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@nualawoolfe
Phase: Day Ten
It was only supposed to be a picnic. It was only supposed to be an interview. It was only supposed to be a supply trip.
It was only supposed to be a dinner.
But something has shifted.
The stars have moved.
So press play, and go.
When is comedic relief not a relief? When murder is involved.
Continued from here
Keep reading
charliebeaumonts:
Phase: Day Eight
Nuala seemed like she’d been pretty excited to move in with her dad. That was a pretty big thing to have interrupted. Talk about bad timing. For Charlie it had been kind of good timing. But she was pretty sure she was not in the majority for that. “I’m sorry. I hope you’ll still be able to someday. It sucks this got in the way huh?”
Charlie had to try and figure out whether Nuala was insulting her or not pretty quickly. The “no offence” had thrown her for a second, people usually used that after saying something that was offensive, right? But she didn’t feel like she was insulted at the end of it. The opposite, actually. She liked that. “That’s not what people usually think about me,” Charlie said. They didn’t really have any thoughts about her at all. “Thanks. I don’t think I want that to be my personality either. That’s not fun. I want to be fun.” Maybe just breaking the rules in general was going to be her thing. Attempting bowling in all the wrong ways had really stuck with her.
Charlie nodded enthusiastically. “She already has. Half the new things I’ve tried have been with her.” It was a bit of an exaggeration, but it did feel like that. Breaking her out of her bedroom, the not-bowling, the walkie-talkie conversations. Little things that had made Charlie get an idea of how much more there was for her. “I hope we can all hang out together sometime maybe. If you want to.”
“Yeah it fucking blows. But the way I see it, it’s better he knows I’m missing, you know? He’s kind of a bigshot. Hopefully he can full some strings, get some media attention.” Nuala had nearly said ‘it’s better he knows I know,’ but that would be admitting she hadn’t known and that was not something she was admitting to anyone who wasn’t Yuli. Even telling her sisters had been a mistake. Yes. The right idea was a clean break. New her, new life. She’d be the funniest girl in whatever Gossip Girl school Lee Mulligan wanted to send her to.
Nuala smiled. “You an definitely pull off fun. Yuli doesn’t hang out with people who aren’t. Well. AFAB people. The boys in her life are kind of stinkers but we all have our weaknesses.” She swallowed, realizing she should clarify. “Boys as in our friend Eli.” ‘Our’ was a bit of an overstatement and she realized she’d just contradicted herself but implying that Yuli’s friends weren’t her friends somehow sounded sadder and now she was losing track of her thoughts until it came back around to... “And Dante. Who is the school’s literal biggest loser. Although maybe not now. Now he’s like the communist leader. I get a coup vibe, between you and me, but the point stands, Yules is gay af. You’ve got nothing to worry about.”
She tried to not look panicked at the thought of having to spend sustained time with the Fusco twins. But if it was just the three of them, they could swing it. Yuli could be a buffer against the other situation. She was good at that. “Yeah that sounds great. Plenty of opportunities, right? Somehow I’m contributing even less to society than I was. Aside from, you know, the radiant beauty and hilarity of my presence.”
wilywes:
Phase: Before (Flashback April 2017 - “Sophomore Slump”)
“Sorry to disappoint, but I don’t have it in me to be a CEO, let alone a sociopathic one.” Those ones made his stomach turn. That was partly why he wanted to go for NASA, where aeronautics and space research weren’t expensive pastimes and wastes of stolen money. His work would make a difference, not become a headline.
He rolled his head sideways to look at her in disbelief, feeling grass tickling his neck. “Why would she want new boobs? Hers are fine—great. As they are.” He rolled his head away. “Ah. Probably shouldn’t have said that. Any chance you’ll forget it?”
“Thanks.” He couldn’t wring anything further than that, so it was something.
“That pushes me out of the running.” Fiona didn’t know what she wanted? Were they talking about the same Fiona? Maybe Nuala did know her sister better than Wes did. “At least you’re here to keep me honest.” And here to burn down his pity party.
