I'M A WRECKER. I WRECK THINGS.

Ralph Carpenter. Yeah, I'm Felix's little brother. N-no I don't really... fix things. It's okay. Yeah, I know. I'm trying. Have a nice day, I guess. "I'M BAD, AND THAT'S GOOD. I WILL NEVER BE GOOD, AND THAT'S NOT BAD. THERE'S NO ONE I WOULD RATHER BE THAN ME."

[ratherbeawrecker]

The Help? || Sophia and Ralph

[seeking-violet]

"Thank you, I thought I was gonna fall over from all this stuff." Sophia looked straight ahead. "Umm they have to go to the antique store. My mother doesn’t want them in the house and she sent to take them. I should have made two trips."

[ratherbeawrecker]

"Can't have that!" Ralph agreed, smiling down at her. If she fell over, she'd probably break something. "And... right. Okay!" he shifted his hands around the box, preparing for a long trip. "You can pile another one on me, if you want. I can carry them pretty easily."

[ratherbeawrecker]

Not You Again || Ralph and Vannie

[genuinesourpatch]

"In my backpack. Doi!" Vanessa unzipped the large compartment of her pack and showed him the items that could be easily seen without moving anything around. "You just gotta know how to pack around it. Simple trick but you need patience. The candy store sells it."

Van rolled her eyes when shot a look. Why was he so defensive? Slowly, her brow rose in an unamused way as she slummed down and sat on the back of the bench, giving Ralph some distance. As the thought of her cause an explosion crossed her mind, she grinned, about to laugh. “Then maybe you should let off some steam and crack your top or somethin’ so a sweet innocent angel doesn’t set you off so easily.” Her nose scrunched, “don’t be diet coke. It tastes bad, doesn’t fizz right.”

[ratherbeawrecker]

Woah. Kid knew how to keep a stash. And the candy store explanation explained how Ralph never got a hold of any. He'd never actually visited the candy store. 

At sweet and innocent, he nearly choked on his own spit, his snort was that intense. There was nothing sweet, innocent or angelic about her. "Fine. I'll be regular Coke then." he shot her a sideways glare. "And I don't need to let off steam. I'm just fine the way I am!" 

And yes, he was completely ignoring how illogical that statement was considering the day he'd had.

[ratherbeawrecker]

The Help? || Ralph and Mikhail

[mikhailbarton-blog]

As always, there were things in his large house that needed moving, to be thrown out, or just relocated. It used to be an easier task, Mikhail’s father strong enough to do things himself. But now, with him gone, it was more problematic. It wasn’t that Mikhail wasn’t strong, he was, but only for his size. And standing at five foot five, not any stronger than someone his height should be, but not weak, heavy lifting was hard.

He was being reminded of that now, standing halfway to the road, in his driveway, an old settee in tow. He’d had to take another break, not strong enough to carry it the rest of the way. It was a relief when a man stopped him, asking if he needed help. Always slightly skittish, Mikhail felt a bit uncomfortable around the much taller, bigger person, never liking being smaller than everyone else, but he stood up straighter and nodded slightly, “Yes, please.”

[ratherbeawrecker]

Ralph smiled a little in response, then grabbed the couch from the middle and held it up with the legs sticking out sideways. He was trying to help people more in the hopes that that would change his reputation a bit, from "The stupid, low-life Carpenter kid" to "the helpful Carpenter kid who owns a dog and is self-supporting", He figured that the more he volunteered, the more people would want him to work for them.

"Where am I taking this?"

[ratherbeawrecker]

The Help? || Sophia and Ralph

[seeking-violet]

Sophia looked at the box, then at the man, then back at the box and nodded. “Please.”

[ratherbeawrecker]

"Here," Ralph smiled, taking the box out of her hands. "Where are we headed?" He didn't want to seem pushy or anything like that, but this was a really big box for such a small person.

[ratherbeawrecker]

The Help? || Open

"Oh hey, you need help moving that?"

[ratherbeawrecker]

Not You Again || Ralph and Vannie

[genuinesourpatch]

Vannie slowly smiled once again as Ralph took the peace offering. “See? I’m not that bad. I also got twizzlers, and gummy worms and— oo! I still have some cotton candy if you rather that?”

