@oliverqueenxarrow
Three Goblin Art
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oozey mess
Monterey Bay Aquarium
Cosimo Galluzzi
Peter Solarz

titsay

★
Stranger Things
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Origami Around

tannertan36
$LAYYYTER

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roma★
"I'm Dorothy Gale from Kansas"
noise dept.
PUT YOUR BEARD IN MY MOUTH
Not today Justin
DEAR READER
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@oliverqueenxarrow
OOC: Superman needed
for an Injustice verse idea that I have:
Okay so I was thinking we could do a thread set within the Injustice alternate universe (the one where the Joker killed Lois Lane and Superman went evil) and Thea tracks Superman down to extract revenge for her beloved brother's death. Plus note that (most likely in this verse) Thea will secretly be heartbroken because she’s in love with Oliver.
So, if you play Superman and you’d be interested in playing this out with me, hit me up on messenger, please!
@oliverqueenxarrow
“If you’re gonna keep staring at me,” Thea said without turning her face from the heat of the sun, “you could at least offer to help me with my sunblock. It’s called manners.”
From here.
Coloring on Graphic + Stiles GIFs + Thea GIFs
Possible plot ideas:
Stiles is assigned to show Thea around Beacon Hills High on her first day.
Thea is sleep walking around town in the middle of the night after moving into her new home in Beacon Hills and Stiles almost hits her with the Jeep while chasing some supernatural creature.
Thea accidentally wanders into some sort of monster-of-the-week type crisis and they meet that way.
Any of College!AUs listed here.
At the Beginning with You: Oliver & Thea
oliverqueenxarrow:
There was a lot that Oliver didn’t know but some of that would change quickly now that he was back. He’d never lied to Thea before and she had never lied or kept things from him; obviously that would have to change now. At least it would for him; he did things now. He was responsible for things that she had no part even knowing about now. He was someone that had no business holding anything even remotely as good as her, as pure as her…
“Are you f-…” He caught himself before he dropped the f-bomb right there in front of their mother. Favorite child or not, Oliver would still be scolded for language in front of his baby sister. “Are you kidding!? Of course I’m sure!” He gave her his thousand watt winning smile and then abruptly turned it on their mother and step-father. “I’d like some time alone with Thee. We have so much to catch up on and…I hope you guys can understand. We can always talk later.”
Walter Steele, their step-father, was always the kinder soul to their mother’s cold-hearted faux love. He actually cared about the children that weren’t his blood. “Of course, Oliver. You’re time with Thea is most important. You two were always close. Let’s leave them to it, Moira… Please, darling?” He held his arm out to prompt them away.
Oliver turned back to the Queen of his heart. Always. “Do I even still have a bedroom? At the risk of sounding entitled all over again…” He smirks. “Come on, Thee! We got a lot to talk about.”
Thea watched as Moira and Walter turned and walked away. She understood completely that their mother wanted time with her long lost favorite child; in a way, she kind of felt bad for taking Oliver away from Moira so soon, but she’d missed him too. If he wanted to spend a few minutes with her, Thea wasn’t going to turn him away. Moira would have to wait her turn.
She chuckled at his small joke, “Of course you do, Ollie. It’s exactly the way you left it in fact.” With the exception of dust obviously because Risa had gone in once a week every week to dust. Oh and she’d gone in and slept on his bed, not in it, and snagged a couple of his shirts to sleep in when the sadness and loneliness weighed upon her.
Thea put her hand on his forearm before heading up the stairs ahead of him. As she went to open her bedroom, Thea was suddenly very glad that she’d had insomnia since he’d been found. It had given her plenty of time to clean her room. As they entered though, it hit Thea. He was here. He was really here and now everything that she wanted to say for so long vanished from her mind. “So, um...”
