Looking Up

Harper Raven Brennan Twenty-Two Registered Nurse and life goes on, which seems kind of strange and cruel when you're watching someone die

[ottolinexclark]

late nights and wandering eyes | ottoline & OPEN

[harperxbrennan]

ottolinexlarks:

Rusty’s was exactly what one would expect from a diner in small town USA. It had worn-down vinyl booths, stale coffee, and strange patrons. Still, it happened to be one of the only places that shared the same odd hours as Ottoline herself so she often ended up there. She preferred it at night, when it was at its quietest. Sometimes she even had the place all to herself, with the exception of whichever unlucky member of staff was on the closing shift. Oddly enough the background noise helped her concentrate and proved a welcome change from the cluttered office in her tiny apartment.

Her laptop groaned with old age, keys clicking obnoxiously in an effort to drive away any remaining customers. Despite the late hour, Ottoline did not have the diner to herself. She could feel eyes on the back of her neck, the unwavering gaze sending chills down her spine. Reporters had a knack for observation, but she had been too engrossed in her work to notice the person come in. Or maybe they were keeping quiet on purpose, trying to sneak past her; in a town like this it certainly was not out of the question.

She turned her head sharply, sick of the way her skin pimpled uncomfortably at the unknown. “It’s impolite to stare, you know?” Ottoline asked, voice harsh with apprehension. “Or if you don’t, consider this your lesson and keep your eyes to themselves.”

So clearly Harper was fair too easy a target for late night calls to the clinic, as it was a little known fact around her work, that she had a hard time saying no. You’d think in a small town such as Muddy Waters, they’d rarely need a nurse in at the later hours of night, but you’d be surprised the antics locals got up too. Especially as they began to stumble and fall their way out of bars and strip clubs, only to injure themselves and be the very reason Harper was still awake in the first place.

This explained why the young nurse now sat in a booth a Rusty’s, nursing a warm cup of coffee and staying awake on nothing but willpower. The only other customer at the time another woman who sat tapping away on her laptop. Honestly Harper hadn’t even noticed she was staring, it was somewhat of a ‘lost in space’ stare. Her mind on anything but who the woman was or what she was doing, considering in general Harper kept to herself. But she found herself getting lost in her increasingly tired mind, staring off in the others general direction, when they spoke. The sudden change in their still environment shocking Harper right out of her daydream, as she actually looked at the woman now.

“Thanks for the tip” Harper said casually, tipping her cup forward before taking a long swig of her coffee. She sunk lower in her seat, her scrubs a comfortable fit for sleeping truthfully. “I’ll note that for next time”

[cheauxcobo]

(lays back all sexy for u on the bed) (bangs my fuckign head on the headboard)

[wnq-writers]

It’s always me, running away. Sometimes, to save myself from something. Most of the time, to save something from me.

A. Martin (via thearchvillainess)

[harperxbrennan]

julian-bolanos:

Julian paused when he recognized his blind date from prom, only now realizing that he’d never actually followed up past making sure that her name wasn’t on the list of casualties following the incident. He felt bad, especially because she was the first woman he’d dated in a minute who hadn’t made an attempt on his life.

“Somebody keeps calling. I don’t know if they’re just paranoid or harassing us.” He let go of his car door and stepped towards her, wondering if it was too much to hope that her smile still didn’t indicate a desire to end his life. “How’ve you been? I’m really sorry I lost track of you after shit went down at the dance. They’ve had us working overtime to-” He stopped himself, knowing that even with everything going on he could have taken fifteen seconds to reach out. “I’m not trying to make excuses. I should have texted.” 

Did Harper feel a little awkward? Yes. Probably because kind of the last thing she’d seen of Julian they were standing on stage collecting second place for Prom King and Queen. But in all honesty, Harper held no ill will, if anyone understood that life got busy, it was her.

“And they’re not hanging around to tell give you the details right?” she asked, only assuming considering he’d asked her if she was placing the calls. Folding her arms tightly across her chest, she nodded slightly at his words. “I figured runner up Prom Queen wasn’t doing it for you” Harper held a straight face for a moment before a slight chuckle fell past her lips. “I’m kidding. It’s okay, seriously...Don’t worry about it. Life gets hectic, I totally understand that.”

[harperxbrennan]

julian-bolanos:

It was the third call this evening about a suspicious someone hanging around the EZpump and the third time driving out to find nothing and no one that seemed out of place. Julian got that people were paranoid and on edge with everything that had happened lately but these calls to the station were getting old. 

He’d checked the parking lot and asked the attendee inside if they’d seen anything unexpected. Again. Walking back to the patrol car, he noticed someone who had pulled up at the pump. “Hey,” He called, reaching for the handle of his car door. “You the one who keeps calling?”

