Poppy's hunger for conversation and social stimulation was currently joined by normal hunger, like the food kind, which is why she found herself at the diner, mowing down a plate of fries. Popping the last fry into her mouth, she scanned the room until she saw a man on a barstool seat at the counter. He had the nervous, vaguely confused energy of someone who wasn't yet used to nightly paranormal threat. She counted out some ration cards, leaving them on the table, before approaching and making herself known.

“You seem new,” she said, part statement and part question. "Mind if I park myself here?" she asked, taking the seat before waiting for his answer.

@wanderinglcst

Poppy wasn't aware of the significance of this specific booth, but she was about to unwittingly have a very ironic conversation with Minnie. The thing everyone saw in the sky seemed like a lot, but she was much more affected by the other, simultaneous event. Nothing shakes your worldview quite like being witness to a corpse that had been a fully alive person ten seconds ago. Her tentative, hypothetical plans regarding the commune suddenly felt much more real and urgent. That didn't stop her anxiety around the possible major shift in her reality, though. “You've been moved into the commune for a bit, now,” she started, hands patting the table anxiously. “How's it going? How do you like it?”

WHERE: Bucky's Diner WHO: Poppy Sarasa ( @causingaracquet )

"So," Minnie started, looking at Poppy across the table once they were settled into their booth. She had noted in passing that it was the same booth that she had sat in with Xander a couple of months back, unusually dishevelled and with a packed bag on the seat next to her, asking him if he still wanted her to move into the Commune. Today, she was the one who had been asked to the diner to talk about something, and she was curious about what it was. "What did you want to ask me about?"

Poppy was bored. The power outage had caused the video store to temporarily close down, since no power meant no movies. And since she wasn't about to overwork herself on the tennis court in this heat with no air conditioning to cool off in, she had a lot of extra free time on her hands. A lot less forced social interaction, too. She thought she'd enjoy the break, but it turns out standing around in the video store helped meet her minimum required social interaction to not go crazy, and she was currently spending way too much time around her parents at home.

To combat this, she currently found herself taking an extended walk up and down Main Street with no real purpose in mind. She was midway through another lap, contemplating her own mortality, when seeing a familiar face emerge from one of the shops snapped her out of it. "Oh, hey, Spencer! How's it going, dude?" She waved them down before jogging up to approach. Spencer was a frequent patron of the video store, and the two of them had gotten as close to friendship as they could considering they hadn't talked much outside of that. "What are you even up to lately? No power means no movies, right?" She laughed for slightly too long before clearing her throat.

@ghostsbrokenbyfairytales

“Yeah, I just thought he looked like a Francis, y'know?” Poppy held the wooden figure up to demonstrate her point. “He seems fine, don't think he'll need a vet visit.” She finished brushing the dirt off the turtle before standing back up and offering her free hand for a handshake. “My name's Poppy. What's yours?”

“You named the turtle Francis?” Cassie asked with a small smile as she straightened. “That's really cute. I'm sorry I ran into you and made you drop Francis. Is he okay?”

Poppy was happy to see Wylie, but furrowed her brow in confusion and concentration when she started speaking so softly. ”Huh? It-it's kinda loud out here, could you speak up a little?“ She gestured around to the bustling crowd.

She managed to catch most of what Wylie said, though. ”I'm alright, I've been busy with work and…“ Fighting off a constant flood of existential dread. ”…stuff. There's a lot of people I haven't been seeing as often as I'd like. You're probably hanging out with Minnie more than I am.“ The majority of her friends were living at the commune now, which increased her motivation to move there away from her parents by a lot. She wouldn't want to leave Pru behind as the last one, though; maybe she could convince her to come with. ”How've things been going with you?”

closed starter for: @causingaracquet

she'd spotted poppy from a mile off, her heart pounding nervously in her chest as she contemplated turning around and wandering off. but as far as she knew, poppy had no hard feelings against her. as much as wylie had wanted to start something official with minnie, it was her own fault that she was stuck in a constant state of pining. but that didn't mean she had a reason not to try and befriend those closest to the person she loved most, and as she approached poppy slowly, she shot her a hesitant smile. "hey," wylie spoke, her voice soft, as if she would startle herself if it raised even a little. "how are you? i feel like i haven't seen you in ages, which is funny considering how small this town feels."

Poppy smiled as she heard the familiar sound of Pru calling out her name. Her energy was infectious as she showed off her recent purchase from one of the leatherworking stalls. “Ooh, yeah, that's so cute!” She nodded. “Yeah, I'm familiar. Won't have to keep helping you pick up your stuff as much. Not that I minded, really,” she corrected, waffling for a second before changing the subject. “I've been wanting to peruse some of the stalls too, wanna come with?”

closed starter for: @causingaracquet

"poppy!" she was rushing forward as she caught sight of her friend, fingers clutching at a leather bag that she'd bought from one of the vendor stalls. anyone else would probably judge her for being so excited, but she knew that poppy would humor her for a little bit. prudence was far too animated sometimes, over-excitable when it came to the little things like a new bag. "poppy look at what i found!" she was out of breath now, hands clutching her prize proudly as she beamed at her friend. "so now i don't have to keep carrying around that old one with all the holes in it. you know the one, right? ended up dropping half my worldly possessions last time i took it anywhere."

