#byrd's ask games | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

icannotgetoverbirds · 2 years

Text

Please for the love of god infodump at me

Twitch moderator applications are live here!

It Takes A Village

Writing Sideblog

I go by Byrd for short. I'm an intersex autistic trans man, I use it/he pronouns (unless it's funnier or gayer not to), I'm plural, and I'm over 18. I'm also an ex-mormon. Do not fucking proselytize any fucking religion at me. You will be blocked.

I mostly reblog about random shit, but sometimes I'll make original posts and/or respond with my take on a situation - those should be mostly tagged as #byrd chirps.

My exmo tag is #byrd is an exmo. Sometimes, my moot @twiggyfrogblog sends me birds, sometimes other people do too, so if you're looking for fantastic bird posts, the tags #byrd's birds and #ty twiggy! should take you there. Ask games are tagged #byrd's ask games. Transparent gifs are tagged as both #transparent gif and #transparent gifs.

I also have some new tags - #byrd's silly art, which is for my artwork (currently just me tracing photographs to try and wrap my head around concepts like shapes and shading), and #byrd's writing, which is how I tag any posts about my writing.

I am currently writing a fanfic - I've started to try and tag that as #stt and #byrd's silly little fanfic - once someone finds the fic on AO3, I'll put a link in here.

Some of my posts/reblogs contain triggering/heavy/nsfw topics. I do my best to tag these, but I'm not perfect. Let me know if I miss anything. I don't generally tag swearing, and I do use the word queer as a self-identifier unapologetically.

I have a few sideblogs - some of which are currently inactive. I won't link them here - see if you can find them!

I'm friends with Kea, a writer who distributes his work under a pseudonym, and I have his permission to post his writing. Here is my favorite of his, The Model and The Letter.

Lots of links below the cut, including resources and ask games.

Current ask games:

Not Like The Other Ask Games™

Who Am I To You?

Gentle Cottagecore

Iconic Tumblr Post

Vibe Check

Why Do You Tolerate Me

What am I the patron saint of?

Colors

Character Opinion Bingo

what 3 fictional characters do you associate with me

?????

Another Character Opinion Bingo

????? 2 electric boogaloo

Another Colors

Pokemon types

Literally anything (I make no promises of answers, however)

❤

send me a shitty summary of my blog?

want me to pick a sentence from one of my WIPs to share?

the blorbo blingus (character ask game)

litcherally just ask me anything about my ocs

who am i to you?

toss me a gender, why dontcha

polyamory asks

squishmallow character ask game

In addition, I really enjoy helping to name things like fictional characters and whatnot. I have a method that I use that creates original names with meaning - it's not foolproof, but I've come up with some great names through it.

If you need help naming someone/something, feel free to send in an ask at least giving me a few words you'd like associated with the thing - more information is better, though! There's no cost, either - it's a fun exercise in creativity on my end. These will be tagged as #byrd's name game.

DNI is in my bio.

Other links -

Resources:

My ex-terf/ex-radfem blog

Everything you know about obesity is a lie (tw minor healthism in the article)

Body Neutral/Positive Recipes Base Post (feel free to contribute!)

Body Neutral/Positive Recipes Main Thread

Free Online ASL Lessons

Planned Parenthood's sex ed tab

help getting out of medical debt for usamericans

Masterlist of Native/Indigenous products

Good picrews for fat people

literally every animorphs book for free

Alternative search engines

The distinction between hating men and being a feminist and why it's so important

Pi-Hole

Piracy Subreddit

Drawing Tips Masterpost

Visual Snow Syndrome

If you need a smile:

Get a random birb

No Notes Bungus

Handmade ball python plushies

Good news: COVID-19 edition

The world's cutest alligator

Good news: Climate Change edition

A Different Aftermath

An important reminder

an absolutely buckwild idea i had

Tumblr writers

The Model and The Letter by Kea (if it gets 420k notes by the end of the year I'll read Animorphs and maybe write an essay about it)

