hereforevr

𝖺𝗇𝖽 𝗐𝖾'𝗅𝗅 𝖺𝗅𝗅 𝖻𝖾 𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳

[hereforevr]

⸻ private, dependent rp blog for valpohq ⸺ written by axel ( 27 / they/them )

muses

sarah davies ⸺ ( 40 / she/her ) arin callister ⸺ ( 24 / he/him )

[hereforevr]

⸺ location arin's apartment ( @caseydundrich )

he's got his entire table covered in computer parts, told casey come over to give him the overview and double check everything he wants before he actually puts it all together. he does it with everyone he builds a computer for. even though usually, people's eyes glaze over as soon he says the words 'solid state drive' and they stop listening. before casey can get close enough to actually see anything up close, arin stops him in his tracks, giving him a stern look before nodding toward his kitchen table. "don't touch anything. any static electricity could fry half this shit, and if that happens i'm charging you for the new part, plus twenty percent for not listening to me and making me go out for a new one." is that standard business practice? probably not. but he's no businessman, and the threat works well enough that he's never actually done it. so it's fine. "understand?"

[bvlladonnas]

               ꒰ა   ♡   ໒꒱   -—  "  ah  —  okay,  could've  fooled  me.  "  freya  should  probably  feel  worse  about  saying  that,  but  they  can't  help  it.  head  shakes  as  they  eye  the  papers  on  sarah's  lap,  gaze  turning  from  them  to  their  kids  playing  on  the  swings.  well  —  she  hopes  they'll  be  able  to  write  their  name  better.  "  yeah  ?  maybe  we  should  start  teaching  cursive  again  —  "  a  pause,  squinting  for  a  moment  in  thought  before  they  continue.  "  do  ...  we  teach  cursive  anymore,  actually  ?  i  don't  know.  i  should  stop  talking,  i  almost  dropped  out  in,  like,  tenth  grade.  "  no  good  reason,  either.  just  didn't  like  school  very  much,  which  is  crazy  considering  freya  had  gone  to  law  school.  they  nod,  taking  a  red  pen  from  sarah's  hands  to  the  paper,  "  nah,  s'fine.  what  i'm  here  for  —  don't  start  asking  me  to  grade  essays,  though.  TA  days  are  waaaaaay  behind  me.  "

[hereforevr]

their reaction makes her laugh — because they definitely aren't wrong, sarah just can't really say it. she might not have anything to do with her students' atrocious handwriting, but she can certainly make sure the kids she has a more personal day to day connection with don't end up quite as bad. she's done a decent enough job with aleksei. if he can both remember to put his name on his work and do so legibly, it can be done. "i don't think so? that was what, second grade? i don't remember aleksei learning it." which would track with most of her students being about the same age. she chuckles, passing freya a pen and grabbing an extra from her bag. "got it, let you help with the more annoying jobs and give you the essay highlight reels."

[driftwccds]

-ˋˏ ꒰ 🐚 ꒱ ── rohan  grimaces  at  the  thought,  shooting  her  a  sympathetic  look  over  his  shoulder.  he's  also  grateful  that  he  found  the  classroom  before  the  bell  and  the  hallways  were  swarmed  with  teenagers.  it's  not  that  he  has  any  real  issue  with  kids  or  tweens  or  teens--  he  gets  it,  they're  basically  just  little  people,  and  they  want  to  be  treated  just  like  everybody  else--  but  he  always  feels  like  he's  right  on  the  verge  of  saying  the  wrong  thing,  and  he  never  gets  the  joke.  not  that  he  interacts  with  them  often, really.  it's  only  moments  like  this  where  he's  standing  in  front  of  an  audience  of  their  bored,  glazed  over  eyes and he pretends he isn't.

"  no,  i.  .  .  i've  been  burned  before,  "  he  laughs quietly  at  her  comment,  sinking  into  his  shoulders,  “  printers  especially  can’t  be  trusted.  they  can  smell  fear.  “  he  quips,  “  doesn't matter though. they’re  all  going  out  of  fashion  anyway.  before  you  know  it,  everything  will  be  this  far  from  our  faces with VR glasses,  “  he  holds  a  hand  up  in  front  of  his  face,  as  if  to  prove  his  point,  before  he  returns  to  untangling  the  wires  he  pulls  out  of  his  backpack.  after  a  pause,  he  feels  the  need  to  add  :  “  not  that  i’m  against  updating  technology.  i  just  get  why  they  haven’t  changed  out  the  projectors  when  we’ll  have  individual  holograms  in  no-time.  “ 

[hereforevr]

sarah glances up at the clock as she settles back at her desk —- not long until the next bell, but still long enough that rohan should be able to get set up before her next period kids start showing up and start getting in the way and asking him questions. they're at least a well meaning group of kids. they won't give him too hard of a time. "they must be able to smell anger than too." she laughs lightly. would certainly explain the printer in the staff room acting up even more the longer she had to deal with it.

