It's always so disappointing when it comes to this, but alas, all good things must come to an end. It's unfortunate that one person can ruin everything for the collective whole, but the Glee RP community has been guilty of this sort of thing for a while now, and frankly, I'm disgusted by it. It's come to my attention that numerous Rachel accounts have shamelessly stolen my sidebar description literally word for word, along with my navigation index and even some of my color schemes. It's incredibly frustrating to me, as I strive to be as original as I possibly can when it comes to coding and all of the text visible on my role-play blogs. It's such a shame that the same can not be said for those people. As it stands, this account is retired, as I have left this very toxic role-playing community apart from one Kurt account, which you can view HERE. While I'd planned to leave this account up not only for the public to peruse, but to also peruse myself, that is apparently not possible, as so many Rachel players lack the basic creative to type their own original content, and I won't be a victim of plagiarism anymore. To those who have followed my portrayal of Rachel from the School of America, to Ask the Original Gleeks, to Glee Redo RPG: Thank you. Your support has meant the absolute world to me, and I can't thank you enough for how wonderful you've been. To anyone who has stolen the content from my blogs: I truly hope you're ashamed of yourself, as your lack of creativity simply goes to show that you're a mediocre Rachel player, at best. Thank you for ruining a good thing for everyone.
While I have no intentions of abandoning my portrayal of Rachel just yet, this blog has become cluttered and my tagging system is all out of whack. With that said, both Devan and I have decided to revamp our accounts and start fresh for the next leg of St. Berry's journey together. You can locate my new Rachel blog at the link above and find Devan's new Jesse account HERE. Feel free to peruse this blog in order to relive any part of our role-play, because I can assure you that I'll be doing the same!
SEBASTIAN: Salut, ma mignonette. Look at you breaking out the French. I was going to go see my folks. Why, did you want to come? I assumed you and Jesse were doing something.
RACHEL: Oui! I felt as though it was appropriate for France. Actually, I do have plans with Jesse; but I'd love to get the chance to see your parents before we leave! I was just wondering where you'd be wandering off to today. :)
TIME FRAME → The late night of Saturday, July 13th, 2013.
LOCATION → A hotel in Paris, France.
NOTES → sorry this sux xoxo
Jesse was perfectly aware that this trip, all that he was seeing and doing every day, was one of the experiences that would ultimately be classified as the chance of a lifetime. That didn’t seem to make the days any shorter or the nights any longer as he struggled to reconcile the number of hours he spent in the sun, on his feet, with the few he spent sleeping in hotel after hotel, until all of the decor blended together and became irrelevant, leaving the bed as the only thing he cared about in his room. It was the one place where time seemed to stop for a moment, where he could catch his breath and relive the day; beautiful as Europe was, there was a surreal quality about it that left him with the need to just stop and think about what he’d seen and remind himself that it was every bit as real as his eyes had thought it to be hours ago.
And so, like most any other night since they’d reconvened in Paris, Jesse had reluctantly gone his separate way from Rachel, leaving her with a murmured “goodnight" and a soft kiss, mindful of what company (and there was always company) they had around them. Back in his room, he showered and unwound and, eventually, climbed into bed, clad in pajama pants and a t-shirt in favor of messing around with whatever air conditioning system the place did or didn’t have. It wasn’t long before Jesse was nearly asleep, stretched across the bed on his stomach, arms underneath the hotel linen-covered pillow. It occurred to him briefly that Paris felt still at night. It was both a phenomenon when compared to other cities and the sort of realization he thought Rachel would appreciate him sharing with her, but with little ground to dwell on either of those, the thought passed.
Exhaustion had finally crept in to work its magic after that. Jesse’s deep breathing was interrupted by the quick, muted tap of knocking at his door, shortly followed by the click of the doorknob. Even registering that he hadn’t locked it, he didn’t sit up right away, nor did he panic about the potential Parisian killer coming through his door; part of him immediately expected from the knocking and the light footsteps that it was her, and he smiled lazily against his pillow. He struggled to recall whether he’d simply forgotten or whether he’d subconsciously forgotten to push in the lock on the door in hopes that she’d sneak up to see him. His private nature told him the answer to that. Dark as it was with his blinds drawn and the lights off, he could just make out the shape of her when he rolled over, struggling to focus his vision in his tired state. He watched as she either pulled something off—knowing her, a layer—or stretched, still sleepy enough that he didn’t find his voice until she spoke to him, voice honey-sweet even as a whisper. "I love it when you break the rules for me," he said, voice gravelly with sleep. He thought about how the rules were more implied than stated, and he imagined Rachel—his characteristically moral Rachel—talking herself up to do this with that in mind. Sitting himself up enough to draw back the covers and slide further to one side of the bed, he said, “I’d mind if you didn’t."