Kea's Chapbooks on Ao3

Tumbleweed by Kea

Tumblr's Folk Tales

Misc:

The origins of parafonian

Kissinger Death Tontine

#pinned post #kea #resources #parafonian #exmo #byrd is an exmo #im feeling very exmo in this chilis tonight #exmormon #ex mormon #exlds #ex lds #ex religious #apostate #apostake #avian apostate :>#byrd's ask games #byrd chirps #tw o word

39 notes · View notes

narastories · 1 year

Note

FFWF: What is your favorite story that you have ever written? 💜

E-ever? That's such a big word lmao

Still, it has to be "put my heart in your pocket". It's a Tom Byrd/Lord John Grey story that follows the Lord John Grey books (Outlander spinoff series) and basically it was just me going and making my rarepair and slow-burn dreams a reality.

It's also the one that my amazing friend @mistresspandorawritesthings graciously bound for me and I cherish it so much. Just look at her:

#ask game #ffwf #tom byrd/lord john grey #lord john grey #tom byrd #scary thing is that moral compass *almost* knocked it out for a second #wow one day I might write a harry/nic fic that's going to be my favorite and then I'll be in trouble #alternatively it can be something to aspire to #now excuse me while I go read my own beautifully handbound fic lol

11 notes · View notes

byrdblood · 10 months

Note

hey just want to say YOUR ART IS SO GOOD!!! your painting style and your chibis for your utmv toyhouse project are so so pretty QQ

Also i want to ask more about your oc Abaddon Byrd? i am so invested already just from his toyhouse preview like?? i am eyeing the project so much!! YOUR WRITING IS SO GOOD TOO!!!

i love how you wrote everyone's descriptions so much... Im so curious on Abbadon's background and his powers and how he is with nightmare's group even further on other situations, like my gods their nicknames for him are great and the fact that he was just a painter at beginning by chance.. haha

i hope these werent too many questions or thoughts, i am just so excited haha, hope you have a nice day or night!!

thank you so much!! it really brightened my day finding this in my askbox omg LHDSDASHGADS don't worry at all so, im not actually sure if i want to do some kind of written story with abaddon, yet, but just in case, i'll try not to get too deep into what i'd call "spoiler" territory. HOWEVER, i can dig into some basics of his backstory for you since you didn't ask anything super specific? xD

basically, yes, abaddon was originally a mundane (that is, nonmagical) human painter living in a neutral post-pacifist au. nightmare only came across his work by chance during a raid, and, yanno, basically having had the world's shittiest year in terms of his work, he decided "fuck it, i deserve a treat", except art version. (what kind of god doesn't have an imposing self portrait in his front hall?)

given that abaddon was kidnapped coerced "hired" to actually complete a job (as opposed to, like, being hunted for sport) he had some level of immunity his first few weeks staying in the castle -- at least as long as nightmare was around to enforce it. but Abaddon's not a dumb guy, especially when it comes to people, so he figured early on that the second he delivered a passable finished project, he was gonna be killed. so, naturally, he drug it out a little, dug his heels in. and the longer he stayed there, the more the others -- especially dust and nightmare, arguably the most sensitive to these sorts of things -- came to suspect the strange properties of abaddon's soul, which, strangely enough, he himself seemed completely unaware of. this made him an interesting bauble at best, something to be picked apart and understood... but most importantly, it did buy him time.

