Marshall Nolan (vetsorders) wrote in shadows_rpg, @ 2021-12-30 15:57:00 |
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Entry tags: | #june 2018, marshall, marshall x ty, ty |
Who: Marshall and Ty
When: early afternoon, Friday, June 22
Where: the new vet’s office
Now that Ty had made it clear to Grady that he wasn’t coming back to police work immediately, he felt like there was a bit of weight off of his shoulders. He knew that he might eventually go back to law enforcement, because he really had loved it ... he just wasn’t ready yet, and not being ready made him a liability to everyone. Ty couldn’t force himself into it, he knew that. He just had to be patient with himself and heal. The wedding and honeymoon had been an incredible escape, despite what they’d discovered about his new ability, but now that he was back home and settling into a daily life routine again, Ty knew he needed time to process everything. There was a lot.
That didn’t mean he wanted to sit at home all the time though, so he’d been putting some feelers out for some part-time work. Jared wasn’t going back to the department for a while, and even though they had some financial cushion, Ty wanted to contribute and make sure they were covered on all the bills and everything. He’d seen an ad about a new veterinarian office opening up in town, needing help, and it had stuck around in his head for a day or two now. Ty liked animals, and most people, and being a low level assistant at a place like that sounded pretty sweet. The stakes were lower than being a cop, and he wouldn’t have to work nights except in emergencies, and it was doubtful it would lead to him getting sucked into some other hell dimension ... so it sounded like a pretty good gig.
Ty decided to go talk to the new vet on Friday, while he was out doing a couple of other errands. The building was easy to find, but when Ty arrived it didn’t really look open. He realized belatedly that he didn’t have an application in hand or anything -- it had been so fucking long since he’d gotten a new job. But maybe just a chat first would be okay. He peered in through the glass door, then rapped his knuckles on it, hoping someone was there.
Marshall had a lot on his mind today as he rushed to finish up his little clinic. He wanted to open it next week but he still hadn't found an assistant. The state of the place itself was less worrying, he had all weekend. Being on call didn't mean he'd be busy the whole time, after all. He'd had plenty of applications but so far he hadn't really liked any of the applicants. Some for professional reasons but many for personal ones. He had to keep in mind that whoever he ended up hiring would be working with him every day, he couldn't deal with bad vibes, a bad sense of humor or a shitty presence. That narrowed it down - currently to none. There were a few kids fresh out of high school he'd actually liked but that was the problem right there; they were all too young.
He was currently going through the applications again, in theory at least. His mind was completely elsewhere, mainly on Sage and their date the night before. The knock jolted him out of those particular thoughts and he rolled his chair back from the desk to go out front to see who it was. He didn't know the guy standing outside, that he could be sure of. There weren't many black people in Point Pleasant and he was generally good with faces. He smiled as he opened the door, arching his brows questioningly. "Hi there, can I help you?" At least there was no pet in sight so this probably wasn't someone hoping he was open already.
Ty didn’t know the guy’s face who opened the door either, but he hadn’t really expected to. There had been an old country vet around town who worked out of a room in his house, but he’d retired a few years back. It was nice to think there’d be a proper vet’s office in town, especially since he and Jared had talked about getting a dog once they settled into a house. Ty gave him a smile back. “Afternoon, ah ... guess I could’ve called,” he chuckled. “My name’s Ty Solomon, I saw your help wanted ad and wanted to put in an application.” He felt a little awkward, flashing back to being a teenager trying to get a part time job for after school. He’d gone from the police academy straight into a position at a department through a placement program, so he wasn’t used to all this type of stuff.
The name sounded familiar and Marsh was sure it had something to do with some gossip he'd heard from his parents but it was hard to keep track of everything they liked chatting about, especially when it was people he didn't know in a town he didn't live in. He supposed he should start paying attention now that he'd moved back. "Oh great! Come on in," he said and held the door open for Ty to enter as he racked his brain for any hint of where he might know the Solomon name from. "I'm expecting a delivery of goods, might have to dart off for a minute while we talk. Hope not though." The place was mostly ready, it didn't look like a trainwreck at least, but all the shelves up front were empty and as much as he would have liked to not have to sell things through the office, he wasn't really sure what to fill them with otherwise. People liked buying food and things from their vet anyway, like it had a seal of approval coming from him. They weren't exactly wrong but it wasn't something he was exactly thrilled about dealing with. "I'm Marshall Nolan," he said belatedly. "You got a resume or something I can look at?" He was getting a little more relaxed about these job interviews, but they still felt weird to him as did the thought of being someone's boss.
