eliaschase-blog

[eliaschase-blog]

▋✘ ∷ GABRIEL CALDWELL

He was never allowed to have a dog when he was a kid, something about allergies and his father’s dislike of animals in general. Somehow he had a feeling that this one knew that just by sniffing at his pant-leg after he had cornered it between the fence and the rosebush. What little he knew about dogs could probably only half-fill a matchbox, and this thing could tell, he knew it could by the way it merrily went back to clawing at his begonias after he had yelled at it. “Hey! Don’t you just go walkin’ off on me, dog! I’m talking to you, you…” Gabe said, sputtering as he searched for a proper insult to use on a bushy tailed animal that was snoot deep in the mulch again. “Trespassin’ fleabag, that’s what you are.” Normal people would have grabbed the dog’s collar by now, but he wasn’t sure that was advisable, even if it seemed like a fairly good natured creature. He liked his hands intact, quite frankly. Sort of needed them to make his living, but luckily he was saved the trouble of finding a solution to the problem by the appearance of someone else through the broken panel of fence. Someone that the dog knew, if the tail wagging was any indication. “This your dog, dude? Out here diggin’ my yard half to hell?” 

     most of the time, zeus was a good dog.  his german shepherd had become a constant companion since elias took him home three years ago. however, despite no longer being a puppy, he tended to act like it more often than not. this was the first time that the animal had escaped him & ran away. eli had been sidetracked by a bit of yard work when zeus hopped the fence in hopes of tracking down some sort of animal. a squirrel, or a rabbit———— he wasn’t really sure. he only saw zeus’ wagging tail in the distance a little too late. eli had never had trouble with zeus hopping the fence before, but now he was starting to thing he needed to re-think the structure of his back yard to keep this from happening again. he took off into a sprint to chase after him, catching up with him in someone else’s yard and digging. ——  hell, he thought that he was done dealing with digging.      ❝ i’m sorry about that. he took off before i realized & i only just now was able to catch up with him.  —— you’d think he was still a pup with the way he acts sometimes. ❞

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▋✘ ∷ BRAN WRIGHT

As per usual, Bran was spending his half hour break from delivering pizza’s at Mother Dough loitering out back behind the dumpsters, smoking a joint and watching YouTube videos on his phone. He sometimes contemplated the thought of just staying inside and eating at the little employee break table wedged in the back office like everyone else (if only to escape the never ending Louisiana humidity) but… He liked the seclusion, out here. At work, he hardly ever got time to himself, what with dealing with customers and deliveries and his (usually rather obnoxious) coworkers, so, he tended to latch onto whatever solitude he could scrounge up. 

Taking a heavy drag from the blunt pinched between his fingers, he thumbed to a new video, silently counting down the seconds until he released the smoke from his lungs, eyes watering slightly. Adjusting his headphones, Bran settled back more comfortably against the retaining wall that separated the trash compactor from the parking lot and pressed “Play.”

     opposed to delivery, sometimes elias preferred to pick up his pizza.  he didn’t live far from the pizzeria, and sometimes it was a nice enough day for a walk. exiting the building with a pizza in hand, eli weaved through the crowded street and ducked down into an alleyway. he sometimes took a bit of a short cut behind the building to get home. he wasn’t used to seeing people back there though, and eli’s walking slowed as he noticed the individual sitting near the dumpsters. not the most pleasant place to sit, if you ask elias, but it wasn’t him having to suffer through the louisiana humidity next to a dumpster. normally, he’d carry on walking, but as he recognized said individual, elias couldn’t help but change the track he was talking & head in that direction.           over the years, elias had certain students that he.... well, picked on, in a sense. it wasn’t a negative sort of picking on, though. ————  he was just good at spotting the ones that were wasting their potential. sometimes, he was successful at getting them to turn it around, but more often than he liked to admit, he had to watch the student either drop out or go no where after graduating. bran wright had been one of those students.   ❝ so this is the big exciting life you’ve chosen for yourself, then. ❞

