righteous defiance

Rance, Etienne, Cyrus, Chaz, Isaiah, Algy & Daishiro for hunstvillehq

[detectivegoldstein]

James grumbled under his breath as he squinted at the weapon sheets. He really needed to remake these, preferably without all the color. As the door to the ranger hq opened, he glanced up. "Can I help ya?"

@darkestxdreams

[darkestxdreams]

When he had gone to follow his lead on the missing persons case, Chaz had never expected finding an even bigger mystery. And while he knew it was probably futile to try and ask if any of the rangers had any more knowledge than the rest of the people in town, he still felt it was worth a shot. "Hey mate. I know this is probably gonna be th' dumbest question, but I was just wonderin' if you've, you know, seen anythin' strange 'round here lately?"

[sagemarlowe]

she took the box and placed it in her basket "nothing overly exciting. i promised my sister that i'd make her these cookies. it's our moms recipe" she admitted "you're a chef? what do you like cooking, any recommendations?"

[darkestxdreams]

"Aw, dat's always one o' de best reasons t' cook--family." Etienne had picked up a lot of his recipes from his uncle, after all. But having her ask him for recommendations made his eyes positively light up. "Oh chere, I could go on and on 'bout recommendations, but I'd be remiss if I didn't mention de classics o' gumbo and jambalaya first. But word o' warnin', dey're spicy, so if dat ain't your thing, den I'd go wit' beignets instead."

[thirtecnth]

@darkestxdreams / closed starter / cyrus lockwood setting: the daily grind

Sat with her coffee and her book, Carrie had planned to spend the morning catching up on her book club chapters before even trying to get anything productive done. Really, she just wanted some escapism. Anything would do at this point. As she glanced up from the page, she tilted her head in recognition. "Knew this town was small enough that I'd run into you again," she said, giving him a smile. "How've you been since the speed date stuff?"

[darkestxdreams]

The whole speed dating thing had been mostly a failure as far as Cyrus was concerned, and he had been hoping he would not run into any of the people he had been paired up with. But it was a small town, as he had always known, and so he should not have been surprised when he finally ran into Carrie. But actually talking to her had been one of the better moments of the whole event, so in truth, he did not really mind. "Yeah, unfortunately I've been aware of just how small this lousy place is my whole life," he remarked as he sat down across from her, "I've been ok. My dating situation hasn't improved, but at least I've beaten a few high scores at the arcade recently, much to the chagrin of some of my employees. How about you?"

[darkestxdreams]

[darkestxdreams]

[darkestxdreams]

[ofescapisms]

@darkestxdreams

Charlotte was so distracted she barely realized she was walking right by the very store she used to work with Rance at, and happened to see him outside of it. She certainly felt awkward but her feelings for Cassie meant she’d have to see him again sooner or later. “Oh, Rance…hey,” she said sheepishly. “H-how are you?”

[darkestxdreams]

Seeing Charlie again did feel a little awkward, but Rance was infinitely more happy that she and Cassie had hit it off, only wanting the best for both of them. "Hey Charlie. I'm doin' good. How 'bout you?" Scratching the back of his neck, he debated if he should come right out and ask how things were with her and Cassie, eventually figuring there was no reason not to. "So how're things wit' you an' Cassie? 'M so glad you two're gettin' together, by th' way. I couldn't think o' a better person for either o' you."

[violenttempest]

It was late. Late enough there was moonlight trickling through the window. Helena was wide awake and had been for hours. Even as Etienne slept next to her she couldn't rest. There was an odd sense of dread at her situation. When had this become more than sex? When had she begun to seek him out? Her body was once a warzone and now scars had been caressed and kissed like they were brush strokes on a canvas. There was no label and yet here she was in his bed for probably the third time that week not counting the times he was in hers. It made her nervous. She sat there staring at the moon through the gap in the curtains, trying not to pay attention to the passing face of her father that haunted from outside.

It was only when she felt Etienne shift she realised he was awake. "Go back to sleep." She murmured quietly, reaching to smooth his hair back. @darkestxdreams

[darkestxdreams]

Etienne would have never guessed that he and Helena would have gotten to this point, for quite a few reasons. Her initial reaction to him for one, and his own penchant for sticking mostly to one night stands for another. So for them to be sleeping together regularly now was not what he would have ever expected their interactions to evolve into. But unexpected as it was, he was growing quite used to it, so much so that when he turned over and found Helena was not asleep but sitting up on the bed beside him, his first instinct was concern. "Not if you ain't sleepin'," he replied, patting her hand before sitting up himself, "What's de matter, chere? Whatever's botherin' you, starin' out de window definitely ain't gonna do it no good."

