a familiar visage bobs into tiffany's line of sight; her stomach curdles in recognitionΒ βΒ one of Β [ thatΒ woman's ] Β teammates. the last time she'd seen tanya parker, sans on the field, she'd been gifted a forehead to the face and one bloody nose, courtesy of Β theΒ cheekyΒ fuck Β 'erself. all because she hadn't been willing to worship the ground her baby brother walked on, wasn't keen on playing house with the pair Β ofΒ lovesickΒ numpties Β they were. she turns so that her back is facing the other, and the company she has in tow, though she has a feeling it's too - late, considering the Β SPARKΒ OFΒ RECOGNITION Β tiff had seen in her eyes.
she Β absentΒ -Β mindedlyΒ fiddles Β with the gilded plaque underneath the painting she stands by, as if consumed in keeping her assigned hall absolutely flawlessΒ βΒ yeah right. she'd been killing time for the past hour, really, waiting until her next tour group came in. and that still isn't for another hour or so. she puffs a breath of hot air PAST POUTING LIPS , hoping that maybe, just maybe, the footballer won't recognize tiff, despite her and arlo's ridiculously identical features. / @mcmorare
little drop for giselle's supernatural/teen wolf/etc verse;
born in the countryside of france to a wealthy family of socialites, giselle is clued in pretty quickly to the fact that she's no ordinary girl, and that her family is no ordinary family. giselle's mother hails from a matriarchy of witches whose powers have been passed down for the past several hundred years, since the day that their originating ancestor had successfully bound her soul to several elemental spirits. unlike tiffany, whose powers stem from having done the same; binding herself to a spirit at the nemeton, giselle's powers are innate, and cost her nothing. aka, she's one of the lucky ones. also, because her ancestor had bound several different elemental spirits to her own energy signature, technically speaking, giselle can use a much wider range of magic than tiffany. despite that, when she reaches adulthood, she chooses to use frost magic above all elseΒ βΒ much like tiffany.
origins of power aside, giselle became disgusted pretty quickly by how her parents operated. how her mother especially used the family powers, to stay rich and to stay on top, using her magic to lie, cheat, and subjugate those that she deemed a threat to the dumont family legacy. she tried to get giselle to do the same, teaching her dark spellcasting and other methods of black, malevolent magic that giselle has tried since to forget (she can't. no matter how hard she tries, she can't). she'd watched her mother suck the life out of someone's body to heal her own, and that night she'd gotten so sick she'd thrown up until her esophagus was bleeding and raw.Β
needless to say, giselle is eager to get out, and the day she turns eighteen, she can't get away fast enough. her first attempt is thwarted rather quickly when her mother finds her in london two weeks into her escape. thankfully, she comes up with a lie quickly enough, something about a incompetent PA having been instructed to inform her parents of her travels, then having failed to do so. she fakes a couple of emails, even, and her mother is none the wiser. when she arrives back in annecy, it's apparent to her that she's going to have to be much, much more thorough about this. and she's going to have to go much farther awayβacross the ocean farther away.
north america is a good start, she figures, and suddenly, all of her plans from when she was 16 until then are finally coming into fruition. it takes time, of course, she starts by stashing away money in a bank account neither of her parents have access to, putting a down payment on a house in the vast wilderness of northern californiaΒ β Β beacon hills, it's calledΒ βΒ and teaching herself how to use her magic to erase the traces of herself, cover up her own tracks. this plan is about a year in the making, and a few months after her nineteenth birthday, she takes a flight to northern california, never to be seen in france again.Β
writing tiff is so interesting bc everyone's so protective of arlo (as they should be) but also...i'm a tiffany apologist it's true!!! her attitude towards arlo might not be excusable, necessarily, but it's understandable in some ways.
like imagine you're a teenage girl and your name is in the tabloids except the tabloids are calling you the least impressive member of your family. tiger beat magazine ranks you as the least attractive member of your own family. your mom's affair is exposed and you have a public drug overdose and it's all over the news, media outlets are calling you a carbon copy of your mother and a junkie.
