Altered Tundra

Meadow University

Lily and Lance have been dropped.

Palm Beach Royals: Senior Year

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_{Collab by Chrissie @TootsiePop & Kavi @Altered Tundra}

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After her delightful conversation with her number one best friend — Chris and Stella weren’t on talking terms —her dear Cherry, who she encouraged to ask a special someone out to the dance wholeheartedly, Chrissie, whose green eyes were like the overgrowing scottish thistle, prickly little bastards, set her sight on her date. For someone in the drama club and knew drama better than anyone, the petty happenings at this school were becoming a complete bore to her, getting old and overplayed real fast. Chris was over it and was focused on having a good time. Fuck everyone else, who chose to sulk in other people’s bullshit rather than enjoy their last few months at King’s.

In conclusion, she decided to pick someone who she knew could be the life of the party, if people saw past his demeanor. This wasn’t ‘risking’ her rep and clinging onto the next piece of fuck boi she could find. Though, she was sure some people would think exactly that. Nah, this was her not caring about what everyone had to say and craving for a new experience. Plus, it wasn’t like he was currently taken. So, it wasn’t like she was doing anyone harm by asking him out.

Since it was their last semester, she thought to herself: why not? What did Chrissie have to lose by asking someone she handpicked herself to the dance? People go on blind dates all the time and they come out just fine! Nothing was wrong with playing the field, and it wasn’t like she wanted a boyfriend. Chris was in the mood for nothing more than having fun and this person, she believed, could do just that. Show her a good time.

Kavi Salvador was someone she barely knew, aside from the whispers in the halls, and the pictures, videos, and tweets online. They were at the same parties when she dated Jason, they were sometimes even standing next to each other in the kitchen, while they chatted with entirely different people. Both were popular in their own regards, and held themselves in an arrogantly charming way. If anything, the way he held himself intrigued her because perhaps, they were more similar than either of them realized. She wouldn’t know until she found out herself, pushing all the talk aside. Talk was talk, but there was more to people than what meets the eye.

Even if he was cruel and a man impossible to fix, that had nothing to do with her. Kavi deserved to have a pleasant Valentine’s day, just like everyone else, and maybe it was Chrissie’s job to make him forget all his problems and focus on the now. No point in crying over spilled milk! Hence why Chris refuses to deal with her cousin’s bullshit as Stella chases ‘love’.

With a bounce in her step, there was always a bounce in her step, her hips swaying with each motion, Chris stalked her prey. He seemed too lost in thought to realize there was a girl right on his tail. Refraining from getting his attention, Chris prowled onward until he took a seat by his lonesome self, in the quad.

Smirking, she walked to the table, with absolute no hesitation, and took it upon herself to sit with him. After tossing her bag on the bench, she gradually took out a container of strawberries. While she opened it, the drama queen then started to talk, “Hey stranger. I hope you don’t mind me sitting here! I thought you could use some company, so here I am.” She placed the lid on the table. With one finger, she pushed the glass bowl a little closer to him, “Strawberry?”

Kavi glared at Chrissie as she took a seat at the bench he chose, which was somewhat isolated away from the others. He intentionally wanted to be away from people so he could think in peace and so he didn’t give anyone a reason to get on his nerves — well, more than they already have, that is. Despite this, Chrissie McCoy decided to go out of her way to not only walk the distance but to sit down uninvited. Like yeah sure, Kavi didn’t mind at all. Not like he was trying to be alone or anything like that.

“You did, huh?” He rolled his eyes, shrugging and taking a couple of strawberries. “Lucky for you, I happen to like strawberries,” he noted, taking a bite out of the berry in his hand. “So, what can I do for you, Chrissie? Shouldn’t you be practicing your thespian breathing exercises or someshit like that?”

