short random thing about how thatcher got his septum piercing
(some of this is compliant with a set of headcanons i posted on my side account, but i tried to write this in a way where it can be understood regardless of whether you read it or not. anyways, sorry if its a little confusing)
ruth and thatcher applied within the same batch of incoming mcpd officers . they both did well in training, but so did their peers , so there was no telling if their professional future together was set in stone . the thought was troubling to thatcher, who was freshly nineteen, an excellent shot, but soft spoken without ruth at his side . and if all those silent prayers that thatcher mumbled into his pillows at night failed him , he didnt know how long he could last as an officer . not without her . no amount of pressure from his military family could help it .
it was true : there was no future for ruth in mandela if this didnt work out . employment was down in this dying county and money was tight at the weaver household . it was mcpd or move out . for thatcher, it was the military .
ruth could see the anxiety eating away at him , even underneath that teenage baby face . they both knew it was the logical thing to do , but no matter how hard thatcher tried to contain his disappointment from ruth , she knew him too well .
and it wasnt like she wasnt worried about it too . maybe they could settle for a weekly call , but what if their schedules never line up and suddenly weekly calls turn monthly ? or more , until everything they had built together just… fizzled out ? ruth was not threatened by the idea , confident that she could survive this unavoidable aspect of adulthood , but it didnt make her feel any better .
one day , like usual , before thatchers parents came home from their respective jobs , thatcher hoisted his window up and snuck ruth into his room , 3 days before the results would come back saying that they both made it in . ruth knew thatcher had a liking for alternative styles , he seemed to always enviously adore her closet , but despite that , he was never allowed to wear anything beyond the essentials his parents bought him . so under sparse, golden sunlight, ruth would sit him down in a chair and gently tilt his head up before a sharp sting caused his eyes to flutter and water .
ruth had a few of them already : a little gold beauty on the right side of her nose and another below her bottom lip . but she thought silver would look handsome on him . his septum was immediately flipped , of course , mcpd made it clear on ruths first day that anything besides studded earrings were strictly unwelcome .
decades later , years since his cowardice led to her tragic end , he kept it unflipped , his baby face now sunken .
AiA master post found here. See additional info below
Following a wellness check request from the neighbor, Thatcher and his sergeant Ruth went to the Murray residence to investigate strange crying and sounds of a child in distress. What they found instead was an unformed alternate, one that quickly amalgamated into a distorted visage of Thatcher—with a little bit of Ruth thrown in. This alternate Thatcher—who would later assume the name Rubin—killed Ruth, then followed Thatcher all the way back to MCPD after he fled. Although initially treated as a human having a mental health crisis, the alternate quickly attacked Thatcher in order to get rid of him, causing the scar across his face and hands. He and the other officer drive the alternate away, and Thatcher is left to lead a dwindling police force in Mandela, against alternates and paranoid humans. The sunflower pin—Ruth’s last gift to him—becomes a symbol of his burden: “every day gets brighter”
In his personal life, he and Dave are old friends; they kept up casual contact up until the disappearance of Mark Heathcliff, upon which Dave sought Thatcher’s help to uncover who was responsible for his nephew’s apparent death. The scrupulous bartender Six from the Snakeskin Tavern becomes a new acquaintance of his, as the trauma of Lynn’s death haunts him, and he’s all too pleased to look after her son who apparently miraculously survived. A tad unfortunate that said son seems to have made friends with the miscreant Jonah, though.
ruthatcher headcanons cuz yeah . can be platonic or romantic
- Both were accepted into the police force from the same batch, Ruth at 19 and Thatcher at 18. This means they’ve trained and developed alongside each other throughout the entirety of their careers.
- Both were disadvantaged youth with minimal leeway into the professional field— college was far from an option. Opted to join the police force because it didn’t require a degree, and because Thatcher came from a military family and was a more than decent shooter. He helped Ruth train. Their backgrounds coming from working class families help guide their work for years to come.
