good as gold

casper adams ponyboy twenty-one, student, strix hacker

[ponyboy-exe-blog]

a saturday afternoon

[ponyboy-exe-blog]

thealivvy:

London rarely had good weather. A day of sun with no clouds in the sky to make the whole city one grey hue was hard to find. So when the sun was shining and everything seemed brighter, Thea did her best to take advantage of it. Who knows when it would be so beautiful again? Could be weeks for all she knew. The woman had the whole day planned - morning walking through the park, lunch at an outdoor cafe, followed by a sweet treat enjoyed where ever she saw fit. Everything had gone as planned, more delightful than she anticipated. It was funny how weather could make her mood so positive. All that was left to do on her to do list was a sweet treat. 

Thea popped into a pastry shop to grab a couple donuts. She wasn’t the type of girl to be worried about her calorie intake. She ate like a teenage boy on most days. Food was one of the only things she truly indulged in. Taking a seat on the bench outside, it was not long before she felt the eyes on her. “Wow. Why so gloomy on such a beautiful day?” Thea never let people get to her, because she knew they probably had a good reason to be grumpy. “Would a donut cheer you up kid?”

"I'm fine, really,” he responded, fighting to roll his eyes as he continued his search for a lighter. Interrupted on the hunt by her offer, Casper let his backpack drop back down the space between his two feet. His eyes traveled from the donut to the girl and back to the donut. He became suspicious: no pretty girl was ever this nice to him right away. He wondered if maybe they had a class together and she wanted him to do an assignment for her.

Casper finally reached over and took the baked good from her, telling her “Yes, it would,” as he did so. “Thanks,” he added right before he took a bite. Casper had only ever had a donut that he felt was worth true, genuine praise once in his life. A bakery his family stopped at on a roadtrip to New Jersey one summer, then proceeded to visit whenever they were headed up that way. Every now and again, he would crave one and it would be one of the few times he wishes to go back to the states. This donut rivaled it. Or, perhaps, it had just been too long since he had one of those magical donuts. “Where did you get this?” He asked, taking another bite.

[soundcloudgems]

Russ - We Just Haven’t Met Yet

[ponyboy-exe-blog]

newtxgarvey:

Locking one eye tightly shut, Newt peaked through his other spotting the young Strix member standing over him. A small smile finding his lips at the sight of a fellow Strix, and to be honest one he could actually stand. “What up Pony?” he said rather cheery for the state of his face and the pain that coursed through his veins. Newt promptly sat up, ignoring the blood that dripped from his face from the sudden movement. “Water instead of brains. I guess I can settle, thanks man” he said with a grateful smile hidden behind the mess, it may seem odd how casual Newt was about this state. Then again this state was nothing new to him, and casual was how he took it. “Just come out for a shred or are you looking for big lumps of mess in parks?”

“No, I save my big, messy lump hunts for the weekends,” he replied coolly as he handed Newt the promised water bottle and dropped his board on the grass. Ponyboy plopped himself next to his fellow gang member, looking him over. He really was a big, lumpy mess. Cuts and forming bruises seemed to have taken over him, which wasn’t too out of the ordinary for him, but Ponyboy couldn’t recall ever having seen him so freshly beaten. “I just came out for some easy cruisin’,” he told him. Ponyboy took out his pack of cigarettes and stuck one between his lips while he fished out a lighter. “What are you doing out?” He asked, offering Newt a cigarette by tilting the open pack towards him.

[love-dark-secret-deactivated201]

Dancing Night

Sophia wrote the last line of her blog entry and clicked on the link to post it. She had gained ten more followers that afternoon and that made her really happy, especially with the comments about how good her blog was but also to please be careful with the things she posted, you never know when one of the gang members could be stalking the blog. She appreciated the comments but she knew what she was doing and what things she could post and what things she better kept hidden inside her head.

Standing up from the chair, she decided to begin her friday night ritual and take a shower. After that she would chose the perfect clothes to go dancing and would meet with some of her friends from work for a night of talking and dancing, no alcohol, as always. She would always end up drinking soda or a simple orange juice, and as always, she would be the one driving her drunk friends safely back home. 

The club was packed as usual, but that didn’t stop one of her wealthy friends to secure a VIP room just for them. Sophia just rolled her eyes and shrugged her shoulders. Taking off her jacket and leaving her purse inside the small safety box, along with the belongings of her friends, she put the passcode, the day of Rachel’s birthday, and closed it. She would be the only one she would remember it at the end of the night.

Her friends pulled her to the dance floor inmediately and Sophia let all her worries left behind when she began to move her body along with the music that sounded through the speakers of the night club.