...but, eventually, something finally happened. certain situations came to a head and abaddon was caught in the crossfire.

understandably, the situation put abaddon under a great deal of stress, not only bringing to a boiling point the family disease he didn't even know he had, but throwing him into a series of unfortunate events that would corrupt his code entirely, leading him to develop the markedly inhuman features he carries today ;) now, nightmare is no fool, of course, and if you present him with a living weapon -- especially one who seems to be holding so much resentment and misanthropism just behind their teeth -- he's going to try to capitalize on it. so regardless of abaddon's lack of LV or their piss poor physical health, apparently this new ability he developed was valuable enough for nightmare to offer him a permanent contract anyway. so now he's a permanent member all the sudden as opposed to a mildly interesting trinket the others could fuck around with for a few weeks, and to make things worse, he's human. for a group that originally called themself the bad sanses, it's just weird as shit (if nothing else!) to suddenly be incorporating this random guy. so, understandably, the guys are varying levels of chill with that.

aaaand that's the basics! if you want to know more though you're more than welcome to ask something else xD

#utmv #nightmare's pantheon #multiverse tau #abaddon byrd #ask #fair warning ill avoid going too deep into details for things i consider possible spoilers (again just in case)#but lots of surface level details should be free game #including like relationship stuff!#again youll just have to be more specific in your questions cuz otherwise i dont know what to cover

4 notes · View notes

achilleanauthor · 1 year

Note

2, 7, 15 (you answered 21 instead of 15 last time /nm gdkjlskjgdjkskl), 16, 26, 30, 31, 32, 34, 46, and 50: If you were to describe your gender using the soup metaphor, what do you have and/or want in your soup?

Thanks so much for the ask!

2. I drink tea, normally at medium strength with milk.

7. I normally sleep with just the one blanket.

15. (The actual one.) I like autumn the most, simply for the weather and the colours (also halloween, hell yeah.)

16. I don't really want tattoos, simply because it looks painful. If I did get any though, I'd probably get some symbols from things like Zelda and Adventure Time.

26. Again, stuffed toys. I also like colouring and some childrens' cartoons and films.

30. I'm going to an LGBT youth event next week! It'll be the first event of this type I'd have ever gone to!

31. I want to travel around the world when I'm older, but that's all I have as solid plans. Really, I'm more looking forward to the concept of the future and what may become of it!

32. If I could be alone in the woods at night and know that I'll be safe, I'd go there in a heartbeat.

34. I like daffodils. Daffodils always grow around my area in the summertime, and I love how pretty they are.

46. A hug, a hot drink and music.

50. (My gender makes no fucking sense to me, this is what I can come up with.)

Fire, but only small flames like a lighter or a lit match. 70's and 80's grunge music, and 80's films, mostly horror. Dark academia. Black suits and oversized hoodies. Dark make-up. A lot of 'dark' stuff, I realise, but I swear I'm not trying to be edgy.

Also the aesthetic of being a housewife is a good bit of it, I realise.

Anyway, that's what I thought of just there. I spent about five minutes scrolling through your blog trying to find the original 'gender soup' post and couldn't find it, so there's a chance I completely misunderstood the assignment, but it's fine.

#ask game #thanks again byrd!#auv speaks

4 notes · View notes

fiberglassandflowers · 1 year

Text

PINNED!! WOAH!!

hey i made a sideblog to talk about my characters on. stay if you want. go read the rest if you're new here vvv

the main thing im on right now are the guys i made based on will wood songs oops. i call their whole story deal mary bell township but im not gonna act like thats not like a whole thing in the prescription zine that i haven't read but im trying not to overthink it lmao

take this link to learn about the general overview of it :-)

OH ALSO i forgot to mention this but there will be mentions of cannibalism, general violence and death, abuse, suicide mentions, religion/religious trauma, and thats all i can think of right now but if any of those are an issue for you id rather you keep yourself safe than stay involved w this story because i cant remember to trigger tag things. like 95% of the time i dont go into depth about them but they're still there so do what you have to do

i have other characters but i barely ever post about them :-(

yeah anyway. if you feel so inclined you can ask questions and stuff and i might answer them. but like keep it weird (positive) rather than weird (negative) in there. hopefully i didn't even have to say that but just so we all know

tag system is pretty simple i think, but its asks for asks [obviously], tagged for me if something was tagged as a character for me, talking for me talking, and then there's just the character names

all my tags are down there for navigational purposes theres too many of them :-]

5 notes · View notes

mangosimoothie · 1 year

Note

14 and 20 for whichever couple you want to talk about most!

yall are killing me with the you choose 😭 😂 hahah no but ty for the ask!

