#noterase

[melodyback]

"capes are powerful, fashion forward, and scientifically proven to make life 24.2% more dramatic." CALEB 2 MAY

harvey girls forever. / accepting. / @noterase

       there are moments — brief, very brief moments! but moments, nonetheless — when may occasionally wishes that when they’d died, they’d simply stayed dead. as incredibly wonderful as the hollywood ghost club could be, she can’t help but wonder if perhaps the opportunity to continue performing from beyond the grave was worth the ... interesting company.

       ( not that she didn’t enjoy caleb’s, or, bless his heart, willie’s, or any of the others’ company! but they sure are an eclectic bunch, aren’t they? )

       ❛ mhm, ❜ she hums, pausing filing her nails as she glances up to the boss man and points the nail file in his direction, ❛ i never said they weren’t. but, ❜ and here she raises an eyebrow, glancing down at where caleb’s cape has stuck between a pile of chairs she’d watched dante pile up earlier and one of the tables closest to the wall, the thick fabric wedged tight between the two. she makes no move to stand up and help him, knowing he’ll poof his way out of it in seconds, and instead shrugs, offering him that sweet smile of hers. ❛ they can be rather impractical, is all. ❜

[mermade]

“ i’m not sure which of us i’m trying to convince ” one more bobby

the mermaid’s voice returns in this one. / accepting. / @noterase

        bell feels like she’s drowning. 

        it’s funny, because she’s been here before, hasn’t she? her mind grows fuzzy, her chest tightens, her body doesn’t belong to her. her mind hasn’t in days. the feeling is painfully, uncomfortably familiar, and she only sinks lower, air bubbling out of her chest, with the weight of the knowledge that the only other person aside from iris who knew why, who’d sat and listened to her and held her shaking hands as she’d explained the worst and best day of her life, who knew her completely, and who didn’t fault her for it, is ... was —

        her eyes meet bobby’s. 

        one glance at him tells her he’s feeling the same way. it’s not nearly as comforting as she’d hoped. his arms around her burn, and she burns back, two lost flames flickering pitifully around each other. the thought enters her mind half-formed, forcing its way through the haze of smoke in her head  — are they on their way to being extinguished too? the idea sparks something in her, but she can’t tell what it is. fear, or something else?

       they’re fine, though, or at least that’s what he says. she’s not sure if it’s something about the look on her face that makes him repeat it, or if it’s something creeping in his own mind. can they be convinced of anything anymore aside from the reality of how stupidly fleeting mortality really is?

       she tilts her head back, and it hits the crook of his neck. the collision knocks a what could be a laugh out of her, somehow sharp and blurry at once, and his burning arms tighten around her. their empty glasses reflect the light into her eyes, so she shuts them, and takes advantage of her position to press her lips against his jaw. he relaxes at that, and she does too, somewhere inside, so it must have been the right idea. it doesn’t feel right, but it feels good, and those are close enough, aren’t they? so she does it again, and something like a smile pulls at her lips. her eyes open eventually, and she tilts her head, meeting his eyes. they’re as clouded and unfocused as she’s sure her own are, and the almost-smile falls from her face. 

       ❛ both of us? ❜ the answer is met with silence, and she laughs again, even sharper — a sound like that would be more at home in bobby’s mouth. maybe he’s given it to her, passed between their lips. bell shakes her head, dead eyes more suited to the friends’ who’d left them behind staring back at his matching set. her chest aches. she wants to refill her glass. ❛ neither of us? ❜ 

       her voice comes out weaker than she’d expected, rendering what she’d meant as a joke into a confession, whispered to ears who can’t hear them anymore. if they anchor each other, will it save them? or is it pulling them deeper?

[kindofvertigo-m]

《 @noterase 〈 bobby 〉liked 》

          Reggie hadn’t been super comfortable with the idea of crashing in Bobby’s garage unannounced, but he couldn’t spend another second in his own home, and it wasn’t like Bobby hadn’t given him explicit permission to do so.

          His parents had reached that point in their argument where it stopped being about a specific issue. Neither of their voices held the animosity that the fight began with, but instead were heavy with exhausted defeat. Each time he would hear one of them beg for peace, he’d hold out a juvenile hope that the other would comply, that they’d end it there, and that Reggie would be able to sleep through the night without folding his pillow over his ears. But instead of their voices ceasing, they just grew more hopeless, and more strained.

          If he had any cash on him, he could have hit up a Denny’s or something. Not only would that have felt less like a home invasion, but it would have been nice to be surrounded by insulated walls and to get something warm in his stomach. It wasn’t like SoCal winters were brutal, but sub-forty was still enough to give a beach boy a chill in his bones.

          Just as Reggie was rolling up Bobby’s driveway and thinking that it would have been a good call to shove a blanket in his Jansport before he left, he noticed that the light was on in the garage. He walked his wheels up to the double door and dumped his bike out front. He probably should have knocked, or yelled, or something before walking in, but, as usual, his curiosity trumped his sense of etiquette.