At the Beginning with You: Oliver & Thea
oliverqueenxarrow:
Oliver drew her scent deep into his nose and closed his eyes. Holding her was the closest to heaven he’d ever come. Her slighter delicate body against his larger harder and…scarred one, actually felt good. He finally felt at peace. It was the first time he’d felt that, anything resembling that, in a long time…
He was glad for his mother’s distance in proximity to them when she swore. Her voice was low for him, like she was only talking to him, so only he could hear. “Time is fickle bitch, huh!? Since when is my Thee swearing? Does that come with growing up? Hmm…?” He smiles at her, genuinely. He’s happier to see her and be home than to simply have come home. “I grew up, too; you’re right. More than you even realize baby sister…”
Moira cleared her throat and presented the both of them with one of her large fake beaming smiles before pretending to be as motherly as she could pretend to manage. “Thea, you should really let Oliver rest. He’s been through so much and he doesn’t need…”
“Mom.” Oliver’s voice was firm without yelling. “Really, it’s fine.” He comments, still holding onto Thea with one arm, palm out on his free arm to ward off their mother’s overzealousness. “There’s nothing about my baby sister that could make things worse. Only better… But hey, why don’t you show me to my room, Thee? I’m sure we can catch up there, same as down here.”
Thea took comfort in being held again. It had been five long years since anyone had hugged with such sincerity. Sure, her mother had hugged her when there were other people around to see, a show that the older woman put on, and yes, Tommy had hugged her occasionally too, but he had his own motivations behind the gesture. Oliver hugged her simply to hold her and it was wonderful.
So, of course, their mother had to ruin it with her logic. Thea sighed, admitted to herself that Moira probably correct and stepped half a step away from him, even though nerve-ending in her body protested the action. Oliver’s words kept guilt from her mind. “Sure, Ollie.” she said, smiling up at him. Thea had to offer him an out though. “if you’re sure? Mom’s right, you should probably sleep or whatever.”
At the Beginning with You: Oliver & Thea
oliverqueenxarrow:
Oliver was filled with much trepidation at officially coming home. Sure, he’d been back in town for a little while now – not to mention that one time he’d been back and no one had even known it – but he hadn’t been home yet…
The ride in the black town car back to Queen Manor should have been a relaxing experience considering he was out of that hospital, but… All he could see was his sister, his mother, his step father that he’d been told he had. And yes, he’d seen his mother but he hadn’t really spoken to her. He hadn’t spoken to anyone of anything of any importance since before he left on that boat and got lost for five years… His hands shook as he sat in the back of the car as it pulled in the long drive to the Manor. He pressed his palms flat to his thighs and knees to stabilize them. It did, thankfully, and it stopped all the shaking. Oliver took confidence from that and chanced a smile at his mother across from him.
Five minutes later the car was stopped and the door to the back opened for him. He entered and expected things to be different…but nothing was different except the flowers on the hall table that regularly changed to begin with. “Is Thea?”
“She’s upstairs sleeping, Oliver. Please don’t wake her. She’s been tied up in knots all week waiting to see you again. Her school has been suffering for years now. Nothing we do has been able to help. It’s terribly embarrassing…”
Moira Queen speaking that way about her youngest was sadly normal. Oliver smiled ruefully to himself as the mother paid more attention to what came out of her mouth than the discomfort on her son’s face. He hated the fact that he’d left his baby sister alone in this… But just like that, Thea proved everyone wrong by appearing at the top of the stairs abruptly. He smiled wide as he looked up to her. She was so much more beautiful than anything he’d imagined. “Thee…” He whispered. “Oof!” He barked on his exhale as her perfectly toned body collided with his hard frame. “Oh, Thee…I missed you too, so much. You grew up without me, huh? What’s that about?” He teased softly.
Thea banished her mother’s words from her mind. She wasn’t to hear what was said, of course. Moira thought she was out like a light, but even if the blonde knew her daughter was in earshot it wouldn’t have stopped her little snide remarks from coming. For five years now Thea’s been the recipient of backhanded comments and subtle little jabs from the woman who’d given her birth. The seventeen-year-old was used to it at this point.
As soon as her body collided with his own though, all other thoughts and worries vanished completely. All that mattered was that he was here now, alive and breathing. She could feel the rise and fall of his chest beneath her own. His natural scent filled nose and calmed her mind instinctively.
His comments brought a genuine chuckle to her lips, “Kinda had to, Ollie. Time is a fickle bitch like that.” She cuddled into him, not yet ready to break the point of contact between them. “You grew up too, you realize that, right? It’s not just me.”
