#apurgintro

[charlotte-delyle]

Name: Charlotte Anne Delyle Nickname(s): Charlie, Charles, Lottie, Baby Gender: Female (she/her) Age: Twenty Three Birthday: September 21st Sexuality: Straight (unless?) Occupation: Administration Assistant, Gravewood High. Face: Willa Fitzgerald Style: TBA - Preppy? Hair: Usually light brown - occasionally blonde. Usually medium-length. Eyes: Hazel Mother: Katrina Delyle Father: Unknown Bio: Charlotte was a golden child growing up - the only daughter to a single mother who had a champagne taste on a beer budget. Hailing from the so called bad side of town, everyone always suspected that the illustrious lady of the night, Katrina Delyle would never amount to anything. Of course, that was before they all realised that somehow, someway Katrina had produced a beautiful baby, with a heart shaped face and a beautiful complexion. Charlotte never knew her father, nor did most of the town people. They had suspicions, of course this is a small town in middle America. But nobody dared say a thing. Of course, from the time she was a baby Charlotte was entered into every pageant that would take her - America’s prettiest babies, Toddlers and Tiara’s. Katrina had big ambitious for her precocious cherub, and a new pretty young face to live vicariously through. Life proceeded as it could, though the money never seemed to stay for long. Charlotte was adored in school, ever much the antithesis to the grating personality of her mother (but was it practised? none could say.). Eventually, a large win of Miss Teen Gravewood, when Charlotte was fifteen was enough to bring their family out of poverty, and over to the right side of town. Life moved up for Charlotte here, having her first boyfriend, a wonderful life and enjoying what every teen girl could want. But was it enough? As she moved beyond the high school walls, eighteen years of lacking a father seemed to catch up with poor Charlotte. Soon, her sweet but naive boyfriend couldn’t quite scratch that… itch she’d been harbouring. He was nice, and proper but… he wasn’t what she wanted. Thus led Charlotte down a dark path, into seedy bars and back alleys with men who were far too old to be seen with such a fresh-faced eighteen year old. Deep down Charlotte knew why they wanted her, but god did they make her feel wanted.. safe. This of course, continued when Charlotte went to College, falling madly for her much older professor. How was she supposed to know he was married? He’d promised he would leave his wife for her, to make her, his. Pity it was against the school charter to have that sort of relationship, and as payback the man’s wife threw the now twenty one year old Charlotte to the wolves, and she returned back to Gravewood, degree-less, but no less messed up than ever. Settling down now, she accepted a job at Gravewood High, as an administration assistant. It pays well enough, and lets just say that there are far too many eligible, older bachelors in Gravewood. Charlotte now feels she’s exactly where she’s meant to be.

[ellexreynolds]

THE BASICS

NAME: Eleanor Reynolds

PREFERRED NAME: Elle

AGE: 23

BIRTHDAY: May 21st

GENDER: Cis Female

PRONOUNS: She/Her

OCCUPATION: Secretary at the Mayor’s Office

HOMETOWN: Gravewood, WV

FULL BIO → PLAYLIST → PINTEREST → CONNECTIONS

KEY CHANGES

A little less stressy and depressy, more drunk and messy

HEADCANONS

Elle isn’t someone that anyone would consider to have dark thoughts, but when thinking about ways to get out of having to marry The Heir, her mind has been going to dark places that have her worried about her own sanity.

She talks to her older brother at least once a week, sometimes more. He has been playing a big part in keeping her sane. When they talk, he tells her about the places he’s travelled to recently, and promises that she’ll get to see them one day too.

For the most part, Elle is one of the nicest people you’ll ever meet. Unless you cross her or try to undermine her. She doesn’t take that lightly and will make sure it never happens again.

In high school, she had a large friend group, in her adult life, she could count her friends on one hand. It comes from a mix of losing contact with the people she knew, and being careful who she lets into her inner circle. She doesn’t give trust easily.

She's reached the point where she's no longer concerned about what her parents think or what they want from her, but she doesn’t know how to break free of the hold they have on her. It has her spiralling in ways that is starting to worry her. But she doesn’t know what else to do.

She's almost robotic in the way she acts, because even though she really feels a lot, she feels it's safer for her and all of the secrets that she's trying to protect if she comes across as completely unbothered by everything.

INTERVIEW QUESTIONS

“What have you been up to in the past four years?”

If she were to answer honestly, the truthful answer would be ‘Not half as much as I wish’. Elle always wanted to do great things. She’d been such a force of nature in high school, the one that no one dared question or challenge. It felt like that as soon as graduation was over, the curtains closed on Elle’s bright future. Her parents had made it clear the ideas that they had for her, and after their first failed attempt with their son, they knew Elle was their last chance. Though they’d never said that to her, Elle knew. “Working, mostly. I got a job at the Mayor’s office, so that keeps me busy. Oh! And I’ve been doing a lot of wedding planning lately. It’s going to be one hell of a party.” The thought of the wedding made her sick to her stomach, though her tone wouldn’t give that away. Whenever someone asked about it, it’s like Elle turned on auto-pilot and repeated the same rehearsed answers that she’d made sure to memorize.

“You have 24 hours left to live, what are you going to do in your final hours?”

“Get out of Gravewood.” Elle said without a moment of hesitation. She’d been chained to the town her whole life, and she wanted nothing more than to get out of there and see what life was like beyond its borders. Her brother had done it, and it was something she’d dreamed about for years as she enviously watched as others left at will. Given the chance, she’d put as much distance between her and Gravewood as she could, but she knew that she couldn’t do that to her parents. They needed her, they needed the security that Elle’s status gave them. As much as Elle wanted out, she couldn’t do that to them. But, if she found herself with only 24 hours to live, she wasn’t about to go down without getting out and seeing as much as she could. “I’ve never been out of this town, not really. If I leave this world without getting a chance to see what else is out there... I can’t think of anything more depressing.”

“What do you dream of?”

Elle assumed that people were expecting her to describe the life that she would have with The Heir, but that couldn’t be further than the truth. “I dream of seeing the world, hell, I’d even settle for just seeing more the country. My brother got out of here and when he calls he tells me about all of these places he’s been and how he wants to show them to me one day.” When Beau left, Elle spent a lot of time resenting him, but as time went on, she understood why he left. Now, she wanted to do the same.

