#flashback scene

🎥 The Jackal's Point of NO Return l The Day of the Jackal.

In this flashback scene, we learn the true origins of the man known as 'The Jackal'.

📸 My screenshots

My plans are vaporized at breakfast when Lloyd reminds us that we’re participating in our neighborhood street festival today. Lloyd signs us up for this stuff as part of “positive reputation management,” whatever the fuck that means. Something about not just protecting people but being trusted and beloved. Being part of the community. Et cetera et cetera.

Lloyd goes over the day’s agenda: a little parade, festival booth, photo ops, library storytime... I chew the inside of my cheek as he continues talking, hyperaware of Cole leaning against the kitchen counter a few feet away, arms folded across his chest. I sneak a look and take in his wide, sturdy shoulders, and the way they shift under his t-shirt. I like how the curve of his biceps peeks from beneath his shirt sleeve, and my eyes continue to draw down, past his elbows, to his forearms, crossed over one another, muscle like rope. Those arms could probably hoist me up and shove me against a wall. And— jesus fuck, nope, I cannot think about this right now.

My eyes trail back up his arms to his face. And shit. He’s looking at me. He literally just caught me checking him out. My mouth goes dry, and I twist my head away as my stomach lurches out of control.

Fuck. I seriously needed some space this weekend. Now I’m just gonna be distracted all day. While pretending to not be distracted—I’m totally fine—even as my heart throbs.

chapter four is up! chapters are getting longer, kittens. hope you enjoy. x

Landgraab Mansion, Oasis Springs 5:50 pm

Nancy: I can’t believe this. You disobeyed us, snuck around behind our backs, had woohoo outside of marriage, and knocked up this... this heathen slut!

Johnny: Watch it. You don’t get to talk to her like that.

Nancy: I can say what I like. Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy Watcher giveth thee.  Exodus 20:12.

Geoffery: Let me cut to the chase. I’ll give you each 10,000 simoleons if you abort the little half breed, sign a nondiscosure agreement, and never see each other again.

Johnny: You know what, dad? FUCK YOU!!

Trigger warning for this chapter: meds/pills mention, insomnia mention, and unspecified disorder mention (it would be similar to ADHD but no name is given)

I am going to be plain honest- I don’t have experience with ADHD or anything similar. I have known several people who have it, but I can’t know what it’s like even from their experiences. That being said, I felt that this was where I wanted Hero3′s character to go. Please feel free to correct me if I’m not writing this right- I’d love to learn in some small ways.

Maybe I’m just nervous to write something I don’t know very well, but I wanted to put it out there. Anyways, enjoy! 

---

Tags: @shydragonrider, @stuck-in-this-mortal-form, @equestrianwritingsstuff

again i am terrible with tags and this is my current list. ive searched for “tagged” and “tag” on my blog but this is all that comes up. please be patient joy is learning what it’s like to have actual humans interacting with her stories. ;-;

---

Medic didn’t respond. So Hero3 sighed. “I can look after the kid some nights. You’re going to get yourself some sleep in the meantime, and no more of this caffeine sludge. You’re gonna kill yourself like this, you know that?”

Medic looked up at Hero3 for the first time. “Really? But, what about your sleep? I- I could probably–”

Hero3 had sighed. “It’s not like I have much better to do. You know how active I can get during the day, right?”

Medic did know; Hero3 had several prescriptions transferred to help with it. 

Hero3 shifted uncomfortably. “I’ve gotten used to the stuff they’ve got me on, but it still kicks in at night. Before I switched over here, my doctor said the only solution was some other thing, another pill. I told her hell no, and she dropped it. I don’t want to be on so much of this crap, so I just deal with it at night.”

Medic raised his eyebrows, making mental note of this. Though it sounded like Hero3 was alright, it was definitely shocking. Hero3 must have noticed, for he continued. “I feel like my body doesn’t need that much. No matter how long I plan to sleep, I’m up after a few hours, maybe six. Sometimes I can’t sleep at all, so I just hang out somewhere until morning and get a few more hours the next night.”

Hero3’s lips jerked up into a smile. “I probably should’ve told you that. We’ve been working together for a long while now, it just–” he broke off suddenly, “You know how I feel about doctors and appointments and all that.”

And Medic did know. Hero3 had been extremely nervous to meet him, and one of the first things he’d told Medic was that he was extremely avoidant of doctors, their offices, and the appointments within them, unless he was dying. Over the course of several years (and a few notable room structure changes), he’d managed to make Hero3 feel a little more comfortable around the medbay, though he was still noticeably tense at his yearly checkups. 

Medic nodded. “I understand, Hero3, don’t worry. I do know it must have been difficult to find the time to bring it up without prolonging anything overall. Thank you for telling me, though.”

Hero3’s forced smile relaxed into something more genuine at those words. 

“As for your suggestion, if you truly don’t mind, I would very much appreciate your help,” Medic said. He tried not to let the relief flood his voice, not wanting Hero3 to feel obligated. “If you want, could you cover for me tonight? I can show you what to do.”

And so, Medic had walked Hero3 through how the nights usually went. At the end, Hero3 was frowning. “I don’t mind being up, but… I’m not going to be sitting around in your chair all night. You understand, right?”

Medic could have slapped himself. Of course not. Being absolutely silent and still was definitely not going to happen, at least not all night. Maybe I do need that sleep, he admitted to himself.

So, he’d given Hero3 some basic night tasks, mostly shelving medication bottles and some organizing that would keep his body and mind occupied throughout the night. 

Hero3 had latched onto those jobs. Eventually, Medic would catch him coming in at all hours of the night and morning, even on days where Medic was watching over Villain, just to shelve or organize and clear his mind. Eventually, he had shelved and organized and cleaned almost everything, so Medic had slowly introduced him to some other tasks, open to Hero3 whenever he needed to calm down. Pulling outdates. Searching for damaged pills, though only in one or two sections at a time. Counting the medications. Flagging anything that needed reordering. 

They’d worked themselves into a rhythm, working together in silence, medbay slippers hush-hushing over the floor. 

After three weeks of Medic and Hero3 watching over Villain, the nightmares stopped, or at least enough that all of them were able to sleep peacefully.

Eventually, the tradition had fizzled out, with Hero3 only coming in on bad days. Seeing him return to it now, Medic felt a guilty sense of relief. Now he knew what Hero3 was feeling.

“Yeah, you can do something. Outdates sound good?”

He held out the basket. 

Hero3 took it.

Hmm.

HMM.

Is this the filmmakers' way of telling us that Oil and Water makes multi-coloured patches, hence rainbow, hence gay?