bury a friend, try to wake up - DOUBLE JOINING (O)

[JOSEPHINE]

[align=center][div style="borderwidth=0pt; font-size: 10px; text-align: justify; width: 350px; text-transform: lowercase; font-family: arial;"]tw: mentions of death

"what the fuck was that!?" joey's voice is dampened by the snow covering the ground and trees around them. she's running at her brother, launching herself at him and trying to get an arm around his neck. the last time she had seen him, beau was fleeing the raid where they lost most of their siblings; joey had very obviously been slowly losing the fight and was the last one there. she watched her much older brother leave her for dead.

the next thing she really processes is falling down into the snow, having been thrown by her brother. her icy eyes glare intensely up at him as he threatens her. clenching her jaw, joey shoves his hand off of her and get to her feet, "you left me, yet you have the audacity to tell me off?" she scoffs and turns away from him. a few moments pass, joey taking in her surroundings.

"flintlock?" the blonde asks, glancing up at beau then down at the ground. they had lost so many today, joey found some comfort being around him, even if they never really got along. her question is also more of a formality, she knew where they were heading, it was a part of their family escape, or survival more so, plan. as far as she knew, too, they were close. their plan came from a long standing truce between the van dorens and stirlings because of a similar history and the van dorens' loss of their parents. she just hoped to see at least a couple more of their siblings upon arrival.

a shiver goes through joey's spine which causes her to wrap her arms tightly around herself, the cold getting to her. making her way through the snow, periodically looking up at beau, partially so she can check he's still there and hasn't ditched her again. when the lodge begins to come into view, the anxiety of seeing the state of her remaining family really begins to hit her. her throat feels dry and tight, but she makes herself push on, telling herself to simply self medicate later when she's alone; she can put on a brave face until then.

"hello??" she begins to call, hopefully to see some friendly faces.

[𝐍𝐈𝐂𝐎.]

[align=center][div style="width: 450px; text-align: justify; font-family: times new roman; font-size: 9pt; line-height: 1.4; color: #333; word-spacing: 1px;"]maybe he shouldn't have just left his sister behind ,  but submitting himself to the mortifying ordeal of being stuck with joey for who knows how long was not ideal .  it was a horrible thing to do ,  even if they never really got along and she might have done the same to him ,  given the chance ,  but he knew she could handle herself .  she'd get away just fine without his help ;  it was fine .  she honestly should have taken it as a compliment ,  him leaving her behind to fend for herself .  she'd been having a lot of trouble fending for herself ,  but hey !  he had confidence she could make it through on her own .  he couldn't stand to stay there any longer ,  anyway .  the deaths of his siblings would sooner kill him than any of the raiders .

but ,  of course ,  she found him ,  yelled at him ,  and started running towards him like the angriest bull he'd ever seen  ( which maybe wasn't saying much because he'd never actually seen an angry bull ,  but he's sure she'd still be the angriest even if he had ) .

cursing under his breath ,  beau tried and horrendously failed at trying to outrun her .  but ,  at least he was strong enough to grab her and throw her over his shoulder when she tried to wrap and arm around his neck and choke him .  he made sure not to throw her down too hard ,  and kept a hand on her shoulder and another on her arm to keep her down ,  just in case .

" don't fuck with me ,  joey ,  or i swear . "

she immediately responded by shoving him off ,  and he'd be lying if he said her words didn't make his gut twist a little with guilt .

but only a little .

" flintlock ? "

beau frowned at her as she looked at him ,  but finally observed their surroundings himself and almost let out a breath of relief . " finally , "  he muttered under his breath ,  rubbing a hand over his still - frowning face .  he held onto hope that some of their other siblings were here ,  especially their baby brother .  all of them were too young to die ,  but seb had more life to live than any of them — and he was best person ,  out of them all  ( and he definitely preferred his company over anyone else's ,  even though the kid could get on his verse ,  being so naive and stupid sometimes ) .

he heaved out a sigh before starting to trail after joey ,  quickening his pace a little to catch up with her so he could walk by her side .  he didn't spare her another glance after watching her shiver and wrap her arms around herself ,  scoffing quietly .  his own coat wasn't much ,  but he was probably warmer than her .  his heart definitely didn't squeeze a little in his chest ,  and he definitely didn't think about giving his coat to her so she could be a little warmer .

once she called out ,  his frown deepened and he shrugged off his coat and held it out to her without a word or a single glance .

[RORY T.]

