alaric mercier. d5. fin

calla
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just a litle creacher

alaric mercier. d5. fin Jan 19, 2021 23:10:00 GMT -5

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Post by calla on Jan 19, 2021 23:10:00 GMT -5

A L A R I C M E R C I E R
F O U R T Y O N E

A small thing is the heart, my heart. / A big thing is love, my love.
— Mahmoud Darwish, from “Tuesday, a Bright Day,” in Almond
Blossoms and Beyond, tr. Mohammad Shahee

MAYOR OF DISTRICT FIVE
( TRACKER )

ana
blake & kiera
lark & babylon

~~devon~~

Last Edit: Apr 14, 2021 20:00:28 GMT -5 by calla

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calla
RP Tutor

2,122 POSTS

Pronouns: she/they
last seen Apr 23, 2024 23:49:00 GMT -5

just a litle creacher

alaric mercier. d5. fin Apr 14, 2021 19:15:31 GMT -5

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Post by calla on Apr 14, 2021 19:15:31 GMT -5

They celebrate at Bona Fide.

It's at Hyram's insistence.

And he wasn't sure what to expect from a place that served as a front for one of the most prominent families in Five, but the music is quiet and the drinks aren't watered down. There are watercolours on the walls and the slats of the floor look permanently polished under the warm lighting.

Blake and Kiera sit in the corner with Babylon, only because it isn't a school night. He's sure that he saw one of the Mae kids lurking near the door earlier, and even Jonah shows up to clap him on the back and take advantage of the open bar.

Alaric watches him melt through the crowd then waves the bartender down to tell her what time to cut him off.

The Mae's men are there, lurking in the corners as always, but Alaric's seen more than one of them nursing a drink or three. It's a night of camaraderie, and it seems that not even the underbelly of Five is above it.

Lysander winning at the tail end of his campaign had seemed like a miracle, and he knows that within the week he'll have to formally introduce himself to her, as mayor instead of family associate, but until then he can just nod at her father's stare and the raise of his glass.

Ana hands him a flute of champagne and he ends his speech by kissing his wife.

Everything is good.

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calla
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2,122 POSTS

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just a litle creacher

alaric mercier. d5. fin Apr 14, 2021 19:20:51 GMT -5

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Post by calla on Apr 14, 2021 19:20:51 GMT -5

Hyram Mae strides into his office early on a Tuesday morning and it's like the world stops.

There's a whole aura that surrounds the man, like something suffocating, and Alaric watches him warily as his dress shoes cross the carpet. He runs a finger along the spines of the books on the shelf and he nudges the family portrait tucked between two medical journals. He sits in the armchair across from Alaric's desk and already looks as if he owns the world.

And he probably does.

Alaric's had the papers laid out ever since Clara had brought them in two days ago. The endorsement had been a surprise, the funding even more so, and when he'd gone to work that morning Ana had gripped his hand and looked at him firmly, like she could see something that he couldn't.

The Mae's were dangerous. They both knew that. They would know it even if the clinic wasn't considered in their territory.

Alaric's treated enough stab wounds and lacerations to know when he'll be paid off for his work. He can recognize most of the grunts by now, not by name, because those are different every time, but he knows the boy with the crooked nose who always comes in with bruised knuckles, and he knows the girl with the bleached blonde hair who always storms in asking for him.

So he knows the Maes. He does.

He knows he shouldn't be doing this.

"What are your plans, Alaric?" Hyram still asks, eyes tracking the flutter of the curtains like a falcon tracks a mouse.

And he almost doesn't answer. Because, ultimately, he knows that it doesn't matter. Hyram's answer will be his answer.

"For the people." He says instead, because it's safe and it's not a lie, and Hyram grins like he's caught him in a trap.

The work day ends with a business card in his front pocket and a heavy sort of weight on his shoulders.

He makes a deal with the devil and then goes home to his family.

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calla
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2,122 POSTS

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just a litle creacher

alaric mercier. d5. fin Apr 14, 2021 19:25:04 GMT -5

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Post by calla on Apr 14, 2021 19:25:04 GMT -5

Ana disapproves. It's painfully obvious.

She looks at the campaign flyers the same way she looks at Jonah when she finds him camped out on their couch.

But Alaric loves her, so he does his best to smooth out the crease between her eyebrows. He keeps the kids away from the clinic when Hyram is there, and when they all go to the square together on weekends, he does his best to ignore the men tailing them.