Ty hadn’t been in many vet’s offices since he’d never really had pets, but it looked like a reasonable sort of place to him, how he would expect the lobby to look when it hadn’t officially opened yet. “Nice to meet you, Marshall,” he said with a smile, offering his hand out to shake. “Is that, uh ... Marshall Nolan of the Overlook Nolans?” Ty’s tone was light and joking, though he suspected he was correct. Nolan wasn’t the most obscure last name in the world, but this was a small town and if this guy was from here, he was probably related. Ty had never had any trouble out of the Nolans -- even though they had a teenage boy, he kept his nose clean as far as the law was concerned. It was more than Ty could say for some of the teens in Point Pleasant, that was for sure. “And I’m embarrassed to say that I don’t, but I can do one up at home and bring it in if you want one. This is a bit impulsive, sorry. I’ve, uh, been out of town for quite a while, and haven’t applied for a new job in years, so I’m rusty.” Ty gave a sheepish chuckle. “Former deputy of the PPPD.”
The name finally clicked; the gay cop who shacked up with another gay cop. Marsh's smile brightened a little at that. "Has my little brother been wreaking havoc?" he asked jokingly and he couldn't help but wonder about the 'former' part of Ty's sentence. Had he quit because of homophobia in the workplace? Was he still dating that other cop whose name Marsh couldn't remember? His little joke didn't really need an answer so he moved on - if Clint was in trouble, he'd have heard all about it by now. "Don't worry about the resume, let's just have a little chat and you can give me all the important info later." At least his lobby was ready for visitors so there were seats there they could take advantage of for a casual chat and he gestured at Ty to sit down before doing the same. "Can I ask why you quit the PPPD?"
Relieved that Marshall wasn’t going to send him right back out the door until he came back with proper paperwork, Ty sat down in one of the plastic chairs with him. He knew his history as a cop made him more trustworthy to a lot of people, especially in this town where police brutality wasn’t really an issue. The part of him that was scared of change questioned whether he could even really do any other job, but he’d been trying to squash it. Ty rubbed his palms against his jeans as he thought about how to answer that question. Just how much did this man know and believe? How much had he already heard? “I, ah ... needed a long break. I went through something pretty traumatic, I took a sabbatical, and now that I’m back, I still don’t feel ready to go back to that kind of work,” he said, opting for Mostly Honest. Ty gave Marshall a wan smile. “But bills don’t stop, y’know? So I need to find something else to do.”
Again Marsh wondered if this was something to do with him being gay, or if it was just a Point Pleasant classic in action. He couldn't imagine it was easy being a cop in this town but he had no idea if that was what was the root of Ty's trauma. "I'm sorry to hear that," he said sincerely, fighting that itch to ask for details. "This is a pretty cushy job but it has its traumatic moments too. A lot of death, but also a lot of fun, just depends on the day. I'm guessing you like animals, or you wouldn't be here, but are you cool with cleaning up after them? Doing boring computer work?" He was no stranger to people who had absolutely no idea about the cons of the job and simply imagined petting puppies and kittens all day or smiling at customers. With Ty being a former cop he suspected he wasn't quite so naive, but that wasn't something he was just going to assume.
Relieved that Marshall didn’t question him further about what had happened to him, Ty gave an eager nod. “I am not afraid to get my hands dirty,” he told him. “And I do love animals, always have. I can’t say I’ve really worked around the bigger, farm type ones, but I definitely have a healthy respect for them. But yeah, cleaning shit, vomit, blood ... I’ve done it all as a cop, and in this place I’ll have more sympathy for the sources than all the drunks who’ve messed up my back seat in the past ... or tried to bite me.” He grinned wryly. It seemed easier to have compassion for sick animals than a lot of people he’d arrested over the years. “I’m pretty good with boring computer work too, tons of paperwork was always part of the job. I, uh, have a lot of patience, I’ve had plenty of practice comforting folks. And I already know a lot of the people who live around here ... I’ll work hard for you, whatever you need me to do.”
