Have you ever licked a lampost in Winter?

Alistair Lancaster. 27, no-account, rent-a-cop. You were probably looking for someone else.

[alistair-lan-blog]

ella-winthrop:

Once the phone call ended, Ella went back under the tree to finish reading. Every so often she’d check how much time had passed. She started making her way over to the bistro with 20 minutes left, hoping the man would actually show. Opening up the mans wallet, she looked at the picture on his license. Ella pursed her lips; she didn’t know whether or not to look for him. Was he even there? Was that him? She walked closer to the man. Taking another look at his ID picture, she smiled when it was. “I think this belongs to you,” Ella held his wallet out so he could take it back.

Luckily for him, the girl he’d talked to had more brains than he did and he jumped as he turned to the woman handing him his wallet. “Bloody, thanks very much!” he said as he took it, tucking it safely into one of his front pockets after he checked it to make sure it was indeed his. “I don’t know what I would have done without you. Well, now that I’ve had you walk all the way here,” he grinned, gesturing back at the restaurant,”Can I get you something to drink? Lunch, perhaps? And maybe the name of my savior?”

[alistair-lan-blog]

itsonlyzac:

Zac burst out laughing as the balloon hit the male dead on. “Bing bing bing bing we have a winner,” he informed his friends who join in laughing. “So, wet rat,” he called down, “you’ve just won a free ride anywhere you like with my driver - seeing as no one would want to walk around all wet in this weather. But only if you come up and have a drink with us. See we’re a bit bored.”

He HAD to go for a walk in Manhattan. That will teach him to explore his surroundings. At least he would get a free ride back to his place thanks to this and he rationalized it as worth it as he climbed the stairs up to the nutjob that just dropped water balloons on his head. In retrospect, probably not his wisest moment but he wanted out of the freezing air. “You have a funny way of inviting a guy for a bloody drink,” he said as he reached the top.

[alistair-lan-blog]

@dakotaevans: @swoopingisbad it's really that easy!? Hello friend!

@swoopingisbad: @dakotaevans It can be! Hello! I'm Alistair!

[alistair-lan-blog]

ariannebellefleur:

Ari checked the weather on her pone before leaving her apartment. 54 and raining, it said. Pulling on a leather jacket over her green long sleeve top, Ari grabbed her purse and umbrella, then shouted, “Au revoir, grand-mère!” She took the elevator to the lobby of her building and waved down a cab. Thirteen minutes later, she paid the cabby, popped her umbrella, and walked down the block to the cafe. Shaking off her now closed umbrella, Arianne entered the building, looking around until she recognized him. “Alistair? Hi!”

Alistair turned on a dime, grinning at his companion for the afternoon. He felt a little sheepish, standing there in his work clothes while she looked positively stunning, but this was the arrangement they had made up so he swallowed it down as he gestured towards the counter. “Hello, Arianne. Time for coffee, yeah?”

[cantsleep-hurleyray-blog]

ZIdin rolled his eyes. “No muffin? Scone?” He shook his head and smiled. “If you insist.” Ordering their drinks he payed before handing Alistair his drink. “Thank you again.”

[alistair-lan-blog]

“You don’t need to butter me up with sweets, you know. It wasn’t that much of an inconvenience. I was happy to help,” he said, sipping happily at his tea. The bitter taste prompted him to make a face, but he resisted. It was the best they had, no reason to belittle it here. “Besides, the little flash of skin was a pretty nice ‘thank you’ already,” he said offhandedly, looking for honey to sweeten his drink.

[alistair-lan-blog]

ella-winthrop:

“You live in Brooklyn too? So do I- I just like coming to the park… not that that’s relevant,” Ella trailed. “But yes, yeah that’s alright. I’ll see you in an hour!”

Alistair chuckled before he turned off the phone and started getting dressed in proper clothing. He called a cab, using the time he was on the phone to look for his wallet before he reminded himself that it was the reason he was going out at all in the first place. The cab, thankfully, was on time and before he knew it he was at the bistro with time to spare. There was a moment of him looking fervently around the block to spot the woman who found his wallet when he realized he neither knew what she looked like, nor had her name. He crossed his arms in a huff, mentally kicking himself for being a complete idiot.

[alistair-lan-blog]

@dakotaevans: I need more friends in my life. I have like two

@swoopingisbad: @dakotaevans You have one more, now! :D

[alistair-lan-blog]

ella-winthrop:

“Oh!” Ella said when the man paused mid sentence. She thought something was wrong until he spoke again. “It is quite big, isn’t it,” she looked around the park, agreeing. “I do know where that is. That sounds like a plan,” she smiled. “How far away are you?”

