necessities [natalie]

[RILEY PRESTON ELLIS]

[style=line-height: 100%; width: 400px; letter-spacing: 1.7px; font-family: courier new; font-size: 30px; text-shadow: 1px 1px 0px #000; color: b7b7b7;]NOT ALWAYS LIKE THIS

IT'S A TERRIBLE WEAKNESS IN MY NATURE, IN MY BLOOD

Riley was walking around the city not really doing much of anything. It happened more often than he wished, but there was nothing he could do about it. He had tried traveling around the world and going to new places, but he got home sick so easily and all he could think about was coming home, even if he couldn’t see his family right now. Because he had ventured out and lived outside of Manuka he knew how much he wasn’t missing out on. The only thing he was missing was Issy and there was nothing he could do about that now. She was gone forever. He blamed himself for it, and he knew it’d stay with him forever. But that didn’t mean he should constantly think about it and become severely depressed. So instead of mourning and going over the images in his head hundreds of thousands of times, he instead did other things.

So far his day consisted of waking up in his empty house, going for a long run through the forest and taking a pit stop at the waterfall, coming home, and showering. Now it was only 9:30 in the morning and he had absolutely nothing to do. He could always go furniture shopping or something. But then he thought of the hauling shit around and having to unpack all of that shit and decided it was a terrible idea. He’d just have someone decorate his house sometime soon. All he really needed was his bed and his fridge. Even though he technically didn’t need to sleep, he did it more out of habit than anything.

So now he was just meandering about the city with no real destination. By eleven he had been to a few boutiques, the coffee shops, and the music store, and now he was off to get a book. He had realized that he hadn’t read a good book in a long time. Because he was now alone, he wondered what other kinds of things he could do besides just walk around the city. He missed people. He missed having friends. But then he thought about making friends and how annoying it was. He just wanted his old life back. He wanted to go back to the way things were. But he knew that would never happen; he could never be the same person. Riley had accepted that a long time ago. But learning new things he could create someone new.

Riley spotted the bookstore across the street. It was pretty full of people, though not overcrowded. After crossing the road, he opened the door for a small red head and followed her in. She went off to the romance section and he went to the mystery. As he fingered through looking for something to catch his eye, he heard chatter all around. He droned out all of the people when a James Patterson book caught his attention. Picking it up, he heard what sounded like about a hundred books crash to the floor. Riley had always been unconventionally curious, so he walked to where the noise had originated. The same little red head was bent down picking up books. He felt something odd, something that he’d never felt towards a stranger. He wanted to help her. So he tucked the book under his arm and knelt beside her. “Does this sort of thing happen often to you?” he asked giving her the faintest of smiles.

TEMPLATE CODING BY GOLDEN ALBATROSS OF CAUTION

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[NATALIE MARIE HAWTHORNE]

