Politics and Prose • •

[dante frankland fitzsimmons]

Dante loved spending time with his niece. She might have only been one, but he spoke to Gabi like she was someone who could understand his words and maybe have an opinion of what he was saying rather than just chewing on a sipping cup lid and shaking her favourite blue bunny up at him. There was none of that today though. Dante had offered to take Gabriella that morning after he had called round to his sister’s apartment to find Stelle near enough passed out on the couch and looking worse for wear. The one year old had been up all night sick and had kept her mother up, too. Stelle was a single parent, and though she coped well enough there were times when life certainly would be a lot easier if there were two people sharing the trouble of raising a baby. Dante scolded his little sister for not calling him. It was the weekend, he wasn’t working and he didn’t have classes. He would have been over with movies and board games to keep them going while Gabi tried her best to sleep through the fever and the sickness.

He scolded Stelle one more time before grabbing the things he would need to take care of his niece for the day. It was a task Dante did often since he enjoyed babysitting, and he liked giving his sister the chance to have some time to herself to get things done that she couldn’t do when a baby was crawling around and making a mess again, or reaching out for her attention. Dante grabbed a few extra things, too, just in case. He didn’t know how sick Gabi might get, but she seemed calm now, just really tired and her pale complexion sported the rosiest cheeks he had ever seen. She didn’t look a bit like her bright self. It was saddening, but he thought that she might perk up a bit once the day went by. He didn’t know a great deal about babies; everything he knew he learnt from Stelle during her surprise pregnancy and from his own experiences with Gabi. What Dante had seen though was that they had exceptionally quick recovery rates from mysterious illnesses like this. He promised to call Stelle if she got worryingly worse, but he doubted that it would become anything he couldn’t handle. It was probably something she had picked up at the crèche Stelle placed her at when she went to her spin class twice a week.

The walk back from his sister’s place to his own was quite a long one, but with Gabi reasonably settled he thought the fresh air might do her good after a night of being stuck indoors and not feeling her best. He was just over halfway home when Gabi began crying. He pulled over to the side of the sidewalk to see what was wrong with her, plucking her from the bundle of blankets Stelle had covered her in and lifted her up to his arms. He soothed her, sang to her and tried to get her to tell him or indicate to him what the matter was. She didn’t do that, but what she did do was bring up the contents of the milk bottle she had finished before they had left Stelle’s. Once that was out of her system, Gabi fell quiet again and curled up against Dante’s chest, oblivious to the fact that the shoulder and back of his coat was now ruined. He grimaced, put his niece back in her seat and stripped off the jacket, grabbing babywipes from the bag to try and clean it up. It was hard to do on the sidewalk of a busy street though and the building he was outside of was the comedy club. He sighed and moved to the door, pulling it open and awkwardly manoeuvring the stroller through. “Hello?! I know you’re not open yet and this is probably entirely random, but I need to use the bathroom. Or a sink. Really it’s just the sink I need.” He glanced around and then back down at his coat. A washing machine was what he needed best, but he doubted one would pop up at his request. He could clean up properly when he was home, but the rest of walk was going to be brisk. Spring might have been coming but it wasn’t quite warm enough to be out and about in a thin t-shirt just yet.

• • •

TAGGED! Lennox Regan Ophelia Asher
WORDS! 728!
OUTFIT! Loving Uncle!
LYRICS! Drop Dead Gorgeous - - - April Smith and The Great Picture Show
NOTES! <3

[Lennox Regan Ophelia Asher]

Lennox hadn't been on the books for the earlier shift, it had been Dex but that pretty blonde he was always hanging out with did something or had something for him and he had begged her, damn near pleading for her to cover. She didn't have any plans of her own so she agreed to it. Nox was curious if they were seeing each other or if they were just friends with how much time they spent together but Dex just smiled and shook his head. Lennox liked her fellow blonde, she was spunky and had a dry wit that Lennox could get behind. At least one of them was having a good time while the other was stuck working through inventory. Lennox didn't actually mind. She liked playing around with the things she was supposed to be checking. She was alone out on the floor, sitting at the bar, filling out the papers in front of her. Kael was in his office, she could hear him on the phone and she knew Will and Cal were somewhere in the back, taking care of the bar inventory.