“All CEOs are sociopathic, Wes. That’s how they become CEOs. There’s studies.” She couldn’t cite any, of course, but Nuala was never interested in citing anything. It was too STEM-y for her. Just reminded her of her mom.
She rolled over, gasping and retching dramatically. How dare Wes bring up Fiona’s boobs, even when Nuala’d brought them up first. Then she dropped the mime abruptly and settled back in the grass. “It is etched in my brain. Burned. Scorched. Branded. I close my eyes, and it’s all I see. Your comment. Not Fi’s boobs. That would be weird. And awful. I could be thinking of... wait, what’s her name, the blonde cheerleader that’s not Fi? She’s in your year. Bouncy hair, round cheeks, pretty eyes, tits for days? Ugh it doesn’t matter she’s perfect.” She adjusted her weight to avoid a particularly scratchy blade of grass. “The words are written in comic sans, by the way.” She’d tried to think of the most annoying font imaginable, and it was the first that came to mind.
Nuala groaned. “Ugh. You can’t burn yourself. That’s boring and you’re not nearly good enough at it to be entertaining. You caught the ball a few times. I even saw you... hit... the... thing.” Why as she supposed to understand sports? Her dad liked sports, but he didn’t seem to like her very much so what was the point in learning? “You’re no Reg Khoo, but really who is?” She whistled. “God, he’s cute. His hair is just...” She mimed clawing in the air. “Grabbable.”
She sighed. Who was she kidding? He was out of her league. Well, as long as she was stuck in the minors. “Sorry. Your and Fi’s romantic failings make me want to fail romantically. You learn more from your failures than your successes, you know. That’s what I’m always telling my mom.” He could take that as her being bad at school (or, more honestly, not caring) or her mom being one of the best examples of ‘those who can’t do, teach.’ Either was accurate.
Families of West Ham
norasharps:
Phase: Day Two
Summoning whatever finite amount of patience she had left, Nora gave a shrug.
“Act like you’re going to the doctor. Brace yourself and tough it out ‘til it’s over.” She sympathized, though. Ben Gould was the lovechild of a sewer gator and an affluenza afflicted Karen. “Make sure you wear a lot of perfume so you can’t smell his body spray.” Whoever devised Axe needed a good punch, preferably from Jacks’ toadie.
Anu? Someone was bringing out the big guns. And…getting desperate. No stranger to negotiation, Nora tightened the noose some, wondering if Nuala could dance.
“Good plan. Not too much perfume with her, though. She’ll think you’re tacky.”
Nuala wanted to say I’m not laying back and thinking of England you psycho but she didn’t want to get Yuli in trouble too. She hated having self control. She missed her sisters for a small second, if only because you could really go in on them without fear.
...Swing and a miss. Who was she, Wes freaking Wilder? She barely managed to keep herself from stomping her foot. Or saying something really mean. That she couldn’t think of right now. That was how annoyed she was. She edged towards the door. “Alright. I’m going to Anu. She’s my team captain, you know.” She hated pulling the cheerleader card because she really didn’t believe in the cheerleader card, but she deserved the status it was supposed to bring. Maybe she would go to Anu. If anyone could break this stranglehold Fiona had on this stupid town, it was the West Ham Strangler herself.
“You know.” Nuala said idly. “Yuli said you were cool. Guess she doesn’t know you give in to peer pressure.” She turned away with a slight pop of her shoulders and a winning smile. Maybe she pushed on the door a little too hard when she left, but could you blame her? She needed to go talk to Yuli. ‘Cause this was some bullshit.
yulianacouperus:
Phase: Day One
“You’re completely right. No one wants to do the baby stage and now that you’re already the perfect person, he’s going to win you over in a giant court case. He’s got the money. You’ve got the time. It’s going to be grand.” Nuala had a plan and an explanation for everything. If anyone could make it real, it was her.
Yuli nodded her head. She hadn’t missed that much with her. It was a relief. And if there were hot actors involved, Yuli was more than a little onboard. “I can’t wait to drool with you.”
She took the hug in stride, wrapping her arms around her friend. This was nice. This felt like normal. “I’m sure she will.” Nora was pretty much cool with everyone. Yeah, the older wolves were awful, but she could cut Nuala a little slack. Nuala was different.
