a picture-perfect memory

later in the dark with the shades pulled down i wait for the part where you bleed me out again i never want to remember (again, again, again)

[livelovecaliforniadreams]

[mhensleys]

tillylongfellow

she doesn’t know what to do with this information, seeing her father smile fondly at the mention of her mother, and she kind of understands the parent trap slightly more. mostly because of the finding your long lost twin part, but she also feels like her father must be different now, since president sutton let him onto her campus. and he’s talking about irene like they’ve spoken since both becoming mentors, but she doubts they’ve gotten any closer thanks to gallagher. and tilly has no clue why she would want them to, it doesn’t affect her and she never experienced her family as one happy, complete domestic unit. tilly isn’t savvy enough to know what he’s talking about but she nods slowly as if she does, and at least he’s not…doing what she was afraid he was doing. “why did you join in the first place?” normally she’d preface the question with not to pry or sorry if this is too personal, but they both agree that she’s earned some answers, to a lot of hard questions. “and did you think…were you planning to lie about it to her forever? or did you think she’d understand?” did you think she loved you more than she hated your choices?

placing all the blame for his choices on his schooling or his own parents is a movie villain style cop-out. but its also the least complicated explanation — and the only one that doesn’t require close examination of a past he’d rather not revisit for longer than absolutely necessary. “i was young, stupid and angry.” he says simply. “and that all makes it easy to buy into whatever ideology presents itself as a solution to the problems that made you angry in the first place.” which is a rather roundabout way of saying he was vulnerable. still responsible for his own actions, but vulnerable. also something he’d rather not dwell on. “complete honesty? i didn’t have a plan. there was enough about both of our jobs that we couldn’t discuss, i just hoped she wouldn’t find out. i didn’t know how to bring it up and explain myself, or how she’d be able to trust me again.” trust that, last he knew, he still hadn’t made any progress in regaining.

[mhensleys]

madsdox​

now  that  he’s  face  to  face  with  miles,  maddox  isn’t  even  sure  of  WHAT  to  say.  he’s  not  even  sure  of  what  to  do  with  his  body,  and  that’s  a  first  in  and  of  it’s  own  right.  he’d  never  imagined  meeting  his  BIRTH  FATHER  of  all  people  here,  at  school.  “you  could  say  that.”  a  shrug,  because,  well.  “i  wanna  know  about  -  the  brotherhood.”

even though he had an idea the kind of questions he’d have to answer, miles is still a little startled to hear maddox actually use the name. everyone else - himself included - seemed to do everything in their power to avoid it. like saying it might summon them again. in a way he’s impressed by how straightforward he is. “alright,” he nods after a moment. “what specifically do you want to know?”

[mhensleys]

tillylongfellow

there is no etiquette for a situation like this, because even if adopted children meet their birth parents all the time, it’s never in this way. it’s never at your college because your parents are both “mentors” and it’s never while standing awkwardly in their office while knowing that the man responsible for half of your genetic makeup was, or maybe even is, part of a terrorist organization that wishes places like gallagher would cease to exist. she can’t help but wonder, if her birth parents had raised her, if she would be off at a normal school right now. her mother didn’t want her at gallagher, and being in the brotherhood pretty much guarantees her father wouldn’t have wanted it, either. it seems like they might have been on the same page and only disagreed about the methodology. she hates that she feels momentarily touched, flattered, that he’d mentioned wanting to meet her, and maddox. “she seems…maternal, for a woman who didn’t raise any children.” tilly says it kindly, like a compliment, and not a slight about how she’d given the twins up for adoption. “actually, no. or, i guess, there are too many. and most of them are insignificant. but you’re not…still, you don’t…what is your job, exactly?” there’s no tactful way to ask if he’s still involved in the brotherhood or currently considers himself to be more assassin than spy.

