#freypicnic

[auroraelswood-blog]

where did the party go / aurora & harper

@harperheaventhings

From what he had told her, Harper Rhodes used to party quite a bit, and, while they’d smoked a few joints together and gotten oddly existential, they had never actually been to a party together, and having been invited to one by a friend from work, Aurora was absolutely dying to go.

“Come on, Harper,” she pleaded, all but on her knees and begging him to come with her. “I can’t go alone, and it’s going to be really fun.” Clasping her hands and looking over at him, she added with a small grin, “Come on, humor an old woman,” although she was only two years older than him. Perhaps that would give him enough of a laugh to convince him to come with her.

[pistolpiper]

Right before it started to get dark outside at the Founder’s Day Picnic, Piper made a momentary escape from the party grounds to her apartment. She wasn’t leaving, and hopefully no one who saw her dart off thought that. But Bandit, her sweet little angel of a furry best friend was at home, and had been all day. Who’s to say he couldn’t enjoy the picnic too? Everyone loved scruffy Australian shepherds with fur the color of milk chocolate, and he just loved people in general, so she knew it would work. He wasn’t a puppy, so he was pretty well-mannered, making her feel safe enough to walk him back into the picnic celebration.

“You can pet him if you’d like!” Piper gleamed upon seeing someone walk up to her.

[elizabethxdewhurst-blog]

“Sweetheart you need to stop running off...” Elizabeth mumbled as she kelt down in front of her daughter. “I’m really sorry about this..” She stated as she stood up and looked to the person in front of her, taking a firm grip of Andreas hand.

[briaremersxn-blog]

“— welcome to my stall of wonders-“ she grins brilliantly past the lollipop stick between her lips, leaning forward to prop her chin upon upturned palms.”Where you exchange cash for the sweet satisfaction of cavities.”

[kalarajian-blog]

sink or swim || joaquín & kala

@joaquinpacana

There wasn’t enough cotton candy in the world to keep seven-year-old Henry away from the lighthouse tours. Kala learned this because that’s exactly what they were in line for when her son overheard the tour guide announcing that the next group was about to go in and bolted off towards them. He wasn’t normally the type of kid to run off without warning, but give him enough sugar and the promise of something exciting, and his legs had a tendency of taking him places before Kala could give the OK. 

She followed after him, though, and spent an extra five minutes after the tour was over waiting for her son to finish marveling at the sight of the Maine horizon from the staircase window. The sun would begin its descent soon, and she didn’t want to keep the tour guide waiting to close up. Henry protested (”But mom, did you even look at the sky?”) at first, but fell into a fit of giggles when Kala hoisted him over her shoulder and carried him outside, setting him back down on the grass and ushering him off to their neighbor, who had agreed to play babysitter for a while. 

Once Henry reached his destination, Kala’s hands found her hips and she became aware of another body standing beside her. She thought she recognized the man, but that was what she thought about most people; surely she had seen everyone attending the picnic somewhere before-- at the grocery store, picking up their kids from school, during an early-morning coffee run. What she knew for sure, however, was that the man had just witnessed her carrying a very hyper child over her shoulder like a sack of flour. 

“I swear I’m not one of those moms who go on about being all organic and never letting their child have sugar,” she prompted in that polite, small-talk-with-strangers lilt. “But after tonight... my child might never have sugar again. As you have just witnessed, it has some interesting side-effects.” 

[pistolpiper]

@steviedwards

One of the few good things Piper got from her parents was a seventy-two pack of Copic markers, a pack of which she guarded with her life. That gift, when received in high school, was a true surprise to Piper, for two reasons. One, her parents didn’t believe art could be an actual profession, and two, they never supported her pursuit of art as a hobby. This gift was only a momentary calm in the storm that was the relationship between Piper and her parents, but a nice memory to look back on nonetheless.

Not only were Copic markers the epitome of the art world in terms of markers, they were fantastic and smooth when it came to doodling caricatures. This was one of her favorite things to do because it both showcased her artistic talent and sort of made fun of other people. Caricatures did it in a fun way though, highlighting a person’s most profound features to create a character version of the person.

Even though Piper had only been in Frey for less than a year, she felt more accepted by this quaint little town than she ever did by her family or Long Beach as a whole. She felt compelled to start fiddling with art again, having lost inspiration prior to her move. The Founder’s Day Picnic was the perfect place to find her muse again, and the happy feelings she had toward Frey helped fuel that idea.

After spending part of the day meandering around the picnic and enjoying everything it had to offer her, Piper decided to set up her caricature booth. Apparently she hadn’t mentioned to too many people in town that she was an artist, because most who passed by were surprised by her talent. This was a good feeling for Piper, and honestly set the mood for her doing way better with her doodles for the rest of the day. Just as she was finishing up a caricature for a couple, a familiar redhead approached the booth and Piper delayed her focus momentarily to wave a polite hello.

“Hey Stevie!” Piper gleamed, proud of remembering the woman’s name from a previous encounter. “You can go next, you know. There’s no line! That’s a limited time offer,” she said, in a playful, mock infomercial tone. 

[electricfelix]

Founder’s Day;

     Even though the Founder’s Day picnic wasn’t Felix’s usual club scene, they were happy to accept their hometown’s offer to play music for the event. A little planning ahead helped, considering Felix had to make a new picnic playlist free of dub step and other electronic favorites in exchange for more family friendly songs. Felix posted up at their DJ booth with their equipment and a hot dog, allowing “Dog Days are Over” by Florence and The Machine to flow from the speakers. Upon seeing someone approach them, Felix scooped their Beats off their ears, the headphones nuzzling around their neck.

     “You got a request?”

[rorywhitearchive]

      It’s been two months and she’s succeeding at being invisible. She doesn’t go out, makes a point to always get groceries after work at an hour most never went to the grocery store, and she’s been back in town but not really. She wasn’t fully there. Maybe she was just terrified of running into an old friend or even just a familiar face. Either way, the time had finally come for her to break her new recluse-like quality due to her work forcing her to cover the Founder’s Day Picnic. Looking up at the old lighthouse she once remembers sneaking into as a kid, she snaps a couple of photos. It wasn’t until after she put her camera down that she realized a bystander appeared to have been caught in the photo. Now she looked strange. “Oh,” she laughs softly, “Sorry, I swear I’m not creeping around taking pictures of you or anything. It’s for the newspaper.”