Despite her wedding being right around the corner, she didn’t see a life after it. Everything beyond the date that had been set was a black blur. “I dream of getting a happy ending, whatever that means.” She wasn’t sure what it did mean, but she knew what it didn’t.

“What’s your relationship like with your parents/guardian?”

Elle took a moment to think about it. What was her relationship like with her parents. Of course, she loved them, and they loved her. But, the fact that they had pushed so hard for her to get engaged to The Heir did have Elle wondering just how real that love was. Would parents who really loved their child push them to marry someone they didn’t really want to marry? If the child said no, would they still look at them the same as their standing in the community began to crumble? Elle would be lying if she said those weren’t things that crossed her mind often. “It’s good, we all get along, we’d all do anything for each other.” It was half true at least. She was willing to do what she had to do for them, but would they do the same for her? If she was being honest, she wasn’t so sure. That’s what made her so nervous about telling them that her feelings about the wedding were about as far from excited as possible. Nervous to the point where she was almost certain that she couldn’t say anything, even though she grew more desperate by the day to get out of the arrangement.

“Where do you see yourself going from here?”

“There’s only one way to go, right?” She said, pointing upwards. As far as Elle was concerned, things couldn’t get any worse, could they? Surely they could only get better, only go up, from there. That’s what she hoped anyway. All that was standing in her way was figuring out how to get out of going through with the wedding. It was getting to the point where she knew she would be cutting it close, but she could find another use for a wedding dress, right?

[leoyoons]

—THE DAREDEVIL ( 𝐑𝐄𝐂𝐎𝐕𝐄𝐑𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐂𝐎𝐔𝐑𝐓 𝐉𝐄𝐒𝐓𝐄𝐑 ), 𝕃𝔼𝕆 𝕐𝕆𝕆ℕ

✦⋆ CONNECTIONS ✦⋆ PINTEREST ✦⋆ PLAYLIST

FIRSTLY, SOME BASICS

FULL NAME: Leonora Everly Yoon PREFERRED NICKNAME: Leo ( call her Nora at your own risk ) PREFERRED PRONOUNS: currently she/hers, but she’s reevaluating DATE OF BIRTH: April 1st, 2000 ( aries sun,  pisces moon, aquarius rising ) [ Leonora was born two months premature; her dad thought it was a joke but lo and behold, Odessa’s water had really gone and broken on April Fools ] ZODIAC SIGNS: aries sun, pisces moon, aquarius rising ( une ) AGE: Twenty-Two but she feels ancient HOMETOWN: born and raised in Gravewood, WV FAMILY: George Yoon ( father, sheriff ), Odessa-Marie Yoon ( mother, waitress ), Feodore Avery Yoon ( older brother & Yoon golden boy ) OCCUPATION: Ice Skating Attendant & Teacher at the Windsor Ice Rink SEXUAL ORIENTATION: she’s not for the streets, but it’s the whole spectrum ROMANTIC ORIENTATION: re: last line [ —the rest can be found in the DOSSIER: additional background information, physicalities and personality stuff among other things! ] 

WHAT’S IN MY BAG: The Shape of Water by Daniel Kraus, A Visit from the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan, a sketchbook she’s been filling up with still-lifes and stuff, and an empty planner her dad gave her SENIOR SUPERLATIVE(s): class clown, life of the party, best smile CURRENT QUOTE(s): “the feminine urge to enter a hell of my own making” “who the fuck decided to call it emotional baggage and not griefcase?” TV PARALLELS: Gina ( Brooklyn 99 ), Winston ( New Girl ), Montana ( Do Revenge ), Orla McCool ( Derry Girls ), Sokka ( ATLA ), Ruthie ( Shrill ), Willie Jack ( Reservation Dogs ), Guillermo ( What We do in the Shadows ), Sperncer Shay ( iCarly ) TROPES: Allergic to Routine, Annoying Laugh, The Chew Toy, Cloudcuckoolander, Cool Loser, Crouching Moron Hidden Badass, Deadpan Snarker, Endearingly Dorky, Erudite Stoner, I Just Wanna Be Special, Jack of All Stats, Kaleidoscope Hair, Once Done Never Forgotten, Sad Clown

SECONDLY, A LIGHT OUTLINE

✧ No one would really admit it, but Leonora was that baby that married couples have when they’re on the brink of divorce— she was meant to fix George and Odessa’s failing relationship but the novelty of a new baby faded soon enough as her parents returned to their old routine, the new baby falling to the wayside. 

✧ Even so, they’d never gotten around to the divorce. Babies are like monkey’s paws in that way and neither one of them wanted to go through with a divorce when they’d gone and had another baby to care for. Through the mess of their marriage, they loved each other still, and those legals proceedings would only be inconvenient.  

✧ After his paternity leave had come and gone, George went back to working his long hours in the Sheriff’s office and Odessa was left home with a toddler and a newborn. She’d spend all day feeling alone at home, tending to the home and her kids; trying and failing to rekindle the love they’d cultivated in their adolescence.  

✧ While Leonora and her older brother were babbling little ones then, kids can still sense these things. Leo was a fussy girl herself, and she’d always demanded more attention than her mother was willing to give. Once she’d started crawling, her mother set her down in a little corral and left her to her own devices. 

✧ Most of her infancy was spent that way, her mother holding her at arms length as she reached out to her. George was a little better, though his own love came in bursts and then fizzled out entirely— he’d never had much energy when he came home, and most of the time he’d set her on his chest and doze off. 

✧ Toddlerhood was a little easier on Leo, if only because she’d had access to other forms of distraction ( unfortunately for her mother, these were messy ). She’d started painting around this time, though it’s something all kids do, right? Must be the same with the colorful handprints all over the walls which pissed her mom off to no end.

✧ Life teaches Leo to be loud and messy— those are the most surefire ways to get her mother’s attention: throwing food at her brother, running a crayon along the surface of the fridge. Anything to get her parents’ attention, though hindsight would say these acts only pushed her mother further away than before. 

✧ By the time Leo and her brother are in elementary school, Odessa’s thinking of joining the workforce. Desperate for anything that will get her out of the house, she applies for a waitressing job at Marie’s. The pay is minimal but the work fills whatever hole in her heart George has left. She needed this.