- Attended the same public high school in the same year. Dated for a few weeks prior to being accepted into the police force, but mutually decided to end their relationship to focus on their careers.
- They would sneak each other into their respective rooms when they were teens / young adults to hangout. Ruth shared a room with two of her siblings, so usually it was Thatcher’s room, who was an only child. Thatcher knew his family wouldn’t approve of Ruth, except for one ostracized aunt of his that he looked up to— but she was rarely in town. She was a huge influence in his childhood, which contributed to his deviation from his family’s traditional values and his incline towards alternative aesthetics. In their mid to late 20s, they finally decided to move out and get a place together.
- The alternate invasion forced them to work much more closely than ever before and to rely on each other for emotional ventilation
death, guilt, self hatred, probably at least one spelling error.
this was all a gift for @littleflame333
Ruth wished with all their heart that she could’ve comforted him that day;
Wished that she couldve hugged him tight, but she couldn’t.
Now, dove was standing by his body, watching the snow slowly cover his bloodied jacket, the van he had been crawling too had driven off now.
Snow whisked around them both
Like an infinite sheet of thin fabric, dancing around them elegantly.
Of course, Ruth wasn’t bothered by the cold, not anymore, and neither was he.
The ability to feel ‘cold’ left them both now.
The warmth of the afterlife had embraced ruth years ago and now it was her job to guide Jonah there too.
Ruth had been watching over Jonah since she’d died. Dove didnt know why but it didn’t matter, it was doves job, and dove had failed.
She sighed, It seemed that no matter how hard Ruth tried, tragedy wasn’t preventable.
But it didn’t make sense, she was an angel wasnt she? Angels should have all the ability to protect others. So why did the people she loved so much seem to suffer instantly.
Stupid question, dove knew why, they lived in a world with a cruel god.
Ruth closes her eyes as she lifted Jonah up into her arms. This was
It was only a matter of time before Jonah was there with dove, but time was moving so slowly. Ruth looked into the sky, watching as the small specks of snow accumulated more and more.
Ruth sighed, this was taking too long, trying to shove the feelings of impatience dove tried to make time pass faster by any means.
The trees whispered and sung around them as dove waited impatiently, they seemed to reach towards them, not in a comforting way, far removed from comfort infact; it seemed to be a threat.
Threatening the duo that they were so close to reaching them.
Ruth looked back down at Jonah, doves wings spreading and cocooning the sides of his body
“Oh Jonah…” dove whispered, ivory tears running down doves face.
She gently rocked him, humming the tune to a song she had forgotten most of the lyrics too, singing only the words she remembered.
She closes her eyes as she mummers the lyrics that she remembered.
Ruth chokes the lyrics out, both because of the suffocating sadness but because doves voice was so raspy from being unused.
She digs in her mind for the next line of the song, but it didn’t come, dove gives up on remembering, just gently humming the rest.
It was interesting, she was using the same tactic as the one who had found Jonah before he died, though she wasn’t lulling a scared dying man to a comfortable ‘final’ rest, she was attempting to wake him up.
Ruth knew that it wasn’t long before he ‘woke up’ before they were both angels.
But was the point if there was nothing to enjoy in their afterlife.
But right now Jonah wasnt ‘back’, and Ruth was holding the limp body of the boy shed sworn to protect, to keep from harm, from fear.
If she couldn’t do it for thatcher, she could at least do it for him.
She remembered how the blonde man Jonah spent most of his time with had ran over to Jonah upon discovering him.
The way he clung to him, shaking him as if that would do anything, holding him close to warm him up.
It reminded dove so much of what thatcher had done for dove.
Ruth remembered wanting to speak to thatcher, to tell him to just run, that dove understood why he ran, but dove couldn’t.
Finally, the silver seemed to ‘stir’ ruth saw a silver outline appearing around him and sitting up as if it was just a slightly more shiny transparent clone.
Ruth knew it would take a while for him to ‘adjust’ she was just glad she had her son back.