[align=center][div style="width: 500px; text-align: justify; line-height: 150%; color: #494949; font-family: karla; font-size: 9pt; letter-spacing: 0.2px; word-spacing: 1px; margin-top: 10px;"]they were attracting more newcomers than usual. most, rory observed, derived from the same family. max and cass with an injured brother — that he can't recall the name of — at bedrest. three was a crowd , for five was a convocation. jesus , were their parents humans or rabbits ? rory would put that in question for the days to come.

it's not relatively bad of a day. he looks forward for more tolerable days, where one t-shirt and one jacket was enough , where he'd actually go outside by choice. as he treads through the snow, oakley prances behind him, occasionally stopping to give a good whiff at every tree, every plant sticking from the ground. rory exhibited an impressive amount of patience with oakley. had that been anyone else, he'd been dragging them along by their third distraction.

they're making their rounds back to the lodge when oakley stops again for the eighth time — yes, he's counting — face burying into the terrain beneath him. as if he were the bitch on a leash, rory stops, hands shoved nonchalantly in his pockets. suddenly, oakley perks with a light wag of his tail, the indication that he has spotted a sign of life — and please god don't let it be a squirrel — "what do you see , boy?" kneeling down to rory's eye level, he scans the tree lines until he spots it; two indviduals stand ways away from them. close enough for him to see them, far enough away for them to not notice him if they weren't actively checking their surroundings. "good find, boy." he murmurs, giving him a good rub on his side before straightening up, hand brushing brushing the pistol in his pocket just in case.

rory would call for back up, but not just yet. he inches closer, is able to nearly hone in on their conversation. they seem to be having some kind of lovers' quarrel? siblings? one leaving the other, the other upset. the quarrel unfolds, just briefly, before both seem to realize where they were. — rory may have been briefly taken, entertained in whatever the hell just went down, but now might be a good time to call. withdrawing the walkie from his waistband, he brings it up to his lips. "stranger on the territory."

now, for the formalities. say they were dangerous, the last thing the lodge needed was them near it. "as entertaining as that was" he saunters out brandishing a deadpan expression; oakley moving from behind his heels to take cautious steps in forward. "I'm gonna need you to stop here just a sec'. boss should be here any moment I'm assuming you're here for flintlock, because you two couldn't be any louder. but for what exactly?" now that he looks at them, they seem harmless. that's why he let's oakley advance forward, greeting him with a slow wag of his tail. "don't worry. he don't bite."

[EDMUND.]

Some people were born to fight, Edmund believed.

It wasn’t the fact that they were born with a dauntlessness which made them invulnerable necessarily nor born with an undeniable strength which would send their enemies running in the opposite direction, but instead they possessed the grit and temerity to never back down from a fight. Their souls would be tested, battered and broken and damaged trial after trial. Perhaps they’d not leave armed conflict as the same person, perhaps they’d be no better off than they’d been previously… but they were born to fight.

Maybe it wasn’t the life that they’d chosen, but it was all that they knew.

But, with all fights came defeat. Sometimes it was easier to flee, smarter to flee to a place which could provide them another chance to stand their ground once the time was right. Edmund would know about that very well, for that was why he had come here in the first place. Flintlock Lodge, a territory so isolated from the rest of the world, it was only logical that it’d been where his family had fled to once they’d been overrun by enemy fire.

At least the Van Doren family had been fortunate in being able to watch the fall of the Stirling empire; it gave them a chance to make a plan for if they were to follow in the same footsteps. The Stirling family didn’t have the same advantage. With a father so self-assured, Alfred had assumed that his power could never be quashed. A megalomaniac in his very own right, Alfred would never have a modesty to back down from a fight. To accept defeat.

And, Edmund then realized soon after, being born to fight wasn’t what made somebody powerful. Being humble enough to accept their own defeat was what proved strength.

❝ Stranger on the territory. ❞ Eddie’s walkie-talkie crackled, the Captain’s sharp gaze darting over to where the device sat on his office desk before turning his head to peer out of his window. He stilled momentarily before he got up, beginning to dress himself in his coat whilst picking up his walkie-talkie from his desk. ❝ A’right, on my way. ❞ The leader strode out of his office, picking up his rifle and slinging it over his shoulder along the way before he was out of the door.

