closed

[lush]

⸻⸻ ⯎ 𝐊𝐇𝐀𝐋𝐈𝐋 !!
he/him // medjack // seventeen years old // tags; raelynn-pekoe, newt // mentions ;tags, jorja // location; box

the sun felt like it was burning a hole into khalil's head. he always hated the heat. he hated it so much. even though the weather and the seasons never usually changed, he loved the days they were somehow blessed with wind, or maybe even the rare occasion of rain. but sitting here the box, with the heat on him, and the heat bouncing around from the metal around him, he was suffering. and he wanted to get out. fast. he put as many crates as he could outside of the box, before leaving the heavier ones for the stronger people or the builders. but he still had the precious crate that contained pekoe's pencils in his arms. he wasn't going to let go of it anytime soon, either. he wanted to use it to play with the girl. he loved doing it.

teasing pekoe was so fun to him. he loved her, dont get him wrong. but the way he could tease and joke with her made his day. especially when he was the one in power. usually pekoe was one the one with the power, grabbing his ear and taunting her height over him. but the rare occasions where something could finally be held over her head, he jumped at it. whether it be the colored pencils she requested, or that she had a not so secret thing for the little cook that was going back to her kitchen as they spoke, or anything he could find. of course, he'd never use it to malicious intent. he always was being lighthearted to his best ability. her company was some of his favorite, and hed much rather spend his days with her than...probably anyone else in the glade.

though, it was only a bit difficult to tease her while he was currently looking up to her. more than he usually did. he felt like he was the height of a toddler, and she was the towering parent. ready to push him over to laugh because sometimes toddlers cant stand up straight. he felt like he was three feet tall. and he probably looked that way, too. but with pekoe's height over him (even though it is just two inches), she probably sees him the same way every single day. maybe one day he can get those weird boots jorja had to boost his height, so he could finally make direct eye contact with her. without one of them looking up or down. maybe.

"awh, what attitude, princess?" khalil purred, his canines showing through his cheeky smile. despite khalil's sharp and nasty tone with others- pekoe was just someone fun to play around with. he was so lucky she understood how he acted. otherwise, he probably would have earned a very sharp punch to his jaw. hell, khalil only felt comfortable flirting with her anyway. seeing as it was just a joke. the moment anyone showed any discomfort, he'd probably just return to his sour attitude. without the..sour of course. "you love my petnames, you just dont want to admit it." he smiled. in reality, he probably was trying to convince himself more than her. because he sure as hell loved the petnames. the petnames that only pekoe got to hear.

crawling onto one of the crates to get taller(and to get out of the box easier), he held the crate close to his chest, offering another little smile to the taller female. "awh, good boy? im getting the share of petnames now?" he laughed, completely disregarding the first part of the girls sentence. whats the fun in responding to mutts? especially when khalil liked to see himself as a pure breed. if he was a dog at all. "now, do you except no in different variants? or should i just say it in spanish?" he teased, scrunching up his nose at the comment. he could feel a bloody nose coming. probably from the stupid heat. the male wasn't going to stay very long, just due to the fact if blood came out now something might happen that he doesn't want to. his nose began to sting, and he could smell iron. blood.

khalil's bloody noses were often and normal. it was truly nothing to actually worry about, but he knew some gladers here would worry anyway, even if he had to reassure them it just was something that happened, and he was going to be fine once he got the bleeding to stop. though he could never figure out if it was from the blistering heat and his body reacting poorly, dry air, low iron, or something else. but whatever it was, khalil was tired of it. but at least they were happening less frequently now. it used to be a whole daily thing, from him coming out of the box and to have his nose gushing with blood, and have it happen almost every day for 2 years, to just maybe 3 times a week. which..in hindsight, is still alot, but usually it isnt bad. and its small enough if he turned around and left, it wasn't noticeable.

so, naturally, khalil was ready to leave. like, now.

though pekoe's mention of a secret admirer completely blew out his idea of leaving after he left the box. "woah woah woah, now. lets not get ahead of ourselves, angel." he said quietly, furrowing his eyebrows before crawling out of the box. "we can keep that one on the downlow, yeah? i would offer to keep yours on the DL too, but, youre..a little more obvious than i am." the medjack winked, sending another laugh to come out of his mouth. chewing on his bottom lip slightly, khalil briefly returned his attention to rae. he placed the crate he had between his thighs and handed the other he had to rae. "this one i think belongs to the medjacks mostly? so we could probably drop that one off before checking the others if they got anything. but i checked, n its mostly medical stuff." he smiled, before scratching her head softly, just to mess up the females hair.

