The Age of The Masrui

"Yeah, I know." Marlowe whispered, "Rian has Sienna tonight, so when Mads comes home I'm going to have a chat with him about it all. Try and shake this bad feeling I have."

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"We'll both find out tomorrow. Hm?" Ronan whispered, resting his palm against her cheek gently.

“You’re both just tired and sleep deprived, no need to argue or anything.”

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“I don’t like the sound of this at all, Ro.”

"Yeah, yeah it won't be an argument. Don't worry."

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"Mm." Ronan hummed, "Nor do I."

“Stay here tonight with me? I don’t wanna be on my own...”

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“I’ll still have a word with him later, he probably doesn’t realise he’s being an arsehole.”

"No, no. I can do it, Cal. Really, if he doesn't take it on board after I speak to him tonight then you can but.. I don't want this to be twisted into my moaning about him behind his back." Marlowe insisted. "Really, I can handle it. How is it all going, anyway, the Levi business? I've not got much out of Mads recently."

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"What about Dane and Rhys?"

“Nothing really interesting to note... it’s just been carrying on as it always has.”

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“They’re at Cal’s tonight, would’ve had the house to myself but since you’re here... unless you wanna be in a hotel on your own, get some peace and quiet?”

"Then I'll stay."

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Marlowe just nodded

“Not pushing any boundaries is it?” Bella whispered as she moved to curl into him. “I don’t wanna push you...”

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“Why don’t you go grab an hour? I’ll tidy up round here, give you a break.”

Marlowe nodded, leaning over to kiss his cheek thankfully before getting to her feet and heading to the bedroom. Closing the door behind herself.

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"No. No, it's okay. I uh... I've been loosening the boundaries, borders aren't as tight; can you tell?"

“I have but I didn’t wanna push you too far, I know all of this isn’t easy for you. Don’t want you uncomfortable.”

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Caliban started by tidying round the place, eventually moving on to do the heavier cleaning and the washing too

"It's fine."

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Marlowe would of slept soundly until later in the day, only waking around the time Maddox normally got home from work.

((What’s your plan, or are you just winging it?))

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“Wanna do what normal people do and spent the day in bed dozing, eating junk food watching crappy movies together? It’s my favourite and you love food so...” Bella offered with a grin as she moved to look up at him.

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Maddox walked in quietly and set his keys down, rubbing the back of his head tiredly as he shrugged off his jacket and went to couch to sit down, leaning back his head and closing his eyes

(( Winging it! So if you have any ideas then let me know ahaha! I don't think I ever have a plan ))

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Ronan laughed quietly at that and gave a small nod, "Sure, I do have a lot of dozing to catch up on and it isn't the same without a movie playing in the background."

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It looks great here, thank you Cal. Your a life saver. Marlowe had managed to text Caliban just before Maddox walked in, placing her phone on the counter when it had gone through. Making her way over, she sat herself down beside Maddox, slipping her arms around his torso and resting her head against his shoulder in silence.

“Perfect, you go make yourself comfortable in bed and I will be back up with snacks.” Bella grinned, kissing his cheek before getting up and heading downstairs.

((I can’t think of anything did you have any ideas floating around?))

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Anytime

“Hey you...” Maddox greeted tiredly, wrapping an arm around her shoulder.

(( I always have the generic ones but I struggle more and more with detail these days.

A kidnapping would make sense, since they are such a high status family. Dorian and Astrid could get kidnapped, this could give them bonding time and effect the whole family. It could be for ransom money?

Someone could be run off the road? Or Cal could witness a crash and it could involve Cassie?

With the Langstead's I was thinking that one of the brothers had infiltrated a letter that evidenced the changing of the river meant that it put protected species at risk and they wouldn't let it get out if Dane handed over that property to them - this could be a false letter, could not exist at all or be genuine dependent on what you think. The meeting could get violent somehow as a result and someone could be shot? ))

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"So far I have gotten Dorian to have her Thursday night, Friday evening and Friday night. He will be picking her up from Caliban who will have her Thursday evenings whenever he can. All that is left on the list is asking your mother to have him Wednesday evening. That gives us two evenings and nights to catch up on sleep and one evening to focus on us." Marlowe updated.

“Are you okay with her being with others so much? That’s almost half the week, I know you don’t like her being away for too long.”

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((Sounds like something we could work with, maybe through the meeting they hear of the kidnapping and accuse the Langsteads, guns get drawn and people from both sides end up getting varying degrees of hurt?))

(( Oh, that is a nice combination there. Sure! ))

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"Not really," Marlowe admitted quietly, "But... I thought it was what you wanted."

((Maybe one of ronans brothers gets taken too whilst he’s in town for the meeting, suspicion all round then?))

“I don’t want you to be unhappy though Marley...”

(( Yes, great idea! ))

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"I don't want you to be unhappy, which you clearly are. You seem miserable, Mads."

“I think we’re both just exhausted… when was the last time either of us got decent sleep, ate our food when we made it and got a shower in peace mm?”

(( Sorry, I had to face time the boyfriend - I haven't seen him since before christmas so it felt mean to say no haha ))

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"That's just part of having a baby though. She is going to cry all the time, she is going to need us. I just - you just... I'm worried about you, which makes me worry about us. I'm worried about us, more and more these days. Are we okay?"

“I feel like you’re refusing any kind of help to make a point that we don’t need professional help. And I’ll admit I’m partially to blame for that because I insisted on a nanny but - But we do need some form of help Marley. Even if it is just letting her go with our families for a bit. You don’t leave the house most of the week, you don’t let anyone have her overnight or for more than an hour. Neither of us are functioning and you can try make out it’s just me all you want but it’s not. I get you don’t trust anyone with her completely, I understand. But all my siblings have managed to raise their kids without any serious harm or injuries.”

((No need to apologise haha, I saw my friend on NYE for the first time since may and probably won’t see her till may again lockdowns a bitch))

(( It's insane isn't it! ))

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"Well, you're making me feel like a bad mother." Marlowe muttered, pulling away from him then. "I feel like your not waking me up to see to her on purpose, so you get more tired and you know it's going to make me feel like I'm failing a- and maybe when I give in and admit I'm failing, I'll get some stranger to look after her. A stranger can obviously look after our baby better than me, hm? That's how it feels."

"And that right there is why we're not okay." Maddox stood up with a sigh. "You genuinely believe I'm that manipulative that I'd do something like that? That's bullshit and if you think I'm that bad then what's the fucking point?"

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((I'm just spending my lockdown playing Animal Crossing because I aint got nothing better to do anyway lmao not like I got anywhere to go))

"You think I am manipulative enough to be refusing just to make a point, so you are thinking just as lowly as me." Marlowe answered, voice shaking when he stood, growing fearful that he was going to leave. "I've sorted it, haven't I? Got Dorian to watch her, and Cal... Two nights, three evenings. I'm trying to compromise here. I- I just wanted to clear the air and I - fucked it, made it worse. I should of left it all alone, I'm sorry."

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(( I really want to play Animal Crossing but I haven't got a Switch. I used to love Harvest Moon and the two sound really similar ))