It was uncommon to find Harper out past sunset, unless she was leaving work to go home. She was like the opposite of a vampire, it was like she ceased to exist outside of the walls of her home during the night. However she remembered her car was out of fuel, her brothers needed lunch for tomorrow, and her mother actually found peace in night drives. Or rather Harper could imagine she found peace in seeing the world outside the very home her illness had imprisoned her in.

Ensuring her mother it wouldn’t take a minute, Harper got out of her car, before hearing the call extended in her direction. “Pardon?” she asked, before looking Julian’s way. A soft smile creeping across her lips at a familiar face. “Nah, i’m not in the business of prank calls. At least i’m assuming it’s a prank call if you’re getting back in your car?”

[wordsnquotes]

She wanted to say ‘Don’t leave me,’ but she couldn’t do it, not again. She was so tired of begging people to love her.

Kristin Hannah, The Nightingale (via wordsnquotes)

[harperxbrennan]

Name Meaning -  hahr-per  bren-nan

English, Scottish, and Irish: occupational name for a player on the harp

The name Brennan is an Irish name. In Irish the meaning of the name Brennan is, Raven. Also 'Little drop’

MBTI - ISTJ “The Logistician”

“My observation is that whenever one person is found adequate to the discharge of a duty... it is worse executed by two persons, and scarcely done at all if three or more are employed therein.”

Their defining characteristics of integrity, practical logic and tireless dedication to duty make ISTJs a vital core to many families, as well as organizations that uphold traditions, rules and standards, such as law offices, regulatory bodies and military. People with the ISTJ personality type enjoy taking responsibility for their actions, and take pride in the work they do – when working towards a goal, ISTJs hold back none of their time and energy completing each relevant task with accuracy and patience.

Alignment - Chaotic Good

"An unjust law is no law at all"

Chaotic Good characters are rebels and free spirits who believe in doing good, by their own standards. Some don't have a problem with greater systems such as laws as long as they leave them alone; others are anarchists who believe that too much 'order' is bad for everybody, and the betterment of all can only be achieved by actively rejecting any higher instances of power. Likely to take a intuitive approach to The Golden Rule, caring about other people's feelings and needs without having to calcify it into specific rules.

Ennegram - Type 1 “The Reformer”

Ones are conscientious and ethical, with a strong sense of right and wrong. They are teachers, crusaders, and advocates for change: always striving to improve things, but afraid of making a mistake. Well-organized, orderly, and fastidious, they try to maintain high standards, but can slip into being critical and perfectionistic. They typically have problems with resentment and impatience. At their Best: wise, discerning, realistic, and noble. Can be morally heroic.

Zodiac - Aquarius

Aquarius-born are shy and quiet , but on the other hand they can be eccentric and energetic. However, in both cases, they are deep thinkers and highly intellectual people who love helping others. They are able to see without prejudice, on both sides, which makes them people who can easily solve problems. Although they can easily adapt to the energy that surrounds them, Aquarius-born have a deep need to be some time alone and away from everything, in order to restore power. People born under the Aquarius sign, look at the world as a place full of possibilities.

Hogwarts House - Ravenclaw

"Or yet in wise old Ravenclaw, If you've a ready mind, Where those of wit and learning, Will always find their kind."

Often hard-working and diligent, as often is the case with intellectuals with a predisposition for academics, some of the pupils sorted under the blue-bronzed eagle are known to be inclined to dismiss certain social expectation for the sake of satisfying their own intellectual curiosity. Some of these eventually also ended up being not only accepted, but even celebrated, in spite of being initially subjected to scorn for their various oddities.

[harperxbrennan]

blackheart-rose:

“I learned which hallways to avoid after business hours and that it’s possible to sleep standing up in a corner if you try hard enough. Those were good lessons, I guess.” She looked like she was still in high school, but Rose supposed that that was just part of getting older. Everyone looked younger. She noted that the girl took a moment to answer. The lawyer in her noticed a lot, even when she wasn’t really paying attention. “That’s sweet of you.” Shrugging, she switched instead to a joke. “What’s black and brown and looks good on a lawyer? A rottweiler. What do you call 100 lawyers at the bottom of the sea? A good start. I’ve got a ton. I could go on forever.”

“This is very true. If you learn nothing about the field you work in, at the very least you’ll learn how to survive in it” most of all Harper had learnt that coffee was her very best friend in the world, and to remain detached from the people she worked on. “It’s nothing really” Harper quickly dismissed, more than eager to get off the topic of her having records out of the office. Instead letting out a soft laugh as the other cracked a series of jokes. “Lawyers jokes never go down badly.”

[harperxbrennan]

blackheart-rose:

Once they’d shaken, Rose put the glass down and sighed, bemoaning the skin she wouldn’t grow back for a few days on the inside of her mouth. “Nothing involving the words intern is ever glamorous. You could intern as a supermodel and it would still suck.” Raising an eyebrow, Rose tapped the files. “I’m surprised you’re even allowed to take them away from the office.” She made a note to ask about HIPAA violations. Not that she was that sort of litigator, but it paid to keep an eye on that sort of thing. “What kind of nurse are you then?”

