BEFORE I GO // OPEN

[richard]

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— it hadn’t been richard’s ideal way to spend the morning. he had remembered strolling by the village amid the renovations, looking at a fenced area that multiple people had been working on. when he had asked what that place was going to be home to, the answer had been short and simple. caribou. rich knew next to nothing about those animals - and, at the moment, chose to try and avoid getting himself involved with that task.

still, he somehow found himself roped into it. he felt like tommy had more or less forced him into helping bring the animals to the village. eyes wandered towards the reindeer that they led into their new enclosure. brushing his hands and closing the gate, he leaned against the gate. this was a lot more effort than he had expected to put in for the day. with a sigh, he slowly started to nod his head. “alright. that seems like the last of them.”

thank god. he observed the reindeer closely. he couldn’t say he had seen any this close-up before. though, they seemed like a perfect addition to the village. people would love to come and see these animals up close, right? “they sure are beautiful, i’ll give you that.”


//all of my posts today have been so shit
but the village now has caribou !

[EDMUND.]

[align=center][div style="width: 430px; text-align: justify; font-family: verdana; font-size: 6pt; letter-spacing: 1.5px; word-spacing: 0px; line-height: 12px; color: #000"]After weeks of negotiations, it finally seemed like the right time to take the plunge and invest in a herd of caribou. They’d start with only a couple, and add more to the herd as time went by, granted it had taken more than enough effort to acquire the creatures in the first place. Once the paddock was constructed, Edmund had left Tommy in charge of finding a herd, whether they be captured from the wild or given to Flintlock Lodge as part of a trade - even now, Eddie didn’t quite know how Tommy managed to source the herd. 

❝ Yeah, yeah; right over ‘ere now. Yes- ❞ Tom grumbled whilst tugging a caribou with a lead rope, ignoring the way a crowd of excited onlookers began to gather. Volunteers (or people Tommy had essentially enlisted to help him) followed suit, the caribou one by one entering the confinement of their new home before volunteers began to leave once more. Eddie stood nearby as he observed, eyes flitting around at the eager chatter among the people, and then he approached the fence itself to take a closer look.

These creatures would become a great asset to the group in no time, Eddie noted to himself silently. Richard leaned against the fence nearby, Ed glancing at him briefly before looking back towards the herd. ❝ I don’t know much about ‘em, but I do know that you’re right in saying that. ❞ He could admire their natural beauty. It wasn’t often he could get this up and close with the species, the animals often too flighty to get too close to them. ❝ My brother dragged you into this, yeah? ❞ He pointed out bluntly, quiet before looking over towards Richard. ❝ He tends to do that to people. ❞ Ed wasn't good at small talk - that much was obvious - but he'd make the effort. After all, Tommy seemed fond of Richard.

[spoiler=tags ― updated 06/06.][size=6pt]◜BASICS ┊ SO THIS IS WHERE WE ARE◞
&. ❝ edmund theodore stirling ❞ | ed, eddie | male [he/him] .
&. 24 years old . | seventh august ; leo .
&. currently the captain and official loyalist of flintlock lodge .
&. currently the boss of the stirling's notorious irish crime family .

◜PERSONALITY ┊ IT'S NOT WHERE WE HAD WANTED TO BE◞
&.  ambitious . brave . calm . disciplined . honorable . intelligent . leading . logical . patient . reliable . skillful . trustworthy . wise . aloof . cynical . detached . flirtatious . harsh . jealous . lustful . pessimistic . quiet . ruthless . secretive . stubborn .

◜ APPEARANCE ┊ IF HALF THE WORLD'S GONE MAD ◞
&.  five foot eight & one hundred and seventy one pounds ; reference .
↳ dirty blond hair kept very short and neat .
↳ stocky and well-built frame , lightly freckled skin .
↳ muted blue vacant eyes , unreadable , somewhat frowning expression .

