Look Where We Are Now - Arty & Liam

[alexmurphy]

standing on the rooftop, waiting till the bomb drops
this is all we've got now, scream until your heart stops

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Twenty seven years old. When had I hit that age? Better question, how had I managed to live twenty seven bloody years without getting myself killed along the way? It wasn’t as if I had the safest job on the planet, I had seen my fair share of near death experiences whilst on the job, but I guess luck was on my side, for now. Lucky in that respect, I guess, but not so lucky in other aspects of my life. God, here I was doing that moping thing again, something I certainly did not like to partake in. It didn’t suit me. Neither did being a lone wolf, but that’s what it felt like I had become these days.

I let out a yawn, stifling it with one hand, feeling the rough texture of the stubble coating my chin against the palm of my hand. I frowned. I was going to need to shave soon, or else I was going to end up with a beard. Or maybe I would let it grow out...how would I look with a beard? No, probably not a good idea, and I would probably get sick of it after a while. Not that I particularly cared about how it would look, more about the practicality of the thing. That was me, practical as always, I couldn’t care less about all the frills you could put on anything. Straight, clean and simple, how it had been all my life, how my parents had brought me up.

I guess I started feeling a little guilty then, when I thought of my parents. Of course I felt bad, I hadn’t gone to see my family back in Ireland in ages. Phone calls and emails barely did the trick, it wasn’t anything like seeing them in person. But I don’t know, maybe I was worried that if I was going to go back, I probably wouldn’t come back to America. And I don’t know what was holding me here, but something was. Or maybe I was just stuck in a rut and didn’t want any more change. I had gone through enough of that over the years. I just wanted something besides my job to remain a constant – but I was in a job where anything could happen, so even that wasn’t as stable as I would have liked it to be.

I shifted uncomfortably, the tray of my truck, which I was currently lying on, my feet dangling over the edge, was not exactly the most comfortable places to be lying, and I was probably going to get sunburnt if I stayed here for much longer. Sunburn I could live with, however, it definitely beat getting burnt by flames. I glanced at my left bicep, my arms were crossed, beneath my head so I could use them as a pillow, where a burn scar was peeking out from just underneath my sleeve. Not the biggest scar, and not as big as some I had on my body, but damn, it had been one of the most painful.

My thoughts were interrupted by the sudden arrival of a wet nose attached to the furry black and white face of my Collie, Jed, was shoved into my face, sniffing at me in excitement before proceeding to flop down on top of me, paws and head on my chest as he started licking at my neck. “I already showered today doofus, I don’t need a bath as well,” I complained, half heartedly shoving the canine away. Well, at least someone loved me.

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[/font]

never gonna regret, watching every sunset
listen to your heartbeat, all the love that we've felt[/center]

Tagged Articus & Liam, if you wish =P
Words 593
Outfit Click
Muse Good Girls Go Bad – Cobra Starship ft Leighton Meester
Notes Well I had this sitting here waiting to be posted, sooo I figured since you made Liam it can be specifically for you =P

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[liam]

we've a thirst like a gang of devils
we're the boys from the county hell

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Liam Murphy was New About Town. Frightfully so. Majorly jetlagged, he had landed in the States four hours ago and had successfully swiped a lift for himself and another Addison headed bloke on the flight from a girl and her boyfriend who could be guilted on environmental issues. It had been a lucky chance he had overheard the girl on the phone to a boss ranting about recycling before she met her boyfriend in Arrivals. Who said the age of generosity was dead...?

They had dropped him off outside a cafe as requested. His Starbucks from the airport had long since worn off so he had purchased a map of the town and two espressos before setting off on foot to track down his brother, map flapping in the light wind. It was warmer in Addison than he had met in months, having been pouring with rain when he left Heathrow and touching down was a bit of a shock to the young Irishman’s system (he reminded himself never to visit Australia at this point).

He was in a t-shirt as he ambled through the streets of the town, getting hopelessly lost a couple of times, Starbucks in one hand – the other tucked into the side of his bag – and his camera in the other, taking slightly wonky photographs as he went.

It had been a good six or seven years since he had last seen Alex and the number of family members he had meant he didn’t really know how his older brother had been doing. He knew from Christmas dinner earlier that year, sixteen family members sitting around in the living room with a hundred quid’s worth of turkey that Alex was still in the fire service but to their mum’s eternal disgust the conversation did not linger much on her two sons in foreign lands long, turning more entertainingly to mad old Uncle Eachen in Cork. Not that the siblings didn’t care for each other, it was just hard to keep up with the Murphy clan.

