[strlkeavogue]

       *           𝐕𝐈𝐕𝐈𝐀𝐍  𝐁𝐀𝐂𝐀𝐋𝐋       ,             ──────              [  . . .  ]

is  an  american  journalist,  a  writer  and  editor  for  vogue  america.  wears  a  little  too  much  purple  and  orange.  listens  to  cher  a  little  too  often.  definitely  doesn’t  take  part  in  cons  in  her  free  time...  right?

              𝐢.    information   ,        𝐢𝐢.     connections   ,       𝐢𝐢𝐢.     navigation   ,      

[strlkeavogue]

julianscon​.

This was the easiest thing in the world, made easier with the help of a few glasses of wine that gave them just enough confidence to be ambitious. It was one of his favorite parts: the planning of the thing; it’s why he was usually the one leading it. Julian enjoyed picking a target, putting together the team tailored to that target, finding ways to explore the target. Most of all, he liked doing it when he had Vivian to bounce ideas off of. 

He’d miss this one day. 

For now, he enjoys it while they can. “She’s got four stores in the city, the one with most traffic’s probably the one near Fifth Avenue, where all that tourist money goes into."  Unsurprisingly, all it took had been one run-in with the woman before he would do a little digging for fun. A habit he liked keeping fed.  "Small time, though. Easy enough for us too to take on, it’s just a vault. But, while I was digging into her, I found something else."  He takes his phone again, typing in some new words before he turns it to face her again. "Look who she used to date.” It was a photo of Miss Cai and one Leon Macken at a party some odd six years ago.  “He’s a friend of yours, right? Or was? You still keep in touch with him?”

“love a little tourist money,” it’s more of a thought out loud, not at all something julian would catch himself surprised to hear. there wasn’t a single kind of money they weren’t particularly fond of, truly  --  only one of the many character deviations that brought the two together.  she listens to him patiently, following the leads and picturing where they’d take them. but something manages to catch her off guard.

“wait. leon macken?!” her eyes had to be playing her, she knew it. but then again, she should have known better than to assume leon macken wouldn’t just find his way into the most random circumstances of her life. that was just who he was. “yeah, i saw him the other day at the party! d’you think- they’re still an item?” the puzzled look on her disposition is quickly dismissed; that was more of a gossip matter than anything else, and most certainly could wait until their plan was fleshed out. “not the point. what i mean is, he’s gotta know something. i’ll see if we can meet up, maybe do a little exes therapy and learn something about miss cai.” what could vivian say? she’s a journalist. acquiring information and passing it along is what she does for a goddamn living. “and while we’re at it, maybe i can stop by the place later this week. take a look at the plant, check how many people we got working there...” besides, vivian didn’t really need an excuse to buy herself some of those rocks  --  in or out of a job.

[strlkeavogue]

@delphincd​.

in finding delphine,  it wasn’t the vogue contacts phone book vivian had resorted to. it was that good old, nickname filled notebook  --  the one with the numbers that were useful for her jobs, and not her job. someone from the old days would have heard something about her returnal,  or maybe know of a friend of a friend who had something to do with finding a new spot for the woman in the city. vivian was certain; it couldn’t be that hard.

sure, viv could have simply asked her.  knowing she was back in town was enough for her to think del was in already, but not everyone was so open to their ideas as julian or viv herself. and so she had to be creative. the element of surprise had to be her secret weapon. she gets to said delphine’s building early in the morning, sunglasses covering half her disposition and the not at all suspicious look on her face. as a young dog walker struggles to control all four animals on their collars,  vivian approaches the scene.  “let me get that for you.  i’m going in anyway.”  she holds the door open for the stranger and tilts her head in a polite you’re welcome.  naturally, vivian slips into the lobby. game on.

casual steps towards the elevator; vivian can’t be too quick, that’s too much of a red flag. only by hearing the receptionist talk to one of the residents does she slow down, heading the desk and going through a few panflets and mail as an excuse to properly eavesdrop. nothing interesting  -  saying there was a family moving in, saying they should be done by the afternoon,  saying they carried about a thousand boxes up and still weren’t quite done  - and so she’s back on her journey, nearly entering the elevator when she’s finally noticed.