It was a pain in the arse part of the job but it needed to be done, otherwise how were they supposed to know three of the cables were damn near shot to hell. They had spares of course, but since she would be putting them out for the night's showcase, she needed to put an order in for new spare cables since the old spares were now going to be the new regulars. At least Dex was going to be there later if she needed a few minutes to sleep in a box of wires, not that she would. Whenever she was at Gotham, she was just about wired for sound. Lennox loved working there, getting to know the ins and outs of anywhere with a stage was great experience. She might have wanted to be in front of a camera again or maybe on a stage but it never hurt to know how to work behind the scenes as well. If she needed to land gigs working cables or microphones before she got her big break on this side of the pond, then that would be what she would do.

She wasn't a household name back home, her name might already have been forgotten except by those few but she'd had her moments in the spotlight there and wanted to breakout over here. Not to mention the fact that she wanted to get an education. If all else failed, she could become an industry tutor or something equally less glamourous. With the papers in front of her almost filled out, Lennox's mind went to thinking about how long it would take her to switch out the cables and make sure everything was in working order once again. There wasn't a whole lot of time left before the doors would open for the evening and she wanted to be ahead of the game and sipping on a drink well before then; having her only job at that point to be taking care of anything that arose unexpectedly. She dipped around the bar to snag another bottle of water and heard the voice call out before she popped back up again. "Come on ba- Oh." Lennox said, cutting herself off when she saw the mess that needed to be cleaned up. "I see someone was a bit sick." She said with a smile, waving the blonde man into the building further even as she rounded the bar once again. "The washrooms are through there. We've no washing machine or I'd direct you to it. I'll look after your daughter for you." She said smiling down at the adorable little girl in the stroller.

Tag || dante frankland fitzsimmons
Words || 630
Clothes || Cheeky Comedienne
Music || All My Heart --Sleeping With Sirens
Notes || <3!

[dante frankland fitzsimmons]

Dante felt foolish saying that he was ‘finding himself’, but the truth was that he sort of was doing just that. He had spent a large portion of his life doing what people advised him to do and it had resulted in him feeling lost and hopeless by his early twenties. It was only after his sister’s accidental pregnancy with a man who rejected his daughter did Dante find the fuel to chase his purpose again. Gabi filled him with the desire to be something and chase the dreams he had locked away all those years ago because he had been too shy and too scared to do anything about them. It might have sounded silly to anyone else since Gabi was only one now and she was totally clueless as to what her uncle was doing if he wasn’t playing peekaboo or tossing her up in the air, but to Dante it made perfect sense. He wanted to be someone Gabi could look up to, and spending his life stuck at the Hard Rock Café or working a job his heart wasn’t in was not the way to do that. He didn’t want his niece growing up believing that she needed to do the sensible thing, or what people told her to do if her heart was screaming at her to run in the opposite direction.

He knew Stelle wanted the same thing for her daughter. She was being a lot more sensible these days, but Dante knew she was holding back after how scared and heartbroken the fling had left her. She hadn’t expected to find herself pregnant then, let alone a single mother nine months later. He did what he could to lessen that burden and try to make life more fun for them both, but he knew his sister was scared of being hurt and abandoned like that again. He couldn’t blame her. He also couldn’t understand how anyone could do that to another person. If it had been him in the man’s shoes, he’d have been there and done everything, but then Dante was a sweetheart who didn’t have so much luck in love. Not to mention that he was rarely interested in the idea of casual flings. He was old fashioned and liked to actually have a relationship where he got to know someone first. Unfortunately, most girls were bored of him fairly quickly when he bumbled around, spilling his drink or saying the wrong thing when he meant to say something entirely different.

