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ianfm​:

Ian’s life had changed in an instant. The moment he woke up in his hospital bed he was a changed person. The horror he’d experienced hadn’t even settled in his brain yet. His focus felt like it was on everything and nothing all at once and the heavy painkillers he was on didn’t help him find any clarity right now. All he knew for certain right now was that he was in pain and he hated every night he had to lay his head back down on the thin, sterile hospital pillow. 

The hardest part of it all was that he felt he couldn’t even rest. Every time he felt he got comfortable in bed he was being forced to walk around and move his aching body. It felt like torture and all Ian wanted to do was be home. He’d never been a patient before but staying in a hospital was shaping up to be even worse than he’d always feared. Ian had already hit his threshold for the day and he had way to many waking hours left. He hurt and was discouraged and he had to remove himself from his room before he snapped at his partner solely because he was the only person there with him. Besides it was about time someone would be forcing him to get up and walk around anyways. 

Ian had no destination in mind as he shuffled down the hall. Even though his legs were fine his body was still sore everywhere and his ribs ached anytime he breathed. He needed a change of scenery as much as he did to move and he only made it down to the nearest smoking area before he realized he needed to rest. He’d barely made it to a halt when he started Jesse which in turn startled Ian even more. Ian winced as if he expected something else to come from having startled him. “Sorry,” he apologized going a little pale in the face any sudden movements hurt and while he would’ve loved to have apologized more coherently but his focus was on keeping himself upright. 

Every time Jesse thought about how the people who got attacked might look, he felt a little bit nauseous. He’d heard enough gossip around the mall the know that even the ones who were technically still fine had gotten it pretty bad. Still, that didn’t stop some of the color draining from his face when he turned to fully face Ian. 

“Jesus fucking christ,” he mumbled under his breath before he could really stop himself. His eyes pinched closed as he reached up to squeeze the bridge of his nose. “Fuck. Sorry.” Jesse let out a deep breath as he opened eyes. “There’s nothing for you to be sorry about. I’m just...jumpy lately.” An eyebrow raised as he lowered his cigarette and reached his free hand out slowly. “You look like shit,” he stated flatly as he carefully placed a hand on Ian’s arm to help steady him. 

“You alright?” He looked around for a moment; trying to make eye contact with any nurse. Anyone really. “You wanna sit down or somethin?”

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--open starter @shrikestart {at shrike hospital}

It wasn’t like Jesse wanted to be at the hospital in the first place. Hell. Even when he probably needed to go to the hospital he would barely ever really do it. The whole place was way too sterile and it smelled...off. It was one of those places where bad vibes just tended to swirl around if you believed in that stuff. Maybe he did.

It still felt wrong to leave when everywhere he looked, there seemed to be someone he knew from the mall filtering in and out. Visiting or going home looking exhausted. He was feeling pretty beat himself. Jesse never found it easy to sleep when the killers decided to show themselves around. So he was a little paranoid. Someone could sue him over it.

At least he could smoke in somewhat peace as he decided what to do. Maybe he could go to the gift shop and get some snacks for Nick. But he wasn’t even sure if that was the right thing to do. Jesse almost jumped out of his skin when he noticed something move out of the corner of his eye. “Shit,” he turned his head quick as he started to cough. “Jesus, you scared the fuck out of me.”

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journal excerpt, july first

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urdamage​:

               desi had every right to take proper breaks , just like everyone else in the mall - if not more than a few , considering his job as the head of security was sure to be much harder than those at a new chapter who just gave book recommendations , for example . despite this , however , desi rarely found the opportunity to sit for more than five minutes while inside the mall ; there was always someone making trouble or needing him to be in a certain place at a certain time no matter how little he had eaten that day or how much he craved the chance to get a cup of coffee . 

