#ryik-the-writer | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

violetfaust · 1 year

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I posted 3,601 times in 2022

102 posts created (3%)

3,499 posts reblogged (97%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@alwaysdearie

@whiteorangeflower

@lovesthedarkerone

@fuckyeahbelleandrumpelstiltskin

@ryik-the-writer

I tagged 2,096 of my posts in 2022

Only 42% of my posts had no tags

#spn - 235 posts

#rumbelle - 161 posts

#destiel - 146 posts

#castiel - 122 posts

#sambucky - 121 posts

#dean winchester - 109 posts

#rumplestiltskin - 79 posts

#sam wilson - 75 posts

#op - 74 posts

#belle french - 68 posts

Longest Tag: 139 characters

#and the greeks built a gorgeous modern museum with slots for every one of the stolen items and little placards saying why they weren't ther

My Top Posts in 2022:

For my own sanity

I'm trying to put together a list of the various versions of Goncharov (1973) screened throughout the last fifty years.

The four-and-a-half-hour film festival cut that even Scorsese felt was a rough draft

The US theatrical release in 1973

The 1973 European theatrical release with its extra half hour of footage

The 1973 Latin American dub with its extra half hour of different footage

The so-called Secret Reels that producer Domenico Procacci the Elder (not to be confused with the unrelated Italian filmmaker Domenic Procacci the Younger, who has only been active since the late 80s) used to screen at his fantastic, legendary drug-fueled parties in the 70s--these seem to be (at least one of) the source(s) of the deleted Goronchov/Andrey sex scene

The 1980 director's cut

The 1980s Soviet bootleg (which became so popular that it led to the 1993 re-envisioning)

Matteo's own controversial "Writer's Cut" (particularly complicated because apparently he never stopped editing and re-editing to fully achieve his personal vision--every time he screened the movie after 1975, privately or publicly, it had at least some minor differences and often incredibly large ones, with entire character arcs added or lost). At least one of these, my own personal favorite with the deleted second epilogue, was copied and got into general circulation on college campuses and whatnot

Also probably based on one of Matteo's cuts, the "Underground" cuts that were the basis of the Queer improv parties dating back at least to 1982

The first VHS release

The rare Betamax release with the extra Patchka scene

The post-Soviet edit 1993 "modernization" re-envisioning Gonchorov/Katya's backstory that was most Millennials' introduction to the movie

The butchered 90s broadcast TV airings (both of which cut vital plot points--such as Ice Pick Joe's lobotomy backstory--and were likely the reason an entire generation lost interest in the film)

The 1998 25th-anniversary director's cut (the one that The New Yorker famously panned with "It seems that Scorsese has forgotten his own movie")

The 40th-anniversary DVD release with six hours of additional footage

The recent gorgeously digitized Blu-ray release that included the nine-hour supercut and "Making Of" documentary (and probably inspired the Gonchorov renaissance)

The eagerly awaited upcoming 50th-anniversary Criterion edition that's rumored to incorporate the "Lost Reels" that Matteo, Scorsese, Al Pacino, and second assistant editor Mariana Lyudmila Manuali had kept private, as well as the distinct four hours of Patchka footage that the cinematographer filmed whenever he got bored.

And, of course, the crowdsourced Internet project to recover the "definitive" Gonchorov, incorporating most of the known footage as well as new home-filmed snippets from the private collections of minor players like Lynda Carter (in her first screen role as Dancer #2) and Henry Winkler (the busboy)--currently running twelve hours

Am I missing anything?

(Note: This list intentionally excludes the probably apocryphal student project that reframed the entire film from Valery's point of view--even if it actually exists and uses original footage, it can only be considered an homage to the full film and not an actual variant.)

292 notes - Posted November 24, 2022

Well, this may be controversial but

I don't care if Chris Rock knew that Jada Pinkett Smith was struggling with alopecia. I don't care if he didn't know his joke was ableist.

Maybe we shouldn't be making fun of how people look even if they don't have a medical reason? Maybe it's bad if you're in a seventh-grade cafeteria, or in a comedy club with a hundred people, or kind of especially in the middle of a huge glamorous production airing live to millions (or even hundreds of millions) of people.

Maybe it's not funny ever to single someone out and try to humiliate them for how they look.

Maybe you deserve a slap for that.

433 notes - Posted March 28, 2022

In the last two weeks alone, Trump's Supreme Court has:

Overturned Roe v. Wade.

Severely limited Miranda protections by ruling that citizens can't sue the cops who don't read them their Constitutional rights.

Expanded gun rights less than two months after schoolchildren were slaughtered and weeks after a racist shooting in a community supermarket, by striking down sensible New York gun control laws.

And now eviscerated the power of the EPA to do its job and try to protect against climate change by ruling it can't regulate emissions from power plants.

These "justices" are not only legislating from the bench and making decisions that are stripping human rights and WILL CAUSE DEATHS in opposition to decades of precedent (50 years for Roe, 60 for Miranda, 110 for the NY gun laws):

Many of them are unfit to serve.