◜ FAMILY ┊ THE OTHER HALF JUST DON'T CARE , YOU SEE◞
&. alfred stirling x leonora moray | both deceased .
&. four older siblings and two younger half-siblings .
↳ dominik stirling , 32 , shot and killed by alfred .
↳ thomas stirling , 32 , caretaker in flintlock .
↳ alfonso stirling , 28 , enforcer in flintlock
↳ franklin darrow , 25 , estranged in bluestem .
↳ henry stirling , 11 , resident in flintlock
↳ ida stirling , 9 , resident in flintlock
&. also lives with four cousins and his aunt .
&. father to thomas , charlotte , kieron and louis .

◜ RELATIONSHIPS ┊ YOU DON'T WANNA FUCK WITH US◞
&. bisexual, biromantic ; mongamous | tends to have a wandering eye .
&. ex-husband to blake kegan
↳ marriage fell apart after he cheated on her .
&. ex-lover to mickey serge
↳ he learned about his bisexuality with him .
&. lover to maxine van doren
↳ a rekindled flame where their relationship is kept a secret .

◜ INTERACTIONS ┊ BRITISH TO THE VERY LAST ◞
&.  [ 9/10 ] physically  |  [ 7/10 ] psychologically .
↳ difficulty w/ guns [ very difficult ] | difficulty w/ melees [ difficult ] | difficulty w/ hand-to-hand [ difficult ]
&. [member=2919]truce.[/member] | dm for any major plots .
&. friendly or nonviolent actions may be powerplayed .[/size][/spoiler]

[ASPEN B.]

[align=center][div style="width: 400px; text-align: justify; font-size: 11px; font-family: calibri; letter-spacing: .6px; color: #494949;"]the growing crowd is what has caught his attention, then the odd sounds... some kind of creature? he squints, head neck craning to try and get a glimpse beyond the people gather closely together. no avail, so bowie decides to make his way over, chin up to see over the heads; he didn’t need too much of a leg up, being six foot one. the antlers are the first thing aspen sees and it kind of throws him, he’s never seen these things before, but after a few moments of processing he figures they’re reindeer, spacing on their actual, more formal name. he’s intrigued, the gears in his head beginning to turn; truly, they only turn when he sees something that could turn into a good time.

once people clear out and he’s able to reach the edge of the fence, beside edmund, he rest his hands on the edge and leans forward some. he catches the tail end of his and richard’s conversation. he doesn’t have much to add, not totally sure who they’re even talking about “ tends to do that to people. “ aspen purses his lips, glancing back to the caribou. his eyes shift to tom then back to the animals, the man seems to be the one who knows most about them, so the idea forming would probably be best asked to him. reaching out to point at the one nearest to him, hand then extending to try and greet it, “ [color=#80bfff]think we can ride these things? “ he questions, hand still out as he looks at tom, then down at eddie and eyes going to richard as well as if to open the discussion up to everyone. “ [color=#80bfff]could be fun for your kids, “ bowie adds, trying to persuade them as well as deflect. he just wants to hear a ‘yes,’ after that, he’s turning them out so he doesn’t hear any buts and he has technically been granted permission, “ [color=#80bfff]there’s a few, and they’ve probably gotten bored of everything here already, “

[richard]

[align=center][div style="background=transparent; borderwidth=0px; bordercolor=; width: 400px; font-size: 8pt; line-height: 125%; text-align: justify; font-family: arial; color: black"]

— “i don’t know much about ‘em, but i do know that you’re right in saying that.” rich turned his head and watched as eddie stood nearby. richard couldn’t say he knew much about eddie. if he thought tom was a tough one to crack then surely eddie was an even tougher case - as if that were even truly possible. the family of brothers were quiet and reserved. try and dig as far as one could go and you’d still feel like you knew next to nothing about the family at all. to some, that might have been worrying to realize. for richard, it felt almost relieving. he would never know the family’s history, but he could feel almost comforted by that fact. his family wasn’t the only one that kept secrets.