He checked the address scribbled on his hand, faded slightly, so he looked left and right, picking between two houses, incorrectly first, it seemed as a half deaf little old lady ended up hurling abuse at him, the second pick was a little more hopeful as a dog started barking madly on the inside. Alex had a dog, right..?

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Words 398
Muse Day Two; Torchwood, Children of Earth
Notes It's kinda a lot crappy. Trying third person again... kept slipping into first though, lol
Outfit Clickit

[alexmurphy]

standing on the rooftop, waiting till the bomb drops
this is all we've got now, scream until your heart stops

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I think I had begun to doze off when my neighbour’s dog started barking madly, hearing a faint knock on the door just beforehand. I didn’t react, at first; they would probably go away soon. But the barking didn’t let up, and Jed sat up properly in the truck, obviously watching whoever it was standing at the neighbour’s door. Groaning, I sat up, stretching the muscles in my arms and shoulders, stiff from lying there for so long.

“They won’t be home til later,” I called out, not even looking to see who it was while I was speaking to them. I heaved myself out of the truck, I should probably go inside or I was going to fall asleep here and wake up as redder than a lobster. Jed jumped out with me, and it was only when I had both feet planted firmly on the ground did I actually look over to see who was there.

Now, there was no mistaking any of the Murphy’s, if you were part of the clan.

I grinned. “Bloody hell Liam, didn’t expect to see your sorry arse around these parts,” I said, after I had gotten over the initial shock of seeing my younger brother here. I hadn’t seen him in person for a good...six or seven years now? I had lost count. I had seen the occasional photo, talked to him once in an odd while, but nothing recently. Even if I hadn’t, I didn’t doubt that I would be able to recognise him, we all pretty much had a similar look about us.

I didn’t often get visits from relatives, most of the time I ended up going back to Ireland to see everyone. And nobody had warned me that Liam was going to be here, I doubt our mother knew he was coming then, if she had she would have been on the phone to tell me straight away – that, or she would have insisted on visiting with him. She never had slowed down since as far back as he could remember.

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[/font]

never gonna regret, watching every sunset
listen to your heartbeat, all the love that we've felt[/center]

Tagged Liam
Words 344
Outfit Click
Muse How To Be Dead – Snow Patrol
Notes Lol I tried to earlier when I was replying to something, automatically slipped back into first at the second paragraph then gave up xD

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[liam]

we've a thirst like a gang of devils
we're the boys from the county hell

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The door was opened by a tall man who was looking more startlingly like our father by the half dozen years. The look of surprise on his face, though, made me really wish I had my camera ready, rather than limp by my side. However when he opened his mouth I noticed a slight difference.

“You’ve gone all American, dearthair!” A strange thing about people living in another country, particularly Brits, is that all the Americans seem to consider them to have really cute accents while their relatives in their native countries are all convinced they have gone native. I get it all the time and I clearly still have my heavily Irish ‘brogue’ but my brothers claim I’m Glasdonish – apparently in the past few years I have mutated into a heavily Irish/Glaswegian/London hybrid man.

Shoving my camera round a little and empty Starbucks still in hand a flung my arms round my brother’s neck and hugged him with as much strength as I could put into it. The man was pure fucking muscle, it actually hurt to crush him these days. It was much easier when I was seventeen and we were on slightly more even ground, but Alex is a thicker build than me and a three or four inches taller. I relented, grinning broadly and stepped back. “Hell Alex,” I prodded his arm pointedly, “You need to work on getting less muscle. It hurts.”

A collie which had darted past me while I attacked my brother had obviously decided I was too boring and had settled to sniffing the stain (Coke on the flight) on my trousers. I let my hand fall down for the dog to sniff but the drink was clearly more interested.

“You going to invite me in? ‘Cos, y’know, I only arrived in this forsaken land a few hours ago.” I leaned out past my brother to glance down his hall. Clean. At least the hall. Clean is not a word that can be associated with most Murphy households. We breed like bacteria and with that many people in a house eventually even the most dedicated housekeeper gives up on life [of cleaning]. And it is rare that we live on our own so I haven’t really seen a clean house in a while. Of course, I might be led through to a pigsty of a room, but you never can tell. There’s first time for everything.

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Words 390
Muse A few PZ Myers talks
Notes I gave up on third person.
Outfit Clickit

[alexmurphy]

standing on the rooftop, waiting till the bomb drops
this is all we've got now, scream until your heart stops

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“Have not, you’re just full of crap,” I answered, I certainly hadn’t gone all American. I would admit I had a slight American turn to my accent now, but to me it was only small, barely noticeable. Or maybe I had just learned to speak slower so people could understand me better, and had just fallen into the same habit when I had started talking to my brother.

