“ not gonna lie, that kind of skews my own perception of any interaction or thing i've ever had happen to me. i might be up thinking about this later. ” sunny admitted teasingly, but on a realistic note, it really was that deep. “ that's what you think. ” she said before tapping her index finger against her temple. “ and it's frowned upon to socialize with the people you represent, yeah? i mean, it get it. ” it seemed like a common thread in everyone's lives as they grew older that they drifted from socializing, but it seemed especially prevalent with lennon, which made sunny feel sad. “ hmm, i don't know. maybe both. or maybe one disguised as another. ” sunny teased with a small smile. “ whoa, what was that tone? i am serious. i promise. ” in all honesty, she really didn't have much use in being serious, and maybe lennon had a point. “ damn. it's always the parents. that sucks, though. i'm sure you wanna assume the best possible outcome, but the odds are against us all, aren't they? ” for better or worse. and while sunny took a small bite out of her pizza and chewed as she mulled over whether or not she wanted to trauma dump, she couldn't help but wonder if maybe her keeping things to herself was what actually was preventing her from sleep. “ well… okay, do you ever get tired of yourself? like traits you know you have, but you keep doing them because they're beyond your actual control? like you're a sim being played by some sicko person who chooses the worst outcome? and its like guilt, shame, and emotions, and feelings, and you think everything is gonna be fixed just by chasing this high about something, or someone, and then when you chase it you start to realize, if you catch it, maybe it's like a dog chasing a car, you wouldn't even know what to do with it if you got it. does that make sense? ” she didn't even know why she asked, because she didn't even think she was making sense at this point. “ oh my god, wait. you ghosted them because you didn't wanna relive the experience? – to be fair, that movie gets me every time. i watched it twice, and that was enough. "
"right? yeah. it's total crap, but as soon as you figure out that's the way it works you can start using it to your advantage... but sunny. remember, we use these powers for good, and not evil." of course she was joking — mostly — but it was also a fact that she tried to be a good influence on her neighbor, and so maybe there was a small hint of sincerity to her teasing. "oh, I see. the old, letting me think I'm in charge while you pull all the strings, huh? you know, I'd be very upset right now if I wasn't so charmed. - oh. well." hm. technically, maybe, ethically, that could be argued. but. "not necessarily! I mean. yeah, it's probably a good idea to be careful, but as long as you don't have a conflict of interest in representing someone. if I'm fully on your side, it never needs to be an issue. and I am. fully on your side, I mean. anyway. I didn't mean you. you're an exception. my pizza always has your name on it, even if I'm bad about showing it." and she was, truly terrible, about showing it. she knew that. ever since coming back home she'd kept about a six foot wall between her and most other people. sunny just had a funny way of scooting right past it, sometimes. "oh shit, you might be right. that's okay, I will continue to live happily in plausible deniability. - tone? what tone. I would never," she grinned, before the reminder of her rough day had her staring down pepperonis again and reaching for another comfort bite. "a lot of us, yeah, but not all. some people are genuinely blessed and unbothered with good lives, I wonder what that's like. though. I guess at least it gives me that much more of a motivation to try and help it. one crappy parent case at a time. like, maybe it's too late for me, but not for other people. that matters, right?" as she listened to sunny's words, she couldn't help but feel a weird sort of thud wash over her. almost like a sinking realization that the feeling she was describing resonated with her completely. "yes, actually. I think it makes perfect sense." for a moment, that was all she could offer, collecting her thoughts until it felt too quiet to continue in silence. "I actually did have it, I think. at one point. but I think it's really, really hard to outrun yourself. life always catches up, eventually. honestly? I don't even really know how to make peace with it. sometimes I wonder if the answer is just that there isn't one. or maybe the answer, or the car, or whatever, isn't found, it's made. that's about as far as I've gotten." and then, lennon shrugged, resigning herself to finishing her last slice before shaking her head. "no, no, I mean I couldn't even finish it. I've still never seen the ending, I just saw the writing on the wall. I don't know. something about crying in front of people I have a really hard time with. before you say anything! I know it's not healthy. I just have never been able to. I envy you a little bit, sunny. I wish I knew how to be the way you are sometimes. free? spontaneous? chaotic, even."
