*/ knock you down

[Juan "J.R." Corinthos]

JUAN "JUNIOR" CORINTHOS
VALK BEACHES, SATURDAY MORNING, OCTOBER 2007

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-----j.r. was a simple man. sure plenty of guys talked about how they were simple and how it was the women who complicated everything, but j.r. was an honest to goodness simple man. he had simple tastes and was a big time burger connoisseur of sorts. he didn't like anything complex and especially didn't like anything overly leafy or in shades of various colors that food should not be. like a meat and potatoes kind of guy. didn't have to be anything fancy, he wasn't overly picky about ribeye, filet, or whatnot. food was food and to be picky about it was really just a show of superiority. after all, how many countries were there in the world in which men, women, and children went hungry on a daily basis. people stood in the streets just hoping to find a morsel of food that would maybe last them to another day, and people in the states had the audacity to meander over what kind of meat they liked? yeah, no. j.r. wasn't that kind of guy. he'd seen what hunger looked like in the slums of tijuana. he saw what his father's business took from the people along with their free will to say no to addicting substances. he didn't feel that he had any right to be picky about food, or anything else for that matter. music, j.r. was pretty acceptable of it all and his choice of song tended to vary with his mood. still, if it had a beat and he could jog to it, most likely it was something he would at least listen to. there was no shame in that, and j.r. had very little shame to begin with either way. he'd never been much of a shy boy. when you grew up around the people that j.r. had grown accustomed to, introvertedness was pretty much uncalled for. that was one of the only things j.r. had ever been thankful for where his father was concerned.

-----his namesake was a piece of trash. if you were to ask j.r. about his father he would waste no time in using those words or some of a much lesser caliber. j.r. hated his father with a passion, and he had ever reason to. his father was a cold, soulless bastard who's business had not only screwed with his life and been responsible for the death of his mother, but it was also the reason why j.r. was now in the state, trying his dead level best to keep an eye on his wandering, calculated sister. the only reason why j.r. was even calling california home instead of dear old mexico was the fact that maggie had come here. it wouldn't have been a problem if she'd come here for the reasons that her cover gave. no if she'd come to the states to go to a decent boarding school and to get and education and to get away from their father, j.r. would have been on cloud nine. unfortunately for him, his sister's enrollment in valkyrie academy was nothing bu =t a cover for the double life she lead. it was nothing but an excuse and an alibi for the times that she was gone. his sister was a drug dealer, and j.r. hated every second of it. this was not the kind of life he wanted for himself, let alone his little sister. she was brilliant, beyond brilliant, if she tried maggie could find herself in any college in the country by now even though she was just at eighteen. if she gave up this life and focused on something a little more normal than he wouldn't have to worry himself into a fit about her being kidnapped, raped, or getting shot in some back alley when a deal went wrong. maggie had no reason to deal. she wasn't poor. she wasn't stupid, though j.r. could argue that right now she was. she had everything going for her except the desire to be such a normal person.

-----he'd watched it all of her life, watched her grow up and try desperately to gain the affection of their worthless father, something he wasn't even worthy of. still, just because it was that unreachable goal, maggie was hell bent on defying her father, doing one better than him, and j.r. was exhausted just trying to look out for her. she'd been gone all night again, j.r. noticed as the sunlight shone through the kitchen window and directly into the living room which had come to double as j.r.'s bedroom. there was a spare bedroom in the apartment but because j.r. was a bit of an unwelcome guest, he assumed that his stubborn sister hadn't cleaned it out in the hopes that she could get him to move out. by the lingering pain in his spinal cord as he rose from the couch, j.r. was sure that day might actually be coming. either that or he could take the next step and move her office into one of the other rooms and risk finding a gun to his head. maggie hated change unless it was beneficial to her and j.r. finding a permanent bedroom in the spare was the least bit beneficial to her. at least that was her opinion. j.r. didn't find it so. he knew that he was looking out for his brilliantly stupid sister and that one day she would bring herself to thank him. since that day wasn't likely to be any time soon, j.r. would just have to suck it up and get used to the couch. that was until he got up the nerve and the spare time to move into the spare bedroom. maybe if he had it all done by the time she walked in through the front door, she'd be too exhausted or too fed up to argue as much as she would if she was really on her game. who knew. but this whole cough thing was really killing him.

-----sitting upright, j.r. leaned back and gave his back a slight crack before standing to his full height. as he was stretching, he heard a rustling from the main bedroom, laughing as a rumple-haired maggie shuffled out of the bedroom toward the kitchen. the smell of good colombian coffee filling up the entire apartment just moments later. "sleep good?" even half asleep, maggie could still make an exhausted attempt to incite him, something that made him smile. "oh don't you know it. i like it so much i could stay for a long, looong time." j.r. countered, hearing a grumbling from the kitchen moments later. folding up his blanket and grabbing his pillow, j.r. stuffed them it their usual place and headed to the guest bathroom where he changed into his usual jogging gear of sweats and a wife beater, before he walked right back out. his hair was too closely cropped to need any attention so that was one less thing on a short list of what it took to make j.r. look his best. not like he didn't attempt that anyways, still. he grabbed a pair of black socks as well as his sneakers from the spare bedroom's closet before he plopped himself back down in the living room to put them on, sliding in beside his half-awake sister who was cradling a cup of coffee as if it were encased in gold. "if you came home at a normal hour, that wouldn't happen." he said, waggling a finger at her whole situation before he slid on his second shoe, lacing it up as maggie stuck her tongue out at him which only succeeded in making him laugh.

-----he left his sister to her caffeine high as he stood from the couch, grabbed his keys and his ipod, and walked out the door. he pocketed his keys and slid the buds into his ear, pressing the play button and pushing off the sidewalk into the parking lot and down the street, heading for the beach. j.r. was a sucker for the beach. not only was it a great place for a workout because of the sand's resistance and whatnot, but the waves and the cooler breeze coming off the water just made for an enjoyable jog. he wasn't usually one to get all sappy for a situation, but this was one of the only places around town that j.r. really preferred. unfortunately for him it seemed as though today, so did everyone else. even though it was only about seven thirty in the morning, the beach was still packed with families hitting the surf before the day got too hot. though it was all fine and dandy for people to be enjoying themselves, it royally pissed j.r. off when he had to dodge legs and wailing children. finally after about ten minutes of jogging, the crowds seemed to taper off and j.r. had a little more freedom in his run. he pushed himself just a little harder and closed his eyes to enjoy the feel of the air whooshing past him as he ran. all of a sudden his ran became a dead stop as j.r. crashed into another body, sending him spiraling toward the ground. he tucked a little, managing to roll onto his back and pop back up to his feet with little injury to himself. "damn" he said a little louder than he'd intended to since his earbuds were still, surprisingly, attached to his ears. he pulled them out, hitting the pause on his ipod and pocketing the hand held device as he rushed to the side of the girl he'd managed to slam into the sand. the poor thing was about half his size and for a brief moment he'd wondered if he'd broken her in half. "god, you okay? that'll teach me to close my eyes for a second." he said in as mediating a voice as he could manage without laughing as he sat down beside the girl and helped her into a sitting position. "i'm so sorry." he said shaking his head at his own stupidity as he brushed damp clumps of sand from her arms and shoulders which had to have braced her as she fell. "you'll have to pardon my stupidity."

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status • finished
words • 2007
tagged • jeda ?
wearing • yum.
listening to • -- - --.
notes • for a guy i have no muse for this post is huge. there are no words.

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[Leda Wickford-Rose]

LEDA BEVERLY WICKFORD-ROSE *

PLAY THIS MUSIC AS LOUD AS CAN BE OPEN
THE WINDOW DRAW DOWN THE CURTAINS
AND SING THIS SONG AS LOUD AS CAN BE

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- - - prior to watching the burly men her father had hired as movers empty out three big moving vans for two days, leda wickford-rose would never have imagined that her she and father had so much stuff. wow. it was the kind of thing she hadn't given even half a thought to while everything had been arranged nicely in her old house back in philadelphia. it was kind of weird seeing it all packed tightly into the backs of large shipping vehicles when she was so used to seeing everything in it assigned spot in a room. she had offered to help with some of the lighter stuff initially, but after getting sidetracked, putting down whatever she was supposed to putting in its new proper place and wandering off to pursue other activities about six times and breaking three dinner plates, her father had told her not to bother. so she had been left to her own devices throughout her first several days in the small, picturesque city of valkyrie. she pretty much had a completely free schedule, because she wasn't starting with her new tutor or her art class at the academy until next week. several days ago she had had a little reunion with her cousins cat, who was short and irritated with the world usual as ever, and charlie, who was shaggy haired and hilarious as ever. cat, who hadn't ever liked her much, was now seeming to do her very best to avoid spending a lot of time with leda. it only offended her a little bit, because cat was just being cat, and leda had to admit that the time she had spent hanging around in cat's room when she had been bored, jumping on her bed, while cat had been trying to study or something hadn't helped matters any.

