Reckless Ambition

Rebecca Stark. Yes that Rebecca Stark.

[theliteraryjournals]

…One day—preferably when we’re both blind drunk—we can talk about it.

J.D. Salinger,  Franny and Zooey (via piano-chords)

@nvtcjvke

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Becca + Onion Headlines (2/?)

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Arrested Starks (3/?)

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@isabellebarnes :

“Hey,” she smiled, glad that Rebecca was awake. Though she’d known her friend was alright, or at least alive, it was still a relief to be able to talk to her. Her head shook softly in response to the question. “No, not as far as I know, anyway.” Perhaps tomorrow there would be more tests, but as far as she was aware, Rebecca was free to rest for the night. “I just came to see how you’re doing. I’ve been worried.”

“Don’t worry about me,” Becca said, more out of reflex than anything else. Maybe this woman should worry about her. It wasn’t like Becca hadn’t been worried about herself. She wondered who else she was supposed to be worried about. Besides the other girls in her room, who was she supposed to care about? There had to be more. “How are you?” she asked. “Are you hurt?”

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@callieannestark :

Calista looked at her when she closed her eyes, she still wasn’t sure what had happened to Becca, but she wasn’t sure if she could fall asleep. “Hey… don’t sleep, ok?” She said and went over to turn off a few of the lights, making the room less bright. She shrugged at her question. “I’m not sure… You got hurt so.. maybe they’ll want to keep you here a little longer to keep an eye on your recovery…” She told her sister as she brought her knees up. “I.. I also don’t know where is home anymore… The campus was… pretty much destroyed…” She sighed and rested her chin on her knees. “But you don’t have to worry about that now, just focus on getting better….” she said.

“What do you mean?” Becca asked, wanting to sit up but knowing she shouldn’t. It felt like that’s what she should be doing, sitting up. That’s what you were supposed to do when you got news like campus was destroyed and I don’t know where home is anymore. You sat up in bed and demanded answers. Instead she was stuck lying there, waiting for someone to tell her what the fuck was going on. “What happened to the campus?”

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@starrrrkz​

The doctors and nurses continued to brief him on the states of his children. Unfortunately, the one he feared for the most was Rebecca. Their relationship, although much improved from what it used to be, was still fragile. And so, when informed about her memory loss, Tony was thrown into a state of panic.

How the fuck was he supposed to handle this situation? Was it bad of him to slightly hope she’d forgotten her animosity towards him?

A label is stuck on the lapel of his suit reading: ‘HELLO MY NAME IS: DAD’. Tony’s face ticked in a way that hadn’t for a long time, and he entered the room holding a large canvas that her students had painted for her. ❝  I mean, really, I don’t think I could’ve made it any more obvious… ❞  He says carefully, lips spreading into a soft smile.❝  This,❞  he gestures to the canvas, ❝  is from your students. Where do you want me to put it ? ❞

Becca hardly recognized the man wearing the “HELLO MY NAMES IS: DAD” tag. Part of her wondered if it was a joke. Like, haha, let’s convince the amnesiac this stranger is her father. It’ll be hilarious. But as her got closer, she saw he had the same eyes as the girl from earlier. Her sister, she reminded herself. Her father and her sister had the same eyes.

“Thanks, dad,” she said, forcing a smile. It didn’t hurt as much as, say, laughing, but it felt foreign, like maybe she didn’t do it as often as she had been.

Or maybe she’d just had less to smile about lately.

“Wherever is fine,” she said, in regards to the painting. “I can’t... I can’t exactly see it all that well, anyway.”

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Becca + Onion Headline (1/?)

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@isabellebarnes :

It was late when Isabelle got the call telling her Rebecca was allowed visitors, but she didn’t care, and immediately asked the cab driver to turn around and take her to the hospital instead of continuing on to her apartment.

For once she was almost glad that she wasn’t able to drive given her fractured ribs; it meant she was able to quickly pay the driver and step out of the vehicle rather than trying to find a place to park, thus meaning she was able to get to her friend’s room that much quicker.

The nurse who let her in warned her that she wouldn’t be able to stay long, but Isabelle didn’t mind. As long as she got to see Rebecca, to see with her own eyes that she was okay, that was the most important thing.

