell Freddie would let a dirty animal into his home. He’d have to talk to Ned about it, depending on how this goes. “Now be a dear and hand me the bow.”

@thejunglestarters​

[elainemargaretastor]

Archery had been her brothers summer time activity. Elaine can still remember watching him from afar, dragging her tennis racket behind her as he pulled back the strings on the bow and shot for the red marks. It had never interested her until she’d stumbled upon the class today. Her lips tugged slightly downwards at the tone of voice, but wordlessly she plucked the bow up and passed it along. “I’m sure she had a stunt-double.” She murmured, “and at least knew how to say please.”

[elainemargaretastor]

salazarelias‌:

Sal was trying to keep himself busy, because he noticed his agent was keeping a close eye on him - annoying close. He was only here because his agent was insistent that he could use some self-growth. Sal never thought of himself as perfect (honestly, he was the exact opposite), but he didn’t feel like ‘working on himself’ with a bunch of strangers. At least the first aid class was pretty mild, and it was something he could see himself using in theory. It was also not one of the embarrassing choices that his agent suggested to him. At the announcement that they needed to pair up, he turned around to look at the people who were around him, but someone caught him first. “Yikes - I don’t know about that,” he began. “You look pretty strong - you sure you can hold back your chest crushing strength?”

Immediately, Elaine lightly frowned. She had never dealt well with rejection - small doses, big doses, real or teasing. It was natural instinct for her first response to be light disappointment before it was quickly replaced with an easy, breezy teasing tone. She flexed her hand out in front of her for a hot second, pretend inspecting it with widened-eyes. “Oh, you’re right.” She spoke flippantly, “I might have to find a partner who won’t break under my touch. Sometimes I forget how strong I am.” She shook her head, clicking her tongue against her teeth in a teasing manner. “But I can try to reign it in.” Pause, “For you.” She added, with the flourish of a smile.

[elainemargaretastor]

 xavierdonovan‌:

“If mine inspires you, then that would really be my brother’s doing instead of mine,” he said, immediately giving credit where credit was due. “I’d show it to you, but the artist already ran off with it. My brother is pretty talented in art, and he made me something for my first novel.” It seemed fitting to make the next installment of ink on his skin be a momentous moment for him when the first one was what really got him on the path to writing in the first place. “It kinda looks like paper that’s been ripped into - how the torn edges start to curl. In a way, it’s like the paper is being pulled back to show what’s underneath, which is actually part of my book.” He paused, a little half-smile crossing his face. “Looks cooler than it may sound.”

Elaine jutted out her lower lip in a pout, she hated not getting what she wanted and in this moment she had an overwhelming urge to inspect this strangers tattoo design. Her ears perked up at the mention of his novel, interest suddenly seizing her as she held back her tongue in fear of interrupting. “You’ve written a book? Is it something I’ll know?” Los Angeles always had that allure about it, everyone here always held a creative bone, or were at least desperate enough to social climb to pretend to be creative. Elaine craved other people’s creativity like she craved her own. “It sounds very cool. Especially since it’s part of your work.” She tapped her fingers against her arm. “Where are you gonna get it? I think that’s half my problem - I’ve been toying with design and placement.” She bit her tongue, the urge to have Astoria branded on her skin forever was intensifying, and if someone else was making a representation of their work permanent on their skin, why shouldn’t she?

[elainemargaretastor]

                                                         first-aid / saturday fourth / open @thejunglestarters​

Elaine loved self-improvement, not that she believed she needed much improving. The competitive perfectionist that resided inside her heart loved rising to the challenge of harnessing a new skill. It’s why she’d fought her way into securing a ticket to the LA Resolutions pop-up event, she never could resist brandishing pre-existing in talents in conjunction to learning something new. And this was going to be The Year of Elaine. Except in the first-aid skills class they were asking you to pair up for the practice of CPR. So, the year of Elaine plus the person beside her. “Do you want to partner up?” She asked brightly. “I promise I won’t crush your chest.”

[tessawhorton-deactivated2020081]

Where: LA Resolutions - Life Drawing class

When: Saturday, January 4th

Who: Open!! - @thejunglestarters​

Georgie was a very artistic person. In the sense she was creative but when it comes to things suck as drawing and visual art, she didn’t know a damn thing about it. So when she saw her picture as they were doing a guided drawing, she tilted her head to the side. “Um… I think I did this wrong,” She said, seeing her work looked more kiddie than the still life they were supposed to do. “Why did I decide to take this class again?”