jesse’s presence had caught desi by surprise , the surprise just as unexpected as his ability to sit and enjoy his break was . both happened to be of the good kind , thankfully . “ i don’t know , is he ? ” desi could be characterised as grumpy even at the best of times - especially by those who wronged him by kicking up a fuss on his shifts - but there was still humour left inside of him . even desi himself was at a loss in trying to figure out how that humour could remain at a time like this . “ i’m not confident enough that it’ll last long enough to call it a break , ” he finally gave a more serious answer . “ in other words i hope you’re not here to cause me any trouble . ” he jested lightly . 

he didn’t really think that jesse would be causing him any real trouble , as capable of doing that as he might be . he simply just felt comfortable enough to speak in this light-hearted manner with him . when it came to people like jesse , desi wanted to make sure he didn’t come across as as stern as he might usually . “ no , i’m good - thank you . i’m trying that whole ‘ eating healthier ’ thing . turns out it actually matters what you eat when you get to my age . ” his lips curled up into a smile . “ how’re you doing ? ”

It wasn’t like he was great at impressions or anything, but the mock stern expression was something he’d mastered by the time he was ten. Safe to say, he shot that exact look at Desi as he responded. “It would look like it to me!” He held his composure for about two seconds before a small smirk lit up his face. “I feel ya.” Jesse nodded as he took a sip of his soda. Sometimes it felt like he had to sight for every second of his 15 or 30 minute breaks. “Me?” A hand flew up to his chest as he stopped mid reach for a french fry. “Cause you trouble on your break? Desi, please. It’s like you don’t even know me at all!”

He laughed quietly as he continued to eat his lunch. Jesse shrugged his shoulders slightly. “Alright fair enough. More for me then, old timer. Guess chowing down on nuggets and fries won’t exactly let you keep up with all the little troublemakers, huh?” It did actually make sense if he tried to think about it. How he was doing was a whole different question. “Uhhh good I guess. Staying out of trouble, if that’s what you’re really asking.” He shot the older man a joking wink. “But not too bad, I guess. I can’t complain. How about yourself, huh?”

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--closed starter @townic​​​ {for alicia incanti}

Jesse, admittedly, did not do well when it came to dealing with the news anytime someone died at the mall. The only way to say it was he felt like his safe place was violated. The rug ripped right out from underneath him. It felt even worse when his friends, or more likely people he tolerated, got involved. He couldn’t really wrap his head around everything that he heard happened the night before. Even with the blasting music it felt too quiet in the store without his favorite coworker around to harass. Then he heard about Alicia on top of it too.

He hated hospitals but he wasn’t about to let anyone else know that as he stomped through the hallway after a long day of work. Someone had tried to talk to him but that was the benefit of wearing headphones. He could always just pretend he couldn’t hear someone even if he didn’t have music playing. It didn’t take him long to find the room she was in. The tip of his boot nudged the door open as he peeked around the corner into the room. 

His hand reached up to push the headphones back from his ears. “Knock knock. Special delivery,” he whispered. A small smirk slipped onto his face as he help a McDonald’s bag up and waved it in the air. Jesse finally stepped into the room and shut the door quietly behind him. “Shit if I knew it was this bad, I would’ve sprung for a sundae too.”

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ianfm​:

Ever since the mall opened the environment at Late Risers had changed completely. He still got plenty of regulars like he always had but with the influx of shoppers and people coming from out of town to visit the mall it was hard to guess who’d be walking in at any given time. The only trend Ian could follow with the restaurant now was that by the time he rolled into work most people no longer had a craving for sunny side up eggs and buttermilk pancakes. 

When Jesse…(that was his name, right?) walked in for food this late he expected him just as much as he did anyone else in this town. Ian’s feelings towards him were still mixed. He associated him too heavily with High School and that was a time Ian actively tried to forget in his life still he wasn’t exactly like every asshole he grew up around and he was starting to come around… in due time. The question had him shrugging his shoulders. The place is open all the time for reason. I don’t think it’s ever a bad time for breakfast food,” he argued. He grew up in a household where breakfast for dinner was a common offering from his grandma and he certainly continued that trend into adulthood. Whenever he was working at the diner he ate breakfast food for dinner. More often than not he was making up some hash for himself too. Ian often didn’t take orders directly from customers but with how slow it was and the fact the server on shift was taking a break he didn’t mind sliding an order in on their behalf. “What do you want in your hash?” Ian asked. The dish was a speciality of his. 