reserved as the family could be, he somehow managed to strike up a friendship with tom of all the brothers. much as he hated to admit it, he saw a good friend in the man. he had his ways that could leave even the most assured man feeling caught off guard. surely that was something to admire, rich figured.

had tommy dragged richard into this? he couldn’t help but huff a short breath, nodding his head absently as he watched tommy get the new additions settled in. “of course. he’s- something, isn’t he?” there wasn’t exactly a word for what kind of a man tom was, though he was sure eddie understood what he meant, if not more so. he observed as bowie struck up conversation with tommy, talking about possibly riding the caribou. he didn’t know much about caribou himself, so with furrowed brows he slowly said, “yeah, maybe.” with that, though, his gaze wandered towards tommy as if to see what the man had to say about it, himself. surely he was more knowledgeable about these animals than all three of the other men combined.

[EDMUND.]

[align=center][div style="width: 430px; text-align: justify; font-family: verdana; font-size: 6pt; letter-spacing: 1.5px; word-spacing: 0px; line-height: 12px; color: #000"]❝ Think we can ride these things? ❞ Eddie stilled at the familiar voice of Bowie, that ever-cool yet galling voice that always managed to drive its way under Eddie’s skin. He strained his neck as he stretched it from side to side, brows knitting the longer Bowie went on. It was quite sad, really, how circumstances could change someone’s perception of another. Whilst Bowie had unwittingly stole the affection of Maxine away from Eddie, Ed knew with certainty that he would not have had such an aversion to the man if they were under any other circumstances.

Jealousy was such an ugly emotion.

❝ Why would you want to do that? ❞ Eddie uttered, features scrunching up as he avoided looking towards Bowie nor Rich at all. He grew quiet, lost for any words in his own bitterness, before adding softly, ❝ Huh… I hope you don’t plan on becoming a parent anytime soon, Aspen. ❞ He tipped his chin up slightly, eyes darting across the reindeer as an emotionless smile twitched at his lips. ❝ Wouldn’t even let my kids in the reindeer enclosure without an adult with them, let alone have them trying to control a reindeer on their own. ❞ With a frown returning, Ed glanced at Bowie. If he wanted to get himself hurt trying to climb onto the backs of barely domesticated reindeer, then Eddie certainly wouldn’t stop him.

If it were anyone else, on the other hand, he’d caution them.

❝ You’re free to give it a go, as long as you don’t go hurting anyone in the process. ❞

❝ Actually, yeah- ❞ Tommy then butted in as he wandered towards the trio. Oh, great. Eddie released a slow sigh, leaning on the fence and lowering his gaze as he knew that Tommy would certainly not have his back. ❝ We make the right equipment, yeah, and after that we can probably give it a whirl. Bowie - right - I was thinkin’ of having these fellas here pull a sled for the kids to ride on. Pretty excellent idea, yeah? Great for the bigger kids too... like Rich over here. You'd love a good ol' reindeer joyride, huh? ❞

[spoiler=tags ― updated 08/08.][size=6pt]◜BASICS ┊ SO THIS IS WHERE WE ARE◞
&. ❝ edmund theodore stirling ❞ | ed, eddie | male [he/him] .
&. 25 years old . | seventh august ; leo .
&. currently the captain and official loyalist of flintlock lodge .
&. currently the boss of the stirling's notorious irish crime family .

◜PERSONALITY ┊ IT'S NOT WHERE WE HAD WANTED TO BE◞
&.  ambitious . brave . calm . disciplined . honorable . intelligent . leading . logical . patient . reliable . skillful . trustworthy . wise . aloof . cynical . detached . flirtatious . harsh . jealous . lustful . pessimistic . quiet . ruthless . secretive . stubborn .

◜ APPEARANCE ┊ IF HALF THE WORLD'S GONE MAD ◞
&.  five foot eight & one hundred and seventy one pounds ; reference .
↳ dirty blond hair kept very short and neat .
↳ stocky and well-built frame , lightly freckled skin .
↳ muted blue vacant eyes , unreadable , somewhat frowning expression .

