riley hayes. she/her. uim nyc. sixteen. I had a VISION. A vision of my nails in the KITCHEN -- scratching counter tops, I was S C R E A M I N G . My back arched like a cat, my position couldn't stop you were HITTING it.
“You didn’t go to that insane party?” Julian said in fake excitement. He wasn’t really the type to be going to parties either, anyway. “Let’s both revel at how lucky we are to be alive right now…”
Matching his fake enthusiasm, she twirled her hair, “like, oh my god, no, I didn’t go to the most like totally insane party of the fucking century!!” Then, she stopped, “well, I.............. actually think I MIGHT’VE, don’t quote me or blood pact me on it, but then I got really drunk and can’t remember anything. Do you think you’ll remember that night for the rest of your days??”
“I wouldn’t even say that I’m from England, I was school briefly in England. The accent is just from my formative years. Mum’s German. Passport’s Polish. Ages six to eleven at charm school in Belgium. Holiday home in Portugal. Dad lives in Rabat.” Every single one of these things was a lie.
Riley squinted over at Fletcher.
“So, basically, you’re telling me you’re just about 50 shades of white with a hint of spice and you don’t know party culture from ANY of them??”
“I remember that night – I just might regret that night for the rest of my days.”
“That -- that may have been the most INTERESTING thing you’ve ever said, please tell me more. Please. Pretty please. I mean, it was a boring ol’ formal for me but you seem to have a mighty story there.”
“This is one of my favourite places to just… hang out.”
“Wow, same, this is really why we make such good friends. We both enjoy hanging out in the bathroom.” Though, this was a particularly nice bathroom -- as EVERYTHING at Maladh was. “Did you see the mini soaps they have??”
HEY GUYS it’s Jules, I have an intro for Riley, the bio I have doesn’t really fit this verse but I adapted some of it so I TRIED!! YEAH!! This is a lot longer than I said it would be & I’m sorry for that!! YOLO RIGHT!! Alright under the cut is more info about Riley Hayes.
“In my mind I am eloquent; I can climb intricate scaffolds of words to reach the highest cathedral ceilings and paint my thoughts. But when I open my mouth, everything collapses.”
LIKES & INTERESTS: Cult Classics - Movies ( Heathers, Dead Poets Society, Sixteen Candles, Ferris Buellers Day Off, Cruel Intentions, The Breakfast Club, Almost Famous ), Blue raspberry Slushies, Donuts, Judaism, Arctic Monkeys, Lana Del Rey, The Smiths, the color blue, writing poetry, e. e. cummings, art museums, greek mythology, rmemes, olling joints on her favorite books, biblical mythology, astronomy, astrology ( she finds it very entertaining in a mocking way and would never admit there’s a small part of her that enjoys it ), Star Wars, black cats, black cats named Boggart, black nail polish, tattoos, carnivals, comic books, ferris wheels, puns, the sea, jellyfish, NPR every morning, going to the beach at twilight, 4 am drives, 5am runs, spliff.
NEGATIVE TRAITS: Reserved, Pessimistic, Sardonic, Secretive, Curious ( it will get her into trouble ), Awkward, Suspicious.
When you meet Riley Hayes, a picturesque childhood in a picturesque suburbia is not what you would expect and yet it was exactly what she had. Born on the cusp of summer and fall, Rachel and Christopher were over the moon to have their daughter born on August 28, 1999. Finally, a child to complete the perfect family unit. Maybe they had hoped for a boy despite what science said ( hence the name Riley & a full name for a boy they had prepared ) but, they had a daughter and for the first ten years of her life they pampered her greatly. Trips to the coast every summer to visit his side of the family where Riley was praised for being such a pretty, good girl, and what seemed like infinite love from her father was doled out as long as she was what he wanted her to be. The younger girl was cooperative, it was in her nature it seemed, because she loved seeing her parents happy with each other. As long as Riley stayed within the lines, stayed within Christopher’s lines at least, everything would be well. Even when Riley started to develop a few habits and interests that were off the wall, he brushed them aside as childhood obsessions. Never could he accept his family for what they were which is exactly why he left.
The ugly truth was, Riley was an accident and the picture painted had been a lie – not that Riley knew until then. While she knew they had gotten married young she’d never known how much exactly her mother had given up to be with her father. Rachel Hayes had left her family, forsaken her religion ( as Christopher was a very religious Christian man ), the semi famous Goldstein name, and moved across the country into this suburbia all with the promise of a family. The biggest thing? Magic. When Christopher left a year before Riley entered UIM school, Riley was forced to grow up and pick up the pieces of a broken lost woman who simply couldn’t find herself in the rubble that was the aftermath of her father leaving. But finding out she was an accident was the least of her worries. No matter how much poetry she wrote trying to figure out her mind, oftentimes thinking she was losing it, something within her was different, something within her felt different.
