graciagallardc

[graciagallardc]

Even though Gracia stopped ballet lesson as a kid, she didn't stop dancing or self-learning. Her place was a little too small for dancing comfortably, and she had to move stuff around to make space, so sometimes, she would head to the dance studio in town and get a room to herself. Something she did whenever she allowed herself to indulge. That way, she had a massive room all to herself so she could lose herself in dancing for a little bit. She's leaving the studio to head back home when she hears a familiar voice. Turning around to see Dom, she smiles, her cheek flushing a light pink. She hadn't see him since the night of the Wild West party, which had ended with a kiss, but she expected this—to not see him soon. "Oh, my notebook." She reaches to take it. It's a small thing, so it must've fallen out of her bag. "Thank you, Dom. I had my grocery shopping list in there, it would've been a disaster without it. I wouldn't have remembered most of the stuff and I'd have had to do it all over again," she rambles a little, shaking her head and mentally face palming. "Anyway. Thank you again... How are you?" She hopes he's doing better than that night.

open to: anyone! ( @nightreststarters )

location: outside the dance studio (name to be thought up eventually)

After looking at his producer setup in his home for what felt like hours, he decided it was time to just get out entirely. Donning a black shirt, black hoodie and black sweatpants, he found himself another distraction, even though the entirety of that two-hour long hip-hop class reminded him of Bianca. Another friend he watched get buried. Still, the class served its purpose, making him feel lighter than he had felt in what felt like ages. He even had a small smile on even when something fell on the ground in front of him when he got out of the building. "Yo, I think you dropped this," Dom said, reaching down to get it.

[graciagallardc]

Gracia's taking a walk—something she regularly does, but have been doing a little more lately after the news that more people are dead. Maybe she should stay at home, only go out when it's important—for work and errands and to check on people—but she's not stupid to believe her home is particularly safe against a skilled killer. She had been hopeful it was done and over, how is it happening again? It's frightening and it's triggering her anxiety. She spots Jieun from a distance, but her voice is audible enough for Gracia, so she makes her way over to her. "Are you okay, Ji?" Her brows furrow, moving to sit next to her on the bench. "There's store around the corner. Do you want to go there and get a new pair of shoes? I can help you walk there." The store is not something Jieun will particularly like, Gracia's sure, but what solution do they have?

open starter : @nightreststarters location : get creative besties cause i'm not

"Are you fucking kidding me?" Jieun exclaimed, more to herself than to anyone that surrounded her as she glanced down at her now broken heel. Limping herself toward one of the empty benches, the brunette dropped down onto it with an audible huff—annoyed. "First there's another killer in this freaking town, more people dead and now my heels won’t even survive the day? Life really can't get any worse." Obviously, one of those things weren't like the other but it was slowly bringing Jieun to a breaking point. Unsure of how much more bad things she can through before losing it completely.

[graciagallardc]

Fiona Palomo via Instagram stories, 02/27/2023.

[graciagallardc]

Fiona Palomo via Instagram stories, 03/24/2023.

[graciagallardc]

"You better not be telling me this to appease me," she warns lightly, a soft smile on her lips. She knows Deniz will most likely not listen. She just hopes she keeps herself out of trouble. "Oh, three weeks. That's great. Good pre-planning! I'm excited to listen to all of them." She pauses a little at Deniz's words. "Yeah, I get that. I know you're not doing it to earn money on their suffering," she reassures her. "That's... that's insensitive, and you're doing it to shed light." Another pause. "I mean... it'll depend on the person. Some people will refuse to talk, some might be more open to do it. You have to be careful, I guess, who and how you ask."

Even after what she experienced in Nightrest, Deniz can't give up on all the mystery. It was the only thing she had left that she actively shared with her parents. "I will be fine, don't worry." She was sure she can go back to that house, or maybe pay someone to take pictures. "I have a few stories recorded and ready to go so I'm covered for three weeks while I figure out if I should — talk about what happened here. I know it might upset a lot of people, but I don't do it to earn money on their suffering. People deserve to know their names, you know? So many good people lost their lives here."

