i am inimitable. i am an original.

C A R M E L L A ⋆ R E I G N twenty six || journalist born in Auckland, New Zealand. been living in Crystal City for 18 years. { rp account for crystalcityrpg }

[xcarmellax]

hungovergoldheart​:

Scarlet had always felt safe for the most part in Crystal city. Her position with Elias had always afforded her at least the facade of protection.  Yet in the last couple months that illusion had crumpled, as Scarlet was forced to come face to face with the fact that there were other criminals in the city besides the one she represented. From the engagement party shooting, to now the cries of her friend, Celine, who had been stabbed in the bank when the lights went off. When the lights went out Scarlet had just slide down the wall on to the floor, just waiting for something to work out. She was a lawyer, as familiar as she was with the aftermath of these type of events, Scarlet was finding she didn’t like being in them one bit. She should help, or do something, anything.  Yet Scarlet couldn’t seem to get her legs moving as her eyes slowly adjusted to the dark.  Her muscles seemed to not want to listen to any of the many impulses her brain was sending to them. The voice next to her honestly caught Scarlet by surprise as she looked over and tried to frantically make out the figure.

@crystalcitystarters​

Carmella had been putting off a trip to the bank for days now. And with her luck, the day she’d decided to go there, was the day a storm had decided to hit. It hadn’t looked too bad when she’d left her apartment, but the second she’d stepped into the building the rain had hit. She was waiting in a small queue to be seen when the power suddenly went out as well, and everything went dark. She could hear a lot of panicked people, even a few screams. Taking out her phone quickly, the pink haired woman used the flashlight on it to help her see a little better. That was when she spotted the woman leaning against the wall on the ground. She wasn’t sure what was happening, or if the woman needed help, but that wasn’t going to stop Carmella from at least checking on her. She knew she might not be much help, but it wouldn’t hurt to at least see if she was okay. “Hey---” her voice was soft, but she’d still managed to surprise the woman. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to startle you...” she set her phone down on the ground so the flash light was facing upwards--- giving them a bit of light. “Are you okay?”

[xcarmellax]

mechanicalmothmazie​:

“Sure,” Mazie replied as she finished her drink. She wasn’t the best at socializing or small talk but she had to start somewhere… with someone… “Nice turn out… there’s a lot of people…” The bar tender refilled her shot of vodka. “You like vodka?” She eyed up the woman who had now become her drinking buddy. Better than doing it alone, like she usually had in previous years. 

Once Mazie had given an answer, Carmella took a seat on the stool beside the other woman, nodding at her next words. “There is. I think a lot of people just enjoy getting dressed up all fancy for a night and having a bit of fun.” she shrugged gently, watching as the bartender walked over to refill her shot glass with more vodka. “I love vodka. I’ve been wanting to do a few shots tonight anyway so here’s my chance to do it.” she smiled, ordering herself a shot of vodka too. “So, are you enjoying yourself tonight? Come here alone or you with someone?”

[xcarmellax]

{ { @matildareed​​ } } 

Since moving into her own apartment, Carmella had been trying her best to cook her own meals instead of relying on her parents or fast food restaurants for it. She’d invited Matilda over for lunch, and had told the woman that she’d be cooking them something to eat. She was only half an hour into cooking when she realised she’d burnt the food. Cooking was certainly not her forte and so, to her disappointment, Carmella had resorted to ordering a pizza instead. Hopefully Millie wouldn’t mind the change of menu for lunch. After all, the main reason for Matilda coming over wasn’t for the food. It was so Carmella could get to know her better. She’d seen Matilda over Christmas, but the whole family had been around for that as well. Today, it’d just be the two of them and Carmella was excited for that. “You’re going to be a nightmare to clean....” she spoke softly to the pot that had burnt food stuck to the sides of it, setting it down in her sink and filling it up with some hot water in the hopes of that making it easier to clean later. 

When she heard the knock on her apartment door, Carmella left the kitchen with a sigh and hurried over to greet Matilda. “Hey--- come in. Um, if you smell burning it’s because I might have over cooked the chicken and it’s now basically charcoal. Kinda cheated and ordered us some pizza instead. I hope that’s cool with you? If not we can get something else?”

[riverdaleladiesdaily]

[xcarmellax]

chhaya-bhatt​:​

“only the slightest bit, in a charming way I assure you” Chhaya said with a smile, offering a napkin “though you do have a bit of drool, or possibly coffee, dribbling on your chin” Chhaya was spending the morning working on her calendar, trying to make sure things were well arranged and that she was taking enough time outside of work to spend some quality time with the people most important to her. “What kept you up so late that you’re unable to keep your eyes open?” she asked inquisitively. 

