"Hi." She kept an arm around Nicholas to support him. "Mary Aspen. Nice to meet you."
"The Imperial need for control is so desperate because it is so unnatural. Tyranny requires constant effort. It breaks, it leaks. Authority is brittle. Oppression is the mask of fear. Remember that." -Karis Nemik
“You as well. Sadie Lovett.” She nodded to her, leaning down to give Uther another pet and smile. “You’re just the sweetest thing aren’t you?”
"u and rina are systematically watering down the grammar of yws" - Atticus "From the fish mother to the fish death god." - lehmanf "A fish stole my identity. I blame shady" - Omni [they/he]
Uther's tongue lolled, and he lapped at her hand. "Good boy, Uther." Martin nodded approvingly.
"The Imperial need for control is so desperate because it is so unnatural. Tyranny requires constant effort. It breaks, it leaks. Authority is brittle. Oppression is the mask of fear. Remember that." -Karis Nemik
She smiled at him, then straightened and nodded to Martin. “Well… I’ll get out of you guys’ hair, I guess. Hope you all have a good night!”
"u and rina are systematically watering down the grammar of yws" - Atticus "From the fish mother to the fish death god." - lehmanf "A fish stole my identity. I blame shady" - Omni [they/he]
His smile faltered, but he forced it back on. "And you as well. Thank you again, and I'm sorry. Be safe driving back!"
"The Imperial need for control is so desperate because it is so unnatural. Tyranny requires constant effort. It breaks, it leaks. Authority is brittle. Oppression is the mask of fear. Remember that." -Karis Nemik
“Will do.” She nodded to him with another polite smile, glancing over at the reverend and his daughter. She gave a little wave. “See you all!”
"u and rina are systematically watering down the grammar of yws" - Atticus "From the fish mother to the fish death god." - lehmanf "A fish stole my identity. I blame shady" - Omni [they/he]
"Bye!" Mary waved, and Nicholas gave a delayed nod. Martin took Uther's collar and led him over to join them.
"The Imperial need for control is so desperate because it is so unnatural. Tyranny requires constant effort. It breaks, it leaks. Authority is brittle. Oppression is the mask of fear. Remember that." -Karis Nemik
Sadie got into her car and backed out of the driveway, giving a little wave as she pulled away. She glanced at the clock. Quarter till eight. Sigh. She needed to go back and pay for her food, gather up her grading, then get home. Meyer was supposed to call her at nine. She doubted she’d get anymore grading done today, but maybe she could sneak a few tests in. She supposed there see.
(This RP is giving me such flashbacks lol cell phones used to charge you per text and per minute of call but minutes were free after 9 pm lol)
"u and rina are systematically watering down the grammar of yws" - Atticus "From the fish mother to the fish death god." - lehmanf "A fish stole my identity. I blame shady" - Omni [they/he]
(I remember that; it was very inconvenient. And this is back when wall phones and landlines were still a thing, too)
Martin watched her go, then turned to his father. "Let's get inside," he sighed. Mary helped Nicholas in and got him to sit down at the small kitchen table. Uther rested his head on Nicholas's lap. "I'm sorry," Nicholas mumbled, petting the dog absently. I'm so sorry. I remembered, I swear, but--" "I know, Dad." Martin opened the kitchen cabinet and took out a glass. "We'll just do dinner tomorrow instead. It's not the end of the world." Mary glanced at him, jaw tight and lips drawn into a thin line. "I just.." Nicholas laid his head down on his arms. "I owe it to you not to mess this one thing up, you know? This was supposed to be--" He hiccupped. "It was gonna be the one time..." "I know." Martin filled up the glass and set it in front of him, then sat down beside him. Mary reluctantly joined. "You're not going to therapy anymore?" Nicholas shook his head, scooting the glass over to himself. "Too much money. Too hard...no good therapists in this town, and it's too tight knit." "What if you moved?" Mary asked. "No. Not again."
"The Imperial need for control is so desperate because it is so unnatural. Tyranny requires constant effort. It breaks, it leaks. Authority is brittle. Oppression is the mask of fear. Remember that." -Karis Nemik
(For sure ^^ I imagine he’d call her on their landline but wait til 9 since he’d be on his cell phone. Even as late as my freshman year of college in 2013 I had a prepaid plan and they gave me ‘call me’ minutes so when I’d call my parents it’d be for like 2 seconds to be like “call me back” and so I’d only get charged like $0.30 for one minute and then they’d call me back and we could talk as long as we wanted for free haha)
Sadie found her table tidied up but the barkeeper had left her papers untouched. She walked over and started gathering them up.