✧ It’s obvious then why she turned out the way she did: needy, nosy, annoying and whatever else the other kids would call her during her childhood. Leo hadn’t learned how to separate the good press from the bad; so long as someone was looking at her she’d felt like a sunflower facing the sun, and that would be her undoing in the end. 

✧ Puberty hits a girl like a ton of bricks then and it only gets worse. At home she’d had no audience save her brother and he’s gone and tired of her shit. He was hanging out with his own group of friends and she’d grown ungrateful of the ones that had allowed her in their own circle; she’d go and ruin them soon enough.

✧ One risky dare starts it all and then she’s flying higher and higher towards the sun in one massive Icarian feat before the wax on her wings start melting. Icarus’ own father warned him about his recklessness, and her own had gone and put her in handcuffs. When she’s high as a kite, she thinks about how tragically poetic that is.

✧ Fuck up first, apologize later is all fun and games until you’ve gone and burned all your bridges. Leonora now exists in a limbo of her own creation, not knowing how to move forward though everything she’s done keeps her from turning back. ‘I’m sorry’ seems meaningless at the end of the line, but what else is new.

✦ keeping myself from adding more so we can fill in the gaps together? ✦

THIRDLY, SOME HCS

Leo wasn’t diagnosed with ADHD until the latter years of Middle School; while she knows this is due in part to the socialization of girls and all of that, it digs the ‘your parents really went and overlooked you’ knife a little deeper.

The first time she ever put ink on her skin, it was because of a dare ( go figure ). Leonora could choose whatever design she wanted so long as the ink went on her lower back; the pain of getting her tramp stamped nearly killed her.

If memory serves her well, Leo first bleached her hair the day before the first of high school. She’d thought to make it subtle to keep her mom from freaking out, but once it was said and done she didn’t even try to hide it.

Foster Home for Imaginary Friends was one of those things that stuck with her in her childhood, so when her grandfather gifted her a red doberman, Leonora was quick to name the little guy Blooregard Q. Kazoo ( Bloo for short ).

She feels ridiculously lonely all the time, and her therapist tells her that it’s directly correlated to the reckless behavior of her youth. Leonora doesn’t necessarily think correlation equals causation, but the man might be right. 

One such bit of reckless behavior had her piercing one nipple on a dare, another had her biting into some shellfish she was allergic to ( leading to a fun ER night ), and a third had her eating a steak even though she’s vegetarian.

As far as more lasting consequences ( the piercing has since closed, so that doesn’t count ), one small piece of the cartilage on her right ear is missing and she has one scar running down her calf from these dangerous liaisons. 

Watched a single clip of Euphoria, a zoom-in of some lady’s eye makeup and it's kinda become a whole thing. Leo isn’t going all out with it or anything, but she can’t stop herself from sticking those little diamonds underneath her eyes.

As far as cliche artsy things go, she’s lugging around a sage green kanken decked in patches and pins, filled with hb pencils, an overfilled sketchbook, an empty one, and two toiletry bags because you can never be too prepared. 

Has a replica of Sam’s iCarly remote, which is basically her soundboard. She’s got it programmed with her favorite bites but switches some of the other ones out depending on the season ( and she’s got terrible comedic timing ). 

Follow-up for the iCarly remote, she’s got two specific sounds on lock: a slow clap ( because obviously ) and the sound of the world’s smallest violin from that one episode of Spongebob. The other stuff on rotation is mostly from TikTok. 

She’s got a membership to the fabric store in town and they know the girl by name; Leo loves all those fashion things but she’s not gonna burn money she doesn’t have so enter a hand-me-down, some fabric and a sewing machine

Also did some tasks for character development! ONE. TWO. THREE. FOUR.

[alec-flynn]

Full name: Alec Bodhi Flynn Gender: cismale Pronouns: he/him Birthday: August 23, 1998 Sexual orientation: bisexual Marital status: single

family

Daisy Flynn - the matriarch of the Flynn family. She’s the pseudo-mom to anyone Alec brought home. She’s soft spoken, but loud in spirit, and very easily excited. She has an Etsy store where she sells various items like bags, ponchos, earrings, bracelets, etc, all made from 100% recycled items or things found in nature. It’s not much of a living, but it’s really just a side hustle. Now that Alec is older, she and Alec’s father travel more and stay gone for longer periods of time to play their own music up and down the coast.

Howie Flynn - the Flynn patriarch and teller of the worst dad jokes. He’s very much like Alec in that he takes very little seriously. His style hasn’t evolved past the 80s. He’s never met a stranger and could make friends with a doorknob. If he were anyone else, it might look as though he was trying too hard to stay young and hip, but it’s just who he is and it somehow works for him. Will absolutely offer you weed.

childhood

Alec was that kid who constantly questioned everything. Who decided we have to go to school five days a week? Why is ‘because I said so’ an acceptable answer? Why do we have to wear shoes? We’re inside!

Alec was regularly in trouble in school for taking off his shoes. 

He tried the cub scouts thing, but ultimately didn’t last long. He didn’t do well with structure and a chain of command. He regularly questioned authority and pushed his limits as far as they would go and then some. He says he quit the scouts, but it was, at the very least, a mutual parting of ways.

He did very poorly in school-- especially math-- and had to repeat fourth grade.

Got suspended in 5th grade when his teacher, who always had lipstick on her teeth, found a song he wrote about her called Rouge Painted Snaggle Tooth. He still thinks it’s a banger.

Wore the same ratty, too-big Rolling Stones t-shirt everyday for two weeks at school once. Not because he didn’t have other clothes, but because he liked it and the societal notion that he had to wear fresh clothes everyday was stupid. 

teen years

Alec really came into his own as a teenager. He was a natural with a guitar and, when the hormones kicked in, he milked it for everything he was worth. He was a serial dater, the heartbreaker, and he really leaned into the party scene. 

With his friends at his side, he felt unstoppable, untouchable. The band found its groove and they owned their school. At least, in Alec’s mind, they did.

The insecurities started to creep in around the middle of senior year. He’d never been much of a planner and realized, as everyone began making college plans and talking about their futures, that he’d never really given it any thought. He liked what he did and what he had here, and he really saw no reason to change it. But it did make him panic, listening to the whispers of everyone that was getting ready to leave Gravewood.

