ivyemerscn

[ivyemerscn]

do they? she glanced around, taking stock of the people who's opinions she valued, and whether they'd said anything at all. politeness hardly ranked among the surviving qualities of the group here, that much was becoming apparent. she shifts on her heels, arms crossing in front of her.

"why did you say anything, then?" she doesn't feel the threat. there's nothing for her to watch. ember's done little more in her life than make page six. and there are better words than disgrace. "just a threat?" she doesn't feel a particular want or need to watch her back. and she's hardly going to feel any remnants of ember or constance in the guest room. but she doesn't say any of that, she does not starve the fire of oxygen. she lets it burn as it wants.

"don't make demands me of." she was no plaything, and this was not just a world where everything could bend to the will of a wexley. those days were long past. "i'm not on a payroll, and we are not friends."

It took everything in her not to make a scene. Not to scream and shout and tear the blond bitches hair out. In fact, the effort with which she held herself to hard, hushed, tones was almost physically painful. Especially when she was making smart ass comments like that.

"He still is, he doesn't even have to know about this. In fact, I'd prefer he didn't. I just want you to know that you need to watch your fucking back. And I hope you feel me in every step you take in that penthouse that I grew up in. Where my mother's perfume probably still lingers."

Eyes narrowing as she lifted her hands to brush her hair from her face, straightening up with a deep breath to regain some of her composure. "You're disgraceful, and I hope you know everyone knows it, too. They're all just too polite to say anything."

[ivyemerscn]

"doubtful." she's no longer a singer, a dancer, or any other type of public humiliation. she prefers her world insular, her hobbies quiet. it's not a disheartening statement, nor a blow to his ego, it is the simple truth. she is not, and has never been a performer. "i'm five years past karaoke." and that's the kindest way to sidestep the joke without drawing too much attention to it.

the lip of her beer bottle meets his glass, the clink solid. "another present?" as though the demands were too much. wear this dress, eat breakfast here. they're not, particularly not in a world where she had nothing else to give. "i didn't know rosie's still did room service."

"Phil Collins, hm?" Giving her a look as if regarding her a little more closely, Tobias plucked a macaroon off a plate and took a little bite out of it, his hum turning from contemplation to flavorful appreciation. "Well, maybe some day I'll be lucky enough to find myself in the audience in the audience for a performance of that... you know, against all odds."

Biting back laughter at his own terrible pun, he held out his glass of whiskey towards her in an offer of cheers. "Breakfast on the balcony tomorrow? Call it my birthday present?"

[ivyemerscn]

"they're not." she wonders if he'll catch the joke, pick up on the edges of her humor as she stares up at the ceiling. the edges of bills blending with the paint. she couldn't reach the money, nor did she have any reason to. even in a world where miraculously everything did come back, she doubted this would be the first thing on her mind. but she can tease, she does know how. "you gave away the secret to a stranger."

so much for misery. "i'm surprised you're not taking more advantage of the open bar." she looked back at the couch, conversation finding its way to flourish. "everyone else seems assured that's the way to make tonight successful."

Oftentimes, Eric caught himself thinking not if but when he would get to hand his kid a bill to tuck in there, and not long ago, his biggest concern on that matter was if they would still be using paper money. And much as he found the family tradition endearing or it brought some nice memories back, Ivy had a point - he too wished they would find something, anything, they could use in the face of some deadly virus epidemic.

"In our defense, I'd like to remind you that money was pretty useful until, well, now," he said with a bitter chuckle, pushing himself up to a sitting position, but remained sideways to keep an eye on the atrium. On the tiny bit he could see from there, at least. "I bet you'll still find people willing to kill for it just in case things return to normal and they can bounce back, but those twenty-five dollars are safe." He jokingly pointed to the spider again. "I'm trying to keep my thoughts off the everpresent misery tonight, though."

[ivyemerscn]

♮ 🥺

Send ♮and I will place my music player on shuffle to make a playlist to represent each of the following listed below. @ashton-ryder

a song that represents our muses in general. never left me, megan moroney

a song that represents what ivy thinks of ash. going gets tough, the growlers

a song that represents what ash thinks of ivy. the middle, jimmy eats world

their theme song if they ever fell in love. anytime, always, the wallows

their theme song if they were to become enemies. love will tears us apart, joy division

what my muse would play at your muses funeral. this old guitar, john denver

[ivyemerscn]