◜ FAMILY ┊ THE OTHER HALF JUST DON'T CARE , YOU SEE◞
&. alfred stirling x leonora moray | both deceased .
&. four older siblings and two younger half-siblings .
↳ dominik stirling , 32 , shot and killed by alfred .
↳ thomas stirling , 32 , caretaker in flintlock .
↳ alfonso stirling , 28 , enforcer in flintlock
↳ franklin darrow , 25 , estranged in bluestem .
↳ henry stirling , 11 , resident in flintlock
↳ ida stirling , 9 , resident in flintlock
&. also lives with four cousins and his aunt .
&. father to thomas , charlotte , kieron and louis .

◜ RELATIONSHIPS ┊ YOU DON'T WANNA FUCK WITH US◞
&. bisexual, biromantic ; mongamous | tends to have a wandering eye .
&. ex-husband to blake kegan
↳ marriage fell apart after he cheated on her .
&. ex-lover to mickey serge
↳ he learned about his bisexuality with him .
&. lover to maxine van doren
↳ a rekindled flame where their relationship is kept a secret .

◜ INTERACTIONS ┊ BRITISH TO THE VERY LAST ◞
&.  [ 9/10 ] physically  |  [ 7/10 ] psychologically .
↳ difficulty w/ guns [ very difficult ] | difficulty w/ melees [ difficult ] | difficulty w/ hand-to-hand [ difficult ]
&. [member=2919]truce.[/member] | dm for any major plots .
&. friendly or nonviolent actions may be powerplayed .[/size][/spoiler]

[richard]

[align=center][div style="background=transparent; borderwidth=0px; bordercolor=; width: 400px; font-size: 8pt; line-height: 125%; text-align: justify; font-family: arial; color: black"]

— after getting to meet all kinds of people from all different walks of life, rich learned one thing; you can rarely take whatever someone says at face value. things said and emotions portrayed often weren’t exactly as they appeared on the surface. he glanced silently between bowie and eddie as the latter of the two spoke about the recklessness of letting a kid anywhere near the reindeer. despite the seemingly nonchalant air around his words, it still felt like the tension was palpable. richard shifted in his spot and, opting to mind his own business, looked back ahead towards all the reindeer.

some things richard simply didn’t need to know about. whatever might be going on between those two weren’t his business - or if it was simply eddie having a rough day, he didn’t know. he couldn’t say he knew the man well enough to try and find out either.

tommy wandered over. for once richard actually felt mildly relieved about that - a first, for sure. he listened absently to the man’s rambles, gaze sweeping over their new livestock. “pretty excellent idea, yeah? great for the bigger kids too… like rich over here. you’d love a good ol’ reindeer joyride, huh?” he puffed a short, stifled laugh at the remark, eyes darting towards the man. leave it to tommy to be such a smartass. yeah.” he pondered over it for a moment, scoffing. tommy had this effect of leaving most everyone at a loss of words; rich didn’t think this moment was any different. “you’ve got that right.”

he gestured absently towards the caribou. “if you think i’m going to help you make those sleds too, though, you’re sorely mistaken. you're on your own, tom.”

[RICHARD.]

[align=center][div style="width: 350px; text-align: justify; font-family: helvetica; font-size: 9pt; line-height: 1.4;"]sebastian’s attention was always something very scattered. if things were too dull or boring for him, it wasn’t a very difficult task for him to get fixated on something else. he initially started going for a walk with max, but that soon changed into him noticing the growing group of people making excited chatter around a new padlock, so of course he had to go check out what was happening. without saying a word to his sister, he was quick to change course as he made his way over to see what all the fuss was about.

for a minute, he stayed in the back of the crowd on his toes to peer over people while max stood by his side. seb, being the nosey brat he was, began to tune into the conversation between the four men, inevitably pushing his way into it was a chuckle. "oh, come on! i bet bowie would be a great dad," he started to say as he walked closer to them, his signature grin on his face. "a fun one, at least. which is probably the best kind, in my professional opinion." as if seb even remembered what having an actual father figure was like.. it had been quite awhile since the fire.

