three drinks too late to talk.

26. Welcome to Hollywood, asshole.

[richie-shepard]

viv-flieger​:.

“Well that’s a little to Gossip Girl-y for me, but sure. i mean, can’t very well get beer right now without getting annoying looks, but mimosas are such a perfect rule-but-not-really-breaker.” Viv agreed with an emphatic nod. She snickered at his remark. “Gross, I like it.” She said, patting his back encouragingly as if he was her protégé. “Oh, really? And what is that? Is not joining the lizard people in there? Because it should be.” She wasn’t quite sure what to reply, so she just let herself listen, only getting mildly distracted when she saw a kid stumble and fall across the street and she couldn’t help but bark out a laugh. “That’s more like a typical college mentality, though, isn’t it?” She finally questioned. “Are you here to try the normal post-teen life and try and be a fuckboi with the masses?” She teased. “Right… Because everyone wants to see people pay for pepperoni pizza by handling a different kind of sausage.” A smirk lit up her face. 

“Right. Was that the one in California or New York?” Richie fixed his hair on the window’s reflection and grinned. “Fuck that. My gal wants a beer, we’re getting her a beer.” He nodded towards the direction of the hotel. “It’s past noon anyway– isn’t it?” The guy laughed, bowing his head towards her. “There's more from where that came from.” Rich stopped in his tracks and gave her a somber look, managing to pull off his best Vincent Price impression. “I have tried to fight them off, tried to keep them buried deep in the shadows but I’m afraid they’re already amongst us. Heathens!” Of course, Richie ended up joining Viv in her fit of laughter, though his own died pretty quick once he realized who the kid with the big glasses reminded him of. “I’m here to let loose and finally become the degenerate creature of darkness I was always meant to be.” He shrugged it off with a smile, trying not to think too much about his reasons– or lack thereof, for staying in the town. “Cutting the shit out, I needed greener pastures and oxygen that hadn’t been nip/tucked to death.” Rich choked out another laugh, nudging her. “You know it. After getting stuck under the sink and having your pipes cleaned time and time again, you gotta shake things up.”

[richie-shepard]

clarissagrimhilde​:.

Clarissa was going over the terms of a business deal that was left for her to sign when the male spoke. In hopes of making him keep quiet for a while, she decided to give him what he wanted and looked up. “I don’t recall telling you that I wanted to be in your presence today.”, she pointed out but if she was truly being honest, she was pleasantly surprised that he paid her a visit. She would probably have lost her mind if he didn’t. “But fine. Let me make some corrections on this then we can leave for lunch.”

“You didn’t. I’ve the uncanny ability to know what you want before you even want it.” He winked at her and, after stretching himself out, walked over to her. “What are you working on this time?” Richie took Clarissa’s mug from her desk and took a sip, giving the girl a look after he was done. “Gotta say, I’m slightly disappointed this is actually coffee.”

[richie-shepard]

gxllygadget​:.

“I’m sorry?” It took Gadget looking at him longer to understand what he was referring to. “Oh, you were the guy who almost touched my robot’s arm without any gloves on! I am sorry if I scared you, I just did not want you to get hurt.” Her eyes widened at what he offered to do. “Are you sure? I don’t want you to buy all of this if you don’t want to!” But would she complain if he did buy all of the cupcakes she had left? Definitely not. “Well, I will give the ones you don’t take with you to some kids living at a children’s shelter nearby.  I am sure that they will love it.” His payment was placed it in front of her and she was a little hesitant about taking it. “That’s uh- that’s way more than how much you should pay.” She laughed at his reaction to the taste of Marmite cupcake he just finished in less than a minute. “Do I take that as you saying you like it? Please say yes.”

“Are you kidding me? Your little punk robot friend was in luck. If I had stared at it really hard, it would’ve burst into flames and melted.” Richie replied nonchalantly, a spark in his eye. “Haven’t you heard? Instant gratification is sort of my game.” He raised a brow at her response. “Huh, you don’t say.” Taking a good look at the boxes, he began closing the lids and piling the boxes together. “Might as well join you. You’ll need help carrying all of these around.” Richie grinned and shook his head. “It’s only fair. I made your day and some kids will get their sugar rush on, won’t they?” He threw the wrapper away in the nearby trashcan and nodded. “Yeah! Don’t sweat it, it was good– unexpected. I’m just clueless as to where you came up with it.”

[richie-shepard]

hxmmerhexd​:.

Drew held his hand over his brow to shield his eyes from the lights. “I don’t know, all I saw was someone get pushed.” He pulled his guitar off of his shoulder, then trotted to the edge of the stage where his vision was less obstructed. “Why are you wet?”

“That’d be me.” Rich replied with an awkward wave of his hand, opting to pull his sunglasses over his face; never mind they were inside, he always pulled the asshole look off. “Well, you’re hot. Figured you’d be used to that by now.” He bit back a smirk before looking down at his shirt, Richie pulled he collar up to sniff the fabric and groaned. “Rum. I was assaulted by booze’s ugly sister.”

[richie-shepard]

vitanileon​:.

