the sky above the rain // open

[mickey]

[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"]

— grief wore many masks. it never quite looked the same when worn by others, no matter how the pain felt was all the same. grief sat heavy on mickey’s shoulders that day, stood on the beach where he had previously spoken with his mother. cigarette between his lips. he ran the memory in his mind silently, contemplating what he wished he could’ve said differently, done differently… he blew out a puff of smoke. in the end, he figured it would’ve made no difference. tamara still would’ve left for bluestem prairie in search for brock. she still would’ve left her family at northstar to mourn someone that wasn’t even gone- just someone that was gone from their lives.

mick stared stoically and watched arlo as he kicked up sand on the beach, searching for shells absently. there was something melancholic in the way he searched for shells without tamara there beside him. mick was lamenting the loss of his mother from his life, worried for what could happen to her -  but arlo was also having to struggle with the loss of someone he considered his grandmother. another family member who turned out to be yet another person that proved to be a temporary stay in his life. arlo eventually slowed to a stop, eyes downcast towards the ground. mickey stood only a moment longer before he walked towards arlo, discarding his cigarette along the way.

”did you find anything?” arlo shook his head dismally. mick paused, bringing his gaze up towards the horizon in thought. how could he convince arlo everything would be okay when he wasn’t so sure himself? the sight left a bitter taste in his mouth. “let's keep looking, yeah? maybe later we could go out on the boat. how’s that sound?” the boy seemed spurred on by that, lowering himself down to the sand to look around for shells. mick waited only a moment later before kneeling down beside him, keeping an eye out for shells.

[spoiler=tags ― updated 08/31.][size=8pt]◜BASICS ┊ BURIED MY HEART IN A HOLE IN THE GROUND ◞
‣  ❝ mickey serge ❞ | mick, serge | male [he/him] .
‣ 33 years old . | may fifth; taurus.
‣  currently the prodigy of northstar district
‣  currently co-founder/co-head of st. peter’s clinic in the district alongside lucerne nouvel.

◜PERSONALITY: ISFJ ┊ THERE WAS NO ONE AROUND ◞
‣  aloof . ambitious . blunt . distant . driven . hard-working . passionate . humble . reserved . introverted . intelligent . level-headed . trustworthy . honest . caring . quiet . gentlemanly . kind . pessimistic . unreadable . stoic . withdrawn .
↳ lover of tea and cigarettes
↳ struggles with ptsd symptoms
↳ recovering alcoholic (almost one year sober)

◜ APPEARANCE ┊ BURIED MY GUILT IN A PIT IN THE SOUND ◞
‣ six foot one & one hundred and sixty seven pounds ; reference .
↳ dark brown hair kept very short on the sides and neat
↳ skinny with slight muscle tone
↳ deep blue eyes , often stoic , emotionless

◜ FAMILY ┊ I TRIED AND I TRIED AND I WAS NEVER THE SAME ◞
‣  david serge x tamara serge | father deceased . mother’s whereabouts unknown
‣ only child
‣ currently claims guardianship of arlo - doesn’t consider himself arlo’s parent

◜ RELATIONSHIPS ┊ I'LL BREAK UP THE CHAIN ◞
‣  homosexual ; monogamous | a hopeless romantic .
‣ ex-fiance to elinor rose
↳ engagement fell apart after coming to terms with mick’s sexuality .
‣  ex-lover to edmund stirling-moray
↳ the first guy he had ever been with . helped him become comfortable with his sexuality before coming out of the closet.
‣ current boyfriend of vernon green
↳ currently live together . inseparable .

◜ INTERACTIONS ┊ I'M FOREVER CHANGED ◞
‣  [ 9/10 ] physically  |  [ 8/10 ] psychologically .
↳ difficulty w/ guns [ very difficult ] | difficulty w/ melees [ difficult ] | difficulty w/ hand-to-hand [ difficult ]
‣ [member=1512]elysian.[/member] | dm for any major plots .
‣  friendly or nonviolent actions may be powerplayed .[/size][/spoiler]

[GREENIE.]

[align=center][div style="width: 430px; text-align: justify; font-family: verdana; font-size: 6pt; letter-spacing: 2.5px; word-spacing: 0px; line-height: 12px; color: #000"]Loss was a common theme in Green’s life. Every parental figure he’d ever had either left him behind or died, leaving him alone to gather up all the vulnerabilities he’d left in their safekeeping to weigh heavy on his shoulders again. Perhaps some would question how a full grown man could grow to feel such a reliance on another man’s mother, but Tamara had been like the mother Green had never consistently grown up with. He’d been starved of this very nurturing touch for most of his life; receiving it was better late than never.

Most importantly to Green, the day Tamara left was the day that Arlo lost a maternal figure once again, too. Stopping at the top of the beach, Green’s features lacked the usual natural glow of exuberance that defined his mellow nature. Today was a time of mourning for someone who was not dead, but no longer alive in Green’s life either. He watched as Mick wandered towards Arlo, likely to ask about his attempts to search for distinctive shells, Green shoving his hands into the pockets of his jeans before hopping onto the sand and walking over to meet the duo himself.

