rayleighfinlayson

[rayleighfinlayson]

“And you didn’t have a back-up?” she asked, scandalized as she returned the hug. “I have to disagree with you, it’s always good to see me,” Margot joked as her car pulled up. “Honestly I’m not sure if I’m helping you or sending you to the gallows,” she said with a shiver. It was never a pleasant experience to deal with parents and Rayleigh’s were no exception to that rule. Before the driver could exit to open their door, Margot opened it herself to let Rayleigh in. “We have a detour today, Robin. And we have to be quick, otherwise I’ll be down one friend and we both know I don’t have an abundance of those.”

"My mother took our other driver earlier when she left work," Rayleigh sighed and ducked into Margot's car. "We got into a huge argument this morning about employing sub-4's for the company. I told her it would be so much more fun to employ sub-4's because they'd have more to lose but she was so scandalized. I mean, obviously they also have more to gain too, and that could benefit the magazine."

Rayleigh knew that Margot was a a podcast host and if she had let it slip during the show that the magazine might be starting to soften their hiring standards to become more open to people of different backgrounds, it would create social pressure and media frenzy—thus pressuring her mother to seriously consider her suggestion.

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Rayleigh had made sure that her make up hided the exhausted shadows underneath her eyes before leaving the plane. It was certainly a perk to be in first class: she didn't have to wait for anyone for the bathroom.

When she was a child, a trip to Paris meant a dream-like escape but since starting her job at the magazine, Paris was synonymous to overwhelming days working with designers, photographers, and models, and little of the romanticized version everyone knew.

She need a vacation. Somewhere far away with no people.

Rayleigh sighed and closed her eyes for a second too long before she stumbled. Thankfully someone grabbed her before she could collapse, but Rayleigh's face flushed at the embarrassment. She wasn't even wearing new heels to break into!

She was spent.

"I'm so sorry," she panicked, her words faster and higher than she would have wanted. The lack of sleep and abundance of fatigue in her brain caused her to register everything just a bit slower and much less graceful than usual. She stared up at the stranger, her mind blank before her tongue acted before self-control that told her to just apologize and ignore his comment on her eyes, and thank him and leave. The latter she managed to do.

"Pretty accent.”

Jetlag was a hell of a thing. Being jetlagged from a trip that had mostly been sleeping in caves and trying not to fall off sheer cliffs was like whipped cream upon a shitty cake, but Finn had earned his wage for at least six months, and the ever-curious wanderer in him had been sated for… well, at least another week. Today being his first day back in San Nariz, a place he had refused to call home for a good year now, Finn faced a whole other danger that he had both missed and could do without for the rest of his existence both at the same time. 

 Walking past fake faces and even faker enthusiastic greetings, he’d found his mind wandering, back to his notebook at home, back to the puzzles they held that he spent at least every other night pouring over, and that had been filled with yet more oddities upon his return to America, when his body lurched. Out of nowhere, his hands came up out of their own accord to steady the shoulders of a person he’d only narrowly avoided with an instinctual swerve to the side, and out of sheer habit, a grin pulled the corners of his mouth of. 

 "Careful, absent-minded Irishmen crossing,“ he said as he gave the person a little wink, dropping his hands back to his sides, shoving them into the pockets of his worn, slightly baggy jeans. "Canna say you didn’t make my day letting me run into ya, though. Pretty eyes.”

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“A taxi?” Margot called out as she saw Rayleigh with her hand flailing. She picked up her pace a bit to catch up to the blonde. “Really, Ray? Might as well stick your thumb out,” she said with a laugh. “Need a ride? My car should be here in a few minutes if you don’t mind waiting for a bit.”

"I made the mistake of giving my driver the night off today," Rayleigh explained before giving a light hug and an air-kiss to Margot. "It's good to see you, though not under this circumstance. If I could get a ride from you, I'll owe you a favor, honestly. If I'm late to dinner, the dragon lady will gave me for dinner," she explained, referencing her mother as the mythical creature of terror.

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After stumbling out of a bar she and Logan had found after sightseeing around the wrong parts of town, Gia’s cheeks were flushed red, her skin was hot, and her eyes were glued to the pavement in an attempt to keep from falling. It wasn’t until she heard a familiar voice from behind her did she regain some semblance of awareness.

