NEXT TO YOU // OPEN

[freddie]

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— blowing out a long breath, he turned his gaze throughout the building. one hand on the broom and the other on his hip, he surveyed all the work that he still had left to do, all the work that others were helping him get done. if eddie had told him just how much work all of this clean-up would’ve been, he would’ve been more reluctant to do it. hell, he probably would’ve watched others clean up a building and only then choose to snatch it for himself. it was a bit too late to try the lazy, easy route as much as fred hated to admit it. shaking his head, he turned towards a nearby table and picked up his half-empty bottle of beer.

deciding that then was his break, he leaned against the table and watched others work far harder than him; there were many easier, lazier routes than simply stealing someone else’s building. recruiting help that seemed to be doing more of the work for him, and paying most of them with a bottle of beer, seemed to be one way to get it done. he looked around at the volunteers, deciding to pipe up, “anyone want a beer?” he took a sip of the one in his hand, adding, a small grin on his lips, “now or never.”

//this post sucked but
fred is working on his lil shop area so

[EDMUND.]

If they were all going to manage to get the village ready for business by summer, Eddie knew that everybody had to chip in. And so, albeit begrudgingly, the Stirlings all found themselves clearing out a shop at Eddie’s request. Freddie wanted to utilize it. For what, Eddie didn’t yet know, but he really hoped that the business occupying Fred’s attention would at least sometimes get Freddie off of Ed’s back. Right? At Fred’s offer, William was quick to toss aside his broom with a clatter before sliding over towards his younger brother to grab a drink for himself.

❝ One this way. ❞ Alf piped up and he stood back up with a grunt, tousling Tommy’s hair as he walked towards Fred to grab himself a drink. From where Eddie stood, revamping some of the old furniture, his eyes wandered across all of the help in a room quietly. He could continue working whilst they took a break, but then again many hands made light work. He could do with a break anyway. He sighed, stepping away from the furniture, before looking over at Fred. ❝ Just one. ❞ He mumbled before grabbing himself a drink for himself. William snickered slinging an arm over Eddie’s shoulder, Eddie nonreactive as he kept his eyes low, opening his drink. ❝ You’re a funny one, Moray. ❞ All right, Will. Keep laughing; no one else found Ed funny, hopefully.

[align=center][div style="width: 430px; text-align: justify; font-family:verdana; font-size: 7px;"][spoiler=tags :: updated 03/06]basics.
⋟ edmund theodore stirling-moray // ed, eddie, moray
⋟ goes by the name edmund moray
⋟ male // he/him
⋟ twenty four // ages real time // born seventh august
⋟ captain of flintlock lodge // formerly a traveler with his family
⋟ mob boss of the stirling crime family
⋟ joined FL two years ago

appearance.
⋟ faceclaim - finn cole
⋟ voice claim - finn cole
⋟ 5'9ft // stocky, well-built frame
⋟ muted blue eyes and dirty blonde hair
⋟ physical health - 100% // current injuries: n/a
⋟ mental health - 60% // depression and deluded thoughts

personality.
⋟ quiet in nature but confident in himself
⋟ completely fearless, almost foolishly so
⋟ insensitive and callous // cares for very few
⋟ very calm and calculative // always planning in his head
⋟ disciplined and practices good self-control
⋟ very flirtatious and persuasive // overly lustful
⋟ aloof and untrustworthy // jealous and deceitful
⋟ tactful and knows how to get what he wants
⋟ can be very nasty when he wants to be
⋟ but can also be very protective and faithful too
⋟ has a strong set of morals // has the quality of honor

relationships.
⋟ alfred stirling x leonora moray // both deceased
⋟ three older brothers // alfonso, thomas & franklin
⋟ the fifth stirling-moray brother, dominik, was killed
⋟ two younger half-siblings // henry & ida
⋟ bisexual but he stays silent about homosexual activity
⋟ ex-husband to blake kegan // was caught cheating
⋟ father of thomas moray and charlotte moray

interaction.
⋟ storage // playlist // pinterest
⋟ physically: very hard // mentally: hard
⋟ father taught him how to kill at a young age
⋟ insensitive towards injuring or killing others // will do so without hesitation
⋟ mentally, he is slowly becoming undone from stress, grief and guilt
⋟ often found guarding the lodge with a rifle
[/spoiler]