It took a few months to coax the why from her mother, and truly she was her caretaker. It wasn’t until her 11th birthday when she got the letter from UIM that she realized what exactly was off. When she confronted her mother -- her mother just poured everything out to her. Who Riley was, who her family was, what she was doing with her life before she met Christopher. At first, Riley couldn’t believe it -- -- she’d grown up hiding comics under her bed, hiding anything about the supernatural away. Even if her whole life she had felt a weird pull to these people who didn’t belong in her comics, these freaks, she never in her wildest dreams thought she was one. It all made sense though, and finally the pieces of her life started to come together. Riley knew what she had to do, so at the age of 11, she went with her mother to Wizarding NYC to try to find out more. To try to find the family her mother left behind.
After that, everything fell into place -- her family was beyond accepting, more than she’d ever knew and her mom started to get better as she become more true to herself. The family reconciled, helping Riley and Rachel move into a flat in NYC, in Chinatown. Rachel got a job at the ministry as an assistant and with the help of some family members and Riley started to prepare for school Wizarding School. She’d never been more happy in her life. New York City was her home, more than her podunk shitty town ever had, and she felt a freedom that made her wander the city, she felt a freedom to finally be herself.
For years, she pushed away a lot of the pain she felt -- she figured her pain was her own, it was selfish of her to dwell on it or even think about it when she had this new fantastic life. Only in her poetry would she divulge her feelings, only her poetry knew that she felt inexplicably lost in the world the more she saw it. Before Riley was to turn 14, a boy, who claimed to be her brother showed up on her doorstep. Not soon after, her father was there looking for him. Rachel and Riley didn’t know how to process this all but one thing they knew was that they couldn’t let Ellis go back to him. Go back to his horrible environment. Seeing as Ellis was of legal age -- they kicked Christopher’s ass out the door and though he tried to put up a fight, they were finally a family, Ellis included, and they fought harder.
The thing was, the reminder of her father, the reminder that he was out there ruining more people’s lives, that he was out there spawning more children really intensely messed with Riley’s head. Why wasn’t she good enough for him to stay? Why couldn’t they have been enough? It was stupid, but the thoughts started to consume her and the lost feeling just got bigger. Picking up vices like smoking, smoking pot, drinking beer like she was her own father after a long day of work, anything to escape the feeling that she didn’t really have a place in this world. Not one she could see. A loneliness she could not shake slept with her at night like any blanket did, every day felt like she was smothered. Every day there was a new realization that she didn’t know what the hell she wanted to do with her life, and that she didn’t really have a place in the world.
Never being able to travel before, not more than those distant trips to the coast, is what mainly propelled Riley to go. Also the fact that most of her friends were going was a factor. Riley didn’t have anything to lose so she thought why not.
RILEY & JUDAISM:
Judaism was once a rarely talked about religion in the Hayes house, in fact, Riley knew barely anything about the religion at all. If she had realized it was taboo instead, it would’ve been something she would’ve dipped her mind into much earlier. The Hayes family were church goers, Sundays, Easter, Christmas, that was the religious practice they followed and had been since Rachel Hayes had forgone her roots in Judaism. Once she married & became Mrs. Christopher Hayes, she lost the part of her that made her her,that connected her to her family, all because of a pregnancy that was unplanned, and a marriage that needed to happen in result of it.
Once Christopher left, Riley dug up old numbers, old things, anything she could find that would bring her mother back to herself. Here, the woman gave so much of herself to her father and Riley felt she needed to get some of her back. Anything would do, anything at all. When Riley found an old Siddur, stuffed in the back of her mother’s side of the closet, she had a pretty good idea of a way to start.
It started with looking at temples. The first month, Riley’s mom drove into Bethesda, Maryland. All the two did was walk around, taking in the city itself. Taking in the fact that there were even so many people in one place as opposed to nasty Bellbrook, Virginia where they live. Taking in people coming back synagogue, the dress, and while it was painful at first for her mom, Rachel slowly started to explain to Riley different things, different details about Judaism. Soon, Riley and Rachel learned together and go at least once a month for Saturday evening services as well as for most High Holidays.
Riley’s favorite Jewish holiday is Yom Kippur: the day of Atonement. While she knows she had absolutely no control over being born, she does feel she has a lot to atone for. A lot to cleanse from her soul. Her poetry may be fair game – it’s raw, it’s unforgiving and it’s brutal – to herself & to others. For being what she is, for being something else other than human and purposefully standing by while others cause havoc – she feels she needs to cleanse & atone for that. It’s the day that she for once feels clean, cleansed and not like the figure from Greek mythology: Atlas.