Flashing a brief smile at the other Starks in the room, Isabelle took a seat beside Rebecca’s bed. “Becca?” she spoke quietly, not loud enough to disturb her friend if she was asleep.

Becca’s eyes fluttered open to a familiar face. A person she knew, but not sure how or why. Just a dark haired woman with pretty eyes who clearly knew her.

“H... Hi,” she said, offering a smile that didn’t seem too obviously confused. “Do they... do they need to run more tests?” she asked, unable to look up and see if there were any doctors in the room readying to stick more needles in her.

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@callieannestark :

“A few days passed, I think…. It’s January 5th…” she said and leaned back a little. “You’re gonna be ok…. I’ll make sure you do…” she smiled gently and jumped slightly when someone passed by the door, dragging something that made noise. “It’s loud in here…” she murmured and brought a hand up to adjust her hearing aids slightly, wanting to hear a little lower, at least while she still seemed sensitive to light and sound.

Fuck, that was a full week that Becca was missing. More than a week, technically. Fuck. Was that going to be gone forever? What was she supposed to do knowing she had forgotten a full week of her life? (Nevermind all the other shit she had forgotten). “Too bright,” Becca said, closing her eyes again. The doctors didn’t want her sleeping on account of the whole concussion thing, but she was just so exhausted. “Do you... do you know when I can go home?” she asked, though she wasn’t totally sure where home was. On campus, probably. She liked the idea of Malibu, though. Looking out at the ocean felt like home, too.

[hopesumners]

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@callieannestark :

“Hey hey… shh… don’t worry about it, you’ll remember eventually… you’re strong…” she smiled softly and stroked her hair back. “Just focus on getting better, ok?” She said and pulled a chair to sit beside her. “The memories of what happened will come… You’ll remember…” She smiled and suddenly she frowned. If she didn’t remembered what happened… what else did she forgot? “But tell me…. Do you know what day is today?” She asked, wanting to sound absentminded but actually studying her answer.

New Years. That was what was on the horizon. She was making plans for New Years with... someone. What would that put her at? Past Christmas? Probably? “The twenty-seventh?” she said with all the confidence of a woman who had fallen some three stories through a glass window. Ha! At least she remembered that much. Unless it was less. How many stories could a person fall and survive? Probably as many as Becca had fallen. “It... it’s around the twenty-seventh, right?”

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@pepperceo :

It had gone without saying that whilst they were dividing and conquering with the kids, Becca was going to be in Pepper’s round. She been asleep still when she’d first come by and the Mother had quickly attached herself to a task to distract her mind in the meantime. They needed to be able to swap through rooms at a moments notice and having two of her four in different halls and floors didn’t work for Mrs. Potts-Stark. So once the matter had been sorted Pepper moved in just as Becca began to wake. Heels clicking against the floor she quickly took to her bedside softly moving a strand of hair out of her daughter’s eyes. “Morning sleepy-head.” She spoke softly reminiscent of days when their family home was much louder and her children were all much younger. “You were out like a light when I came in before.” She explained keeping her voice at a gentle tone. “The Doctor told me your head might be a little shaky for a bit, memories swapped around— missing.” Pepper swallowed thickly trying to push down the guilt she felt watching her daughter laying there in bed so pale with her dark mass of hair. She wished she could switch places with her, with all of her girls, suck in every ounce of pain they were in. “I was at work, I left as soon as I got the call—” That horrifying phone-call. “I’m— I’m sorry I couldn’t get here quicker.”

Crying. Becca did not like crying. Not for herself and certainly not from a woman she barely recognized. “’M okay,” she croaked out. “’M just... Confused.” She took a deep breath, which hurt so much she considered never doing it ever again. “My chest...” She looked back at the red headed woman and started crying. She should know her. She should know this woman. She knew who this woman was. It was there, in the back of her head. It had to be.

“No,” Becca said. “No, it’s fine... you... don’t wo... don’t worry about me.” She felt sick. She went over what she knew in her head, grasping for any straws. “Did they tell you... Do you know what happened?” she asked.