- - - she had been spending a good deal of time with charlie, however, because she loved that kid. they had grown pretty close when charlie and cat had been living in pennesylvania and leda had missed him and all his jokes after he had moved out to california. plus leda didn't know of anyone else in existence who was as fun to loudly sing old 80s songs with as charlie was. he had showed her around the city a little a couple of days ago, which was good, because had she not gotten a basic tour at some point, she definitely would have gotten a lot more lost a lot more times than she already had. because when you were leda wickford-rose, you got lost. a lot. it was unavoidable. she had a rather terrible sense of direction. her little tour had made running around the city a lot easier, because it meant that she didn't have to worry about sticking to the limited amount of general routes that she was acquainted with because, though throughout the years she had gotten used to getting lost and was pretty good at dealing with it, getting lost while jogging was not exactly what one might call oodles of fun.

- - - from the very moment she had opened her eyes this morning, leda had been itching for a run. she had rolled out of her queen sized bed in a tangle of brightly colored sheets and comforters and headed immediately for her dresser, where she fished out a pair of shorts, a t shirt, under things and a pair of socks before skipping into her new, very marbley bathroom. after dragging a brush through her wavy brown hair and pulling it up into a messy bun, shrilly singing gimme! gimme! gimme! by abba while she brushed her teeth, she stripped out of her pajamas and slid into her running attire, then gave herself a quick, very toothy grin in the mirror. perfecto. she scampered out of the bathroom, grabbed her running shoes off the floor where they had been since she had kicked them off her feet after her run yesterday and headed downstairs for a quick breakfast. one bagel and one banana later, she was stumbling into her shoes and about to head out the door. then, however, she remembered her father, who was either still asleep (it was only like six forty five or something in the morning she was pretty sure) or in his study. so she paused, grabbed a sticky note off of the stack being held to the fridge by a magnet, and wrote a quick note explaining her whereabouts (dad - going for a run!! yay!!! - leda); after a couple of stretches, she was out the door.

- - - god, running was just amazing. plain and simple. leda loved it. it had started out as simply a suggestion by her tutor for a way for her to possibly get rid of some of that extra antsy pantsy energy she had. but now it was more than that. it wasn't just exercise or a way to stay in shape or burn calories for leda, it was more like a natural but incredible state of being. running was as close to flying as humans were going to get all by themselves, without an airplane or a hanglider or some other kind of machinery, and that was what it felt like to leda: flying. there just wasn't anything like it. she made a couple of loops through the neighborhood before deciding to head out towards the commercial district of valkyrie. however, almost as soon as that decision was made, she decided she didn't like it anymore, turned, and made for the direction of the beach. now that she thought about it, she felt like the beach today. it was one of her favorite things about valkyrie. soon enough her feet were slapping the sands of valkyrie's pretty beachline. she was a bit surprised at all the people who had been drawn here this morning as well, seeing as it was so early. umpteen surfers dotted the waves atop their surfboards and the sand was populated with crawling toddlers and children shrieking happily. things thinned out after a bit, though, and leda was able to focus less attention on making sure she didn't trip over some poor kid trying to build a sand castle. her eyes wandered out to the horizon, where the turquoise water met the blue sky. it was so pretty. the water was so bright and pure looking; it was one of those colors you just had to want to eat. hmm, maybe there was an ice cream out there that was this color, that would be frigging sweet. if there was, leda was totally going to hunt down whoever had thought it up and personally give him or her some kudos -

- - - wam. one second leda was looking out at towards the pacific ocean, the next she was staring up at the partly cloudly blue sky. she had collided with something very solid, that was pretty much all she was aware of. she blinked dazedly several times, as that was pretty much all she found herself capable of doing; her head was in a bit of a funk. "damn." she heard the word spoken loudly from above her and, having suddenly rediscovered the concept of motion in a part of her body other than her eyelids, she craned her neck and looked up. holy crap. a tall young man in sweats and a wife beater who was evidently the solid something she had run into was coming to her side. "god, you okay? that'll teach me to close my eyes for a second." he sounded like he was trying to refrain from laughing and, now that she starting to think clearly again, leda couldn't resist laughing herself. it was pretty damn funny. he helped her into a sitting position and she was suddenly made more aware of a sharp ache spreading throughout her body. ouch. it didn't manage to kill her laughter, though. she took a deep breath with some difficulty and managed to stop laughing so that she could try and managed to communicate to him that she was neither injured nor a serious lunatic. "yeah, no, i'm fine," she said, a grin still on her face, trying to catch her breath. "i'm so sorry." he began to brush clumps of damp sand from her shoulders and arms and she got her first good look at his face. why, hello there. she couldn't help it, another giggle escaped her. "you'll have to pardon my stupidity." she sat up a bit straighter and adjusted her body weight placement a little, just trying to reorient herself some more. ow. "well, i will if i have to i guess," she said jokingly, her grin returning. she heaved herself onto her feet - oofdah - , turned to her good looking giant and held out a hand to help him up as he was still sitting in the sand. heh. "hi."

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STATUS finished
TAGGED j.r. <33
DATE october 28, 2007
ATTIRE here.
CREDITS lyrics by css, formatting & banner by me
NOTES woo!

[Juan "J.R." Corinthos]

JUAN "JUNIOR" CORINTHOS
VALK BEACHES, SATURDAY MORNING, SEPTEMBER 2007

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-----already j.r. had a sort of attachment to this town. it wasn't bustling like tijuana during spring break, but the place also wasn't a snore. it was as if there were just enough people to make the town feel comfortable, not claustrophobic. then again, just about any place felt better than the ripe hell that j.r. had come from. now most people wouldn't consider his life to be all that terrible. technically, j.r. had his life delivered to him on a silver platter. did it matter to too many people that that silver platter was tarnished and stained with innocent blood? to many it didn't matter but to j.r. it made him sick. he'd been given everything and yet the twenty two year old college student wanted none of it. he didn't want to be some grand drug dealer from mexico. who would want to aspire to that? whoops, sorry maggie. j.r. just couldn't seem to wrap his mind around the fact that the major figureheads in his family wanted nothing more than to continue this life of crime. it was like being stuck in a room full of screaming animalistic people and having no voice. like fingernails on a chalk board and no way to relieve the agonizing feel of that sound reverberated in your brain. how could you look up to a man like that? a man who willingly sacrificed practically retarded, big, burly men in order to make money? maggie didn't aspire to be him, she wanted to spite him, but in the mean time she was still working for the sorry bastard. it made no sense why anyone would want to be like that, live like that, etc. it was like the godfather or scarface being idolized. now sure the celebrities in those movies may have been idolized for the roles they played, but do you really think someone would idolize the don of some huge mafia? no. sane people ran away from that kind of insanity.

-----now you could call him crazy because j.r. in fact wanted nothing to do with the family business. he wanted to finish college with a degree in something, he hadn't even figured out what yet. he wanted to eventually start a family and live like a normal human being. he wanted to live in a world where children's mothers weren't murdered simply for who they were married to. he wanted to live in a world where drug lords didn't sacrifice willing soldiers just for their own benefit. he wanted to live in a world where he could let his possible future children play in the front yard and only have to worry about them going too close to the street. it didn't seem like a lot to ask of a life, but in the eyes of most of his family, he was clinically insane. still, j.r. didn't care. he still wanted nothing more than to get away from this life and just find himself. yeah if only that wasn't so crazy to his family. there wasn't a day that didn't go by when j.r. didn't at some point wish he'd been born to a different life, to find some way to get away. luckily for him, jogging was about as close as he could get. when he ran j.r. could put all of his troubles behind him. sure, it sounded like something out of a chick flick, but the feeling that he gained overall was more important to him than how he may sound when telling someone about it all. besides, if j.r. had to be the one to tell you what that feeling was, you didn't deserve to hear the story. that freedom, the feeling of no boundaries whatsoever. no family drama, no sister to worry about. there was just the pounding music in his ears and the sound of his sneakered feet against the ground. nothing else ever seemed to matter, until you came slamming into someone half your size.

