, took my heart to the limit *

[caleb]

* after the hurricane had hit miami with almost no warning, things at the governor's office had suddenly kicked into overdrive. with constant requests for money, public appearances, speeches and anything else the governor could do for the community rolled in, caleb found himself with work on the brain nearly twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. three am phone calls were not uncommon anymore and whenever caleb would leave his house, paparazzi would follow him everywhere. questions were throw at him like fireballs and he had to shield his two children out of the public eye. as his father's campaign manager, it was his job to help him get those stellar photo ops for his next campaign. the kinds that made politicians look less, well, less like self-centered assholes and more human and lovable. even if it didn't really work. luckily, governor daschel had been in office for several years, nearly all of his children's lives, and he was fairly well-respected, if at least well-known. but caleb pervical daschel would be damned if he let his two children be thrust unjustly into the limelight. especially so soon after their mother had died.

* of course, caleb hadn't told the public the whole truth about his late wife. whenever someone had asked about mrs. daschel, he would simply say she was out of the picture. he had seen how the jackson children had been thrust into the media after their father, the "king of pop" had died. he had watched, in awe and in horror, as they were forced (in his opinion) into the public spectacle everyone had called a memorial service. and he was not about to let his children into the circus that was the mass media. he had been about prince william's age when the late lady diana had died and he remembered feeling so horrible for the young man as he watched the two young royals, with such grace and dignity, suffer in silence for the loss of their mother. he had promised katie, upon her last breathe, that he would shield sebastian and gracie from the media as best he could. and he would do everything in his power to keep his promise. that was the one, if only thing, he could do for his beloved katie.

* closing time came early these days, as most were out and about in miami. caleb took a sigh of relief as he hung up the phone. he had been on the phone, it had felt like, all day long. talking with various other government officials asking for their support and contributions if his father made this public appearance or signed a certain paper, things along that nature. it was draining and tiresome. he took calls from miami residents who, without even being asked, would recount their terrifying, depressing (and sometimes questionable) tales about what they had lost during the hurricane. entire homes that belonged to families for generations had been swept away. mothers, fathers, sons, daughters, grandparents, uncles all torn violently apart all within a few minutes. the one--well, two things actually--that kept him going were his two children waiting for him at home.

* turning off the light and closing his laptop, he said good-bye to his secretary and headed out of the office, which normally was an upbeat place and which now felt like an entrance to the morgue. pushing open the door, a gush of hot miami wind blew against the young daschel and made his jacket flow in the opposite direction. he walked faster and wrapped his hand around his jacket as he opened his car door and sped away. the drive to his parents' house, where his children stayed until he picked them up after work, seemed to take longer than his usual twenty-five minute drive. as he passed fallen houses, sea-swept buildings, fallen trees and people trying to rebuild, he felt his stomach tangle in knots and his heart break for what his city had become. he only knew that his father had a lot of work, and ultimately so did caleb and everyone else who worked for the governor, a head of themselves.

* finally reaching his parents house a few minutes past forty thirty, he was amazed to see the swarms of paparazzi waiting for his father. he felt anger boiling up inside of him at their dog-eat-dog mentality. the garage door was closed and therefore he would be forced to park outside. even though they lived inside a gated community, the reporters could still hound him from just outside of the property line. shutting off his engine, he waited for a few minutes before opening his door, though he could already hear the reporters firing questions at him. "mr. daschel, can we have a moment of your time?" came one reporter. "caleb, what is your father's plan of attack?" came another. "can you give us a statement?" came another. he couldn't count the exact number of people there, but he knew that their was at least twenty or thirty reporters, television station vans, paparazzi and various other stragglers there. "please, i'm just here to pick up my kids. we're going to be issuing an official statement soon." caleb said to no one reporter in particular.

