open to mutuals !
❝ i heard a shot. you okay ? ❞
joel has his revolver at the ready. eyes scanning about - he hears nothing now, but he's been jumped one too many times to grow COMPLACANT at the absence of noise.
& sure, his tone is clipped & stern. it's a hot summer day & they should've been back in jackson two hours ago. but he stills takes a moment to make sure he isn't returning ALONE.
obsessed with the dichotomy of barrett "i had to kill my own brother because he couldn't control his animal instincts and i live in fear of the same thing happening to me only nobody would be around to stop me from killing innocent people" torbon and barrett torbon who has an insatiable sweet tooth for honey and wants to be close to people but can't trust himself to be and yearns to have people he can protect and rely on.
obediently - but not without an exaggerated groan - stan makes way toward the egg aisle. with mabel perched on the very front of the cart like a captain on the stern of her own ship , they caught a few glances from other shoppers. stan knew they were looking at mabel - aweing over an ADORABLE little girl much too excited about grocery shopping. round eyes turn to amused smiles when their gazes moved to stan himself , pushing the cart with hunched shoulders and knit brows.
ah, let one of 'em take mabel home if they want. saves stan from having to eat her mabelcakes . . .
especially when he caught a look at the egg prices. this kid was gonna bankrupt him.
" can't we just get that egg substitute shi- erm, crap ? " stan asked, steering the cart in its direction. " don't want the BURDEN of eating some little baby chicken on your conscience, do ya ? "
𝚌𝚑𝚊𝚘𝚝𝚒𝚌 𝚞𝚗𝚑𝚒𝚗𝚐𝚎𝚍 𝚕𝚒𝚗𝚎𝚜 ( accepting ! )
@quastari said : ❝ the chocolate milk is strikingly overpriced & at the same time very easy to steal ; another of god's little tests .❞ - stanley pines
❝ & i'm pretending i didn't hear that ! ❞ mabel singsongs , depositing a gallon of the aforementioned beverage into their shopping cart with a loud thump . ❝ next on the list is . . . ❞ she squints at the slightly crumbled piece of notebook paper in her hand , where in between various holographic & glittery stickers there are some grocery items listed in glitter gel pen ink . ❝ woof , speaking of overpriced - eggs . ❞ returning to her perch at the front of the cart , she points ahead , waiting expectantly for her grunkle to propel her onward . ❝ now MUSH ! ❞
QUASTARI ; a mostly canon multimuse with a few ocs sprinkled in. private & low-activity.
FEATURING MUSES FROM ; star trek, rdr2, daredevil, gravity falls, & more!
jon dips his head in a single nod to acknowledge her words, though he's heard them from her before. his reply was normally to ASSURE her it wasn't a problem & they enjoyed having her here.
instead, he tosses the alien-fruit back into the container. ❝ making a good meal out of these is all the repayment we need. ❞
jon continues winding through container after container - only stopping to occasionally SKIM through a manifest report here & there. his focus was mainly on ellie. ❝ though, i hope you don't feel like you need to be helping out. i'm not going to maroon you somewhere because you aren't preparing dinner for us. ❞
。・:*:・゚🐬 BODY RAISES SLIGHTLY ... onto the balls of her feet , so that she can look into the containers as well. a bright smile crosses her lips as she pulls out a cucumber looking veggie - blue eyes look up at jon and her head nods , before she focuses back on the cucumber like food. ❝ these are great. ❞ chef had indeed ended up trusting her enough with the shopping list - just a little test. ❝ it's okay , captain. ❞ ellie replied , placing the cucumber back into the container and standing flat on her feet again. ❝ chef and i had a talk the other day. i'm not trying to push him out of his own kitchen. ❞ there was a laugh. ❝ but i don't want to just sit around in my room doing nothing , if i can do something to repay you guys for helping me. ❞
open to mutuals !
❝ i’m not supposed to advocate for violence. as captain, i disagree with what you did. ❞
jon knew the small brawl would bring nothing but trouble. starfleet headquarters will DEFINITELY have a thing or two to say about it - they’ll pressure him to punish the one responsible. but he was also VERY WELL aware that these particular aliens were less than polite.
❝ but ... how did it feel ? ❞
this bar was just about the same as any other arthur has ever been to. patched up holes in the walls, flickering lights, mucked up floor from years of dirty boots & tobacco & dried blood. a offensively STALE smell hung in the air that would've had arthur wrinkling his nose in disgust if he weren't already used to bad smells.
perhaps due to hope baxter. he does not know if she brought along a bottle of that FANCY perfume the girls at camp are always raving about. or maybe that's just how she smells - like the treats arthur used to steal from a bakery stand when he was a boy. when he turns his head towards hope, he almost feels sixteen again. stuffing his face with a warm biscuit while dutch laughs & pats his shoulder in approval.