"after i am done with my little...date with pekoe, i can go check if we have anymore. but our stuff might be in the bigger crates, which require...us being patient. im not even going to try and pick that stuff up." he muttered, before rolling his eyes and holding his crate once more. khalil tried to return to pekoe for the moment, before newt starting speaking. a pang of jealousy ran through his body, just solely because he didnt have the attention from her anymore. "heyy..." he whined, tilting his head towards the ginger male. "newttt.." he shook his head slightly, before placing the crate onto the ground by his feet, and crossing his arms like a disappointed child. "how dare you be taking my lovely pekoe from me tonight!"

of course, he was just joking, pulling his leg and pekoes, but his tone. he tried to seem as sad and disappointed as he possibly could muster. "shes my date tonight, havent you heard? i would hate to have her cancel on me." he whined, before turning to pekoe dramatically. he could feel blood start to drip down, but did that stop his preformance? absolutely not. "pekoe, babe, please. dont leave me for him!" he begged, pouting his bottom lip outwards. "...we could have a date under the stars! maybe..go to the kitchen for a bit, for a snack!" at that point, he was pulling things he knew was from her lovely jorja. but did he care? absolutely not. it was a part of the teasing!

wiping his hand against his mouth, he only sighed quietly. there it was. the blood. nodding slightly, leaving one more preformance, khalil let a quiet but dramatic gasp out. "pekoe! your..your suitor! he punched me!" he giggled, his cheeky smile struggling to go down. "how dare you let him! i thought you loved me." shaking his head once more, he ran his hand through his dark hair, before wiping one more time. "i should probably go take care of this... pekoe, your pencils are still in there if you want. ill just be back in a bit." khalil smiled, nodding towards the taller girl before leaving the scene.

[senna_]

❛❛''━━'✦𝙋𝙀𝙆𝙊𝙀

she/they;..runner;..location; box..mentions; raelynn, tags..tags; newt, khalil

What was most frustrating was the height difference between the two in the current moment. Pekoe knew reaching down to grab the crates from Khalil's arms was a very risky game to play. While she knew she had the arm muscle to lift it right out of his hands (it was hard to tell what exactly was in the box, given the terribly poor lighting in the Box, but she couldn't imagine it was much more than what she had asked for, given how quickly he had made the connection), but if she leaned any further to grab it, and if he stepped back even an inch or two, she knew, without a doubt, that she would tumble right into the large square box with him.

How embarrassing.

So, despite the desperate tingles in her fingers, the needy urge to reach forward just a little bit and grab the wooden box from the Med-Jack's hands, Pekoe resisted. Instead, she continued to stare him dead in the eye, her facial expression getting more and more stoic by the second; If you don't give me what you want, you will regret it. It was a look Khalil was very familiar with; Pekoe and he had agreed (for once! They never agreed on anything, except when making fun of the other Gladers) that it was the Mom Look, the "you'll pay for it if you don't obey me" look. And it was true, too. Khalil had familiarized himself with the pain of a pinched ear ━ Pekoe didn't hold back. It was odd, though. Most things Khalil did would earn a hand to the cheek from Pekoe if anyone else were to do it. Sure, when they were first acquainted, things did not always roll out smoothly, but over time, Pekoe learned to let it go. Deal with it, more or less. Of course, she didn't let it go without punishment at all times, and although she most certainly showed her disapproval right to his face, she knew she could have done worse. Would have done worse, if it had been someone else taking his spot. So while she certainly desired that box more than anything in the world, she didn't jump and tackle him to the ground for it. Instead, she held her stance, pondering over how much more powerful she'd feel if she rose back to full height. She didn't exactly need him talking to her kneecaps, though.

"I hate everything about you," she spat in return. "Your pet names are yet another thing I pray will rot in Hell before I go to bed every night. Go tell it to someone who cares." Her dark grey eyes lingered on him for another second, squinting as if observing him closely, then flickered towards Raelynn, who was still innocently standing there. Pekoe's eyes shot back and forth between Khalil and Raelynn for another few seconds, then returned to Khalil and raised her brow. "You've got the perfect person to test them out on right there." Pekoe liked Rae. Or, she was someone Pekoe didn't despise, anyway. But Pekoe, like everyone else, knew about Rae's naturally flirtatious personality. Raelynn, without a doubt, would swoon at a nickname Khalil came up with. It took more than a word to get to Pekoe.

