fayekwans

[fayekwans]

closed: @delilahcarreno

location: faye's place

"Is it bad that I hate it?"

Before this, Faye hadn't invited anyone over since she moved to Aurora Bay, preferring instead to wallow in the silence of her oversized beach-side mansion alone. It'd come fully furnished and she'd gotten it below market price because, she was pretty sure, the previous owner had died in it. Maybe her disdain for it was just a projection of her overall dissatisfaction with being in Aurora Bay in general, but it had settled deeply into her brain anyway.

She was sat next to Delilah on the balcony off of her bedroom with a cup of tea, a blanket laying over her knees. "I mean, it's objectively fine, right? More than fine. But I also fucking hate it, for some reason."

[fayekwans]

Faye had always been a terrible gift giver, and she usually relegated searching to a small army of assistants. Now that all of those assistants were long gone, she was left to fend for herself for the first time in years. Books seemed like an easy enough thing to default to. Even if she hadn't read most of them, she could also pick out a few that looked interesting and make something up on the spot if questioned about their intentions.

"Hm?" she asked, looking over. "'Light' as in easy to read or 'light' as in short?"

@orianacperez

who: open / @aurorabaystarter where: oceania bookshop

Since coming back to Aurora Bay, Oriana found herself slightly bored with more free time on her hands. She had never been one to read for fun, but she was almost in her thirties and needed to pick up a new hobby. Stopping by the bookshop, she perused the shelves trying to find something that would be interesting to her. "Excuse me," Oriana cleared her throat and looked at the person beside her. "I'm looking for something light to read. Do you have any recommendations?"

[fayekwans]

"I didn't think that cringe was exactly beneath your fans," Faye said, deadpan but joking nonetheless. "If the amount of tweets out there calling you daddy or begging you to redacted their redacted is anything to go by."

She narrowed her eyes and bit down on her bottom lip as she waited to see where things would land before groaning when they retreated.

But Faye was a woman of her word, so she reached into her coat pocket for a wad of spare bills and pressed five loose singles into X's outstretched hand. "I mean, if you're gonna do the double take, you might as well go all the way, right? She's gonna be kicking herself for this later."

@xaviermattthews

“You’re on,” X agrees before he leverages his side of what he thinks may occur, “I think a look back with a dawning realization but they keep on walking because having to swivel back around and try re-engage is pretty cringe.”

( Which was a top three worst state of being to be, according to the gospel of X that was readable on Twitter. )

He crosses his arms as he watches the figure slow down, an unsubtle look being directed their way that had him arching an eyebrow in anticipation for which of them would he five dollars richer or poorer.

It could have gone either way, until he was the victor when the individual cut a defeated stance and continued walking, his palm held out to Faye then.

“Pay up.”

@fayekwans

[fayekwans]

Faye hummed, taking a half-step closer to the painting and, without looking over, waved a hand at the security guard she caught moving toward them in her periphery to reassure him (albeit dismissively) that she didn't need to be reprimanded; she wasn't going to touch the thing. He reluctantly backed off.

"You know, I kinda like this stuff, honestly. The...depth, I guess. I mean, I saw an exhibit at the LACMA once that was all this but sculpture, and even in the paintings, there's that...dimensionality, you know?"

She replayed what she'd just said in her head and groaned slightly. "God, now I sound like a pretentious asshole."

@alexandriaxvargas

She tilted her head, squinting at the Cubist piece as if trying to decipher some hidden message. "Alright, so this one? It’s definitely a guitar—or at least it wants us to think it is," Lexie mused, tapping her chin thoughtfully. "Cubism is all about breaking things down and reassembling them, like viewing it from a bunch of different angles all at once. Picasso was all about that whole ‘let’s-reinvent-reality’ vibe."

She shot Faye a grin. "Though to be honest, sometimes I think the artists just wanted to mess with us a little. Like, ‘How weird can we make this before people stop pretending they get it?’" @fayekwans

[fayekwans]

Faye stepped into the room and immediately slumped into an available seat with a huff. She'd fallen into some Hollywood traps through the course of her career, and one of them was the kind of faux mysticism she knew Jade Martin was offering. Faye's mom was the same way — she even kept a psychic on retainer for years — and although she knew logically that it was probably all bullshit, there was always a little thrill during the 5% of occasions when they actually got it right.

"Yeah, I need," she waved a hand, "I don't even know what I need. Fuckin'...direction, or something."

@jadexmartin

open starter: @aurorabaystarter

where: choose your own adventure

Jade would be filming again that afternoon, much like she'd been doing all week. It was exhausting sometimes, especially since she had to keep up her act even after the cameras turned off. It wasn't the most fulfilling life but she made good money and she supposed she was helping people to some degree. She'd had so many clients find closure through the things she'd told them, so that counted for something... right?

Hearing someone approaching, she turned and smiled. "Come for a reading?"

[fayekwans]

"You see, the trick to those is that you just gotta randomly swipe until something takes. Those things will recognize any kind of nonsense as a word."

