Looking Up • •

[pippa elise quatrello]

Some people might find it weird to live and work at the same place, but Pippa had no qualms with it. Then again, after four years on the streets she had just been thankful for a roof over her head. The fact that the roof had turned into something permanent, and had come with a job offer was just something of a miracle to the blonde girl. Pippa had never known good luck, or even anything more than a brief moment of happiness until she had landed on the doorstep of The Big Apple Hostel. Even now she had to pinch herself when she woke up in a warm bed, or got paid and had money to buy the things she saw in shop windows. When she was a teenager she had lived with just a few things shoved into a backpack and when she was desperate she raided dumpsters or stole, which she hated doing. Now she got to go to the markets and the thrift stores where she found the type of clothes and furniture she loved the most to decorate the little private room she had behind the desk at the hostel. It was her own space, away from the ever changing tourists, and Ashley let her do what she liked in there in terms of decorating and furnishing it. For as long as Pip called it home, it was her space and hers alone.

She slept in that morning after working the night shift behind the check in. There were some late arrivals from Germany and she waited up for them, getting them situated and making sure they had everything they wanted and needed before turning in for the night. She had to let George out before she could fall into bed, so the pup was up and pawing at the door himself when she got dressed that morning, keen to greet everyone who was making the most of what the hostel had to offer. Pip opened the door and the dog scampered out to see the guests. She laughed, tugging her shoes on before stepping out and greeting the staff member who was sitting at the desk and helping someone with directions around the city.

Pippa had a few chores to get done before the day was done, and she blitzed through them all before lunch. She never slacked off and made sure that everything that needed to be done was done before she relaxed. Today was a little different though. Ashley had called the day before and asked her if there was any chance that she could handle running the place for the afternoon since she needed to deal with some personal matters. It was no big deal; after everything Ashley had done for Pip there was very little she wouldn’t do for the hostel owner. Plus, it wasn’t like there was a lot to handle. Everything ran smoothly for the most part at the hostel and even the staff hung out with the guests, playing foosball or watching movies when they had the chance. Pip curled herself up on one of the oversized beanbags not too far from the entrance, and continued reading the book she had started earlier in the week. She wasn’t the quickest of readers, but she still enjoyed it. Until someone needed her, she could pass the hours here.

• • •

TAGGED! Percival Harrison Collins
WORDS! 560!
OUTFIT! Kooky Kid!
LYRICS! Kids In The Dark - - - All Time Low
NOTES! <3

[Percival Harrison Collins]

Perry kept up the donations his aunt and uncle started because it was what they would have wanted and it made him feel like they were both still around. For a long time after his aunt passed away, Perry felt completely lost in a familiar world. He had no family after they were gone and he honestly didn't know what to do with himself. It was still some time before he'd registered for NYU though even after all this time, he wasn't back to the guy his family knew. He was closed off and a little bit guarded because he was scared of losing someone else. He'd grown up his entire life in a house that was too empty, with parents who cared too little or in the dorm room of this boarding school or that one. Perry had lost his parents long before he'd even turned ten, which was why he'd become so close to Max and Corinne. They had allowed him to be a child, a teenager when he was one. It was all he had ever wanted. Corinne used to chase him around their big old house, laughing and tickling him when she caught him, she was the one who taught Perry how to bake, even if he hadn't really appreciated it until he'd been sent away to England for boarding school.

The business manager Perry kept on the books, to keep track of all the things Perry had to do but it wasn't really much. Sign a few checks, smile and take some pictures and then he was done for another few months. Because he was partial owner of the family business, he had to go to some fancy events and things but he could pick and choose those and they were usually few and far between. He attended his aunt's favourites but the rest, he left for the business manager to deal with. Today's trip out was one of Corinne's absolute favourite places. Perry had never heard the story behind the hostel but his aunt always smiled and said it was part of a fond memory. After hearing that a dozen or more times, Perry had just given up on asking her any more. And it was a tale she'd taken to the grave so he would never know but he would happily keep his aunt's memory alive with the donation she gave them yearly. 

The last few years he'd been unable to present the donation in person, the first he hadn't even been in New York and the last couple he'd been so sick with flu that he'd barely left his room for an entire two weeks. He didn't get sick often but when he did, it was as though he were on his deathbed. Perry didn't bother calling in the business manager, he could easily drive himself to the hostel and present the check on his own. There was no ceremony here. It was a simple donation in his aunt's name and then he was walking back out the door once again. That was what he told himself when he parked his car outside the building he'd never seen before. He headed to the desk once inside but took time to look around because no one was sitting behind the desk. "Excuse me, do you know if the owner is available?" He asked a girl close by.