At the Beginning with You: Oliver & Thea
Thea was nervous, but she shouldn’t be. This was what she wished for on every birthday, prayed for every night, and daydreamed about like once a day. She should be over the moon about it and she was, mostly. Worries lingered though. She’d not slept all night as the what-ifs ate her brain. They still pestered her as their mother left to retrieve Oliver from the hospital so she didn’t start a fight when she wasn’t allowed to go with.
Now though, Thea could hear the voices drafting up from the first floor as she rounded the staircase banister. Lead-lined dread weighed heavy in a stomach and, in the few seconds it took her eyes to register her big brother’s face, she felt like all of the oxygen had left the mansion.
There was no stopping her as she ran down that staircase, “I knew it. I knew you were alive.” She wrapped her arms around her neck and hugged him tight. She buried her smile into his shoulder, “I missed you so much.”
@oliverqueenxarrow
Rare-ish pictures of Willa Holland.
Beautiful Sister || Thea and Ollie
Before she even had a chance to call to him Oliver knew she was in the dance room. Their mother, who’d they’d also just lost this year, had added it onto the house floor plan begrudgingly. Thea, who’d been a dancer since she was young and classically trained in ballet, wasn’t going to be on Broadway. It wasn’t that she didn’t have what it takes, because she had all that and more and determination that made a daisy growing amongst a sea of grass look like amateur hour. It was simply that Thea Queen was the one and only little girl of the media mogul Robert Queen, wife Moira Queen and precious little sister to multimillionaire playboy Oliver Queen. She was constantly in the spotlight already and it just wouldn’t coincide with her current status as rich little girl…
He stood in the doorway for a little while, silent as the night and watching her dance to her own music. That had always been the way for his baby sister, though; she had her own drummer and she didn’t give a shit what other people thought about her. She did what she wanted. When she called for him he smiled and walked in the room, his boxers hung low on his hips beneath low riding loose sweatpants, his chest shirtless and bared, the scars and tattoos just a part of him now. They were a part of himself, like the Arrow, that he no longer had to hide from her. “I know…” He smirked sheepishly as he closed the distance between them, grabbed her up in his arms and brought her legs around his waist so she sat her tight little perfect ass on his strong forearms. “I knew where you’d be. Why’d you run from me, huh? I know I’m scary first thing in the morning but, uh…” His grin was adorable.
He knew she struggled with what the other women in his life meant to him at one time and how most of them still hung around as friends or colleagues of the Arrow. He couldn’t help the way even strange women flocked to him and found him attractive and wanted him. Oliver only wished that Thea could see the way he looked at her, that she could see what he saw when he looked at her. When other women were looking now, all he saw was her. There’d been a time when that wasn’t true but as soon as this had begun, all he saw was her. All he wanted was her…
How could he make her see?
She was his everything and there could be no one else for him.
Thea's left leg was held out at forty-five degree angle while she stood on the tiptoes of her right foot. Her left arm mirror her left leg and her right arm was pointed in front of her. Arabesque was one of her most favorite positions; she held still for a few seconds before jumping into a changement and settling into the en dedans. She stood there like that, simply breathing, until he entered her domain, effectively distracting her, as he so good at doing.
She wrapped her arms around his neck, resting her elbows upon his shoulders, as he swept her up and around him. She chuckled as she gazed down at his face from where she now perched thanks to his strength. "Oh? Am I so predictable to you, dear brother?" It was a rhetorical question. Of course, Oliver knew her well enough to find her here; if he didn't, then no one in the world knew her at all.
She shook her head in playfully disbelief, "Scary doesn't begin to cover it." Thea joked before she rested her forehead upon his own. She didn't speak nor even sigh. Answering his question was impossible; or at least it was impossible to answer without sounding like an uncaring bitch.
After a few minutes though, the silence became nearly unbearable. She pulled back slightly so she wouldn't subject him to her breath on his face. "What are you still doing here, Ollie?" Thea asked softly, "I thought..." She didn't actually know what she'd thought, but she certainly hadn't expected him to be here when she awoke. Doesn't Laurel need him now?
