Eiffel Tower

[blueeyeddevil]

Reese Cordova

Reese had been nervous meeting both Eliza (her sister-in-law) and Benjamin (her brother-in-law). She had always just wanted to make a good impression and to have the other person like her. So obviously Reese felt slightly nervous about meeting Santiago's new girlfriend. The last time he'd had a girlfriend it had been Rachel, her friend, and she and Santiago hadn't been nearly as close as they were now. But now he was practically another brother to her and she wanted this girl to like her.

She teased him gently that she had to make sure this new girlfriend was good enough for him. “Yeah, yeah,” he said with a crooked grin. “Gotta get that stamp of approval. Little late for that.”

Reese wasn't sure what he meant. Surely he didn't mean they'd gotten married! It had been just over a week since she'd seen him last! That seemed a little quick...unless they been dating for a while now and Santiago was just now telling her about this girl! She would be more than a little upset if that was the case. “She’s over there. LOLA! Venga!” he called and Reese's eyes widened as a large dog suddenly came bounding their way. She leapt up on Santiago who pushed her away with a good natured grumble. “Hate to disappoint, but this is Lola, My new girl. Got her five days ago.” he explained.

"Disappoint?!! Are you kidding me?! You have a dog!!" she cried with a delighted grin. Reese bent at the waist and beckoned Lola over who came and began to sniff the tiny dancer's hand. Reese pet her, stroking her fur and scratching her ears. "She's so pretty," she exclaimed lovingly as she played with the dog. Blue eyes flickered up to Santiago now. "I'm mad at you though! You so sent that text to make me think you got a girlfriend and make me all nervous," she said with a teasingly exaggerated glare.

[The Exodus]

Santiago Ortiz

Maybe it was a cruel trick by normal people’s standards, to tell your best friend you had a “new girl” and mean “new dog”. At least he hadn’t said “new b*tch”. The thought was almost enough to make Santiago smile again. Almost. All he could think was that Reese was going to be angry or disappointed, without realizing that by Santiago standards, this sort of “joke” was as harmless as it got. Getting hopes up and dashing them seemed to be his specialty.

"Disappoint?!! Are you kidding me?! You have a dog!!" Reese crouched to Lola’s level and the dog seemed to take a shine to her instantly. She's so pretty.”


Santiago watched for a single, unguarded moment in affection. Some guard dog Lola would make. He hoped this meant she had good taste, not that the a volunteer had lied about the fighting lions thing. He folded his arms over his chest and smiled.

. "I'm mad at you though!” Reese said, looking up with impish reproach. “You so sent that text to make me think you got a girlfriend and make me all nervous.”

“Guilty as charged,” Santiago said, smile dying a little.

Reese wasn’t really mad; he could tell that much. Santiago wondered what had prompted him to say that. “New girl”. It seemed funny at the time, now it just sounded a bit pathetic. Myron could whine and mope all he wanted about his broken engagement, but Santiago hadn’t had a relationship in over a year. He wasn’t the sort for settling down. Not the marrying kind. Anyone who mistook him for such was a fool. Santiago included.

“But, c’mon. It’s not like you could have expected me to have a girlfriend,” he said aloud.

I’ll probably die a bachelor, he meant silently.

He wondered if he was all right with that. A younger Santiago—a teenaged Santiago—would have said “no” petulantly and scowled. What made him unmarriagable, unlovable? Santiago five years ago would have said that was just fine and grinned lazily, while eyeing his next girl across the bar. Santiago a year ago would have laughed ruefully and taken another shot of whisky, trying not to think of the spare gun in his safe. Where did Santiago stand now?

“I would have told you if I had a serious girlfriend,” he continued, frowning a little. Then, half-smiling, “Why would I need one? I have the two best girls in Paris already.”

If you weren’t Santiago, you wouldn’t even notice the bitterness. He and his friends were all at or nearing that age when marriage and families and steady careers were important things. And here he was, not wanting any of it. Was there something wrong with him? Or maybe with his commitment-crazed, security-loving peers? Since Catalina had gotten to the city, Santiago found himself feeling more distant from the people he’d met in the last few years. Not just because he cut off contact for a few days. It was like being a stranger in a strange land, an alien on Earth for the first time. Everyone seemed so different from him. Just a little out of step. He was thirty-two years old this year. And instead of relishing in his secure job and paid-off apartment, Santiago was playing private detective for a crazy, gangster moll. Instead of trying his hand at a serious romance, he picked up girls five, ten years his junior at night clubs and called it satisfaction. Instead of having—or even dreaming of—children, Santiago got a dog. He couldn’t see what was wrong with any of it except that he was alone.

It was like everyone else had an internal drummer and Santiago had a guitarist.

Bad music metaphors didn’t remedy his cheesy line. Santiago crouched down beside his friend and his dog.

“So, you like her?” he asked, stroking Lola’s fur and looking at Reese. “She’s supposed to guard the apartment when I’m gone, but I wanna make sure she won’t attack people I actually want to stop by.”

Lola, who’d taken to licking Reese’s forearm didn’t look like she’d be very capable of attack, after all. Too cute a mutt. It really was a shame Santiago couldn’t let her have a go at the lions in the zoo as a test run.