Alec grew a little more reckless after that. He partied harder, he wrote songs with a sort of frantic edge. But in the end, he watched people he adored and people who adored him scatter to the wind after graduation. 

Even still, he managed to keep a hold on the town’s adoration. At least, the side that appreciated good music and Alec’s hard-to-resist charm.

a year ago

Alec is no stranger to one night stands. But somehow, through all of his reckless partying and faceless nights, he’d never had even a scare before-- at least not one anyone ever owned up to. But finding out Damaris was pregnant instilled a new sort of fear in him. He saw shackles, a life without music, his future? Just gone. He panicked.

Alec shut down. He told no one about the pregnancy, went out of his way to avoid Damaris, and watched as the walls closed in on him. 

In the middle of the night, Alec took off in his van. He told himself it would just be a few hours, just to clear his head, just to give himself a little room to think and breathe. A few hours turned into almost eight months on the road, traveling up and down the east coast. He ignored the worried calls from his friends, ignored the sharp tug of responsibility that loomed on the periphery. He earned money playing music where he could and tried to build up the courage to go home. But the longer he stayed away, the easier it got to run. Until he woke up one morning with a hollow sort of realization that it was time to return home.

now

Alec returned home and tried to slip back into his life as though nothing had happened. He still avoided Damaris, even though he was beginning to come around to the idea of being a father. 

There’s some underlying tension with Charlie and they both dance around it. Alec’s sort of oblivious to the fact that anyone might be mad at him for taking off like he did, but even he can feel something coming to a head.

Despite coming back with the intention to face this baby situation head on, he’s found himself hiding from it again, his fear of failure keeping him from truly reaching out.

headcanons

Alec has undiagnosed dyscalculia. He doesn’t realize that numbers don’t jumble around in everyone’s heads the way they do his. It makes him feel stupid, so he tries to avoid math situations, or anything that has anything to do with numbers.

While his parents parenting style might be better than a lot of the other residents of Gravewood, it’s still managed to give Alec something of a complex. He feels things very deeply-- it’s why he’s able to write songs that are actually good-- but there’s a part of him that thinks that might be wrong. His parents don’t show him their weaknesses, electing instead to keep everything light and happy all the time, so he thinks there’s something fundamentally wrong with him because he feels everything. All the time. It’s given way to this sort of complex that he’s a failure. He’s terrified of that fact, so he’s scared to step outside of the comfort zone that is Gravewood to find out if the world would love him the way his tiny town does. 

Alec can be very self-absorbed. It’s not because he’s a dick, it’s just because he’s always too aware of himself to see things from any other persective. He’s covered up his need to be loved and accepted by fooling himself into believing everyone loves him the way he loves everyone else. It’s a fun line to walk.

His story arc really will be breaking him down to the very basics, forcing him to gain some much needed perspective, to stop living like a caricature of the person he has the potential to be.

[damarisbailey]

introducing: damaris bailey

name: damaris bailey age: 23 gender/pronouns: ciswoman - she/her/hers sexuality: "straight" (bi-leaning towards lesbian, comp. het) date of birth: june 14th, 1998, 2:30 am astrology: gemini sun/aries rising/aquarius moon mbti: ESTJ-T height: 5'4" occupation: librarian at local library faceclaim: maddison jaizani positive traits: compassionate, loyal, helpful, honest, nurturing, dependable, modest, curious, humble, organized. neg. traits: bossy, gullible, confused, hot tempered, impatient, picky, critical, stubborn, cowardly, nosy. music inspo: jesus is just alright with me - the doobie brothers, oceans (where feet may fail) - hillsong, happy and sad - kacey musgraves, she used to be mine - sara bareillis, pluto projector - rex orange county, stoned at the nail salon - lorde, anxiety (burlinda's theme) - jojo daddy: pastor matthew bailey fc: eric dane small about: Her father, the pastor, was a hard man. Both of her parents could only bare one child and unfortunately, it wasn’t a son. Matthew made it Damaris’s problem for the rest of her life. She was taught how to be the perfect little girl in white. Going to purity balls was hell, signing contracts to remain to be faithful and pledge her virginity to her father. She found the whole thing creepy. Damaris had always suspected her father knew about her abortion but there was never any confirmation. He wanted Damaris to marry Noah - someone who seemed to play the perfect husband role on the outside. mommy: farah hosseini-bailey fc: nazanin boniadi small about: Damaris loves her mother. They used to do everything together as children. The one thing that was passed to Damaris was her baking skills. Her mother had passed down traditional Iranian recipes like Persian almond cookies and halva. Her mom and her used to picket outside the Planned Parenthood together when she was younger - something that Damaris can't get out of her head now. Her mother is one of her closest confidants - though admittedly, she doesn't know much about Damaris. After her parents sent her to conversion camp, there was a rift in the relationship. Obviously, there wasn't much to talk about after that. headcannons:

keeps to herself more often than not as a form of protection.

stari was the reason she went to conversion camp. they shared an intimate moment and were caught by her father who sent her to camp for 3 months. she missed 1 month of school. 

she got pregnant and had an abortion at age 22. she hasn’t really seen alec around since despite the town being so small. it’s better that way.

crush vibes surrounding julie who she felt never seemed to notice her.

always thought she’d marry noah just because her dad liked him so much. whenever she pictured her white picket fence, it was her and noah behind it - not that they have any connection. 

wears dr. pepper lipsmackers when she isn’t wearing makeup. it’s important but idk why

listens to a lot of jesus music but wishes she was amish so she could rumspringa 

[teddyxmiller]

THE BASICS

NAME: Theodore Miller

PREFERRED NAME: Teddy

AGE: 23

BIRTHDAY: September 24th

GENDER: Cis Male

PRONOUNS: He/Him

OCCUPATION: Farmhand

HOMETOWN: Gravewood, WV

FULL BIO → CONNECTIONS → PLAYLIST → PINTEREST 

HEADCANONS

He always goes by Teddy, never Theo. His dad called him Theo, and after everything that happened he doesn’t like to be called that anymore. He just doesn’t need the reminder.

When he moved back to Gravewood, he knew there was no way he could get away with using the name he’d changed it to when he left, so he started going by his given name again.