Clarence Thomas's wife is an insurrectionist and election denier who is refusing to cooperate with the January 6 committee. Thomas has also not recused himself from decisions regarding the January 6 committee. He is married to a literal traitor to this country and has blatant conflict of interest. He MUST resign or be impeached and removed.

Brett Kavanaugh's confirmation to the bench was rammed through the Senate despite credible accusations that he is a rapist (as well as possibly guilty of financial misconduct or crimes). Investigators refused to consider evidence. This investigation must be reopened, and if more evidence is presented (as I suspect it will be), he should be impeached, removed, and prosecuted.

Neil Gorsuch perjured himself in his Senate confirmation hearings about Roe. He said he recognized and respected it as the law of the land, yet last week he cosigned Alito's reactionary brief that claimed not only that Roe was not law, but that it never had been. Thus Gorsuch should be impeached, removed, and if possible prosecuted for lying under oath.

While I don't know of evidence that Amy Coney Barrett is legally unfit to serve (despite being a far-right-wing reactionary), her appointment was illegitimate under the Republicans' own arbitrary rules: they refused to even consider Obama's candidate for the Court after Scalia's death because it was "in an election year" although that was MARCH, then forced through Barrett's a WEEK before the election (and less than a month after RBG's death). Senate Republicans need to acknowledge that either her appointment or Gorsuch's was illegitimate (and McConnell should be censured for it).

455 notes - Posted June 30, 2022

It’s the day after an election, it’s still not clear who won, and Misha Collins is trending at number 1 on Tumblr.

What year is it again?

917 notes - Posted November 9, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

16,005 notes - Posted November 6, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

#tumblr2022 #year in review #my 2022 tumblr year in review #your tumblr year in review #i've been trying to up my percentage of original posts with a bunch of shitposts #since i've found from checking previous years that i have been slacking #by a lot #my very first semi-viral post and we have no confirmation on it yet #please forgive the most used tag #nothing to see here #op

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avatoh · 4 years

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RCIJ: Swimming in Summer

Hello @ryik-the-writer it’s me! Late-o santa!

@rumbellechristmasinjuly

Prompt: I don’t think he’s moving

Summary: Mr. Gold takes his son to the pool during the summer for fun. Belle, the lifeguard, saves his son’s life one fateful day leaving Gold in her debt.

Swimming in Summer:

“I don’t think he’s moving,” said Baelfire to his friend, Emma, as he poked at his sleeping father with a large pool noodle. “He could be dead.”

“Really?” Emma said in as sarcastic a tone as a small 10 year old girl could manage.

“Yeah,” Neal said, walking closer to his papa and pulling funny faces, increasingly getting closer to his father’s sleeping figure. “I think he’s done for.”

Emma rolled her eyes as Neal poked more at his pool-side lounging father. Neal flicked a bit of water his father’s way and was met with an unconscious grunt of disapproval that caused the boy to burst out laughing. His father still didn't wake.

“Oh, wow,” Baelfire whispered to himself, going slightly concerned. “Papa?” he said in a louder tone. “Papa, wake up!”

He was met with his father jolting awake, the glasses on his reclined nose falling off.

“What is it?” Gold hissed.

“Nothing. Just keeping you on your toes,” Neal said as he ran away, jumping back into the pool with a noisy and wet ‘splash’.

Gold was awake now. He had somehow fallen asleep in the warm sun at the poolside. The days were hot and the usually adequate temperature town of Storybrooke was now in the middle of an intense summer heat wave. He himself couldn’t even bear his usual 3 piece suit and had limited his own poolside dress to either a suit vest or a ¾ sleeve button up: it was that hot.

School was out, there was no need for his son to go to summer school and due to the smallness of the town there weren't many summer programs. So, most of the days, Gold took his son to the public pool at the town’s rec center to get his energy out and to cool down. There were a few things that he as an adult could do, but most days he just brought a book and read while his son splashed in the water with his friends. Besides, he didn’t trust others like Miss French, the lifeguard, to be in charge of the safety of his son when she had about 60 others to watch over.

He knew that soon enough, he was going to have to relinquish some of his control and trust his son to make smart decisions for himself. But for now, gazing up from his book every now and then to make sure he saw his son’s head floating above the water put him at ease.

Currently, his son’s favorite thing to do was doing fancy dives off the diving boards and had just discovered the tallest one in the deep end of the diving pool wasn’t as scary as it had been to him the previous year. He was proud of his son overcoming his fear but often had to tell him to be a bit more careful about running and how he was jumping. Even the lifeguard, who he thought so incompetent, had blown her whistle at his son a few times for running near the diving board. At least she had noticed that.

Baelfire was approaching the line for the diving board while he opened his book back up and continued reading where he left off. A few minutes later he heard the distinct yelp of his son followed by a weak splash of water.

