Do I have to?

Names, Reuben. People call me Reu. Don't mess with my kitchen or I will mess you up. Do that and don't disturb me while I'm napping and well get along fine.

[insideateapot-blog]

Haven't you ever heard of closing the goddamn door?|| Reu & Dor

[insideateapot-blog]

“Could you make strawberries delicious?” Dormouse asked. If there was one fruit she did not like, it was strawberries. She wasn’t sure if that was because she actually didn’t like them or if her dislike came because of the Queen of Hearts and her strawberry tarts. “Magic doesn’t always work the way you want it to” 

[do-not--disturb]

“I suppose so, though I like strawberries they aren’t something I prefer but I could make a delicious dish of food you could think of.” Reuben laughed and nodded softly, “You are right. I’ll just have to use my mad skills then.”

[do-not--disturb]

|| Reuben and Dormouse

[insideateapot-blog]

“Oh” Dormouse said with a little giggle. “Well sorry for always wanting everything to taste better” 

“That’s so silly, boys are silly and weird. You’re all a bunch of weirdo’s” 

[do-not--disturb]

“Well you can’t always get what you want” he teased.

“Well thank you, we do try dear.”

[stealingeveryonesleftshoe]

Right, right.

The only place where people care about what you have to say…

[do-not--disturb]

Oh don’t be a baby just because your an idiot. Just accept defeat. 

[insideateapot-blog]

Haven't you ever heard of closing the goddamn door?|| Reu & Dor

[insideateapot-blog]

Dormouse blushed a little at Reu’s comment about her being a Queen. Her face simply turned redder when Reu kissed her cheek. She thought about making a comment about how she would not like if people were to be stabbed in the eye. That would make her too much like The Queen of Hearts. But when she opened her mouth to say something, only giggles came out so she decided to not say anything. 

The pie Reu described did sound amazing. “I didn’t even know that a pie like that existed” Dor said. “Maybe when you can go in the kitchen again you can make it for me?” She kind of understood what he meant about missing his kitchen. Dormouse was lucky enough that her creativity came from writing and she could always have her journal with her, even if now it had a large bite mark in it. But Reuben couldn’t always be in the kitchen. “I’m sure you can go back soon” It wasn’t helpful but it was all she could say. 

[do-not--disturb]

Reuben chuckled at Dormouses reaction, adorable as ever.  

“I could create any pie you could dream of and make it delicious.” He told her proudly giving her a wink. “Oh of course, I’ll need something magically to kick it all back up. “

[do-not--disturb]

|| Reuben and Dormouse

[insideateapot-blog]

“Oh I would love that!” Dormouse giggled and brought her hands together and spun in a little circle. “Drinkable chocolate, I love chocolate, do you think they can make drinkable raspberry chocolate?” 

She nodded. “Yes, I think he was the only who actually wanted to play it. The other boy was just trying to look tough, which was silly because he could have gotten himself hurt and then Lock was making drinks. I’m actually all that sure what he was doing and then one morning he wasn’t there anymore” 

[do-not--disturb]

“No” Reuben responded almost immediately in a dull voice and gave her a flat look he hoped she’d notice as joking.

“Well that’s boys for you, we do stupid stuff to prove ourselves.”

[dark-arrows]

no one left

Merida didn’t know what to think or feel. Tramp had told her this day would come, but she never really expected it to happen after 5 years of friendship. Tramp was gone, and he either wasn’t coming back for a long while, or he wasn’t coming back at all. Merida was just lost, she cleaned stalls and shot arrows without any joy and everything just seemed a little less dull knowing Tramp wouldn’t be there for her during nightmares ,or to show her something silly, or for her to get him out of trouble.

And so thats where she sat, at the back of the train looking out towards the city, the tears on her cheeks and her eyes vacant until she heard footsteps and quickly wiped her eyes. Muttering. “sorry… sorry just.. the carnival doesn’t feel like home now… “ she didn’t know why she was saying this to who ever rounded that corner, but it had to be said outloud, the past few days had been killing her…

[do-not--disturb]

Reuben only wanted a nice little stroll, people seemed to be starving after eating whatever bland food the top dogs could come up with for so long. He didn't mind, honestly he wished he could just live in the kitchen for a while. It felt homey and safe plus he could guard against late night food thieves. He wouldn't have minding having a nice chat with Merida but a wave of tension shot threw him when she addressed him and it became obvious she was upset. Welp it’s not like he could walk away, he’d have to go save the day. 

