#cryforlxve

[btwnthepines]

ᄃᄂӨƧΣD .ᐟ 𝗦𝗧𝗔𝗥𝗧𝗘𝗥 𝗳𝗼𝗿

@cryforlxve

THE ROLL OF LUGGAGE WHEELS gliding over the polished hardwood in the foyer once carried a different significance; it heralded a return to homebase with memories anew, spirits elevated and still thrumming with adrenaline from a place freshly traversed, an eagerness to document their tales in a fresh blog post to share with those who lived vicariously through their travels and love. now, it carried a burden of newfound gravity. genie quickened her pace by half a step as they crossed the threshold of their home, creating an imperceptible distance between where max trailed behind.

a week away in chile, immersed in the vibrant local culture and the hidden monuments that eluded the typical tourist's gaze, should have been another perfect recipe for an exciting getaway with her soulmate. instead, it meant tirelessly oscillating between the reactive, awkward, withdrawn entity that her separation from max had summoned, and the carefree, hopelessly enamored online persona that the world around her anticipated. in short, she was exhausted.

physically, mentally, emotionally.

"i'll start uploading and drafting the post," she murmured, her gaze flickering up to meet his for just a fleeting moment, for she found it too taxing to maintain the facade of complete indifference. even the briefest of glimpses, whether taken in secret or not, sufficed to sustain her aching heart. "i'll put away my suitcases later." she wouldn't, she was notorious for leaving the unpacking to the last minute.

[btwnthepines]

ᄃᄂӨƧΣD .ᐟ 𝗦𝗧𝗔𝗥𝗧𝗘𝗥 𝗳𝗼𝗿

@cryforlxve

"SO YOU MEAN TO TELL ME..." rocky allowed the opening sentence of his statement be suspend in the space between them, his expression contorting into an amalgam of feigned condemnation and exaggerated offense. as though the confession elira had just uttered was the most damning revelation he had ever encountered.

"…you've never seen a single star wars movie?" as he topped up her cup of tea, he let out an anguished breath. "i am down right, ah-ppalled, by your lack of cinematic culture elira sora. who knows how this is going to affect our exchanges going forward."

[btwnthepines]

𝚘𝚗 𝚊𝚗 𝚒𝚜𝚕𝚊𝚗𝚍 .ᐟ IN THE SUN

CLOSED EVENT STARTER FROM: DANTE @cryforlxve WHERE: PRIDE PARADE

the bass from the lead float was vibrating straight through the soles of dante's boots, so loud he could practically feel it in his teeth, and it was a vibe. at the helm stood the matchmaking queen herself, absolutely radiant in a blinding cloud of pink taffeta, waving like royalty. dante himself had pulled out all the stops for the town's pride parade, treating the asphalt like a runway. the sheer, neon yellow mesh top clung flawlessly to his torso; if this was going to be his inaugural pride event in a zip code that boasted more tractors than traffic lights, he was going to make sure they knew exactly what they were missing out on in the big city. "hold on to my hair, babes, but if you ruin the blowout i will personally revoke your bedside manner privileges," dante shouted over the roar of the crowd. he adjusted his grip on vivi’s thighs, anchoring her. she was currently hoisted up on his shoulders like a beautiful hazard to society, wildly waving a massive rainbow flag with a lethal lack of spatial awareness. she screamed her lungs out as a makeshift local float crept down the street; bless their hearts, it was just a flatbed covered in crinkled tinfoil and lopsided balloon arches.

dante snorted, a sound of pure amusement, adjusting his stance as she shifted her weight to cheer for a group of local librarians marching with rainbow capes. lifting her didn't take an ounce of sweat, leaving him free to fully enjoy his role as her fabulously dressed throne amongst the noise and the cheap confetti sticking to his lip gloss. his hips caught the rhythm of the blaring bass, beginning a slow swivel that was entirely for his own entertainment.

then he spotted it; an approaching truck with a bed full of glitter batons. dante practically bounced on his heels, a tiny, impish snicker escaping his lips as their combined equilibrium shifted. he tightened his hands on her legs just a fraction; a silent, confident promise that he would never, ever let her fall. "catch me a blue one, honey!" dante yelled up into the wind, flashing a dazzling, gloss coated grin at the sky. "it matches the belt, and you know i’m a stickler for color coordination!"

