Author Topic: heavy games we play with this life — joining , open . (Read 539 times)

mollie. · « **on:** March 27, 2021, 02:21:29 PM »

Mollie once thrived on chaos.

Nowadays, even the chaos in her life was a little too tumultuous for her to keep her head above water. Once a thunderstorm, and now followed by a heavy rain cloud that left her cold. For some weeks, she’d been sad but not anymore. Now she was numbed by the cold and somehow that was even worse. She’d once been shaped by the fire in her eyes, the heat of her sharp and vulgar tongue as she spat flames whenever she talked. Now she felt so cold so that no one could hurt her anymore. She felt like a whole collection of paradoxes and it confused her; she'd never felt so confused by herself before.

When she felt this way, she so desperately wanted to disappear. Become so lost that no one could find her again. She wanted a place where no one knew her name; a difficult feat for a woman that everyone knew of and yet could never really know all the same. This hadn’t been the first time she’d found herself on her own, and maybe this was fate’s fucked up way of saying that she simply was just better off alone. Flintlock had witnessed her snap, but then she left before they could really realise why she saw nothing but the coldness in life. And it was humiliating having to walk away with no trace but her shoe prints in the snow. By the next snowfall, the last trace of her would be gone for people to forget her name. She was never a woman to forget, but that day she walked away with the defeat of being written off as less than worth it.

After all, it was how he left her. Damaged goods. Mollie Hawthorne would never let another person into her heart that way again. Never let a less than ordinary, cold hearted man hurt her this way again.

She was silent on her journey, exhausted as she sat upon a wagon, guiding Jimmy the mule closer to the town of Alexandra. Beside her lay Dexter, her most loyal mutt who rested his chin on the side of the seat as curious eyes examined the cattle as they passed by. In her wagon carried a handful of her own supplies as well as a large cage covered tightly with blankets. Whilst on the inside she ached with the hurt of everything she’d recently lost — love, family, trust — on the outside she remained eerily put together. Bottom lip jutted out slightly and brows arched in a slight frown, a sign that whilst she was a lithe woman, she was by no means anyone to mess with.

After all, she’d fallen for the privilege of happiness one too many times. That required trust and trust was made to be broken. The wagon lumbered unsteadily down the main street, Mollie eventually slowing Jimmy to a halt before sliding off the wagon to have a look around. This seemed like a pretty good place to settle down in for a while, at least until the baby was born and she could figure out what to do with it. Maybe she could find work around these parts; anything to put her mind off of whatever was growing inside of her.

She swallowed hard, hands on her hips as eyes searched around for someone to talk to. To ask about what this place was and whether she'd be welcomed in with her own set of skills. She'd take life one slow step at a time. Otherwise, she'd certainly spiral and that would be no good for a woman had to look out for herself because no one else would.

jp . · « **Reply #1 on:** March 28, 2021, 12:45:15 AM »

— if mollie was looking to avoid coldhearted men, she was going to the wrong place. alexandra wasn’t exactly a town where all of the local goons held hands around the campfire and sang kumbaya together every night. sure, there were people that were willing to hold conversations, or play nice when the time came for it. other people, jp included, preferred to mind their own business. of that group, some of them could be rather coldhearted, or cruel. jackson could more than likely find himself being thrown into the latter category, and it wasn’t exactly like he did much to prove otherwise, either.

he wasn’t the first to offer help when the opportunity presented itself. hell, he didn’t see much use in playing nice unless it kept him from getting his ass kicked out of the town. he had a bit of a bite with his words, not exactly the kind to beat around the bush in order to save face - or other people’s feelings. some called it cruel, jp preferred to call it brutal honesty. either way, he most likely wasn’t the first person anyone would want to be welcomed by upon first arriving into alexandra. there were others that were more well-suited for the part, especially if the newcomer was looking for better company than the kind they’d left behind.

standing outside of the saloon, hands in his pockets, jp turned his head and watched as someone strolled down the main street. eyes gave a brief once-over of the newcomer and her ride. he remained otherwise unmoving as she lowered herself from her steed, not particularly tempted to get himself acquainted with her. she looked around as though she was looking for someone to talk to. jp took a quick glance around towards the people on the street. he couldn’t say he wasn’t surprised to find that they were otherwise oblivious of her, walking further away from the scene or entering the saloon as they chatted with their posse. he tried not to scoff. great. guess it was just him that was stuck greeting her first for now. she was lucky - or unlucky, rather - that he was feeling a little generous that day.

pushing himself off of the saloon wall, he made his way towards the woman and her wagon. “looking for a parking spot?” his words were so dry; it was hard telling if he was joking with her or hardly finding amusement in the situation at all. “or are you showing off your ride?” if anything, it seemed more like he was asking why the hell she found herself there, of all places. arms across his shoulders, he stepped closer towards the wagon to absently glance over what all was in it - eyes briefly lingering on the cage before opting to look back to her and her dog. these seemed more like belongings than objects for trade.

he said nothing about the observation as he turned back to look at her. not particularly the most welcome of idle conversation - as if he had been at all welcoming up until that point - he paused before cutting to the chase, asking, ”is this your first time in alexandra?” a question that people often felt to elaborate on and fill in the blanks -- at least enough for someone like jp, who looked as if he didn’t particularly care for the reasoning or long stories.