Tag || pippa elise quatrello
Words || 564
Clothes || Arriving Shortly!
Music || Leave the Night On --Sam Hunt
Notes || <3

[pippa elise quatrello]

Pippa had never known much in her life. Even the early years when she could remember her mother and father and the home they shared were full of sparse meals, and saving the change in the bottom of purses. Surviving was really all she had known from the day she was born and she had done it well, even with the rotten hand that life had dealt her. She didn’t have much by way of memories; her dad was gone one day when she was ten and her mother barely made it through the following year before the reaper reached out for her. After that there was nothing left in her life beside her little brother and no matter how hard she tried she couldn’t be enough for him. She was just a kid herself and she couldn’t look after him. It still crushed her that he had wanted to go into care, but when she saw him now he was happier than she could ever remember him being. He’d be off to college in another year; living a life Pip had never had a chance at.

It was a well-kept secret that she was a high school dropout. She’d dropped off the grid to avoid getting taken into care and the streets had become her home. She knew enough to get by, but if she wasn’t working in the hostel she would be back to having nothing again. It was a horrible thought and something Pip chose not to dwell on if she could. She was grateful for everything Ashley had given to her without even asking for anything big in return. Pip didn’t consider working for the woman a chore. She saw the owner as a friend, and they ate together and went out together when they had the time. It was a unique bond, but Pip considered Ashley the reason why she wasn’t huddled in doorways anymore.

Days at the hostel were usually pretty straightforward. Some tourists wanted directions or help where they should start in such an amazing city, other people just wanted to kick back and relax after long flights. There was enough around the three floors for people to entertain themselves and they had designed it that way on purpose. It also meant Pip could just kick back and relax without fretting too much about what people were doing. They didn’t have that stress like hotel employees. They were merely around to offer help if it was needed and to play tour guide from behind the front desk. Hearing the voice she looked up with her eyebrows slightly raised, slipping her bookmark into place and pushing herself to her feet. “Ashley’s not here today. I’m her second in command though. Can I help?” She flashed the man a wide smile as she took a step towards him. Pip knew she didn’t look like much. She was young, still stick thin, and if he asked for her resume it didn’t exist. Ashley had taken a chance on her though, and Pip wasn’t the type to let someone down. She worked hard to make sure that everything went to plan when Ashley wasn’t around and her slate was clean when it came to that. So far there had been no major problems though since they had opened their doors two years back. “I’m Pip, by the way.” She offered her hand to him, the smile still on her face. Playing the role of the eternally happy girl was easier than answering questions about her rough past.

• • •

TAGGED! Percival Harrison Collins
WORDS! 594!
OUTFIT! Kooky Kid!
LYRICS! Kids In The Dark - - - All Time Low
NOTES! <3

[Percival Harrison Collins]

Perry had promised his aunt when she died that he would continue her philanthropic ways and give to all the charities and foundations and places she always gave money to. He didn’t have to but he found he liked it. It gave people something to hope for, to look forward to being able to build or purchase and Perry found he liked helping people. Plus, he had the money, more money than he could spend in four lifetimes so why not put some towards making other people happy? At the end of the day, he found he was quite happy with all that his money could accomplish for people so he was happy to continue what his aunt started. Some of the places she gave money to made him question her reasons of course, but Perry wouldn’t stop giving to them even though he didn’t know the back story for them.

The culinary student took pride in what his aunt did so he tried to bring the money in person though it wasn’t always possible to do. This place however, he always set aside the time to do himself. This hostel had been important to his aunt and she had basically raised him so if he didn’t do anything else right in the world, he wanted this to be that one thing he did do right. He didn’t know much about the hostel, it hadn’t been open all that long, to his knowledge but his aunt cared about it, even if she died shortly after it opened. So he would keep helping out whilst he was around and make sure that whoever followed him, if anyone ever did would continue until the hostel closed its doors.

Perry had no idea who he was supposed to be seeing. He’d known her name was Ashley but because he didn’t know if she was the sole employee or if there were others, he didn’t know if he should call her by her name or just ask for the owner. It was complicated for him. He usually went to big places that had obvious employees and volunteers. Here there weren’t any of that. And he was left floundering a little bit. “You work here?” He asked, out of curiosity more than anything else. “Pleasure, Pip, I’m Perry. Perry Collins. I’m here on behalf of my aunt Corinne.” He said, hoping any of what he was saying made any sort of sense. Really he hoped his aunt’s name would ring a bell and have Pip knowing why he was there without him having to explain his presence to her. He wasn’t so great with words and managed to mumble himself into nothing. By the time he was done, he managed to even confuse himself and that really didn’t help him. And for Corinne, he needed to make sense.