As much as it made her stomach twist and her heart squeeze, the elder woman was still his friend and Thea didn't want to be a selfish bitch that kept him from doing what he could for his suffering friend. Of course, it was then that the devil on her shoulder decided to supply her with any number of ways Oliver could 'help' Laurel. God, she hated this so much.
Beautiful Sister || Thea and Ollie
It had been almost a year and a half since Oliver and Thea started their affair with one another. Perhaps affair was the wrong word; romance wasn’t quite right, either, however. It was somewhere between casual sex and a relationship where they weren’t quite sure what side they were operating closest to.
Thea loved her big brother and big brother Ollie loved his baby sister.
That was the one and only thing they were both sure of.
It was hard to tell how much deeper it ran besides that. Oliver was insanely jealous of Thea trying to date and be normal with other young men her age or…not, and Thea was insanely jealous of other women around Oliver, regardless of actual romantic inclinations or none at all.
Today was difficult because they’d just lost Sara Lance, for good this time, and Laurel was in need of a friend to help her get past the grief. She wasn’t as lucky as Oliver, who had Thea to confide in and rest in her safe embrace; Laurel didn’t have Tommy or Oliver that way anymore. Oliver awoke with the sense that he’d been crying in his sleep, his eyes dry and nose clogged. He looked over and realized he was back in his room and he was alone. While home he and Thea shared a bedroom, usually his. So where was she…?
"Thee…? You around little sister?" He smirked sleepily. "Baby…" He chuckled low, getting off the bed and padding barefoot into the hall.
Sometimes Thea hated the relationship shift between her and Oliver. It was everything she'd wanted, that was true, but it also torture in a way that she had not anticipated. It hadn't occurred to her that she'd only be getting half of him, half of a relationship. It sucked hardcore to have to pretend to be just his sister when that was no longer her sole descriptor. Women were still hitting on him, clinging to him in some cases, like he was still available and why not? To them, he was. Sometimes, she worried that maybe he thought he was as well.
She'd not wanted to be that girl. Hell, she'd always thought she'd make a rational girlfriend, but then were women like Laurel and Sara involved. She couldn't be sure of anything. So, when she felt that tight panicky feeling in her chest, she fled. She'd go to a party or a club or just to see her friends.. The only times she couldn't escape were her dreams. In her dreams, or rather nightmares, she had to live with her fears, her unease.
On this night, for example, Thea'd been awoken from her sleep by a nightmare. Sara had been a star of it, of course, and she and Thea were on the Gambit. Water quickly filled the cabin they stood in and Thea had tried to save her, keep the other woman's head above the cool liquids, but it had been of no use. As she was sinking away into the darkness of the ocean, Thea had watched as Sara wrapped her arms about Ollie's waist and ensnared him, pulling him under with her. Taking him from Thea. There was no more sleep for Thea after that.
She slipped from their now shared bed and into her personal dance studio. Normally, she'd redress in her outfit and shoes, but she didn't have the will for that. Instead she chose to slip dance in her long white nightgown and to music only she could hear. Her bare feet spun and glided across the polished wood in the swoops and sweeps she'd learned long ago. She let the music in her head and her dancing chase away the nightmare. Prehaps she was simply chasing away the inevitable, the reality of Oliver leaving eventually, but for now it was enough to glide and prance, to move. It was easier. "In here, Ollie," Thea called in response softly, never letting the music fade in her mind.
Not Just a Dream: Oliver & Thea
Oliver was pleased to know that the Thea before him wasn’t afraid of talking about things such as incest. It was very clearly less of a taboo than it used to be, even if that wasn’t by much where society as a whole was concerned. “Thank you, Thea. I appreciate that you and I can speak of such things freely. You are a…a true friend.”
When she asked again about the reason behind his murder he wasn’t sure how to answer. It was true, he didn’t remember the reason behind his murder exactly; it was all he could think of reason wise, however, for being murdered. He had been in his father’s business before his father died and though the business was competitive it was by no means cut-throat. It wouldn’t have threatened his life the way loving his sister romantically would have. “I…apologize. I did say I did not recall what exactly happened to me and for what reasoning. However, upon further mental reflection, I can only see my incestuous relationship with my sister as a motive for it. Father died when we were fairly young and mother, upon finding out we planned to run off together, would not have been accepting; let me assure you.”