And apparently, Khalil knew that, too. Pekoe didn't have to touch her cheek to know blood had rushed to them in less than a second. "I don't know what you're talking about," she returned sharply. "The only obvious thing here is my impatience. I have no idea where this stars thing is coming from." Her one weakness, she supposed. Pekoe hadn't ever thought to talk to anyone about her inner feelings; who was there to tell? Her eyes momentarily flashed towards Lillian, who looked as though her head was in the clouds, but she knew the blonde hadn't said anything. She couldn't have, because Pekoe hadn't told her a word. "Why else would I go to the kitchen, Khalil?" The head began to tilt, though the dark grey eyes didn't dare leave Khalil's; challenging, almost threatening, without a threat in place. "Hm?" Say it, I dare you to. Deep down, Pekoe didn't want a word to be said. And for whatever reason, they had a good feeling Khalil knew that, too. Khalil just knew. He acted ridiculously stupid, but in reality, he was actually rather clever. She supposed it took a clever person themselves to figure that out. She fell quiet, and a physical cringe jolted through her at the one particular nickname ━ babe ━ but there was no comment made on it. The look of disgust plastered across her features was surely enough to show her discomfort.

Her eyes went to the crate again. She still wasn't about to reach out and grab it, but it was so close. She had to grip the ends of her hoodie to prevent her arms from snatching out. "I don't remember agreeing to any date with anyone," she huffed. "Going out in public with you, Khalil? That's almost as bad as the nightmares I get now. Pekoe will keep to herself, thank you very much. I'm sure there would be plenty of people fawning over you if you were to put an ad out for a date, though. Should I set that up for you? It's not like you have anyone waiting for you on the other side of those walls." The eyebrows went up once again: I've made a point, have I not? The letters said otherwise.

Whilst Khalil continued to blabber on, Pekoe's gaze scattered across his face. He'd begun to get quite red in the face, shiny sweat visible as he fumbled about. "Oh," she pouted, jutting out her bottom lip as if really caring about his feelings. In all honesty, while Pekoe didn't show it, yes, she would be concerned if Khalil was genuinely unwell. But a tease went a long way. "You're getting all flustered. Poor baby, do you need some water to cool you down?" Pekoe was more than ready to spin around, grab a water bottle laying about, and pour it right over him, but stopped halfway as blood began to dribble down his lower face. A sigh escaped her lips, but this one was softer, more understanding. She wasn't too concerned about the blood, for she knew he was prone to them and there wasn't a heap of it, but it was always a bit unsettling when it occurred. "Okay, just... go." She swatted her hand. "Fix up your poor nose." She did, however, manage a sharp laugh, jolting her thumb back towards Newt. "As if he could cause a bloody nose. He's too soft for that, you know that as well as I do."

Silence fell over her yet again as the crate was finally thrust into her hands. Pekoe's head dropped to observe the goodies: bright, colourful pencil crayons, and was that a new sketchpad? It had to be, undoubtfully. "Thank you," she mumbled, gaze dropping back down to observe the crimson red near his lip. "You should, uh, probably get that cleaned." And he was on it, too. If Pekoe didn't have her hands free, she would have sent a lazy wave in his direction, too. There was no need for an exchange of the word sorry; their conversations always went like that. And the only thing Pekoe felt a tiny bit bad for was the nosebleed incident. Although she hated to admit it out loud, she'd be sure to check in on him when she was done with her chores. He could handle it, but she wondered how long it would be before he bled out his entire nose. She made sure to connect eyes with Raelynn, just long enough to send a silent message her way: Watch out for him. Make sure he's okay. And then she turned away and headed back to where Newt was standing. Quite a few kitchen supplies had been stuffed into the crate closest by; Pekoe wasn't too sure she'd be able to carry the whole box at once. Instead, she carefully set down her own before rummaging through the one with kitchen supplies, determined to find smaller, stackable items to take over.

"Don't worry about it," she dismissed his murmur with little more than a shrug. "Pretty boy, pretty mind; it can't remember everything." She didn't feel the need to add that she tended to spend far more time than necessary in the kitchen when not out doing her job. Fry had even given her a designated sitting area, and whenever he asked, Pekoe claimed it was because the warmth of the fryers and oven helped her headaches.

That, in fact, was not the fact. Heat usually made the pain worse. But Pekoe wasn't about to expose herself that way. Khalil had come close enough to it already.

