sic transit gloria

sebastián “baz” guevara ( he/him ) is a cisman, forty-one year old public defender who has been living in moorbrooke for twelve years. they were born on april 28th and right now, they are currently residing in redgrave grove. it has been said that they look suspiciously like édgar ramírez and if they had to choose a song to describe themselves, they would choose i wanna get better by bleachers. 

pinterest !

location: baz’s office. status: closed for @bazguevaras​

Emine made her way through the office building, bag of takeout in hand as she searched for the door she had grown to know better than she ever expected. She and Baz hadn’t began on the greatest terms, as no one usually does when they’re pit against each other in a courtroom, but after a long-held grudge and being forced to work together on one particular case she’d most likely never forget, they had somehow found a comment ground. One that usually consisted of takeout, alcohol, a lot of bickering, and a few snarky comments here and there about their winning streak (or lack there of on his part, as she liked to tease). They weren’t best friends by any means, but Emine found comfort in the back and forth between them. 

It didn’t take long for her to find the door and she ungracefully nudged it open, not even allowing time for a greeting before she was plopping the takeout bag onto the man’s desk, hoping he didn’t question the lack of their usual alcohol, and speaking, “So, I brought food and my company, which I know you love, of course, and I was, uh, hoping to maybe get some feedback on a case I just got slammed with.”

baz ran a hand through his hair, fighting the urge to spiral into having a fully terrible day and instead simply letting out a frustrated sigh. the array of cases he’d had to work on that day were nothing short of depressing, and despite a seemingly endless amount of research on his part that day, he wasn’t sure about the outcome of any of them — which always made him nervous. he was just sitting in those nerves when he heard the door open slightly, letting his gaze cross the room to find a familiar face.

It had been a quiet day at the office. So much so that Anaya had decided that home visits were in order. As with people, animals often experienced stress and though she aimed to maintain a space that was as calming as possible, trips to the vets were inevitably quite stressful. So, even though it wasn’t a required part of her practice, Anaya truly enjoyed seeing her patients in their own environments. She’d just wrapped her final one for the day when a familiar voice stopped her dead in her tracks. “Baz,” Anaya breathed, gaze meeting his. “Hi.”

His words caused a slight twist in her stomach. It had been a while, a long while, Ana realized. “Good. Good,” she answered, one hand sliding into the pocket of her winter coat. “I wasn’t expecting to see you.” Ana cringed. The sentence made it sound as if she’d been avoiding him, which she had not been. Definitely not. “I mean, you look good. How are you?”

despite the lingering awkwardness he was still fighting off, it was so good to her anaya’s voice. it was never baz’s intention to be the type of person who avoided his ex-wife, quite the contrary. it might have been wishful thinking for most people to remain friends with a serious past lover, but baz truly hoped there was a possibility for himself and anaya. but his own busy schedule and secluded tendencies left little time for anything other than work, let alone socializing. 

of all the people baz expected to run into as he was running errands around town on his day off, his ex-wife was probably at the bottom of the list. realistically, he should’ve known better; in a town like this, there was only so long to go without running into someone you knew, and that seemed to go double for people you used to be married to. at least, in his own experience.

“it’s a terrible habit, honestly,” she said with a nod. “it happens to me too. i get lost thinking about things and then bam, i run right into someone.” hailey laughed a little and nodded. “yeah, he thinks he’s a lap dog. sweetest big guy ever, but he thinks he’s way smaller than he actually is,” she said. “no, i couldn’t let you do that. i have four angry hot chocolate addicts at the house and it gets expensive after everything gets added in to make ‘em happy. maybe next time? i’m here all the time, i practically live here.”