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▋✘ ∷ LENA QUEEN

         she sat on the floor for a moment, still a bit dazed by all that went on, but it all came back to her slowly. she remembered she was in the grocery store, that there was someone helping her take the boxes off of her and it caused her to do the same. lena stood up, brushing herself off and checking to see if she received any damage, knowing that some of the boxes on the floor held dents in the packaging. noting the honey smacks caused the artist to make a face, clearly disgusted that such a gross cereal would do this to her. “i’m more of a cocoa puffs girl myself, so this was clearly a war tactic from the honey smacks,” she laughed, shaking her head as she grabbed her cart. “it’s okay, though, but understandable since you’d think that if i did any sports i might have not fallen on the ground.” lena turned to the person she was talking to, she didn’t know him but she does remember seeing him around town. you don’t see someone like that and forget about them. “someone will be around to clean this up, right?”

      while he was sure they had some sort of system, he did feel bad about the disarray.  of course, it would be one thing for all of the boxes to have fallen because of someone trying to grab one & bringing them all down. in this case, it appeared that something was uneven & they came down on themselves. or perhaps even someone else had caused it on the next aisle over. he hadn’t witnessed the entire thing, so he could be wrong, but based on what he had heard afterwards, he was assuming he wasn’t.    ❝ a war tactic, or maybe some sort of jealousy tactic. seems as if the honey smacks have reached their limit of the cocoa puffs being chosen over them. i’m not sure anyone sporty could have survived the revenge of the honey smacks.  ——  i’d think so. i feel kind of bad leaving a mess.... but if the cereal box waterfall happened on it’s own, seems like it’s more their territory than ours. ❞

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▋✘ ∷ BO BONDURANT

    he hoped his cheeks weren’t turning red. he really fucking hoped that. what possibly caused that… thing were the other people that passed them and saw his embarrassment. normally he did things by himself, but this time, he was real happy the man had stayed to help him - somehow it made all of this little less of a disaster.

    “probably, yeah, i’d think these sort of things - shitty customers leavin’ messes - make a retail worker’s day at work even worse.” he looked the man first time in the eyes. he was nice. bo had no reason to be unpolite. he was a southerner, after all. he even smiled, for real, this time. “no reason for guilt. thank you. i think all the boxes are back on the shelf now.”  

     elias wasn’t often embarrassed. he had gotten himself into situations before that he didn’t necessarily care to be in, but he wasn’t one who was easily embarrassed. he had grown tired of worrying about how others felt about him over the years———— which made him sound older than he really was. he was not in a career that would do well if he were easily embarrassed either. teenagers & parents alike would constantly scrutinize him.       ❝ it takes a special person to handle working in retail, but sometimes even those people reach that ‘i’ve had enough’ level. i try not to get ‘em to that point.  ——  happy to help. ❞

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e. chase

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▋✘ ∷ BO BONDURANT

       bo still kept his eyes on the floor, and the damned boxes, when he tried to get them back to the shelf as quickly as possible. he was so fucking ashamed, that he wouldn’t look the person that had come aid him. 

    “yeah,” he muttered. “it would be kinda dick move to leave these lyin’ ‘round, so, thanks, though t’was my clumsiness that got them scattered.” bo gave a lopsided smile, more of a smirk actually, that certainly didn’t reach his eyes. not that it was noticeable - he still didn’t look up. he hated looking people in the eyes. “so you’re just bein’ a good person.”

      was he a good person? typically, elias liked to think of himself as a good person. he hadn’t always thought that way, and more often than not, he thought others were better people than he was. elias helped him stock the boxes onto the shelf, and he could tell that the other was incredibly embarrassed by it. the accident had garnered a bit of attention, but luckily some looked & left right away after a sympathetic look.     ❝ i’m sure the people who work here will be appreciative too, since it wasn’t something on their agenda to do today. —— i wasn’t much help before, so i feel a bit guilty that i didn’t catch it in time. ❞

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▋✘ ∷ AJ AYERS

She winced, nothing to do with her own injuries. “Ouch. Was? Still no sighting?” AJ didn’t want to think of how distraught she’d be if someone took off with her Harley. She didn’t consider herself a material being, but she loved that bike. She imagined that replacing it would’ve been like replacing a beloved pet who’d passed. It would’ve felt wrong. She nodded. “She does have her tantrums, especially now. It’s getting old.” she admitted, reluctantly. 

