lucianavespa

[lucianavespa]

"Right? I feel like a lot of goldens have that look about them that they just come off with the one brain cell and that's why they need a silly name." Luciana added as she nodded and then watched the two dogs with one another. "Wow, that's interesting. I've never heard of someone naming their dog after someone, like I know they do for kids but I think that's fascinating that you decided to do it for your dog. I like that a lot." She said, taking a mental note of that.

"Nah, no. I just call him Waffles because I love the name too much to shorten it." She responded to Theo as a small giggle left her lips after. @thferrante

THEO SNAPPED HIS FINGERS, nodding as if he’d known it all along. ❛ Waffles. Right. Should’ve guessed—he’s got that look about him. ❜  He glanced over at the two dogs, who were now thoroughly engaged in some kind of silent negotiation over a stick. ❛ Douglas is actually named after my grandfather, ❜  he admitted, lips quirking. ❛ Which, in hindsight, probably set him up for a lifetime of judgment. But hey, he carries it well. ❜ 

His gaze flicked back to her, amusement still lingering. ❛ Winston would’ve suited him too, though. And you dodged a nickname disaster for when you inevitably tried to shorten Winnie. ❜ He paused, considering. ❛ Or did you? Because if you landed on Waffs or Waffy, I hate to break it to you... ❜ 

[lucianavespa]

Luciana smiled as she handed over the bag that had all of the books in it. "I know." She laughed a bit. "But no, I love to give back to the library. I know I spent a lot of time here growing up and they are one of the places that don't get the most funding so anything I can do to help out. Ugh, at least you're keeping yourself busy though so it's not like you're sitting around and the day is dragging on. Any ideas you've come up with yet?" She asked as she leaned against the counter and looked at Ava. "Oh I'm good, super tired. I feel like I haven't been sleeping that well. I tend to sleep better when I can have the windows open and have the fresh air!" @avanguyen

When she popped her head up from the desk, it was nice to see such a familiar face. The two had bonded over their mutual love of books the first time they met and have gone on to start their own personal book club. The fellow book lover not only visited the library to check out books, but she also graciously donated whatever her store couldn’t use. Most of which would either be cataloged into the library system or set aside for their annual book sale. “Ugh you’re the best,” Ava smiled as she reached out to grab the bag of books. She shuffled through the contents as she spoke. “I’m good! Today has been a bit of a slow day, which is good for me because it gives me more time to plan my next story time.” The brunette looked up at her friend before continuing, “how are you doing today?”

[lucianavespa]

"You know what? That's totally fair and responsible of you to say. I can't stand people who want a dog so badly and then leave it alone all the time. Like I understand when you have work or go out and do stuff, but like if it spends all of it's life alone then I think you should just get a cat. They're more built for that kind of life." She mentioned to Phoebe. "I know you can also volunteer at the shelter and walk them or take them out to play and they love that! You should look into it." Luci responded. That's what Luci did before she got Waffles, but was guilty of not going as much since. "I love the california burger there with the avocado like that is so amazing!" She mentioned to Phoebe. "Totally understandable, it's not everybody's thing. What do you like to do in your free time?" @phoebebaker

"Oh no, I don't have a dog," Phoebe awkwardly admitted. "I'm too busy and feel like it wouldn't be fair to a dog if I had one. So every so often when I'm in the mood to pet or play with some pups, I swing by here." She silently wondered if that made her crazy or if there were other people in the same boat as her. "I try not to eat it too often, since I'm there all the time. But even I have to admit the diner has the best burgers in town." There were other favorites of hers on the menu whenever she did stop to take a bite to eat, but the burgers by far were at the top of her list. "I've been to Bookmarked once or twice. Unfortunately I'm not too big of a reader."

[lucianavespa]

"I mean I say that I can't complain, but I am such a sunshine girlie that I will complain about it if I need to even though it'll accomplish absolutely nothing." Luciana laughed as she nodded. "Right?! What do we want? More sunshine! When do we want it? Now!" She mimicked a protest and then giggled as she shook her head. "Dresses? Oh I bet you look amazing in a dress. I won't wear a dress unless it has pockets though! It must have pockets. Chocolate truffles? Oh you are bad! I'll stick to the natural sugar from the strawberry though." Luci replied as she grabbed a strawberry and then took a bite out of it. "Oh goodness this is a good strawberry. You must know how to pick your fruit." @leonacortcz

“Oh, I’ll do the complaing for us.” Looking up, she was met with a baby-blue sky and fluffy clouds rolling by. “Give us more sunshine, damn it.” Spending most of her life in California, there was rarely a time when she didn’t feel the softest sting of a sunkissed nose. Although growing up, most of her summers were spent in town so her anticipation was laced with sentimental value. “I’m just tired of jackets. I can’t wait to raid my closet for all the dresses collecting dust in the back.” Grimacing briefly, she rolled her eyes at herself before looking back at Luciana. “Watch me mentally sprinting through spring straight into summer.” Offering the paper bag for her to help herself, she smiled. “If you dig in there, I also got some chocolate truffles if you’d like.”