“ of course, leave it to a lawyer to say honesty is relative." sunny teased with a slight chuckle. when hearing lennon, her eyebrows raised in surprise. “ does that make me your metaphorical handler? but no, really, you're kidding. ” it wasn't that sunny couldn't tell that lennon was somewhat closed off, but maybe she was under the impression that she was so much put together that she had a lot of people in her life to open up to. “ wow. that's metal as hell, and that doesn't scare you? that nobody else is there but you to take care of it? or are you one of those people who prefer it because you like having control over things like that? ” sunny asked curiously. “ me, teasing? i never met her. ” she said while in fact teasing. “ but yeah, i'm so serious. if i had your job i'd be living for the drama of all of this. ” maybe that's why it was a good thing she didn't have her job. “ this tea won't leave this safe space, don't worry. ” jaw dropping when she listened to the other girl, she was finding that lennon's defendant sounded kind of relatable. “that's good of you to see the best in him. do you really think it was a hard time he was going through though? like first offense? or do you think he'll probably go back out there continuing a rampage learning from the mistakes he made by getting caught from this round? ” she asked nonchalantly. “ well, yeah, that and sometimes i think i deserve more for dealing with difficult soccer moms. ” sunny admitted with a shrug, leaving her meaning ambiguous. it took her a moment on responding, she was debating if she actually wanted to admit to having sobbed or not. “ i mean. ” her gaze averted as she shifted her weight to her other leg. “ it's possible ” she said quietly before clearing her throat. more than glad to follow lennon's lead, she took a seat on a bar stool, reaching for a slice of pizza to put on it. “ can't it be all of the above? i think i cycle! if that makes sense.” she admitted a little too openly. “ and besides, what's the point of living if you can't violently sob over things that may or may not be happening to you, and feeling the music deeply? ” sounded like a boring life to her.
"well! maybe not in the court of public opinion, but in actual court it often is. everyone has their own version of the truth," she shrugged, before her face turned to a frown. "my — what? hey come on, if anything it's the other way around! but, no. i'm really not. my work schedule doesn't really allow for much socializing." and the small little hiccup of the judgment of other people and the fear holding her back that she'd never be able to outrun it. "...i. hmm." wow. had sunny really just called her out like that so easily? the audacity. and also... kind of impressive, if not annoyingly so. "i guess i never really give myself the seconds to be scared. it's always on to the next thing. now, does that make me controlling, or just expertly efficient?" lennon teased, before meeting sunny's quip with an amused eyeroll. "oh, right, i forgot, because you're so serious." hearing her work described as drama so casually gave her a bit of lightheartedness she didn't normally associate with it, or with, well, anything. it was honestly endearing. "well..." there was a moment of pause, as if she wasn't sure how much detail to go into. "i guess that's up to him? the odds in these cases are never really good, sometimes the statistics are downright depressing. but. i don't know. i guess i could tell there was a front he was putting on. and i mean, judging by the fact that i barely ever saw his parents in the whole time i've been handling this case i can't really blame him. parents suck." okay, maybe that last bit was a bit more projecting. her chin lowered with her eyes, watching sunny avoid her stare as best she could, but lennon wouldn't look away, either. "well, that depends. are you giving me your summary 'i don't want to talk about it' answer or is this the start of friendship trauma sharing hour? because. i guess i'll accept either but i didn't just invite you over to make you sleepy, you know. i am here to listen if you need it." why she was saying that so earnestly was a genuine mystery to her. not because she didn't care, often she did too much, but — more because she didn't usually find it very easy to show it with her words. "you know. i'll just have to take your word for it. i usually try not to cry if i can help it. when i saw marley and me and realized what was happening, i literally left the theater and ghosted the person i was watching it with."
