ACE OF SPADES

MILA DEMIR / 27 Professional Poker Player / Hustler Wrightsville Beach ❝ Listen, here's the thing. If you can't spot the sucker in your first half hour at the table, then YOU are the sucker. ❞

[brittany-murphy]

[conspiracvvvvv-blog]

[milademirarchive]

-— NAOMI OWENS.

                       With her eyes wide, Naomi had to take a moment to settle back into her footing before she could register who she had ran smack into. She felt horrible when the coffee went flying and her hand moved over her mouth. “Oh, god. Mila. I’m so sorry.” The opposing brunette had already been apologizing and put the blame on herself, but Naomi couldn’t help but feel she had partial fault when she hadn’t even been paying much attention to where she was going let alone who was around her. “No, no, you didn’t get me.” Naomi brushed her hand down the front of her blouse before she reached out to gently graze Mila’s elbow. “I think we’re both a little to blame here. My head has been in the clouds for days.” The teacher laughed a little before she gestured toward the coffee shop. “You wanna go in and get a replacement with me?”

               “Oh thank god. Those shoes look a little too good to ruin.” The brunette looked down at her own shoes that weren’t so fortunate in the encounter, luckily most could be wiped off. Her blouse and pants likely would be all set after a visit to the dry cleaner, she would’ve just hated if she ruined Naomi’s too. “For days?” Mila glanced up, pausing as she dabbed some of the coffee from her shirt. “Is everything alright? Or are you just feeling weirdly spacey?” Even though she thought she noticed some faint bruising, Mila knew that wouldn’t have been appropriate to comment on like that. She and Naomi didn’t know each other that well and she also didn’t want to risk making her uncomfortable in pointing it out. “Uhh, yeah, I can grab some more napkins too,” she smiled and opened up the door. “I haven’t seen you in a while, how have you been doing?”

[milademirarchive]

-— DOMINIC OWENS.

Who: @milademir Where: Graveyard Craft Brewery. 

      “Look at that,” Dominic stepped back from the table as he managed to successfully pocket two striped balls. Slowly getting better with the help of Mila’s pointers. At what point exactly the woman had decided to take pity on his lacking pool stick wielding abilities, he was unsure. She’d practically been able to mop the floor with him blindfolded several times. Sleight of hand with a stack of cards he could do, this? Well, it required a bit more hand-eye coordination than the six foot photographer was naturally imbued with. In good humor Dom reached a hand to pat himself on the back, offering a lopsided grin in Mila’s direction. “In no time flat we could be in doubles tournaments.” No, there was no way someone of her particular skill set was going to waste a good opportunity to have Dominic of all people play as her partner. Not to mention he was pretty sure the whole ‘doubles tournament’ phrase belonged to tennis. “You want another drink? It’s on me.” He offered, hazel gaze skirting towards his nearly empty beer. 

               “Wow, I’m so proud,” she excitedly clapped. “I was beginning to worry if there was something else wrong,” Mila teased, “it’s been taking you so long to get it.” With her dream being to open up a pool hall one day, it was likely no surprise that she was talented at the game. Not as good as she was at poker, but very good nonetheless. Mostly the time spent with Dominic was out of fun, he had a sense of humor that made him easy to be around and the time enjoyable. He was a good sport about learning too and messing up in the process. Over time, Mila had found that men in particular lacked a lot of control and finesse the game called for. They seemed to treat it as though they were in the batting cages and swinging for the fences. Pool, in her opinion, was comparable to golf. Not that she likely explained any of that well to Dom, she wasn’t exactly the teacher type. She actually tried showing him in more hands on ways or by example, whatever it all was was finally seeming to pay off a bit. “Doubles tournaments?” Mila snorted. “That’s cute. We’ll have to get matching outfits and those team jackets. You know, the umm, windbreaker type?” Doubles were possible but were rarely played. At least not in competitive standpoints. “Sure, I’d love one, and then when you get back we’ll see how long you can keep this streak going. Although with your success, it should be me buying to celebrate.”