Gold knew his son’s screams well, and he could usually distinguish a happy yell from an upset yell. The one that he had just heard hadn’t been a good one. He threw his book aside in a panicked manner, already knowing that something terrible had happened. Before he could even see what had happened to his son and get over to him, he saw the lifeguard, Belle French, jump off the lifeguard station and leap into the water. He rushed over to the diving area in a panic and looked into the water below. It looked like nothing. He couldn’t make out anyone under the rippling water, but he could tell that something had happened as the people in the pool were hanging onto the sides or frozen in their spot. A foggy pinkness appeared from under the deep water, followed by his son and Miss French emerging from the depths. Gold teetered on the edge of the pool, half wanting to leap in and help pull his son in and half not wanting to get in Miss French’s way and hindering her any further.

His son was pulled to safety and Gold helped pull his son out of the water. He tried to hold onto his son, who seemed unresponsive, but got pushed away from Miss French with a shove that made his unstable body buckle.

“Hey-”

The lifeguard was checking on his son and started to give him CPR. Oh, that’s why he had been shoved away, he had realized. She was trying to save his son. Baelfire looked so little lying unconscious on the concrete surrounded by a bunch of strangers. He was certainly too young to die?! He couldn’t have been under water for more than a minute. Only 5 minutes earlier, Bae had been poking at him to wake up! His eyes were fixated on his son, who was limp in a pile of blood and water. His eyes refused to leave until he heard his son sputtering and coughing up water. He opened his eyes, which were rolled back and made erratically strange movements. Gold found himself right by his son’s side again, the lifeguard finally out of the way.

“Papa?” his son asked, looking and sounding like he had just woken up. He attempted to get up but faltered.

“I can drive you to the hospital if you think it’s safe enough to move him to my car,” came a voice from the crowd that Gold identified as David Nolan, the town Sheriff.

“I suppose, but-” Miss French began to say.

“Is it or is it not fine?!” Gold demanded.

“I’m okay papa,” Baelfire said, getting to his knees. Gold hugged his son tightly to his chest.

They were only a few streets away from the hospital, three blocks away to be more precise. His son was awake and moving but still certainly needed to be checked out by a physician and given the clear. Gold looked at Miss French who gave him a nod and he helped his son to his feet, Bae was struggling a bit so he scooped his son up with some newly found strength and carried him to where Mr. Nolan was leading in the family sedan. Gold and Bae were in the backseat along with Mr. Nolan’s young daughter, who had tears streaming down her face and was sniffing wildly. It was then that Gold had noticed he had tears streaking down his own face.

When they arrived at the hospital, Baelfire was almost immediately taken into a room and was told that a doctor would see him shortly. The room was white and tiny and there was only one little chair and a bed for his son to sit on. Gold elected to stand up as he kept his son sitting on the bed. He was looking a little bit drowsy and was holding on to his father’s shirt. Gold now saw that his son was bleeding out from somewhere on his head. He didn’t dare investigate further, as he didn't want to hurt his son.

"How are you feeling?” he asked.

“I don’t feel that good,” Bae said meekly. “My hand really hurts too. I can’t move it.”

Gold hadn’t even noticed that there was anything wrong with his son’s hand. He had only noticed the blood coming from his head and the fact that his child had been unconscious. He did his best to keep a brave face and assured his son that the doctors would do what they could to help him and see what was wrong. It was the scariest thing in the world to almost have his son slip from his fingers like he almost just did.

About 15 minutes into waiting, a nurse did a quick examination and ordered some tests based on the results. Storybrooke was a small town and had an even smaller hospital staff, but thankfully there weren't too many emergency patients that day, so they soon were on the path to an almost all-day hospital trip. The thing that took the longest was the MRI scanner. It was a miracle that they even had the machine in the small town, but they did. Unfortunately, there were only a handful of people who knew how to operate the machine, and they were all preoccupied already. Gold was incredibly frustrated, but in the meantime there were other tests and procedures they had to go through. The X-ray technician, who also happened to be a dental hygienist on duty, got the results for them right away and let Gold know that his son’s wrist was most likely broken. Though they did have to wait for the doctor himself to come in and look at it.

The doctor came in almost 20 minutes later, but it had felt like hours. The doctor informed him that Bae had a mild concussion and had sprained his wrist

“Probably as a result of the fall,” the doctor said.

Bae was given a splint and a sling to keep him from moving his wrist, and they were given proper instruction on how to proceed. Gold had to unfortunately give David Nolan a phone call to let him know that they were done, since his car was still at the community pool. David had come out of a waiting room moments later. He had been at the hospital the whole time, explaining how he called his wife to pick up their daughter while he waited for them to finish up. Gold was glad of that and soon they all drove back to the community pool and got their own car to drive home. He couldn’t help but look at his son every 3 seconds as they made their way home.

<hr>

The following days, Gold had been on high alert as to his son’s well-being and Baelfire was well aware of this, asking for ice cream and things that Gold normally would give his son in moderation every few hours. The boy really knew how to play him, but still panicked from the previous ordeal, he gave into most of the demands.

There was a knock at the door: they hadn’t been expecting visitors and the Nolan family had just left from a visit a few hours ago. Gold went to the door to investigate, leaving his son alone by himself. He winced as he left, if this guy was a salesman or some church group, they were really going to feel his wrath. He opened the door to find the lifeguard, Belle French, at his doorstep. The darkness in his heart immediately lightened up, turning into warmth.