"I didn’t know that there was a charming way of snoring...” Carmella laughed lightly, taking the napkin to wipe off whatever was on her mouth. It was more likely to be drool than coffee but Carmella wasn’t about to confirm that. Especially because the mere thought of drooling while out in public embarrassed her to no end. “Oh...” she paused to set the napkin down and take her coffee again. “I was up all night trying to finish a story for the paper, but I had a serious case of writers block and couldn’t word things the way I wanted. It stressed me out and when I get stressed I can’t really sleep.” the woman explained with a small smile.

[xcarmellax]

matildareed​:

“Four, I can do four, that’s how many I brought to the front so that’s perfect.” Matilda replied with a chipper smile, wasting no time in grabbing one of the shops signature pale blue cake boxes so she could pack the goods into it for the woman in front of her. Still no idea who she was, her mind was in a million different places, she despite having seen a photo with Carmella in it before she hadn’t connected the dots right now. Still when she heard she was there especially to see her, Millie looked up with genuine surprise on her face, eyebrows popping up to illustrate just that. “You came specifically to see me? Because of your brother?” It was all starting to come together, painfully slowly, like the whole thing was happening in slow motion in front of the bakers eyes. Her gaze became like a deer in the headlights, eyes widening drastically, mouth falling open in a small o shape. “Oh my god…shit…oh sorry I didn’t mean to swear. I…Of course you’re Nik’s sister, I just didn’t recognise you at first, how rude of me.” Thank god she’d put the cakes down already or they would probably be splattered all over the floor right now.

Reaching out she took Carmella’s hand in her own, shaking it with genuine warmth, a smile on her still shocked face. “Thank you so much for coming all that way down here, you really didn’t have to do that, I’m so sorry Nik is talking about my shop all the time. You must be so bored of hearing about it! He’s just…he’s my best PR person I think I’ve ever had, I’m so lucky.” The girl giggled, not sure how much she should share with the woman about her relationship, Niklaus seemed pretty open with them but maybe she’d read it wrong? Her brain was ticking over a million miles a minuet as she tried to figure out the best thing to do. “Obviously the cakes are on the house now I know who you are! Do you want a coffee or a coca? Tea? I was about to take a break anyway if you wanted to hang out for a while?” She offered.

Carmella couldn’t help but smile as Matilda connected the dots and realised who she was talking too. “I wouldn’t have expected you to recognise me anyway. It’s fine, really.” the only reason why Carmella had known what Matilda looked like was because of a photo she’d seen on her brothers social media. Thankfully, the woman had always had a very photographic memory. It came in handy a lot of the time. Taking Matilda’s hand, Carmella shook it for a moment before letting go. “Oh, the journey was no trouble. I actually just recently found an apartment in the area so I’m only living a couple blocks from this place now.” which came in handy because Carmella definitely had the same sweet tooth as basically everyone in her family. “...on the contrary, it’s nice.” she laughed, referring to the way Niklaus went on about his girlfriend and the business she managed. “It’s just nice to see him happy, really. I was worried for a moment that he was going to end up completely consumed by his career. I mean, my family are all workaholics, but Nik’s definitely the worst with that one.” she shrugged gently. “Oh, thank you. I’ll take a coffee. Sounds like that’ll go nicely with one of these lemon cakes.” she paused to glance over at the seats available to sit at. “I’d like that a lot, actually. I’ll find us a seat and we can have a good ol’ chat.” the girl smiled, heading over to a table.

[xcarmellax]

oilstainedhearts​:

Bren loved coffee shops, they were the place that Bren often went to when trying to be reunited with their humanity after a particularly bad night, or in this case set of nights. It seemed liked Bren hadn’t had the worst though, as they sipped their coffee and watched the women who was hardcore asleep. Bren idly wondered what had clearly been keeping this women up. They had to raise their coffee cup higher to cover their small smirk when the worker set the coffee down and startled the women awake. What Bren had not been expecting was to be addressed cause them to fumble for a moment with words.  “Well Shit I honestly wasn’t paying that much attention” That’s a lie, this sleeping women had been Bren’s source of entertainment for probably about five minutes. Bren did know this was the perfect chance to get some of their questions answered. “but I don’t think so. Something must have been keeping you up late to be passed out like that though”

"Oh good.” a sigh of relief escaped Carmella. The thought of snoring loudly in a public area certainly embarrassed her. Even if she hadn’t been snoring at all. Taking another sip of her coffee, Carmella then set her cup down on the table and nodded gently. “Writer’s block.” she started. “My boss told me to write a story for the paper about something that doesn’t exactly strike my interest and my brain really just didn’t wanna work with me last night. I have to hand it in this evening so I’m hoping that this coffee is enough to wake me up long enough to get that done.” she stopped, wrapping her hands around her coffee cup for warmth. “I like to write about the crime going on around town--- my boss is making me write a story about a middle aged man selling his family business that has been handed down through generations.” she rolled her eyes as she recalled the very uninteresting interview she’d had with the man two days prior. “I’m talking way too much about this, aren’t I? See? Coffee’s kicking in now--- you’re not going to be able to get me to shut up soon.” the woman joked lightly.

