Network + Action = Open | I am being perfectly f*%king civil

[dorkify]

[ There’s a blonde girl on the video. It’s pretty clear that she’s in the bookshop, Sub Text, from what can be seen around her. She’s got a coffee cup at her elbow that says ‘Books turn muggles into wizards’. She waves a little at the camera. ]

I haven’t done one of these in ages so clearly, I’m slacking. I’ve actually been doing a lot of reading lately. I know, I can hear BFF from home yelling at me to go out and get a life already, Gracie. I’m working on it. I mean...I will work on it. Probably.

Which brings me to book boyfriends. Don’t question how my brain works, just go with the flow. Last month while the flying monsters were...flying, I stayed inside in order to avoid becoming a damsel in distress and I got completely lost in Henrietta, Virginia. Where is Henrietta, Virginia you might ask, other than the obvious answer: in Virginia. It’s a fictional town set in the world of the Raven Boys. There’s a private school called Aglionby Academy, a public school that no one ever really seems to go to and a Welsh King that’s been dead for over 500 years.

None of that is the point. The point is the characters, the boys and more to the point: Adam, Gansey and Noah. I’ll take a date with all of them. Seriously, though. Each in their own way are so precious. They deserve all of the hugs so selflessly, what do we say to that?

[ She gives the camera a look like ‘oh, you know it’s coming’.]

I volunteer!

[ She sits back a little, clearly pleased with herself.]

Equally as amazing are their true loves, because did you all think I would be reading this if true love weren’t part of the equation? I want to be friends with Blue and...I’m not sure what I want to do with Ronan. Bad boys have never been my thing. Maybe play with his raven, which is not a dirty joke.

And Noah...we are not talking about Noah.

In short, I’ve got the entire quartet of books here at the shop. If you promise to read them, care lovingly for the characters inside and adore them, they can be yours for the low, low price of…


[ She drum rolls on the table next to her]

Free!

And now it’s time for me to do actual work. Gracie out.

[ There’s a final wave from the blonde and the video goes black]

((ooc: feel free to talk to Gracie via the network or stop by Subtext and say hi. No fourth walled parties were injured in the making of this vlog))

Comments

video;

[adamparrish]

[ Give Adam a hot minute. He and ronan have been staring at the screens of their phones for awhile. Ronan has done a lot of cursing and Adam just... has no idea what to say. Because really,
what do you say to that?

It's only when Ronan is threatening to go down to SubText to get answers that Adam derails that plan by switching on the video. So Gracie gets a video reply of a sepia photograph looking boy with sad but determined blue eyes watching her warily. In the background, someone is pacing and cursing. ]

I'm sorry, but... book? [ At just that moment, a large raven lands on the boy's head. ]

video;

[dorkify]

[ Adam's appearance isn't enough to clue Gracie in because what Adam looks like and what Gracie imagines he looks like are...okay yes, the guy on the video looks a lot like what she imagines Adam Parrish looks like, but still...fictional characters people! That's what she's talking about here.

Of course, then she sees an angry looking guy with a shaved head and a black tank top pacing in the background and swearing in sentences that don't even make sense when taken apart. This is starting to look suspicious. ]

Book. Books actua--[ That's when the raven lands on the boy's head and Gracie's eyes go wide, her mouth making a round 'o'. For a moment, no sound comes out. ]
Shut up. This is the most elaborate hoax ever. I'd ask where the cameras are but--

[ Unless... ]

No. Way.

video;

[adamparrish]

[ Chainsaw always knows how to make an entrance. And while Ronan is thoroughly unimpressed with the broadcast, as if evidenced by his pacing and swearing in the background, Adam is mostly curious. Because from his side of things, the most elaborate hoax ever is happening in reverse to what it is for Gracie.

Adam can just imagine that Gansey, too, is having a hissy fit over anyone else knowing about his Welsh King. Although Gandry's hissy fits and Ronan's hissy fits are completely different animals to the outside observer. On the inside, they amount to about the same thing. ]

Uhhh... so books. Where can we find them? Just out of curiosity. [ Adam bats a hand at Chainsaw as she nibbles at his ear at the bird flies over to Ronan who says something about 'fucking books' that Adam tries to smooth over. ] I'm a reader... when I have time for it.

[ There's a pause as he weighs his words given what she's already said. How much does she know? ] I'm Adam.

Re: video;

[dorkify]

[ Gracie is actually wincing a little at Ronan's obvious anger, but she's also a little impressed by his creativity in swearing. This is incredibly surreal for her and she also feels pretty guilty. It was fine knowing all about their lives when they were fictional, but it makes Gracie feel like an intruder knowing that they're real people.

Yeah, she hasn't considered how Gansey is handling this, but she can imagine it's not well just from what she knows of him. His hissy would definitely be different from Ronan's, and it's so weird that these people are acting just the way she can imagine they would act. Adam is, of course, the logical and reasonable one and...she is not going to analyze them. Real people, Gracie. Remember?