“Hello, Mr. Gold.” Belle said, “I just came by to check on Baelfire. I hope he’s doing alright.”

Gold, still suppressed at her being at his door, stood blankly.

“I just wanted to make sure that your son was okay. Nobody's heard a word from you regarding his condition and I haven’t stopped thinking about him! Please tell me he is alright!”

Gold’s mind caught up with his body. "He has a sprained wrist and a mild concussion. He was told to stay home for a while to heal up. I apologize that no word was sent out to you. It won’t happen again.”

“I sure hope not,” Belle said. “I’ve been moonlighting as a lifeguard during the summer for the past 4 years, and I’ve never had anything quite like that happen before!”

“It was an accident,” Gold justified, or at least this is what he’d been telling himself for the past few days to make sense of what had happened.

If only he had been paying more attention to his son and making sure that everything in the facility was safe. When he had questioned his son, all he said was that he slipped.

“Did you, by chance, see how my son got hurt?”

Belle paused and shifted uncomfortably for a moment.

“Yes. I must admit that I saw the whole thing. I just couldn’t reach him in time, I’m so sorry that this happened, and that I couldn’t prevent it. I just, I was far away and-”

“No need to apologize, I should be thanking you for saving my son’s life!”

Belle nodded.

“Well, I wanted to give you this gift basket and wish you two the best of luck and healing,” she said, shoving a well-put together basket in his hands. “I best be going now. I just wanted to hear for myself if your son was okay or not.”

Gold nodded slowly, accepting the present, dumbfounded at this woman’s kindness and big heart.

Belle swiftly walked back to her car as Mr. Gold stood on his doorstep, looking at her. She had just given a gift basket to the most feared man in Storybrooke, and he had thanked her for her help! Mr. Gold never thanked anyone. She had seen him around town and heard almost nothing but bad things about the man. Due to inheriting her late father and mother’s house, she never had many run-ins with Mr. Gold. She knew his son well from school as well as from the pool, but had never really interacted with the man himself besides a few choice occasions where he scolded her for not being more strict with the children making noise and running around the pool.

She had always taken her job as a lifeguard seriously but also remembered what it was like to be a child excited for summer. If only she had been more strict with Baelfire, maybe the accident was preventable. She was sure that Mr. Gold was going to hold a grudge against her for letting his precious and only son have an accident like that. She had told her friends about what had happened, and they told her she better watch out for Mr. Gold and that they wouldn’t put it past him if he sued her for negligence.

“What kind of person would do such a thing? There’s no way somebody would do something like that."

“He would, trust me.”

Two of her friends agreed and she spent two restless nights fearing the most feared man in Storybrooke. Yet another person he had under his grasp. She was legitimately nervous about Baelfire, as nobody had heard or seen him since the accident. The town sheriff, the one person at the pool she ever saw Gold somewhat talking to, hadn’t been in either. She asked around but nobody knew what had happened or heard from him since.

The one thing that everyone knew in Storybrooke, other than that Mr. Gold was one evil and ruthless sonofabitch, was that he lived in the bright pink house near the edge of town. The paint job was legendary and bold. When she first came to live in Storybrooke four years ago, she really admired the building, always wondering who lived in such a bold house as that. When she asked was one of the first times she heard about the famous old Mr. Gold who runs the pawnshop and also ruins lives in the sleepy little town.

She noticed Baelfire right away, as the librarian in charge of Storybrooke Elementary and Middle School. The child had such a unique name and she asked him about the history of it, remarking that she had never met someone with his name before. “Most people call me Bae or sometimes Bailey,” he said, shrugging as she checked out his books.

“You don’t like your name?” she had asked.

“I do, but it’s hard to say and a lot of people make fun of me for it.”

She nodded, understanding. From that day on, every time he came into the library she would say things like “How are you doing, Baelfire?” and “What kind of book are you getting today?” His class usually had library days once a week to get new books, but sometimes she saw him during lunch and recess time as well. He seemed to have 2 or 3 of the same friends but he was usually alone. Some children straight up seemed to ignore him or avoid him, but she had just chalked it up to kids being kids and kids being bullies. She inquired about it after seeing two children in a row change course down the aisle as soon as they saw him.

“Oh, that child’s the child of Mr. Gold,” one of the teachers in the teachers lounge told her. “A lot of children’s parents owe his father a lot of money, so they tell them to avoid antagonizing his son.”

“So they just don’t ever speak to him?” Belle asked, gobsmacked. “They don’t speak to this child because they owe his father rent money?”

“You don’t understand,” the teacher said, shaking her head. “If you anger Mr. Gold in any way, your head is on the chopping block and your life could be ruined. Nobody wants to teach his son in fear of his father’s wrath.”

Belle laughed, not knowing if this teacher was exaggerating or not. When she saw their blank expression she had a feeling they were for real.

“Oh, wow.”

“Yes, he’s never given a teacher too much trouble of course. He’s actually put a lot of his own money into this school for his son’s sake. But one time, when his kid was in pre-school and he had a meltdown, he got the teacher fired. We haven’t heard from her since.”