[atrb=border,0,true][atrb=cellSpacing,10,true][atrb=style, background-color: #fff; width: 505px; border-top: 10px #95D9DE solid, bTable] ☼ sunshine YOU CAN BE MY Natalie had a problem. A big problem. See, she had found this wonderful bookshop. It had books almost everywhere you looked, like you couldn’t get away from them even if you wanted to. The only place there weren’t shelves was in the café area. Other than that, everywhere you went had that book smell and the entire place felt so very homey. The moment she walked into it, she was in love and knew she was going to end up spending way too much time there. So far, that much was true. That wasn’t the issue, or at least the entire thing. No, the problem was the bookshop owner, Arthur. He and Nat hadn’t ended up on quite the greatest terms the first time she was here, what with her telling him that he pretty much had the wrong philosophy on life. They were quite the opposites, with Arthur being super realistic while Natalie rarely had a realistic thought in her head. Fair to say the two didn’t see eye to eye. So when Natalie picked up a super romantic, over the top happy ending book, she had Arthur had had a disagreement on it. Since Natalie was the customer though, she was still able to buy the book and go. You’d think after that she wouldn’t want to come back but if anything, it made Natalie want to go even more. She was convinced she’d be able to change Arthur’s mind – at least a little bit – if she had the time. The surprising part was that Arthur hadn’t permanently banned her from the bookstore yet. So today was really no different for the girl. It was time for Natalie to find another book that Arthur would likely disapprove of so they could get in a mini argument and Nat could help him see it was okay to maybe be a tiny bit optimistic. She hadn’t been expecting the store to be so busy though. Nat could tell before she even got to the door. Well that was a first, at least to her. Natalie must’ve normally come at off times. She liked that better; it meant she had more of Arthur’s undivided attention. Oh well. She still needed a book. Before Nat got to the store’s door though, a really tall guy held the door open for her. Really tall. Natalie felt like she had to crane her neck to see his face. “Thanks!” she said, a big smile on her face before she headed over to the romance section. And then Natalie being Natalie decided she needed a book on a shelf she couldn’t reach. She could’ve gone and asked Arthur, she supposed, but she decided she was going to be stubborn and get this book herself. If Nat stood on her tiptoes, she could kind of brush the spine of the book with her fingertips. That was all she needed. And in a little jump and Nat would be golden. Determined, Natalie did just that. Instead of grabbing the book, however, she managed to knock off pretty much every other book on the shelf beneath it. Nat covered her mouth in surprise, not really sure what to do. She hadn’t been expecting that. But the next logical step had to be cleaning it up. The girl stooped quickly, hoping she could get the mess cleaned up before anyone else saw. Especially Arthur. She felt like he wouldn’t hesitate to kick her out after this. It would look like Nat wasn’t so lucky though, because someone had heard and had knelt beside her. That could either be really good or really bad. Natalie looked out of the corner of her eye to see the tall guy from earlier and she couldn’t stop the smile of relief. “Books? No. Normally I knock things off shelves when I’m at the grocery store.” True enough. It was what happened when you couldn’t reach the stuff they put up on the top shelf without standing on the lowest shelf. Even then it was a challenge for her. “Thank you so much for helping me though!” Nat really couldn’t be more grateful. Two pairs of hands could get rid of the evidence of a book landslide faster than one pair. ENOUGH WORDS ADSKHASDJLK THESE TWO THOUGH OUTFIT ---------------- CREDIT

[RILEY PRESTON ELLIS]

[style=line-height: 100%; width: 400px; letter-spacing: 1.7px; font-family: courier new; font-size: 30px; text-shadow: 1px 1px 0px #000; color: b7b7b7;]NOT ALWAYS LIKE THIS

IT'S A TERRIBLE WEAKNESS IN MY NATURE, IN MY BLOOD

Riley had been confused lately about what exactly he was looking for in his life right now. On the one hand, he had just gotten that spark of life back. It had happened when he was with Julian, though he was what was so confusing. He had just been with him the one night, so Riley figured that it was really nothing of a big deal. But still, it happened and that was what made Riley so completely confused. He had always had this idea that he was as straight as an arrow and yet just a few nights ago he was with his good friend. He had denied remembering any of it the next morning because he couldn’t face that fact in front of Julian. And now he was looking for something to distract him. Why he thought he would find it in the bookstore, he didn’t know.

But one had come. Though he knew that nothing would come of this distraction as anything more that just that, he figured he might as well use her well. She was a cute little thing and he would have gone for her in a second before his passing. He could tell that she was a human, though whether she knew about his kind he was unsure. He wasn’t willing to test it out though. Riley smiled at her as she continued picking up books. Her own smile returned and he found himself wondering what it was like to be as happy as she seemed to be. He could tell that he joy wasn’t just a façade because she had a little jump in her step that he had noticed earlier when he opened the door for her. She seemed spunky and full of life like he had always wanted.

Riley laughed a little at her joke. “Fair enough,” he said. Riley had always had gracefulness though he rarely thought about it. He staked the books back onto the shelf not caring if they were in order and replied to her thanks with a slight nod. Because he found her intriguing, he stole a glance at her. “Do you always read romance novels?” he asked finding it hard not to ask. He picked up a book with Fabio on the cover and chuckled a little. He had never read a book like this—well Riley had hardly read at all to tell the truth, but it was one of the only things that he could think to do on a day like this.

Once all of the books were on the shelf once again a tall dark haired man came around the corner. Riley stood and looked up at him curiously. The man gave the little read head a long glance before looking at the book in her hand and scoffing. He turned away without a word and Riley’s eyebrows shot together in confusion. “Do you know him?” he asked. The guy seemed like a rightful prick in his opinion. But he said nothing more. He looked sideways at the girl beside him and wondered what the scoffing was for. He either disliked her taste in novels or he disliked her, not that Riley could understand why. She seemed sweet and, well basically adorable overall. How could anyone hate someone like that?

