Chloe: 👁👁

Echidna: D. You really gotta stop staring at people, Chloe is doing the same thing.

Dagon: 👁👁 she's taking after me. She's asserting her dominance.

Echidna: SHE IS A CHILD? WHAT DOMINANCE? SHE IS A TINY HUMAN.

How long had it been since their little adventure in China? Ten months? Eleven? An entire year? They’d exchanged the occasional text since then, but with time zones and their busy schedules? It was almost impossible to hold a proper conversation, saves for the few they’d managed which had threatened to venture into risqué territory.. but not quite, one of them always ghosting before it could get too intense.

When Sherry reached out with a job offer, however, it was safe to say Jake had been surprised. Like he was in any position to reject her. After turning down that fifty million, he was out of pocket. Jake needed the money.. as if that was the only reason he was here, standing in front of the very warehouse she’d instructed him to meet her at in order to discuss mission specifics. Staring up at it from the underneath the shadow of his hood, Jake scoffed under his breath.

What would seeing her again face to face be like? Only one way to find out. Moving through the gloom of night, Jake climbed into the building through a broken window.

The place looked abandoned. He could see why she’d chosen it. And just like that.. there she was, back facing him. From what he could see, she hadn’t changed at all. “Well lookie who we have here.” Jake broke the silence, a slight smirk curving at his lips when the suddenness of his presence seemed to have made her jump. Good. “Super girl’s still tryin’ to save the world I see. Shocker.” Tutting, Jake leaned against a collapsed wooden beam, arms folding across his chest as he shot her a curt once over.

Why were some people so difficult to please? A question Leon kept turning over in his head as his ex-girlfriend once again walked across his brain. It wasn’t that he was still in love with her— far from it. Leon found himself relieved that they were over if anything. The relationship had been nothing short of toxic. Still, coming out of a long-term relationship was always rough no matter the circumstance.

Nursing away his sorrows over a cold beer at a hotel bar he’d checked into for the night, Leon sat alone with chin rested on his hand, pale blue eyes watching through the fog of the window as heavy droplets of the torrential downpour continued to streak down the glass in patterns. Now even the weather seemed dead set on stunting his from his fresh start. Just perfect.

Raccoon City would have to wait. There was no way he was making it there tonight in that storm— not in one piece, anyway. He’d drop Lieutenant Branagh a text before bed.

About to take another gulp of the bitter beverage in hand, Leon paused when his gaze caught a hint of scarlet reflected in the window. Upon turning his head, he quickly located the source. A woman donning a red jacket— her gear saturated. Her day seemed to be going just about as well as his was by the looks of things. But at least he’d already somehow managed to catch her eye if the way she was staring at him was anything go off.

Nimble fingers struggled to work the rusted lock open, hands shaking from the cold seeping into her bones. She’d been chased around the city for hours, bruised and bloody. And to top it all off? She was now infected. Jill barely got two feet through the door when it eventually groaned open, before her legs gave out and she collapsed against the nearest wall from sheer exhaustion.

The virus was spreading. She was running out of time. And right now? Jill honestly couldn’t care less if the thing that’d been in hot pursuit of her bulldozed its way in. She was simply too beat to move.

Eyelids growing heavier, Jill slowly took in her surroundings in a futile attempt to keep sleep away. This place looked abandoned. ‘RACCOON CITY ORPHANAGE.’ the sign above the door read in bold lettering. So what’d happened to all of the kids? Wherever they were, Jill hoped they’d been evacuated safely before this shitshow hit the city. If not.. well, it unsettled her to think about how quickly their lives had been cut short.

She must’ve dozed off in her pondering, grogginess winning over until the sound of footsteps roused her awake. With a gasp, Jill’s eyes flew open, hand immediately reaching for her handgun out of instinct.. though she froze up the minute the haze cleared from her vision just in time to see a child scrambling backwards. It seemed as though she’d startled her just as much.

Twenty six.. twenty seven.. twenty eight.. twenty nine.. thirty. His new personal best.

With arms that shook under the merciless weights, Chris slowly brought down both dumbbells, releasing a puff of breath he’d been holding in while forcing his final set. Perhaps he’d been pushing himself too hard lately during training and late evening gym sessions that went on longer than intended.. but Chris knew that if he wanted to succeed in this line of work and climb up the S.T.A.R.S ranking, he’d have to bulk up. Get stronger.

