habits of my heart | o

[RORY T.]

[align=center][div style="width: 500px; text-align: justify; line-height: 150%; color: #494949; font-family: karla; font-size: 8pt; letter-spacing: 0.2px; word-spacing: 1px; margin-top: 10px;"] every now and again , rory could enjoy a drink or two , but he did know his limits. and quite often did he abide by those limits , as he had no intention on becoming the abrasive piece of shit his father was. that's not to say he ever had , no , not at the very least . rory could count on fingers the times he'd gotten drunk , two being in the presence of himself ( while experimenting ) and the other two being in the presence of holland. all four times , in no sense , were angry like his father but . . . rather pathetic.

he'd rather not reminisce the first time he'd gotten drunk with holland. coped up in a barn . back and forth they exchanged the bottle as rory went from cracking jokes to nearly cracking the bottle , body trembling with the sobs he could no longer withhold. it'd been the first time in awhile he'd shown that much emotion in relation to his past. even after witnessing his mother's death , he isn't really sure on whether he'd cried this much. "life's not fair," he'd restate again and again. holland listened. once , he'd been comforted by his silence. not he can't even bare to be in the same room with him.

all in all , he wasn't betting on another recount of that , with him being in a group and all. it all boiled down to this: those who relied on alcohol as an escape, a coping mechanism, were just too pussy to face a world unwilling to cater to them. simple. shit wasn't working his way , but when does it these days ? fighting with damien wouldn't be his first and yet it was different . maybe it was just the fact that everything seemed to build at once , or maybe it was the reprecussions he faced for something someone else did , but it leads to some stupid decisions.

whatever moral compass he had was thrown out the window in trade for a bottle . at first , it's only meant to be a glass . but one glass turns into two until he's disposing of the glass itself in trade for the whole bottle. rory may not know his limits , but he knows what he's doing at that particular moment . drowning out the noise of his thoughts until he nearly collapses onto the kitchen floor alongside his dog oakley , regurgitating the same ol' ' life ain't fair ' shit. dogs ... they were good , though. they were loyal. unlike holland , they wouldn't leave.

"sometimes i just feel like i'm destined to be forever fucking alone or something." he slurred . he stares the ceiling as the room spins , making him dizzy. oakley closes in on rory , nudging him softly with his nose . the most loving gesture he's received in years . maybe this was who he was meant to be : a one-man rodeo with the exception of his dog. rory attempts to lift his head , but to no surprise fails. he settles back into his dizzying state with an exasperated sigh.

"you're the only motherfucker in this world that can handle me."

[freddie]

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— there was a fine line, a distinction, between people who drank because they loved to drink and people who drank because they loved what alcohol did for them at that moment. while frederick stirling fell perfectly into the aforementioned group, that didn’t make him particularly blind to the latter category. it wasn’t easy to note who was which category at times, especially since for some those lines tended to blur. he ran a hand through his hair, messing it up as he wandered into the kitchen. he paused.

“you’re the only motherfucker in this world that can handle me.”

it felt fairly easy to put someone in the latter category when they drank alone.

eyes peered over at rory, taking in the sight of the darker-haired male on the floor with his dog. he rose a brow slightly to himself, lips pursed, before he eventually broke out into a gentle, close-lipped smile. “and it looks like you can’t handle your alcohol.” a lighthearted remark that felt like it missed the mark on being humorous- to anyone except freddie, who huffed at what he said.

though, after sobering up, freddie found it only reasonable to try and pry. it was a curious situation to walk in on- and, curious as ever, the blonde momentarily cleared his throat before asking, “what reason do you have to be getting drunk off your ass?” if there even was one-- yet from what he had seen from rory, nothing about him struck fred as an “alcoholic” in most senses of the word. crossing his arms, he leaned against one of the kitchen counters. didn’t make an offer to help the guy up- didn’t make an offer to be any form of help. what else would be expected of the young man?

//sorry for the late af reply
and even this reply in general but
oh rory h o n e y

[EDMUND.]

Edmund was no stranger to alcohol.

There were people who drank socially and those drank to... drink. To cope. And, Eddie couldn't say that he was the most sociable of people. In fact, a part of him felt that drinking would help sober himself up to that reality, as contradictory as that was, and instead help him open up somewhat. Well, that was his theory. Instead, drinking was far more frequently alone in his own company, and if he was in the company of others he tended to sit a distance away on his own, silently observing conversation.

For a man so quiet, drowning out the noise in his head felt like a force of habit nowadays.

And so, upon stepping into the kitchen and freezing beside Freddie, Ed wanted to feel that unfamiliar sense of sympathy for Rory. He sighed, a slow, nearly disappointed shake of the head as he listened to what Freddie had to say. No, Eddie wasn't disappointed in Rory for getting so irresponsibly intoxicated, or for Freddie for his joking remark in a situation which could be seen as anything but funny, but instead Ed was disappointed in himself.

How could he have overlooked the teenager when in reality they shared so many similarities? Eddie could see himself in the younger man, as much as that pained him to admit and so, swallowing hard, he wandered over towards the teenager and held a hand out for him. ❝ Get up. ❞ Words seemed curt, almost impatient, but really Rory had Ed worrying for him, even if his stoic features said otherwise.

[align=center][div style="width: 430px; text-align: justify; font-family:verdana; font-size: 7px;"][spoiler=tags :: updated 01/07]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
⋟ skipper 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 - 80% // current injuries: stitches on side of head where his head was slammed into ice and a chest infection following a near-drowning experience.
⋟ mental health - 70% // 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
⋟ husband to blake moray // cheating on her with multiple people
⋟ 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]

[RORY T.]

