1. The Lawyer
Control your own destiny before someone else does. Jack Welch.
Fawkes loves working at his own small firm. He put in the time and leveled up his lawyering skills through the clerkship and big firm servitude but there is nothing better than being the master of your own destiny. He likes to think that he is doing exactly what Jack Welch said by controlling his own destiny before anyone else does. Plus he has plenty of time for gaming now since he and his partners set their own schedules.
It's hard work for sure and he has to be polite or at least courteous to clients and judges and opposing counsel all day long and that's why he started the Axis. He needed a place he could be bloodthirsty unstoppable him. There is a certain thrill that comes from stepping into the court room, a powerful thrill that comes from poking apart the opposing counsel's case until it is wobblier than a deck of cards, and there is certainly that undeniably thrill of winning. But he's a criminal defense attorney and that means sometimes winning isn't all opening arguments, vicious cross exams, and hypnotizing closings, it means that sometimes (most times) winning is getting a plea deal in place or getting off defendants that everyone knows did something but no one can prove. And he sleeps fine at night because people are innocent until proven guilty even if that means a few people that shouldn't do go free, he's upholding the very tenants of law-or at least that is what he feels most of the time and on the nights that he doesn't well, there are plenty of sins to choose from for distraction.
But that doesn't mean he doesn't revel in being able to be an unholy terror in game and an anarchist force. Every criminal defense attorney has something they do to try to stop the creep of jaded cynicism from completely taking them over. Usually some excess or sin to blunt the fact that being none of them quite grew up to be Atticus Finch. And Fawkes? Well, he's always been a fan of all of them (Malcolm Reynolds).
Tonight? Tonight his sin is women and wine.
One of the prosecutors in town is about to move out East and so he's taking the opportunity to gather his rosebuds while he may (Robert Herrick), besides since he works across the court from them all day he never has checked a prosecutor off his experience list. They are out at Renata's...he feels lucky there. It's his go-to date bar. Occasionally he wonders what the staff thinks of him, but he's a good tipper and it's a quiet bar so he always gets good service. It's kind of like a lucky tie; he's always been successful when he brings a woman here. Which is far better than his in-court record.
That prosecutor's suit is definitely coming off soon, and while she pours herself another glass over their shared fajitas she breaks in with a tale from work. No names of course, since the loss of licensure by violation of attorney client privilege keeps both of them on the straight and narrow-or as straight and narrow as they can make it.
"You'll never believe the arson case that came across my desk."
"It's arson, how interesting can it be? Unless they need an attorney?"
The prosecutor shoots him a look of playful exasperation and continues ahead with her story as if he hadn't said a thing.
"You know what they say...redheads can't be trusted or maybe it's that it's that arson is all fun and games until your boyfriend cheats on you and you torch his cello." At this she starts giggling and Fawkes decides that the time is right.
"It's always the quiet ones," he says as he trails a kiss up her arm and suggests they head out for some place a bit more private.
The evening continues much as he expected. He's seduced so many women that by this point it seems almost formulaic in a way. He enjoys it but misses the challenge, misses the interest. And yet the next morning at work he finds himself pulling up the court docket and finding the pleadings for the case...Cyd Sherman. He has a hearing at nine so he doesn't even google her name just decides to find a redhead that weekend.
Months later after he's almost destroyed the Knights of Good; after he's taken Codex's armor off; and after he's decided to go to this non-deductible business meeting he can't stop the shiver of delight that happens when he hears that this is the Cyd Sherman. It has to be after all, how many other redheaded violinists named Cyd Sherman are there after all.
He didn't expect that level of danger from her.
And that makes it interesting.
Makes her interesting.
2. The Part-Time Professor
And somebody's got to take care of him so I quit school and that's what I did. Tracy Chapman.
When he was young Fawkes thought he would be a pirate and sail the high seas. His father was always by his side and together they conquered the world.
And then his mom died and his sister got married and his father got sick.
As cliché as it was he felt a bit like Tracy Chapman, someone had to take care of his father. He wasn't about to trust his beloved father with a complete stranger. Someone had to perfect their chicken soup, perfect their puddings, and perfect their applesauce.
