Altered Tundra

Palm Beach Royals: Senior Year

_{An @Altered Tundra & @Inkarnate Collaboration Post featuring Kavi Salvador & Mac Davenport}

“I’m so utterly stupid.”

Kavi lost count how many times those words left his mouth and how long he had been staring at the carnage in his room. Ariel’s rage may have left the building, but her impact remained. Everywhere from where his prized television was mounted to one of three judo trophies he had acquired over the course of ten years was snapped in half, and a brutally-destroyed Playstation 4 that sparked a few times since being decimated, its sticky parts stuck to his wall like a new coat of paint. As much damage that was done, as much carnage that remained in his room, devoid of sound and life, nothing could top how he had effectively killed any and all chances of salvaging his relationship with Ariel. And what was the final nail in the coffin? Was it digging his nose in Santiago and April’s relationship? Was it consoling April when her baby’s daddy wasn’t around to do it for her? Or maybe it was not stopping the kiss that April had initiated almost immediately after it happened?

He couldn’t stop playing the conversation in his mind. How he blew up at her, ruining his only chance to explain. “No, it wasn’t possible..” Kavi knew there was no way for him to explain it. He let another girl kiss him and almost kissed her back. Then, of all things, he acted like he did nothing wrong. “God, why was I so stupid?”

He walked up to his wall, looking at its blankness for nearly a minute, his forehead pressed against it. He started to bang his head slowly, each time the banging noise getting harder until part of it cracked. Time and time again he went at it as if he was really trying to do some serious damage. After a full minute of repeated smashing, Kavi stopped and saw a small forehead-shaped blood print and soon he was starting to see red drip down his face along the inside corners past his eyes and along both sides of his nose. Matters were made worse when Kavi’s dripping hair thinned the blood out and caused it to pour down his face at a faster rate.

Kavi couldn’t stop staring at the damned bloodprint. Why couldn’t he stop staring at it? Everything else around him was destroyed, crushed, and a reminder of how much of a screw-up he was when it came to understanding the female species? So why, of all goddamn things, was Kavi Salvador unable to take his eyes away from that forehead bloodprint?

“It’s just a fucking wall!”

In a fit of rage that truly would make his girlfriend -- ex-girlfriend -- proud, Kavi balled up both of his hands and two swift punches, as hard as he possibly could, he made sure he wouldn’t have to look at that wall ever again. The left fist had punched a hole into it but had not made the bloodprint disappear completed, so the right fist punched in the same place. He did this three more times and at the same spot. When he finally felt satisfied, he was left with a hole in the wall that revealed the other end.

After a quick trip to the bathroom down the hall and a change of outfits, Kavi had changed into a different construction outfit that was basically the same as the one he had on before, but it was one, not covered in his blood and two, not wet. He knew it wasn’t perfect but he didn’t care. The only thing that he wanted to do was continue on with the party and get as shitfaced drunk as quickly as he could. Forgetting about everything that happened he was mid-kiss with April was his main objective. So he would start by making his way over to the beverages table that was inside the house. And so he started to pour himself a drink, downing about half of it.

“Maaaate! That’s either a totally lit costume or you need, like, to get that looked at.”

The voice of Palm Beach’s resident Brit slurred from his right, though Kavi wasn’t sure whether to laugh or to tune it out, given the current state of things. Between the splitting headache, his sore knuckles, and the general mood he was in, Kavi wasn’t really in the right mindset beyond “drink to forget” and “worry about it later”.

“The costume is bought; bruised knuckles and gash on the forehead are my own personal touches.” He hadn’t turned to face whoever it was that did call out to him, but as soon as Kavi did, he opened his eyes a little wider. “Mac? Is that you?”

“Well, I’m not your fairy godmother.” The British girl quipped as she took another drink from the bottle of Patrón that she was holding between her fingers.

Mac appeared to have returned to Palm Beach just in time for everything at the party to get a little… crazy.

Dressed in a full she-devil get-up, it seemed that Mac was fully prepared upon her return to Palm Springs, though Kavi wondered how long she had been back. She had missed Homecoming and nearly two months of the new school year, so he nearly thought her dad had quietly transferred her to some boarding school in California. As one of the few actual female friends Kavi had, her absence at King’s hadn’t gone unnoticed. He was someone who didn’t have a lot of female friends. He’d date them and that’s it, but after his quick thing with Mac, the chemistry between them was too high to leave it at just the date, so they became quick friends. Nobody out of his ex-flings could ever understand the burdens of being beautiful than Mackenzie Davenport did.

“What a relief it is to see you haven’t lost your sense of humor since I last saw ya,” Kavi said, taking a sip from his drink. The alcohol was doing its job numbing the pain he felt but it wasn’t working nearly as quickly as he would prefer.

“Wouldn’t be me if I did, yeah?” Mac looked closer at Kavi, noticing the gash on his forehead a bit better after Kavi mentioned that he had done them himself. “So, do you need to run to the hospital? I can call an Uber if you need one.”

”What? You crazy or something?” A laugh came after as he realized he said that word again. He laughed as he finished the rest of the alcohol in his cup. “Oops, I said that word again.”

Mac laughed in response, “If I was crazy I’d be driving, what are you on about? You said what word again?”

He wasted no time refilling his cup, though midway through it, he found himself hunched over a couple of inches as he bumped into the table. This caused his cup to fall into the punch bowl. “Well, that’s just great, isn’t it?” He looked up at Mac. “Crazy. The word was crazy. It seems to be my favorite word tonight.”

“Okay? What does that even mean?”

”What it means, Mac,” He said turning to face her, using the table to hold his body up. “I got dumped because I called my ex crazy one too many times for her liking.”

Mac raised a brow, “Your ex?”

“Yes, my ex. Ex-girlfriend. Person I was in a committed relationship with up until thirty minutes ago.” Each word came a sloppy arm gesture.

“Are you taking the piss?” She set her bottle down on the table next to her. “Because, last time I checked you didn’t do ‘committed relationships’.”

She has a point.

Kavi Salvador didn’t commit to anything but who the next great time was going to be. Whether that was the head cheerleader or someone else from the squad, there wasn’t any sort of intentions of ever seeing them for a second date unless the first one went horrible and she really wanted a do-over. If Kavi was going down that route, they would need to be insanely hot or offer him something that he couldn’t get during the first round. The more he thought about it, the more it made his head hurt.

“Yeah, well I guess I had a temporary change of heart.” He chuckled, then chucked up a small amount of puke. “But don’t worry, I won’t ever make that mistake ever again.”

“Well, before you paint all of the punch green, let’s get you some air. Don’t want people to tweet and everything. Also, I like the punch not to taste, you know, bad. Maybe, we should do something about your face, too.”

Mac seemed to keep her attention on Kavi, while also scanning the table for items. Whatever her intention was, he wasn’t really paying enough attention to care or notice.

Begrudgingly, Kavi followed Mac away from the table, away from the house, and outside. They walked at a somewhat slow pace to match Kavi’s sluggish body. His feet had dragged a bit but that was only due to the headache starting to be the main issue instead of how much alcohol he could consume to numb it out. Kavi hadn’t bothered to wait for Mac to help him down as he collapsed on the green grass. It sent chills down his spine as he had looked up at the stars.

