& hope is a good breakfast

Joseph Parker II, a twenty-six year old army veteran and paramedic living in the suburbs of seattle. "i'm only a man in a silly red sheet digging for kryptonite on this one way street"

[astrasperas]

For a star to be born, there is one thing that must happen: a gaseous nebula must collapse. So collapse. Crumble. This is not your destruction. This is your birth.

n.t. (via screeches)

[the-kativiper]

Katia’s body was wracked with sobs and she couldn’t have stopped the tears if she had wanted to. No matter what she tried to do she couldn’t get herself under control. She just held on tighter to the man that was holding her and the dam broke; no longer making coherent words as she just tried to hold onto some kind of hope.

[j-parkerii-seattle]

Parker knew there wasn't much else he could do besides let her get everything out in that moment, so he simply kept his arms around her and stayed with her. After a minute or two, he remembered the cuts on her hand that had come from her earlier outburst. He then slowly pulled back from her and took her hand in his. "Hey, why don't we go get this cleaned up some?" He asked, hoping it would be a gateway into calming her down a little more.

[maisiejkeller-blog]

Maisie took the surroundings in as she tried to pin point where she was exactly, it wasn’t like her to wander off from where she knew. But with everything going on who could blame her? “Touche, but you could probably take the broken pieces and build something new. Did you ever take those wood classes they offered in high school?” She asked as she looked at the broken shelf. Maybe if the earthquake had just broken objects then the healing process would be a lot quicker. Maisie knew how hard it was for some people to accept help — after all she was the poster child for the person that refused any kind of help no matter how bad she needed it, “The offer stands — I mean not really doing much and I’m guessing it will be easier with two people versus one.” She replied softly not wanting to pressure him or push the matter. “I see — do you not have a room mate?”

[j-parkerii-seattle]

Parker lout out a soft laugh at her suggestion for him to build something with the broken pieces and gave her a nod to answer the question that followed. "Yeah, I did take that class. Passed it even. But I wouldn't even know what to build out of the broken pieces if I started. It's easier to just throw them out, too." He thought for a moment, actually considering building something, but quickly decided not to. Even if he had decided to, he knew he wouldn't be able to find thee time with the amount of work he had left to do to fix the house. "I wouldn't want to waste your time. I'm sure you have better things to do than help clean a stranger's house. A room mate?" He shook his head, "Uh, no. It's just me, but I do have a dog. Which at times can seem like I do have a room mate."

[almostsilly]

"Ah-No no it’s fine don’t worry about it. I didn’t really um.. Jasper wasn’t- isn’t the type of dog that’s used to others, my bad. Yeah! H-Hey Parker. No no it’s fine please, you’re fine no harm done.

[j-parkerii-seattle]

"That's good, that you're not hurt or anything, I mean. Did you just get him recently? I'm sure he'll get used to it over time. How are you doing though? It's uh, been a while since we've talked."

[j-parkerii-seattle]

"Sorry ... Sorry. He doesn't usually do this. He's normally a lot more well behaved than - Skyler? Hey, uh, sorry. I don't know what got into him."

[roccobolt-archive]

"Nice to meet you, too, Parker," Rocco smiled, "It’s a nickname, really. My brother wasn’t that great at pronouncing my name, which is Rodger, and everyone just started calling me Rocco."

[j-parkerii-seattle]

"Ah, I see. That seems to be one of the more common ways people get teir nicknames. One of my sisters ended up with a name that suck because of that." He paused for a moment then added, "Parker's my nickname, too. It's actually my last name, but I have six sisters, so during school the teachers always found it easier to go by the last name whenever they had one of us in their class and it quickly stuck that everyone called me that instead of my first name."

[the-kativiper]

Katia just collapsed into his arms, her body shaking as the tears finally started falling. She could feel her cheeks soak before the tears themselves started staining his shirt. She dissolved into those tears as she held onto him, the first person she had allowed to touch her since the doctors at the hospital.

[j-parkerii-seattle]

A shaky breath escaped from him as he held her close to him, "I ... I know it's hard, and it's not going to be easy for a while, but you aren't alone." His voice was soft as he spoke, trying to find a way to make what she was going through easier in any way he could. As her tears began to dampen his shirt, Parker spoke again, "You don't have to go through this alone." 