She gave a stern nod. “Yep,” a wicked grin tugged on her lips before dropping a little. “No one should stay that grumpy. Even if you think being alone ‘s gonna help. I know it doesn’t. At least from experience. It’s just going to bottle up until you come across someone you really don’t want to blow up and BOOM. You blow up regardless. Like mentos in diet coke.”

[ratherbeawrecker]

Ralph squinted. "Cotton candy? Where in the world are you hiding that stuff?" And yes, he was totally interested. Candy was one thing. Cotton Candy was something entirely different. Like clouds spun in sugar and happiness. Like diabetes on a stick. 

"Well," he countered, shooting her a look, "What if that person is you? What I'm the diet coke that's just waiting to BOOM!!!-" He mimicked her wacky hands and expression. "-and your mentos-" he flapped at her. "Are the thing that causes the massive explosion, huh? Ever thought about that?"

[strangerslike-us-deactivated201]

Adoption Day || Jane & Ralph

[strangerslike-us-deactivated201]

"Yeah, she across the street, not to far away" she said with a smile. Thankfully it wasn’t to far a away, especially since she had been on her feet all day. "We have many different breeds. Hounds, Yorkies, we even have some Great Danes" she said mentioning the large dog to the large man. "There are more than just those, but those were a couple of the top of my head.

"It’s nice to meet you, Ralph. I’m Jane"

[ratherbeawrecker]

"Yorkies... I thought those were a type of candy..." Ralph muttered. Great Dane sounded more like an animal, but hopefully it wasn't the sort that had a really impressive name, but was like the size of his hand. Bleck. 

But Jane... that was a nice name, Ralph thought as they crossed the street. "I don't think I've ever met someone named Jane..." he admitted, "It's a good name though. I think. Do you like it?"

[ratherbeawrecker]

Spiraling || Post Quake || Ralph and Vanessa

His hands were bloody. Long, deep scratches extended from his hands all the way to his elbows from trying to move things while he dealt with the Manning kid's whining and general bad attitude. Not that his had been much better, admittedly, but she hadn't even been able to help him move things due to her injury. Well... it must have hurt pretty bad, he guessed, so maybe he shouldn't be so hard on her.

Besides, she'd only been scared for her... what, girlfriend? Seemed like it, from the way she talked about her. Ralph had used her voice (which he had found so annoying before) as something to keep his feet on level ground while he moved rock after rock after rock and tried not to spiral into his own type of panic. He'd seen Vanessa just before the quake. He'd seen her, and he couldn't help picturing how she would look if she'd been crushed by the ceiling. He worked in the business of destroying things. He'd seen what happens when an animal is in the wrong place at the wrong time, and the kid.... well, she was just a kid. So small, and so full of energy. When Ralph pictured her, someone who annoyed him to no end and constantly got his goat on purpose... when he pictured her hurt, it felt like his chest was the thing that was crushed.

So his hands and arms were bloody, but he didn't care. They only had a handful of cars that could transport people to the hospital, so Ralph had simply carried his injured companion all the way there. She was nearly unconscious, anyway, and though he didn't know much about medicine... that couldn't be good.

They entered the front doors of the ER part of the hospital, and Ralph flagged down a nurse. "Help, okay? She's got a broken leg and I tried to keep her awake, but she's in pretty bad shape." the nurse exclaimed at the amount of blood that was covering Tiffany by that time, but Ralph quickly assured her that most of it wasn't hers. She was just out because of the pain, he thought. And no, he didn't need help. Help her first. He had someone he needed to find.

That done, he looked wildly around the room, searching for the one person that he would never have expected himself to be scared for, ignoring the pain and the fact that he was covered in his own blood.

[strangerslike-us-deactivated201]

Adoption Day || Jane & Ralph

[strangerslike-us-deactivated201]

"Yes, I will gladly show you though we will have to go down to the animal shelter, all the papers and kits are there." She smiled. "I have time, and you don’t have to adopt anything today, but there is no harm in looking"

[ratherbeawrecker]

"R-really? Oh. Okay!" Ralph stammered, running his hands through his hair and smiling, though he still looked sort of terrified. Could he even handle another living thing depending on him?

"It's just over there, right?" he gestured with gargantuan hands towards the direction that he thought the shelter was in. Sort of. "I'd like to look. How many... I mean, what type of dogs do you have?" Ralph asked, trying to sound like he at least sort of knew what he was talking about, even though he very much did not. It wasn't like he'd researched this before he came. He was acting on impulse, and hoping that this nice girl put up with him through the process.