Teddy suffers from insomnia, and it’s gotten increasingly worse since returning to the family farm.

He doesn’t drink or do drugs. He worries that his mind is messed up enough without the help of substances.

He wants to try and reconnect with the few friends that he had when he was a kid, but he’s not sure how to approach them after so many years. But, he’s desperate to try and make being back in Gravewood work, at least for his grandmother’s sake.

In the hopes of maybe mending some bridges burned by what his father did, Teddy has been thinking of supplying the town with produce from the farm again. Plus, making a little money to help keep things running wouldn’t hurt either.

Teddy can be a little jumpy and sometimes a little nervous. But, he’s gotten good at quickly putting on a smile and be as friendly as he can.

INTERVIEW QUESTIONS

“What have you been up to in the past four years?”

“I’ve been in college, actually.” Teddy looked almost proud to say. For a while when he was younger, he wasn’t sure he’d ever make it. But, he’d worked hard, kept his head down, and really focused so that he could get into a decent school. He’d chosen to study Psychology in the hopes of trying to figure out why his father had done what he’d done all those years ago. Well, that was what he’d told his grandmother when he’d made the choice. What he really wanted to do was learn if such things could possibly happen to him in the future, if one day he’d have some sort of mental break and continue on with what was now his family legacy. It was a fear that nagged in the back of his mind, even though his grandmother had assured him time and time again that he was good, that he wasn’t like his father, and that he was his own man. “My Grammy moved back to Gravewood while I was there, and she’s old and not doing great with her health, so I came back here to help her out and look after the farm. It’s not really what I thought I’d be doing now, but I just can’t say no to her.” Knowing that there was someone trying to buy the family farm also helped lead him back to the town he’d left behind. Sure, Teddy wanted to see the farm gone, but the people sniffing around had plans for it that just didn’t sit well with him. So, in order to protect the land, and to make sure it didn’t fall into the wrong hands, he made the move back even though it was really the last place he ever wanted to be.

“You have 24 hours left to live, what are you going to do in your final hours?”

A million possibilities ran through his mind. How could he pick what to do if he found himself in his final hours. “I’d do everything I could. As much as I could fit into that 24 hours. I’d blow all my money on fancy food, I’d run some red lights, go faster than the speed limit. I’d go and egg someones house, or their car. I’d go steal that candy bar I never stole when I was 7. I’d eat so much cake that I puke. I know it all sounds kinda dumb...” Teddy trailed off. Everything he listed didn’t seem like very important things, in fact quite the opposite. But, Teddy had kept to himself for so many years, he’d kept his head down and his nose clean, doing everything he could to avoid getting attention. So, the thought of using his last day to do everything he never got to do, to leave his mark, seemed absolutely perfect to him. To go out with a bang, so to speak. He’d been quiet for so long, if he was watching his final hours tick down, he’d want to finally take the chance to be loud. “If I had 24 hours to live, I’d wanna do just that -- live.”

“What do you dream of?”

Teddy took some time to think. What did he dream of? “I guess I just dream of peace. Not like world peace, although I guess that would be nice.” It would be selfish if he didn’t want that too, right? “I mean inner peace. I’ve seen a lot of shit in my life, and I’ve tried really hard to leave it all in the past, but it always seems to have a way of sneaking up on you, y’know?” Since arriving back in Gravewood, not a day had gone by where he hadn’t been haunted by the past. Being back on the family farm hadn’t been the nostalgic trip down memory lane that it would’ve been for anyone else. Instead, he walked around the property looking over his shoulder, constantly on alert, plagued by endless reminders of the things that he’d seen in his childhood. As hard as he tried to just see what was right in front of him, Teddy couldn’t shake the images that flashed through his mind, the twitch of things he’d tried to keep buried for so long threatened to send him to the dark place he’d been trying to keep at arms length since he got back. Some of the images he recognized as memories, as if his mind had kept perfect photographs of the horrors. Others, he wasn’t so sure about. They felt new, and when he tried to look into them, he found no proof to back them up, no articles or reports to verify what he thought he knew. The longer he spent trying to figure it out, the more unhinged he began to feel. All he wanted was for it all to stop, to be able to put it behind him and finally move on. “But, I guess that’s something that you’ve gotta get to on your own.”

“What’s your relationship like with your parents/guardian?”

“I feel like it’s kinda sad to say, but my Grammy is my best friend. She’s been all I’ve had for so long.” Having lost his mother so young, and with his father locked up, Teddy had relied on his grandmother for as long as he could remember. She’d been his rock throughout everything, and he spent everyday doing everything he could to try and make her proud, to try and pay her back for all that she’d done for him since becoming his sole guardian. “My mom passed away when I was a kid, so I don’t remember her that well, but I do miss her a lot, and I wonder what things would be like if she was still here sometimes.” It wasn’t a thought that he let himself have often, but there were times where he couldn’t stop his mind from running through the possibilities of what his life would be like, where he would be, if his mother had lived. Would his father have done the things he did? Would he have grown up with two loving parents in a happy home? Teddy never got too far into the imaginary scenarios before he shut them down. “I haven’t seen my father in years.” He finished off, not going into further detail. It was a sore spot for him, and something he had spent years trying to put behind him. Even after all the years that had passed, Teddy still found himself trying to figure out how the man who had been his childhood hero could’ve done such awful things. It just didn’t make sense to him, and he carried the guilt of his naivety with him every day.

“Where do you see yourself going from here?”

“I guess I should say that I’d put my college education to good use, but honestly, I don’t think I will.” As hard as Teddy had studied, he’d never really planned to make a career out of the things he’d learned. At the end of the day, he was still just a farm kid from a small town, just trying to get by day to day. All he wanted was to live a life that didn’t include him living in the shadow of what his father had done. Teddy wanted to be seen as his own person, to live a quiet life, one where he was free to just be himself. “I want to make sure my Grammy gets the most out of her last years, because as much as I’d like her to, she’s not gonna live forever. I’d like to find the right person to sell the farm to, someone who’ll keep it at least a little like it is now, maybe open it back up to the town to get quality produce. But, I guess there’s no guarantees that that’ll happen.” Despite everything, Teddy still tried to be hopeful even though it proved difficult at times. “I wouldn’t mind getting myself a little piece of land, maybe. Build a house, settle down, start a family.” He was a simple man, and he wanted simple things. Teddy had never been interested in having the world, he was just happy to have what he needed.