“Bitch, please.” Chrissie teased, shaking her head in mild irritation, “Even I need a break from belting, dancing, and pretending.” Grabbing one strawberry for herself, she placed it in her mouth, sucking it for a second, before graciously chomping it. After swallowing, Chris grinned, “Well, well, well. Aren’t you a rather impatient one?” she playfully tilted her head, in an almost creepy kind of way. Waving in the air, she alluded to her objective by giving a little giggle, “I just wanted to know if you were taken.” She purposely paused and let that last word sit for a bit.

“For Valentines.” Chris added. A bright simper never breaking from her face, masking her agenda by asking one of the most talked about boys at King’s to a dance celebrating friendship.

His eyes fell on Chrissie as he thought for a quick moment. He knew exactly what kind of game she was playing at. It was a similar one he liked to play. Realizing that, he half-chuckled lowly and spoke.”That would be a no to both,”” he gave her a half-smirk. “Why? Are you interested?” He asked her, matching her in this little game of hers. “For the Valentine’s Dance, I mean.”

“Oh, I mean.” Keeping a coy grin on, she leaned forward and cooed, “I wouldn’t be here if I wasn’t interested.” She took another bite into her strawberry, pulling the leaf off, before sitting back up. Shrugging to herself, placing the leaf on a napkin, she acknowledged the truth of their realities, “I’m single, you’re single. I’m not looking, I’m sure you’re still caught up with your little mermaid. I don’t see any losses with us going together, do you?”

Kavi weighed his options and the pros and cons of accepting her offer. He was annoyed that the faculty decided to exclude “love interests” from being an option. Of course, even if it was an option, he had to face facts that he and Ariel weren’t together anymore. They were just friends, so there was a lot of truth to what Chrissie said. As much as he hated to admit it, what was the harm? But then again, something was eating at him and it wasn’t the tartness of the berries, either.

“Out of all the single guys here, why me?” He asked her as he didn’t want to mince words. “I mean, I’m flattered you weren’t repulsed by me like most have been lately, but you know you won’t be making any friends by going with me, right?” He had to laugh at how much that specific truth hurt him. Of course, Kavi would never show it.

“Why should I care? In ten years, I’m sure there will only be a handful of friends I’ll still be in contact with.” This insecurity he was emitting was new for Chris to experience. She never saw this side of him, but it must be the feeling of heartbreak and exile that was putting him down in the dumps. “You want my honest-to-god opinion? You look like someone I can drink with and share laughs with. I really don’t care what others have to say or think. I want to enjoy myself, and NOT sit in my own guilt because I got dumped by someone who didn’t want me for me. I don’t know you, which is even better! That means we have a lot to discover. I’m less likely to be bored to tears if I think you have a lot going on in here.” She knocked on her head to symbolize her noggin or well, his.

He tried to warn her. He thought she would want to save her reputation from being seen with him, but like many others he knew, she clearly didn’t care what others thought of her, something that Kavi should do more of. He had to admit it was refreshing for someone to look at him like he wasn’t the shitstain everyone else kept saying he was. “Then I guess it’s a date.” He offered her a smirk, leaning forward a few inches if not to just get a little more comfortable. “But tell me this: was I your first choice?” Kavi had to ask.

Leaning in as well, breaking the distance, she beamed, batting her eyes in a kittenish way. She let her breath lightly touch his lips and whispered, “No. Ariana was, but I can kiss her any day I want.” As she backed up, she winked at him, honestly not surprised at all he said yes. Who could resist her? Rummaging through her bag, she pulled out a small notepad and feathery pen, scribbled down her number, slid it toward him, and then sweetly demanded, “Wear pink.”

He wasn’t sure exactly why she did that but he wasn’t complaining in all honesty. Chrissie smelled nice because of the strawberries. Smiling, he took the paper with her phone number and pocketed it into his jacket pocket. “Fine but I’m keeping the strawberries.” He more told her than asking for her permission. “You know, since I like them so much,” he teased as he took a bite into one without breaking eye contact with her.

“Aren’t you clever.” As their conversation came to an end, and she had no other reason to be in the quad anymore, Chrissie got up and threw her bag over her shoulder, keeping eye contact with him, just as much as he was doing with her, “Until next time, Kavi.”