[xcarmellax]

maridepalma​:

“I wanted to be everything. It changed by the week. Unfortunately children can’t learn to be pyrotechs so they redirected my focus to dance.” She had absolutely kept up with that ping of interest here and there. She couldn’t spout off any facts yet but one day she would. “I always had big dreams. Still kind of do. I’ve lived the big ones I wanted to live. Be noticed, have a big house, cute partner. My goal was be famous but I realized that’s absolutely not what I want.” She was being dramatic, it absolutely was what she wanted but she needed her privacy as well. And the more famous you got, the less privacy she had. “That’s so cute though. The pirate thing. It makes me miss Disney." 

"And how did that go?” she asked curiously, referring to her focus being redirected to dance. Carmella had always loved to dance. She spent most of her free nights at the clubs dancing. It was so freeing to just let loose to some loud music. “Sounds like you’re certainly making the most out of your life. Good for you, getting out there and making things happen. Hopefully I’ll get out there and do something big with my life one day too.” she’d always had a dream of publishing a book, so maybe she could make that happen? “Oh Disney has a special place in my heart. Can’t get rid of it. I love all the old classics the most--- Sleeping Beauty, Beauty and the Beast, Snow White, Cinderella....the list goes on.”

[xcarmellax]

mechanicalmothmazie​:

At least it’s almost over… The gala and then home… Was the only thought in Mazie’s mind as the holidays arrived. Of course she got her sisters and friends something, but that was the extent of her holiday cheer. There was always alcohol to power her through and that’s what she planned on doing at this event too. As she wasn’t the one watching the bar but pouring copious funds into it, vodka was her drink of choice. This is the last event, and then new years… then she could go back to a normal routine.

@crystalcitystarters​

Carmella was never one to turn down a good party, so it was no surprise she’d ended up at the gala tonight. And it was no surprise that she’d found Mazie in the crowd of people either. The older woman stood out in a crowd to her all the time. She made her way through all the people until she’d reached the bar, waiting until Mazie had lowered her glass before speaking. “Mind if I join you for the next one?” she asked, leaning against the bar. “I don’t like to drink alone.”

[xcarmellax]

kainoa-kupaa​:

It was one of Kainoa’s rare days off, she still had a few days before the new semester began. 39 typically wasn’t considered a warm day, but after weeks of colder temperatures, it felt like a temperate day in spring almost. She had decided to take Gerald for a drive by the water and had gotten herself a bread bowl of clam chowder, a couple of crab cakes, and some bread rolls. It was the holiday season so she might as well treat herself, right?

She was sitting on Geralds hood, bread bowl in hand, sunning herself in the meager winter sunlight, some classic rock lightly emanating from inside Geralds cab. Everything was right in the world, she had good food, music, sun and nothing on her docket for the day. And then disaster struck. A gull divebombed her, snatching up her crab cakes and shoving its dirty foot in her soup, dumping its contents into her lap. Cursing she slid off the hood and attempted to scrape the chowder off her jeans. When she straightened up she saw that her misfortune had not gone unnoticed. Turning to her onlooker she grimaced. “You saw that right?  That gull that came down and took my crab cakes and stepped in my soup?!? and now that soup is on my pants? crap…” she trailed off. “There was a bird, I promise, I’m not usually this much of a mess. You don’t happen to have any napkins do you? Mine seem to have gotten lost in the scuffle” She asked hopefully. 

@crystalcitystarters​

Carmella hadn’t seen the bird attack, but she’d been witness to everything that followed--- including the soup that was now spilled over the other woman’s pants. “Oh that was awfully unlucky.” she tucked her home made sandwich into her bag to avoid any other accidents happening with other birds and then set her laptop down beside her so she could grab a few napkins for her. “I didn’t see the bird, but I believe you. I doubt you’d willingly spill soup on your pants.” quickly, Carmella found her napkins and handed them over to the girl. “If you need any wet wipes or more napkins just let me know. I’m fully stocked on all those things.” mainly because she often looked after her little sister--- and wet wipes were an essential for baby sitting a three year old toddler. “These gulls are crazy, aren’t they?”