She stopped fidgeting as the blond across from her spoke up once more, letting her chilly fingers rest easily against one of the uneven sides of the wooden crate. "You don't have to act nice because you feel bad," she told him. "What happened, happened. It's fine, I'm used to it." She pressed her lips together once more, almost as though she was dwelling on his words once more, then stepped closer to him so that she could take the round stewpot he was gripping. "Really," she insisted, catching his gaze momentarily before lifting his fingers one-by-one to grab the ceramic object. "It's fine. I'm fine."

[sunhorsestar]

Ｎｅｗｔ ❁

Ｔａｇｓ：Pekoe, Khalil | Ｒｏｌｅ： Leader | Ｌｏｃａｔｉｏｎ：Glade


"Alright, alright, calm down." Newt called from where he was standing, not far away. This wasn't what they needed right now. He had seen it before, he knew it came in the form of teasing, at least on Khalil's end, but that didn’t make him any less tense about how quickly the situation had intensified. It was never good when things escalated. "Khalil, just give her the box, it’s not worth startin' a fight over," he insisted. If Pekoe wanted the box so badly, then there was no point in making a situation worse over it. Pekoe was one of the more fierce-tempered Gladers that he knew when she got pushed too far, and he REALLY didn’t want to be caught in the middle of that if it could be settled.

Harsh words were being exchanged. Mostly coming from Pekoe in response to the pet names that were so characteristic of Khalil. Even so, it certainly wasn’t reassuring. Harmony was what kept the Gladers together. This was far from harmonious. When the pencil crayons were finally handed over, a flicker of relief washed over Newt. Was that all this had been about? If so, maybe the bickering could stop now.

Then it was over and Pekoe was walking towards him again with the box in her hands. Newt let himself relax, just a little. "I’m not trying to act nice because I feel bad," He insisted. He couldn’t deny he was slightly put-out by that. He couldn’t let it get to him though. He always tried to let things roll off his back when he could. "I really do like you, I don’t mean to put you off or anything." When she grabbed for the pot, he let it go. It didn’t take two of them to carry it, and they’d carry more supplies if they worked together instead of ending up arguing over who should carry what. "Are you sure?" If she said she was fine, she was fine, but he couldn’t help but feel the need to double check.

[senna_]

❛❛''━━'✦𝙋𝙀𝙆𝙊𝙀

she/they;..runner;..location; box → kitchen..mentions; tag..tags; newt, jorja

Pekoe was sure that her face had gone white the moment Newt jumped in. White, not from any feelings of shame of the conversation, but something else. Was it because he had drained the flicker of girlish light within her by his scolding? "No fights here, Captain," she assured him, her expression evidently much duller than it had been a few seconds ago. "Just two idiots fooling around." She turned her head to watch Khalil drag himself off towards the Medhut, Raelynn close by his side.

"Man," she breathed, shaking her head slowly as she set the pot down with a clunk, "you really need to start learning social cues. You're the leader now, shouldn't the leaders know everything about everyone? For bonding purposes, of course." The comments, as per usual, were to be taken lightheartedly, although Pekoe did feel weird about the whole situation from the moment the blond decided to get himself involved. For whatever reason, although Pekoe knew Newt meant well and all, his desperation to break up what Pekoe felt had been the most fun in quite some time hit her hard.

Again.

He was trying, she was sure of it, but it seemed things were looping back in a circle. It felt like an icy jab to the heart, and she hadn't a clue why she was feeling this way. It wasn't the headache, that had finally begun to resolve itself. Khalil? Was it Khalil? Pekoe did quite like Khalil, as stubborn as she was when it came to admitting it. Was he the reason? They, the reason? Something about a third perspective in on their fun banter really seemed to catch her off guard, for whatever weird reason.

Pekoe's fingers, which had begun to tremble, a very common side effect of her ongoing anxiety, were beginning to slicken with sweat, and she swiped them against her dark green pants before placing them on the side of the crate. The trembles turned to shakes, so visible that it almost looked like the sides were blurred from ongoing vibration. Something someone of concern had pointed out before, but something Pekoe ignored. Was it normal, breaking out in painful shakes when anxious? If Newt hadn't noticed a nosebleed, he surely wouldn't notice her revving anxiety, so she had little to fret. She sucked in a pained breath as the tender skin on her thumb caught on a poorly-knocked in nail on the box. "Damnit," she snapped aloud, followed by a grumble from within her throat, partially out of pain, partially out of pure annoyance for the scenario. "Learn to do your job. My God, it's not that difficult to hammer in a stupid little nail." She wasn't snapping at anyone, or in fact anything more than the nail that had cut her finger, but regardless, she felt enraged now. If the wooden box hadn't been holding so many precious things inside of it, Pekoe would have kicked it. She had bigger problems to worry about: the increasing pain in her chest, which was beginning to rest in a soft wheeze in her breathing, and the panging in her thumb. Crinkling her nose in distress, Pekoe wiped her finger against her pant leg once again.

