I would adore to read some of your works surrounding your characters! Especially if there’s already an assemblage of that completed so we needn’t worry about you overworking yourself
Well this seems like as good a time as any to be honest! Let’s go off shall we! So I wrote this a while back, it is mostly about Ginger Handel, the Final Girl to my Slasher OC Victor Pace. James Doron (never posted his offical bio) is also the other main character in this, he works in the same bakery with both Victor and Ginger. I love these three so very much and have written a lot about them already, so I can post more if people like it. This is a big deal because as I am sure you know OG shit isn’t what I post here, yet anyway.
Anger, a conversation, backstory. Here we go some of my original shit! Hope you all enjoy it!
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Rating. SFW. Length. 2.6K. Warnings: Mentions Of A Bad Home Life and Mental Health Struggles. Some Sad Shit. Some Soft Shit. Minor Angst. Anger. Some Backstory.
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How Dare You?
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Ginger was more scared than she had ever been in her whole life.
She was so concerned, worried, freaked the fuck out, she had to go find James and talk to him. She remembered where he lived from when she had stopped by for dinner with James and Victor. It was early, very early, she stood in front of his door and knocked, waiting, waiting, hurry up, come on. Finally the door opened and James was rubbing his eyes and said sleepily.
“Ginger?”
“James.”
“What are you doing here?”
He yawned, leaning against the door frame and Ginger said.
“I have to talk to you.”
“Now? Couldn’t wait until work?”
A tired laugh as he responded and she shook her head, saying seriously.
“No.”
He stared at her for a moment, he realized she seemed serious, he pushed off the door frame before sighing and saying.
“Fucking fine. Come on in.”
She walked in, James flopped down on the couch, Ginger stayed standing, pacing and James asked,
“So what’s the problem?”
“You know those murders?”
He sighed and said.
“Yeah, the ones you are so concerned about, sure.”
“I think…”
A pause. She struggles to find the right wording.
“This is a lot. I just...I think I know who’s doing it.”
That got his attention, he sat up and asked.
“Woah. Ginger really?”
Yes. Thank God, he seems interested. Ginger nodded and continued.
“Yes! Yes, we have to go to the police. I’m sure the murders are being done by one person.”
“Shit. Yeah I’ll help you, what evidence do you have?”
She felt embolden as she continued speaking, almost too quickly, gesturing as she did,
“I don’t have the physical evidence yet but if we can convince the police and get a warrant then I’m sure we will have everything we need.”
“Well c’mon spill. Who is it?”
Ginger hesitated and James gestured with his hands for her to spit it out.
“It’s...I think it’s Victor...”
He looked dumbfounded. He looked up at her and said harsh.
“Are you fucking kidding me?”
“James, I know, I know! But you have to hear me out!”
“No. No I don’t actually.”
James rolled his eyes and he crossed his arms, leaning back on the couch.
“James I swear to God it’s him! I know it, I-”
James got up and sighed very loudly, hand running through his messy hair.
“Shut up Ginger.”
Ginger tried to speak up and he cut her off right away.
“I said shut up Ginger! Oh my GOD. I cannot believe you.”
“What?”
He rubbed his hand over his face, weight shifting from one foot to the other and he said harshly.
“I said. I can’t believe you! Like Jesus Christ, Ginger, why? Huh? What do you have against the man?”
Ginger started to get a little frustrated at how quickly this was falling apart, at how fast James was getting upset as she said.
“Why are you always defending him?!”
James looked at Ginger, shocked as he said.
“You really don’t know?...”
The realization hit as he vocalized it,
“He didn’t tell you. Course he wouldn’t. Wasn’t his thing to tell. God damn it Victor.”
She heard it but it was almost like he was saying it to himself, he spoke louder as he addressed her again, eyes focused as he glared at her,
“That fucking man still amazes me. This makes me even more upset because you are accusing him of something so AWFUL.”
He was pacing now, almost rambling, still in utter disbelief he seemed mad as hell, he didn’t stop.
“The reason I defend him so much Ginger is because he is the best man I have ever met. He has helped me immensely. He gave me so much, real world experience and personal teaching, he listened to my problems and became my fucking friend. When I was in school, there was this one night and I had to bring in this dessert for a final exam and I fucking dropped it.”
He stopped pacing for a moment and he laughed recalling the memory and recounting it for Ginger.
