#a pocket full of posies [meme responses];

[ofyorkshire]

i don't think "babe" is out of the question if bj were particularly vulnerable at that point and tk was being supportive in the. the. aftercare-adjacent way. i think it might slip out and he'd stick by it so long as BJ was comfortable with it at the time.

send a pet name/nickname that your muse might call mine, and see how my muse reacts to it.

There are some terms of endearment that make BJ kneejerk recoil (he has been called a lot of things by a lot of people, so some terms are soured for him, a bit) but "babe" is safe, especially coming from TK.

It would hurt initially for obvious reasons. The pining is real and loud lol. But BJ also will take any and every ounce of affection he can get and would be melty about "babe". When he's especially vulnerable, I think he'd like to be babe'd and babied a little bit for that matter. Hold him, pet his hair, rock him a little in your arms, and tell him nice things until he can believe them. He'll feel silly and probably a little embarrassed afterward but soooo grateful to have a safe, soft place to rest for a moment until he can pick himself up again.

Anyway. "Babe" is nice. BJ could learn to like it. I could see it becoming something that tethers him a little. Imagining him getting focused on something that worries him or starts dissociating, TK "hey, babe"s him, and it's enough that BJ remembers to take a breath. A+. He doesn't want TK to feel obligated to tether him, but is grateful when he does.

[ofyorkshire]

answer some questions and i'll assign you a tarot card

death

you need rest. more than anything, you must allow yourself rest. death is frightening– it is inevitable, it is unstoppable– but, it can also be a thing of great beauty. it is an agent of change. it is the forest fire that paves way for new life. allow yourself this rest, and be prepared for the change to come. brace yourself. it will be hard, it will not be kind, but you are more than ready. you just need to rest first. / NUMBER: 13 / UPRIGHT: endings, change, transformation, transition / REVERSED: resistance to change, personal transformation, inner purging

tagged by: @autcnomy (ty!)

tagging: @parameddic (or any of your blogs!), @caterva, @idcnticxl (or bowie or the washingtons; all of them??? skglsk), @neverallnorman, @sparrowsparable, @proofwhisky, @turnandface and anyone else who'd like to! please tag me so i can see your result :)

[ofyorkshire]

would it be too much to say the first thing tk noticed was 'maybe gay'. he was out looking for someone to hook up with and maybe the first thing he noticed was "that guy's cute" but the first time he properly Looked it was because he was catching some flags (some interest) back, and TK's gaydar is pretty good, even if it's not specific to gay/bi/pan etc just. 'interested or not'.

tk likes his waist though. and thought that his hands (piano fingers) looked like they'd be good in his hair. 10/10

send me your muse's thoughts when they first met mine from some meme i can't find rn || always accepting

I totally thought I replied to this ages ago oh no. I'm getting such wild deja vu from how I'm about to answer this. Maybe I just dreamt it. :x

But that wouldn't be too much to say, no. BJ, unless he's working, which he either was when they met and thought TK was cute and sweet enough not to charge (LOL) or he was just out for personal fun, tries to not make it too obvious unless people are looking. His mannerisms lean a little bit "stereotypically gay" for the lack of a better term, so he probably is easy to ping regardless.

He would look though. And it would be soooo obvious to people like TK, who are looking. There would be no question he's interested, whether they're shooting a glance across a whole room or two feet away. BJ might have even glanced first. TK is more than a little easy on the eyes. I don't think we ever talked about how they met or how that went down beyond "it happened", but now that I know TK more, I think I can confidently say BJ would have enjoyed chatting him up a bit before stumbling off to whatever hotel TK chose. BJ doesn't normally make a point of talking too long to the people he sleeps with, he prefers to go and get it over with (weird choice of words; his relationship with sexual pleasure is love/hate), but he would like the sound of TK's voice and his general way of being that he'd like to hear him talk more. Play the silly game of flirting and being flirted with, even if they both know it will end with them in bed sooner or later whether they flirt or not. It's fun.

BJ does have a nice, slender little waist and nice nimble fingers that are very good at what they do. All very grab and kissable, and more people he likes should do that. Or he's happy to run his fingers through TK's hair again, too. Romantically or platonically. Nothing more calming than someone playing with your hair. He's tactile with people he trusts and do it for a friend if they needed to relax.

[ofyorkshire]

Cam goes all soft when he sees BJ. (Possibly a little wistfully so.)

Also fiercely protecc.