♮

Send ♮and I will place my music player on shuffle to make a playlist to represent each of the following listed below. @viesanders

a song that represents our muses in general. july, hozier

a song that represents what ivy thinks of eric. moves, suki waterhouse

a song that represents what eric thinks of ivy. tell me tell me, courtship

their theme song if they ever fell in love. crash my car, coin

their theme song if were to become enemies. dead to me, kali uchis

what my muse would play at your muses funeral. gilded lily, cuts

[ivyemerscn]

♮ Ivias (lol I gave them a ship name)

Send ♮and I will place my music player on shuffle to make a playlist to represent each of the following listed below. @mrwexleysr

a song that represents our muses in general. i can't help myself, four tops

a song that represents what ivy thinks of tobias. you can't hurry love, the supremes

a song that represents what tobias thinks of ivy. signed, sealed, delivered (i'm yours), stevie wonder

their theme song if they ever fell in love. you make me feel like dancing, leo sayer

their theme song if they were to become enemies. what a fool believes, the doobie brothers

what my muse would play at your muses funeral. the boss, james brown

[ivyemerscn]

"you live on the third floor." she corrected, the callousness seeping into her voice the inversion of ember's rising energy. while the other woman might had claim to her emotions, she did not have the right to make a scene. ivy had hoped for more, better. something that didn't didn't carry undertones of childish, petty, entitled. to what exactly? to taking a swing, and making it hurt.

"your father was having a nice time tonight." and he had, appreciating the effort his last child had made to throw this party. the other two slipping through cupped hands like water, she wonders where this energy might have been for that type of argument. "the most you've done for him yet."

her own words, a well timed barb, a dare to do better. "i'd consider a little water."

"Just leaving to where, huh?" There was fire behind her eyes, jaw so tight it almost made her molars sore, only the biting of her nails into her palms and years of practice let her any sort of self control. "Back upstairs in my house? To what? Console my poor old grieving father?" Almost shaking, she spat the words at her with nothing short of disgust painting her features. It was a wonder she wasn't yelling, but there was a danger to the lowness of her tone, the rumble of a rolling boil.

"How dare you take advantage of him like this." He was lonely, she could see that, anyone could see that. "Don't you even think about fucking my Dad, and I suggest you move the fuck out of my house."

[ivyemerscn]

she thinks about what he said in a clear precise family tree. three generations tucked into a crack in the ceiling of a building that has gone on even longer than that. passing him on the couch, she looks closer past the spider finally to see what's been pressed into the crack of the ceiling, far out of reach.

"unfortunate you didn't think to tuck in something useful." she talks like tradition doesn't hurt, the consideration given to something that will outlive your natural life. it's as though she cannot turn a corner in this building and escape confrontation with the ideas of her past she'd been able to keep at bay for years. "twenty-five dollars doesn't get us much now. a lighter would have."

"Kill a bug? No, no, no," he replied quickly to make that part clear - he did not mind the spider and he would leave it alone, but he rushed with some explanation before she thought he was drunkier or crazier than he claimed.

"My Grandpa hid a five-dollar bill there, my Dad decided it could be the start of a cool tradition for our family, so he slid another one into that crack. So did his sister a few years later, and then my brother and I added a sawbuck." He finally looked at Ivy, arching a brow. "Cool...-ish, or do you want your three minutes back?"

[ivyemerscn]

it was wasteful. going through supplies of food and liquor that would not go bad. bowls of half eaten food and floors covered in drinks that could have been parsed out in conservation. when they all died in a year, they would remember this night. or not. it wouldn't be for her to decide, she hoped it wouldn't be remembered. as with most things sada said, she nodded along and kept her own opinion to herself. it wasn't passivity, it was objectivity.

"good." she'd always kept a quiet distance from lane. their working relationship overlapped only in a few moments, a transfer of care or something of the like. now, the information is appreciated, but there's little she can do with it and even less she can offer in return. it's simply enough time to process, it's enough to see past the night to the problems of the morning. "we needed someone with perspective."

There was no way that dress was Constance's. The woman was considerably taller and more busty than Ivy, and Sada suspected it had been meant for Margaret. doubtful the reclusive girl had ever had a chance to wear it, but the thought of giving her one that matched her mother's did seem like a decidedly sappy thing that Tobias Wexley Sr would do. Still, it didn't matter who the dress had belonged to before, it could have belonged to Susie down the street, her words would have carried the same weight. In fact, Sada herself was rather curious to see how Ember herself would react to it. Probably more than that tiny turn of the head, though the results would maybe be just as impactful.

"I suppose they feel protected by the wall of death outside our doors, but it does seem wasteful." Though an argument could be made for the value of a night of letting off steam. "Have you heard, Lane has returned. I suspect that's where the cheese has come from."

