tcllme

[tcllme]

GENUINELY want to be here but I have spent every day off work the last couple weeks fighting for my life/too depressed to do anything but the bare minimum. Ily old man save me.

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Scrooge listened to him, his eyes growing wide as the list did. His index finger brushed over his upper lip, and in his mind he parsed all the documents he would need to provide. Of course, he documented all of these payments for himself, but never had a borrower been so thorough--

He jolted as soon as the bag hit his desk. Scrooge blinked.

"--Do you plan to make particularly large payments?" he said, his voice breathless with disbelief.

Ebenezer lifted the next paper on the stack. "I do hope you are able to...see that through, sir. You have a promising history as a borrower. I expect nothing but timely payments, judging from the standard that your past attests to."

Fitter gave Ebenezer a smile, "Of course, I'm a business man. I'd be a sham if my paperwork was a mess. So, simple requests. First-" he held one finger, "-I'd like a copy of the signed contract. Two-" he held up a second finger, "-I'd like payment receipts with each payment. I don't care how that's done as long as it's consistent and signed by whoever is collecting. Three-"

This time he reached into his bag and put a well made leather bag onto his desk, "I got you a bag! I don't care if you use this one, or one of your own. But I'm providing this bag because it's the only bag I'll be providing free of charge. If you show up and you don't have a bag you'll have to either buy a bag off me or figure out a different way to carry the money out."

He clapped his hands once and beamed, "Luckily where I live isn't far from the building. But I would rather prefer to actually live in the same building I work in. So once I can renovate a small living space I'll be moving. Of course I'll let you know when that is the case!"

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He found himself taking pause--first from her gaze, then, blinking and coming to from it in the next moment. His eyes flickered as he posture shifted, and he too noticed the attention on the pair. The welcome but foreign tenderness she made seep from his chest warmed him now in a fleeting flush of embarrassment.

"Popular is a choice word. A less than accurate choice."

Scrooge straightened himself, dare he lose an ounce of rigidity in any sort of public-facing instance. He started in a more formal tone at a surer volume, aware now of the eyes on him and his image to uphold.

"I was just on my way to my office, if you would care to join me." He caught his cane in his hand. "We can continue our discussion there."

When he didn't recoil or shrug off her touch, Elsa's fingers curled slightly. Gripping lightly about the curve of his upper arm as she listened to him. As if to steady him, to ground him through that discomfort and pain like Anna sometimes did for her.

"I won't lie to you. It's not easy. I still struggle to let people in, to open that door," She confessed, lowering her head a moment with a contemplative frown, "I've lost a lot of chances with people because I was too cold, too determined to be alone. Too sure it wasn't safe to let anyone get close."

Elsa looked up at him, meeting his soulful eyes and allowing herself a gentle smile.

"I've found, though, that I didn't need to let everyone in... I just needed to find the one person who I really needed. Maybe that's what you need too. One person."

"But maybe we should take this conversation elsewhere," She continued, giving his arm a light pull as she glanced sidelong at passerby who were casting curious looks at the pair from across the road. It was unlikely they heard anything but they were being awfully nosy. "It looks like you're a bit of a popular man about town."

[tcllme]

I really want some old man time bc I am otherwise freaking out about healthcare stuff and I don't want to think about it (is going to dwell on it all day)

[tcllme]

Got biblically sick last night in the wee hours of the morning and I've spent all day trying to recover. Had to miss work. Probably very severe food poisoning. Actual hell on Earth.

[tcllme]

Ebenzer Scrooge | Young (Scrooge: A Christmas Carol, 2022) “My word, you were a handsome chap, Scrooge. What went wrong?”

[tcllme]

“Good day, ladies.” (Scrooge: A Christmas Past, 2022)

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Elsa could no longer resist. While Scrooge was sat at his desk and no one else was around - which seemed typical for this place from what she had seen - the snow queen hovered nearby. Intent to ignore her as he may have been, she wondered if he even noticed how she leaned against his chair from behind, skimming what he was doing with her eyes. Then, without a sound or a word, one of Elsa's delicate hands reached forward to scratch her fingers softly through the well-groomed scruff along Ebenezer's jaw. Not unlike how one one would scritch a dog beneath the chin. (Flirting?? Intrusive Thoughts?? Both????)