“This is very true, being an intern is the pits.Though to be fair I learnt a lot during my internship” Harper said. Being a nurse was never going to a glamorous job, though it was nice to actually have a job title more respectable than intern. It helped when verbally fighting with rude patients. At Rose’s next words, Harper was forced to think on her response. Most wouldn’t bat an eyelash at the sight of patient files out of the office, and technically Harper shouldn’t have been doing it. So the fact that Rose both picked up on it and asked was a point of interest. “Family patient files. Keeping an eye on my relatives” a weak lie but she attempted it anyway. “Enough about my average job. What do you do for a living?”

[harperxbrennan]

botch-cassidy:

Cass nodded as Harper suggested that sticking around could be beneficial. Honestly, at this point she was out of money for bus fare and didn’t have a lot of options aside from looking at the bright sides of staying long enough until she could figure something out anyway. 

“Okay.” She glanced around them, checking out the signs of the shops on the street where they currently were. “Any tips on which half to try first? Anyone a particular kind of asshole?”

Harper usually wasn’t one to encourage people to stay in Muddy Waters, especially considering she hadn’t been the towns biggest fan upon arriving. But it wasn’t a bad place to lay low, and honestly this town had more skeletons than most. So Harper was sure some kind of information would surface about this friend.

“Well the bed and breakfast is run by this crazy old cat lady. She seems overly enthusiastic which means she’s probably hiding a sinister secret in one of her theme rooms. There is a bar, Troy, it’s kind of pretentious. The pawn shop is a little creepy and smells awful. I work at the medical center, the drive in is cool though. Or like any other store you might walk past. Honestly nowhere is awful, it’s all just different”

[harperxbrennan]

blackheart-rose:

The ice coffee was like heaven as Rose chugged it, not even minding that someone else’s germs were all over it. Germs weren’t that bad, she’d grown up around so many, she was pretty much bulletproof by now. “Thanks.” Once her mouth felt less molten, she wiped away any lingering bits off coffee and noted the girl who’d helped her. She had that look of being vaguely familiar, because it was Muddy and everyone was vaguely familiar, without standing out. “I’m Rose.”

Offering a hand, she noted the notes from the hospital. It was pretty much automatic at this point, she couldn’t help but scan through the details of a person’s life that were visible. “You look a little young to be dealing with patient records. Are you an intern?”

Watching as the woman chugged the ice coffee, Harper couldn’t help but think her drink had gone to a much better home. She’d already consumed over the recommended caffeine dose for the day, and was running off nothing but the previous three cups she’d had. “Don’t mention it” she said with a small smile and a shrug playing on her shoulders.

“Harper, nice to meet you” the young nurse said, taking the woman’s extended hand in her own, and giving a firm but short shake. “Nah, I did my time as an intern, it wasn’t glamorous” Harper commented, closing the folder that current sat on the counter. “I’m a nurse actually. And a chronic workaholic, hence having my patient files out of the office”

[harperxbrennan]

maevengravesmd:

Maeven’s eyes flashed with a bit of suspicion when Harper said she wasn’t hurt, but she shrugged. “I broke a finger and got a pretty little gash right here,” She pointed to her hairline. “But I’ll live, fortunately.” She turned on her heel and led Harper into the examination room.

Upon entering, she knew Harper would notice that the room was empty, so she closed the door behind them and stood in front of it. The room was quiet, the bustle of the corridors and nurse’s station fallen away. This place was dirt poor, but the buildings had good skeletons. Thick walls. 

“Let me take a look, please, Harper.” She held out her hand elegantly, hoping Harper would accept her invitation to examine her arm.

Lying wasn’t Harper’s strong suit, but it didn’t stop her from trying. She’d rather lie miserably than have to admit the truth. People needed them, she could wait. Then again knowing Harper waiting would turn into ignoring the issue until she literally couldn’t take it anymore. 

Once they’d entered the examination room, Harper scanned the small space, finding it empty of any patients. The young nurse was quick to realise exactly what was going on, and had Maeven not been literally blocking the door, Harper probably would have gone for her exit with some weak excuse. “I’d love to say no.....but okay”

Taking her seat upon the examination bed, Harper allowed a slump of her shoulders. “It’s really nothing major though. I probably just tweaked it when I was dragging people around”

[harperxbrennan]

blackheart-rose:

Several of Rose’s clients, both past and present, had apparently been kept in ‘quarantine’ while being interrogated without counsel present. It sounded like a set-up, but then, almost anything involving the MWPD did. The security footage was conveniently missing or destroyed. Jesus Christ, it’s like they weren’t even trying not to look shady as fuck anymore. 

