'extra parental unit applications', there's a lot to take in just from those four words. she found herself intrigued and vaguely concerned by the sign before her, enough so that she had to call the number at the bottom. "hi, i saw the sign and i was wonderin': is this a personal ad? d'ya want a nanny? because either way i think ya might be goin' about it wrong. you're just gonna get a lotta weirdos, y'know." herself included.
a call ? already ? answering after the second ring, the man hesitated a moment, but it seems the caller beat him to the punch. he just listened to the words, brows furrowed to show he was frowning just the tiniest bit.
“ ehhh ... it’s just an ad. i’m a single father, you see, and ... “ there’s a pause, before he just decides to get it over with. “ i have two kids, you see. they’re ... in need of a second parental figure. my job takes me away from them quite often, and i ... well, i worry about them. i’m unsure how to go about doing anything right by them, but i know having someone else they can rely on when i’m absent would benefit them. “
oh, how pathetic he felt. admitting this to a total stranger, just because he put a phone number to be reached at, in hopes of doing better for his kids ... it was beginning to weigh him down, all of it.
Nyura made her way back to her home in Duskwood, not caring to open the door as she shadow-stepped inside.
She took her dagger, cutting out a solid line in her desk.
One.
He’s died once. She was going to keep count.
The elf held her chest as she went back to her room. Thankfully she’d found a druid friend of hers to path her up. The conversation between Nyura and Zovarra had helped her, too.
Nyura laid down on her bed, not caring the change at all. She smiled as Butters and Buttons jumped up onto the bed. She stared at the ceiling for what was probably hours before finally drifting off to sleep.
She had to be more careful now. Nyura was realizing how reckless she was when it came to fighting.
No dreams came to haunt her, for once. It was a restful sleep. Something she hadn’t had in a long time.
It was a cold day, but not unreasonably so. Snowflakes fell gently from the sky but melted as soon as they made contact with the pavement. Even in the midst of bad weather, New Yorkers hardly stopped. They were a resilient type that would probably give the middle finger to a blizzard and keep on going.
Ricardo stood outside of the former Gray's Papaya, bitterly disappointed to see that a childhood institution of his had closed. It had been one of his favorite inexpensive fast food joints to go to when he'd scrounged up a few dollars as a kid and now to see it was no longer there left him feeling almost empty. Nothing is permanent, the Brooklynite thought bitterly as he zipped up his leather jacket and started down the sidewalk. That had been his main reason for going to the West Side and now he'd have to find some makeshift place for lunch.
Ever since his last attack, the businessman had been horribly reluctant to leave his penthouse. it made him feel as if he was a ticking time bomb just waiting to go Cloverfield on New York City and it wasn't a pleasant feeling. It made him feel vulnerable and he hated it. Ricardo didn't consider himself weak but the parasite reacting when he had thought he had everything under control was without a doubt one of the worst experiences of his life and he had had plenty. He had been free from TriCell for months now and he was finally beginning to get his life back and then that had happened. It made him realize just how dependent he still was on that corporation but the consequences of crawling back to their doors would be just as bad, if not worse, than a full mutation.
He had been making his way through the crowd, lost in his own thoughts, when he heard an oddly familiar voice cut through the usual din of a New York City sidewalk.
"Ricky? Ricky? Is that you?"
He didn't want to locate the owner of that voice, but in spite of himself he turned to see a slightly heavy man with a full face and undeniably Italian features looking at him like he'd seen a ghost standing just outside an old bar. A smile soon broke across the man's face as he cut through the crowd, avoiding the death glares from pedestrians as he went to pull a resisting Ricardo into a bear hug.
(This is a LOOONNG post, so I'm setting up a "Read more" to keep from clogging up the dash.)
"It has ta be you! I haven't seen you since our high school graduation! How have ya been? How have y-" the man, realizing Ricardo's very obvious discomfort, let him go and ignored how he clutched at his back like an old man in favor of continuing his conversation, "Come on in ta the bar an' warm up some. I'll buy your foist beer! How's about it?"
Ricardo, clenching one fist in pain from the man's overly enthusiastic bear hug, grimaced and nodded weakly. "Y-yea, that'd be wondahful, Vinny. Why don't cha lead the way?"
The heavier man, now identified as "Vinny", cut a path through the crowd into the bar. It was old New York through and through; the interior didn't look as if it had been changed since the 1950s and most of the stains on the walls and floor seemed to be just as old. Ricardo sat down at the counter as the man sat beside him. While the other man ordered two beers, the Brooklynite went around to lighting a cigarette.
"What brings ya back here, cousin?" Vinny asked after a while, the smile not once fading from his warm face. Vinny was the man Ricardo would never--no--never wanted to be. He was honest as the day was long and trusted that, in the end, everything would turn out right. If Ricardo had had that attitude, he'd been dead at twelve years old.
"I felt like retoinin' home," Ricardo replied. It wasn't wholly true, but part of him felt that would be the safest place to lay low. With such a dense population, he doubted TriCell would try anything.
His cousin was silent for a minute, looking into his beer before taking a hearty gulp. "You nevah came to your mothah's funeral," he said at last. "Ta be honest, I don't think anyone knew how ta get in contact with you. Aftah you left for college you were gone." He snapped his fingers. "Just like that."
Ricardo looked at the half-burnt cigarette in his hands. "Why should I have? Just because she died didn't mean I was obligated ta go to her funeral, say a few nice woids I didn't mean, an' then pretend ta be sad!" he nearly spat, "Vin, you know as well as I do that bitch hated me. I was at your house as often as I could ta avoid her. I didn't owe her anything."