And just a little envy because BJ is so beautiful.

describe how your muse feels when they look at mine || always accepting

The feeling is mutual. I think BJ envies Campbell, too, though, a little. He strikes him as naïve, but not in a bad way, just... untouched, he supposes, by a lot of the bad that the people can offer. He knows Cam has had more than his fair share of hurt, BJ is just glad that the kind of hurt he's had hasn't jaded him toward the rest of the world. He wishes he could be like that too but that's all the more reason to try to make sure Campbell can afford his naïvety; BJ would like to protect him too.

In a way, BJ gets the sense of being kindred spirits. They have a kind of understanding about each other even if they don't talk about the serious stuff too much.

[ofyorkshire]

[ABOUT SENDER] -> “Do you know who they are? Like, who they really are?”

third party sentence starters || accepting

"Please." BJ did not give them the courtesy of holding back his eye roll. This future was a strange one, better in many ways, but no different than his seventies. Klaus, from what he gathered, was well known in this city, and some people seemed to make it their business to gossip about it. Perhaps if they had been a well-meaning friend instead of some random bumming cigarettes from him and making idle chatter, BJ might have taken them more seriously. But since they weren't a friend and they were bumming the last of his carton, he had a feeling they were looking to start trouble and BJ refused to be baited.

"Does anyone know who anyone really is?" he asked. "I've spent enough time with him to know he's sweet. That's all that matters to me." BJ blew smoke from the corner of his mouth. "But if you want to dig skeletons from closets... Could start with yours?"

[ofyorkshire]

"Let me have the gun."

'put down the gun' meme || accepting

          "Aye? Think you can use it better than me?" BJ asks. The question is rhetorical: he doesn't care whether Klaus is a better shot, and even if he did, the smile stretching around the waif's teeth is as teasing as it is terrified. The nose of the pistol snaps toward Klaus. BJ won't give it up so easily, least of all to Klaus, who he isn't even sure is real.

          It's the summer of 1977, five years since the last time BJ had seen him, and yet Klaus looks plucked from his memory, same shirt and all. The odds of seeing him again, his strange fellow Other, after all the time passed and all the places BJ has been, are nearly impossible.

          "Shoosh now, and get out of here," he whispers. The gun is still trained on Klaus, but BJ's finger is well away from the trigger. "You don't know what you're interrupting. If I don't shoot you, they will when they come back, just to steal the jewellery around your neck."

          Behind BJ, the "who", or at least "what" is obvious. He's positioned, broad-stanced, at the back of a shop, the back entrance scuffed and left to hang ajar in the night air. It may as well be a scene from Klaus' past—a nighttime robbery for the Umbrella Academy to stop, and the unfortunate criminal chosen as lookout, swinging a weapon in the faces of six superpowered children. The only difference is that it's Klaus who's staring at a child this time. BJ is nineteen now, a year shy of when Nathan was struck with his immortality; the resemblance in this moment is unnerving.

          BJ's fingers flex and roll restlessly around the pistol's grip. He's flushed, a little sweat beading on his upper lip where a scraggly mustache is trying to grow.

          "I don't want to hurt you."

[ofyorkshire]

— cozy things tag game | 🤎

comfort food(s): chocolate, buttered toast, and oranges

comfort drink(s): tea and coffee

comfort movie(s): has no attachment to any films

comfort show(s): has no particular attachment to any shows, but enjoys cartoons or game shows from time to time

comfort clothing: scarves, leather jackets, and soft oversized sweaters

comfort song(s): anything david bowie or carpenters

comfort book(s): the velveteen rabbit by margery williams

comfort game(s): none

tagged by: @fireheld (thank youuu!)

tagging: @heretoboogie, @caterva (bezi), @conduitandconjurer, @parameddic, @oddlies (anyone!), @talesgolden (vi!), and anyone else who'd like to :)

[ofyorkshire]

'put down the gun' meme || accepting

"I want to help you." The truth. Both his hands were up, already gloved, gear ready. "I need you to put the gun down first, okay?" - @parameddic

He could put a bullet in the man's chest right now. One gentle squeeze of the trigger and that would be it. It would be the simplest thing Barry James Anderson has ever done in his life. Pow. Right through the centre.

But killing is never as easy as other people make it seem. BJ was given the opportunity once while running with the Spencer Boys years ago, a gang of young men who liked to think they were some kind of band of rebels, Robin Hood and his Merry Men reborn in leather jackets. They were robbing a house—something about getting even with the ex-policeman who lived there—and Joe had slapped a gun in BJ's hands. Shoot 'im, he'd said. But BJ couldn't. BJ didn't. He'd hid like a coward in the other rooms, grabbing jewellery and useless knickknacks while Joe Rose and his boys killed a man.

