OVER MY HEAD - Julian

[april eloise everdeenie]

[div style="background-image:url(http://fotos.fotoflexer.com/84693e2da5405cb647a832072cdcae58.jpg); height: 285; width: 350; font-size: 0; background: -moz-linear-gradient(bottom, #d5d2d2, rgba(255,255,255,0), rgba(0,0,0,0)), url(http://fotos.fotoflexer.com/f8bd9ff54ea1cdb11d673a377c5fb510.jpg);[br"]-webkit-mask-image: -webkit-gradient(linear, left top, left bottom, from(rgba(0,0,1,1)), to(rgba(0,0,0,0)));]hi

[/div]

THAT'S JUST HOW IT'S GOTTA BE
COMING DOWN TO NOTHING MORE THAN APATHY

"Just a minute Milo, please" the blond sighed gently pushing away the leash the small dog had just dropped on her knee as she typed away at her computer. Less than 10 seconds later the baby blue leash was dropped on her once again, this time half on her keyboard that she was clacking away at. "Milo... Please" she pleaded with him as if the little canine understood what she was saying and her tone as she pushed the leash once again. Clearly the message wasn't received when the leash was dropped again, this time right across the keyboard hitting buttons so that what April had been typing lead into complete gobboldy goop. She dropped her head in defeat and just looked at her puppy companion with a roll of her eyes. "You know, you have to have money to buy all that cheese you eat, and for money, I need to get jobs and that's never going to happen if you keep interrupting me when I'm trying to advertise myself." she rambled before closing the laptop and placing it onto the coffee table to the dogs absolute and obvious delight as he sprang about with excitement, not caring, or even noticing that his owner was talking to him. With another roll of her hazel eyes she went off to grab her shoes and throw on a jacket though it wasn't likely she would need it in the hot spring sun that day.

After the fight to try and get the excitable terrier on his leash the two headed out of her two bed apartment and towards the park, a walk that they could have both done with their eyes closed walking backwards. It was maybe April's favorite place in the whole of LA but at the same time it drew back a lot of painful memories. It had been where her first date with her husband had been and where he has asked her to marry him, the place they walked Milo together every day he was home, hand in hand and so many more, much smaller, silly memories that she tried to lock away in a dark corner of her mind so she didn't have to face the pain they brought with them. She knew this wasn't the healthy was to go on about her life, she had been told by enough people that taking every part of their life together and locking it up in a storage compartment wasn't the right way to get over her loss but it was what was working and had been working for the past 3 years, without reminders all around her and with her brain fighting constantly trying not to let any memories creep up, she didn't have to feel the pain she felt knowing he would never be there again.

As she made the walk, her brain automatically blocking out the memory she still had of her and her husband getting told off by a bitter old lady for 'being too mushy in public' Milo trotted along excitedly by her heal, speeding up more and more the stronger the smell of grass and other dogs got. The second they walked through the gate his butt hit the ground and his chin went up, ready to be released and run wild around the huge park until his tiny legs could take his own weight no more. The second the clip was undone he bolted off into the distance to tussle with the other dogs leaving April to walk behind, she would eventually catch him up when he ran out of umph or when he found something he liked to stop long enough in one space for more than five seconds.

Words: 600ish | Status: finished | Muse: so-so | Notes: sorry it's a little waffly and poop.

[/center]

[julian lamont de la rosa]

[style=width:300px; height: 228px; background: url(http://i1333.photobucket.com/albums/w626/ringer8/Julian/post2_zpsac4f7e7c.png)]

take it in but don't look down, cause i'm on top of the world

"Daddy, you promised," Joel pouted from the other end of the couch, leaning over the arm as best he could to eye his father. Julian had been lounging casually on the furniture, managing papers that needed to be filled before they reached final notice; Joel was a welcome distraction. it was homely. And the break made the man smile warmly at the simpleness of the situation. A moment where there was no looming debt, just his pooling brown eyed heart looking back at him in hope. The little boy asked again. "Alright, i suppose i did promise an adventure today," he conceded to the child's pleads with not much persuasion. These arguments were never fair, joel always won. The little boy had –for lack of a better word- a way that made the little kid in julian come out. And it’s all worth it to see the pure, unashamed joy flutter across young eyes. And even more of a adoring reward when the boy attempted to leap over the arm of the couch, but fell short and landed head first into cushions. The boy giggled out a, “obrigado papai,” in his best portuguese pronunciation he could muster with a face full of pillow. It was one of those moments that Julian could call uniquely his, and made him that much happier that his ex couldn't have this. The joys of being a single father.