seb drifted away from the conversation for a minute, eyes looking back towards the caribou before shifting to his sister. "whatcha say, maxxie? wanna ride rudolph?" he wiggled his eyebrows playfully, earning a small huff of laughter from her. "oh, sure." he picked up on the small tone of sarcasm, but to be fair he knew what the answer was before he even asked. like clockwork, his attention was once again snatched away, this time by the other richard speaking to tom. "i can help with that!" though he has been resting since the incident, max still wasn't letting him do very much since he got shot and at this point, seb's energy was almost too much to handle, so his offer to help attempt to make sleds was eager.

[ASPEN B.]

[align=center][div style="width: 400px; text-align: justify; font-size: 11px; font-family: calibri; letter-spacing: .6px; color: #494949;"]“ [color=#80bfff]oh common, lighten up, eddie boy! it’d be a good time, just admit it! “ bowie says, grinning at edmund. he’s none the wiser to the jealous undertones, it seems like a normal edmund demeanor to aspen. but, he will admit, the not having children piece did kind of sting. why would he say that? bowie’s lip protrudes a centimeter or so, a faint frown etching into his features. at least he had richard on his side... right? but, as if answering his wonderings, a familiar voice rings through the crowd. bowie glances over his shoulder and grins with the praise of being a great dad. once seb is close enough, aspen drapes an arm around seb, pulling him for a little squeeze of a hug.


“ [color=#80bfff]at least seb’s got my back, kids are next on the agenda “ he jokes, eyes wandering to maxine. with a light smirk he sends a wink her way before tommy pipes up, he was thinking the same thing! “ [color=#80bfff]see! that’s a man with vision! “ bowie exclaims, taking his arm from seb’s shoulder. “ [color=#80bfff]if no one else is gonna, i’ll totally help you out, dude, i’d love to see the kiddos enjoying things. “ he offers to tom, but turns on his heels to look at rich with his refusal to help work. aspen gets that, admires it even with the honesty, but he has a proposition, “ [color=#80bfff]i’ll help tommy boy over here with getting the whole sled thing up and running, you don’t have to do anything, but you have give it a go, “ he tries to bargain. “ [color=#80bfff]and ed, at least let your kids try! you can be right there, just imagine their smiles, “ he puts a big, wide smile on his own face. if aspen was this excited to see the kids happy and giggling, a parent definitely should be, at least he can’t see a reason why not.


// this is word salad, i’m so sorry fjdndb

[EDMUND.]

[align=center][div style="width: 430px; text-align: justify; font-family: verdana; font-size: 6pt; letter-spacing: 1.5px; word-spacing: 0px; line-height: 12px; color: #000"]Jealousy truly was such an ugly emotion. And, to add insult to injury, his concern only heightened once he saw Maxine wandering over alongside Seb. Eyes flitted from the two siblings approaching before looking back to Bowie. ❝ Oh common, lighten up, Eddie boy! It’d be a good time, just admit it! ❞

Did Aspen just tell Eddie to lighten up?

With a slightly distasteful grimace across his features, Eddie stared at Bowie sternly for a moment before glancing towards Maxine as she and Seb arrived. ❝ Oh, come on! I bet Bowie would be a great dad. ❞ Seb was oblivious to any tension which lingered in the air, Eddie’s lips twitching awkwardly before he looked away. ❝ Fun? ❞ Fun tended to coincide with recklessness. ❝ Of course. ❞

Most seemed far more interested in Tommy’s grand scheme to produce a snowy haven for children to enjoy. Eddie took it as a moment to peer over towards Maxine, searching for her attention quietly before cracking a quick ghost of a smile towards her. ❝ Max- ❞ He greeted quietly, hesitating for a moment before he asked, ❝ Was thinking... You busy later today? ❞

He would ask in front of Bowie. Eddie didn’t care.