[elainemargaretastor]

Elaine peered at the picture, stifling a laugh before it fell out of her lips. That was no way to play nice. “To improve?” She offered up the answer with a shrug. Her own drawing wasn’t spectacular, she was much more proficient in drawing fashion sketches than still life portraits but it wasn’t a complete disaster. “It’s not the worst of the class, at least.” Elaine smiled, nodding in the direction to somebody’s crowned masterpiece of...paint splatter. “Just think of it as your own interpretation. It’s not fun following these rules anyway.”

[xavierdonovan]

Where: LA Resolutions event, Rebel Angelz tattoo booth

When: Saturday, January 4th.

Who: Open - @thejunglestarters​

“I’d like it to look like this,” Xavier said as he unfolded the picture, handing it over to the tattoo artist. He had been thinking about getting a new tattoo for awhile, but he hadn’t taken the plunge to getting the image permanently inked into his arm. His brother Jake had designed it for him awhile ago - torn pages curling open, as if it were revealing a book on his arm. The words that were revealing themselves came from his first novel, a celebratory tattoo for accomplishing something he had only hoped that he could accomplish many moons ago. The only other ink that he had was also technically drawn by his brother as well, although the words were all his own - a little excerpt from their comic book they made together as kids. Xavier slid into the artist’s chair, looking around at all the other people nearby that were making some pretty permanent skin choices as well. He turned to the person closest to him, someone who was also waiting to get started, and opted for starting up a small conversation with them. “What do you plan on getting?”

[elainemargaretastor]

"I'm still deciding." Elaine replied. Her skin was completely bare but there was something alluring and completely frightening about the idea of a tattoo. She had been going back and forth between leaving the booth and finding something more in tune with herself to partake in and taking the plunging and getting something — a heart? an angel? a cupid? She had always coveted the small romantic tattoos; she’d thought about getting the names of exes drawn on her skin before. But nothing seemed right. The name of her soon-to-be (fingers crossed!) fashion label flitted in and out of her mind. “But what are you getting?” Elaine asked, an eyebrow raised as she tried to take a peek of the design he’d passed along. Maybe she’d find her courage to sit in the chair herself through someone else. “Maybe you’ll inspire me.”

[deletedurl19910]

Where: LA Resolutions - Rebel Angelz

When: Saturday, January 4th

Who: Open - @thejunglestarters​

          JUST EVEN PASSING BY the shop made him feel sort of sick… He was so squeamish when it came to needles. Yes, the results were beautiful, and he’d always wanted to get one of the intricate designs on his skin, but– the process scared him far too much. He paced back and forth in front of the shop, trying to make up his mind and spark up some courage. “How do people even tolerate getting these things?”

[elainemargaretastor]

"I think the assistance of a stiff drink," Elaine juts her chin out towards the bar. She wasn’t scared of needles. She was scared of the permanency of the art. It’s not that she was a fickle woman, she had lived and died by the same rules since she was young, but it was something that could never be taken back. But still, she had been toying with the idea all day. New year, after all. “It’s not your thing?”

[dolliemcclairy-deactivated20210]

Where: LA Resolutions - Gardening class

When: Saturday, January 4th

Who: Open!! - @thejunglestarters​

After being shown by an instructor how to properly repot her baby spider-plant, Dollie picked out a brightly-coloured plastic pot and moved to a table to have a go herself. She was as gentle as possible, cooing softly to her spider-plant in mumbled baby-talk as she patted soil around its roots.

She looked up to reach for the watering can, and nearly leapt out of her skin when she realised someone else was at the table with her. “I’m sorry,” she said automatically. “I was talking to Steven.” She nodded down towards her plant by way of explanation. “Does yours have a name yet?”

[elainemargaretastor]

Elaine had mastered many talents over the years—being a born perfectionist pushed into as many extracurriculars as her parent’s money could buy would do that to a girl. But a skill she had always been hopeless in had been anything involving a green thumb. It hadn’t mattered until she had moved to Los Angeles and suddenly everything was organic and all her friends were growing their own vegetable gardens and she was killing off every rose bought for her. But it was a new year and she was determined to keep her plants alive.

“Steven?” Elaine echoed the name the woman on the same table as her had referred to her plant to. Her lips lifted downwards distastefully for a split second before she quickly recomposed herself and shook away the negativity. New year, new Elaine. “I hadn’t thought to name mine.” She shrugged, “I guess it could help in keeping it alive.” Elaine frowned, she swore her plant was already wilting away.