THE DAYS THAT BIND US | OPEN

[body.]

[align=center][div style="width: 450px; text-align: justify; font-family: arial; font-size: 9pt;"][tw abuse/arson lol]

Elwin is so, so bitter.

He's always been the type to hold grudges, even over the smallest matters. He held grudges when his mother forced him to eat his vegetables. He held a grudge when she died. He held a grudge when his father gave him up and he held a grudge when Grandpa tended to the peeling burns on the backs of his hands. Forgiveness is not a word in his vocabulary. Elwin will never forget how hard Grandpa hits, and he will never forget the glee he felt watching the walls crumble around him.

Even after such a massive act of destruction, setting fire to his home, letting it spread to the neighbors' yards, watching them run from their homes naked and wailing, the high only lasted so long. By the time he'd set his jaw and bolted up the mountain, landing at Flintlock's doorstep, he started to feel that same familiar itch.

He can only suppress the urge for so long until it becomes unbearable. He feels withdrawals in the same way an addict would, minus all the physical nausea and shakes that come with it.

He's been here for all of two days. He snatches papers and books from people's rooms, laughing at them for leaving their doors unlocked as he makes off with their goods. He steals things off the wall, and rips the locket off his chest, and throws that into the pile as well. Such a massive wave of relief washes over him when he strikes a match and drops it in the pile. He sinks to his knees in the melting snow and watches with wide eyes as the pile begins to burn, a stupid, dopey smile curling across his face. Much better.

He doesn't realize how close he gets until the heat of the fire becomes too unbearable against his skin. Elwin draws back suddenly with a gasp, touching his cold hands to his cheek. There's a moment where everything seems fine and he lets his body slump, eyes trained on the flames dancing before him, before the smell of something awful--worse than burning paper and cloth.

It strikes him when something hot shoots up the side of his head and begins to eat away at his hair. With a shriek, he starts patting down his hair, singing his fingers and doing little to put it out. Desperate and afraid, he drops into the snow, effectively extinguishing himself.

Elwin's chest heaves. He lays on his back and gently cradles the side of his head, watching the fire before him burn out of the corner of his eye. Deciding that he's had enough for tonight, he shakily gets to his feet, smothers the fire, and wanders back to the lodge, still clutching his head. He's not seriously hurt, though the skin on his hands has turned white and throbs with each step. He's more worried about his new, lopsided 'do more than anything else.

[freddie]

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— there were certain vices in life that could become addicting. freddie knew those vices all too well; they were far more enjoyable than any of those saintly virtues could possibly satisfy. lust, recklessness, greed… they were parts of fred that he knew all too well. to say anyone else found them any less addicting and satisfying--

they would be telling a bold-faced lie. everyone felt that itch, that desire for mayhem. it wasn’t just most members of the stirling family that got kicks out of death and destruction from time to time. it was only a matter of picking those people out from the bunch.

sitting on the steps of the lodge, freddie released a huff of cigarette smoke. he held the cig between two gloved fingers, hands trembling slightly from the winter cold. his gaze lifted at the sound of footsteps. then, the sight of that new guy- what was his name again? like freddie would fucking know that. curious eyes wandered the man’s frame, looking at where he clutched at his head. “the hell did you do to yourself?”

once he managed to catch a glimpse of the man’s hairdo-- laughter erupted from his lips. amusement at the other man’s apparent suffering. “jesus. your hair,” amused huff of air, bringing the cigarette to his lips. he lowered his gaze as he took a puff, saying around the stick, “it looks like shit.”

perhaps he was being too harsh on the guy he barely knew- the guy he didn’t even remember the name of. speaking of which- “i haven’t caught your name yet, i don’t think,” he said casually, eyes wandering back over to the man.

//sorry for this post fam ;-;
i love your boy sm wtf

[body.]

[align=center][div style="width: 450px; text-align: justify; font-family: arial; font-size: 9pt;"]Elwin couldn't even tell you when this started. He just thinks somewhere along the line he just got messed up. Get a load of this get, setting fire to his hair, at this ungodly hour of the night ... tt's only a matter of time before he ends up burning himself alive. At least he's got his kicks--for now, at least. He always ends up wanting to burn more, something bigger and brighter.

He would have just wandered back to his bed, had Freddie not said anything. Elwin is sure that if smoke isn't still billowing from his head, it's coming out of his ears now. It doesn't take much to set him off, especially in his current state. Without half his hair, what is he supposed to hide behind? "Oh, fuck off," he grumbles, balling his hands into fists like it means that much, "I'll kick your ass." Look at him, making friends! Grandpa would be proud.

It's a stupid thing to get upset about, because he's the one who made the stupid mistake in the first place. Consider this another grudge to add to the growing list. "I'm not telling you now." Yes, he knows that's childish. "Asshole."