in some ways he’s even started to come around to the idea of spy schools over the course of his time at gallagher. though really, after blackthorne it would have taken a lot for him to walk away from this experience without any change. that’s not to say he doesn’t still have his criticisms — he could spend hours on how certain events could have had their impact reduced or even been outright avoided if things were run differently — but even with that taken into consideration, he’s okay with gallagher existing. he still wishes tilly and maddox were at normal college, being normal kids. even if it meant never having the chance to meet them. at least they would be safe. “she always has had that side to her,” miles smiles softly. he owes a lot to that side of his ex-wife, and even just mentioning it brings back a flood of memories of better times. there are worse ways she could have worded the question, and he appreciates how careful she’s being with it, but it still takes a moment for him to answer. “i’ve been doing some intelligence work for about twenty years. since a little before your - irene, told me she was pregnant. not government, but sometimes government adjacent.” he lets out a slow breath. no real sense in waiting for the obvious next question, so after a moment he continued. “i took that job after i left. i kind of... after i met her i found myself doing a lot of soul searching. realized i’d become the exact thing i hated and decided i wanted out.”

[mhensleys]

coraxheartfield​

Her last night at Gallagher felt like something more out of a movie than reality and as she watched the party go on around her, Cora wished that she could enjoy it, and the glass of champagne sitting in her hand, more. Though the flames of the dire had long died and the members of the Brotherhood had been arrested, she was still vigilant, still ready to whip out the knife she kept hidden in a moments notice if needed. The threat may have been gone but that didn’t mean that she was going to spend this party acting like a fool. “They should consider themselves lucky,” she mused out loud to no one in particular. “The parties we had in my day were never this extravagant.” 

@gallagherstart​

It feels weird, having a big fancy party just days after the fire, but he’d come to expect little else from Gallagher Academy. In a way it almost felt fitting. An extravagant, expensive victory lap that Miles couldn’t help but hope wasn’t premature. “I’ve been to parties hosted by rich bigwigs that weren’t this fancy.” He replied, taking a sip of his drink. Definitely nothing like this while he’d been at Blackthorne, that’s for sure. “Someone around here sure knows how to throw a party, that’s for sure. Actually managed to get some of these kids to clean up nice.”

[mhensleys]

madsdox​

like  with  some  other  twins,  maddox  lets  tilly  take  the  lead.  something  about  finding  comfort  in  their  older  sibling  doing  something  first  and  all  that.  but  he’s  here  now,  and  he’s  never  been  one  to  back  down  from  things,  no  matter  how  hard  they  are  to  get  through.  meeting  his  birth  father?  exceptionally  so.  “yeah,”  and  he  shuffles  into  the  room,  hands  not  leaving  his  hoodie  pockets.  “how  much  time  you  got?”

sitting back at his desk doesn’t feel right, nothing he does really does, and instead miles ends up perched in front of it. “i don’t have any plans for the rest of the afternoon,” he says. though even if he did, he’d make the time somehow. he’d have a good excuse anyway. “however much time you want, you’ve got.” you might think talking to tilly would somehow make maddox easier. it didn’t. he’s just as nervous now as he had been then. “so... i bet you have questions, huh?”

[mhensleys]

tillylongfellow

it surprises her, in a way it shouldn’t, that he seems just as clueless about how to proceed as she is. having children you’ve never met seems even more difficult than never meeting your birth father, since she has a father. and she can’t help but keep her eyes trained on miles, trying to discern whether any of his features are mirrored on her own face, but it’s impossible to tell if they share a nose or ears or anything else. she steps a little closer, though sitting down across from him still seems like…too much. and not enough. he’s a stranger, technically, and an assassin, retired? but that’s the thing, she really doesn’t know a thing about him. tilly almost says thank you by reflex. “did you–were you ever…” he knows what she’s trying to say, doesn’t he? did he ever plan on seeking her and maddox out? was she wrong to find him instead? “um…irene doesn’t want me to be here right now, i’m fairly certain. and i have a general idea of why, but…i assume if i didn’t see you now, i never would and i’d rather regret making a poor decision than inaction. so, er, hello.”

now more than ever miles wishes there was some kind of guidebook for this. he feels like he’s coming off too businesslike. more so than he usually is with students who come into his office. but tilly and maddox aren’t exactly like every other student to him, are they? he respects the amount of distance she put between them, but he does lean forward with his arms crossed on top of his desk. hoping that would feel a little more casual. “yeah. she didn’t... love the idea when i brought it up.” he sighs. that was putting it mildly, but he hoped it would answer her question. irene’s disapproval might not be the entire reason for waiting as long as he had, but it was a simple explanation. one that didn’t require admitting that a part of him was still fairly sure neither of them would want anything to do with him, among other things. despite everything, he can’t help but let the faintest hint of a smile appear on his face — only for a second, because her entire explanation for appearing is almost exactly what he might have said if their roles were reversed. “i bet you have a lot of questions, don’t you?”

