Scuba was busy - busier than locals had let on. Maybe they were used to the chaos of the underground bar, but it left Mercy with a sour taste in his mouth. All he wanted to do was meet with a regular that’d been texting him, pathetically begging for their weekly fix, and head home. Somehow, instead, he’d found himself trapped in conversation, doing all he could to be on his very best behaviour so he didn’t get kicked out before making the deal. However, someone stumbling past and bumping into him, causing the drink in his hand to spill slightly, seemed to be the final straw. Staring at the dregs that slopped over his hand for a second, Mercy scoffed - it was on complete impulse when he leaned forward, splashing what was left in his cup at their back, “You got any fucking eyes? Real living human being here, watch where you’re going, Stevie Wonder,” he spat, plastic pint glass tossed at their feet as if to punctuate their sentence. @irvingstarters
Marisol could feel her anxiety rising as she slipped through the crowd, sweaty hands gripping the strap of her small butterfly shaped purse. It had barely been five minutes since she arrived and she was already fed up of the club atmosphere. She could barely hear herself think. It wasn’t until she felt the splash of liquid on her back that she even realized she had bumped into someone. She whirled around, looking like a deer in headlights as the stranger tore into her. “Oh- I-” She struggled to find her words, blinking away any tears that were beginning to form. The last thing she needed was to cry in front of him too. “I’m sorry!” She squeaked, dropping her hands to her side. “I-I wasn’t paying attention, you’re right. I’m just- I’m a little out of my element here. Do you need a new drink? I could get you another one...” She offered, reaching for her bag.
Threads of smoke unspooled between the struts of a bridge going over the river. It was barely noticeable but there, like hearing a distant footstep as you wound down a country trail – regardless, it was inevitably a sudden shock when someone set foot over one of the gaps and had their sole jabbed by the sharp point of a long stick. A voice – not Magda’s, of course not, this voice had to belong to some unsightly troll that lived in the shadows, even if it sounded an awful lot like Magda’s and made no efforts to disguise that – raised out of nowhere. “Who–fuck.” Subtle wheeze, then cough. “Who’s that tramping over my bridge?” The stick jut around like a hyperactive swordsman, stabbing any open air for good measure. Then, suddenly yanked out of sight. “Have to answer a riddle to cross or you’re fucked with lifelong ingrown toenails. Up to it?”
wildflowers spilled out of marisol’s arms as she jumped back, the look of surprise on her face turning into disappointment as she watched many of them slip through the cracks. “aw, man...” it wasn’t like she really had plans for them, in fact she had probably gotten more than she knew what to do with, but it still pained her to lose so many at once. with a heavy sigh, she bent down to try and look through the gap at whoever it was that disrupted her walk. "a riddle? um...” she paused to think about it, weighing her options. “i guess. we might be here a while though, i’m not really good at things like that.”
“do you actually understand this stuff?” probably! it’s school work, he’s talking about, because elijah never really complains about anything else, surprisingly. even when they don’t share the same classes ( or majors, actually ) , it’s nice to see other people understand this gargin. he just hates school —- wants to rid of it, throw it all in the trash like it’s a part of his dinner he thought was disgusting. “half of the time it sounds like’a load of gibberish.” / marisol ( @svftheartcd ) .
“of course.” then a pause. “okay, not always. i have a love-hate relationship with math.” she sighed forlornly. her struggle with math probably didn’t bode well for her potential future as a botanist but she simply pushed it to the back of her mind. she could always get a tutor, right? “what are you struggling with? i could help you!” she hesitated. “i mean, i could probably help you. i don’t really know what classes you’re taking...”
ripped from a night of restless sleep by the blaring alarm coming from his phone, carson blinked into the light seeping in from the cracked blinds in the office above the repair shop. a cot had been set up into a makeshift bed that carson had been sleeping on since returning. between showering at the gym, laundry at sud me senseless, and microwaveable food in the repair shop break room, he hadn’t needed to set foot in his childhood home since his dad’s funeral.