Then, there was the issue of Gabi spitting up on him. That wasn’t exactly endearing either; at least not to other people. Dante didn’t love his niece any less because she was sick. This wasn’t the first time his wardrobe had fallen victim to the baby, but it was the first time in public. He waved a hand at the blonde girl who spoke to him, and pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose. “No, no; water and some paper towels will be fine.” He vowed, not wanting to be any trouble. Dante just wanted to get rid of the smell more than anything else. He smiled, shaking his head. “Thanks, but she’s my niece. She looks like my sister, who just happens to have my bad looks, too.” He joked, making sure Gabi had her teddy before he left her. The last thing he wanted was his niece suddenly deciding to scream the place down the second he walked away, but she was usually well behaved if she had her bear by her side. “I’ll be two minutes, I swear.” He promised, quickly jogging back to the bathrooms to clean up. He was as fast as he could be, scrubbing his coat under the running water until he had done all he could with the garment. It was still going in his washing machine the moment he got home, but it was better than nothing for now.

• • •

TAGGED! Lennox Regan Ophelia Asher
WORDS! 666!
OUTFIT! Loving Uncle!
LYRICS! Drop Dead Gorgeous - - - April Smith and The Great Picture Show
NOTES! <3

[Lennox Regan Ophelia Asher]

Lennox had been acting since she’d been young but it was all back home in England. On American soil, she had little screen time since she arrived but that was okay with her. She knew what the business was like, it would take time and energy to get to where she was and beyond it; especially since she wasn’t a child actor anymore. Her name got her into the auditions, as did her American agent but it was her talent and her skill that got her the roles she’d had so far stateside. Commercials and a few print ads here and there, a couple guest spots on sitcoms filmed in New York, three plays and one musical were what she’d gotten under her belt in the big apple and it was great to supplement her income while she was studying. Not bad for a junior. Lennox figured by the time she was finished her education; she would have quite the padded resume going forward. And of course, she would continue to work at Gotham until she really made her American star shine. It was all that Lennox wanted in the short term. In the long run, she had no idea what she wanted from life. It had always been acting for her and probably always would be in some capacity.

She loved the stage and felt she could do a lot of good work there but the silver screen also had its merits. And it left Lennox very torn on which she should bulldoze towards first. However, until she figured it out, she would continue doing the inventory checks and the equipment ordering and making sure things fly smoothly from one night to the night. And fix anything that came up that couldn’t be done by whoever was in control on the night's she didn't help close up. She was a Jane of all trades, wanting to know every little aspect of what made a production tick. Gotham may have been a comedy club but it still put on performances and that took quite the behind-the-scenes team of skilled individuals. She was very lucky to be part of that team. And when she became famous, she definitely wouldn't forget all the people who helped her get there but until then, she would continue on her path of working at Gotham, going on audition after audition and showcasing her skills in on, off and way off Broadway shows.

Lenny had never actually considered a future beyond breaking into Hollywood. That had been her goal since she'd decided to move to the other side of the planet for more training and more audition options. She'd never considered anything else; at all. She never once thought about what she would do if she didn't make it in America. Lennox had never thought about a future with a man who claimed her heart, a brood of little versions of them running around and a couple of dogs to help create and clean up the spills and messes. Kids were cute and all but Lennox didn't spend tons of time with the little munchkins. But that didn't mean she didn't know how to handle babies. "Oh well, she's still a cute little thing." She said blinking. It wasn't rare for people to take care of their nieces and nephews, Lennox was sure of that much, but she'd never actually seen that put into practice. If it wasn't the parents themselves, it was something paid to watch the little Rugrats. It was nice to see and plastering a smile on her face, Lenny crouched down to be eye level with the wee one. "Take your time." She said quickly looking over at the sweet child's uncle. She turned her blue eyes back to the little girl and started making faces and talking to her, making her laugh and reach out easily. Too bad it hadn't last nearly as long as Lennox would have liked. Once the sweet baby realised her uncle wasn't in sight, she started to quiver that little lip of hers and Lennox made quick work of plucking her from the stroller with her bear. It was obvious the sweet little thing wasn't feeling well so Lennox moved carefully over to the stage and the carpet she'd just rolled out herself not too long before they'd walked through the door. It was a soft plushy one that Lennox threatened to steal whenever she was alone. "Now this is much better, isn't it?" She asked, sitting cross legged on the stage.

Tag || dante frankland fitzsimmons
Words || 756
Clothes || Cheeky Comedienne
Music || All My Heart --Sleeping With Sirens
Notes || <3!