“This was a good idea, Mac.”

“Well, any idea is better than smashing your face because some girl… got too sensitive? Needy?” The girl uttered as she tossed a bottle of Vodka and a tablecloth she had grabbed on the way out of the party on the ground. She was trying to hide it, but there was some semblance of concern. Kavi may have been drunk and not thinking clearly, but he could tell that much.

“You might be right about that. I tried to change for her, be someone she could love or be safe with. I don’t know.” Kavi rocked himself to a somewhat upright position, feeling the weight of something begging to come back up for round two. “Have you ever gone down that road of trying to change for anyone?”

“Fuck no!” Mac responded with laughter.

”Smart girl.” He responded to her laughter with his own. “I wish you were around to talk me out of my own mistake like a month ago. Probably could have saved my hands from getting wrecked.”

“Well, I’m sorry I was trapped in California with my cunt of a dad.”

They continued their conversation. Mac popped the cap off the vodka and poured a little of it on the tablecloth, groaning in displeasure that she not only had to waste vodka like this but that she wasn’t getting to enjoy the party. As she moved the tablecloth like an impromptu cloth across Kavi’s forehead she used her other hand to brace his head so he wouldn’t move. When Kavi realized this is what Mac meant about doing something about his face, he knew it was going to suck. But really, it was his own fault in the first place.

“Jesus Mac!” Kavi screeched for a brief moment.

“There is no god. Only vodka.” She quipped, continuing to clean the wound.

“Can you not pour so much of it? It’s a small gash, not a severe wound.” He whined. Ironically, for a martial artist, Kavi did not do physical pain well.

“I am admittedly, very not sober, but I can’t have you bleeding and spewing into drinks. Think of the children. Imagine if Stella took a sip of that punch! Instant party killer.”

“Are you sure it’ll be that and not the Maury-styled ‘you are the father’ announcement April made not too long ago?”

“True. But you never did host the best parties.” She commented, before she finished cleaning up the gash, before tearing the cloth and tying it firmly around Kavi’s forehead. “Well, that’s the best I can do. I think I did it right.”

“I don’t see any blood dripping down, so you must’ve done something right.” Kavi felt around his forehead. When he pressed against the cloth, though soft, a stinging sensation went through him.

“Lucky you.”

He shrugged. “Now that you’ve done your duty, I suppose now you want to get back to the party, huh?”

“Why? You don’t want to?”

“I don’t know, Mac. When you get dumped, it kind of ruins the party within, ya know?”

The British girl rolled her eyes. “What, you want to trade the real party for a pity party? Mate, it’s one girl.”

“I know it’s hard for you to imagine, but I actually fell pretty hard for her, Mac.” Kavi admitted, swiping the Vodka bottle and taking a hefty swig of it.

“And why would you go and do that for someone who is just going to be passive aggressive to you for the rest of the year because you didn’t live up to her idea of you?” Mac sighed, crossing her arms as he began downing a good portion of the vodka. “Why would you do that to yourself? You know who you are.”

While he sat there really thinking about it, Kavi couldn’t stop himself from thinking about Ariel and how after everything went downhill because of his stupidity, he was here and she probably wasn’t. If she was, there was a good chance she was far away from him. Maybe Ariel wasn’t worth it after all. He had thought about canceling the party and chasing after her and maybe fixing things, but what would that do? She made up her mind about him the minute she tried to kill him with his own gaming console. She was done with him so now, perhaps, it was Kavi’s turn to be done with her.

He took another drink from the bottle. “Yeah, you’re right, Mac. If Ariel Grey doesn’t want me, then I’ll just be who she already thinks I am.”

Somebody Once Told Me. . .

There is plenty of booty to bed (or so I heard).

WELCOME!

Palm Beach Royals: Senior Year

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_{A Collaboration Post with @SpicyMeatball featuring Kavi Salvador & April Foster}

---

In between the rotating door of partygoers who decided to come and go near where Kavi was and felt the need to offer him some sort of shot or ask him to drink with him, the host of this year’s Halloween party was well on his way to being hammered. His sense of direction and ability to walk in a straight line had started to become compromised and he didn’t like it. Not because he didn’t enjoy drinking. Kavi thoroughly enjoyed the taste of any and all alcohol, but it was the effects it had on him that wasn’t all that favorable.

And as he took a turn around, bumping into the table just slightly, he was able to witness first hand -- and in the second row -- to the carnage that was happening at his wonderful beer pong table. People talking about others’ mothers and Aiden getting laid out. And as if that wasn't bad enough, Santiago using that as a distraction to leave with Astraia? Wait, that couldn’t be right. “Isn’t he with..” Kavi’s thought trailed off into silent thought. If he was here, then April had to be somewhere close by.

So he scanned the back patio and sadly, nowhere was April to be found. Part of him was glad for that. He didn’t like Santiago one bit and disliked him even more now that he chose to leave with Astraia of all people, but he had nothing against April. There was nothing about the girl that rubbed him the wrong way. He still really enjoyed the memories of their homecoming date. It may have resulted in him having a suspended license, but damn it if it wasn’t a fun night. Totally worth all of the hell that came after.

Soon he arrived at the conclusion that April wasn’t in the back patio area, so walking slowly, Kavi stumbled into the house, moving his way past even drunker partiers -- some that he knew and some that he had no idea they went to KA. Eventually, after making his way through the Halloween costume-clad crowd, he was in the clear where he found himself by the stairs and sitting on the third one from the bottom was April and she didn’t look like she was having a good time.

That was when Kavi plopped himself next to her, albeit a tad sloppier than he thought he would. His body was more obtuse and his body covered more of the stairs than April’s did, but he smiled at her. “Been searching high and low for you, ya know.” He said in a drunken laugh.

To say April was in a shitty mood was one hell of an understatement. For around half an hour know, she’d been watching Santiago from a dark hallway, just outside of where the rest of the party-goers had congregated. She’d spectated the entirety of what had gone down, from the super competitive drunk beer pong game to Julie randomly stripping down and sliding into the pool.

But the part that had really pissed her off, was once again seeing Santiago wander off with another girl. It was a damn near perfect repeat of what had happened at the beginning of the year, except this time she had the advantage. Santiago had no clue that April had joined the party. Had he been even the least bit observant, he would’ve noticed April’s practically trademarked white Maserati parked not thirty feet from the entrance to Kavi’s place. Knowing Santiago however, she knew that he wouldn’t pay attention to it. Not with so many attractive distractions present.

She couldn’t even have a drink to calm herself down or to forget about the entire thing. Why the fuck did she ever get attached to that man-whore?

“Have you now?” April turned towards an intoxicated Kavi, her head slightly cocked. “Then it appears my entrance wasn’t unnoticed like I had intended.” April turned back towards the crowd, shooting a venomous glare to the spot she’d seen Santiago and Yessi disappear to not five minutes before. Many ideas were running through April’s vindictive mind. What could she do to absolutely ruin their night? What was the most damage she could do that was within the law? Hell, was she willing to break the law to get back at the Devil of King’s Academy? It likely wasn’t out of the question.

“So, why exactly were you looking for me anyway?” April inquired, her gaze not leaving the crowd in front of them.