He reminded himself that he would have disliked her five months ago, but felt that was unnecessary to point out. Before he died he was a grade-A douchebag. He didn’t want to bring that part of himself back. It was as dead along with most of his former self. The only thing that remained of that Riley was his looks, his charm (when he wanted to use it), his sense of humor, and his need to protect his family. Everything about him died that day when Remy killed him. He didn’t know who he was, but that was a long process he was willing to wait for.

TEMPLATE CODING BY GOLDEN ALBATROSS OF CAUTION

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[NATALIE MARIE HAWTHORNE]

[atrb=border,0,true][atrb=cellSpacing,10,true][atrb=style, background-color: #fff; width: 505px; border-top: 10px #95D9DE solid, bTable] ☼ sunshine YOU CAN BE MY Moments like these were the ones that reassured Natalie’s idea of fate. There were so many little moments that could’ve been changed that would’ve altered right now. For example, if she hadn’t knocked over the shelf of books, the tall guy probably wouldn’t have come over here and they wouldn’t be having this conversation. Or if Natalie hadn’t needed a book and if this stranger hadn’t needed one too, they wouldn’t even be in the same place right now. But she felt like she needed to meet him. Nat knew it was all in her brain, but she always felt like the people she met, she was meant to meet. Everyone had some sort of effect on your life and Natalie thought those interactions were important, whether they were good or bad. They made you who you were. The stranger laughed at Nat’s little joke and she found her smile widening into a full on grin. He had a really nice laugh, Natalie thought, the type that would rumble in his chest when he found something funny enough. “Yeah, I do,” the girl answered, feeling a little bit silly, especially when he had a book with Fabio on the cover. She knew the reputation romance novels got and she thought he was probably going to judge her on it but oh well. “There’s just something about happy endings that I can’t get enough of.” At least he wasn’t making an entirely disapproving face like some people gave her. Natalie straightened herself and happened to make eye contact with Arthur, who must’ve come to check to see what the noise was. Luckily, they had cleaned the mess up before he saw it, but Nat was still embarrassed anyway. He knew there had been a ruckus and that Natalie had done something to cause it. It definitely wasn’t going to help his opinion of her at all, as if it wasn’t already low enough. It kind of seemed like no matter what Nat did, it made him like her less. Maybe he was meant to dislike her – not everyone would like her – but it didn’t stop Natalie from wanting to change that. Luckily, the stranger distracted Nat before she tried to go to apologize to Arthur or even thought about it the whole thing anymore. “Oh um, that’s Arthur,” Natalie said, taking one last glance at where he’d been to make sure he wasn’t there anymore before turning back to the stranger. “He’s the one who owns this bookstore. He uh…he’s not my biggest fan.” Natalie shrugged and smiled at the stranger. “Anyways, thanks again! I’m Natalie, by the way,” she introduced herself. She was getting a little tired of referring to him as a “stranger” in her mind. The girl glanced at the book she was thinking about purchasing previously and then slipped it back into its place on the shelf. She was still a tiny bit too embarrassed to go buy it. Natalie didn’t want to have to be face to face with Arthur and get more of that disapproving look while she tried to explain that she wasn’t purposely trying to make a mess of his shop. It was way too much for her to handle right now. Besides, she had this amazingly handsome and super tall guy in front of her. Mind as well follow fate’s course. “Hey, do you want to get out of here?” Natalie asked suddenly, thinking she’d like to get to know this guy. “We can go get coffee somewhere before I accidentally knock over another shelf.” If there was one thing that Nat liked about herself, it was the ability to laugh at herself. She felt as if she’d probably be making jokes about herself being so short and causing such a mess in the bookstore for the rest of the day. It was just how Natalie was. She just hoped that this guy wouldn’t have any other plans because Nat thought it’d be pretty fun way to spend the day. ENOUGH WORDS ADSKHASDJLK THESE TWO THOUGH OUTFIT ---------------- CREDIT

[RILEY PRESTON ELLIS]

[style=line-height: 100%; width: 400px; letter-spacing: 1.7px; font-family: courier new; font-size: 30px; text-shadow: 1px 1px 0px #000; color: b7b7b7;]NOT ALWAYS LIKE THIS