-----thank god things like this didn't happen every day. true that j.r. went out running almost as part of a morning routine, it's the running into someone and knocking them flat on their face part that he was glad to not take daily part in. lord knows how much damage j.r. probably could do to a population of people if he hit one every time he ran. hell he'd probably end up hurting himself as well. if it weren't for that fancy little tuck and roll j.r. would have landed straight on his face and gotten a mouthful of sand. a sting like that to his pride would really be one for the books. j.r. corinthos, had ass handed to him by 90 pound girl half his size who made him eat sand. yeah, brilliant. but thankfully this wasn't a daily occurrence because the kind of hospital bills that he would have to pay for both himself and other people would be absolutely ridiculous. he was definitely glad to hear the words 'i'm fine' coming from her lips, though the slight hesitation as she stood told him just a little different of a story. still, she was a good sport about being plowed into, and not in a sexual sense, and that was always something to be admired. the laugh was reassuring as well seeing as how he'd kept a hold of it at first. but once he was sure that she was okay, j.r. smiled and chuckled and took her hand as he hefted himself to his feet. "yeah you still have to. at least now i know to always watch where i'm going. can't hurt anyone else half my size now can i? they won't be as forgiving about it as you, not unless i'm lucky." j.r. made a point to give her hand a shake. why the hell not since they were still touching anyways. "hi." he said back with a smile, letting go of her hand to brush the sand from his sweats. "i'm j.r. and you my dear, are far too nice to big guys who run right into you."

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status • finished
words • 1240
tagged • jeda ?
wearing • yum.
listening to • -- - --.
notes • smaller than before, but these two are cute, hehe.

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[Leda Wickford-Rose]

LEDA BEVERLY WICKFORD-ROSE *

PLAY THIS MUSIC AS LOUD AS CAN BE OPEN
THE WINDOW DRAW DOWN THE CURTAINS
AND SING THIS SONG AS LOUD AS CAN BE

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- - - she had been in valkyrie for six days now, so it was probably quite natural that the coastal californian city didn't really feel like home yet. at all. it felt more like she was on vacation somewhere or something. and at the moment, leda was pretty sure that it would always feel like that in some way shape or form, no matter how long she lived here. because the stately, old fashioned, elegant house in philadelphia that she had grown up in would always be what she thought of when she thought of home because that was what it had always been for her. home. she liked valkyrie a lot so far, though she did feel a bit isolated because so far the only people she knew were cat and charlie and her uncle phil. and she really didn't even know uncle phil that well, either. hell, aside from meeting him twice in back in pennesylvania while he was visiting charlie and cat, she hadn't ever really had anything to do with him. this was a rare occurence in the rose family, seeing as pretty much everyone in it lived in one house in philadelphia. leda herself hadn't actually ever lived there because her mother had refused point blank to live in such a crowded house, with all of her in laws, no less. but leda had still spent a lot of time there, it was only about a five minute walk away from her own house, and she was pretty close with the whole motley crew. however, since phil had been quite preoccupied and far away throughout leda's entire life, he had been in the circus and pretty much ignored by the rest of the family, after all, she didn't really know him at all. so, yeah. she knew almost no one here, to say nothing of people she was not related to.

- - - that was one of the reasons she was actually really looking forward to starting with her art class at the academy. not only was the school supposedly really really prestigious and top notch and all that good stuff, but she was looking forward to actually meeting people and making friends. because, yes, she had only been here six days, but she was still getting hella bored from time to time without anyone but charlie to talk to. don't get her wrong, charlie was the shit and all, but still. she liked being social. she had met a few people around town that she had talked to for a while but at this point she wanted to get back into that having school friends thing. and classes always did wind up being the main way she got to see her buddies. she was pretty sure that she was one of the, like, five people in existence who actually enjoyed school, but she had a theory about that. people didn't like school because they were forced to go, eight hours a day, every day, five days a week, eight or nine months a year, when they would rather be doing just about anything else. but for leda, school had always been purely a social thing, especially since for years she had only attended for forty five minutes a day. plus it wasn't one of those classes where you had to remain pretty much completely sedentary the whole damn time. she hadn't ever really had to suffer through those, because she the last grade she had completed in public school had been kindergarten. however, she saw stuff on tv; kids just sitting in desks in class, writing notes or listening to a lecture or reading and she got antsy and restless just watching it for too long. goodness knew that felix, her old tutor, had learned that it was essential to let her have a couple of minutes to just move around every now and then. as well that it was quite a good idea to keep the room they were working in clear of clutter and anything that held the potential to become too distracting. he had practically been ready to carve his 'any and all phones must be turned off during study time' rule into stone.

- - - given that running was one of leda's very favorite distractions and that she didn't watch where she was going nearly enough as she should, she was a little surprised that this hadn't ever happened before. yeah, she had bumped into people, literally, in public before, but never before had she collided with anyone while she was out jogging. so today was just a day for the calender, wasn't it? right now she was really quite thankful that this hadn't happened on asphalt or gravel or anything because if it had she probably would be nursing something a bit more serious and painful than a sore, throbbing, ouchy sensation in her back and shoulders and a headache. especially seeing as she had collided with someone who no doubt had fifty pounds or more on her in weight and at least seven or eight inches on her in height. "yeah you still have to. at least now i know to always watch where i'm going. can't hurt anyone else half my size now can i? they won't be as forgiving about it as you, not unless i'm lucky." she chuckled a little as she swiped some sand off of the side of her batman t shirt. "half your size? i'm not that tiny," she said, launching herself up onto her tiptoes, trying to make herself as tall as possible. it didn't work as well as she would have liked it to. damn. she dropped back down onto her heels. "okay, nevermind." she laughed. "hi." he gave her a handshake and she giggled. "i'm j.r. and you my dear, are far too nice to big guys who run right into you." ducking her head a little, she giggled again. "well, j.r., my dear, you didn't do it on purpose did you?" she said cheerily, her tone still reminiscent of her giggles. "it's not like i ever watch where i'm going, either. besides, it's okay. i'm fine. totally. because i'm tough. see? grr." she raised her arms and flexed her arm muscles - which were admittedly pretty puny - and made an attempt at a war face snarl. another grin cracked across her face as she dropped her arms back down to her sides. "i'm leda."

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STATUS finished
TAGGED j.r. <33
DATE october 28, 2007
ATTIRE here.
CREDITS lyrics by css, formatting & banner by me
NOTES teehee.

[Juan "J.R." Corinthos]

JUAN "JUNIOR" CORINTHOS
VALK BEACHES, SATURDAY MORNING, SEPTEMBER 2007

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-----valkyrie wasn't really what one would consider to be a place of paradise. sure the city was nice, polished so to speak, but no one would ever pick valkyrie out of a hat and say "yeah let's go there" nor would anyone dream of themselves spending a halfway decent vacation here. valkyrie was in no way like tijuana, and j.r. could not have been more happy about that. who in the hell would want to live in spring break central unless they were one of those party/nightlife kind of junkies? j.r. most certainly wasn't one of those. he was an all around sensible guy which meant that he wasn't out until the wee hours of the night. he liked to be up at the crack of dawn so that he could get in his usual uninterrupted morning run. he didn't clog his system with junk food but enjoyed the regular burger. if you got right down to it, j.r. was just about as close to regular joe as you could get. the only thing about j.r. that really stood out, besides his addiction to being in good shape, was his family and his background. not many kids could tell you that their mother was shot because their father was a famous drug lord who'd gotten on the wrong side of a deal. most kids also couldn't tell you that they'd witnessed the shooting first hand but had never said a word about it to anyone. j.r. was foggy about a lot of the details. he'd been pretty much in a state of shock after witnessing what he had. the minor things like what the guy was wearing, what kind of car he drove, how many bodyguards he had with him, etc., that was foggy. the main details like the guy's face, and his mother's shooting, that stood out like a sore thumb. he also couldn't forget the complete hatred he had for his father.