Jesse let Rachel get settled before snuggling up close to her, arms wrapped around her slight frame without being constricting, and kissing along her cheek until he found her lips in the dark. Their mouths pressed together lightly, chaste because the moment was picture-perfect and anything else would have felt wrong. Sure, they could have taken the opportunity to catch up on weeks’ work of making out and marking the trip had stolen from them, but something told him that all either of them wanted right then was to be with one another. He trusted her to recognize his intentions as he skirted his fingers over her housecoat, locating the tie with his fingers and gently tugging the ribbon out of its perfect bow. Knowing Rachel, she had layers underneath, and knowing himself, Jesse was aware that he could keep her warm without the help of the robe. Finally holding her again, it felt almost better than the nights they spent at his uncle’s, wrapped up in each other beneath the duvet; here, they were making up for lost time, leaving Jesse with the impression that he should remind her of that, in spite of the quiet and in spite of the way his nose was buried in her hair. “I’ve missed this," he said softly, tracing his fingers along her back. “You more than anything, but this, too."
RACHEL BERRY:
Smiling to herself at the sleepy tone of Jesse's voice, she couldn't deny the coarseness to it was sexy in a weird way. But tonight, all she could focus on was the word 'love'. At first, her mind had shoved the sentence together to make it a simple, "I love you," before the more logical part of her brain caught up and corrected her. Still, she laughed softly and waited until he'd wiggled over to the far side of the bed. "Hush, you," was all she chided him with as she climbed onto the bed and pulled the covers up around her chest. She could feel the heat of Jesse's body radiating against her arm, and Rachel couldn't resist easing herself closer to him. There was just something so comfortable and natural about all of this.
She felt Jesse drape himself over her in the dark, his lips grazing her cheek until their mouths touched. The simple brush left her sighing quietly, body going lax against the mattress as she turned in to face him even better, head tilting just to make the kiss more intimate. It wasn't too much, though; there seemed to be a mutual understanding of what this moment was for, and even though the kisses were sweet and soft, it left her cheeks feeling rosy and warm with a blush she couldn't control. However, as his fingers slid up the front of her body, barely there, her breathing hitched slightly and she had to pull away. She watched in the dark as he deftly tugged the ribbon loose, and with her heart still beating a little faster, even though she knew his intentions were wholly innocent, Rachel sat up a little to pull the housecoat down her arms. She dropped it onto the floor beside the bed, holding up a finger as a signal for him to wait. In the pocket of the housecoat was her phone; she set an alarm for a few hours later and made sure it was turned all the way up so she'd be able to get back to her room without arousing any suspicion.
Only then did she recline back onto the bed beside Jesse, curling into his chest and allowing her fingers to twist into his shirt. His voice kept her from drifting into sleep sooner than she wanted to, so she smiled to herself and pressed a fleeting kiss to his exposed collarbone. "Really? Because I've missed this, too." She paused, smiling into his shoulder. "Not you. Just this." She couldn't help laughing at her own joke before looking up at him. Rachel raised a hand to trace over his jaw and gently push his hair back away from his forehead, expression softening at how gentle sleepy he looked in the dark. "I'm kidding of course. I've missed you so much." Her voice softened on that last bit, matching how quiet and intimate the moment was. She kissed his chin and tucked herself under it, content to just lay there and listen to the steady tha-thud of his heart.
It's been a few days since the trip has started, and yet, it feels as though so much more time has passed. Maybe it's because of the fact that we're constantly switching timezones, or that traveling so much drags on and on, but regardless, it's making me miss you more and more every day. I don't want to be one of those girls who becomes totally dependent on another person, because as much as I may like you, I am still my own person and I can get along just fine on my own, but there's this part of me that's just so used to having you around. I'm so used to spending time with you that you not being there is like missing a limb; I can still feel you, but you're not there.
Anyway, Istanbul is wonderful. It's by no means perfect (We've passed by our fair share of dilapidated buildings, dirty streets, stray animals, and criminals, but more on that last part later.), but it is vibrant and beautiful and everything I could have imagined. The street our hotel is located on smells like bread. There's a bakery right down on the corner that sells this thing called simit. I've eaten it for breakfast both days we've been here, and it's truly delicious. It's a ring-shaped bread that's sort of like a bagel topped with sesame seeds, but unlike a bagel, it's far crispier and tastes absolutely wonderful with a hot cup of Turkish tea! (I swear that I'm going to end up incredibly fat by the time this trip is over; thank goodness we're walking around so much!)
