tired but still going

laura lao. temporary owner of lao's bakery, still trying to figure out what to do in general

[laura-lau]

CÉLIA.

location: lake side beach availability: open

She knows she should stay away—nothing good washes up on the shores here. Even the wildlife seems to stay away. When was the last time Célia saw a set of footprints in the sand that didn’t belong to her?

Despite the warnings, Célia can’t seem to stay away from the beach. It’s laughable, how utterly landlocked the town is even with these flowing waters as a border. She dreamed of building a boat big enough for just her and the family dog when she was young, and sailing far, far away from here.

Obviously, that never happened. She’s propped up in the sand, ways away from the moving shoreline, picking up handfuls of earth and letting it slip through her fingers. This is the closest she’ll ever be to a real beach. It’s a shame; the pictures in the magazines and books all seem so beautiful.

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There was no reason to go to the beach, none at all. That was what Laura kept telling herself in the past five months, ever since her grandma disappeared, and still she kept showing up, she kept checking. To make sure nobody was here. Or, well, nobody who wasn’t alive.

The beach usually was empty, though there were people sometimes showing up for similar reasons, or just because they were curious or simply didn’t care.

She wasn’t alone this time, but Célia was lying down in the sand and understandably, Laura was distracted. She only noticed the other woman once she got so close it was impossible not to. “Oh you’re-- hi, you’re here. Sorry, didn’t mean to be a bother or anything. I can-- I can just leave.” And yet she didn’t. She just stood there, staring over the beach.

The empty beach, as it should be. Because there was absolutely nobody she feared would show up there.

[laura-lau]

HEATHER.

“Honestly I’m fine” Heather laughed as she batted off some dirt from her legs and checked her pockets to make sure she still had everything. She often went for walks around the edge to clear her mind and imagine a life outside of this place, what things were like on the other side and how different it might be.. she wasn’t often knocked over by somebody else though. “You caught me off guard but honestly I’m not hurt, Laura. You must have been going at some speed though I didn’t stand a chance.” She laughed, “I will take those baked goods though.”

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“Okay, okay, good, I am glad.” Laura let out a small chuckle. “Honestly? I was mostly just running home fast so I could be done with today’s run. I don’t know, not really feeling it right now, even my music couldn’t pump me up enough to be in the right headspace. So another reason for not having to finish the run? Even better. So baked goods it is, then. And I ran you over on a good day! I know, I know, strange statement, but I recently found an old marmalade recipe and I figured I’d try it, so some of the baked good are filled with that starting today, if you are interested. They are pretttty good, if I may brag about them.”

[laura-lau]

RACHEL.

“Nonsense. Ask away.” She waves her hand, giving Laura a smile. “Aw. I’d have loved to see you in my classes, but that’s alright, I’m glad either way that you want to give it a shot. You’ll love it.” She understands people have busy schedules and can’t make the hours the classes are held at, but luckily, yoga can be done at home. “Starting with short, straightforward sessions is the way to go, that way once you’re comfortable you start to build up from there at your own pace. I can show you a few basic moves that you can do at your own time?”

,❂⍟❂⍟❂

“I promise I will make it to one, or even more, once granny will be--” But then she stopped for a moment, her voice faltering, the possibility of it not happening hitting her, but Laura quickly pushed it aside and continued, “--once she is back, I’ll have much more time. I was just thinking of getting a head start. And I’m assuming knowing a couple of moves will be helpful during the classes anyway.” There were probably starter classes, but still.

“Ahh, that sounds amazing, I would love it if you could show me some basic moves. But really start at the beginning, I am more of a runner and a cardio type of gal, not anything yoga-like, so I am not really that flexible or anything. Well, I am, but not in this kind of situation,” Laura gave a small, playful wink towards Rachel. “Anyway, do I need anything for it? Some kind of special mat, anything else?”

[laura-lau]

ASHLYNN.

Location: Holbrook Park

Open to everyone

“Mamma mia, here I go again.. my, my, how can I resist you?“ Ashlynn sang to herself as she sat on the bench, portable chunky CD player in hand with her headphones secured firmly on her head as she sang along to the CD that was playing. She often relaxed at the park whenever she got a free day off from work knowing that she didn’t have to catch up on sleep before working late. She blonde hummed along to one of her favourite songs before her eyes flicked over to the person, a smile on her face as she slid down the headphones and hit pause on the CD player. “Sorry, I was in my own little world.”

❂⍟❂⍟❂

Maybe Laura could have been more obvious when she sat down in front of Ashlynn next to the bench, but the other woman was so wrapped up in the ABBA songs, Laura just didn’t want to disturb anything. She just decided to step away from the bakery while she ate her lunch and since the other benches were fully taken, she figured (or more like hoped) Ashlynn wouldn’t mind.