[julie-ribeiro]

and if you wanna go to heaven, you should fuck me tonight

ABOUT |  PINTEREST | PLAYLIST

tw: eating disorder,  death

BASICS:

Name: Julie Ribeiro

Age: 22

Pronouns: She/Her

Sexuality: Unfortunately strictly dickly

Occupation: Bartender

Likes: red lipstick, pastel colours, caramel macchiatos, compliments, skinny dipping, blankets, tarot readings, snow, ice skating, candles

Dislikes: boys, football, long walks on a beach, ikea, rollerblading, windchimes, thunderstorms, hiking, daisies

Julianna Anita Ribeiro was born on February 23rd, 1999 to Adrianna and Paulo Ribeiro. Their first and only child together, they did not have much but they did everything to give her the world. Julie’s life started out in a trailer park, her mother was a former Miss America, now just a stay at home mother. It had always embarrassed Adrianna that she never became more- she foolishly married for love and this is what she had. She poured everything into her daughter, teaching her how to master a pageant, learning to smile before learning to talk. Learning proper poses, this girl was gonna be her gold mine. Tiaras on her head, learning the proper stride of a pageant queen as she managed to make her first steps. In the eyes of her mother, Julie was gonna be everything Adrianna couldn’t be.

Her father was a truck driver, distant, barely around to comment much or contribute to her upbringing. Julie found herself constantly trying to get his attention when he was around, showing him the new pageant moves her mother taught or crawling into his lap as he watched a football game. Paulo did his best to be a good father, but constantly being on the road, it was tough to have the energy to contribute much then small trinkets here and there. Julie took the gifts as a sign of love and this is what would carry on to adulthood. Paulo Ribeiro passed away just before Julie’s 11th birthday, a widow-makers heart attack apparently. Julie was devastated, but instead of getting time to grieve- it was like a switch went off in her mother. Adrianna got a job as a waitress and was more than ever determined to make Julie a winner. For the few pageants she was in as a kid, she only ever made it 4th or 3rd, that was gonna end now. The Ribeiro family are winners and Julie was the daughter of a former Miss America after all and she was gonna make a star.

Julie was put on fad diets, her mother imposing a complex on food for her. She was forced to worry about calories and knew the calories of things off the top of her head by time she was 12. While also training Julie for pageants, Adrianna was on the hunt for a new husband- each man she brought home was more useless than the other. Then Steve came around, and he was sweet but he couldn’t hold a candle to her father. He was soft, he made sure to be home for dinner, he was a trash collector. He let Julie’s mother walk all over him and she suspected that’s what her mother liked most about him. With the arrival of Steve, Adrianna was free to focus on her main goal- making Julie a star

Puberty came around and Julie noticed how people looked at her, she was a stunner and thanks to years of training from her mother- she knew exactly how to use her looks. She finally won her first pageant at 14 and made enough money to get out of the trailer park and into a real home. Whatever was left of the prize money just went back into the pageants. Winning was a high and Julie did not plan of falling from this, she was a winner now and no one could take that away from her. She won every pageant that she did after that, having a whole closet in room dedicated to affirm how amazing she was.

Julie dated the hottest guy in school, she was tambourine girl for a band. She did anything to have eyes on her, even tried cheerleader for a short stent but realised some of the stunts were too dangerous for her face- biggest part of her money maker. She joined drama club instead, being on stage was a thrill and it gave her a chance to be someone else every now and then. The validation of being the hot girl, getting the hot guy, landing majority of the leading roles in the plays, it was almost as sweet as when her father would shower her with love and affection as kid. Granted nothing could replace what she lost.

Julie was good at hiding her anorexia and bulimia, she played around with food a lot, she let her magnetic personality run things- people would barely notice that she never seemed to be stuffing her face but all things must come to an end. Julie collapsed at school and ended up in the hospital for a month, her mother covered it up stating she was dehydrated and just needed to stay in the hospital. Whether anyone actually believed that- Julie didn’t personally care. Soon after her being let out of the hospital her boyfriend would find his way there. She tried to play the role of the supportive girlfriend like he played the role of supportive boyfriend but she just couldn’t stomach it much. She just didn’t love him enough or at all. The two broke up and Julie decided she didn’t care much for attention from boys, they were easy. She could twirl and they would fall over themselves. She was hanging around old stomping grounds, the trailer trash life she left behind when she had her first affair with a married man. It was so much better being with an older man, someone who knew what he doing. No struggle beard, the smell of whisky on his breath, the validation of her beauty, it all seemed to fill the hole that her daddy left behind.

Julie got into Cal Art for acting, it felt right and she was used to pretending enough in her life she might as well get paid to do so. Plus getting away from this played out town would be a nice reprieve. That’s where she met him though, her 3rd year professor who taught a film class. Maybe it was because he wore the same cologne as her father, maybe it was because he gave her extra attention in class, maybe they spent too much time together. But it happened, another married man under her belt. This time it was different though, she fell in love with the man and when it all came crashing down he blamed her and she got kicked out. It was embarrassing, what the hell was she supposed to do? The only option she had was to crawl back to her old stomping grounds, back to her mother and Steve and her half brother. She wouldn’t dare tell the truth though, she would say it was the wrong path when people asked her why she was back. Acting- what was she thinking? Complete waste of money.

Julie has been working in Gigi’s Cabaret for a year now, after trying out a waitress gig and then the less savoury bar, she found her footing in Gigi’s. The tips were great, she got a long with the girls, and there were plenty of men who made pretty good bed fellows. Julie has a sugar daddy that she meets with twice a month to help upkeep her lifestyle now she has moved on from pageants but not from the feeling that she felt from her glory days.

Extra Extra Extra:

Julie is apart of anonymous online ED group to help keep her on track but she still struggles with food

Hates her stepfather, not because of anything he’s done but because she just doesn’t respect him

Has a younger half-brother who is 9 years old

No idea what she wants to do with her life but knows she needs to marry rich to get out of this town.