[cathleenhayes-deactivated201502]

Doe eyes followed each movement of Parker, the male was restless, constantly moving, picking up things, cleaning up and walking from one side to the other. Cathleen sighed quietly and pictured herself tying Parker to the bed in order to give him some rest. The picture seemed rather odd though, but it might as well be the only way the man would actually keep still and give his body the well deserved rest. “Ahm.. will you sit down already and drink some coffee, even if just for a half hour?” A half hour might be too long for Parker but she could always cut down the time, nonetheless the man belonged in bed, much like herself. But at least she didn’t cause herself more damage by walking around. “I hired a maid for now, you should do that too, honestly.” Parker didn’t seem to have money issues, the house surely costed quite a bit and therefore she was certain that he could afford a maid. At least this way someone would do the cleaning up for him. But she feared that even then he wouldn’t rest in bed, he would always find something else to do. An amused laughter escaped her lips at his explanation. “Well if you plan on raising our children together you shall rest some, otherwise I might soon be a widow and the children fatherless. But honestly, if something happens to me, I’d want you to take care of Mimi. That is if you don’t mind of course. But she seems happy here plus.. captain and her really get along.” She watched the two dogs toy around, no matter the size difference, they got along just find and captain was surprisingly careful around the smaller dog. “I guess you want to have children one day?” Cathleen wrapped her slender fingertips around her cup of coffee in order to keep them warm. She was glad that Parker didn’t work right now, otherwise he would read her chart and know what was going on with her. Slowly she brought her legs up and pressed them gently against her upper body. Her eyelashes fluttered as she blinked a few times, suddenly it began to make sense. Parker wasn’t only working so hard because he couldn’t keep still but also because he wanted to keep his mind busy. The way he said he dealt well with it, made her guess that the opposite was the case. She hadn’t forgotten his tears as he visited her shortly after she woken up. “It will get easier in time.” Cathleen simply said, ignoring his question since she would only be lying back at him. Yet both knew they didn’t dealt well with it, how could they? Bringing the cup of coffee up to her mouth she nibbled slightly on it. She wished that it all would be over already and that they could move on with their life.

[j-parkerii-seattle]

Even at her request to sit, Parker continued moving around the house, picking up things that had fallen, moving items from one place to the other, and finding small things to have an excuse to do anything other than sit. "Yeah, in a minute." He nodded, then moved to the opposite side of the room to move a shelf slightly towards the right, claiming it was out of place. Once he realized she wasn't going to give on on trying to get him to stop moving around so much, he gave in and dropped what he was doing to take a seat on the edge of the couch, careful not to move the couch and cause her pain. "I don't need a maid," He shook his head. Doing things on his own was something Parker prided himself on. He rarely asked anyone for help, so paying someone to help him was completely out of the picture for him. "I'm sure Captain wouldn't let anyone else take care of her if something ever did happen." He laughed a little, looking at the two dogs next to each other. It amused him to see that they got along so well. The two dogs seemed to have a friendship that formed as fast as Cathleen and Parker's did and he enjoyed that, especially since Mimi kept Captain occupied for a while. "But nothing is going to happen to you, so I don't think I'll have to play doggy daycare any time soon." When she asked if he wanted kids, he gave her a nod. Since he had grown up without a father, Parker had imagined what it would have been like if he had one. After a while those thoughts changed to what he would be like as a father and he eventually decided that having children was something he wanted to do. "Yeah, I think so. Having children would be interesting ... in a good way. You know, something different would happen every day, especially when they're younger." Once he finished talking, he took his cup in his hand and took a drink from it. He waited a moment before asking the question back to her, "How about you? Are you planning on having kids or just adopting a bunch of dogs and calling them your children?" Parker grinned at the thought of Cathleen owning dogs that she called her children. He noticed that she hadn't answered his question, but he felt like he already knew the answer. Not many people were handing what had happened too well. Most of them were still shaken up from what they had seen and many people were still injured or in the hospital. His eyes dropped to the floor as she told him it would get easier over time. "Yeah, it will." He agreed and took another drink from his coffee. She was right. Over time it would become easier to deal with, but he wasn't sure how much time. For some people, they would have no problem moving on within a few weeks of the incident. For others, they would have to live the rest of their lives dealing with the injuries they received. Parker wasn't sure where he fell between those two categories. He didn't have any injuries that would impact his every day life, but he knew that moving on from what had happened wasn't something he could just do. There would always be that small part of him that would feel guilty for what happened, for putting someone's life in danger and causing her problems that could have been avoided. He finally looked back to Cathleen and stood up from his edge of the couch, "How about we have a drink? Like a real drink?" 

