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[elimp4]

"i covered a lot of important news stuff," eli said. they would take the man's apparent obliviousness to what journalists did in good faith. after all, the united states was a fairly confusing place. many people acted like great britain technically being both one country and three countries at the same time was confusing, and yet, the u.s. was composed of 50+ or so whole states with their own quirks and governments. maybe journalist in this guy's state meant someone who literally wrote journals.

"i wrote about the people, for the people. that's why they said i was a hero. but a lawyer sounds heroic too." they were honestly skeptical towards his claims, but surely the good place wouldn't make mistakes. if this man claimed to be a lawyer, he had to be... somehow. clapping their hands, they added, "no, no, i would love to hear about what you did as a lawyer. in fact, i insist you tell me about it!"

dallas had to fight also his normal behavior here. for one, usually when people tried to start conversations with him, his first response would be to ignore them. second - to tell them to fuck off. or, of course, see if they were easy to pick-pocket. none of that really seemed relevant here.

so when the stranger spoke to dallas, he had to fight every urge to say oh a journalist is a forkin' hero? what, were you giving cpr to forking diary entries? (dallas didn't entirely know or understand what journalists exactly did.)

"guess that's why they call it the after life," he said, putting on his best fake smile. "you never know what you're going to get." yeah, try not to act like a fucking robot, dallas. nobody talks like that. "journalism sounds [ beat ] interesting. what type of journals did you write?"

then, when things couldn't worse, they looked at him and said how about you. and this was a question dallas was well-versed in lying about. when he was talking to someone to pick pocket, he'd say he was a waiter or cashier, and name a local shop. that way, if they caught him, the first place they would go is there, and dallas would have time to not be there. when he was talking to someone who he was forced to speak with, he'd say he was a graduate student, so he could have an excuse to info-dump on ancient history. sometimes, his brother and he liked to screw the other one over and say, yeah my brother's in med school just to watch the other stumble. but his brother wasn't here. and he was not trying to rob this person. and he supposed he couldn't exactly lie when there was some big cosmic switch-up that had him as someone he distinctly was not.

"oh, me?" he racked his brain to remember what michael said. it was important so you'd think he'd have listened. not that dallas really liked listening. "i was," lawyer! michael said lawyer. "lawyer. pretty boring though. you wouldn't want to hear about it." and by that he meant, please please please don't ask me about it.

[elimp4]

"i've been busy, per usual," says eli. "even in the afterlife, it's always good to try to improve yourself and help others." it's code for i've forced myself to read one book and tried to offer help to people who didn't need it, so i just napped before i came here. this lack of productivity is agony for them, but they've convinced themself that they're totally happy. why wouldn't they be? "i love the music," they say, giving the other a strained smile. "was this type of music meaningful to you in your life?"

OPEN FOR: come one, come all @gpstarters ! LOCATION: mini music show at the front of his house.

" ah ... sorry. " thumb rapidly taps the volume down for the little speaker. he'd asked janet for the closest thing to concert grade speakers for this mini-party at the front of his house. partially for the sake of having some fun, mostly to drown the awful acoustics of the last new song from jason aldean he'd heard. the moment he hears the country bleeding into the bass, he chills. it takes him a moment to recover, but once he does he claps his hands. " i like it loud. besides, gotta set the vibe, right? i'd play myself, but why not kick my feet up? splurge a little? " he gives a little laugh, passing a beverage over to the 'guest'. " how've you kicked off your happy-death-day so far? " grin and bear it, bright. despite the note crumbled in your pocket and the grating noise of the gutair, everything is fine! perfect!

[elimp4]

"how lovely." indeed it was a thing of beauty. clearly, michael and janet favored the girl over eli. how come she got nothing even resembling this? eli wasn't even that far behind maddie in the rankings. their heart pounds and hands shake ever so slightly. they give maddie their most saccharine smile. "i've seen the eiffel tower. the imitation in your snow globe is nowhere near as stunning as the real thing, i'd say. but janet made an effort. it's the thought that counts, isn't it?"

open to anyone. @gpstarters location: at her housewarming party

"it's so pretty," she sighed, wrapping her arms around herself as she stared at the giant snow globe that was currently the centerpiece of her living room. it happened to contain a replica of the eiffel tower, a place she had hoped to visit when she was alive and was now trapped behind glass. "janet was nice enough to make it big for us." she told the person next to her... maddie at least trying to at least appear pleased with the not-magic not-lady's efforts. god, she hated snow globes.