Kavi wondered if she knew about Santiago. He knew that idiot wasn’t really subtle and her being by the stairs meant she had the perfect vantage point to see just about everything that went on. He half-wanted to tell her, but she was already in such a foul mood from the way she didn’t bother looking at him that Kavi opted to not do that.

“We haven’t really seen much of each other since homecoming. So I figured I’d come to find you and chat for a bit,” he said using his elbows to level his upper body some so he didn’t appear to be a total slob when speaking to April. “Or if you want to be left alone, that’s cool too. It just seems like you rather not be left alone?” He was guessing at this point. Deep down, Kavi wanted to check up on her but he didn’t want to really mention anything Santiago-related if he could help it.

“Can I ask you something Kavi?” she said in a genuinely nice tone, looking to him with a slightly better expression on her face. Between homecoming and now, Kavi had actually shown more genuine care and interest towards her than Santiago by a landslide. And even again, on Halloween night--one of April’s favorite occasions because of all the fun with costumes--Kavi was there when Santiago didn’t even want her there. “Am I attractive as Yessi or Bea?” It sounded like such a stupid question as she said it, but it was too late to take it back now.

While it likely wasn’t the best thing to be thinking, April had to wonder whether Santiago actually gave a shit about her more than he did about any other given girl at King’s Academy, or whether she was just another notch on his belt. She felt like an idiot, going back to him time after time only to have him pull the exact same shit he had pulled previously. “And I don’t mean that in a bad way towards either of them...well, maybe towards Yessi I guess...fuck, I don’t even know what I’m saying. And I haven’t even had anything to drink!” The brunette slumped her head down onto her arms, taking in a deep breath.

Kavi had managed to sit up during April’s rant about Astraia and, surprisingly, of all people, Beatrice. He didn’t understand the mention of her but he knew, even in his somewhat intoxicated state that April must’ve seen Yessi and Santiago pass on by somewhere. At least it saved him the awkwardness of bringing it up, but that didn’t change anything. That idiot Santiago hurting a perfectly good one for Astraia. Kavi had a close and complicated relationship with Yessi, but it seemed coming back had done more harm than good.

As Kavi just looked at April, he didn’t know what to say, well he did but the words wouldn’t come out just yet, so he put a hand on the nearest wrist it could find. “April,” he managed to say, “Yessi doesn’t hold a candle to you. And if that dumbass ex of yours can’t see that, then I say forget him. You can do much better than him.” Oh yeah, he could feel something churning in his stomach. Kavi had no way of knowing if it was guilt for being nice to anyone other than Ariel in a way that would look problematic at best, or butterflies for April that just made it all worse for outside eyes.

“God, I wish it were that easy.” April said in a muffled voice, her head still tucked into her arms. There was a small part of April that wanted to leave it at that and say nothing more about the human growing inside of her. The human that she and Santiago had made. A larger part of her, however, wanted to scream it to the rooftops that she, April Lillian Foster, was pregnant with the Devil’s child.

“You really think Yessi doesn’t hold a candle to me?” April brought her head back up, looking to Kavi with the yellow-red eyes made possible by her costume. “It...it just feels like no matter what I do he never really cares about me. Why do I bother?” she asked, though more to herself than to Kavi.

“You think I should just ditch him?” she asked, the tone of her voice genuine but almost hesitant. April almost regretted asking, but at the same time, Santiago had done very little to actually support her. Every time there was a moment where she’d really needed him, Santiago would just go silent for a few days before returning as if nothing was wrong. Why the fuck should she stay with him? Apart from the fact that she was bearing his fucking child--which didn’t seem to matter to him, his level of faithfulness hadn’t changed a bit--April had zero reasons to stay.

Kavi, on the other hand, had been there for her multiple times. Maybe it was time for Santiago to see what it felt like to be cheated on.

“Well..”

Kavi couldn’t really find the words. No, that wasn’t true. He had the words but maybe it wasn’t his place to say them? He had a girlfriend who he loved a good deal. They had a fight but he loved her. Kavi loved Ariel and she loved him ...in her own way. So him telling someone else to dump their whatever Santiago was/is to April didn’t feel like it was his place, yet at the same time, nobody else was around and Kavi felt like he had to say something. Anything.

He just had to say something.

“He should be here with you instead of me, but he’s with Yessi. I will be here regardless of what you do, the Kavmiester is here for you, April O'Neil.” He patted her hand a couple more times for support and an added assurance.

“I appreciate it Kavi. At least I can count on you.” April reached to grab Kavi’s hand, giving it a gentle squeeze before sending him a warm smile, a rather unsettling look with April’s makeup and contact lenses. Then, with a quick glance to the crowd in front of them to check for any on-lookers, April moved to push herself gently into Kavi. The small distance that had been between them before was no longer present. April looked into Kavi’s eyes, trying to read whether he was alright with the situation or not before closing her eyes and leaning in to kiss him rather passionately.

Initially, Kavi was taken by surprise as his eyes widened when their lips had connected and there was a large part of him that kept poking him to cease and desist all actions. Think with the brain and heart and not the body part he left in charge of such decisions. He didn’t stop and for a long series of moments that were as slow as a tortoise, the passion lingered and Kavi had actually returned the kiss for a bit. His arms had reached around April’s head, his hands running themselves through her light brown hair and for a moment, he didn’t have any thoughts but to keep kissing her.

Until he closed his eyes and saw Ariel’s face with her beautiful smile, her voice calling his name. And that’s when the guilt set in, immediately forcing Kavi to pull away. “I can’t I--” Kavi looked at April, uncertain what it was but he couldn’t bring himself to bring up Ariel right now. He was about to and maybe he should have told her he had a girlfriend, but Kavi couldn’t. “--it wouldn’t be right. You’re upset about Santiago. As much as I want to get back at him for how he hurt you, this isn’t the way.” As soon those words left his mouth, he was equally divided between the situation he was in and what he should say right now versus what he wanted to do. Yes, he should mention Ariel, but also yes, he wanted to go back to her soft lips and kiss her some more because holy shit, April was a great kisser!

April’s mind was a flurry of emotions that spun around almost as fast as her heart was beating. As Kavi pulled away from her, she couldn’t help but feel disappointed. It had been at least a few weeks, if not longer since she’d really kissed anyone else. “I...I’m sorry Kavi…” April looked down to the floor, her cheeks a fiery red and her breaths rapid. “Fuck…” she muttered under her breath. Every bit of her yearned for the feeling that Kavi had just given her. To be genuinely cared for and loved. The fact that he too was a damn good kisser was just icing on the cake.

“I shouldn’t have done that...I don’t know what I was thinking. I haven’t even been drinking...” April finally spoke with a bit more purpose and strength to her words. The long locks of her brown hair partially hid her face as she closed her eyes, shaking her head to herself. What the fuck are you doing April…

“A-are you mad?” she asked, her head unmoving from its position facing down to the floor, resting in her hands.

He wouldn’t respond immediately. Instead, he kept his eyes on April and seeing how messed up she felt about kissing him. That was something that Kavi could relate to. Just as she felt horrible for kissing him, he felt the same tugging feeling between what he desired and what was right in the pit of his stomach. The butterflies died and now a sinking hole replaced it. How could he do this to Ariel? Why didn’t he go to her when she walked off? All of these questions were coming to him, but the one thing that he knew he had to do was assure April that she had nothing to apologize for.