14 for Aja and Zeke: What little things remind them of each other?

Anytime Aja sees a rose (or a flower that looks like a rose) and she's not with Zeke she takes a picture of it and texts him like "Will you accept this? 🥺 " she thinks she's hilarious lmao. She likes being reminded of their weird time together on the Bachelorette.

20 for Atticus and Ryan: If they disagree, who's usually the one to compromise?

Ryan is for sure the compromiser. He may be pricklier than Atticus, but Atticus is the better arguer lol

#I'll answer these for: aja/zeke atticus/ryan rosie/grimm corinne/darnell mayyybe eden/willow although they are not my OCs so depends 😅#ask game #ask my ocs #queen byrd household #katowin household

3 notes · View notes

muirneach · 2 years

Note

🪄

i have never been so far out in front that i could ever ask for what i want

and have it any time

knowing this you found a thought for me that told you just what i should be

and there i stood behind

with all the ones that went before and memories that always seems to

tear me from my mind

set you free this time- the byrds

#this song makes me go crazyyyy #literally thee best byrds song and one of gene clarks best songs #music #the byrds #asks #ask game #run-rabbitrun

2 notes · View notes

iknaenmal · 2 years

Note

💙 (mutuals :3)

Hehe yeah!! 💙 you too!!

#byrdsfly #i woke up to three asks with hearts and i was so confused lol #i didnt remeber the ask game but it was a nice suprise!#ty byrd!!#ikna answers

1 note · View note

darlingvirus · 7 months

Note

Lily - What is your OC's love language?

Victoria - Victoria is surprisingly affectionate! She needs to physically be near her partner as much as possible. She loves to hug, and is constantly flirting with the ones she loves. Doing physical activities with her partners is also important to her. She likes to get involved in their lives, and hobbies. She also likes to share her own life and hobbies as much as she can.

Byrd - Byrd needs her own physical space more often, but really appreciates things like little notes left on the counter for her, surprise dinners out, a bouquet of flowers to show she’s cared for… She of course reciprocates in turn, doing the same for her girlfriend. Byrd loves to make gifts if she’s giving one, and puts a lot of effort into that. While it might seem like she’s keeping herself separate from her girlfriend, she’s really just keeping her love in one safe compartment, as opposed to having it at every interval.

I’m not huge on understanding the love language thing so I hope this makes sense!

#vic #my ocs #byrd #oc asks #ask game

0 notes

doctorsiren · 5 months

Note

Can I ask?

In your Monster AU what would Will Powers, Lana Skye, Maggey Byrde, Max Galactica (also will he be based on the game or the anime version because one is likable and the other wants to marry a minor), Adrian Andrews, Ron DeLite, and Terry Fawles would be?

Since we know what Maya, Edgey, Phoenix, and Iris would be. I just wanna know all the trilogy defendants

Alrighty

Will Powers is a human, but everyone just *assumes* he’s a werewolf (he is not)

Lana Skye is also a human

Maggey Byrde is a magpie aarakocra (basically bird person)

Max Galactica is a vampire (not sure why I would ever choose to make him iffy, so let’s go with the likable one)

Adrian Andrews is a tiefling

Ron DeLite is an elf (his ears are covered by his hair)

And Terry Fawles is an earth elemental (easily influenced, not high on intelligence stats, and so that’s how Dahlia was able to manipulate him so easily)

270 notes · View notes

icannotgetoverbirds · 1 year

Note

Polyamory ask game!!! :D Gen #3

3. What has been most surprising to you about polyamory?

Honestly, the fact that I'm polyamorous! As soon as I found out about polyamory being a modern thing, I kind of thought to myself, "well, how would I handle a polyamorous partner?" and the conclusion I came to was, you know, they're queer just as any other lgbtq+ person, the answer must be to let them live their life in a way that makes them happy. Basically the way that polyamory is supposed to be handled: if you're okay with a polyamorous partner, then you set whatever boundaries (within reason) you need on their relationships outside of yours, and love them all the same.