there was something unsettling about the now empty house on orion avenue, a place that had been so full of life before his mom… before his dad… now he didn’t even have his sisters around to make the place feel less… “and the house felt so big, and i—” the lyrics fell from his lips unbidden as he began to ready himself for the day, pulled from intrusive thoughts by a horn sounding outside of the shop. his head jerked towards the noise, brow furrowing in confusion, before — shit, he’d gotten his days mixed up; the shop was supposed to open three minutes ago.
he reached for his coveralls, getting a grip on the giant hole on the leg that he’d forgotten about. he sighed, making a mental note to order new ones or — god forbid — grab his old ones from the james household. for today, grease stained jeans and a james automotive t-shirt would have to do.
he was still pulling his shirt on as he reached the main level of the shop, throwing the lock and pulling up the garage door. “sorry for the wait,” he said, blinded momentarily in the bright light of day. “how can i help you?”
it had been a momentary lapse in judgment, and so unlike her, when marisol impatiently pressed the horn on her steering wheel. and almost immediately, she winced at herself. so rude, mari! she thought to herself, already drafting possible apologies in her head. it had only been a few minutes since the garage was supposed to open, what was she expecting? even if they had been open when she got there, it’s not like they were going to be able to magically solve her car troubles in a minute. she was going to miss class regardless of how long it took. she was just going to have to accept that.
it was times like these that she really regretted accepting the car from her father’s friend. she should’ve known that something was up with how cheap it was. she just foolishly thought he was trying to help out his friend’s kid. never mind the fact that he barely knew her. she snapped out of her thoughts at the sound of the garage opening, whirling around to face the mechanic with a desperate look on her face.
“i’m really sorry for honking, that was so rude and impatient! i don’t know what i was thinking.” the apology was the the first thing that came flying out of her lips. “i don’t actually know what’s wrong with it, it’s been making weird noises all week and i know i probably should have brought it in sooner but i’ve just been so busy!” she spoke a mile a minute, not even pausing to take a breath. “it just... stopped working this morning. like, the engine just shut off and it wouldn’t turn back on.” she wrung her hands, glancing back at her beaten up car. “i know there’s probably not anything you can do and i just need to get a new car but... could you at least take a look?”
* maris racal, cis woman + she/her | you know marisol flores, right? they’re twenty-one, and they’ve lived in irving for, like, their whole life? well, their spotify wrapped says they listened to let’s get married by bleachers like, a million times this year, which makes sense ‘cause they’ve got that whole windows filled with plants, rolled up sleeves of an oversized sweater, and believing in love at first sight thing going on. i just checked and their birthday is march 10th, so they’re a pisces, which is unsurprising, all things considered. ( kennedy, 21, cst, she/her )
hello hello i’m kennedy and i’m super excited to be here!!! i apologize if this intro is a little messy, i’ve never been good at them. i have a pinterest board for her here !!
*ryan bergara vc* with that being said... let’s get into it
background
for as long as she could remember, marisol’s parents were never happy. it was clear to everyone around that the two no longer loved each other ( if they ever did ). classic case of staying together for the kid. not that they were really around often enough for it to make much of a difference. her mother would leave for weeks at a time, only vaguely saying that she had work when pressed on it. her father at least tried to be there for her whenever he could but those times were rare. he worked as an architect in the next city over and worked long hours (and suspiciously seemed to stay even later whenever her mother was home).
marisol was often left in the care of the elderly woman who lived next door. a nice woman named irene with an incredible garden in her backyard. or at least, it was incredible to little marisol. these times at her neighbor’s home introduced marisol to her love of plants and just nature in general. she would spend hours helping irene with her garden, learning everything about the plants within it in the process. for her tenth birthday, she was gifted a book on how to identify wild plants and a blank journal. irene would take marisol out every weekend to identify (and sometimes collect) wild plants in the area and would help her record her ‘findings’ in said journal. soon enough, it was filled with drawings of plants (that slowly got better and better over time) and marisol’s observations about them. these formative experiences would be what eventually leads her to study botany.
