MANDY REID
Witch
Posts: 46
Age:
Twenty One
Occupation:
College Student
Status:
Single
Partner:
Future: Rhys McEvoy
Played by:
Lissa
Last seen Nov 13, 2024 15:45:23 GMT
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Post by MANDY REID on Feb 5, 2022 14:09:17 GMT
| Finishing up at her brothers shop for the day. Some days could be awfully slow and then others could go quite quick. Sales couldn’t be booming all the time. Though if she had learned one thing, then the other witches of this town certainly used them a lot as a resource. After visiting with her brothers, she decided it was time to get back to campus, she had early classes in the morning.
Leaving the shop flipping the sign round to closed as she left. Walking through town she paused outside the grill. Suddenly she was quite hungry and decided to grab a bite to eat before heading back to school. Pushing open one of the large double doors, she looked around for a table spotting what she thought was an empty booth in the corner. Before heading over there she grabbed herself a menu.
As she walked over, she started slipping off her jacket and slipped into the booth. As she did so she realised that the table wasn’t empty at all, rather she couldn’t see the occupant from the direction she had been walking in. Recognising it to be Rhys she smiled sheepishly, ” I am so sorry. I didn’t realise the table was taken. I couldn’t see you from the direction I was walking…” She offered as quick explanation.
She scanned the restaurant quickly for another table and spotted a lone two-seater slightly closer to the bar. That’ll do… she thought to herself, ” I’m so sorry. I’ll go get my own table… Enjoy your night.” She smiled grabbing her jacket and menu as she started to get back to her feet and move to her second choice of table.
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RHYS MCEVOY
Psychic
Posts: 45
Age:
22
Occupation:
Owner of Kitschy Kitschy Coo
Status:
Interested In
Partner:
Mandy Reid
Played by:
Ange
Last seen Oct 21, 2024 18:25:33 GMT
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Post by RHYS MCEVOY on Apr 12, 2022 19:40:22 GMT
Rhys propped his elbows on the edge of the table, the fingers of one hand squeezing at the back of his neck while the other held his phone to his ear. The music that always seemed to be pumping at the Grill almost drowned out his dad’s voice as he spoke again. ”It’ll just be for one more night. We’ll get the contracts for the new run signed first thing in the morning. Are you gonna be OK on your own for a night?”
Maybe not given how strange things had been lately but Rhys forced out a chuckle. ”Two nights in a row without my dad around? Yeah, just maybe.” If he’d been pretty much any of his classmates he would’ve turned the empty house into a chance to party but Rhys had never seen himself as one of those kids. Last night with the house going quiet around him he’d headed for bed before 11. Early to bed, early to rise. Hopefully less likely to shriek himself out of a restless sleep when the woman who’d dragged him from the diner to somewhere decided to arrive in his dreams again. The first time had been bad enough, the memory hitting him at odd times in flashes and shards of what felt so much like reality.
”Good,” his dad said on a chuckle. ”Just don’t stay at the store too late. You need to get your beauty sleep.” Said the man who’d barely slept half a dozen hours a night for as long as Rhys could remember.
He felt a pang in the pit of his stomach that had only been partly erased as his dad had settled back into a life that was missing a huge chunk at the core of it. Rhys toyed with the edge of the menu, making a low sound in the back of his throat. ”I promise I’ll be home by 9. Drive safe tomorrow.” The warning almost stuck in his throat.
Rhys was on the brink of returning his dad’s ‘bye, I love you’ when someone slipped in on the other side of the booth, obviously not banking on the fact that it was already occupied. A sheet of strawberry blonde hair, freckles, a strong London accent that emerged the minute she went to apologise. Mandy. He held up a hand, waving it off. ”I’ll see you tomorrow … I love you.” Not the sort of thing most wanted to be caught saying.
By the time he got it out Mandy was already grabbing her menu and jacket and was sliding back out of the booth. Rhys leaned over the table, tapping her with the corner of his own menu. ”Hey, sorry. That was my dad. He’s out of town and he always worries.” There was a sheepishness to his smile, a hint of colour to cheeks that kept a light tan even in the winter. ”I’d kinda tucked myself away. You can stay if you want? I don’t have company for dinner and eating alone here for the second day running’s probably gonna start some rumours.” He was joking of course but those ice breakers tended to put people at ease. He’d meant to catch up with her at school after that first tour anyway, see how she was settling in but time always seemed to slip away, even when you were trying to keep an iron grip on everything.