Tag || pippa elise quatrello
Words || 509
Clothes || Arriving Shortly!
Music || Leave the Night On --Sam Hunt
Notes || <3

[pippa elise quatrello]

Pippa had always tried her best. She had been shouldering responsibilities far beyond her capabilities when she was just a kid. She had done everything she could to survive and her story was probably the type that Lifetime would turn into those daytime movies that were badly acted and overdramatised. Pip didn’t need any more drama in her life. It had been dramatic and traumatic enough. This was finally where she was catching a break and wondering if she was finally going to be able to relax without worrying what was going to come at her next. Her brother was with a family who took care of him and though it killed Pip to realise she couldn’t do that for him, she was glad he was safe and well. It was all she had ever wanted for him and all she had tried desperately to do. She had been so young though, and it wasn’t easy. Now she had no qualifications to her name, and was still getting used to having a roof over her head that wouldn’t be snatched away from her. It was only in the last few months that Pip had come to sleep through the night and stop jumping when there was a knock on her door.

She was grateful, and would be forevermore. She had absolutely no clue what she could do with herself since she was essentially unemployable by anyone other than Ashley, but she would be loyal to Ashley for as long as she was wanted. Pip enjoyed working at the hostel and living there was a pretty nice deal, too. No one had showed her such kindness before that night when the older woman had taken her in. It still made Pip emotional to think about it, and more than once she had to excuse herself to the bathroom when the memory returned. No one else here knew about Pip’s past. They simply decided that Pip lived there so there was always someone on site, and she had been with Ashley since the very beginning. No one ever seemed to question it then, though Pip was sure a few doubted her abilities given her age and appearance. Take away the clothes her salary could now buy and she still looked like a street kid. Hot water just meant she was at least clean now.

Pippa smiled and nodded her head. “Work here and live here. I take care of things when Ashley isn’t around.” That was really the best way to sum up Pip’s post at the hostel. Ashley trusted her to handle everything in her absence, and the other employees turned to Pip when they couldn’t find Ashley. “My credentials are that I’m in every photograph on these walls. But they’re awful, so don’t look at them.” She only half joked. Pip was a strange girl, but it was a true fact. The hostel was lined with photos from parties and events over the years and Pip really was in every one of them. It was one of their hostel tid-bits that got brought up when people were asking about some of the images, but Pip cringed at most of them. Photogenic, she did not think she was. “Oh yes! Ashley’s dealt with this before now, but I got this! I got you, come, come.” She ushered Perry to the reception desk so Pip could grab the paperwork and the books and just about everything else she knew Ashley kept tucked away back there for the business. Pip found the right things and then mimicked Ashley’s words in her own barely legible handwriting.

• • •

TAGGED! Percival Harrison Collins
WORDS! 608!
OUTFIT! Kooky Kid!
LYRICS! Kids In The Dark - - - All Time Low
NOTES! <3

[Percival Harrison Collins]

Perry was trying his hardest to make it through life unscathed. His parents basically hated him, his mother acted like he was somehow the spawn of Satan because he’d ruined her modeling career, his father seemed to think of him as someone who was just guzzling his money out from under him. But yet, he’d been the one to demand the best education, the best of everything. It made perfect sense why Perry had rebelled as much and as often as he did. Living in a house like that was a nightmare. But he’d also been one of the lucky ones, he’d had an aunt and uncle who had actually cared about him and his well-being.

It was only right that he tried all he could to do right by his aunt and uncle. He’d gone through so much and unlike his own parents, they’d been there for him, supported him when they saw he was rebelling. They gave him a room in their house, clothes to wear, books to read and food to eat when his own parents just wanted him to be a large check to an excellent school and nothing more. His credit cards had been attached to Corinne’s and Max’s accounts, he was covered under their health insurance, they paid any of the bills he may have incurred whilst away at school, like his phone bills and the like, they bought him everything he may have needed and helped him when his own parents couldn’t even remember who he was. He’d run to them when he returned home after yet another expulsion and his own mother thought he was one of the new staff members, there to care for the gardens or the cars. Who did that to their own son? Of course, how could he forget who his mother was, really. It was beyond unforgivable but completely like Rose Collins and after that, Perry never returned to that house again.

