Leave mail here.

Whether they really were in Darrow for the long haul or it was just another temporary trick that the Island was playing on them, there were a few things that the city provided that Asher was taking full advantage of. Unfortunately for Daniel and Celia, today's thing happened to be proper health care.

The doctors on the Island did what they could with what they had, but none of that was the same as having an actual pediatrician with access to all that modern day medicine had to offer, not just what some stupid Island deemed okay to have.

There were shots, blood and now there were tears and a pair of dramatically quivering bottom lips. The lollipops and stickers each child had gotten hadn't seemed to pacify them any, and Asher didn't blame them. He would have been insulted if someone had offered him those things, too.

Ducking into a less crowded corridor, Asher let the twins get the crying out of their system. Walking down the street with two sobbing children would probably have drawn some unwanted attention, so he decided to avoid it altogether and let them have their meltdowns inside.

Hopefully it didn't take to long. The doctor's office smell really set his teeth on edge.

Seven plus years of history came flooding back to him in a matter of moments. When it was over, all Asher could think was that he really fucking hated this place. After that initial thought, all he can think about is Ray and the twins.

That ring - Ray's ring, he knew that now - just like Onyx, it had been in the apartment the day he'd arrived, but he hadn't paid it any mind. Not until tonight. He wasn't sure what made him give the thing a second glance today, but he did. A second glance, a slip onto his finger and he was slammed with some weird vertigo-like sensation that nearly knocked him clear off his feet. When it was over, he remembered everything. How things ended back home - for him, at least - and the past seven years on the island; he remembered all of it. His first day there, in the city, and how he acted towards Ray and the twins, too.

Once he thought it was all in there and that there wasn't anymore of the freaky picture show left to flash in his head, he'd tracked down the number in the directory and text Ray. He could have called, he probably should have called, but what the fuck would he have said? He just needed his address, he could figure out the rest on the way there. Or that had been the plan, anyway.

Standing just outside the door, now, he was still just as clueless as before. Was he supposed to apologize? That's not something he did often. Never mind the fact that he was just the innocent victim of circumstance in this instance.

With an agitated growl at the back of his throat, Asher finally knocked lightly. He didn't want to wake Daniel and Celia if they were asleep. Then again, Ray was probably less likely to hit him if they were awake.

This was a bad idea.

Asher had know as much going into it, of course, but he played along. What was the harm? It kept Danica happy, for one. That in and of itself was reason enough. The other one being that Asher had never really expected them to find anything. They had an eternity, what were a few months wasted, scouring the four corners of the globe, chasing a myth they'd never meet in the flesh?

Only this time, they did meet him. And he was pissed.

Wolfie was dead, his ashes wafting in the stale air of that subterranean deathtrap as the ground beneath them began to groan and quake. Their lanterns flicked, lighting up a terrifying vignette of an armored creature, rising out of the earth, thrashing and growling and headed straight for Danica.

She screamed.

The ground was still moving and lights still flashed in and out, but the scream faded into more of screech by the end. A whistle? When the lights finally hold steady, Asher's eyes dart around at the unfamiliar surroundings.

A train. He was standing on a train, Grimwood, Danica and that thing nowhere to be seen. What was this? Did he get knocked out? Had he met the same fate as Wolfie? What the fuck was happening and why was it happening on a fucking train?

He could tell something was off even before he opened his eyes. Not in a bad way, necessarily, just... different.

Yet familiar.

For a moment, he just continued to lie there, eyes shut, listening. The hut he shared with Ray was relatively close to the shore, so waking up to the sound of waves was the norm. Today, though, it sounded like those waves were rolling in right outside their door.

He could hear breathing and heartbeats, both from the dogs and from Ray who was still fast asleep beside him. Ignorance was bliss, and all that. Ray hadn't gone to sleep with a vampire, and Asher doubted he was going to take waking up with one very well. Especially not after the stunt he pulled back when the causeway was active.

"Vecchio?" Asher whispered, nudging the other man with his knee. As long as he didn't start yelling, Asher would consider it going better than expected.

The day had started out ordinary enough.