"oh yeah, i've got a kid doing their end of semester project on that new apple headset thing?" at least she thinks that's what they were talking about — it was the first she'd heard of it, whatever it was. she's relatively offline, with most of what she knows about pop culture and the like coming secondhand from students or her own son. and none of them are particularly reliable with their sources. "hey, anything they wanna invent that saves a headache, i'm all for it. so long as it's cheap and useful enough that admin can't whine about it being an expensive replacement for something we already have." she only has a little bit of a grudge about still having a whiteboard to clean and markers for it to replace when smartboards have existed for twenty years already.

[divinctionsarchived-deactivated]

               luna   extended   their   arms   at   her   side   and   gave   him   a   look   of   confusion,   "   that's   basically   what   i   said.   "   it   wasn't.   but   it   would   be   a   cold   day   in   hell   before   luna   admitted   that   arin   was   right   about   something   they   were   wrong   about.   even   when   it   was   something   he   was   clearly   the   expert   in.   they   would   just   have   to   call   it   an   ego   thing   and   leave   it   at   that.   "   because   you're   not   the   the   power   point   god.   "   she   said   at   the   same   time   as   he   started   listing   off   his   great   ideas.   "   you   gave   me   that   trick   last   time   and   i   fear   i've   started   to   abuse   it.   "   they   explained,   taking   a   look   at   the   cord   he   left   on   the   ground   and   then   back   up   at   him.   he   didn't   get   the   hint   though.   "   i'm   already   down   to   8   point   font   and   if   i   go   any   lower   it's   going   to   go   against   508   compliant   guidelines.   "   another   glance   is   offered   to   the   cord   on   the   floor,   this   time   they   lingered   a   little   longer   before   looking   pointedly   at   him.   the   cord   remained   on   the   floor   though.   "   that's   just   propaganda   !   "   luna   declared   and   gave   up   on   any   more   hints.   with   a   huff,   they   reached   down   and   picked   up   the   cord   themselves   to   shove   in   her   laptop.   "   you   could've   at   least   handed   the   cord   to   me   y'know.   i'm   about   to   educate   you   on   one   of   the   greatest   dead   legends   of   our   time,   you   should   be   nicer   to   me.   "

[hereforevr]

as much as he loves arguing — and he really does — he knows well enough that he's not winning this one. "yeah, sure, lets go with that." he shrugs, ( over ) dramatically rolling his eyes. besides, he's got more important things to argue about. "the fuck, if i'm not why come to me first? who is then?" his pride being what's far more important than technical arguments. but only ever so slightly. arin leaned back against his tv cabinet, arms crossed his chest listening and waiting in case there was anything else she was going to send him to do. "but have you made the entire slide a wall of text yet? decreased the line spacing so that they're just barely not touching? made the margins tiny?" admittedly, he doesn't even notice them giving him any looks. he's looking more in her general area rather than making direct eye contact. never has been a fan of staring back at people. he blinks back at them, dumbfounded. "you invited yourself in. you could, you know, ask." why does he have friends again?

[skidemark]

if  this  was  fourteen  years  earlier  and  there  was  a  random  child  -–  okay,  she's  not  random,  but  you  know  —   in  his  guest  room,  aksel  would  likely  be  freaking  out.  but  time  changes  everything  ;  hearts,  perspectives,  life.  so  here  he  stands,  thinking  about  the  kid  that's  likely  going  through  so  much  more  than  they  think  she  is  and  doing  it  alone  (  again,  only  kind  of  —  the  pair  has  offered  their  support,  though  she  hasn't  exactly  taken  it.  teenagers  are  picky  about  these  kinds  of  things,  and  they  want  to  give  her  the  freedom  to  do  things  on  her  terms.  most  things,  really,  but  they  tend  to  have  a  line.  she  hasn't  crossed  it  yet  )  .  the  thought  of  it  breaks  his  heart,  having  been  the  kid  doing  it  alone,  but  aksel  knows  better  than  to  pry.  not  his  first  rodeo.  and  by  the  looks  of  it,  not  his  last  (  looks  pointedly  at  the  gaggle  of  20  -  somethings  that  come  over  every  week  for  dinner  and  follow  him  around  like  ducklings  these  days.  christ.  ) 