// this post is so shit i'm so sorry
but ! ! i'm so glad she's here now ! ! : ' )

Spoiler: tags ― updated 02/23. • show

DAVID B. · « **Reply #2 on:** March 30, 2021, 12:45:50 PM »

it is empty achilles, so end it all now
it's a pointless resistance for you

//cw for mentions of abduction

The look on his father's face the day he was diagnosed was one David would never forget. His father did not hate him, he knew it, but he was disappointed. He still played with him, would teach him to play baseball, and taught him how to read. His father was a good man, but there was still that disappointment David saw on his face whenever he would have a meltdown, or when he'd shake his hands to relieve emotions building up in his chest that just grew too much. Any time David would hum or sing, or when he would shout.

David did not hate his father, and he knew his father did not hate him. He never grew up with a cold shoulder, until he was just breaching adulthood. How someone could manage to take a tall, lanky adult from his house was surprising, especially from your own brother's house. David had grown up with a cold person then, with cold eyes and cold hands and a cold voice. David hated every second of it, and when he finally managed to see the sun again, he refused to go anywhere near his father.

It was not his dad's fault that his brother looked so much like him.

David had grown cold himself, sometimes. He's turned to asserting himself when things go awry. He couldn't just say "no". He had turned to more violent options when he ran out of things to make people stop. He couldn't get the feeling of shattering someone's finger with his teeth out of his mouth for weeks. It was not the first time, and it wouldn't be the last.

He felt like a monster sometimes. He felt like no one would ever look at him like a human being if he tried to fight back. He wanted nothing more than peace. He wanted to just relax, and to feel safe. Alexandra, despite being a town opposite of what he wanted, made him feel the most safe he ever had. He knew, despite the town being full of heartless creatures, they would protect their own when it came down to it. David felt like they wouldn't let anyone get away with hurting a member.

He liked that.

David was across the street with his daughter, talking to her about Oasis' progress, and about possibly finding a horse for her. Roxanne's face visibly wrinkled, but what she said went unheard as JP greeted the newcomer on her donkey. Roxanne snorted and put her hand over her mouth and looked away, avoiding David's very upset look. "Rox," he huffed towards her and his daughter didn't look at him.

"Hi there," David turned his attention to the new girl and gently nudged Roxanne's elbow so she knew he was leaving. She followed closely as he headed over to the two. "Hi," he greeted the donkey, giving Jimmy's nose a small pat. "I'm David," he greeted, sticking his hand out. "This is my daughter, Roxanne."

"'Sup."

achilles, achilles, just put down the bottle
don't listen to what you've consumed

Spoiler: //tags -- updated ;; 08/01/21 • show

credit @ kenneth

mollie. · « **Reply #3 on:** April 22, 2021, 12:11:10 PM »

❝ Looking for a parking spot? ❞ Mollie inhaled a short, sharp exhalation with surprise, yet trying to conceal the way she flinched to look over towards the man who stood nearby, commenting on Jimmy and the wagon. So, at least the place appeared friendly enough — they hadn’t raised their weapons just yet, nor demanded to take her belongings from the back of the wagon. Mollie rarely felt concerned about the prospect of someone trying to rob her; one look into the cage that sat upon the back of her wagon and it often sent people fleeing in the opposite direction.

After all, it wasn’t every day a woman would successfully tame a mountain lion.

❝ Well, yeah. I didn’t clean her up nice for nothing. ❞ Mollie retorted with a shrug of her shoulder, soon looking back over towards the mule with dirt packed on her legs and a wagon that was barely being held together with whatever Mollie could find to prolong its lifespan. When questioned about whether it was her first time here, Mollie silenced momentarily before peering down the street. Oh. Oh. So this was the place that Freddie was so intent on burning down? She hesitated, caught off guard for a second or two, before looking back to JP. ❝ Yeah. Sorta came across this place by chance, to be honest. I’ve been travelling for what? Two-three weeks? Decided it’s about time I settle down somewhere… If that’s what you guys offer, of course. ❞ After all, if she was so intent on avoiding Flintlockers at all costs, what better than to stay in the heart of their enemy’s group?

She turned her head as a rather tall man and woman approached, her lips curling into a small smile their way as the man greeted her amicably. She held her hand out to meet with David’s, shaking his hand before he glanced between the three Bluestem ranchers. ❝ I’m Mollie. ❞ Straightening up once more, she glanced around until finally asking no one in particular, ❝ So I’d be able to stay here, right? I’m not a mooch, by the way; I’ll do whatever work is needed. ❞ At least until the later months of her pregnancy, of course. But, until then, she'd gladly hold off on admitting her secret until she was more established in the group. As if she expected the group to react with as much horror as Freddie had.

Bearbones

Author Topic: heavy games we play with this life — joining , open . (Read 539 times)

mollie.

heavy games we play with this life — joining , open .

jp .

Re: heavy games we play with this life — joining , open .

DAVID B.

Re: heavy games we play with this life — joining , open .

mollie.

Re: heavy games we play with this life — joining , open .