[EMERY]

[align=center][div style="width: 350px; text-align: justify; font-family: helvetica; font-size: 9pt; line-height: 1.4;"]tw for abuse

emery was never really someone that had any destructive tendencies. she was never one to get angry and punch things out of frustration, she never was much of a drinker or smoker unless it came to parties or events. if anything, a destructive tendency for her was the fact she almost always put other people for herself, she always did her hardest to help other people out even before she's able to help herself. even after her parents would hit and yell at her, if they were struggling with something she would drop what she was doing and go assist them. emery is too giving and never expects anything in return.

she was sitting inside the lodge finishing up a sketch when she heard the shriek, sitting up immediately, green eyes looking around rapidly. she sat the sketchbook and pencil on the couch by her and stood up, hastily putting on her coat as she made her way towards the door.

emery stepped outside, the biting cold air hitting her face. she looks between the three of them, a concerned look taking over all of her features. "what happened?" she then notices the side of elwin's head, her eyes widening at the sight of him clutching the side of his head. "oh my- are you okay?!" she takes notice of the hair being gone, but doesn't linger on it due to the fact that she was more concerned on his well-being.

[spoiler= my dear sweet nothing updated┊15/1]◜BASICS ┊ IT LOOKS LIKE EMPATHY◞
&. ❝ emery lennon hawthorne ❞ | though she normally just goes by emery, it isn't rare for her to go by em/emmy or by her middle name, lennon/lenny | afab cis female [ she/her pronouns ] .
&. 23 years old . | february twenty-fifth ; picses .
&. member of flintlock lodge .

◜PERSONALITY ┊ TO UNDERSTAND ALL SIDES◞
&. very hardworking and dedicated when she puts her mind to it, but when shes relaxed and doesn't have anything to do her mind tends to wander and she daydreams a lot. also very creative and imaginative, jumpy and clever. very warm and caring, will write this into a better thing eventually

◜ APPEARANCE ┊ BUT I'M JUST TRYING TO FIND MYSELF ◞
&.  5'5 & 118 pounds ; reference
↳ dark brown hair that gets natural caramel and blonde highlights in the summer ; almost reaches to the middle of her back ; pretty soft for the circumstances everyone is facing ; has a natural wave to it
↳ green eyes that can have hints of blue and brown in different lighting ; almond shaped
↳ light complexion ; can sometimes tan in the summer but it's not very likely
↳ tw for brief mention of past parental abuse has some scars on her back from her parents hitting her
↳ has an australian accent
↳ alycia debnam-carey faceclaim and voiceclaim

◜INTERACTIONS ┊ THROUGH SOMEONE ELSE'S EYES ◞
&.  [ 7/10 ] physically  |  [ 7/10 ] psychologically .
↳ difficulty w/ guns [ medium ] | difficulty w/ melees [ high ] | difficulty w/ hand-to-hand [ low ]
↳ combat information will go here eventually .
&. attack in bold #7A0929 | [member=122]finny.[/member] | PM for any major plots .
&. friendly or nonviolent actions may be powerplayed .

◜INVENTORY ┊ SO SHOW ME WHAT TO DO◞
&. [ 2 ] weapons | [ 0 ] armor pieces | [ 2 ] consumables | [ 3 ] aid items | [ ? ] misc .
↳ for weapons, emery has a butterfly knife and a pocket knife, she knows they aren't the best weapons to defend herself but they're all she had for the longest time . she is very skilled with butterfly knives and can flip it around (or twirl it, whatever the term is) with ease. for consumables she has a canteen that she always fills up with water whenever she comes across a safe water source as well as a small back of almonds she found. she's not sure on the number of misc. things she has, she has one almost used up sketchbook as well as two empty ones, various different pencils and paints, some pictures of her and eileen as well as some books and other little things.

◜RELATIONSHIPS ┊ TO RESTART THIS HEART OF MINE◞
&. garrett (unknown) x regina (unknown) | she also had an older sister named eileen (deceased) . her parents were very cold and distant, but she had bonded with her older sister to the point where eileen was more of a parental figure for her . she had assumed eileen had ran off and left her to deal with their parents, but she had actually passed away and emery never found out .
&. pansexual, panromantic ; mongamous ; slight preference for more masculine people but in the end she really doesn't care . | just a bit of info on how they feel about relationships .
&. single ; no crush ; no possible crush
↳ not actively looking but she's,,,, not not looking. in her mind, whatever happens, happens.[/spoiler]

[body.]

[align=center][div style="width: 450px; text-align: justify; font-family: arial; font-size: 9pt;"]Elwin realizes, with a growing look of horror, that he's attracted a crowd. It must have been the smell, given that people smell smoke or the stench of burnt flesh and come running in the wrong direction, either to help extinguish the flames or gawk at such a morbid sight. Well, unfortunately, the worst thing these people will see tonight is his new, God-awful style.