Equipment set aside for a short break, Chris nabbed the fresh gym towel from around his shoulders and began to dab away at the sweat coating his brow. One more hour and then he’d go home. At least, that’s what he always told himself until he completely lost track of time. Tonight would’ve been no different if not for Jill’s invite to get a drink. It was safe to say he hadn’t been expecting it. “Sure, if you don’t mind me sweating all over the place.” A boyish smile tugged at his lips as he stared up at her from the bench.

She was in the same team as him, and they’d talked a couple times— never outside of work. While Jill had caught his eye from the minute they were first introduced? Chris had never been able to get a read on her thoughts of him. Thankfully, they’d grown closer since then. Friends, he would dare call them. Chris knew that she’d been having trouble in her personal life lately too. What exactly was going on with her, he didn’t know.

Leon hadn’t meant to pull back and turn his face away so quickly at the first sign of her attempting to bridge the distance between their lips.

He couldn’t bear to see the look in her eyes after his rejection, the sting in her tone when she finally spoke enough to have Leon feeling guilty enough. Damnit. “Look, Ashley.. we shouldn’t.” For numerous reasons. It wasn’t that he didn’t want to. It wasn’t like that at all. However, he still felt as though he had an obligation to remain professional around her.. even if his time as her knight in shining armour was over. Leon didn’t want the way they’d bonded in Spain to blur that line.

Not only that, but her father was the president and a close friend of his. Leon valued that friendship greatly, so to cross a boundary with his daughter? That would be asking for trouble. Fingers absentmindedly toying with the soft silk of her duvet as though to keep himself distracted so that he wouldn’t be tempted to throw caution to the wind, Leon knew he had to be the rational one for the both of them.. even if that meant pushing his own feelings aside.

“Your dad trusts me. I don’t wanna break that trust.” Surely she understood his position, right? It was a sticky situation to navigate. Of course the last thing Leon wanted was to hurt her. On contrary to what was right and wrong here.. he’d be lying if he said he didn’t like her. But it wasn’t just sneaking around under the president’s nose that made him think twice about allowing himself to give in.

Usually, Chris wouldn’t have time to gather his own thoughts on a day like today, often dragged into last minute training or handed a report to finish for the next morning. Today though? There was none of that. The RPD was unnaturally quiet for a weekend, only the faint buzz of the vending machine outside to fill the silence. It wasn’t like he had anyone to converse with either— the rest of Alpha team stationed elsewhere.. saves for Wesker who’d disappeared off into his office hours ago and hadn’t resurfaced since.

Just as well. Wesker wasn’t much for conversation, not that Chris held that against him. It was just the first observation he’d noted about him.

Sat at his desk, chin in hand.. he found himself regretting ever moaning about those reports. At least they’d given him something to preoccupy himself with. What was he supposed to do without them? Antsy, Chris brought himself to his feet and risked a dubious glance in the direction of his captain’s office. Surely Wesker wouldn’t mind him exploring while it wasn’t busy. Besides, the station was still so new to him. There were still many secrets to be unveiled about the place.

His aimless wandering eventually brought him to the library where he was pleasantly surprised to discover a friendly face. Well.. as friendly as it could be, given her current predicament. Nose scrunched and with a frown upon her features, there Rebecca stood on her tiptoes, reaching for a row of books stacked high atop a shelf too tall for her small frame. The sight brought an amused half smile to his lips. That was until one wrong move of her fingertips brought said stack tumbling down, forcing Chris to rush to her rescue.

from: meme.

the admission breaks through the quiet, a companionable silence that grew between them. it was clear that something was on taggie's mind. amidst her usual cheerful demeanor, there was something melancholic in her gaze. however, as she was determined to go over her menu for that weekend's catering event, sanji decided to leave the conversation for afterwards should she be willing to divulge what was on her mind.

sitting now with a pot of tea and a couple slices of cherry pie to share between them, @fatescattered finally shares her thoughts.

his gaze tears away from the sprawling grassy field ahead of them, the sun dipping just past the highest hill. his brows knit together as his body repositions to fully face her, his heart lurching in his chest. declarations and assurances already crowd to the forefront of his mind, but for once, he stills his thoughts, and takes a beat to respond.

it's not far off from his own fears. on one hand, sanji never shied away from love. he welcomed it in his life, hungered for it. but, it always seemed to slip from his grasp, always seemed to end up on the wrong side of it, left behind, undeserving.