All this thinking and feeling they were doing about his past life was making him realize just how much like his sister this Thea was. She was the reincarnation of his sister, whether or not she realized it right now. Eventually, something would happen and she’d remember her former life; she’d remember him. Would she feel the same as she once did? That remained to be seen but she would remember and that’s all that mattered to him, that he not be forgotten by time, by everyone.
The screen changed a few times as Thea scrolled through, clicking and scrolling and clicking again to get where she needed to be. When she got there she seemed in denial and Oliver, being the first-hand knowledge part of the team, sat forward and studied the screen. That was impossible. He’d been there. He had a sister and her name was Thea Dearden Queen. She was his. He was there. And no one could take that away from him…
“No…that is a lie, a complete fabrication. You…believe me, do you not?”
"Yeah, I mean," Thea said with an awkward smile, "who else are you going to talk to?" It wasn't as if she could tell anyone, even if she had someone to tell. It didn't matter either way; she wouldn't betray his trust like that, ghost or no. Even thinking it, thinking I share my room with a ghost, made her want to laugh...except not because it was oddly true. She shared her fucking bedroom with a ghost. That was her life now.
Thea flinched slightly as he said that he'd already told her that he remembered nothing. She knew that; perhaps she just thought he was being secretive or maybe that he'd somehow know more somehow. "Yeah, I didn't your mother would be jumping for joy exactly, but are you-are you really saying that you think your own mother could have-?" She couldn't even give voice to the whole thought. It seemed so outrageous.
She nodded absently as she hit the back button a couple of times. Maybe she just clicked wrong? Or set a setting wrong or something? But even after backtracking her steps, there was nothing. No Thea Dearden Queen...other then herself, of course. Huh. Weird. "I believe you," Thea said softly, biting her lip as she looked at the screen in confusion for a second before turning her head to look at him again. "There's no way you could make her up...not with the way that you talk about her."
Not Just a Dream: Oliver & Thea
Oliver watched on with earnest as she explained the difference between a computer or laptop and a tablet. He was fascinated. Some people in his day had said the devil existed in devices such as this, that demons could see through the glass from the other side, an unseen gateway. He had always presumed that technological advances the likes of these things were diabolical in a good way; science with conductors and other things made anything possible. “I see.” He said simply. It was a lot to take in but he thought he was doing pretty well following along.
He watched her contemplate the start of the research, how to go about it. What was the best way? Her index finger played at her lower lip, the pastel lilac nail polish she wore catching the light in the room as she moved her finger ever so slightly. “Perhaps it is too…vast of a knowledge pool…?” He chuckled abruptly. “Although, wisdom always said to cast a wide net and one would catch many fish.” He looked on as she opened the program she called an ‘internet browser’ and typed into a box at the top. “Ancestry.com? What is…?”
The open ended question hung in the air between them for a time. His opinions were all he had anymore and of course he could have them, everyone did; Oliver supposed he kept apologizing for them because his mother had never considered his thoughts on matters. She’d called him a letch and sick, twisted, when she’d discovered his sister’s and his love for one another. She’d blamed Oliver, not his Thee… “I am still sorry. My opinions and feelings, thoughts, weren’t exactly well received back when I was alive.” He commented. “Mostly I was shunned and later murdered for having them and not denying the love I had for Thee…my Thee.” His cerulean blues met her striking eyes and he seemed sad. “She was my world and she took up my entire life. I wouldn’t have had it any other way. And now…” He pauses, thinking. “And now I’ve been brought into your life…for a reason I’m sure.” He smiles.
“Perhaps after all these years, my flower will have learned to protect the boulder at its back.”
Thea frowned. She could have guessed that incestuous relations were disapproved of back then. They were still frowned on now. However, that alone should never have discounted his thoughts and opinions in their entirety. It wasn't right. "I'm sorry you were treated so," She said softly. Her gaze turned from the screen to his face. "But you can tell me anything without fear." She smiled playfully, "It's kind of how this friendship thing works these days."
