lost in the game — salem.

TEDDY. · 04-15-2021, 12:50 PM

[align=center][div style="width: 430px; text-align: justify; font-family: verdana; font-size: 6pt; letter-spacing: 2.5px; word-spacing: 0px; line-height: 12px; color: #000"]The night air was crisp and peaceful as the live band played some distance away. Whilst the party was slowly dying down as Badlanders began to resign for the night, Teddy would continue to celebrate his birthday until the sun came up. After all, what better than to bask on a lounger beneath the warm glow of the sun whilst he napped in the daytime? But, whilst the party was still alive, Teddy had simmered down with a comfortable ease, sat on a step looking out across the beach as he quietly fidgeted with the empty cocktail glass that he held against his lap.

Messy butterscotch hair and a tired smile on his lips, Teddy nodded thoughtfully to himself as he then glanced over towards Salem to continue the story they were so invested in. ❝ Ya should’a seen Maia when I got back yesterday. Purring and kneading and so happy t’see me. People always underestimate cats, I feel. See ‘em as these emotionless, snaky lil things that don’t care about their people; that’s simply not true. ❞

He released a huff of mildly intoxicated laughter, finally lowering the glass behind him on the ground before he nonchalantly wrapped his arms closer together as if to shelter himself from the cool breeze against the cabana shirt and linen trousers that provided little warmth. ❝ She reminds me of my first ever cat sometimes. His name was Auguste, this… scruffy tabby cat with the most grating meows I think I’d ever heard. ❞ A soft closed lip smile curled at his features, staring fondly out at the sea waves rolling back and forth. Soon, the turned his head to look towards Salem, brows raising as he scrunched his nose up, ❝ Sometimes a man’s best friend can be a cat. We say fuck it to all the dogs out there. That Auguste was my best friend. One of my only friends growing up, actually. ❞

Swallowing hard, he looked back out towards the sea, too drunk to know when to keep his mouth shut, when to stop opening up to people who likely didn’t care about him. After all, entrepreneurs never had feelings, right? Just power-hungry, materialistic fiends that would always take and never give because they were privileged in doing so, right? ❝ The only damn friend I had to help me through each day when my mama died… it was bad. ❞ He grimaced somewhat, as if the memory still agonised him even to this day.

❝ There was this rundown quarter I lived in back in New Orleans. They called it Back O’ Town, the best damn music and food you’ll ever experience, but also dangerous. Everyone’s there just tryna make ends meet — ya know — but it ain’t that easy since the blackout so people just push and push and push because that's the only way they gonna live out there. My mama, she went to the store one day, she. A few days later, I found my ma’s body in a ditch, what? Five hundred yards away from the back of my house? ❞

He huffed a short breath, quickly carding a hand through his hair to remain his composure before he chuckled lifelessly, ❝ Rough place to live in, but at least I had Auguste by my side right until he died. So Maia? It’s almost as if she’s livin’ Auguste’s legacy. Bein’ a good friend and companion ‘til the end of her days. I can get through anything if I got my friend by my side. ❞ Lips curled down, Teddy then offering a half-hearted hand gesture out to nowhere in particular. ❝ Some people just see her as a cat. I see her as much more than dat. ❞

Shiloh ! · 04-15-2021, 11:26 PM

text

SALEM

ENTRY #01

8.15.16

BL ENFORCER

[div style="borderwidth=0px; width: 333px; min-height: 347px; padding: 0px; text-align: justify; font-family: georgia; font-size: 7pt; color: #000000; line-height: 99%;"]The cool spring air felt good on her flushed face. Suprisingly, she'd had a good time at the party, and was focused on listening to Teddy's story, her expression travelling in peaks and valleys as he explained Auguste and his relationship to his mother. For a while, she didn't know what to say. Salem never did, really, especially not when people opened up to her like this.

Especially not whenTeddy opened up to her like this.