“Like an idiot I dropped it and I fucking cried and freaked out about how I was going to fail and all my work would be for nothing.”
He remembered being curled over, crying tears of pure frustration, hunched over the mess that was once his dessert, smashed plate and cream and hard work splattered over the tile in the back of the bakery. He remembered Victor crouching down beside him, hand on his back, he looked up and Victor told him.
“Get up. Come on, get up and straighten yourself out, I’ll clean this up and I’ll help you do it again.”
He remembered looking up to him through too many tears as he said,
“Wha-what? Victor i-it’s already 11:30, you’ve stayed too late already, you normally open at 6, you shouldn’t-”
And Victor was rubbing over his back now, a shake of his head as he comforted him,
“James. Nothing you can say is going to change my mind here. I want to help you. I’m going to help you, okay?”
He sniffed and smiled and said.
“Okay.”
He remembered tissues and wiping his face clean, feeling a little embarrassed crying in front of his boss. They played music and talked and laughed and drank coffee and managed to stay awake and remake it even better. Victor insisted on keeping the store closed that day, he drove him to school that day. James passed and Victor and him went out for lunch and over even more coffee he remembers the moment where everything really changed when Victor said.
“I’m proud of you.”
That stopped James dead, mid sip of coffee, he wasn’t exactly used to praise and Victor didn’t stop.
“You have such a passion for this. For what we do, it is amazing how far you’ve come since we started working together, really.”
A pause.
“And I wanted to offer you a full time job at Pace’s Pastries when you are done with school. No obligation to stay forever obviously but you are such a good fit and I would love to have you.”
James agreed readily, easily, he couldn’t believe it. It was like a dream. Life is so good right now and here was Ginger standing there, doubting Victor, it was enraging.
He took a deep breath, his back to Ginger he continued, recalling another time.
“Once. I was mugged and they got a lot of money off me. I had just been to the bank, tuition payment, gone.”
A snap of his fingers for emphasis and he kept talking.
“And when I cried to Victor on the phone about it he fucking payed my tuition that month for me. These past years that man has been nothing but kind to me. Been there for me. Cared for me. I can’t tell you the amount of times he showed me such kindness again and again even if sometimes I probably didn’t deserve it. Everyone in Long Grove can tell you something nice about him! Some sweet, kind thing he has done for them.”
He was facing her again as he continued, louder now, more anger hurled at her.
“EVERY SINGLE ONE GINGER. And then you come in and start throwing accusations at him, why? Is he too nice?! Too fucking likeable?! SO SOMETHING HAS BE WRONG WITH HIM?!”
Ginger was in shock to say the least. She knew Victor was a good guy, that he did a lot for people but she didn’t know just how much he had done for James.
“He is family.”
“What?”
“He is my family Ginger...Like...”
Another sigh, he walked over to the couch and sat down again, he motioned for her to sit too. She took the chair next to the couch and he couldn’t look at her as he continued talking, eyes on the floor, hands on his knees.
“I’ve cried in front of that man too many damn times I swear to God. My family disowned me. I was almost done my last year of school, it was so awful, Victor was there for me.”
Another series of memories recalled, James in the back of house at the bakery, arms folded on the table in front of him, phone call just ended, tears still wet on his face, his dad’s words still ringing in his ears, fragments, hurtful and stinging.
“Never come back here again.”
“No son of mine-”
“Disgraceful.”
“Worthless.”
He heard the door swing open, he got up, wiping at his face, he pocketed his phone and said.
“Hey Victor, sorry I’m still here, I was just going to lock up.”
He tried to talk normally but his voice still sounded thick and raw from so much crying.
“James what’s wrong?”
He forced a smile and turned to look at Victor, still in the doorway as he said.
“Nothing man, uh nothing I’m all good.”
“James.”
Victor stepped closer and James still tried to deny it.
“Really Victor I’m good-I just uh-”
Think of a lie James come on, you burden him too much already, something, think of something.
A hand, strong and steady on his forearm, when did he close his eyes? He opened them again to see Victor, looking so concerned.
“You can talk to me James.”
So nice.
He is so damn nice and he is so open, no one in his family ever wants to talk about anything.
It all came spilling out, he couldn’t stop it, he told him about his home life, his family, his dad. He had started crying somewhere in the middle of telling him and it ended with the both of them sitting on the table in the back, James with his hand near his mouth, looking down, still crying, Victor just being there, listening.
