third of a kind

Nathan Hawthorne | 19 | Impartial

[barreledhawthorne]

southern-sweetpea‌:

“People, and though it is beautiful, it doesn’t exactly look edible.” Rosetta shrugged, a hint of a smile on her face as she examined it a moment. “Do you..have an interest in flowers? Or maybe poison?” She asked with a soft chuckle.

Nathan paused for a minute, looking at the little plant. “Huh.” And now, it was tucked back in his mind, stored with the other interesting facts. “Well, I don’t have anything against flowers, but...The poison part is more interesting. I like knowing weird stuff, y’know?” Not like he’d use this particular bit of knowledge...probably.

[everlasting-eilonwy]

“What in the world.” Rosetta knelt down in the garden, eyeing a particular plant that truly had no business being there. “These are..poisonous. Why are they here?” She questioned to herself, brows furrowed as she reached out to touch one of the leaves with a single gloved hand. She could hear someone walking in the grass behind her, glancing over her shoulder.

[barreledhawthorne]

He’d been on a walk, aimless and blurry, and all that it took to pull him out of a haze was the word ‘poisonous’. Maybe that figured, since he always had liked stuff like that, but either way, he was near some kind of garden, and probably needed to talk. “Poison? For people or animals?” And there was Nathan in with a good ice breaker, sounding too interested in poison.

[barreledhawthorne]

polly-maddox‌:

The quiet air between them wasn’t exactly comfortable, but it certainly wasn’t as tense as it had been moments before. She let out a small breath she hadn’t quite realized she was holding. Even though she had disliked him quite a bit, her anger had faded considerably. While she still didn’t feel like she could say he definitely didn’t do it, she doubted it more as time went by. “Do you want food or something?”

Nathan quirked an eyebrow at the alley, but he didn’t know if he was acknowledging that this didn’t suck or if it was a challenge to the universe to make it suck worse. At least...she wasn’t bitching. That was something. “Nah. Had an adderall earlier, not really hungry.” And she didn’t need to know he didn’t have any reason to be on it, either. “Well...nah, you don’t look like you’ve got candy on you.”

[barreledhawthorne]

polly-maddox‌:

Polly huffed. “You don’t know anything about me. I rarely do things for myself. Most of them end up back firing on me anyway. I came to Sin City because I was out of options.” It was true, but she wasn’t sure why she had decided to share that fact with the kid in front of her. But maybe it was this frustration of someone thinking that they knew her when they knew nothing about her. “But why did you stop here? Why would you want to be here?”

Nathan shrugged. He might not know anything about her, but she didn’t know anything about him, except he was Doug’s nephew, so he figured it was about even. It wasn’t like either of them cared to know the other, clearly. Continuing his smoke, nearly finished now and already wanting another, Nathan popped his knuckles. “I ran out of options, too,” he stated simply. Not like she had, but...shit, he didn’t do much even before he noticed he barely had enough energy to be anything but done.

[barreledhawthorne]

polly-maddox‌:

Polly huffed but she wasn’t a cop and she wasn’t about to bring the cops to their door steps either. “Trust me I know. There’s a difference between being allowed to and just doing whatever the fuck you want to. Which is what you do. Though I don’t know why you’d want to be in there anyway.” She leaned against the wall and just tried to relax and not let her anger flare up too much. She didn’t exactly trust Nathan but she also didn’t think he was stupid enough to try something while she was around. Though she was a bit surprised when he said her name, she hadn’t expected him to remember it. “I don’t care about being left alone. I care about my friends. Why choose to come and sit out here. Surely you have a reason.”

Well, at least they were even now that their bluffs were called, and that made Nathan just a little bit less bothered about being near her. “I dunno if you’ve got room to talk about doing whatever I want, you’ve probably done plenty of that,” he countered lazily. After all, the place was called Sin City, it wasn’t like anyone who came near it was some kind of saint. And then, of course, he had to deal with her throwing her stones anyway. “You want a reason? I was bored, I felt like shit, wanted to take a walk, ended up here.” He could’ve gone into detail, but she hadn’t earned that.