“I can be there in about an hour, if that’s alright? I’m in Brooklyn,” he said, grinning down at his shoe in triumph. 

[alistair-lan-blog]

ella-winthrop:

“Oh, it’s no problem really. Just glad no one else stole it.” Though the man couldn’t see it, she blushed a little when he called her a lifesaver; she didn’t expect it. “Pleased to meet you as well,” Ella gave a small laugh. “I’m still at Central Park if you want to come here? Or if you had another place in mind?” She gave a shrug, mainly to herself.

“Alright, that’s great. I’ll meet you at Central Pa-” he stopped midway, frowning and trying to hop on one foot to pull on his shoe, “You know, Central Park is huge. And we could be at that all day. ‘The big tree, the one with the fountain. No the OTHER fountain.’. Do you know that bistro on main? Just on the south end of the park? I could meet you there, and even buy you lunch.”

[alistair-lan-blog]

ella-winthrop:

Ella smiled once someone picked up. “Hello! I’m Ella- Ella Winthrop…” she stuttered slightly. “This wouldn’t happen to be Alistair-” she peered down at the wallet again, “Lancaster, would it?” She but her lip slightly as she waited for a reply. “If it is, uh, I believe I found your wallet on the ground at Central Park. Forgive me if I have the wrong number, I just want to give this back to the owner.” Ella walked around a bit as she was on the phone with the stranger who could or could not be the owner of this wallet. Aside from walking, Ella also tapped her book against the side of her leg.

“Oh thank God!” came his reply, a heavy sigh of relief spilling out of him as he slumped on the spot, “You’re a bloody lifesaver, Miss Winthrop. I owe you so much. Yes, yes I’m Alistair. Pleasure to meet you. Sort of. Is there somewhere I can meet you? The park perhaps or...?” He was already wracking his brain, trying to remember how much money he’d had in his wallet so he could repay her properly. All the while mentally kicking himself for allowing his precious items to be lost in such public places.

[augustus-delafontaine-deactivat]

Ella was in Central Park reading, obviously; when was she not? She was underneath a tree for shade. Occasionally she looked up, watching the little kids play and others with their picnics and guitars. Upon looking up again, she noticed an object laying several feet ahead of her. She wondered why she hadn’t noticed it before. Nonetheless she got up, walking over only to find that it was a wallet. Ella picked it up, opening it up to see if there was any sort of phone number she could call or any place to drop it off. Fortunately, there was a number in the wallet, but she didn’t know if it belonged to the owner.

Ella pulled out her phone, dialing the number. She wondered if someone would pick up.

[alistair-lan-blog]

A low curse emitted from a large stack of books as a bulky figure moved behind them, carefully peeking into every nook and cranny it could find. Alistair grumbled again when he looked through another stack and found nothing. He rested his head against one of the many shelves and tried not to shout out in frustration. Of all the things he could have misplaced, it had to be his wallet. Especially here, of all places. He looked around at his crowded apartment, stacks of books almost as high as the few shelves he owned. Perhaps, maybe, he had a problem. Punctuated by the loss of his bill-fold in a canyon of literary works. The piercing ring of his phone startled him, and when he turned to face the bed where it lay, he knocked over one of his stacks. An avalanche of books tumbled down towards the floor as he groaned inwardly, making his way to the phone. “Hello? Who is it?” he asked when he managed to get to it, holding it to his ear as he surveyed the mess.

[alistair-lan-blog]

ariannebellefleur:

“Don’t call me miss and I won’t call you mister.” Ari laughed, cocking an eyebrow. “Sounds like a plan!”

Work passed by quick enough. Luckily there wasn’t too much going on. Alistair made his way to the coffee shop, removing his badge and unbuttoning his uniform shirt so no one mistook him for “on duty”. He shoved his hands in his pockets as he waited for Arianne, humming a Christmas tune as he did.

[flynn--casey-blog]

“So, apparently I’m featured in Forbes’ 2016 most eligible bachelor list. I mean, I can’t say I’m surprised… well, I’m a bit surprised I haven’t been mentioned there before, actually!” Flynn bragged loudly to whoever was listening.

[alistair-lan-blog]

“I suppose congratulations are in order for you then, sir,” Alistair said with as much cheer as he could manage. 

[alistair-lan-blog]

z-khalid:

Zaidin rolled his eyes. “I mean I dragged you across the city to go to a fitting for me. The least I can do is pay for your coffee. Come on please? I enjoy spending money on people.” 

