𝓇𝒾𝑔𝒽𝓉 ／ 𝓃𝑜𝓌.

THERE'S NO TIME FOR REDEMPTION THOSE FLAGS YOU WAVE, WILL THEY HOLD UP? DON'T CRY FOR YOUR VENGEANCE IT'S RIGHT THERE TO TAKE IF YOU WANT IT THE WORLD IS WATCHING HERE'S YOUR JUDGEMENT HERE'S YOUR RECKONING WRITE YOUR STORY DOWN INTO HISTORY PRIDE AND COUNTRY YOU COULD HAVE EVERYTHING SO BRING HOME THE GLORY ALIVE GO AND RISE FOR YOUR NATION THERE'S SO MUCH AT STAKE, WILL YOU SHOW UP? OH IT'S ABOUT DAMNED TIME FOR A LITTLE SALVATION THOSE FLAGS YOU WAVE

[ofiqnis]

sssunrises‌:

He nods as his sister speaks about her hand, “I wish I could help…” Elijah let out in a mutter, and the statement was true. He truly wishes he could help but how? How does he help his sister when there was nothing for him to do? Watching how the girl’s mood changes, Elijah drops the topic in his head and smiles back at her. 

Nodding again at her comment about the weather, “It’s in a week or two yeah, it’s been hectic…” Elijah speaks, shrugging slightly. He forgets that Malai wasn’t part of the wedding party, just an attendee like Simon and Jonah. His mood was still wonky, smiling for Malai but feel a pit of sadness in the bottom of his heart- but he was sure it would pass, it usually does. “I guess I’m excited… it’s pretty cool…” A shy smile at Malai. She knows it’s their first wedding since Jasper and Raven’s but the first one Elijah has ever played a huge part in. “Fin seems to be…. fine? He’s honestly a little stressed but it makes sense as to why… you know? All the planning and stuff.”

“i wish you could too bubba,” she replies with a shrug of her shoulders. she wishes there could be more done, more to help, more to fix her. but it’s all on her now and it’s a long road. she’s been here before, she remembers the way but it’s harder now. she reaches over and touches his hand gently, wrapping her fingers around a few of his with a squeeze before withdrawing to lean back on the wall. a wince, she looks around for a chair to sit in. standing still hurts a lot, she hates it. she’s supposed to use a chair now when going out of the apartment for long periods but she’s too stubborn and refuses to sit in another wheelchair again. not until she’s old. “i can’t believe it’s coming so soon.” she doesn’t mind she’s not in the wedding party, she’s not related to anyone and sunni isn’t required to have her there. she’s just happy to be invited to the ceremony. part of her wonders if all of the grand wedding decorations and plans will make her jealous that she got a courthouse with no one else around. yeah, probably. “that’s the one thing i don’t envy about it all- the planning. that’s probably the one reason i’m happy simon and i skipped all of that.” laughter. “so what about you and jay? any secret plans i should know about?” she’s teasing, of course she already knows the plan for sunni’s wedding- her and sunni and jay are all in on it. she’s been helping keep it a secret for ages, asking eli to come with her to appointments or shopping or anything to get him out the house while the other two plan the big surprise. she’s happy to help. 

[ofiqnis]

sssunrises‌:

Seeing how sad Malai seemed made Simon mad at himself for even bringing it up. The wound was still fresh, he wonders often about how Raven and Jasper handled it. It seems that the two of them push the topic away and pretend if nothing really happened; almost as if their child didn’t exist in the first place. He felt guilty feeling these emotions for some reason, as if he wasn’t allowed to have pain alongside Malai and that he was just supposed to help her heal. “I don’t think it’s impossible, but if you don’t want to try then we don’t have to…” As much as it crushes him, it’s also about her, “I don’t know if we can, I don’t think it’s impossible…” He repeats. 