-----now j.r. may have played off his hated for his namesake as just being an unwillingness to be a part of the business, but don't mistake. he hated that son of a bitch more than anything in this world. did he act on it? no. did he rationalize it and work with his father just to spite him? no. that was maggie's deal. that was her issue to deal with and though j.r. didn't agree with her methods, he knew that she was doing what she needed to in order to get past their father's sexist ideas about the business and women in general. j.r. played it off as nothing, as just a rebellious stage in which he wanted nothing to do with the business. but the real reason behind it all was because he didn't trust himself around his father. he knew that if he didn't find some way to stay away or blow off steam that he would do something he absolutely regretted. it was while he was stuck in tijuana, in the confines of his father's home with no where to escape that j.r. picked up working out as his best methods of blowing off steam. j.r. found that after a while, doing reps with a decent amount of weight dulled the screaming anger that he held against his father. it was just one more wall to build around that hate and just another way that j.r. kept his cool. j.r. seemed to be the master of keeping a cool head, something that was an absolute necessity around a family of stubborn mexicans. no one knew how to push the buttons better, your own family especially. it was why j.r. was considered the 'teddy bear.' he kept his cool around everyone, no matter who it was. in the case of his sister it never failed to just rattle her more, but around maggie j.r. didn't have to force himself to hold back his anger, because he had none toward her. toward his brother, maybe. raoul was a pompous idiot who wanted nothing but the world's destruction just because he couldn't get his way. te boy had issues. no, j.r.'s major, if only, problem was with his father.

-----aside from lifting weights, jogging had helped to burn off that steam. j.r. loved it too. there was something about taking out your frustrations on the open road as opposed to human bodies that made it all worthwhile. because j.r. really couldn't forgive himself if he just cracked and hit someone, this was the best way that he channeled everything. so far, it was working out pretty well for him. he was somewhat glad to see that jogging was working well for someone else as well, at least when they weren't stopped dead in their tracks by about one hundred and eighty-someodd pounds of muscle. "alright, i'll give you that. you're about up to my chest so technically you aren't half my size, short stuff." j.r. chuckled. it was nice to talk to someone else for a change. don't get him wrong, j.r. loved his sister, even at her worst moments, but the conversations got old real quick. even their back-and-forth banter wasn't what it used to be. "hey, nice try anyways." he said as he watched her sink back to her normal height. this girl had spunk, he had to admire it. most people wouldn't be so light-hearted after the kind of run in they'd had. most people would yell, scream, maybe go so far as to call the cops. and to think, exercise was supposed to give you endorphins that made you happy. "maybe i did do it on purpose." he said with a smirk, crossing his arms over his chest and leaning back ever so slightly. "maybe i just wanted the excuse to run into you. not like you'll forget it." his shoulders rose and fell slightly as he laughed slightly. she growled at him, flexing as much as she could and j.r. laughed once again, rolling his eyes. "very scary. i'd run from you." he joked. "leda, i like it. certainly haven't heard it much."

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status • finished
words • 1255
tagged • jeda ?
wearing • yum.
listening to • -- - --.
notes • i like them so far.

[/font][/blockquote][/blockquote][/blockquote]

[Leda Wickford-Rose]

LEDA BEVERLY WICKFORD-ROSE *

PLAY THIS MUSIC AS LOUD AS CAN BE OPEN
THE WINDOW DRAW DOWN THE CURTAINS
AND SING THIS SONG AS LOUD AS CAN BE

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

- - - it was a common misconception that homeschooled kids had it easy when it came to school work. to that, leda had nothing to say except for you should see the truck loads of assignments she was oh so regularly pronounced responsible for completing. she worked just as hard as anyone in a public school... when she wasn't being distracted, that is. this wasn't always completely evident, simply because leda was the type of girl who just exuded an aura of being very flippant and carefree. and it was because, on a whole, she was very filppant and carefree. she didn't do stress, after all. it just did not work for her. it gave her head aches and stomach aches and made her powers of concentration go absolutely kaput. not fun. besides, there wasn't any time to waste in life pushing yourself silly trying to get things done and stressing over any little factor you could dream up. life was short, very, very short. especially when compared to how very long everything else had existed. i mean, think about it. the universe had been around for how long? fifteen billion years, give or take? and the stars and nebulas and all that stuff had been here for ages and ages and ages; and there was planet earth, which had been around for a few million years. everything was absolutely ancient. whereas humans had only been around for a few thousand years. an itty bitty blip in time as far as the universe was concerned. and then there was the average lifespan of a human being: sixty to seventy teeny tiny years. humans were incredibly small flashes of life in the grand scheme of things, and, as far as we know, the only real life out there. why in the hell would one want to waste something so precious and fleeting on something as depressing and mundane as worrying themselves sick about maintaining a status of perfection or making a good impression?

- - - exactly.

- - - which was one of the reasons leda held happiness in such a high regard. there just wasn't any time to waste feeling unhappy. this tended to get her stuck in a bit of a loop when she did get sad, however, because the fact that she was feeling unhappy just wound up making her feel depressed, and it often took her a while to get out of that cycle. but she could definitely say that she wasn't one to get upset over any little thing that went wrong. she just didn't work that way. she most definitely wasn't going to blow up at some random stranger who knocked into her while they were both jogging. it just wasn't something to get upset about. she was okay, he was okay, what was there to get angry about? maybe anger was an automatic response for some people just because they were embarrassed about getting slammed into the damp sand of valkyrie's beach in full view of tons of happy beach goers, but leda didn't really care about that, either. people fell down all the time, what the could she do about it? hell, walking, a very basic human action, was basically just controlled falling. nothing much to make a fuss about. this good looking j.r. person had obviously been expecting her to get mad and possibly shout him out and had seemed a little surprised when she hadn't shown the slightest inclination to do either. but hey, the whole collision was partly her fault, too. maybe he hadn't been watching where he was going, but leda hadn't been paying any attention to that, either. she had been gazing out towards the ocean, thinking about ocean-esque ice cream. and she had obviously been quite absorbed in it, because when someone of j.r.'s size was running at you, unless your attention had completely vacated you, you saw him. he was one of those hard to miss types. they had both probably been equally at fault, though maybe it was more natural for him to feel bad because he was more than six feet tall and however many pounds of muscle, whereas leda was a five foot, four inch, one hundred and thirteen pound girl.

- - - he chuckled at her vain attempts to draw herself up to a less vertically challenged height. "all right, i'll give you that. you're about up to my chest so technically you aren't half my size, short stuff." despite her arguments to the contrary, leda did have to admit that it did actually kind of feel like she was half his height, simply because of the fact that she had to lean her head back just to look him in the eye. "you know, i'm only about three or four inches below average height. it's just gigantic people like you that make me seem really short. it's all your fault," she said in a teasing tone of faux accusation, crossing her arms over her chest splayed with the batman symbol. "hey, nice try anyways." she giggled and nodded in acknowledgement of his consolation praise. "yeah. if it didn't work, i don't know what will. apparently i am destined to be 'short stuff' for forever." oh well. she could always pull out the classic 'i'm not short, i'm fun sized!' line. it always made her feel better. "maybe i did do it on purpose. maybe i just wanted the excuse to run into you. not like you'll forget it." at this, leda lost control of her giggling reflexes and felt a slight blush creep up in her cheeks. luckily it would be pretty well hidden, seeing as her face was still red anyway from all the running she had been doing before colliding full tilt into j.r. here. stuff like this had always been a rather powerful weakness of leda's; lines like that, even if they were meant to be completely harmless and not very flirtatious, could melt her. which meant giggling. it really was a very good thing that she didn't have an annoying laugh, or she might find herself without any friends at all. she managed to get her laughter under control after a couple of moments and did her best to compose herself. "well if you did do it on purpose, then maybe i am mad," she said with a small toss of her head. "very scary. i'd run from you." he laughed and rolled his eyes and she did her best to put on a straight face and widen her eyes in seriousness. "oh, you should," she said. "i'm very fierce." as soon as the words were completely out of her mouth, her face broke into a happy laughing grin again, which kind of contradicted her statement. "leda, i like it. certainly haven't heard it much." "it's greek," she said. "in greek mythology, leda was this girl that zues had the hots for. because apparently my parents just couldn't give me the same name as one of the cool goddesses or anything."

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

STATUS finished
TAGGED j.r. <33
DATE october 28, 2007
ATTIRE here.
CREDITS lyrics by css, formatting & banner by me
NOTES <3

[Juan "J.R." Corinthos]

JUAN "JUNIOR" CORINTHOS
VALK BEACHES, SATURDAY MORNING, SEPTEMBER 2007

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-----j.r. didn't know what it was like to be home schooled. the boy was lucky enough to have had the chance to go to school, albeit private school, even with his father's dangerous business. looking back, it really did seem as though juan had no concern for his family's safety. since the beginning the man had always been out for his own. he had only cared about his success and hadn't really been one to take someone else into consideration. that is, until paulina died. with her death came the awareness that he was responsible for putting his family in this danger, and that he was responsible for getting them out of it. this of course didn't change his ways. no, of course not. juan was still an avid evil-doer. he still peddled drugs into any territory he could manage, he still killed plenty of henchmen who were really too stupid to be working for him in the first place. it didn't change the fact that his kids still did the normal things. they still went to school, usually only with one bodyguard lurking somewhere outside the school boundaries. there was really no change, even though juan was now blatantly aware of the danger he put everyone in. did he care that all six of his children, ranging in age from twenty two to four, were still in danger? did he care that most of his competitors were smarter than he was? did he care that most of the brains behind his operation were coming from an eighteen year old spiteful teenager? no, no, and no. safety never seemed to be on juan's mind at all. he didn't care about the consequences. the man was simply hungry for money and for power. all day, every day, it was all he wanted. and to think he wanted j.r. to grow up to be the same way?

