saltburnt groupchat.

[doped]

YELLOWJACKETS

SHAUNA, MELISSA, MISTY, NATALIE, LOTTIE, VAN, JACKIE the wilderness, it hears us

Guys

Cute!!!

did you catch that??

dinner

shauna gross

You know, rabbits are very social creatures that live in groups!

what's up doc? 🥕

CODING

Comments

un: yellowjackie (backdated a bit, meant to be filtered from nat but not whoops)

[katharma]

OK guys since it’s March that means Nat’s birthday is soon & since we’re back to civilization (and then some) we should throw a birthday party for her.

Anyone in/wanna help me plan?

[involuntary]

I think that's a great idea, Jackie. I'll help.

[katharma]

OK cool! Thanks Lottie :)

Think the staff will let us in the kitchen to make a cake?

[involuntary]

Better to beg forgiveness than ask permission, right? :)

[katharma]

I love your style ;)

OK I wonder if they have a cookbook or something here

[involuntary]

You don't know how to make a cake?

[ neither does lottie but that's hardly the point ]

It can't be that hard, I'll take a look in the library and see if I can find a recipe for us to follow.

cw: hints at disordered eating

[katharma]

My mom was never big on activities that involved the kitchen.

[ especially not activities that resulted in temptations for her or her daughter. ]

But ok sounds good!

[psilocybe]

I'll help too

[katharma]

Awesome! Thank you Travis :)

I had a couple ideas given how big this place is but do u have any?

[psilocybe]

no problem.
Maybe an arcade? Are we getting her a cake or anything?

[katharma]

Ooh the arcade’s a good idea!

& I was gonna try to make one but realistically we’d probably have to find one or something.

[psilocybe]

we can probably use the kitchens right? It can't be that hard to bake a cake

[after everything they've had to make a cake should be ...well, a piece of cake.]

[katharma]

I think so? They could probably make one if we asked but idk I feel like there’s something about making one ourselves.

I think between all of us we can figure it out :)

[doped]

lol i’m in the chat jax
i’ll help tho 🙋‍♀️

1/2

[katharma]

Oh SHIT
Fuck sorry Nat this was supposed to be a surprise (kinda)

2/2

[katharma]

Also no way! Ur the birthday girl you just have to enjoy :)

Well wait what kind of cake do u like?

[doped]

hehe that's ok
:)

i like chocolate cake chocolate frosting

[katharma]

♥️♥️♥️

A classic ok! I think we can make that work.

Anything else you’d want as far as food goes? Or drinks? (Drinks seem really easy to come by here.)

[doped]

ok you have to at least let me handle the drinks ok let me do SOMETHING
i'll get us a hookup

[katharma]

NAT it's your birthday u shouldn't have to do work on it or for it!!!

[ but she knows the feeling of wanting to contribute, so: ]

OK if you can make a list of like, snacks or drinks u wanna have. Or if there are any rooms here u wanna visit.

[diarists]

[there are two wolves insid her (be the standoffish bitch shes been for months or play along) but as always, the one that wants to make jackie happy wins.]

yeah, sure.
i'll help.

[katharma]

[ there’s things that jackie knows she isn’t being told and a weird tension she’s noticed in the times where they’ve been together. part of her wants to ask, but she worries that asking might make things worse.

there’s another part of her that wonders if it’s better for her not to know. ]

Thank you Shipman. I couldn’t pull it off without your help :)

[diarists]

[there is. shauna knows it, feels it between them, heavy and weighty, like a scent in the air she can't quite shake.]

remember the party you threw for the end of junior year? i blew up so many balloons my hands smelled like latex for DAYS.
i could big-bash-plan in my SLEEP by now.

maybe we could take over one of the suites? ours is probably cleaner than nat and travis's. do cake and stuff there, then go wherever?

[katharma]

[ there’s a nagging worry that it might come to a head in a dangerous way eventually, like it had with her. they’re somewhere that’s both safer and more dangerous than the wilderness and they don’t know who’s brought them here or who they’re with yet. but for the time being they’ve decided to stick together and jackie wants to hold onto that.

it can be brought up later, if it needs to be, but right now they have a party to plan. ]

Oh my GOD trying to keep my parents out of the guest room was a nightmare. I still don’t know how we got all of them cleaned up afterward

And yeah sounds good! Travis said there’s an arcade, should we try to see what other rooms we can go to throughout the night?

[diarists]

[the memories take a moment to come back, glimpses of whispering and giggling and staying up all night in the sweetly girlish surrounds of jackie's bedroom, things that had always been the core of who shauna shipman was. but they have to struggle now, to be realer than the woods, the lake, the snowy expanse of winter, the blistering ache of spring.

but they do come back, and shauna laughs aloud, slouched in a chair in the library, thumbs tapping away at her reply.]

it was a MIRACLE we didn't get caught!! especially after randy left a whole bottle of vodka and we had to hide it in your underwear drawer.

like a house bar crawl! there've gotta be other cool places. i'll look around, see if anyone's got a map or something.