He took a seat beside her and looked out at the city, “Because Scar’s a cunt... orr.. something else?” It didn't seem like she would be the type to let that whole thing get to her but they weren't exactly close so maybe he was wrong.

[stealingeveryonesleftshoe]

You know I was gonna make a joke but I think that the idea of you in a position of leadership is joke enough

[do-not--disturb]

I’m already in a position of leadership you fucking imbecile. 

[insideateapot-blog]

Haven't you ever heard of closing the goddamn door?|| Reu & Dor

[insideateapot-blog]

Dormouse smiled, glad that she hadn’t insulted him. “Well I’m glad you like me because I’ve had enough of people being rude to me” She crossed her hands and wrinkled her nose. There was only so much a little mouse could take in such a period of time. “A pie? Raspberry, of course” Dormouse looked up at him and grinned. “It’s the best kind there is, what about you?” 

[do-not--disturb]

"Well that is a crime against nature as you should be treated like the queen. Feared and respected to the extent that people either like you or are too nervous to be rude for fear that they might be stabbed in the eye." He chuckled lightly at himself and leaned over holding a finger under her chin and kissing her check. 

Reuben sighed fakely annoyied with that answer, "At least be something more... unique. Like... white chocolate mousse and raspberry puree pie with  maybe a simply short bread cookie crust with like a thin layer of some kind of chamomile tea  cream on top. Or perhaps with just a scoop of chamomile tea icecream...." He sighed and rested his fist against his check, "I miss my kitchen. I need to create..."

[do-not--disturb]

|| Reuben and Dormouse

[insideateapot-blog]

"Drinkable chocolate?" Dormouse looked at Reu with wide eyes. "That sounds wonderful!" When Reuben mentioned that he and Leroy use to play Five Finger Fillet she froze. "That was it! Leroy tried to play that game! I did not like it muchly and took some magic so I wouldn’t have to play" She shook her head. The time in the car had not been fun at all for Dormouse, she liked simple, nice things, not crazy out of control. Unless it was a nice out of control, like Wonderland. Except her time with the boys had felt a lot more like she was in the Queen of Hearts Court. 

[do-not--disturb]

Seeing Dormouse's response raised a bit of Reu's only excitement and he grinned back at her, "I know! I'll have to take you if we go and I can find a cafe with it.." 

"It's a good game but he shouldn't be pressuring people into playing it...but.. glad you got out of it?" He was still too tense to try delving into this deep stuff Dormouse had going on.

[stealingeveryonesleftshoe]

Whoever’s spreading their germs, no one asked you to share.

[do-not--disturb]

How else am I supposed to over take the world?

[apatheticdamsel]

Am I the only one who genuinely enjoys sneezing?

[do-not--disturb]

Not at all, a good sneeze is like a mini orgasm. 

[sugarscreams]

Randall smirked, lips drawing tight and quirking up at one corner. The expression dropped rather quickly at the drop of Reuben’s time at the carnival.

Ten years? Ten years. You’ve been working here ten years? Christ talk about long climbs.

And usually you tell stories when prompted for stories. Help me out, it’s boring on the rails.

[do-not--disturb]

Well I mean I've been head chef for a while but your at a carnival, so once people come and stay long enough to rise in power we don't really leave so it's not like spots really open up. 

Sorry I'm not an old lady at the library I don't tell stories when prompted, its usually more of an in the moment thing. Besides I'm not in the business of giving away information for free, no matter how insignificant.

[insideateapot-blog]

Haven't you ever heard of closing the goddamn door?|| Reu & Dor

[insideateapot-blog]

"Well he was very nice to me" Dormouse smiled. "I don’t really like Leroy" She told him in a few soft voice, feeling bad for not liking his brother. "Sorry" To her it seemed like a rude thing to say that you didn’t like someone’s family even though she would not be offended if someone didn’t like her family. But she wasn’t even sure if she liked her family. 