[align=center][div style="width: 500px; text-align: justify; line-height: 150%; color: #494949; font-family: karla; font-size: 8pt; letter-spacing: 0.2px; word-spacing: 1px; margin-top: 10px;"] rory likes freddie. he is the type of person rory would like to imagine himself to be: defiant , confident. beyond that, rory admits that he doesn't know plenty about him. maybe that he's a flirt? which is something rory is not. rory has never been much of a romantic person, never has been a sexual person. he could be a virgin forever, and he'd less than likely be bothered. he didn't understand the hype, but hey, to each their own. freddie was cool, nonetheless. a slightly less pain in the ass than any of the others here. some too kind, some too strict. a middle-ground.

you can't handle your alcohol , freddie says , smiling. rory smiles back , pushing himself pathetically from the ground . he thinks his intent is to get up , but he still ends up on the floor. only this time , he's sitting , back pressed against the cabinets. they're nice and cool to his feverish body , warmed up from the alcoholic intake. he doesn't think he's ever been this hot since being here. "nice observation , asshole." and then rory bursts into a fitful of laughter. he isn't sure what's funny , but whatever it is , he laughs nonetheless. he quiets just as freddie asked that fretful question; the why.

he asked at a good time, the time where rory just might as well poor his guts out to a stranger. "because i'm depressed. I was born and then i was depressed because life sucks. I'm an orphan, my mom died, my dad was an asshole. because he was, I am, so I kicked damien's ass and everything sucks." there he was , complaining about how life sucked as if it was the only explanation he could offer . he sounded like a child , but maybe because deep down he was. a child depraved of his childhood too early, and it still deep down ate him up inside. he cackled , patting the dog cautiously , as if oakley — out of anyone — would bite.

what a nice conversation they were having until the Boss showed up , all authoritative and dick-ish. didn't he have children to attend to ? a pack to lead ? he'd caused rory enough damage by his existence. get up. the words were simple , but he hated them. he fucking hated him. rory glanced up to him , glared. he wanted to make sure edmund knew exactly how he felt about him. of course , his emotions were only full-force under the influence. he didn't take his hand. instead , he stumbled up with the support of any inanimate object he could hold onto. "suppose I should be heading to bed, yeah?" bringing two fingers to his head, he salutes freddie, then losing his index finger, flicks off eddie with the ghost a sardonic grin before parting ( rather stumbling ) off to his room. he knew that oakley would eventually follow suit.

[EDMUND.]

Eddie knew that not everybody would like him, and he ought to feel comfortable with that very fact. He wasn’t a people pleaser like some people he knew - eyes flitted briefly towards Freddie - nor did he tend to come across as very open and personable. No wonder people struggled to get to know the deeply reserved man. Yet, he couldn’t help but falter slightly at Rory’s apparent aggravation towards him. Sure, his order was perhaps somewhat curt - he should’ve taken into consideration that Rory was a bull-headed teenager, after all, with a knack of defying authority  - but it had come out of genuine concern. Eddie didn’t treat all people with the same level of concern.

Eddie’s inscrutable gaze watched Rory’s loathing glare, only lowering his hand once Rory began to stumble back onto his feet. ❝ Suppose I should be heading to bed, yeah? ❞ Eddie chose not to reply, slowly leaning back against the counter with folded arms as eyes followed the teenager carefully. Rory would never listen to him, would he? Brows knitted together briefly as Rory flicked him off before stumbling out of the kitchen. ❝ Rory- ❞ Ed called out, pausing with a stern gaze before warning, ❝ You need to watch what you drink. ❞ Only Ed would manage to exacerbate tensions in such a way.

Waiting for Rory to leave the room, Eddie finally turned his head to peer over towards his cousin. Oh, he bet that Freddie had more than enough to say about Rory’s perception of Ed, but he didn’t want to hear it. Instead, he tipped his head towards where Rory had just left before asking, ❝ Keep an eye on him, a’right? He listens to you. ❞

[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]

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— oh, god, rory was a mess. though perhaps it was for that exact reason that freddie liked him. or, liked what he knew of him, at least. the kid could be unapologetically an asshole and get away with it. that was just rory to some people. that was just badass in its own messed-up way. the man was constantly genuine, even if people tended to dislike him for it. fred couldn’t say he did the same- yet he could say that he acted that way on purpose. always changing who he was at times to be more likeable. hardly ever did he show his true colors around people who weren’t considered family. he couldn't ever be genuinely himself. he was a dark, immoral monster of a man; very few could handle it.

he huffed a short laugh at rory’s remark before the younger went into a fit of laughter. god damn, this kid.

rory answered the why of it all without much thought, as if he didn’t have to give it much thought at all. in his drunken stupor, rory talked about his mom being dead, his dad being an asshole. kicking damien’s ass - he didn’t see the wrong in that part but-- he blinked. jesus. this kid had some skeletons in his closet. he could only wordlessly stare for a moment, trying to formulate a reply, except for ed stepping in and ruining whatever “moment” could have happened there.

“suppose i should be heading to bed, yeah?” as he was saluted, he huffed at the man’s action before saluting back -- trying not to burst into laughter as ed was flipped off. “you need to watch what you drink,” ed called out. as if that would give rory any reason to stay.

it had to be evident enough that fred was trying not to laugh, catching his lower lip between his teeth. not at all fighting a smile that twitched at his lips. “sure thing, boss.” he didn’t know whether he sounded genuine or not. though, as he mimicked rory’s action - saluting oakley as he followed after rory, then flipping off ed - before wandering off, he wondered if ed actually wanted him of all people to look after rory in the first place.