[mhensleys]

madsdox​

CLOSED STARTER !

there’s  only  a  few  weeks  left  until  he  probably  never  sees  miles  again  -  which  causes  more  anxiety  in  his  chest  than  he  likes  to  think  -  and  in  true  big  sister  fashion,  tilly  met  him  first.  so  it’s  maddox’s  turn,  and  truthfully,  it’s  a  bit  more  heart  rate  inducing  than  he  thought.  there’s  a  knock  at  miles’  office  door,  hands  in  his  hoodie  pocket  as  he  waits  for  the  door  to  open  and  —-  “hi.” / @mhensleys​

after tilly showed up only a few days before, he really should have doubled down with maddox. not that the two of them weren’t top priority — but finding a way to approach was tricky. at the very least, he should have known that his son might turn up at his office as well. maybe then he wouldn’t be standing face to face with him in stunned silence, eventually repeating “hi,” back after struggling yet again with the english language. “do you,” he points over his shoulder into his office. “come on in.”

[naomipkx]

Blackthorne and Gallagher’s Alumni as Disney Characters: 

Miles Hensley as Prince Adam from Beauty and the Beast | Laura Sutton as Fairy Godmother from Cinderella | Roman Gray as Stanford Pines from Gravity Falls | Irene Bradford as Sergeant Calhoun from Wreck it Ralph

ft. @mhensleys, @grayroman, && @ofgunshy

[mhensleys]

riaflicke

Was running into an alumni better or worse? That was a question that she hadn’t really thought of until this very moment. At least it wasn’t a professor, and at least he seemed like he was on the younger side - well, younger compared to some of the ancient alumni. “Ah, um, good morning.” She winced, realizing that the dread and embarrassment was clear in her voice. Couldn’t she have just ignored him? “Yeah, you know how finals season is. Lots of late nights, early mornings, only a little bit of sleep… I won’t keep you though, you looked like you were off to somewhere?”  @mhensleys​

For all the ways this place isn’t a normal school, the students themselves are surprisingly normal — early morning walks of shame included. He gives her a sympathetic smile, but chooses not to mention it directly. “Yep. I remember. Surviving on a combination of caffeine and questionable decisions.” Exactly what than meant at Blackthorne twenty years ago and Gallagher today were probably somewhat different, but the sentiment remained. “just down to the dining hall. You might think about getting something to eat yourself. Take advantage of not having to eat the usual cheap college kid cuisine.”

[mhensleys]

jvckstone

jack wonders if miles blames irene for anything at all. if he was in miles’ shoes, which is unfortunately something he’d pictured more than once in the past, he’s not sure if he could be as forgiving. their kids had all grown up now, and they’d missed every second of it. “ yeah… why have you left it so long? ” he’s not judging miles in any way, just trying to understand why that wouldn’t have been at the top of his list. but miles has always been a better man than jack, so he knows he has his reasons. “ maybe, i dunno, you could do it with irene. ” might be easier for miles, and more settling for her. “ yeah. ” he nods, except jack definitely did do some snooping and found nothing. “ classic irene, huh? ”

“i don’t know...” he murmured, one hand coming up to rake through his hair. “it’s complicated. there’s no ‘what to expect’ book on this shit, you know?” he’s scared is what he doesn’t say, because it sounds ridiculous. but they know. since he was outed by whoever sent out that list of former brotherhood members before he even had a chance to get his thoughts in order. he paused to ponder that thought, starting to nod slowly after a moment. “that’s an idea. she doesn’t have to trust me if she can babysit.” he’d have to bring it up with her. if nothing else, having her there could make answering certain questions easier. “she always has been clever, huh?”