your younger brother, hollywood's golden boy, is able to bleach out the stain of your dark family history like it's nothing. he's able to escape the shackles that have kept you tied to your family for your entire miserable life like it's nothing at all and you feel so envious. so resentful. he cuts off your father and carves out his own path in an industry that has long since shunned and chased you out. you'll never be granted the same pardoning that he has, you'll never be let in again. you'll never even have a chance.
and no matter how much you try to push him away, try and keep your lives separate, he's still there, relentlessly optimistic, loving you through all of your anger and bitter enmity. and so you're left to constantly feel like the bad guy, the one who refuses to make things work because you can't just erase your past and who it's made youβwhat's become of you.
lips pursing, giselle's legs swing back and forth where she sits perched on the barstool. @moedich3 is across from her, over on the sofa; the both of them cozy in her london flat this evening. it's the first time she and cedric have hung out without arlo as a buffer, and it's the first time giselle's had a friend over at her new place period, so she's a little bitβ¦on edge. there's that, and also the fact that even now, months later, her sexuality is still Β theΒ hotΒ topic Β of discussion that every shitty social media outlet wants to dissect. not that cedric cares, necessarily, but she figures as a fellow queer person , he probably at least understands what she's dealing with right now. so, a languid sigh leaving her Β LIPΒ - Β GLOSSEDΒ POUT Β , she hops to her feet, shuffling over to sit next to cedric. Β β thank you. for coming over, i mean. i don't really know anyone in the area except for arlo, andβ¦well, i really need a friend right now, β Β she admits, the barest hint of her french accent lilting and soft.
she offers the man a gentle smile, pulling a pillow into her lap. Β β i know you and arlo 'ave been doing your movie nights so i understand if you're sick of films by now, β Β she giggles, grabbing the remote off of the coffee table. Β β but if not, i figure we could order takeout and watch a movie? or a show if you'd prefer, β though the tv would hopefully just be background noise, with giselle and cedric's voices permeating the flat in their conversation instead.
introducing another character from arlo's universe, emerson nazari . if you think arlo has a reputation, well...he does, but em's is even worse. a popular iranian american actor, emerson and arlo meet on the set of serendipity . the plot of the film is in the vein of cloud atlas, following the lives of two soulmates throughout several iterations/reincarnations of their lives. only, the cast alternates between only four different actors playing the soulmates, in different combinations (arlo and emerson, arlo and timothee, timothee and emerson, etc).
emerson isn't nearly as famous as arlo but he's famous enough that when the cast is announced for serendipity the internet explodes. emerson's fans are stoked to see arlo and em working together on a project, while a handful of arlo's fans are worried that emerson's bad reputation will taint arlo's already marred public character. emerson's the type to get photographed being kicked out of nightclubs too drunk to stand, the type to have blind items floating around about him constantly ( did you hear that in the last movie emerson nazari did, he had a threesome with his costars ? did you hear that the last relationship emerson nazari was in, he cheated on his girlfriend...with another man ? ) so on and so forth. the key difference between him and arlo, however, is that a lot of the time, the gossip surrounding em is more often than not true.
emerson also happens to be the first man that arlo falls in love with. they don't ever date, not officially, and emerson insists that he's nothing but bad news β that he'll just break arlo's heart. but they're on - again - off - again somethings and emerson drives arlo absolutely fucking insane.
im going to sleep now but hit the β‘ if you'd like a starter from giselle as i'm really feeling a lot of muse for my babygirl rn π multis specify pls!!
i think the reason that giselle handles her breakup with arlo so poorly is in part because because she's so deeply closeted at that point in time. she's not just an actress, but the daughter of the heiress to a french jewelry company that's equivocal to tiffany & co. and the ceo of a really big financial advisory firm Β β so she's basically the definition of a nepo baby. that being said, because of this ( both her parents being old money and her childhood having been so cushy ) she was really sheltered, and there was a lot that was kept from her.
her parents had basically always expected her to marry a man of her "caliber", aka the same social standing as them. if arranged marriages weren't a taboo notion of the past, that's absolutely something they'd have sprung on her. so she does as she's told and she dates pretty rich boys with millions in the bank and air in their heads and she can never quite figure out why it always feels wrong. like putting on two left shoes, or trying to squeeze into jeans a size too small while you're still wet.