Marsh had reached a point where he was tempted to hire this guy on the spot because he was the first one to show up with realistic expectations, some experience and a nice presence. It didn't hurt that he was easy on the eyes too. "That already sounds like you're willing to do more than I need you to do," he admitted with a grin. "Right now I mostly need help around this place, someone to book appointments, answer the phone, help me keep this place clean. The hours are pretty standard nine to five, but I might need some help outside of those hours. It wouldn't be often but you know, emergencies up on the nearby farms in the middle of the night kind of thing. It's usually something a vet can do by himself but you never know." And it would be comforting to know he had a former cop with him for when he had to drive out of town in the dark. "Are you looking for a full time thing?" he asked, mindful of the fact that there was trauma Ty was likely still dealing with. "I've got a budget for about a hundred and sixty percent job so I'm looking to hire two people part time. How we divide those hours is a little up in the air still."
Ty realized a bit sheepishly that he hadn’t even asked what the job entailed. All of it sounded super easy to him, even though he knew it probably wouldn’t be a breeze all the time. Nothing was. But compared to what he’d been doing, it sounded nice. Something simple and useful and generally not dangerous that could put him consistently home at night. Ty had never really had a job where he didn’t have to work nights at least half the time. He gave Marshall another smile and shook his head. “Part time is perfect, honestly,” he answered. “That’s all I was looking for. My uh, my husband is gonna be working full time, I just need something to get me out of the house regularly, you know? Somewhere I can contribute.” Ty’s gaze sharpened a tiny bit as he said ‘husband,’ watchful for any sign from Marshall that he disapproved -- Ty was not going to work for a homophobe. He was firmly out now, and happily married to Jared, so anybody who hired him had to be cool with that.
"Oh!" Marsh exclaimed, his eyes going wide with delighted curiosity, pleased at the confirmation. Personal stuff could be tricky to navigate and bringing up someone's sexual orientation was treading on thin ice so he was glad Ty had brought it up first. "Congratulations," he said cheerfully before he caught himself and realized that he had no reason to believe that the marriage part was new if not for the rumor mill. He gave Ty an appropriately sheepish smile and added, "I heard you were dating a guy, no word on marriage though. Point Pleasant is a very small, chatty town. He was a fellow cop, right? So scandalous." He obviously didn't think so, but the rumor mill was what it was. From what he gathered, some people were delighted, others mortified and most didn't care.
It shouldn’t have been surprising that someone he was pretty sure he’d never met before knew who he was, but it was, a little. He was well familiar with the Point Pleasant rumor mill, he just wasn’t used to being the focus of it. For a second Ty worried about what Marshall had heard, not about Jared but about his disappearance. Maybe it would come up later, but for the moment Ty was grateful to focus on the good part of his life. He gave his own lopsided sort of grin. “Thanks, yeah, I guess we caused a little stir,” he admitted with a chuckle. “He was a fellow cop, yeah. And recently divorced from a woman, so there was that. I’d been in the closet until then too, so ... we just surprised everybody, I guess. Even ourselves.” Ty shrugged, though he couldn’t help but look pleased about it. How could he not? His man was amazing and Ty was still madly in love with him. “The marriage is new, not even a month yet, we got married on the eighth. We did it in Texas so his family could be there, then just slow-drove back home in an RV as a honeymoon. That’s probably why it hasn’t gotten around the gossip circles yet.” He was toying with the ring on his finger without thinking about it, still smiling.
"I'll make sure to fix that the next time someone brings you guys up," Marsh said and it was hard not to smile when talking about something so sweet and Ty looked genuinely happy about it all. Love was great, it made him wonder how much of his own status to disclose and it honestly felt weird to hold back on it at the moment. "I'm actually bi too," he blurted out and pulled a face that said maybe that was out of order before he smiled again. "Working on coming out to everyone, any tips would be great.” He didn't foresee there being any real problems with it but it was still intimidating, especially since he'd already had a date and worried the gossip mill would start churning before he had a chance to tell his family. "It was honestly inspiring to hear about you guys, I should have used the opportunity to casually go 'hey, me too' but I didn't even think of it at the time." He paused, smirked and shook his head. "Is this just the worst job interview ever? I should be asking you for recommendations and not babbling about my sexuality."
