“ I feel for all the world like a lamp somebody finally figured out how to plug in…unless that’s the booze. ”
..
" kinky. ” she laughs from her spot on the floor, arms stretched out like she’s trying to make snow angels on the plush carpeting. “ i’d say share but i’m not moving anytime soon. ” she’s not sure when, or how, she ended up on the floor ... but she’s never been this comfy in her life. either that, or it’s the molly fucking with her head; she’s not counting either option out.
“ is it just me or is this place CRAZYTOWN USA, population everyone, lately ? ” she doesn’t wait for an answer as she throws herself down beside him, backpack hitting the floor with a thud as her shoes are quick to follow. the whole world might be collectively losing their minds, with strangers wandering through town looking like zombies claiming they don’t belong there, but at least jaime -- her best friend -- is as consistent as ever. “ i love a good mystery as much as mystery inc. but if one more person asks me to point out reprieve on a map, i’m going to shove that map somewhere they’ll never find it again. ” she pauses after her tirade, head lolling back against the headrest, before turning her face towards him and extinguishing the irritation with a smile. “ sorry. hi. ”
Just what she needed,somebody calling her boring. She kept her temper to herself while at work,she loved her job,minus the people who were quite annoying. If she had the chance,that man would have been thrown out on his ass by her. “Well please forgive me for being boring. I don’t like having temper tantrums in work, usually ends up with things being broken or people hurt, so I try to keep it to a minimum.” She replied looking at her,a small chuckle escaping her lips.
..
this might be the first interesting thing the girl’s ever said. maya’s intrigued, leaning forward on her elbows as she tilts her head. “ so you’re one of those ‘ composed on the outside, screaming on the inside ’ types, huh ? maybe you’re less boring than i thought. ” she leans back in her chair, regarding veronica with a modicum of interest now. “ you know it’s super unhealthy to keep things bottled up like that. ” her words are sly, meant to tempt as she adds, “ you should probably blow off some steam. even dormant volcanoes can erupt under the right circumstances. ”
Clary looked slightly taken aback as the other proceeded to simply plop down in front of her, though she seemingly took it in stride. Clary was used to crowds in Pandemonium and crowded small cafes, so this wasn’t all too unfamiliar. “…Can you repeat that? I don’t think I heard you…a what? Thrupple?” Clary proceeded to push the rest of the pastry towards the other; she hadn’t taken a bite of it since she bought it, so someone may as well eat it. “And I thought I’d heard of just about everything, but this is new.”
..
some people are all smoke and mirrors; maya, in comparison, is a sledgehammer that clips the mirror and just keeps swinging to subvert expectations. she sees the looks people often give her -- equal parts confusion, or overwhelmed -- and she hides her amusement from behind her coffee, or whatever sweet treat she’s snacking on that day. some might say it’s a compulsive need for attention, positive or negative, but she likes to look at it as just having a little fun. “ thrupple. ” she repeats, dragging out every syllable. “ it’s not a complicated concept. three people in a couple ? they’re not bigamists or anything. my moms are married legally, sure, but they did one of those spiritual ceremonies or something in tibet so --” she waves a hand. “ you get it. ” she does not, in fact, know if the girl gets it, but her confusion is even more delicious than the stolen pastry.
@reprievestarters·
Fingers stained gray from the graphite in her hands, Clary looked down at the sketchpad before her and frowned. Lip between her teeth, she sighed as she pulled out an eraser and carefully made an edit, and she then quietly nodded to herself as though satisfied with the work she’d done. It felt good to decompress, to stop thinking about everything that had happened over the past few days and to get back to basics: coffee, a pastry, and her sketchpad. Those three things were her staples, and made her feel at home in a place she still considered strange. The coffee shop was crowded with unfamiliar faces, though the shop itself was beginning to become familiar. She had spent more time at a table in the corner than she had anywhere else, and she was planning on keeping it that way for a while.
However, as other eyes met her own, she felt her eyes widen and she offered a half-smile. “Um, sorry,” she offered, “I wasn’t being creepy or staring or anything. I was just zoning out there for a second.”
..
“ don’t worry. i get that a lot. ” she smirks as her bag drops to the ground, effortlessly sliding into the seat across from her. after six hours in the dance studio, working on her fouettés and double tours, she’s not being dramatic when she says she can’t make it a single step more. as it is, she’s already made the decision to leave her car in the lot and take a lyft home. “ my parents are in a thrupple. ” she explains, reaching over to break a piece off of the stranger’s pastry to pop into her mouth. “ sorry. i’m starving. but yeah, i’m used to people staring. that, and i’m hot. ” another shrug accompanies the comment. “ it happens all the time. ”
Veronica had been seeing new people arrive for the past few months and she had gotten quite used to it. Many of them she had just met on the street or in a store she was at,happy to help them figure things out. Some of them came into the bar either looking for help or for a drink or two. She had gotten used to all the new faces,they began to blend in with everybody else for her.