She wasn't fond of the somewhat mocking tone Newt used as he echoed her words back to her. That hurt, too. Intentionally, probably not. But it still hurt. Why was everything suddenly hurting? "Please don't mock me," she told Newt, tone on the edge of a disgustingly helpless beg, and she cringed at the audible crack in her tone. She needed to get out before she had a total meltdown. She brought the back of her hand up to her eyes, and although they were fairly dry, she still wiped them. "Just... Just help me with these pots. The quicker we can get this done, the quicker I can check on Khalil and his nosebleed situation." Newt hadn't even acknowledged her poor friend's scenario. Had he seen it? It was difficult not to; the blood against his very pale face wasn't difficult to miss. "For all we know, he could be dying." So maybe that was an exaggeration, but, truly, Pekoe wanted the blond to take a second and really process what had just happened. Playful bicker was apparently a bigger issue than a nosebleed. Sure, everyone saw concerns in different things, but for Pekoe, she was finding it difficult to see through his point of view. She supposed she had a right to, too; the back-and-forth banter was the least of her problems.

She decided to place her precious crayon-filled box on top of the one filled the supplies for the kitchen, partially glad nobody asked about it, but also a bit disappointed for the same reason. While Pekoe wasn't about to drop everything and show everyone her sketches, they were the one thing that really meant a lot to her. It was only difficult to not notice the sketchpad if you didn't notice Pekoe. She always had it with her ━ even when running.

She wordlessly nudged the other box closer to Newt, keeping her gaze low. For all she knew, he was annoyed with her yet again and wouldn't bother helping, but, if that was the case, at least she'd have more reason to take another trip to the kitchen. Picking up both of the boxes (and worried her panicked self would drop them completely), Pekoe sped-walked rather blindly in the direction of the kitchen, breathing in sharply once again as her hip unexpectedly bashed against one of the countertops.

"Jorj?" she called out from around the box, voice unusually soft, as per usual when in that particular environment. "We come with gifts."

[poppyxoxo]

𝕃𝕚𝕝𝕝𝕚𝕒𝕟
she/her - runner - location: homestead --> glade --> box - mentions: Ryder - tags: Pekoe, Maya

Lillian tried her best to keep up her smile with the intentions of allowing her friend to have a better day than what they seemed to be having already. Although things seemed to be slowly calming down, there was still a steady murmur that rippled outwards from towards the centre where the box stood, light still flashing its obnoxious colour. Hopefully it would stop soon so that they could all live on in peace once more but for now, Lillian chose to ignore it to save herself accumulating a headache from the swift and bright alarm. After a few minutes, Lillian finally left her friends hand alone so that if she chose to leave, she could do so as she please without having to pry Lilly off her side. Lillian lightly tapped her shoe on the concrete slab beneath them so that she could dislodge the few strands of grass that had managed to trap themselves between her shoelaces and she cursed with the difficulty to remove them.

“Well then, it’s a deal my friend” Lillian said with the slightest amount of humour in her voice despite sounding sincere. In a perfect world, the whole glade would be able to leave if they wished, but it wasn’t and they couldn’t, but the blonde tried not to think of it too much or she often got down which she truly didn’t appreciate. After all, they were runners so surely, they could group together to find themselves a way out because after all that was their purpose in the glad anyways so why not? Lillian turned her head away to try and hide the slight embarrassed grin on her face. Although she wasn’t exactly where she stood with Ryder, hearing him being called out was enough to turn her head to hide the ridiculous look on her face. She trusted Pekoe with her life but since they never really got around to talking about those things, she wasn’t sure if they would take Lilly’s reaction positive or negatively.

Before she could do much else, she heard her nickname mentioned more in the direction of the Greenie and so she made her way over, a welcoming smile on her face. “Hi, I’m Lillian but pretty much everyone calls me Lilly. I don’t mind how you address me, anything works” she greeted the newcomer, doing her very best to come off easy going and not pushy or threatening. The last thing the greenie needed was to feel unsafe and bombarded.

[senna_]

❛❛''━━'⋆'𝙉𝙄𝙆𝙊𝙇𝘼𝙎

he/him;..medjack;..location; homestead..mentions; tags..tags; maya, lillian

Nikolas was quite pleased when Maya finally gave in to the idea of eating a little something. Chocolate chips obviously wouldn't fill her up completely, but it made him feel a bit better, both because she needed it, and because, selfishly, he had won. It probably would ruin the moment if he babbled on about it, though. So he stuck to speaking about the thing that excited him the most: their party.