Ty’s brows lifted at the confession, but he had to grin wider, and Marshall’s sheepishness at the end made him laugh. “No way, it’s fine -- look, we all gotta support each other, right?” he said. Maybe some people would think it was unprofessional and inappropriate, but Ty didn’t have that kind of stick up his ass. He felt more comfortable now than he had when he’d walked in, that was for sure. Marshall didn’t have to share anything personal, and it was nice to know he’d possibly be working for another member of the LGBTQ community, small as it was here in rural Maine. “I dunno if I’ve got many good tips though, unfortunately,” he went on with another soft laugh. “I was firmly in the closet for years until Jared kind of dragged me out of it. It was like ... if this guy who just discovered he was bi and was married to a woman for a while can come out, I can too, you know? He didn’t want to hide us.” Ty made it sound fairly nonchalant, but he didn’t want to get into all the family complications on his side. “Most people were really cool about it. I know we’re cops, but nobody really hassled us about it, you know? So I think you’ll be okay, town-wise. There are more of us around than you’d think.” He almost added that Marshall wouldn’t struggle to find a date either, because damn, look at him, but that was definitely inappropriate.
"Yeah I think I'll just be cool about it," Marsh replied. "Maybe I'll do the 'oh, you didn't know?' approach." Sometimes treating things as a matter of fact made people accept it more easily and he was sure there was some neat psychological reason behind it. "So, with that out of the way-" he said with a little laugh and by now he had a really good feeling about Ty to the point where he was tempted to just hire him. That was insanely unprofessional though so he got up and headed for the computer. "I think I have a form here you can fill out, hold on, let's see I can get the printer working." The computer was on at least so he didn't have to wait around awkwardly for it to start. "So you're cool with flexible hours and the occasional hazard of having to leave the house in the middle of the night?" That was a real assistant kind of thing and as he puzzled all of this together in his head he figured he could hire someone easy going for the front desk as long as he had someone strong by his side to help him with the messier things in the back.
Ty nodded his approval to the first part. Sometimes casual flippancy was the best way to go. The more normal they made it seem, the more readily other people would accept it. Hopefully, anyway. Ty already wanted to kick the ass of anybody who gave Marshall trouble about who he was. Chuckling faintly, he stood up too but only followed Marshall a few paces, staying on the customer side of the counter. Ty slipped his hands into his pockets. “Yeah, I’m used to both of those,” he said with a lopsided smile. “Usually for shittier reasons than sick animals. But uh, I can like, do all this right, fill out the application for you, provide some references, all that stuff.” He definitely hadn’t expected to get hired as soon as he walked through the door, he’d been thinking he would just pick up an application and bring it back later, but he already had a good feeling about it.
"It's a formality," Marsh admitted. "You're the best candidate I've had all week, I just need your information on file." He started the printer, pleased that it didn't give him trouble and came alive with a whir instead of bitching about low ink or lack of paper. That was definitely something his new assistants could deal with in the future, he'd had enough of that at school. "So I just need you to fill this out, I might do the smart thing and talk to your old boss and whatnot but I've got a good feeling about you, Ty. You look like you can wrangle a farm animal if you need to." It probably wouldn't come to that but it was always better to have someone on his side if things got tough, though he suspected most of his work would be in town with smaller creatures.
“I’d do my best.” Ty laughed softly, thinking of his newfound pain resistance -- he would have to be careful with injuries on this job, if he was dealing with large animals, or even small ones with tendencies to bite. He could already hear Jared fretting about it, checking over his body every night to make sure Ty hadn’t missed something that could fester. Maybe he needed an even safer job, but he didn’t really want one. He wanted to work here. If it got to be too risky, he could always change things up, but for now this felt right. At least no one would be shooting at him ... probably. “I got a good feeling about it too though,” he added with a smile as he accepted the sheet of paper. Ty grabbed a pen off of the desk to start filling in his information. “Sheriff Barrett would be happy to chat with you if you called him up, I’m sure. I worked for him for years.”