[barreledhawthorne]

harrowharlequin‌:

“Your Doug’s nephew,” she repeated trying to get over the shock of that information.  She couldn’t picture Doug having family.  Obviously he must because everyone has to come from somewhere but it just seemed weird to think about it.  “I had no idea Dougie had a nephew.  I had no idea he even had family in this area.  Do you need me to go get him?  Do you need money or something?  I’m sure there are lots of other more interesting places you could hang out than the back of a strip club.  Back here really isn’t the place to cure boredom.”

“Yep.” He didn’t really give any more information, because he didn’t feel like he had to. She could figure out uncle and nephew easy enough, even if they didn’t look much alike. “Most of us aren’t from around here. I’m here for school.” And he was determined to stay, at least until he died. “Nah, you don’t have to go get him, and I don’t need money. Just...don’t have anywhere to be.” Which, yeah, maybe a bit pathetic but fuck it, he wasn’t about to go deal with more people.

[barreledhawthorne]

arista-saltwater‌:

Arista was just running around, from life, doing errands, her list seemed endless. As she hurried towards the back door to shy away from the bustling street especially traffic directed towards the lobby of her apartment she noticed a guy, sitting and smoking. “Well I was just going to push past you with all these groceries” she teased to lighten up the man, who seemed to be deep in thought. She knew he wasn’t one of those beggars, but his eyes seemed to travel as fast as his mind was. Consuming him into his own darkness. “If you wanna be a gentleman and help me up with my groceries I’ll crack open a beer for you, and give you something fun to really smoke” she proposed, as she tried her hardest to keep one of the bags from slipping her reach.

“ I’m Arista”. 

Nathan cocked an eyebrow, finding it strange that he was getting some kind of productive offer that was going to end in something that sounded...pretty fun, considering she was asking him to help with groceries of all things. Letting his cigarette stay between his lips, he stood stiffly from his spot, wobbling just a bit on his feet.

“Guess I can be a gentleman for once,” he commented, taking the bag she was struggling with the most, and taking a moment to crush his cigarette before he did any more. “I’m Nathan.”

[barreledhawthorne]

polly-maddox‌:

“Does it look like I care what you’re doing? You’re lurking in the back alley of a club you aren’t allowed inside of. You shouldn’t be here.” Polly crossed her arms and rolled her eyes. Everything in her told her to just turn around and go back inside. To ignore his existence completely. But she was too tired to let him effect her in that way. It would probably annoy him more if she stayed. So she did. “You know, you’re not making yourself look any better. You want me to believe you care but would do something like that to someone you care about. I don’t approve of the things that happen inside but they will happen anyway.”

Nathan rolled his eyes in return. “I shouldn’t? Better arrest me, I’ve been inside plenty.” He was sure that if she had her way, he shouldn’t be anywhere, so he wasn’t about to take this as something to be aware of. “Polly. If you can leave me alone, I’ll leave you alone. I’m not gonna do shit to Doug. I’m literally just sitting here, I’m doing fuck all.” After all, that’s part of why he was here. It’s why he always came around here. He could mostly ignore the assholes since he could be...sort of near Doug.

[barreledhawthorne]

harrowharlequin‌:

Rosalie stepped outside on her break for a smoke when she almost hit a kid.  What on earth was a kid doing at the back door of a strip club?  “Fine I guess I’ll just have to risk stepping on you,” she said shrugging and pulling out a cigarette from the pack and lighting it.  “Now what on earth are you doing out here?  You look way too young to be anywhere near a strip club.”

Nathan threw a glance behind him, and squinted. Yeah, he didn’t know this one yet. So he shrugged, and continued smoking. Weren’t these things supposed to chill you out? “I’m Doug’s nephew, and I’m bored.” So he was here, because he had two total options, and he wasn’t about to do school shit and get that much closer to doing something...really fucking stupid.

[barreledhawthorne]

polly-maddox‌:

Polly was tired. She could barely keep her eyes open and trying to avoid the pressing questions of her friends was getting harder and harder. So as soon as she took her break she made her way to the back door. There shouldn’t have been anyone there. It should have been a quiet break. Instead she opened the door and saw Nathan on the other side. Great. Exactly who she didn’t want to see. Instead she rolled her eyes and opened the bottle of water she brought with her. “You’re loitering. Which is illegal. And so is smoking. At least for you.”

