Serving Drinks to Strangers for Stories

The world is reeling with all this feeling and I'm drowning in my empathy.

[paigeofanewbook]

bellesareringing:

Belle finally took a deep breath and let out a sigh, adding a shrug along with it, “Well you seemed to be more upset than I was so I was going to wait until you calmed down,” she answered with a slight smile before thinking about it again, “… I don’t know, really. I’m not sure how I’d feel about it… having a baby and everything. I mean I certainly don’t feel like I’d be incapable, I just… I don’t know.” 

Paige had no idea how Bluebelle was so calm about this. She was sure Belle would make a great mother, no doubt about it, but if it were her... She’d probably be seizing on the floor right about now.

“Well you need to find out if you are or not quickly because I might explode with curiosity. And also please name it after me.”

[paigeofanewbook]

bellesareringing:

Belle just sat there, watching her friend go off with the most understanding look in her eyes, nodding slowly as she listened to whatever bullshit Paige was mad at her for. “Uh huh… I can see why you’d be upset,” she said, her voice still calm. Knowing Paige, Belle realized it would be better to just let her have her piece and then be done with it than actually arguing so she was prepared to let her rant until her heart gave out, even getting in a few more bites of her food as her friend spoke.

Paige rolled her eyes at Bluebelle’s understanding, wondering if the girl actually got it at all... Then she realized she was probably being a bit of a dick right now.

“And how are you not upset right now? You might be... pregnant.”

[paigeofanewbook]

bellesareringing:

Still erring on the side of caution to make sure her friend stayed calm, relatively calm. She nodded slowly as Paige finally spoke, “Well that’s not how I would’ve gone about this situation but, whatever you need to do…” she said calmly, not even really joking.

“And you. You had better not be pregnant... Not using protection? It’s not that hard to stop by the Caterpillar once in a while and splurge on some birth control! Irresponsibly bringing a child into this world? In the middle of a war? By Crimson, if you do not name that child after me we are going to be in a serious fight.”

[paigeofanewbook]

bellesareringing:

She couldn’t take the silence anymore… or the look on Paige’s face, she finally spoke up, “Paige, sweetheart, are you alright?” she asked timidly.

Oh god now she was picturing it... Fuck, it was actually kind of hot-- But no! She needed to focus on the important part. Regardless of the fact she had to question her status as Bluebelle’s best friend, there was another issue here... 

“I’m gonna punch Elias.”

[paigeofanewbook]

bellesareringing:

She could tell by the look on her best friend’s face that that probably wasn’t a name she wanted to hear. but she couldn’t get herself to say anything more until Paige replied, so she just stared at her, unmoving as she waited for an actual response.

She... She and he... Elias... And she had just spoke with h-... He hadn’t told her either... But Belle... Belle fucked the Golden Archer. AND SHE DIDN’T TELL HER? And now a small archer would come out of her... A beautiful yet... How was that going to work? How did that work? How did Bluebelle...?

[paigeofanewbook]

bellesareringing:

She knew when she said it that it was going to be a long shot. She looked down at her hands and brought one up to her face to chew on her nails to distract herself and to make the name she was about to say come out as quietly as possible, “……. Elias.”

She... She hadn’t said what she just thought she said, right? No, that would be crazy... No, she... No... No no.... No.

[paigeofanewbook]

bellesareringing:

Her laughter died down a bit, but when Paige asked about who it was she pressed her lips tightly together and looked down, a bit reluctant to say as it could quite possibly be the last person Paige ever expected her to say, “It was um…… you probably don’t know him,” she answered with a big fat lie.

Paige crossed her arms and gave Bluebelle the kind of look that said ‘are you trying to offend me?’

“I’m a bartender.”

[paigeofanewbook]

bellesareringing:

Belle tried to hold in her laughter at Paige’s overreaction and held up her hands in surrender, “Alright, alright Paige, I get it. From now on you will be the first to be notified every time I have sex.”

Paige couldn’t help but laugh when Bluebelle did, probably mainly because of the whole empathy thing she was still dealing with. Additionally, Bluebelle did have an adorable and contagious laugh.

“Well, good. Now... Who the fuck maybe knocked you up?”

[paigeofanewbook]

bellesareringing:

Bluebelle’s look of confusion was now directed at Paige, her confusion turning into slight amusement, “I wasn’t aware that you needed to know if I was having sex with anyone.” She went back to considering the possibility of her being pregnant, “But now that you bring it up… I think I may have been late without even realizing it,”

“You weren’t aware that I--? Excuse you. Were we not doing the friend thing like I thought we were because, eh hem, I’m supposed to be the first to know. I should know before your lover does. Who the fuck do you think I am?”

[paigeofanewbook]

bellesareringing:

Bluebelle chuckled, “No, that’s not-” she paused as she realized what her friend had actually said. For the first time since she sat down she actually took more than five seconds to take another bite of food, because now her mind was too deep in thought to focus on her food. Her eyebrow furrowed as she considered Paige’s comment, could she actually be eating for two? “… Huh,” she uttered as she realized that might just be a possibility.

Paige was humored by the idea up until she saw how long it took Bluebelle to fully respond, and the ‘huh’ of consideration at the end really got to her.

“But I would know right. Like, if you were having sex with anyone, I’d know...”

[paigeofanewbook]

bellesareringing:

Bluebelle stopped eating for a split second to look her friend in the eyes, “Are you saying I’m getting fat?” she asked before a slight smile broke on her face and she went back to her food to show Paige she wasn’t seriously offended (although there was a part of her that became slightly self-conscious at the comment). She shrugged casually, “I mean maybe I have been eating a bit more than usual lately, let me live my life,” she chuckled.