* once inside, he let out a sigh of relief as he stood behind the door, as if he was a barricade. he could smell dinner being prepared, spaghetti of some sort most likely, and his stomach growled hungrily. he suddenly realized just how hungry he was. but dinner wouldn't be for at least another hour, and he wanted to see his kids first and foremost. walking up the steps, he turned into his old room, where gracie and sebastian usually played until he came for them. he could hear the television faintly until he came into the door frame. spongebob was on: one of sebastian's favorite shows. his eldest son turned around and gave his father the biggest smile as he got up quietly so he wouldn't wake his sister, whom caleb noted was fast asleep on the bottom bunk. "daddy!" his son said softly as he wrapped his arms around caleb's waist. "hey, seb. how was school?" caleb asked, bending down to kiss his son's frock of curly, dirty blond hair. he watched his son, who looked so much like himself, tell caleb everything (and in great, animated detail) about his day.

* after hearing all about sebastian's day and hanging out with his son while three year old gracie took her afternoon nap for twenty minutes or so, caleb went back downstairs to the kitchen. he didn't plan on staying too long, but he was hungry and his mother's cooking was pretty much the only home-cooking caleb, sebastian and gracie ate these days. he greeted his mother as she told him she would be busy fixing dinner. he grabbed a beer from the fridge and then went into the living room. floating down into the elongated sofa, he turned on the television to the news and let his mind turn off slowly for the night.

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HEY, LISTEN UP! THIS POST IS COMPLETE. AND I'VE TAGGED ALL THE DASCHEL SIBLINGS. CAL IS WEARING THIS SNAZZY OUTFIT. THERE'S ABOUT 1179 WORDS IN THIS POST. AND I'VE JUST GOTTA SAY: LET'S GET THIS DASCHEL FAMILY PARTY STARTED. AND SORRY FOR THE SUCKY TITLE. GRAPHICS GO TO ERIC.

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[EMERSON ALONA DASCHEL]

this whole situation was horrible. miami was up in turmoil, and her father was getting so heavily worked by the people, and everything was just chaotic. emmy sighed as she counted out her stretch. she had been dancing for hours, and was cooling down because she could vaguely make out the smell of her mother's amazing home cooking wafting down into the basement. her muscles felt a little sore, but nothing too bad; besides, as a regular dancer, emerson had to get used to muscle stiffness. it wasn't anything new, and it certainly was not the worst. the paparazzi outside were definitely up with the worst things in the world, though. emmy had compelled her father to get a bathroom with shower built down in the basement a few years back, just so that she would not have to walk up to the rest of the house looking sweaty and disheveled. emmy was always the least vain, but seeing unwanted pictures of you at your worst are never nice.

as emmy's muscles stretched out and loosened a little, she closed her eyes and focused on her breathing. when it was leveled out, she stood up and walked into the bathroom. emerson stripped herself of her leggings and shirt that she had stolen from caleb ages back. the brunette usually wore leggings, and then one of her brothers' or friends' old shirts to dance in. they made very comfortable outfits. 

the water ran down her body, cooling and cleaning her off. the day's sweat washed off her body, and further relaxed her muscles. the hot tap squeaked slightly as emmy turned it to the right, shutting the water off. they had an environmentally friendly shower system, though emerson wasn't one hundred percent sure how it worked. anyway, the pipes wound far away from the house, so, luckily, the basement was supposed to never flood. a flooded finished basement would have been horrible, so they were lucky this time with the rather devestating hurricane. these thoughts ran through em's mind as she stepped out of the shower, and wrapped a green towel around her body.

the brunette dried herself off quickly, before tucking one corner of the towel into the rest to keep it up. emmy took a few steps towards where she kept her lotion, and moisturized up, before picking up the shirt and skirt that she had chosen before coming down to the basement that morning. slipping everything on, and combing her hair back into a low ponytail, emerson eyed herself in the mirror. the paparazzi were relentless during and after a crisis, and if she had walked upstairs wearing what she had before, there probably would have been questions if they even caught a glimpse of her. yeah, it sounded vain, but mr daschel had been in the political spotlight for most of em's life, and she knew the truth often sounded dirty.

em took to the steps, two at a time, to get back upstairs. the brunette closed the door behind her, and then walked over to the side window. she could see the paparazzi outside, waiting for one of them to leave. annoyed just by the sight of them, emmy drew the curtain shut. em walked through to the kitchen, and gave her mother a hug. then, she walked off in search of the television she heard going. in the living room, caleb sat watching the news, reclining back in his chair. "hey big brother," emerson said, announcing her presence as she stood next to where he sat. emmy was the shortest daschel, standing only at four foot eleven, so she felt dwarfed even when her eldest brother was sitting down. "how was your day?" she asked with a smile.