after all the shoe tying was done and the red rocket wagon wheeled to the front door, the trip to the park began, dad pulling the cart and son sitting enjoying the free ride. it was a wonderful day for an adventure; livid blue skies over head like a canvas, scents of fresh cut neighbor grass as well as the starting charcoal for grills that would later turn into family cook outs. it was enough of a picture to remind him of his attempt at a family years before. he wasn't even entirely sure that it had been a happy family from that start, he just knew that him, his ex and joel all were a family. Julian, the grown man that he was, could coop with the missing piece. Joel however, well, julian wasn't quite sure. Tossing a glance over his shoulder, he regarded his little boy, who at the moment was muttering and chatting to himself as if he was some sort of pilot flying a plane. it was charming, and again, all the more sweeter that it was just his.

the park itself was like it always was. It was filled with people of all kinds and dogs of all breeds. it was amazing how many times after a visit that joel would rave about getting his own puppy. Julian hadn't cave yet, but it was only a matter of time, and a few months pay checks away. while joel hopped and giggled to himself a few yards away, julian sat in the wagon, looking quite like a big kid.and he truley felt like one since he was about eye level. Living without a care he could get use to, and he smiled at how easy it seemed. it wasn't till joel was joined by a small dog did the man's expression hesitated. And almost immediately the little boy can running back towards his dad with the bog running at his heels. "Look, daddy, i got a puppy!" as excited as the child was, julian didn't share the emotion, "Joel," the tone was a little chiding, not that it was easy to tell by the foreign hint to his speak, "this is someone else's cão, dog, not yours." he inserted the translation for his son's benefit, so he could learn his father's native accent. it hurt to see the bewildered express cross the five year old's face but the man relented a kind grin and remained sitting in the wagon as he ruffled his son's hair.

tagtarnie/april wordssix five three notesagain rambly, i've got to get use to jules and joel xP

template by sophia. Graphic by me.

[/style]

[april eloise everdeenie]

[div style="background-image:url(http://fotos.fotoflexer.com/84693e2da5405cb647a832072cdcae58.jpg); height: 285; width: 350; font-size: 0; background: -moz-linear-gradient(bottom, #d5d2d2, rgba(255,255,255,0), rgba(0,0,0,0)), url(http://fotos.fotoflexer.com/f8bd9ff54ea1cdb11d673a377c5fb510.jpg);[br"]-webkit-mask-image: -webkit-gradient(linear, left top, left bottom, from(rgba(0,0,1,1)), to(rgba(0,0,0,0)));]hi

[/div]

THAT'S JUST HOW IT'S GOTTA BE
COMING DOWN TO NOTHING MORE THAN APATHY

In addition to holding beautiful old memories she refused to face, the park harbored other forms of torture and pain April sometimes couldn't even stand, there was so much happiness, so much life in the park, so many happy couples walking together in love, so many families on days out, all solid and painful reminders of the life she was supposed to have with her husband. Of course, being the sweet and bubbly girl she was, she did her best not to concentrate on such things, and for the most part, she got away without feeling bitter and envious at all. It was on the bad days, when she was already having a tough time that it brought up unwanted emotions well up in her, days where she felt more alone than normal and days when it just felt that nothing in the world was ever going to go right for her again. That day was not one of those rare days, despite the hickup of her dog messing with her add and demanding her attention, it had been an average sort of day with nothing to drag her mood down. Even the weather was on her side, though it rarely wasn't in LA.