[ofthewheatandtail]

                                                    I won’t give up                                                  I [won’t] admit defeat                                                I’ll get back on my feet                                                           And f i g h t

[harley-blake]

"Amazingly, its my job to deal with assholes like this", she shrugs, flicking her name tag. "— thats what you get for being part of the hospitality industry. So as much as your good samaritan gesture is appreciated, its truly unneeded. If someone comes in here with a weapon, then you can jump to my rescue", pulling out some of her tip money, Harley shoved it in the register.

[j-parkerii-seattle]

"Well if I were you, I'd consider taking 'putting up with assholes' out of your job description." he placed his money back in his wallet  and leaned against the count. "As much as I would probably be willing to do that, I'm going to hope that doesn't happen any time soon."

[melaniesarceneaux]

At his words, Amelia grew a bit concerned. She wasn’t buying a word he had said, not even in the slightest. Everything was so timid - so laced with this weird tension that left Mia wondering if she should turn around and go back to carrying on her day. Maybe she was just over thinking things, however. With everything that happened over Christmas she was certain that Parker could perhaps be on edge, like most people around the city were. Not that it was surprising.. Everyone had gone through so much, she was shocked they were even finding the strength to leave their houses. However, being as bold as she liked to think she was, Mia just came out and said it, “Are you sure you’re okay? You seem a bit tense.” The brunette stepped forward once more, trying to catch a glimpse of the features written upon his face that was now bowed to the floor beneath him. There had to be something more.. Mia just wasn’t sure what - and she was afraid if she pressed too hard, she might have been overstepping her boundaries. At his next comment, Amelia just nodded. Speaking of her family wasn’t something she liked doing. They weren’t close - hell, her and Sage wanted to rip each other apart sometimes. But he had a point, family should’ve came first. But it hadn’t in Mia’s case. “I wouldn’t want to burden you with my problems, Parker. You seem pretty busy, and the least of your worries should be me and my stupid car.” Though she wasn’t sure how else she’d make it back to the city without a working phone or car. 

[j-parkerii-seattle]

When she asked again if he was okay, he was a little caught off guard, though he had found out in the past couple days that most everyone could tell when he wasn’t fine. He had decided earlier in the day that he would work on being more convincing later on. He nodded a few times before telling her again that he was fine. “Just still trying to figure some things out.” He followed up, giving her a shrug, hoping the answer would suffice for the time being. With her lack of an answer to his comment about family, Parker figured that family was a touchy topic with her and noted that it was probably best not to bring them up again. He shook his head when she refused his offer. Everything he had been doing before they started talking became just another task that he could finish later, now he was set on helping her in some way. “I’m not busy. This is just … Kind of like spring cleaning, but in the middle of winter. At least let me try to give you directions to whoever’s house you were headed to. If they live somewhere around here, I might be able to get you close enough that you won’t be wandering around out here for hours trying to find where you want to go.” They may not have known each other that well, but he was not about to let her walk around in the cold for who knows how long until she either found the place she was looking for or got so lost that she had to go to a complete stranger’s house to ask for help.

[melaniesarceneaux]