She always assumed he'd come from money, like her. Not that she was rich, she just had a stable amount of money as a kid, which, she supposed, could be considered rich in this post-blackout world. She found it ironic that he was the one who ended up with money, and she had to fight every day just to provide for her and her cat. Moreover, a lot of the goods that he'd stolen were similar to those her mother used to trade and barter in order to support her growing up.

Finally, she shot him a smile. "Dogs are all the same. At least with cats, you know they love you for real, not just unconditionally. I bet Auguste thought you were special." She hiccuped and thought about Chrissy. Her Chrissy.
And Salem, her...somewhat childhood cat.

"You know, my mother never allowed pets...but there was this one cat," she chuckled, "this one black cat with bright yellow eyes, she'd follow me around for hours until I couldn't help but stop and pet her. We never adopted her, but I snuck her chicken when I could, and...I know it's stupid, but she was the one thing I've really missed since coming here." She smiled, biting back and Green. She wasn't drunk enough to spill that secret, not yet. "I called her Salem as a kid, and she's probably old as hell now. That's actually why I took on the name. Every time I hear it though, I have to fight the urge to look around for her..." She trailed off and stared into space, thinking about the mornings where she'd wake up at five in the morning just to sneak out some beef jerky to the cat. Of course it wasn't healthy, but young Elisa figured she wasn't eating anything else. Of course, when her mom found out she was "wasting food on a mangy animal", she got angry. Her mom would give her the silent treatment for weeks over a few scraps of food.

"What was your mother like?" She asked suddenly. Salem had always wanted to know what a nice, warm mother figure was like. It was foreign to her; the only thing her mother did was tell her about the days before she was born in a wistful tone, reminding Sal every day that she was a mistake.

VITALS

> overall status: 100%

> physical status: stable.
> physical health: 100%
> physical afflictions: none yet.
> minor injuries: none yet.
> major injuries: none yet.

> mental status: stable.
> current status: stable.
> mental health: 100%
> mental illnesses: None
> mental damage: None

TAGS

━ ━xGENERAL
> Elisa Barone | "Salem"
> Female
> 23
━ ━xAPPEARANCE
>Human
> Dark brown hair that varies in shade, pale, blue green eyes.
> Carries at least 2 cigars at a time, a small handgun, and a small switchblade.
> tall, lanky and a bit awkward physically.
>
━ ━xABILITIES
> N/A
> N/A
━ ━xCONFRONTATION
> Easy physically | easy/medium mentally
> non-violent power-play allowed
> no kill | request maim/capture
> ask to attack in bolded, underlined and italicized black
━ ━xRELATIONSHIPS
> Lionel King x Melissa Barone
> Half brother Rafe
> Half niece Gigi
> Cat Chrisanthymum "Chrissy"
>Bisexual | no crush
>
━ ━xOTHER
> this text + this color = this meaning

I'VE COME TOO FAR TO SEE THE END NOW

━ ━ ━ ━ ━ ━ ━ ━ even if my way is wrong

a small everyone. | beware hidden scrolling

Shiloh ! · 05-06-2021, 09:37 PM

small bump

TEDDY. · 05-11-2021, 06:52 PM

[align=center][div style="width: 430px; text-align: justify; font-family: verdana; font-size: 6pt; letter-spacing: 2.5px; word-spacing: 0px; line-height: 12px; color: #000"]Never had Teddy been the type to open up about his life. The mere thought of others learning the truth about his past humiliated him. And his background should never have warranted such embarrassment, and yet ever since he was young it had been instilled in him that it was only those with money who were valuable on earth. Any person that struggled to make ends meet was a bum, so what did that make Teddy and his family? Unworthy of being saved? It was always those with wealth who would survive following the blackout. Whilst they could continue life in their ignorant opulence, Teddy’s family would have to work three times as hard to keep their heads above water. It was a dangerous life, and one that Teddy was scared to open up about.

Tomorrow, he’d regret the conversation but, in his drunkenness, it felt only right to reminisce about his life, to take things much too far as he so often did when he pushed boundaries.