Liam threw his arms around me, and I could feel him squeezing as hard as he could, typical, he still thought he’d be able to cause me some pain with it, but alas for him, it didn’t do much. I think I had grown a few inches taller than him now, and he wasn’t anywhere near as thickset as I was, I think I had taken more after our father in that respect.

I clapped him on the back, well, as carefully as I could with his pack there, careful not to hit his camera, or the cup of Starbucks sitting in the side of his bag... “Starbucks, really?” I asked, screwing my face up a little at the thought. I really couldn’t see how the coffee shop had become such a worldwide hit, their coffee all tasted awful to me.

Jed had darted out when I had opened the door, and being the ever sociable dog he was, was sniffing intently at Liam’s trousers. Well, at least he was being more well behaved than he was that time he pushed that poor woman into the pond in the middle of winter. “Hey, Jed, get off him,” I said, prodding the Collie with one foot when it became evident he wasn’t going to let up, at which he stood up and went back inside, probably headed to his bowl to see if he left any of his breakfast behind.

“Yes, of course I am,” I answered, stepping back to let him pass. Admittedly, my house was rather neat, I wasn’t here all the time so I didn’t have time to make a big mess of the place, although Jed did a pretty good job of it all by himself. I shut the door behind him once he was in, heading towards the kitchen.

“So what brings you to ‘this forsaken land’ anyway?” I called over my shoulder, grinning at him as I mimicked his words and rounded the corner into the other room.

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[/font]

never gonna regret, watching every sunset
listen to your heartbeat, all the love that we've felt[/center]

Tagged Liam
Words 401
Outfit Click
Muse Tiny Heart – Flyleaf
Notes Look, I even remembered to call them trousers, just for you.

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[liam]

we've a thirst like a gang of devils
we're the boys from the county hell

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“Long flight, I’d drink bleeding Budweiser if you told me it would prevent me from dropping asleep where I stand.” I stalked down the hall – still clean, remarkable – after Alex, through into the kitchen where I dropped the cup into his bin and pulled the other cup from the side pocket, draining the cold fluid in a couple of gulps. I wasn’t best fond of the mud, so I drank it black when it was necessary to get a caffeine fix and as a result I couldn’t care less where the liquid came from.

“Ha, yes,” my voice came out rather thickly as I rubbed some fuzz which had started to form over my molars with my thumb, pulling it out I continued. “They are literally calling for my blood back in Ireland... and England... and Scotland – and Wales I just didn’t fancy... so I thought I’d come visit my big brother in the Us of Aye.”

Tidy wasn’t really the word. The place barely looked lived in. There were a fair few clear homely touches about but the house seemed to be more a pit stop with dog toys, biscuits and leads on surfaces here and there. The collie itself had disappeared off somewhere, Alex’s encouragement and a loss of interest in my sloppy clothing being the two main contributing factors in that action.

“So how’s life? Are you still pissing on fires?” Eloquently put, but it sounded better in a thick Irish than it would have, say, with a Scots or Yankee one. I did know that Alex was in the service still but it was politer to ask, impolitely. Also I was genuinely interested in how his general well being was. I have to admit I had barely thought about my older brother in the past few years, there are too many members of my family to devote much thinking time to – call Ma once a fortnight minimum, ensure birthday cards are sent (that’s the worst bit) and turn up for Christmas and summer roll arounds every so often, that’s the extent of thought that I put to my family – it sounds worse than it is. I do miss them and all, every so often I wish we could speak more, then I get distracted by- OH LOOK SHINY.

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Words 3984
Muse The Wish | BtVS
Notes That seemed like an appropriate way to finish.
Outfit Clickit

[alexmurphy]

standing on the rooftop, waiting till the bomb drops
this is all we've got now, scream until your heart stops

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Seeing Liam with coffee had made me want some, so I walked to the kettle, making sure there was actually water in it before I switched it on. “Want anything?” I asked, watching him quickly down the extra coffee he had been carrying, snorting lightly before I walked to the fridge to retrieve the milk. Good, that was still in date, sometimes I stayed at the station so much I forgot that these things have a shelf life, more than once I had come home and gone to have a coffee or breakfast only to find that the milk was off.