She was working at the bar when she was dealing with a pain in the ass regular and she honestly wasn’t in the mood for them. She was doing her best to keep her calm,not wanting to scare them away no matter how much she wanted. She called the bouncer instead,watching as they were taken out. “Oh man he always knows how to get on my nerves.”She sighed to the person that had been sitting next to him.
..
while the sudden influx of weirdos might be good for the tourism industry, maya can’t help but find it incredibly annoying. her favorite club has been packed with vampires for weeks, each one more annoying than the last, and as much as she loves picking biweekly fights with them the manager had finally had enough. he’d kicked all of them out and banned them for life. a bit dramatic, honestly, but whatever. his loss is this shithole’s gain.
she’s on her fourth manhattan when she hears the bartender make a comment, looking up from where she’s been scrolling through her instagram feed. some of her loser friends, with no self-respect, were still partying at club lame. clearly she needed new friends. “ try that again. you’re usually pretty boring so i don’t bother listening. ”
( samantha logan, 20, she/her ) welcome to reprieve, MAYA MARCELI. rumor has it they are a WERETIGER, from REPRIEVE, but only they could tell you the truth! they reside in the ALPHA district. when i close my eyes, i think of them and imagine A DIAMOND-STUDDED FLASK, THE SHRILL SCREECH OF A TEA KETTLE ABOUT TO BOIL OVER, AND THE SMELL OF DEW-SOAKED GRASS
Bags under his eyes, he hadn’t slept in days and he wasn’t sure why but he was pretty sure that it had to do with this new environment. Putting out the cigarette, he ran a hand over his face and sighed, “I’m starting to think I should invest in melatonin”
..
reprieve’s always had its share of weirdos but people stumbling around like zombies, questioning their own existence, has certainly made for a weird few months. by now maya’s almost used to it, usually rolls her eyes and lets them have their momentary existential crisis before telling them to stop harshing her vibes. today however, she’s in a giving mood; if the guy needs some help, she’s got just the thing. “ melatonin’s for babies. ” she responds with a twist of a smirk, leaning back slightly as she gives him a once-over. “ — but i might be able to help you out. i’m feeling generous today. ”
( samantha logan, 20, she/her ) welcome to reprieve, MAYA MARCELI. rumor has it they are a WERETIGER, from REPRIEVE, but only they could tell you the truth! they reside in the ALPHA district. when i close my eyes, i think of them and imagine A DIAMOND-STUDDED FLASK, THE SHRILL SCREECH OF A TEA KETTLE ABOUT TO BOIL OVER, AND THE SMELL OF DEW-SOAKED GRASS
maya lives with her three parents. yes, you heard me kids, she’s got THREE parents. you’d think this would be a good thing, more love to go around, but tbh it’s not been her experience. her mama, MARIE, is a career climber; we’re talking smashing glass ceilings, fighting any man who might say she’s not as tough, or as competent, as they are. as such she works long hours, is a high profile lawyer. she’s the tough bitch that rips criminals into little pieces and feeds them to the jury. she’s an absolute shark. her mother, BIANCA, is the exact opposite. she volunteers her time for various charitable organizations in the city and spends more time planning brunch than with her daughter. they’ve got three incomes; three high profile incomes, tbh, so money has never been an issue. her papa, LITO, is… well, she’s not sure. he’s always said his job is very secretive, very private, and would never speak about what he does for a living. i think at first she assumed it was something sketchy; drugs, or maybe the mafia. but one day her curiosity got the better of her and she struck gold. she picked the lock on his briefcase and found out that he was working for a government organization. he was undercover, she thinks, trying to take down the mob from the inside. it’s why she transferred schools, why her father has been working longer hours, disappearing for days on end on business trips. he’s playing with fire and trying not to get burned.
with little time and attention sent her way, in a family filled with people so focused on their own wants, their own needs, they tend to forget about her. it wasn’t always like this. when she was a child, young, shiny, and new, they doted on her lovingly. it was only as she got older; less soft, more OPINIONATED, less CUTE, that their interest waned. like a puppy given to a child, abandoned when it outgrows its puppy years. she tries not to take it personally but it’s hard not to. so used to spending time by herself, it’s no surprise that she warmed to the first boy who really looked at her. JAIME KAPLAN. they were young then, her face round, eyes wild with wonder, and she’d wanted to help him so badly it physically pained her. she’d asked her mama for help, maybe they could be alone TOGETHER in this big empty house, but just as suddenly as he’d arrived in her life? he was gone. things went south and she never saw him again. ( but this is the middle of their story, not the end. she just doesn’t know it yet. )
the marcelis come from a family of shapeshifters that are able to shift into weretigers. it’s a gene that they carry, and is triggered when they reach puberty age. all her life, her parents were forcing her to take ‘vitamins’ that would help her mature. she had no idea that the pills they were giving her would actually prevent her from shifting, some concoction they’d cooked up with a witch some decades earlier. her parents took them too, suffering the physical pains that came from not shifting and rejecting your true nature. it was when maya unlocked the briefcase that she found notes about the medication, of the doses they’d been giving her to try to ‘cure’ her disease, that she realized how truly SCREWED UP their family was. she exploded, forced them into telling her the truth, and threatened to leave and never return if they didn’t allow her to be who she was supposed to be. they acquiesced, but her father hasn’t spoken a word to her since the discovery. she’s DESPERATE to win his favor again but knows she can’t stomach the pain, can’t be the person they want. it’s why she memorized the names on the files, decided to dedicate herself to infiltrating this world that her father was trying to take down from the inside. she was helping. or at least, that was how she justified things at first. the deeper and deeper she gets, she’s lost track of who she’s really living for; her family, or for herself. a sense of BELONGING she’s searched for her whole life.