[sagemarlowe]

sage turned when she heard someone approaching and offering to help. one thing she could count on was someone offering to help. the town thankfully was filled with more good people than not "that would be great, thanks. top shelf is the only shelf left with the boxes i'm looking for."

[darkestxdreams]

"O' course. No problem." Etienne smiled and easily reached up to grab one of the boxes on the top shelf, then held it out to her. "What'chu makin', if you don' mind me askin'? I was lookin' 'round for some fresh ingredients myself. Even though I cook for work, I like t' do it for fun too."

[oxtofmydcpth]

Waylon shrugged, "knew he was alive but can't say I knew him. Or maybe I did and he ain't even the one that changed," Waylon knew for a fact that he had changed over the years, twisted and mangled by anger and resentment, where Lucas seemed to take those same feelings and use them for good. How sickening. "I don't know if that makes me the lucky one, or you mate. But if these new people he's so fond of are more important than the brother that saved his life, so be it."

[darkestxdreams]

Isaiah could not imagine that he would have had a better relationship with Chaz if they had known each other all their lives. If anything, he probably would have hated him more. "I don't think either of us are lucky, but I'd probably give myself the edge since I didn't hafta see him all this time." Again it sounded like they were in a very similar situation, since Chaz had others he seemed to care more about than his brother. "Wow, I hear that too. My bro's got himself some--I dunno what he is--trainee, or somethin', and he sure seems to care a hell of a lot more about him than me. Guess that old 'blood is thicker than water' thing ain't as true as people like to think."

[violenttempest]

Helena shook her head, pulling back just enough so she could look up at him. "Don't you dare." She couldn't say it. What she really wanted to say. Mostly it was because her brain hadn't caught up with the rest of her yet. She was still guarded and untrusting of things going her way of feeling safe with someone. "You're not allowed to die. Do you understand?"

She looked him in the eye fear on her face but it wasn't for herself. It was for him. Etienne had slowly been easing past her defences and if something were to happen to him it would leave a gaping hole in her life. No. He wasn't allowed to get hurt. He wasn't allowed to die.

[darkestxdreams]

While he was serious that he would gladly put himself in harm's way to protect her, Etienne had no plans to try to get closer to the tentacles or whatever else this crazy town decided to throw at them. But Helena's vehemence that she did not want him to die took him a little by surprise. Obviously she was getting every bit as attached to him as he was to her. "I don' plan on doin' nothin' o' de sort," he said firmly, meeting her eyes, "I wanna keep you safe, oui, but I also wanna be here wit' you…for you…as long as you'll have me, chere."

[wanderinglcst-deactivated202412]

"You could try." Eddie joked then patted his dogs head for a minute. "Yeah, he's never been sure about animals bigger than him, but he's never gone for them so that's a plus side. Too old, too slow and has like three teeth left."

[darkestxdreams]

"Oh sure, and then I'd be payin' th' price when he kicks me. Prob'ly on purpose too." Rance shook his head at the thought of trying to snuggle with Desperado, though he would certainly feel better if the horse was with him at night instead of outside in the barn. "Aw, he's still a good boy, though. An' I know Desperado wouldn't do nothin' t' him, 'cause clearly he ain't no threat."

[ambercast]

Kai rolled his eyes. "The fuck you're talking about? Your brother practically adopted me. Of course I'm gonna respect his opinion about things. That don't mean I'm in a thrall. What is he, a vampire?" He shook his head. "You're just jealous he's more popular than you."

[darkestxdreams]

Hearing the confirmation of his brother's bleeding heart attitude made Isaiah roll his eyes. He also resented the thought that Chaz was clearly trying to steer his life the same way he had done for Kai. Well the younger man might have fallen for that trick, but Isaiah sure as hell was not going to. "I shoulda figured you'd have blinders on when it comes to him. You think he's lookin' out for you and wants what's best for you, huh? Didn't it ever occur to you that he might just be thinkin' 'bout what's best for him and projectin' that on you?" he remarked, conveniently ignoring the fact that he was currently projecting his own insecurities onto Kai, "I don' care 'bout bein' popular. I care 'bout keepin' myself alive and whole, and if you're too busy worryin' 'bout others like Chaz is, you ain't gonna last long. All I'm sayin' is that you might wanna think twice before followin' him down that road."