Then I met a polyamorous person and partnered with her (not my current gf, someone else), and she talked about a polycule, and I suddenly realized that part of the reason I was so chill about polyamory was because, well, I'm polyamorous!

That and the fact that, not only do we not have equal marriage rights, but there are many, many monogamous queer people who don't even think we deserve said rights. It just seems so obvious that polyam people belong in the queer community and are worth fighting for, so to see how common monogamatonormativity (idk what the word is) is within the community was a surprise for sure.

#byrd's ask games #byrd chirps #byrd's inbox #polyamory #polyamorous #sorry this one has been sitting unanswered for so long!

4 notes · View notes

rebouks · 3 months

Note

I'm new to sims 4 and I randomly found your blog and man, your stories are so well-constructed! I never imagined the sims being used like this and it's been very fun to follow your little guys go about their lives lol if you don't mind me asking, how long have you been creating these intricate stories in the game? And do you know already how your current storyline is going to end or do you go with the flow and see what happens?

ohhh waaaait, that's so exciting!! i legit thought the exact same thing when i first stumbled upon sims stories here on simblr!! AHH! i was like.. wait, i can actually write out all the shit in my head and share it with ppl?! LET'S DO IT!

it warms my lil heart that you enjoy following my pixel ppls lives right along with me 🥺 i suppose i've always kinda come up with some form of story for em, in ts4 anyway, even when i was just playing legacy style for myself and not rlly sharing anything here - way back in 2017/18! that's when i picked up ts4.. before that i played a lot of ts3 but i spent a lot of time making worlds in CAW rather than playing and with ts2/ts1 i think i mostly just played with an empty head 😂 they're a bit of a childhood blur tbh lmao

i don't currently have an "end" in mind for my current story 🤔 not rlly, anyway.. i suppose it's kinda open ended since it's more like a slice of life story u kno, but i do have a lot of ideas written out, and an "end" for Robin's childhood arc! i think we'll do a timeskip to his teen years then, and after that another one so Wren/Byrd will be teens n' Robin will be too still, just like older, in his last year of high school or maybe college idk eventually Forever in Between will end too, but idk how yet.. it'll be right before Robin reaches young adulthood i reckon, since i'll probably start a new, more plot based story with him after that (that's a majorly vague idea for the future for now tho 😅)

i'm a big fan of wingin' it! so who knows where we're going lmaoo, i sure don't!!

#ranswers #<3333333333 #eeeee i went on a lil ramble of all my future musings here but i got excited #😂#ILY!!#also.. super looking forward to this weeks posts #🤭#got a bunch of editing done this weekend wooooo #super sad it's monday tomorrow tho #and i'm in the office for two days right off the bat #OUGH

38 notes · View notes

kelyon · 4 months

Text

Courtship 1: Introduction

How Lacey French became Mrs. Gold. Part of the Golden Cuffs 'Verse

Mr. Gold comes for the rent and leaves with a dinner date.

Read on AO3

Lacey French was huddled up by the space heater behind the counter when Mr. Gold walked into Game of Thorns. Outside it was already pitch black, even though it was fifteen minutes before five o’clock. Lacey knew it was 4:45 without looking at the clock because today was Rent Day and everyone knew Mr. Gold was always on time. That man was as consistent as a machine--and just as heartless.

He made his way up to the counter, circling around the displays of unsold vases and dusty Happy Birthday mugs. In his sleek black coat, he looked like a panther or a wolf. A predator who knew his prey was as good as caught and would take his time savoring the hunt.

Lacey straightened up and gave Mr. Gold a quick nod. She wasn’t afraid of him. He wasn’t here for her. Poking her head through the door to the back of the shop, she called out: “Dad! He’s here!”