he  grins  in  a  way  he  tends  to  only  do  around  her  —  boyish,  like  he's  ten  years  younger,  and  a  divorce,  addiction,  and  family  issues  hadn't  aged  him  as  much.  there's  a  blessing  that  sarah  hasn't  seen  the  entirety  of  his  dark  sides  -—  though  she  knows  about  them,  of  course,  but  being  actively  present  and  simply  hearing  it  secondhand  are  entirely  different  things.  "oh,  only  a  few  minutes?  what,  you  have  a  hot  date?"  yes,  this  weekend,  if  noah  behaves  and  can  handle  making  sure  the  now  two  -  teenagers  don't  throw  a  project  x  in  their  home.  they're  teenagers,  yes,  but  aleksei  ....  that  boy  needs  a  leash,  and  probably  parental  controls  on  his  phone  at  this  rate.  moves  closer  to  the  bed  to  sit  beside  her,  and  grin  turns  into  a  frown  when  she  speaks.  "seriously?  out  of  the  freezer  —  not  cooked?"  nose  scrunches  in  what  is  only  mild  concern.  there  is  something  seriously  wrong  with  that  kid,  and  it  can  only  come  from  the  hėroux  genes.  sorry,  bubba.   a  low  hum  as  he  ponders  what  to  say  about  the  girl.  it's  nice,  that  she  seems  to  trust  sarah  (  aksel  hasn't  gotten  that  far  –  but  it's  a  process,  and  he's  willing  to  let  her  have  the  space  she  needs  )  and  wanting  to  be  around  her,  for  the  most  part.  enough  to  not  be  completely  ignoring  both  of  them.  "do  you  think  it's  like  —"  ponders  the  way  to  say  it  without  sounding  absolutely  ridiculous.  "like  something  permanent?  no  reunification?"  he  hates  the  idea,  and  the  words  make  his  ribcage  twist  in  a  way  he  doesn't  like,  but  it's  the  best  he's  got  with  the  information  they've  got  :  which  is  none. 

[hereforevr]

it never ceases to impress her how far aksel's mentality has shifted in ten years. not that she can ( or even wants to, he's done a lot of work ) take all the credit for it, but she knows he never would have dreamed of taking in an extra kid back then. and the fact that he was just as interested as she was? well, that speaks volumes. the grin on his face from the doorway is contagious, and when she hums in a sort of confirmation at the question, she has the same teasing smile on her face. "maybe, what are you doing tonight?" can practically hear the kids rolling their eyes with all the theatrics that come with hearing the two of them flirt from here. good thing they don't actually have to hear it. the look on his face makes her chuckle — as if aleksei's ... quirks are even remotely anything new. "in his mouth before he even closed the door." she knows better than to question it. can never really tell if it's the teenage boy of it all or just that aksel is his father. ( said with all of the love and affection physically possible, of course. )

in truth, as far as their guest down the hall goes, she doesn't have a much better sense of what to expect than aksel does. even with the borderline excessive amount of reading she'd done ahead of time. it kind of figures that their first go-around would have a less than obvious road map. "see, that's what i don't know." she sighs. it doesn't help that her parents are even less open to communication than she is. and sarah had tried. for a while before their daughter had ended up in their house. at this point, she's fairly sure they don't check their voicemails. or their emails. "from what i've gathered she doesn't seem particularly interested in that." and while she's sure that has some weight in whatever happens next, she's not quite sure how much. "but she's also not particularly interested in talking about it period, so it's hard to tell."