“Oh my," Belle said again.

“Anyway, just watch out what you say to the kid, alright?” The teacher warned.

“Don’t worry, I will,” Belle said.

She heeded the teacher's advice for about 2 weeks, but the child seemed harmless. He was very polite and very interested in reading. While the thought of his fearsome father was sometimes nagging her at the back of her mind, she decided to treat Baelfire as just a normal kid.

<hr>

Gold stood on his doorstep with the basket in hand and blinked, heading back upstairs to check on his son once more who was still on the same 15-minute episode of adventure time that he had been on when he left.

“The lifeguard came and got you a gift basket. She wanted to make sure that you were feeling well.”

“Really?!”

“Yes.” He set it on Baelfire’s dresser.

“She helped me,” Bae said.

“Yes, she saved you,” Gold said, warmly.

“How come you didn’t let her in? Aren’t we supposed to thank people when they give us things?”

His son had surprised him yet again. “Yes, you’re right. When you’re feeling better, we can both thank her together. So you need to get your strength up.”

“I feel fine,” Baelfire wined. “You’re the one who said I can’t go outside to play right now.”

“That’s because you have a cast on and have a wrist sprain. I’m afraid I’m going to have to keep you inside for awhile until the doctor says you're fine.”

“Papa, that’s no fun, it’s Summer!”

“Sorry, that’s the way it has to be.”

His son pouted but didn’t remark on anything further than that. They watched the rest of the episode and then Bae inquired if he could open the care package now. Gold had really wanted to see for himself what the lifeguard had given his son and make sure it was appropriate, but he nodded, anyway, trusting this woman he knew little to nothing about. Bae was overjoyed and tore at the clear plastic that was surrounding the basket. Gold could see a bunch of sweets and treats in the variety of chocolate and sours as well as a few other things, such as a hardcover children's book and another book that looked like it was a creative prompt-book. There was also a card which Bae was strangely excited about, due to him never receiving much mail addressed to him. Overall, the package was very age appropriate, thoughtful but not too extravagant. It basically was an activity to keep his son busy, which Gold was very happy for. That was probably the most thoughtful thing somebody had done for him in awhile. Again, Gold thought about how he ought to have done something for Belle instead of her doing something for him and his family. What should he do in return for her? He pondered as he saw his son look through the book, which was titled Percy Jackson, a book neither he or his son knew anything about. Perhaps they could read it together, though his son typically read things by himself nowadays.

After allowing his son to eat some of the candy, he asked his son if he wanted to read the book together. Bae nodded.

“Maybe as a bedtime story?”

Gold was still glad that his son wanted to do such things. He was nearly 10 and on a few occasions told him that he was too old for bedtime stories. His son was growing up so fast. He felt like his son was just a baby in his arms. He had devoted his whole life to Bae’s care and upbringing, that he almost didn’t know what he would do when his son left him. He was nearing his pre-teen, which meant in 3 years time he would be a teenager. Remembering his own teenage years, with his own terrible father, he was a little scared at raising a son when he had no idea what a normal way to raise a kid was like. The thought terrified him. All he knew was that when his son wanted or needed him now, he would be there.

<hr>

After putting his son to bed, Gold retired to his office to do a little bit more work before he went to bed. Since he had Bae home all day and was still paying most of his attention to make sure that nothing was going to go horrifically wrong, he had been saving most of his work for late at night, which meant little sleep for him. He thought more about what he should do to thank Miss French. Perhaps a cheque? Would that be out of line or too much? How could he even put a price tag on his son’s life? He could also thank her with dinner or perhaps a gift basket in return, but he really didn’t know about that. He only knew that he had to do something. Gold finished up the rest of his work and then went to lay in bed, his mind restless and not letting him sleep.

The next morning, he made pancakes and his son and him sat at the kitchen table.

“Can we at least go for a walk, Papa?” Bae asked

Gold grimaced. Walking for the sake of walking was something he didn’t like too much, due to his ankle. It got sore rather easily when he walked for more than 30 minutes straight, but he agreed to it. It was good to get his son fresh air if he was asking for it. He took his good cane with him and the two set off, deciding to walk on the nearby sidewalk and just around the neighborhood.

His son was doubly fast as him and often went off ahead alone, only to come back to his father. The boy had a lot of energy in him, and he had been cooped up for some time inside. Perhaps they should drive into town to walk, Gold supposed. The walk ended up being 40 minutes, and Gold was rather hot and sore by the end of it, while his son was unfazed. Exercise was something Gold should probably do more often, but the trouble was that his ankle killed him when he did most activities and he was pretty skinny and healthy, overall. He did know that he had a family history of heart trouble, and he wanted to be there for his son. Frankly, after his walk, he was a little more than a bit concerned about how winded he was from the walk. He never really went that far, so perhaps that was his main cause for concern.

He ended up taking his son to town the next day, where they planned on driving past the aquatics center to give Belle a Thank You card for the basket as well as for saving Bae’s life. It turned out that she was not working at the time, but the lifeguard on duty told them that she would be on the following day.