He makes connections and does what he's told and buries himself in the work he's best at.

"Just be careful." Ana asks of him.

"I know what I'm doing." He says back, "We're gonna change the world."

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calla
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just a litle creacher

alaric mercier. d5. fin Apr 14, 2021 19:31:22 GMT -5

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Post by calla on Apr 14, 2021 19:31:22 GMT -5

The clinic passes to Alaric when he's freshly twenty four. His father lays in bed with his ruined lungs and passes the heirship right over Jonah.

Aunt Maggie shows up to the re-opening, in all of her glory, and she congratulates him on the ownership. She's perfectly pleasant, but even though she doesn’t say anything outright, he knows she’s angry. The place had belonged to her parents after all, back in the Dark Days, and even in her old age, her gaze is sharp as she examines the diplomas on the walls.

Alaric won't see her for another three years after that day.

So when everyone leaves, Alaric sits in his freshly dusted office, the second son of a medical legacy, fresh out of graduation with an engagement ring burning a hole in his pocket. Because it isn't even a question. There's no clinic without him and there's no him without Ana.

They were study partners first, unbearably competitive, and then they were friends, and then something more. He adores her and when he signs the lease, they put down her name too. They're partners in every form of the word and his father is too dead to do anything about it at that point.

Ana handles the specialty work, because her hands are steady enough for surgery and her mind is quick enough to make tough decisions on a dime. Alaric opens his doors to the factory workers and the people that wander in off the street and tries to feel like he's making a difference.

He's overworked by the time he's thirty, but he also has a well respected reputation. He has a wife and two children and they understand the nights where he has to stay late because a hysterical mother brought her baby in after close and its fever was so high that it couldn't even cry.

It's a hard life, but it's a good one. And for every person he can't save, there's one that he can.

It's enough, and he's content, until he isn't.

He gets the call from Mae on the eve of the Eighty-Fourth.

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calla
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2,122 POSTS

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last seen Apr 23, 2024 23:49:00 GMT -5

just a litle creacher

alaric mercier. d5. fin Apr 14, 2021 19:45:00 GMT -5

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Post by calla on Apr 14, 2021 19:45:00 GMT -5

On good days, Alaric feels like the face of the mayoral office. On bad ones he feels like the puppet.

But he tours the factories and talks with the management and still does his best. He signs off on things he doesn't fully understand and looks the other way when a Mae lackey slips another document onto his stack halfway through the afternoon. He gets coded messages and endless requests and punches memorized numbers into the phone on his desk.

The imports that come from Six help ease his mind, because the painkillers and the anesthesia always go to the patients first, and they're always his first priority.

Hyram fills his office with smoke every Tuesday and Jonah visits him every second Thursday. He sees his kids on the weekends and his wife in the evenings.

There's still a travel regulation proposition sitting in front of him, waiting for his attention, but it's a Friday afternoon and he promised Ana that he would take the kids to lunch if the weather was nice enough.

He shuffles papers into the false bottom of a drawer and locks a manilla folder into a safe in the wall. One of the contraband books they'd been using to compare development maps goes back under a floorboard and he kicks the carpet back over it.

He locks both deadbolts on his door on the way out, and then resets the little clear piece of tape at the bottom. He nods at Clara on his way out and wishes her a good weekend.

She smiles and winks over the carton of bullets she's counting.

Alaric whistles to himself as he leaves, shoes clicking against the pavement, and he prepares himself to deal with two hungry teenagers.

Maybe they'll want pasta.

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calla RP Tutor 2,122 POSTS Pronouns: she/they last seen Apr 23, 2024 23:49:00 GMT -5 just a litle creacher	alaric mercier. d5. fin Apr 14, 2021 20:00:32 GMT -5 Quote Select Post Deselect Post Link to Post Member Give Gift Back to Top Post by calla on Apr 14, 2021 20:00:32 GMT -5 oop ripred_bot
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gamemaker 🍒 maryn hale RP Tutor 3,264 POSTS Pronouns: he/him last seen Apr 26, 2024 20:52:01 GMT -5	alaric mercier. d5. fin Apr 16, 2021 11:08:00 GMT -5 Quote Select Post Deselect Post Link to Post Member Give Gift Back to Top Post by gamemaker 🍒 maryn hale on Apr 16, 2021 11:08:00 GMT -5 he's got my vote! :thirst: but seriously this is gorgeous, good on u