[ponyboy-exe-blog]

One of his favorite parts was putting his skills to work without them being prompted by a school assignment or a member of the gang. He put up a couple of adds a few months back for some extra cash, saying he could help install a topnotch protection software at a fairly low price. Since then, he’d made a few cool (and some weird) connections that liked him well enough to gain some loyal costumers.

When he had gotten an email from a local journalist, Sophie James, Casper debated for a couple of days on whether or not he should let the boss-man know. This could be an easy way to get great look inside investigations and where they were heading, for both the Royals and the Strix. Eventually, he decided to keep his work separate from the gang and went to service Sophia independently.

On this particular night, though, as he was reviewing the blog she had wanted him to set up a protection for, he noticed just how close she was onto a big breakthrough into one of the Strix’s plans. When he first joined the gang, he had swore he would stay out of as much as he could and not care. After over a year in the gang though, it was becoming more and more difficult not to. Too uneasy to rest and having known Sophia well enough by now, he knew she’d be out. And where. (Isn’t it funny the random things you learn about people just by asking how their weekends went?) Unwilling to dress up, Ponyboy grabbed some cash and headed out.

When he got to the club he knew she would be at, he handed the bouncer a good some of it and walked in, barely even slowing down. He ordered a quick shot and then saught out the red-haired girl. Of course, she was dancing. He dug his was through sweaty, drunk imbecils and tapped her on the shoulder. “I need to talk to you,” he said sternly over the too-loud music.

[ponyboy-exe-blog]

let them eat cake

@catemckenna

Since it was beginning to get late, Casper began to slowly pack his things up. It was typical for him to be the last hacker to go home since he would get caught up in doing this, then beginning that, and finishing it. Somehow, all his work linked well with his procrastination process and made it both easy, fun, and productive to stall studying sessions and ignore calls from his family. He took his sweet time since he still couldn’t decide what he wanted to eat for dinner and blasted his music while he fathered his things. Did he want a fancy sandwich or just a cup of coffee with a couple of cigarettes?

He was putting the last of things in his backpack when he heard the door open. Casper knew it had to be one of a select few of people, only a couple of which he would have been alright with entering the office. He turned his music down before turning around to see who it was. With a slight sigh of relief, he plopped down in the chair behind his desk and propped his feet onto it. “Well,” he raised his eyebrows and grinned, “what do I owe the pleasure of seeing you here?”

[ponyboy-exe-blog]

a saturday afternoon

[ponyboy-exe-blog]

petalxjones:

Her hangovers seemed to have started to pile upon one another throughout the recent days, not that Petal was any kind of stranger to them. But in this particular instance, she had been going out and drinking more than she usually would. Of course, the drugs that she sold were always somewhere within the mix, but that was standard for Petal. Despite her initial withdrawal from the harsh daylight, she knew she needed to at least get some fresh air. Even if it was just to walk down to the shop to buy a packet of cigarettes.

Her shaking fingers tore at the plastic wrapping before she slipped one out to place between her lips. She dug her hands into the pockets of her jacket and then her jeans. “Fuck.” Petal mumbled under her breath. Of course; no lighter. She glanced down the street to search for someone smoking before her eyes landed on Ponyboy. Fuck, again. As the two of them weren’t exactly on the greatest of terms considering how he had shown such disdain towards her addictive habits. With a gentle huff, Petal slid onto the bench to sit beside him before glancing across. “Don’t suppose I could borrow that lighter? I left mine at home and-” she lifted the unlit cigarette, “I need a light.”

In all honesty, Ponyboy would have outright denied Petal had she not been apart of the gang. He never really had a good grasp on the traditional concept of family, but figured it must have been similar to what he felt towards those in the Strix: Ignoring total reluctance to help the individuals within the group to keep harmony amongst it. He wondered if that was what it was like to have a large group of friends. Is that was the gang was? A large, violent group of friends? He pushed the thought away, not wanting to have to decide whether Petal were his friend or not. He did, however, hold the lighter out to her after he lit his. “Here,” he said.

As he took it back from her, he felt obliged to ask her how she had been since the last time they had really spent time together. He knew she had been avoiding him, and though he didn’t mind since he didn’t feel much interest in speaking to her, he figured he may as well save his breath. Instead, he told her, “You don’t have to sit and stay just for a light. You’re more than welcome to go on with your day.” He almost added the disclaimer that he didn’t mean to be rude, just give the both of them a release from the slight awkward tension between them.