“Or you can leave the stuff with me. I can put it in the break room?”

“We’ll be back tomorrow,” Gold said.

He was always more of a person to do things in person than through a third party, which was part of the reason he collected rent by going to each and everyone’s house. Rent was due in a few days and he was still deciding the best route on how to deal with Bae. The usual babysitter who watched his son was out of town and summer camp had already ended. He was going to have to find a new babysitter or ask a favor of the only people who were nice to him and his son: the Nolan’s, who had already done so much for him lately. He could always take Bae along with him, which he did sometimes when he had the pawnshop open or had to do a few errands, but his kid was already cooped up and miserable. The babysitter he regularly used was recommended by a mutual business acquaintance, but he had no idea how to go about inquiring about a new sitter who had reputable character. He asked the Nolan family, as well as his regular babysitter named Margot, if they knew anyone who could possibly watch his son and they both recommended the same person: Alice Jones.

Gold met with the temporary babysitter a little bit before trying to catch Belle at the pool again. The babysitter was 20 minutes early and sitting in her car before he figured out who was loitering in front of his house. His first impression of her was that she was a little bit odd, but she seemed sufficient and kind enough to watch Bae for the afternoon when he went around collecting the rent the next day. It wasn't like he had much choice in the matter, and his son seemed to like her.

He told her that he would see her tomorrow and then left with Baelfire to swing by the pool. This time, Belle was indeed there. She was so focused on the children in the pool, she didn't realize Gold coming to her side with their little thank you gift in hand.

“Miss French,” Gold said, as he handed Belle the small thank you basket. “A little token of my appreciation.”

“Oh my.”

She looked at the basket in hand and then out to the water as she got down from her lifeguard tower to reach for it.

“Thank you so much,” she said cheerily.

“Thank you for saving my son.”

“Yeah, thanks for saving me,” said Baelfire.

“No problem!”

“I didn’t mean to interrupt you at work,” Gold said, “but I didn’t know any other way to contact you. I take it your house isn't as pink and noticeable as mine.”

Belle laughed. “You didn’t have to go through the trouble."

Some kids were beginning to roughhouse and Belle had to blow her whistle at them.

“I’ll let you get going then,”

“Thank you,” said Belle. “I hope to see Baelfire in the pool again before the end of the year if he’s able too,” she smiled.

“We’ll see.” With that, the Golds departed. He had done his duty.

<hr>

The next day Gold was rushed and panicked, trying to get all of the paperwork and receipts ready to try and hurry up and calculate all the rent in one go. He had been neglecting his work the past week, due to his son and he thought he was ready to collect rent but he was far from it. It seemed that he was going to run a little into overtime. Before Alice, the temporary babysitter, even came early that morning, Gold sent her a quick text asking if she could stay a little bit longer than he previously had asked if need be. Strangely the girl was already awake even though the sun was still coming out and informed him that she was free the whole day and would be willing to stay a little bit extra. This was the most relieving thing he had heard all day…

Alice arrived early once again, and Gold gave her the rundown before setting off to drop by his neglected pawn shop, which hadn’t been open all week. It was really more of his office than a legitimate business, but he still was sad that he hadn’t really had business hours in awhile. Usually, he stayed in the building an hour before he went to collect rent because sometimes residents liked going to him first before he came to them.

Baelfire was still asleep when he set off, though he usually made sure his son was awake at a reasonable time, he told Alice to let him sleep in as long as he wanted to make it easier on her.

Getting in the door to the pawnshop there was already some poor soul waiting for him to open up who was asking for a rent extension as they had emergency expenses that month. Gold actually gave it to them, as he wasn’t in the mood to argue when he still had so much work to do before doing the first rounds of collections. Three more people came in for other various issues that he quickly resolved, and then he began his first rounds of collections, which took about an hour and a half before heading back to the pawnshop. Nobody liked rent day, not even him.

After getting about a third of his total rent collected, he was back at his shop and getting pretty hungry, realizing that he hadn’t remembered to pack himself anything as he had left in a hurry. He resolved to eat at Granny’s Diner before he started collecting more rent in that area.

The bell to Granny's rang as he walked into the building, as usual eyes turned his way.

“I’m here for the rent. I’m also here for my usual.”

He sat down at his usual booth and the Red woman, who usually helped him, gave him a tall glass of iced tea with a lemon slice.

“I’ll be back with your burger and the rent money, Mr. Gold.”

He nodded and pulled out his phone, contemplating asking for an update on his son. He was sure that Alice would tell him if anything was wrong and didn't want to seem too overprotective of his son. If almost like magic, Alice contacted him, giving him a short update on his son saying that Bae was doing well and asked if she could take him outside for a walk. He responded back and then his food came. Halfway through the meal, he saw Miss French walking his way. He hadn’t even seen her enter the building. She quietly walked up to him and stood right by his booth, looking down at him as he was finishing up chewing a bite of food.

“Can I help you?”

“May I sit down?” she asked.

“Be my guest,” he motioned to the other side of the bench.

