maixchang-blog

[maixchang-blog]

After spending the last couple hours at the gym, Mai just wanted to sit for five minutes without being bothered, but apparently it was not to be.  First, the phone ringing, and then the bags being thrown at her -- this woman was just lucky Mai was sitting down.  If she had been standing up when this happened, she would have just dropped the bags on the ground and walked away.  As it was, she took them off her lap and put them onto the other side of the bench.  Now it wasn’t her problem, and, as an added bonus, no one would be able to sit next to her.  Small victories.

There had been a sale on. That was the only excuse Nala could come up with about why she now had seven bags strung along her arms, plus her messenger bag hanging off one shoulder - though she could most definitely feel it slipping slightly and had a sudden fear that if it fell it would take the rest of her bags with it along with her, and they’d all end up on the floor. Successfully making it through the main door to the compound Nala was pretty sure the rest of the trip back to her room would be easy. If only her phone hadn’t range and she hadn’t been expecting a call from someone at the university. “Hi, sorry, can you just um hold these for a second please?” She asked the first person she encountered, but didn’t wait for a response before unloading one arm of bags on to them and quickly digging through her handbag for the ringing phone.

#c: nala

[maixchang-blog]

@purejcy

It wasn’t that Mai disliked her tentmate, exactly.  It was just that they had very little in common, and fine, Mai did not particularly care for bubbly, cheerful people in general.  Mai also did not care for camping, so she was already feeling extra irritable.  Returning to the tent to find Joy and dirt inside only made it worse.  “Oh, great,” she sighed.  “It’s everywhere.”

#this is very short i'm sorry #c: joy #astracamping

[maixchang-blog]

@tatianasharma

Mai really thought she had found a nice (well, relatively speaking), quiet space, away from people.  Apparently not.  She had been coming here the past two days and no one else had showed up, but today she saw a total of three people before she started to think it was time to find somewhere else to avoid everyone.  Just as she was getting ready to leave, though, she felt a bug on her arm, which meant it was time to refresh the bug spray.  But when she looked through her bag, there was no bug spray.  She left it back in the tent.  She really didn’t want to go all the way back there, but there was no way she was going to stay out here without any bug spray, so she didn’t have any other options.  At least, that was what she thought, but then she heard the arrival of yet another person.  “Please tell me you have bug spray.”

#c: tatiana #astracamping

[maixchang-blog]

It had been a long day.  First there had been a long line when she had to stop at the grocery store, and then she was forced to engage in awkward conversation with the absurdly cheerful cashier.  Now, all Mai wanted to do was get back to her room and not have to deal with any more people.  Unfortunately, the world seemed to have other ideas.

She wrinkled her nose as the man thrusted paper at her.  She didn’t even need to look at it to know it was stupid; the words he was saying were proof enough.  “No,” she said, crumpling the flier up.  She wasn’t being mean; he clearly only cared about her as an interchangeable helper, and she knew she was not the person for the job.  Why should she humor him?

Any normal person would have walked about the compound kindly introducing themselves to people, but not Gaston. He wasn’t like those people: he was better. He knew how to make an impression. To make himself known as quickly as possible, he began passing out fliers which had a variety of things on them. For one, there were a variety of pictures of himself. Obviously. They were his best head shots (though it had been incredibly difficult for him to choose which were the “best” because all of them were great). Second, a few fun facts about himself. Who doesn’t love those about anybody? And thirdly, some basic information as well. It was perfect; a masterpiece for everyone to take in. The easiest place to do this was the compound’s lobby, and following that, he’d planned to make his way to the park, which was incredibly basic and unoriginal, but it was a start.

Finally, someone had entered the front doors, to which Gaston marched his way up to them and handed them a flier confidently. “Here. Take and read, please.” Though he didn’t mean the pleasantry, he knew that practically no one would be interested in what he had to say if he came off too strong. He always knew the perfect balance of how to work things. He was just incredibly smart like that. “I’m getting myself in the heart of the Astra initiative and it’d be just an honor if you’d help me out by spreading my name out there to some other people.” His compliment was fake, but his desire behind it was not; he needed people to help him whether he happened to like that fact or not.