Lips curled into an intrigued smile as he watched the way Salem spoke about her past. A black cat called Salem. Was that where she got her name from? ❝ And I’m sure you won Salem’s trust eventually. ❞ He commented. Teddy hoped the same thing; it was always very easy to feel attached to him one way or another, almost enough to trust him. But Salem proved to be a difficult feat. He had won her over once, and he quite enjoyed the way she treated him then. If anything, it only urged him more to want to win her back.

❝ Do ya like being called Salem? ❞ Teddy enquired with a small cock of the head. He could still recall back when a man came searching for Salem that he addressed her by the name Elisa. Surely, that was her birth name. What secrets did that name hold? ❝ Or do ya miss being Elisa sometimes? ❞ Teddy often wished he could still be young Teddy boy, the child so naive about the world of tragedy around him. Salem asked about Mama, a small pang in Teddy’s chest at the memory of her smile. The memory of her corpse.

❝ Oh, my Mama, she was… one of a kind, she. ❞ Teddy smiled wistfully. ❝ Never once did come across a woman so chatty ‘n’ easygoing as her. Everyone loved her, and — I mean — ya couldn’t blame ‘em. I would… I used to steal from da French Quarter as a kid. Only from people who deserved it, ya know. And… I know that she knew, but as long as I wasn’t spendin’ da family funds, she didn’t care how I got somethin'. ❞

Nodding his head slowly, Teddy lowered his gaze to stare at his shoes, deep in thought before he added glumly, ❝ I think she would’ve been disappointed in me.❞ After all, he was certainly his father’s son. Ambitious to a fault, he allowed greed to preoccupy his mind, his thoughts, his every breath. He allowed for it to blind him in a way where he saw no importance in anything that wasn’t self-serving. It lathered up his ego, it made him harsh and cruel and not the Teddy boy that Mama loved so dearly.

❝ But when you gotta do what it takes to survive, you gotta push the boundaries that Mama taught ya. You take opportunity in one hand, pain in the other, and you use it. The two ain’t mutually exclusive; in fact, ya can’t do one without the other. And, I think it’s why Mama died. Her heart was too good to understand the way of the new world. ❞

Shiloh ! · 05-11-2021, 11:45 PM

text

SALEM

ENTRY #01

8.15.16

BL ENFORCER

[div style="borderwidth=0px; width: 333px; min-height: 347px; padding: 0px; text-align: justify; font-family: georgia; font-size: 7pt; color: #000000; line-height: 99%;"]Salem grinned a wide smile that stretched across her cheeks, one that only came once every few months, if she was lucky.
"Of course I did. She never left my side, even when it felt like everyone else did..." She had to pause at his next question. Never did Salem consider herself and Elisa different people, but she supposed that she'd evolved a lot here. Elisa was a coward who stole and didn't understand how to work hard in life. Elisa clung to the past like it was the only thing she had. Salem preferred to look towards the horizon.

"I don't think it matters either way," Salem lit a cigar before continuing. "I don't think I ever really knew anything about the world until I came here. Strange place to learn about the world but...I guess since I am who I am because of the Badlands, I feel more attached to the name Salem." She went quiet while he talked about his mother. She could just imagine the warmth blossoming from her, someone prepared to forgive anyone as long as they had good intentions. Her eyes stung just thinking about it.

"It's a cold and ruthless world," Salem finally said. "Especially if you're coming from nothing. If your mother knew how you treated your nephews and your brother...I think she wouldn't be all that upset." Of course, sober Salem wouldn't dare butt in with commentary on someone's private life like this, especially not Teddy's. Especially not something positive. At this point, she wasn't sure if it was the alcohol that was intoxicating her or just being around Teddy. "I meant to thank you, by the way. For organizing the all female fighting ring."

VITALS

> overall status: 100%

> physical status: stable.
> physical health: 100%
> physical afflictions: none yet.
> minor injuries: none yet.
> major injuries: none yet.

> mental status: stable.
> current status: stable.
> mental health: 100%
> mental illnesses: None
> mental damage: None