She turned to better face him, unable to fully fight the small grimace the movement elicited. AJ could’ve predicted that Elias would see through her weakly-constructive narrative. “You know how that place gets.” She offered by way of explanation, forcing a tiny shrug. “Someone starts swinging, the whole bar’s up in arms.” She had never been a great liar. Even her slight variations of the truth were transparent, despite her best efforts.

           there came the slip. the reveal that his bike was still missing in action & would most likely continue to be. if it wasn’t found yet, there was no way it would be——— especially after all of the flooding that oakland recently faced. it wasn’t a priority for the police anymore after the floods ( and probably really wasn’t that much of a priority in the first place—— he doubted motorcycle theft was a huge priority over some other crimes ), and no doubt the fact it was still gone would dwindle the amount of time they would look for it.    ❝ sadly, she’s still missing. no one seems to be responding to my missing posters i strategically placed around town. ❞   the second part was a JOKE, of course. he had to make light of it in some way.     he still wasn’t sold on her explanation. he found it hard to believe that some of the other customers wouldn’t have stood up for her if someone started swinging. ❝ gonna keep rolling with that story then? ❞

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▋✘ ∷ AJ AYERS

A soft laugh came from the girl - something she immediately regretted - at his guesses. “My bike and I have an understanding.” She said, tone almost playful with her indigence. She’d had the thing for over a decade and had had the fortune to never have any serious incidents with it. There were a few minor bumps and bruises along the line - just enough to remind her to fear the machine. “Nah. Just some drunk. Some people can’t hold their liquor. I’m alright though, handsome. No worries.” The girl was omitting a few details - like that ‘some drunk’ was a few grown men passing through town on the way to New Orleans. She knew it would do no good to pass that information along, though, especially when the situation was already dealt with. 

     similar to aj and her bike, elias and aj themselves have an understanding when it comes to bikes.  sadly, his bike was still missing, and he doubted he would ever see it again. he had the funds to buy a new one, but it wouldn’t be nearly as nice as his former bike.   ❝ an understanding, sure —— but if yours is anything like what mine was, it can still have it’s temper moments. ❞  he raised a brow again, this time due to being unsure how truthful she was being. she was awfully beat up for just ‘some drunk.’     ❝ one drunk did all of that? ❞

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▋✘ ∷ AJ AYERS

It was a rare occasion when breaking up a bar fight went south on her. She had found herself suddenly short-staffed, and made the mistake of trying to interrupt a fight that had gotten well out of control. Instead of calling the police, the small girl had made an attempt to end it herself. She hadn’t had trouble taking on grown men in the past, and she let her hubris get the best of her. She had considered laying low for a few days until the bruising faded, but the stubborn girl had decided to go out and about the morning after, headache be damned. She felt eyes lingering on her as she took a seat on a nearby bench. “It’s not as bad as it looks.”

      'it’s not as bad as it looks.’  eli lost track of how many times he’s heard that before, but this was the first time those words were heard coming from aj. a raised brow and slight concern—— only slight, because he also knew aj was capable of taking care of herself—— were covered his face. he waited a moment before responding, trying to figure out if he should inquire immediately about where they came from or just wait for her to come out with it herself.  ❝ not that bad, huh?  you look like you got hit by a truck, or you weren’t able to stay put on your bike.  maybe even both. ❞

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▋✘ ∷ LENA QUEEN

       it was supposed to be a very quick in and out trip. they were running low on some key foods, such as milk and bread, and lena had a serious craving for ice cream. but as soon as she stepped foot in the market, lena found herself going down all the aisles and picking out all different kinds of food. it was a bad idea to go in hungry. she was on her way out of the cereal aisle when she heard a voice calling out, next thing she knew she was on the ground and boxes of cereal covered her. she sat there, dazed for a moment, rubbing her head where a corner of a box hit her hard. “jeez, it really is a danger to my health to come here.” she looked up towards the person who called out to her, offering a smile, “thank you for the warning, even if it was a little late.”

       he had tried, and while it had been a failure, he knew he could at least do something now.  she was now covered in boxes of cereal, the loudness of the event now causing quite a lot of attention. eli moved a little closer, trying to help uncover some of the boxes as quickly as he could so she’d be able to get up. he shoved them off to the side, not so concerned for restocking them on the shelves. no doubt that someone who actually worked there had heard the ruckus & would be there any moment. he was sure the people who worked there had some sort of system—— and in turn, this wouldn’t have happened if something wasn’t wrong on their end as well. cereal boxes don’t just fall for no reason. elias scanned over the boxes to see that a good portion of them were honey smacks.    ❝ danger to your health? sounds about right. i’m pretty sure honey smacks are one of the more unhealthy cereals.  ——  i was a little bit slow to the punch. that’s probably why i never played a whole lot of sports. ❞