"Aw yeah, Sheriff Douglas retired," Marsh mused, huffing softly. "Where does time go." It was harder to keep track from far away, that was for sure, and while his mom tried to keep him up to date with everything going on in Point Pleasant, it was hard to remember the mundane things in light of the heavier stuff. He figured he should get to know the new sheriff anyway, they might end up working together at some point though usually animal control would be their go-between but it definitely didn't hurt to be on good terms with the local cops. "Would you give him good recommendations?" he asked with a cheeky smile, people didn't ask about employers as often as they did employees and a good working relationship definitely went both ways.
Ty lifted his brows for a second, as the question certainly wasn’t one that got asked very often. Then he grinned and chuckled. “I would, yeah,” he answered. “He’s a great guy, and a good boss. Having that position in this town ... it’s a lot.” Ty shook his head meaningfully, sure that Marshall would understand, since he was from here. Even if someone didn’t believe in all of the supernatural reasons behind things -- a position he himself used to hold -- there was still a lot of tragedy that plagued this town. Ty finished jotting down all of his information, signed the bottom of the sheet, and pushed it across the counter to the vet. “Here y’go,” he said, smiling. This had turned out to be a hell of a lot easier than he’d thought getting a part time gig would be. “So you’ll just give me a call when you know for sure?” he asked. “And no hard feelings if you get a better candidate who walks in, or something.”
Marsh could only imagine how hard it was being a cop in this town. So many missing people and added pressure from the outside of town when those people happened to be tourists. It was hard to articulate why he'd moved back but his family was here and he had a fondness for this town and the people in it. Which probably meant he was insane but there it was. He accepted the paper and looked it over briefly to make sure Ty hadn't forgotten anything important. "Maybe I should be asking you more questions and being more pro about this," he admitted with a little grin. "But I've got a good feeling about you and really, if the biggest gossip people have on you is that you dated a guy? I think that means you're pretty solid." Not that gossip would guide his hand here, he knew some pretty awesome people who had a bad rep. "So that pretty much means the job is yours if you want it. I'll email you tomorrow with details."
Ty laughed at the gossip part of what Marshall said, shaking his head a bit at how silly people were sometimes. He was sure there were plenty of ladies in his mom’s congregation who would have plenty to say about him and Jared, so it was nice to know he’d be working for a guy who didn’t give a shit. “Hey man, I believe in the wisdom of gut feelings,” he said, grinning. “So that sounds perfect to me.” He stuck his hand out to shake on it with the young vet. If nothing else about this job was cool, at least he’d have some eye candy at work, right? Not that he really looked much these days, in love as he was, but still. He had a feeling a lot of those same gossipy old ladies were going to suddenly have sick cats and dogs to bring in once word got around about Marshall Nolan.
"Look forward to working with you then," Marsh said cheerfully as he shook his hand. He didn't expect to need any help this weekend but it was still reassuring to know he had a number to call if some epic emergency took place and he'd need an extra pair of hands. He could always ask his little brother, but that was different and Clint had his own things to deal with. "Oh, if you need to reach me-" Marsh said and grabbed his business card out of the drawer, which just made him remember that he needed to buy some paper stands for the front desk. "The website's not up yet," he added as he handed Ty the card. "So if you need to reach me you can email or call."
He took the card and slipped it into his pocket, nodding a bit. “Cool, sounds good,” Ty answered. He knew that this was probably a very small town interaction and way of doing business, but he didn’t mind that. He had a good feeling about Marshall too, and if that turned out to be wrong, he could always quit. He knew where the guy’s family lived, for fuck’s sake. That was just how small towns were. “Thanks for the opportunity, man. I think it’ll be really good.” Ty gave him a grin as he backed up a couple of paces, then turned to reach for the door. “Talk to you soon, nice meeting you.”
"Yeah you too," Marsh replied in same, wandering after him to see him out and lock the door behind him. "Look forward to working with you." He gave him a little wave as he left, then headed back inside to keep working, he didn't have a whole lot of time to get everything ready and there was still so much to do. He was absolutely going to sweet talk his brother into helping again this weekend and he just hoped he wouldn't end up being too busy with emergency services to actually finish the clinic up.