"You were murdered because of..." She trailed off. "Are you sure that's the reason?" Hadn't he told her that he remembered nothing of his murder? What he described...being the center of someone else's world. It sounded...wonderful. No one had cared about Thea, like that, not ever. Sometimes it felt like Thea could vanish in a blink and no one would notice, like she was a ghost in her own life. What would it be like to matter as her namesake had mattered to the man seated beside her?
Her attention was quickly diverted once more to her screen. She was verging into dangerous territory, usually reserved for her drunk or sleepy thoughts. She tapped several times on the screen to get to the part she needed. She zoomed in on the section before turning in slightly so that Oliver go see it too. "Okay, so see, there you are. My great-great-great granduncle or whatever," her lips quirked slightly before turning the screen back to herself. She tapped again, only..."That's...not right." She muttered, tapping the screen harder as if doing so would change the page itself. "That cannot be right." She showed him the screen again. "According to this, Oliver, you didn't have a sister. You were an only child."
Not Just a Dream: Oliver & Thea
Oliver watched on as the reincarnation of his sister pulled a bag off the floor and into her lap. He was confused; how was something in her bag going to answer his curiosity about current knowledge discovery? The zipper unlocking with the other side of itself opened the bag exposing a thin metal sheet with a black piece of glass on one side. His curiosity was peaked again. What was this item? Thea was agreeing with him that they could use all of that other stuff, the books and things, but she wanted them to start there first, with that metal and glass plate.
She pressed a small button to the side of the device, between the metal and the glass, and Oliver watched as a light behind the glass came blinking on. “Oh…what witchery is this?” He smirks though, amused and interested in the workings of the thing. “You said it has two uses, a laptop and a tablet? What would be the differences between the two?” He arched an eyebrow and studied the machine in her hands. “And what is the internet…?” As she explained he nodded, seeing what she meant but still not fully understanding it. It was so much to take in over such a little time that he was sure he wasn’t absorbing it all. There were the basics and that would have to be enough for the time being. “Alright, so I understand… The little machine helps you access the wealth of knowledge collected in this internet and that will help us get some information that will help me. My situation…”
Her words about books took him a bit by surprise and he could help but to defend them. “For the record, I do not agree. Not all books are heavy and they certainly aren’t…smelly, in any way.” He shook his head once, showing that he disapproved. “To me, holding a book in your hands is a tangible magical thing. It cements you in this reality and also into the fantasy, if only for a moment. The touch, the smell…all of it culminates in the experience.”
When Oliver’s ghostly but vibrant hues met her live ones again, he realized that he’d been preaching in some way. “I am sorry…where were we?” He smiles, apologetic. “Either way, Miss Thea, you have already begun to keep my mind occupied. Thank you.”
Thea bit her cheek to keep the chuckling at bay when he exclaimed in surprise at her laptop/tablet. It was amusing to witness such mystification in the face of technology. She, and everyone else in the world these days, was used to the bright, shiny nature of technology. It was expected that a new device came out every six months and whatever was new quickly became commonplace. He wasn't jaded as she was, as they all were. It was refreshing.
"Oh, um..." Thea trailed off, considering his inquiry, "Well, the main difference is that a laptop uses what is called a keyboard, which is this part," she said waving a hand over the keyboard portion as she connected it. "It has keys that one uses to type on the laptop," She smiled softly, "Then the main tablet part is the screen. It's touch sensitive so that one can touch it to start the programs or whatever." She angled the tablet so he could see the screen and tapped the Chrome wheel-like icon with the pad of her index finger.
Thea nodded, "That's the basic idea, yeah." She tapped her finger to her lower lip as she considered how to start the search, where to start it. The internet was vast expense of information. How was she to narrow it down? Then it came to her: ancestry.com! She typed in the address as he began to bestow the virtues of books upon her. She let him go off on his tangents. It wasn't until he finished his spiel that she spoke in her defense once more, "I'm not saying all books are heavy and smelly, just reference books, encyclopedias and what have you."
"You are allowed to have opinions, Oliver, there's no need to apologize for sharing them," Thea said, wishing that there was a way touch him so she could push his shoulder like she would have with Stiles or Scott. She smiled softly at him as she typed her own name into the necessary field. She figured the best place to start was finding out if she and her new friend were distinctly related as he must suspect, given his reincarnation theory. "Oh, you don't need to keep calling Miss either, you know. I'm just Thea."