I raised my eyebrows, flashing him an incredulous look. “I know we Murphys can get ourselves into a bit of trouble, but what the hell did you do?” I asked. I knew a little of what Liam did, and I didn’t think it could be too much different to what he used to get up to years ago, but that was pretty extreme. I would be the first to admit our family was full of trouble makers, much to Ma’s disgust, but it was what came with having so many high energy children who got bored easily, I guess.

“And while I’m thinking of it...does Ma know you’re here? Or did you just steal my address off her mailing list and skip the country?” I continued, finishing with the coffee I was making, stirring it all together before throwing the teaspoon in the sink with a metallic clatter and going to take a seat at the kitchen table. I was willing to bet that he had just jumped a plane and come here with telling anyone, and I would probably get a panicked phone call from our dear old mother fretting over whether he’d been lost in a ditch somewhere or not.

I laughed, stretching my shoulders a little. “Sure am, don’t think that’s going to change anytime soon,” I said. I doubted that I would have a change in career anytime soon, I didn’t really know how to do anything else.

“I should probably ask how long you’re planning on staying as well.”

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[/font]

never gonna regret, watching every sunset
listen to your heartbeat, all the love that we've felt[/center]

Tagged Liam
Words 355
Outfit Click
Muse Private Show – Pink
Notes Sort of on a roll with replies today, go me.

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[liam]

we've a thirst like a gang of devils
we're the boys from the county hell

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“’You got a brew?” I didn’t bother specifying. Even after seven years, I can be pretty sure that my brother would not betray his country by opting for crap beers. There should really be some form of hand signal for ‘beer’ in my family. It is insane to ask if someone has a form of alcoholic beverage. We just do. It’s obligatory. Most of us aren’t alcoholics but it is good form to have booze in the house or bring offerings of it with you when visiting folks (I’m on bad form). Why not conform to a stereotype? It isn’t like the Irish one is going to change. Look at the last three hundred years. We’re not good at changing it.

“I didn’t start a riot after a few drinks, if that’s what you’re thinking – although, Shauna did a few weeks ago.” One of the proudest moments of my life. My sister calling from the police station to tell me her boyfriend had decided to take on four guys who were hitting on her when he was at the toilet, turning into a mass brawl. I want to wipe a theatrical tear away as I think about it.

“It’s all online. I may or may not have picked a fight with a former IRA member who may or may not be part of current troublemaking groups in our beautiful country.” I paused, dumping my bag in the next room and raising my voice while I unlaced my shoes as I considered the shortest possible way of explaining. I was bored of talking about me, the family had spent most of the past six months mocking me whenever possible about the IRA deal, and the less Alex heard about it the better. It isn't my proudest moment, how I offended the man was not sophisticated. “Then I may or may not have decided to quietly skip to the mainland. Where I may or may not have offered to integrate two opposing fundamentalist organisations... and I may or may not have written a set of articles that offended a lot of people. And you may or may not have have known this if you didn’t live in America. ‘Irish Journalist Incites Turf War in South England’. Not the catchiest headline. Also, ‘war’ is strong word. I think most of the death threats are aimed in my direction.”

No, I had not told Ma. I was lucky enough to book a last minute flight (near impossible in these days of meticulous security checks and constantly filled planes. So the brief thought that I ought to call my mother – the only one who remembers to keep contact with the whole clan (Skype and MSN are her saviours) – disappeared in a flurry of deadlines, discarding pen knives and other items I couldn’t get on the plane and checking in with the police to inform them I would not require protection as I was visiting my brother in the States, “Shit. She probably thinks someone’s murdered me...”

I ducked back into the room, continuing to talk as I opened his cupboards looking for foodstuffs. “You probably should, but I’m not entirely sure myself. My editor said she’d call when things calmed down a bit and people stopped issuing fatwa against me.”

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Words 482
Muse Inflatable You | Tim Minchin
Notes Dead leg, bloody nose, just had blood taken too, headache, sore throat... beat that, Biohazard.
Outfit Clickit

[alexmurphy]

standing on the rooftop, waiting till the bomb drops
this is all we've got now, scream until your heart stops

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I made a stop at the fridge, pulling a bottle out before I got to the table. “What do you take me for?” I joked, sitting it on the table before I sat down myself. No, none of that American crap, I would only drink that if I was really desperate, anything you would find in my house would usually be Irish made. I still hadn’t dropped that family habit of having at least a few different forms of alcohol in the house at one time, one never knew when you might need it, even if I didn’t exactly have family visit often.