Oh, great, it was the bitch. Nathan rolled his eyes and kept working on finishing his cigarette, but slower now. He wasn’t about to make anything easier on her, that was for sure. “Fuck off. I’m sitting,” he replied, hard edge to his voice already because, well...goddammit in general. “You wanna narc on me, go ahead, I’m sure they’d love to know how much cocaine is in there.” Did he want to? No, he knew it would be bad for his Uncle’s business. Did that matter, when spite was on the line? Also no.

[barreledhawthorne]

Did the smart part of Nathan know that he shouldn’t be near Sin City looking for trouble? Yes. Did he care? Absolutely fucking not. He hadn’t slept in...well, he didn’t know how long, he was bored, and he was more frustrated about stupid shit than he should’ve been. So he posted himself near the back door, smoked, zoned out, and sort of hoped...anything would happen.

“No, I’m not moving,” he deadpanned to whoever he felt looking at him. He didn’t know who they were or where they’d come from. Didn’t matter.

[barreledhawthorne]

oogieorazio‌:

Oogie rolled his eyes at the sight of the kid. Astrid’s friends always found a way to bug him nearly as much as she did. “First of all, I don’t have a tell. I have a way of making others believe I do. That ear thing? I do it to throw them off. Before you go around assuming things maybe learn the facts.”

Nathan raised an eyebrow. “Knowing what facts? The fact that I noticed you switching cards out?” He spoke quietly, because he didn’t actually want the man to get in trouble, but Oogie should have remembered that Nathan wasn’t the stupid one of the kids he knew. There was a reason Nathan had picked up his own habit of playing with cards. “Not hard to win that much money against an idiot.”

[oogieorazio]

“That’s a wrap on that. You owe me five hundred dollars. Shouldn’t have bet all your money on that last hand. I expect payment by Friday. Now off with you.” Jason felt a tap on his shoulder and turned around. “Can I help you?”

[barreledhawthorne]

Nathan had been watching the game closely without actually letting old you-know-who notice that he was there. Once the money was won, Nathan found his opportunity to tell Jason exactly what he’d been thinking, as he had tended to do before...everything. “You’ve got a tell. That guy didn’t notice, but you gotta stop touching your ear when you’re pleased with your hand.” The boy paused. “Hi, by the way. Been a while.”

[barreledhawthorne]

douglasmayor‌:

“Shit,” he muttered. “I’m sorry she said that to you,” Doug let out a sigh. “Doubt that she will. That ship’s sailed; it didn’t go well.” he looked over to Nathan. He shouldn’t have said that to Polly, but he wasn’t thinking. He wasn’t in his right mind. He should tell Nathan but he didn’t want to stress him out more. “I know, and I don’t think this was because of you. But, um… well they did mention you. Whoever did this to me… They said something about you. And I know it was just to fuck with me. But… I’m sorry, if I knew she was going to talk to you about it like that, I wouldn’t have mentioned it.”

Nathan shrugged. Not Doug’s fault she was stupid. Nathan didn’t even grin in satisfaction at the ‘ship sailed’ comment, too generally bothered to smile. He had other shit on his mind than being petty, at least for now. And that got even worse when Doug said they mentioned him. His hands stilled, and his breath shook audibly as he set the cards down on the nearest flat surface. His hands were shaking. His hands never shook. “No, it’s fine...” he said flatly, mind racing. “It was because of me. I didn’t want it to happen, but it is my fault.” And saying it made him feel both better and worse. Better because he was smart enough to figure out what had happened. Worse because he was stupid enough not to play along. “I got...Shit, man, do they let you smoke in here? It’ll help me tell you what happened.”

[barreledhawthorne]

shockketh‌:

“I don’t know how they don’t. You look really similar.” Almost like how much she looked like her uncle. But she wasn’t going to bring her family up right now. They weren’t anyone’s favorite people. She followed him out back and had two cigarettes out for them before the door closed behind them. She handed him his own, lit hers, and took a long drag before sighing. “Fucking hell. What the fuck is going on in this stupid city?”