[ivyemerscn]

"who could miss the chance at a craft beer?" his comment is met with a click of her tongue, his guess on her karaoke choice is incorrect, and it's been marked as such. not that she hasn't listened to jagged little pill front to back, but it'd been years since she'd even hummed along to the tracks.

"phil collins." she says finally. another gift perhaps, the embarrassing knowledge of someone's go to song when they're put on the spot. as though that was somehow the key to understanding what was going on inside someone. "against all odds." and finally, a break from her stoicism, the rise in color that only a well-timed drink can elicit from her. "but, no, not tonight."

"Best one I've gotten tonight." There was an excitement to their talking in low tones that melded well with his jovial mood and liquor warmth, and it took real effort to keep his chuckle as hushed as their words.

"I suppose that's true enough, but I'm glad you came nonetheless. There's a few people I'm surprised showed up at all." Aggie Turner, Valerii, and Sada amongst them, though Ivy was also on that list. "I appreciate that, but I would blame you if you did." It wasn't as if she were his date, no matter how badly right now he wished she was. "Are you sure that we won't catch you in the W singing some karaoke? Let me guess..." Humming thoughtfully as he studied her, a smile cracked his face after a moment. "I bet you'd do a wicked Alanis."

[ivyemerscn]

the comment on her dress causes a flicker of acknowledgement, the slight turn of the head. at first she hadn't thought to probe too deeply about where the dress had come from, there were plenty of apartments in the building which might have had a dress near her size. but sada's answer is shatteringly clear. a cosplay of the missing, a ghost of flickering former passions. she has never been within the wexleys' inner circles, no matter how close. and tonight she is a museum to their mourning.

she took a sip of her whiskey and moved to the next topic without acknowledgement. "attracting attention to the building clearly isn't a concern anymore." the days of lockdown as they'd waited for the hordes around to disperse had been met with this display of light and noise, rather than silence. "what's a little more color in the name of blissful ignorance."

"Most don't." It was a statement of fact, though there may have been a hint of insult in here if one were to look hard enough for it as well. Though, that tended to be the case for a good portion of her conversational quips. "Though this dress does look much better on you than it did on Constance, she always did like things tailored just a little too tight." Shaking her head as if at the memory of other items in the suspectedly deceased Mrs. Wexley's wardrobe, Sada sipped at her champagne.

"How ridiculous do you think this building looks right now with the bar's dance floor lights rainbowing from The W's windows?"

[ivyemerscn]

she folded her jacket over her forearm, the last of her energy having been used on watching the party guests devolve into something more akin to club guests. the elevator was in her sight, blocked only by ember. by the time she'd realized that this was constance's and not someone else's, it had been too late for much. and now looking at righteous anger, she trying to consider how she felt. the answer was not inspiring, simply that this was what she deserved.

this had been the moment she'd been waiting for with all the probing questions and hesitating considerations. at least if tobias wouldn't deliver it to her, the universe still believed in karmic justice. "just leaving, actually."

Who: @ivyemerscn @mrwexleysr Where: The Atrium When: 11:30pm

Ember had had the night of her life, and between the drinks, the weed, and the fun her mood had been incredibly high. Just knowing Lane was back alone had added to her exuberance, not to mention her date. None of that mattered, though, the moment she spotted Ivy there. Not only there at a party for her Dad, but wearing her mother's dress. Heels hitting the marble floor hard as she rushed up on the smaller blond, there was fire behind her eyes and a dangerous tightness to her jaw as she hissed her words at her.

"What the fuck are you going in my mother's dress?"

[ivyemerscn]

she'd almost forgotten her own purpose for coming over to the snack table, electing for a mostly liquid dinner. "of course." the dress had been left on her bed, and in repayment for the gun disappearing it had seemed the fair choice. blue silk clinging to her skin in place of her usual jeans and sweaters, the jacket she'd brought sitting on a chair off to the side for now. "consider it your present." her words were low, stopped from carrying outside the bubble of their conversation.

she turned over his self-effacement in her mind, knowing that he'd meant it genuinely, and yet the answer all the same. "ember does know how to throw a party." birthday or not. "i think my absence would have been noticed." in a group this small it would have to be. and, she supposed if all the building's recluses could be accounted for tonight— she had no excuse. "don't worry, my exit will be an irish goodbye." though it wasn't truly one if she gave a warning, even to the one person in the room who had earned it.

