alright guys! i know i have a few more replies due but i’m heading to bed so i just wanted to reply to the people i didn’t have threads with yet! hope that’s okay :) i’ll be out tomorrow for the majority of the day ( rogue o n e here i come !! ) but have a great day & stay gold!
it was not long that eli could go without drinking even a sip of alcohol and so on their explorations of the ship, they decided to make a quick stop off at the bar. the emphasis having been on quick. as they walked in, denim jacket slumped over arm, they noticed another looking in their direction. “um, can i help?” they mouthed, thinning their eyes trying to figure out whether they knew this guy. as they approached closer, they noted that he was signalling for them to take a seat. and so they did. “uh, hi,” was all they stifled out unsure of how to react. as the bartender cruised over to them, they recalled their order, “ah, just a gin and tonic for me please,” to try and distract from the fact that they totally felt super uncomfortable at the current moment.
easy, breezy, --- can’t think of anything else that rhymes with easy & long ago learned that nonchalant & insouciant don’t sound alike ( vaguely remembers laughter the first time he had mentioned how a character in a book had been insoosohnt -- thought it had been cool it rhymed with nonchalant ). --- EASY, BREEZY, DON’T FUCK THIS UP-ZY. he can see the unease in the other’s eyes ; involuntarily lets out a little huff of disappointment. ❛ hey, ❜ he tries, easy breezy still circulating in his head like a mantra ( difficult to be easy breezy with someone who doesn’t want to be there ). ❛ -- i was kidding about the seat. you don’t, ah, actually have to sit here. it was more a ... hopeful offer than anything else. ❜ a hopeful, vague, open to literally anyone, i’m not at all picky kind of offer. a look of apologetic sincerity crosses his face. ❛ you really don’t have to sit here -- promise i won’t take it personally if you leave. ❜
calysta’s dark brown eyes skimmed the crowd of people, wondering if she should strike up a conversation with someone or not. she was bored && lonely, no doubt. with a drink in hand, the brunette longed to be in her suite or to have a nice swim in the pool. as she took another sip of her drink, she barely noticed a male voice talking to her. calysta turned to face him when she realised the question was directed at her. “you talking to me?” calysta raised her eyebrows in surprise, looking flustered – most unusual for her. “oh, i, uh – i wouldn’t know. maybe that’s just the way she looks,” the brunette shrugged, “or… maybe not. i’d rather be dangling over a pool of hungry sharks too, actually. if the alternative was being forced to talk to people i have never seen or heard of,” all her life calysta’s only been around her father, after all. “no offense to you, by the way. but the thought of my warm, nice bed in my suite is better than the thought of being amongst strangers.”
mouth can’t help but squirm itself into a barely-hidden smile ; though he’s not good at entwining himself into social situations with ease, he certainly has no intention of going to his warm, nice bed in his suite any time soon, unlike the girl. but that’s what happens when one is introduced to others : they meet all kinds of interesting characters, ones who are alike, & those who couldn’t be more different. ‘ If strangers meet, life begins - not poor not rich, only aware, kind neither, nor cruel, only complete -- ’ manages to stop himself before his internal monologue starts becoming an external monologue. ❛ i didn’t think it was that bad, ❜ he admits with a small shake of his head. ❛ figured it was a good opportunity to meet the people i’ll be sharing the ship with ; possibly make some new friends. ❜ doesn’t matter such an event was literally made for that purpose. ❛ but if two people want to throw themselves to the sharks rather than be here ... maybe i was wrong. ❜
an eyebrow arched the way the voice came from as damien stoped in his tracks and glances. he met the gentleman with a casual nod and a polite smile. truth is, he rarely ever denied a drink and while he was merely looking around, he might as well start enjoying the benefits of the ship. “baileys on the rocks, please” he told the bartender as he took a sit beside the man. “it’s quite a nice ship.” he said, starting a casual conversation.
offers the other a small smile as they sit, very much welcoming the company. ❛ yeah, it is. ❜ & large, too --- gray can barely remember what’s on the list of amenities the ship has to offer, but knows it’s extensive. ❛ i’d probably be wowed by any ship though, nice or not. .. i’m gray, by the way. ❜ almost holds his hand out to shake ; decides not to ( too formal ), & instead opts for a casual lifting of his glass before taking another sip.
my activity won’t be existent today until later when there’s like ... 0 people online ( lmao @ aest timezone i swear to g ods ... ), because i’m cleaning ( it never ends ), & i’m determined to finish reading my book today. i’ve also just downloaded like four river phoenix movies because i miss him like crazy ( ??? can i do that ? he died when i was seven months old :( ), so i might also bury myself in river movies & cry because of what could have been. & wish that i could find someone who could play chris chambers bc i’ve added him to my multi but don’t want to rp w river’s face, out of respect ...
tl ; dr : i’ll be on later & may even app for another character !! what faces do you guys wanna see ?? stay gold!