[lucianavespa]

"Is that the term for it? I don't even know if I've heard of that. I mean obviously I've heard of insanity." She laughed a bit, "I'm very familiar with insanity actually." She hald joked. "Well Douglas is cute as heck and I bet he's fun. That's such a funny name for a dog like so human like." She replied, "But I love it." She added, hoping that she wasn't being rude. "So close and honestly, I thought about naming him Winston and calling him Winnie because I love the show New Girl and Winston's character is so fun." She laughed. "But it's Waffles!" @thferrante

❛ I THINK THAT'S WHAT THEY CALL ETERNAL OPTIMISM – or insanity. ❜ He shook his head, laughing a bit. ❛ For both of our sakes, I hope it’s the former. ❜ The number of times the Northern Pacific weather had caught him by surprise was embarrassing. ❛ His name’s Douglas. ❜ Doug, meanwhile, was making his way over to her dog. ❛ And I want to say that’s… give me a minute, it’ll come to me. ❜ He squinted at the dog, mentally sifting through all the golden retrievers that came through the clinic. He did a fair job of remembering his own patients, but as for the other doctors’ — ❛ Winston... Wags? ❜ He winced. ❛ Am I close? ❜

[lucianavespa]

"As appealing as that sounds, I'm going to have to pass actually." She said back to him and then laughed, enjoying the joke that he was providing to her. "Oh I can only imagine, they're like the most north state in the country aren't they? I mean and in the mountain areas I'm sure they get so much snow and I wouldn't be able to handle that. Where did you go to school?" She asked curiously, wanting to ask about him. "Well rodeo is very cute. And no, that little piranha is my baby boy. His name is Waffles and he's only six months old." @goldstien

“what — you're saying you don't want to bundle up for half the year and then have to get special tires ‘cause you have to travel in the snow and ice for those months?” a joke, obviously. “my old roommate at school used to live in maine. shit's crazy, like, it's bad apparently.” kiernan shutters. oregon is no california or florida, but it's fine. “yeah, yeah,” a nod of his head. his pride and joy. the little guy is a lot of fun, and keeps him from wallowing in self - pity. “that's rodeo – he's just a baby, but he's fun, you know?" another shrug. “i'm aussiming that's yours? or you're a dog walker. both are cool.”

[lucianavespa]

Luciana looked over at Avery and she felt like something was off, but then she realized that she shouldn't push so she decided to keep things light and happy so she didn't bring it up. She nodded as she sighed happily, "Oh yeah trust me. I know what you mean. When you feel like a popsicle it's the worst and it seems like you can never get warm again sometimes so it's a real struggle." Luci agreed with Avery while looking at her.

"Oh yeah, sure more people are out and about and they are willing to stay out more. Business is good honestly. Ever since I started trying to get a book club going, it seems to be bringing in more business. How is your business going? I gotta get out there more! I feel like this year will be the year that I go out and do more things, plus I am going to have to bring Waffles to do more things so it motivates me to not just bring him to the bookstore." @averyxford

sometimes, avery wished she had a dog. most times, it was when she found herself wandering The Bark Park--a place she always found herself when those familiar feelings of loneliness started to creep in. at least a dog couldn't just...choose not to love you right?

the blonde shook her head, attempting to get the depressing subject off her mind. fuck anyone who said you needed others, avery reminded herself. look at how far you've come without anyone at all. you need no one but yourself. these mantra were never that helpful, but at least they caught her before she cried--the one thing she did agree with her family on: never let them see you vulnerable. only for avery, them was everyone.

"oh, uh yeah." she nodded, barely hearing what the other woman had to say. blinking a few times, she realized it was luci, someone she had grown up around her whole life. she looked well, though she was sure that running her own business was harder than she made it look. at least, it was for avery. "it is nice to not feel like a popsicle the minute you walk out the door. good for buisness too. speaking of, how's yours?" keep it light, keep it surface level.