Shoot 'im, Joe's echoed in BJ's head again. BJ pulled the hammer back with a delicate click. The wound in his side burned.

"Don't move," he said, calm, but not quite even. "I won't go out there. I'll kill you and me before I go out there. I'll kill her before I go!"

The revolver swung dangerously to the left to... nothing. To the wall, and the upturned displays from where BJ had tumbled in from the sidewalk, panicked and bleeding. Someone had called 911 seven minutes before reporting gunshots down the street. Five minutes after that, and seconds after the carousel of bracelets and keyrings was knocked to the floor, the convenience store manager called about an injured young man threatening customers with a firearm.

And here they were.

The paramedic, the frightened young man, and the ghost the young man was apparently afraid of.

The revolver swung back to TK. BJ's hand was shaking.

"How many policemen are out there?"

[ofyorkshire]

CHARACTER OUTLINE

Name: Barry James "BJ" Anderson

Rules: Bold what always apples, italics what applies sometimes / in part.

FLAWS

moody | short-tempered | emotionally unstable | whiny | controlling | conceited | possessive | paranoid | liar | impatient | cowardly | bitter | selfish | power-hungry | greedy | lazy | judgmental | forgetful | impulsive | spiteful | stubborn | sadistic | petty | unlucky | absent-minded | abusive | addict | aggressive | childish | callous | clingy | delusional | cocky | competitive | corrupt | cynical | cruel | depressed | deranged | egotistical | envious | insecure | insensitive | lustful | delinquent | guilt complex | reclusive | reckless | nervous | oversensitive

STRENGTHS

honest | trustworthy | thoughtful | caring | brave | patient | selfless | ambitious | tolerant | lucky | intelligent | confident | focused | humble | generous | merciful | observant | wise | clever | charming | cheerful | optimistic | decisive | adaptive | calm | protective | proud | diligent | considerate | compassionate | good sportsmanship | friendly | empathetic | passionate | reliable | resourceful | sensible | sincere | witty | funny

SKILLS & HOBBIES

art | acting | astronomy | animals | archery | sports | belly dancing | bird watching | blacksmithing | boating | calligraphy | camping | candle making | casino gambling | ceramics | racing | chess | music | cooking | crochet | weaving | exercise | swordplay | fishing | gardening | ghost hunting | ice skating | magic | engineering | building | inventing | leather-working | martial arts | meditation | origami | parkour | people watching | swimming | puppetry | pyrotechnics | quilting | reading | collecting | shopping | socializing | storytelling | writing | traveling | dancing | singing

tagged by: @itsalltoobeautiful tagging: @conduitandconjurer, @caterva, and @heretoboogie

[ofyorkshire]

BOLD what your muse can do. italicize what they can do to some extent. REPOST, don’t reblog.

bake a cake from scratch | ride a horse | drive a submarine | speak a second language | dance | catch a fish | play an instrument | throw a punch | build a deck | ice skate | roller skate | unclog a drain | program a computer | change a flat tire | fire a gun | sew | juggle | play poker | paint | fly a kite | sculpt | write poetry | change a diaper | sing | shoot a bow and arrow | ride a bike | swim | sail a boat | do a back flip | play chess | give cpr | pitch a tent | flirt | stitch a wound | read palms | use chopsticks | write in cursive | use an electrical drill | braid hair | make a campfire | make a mixed drink | do sudoku puzzles | wrap a gift | give a good massage | jump start a car | roll their tongue | magic tricks | do yoga | tie a tie | skip a rock | shuffle a deck of cards | read morse code | pick a lock

Tagged by: @heretoboogie Tagging: @parameddic, @caterva, @conduitandconjurer / @illusivexemissary, @mostincrediblechange / @griefgifted, @itsalltoobeautiful, @misstantabismuses (jinx? actually idr if we're mutuals here but hello!! it's spark!), and anyone else who'd like to!

[ofyorkshire]

what are your hidden wings?