He put a hand on April’s, like before he made sure she knew he wasn’t going anywhere. “I’m feeling a lot of things but anger isn’t one of them,” he told her, smiling. “What would I have to be mad about? I got to kiss a beautiful girl and probably stick it to Santiago in the process. As far as I see, there was no harm done.” There he went lying for the sake of comforting another. And in the back of his mind, he knew it was wrong. He had to make it right before it went too far. “I’m just not sure how I’m going to explain this to my girlfriend,” Kavi mentioned so casually that it barely registered with him until he saw the look on her face.

April’s face went paler than the creature she was portraying with her costume as those final words came out of Kavi’s mouth. Her heart sank so unbelievably fast that she briefly felt like she was going to pass out. “Jesus fuck…” she stood from her seat and paced back and forth, running her hands through her hair nervously.

This wasn’t how it was supposed to go. April was supposed to be getting revenge, not feeling like shit because she probably broke another girl’s heart in the process. “Fuck Kavi, I am so unbelievably sorry...I feel like such an asshole. W-when you tell her, tell her it was all me...it was my fault. I did it.” April continued a very nervous pace back and forth before an idea spun together in her mind. There was still something she could do to get back at Santiago, and while it wasn’t the most ambitious of plans, it would definitely get everyone’s attention. “Kavi...I have an idea.”

Just when he was about to tell her she had a very small part in this, Kavi just watched her go back and forth. It wasn’t making him dizzy, thank god, but he lost sight of her a couple of times until she mentioned some idea. That was when he popped upright with a smile. “Well do tell. What sort of idea is brewing up in that beautiful brain of yours?” He inquired.

“I’m gonna call him out in front of everyone. Show him that I’m done with his shit.” she said proudly, before reaching down to grab Kavi’s hand. “I’m gonna need you to be up there with me for it though, just for the extra effect.” April said with a grin, before half-dragging Kavi back into the party, up to the front of the crowd and then into the DJ’s booth. “I need to borrow the mic if that’s alright.” she gave the DJ a pretty please look before being reluctantly given the mic. With Kavi still in tow, she tapped the mic a few times against her thigh to get the crowd’s attention before beginning to speak.

“Good evening King’s Academy!” April called out to the crowd in her best hype-up voice. “How’s everyone doing tonight?” She called out, resulting in a loud cheer from the crowd in response. “I just want to say a few things before we bring back the music. First off, I would like to thank Kavi here for throwing this amazing party and making this all possible. I would also like to thank him for being there for me when my boyfriend Santiago wasn’t! On that note, I would like to give a shoutout to the new couple that ran to the back a few minutes before, Santiago and Yessi! Congratulations you two! Let's give them a big round of applause!” April clapped her hands together. For a moment, the audience was hesitant to do anything--it was definitely an awkward moment--but after a deafening silence, a gentle clap began that slowly grew into full applause.

“On one final note!” She called out loudly. “Because of the current situation regarding our dear Devil of King’s Academy, I would like to make a big announcement. Santiago! You are the father! You are the father of the child I am carrying, in case you forgot! Yes! I am pregnant bitches!” April’s hand shook as she said these final words, the false confidence she’d had at the start was beginning to wear off as familiar faces and strangers alike stared at her. “And now, back to the music!” she called out at last, resulting in a brief cheer from the crowd before the thumping bass kicked back in and everyone began to dance once again.

April turned to Kavi, both hands still trembling. “...W-well...how was that?”

“I could just kiss you right now..” As soon as he said that, he awkwardly transitioned into a laugh. “Oh you know what I meant. That was great. Santiago and Astraia will probably be furious, so that’s good and you spoke like a pro. You have a natural talent for this.”

“It's about damn time someone called him on it. Now he can’t hide it from anyone.” April said, taking a deep, shaky breath. No more hiding anything.

"I couldn't agree more," he said, half of his attention on April but the other half was at the DJ's stage. “Just excuse me for one moment.” Kavi gestured towards April to hold whatever thought she was about to put to words as he went back to the DJ table, Alonzo rolling his eyes at Kavi.

“What now?”

“I just need to use the microphone for one or three moments.”

Annoyed, Alonzo handed it over. “Fine but make it quick!”

“Thank you!” Kavi imitated a grateful bow as smiled politely at Alonzo. “So sorry I’m interrupting again, I know but Ariel, if you’re still here, which I’m hoping that you are. If you’re not still pissed at me, can we talk?” Kavi said into the microphone. “If so, I’ll be waiting for you by the hot tub!” He said with a hopeful voice, trying not to feel awkward with everyone staring at him.

Soon Kavi stepped away from the table and did very little to meet the eyes and the mild laughter of those he passed by. He didn’t have time to really think about what they thought about him. There were more important things for him to focus on. He had to figure out what he was going to say to Ariel and if he should bring up the kiss with April or not. No, of course, he should. Kavi couldn’t run away from it. He learned that lesson last month at Homecoming. He had to at least make the attempt to do better this time around. He loved Ariel so much. Contrary to what everyone thinks and keep saying about him on social media, Kavi Salvador is capable of change!

“Now I just wait and pray she will answer my plea.”

Kavi always hated waiting. He always felt exposed but Ariel was worth it. She was worth everything.

May the Power Protect You

Sup foo

May the Power Protect You

BLUE RANGER

▼ E L L E ▼ 17 • 1,12 ▼ F E M A L E ▼ L E S B I A N (out and proud) ▼ F A C E C L A I M • Bridget Satterlee; Dialogue Color: Sky Blue ▼

► M O R P H I N T I M E

Blue Ranger | Triceratops | Water Element

► S T R E N G T H S

Kind and Gentle — Elle has been known to extend a hand to anyone who is in need of help and never has thought twice to be the person to greet someone first. She might show signs of being shy, but she is far from it. She remembered what it was like when she was the new kid and nobody took the time to be friendly to her in the beginning, so she never wanted anyone to feel like that ever again.

Active in the Community — Whether it's volunteering at the community center, helping clean up the park, or simply offering to watch her neighbor's kids, Elle is always willing to give her time where its needed. Many have praised her for the willingness to give up her free time that most girls her age would like to have so they could hang out with their friends. She always found it weird why anyone wouldn't want to do what they could to pay it forward.

A Curious Mind — Some might call it nosey and others might just shrug it off as Elle just wanting to feel included, but when it comes down to it, Elle always has had a bit of a curious mind. whether it was figuring out what made things start, how communities were brought together and what tore them apart (hypothetical scenarios of course), and just about everything one could think of, Elle loves to know things. She's always the one to be patient to learn and gain knowledge. Her ability to apply this knowledge should also be noted as something impressive too.

A Lot of Moxy — She isn't the most athletic person and might seem a tad ungraceful, but you can't say that she doesn't have a lot of heart. Everything she does is Elle giving 110% percent. It might not always be perfect, but this is tied to her curious mind. There's a willingness to learn and an undying will to endure. And anyone who knows about Penelope Quinn's journey through childhood might know that she's been bullied a lot but she never let the negativity get to her. Always and forever, she remained hopeful for the next day.