And it wasn't all bad, it's not like he dropped out of school or anything. He's finished his bachelors and his master's degree (history) and is almost done with his Ph.D. He publishes articles and is an adjunct professor one night a week at a local community college. His students love him and the department periodically offers him a full time tenure track position, but it just doesn't feel right. After all it takes time to lose one's family the right way and for his father that indulged his love of navy battles with trips to the Tall Ships, with model scale re-enactments, and his own pirate hat nothing but the best would do.
Besides since his mother's resources went into a trust to support the family he actually gets paid to take care of his father the way he would anyway and he doesn't have to pay the bills or rent or anything. It's kind of a sweet gig, when he ignores the fact that it's HIS father that is dying.
His in game persona allows him to be the badass he knows he is even though his days are filled with sponge baths, pill distribution, and spooning soft food into his old co-Captain's mouth.
As the years have passed instead of a rotating visiting nurse he's found that one comes in every few days so he can have some time to himself and can raid with the guild.
Her name is Mrs. Sherman and his first impression is that she is the kind of blond that people spend a lifetime chasing with dye and his second is that she always seems so sad. As the years go by they start taking more and he learns more about her life. She has a daughter who she is estranged from. The daughter is supposedly a wonderful violinist. Mrs. Sherman says child prodigy. Fawkes thinks it's more likely that it's a parent overstating the facts. He'll be shocked later to realize that Mrs. Sherman wasn't lying and her child was a genuine prodigy. Mrs. Sherman seems as proud as she is ashamed of her wayward daughter. Fawkes' parents might be dead or delusional but at least he always knew they loved him.
When he first meets Codex at the game stop there is something familiar about her face.
When he finds out she plays the violin a memory tickles the back of his mind.
When he hears her voice simultaneously sad, pleading, and angry on the phone it sounds so familiar.
He later puts it together when he remembers red hair comes from a sometimes generation skipping recessive gene.
3. The Software Engineer
Code Monkey get up get coffee. Code Monkey go to job. Code Monkey have boring meeting with boring manager Rob. JoCo.
He was going to kill Rob. Seriously, who volunteers someone for pro bono work without asking them.
And he's a software engineer not some web designer. He didn't care if Rob was trying to get in the pants of the administrative assistant over at the symphony he wasn't some mindless serf who would do whatever Rob wanted.
But then how do you turn down simple web site maintenance for a non-profit, just because he hated HTML didn't mean he couldn't do it. Besides maybe he could get to the administrative assistant first. He didn't want to date her, but he'd beat Rob at least.
He picks up two iced coffees on his way in and flirts shamelessly with the administrative assistant throughout the whole meeting. He's secured a date at Renata's and hasn't even looked over the actual information
The morning comes and the girl is gone. She was another blond and while he can now check off "stole girl from boss" on his life list he finds himself oddly bored and so, even though it's seven a.m. on a Saturday morning and he could be grinding in game he finds himself picking up his work.
It turns out to be an easy update that he can solve by writing a bash script. He promptly does that and tabs over to run a dungeon not even paying attention as is processed.
4. The Etsy Shop Owner
There is no spectacle on earth more appealing than that of a beautiful woman in the act of cooking dinner for someone she loves. Thomas Wolfe.
Fawkes grew up in the kitchen. One of his first memories is sitting on his grandmother's lap "helping" her pinch dough. And while when he was little it was just helping, as he got older he started doing more and more on his own.
And he loved it.
He loved the chemistry and science behind baking. He loved the creativity inherent in cooking. He loved the feeling of making a meal for his Grandma. He, after all, always had been her favorite.
One day his sister came up to him wanting to make money, as part of finishing business school she had to develop a business plan and she roped Fawkes in without a word. She figured with his skills and her business knowhow they would succeed. And, as it turns out they did.
They started the SugarShack which started out selling custom flavored sugars and expanded into homemade extracts, syrups, and other assorted sweets. His trifles where to die for, his brownies were delicious, and their best selling packages where either the sugar of the month (lavender, vanilla, citrus, lemon, basil) or syrup of the month (champagne, maple, blueberry, rhubarb) club...life was sweet...literally.
Well, except for the fact that everyone thought he was a woman named Farleigh.
Part of what brought their customers back time and time again was not just the food but also the atmosphere. The homey older sister recipes and blog posts he wrote as Farleigh where only the tip of the iceberg.
But his sister was right and business was business and so he role-played Farleigh to give his customers what they wanted. The customer is always right after all.
Imagine his surprise when post the cheesybeards fire, post the rejection, and post the rumors he heard of a weird called off wedding he saw a familiar address pop up on his syrup of the month mailing list.