[xcarmellax]

kathrynclery​:

“Only days? Count yourself lucky, I haven’t had a good nights sleep in fucking years.” Kathryn grumbled, never one to shy away from the pity party, even if it wasn’t deliberate that she always landed herself in them. The host of them actually. “So no, I didn’t get enough sleep last night, I need to go home and take a fucking nap on the sofa in front of some shit television or something.” Toying with a napkin that whoever was sat at this table before her had left there, ripping bits of it apart until it was like confetti in a tiny pile. “After I eat a shit load of terrible food, obviously.”

"I think I’d loose my mind if I went that long without sleep.” she admitted with a shrug. No matter how bad you thought you had it, Carmella had to remind herself that there were always others who had it worse. She couldn’t imagine going years without getting a proper nights sleep. “A nap on the sofa sounds like something I need to do as well.” minus the TV part because Carmella wouldn’t have been able to fall asleep while the TV was on. In saying that though, she was currently drinking a very strong coffee so hopefully that would kick in soon and keep her awake long enough to actually finish her story for work.

[xcarmellax]

angelitajansen​:

Another laugh escaped her as she shook her head. “Hey we’ve all been there. If I had a penny for how many times I’ve nearly collapsed on the street…I could probably rival Bill Gates in cash.” She joked playfully. Listening to her friend talk about her story, Angel propped her chin on the palm of her hand, attention totally on the other. “Really? I mean that woman certainly sounds…would eclectic be the word? Unique? Fanatic? There’s probably plenty of words that could be used for her.” Angel chuckled. “If you’re not enjoying it though, I’m sorry to hear that your boss is making you write it. But someone has to turn an odd story into the next fantastic memoir.” She winked with a grin.

"That’s a lot of money.” Carmella laughed lightly, wrapping both her hands around her coffee cup to keep them warm. “I think the word your looking for is crazy. That’s the word I’d use.” the woman joked. It was a creepy little collection of Christmas inflatables, but to each their own. “I don’t think my boss likes me too much, but fingers cross I succeed with this story.” she lifted her shoulders into a small shrug, smiling back at her friend. “But enough about me and my stressful job. How have you been? Catch me up on what’s been going on with you.”

[xcarmellax]

emrysxxfreniere​:

~

“If you block me then how will you see these pictures I got? You’re gonna wanna see ‘em, they’re top-notch,” he joked with a short laugh. His coffee was getting cold and he sort of winced as he took a sip, the flavor not one he particularly liked when it was anything less than scalding. “You know I did. What do you take me for, an amateur? I only take the best photos,” he shrugged a shoulder and put his coffee cup down, decidedly finished with the cold, bitter liquid. It wasn’t doing much to keep him awake anyway. “I want something stronger than coffee,” he admitted, wrinkling his nose in a face that said he knew it was a little early for drinking, but it didn’t make the statement less true.

"I’ll just steal your phone from you when you least expect it and check out the photos from there. Problem solved.” Carmella joked, setting her coffee down. “It’s nice to know I’ve got myself a photographer anytime I need to update my Instagram. Next time I need a picture I’ll come to you so you can take it for me.” she was about to reach for her coffee again, but stopped when Emrys said he wanted something stronger. “You know what they say--- it’s 5pm somewhere. If you need something stronger we can go get something stronger? Maybe a drink or two will help cure my writers block...” she suggested with a small shrug.

[xcarmellax]

matildareed​:

Matilda normally spent the morning behind the counter so she could chat with her regular customers, and then she would spend the afternoon in the back either coming up with new recipes or getting things prepped for any special orders they had. Today was no different, whistling to herself as she frosted a batch of lemon meringue cupcakes with a huge piping bag that she had to hold with both hands to stop it splurging everywhere. There were a couple of other people back there with her working on a wedding cake so at first when the door from the main shop swung open she didn’t look up, assuming it was one of them coming back from grabbing a coffee or something like that. It was only when her name specifically was called that she looked up with a bright smile, wondering what was going on. At the news someone was asking for lemon cake she smiled even wider, thrilled she could give her customer who they wanted. “Oh perfect timing, I’ve just nearly finished these lemon meringue cupcakes, give me two seconds and i’ll bring a couple out.”

Putting a few of them on a display plate she headed into the shop with a bright smile on her face, not aware as she saw the pink haired woman she’d been told was waiting, that this was Niklaus’ sister. “Hi there, were you the one looking for lemon cake? Sorry, there has been a bit of a rush on it lately, which is odd, you wouldn’t have thought it was a Christmas thing would you?” A light laugh escaped her as she placed the cakes down behind the glass counter so she didn’t drop them. “I have more out back if you needed more, sorry, they didn’t mention how many you were looking for.”