As she walked away, she looked over her shoulder towards him still watching her, and exclaimed, with her high octave voice, “I like your smile!” And with that, the Drama queen sashayed away. It was nice seeing him get some life back in his face. He looked better when he was happy.

Current Mood in One Gif

Topic of the Day/Week/Whatever

@HaleyTheRandom Well, for my 21st birthday, I went with my family to a bar and ended up kissing a bald guy on his head who was at the countertop. I remember that being funny just because it was my first time at a bar and buying my own drink. It was also one of the first times I got really drunk. Like, I remember being at Savemart after we left the bar and I kept waving to people who walked by me and Nicole (one of my older sisters).

There's also a memory (one of them at least) I have with one of my best friends, who I pretty much grew up (knew him since 8th grade), where we would do a lot of dumb shit. Staying up all night, playing video games, mixing all of the available soda options at McDonald's, and being idiots by doing the following for people passing us by the road: youtube.com/watch?v=c7TfJcuIWmQ

Honestly, I have a lot of writing/roleplaying-related memories I could talk about too. But thinking about them does make me smile. I haven't lived an exciting life but I am pretty thankful for these memories. I may not be sad about what's happening -- at least not when it comes to the quarantine -- but I can understand why some might be anxious one way or another.

Palm Beach Royals: Senior Year

Had this been a few weeks ago, Stella might’ve been angrier than she was right now. And that was to simply say that she wasn’t — angry, that is. During the mini-assembly (if you really wanted to call it that), Stella found herself bored, mirroring Queen Julie ironically, but more just bored of a lot of things. For days that followed that way-too-eventful-for-its-own-good Monday that tore her world apart, she was livid at Chrissie. Livid at the world for everything that was happening around her. She threw tantrums, which was unlike her but she also confided in Carter a lot more than she used to. That’s not to say they didn’t talk regularly but especially after the blowout she had with her cousin and ex-best friend, Stella found comfort in Carter now more than ever.

Up until Mrs. Sanders stated the reason for the forced minsembly, she had started to daydream like she used to — like she did when she was with Oliver. She had a conversation with her favorite wholesome bestie and he helped her put a lot of things into perspective. Since their mutual decision to call it quits and remain friends, Stella found herself in a good place. Granted, every time she and Chris saw each other in the hall or at the house, they avoided each other like the plague, which only led to awkward dinners and encounters, but she wasn’t as irate as she was. To quote Oliver, Chrissie had her panties wadded up and Stella wasn’t in the wrong for liking Carter.

Following the bombshell and the aftermath that followed, Stella didn’t know what to make of it. Valentine’s day was about love. It was meant to celebrate it with the one you have feelings for. Stella wanted that to be Carter. She was prepared to ask him if he got cold soles in his feet. She saw no harm in being the one to ask him, but now she couldn’t because why? Oh, that’s right! The King’s Academy staff felt like butting in something they had no business doing. Not only was it unfair to those who were couples already — like Sonny and Marisol — but it was unfair to those who wanted to be couples or have a chance to get a headstart. Like, oh sure, they didn’t say they couldn’t be together at the dance but how rude is it to ditch your date for whoever you like as soon as you get there?

“It’s so unfair!” Stella huffed and rolled her eyes. w

As she stood there, she saw Sonny and Marisol, hands locked together like the cute couple they were, heading into the cafeteria. She saw Russel Lopez go up to his ex’s best friend, Perri Smith. She saw so many people do what she didn’t have an inkling on what to do. She would ask Oliver but he was out of town this weekend, so clearly that wasn’t an option. Maybe Kavi. That was a safe bet, right? Someone who was her friend.

Yeah, Kavi it is!

As soon as Stella had decided, she saw Kavi and she waved to him but he didn’t see her. So she pursued him in secret. Little did she know, not only was someone else thinking of the same thing but like the klutz that Stella was, she tripped over that person’s heel and only caught a glance of them as they sat at the bench Kavi had chosen to isolate him at. Stella’s eyes didn’t betray her as she saw Chrissie was the one who got to Kavi first.