Paige was heavily amused by the concept of Bluebelle getting fat. The girl had such a perfect figure, Paige couldn’t even imagine, although she still pretended to consider it just to tease her friend.

“I’m just saying, if I didn’t know you better, I’d think you were eating for two.”

[paigeofanewbook]

goldenelias:

“You’re not listening to me?” Elias asked, pouting, crossing his arms over his chest. He turned away from her, acting like a pathetic child. His lip was quite fat and he knew he was being foolish. “I pour my heart out to you and you don’t even pay attention. I’m offended.”

“I’m sorry,” she told him, reaching to pet his arm as a sort of comforting gesture. To be honest, though - as much as it was out of character for her - she didn’t feel that sorry about it... Then again, that was kind of the point of the liquor.

“Try me again. I was just in a daze. I think I’m just tired.”

[paigeofanewbook]

bellesareringing:

Bluebelle tried to laugh but her mouth was still full of food, “What do you mean?” she asked, waiting until her mouth was clear before speaking again, “I think this is an appropriate amount of food for a young woman like myself to be eating at lunch time.”

Paige gave her friend a somewhat humored look, looking at her meal again and then back at the brunette. 

“You look like you’re preparing to hibernate this winter.”

[paigeofanewbook]

mirabel-hearts:

“You’re welcome,” she said, turning back to the knights and continuing to watch them.  It wasn’t lost on Mirabel the disappointment the girl seemed to feel that there wasn’t much possibility at the deer, but she wasn’t sure what to say to make her feel better about that.   After a moment she sucked in a breath and turned to her,”  You know, the forest isn’t too far from the castle, if you’re really looking for something like a deer, it would be really easy to go where you’re more likely to find one.”

Paige could tell - whether by her sensitivity to the girl’s tone or her new abilities, she could never tell anymore - that Mirabel was trying to help. She wasn’t sure why, as she hardly knew the girl, but she did find herself appreciating it, even if it was a pointless effort.

“Thanks, but I’ll probably just head back inside...”

[paigeofanewbook]

mertriix:

Eyes grew larger in size when the small blonde begun to ramble to his surprise. Onyx did his best to keep up but she wasn’t only speaking fast, she was talking about something that he didn’t know anything about. Death was one thing, but he had never come across someone who felt what others did. Perhaps she was one of a kind and that was at least something he could relate to.

When she finally came to a stop, he cleared his throat and attempted to process the words that had been spewed his way. 

“Right — so, I can’t fix you,” he finally spoke to clarify that there was no chance that he could sort out all of her problems. “I definitely can’t do anything about feeling other people’s feelings ‘cause I’ve never heard of it. But I should be able to ease the pain of your loss and maybe that’ll help you make sense of things.”

Paige breathed deeply while she waited for him to speak, realizing that she probably hadn’t allowed herself much air during her little rant. But when he said that he could do something, she suddenly felt much more relaxed.

She knew at this point not to expect that anyone could straight-up fix her. She didn’t even know what needed to be fixed... But knowing that she could at least stop being so depressed all the time... That was a huge relief in itself -- if it worked out. She still wasn’t sure exactly how reliable this whole tattoo process was.

“That’s all I ask. If it’s possible, I’d really appreciate it.”

[paigeofanewbook]

bellesareringing:

Belle nodded, her mouth full of her sandwich, “Starving.” She took a few more bites of the rest of her food, a little bit of salad, a bite from an apple, and quite a bit of a chocolate scone, before speaking again, “I didn’t eat a whole lot this morning, so I took an early lunch from work when I realized how hungry I was.”

Paige watched on with growing concern as she watched all of the different foods Bluebelle was cramming into her stomach, and the blonde was wondering how in Wonderland that bitch was so petite.

“My Crimson, how many people are you eating for?”

[paigeofanewbook]

mertriix:

It wasn’t hard to notice the change when he mentioned the emotional effects and he knew right away that she was going to sit down in his chair to get a tattoo. He hummed in thought, never done anything in regards of grief but in theory it would work.

“Yeah, that’s a possibility but I usually don’t recommend anything that changes something of importance. It’s one thing to stop a receding hairline but — but emotions are unpredictable.”

A comment that would have normally entertained Paige went completely over her head, because she was only focusing on the very first and very last parts of his statement.

She shifted in her seat like she was about to teach class, preparing as much information as necessary because, well, she hadn’t really ever explained this to someone in one sitting and she wasn’t sure how it was going to come out.

“Unpredictable. Exactly the problem. See, my mother died when I was young. It was a sad horrible thing, but I was able to mourn and move on and continue to miss her the rest of my life. But just a few -- well, I don’t know if you heard, um -- my father was essentially torn to bits by a mermaid.” And even drinking, Paige was struggling to get those words out normally. So, in order to try to keep from having an emotional explosion all over this guy, she started speaking faster... Increasingly faster...

“Something that I was sure I could eventually get over, because, well, that’s what people do, but it was like... I was there. Well, I wasn’t really there. I didn’t see anything. I felt it. Have you ever heard of people feeling someone else’s death? It was awful. And ever since I haven’t been able to shake this terrible sadness and fear and loneliness, and it’s one thing that it’s affecting my happiness but it’s affecting other people’s, and I can feel other people’s, you know... I, like, know what their feeling and it’s really weird and scary and I don’t know how to control it and on top of that I’m still feeling my feelings and I can’t make any sense of them because they are all jumbled together so I have these big breakdowns that I can’t control-and-I-think-I’m-losing-my-mind.”