[indyerstraits]

THE PRODIGY ▶ JAMESON ‘JAMIE’ DYER

I was so ahead of the curve, the curve became a sphere Fell behind on my classmates, and I ended up here Pouring out my heart to a stranger But I didn't pour the whiskey

CONNECTIONS. PINTEREST. PLAYLIST.

August 10th, 1999 - Leo  ♌︎

Jamie was born twenty-five minutes after his twin brother, Johnnie, who embodies the spirit of the lion they were born under. His mother always joked that Jamie was waiting for Autumn to come out when she realized that one of the twins was much less exuberant than the other. No one in the family understood that Jamie was just as dramatic as his brother was, because no one understood the depth of his sarcasm.

likes: horror movies, ghost stories, algebra, reading, long naps, being warm, praise, cats, clean bedding, the quiet, solving puzzles, conspiracies, vodka sodas, milk, taking apart things that don’t need to be taken apart, carb-heavy foods, anchovies, star gazing, arguing

dislikes: instruction manuals, plot holes, the taste of cigarettes, calculators, people who talk during movies, drugs, apathy, authority figures, people who don’t finish their food, people who can’t calculate their tips, people who don’t leave tips, most people in general, large bodies of water, sex scenes in movies, sticky bar tops, doing laundry, carrots

The Dyer family who lives on the brink of poverty…

tw: mentions of drug and alcohol abuse, mental illness, gang violence

Margaret Dyer: Estranged Mother. Margie was the hurricane that blew in and out of the Dyer household, bringing with her the hope of the Dyers ever becoming a real family again. A hard woman to pin down, Margie had always marched to the beat of her own drum and her cadence drew her to a life of partying and drugs that she was never able to leave behind. Although her love for her husband and her kids was genuine, it was hard for any of them to reconcile with it when she was always determined to chase whatever high she was feeling at the moment. The highs in the family depended on whether Margie was in the mood to make things right and the lows almost always involved her leaving.

Jonathan Dyer: Deadbeat father. Once an intelligent and promising young man, John has long since shirked all responsibility for the family in favour of drugs and alcohol. The early days of the Dyers were filled with grand ideas of love and family. John and Margie were two kids from the opposite ends of town, attempting to outrun the judgmental eyes and skepticism with parties, booze and pills. Their reckless foray into marriage resulted in a house and kids that they weren’t prepared to take care of when their teenage fun had evolved into addiction and arguments. John is a loving husband, but an awful father who spends most of his time slinging whisky sours, wallowing in self-pity, and ranting about the injustices done upon him by society and his bipolar wife.

Jimmy Dyer: Older brother. The first born of the Dyers had many perks and many downfalls and Jimmy is a direct result of the tumultuous imbalance. He’d been the one to witness the love their parents had to offer and was also the first to feel the effects of losing it. As the eldest, Jimmy had a choice on whether to sink into his role as family protector or let it all disintegrate and he chose to leave it behind in favour of his much cooler uncle after Margie left the first time. Whatever happened in Frank’s trailer, Jimmy never talks about, but the result of it was him joining The Revenants upon adulthood. He’s an angry, resentful man who haunts the town as his uncle’s shadow. Jimmy’s known for violence and attributes it loudly to his shitty family.

Johnnie Dyer: Older Twin. Johnnie and Jamie might’ve shared the same face, but that’s just about all they have in common. Johnnie was always louder, more charismatic and more demanding of affection, much like Margie. He played baseball and was popular in high school, doing his best to pretend like everything was normal at home. Never seen without a girl on his arm, there’s something to be said about how quickly Johnnie goes through relationships and how miserable he was without one. Johnnie is a mechanic at Cid’s and contributes to the family’s finances as much as Jamie does, but he’s never been good with money when his popularity called for him to put it where his mouth was.

Stella Dyer: Younger sister. Stella was raised by her brothers and it shows. She’s a down-to-earth tomboy who’s wiser than her years, appearing to have a level head for a teenager. Having little recollection of their mother, Stella’s experience with the Dyer parents is mostly in the warnings her brothers give her whenever Margie is around and she’s taken it as gospel. However, her youth is evident in her easy compassion for her parents despite what they say. Yearning for parental affection was a trait all the Dyers seemed to have.

Jack Dyer: Youngest brother. Jack is a troublemaker. Despite only being in elementary school, Jack’s reputation among the neighbourhood kids is one of great fear and reverence. Often left unsupervised, Jack was raised on media and TV and has an eerily low sense of empathy due to it. He enjoys setting fires and destroying public property, bullying other kids and general mayhem. However menacing he may be, Jack comes to heel easily when it comes to family.

Kahlua Dyer: Youngest sister. Kahlua was born into controversy like a true Dyer. Only two years old and the topic of much conversation between housewives and neighbours who loved speculating about Kahlua’s real father. The Dyer kids, however, have never considered her anything but their sister.

Frank Ward: Uncle. Always covered in soot, grease and a looming sense of dread, Frank Ward may be the pinnacle of ghouls in Gravewood. Having worked in the mines far outside of town for most of his life, Frank was once a contributing member to Gravewood’s economy but the years of neglect by the mayor and his in-laws has left Ward disillusioned.  Now leader of one of the notorious gangs in Gravewood, the Revenants, Frank Ward is a man out to regain his power in any means possible, even if it means tearing up the town he once worked so hard to build.

if you knew Jamie in childhood, you knew…

A precocious boy who stood out for pointing out contradictions and asking prying questions. Jamie was an odd-looking child with bruised knees and eyes bigger than his head, always donning a stupid wooly kitty tuque because his mother couldn’t remember which twin he was without it. He learned to read early on and never stopped, always caught with his nose in a new book.

While Jamie was more reserved than his brothers, he was a troublemaker in his own way and was always picking apart things he shouldn’t have. He had a natural curiosity that had him wandering aimlessly through the neighbourhood after school, flipping over rocks and peering into the neighbours’ windows. With absent parents, he was given free reign to explore and do whatever he wanted like a stray kitten.