Faye had replaced her iPhone with one of those minimalist things that basically only allowed her to call, text, or set an alarm, but she found herself missing the weird mundanity of trading aimless GamePigeon correspondences back and forth with friends and calling it connection.

"Enlighten me. Why are you doing this? It doesn't seem like you're having a lot of fun here."

@claytonjeong

"Stop, I play those stupid letter games that are on the iPhone game choices and let's just say, it's like all letters suddenly become nonexistent for me when I stare at a jumble of letters." Clayton grimaced, which was probably why he chose to play the stupid 8ball game instead since it was easier.

[fayekwans]

From X's other side, Faye chuckled as she watched someone who was going to kick themself later, when they realized that they'd actually been talking to the genuine article, shrug and drift away. "Five bucks says they do a double take and come back to beg you for a selfie," she said quietly to X as she turned her head to watch the person walk away.

@xaviermattthews

open for: @aurorabaystarter

where: anywhere that would have random flyers

"You think so?" X says as he finds himself peering at a print out of a comedian's post he had been sent dozens of times on his socials since it was posted, observing the image of himself that was smack bang in the middle of it after being told that it looked like him, "I don't see it, but thank ya."

[fayekwans]

"Well, that's not...totally inaccurate," Faye said, with a tilt of her head. "I don't know if I'd call myself a 1 percenter, exactly — I still work for a living — but yeah, I guess I'm...comfortable." That was what all rich people said, wasn't it? She winced a little as she heard the word replay in her mind. "You wanna take another guess at it, or should I just tell you?"

"I hope it's a comfortable car, at least?" she asked after another drag.

@rileyxmaddox

"Damn," Riley cursed, finishing her smoke with a long, final drag before letting it fall to the floor and stepping on it. "I'm usually so good at guessing someone's tax bracket and I definitely had you pegged as a 1 percenter." Thankfully, she wasn't the type of grifter that prayed on people, her radar must be faulty.

Riley laughed melodically, the interpretation was very impressive. "No offence taken," she adds. "I do currently live in my car so you're pretty spot on."

( @fayekwans )

[fayekwans]

"Oh, can you?" Faye asked, mostly unamused but still mildly impressed with the way this kid was opening what felt like the beginning of an elevator pitch. She pulled her phone away from her ear and put it on speakerphone before tossing it onto the counter.

They weren't hiring, but she figured she could at least hear the guy out after he'd come in hot. "You got a resumé?"

@atlasnolan

"Potentially," Atlas answers once he was no longer distracted by the bright colors contained in the movie posters advertising some of the showings. Who knew there were so many movies all playing at once.

"But I think I can help you with something."

His confidence in that statement is wholly undue for someone who rarely visited a movie theatre let alone had any experience working in one, but he couldn't take another yapping from Scottie about his lack of employment.

"Or anything, really. Is this place hiring?"

@fayekwans

[fayekwans]

07. the chariot : how much does your muse care about winning ? are they a sore loser ?

"One could say I care too much about it. There was a year I was up for a Golden Globe — 2019, I think — and when I lost it to Glenn fucking Close my reaction became a meme on Twitter for a few weeks. I was disgusted."

[fayekwans]

PINNED

send PINNED for a scene from my muse's past in which they were stuck somewhere, literally or figuratively

"Faye?"

"Hm?" she looked up from her hands to find heads turned and expectant eyes blinking at her at every angle.

"Is there something that you want to share today?"

Her gaze averted toward the ceiling for a second, lips pursing in a moment of feigned thought. "No. Not really."

The session leader sighed a little, rubbing her hands over the top of her jeans and sitting back in her seat. "Okay. Are you sure?"

Faye had been at the center for going on two weeks, and this is how these things always went. Mandated group therapy three times a week, where she spent an hour in silence, listening to other people prattle on until they were told nicely to shut up and give other people a chance to speak.

It wasn't that she wasn't doing any talking. She'd been doing fine in one-on-one sessions, when the therapist sitting across from her wasn't there to empathize or relate or whatever the point of these group sessions was. They'd have to forgive her if she didn't want to divulge the details of an overdose these people could already read about on Page Six.

(The guy sitting directly across from her in the circle probably already had, given that he'd — at least bashfully, to his credit — asked for her autograph on her first day.)

What was there to say? She wasn't going to admit to all of these strangers she'd never see again that she was, more than anything, mortified. More than she was ashamed, more than she was disappointed in herself. She was mortified, that after years of being so careful, one slip up put her right here.

Her life had been good. Great, really. She hadn't been self-medicating as a form of escape, like some of the people around her. She had no sob story to share. It'd just gotten the best of her, and that falter, that slip of control — all that was leftover was embarrassment.

"Yeah. I'm sure."

[fayekwans]

the wheel of fortune

10.  the wheel of fortune  :  how well / badly does your muse take setbacks on their goals ?