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THIS POST IS COMPLETE, WITH 634 WORDS TO SHOW FOR IT. EMERSON ALONA DASCHEL IS PLAYING TAG WITH ALL OF THE DASCHEL SIBLINGS WHILE WEARING THIS. MACKIE JUST WANTED TO SAY, SORRY THAT ITS CRAPPY BUT HERE YA GO.

[BREEAUNA LINETTE DASCHEL]

breeauna is navy and alexus is purple

the day of the hurricane, bree had been at home getting ready or a performance that night. it was safe to say that it had been canceled. unfortunately that'd been the least of her worries. some of her siblings and her father had been gone that day. including franco. all day she'd been nervous pacing around. thankfully none of them had been injured, and were okay. but the aftermath was causing their family to be thrown into the spotlight even moreso now. it was quite frustrating. it was almost as bad as being famous. not that bree had any experience with that. schools had been shut down for a couple of weeks to repair some damages. meaning their school year would most likely be extended for a couple of weeks, but it didn't bother bree any. she was nearly eighteen, and about to graduate. not really at the top of her class. in fact, the seventeen year old struggled in math class more than anything else. it never stopped her. she liked to think that as long as she didn't admit defeat, she'd always move on from something as difficult as her stupid homework. granted she wasn't the most focused. most weekends she spent partying with frankie and his college buddies, drinking, or performing anywhere and everywhere she could.

the day before she'd met up with frankie and had spent the night at his dorm room. this never settled well with her parents, and they always threatened to call the cops, but she and they both knew they'd never do it. one word to the cops that their daughter was staying nights at her twenty year old boyfriend's dorm, and it'd be out that governor daschel couldn't control his daughter, let alone the whole state. most days, bree enjoyed being able to get her way. as much as she despised playing the media against her parents, and it strained their relationship, she wanted them to realize that she was far from a child anymore. stumbling out of the dorms with franco in tow, bree giggled as she reached up and kissed her boyfriend gently before turning back. they were gonna head back to her house to pick up more clothing for her. suddenly a loud voice pierced her peaceful thoughts. turning, her eyes narrowed. it was her older sister, alexus. the beautiful older, brunette stormed over to breeauna. lexi was taller than bree by a few good inches. "what do you want, lexi?" when she went on to tell her that they needed to go home, that mom and dad were wanting some family time. bree shook her head. "no. i'm going to get more clothes, and then i'm coming back here." as the two persisted to get into an argument, bree growled loudly before storming over to frankie. "i've gotta go, babe. i'll try to be back later. just think, in a matter of days, the invisible handcuffs will be gone." kissing him one last time, she stormed back past lexi, pushing her out of her way and continued to her car.

rubbing her forehead, lexi's head was pounding with information. she'd just gotten out of the one class that wasn't canceled, and had been boggled by how much damage had been done to the rest of the university. some classes were being transferred to other buildings. right now, she just wanted to get home and start on this stupid report. mindlessly walking to her car, she'd caught a glimpse of familiar brunette hair. it was breeauna, her younger sister, the oldest of the twins. sighing, this was far from what she wanted. the two never saw eye-to-eye. like bree wanted to be a singer and performer, and skip college. lexi had dabbled in singing herself, but knew that without an education, she'd get nowhere in life. sure, they each had trust funds from their parents. but really who wanted to rely on that kind of thing? not the twenty-two year old. it was already bad enough bree refused to get a job, and lexi was working at aerobar as a manager. it was like her little sister had no work ethic. granted she did earn money from her performances, they were always unreliable since they didn't come around as often as bree would have liked. turning to look back at franco, her sister's boyfriend who was by far older than she would have liked, lexi gave him a slight forced smile before turning and following bree's stride.