#c: gaston

[maixchang-blog]

In general, Mai really didn’t care what other people did.  It was probably stupid, but if it didn’t affect her then it didn’t affect her, and it usually didn’t.  If someone tried to talk to her when they were doing something stupid, though, then she couldn’t ignore what they were doing as easily, and it was annoying.  She just wanted to go to the gym, but some kid, who was eating ice cream, started talking to her just as she was leaving.  She gave him, or rather the ice cream, a look.  What was he doing?  “No.”

In no way, shape, or form did Brandon think he’d actually be accepted to this place. They received millions of applications but somehow he’d stuck out enough for them? Granted, his dream was pretty remarkable and ambitious for a nineteen-year-old so maybe that was it? To be frank, Brandon couldn’t care less about the luck he had because he was accepted and his father was ecstatic. He was now sat in the gym with a bowl of strawberry ice cream, as you do, and eyes somewhat glued to the television hung up on the wall. Maybe that wasn’t quite all that he was watching but it’s what he could admit to watching. He jumped a bit when he heard a sudden voice and smiled kindly at the person,”Oh, sorry! How rude of me, would you like some?”

#hi bridgette! i'm vic :) #sorry mai isn't very nice but brandon is adorable #c: brandon

[maixchang-blog]

ladvchess:

Duchess placed herself on the chaise longue, the only piece of furniture she’d brought herself, the only piece that didn’t belong to the compound. As she opened a bridal magazine from some inspiration, she found that she couldn’t really concentrate on the pages, because her mind kept wandering to her new roommate. 

What would she be like, once she warmed up to Duchess? She didn’t have much time before Mai came into the living room to request something ━ something Duchess had no idea how to fix. “Oh! I… actually haven’t a clue. I didn’t change the curtains, so I have no idea what you’d even be looking for. But feel free to look around if there’s anything you can use?”

Mai sighed.  That wasn’t helpful.  So much for being sociable.  If Mai didn’t know how to do it, and the roommate also didn’t know, it was probably best to not try to do it and do it wrong.  She would have to be living in that room for however long she was at Astra, and she did not want to live in a room with messed up curtains.  She would just have to make do with the ones that were there.

“I guess I’ll wait, then.  The curtains won’t make the room look much better anyway.”  The room was small, and dull, and Mai wasn’t one for stupid decorations.  It wasn’t awful, but it certainly wasn’t amazing.  It was just a room, though -- how great could any room be?

#c: duchess

[maixchang-blog]

ladvchess:

Although a smile or a polite nod would have sufficed in this situation, Duchess was once again hit by the fact that she’d have to spend more time with Mai than this, so she replied again. “Not a problem at all.”

She probably didn’t want someone peeking into her stuff, or touching her stuff, or being in her general direct vicinity, so Duchess didn’t offer to help her unpack, even though she would have happily done so. “If you need anything,” she offered instead, a more general offer, “just let me know. I’ll be in the living room.” She wouldn’t put on any music so she’d hear the other clearly if she did need her.

Mai nodded again.  Once Duchess left, she was relieved.  Duchess seemed like someone she would be able to tolerate, she supposed, but she didn’t know her or like her enough to spend more time with her than she needed to, especially right now.  Besides, unpacking was rather personal; there really wasn’t anyone she would want to unpack in front of.

Unfortunately, her plans were ruined when she went to hang up her curtains -- she had the rod and the curtains themselves, but nothing to actually hang them with.  Well.  Duchess said she would be in the living room, so Mai sighed and made her way over.  “I need to hang curtains,” she announced.  “Do you have anything I can use?”

#c: duchess

[maixchang-blog]

Mai did not particularly want to be in this convenience store, but she needed a quick snack, and she had assumed they would have something worth eating here.  Apparently, she was mistaken.  Oh well.  At least someone else had run into a similar problem.  “Apparently not.  It’s disgusting.”  She would have been better off just going back to her room.  “Do they honestly expect people to eat this?”