“Mr. Gold," she said, her voice low in case anyone was listening. “Um, I came here to talk to you about something.”

“What is it?”

“Um, that 'gift' that you gave me,” she slid him an envelope. “It was too much.”

She was talking about the cheque he had put in his thank you card. He had given it some thought and was determined that she would appreciate some money as a thank you for saving his son’s life. Perhaps he had thought wrong.

“I can’t believe it,” she started to say. “I had this sitting on the floor by my station the entire shift,” she exclaimed. “I can’t accept this.”

“I don’t mean to make you uncomfortable,” he said. “My apologies," he said, taking the envelope and sliding it in his breast pocket. "Will half the sum be more to your liking?”

“No! I just....” she paused trying to catch her words. “I can’t accept your money.”

“Fine. But is there anything I can do for you instead. I really can’t let my debt go unpaid. You saved my son’s life, after all.”

“You don’t owe me anything, really.”

“I insist.” Belle wavered and then her whole face lit up. “It seems you do have something in mind.”

“Well,” Belle started. “If you do ‘insist’ perhaps you can make a donation, a ‘small’ donation," she clarified, "to the school library or the summer swimming program. I’m sure the kids at Bae’s school would appreciate some new books and improved conditions.”

This woman was amazing. This woman was selfless. He was in awe.

“Done. On one condition,”

“What’s that?”

“You have to let me do something for you and you personally.”

“What?”

“You heard me.”

“Umm…” Belle wavered. “You can enroll in my swimming class. I can always use a few more people.”

She eyed him and could tell he wasn’t going to buy that request as being selfless.

“Fine. You can help me with my sink. I know you’re a landlord who has a few contractors under your thumb and my sink’s been leaking. I haven’t gotten a plumber to come and look at it yet, but I’m pretty sure it needs work. If one of your guys could swing by and check it out, I’d appreciate it.”

“Consider it done. That’s all you want? Many folks don’t get the opportunity to ask me for things, so please take this into consideration.”

“Yes. That’s it. A donation to the school library and my sink.”

Gold nodded. “I’ll need to know your address and I can have it taken care of when it’s convenient for you.”

“Sure. Let me text you my address.”

The rest of the rent collecting went well that day. Gold came home to find his son in great spirits, and he said he had a lot of fun with the new babysitter. Belle still hadn't texted him, but it still hadn't even been a full day.

About a full day later, while Gold was pouring through some of the logbooks he was working on, he found his phone had begun to ring. It was a call, not a text, a call! He picked it up and heard the soft timbre of Belle's voice.

“Hi.”

“Are you calling regarding the plumbing?”

“Yes. Do you think you can have someone come over on Friday and take a look at my sink? That’s my next day off, and I should be home most of the day.”

Gold only had one man working on Fridays, and he hoped it wouldn’t be an issue.

“That’s fine," he said. Do you have a preference in time? Earlier in the day or later?”

“How about 11?”

“We can make that work,” Gold said, not hesitating. “Are there any pets that he might have to worry about?”

“Just my cat, but he shouldn’t be any issue.”

“Alright. I’ll send somebody out on Friday to the address you texted me. Thank you, Miss French.”

“Sounds good, and thank you for doing this for me, Mr. Gold, I really appreciate it.”

She hung up and Gold immediately called the plumber on duty for that day and informed him to clear his schedule and take emergencies only because he had a special job for him.

Friday morning came and around 10 am he got a call from his plumber.

“Mr. Gold, there’s a septic emergency at the Glass Tower Apartment buildings. A bunch of the apartments are backing up and leaking, well, you know. The bad stuff. I called the other 2 guys to help me. It looks like it’s going to take awhile.”

Gold was upset at this news, mostly because one of his apartment buildings was apparently flooding with shit, but he was also upset due to the fact that he had to cancel the one small favor Belle had asked of him. Perhaps he could go and check out the problem himself. After all, he used to have to worry about building repairs when he didn’t have the income to afford to hire his own handymen. If the problem was too great to solve, he could always have one of his men look at it once the bigger problem was solved. Or just hire another outside plumber if she needed work asap. Going over to suss out the situation was the best course, especially because she expected him in an hour.

After a change of clothes, dressing in one of his less nice suits and putting on an undershirt, in case the problem was really bad, he headed over to Belle’s at precisely 11.

“Oh,” she said. “Mr. Gold. I wasn’t expecting you.”

“Nor was I,” he said coming into the building. “There was an emergency in one of my buildings that required all 3 of my plumbers. I’m sure it will be the talk of the town in a few hours.”

“Oh my, I hope everything is alright.”

“It’s alright, but I’m afraid there is only me to look at your sink today. I apologize and will leave if you want to wait for the plumbers on a different day.”

“I mean, you’re already here, might as well see what you can do. I tried to fix it myself but I don’t really know where Papa kept his tools and I’m 90% sure you’ll need tools to fix the problem I’m having.”

“That’s why I came prepared,” Gold said, raising his dusty old tool box. Belle nodded. “I used to do some sort of this stuff back in the day. I mostly know what I’m doing, but it’s been awhile. Can you please lead me to the problem?”