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MANDY REID
Witch
Posts: 46
Age:
Twenty One
Occupation:
College Student
Status:
Single
Partner:
Future: Rhys McEvoy
Played by:
Lissa
Last seen Nov 13, 2024 15:45:23 GMT
|
Post by MANDY REID on May 18, 2022 6:31:59 GMT
❝ Somewhere Over The Rainbow...
Skies Are Blue❞
Mandy was starving as she wondered into the grill. Just wanted to get herself something to eat before she headed back to the dorms for the night. Working all day in her brothers’ store, sorting inventory… living the dream she thought to herself wryly. As she walked into the grill, she realized it was busy, but she was never one to eat at the bar.
Scanning around the tables once more she seen what she thought was an empty booth. Snagging a menu on the way in she ran over to claim her table before someone else could. By the time she got there however and sat down she realized it actually wasn’t empty at all… She just couldn’t see the occupant from where she had been standing at the time.
Apologising for the intrusion and offered a quick but extremely lame explanation. She was about to get up when he tapped her on the arm with the corner of his menu and so she stopped moving as he hung up on his phone, ” You didn’t have to hang up. I didn’t mean to interrupt anything…” Mandy told him a sheepish smile on her face as an apology, ” That’s nice though. I’m in a different country and my parents probably don’t worry enough. But that could be because I’m here with my two very older brothers so… I’m safe enough I guess.” Mandy told him wondering briefly when the last time she actually spoke to her mother and father, ” Time zones probably don’t help either.” She added realizing trying to sync up the schedules was a pain.
She looked around again trying to find an empty table but really there wasn’t one. When he offered her a chance to stay, she didn’t immediately jump at the chance. That would just look far to desperate and weird in her book, ” Thanks…. There really… isn’t… another table in this place that’s free.” She said pausing every now and then as she pretended to scan the restaurant, ” Thank you.” She said again as she slipped back into her seat opposite Rhys.
She laughed a little when he said that she would actually do him a favour. Second night eating alone might start some rumours, ” Alright I’ll be chivalrous and defend your reputation.” Mandy laughed, ” Though this could start some other rumours.” Mandy reminded him. Mandy didn’t really have a reputation to defend, she was new in town, no one really knew who she was.
Notes:  |
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RHYS MCEVOY
Psychic
Posts: 45
Age:
22
Occupation:
Owner of Kitschy Kitschy Coo
Status:
Interested In
Partner:
Mandy Reid
Played by:
Ange
Last seen Oct 21, 2024 18:25:33 GMT
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Post by RHYS MCEVOY on May 25, 2022 18:45:59 GMT
By the time he’d hit high school Rhys had gotten used to the teasing about his dad. Boys and their dads were supposed to be close but with only the two of them in the family they were closer than most. He hadn’t pulled faces about his dad turning up on parents’ evening, hadn’t blushed hot enough to rival the sun when his dad would drive over and pick him up from school. Hell, close families were better than the alternative and if Rhys was being honest, he’d liked the bond, it made up for the one he barely had with his mom. They’d never gotten to really sit around in a place like this, having one of those rare dinners out on a school night, a treat for some sort of achievement at school, had never really managed a family vacation either, his tiny legs churning up foam at the edge of the water with a parent hanging onto each hand. His dad had tried to fill that gap but there were times you couldn’t help but feel that vacuum.
Catching sight of Mandy as she bolted away from the table with an apology, Rhys kinda figured she’d get that if he wanted to admit it aloud. She’d told him she was in town with her brothers, their parents left behind in London. Unless your family was seriously dysfunctional – maybe even then - some part of you had to miss them when you were away.
Feeling a trace of heat rising in his cheeks, he chuckled lightly. Maybe there was a little bit of embarrassment there at getting caught telling his dad he loved him. He shook his head at her though, dropping the menu back on the table as he did so. ”You weren’t. We were done anyway. He’d just lectured me about not staying out too late. You’d think I had the whole Cinderella thing going on.” Rhys’ brows bunched faintly but then the expression softened. He grinned, pretending to look past her. ”I’m guessing they trust both of them. How much are your brothers trusting you though?” There was no sign of big burly British guys waiting behind her to put the hurt on him for laying even an eye on their little sister so Rhys figured he was pretty safe with his judgment.