She was discovered rather quickly, though. “Oh, no, it’s okay, I didn’t want to disturb you, just eating my lunch, if that’s okay with you,” Laura motioned towards the salad with the plastic fork in her hand. “Kind of interesting how one of the band’s biggest songs is all about a cheating, isn’t it? Like it’s all fun and karaoke songs until you get cheated on and then it suddenly loses all the fun out of it. --Not that it happened to me or anything, just saying. Is it one of your go to karaoke songs? If it’s ABBA, I usually go with Waterloo or Super Trouper, though I don’t think I can ever unhear my grandma’s version of the latter, I could never actually live up to it.”

[laura-lau]

[ @rachelnazeri​ ]

“Okay, I know this might be a stupid question,” Rachel started, knowing full-well that it probably went against the idea of a yoga instructor in the first place, “but if one were to start doing yoga in their own home, how do you think one should go about it? I know you have classes and such, but sometimes I only have time at stupid hours when there is no way you’d be holding classes, and I’ve been thinking about trying it out for a while, so I think I will have to resort to home attempts.”

[laura-lau]

HEATHER.

Heather was completely in a world of her own, she didn’t even hear the sound of Laura’s feet running along when she came crashing into her. The blonde was suddenly stumbling on her feet before falling onto her back with a loud thud, a groan leaving her lips as she got her bearings and her eyes flickered open landing on Laura who was now apologising. She slowly sat back up and let out a loud sigh before speaking up “no, no.. it’s fine. I’m fine, honestly.” Heather smiled before puling herself up onto her feet once again and brushing off the dirt from her clothing. “It just uh.. caught me off guard I guess.”

❂⍟❂⍟❂

Heather went flying and then landed right onto her butt and Laura felt bad, and immediately jumping to help the other woman up onto her feet when she showed signs of getting up, looking around to make sure nothing was dropped that would need rescuing saving from potentially being left out on the street and something running over it or being stepped on or anything along those lines.

“Really sorry again, I was not paying attention. I was thinking about-- well, not running. But this wasn’t really how I imagined it would go. You’re okay? Nothing too badly hurt?” Heather did say she was okay, but Laura just wanted to make sure. “I can offer some baked goods from the bakery as an apology, if you’d accept it.”

[laura-lau]

[ @carmtos​ ]

“--And I swear, Joshua walked in on them with the bar guy’s pants off, his boyfriend kneeling in front of bar guy with his mouth around bar guy’s dick,” Laura finished her story, her posture leaned in, her voice above a whisper as if she was telling a secret - which at this point wasn’t, because even she heard about the break up through three different people today. “How nobody heard the door opening and closing and they couldn’t just get decent, I am not sure. Their neighbor swears by it, granted, I don’t know how much of it is true, but if it is, it’s going to be a rough couple of days.”

[laura-lau]

[ @liammaddox​ ]

“Liam! Buddy! Hi!” Laura smiled bright when she noticed the man walk into the bakery. She had several plates in her hand, mugs piled on top of them, as she was clearing down a couple of table that emptied out in the last few minutes (the bakery had a nice back room and a terrace where people could sit down, either eat a baked good, a sandwitch, or just drink some coffee and tea).

“Is there anything I could get you? If I had known you were coming in, I would have put some of your favorite aside, I am not sure if we have any left now, but I can check, and if you have some time, there are new batches in the oven, so it wouldn’t take too long to get something fresh and warm, either.”

[laura-lau]

[ @heatherxjones ]

Portable CD player attached at her hips, Laura was the edge of the city, running along the forest on a trail like she usually did, her feet moving onto the rhythm of the music. Most of the time she adored running, but sometimes she just had a bad day, she was more tired, she didn’t feel like it, and this was one of her days, even the music not making it that much fun without any particular reason behind but, so she was pushing herself, but pushing herself on the shorter trail.

She could finish a small lap and then get out of her running pants and shoes and get a good, warm shower.

Her mind was too wrapped up into the idea of a shower already, though, so before she could make it home, as she rounded a corner, she ran right into a body, Laura unable to stop herself the last moment. “Shit, sorry, sorry, I didn’t mean to-- Heather! Hi! Again, sorry, didn’t mean to run right into you. Are you okay?”

[laura-lau]

JULIANA.

Status: closed for @laura-lau​​

Location: Some abandoned house in town

Juliana knew she could trust Laura to indulge her in her interesting way to have fun on a Saturday night. But this place was weird, it was messed up. If this place could become surrounded by an endless forest overnight, if people could disappear mysteriously and suddenly return back dead, why couldn’t there be ghosts? The house they were heading to hadn’t been lived in for as long as Juliana could remember. It always made her curious and tonight was the night they were going to find out if anything paranormal was going on around here.

“Pretty spooky around here right? I say we take a look around first, see if we can find any cold spots or anything that might seem weird or out of place. Then we can bust out the ouija board, see if there’s anyone around who might be willing to communicate with us.”