[milademirarchive]

-— RIVER KARTAL.

at their place, with @milademir

Mornings weren’t and never had been River’s strong suit. Most of the time he stayed up late for various reasons, whether it was work, parties, company or just a good show keeping him up. So, the fact that he found himself out of bed as early as around 8am was close to a miracle for anyone who knew him, awakened by numerous loud bangs from somewhere outside. Forcing himself out of his bedroom in nothing but his boxers, eyes squinting at the unwelcome, bright light, one hand raised to rub his eyes as he set his course for the kitchen. “Urgh, I thought I told those fucking carpenters to wait until after lunch to get here.” His words practically morphed into a groan at the end, squinting at the familiar figure he spotted on the other side of the kitchen island, seemingly in the middle of her own breakfast. “I’m not paying them anything if they can’t even do their jobs right.” He went on, elbows pressing down against the counter as he took place opposite of her, one hand reaching out to grab the cup she had in front of her, bringing it to his own lips instead, instantly taking a swig. Only then did his face twist into a grimace, a light frown weighing on his features as he stared down into the contents of the cup. “I was hoping for coffee, not—” He paused, unable to find the right words to describe it. “—What the hell even is this?”

               Why was she up so early? Well, Mila hadn’t exactly gone to bed yet. The day before she took a late nap until nearly 9pm and then went out, had an exhilarating night and found herself home somewhere in the wee hours of the morning. Close to 5 am. So she tinkered around a bit, far too buzzed to settled into anything resembling rest or sleep, and even played an online game before her stomach brought her to the kitchen. She hadn’t kept up with what repair work was being done and when, so it was a bit of a surprise when they arrived early and started early. It wasn’t enough to go make her put on proper clothing by that point, since it had only been a couple of hours ago she got comfortable in an oversized tshirt and some fuzzy socks. “Apparently your one pm sounds a lot like eight am to them.” Mila bounced her foot as she took another spoonful of her cereal, her favorite Fruity Pebbles. It helped to stifle the laughter that wanted to rise up at River’s morning grump, ranting already  and making her feel sorry for the people that had to deal with him the rest of the day. “You’ll get sued if you don’t pay them for the work they do. Maybe you should go talk to them, I’m sure they’d love your cute little boxers.” The brunette was all teasing smiles, hair and make up still done up from her night out indicating she hadn’t been to bed, until he swiped her drink. “Heeeyyy,” she protested with her mouth full of milk and cereal. “Serves you right for stealing.” Procuring her cup back, she reset it’s place ahead of her bowl all while giving him a little glare. “It’s called Chai tea and I put some of that homemade almond milk into it. You just have shitty taste buds.”

[milademirarchive]

-— SADIE HOFFMAN.

LOCATION: BESPOKE COFFEE & DRY GOODS TIME: FOUR PM OPEN: @wilmingtonstarters​

Sadie was in need of some outside time, being inside a classroom all day with a bunch of wild five to six-year-olds and being at home, constantly worried about where Carter was and what he was doing was going to drive her crazy. Especially now with the fluttering pit in her stomach, well, her uterus. She held her phone in her hand, wondering if she should text her brother and see if he’d come to hang out with her when someone walked right by her, her eyes following them as they walked right out of the coffee shop. “Wow… People are braver than I am,” she said, glancing over to the person next to her. “Did you see what they were wearing?”

               “It’s kind of like passing by a car wreck --- you can’t help but to look.” Blue eyes were still glued to the retreating figure even as she spoke, unable to pull her attention away as she tried to understand what she had just seen. “I’m not sure if that’s confidence, I don’t give a fuck, or they’ve just had such a day that it was the best they could do.” Mila felt as though she had been all three labels at some point in her life, mostly all sometime after her divorce. In general, she tried when it came to going out in public though.

[gvzel]

[milademirarchive]

-— LENORE FITZPATRICK.

         “Her name is Bailey and I figured to bring her around for those who need comfort during this time,” Lenore smiled, switching the leash to the other hand as she slipped her hand into the back pocket of her jeans. “Usually she knows better than to jump on people but I guess maybe she was a little cooped up from staying inside during the storm.” 

               “She’s really sweet.” Mila’s hand smoothed over Bailey’s head and smiled at the pup. Something she’d always wanted was a dog and she supposed she was home enough for one. “Oh yeah, that makes sense. Did you evacuate or stick it out here?” Remnants of the storm were everywhere still, even the cuts and bruises from the accident were still present and hadn’t begun to fade just yet. “Maybe we’re all a little cooped up after that.”

[milademirarchive]

-— NAOMI OWENS.

                       She was still jumping out of her own damn skin. Every little sound had her wary, an innocent wail of a child across the room had her quickly tending to her quiet daughter, and that scream of the tea kettle on the stove behind the counter? Lord. Naomi would remind herself that not only had their beloved town been through a great amount of tragedy, something they all still were recovering from, so had she. She wondered if her cousin was having any luck sleeping as of late as for her? She got more shut eye when Raelynn was first born than she was getting now. “Oh, goodness, I’m so──” Naomi’s hands immediately reached out to balance herself when a shoulder collided with another familiar figure right outside of the reopened Bespoke, then moved to adjust the planner and bag she balanced in one elbow. “Sorry. I clearly have my head in the clouds today.”  