CROW WINGS

A pair of crow wings would represent you well, it seems! Not to be mistaken for Demonic or fallen Angel wings, these wings are normally fairly broad like a bird's, and are easily recognizable for their pitch black covering of feathers. These wings allow for very light landings and graceful glides, and provide average strength and speed in flight. They give the user smooth, silent flight and quick takeoffs as well. People with these wings often tend to be the most misunderstood, but a hidden gem to those who open up to them and want to be their friends. They have often gone through more hardships than others can count, their spirit almost broken by the trials they have faced, and seem to have a calm, sad air around them. You may have a disliking of other people; No matter how much kindness you give, they never give any in return and seem to always decline your friendship. Around most people you are very calm and collected, but you have a tendency to overthink things and stress yourself out. When someone who you feel you can trust comes to you and doesn't misunderstand you, however, you may feel more at ease, and often they will be close friends for a very long time!

tagged by: no one :P tagging: @caterva, @griefgifted, @illusivexemissary, @madxwonderland, @parameddic, @heretoboogie, @itsalltoobeautiful, and anyone else who'd like to!

[ofyorkshire]

where should you be kissed?

palm.

you give and give. you are a gentle heart, broken but still standing… always lending a hand for those who need it, expecting nothing in return. you deserve someone taking your hand and kissing your open palm, the hands which have selflessly helped so many others.

tagged by: @heretoboogie tagging: @conduitandconjurer, @idcnticxl, @parameddic, @carriedghosts, @sovereignreigned, and anyone else who'd like to!

[ofyorkshire]

why do you hurt?

you swallow pain & fold around it

you have always hurt. you hold it carefully, and twisted in such a way that other people don't have to see it. you don't choke on it. you don't drown. you just have it, the way some people have freckles, this is a thing that lives in your bones. you fold instead of fighting because you know how to make yourself small, tuck away the places where they have clawed at, swallow the bruises so you seem clean. nobody needs to see it. you will live through this on your own. you know what you need, and relief isn't it. this doesn't mean you cannot reach out - it means it is not in your nature to do so. you should. hiding does not mean you won't be seen.

tagged: yoinked from @parameddic tagging: anyone who wants to!

[ofyorkshire]

🕯️

send 🕯️ for my character's inner thoughts on yours || accepting; mutuals or anons sending for red riding canons only

"You would like him. He looks like trouble, but he's a real American gentleman." BJ grinned, arms stuck loosely out at his sides as he balanced his way down the row of cement wheel stops. It was late, going on 2am, but between the bright car park lamps and the full, pale moon, BJ wasn't afraid. Home was just a stretch away—if he rounded past that laundromat ahead, their flat would be just beyond that at the end of the street.

"We met at a club," he said. "No work. Just out for some fun. He caught my eye as soon as he came up to the bar. He ordered this... this seltzer water thing, I think, and I guess I were starin' at him, like, 'cos he noticed me, and the way he smiled looked..." He trailed, weirdly self-conscious at the memory. Squirmy inside. BJ wobbled on the next step and paused, cupping his hands against his diaphragm where the discomfort felt most real. Horrible. Distressing. And a lot like feeling alive.

Deep breath in.

"...Well. Doesn't matter. We went to the toilets together and after ended up at a motel. Don't think he liked it much when I told him I didn't want to face him, but he didn't make a fuss. He were nice about it. About everything. A gentleman, like I said. Even gave us a kiss before he left."

Heat tickled around BJ's cheeks as he hopped to the next stop. Even to the night air, he couldn't confess everything in his head. As a rule, he tried not to think too much about TK and their one night together because it was never meant to be anything but one night, a sentiment that was harder to throw out the window now that they were, by some cruel chance, flatmates. It was hard to forget sometimes when TK's voice was gravelled from sleep, or when he was fresh from a shower, water still dripping from the ends of his messy hair and skin flush with soap and heat. Worse, it was almost impossible not to lean into fleeting every-day touches. The soft things that BJ was sure TK never even thought about before doing but made BJ ache all over. A soothing touch to the nape of the neck here after a bad dream, a delicate touch to the small of his back while passing in the confined space of the kitchen, a playful bump of knees while sitting on the couch watching a stupid romcom... Fleeting ghosts of human warmth and connection that BJ craved like food. On bad days he felt hollowed out with want, all sticky-outy ribs caging around a concave stomach growling for a meal it wouldn't know how to digest.

"We don't talk about it now," BJ said. "He had a bad breakup, you know. Fiancé. Mad bastard cheated on him, can you believe it?"

No answer.

Deep breath out.

"We're flatmates now. Sort of accidentally, but it's good. We share little potted plants, watch films on his off nights, he's—" wobble, "—trying to teach me how to swim. It's really... really normal. You know, like... it's... comfortable. Like we were. Almost." BJ stepped down onto the pavement. In the distance, a siren wailed and he began toward the laundromat. Best be heading home.