“He groveled and I panicked.” It was honest and not very cool. Dante should have done more, maybe, but she’d been scared and he’d been dad and that was enough then. “We’re building a better paradigm. I’m taking the lead this time, obviously.”
“Fuck yeah.” Nuala said, her head bouncing as she nodded. She knew she was onto something. If Yuli agreed it had to be true. Fi and Ni could fucking suck it. “He’s gonna love you too, Yules, I promise. His Manuscript Wish List says he seeks unique voices, and no one’s more unique than you.”
Nuala was dubious of the Dante situation from the start, but Yuli did know how to punish people when they needed to be punished. “Alright. I’ll allow it. Just this once. It’s not your fault he made himself look pathetic. You’re human. You have pity. I know you’re working on it. You weren’t born with the bitch gene.”
charliebeaumonts:
Phase: Day Eight
“Oh wow,” Charlie replied. “Was it meant to be soon?” she asked. Charlie would probably be okay to find ways to mess with her parents on her own if Nuala wasn’t around, but she liked the idea of having help with it.
Charlie’s brain was struggling trying to keep up with what Nuala was saying. Tap dancing elephant? “I guess that makes sense,” she said. It didn’t, really, but she didn’t know if more of an explanation would actually help. “Figure out what I don’t want to be.” Hm. That was easier said than done. Charlie was already finding herself in the middle of a bunch of different directions. All kinds of things calling to her. But trying to decide which things to pick was hard. It felt like if she chose to be one thing, then she would lose something because of that.
“Trying things is fun, though. I do that whenever I can. Which didn’t used to be often but I definitely have more opportunities now.”
“Oh yeah. Like earlier this week. I told him he needed to stock up on aloe for when I arrived because of all the bugs on the trip.” Okay that was a blatant lie. But it would have been true if he’d responded to her first message. She hadn’t wanted to be too presumptuous about how he ran their household. And she totally understood the radio silence thing. He was so busy and this was all so sudden.
“Yeah. Just experiment. I decided to start with being an asshole, and I got it on the first try.” She flashed a brilliant white smile. (Thank you teeth strips.) It wasn’t straight enough since her mom definitely couldn’t afford braces for them but her dad would take care of that once he knew she needed them for her career in showbiz. “Or you can try defining yourself by making art or cookies or sports or being obscenely rich. No offense.” She added quickly. “That really doesn’t seem like a good fit for you. So many people around here think their credit card is their personality, but if I didn’t know anything about your brother I’d just be like aw look at that cute preppy kid whose parents could be well off or she just might be really really good at shopping West Ham thrift.”
Nuala took another swig of her “borrowed” beverage. “Sometimes you’ve gotta make opportunities. Yules can help with that.”
norasharps:
Phase: Day Two
Nora did not wanna be the first one KO’d in this ragtag rendition of Lord of the Flies, but she was sure as shit gonna end up that way if she put Nuala in a coma. If Fiona didn’t get to her—so unlikely!!!—Nora would bet anything she’d be voted off the island quicker than anyone could bother to say ‘the tribe has spoken.’
“Dude.” Tony just had a blowout and Nuala was already hankering for the next thing? “It’s only been, like, two days.” Nuala wasn’t cut out for a stint on Survivor either.
“Fine. She disowned you. But she’s still the type to get revenge if something happened.” Nora would almost prefer Gacy in that situation. “I’m looking out for both of us, kid.” This exchange was probably bumping her way down on Nuala’s list of cool people, but Nora wasn’t gonna sweat about a frosh’s opinion (even if this frosh was lucky enough to be Yuli-adjacent). “Look, I’m sorry, but the bads outweigh the goods here. I can’t give you anything openly, so swipe whatever you want from one of other my clients.” Nora eyed Nuala. Morals weren’t an issue here. “Ben Gould just got some of my stuff last week. He’s got a Benz. You could steal from him. He’d deserve it.”
“But then I’d have to talk to fucking Ben. Or risk talking to him, I guess.” Even Nuala had standards. She hadn’t asked him to fuck her, she certainly wasn’t going to risk going in his fucking house. Ben was like Noah but less hot.