“You seem to forget that I do that every morning.  Multiple times in the morning in fact.”  Vitani looked at the script.  “I mean it doesn’t look all that bad.  I did like the original script better.  If you go with this I’m going to have to change a couple of the costume designs to fit with this script better.”  Vitani just stared at him.  “Ok want to run that by me one more time but with smaller words and in English.”

 “Aww. Remind me not to ever whistle again.” Richie pouted. “Exactly. The OG script had the amazing, nuanced descriptions you would actually work with. I need space to work the room.” He huffed and crossed his arms– uncrossing them again so he could work on tearing his paper napkin. He perked up once he realized what Vitani had said. “Hold on. If you have them around, can I see the first ones you worked on? I want to picture what could’ve been... even if you’re gonna make my ass look amazing come rain or shine.” Rich clicked his tongue against his cheek and laughed. “Okay, how about: The only reason this shit has more pages is cause it is this close to counting my steps and dictating my breathing patterns.”

[richie-shepard]

bubbly-ris​:.

“It was a good idea though,” Arista laughed, shaking her head. She leaned in then chuckled when he offered friendship. “I wouldn’t normally, but for you, I’ll totally take it.” A complete joke, but she was happy to go along with it. She would’ve been happy to keep dancing like they were, and she was a bit nervous at his current ambitions, but she had yet to back down from something like this. “I think I’m as ready as I’ll ever be.”

“I know it is. I’ll have you know I’m more than a pretty face.” Rich smirked, pulling off his finger guns at her. “No take backs! Welcome aboard the Shepard train; you’re in for a ride, missy.” Once Arista had given the okay– even if her eyes looked a little wary, he carefully made his way towards her. “One, two...” Richie carefully put his hands around her waist and began the lift off. “Three!” Granted, he knew she would be easy to pick up, but he was impressed at the form they maintained for at least a couple of seconds. “I think that was fucking exquisite.” He exclaimed as he carefully set her down back on her feet.

[coolfriendlygay-deactivated2018]

a second chance

[richie-shepard]

@clarissagrimhilde

[richie-shepard]

@clarissagrimhilde​ “Pay attention to me, Hildy-poo.” He dragged every syllable until he was mildly aware of how annoying the sound was; Richie flicked one of his jelly beans towards Clarissa before popping another one in his mouth. “If all you wanted was my pretty face without any of the substance, I would’ve given you a poster to liven up this shit.” He spoke as he– once again, made himself too comfortable in her office’s couch, laying down with one of his legs dangling over the edge. “I’m bored.”

[richie-shepard]

andietriton​:.

Andrina didn’t have a lot to do on her day off from the hospital, but she hated being restless and a night of clubbing was far off, so she joined Richie and followed him as his attention was drawn by an old video game machine. “A video game?” Andrina raised an eyebrow, but merely sighed before stepping forward. “Sure, why not? It’s not like I have anything else to do.”

“Not any video game, Candie. Street Fighter!” He patted the machine, his grin growing by the second as he fished some quarters out of the pockets of his jeans, resuming his thought. “Man, I can’t tell you how many records I broke on this thing when I was just a little pup with a bit more will to live.” Richie looked at Andie and laughed. “That’s the spirit. C’mon, give me a fight and then you can boss me around for the rest of the day; you know how much I like that.” He smirked at her, taking his side on the machine. “Ready to fire this shit up?”

[hxmmerhexd]

Drew turned to his drummer, swinging his hand in front of his neck as he waited for the noise to die down. “Someone get this wanker out of here,” he pleaded into the mic, staring down the commotion in the crowd.

[richie-shepard]

Through a slightly blurry vision, Richie looked down at his drink– well, whatever was left of it after some random dude had pushed his merry way through the crowd to get closer to the stage. His shirt was now wet and the asshole was nowhere to be found; at least a group of girls close to him shared his current state. “The fuck?” His gaze immediately shot up as the voice on the speakers got to him; it took him a while to ground himself again and focus on the singer. “Me?” He mouthed, confused and, in his state, not really certain about anything. “It wasn’t me.” Rich looked around wide-eyed, hoping someone would vouch for him.

[vitanileon]

“Listen I love you but maybe you could have told me that story in less words.”

[richie-shepard]

“Tani. Would you ever ask a songbird to shut up?” He rolled his eyes dramatically before sliding the script over to her side of the table. “I really did fucking try to summarize it, but look at this shit!” Richie flipped through some of pages. “If I didn’t know any better, I would be worried some asshole traded my pages for some light Proust.”

[richie-shepard]

bubbly-ris​:.

“Oh, I live for being a hype woman. Don’t think I could make money off of it, but that would be nice.” Arista chuckled as she shook her head. She always did her best to lift others up, no matter what it was about. Ris was about to ask about his comment before she too started trying to copy their moves. The performer in her was ( luckily ) able to pick up on it quite easily but at his warning, her eyes grew wide. “Uh… I don’t know if that’s such a good idea.” Knowing her clumsy nature, it was going to end badly no matter what else was going on.