He moved to New York with his aunt and uncle, attended boarding school in the UK and decided to become someone his aunt and uncle could be proud of. It had been a lot of hard work but Perry did make it to graduation in England, something no one thought would ever happen. And now only a few short years later, he was alone in the world but also an equal to his father, owning equal shares to the family business. He was worth millions now but he always had Corinne in his ear so he’d been good with the money, not blowing it all on stupid things. He hadn’t bought a Ferrari or a Ducati. Yes, he had a driver and a maid but he kept things thing anyway and did drive his own car quite a bit. He cooked his own meals, took care of his aunt and uncle’s charities himself and invested wisely. “That’s pretty cool.” He admitted. He’d never really had to actually work for what he had but he did these days. He had something to prove now more than ever. He chuckled at her joke but he trusted her. If she wasn’t who she said she was, he knew there would be a phone call from Ashley to his mobile, wondering where he’d gone because the money wasn’t there. “Take your time. I’m in no rush.” He told her with a grin, unconcerned. And he wasn’t. This was the only thing he really needed to do himself. Everything else could be put off or done by someone else at the New York offices his family kept and he oversaw.

Tag || pippa elise quatrello
Words || 644
Clothes || Arriving Shortly!
Music || Leave the Night On --Sam Hunt
Notes || <3

[pippa elise quatrello]

Pippa never felt like she deserved what she had here. It all seemed too good for what she was. She hadn’t even completed her freshman year of high school after lashing out at a suspicious teacher one day. Her brother Jimmy had surrendered himself up to child protection services who found a foster family who eventually adopted him, but Pip always felt like no one would do that for her. They’d look at her and see the troublemaker who had lied to everyone, who had been violent on one occasion when she felt as though everything she had tried so hard to protect had been threatened. She’d end up a number in the system, forgotten and wasted. She lacked the charm of her little brother who had always been able to win the hearts of strangers while all Pip ever earned were glares and remarks like ‘beat it, kid’. Part of her was still waiting for the day when Ashley said those same words, despite the woman telling her that she had a home at The Big Apple for as long as she wanted one. Pip had proven her worth in the two years since she had been walloped with the front door and Ashley considered her family now, but that was a concept too big for Pip who had only ever had Jimmy at a distance for the last seven years, and a gold necklace around her neck to remind her that she actually was someone’s sister on the coldest of nights when she had been sure she might freeze to death under a fire escape.

She knew that there had been options when she was out on the street, but for three and a half years she had been a minor, and turning anywhere for help would only see her thrown back to child services who were already looking for her during that time. Pippa hadn’t wanted to be some foster kid, or stuck in a care home with other kids whose lives sucked. She had fought to try and look after her brother but Jimmy wanted a shot at a real family. He had wanted more than his resilient sister who would’ve died to keep him safe. Hell, she almost died keeping herself safe. Pneumonia twice, at least, and god knows what else she hadn’t been able to see a doctor about before meeting Ashley. Pip was mostly healthy now, though her skinny appearance suggested she didn’t eat half as much junk as she really did. She assumed it was a side effect of being starved for so long, living off what she could scavenge or steal when she was desperate enough. Pip wasn’t proud of her five years on the streets. She loathed them, but they were a part of her story. She couldn’t go back and erase them or change them. They had happened. She just didn’t talk about it. Even when Ashley tried to ask her questions she kept her answers vague or shrugged them off. It was a dark time and it had left her memories powerful enough to become nightmares, and a scattering of scars she could only tell stories for a handful of.

Yet, Pip was a happy woman. Her insecurities and fears were hidden behind her wide smile and an embarrassingly loud laugh. She worked hard and tried not to let her mind wander to those darker times. She wanted to find a happy ending in a world full of horror stories, but the hostel was the closest she had come so far. Pip was happy with that though, and it was more than she had ever had in her life. She didn’t mind the banging doors waking her up, or the constant bustle. It was her home and it was warm and always welcoming. “I like to think so.” She smiled. Again, Pip had no photographs of her life before her, so she felt like this was where it all kind of began for her, like this was where she was reborn and could actually start living, rather than just fighting to survive. “No, no, it’ll all be over in a few minutes anyway and then-“ At that moment Pip’s stomach let out an almighty growl and her eyes widened. “And then apparently I can order in my lunch. I’m really sorry about that. It’s got a mind of its own.” She scribbled some more things down and then spun the book around to Perry. “If you just want to look that over and sign at the bottom for me. I’ll pop it all in the safe then until Ashley’s next in.” Pip left Perry to it and bent down to grab her collection of takeout menus from the bottom drawer. She had never learnt to cook anything more than toast and heat up canned produce, so she practically kept take away restaurants in business with how much she ordered from them in a regular week. Yet she was still skin and bones, elbows as deadly as weapons. Pip put it down as one of life’s mysteries.

• • •

TAGGED! Percival Harrison Collins
WORDS! 856!
OUTFIT! Kooky Kid!
LYRICS! Kids In The Dark - - - All Time Low
NOTES! <3