when serafina heard through the grapevine that scout was in phuket, she had thought that maybe it was too good to be true. but sure enough her phone had gone off with an invitation from the other girl, and serafina was there without a second thought, dressed in a bikini and a sunhat. “it’s great!” she said, looking around. she was glad that scout had stumbled upon this, and glad that she had shared it with her. she caught the sunscreen and gestured for scout to lay down on one of the lounge chairs. “it’s been a while,” she said, popping open the bottle of sunscreen. “what took you so long to come? i’ve missed you.” she popped her lower lip out in an exaggerated pout. “the people here are so boring. politics, war… pass.”
scout laid down on her stomach, pressing her cheek to her folded arms. “work. some people have gotta work for a living, you know,” she teased, knowing completely that she wasn’t actually one of those people. she continued, her tone more serious, “i was in japan for a bit, then singapore, working with a writer who was covering spring and summer festivals in east asia. it was fun, but it feels nice to be able to chill for a while. what about you, though? you get up to anything fun around here?” she raised a hand to take off her sunglasses so that she could get a proper look at the other woman. “that’s a good look on you,” she said offhandedly, her eyes flicking over sera’s ensemble. she nodded sympathetically, “it’s all of that shit that kept me away. they’re all so -- i don’t know -- on all the time. some of them just need to take a long pause, a deep breath, and calm the hell down.”
maybe it was a bit much, she knew, but sutton had barely allowed scout to leave her side since arriving back in phuket. she’d learnt to be independent from parker, but scout was another thing entirely and just under a month apart was a month too long in her honest, and entirely correct, opinion. so when parker gathered them together in from of the tv and held up ‘ the room ’ she tried desperately to mask her disgust, though she knew she was obvious about it. “ should i go and get my candy stash that i’ve been hiding from parker ? also tell me there’s popcorn in the kitchen. ”
crossed legged on the couch, sitting shoulder to shoulder with her sutton and the both of them peering up at parker -- scout hadn’t felt so much like a kid in a long time and she was basking in it. she gasped loudly when parker held up the dvd. “holy shit, yes. fucking excellent choice.” she looked over at sutton, immediately sensing her disapproval, and nudged her repeatedly, wordlessly trying to hype her up about the pick. “only if you want all of it to be gone by the end of the night. i mean, not like i won’t contribute to that -- movie night’s the perfect time for it.” she uncrossed her legs and hopped off the couch. “i think i saw some in the pantry, i’ll throw it in the microwave. don’t start without me!”
she hadn’t been back in phuket for long, but if things stayed the way they’d been over the past 72 or so hours, scout would easily end up spending the majority of her time on the beach. she’d stumbled on a secluded path to a little beach near the villa on her first day and had quickly staked her claim on it -- lounge chairs, beach umbrellas, and all -- and had sworn the five people she shared the location with to secrecy. hearing footsteps coming down the path, she turned to greet sera with a grin. “it’s awesome, right?” she asked, motioning to her set up. “no one’s going to be able to find it, so it’s all ours. and now that you’re here,” she bent down to grab her sunscreen, which she tossed at sera. “help me with my back, would you?” @serpcntine
hiiiii everyone my life is less wild and shitty now so i’m back with scout! and i’ve made a couple of changes to her so you get a brand new intro :)))
everything up until when she went to college is pretty much the same?? scout tried really hard to live up to all of her mom’s expectations for a long time, even though it meant rejecting and trying to get rid of all of her natural instincts and personality traits, and she never managed to make kathleen happy anyway.
she stopped trying altogether after parker was outed, not only because it was morally disgusting but also because scout was beginning to question her own sexuality at the time. the incident ended up setting her back by years in that sense, and she only came out as bisexual in her first year of college, when she was sure she could do it on her own terms.
the years between when scout decided to stop trying and when she went off to college were massively strained at home. in private, she acted out any way she could, quitting all of the “respectable” activities she’d been doing basically since she was born, arguing with her parents, refusing to make public appearances. it frustrated her that she couldn’t do more -- it wasn’t like she could throw a party at the white house or sneak out with secret service everywhere -- but she made up for it by giving her parents hell behind closed doors.
she went to nyu, where she decided to study photography and completely stopped giving a shit what her parents thought about her. they were so concerned about preserving the image of a pristine all-american family, and any public complaint could jeopardize that. she drove the west wing absolutely insane during her college years, as they had to bury multiple stories of her being seen out at bars when she was underage, stealing city bikes, bribing security at the empire state building so that she and her friends could get in after hours.
after graduation, she stayed in new york, where she’d established herself as an up and coming photographer as a student. the bulk of her work so far has been for national geographic, which has taken her all over the world in the past couple of years. for her first few months out of college, she ignored every request to come back to washington for this or that event, but she eventually went back for christmas.
there, she and her mom had their first civil conversation in years. they went back and forth for a long time, but eventually agreed that scout would be able to travel and do her work without complaints or demands to come back to dc, on the condition that she occasionally act as something of an unofficial ambassador when she was overseas, attending the odd state dinner, smiling and shaking hands for a night.
the last time she was in phuket, she followed her siblings there after attending the layslan wedding as part of the agreement with their mom, and she realized how much she missed being close to them. she’s back because of them and has plans to stay longer this time.
personality-wise, she’s still pretty immature, really loud, sometimes lacks a filter, and is dumb as hell in a lot of ways, but she’s also more ambitious, she really loves her work, and is generally more aware of social graces and niceties because of the past few years. she knows how to turn on a certain side of herself that’s a little less immature, loud, and dumb when the situation calls for it. also she’s still obsessed with her siblings and would do anything for them but that was never really in question
