I'll fix it for you.

Get your shit together, Flanagan. The fact that she wanted nothing more than to curl up in a ball and avoid being present and conscious for just about anything in that moment wasn’t going to change the fact that she was at work and had to, at least for a couple more hours, act like it. She hummed softly in response to the man’s question, the sound lost in the general din of the bar that was a backdrop to most of the nights she worked. “I guess it’d depend on what you’re in the mood for,” She replied slowly, her nose wrinkling for a moment as she mentally ran through the food options they served at the bar. “There’s like, wings and sliders and things like that which I’d recommend if you’re not starving but don’t want to be shit faced at whatever time of night. They’re both pretty good, actually. Otherwise I guess we’d have pretty much what you’d expect– I like the nachos, personally, and I’m a sucker for mozzarella sticks so I’d recommend those too.” She paused for a moment– a moment to breathe in the rush of words she’d offered the stranger, “Any of that sound good? I can always go back and see if anyone else has recommendations I can give you if you want. I’m Charlie, by the way– if you need to get my attention or whatever you can just yell for me next time. It… usually works.”

Rafael listened to her list of a few things, they all sounded good. One of the things he missed about having a large group of friends, he could order a lot of food and it not go to waste. But since going into witness protection Rafael kept his circle extremely small, he tried to limit the information people knew about him. 

 He paused for a minute to think off his option. “I guess I’ll go with the slider. Do yall have curly fries?” He asked. Nothing was better than eating a curly fries in his option. “Oh no lettuce please.” He smiled. “Sorry about that, didn’t want to be that guy and snap at you.” He replied. Rafael had never been a server but he had people snap at him and it didn’t end well for him. “Is it normally this slow?” He asked. 

@elreyrafa

There were some tattoos Cole refused to do. Anything pertaining to tattoos promoting violence or hate, he’d turn down, and that included the gang affiliated ones. He always had to keep a close eye, considering there were a lot of street gangs in California, but when it came to covering up those tattoos, it was a different story. He believed that people could change. Life was messy. Whether they were worthy of repentance wasn’t for him to decide, but he’d gladly take part in having one less person advertising hate symbols to others. It’s why when Rafa walked into A Touch of Ink to cover up some of his tats, he didn’t turn him down, even when he did make out some gang related ones. In fact, he didn’t say anything about it. He simply talked basics and scheduled a date for him to come back for a consolation in the near future.

When the day finally came, Cole had his drawing tablet ready to go the second his client showed up. “Rafa, hey,” he greeted the other with a firm handshake at the door. Due to the fact this was clearly far from being the man’s first tattoo, there was more of a leisure ambiance about the Abrams. He didn’t have to worry about explaining the price of tattoos, the pain, or that he wasn’t a mind reader among other things. Not to mention, they were already off to a good start because Rafael had actually arrived on time, so he figured the consultation should be smooth sailing from here. “How’s it going? Enjoying the weather?” He started by making small talk and led him to a space in the back where they’ll be going back and forth on the man’s plans.

Most of Rafael’s tattoos were gang affiliated, he tried to cover them with clothing which wasn’t that hard during the winter but during the summer it would he harder. He wanted to put things like that behind, by burying his old ink in new ink. He couldn’t think of anyone who hated it more than he did. He was glad someone was willing to look at his tattoos and not ask question. Sometimes people had a tendencies to ask about a man’s past, and often those men didn’t want to speak about it.  He walked into the shop right on time and asked to see Cole. He smiled and shook the young man’s hand and pulled him into a brother. “What’s up carnal?” He replied, accent clearly state he wasn’t from around the area. “Not at all, I ain’t meant for the cold but you know the la vieja likes so what else can I do?” He replied with. That’s what they told the everyone who asked why they moved. 

who: open @providencepeakstarters​

where: her vet clinic / home in bighorn hills

Callie heard that someone was coming long before they managed to make it near the door. One of her assistants must have left the gate open, creating a problem that was 30 pounds and feathered. Rushing outside, Callie wrangled the overly aggressive goose while shouting, “Oh my GOD, Sargent Honkers, stop it!” Basically having to yank the goose away and usher him into a side pen. “Sorry, he’s overly protective. I think someone left a gate open. Are you okay? He started with the mailman and it’s just gotten wildly out of control.” Callie pushed her escaped hairs out of her face and gave them a smile. 