[driftwccds]

-ˋˏ ꒰ 🐚 ꒱ ── she  extends  her  hand  and  he  relaxes  his fidgetting,  reaching  out  to  shake  it.  "  sarah  davies,  "  rohan  murmurs  under  his  breath  to  commit  it  to  memory.  at  the  same  time,  he  knocks  into  a  couple  of  the  desks  in  the  first  few  steps  into  the  room  and  quickly  jumps  to  slide  them  back  into  place.  his  jaw  sets  in  an  uncomfortable  grimace.  "  sorry,  "  he  apologizes  again,  more  careful  this  time  as  he  steps  past  the  rows.  making  it  safely  to  the  front  of  the  room,  he  presses  his  palms  against  each  other  as  he  speaks,  "  everything  is  a  lot.  .  .  closer  together  than  i  remember.  "  he  jokes  uneasily  because  it's  true  :  he  doesn't  like  how  crowded  everything  is  together  in  this  labyrinthian  maze  of  halls  that  makes  him  feel  a  lot  smaller  then  he's  used  too.  but  that's  a  weird  thing  to  say  to  a  stranger,  so  instead  he  tries to shake  the  apprehension  off.

he  glances  behind  him  towards  the  podium  at  her  mention,  looking  for  the  tech  in  question,  and  he  nods.  lowering  his  bag  (  moving  gently  this  time  as  if  to  not  knock  anything  else  over  ),  he  starts  digging  out  his  laptop  and  drive.  "  projectors  don't  work  very  well anywhere,  "  he  admits,  "  all  the  technology  is  decades  old  and  probably  was  cheap  to  begin  with──  even  the  stuff  they  use  in  fancy  corporate  offices.  like  printers.  " 

[hereforevr]

"you're alright, don't worry about it." truthfully, the only reason anything is halfway in order is because she straightened up while the room was empty. "i'm glad you could find it before the bell, it doesn't get any better when the halls are crowded." she shakes her head, remembering her own first year teaching at this particular school —- you do not want to be in the halls lost right after lunch periods. teenagers aren't exactly the most ... forgiving about people who don't move at their pace or know their way around.

she finds the power cord for the projector and ducks back behind her desk to plug it in, looking back up when he starts speaking. finding some kind of conversation seems like a solid enough way to hopefully get him to relax. it's not so much that any of her students can be mean, they're very well behaved for guests, but they definitely know how to sense nerves. "oh, i believe it. i'm pretty sure this thing is the same as the ones my teachers were using in high school." which she made the mistake of mentioning to a class once. horrified them to find out that was only a couple of years before they would have been born. "i really hope you don't need the printer, because the one in the staff room down the hall does not like me." that — and she's a little concerned about him finding his way back.

[acosmicdisappointment]

status / open (@valpostart) location / the streets where he belongs (kidding or not)

˚₊·—̳͟͞͞♡. ENZO WAS DOING WHAT HE DOES BEST — RUNNING AROUND SHIRTLESS. Sweat glided down Enzo's body, tracing the lines of his tattoos, a sight that could easily be mistaken for a scene from a movie. Like he was Jacob Black from Twilight or something. (Better than Edward's glittering skin in the sunlight anyway.) He had his attention fixed on the path ahead, unaware of his surroundings. His footfalls matched the rhythm of the beats of a Fergie song playing in his headphones.

As he rounded a corner, his path unexpectedly intersected with that of another person, leading to an inadvertent collision. The sudden impact jolted him, and he stumbled back a bit, out of his reverie, bringing him face to face with someone he had failed to notice until that moment. For a split second, Enzo's instinctual response was to react with frustration or even annoyance. However, he quickly checked himself, remembering his commitment to maintaining a new attitude. A better man if you will. Taking a deep breath, he composed himself before offering his hand out to help the other person who had fallen on the ground. ❝ Shit, sorry. You good? ❞

[hereforevr]

in reality, its his own stupid fault for paying more attention to the loose rocks and cracks in the sidewalk than anything happening around him. but in his defense, it's a relatively quiet street. and though he's moving relatively slowly, his skateboard makes just enough noise he assumed he'd be heard. proves himself wrong when he rams head on into what feels like a wet brick wall and hits the ground himself while his board keeps on going, finally coming to a stop at a crack in the pavement a few yards away. looking up, he starts reaching to grab the hand being offered to him, but his eyes follow the arm attached to the hand being offered to him to meet enzo's and he pauses. glances at his hand and then back to his face. "you're being nice today?" said right before his filter can kick in and tell him that likely isn't a great idea, and naturally right as he finishes reaching to accept the hand up.