of course she wants to try again, of course she wants to make a family with her husband. she wants four or five kids, one will come out a dancer between the two of them. that’s the hope anyway. but things are changed now, mal thinks. barely able to stand on her own, fear worms its way through her heart at the idea of it all now. she wouldn’t be able to hold her own baby, take care of them, walk with them. “i want to give you children.” the words are spoken softly, turning to look at him with pleading eyes. “i want to walk around glowing about being pregnant and being able to talk all that gross mushy talk that sunni has for ages. you will be the world’s best dad, i know that.” but would she be a good mom? “we can always adopt, you know.” something hits too close to home talking about adoption, talking about taking in a kid that wasn’t yours to start with and suddenly calling yourself a parent. mal wonders if wanda and william ever felt this kind of fear with elijah or her. “we can make appointments with a fertility doctor,” she finally broke the silence after a few minutes. “see where we are. if it’s possible.” it wasn’t a yes, not yet. she refused to get her hopes up again.

[ofiqnis]

sssunrises‌:

Brushing her hair out of her face, Sunni pursed her lips as Jay spoke. “You can’t wait for it to be over?” It was a teasing remark but she was also mildly annoyed. Maybe it was the hormones? Slowly, she remembers that it really isn’t just her big day– he was proposing to Elijah too.”-Right, you’re doing the thing with Elijah and the ring-” Imogen giggles from the side, now four almost five months old. The girl had a mop of black hair, inherited from both her parents but her father’s smile and eyes- and much to Sunni’s dismay, her mother’s nose. The mother smiles at her little girl and presses a small kiss to her forehead as she’s sat in her carrier on the seat of the booth. “-you’re proposing… and composing. Shit’s been crazy, my parents are in town now much to my dismay and trying to have a relationship with their rather unwanted grandchild- well at least Dad’s unwanted grandchild, but eh.”

“sorry, didn’t mean to make it sound as if your stress about it isn’t important either. everyone is stressed out about this.” he tries to calm her down a little, resisting the urge to roll his eyes at her comment about the ‘thing with elijah and the ring’ as if it wasn’t important at all. he doesn’t envy sunni’s situation at all, having grown up around her parents too- thankfully just not in the same house as them like her and her sister. his mother was always as supportive as could be, as well as fin’s mother who had taken in the rag-tag group of four so easily and quickly once fin started bringing them all home. jay eventually had a second bedroom, sunni moved in for months at a time and ivy was always rotating in and out but at least she was getting hot meals once a day. “you should have told me your dad was in town sooner. you know i would take the attention off you for a day, i don’t mind. sure ivy could really do it well too, she always had the skills to make him get off your back and worry about her for a while.” best friends, people who would be together forever. that’s what jay saw when he looked at all of them, the group now almost three times as large as when it first started. with additions of spouses, children, friends, they’d all made their own little happy family. “just a few more days right? then it’ll all be over and we can all go back to happy lives without the gross adults in it.”

[ofiqnis]

sssunrises‌:

It’s been a while since the accident, as traumatic as it was for both parties. They lost their little miracle baby, and it crushed him to his core but he couldn’t let that show to Malai- she was already going through so much herself. Maybe it happened for a reason, he never knows the universe’s plan. He put the knitting needles down in his lap and turned to his wife, “Babe?” Brown eyes look down at her, his hand sliding over to hold hers. “Do you ever want to try again? Or do you think it’s hopeless…”

she truly hadn’t thought about it since the hospital, refusing to let herself miss their baby. she’d heard most of her life that she might never be able to have kids, down on ovary from her first accident and too much trauma to the other parts that it was highly unlikely. so when she did come home and was able to share the news with her husband, her world had felt better than ever. and then it all came crashing down in one afternoon and nothing has quite been the same since. is this the feeling of what jasper and raven had gone through all that time ago? she can’t imagine how they must have felt, she wants to ask raven questions, she wants to have jasper and simon talk but that would mean all of that is real and she doesn’t know how to handle it all right now. his questions, they hurt, she hurts thinking about it. her hand resting on her now flat stomach again and finally looking up at simon with watery eyes. “i haven’t thought about it much.” truth. “i don’t know if i want to try again.” truth. she does wonder if it’s hopeless, to having a family of her own. the discarded orphan unable to make her own family, that was the truth of her life lately. “do you even think we can?”