"We do it for everyone," he told her. "It's like a welcome gift. Plus, everyone comes together then. Everyone works so much and at such different hours that we barely ever actually get together. So it's to welcome you, and to, like, bond, I guess, with everyone else. It gets pretty chaotic," he admitted, tapping his chest with his hand. "I like to get a good party going. And don't worry about the names, really. I didn't remember them for a good week; I'd even forgotten my own at one point. There are a lot of us... It'll take a second. Seriously, nobody's going to get offended."

He pushed open the door to the Homestead, frowning at the unattractive squeal it made against its hinges. "Some jobs are fun," he mused. "Others, not so much. It takes a certain person to be a Slicer — they're the ones that, you know..." He swished both hands as if flicking something away. "... Do the dirty work and prep for the Cooks to do their job. Too much blood for me. But maybe you've got it in you." Nikolas shrugged to himself, then pulled open the drawer to find an extra hammock. "None of the jobs are super fun or anything. But you gotta do what you gotta do." He grabbed a hammock, then stood up straight and turned back towards her. "Do you have a preference in location?"

The door was then pushed open once more, and, fingers caught in a wrap of hammock netting, Nikolas turned around on his heel, only to be greeted by the sound of Lillian's voice once more. He wasn't exactly surprised to see her here, despite the teasing comment of departure he had made to her just a few seconds ago.

"Oh, lovely Lillian," he spoke, using the same nickname as he had earlier. "Miss us that much already? That's okay, I'm always excited to see your charming smile." A frown dwindled onto his features, though his eyes were practically dancing with laughter. "You sure you slept well enough, Lilly? This is the second time you've introduced yourself to poor Maya. She's going to get confused."

While it had taken a few moments for this to come to mind, Nikolas could only pray Maya didn't inquire about what role Lillian had in the Glade. Or, if she did, Lillian would lie and tell her about the job she was first given, and not the position of a Runner. Nikolas had done many tours over his time in the Glade; explaining what a Runner did and how nobody else could go in the Maze in attempted explicit detail was tiresome. There were always protests, complains, or more confusion. Understandable, of course, for Nik was just as muddled when he first set eyes on the open doors of the Maze, but it was a chore on his end.

"Anyway," he started once more, raising his brows as he turned back towards Maya. "Preference in sleeping area?"

[sunhorsestar]

Ｎｅｗｔ ❁

Ｔａｇｓ：Pekoe, mentions Khalil, Jorja | Ｒｏｌｅ： Leader | Ｌｏｃａｔｉｏｎ：Glade


Newt watched as Khalil made his retreat to get himself treated. Then he returned his attention to Pekoe and his face flushed. They’d been joking around, but it seemed like it had started to get a little heated, and all he’d done was step in to try and make sure nobody would lose an eye. Pekoe was right though. Newt was able to function socially DECENTLY, but as far as reading cues, rather than being told something directly? Yeah, that wasn’t a thing. "As helpful as it’d be, I can’t know everything about everyone. I’m not trying to make problems." He was sure Pekoe knew that as well as he did, but that didn’t make him any less tense about it.

No matter what he said or did, it seemed that everything Newt did today was wrong. Was there going to be a break from that? At this rate, he doubted it. It’d do no good to spend time feeling guilty when it was already looking like the start of an endless cycle. "I’m not trying to mock anyone." His tone softened. "Sorry." He lifted the crate and started towards the kitchen with the supplies, following Pekoe. He’d tried to make things better, and in doing so, had made them worse. Where was he supposed to go from there?

It's just a bad day, I guess. Normally I’m not as much of a disaster to deal with. The incidents today are completely on me. It’ll be better soon though. I just need to quit beating myself up and start paying a little more attention. Newt slowly breathed out, offering a small smile in Jorja's direction when they arrived, but not addressing her directly. Pekoe was already on that, and the last thing he wanted was more reasons for her to be mad at him. That was no way to start a day.

[_Ambereyes_]

. 𝐂 𝐥 𝐚 𝐫 𝐚 .

Tags: karter

Location: maze

Mentions: -

__________________________________________________________________

Clara followed Karter’s finger to the corridor, “Aah, okay. That does make sense - it would probably be quicker too.” She started in the direction Karter had pointed to, he was mostly leading her - actually, more like dragging her along. Every turn she took was the wrong way, without Karter she’d for sure be lost.