sliding into the driver's seat, she tossed her messenger bag behind her seat, and put the mercedes into drive. pulling out, she didn't even bother to say a word to her pouting sister as she turned the music up a few notches. she began to sing along to one of mariah carey's songs, and while her voice octaves weren't as high as that, she still got pretty much up there. that's when bree scowled at her. "i don't understand why you didn't get started in a singing career. you'd like it a whole lot better than what you're pretending to do." surprised, lexi blinked a few times as she came to a stop at a red light. "is that what you think i'm doing? that's ridiculous, bree. i love kids, and a college education is the only guarantee that you'll manage to get somewhere one day. i don't want to be some of those homeless and jobless people that dad helps out constantly. i want to be able to support myself. what's wrong with that?" rolling her eyes, bree resumed her position of staring out the window and watched the scenery roll by. there were still some debris laying around, and miami hadn't fully recovered yet. their father was battling the media, and the state to declare a state of emergency, to help their fellow floridians out. as they pulled up to the golden gate that separated the unwelcomed people from the house, lexi's eyes grew wide. "you've got to be shittin' me." her sister spoke in awe of the hectic scene that was outside of their house. while typically she'd go on about bree being so unladylike, lexi had no room to talk, so she just nodded blindly in agreement.

when the two got inside of the gate, lexi parked the car behind her brother's and she made a beeline for the door as bree scurried behind her only to pause a few feet away and survey the hounds. "DON'T ANY OF YOU HAVE LIVES?!" with that, she flipped them the middle finger sending alexus into a throat clenching growl. just what they needed. or, well, what caleb needed. he wouldn't be happy to hear about that one. when the two entered, they both were knocked in the face with the smell of their mother's home cooking. "mm, mom's cooking." it was about the only thing the two agree on. with a grin, bree nodded and wandered off towards the kitchen to tell her they were home. meanwhile, lexi walked into the living with her messenger bag in tow. maneuvering past emmy and around caleb, she plopped onto the couch and dug her laptop out of her bag. switching it on, her eyes met her brothers. "hey brother. bree did it again. figured i'd give you a heads up." when he gave her a quizzical look, she pointed to the tv as bree made her way in and leaned onto emmy's shoulder. the twins were absolutely identical except that bree was about three inches taller at five feet, two inches. when the news played her little display of flipping off the camera, lexi shook her head as bree played innocent. "dude, it's not that bad. maybe if they didn't harass us all the time, i'd behave better." lexi snorted with laughter as bree glared at her.

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^{THIS SHIT IS DONE, YO. IT'S ABOUT 1,306 WORDS LONG. I'M TAGGING DASCHEL FAMILY. BABY GIRLS HERE ARE WEARING BREE'S OUTFIT AND LEXI'S OUTFIT. ALL THE CREDITS ARE MY OWN, BECAUSE I ROCK LIKE THAT. AND I JUST HAVE TO SAY, I'M TOO LAZY TO DO SEPARATE POSTS WITH EACH OF THEM.}

[vaughn]

"toss me that hammer, will ya?" vaughn stepped back, allowing the heavy blunt object to fall to the grass in front of him before retrieving it without any injuries. one hand smashed the wooden plank into place while the other beat the nails in until he was positive the sturdy part wouldn't fall apart. sweat rolled down the side of his cheek, so he used his arm to wipe it away as he once again, stepped back and surveyed the completed work. all in all, the house still had a lot of work to be done with it, but with everyone's participation, they were making quick time. that hurricane had nearly destroyed florida and many houses of poor families along with it. that was the reason he was there in the first place. his friends had rallied together to help one of their favorite professors fix up his place again so that his family wouldn't have to stay in a cruddy motel 6 anymore. and normally, especially with vaughn's participation in the matter, the media would've been swarming the place to cover the story of such local heroics. but the governor's youngest son knew why they weren't paying them any attention - they would be hounding his father instead. his father and brother. demanding answers. no little fix-it project would deter them right now.

