underneath the same moon in different galaxies @cjwelford-archive - Tumblr Blog

AN INTRODUCTION TO...

FULL NAME: Carter James Welford

NICKNAME(S): CJ, Ceej, "Chaos Husbands" (with Seb Vora)

AGE & DATE OF BIRTH: 32, 3rd June 1992

GENDER & PRONOUNS: Cis-male, he/him

SEXUAL ORIENTATION: Pansexual

OCCUPATION: Operator at Break Room/Seasonal lifeguard at the public pool

HOMETOWN: Providence Peak, Colorado

PREVIOUSLY LIVED: San Diego, California

TIME IN PROVIDENCE PEAK: 1992- 2012, 2014 - present

CURRENT NEIGHBORHOOD: Downtown

FACECLAIM: Darren Barnet

☆ BIOGRAPHY ☆ CONNECTIONS ☆

#providence.intro #☆ musings

leilabarak

The fact that CJ didn't give a real answer bothered Leila for all of ten seconds before a smile came across his face and the conversation turned to paintball. As brilliant as she could be in a lot of ways, it didn't take much to distract her with something else. "Yeah? It was kind of fun, I would do it again! Is there a good place to go around here for it?" she chirped in agreement, more than willing to give the sport a second chance. She hadn't technically made it into an actual game the first and last time she'd attempted paintball, but sitting on the side modifying the paintball gun had been plenty of fun. Perhaps the second time she'd actually get in there and play a round instead of just shooting paintballs idly at a target after missing the match.

"You'll have to teach me everything, then." If CJ was as sick a shooter as he claimed, she figured there was a dozen things to learn from the guy that would help make her just as sick. Which, she assumed, was a good thing. Hopping to, Leila fell into step behind CJ, letting him lead the way back through the office and into the small yard area. There was something about the fact that she wasn't really supposed to be there that made it all the more exciting and she was buzzing by the time they were out there. "So, how's this work? We just set stuff up and like shoot at it?"

@cjwelford

cjwelford-archive

Scuffing his shoes against the tiled floor, CJ thought for a moment. “Hmm, last time I played paintball was actually like outside Providence Peak somewhere? Like just on the outskirts of town?” Not far, if his memory served him right. It had been awesome though, that much he was super confident about. “Bet you’re like an ace shooter, we should invite like Seb, and Phoebe, and literally everyone we both know!” The biggest paintball team in the world, he wondered if there was a Guiness World Record for that…

They cut through the office, CJ grabbing the BB gun from the shelf it now lived on, his co-worker focused on the screen to the actual rage room and paying no mind to the customer who definitely shouldn’t have been in this part of the premises, and out to the little yard. There were a few plants in the raised flower bed separated by a short brick wall that reached CJ’s hips, beginning to bloom in the Colorado spring, but it was mostly asphalt, and a little bench with stomped cigarette butts surrounding it.

Tucked under the bench were some empty bottles, which CJ fetched out, lining them up on the wall. “Yeah, so we set up like this, take a few steps back…” He demonstrated as he spoke, ushering Leila back with him, “Aim.” He raised the gun, “Shoot.” He pulled the trigger, landing the pellet right at the neck of the bottle, brown glass shattering against the wall, letting out a woop before handing the gun to Leila. “Okay so position yourself like so —,” He adjusted the inventor just right, “Alright, sometimes it’s better to close one eye when zoning in on a target.” Probably not the best advice, but what was the worst that could happen?

@leilabarak

#☆ int. leila barak #gun tw

saulweissberg-archive

saul, in all honesty, was a little astonished. in his thirty year long career, he had come across many different clients, family dynamics, and even some outlandish cases, particularly within the rich new yorker crowd. he didn’t often get people coming in for his services on the order of a family member. it had happened a few times, of course, but it had certainly been awhile since the last instance. usually it was old money matriarchs that came in, demanding their daughter’s marriage to some guy she deemed beneath her family be annulled or dissolved. he told them exactly what he already said to cj: outside parties couldn’t facilitate the ending of a marriage on someone’s behalf unless very specific circumstances.