She was resisting the urge to throw a full tantrum. Yuli had said that Nora would have her back. So Nora either hadn’t gotten the message or Yuli hadn’t made it clear or... God was Fiona’s reach really that big? It made no sense. Not with those spindly dinosaur arms. Nuala needed to find someone scarier than her. There was Lucy, but Lucy could be kind of insufferable. And flighty. And forgetful. No. She needed to go straight to the source.
She played with a grove in the wood counter, studying her chipped nails, trying to channel her best friend’s effortless husky tone. “I guess I’ll have to talk to Anu then.”
yulianacouperus:
Phase: Day One
“There’s no way to make paperwork look interesting.” Yuli had enough moments in her life that she wished were montages to know. “You could have sexy models reading on the edge of skyscrapers and it would still be yawn inducing.”
Nuala had clearly gone down the rabbit hole already. Yuli was a little jealous. She shouldn’t have been. It was her that was gallavanting around with a mysterious stranger. Nuala was at home watching tv, that was normal stuff. But it was the kind of thing that they did together. Not separately. It felt weird. “You’ll have to catch me up.”
Her brow furrowed. Then came the frown. What the fuck? They didn’t really care at all. It was so utterly predictable and disappointing at the same time. “They could never.”
She felt like she should know what to say. She knew what it was to be rejected. Her family was willing to ship her away for one mistake. But this was different. They were still her family, even if they were doing this. Fiona and Niamh…weren’t. “You have me and pops,” she jerked her neck to the door, “When he’s not sucking up to his ex. And I can probably wrangle in Nora, so that’s three for the price of two. Not bad.”
Nuala stuck out her tongue. “Don’t kink shame me.” She took another swig. It was starting to burn a little less. A tiny little bit. “I think I’m just more into numbers now that I know who my dad is. He’s one of the senior people at his firm and he tweeted out his sales at the end of the year and it was just WOW. It’s so much money, Yules. So much. I thought the extra zeroes on his checks were a guilt thing or because I was going to college soon but he makes so much money, so one would assume, right, that if he wanted to fight child support he could, and he’s not so he’s got to want me, right? He just, like, doesn’t have a lot of time so he wanted Mom to do the diaper stuff and things like that but now that I’m a person he’s gonna be totally pumped. Plus I look just like him. So that’s cool. He’s clearly an egomaniac like me, so he’ll like that.” Once she stopped she realized that was kind of word vomit. But it was well reasoned, or so she thought. Yuli was the mock trial person. She’d be able to tell her.
She watched her best friend’s expression bend. She couldn’t exactly explain why, of course, but she was used to Yuli’s poker faces now. They had a mutual agreement to not acknowledge vulnerability, but it didn’t mean she couldn’t reassure her. “ ‘Course I’ll catch you up, bitch. I already figured out which episodes are a waste of your time. And I’m only a season in, so we got this. Blake and Leighton are SO pretty you’re gonna DIE. And the sexual tension is YEESH.” Nuala was aggressively bi, but she was always up to put on her lavender colored glasses for her more Kinsey six aligned friend.
She gave Yuli a slow but effective tackle hug. “I ‘ppreciate it. Especially Nora. Maybe she’ll finally talk to me.” It was a semi-open secret that none of the dealers in town were allowed to give Nuala access to illicit substances. She’d think of it as a protective kindness from her sisters except there was no benevolence in it. Just shit stirring. “How’d you and Dante get back on good terms anyway? Did he grovel? I hope he groveled.”
wilywes:
Phase: Before (Flashback April 2017 - “Sophomore Slump”)
God, did Nuala have it out for NASA or just Wes? Even when he wanted to compromise she wasn’t biting. (And fortunately for him, not literally.) He waited until she was done to speak again. “If I’m being honest, it’s actually not about the money. I want the experience. You can only go on so many spaceflights before your body gives out. Money’s money. I can always get it after my career is over.”
At least she felt something for Oppy.
“I’ll make ‘em special.” Wes’s voice was flatter than the diamond.