► W E A K N E S S E S

Naive — There's certainly something to be said about how hopeful she really is. And her ability to be kind to others, especially those who might not deserve it. She doesn't recognize that some might not want to receive her acts of generosity or that not everyone might not want to be her friend. This is certainly something that could land her into some trouble and certainly could be taken advantage of should she come across the wrong person.

Inability to Say No — Elle's always had the problem of not being able to balance her responsibilities. So many people expect her to do this or do that and when she doesn't tell them no, she is handed the task of doing whatever it is those who come to her want her to do. Sometimes it's not bad, but it definitely can pile on and that's where she suffers. The pressure and weight of every little thing she takes on gets to her and Elle does not handle pressure well. She'll immediately shut down and be of use to nobody.

Physically Weak — No amount of willpower or an enduring spirit can make up for Elle's lack of physical strength. She is fit, of course, and has the lean body type of someone who actively jogs and works out, but when you strip all that away, you are left with Elle Quinn, the weakling girl who can't punch through a rubber ball. No training whatsoever in any form of fighting arts and the grace of a ditzy seal.

► F E A R S

somewhere deep down is the sleeping fear that once Elle has served her purpose, she'll be tossed aside for someone better than her, someone prettier. She's never really felt included in any group of friends she's tried to establish herself in. She's never felt like she truly belonged with anyone and maybe that's why she is so friendly so that she doesn't let it show that she's absolutely terrified of being alone after she completes whatever task people ask of her.

► W H Y M E

Touching upon Elle's naiveté again, she was drawn into a bad situation with a few people who apparently heard she had no problem doing things for those she barely knew. So a few kids who most would automatically turn away from had approached her at school one day asked her if she would put a package of theirs in her locker until the end of the day. Not thinking much about it at the time, she did so without asking what was in the package. Little did Elle know, just an hour and a period and a half later, just about 30 minutes from the lunch period, two Angel Grove police officers came to her classroom and asked her to come with them.

Imagine being her right now and not knowing what was happening. She was absolutely terrified and it was justified because the package she was asked to hold had about fifty joints of weed in them and with nobody to blame, she took it all and with that came an arrest record that, thanks to her lawyer father, was dumbed down to a D-class misdemeanor. Had her father not intervened, she would have faced up to ten years, but thankfully Xavier Quinn managed to talk the DA to her serving monitored house arrest for six months.

► E X T R A

Elle is a huge fan of synthpop and has a massive crush on LIGHTS and Marina Diamandis
She loves to swim and surfs frequently
Elle works for the Community Center and hopes to run it one day.

Palm Beach Royals: Senior Year

---

_{A Collaboration with @Inkarnate, @HaleyTheRandom, and @ineffable featuring Stella Lambert, Oliver Grayson, Mac Davenport, and Georgie Fielders}

---

Stella tried not to say anything because her mind was a mess right now, so if she had decided to open the only thing that was keeping the chaos locked away, the odds of her making the situation she saw as bad a lot worse than it was were high. And in that, she gave a smile when she felt a smile was necessary, which seemed to be one-hundred percent of the time. With Mac trying to make the situation as awkward for Stella and Oliver as she possibly could. Thank every god, goddess, and higher power out there for Oliver’s apt response.

She soon found herself happily nodding along with Oliver, sending the big girl in the sky a big thank you for his interruption. Goddess only knew what would have happened had Oliver not come save her from having to answer the highly-intrusive, highly-awkward, and quite embarrassing questions. “Yeah, I’m his date and he’s mine!” She echoed like a delayed reaction of the two of them being in-sync with each other. She didn’t know what else to say so her attention went to Georgia as if she was hoping to take the attention off of her and Oliver so both of them could breathe. “Oh hey, Geo! When did you get here?” She asked.

“That’s a good question.” Mac remarked as she removed the arm from her person, half-laughing as she did so.

Georgie watched as the back and forth ensued between Mac and the lovebirds, smiling at how happy Stella seemed and how the whole situation exuded innocent romance. She wished for Stella and Oliver’s happiness but snapped back to the question asked of her instead of daydreaming and smiled, taking a drink of whiskey from the solo cup in her hand.

”Some times ago. Carter was nice enough to drop me off and all. What’s going on here? Stella and Oliver, you guys are like...together?” Georgie put two fingers side by side in the air, half drunk and only slightly kidding.

“That’s what she said, innit?”

And like that, the attention was back on her and Oliver. “No, no, no, we’re not together together. I mean, we’re here together but there’s no reason to think that we are.” A moment passed and Stella’s frantic eyes went to Oliver. It took her another moment to realize how horrible that sounded. “I mean, not that there would be anything bad about us being together but no, we’re not that. Just here as each other’s date. No reason to think otherwise!” Stella felt like she couldn’t breathe. So many words left her lips and in so little time.

Mac laughed, shaking her head. “Someone’s in denial. Why would you care if someone thought you were, anyway? Is there someone else? Oh. You have a rival! How exciting.”

Georgie followed along with Mac, giggling as she spoke. “Oooh, there’s a rival? Tell us Stells!”

Stella felt the walls around whatever makeshift prison of the pressure to give them an answer slowly close in on her. “No, there’s isn’t anyone else. The last person who I was with in whatever way you’re thinking was Santiago and I won’t ever go down that route again!”

Whether or not she meant to admit that as loudly as she did, she couldn’t take it back, so again her eyes fell on Oliver hoping he would interject at some point. She didn’t know how much more of Geo and Mac’s prying she could take before she was gonna say something really damaging.

Oliver had heard tales of female gossip; how a group of girls got together over drinks and just talked about random nothings. The random nothing in question, however, kept putting himself in an awkward position. Was he just to assume how Stella felt or was he supposed to be his actual self and allow her to answer for herself. Thankfully, the question was answered when Stella decided to pipe up. What Stella had to say made him feel a way that he couldn’t really describe. His heart sank at one line, just to get half the amount of hope that he originally had back when she said the next.

”The truth is, ladies, we just haven’t had the ‘are we an actual thing’ talk yet. This all kind of just….” Oliver made a strange hand motion, rolling one hand over the other repeatedly until he finally shoved them in his pockets. It seemed like the best way to give himself five seconds to think. ”The school did that weird homecoming experiment thing and as it turns out, Stella and I actually got along really well. Just because we aren’t together together doesn’t mean that - in time - we won’t be.”

He couldn’t help but let that tiny spark of rage flare up inside him at the mention of Santiago. ”I can’t believe you ever actually went down that road in the first place, Stella. He’s a piece of shit.”

“Hey!” Stella protested, “In my defense, he’s very pretty!” She huffed.

”So looks equal ev--” Oliver took a deep breath, his jaw clenched. Stella was drunk. Stella still had some kind of feelings for the guy. It was Oliver’s job to understand such things, not to judge. Not that he was judging. Just…. Stella. ”I didn’t mean it that way, Stel.”

Mac shook her head. “What way did you mean it?”

”In the same way any other friend would have meant it. Just that… maybe it wasn’t the best choice of words. Stella deserves better. Way better.”

“So serious. It’s a party, relax. It’s not like you’ve been introduced to her parents.” There was a pause as Mac looked at Stella and Oliver’s expressions. “Oh. Oh no. Stella, you didn’t.”

“He hasn’t just met my parents. He’s also met my Uncle Wesley, Aunt Florence, and their two kids: Abe and Winnie.”