“And then he said he never wants to see me again, to never come back there. They are disowning me Victor.”
He finally finished, Victor waited a moment, to make sure he was done. Hands taking his, strong and sure and grounding, James looked up to him and Victor said.
“Fuck them.”
James laughed a little, Victor wasn’t the type to swear often. He thinks the only time he heard it before now was one afternoon when making candy he got a molten sugar burn, it sounded wrong coming from him, he asked,
“What?”
“Fuck them. James they don’t know what they have in you. You are so talented and smart and so good and it sounds like they don’t act like a family.”
A forign concept to James. He sounded so confused,
“Act like a family?”
A laugh, quiet, a little sad from Victor before he says,
“Family supports each other, listens to each other, is there. Present. Caring, loving. Sounds like they have never been your family.”
James had to agree, they never cared, the only person who did was his younger sister, he was most broken up about that, not seeing her, her having to deal with them alone. Victor wasn’t done.
“I’ll be your family.”
James' heart had never beat harder in his life. He couldn’t accept hearing that so easily, something like that had never been offered to him, it sounded too good to be true. No way.
“Victor what are you saying? You-you’ve done enough, really I-”
“You need a place to go, you have school to finish, you are so close, live with me, take the full time job when you graduate. Figure out what you are doing with no pressure, James I care about you a lot, please let me help you do this.”
Again all he could do was smile through the tears and say,
“Okay.”
Living with Victor was so easy, he never realized that he wanted to go home to a place before, he always was avoiding his old family’s house, but here he actually wanted to go home at night. Being able to relax was life changing. Victor was the only one who came to his graduation, he took pictures and cheered and James felt loved and seen and heard for the first time in his 22 years of life.
James looked so sad, so angry so many things and he looked up from the floor back to Ginger. Less sad, more anger again.
“So...Ginger...I’m fucking sorry if I am a little upset and a little fucking doubtful of you that the man who did all of that and so much more, the man who saved my life, is capable of killing multiple people.”
Ginger doubted herself now. Stumbling through her attempt at a response.
“But...The...I...”
She sighed and James continued, prodding as he asked,
“What? What else?”
Ginger started.
“I don’t think he is mentally well.”
James got up and stepped closer, he scoffed looking down at her and said.
“And what about it Ginger? I know you know about how he got that scar of his. I know people in this town talk, they love him but fuck it IS the biggest thing that has ever happened here so I KNOW you know about it.”
Ginger couldn’t meet his gaze now, speaking quietly, playing with her fingers for a mild distraction, she felt like an idiot.
“Yes I know about how he got it.”
James continued, anger still clear in his tone,
“So if you know about it you know he has been through a lot. He watched his parents and brother die, almost died HIMSELF, so yes it kind of mentally messed him up, he is medicated, he is in therapy, he is working on himself.”
“He goes to therapy?”
He stepped away, walking to the kitchen, he needed coffee, dear God he needed something to help deal with how she was being right now, he continued speaking.
“Yes Ginger, oh my God. He doesn’t really talk about it at work, he is a little sensitive about it and he obviously made the right call, why are you being such a judgmental bitch?”
Now she was shocked, hand to her chest, finally looking back to him,
“I’m being a-”
He cut her off quickly.
“A judgmental bitch. I will say it again and again because the shoe fits.”
Now it was Ginger’s turn to get angry, she got up and followed him to the kitchen. She stood in the doorway and watched him, he seemed so different from how he was at the bakery, she softened. To be fair though she had barged her way in here well before 5 AM on a weekday and demanded to talk to him, accused him that the only family he has is a murderer, of course he is defensive.
Of course he doesn’t believe her.
Yet.
“James. I’m sorry. I know I am asking a lot of you, I know you have history and you don’t want to believe this but what if I could show you?”
She stayed in the doorway. Keeping the distance between them. She felt bad. James got out a second mug, he poured her a cup and picked it up, he held it out, still not looking at her.
“You want to show me Victor is a murderer?”
She stepped into the kitchen and took the cup and said.
“Yes. You are right, I need something hard, real evidence, if we catch him in the act then you will have to believe me.”
James let out a sigh, he shook his head and looked over to her as he said.
“I’m only agreeing to prove you wrong. There is no way it’s him.”
“So you’ll hear me out?”
She asked hopefully, he rolled his eyes and said.
“Yes. If it’ll get you to shut up. Now do you take cream or sugar or both?”