Who: @ivyemerscn Where: The Atrium When: April 1st

"You look stunning. I'm glad that you liked the dress." Speaking as he came up beside her at one of the tables lined with goodies, Tobias lifted a plate and plucked a few of the colourful cookies off their platters. "Seems silly to make this all in favour of me, but... as long as people are enjoying themselves." Oh, how he wanted to ask her dance. To sweep her off her feet and spin her around the room, but there was many an eye on them and he worried what news Lane would have for him once they were freed from Quarantine. He just wished he could not think about it all, enjoy his buzz, and her company.

"I'm happy you chose to make an appearance, I almost hadn't expected you to come." He wasn't even sure what her feelings toward him were, if was honest with himself, but she hadn't told him to back off yet and he took that as a win.

[ivyemerscn]

unfortunate. as though if the karaoke machine was hooked up every friday it wouldn't change the novelty that it drew for the singers and dancers. "a catalyst, then." she corrected herself, posing the event as simply a boiler plate for whatever would have naturally occurred. she might have elaborated on the point had abby not come over to interject. she wasn't in the position to be rude towards the older woman, but that was quickly circumvented.

"i don't normally dress for black tie." she defers the compliment. the only thing that'd felt normal about the choice was the scarf, a small touch she'd been forgoing over the past few months. here it settled on her collarbone as though a natural home. "but looking nice is the goal."

"The amount of parties doesn't actually change the amount of drama." It was something she'd learned well over her many years of owning a strip club, though at the price point of her clientele the debauchery was certainly at a different level. It was all the same at it's base.

Eye turning to speak to Ivy, she'd just opened her mouth when Abby strode up babbling about something, silenced abruptly with a sharp lifting of one of Sada's hands. Giving a shake of her head that left little to the imagination, that held up hand turned to a little 'shoo' motion that maintained until the blond had turned confusedly to head in another direction.

Finally turning back to Ivy with a small self centering breath, she offered the smaller blond a polite smile. "You clean up quite nicely, Miss Emerson."

[ivyemerscn]

she followed his gesture to the sight of the spider, though the small insect did little to inspire fear. she looked back at eric, the slightest crease of confusion in an otherwise meticulous poker face. though she looked at the ceiling, she couldn't discern the crack in the ceiling from any other marker of a building that would eventually fall to disrepair. it has not yet given way into amusement, but she lets his certainly earn him to another question.

"so you called me in here to kill a bug for you?"

"That's very true," he admitted with a smile. Now he thought he should have used a different word and not promised fun where there wasn't any - too late. He sat up a bit more and pointed at the corner of the ceiling, where a little eight-legged fella worked hard on its web. "Black widow. Nah, it's no black widow, I'm just kidding. I dunno what it is, but that guy is the richest spider in the building." Ridiculous as it sounded, Eric said that with so much confidence it somehow had to be true. "See that tiny crack, slightly to the left? Right there? There's a treasure hidden in the ceiling stucco."

[ivyemerscn]

her response to her name was automatic, a learned inability to ignore when she was asked for. although usually the phrase was miss, this worked just as well. she'd kept to the edges of the party, that too was a learned inability. a trained disinterest in the social, the lack of attention made all the easier. until eric called her into the room, a brief reprieve from the devolving scene near the karaoke machine.

"cool?" she purposely ignores the seat that's been provided for her, electing to remain standing by the arm rest while she considered his offer. "we might have differing definitions on that."

//Common Room. Apr 1.

closed starter for @ivyemerscn

"Hey, Ivy?" He waved at the blonde head-turner from the common room as she passed it, where he had been taking a little break from the party. Eric didn't leave much room for anyone to join him on the couch as he lay there, head propped on the armrest so he could still see what was going on in the atrium. As soon as she reappeared at the door, however, he put one leg down and pulled the other up, to stop being so selfish and vacate the other half of the couch. "Wanna see something cool?" He chuckled before adding, "I'm fairly sober and decent, it's safe to say Yes."

[ivyemerscn]

her skin feels an uncomfortable itch at the mere phrase school dance. one of the many events that she'd so tactfully been able to avoid in her life up to this point. and now, here it was. to stand with the glass of celebratory champagne and let the revelry wash over her. she was certainly not one of the mind to take a shot.

"if only there had been more occasions for a party." though she certainly couldn't think of one in the midst of the past few months. "they'd be bored of the drama."

Where: The W When: 8 pm Who: Open

"Everyone is already in such great moods, but it's a party, right?" Eyes sliding over to the bar where Ember Wexley was bragging about having a date and trying to talk others into taking shots with her, Sada sipped her glass of champagne with a decidedly blank expression. "I must say with the amount of alcohol people are drinking, it will be interesting to see how much drama ends up happening. I suspect it'll be somewhere between a stripper's bachelorette party and a high school dance."