And now for the story of the criminals: Upon our arrival, our bus pulled up about a street or so away from our hotel because the road was far too narrow outside the hotel for the bus to squeeze into. So everyone was unloading all of their belongings when a very handsome Turkish man came up to a few of the people in our group, spouting off rapid-fire Turkish and gesturing to a rack of necklaces he was holding. A couple of the girls bought some (I was saving my money for food, because I swear to you, if I could, I'd have married the smell of bread on that street.) and after we got into our hotel, the paint rubbed off on their necks to reveal the necklaces were not, in fact, made of precious Turkish stone, but instead were made of cheap wooden beads. He scammed them out of their money! It was a very important life lesson to be learned (and witnessed).
The city is situated on the mouth of a body of water called the Istanbul Strait. It's the port that separates Europe from Asia; the entire content is separated by this one body of water. How amazing is that? Even more amazing is the fact that both sides of the city, both Asian and European, overlook the Sea of Marmara. We stayed on the European side, of course, though I wanted so badly to take a boat across to the Asian side, just to say that I'd been to Asia! It would have taken too much time. Regardless, I seeing Marmara was beautiful enough; I tried to find you a postcard so you could see it for yourself, but they didn't have any good ones, so I took some Instagram photos for you instead. I really hope you liked them!
Sebastian has been speaking nonstop about Vienna; his excitement has really got me pumped to see it for myself! I'm not certain if I'll get a chance to write an entire letter while I'm there, but I'm definitely going to find you a decent postcard, even if it kills me. (Hopefully, it won't.)
I really hope Western Europe is treating you just as well as Eastern Europe is treating me. Perhaps one day, we can return to Istanbul together; maybe to the Asian side this time around.
TIME FRAME → The late night of Saturday, July 13th, 2013.
LOCATION → A hotel in Paris, France.
NOTES → ~
The trip was exhausting in more ways than one, considering the fact they were traveling through so many time zones and spending hours and hours on planes and buses. Rachel usually ended up restless, her back and hips aching as she waited for the plane to land or the bus to pull to a stop; by the time they had to get out onto the streets to tour whatever city they were in, she felt sluggish and irritable for a short time, until the magnificence of Europe pulled her into its clutches again and forced her to appreciate every single moment on the trip. She owed Sebastian so much for this chance, the chance to see the world in a way she had never, ever dreamed of. Stopping in Paris for longer than just two or three days was the cherry on top of a really delicious vegan cake, maybe a carrot flavored-one with some kind of buttercream frosting.
Not only did it allow her time to recuperate, but she was also able to spend time with Jesse. Seeing him standing in the lobby, hunting for her with his eyes, and finally running into his arms still left her heart fluttering just thinking about it, and Rachel knew, beyond the shadow of a doubt, that she loved him. Maybe it wasn't quite in love yet, but the possibility was there, and regardless, she could love him without being in love with him. She'd reconciled the two a long time ago, had come to quiet terms with her affections. It was why she had begun collecting postcards and writing letters detailing her travels on the Eastern track, all with the intention of giving them to Jesse at the conclusion of the trip so that he could experience it with her in their own, private way.
With only a few days left in Paris, Rachel found that the daylight hours she and Jesse spent together weren't enough; well, they were, of course, and she liked having private time to herself and spending time with her other friends, but her time with Jesse was rarely private. They were usually in the larger group, unable to have intimate conversations in the way they had back in the school yard, under the shade of her favorite tree. It was why, as she stared at herself in the mirror of her tiny hotel room, she steeled herself to sneak down the hall and up one flight of stairs to Jesse's room. Rachel had discovered, during a late night trip to the bathroom just down the hallway, that the rooms went unmonitored. A certain level of trust had been given to the students on this trip, and while Rachel would normally never even dream of abusing that trust, she was desperate to be held by Jesse, at least one time, before they parted ways again.
She closed the door of her room and locked it behind her, walking quietly as if she were just going to the bathroom. Her nightgown was long and pale blue in color, falling to just below her knees with dark blue ribbon around the top. She also had a cardigan pulled over her shoulders, also dark blue; she'd learned early on that the hotel could be very drafty in the evening, as it was very close to the Seine River. Thankfully, no one was around to stop her from padding quietly upstairs to the floor the boys were staying on, and it was even easier to find Jesse's room. She raised a hand to knock, tapping a few times before testing the knob. He'd forgotten to lock it. Rolling her eyes, Rachel slipped inside and shut the door quietly behind her, pushing the lock in for good measure. Only then did she turn around, seeing Jesse laying on his bed in the dark, and smile. Rachel shrugged out of her cardigan and draped it over Jesse's suitcase, and tucked her hair behind her ear. "I hope you don't mind the surprise visit," she whispered. "Do you mind if I lay with you?"
Barcelona turned out to be far better than anticipated, the tour guides knew what they were doing, and the food was phenomenal. Other than that, I expect a full report on Istanbul.