“thanks for the offer but i’m here for –” the s t r i n g of syllables stop short as his gaze meets the other’s. he curbs the impulse to recoil; instead he blinks once and writhes a smile on to skin. there’s a semblance of recognition but his already addled brain struggled to assign a name to the face before him. who is he? an old associate looking for payback? or just a harmless goon who hit jackpot – he had to admit: that was a sweet jacket – ? in hopes for a luminary answer, he makes a ( weak ) attempt at recovery, “hey! … it’s you.”
he has to admit, upon properly taking in the other’s features, gray can’t blame him for the rather unconvincing attempt at placing him --- he too, has to admit the other looks familiar, but where ... ? would have dismissed it as nothing, perhaps a passing resemblance to a television actor or something of that ilk, had the other not had the same reaction. ❛ yeah, i’m me. ❜ small smile ( attempt at humour ). pauses for a beat, then, mind still grasping at those tenuous, just-out-of-reach confines of his memories, offers a tentative & subtle white flag in the form of proffering his own identity. ❛ grayson landry, ❜ he says at length, gaze dropping to take another sip of his drink as he does so. hopes it will do double-duty & hide his ( hopefully soon-to-be-present ) glint of recognition as the other gives his name.
the turquoise waves faded into the distance as the crisp raven skies engulfed the horizon into a dark raven hue. the netted shawl around her shoulders wrapped TIGHTER around her figure as the cold wind swept across her cheeks. the tip of her nose FLOURISHED into a shade of red before she found shelter inside the bar of the boat. the warmth of the room CONSUMED her, a small smile appeared on her complexion once her skin had been greeted with it. she approached the bar out of IMPULSE. she wasn’t exactly planning on ordering a butterscotch schnapps but the mood called for it. ❝ the seat doesn’t REQUIRE a conversation to come along with it. ❞ she responded while taking a seat next to the younger male. ❝ but that’s your loss — of course. ❞
can’t help but raise an eyebrow in response to the woman’s frosty reply, fitting though it is -- every ice bar needs an ice queen to accompany it. ‘ she was so beautiful and delicate, but she was of ice, of dazzling, sparkling ice ; yet she lived ; her eyes gazed fixedly, like two stars ; but there was neither quiet nor repose in them. ‘ he thinks, reciting internally as is his habit ( though one must admit, the internal part is new ; he oft recited aloud back home - gave him a sense of company ). takes a minute to compose himself, then gives a small shrug & a following nod. ❛ i never said it did, only that it was free. ❜ has had plenty of time to practice diplomacy ( has read it in his books, over & over again ; that is, when he wasn’t learning from his father, who had long ago quit his chef job & had taken to entertaining his late wife’s many esteemed colleagues ). ❛ --- my loss, indeed. ❜ brevity is the safest route : anything else & grayson fears it may be construed as insincere.
“ 2,182. You’re 2,183. ” she didn’t even have to think about it. “ this is the noel’s first voyage, so it’s lower than others. if i’ve been on a ship for a year, it gets to be in the hundreds of thousands. ” andy paused for a moment to look at the passenger, offering an explanation for the exactness of the numbers. “ counting helps the time go by more quickly. ”
❛ two thousand, one hundred, & eighty-three? ❜ had to admit that’s impressively repetitive. ❛ i hope that number doesn’t have to get much higher today ; pretty sure i’d be going out of my mine with boredom. ❜ eyebrow quirks when she mentions that counting helps time slip by. ❛ really? i thought that would just exacerbate your perception of the time ; make it feel even slower. but hey -- anything to speed things up. ❜
“i know, i’m surprised to see you here,” he said. it was a bit hard to believe that the other man was allowed to do something like this, knowing how his father was. “oh, um, i’m actually working on the ship. i needed to get to america and this is the only way i could do it, so.” he shrugged. “this bar is pretty sweet, right?”
❛ trust me ; i’m surprised to be here, too. still not wholly sure i’m not gonna pinch myself & wake up from a dream. ❜ a shrug -- isaiah knows the tribulations of being GRAYSON LANDRY as well as anyone possibly could. ❛ oh, yeah? ❜ ears perk up -- likes asking people questions about themselves ( prefers that to answering anything about himself ). ❛ what kinda job did you score? & yeah, it’s pretty sweet. i wonder how the employees can stand being in here for hours on end, though - i’m beginning to freeze already. ❜
isaiah wasn’t much of a drinker, but he did find the ice bar to be incredibly cool (pun intended), so he found himself spending a lot of time there whenever he had breaks. he walked through the door, planning on getting some sort of virgin drink, his eyes widening a bit. “oh, um, hey grayson.” he’d heard that the other man would be on the ship but he hadn’t anticipated running into him so soon. “how are you?”