“I’m not trying to fix anybody.” He just—sometimes, people could use advice. If he gave it out every now and then, well meant and good intentioned, what was the harm? His words were usually ignored anyway, so why did it matter if he opened his mouth or not? The Woolfes could do or say whatever they wanted. It wasn’t his job to interfere with that. “And I’m not blaming you for anything, Nuala. Wanting to know something about your sister isn’t the same thing at all. I only asked you because you’d hear it first and I haven’t talked to her since.” Wes moved his glove behind his head as a pillow, trying not to feel huffy or chastened. This was his pity party. She could always leave whenever she wanted to. “If I offended or upset you…I’m sorry.”
He sighed again. “Let’s change the subject.”
Nuala shrugged, making the grass rustle. “Or you can make the money first and be one of those sociopathic CEOs who goes to space by denying his employees health insurance. I bet Fi would even take you back. Buy her a new set of boobs and she’ll marry you in the recovery room.”
She paused. “Sorry. That was far. Even for me.” It was rare for her to say sorry. Even more so for her to actually mean it. She wasn’t used to people trying. Even she and Yuli had worked on having a practiced air of nonchalance.
She lowered her voice. “Fiona doesn’t know what she wants. It’s sad.” She couldn’t take much more of this, so the walls slid back up. “Probably people who don’t suck at baseball, though. That would be a start.”
brennanwilkinson:
Phase: Day Eight
“Ah, but missing memes would mean that I experienced them regularly.” Bren smiled tightly. “I don’t.” With enemies like this, he didn’t really need friends. Besides, his and Carmen’s sense of humor had veered a little bit different from mainstream meme culture. He was going to miss that.
His lip curled in disgust. “No one wants to hear your fantasies. Actually, I don’t know what’s worse the fact that you want him or the fact that you and your sister are in some weird competition for it.” He didn’t understand siblings. He certainly didn’t want to understand the Woolfes. But he would frequently point out how fucked up they were. That was the only brightside to being in Nuala’s presence.
“Speak for yourself. Please.” She was so obsessed with this kind of stuff. It was pathological. “I worry what people do to objects. I’ve been around enough weirdos to be concerned. But as long as they leave me and stuff related to me alone, I don’t care.” He cared a little. Enough to judge. “But, for your information,” Why was he telling her this? “No, I like humans. I’m normal.”
Nuala pouted. “Brennan, you’re just making me sadder.” She didn’t know when or why he’d decided being lonely was a personality, but it was clearly before her time.
“Ewwwwwww.” She gagged hard enough that just a little bit of bile climbed up her windpipe. “It’s not a competition. Competition implies investment. He’s just cute. I’m cute, he’s cute, you’re cute, Fern’s cute, Tony’s cute. Doesn’t mean I give a shit.” Even Anu and Laila were cute. But in a “step on me” way.
Bren really wasn’t getting it, but she wasn’t sure she wanted to help him. Especially when she was supposed to be working on being a professional minion. But when he was throwing her pitches this slowly, it was really a waste of good practice to not at least swing. “You know insisting you’re normal is one of worst ways to prove it. It’s what aliens in TV shows say. Or serial killers. And not the hot ones. Because everyone assumes they’re normal. How could anyone played by Zac Efron not be?”
She barreled on without waiting for the laugh. “What’re you doing here, anyway? I thought you hated people.”
charliebeaumonts:
Phase: Day Eight
Charlie nodded. “I know a little bit,” she said. She hadn’t known Yuli’s parents names. And she was sure that Nuala knew much more than Charlie did. They had only known each other a few days.
Charlie giggled at the idea of just running from her mom and seeing if she would bother chasing her. Though with Charlie’s track record, she’d probably fall and give her mom another reason to ban fun things. “If the parents come back do you think you could show me how to mess with my parents?” Charlie honestly didn’t know if she wanted that or not. She could finally do whatever she wanted now, losing that would suck. She’d also lose Yuli in the process. Okay, she definitely didn’t want them back.
Charlie listened intently to Nuala talking about fighting for who you wanted to be. That was a huge part of what was going on with her right now. Except she was a lot of steps behind. “I’m still trying to figure out who I want to be,” she replied. “How do you know?”