“ doesn't it feel better to be honest? “ sunny quipped with a small laugh. as she listened to lennon's full scheduled day and she wasn't even talking like midday, but morning? she didn't know how people with real jobs did it, maybe that's why they got paid way more. bigger risk, or something like that. " jeez. that's a lot, don't you ever get stressed or burnt out? or want someone else to take care of it for you? " sunny asked curiously, knowing if the roles were reversed, well obviously, she'd have felt that way. ” you're so wrong, i do in fact care! i'm actually invested at this point, why is he gonna have a juvie record at all? if you're allowed to tell me. god i bet my record is unsealed – you know what? i get that, i take things home with me from my shitty job at the market all the time. “ she smirked like an inside joke to herself, knowing she only meant oranges. when sunny followed suit into lennon's apartment, she dropped the other girl's hand before reaching the kitchen. “ you're probably right, where's the goods? but also do you mean so you won't hear me sobbing through the wall? ” she asked jokingly with a small shrug.
"maybe - i don't know. i guess honesty is relative," she reasoned, before continuing in her thoughts. "it feels alright with you, but not everyone is so good at handling my babbling." in fact, most of the time, lennon was the one being sequestered to the monologues of other people, given that she was a generally pretty quiet person. cool, collected, some might even say somber. but maybe that was just sunny living up to her namesake, and dragging the somber-ness right out of her. or maybe it was because sunny was the embodiment of all the chaos lennon was used to. something about being around her made her feel like a kid again. "yes, yes, and yes," she admitted bluntly, figuring it didn't really do her any good to be demure about it, since — as had already been demonstrated — sunny could usually tell. "but! no one else is going to, so. nothing else to do but keep it moving," lennon shrugged. but her brows furrowed as she turned to listen to sunny's response, finding herself smiling. "wait. you're serious. sorry, i thought you were teasing me for a second." little interactions like this with her neighbor often made her pause. sometimes, it was nice to have a friend in this town, even if it was an unlikely one. "technically i'm not, but i will, anyways. basically, it started out as minor vandalism that escalated beyond settling for damages because the owner found out the whole reason for the damages was an attempted theft. no one got hurt or anything, and i'm of the opinion that the kid was just having a hard time and made a mistake, but. you know how people can be." her voice trailed off in tandem with her gaze, as if she'd wandered off in her head just for a second. "why, because people are awful?" it was said with a smile, and she was clearly joking, but they both also knew there was a ring of truth to it. "sobbing? you were not sobbing." there was a beat as she considered for a moment, followed with the jovial curve of her lips suddenly faltering. "were you? is that why the music was so loud?" with a nod of her head, she gestured to the counter where what was left of the still warm restaurant pizza she'd ordered was sitting, famous for having the best sauce in town and, more importantly, a tried and true remedy for sadness and insomnia. after grabbing a few plates and sliding one towards sunny, she sat at a bar stool by the counter, hands perched under her chin expectantly. "so?" lennon blinked. "is it someone new, someone old, or were you just feeling your music a little too viscerally again?"
sunny genuinely did feel bad, she knew she couldn't have been the easiest neighbor to have. sometimes she swore she forgot about everyone else around and kind of disassociated from the world. maybe that was something she needed to look into, eventually. sunny's eyebrows tensed up until she watched lennon's features soften. “ only a little? i mean… come on, who couldn't hear pizza through a wall combined with blasting music." she said with a teasing shrug. with an almost panicked look on her features, sunny grabbed her phone out of her pocket and eyed the time. had it really gotten that late? maybe she did have trouble pinning time down. “ i mean… yes, but i guess the good thing is i don't have to go until late morning. shit. --- wait, what about you? you have like… a big girl job.” she didn't mean that condescendingly, sunny just knew if she didn't show up, she wouldn't be disappointing anyone at the market, except maybe her manager, and her future paycheck. but lennon appeared to have things way more together, it was incredibly admirable to sunny. taking a deep breath when lennon had prompted a loaded question, reached for the other girl's hand. " i'll answer that over pizza? ” she said, trying to downplay in case she had any residual mascara stains.