[blueeyeddevil]

Reese Cordova

“Guilty as charged,” he admitted as she teasingly accused him of sending the text to trick her. He had to know the kind of conclusion she would draw when he told her that he had a special girl he wanted her to meet. Still she found it hard to work up the proper ire when she was too busy squealing excitedly at him having a dog. Honestly, she had always wanted a puppy but her mother hadn't allowed it...Reese had let one too many goldfish die when she was growing up. “But, c’mon. It’s not like you could have expected me to have a girlfriend. I would have told you if I had a serious girlfriend. Why would I need one? I have the two best girls in Paris already.”

She looked up at him with a smile and laughed as she playfully rolled her eyes. "That's sweet of you but not the point. Any girl would be lucky to date you!" she exclaimed. There was a brief as she considered what she had said. "And yes, I do realize how cliche that sounds, but it doesn't make it any less true. I stand by my statement!" She nodded with finality and turned her attention back to Lola who she was already in love with.

“So, you like her?” he asked as he knelt and began to pet Lola too. “She’s supposed to guard the apartment when I’m gone, but I wanna make sure she won’t attack people I actually want to stop by.”

"I adore her! And it seems like she likes me too," she declared with giggle as Lolla licked her arm. "Can I pretend she's my dog too?! Please?!! I've always wanted a dog!! My mother never would let me have one when I was growing up," she said, looking up at Santiago with a slightly pleading look and an exaggerated pout as she hugged Lola to her.

[The Exodus]

Santiago Ortiz

Bitterness was a natural state for Santiago. A baseline emotion, like contentedness or depression was for others. He supposed in a lot of things, he’d missed the boat. Marriage, family, even career satisfaction. He was too restless for any of it, but one day, something would just stop. He would get old or tired of his wanderlusty ways. Then what? What Santiago had was the best he could possibly hope for. A couple good friends. A job he had craved in his youth. People who respected—some who even feared—him. A dog. Not so pathetic, by other people’s standards.

Santiago, though, was just getting a taste of more lately. More interesting career. More freedom.

No. What he had was good. The best he could possibly hope for.

"That's sweet of you but not the point. Any girl would be lucky to date you!"

Santiago looked at her, eyes rolling a bit at the sentiment. Tell that to Rachel. Tell that to Gisele. Tell that to Georgette Duguay, with her pretty legs and deliciously dark humor. Girls didn’t want him. Those that did often came to regret it.

If they lived to regret it.

"And yes, I do realize how cliche that sounds, but it doesn't make it any less true. I stand by my statement!"

Reese didn’t know the half of it. Santiago resolved in that moment she never would; he liked having someone have faith—however misplaced—in him. He instead asked about the dog. Did Reese like her?

"I adore her! And it seems like she likes me too," she declared with giggle as Lola licked her arm. "Can I pretend she's my dog too?! Please?!! I've always wanted a dog!! My mother never would let me have one when I was growing up.”

“Mine either,” Santiago said. “Too messy, too expensive. It’s good Lola likes you.”

Santiago made up his mind that if anything happened to him, he’d leave Lola to Reese. He’d update his will this weekend. Private investigation was less secure than stage managing. He figured he’d have to update it, anyways.

“She’s a great running partner, too,” he said, deciding to voice some of his thoughts instead of internalizing even the mundane. “Don’t know why I never thought of getting a dog ‘til now.”

[plantnerd92]

Dakota Erickson

“Oh! This? It’s just homework.” The boy named Kenneth told him with a shake of his head as he shook his hand. Dakota watched as Kenneth brushed some of his orange hair out of his face, and was suddenly startled when the wind blew Kenneth's homework right off of his lap. “And now it’s gone! Could you help me?” Kenneth called, having jumped to his feet as he began chasing after it before it blew off the top. Dakota didn't need to be told twice as he leaped into action and began chasing after the papers as well.


“It’s so important I get those back!" Kenneth cried, and Dakota nodded, diving after a few papers, and managing to catch them just before they flew from the top. Once they managed to pick them all up, Dakota tried to straighten the ones he held in his hands before returning them to their owner.

"Here you go. Sorry, they're not in order, but it was the best I could do," Dakota told Kenneth with an apologetic smile.

[Lets_Eat_Paste]

Kenneth Dahl

After scampering for the flyaway papers, Kenneth was grateful to Dakota and his good Samaritan outlook today. If the man had refused, Kenneth would have lost bits and pieces of his essay, and would have been left with an incomplete paper, just shy of satisfactory, with pockets of air where text and substance should have been. And Kenneth would have been forced to start over on an essay he had been slightly proud of.

"Here you go. Sorry, they're not in order, but it was the best I could do," he said and Kenneth looked at him with a weak, but grateful smile.

“Thank you,” he said softly, his voice lost to the roaring wind. There was a silence between them, in which Kenneth considered thanking him once more and leaving, but his father’s voice rang in his head, telling him that Paris was an opportunity for Kenneth to get out of his shell, share himself with the world.

So Kenneth called, sounding almost rude. “Why are you here?” He stopped himself. “I mean, you’re not French. You sound American. Why Paris?”