[dante frankland fitzsimmons]

Writing had been in Dante's heart for as long as he could hold a pen. There were still boxes of journals up in the loft at his parents' house with his name scrawled on them. They were full of stories, poems, songs. Some were unfinished, left forever hanging where he had cramped up or hit an unforgiving wall. He tried to finish everything he started now that wasn't college work. That, of course, had to have a beginning, middle, and an end if he wanted to achieve a decent passing grade. Dante wasn't having a second go at college just to half ass it. That wouldn't go down well with his parents, or with himself. He'd already struggled to make a go at this whole 'being an adult' thing, and chase what he thought was his dream. He didn't want to screw it up the second time around as well. He could hold his hands up to being a dreamer, but he didn't want to be the one who everyone knew as flaking out and failing to commit. He wanted to be able to have something solid to show for his life by the time he was his dad's age. Dante didn't think that was too much to ask.

He just didn’t want to be middle aged and have a slew of low paying jobs to accompany his writing career. He hadn’t been any good as a journalist because his mind had been too creative, too imaginative. He had a ‘fondness for adjectives’ as his old editor had put it. It went much further than that, but even when Dante tried to stick to the cold, hard facts his articles ran rampant with descriptions the readers didn’t apparently want or need. That was why he had gone back to college. If he was good at something, then he might as well play to those strengths and not try to be the circle slamming into the square box and wondering why in the hell he couldn’t fit through. At least this way he might open some more doors for himself by the end of it all, or gain the confidence to believe in the nonsense he scribbled into those old journals he carried about with him.

Dante was slowly getting there. His classes were helping him see the errors he routinely made, and spot what was consistently good about his work. That was what he had hoped to get out of this whole experience more than anything. He knew no one was going to have confidence in him and what he could do if he was hiding his work and acting shy and awkward about it for the rest of his life. It was no way to launch a career, and Dante didn’t need to hear the ‘confidence’ talk from anyone who knew him one more time. He could probably quote it in his sleep by now. “She is.” He grinned with pride. He adored Gabi, and would do anything for his little niece. He was such a doting uncle and the first in line whenever Stelle needed a sitter. Dante felt so much better once his jacket was scrubbed clean. It wouldn’t be perfect until after a spin cycle, but this was better than nothing. With the garment folded over his arm he headed back out to check on the poor girl who was left minding his sick little niece. A smile crossed his face when he saw Gabi out of the stroller, the two of them by the stage instead. “Are you making trouble, Gabi?” He said teasingly, crouching down beside them. “Careful, she knows how to play people.” He told the young girl, his eyebrows raised.

• • •

TAGGED! Lennox Regan Ophelia Asher
WORDS! 624!
OUTFIT! Loving Uncle!
LYRICS! Drop Dead Gorgeous - - - April Smith and The Great Picture Show
NOTES! <3

[Lennox Regan Ophelia Asher]

Lennox had plans for her plans and they all consisted of acting. It had never been about being famous and having fans fawning over her. For her, it had always been the simple act of getting out there and giving the people something to take their minds of whatever troubles they might have had. She just loved to dress up and pretend to be someone else for a short time. It was the one thing that had always made her happy when she'd been young and it still rang true now that she was older. Falling into someone else's life gave her the chance to drop her own troubles and figure out what troubles this person had instead. Would they have student loans like she did, would they have a mortgage, kids, a troubled marriage? She wanted to know what was going on in the head of the character she was meant to be portraying. Creating backstories for her characters was, on occasion, a lot of work but she always felt better about having those little things; Like the character she'd played for the better part of her childhood. They'd had things in common but there were things that she hated that her character hadn't. Where Lennox couldn't stand trashy gossip magazines or magazines in general, her character had loved reading the ones geared towards kids her age. They both liked strawberries and dancing and both hated white chocolate; there were just some things she couldn't get over. White chocolate was a dislike for every single character Lennox had ever portrayed and that was not something that would change as she got older. She hated the stuff and would always be quite vocal about it.