[ofiqnis]

sssunrises‌:

Sticking her lip out as she shook his hand, “I guess I could keep a secret Jaden…” AM let his name roll off her lips, still trying her chances with him even though it was clear he didn’t seem to be looking at her the way she wanted him to. “Anything else I can get you? Your brother…? A sandwich…? My number…?”

to say he was a little upset would be the truth, jaden couldn’t help but feel sorry for the younger girl on how she was acting. makes him wonder exactly what kind of other business this diner might be working. perhaps that’s the cynic in him, or the fiction writer always looking for deeper meanings and plots to things- likely she was just a young girl hitting on a patron for a better tip. “no, i think this last cup of coffee is it. the bill, please, is what you can get me.” he looks back up at her after closing the cover on his tablet and slipping the stylus into it’s place. “but you might want to cover up, please. you seem to be having a wardrobe issue, my dear. it’s unbecoming of someone as pretty as you, alright.” 

[ofiqnis]

sssunrises‌:

Elijah was laying in bed, iPad in hand while Jay got ready beside him. “Y’know we’ve never really talked about marriage…. is that too soon? I don’t know…” A smile, “You’ve said you wanted to marry me but we’ve never talked about it seriously… and Fin and Sunni have me thinking and god- I’m rambling again, I’m watching a wedding video on YouTube…”

jay stops, turning to look over at his boyfriend with a smile. “we can talk about it now if you want. i kind of assumed it was this unspoken thing since i did say i wanted to marry you in the future.” he reaches over and runs his fingers through eli’s hair before bending over to kiss his forehead. soon, he thinks. as long as eli doesn’t say how much he doesn’t want to be married in the new few minutes at least. butterflies sit in jay’s stomach as he pulls his shirt on, crawling into bed next to the other. “put the ipad away, lets talk. yes, i want to marry you. i want to spend my life with you. the whole big dream. kids, a yard, a giant dog and a few cats.” 

[ofiqnis]

sssunrises‌:

A small giggle from the girl as she leaned over the table to pour his mug of coffee. Always flirtatious, AM made sure to have a button or two more than she should have popped open, and wearing a push-up bra. Leaning back up she cocks up her eyebrow in confusion, “Yes I know Jonah but who’s asking…” The girl was kind of suspicious, no one really ever asks for him here other than Ivy. 

he saw the confusion on her face and laughed a little, shaking his head. “my name’s jaden. i’m one of his older brothers.” holding his hand out in greeting for her to shake. he’s making it obvious he’s not looking at her chest, clearly she wants him to by how she’s bent over, flashing things at him. as beautiful as she is, he finds it disapointing she has to stoop to such levels to get attention. “i’m kind of here on a surprise, so if you could keep me being here a secret.” 

[ofiqnis]

sssunrises‌:

He blinked suddenly, “What’s the rush for? You know I can’t exactly do that… my cross-shift doesn’t come until like eleven…” Daniel could tell it was obviously serious, the other was never usually this pushy when it came to these sort of things unless she was being a tease. Worry was clear on her face, and it transferred over to his; worry was washing all over his expression. “O-okay, I can see if someone can cover for like fifteen, give me a minute…”

“seriously just, come on.” she grabs him by the arm and yanks him, wanting him to come with her. “just come into the back office or something, please. i just really really need to talk with you.” looking around quickly, she sees no one else and sighs. “isn’t that concierge guy usually here until like eight? he can cover the front desk for a few minutes.” she lets go of his arm to slip into the back office with the door cracked open, pacing around the room. she pays no mind to what’s in here or the cameras, just the swimming panic in her stomach. 