               Jostled by the shoulder bump, the coffee she’d just bought slipped from Mila’s hand and descended toward the pavement, causing the brunette to to quick yell out, “watch out!” She put her arm out to steady the other woman and also hopefully steer her from the splattering hot liquid. “Shit. Sorry, sorry!” If she had been paying better attention then this little collision and loss wouldn’t have happened. Her eyes quickly searched over Naomi to make sure she hadn’t gotten coffee all over her while her hands stuffed into her pocket to pull out some napkins she’d taken before exiting. “I didn’t get you did I? No, I think this was my bad, I was trying to drop my phone back into my bag so that I wasn’t that person not paying attention as they made their way down the walk.” A small smile appeared at the irony. “Funny how that worked out, huh?”

[milademirarchive]

-— WESTON TAYLOR.

                      Letting out a puff of air in frustration, Weston ran his hand over his head while the other gripped onto the handle rail near the marina. He didn’t do will sitting idle. Never one to stand still, never one sit out when it was all hands on deck. With Wilmington in a state of recovery since Hurricane Selena hit plenty places had to undergo a bit of cosmetic work and the marina had been one of them, with numerous docks and pilings broken down during the storm. “You come bearing gifts?” He asked the person beside him that had just rounded the corner, at least putting on a little bit of a light mood when they came with a sack, sure enough lunch for the work crew. He couldn’t be doing much heavy lifting with the risk of his stitches flaring and with that awful limp he still had in his balance… but he was still there and present. “The boys are gonna love you.”

               “Yeah,” a small shrug rolled off her shoulders, “it’s the least I could do.” He had been there for her in the past, although he was only doing his job, Mila couldn’t forget the slip of his phone number and the words of telling her to call if she ever found herself in trouble once again. Thankfully she hadn’t had to use it yet, the brunette hadn’t been to any backroom games bound to get her into trouble. Which was a good thing more than just for her personal well being, Weston didn’t seem he was in shape to attend to someone else at the moment. “I heard about what happened and yeah.” Mila held up the bag and offered it to him. “Should you even be out here though? Can I get you back home or somewhere you’re not straining yourself?” They very hardly knew each other and she didn’t want to overstep, especially to someone that had looked out for her when they didn’t need to. Mila had her own, cuts, bumps, and bruises from the car accident. She was still in a bit of recovery but she felt as though she made it out pretty well considering how others were --- like Weston here. “I’m happy to treat them too but this is for you.”

[milademirarchive]

-— EVELYN ROWE, SOPHIA PATTON, & JASON CASH.

          “No I think it’s safer to stay on the main highways,” Evie tried to reassure. “If the wind or rain makes it impossible for us to drive or something happens to the car, we’re much more likely to be found and helped along a main road.” The good thing about Mila’s car was that it had European handling and was sporty, low to the ground and should find decent traction in the mess of this asshole of a storm that was making everything worse as the days drug on. Typically, Evie was a woman made of iron. She could handle most anything but even this was starting to shake her a bit. Seeing the cars swerve a little and struggle on the road was scary but Mila was doing great and Evie would’ve squeezed the petite thing’s shoulder if she didn’t want to accidentally slip their driver’s concentration. “You okay babe?” She asked Sophia, who was in the backseat, and reached her hand back to squeeze her knee. At the driver’s request, Evie reached for her phone and was looking at Mila rather than what was going on around them in that very moment with a creased brow trying to figure out what her friend wanted when she screamed. Then — everything happened too quickly between blinks. Evie grunted at the first hit, hollered at the second, and finally screamed as the car tipped over. “Oh my god! Oh my god!” She was jostled and thrown around in her seat, hurled forward against her seat belt, and trying like hell to grip onto something. Anything. “Soph!” The brunette cried out. “Mila!” Fuck, her body felt stunned as the car finally came to a stop, and immediately tears filled her eyes. “Are you okay?! Answer me please!”   @sophiapvtton​