[elimp4]

"no, i'm just saying that i can find a way. because that's what i do." their words came out sounding more serious than they intended, and their cheeks warmed. more than anything, eli hated feeling emotionally vulnerable. it was probably painfully obvious now how much eli cared about this kind of thing.

eli coughed. "when i was alive, i was a journalist." they shrugged, trying to seem more chill about it. "it's necessary to ask the right questions when you're one. to be bold, to be assertive." they scoffed at the man's self-deprecation. "please. we all deserve to be here." was there a part of them scared that they turned out to be ranked lower than this guy? what would that mean, if so? offering a hand, they said, "i'm eli, by the way. you?"

gabriel  had  met  a  lot  of  people  in  his  life  (and  afterlife),  and  he  could  always  tell  when  someone  was  being  nice  for  the  sake  of  it.

this  one?  yeah.  they  had  an  agenda.

he  took  another  slow  sip  of  his  bland,  offensively  mediocre  coffee,  blinking  at  them  over  the  rim  of  the  cup.

“oh,  yeah?”  he  said,  tone  light,  almost  amused.  “you  got  a  direct  line  to  management?  impressive.”

he  swirled  the  coffee  in  his  cup,  pretending  to  consider their  offer.

“see,  i  appreciate  the  enthusiasm,  really,  but  i  feel  like  management  and  i  aren’t  exactly  on  great  terms.”  he  shrugged,  grinning  like  that  was  somehow  a  personal  achievement.  “something  tells  me  i  might  not be  their  favorite  resident.”

his  gaze  flicked  over  them,  catching  the  almost-too-sweet  expression.

“but  hey—you  seem  confident.  you  must  be  pretty  high  up  on  the  rankings,  huh?”  he  tilted  his  head  slightly.  “how’s  it  feel  to  be  one  of  the  good  ones?”

[elimp4]

"yeah, my house seems to be considerably larger than yours. i was shocked. i guess that i did do a lot of good things," eli says, humble as ever. "i did that too with my journalism. at least that's what other people from across the globe told me; they felt seen and heard." they cough to clear their throat, giving the other a dazzling smile. "but it's not a contest or anything. i mean, like michael said, we're some of the best people that the earth has ever produced. what's the biggest good deed you ever did on earth?"

"ah, i see why your house is a bit more spacious. you must have scored a lot of good place points." his house happened to be the smallest in the neighborhood. "i might not have made as big a splash as you did, but i did what i could with the little i had." akihiko smiled warmly, his tone gentle. "i worked in the service industry, and i always made it my mission to make each customer feel like the most important person in the world." he of course left out the part that as a host, it was his job to make sure of that. and it helped that it gave him quite a bit of perks. emphasis on gave.

[elimp4]

"hi, eunha. beautiful name," says eli. they're making an effort to keep their own energy purely friendly, trying their best not to flirt with every pretty girl they meet. that was one of their great joys in life — but this isn't life anymore, right? it's the afterlife, and apparently here, eli's got someone else waiting for them. a perfect soulmate. "i'm eli. i wrote about the people, for the people," they explain. that's not technically a lie. gossip is just such an unpleasant word; if eli were a man, they're sure that it would be called "investigative journalism" instead.

she's annoyed. she's not supposed to be, here in... whatever it is here. it's supposed to be everything she ever wanted, but it's not. her house is small, her ranking is low, and she now has a soulmate that she has to share her house with? not what she had pictured. she's frowning, arms crossed as she looks out across the sea. eunha hears feet dragging in the sand, and she turns to look to see a friendly face. oh, finally someone she can talk to! she perks right up, a smile on her face, and bows her head in greeting. "oh, it's so nice to meet you, too! i'm eunha" she replies, and then tilts her head to the side. "what did you write about? must be something big if you're considered a hero!"

[elimp4]

"An indie bookstore. How adorable," said Eli, clapping their hands together. "I often go to those places when I'd like to enjoy a book without getting recognized. You know, they're so peaceful compared to your average Waterstones. Oh, what's the American equivalent of a well-known bookstore again? Ah, right, Barnes and Noble, I believe!" They laugh, a bell-like, dainty sound.