[graciagallardc]

"Not really. I was supposed to look up the new releases before I headed out, and I completely forgot to do that. Ollie distracted me," she admits sheepishly before she smiles. "You can say that again. Maybe it's time to change that! Let's pick something and buddy read it?"

closed \ @graciagallardc \ location : the bookstore

“Do you know of any good new releases?” she asks over her shoulder, glancing back at Gracia. “I can’t remember when the last time I looked at a book was. Probably the last time Julia showed me one.”

[graciagallardc]

"Okay. I'll let you know beforehand when I want to pass by. I don't want to come at a bad time or when you're really busy. I don't want to intrude," she says, rambling on a little. "Well, let me decide that! I'm sure it's good stuff." She smiles. To be fair, even if it truly doesn't end up her cup of tea, Gracia's non judgmental and knows people express themselves in different ways. She playfully scoff at his words. "Don't make fun of me," she says, though, it's all in jest, clear that she's not actually bothered. "No." She laughs, shaking her head. "I don't have a tattoo. It would be my first, if I get it, that is," she reminds him. "Don't worry, I'm not throwing away our special connection." She shakes her head. "I don't talk about your pretty face in there. What I have in there is..." she trails off, stopping for dramatic effect before she grins. "Wait, why should I tell you?"

"You're welcomed in my studio any time, Gracia," They mean it - wouldn't have said it if they hadn't; surprisingly sincere when it comes to their art. "Don't think it'll be your fucking - cup of tea, but you can come whenever." While there's some pieces that aren't Viktor's usual... style, most of their art's simply grotesque. Faces etched pain, reaching hands that'll never grasp what they're searching for - blood and gore, tributes to the renaissance era, when it was socially acceptable to paint a man's head being ripped off by his scorned lover. "I'm proud of you - you know how to count," Viktor teases, small grin - unserious, "And I'll be your first - unless you've got someone's etched somewhere I can't see? Fucking scandalous right there, Gracia. I'm hurt at just the fucking - thought. This is our special connection." They know their words hurt - can't help them from dispelling out of them, can see it plain on Gracia's face even though she tries to let it go unseen; the two of them always had that effect on others - intentional pain. "Am I? Is it fucking - juicy? What'd you write? Is it mean? It better be mean - you can't just write about my pretty face." Knows it's just a joke - but presses on anyways, curious to see what she'll say.

[graciagallardc]

"Sure you are. I'm not falling for that, Jae. I'm not as gullible anymore," she jokes, reaching to poke his cheek. Maybe she's allowed herself a few seconds to indulge in the crazy possibility that he could truly be serious, and that he's not joking with her like he always does, but it's not the first, or second, or third time Jae jokes with her. They've been friends for so long that this is a norm. It catches her off guard when he leans in. It's her first mistake thinking Jae won't take the opportunity and run with it. "You want to do that now? That feels a little forced..." she says, but brushes it off with a giggle, one that doesn't really ease her increased heart rate, so she goes to open her arms, a sort of challenging invite, grinning at him. "You're about to lose," she sing songs, and she expects Jae to back out. There's a satisfied expression on her face when he agrees to the deal, shaking his hand. "I take my deals very seriously, just so you know," she informs him, a faux serious expression and tone. "Oh, I don't know. I mean, I do know. It's aspiration. Maybe this muffin's out to get me or something, although I put all my love and time into preparing it," she rambles on. She keeps her eyes on him, nods at his words, believing him, because well, Jae had no reason to lie to her, and she's always trusted him. She lets him take he hands and pull them away, not making any action to pull them away because she's too overwhelmed by other things. "I am relaxed." She scoffs. "I'm not losing the challenge. I'll win, you'll see. I wouldn't undermine me if I were you."