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Laura would deny if somebody said she was scared - she wasn’t, this was just a creepy old house that’s been empty for way too long. But it was dark and quiet and she’s watched enough horror movies in the past to know how this could end and okay, okay, maybe she was spooked a bit.

Not scared, but spooked, big difference.

Still, Juliana seemed really excited and it always turned out to be a good fun when she pulled Laura into her ghost hunting adventures, so Laura was all for it. “Do cold spots mean I am walking right through ghosts? Because I think I’d skip it if that’s the case, it feels very disrespectful to just walk through dead people,” she pondered looking around. “Be careful with the stairs, it doesn’t seem the safest and it would be best if it didn’t break under either of us.”

After a glance around, she turned her attention back to Juliana. “So is there any spooky, ghost-y thing in the history of the house? Or just abandoned long enough that it could have attracted the ghosts?”

[laura-lau]

ELA.

𝐋𝐎𝐂𝐀𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍: LYNWOOD TAVERN.

𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐁𝐀𝐑 𝐈𝐒 𝐐𝐔𝐈𝐓𝐄 quiet at this time of night, something that Ela finds quite a bit of comfort in. Of course she is able to turn it on for the customers, all smiles and small talk until the moment they walked out the door. However, she can't deny her relief when she finally finds a moment of peace like the one she has now. For the past ten minutes she had her head in a pile of undone dishes, coming up for air to notice an individual at the end of the bar. "What can I get ya?" Ela asks, face graced with a quick, gentle smile as she makes her way in their direction. Fingers clasp around a glass in anticipation as she waits with a sense of expectation. It's routine; Ela is known to move like a well-oiled machine. "Rough night?"

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Laura smiled at Ela when the other woman approached her. “I would love some cider if you’ve got some, thank you so much.” Not a hard drink to say the least, but ever since she took over the bakery, she tried to make sure she wouldn’t wake up with headache in the morning. In the way too early morning. She was already late to bed if she wanted to get enough sleep tonight, but she just didn’t feel like she could actually fall asleep anytime soon that night. “Not really, just a sleepless one most likely. What about you? How is the bar tonight? A lot of idiots bugging you?”

[laura-lau]

☆ MELISSA O'NEIL, WOMAN, SHE/HER ☆ LAURA LAU the THIRTY year old has been trapped here since 2000. We heard the BAKER made themselves at home in SUMERSET APARTMENTS. While others around town have gossiped that they are HARD-WORKING and A GOSSIP but maybe that’s what helps them survive here. [ ENCI, 27, GMT+1, SHE/HER. ]

INTRODUCTION

Laura Lau was born and raised in Holrook as the only child of her parents. It was a fairly normal childhood, nothing to really complain about, not red flags or anything outstanding. Laura adored her parents and they adored her right back.

She was eight when her parents decided to go on vacation for a few days, just the two of them, and they left Laura to her grandmother. Unfortunately for the entire family, during those few days, the town went black and suddenly there was no coming in and out anymore. Laura’s parents were locked out, Laura and her grandmother were locked in.

She was raised by her grandmother afterward, and any big aspirations she had were thrown out the window. Why study to be a hotshot lawyer in New York, or become an astrophysicist, when she was stuck in Holbrook for the rest of her life most likely? (Not that she wanted to become either of those options.) But maybe because of this, she hasn’t really locked down something that was her thing, haven’t figured out what she wanted to do with herself once she grew up, so she shifted from job to job, from thing to thing, while sometimes helping out her grandma at the family bakery that her grandmother ran.

Then the impossible came - about five months ago, her grandmother, disappeared, and Laura has been living in denial ever since. She took over the bakery because somebody has to run it, but she keeps saying that once her grandma would be back, she can take it back, she just refuses to believe her grandma, the only family she has left and has known her entire life, is gone and would have had the same fate as those others who disappeared and then were found dead later.

WANTED CONNECTIONS

Childhood/family friend: somebody who were close with the Lau family and who were there before the parents disappeared and during it. Either remained friends through the years or have shifted apart at some point, but would have a sense of how badly Laura took her grandma disappearing since it sort of happened before (at least the seperation)

Bakery coworker: somebody/more than one somebody (what a dumb way to say more people potentially, my brain is rotting) who works or worked at the Lau Bakery over the years/now, so either worked with Laura or works with her now

Gossip partners: Laura is a big gossip, just adores chatting about people and knowing things, so anyone whom she can do this with

Running partner: she likes going out on a run, so maybe somebody she fell into a routine with, somebody she usually meets up and runs with

Rival: either through another local business or some other aspect of her life, but they are butting heads and constantly trying to one up each other

Exes/hookups: Laura is bisexual, and she can easily fall into casual sex and one-night stands - anyone she had either a short, casual thing, or something more in the past

[karihighman]

She is in fact the prettiest human 💓📷: IG