“Oh dear god. Stella, mate, I told you about this.” Mac remarked as she finished her current drink. The British girl had told Stella a thousand times about jumping into things too quickly; and why it was a bad idea. How much trouble had she gotten into since summer had ended?

Georgie watched the exchange going on with increasing amusement. She didn’t know Stella as much as Mac knew her but well...Stella did kind of look like someone who would go about her relationships as enthusiastically as she went on with her life.

”Hold up.” Georgie turned to Oliver, extending her cup so it almost poked him in the face. ”Other than introducing Oliver to your whole extended family, minus your parents...I don’t even think I know him that well. Wait. Are we the first ones to find out? Am I in the in yet?”

Stella hummed for a good moment. “No, he didn’t meet my entire family. He only met my Aunt Florence’s family. There’s still Aunt Cassie, Uncle Charles, and a whole bunch of others that live in France,” she paused, looking at Geo, “but yes, as far as who all knows, not counting Oli, of course, you two are the only ones who know or even care to know.”

”Aw, that’s so exciting! You two are so cute together...I mean look at your faces!”

Georgie by this point had finished her cup of whiskey and thrown it to the side, stumbling over to both Stella and Oliver and joining their hands together as if she was preaching at their wedding. Normally, Georgie could hold her alcohol better than this but her thoughts had already been muddled entering the party. She had gone days without talking to her parents, becoming increasingly frustrated and alone. Add that to the split second in which she had spotted Sawyer smiling and having fun across the room and she could hardly find it in her to focus, much less retain sobriety.

Mac, on the other hand, seemed to have been enjoying the conversation merely for the spectacle. It was hard to say if it was embarrassing the two of them or Georgie’s own outbursts entertained her more.

There was still more of Stella's family? Oliver had thought that the people he had met the night of Homecoming was it. Perhaps that was the downside to having a small family yourself - you believed that everyone else did as well. Oliver had one aunt and no cousins. The Grayson clan was a small one. Truth to be told, his head was a mess at the moment. His subconscious was just grasping at strings of the conversation trying to sort out what Stella was saying. She had said that they weren’t together not even five minutes ago. Now what she was saying to Mac and Georgie implied otherwise. Perhaps all of the conversation was stemming from Stellas semi-drunken state. One thing that Oliver was sure of, however, was that once Stella had sobered up, the two of them were having a very serious conversation.

”Uh… thanks for that, then, I guess. Though I’m pretty sure all the cuteness in this relationship comes from Stella herself.”

“I don’t know about that.” Mac teased, offering a smirk before uttering a follow-up comment. “As for me, lots of party to discover. I’ll catch you guys later.”

Mac’s eyes drifted to Georgie’s own, before setting off to find more drinks and more entertainment.

”Wonderful.” Georgie said as she clapped her hands together after releasing the linked fingers of Stella and Oliver from her grasp. She stepped away slightly, unsure of what she needed to do next.

”Anyways, it was nice to meet you, Oliver. As always, a pleasure, Stells.” Georgie took off her hat and tipped it in their direction before she waved and slowly parted ways with them as well. She needed a refill of booze...or maybe a glass of wine. Both, she concluded.

Palm Beach Royals: Senior Year

_{A collab with @spooner @Ejected @eclecticwitch & @Dirty Pretty Lies}

Sonny never thought he’d ever say this but he and Kavan were actually having a nice time just kind of chilling, away from most of everyone. They weren’t too far away. Sonny and Kavan had wandered more towards the back of Kavi’s house but they weren’t particularly outside just yet. There was a room in the Salvador house that acted like a lounging area for those who didn’t want to really engage with the more hyperactive partygoers that were currently in the middle of hyping up some kind of beer pong game. Given those who were present around it, Sonny didn’t want to approach them just yet. Instead, he and Kavan found a nice somewhat quiet place to just chill.

And then, not even a minute after Sonny had sat down on a comfy couch and red cup of some high-quality beer in his hand, out of the corner of his eye, he saw a dress-clad Archer and that one guy named Guy. It wasn’t so much that Sonny didn’t want to see Archer. They were on far better terms than they have been since Sonny and Marisol had rekindled their turbulent friendship, but given what Sonny was dressed as and how well he knew Archer, there was bound to be some form of a comment or two thrown his way from the Goddess.

So he stood up, not paying any mind to Kavan ditching him for his girl-not-girlfriend. “Yes, yes make the jokes.” He was only mildly annoyed while the rest of him was enjoying Archer’s own get up. “And what are you supposed to be? Some sort of Goddess of the Earth? Wait don’t tell me!” Sonny paused, smiling at Guy, even going as far as to flip his hair for maximum effect, “You’re making a political statement!”

God if Sonny was right, he will officially give up any and all remarks about Archer being unfunny for the foreseeable future. He will even cut the fairy remarks.

Raising an eyebrow Archer let out a little laugh "Oh wow! Look at you getting what I'm putting down. Impressive Torvie!" He shot his pseudo friend a quick wink.

As he stood opposite of Archer but his back to the door leading outside, Sonny wasn’t able to see her but as soon as he heard her speak, he just knew that Marisol was going to let something slip. And with infectious grin reaching its way to him, something else reached its way towards him. Laughing and smiling, he felt Marisol’s hand squeezed his plump cushion, which then she followed it with one of the worst pick up lines he had ever heard that didn’t come from his mouth.

He turned around, letting out a deep sigh. “Really?” His face went completely dead due to his surprise that she said such a line to him. ”That's the best you could come up with?” Sonny sounded almost disappointed. “You were impersonating the cringiest person at our school. You could’ve done better, but I give an A for effort and the very impressive ass squeeze.” Joking, Sonny returned the favor by slapping her ass.

"Screw you, asshole!" she laughed, wrapping her arms around Sonny and planting a kiss on his cheek. "You know if I say what I'm really thinking it'll make Archer here bitch at me for being 'gross'."

A tight-lipped smile spread across Archie's face as he gestured to them. "You don't have to say a damn thing, baby girl. This will always be 100% gross," he cracked a wide smile as he rolled his eyes towards Kavan. Kavan simply returned the grin and continued to watch as his friends bantered on.

"Hater," Mari shot back, rolling her eyes at Archer but shooting him a playful smile and a wink afterward.

“Archie, you wound me!” Sonny dramatically said, hand over his forehead and a gasping noise that sounded eerily like something very inappropriate. “Are you saying that a lady such as myself doesn’t deserve to be manhandled by Wednesday Addams?” He asked Archer, hiking up his voice a slight octave.

The tall boy scoffed “I’m pretty sure that a lady like you has been manhandled by far worse.” he smiled sheepishly at the pair.

"Oh you know it. You should have seen how I used to whoop his ass in the yard back in the day," Mari said smugly, patting Sonny in the back. "My mom and his dad got us these kiddie boxing gloves one summer and told us to have some fun with them. Next thing you know: Son's on the floor screaming to get me off him. He'd pissed me off so much I went in for it and didn't stop."

"Any chance that your parents caught any of this on film?" Kavan suddenly piped up, his voice humorous and his grin widening. "Watching Sonia get beat up by someone half his size? I would definitely pay good money to see some shit like that."