-----what a relief it was to not be that kind of man. j.r. wouldn't know how to look himself in the mirror if anything like that ever happened. hell he was pretty sure he'd never be able to look himself in the mirror again if he was responsible for even hurting someone, let alone the numerous number of deaths not only of competition, but of his sacrifices, of the many soldiers on his payroll who never even got their first check. it was ridiculous. why anyone would even want to go near that cursed business was beyond him. the way he'd grown up, it almost seemed unorthodox to even want to be normal. like wanted to grow up, marry, and eventually have kids was like trying to dig for water in the desert. j.r. didn't even bother voicing his opinions about it any more. maggie was always quick to shoot him down about it. it was always something along the lines of "and to think, you're the chosen one." always with some hint of sarcasm and a look of both pity and jealousy. she could have the life, strike that, j.r. didn't want her anywhere near it. he wanted her to grow up normal too. was it really such a crime to shoot for the picket fence kind of lifestyle? ask anyone even remotely attached to this business and they'll all give you the same answer, yes. it was crazy to want normality. it was crazy to want out. and yet that was the way he felt. it made the little things in life seem that much more out of reach. even though he held it in his hand, or even if some other regular shmuck could do the same thing the next day, j.r. always felt as if his life was tainted by this lifestyle. he didn't want that for himself, and he certainly didn't want that for anyone else.

-----like standing here and talking to someone he'd just accidentally knocked to the ground. j.r. felt as though he had to apologize for it time and time again, not only because he was sorry, but for the fear that he'd actually hurt someone. for fear that he would enjoy it and want to do it again. for fear that just injuring someone in the slightest could be a catalyst to diving head first into his father's business. it was hard, being on edge like this around every turn, or wondering if some chance you take will lead you down the very same road you were trying so desperately to avoid. leda, she was like a breath of fresh air. it was really refreshing to be around someone who was so carefree. it made him relax more than he was used to, it even made him smile more, and j.r. wasn't even aware that that was a possibility. "technically you aren't to blame for your height. it's the parent's fault." he deflected her faux-blame onto someone else, smiling as she began to giggle again. it seemed to happen a lot, but it was charming so j.r. didn't really give it a chance to take any real effect. "well i can call you stretch if you like. kind of like when you meet some seven foot three hundred pound guy named tiny." mad? how could she be mad at him? just look at that face. "i don't doubt it. you seem like a little firecracker." j.r. shifted in his stance, getting a little more comfortable. what was just an apology was looking like it was turning into a long chat, but he didn't mind. "on the contrary, i think it suits you. other greek names are all played out, leda is so underused it almost sounds original."

--------------------------------------------------------

status • finished
words • 1151
tagged • jeda ?
wearing • yum.
listening to • knock you down - keri hilson.
notes • --.

[/font][/blockquote][/blockquote][/blockquote]

[Leda Wickford-Rose]

LEDA WICKFORD-ROSE *

PLAY THIS MUSIC AS LOUD AS CAN BE OPEN
THE WINDOW DRAW DOWN THE CURTAINS
AND SING THIS SONG AS LOUD AS CAN BE
----------------------

growing up, leda had not been exposed to anything as damaging as her unintended beach companion had. despite the certain stigma that was attached to being raised in an extremely large city like philadelphia opposed to a small town, leda had lead a relatively sheltered existence. no, her parents had not kept her locked up in the house all day, nor had they forbidden her from watching television or reading any sort of reading materal that they deemed inappropriate for fear that she would get a scandalous, degrading, unhealthy idea from these notoriously risky medias and some how wind up throwing her life away and becoming a hooker because of it. quite the opposite, in fact. hugo and hannah rose had taken the more upfront approach to parenting; being frank and honest with their perpetually-bouncing-off-the-walls daughter. and yet, no matter how much upfront parenting someone received or where they were raised, there would always be a certain component of that 'sheltered existence' in a person who did not experience first hand many of the unsavory things happening in society each and every day. when confronted with something unpleasant but relatively common in today's world, leda would definitely be a sizeable deal more shocked and discomposed than someone whose reality was comprised of all the yucky things leda had been spared from. a basic example of such a thing was high school.

sure, she had attended an art class at a high school back in philadelphia, but not being there for prolonged periods of time diluted the affect it had on her. she wasn't there to witness all the bullying. she wasn't there to observe how the whole thing had been turned into just one big beauty pageant slash popularity contest by the students. she wasn't there enough to absorb the fact that it was rarely an exaggeration to say the only difference between high school and a jungle were slightly more intelligent primates. of course, we can't simply leave this subject after merely glossing over a somewhat important factor. leda could be a bit naive. it sort of came with her personality. she was a sweetheart when you came right down to it, and the only predisposed suspicions she might have as to the integrity of someone's character before getting to know them would be a result of hearing them badmouth abba, a family member (in a way that she could not identify with, that is), or some other institution that had been proved to be undeniably good. like ice cream, for example. however, this isn't to say she was an idiot or something like that. it didn't go so far as to inhibit her ability to see what was right in front of her face. when something was obvious about a person, she was hardly oblivious about it.

however, right now, standing on the sands of valkyrie's expansive beach with a tall, good looking young man named j.r., gorgeous, an early morning ocean vista forming a backdrop to their encounter, leda was about ninety nine percent positive that her ability to see what was in front of her face when it was there wasn't necessary. because thus far, j.r. was proving himself to be a nice guy. given, she had only known of his existence for less than ten minutes, one of which she had spent colliding with him, being knocked to the ground and laying dazed on the coastal, damp sand of the beach. but she had a feeling about him. he was nice, helpful, he was not a sociopath, judging by the fact that he was obviously genuinely sorry he had knocked her to the ground, he was friendly, he had a natural sort of charm, and he was, well, rather gorgeous. that wasn't one of her reasons for thinking him to be a pretty much stand up guy so far, but it was something she liked about him. she was a heterosexual female, after all, wasn't she? it wasn't her fault.

"technically you aren't to blame for your height. it's the parent's fault." that explanation about the origin of leda's being vertically challenged didn't seem very viable to her at the moment, either, because neither of her parents were particularly short. her father was over six foot and her mother was about five seven. maybe it was just one of those damn genes that had been recessive for generations, waiting to pounce. and, if this were the case, when she had been conceived, it apprently had. "i wasn't blaming myself for my height," she said. "i was blaming you. and people like you." another good natured grin splayed itself across her features and colored her tone and she uncrossed her arms to brush at some of the damp sand still clinging to her bright red jogging shorts. "well i can call you stretch if you like. kind of like when you meet some seven foot three hundred pound guy named tiny." stretch... it had a kind of ring to it, she would give it that. but for some reason it brought the image of a tall, pallid zombie like dude to her mind, so she couldn't say she was very crazy about that particular idea. "ahh, no thanks. stretch just doesn't seem very me. maybe something more like..." she trailed off, her brow furrowed in concentrated. hmm. after a moment or two, she was struck with a sudden inspiration. "wonder woman! because i'm so wonderful that it doesn't matter that i'm short." her lips curled upward into a proud but playful smile, as she looked up at him. what with all this speculation on her height, at this point she was happy that she didn't have to squint to allot for the distance between their faces. "i don't doubt it. you seem like a little firecracker." this made her giggle in a manner reminiscent of that classic giggly school girl. "oh, definitely. me and firecrackers have a lot of common. we can both explode and take someone's eye out!" teehee. "on the contrary, i think it suits you. other greek names are all played out, leda is so underused it almost sounds original."

leda raised her eyebrows. "it suits me? does this mean you think that i am almost original?" her attempt at a serious face was marred by a flicker of another one of her trademark smiles. then, tired of standing, for the second time that morning, she plopped down into the sand, though this time it was intentional and she fixed herself into a cross legged position. looking up at j.r., the distance between their faces now very, very, very great, she patted the sand next to her. "feel like sitting?"