As for Tommy, he was too fixated on his own ideas to take notice of Eddie’s faltering love life. ❝ Atta man, Rich. ❞ Tommy patted Rich’s shoulder with a pleased hum. He appreciated Rich’s willingness to go along with what Tommy tended to talk about; it always made Tommy look particularly good.

After announcing his idea, he already had two willing volunteers.

❝ Now that, right here, is fuckin’ fantastic. Two offers in one single breath. That tickles me pink, yeah; is like Christmas, but better. I ain’t ever getting no help around here. Am I? ❞ He paused, noticing that his little brother wasn’t listening to him. He sent Eddie a quick kick, Ed quickly looking over his shoulder. ❝ Am I? ❞ ❝ Yeah, yeah. ❞ Eddie definitely hadn’t been listening, Tom could tell as Eddie dismissed him quickly before his attention returned to Max.

Tom wagged his finger towards Seb and then to Aspen. ❝ You and you is gonna be so helpful. I was actually thinking, right, that we replicate them sleds we’ve got for the horses already. Won’t be too hard. We construct a prototype and test it on one of this buggers- ❞ He jabbed his thumb over his shoulder towards the reindeer, ❝ And we go from there. In the meantime, who wants to help me groom ‘em? All five of you - c'mon. ❞

[spoiler=tags ― updated 08/08.][size=6pt]◜BASICS ┊ SO THIS IS WHERE WE ARE◞
&. ❝ edmund theodore stirling ❞ | ed, eddie | male [he/him] .
&. 25 years old . | seventh august ; leo .
&. currently the captain and official loyalist of flintlock lodge .
&. currently the boss of the stirling's notorious irish crime family .

◜PERSONALITY ┊ IT'S NOT WHERE WE HAD WANTED TO BE◞
&.  ambitious . brave . calm . disciplined . honorable . intelligent . leading . logical . patient . reliable . skillful . trustworthy . wise . aloof . cynical . detached . flirtatious . harsh . jealous . lustful . pessimistic . quiet . ruthless . secretive . stubborn .

◜ APPEARANCE ┊ IF HALF THE WORLD'S GONE MAD ◞
&.  five foot eight & one hundred and seventy one pounds ; reference .
↳ dirty blond hair kept very short and neat .
↳ stocky and well-built frame , lightly freckled skin .
↳ muted blue vacant eyes , unreadable , somewhat frowning expression .

◜ FAMILY ┊ THE OTHER HALF JUST DON'T CARE , YOU SEE◞
&. alfred stirling x leonora moray | both deceased .
&. four older siblings and two younger half-siblings .
↳ dominik stirling , 32 , shot and killed by alfred .
↳ thomas stirling , 32 , caretaker in flintlock .
↳ alfonso stirling , 28 , enforcer in flintlock
↳ franklin darrow , 25 , estranged in bluestem .
↳ henry stirling , 11 , resident in flintlock
↳ ida stirling , 9 , resident in flintlock
&. also lives with four cousins and his aunt .
&. father to thomas , charlotte , kieron and louis .

◜ RELATIONSHIPS ┊ YOU DON'T WANNA FUCK WITH US◞
&. bisexual, biromantic ; mongamous | tends to have a wandering eye .
&. ex-husband to blake kegan
↳ marriage fell apart after he cheated on her .
&. ex-lover to mickey serge
↳ he learned about his bisexuality with him .
&. lover to maxine van doren
↳ a rekindled flame where their relationship is kept a secret .

◜ INTERACTIONS ┊ BRITISH TO THE VERY LAST ◞
&.  [ 9/10 ] physically  |  [ 7/10 ] psychologically .
↳ difficulty w/ guns [ very difficult ] | difficulty w/ melees [ difficult ] | difficulty w/ hand-to-hand [ difficult ]
&. [member=2919]truce.[/member] | dm for any major plots .
&. friendly or nonviolent actions may be powerplayed .[/size][/spoiler]