In all honesty, Jesse liked to avoid thinking about high school as much as possible. He’d skated through by pure chance without it being absolute hell. It was no secret to him that it was only because he took up baseball as a more productive way to get his anger out than busting up mailboxes and having his mom get hell. The vibe he gave off still didn’t make having friends the easiest thing in the world.

Still, it wasn’t like Ian had done anything personally to him so he didn’t see any reason to be a total jackass. Jesse made a face before he nodded his head in agreement. “Good point. I mean if someone wants to judge someone else for wanting to enjoy cereal for dinner, fuck em. Right?” He bit back a smirk as he looked over towards the person sitting closest to him. Trying his best to hide the fact he was looking for some kind of reaction before he turned his focus back to his order. “That’s a million dollar question. I can always go for some bacon. I don’t think that bacon can ever go bad with anything.” His fingers tapped on the counter for a few seconds before he snapped his fingers. “But I mean shit. You’re the expert at this, right? What’s the best combination you got?”

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sawyerhxthaway​:

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“No, is that a thing? I had no idea.” Sawyer reached his hands up to hold onto the straps of his backpack—a beat up little rucksack from high school that certainly looked its age—and pulled the straps forward off his shoulders slightly, now holding the weight of his backpack by the counterweight of his arms pulling downwards. “I haven’t watched the Wizard of Oz in, like, a long time. Is there some sort of connection between them? Because that would be super creepy.”

Sensing that he might need to make a few trips to the store to get his music taste up to speed, according to the man in front of him, Sawyer patted down his pockets until he found a pen and jotted down a couple of notes on the back of his hand. “Um—I don’t know if I can listen to that much music all at once. Though, I do like Jimi Hendrix. I think it’s so cool how he played his guitar upside down—like, can you imagine just being able to listen to and figure out an instrument like that? Play it completely wrong but also, like, totally right at the same time? It blows my mind. I have no fucking clue how anyone can be that much of a genius.” 

“Oh yeah, dude. Or they say it is anyway.” Jesse shrugged his shoulders. He’d never really tried that whole urban myth with Pink Floyd and the Wizard of Oz. It just so happened that his roommate in college was super into that kind of stuff, had done it, and never shut up about it. “Me either, man.” Jesse scoffed and shook his head. “Huh? No not a creepy one anyway. People just think that Dark Side of the Moon syncs up with the movie and it’s supposed to be like...super trippy and shit. I guess.”

“I don’t think anyone would expect you to listen to it all at once. That would be awful powerful of you if you could though,” Jesse joked. “Cool! So you do have taste.” He nodded as he crossed his arms in front of him. “Yeah that was pretty rad! I guess some people just have an ear for shit. Some of the best musicians are all self-taught anyway. I guess if you do it  for a living, it’s like riding a bike or whatever the fuck they say.” Sometimes he had to remind himself to slow down a little bit. Jesse could talk about music for hours if someone let him. “Favorite Hendrix song?”

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retrocuts​:

Sometimes Jesse could make Nick work a little extra hard to keep the peace in the small record store, but the older man didn’t really mind the other too much. In fact, his attitude often reminded Nick of his younger brother, who certainly didn’t make his life easy when they were kids. “Hey, I was just saying that I personally don’t think they’re that bad. You have to admit some of their stuff is kinda catchy.” He tried not to laugh again as he lightly poked fun of the subject. “Sure, I think something subtle like waving me over would work. I’ll try to keep my out for it so you don’t have to end up whistling or something.” Though there was a good chance he might find himself a little too distracted to notice it. 