A look of sympathy fell across Vinny's full face. "Listen, Rick, I'm sorry, alright? I know youse two got along as well as oil an' watah but family's family..isn't it? It's gotta mean somethin'." He rubbed his hands together before rubbing at the back of his neck, "You know we were close growin' up. I've been worried about cha since..well..ya know what happened in that city. I thought for sure I'd lost ya!"
Ricardo knew full well what he was mentioning and desperately he'd been trying to get that horrible year out of his head. of all the shitty, miserable people in his family he couldn't hate his cousin. He was the only one that ever expressed genuine concern for him. He let his tense shoulders relax and the tone of his voice soften. "I'm alright, okay? I just..I've been concentratin' on my career an' sometimes it means leavin' people an' places behind. Let's stop concentratin' on me, cousin, tell me how you've been."
Thankfully for Ricardo Vinny took the bait and the conversation switched away from him. His cousin went on about how he had spent a few years in the army, wound up getting injured and returned to New York City to finish college. There the man had met his wife, a Staten island girl who went on to be a successful psychiatrist while he eventually went on to manage a small construction company. They had two daughters together; the oldest eight and the youngest five. The conversation then switched to high school and both men were eventually laughing about childhood days gone by. Ricardo would bring up when he'd hide mice in the teacher's desk and Vinny would have him laughing about when he'd attempt to dress in drag to spy on the girls' locker room. Something, somehow, was brought up in conversation that made Ricardo's blood run cold.
"A few years ago one of my woikahs brought up that his son had recently joined the BSAA. Ya know the guys, right, Rick? Military monstah killahs or somethin' like that an' he'd said he remembered me mentionin' your name. I didn't know what that had ta do with anything until he'd said that his son's unit was nearly deployed ta Africa ta go lookin' for a guy called 'Ricahdo Oiving!'" Vinny gave an incredulous chuckle, "I told'im that had ta be the dumbest thing I've evah heard. I told'im that you were a good man an' you were probably, I dunno, livin' in Florida since ya mentioned it so often back in high school!"
Ricardo was deathly silent for a while, having been so caught off guard. It was enough to have his cousin stare at him strangely before the businessman gave a small chuckle, "Nevah heard of the BSAA. I don't keep up with what the military's doin'. Up until recently I was managin' a few businesses in California. You know as well as I do that I can't be the only person in the woild with my name."
The smile returned to his cousin's round face as he laughed. "That's what I told'im! No way that was my Ricahdo Oiving! Just the thoughts of you gettin' mixed up with that stuff's ridiculous!"
Ricardo nodded numbly, "Don't believe everything ya hear. Listen, Vin, I've got ta get goin'. How's about we..uh..catch up anothah day? We'll go bowlin' or somethin'." He stood up from the bar stool before his cousin had a chance to protest and made his way out the door and into the cold.
Her decision was made and the two commanding officers left without another word to the Duchy. Alternis had laid his rules down for those to follow, and with Edea being with held in the tower, he hoped that without her asterisk of the Templar that she could do no harm. But her warning rang clear in his mind, ‘I’m going to commit myself to the Healing tower before I deem it proper to slaughter every living creature in Eternia… If you do not return with my daughter in seven days, I will exercise that right.’ Half of the first day had already been lost preparing and seeking out aid in his quest, but such a heavy burden remained settled on his chest for him to bare alone.
It was night time now, the airship the Valkyrie had been granted was one of the latest in development. It flew much better than his own ship and was faster at higher altitudes. It practically flew itself aside from the occasional adjustment here or there. But even as it rode on, Alternis remained at the helm in silence, reflecting in his own thoughts as it looped again and again. He hadn’t bothered to mend or take anything for the bruise and faint cut along his face. The pain reminded him of his mission, that this was one he simply could not fail. But even in his silence, he heard the faintest sound of breathing from behind. He didn’t need to turn around in knowing who it was.
“I thought you’d be resting… it will be but a few hours before we reach the old man’s woods. We’ll catch them hopefully right before they arrive.” Alternis bit his lip gently before finally turning to see the older woman there. Despite being in her thirties now, she didn’t look much different from when their world was plunged into chaos. In fact, black suited Einheria. It was only then he tried his best to levy a smile into her direction. It was beyond forced but the attempt was there, “…Again, I thank you for accompanying me.”
I'm trying to come up with what Rosemary's first Pokémon would have been
a rich, snooty mother buys her daughter her first Pokémon....I was thinking maybe Eevee, Meowth, or Dratini
I dunno, some expensive show Pokémon.
Then I'm trying to figure out how she got her main Pokémon, so I can write shorts about that. I think for Sableye, she would have come home on some rainy evening and held him up for her mom to see and was like "mom, lookit what I found!". Aerodactyl and Kabutops were rescued from the horror that was the Pewter Museum of Science back in the day. I did the one where she found the Lileep fossil. That just leaves the Sandshrew
hulksmashes replied to your post: What does Margaret have on her plate? Not...
Why don’t you think she’s a “true believer”?
Oh I like this question and I kind of toy with it in my "faith on Boardwalk" meta post but the short version is you don't see her faith in action prior to her using it as a convenient catch-all for her problems in season two.
With Nelson, the biggest true believer on the show shy of Munya or the religious leaders, you see his struggles and his victories as they relate to him trying to live his life and ally it to his belief system. It's real, it's essential to his being.
With those of a tepid faith at best (Rothstein, Meyer, Chalky, maybe even Nucky) you see them paying their 'dues' but nothing else? Of course Meyer and Rothstein have to- they're vilified because of their religious background, but Chalk and Nucky sort of nod at it and move on.
With Margaret however, it's something to fill up the silences almost. Margaret needs pet causes. Season one was the Temperance movement but once you have a boyfriend in the liquor business, you kind of can't do that anymore so sure why not religion? That's a neat trick.
And if anything her signing away the land as a final 'debt payment' to G-d only solidifies that. This thing didn't work, so what next?