----------------------

status , finished
tagged , jeda <3
date , october 28, 2007
attire , here.
credits , lyrics: css. formatting: me.
notes , <3

[Juan "J.R." Corinthos]

JUAN "JUNIOR" CORINTHOS
VALK BEACHES, SATURDAY MORNING, SEPTEMBER 2007

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-----j.r. knew that all of this was too good to be true. it had to be. how else could the son of a drug lord get away from it all? how could he get away to a place where his father really had no control. j.r. couldn't even put to words how it felt to be in a place where people didn't see him and cross the street just to get away from him or to be able to leave their apartment and not immediately be flagged by two to two dozen bodyguards. there was no fear when people looked at him. there was no recognition in their eyes. all that there was when people saw him was a new face, another one in the crowd in this town, and j.r. loved it. it was such a break from what he'd always known as reality, it almost seemed surreal. to go into a college classroom and have no one recognize him or make space for him to sit, giving him a wide berth. you would have figured, seeing him walk down the streets of tijuana, that the boy was a leper or pariah, when really he was just unlucky. born to a drug lord and with seemingly no way of making himself anything but just another heir to the throne. he hated it. he hated everything that came with it. there was no doubt in his mind that all j.r. wanted was to be normal. to have gone to grade school without bodyguards who scared off any little kids you could have called friends was beyond annoying. it was as though j.r. had never gotten a say in the way his life was to be. like fate, everything was supposed to lead up to the moment when j.r. got involved in the business and actually took steps to take over from his father.

-----nothing in his life so far, aside from moving to valkyrie, had given him the option of being anything just juan corinthos the remake. his life had been business centered practically since the moment j.r.'s mother paulina had been killed. from that moment juan had held so tight onto j.r.'s life that he'd never had a spare moment to breathe. since that day when he'd been two years old and had seen the death of his mother, juan had kept him by his side, trying to raise him as a toddler to someday take over the family business. but you see, it wasn't a family business. there was nothing about this life other than who took over after whom that had anything to do with family. juan had in fact pushed his family after the death of his first wife. he'd had sex with other women but hadn't cared about them. he married the ones he'd knocked up simply out of the one principle he seemed to have next but he never failed to cheat on them or drive them away. he had five other children, all of which wanted to be in his life and just wanted his approval, but juan would never give it to them. he had an army of bodyguards protecting his family, but they lived on an estate almost a mile away from his cover business that he never left. there was nothing about this life that centered around family. this was no family business. this 'legacy' that he was supposed to take over was no family business. it was an escape. it was an escape from the rules, from the family he so claimed to love, and especially from reality. no normal person lived this way. reality was in fact that you were supposed to as a child go to school, get good grades, move on to college, get good grades, get a degree, find a job, make money, find a wife, have children, and die surrounded by people you love. that was pretty much a summary of the life of every joe regular out there in the world, but did juan corinthos have to follow the pattern? no, of course not. he had to break the mold and then go on and try to mold his child in the same way. but juan had never counted on j.r. not wanting a thing to do with the business. he didn't count on j.r. actually having a soul and wanting something that everyone else had that seemed so out of reach, normality.

-----being in valkyrie, it was as if normality was practically tangible. it was as if he could reach his hand into the air and just pull little specks of normal from it. no matter how strange that actually sounded, it was the most liberated j.r. had ever felt in his life, and he loved it. he loved everything about having the chance to actually find himself and shake off the shell of "juan corinthos' son" that he'd been born with. he could finally figure out what it was he liked out of life. he could finally just go to a baseball game or a football game and see if he liked it, feel that air of competition and surrounded by screaming, dedicated fans who believed with all their hearts in the group of men battling it out on the field below. he could go to the movies and actually have to fight to find a seat. he could go to school and not have a three desk radius of empty chairs as people tried to get away from him. no one here thought that a single glance from him could get them killed. no one here was afraid of him, and god he loved it. if this was what normalcy and mediocrity felt like, sign him up for a lifetime. like now when he was around leda. sure it was the first time he'd ever met her, but the good-natured feeling that just oozed from her made him feel like he'd known her forever. she was new and exciting because j.r. had never seen someone like that before. there had never been relaxed, care free moments in the corinthos house, and seeing her, meeting her, here was like tasting sweets for the first time. it was exhilarating and new and all he wanted was to try it again. "ah yes, well you know i can take the blame if that helps you sleep at night." j.r. ribbed right back throwing a little wink in her direction. a wave of confusion struck him as leda continued talking. who the hell was wonder woman? "is that like a super hero or something?" j.r. remembered some americans having a thing for comic books. j.r. had never really seen one, but it sounded like something he could have seen in one of those. "you'll have to pardon my ignorance, i'm not really from around here."

-----for probably the first time ever, j.r. felt a little outdone by this short, spunky grecian-named brunette. he was used to being able to expect things when he talked to women, because there was the occasional stupid, daring girl who made a bet to talk to him or something. every once in a while there had been a member of the opposite sex to talk to him, but he usually knew what to expect there. leda had him all off-kilter, waiting to see what she'd say next, and it was invigorating. "i have no doubt that you could be quite dangerous." j.r. said with a chuckle. "no, i think you've got original all covered." he watched her plop down into the sand and decided "what the hell." he didn't have any plans and leda was proving to be quite the conversationist. why not just stick around. he lowered himself to the sand, stretching his legs out and leaning back on his hands. "so how long have you been around valkyrie?" he said as he felt the sun's heat washing over his body.

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status • finished
words • 1558
tagged • jeda ?
wearing • yum.
listening to • the kill - 30 seconds to mars.
notes • --.

[/font][/blockquote][/blockquote][/blockquote]

[Leda Wickford-Rose]

( LEDA BEV. WICKFORD-ROSE )
VALKYRIE BEACH, OCTOBER 28, 2007, EARLY MORNING

play this music as loud as can be open
the window draw down the curtains
and sing this song as loud as can be
. . . . . . .

"ah yes, well you know i can take the blame if that helps you sleep at night." this statement was accompanied by a wink, which caused leda to giggle yet again, this time with just an itty bitty note of something not unlike hysteria intermingled in the regular sounds of the laughing nose. hm, guys with a sense of humor were nice. being able to laugh at things that deserved to be laughed at was one of those qualities that leda generally appreciated very much; because she noticed that the ones who weren't as well endowed in their humor senses always gave her weird looks and made her feel like some sort of oddball. of course, she wasn't one to make any judgments about a person based on something as irrelevant and superfluous as making her feel like an oddball was in the grand scheme of things. most of the time, she didn't really care, actually, because, after eighteen years of living her life, she was used to weird looks. it was just kind of unavoidable. but anyway, this j.r. guy was fun to talk to you. though, hell, even if he had been mind numbingly boring, leda probably would have managed to pursue some topic of conversation that succeeded in making her laugh, at the very least. then again, there was a lot out there that made her laugh. case in point: the amount of time she had spent laughing already in her short conversation with j.r. assuming a serious face, one not unlike something one would use when assuring someone else of the danger or grimness in their current situation. "oh, you'd better take some of the blame," she said, her brown eyes wide, the corners of her mouth twitching upward. "because it is your fault. if you weren't massive and gigantic, i would look less like a 'short stuff'." it was technically true, but one couldn't ignore the irony here. leda was placing the blame of the matter of her vertically challenged-ness, something she had next to no control over, soley on j.r. and people alike him in stature, because of their heights... which, again, was something they had very little control over. heh.

after her suggestion that her name be wonder woman, her gaze had wandered from his good looking face out across the vast body of water before them and the horizon that formed where it met the blue of the early morning sky. however, at his response, her eyes quickly jolted back to his face, the very reincarnation of unadultered shock painted on her face. "is that like a super hero or something?" she stared at him for a couple of moments, gaping just a bit. "you've never heard of wonder woman?" she asked incredulously. "you'll have to pardon my ignorance, i'm not really from around here." ooooh, okay. that made sense. a decent excuse. she couldn't really assume that wonder woman and comic books were a relatively well known part of pop culture everywhere. that was just ignorant. like how there was that american stereotype around of surfing ketchup eaters. though leda had actually met a few passionate surfers who ate more than their fair share of ketchup, but whatever. "oh, okay. you're excused. though i was seriously frightened for you for a second there. where are you from that you don't have wonder woman?" the question attached at the end of that verbal endeavor was slightly quizzical, and she tilted her head slightly to the left. "have you heard of bat man, at least?" she asked, gesturing down at the large bat symbol that was splayed on her gray t shirt.

he chuckled as he responded about her brazen statement comparing herself and firecrackers and asserting that they could both leave some poor passerby missing an eye. "i have no doubt that you could be quite dangerous." she grinned happily. "good. don't say i didn't warn you or anything if anything happens and you wind up losing an eye." the statement was accompanied by a small laugh, and she paused momentarily to try and calculate exactly how many times she had been doing that since after she had been knocked flat onto the ground and they had started talking. however, she gave up on that after approximately three seconds because it was kind of boring and her brain flitted on to something else as an auto response to the tedium. "no, i think you've got original all covered." at this, she gave him a quick, toothy grin. "yay. thank you very muchly." sitting cross legged in the sand, she put her arms out and rested the on some of the sand behind her, leaning back and supporting some of her weight with them. he seemed to deliberate momentarily when she posed the question of whether or not he would join her perching on the sands of valkyrie beach, but in the end he plopped down next to her. she beamed happily as she watch him stretch out his legs and lean back on his hands. "so how long have you been around valkyrie?" "um," she said, stretching her own legs out in front of her so that she was now in a position very similar to j.r.'s. she kicked her legs a little, brining her heels up and down onto the sand repeatedly. "six days. exactly." she turned her head towards him. "i just moved here from pennesylvania. what about you? you've probably been here longer than me, huh? not long enough to have heard of wonder woman, but still."