[aestriiea-deactivated20241012]

                  ⋆.˚ ❝  ugh.  switch  mario  kart  is  so  not  up  my  alley,  but  it’s  ok.  i’ll  bother  leia  into  giving  me  a  crash  course,  it’s  so  over  for  them.  ❞  she’s  more  than  aware  that  such  big  talk  is  unbecoming  of  an  adult  especially  when  given  the  context  of  playing  video  games  with  her  friend’s  younger  siblings.  still,  astrid  couldn’t  turn  it  off  she  was  competitive  by  nature  and  it  was  all  in  good  fun  anyway  arin  knew  as  much.  ❝  you  should  put  them  onto  the  classics  or  the  classic  consoles  at  least.  there’s  no  one  out  there  who  can  resist  og  tomb  raider,  horrid  graphics,  and  all. ❞  it  wasn’t  like  astrid  was  some  well-versed  video  game  god  but  she  more  than  knew  her  way  around  a  few  well-known  titles.  she  can’t  hold  back  a  laugh  ❝  i  think  beating  older  people  at  games  is  like  an  ego  right  of  passage.  i’d  parade  my  wins  around  too  !  ❞  her  mind  flies  through  the  baked  goods  she  both  knows  how  to  make  and  feels  confident  enough  to  serve  arin’s  family.  ❝  i’ve  been  working  on  my  alfajores..  but  again  you  can’t  go  wrong  with  a  classic  cake.  ❞  she  lets  out  a  hmm  stuck  between  the  two  options  ❝  what  do  you  think  ?  i  can  even  do  berlines  ?  those  are  just like..  jelly  donuts !  ❞  ─ ✶⋆.˚

[hereforevr]

"pretty big guns for a first and a fifth grader." he chuckles about it, but can't help but respect the hustle. "hey, i've done pretty good with that on pc. i made sure the first video games they played were putt-putt and pajama sam." though he did draw the line at hooking up a crt monitor for the full ( albeit steam version, he wasn't about to trust them with the physical disk ) 2003 experience. once a pc guy, always a pc guy. nintendo being a close second. "we're working on the gamecube. so alternatively, haven't gotten them into double dash, but they love nascar thunder '03." don't ask. "just remind me to make you play my dad, show you how easy he is to beat." asking him to make choices is almost never easy, and about fifty percent of the time you're going to end up with something along the lines of 'all of the above', but he has just enough manners to not suggest that to the person offering him ( his family ) treats. "what kind of jelly are we talking?"

[duckdotcom]

are you mad at me? would you like to be

[divinctionsarchived-deactivated]

status / closed , @hereforevr location / arin's place

               "   stop   whatever   it   is   you're   doing,   what   i   need   is   more   important.   "   luna   had   strolled   through   his   living   with   his.   the   key   to   his   place   was   often   abused   by   them,   using   it   for   more   selfish   reasons   than   selfless,   but   it's   not   their   fault.   he   shouldn't   have   given   her   a   key.   "   i   get   to   give   a   presentation   on   our   lord   and   savior,   la   llorona,   but   it   can   only   be   12   slides   and   i'm   currently   sitting   at   45.   "   luna   hated   the   academic   restrictions   to   their   thought   process.   for   a   bunch   of   people   who   prided   themselves   of   the   importance   of   thought,   they   really   didn't   want   you   thinking   too   much.   dumb.   "   where's   your   h&m   or   whatever   ?   i   need to connect to the tv so you can get the full experience. help   me   get   it   down   to   at   least   25   today   before   i   go   to   a   power   point   master   for   the   rest.   "

[hereforevr]

"the hdmi?" arin sounds almost bored he's so calm. hasn't yet bothered to move from his position on the couch how he'd been since realizing it was luna and not someone breaking in. ( or worse, one of his other friends with a key. ) he really needs to stop giving out free access to his apartment so freely. it's his mother's influence. "ok first of all, i resent the implication that i'm not the power point god." it sounds like they're done filling him in, so he finally gets up to fish around behind the tv for the cable. not like he's got anything better to do all night. he's down to listen to her talk for a few hours. "i'm great at power points and full of great ideas. like making the text smaller to cram more information onto one page. it's a page count not a word count, hold them hostage. and second of all," pauses to pull the right cable out of the tangle hidden behind his tv stand, dragging it to the middle of the room and stuffing all the other cables back. "la llorona. that's the one who cries and makes people end up dead, right?"