marisol was very desperate for her mother’s approval growing up. she had herself convinced for a long time that the reason her mother was never home was because of her. that she just wasn’t good enough for her to bother being home. so she worked harder in school and strived to get the best grades. she got involved in various clubs and programs offered at her school, including theatre. but no matter what she did or how hard she worked, nothing seemed to work.
marisol’s parents would finally divorce when she was sixteen. her mother would stay with a friend during the divorce proceedings. she would take marisol out to eat or to a museum every few weeks but that was about all marisol saw of her during that time. then. as soon as the divorce was finalized, she just left. marisol would still see her over the years although usually on holidays or special occasions. despite all of this, she still holds her mother in high regard and remains just as desperate for her approval as she was when she was a child. every time she comes into town, marisol is spending every minute she can with her.
marisol’s relationship with her father improved after her mother’s departure. seeing the effect everything had on his daughter, he began working less and spending more time at home. he encouraged her to continue her extracurriculars and made sure he was there for every school event. and while she doesn’t live with him anymore, she still talks to him regularly and goes to his house every sunday to have dinner.
personality
very positive! always tries to see the best in people even if everything tells her that she shouldn’t, she strongly believes that everyone has some good in them. has probably gotten her into trouble a few times tbh
hopeless romantic. definitely believes in love at first sight but like obviously not for everyone (gestures at her parents). she just believes that it does happen for some people and think it’s just beautiful when it does. loves love! has honestly gotten a lot of her expectations for love and relationships from movies and tv shows so they’re a little skewed.
can be a little shy when you first meet her but it honestly doesn’t take a lot to get her talking. and if you get her talking about something she’s passionate about? good luck getting her to stop. she just has a lot of thoughts and feelings.
people pleaser. she just wants people to like her. often puts other people’s needs and feelings before her own. honestly has a really hard time when someone doesn’t like her and will go out of her way to try to make them like her.
she’s sensitive, it is honestly really easy to make her cry. whether they’re happy tears, sad tears, angry tears, etc. has definitely cried over the stupidest things too like a commercial for dog food or a silly meme.
fun facts
is currently going to the local community college... would have gone to the state college but she’s not super comfortable with driving long distances yet and she’d like to improve her gpa a bit first
her favorite movie is the princess bride <3 she used to watch it like once a week in high school yes she had a problem
is unfortunately (or fortunately depending on your outlook idk) a musical theatre kid.... hadestown is her favorite. she listens to it when she’s feeling sad.... also when she’s feeling happy. honestly she just listens to it a lot.
she’s recently gotten into flower pressing and is just having a blast with it! has briefly considered opening an etsy store for it but isn’t sure yet.
favorite video game of all time is stardew valley. which isn’t saying much because she doesn’t play a lot of video games but still. she absolutely adores everything about it, seems to encompass most of her interests which she thinks is just great
has a lot of plants scattered around her place and yes, they all have names. is looking into getting a venus fly trap bc she thinks they’re neat...
works as a barista at kahlo’s!
bisexual <3
wanted connections
roommate(s) - roommates are always cool! must be okay with her plants... she has a lot of them honestly
best friend!!! everyone needs a best friend... i like the idea of them just being like the Exact opposite of her but honestly down for anything...
friends - just give her some friends... she is a very sweet girl ok she treats her friends very nicely.
crushes?? mayhaps?? - mutual... unrequited... whatever i just like crush plots they’re cute
exes maybe? reasons for not working out can be anything... angst always welcome but i do like a good ‘used to date but are just now good friends’ idk
other people who go to the community college ofc... uhhh coworkers... regulars at kahlo’s.... fellow plant lovers.... honestly open for anything and everything!!!