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@callieannestark :

Calista looked over at her sister, biting her lip. “Well… Mom and dad are here now… And Alli broke her legs… I’m ok, and Dora’s scared…” the bandage on her forehead showed that Callie wasn’t exactly ‘fine’. “Do you remember what happened?” She asked, fiddling with the hem of her shirt. She noticed how weak her sister seemed and frowned a little. “Just rest… You’re weak, you need to recover, mom’s probably on her way.. She’s gonna be here soon and everything will be ok…” She tried to assure her sister and smiled softly, yet fondly at her, her usual ‘comforting big sister’ smile.

She looked up at the IV and swallowed a little. “I’m sorry I wasn’t there…” She apologized and moved some hair away from her face. “We’re gonna take care of you now… make sure you’re safe…”” She nodded.

Mom and dad... Sister. This was her sister. And Alli and Dora? Were they sisters, too? Or just friends? Cousins? How many sisters did Becca have? How many siblings? “I... I don’t know,” she said, choked more like. “I don’t know what happened.”

Tears started forming in her eyes. Crying hurt her chest like a mother, but she couldn’t help it. What happened? What the fuck had happened.

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@callieannestark :

Calista had been with her sisters on their room, it wasn’t hers but she didn’t wanted to be away from her family, not now. Nor Dora or Alli were awake and deep down she was glad they could get some sleep. She perked up as the nurses seemed to bring a gourney in, she gasped as she saw Becca, waiting impatiently until the nurses finished setting her before looking over at her. “Hey… Becca, are you ok? We were all so worried…” She asked softly, not wanting to startle her.

She waited for an answer as she fiddled with her hair nervously. Becca’s state worried her, she seemed to be in a bad situation and she only managed to fele even more guilty.

Becca blinked open her eyes at the figure over her. She was short, and looked familiar, she wracked her brain for a name, but came up empty. 

“’M fine,” she croaked, her voice horse from dehydration. They had an IV hooked up, but it hurt to swallow still. “Just... just confused.” She considered again who the woman above her was. She couldn’t really look around, but if this woman was already here, then the we who were all so worried about her must have been in there too. “H...how is ‘veryone?”

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Arrested Starks (2/?)

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Memories had slowly come back to Becca. Or, maybe not memories, but knowledge. She was Rebecca Stark. She was an artist. She taught art to elementary schoolers. She didn’t remember any of her students names, or anything she’d ever drawn, but she knew those things.

She hadn’t looked in a mirror the whole time she had been here. She didn’t know if she would recognize herself as she did.

The nurse’s were transferring her. They kept buzzing about it. Moving her away from the death smell that filled her current room to someplace where her family was. They just needed to get the go ahead from her doctor that she could move without re-puncturing a lung. Once it was all good, they strapped her down and pushed her away. All she saw was the tile ceiling and fluorescent lights as they wheeled her to a calmer area of the hospital./small>

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on and off | plot dump | self-para

Becca hated the hospital.

Look, no one liked the hospital, but waking up on a stretcher surrounded by strangers and fluorescent lights with the worse pain in her chest she had ever felt was right up there with spiders in terms of unreasonable fears for Becca.

Especially when Becca couldn’t even remember her own name.

She didn’t know where she was, initially. The nurse, who seemed nice enough, filled her in. 

There had been a series of earthquakes, she had fallen out a window, ended up with a couple broken ribs and a concussion. 

They wheeled her into a semi-private room, cutting off her view of her fellow injured with a floral curtain. 

There was internal bleeding. 

They took her blood pressure and temperature, murmuring among themselves how hot she was running.

They needed to keep her overnight for observation. 

Becca kept quiet as the medical professionals moved around her. She let them poke and prod her, really just wanting to go to the fuck to sleep. She felt around for her phone, but her hospital gown didn’t exactly have pockets. A doctor told her not to move.

Could she tell the doctors what she had been doing before the fall?

A pause. “I can’t remember.”

The nurse nodded, looking cautiously at the doctors, then back at Becca. She took a pen-light from her pocket and shined it in Becca’s eyes.

“Can you tell us what day it is?”

Becca remembered planning for New Years Eve, getting a group together for parties...

“The twenty-ninth?” She asked.

Another concerned look.

“Is there anyone you’d like for us to call, sweetie?” the nurse asked.

Becca looked to her arm, where they were changing her IV. There were doctors in the doorway whispering to one another and averting their gaze when they caught Becca staring. She looked back at the nurse.

“I don’t know,” Becca said, eyes brimming with tears. “I... I don’t know.”