Hayden had been in the complex for a couple of days now, meaning that he was fairly well settled. Being in the dorm set up was a shock to his system, having lived alone in his generous penthouse for so long, but he was starting to get used to it. Currently, he was in the convenience store, eyeing the vast array of sickly looking American snacks on display. ❝ Is there anything here that doesn’t look like it just tastes like a colour ?? ❞ He scoffed, picking up a bag of what looked like innocent crackers, but turned out to be cheesy monstrosities. ❝ I think I may have to brush up on my cooking skills. ❞

#c: hayden

[maixchang-blog]

If there was one thing Mai hated, it was sweat.  (Well, no, there were a lot of things Mai hated, but if she were to make a list, sweat would be high on it.)  With all of her martial arts experience, she was no stranger to it, but that didn’t mean she had to like it, and that especially did not mean she had to tolerate it from strangers.  She didn’t expect an explanation out of this sweaty person -- she was really just hoping that they would leave -- but she got one anyway.  Sort of.  “I see.”

Joy was immensely relieved to be able to shrug their duffel bag off of their back, rolling their shoulders a few times to alleviate some of the tension that lingered there. Strands of their hair, damp from sweat, clung to their forehead and the muscle tank they were wearing stuck to their torso uncomfortably, but Joy was hardly bothered. Being from San Francisco, they were used to cycling making them unreasonably tired, considering how steep a lot of the streets are. They glanced around the lobby and grinned at someone’s questioning stare, ❝ I missed the last bus because a cute girl asked for help and I couldn’t resist, how embarrassingly tragic is that ?? So I had to cycle the whole way. ❞

#i meant to respond to this ages ago whoops #c: joy

[maixchang-blog]

pvnzels:

“Really?” she glanced down at the bright yellow flowers and then back at the girl “I’ll make it anyway, I think it would be really pretty on you,” she confessed, twisting the stems together happily “I think holidays are really fun, it’s nice to see everyone having a good time.”

Mai sighed.  “Whatever.”  She didn’t particularly want to wear bright yellow flowers on her head, but this girl seemed so excited about it, and some odd part of Mai felt bad ruining it; she kind of reminded her of Ty.  “They’re all right, I guess.”  

#c: rachel

[maixchang-blog]

simba-abioye:

Simba shrugged. He had never been too much into Easter as far as family holidays went. He was a much bigger fan of Christmas, for obvious reasons. He always thought of the church for Easter and he was never that religious. “I was just trying to make a friend happy. I don’t know what everyone else is doing.”

“Mm.”  Mai nodded.  That explained it, she supposed, but she still did not see the point in making yourself look stupid just for your friend.  Wouldn’t it make them happier if you were comfortable?  But then again, considering her friend, she wasn’t exactly in the position to know.  “I think they just find this fun for some reason.”

#c: simba

[maixchang-blog]

tinkerbellanger:

Nodding in agreement, Tink was pretty intimidated by this girl and tried to play it cool. She tried to put on the “I give no fucks” look to everyone else, but even Tink knew that she couldn’t pull it off as well as this girl could. She probably was actually this way; Tink knew in her heart that she was just an emotional little baby, but no one would ever know that unless under special circumstances. The only person here that she could think of that she’d ever tell of her nature was probably Zarina since they were practically best friends at this point. At least, she was Tink’s best friend. Tink didn’t know if that feeling was mutual, but that wasn’t something to worry about right now. “You can say that again,” Tink said after a few minutes of silence following her nodding, which had by now stopped.

Mai hadn’t actually meant to start a conversation, or at least not a long one.  When the girl didn’t say anything for a few minutes, she had assumed that meant they were done talking.  Sitting in silence was more her thing anyway.  Then the girl spoke again.  Were they conversing now?  Whatever.  The kid didn’t seem too terrible, so she decided she could probably stomach a few short minutes of conversation.  It couldn’t be worse than anything else here.  “Is it always like this?”

#c: tink

[maixchang-blog]

If this kid was trying to pick a fight, he was talking to the wrong girl; Mai had been dealing with Azula for a long time, and he had nothing on her.  And if he was just an asshole, well, he had nothing on Azula.  Mai was perfectly aware that she wasn’t exactly a ‘people person,’ and she did not care.  She didn’t need people to like her; she didn’t like many of them either.  She ignored the gibe, responding instead to only his question.  “I just got here; I didn’t have anything better to do.  Besides, I didn’t think it could possibly be this stupid.”  

