It had been a busy morning in the hospital so when her break started Isa sighed in relief, stretching out before she got herself a cup of coffee from the staff room and headed out for some fresh air. Air that was currently being poluted by a smoker. She gave the man a look before changing sides so the smoke wouldn’t blow on her. “I didn’t say anything,” Isa pointed out, “As long as you’re far away from the door you can do as you please. Rough morning?”
he contemplated her reply, half expecting someone in her position to have chastised him severely for his lack of concern towards the ailing patients. after all, he was standing just a few steps away from a sign that quite clearly forbade lighting a cigarette in this exact area. roman found himself quite impressed at the woman’s nonchalance towards his activity, and decided that because of this, she must have had a rough morning too. ‘ well, you would know, you were in it too. i mean, it’s not too difficult for the likes of me. all i gotta do is wheel them to the likes of you, just talk about the weather or whatever on the way there. you’ve actually gotta do shit. ’ he raised his eyebrows, realising the dedication some occupations require.
“Usually, the people who say that end up not being cops, after all,” what a way to avoid answering the question. She wasn’t under the influence at the moment, but the thought of keeping the stranger guessing seemed amusing enough for her to keep quiet about it. “— besides, the recreational use has been legal since last year. That’s if you’re over the age of TWENTY-ONE, of course.”
without anywhere to be going to until the afternoon, roman allowed himself to stay and talk about nothing much, humoured by the light exchange. ‘ aha ! exactly what the cops want you to think. and one day some guy will stroll up to you, ask if you’re high, and bam, he’ll have been a cop, and you won’t have seen it coming. ’ faltering, he realised by what she’d said next that his case was all but gone. ‘ oh, right. well, you know, i didn’t know, so... ’ trailing off, he waved his hand dismissively.
“that’s…” she trailed off, taken aback and searching for the right word as his eyes took in her appearance, “disturbing. i’d wager a guess you and your sister are older than me, though.” cloud glanced down at her phone, whatever interest she had in the guy on the screen fading with the telling of the anecdote. “do you always offer up childhood trauma so willingly?”
he shrugged. ‘ makes no difference. the sooner you realise to stay away from those haircuts, the better. ’ sniffing, he contemplated her next question, glad though that the girl had not stopped talking to swipe the guy right defiantly. ‘ i guess. didn’t think of it much as trauma. at least, if it was, it wasn’t mine. not like i was dating them, is it ? ’
“oh business management sounds like it has the potential to be interesting.” it didn’t really at least not to him, but he thought that’s what most people would find appropriate to say in response. “well running a company genuinely sounds like something that could keep you busy for a while. sons as in plural?” though zeke was aware not everyone was an only child like him he always found it interesting to find out people had families larger than his. “well maybe he thought you guys could share the burden of the business with each other like in those lifetime movies.” he paused for a moment as he thought over his answer. he never genuinely thought about what he wanted to do in life he always thought about what would be the most financially beneficial. “uh- well if finances weren’t a question i’d probably want to become an artist.”
roman smiled again, imagining his future life as one of those family movies where everyone came together at the end, but he doubted there’d ever be a happy ending such as that. ‘ my brother would get it, he’s best at that kinda stuff. just don’t see why my dad tried to lump us all together, ya know ? sure, business could’ve been kinda cool, and useful for other stuff, but we were never all gonna manage something. ’ he nodded now, always interested to meet artistic people, especially those caged somehow. he himself had never been good in that area, failing at art, music, and even theatre, despite his naturally dramatic personality. ‘ huh. so what, you paint ? well you can do that anyway, can’t you ? ’
walking out of the hospital to get some fresh air after spending some time with his mom during her treatment, the scent of cigarette smoke took him by surprise. with a million thoughts running through his head, he turned to see where the smoke was coming fun. realizing he didn’t have to most pleasant of expressions plastered on his face, he shook his head now with a smile. “no sorry, it’s not you. i’m just — thinking. but um you got another one of those?”
sensing the hesitance in the man’s voice, roman knew that he truly needed a cigarette in that moment, and knowing the feeling, he wordlessly fished his packet out of his pocket and held it out, a single cigarette pushed up among the others, waiting to be taken. somehow, despite the hundreds of people that came and went out of those doors, roman felt like he recognised the face of the person stood beside him, which meant he’d at least visited this place more than twice very recently. although he didn’t enjoy small talk, the longer he stayed out of his workplace, the better it was to him, so roman felt like he had the time to ask. taking another puff, he pivoted and turned to face the man fully. ‘ i’ve seen you before. ’
≀ daniel sharman, 25, cismale. ≀ ↷ chances are, you’ll catch roman heath around clear coast quite often. i’m pretty sure that he is a porter around town, with a reputation for being perceptive & witty. that’s not to say they aren’t crude & haughty sometimes. someone once called ‘em the chameleon, and i couldn’t agree more.
➊ roman’s father has ran a business since before his children were born that nobody else in the family knows a lot about. however, roman saw various associates come and go throughout his life and knew to some extent that because of his father’s operation, the rest of the family had to be careful with what they did and who they associated with. roman moved away from home at the age of 22 and kept moving, attempting to ensure his parents didn’t find him. after a meeting with his mother he agreed to move to clear coast, with her promising not to tell his father that she knows where he is, as long as he agrees to keep the cleaner she hired for his house. she also gives him a large allowance every month to ensure he doesn’t move again, but he has to also stay employed to receive this.
