#lbr the sugar bowl is the best part

[nora-barnacle]

today i learned that Rockwell Kent designed a full dinner service inspired by his illustrations for Moby-Dick. and tomorrow? tomorrow i will be several thousand dollars poorer.

[assortedmutts]

A X for the whole cast

Valentine’s headcanon meme.

A   :   AFFECTION.   how does your muse show affection?

Merc: affection, to him, means trust and loyalty above all. He likes for his partner to be able to rely on him, no matter what - be it in providing them with protection, comfort or support. He’ll lend them an ear and a shoulder to cry on and provide them with whatever acts of service he can think of - bring them food, take care of them (best he can) when they’re down, handle their enemies if such exist, back them up on anything and everything. Sometimes, it can be something as simple as removing their shoes from their feet after a long day, ironing their clothes, tidying up, or pampering them in bed if they’re up for it.

He’ll start taking pictures of places around the world that make him think of them, or buy them gifts. He likes putting thought into these and making sure they’re something special - something no one else would have thought to give them, a reference to a private joke or story, or something you cannot find anywhere else in the world.

Another way for Merc to display trust is that he gradually becomes more verbal and shares with them that way, be it in expressing his opinions or sharing stories from his past. Likewise, he’ll gradually become more comfortable with physical touch, and especially enjoys PDA (when he’s otherwise a very private person and likely would not have been seen with them publicly). He also likes taking them to his favorite spots around the city/country/world (depending on their mobility, I guess): skyscraper rooftops, places with pretty scenery, abandoned buildings that are fun to explore, his favorite food joints, markets, clubs, or the aviary where he keeps his pigeons. Anywhere that’s touched him or is dear to him in some way or another. 

Job: so much physical contact and PDA. He’s gonna have a hand on his partner wherever they are, whatever they’re doing, and he’s going to want to kiss them all the time. Likewise: all the sex they can possibly keep up with. Job’s sex drive is high at any given time and is his go-to way of showing affection, and it only becomes higher when he develops romantic feelings for another person. He’s also a service top through and through and will gladly do whatever his partner wants to please them. 

His loved ones are always on his mind and he likes showing them that whichever way he can: collecting little gifts for them from along the road, trinkets and jewelry/items of clothing from thrift shops, flowers he picks and dries among the pages of his books/journal, pretty rocks and seashells, etc. Since he’s unable to communicate with them regularly while he’s on the road, Job also likes writing to his partners - letters, postcards, love songs (which he will occasionally compose and perform for them upon his return). In addition to all the found/purchased gifts, Job’s favorite form of gift-giving is creating handmade things for his partners, if and when he can (say, if he’s working in construction and has access to woodworking tools). He may create little statues for them of things they like, pieces of jewelry or handy stuff for their home/kitchen like wooden bowls or chopping boards.

Additionally, he just loves hanging out with his favorite people and find activities for them to do together: he’ll take them out on picnics (both day and night; nothing more romantic than dinner under the open night skies), little concerts at parks or dive bars, thrift-shopping, etc., and there will always be food involved in these activities to some capacity or another. Little brings Job more joy than feeding his loved ones, and he will absolutely try to fatten them up with his home cooking if he can.

Saul: as he’s never been in love or involved in a romantic relationship, his means of showing affection lean more towards the platonic side. Like Job, Saul very much enjoys cooking for his loved ones and will happily labor in the kitchen the entire day just to see them enjoy their meal by the end of it, and he loves it all the more if/when they want to participate. He likes to include them in his family traditions if they’re not already part of them, such as inviting them over for Shabbos dinner or a major Jewish holiday and offer for them to partake by helping him recite prayers/practice rituals/even something as simple as offer them a yarmulke or head scarf so that they may show their respect to the occasion. While it’s worth nothing that he will respect their wishes if they don’t want to participate, it’ll likely be very difficult to impossible for him to maintain a romantic relationship with someone who never wishes to partake in his culture.

On the odd occasion that he does go on a date (more like did - don’t think he’s been on a date in, like, 10 years), Saul prefers to use his playing field (Manhattan) to his benefit - take his dates out for walks around Central Park (the High Line is also a favorite, especially at night), visit the MoMA or the Guggenheim, chat over a bottle of red wine and share a few courses in some cute little bistros he knows (LBR, he’s likely friends with the owners and gets to have some special shots/dishes sent over free of charge). 

It may also sound a bit funny but, Saul likes arguing? Maybe not arguing so much as debating. It’s no small part of Jewish culture and he loves sharp people who can keep up with his intellect and will always do his best to challenge them. Catch him debating something entirely theoretical and/or nonsensical to death just for the hell of it, just to see who can win the argument. On a similar note and, though he’s never done it before, he’ll also likely enjoy taking his date to his casino and watch them gamble the night away (wouldn’t mind paying for it, either). Bonus points if his date knows poker or blackjack and can challenge him at the table.

X   :   XOXO.   does your muse use / like pet names?

Merc: as is always the case with this edgelord, the answer is: outwardly no, but secretly yes. Obviously, pet names suggest an intimate relationship, which Merc very much prefers to avoid for obvious reasons.

He does appreciate being called pet names in both platonic and romantic relationships and is an absolute sucker for anything soft a partner might call him, such as baby, angel, princess etc., because he’s so often regarded as tough, monstrous, etc., and because his true identity is obviously a touchy subject. But it’s also worth mentioning that words - and names, at that, their meaning and the way that they’re used - mean a great deal to Merc, and that there’s value and intimacy in his friends and partners calling him by his real name. As he often introduces himself under either an alias or a nickname (even before he became Merc, he’s had more nicknames than he can count on both hands), this is a very rare occurrence and, depending on the circumstances, it could be either comforting or terrifying to be addressed by his real name.

With regards to his own use of pet names, he is far likelier to use derogatory terms as terms of endearment rather than actual pet names: rather than call someone baby or angel or what have you, he’s far more likely to call them a bitch, cunt, dickhead, cocksucker, etc. Helps ignore or come to terms with the level of intimacy that a pet name suggests if it’s derogatory or funny. He also often does the opposite and uses terms of endearment as derogatory terms - calling people darling, sweetheart etc. as a means of humiliating them and showing his disrespect.

With that said, though, it’s not beyond him to eventually drop the facade and use actual pet names for loved ones - namely love, pet, darling and sweetheart.

Job: yes to both!!! So much!!! He’s likely to address people by their official title upon introduction, as per his country manners, but he absolutely loves both using and being called pet names by friends, family and partners alike. Even in casual conversation, he’s likely to address someone as man, girl or dude (dude is used for all genders and is hence his go-to) rather than use their actual names. As for his partners, he tends not to prefer one particular pet name and will call them anything that he can possibly think of: darling, sweetheart, honey, sugar, baby... you get the gist. He also likes to play off of people’s names and create cater-made nicknames just for them.

Saul: yes, absolutely, and you can rest assured that they will be Yiddish pet names more often than not. His father used to do this all the time and, the older Saul gets, the more he takes after Menash, especially when it comes to speech patterns. I.e., he’ll often refer to Jess as boychik (as Menash used to refer to him). Among his favorite terms to use are zeeskeit (sweetness), sheifale (lamb), bubbeleh (doll), libe/r (love, female/male), oyster (treasure) and ketsele (kitten).