               ‘ma’am?  may i help you?’  it’s the receptionist. she turns around on her heels at the cue of a long, silent shiiiit. 

“oh no, not me, dear!” replies viv rather nonchalantly, in the one specific accent she usually hides behind when things get messy. she’s learned to think fast;  and as a puzzled look takes over the concierge’s features, she spots one of the many moving boxes on the ground.  places her purse on top of one and picks it up on a bit of a struggle.  bright smile on her face, though. “just moving in!  one less box for you boys to worry about, huh.” and enters the elevator, seeing confusion melt into embarassment in their faces as the metallic doors meet in the middle.

she’s already going through the box to search for an unexpected profit when the elevator doors slide open. must have been quite the surprise for delphine to spot her there, fur coat and all, inspecting one of the vases she found inside the box. “delphine hansen,” she muses, lowering her head to look at the woman from above her sunglasses, almost as if making sure that really was her friend. “god, you look good. i thought time would miraculously make me the hottest in the group or something,” teases viv in a clearly not the case sigh, leaving the box on the elevator before stepping out into the hall. “here, for your new place.” and casually offers her the small vase, already trying to figure out which one of the doors is the one delphine calls her own. “wanna show me ‘round?”

[strlkeavogue]

julianscon​.

Although Julian laughs, he is void of humor. It’s a breathy laughter laced with irritation, only making its way out because the alternative seemed even worse to him. He did not like hearing about his failings, and liked it even less when Vivian pointed them out with such a grand introduction. Holding up a finger, Julian shakes his head and it at the same time.  “France wasn’t that bad."  He repeats it like he has so many times before, a sing song quality as he drags the sentence, hoping that maybe this time it would stick to her mind. "We could’ve done worse in France."  They could be in jail now, but they weren’t. She should see the silver lining in that, if anything. 

Yet no matter how many times he told himself all those things, Julian still knew that Vivian was right. France was a stain on a perfectly respectable career. France was the most recent blip in the otherwise fine line. France could not be the last stop they had before going into boring, average life again.  "But yeah, we should find something else."  He admits quietly, silently dwelling over the possibilities. Then she says it: the word that sparks the mind of the idea man. With a pair of wide eyes, Julian looks over at her. "That’s it.” Quickly pulling out his phone, he types a word into it and hands it to her. “Jewels. This Glace place is all over town now, they’ve got a bunch of locations and only high end fucking people will buy her stuff.” He reaches over to click on the owner’s picture.  “Eleanor Cai. It’s her brand. Family’s loaded too. I came across her the other day, she drips of the stuff. Had like five rings on her, all real stones.” Yeah, he could tell.  “She can be our mark.”

“Yeah. We also could’ve made some money out of it.” but we didn’t, is left unsaid, although perfectly pointed by her ironic expression. “But enough thinking of the past, right? It’s done.” and they couldn’t change it, except to make it better next time around. Vivian can’t help but display a victorious smirk as he agrees, a silent thank you as she dramatically bows to her one man audience. Good. He’s in. She didn’t doubt it for a second, his loyalty or maybe then his greed. That much they had in common, both things.

Now, the way he slips right into planning mode has her automatically doing the same. Granted, it probably wasn’t the best idea to trace down a heist plan after those healthy glasses of wine, but still does she find herself intrigued by the possibilities that unfolded. “Oh,” she furrowed her brows, eyes taking a little longer than usual to adapt and properly distinguish the pictures that Julian presented. “Cai. Yeah, I’ve heard of her. Not bad,” she uses her fingertips to enhance the photograph, more specifically on the earrings that framed Miss Eleanor’s features. “Yeah, I can see it. I can really see myself with those diamonds, too.” laughs the woman, returning to her previous comfortable position, sprawling herself over the couch once more. “So. This Glace place. We could probably pick those beauties right off the tree, right?”