"What do you mean? I'm being serious." And he is. Except Gracia probably won't believe that, and it won't deter him in the slightest. She's never noticed the way he looks at her, and blatantly checks her out whenever there's a chance, so all of his flirting, of course, goes right over her head. Jae would end up being more taken aback if she took him seriously at this point. "Really? Prove it," Jae says, leaning in just a tiny bit more, a cheeky look painted over his features. "Of course, I'm up for it," he mutters, bringing his hand to hers. Now he'd just not relax thinking about how he had to relax. "Of course, it's not strange. What do you think caused it though? Just so I can make sure it doesn't happen again," Jae asks, as if he doesn't know he's the cause of it. Looking down at her slightly, he shoots only a feeling glance at the sight of her hair before focusing back on her face. "Nope," he says lightly, not moving his hand just yet. It's typical of him to be focused, enough to notice the smallest little changes in her. The way she froze, tensed up, had this panicked little look in her eyes whenever he tried anything too touchy. "You look good, Gracie. Relax. You'll already fail our challenge," Jae says, chuckling and taking her hands into his and pulling them away from her hair.

[graciagallardc]

"That makes sense. Sounds like you two were just very different." And that's not a bad thing at all per se, given she and her sister were on opposite ends of the personality spectrum, and yet that never caused any issues or problems. However, Gracia knows there's no rules and none of this is black or white. She laughs at his words. "No, Bash! Don't get into a heated fight with the rooster. He's a good boy. He's just doing his job!" She looks over at him, laughing again. "Not like last time. I promise." She grins. "Though, I hope you've gotten around to looking your doors before going to bed," she reminds him. There's a gentle, soft smile that forms on her lips. "Okay. Good. Thank you. I love coming here, honestly, so I'm glad I haven't driven you insane or something," she jokes lightly. "Bash." She huffs lightly when he talks about them being 'food'. She scrunches her nose. "Don't talk about them like that around me. Just tell me you love your pets," she adds. "Ollie's inside. He ran around so much and then fell asleep." She giggles. "He's still a baby, so he's got so much energy, but he also sleeps a lot."

Bash nodded in agreement with her and smiled - he truly did find solace and peace in this farm. It was all that he knew, and still he couldn't get enough of it. "Don't be. You're too kind." he said, nudging her with his shoulder. "I think it was just a thing that at the time she needed. I could handle my own, whereas she was dependent on them for everything." he shrugged. That may not have been his true feelings about it, but it was what he let himself believe. "Absolutely! It's amazing. We used to get into heated fights me and that rooster. He'd spook me away some days, and I'd wait up all night just so I could scare him awake the next day." he laughed at the memory, "Oh no? Not like that last time?" he turned to grin at her, "I absolutely don't mind having you around so anytime you feel like dropping on by, just do. Specially after picking out the farm's new mascot, Minnie! Now you got to break the news to George unfortunately. He's time is up." Bash looked towards the animals as he thought about it for a moment. "I guess if you really think about it, but most people don't package and sell their pets, you know? That's be kind of weird. Speaking of where's your pup?"

[graciagallardc]

Gracia: ME? Gracia: 😳😳😳 Gracia: Fey, I will not wear this to the movies! Gracia: You bought it for yourself? 🤪

Fey: ikr?? it’d look PERFECT on you Fey: to the club? to a party? to go on some sexy dance date? in the bedroom? to the beach? to the movies? the world is your oyster 🤪 Fey: too late i bought it

[graciagallardc]

Gracia: oh that's sexy 😳 Gracia: my size? oh no, where would i ever wear this? 😂😳

Fey 📲 Gracia

Fey: [ sends image of a white sheer lace structured corset ] Fey: yay? they have one in your size

[graciagallardc]