I just let out a snort of laughter at his news about Shauna. Didn’t surprise me in the slightest, that sort of thing always happened to us, even if we didn’t really start it in the first place. I was definitely guilty of getting into a few brawls, not so much over here once I had moved because it tended to land you back in more trouble than it did in our hometown. Not to say I didn’t disapprove of it at all, of course.

“Fuck, Liam,” I swore, staring at my coffee. Perhaps I should have gone with a beer as well, I had briefly considered it but opted for caffeine instead, with thought at a few drinks later. “You really know how to dig your own bleeding grave, don’t you? I know we Murphys don’t mind risking our own necks but that’s a bit over the top, even for us,” I continued, calling out loud enough so he could hear me from the living room, where I presumed he was dumping his belongings. Yes, we could get ourselves into a lot of trouble, but trust Liam to piss off the IRA and two separate fundamentalist organisations at the same time. No, I really don’t think any of us have done anything worse than that.

“You should probably call her before she has the entirety of Ireland’s police force looking for you,” I said, hearing his response from the other room even though it sounded more like he was talking to himself than me. I just shook my head and chuckled, I would probably be the last person she would call after she had called every single relative of ours still in Britain, the poor woman was going to have a heart attack before she found him.

“I take it you’ll be here for a while then,” I said, grinning at him as he came through the door, not even putting up a protest as he rummaged about my cupboards, I had half been expecting that when he walked in the door. Yes, we were predictable.

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[/font]

never gonna regret, watching every sunset
listen to your heartbeat, all the love that we've felt[/center]

Tagged Liam
Words 450
Outfit Click
Muse Love Like Winter – AFI
Notes Their poor mother...how did she manage it? xD

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[liam]

we've a thirst like a gang of devils
we're the boys from the county hell

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“You did ask.”

Rifling through the cupboards, past spaghetti and a few packets of microwave meals – understandable, considering the man’s job - I came across a half eaten packet of chocolate digestives and removed three, fitting them into my oversized mouth (my aunt is convinced that I have a detachable jaw) in one and spraying crumbs across the room as I mumbled through it in reply to his suggestion that I call our mother. “The pigs all know I’ve skipped town. But I guess I should. Do you have Skype?”

Choking slightly as I swallowed hard – it was worth it, good biscuits and I’m starved – and picked up the Beamish with relish, pushing the cap off, a trick that my father taught me at about eight years of age although it took me a few years to strengthen my little fingers to be capable of doing it effectively.

“She’ll have the whole family over visiting next thing you know – if I say I’m over here. It’s the perfect excuse for her to drag everyone.” I passed the biscuits to Alex, offering him his own food, so nice of me and sat down.

“How’s life?” I pulled my glasses from my hair (due to the curls, if I wasn’t careful I tend to end up with a weird hair band effect – not a good look for me) and pushed them up my nose to read the ingredients on the back of the bottle.

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Words Pathetic
Muse Non-existent
Notes Sorry, world’s crappest muse
Outfit Clickit

[alexmurphy]

standing on the rooftop, waiting till the bomb drops
this is all we've got now, scream until your heart stops

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“Yeah, and now I’m beginning to think I shouldn’t have.”

I watched Liam rifle around my cupboards, wondering how long it would take him to find the biscuits, since I was fairly sure that was probably the only immediately edible thing I had in there. Well, I was going to have to go grocery shopping now, wasn’t I? And perhaps I should let him know that Marcas had already been planning to come stay with me for a bit...I was going to be overrun soon. “Yeah, I do. Computer’s in the living room when you want to, no password,” I answered, taking a mouthful of coffee. I probably should bother with a password for it, really, but I don’t recall having anything on there I didn’t want my brother to see, so I didn’t really care at the moment.

“Well, she’s going to have even more of an excuse to once she finds out Marcas is coming here too,” I said as I took a few biscuits from the packet he offered to me, eating a little more gracefully – that is, stuffing one whole one in my mouth instead of the three he did. I was fairly sure that Marcas hadn’t really told anyone besides me that he was actually coming here – he had bothered to ask if it was alright first, unlike Liam, although I wasn’t complaining – and I was fairly sure he was keeping it under wraps so mum wouldn’t try and stop it.

“Just don’t mention it to mum when you talk to her.”

“Life is...normal,” I said, shoving another biscuit down, watching Liam from across the table. “Hardly anything interesting happening, besides work.”

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[/font]

never gonna regret, watching every sunset
listen to your heartbeat, all the love that we've felt[/center]

Tagged Liam
Words 277
Outfit Click
Muse Dr Who - Father's Day
Notes Dr Who just rick rolled me =_=

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