222

222 is a short story written by. It will be mostly improvisational but the basic premise will be is "A girl named Adalyn goes back to live with her parents after like a couple years away from them and she gets used to living back in this small town full of weirdos." As such, the cast and world will be mostly new as of writing. It will be more grounded than the usual fantasy stories that Exotoro writes.

Melbourne Family

 * Adalyn Melbourne - A 23 year old woman who left the nest early to peruse a writing career and moving to the big city to do so. Couple years later, she went flat-out broke and has to move back with her parents and family. An aspiring writer, fairly attractive but not extremely social.
 * Baldwin Melbourne - The father of Adalyn and her sister. Baldwin owns a video store business, which seems to generate less and less money every passing week. He's too stubborn to sell off the business, causing tensions between family members. He does genuinely care for them but knows when to cross the line.
 * Camille Melbourne - Adalyn's sister who is younger than her, yet looks older and is taller than her. She aspires to live the high life and get away from her family. She does whatever she can to do so, including dating rich jerks and doing things she doesn't want to do but will do for a chance at fame or fortune. She knows her boundaries and frequently crosses them.
 * Daria Melbourne - The mother of Adalyn and Camille. Fairly reserved yet stern, having specific ideas for her daughter's futures and if anything gets in the way of that she'll fight to keep their futures on track. Although she frequently fights over the fate of the video store, she does really love her family and just wants the best for them.

The Town

 * Racheal Bandervelt - A yoga instructor who's into all kinds of kinky stuff. Despite her odd quirks, she really does mean well for her students even if half of it is driven by seeing sexy bodies working out.

Chapter 1: Baggage
Adalyn stared out the airplane window, above the clouds, above it all. She certainly didn't feel above it all. She was going back to Elkhorn to retreat from her dream to become a writer in the big city of Chicago. Rent was too much and she wasn't making much money. She was also trapped within a writer's block to make things just ever so slightly worse. She sighed as she rested back in her seat.

Elkhorn was her admitting defeat. ''No, mom, I couldn't make it as a writer out in Chicago. You were right.'' She thought to herself. She groaned, knowing she'd have go to back home and admit that just by arriving. She already admitted it when she bought the plane tickets, she admitted it when she got on the plane. She had a sense of denial still intact through, that would be tossed away as soon as she came back to the house.

Three years had been a long time. She wondered what had changed. Her younger sister had to be 18 now, right? She left at 20, she was... 15. Wow. She leaned against the seat, taking in the idea that her sister was now, by all means, an adult.

And her parents! She wasn't sure how they would look but they had to be looking pretty old now. She was both excited... and frightened. She stared out the window, looking at the dark blue skies with the grey clouds. Flight was coming to an end soon. She fumbled over her notebook, filled with half-written sentences and jotted phrases of fancy.

Like a spilled out memory into a dream

She sighed as she rested her head into her hands. She adjusted her glasses a bit, swiped some of her red hair back and breathed as she felt the place slowly begin to seep past the clouds and down to the runway miles below. Her blue eyes blinked twice before staring out into the seat. She could only go up from here. Elkhorn was rock bottom, she could build her way back out.

The plane skidded down the runway, slowing in speed as the wheel jutted up and down the ground before gliding across. She sat in her chair, gripping onto the arm rests before the plane came to a stop. Finally, people were boarding out. She grabbed her laptop bag and slung it over her shoulder. As she headed out to the terminal, she took cautious steps forward. She knew her family would be waiting ahead, and she wasn't sure if she was ready to see what three years did to them.

Making her way to arrivals, she saw her dad and mom, almost exactly as she remembered them. Her sister looked very different, albeit she still registered as her sister. She wore a black dress with no straps, matching her raven colored hair. She seemed tall, even taller than herself. She felt unnerved.

"Adalyn!" cried out her mother, running over to hug her. She tensed up as she felt her mother's warmth grasp her like a claw machine hand gripping a prize. She pulled back a bit as her mother let go, staring at the car. The car was obviously new. It was a red car with a seat for the passenger and driver, and a bench for about three more people to share.

"You got any baggage?" asked her father, staring at the laptop bag. Truth be told, everything she needed over here was in the bag. She hadn't packed anything else, putting everything else she owned either up for sale or in a storage garage in an entirely different state entirely.

"Nope." she said. She made her way to the back seat, scooting to the right side as she was the first one in. She looked out the window as the other three packed in.

"Do you want to tell us about Chicago?" asked her mother, her voice having a mocking tone in Adalyn's eyes. Adalyn shook her head. "Maybe later."

She looked at her sister again. How was she taller than her? Sure, both were done with growing, but in the old world being the oldest meant you were the tallest. How did it become backwards while she was gone? Had she been to a party or something? What was up with the dress?

Questions would come another time though. For now, she shut her eyes as they prepared to head back on a hour and a half drive back to the home in Elkhorn.

Chapter 2: Dinner for Four
The Melbourne family catches up over dinner.

Chapter 3: Yoga Stripped Bones
Adalyn takes some yoga at the behest of her mother.

Trivia

 * This story was originally going to be a collaboration with, however the collaboration element was dropped before the story began as Exotoro feared it wasn't going to work.
 * An early version of this was also meant to be the basis of a collaboration between Exotoro and . however went nowhere.