                  Sophia wasn’t at her best. She didn’t do well under pressure and under complete chaos? Heck no. She was at her worst. There was no remaining calm when the world seemed to be crashing down around her and she had very little control over it, and to make matters worse, had very little ability to reach her boyfriend to ensure his safety. In the midst of the chaos they somehow got separated, which didn’t do much for Sophia’s anxiety. Thankfully she had the help from both Mila and Evelyn to evacuate and recoup out of harms way. Sophia remained quiet during the ride, only briefly making conversation and smiling in thanks when Evelyn would pay some reassurance toward her, up until she was white knuckle gripping the seat belt she wore and everything flipped upside down. Literally. Sounds of metal crashing pierced her ears and like a rag doll, Sophia was tossed back and forth. The screaming from the front seat and the new position they found themselves in hadn’t done much for her racing heart in that very moment. Blinking once… then twice… her vision had only been blurred by the shock of it all and the blood rushing to her head with their flipped position. Suddenly, the only thing holding Sophia in place was that seat belt and she had to reach out and press against the window, now smashed against the uneven terrain on the side of the highway, to try and steady herself. “I’m okay… I’m okay.” The woman breathed uneven, though took her a minute or two to get that out. the shock keeping her distracted from the panic closing up her throat. “What happened?” 

tag, you’re it @jxsoncash​ !!

Arriving on scene it was like nothing Jason had ever experienced. His emotions had been on high the entire week; getting his family out of town, hearing of Weston being shot, and then few minute before seeing fire crew attempting to free Caleigh from the wreckage. People were screaming from vehicles all surrounding him, he scrambled from one to the next, using every bit of might and finesse he could muster in bringing people to safety. He had Cleo and Isobel in his truck, they were in need of medical attention beyond the paramedics and Jason was set to head off to Charlotte with them to make sure they made it and were seen in emergency but… a BMW flipped on its side was smoking and he could hear three to four women screaming from the inside. Fuck. Without hesitation he ran to the car and dropped to his knees at the windshield to get a look and count of whom was trapped inside. “Ladies, I’m Detective Cash and I’m going to get you out of here, I promise. I just need you to shout out if you have any injuries.” Was that — Sophia? 

With a gruff, rumbling groan, Jason reached for his windshield hammer and was seconds away from smashing it open so he could get to the ladies inside when he heard the familiar sounds of a flame igniting. Quickly maneuvering on his feet, Jason jogged back around to find that the car was on fire. Fuck, fuCK, FUCK! In a split second he dropped the hammer and wrestled his way out of his jacket and used the garment to beat back the flame as best as he could. He called out as loud as he could for the fire crew, saying he had three trapped in a vehicle on fire yet his holler for assistance went unheard amidst the chaos. Jason returned to the windshield and hollered at the ladies inside, “I need you to cover yourselves. I’ve gotta break the glass here and the back window. Use your jackets or if you can reach a blanket back there — something.” He’d tried to hide the frantic feeling he felt himself, there was a rush to move as quickly as possible though. If that fire expanded and reached the gas tanks… Jason couldn’t think about that, he had to get them out. Cracking the window with the hammer, he grabbed his crowbar next and began peeling the entire windshield free of the car. He was sure they could smell the smoke. Once he was able to pull it away, he tossed it off the side of the road so that no one would walk or crawl through glass. Swiftly, Jason was at the back window and doing the same operation, with the exception that the window crumbled. At least it did so by falling straight down rather than blasting inward on Sophia or the girls up front. 

“Okay, okay — shift your hips and aim for your feet to be beneath you. I’m going to cut you free of your seatbelt,” he instructed Sophia. “Ladies, I need you to remain as calm as possible up there okay. I’ll be up there in just a second,” he hollered up front for Mila and Evie. He’d pulled his pocket knife free and snapped it open, cutting the belt across her chest first which loosened across her hips as well. Quickly, Jason cut Sophia free and then cautioned once she was standing on the window she had once been looking out of, “please just wait here a few seconds. I’m going to cut your friends loose and then I’ll be helping you each. out of the car. As he pulled away from the back window he nodded at Agent Black whom had just arrived and notified he was going to contain the fire. Once Jason made it to the front window, he cut Evie free first and instructed her to step back to where Sophia was. He needed the space to cut Mila out of her belt since she was hanging there. Same as he told Sophia, he had Mila shift her hips and this time Jason crawled into the car a bit so he could wrap an arm around her legs, ready to take on her bit of weight as she was cut loose. The moment he had the petite brunette safely on her feet, he held onto her for a moment, allowing her body to rest and adjust from the pain she had to have been in. Then, Mila was quickly ushered into the back seat with her two friends.

Jogging back to the rear of the BMW, he knelt down and outstretched a hand, talking to whomever was going to head out first — “Okay, I need you to give me your hand and crawl out here.”