alright, it's getting kind of late. we'll pack it up and start again tomorrow. my family and i really appreciate all of your help. vaughn waited patiently to shake the man's hand and promise he'd be back the next day before heading off. a few of his friends asked if he wanted to hang out and grab a bite to eat, but today, he declined. "can't tonight. family time," he said ith an amused grin. vaughn no longer lived at home with his parents and younger sisters. instead, he'd opted to live on-campus for a little privacy away from the limelight and where he could do whatever he pleased. otherwise, he'd have to live with his father and feel the pressure of his gaze on his neck twenty-four seven. it was already tough knowing the old man didn't approve of how he "wasted" his college experience. vaughn wanted to be a nutritionist, or in a career that was somewhere along that line. but his father thought his head was better suited for politics. go figure. he did the same thing to caleb and though his brother might not talk much about it, vaughn wasn't so sure he even liked his job. he didn't want to turn into a man who loathed his job but went nine to five just to keep bread on the table. he didn't want to be... stuck.

vaughn waved off his friends as they peeled away in their truck before swinging a leg over his bicycle and settled his rump comfortably on the leather seat. no, he didn't look all cool and didn't own some major sports vehicle that people automatically assumed a guy like him - with insanely rich parentals - would have. he was far too active to sit his ass down and drive himself around when a bike could cover the same amount of ground and actually be good exercise for him. if he ever did need a car, he could borrow one of his siblings if he begged enough, but that was rare. the nineteen year old college student rode his way slowly through the torn streets, avoiding debris that had yet to be cleaned up. next weekend, they all wanted to do a fundraiser and donate the money to the families that needed it. at the moment, he hadn't quite committed himself to that weekend, as he wasn't sure what would be in store yet. his family came first and then if there was still time... one thing he did plan on doing was one of those neighborhood marches where they just went out and picked up the community. it would do them all some good, get their hopes back up and help everyone to move on.

it took about twenty minutes on bike to get his parents' cut-off community. he was surprised - then again, not really - to find a load of reporters lounged around the front gates. they were snapping pictures at the house like a pathetic swarm of flies. "ugh," he muttered under his breath. they caught sight of him a little too late, thankfully, before he got through. he could hear the questions they were trying to ask him but vaughn ignored them. he went his usual route, around the back of the house. he dismounted and brought the bike with him inside through the kitchen. he never trusted to leave his things outside, no matter what it was. his mother stood next to the stove and he smiled widely at her, planting a dutiful kiss on her cheek. "heya mom, smells great." what he loved most about the woman was her ability to practically cook gourmet, and she was always conscious of his preferences as well as the others in the house. there would definitely be some kind of healthy casserole for vaughn. "i'll be down in a minute," he told her, wheeling the bike out of the kitchen. he walked through the hallway, hearing the living room abuzz with light conversation already - probably his siblings.

vaughn grabbed the body of the bike and lifted it onto his shoulder, carrying it up the flight of stairs and to his old bedroom. everything was kept just as he had it when he was in high school. old clothes were still in the closet. he set his bike down and crossed to the window, a finger moving aside the cloth to peer out at the mass in front of his parents' house. "bunch of bloodsuckers," he muttered and then left the room just as quickly. downstairs again, vaughn now entered the living room to see all four of his siblings gathered around in various spots, the tv on low. "what's up?" he questioned the room at large, withdrawing an apple from the bag in his pocket. he jumped clear over the love-seat and settled into it's cushions, kicking his feet up on the table while he leaned back. vaughn took a large, healthy - and loud - bite of his apple and glanced over to caleb, asking with his mouth full, "dad here yet?" he hadn't seen him.


(( uck. crap post. sorry. ))

[shona2]

Running a hand through her short dark hair, Jasmine let out a small sigh. Tonight was going to be an interesting one, she knew that from the moment her mother had called her and told her that tonight was family night. Jasmine had agreed to come after a bit of persuading. She had tried to get out of it, she always did try, but in the end, she was always there, she was there for every family event her parents wanted. She couldn’t help herself, the idea of one of her mums excellent home cooked meals and time to spend with her siblings usually won her over. It was only her father she had an issue with. Even then it wasn’t too bad, she had learned long ago that simply nodding her head to make it seem like she would do as he said would get her a long way. She never did do as he wanted, but it saved her and him a lot of time and energy when she pretended she did.