[strlkeavogue]

clairexmacken​.

“I’m so sorry for nearly knocking you over, can I get you anything to make up for it?” Claire asked, genuinely curious, as the younger woman bit the tip of her fingernail nervously. It was her own fault for not watching where she was going anyway, she would take it back if she could honestly. “A cup of coffee, wine, brunch?” She continued before shaking her head. “No, I think I found the place now, I’m just a hell of a klutz to be honest.”

“Really? I never find anyone else so willing to have wine for brunch,” laughs Vivian, smoothing out the length of her dress before promptly standing on the usual easygoing posture once again. “Honestly, I’d just be doing that by myself, so I don’t see why not. I was just gonna pick up some flowers by the shop around the corner first, so you could join me at that if you’d like! Unless you have somewhere else to be, hun, I wouldn’t wanna keep you tied up.”

[strlkeavogue]

julianscon​.

“Regular sized deal, I’d say."  But the smirk on his lips, the one that hasn’t left him since the news dropped and his phone had not stopped buzzing, said otherwise. Julian was basking in the glory of it all, of the vindication and relief that came with finally catching the break he’d been wanting since he was seventeen years old, bright eyed and with big dreams of seeing his name in lights. There were times he thought that kid was pathetic. Today, he holds his hand and embraces him proudly. Leaning back on the couch, with his arms sprawled across the back cushions, he is like a king in a castle that does not belong to him, but very much could. This was all he’s ever dreamed of. This was the ultimate accomplishment. But when Vivian brings up something else altogether, he can’t help but feel the itch as he turns her way with a curious eyebrow rising above its twin.  "Really?"  He is asking like he needs to consider it, but they both knew his mind was already made up. He’d have told her off straight away if it wasn’t.  "Why would Meredith suck the life outta you– Oh, you mean your hag, not mine.” It was hard keeping track of their respective antagonists, especially after the few glasses of wine they’d had. A beat, Julian looks over at a blank spot in the horizon. He considers it, really does, and then turns back at Vivian with a familiar shine of mischief in his eyes.  “What kinda target are you thinking, babes?”

“My hag,” she only partially corrects him at the same time as he notices, a knowing smile acknoledging his absolutely understandable confusion. They both had their crosses to carry, their particular melodramas  -  all the more reason to end their history of criminal activity with a bang. She knew sooner or later this time would come, where juggling her career and crime would no longer be a possibility, but wasn’t quite ready to call her latest act their final one. They needed something to be proud of, even if they were the only ones to know about it. “Well, we’d need to make it worth it. All these years and we’ve done all kinds of crazy shit, Jules. We’ve had small wins, big wins... but we only had one big fail.” a sigh. She needs a sip of her wine to get through the thought. “France was our biggest fail, babes. And that can’t be our last hurrah. We need something like that. But this time, we make it work.”

It wasn’t just for the money, never just the money. Sometimes, an old friend would often tell her, just knowing the job would work was enough. Vivian supposed that was their way of saying some jobs are better off kept on paper  -  but when something goes wrong, there’s much more risk to its rotten memory than to its further execution. It wasn’t enough to fantasize about how things would work out better if they did things this or that way; she had to see it for herself, and sip on success at the very end of it. “This city has an abundance of rich people displaying their jewels for us to choose from. All we gotta do is... pick our star.”

[strlkeavogue]

"You’re big deal now, babes.” as the previously scheduled as a Circle-binge-evening slowly became a gossip and snacks kind of evening, Vivian got more and more comfortable on the couch, feet resting on Julian’s lap as his were upon the center table. “Or about to be, that is.” that much she could bet her humble fortune on. There was a warm feeling on her chest everytime she thought about her friend’s upcoming project, knowing how the chance of a big hit was everything the man really needed to launch into the sky of Hollywood’s bright stars. Still, there was a bit of a melancholic smile upon her lips, reminiscing of their years as happily unknown people who’d pull a con or two on their spare time. “It’ll kind of change things for us, right? I mean...” DiCaprio and Pitt weren’t about to be seen stealing diamonds and robbing casinos, is what she means, at least not outside of their blockbusters. In the spark of an idea, Vivian sits up straight by his side. “We should do it one last time. Just... one big hit before you go out and get your star on the Walk of Fame or something.” and playfully nudges Julian’s side, “Before the hag inevitably sucks the life out of me in the name of the magazine, too. What d’you say?”   @julianscon​