[btwnthepines]

𝚘𝚗 𝚊𝚗 𝚒𝚜𝚕𝚊𝚗𝚍 .ᐟ IN THE SUN

CLOSED EVENT STARTER FROM: SHREYA @cryforlxve WHERE: PINEHAVEN CARNIVAL

the smell of overheated grease and diesel exhaust hung heavy in the humid summer air, a chaotic sensory assault that had shreya internally sputtering. the pinehaven carnival had officially taken over the fairgrounds, transforming the quiet stretch of grass into a pulsing labyrinth of flashing neon and questionable structural engineering. with a distinct pout pulling at her lips, she scanned the passing crowd with a practiced hypervigilance. to her left, the tilt a whirl creaked under the weight of screaming teenagers, its wheezing clanking registering to her ears as a massive mechanical failure waiting to happen. "if you consume another milliliter of that carbonated dairy disaster, indy, i am legally absolving myself of any medical responsibility when your stomach lining inevitably rebels," shreya said, attention dropping back down to the meticulously color coded map of the fairgrounds she had pulled up on her phone.

she paused, her gaze shifting from her screen to the rusted metal supports of a nearby roller coaster track, then back to the man beside her. "furthermore, i am genuinely baffled by your lack of professional concern," she added, her tone dropping into a dry, precise clip. "doesn't half of your day to day duties at the station involve cataloging structural safety infractions, yet you're walking through all of this traveling machinery that likely barely managed to scrape past the regional fire and safety codes with an entirely unbothered expression. the electrical wiring on that funnel cake booth alone is a localized catastrophe waiting to happen."

the subsequent huff left her lips fast. the pure irony of her lecture would eventually come to a head when, at the end of the night, she'd likely admit to him that she was having a grand time. but that was the absolute essence of shreya. she had to let the meticulous cogs in her mind whirl until it entirely exhausted itself, calculating every single risk in her path, before she could finally mellow out and just enjoy the ride.

[btwnthepines]

𝚘𝚗 𝚊𝚗 𝚒𝚜𝚕𝚊𝚗𝚍 .ᐟ IN THE SUN

CLOSED EVENT STARTER FROM: VALENTINA @cryforlxve WHERE: XAVIER'S PLACE

the silence of the previous few months had not been a simple absence of sound, nor had it been the domestic sort of quiet that settles over a house after an argument has run its natural course. it had felt, to valentina, like an act of starvation. a withholding of oxygen. she stood on the narrow, salt pitted concrete slab just outside xavier’s front door, her hands shoved deep into the pockets of her jacket, feeling the familiar weight of her own stubbornness pressing inward against her ribs like a cracked bone that hadn't healed right.

she had not spoken a single word to her older brother since the night of the explosion outside the pinehaven precinct. that had been less of a fight and more of a scorched earth campaign, the kind of screaming match born entirely from the grey, marrow deep exhaustion of yet another late night bail out from yet another back alley bar fight. they had stood in the gravel lot under the yellow buzz of the streetlights, throwing cruel, hook shaped words into the dark. things designed specifically to bypass the skin and tear directly through the bone. and then, when the venom ran dry, they had simply ceased to exist to one another.

but xavier was getting married.