As she walked, dragged her feet with no hurry she scanned the park aimlessly, the baby blue leash swinging at her side. She was so lost in her own thoughts and day dreams that it took her a while to realize the moment where she caught up with Milo had come, and even better, he was bothering some guy and his kid. A shout to her left from a little girl to her mother was what it took to snap the blond out of her dazed state at a sudden jolt. She shook her head as if adjusting to reality again before she looked around for her mischievous little dog. She gasped a little at the scene she saw her dog in, she knew some people weren't fans of dogs and there he was pestering people, she jogged over at the most hurries pace she had all day "Milo, get here. Leave the poor people alone you pest" once again her demands were blatantly ignored, once again the dog didn't seem to notice, or he was ignoring his owner knowing she would soon take him away from the fun he was having. As she got closer again her tone went a level harsher, much more demanding than the last, she wasn't a fan of being ignored and embarrassed in front of strangers "Milo. Here. Now" despite not obeying completely the small dog did stop and sit. From there her attention went to the man, whom she assumed was the child's father "I am so sorry about him!" she gushed "He hasn't been bothering you too long has he?" she knew that was the only issue anyone should have had, disobedient as her dog was, he was was still the softest animal around, and the most gentle, wouldn't hurt a fly. "He means well, he doesn't normally bother with people when there's so many dogs around though" she glanced back at Milo with a slightly befuddled look, as much as he loved people, he loved other dogs more and had never once gone to bother with people, not strangers anyway.

Words: 600ish | Status: finished | Muse: so-so | Notes: guess we both gotta figure our chars out

[/center]

[julian lamont de la rosa]

[style=width:300px; height: 228px; background: url(http://i1333.photobucket.com/albums/w626/ringer8/Julian/post2_zpsac4f7e7c.png)]

take it in but don't look down, cause i'm on top of the world

Julian wasn't an expert on breeds, dog, horse, cat, bird (really an animal for that matter), but the small dog yipping and rolling its tongue didn't seem like one of the potentially more dangerous ones. He smiled as Joel kept petting the dog, it was a good way to keeps its attention so that its owner, where ever they were, wouldn't have to run off after it. However, watching the little boy crouch, knees bend, to slid his hand over the fur, julian had a deep feeling within. usually isn't wasn't too difficult to come up with some extreme excuse as to why he couldn't get joel a puppy of his own. Now. Now, there was a deep lingering feeling that saying no was going to get a lot harder. it was really hard, god knew julian hated denying his son anything, but the sight in front of him was just too... Well, there wasn't quite a word for it. Cute was too cheesy. Special was too overused. And endearing was too singular to love. if there was a word that combined all three, he surely would have used it.

He shook his head to distract himself. Had he continued to watch the simple joy, Julian was sure that he would have caved. Instead, the man sat up straighter in the red wagon to search over the rest of the park. he wasn't exactly sure who he was looking for, he didn't see who the dog belonged to before it wandered over, he just knew that he was looking for someone. Possibly someone who was searching themselves. It made sense, who ever owned the dog hopefully cared enough to look for it. Coming up short on his findings, he turned his head and looked back down at the dog, still being leisurely petted by the five year old. leaning down resting one of his elbows on his thigh, Julian reached with the other toward the collar, thinking it better to find the identification tags to possibly call a phone number. But just as his finger tips grazed the metal both his attention, much like the dogs, snapped over toward a yell near by. it stunned him for a moment before he thought to say, "It's alright, he's not-" but he was soft spoken and cut off half way through. he had the strange urge to defend the dog from the tone of voice. But since he didn't have any claim to the dog, no matter how much Joel pouted, he didn't react and just let the women call her pet.

A smile overtook his features as he shook his head, Joel standing and clutch on to his father's shoulder in sudden shyness. Julian nearly scowled playful, wimp. That boy was as outgoing as ever and he picks now to feign bashfulness. "Not at all, senhora" the young dad cooed in his accent, "Milo was a good little guest." Considering the dog hadn't shown any sign that it willed to injury either Joel or him, thee was no harm done. "Actually, i think Joel quite liked the playmate for a minute," out of habit, Julian ruffed his son's brunette hair with a goofy smile. It was done out of affection. The blonde speaking caught his attention once more and her thoughts raised questions in him. the dog never really interfered with people much? how odd that it had come over. With a faintly raised eyebrow, Julian glances curiously at the dog then its owner. "perhaps he mistook my son for one of his kind?" julian jested with a soft chuckle, "joel does like to roll around in the dirt and scratch his ears." "Dad," a little voice complained in embarrassment, suddenly overcoming his shocking shyness. Julian just laughed outright more, "what, it's ture. for all i know you could be chasing sticks soon."

tagtarnie/april wordstoo lazy notessorry this took a while.

template by sophia. Graphic by me.