“Fine. I can’t see how we could make that an actual career for you but...” He thought the idea over and a slow smile started spreading on his face. “I like you already. This was supposed to be a secret.” Richie spoke in a whisper, motioning to Arista to come closer. “I can offer you this newly opened gig called friendship, all you have to do is– well, this.” He pointed to all of her. “I can’t promise actual money but I won’t ever make you pick any tab.” He grinned brightly at the girl, hoping he didn’t sound as weird as he probably did; if there was something Richie had always loved, it was making friends– nowadays it was having actual friends as far away from his career. The dancing part wasn’t as bad as he expected and he was actually enjoying himself, looking at Ris so they could start off with their Macarena. “I’m always a slut for bad ideas!” He yelled over the music and laughed at the people that confusedly turned around. “Ready, blondie?”

[richie-shepard]

bubbly-ris​:.

“Who would’ve thought?” Ris laughed, shaking her head as she walked along beside him. She couldn’t help but cringe at the nickname - definitely not one of her favorites, but she’d let it slide. “Of course it would.” She rolled her eyes, though the smile was still on her face. He was an interesting character, that was for sure. “Oh, absolutely. And the Macarena is all I can do, so that’s perfect.”

Richie smiled at her. “You could make a living out of it. An official chaos bringer– of the good kind, slash hype woman. I don’t know how it’d work but it sounds like a fun job.” He teased, already mildly distracted as his gaze fell on a stand right on the other side of the Square. “I could tackle the shit out of a dancer for a lemonade, we should–” Rich frowned at the sudden musical interruption... before remembering why they were there in the first place. “Okay, heads up so you don’t hate me!” He called over to Arista as a group of people started appearing all around them, he half-assedly tried to copy their moves.  “The Dirty Dancing lift might be coming your way!”

[tyrannusimons]

[richie-shepard]

@the-berlioz-mess

[gxllygadget]

“Hi, it’s my birthday this weekend and I’d like to spend my own money for my party so can I interest you in buying a cupcake?”, Gadget asked the person passing by. “I made Marmite Caramel which sounds weird but is a mix of salty and sweet, Sweet Potato Cider with Marshmallow icing which was my grandpa’s favorite and the Gadget cupcake which is basically the cupcake version of chocolate coated strawberries.”

[richie-shepard]

“Well, well, well... happy birthday, blondie!” He pointed a finger at her and grinned. “Aren’t you the one girly working with that one thingy that would’ve me a superhero if I had only touched it or licked it or whatever?” Richie gave the cupcakes a good look and nodded. “Tell you what. I’ll buy all of these off your hands and then you can decide if you want to gift them off or double your profit– which, you know, fuck morals but kudos to your business and party.” After fishing out a couple of wrinkled hundreds out of his jeans and placing them in front of the girl, Richie fished a Marmite cupcake out of the bunch and wolfed it down in a couple of bites. “O-kay...” He spoke with some food still in his mouth. “...not the first time I’ve ever asked...” Finally, he swallowed down. “...the fuck just happened in my mouth?”

[richie-shepard]

bubbly-ris​:.

Ris rolled her eyes at his first statement, then raised a brow. “A pretty face often hides a darker intent.” Of course, that was not the case for her - she truly was a good person, but she did enjoy a little mischief at times. She laughed, taking his hand. “Arista. Are you sure you want to get into mischief with the paparazzi around?”

“Damn. Here I thought I was the one threatening your wellbeing; it was the other way around. Plot twist!” He laughed, swinging their hands between them after he made sure he wasn’t dragging her against her will. The girl had a spark to her and he liked it. “Rissy, that’s the only way I wanna live. Besides, the only scandal here would be anyone thinking I’m straight.” Richie grinned, determined to walk right towards the spot full with overly distracted people standing away from each other... wearing what was basically the same outfit. “You gotta take center stage, which I think is that non-obviously marked x over there; I’ll be your right hand man? I can do a mean Macarena.”

[richie-shepard]

viv-flieger​:.

“What a nice way to manage it.” Viv approved with a thumbs-up. “Besides, he’s the perfect white bro to make out with for a while and then forget about, before his sub mentality rubs off on you. Noise.” She added, quoting one of the shows she was currently watching. She snickered at the added dramatics, glaring at the old lady that seemed to be judging them. “Poor you, the victim. You did try to warn them.” The girl pulled her curls back and considered the implications. “What an innovative way of feminism.” She joked. “By the way, how old is the porn you watch? Just curious.”

“Dude, you’re like the hype woman of my dreams. How do you feel about brunch? The Atlantean has the best mimosa bar. Yes. Mimosa. Bar.” Richie laughed at the comment before feeling like an ass; though Viv was more than right on her call, he also had a reputation following him around that he wasn’t quite fond of... not like he didn’t singlehandedly bring it on himself, though. “As long as other things are rubbing on me, I’ll take the risk.” He sucked his teeth and smirked, placing his hand upon his heart. “Unbeknownst to everyone, I do have a code of honor.” He shrugged, giving Viv a cheeky look. “You would quite literally be taking life by the merry balls. It doesn’t get any more badass than leaving them hanging if you get bored or ripping them off if they disappoint you. I’m like a guru with this shit, trust me.” Rich shrugged, looking up in thought. “Call me a romantic, but I’ve got a soft spot for the classics. If it ain’t broke...”