IT'S A TERRIBLE WEAKNESS IN MY NATURE, IN MY BLOOD

In Riley’d mind, there was really no such thing as “fate” perse. For him, things happened for two reasons: you made them happen, or someone made them happen for or to you. He had never really seen fate happen and would probably never be convinced of such a thing. He didn’t even think karma was a real thing. If he did, he would know exactly why his life was so completely terrible at the moment and why he had died. Though he didn’t know why he died after falling so madly in love with Izzy, who had then died as well. He just couldn’t contemplate it sometimes, and decided not thinking about it was the better option of the two.

Riley grinned down at the short little red head and shook his head teasingly at her. He thought she was adorable and her smile alone put him in a better mood than he had been. He wondered why that was, but didn’t question it too long before putting it out of his mind. Feeling okay lately had come sparingly, so when it happened he didn’t like to over think it and ruin it. Riley did wonder though if this girl always felt so chipper or if he had caught her on a rare occasion.

When the owner of the shop left, he looked to the girl. He wondered what was between the two and how someone could dislike a girl so pretty and seemingly happy. Riley wondered what was wrong with the guy, but remembered that people like Natalie used to bother him, too. He used to hate it when people were overly excited or happy about something. Their happiness had made him feel miserable and made him want to shut them up in any way possible. Now though, after dying and changing, he rather liked it. It was weird what dying could do to a person.

“Oh, you’re welcome. It was my pleasure,” he replied still smiling. “Nice to meet you. I’m Riley.” He watched as she decided against buying the book. He raised his eyebrow, but didn’t ask why she decided to not purchase it. Natalie turned around to face him again and asked if he wanted to go get coffee with her. It only took him about a second to realize that going to get coffee with this stranger was exactly wht he wanted to do. Riley nodded and said, “That sounds like a good plan to me.” Riley grinned again, which he seemed to be doing a lot of when around her, and let her lead the way out of the bookstore.

He opened the door for her and followed her out, turning right and heading towards the Steaming Beans coffee shop, which, in his humble opinion, had some of the best coffee on the east coast. He looked sideways at Natalie and asked, “So, Natalie, have you been in Manuka long or did you grow up here?” Riley found himself wanting to know all about her. She seemed like the kind of person he could be real friends with, which was new for him since after he died all of his friendships were basically terminated due to the fact that he couldn’t face them after his death and falling from heaven. But Natalie, who was obvioulsy a human (and hopefully one that had no clue about the supernatural world) and he didn’t have to worry about her being afraid of him because he was a demon. He was really harmless unless you tried to hurt someone he cared about. He could tell already that he was probably going to care about Natalie a lot seeing as she was innocent and naïve enough to not know about protecting herself. And he would be happy to do it for her, even after just meeting her.

TEMPLATE CODING BY GOLDEN ALBATROSS OF CAUTION

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[NATALIE MARIE HAWTHORNE]