“Son of a--” She bit her lip, choosing not to make a big scene and picked herself up. Holding her bag close to her, Stella turned away from the site of that snake of an ex-best friend and opted to go...somewhere else. Anywhere was better than having to see Chrissie ruin yet another perfect day for her.

So the brunette opted to trace her steps back and aim to move her legs towards the courtyard. As long as it was far away from Chrissie, Stella would welcome anyone to talk to her.

Current Mood in One Gif

Meadow University

An eager Nate followed Jasper and Ramona as they went to see what was going on with the former’s brother and the attractive redhead. They had invested interest in getting to the bottom of it. And Nate did too, in a way, but he was mostly there for the ride. With curious eyes and a curiouser mind, he watched in excited silence, his blue eyes scanning the scene.

No more than a few moments after watching Jasper and Junie exchange glances, Nate would do the same between everyone around. Between Jasper and Junie having a staredown and Mona seeming just as into whatever was happening, he couldn’t help but wonder what the issue was. He was somewhat confused but mostly curious. He wasn’t the most observant guy but even he could tell tension was just as thick as his interest in the female species.

A few eternities later, the tension simmered down like a pot of broth meant to cook for hours on low heat settings. And while he wasn’t against the attention being on him, what poor Nathaniel Blake wasn’t expecting, nor prepared for, was how assertive Mona ended up being with him.

Caught off guard by the shot glass forced into his hand, Nate had almost dropped it but he was able to secure the tiny shot glass in his right index and thumb fingers. He took a snort sniff of it, which told him exactly what he should have known: this brand of alcohol wasn’t good for the senses and needed to be digested quickly.

Wiping off any saliva drooling down his face with his free hand, Nate downed the shot. It burned with a fruity aftertaste that Nate was trying to decide if he was a fan of or not. “How about them apples!?” Nate’s voice came out high and louder than he intended. Instincts took over and he grabbed the top of the bottle with his free hand and chugged it for two seconds, effectively drinking about three or four shots worth of the peach-flavored Vodka.

Nate grinned at both Jasper and Mona, his eyes watering modestly as the burning in his throat couldn’t be denied. At the least, however, he proved Mona wrong and that he could hold his own. “Your move, ladies!” He gestured to the bottle as he gave them his best attempt at a sly grin.

I Caved-

Welcome to the Guild!

Sum up your week in roleplaying in just 3 words

Lots of angst

Palm Beach Royals: Senior Year

Date — Sunday, January 20th, 2019

Kavi felt weird coming out of a pretty eventful week. With how it started, he didn’t think he’d find himself in a decent place. After what happened with Chanel and the rest of the trinity, not to mention the tense first encounter he had with Ariel’s friend, Ryland, he thought for sure he was going to be in the doghouse a lot longer than he was. When he had made the initial attempts to talk to Ariel on that same day, he assumed the few hours spent in classes were going to be enough, that maybe Ariel calmed down.

Kavi was wrong.

So he tried again the next day and the same result happened. It wasn’t until nearly a couple of days later, that after she calmed down and after she was able to look at him without either a, forming tears in her eyes and b, wanting to punch him, Ariel was ready to talk to him. Their conversation was short, though. It only went on for as long as it needed to. When their heart-to-heart was finished, it had resulted in Ariel saying that maybe they shouldn’t have rushed into their relationship. Even though love was present and they cared deeply for each other, that couldn’t cover up that the wounds were too fresh and they had to work on themselves a bit more before they got back together.

They went back and forth about it but in the end, they both agreed to hit the reset button and just being friends was for the best.

Since that conversation at lunch, Kavi was a single boy once again. For the first time in months, he wasn’t in a relationship. Word spread about it and those who were previously staying away because of Ariel had flooded his DMs as if it was Junior Year again. From Hannah Weston from Palm Beach High to Paula Castro from Miami U (a freshman and Kavi’s ex friends-with-benefits), he was getting all sorts of requests but it didn’t matter. He told them all no and closed them off.