[strlkeavogue]

clairexmacken​.

claire had been walking around times square, looking for the restaurant one of her friends had told her to meet them at, and she’d be lying if she had said she wasn’t lost. she had pretty much grown up here her entire life and yet, she was still prone to getting lost easily due to how huge the place was. as soon as she was about to reach the destination she had on her phone, she manages to accidentally bump straight into someone and causes them to fall over. “oh shit, i’m so sorry!” she apologizes, feeling bad for knocking them down. “are you okay?”

Now that was precisely the kind of thing that happened to Vivian in the one day of the week she didn’t have to spend running to the office and back. Usually those free days were spent at home, watching something and recharging the otherwise wasted energy of every other day, but today she wanted to go out. Put on a light dress, maybe pick some flowers at the shop or a book, do something that wasn’t logging into Netflix and picking a new reality show. She supposed the stranger cutting her dreamy-woman fantasy short was the word from the universe to keep her head off the clouds. “Oh! God dammit,” pure luck she managed to hold onto a post, stopping herself from hitting the ground by mere inches. That’d have been real awesome. “Yeah, it’s okay. I’m usually the one hurrying ‘round the streets and stumbling into people, so.” the woman fixes her posture, “You good? You seemed kinda lost there, just now.”

[strlkeavogue]

drdiana​.

Diana feels out of place, and then she feels stupid. Bars are like a home, its the cynical part of her that says that. But fancy bars are like someone renovated her home and did away with the cluttered chic that she was going with and embraced modern minimalism instead. And, okay, so she’d been watching a lot of Love it or List it. This bar; a definite List it. Diana grumbles, shifting in her stool. Its all too fancy, too proper. She likes her dives to feel more like she could sink into the floor and no one would find her body, this makes her feel like all the ornate lighting fixtures are on her. She hates it. She hates it so much she’s up to leave early, in her simply sweater and jeans, surrounded by suits and dresses and– “FUCK.” It happens like its God taunting her with cruel slow-motion. Her drink; sloshing out of her hand. The hem of someone’s ornate dress; stained. Jägermeister was a stupid idea. No one over the age of 30 drinks it, but it stains. And oh, it stains badly. By luck or more cruel fate, the woman doesn’t seem to have noticed that the back of dress now sports a rather unfortunate stain around her posterior area. In the fancy lights, it looks almost like she’s…well, Diana wasn’t going to say it out loud. Instead she taps the woman on the shoulder, desperate for her attention. “Sorry, excuse me,” Diana is smiling, as the woman spins around, she starts flushing. As it turns out, its very hard to tell someone as put together as this that there’s a stain down her dress’s skirts that looks like, well, a toilet accident. It’s harder to admit she caused it. “I just–you’re so…hot!” Diana’s smile is nervous; her face is as red as her hair. “Let me buy you a drink! You…sexy…woman…person…thing…lady…clean dress-wearing entity.” And flirting to distract from crime isn’t her strong suit.

Of course she’d be out getting drinkies on a weekday, saying it’s all in the name of her career. Vivian had her methods: if she convinced at least one person from the office to go out with her every night, it could easily be called a work meeting rather than just a night out. And then she’d spend a few minutes talking about work, sure, and a few drinks later neither would even remember there was an office to return to by the morning. What can she say, it’s all in a day’s work. She’s on her fourth or so drink of the evening, toasting and raving rather smugly about how literally any bar is a gay bar if you’re just spontaneous enough when a tap on her shoulder steals her attention.