Was that… Rayleigh?

Tugging on Logan’s sleeve, she poked her friend incessantly. “I want to go catch up, let’s go catch up– what do you think? Is that a good idea?” All of her questions to which he answered a resounding,“No”, but she, in her drunken stupor, thought it’d be terrific to go say hi regardless. Before he could pick her up and throw her over his shoulder, she escaped his grip and bounced over to where Rayleigh stood.

Throwing her arms around the other woman, she gave her an air kiss. “It’s been so long!!” she slurred happily.

"Jesus fucking Christ," Rayleigh whispered under her breath when she saw Gia stumble towards her. She didn't have enough energy to deal with this right now but of course she was standing at one of the busiest street where the paparazzi could literally be anyone with a phone.

Rayleigh, even though the taller of the two, stumbled with Gia's drunk weight slung around her shoulders. Rayleigh's nose wrinkled slightly at the strong smell of alcohol that radiated off of her old acquaintance. Of course, on the outside they were friends, but if she had a choice Rayleigh didn't want to have anything to do with Gia.

"Oh Gia, darling," Rayleigh threw the brunette off of her as gracefully as possible and steadied her, pretending to be help. As soon as the other girl was off of her, the Finlayson daughter fixed her impeccable crown of golden hair. She was not letting Gia ruin her with her drunken ridiculousness. Not tonight, not ever.

"What are you doing... having such fun so early in the night?"

[rayleighfinlayson]

The blonde drew Ted’s eye for a moment.  He recognized her from somewhere, and he racked his brain for it as he tried to figure out why such a girl was out by herself  hailing a taxi.  Really, it was the bizarreness of the situation that held his attention. After a second he realized: she was the daughter of one of his business clients.

“Miss Finlayson?”  A polite smile, a wave as he ventures closer to her, “If you need to get somewhere my driver should be here any minute. I think it’s safe to assume you’re not hoping to walk?” He pauses, and shrugs, “Although, I might need my driver to drop me off first if you don’t mind.  I have an important dinner with an investor to get to.”

"Mr. Fields!" Rayleigh recognized immediately. All the girls in the office had been giggling and stalking his posts the day he had visited the magazine. "Please, call me Rayleigh." She had barely interacted with him before except introductions since she had left for a meeting in Paris that week, but from what she heard he was a pleasant man.

Outside, she was graceful and calm but inside her head, Rayleigh panicked hoping that her hair wasn't a mess. She was working with her assistants for the new spread for the next month's issue and didn't have time to check in the mirror before she left.

She let a tinkle of laughter out, "No, though I'm sure exercise could do me some good, I wouldn't prefer to walk all the way to the other side of town right now. I couldn't trouble you or your driver, really. I'll just call up an Uber, or flag a taxi. Whichever comes first."

[rayleighfinlayson]

The streets were busy with nightlife as Fredi made her way down the sidewalk, tapping out a nonsensical title and description to the photo of her frozen yogurt. It was some new flavor that was known to yield high ranks on photo posts. She sent it off with a flick of her wrist, took two bites, and tossed it in the trash can on the street corner.

Her phone was still out when she spotted her - Rayleigh Finlayson, a familiar face and a high four. She smiled at her politely, just enough to be friendly and unassuming. “Rayleigh? Are you having some trouble there?” she asked lightly, flicking at her phone in her pocket to gather enough data for the interaction. “I was just headed back to my car, I’m sure my driver wouldn’t mind making a quick stop on my way home,” she offered.

Rayleigh blinked to let her lens focus on the familiar face to remind her of the other woman's name and rating. Of course. Fredi Ortiz, one of the best player of the system, who was personally responsible for a hoard of sub-4's make into the higher rating.

It was admirable, but it made Rayleigh slightly weary to deal with someone such as Fredi when she was so tired and had her head full of how to deal with her mother at dinner. Regardless, Rayleigh decided to take advantage of the situation and let things pan out. It never hurt to stay on the good side of someone as manipulative as Fredi. The optimistic thought almost made Rayleigh feel genuinely happy to see Fredi. People like her made the blonde feel as if there were kindred spirits out there who liked to watch people's ratings swing significantly.