[bvlladonnas]

                ꒰ა   ♡  ໒꒱  --—  birdie’s  eyes  watch  him  put  the  dice  back,  not  unlike  a  hawk,  and  she  gives  an  approving  nod.  they  knew  they’d  raised  him  better  (  as  if  he  were  their  flesh  and  blood  and  not  some  kid  she’d  adopted  a  few  years  ago  ).  “  the  what  ?  people  are  shucking  oysters  on  tiktok  live  for  scams  ?  “  birdie  rarely  feels  older  than  she  does  when  talking  to  arin;  they  like  to  consider  themselves  well  versed  in  pop  culture,  but  he  always  manages  to  stump  them.  she  hands  him  his  lunch,  this  time  soba  noodles  with  the  sauce  on  the  side  so  they  don’t  get  soggy  —  something  easy  to  eat  cold,  they  knew  he’d  probably  be  too  hungry  to  feel  like  microwaving  it.  “  oh  —  I  actually  like  that,  i  think  it’s  cute.  but  you  need  to  remember  dice  come  in  sets,  so  should  they  just  be  mix  and  match  ?  a  build  your  own  set  kind  of  thing  ?  you  can  help  me  advertise  it.  “  she  lays  out  their  own  lunch  as  she  speaks  —  a  glazed  donut  and  a  monster.  good  times.

[hereforevr]

"oh yeah. it's like a pyramid scheme. they go live with a whole bag of oysters and they open them up when people buy the pearls. i think the pearls are fake though. because they're all like, weirdly round for being natural pearls. and weird colors." he really spends far too much time online. food in hand, he makes himself at home leaned half over the counter. still grinning from the look of approval ( never beating the golden retriever allegations ) while he fiddles with the lid on his sauce container. "and then they recruit other people to shuck oysters on live and they get a cut of the money they make. and then the people they recruit recruit people. and argue with people about whether or not its a pyramid scheme. even though it totally is." yep, that's what an mlm is. good job arin. "yeah, kinda. and if you get a bunch that look ugly together or duplicates that's your own problem, just buy more. it's a sales tactic." probably not a great one, but one could certainly do business that way. he looks up from his own lunch at hers, fork full of noodles still hanging out of his mouth when he chooses to speak anyway. "very balanced meal there, by the way." as if they've never seen him eat a brick of dry ramen and call it dinner.

[cybermuses]

"she could but she's not rude so instead i just get passive aggressive stares from her. we're connected like that." salem teased, she probably sounded like a crazy cat lady but she was kinda okay with that. "things like music, my thoughts....nothing too crazy. i figured instead of doing impulsive things when i'm in a weird headspace i should write first and see where that takes me." she nodded. "does the old guy at least pay well? and you should have definitely taken the lizard as a pet."

[hereforevr]

"passive aggressive stares kinda sound rude to me, personally. i think you're being too charitable to the cat." or maybe he's just giving her a hard time. kind of hard to tell with him sometimes. "if the impulsive thoughts are dying your hair or giving yourself a haircut you should absolutely do that though. it's pretty freeing." unfortunately he would know. about the haircut thing, at least. he's not exactly someone to go to for advise, and he knows that. precisely why he isn't offering any more specific help. "for the amount of work it is? extremely. last time i fixed it he just needed the brightness turned back up. and i got paid for the hour." which isn't much, and the only reason he doesn't feel bad for still charging him. "i tried, i couldn't catch it." he frowns. "but don't tell anyone i admitted that, got it?"

[bvlladonnas]

             ꒰ა  ♡  ໒꒱--— esme  freezes  —  she'd  been  proofreading  one  of  aleksei's  essays,  taking  a  red  pen  to  most  of  it.  shouldn't  this  kid  be  better  at  writing  when  he's  got  a  teacher  for  a  (  basically  )  step-mom  ?  the  pen  stops  at  the  same  time  her  eyes  flick  up  to  meet  sarah's,  though,  and  it  takes  her  a  moment  before  she  shrugs.  "  absolutely  no  clue.  i  mean  —  we're  hanging  out,  so  we're  friends,  i  guess,  but  every  time  i  look  at  him  i  want  to  punch  him  in  the  throat.  which  is  kind  of  confusing.  "  a  sigh,  head  shaking,  "  how  are  people  ever  normal  about  these  things  ?  i  feel  like  i'm  dying  at  any  given  moment.  "  so  dramatic. 