the sharp reality of him standing at an altar, pledging his life away while the two of them were still operating under the malice of a cold war, made valentina’s stomach turn with a rare, wholly unwelcome sensation; raw panic. she didn't knock. valentina didn't do courtesies, least of all with the man who had spent the better part of her life dragging her by the collar out of both metaphorical and literal ditches. instead, her fingers fumbled in the dark of her pocket until they caught the cold edge of her old brass key. she shoved it into the lock with a hard, impatient twist and let herself in. the heavy thud of her boots against his polished hardwood floor immediately shattered the stillness of the foyer, announcing her arrival like a gunshot.

she found him exactly where she knew he would be, sitting under the low glow of the pendant lights at the kitchen island, a half empty mug between his thick palms. rather than hovering on the threshold, she made the split second decision to skip the preamble entirely, to bypass the months of rotting pride and dive straight into the marrow of the thing. straight through the bullshit. "alright, you know i'm bad at this shit, so here it fucking is." valentina didn't look at his face; couldn't, not yet. her own fingers curled so tightly into the meat of her palms that her short nails dug red crescents into the skin. "i didn't mean what i said. of course i fucking didn't. i was bleeding, i was drunk, and i was mostly just pissed off because you were right. like you always are."

[btwnthepines]

@cryforlxve

evie is typing ✉︎ ➜: [ unsent ] has enough time passed for this not to be extremely awkward, let's find out. evie is typing ✉︎ ➜: TACTICAL LEGAL EMERGENCY 🚨🚨 ✉︎ ➜: how skilled would you say you are on the subject of corporate espionage? asking for a friend

[btwnthepines]

"give me tonight i won't ask for anything else" - max & genie

@cryforlxve

the deed was done. at last, truly done, and imogene found herself loathing the very concept of finality. she had long made a habit of outrunning endings, dancing just ahead of the inevitable until it finally descended like a shroud, leaving her scrambling to process the wreckage. now, there was nowhere left to run. the final checkered tile had been laid in the front hall; the last coat of paint had dried in the sunroom, gleaming under a mocking sun. even the digital remnants of their life were polished and shelved, the final stills of their montenegro vlog edited and drafted. in the corner of the room, max’s bags stood like silent sentinels, packed for a departure into a life that no longer featured her.

for the last twenty four hours, genie had marinated in the brine of impending loss. she was unable to marvel at the house, this beautiful, completed thing, knowing it was destined to become a sprawling, atmospheric tomb. she would rot here in the quiet, a prisoner of her own design. and the worst of it, the sharpest blade in the dark, was the knowledge that it was entirely her fault. she sat in the dim light of the kitchen, staring forlornly at containers of untouched takeout. the silence was a rehearsal for the rest of her life; she would have to get used to eating alone now.

then, the floorboards groaned, and the silence shattered. max's voice cutting through the stillness. give me tonight i won't ask for anything else

genie felt a storm of contradictions surge within her; a frantic, hot yearning colliding with a harrowing grief. her eyes rounded, swelling with unshed tears that turned the room into a glossy, fractured blur. but she rose slowly, her gaze locked onto his as if he were the only tether keeping her from drifting into the ether. and he was.

she crossed the room with the deliberate grace of a woman walking toward a beautiful ruin. when she reached him, her hands found his chest, feeling the steady thrum of a heart she was about to lose. she tilted her head back, offering him a smile that tasted of salt and bittersweet surrender. if this was to be their last night together, their final, lingering farewell, she would damn sure make it a proper one. her fingers dug into the fabric of his shirt, anchoring her, and she pulled him down to smash her lips against his in a desperate, final plea.

[btwnthepines]

paper faces on parade .ᐟ MASQUERADE

CLOSED STARTER FOR : @cryforlxve ☆ TAE-YEOL

"THE TOWN SHOULD do more of these types of events," whitley mused out loud, a rare expression of mirth on her face, however slight as she and tae-yeol watched the fanfare around them. though she may not have seamlessly blended into the effortless rhythm of communal celebration and socialization, it did not diminish her delight in observing the joy of others as they reveled in their merriment. "you've had a perturbed look on your face for a while, and I find myself at a loss to understand its origin."