psl; [the healing process]

[animalqueen]

A DAY IN THE LIFE OF ELLE GRAYSON is generally a normal one, with enough variety sprinkled in throughout the week to prevent it from becoming a deadly dull routine. She lives in a flat in London, a charming little one bedroom and two bath, not particularly large, but cozy. It’s a strange fusion of modern and old fashioned, a dichotomy that reflects her own personality quite well.

Every morning, she wakes up and makes a cup of strong coffee. (Black, no sugar.) Her cat, a grey, long-haired, grumpy looking thing, lazes on her bed for longer than she does, only trotting out when he’s ready to be fed. His name is Paladin Leeroy. Sometimes she just calls him Lee.

When coffee and breakfast are a thing of the past, Elle usually hears chirping on her balcony, a structure small but laden with potted plants. She will open the doors, and sometimes, if she’s in a particularly energized mood, will announce, “Your Queen has arrived! Court will now be held,” and the little sparrows will chirp at her, and line up in a row. She’ll feed them birdseed, or bread, if she’s run out. Later, Leeroy will bound out, but she always tells him to leave the birds alone until they’re done eating. He listens. They always fly away before he gets a chance to do any real harm.

Lately, she’s been working part-time at an advertising agency, writing and tweaking copy that slides across her desk. It isn’t the most fulfilling job, but it pays the bills, and that’s what matters. Her real work is her own writing; freelancing for various websites, and poking and prodding at the idea for a book, slowly trying to force life into the narrative. Sometimes inspiration strikes her, and she sits and writes for hours at a time, until her eyes begin to strain, and she has to stop. Other times, she grows tired and can’t seem to string words together at all, and her word document looks a bit like this:

And then stuff happened. Everyone died tragically but it was fine, because it was thematically appropriate to the narrative.

ugh ugh you suck

That always gets deleted at the end, of course.

Crammed in the corner of the living area is an upright piano, white and well-used. Sheet music sits scattered on its stand, and an acoustic guitar rests on the floor next to it. There’s a television, of course, a flat-screen that looks larger than it actually is in her apartment. Connected to it is a Playstation 2, a blu ray player, and little else. On the shelves above, there are books — so many books. Mostly horror and old classics; copies of Jane Eyre and Pride and Prejudice look particularly worn.

The shelf next to it is stocked with board games. Tabletop and family ones, alike. One in particular is even out of its spot, instead spread out on the little glass coffee table. It looks as if a campaign hasn’t been started yet, though someone’s been flipping through the manual quite recently. Maybe quite frequently.

Her bedroom is small, but the bed is large and roomy. There are pictures of friends and family on the bookshelves in here, and a few on her nightstand. Beyond that, she keeps this part of the flat a little messier than the rest.

GENERALLY, SHE LIVES A RELATIVELY NORMAL LIFE, quiet and cozy. Sometimes living by herself is a bit lonely, and the time difference means that she cannot call her mom and step-dad any time she likes just to hear their voices. But like all things, these emotions pass like any other. Perhaps the only real oddity in her life are the strange surprises she sometimes finds on her balcony. There were a family of raccoons once. A possum. A falcon, who looked lost and confused when she opened the door, turning its head at her, blinking. There were even rats, but they only sniffed the air in her direction, and did little else.

Elle Grayson is just a normal 26 year-old, with a magnetism or two that might be considered abnormal. Perhaps that’s the extent of the oddities in her life. Perhaps this is all she could ever really wish for.

Perhaps she’ll be proven wrong, sooner rather than later.

----------

D I R E C T O R Y;

➤ a reunion
➤ a cat
➤ a novel
➤ an outing
➤ a resolution
➤ a sickness
➤ a home
➤ a boyfriend
➤ a horror

Comments

[coalheart]

[Corvus seats himself at the coffee table where Elle gestured hunching over slightly to rest his elbows on his legs.]

... You're likeable. I'm surprised you don't know more people. Or rather, that more people aren't pursuing a friendship with you.

[animalqueen]

[She slides a set of red colored dice in his direction, looking up at him to respond.]

