A Place to Be • •

[remus sayer altmer]

Typically, Remus tried to get his errands done and out of the way on the weekend when Morgan had the children. He could whizz through them all without having to wrangle two kids into behaving when their attention began to wane. Unfortunately, he had forgotten to pick up this book when he had been out last weekend, side-lined by a student who had been messaging him constantly for reassurance over a paper he submitted Friday afternoon. Remus didn’t have a reputation as a hard teacher. He graded fairly, took situations into consideration and was lenient about granting extensions. No one could take advantage of him though or he’d cut all of that back and allow that individual no second chances. He considered himself to be a fair professor, but someone panic messaging like that suggested that perhaps he hadn’t paid attention to the assignment and had turned into an anxiety-riddled mess when speaking to classmates after the deadline. His curiosity piqued by this sudden meltdown from someone who was essentially an adult, had caused Remus to forget a few things, and this book was the most important of those forgotten things.

Bribing his children with one treat each if they behaved, Remus headed into the city with small hands clutching his. Saturday mornings was no time to let them out of his sight. He had never expected to become a single parent, but he didn’t think anyone ever dreamt of it either. It was hard work, and the college were good about him needing to shuffle things around from time to time to attend parent teacher conferences or to pick up a sick kid from school. Morgan was allowed visitation, but Remus was a long way from trusting her with the day to day responsibilities of parenthood. She hadn’t been able to handle them before and he wasn’t all that sure she would be again. He had promised Otto and Millie burgers on the way home, which was keeping them from complaining too much. There had been one or two “are we done yet?”, but they weren’t pushing it. Remus just needed to get this book and then they could flee the city if they wanted to. He had to submit the lesson guide for next semester and what he wanted to cover ought to be in this particular text, but until he had looked it over for himself and had a copy on hand for the head of department should she insist upon it, he couldn’t submit the final plan.

Pushing the door open, he issued another reminder to his children to behave and not to touch anything. No one wanted grubby little hands all over their merchandise, and Remus was faintly aware that Otto had smuggled cheese crackers into the car when they left the house. Remus went straight to the counter, a smile on his face. “Before my monsters run riot in here, do you have Maxwell-Stuarts, ‘The Occult in Medieval Europe’?” He asked politely. Usually, he would go and search for it himself, but he was aware that if anything else caught he eye he would be longer than this trip needed to be, and that would result in two fidgety kids who found trouble a little too easily.

• • •

TAGGED! Campbell Lorraine Piercy
WORDS! 545!
LYRICS! Happiness- - - Reeve Carney
NOTES!

[Campbell Lorraine Piercy]

Campbell loved her little shop more than anything in the world these days. It was her pride and joy and the reason she had so many great friends in the community. She knew she could be quirky and strange and not everyone's cup of tea but she didn't give those people much thought. It was too much negative energy and Campbell wasn't about to put that out into the world. Instead, she put out the positive vibes she wanted to see and took care of those who had looked after her when she needed it the most. Fate could be cruel to those left behind by the actions of others. Her brother should not have lost his life so senselessly but it had happened and she had momentarily lost the will to continue on. However, her friends and neighbours had rallied around her and pulled her away from the funk she was in. They'd shown her that she was important to them and she realised just how important they were to her. She might not have had any biological family left but she did have the one she'd created in New York. She loved them all dearly and knew she needed to get up and open the bookstore for them. Some of them needed the solace of her quirky little shop just as much as she did.

It had been a journey but she knew things didn't happen without a good reason for them. Bell truly believed in the power of the Fates and the universe. So many bad things may have happened to her but on the other side of those awful times, she was stronger and knew herself just that little bit better. She believed in Karma and reading Tarot and everything that seemed eerie, creepy or strange. She loved ghost stories, unsolved mysteries and everything else. Campbell enjoyed it most when people came in, asking for her recommendation on which book they should read next. It didn't fill the holes in her heart that her parents and brother left behind but they did warm it just the same. She was expecting to have a rather quiet day, reading some of the stock she'd recently gotten in but was still happy to be distracted from the task.

"I do love riot running monsters. Don't worry about them." Bell said waving away his obvious worries of his children. "The Occult section is the entire back wall, though that particular book would be closer to the office door. My name is Campbell so holler if you need any assistance." She offered to him with a smile before turning her attention to his sweet-looking children. She rounded the counter and crouched down to eye level. "And what about you two, anything you want to look at? I'm seeing warrior princesses and dashing knights and maybe a great battle or two." She offered, wiggling her eyebrows at the mere thought of how many adventures awaited inside her little shop of goodies.

♦ ♦ ♦

TAG; remus sayer altmer
WORDS; 499
LYRICS; Wild at Heart --Gloriana
NOTES; <3

[remus sayer altmer]

Remus had always been like marmite; he was either loved or hated, and there was rarely an in-between tolerance. He enjoyed the macabre, had a twisted and wickedly dark sense of humour, and spent more of his time in his books than watching the reality TV shows that everyone seemed to get so excited over. His idea of a perfect Saturday night in was wine, a medieval documentary, and a new book on the Occult or torture of the times gone by. That was after his two delightful children were in bed. Before that hour he was papa bear, cooking dinner, playing games, and struggling to remember basic math to help them get through the homework sheets they’d been sent home with. It was a hard balance to maintain, but Remus thought he was doing well, all things considered. Of course, he had always imagined the responsibilities shared between himself and someone he loved, but fate had decided to toughen him up and give him more responsibility without offering him the extra sleep that would make it just that little bit easier to handle.

Not that anyone would ever hear Remus complain. He had chosen to have children, after all, made the decision to split from Morgan in order to protect his kids; and that meant he had also made the choice to shoulder more of the responsibility. There wasn’t anything he wouldn’t do for Otto and Millie, even if they drove him up the wall sometimes, or messed up the order of his papers before he got to the lecture hall. Those days he used them as an argument for everyone to be safe while in college, or a knee height gremlin would soon be causing the same mayhem in their lives. It was a comment often met with scattered laughter, a few eye rolls, and more blank faces in the crowd, but it helped him look less chaotic than he appeared, and explained without sounding like he was offering excuses for the small delay in class time.

“I wouldn’t let them hear that – or you will have a riot on your hands.” His kids were well behaved for the most part, but if you gave them an inch they would happily take a mile. So often he’d had to pull them back and explain in very specific terms what they were allowed to do, otherwise they’d do just as they pleased, usually goading each other. Remus wasn’t sure if they were too smart, or just determined to be troublemakers sometimes. “I’ll be right back with that book. Otto, Millie, touch nothing!” He raised his eyebrows at his kids, giving them both a playful yet stern stare down. Remus had visions of books toppling over if they weren’t told. “Do the princesses fight dragons?” Millie asked in her more-than-innocent voice that fooled too many people for Remus’ liking. Otto was already pretending to have a sword fight as he declared himself Sir Otto of Brooklyn, which was something else that made Remus roll his eyes since they lived on Staten Island.

• • •

TAGGED! Campbell Lorraine Piercy
WORDS! 518!
LYRICS! Happiness- - - Reeve Carney
NOTES!