"Now you're just messing with me!" She laughs it off, even though it's taking every ounce of effort in her to stop herself from imagining it. It's far-fetched—no, impossible—so there's no point to it, even indulging herself in thinking of something ridiculous like that. She wholeheartedly Jae only says these things for the joke of it all, nothing more. She playfully scoffs at his words. "Yeah, I'm a great cuddler, too. I'm not scared." Jae gives great hugs, so she can imagine he's a great cuddler, as well. Anyway. She mentally pulls herself out of her own head back to the topic at hand and focusing on keeping a cool and collected demeanor (even though she's alternating between succeeding and failing, it's giving her a whiplash). The way he rolls his eyes makes her smile. "Okay, listen, I have an idea. How about we both work on relaxing a little. It's fair, no? Whoever fails should do something for the other, what do you say?" She offers her hand as if to seal the challenge. "Unless you're not up for it..." she adds. She takes the glass of water from him. "Thank you. I'm okay! I promise! I mean, I was just coughing. It happens to anyone. It's not strange or anything," she rambles, reaching to drink water to shut herself up. "You don't need to worry about me. I'm still alive," she jokes, and just as she feels like she's come down from that embarrassing moment, he reaches to tuck a loose strand of her hair back. Her eyes are fixed on him, the gesture making her momentarily short circuit. She smiles, forcing herself to break eye contact, hoping he didn't see her freeze like that. "Is my hair a mess?" She absentmindedly reaches to fix it. It's in a messy bun, but she thought it was okay.

"What do you say? Just for a night?" he asks, as if she'd ever agree. Gracia is so shy and innocent in his eyes, Jae can't even fathom a reality where any of his attempts would be successful. Though, it's not to say he hasn't imagined it, in several different ways. "C'mon, Gracie, I think my ego is big enough to handle it. Maybe you're the one who's scared that he'd end up preferring me. I'm a great cuddler,." Jae points out. He rolls his eyes at her counterargument, because any signs of him genuinely flaxing were yet to be seen, especially considering he had a vet to run. He'd never been the kind of person to fold under pressure, maybe because his life had been living constantly under that due to what was expected of him. To be perfect, and great, and whatever bullshit that entailed. Jae knows what it's like to do everything alone, so of course he doesn't want her to live the same way. "You sure? Here, have some water," he says, picking up the glass on the coffee table and handing it to her. He knew his words were usually a bit much, but it was how she fed into his inhibitions that only made him worse. "See why I have to worry about you?" Jae jokes, as if her reaction was something to cause concern, taking the chance to lean in and tuck a stray hair behind her ear.

[graciagallardc]

"I'm not enchanted, Issy... I'm just—I don't know, it was a surprising end to my night, that's all," she says, the flush on her cheeks persisting. Surprising in a good way, but surprising nonetheless. When she starts to get ahead of herself, even though it's all jokes, Gracia blinks. "Okay, I need you to slow down." She laughs it off. "Nothing is going to happen. Odds are it was nothing more than a kiss to him. People kiss in parties all the time and most of the time it means nothing." She shrugs, quick to protect herself from unrealistic expectations. It's true she liked to live in her own daydreams as an escape, but she wasn't stupid to neglect reality. "Besides, seeing as how you're already engaged, and I'm, well, very single, and totally okay with that," she adds, just so Issy doesn't try to say anything about that, "you'll be married with babies way before I am." Gracia was good with kids, but it scared her having kids of her own, which was another story and topic entirely.

"That's always a plus." Issy said, as the grin on her face morphed into giggle which she covered with a hand. She couldn't help but watch Gracia's face as she spoke, the daydream look on her face was enough to make Issy playfully nudge her and tease, "You look so enchanted!" she said, touching her hands to her own cheeks. "You're right, you're right. No need to get ahead of ourselves, but still! I'm so happy for you! Just think about it, we could go on double dates, walk down the isle together, heck we could even have babies together." She had to pause for a moment and let her words sink in before she chuckled, "I'm just kidding, I swear! but that would sounds pretty amazing. Everything except for the babies."