“How long until we get there?” Clara groaned as she moved her arm too quickly, which sent a shooting pain up her arm. “I feel like we’ve been walking forever.” In all honesty, she had completely lost the ability to gauge time. “Well, at least I have you for company.” she gave a curt nod, “Buttt, I can’t wait to see the others. I hope they miss me,” Clara pouted like a three-year-old, “I miss them.” The thought exited her mind as quickly as it entered, “Oh! It’s Greenie day! Which means, bonfire night! Aah, I’m gonna have so much fun.” Clara actually hated bonfire nights - the noise, game night basically anything social. Then celebrate a Greenie coming up from the Box, having their life changed completely and now their life will probably be a living hell. At least, that’s how Clara views both the Glade and the Maze.



. 𝐌 𝐚 𝐲 𝐚 .

Tags: nikolas, lillian

Location: homestead

Mentions: -

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“Well, I must say, it does sound fun.” She finished with a small smile. Maya had just realized that she really was smiling a lot. Was this how she was before she came up from the Box? Maya already accepted that things would probably never be the same from her old life - however that was - she also accepted this was the place she’d be for the next who-knows how long.

Maya had a slightly disgusted look across her face, “Not gonna lie, that sounds disgusting,” she nodded, “I get it though, gotta eat, right?” Now she shook her head, “Oh no, I don’t think I have a stomach for that. I’m guessing I’ll have to try out that job too?”If that was the case, Maya wouldn’t like that day too much. She was just about to answer the brunette when the door creaked open again, giving Maya a small fright. “It’s okay, I’ll just introduce again.” she extended a hand - it seemed to be that was the way they greeted around here. “I’m Maya,” bringing her hand to her side and wiping some of her own sweat on her pants, “Gosh, it’s quite hot here.”

Maya looked around the room - it was filled with quite a few hammocks, there were some clothes around, some neat and others messy - it wasn’t too bad. “Honestly, I don't mind - you choose for me.”

[lush]

⸻⸻ ⯎ 𝐉𝐎𝐑𝐉𝐀 !!
she/they // cook // seventeen years old // tags; pekoe, newt // mentions ;tags, khalil // location; kitchen

without the amount of hectic moments and emotions swirling around, jorja was surprised no one had passed out already. jorj already felt like she was about to, with her head started to pound the moment she left the box to go make the greenie's sandwich. a part of her just wanted to lay down , or maybe even go hangout in the medjack hut and take some medicine while she rested. she didn't sleep very much last night, and having to wake up a bit earlier than normal was a pain in her ass. but at least she woke up next to someone she was comfortable with, instead of waking up alone. that probably would have ruined her mood entirely, and she wasn't really ready to have a breakdown in the middle of the glade. what if someone saw?

one of jorja's biggest anxieties was someone seeing her upset. she hated the idea of someone watching her breakdown and cry so hard she couldn't get a breath in, or shaking to a point she couldn't properly hold her pencil or anything. waking up alone wasn't usually something that would trigger such a reaction from the small cook, but the past few days jorja had been forcing nik to help her sleep by letting her crawl into his hammock with him. she didn't know why her anxiety and fears were coursing through so intensely. and lately it felt like the smallest things triggered her, too. burning a pancake slightly, dropping her knife while cutting carrots for lunch or dinner, it made her just want to put her forehead down and cry.

and she had no idea why.

popping her knuckles as she walked, jorja took in a deep breath as she already began her search through the cupboards for any type of ingredients. she was worried maya wouldn't enjoy whatever she made, and that she wouldn't want to eat whatever sandwich she prepared her. and what if then maya didn't like what she prepared for lunch either? what if she didn't like what jorja made for dinner, or for snacks at the bonfire? what if maya chose not to eat because all of jorja's food wouldn't satisfy her because it wasn't her taste or it was just too gross or whatever? jorja sighed softly, her shoulders falling slightly. just for two minutes, she wanted to turn off her brain for about two minutes so she could take a minute to breathe or collect herself to actually work properly.

jorj was so grateful that the box came up today- even if it had a body in there this time, another body she would have to feed, it meant more supplies for more recipes, and maybe better food. it wasn't like they were running low, because they weren't at all. they had plenty of food, and it was enough to feed the gladers for a while, even if the food becomes a bit more creative or a little more dull. even though it hurt to lose the quite a bit of gladers they did, a part of jorja felt almost...guilty for being relieved. guilty that they weren't hurting anymore, and that maybe they were finally at peace. and that she finally had more food to spare, without having to hurry and try to make enough rations for everyone, and if even one thing went wrong she'd have to wait another week or two to even more ingredients that weren't just eggs from the chickens or ham from the pigs.