Asher had woken up first, and he had half a mind to wake Ray up, too. He doubted the other man would have protested too much at the method he'd have used to wake him, but he eventually decided against it, allowing him to continue sleeping in the end. Had he not, it would have otherwise been a lot more difficult to get any actual work done that morning.

He left a kiss on Ray's shoulder before sliding out of bed (it was a lot easier to be affectionate when the other party was more or less unconscious), and quietly went about pulling on his clothing. He would have preferred staying in bed himself, but the damn horses weren't going to feed and water themselves, no matter how hard he wished it.

He slipped out soundless when he was through, shutting the door behind him.

Maybe the lack of a herd of excited, barking dogs running to greet him should have been a clue that something was amiss. Instead, Asher just took it as a sign to hurry the fuck up and get out of there before they spotted him. It was a short-lived thought, though, as Asher only made it a few steps from the hut before spying Mr. Waffles' tail swaying on the other side of the hot tub before the dog sprung up, resting his front paws on the edge of the tub and peeking in, whimpering.

"Hey!" Asher called, whistling when that didn't automatically get the dog's attention.

Still nothing.

Maybe he'd inherited his father's 'deafness', Asher thought as he trudged over. Once close enough, though, he thought maybe he'd inherited the police dog skills instead.

It took a lot to startle a five-hundred year old vampire, but finding a corpse in his hot tub would apparently do it. Being more or less desensitize by that sort of thing, it was really just the shock of finding one there that rattled him, not the body itself. His initial ideal of how it might have gotten there didn't help, either.

"Holy fuck," Asher muttered under his breath. "Fuck, fuck, fuck," he continued to repeat back to the hut, through the door and for a moment as he paced by the foot of the bed.

So much for letting Ray sleep in. Maybe he should have given him that blow job first after all.

"Vecchio?"

When the Island had gone back to normal they'd had a hell of a time breaking the news to the twins that Toys-R-Us had vanished along with the rest of the city. Truth be told, a small part of Asher had wanted to join Celia in her tantrum over the loss. Not of the toy store specifically, obviously, but of the city as a whole. He knew it was most likely all in his head, but since being back, the sun seemed brighter, the temperature higher and the sand about a hundred times more obnoxious than it had been before. More obnoxious even than when they were stuck in the old west, which was saying something.

Not everything was left behind, though. Of all the things that could have remained from their time in New York, the Island had chosen this. Of course it did. It might have still been wrapped, but Asher didn't need x-ray vision to know what it was.

When he'd picked it out, he actually assumed that, more likely than not, it would have stayed behind. For his birthday, he'd tell Ray about his good intentions without having to hand anything to him. The thought was supposed to be what counted most, and Asher wondered if that held true when nothing tangible was ever actually received.

Now he'd never know.

He'd kept the gift in the spare room on the boat since they'd been back on the Island. It was already late-afternoon - Ray's birthday was already more than halfway over now - and it had only made it as far as the kitchenette table from its original hiding spot.

Maybe it wouldn't have been so bad if the thing didn't look like Martha-fucking-Stewart had done the wrap job.

Groaning, he swept the gift off the table after deciding he'd stared at it long enough, tucked it under his arm and started back home.

When he wasn't possessed by the Island into thinking he was in love or being kidnapped, Asher had forgotten that being out on the boat could actually be pretty nice.

He wasn't sure where Ray was at that point, whether he was still out on the deck, the indoor sitting area, or even if he had gone overboard for that matter, though he was sure he would have heard the yelling from the bedroom if that last one were the case.

He was lying back on the foot of the bed, legs hanging over the edge and staring up through the porthole on the ceiling. He was also smoking, something he only did on the rare occasion now, having mostly broken the habit since the twins were born. Ray probably wouldn't appreciate it, which was why he hadn't simply lit up right in front of him.

After loosening his tie, Asher tucked his free hand behind his head. He wasn't sure if the peace even had half a chance of lasting the duration of their entire getaway, but he'd enjoy it for as long as it did.