The awkward tension could cut like a damn knife right down the middle of the two of them. They didn’t know one another well enough to consider the other a friend, or to know where they lived, so she must’ve seemed rather odd, standing outside his house like this. But it wasn’t her own fault - fate had fallen into her lap, and surprisingly led her straight to where Parker was. Though, judging by the tension come from her side, Mia wasn’t entirely sure if this was such a bright idea. “Really? That’s.. not good.” What else could she possible say? Amelia didn’t exactly want to dig deep into what happened, out of fear of bringing up memories that might trigger something. She had no clue what went on up in his head, so it was best if she just be as timid, and quiet as possible. “But you look okay now.. So that’s good, right? I mean, you made it out of there.” Letting a reassuring smile dance across her lips, Mia tried her best to make sure this conversation hadn’t gone too sour too fast. “No, luckily. I was back home, in California, with my sister and parents. So I didn’t have to deal with anything over here.” Survivors guilt was something she still suffered from. Especially when it came to Cathleen. Out of all the people she had come across that were in the earthquake, she felt the most guilt because of her best friend. But she didn’t let the show. Instead, Mia took a deep breath in, letting her hues tip toe around her surroundings for a moment, before falling back onto Parker. “What? No. Actually, I was kinda just walking around.. My stupid car broke down about a block over, and I know one of my friends lives around here, so yeah.” Great, he obviously didn’t want her around. “But it’s alright. I will find her eventually. I’m really sorry if I interrupted anything.” 

[j-parkerii-seattle]

Parker ddidn'tusually end up in awkward situations. He was the type of person who could talk to a stranger for hours on end without the situation even becoming the slightest bit uncomfortable for either person involved, yet there he was, stuck in one with someone he had no trouble talking to the first time they’d met. “Uh, yeah … Yeah, I am. That’s a good thing, yeah.” He nodded, though he didn’t really believe getting out was a good thing, especially when he put someone else’s life in even more danger and could have done so much more to help the others who were still inside the building. He lowered his eyes to his feet, not wanting her to see the guilt that was undoubtedly visible on his face. When he heard that she hadn’t been around for the earthquake, he felt a small sense of relief come over him and he allowed for a soft sigh to escape him. “And that proves why family first is actually a good thing.” His tone started to become more joking as he attempted to lighten the mood. It was clear that this conversation was headed downhill fast and Parker knew that was mostly his fault. Since he had woken up in the hospital, he couldn’t shake the mood he was in. One second he’d be perfectly fine, then the next he’d shut down and start to distance himself from people. “Your car broke down?” He asked, raising his eyes to Mia, now concerned. “I could uh, go get it and bring it back here to take a look at it for you, if you wanted … or, if your friend wasn’t expecting you, you could stay here for a while,” he paused, running a hand through his hair, “you didn’t interrupt anything. Don’t apologize.”

[harley-blake]

"Not unless he wants the owner to shove him in the pizza oven. It’s not your food, its not your problem — I’ll deal with it. Thanks anyway", she nods, picking up the empty plates and moving her way over to the register.

[j-parkerii-seattle]

He spun around on his heel to face the woman as she started to walk away, "Are you sure? I mean, it really wouldn't be a problem. You shouldn't have to deal with the issues assholes like that cause."

[the-kativiper]

Katia shook her head, burying her hands in her hair and tugging just a bit; smearing the blood on her hand into her black hair. “They’re gone, all of them……I didn’t…I couldn’t say goodbye….and they’re gone….”

[j-parkerii-seattle]

Parker watched the young woman for a moment, unsure of what else he could say. He took a step towards her and slowly reached out a hand. He took hers in his and gently pulled her closer to him. Wrapping his arms around her, he figured that it was the best he could do for her at the moment.

[harley-blake]

“Hey — you plan on paying for that, or you just going to lick the plate and snake out of here? Because this restaurant doesn’t run that way”.

[harley-blake]

[j-parkerii-seattle]

"Uh, I hate to say it, but I don't think he's coming back. Here ... I'll get it. How much was it?"

[roccobolt-archive]

"Alright, I’ll go text my friends then," Rocco said, "And thanks, man. I think so too, actually. I’ll definitely let you know. I’m Rocco, by the way. I don’t think I’ve told that yet."

[j-parkerii-seattle]

"Awesome, thanks! Oh, you don't have to thank me. I was just throwing out ideas." He said, giving him a warm smile when he introduced himself. "I'm Parker. It's nice to meet you, Rocco. Cool name, by the way."

[the-kativiper]

"It may not fix anything all together but at least this way I feel. This way it doesn’t matter that I’m….that I’m alone. That theres no one…it doesn’t matter."

[j-parkerii-seattle]

"No, it does matter. You're not alone either. I mean, it probably feels that way, like the people you care about are gone, but ... there are better ways to handle it. You don't have to hurt yourself over anything that happened."