why was she like this? lennon was not known for being a pushover — despite often feeling like one in the presence of family and in the memories that plagued her from her youth, she'd become something of a hardass now. in court, at work, with strangers. but people had a way of weaseling into her heart despite her best efforts. some especially more than others. "okay. maybe more than a little," she admitted, shoulders dropping in a moment of reprieve as she watched sunny's gaze shift to her phone. the corners of her mouth couldn't keep themselves from turning up at the phrase big girl job. "... yes. well. i do have an arraignment at nine. but my guy's gonna take a plea, probably just some community service. managed to convince him that that would be preferable to a juvie record; even sealed, that kind of thing tends to follow you around." she should know. "but, oh my god, you so don't care about that. sorry. i really need to learn to stop taking stuff home with me. either way. i'm up now." she stepped aside, leaving room for sunny to follow her back to her door. "you better! something tells me with some food in you and freeing up whatever's on your mind we'll both sleep better tonight."
was there a saying about the liberating freedom one felt when they were out on their own? it was interesting how that pendulum swung between that, and soul crushing loneliness. sometimes within the same hour, hell, sometimes within the same minute. but surely there was nothing mambo no. 5 by lou bega couldn't cure sunny assured herself. arguably the best gift her father ever got her was a jbl party box speaker, and that being said, she was certain her neighbors and possibly beyond that thought it was the worst. with the music blasting from her speaking in her apartment, she could feel the vibrations on the floor, ignoring any kind of safety protocol for how close you listened to it, she leaned her head against the speaker, bobbing her head to the beat of the song. sunny hadn't even paid much mind to the time it must've been, not when time goes by so quickly, what was the point in keeping track? by the time we belong together by mariah carey was bumping throughout sunny's apartment, she could've swore she heard noise that wasn't her own. but all she could focus on was the disheartening lyrics coming from her party box. ' i can't sleep at night, when you're on my mind bobby womack's on the radio saying to me, “if you think you're lonely now" wait a minute this is too deep, too deep. ‘ “ god, so true, mariah, this is getting too deep. ” then suddenly the unmistakable noise from her door had her turning down her speaker before going to lean toward the door to listen. recognizing the voice, sunny opened the door. “ i’ll be completely honest, i only heard ‘ pizza ’ and that was more than enough for me. was i… too loud again? ” sunny asked her neighbor sheepishly.
her fingers still clenched, lips pressed in a hard line, lennon was all but ready to unload her best disappointed mom speech complete with hardened tone and pinched brows onto sunny — until, that is, she saw her face, reading the subtle shyness that reminded her of a kid caught with their hand stuck in the cookie jar as guilt, maybe erroneously, but she couldn't help it. her own expression instantly softened, hands loosening and lips un-pressing. "... no," lennon started to shake her head, feigning a casual, unbothered air. "no. not at all. — well." a tilt of her head, and she nodded once. "maybe a little. but. i'm not surprised the only part you heard was me offering you food," she teased, a hint of a smile approaching her. exasperated, though she was, it was always in a weirdly endearing way with sunny. she could never stay mad at her for very long, despite how quick she was to cut off most other people that weren't directly blood related to her. "you know what time it is, right? don't you have to work tomorrow?" she could almost hear the voice of her own mother just then in the back of her mind, chastising her. you worry too much, lenny. but even when she tried not to, she couldn't stop herself. sometimes it felt like if she didn't worry, no one else would. "everything okay?"
starter for @svnnygraves
location: mango bay apartments
"—hey!" the sounds of whatever weird shit her neighbor was listening to today were vibrating through the wall, admittedly — annoyingly, lennon kind of liked it, it had a good beat and the voice was almost soothing, if it hadn't been so loud. but liking it wasn't something she was willing to admit, especially not at prime sleeping hours. instead, she was knocking on the wall using the sternest, yelly-est voice she could muster without disturbing anyone else. "sunny, please! you promised no more music after midnight!!" if there was a response (but honestly, there probably wasn't) lennon didn't hear one, but instead of giving up she sighed a deep sigh and went out from her own apartment into the hallway, leaning into sunny's door so she could speak through the hinges. "listen. i may or may not have ordered some delivery earlier. if you switch to headphones, there's a slice of ocean view pizza with your name on it."