He’d been prepared to give Mandy another prod with the menu to encourage her back but after a glance at the full tables it looked like he was gonna prove to be the lesser of all the evils in here. Another shiver ran down his spine just at the thought of the word. Shifting in his seat, he plucked a menu from the stand on the table, dropping it in front of her as though people didn’t learn the menu off by heart pretty rapidly here. ”You’ve just got great timining,” Rhys promised. ”Half an hour either way and you wouldn’t have had any trouble. You learn.” When you were born and raised here it was almost like you knew the rhythm of the town like the back of your own hand. That was probably what had made the two situations lately feel so damn alien. Nothing had ever been like that here.
Flopping back in his seat, Rhys pressed his hands together, then touched his lips to the tips of his index fingers before he tilted them in her direction. He’d only been kidding about the saving him but honestly, he preferred the company, especially with someone he’d found interesting, and pretty funny, during their trip around the campus. ”Thank you. Hmm, that you’re some sort of saint in disguise? Sweeping in on your white horse to save … huh … what is the male version of a maiden?” he asked with a chuckle. Clucking his tongue at himself he shook his head and started to toy with the edge of the menu. ”Don’t worry, I think your virtue’s pretty safe with me.” A promise he could keep there, he always been a good guy. Rhys studied her as he tapped his fingers lightly over the Caesar salad on the menu. ”You heading in from school or fuelling up before you go back?” There’d be no ride back for him, just a half mile stroll home through town. Tomorrow morning he’d jump in the bug and head back to campus for classes.
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MANDY REID
Witch
Posts: 46
Age:
Twenty One
Occupation:
College Student
Status:
Single
Partner:
Future: Rhys McEvoy
Played by:
Lissa
Last seen Nov 13, 2024 15:45:23 GMT
|
Post by MANDY REID on Oct 28, 2022 14:53:52 GMT
❝ Somewhere Over The Rainbow...
Skies Are Blue❞
Well, this was embarrassing. Attempting to sit at a table which she thought was empty… then realizing it wasn’t only after she had sat down. She was apologising and getting up to find herself a different table and he told her not to, hanging up from his phone call. She laughed at his Cinderella reference, ” Well, as long as you leave behind a glass slipper…” Mandy smiled as she got comfortable at the table with her first friend in this town.
She went on to mention that her parents probably don’t worry enough. She knew they probably did, but the worry was less knowing that she was with Darcey and Nicky. Even if it was across the pond, ” I don’t give them the choice.” Mandy smirked with a chuckle. She could appreciate what her brothers tried to do for her. Though she knew for a fact if they were here, they would probably be sitting on either side of her, glaring down at him, grilling him of his intentions with their only sister.
Picking up the menu he offered and started flicking through it. She didn’t yet know the menu by heart, as she thought most of the others in town did. Scanning it she laughed a little when he said about saving his reputation. That eating along for a second night might start some rumours. She pretended to be chivalrous and defend his reputation. But then said that this might start a different set of rumours. She didn’t have a reputation here to defend yet. She was the mysterious new girl for a long of people on the college campus.
She laughed a bit, ” Bachelor?” she offered, ” Not the right era you’re looking for right?” She smiled a bit before flicking her eyes back to the menu. Chuckling when he mentioned her virtue wondering how the hell, they made it into that territory. She didn’t entirely know what to say back to it, other than if her brothers had heart it, he might be dead just for thinking about it.
When he asked where she was headed, ” Recovering from a day of slavery in my brother’s shop. So, fuelling up for heading back, I guess.” Mandy joked. In truth if she wanted, she didn’t have to head back to campus, she was always welcome at Nicky’s place. In fact, he would prefer her to be there and not alone on campus.
Notes:  |
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RHYS MCEVOY
Psychic
Posts: 45
Age:
22
Occupation:
Owner of Kitschy Kitschy Coo
Status:
Interested In
Partner:
Mandy Reid
Played by:
Ange
Last seen Oct 21, 2024 18:25:33 GMT
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Post by RHYS MCEVOY on Nov 9, 2022 21:04:35 GMT
He hadn’t entirely been the loner kid, sitting in the back of the classroom, silent except for when the teachers had called on him, through high school. There’d been friends, kids who’d race to the shop with him after school, scrambling for controllers to try and one up each other with whatever games they had in that week. There’d even been one or two who’d gotten in on the table top campaigns as they’d grown a little older. They’d ride around town on their bikes, heading out into the woods without an ounce of sense when it came to the danger that had obviously been out there the entire time. Rhys swallowed hard, his gaze skittering down to the menu for a moment before he steadied himself enough to look up at Mandy and shoot her a grin. The point was he hadn’t been friendless to the point where he hadn’t sat around a table here with someone, tossing those jokes back and forth. This was just new. Mandy was new.