. . . . . . .

status , finished.
tagged , jeda. <3
attire , here.
credits , lyrics: css. formatting: me.
notes , laaate.

[Juan "J.R." Corinthos]

JUAN "JUNIOR" CORINTHOS
VALK BEACHES, SATURDAY MORNING, SEPTEMBER 2007

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-----j.r. wasn't a huge flirt. i mean sure he was a guy. he was just as susceptible to a gorgeous girl as the next person, but he wasn't overly over-the-top with women. at least...he didn't try to be. back home in tijuana j.r. hadn't had all that many experiences with women. he was no saint, he definitely wasn't celibate, but your father being a mob boss tended to scare away the right kind of woman and attract the wrong kind. still, j.r. had to admit that he'd done pretty well for himself, considering who it was he was related to. look at his family in general. there was juan sr. at the head of the pack. the womanizer had only loved one woman. from the day of her death he'd been sleeping around trying to 'cure' his pain and only succeeding in marrying the women he knocked up. did he love them? you tell me. he spent his every waking hour in the office, dealing business or trailing after his wayward children. he didn't spend time with his wife or ex-wife, who both lived under his roof. he didn't spend time with his three youngest children and he ignored one of his eldest. his love now was his work, which he couldn't even take majority of the credit for. that went to maggie. did he love these women and bearers of his children? maybe somewhere deep down inside but it was hardly fair to say that he had any real emotions for either of the to women who sat in his expensive mansion tending to his children and spending his money. that was hardly love. for sophia mitchell and maria montenegro it seemed to be enough to suit them. who knew, maybe they stayed out of fear. maybe they stayed out of shame. who knew. j.r. knew that sophia had never contacted her family after she'd wound up pregnant. who knew, maybe they didn't even know she was still alive or worse, living under the roof of a mobster.

-----the last person j.r. ever wanted to grow up to be like was his father. to be hated by his children and have women in his home who he liked, tolerated enough to have sex with, but undoubtedly didn't love. j.r. didn't want that in the slightest, just like he didn't want to be the next heir to the corinthos' drug business. he wanted no part of it. it really did seem like such a stretch to want nothing more than a white picket fence. though it sounded very much like something a woman would say, it was true. j.r. wanted a normal life more than anything in the world. the more he thought about it, the more it seemed like such an impossibility. he was no where near volatile, but who knew what would have to happen that would send him off the edge and turn him into a person he didn't recognize anymore. all that rage that he'd had built up inside of him and pushed aside could be released with one wrong move. that was dangerous, for him and everyone around him and it had a tenancy to make j.r. a very careful person. he knew how close he could get with one wrong move. be his sister getting hurt, his father doing something stupid to her, or god knows what else. anything could be that sensitive little drop to sent the water spilling over the edge of the cup, the straw that broke the camel's back, you name it. j.r. was especially careful simply because the threat of the person he could become hung over his head like a dark cloud. something he was always running from but could never really avoid. it just made him feel better, knowing that he was at least making the effort to run. it was times like these, with new people and new conversations, that it almost felt like he could outrun who he was bound to become.

-----leda was like a breath of fresh air compared to the people he'd had in his life. so carefree and unaware of what was bad in the world. j.r. in a way envied her for what she didn't know. he would have happily forgotten about the world he'd come from if it made things that much easier. still, being around her for more than a few minutes had already been the kind of jolt that he'd needed in his life, as strange as it may have sounded. he'd only spoken to her for a few minutes after running into her but already he was forgetting the troubles in his life, just focusing on her and trying to keep up with her changing focus and whatnot. it was entertaining to say the least. "yes, that is very much my fault." he said with a smile. he felt a little taken aback by her reaction to him not knowing who wonder woman was. was she some kind of athlete or something? maybe an important person in american history that he hadn't learned about? "am i supposed to have heard about her?" he asked with a quizzical look, afraid she may keel over from shock. j.r. feared that he'd really been missing out on something. was it like not knowing the constitution while living in america? was it like not following the favorite past time of the country? what? he almost found himself breathing a sigh of relief as leda's shock fell and she excused him for not knowing who wonder woman was. well now he wanted to know. who on earth was this person? "i'm from tijuana actually. who is this wonder woman?" his mexican accent began to kind of filter into his words as he asked. he was really curious. his eyes fell to her chest momentarily as leda gestured to the symbol on the front of her shirt. "ah...you mean luchadors? supers?"

-----alright so he was still confused. so sue him. this kind of american culture was lost on him. she definitely was a firecracker. after only talking to her for a moment, j.r. felt as if he'd been thrown from one subject to another like a firecrackers would explode one after the other. "consider me warned." j.r. said with a smirk as she laughed. how freeing it must be to be so happy all of the time. as he settled into the sand, j.r. looked over at her, waiting to here how long she'd been in town. "just six days? wow. welcome then." at her question he turned his head to the side, counting the relative time he'd been in town. "a few months i believe. i've lost count already." there was that wonder woman person again. who on earth was she? leda seemed to hold her in high regard so she had to be important. "i'm just glad to be out of mexico. definitely a fan of the states. u.s. of a all the way or something." he chuckled and squinted up at the warm sun for a second. "alright ms. pennsylvania. what brings you to the lovely town of valkyrie?"

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status • finished
words • 1445
tagged • jeda ?
wearing • yum.
listening to • -- - --.
notes • --.

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[Leda Wickford-Rose]

( LEDA BEV. WICKFORD-ROSE )
VALKYRIE BEACH, OCTOBER 28, 2007, EARLY MORNING

play this music as loud as can be open
the window draw down the curtains
and sing this song as loud as can be
. . . . . . .

leda really didn't have any idea of what she wanted to do with her life. she knew that she wanted to be able to paint and she knew that she wanted to be happy - well, hell, who doesn't - but that was pretty much the extent of it. she didn't have any sort of career path picked out or anything like that. hell, she was actually one to tend to shy away from the word 'career' in the first place because it made her think of desks and sitting still at computers or in boring business meetings all the live long day. and we all know that leda just wouldn't have that. it bored her and aggravated her. whatever she wound up doing, she was going to make sure it wasn't something that required her to be sitting on her cute little butt all the time, for the sake of her sanity. she knew that she was going to college for some sort of art major. prior to moving to valkyrie, she had been giving applying to brown some thought - she wasn't sure she'd be able to get in, but she had been figuring it would at least be worth a shot - , but now she was seriously considering valkyrie university. it was a great school and it was right here in valkyrie, a miniscule commute... she couldn't really go wrong. and after she was finished college, she was pretty sure it'd be fun to bring out the adventurer in her and traipse the globe. go to paris and travel up to the very top of the eiffel tower, from where she could probably drop a baguette and kill someone if she really wanted to. then to belgium for the belgian chocolate, then to switzerland for the swiss chocolate, then to spain to see la ahlambra. after that she'd probably move on to asia; russia and china and japan, and next would come australia, because what's not to love about australia? next would probably be egypt to see the pyramids and some good old fashioned heiroglyphics, then south and central america. she pretty much wanted to see everything.

rather silly to be living in a big huge world and only see a very small part of it, no?

but regardless of any decision leda had regarding her plans for the future or where she wound up, she did know that she didn't want to miss out moments like the ones playing out currently on the shores of valkyrie's beaches. not necessarily being rammed into and slammed into the sand specifically, but in leda's opinion, this encounter was turning out to be a rather kick ass one. and, to put it bluntly, mister j.r. was all kinds of yummy. don't start with the attacks about being shallow, now. it was just a simple observation.