Even now, as he sat in the backyard in one of the lawn chairs, he kept getting DMs on Twitter. He turned his phone on silent and placed it screen side first on the table next to him. He glanced up at the sky, the clear blue skies relaxed him. He closed his eyes for a moment and opened them, only to see his sister’s curly hair cloud his sight of the sky.

“Jesus fuck, Nik!” Kavi gasped from the surprise of his sister, nearly falling out of his chair.

Nikki laughed and came around to his front and sat at the edge of the chair, forcing Kavi to scoot his legs closer to his stomach. “Jesus bro, you must’ve been in quite the trance. I never get you like that!” She snickered (much to his annoyance).

He rolled his eyes. “Yeah, yeah!” He scooted up so he could meet her at eye- level. “What’s up? Aren’t you supposed to be bothering someone else?”

Nikki absentmindedly shrugged, kicking her feet back and forth against the metal railings of the chair. She intentionally did it knowing well that it was something Kavi detested.

“Are you intent on getting on my nerves today?”

“No, not at all!” She poked him in his thigh. “Just wanted to spend time with my brother is all!” She poked him again.

As she continued to test his patience, Kavi stood up, refusing to stoop to her level. “If you wanna be a child, then I’m going to just leave.”

Nikki took his spot on the chair and giggled. “You know, everyone knows about what you called CoCo!”

Kavi’s movements halted and he turned around, glaring at his sister who was going through his phone. He snatched it out of her hands and pocketed it into the front pocket of the blue polo shirt he was wearing. “And why do you care about that?”

“I don’t.” Her response was quick and casual. “I mean, Chanel isn’t really important to us lower classmen but I’m sure it couldn’t have been fun for you and Ariel and her seeing your claims of changing were just hot air.”

Kavi didn’t know what Nikki’s deal was. She had been on the fritz ever since their parents have been having problems and it didn’t help that ever since then, she has been doing everything possible to intentionally piss him off. But he could deal with that. Kavi has been learning to have more patience. He liked to think that his time with Ariel and trying to improve himself for her (but also for himself) was starting to work, but he would be lying to himself if he didn’t suspect Nikki knew that and was doing everything she could to test him.

About every single brain cell was trying to guide him away from his little sister. Engaging her when she was being even brattier than usual was only going to drive up his stress past a healthy point but Kavi was genuinely worried for her. Whether he wanted to or not, he loved her and he had to act like the older brother she knew he could be.

“I know I asked you this last week and you brushed it off but,” he paused, looking at her not even bothering to turn his direction. So he walked over to her and stood over her until she gave him her undivided attention. After nearly a minute of silence, she gave in. “Listen, kiddo, what mom and dad are going through right now is tough, I know. If you think you’re the only one who is hurting, then look at me! I’m not okay either. My girlfriend decided we were better off as friends after I called Chanel a word I shouldn’t have. Because of that, I’ve lost friends and now I’m probably going to be shunned at school for a while.”

“I fail to see how any of that affects me.”

He shook his head in frustration. “I’m saying that we can’t do anything about what is out of our control. I can’t make Ariel want to be with me right now, not after I royally screwed up. I’ll probably never get on good terms with the trinity for a long time.” More live as long as he was breathing. “And just like I can't control that part of my life, you can’t control what happens with our parents. As for what we can do with that?” Kavi smiled at Nikki. “We can control that part.”

Kavi stared her down, hoping his words were reaching her. ”You and I need to stick together, kiddo. If you have any problems, come to me, okay?” He relaxed his hand on her shoulder.

Nikki remained quiet for a few moments, something Kavi couldn’t remember happening since they were a lot younger. Then, as she smiled, a few tears falling down her face, she spoke. “Since when did you become good at these kinds of talks, huh?” She shook her head, laughing.

Kavi hummed with a chuckle. “I guess I’m just that damn good!” He laughed and Nikki playfully punched him in the shoulder. “Ouch! That hurt, stupid!”