[ofiqnis]

sssunrises‌:

The diner’s youngest employee had been eyeing the other from across the building since he got here. Slender fingers tap on the counter as she waited for him to finish his coffee- intellectual people were just hot to her. Eyes tracing how his lips wrapped the rim of the cup, a small hum to herself. The mystery man captured all of her attention, distracting her from the customer that was clearly demanding her to help them. Putting up a finger to their face, AM left her post to approach the blue-haired writer. “Can I get you a coffee… sir?” it rolled off her tongue smoothly, almost too flirtatiously. 

just as he was about to look around for someone to help him, a voice came from the side asking the question he just needed in that moment. “please,” he said softly, nudging the mug over before looking up at the owner of the flirtatious voice. surprised with how young she looked, jaden paused for a minute before giving her a smile in return. “thank you- hey, you don’t happen to know jonah do you?” 

[ofiqnis]

she wasn’t thrilled about this talk, she wasn’t thrilled to have to tell him this at all. rational parts of her brain told her she should wait to talk to him about it at all until she’s sure about it but the panic of the situation has her running to daniel for support. “we need to talk, right now. take a break, whatever. i’ll fucking call finley myself but step away from the desk and come with me.” 

[ofiqnis]

He knows that his brother is supposed to be here but according to the other staff members, today is his day off. Jaden thinks about calling him, but he doesn’t want to ruin the surprise just yet. Apparently Jonah never works the dinner shift anymore, something about his girlfriend demanding he be home- he remembers Ivy and he’s sure that it’s all gossip twisting the truth. He’ll ask about it when he sees his little brother anyway. 

Tablet in hand, he’s hand editing his last draft before sending it off to his actual editor. He types everything and then does all his edits with red on the page in his handwriting. He finds he’s able to remember things better and make notes instead of just having the words changed. It’s helped with plot holes in his latest series at least. He’s not given up hope yet of seeing his little brother and the hotel is lonely anyway. He’s going to stay for at least another cup of coffee before leaving. 

[ofiqnis]

Raven still can’t believe they are here again, pregnant with Jasper’s baby. Married to Jasper. Really, who would have guessed that all of this would be happening to the pair when Raven moved in all those years ago. Going on three now? Or was it four? They can’t remember. Everything is changing around them- Sunni and Fin are getting married, Raven is secretly pregnant. She wonders what all is going to change soon, something feels like it’s going to change. 

She still worries that she’s going to lose this one too, while she’s past the first trimester now, just over 10 weeks, Raven had made it all the way to 20 weeks before and still lost their little girl. She paces the apartment these days, thinking, voicing worries aloud to Jasper when he’s around to listen. “I kind of want to tell everyone. But I also want to wait until I’m having the baby.” Likely not to happen, they know. They’ll start showing eventually and unable to hide it. “What do you think?”

[ofiqnis]

sssunrises‌:

She refused to look her sister in the eyes after that comment, instead choosing to throw her hair back behind her shoulders. “Better?” Sunni speaks with a snotty tone. Fin was at work and Sunni’s stepmother was busy trying to act like she wanted a grandchild (or at least a grandchild from Sunni), their father, however, was on a business call (as usual) halfway through brunch. Eyes glance over to Imogen being rocked gently by the older woman, Sunni gives a half-smile. “You ruined Ivy’s relationship, you know that right? I’m never forgiving you for that. Besides, what did you need Jonah for anyways? Everyone knows you’re fucking the front desk employee. Security cameras babe.”  

as much as gwen couldn’t bring herself to want to be here, at least the baby was bringing the mood of everyone around the table into higher spirits. her own mother was even slightly happier about the unplanned child, granted all gwen had heard for months since imogen’s birth was how much it was all a mistake and when was gwen going to settle down and have her own baby. it all drove her to drink, to be honest. she didn’t blame sunni on this one, not really. outwardly, yes, but the sisters are always under pressure with each other from their parents and frankly it’s caused such a horrible rift between them it’s become a second nature to hate everything sunni has ever done with her life. 