Poppy was a bit surprised when she turned to see this particular familiar face approaching her. “Oh, yeah, hey Nico! How's it going dude?” She'd heard plenty of stories about Nico (and Scout) from Xander, but had never really gone out of her way to hang out with Nico. “You mean a soda, or like, a drink drink? How old are you again?” She smirked, framing her question like a joke to hide the fact she fully did not remember how old he was.

where: ren faire who: poppy sarasa (@causingaracquet)

Nico recognized Poppy as a friend of Xander and Minnie's, but he hadn't really spent much time with her. Considering he was currently mad at his brother and one of his best friends, and he couldn't find Mateo, Jessie, Val, or Izan in the crowd currently, so he skipped over to Poppy and gave her a smile. "Hey! It's Poppy, right? I don't think we've ever hung out. Wanna get a drink?"

Poppy had been casually perusing one of the many stands at the faire for several minutes when one of the pieces caught her eye. She was just turning around from making her purchase when someone bumped into her, knocking it out of her hand. “Francis no!” She blurted out as the woodcarving of a turtle fell to the ground between her and the other person. “Aaw I just bought him. I got it,” she said as she crouched to retrieve the fallen turtle.

where: ren faire who: poppy sarasa (@causingaracquet)

“Oh! I'm so sorry,” Cassie exclaimed as she bumped into someone. The crowd was bigger than she'd been anticipating, a lot of families out with their kids, and teens running around. It was loud and busy, and she almost wanted to go home. But she told herself that she'd do her best to make friends, to stop isolating herself, so here she was, running into people. “I didn't hurt you or make you drop anything did I?” She glanced across the ground between them.

[  🗾   ] how self-sufficient is your muse? are they more independent, or do they need others around them?

Poppy could probably take care of herself alone if it came down to it, but with how helicopter-y her parents are, there are still a lot of things she doesn't know how to do, or doesn't know she needs to do.

[  🧭   ] does your muse know what they want? how well can they advocate for themselves?

Poppy used to know exactly what she wanted, though now there's a lot more self-doubt and second-guessing. She's not great at self-advocacy, either, when her own wants are different than her parents'.

[ 🎈 ] does your muse have many regrets? what are they?

Poppy regrets spending a solid four years of her life - her childhood - using all of her time and effort striving for a goal that was ripped away from her.

[ 🧲 ] is your muse generally flirty, or are they more reserved?

Poppy will “jokingly” flirt with her friends a lot, but 95% of the time, it's not entirely a joke. She doesn't let them know that, though.

[ 🍀 ] does your muse believe in luck? do they have a good luck charm or rituals they follow to avoid bad luck?

Poppy says she doesn't believe in luck, since “skill over luck” was emphasized to her through all of her coaching. However, she feels like if she doesn't end a practice session with a perfect serve or volley, something bad might happen. She's stayed out for an extra half hour because of this before.

[ 🐣 ] does your muse have anyone they look up to?

Poppy used to have several professional tennis players she idolized, but it's hard to look up to anyone now that all of her former aspirations are now functionally null and void. (She simultaneously looks up to and is envious of any of her friends who are managing to make the most of the situation here.)

[ 🩹 ] what does your muse do to de-stress?

If you put all of your energy and focus into physically exhausting yourself with tennis practice, you don't have any energy or focus left to worry about anything 👍

[ 🚓 ] would your muse break the law?

Oh for sure, especially if it's fun or funny. She tried the whole "being a good girl" thing and look where it got her.

Being best friends, Poppy and Minnie often came into casual physical contact, but something about linking arms still made Poppy's heart beat a little faster. She was pretty good at keeping it at bay by this point, but then Minnie said she looked great, and called her hot. By the way her face warmed, she could tell she started to flush, but she could wave that away by blaming it on physical exertion. She laughed a little louder than she meant to. “Haha, yeah, like if you don't like my stink, move or I can prove my serve power.” She cleared her throat and changed the subject. ”How's work been?“

"All right, several rounds of booze-fuelled escapism coming right up," Minnie replied, pushing herself off the fence as Poppy approached her. Linking arms with her, she began making her way from the school grounds toward The Sasquatch. They could have gone to Sally's Dancehall, of course, but she already spent enough time there as it was - especially now that she had been promoted to manager.

At Poppy's question, she gave a quick glance toward her friend's outfit before shrugging. "It's up to you, but I think you look great like that. We live in a hell town in the middle of a hell forest. If people can't deal with a hot, sweaty woman with enough power in her serve to end a human life, then that's their problem."