"TK introduced me to his team at the firehouse, too. Wouldn't let up suggesting it 'til I visited. I thought he was just being polite, but he meant it. Means most things. He's a social man. Likes bringing people together like family."

Several more sirens rose into the night air, making BJ's skin prickle. That was at least one ambulance and one firetruck.

"I think he's scared of being left behind, like his fiancé left him. Like his dad," BJ went on. "I think that's why he holds everyone together like he does. He tries so fucking hard and he's so obvious and I don't know if they notice. His dad doesn't." A tick in his jaw, he turned once to check his surroundings as he left the bright glow of the carpark lights. "You'd think that would change things between them, that one day he'd let it all out and tell his dad how much he hurt him. He doesn't though. Doesn't act the least bitter about it. But it does hurt him, and it comes out in other ways. Picking fights and runnin'... and little flings in filthy club toilets."

BJ passed the laundromat, walked without interruption down the street, keeping to the light, and soon mounted the stairwell.

"Think I love him, though, Clare," he murmured under his breath. The night air listened closely. "I shouldn't. We agreed this wasn't anything and it shouldn't be anything, and I tried, but I can't help it. If you could see him, see the way he is with people, with animals, with his work...?" With me? "His fiancé must have been a complete doylum to break his heart. I'd give anything to find someone like that."

The keys jingled around BJ's index as he swung them idly 'round. Their door was at the end of the hall and everything was quiet. Clare was not there with him, of course not, but he stilled at the top of the stairs to feel for her all the same.

"A man like him makes all the others look cheap," he said. The breeze was warm, he could still hear the sirens. Maybe he would stop out here and smoke for a while on the balcony to further clear his head. "I wish you could have met him. He'd have loved you too, you know, and your little girls. He's going to make someone very happy someday."

[ofyorkshire]

Random Headcanon Generator

( BOLD what is real )

BJ hates being alone.

BJ always has a knife on them.

BJ does intricate and expensive cosplays.

BJ is very good at walking in platform heels.

If BJ likes someone, they will give them a pretty rock.

BJ is not allowed to drink energy drinks.

BJ bites their nails.

BJ has an embarrassing old deviant art account.

BJ is a switch.

If someone they knew commited a crime, BJ would cover for them. (REALLY depends on the person and the crime tbh. He will make allowances but he has his limits.)

tagged by: i saw this meme on my dash and forgot i had been tagged a million years ago to do it too. this had been sitting in my drafts and i am ashamed to say that i no longer know who tagged me sgkslgk

tagging: anyone! if you see it, this is for you. tag me so i can read it!

[ofyorkshire]

(Describe how your Muse feels when they look at my Muse)- (Rose, Call Girl AU); "I feel... sunshine," comes the low, inflected voice as her head turns and whisky brown eyes find the subject of the conversation. She smiles, but she tries to hide how warm it is by looking away again. "I feel like he's got no place in a business like this. Like he's softer 'round the edges than that worn out leather jacket'e always wears an' this life's gonna eat 'im alive..."

describe how your muse feels when they look at mine || always accepting

"—'M not deaf, you know." BJ shoots the pair a look that's surely meant to make him look annoyed but it doesn't quite land. The aforementioned leather jacket fits him well enough, yet still he seems to shrink inside of it. He wears it like a turtle wears a shell, or a soldier wears armor, too young and rattled from the bones out; he isn't working today, and the jacket in its scuffed hide keeps him safe.

BJ rounds the tables where Melanie and Rose, or Rosana or something, are wasting time. Mel is meant to be on stage soon and she's stunning in her sequins. Rose is— Well, she's glowing. An aura of sorts halos her, he can see it if he looks just right from the corner of his eye, he is almost sure of it. Turn the wrong way and it's gone, softened away into nothing. If Barry James wonders at this vision, he doesn't let it show as he leans against their table and steals the cherry from Mel's drink.

"I can handle myself, love. Been in this business longer than you have, haven't I?" he sniffs. "Guarantee it."

"I think she was complimentin' ya, Ziggy." Mel clucks her tongue as BJ spins her cherry by its stem in his fingers. She's about to say something else when one of the other dancers waves her down. Break time's over. Melanie flashes Rose an apologetic look and hurries off, leaving the pair to sip their drinks and contemplate stolen fruit.

BJ is the first to break the quiet:

"'Sunshine', really?"