writing music had always been therapeutic for emilia. it was a satisfying way to get out all of her feelings, positive or negative, and turn them into art; like turning an unrefined, jagged piece of glass into a smooth, beautiful piece of glass. a new addition that made these creation sessions even better was ivy. the pair essentially bore their souls every time they sat down to write and emilia was thankful to have the brunette to lean on, she could only hope that she offered the same comfort to ivy. “okay,” she said upon re-entering the room with a charcuterie board. “we officially have snacks.” she gently placed the board onto the coffee table before meeting ivy’s eyes once again. “some of your favourites, some of my favourites, a lot of our favourites.”
eager not to waste any time, she reached for a macaron and took a bite. not only was the sound deeply satisfying but the sweet treat hit the right spot and helped put the brunette at ease. “—how are we feeling about water infusions today?” she asked once she finished the macaron, “mint and berry, or maybe mint and cucumber, or should we be fun and flirty and go citrus?”
SPYRIDON WASN’T very good at keeping out of trouble ; he never meant - and rarely caused - any real harm , but he was simply the type of person who had consistently found himself in trouble with whoever was in charge wherever he happened to be . unfortunately , today was no different . while waiting for emilia to meet him at one of their favourite cafes just off the avenue , spyro had tried to subtly steal one of the cookies out of the jar on the counter while it was momentarily unmanned . of course , this hadn’t gone to plan , and after accidentally knocking over the entire jar - along with the plate containing a cheesecake next to it - spyridon had walked out of the store as quickly as possible , trying his very hardest to conceal his laughter as he left .
it was when he spotted emilia that he finally broke , snorting loudly as he gestured for her to keep walking quickly along side of him , away from the cafe and away from trouble . “ i’m so embarrassed , i literally just made the biggest mess in the cafe and we cannot go back . ” he spoke through laughter , though he was still trying to look casual in case anyone from the store came out to see if they could spot who had done the damage .
she was pulled out of her train of thought in an instant by spyridon, momentarily vexed when her friend insisted that they kept walking. for a moment, she wondered if the cafe had moved without her knowledge or if she had just missed it somehow, but upon seeing the cafe, standing tall in the very same spot, she knew something else was wrong and her suspicion was confirmed when she met eyes with her friend who wore a guilty expression and could hardly contain his laughter upon seeing her. “oh no, what—” she began to ask, unable to help from chuckling along with him. “what do you mean by mess? like, ‘oops we can’t go to little russo’s anymore because hot waiter james assumed we were exclusive after two dates and showed up to surprise me with roses, inadvertently catching me coming home from a date with even hotter hostess isabella’ mess?”
her eyes focused on his expression and attempted to extract the information but came up short. although she felt the urge to, she refused to peer into the cafe in fear that they’d come out to either chastise or bill them for whatever mess spyridon made. “they’ve just memorised my order, spyro—” she teased, her words dripping in artificial offence. “you really don’t want to come between me and my cold brew.”
Joaquin made the conscious decision to work most days of the week, it was better than the alternative of staying at home and slowly boring himself to death. However, Angel’s had a habit of being hectic on a Friday & Saturday night so Joaquin allowed himself the Sunday to gain some composure back. His favourite way to do so was to spend a few hours in the local coffee shop, a dog-eared book on the table and a few coffees to keep him going before inevitably going home to pass out at around six. For the most part, his day of peace had been going well but the empty seat in front of him being taken up was an interruption unwanted.
“No, go ahead, the seat’s all yours…” He said under his breath, taking a peek up at the other person before turning his attention back down to his book― talkative was never a mood Joaquin found himself in and he wasn’t planning to give it a spin now.
“Thank you. I owe you one.” Emilia felt a wave of relief wash over her when Joaquin offered her the seat, setting her cup and saucer onto the table and sitting down almost instantly. She truly couldn’t withstand more time looking like a lost sheep in the middle of a bustling cafe, amidst a group of strangers. Although she had only met Joaquin a few times, she was well aware of his affinity for solitude and the peace that came with it. Emilia, on the other hand, was the complete opposite and felt rather uncomfortable in silence. Especially when there was so much she could learn about the acquaintance that sat in front of her with his dog-eared book — was he a total monster?