"Fredi! I decided to give my driver a night off today since it was his daughter's third birthday today. I really hope that it wouldn't be a trouble for you and your driver. You're such a savior angel, really."

A recent report had stated that if a boss was kind to her employees, collaborators and potential clients would have a better impression of her. Even though Rayleigh couldn't give two shits about her driver's daughter, in front of the entire office she had made sure earlier that day to tell him that he could take the night off.

[rayleighfinlayson]

Jess had just finished up her shift and was headed home for the evening– she was supposed to help open again tomorrow and she was absolutely beat. She walked out to the main street, wheeling her bike alongside her. If she could get home early enough, she’d be able to make something nice for Jake before he got back home. Jacob’s fiance had been out of the country on business for a while now, but it was nice having her brother all to herself.

Jess was barely paying attention to where she was going as she jumped onto her bike, lost in thought about what she wanted to make for dinner. A nice salmon dish, maybe with some sauteed green beans over a bed of mushroom rice… She was pretty sure they had all of those ingredients–

“Oh shoot!” Jess said and braked hard, barely avoiding collision with the well dressed blonde in front of her. “I’m so sorry!”

"Oh my god!" Rayleigh exclaimed, dodging just in time as a girl whizzed by her. She immediately felt a string of profanities threaten to leave her mouth, but years of controlling her tongue allowed Rayleigh to grasp hold of what was happening and remain calm.

Rayleigh turned her head to see the security guards and receptionist inside the building, behind the glass windows and doors, get up to see if she was alright, but Rayleigh didn't have the time to deal with all the people. She raised her hand at them, and gave them her usual charming smile to show that she was alright. If so many people weren't observing her, and bystanders didn't stop walking to look at the commotion in front of her, Rayleigh would have sought to scold the girl.

Her lens zoomed in on the girl: Jess Morgan, just a 3.7, just an average person who clearly had her head in the clouds. She didn't need to be nice to someone rated just a 3, but according to her rating analysts being nicer to mid-rated people would make her image more approachable and higher rated. The magazine public image consultants told Rayleigh that being recognized meant one thing, but being recognized and letting the person have a positive personal anecdote about their encounter would be a good investment for future interactions since paths tended to cross.

"Don't worry about it," Rayleigh shook her head, holding out a hand to the girl who seemed unbalanced on the bike after braking so hard. "Are you alright?"

[rayleighfinlayson]

Camila’s blue eyes were practically glued to her cellphone as she waited for her car to arrive. A foreign voice distracted her, and made the girl look up since her curiosity made her want to know who was the person that was currently having a first world problem.

Usually, Camila didn’t care about the difficulties those above her went through, but the blonde’s pretty face and long legs made her want to help and have the chance to char her up a bit. “Hey blondie, wanna share my ride? According to my phone, mister…. Mister Atkinson is gonna arrive in about……. five minutes.”

Rayleigh immediately let her lens zoom into the stranger's face. Camila Beaumont, rated just a 2.1. The street was practically empty, except for a few people rushing down the streets, typical of the quick pacing of the city. Usually, Rayleigh would have instinctively turned on her charm, but she was tired and she wasn't about to put a mask on for a sub-4 person when there was no one else around to observe the interaction.

It also didn't help that Camila called her "blondie." Rayleigh scoffed and crossed her arms, letting her purse come close to her body. The younger girl didn't look physically threatening, but one couldn't be careful enough in the city.

"No, thank you," she snipped. And took out her phone, deciding to call up an Uber ride instead. She was originally hoping to grab a cab immediately instead of waiting for a car to arrive. “Do you mind waiting for your car somewhere else? The building doesn’t allow loiters in front of it.”

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“Taxi!” Rayleigh waved down, but unfortunately the only car that was on the road was already occupied. She sighed after putting her arm down. “Of all nights my driver has the day off, it has to be tonight.”

The tall blonde checked the time and frowned. She was going to be late for dinner with her mother. If only she had kept track of the time at the office, she wouldn’t have be so pressed for time to get to the other side of town. It was so typical of her mother to have chosen a ridiculously remote (and ridiculously expensive) restaurant away from the rest of the city and where was convenient.

[rayleighfinlayson]