[ … ] ❀ you’re not from around here , are you? i figured because you totally just missed { lennon marston } walking by. don’t tell me you don’t know who { she } is ? they kind of look like { victoria pedretti } and i could be wrong but i think that they might be { 27 } years old right now. they’ve been living in palmview for the last { 27 years }. and i don’t know if anyone has ever told them this before but they kind of remind me of { emma swan } from { once upon a time }. if you stick around the town long enough you might catch them in action working at { - } as an { attorney }. you see this town isn’t really that big of a place, some folks like to call them the { black widow } of palmview! they took a liking to the name too after a while, go figure. oh crap, they must have heard me yapping. they’re coming this way. i got to warn you though, rumor has it they can pretty { distrustful } at times. i wouldn’t take it too seriously though, from the times i’ve spoken to them they seemed pretty { tenacious } to me. we see each other all the time since they live in that { two bedroom } apartment beside me over in { mango bay }. i better leave you to it. it was nice meeting you!
𓍊𓋼𓍊𓋼𓍊 at a glance.
full name: lennon helena marston
also called: mars ( by a former partner and some friends ) lenny ( only by her mother, a childhood nickname that makes her feel four feet tall again )
birthday: october 29th
birthplace: palmview, fl
family: lawrence marston ( father, deceased. known as larry ) jane marston ( mother, often referred to by other longtime locals as janey ) lawrence marston ( brother, deceased. known as wren ) undiscovered half sibling
education: bachelor's degree in psychology from cambridge university. originally enrolled in yale law; dropped out to pursue an online JD program so she could move back home.
current occupation: she presently works as an attorney at a well known and respected firm that practices in several areas of the law, but she primarily does trial work. but since she's the newest hire, she ends up with a lot of clients and cases that the more seasoned attorneys and partners don't want or drop. she's previously worked as a public defender, and as a paralegal while she was still finishing her degree.
general impression: somewhat of a constant "haunted" expression and gloomy countenance at best, and can come off as downright grumpy or cold at worst. though she is typically polite and professional, and won't have a problem with you. but, her family name precedes her and many are aware of the gossip surrounding her and her mother, which doesn't exactly make her the most trusting person when it comes to other people.
appearance: being meticulously dressed with the slightest hint that she's not completely put together; examples are being in a nice suit with the threads of her sleeve buttons coming loose, hair pulled back with a few wavy strands misplaced that wouldn't quite cooperate after she ran out of styling gel, the embroidered detail of her heel coming loose right before court so she's forced to rip off the other to match. outside of work she'll dress for comfort, opting for jeans and a loose flannel instead of dresses or slacks. at home she lives in sweatpants.
going deeper. 𓍊𓋼𓍊𓋼𓍊
⸻ " death.... follows me around like a fuckin' puppy. "
things in the marston family were never plentiful or promising. money was scarce and a good night's sleep even scarcer. it wasn't uncommon for larry and janey to wake the neighbors with their fighting, often spurred on by financial problems (or, as some rumors would say, infidelity). the kids would show up to school haphazard, late, and exhausted, right up until the point lennon was old enough to understand she was in real danger from being separated from her brother if things didn't change. so, on nights dad didn't come home and mom was out cold from the bottle, little lennon started waking herself up early enough to get herself and her little brother ready, so they could be on time. she started paying attention to homework for both of them, sometimes doing wren's for him when he was too tired. when they saw dad less and less it almost seemed like it was better for them. mom confided in her, trusted her, and would often share secrets to her in his absence. she would actually sit down with them for dinner and even take them to the dollar theater sometimes, on special weekends. it wasn't until years later that she understood this to be a development of what was probably guilt, for lennon having to do as much as she did, and what was also partially an uncomfortable truth - that her mother was lonely, and needed a friend. even if it was one as small as lennon. the other kids usually avoided her and her brother, and even the ones that didn't weren't usually allowed over for sleepovers. and as much as she loved her little brother wren, he was too young to really understand most of the things she had started understanding. so maybe lennon liked having a friend, too. even if it was her mother.