“Boring and deaf. I can see why you’re such a big hit at these sort of events.” The boy replies with a grimace. He’s silent for a lingering moment, his blue eyes scanning the surrounding picnic area. Others, bunny-eared roommate aside, seem to be genuinely enjoying the festivities. He can see a few smiling women gathered around the egg decorating station, comparing their designs, and quite a few people have swarmed around the refreshments table, his personal favorite, overloading their paper plates with food. From the outside looking in, and despite his own lack of holiday spirit, the whole thing seems a bit quaint. It’s the sort of thing his father would organize in an attempt to uphold his perfectly fabricated family man facade. He returns his attention to Mai and arches a brow. “Why’d you even come?”

#c: dawson

[maixchang-blog]

royalrisen:

There were some people that liked to talk nonstop, and there were those that didn’t talk at all. While Anya skewed more towards the latter (only because her English wasn’t the best); she had a feeling the other didn’t share the reason. She looked like she wanted to be somewhere else; almost like it physically pained her to be here. But Anya could appreciate someone who could power through something without complaining every five minutes. “If I’m being honest, I am just here for food,” she shrugged, trying to change the subject. “Did you bring anything?”

Mai didn’t exactly smile at that, but she did let one corner of her mouth quirk upward, just slightly.  That, she supposed, was the best excuse for being here that she had heard.  But to be fair, she thought most of them were pretty stupid.  “I don’t cook.”  That wasn’t quite true.  She could cook all right, enough that she wouldn’t starve or have to rely on bad food while she was here.  What she meant was, I don’t cook for other people.  She was here, but she refused to put any extra effort into being here.  She doubted she would stay at the event long enough to justify it, anyway.

#c: anya

[maixchang-blog]

simba-abioye:

Simba had been roped into wearing pastel colors, which he thought looked absolutely ridiculous on him. He had shown up, looking around the area and sighed as he walked in. He had been excited to see everyone, but so much had been going on lately, that he couldn’t help but be a little distracted. He had been passing someone he hadn’t yet met and laughed. “Yeah, probably. I don’t know if I could do the ears.”

“What restraint.”  There was a difference between wearing pastel and wearing bunny ears, of course, but he still looked fairly ‘in the spirit,’ so she wasn’t sure what else to say to that.  “I don’t know why anyone would bother.”  It was just a picnic; that was no reason to start dressing like an animal and acting like a child.  

#c: simba

[maixchang-blog]

kingjeonharu:

hearing the words that came out of the girl standing next to him, haru couldn’t help it as his mind started to wander, and his mouth quickly followed. “I mean i wouldn’t put an age limit onto the enjoyment of a traditional celebration, but i can understand the dislike of such a thing. we’ve essentially lost all true meaning of these holidays, only to focus on the purchase of meaningless things to keep others entertained for a fleeting moment the the day.” he hummed, before looking at her. “i suppose the most important thing of it all would be people’s enjoyment, no?”

“I suppose,” Mai said, and she didn’t disagree.  She wasn’t saying other people couldn’t enjoy this, she just thought their enjoyment of it was stupid.  She didn’t particularly want to get in a debate with him over this, though; she didn’t care enough.  “But that doesn’t make it less meaningless.”

#c: haru

[maixchang-blog]

dawsonsykes:

Sure, watching his roommate make a complete fool of himself had been mildly amusing at first but the longer it went on the more the novelty wore off and eventually, all that was left was secondhand embarrassment. The boy overhears Mai’s grumbling and represses a smirk. “Oh come on, where’s your holiday spirit?” Kind of ironic that he’d ask considering he has absolutely none of his own. It’d been years since he’d celebrated Easter and even then it never was his favorite holiday. He had absolutely no desire to decorate, hide or hunt for eggs, nor did he want to overindulge in a copious amounts jelly beans, sugar-coated marshmallows or chocolate, and over his dead body would he ever be caught in a pair of bunny ears. 

“My what,” Mai said flatly.  She could have laughed at his question.  If she had ever had any sort of holiday spirit, her parents certainly would have trained that out of her by a very young age.  Fortunately, they had never really bothered with most holidays anyway, so that had never been a concern, she was sure.  And besides, she spent most of her life in Japan; this holiday in particularly would never be a big deal to her.

#c: dawson