Humming lightly, Rhys squirmed in the booth to extend a long denim glad leg, one stoppered at the foot with a boot, worn around the edges of the sole, but still serviceable enough to probably get him through another winter. ”I’m not sure they do those to fit me…” he murmured. The shoe might fit, but the hairy leg emerging from it would be a nightmare image for most. Fairy tale endings weren’t really made for his family anyway.
Or Mandy’s.
She hadn’t exactly filled me in on all the skeletons in her family’s closet, but in what he had heard he’d picked up enough to know that moving to Mystic Falls hadn’t been all about just another exciting chapter in the family’s lives. Her brothers were still protective over her, enough that if they were to see her having dinner with a stranger they’d not likely welcome him with exactly open arms. ”Giving them a taste of their own medicine, hmm? I guess if you can out stubborn them when it comes to that stuff you’ve got a hope yet.” Stubborn had never really been his way, not when he’d seen every refusal he’d made hit his dad like a sledgehammer. You gave up on ‘no’ pretty quickly when it brought tears to your dad’s eyes. It'd been a while since he’d brought one of those crying jags on though.
These days he had a little more freedom, reassurances and discussions taking the place of those flat, brutal, childish ‘no’s’. His dad wasn’t going to worry too much about him staying out for dinner, or him having company for it – maybe he could talk the Reid brothers around in the end. His reputation had to precede him right? Saint Rhys – it had a ring to it. Saint Rhys certainly was a bachelor, but … Laughing, Rhys shook his head again. ”Definitely not the right era,” he agreed. ”Gentleman maybe, although I think most would say they didn’t need a rescue.” He’d never been one of those jerks swearing categorically they didn’t need help when they were ready to keel over. And it had been close for him a few times lately.
That wasn’t about to take the edge off of his appetite. Rhys pushed the thought down. That was all something to come back to later, when he had the time to consider it and maybe fall apart a little when he realised that none of it made sense. ”Ah, the work day hunger pangs, those I get…” He aimed a finger in her direction in agreement. ”It’s the place on the square right? I saw it pop up a couple of years ago, I didn’t put the name and the place together when I was showing you around. My family’s store is just down the block. It was … my mom’s before she passed. I guess now it’s mine, although juggling that and school’s not easy. How’s it going for you?” He winged a brow as he saw the waitress sweeping in towards them. It wasn’t easy, especially not when there were other weights on your shoulders like he suspected were on Mandy’s.
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MANDY REID
Witch
Posts: 46
Age:
Twenty One
Occupation:
College Student
Status:
Single
Partner:
Future: Rhys McEvoy
Played by:
Lissa
Last seen Nov 13, 2024 15:45:23 GMT
|
Post by MANDY REID on Feb 4, 2023 10:04:01 GMT
❝ Somewhere Over The Rainbow...
Skies Are Blue❞
When you had brothers which were two decades older than you, you had to learn quickly how to stand up for yourself. To get what wanted. Not that she didn’t have them wrapped around her little finger. Mostly they just wanted her to be safe, sometimes she wasn’t to be safe from their smothering, ” Always got to keep them on their toes. If I didn’t stand up to them, they would walk all over me. You have to learn how to, and how to do it quickly.” Mandy commented, ” My Mum on the other hand. You do as your told, there is no in between. My dad, at least with me, can be bought.” Mandy chuckled. Then again, she was his little girl, and usually got away with murder.
She commented that she would save his reputation and then tried to offer what the male version of a maiden was, as a bachelor, but that was definitely the wrong era, ” Gentlemen it is then.” Mandy offered as she reached for a menu, perusing it before deciding on a burger. Ordering her burger when a waitress walked by with a pepsi she turned back to him, ” Yeah, their pride would be wounded. “ Mandy smiled. Knowing he wasn’t like most typical guys.
He asked if she was just heading in or heading back out to campus. She smiled saying she was heading back. Just eating after a day of slavery. That was exaggerating. She was paid well for the work she did in her brother’s store. Her food came seconds later, and she started picking at the fries, ” Yeah. Nicky is the academic and decided to try and grow my father’s original store. This is his store, but it’s the Reid name I guess.” Mandy explained waving the fries in her hand before popping them in her mouth. She listened to what he said, ” I’m sorry about your Mum…” Mandy told him. Granted it was probably a while ago. When he mentioned that his store was just down the block she gave him a small smile, ” I’m still learning my way around town… sorry I don’t know it. Show it to me sometime?” She asked sheepishly, feeling bad.