[riaflicke]

Sleeping over hadn’t really quite been the plan. The plan was go over, screw out the stress, maybe cuddle for a bit, maybe go back for a second round if they were feeling frisky, and to go back to her room. Cuddles turned into sleepy chats, those always seemed to be the most riveting and deep, and late night chats turned into heavy eyes and dreamland. So when she woke up to the sunshine and a bed that was very much not her own - Ria knew that she had to sneak out. It wasn’t that she was embarrassed, per say, it was just - not ideal. Sleeping over, totally fine. Sleeping over when she forgot her spare makeup and only had yesterday’s clothes and the edges of a hickey forming on her collar - not exactly her cup of tea.

Quickly rolling over - with a quiet thank you to herself for having enough sense to d crawl under the covers rather than leave his roommates with quite the surprise – the blonde found her scattered clothing and pulled it on. Pulling out her phone to look at her face, she finger combed her hair and wiped as much of the smudgy mascara off her eyelids as possible. ‘This will have to do’, she thought to herself. It left a little up to the imagination, but you’d have to have a real naive imagination to not put the dots together of what she’d been up to that night. Picking up her keys from the ground, she silently cursed to herself. Of course she had to wear heels the night before. Too loud for seven in the morning. Well, at least her pedicure was cute enough to accompany her barefooted exit of the room. Now to get back to her own room without running into anyone else.

@gallagherstart​

[mhensleys]

Miles has never really been a morning person, but his mentorship had almost forced him to become one. Aside from needing to be awake most days to do his job, he’d found that mornings are the one time where the campus seems to be quiet. If you’re up early enough you can even get breakfast in peace. There are usually a handful of students awake at this hour, but Miles usually recognizes them. He’s on his way down the stairs from the alumni floor when he runs into a student that he doesn’t recognize — and her appearance is enough to make him raise an eyebrow. “Good morning,” he says as he approaches. He tries his best to look nonchalant, but he doesn’t think it’s probably working very wall. “Late night?”

[mhensleys]

jvckstone

difficult conversations aren’t exactly jack’s forte. scrap that. make that conversations in general. but he’s had his fair share of them, both before and at gallagher, no thanks to the email and he expects, as long as they stay in their profession and find new people to love, they’ll be plenty more to come. “ don’t think she trusts anyone besides laura. ” which is ironic, considering laura is the reason they’re all here. jack certainly doesn’t see it as a coincidence. “ there’s no harm in a conversation. she’ll get that, if not now then eventually. ” although, eventually always proved to be a little too late. on the subject of irene, jack can’t help but ask, “ you know she was alive all this time? ”

miles takes a deep breath and lets it out slowly as he nods in agreement. “can’t say i blame her for that.” he certainly can’t judge her for not trusting him — he hasn’t exactly given her many reasons to. and all because of decisions he made when he was young, stupid and angry. “its better to do it now before the end of the semester. i already don’t know how i’m going to explain taking this long to talk to them.” getting into messes and not having a damn clue how to get out of them really seems to be a specialty of his. one would think someone with their qualifications would be able to avoid this. “no clue.” he answered. “i tried not to go digging around for information. didn’t want to find a way to make it worse, you know?”

[mhensleys]

jvckstone

jack shares miles’ sentiment, expressed by a small grunt and a nod, which might speak volumes on the kind of men they’ve become. from jumping into the biggest and most dangerous jobs that were offered to them to a more tranquil life, supporting students and helping them find their footing. this might exactly have been what toby wanted for him all this time, which jack finally starts to understand. “ just … talk to them. ” he never said he was one for good advice! then recalls his conversation with and how hesitant she was about miles being involved. “ you spoken to irene about it? ” 

there’s no need to go into more detail, and miles appreciates that. jack has had a similar enough path to his own that details aren’t overly important. as personally stressful as the mentor gig might be, he’d take it over the previous targets he’s had on his back. miles let out a short laugh. “yeah. i wish it was that easy.” he shook his head. maybe if maddox and tilly were still little it could be that easy. little kids wouldn’t be able to fully understand enough to have the kind of questions they’re bound to have now. too bad it isn’t 2005 and gallagher isn’t a primary school. “a little. she’s not... thrilled. i don’t think she trusts me very much, but i think she understands why i need to at least meet them.”