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▋✘ ∷ BO BONDURANT

       bo absolutely hated grocery store visits. was it the feeling everyone was looking at him, or the fact he still sucked at picking groceries even if he’d been the one to, you know, handle the whole cooking business for the past fifteen years. this time was no different - he was boiling with anger, frustration and all the feelings alike when he slowly walked to the isle full of cereal boxes. his father had a very distinct taste which made cooking and shopping even more difficult. there was like ten things he agrees to eat, and rice krispies where one of them. much to bo’s bad luck, there was only one box left, on the top shelf, so he needed to reach for it. just as he was tiptoeing to get the damn box, his elbow hit a pile of lucky charms, and in a full domino-effect, like in slow-mo, they tumbled down and scattered all around the isle. even more embarrassing was the fact someone’d seen it; bo had heard the warning just as the boxes had began to fell.

       “typical,” he muttered to himself, bending down to start picking the boxes up. “you don’t gotta help or anythin’, this is embarrasin’ enough already.”

       he had tried to warn him. unfortunately, elias simply wasn’t quick enough. he hadn’t turned the corner quick enough to catch sight of the mountain of cereal that was about to crash down, but whose to say he would have been any use at all? there wasn’t much hesitation behind the domino effect that came along with cascading cereal. while elias hadn’t been much help prior, he could be of some help now. he didn’t really know the man, but he wasn’t one for walking away in cases like this. despite the fact that he was told that he didn’t need to help, elias started waved it off & attempted to pick up a few of the stray boxes that he could find. there wasn’t any store workers nearby, but no doubt any store worker wouldn’t be happy about it. they have quite enough to worry about, he suspected.      ❝—— really, i don’t mind. another set of hands will make clean up easier, yeah? ❞

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        visiting the market in oakland, whether it be for a prolonged trip or a quick in & out one, had the tendency to be hazardous at times. in a small town, it was likely you’d run into someone you knew. in a small town where you had been a teacher for several years before eventually becoming the principal, it was even more likely that you’d run into someone you knew. high school students either ducked & pretended not to see him, or they’d come right up to talk to him. the less desirable interactions were with parents——— but only a certain type of parent. in the short time that elias had been weaving through the aisles of the store ( only to pick up a few things that just happened to be spread throughout the store ), he hadn’t managed to run into anyone he knew. the most excitement so far had happened just in that moment, turning the corner & watching an avalanche of cereal boxes begin to fall on an unsuspecting individual       ❝ watch out—— ❞        too late.

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▋✘ ∷ SCOUT DONOVAN

“It could certainly be useful, in the case of forgetting to eat or drink something. Then you’d be able to easily warm it back up, that is if you could control it.” Scout responded in agreement. “Though if you couldn’t, it could easily wind up exploding everywhere and that would be quite a mess.” The blonde scrunched her face in a grimace at the thought of hot coffee splattering everywhere. 

         if he could have any power, her certainly hadn’t considered warming things up again. elias was guessing that there was a fancier term for the ‘warming food up’ power, but it didn’t come to mind easily & he didn’t care enough to need it to be known immediately. he could see the usefulness of it — in fact, it was a rather practical ability — but if he was able to choose, he probably would pick something else.        ❝ i think if i were able to pick a power, i’d probably go with ...——flight, i think. ❞    

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▋✘ ∷ DINAH HAMILTON

     “great! i was actually about to head out to the north end with some heat blankets and candles since some people got their power cut out, want to join?”

         ❝  sure, i can do that! — i can help with whatever’s needed. ❞

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▋✘ ∷ DINAH HAMILTON

     “we just want to help out, there’s been a lot of suffering during this flood, after all. did you need a care package or are you here to volunteer?”

          ❝ i’m on the volunteer end. — minor flooding in the basement, but nothing extremely terrible. ❞

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▋✘ ∷ JULIEN BARBOS

“Same here man, I’m tryna avoid getting soaked but I’m worried about all de brand new parts we just got over at de shop. All this friggin’ flooding could hurt de business big time.”

           ❝ floods can kill people though too.  might be worth it to stay safe than to risk it for some parts. ❞