[ponyboy-exe-blog]

a saturday afternoon

[ponyboy-exe-blog]

reagan-donahue:

He stared at her for a long time and Reagan rose a brow inquisitively. “What, do you think I rigged it to explode when it hits your hand? C’mon, kid.” That was something Reagan definitely knew how to do - she’d read entirely too many books on explosives - but she wouldn’t actually do it. Not unless Devlin or Nik asked her to, that is. He finally took the lighter and she smiled, chuckling at his response. “It’s coming off you in waves, Casper. You’ve got a pretty good poker face but everyone has a tell.” Reagan had only know him a short time, but she refused to call him Ponyboy. Could no one really come up with a better nickname for the hacker?

She took back the lighter and shoved it into her pocket. She didn’t smoke as much as she used to when she and Nik were teenagers, but every so often she gave in and used it as stress-relief. She wasn’t particularly stressed at the moment and so she did not produce a cigarette of her own. “Oh yeah, I’m always looking all over for you,” Reagan replied sarcastically but the glint of amusement was still in her eyes. “I actually began with eggs and then went for a walk in the park with some dogs, but who could resist that joyful face of yours?”

Even though Ponyboy felt rather proud that a con artist considered his poker face to be a good one, he wasn’t going to let the latter of her comment go unnoticed. “I’d say mine is barely half of a tell,” he told her before he took another drag from his now burning cigarette. “I’d also say yours is more than double of mine,” Casper added, blowing the smoke out.

“Also,” he started, leaning in closer to her. “If you’re going to call me Casper and admit to ‘always looking’ for me, I’m going to have to assume you’re a Ghostbuster.” To punctuate his statement physically, he went back to his initial and relaxed posture with a playful grin barely resisting the transformation of a full, telling smile. As the tobacco burned, he listened to the quick summary of her experience of the day. He wondered where the eggs and dogs were now, though it only probed another question to come forth that he had wanted answered long before this encounter began. The main--well actually, the only problem keeping him from acquiring the answer was that computers didn’t compute emotions. He took a short moment to conjure up a (what he called) polite and discrete way to ask: “So how do those eggs and dogs like their home? You know, assuming you took the time to make sure they actually like it.”

[betty-and-jughead]

[imn0tmyself]

Visit Original Link

[ponyboy-exe-blog]

a saturday afternoon

[ponyboy-exe-blog]

reagan-donahue:

Reagan had slept half the day away, as was her usual routine, and after taking Nik and his dogs for a walk she decided to continue on her own. She loved living with Nik and she knew that he loved having her there, but she also wasn’t naive. The two of them might be best friends but Reagan knew how important it was to give him his own space and time. They saw each other at home, they saw each other at work…they were almost like an old married couple except neither of them particularly enjoyed the idea of marriage and their relationship was not one bit romantic in the slightest.

She had been walking alone for a while when she spotted a familiar figure up ahead. Reagan smirked and made her way over to the bench that he occupied, sitting down on the other side and waiting for him to notice that she was there. He looked up with an annoyed look on his face as expected and Reagan simply smiled, slipping a lighter out of her pocket and holding it out to him. “I’d sit closer but I wouldn’t want to catch any of your angst.”

As Ponyboy ping-ponged over the decision of whether to accept her lighter or just continue searching for his own, he kept his gaze on her. His contemplation keeping it from transforming into a full-blown glare. He didn’t mind Reagan, but he wondered if it was because they didn’t know each other that well or he genuinely didn’t find her somewhat irritating. Suddenly realizing he took too long to decide, he felt it would be distasteful not to use the lighter she was offering now. “You wouldn’t. I’m not keen on sharing my things,” he replied as he picked it out of her grasp.

He flicked the flame on and took the initial drag, mumbling his “thank you” as he handed it back to her after. He blew out, slightly amused that the wind carried it over to her. Did she smoke? Probably, if she had a lighter at hand like that. He almost offered her a stoag, but rather save them for himself instead, he drove the conversation a different route. “So, Reagan, did you begin your day with the intention to produce me with a lighter, or was that just a ‘happy accident’?” He asked, using his fingers as flying quotation marks over his last two words.

[ponyboy-exe-blog]

newtxgarvey:

The bills were piling up, and nobody had the same opportunity for added funds that Newt had. In reality, his only limit was his body, and that he was willing to push to the brink. Just because he didn’t live with his family anymore, didn’t mean he wasn’t still responsible for taking care of them. They weren’t too far behind, a few extra fights a week would pay it, some of his slots fell back to back. As the ones the night before had, Newt found himself exhausted and beat to hell on his way home. That was how he found himself there, flat on his back in the middle of a park, a sea of blood surrounding him. Typical Newt, pick the worst place to pass out for morning bypassers. He felt a shadow towering over him, someone standing beside his still body. “Brainssssssssss” he grumbled, raising his arm crooked and stiff, as if they were among a zombie outbreak. “No seriously though stay there, i’m trying to sleep and the sun is really pissing me off” he broke with a chuckle not bothering to open his eyes and see who it was only rolling onto his side.