“Well that really wasn’t,” he paused, sighing softly as he conceded. Zaidin seemed intent on it, and it would be rude to refuse him any further. And his day DID get side-tracked by this guy, so why not? “Alright, alright. One tea, and that’s that.”

[alistair-lan-blog]

savannah-marshall:

She couldn’t help but laugh lightly and nod. “Indeed it is. You have to be careful when you are someone of my family’s fame, I suppose.” she said with a sigh. “Social media has only made it worse, but I didn’t make it any easier upon myself when I decided to venture outside of the family business and into fictional writing either…” SJ laughed once more. She hummed the lyrics to the song as the chorus came on, pausing as another verse came next so she could speak to him next. “And you? Do you mind if I ask what it is you do? You don’t seem to know who it is I am, not that I mind. it’s quite refreshing, honestly.”

Alistair nodded along, listening like he always did, and putting the information away for later. Apparently she was famous, which seemed like it fit to him. She had a regal look to her, but he’d learned not to say stuff like that out loud. Sometimes people got angry, or got the wrong idea. His eyes lit up when she said she was getting into writing and a wide grin spread across his face. “Writing? Really? Have you got anything published yet? What sort of fiction are you writing? Is it romance? Horror? Fantasy? Some combination thereof?” he asked excitedly, honestly doing his best to reign it in. “Oh, uh, sorry. Right, I’m just a security officer for hire. Nothing special. Although I’m also dabbling in the writing area. I don’t watch too much TV or pay too much attention to social media. Or the media in general. Too much gets distorted for the sake of views, you know? I’d much rather meet the person.”

[alistair-lan-blog]

willow-mac:

She hardly thought of this as her fault. Considering Central Park was open to the public and New York City was a place where artists had been coming for years and she wasn’t the only one doing it, she thought her painting would have been safe right next to her. Willow had been a visual artist from as old as fifteen, so she had been sneaking out to practice her techniques in the middle of the night on park grounds since her adolescence since she wasn’t allowed to paint her draw anything that had anything to do with religion, usually, while still under the care of her parents, so this was a massive deal to her. For someone to ruin a piece like this… “He deserved the shit he got. His mom was an idiot for trading places with him in the first place.” the brunette said, her tone slightly solemn as she pulled her dark curls from the high bun to allow them to tumble down her back. She continued to stare at the piece, absently wiping at the corner of her eye with an acrylic-covered hand, keeping her doe-eyed gaze on her ruined painting until the man announced he was going to take the painting instead. She smiled and shook her head. “No, don’t. I can’t take your money. Don’t do it just to be nice. It’s ruined. It’s looks stupid now. I’ll fix it up somehow and hang it up in the gallery or just trash it when I get home but I can’t let you pay me for it.” she replied immediately. “I know you’re trying to be nice and all, but seriously.” Her angry expression immediately softened into one of shock as he loomed behind her. “I got it. Seriously.” she repeated, brows furrowed, hand to his chest and pushing him back lightly, though the who had ruined the painting in the first place seemed to scurry off with his looming presence. “Look, thank you for everything. I mean it, I just… I-I know you’re being nice and everything but you don’t need to buy a painting that’s worthless and looks like absolute bullshit now or stand up for a girl you barely know. What if you had gotten hurt?”

Alistair stopped his ‘puffing up’ as soon as the guy seemed to get the hint and vanished off into the rest of the park. He felt more than a little ridiculous at first, blushing brightly, but there was a small sense of accomplishment there. His presence might not of done much, but at least he made the attempt. “Firstly, I try to help anywhere I can. The world has too much bad in it already, especially right under our noses. Someone’s got to help out. I didn’t want him to think I’d just stand there and let him bully you, whether you could handle yourself or otherwise. Which, I’m sure you could. I don’t mean to say that you couldn’t, I just,” he sighed, scratching the back of his head nervously before gesturing at the painting again, as if to change the subject. “And the way I see it, there’s still beauty there. He ruined a part of it, yeah, but there’s so much more canvas. Brush strokes and emotion that you put into it. Pieces of yourself spread upon the canvas in vibrant glory. It’s easily one of the more beautiful things I’ve ever seen, even with the hole in it. Besides, it’s more lovely than anything else that would go into my apartment. Well, aside from some books I have, but their beauty comes from the words. Different thing all together.”

[alistair-lan-blog]

ariannebellefleur:

“The pleasure’s mine, mister.” Arianne replied with a gentle laugh.

“I’ll have to give you that one, then,” Alistair said with a small smile, “I get off work in about forty minutes. See you then?”