Raleigh Harper / Emily Watkins

OOC PREFERENCES: Permissions for OOC game activity.
CONTACT METHODS: In preferred order: Twitter, Gchat, Email, AIM.
THREADJACKING: Definitely talk to me before threadjacking. It depends on why you want to threadjack, or why; if there is a plot opportunity, let me know, but besides that, I'd say no.
SLOWTAGGING/BACKTAGGING: Generally, I'm okay with slow/backtagging, however I may IM you and say it's been too long / too slow and that we need to fade to black.
NSFW: Absolutely
AVOIDED SUBJECTS: Anything involving swarming insects.
PREFERRED GENDER PRONOUN: Pronouns perferred are she/her.

( Here be the deets )



DATE LAST UPDATED:

January 4, 2015

Years. It felt like years since they'd all gotten together like this -- there had been a while that it was parties and cruises and monsters and--

You name it, and it happened. It had been a lot. Just a lot, for everybody. They'd all sort of drifted apart, after a while; something shifted, and life became less volatile. Less... fraught. You didn't have to worry about your friends dying every day, which, if you asked Raleigh? Definite improvement.

When things quieted down, Siren Cove slipped back to where it started. A little town where tourists came to visit, it was quaint. The local bookshop, bakery, and grocery were open year round, but as soon as it got warm, the knick-knack shops and lobster shacks opened their doors.

Now, everyone had two reasons to get together: the first was a Town Emergency, which Raleigh was more than happy to assume Would No Longer Happen, although she knew full well it may be wishful thinking. The second was a more mundane, but happier reason: Weddings.

Amber, the manager of The Orchard House, was getting married. She and James had been dating for years, and finally she'd popped the question -- and so here they were. The summer night made a perfect backdrop, and they'd invited all of their nearest and dearest -- and as her boss, Raleigh both made sure to be there, and the bakery was closed tomorrow, just so they all could keep their mine on what was important. The wedding was formal enough that the venue had approved catering from Portland, and, to quote the bride, 'Everyone had better show up looking fancy.'

So... here she was. Hair curled, new dress -- and no idea who most of the people here were. The ceremony had been touching (crying may or may not have taken place on Raleigh's part), but it had been dark for everyone who wasn't in the wedding party. Now, the immediate families of the bride and groom, the wedding party -- all of them went off for pictures, and Raleigh picked her way between the seats over to the cocktail area. She was more careful than she usually was, given the dark and the uneven ground -- so much so that she didn't realise that she should actually know some of the other attendees after all.

Sure, Raleigh knew she was finally coming back to Siren Cove. Of course, she'd woken up this morning and kissed her mom on the cheek and reassured her that yes, she wanted to go home - it was still home, even after the last few months in Tennessee. She'd known she was coming back, but that didn't stop her from realising about three steps out of the taxi from the Portland airport that she'd done something really dumb.

She forgot her keys.

And it was about three degrees outside, with snow everywhere. "C'mon, buddy." Squinting in the snow, Raleigh didn't even try going to her place -- there wasn't a point with no keys. Her roller bag behind her, she made her way to Les's apartment. She'd gotten dropped off close by, and hey - she guessed that he'd be home.

Ringing the bell, she tugged her coat closer around her-- sure, she'd remembered her boots, but she'd forgotten her gloves so her hands were shoved as far in her pockets as she could manage, Oscar's leash around her wrist as she talked to no one in particular. "Please be home. Please?"

Two days was how much time Raleigh had given herself to feel sorry for herself.

She hadn't even made it that long. A day and a half after she'd had her soul returned, she'd been back at the bakery, cleaning and trying to sort out the mess she'd made. It'd been a struggle; there were so many things that had gone out of control and getting them back in a way that made any semblance of sense was going to take time.

Every day, more things were sorted out. Bills - so many bills, enough that she completely emptied her own savings to pay for them. She ended up having a long talk with Amber, because obviously what had happened was unacceptable, and an asshole move and Raleigh'd ended up giving her a raise and a healthy apology.

Oscar - thank god for Davin - but Oscar was home, and even though it didn't help with the overwhelming guilt that she felt whenever she looked at him, she'd gotten him more toys and he barely left her side; even now, in the bakery, he was lying on the dog bed she put under the table in the corner.

All of that - her orders sorted and calls made and repairs done and ingredients ordered-- didn't do anything to fix the other messes she'd made. The nightmares of what had happened with Mira and Coop; the rest of it, that every single interaction she'd had with people had been just.... awful. Raleigh remembered all of it, and to her she didn't feel different; it'd just changed how her mind worked, and that was possibly the worst part of all.

But today... today, the door to her bakery's open, the smell of pastry spilling out into the early afternoon air as she works on some chocolate work in-between customers.

OOC: Open to everyone! She's got her soul back and has emerged from being a guilty hermit!

Packing up all of Oscar's toys, she tried again (unsuccessfully) to get him to go into his crate. He was barking at her heels with every step she took, staring up at her. He only took the time to sleep when she did, he tried to hop into her lap the best he could when she sat down, he tried to jump into the tub while she showered-- it was making Raleigh insane, and that's what'd sparked the twitter post.

Also, this had been going on for weeks, at this point. Weeks, of Raleigh trying to do the right thing, to figure out what's wrong, until she gave up. She just gave up, and that's why when someone knocked on her door, she immediately pulled it open, Oscar's bark finally fading from where it had certainly been audible for some time.

He moved away from her for the first time since she'd left the house, staring at Davin with his head cocked then looking back at Raleigh, almost like he wanted to lead him like Lassie to the well. Something's wrong, and the corgi knows it even if Raleigh doesn't believe it.

"Yeah, I don't care." Raleigh was standing in front of Orchard House, her hand on the open door as she nods towards the sidewalk. "I don't want to be open today, so we're not."