I get along with people, but that isn't the same as being social. Sometimes I'm too much of a homebody to really reach out as much as is required to.

And besides, you're "pursuing a friendship", aren't you? That counts.

[coalheart]

[Huh. Corvus honestly hadn't thought about it that way.]

Yes, but I'm not human.

[animalqueen]

[And she gives him the most questioning sort of look.]

And what does that have to do with being friends, exactly?

[coalheart]

... I don't know.

[And it's true, he's unsure and trying to make sense of it himself. Of why he has doubts.]

I suppose... I think it's better that you have people. Who are like you.

[animalqueen]

...And don't you think I get to make that decision? You're good enough company for me, Cor.

[She smiles at him, as if to reassure him of this.]

Anyway, let's get started. We have to create your character first.

[coalheart]

Alright then.





How do I do that?

[goddammit]

[animalqueen]

[It's not like she expected him to know right off the bat how to go about it; Elle chews at her lower lip, trying to figure out the best way to explain.]

Well... this setting is a fantasy one, right? So, do you know the archetypes associated with that sort of story?

Basically, what kind of character do you want to pretend to be?

[coalheart]

I'm not very familiar no, despite being a professional pretender.

... Could I be an animal?

[CORVUS]

[animalqueen]

...The point is to be something that you're not in real life. I mean, maybe we should start with the basics.

Would you rather be a hero-type or a villain-type?

[coalheart]

[Corvus runs a hand through his hair, looking tense as if this was the most important decision ever. Why are games so hard all of a sudden!? (Because he makes them hard, that's why) But he'll give and try to see where this takes him and Elle.]

... I'll try hero.

Never know what might happen.

[animalqueen]

Hero, huh? Okay. That'll be interesting, because I'm going to play a cold-hearted killer.

[This'll be fun, she thinks.]

[coalheart]

[He has the look he gets when he's a cat and is silently judging her with his cat face. Except, he's a guy this time, so Corvus looks baffled.]

... Are you sure?

[animalqueen]

[She laughs.] Of course I'm sure. I already built his character sheet and everything. What, you don't think I should?

[coalheart]

Well. I can't very well stop you.

[it just seems weird after all the near killing he's done ok

ANYWAYS]

You said you have a character sheet. Do I fill one out?

[animalqueen]

[corvus why

And she nods.]

Sort of? I'll help you out with this part. [She waggles a pencil at him.] You mentioned something about animals, right? You should be a druid. They can turn into any animal they've encountered.

[Kind of like what you already do, Cor.]

The fun part is thinking up a backstory.

[coalheart]

[Oh, okay, the explanation of the druid sounds pretty good. Corvus nods.]

Then I will be the druid. I've never made up story before though.

[animalqueen]

Then we'll start with the easy stuff.

[At least she looks like she's having fun.]

First, pick a name. Something heroic.

[coalheart]

[Ugh, using the imagination is hard. He decides just to make up a jumble of vowels and letters, smash them together and hopefully come up with a name.]

Kharis.

No surname. Not needed.

[animalqueen]

[She scribbles that down.]

Kharis... that's actually pretty cool. You're good at this naming thing, did you know that?

[coalheart]

Not really. I ended up with letters that just happened to sound like something.

... And as for my own name, I can't say that's really creative either.

[After all, it's pretty on the nose.]

[animalqueen]

True, you're taking the crow motif to new heights with that one. But even so, it's a cool name. It fits with your image -- do you know that when I met you, I thought that you'd make a good Byronic hero? "Lord Corvus."

[coalheart]

[Elle... Don't do this to him... He looks embarrassed. Almost.]

I take it, that's another author whose works I've yet to read.

[animalqueen]

A poet, actually. Lord Byron. I'll read you some of his works someday, if you like.

Maybe you can make your character a Byronic Hero; that'd be something. Harboring some terrible secret in his past.

[coalheart]

[He nods. He'd like to hear the poems for sure, especially since he likes Elle's voice whenever she reads.

Now as for his "character..."]

... I doubt this sounds any good, but perhaps the terrible secret is that he failed to save his family from some sort of disaster.

[He's trying! But this is hard.]