"You shouldn’t be pushing anyone off Ferris Wheels" Dormouse told him as a matter of a fact. "Because that is simply rude" She wasn’t sure about not being a complicated annoying girl because Dormouse did think of herself as rather complicated and very annoying, but if he didn’t think so, she wasn’t going to argue it. The hug was awkward so after a moment she let go. "I don’t know what else to talk about" Dor admitted with a giggle. 

[do-not--disturb]

"Well good, it would be awkward if you too did not get along given how important he is to me" He noted, again giving more then he normally would. He chuckled lightly at her confession, "It's alright." He soothed leaning in and lowering his voice too, "I don't really like him most of the time either."

He gave her a smile and admitted, "I can be rather rude with people I don't really like deary..." 

"Hmmm" Reuben squinted into the crowd pondering a topic, "If you were a pie what sort of pie do you think you would be?" 

[do-not--disturb]

|| Reuben and Dormouse

[insideateapot-blog]

"If we go to Poland, we should find a cafe and eat fantastic hard to find cheese and then visit a salt mine" All of those things sounded wonderful to Dormouse. Cafe’s were fun to go to and you could always tea at them, who didn’t like cheese? and she’d never even heard of a salt mine before. "It sounds simply lovely" She giggled. "That sounds annoying, but at least she wasn’t yelling or trying to stab other people’s hands" Dormouse made a face, it didn’t make sense to her that Leroy and Reu were brothers sometimes, even though she herself was very different from his sister. But Leroy was loud, crazy and obnoxious and Reuben just wasn’t, he was nice, smart and calm. 

[do-not--disturb]

"We should, they make like.... drinkable Chocolate int some cafes there. If we go, I totally daring you to like the walls." He laughed and nudged her very gently with his elbow. "I'd have preferred yelling, angry people are amusing to me. I also wouldn't have minded a little consensual hand stabbing, get out some agitation. Me and my brother Leroy used to play Fiver Finger Fillet a lot when we were younger. I guess it's a thing boys like to do before they mature up... or I guess I'd probably still play it if I was drunk.....or got dared..." He waved a way the though, "But with how much I've burned and cut my hands I don't think there is any sensitivity left in them..."

[insideateapot-blog]

Haven't you ever heard of closing the goddamn door?|| Reu & Dor

[insideateapot-blog]

"Three is a good number" Dormouse told him. "You can be my number three to" She gave him a smile, although really he was probably number two because she didn’t include herself. But that didn’t need to be stated. "I like Stitch, we made pumpkins together at Halloween" She smiled. "He’s nice" Dormouse hadn’t made the connection that Stitch and Reu were brothers before now. Honesty until recently, Dormouse had known Reu had siblings at the Carnival but she’d never connected the dots as to who they were.  

Dormouse burst out into giggles when Reu began talking about Tony. She had no idea who this man was, but Reu’s description as to why he would be upset if he died caught her as hysterical. “I think that is a good way to measure if you care” She told him. “And I think that if you care about me at all that is good” She smiled and then threw her arms around him to hug him, very glad that what she had thought was not true. Because if Reu didn’t care about her she wasn’t sure what she would do, there were only a handful of people at the Carnival that had really touched her and he was one of them. If it turned out that he didn’t care about her, in any way, it would have crushed her. It had been crushing her until she was able to ask him. “We don’t have to talk about sad things or silly things anymore, I’d much rather not” Dormouse pushed her hair behind her ear. “Because that is not a fun thing to do” 

[do-not--disturb]

"Good good" He said relieved this wouldn't turn into some kind of argument that he didn't have the energy for. "I'd be honored" he continued putting a hand to his chest and giving her a small smile. "He can be when he wants to, the rascal looks up to Leroy I think, which is not a good thing most of the time." Reuben usually avoided talking about himself but with his brain about two notches slower he just didn't have the filter he usually did.

"Yeah except when outliers like Tony show up then it gets weird because I would love to push him off the top of the Ferris wheel. Well that's good, your not one of those complicated annoying girls" he sighed and shook his head at the thought, "It's greatly appreciated." It was a weird position to be hugged in so he reached up and patter her arm instead of twisting about to hug her back. "Well good I think their is enough upsetting feeling in here with out use creating more."