Things had been quiet, and Asher wasn't sure yet if that was a good or a bad thing. In that moment, as he sat at the bar of the gazebo outside the hut, he couldn't say he actually cared one way or another. The farthest thing from his mind was Hannibal King and the trouble he'd brought along with him when he showed up.

Maybe he didn't often show it or even think about it all that much, but he knew he had it pretty good on the Island. It wasn't the sort of thought he'd openly express to Danica - lest she disown him completely for thinking something so disgustingly vile - but he knew. It wasn't perfect and it wasn't home, not really, but life on the Island wasn't what it used to be nearly five years ago.

He had Danica, pain in the ass that she was, and that alone made things more bearable than they had been when he first showed up. He had Del and the twins. And, now, he had Ray.

Things could have been a lot worse. Things have been a lot worse...

And its with that thought that he thinks maybe Danica should disown him, because even he was making himself a little nauseous.

Once he had realized what it was he was staring at, it was almost instantly that he had started wondering what the consequences would be. In the end, it probably wouldn't be anything as odd as killer toys, but still, there had to be something.

It was even quicker still that he realized he could wonder just as well from the inside as he could if he were just standing and staring on the outside.

As far as surprise gifts from the Island went, a hot tub and gazebo definitely didn't suck. The champagne, fruit and dessert tray were all nice touches, too, but they did feel a bit like the Island imposing upon his sex-life. He didn't need any help in that area, especially not from an entity he couldn't see.

Head tipped back over the edge of the tub, Asher shut his eyes and sank down lower into the water. He probably should have waited for Ray to turn up before enjoying it, but Ray's name hadn't been on the gift tag, so he didn't feel too bad about it.

He hadn't popped the cork on the champagne yet, so that was something. Even though he thought not being given another fucking horse was almost reason enough to drink.

Considering the history he'd had with this particular holiday on the island, Asher wondered if it would be at all possible for him to just stay in bed all day and wait for it all to go away. He wasn't sure what 'it' was just yet, but it would be something, he knew it. Less than an hour past midnight and he was already counting down till the day was over.

"I don't know which scenario is scarier, the island going psycho horror flick or sugared up two-year-olds," Asher said, words muffled by the pillow covering his face, hands clasped together on his stomach. Because even if the island didn't try to ax murder everyone, there was still the potential for candy, and he wasn't even sure if the twins had come down from their high due to all the junk food at the amusement park even after a week.

Asher had managed to completely miss the birth of his own kids, but, as luck would have it, he'd caught the last half of this one. The gross half. The half that made sense out of just why the fathers weren't around when babies were being delivered way back when.

He'd gotten to the barn early in the morning to feed Beau and Belle, just the same as he had every other morning before. Except there were two and a half horses when he got there that time, and three whole ones just a while later.

Beau had been fed at some point during the wait, and Asher finally fed Belle once it was all over, but she was more interested in cleaning the foal up than eating. After watching that, Asher didn't have much of an appetite himself, either.

[from here]

"Looks like we have to look up the word lucky, too," he said, 'rolling with it', as Ray had asked, because there wasn't much else he could do. If nothing else, at least it was a step up from earlier that afternoon, but that probably wasn't saying all that much.

"That's half the battle, I guess." But hopefully Ray was a quick learner.

He navigated through the crowd, weaving around bodies and avoiding any collisions despite how congested the area was.

The gentle rocking of the boat had kept Asher in bed a lot later than he was accustomed to, and he might had stayed that way for an hour or two longer if it hadn't been for the sun streaming in through the porthole beside him. He tried pulling the covers up over his head but that made him too hot, and draping an arm over his eyes wasn't all that comfortable a position.

Grumbling quietly at the back of his throat, he eventually conceded to the idea that fighting it wasn't going to get him anywhere; he was awake. It wasn't until he stretched and his elbow nudged against something solid that his eyes finally opened slowly, blinking a few times before they focused properly.

Suddenly, the sun in his eyes was the very least of his problems.

Yelling was followed by scrambling, which was quickly followed by groaning as Asher had managed to scramble himself right off the foot of the bed in all of his flailing and commotion. "What the fuck?!" He hissed pulling a fucking shoe out from under himself. And it wasn't even his shoe!