Well, would you look at that. Point proven. Vivian turns around to properly face the woman, delighted by how the timing couldn’t have been any better, and giving her coworker a full view of the disaster taking place on the back of her dress. Now, you’d think Devin, Vogue associate and very good friend, taking a look at the unfortunate mess would decide to let Vivian know about the terrible misunderstanding that was about to happen.

You’d be wrong. He lets out an outraged Oh my God, but ultimately ends up wearing a mischievous grin as he leans closer to fully appreciate the scene. Vivian Baccal, in an act of... unforeseen foolishness. “Oh. Hey there,” casually she mutters, “You’re a beautiful woman yourself. I feel like I should be the one offering you a drink,” and quickly she notices the other’s... peculiar fashion choices. Viv has to swallow that one dry; pretend not to be as bothered with the jeans and sweaters duo as she actually was, “What’s your name, honey? Unless you’d like me to call you a... jeans wearing - woman - thing, or something.”

[strlkeavogue]

bcllet​.

        ❝  this might  be  the  right  moment  to  tell  you  i  absolutely  hate  any  kind  of  horror  movies  and  i  have  absolutely  no  idea   what  you  are  talking  about.  ❞  and  it  was  the  truth. greer  already  watched  rarely  movies  in  general. she  simply  didn’t  have  the  time  for  it.  but  horror movies  ?  never.  she  can’t  even  remember  the  last  time  she tried  to  watch  one.   ❝  so,  please,  don’t  depend  on me.  i’ll  probably  die  first  and  with  my  luck,  i’ll pull  you  along.  but  you  are  stuck  with  me  now,  so  i  won’t go  anywhere.   ❞  despite  the  situation,  she  couldn’t help  it  but  to  grin  at  her  friend  as  she  tried  to  lift the  mood  a  little.  

“Scream? Doesn’t that ring any bells?” it’s a serious state of shock. “Don’t kill me, Mr. Ghostface, I wanna be in the sequel?!  No?” at least she’s gotta try. “That’s... seriously concerning, y’know. Not only because you haven’t gotten any of the jokes I told all night long,” and were all somehow tied to her favorite slasher movie, “but because now we’re missing a final girl to save our asses when it comes to it.” finally she laughs, nudging the girl with her elbow and ultimately giving her a shrug. “Eh, I’ve had a good life. At least we can spend our last moments with drinks and each other, right? I can think of some shittier ways to go.”

[strlkeavogue]

leonsout​.

Obviously, he’s screaming back. For reasons beyond fear now, like some high gear had been kicked into his brain and it told his lungs that they had to empty out so they could win this match against the stranger. Until he realizes it was not a stranger and stops. Still, the voice in the back of his head wonders: did he win? No, fuck it, that doesn’t matter. Stop being weird, Leon. 

“Yeah, Leon!"  Still in that odd state of shock, he fails to smile at her even though he had intended to. What appears on his lips instead is some lopsided, stroke-looking attempt. Not his most attractive moment. Really, the whole night hadn’t really been a high for him. And still, despite the murder and the blizzard, it still beat the last Monday he had.  "Oh, my… my dad cut me off, I had to kinda completely turn my life around and now basically live in poverty. It was a whole thing. Doesn’t matter."  Now the smile is gone, as well as any impulse to have to put one up.  "I wasn’t creeping! I was trying to get out!  What were you doing standing in the way?”

“Sure it doesn’t matter?” questions the woman, a confused look nearly glued to her features. It sure didn’t sound like the best share of years, but if Vivian learned anything about Leon, was that he was a resilient creature and had it in him to adapt.  “I mean, it’s quite the turn of events you got going on there.” 

“I’m- staying alert, of course! Got a killer on the loose here.” she adds with a grain of drama, despite how serious her intentions are. “Come on, just join me here, man, you know you won’t find better company at this shitty party anyway.” finally a smile is born from her lips, at last processing such strange reunion with a dear presence from her past. “I can’t believe it’s really you. I wish I’d reached out knowing things have been so crazy. Thought you had just retired from the parties or something, not that- dads were being dads, y’know.”

[strlkeavogue]

judasinthecity​.