“Hey… sorry about that.” She walked up to the bar and pulled out her wallet. “How much was it?”
“Seventeen twelve,” the barkeeper said. “And don’t worry about it — I knew you’d be back… you go to help the drunk?”
“… The reverend, yes,” she corrected. “Drove him home.”
“That was nice of you… you shouldn’t worry about him though, you know.”
“I wasn’t going to let him drive drunk.” She handed over a $20 bill. “Keep the change.”
“Thank you.” He nodded to her. “And you might have stopped it tonight, but unless you basically live in this room you won’t be able to stop that fool from driving drunk. It’s habit for him at this point.”
"u and rina are systematically watering down the grammar of yws" - Atticus "From the fish mother to the fish death god." - lehmanf "A fish stole my identity. I blame shady" - Omni [they/he]
"Why not? It was from New York straight to here before. And--Dad, honestly I'd be more comfortable if you were near one of us. You can't live like--like this." Martin gestured. "You've got a leak in the living room ceiling and I noticed some of the gutters are broken." "I'll fix it later. I'm not moving back to New York." "Illinois, then. Mary and I talked about it on the way--" "No!" Nicholas struck the table with the palm of his hand. "No. Thank you. I'm not--" He sighed. "I'm not moving. I've been comfortable here, mostly." Martin glanced at Mary and sighed. "Alright. Let's talk about this when you've sobered up, okay? We can stay a couple extra days and help out around the house, maybe go to one of your services on Sunday?" Nicholas nodded tightly. "That sounds fine. I'd like that." He sipped at the water. "Um. How's Aunt Penny?" "She's fine," Martin replied. "Still pretty dead set against you, but that's nothing new. She wanted us to have dinner at her place." "We said we'd have dinner the day of," Mary added, and Nicholas tucked his head down.
"The Imperial need for control is so desperate because it is so unnatural. Tyranny requires constant effort. It breaks, it leaks. Authority is brittle. Oppression is the mask of fear. Remember that." -Karis Nemik
“Whatever.” She shrugged, annoyed by this rhetoric. “I stopped him driving drunk tonight; that’s my good deed for the day… thanks for keeping my table up. I appreciate it.”
“Sure thing.” He nodded to her, deciding to let it slide since it was obvious she didn’t want to have this conversation.
"u and rina are systematically watering down the grammar of yws" - Atticus "From the fish mother to the fish death god." - lehmanf "A fish stole my identity. I blame shady" - Omni [they/he]
Martin grimaced and glanced at Mary. "Well, tell her I said hi." Nicholas reached for his water. "Or don't; I'm sure she won't care either way." "I'll tell her," Martin assured him. "So that lady just picked you up in the bar?" Mary asked. "Does she go to church here?" "She said she didn't," Martin said. "She's the art teacher at the high school." Nicholas sipped more water. "I was gonna go sleep in the church or drive home or something, and she offered to get me home. She wasn't gonna let me say no and I was--am--kinda out of it so..."
"The Imperial need for control is so desperate because it is so unnatural. Tyranny requires constant effort. It breaks, it leaks. Authority is brittle. Oppression is the mask of fear. Remember that." -Karis Nemik
“Have a good night.” She nodded to him and headed for the door.
She had a lot to talk to Meyer about tonight. Did he know about the reverends kids? She certainly hadn’t. Plus she’d bitch about the bartender. Meyer would probably be more sympathetic towards the barkeeper than the reverend, but he’d let Sadie complain. He always did.
The door opened right as Sadie was reaching for the handle. “Oop! Excuse—“
She trailed off as she locked eyes with the mom of one of her students. The mom’s eyebrows furrowed into a nasty glare immediately. “Well look who it is if it’s not the libtard trying to turn my daughter gay!”
Sadie flinched and sighed. So close to making it out. And yet so far away.
"u and rina are systematically watering down the grammar of yws" - Atticus "From the fish mother to the fish death god." - lehmanf "A fish stole my identity. I blame shady" - Omni [they/he]
"It was extremely kind of her," Mary said. "But--Dad, she seriously went out of thebwat to drive you up here?" "Yep." "We owe her, then. That was--wow." "I owe her," he corrected.
"The Imperial need for control is so desperate because it is so unnatural. Tyranny requires constant effort. It breaks, it leaks. Authority is brittle. Oppression is the mask of fear. Remember that." -Karis Nemik