[mhensleys]

tillylongfellow​

she had been blindsided by her birth mother’s sudden appearance in her life and she wants meeting her birth father to be on her own terms, although it seems like something most people would advise against. he’s leaving soon, anyways, so if she doesn’t want anything to do with him afterwards, that’s an easy solution. tilly has known his name for months now, but when she sees it on his office door, she thinks back to reading the email for the first time and there was a lot her mother seemed unwilling to share. maybe her father will be repentant enough that he’ll answer more of her question. it takes a minute of standing there and willing herself to knock before she does it, pausing longer than necessary before opening the door. picturing him hasn’t been something she’s done in a long time, since she was a kid, so she isn’t sure what she’s expected but being faced with the reality when all she’s ever known is her imagination renders her speechless. / @mhensleys​

reaching out to maddox and tilly is something miles had felt like was his responsibility from the minute he was told they were students at gallagher, even before he was aware of the email that essentially outed him to everyone. he wasn’t expecting either of them to go out of their way to talk to him after all this time. why would they? he’d been absent their entire lives, and who knows what they might have been told to explain that away. it was his responsibility, yet he was running out of time. still hiding behind the excuse that he didn’t know what to say to them. all reasons why he doesn’t think anything of a knock at his office door. simply calling back “it’s open,” from his desk and only looking up perplexedly when the door doesn’t immediately open. only to be met with a face he’d be able to place even if he hadn’t seen pictures, based solely on how much like irene she looks. as expected, he doesn’t have the slightest clue how to respond. just stares back with an expression he imagines is a little too similar to the one on tilly’s face. “hi,” he finally manages. slowly, almost unsure of himself. “you can come in.”

[mhensleys]

jvckstone

jack glances over towards a group of students to see if he’d buy it. normal college kids doesn’t seem too far of a stretch when they’re laughing merrily, soaking up the sun, but jack can’t forget the looks on their faces when the alumni had first been introduced. “ yeah, almost, ” he replies, hoping his gun remains in his holster for the rest of the day. he wonders how both himself and miles would’ve ended up if they’d went to gallagher’s instead of blackthorne. maybe miles would still have his family, and jack wouldn’t have had to bury his daughter. “ well, it’s not the worst job in the world, ” jack adds, and there’s something peaceful in knowing he’s doing something good. “ maybe it is for you. kids, ex-wife… ” 

almost is the key word. there’s something about the gallagher students that makes them stick out. miles might think he’s projecting if it wasn’t for how the townspeople avoid even the witness protection kids and most harmless looking of the rest of them.they have an energy, maybe not the weathered energy that all the alumni seem to share or the vaguely threatening energy given off by those who had been through blackthorne, but something somewhere in between. “i’d still take this job over half the others i’ve taken over the years,” he shrugs. but would he if he’d known going into it? he lets out a long breath, as if trying to buy a few more seconds before adding, “i really need to figure out how to talk to them. the kids, i mean.”

[mhensleys]

naomipkx​

Sitting ducks they were while remaining inside of Gallagher. Waiting for something to happen, waiting for another attack or whatever. But all that waiting caused everyone to go crazy, they needed a break and a way out. “I know that it’s weird for me and I’m not even a student. I’m expecting for everyone to be on high alert, forgetting that normal people exist.” It felt so long ago that she was in her own city, mingling and pretending to be normal. That she wasn’t living a separate and different life than this one. “Hopefully from this they’ll get to do the same. You know, have a chance to be like other people their age. Go shopping with friends, take pictures, live.” There was a pause as a smile grew on her face. “And we should do the same. I know that we have to watch over everyone but let’s also live. Let’s go get drinks or a burger or something.”

“I hope. They’ve more than earned it.” The students had been through more in the past few months than most of the civilians walking around town would probably go through in their lifetimes. They deserved a few days off their guard, though Miles knew very few of them would let their guards down. “I could be persuaded to take a lunch break.” A lopsided smile crossed his face and he paused, looking on both sides of the street at the nearby options before nodding towards one up the street. One of those trendy looking places with a large picture window making up most of the storefront. “Wanna multitask?”