𝐒𝐓𝐔𝐂𝐊 𝐖𝐈𝐓𝐇 𝐘𝐎𝐔  —  open.

for:  open  starter  @moorbrookestarters​ location:  an  elevator  at  whatever  location  works  !

january  rain  chipped  away  at  a  winter-parched  moorbrooke  &  this  resident  ICE  QUEEN  couldn’t  have  been  any  more  delighted.  she’d  grown  used  to  bitter  east  coast  winters,  having  called  new  york  her  home  in  a  previous  life,  but  winter  was  certainly  her  least  favorite  season.  sure,  the  snow  was  nice  in  a  regard  of  visual  aesthetics  —  the  most  roaring  cities  could  be  HUSHED  by  the  thinnest  powdery  blanket  —  but  the  aftermath  never  became  easier  to  handle.  the  black  ice,  the  dirt-mucked  snow,  and  the  forever  engrained  sound  of  snow  plows  grating  down  the  roads.  she  hadn’t  considered  the  labors  that  followed  to  be  enough  in  regard  of  the  ‘REWARD’  that  snow  often  was  for  some  other  states.

the  rain  pattering  against  the  windows  of  the  glass  building  was  a  well  prized  symphony  —  the  dull  pangs  of  rain  droplets  that  drummed  the  city  was  music  to  helena’s  ears.  (  UNTIL  IT  WASN’T.  )  what  had  taken  root  as  a  slight  rain  storm  had  become  more  torrential.  and  rather  than  the  soothing  pattering  it  once  was,  the  storm  had  become  deafening  series  of  lightning  strikes  that  buffered  between  the  spurts  of  hammering  rain.  it  had  been  a  BITTER  end  to  a  long  day,  and  the  last  thing  helena  wanted  was  to  be  stuck  in  an  elevator  with  a  throng  of  people.  one  floor  after  the  next,  the  elevator  had  both  emptied  and  retained  a  passenger  or  two  until  it  finally  happened  upon  her  selected  floor.  

she  hardly  manages  to  take  a  step  forward  before  the  elevator  stalls  and  the  ANGRY  red  numeric  that  once  stated  their  current  floor  number  glitched  out.  much  rather  than  parting,  those  glossy  metal  gates  remained  shut  as  the  overhead  light  flickered  momentarily.  as  if  the  situation  could  have  been  any  more  nightmarish  for  her.  ❝  oh  FUCK  me,  ❞  she  spoke  under  her  breath  with  a  displeased  grumble.  instinctually,  helena  moved  to  jam  the  emergency  button  on  the  button  panel.  of  course,  to  no  avail.  the  brunette  finally  cocked  her  head  over  to  the  stranger  in  her  accompaniment.  ❝  can  you  BELIEVE  this  ?  ❞  helena  didn’t  await  an answer  before  directing  her  downturned  gaze  elsewhere  once  more,  this  time  fixing  on  the  white  haze  of  her  phone  screen.  ❝  no  signal  either.  ❞

despite the chilled and more-than-a-little rainy weather, something was in the air that meant baz was having a great day. well, maybe not a great day, but as a lawyer, baz couldn’t deny the facts: he’d somehow managed to leave his place with enough time to spare to not have to rush for coffee before work, his two cases on the docket today had gone beautifully and both his clients were due for freedom soon, and to top it all off, he had finished the day early. his therapist had always taught him to appreciate the little details that made days good, and fuck, if he wasn’t trying his hardest to follow that advice amongst others.

QUADE.

rage burned through his veins at the others words but it was as quiet to disappear. he was always good at controlling his anger, but the mention of his losing case didn’t help, considering he was battling another tough case that he might lose. losing killed him. there was nothing quade hated more than losing. ‘ha ha, oh baz. you’re so funny. your company delights me so much, i’m so, so glad you don’t know how to watch where you’re going and run through whoever you see on the streets.’ he said, words dripping with sarcasm as he walked into the cafe. ‘i don’t want to talk about work. haven’t you got anything else interesting going on?’

QUADE.

quade saw him walking towards him from a fair bit away. he thought baz had seen him too, so he didn’t move. he was under the impression this was some sort of turf war, but as they collapsed together, he realised it was just stupidity. to be fair most of it was on his part because he kept walking in baz’s way, but as if he was going to admit that. ‘yeah, baz. you are an idiot. i’d actually argue all the time but…’ he scoffed, rolling his eyes and accepting the hand to stand up. ‘i ought to sue you for not watching where you’re walking, but i’ll settle for a coffee and a muffin.’