the drinking had mostly stopped, or at least become manageable, when tragedy struck. dad had been gone for about six months at that point, gone on some job up in nevada. while she did miss him — (despite their problems with each other, their parents never held the same ire for their children. dad sent presents, and when he was home, he took them to baseball games and walmart and ice cream.) whatever he was doing now, he'd gotten a better job, and it seemed to alleviate a lot of the stress on the family. that, and the fact that being mostly apart seemed good for her parents. things were calmer. at least, they were functional. it was one particularly ugly night when lennon got home with wren from playing in the sand, arriving to find the house completely disheveled and in disarray. her mother sobbing uncontrollably. and, her father - face up, clutching his chest. she'd only ever seen a body on tv before. it looked different in person. it looked different when it was your dad.
the autopsy had proved beyond a reasonable doubt that the cause of death was a simple heart attack - no doubt spurred on by whatever vitriolic argument had been occurring beforehand, but it's not illegal to argue. that didn't stop people from gossiping, though. the adults would stare at them on trips to the store, with lennon pretending not to overhear the comments. at school, it was a lot more direct, usually in the form of insensitive questions, but sometimes in the form of outright hostility or taunting. there was more than one occasion where she got into a fistfight, usually to defend her brother from being subjected to some loudmouth. she could handle it, but he couldn't. she decided a long time ago he wouldn't have to handle half the things she did, as long as she was around.
while some might've crumbled under that sort of pressure, it became her defining motivator to do better than everyone else around her. responsibility was her defining trait, the thing that truly grounded her, and with her always-limited resources, she learned to work smarter, not harder. of course, every teenager has a rebellious phase. for some, it's a simple box-dye job, for others, it's partying or hanging out with the wrong crowd. not her. all she did was get a boyfriend, but when her mom found out, it might as well have been world war three. but unlike most things in her life, this wasn't something she just wanted to roll over on. she finally had something just for herself, and she didn't want to let go of it. when her mom pushed hard on it, she pushed back harder. it ended in a heated argument that involved her driving her and her boyfriend recklessly across town to a friends' house where they planned to hole up for a few days, let things cool off. lennon hid money for wren in his pillowcase like she always did when she wasn't sure how long she'd be gone and she didn't want her mom to use it on booze. maybe burnt toast that makes you hit a traffic jam saves your life in some weird butterfly effect. hers wasn't that lucky. she was already out the door when she stopped and turned around to leave that money for wren, and then she was on her way. just a few seconds later than she would've been.
it hadn't been her fault. the paramedics, the doctors at the hospital all assured her it hadn't been. it didn't keep his parents from blaming her, though. in fact, they and many of their friends couldn't help noticing the similarities. stay away from a marston woman, became the joke around town. unless you want to end up dead, was the part they meant but never said out loud. it wasn't her fault. the other driver had a blood alcohol level of point-seventeen percent, but no one ever remembers that part. she'd been seventeen when the fatal crash happened, and seventeen when she was turned away from attending his funeral. it didn't matter what the official report said. the town had already made up their minds about her a long time ago. well, to hell with it. she had the grades, she had work experience, and as many curriculars as she would allow herself that wouldn't take away from taking care of her brother and her mom - who, now without their dad to pay the bills, had fallen into her old habits. but that didn't matter. she had to get out. she had to make something of herself.
it was almost as much of a surprise to her as it was to her mom that she got accepted to her dream school. this, of course, was a non-negotiable category level 5 hurricane blowout from her mother, who told her if she walked out that door to go to college, she could never come back. fine by me, she thought. but then she saw wren's face.
wren. wren, who was sweet and pure where she was hardened and blistering. wren who had never done anything to hurt anyone ever in his life, even accidentally. not like she had. doing this meant she couldn't protect him anymore. but between her mother, the town, her boyfriend's family, their late father... she just couldn't do it anymore. "I'll come back for you," she promised, not with her voice aloud but mouthing it in secret, the way they always did to each other when they were afraid to be overheard.