[lucianavespa]

"I know, it's nice when we get it every once in a while to remind us what we are waiting towards but to have it every day would be nice. I like when I don't have to worry about dressing for three seasons a week. I like it to be consistent, but I can't complain on the days that we do get." Luci responded to the other. She smiled wide when the other offered her a strawberry and she smiled and nodded, "Sure, that's so kind of you." She replied to the woman. @leonacortcz

Was it a bit pathetic to walk through the dog park on her way home just to see puppies? Leona genuinely couldn’t tell, so if anyone asked, she’d just say it was a shortcut because a woman without a dog showing up once wasn’t suspicious, but it was slowly becoming a habit. With an arm wrapped around a brown paper bag full of groceries, she walked with a purpose just as she heard a rather friendly voice next to her. "It is, isn't it?" Pushing her sunglasses into her hair, Leona turned with her eyes closed towards the sun and smiled. “Can’t wait for it to be like that most days again.” Blinking through the splotches of colors she saw after looking into the sunlight, she made an offer that only felt natural. “Strawberry?”

[lucianavespa]

Luciana looked at Kiernan as he responded to her and she laughed a bit, "Yeah I don't know about all that because that would just be awful. I can handle some snow but when it's mixed with ice and everything, it's not something that I'd want to deal with." She shuddered at the thought as she looked at him. She was glad that people were friendly enough in Windsor Bay to strike up a conversation. Luci was always ready to talk to someone. "Is that your pup?" She nodded towards the one dog. @goldstien

rodeo didn't know a stranger. like dog, like owner, right? the little dog has more friends than he does, he's sure, and more energy these days for sure. but he's good for one thing: keeping him from wallowing in a vat of self - pity and make sure he actually goes outside at least once a day. better doing that than thinking about what could've been. the dog park is usually quiet — save for the short periods through the day. “i know, right?” kiernan leans back against the bench, not taking eyes off the king cavelier running around and probably getting too muddy. “i'd hate to live in new england — they get snow and freezing rain like, way more than we do. dunno ‘bout you .. but i’m not built for all that.”

[lucianavespa]

"Yeah I know! It's crazy how every year I think it's going to be different when I've lived here my entire life. I don't know why I think things are going be different." Luci laughed as she looked at the other. "Oh I know, but something tells me that we are going to see a very rainy spring. I mean they say that April showers brings May flowers and I love to see all the flowers so I guess I can handle it." She said to him before laughing. "What's your dogs name?"

❛ GO LONG, ❜ THEO CALLED, winding his arm back and throwing the tennis ball across the park. His dog took off after it, reaching the far end of the grassy space just in time to catch it midair. ❛ Winters around here really make you grateful to finally see the sun, ❜ he agreed, watching her dog for a moment. ❛ I was starting to think the rain was never going to stop. ❜

[lucianavespa]

"Yeah, everybody tends to say that when they meet him. I don't blame them though there's nothing cuter than a six month old dog. They are full of energy, but that's why I bring him here to the park. Are you here with your dog?" She asked the woman and then she thought about it. "Maybe I've seen you there? I mean I go there from time to time because we all crave some good diner food whether we like to admit it or not." Luci replied while looking at her. "I own Bookmarked, I'm not sure that's somewhere you go, the local bookstore but I work there from time to time while checking in on things." @phoebebaker

Phoebe nodded her head in agreement with Luciana's statement while simultaneously holding her hand out for the dog to sniff. Once his tail started to wag, Phoebe took that as her sign to go in for a few scratches behind the ear. "It's nice to meet you, Luci." Her gaze looked from the woman to the ball of golden fluff. "Have to say, I'm already obsessed with Waffles, here. He's a sweetheart." She looked up towards the woman before speaking once again. "I've been here for about six years now. I work part-time at the Sunrise Diner, not sure how often you pop in there to eat."

[lucianavespa]

Luciana was a frequent visitor to the local library. She always liked to donate money to them and any books that she was able to find that were in good enough shape for the library but weren't for her own store. As Luciana walked into the library, she had a bag of books that ranged from books for children to adults and she was doing her monthly drop off of books she managed to find. As she walked up to the counter, she noticed that Ava was deep in her own world going through the computer and scribbling things down on the piece of paper. She smiled as she heard the other. "It's okay, no need to worry about it. And not at all. I'm just here to donate some books like I normally do. How are you doing today?" She responded. @avanguyen

Where: National Memorial Library

Who: Open for everyone @windsorbaystarters

A symphony of taps and clicks echoed from Ava's desk as she searched the library catalog, trying to find a book to read to her story time group the following week. Of course when she asked them for some suggestions at the end of their last session, the kids all erupted into a chorus of shouting different titles simultaneously. She racked her brain, trying to think of a few titles that stood out throughout the shouts. The brunette was so focused between scrolling through the computer and scribbling book titles down on a scrap piece of paper, that she almost didn't notice the person approaching the side of her desk. "Sorry, I almost didn't see you there," Ava apologized as a sweet smile started to spread across her face. "Can I help you with anything? Do you need help finding a book?"