❝ what i'd do ? what, like be a FANCY banker or lawyer ? ❞ arthur answers with a laugh, bringing up his glass to down the rest of his whiskey. ❝ or- or a lawman ? somethin' like that ? ❞ there's another short laugh. it rumbles in his chest as he shakes his head.
arthur reclines back in his wooden chair, taking the chance to scan the room once again. he's been keeping his eyes on a particular guy in the corner - clad in dark clothes with a hat that goes over his eyes & arthur has been trying to decide if he was a THREAT or not. a drifter or a hunter. he caught a look at the man's hands when he bought a beer - large & rough & scarred. it was too easy to imagine him snatching hope right out from under him.
the brief moment of consideration passes before arthur's gaze returns to the woman beside him. he noticed how tightly her fingers grip her skirts. wonders why she seems all wound up when coming her was her idea.
❝ look, ❞ arthur continues, leaning just a little closer, ❝ fella like me don't get a lotta choices in life. my momma died real young. my father was an even WORSE man than me, if you can believe it. all things considered, i coulda made a whole lot worse choices. ❞
& then something dawns on him. a reason why miss hope was asking a question like this. she wasn't like bill - a fool who asks dumb questions for no reason.
he catches another whiff of her. it makes him lower his hat over his eyes & pull back. that helps him think a little clearer. ❝ ... what 'bout you ? ❞
hope completely understood his hesitance when she'd requested this small reprieve , she even assured him that she knows this is stupid . . . but she was losing her mind sitting in 𝑺𝑰𝑳𝑬𝑵𝑪𝑬 , crammed into that tiny room with him . unbeknownst to arthur , this was actually one of the less risky options for stimulation her wandering mind had concocted . the rest ? well , they weren't exactly decent thoughts - & would only serve to complicate things further .
the way he's caged her into this corner of the establishment all by their lonesome is causing something new & warm to stir within her, certainly not helping her with fighting these devilish thoughts. all her life she's been warned of this exact feeling, to never let a man overrule her devotion to the lord above - to take advantage of her 𝒊𝒏𝒏𝒐𝒄𝒆𝒏𝒄𝒆 . she'd always secretly scoffed at the notion , that her faith could be so shakable .
for the first time , she's beginning to understand the 𝑾𝑬𝑰𝑮𝑯𝑻 of their cautionary sermons .
but arthur ... he isn't at all like the men she's been taught to be wary of . well , maybe he is , sometimes - but that's not all there is to him . the outlaw has never once made her feel uncomfortable or pressure her in any way . he's always kept a respectable distance , even if she quietly 𝒘𝒊𝒔𝒉𝒆𝒔 he wouldn't . all he's ever done is protect her , scaring off any wasted degenerate that so much as looked at her in a way he didn't like . she's been protected like a precious jewel all of her life , but not like this . sure, he's being well paid for the service , very well paid - but hope is sure there's something else contributing to his steadfast safeguarding of her . . .
or maybe she's just 𝑰𝑴𝑨𝑮𝑰𝑵𝑰𝑵𝑮 things she'd like to be true . it's hard to say with how little he gives away behind that ruggedly handsome countenance.
her gaze drifts past his broad shoulder, watching the bar's other inhabitants with the 𝒘𝒐𝒏𝒅𝒆𝒓 of a girl long sheltered from the world . this is just about the first saloon she's ever been inside of & while it's exactly the sort of den of debauchery she's been told it would be , similarly to her traveling companion , there's more to it than that .
men are laughing , smacking each other on the back in camaraderie & singing 𝑩𝑶𝑰𝑺𝑻𝑬𝑹𝑶𝑼𝑺𝑳𝒀 along to a slightly out of tempo piano accompaniment . there are couples scattered about too , speaking in hushed tones - smiling , blushing , & exchanging tentative touches . in fact , the two of them probably read to the rest of the room as exactly that : a man & a woman , just getting to know each other - still in that shy tentative talking stage .
there's a 𝒔𝒑𝒂𝒓𝒌 there , each of them too burdened by their respective albatrosses , suffocating them of the oxygen it would take to set it ablaze .
❝ i dunno . . . ❞ teeth sink into her bottom lip , sky blue gaze flickering back to meet his once more . ❝ different like , having 𝑪𝑯𝑶𝑰𝑪𝑬𝑺 i guess . getting to decide who you want to be , not just what people want from you . . . like that . ❞ she sets down her empty glass , running a dainty finger idly around the rim . ❝ any idea what you'd do ? ❞