Nuala grinned. “Fuck yeah I can help you mess with your parents.” But then she paused. “If I’m still here, I mean. I was supposed to be moving in with my dad in Manhattan.” Nuala wondered if Yuli had told Charlie about their plans. She didn’t want to think about what it meant if she hadn’t. Who wasn’t Yuli taking seriously?
That fed into Charlie’s next question, though Nuala felt a bit like a shitty teacher who could do things without explaining them (like her mom, to be honest, except not about math. Bitch could teach math, which kept food on the table at least Jesus Christ.) “Shit if I know. I always wanted to be Anna Faris if she wasn’t saddled with Chris Pratt. Well, I wanted to be a tap dancing elephant for a while but second grade was a wild year. Maybe just, you know, try things? Or, OH. Figure out what you don’t want to be. My sisters just fail all day every day in real time and Yules’ not dad is a walking advertisement for Benzos so I’m just like NOPE.”
yulianacouperus:
Phase: Day One
“It’s not awesome. The last time we got together, he was made that a bunch of papers are missing. I feel like it’s gonna be less perp walks and more reading.” Yuli stuck her tongue out. She didn’t mind reading, but reading government documents sounded boring. “Cross your fingers that there’s something juicy inside that keeps me interested.”
Her eyebrows raised. Didn’t need leftovers. She could barely imagine the luxury. Throwing food in the trash in her house was a grounding level offense. Her mother read very much believed that every piece of food you didn’t eat, could still be used in some way. “Gossip Girl is a great title. I want to watch and pretend to be rich. Sounds nice.”
Nuala’s spirits were lifting and that required another cheers. She took a small sip of the alcohol. “You’re damn right, I believe you!” She could picture the three of them in New York, happy and untroubled. It sounded like a dream, better than this mess. “I thought your sisters would make this mess even more about them. Glad you can just ignore it. You definitely don’t need them.”
Nuala whistled. “Man, TV leaves that bit out. You’d think if they were gonna make shitty cop stuff look heroic they’d add the bureaucracy too. Glamourize the whole oppressive mess the way the military does. ‘Scrub shit, be all you can be.’ JAG, etc. But there’s gotta be something good in there. Corrupt real estate deals, secret marriages. We all know traffic tickets are bullshit but I bet Oakes has some more nefarious stuff. Even if he’s a nice guy, he’s a cop in a mob town, you know?”
She laughed. “The title character is a bitch, but I can respect it. But you’re right, even their problems are glamourous. I imagine your dirtbag boyfriend being a hotel tycoon makes the dirtbag-y-ness go down easier. Well, as long as you ignore the first episode. Forget the first episode. The writers already did.” Nuala wondered if Fi and Ni were vindictive enough to lock her out of the family Netflix. She’d already curated it so carefully. That had to be a war crime, right? Destroying precious cultural artifacts?
“Yeah I thought they would too.” She curled up onto the couch in a frog position. “I thought they’d make it... something. But they just didn’t care. I knew the expectations for Mom were low but Jee-zus Christ.” She’d focused on the dad part because the mom part was its own weird kind of sensation. She’d always thought she was the ripcord baby, a desperate attempt to make her parents’ marriage work. But realizing she was a symptom and not the cure was... not at all funny. “Maybe they’re just having a ‘Hello Darkness My Old Friend” moment realizing they have no chance of growing into being as hot as me.”
charliebeaumonts:
Phase: Day Eight
“Really? That’s pretty smart,” she said. She kinda wished someone was brave enough to challenge her mom on the boundaries she set for her. Not that it would have changed much. But seeing her get mad about it might have been funny.
“Um I have two friends,” she said. “Heli and Bronte, they’re twins - do you know them?” Charlie felt herself relax a little, this was a topic she actually had words for. “They kind of adopted me, I didn’t really have friends before them. I was shy and my mom is really over protective so I didn’t get to do a lot of stuff that other kids did.” She shrugged, pretending it didn’t bother her.