It did make for an excellent projectile, though, so he threw it from his awkward position of the floor and just hoped it connected with Vecchio.

Asher's patience was thinning. He stood on the dock, facing the boat and waiting for Onyx to jump down out of it. Going from steady ground to the boat was never any trouble for the dog, but disembark from it was always a completely different story. It was embarrassing, Onyx whimpering and whining, preparing to make a leap for it only to have the next wave roll in and then back out again, sweeping away any bit of courage he might have gathered.

After a few minutes of watching the pathetic display, Asher usually found that the best incentive to get him moving was usually to abandon him, to just start walking and leave Onyx to fend for himself. The whimpering inevitably got worse, but by the time Asher made it to the end of the dock, Onyx was usually galloping his way up right behind him.

This time wasn't any different.

"Idiot," he said on a breath, almost a little disappointed when there was no sound of a splash, just nails shuffling over the wooden planks of the dock. Then again, the last thing he wanted to be dealing with was the smell of wet dog.

Most people looked forward to their birthdays, but Asher wasn't most people. Technically, he'd only been a person for a little over two years now, so at least he had a good reason to go against what he considered to be the majority rule.

To him, all birthdays did now was remind him that he was disgustingly mortal, that he was that much closer to death after five centuries of avoiding it so well. He couldn't understand why people celebrated something like that. But, then, Asher still didn't understand a lot about how humans worked. He was okay with that, though.

Whatever the case, Asher was perfectly content ignoring that there was anything even remotely different about the day. There was no rule stating he had to acknowledge it. As far as he was concerned, it was just a normal day.

He reentered the compound after returning from feeding and watering Beau, just like he would any other day. He was smart enough to avoid the rec room, though, because chances were that the jukebox wouldn't have gotten the Ordinary Day memo, and he wasn't going to be held responsible for what he did to it if it started playing Happy Birthday.

What this meme is all about is expanding on that, to better create a personal history that you can then use to better build personal development. To paraphrase Lindsay, "it's not intended to be a way of avoiding/handwaving actual threads but rather a way of kickstarting them and getting a better idea of where our characters stand with each other. It's a small island, and it's likely that a lot of our pups have interacted, maybe in little ways." The details can be silly or trivial (They see each other at breakfast everyday), or a shared anecdote (Remember that time when they got attacked by the angry parrot?), or the seeds of a bigger plot to be played out later.

Have at.

[takes place the day after this]

He’d found the keys -- attached to the dumbest keychain he’d ever seen, no less -- in the pocket of his suit jacket when he got dressed that morning, and a small slip of paper accompanying it that simply read ‘Dock’. It’d taken a few hours before he eventually bit (figuratively) and followed what barely qualified as a clue down to the docks with Onyx in tow. When he got there, he found a boat - he found a lot of boats, actually, what with it being a dock and all, but only one had a symbol he recognized, painted on the side of it. It was the same symbol he had tattooed on his wrist.

While he’d been hesitant of boarding, Onyx had darted on ahead, up the stairs and straight onto the deck before vanishing into the interior of the boat. A few minutes later, he reemerged, excited barks muffled by whatever the hell he’d found and was now carrying in his mouth. Asher couldn’t make out what it was, but when he heard ‘I want to suck your blood’ coming from the thing, in a bad Romanian accent, he decided he didn’t want a better look at it.

Onyx continued bounding around the deck, running laps when Asher finally joined him. The dog left for one more lap, but he never rounded the other corner again. Instead, Asher had heard a splash before he moved into the saloon area of the boat, but he wasn’t concerned. Onyx knew how to swim.

He was seated at the table within the boat now, his head resting against it, staring at the stupid keychain as it sat too close to his nose, forcing his eyes to cross slightly. He saw double for the second time that week. He’d be seeing it a hell of a lot more a few months from now, assuming all went well and Del gave birth to twins.

That word still scared the shit out of him.

A boat didn’t need to be fed or walked, but more importantly, it didn’t dance. Asher could certainly appreciate that much.