“Oh yeah, absolutely not,” he agreed easily. Every murder docuseries and serial killer podcast he’d practically binged over the past few months was now proving to provide specialized knowledge—or, at least, in Judas’ head it did. He nodded very seriously, folding his arms across his chest before looking around the darkness flecked with candlelight. “You know a lot of murders go unsolved right? I heard it in Cain Beltran’s podcast. We can’t trust the police with this at all… They don’t know what they’re doing. They never do.” He paused, and then inched a bit closer to Viv, to lower his voice. A sight to see, really. The cookie monster scheming with Magenta from Rocky Horror Picture Show. “We should scope everyone out, see who we can get to join us… might help if we have more than just us. But… we gotta be careful who we let in. It could be anybody here.” Judas then looked suspiciously around them. “I bet it’s whoever’s dressed the best… Kinda like how Ted Bundy got away with it for so long because he looked good. Yes, let’s get a bottle of wine before we figure out what we’re doing. That rich dildo guy is paying for everything. That’s what they said, right? Maybe two bottles then?”

“Exactly! This can’t just go down in history as an unsolved case. We’re gonna figure this out, alright. We can do it.” now, his plan wasn’t at all bad. Sure, Vivian knew the ins and outs of a murder mystery (or so she liked to believe), and she trusted Judas to step up if things got to a violent encounter with the killer.  But strenght would always rely on numbers, and they could use a few extra thinking minds. “Right. Okay, do you have anyone who’d like to join us? I lost all my friends to the party some time ago. They don’t have a single sleuthing bone in their bodies,” a dramatic addition, even though Vivian herself couldn’t judge any of her close friends who’d rather get drinks and chill rather than sneak around the mansion and try to figure things out themselves. Now, his remark regarding the best dressed doesn’t go unnoticed. Viv puts on a smug smile, “That’s actually a great point. But, we both know I’m not the killer here, babe.” she’d obviously fight for the post of best costume, but her own joke takes a sadder turn once she realizes it could nearly immediately put her on the suspects list. Clearing her throat, she fixes her posture and leaves the thought behind. “Bet it was that Ghostface dude. Killers aren’t as original as they used to be. And please, make it two bottles. We can drink all of it and use the bottles to defend ourselves should things get any more dangerous here.”

[strlkeavogue]

julianscon​.

“Thanks. I knew you’d get the reference."  Was it precisely what he’d planned? No. But he had been listening to John Wayne on the way there, so it was all the same at the end of the day.  "I told you I couldn’t get the corset fitted in time. The damn thing was killing me. My back couldn’t handle it."  Here lies Julian Canova’s back, a once reliable muscle that was no more than dust now. God, where had the time gone?  "Divorce, babes!"  He shouts suddenly, interrupting his thoughts and anything else that may have been going on. It was a mandatory thing now.  "But on the bright side, now that someone was found dead or something, we wouldn’t have been the main event anyway. No love lost.”

“Divorce, babes!” joins in the woman, putting on her best accent and leaving aside her so called heartbreak only to avoid missing their joke. It’s a little bit of a pat on the back  -  no matter what costumes ended up being their choice, they would always come as a package deal. “We’ll find a way to make a corset work for you and your eighty - year - old back next time, Jules. Maybe I finally can dress up as slutty Janet then.” a shrug, as a vein pops up and splits her forehead at the mention of the murder. “Right. Dead,” she agrees, a puzzled look emerging from her features. “But not real dead, right? I mean, you don’t think someone actually died.” so far, Vivian had done great managing her fear. It wasn’t that she was working on her easily frightened nature, no  -  it was the strong force of denial. She was doing great telling herself none of that was actually real, but a simple party trick. “Do you?”

[strlkeavogue]

oliviaxnieves​.

“No.” It was a curt reply, and a frown appeared on the brunette’s face. She was torn; was this a game, or was it actually real? It was Halloween in New York City, it could be either. Olivia liked Halloween, she genuinely did, yet her plan for the night was to get drunk and have fun- this seemed to no longer be working out. A frown remained on her face as she finally looked over at the woman that was standing next to her. “Have you? I wonder what exactly they’re asking.”