Her brows shoot up in surprise when he asks about the books. She's not entirely sure she'd want to read a book about her life, but then her life is as boring as milk in comparison to Adam's. Ronan growls that he's going to go destroy some shit, then in a quieter voice 'and feed the deer'. Gracie has to press her lips together hard to keep from smiling. ] I've got a set of them in the bookstore, Subtext. I'll hold them for you if you like.

[ When he introduces himself, she stops looking like she's fallen into some bizarre dream and smiles softly at him. ] I'm Gracie. It's nice to meet you, Adam.

[adamparrish]

[ That's one of Ronan's super powers, creative cursing, at least that's Adam's assessment of his boyfriend. Sometimes all Adam can do is shake his head at Ronan. Right now thogh, he can kind of understand the whole unnerving aspect of knowing that there's a book, or books, out there with your name in them - maybe even with your life.

For Adam's part, he's absolutely being calm, logical and reasonable about it - slowly thinking it through and analyzing it from every angle. That's how he does things. There are only a handful of pressure points that can be pushed to make him deter from this path into something more erratic and impassioned. ]

Yeah I'd like to read them. Thanks. [ Morbid curiosity, maybe. But he suspects Ronan will only want to cliffs notes version and he isn't sure Gansey will have that same morbid curiosity as himself. He's willing to fall on the proverbial sword.

Gracie, who seems perfectly normal and sane, Adam has to wonder how much she knows. He decides to try to keep it light for now. Keep potential enemies and friends close. ] So you have book boyfriends? [ Somewhere behind him Ronan yells the words 'really, Parrish?'. ]

[dorkify]

[ Gracie will trust Adam's assessment of his boyfriend. Also, can she say how insanely happy it makes her that Ronan and Adam are pursuing the boyfriend thing beyond the books? No, probably not, not without seeming really creepy, which she's trying (unsuccessfully) to avoid.

Gracie really isn't trying to push those pressure points. She wouldn't have even mentioned the books if she'd been aware that Adam and Ronan were here. Sure, she's seen Parrish's Garage in passing, but Parrish isn't that uncommon a name. ]

I'll save you the whole set. [ She hesitates a little. ] I'm really sorry about the whole...vlog thing. I didn't know--[ her voice drops a little and becomes sheepish] you were real.

[ Well, she likes to think that she's normal and sane. She's not sure she feels that way right now.] It's--just...sometimes fictional boys are nicer than real boys, you know? I guess it depends on the book, but the ones that I end up liking it's usually true. [ She stops herself from saying 'even Ronan, who seems like a jerk and yet....hand cream'] It's not like I'm going to be gunning for your boyfriend. Cross my heart. I am in full support of you two.

video;

[makeslouder]

Gansey is very much spoken for. He does not need 'selfless hugs,' thank you all the same.

[The words come out coolly despite the politeness tagged at the end, filled with more annoyance than Blue has felt in a long, long time. She hadn't exactly realized just how possessive she could be of Gansey until this moment. (Even if that time on the boat with Orla should have given her some idea.) Sure, she and Gansey are still taking things slow (glacially in some aspects) but that doesn't change the fact he's hers. And although it contradicts most of Blue's feminist ideals, there's a part of her that considers her his.

All that fictional, being in a book, crap does this girl know everything stuff will sink in shortly after Blue get's her ire out.]

video;

[dorkify]

[ Gracie's eyes go wide and she swallows a little. She winces, looking entirely sheepish. ]

Sorry. I didn't--I mean I wouldn't. It's all a...running joke with my friend back home? Sort of. [ She sighs and facepalms a moment before looking back at the video. ] I really love your hair.

video;

[makeslouder]

[She likes her hair. Blue isn't sure if it's a strange attempt to suck up or a compliment really meant. It doesn't really matter though, does it? Her hair isn't the point of this strange posting on the network. Not at all.]

There's nothing funny about this. They're my friends you're talking about. And my boyfriend.

Henrietta isn't fictional.

video;

[dorkify]

[ Okay. So...maybe Gracie won't be making friends with Blue any time soon.]

I know that now. I just--I didn't--in my world it is. It was a book I read with characters that I loved and a world I found fascinating. I didn't mean anything by it and you don't have to worry about your boyfriend. I won't--I wouldn't.

video;

[makeslouder]

[Probably not. This is the kind of first meeting that definitely needs a redo if any kind of friendship might come from it.

Especially because Blue would almost rather believe that the other woman as clinical rather than accept the idea of her life being a part of a book.

Flatly,] It was a book?

Re: video;

[dorkify]

[ Sorry, Blue. Gracie would undo it if she could. ]

Is. Yeah. Four books actually.