"Oh, and I'm Ralph, by the way. Ralph Carpenter."

Man. He had no idea what he was doing.

[ratherbeawrecker]

Hang  (126 words)

 Ralph has a windchime. It hangs outside his window. It’s pretty ugly, really, made from old pipes, some pieces of old bottles that have the jagged edges sanded away, strung up with kite string, but he likes it. In a weirdly poetic and sort of pathetic way, he sees the junk that has been turned into something useful, and he feels comforted. Even though the sounds it makes are only pretty when the wind tosses it around like crazy, Ralph likes the fact that ugly junk can do some good. And maybe, when he looks in the mirror and sees a person that works with junk… a person who’s family thinks he is junk, he thinks about that windchime, and feels just a little bit better.

[ratherbeawrecker]

Not You Again || Ralph and Vannie

[genuinesourpatch]

Vanessa’s expression dropped into a pained offended scrunch. Her hands flew up to her hips as she pouted at him. “Hey! I can be a joy! But you’re too much of a grouch and…and… ignorant to see that.” With a quick nod, she dropped her hands back down to her sides. 

Ouch. That actually did sting a little. Ever the master, and use to hearing constant insults, Van didn’t show the damage that did on her small ego. “No,” she answered shortly and with fake confidence. “It’s technically a free country and I can do as I please.” She swung her backpack around and fished through a small pocket before finding a wrapped piece of candy. “Jawbreaker?” she offered it to the grumpy man, “it won’t actually break your jaw.”

[ratherbeawrecker]

Ralph narrowed his eyes. Ignorant, huh? It was somewhere between ironic and hilarious how many people he'd heard say stuff like that lately. Thanks, kid. Good thing I didn't have any self esteem to speak of in the first place.

And now she was offering him candy. he didn't particularly like candy, but, eh. She didn't seem to want to leave, and Ralph had zero energy to expend trying to make her. Plus he was still smarting from the fall. "Sure." he took it.

"So just to be clear, you're not gonna go away no matter what I do?"

[strangerslike-us-deactivated201]

Adoption Day || Jane & Ralph

[strangerslike-us-deactivated201]

"Well, if you really want one, I could help you get everything you need. We have a list of thing you need and what you need to do at the shelter. And you have to start somewhere" she told the man. She didn’t know what life without animals was like. Ever since she was young there had always been at least one animal in the house.

"Yes, I’m the assistant manager there"

[ratherbeawrecker]

"You do that? That's... cool! It's cool. I mean, yeah. I wouldn't mind... uh, checking it out? If you have time? I dunno if I'm gonna adopt anything, but I'd like to look. If you want to." he winced. Could that sound more awkward? Oh well. 

He tried a smile. Maybe this would be good. Change was good, right?

[strangerslike-us-deactivated201]

Adoption Day || Jane & Ralph

[strangerslike-us-deactivated201]

Jane gave the man a wide smile back. ‘Someone actually stopped and took a flier’ she thought excitedly. Most just passed her with no acknowledgement, and it saddened her. There were plenty of poor creatures at the shelter just waiting for a home.

"That’s okay" she told him with understanding. "I’m just happy you actually took the time to stop and take a flier. Most just continue walking without paying me much attention. Don’t worry about it, pets aren’t for everyone" 

[ratherbeawrecker]

"I mean, it sounds great! Having... pets and stuff. Looks fun, I guess... but I've never had one so I figure they're probably better off with somebody that has some idea what they're doing..." Truth was, Ralph had never had much of a chance to get to know dogs. His mom was allergic, so they'd never had one at home growing up, and after that... well, it had never occurred to him.

"Do you work at the shelter or something?"

[ratherbeawrecker]

Not You Again || Ralph and Vannie

[genuinesourpatch]

"Come on! I know you can hear me! You’re acknowledging my existence by walking faster- I can do that too!" She said a bit excitedly as she took wider steps and almost ran to walk beside him. "It’s rude to ignore someone, you know…" In any other circumstance, she would frown and walk away. But Ralph seemed like he should get something off his chest. He looked…too grumpy.