Nathan shrugged, both at the fact that he didn’t know how the staff missed it and also at the fact that they looked alike. He didn’t think they looked too similar, but if he was a doctor, he’d believe him. Once outside, he took the cigarette from Shock, lit it, and his hands immediately went to the deck of cards in his pocket to shuffle them, almost absently. “Nothing good...I...There’s been weird shit happening for sure.” And he didn’t know if this was what happened when he didn’t participate.

[barreledhawthorne]

douglasmayor‌:

He watched him shuffle the cards. He wished he knew something he could do to make his nephew not as stressed. As far as family went, Nathan was really the only person he cared about. Well, he’d be sad if he got the news that something bad happened to any of his other family members, but as far as wanting to help and spend time with and actively liked to be around, Nathan was it.

“No, you definitely shouldn’t. I don’t recommend it to anyone, especially not you,” he said. He figured it was just humor, but he hoped Nathan wasn’t serious about thinking of being shot. That… He couldn’t focus on that right now. Doug furrowed his brow. “What do you mean?” he asked. Nathan looked at him for just a split second, but Doug could see how tired he looked. How angry. He definitely didn’t want to push. “Who? Polly? What happened?” 

There was a hollow sound from somewhere in Nathan’s chest that might have been a laugh if he felt at all like laughing. He nearly made another joke, one about having to replace it on his bucket list with second degree burns, but he held back as Doug asked questions. The cards in his hands sped up, and honestly, he felt like if he was friendly he’d do pretty well in a casino.

“I mean some woman out there has a stick up her ass and asked me if I ‘came to admire my handiwork’ or ‘finish a job’ or whatever dumb fucking shit she was trying to say to me,” Nathan explained, and there would have been more hiss in his voice if he wasn’t so fucking tired. “Like if she’s the one who found you, good for her, but she doesn’t listen for shit and she already fucking hates me, so I hope she’s not going to end up being my aunt. ‘Cause you know the kind of pranks I’d pull.”

[barreledhawthorne]

douglasmayor‌:

He was resting when Polly had left the room, but he was more awake when Nathan came in. He could see that he was angry, that he was maybe about to show an emotion other than that. Doug tried shifting to sit up a bit more, and that absolutely did not work. 

“Hey, Nathan,” he said with a bit of a grin. He wasn’t going to press too much on getting him to look at him. He didn’t really care. He wondered if Polly told him what Doug told her about it all. He hoped not. But that would explain the anger. He breathed a laugh that sent aches across his upper body and down his arms. “It hurt pretty fucking bad, kid. Like, getting stung by a shit ton of wasps all at once. And it just burns and burns until everything just kinda goes numb.” He reached as far as he could to nudge his nephew’s arm. “I’m alright, though. They got me on all sorts of meds I probably shouldn’t have.” Just because of his addictive personality. He probably wouldn’t get hooked on anything, and he knew the dose wasn’t that high yet. “We’re having a real fuckin’ party in here. And what about you?” he asked, voice softening a bit. “You alright? I know you’re not the biggest fan of hospitals?” he was pretty sure he knew that but who even liked them?

Nathan listened quietly, hand instinctively going to his pocket and pulling out his worn pack of cards. Once they were out of the box and shuffling through his grip, he felt a little calmer, but it still wasn’t quite enough. Doug was still shot and that bitch was still outside.

“Huh. Guess I shouldn’t try it for myself then, huh?” he asked, and Nathan figured maybe it was a positive that his deadpan humor still stuck around. Maybe not. He felt his arm being nudged, and that grounded him a little more as he absently fanned out a hand of cards, putting them back in without glancing at them. The movements were all distractions for him. “Wish I was having a party. Someone out in the hall’s being a real motherfucker.” That was when Nathan tried to look at Doug, but he didn’t hold it for long. It wasn’t right, seeing him in a hospital bed like that, and he knew that Doug would be able to tell how angry and close to crying he actually was. “Think she’s worse than Zero.”