He would be lying if he said he hadn’t been expecting the rest of the Van Doren brood soon after the arrival of Maxine, Richard and Cassian merely days ago. They had prepared meticulously if a conflict ever sent the family on the run. And so, as Eddie neared Rory with his hands deep in his coat pockets, his impassive gaze wandered over Josephine and Beau’s features almost knowingly. ❝ Beau. Joey. ❞ Ed greeted, voice quiet and inscrutable as ever, before he looked towards Rory. ❝ It’s all right - their family is here. ❞ No mention of Seb - Eddie felt that he shouldn’t be the one to talk to them about their youngest brother.

[align=center][div style="width: 430px; text-align: justify; font-family:verdana; font-size: 7px;"][spoiler=tags :: updated 03/06]basics.
⋟ edmund theodore stirling-moray // ed, eddie, moray
⋟ goes by the name edmund moray
⋟ male // he/him
⋟ twenty four // ages real time // born seventh august
⋟ captain of flintlock lodge // formerly a traveler with his family
⋟ mob boss of the stirling crime family
⋟ joined FL two years ago

appearance.
⋟ faceclaim - finn cole
⋟ voice claim - finn cole
⋟ 5'9ft // stocky, well-built frame
⋟ muted blue eyes and dirty blonde hair
⋟ physical health - 100% // current injuries: n/a
⋟ mental health - 60% // depression and deluded thoughts

personality.
⋟ quiet in nature but confident in himself
⋟ completely fearless, almost foolishly so
⋟ insensitive and callous // cares for very few
⋟ very calm and calculative // always planning in his head
⋟ disciplined and practices good self-control
⋟ very flirtatious and persuasive // overly lustful
⋟ aloof and untrustworthy // jealous and deceitful
⋟ tactful and knows how to get what he wants
⋟ can be very nasty when he wants to be
⋟ but can also be very protective and faithful too
⋟ has a strong set of morals // has the quality of honor

relationships.
⋟ alfred stirling x leonora moray // both deceased
⋟ three older brothers // alfonso, thomas & franklin
⋟ the fifth stirling-moray brother, dominik, was killed
⋟ two younger half-siblings // henry & ida
⋟ bisexual but he stays silent about homosexual activity
⋟ ex-husband to blake kegan // was caught cheating
⋟ father of thomas moray and charlotte moray

interaction.
⋟ storage // playlist // pinterest
⋟ physically: very hard // mentally: hard
⋟ father taught him how to kill at a young age
⋟ insensitive towards injuring or killing others // will do so without hesitation
⋟ mentally, he is slowly becoming undone from stress, grief and guilt
⋟ often found guarding the lodge with a rifle
[/spoiler]

[freddie]

[align=center][div style="background=transparent; borderwidth=0px; bordercolor=; width: 420px; font-size: 8pt; line-height: 125%; text-align: justify; font-family: arial; color: black"]

— fred was born and raised in a world that left little room for the soft-hearted. to be soft meant the same as being weak; frederick stirling wasn’t a man destined for weakness. he didn’t think he ever had the chance to be soft, innocent, hands free from stained blood. above all else, fred didn’t know anything different from such a world. how do you instill innocence in a man who never had it in the first place? how do you take the monster out of a man when a monster’s all he’d ever been? at least fred was lucky enough to know how to act the part.

“stranger on the territory.” rory. he looked briefly at his walkie-talkie, listening to ed as he said he was on his way. that alone had him tempted not to show. there had been enough visitors already; did they really need to get a personal greeting from fred every time? however, he figured that it would be better to be greeted by rory and fred, with eddie in the background, than simply eddie alone. he didn’t picture the man as the best welcoming committee; he’d hate to make rory sit through that alone.

feet carried him over towards the forming group; two strangers, though he could recognize their faces well enough. van dorens. of course; wherever one or so of them went, the others were sure to follow. family always found their way back to each other, as much as he hated to admit it at times. he got there just in time to hear rory talk about ed; “don’t worry. he won’t bite.” he couldn’t help but huff at the remark, sliding over next to rory. “he’s like a chihuahua; all bark and no bite,” he muttered to the younger. come on; he couldn’t miss the chance to talk shit on ed with rory. finally someone who saw him the same way.

and for once fred wasn't the most talkative one in the group. surprised? he watched as ed talked to beau and josephine, searching their features. wondering how much they knew, wondering if they knew that their family was already here, or they were merely holding on and hoping that they were. perhaps maxine, seb, and cassian felt the same when they arrived before them. he didn’t know; fred never would. instead he could merely watch with curious eyes, looking between ed and the newcomers.