When he asked about school she nodded, ” Yeah, it’s good. It’s been a while since I got lost.” She smiled, ” I work when my school schedule allows for it… Nicky will not have me failing my classes.” Mandy told him gently. Doing a full day sometimes left her exhausted the next, but she worked through it.
Notes: |
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RHYS MCEVOY
Psychic
Posts: 45
Age:
22
Occupation:
Owner of Kitschy Kitschy Coo
Status:
Interested In
Partner:
Mandy Reid
Played by:
Ange
Last seen Oct 21, 2024 18:25:33 GMT
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Post by RHYS MCEVOY on Feb 15, 2023 21:10:25 GMT
Some kids were the jealous sort, lashing out when they couldn’t get what they wanted. He’d always handed the toys straight over to them, putting his hands up when he was older to step back from the fight rather than letting himself get pulled into one. There was so much his life had been missing, that he should’ve been jealous over, but he’d known almost from the moment he was old enough to understand what had happened to his mom that there wasn’t anything that could’ve been done to change what had happened. The world was cruel and more often than not you didn’t get what you desperately hoped you would, if you wanted to try and make it better for yourself then you did it through hard work. That was something that Mandy’s brothers would probably agree with, although by the sounds of it, there wasn’t much he was gonna be able to do to work his way into Mandy’s brothers’ good graces.
Rhys chuckled lightly, his brows rising. It sounded like a battle of wills, one that Mandy had to win to avoid a fate that sounded worse than death, at least when you were still in college. ”Now you’re making me a little glad that I didn’t have older siblings.” That would’ve been possible at least, an older brother or sister, one who would’ve taken him under their wing when the worst happened. Instead his world had shrunk down to just him and his dad that day. ”I guess that taught you to barter at least. That’s gotta come in handy for the store. My dad’s a push over, barely ever said no when I was a kid.” His smile dimmed slightly, his throat feeling thick as the reason why he was went unspoken. What might’ve been had disappeared with his mom’s life.
He guessed that every part of their lives had changed that day, who he might’ve been definitely adjusting to handle having just one parent in his life, ending up the parent every bit as much as his dad should’ve been. Rhys figured he always would’ve been a good guy, but it was more than that. He brushed the idea aside before he ended up picking over it too much. Awkwardly he managed a half bow, too hemmed in by the booth back and the table to manage much more than that as Mandy reached for a menu. ”Wel, let’s make sure we don’t do that,” he murmured. No wounded pride, no hovering brothers, just dinner.
It wouldn’t have been that different if they’d been having it back on campus – only the location and the quality of the burgers differing. If they were he’d have been the one leaving afterwards, making that drive back that had his skin crawling these days. Driving through the woods as fast as he could manage it, not slowing down for anything. The square, the Grill, the store, they were all hallowed ground, keeping the weird stuff that had happened lately at bay. Rhys drew his own plate close, liberally dosing his fries with salt and a pool of ketchup at one edge of the plate. ”So it’s Nicky you’re taking after with school then? I guess he’s doing the same as I am, trying to keep the family business going.” Only it wasn’t ‘McEvoy’s’ splashed on the sign above his door. Kitschy Kitschy Coo had been his parents’ choice and there was no way he was changing that, holding onto everything his mom had done to the play instead.
His eyes had drifted down to his plate, where he was picking at his fries, but at Mandy’s condolences Rhys looked up. He nodded at her, his lips curling faintly in an echo of hers. After all this time he still heard it from time to time, like it hadn’t been close to two decades since his mom had died. ”Thank you,” he said honestly. He huffed out a breath, trying to lighten his tone back up. ”Pick a day and we’ll do an exchange program. I’ll show you mine and you show me yours.” Only the double entendre in that had heat rolling into his cheeks. He picked up his burger, using it for cover as he took a bite. Rhys grinned around his mouthful, swallowing it before he hummed. ”I guess that means you had a decent guide in the first place. You ever want any help with it, you know where I am. I probably slogged through all the same classes back then. Study buddies?” He’d have propped his elbow on the table for a pinky swear but he hadn’t done that since he was seven. It was just a honest offer, one that might prevent him from solo nights like this one on those nights when his dad was out of town and the house felt just a little too big.
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