as she’s gotten closer and closer to the people who have direct or indirect involvement with the gang, and grown to care about them, she’s started seriously questioning her own motivations. when she finds her smoking gun - will she even want to use it?
PERSONALITY / PERSONA:
she made a pact with herself when she decided to commit to infiltration; do whatever it takes. be friends with, screw around with, screw OVER whoever she needed to in order to get in the inner circle. i think she expected them all to be… insufferable? awful? when she realized how fun everyone was, how much she genuinely LIKED their particular brands of insanity, things got more complicated.
she’s very much a yes girl. you want to dance naked in a fountain? yes. you want to do lines of coke off her dad’s mercedes? yes. do hallucinogens and write your maths exam? hell fuckin’ yes. i feel like she has no concept of where the line between rational and irrational even is anymore. it’s gone. poof. the lifestyle is intoxicating, as is the camaraderie that comes along with it.
being a yes girl has gotten her into some trouble in the past. when a prank went wrong, maya found herself in a spot of trouble when her would be victim turned on her. she’d shifted in front of him, thinking it would be funny to scare him, and he lashed out by hitting her with a rock. she passed out shortly after she was buried alive, too disoriented and injured to prove that she was still alive. the details after that are foggy. maybe she died, or maybe she crawled her way out of the grave, she’s not sure. she can’t remember and she honestly doesn’t want to.
kind of a bitch if you don’t know her well, even more of a bitch when you do. she’ll speak her mind but knows when to keep her mouth shut too. she has a temper and tries to keep it in check but that isn’t always the easiest. incredibly loyal and FIERCELY protective of the people she cares about. would kill for them.
TLDR: she’s a weretiger. she has three parents who lowkey neglect her but it’s fine. her dad is infiltrating the mob, getting in with THE MAFIA LEADER’S people, and when maya found out she decided to do the same … except she’s in too deep and maybe it’s not about her dad anymore. she will fight anyone that comes for her or her friends but tbh just wants to love, be loved, and receive positive attention.
he’ll be the first to admit he’s not the biggest fan of the outdoors, but it’s breezy enough ( as in, not a thousand scorching degrees ) to warrant a seat at one of the tables outside. with the headphones on, he can’t hear anything, including any possible calls or … well, looming dangers. this is how he ends up with an object hitting him right over the head, just as he’s about to slip into a minor ‘ what the hell am i gonna do after graduation? ’ crisis.
“ what the f– ” he flinches, obviously —- and turns toward the source as he slips the headphones around his neck instead.
she can’t help the laugh that slips out when the disc hits jaime in the back of the head, watching as three of the wolves trip over themselves to grab it first. ugh. she frequently gets lumped in with them by default, being a shifter, but she’s an individual and has no patience for their pack stupidity. this is a prime example. she abandons the wolf who was trying to explain advanced chemistry to her in favor of seeking out jaime, slipping into the empty seat beside him as she flashes a smile. “ ignore them. in five seconds, they’ll get distracted by something shiny and forget what they were doing. ”
hands rest on her hips, eyes narrowed behind the lenses of her ray bans as she scowls at the paint swatches in her hand. at the end of the day, it doesn’t matter what she picks because anything is an improvement over the shitstain brown color the walls are painted right now. her new ‘ married on a whim in vegas after too many whiskey sours ’ husband might be many things but a decorator is not one of them. throwing the swatches off the side, she lifts her sunglasses and directs her attention to the person nearby. “ screw this. it’s 400 degrees outside. let’s blow this off, make vodcicles, and hang out by the pool. ” a pause, considering. “ unless you have a better suggestion. ”
MARRY ME SO YOU CAN’T TESTIFY AGAINST ME IN COURT ; THE HITS.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY C! my chaotic other half, my same person energy partner, congratulations on another trip around the sun. thank you for putting up with me for yet another year and here is to two very rich, very chaotic people who got married in vegas on a whim. you know how much i love you so i’m not gonna go around in circles but i love and appreciate you and your chaos and your talent.