[curreres]

"the silver lining, huh?" aiko repeats, settling back against the back of her chair, her hands still loosely clasped around her cup of tea. it was hard to imagine a silver lining, but then again, when she was here she didn't have to fear backlash from her manager (unless he somehow found her here). she got to be close to her brother and by extension got to know her niece, and she'd met so many people here already that she cared for, some more than she was willing to admit. "i guess that's fair. what's your silver living, then? if you don't mind me asking."

[darkestxdreams]

Admittedly, it was probably pretty hard for people to find a silver lining to being stuck in town. And even though Daishiro was happy to be away from his family's reach, he was obviously sorry to be limited to only being in town, and of course to have to worry about the threats lurking at night. So there were a few times when he wondered if it was really worth the trade-off. He did not want to tell her the whole truth, but he could certainly be vague enough to give a realistic answer. "Being on my own, for the first time in my life, really. Being able to make my own choices and decide what's right for me. I know there's limited options in town, but even small choices are a lot more than I ever got to make before."

[violenttempest]

"I like being here with you too." She admitted. "It's nice being able to be involved like this. I can hear the joy rather than just listening to music and feeling people bump into me. Tari shuffled closer and pressed a kiss to his shoulder. "Give me a hundred more days like this and i'll be forever content."

[darkestxdreams]

Rance agreed being at the lake party was different than a lot of the shindigs that had been put on in town, and it was even better to experience it with Tari. Hence why he wanted to stay. He smiled as she kissed his shoulder before putting his arm around her and pulling her closer. "I'd love t' have plenty o' days like this. Can't help hopin' that maybe someday, if we can ever get outta here, we can have a whole life o' days like this. But really, I'm happy t' be wit' you anywhere, Tari."

[curreres]

"i figured you'd wanna know about it immediately. you know, so you could plan how you'd eventually maybe try to come back from that crushing defeat," billie says, spinning around on the stool to grab a piece of paper from behind them — quickly they draw a sign and then with a little tape on it, they plaster it to the wall beside them. it reads 'new rule: no bragging about beating the boss's high score' with little frowny faces and hearts and stars covering the page around it. "there we go. made it official and everything." then they pause. "wait. if you beat it does that mean you get bragging rights?"

[darkestxdreams]

As much as he tried to tell himself that them beating him at Pac-Man was not a crushing defeat, Cyrus could not deny he was giving some thought to trying a little harder next time. "Sorry, but there's no way you can spin that as just informing me when I know you were just dying to brag." Which he did not even remotely blame them for because he would have done exactly the same thing. Seeing Billie go and make an actual sign almost made him laugh--if it was not for the glaring fact that they had still beaten his high score. "Oh good, I'm glad it's official," he deadpanned, "And of course I get bragging rights! I'm the boss! You're lucky I just instituted a rule about bragging. If I was feeling really nasty, I'd decree no one but the boss could even play the games anymore. No one else playing, no one beating my high scores, after all."

[ofescapisms]

Hayden nodded, she knew the type of parent he had well. She laughed a bit at his comment about the drinks. “Agreed, creative ways to make these drinkable. I’m sure it’s strong enough to peel the paint off a car,” she joked. “How about a margarita, that seems like a safe choice doesn’t it? But the fact that they make their own wines and beers here too is impressive.” She grabbed two glasses and offered him one. “What other kinds of things are you looking to try now that you can? Maybe I can help?”

[darkestxdreams]

She had a point. Though he doubted that the people making the drinks wanted to poison their fellow townsfolk, Algy was a little leery of what exactly the drinks were made out of. "Yes, that's what I'm a little afraid of. They are sure that everything in these drinks is edible, right?" There could not be anything too weird in a margarita, surely. Nodding in agreement, he said, "Sure, that sounds good. I just hope it isn't made out of grass." He accepted the glass and thought about her question. "Well, I haven't exactly made a bucket list. But maybe if the lake freezes over in winter, we could take a crack at ice skating? I never got a chance to learn that either, so I'll probably fall right on my bum as soon as I step on the ice!"