“they’re fine,” gwen replied with a roll of her eyes. bleached hair tossed over her shoulder, she leaned in to whisper so their parents couldn’t quite hear the arguement taking place on the other side of the breakfast table. “have you seen him? he’s really hot, i wanted a taste of that.” she’s always wanted what ivy’s had, that’s clear now. a cheap imitation of the girl’s life. sort of. “look, they’re even fucking again, who cares. i made them stronger, you’re welcome for that.” leaned back in her chair, coffee cup in hand, gwen debates dumping in on sunni’s lap. “free sex tape for you, whatever. sell it, you’ll finally have your own money then. married into it this time, how pathetic of you.”

[ofiqnis]

sssunrises‌:

Turning around to the voice behind him, Elijah gave a soft smile. He was leaned over the edge just slightly, moving backwards as he turned. “Hey Mal… How’s it been with your whole…” Eyes moving down to her cane, “… y’know?” He was in a hoodie to protect from the breeze, UBC one to be exact. A haunting reminder of what he just dumped to the side like trash, most kids would kill to get there. Elijah? Would rather be killed than be there. 

“My last surgery is next month, depending on how the physio continues.” Coming up next to him, she leans on the wall, arms bracing most of the weight to keep her legs from getting too tired too quickly. “But that’s only if we can’t get my hands to work they way they’re supposed to. I still can’t use my left one at all, most of the time. I have no grip anymore.” She lifts her hand sadly, before looking out again over the sky line and giving a brighter smile. “It’s such a nice day. What’s it now, a couple more weeks until the wedding? Are you exciting to be in it? How’s Fin doing?” She wants to ask how Elijah’s doing, but asking never got the answers out of him. He would just have to work himself into talking about it, make it feel natural for them both. She learned long ago not to ask him bit be open for it should he need anything. 

[ofiqnis]

The days are getting closer to the wedding and the stress of it all was starting to weigh on the group of friends. With Jay working on the music, he was writing an original score for their first dance as a married couple, things have been crazy in his own life as well. He’s blessed with how Elijah was so supportive of this endevour, giving Jay the space and time he needs to work on this. It’s been a miracle to get Jay out of the house anyway, so it’s no small feat that he’s sitting at the diner having a real meal for the first time in days. “The wedding is so close, I honestly can’t wait until it’s over.”

[ofiqnis]

A million fights with her sister later, Gwen was feeling a little less like a person and more like a punching bag these days. So she sought out the comfort of his arms lately, breaking all the rules she’d set for herself coming here. What’s so special about Daniel that he’s got such a power over her in the first place? Sitting behind the counter, she tunes the violin in her lap, drawing the strings as needed for sound. Quietly, as not to disturb those around her. “When are you off work? I’m bored.” 

[ofiqnis]

sssunrises‌:

Today was just one of those days. Elijah just didn’t really feel like himself, the negativity in his brain just refusing to leave. Consider him a hostage to his own mind, leaving him to resort to escaping to the roof of the apartment complex– not to jump of course, just for fresh air. Feeling the breeze tickle his skin, the boy let out a happy sigh. He would draw his emotions out in a new sketchbook but his feet had a mind of their own and they just seemed to have lead him up here. 

He’d talk to Jay about how he was feeling but honestly didn’t want to bring the other down. Pulling out his phone, he texted his younger sister in hopes of getting in touch with her. You think you can make it up to the roof? was what the text read. He always liked to ask, especially after the accident but she was making good progress again. The Wrights definitely chose a pair of stellar kids, one clinically depressed and the other apparently extremely accident-prone. 

Getting the text from Elijah was the highlight of her day lately. She felt like a prisoner since getting released, since coming home from the hospital again. Last time had been so different, she felt more alone then she did now. Simon was a big part of this now, the reason Mal didn’t feel so alone anymore. Gathering her things, she struggled a bit to make it to the roof, using the elevator to the top floor and climbing the steps to make it the rest of the way. Pushing the door open, she walks with cane in hand- Simon insisted if she was going up to the roof right now. In case she got tired, she could use it for support. 

“Hey, Bubba,” she said softly, moving to stand next to him and look out on the world below them. The world, that for the longest time, didn’t want either of them in it. Sometimes Malai wondered if the universe did all these things on purpose, to force the siblings out of the world.