All the opportunities in New York gave Lenny the ability to expand on those characters and their likes and interests. She also enjoyed when there were things that she didn't know but that she needed to learn for a role; like guitar. She hadn't known how to play before one role but had gotten herself a tutor and an acoustic guitar to practice on. At the end of that, she'd become so enthralled with the instrument, she'd decided she liked playing and continued the practice long after the role had been finished. And while her collection of guitars moved further towards amps and even a bass, she was still learning new things. Applying for the job she currently had was something she'd felt she needed to do as well. Being a stagehand was all the behind the scenes work she'd never really be a part of before New York. She'd always been part of the cast and though the directors here and there were cool with showing her what they were seeing when she was on the stage, it had never really been more than that. The cameramen on occasion had hoisted her up so she could see what everyone else saw but for her, it had always ended there. These days she wanted to know more, develop more skills should they ever come in handy.

Babysitting had never been one of her skills but that had only been because she'd never really been around a lot of children. She hadn't gone to regular school, instead of having a tutor on set. But there had been kids around every once in a while so she at least had experience around little ones. "Not at all. She's an absolute doll." She said, making silly faces at the sweet girl. "I'm Len, by the way, probably should have made introductions before leaving your niece in the care of a stranger." She added with a chuckle. She didn't mind and the little girl was the sweetest thing and no bother at all for the few minutes she'd been under Lennox's care. They had laughed and giggled and made silly faces at each other. They did all the things Lennox knew or thought she knew, small children did on TV shows.

Tag || dante frankland fitzsimmons
Words || 662
Clothes || Cheeky Comedienne
Music || All My Heart --Sleeping With Sirens
Notes || <3!

[dante frankland fitzsimmons]

There wasn’t a day that went by when Dante didn’t write something. It might have just been a few nonsensical lines that swept over him, but getting them down meant that one day they could become something truly poetic. Or at least that was what Dante hoped for whenever his pen found the paper, or his fingers danced across the screen of his phone. It wasn’t always practical to pull out a journal and try to write down a few lines. The subway was too shaky, the streets were often too crowded. Dante loved New York, but it was definitely a busy, crowded place. It was difficult to find a moment’s peace anywhere. He was a city boy through and through, but if he had a pounding headache or was struggling to sleep then he wished he was anywhere else. Sometimes the same could be said when he was writing and couldn’t quite string the words together in just the right way. Then he could long to be anywhere else, preferably a magical place where the words flowed easier.

Still, any escape would only ever be temporary. New York was home. His family was here, his sister and niece meant more to him than anything else. He could never leave them behind. Even if he had the offer of a lifetime Dante would always put his family first. They were who made him the man he was today. They were the reason he had been able to go back to school to have a second attempt at this whole ‘life’ gig. He hadn’t exactly failed catastrophically the first time around, but there had certainly been room for improvement; plenty of room. There had been so much room, it was like putting a 90lb person in the trousers of a 200lb person. Second chances were hard to come by, especially in a world as cruel as the modern age. Dante wasn’t going to waste this one. His first round of college had been as much fun as it was work, but this time he didn’t need to be swayed by parties and nights out. He knew what he had come back for and he wasn’t going to skip a class for a hangover, or because he wanted the extra hour in bed. Second chances were not to be wasted.

Dante stooped to sweep Gabi up into his arms. She chortled and wrapped her tiny fingers around his shirt. “Ah, yes, she would be after she threw up on me.” He joked, pressing a soft kiss to her forehead. “She’ll play the angel for the rest of the day. Her mum would do the same whenever she had done something untoward.” He loved his sister, but as kids there had been times when they drove each other up the walls. They could go from wrestling over the toy in a cereal box, to hugging and falling asleep together watching Disney movies. “I consider myself a good judge of character.” He wore a lopsided smirk as he looked back at Lennox. “I’m Dante, but I haven’t yet encountered hell. Unless this is it and nobody’s got around to telling me.” Some people out there might very well consider New York a circle of hell. It wasn’t for everybody after all, but to Dante it was a concrete paradise; at least most of the time.

• • •

TAGGED! Lennox Regan Ophelia Asher
WORDS! 569
LYRICS! Drop Dead Gorgeous - - - April Smith and The Great Picture Show
NOTES! <3