Guy smiled and stood quietly, sipping his cup of soda. These people had obviously been friends for a good long while. They had the ease, comfort, and cadence of people who had been conversing easily for years. He had not this sort of history with them. As time passed he only felt more awkward but did laugh at the thought of Baby Mari beating up Baby Sonny. “Perhaps not so different now,” he said quietly. His eyes widened and he tried to back peddle. “I just mean… I think she could take you… that is… God, wonder what my other foot tastes like.” He brushed his hair back from his face and glanced at Archer as his phone rang.

A loud vibrating noise could be heard from Archer's pant pocket. He held up a finger as he fished his phone out and answered. "What do you want Warren? What? I can't hear you, calm down… Hold on" he looked to the group "Sorry, it's my idiot brother! I'll be right back." He said and pushed through the crowd disappearing out of sight.

And now, Guy, king of being an awkward twerp, was left with a group of people he hardly knew and had just made a fool of himself. A hot blush dusted his cheeks as he watched Archer disappear into the crowd. He turned his attention back on the group, wondering if he should make an exit. Or would that be worse? Maybe say something? But he wasn’t good at that. Finally, he said, “I think you make a lovely woman. When Shakespeare was writing plays all of the women were played by men.”

“Finally, an actual compliment!” Relieved, Sonny immediately brought Guy into a sudden embrace, his arm wrapping itself around his neck in a friendly, yet affectionate, manner. “You guys should take notes from this guy. He knows how to compliment a fragile lady such as myself!” Even if joking, Sonia rewarded Guy’s compliment with a light, yet equally noticeable, peck on the lips that lasted all of one second.

The arm around his neck and closeness of this person he did not know very well caused the blush across his cheeks deepen. He mumbled out a small “You’re welcome...” and hoped he would let go of him soon. Unfortunately, quite the opposite happened. He kissed him. It was a light, innocent peck filled with fun and joy. However, Guy was absolutely shocked. His eyes widened and he opened his mouth to say something. He couldn’t find the words. He closed his mouth. Oh, wait. There were words. Mouth opened again. Aaaand there the words went. Mouth closed. A couple more times did he gawp like a fish before he finally decided to take a sip of his drink and looked elsewhere. “I think I see someone…” he trailed off, waited for a beat, and then turned and walked toward the refreshments table.

Mari watched in shock as Sonny planted a good one on their new acquaintance, making the boy visibly flustered before ultimately scurrying away. “Jesus, Sonny, was that really necessary?!” she scolded her friend, glaring at him and slapping his arm. “You scared the poor boy away with your slut behavior! What a fantastic way to make a first impression!”

Sonny responded with a shrug. He didn’t see what the big deal was. It was a joke kiss. Certainly nothing more and definitely nothing less. “I’m more surprised he didn’t try and kiss me back,” Sonny admitted. “Seriously though, who gets kissed and doesn’t want to return the favor?” He looked to either Marisol or Kavan for an answer.

“Oh, I don’t know, maybe someone you just fucking met not even five minutes ago?!” the girl replied sarcastically, rolling her eyes at how stupid Sonny was being. “I’m surprised he didn’t fucking give you a black eye, you dumb fuck!”

Sonny, again, would shrug. They obviously didn’t see it that way, so Sonny turned to Kavan. “You have to be the tiebreaker here, bro,” he said, his entire body facing Kavan. “Do you think it was a normal reaction for Guy to go straight to Splitsville like Wednesday here says or do you think he acted prematurely?” He tried to hide it but Sonny’s immature mind produced a semi-hidden chuckle as soon as he said premature.

"Well," Kavan said, a hint of hesitation in his voice as he took a quick glance at the boy who'd just left their group. "Given the circumstances… and seeing how nervous he already was, I think I'm gonna have to agree with Mari on this one, Sonia. Sorry."

“HA!” Marisol cried out, smirking triumphantly and poking Sonny in the chest. “Suck on that, bitch!”

“I hope the next time you go--”

Sonny was grateful for being cut off because the sight of Salem, that lean bean weasel and what looked like a dirty hoebag by the name of Ximena together no more than three or four feet, but with the number of people between them, it seemed like a greater distance. At first, Sonny didn’t think much of it. Salem, despite Sonny’s own opinions about the lanky dipshit, was easy on the eyes and Ximena was the school whore. That’s why he didn’t give them a second thought and they were almost an afterthought until their lips connected.

“--what the fuck!” Sonny blurted out, a growing ire at the sight of Salem with, of all people to cheat with, Ximena.

“What is it, Son?” Marisol asked her best friend, turning in the direction he was staring at. And when her eyes found the unexpected sight, the short girl felt her heart shatter into a million different pieces before dropping all the way down to the endless pit in her stomach.

Kavan watched in silence as the scene unfolded before him, his eyebrows raised in surprise at the sight of Salem and Ximena. And while part of him was mentally commentating on how Salem must think of himself as quite the ladies man, the other part was anxious to see how Mari would react. “He’s not worth it,” Kavan suddenly spoke up, trying to defuse the situation before it even really began. “If he’s that stupid to cheat on you with someone who’s probably had more STD’s than she has brain cells, then they deserve each other.”

Sonny was just waiting for Marisol’s green light so he could give Salem a dose of round two. This time it would be well deserved and it would at least save Marisol a second trip to the funny farm for her overreaction. “Just say the word and I’ll bop him real good with my Prada bag!” Sonny held onto the handles of his bag hard, ready and willing to smack Salem a few dozen times.

“No need for that,” the girl replied in a hoarse voice, her eyes still glued to the fateful scene unfolding right in front of her. Just then, Salem chose to put an end to the madness and walk away- but the damage was done. She didn’t realize the way her hands balled up into small fists, how her knuckles whitened, or the way her black nails were digging so hard into her skin that she was sure there would be bloody crescent marks on her palms.

After what seemed like forever, Mari briefly turned to Sonny and Kavan. “Don’t worry about it. I’ll handle this myself,” she told them before squaring her shoulders and pushing her way out of the room in the direction where Salem had gone.

Sonny wasn’t sure if it was a good idea for Marisol to go off on her own. He had half a mind to follow her. If not for anything, the last time she reacted to a situation involving someone she was really close to, a pricey German sports car was terribly damaged. “She seemed level-headed, right? I mean, how did she seem to you, Kavan?” Sonny asked him, worried about what Marisol might do to Salem.

After watching Marisol push her way back through the crowd of people, Kavan let out a deep breath before refocusing his gaze back on Sonny. “Honestly?” the young man said uncertainly, “I think we should start thinking about putting together some bail money."

The Black Fall Universe: Task Force RAVEN

<Snipped quote by Altered Tundra>

Fixed it

@Ruler Inc

Me? Flake? Never!

The Black Fall Universe: Task Force RAVEN

Time to make an obnoxiously-energetic RAVEN agent.

Palm Beach Royals: Senior Year

_{An @Altered Tundra, @HaleyTheRandom, and @QueenNugget Collaboration post featuring Kavi Salvador, Ariel Grey, and Simone Amore}

“Yo, yo, yo, what it do baby boo?”