As the girl at the counter disappeared out the back, Carmella let her eyes go straight back to the cake display. She’d initially only come into the building to introduce herself to Matilda, but now she knew she’d be a mad woman if she left empty handed. She just had to remember to get rid of any evidence that would indicate she’d been here today, eg. the box the cakes came in. She looked up quickly when she heard a voice, smiling at the sight of the woman. This was definitely the girl she’d seen in the pictures. “I wouldn’t of ever thought that lemon cake  was a best seller around here...” or around any cake store for that matter. Carmella had thought she was weird for always choosing lemon flavoured cake over something more popular, like chocolate.  “Oh sorry--- I’m only after four today. That should keep me going for a couple of days.” unless of course she decided to eat them all tonight. “I actually came here specifically to see you. Well, to meet you. I’ve heard a lot about you and your shop. It’s almost impossible to get my brother to shut up about it, actually.” she admitted teasingly. Honestly, Carmella didn’t mind when her brother spoke about Matilda. In fact, she was just thrilled that he’d actually found someone in the first place. There was a time when Carmella had thought that maybe her brother wouldn’t find someone because of the way he’d thrown himself into his career. “I’m Carmella, if you didn’t already work that out. Nik’s sister.” she introduced, extending her hand over the counter to shake Matilda’s. “It’s nice to finally meet you.”

[xcarmellax]

angelitajansen​:

Angel hated when clients wanted to meet in small places like cafés, the close proximity to other listening ears just didn’t sit right with her. Just because her mom had refused to train her didn’t mean she hadn’t learned some things on her own…and one was not having meetings like this in confined locations. Either way though, she let out a sigh of relief when the client left and Angel was able to sink back into her chair, lifting her mug to her lips. Looking at the woman at the next table over, an amused chuckle escaped her as she shook her head. “Not at all, don’t worry.” She smirked softly. “You ok? Or just in need of coffee?” Angel teased playfully.

"Oh thank god. I think falling asleep in the first place was enough embarrassment for one day.” Carmella started, a little relieved when she realised the person who was sitting beside her was actually someone she knew. “Yeah, I’m fine. I didn’t get much sleep last night because I was up trying to write a story for work. My boss wanted me to write a story about a lady in town who collects inflatable Christmas decorations and covers her entire front yard with them for Christmas every single year.” a very uninteresting story in Carmella’s mind, but her boss liked to assign her with the laughable stories. Maybe that was the curse that came with being new.

[xcarmellax]

emrysxxfreniere​:

~

Truth be told, Emrys hadn’t even noticed she’d been asleep. Honestly he wasn’t too far from being in the same state. He was zoning out and staring off into space but when she asked him if she’d been snoring, he turned to look at her. Without hesitating he smirked and nodded his head. “But don’t worry, the snorin’ wasn’t half as embarassin’ as the droolin’,” he teased. “I got pictures. You got instagram? I’ll be sure to tag you in ‘em when I post ‘em later,” Emrys told her, his smirk only growing before he brought his own coffee up to his lips to sip at it gently. 

Carmella narrowed her eyes into a glare as Emrys spoke about putting up pictures of her snoring and/or drooling onto Instagram. “Please don’t make me block you on all social media platforms, Emrys.” the woman joked. She knew Emrys was joking--- well, she hoped he was. But even if he wasn’t, Carmella wasn’t the type to block a friend purely because they had a bad photo of her. “I do hope you got my good side while taking the photo. Otherwise we’ll have to take it all over again.” the woman teased, rolling her eyes as she sipped her coffee again.

[xcarmellax]

kathrynclery​:

Kathryn wasn’t expecting to be addressed by the woman from the table next to her, which explained her surprise when she looked over at the other, eyebrows raised. “Huh? Oh, yeah, like really loud.” Okay not strictly true but the girl wasn’t exactly in the best frame of mind at the moment which was making her even more crabby than usual which was saying something. She hadn’t slept well the night before, ending up staring up at the ceiling until nearly five am in the grip of anxiety inducing overthinking, something she was used to but still despised none the less. “Must be nice, to fucking sleep.” She grumbled.

"Great.” Carmella sunk lower into her chair after she was told she’d been snoring really loudly. She really wasn’t having the best start to the morning, it would seem. “Not exactly, I gotta survive on power naps these days. I actually haven’t had a good nights sleep in days.” she’d blame her writers block for that one. She had until the end of the day to finish her story for the paper otherwise she’d never hear the end of it from her boss. “Sounds like you definitely didn’t get enough sleep last night either...” the woman commented as she sipped her coffee.