In favour of respecting his implicit wishes, she remained to herself and focused on her festive coffee, taking snapshots of the beverage before she paused; a thought dawning on her. Her eyes slowly moved onto him and a slight smile danced across her lips. “Joaquin,” she began as sweetly as she possibly could, gently tapping his forearm with her finger. “Would you— could you please help me take some cute pictures with my coffee for Instagram? I’ll credit you!”
she was between clients, as such, often leaving a couple of hours break for a chance to meet clients a more natural way than just arranging meetings with them. touching up her lipstick, she was swaying slightly to the music as jade hues locked in the mirror and studied each inch of her reflection for any signs of imperfection, hair in the wrong place and detracting away from the opinion she tried to give out. she paused in what she was doing as she saw someone approaching from the corner of her eye and glanced up with a slight smirk, “you’re welcome to join me if you like? I won’t bite…unless you’re into that.” she teased, quickly returning her attention for a final check in the mirror.
emilia couldn’t quite explain why she felt inclined to approach the brunette. of course, there was the apparent reason — she was utterly gorgeous, but it felt a little deeper than a surface level attraction. the brunette’s aura was alluring, it was inexplicable and instead of fighting it, emilia found herself walking over to her. she had never been particularly skilled at denying herself of things she wanted and she certainly wasn’t going to start now. mind running a mile a minute as she walked over, trying to think of something witty and charming to say in an attempt to save herself from looking like a babbling idiot but the woman ended up beating her to the punch, eliciting a soft chuckle from her. “my safe word is cantaloupe,” she teased with a smirk. “bite away.”
LEAP OF FAITH was almost entirely empty , aside from the few employees that were slowly working on little things that needed to be fixed before tonight’s performance . river had his usual feelings of anxiety flowing through his body as he sat at the piano , his chest rising and falling slightly faster than usual while he sang along to the music he played . tiny dancer wasn’t usually on his set list - it wasn’t on tonight’s - but as he knew the song so well , he always liked to play it during soundcheck . he was just finishing the first chorus when he noticed someone walking into the performance space , throwing him off his groove completely , causing him to stop singing and to stop playing the piano . “ can i help you ? we’re not actually open yet . it’s just soundcheck . ” he smiled a friendly smile , wanting them to know that they weren’t in trouble , but that he was simply just curious to know why they now stood beside the stage . @avenuestart
emilia’s expression crinkled in discomfort when the music and singing stopped abruptly, feeling rather guilty that she had disrupted the peace of the player but it was too late to walk out and wipe the moment from her memory. she had been noticed. “i—” she began with a slight chuckle, flustered as she searched for the correct words to use; words that wouldn’t paint her in a strange light but she felt like she was coming up short. “so sorry to interrupt, i really didn’t mean to startle you—” she moved closer cautiously, “i don’t really know why i’m here, i just heard you and it pulled me in,” she offered with a smile, feeling rather sheepish like she had admitted to something she shouldn’t have. “you sounded great, by the way.” she paused momentarily, eyes focused on the piano, “i love my keyboard but there’s just something about an actual piano— would you mind if i stayed, and maybe sang with you?”
Betty didn’t let herself go out much outside of work, she danced for a living so why would she want to spend all her free time in among a sweaty crowd? However, her shift had been switched without her knowledge and considering she was already dressed up, she thought it a waste to head home and wash away all her effort. That was how she’d found herself dancing as though there was no one watching, or as if no one was around― which was fine until she caught herself bumping into a body on her left.
“Oh― shit, sorry!” She pushed her hair out from her face and laughed, giggly from a few cocktails she’d gotten free at the bar after flashing a little cleavage. “Didn’t catch you too hard, did I?”
Despite knowing that disaster was imminent, Emilia couldn’t help but watch as the two strangers inched closer to one another without realising before they inevitably collided. A cocktail paid the ultimate sacrifice, split onto its owner’s clothing and the floor instead of enjoyed without remorse. Perhaps she could have stopped the interaction, prevented the spilling of any drink but she wasn’t dressed to be the saviour, not tonight, she mused as she glanced down at her newly purchased suede stilettos.
She watched the scene for a moment more before throwing back the rest of her own drink, desperate to be helpful in this situation even though the spill had more or less been cleaned up by the staff. “I am here to save the day,” she announced proudly upon reaching the strangers. Upon her arrival, the ever so clumsy stranger left to clean themselves up. The brunette’s eyes settled onto the smiling woman, momentarily scanning her striking features before realising a minute had passed without her saying anything. “I— I— I mean,” she giggled, easily bemused by her alcohol consumption. “—you ... can I get you something?”
hey look, it’s EMILIA BENNETT! she’s TWENTY-EIGHT years old and originally from NASHVILLE, TN. now she’s in new york, working as a PERFORMER at LULU’S. i heard she’s pretty FRIVOLOUS, but i think she’s so GENEROUS at the same time. has she found her calling on the avenue ? ➸ pansexual, cis female + she/her.