“Told ya, their stuff is catchy.” He had another theory as to why all the generic, upbeat, pop records flew off the shelves these days, but it was too morbid for him to bring up. He took a thoughtful pause. “It’s not a problem, whatever makes things around here easier.” It was the least that everyone deserved after the hell they’d been dealing with since summer. “I think I’ll be fine ringing up whatever, but if I do find a record that starts to irk me, I’ll let you know.”

If he had to pick out of his history of coworkers, he probably liked Nick the most. Or at least top 5. He was a nice enough guy, even Jesse couldn’t deny that.  In fact, that was probably part of the reason why he liked to test him. Push his buttons a little bit and see if he could make him break. He didn’t mean any real harm by it ever, it was mostly just for fun. Jesse rolled his eyes. “Yeah I guess. Cruel summer is tired at this point though. It’s the middle of winter. Why do people still want to listen to that shit?” Now he was just looking for something to pick at. “Are you sure? I could always try to whistle an actual tune.” He joked.

“Yeah yeah. I didn’t say it wasn’t catchy! There’s a difference between catchy and annoying, dude.”  He might make fun of people’s music choices, but he wasn’t stupid. Jesse was well aware that not everyone got enjoyment out of listening to music that was closer to people screaming sometimes when they were already pretty stressed out. “Dude. You’re like an actual saint. How the hell are you like this? Seriously, inquiring minds want to know.”

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wastcfm​:

          blake’s eyes slightly narrowed as she tried to look pensive, though the smile on her lips gave away that she enjoyed their banter far too much.  ❛ I’m just not gonna say that you’re totally completely and utterly wrong because I don’t think I can hear Cindy Lauper telling me that girls just wanna have fun, ❜  she chuckled making a fake annoyed expression. truth be told, her taste in music was mainstream, if anything, which always made her excited to see what jesse had in store for her── music-wise. the blonde pushed herself from the wall she was leaning against and approached him until they came face to face.  ❛ please don’t ever get in detail about those dreams, i think i’d rather not hear them. ❜  she teased with a wink.

❛ oh my god, jesse, you’re such a music snob! ❜  if asked she would admit that she knew some of the names, for someone who worked at a radio station blake did not know enough about music, current, future trends or past ── if she told her favorite band was the beatles��she would probably get kicked out of her job. so far she had been researching as she needed, but as someone who usually took care of commercial breaks and product placements, she hardly needed to know the full 9 minute version of paradise by the dashboard light.  ❛ tell you what, if not during commercial hours, i’ll tell them to play their indie favorites to kick everyone out the mall, what do you say? ❜  she offered with raised eyebrows. blake enjoyed whenever jesse approached her, it made it easy to keep her mind off of things.  ❛ okay, i have a question only you might be able to answer. what was the weirdest band name or song you’re found since you started obsessing? ❜

Jesse let the snort of laughter slip out. “Well that’s because that’s probably a song you choose to listen to. Whitney just happened to sing one hell of an earworm that I’m unwillingly subjected to daily.” He shrugged his shoulders. At least when he talked to some people about his music taste, they didn’t seem to think he was a total jackass. He liked music outside of the punk and rock he listened to most of the time, absolutely. But would he ever really admit it? No. “Those dreams are very private! You better watch someone doesn’t hear you and try to sue me for corruption or something.” He quirked an eyebrow with a smirk before he shook his head.

He feigned a hurt expression as he dragged a finger down his cheek. “Words hurt, blondie. Did anyone ever tell you that? I’m not a snob.” He definitely was. Jesse’s eyebrows raised a little bit in surprise. “Yeah? I’ll try not to be offended at the fact that you think my taste in music will make everyone scatter like the mall rats they are. I’ll take that as a win.” In all honesty, he was pretty happy with that deal. It was probably part of the reason why he enjoyed talking to Blake in the first place. At first, he’d just liked to mess with her but now he actually enjoyed their weird little talks. Maybe some of it was just because she wasn’t from Shrike but she didn’t seem to hate on his music taste so much. “Hm...” He tapped his chin as he paced back and forth. “Good question! There’s lots of weird band names. Some of the tamer ones are like The Dead Kennedys. They’re pretty good. Song titles are a whole different ball park though. Anyone can have those. Like who the fuck thought of Octopus’s Garden? She came in through the bathroom window? Those are totally out there, man.”