When her father didn’t answer, Lacey turned back to Mr. Gold.

“Excuse me just a minute.”

By a silent inclination of his head, Mr. Gold indicated his permission for her to leave.

The rickety stairs down to the basement shook under her running feet. Her father was over by the utility sink, his back turned to the door, up to his elbows in water and fertilizer chemicals.

“Dad!” Lacey shouted over the running water. “Didn’t you hear me? Mr. Gold is here. For the rent.”

His back stiffened. The water turned off. Turning around slowly, he looked at her with the same expression he’d been wearing ever since Mom got sick. The expression of a man watching his whole world turn to dust. He picked up a green towel from the counter and dried his hands.

“Alright,” he grumbled. “Let him know I’m coming.”

Lacey hesitated before going back up the stairs. “We do have it, don’t we? The rent?”

Her father sighed. “How was business today?”

“Terrible.” He knew that. “It’s January. The only order we’ve had all week is Johnny Byrd buying Lisa a dozen red roses.”

All Dad did was nod and put the towel back on the rack. “Just go tell Gold I’ll be up in a minute.”

Mr. Gold was still on the other side of the counter when she got back. He stood with gloved hands on top of his gold-tipped cane and his eyes roving over the dingy storefront. Was he still happy he had bought the place from them? Or was he realizing what a worthless investment it was?

She cleared her throat and Mr. Gold’s gaze shifted to her.

“It might be a while,” she told him. It might be a very long while, if they had to wait for her dad to gather up all the rent they owed.

Mr. Gold took a step closer to the counter, where Lacey had taken her usual place on the stool by the cash register. She had counted out the drawer this morning when they opened. There had been less than forty dollars in change and nothing had come in or gone out since.

“Everything alright?”

His voice was mellow, almost friendly. His accent gave the words a lilt you didn’t hear much around Storybrooke.

Internally, Lacey rolled her eyes at herself. Lilt. What a pretentious word. Useless too. It wasn’t like anyone was giving her bonus points for using vocabulary words in a sentence.

“No.” Lacey answered Mr. Gold with frankness born from metaphysical levels of exhaustion. “No, nothing’s been alright for a very long time. Thanks for asking.”

He didn’t seem put off by her rudeness. If anything, it looked like he leaned a little closer to her.

“I read about the accident in the paper when it happened. They were your cousin and uncle, is that right?”

Lacey clenched her jaw. Of course Mr. Gold would pick that as a topic of conversation. “Yep. Uncle Peter i--was my mother’s brother.”

A month since it happened and it was still hard to use the past tense. Not that she could think about Mom in past tense either. It would all take a lot of getting used to.

“A terrible thing,” Mr. Gold said softly.

She shrugged. She was so tired of accepting people’s sympathy. “Can’t blame the widowmaker highway for living up to its name. Everyone knows you shouldn’t leave Storybrooke in winter.”

“It’s a shame that road is outside city limits. I’m sure Mayor Mills would make it safer, if it was under her control.”

“Mayor Mills can do anything when she wants to.” It was such an obvious fact it barely needed to be said. The Mayor of Storybrooke was cunning and capable. The town was lucky to have her in charge.

“And just before Christmas, too.” Mr. Gold shook his head.

If Lacey started thinking about Andrew and Uncle Peter’s funeral she would start thinking about Aunt Terri and Janine and Chloe and how sad they all looked and how helpless she had been to do anything for them, just like they had been helpless to do anything for her at Mom’s funeral. If she started thinking about it, she would start crying and never stop.

So she made the active choice not to think about it. Instead, she looked at Mr. Gold with clear eyes and quipped:

“Yeah. Hell of a way for my little cousin to find out there’s no Santa Claus.”

He made a noise, a half-snort that was choked back by sheer force of will. The lines at the corner of his mouth were slightly deeper than normal, like he was biting back a grin. His eyes, when he looked at Lacey, had a glint in them. It wasn’t entirely amusement, but there was a sort of fondness there. Maybe a sort of admiration.