“You seem really cool.” Even though she didn’t really know anything about Nuala, but the fact that Yuli liked her said a lot to Charlie. She wanted to be liked by the people who loved Yuli. Charlie kind of wanted to offer her friendship here, but she was scared that would sound really dumb. Hopefully it would just happen by itself. Charlie’s last attempt at trying to be friends had ended with a dead body. She didn’t want that to happen again.
Nuala bobbed her head with pride. “Yeah, we’re brill. Full Disney movie level scheming. I’m convinced that if we wanted them to move from enemies to lovers Parent Trap style we could have pulled it off but I liked Eric until recently and I hate my mom so I wouldn’t do that to him. Eric is Yules’ dad. Which she may have mentioned so sorry if I’m mansplaining your girlfriend to you.” She could see how Yuli might not want to mention her parents at all right now, so she wouldn’t get too far into it.
And there went the wrinkle. The Fuscos. “Uh...kinda.” Nuala forced a smile. Heli had turned her down when she propositioned her (which apparently just didn’t happen to other people. She was pissed.) and Bronte was one of her go-to teasing targets on the soccer team. Not really a good setup. But she’d kind of done it to herself. “...In passing. But that’s good they got you out of your shell. My mom’s not overprotective so much as a massive bitch but I understand the whole not being able to get away thing. Sometimes you just have to make a break for it and see if they have enough energy to catch you.” Ms. Woolfe never had enough energy. It was one of her very few charms.
“Thanks.” Nuala didn’t blush exactly. She was cool. That was one of those things she actually knew in her heart. It was what made her sisters’ rejection of the notion so infuriating. “And you’re definitely on your way to cool. Now that we can tear you away from the family bullshit.” She took another swig. “To me, that’s a big part of being cool. Fighting for who you want to be.” And actually being it, unlike her self delusional sisters. She tried every day to get one step closer to the career she wanted to have, the future she hoped for. It might have looked like she was fucking around but she wasn’t. Everything was about becoming the hot, funny, lewd cheerleader. And she was on track despite her family’s best efforts.
Nuala was still trying to decide how she felt about Yuli not fighting tooth and nail when it came to the whole military school setup. It’s not that she felt abandoned, per se. She understood the inevitability of it and the cultural elements her best friend was facing. But still she imagined some world where they did get to run away together and do what they wanted. Where she got to be a Mulligan. (Which was somehow even more Irish than her current name.) Her real dad would never have let her best friend get treated that way. Her real dad would always back her up. Always.
charliebeaumonts:
Phase: Day Eight
“Really?” she asked her, eyes lighting up a little. “That’s so cool. I wish I’d known my best friends that long.” Living next door to them would be amazing too. They could have done that thing with the cans and the string. Or held signs up to each other in their windows like in the You Belong With Me music video. “Did you do any cool neighbour best friend things growing up?” Maybe they even had a treehouse. Charlie always wanted one but her parents didn’t like the idea of her being up high.
Charlie nodded, eyes a little wide. She didn’t want to hurt Yuli ever. She hoped she never did. “She does seem like she’s been cool forever,” Charlie agreed. It was one of the reasons she wasn’t quite sure why she liked her of all people. Charlie was lucky she ran into her that day at the pet store. Their meet cute moment. “I think she’s the most fun person I’ve ever met.”
“We used to trick our moms into criticizing each other’s parenting so much that they ended up in Cold War for all of middle school so we could just disappear whenever we wanted.” Not that they ever really did. Yuli hadn’t ever been an out and out rebel (which is why Sarwendah and Eric needed to fucking chill), and Nuala sat firmly in the middle. In the popular circles, just (probably) not welcome in them. She shrugged. “But aside from CIA-level mind games, I think that’s it. What about you? What’s your like... friend deal? I promise that’s not a gotcha. Yules is literally my it, so having your brother like you already sets us on an even playing field numbers wise.” It was a bit more vulnerable than she preferred but it was true. And again, no friendly fire.