Now, here’s when her outrageous amount of murder mysteries rewatches comes in handy. “Not me. Can’t fucking wait, though.” she couldn’t even bother hiding how excited the idea made her, of course. By then, Vivian still found herself thrilled by this whole mysterious turn of events. It didn’t seem real enough for her to take it seriously, and really, all of it should be just another part of the planned course of spooky affairs. “I’m guessing real police stuff. Where we were, what we saw... I mean, it’s- it’s like a game, right? Maybe if we figure out who killed someone, we get a special prize.”

[strlkeavogue]

murdrhewrote​.

“I’m not creepy.” So what that he was eating a donut right after someone he’d never met ( or even knew who was ) had been apparently found dead? So what that he might have let out a little yelp of excitement when such tragedy was announced? So what? That didn’t make him creepy. He was a professional. This was how he made his living. Murder? His bread and butter. Of course he enjoyed it more than the average person. Rico licks the glaze off his fingers one by one while staring intently at Vivian, knives coming out of his eyes.  “Who said I’m creepy? Do you think I’m creepy?”

“What I think is, you seem to be enjoying this whole murder enterprise a little too much.” but then again, where did the too much on that matter stand when it came to Rico? It wasn’t like Vivian didn’t enjoy her share of murder mystery, of course  -  but she was more fond of the genre with a screen keeping her distance from the murders. “Also kind of fucked up you didn’t get one of these donuts for your dear, frightened friend who you know is seriously likely to drop dead in a situation like this. This whole thing is really stressful, alright. I can’t be starving on top of it.”

[strlkeavogue]

leonsout​.

He was alert. High fucking alert. As alert as one could be. Leon knew what he was made of, he knew how this game played out  ––   he knew he was not a final girl, and that if this were a murder mystery of some kind, he’d definitely be the white rich boy who gets killed first as historical reparation. And he was fine with that. Really. Kinda. Okay, he was terrified by the prospect and most certainly did not want to accept it, so he makes a run for it. Or tries to. In reality, he doesn’t make it very far before he bumps into someone whose screams are startling as fuck, prompting him to let out a banshee screech of his own in response. 

“What the fuck, lady!” He protests, having jumped off his skin and literally off the ground. “What are you doing, man?! Can’t you see that  –– ” As his eyes adapt to the dim light and catch sight of her, recognition dawns. “Oh my god, Viv? Is that you? It’s me, Leon! Leon Macken?”

Oh, she’s still screaming. Just going at it, deep wails that come from the bottom of her heart and echo through the hall, only for the sake of it. I mean, he was still screaming, whoever he was. And so she screamed back. Maybe that was his killer tactic; completely incapacitate her with fear and then attack  -  but Vivian wouldn’t go down without a fight. Or, at least, without letting someone know something is off. But then, he simply stopped. And her own scream died slowly, an awkward moment as she notices how her reaction might have been slightly exagerated. “L-Leon?”

Granted, on the fright of the moment Vivian doubted she could recognize Cher herself if she saw her  -  but as the man reintroduces himself, a light seems to click inside her head. And light was more than welcome at the moment. “Oh my God, where the fuck have you been?!” a shocked remark, palms still resting upon her chest from the scare. “And what the fuck are you doing creeping around in the shadows like that?!”

[strlkeavogue]

            greer :   “  we’re  not  the  type  of  characters  to  make  it  to  the  end .  ”

“Speak for yourself,” says the woman in all of her confidence, almost as if she wasn’t the one jumping out of her seat and screaming into the night at the slightest sound. “I’m the Gale Weathers of this bunch, alright.” sure, in her mind Vivian made up for the meddling journalist that always find a way out of the killer’s grasp. Didn’t take much time on Viv’s presence to realize that was quite far from reality. “Was kind of hoping you’d be our Sidney Prescott, by the way. If you’re not, I better start searching, ‘cause I’m sure gonna need to have my ass saved if something wicked comes my way.”        /     @bcllet​