[freddie]

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— an easy grin made its way to fred’s lips, lightheartedly clinking his drink against will’s as his brother grabbed a bottle for himself. as others joined in, eyes eventually landed on poor eddie standing by the furniture. it was impossibly difficult to read the other man; with the wedge between them, he was surprised edmund was here, let alone apparently taking an offer to grab a drink. yet there the man was, pulling his weight and helping to clear out the shop. the lines between leader and family felt blurred for freddie at times; the line between what made ed his leader and his rival felt blurred even more so.

will snickering, throwing an arm around the other man and finding humor in the man’s insistence to have just one drink. the youngest seemed egged on by his brother’s remark, quick to pipe up. “come to think of it… i don’t think i’ve ever seen water in your glass before, eddie.”  oh wasn’t he so smart. joking words that lacked a silver-tongued sting, but words that actually - held a bit of truth to it, now that fred had the time to ponder over the fact. but then again, that wasn’t any of fred’s business. at this point every stirling enjoyed themselves a few drinks of liquor on occasion; eddie was simply the main example of that case.

letting out a short sigh after taking a sip of his drink, he glanced around the shop. "i was thinking," he started, almost laughing at his own idea before he supplied, "what if i turned this place into a bar?"

[EDMUND.]

Eddie was only here because he thought he really ought to help out. Not for this shop in particular, certainly not for Freddie, but for Flintlock’s village as a whole. Freddie shouldn’t see himself as special just because Eddie decided to break a sweat for him - that would be the last thing Eddie would need right now, Fred’s ego inflating. What he’d do is help out in this shop and then move right on over to the next shop, and the next shop, and the next shop, because he had to set some sort of example on what he wanted to see in this village renovation.

But, he had to admit, a drink break really did seem like a good idea right now. His hands hurt from all of the exertion put into moving heavy, splintering furniture around and, as soft hues darted across the others in the room grabbing themselves a drink, Eddie knew what he’d rather be doing. He looked over towards where Will and Fred stood as Fred made a biting remark. Choosing to huff a vacant, halfhearted breath, Ed nodded a short nod before finally looking away as he grabbed himself a drink. What Ed hated the most was just how true words had been. How empty he had to be to go to sleep drunk most nights.

❝ Too soon, Freds… Too soon. ❞ Ominously and most definitely mockingly, Will nudged Freddie’s shoulder as he feigned a stern reprimand. Probably a reference to Alfie’s former words several weeks ago. All Eddie could do was stare at the two brothers before finally looking away and taking a swig of his drink. Those two were like hyenas, always scampering around like little opportunists and nipping at anything they deemed as good enough prey. The best thing to do would be to ignore them. They’d hate the lack of attention, wouldn’t they?

Freddie was talking again. A bar. Freddie wanted to own a bar? Well, Eddie supposed that it would at least mean that he’d stay out of Ed’s hair a little more, which was always a plus. ❝ If you’re willing to put in the work, then sure. ❞ Ed pointed out bluntly, flitting eyes over towards his cousin before slowly taking another sip of his drink. ❝ And drinks on the house for family! ❞ Tom added afterwards, raising his brows expectantly at Fred.

