dunhaven; ic community.

WHO: Callum Marshall → Cullen Rutherford
WHEN: WEDNESDAY; Feb 28, 2018, middle of the night
WHERE: His bedroom at Elle's place
SUMMARY: Cullen realizes Amell is not another hallucination, but that doesn't make it much better. Cal wakes up from this and responds with a secret flask. He doesn't handle any sort of flashbacks well...
WARNINGS: Drinky drink
PROMPTS: Secret

( Be proud? What is there to be proud of? That I lived and they died? )

Happy birthday, More Attractive Half of The Stones!

TEXTS TO BRYNN

» So
» It's Cal, btw
» I guess I should've asked for your name before I tried to get you naked
» Don't mention that to your brother

WHO: Cal Marshall, Brynn Stone
WHEN: December 7, early evening
WHERE: The Pourhouse
SUMMARY: Cal runs into a familiar face, but doesn't remember at all that he knows her face because she's one of his best friend's sister. So flirting commences. Oops.
WARNINGS: Cal is prone to bad words, but it's pretty tame overall.

( “How about… Было ли больно, когда ты упал с небес?” It was the same cheesy line as before (“Did it hurt when you fell from heaven?”), except in Russian. He followed it up with rough Mandarin, his weakest language, and then Spanish, the last one learned in high school just because they had to pick from a narrow selection. “Nǐ cóng tiānshàng diào xiàlái yǒu shāng ma? ¿Te dolió cuando te caíste del cielo?” )

My nine-year-old petitioned getting a cell phone today. The mystery of what she had been doing on the laptop all week was solved when she showed me a powerpoint presentation that she created explaining just why she should be able to have a cell phone. She was unimpressed when I told her that I didn't get a cell phone until I was in college and even less impressed when I told her it was a brick that didn't even have a touch screen. Mostly she decided that was me trying to change the subject.

Anyway, that was this evening's adventures. I feel like this is a preview of teenage years, though at least she'll have lots of Microsoft product knowledge to put on a future resume.

It's days like these I'm most proud to be a veteran...

WHO: Cal & Elle Marshall
WHEN: Today
WHERE: ... lol probably Wilkerson's
SUMMARY: Siblings do some early Thanksgiving shopping and a joke turns into a fight about Elle's romantic life :(
WARNINGS: A lot of cussing, a bit of shaming Elle about her life, a lot of sads.

( 'Oh, so the boyfriend /is/ coming.' )

History lesson for Dunhaven today.

We've been celebrating this day for 98 years now. The first Veterans Day, in 1919, was actually Armistice Day, signed into existence by Woodrow Wilson on the anniversary of the signing of the World War I armistice agreement. World War I was the war to end all wars and Armistice Day was meant to celebrate world peace.

Well, that didn't fucking work.

So in 1954, Eisenhower signed a bill changing the name to Veterans Day to be more inclusive since we'd managed to have both World War II and the Korean War in that span of time. Many other countries observe the day as well in some form, still called Armistice Day or Remembrance Day.

As a kid growing up, there were a lot of celebrations for this day. I remember a lot of barbecues, red poppies in lapels, sales at stores or places being closed, Mom shopping for red, white, and blue outfits for all of us, and hearing stories about war or seeing movies and documentaries on TV. There was nothing more glorious or glamorous to my boyhood self. By eight years old, if not earlier, I knew what I was going to do with my life and I dedicated every day to becoming worthy of joining the ranks of those heroes.

Now I know that the military, while glorious, is not glamorous, and war is neither of those things. My body and mind are etched with scars. I've lost men I knew as well as, or even better than, my own brothers, too many of them lost due to my own orders. I was the only survivor from my vehicle in the explosion that took my leg. There are too many men and women that should be here today to be honored in person, but we won't get to do that ever again. Instead, I must do my best to honor their memories.

But I feel it's important to state here how little I regret. I don't regret my eight-year-old self's decision. I don't regret JROTC or West Point or OCS or my eighteen years as an active duty soldier. Because we did not achieve world peace. We did not end all wars.

"We sleep soundly in our beds because rough men stand ready in the night to visit violence on those who would do us harm."

I can't stand ready anymore, but I stood for eighteen years and would have until the day I died. I lost my leg so that no one else had to, just as my brothers in arms lost their lives so no one else had to. I don't pray much, but I do pray that a day will finally come that the original purpose of this day, honoring world peace, arrives. Until then, we stand ready.

And I need a drink.

TEXT TO CAL MARSHALL:

— Hey, want to come with me and Hannah to pick Molly up from school?

I have been putting this off for days. Here goes

The Dunhaven I know is much less technologically advanced than this. Clearly I must be in the wrong town.

I'm still not 100% sure what a Mal From Descendents is, which I've been told is because I'm old, but Rose's Halloween costume came today and I have to say that I think she pulls the purple wig off pretty well. ( Cut for image! )

As a reminder, we will be having a Halloween party from after school until 5PM on Halloween at the youth center, ending just in time for folks to disperse for trick-or-treating. Come in costume and you just might win a prize, otherwise enjoy the games and candy that doesn't require you going door to door. Let it be known that I was in charge of the choosing of candy this year and I have really good taste in candy.

Lay it on me, Dunhaven.

Well, Dunhaven, I'm officially yours again, as of yesterday. Sergeant Stumpy, reporting for I might move a little slower than I used to, but I'm still prepared to tear this place up like I'm a teenager again. (Even though I was remarkably lacking in teenage rebellion at the time and my definition of tearing things up includes a couple beers, Netflix, and falling asleep before nine.)

So this network is new since I last lived here. Is everyone on it?

WHO: Cal Marshall, Elle Marshall
WHEN: October 15, 2017, midday
WHERE: Rehab facility in DC ←→ Elle's apartment in Dunhaven
SUMMARY: Cal calls to surprise Elle with good news. He's coming home!
WARNINGS: Just a sprinkling of no-no words.

( “Yes, hello, I am looking to be speaking to a… Helena Mersha? Is this Helena Mersha?” )