[graciagallardc]

Gracia's never been a judgmental person, and she doesn't know the other side of the story to form an opinion. Either way, she just wants to help Dom sort out whatever he was feeling, if only for a little bit. She's not stupid to believe she'll do much in a simple night, but if he merely wants someone to just listen to him, she'll do that. "You'll be fine, you know. You and Grey, I mean. Friends fight," she says lightly. She's a believer that things always work out in the end. Holding onto hope was what helped her through the tragedies she had seen. He repeats her words, but Gracia is studying his features for any indication of how he feels now. The whole walk back home had passed so fast that she didn't even realize they were standing at her place till she looks around. She smiles softly when brushes her hair back. It's an unexpected gesture that it makes her cheeks flush a light color of pink. "You don't need to thank me. I'm here to listen any time you need it," she promises. "Thank you for telling me and walking back with me," she adds, keeping her eyes up at him.

She thinks this is the end of it. However, she freezes momentarily when Dom starts to lean down, her eyes widening slowly, yet they remain up at him. She doesn't make any move to step back or anything. Gracia didn't have expectations for how this night would go, all she wanted was a night out, have a bit of fun, drink a little, dance a little, then go back home and sleep it all off. She didn't expect to have anyone wanting to walk her back home and want to kiss her. Despite the surprise and the sudden nerves that shoot all through her body, she welcomes it. Maybe it's the alcohol in her system, or maybe it's wanting to be more out there, or maybe it's her friends' words of encouragement throughout the night. She leans her head a little into the palm of his hand, shaking her head lightly. "D-don't. Don't stop, I mean," she clarifies, a voice an audible whisper, and takes a step closer to him.

Dom looked at her outstretched hand for a moment, unable to stop the bewildered expression on his face as he tried to remember how long it's been since he's done something as simple as reach for a hand to help himself up, instead of throwing hands. Still, he reached out to hold onto Gracia's hand, grateful to be holding onto something while he felt like he was moving through quicksand, and it had nothing to do with the drugs in his system. At her question, though, he quickly dropped his hand, feeling defensive, mostly because he knew the fight had completely been his fault. If it had been the other way around and if Grey had been the one drunk and high, Dom wouldn't have let him drive anywhere either. "Nothing." The default answer, one that immediately disappointed himself. "Guess I still wanted to do things Grey doesn't like to do anymore. Didn't like it when I blamed his girlfriend for it," Dom shrugged. It wasn't much of an explanation, but it was the only one he had, the one he latched onto, doing anything to justify why he laid his hands on his best friend like that.

He kept quiet as he listened to her talk, letting her words wash over his extremely exhausted heart for just a moment, to allow himself the comfort of having someone who didn't judge him, even though he knows he should be judged, after everything he's already done. Even now, Dom didn't think he deserved this kindness, but damn if he didn't simultaneously still crave it. "Baby steps," he eventually repeated, nodding when he stopped outside her place, vaguely remembering she lived near Mei's place. As he thought of Gracia's words, Dom decided to follow her advice and just worry about the next few minutes as he moved his fingers up to brush her hair behind her ear. "I, uh, I appreciate you hearing me out. I know... um, I know my shit isn't your problem, but you listened anyway so-- Thank you," he gruffly said, though the look in his eyes was soft. Grateful. Dom found himself leaning closer towards her, eyes looking into hers as the hand that brushed her hair back moved to cup her cheek. "Tell me to stop, G, and I will," Dom murmured.

[graciagallardc]

"As artistically inclined as you?" She giggles, amused by how confident he sounds. "Now I have to see some proof, Viktor, no that I mean I don't believe you, because I totally do. It's just that all this talk has me curious," she jokes, trying and failing to suppress a smile. The way they pause, and the way their expression turns stony speaks volumes to Gracia, and she takes this a as clear hint that it's not something they particularly want to talk about. She nods at his words, a soft expression on her face. "If she's the first person you've tattooed her name on you, does that make me the second?" She's redirecting the topic back to something light and fun. All she hopes is that she hasn't bothered him. Gracia blinks at the straight forwardness of his words, it gives her a whiplash of sorts, not entirely sure if he's joking and just messing with her, or he's being completely honest. It makes her feel awful if his sister didn't actually like her, not that she expects everyone to like her, because that's just unrealistic; however, she tries to regain her cool by smiling and lightly pushing him, trying to ignore the first part of his sentence. She hopes the expression wasn't apparent on her face. "I do have a burn book," she jokes. "You're on the first page. Don't tell anyone though."