his brows creased as cj started defending his husband, claiming he wasn’t aggrieved. it took him a second to realize that cj misunderstood him. a hint of amusement twitched at his lips. “no, that doesn’t mean… nevermind.” in the end, the definition of the word didn’t matter much to the case. “it’s okay, no one’s being charged with a crime so you don’t have to worry. no one’s going to get in trouble with the law.” besides, cj was to be his client, not this seb. unless they were to make the case for annulment because his new husband hurt him, there was no need to bring up any bar fights or being… aggrieved.

saul tried to speak softly, hoping his next words would get through to cj. “what your sister or any of your family wants here is immaterial.” he rethought that last part since cj thought aggrieved meant aggressive. “what i mean is that when it comes to your marriage, fast as it may have been, only you or your husband gets to decide when it ends. no one else, not even the government, can make you get an annulment or a divorce if that’s not what you want.” he scribbled a quick note onto his legal pad, then looked back to cj.

“i really want you to think about this, and just you, don’t worry about your family or your husband.” saul paused and pointed at the center of cj’s chest from across his desk. “do you actually want to get an annulment and say, in the eyes of the law, that your marriage never happened. or do you want to stay married to—seb, was it?” saul folded his hands on top of his closed macbook. “i want to remind you that marriage isn’t just signing a paper and getting to call someone your spouse. it’s a legally binding contract that takes a lot of time and money to end, now or in the future. it means you’re legally entwined with your husband for the duration of your marriage, and honestly, after the end of it, too.” he had three previous marriages of his own to prove it.

@cjwelford

cjwelford-archive

CJ didn’t really know how to answer that, how to explain to the lawyer that the government could make you do whatever they wanted — according to one of the more paranoid lifeguards at the pool anyway, but he also thought chlorine was slowly transforming the town into the merpeople too — but that didn’t seem appropriate in such a fancy place. But if it was true what Saul said, and the sandwich was now only a few loose crumbs on the grease-paper wrapping, maybe his time here in the office was over.

He frowned a bit, wondering what his pecs had to do with thinking about his marriage to Seb, because he didn’t think they really were worth much, opinion wise. “Okay.” He said, like it was some sort of homework assignment. Which sucked, because CJ’s best parts of leaving high school were no longer getting homework. “Um, do I have to like, answer that right now?” Simply because he didn’t know what the answer was.

Much like trying to figure the hypotenuse of a triangle in Geometry, this was borderline impossible to work out. Seb was his best friend, and he loved him, and the marriage was already established to not be a big deal between the two friends. Yet he saw Wren’s perspective, and the annulment meant they were legally free of each other, but they’d still be in each other’s lives. Still be CJ and Seb. “You work on confidentiality right? You won’t tell Wren or Jasper that I didn’t sign anything like, today? I promise dude, I won’t waste anymore of your time!” And his earnesty made him momentarily forget his promise to not be so casual with the lawyer. “I just…I need a minute.”

@saulweissberg

#☆ int. saul weissberg

theaxharris

She couldn't help but chuckle a bit at CJ's comment, if she was being honest even though her father was a lawyer sometimes she had no idea what they did for all those hours. "Eh yeah, but he's got legal work to do and usually case research." Thea used her hand to shoo away the words since even if she did explain it it probably wouldn't interest either of them all that much. She smiled though at the mention of Seb, which was perfect because it let her be able to bring up the gossip that Elliot had so dutifully bestowed upon her. "Yeah? I heard you two are more than just roommates, I may have spoken to someone who heard that from a reliable source." Thea raised a brow, wanting to hear it for herself just as much since how the hell had that happened?

@cjwelford

cjwelford-archive

Unless it was something cool like the mafia, CJ gathered that case work was probably super boring, and decided not to follow through asking to confirm, just giving a lighthearted shrug in response. Then, Thea asked him a completely unexpected question. He figured Elliot would have shared with the bar owner about what had confessed to him in Holy Spirits about what happened in Vegas, but still felt weirdly uncomfortable talking to her about it. “Uh, yeah. Legal spouses, but my sister hooked me up with some big time lawyer to sort it all out.” He mentioned it casually, like it wasn’t a big deal. Because it most absolutely wasn’t.