➋ roman has at least 5 siblings. this is up to anyone that wants to take one of his siblings, you can do with them whatever you want !! i think his issues with their father would also befall them, so it would make sense for them to follow him, with or without their mother’s advice, to clear coast. i like to think of roman as the second or third eldest!!
➌ roman dropped out of college. he was studying business management in new york as his father wished, and him giving up his studies angered his father greatly. he was threatened to be disowned, although his mother managed to calm his father down slightly.
➍ roman lives alone in a sizeable house in clear coast, rent paid 3/4 by his mother, and 1/4 by him to ensure he keeps his job and has a sense of responsibility. roman owns one dog that was left in the hospital waiting room by a homeless man, but he doesn’t like animals. the only other person that regularly comes and goes is his mother’s appointed cleaner, who he believes is also paid to spy on him.
➎ roman is a porter at the local hospital, his days involving wheeling patients from the waiting room to the doctor’s room and pushing beds around to operation theatres. however, he can mostly be found on ‘breaks’ smoking at the front doors.
( thanks for reading ! i’m stephie and i’m in gmt + 1, so i’m mostly on to reply at different times to most of u (timezone problems) but i’m always available to talk/plot/whatever on my phone ! feel free to message me w plots, ships, and pls pls take up roman’s siblings bc he needs some angst up in here ty )
propped up against the sun-warmed brick wall at the front of the hospital, roman dragged on a cigarette as he idly watched people come and go, living their lives. only one of the passers-by looked his way, and he thought he saw their brow furrow, likely an indication that they did not agree with the fact he was smoking in such close proximity to a multitude of sick people. ‘ yeah, i know. ’ he spat.
“they’re blueberry violet eclairs.” elsa laughed, wiping a bit of the blueberry icing from her pink lips and pushing the plate towards the other, “just try it. it needs to be tested before i add it to the spring menu.”
“oh- right now i have my business statistic and business communication notes scattered around.” though he was taking other classes he focused his studying on the ones he knew his parents would care the most about and those were the classes that would ultimately benefit his dad in the long run. “your dad sounds like quite the character, i’m almost jealous.” he chuckled quietly. “well i’m glad to hear that bit. what’d you end up going to college for anyway?”
unable to prevent a small smirk creeping up, roman attempted to conceal it with a quick brush of his face with his palm. ‘ ah, business, of course. ’ roman was not one to simply laugh in public, always too thoughtful and busy for that sort of frivolity, though now he wanted to bend over and just howl. he truly was looking in the mirror in the presence of this student. ‘ business management. you know, i never did understand how my dad thought getting all his sons to study business management was truly the way to handle things. i mean, if he died, we couldn’t all run his business. ’ roman shrugged, bemused by the similarity between him and this boy. ‘ so, what do you really wanna do with your life ? ’ this was a question roman enjoyed asking, because, as he’d found, very few people ever answered sincerely.
“Oh– yeah, sure,” the girl replied looking up at the stranger. He seemed to be in uniform so Rory didn’t want to seem disrespectful. “Are you a doctor?” she asked looking back up at his eyes. The girl had dreams of becoming one, but those were shattered once she was left with her verbally abusive and neglectful mother. She was always told that she’d never be anything but a stupid girl, probably cleaning toilets somewhere. But, at least she wasn’t doing that. “I used to be interested in that field, but when in doubt teach– or so they say, I guess,” Rory laughed, a bit nervously, “I teach ballet– I’m Rory, by the way.” Suddenly, the girl felt like she talked way too much and probably assumed that the coffee was kicking in.
a full-blown conversation was not something roman had been anticipating, after all, just a moment ago the brunette’s eyes were buried in her computer. ‘ uh, no, not a doctor. ’ he shrugged, suddenly feeling as if he were under some intense personal spotlight, despite this woman being only a stranger to him, someone he most likely would never encounter again. musing on his answer for a moment, he decided that it probably would’ve been better to pretend he was in fact a doctor besides, how would she know? and now he’d forced her into a corner she’d need to force a polite smile, and pretend to care about his real, not so impressive career. ‘ i’m a porter. i, um, push people around. ’ he shrugged, feeling the prior enthusiasm diminish. to detract from himself, he instead focused on what she said next. ‘ and ballet ? do you have a passion for ballet ? ’ was his first question, he couldn’t get a sense of whether it was the teaching or the ballet that failed to spark rory’s interest, although the silent weight of parent’s expectations was apparent. that, however, he left alone, for now. ‘ oh, and, my name’s roman. ’
“ hey, if you answer this ONE question for me, i’ll play a song just for you on air tonight, ” each world is framed around a cheeky grin, the tip of her nose tinted a soft red from the brisk chill around them. “ —- are you prepared ? ”
‘ i don’t listen to the radio. ’ he answered abruptly. having just finished an overnight shift, roman was not willing to satisfy anyone’s intent to steal any of his precious time, which was now focused on sleeping as soon as possible. ‘ but ask me anyway, i bet i’ll know the answer. ’
“ sixty-eight days ‘til spring. sixty-eight ! ” isabelle’s full pout swivels toward the barren trees & limp bushes. “ how am i supposed to last sixty-eight more days without my buds ? the ones at the shop don’t count, i don’t trust year-round flowers. ”
roman almost didn’t want to reply, he was not usually one to indulge such girlish complaints as this. ‘ flowers are not the be-all and end-all of life. they die just as quickly as they appear, you know. ’
* LEAD TO ROME. @alllroads-blog - Tumblr Blog | Tumgag
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