"It's not your fault you're not as fucking - artistically inclined as I am." A jest - but Viktor doesn't believe most people are as artistically inclined - or talented in general - as himself, ego inflated beyond compare. They pause for a moment - talking about anything involving Natalya is off-limits, a topic they avoid more than the plague. "Just the one - think she'd be fucking appalled if I brought our last name into the picture." Even as the golden child, the apple of their parents' eyes - Viktor knew that Natalya never cared about being a Samuels, no sense of pride from their name. "Here," They tap their chest, right over their heart - eyes fixating on the sidewalk ahead of them, expression stonier than it was before. "She didn't like you," Because now the topic's too raw, and they need to retreat somewhere. "Thought you were too fucking - nice. Was wholly convinced you have a fucking - Burn Book somewhere, scribbling away everything you hated about people. Do you? Kinda hot - I'm into it."

[graciagallardc]

"I used to enjoy a mystery, but not after... you know, the past few months. It all hits too close to house now," she notes. "And you're putting yourself in trouble," she reminds her, trying to redirect the topic back rather than focus on the atrocities they've experienced. "What's your next story going to be about? Do you have any plans?" she wonders. "Deniz. They might check the place out more regularly now because they caught you there."

"Yeah, yeah I know," Deniz waves a hand dismissively, she wasn't too concerned about the potential consequences. "It's less of a hassle that's for sure, but you know I love a good mystery. Besides I don't do it for every story, otherwise I'd have to spread out air dates." Even if she wanted to, it was unrealistic when you think about it. "Off-limits makes it sound even more intriguing, don't you think? I might try again in a couple of days. I might get lucky and leave before anyone else shows up."

[graciagallardc]

"To what? Test it? You want to test it?" The questions shoot out of her lips one after the other. His bold words shock her to the point she realizes her reaction only afterwards, which makes her sit up straighter as she laughs it off, in an attempt to keep cool and collected, despite having already made a fool of herself. "I mean, we shouldn't test it because you'll lose. I don't want to hurt your feelings!" she jokes, trying to brush off her initial reaction like it was nothing. Jae's a jokester, she's known him for so long that he always joked with her, even though his words tended to be bold sometimes, but it's all part of their friendship. "That's crazy, because I'm betting on you." She laughs, pulling her legs up against her chest as she rests her head against the sofa. Because of the way she grew up, Gracia was stubborn when it came to asking for help, despising the idea of ever becoming someone's burden or the object of their pity. She was used to taking care of herself and she was capable of that. Jae's next words make Gracia choke on the muffin as she's swallowing it, and she starts to cough a few times. "I'm okay. I'm fine. I'm alright," she says, clearing her throat as her cheeks turn hot. She'll blame that on the fact that she was just coughing. "Sorry about that. Yes. Yeah, I make great food. And desserts. Thank you."

"Since we can't agree, isn't it only right to test our theories?" he asks, bold with his words just to see how Gracia would react. It's a reality that is so unlikely to happen that it's a bit fun to poke and prod at it, Jae chuckling before quickly rolling his eyes at her accurate words. "One of us can be saved, I'm betting on you," he lets out with a sigh, fully aware that in many ways, the both of them could relate to overworking themselves, in multiple aspects of their lives. Deep down, he knows he's worse than her too, especially because Jae is far too proud and rigid to ask or accept any help. He was a perfectionist to the worst possible degree, and he'd fully believed that other's assistance would only slow him down. "There must be some benefits, no? With all the sugar, I'm sure you taste good," he says far too casually, taking a piece of the muffin from her hands into his mouth. Jae should know better, in fact, he does know better and tends to ignore it. "Whatever you make tastes good, I mean."