Rafael had never seen anyone struggle with a goose before he couldn’t help but chuckle. “I’m fine, I’ve been worse, you’re just lucky she’s under protective.” He replied as he smiled. He glanced down at the calm rottweiler. Maybe in her earlier years would have gotten excited but now she sat right next to her owner. “I make an appointment for her, my wife is worried cause all she does is sleep and isn’t active anymore. I just think she’s old.”

LOCATION — The Jagged Yard.  NEIGHBORHOOD — Downtown.  TIME — Evening.  CHARACTERS — Open! ( @providencepeakstarters​ )

To say Charlie was struggling was an understatement. It was one thing to have to deal with an abrupt break-up but it was quite another not to be willing to pull herself away from an environment that could lead her towards exceedingly stupid decisions exceedingly fast given that she was working regularly in the midst of trying to process said break-up. She was trying her absolute hardest to be present— to feign happiness and warmth in a way she felt rather comfortable with doing when all was said and done but it was exhausting nonetheless. She’d felt an intense and borderline overwhelming urge to drink from the moment she’d stepped into work but she was forcing herself to consider it a test of her self-control and get through her night without wrecking what had been a remarkably easily earned seven months of sobriety to that point. She exhaled slowly– her face falling into an expression of blank sadness that she was sure she’d been sporting whenever she hadn’t been forcing a smile– but even that shifted again as she smiled absently at a patron who’d evidently been trying to get her attention. “Sorry about that! I guess I was daydreaming a little– what can I do for you, babe?”

Rafael’s wife was working an overnight shift and he found himself bored. He decided to go to the local bar brewery and have a few drinks. He hadn’t made many friends since moving, he still kept looking over his shoulder. Despite being a year since he left El Paso, he wasn’t sure if he could trust anyone other than his wife. He was label as ‘soplón’ and would carry that for the rest of his life.  He sat in the back of the back with his back against the wall, most people would have hated this seating area but he didn’t mind. He had just finished his beer and was ready to order something else. He tried to catch the server’s attention without being rude but clearly he was zoned out. He could understand but Rafael tried as has he could to live outside his head. Finally it seemed to work, “What would you recommend to eat?” 

LOCATION — Deja Brew.  NEIGHBORHOOD — University Heights.  TIME — Early afternoon.  CHARACTERS — Open! ( @providencepeakstarters​ )

It seemed to Oz that everything in his life had a tendency to happen in batches— both positive and negative events would crash over him in an avalanche of immediacy and he would have a bit of time to breath and process them before the next set of things seemed to align to happen sometimes within days of one another. His last day working for the ambulance service that had employed him for most of his life in Providence Peak, his sudden and still rather painful break-up and his acceptance into the local fire academy all being events he was trying to juggle without letting any of them slip through the cracks in terms of his handling and processing them. Still, break-up aside he was feeling remarkably happy— remarkably positive given the fact that he was taking a step towards a goal he’d been rolling around in his mind for what seemed like an eternity now that it was actually happening. If anything– the only thing that Oz felt as he sat at a table at Deja Brew with textbooks spread out in front of him was a deep sense of excitement and more than a little amusement at the fact that he felt very much like he was back in college all over again. “I don’t know why I thought being a firefighter would involve doing anything easy but sheesh– I haven’t studied this much since I wanted to teach,” He announced to the empty air, grinning sheepishly as he caught the attention of a nearby patron. “Howdy,” He greeted with a quick wave, “Did you need a seat? I can put some of this stuff away– I don’t think I even need all of it right now– I was just getting my bearings.”

Recently his wife had been distant, Rafael didn’t know what to think of it. Maybe it work? Maybe it was stress? Maybe she hated living up here? He decided to do something nice by bring her some coffee and treats to her office. She had been working a lot, it was the least he could. Despite his better judgement Rafael took his bike and made his way to her favorite spot.  By the time he arrived to Deja Brew, he was already regretting not taking the trunk. He walked inside feeling the heat and warmth which relaxed his cold muscles.  It was rather empty for an early afternoon but he didn’t mind. Rafael wasn’t the biggest people person he would rather be by himself or with his wife. He smiled when he saw the young man, and thought about his question. He wasn’t ready to go back to the cold so maybe he should enjoy his coffee here. “Yeah, just for one.” He said as he noticed the text book. It was huge, he didn’t know how anyone could sit there read all that. 

 “Can I get coffee with,” He paused mid sentence when he realized his wife wasn’t around. One of the sound sides of living with a brilliant doctor, was she was a brilliant doctor and tried to get him to eat and drink right. “Can I get a coffee with whole milk and eight sugar.”