As Kavi rubbed his shoulder, he was taken by surprise when his little sister suddenly hugged him. Caught off guard for all of three seconds, Kavi embraced her back. She had been so on edge ever since their parents’ problems came to their attention and her acting out had gotten out of hand, but it became apparent to Kavi right now, as soon as she was silent and hugged him that was she really wanted was someone to tell her it was going to be okay and that she wasn’t alone. She needed someone to remind her that it was okay to not be in control of everything.

Simply put: Nikki just needed a hug and Kavi would give her that for as long as she needed. If everyone were to decide he was a scum human being, at least he knew he could do right by his sister. That was more important to him than any shit Chanel or Julie could ever say or do to him.

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Date — February 8th, 2019

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After having a heart-to-heart with his sister a couple of weeks ago, life for Kavi had been as well as could be expected. People who were in the Trinity’s corner still dogged him any chance they could get, which he fully expected. Maybe it was karma coming back to bite him in the ass for the weeks upon weeks he spent giving people like Elijah Abrams a hard time. Or maybe it was organized by two halves of the trinity. Honestly, at this point, he didn’t really care. Kavi was over it. If they wanted to pick fights with him, they could. He wasn’t going to hit back or anything. He’d defend himself but if they felt the need to punch or insult him, he’d just let them so he could go about his day.

Keeping that mentality throughout the day, right before lunch but specifically, at around third period, which Kavi had Trig, he, along with the others in his class, was hauled out of their classrooms in what felt like familiar situations. Even before he knew exactly what was going on, he began to suspect the faculty was up to something. With a big date-centric day not far away, they were bound to be up to something. What that was, however, Kavi couldn’t say with any certainty. The only thing he knew was when he and some others were escorted into a classroom -- a crowded one at that -- he took an empty seat and saw a somewhat nervous Mrs. Sanders waiting for everyone to settle in.

“Hello guys! How’s it going?”

Kavi cringed as she tried her best to ease the rest of them into some false sense of ‘nothing suspicious going on here’. Her approach had as much subtlety as a big red button flashing and a sign above it reading ‘danger! Don’t press the red button!” Kavi wasn’t gullible like some people he knew, so he was already onto her but he wouldn’t distract himself too much from thinking about what they were planning. Instead, Kavi settled into his seat and let her finish.

As if reading his mind, along with others’, she jumped straight into the deep end as she brought up the valentine’s day event next week, Kavi felt an uneasy feeling start to boil in his gut. It was a similar feeling he had last year for Homecoming and they had forced pairings on them. Despite how grateful he was for his friendship he had with April, a lot of unforeseen consequences came from that one dance. So, he was lowkey praying they weren’t gonna go down that route again.

“But Mrs. Chamberlain and the faculty have decided to try a little bit of a different approach this time around.”

“Son of a fucking bitch!” Kavi mouthed under his breath, earning a glare from Mrs. Sanders, to which he laughed, allowing her to continue.

Her explanation, while intriguing, didn’t sit well with him. He appreciated they were allowing the students to choose this time around. Given how chaotic things were at Homecoming, Kavi knew now more than ever, especially with how recent events unfolded, a forced pairing would bring a Russian Roulette effect to some people. God forbid if he had gotten paired up with either Chanel or Julie. He knew that would’ve been catastrophic.

When it was all said and done and Kavi left, he hoisted his bag over his shoulder and made a casual beeline for the door and went off to lunch, thinking occasionally about the new rules for the dance. He couldn’t help but think about Ariel and how they weren’t technically dating. He couldn’t stop thinking about Chanel and how he deeply regretted what he said to her. He could apologize but that would imply she would allow him enough time. Lord knows a few weeks wasn’t enough time to let the wound heal. So he had resigned to avoid her and even April at all costs. The less time the three had to deal with him the better.

Kavi parked himself in the quad and sat at an unoccupied table. He wasn’t even hungry, to be honest. He was mostly fixated on who he was going to ask. “There’s always Stella but I don’t know,” he murmured to himself, going through his list of contacts. “One of these people had to like me at least a little bit.”