"Emotionally? Not well, but does anyone? Practically... Well, I threw my career down the drain and bought a movie theater in a tourist town as a consolation. You can make your own call on how good or bad that decision was."

[fayekwans]

"Well," Faye said with a shrug, turning her attention back to the painting and squinting lightly at it. "In my experience, the former is kind of symptomatic of the latter."

She didn't even want to think about the mess that she'd left back at her house, which was currently being attended to by a swarm of cleaners who she'd left a large tip for as an apology for the mountain of take out boxes that had formed by her trash can.

"Alright, what can you tell me about this one?" she asked, moving her attention to the painting beside it, a large Cubist mass that looked vaguely like a guitar, if she thought about it hard enough.

@alexandriaxvargas

Lexie chuckled softly, shaking her head. "Nope, not an art student. Just someone who overobserves and has a big imagination, I guess," she replied, her eyes darting back to the painting.

"‘Mess’ is definitely a fitting description! I mean, who doesn't love a bit of confusion in their art? The squiggles have their own vibe, though; it’s like they’re trying to have a conversation, and we're just not fluent in their language." She leaned in closer, squinting at the canvas as if trying to decipher a secret code. "Honestly, I think I just enjoy the absurdity of it all. It’s like the artist threw a bunch of colors and lines together and said, ‘Here, make sense of this!’ But if I had to choose, I’d say it feels more like a messy room than existential dread." @fayekwans

[fayekwans]

"You're hilarious," Faye deadpanned, rolling her eyes as she gingerly took a seat on the opposite end of the couch, knocking Aeris's feet off to make room for herself. She reached over to scratch the dog behind his ears, greeting him with a soft 'hello' that was at least more polite than the greeting she'd just extended to Aeris.

"No, that's for you. I needed it out of the house. Some co-star I worked with once clearly didn't read the press release about where I've been and sent the second-worst thing you send to someone who just got out of cuckoo jail."

"I can't just check in on you? Make sure that nothing cataclysmic has happened the second I turn my back?"

@aeris-flores

“The witch is dead, the witch is dead…” Aeris drawls flatly, his eyes barely leaving the screen of his phone as he mindlessly pets Maple who has made a comfortable home on his belly. He is sprawled across the length of his couch, forgetting everything else about the lyrics of any songs in the Wizard of Oz. He can't even recollect a time he watched that movie in its entirety.

The only thing that pulls his attention from the Instagram feed is the bottle of bourbon, and he frowns subtly. “No tequila?” as reason one. “That’s not for you is it?” for reason two. Rehab, NA, AA, all fall under the same umbrella, don’t they?

“Oh. I haven’t? I lost my phone.” Aeris sits up, after being sure Maple can land on his feet. Said phone is also abandoned in the couch cushions. “It wasn’t a 9-1-1 kinda text, was it? If so, oops. What’s up, what do you need?”

@fayekwans

[fayekwans]

Faye chuckled a little, deciding that she was going to be offended at the mild implication that she even gave off cop vibes. "Well," she said, looking down and her shoes and then over her outfit, giving more consideration to it now than she did when she put it on in the morning. "Neither's right, but I guess I'll those over cop."

She took the lighter with a grateful smile, putting her cigarette up to her lips and lighting it before held it back out again. "You look like...the picture next to the definition of 'hippie' in a dictionary. The 70s kind. Like you live out of the Mystery Machine." A pause. "No offense. It's not a bad vibe."

@rileyxmaddox

"Cop isn't a look, it's more a vibe." But still Riley turned her head to give the woman a once over. She hadn't been looking when she'd first spoken so whether or not she looked a cop wasn't a factor, but now, she was looking. Taking a drag, she spoke on the exhale. "You look like a lawyer.. or a doctor. Something fancy." It was probably the hair cut. That shit looked expensive. But surely someone who was well-paid could afford their own lighter.

Riley said nothing as she handed her American flag lighter over, watching as it was used. "What do I look like?" A homeless person, probably.

( @fayekwans )

[fayekwans]

closed: @atlasnolan

location: the movie house

"Hey, can I help you with something?"

The question, slightly tinged with annoyance, was directed at the lingerer at the abandoned concessions counter. It wasn't his fault — one of the projectors was down, and she was currently on hold with a maintenance company giving her the run-around.

But, put generously, Faye was a hands-off business owner, and she wasn't exactly used to being in her own place of business.

"We're between screenings until 5:30. Ticket counter's outside."

[fayekwans]

"Sounds like you might be better off just calling it a day," Faye shrugged, turning back to her coffee for a moment. "I'm all for...the keep on keepin' on, or whatever, but I do find that it's better to give up before you feel like banging your head against a wall because you can't remember a random five letter word."

@claytonjeong

"Wanna help me with the rest?" He asked hopefully, giving her puppy dog eyes before he couldn't help but to laugh lightly. He enjoyed crossword puzzles, something he used to do with his grandpa growing up so it just carried on with him after his passing. "Sudoku is all sorts of confusing to me to be honest."

@fayekwans