"Well, these days, there are so many ways that people can get their information. Actually, I posted my work on social media apps like Instagram and TikTok. People really appreciate getting honest journalism from an unbiased source like myself. The rules that traditional news sources needed to adhere to didn't apply to me, you know?" They added, "The Cut did a feature celebrating my work fairly recently."

-- "I owned an indie bookstore in Brooklyn. I actually did a lot of work to platform small authors, so I guess I'm cashing in on that good karma." Kai explained, trying to buy his own justification. He never really gave much thought to his own morality besides identifying as chaotic good. "What publication did you write for? Maybe I've read some of your work. I followed a strict no social media until noon rule, so I stayed pretty on the pulse of current events and think pieces." He would never admit it, but it was a lot of pressure to always have a niche talking point in his back pocket, but its what seemed to be expected of him in his social circle. "Or did you have a substack? I don't say that with any judgment, by the way. Some of my favorite articles are substack posts. I don't know if I'd really categorize that as journalism, but semantics right."

[elimp4]

"my coffee is perfectly lovely," said eli. a part of them wondered if the quality of the coffee was based on the rankings. ever since they laid eyes on their house, they hadn't been able to get the rankings out of their mind. eli was ranked higher than this guy, right? surely they had to be. the man didn't seem very pleasant.

you know who was pleasant? eli. in their sweetest voice, they cooed, "well, i can help you raise this concern to management." they weren't actually sure who the "management" in question was, but certainly management would give eli the time of the day.

who:  open  starter  (@gpstarters)

where:  neighborhood  cafe

gabriel  had  never  been  a  man  burdened  by  deep  philosophical  questions.

he  didn’t  waste  time  wondering  if  he  deserved  to  be  here,  didn’t  sit  around  contemplating  the  cosmic  significance  of  his  existence.  that  was  a  waste  of  a  perfectly  good  eternity.

so  while  everyone  else  seemed  deeply  concerned  with  why  they  were  here,  gabriel  had  skipped  straight  to  acceptance—and  more  importantly,  opportunity.

at  the  moment,  he  was  loitering  outside  one  of  the  quaint  little  cafés,  sipping  on  a  drink  he’d  absolutely  not  paid  for  (who  was  gonna  stop  him?)  and  watching  people  freak  out  over  their  new  reality  like  it  was  a  spectator  sport.

“i  gotta  say,”  he  mused  aloud,  lifting  his  cup  slightly,  speaking  to  no  one  in  particular  but  loud  enough  that  someone  would  eventually  take  the  bait,  “for  a  place  that’s  supposed  to  be,  y’know—perfect—the  coffee’s  kinda  ass.”

he  took  another  sip  anyway,  grimaced,  and  then  let  out  a  deep,  exaggerated  sigh,  shaking  his  head  like  he  was  deeply  disappointed  in  the  divine  beverage  selection.

“i  mean,  really?  eternity,  and  this  is  what  we’re  working  with?  no  cuban  coffee?  no  espresso  that  makes  you  question  your  own  mortality?  just  this—”  he  swirled  the  liquid  around,  unimpressed,  “beige  sadness  in  a  cup?”

he  leaned  back  against  the  wall,  eyes  scanning  the  street,  looking  for  someone  who  looked  bored  enough,  curious  enough,  or  just  dumb  enough  to  engage  with  him.

“tell  me,  do  they  let  us  file  complaints  up  here,  or  is  this  more  of  a  ‘take  it  up  with  management  when  you  see  them’  kind  of  deal?”

[elimp4]

open to anyone (town square, beach, or gardens) 🍒 @gpstarters

the size of eli's house isn't bad, they suppose. sure, it could be bigger, but it's... not small. "hi," they say to the other person. "it's wonderful to meet you. i can't believe i ended up here. i wouldn't really consider myself a hero or anything, but apparently a lot of people did... you know, i was a journalist when i was alive." well, gossip blogger, but same thing. "how about you?"

[elimp4]

character blog for goodplacehqs. please do not interact if you are not in the rp.

eli saucedo

fc: lizeth selene ━ age: 25 (born june 1999) ━ pronouns: they/them ━ sexuality: lesbian ━ ethnicity: afro-indigenous mexican ━ place of origin: manchester, england ━ languages known: english (first language), some spanish

[elimp4]

lizeth selene for elle mexico via instagram