STATS:
full name: emilia bennett
nicknames: em, emmy ( reserved for close friends and family ), lia, phoenix ( stage name )
age / dob: 28 / june 10th
hometown: nashville, tn
zodiac: gemini
occupation: performer ( lulu’s ), online content creator
sexual orientation: pansexual
eye color: brown
hair color: brunette/blonde balayage
PERSONALITY:
emilia is kind-hearted, bubbly and so cheerful it’s annoying. she will always seek to help her friends, family and the people surrounding her whenever she can. however, her follow through leaves something to be desired. it isn’t that she doesn’t want to help or that she’s pretending to be interested when she agrees, she genuinely forgets mere moments after making the promise when something new comes up, and that leads to dogs that haven’t been walked, payments that haven’t been made, lunches that have been missed and the list goes on and on. with her privileged upbringing comes a naivety and the belief that everything has a simple fix. this leads to her being insulting and dismissing problems quickly without ever intending to. when she realises that she has hurt someone, she will not stop until she has made amends. despite her actions, she always means well.
INFO:
— the baby of the family, emilia was born with a silver spoon in her mouth, never asked for anything but received absolutely everything. not only did her parents dote on her, but her siblings did as well.
— despite her privileged upbringing, her parents insisted on kindness and constantly asked her to think about what she could do to help others; they had family dinners together at least once a week and remain close despite being on different sides of the country.
— she has a strained relationship with her grandparents ( mother’s side ) due to her mother, in their opinion marrying down ( very old money vs new money ) and her relationship with them is pretty much contingent on her not making the same mistake her mother did but is the apple of her father’s parents eyes as she is the youngest.
— she has always wanted to be in the entertainment industry, had a love of singing and dancing, even from a young age.
— when she was a teenager (16), she competed in a singing competition and won a recording contract with a local record label in nashville.
— she released her debut album and was quite popular in nashville but her fame didn’t cross state lines and unfortunately for her, her popularity dwindled as well, becoming a few songs on a throwback playlist.
— then, she moved to los angeles once she turned 18 with the hopes to be a successful actress but was constantly knocked back for being too X, and not enough Y and in some cases, too Y and not enough X.
— she ended up visiting one of her best friends in new york city when she was down in the dumps about the choices she’d made, moving away from her family and all of her comforts etc, and ended up falling in love with the city before quickly deciding that she needed to be amongst it all, she needed to be on broadway and so moved within weeks.
— when she arrived, her friend graciously allowed her to sleep on her their couch while she was getting her life together in new york and went on more auditions and again, more rejection which was becoming a little too difficult to stomach like NOT EVEN ENSEMBLE MATERIAL?
— one night, she stumbled upon lulu’s and decided to enter, after being curious ever since she first walked past, just because she needed a pick me up and it was EVERYTHING. after leaving that night, she dedicated herself to learning everything she could about cabaret and burlesque, watched all the movies and videos, read all the books, and also hired someone to coach to help her to hone her skill.
— HER LUCKY DAY, lulu’s is hiring and finally FINALLY she gets a yes after all of those nos, and she has all the things she has EVER WANTED.
— however, her parents have absolutely no idea; she has a close relationship and she fears telling them will put a strain on their relationship; one it may not recover from, and she has absolutely no doubt in her mind that her mother’s parents would whole heartedly disapprove and fear that their reputations were being dragged through the mud.
— to try and mitigate this situation when receiving questions about how she could possibly afford her lifestyle in new york, she creates video content for online social platforms, videos of her singing and/or whatever tiktok thing is happening, in her spare time to make it seem as though she is a #influencer and since they know nothing about how the internet works, they believe her but also in doing this, she has also inadvertently become an influencer oops?
WANTED CONNECTIONS:
best friends (including friend who encouraged and helped her move to new york), her cabaret/burlesque tutor, fwb, rivals, love interest(s) — potential poly, ex-friends, ex-partners, siblings. simply put, i want all the connections and all the things!