She glanced at her wristwatch and noted that there was ten minutes of her lecture left. She let out another sigh and tried her best to focus on the last ten minutes. She knew her professor had a tendency to slip in important tid bits of information here, the ones he usually forgot to mention during his lecture. Luckily, for her Jasmine had set up her computer so that it recorded his lectures, it meant she could go back and fill in the parts she’d missed in her notes. While many of her classmates typed their notes up Jasmine had never been able to do that, she simply didn’t learn that way, so she’d always been forced to take notes by hand. It seemed that the ten minutes had passed by quicker then she thought they would, before she knew it she was writing down the last of his words as the classmates around her saved their word documents and left the room. Slowly, she saved her recordings and shut down her laptop, she entered her sheets of loose leaf paper into her binder and put hers pen away into the pencil case. She slipped her pencil case and laptop into her bag and stood up, she swung her bag onto her shoulder and carried her binder in her arms, she smiled as she passed her professor “Thank you” she said sincerely before making her way out of the class.

Jasmine made her way through the crowd of students, stopping occasionally to say to a friend or acquaintances. She would stand and chat for a few moments before excusing herself and leaving to make her way to her car. She knew she needed to get home soon, if she didn’t make home on time for family dinner, all hell would break loose. Her father was a good man, it wasn’t that he wasn’t, it was just that the pressures of his job often got to him, the pressures of his job and his need to provide the best life for his family. Her father was old fashioned that way; he believed it to be his duty to be the provider of the family. He also wanted the family name to continue on a legacy, a legacy in politics, the only problem was that it seemed that other then Caleb, no one was too keen on being a part of this legacy, she herself was getting a degree in psychology, she found the inner workings of the mind fascinating. It was enlightening to be able to understand why some people acted the way they did. Not many people were able to do so, yet the interest in the field seemed to be growing.

Reaching her car, she slipped into the driver’s seat and turned on the ignition, she checked her mirrors out of pure habit. She wasn’t even sure why she did it anymore, no one but her drove her car, yet every time she sat down she would check them to make sure she could see. She did up her seat belt and turned on the radio, she flipped through a few channels, finding there was nothing that pleased her mood, she reached back and pulled her purse onto the front seat she rummaged through it, until she found her iPod and pulled it out. She hooked it up to her car and turned on a playlist that suited her mood. Finally happy with the music in the car, she turned her attention on to getting home. As she drove through the streets of Miami, Jasmine couldn’t help but consider herself lucky again, since the hurricane this thought had crossed her mind a million times. She couldn’t believe that neither her apartment, that she shared with a two other girls or her family home hadn’t been touched by the hurricane. It almost seemed unfair. She couldn’t imagine being displaced from her home like so many people had. Nature had a way of being cruel.
Making a mental note to sign up for Habitat for Humanity sometime this week, Jasmine turned in to her parents’ subdivision. It seemed that all the houses in this area had remained untouched. It was amazing how it was always the poorest areas that got the worst of the storm. Dread filled her as she turned on to her parents’ street, there were paparazzi everywhere. She really hated dealing with these people, she knew they were only doing their job, but it didn’t make it any less aggravating. With a silent sigh, she gave her turn signal and waited for them to part; as soon as the way was clear she turned in to the driveway and parked her car. She pulled her keys out of the car and threw them into her purse with the rest of her possessions before she stepped out of the car with her head held high. She’d learned years ago, that whenever she was in front of the camera it was best to hold you head high and stay silent and smile. This way you didn’t seem rude or aloof, but you didn’t say something that you would regret later.

Ignoring the questions fired at her, she made her way into the house. Smiling as she found the front door open, she stepped inside and was instantly greeted with the aroma of her mother’s cooking. She made her way to the kitchen with a smile planted on her lips. “Hey mum, ”she said as she entered the kitchen she gave her mum a quick hug and a kiss on the cheek before asking her how she was doing. After hearing that her mother was well, she made her way into the living room where she was told her siblings were. Jasmine smiled as she entered the room to find them all sitting around the television “Well, hello there Brady Bunch” she said cheerfully. She knew they ratios were slightly off, the Brady bunch had had three boys and tree girls, but the Daschel’s were close they had two boys and four girls; hence Jasmine had named her family the Brady Bunch at a young age.

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