pulling out a few vegetables from the fridge, jorja already had the bread prepared with light butter spread on top of it. jorja was debating if she should add a bit of meat, as in bacon or whatever onto the sandwich, but she decided against it. she'd have it on the side of course, ready to be added to the meal or just to be eaten on the side, but jorja would rather have the girl pick from the two options then be forced to eat meat, just in case she was a vegetarian or something. the last time jorja assumed someone wasn't a vegetarian went very south- and poor khalil was stuck up in the medjack hut with her for a week before she was finally okay again. and jorja was so anxious, she didn't even make meals with meat in them that entire week.

placing lettuce slowly onto the sandwich, she was almost done. all she had to do was really cook the bacon. she looked at the sandwich quietly, just trying to examine it. she didn't know why she felt so wrong about it. there really was nothing wrong about it, it all seemed perfectly fine. it was just jorja's head getting to her. the thought that somehow she had messed up the whole meal. that somehow she was going to get someone sick again or upset someone. she let a small, disappointed sigh escape her lips before she placed the other piece of bread on top. hopefully maya would enjoy it. she just prayed somehow maya would enjoy it.

bending down, jorja looked under the table for some type of cloth to put with the meal. just incase crumbs or some of the ingredients had fallen out of the sandwich. she grabbed a plaid one slowly, looking at it. red and white. it was freshly cleaned. it was perfect. she was tempted to look for another one just as a backup or an incase, but once hearing her name, jorja's attention was immediately pulled away from the rags. excitement filled her bones the moment she placed voice with face- pekoe!! jolting up quickly, jorja smacked her head slightly on the counter on her way up. "damnit-" she muttered, rubbing her head lightly before she pushed up again, offering a large, excited smile at pekoe.

"pekoe!" she exclaimed excitedly. her bottom lip pinched between her teeth, it was like her anxieties almost melted away at the sight of the girl. pekoe was her best friend in the entire glade. even if she didn't cuddle with the girl at night, or slept in the same hammock as her, she always stargazed with her when she could, and spoke to her when she could. "i love gifts." she said softly, her smile ceasing to fade. waving her hand quickly over, she pulled out two stools next to eachother. "sit sit!!" she said quietly as she slid onto one of them. but as the girl got closer, her smile did slowly droop. pekoe's face seemed red and sweaty, and it didn't seem like anything from a long days of work or pulling out a lot of boxes. the girl's breathing seemed heightened and sharper. she placed her hand on the girls shoulder, her eyebrows furrowing with worry.

"pekoe...are you okay?" she said quietly, her voice slowing down. she pulled the plate previously for maya closer to the girl, and tapped the table right by it. "here, eat." she offered, along with a gentle smile. "i can make maya a new one in a minute. she seems busy anyway, we have quite a bit of time before she gets here." her eyes quickly darted from pekoe to the new person around them- newt. the leader. or well, was he? after quite a bit of gladers passed, and a lot had happened, she didn't know anyone's statuses in the glade anymore. she just knew him and nik were notorious for the intros to the greenies. "hi newt." she shrugged, before her attention was quickly returned to the girl in front.

[poppyxoxo]

𝕃𝕚𝕝𝕝𝕚𝕒𝕟
she/her - runner - location: glade --> box - mentions: Pekoe - tags: Nik, Maya

Lillian busied herself with tiding up the homestead, keeping in mind that she didn’t touch any personal possessions because if someone did that to her, she would definitely feel irritated. While she was in the older structure, she made sure to make note of any repairs so that she could take her thoughts back to the builders once she had a spare minute. She also made another mental reminder to go check that her best friend had breakfast or even juice, given their conversation that had occurred a few moments ago.

Lillian was slightly jolted out of her focused headspace as she helped to shift boxes from the box to the places they were needed. She smiled up as her friend entered the homestead, the greenie in tow. “Hello again you too. Please excuse the mess” she laughed, standing up so that she could dust herself off. She shifted the box out of the arrivals way so that the pair could safely make their way further into the homestead to save a place for Maya. “Oh dear, did I really do that? I’m sorry, I think I am either lacking sleep or I’m just overly organized. Something like that anyways. It’s nice to meet you Maya, although, I wish circumstances were different. If you’d like, there is space to the right of my bed that you could take if you’d like? If you need to rest now, feel free to borrow my hammock”.