Not Just a Dream: Oliver & Thea
“Oh.”
Oliver could tell that his request confounded her on more levels than just the obvious one. Perhaps she couldn’t understand his reasoning but the brother wasn’t as concerned with answers as he used to be. Yes, when he’d originally awakened in this new existence he’d demanded answers; he wanted them so badly. He’d maintained his need for those answers, for the reasons behind his death, for what felt like decades. He’d thrown things in the house, he’d left otherworldly messages for the people that came into the house over the years but no one ever listened. They had been scared and they fled the manor in much the same way he’d wished to do with Thea all those years ago.
He let a gentle laugh fall from his mouth at her response; it amused him. “I assure you that’s not what I meant, Miss Thea. Of course I wish that you would attend school and whatever else you want or have need to do. I wouldn’t keep you from that, by any means at all.” He qualified, explaining to her a bit more clearly. “Ivy League colleges existed when I lived, as well. If you can manage to get in I would take the opportunity. Perhaps…I will even be freed by then and there will be nothing holding you back. Not that I have held you captive already; I do not mean to.”
“You’ll be my first friend in Starling.”
Oliver smiled, proud, glad that he was finally good for something other than a haunting. He endeavored to mean something, to make his life worthwhile and now his more base existence. He just needed to matter; however that was accomplished he would accept it. “I am happy to have made you a friend, then Miss Thea. And likewise, I am glad to have made a friend of you.”
Being that he was limited to the house and its grounds but Thea was not, Oliver had to depend on the influx of information to come from her research and not much else. What did the people of this time and place use for researching the past? Books or chronologies…? Town census…? “May I ask, however…how does one research the past today? Must you attempt to view the city census? Excuse my…ignorance.”
Thea knew she shouldn't be so easily swayed, but it...well, it was kind of adorable that he attempted to backtrack his words. "I know what you meant," She assured softly, with a hint of a smile on her lips. She sighed a little as her thoughts turned to her rapidly approaching future. Thea hated thinking about the next step in her life. She knew what her parents wanted for her. It was impossible for her not to, they never let a chance to express their opinion pass them by.
"I don't know what I want next," she said rather suddenly, shocking herself with her honesty. She'd not even told her friends from that she had no idea. They all did. Every single one of them knew either what their dream and backup schools are or where they're travelling or working after graduation. Thea was torn. Did she want to further her education? Did she want to travel? Or was working more her route? "I'm not sure college is for me, but it's expected...That or I work somewhere, probably in my family's business." She pulled a face, "No, I definitely do not want that." She smiled sheepishly as she realized that he didn't ask for all that information.
Thea smiled gently as he said he was glad to be her, picking at her comforter absently. He spoke so formerly that it made her feel...important. It was a feeling that she wasn't used to, but she didn't necessarily mind the new experience. It was quite nice, actually. What was she to say that statement, though? There was nothing she could think to say so she was very grateful when the conversation moved on.
His inquiry didn't surprise Thea; she'd just reminded herself a few moments ago that Oliver was from a different time. "Oh boy," She said with a soft chuckle. "this is going to be fun." She climbed off her bed and retrieved her book bag before taking her seat beside him once more. She laid the plaid designed bag upon the bed with it's zipper at its top on her knees. "Yes, I suppose we could use the census, town records, books and all that hardcopy stuff. We might have to do that eventually, but we should start," She trailed off, unzipping her bag and pulling out her Asus tablet laptop from its depths, "with this." She said, holding up the light device with a small grin. Oh, yeah, this going to be fun.
Thea turned the device on and explained the tablet/laptop while the operating system booted up. "This is what's called a 2-in-1 laptop/tablet." She said and then decided to just give him the information he needed for the moment. "Basically, it's a little machine that will allow us to connect to the internet..." Then it occurred to her that she'd have to explain the internet too. Shit! This wasn't going to be as easy as she thought. She'd never had to explain this stuff to someone who lacked even the vaguest notions. "The internet is a...collection of information that can be accessed by any number of devices." Maybe a comparison would help? "It's like a reference book...only not heavy or smelly." This was...not going well.