It was a quiet day in the cafe, which Andrej was grateful for considering he was tired out and just wanted to be at home today. He felt as though January was a quieter time, people probably needed to save money after Christmas and nobody wanted to be out in the cold anyway so often Andrej found himself with no customers to entertain. Not that it stopped him from internally sighing every time the bell rang to signal that somebody had walked in the shop. He just wanted to be left alone and it was difficult to put on his happy customer service face when he was in this mood. He’d been cleaning up one of the tables when the door opened and he’d piled empty mugs onto the tray so he could carry them out to the back. There was nobody out the front except him so with a practiced balance, he carefully carried the tray with him as he followed the customer up to the till but the last thing he was expecting as for them to run into him. 

“Oh fuck.” He lost balance and one of the mugs trembled before tipping off onto the floor, smashing at his feet. Andrej let out an annoyed sigh before looking up at the customer. “It’s fine.” Evidently it wasn’t fine but he was supposed to be nice to people who supported the business, wasn’t he? “That mug had a chip on it anyway, probably needed throwing out.” He put the tray onto the side and pushed his fingers through his hair. “I mean, you can buy me a coffee if you REALLY want but it might be a waste of your money considering I get it for free, anyway.” 

if anything could’ve been worse than his own prevalent embarrassment, it was the sound of glass smashing against the floor. baz cringed immediately, the loud crashing noise adding to the already chaotic state of his brain — not to mention the way it cemented how humiliating this whole experience was turning out to be. fuck, why him? why today? he wished so much he would’ve just opted to head home instead of taking the detour into the cafe, but hindsight was twenty-twenty and all that. 

she hated calling in to work on the last day of the week, but all of the mason kids except the baby were sick. she couldn’t leave them all at the house alone. if it was just leah and brandon, it would have been a little different because they could essentially take care of themselves, but since tucker and milo were under the weather too, and her husband couldn’t stay home, she’d just have to have a sub for her class. thankfully, she was able to give the school a 24-hour notice because milo started not feeling well first, so she would have had to stay home anyways. then the other three fell into line soon after. and she knew they weren’t faking it like they sometimes did - they all had fevers. so, after mr. mason went to work, she took sadie over to her sister’s house so she wouldn’t catch whatever the others had, and the promised to bring hot chocolate home - so that’s why she was at the cafe. unfortunately, she wasn’t paying attention because she was texting leah to let her know she’d be home soon and she felt herself colliding with someone else. “no no, you’re good - i wasn’t even watching where i was walking, i was texting. i always say i’ll learn one day - today is apparently not that day,” hailey said with a small laugh. “no, i couldn’t ask you to do that. i’m fine, i promise. i get knocked down by a 200 pound great dane daily, i can handle a little collision.”

his husband’s café had quickly become remy’s home away from home, and this afternoon was no different, heading to the café after his classes were done for the day. in need of a refill, he moves to his feet, suppressing a yawn as he starts towards the back of the line. “oh god, i’m sorry.” remy says when he feels his shoulder connect with someone else’s. luckily neither of them seem too hurt by the bump, just a little surprised. “it’s okay. i wasn’t paying attention either. guess we both need that caffeine, huh?” the brunette asks, chuckling quietly. “that’s very nice of you to offer. thank you.” 

time: afternoon?

for: open / @moorbrookestarters​​

sebastián let out a sigh of much needed relief as he stepped inside the warm cafe, already dreading the moment he’d have to walk back outside. it wasn’t as if he was from very far away. new jersey was quite a drive down the east coast, but still; he wondered how he’d managed to this far in his life without ever actually acclimating to the cold weather. he pulled off the gloves he was wearing to rub his hands together, probably bordering on desperately — a long, full day of cases at the courthouse plus a less-than-fully-functioning central heating system meant that he was tired, chilly, and in dire need of a coffee after the kind of day he’d had.