"But- Raleigh, we've been closed three days this week, and I have to pay my rent." Amber, the college student who was home for the summer who Raleigh had working the cash register most days stubbornly stood in the shop.

Raleigh's brows shot up, and she smiled sweetly. "Honey, you must be under the assumption that I actually care about your lack of preparedness. Do I look like I care? I said I don't. You should have saved some money or something, it's not my problem. Now, out. I have to lock up."

Staring at her boss, Amber slowly started to gather her stuff. "What is wrong with you? I can't- I can't just not have work. I mean, I love your bakery, and I used to love working for you--"

"Used too?" Raleigh paused, and her lips pressed into a thin line. "You know what? Here. I'll make it easy for you. You're fired. Now get out of my store before I call the cops." Plastering on another smile, she shrugged her shoulders like Look what you made me do, before she cleared her throat.

"What?"

"I said you're fired. Are you bad at English, too? Here I just thought it was your basic math skills. Out." Raleigh watched her go, her lips quirking up into a tiny smile as she tugged the door closed, humming as she locked it. She just doesn't feel like working today - this evening she's meeting Joel about her leg, and that means she just wants to sort of... soak it all in, before maybe he'll actually be able to fix it. Nevermind that she's got an audience to what just went down - she honestly doesn't care.

OOC: Open to everyone! Her last post before ppl figure out What Is The Something That's Really Wrong. :D

"Hey! Stop!"

Raleigh's walking Oscar - it's a long walk today, even though it's definitely making her leg regret it - and she doesn't even pause when she hears somebody behind her yell. It's the beginning of tourist season, and the sidewalk's full of people she doesn't know, and she's so worn out from the last week that she doesn't really have the energy.

"I said stop! I know you!"

Huffing out a breath, she keeps going; she hates it when people yell in public. She's got that Southern mentality, the one that keeps disputes behind closed doors where it's between the two of you and everyone else listening at cracks to figure out the gossip.

The last thing she expects is the rough hand on her arm that yanks her around. Stumbling, she catches herself on the parking meter that's next to her as the guy - mid forties, handsome in that New-England-Polo-Shirt-and-Sperrys kind of way - stares at her.

"It's you! It is!" Oscar's exploded into a barking, growling, half-grown dog between them, and the guy steps back as he raises his voice. "You know what I'm doing? I'm calling the cops. This is the girl who shot me! Back when we were medieval or whatever? She shot me and took all my money! She's a thief!" The tourists had backed up into a circle around them, with Raleigh, Oscar, and the guy in the middle. "She could have killed me!" He's pulling out his phone even as Raleigh protests and tries to explain as the people who're just staring at her shake their heads, and a phone, then another gets pulled out to film the whole thing.

"It's not- I'm not- I'm not a thief, I- It wasn't me--"

OOC: Raleigh's Fairy-tale shenanigans have come home to roost! Open to anybody. :D

"You have got to be kidding me! Seriously? Seriously?!" Raleigh's standing outside her bakery, hands on her hips as the delivery box truck pulls away. Pulls away.

Leaving a full, wrapped pallet of 50lb bags of flour on the sidewalk. Almost blocking the front door to her bakery.

She doesn't really want to have to pull in favors. Not for this, not for a stupid stack of bags of flour that normally is delivered through the back and the delivery guy brings it in and oh, hey! No problem!

But her usual guy's apparently sick, and this guy just vanished and when she refused to sign for it - because she did, what's she going to do with a literal half-ton of flour on the sidewalk? - he just shrugged. He shrugged.

And left.

He left, and he left the flour here, and now Raleigh's just-- The thing comes up to her chest, and she doesn't have a pallet jack, and besides, she's not going to drag the thing around the block or anything. Her leg's throwing a fit today, and it's just--

It's rare, for her to be so flipping angry. She's going to call her supplier, that's for sure, but they're not even open right now, and she just throws the pen that the guy left her with in frustration, not expecting it to bounce off the flour and land at the feet at the person behind her.

The text exchange had been pretty short, but she'd invited him over to her place after he got off work - she had a coffee machine, and the couch part of was covered, and she figured it'd be a good place to just-- She wanted to talk to him a little bit about Sylvie, because she'd made some promises that she's 90% sure are true, but since he's involved in them...

It'd be better if she let him know.

The good part about only having a little bit of furniture is that you don't really have a lot to clean up before you have company; she's made a pot of coffee, and she's mostly puttering around the kitchen, making macarons because it's a new thing while she listens to the country top 40, and Oscar's spending his time trying to destroy a plastic squeaky dinosaur she got him a few days ago.

The rest of it, the flour and the cocoa powder is easy to clean up, and the cookies are resting on the table Joel made her because he's amazing, and it's just not all that complicated, just yet. Eventually, she'd have more stuff, it'd be a little bit longer of a dash around, but right now it's just wipe some counters, and you're good to go.

Hey guys,

As you may have seen (or been seeing, really) on twitter, I'm going through a rough patch with my incredibad job and trying to find a new one.

I've put Chris (huntlikedavid on Hiatus as well as Raleigh, although I would definitely be interested in slowtimeyish threads for Raleigh because in general, she makes me happy, if I can swing the brains to tag. (I may also tag into things with her, and I will try my best to tag back, it's just sometimes I just... can't. =/ I'll check first to make sure slowtime's okay.)

Chris is down visiting his son in Georgia, and Raleigh's just.... being Raleigh. Working, baking, trying to find an apartment. I'm hoping that I find a new job soon, because she's got a new puppy named Oscar, and I'd like to do things with him still being a puppy, lol.

So I'll leave you with the adorable puppy, and ILU all. I'll still be on the twitters, and grasping at straws to find a way to GTFO from my job.



♥

Amanda