She passed through the room with a faint sound that otherwise fell on deaf ears for how engrossed Scrooge remained in his work. He picked away at the logs of debts, summaries for payments collected and those that remained due. Her fingers encroached without detection, his eyes so fastened on the papers below him.

Finally--when her fingers did pry enough--his mouth parted with a sharp gasp. Ebenezer jolted upright in his chair, his eyes flying to Elsa.

His wide, blue eyes blinked absently at her. Several questions came and vanished from his mind--leaving only the most inane one he could conjure.

"...What are you doing?"

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Every year, the same reminders Of the things I’ve lost Absent friends and pledges Wrapped in freezing frost

(Scrooge: A Christmas Carol, 2022)

[tcllme]

Never thought I’d say that some day but … Scrooge for next tumblr sexyman

[tcllme]

Popular is. A choice word.

[tcllme]

Oops! ♡

[tcllme]

I'm staring at asks on main and my head is empty so this may be the only blog I hangout on today. If I'm lucky I'll do some other fun creative stuff in the meantime

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He blinked, wide-eyed at the stack of papers the man provided.

"Er." Scrooge picked up the first paper, then the next, reading over the headings and skimming through briefly as he did. "This is...very thorough work that you have done here. I am...pleased to know that you're serious about seeking a loan from us."

"Now, if we were to accept you for a loan--what would these requirements be? You seem to have a clear idea of what you are looking for with your business."

Scrooge's attitude didn't put the man off, in fact he didn't seem phased by it in the slightest.

Instead he just smiled and opened the messenger bag he had tossed over his shoulder, pulling out paper after paper.

"Here's my yearly total for the last three years, my business license, proof of address, and here's the purchase agreement for the building I want to get. I only need half of the total," he put the papers down in front of Scrooge, "I have some basic requests myself, if you were to accept giving me a loan. Nothing that you would need to go out of your way to do, I assure you."

He gave Scrooge a hopeful smile.

[tcllme]

Blush meter meme, Scrooge edition. 😏

[tcllme]

Scrooge looked down to her hand. He did not pull away. Instead his attention remained there as she spoke, then his eyes rose. Scrooge took a breath.

Her touch, hesitant as it was--breached a wall he so naturally imposed between himself and others, others who did not understand. Others who never made the same appeal to his own hurt, from their own, from a place of...understanding. Most others looked on at his unpleasant demeanor, seeing no reflection of themself, making shallow attempts to foist their own empty happiness upon him. They did not know, nor try to know, what made him raise those defenses--they saw only a grouchy old man who needed correcting, trained to heel like a dog.

He blinked once, then twice. There came a slight shake of his head as his breath huffed a warm cloud into the cold air.

"...And loneliness is a poor friend to try to quit. It clings to me as much as I do it. How would you overcome something that--even so painful--is second nature? That feels so...inextricable now from your own person?"

Elsa knew it was a borderline impossible thing to ask of someone. Not only to open their heart after such great pain but to let go of the only purpose he had given himself in his life after it. But she had to at least try to get him to reconsider. There were whispers on the wind, an unsettling chill that made even Elsa shudder. They might be different from the ones Elsa called friends, but there were unhappy spirits here. Ones that, Elsa could sense, would not be as kind as she.

"Because... You and I aren't so different," she sighed, shoulders sagging, "I have loved, and I have lost. Not quite in the same way you have, but the pain is no less real."

"I've been alone too. I know what it's like for that loneliness to seem like your only friend," she reached out and put a hand gently, hesitantly on his arm. Barely pressing into the cloth of his sleeve. "Clinging to that isolation... nearly cost me everything. I know we're just acquaintances, Mr. Scrooge, but I would still hate to see that happen to you, too."

[tcllme]

‘  just because there’s always room for improvement doesn’t mean you’ll never be good enough.  ’ from Elsa

✰ * º ❛ even more popular text posts ask meme. ❜

"I'm as good as good enough. I...get by, just the way I am. I have nobody to impress."