[/style]

[april eloise everdeenie]

[div style="background-image:url(http://fotos.fotoflexer.com/84693e2da5405cb647a832072cdcae58.jpg); height: 285; width: 350; font-size: 0; background: -moz-linear-gradient(bottom, #d5d2d2, rgba(255,255,255,0), rgba(0,0,0,0)), url(http://fotos.fotoflexer.com/f8bd9ff54ea1cdb11d673a377c5fb510.jpg);[br"]-webkit-mask-image: -webkit-gradient(linear, left top, left bottom, from(rgba(0,0,1,1)), to(rgba(0,0,0,0)));]hi

[/div]

THAT'S JUST HOW IT'S GOTTA BE
COMING DOWN TO NOTHING MORE THAN APATHY

Milo's temperament was that of the softest dog you ever met, he was great with everyone and everything, all people, loved kids but was super gentle and didn't jump up and scratch them, he liked all animals, not just dogs but cats and even rabbits, he just wasn't the biggest fan of birds, he liked to chase them though April was sure if he ever caught up to one he'd have no idea what to do with himself. He was the best dog and he was another thing in April's life that she wouldn't have been able to cope without, he had barely left her side through her break down after Jasper's death, he just lay with her, like he knew what she was going through, what the letter the soldiers had brought to the door said, he lay with her, snuggled up to her and followed her everywhere, even lay at the bath-side when she showered. He was also all she had left in her life and not locked in a storage unit left of Jasper, he had been a gift the first time Jasper went overseas, he was too keep her company when he was away and to protect her when he couldn't. The dog had sure done that and more, he needed some kind of promotion. He was her baby but he seemed to look after her more than she did him these days.

April had never had to bother keeping tracks of Milo at the park, he was a good boy and always came back to her eventually, either when he was tired and ready to go home, or when he'd been told off by a bigger scarier dog for being a pain and whenever he had ran too far to see her, and hadn't seen his owner in a while, he would always run back on his tracks to check she was still there before he scampered off again. She never worried about the dog, because she had never had to, the only people he generally bothered were people he knew, and they were normally as happy to see him as he was to see them he didn't care for people who didn't like him. It was all of these reasons she spent most of her time at the park with her head in the clouds, not that that was rare either, April was a day dreamer and everyone who knew her knew this, she had a bad habit of just drifting off into her own little world thinking about nothing inarticulacy, sometimes she was thinking complete nonsense, sometimes she was imagining things people said in a very literal sense and sometimes she was playing a song or singing it in her head.

It wasn't fear that her dog would hurt the little boy that sense her running in the direction of the three, it wasn't why she shouted at her canine companion, that was more frustration that her commands were falling on deaf ears when he was usually perfectly behaved. Once she was close enough to see the little boy and the man she let out a sigh of relief that the child seemed to be more than excited to have Milo in his company and Milo was never going to complain at attention. With the sigh Milo took it as his sign that he could get up from his sitting position, his tail wagging too furiously for his little body as that wobbled around with it. She was more relieved again to find that the guy Milo had been bugging was of the nice variety. She let the man talk before she crouched down a little, not quite to Joel's level but so she was maybe a little less intimidating "That's not a very nice thing for your daddy to say is it?" she said in her softest tone followed by her sing song laugh, glancing from the boy to her dog and back again, "I suppose Milo could stay an hang out with you a little longer if you like?" the dogs tail going into overdrive as if he understood what she said, or maybe just at the sound of his name.

Words: ish | Status: finished | Muse: so-so | Notes: sorry my replies haven't been the fastest

[/center]