[align=center][div style="width: 430px; text-align: justify; font-family:verdana; font-size: 7px;"][spoiler=tags : updated 03/06]basics.
⋟ edmund theodore stirling-moray // ed, eddie, moray
⋟ goes by the name edmund moray
⋟ male // he/him
⋟ twenty four // ages real time // born seventh august
⋟ captain of flintlock lodge // formerly a traveler with his family
⋟ mob boss of the stirling crime family
⋟ joined FL two years ago

appearance.
⋟ faceclaim - finn cole
⋟ voice claim - finn cole
⋟ 5'9ft // stocky, well-built frame
⋟ muted blue eyes and dirty blonde hair
⋟ physical health - 100% // current injuries: n/a
⋟ mental health - 60% // depression and deluded thoughts

personality.
⋟ quiet in nature but confident in himself
⋟ completely fearless, almost foolishly so
⋟ insensitive and callous // cares for very few
⋟ very calm and calculative // always planning in his head
⋟ disciplined and practices good self-control
⋟ very flirtatious and persuasive // overly lustful
⋟ aloof and untrustworthy // jealous and deceitful
⋟ tactful and knows how to get what he wants
⋟ can be very nasty when he wants to be
⋟ but can also be very protective and faithful too
⋟ has a strong set of morals // has the quality of honor

relationships.
⋟ alfred stirling x leonora moray // both deceased
⋟ three older brothers // alfonso, thomas & franklin
⋟ the fifth stirling-moray brother, dominik, was killed
⋟ two younger half-siblings // henry & ida
⋟ bisexual but he stays silent about homosexual activity
⋟ ex-husband to blake kegan // was caught cheating
⋟ father of thomas moray and charlotte moray

interaction.
⋟ storage // playlist // pinterest
⋟ physically: very hard // mentally: hard
⋟ father taught him how to kill at a young age
⋟ insensitive towards injuring or killing others // will do so without hesitation
⋟ mentally, he is slowly becoming undone from stress, grief and guilt
⋟ often found guarding the lodge with a rifle
[/spoiler]

[freddie]

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— he rose his brows expectantly, slowly taking a sip of his drink as he stared eddie down. it seemed that ed’s brothers knew when to stay out of something, especially between a rivalry not even they could completely understand. good for them; let the baby brother fight his own battles. the man simply huffed a lousy excuse of laughter, the laughter truly holding no life to it. empty. he continued to stare the man down, clearly not enthused by the man’s response - or lack thereof. people used to chatter about how fun this guy was; fred only found himself growing more bored of him. the only times he was entertaining was when fred was kicking him while he was down. nowadays, ed was somehow making even that feel less rewarding.

“too soon, freds… too soon.” the mocking words caused the dirty blonde to turn his gaze towards will, slowly breaking out into a grin. will nudged his shoulder, the younger brother quick to nudge him back in retaliation. seemed just yesterday that fred had been playing along, only for ed to go off on him seemingly out of nowhere. he still hadn’t pieced everything together from that incident - not seeming to care enough to figure it all out - though it seemed to only fuel the rift growing between the two bitter cousins. he instead chose to huff a short breath that was far more real than ed’s previous one, shaking his head as he mused, “fuck off, lee.”

fred and will were an absolutely powerful duo. they did seem like opportunist vermin, scouring around for the weakest, getting them while they were down. and, oh, did edmund surely seem like he was down. the brothers seemed quick to keep the man on the ground, just biting and biting at his heels. eddie had more willpower than fred gave him credit for, he had to admit. how someone in his position, spiraling, could stand the heat that his cousins and everyone else seemed to throw at him… it was, fred hated to admit it, mildly badass.

changing the subject to his genius bar idea, eyes wandered around to gauge everyone’s reaction. ed’s remark was blunt, not exciting at all. fred tried to appear more impressed than he felt, settling for holding his drink out towards ed, gesturing towards him. he seemed about ready to make some quip, if it wasn’t for tom adding, “and drinks on the house for family!” fred grinned, turning his drink towards his favorite cousin. “i can’t give free drinks to my main customers, now. that’s bad for business.” stirlings and their love for alcohol-- you couldn’t blame fred for possibly exploiting that, now, could you?

"maybe a few on the house. so long as you keep letting me steal your dogs from you for a while."

//this is so bad i'm sorry