The evening sun always seemed like a very open invite to the world around Ponyboy. Though, typically, he ignored it, he felt that it been a long while since he actually cruised around without purpose. He allowed himself the break and began skating around. As he was going through hilly park, he spotted a limp figure bleeding on the grass. Since joining the Strix, he began keeping his eyes peeled for these kind of... things. He hopped off his board and tossed it under an arm while he made his way directly to the man on the ground. As he got closer and was able to make out who it was, Ponyboy smiled. He liked Newt. Didn’t mind it him so much because he kept things short and sweet, just as Ponyboy liked things to be. “I’ll keep my brains, but I can offer you some water,” he said as he began to open his backpack. “I have an extra bottle in here.”

[ponyboy-exe-blog]

harpersroyal:

Harper suppressed the urge to groan out loud when her admittedly lame attempt at disguising herself was easily seen through. She had thought that jumping up and leaving would only have drawn more attention to herself and she was probably right, but that did not stop the stranger from sitting down only one table over and sending a comment her way. She wasn’t one to be unnecessarily rude, however, and so Harper did her best to offer him a smile. “I did, actually. It’s just that most people usually weren’t interested in finding me, that’s all.”

Harper’s response only humored Ponyboy some more. He crossed his arm and tiled his head slightly to one side, smugly grinning. “So I guess that means you never had to get good at it.” He nodded slowly to himself. “Which explains why you thought a mug could hide your face. I wouldn’t flatter yourself, though, it’s not as big a deal as you think,” he told her. Ponyboy had been given the assignment to find out what he could about the girl when the news first made headlines. He felt a sort of pity for her, but not enough to actually act sympathetic. His boss had seemed almost embarrassed for not having caught on sooner, what with those sums of money being stored off the side so... carefully.

[ponyboy-exe-blog]

a saturday afternoon

Much to his dismay, there were too many people at the cafe for Casper to be comfortable working on anything informal. Which was a shame since he was all caught up in his homework, his work, and everything else that he was able to keep himself busy with for the past couple of weeks. He quickly finished the coffee and hopped on his board, utterly unsure of where to go since he no longer felt like being home now that he had tasted fresh air.

Finally, after some time, he found his way on an avenue that was bustling with clusters of friends, family, and dates wandering around. Finding the amount of people streaming in and out of the streets and stores was always the same, just occupied by different groups, he decided a bench on this street would do. He cruised over to an empty one, propped the board against the long seat and began rifling through his backpack for a cigarette. As he poked one between his lips and began searching for his lighter, he felt a presence sit on the opposite end of his bench. Irritated, he turned his chin towards the direction of the invader, hoping his look would say enough for them to get the message before he had to tell them himself to Skedaddle.

[casspage]

“Tonight at eleven, more on the Harper Sanford – sorry, Harper Royal story. Now that Charles Royal’s secret daughter has been found, when will we find out about her mother? The Royal family has always been an interesting one and now that it has been revealed that the king’s queen wasn’t the only lady in his life, how will life change for the rest of the family?”

“Jesus Christ,” Harper muttered under her breath. She untucked her hair from behind her ear in hopes that it would hide her face enough so that people would not recognize it as the same one on the television screen in the corner. She had thought that enough time had passed for her to be able to enjoy a cup of tea in public, but apparently she was wrong.

[ponyboy-exe-blog]

Due to previous spells of god-knows-what, Casper knew he couldn’t spend a whole Saturday inside, working on his computer, or else he’d spend the entire weekend inside. His return to civilization come Monday would be a bitter one so he plugged his headphones in, grabbed his backpack and skated down to one of his favorite cafes.

In line, his ears perked up as the news ran another story the Royal family. He wondered if a new assignment would be delivered to him and the rest of the Strix hackers. After paying for his cup of joe and adding a couple of coins to the tip jar, he turned and looked for a spot to sit at. In a meek corner, he spotted the star of the show. Amused and eager to poke, he picked the table next to hers, set his things up, then leaned too far back in his chair and told her, “I bet you didn’t play a lot of Hide-n-Seek as a kid.”

[larayoushouldknow]