[lucianavespa]

Luciana smiled brightly when she saw the other blonde woman interacting with Waffles. "I know and I like that the sun is staying out later like I can just feel the seasonal depression leaving my body more and more every day!" She replied to the woman and then nodded, "It's nice to meet you Phoebe, I'm Luciana, but most people call me Luci and this is Waffles. He's just a goofy lil pup." He explained. "How long have you been in Windsor Bay, I don't know if I've ever seen you before." @phoebebaker

Phoebe had always been the kind of person that loved dogs, but she knew that she didn't have the time needed to dedicate to parenting the dog. So instead, she periodically wandered towards The Bark Park and spent a few hours of her day petting dogs and chatting with their owners. A golden ball of fluff approached her out of the corner of her eye and Phoebe's face instantly lit up. "Hi buddy," the blonde squealed as the dog bolted past her. "Thank god it's starting to warm up. That just means we're one step closer to summer." As lovely as springtime was, her love of summertime had run deep within her veins. It was a big part of the reason she moved into a beach house on Coral Coast. "I'm Phoebe by the way," the blonde smiled as she gave a small wave.

[lucianavespa]

Starter for: Luciana & Open @windsorbaystarters Location: The Bark Park

Luciana had her 6 month old golden retriever, Waffles on his leash and when the two of them approached the park, she let him off leash knowing that he had learned to listen to her when she asked him to. He was also very friendly with other animals so that wasn't something that she had to worry about on her end. Luciana hung up the leash while Waffles took off and she turned towards the other person who was there, "It is so nice out today, i've been waiting for some warmer weather."

[lucianavespa]

character information

name: luciana vespa

gender & pronouns: cis woman & she/her

sexuality: pansexual

age: 30

birthday: june 4, 1994

place of birth: windsor bay, or

occupation: owner @ bookmarked

time since arriving in clearwater: thirty years

aesthetics: constantly having a book in her bag wherever she goes, giggle and smiley all the time no matter what's going on in her life, fresh pressed nails, high heels.

pets: golden retriever named waffles

appearance:

faceclaim:  ariana grande

height:  5'1"

build: petite

eyes:  dark brown

hair:  currently blonde

piercings:  nose, septum, ear lobes

tattoos:  too many to count

personality:

traits:  compassionate, funny, forgiving, easily discouraged, nervous, & gullible

labels / tropes:  the healer

mental health:  good now

physical health:  healthy as a horse

likes:  collecting special editions of books, listening to music, & playing board games with a hot cup of tea.

dislikes:  people who make assumptions on first appearance, watching christmas movies all year long.

fears:  being misunderstood, being judged, global warming

phobias:  spiders, reptiles.

skills:  listens without judging, singing.

biography: tw; parental death

Luciana was born and raised in Windsor Bay. She was raised by two parents who loved one another more than anything and they had no problem showing their love for each other. Luciana was the second to last child that the Vespa family had, all of their kids always felt the same amount of love from both of their parents, no matter how different they were from one another.

Luci was a big book nerd which is where she clicked with her mom so much. The two of them would go to book clubs together all the time and while there were times they read books she didn't want to discuss with her mother, it was still a great bonding moment they had with one another. Don't let the makeup and hells fool you because Luciana could also get down with fishing with her father. Both parents did everything they could to make all of their children feel loved by both parents there was something though where Luciana and her mother were just a little bit closer than she was with the other children.

They were constantly hanging out, but it wasn't something that bothered the other kids because if they ever wanted to jump in on the plans, Luci and their mom were so welcoming about it. Every Sunday night they would have family dinner no matter what was going on. Unless a child was at college, everybody was there. They would even facetime a sibling in because they were just that close.

When Luciana was 25, her mom fell ill and it was something that happened quickly. Before she knew it, she had lost her mom and her best friend. She never tried to play the card of being closest with her because all the children were so close with one another. They were there for one another as they grieved and they promised to never let one another go. Even if her siblings had come and gone from Windsor Bay, they always stayed in contact. She keeps the tradition going of Sunday dinners at her place when the family is available.

When she realized that Bookmarked was up for sale she decided to take the money her mom left her and she bought the store, wanting to honor her mom the best way that she could. She even got a dog and named him waffles because it was something that the two of them could eat any day and at anytime.