she came home a handful of times in her four years of university, and each time felt like seeing a ghost. of course, her mother didn't mean what she said, as she often didn't in bouts of anger. truthfully sometimes she didn't even remember saying whatever horrible thing or promise she'd made. but being home was different now. it felt haunted and strange, like expecting the familiarity of a hug and being greeted with a hollow carcass. the people were the same, but wren... wren was... different. looking back, she should've known. she should've seen the signs. but instead she came home to visit less and less and just when she found out she'd gotten accepted into law school - not just any law school, but the law school - her mother called. her breathing was erratic, her voice shaky. "lenny?" her mom had said, causing her to visibly wince the way she always did hearing that nickname. "it-it's wrenny. you have to come home."
she didn't get it, at first. she wanted to ask why, what could possibly be so important. she was almost angry at being contacted, because she'd grown so much in the time since she'd left, she had made new friends, been in new relationships, had so much life where her old roots were nothing more than a distant memory. maybe it was easier that way, to feel less like she'd abandoned it. abandoned wren.
but by her mother's silence, she understood. she was on the earliest flight back to florida. she didn't go home, she didn't check into a hotel, she went straight to the hospital once she landed to be greeted by her brother on life support. the attempt he'd made on his own life wasn't fatal, they said, but there wasn't much else they could do, either. he would be like this until he either woke up, or his heart gave out, which was still a possibility. a small part of her was hopeful, like maybe all it took was a friendly face to bring him back. like maybe things wouldn't turn out so shitty for them like it always did. just this once. just this once.
it wasn't like she believed in god much anyways, or anything really, but whatever small amount of faith she had that day died with wren. he didn't make it, and she's never forgiven herself. she should've just forgotten about all of it, let go fully this time. leave her mom to her own devices. but. for some reason, she just... couldn't. things would never be the same again for either of them, they'd never be best friends the way they were when she was a kid, but. she couldn't leave her. not when the house was being foreclosed on and everything of wren's was going to be taken away. she had to do something. so. she dropped out of the prestigious, life changing law school she'd enrolled in less than a week ago, and started looking for jobs as a paralegal around town while applying to online JD programs.
in the time since, her mom hasn't ever really fully recovered. but then again, neither has lennon. despite doing well for herself, and reminding herself its her mother that lives with her and not the other way around, she can't shake the feeling that she's stuck in a loop of being fourteen again and tucking her mom in with a blanket on the couch she's passed out on well past midnight. the only difference is now instead of drowning herself in studies she drowns herself in cases, and the boom of tourism and the changing nature of seasons in a vacation town has washed some of the cruel whispers away from people that have either moved on or moved out and gone somewhere new, replaced with new blood. some. not all. but it doesn't bother her nearly as much as it used to. after all, if she's learned anything from this it's that life is too short to be fighting the same old demons. instead, she fights other people's, and to be perfectly honest, she's damn good at it. much to the chagrin and annoyance of her much more practiced, more esteemed coworkers. and while feeling like she's the best at something again helps, it isn't the motivator anymore. she's not sure she even has one anymore. it's more about not being able to stop, to keep going and moving at any cost. because if she doesn't, she'll finally have to deal with everything she was running from in the first place.
𓍊𓋼𓍊𓋼𓍊 connection ideas.
- new friends that have moved to town within the last decade and don't know/don't care about her family reputation
- old school enemies. they could either still be hostile towards each other or gained some sort of mutual respect, or they want it to be water under the bridge - i'm open to anything!
- family of her late boyfriend - might put up a wc for this but i thought it could be interesting. maybe there was a sister she was pretty close to before the death, or an aunt that feels sorry for her, or even the parents that blame her. we love angst in this house
- law stuff pls i beg, could be as small as a civil thing she helped your character with, or something as big as a social work/family case she worked on for your character, or even if your character got in trouble with the local law at one point or another and she defended them etc
- rivals either in work or in school, someone who would've maybe resented her for being an overachiever
- people/friends/old gfs or bfs who knew wren and we could plot how they feel about everything, if they blame lennon etc
- someone with a similar childhood to wren and they can bond over being lil parentified stress beans
- exes, minor former flings, etc
- anything else you can think of!