[atrb=border,0,true][atrb=cellSpacing,10,true][atrb=style, background-color: #fff; width: 505px; border-top: 10px #95D9DE solid, bTable] ☼ sunshine YOU CAN BE MY Riley had a really beautiful smile, Natalie decided. She loved when people smiled and she found herself staring at people’s smiles quite often. He had one of those grins that reached his eyes and lit up his face and Nat always thought those were the most genuine smiles anyone could ever have. If it could transform your being so much, clearly it was quite a powerful smile. At least, it was powerful enough to get Natalie to grin back every time she saw it, though that wasn’t the biggest accomplishment out there. The girl was generally happy and she liked to show that happy because it was the only way to share it. And sharing happy with strangers was just better for everyone in the long run. She sounded like some preachy Hallmark card, but it was true. Nat didn’t like hearing about people being sad so if she could brighten one day with a smile, then why not? She saw his confusion about her putting the books back, but he didn’t say anything about it. Nat kind of felt like she owed him an explanation though, since she had come in to buy a book and right now it looked like she came in to wreck Arthur’s bookshop and leave or something. That would make her an awful person. And Natalie definitely didn’t want that. “Yeah uh, decided to not get any books. I’d have to go talk to Arthur and I can’t deal with the judgmental look I’d get right now.” Natalie shrugged like it was no big deal, and it basically was. She was just too embarrassed to deal with anything today Besides, Riley had agreed to going to coffee with Natalie, and that was all she needed. She didn’t really need to get a book. It’d take her forever to get through it anyways. The only reason she had felt compelled to buy one was because she didn’t have any other plans for today and she thought she could do something semi useful. But now she had plans with Riley, so it wans’t even necessary for her to get a book. It’d just sit on a coffee table in her apartment for weeks before she finally found time to pick it up again. It was just better for her to come back later when she actually needed a book. Natalie happily followed Riley out of the bookstore and towards Steaming Beans. She liked being able to just follow someone else’s direction instead of having to think about where she was going and having to try to have a conversation at the same time. It was a lot for Nat’s flighty little brain to try to do. She’d much rather focus on one or the other so she knew she could put her full attention onto it. Otherwise, she’d just become a muddled mess. It happened when you had the attention span of a gnat, like little miss Natalie Hawthorne. “I haven’t been here for too long. Definitely under a year,” Nat said, trying to mentally calculate how long she had lived in Manuka. The problem, though, was that Natalie wasn’t very good at counting or mental math. Both required concentration she didn’t have. Besides, it wasn’t like she needed an exact number. All that mattered was that she lived in Manuka and she had been having the time of her life. She loved it here and she was glad she had moved here. It might not have been the greatest situation getting here, but like Nat said, it was fate. Without that nasty break up with her boyfriend, she would’ve never decided it was time for a change and she probably wouldn’t have left that city. But of course all that had happened and here she was. “How about you? How long have you been in Manuka?” Natalie asked, genuinely curious. A lot of people she had met so far had lived here for most or all of their lives and she wondered about that. It seemed like a city that you came to and stayed in. ENOUGH WORDS ADSKHASDJLK THESE TWO THOUGH OUTFIT ---------------- CREDIT

[RILEY PRESTON ELLIS]

[style=line-height: 100%; width: 400px; letter-spacing: 1.7px; font-family: courier new; font-size: 30px; text-shadow: 1px 1px 0px #000; color: b7b7b7;]NOT ALWAYS LIKE THIS

IT'S A TERRIBLE WEAKNESS IN MY NATURE, IN MY BLOOD

Riley used to be kind of a douchebag so he knew what Natalie was saying about not wanting to get a judgmental look from Arthur. Riley would often give those looks to people when he thought something they did or said was off the charts weird. But he no longer really paid attention to how odd something was since some of the things he said were just as weird. Natalie buying romance novels would have been a little weird for him just because his mother used to read them and he once picked up one and at random, his selection was a sex scene. It had scarred him for a few years until he finally forgot. But knowing that there was some raunchy sex in the books that Natalie bought didn’t really phase him too much. She was a grown woman and she could read trashy romance novels if she damn well wants. Who’s to judge her for her preference of literature? Definitely not that Arthur guy. So he told Natalie, “Don’t worry about that guy. He’s obviously an ass.” Riley gave her his sweetest, most sincere smile.

The cute little redhead walked with him to the coffee shop. They didn’t talk a lot, but Riley didn’t mind the silence. He had looked over at her to see that she seemed to be concentrating on something else, so he focused on where he was going. When they arrived they were finally able to have a good conversation, which started off with how long she had been in the city. “Oh? How do you like it?” he asked. Because he had lived there his entire life he had never really experienced anything else. Manuka had given him everything he knew and he couldn’t really imagine living anywhere else now. “Have you gone to all the tourist-y sites already?” he wondered aloud with a small grin.

“I’ve been here my whole life. My whole family is here. You might have met a sibling or cousin over the course of living here. We’re a big ole family; the Ellis’.” He was proud of his family name. But when he said who he was he immediately regretted it. Riley knew that his death was big news in the supernatural world because no one messed with the Ellis’ without some kind of punishment. Riley’s family was furious with his death and his parents wanted vengeance as far as he could tell. At first he was glad that they wanted to find Remy, who had killed him, but now he wasn’t so sure. Riley had forgotten about it and didn’t remorse his death one bit. He just wanted everything to be forgotten, left alone. He wasn’t a bitter demon.

((sorry it;s short! <3))

TEMPLATE CODING BY GOLDEN ALBATROSS OF CAUTION

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