[insideateapot-blog]

Haven't you ever heard of closing the goddamn door?|| Reu & Dor

[insideateapot-blog]

With her head down, Dormouse listened to everything he said and tried to process it as he said it. “Third!” Dormouse’s head popped up and she looked at him. Her eyes gave away that two little tears had spilled out when her head was down but they were very faint on her cheeks. She did giggle a little though, she wasn’t entirely sure why, but she did. “They ripped everything away from me and then he said that and I don’t know” Dormouse shook her head and sighed, dropping her head again, but not into her knees this time, just letting it hang. “Nobody cares about me” She said barley above a whisper. “And then I thought people did, but nobody does and then maybe people do and I just don’t know” Now she just felt like she was being annoying. 

"This is Ettie" Dormouse said suddenly, picking up the picture and showing it to him, pointing to the taller girl. "And that was Mally" She pointed to the other girl, herself. "Ettie didn’t really like Mally, she was too weird" Dormouse let her legs stretch out. "I care to much. I’m sorry." 

[do-not--disturb]

Reuben turned to give her a confused look, "I'm not sure if that was an upset or excited exclamation but yes you are at around third. I am number one and my younger brother Stitch is second. These two things will never change. I'm almost obligated to say Leroy is top five but he can stay at the bottom of that for now." Dor was a confusing creature but for now he wouldn't take anything to heart, it was a rough time for everyone. No time for him to try keeping tabs on a ladies emotions.

God only knows what craziness Zira had caused but Reuben tried to skip over it all. He liked to stay as far away from her as possible and with Leroy in the mix he wouldn't be able to defend her. 

He leaned in slightly to look at the picture, he tried not to comment on this new information. They could discuss it at a better time, "I think you care at a lovely amount little tea cup and I care about you as much as I can. There are only six people who have ever been in my life to which it would upset me if they died. Two of them are family and one of them already died, then there is you my long time companion and Merida who I've recently grown quiet fond of, and then Tony who runs one of the rides who I actually can't stand but he continuously makes bets I will obviously win and is a valuable source of income. If he dies I won't be able to collect the money he still owes me so..." Reuben gave a shrug, though this was true it was his attempt at light amusment to get her into a better state. 

[insideateapot-blog]

Haven't you ever heard of closing the goddamn door?|| Reu & Dor

[insideateapot-blog]

Dormouse was startled when she felt someone rest their chin on her shoulder. When she saw it was Reu, she wasn’t sure how she felt about it, in light of recent events and things that had been said to her. “My sister and I” She said softly and a little cold. This was rather difficult because much of Dormouse wanted to talk, she loved to talk and to talk to her friends was so much fun, but she had told herself that she was upset about certain things and until those things were sorted out she was not going to talk freely. It was very hard. She lowed the picture and pulled her legs in closer to herself. “Do you care about me?” She blurted out, closing her eyes. She hadn’t intended to be so direct about it, but it just kind of spilled out. “Because when Zira told Leroy that he got to punish me because of the drugs in my bag and I was upset he told me that you didn’t care about me. Well he said anyone and I think I’m included in anyone, because I’m someone” Dormouse added quickly in a mumble, lowing her head into her knees

[do-not--disturb]

Reuben frowned a bit and straightened when Dor didn't give her usual excited to see him face. "You have a sister?" He asked flatly, not bothering with charm or warmth if she was going to be difficult. Reuben opened his mouth making a very faint sound of distress. He quickly shut it, letting her continue so he had time to think. He was tired, and though he had finally moved into a stable state of being able to function choosing the right words for this occasion gave him a head ache. 

Reuben stepped into place beside her and squatted down to her level sitting on his heels. "You are quite the someone..." he started lacing his fingers together and rocked softly on his feet. "I pride myself on knowing people but I'm a rather complicated person dear.So these questions like this one aren't easily answered with a definite. But yes, I care about you I'd think that would be obvious to you at least... to what extent....I...have no idea. The main point I think Leroy was basing that on is that in the end when it comes down to it and everything is at fruition I will always come first to me. But you, you're a close third."