❝ Hey, that’s a cool shell! ❞ Green feigned joy to the extreme, perhaps overcompensating for the lack of genuine joy he felt during his own grief. Arlo went to continue searching around, Green looking over towards Mick as his smile wavered to a slight grimace. ❝ Hey... ❞ He spoke softer, gazing at his boyfriend before he asked, ❝ How are you holding up? ❞ Whilst Green and Arlo had lost a maternal figure, Mickey had lost his biological mother, the woman who raised him to be the kind and humble man he was today. If anything, Green knew that he had to be there to support Mickey, even whilst he was a master at concealing his feelings.

[mickey]

[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"]

— with a wall so high it was almost insurmountable, it was easy for an outsider to assume that mickey felt hardly anything at all. in a way, that was what the older man preferred the world to think. if he could convince others of that fact, then there was the mindset that he could somehow convince himself of the very same thing. crossing his arms over his chest, he watched as arlo ventured further away to continue his search. in the end he knew it was of no use.

those that were close to him couldn’t be so easily fooled. they were aware that he was a man full of complex emotions, a man that felt so deeply even while he had every reason not to. they knew about how his heart was so fragmented and broken, and yet still ached and overpowered with such vivid sentiment. the tiring limbo of feeling everything and nothing all at once…

he listened to green’s joyous voice, careful blues gazing over at the man. mick liked to lock his emotions up, conceal his grief with stoic emptiness. while others would assume green as the kind of man to wear his heart on his sleeve, mick wasn’t so easily fooled by the convincing mask. one would be surprised at the darkness behind even the brightest of smiles. the way the other man’s smile wavered was close to heartbreaking.

”how are you holding up?” how was he holding up? it was a question the medic hadn’t taken the time to consider. looking to the sand below, he briefly dug his foot into the ground as he looked for words. “i’ve been better,” he admitted vaguely. anyone else and his answer would have been closer to a flat-out lie. not with vernon, though. looking up, he appeared as if there was more he wanted to say, but chose to just barely bite his tongue.

after holding a short breath, he sighed, shrugging gently as he said, “it’s not the first time she’s left like this. so.” as dismissive as he tried to sound, hurt still found its way to creep in and lace his words. it was something he wouldn’t have thought to be a pattern of hers. deep down, he wished tamara would have just walked out of his life once and have that be the end of it. the anguish of her coming back just to leave again was far worse for them all. furrowing his brows, he looked out towards the sea, gently leaning a bit into green. “how are you holding up?” he gently asked in return.

[spoiler=tags ― updated 02/25.][size=8pt]◜BASICS ┊ BURIED MY HEART IN A HOLE IN THE GROUND ◞
‣  ❝ mickey serge ❞ | mick, serge | male [he/him] .
‣ 33 years old . | may fifth; taurus.
‣  currently the prodigy of northstar district
‣  currently co-founder/co-head of st. peter’s clinic in the district alongside lucerne nouvel.

◜PERSONALITY: ISFJ ┊ THERE WAS NO ONE AROUND ◞
‣  aloof . ambitious . blunt . distant . driven . hard-working . passionate . humble . reserved . introverted . intelligent . level-headed . trustworthy . honest . caring . quiet . gentlemanly . kind . pessimistic . unreadable . stoic . withdrawn .
↳ lover of tea and cigarettes
↳ struggles with ptsd symptoms
↳ recovering alcoholic (over a year sober)
↳ currently showing signs/symptoms of depression following his mother's death

◜ APPEARANCE ┊ BURIED MY GUILT IN A PIT IN THE SOUND ◞
‣ six foot one & one hundred and sixty seven pounds ; reference .
↳ dark brown hair kept very short on the sides and neat
↳ skinny with slight muscle tone
↳ deep blue eyes , often stoic , emotionless

◜ FAMILY ┊ I TRIED AND I TRIED AND I WAS NEVER THE SAME ◞
‣  david serge x tamara serge | father deceased . mother recently deceased
‣ only child
‣ currently claims guardianship of arlo - doesn’t consider himself arlo’s parent

◜ RELATIONSHIPS ┊ I'LL BREAK UP THE CHAIN ◞
‣  homosexual ; monogamous | a hopeless romantic .
‣ ex-fiance to elinor rose
↳ engagement fell apart after coming to terms with mick’s sexuality .
‣  ex-lover to edmund stirling-moray
↳ the first guy he had ever been with . helped him become comfortable with his sexuality before coming out of the closet.
‣ current boyfriend of vernon green
↳ currently live together . inseparable .

◜ INTERACTIONS ┊ I'M FOREVER CHANGED ◞
‣  [ 9/10 ] physically  |  [ 8/10 ] psychologically .
↳ difficulty w/ guns [ very difficult ] | difficulty w/ melees [ difficult ] | difficulty w/ hand-to-hand [ difficult ]
‣ [member=1512]elysian.[/member] | dm for any major plots .
‣  friendly or nonviolent actions may be powerplayed .[/size][/spoiler]