Cyd Sherman. Zaboo was apparently trying to court her again.
It seemed no matter where he went there she was.
In game, out of game. In character, out of character. It didn't matter it seemed she was always just around the bend, constantly tantalizing him by being close but just out of reach. The irony of the only girl he wanted to date twice not wanting to date him definitely got to him.
He was tempted for a moment to do something to her shipment, but then he remembered he was roleplaying Farleigh and decided against it. It was just a simple shipment after all. It wasn't like anything was going to happen.
When Codex wrote an email to "Farleigh" exclaiming how much she loved the syrup, Fawkes just sighed and shook his head.
+ 1
Nine o'clock on a Wednesday night was Cyd's favorite time to go grocery shopping. You missed the crowds of the weekly dinner rush and the weekend shoppers. A next to deserted store was the best. And, since the only other people out shopping at 9pm on Wednesday were either workaholics or people just like her, the atmosphere was nice and low-key. She certainly didn't have to worry about someone starting a conversation as they both picked out tomatoes from the vegetable bin.
Wedding season was thankfully upon her. She might have come to hate the sound of Pachelbel's Cannon and she definitely thought most people were pretty unimaginative when it came to choosing wedding music—though the wedding industry might have been to blame for that, but it meant that she once again wasn't completely unemployed. And not completely unemployed meant that she once again to buy something more exciting than ramen at the grocery store.
Deciding to live a little she decides to splurge on old lady rum raisin instead of old lady butter pecan, but she can't quite reach and so she stretches her body into the freezer until only her bottom half is sticking out as she searches for it. And that is when she hears a voice...
"Life be not so short but there is always time for courtesy. Ralph Waldo Emerson. Why don't you come out of there and let me reach in for a spell."
"Seriously Fawkes? Do your lines actually work on women?"
"Codex. What a surprise..."
"I was just trying to reach some ice cream."
"Obviously," and with that he reaches in sliding past her into the freezer and grabs the last carton of rum raisin.
Cyd ignores the fire that sparks across her skin as he gets close; ignores the cold that sweeps in when he leaves; and ignores that bloody pang in her heart. Stupid. Cute. Gamer. Boy.
But seeing that last pint of rum raisin slip from her grasp was too much.
"That's mine!"
"And yet, it appears to be in my hand."
"Come on you wouldn't even be taking the rum raisin if it wasn't for me."
"Really now aren't we full of ourselves, I thought you liked old lady butter pecan. If I'm taking rum raisin it's because I want it. When I take something it's because I want it."
Cyd feels like there is something she's missing. That his words mean more than just who gets the rum raisin ice cream.
"But...I want it," and Cyd can't believe those words just came out of her mouth. It's just ice cream she thinks, get a hold of yourself you have soft naturally wavy hair.
And there with a lecherous look he follow up with, "well we could have that second chance and share it."
And Cyd still feels like she's missing something again and she knows it isn't fair but this was supposed to be her grocery store and her Wednesday night and her rum raisin and she responds with the tangle of feelings that he always creates in her that frustration and want buried together with hurt and exasperation always tempered with the extra awareness whenever he is in the room. And for whatever reason she takes it out on him.
"We could have if you wouldn't have gone and messed with that furry." And she means it to be snappy but, of course, it isn't. It comes out plaintive and sad and she knows that she's done for it...he's seen her weakness and he'll mercilessly exploit it now.
Her heart soars though when he doesn't come back with something cutting and when his face softens.
"Well, we could share it and I'll do better than," this time it's a bit less lecherous though his eyes still seem to be amused.
"Really?"
"We could call it a non-deductible business meeting," he teases, "just name your time."
"Wait, really?" Cyd can't believe it, is it that easy. He's smiling and teasing and she can feel the warmth in her stomach.
And so they do, while Cyd would have liked to just open the carton right then, she trusts herself more in the light of day and somehow ice cream has become a picnic and she has a date...er...a non-deductible business meeting.
They wander through the rest of the store and she feels like a real adult. And he's not exactly soft and fluffy but he's more honest and she finds herself laughing and having a good time.
By the time they have checked out she's actually looking forward to their date tomorrow.
"Wait, how could you just promise me we could meet whenever? You always seem to be online what exactly is it that you do?"
He smirks and replies, "wouldn't you like to know."'