Of course, she couldn’t actually get into the station to yell at the police involved, though the time spent waiting was only making her more creative about exactly what she was going to say. Making notes on her legal pad, she drank her scalding hot coffee and yelled, “Fuck me!” when it burned the roof of her mouth and her tongue. Noting that the person next to her had a drink with ice in it, she dragged a twenty out of her pocket. “I’ll pay you to give me that ice.”

Harper had heard about the quarantine that happened at the sheriffs office, and at this point anything that happened to do with law enforcement didn’t interest her in the slightest. The grey area was getting larger and everything seemed to just be up for speculation these days.

Running off ice coffee, the young nurse sat around reading through a mountain of paperwork. Going between proofreading her brothers homework, to patient records she needed to sort and file once she got back to work. The only reason she looked up was the sudden exclaim from a woman next to her. “Keep the money, I know that horrible feeling” Harper said, pushing her drink across to the other.

[harperxbrennan]

botch-cassidy:

Cassie’s lips quirked into a small smile as Harper bypassed the question that she’d left hanging in the air, appreciating what seemed like understanding. Cass knew she was a soft touch and she could feel that familiar feeling which left her with nothing but the realization of what a goddamned sucker she was.

“Yeah,” She nodded but there was hesitation in her voice. “I need to kinda reset before I chase him any further.” She perked up at the offer of Harper showing her around town. “Yeah, that’d be cool actually. You know of anyone who’s looking for help? A job would be a good place to start.”

Harper didn’t like to pry, she’d always felt if people wanted to talk about something, they’d eventually bring it up themselves. So she bypassed a myriad of questions she could have asked about this mysterious friend and the circumstances of Cassidy’s visit. Instead offering her limited knowledge of town and a friendly smile.

“Yeah, it can’t hurt to stick around a while. Hell you might even get some more info on where he’s run off too” Harper offered with a soft shrug, followed by a soft smile as Cassidy took up her offer. “I don’t know of anyone that is necessarily looking for help. But I bet if you walk into half the places in town they’ll give you a job, always looking for extra hands to cover the shortages around here.” Not to mention the people that had died in the collapse probably left job vacancies in their wake. 

[willafitz]

low quality gifs of a high quality girl (✿◠‿◠)

[harperxbrennan]

maevengravesmd:

She made a point not to watch Harper too closely. She tried not to be too prying when it wasn’t absolutely necessary. “I’m pleased to see you up and about so soon after the incident. It’s a shame how many were injured or lost…”

Truthfully, when Maeven had heard that the stage had fallen in that night, one of the first things she wondered was if Harper had been hurt. It was expected that Harper and her date would be up there at some point for a crown, and Maeven wasn’t upstairs when it had happened, so she had no idea what was going on during the actual cave-in. She had been relieved when she heard Harper was okay. She was one of her preferred nurses.

Being as that was the case, no one around would find it particularly strange when Maeven asked, “Harper, would you mind helping me with something in this exam room over here? The patient requested we be discrete, and I trust you for the job. This patient isn’t in the system, per their request.”

Harper wasn’t used to people making a fuss over her, in fact it never happened. She cared for others, it was her job and honestly what her life revolved around. Harper was nothing but a helping hand, and sometimes it was hard to never have that same help. It ran her down, left her exhausted and over time she’d grown unfamiliar with her own emotions and feelings.

“I wasn’t hurt.” Harper commented with a shrug, hoping the more she said it the more believable it would become. “But yeah, it’s terrible what happened to some people.” the young nurse nodded. On that very night she’d tried her best to disconnect, to not take each lose on herself. But it was hard to not feel as though she should have somehow done more.

“Of course.” Harper agreed quickly. She did enjoy working with Maeven and honestly hoped to know the woman more outside of work. Getting up from her seat behind the nurses station, Harper stepped out and towards the exam room. 

[harperxbrennan]

botch-cassidy:

Cass followed Harper’s gaze to the old folks before looking back at her, grateful to have found a friendly face and hoping that it wasn’t too good to be true. After too many of the encounters that Cassie had experienced she should have been far more suspicious than she actually was. 

“New.” She gestured to the sign for the bus stop. “I came here looking for a friend of a friend, but it seems like he might have already moved on. Are you from here?” She asked, eager to change the subject away from herself.

Harper was quick to realise that nothing stayed a secret long in Muddy Waters, the curse of a gossip driven small town. Though it kept the locals mostly busy and out of her hair, so she couldn’t exactly complain. It was a nice change to meet someone who didn’t seem so interested in the whispers of it all.

“A friend of a friend huh? Sounds like there is a story. But i’ll just say, i’m sorry to hear you missed him. Planning on sticking around for a while anyway?” she asked, with a raise of her eyebrows in intrigue. “I’m not. But i’ve been here a little over a year, so if you ever need a tour guide, i’m happy to help”