Nuala looked Charlie up and down. She had it bad, huh? And Yules did too, even if she wasn’t going to admit it. Nuala squashed all those insecurities deep, deep down to the bottom of her cavernous purse. “Yup. That’s my little gremlin. She’s getting wilder in her old age. I’m glad to hear it.”
brennanwilkinson:
Phase: Day Eight
“No, because I’m not thirty-five.” He had real hobbies. Like dancing and parkour and….well, they kinda all tied into wearing the suit. Now that the suit was locked up, he needed to find something else to do. Parkour was definitely out considering the medical staff. “And also no. Please leave all of my stuff alone.”
Bren took one careful step backwards, he wanted out of her range. “I don’t know why you expect me to buy that, Nuala. You started this conversation by sexually harrassing me and I know the suit is in demand with a certain group of deviants so…it fits in my head.” He also just wanted to have clear boundaries with her. No one else seemed to be bothering. He looked for Carmen then stopped himself a moment later. There was no point. “It’s just a friendly warning that if it does go missing, you’re the first name I’m giving to Drew as a suspect.”
Nuala scoffed. “You just can’t keep up with the jokes, huh? How do you handle missing all the memes? I just can’t imagine knowing that little about the world.” Bren had this weird desire to feel superior just because he was apart from everyone. Nuala understood it in a way but she was separate from everyone because she was above them all. Bren just seemed to be that way because he was grumpy.
“Not all propositions are made equal, dummy. The world of kink is wide and wild.” Nuala was getting good at faking this kind of knowledge. She’d get Cricket on board someday. She downed her drink. “But please, send the golden boy my way. He’ll ask me to be cuffing him before you know it. Since I’m so deviant.” She looked Bren up and down. “Why’re you picturing me with the suit anyway? Is this a me thing or can you just not picture life without it? You know what’s kinkier than Furries? Those people who want to fuck objects. No judgment, but it’s a bit hypocritical.”
wilywes:
Phase: Before (Flashback April 2017 - “Sophomore Slump”)
“That’s going under advisement.”
Wes probably would never get used to Nuala’s opinions on anything, but life went on. You could see something absurd every day if you hopped on Google. "I don’t need MLB money, I’m going to NASA, but I’ll bake stuff for you. We’ll compromise. What am I gonna make?” He didn’t doubt Nuala could demolish an entire cake by herself, but he could whip something else up. “Golfeados are good—you might like ‘em.”
Then Wes frowned.
“You know every thought in her head, huh?” He asked after Nuala’s dramatics were over, trying not to let his irritation get the better of him. Other family dynamics were never the same as your own. He knew better than to compare his sister to her sisters. “Look, Nuala, I just wanted to know if she was okay. People do that after break-ups. And I don’t think she’s crazy.” He sighed. “Whatever. Sorry I asked.”
Nuala rolled her eyes again. They were beginning to dry out from the repetition. “NASA money? NASA hasn’t had money since JFK was alive. The way you know The Martian is fiction is that they actually doubled back to get Matt Damon. You guys would have just left him there and sent him some weird little song to say goodbye like you did with that poor rover.” Nuala stared up at the sky. There were no stars. The floodlights prevented that. But the glow against the darkness was nice. Soothing. “I’ll take the Golfeados though. You can wait to start delivery until tomorrow. I’m nice like that.”
Nuala turned her head to look at him as he grumbled, her ear and teased curls brushing against the cold grass. She hadn’t meant to offend him with that part. That part was a well intended wake up call. “It’s nice that you asked, Wes. Sweet, or whatever. That is what people do after breakups.”
That was a little too much sweetness for Nuala’s own taste so she turned her head back to look up at the sky. “And I do know most thoughts in her head, including the ones she tries to cover by being a bitch. She’s insecure and fucked up because our dad left and our parents hate each other. So? Join the party.” At least her older sisters had gotten some time with him before he ran. “Niamh’s coping method is to seek the approval of strangers. Fi’s is to decide she doesn’t need the approval of anyone. Which is sad. Because it just makes it more obvious that that’s what she wants all along. Aside from mine. She doesn’t give a shit what I think.” Nuala sighed. At some point that would irritate her less. It had to, right? She ventured a glance at Wes. “Maybe you figured this out. Maybe you thought you could fix her or whatever. It’s sweet, sure. And stupid. But it’s not my fault. Don’t blame me for your shitty choices. I get that enough as it is.”