ADDITIONAL INFO:
I once called her a Memelord Shitstain. I stand by that.
If Lana Del Rey and Weird Al’ Yankovic did a duet, that would be Riley’s vibe. LOL.
Never learned how to swim really but often dreams of water and loves water a lot.
Has four and half friends, one of them being her half brother, Ellis and her childhood friend Ethan. The other two are Isa Potter and Gage Hamilton. The half is Julian Wood.
Riley has a natural inclination towards legilimency, her first sign of magic was actually reading someone in a grocery’s store’s mind on accident but it’s not a developed skill in the slightest and truthfully Riley doesn’t EVER want to go into it.
A PLAYLIST FOR RILEY:
How Far I’ll Go ( cover ) by Alessia Cara
Miss America by Ingrid Michaelson
If I Believe You by The 1975
We Exist by Arcade Fire
Fake You Out by Twenty One Pilots
Here by Alessia Cara
Young God by Halsey
What’s Up? by 4 Non Blondes
Stay Awake by London Grammar
Stargirl Interlude by Lana Del Rey and The Weekend
luc was vaguely aware that their mother had taught them that. it wasn’t that luciana didn’t get along with their mother, it was that their mother stood for everything that was wrong with people’s relationships now and they hated that. luc stared at the girl and shrugged. luciana had no idea where they were themself, so it was highly annoying to call someone else out on looking out of place, but that didn’t matter. luc was, after all, honest. “ what’s panda express? “ they asked, blinking confused. “ nevermind. this place is a maze, but i’d think getting back should be simple enough. i doubt there’s many people our age here. “
“YOU DON’T KNOW WHAT PANDA EXPRESS IS??” Riley asked, her face animated & incredulous because that the other hadn’t even eaten it -- let alone heard of it. “Where are you from, then?? What language are you speaking right now??” The bombardment of questions came from pure curiosity -- this was why Riley had decided to go, besides it being the opportunity of a lifetime, learning more about people she knew would help her more with her writing. MAYBE, it would even help her more with learning about people. “Right.”
Julian scoffed, but at least he had bumped into one of his fellow UIM students. “Oh no – that’s mine. Step up your game on your own!” He shuffled his feet to let her pick up her bracelet, and he wondered how much of an issue it would be if she lost it. “And the shoes are new; gotta put my best food forward! And if I didn’t know any better, you’re testing your pick up lines on me…”
“How very,” she rolled her eyes as she got up, attaching the bracelet back on. “I’ll steal that joke and you can’t stop me, just you wait, everyone’ll be saying how clever that Riley Hayes is with her jokes when she bumps into people. Just you wait.” The slight pun he made about his shoes was funny, but him insinuating that she was hitting on him was even was even funnier. If it had been someone she didn’t know, she would’ve been sputtering & nervous. But with Julian, it was their back and forth. “You wish. I try not to hit on people with WORSE daddy issues than me. Just a rule. Sorry not sorry.”
the hits he’d taken before taking the portkey had been a little too strong, so he slid the sunglasses over his eyes despite the black night sky above them. he quickly took them off, looking down at them quizzically, “why do i have rhys’ sunglasses?” shrugging, he put them back on, “the sun never sets on a badass like me.” he said to the person next to him—-not that they asked.
Finding fellow stoners was always comforting -- ever since Ellis had moved in, Riley’s pot smoking was a lot less than she would’ve preferred. Even if smoking in Central Park wasn’t too shabby, smoking in Dubai with new people from around the world was AMAZING. “Wait, wait, oh my god, is Rhys your boyfriend?? You never told me you had a boyfriend you goon loser.”
❝ At midnight, I’ll skirt around the streetlights, avoid the fragrant whiskey-burn of l u m i n e s c e n c e meant for brighter eyes; I’ll wade into the dark corners, chase the devil out, and sink, and SINK, until I drown. ❞
Everything was overwhelming; the number of miles traveled and the number of people caused his chest to tense. He took a breath and let himself walk around the hall aimlessly, until his gaze left the crowd and his eyes stared at the designs on the ceiling. It was a mistake to let his attention leave him – he crashed against someone else’s and his heart jolted into his throat to try to figure out who had gotten in his way.
“May I have this dance?” he sputtered breathlessly. It was a joke, and sarcasm was the only way Julian could make himself relax. If you could call it relaxing; he forced himself to smile.
“Nice, do I have your permission to use that the next time I bump into someone??” Riley asked, actually amused and actually planning to use that the next time she inevitably bumped into someone. Realizing she dropped her bracelet on the ground, she went to pick it up. “Nice SHOES, by the way.”