places isaiah automatically -- tends to happen with ease, when you’ve only known a handful of people your entire life. ❛ oh shit! hey -- hey isaiah. ❜ shakes his head & blinks, as if to awaken himself from a dream. ❛ this is like some kind of weird deja vu. ❜ hadn’t been expecting to see him here ( hadn’t been expecting to see anyone he knew at all -- kind of the point ). but ah well. ❛ i’m ... okay. still adjusting. weird to be in a new environment. ❜ tries his hand at an easy-going smile ; doesn’t quite achieve his goal. ❛ -- what’re you doing here? ❜
it hasn’t taken gray long to figure out where the ice bar was & get comfortable in it ( feels like, right now, if he looks out at the ocean too long he’ll feel trapped -- maybe keep scenic viewing for when he’s adapted a bit more to this newfound freedom ). he’s sitting at a table, gloved hands wrapped around a hot shotty, ( in a thermal mug to prevent it melting the bar ... or table ), when someone else walks through the doors. ❛ this seat’s free, ❜ he says, almost immediately. winces a little, internally -- should cool it on the whole ‘desperate to make friends’ thing. // ❰❰ ・♢ ♦ ⋰♢ ♦ ・━ open ❱❱
“ hello. my name is andrea zhou, and i will be your captain for this voyage. we’re so pleased that you chose to join us, and we hope that you’ll enjoy your time aboard the swiss noel! ” introductions were the only necessary part of the job that the captain despised. standing at the end of a line of countless people was exhausting, and andy couldn’t wait until she could get back to the bridge.
❛ oh -- yeah, thanks. ❜ he didn’t choose the swiss noel ( not really ; he wanted it, but his father chose it ), but he’s appreciative all the same. ❛ how many times do you think you’ve said that before? ❜ it kind of slips out ; puts pandora’s famed curiosity to shame ( justifies it as understandable ; sixteen years of the same walls will do that to a person ), but he doesn’t retract it. figures if it’s going to slip out like that, it must be a question that needs an answer.
he could say he’s learned a lot about cruises ( & ships, in general ) from the books he’s read. he could say that, though moby dick was a slog & he almost gave up at various points, he knows how to hoist a sail, work a ship --- & harpoon a whale. he could -- but he won’t ( that’s bragging ). what the books didn’t tell gray, however, was how long the orientation reception goes on for. it’s a slew of people : guests & crew alike, & all have milled about in awkward circles, some standing alone, some grouped together, no one looking particularly like they’re reading to start breaking the ice ( no - a lie ; he can see some exuberant few beginning to flit around, complementary drink in hand, trying to ease that well-known nervous tension that falls whenever people are forced into confined spaces with strangers ). figures now’s a good a time as any to try & start doing the same. grayson turns to the girl next to him, whispering conspiratorially : ❛ is it just me, or does the captain look like she’d rather be dangling over a pool of hungry sharks right now than be here for the meet & greet? ❜ // ❰❰ ・♢ ♦ ⋰♢ ♦ ・━ @calystaknight ❱❱
just a heads up that i’m cleaning & have to run to the shops soon so i won’t be on on for until like .... 11 pm est ( or like ... 3pm aest ) .. so like, an hour & a half or something. but i’ll make sure to reply to starters when i do drag my ass online !
hey all ! your friendly, neighbourhood INK here ! i use she/her pronouns & i’ve been hiding in the indie scene for a long time !i’m from australia, & i spend most of my days reading stephen king & getting frustrated halfway through his books ( it doesn’t happen every time, but most of the time ). anyway ! onto my sheltered, mollycoddled, failed-rebel of a child, GRAYSON LANDRY !
i’m yet to fill in his stats because i’ve been super busy, but i’ll do that soon! until then, you can check here for his bio! but anyway, whilst i’m in the process of getting his stats page together, feel free to check out these wanted connections of mine, & if you like the look of any of them, feel free to hmu in the ims !
OLD FRIEND : gray was eleven when his mother disappeared & his father became a paranoid recluse, so that’s definitely enough time to have built a friendship with someone! plus, there would be the whole ‘i haven’t seen you in sixteen years holy shit’ moment ( because patrick landry cut off like ... all contact with gray’s friends ), so that’d be a great thing to feel out!
EX-FRIENDS : maybe an old friend took grayson’s sudden ghosting personally & hold a grudge?
OLD STAFF MEMBER: possibly a tutor / cook / housekeeper / gardener / anyone possibly employed by patrick landry at any given time! they can be close to gray in age, too --- patrick didn’t care how old his staff were, just that he could trust them, & they were really good at their jobs.
BODYGUARD : this one’s a bit touch & go because everyone already has their own biographies, but maybe gray’s bodyguard on the ship is actually someone his father hired secretly, so he doesn’t know they’re there to protect him ? he knows he has one, though --- just, maybe it’s not who he thinks it is.
CRUSH ( REQUITED/UNREQUITED): he’s a male who has been cooped up inside for sixteen years. you bet your ass he’s gonna develop a shit-ton of crushes in a very short period of time.
NEIGHBOUR: coming from old money, patrick made sure gray would be travelling in style & bought him a GRAND SUITE ticket -- so maybe your muse has the one next door / across the hall / however that works?
MISTAKEN IDENTITY: grabbed the wrong luggage? given the wrong key? thought he looked like someone else? however it happened, gray & another muse were introduced purely by chance accident! it’s a well-used meet-cute trope for a reason!
ANYTHING ELSE! i’m the worst at thinking up connections, so hit me up if there’s any others you think of / want, & i’m sure we can work something out!
andulkaphoto
janainaart
discoholicmusic
prguitarman
stormborns
annaxmalina