[hereforevr]

she pauses to dry her hands, looking back at esme nodding along while she speaks. "sounds to me like you must like hanging out with him, doesn't sound like you to keep going along with it if you really didn't." can't say she knows how to handle the ... violent impulses. that one's aksel's job — she's the feelings one. "i think a lot of people are just pretending to be normal." how much she's speaking from experience when she was that age? don't worry about it. same general sentiment, just manifested differently. "i take it you haven't talked to him about it at all, right?"

[skidemark]

CLOSED   :   miss  sarah  davies  hėroux  (  @hereforevr  )  .

WHERE    :   their  shared  bedroom,  probably  like  10pm.

he's  tried  to  keep  his  mouth  shut  when  the  kids  are  awake  -—  while  not  unused  to  kids  making  themselves  at  home  in  their  house  (  which,  frankly,  is  a  bit  something  he's  proud  of  –  happy  to  be  a  safe  space  out  of  their  own  homes,  whenever  aleksei's  friends  need.  something  he  wish  he  had  as  a  child  himself  )  ,  aksel  doesn’t  particularly  know  what  to  say  about  the  girl  that’s  made  house  in  their  guest  room  the  past  two  weeks.  she’s  a  nice  enough  kid.  one  of  aleksei’s  friends  who  apparently  has  had  it  rough  the  past  few  years,  and  while  she’s  never  been  an  ever-present  figure  in  their  home,  she’s  definitely  not  a  stranger.  keeps  the  teenager  they’d  already  been  housing  occupied  enough  to  leave  him  be  more  than  usual. 

aksel's  leaning  against  the  doorway  of  their  shared  bedroom,  watching  sarah  for  a  moment  as  she  seemingly  grades  yet  (  what  aksel  can  only  assume  is  a  terribl–  )  another  paper  by  one  of  her  students.  "think  you  can  spare  some  time  for  me  and  stop  being  miss  honey  for  a  second?"  it's  teasing  and  they  both  know  it  -—  it's  taken  them  a  long  time  to  figure  out  how  to  be  playful  with  each  other,  but  they've  finally  gotten  it  after  a  decade.  "any  more  info  on  the  tenant  down  the  hall?  i'm  half  convinced  to  start  asking  her  to  pay  rent  –  she  kept  eating  my  frozen  waffles  without  asking."  that  was  actually  his  son,  but  aksel  doesn't  know  that. 

[hereforevr]

true quiet is hard to come by in their house — between their own kid, his friends, and the half dozen ( or something like that —— she's genuinely lost count ) twenty-somethings who've made themselves comfortable. nothings changed really since they welcomed in the most recent semi-permanent resident. aside from talking to aleksei, she mostly keeps to herself. already a pretty quiet kid, her current circumstances can't be helping much. whatever those circumstances are. most of what they know is pieced together from secondhand information and sarah's own observation. understandable honestly, not wanting to talk about it, but it does make helping a little difficult.

it's about time she took a break from reading what she's about halfway convinced is half-baked fanfiction of some sort anyway. ( these kids certainly understand the creative part of creative writing, she'll give them that. ) "i suppose i can fit you in for a few minutes" which is to say ; for him? always. said in the same sort of light teasing tone he'd used. "baby, i watched aleksei eat one of those straight out of the freezer two days ago." she pushes the binder being used as a makeshift table off her lap and onto the bed, sitting up a little straighter to stretch. settling back in with a light sigh. "but not much. she's still having lunch in the classroom with me, but she's not exactly chatty." nothing too different from how she is at home, truthfully. "i don't want to push her about it too much. but if someone has to, i'd rather do it than someone she doesn't even know."

[sophie-baek]

CREED III (2023) dir. Michael B. Jordan

[cybermuses]

"i know! i've been such a hermit lately and i'm sure if my cat could talk she would yell at me to get out of the house." salem joked before shaking her head. "not really busy, just kind of trying to kill time and jot a few things down." she nodded, taking a sip of her coffee. "i figured i should actually be around other people you know? if anything i was bound to run into someone i knew here and i was right!" she gave arin a small smile while closing the journal and moving it aside. "but anyways what are you up to today? how have you been?"

[hereforevr]

"the cat could, kinda. could just scream at you until you got the message." at least he assumes. never had a cat himself, but seems like something they would do. "things like?" sue him for being curious. "errands. killing time until the old guy who wants me to fix his laptop decides to call me." joys of self-employment. or something like that. he shrugs, settling into his chair "i saw a lizard outside on my way here, so pretty good all things considered." god forbid he think back more than 20 minutes for that answer.