//sorry for this shit post
welcome to fl ! !

[JOSEPHINE]

[align=center][div style="borderwidth=0pt; font-size: 10px; text-align: justify; width: 350px; text-transform: lowercase; font-family: arial;"]after snatching the jacket from her brother, she slips into it and straightens her arms along her sides, one last little shiver goes through her. a small and smug smirk comes onto her face, she had gotten beau’s coat and now hopes that he’ll end up cold. this is the nasty part of her, the selfishness that really took over when she is dealing with people she didn’t particularly like or felt much loyalty towards. beau usually got the brunt end of it, but it’s joey’s defenses that react in that way. it’s petty, but it’s how she gets by and she doesn’t feel like she’s going to change anytime soon. who knows, though, maybe comunal type living would change her; a tall order in all honesty.

a guy and a dog appear from behind some trees, making joey stop in her tracks, hand hovering over the knife that’s in her waistband. she figures it is someone from flintlock, but with the events of the last few hours, she’s on high alert. slowly, her jaw unclenches and she nods about being there for the lodge. she feels the smallest twang of embarrassment about someone seeing and hearing her attack on her brother. this makes joey huff, quickly dismissing the feelings with an eye roll  and nodding to the man’s question. “looking for a place, we have ties here... some of our siblings should have made it hear recently,”” joey provides a small rundown of why they were here. clearly, their life as a rag tag family of loners didn’t work, they were survivors, though, and were going to rebuild and grow here, at flintlock. “[b]i’m joey, that’s beau...”” she says, pushing her hand out of the jacket sleeve to let the dog sniff, “[b]”van doren,”” she then adds, assuming there was some clout attached to it. being one of the younger ones, joey wasn’t totally clued in on the whole van doren-stirling truce. she glances up to the second guy to get there, “he’s like a chihuahua; all bark, no bite,” which scrunches joey’s eyebrows, for her experience, chihuahuas were barkers and biters. “[b]have you met a chihuahua? can never trust ‘em,” she mentions, a little shackle escaping her, hoping he would take it as a joke like she had intended it.

within a few moments, another man arrived. he looks familiar to her, but she’s unable to put a finger on who he really is. she nods at him in acknowledgment of his greetings, must be a stirling. when he mentions their family, her face perks up, “[b]where are they?” joey questions, her tone nearly demanding; she may be stepping out of line and speaking this way with the wrong person, but all she truly cared about now is her siblings. “[b]i want to see them as soon as possible.” the girl adds, stepping forward. as well, she didn’t include beau in there, she didn’t have any fucking idea what he wants to do, she would actually be surprised if he went to see them as soon as they could.

// nooo, it’s good!! & thank you!!(:

[MAXINE.]

[align=center][div style="width: 350px; text-align: justify; font-family: helvetica; font-size: 9pt; line-height: 1.4; text-transform: lowercase;"]maxine was raised like all of her other siblings, with the exception of richie after their parents passed away. they grew up knowing almost all there was to know about various weapons and fighting techniques. with their family business, their parents made sure that they would be able to protect and defend themselves if they ever needed to. she grew up the same, but there were still many differences that separated her from a few of her siblings. while she had all the knowledge and training to cause as much damage as the others, she had always preferred to take a peaceful approach to handling situations, using her voice and brain to her advantage rather than the average gun or knife. she may have been born into a family that knew all too well about violence, but it was never in her nature.

a lot of her time at flintlock had been spent watching over seb, a worried expression etched onto her face. she knew that her sitting by the bed wasn’t going to make him wake up any sooner, but she couldn’t help herself when it came to staying close by just in case something happened. for a moment, her eyelids began to feel heavy and her eyes began to slowly shut. she never really slept much, but the last few days made it nearly impossible for her to fall asleep last night. she was about to drift off when she heard some people speaking outside, quickly getting to her feet so she could go and see who was in the growing crowd.

max slid on her coat as she stepped out of the lodge, blue eyes squinting to see the faces. two of them caught her attention right away and soon she booked it towards them.

"beau! joey!" as soon as she reached them, she practically collided with her younger sister in a tight hug, eyes shutting as she stood there for a moment and took it all in. they were here. they were alive. eventually, she let joey go and moved onto beau. "i’m so glad you two are okay," she said as she pulled him into a warm embrace as well, happy tears pricking at her eyes. "cass and seb are here with me." she informed them, taking a step back after she let go of beau. "seb got shot... he isn't awake yet."