Or maybe she was kidding herself.

This was the longest conversation she’d ever had with Mr. Gold. She’d never spoken to him at all before her mother got sick. She’d never had to. They didn’t rent from him back then, and he never came by the flower shop to get a bouquet. Who would he buy for? Everyone in town was afraid of Mr. Gold, and he didn’t seem to mind his reputation. People didn’t matter to him, except as names in a ledger. Debts and favors owed, antiques pawned at his shop, rent paid in full or past due.

Lacey bit her lip. Dad was still not back with the rent. If she listened closely, she could hear the floor creak as he moved around upstairs. He was searching the part of the building where they lived for any extra cash they might have squirreled away in different hiding places. It had to be cash, of course, Mr. Gold didn’t take checks. That was just as well. Any check Moe French wrote now would bounce like a tennis ball on a trampoline.

What would Mr. Gold do if they didn’t have the rent?

Despite the cold, she rolled up her sleeves. Trying to look casual, she went over to the buckets of roses lined by the wall and picked through them for the fullest blooms.

“Do you like flowers, Mr. Gold?”

She tried to act innocent, looking over at him with a yellow rose in her hand. She wasn’t sure what she was trying to do right now. Stall, apparently. Give Dad more time to look for some surprise cash. Get Mr. Gold in a good mood so he might go easy on them when the money never showed up. Maybe he’d take a flower arrangement in lieu of rent . Maybe if she made a good impression, he wouldn’t throw them out on the street.

From the look on his face, he saw right through her. Clearly, Lacey was not the first person to try to warm him up when they needed something. She was about to give up the game, when he took a step toward her.

“A well-maintained garden is a thing of beauty,” he said calmly. “Yet it always seemed a waste to bring flowers inside and watch them die a slow death in a vase.”

Lacey shrugged, and slid the yellow rose back with its brethren. So much for that. “They die if you leave them outside too.”

“I suppose they do.” Mr. Gold took another step closer. His voice took on a darker tone. “It is a cruel world for pretty things.”

Lacey moved. She couldn’t say if she was moving away from him or toward him, but she moved and then one of the buckets crashed to the ground. Long-stemmed red roses scattered all over the floor.

“Shit,” Lacey hissed. These were Ever Reds, the best red roses they had. This was the variety they could charge the most for and most wanted to avoid damaging. If these petals got bruised they’d be worthless.

“Shit,” she said again. She’d gotten on her knees and was gathering the spilled flowers as quickly--and carefully--as she could. At least the water had stayed in the bucket. At least she wouldn’t have to clean up the spill.

“Stupid. I’m so stupid,” Lacey muttered under her breath.

It wasn’t until Mr. Gold spoke that she remembered he was in the store.

“I wouldn’t say stupid.” He made the remark casually. He was holding one of the roses in his leather-gloved hand, examining it. He held it out to her. “I thought I read something about you being valedictorian, Miss French. I remember thinking what a shame it was that so many scholarships would only take you as far as Storybrooke Community College.”

“Yeah, well I didn’t even get there.” She snapped at the mention of an old wound. “Now I’m spending my life on my knees on the ratty carpet of a failing flower shop.”

She looked up at the rose in his hand. He was offering it like it was a gift, but it was her merchandise. Its beauty didn’t mean anything to her except for what price it could offer. If it wasn’t worth money, it wasn’t worth anything. That was the cold, mercenary way she had to look at things.

She took the rose by the stem and tossed it in the bucket until it could be sold. By the time she got to her feet, she had calmed down a little. She was able to look Mr. Gold in the face and tell him the lesson it had taken her almost two years to understand:

“Stupid is thinking that booksmarts and good grades alone will get you anywhere in life. Or that anything you accomplish in high school will mean a single thing once you’re out of it. Or that no one decides your fate but you.” She shook her head. “So yeah, I’m actually really stupid.”