her comphet follows her through her relationship with arlo and it's so hard for her to understand why she just...can't bring herself to love him the way he loves her. and he's so accommodating, so kind to her, that it starts to drive her a little bit mad. she's not a very good girlfriend, not very affectionate, not around as often as she should be, and still, he's ridiculously understanding; he makes excuses for her even when it's the last thing she deserves. her anger is of course misdirected but it's what eventually leads her to not only breaking up with him how she did, but also, letting the press and social media run wild with their breakup.
two weeks before breaking up with arlo, giselle had walked the runway for paris fashion week for versace. at one of the afterparties, she'd gotten a little sloppy off of the wine, and the model who'd organized the party suggested they all go up to her room. they play drinking games, and as things start to escalate, some of the models start kissing each other, arms wrapping around one another's waists, soft, feminine sighs permeating the room. giselle almost panics until one of her fellow models leans over to give her a much more chaste, safe kiss, but even then it's as if the final puzzle piece finally clicks into place.
of course, the next morning she promptly panics, and that panic simply builds and builds and builds until she finally breaks up with arlo.
kira's office is a little out of the way by design. lydia would probably frown about the state of her unorganised desk, and allison would no doubt sigh about the things kira's keeping in her drawers that are protected by only one standard issue lock and key. still though, as she opens the door to let giselle inside, there is something about this space that is undoubtedly hers. she gestures for giselle to take a seat on one of the chairs while she rummages about in her 'off limits' drawers.
she really should find some way to organise all this one day.
βi don't usually give my first name out to patients. but...β kira turns back to survey giselle for a moment. it's hard to see anything beyond the beauty that's staring her right in the face, though. βsince you're a special case... my first name's kira.β
it takes a bit more digging, but eventually kira does find what she's looking for. chrysenia, highly toxic to small animals like rabbits and squirrels, but perfect for anybody with a little extra something in their gene pool.
βthis might sting a little, fair warning.β kira's suddenly nervous, sitting in front of giselle now, gently taking her hand so that she can spray her little healing mixture onto the cut. βwhat exactly is it that you do for work that has you getting hurt like this?β
dr. yukimura's office is a bit cluttered, but in a way that somehow manages to be endearing. giselle's curiosity Β licksΒ upΒ herΒ spine Β like a flame, following as the doctor holds the door ajar for her Β ( how polite ! ) Β . that same strange, electric energy the witch had felt earlier Β PERMEATESΒ THISΒ ROOM Β but on a much less concentrated levelβ¦it was more traces of that wild magic, remnants of a static buzz. when the doctor motions for her to sit, she does, though she wants nothing more than to peer over the other woman's shoulder and get a glimpse of that drawer she's rifling through. that, and giselle also just enjoys Β theΒ warmthΒ radiating Β off of her when the blonde is near. she's always run cold, what with the frost magic coursing through her veins.Β
the woman gives pause but ultimately relinquishes her name to giselle, saying that she's a "special case" . of course, kira, she now knows her to be, is merely referencing giselle's Β DISTINCTΒ SUPERNATURALΒ SIGNATURE Β , but she can't help feeling giddy regardless. she even kicks her feet a bit where she's sitting languid in the chair, back and forth, back and forth. Β β that is a beautiful name, miss kira. i thank you for your assistanceΒ βΒ and trust, c'est magnifique, β Β she flatters, though she does mean every word of it. she just happens to also be a terrible flirt.Β
she hisses out a little gasp at the sting of the spray, her eyes flashing silver for a split - second. she wonders if kira caught that, her magic a sharp thing creeping back up to her fingertips as the doctor's medicine begins to work its Β ownΒ brandΒ of Β magic. Β β hmβ¦that depends. can you keep a secret, kira? β Β she's sure she can, but she wants to draw this out for as long as she's able.
anyways have been thinking thoughts lately about how roy is such a fucking hopeless romantic. and also how modern dating is probably so fucking weird to him. if anyone ever says the phrase "talking stage" to him i think he'd actually black out. what the fuck do you mean "situationship"??? i'll kill you
the way i write raquelle, it's not that she has a crush on ken, so she's jealous of barbie as a resultβit's more like she's envious of barbie, and sees ken as an extension of all that barbie has. thus, she wants to take him away from barbie, the same way she wants what's barbie's as a whole. she's simply a deeply jealous person on her own rite.