"Watch out for the-" she shouted quickly as she pointed to the scooter. As Ralph hit it, she winced and took a step back. "Ooo… ouch." Her hands flew to her mouth as her jaw dropped open. It seemed like time decided to slow down as Ralph tripped and collided into the bench. "Ouchie…" she repeated and slowly creeped up to him.

"Are you okay?…" she trailed off as she waited for a reply. "Ya know, this all could’ve been avoided if you weren’t so set on avoiding me.”

[ratherbeawrecker]

Of all the days for this to happen. Seriously? Ralph thought, still lying flat on his back. When the twerp started talking, he glared up at her in the late morning light. "Because being around your hyperactive personality is such a joy." he replied, pushing himself slowly into a seated position.

"If I ask you nicely, will you go away? I'm not in the mood to deal with you today." he grouched.

[strangerslike-us-deactivated201]

Adoption Day || Jane & Ralph

[strangerslike-us-deactivated201]

"It’s okay, no harm done, right?" She said smiling at the man. She had been surprised when the man turned around after hearing her, people usually didn’t, even more so when he almost hit her with his large arms. He was a large guy, bigger than most of the people she knew. Not only was he tall, she having to look up at him, but he was also wide. As her father would say, he was built like a brick wall. 

"Actually, I was just handing out fliers, Here!" She smiled handing one to him.

[ratherbeawrecker]

Ralph half smiled, a crooked one that was paired with a slightly confused look in his eyes. She was being really nice about this. Usually people kind of yelled at him when he did something stupid or clumsy. Of course, she'd only said a few things to him. There was still time for her to end up like the rest.

He took the flyer anyway, gently lifting it to tahe a closer look. Pets? Hm. He smiled at the tiny woman apologetically. "I... I don't think that's the best idea..." he said. "I wouldn't know what to do, I've never had any animals or anything. Sorry."

He felt bad for his answer, as well as for almost decking her. Even if it was by accident. 

[strangerslike-us-deactivated201]

Adoption Day || Jane & Ralph

Jane stood in the center of the quite large park in Storybrooke. She was handing out fliers for the animal shelter. They were for adoption day to be exact, and Jane hoped to get as many people to come as possible. She wanted the animals to have their forever home, and hoped that day was soon. So there she stood calling out to the passing people “come to the animal shelter, you might just find your perfect pet!”

[ratherbeawrecker]

Ralph was focusing extra hard on where he was going today. It was still early, true, but he had been able to go the whole morning without breaking something. Of course, he was about to go to work and break things, but that would be on purpose. Which was fine.

He walked with both hands carefully clasped in front of him. Swinging arms had a tendency to hit people or overturn chairs and cause things like concussions and fines. Which would be bad, obviously.

As he made an effort to walk sedately down the street, he heard a light and feminine voice call out behind him. He spun -too quickly- and nearly walloped her. Stupid swinging arms. "Ack! Shoot! Sorry!" he cringed. "I didn't see you... I walked right past you, huh?" he didn't really wait for an answer before peering more closely at the stranger.

"Sorry, uh, how can I help you?" 

[ratherbeawrecker]

Not You Again || Ralph and Vannie

[genuinesourpatch]

Vanessa grinned when Ralph stopped. Maybe he’ll actually- hey! “Hey! Where are you going?! I know you can hear me!” She glanced underneath her, checking for a place to jump down to. Not only was it too high, she had picked a branch that she needed the boost of a bench to help her up. One inch the wrong way would land her with a serious injury. With a pout, the girl scooted to the tree’s trunk and went over to the branch adjacent to the one she was on, and jumped down, hurrying to go after him. “Hey! Slow down, Mister!”

[ratherbeawrecker]

Ralph gritted his teeth, one eye beginning to twitch. Leave me alone leave me alone leave me alone leave me alone.... he repeated internally, speeding up his walk and lengthening his stride as much as he could without danger of tripping. Maybe she'd get bored. Annoying people eventually went away if you didn't acknowledge them, right?

.... Right?

Guess he wouldn't find out, as his foot then collided with a fallen child's scooter. Ralph stumbled, afraid that there might be a child nearby that he could step on, and went gut-first into a park bench. The hard metal decorations on top sunk into his stomach, and he let out a large grunting/wheezing sound before pushing himself off and stumbling backwards and falling on his back.

"Ow...." he groaned, face screwing up in pain.