Just the three (well, two, given that Brendan hasn't really come closer) of them surrounding him now isn't beyond his limits, but Elwin wants to cut it off there. God forbid anyone else come to point and laugh.

"Does anyone fucking sleep here?" he grumbles, pulling the back of his shirt over his head to shield his poor bald scalp from ogling eyes. "It's the middle of the night." He's quite clearly deflecting, but he'd sooner shave the other side of his head and then his eyebrows than try to explain his weird obsession. He's learned the hard way that most people don't take kindly to such a thing. Rather than out himself as a freak, Elwin just prepares himself to dodge the question how did you manage this? a hundred thousand times.

"I'm fine," he says to Emery, feeling the slightest twinge of guilt for making this unfamiliar woman fret. "Just a little mishap. Don't worry about it."

In any other case, he wouldn't have really cared. Maybe if he'd set his shirt on fire, he would be less affected. A shirt could be replaced in a matter of seconds, but his hair? That was what he hid his face behind half the time. It kept his ears warm! Now his dumb freckled face--half of it, at least--is open and exposed to the rest of the world and suddenly he feels a bit vulnerable.

"... nothing to see here," he tries, waving his free hand at the lot of them as if he's trying to shoo them off. "Stop gawking, would you?"

[STIRLING.]

[align=center][div style="width: 350px; text-align: justify; font-family: verdana; font-size: 7pt; letter-spacing: 1.2px; word-spacing: 0px; line-height: 12px; color: #000"]    tw. mention of death

Finally, somebody as readily destructive as Frederick. Growing up alongside a brother so effortlessly unhinged, William felt a peculiar sense of comfort surrounding himself around chaos. After all, he supposed that he could see the beauty in all things grotesque. Take his most recent endeavors alongside little Freds; comparing a massacre to a game of cards. A corpse slumping against him, body still warm but nothing in those unblinking eyes. Now that was the height of disorder, watching it all crash around them with an insensitive grin. Maybe that was why William felt an innate fondness towards Elwin.

William felt at ease as he stood nearby his brother, leaning comfortably against the railings on the front porch as he tapped the ash off of the end of his cigarette. Eyes flitted up to gaze at the sky wordlessly, carefully taking a slow contemplative drag of smoke, until Freddie's voice broke him out of his thoughts. ❝ The hell did you do to yourself? ❞ Eyes shifted over towards the new guy around here, twitching his reddened, numb nose before he began laughing to himself beneath his breath. ❝ What's that smell? ❞ Will sniffed the air teasingly. ❝ That... burning smell? ❞ Fucking hell - how did new guy do that now?

❝ Does anyone fucking sleep here? ❞ ❝ Sleep? What's sleep? ❞ He asked playfully with a quirk of a brow before choosing to return back to Freddie's question at hand. After all, the kid seemed adamant to look passed the so-called mishap. Evidently he hadn't learned about the wrath of Will and Fred together; they were the worst of duos, those two brothers, and they wouldn't let Elwin off the hook so quickly. ❝ Have to shave it all off now, kid. ❞ William nodded towards the teenager, pausing contemplatively before sobering up, ❝ I can even that hair out for you tomorrow morning. ❞ Elwin would be stupid to accept William's offer. Did William look like he knew a thing about hairdressing? Nope, but it'd be fun to play with some scissors even if it was at the expense of Elwin's hair.

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[div style="width: 350px; text-align: center; font-family: verdana; font-size: 6pt; letter-spacing: 1px; word-spacing: 0px; line-height: 12px; color: #000"]|| WILLIAM STIRLING || JULIA STIRLING || PETER STIRLING ||

[body.]

[align=center][div style="width: 450px; text-align: justify; font-family: arial; font-size: 9pt;"]This isn't the first time he's set himself on fire, and it sure as hell won't be the last, though this time is certainly less severe than others. He can recount a few instances where he legitimately feared for his life. He vividly remembers flames creeping up his lanky legs, warping and chewing through the skin right down to the muscle. It had been a long, painful, disgusting recovery, so much so that you'd think he'd have run at the first sign of fire, but ... something about it drew him in. He's not able to fight off the urge anymore, like it's his drug of choice and he is but a hapless addict.

When yet another person comes to point and laugh, Elwin is considering running for the hills and never showing his face 'round here again, just to spare him enduring another second of being humiliated like this. He wants his hair back. He wants something to hide behind.

William opens his mouth, and Elwin wants to die even more. He's this close to just hiding his face in his hands, but the man's suggestion has him thinking otherwise. "Really?" he asks. He doesn't mean to sound so hopeful, but he thinks anything is better than what he looks like now. "... I mean, if you're offering."