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natashaspencers​:

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Nat fixed Jesse with a glare, not interested in yet another incident of an employee having some sort of upper hand over the mall. It was already bad enough with every one of them looking traumatized as hell as they walked through the mall (which, she knew, had to be bad for business, but everything in this town seemed to be bad for business at the mall. perhaps that was what the killers wanted, though Nat wasn’t interested in trying to suss out anyone’s motive). She glanced down at the puddle and back up at him. “You have a phone in there, don’t you?” 

She knew that she was probably garnering a reputation around here of being a shrew, of being a horrible, evil, no fun disciplinarian, but from where Nat sat, it seemed like this place needed a little discipline. It was what had carried her through her adolescence and college years, and it was what served her to this day. She was responsible, consistent, and reliable. Most of all, she was a perfectionist, which was usually what other people, especially people she worked with, tended to see. Nat didn’t care. She was more than willing to be the bad guy if people needed a bad guy to blame. 

Jesse tilted his head to the side. His eyes squinted slightly as he attempted to maintain a more serious expression. “Chill. It’s called a joke.” He let out an exasperated sigh, “Didn’t realize joking was against the rules of the mall now! My apologies.” He pushed off of the doorway slightly before he turned and looked back over his shoulder. “Yeah. We got a phone behind the counter and one in the back.”

His expression relaxed just a little as he turned back to face her. He didn’t exactly want to apologize but Jesse was more than aware that he could be a little temperamental to say the least. Especially with authority. But Nat was just doing her job.  Brows furrowed slightly, he reached out a hand as he stepped forward. “You want me to escort you across the puddle or something? You might have to make sure I call the right people. Or report the stupid puddle the right way or whatever.”

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anjalikapoor​:

location: shrike mall lobby

closed for @screamy-tracks 

Anjali and Jesse were bound to get in trouble for this sooner or later, but until then, she was happy to just have someone on whom she could unleash her wild theories about the residents of their small town and generally get a positive response. It was one of her vices, gossiping. There was a guilty pleasure in knowing everything about everyone around her. Growing up in New York, sure, she knew people around the neighborhood, but there would never be the feeling of truly being in the loop there. No, in Shrike Heights, there was no escaping scrutiny. 

Which, of course, was a double-edged sword, but Anjali didn’t want to think about that. 

She jogged up towards Jesse and tapped him on the shoulder as they walked into the mall. “Hey, look, don’t expect this everyday, but I brought you some joe today.” If she couldn’t wait until their breaks later on in the day, it was bound to be good gossip. “Come on, I’ll take the long way to work today,” she added, heading towards the stairs going up even though Perkin’s was on the ground floor. 

Anyone who knew Jesse well enough knew that the last words out of his mouth would probably be talking shit about something or someone. It didn’t seem likely that anyone expected any different. It wasn’t like he was the most friendly person that worked at the mall but hell, he could pretty much talk to anyone if he was in the right mood for it.

It had just so happened that he met Anjali on a good day and she liked to talk as much shit as he did. Lucky him! He didn’t even have a chance to fully remove his sunglasses and adjust to the obnoxiously bright mall lighting before he felt a tap on his shoulder. 

The sour look on his face disappeared quick when he realized who was trying to get his attention. “Wow, free coffee? For little ol’ me!” Jesse grinned. “Alright I’m coming!” He huffed as he started off after her. “I hope this is really good from how excited you are! You better not be getting my hopes up!”

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Greek Gods as High School Tropes

Hades, the Rebel

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Okay maybe mama did raise a fool