"am i supposed to have heard about her? i'm from tijuana actually. who is this wonder woman?" despite her utter shock at encountering a real live person had, in fact, never heard of wonder woman - wonder woman! - , the words 'i'm from tijuana, actually' knocked her concern for anything else right out of her brain. "ooh, tijuana? really? that's so cool! i've never been there but one of my friends went once for spring break last year. she came back with two tattoos." he probably could really care less about any acquaintance of hers that had visited his hometown, but leda didn't trouble herself about that. when he saw the batman symbol on her t shirt, a small sense of comprehension seemed to dawn upon him. "ah... you mean luchadors? supers?" oh, right, back to the super hero issue. focus, leda. "well, yeah, i guess. wonder woman is a super hero. she's all buff and she's always running around in this patriotic red, white and blue leotard... i don't think it's really all that practical because her boobs are almost popping out of it all the time..." she paused, rather wishing that she had not just brought up wonder woman's boobs. but oh well. what had been said had been said. "but luchadors, is that spanish?" she asked interestedly. "i can - no no, wait! yo hablo español un poco. ¿qué significa luchador?" there was an almost giddy note in her voice at being able to use the spanish skillz she had been learning from her tutor a bit sporadically for the last year or so. "super heroes?"

"just six days? wow. welcome then." she nodded. "thank you muchly." "a few months i believe. i've lost count already. i'm just glad to be out of mexico. definitely a fan of the states. u.s. of a all the way or something." leda giggled. "there you go, you sound very american." she cast her gaze out from his face towards the ocean lined horizon once again. large, turquoise colored waves were coming rolling towards the shore, some of them bespeckled with a surfter or two. hm. leda had always wanted to learn how to surf... now that she was living in california, almost on top of the pacific ocean, she had an opportunity. woo. "alright ms. pennsylvania. what brings you to the lovely town of valkyrie?" she looked back at him with a laugh. "if you get to call me miss pennsylvania then i get to call you señor tijuana," she declared. she then out her arms and lowered her torso onto the sand so that she was lying flat out on her back.

that didn't last long, however, because out of the corner of her eye, she saw a wayward beach ball rolling along an expanse of sand several feet to the left of her in a manner not unlike that of a tumbleweed seen in the ghost towns of old west movies. she scrambled up into a sitting position, cast a quick glance around to check for any people who looked to be in search of a rogue beach ball... but she came up with a negatory. she snatched it up off of the sand, stood up and tossed it at j.r. "heads up!"

. . . . . . .

status , finished.
tagged , jeda. <3
attire , here.
credits , lyrics: css. formatting: me.
notes , hi. :]

[Juan "J.R." Corinthos]

JUAN "JUNIOR" CORINTHOS
VALK BEACHES, SATURDAY MORNING, SEPTEMBER 2007

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-----j.r. didn't have much of an idea as to what he wanted out of life. he'd only seen the big picture with the house, the white picket fence, the wife and kids and the normal, ordinary life. while other people aspired to be something so much bigger than what they already were, j.r. didn't hope for that much. any bigger than a drug lord's son is a little...much. don't you think? not that being the heir to a drug lord's business exactly qualified as high expectations. that seemed to rank pretty negatively in at least one corinthos' book. the other, not so much. god maggie. sometimes j.r. just wanted to throttle her. if it wasn't for the way his father had adamantly opposed to his daughter taking over, and if j.r. hadn't been so against it either, he probably would have given everything to her. after all this was what she wanted. j.r. only wanted to make her happy. even if that meant she was putting herself in harms way- oh who the hell was he kidding? he didn't want maggie to have one toe in this business. though it sounded terrible he sometimes wished his sister was like his step mothers and other step sister, only concerned with shopping and spending money. at least in that sense j.r. knew he'd never have to worry about her again. not the way he did now. like how he'd tossed and turned all night when his sister had gone out "on a mission" and hadn't been back till the next day. not only had she come back that morning but boy did she look a wreck. her hair in a messy bun, wearing a trenchcoat so concealing he didn't even want to know what was under it, muttering about smelly apartment and damn giovannis. j.r. didn't know what the hell had happened to her but at least he'd gotten her back. that night all he'd thought about were such things as her not coming back. but what was there for him to do?

-----j.r. couldn't stop her. least he shouldn't even bother trying. maggie was so damn stubborn he hardly recognized her when she set her mind to something. she was an tenacious as a pitbull. when she latched onto an idea that suited her, maggie hung on for dear life until her prey gave up and she got it all. that was how she'd succeeded in life. that was the way that their father forced her to act in order for her to get any form of attention from him. now true it was partly something j.r. admired. maggie had a kind of spirit that could hardly be rivaled by anyone, especially himself. she had this fire to her that no one seemed to be able to quench and it was like she was never satisfied, but always looking for it. maggie wasn't going to be happy until she got her way hands down which was something j.r. both admired and despised. admired because, well she didn't just lay down and take what was thrown at her. she attacked life and smacked it down when it fought back. but then again her need to prove herself and gain acceptance was what had her in this situation in the first place. this need for an adrenaline rush had her running around in valkyrie's most dangerous places doing god knows what. though valkyrie was nothing like some of the worst war-ridden places in the world, it still wasn't mr. roger's neighborhood. the world outside the front door to their apartment was still riddled with all kinds of dangers that j.r. seemed all too concerned with while his sister lacked concern. it was annoying, maddening, frustrating, and all those other words. but what else could he do? until maggie was satisfied with the outcome she was going to keep at it and nothing short of hog tying her and shipping her to a deserted island was going to change that. come to think of it, that was a great idea.

-----leda was like a breath of fresh air. she had that same kind of fire and spirit without the calculated maliciousness and desire to obliterate her life. she was a bit scatterbrained and her thoughts were a bit random, but it was amusing just to sit back and watch her talk. j.r. hadn't really seen anything like her. she had maggie's fire and bella's sincerity, while all the time keeping j.r. on his toes. it was quite enjoyable if he did say so himself. even if some of the topics had his brow furrowed in confusion. the topic of wonder woman seemed to fall away as j.r. noticed leda perk up as to the location of his former home. "yes it's very cool for people coming for a visit. very dangerous if you live there." people at the resorts and such didn't see a lot of what happened in the real parts of the city. the parts where people like his father were the law and others just tried to skate by without getting killed. who would have thought a city of the drunks would be so dangerous? but it was. tijuana definitely wasn't a place to raise your children, even if tourism was through the roof during the spring and summer months. "ah that doesn't surprise me. after one too many, the many ways of getting in trouble sound more and more appealing." leda's friend was lucky she hadn't ended up with some kind of infection. had she gotten a piercing that probably would have been all the more likely. "it's spring break central apparently, but completely different once you get out of resorts and the areas where spring break is most popular. people tend to not want to party near the homeless children and the prostitutes." j.r. chuckled even though the situation wasn't a humorous. it was more of a pity chuckle if there was such a thing.

-----so wonder woman was a super hero. well that made a little more sense even if the concept of super heroes was a little vague. "sounds like a luchador to me." j.r. said amidst the talk of boobs. "oh well then that's my kind of woman." he waggled his eyebrows before breaking out in a big grin, obviously kidding. "eh well luchadors are kind of like...what do you call them, wrestlers? but in mexico they're treated in high regard. you could call them super heroes even though they do not save lives." he never thought that something from his own country would be so hard to explain but then again it was nice to know that he was at least trying. j.r. smiled as leda took a crack as spanish and did very well. "very nice. you know how to roll your r's well." he said with a smirk as the conversation continued in another direction. "since i'm here i might as well attempt to fit in no? i already have a bit of an accent to single me out, i can't have anything else drawing attention to myself." señor tijuana. well goodness knows if could have been worse. like señor son of a drug lord or señor dangerous. well j.r. supposed there was pletny of time for leda to see that side of him would she run into him again. suddenly, out of no where, there was a ball flying in his direction and j.r. had to lean hard backwards to make sure it didn't hit him in the face before he could catch it. but he rolled over his shoulder to his feet, dropping the ball to the ground and dribbling it a little from side to side before lobbing it, lightly, up to leda. "almost didn't catch it. good thing you've got me on my toes." he said with a chuckle.

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status • finished
words • 1596
tagged • jeda ?
wearing • yum.
listening to • our time now - plain white tees.
notes • i love these two. so carefree and fun.

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