With a heavy sigh, Lacey shoved the bucket of roses back into place. When she looked up, Mr. Gold was staring at her arm. Thin lines of pink and red streaked across her pale skin.

“Oh!” Lacey giggled as a reflex. “I didn’t even feel that! It’s an occupational hazard here at Game of Thorns. Roses are always hungry for blood.”

They had a first aid kit under the counter. Most of the scratches were surface-level, but she swabbed her arm in betadine just to make Mr. Gold feel better.

“See? No big deal.”

He was staring at her again. At her face this time. For just a second, he looked confused. It was the first time he had looked at her without looking like he already knew everything about her. For just a second, he looked like she intrigued him.

Then the wall came up again. The wall of cold civility that separated Mr. Gold from everyone else in the world. The wall Lacey hadn’t realized was there until she saw it come down.

“You should have dinner with me, Miss French.”

Lacey blinked. “I should?”

“Yes.” He was so calm. So matter-of-fact. Like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

She blinked again. “Like a date?”

He wrinkled his nose but conceded the point. “I suppose it is. Let’s say Tuesday evening, Bella Notte?”

Lacey felt her eyes go wide. She’d been to Bella Notte exactly once in her life, on her eighteenth birthday. And that had just been for lunch with Mom! She’d never gone there for dinner. Her parents had only had dinner there on their twenty-fifth wedding anniversary. And Mr. Gold was offering to take her there on their first date? This was big. She had to play it cool.

“Sure!”

That was less than cool. The word wasn’t a total squeak, but Mr. Gold’s lips did twitch at the sound.

Lacey cleared her throat. “The store closes at six. I can meet you there--”

“I’ll pick you up at eight,” he said smoothly. His eyes traveled over her, from her oversized sweatshirt to her threadbare blue jeans to her dirt-stained sneakers. “Wear something suitable, won’t you? I want to see you in the nicest thing you own, Miss French.”

“You know, you can call me--”

“Gold!” Her dad burst through the door at the front of the shop. He had an envelope in his hand that even Lacey could see wasn’t full enough. “Mr. Gold, I--uh--Can I speak with you privately?”

Lacey rolled her eyes. “Just say the words, Dad. I’m sure Mr. Gold has figured it out by now.”

Her father shot her a dirty look, then turned to face Mr. Gold. “I apologize for this, but it does look like I’m going to need a slight extension on this month’s rent.”

For the first time since he had come into the store, Mr. Gold smiled. “That’s quite alright, Mr. French. Perfectly understandable. This is a slow time of year for many businesses.”

“I--yes. But things will pick up in just a few days, once people realize how close it is to Valentine’s Day.”

“For your sake, I hope it won’t be that long.” Mr. Gold showed his teeth like a crocodile. “According to your rental agreement, there’s a fifty dollar fee for every day the rent is in arrears.”

From behind the counter, Lacey watched the color drain from her father’s face. “But that’s--that’ll be more than a thousand dollars before Valentine’s Day!”

Mr. Gold gave an exaggerated shrug. “That’s the agreement you signed, Mr. French. If you can’t abide by the contract, I’m well within my rights to evict.”

“Wha--No, you can’t do that!”

Moe French was head and shoulders taller than Mr. Gold, and easily twice his weight. But he was the one sputtering and blustering helplessly, while Mr. Gold stood with the stillness of absolute confidence. Power radiated off of Mr. Gold, an aura so thick Lacey could almost choke on it.

She licked her lips.

“I--I have half!” Her dad offered the envelope.

Mr. Gold took it with another fake smile. “A fine start,” he said. “Let me know when you have the rest. The fees start accruing at midnight tonight.”

They watched in stunned silence as Mr. Gold made his way to the door. Before he left, he turned around.

“Miss French, it was a pleasure speaking with you. I hope to see you again. Quite soon.”

#courtship #rumbelle #golden lace #cursed storybrooke #golden cuffs #golden rings

13 notes · View notes