@milademir​

               “We got hit,” Mila whimpered and sucked in heavy panicked breaths. The alarm and shock of it all had her chest heaving, she was more concerned for her passengers and friends but she also felt pain from the seat belt and being jostled around. “I think the fucking car is on it’s side,” she spoke over her shaky fear. “You sure you’re both alright? Fuck ---” Tears streamed down her face and her panic doubled when Mila turned her head to get a visual of her friends in the car. “Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god,” she all but chanted in seeing just how bad things were. Thankfully no one seemed seriously injured. “How are we ---” Before she could finish she heard a man’s voice and seconds later she saw the detective, quickly doing her best to follow his instructions. Mila was disoriented a little as she fumble to put an arm up to block her face. She heard the glass break and fall but she also smelled... smoke? Was there a fire? Did he seem really panicked about something more? Fuck. “We’re going to be okay,” she said to the car. With the windows broken and her senses coming back, the brunette could hear so much of what was going on outside of the car. Did we die and go to hell? When Jason began cutting her free and catching her as her body fell from the restraints, Mila felt some relief. Again, following his instructions and moving to the back she looked at both Evie and Sophia and ushered one of them to go out first. “Go. One of you go. We need to get out.”

tag @evelynrcwe​

[moonwhispers]

I relate to empty jars of honey. I run my fingers along their insides tasting the remnants of something sweet.

Zoë Lianne, “Honey”

[gvzel]

[milademirarchive]

-— HATTIE LOCKWOOD.

For the record, Trashbag was not her cat. Trashbag, who was of as-of-yet undefined gender and age, was a local stray Hattie just happened to leave food out for. Still, she couldn’t deny that she had developed a fondness for the mangy thing and, having failed to capture him/her before leaving town for the storm, was worried that she hadn’t seen him/her since her return. 

“Trashbag, where are you?” she sing-songed, feeling stupid as she trolled the streets like some deranged cat lady, armed with an opened can of tuna and a squeaky toy shaped like a mouse. “Here, kitty kitty kitty…” 

@wilmingtonstarters​

               “You named your cat --- Trashbag?” While she was sure there was a reason for it, a comical on she hoped, Mila couldn’t deny herself a little chuckle. It was possible it wasn’t a name and possibly just what she called the animal when she was pissed or annoyed with it. The brunette had been known to call her own ‘turd’ or ‘asshat’ every once in a while when it would get deranged and wild out around the house. “The thing about cats is that they don’t too often come when called. I know some people are lucky and have some angels but I have yet to have a cat that comes regularly when I call it’s name. Do you have something like a spoon or fork to bang on the side of the can? That usually does the trick.”

[milademirarchive]

-— ALAINA HALSTED.

The perks of being a web designer, was that most people left you alone. No one knew what the hell you were doing, so they let you be, and create what you wanted. Alaina took a sip of her coffee, and had her headphones pretty loud as she was trying to edit a page about the summer activities people could sign their kids up for. No one really came into her office, but the occasional lost person would, and she would always help them with a smile. She saw something out of the corner of her eye and minimized her photoshop. “Can I help you?” She asked, her customer service voice from her old bakery still prominent.

@wilmingtonstarters​

               “Umm, I’m not sure,” the brunette answered absently as she looked around the office. “I might be lost.” With her bright blue eyes finally settling on the woman behind the desk Mila offered a friendly smile. “I’m looking for a web developer. My sister had an appointment today and I’m filling in for her but I’m not sure I have the right building or office.” It was actually embarrassing given that she had been living in Wilmington for a little more than ten years and she was lost. “Do you know where I could find, umm ---” She glanced down at the note she had in hand, a name scribed on it among other things in Melisa’s handwriting. “Alaina Halsted?”

[milademirarchive]

-— LENORE FITZPATRICK.

@wilmingtonstarters​

        “I am so sorry, I swear usually she isn’t this excited but being stuck at home while I’ve been busy helping out has really got her cabin fever apparently,” Lenore laughed lightly as she adjusted the leash in the hand of her golden retriever Bailey, “I hope I didn’t ruin your clothes or…anything when she jumped on you? If so, I can pay for the accident.” 

               “It’s okay, really,” Mila tried to insist with a small smile. “If my clothes are going to be dirtied and ruined by anything then I’d much prefer it to be a lovable dog like yours.” Unable to resist she gave the golden a few more rubs on the head. After the hurricane it was nice to be out and breathing fresh air, even better to smile about something while she tried to get construction in to repair her house. Of course that line of work was overloaded with how much was needed around town. “What’s her name? She’s so cute.”

[demctozdemir]