“Certainly, follow me.”

Belle led him to the kitchen and opened up the underneath of her sink up for him. There was a bucket collecting water and a long strip of crafting duct tape with a colorful rose pattern, holding things together.

“There’s a leak,” she explained. “It’s not a lot of water, and I can’t figure out exactly the source. I’ve been kind of putting it off, but it’s just gotten worse.”

“I see.”

Gold took off his suit jacket and bent down, in a bit of a painful way. He really hadn’t the need to bend like this in most cases. He used one of the dryer towels that was under the sink as support for his knees. He worked at removing the tape and then went digging through his tool box. Hopefully, the issue was a simple one, such as tightening a bolt or something. He tried the simple fixes first, until he was satisfied with his work. Belle was lingering looking at him the whole time, asking if she could do anything to help. When he was ready, he asked her to turn on the water and was met with a full on spray of water in his face.

“Oh God! I'm so sorry, Mr. Gold!”

He lurched back suddenly at full force, soaking wet and uncomfortable.

“Shit!”

He lay there in his puddle, uncomfortable and soaked and then did something almost unexpected as his uncharacteristic cursing: he stifled a laugh. This whole situation was all so ridiculous.

“I’m so sorry,” Belle began laughing a bit as well after she heard him laughing a bit more. “Let me get you a clean towel.”

Gold lay there on the floor, a little sore as Belle walked off. Oh, he definitely looked like a fool, but he somehow didn’t care in Belle’s presence. He should have left it for the professionals, but he just felt like he had to do something for her! He attempted to get up, a little sore, unused to lurching back the way he did.

Belle came back to the room with a towel and held him up without asking, which he was grateful for. She helped him to the kitchen chair and he began to dry himself off.

“So it looks like the leak is a bit more of a problem than I expected.”

“Appears so.”

“I’m so sorry, Mr. Gold,” she apologized, for the third time.

“Don’t mention it to anybody else ever and I’ll call us square for squirting me in the face with sink water.”

“Deal.”

“It’s safe to say, the problem is beyond my help. I can help you put the tape back on, but you’ll probably have to avoid using that sink until I can get a real plumber to look at it.”

“Eat takeout tonight so I don’t use the sink, got it,” Belle answered.

“That will do.”

He started to unbutton his wet shirt a bit without care. She had already seen him soaking wet and his attire at the pool. Besides, he and his shirt would dry faster if he took it off for just a bit. He wasn’t a blushing exposed maiden, after all. Besides, he still had his undershirt on.

After a few moments of rest, he got up to help Belle clean the water from the floor and he winced. She turned her head.

“Did you need some ibuprofen or something.”

“That’d be great.”

He had made her get up again to go get him something. He felt bad. She returned to the room and went to grab him a cup of water, turning on the sink.

“Stop-”

More water splashed on the floor, albeit just a little drop.

“Oh. Guess this is a lot harder than it looks to stay away.” She handed him the glass.

He took the pills down and then stiffly crouched to the floor to help her clean the mess.

After everything was dry, they sat down at the table where his shirt lay.

“This was quite the experience.”

“Trust me, if I told any of my friends how I have come to know you and what we’ve been through, they wouldn’t believe me.”

He nodded. “You certainly haven’t seen me at my best.”

She laughed a bit. “I never would have imagined you being the way you are. I mean, I’ve only seen you around town here and there. You’re not too bad, Gold.”

“Well you’re not too bad yourself.”

“I didn’t mean it like that, sorry.”

“It’s fine. I know what people say. Sometimes I believe myself to be the most hated man in Storybrooke.”

“I don’t think that’s true,” Belle started to say.

“Name one other person people hate more.”

Belle thought for a moment. “The Mayor!” Gold let out a short stifle of a laugh. “See! You agree with me.”

“I suppose.”

“See, I don’t really have to deal with you too much. The Mayor on the other hand, she keeps on trying to de-fund the school and library. I feel like I have to argue and fight with her once a week cause everyone else is too afraid to confront her.”

“You’re pretty brave, this is a secret: but she’s even known to frighten me on occasions.”

“Together we can probably stand strong together.”

“Yes.”

Belle gave him a smile.

After a few more long minutes of chatting Gold had offered to take Belle out for dinner, “It’s only fair,” he explained. “You can’t really cook or do dishes today because of me. I possibly made your sink worse than before.”

“It’s fine,” Belle said.

“I insist. What do you want to eat?”

“I dunno. Takeout is fine.”

“Takeout?”

“Yeah. We don’t have to go anywhere and sit down or anything. Takeout still results in no dishes or prep-work that needs a sink. Besides, me and you look pretty scruffy from the sink debacle earlier. People would talk if they saw me together, all ruffled up and stuff.”

Gold actually felt his cheeks redden. “Takeout is fine, Miss French.”

Perhaps this could be the start of something spectacular and new...?

#RCIJ #Rumbelle fic #ryik-the-writer #rumbelle #ouat #my fic #ty to katillac25 for beta work!

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