Kavi, as he failed miserably to not only imitate Snoop Dogg’s voice and mannerisms, also brought some temporary attention to himself that he wasn’t sure he wanted. He heard snickering from around him. He didn’t know who was laughing at him, but the cackling from the peanut gallery couldn't make him feel any more embarrassed than he made himself feel. Nevertheless, he brought in Snoop D-O-Double-G in for the best urban hug greeting he could pretend like he knew how to do it. The end result was something bordering on cringe and Kavi just looking more ridiculous than he probably saw in his head.

He had to recover quickly, so Kavi returned to the safe space right by his girlfriend’s side and resumed party host duties. Not that there was anything he could say or do after this point that could possibly make things worse for him than what he just did and said. And he stood there, Kavi felt like an idiot.

Simone chuckled at Kavi's awesomely failed attempt to impersonate Snoop Dogg, and honestly, she probably couldn't have done any better, but she was going to stick with the image to make people believe that she could. "Whaddup?" She asked, lowering her voice for dramatic effect and returning the hug, rubbing her fake beard afterward, a smile on her face...which turned into pursed lips as Kavi pulled out the joints he happened to have.

“Let’s just forget that just happened and allow me to welcome you to my home -- or my parents home. Honestly, it doesn’t matter whose name or names are on the rental lease. Bottom line, I’m the host, this is my party, and you are so good at making me think you’re Snoop Dogg, we should smoke a joint to commemorate this positively accurate costume of yours.” As though he was prepared, Kavi pulled out a couple of neatly rolled joints. They weren’t Snoop Doggy Dogg caliber but they were packed with the quality one might expect. “I mean unless you’re not game.”

Kavi quickly turned to Ariel. “Oh shit, I didn’t even think -- if you don’t want to, you don’t have to smoke with us.” Kavi wasn’t even sure if Ari smoked weed. He knew Marisol did and they used to hang with each other, but he didn’t know if it was something Ari picked up along the way.

Awkward Kavi was cute. Kavi holding a joint? Not so much. ”Actually, babe… I think I’m good.” And there it was ladies and gentlemen - the problem with this gathering. It seemed that Ariel had a problem at every one of them, so why she even tried anymore she had no clue. Kavi hadn’t done anything wrong. No one had done anything wrong. But, just like so many other things, any sort of drug brought up bad memories. Memories that Ariel had done her best to bury. ”Not that there’s anything wrong with you guys doing it,” she quickly added. ”I just think it’s best if I set this one out.”

She hesitated for a hot second, a little tense. "Um, she clicked her tongue on the roof of her mouth. "Hmm, actually, I'm probably gonna sit this one out this time, but thanks for the offer, she paused. "...Dawg," Simone added, only to keep up appearances. She probably should have expected something like this, given her costume, but it had still managed to catch her off guard. Plus, she didn't exactly know if she were ready, that is.

“Well this is anticlimactic.”

Kavi tried to hide his disappointment. He figured at least the one going as Snoop Dogg would be a willing participant in some recreational use of the Devil’s Lettuce, but here he was holding three joints in one hand and nobody but him willing to enjoy them. It seemed pretty awkward for him to be the only one to enjoy them while two watched. Maybe suggesting weed was a bad idea. At least, it didn’t seem to be something Ariel had particularly enjoyed from the way she had retreated to her usual bubble.

As he sighed quite disappointingly, Kavi pocketed the three joints to save them for a later date. It was the hardest drug at the party, so it wasn’t like the door was open for harder stuff. This wasn’t a Santiago party. “Well, this is pretty awkward. I had a whole series of events unfolding in my head after we got a little high, but now..” He sighed again. “I don’t know, guess we can just chill in sober awkwardness.” It was clear in his voice that half of Kavi’s energy went away as soon as the joints did.

”What’s awkward about being sober?”

He shrugged. “The fact that both of you shot it down and that it’s now out there?” He offered as a couple of examples.

”I - no one was trying to be a bitch or anything. Sometimes people just are comfortable with certain things.”

“Ari, it’s not like I was suggesting we snort a line or two of coke. That would be a Santiago thing to do. It’s just fucking weed!” Kavi shouted just a little louder than he intended to.

Clenched jaw and arms crossed, Ariel glared daggers at Kavi. What was his deal? Was it really that important to him to be high? ”No one was trying to piss you off, and no one insinuated that it was murder or anything. Jesus, Kav. If it’s that big of a deal, go out back and smoke one by yourself. Maybe you need to loosen the fuck up.”

Kavi was going to say something, but he knew it wouldn’t have been wise, especially since he, like Ariel, had a tendency to say or do something that would worsen the situation. Instead, he darted his eyes to Simone. “I’m sorry you have to hear this. We’re usually not like this, but my girlfriend is being crazy for some strange reason.”

And maybe Kavi was just going to make things worse for him regardless of who he said it to, yet it appeared to be as though he didn’t care -- at least for the time being.

Ariel could feel her face getting hotter and hotter, the familiar, somewhat blurry vision returning that was associated with angry tears. Why her only bodily reaction for anything here lately was to cry, Ariel had no idea, but she absolutely hated it. Her eyes shifted to Simone as well, trying to read the other girl's face but failing. ”I - yeah. Crazy…” she said, her voice trailing off.

Something told her that this wasn’t the first time Kavi had thought that. It probably wasn’t the first time that anyone had thought it. ”I think it’s actually best if I just step outside for a minute,” she said, turning to walk away.

Simone looked back and forth between the two as they bantered, realizing she was kinda in an awkward position. She didn't really know what to do; she agreed with Ariel more, but she also felt bad for making Kavi upset. As they continued, Simone could see Ariel's face get redder as Kavi apologized for her, before she turned to leave. "Hey hey hey, please don't leave, uh-," she started awkwardly, not sure how to handle this.

"-ahem. Listen. Kavi," she took a step closer to him, lowering her voice. "Just- don't be that guy. Please. She didn't want to do it, and now she's upset. This is a party, it's supposed to be fun and I still need to drive home." she chuckled at the end, hoping to relieve some of the tension.

Simone turned to Ariel and gave a small, yet worried smile. "And Ariel, uh, I know we don't really know each other except each other's names, but if you ever need to talk about anything…," she said politely, trailing off, not wanting anyone to leave. She didn't want to be alone.

“Seriously!?”

Kavi was speechless. He was actually unable to force words out of his mouth. He tried but nothing came out. Maybe it was for the better. Words coming from his idiotic brain landed him in the solitude he created by himself. And why did he find himself alone? Because he insisted there was nothing wrong about smoking a joint. What was even worse was how he still believed there was nothing bad about it, but what seemed to differ from past situation Kavi found himself in because of his mouth was a guilty conscious. Unlike times before where he’d shrug it off and not think twice, he had an underwhelming amount of guilt on his shoulders.

And so he went follow Ariel, but just as he did, Kavi was stopped by someone he frequently worked out with.

“Kavi, my man!” The boy said, drunk and a bit high as he brought Kavi into a hug. “Come pound a shot or ten with me, man!”

Kavi wanted to chase after Ariel. He still saw her red hair in the distance, heading towards the front door. He could ditch Tom if he wanted to, but maybe time alone was what both of them needed, so Kavi decided against it and instead let Wild Tom pull him towards the back patio where most of the better beverages were. There he would begin to pound back a few shots of tequila, though the thought of Ariel being mad at him did linger. Regardless, he prepared another shot and drank it.