          “Hey, uh -- dude? You good?”

[mermade]

"it’s not a documentary. you know that, right?" ALSO BOBBY

the last podcast on the left. / accepting. / @noterase

        ❛ shut up, i know that! you’re so mean to me! ❜ bell pouts, head tilted comically to the side as her face scrunches up in playful irritation. smacking bobby’s arm teasingly, she sticks her tongue out at him with a small laugh before turning back to the screen, settling back into the couch with a roll of the eyes.  

        ❛ i think i should be allowed to still be annoyed, though. like, yeah, whatever, obviously it’s not gonna be perfect, but c’mon, it just looks bad! ❜ her words are punctuated with a gesture towards the screen past her ankle propped up onto the table, painted nails reflecting the low lights of the garage’s lamp as she points towards the costume in question. her nose wrinkles once more before she turns to him, an eyebrow raised. ❛ like, i’m pretty sure my old silicone ones look better than that, and this is on a movie budget! they should be able to afford something nicer than that. ❜

        pointedly, she reaches towards the bowl of popcorn resting on his lap, a challenging grin slipping onto her face when she knows he notices. she figures she deserves it after he was oh so mean to her. tossing the popcorn into her mouth, she glances toward his watch as she reaches down for another kernel, eyebrows furrowing at the time. 

        ❛ okay, i didn’t realize it had been this long. ❜ she looks back up at him, amusement tugging a smile onto her face as she tilts her head to cast a glance at the still-shut garage doors as though they’d finally burst open when given attention. unfortunately for her and her empty stomach, they don’t.  ❛ you think they got into a fight over what kind of pizza we should get again? ugh, i knew we should’ve all gone together instead of letting them do it, luke could’ve carried me or something if he was that worried about my ankle. i’m hungry, they’ve been gone for ages! ❜

[bopcats]

《 @noterase 〈 willie 〉 a repurposed meme 》

said: ‘ you’re gonna see some serious shit. ’

          It was stupid, because watching him do it without totally wiping out didn’t necessarily mean that she’d be able to. But it was also genius -- because who better to test whether this was actually possible than someone who -- if he did end up wiping out -- literally couldn’t die.

          It wasn’t like Charlie hadn’t seen videos of skaters conquering this particular hill before, but something about seeing someone do it in front of her -- not exactly live, but definitely in person -- might give her that last bit of reassurance she needed to just go for it.

          She sat at the top of Baxter Street with her legs sprawled out in front of her, fingers drumming on the pavement between her thighs. She looked determidly over the patchy, cracked blacktop of one of the steepest roads in LA, and thought about how pants-shittingly frightening it would feel to shred down it on her skates ----- but also how world-dominatingly powerful she’d feel if she made it to the bottom without her skull cracking open.

          She had to do it. She couldn’t not do it. And if anyone understood the absolute necessity of that thrill -- it was Willie.

          “Okay.” She nodded with her gaze still fixed on the slope, then she looked up at her friend. “You first.”

[kindofvertigo-m]

《 @noterase 〈 willie 〉 a meme 》

said: “ that has to be it, right? wow, i’m cute AND clever! “

          If it had been anyone else -- Reggie, for instance -- Alex would have thought the double brag was overkill. But looking at Willie now, with that laid back and not too cocky smile on his face, Alex didn’t have it in him to deny either of his proclamations. At least not without hiding it behind a thin veil of sarcasm.

          “Well, look at you.” He said in a tone so cheery it was teetering on performative. “You’ve known us for how long and you’ve already figured that one out?” His dorky grin softened the bite of his words.

          Alex was less impressed with Willie’s ability to put together that Sunset Curve was a direct reference to Dead Man’s Curve on Sunset Boulevard, than he was with the fact that Willie had put any thought into their band name at all.

          Willie had been thinking about him.

          “Luke thought it would be so hardcore at the time --” Alex shrugged and laughed at the memory. “Obviously we didn’t predict how gnarly the irony would be.”

[pehters]

@noterase​ asked :  “ hey, sorry i’m late. i didn’t want to come. ”

               HE GLANCED OVER mildly at Bobby as he continued setting up his area. A six-string and the amp cord came out first, and then the back-up guitar each of the boys had in case they broke a string or something in the middle of a performance. Luke had even drilled them before in just how quickly they could change out their guitars if something happened in the middle of a song, and he’d been right to do so. Reggie remembered a gig only a couple’a months back where his finger had been sliced nearly clean off when a string snapped, but he’d been able to change everything out in less than twenty seconds and wrap his hand with his shirt. 

The white shirt with the breast pocket had been ruined, but he had one other white shirt, so that was okay. 

“Glad you could join us,” he said while Luke and Alex were discussing adding a drum solo at the end of the set they were planning for the club that Friday. “Luke woulda had a CAT if you hadn’t come. Something happen?”