Jamie didn’t have a lot of friends, most kids finding him a little odd with the way he rambled about things they didn’t understand. Often, Jamie could be found trailing around behind his brothers and their friends, telling fanciful stories about kingdoms and beasts to anyone who would listen.

memorable moments: During a moment of clarity, Margie enrolled Jamie into the cub scouts with Johnnie in hope of starting over with the family on the right foot. His run in the cub scouts only lasted as long as one summer, but it was enough to put him into the periphery of the people in Gravewood when rumor circulated that a kid at camp had memorized an entire chart of constellations and the stars that made them.

if you knew Jamie as a teen, you knew…

tw: suicide, bullying

A prodigy. In high school, there was no more denying Jamie’s brilliance when it was laid bare in all the accolades he acquired from his school work. From Math to English, there wasn’t a subject that Jamie couldn’t excel in. His brain worked faster than others, his memory a steel trap. He recognized patterns and solved logical problems with the kind of ease that MENSA would’ve fawned over. Jamie’s capacity for learning and his smart mouth earned him a reputation as more than just a troubled Dyer kid. 

Jamie was a skittish kid but nervy, emboldened by affirmations from the adults at school. He always sounded proud of being smart, like his IQ was a brand new gadget he’d gotten for Christmas. It was the happiest Jamie’s ever been, if anyone could call his dramatic soliloquies an expression of joy.

However, the glow of recognition couldn’t withstand the onslaught of drama his parents brought home and Jamie’s moods swung with the door his mother came in through.

During Christmas break of junior year, Margie came back from her latest sabbatical and brought with her the gift of family. For a week, the house was vibrant and alive, his father lucid and pleasant. Jamie really thought that he’d be graduating with his parents in the front row seats by the way things were going.

Everything came crashing down when Margie entered a drug-fueled psychosis and attempted to take her own life the week after.

It was the last time Jamie ever got his hopes up for anything.

memorable moments: The death of Jamie’s naivete was swift and punishing. When Jamie returned to school the next year, he was desperate for a semblance of normalcy. Wanting to be a teenager instead of a crash-test dummy for dysfunctional families, Jamie accepted an invitation to a party with Gravewood’s elite. Unfortunately, teenagers didn’t care about whether Jamie could ace AP Calculus, deeming him too much of a nerd to consider cool and too much of a prick to consider a friend. The kids threw him into the pool for laughs, sinking both Jamie and his ego when he was left to flounder in the water until a classmate fished him out. He walked home alone that night, drenched like a rat.

if you knew Jamie after high school, you knew…

A frustrated, stressed out kid who was feverishly trying to salvage the pieces of his life from the wreckage his parents made it. Senior year puttered out like a dying engine for Jamie. Despite his bright start, the accumulation of pressure from all sides had him miserably dragging his feet through his exams. He picked up a second job at the Windsor Rink and worked longer hours at Marie’s to cover the cost of raising a household full of kids and his GPA suffered for it.

Jamie's eyes were always heavy with bags but the determination in them never disappeared. After all, he’d always had a plan B: he had been picking up gigs and hustling schemes to contribute to a savings account that he kept for a rainy day. Although he didn’t graduate with a shower of scholarships and grants like he wanted, he hadn’t lost faith in his own ability to fix a bad situation. Most of all, Jamie hadn’t lost faith in himself yet.

memorable moments: An explosive argument on the Dyer lawn rang out in September after Jamie graduated that drew the eyes and ears of all the neighbours. Gossip around town said it was about drugs, while others said it was about money. All anyone could agree on was that the Dyers had raised a terribly awful boy who could yell at his own mother the way he did that evening. Margaret wasn’t seen coming back to the house for a while after that.

if you knew Jamie half a year ago, you knew…

tw: alcoholism

Lost potential. Jamie never recovered from having his life savings stolen when he was drowned in the debt his parents left behind. He grew jaded, only then coming to the realization of just how futile his life was. It didn’t matter how high his IQ was or how many times he could pivot if he was born with his feet cased in cement. Margie was going to continue to be Margie and John was going to continue being a leech.

Jamie had been stealing sips of beer from the fridge since he was ten, but his drinking reached a peak when the sweet abyss of intoxication became the only reprieve from his daily grind. A night cap became a day cap, became an all day cap. He was rarely found without the smell of alcohol on his breath and was starting to look a lot more like his dad.

memorable moments: During a bender, Jamie redecorated the side of the town hall with a wordy manifesto and a picture of a big penis before falling asleep beneath his work. He spent the evening in the drunk tank before being released with a misdemeanor on his record and a hefty fine for vandalism. It’s the most reckless he’d ever been with himself and money, but he couldn’t say that it didn’t feel good to let off some steam.

Jamie now…

Jamie is exactly where he’s been all his life. Working at the same places, wearing the same clothes, drinking the same drinks. Jamie’s a bug trapped in amber with no way out of the endless cycle his parents had started for him. He’s settled into worrying about other people’s problems over trying to tackle his own in fear of upsetting the tenuous balance of his sanity. The uncertainty of when his mother will return and bring chaos leaves him with little option but to stay and protect his siblings from being subjected to the same rollercoaster of disappointment he has.

Despite the monotony of his life, his innate ability to devise plans and problem solve has given his siblings a chance at a semblance of normalcy for however long it'll last.

[benjificiary]

                                                             ———  𝔱𝔥𝔢 𝔟𝔲𝔯𝔫𝔬𝔲𝔱 ?* 𝔦𝔫𝔱𝔯𝔬𝔡𝔲𝔠𝔱𝔦𝔬𝔫 ———

begin.

full name: benjamin (benji) allen greene

gender: cismale, but spitefully

sexuality: bisexual, though it’s more of an open-secret, just don’t let allen greene know he was right way

aesthetics: 

age: twenty-two

date of birth: february 10, 2000

zodiac sign: aquarius sun, aries moon

residence: a duplex in black bear estate 

occupation: concierge @ the black bear resort 

appearance:

faceclaim: evan mock

height: 5′9″

eyes: dark brown

physique: slender, bordering on scrawny. benji had always been lanky, but in high school, swimming kept some degree of muscle on him. now, without a stream of home-cooked meals or morning exercise, he’s just thin.

hair: shaved, in various shades of pink depending on dye cycle. originally, he let a girl from tinder dye it on a whim (and effort to get laid), but he’s kept it ever since on account of how much it made steam rise from his father’s ears

body mods: lobes and some in the cartilage pierced, scar on the nostril from a piercing he would remove when he went home and eventually grew over. no tattoos, due mostly to the time-spent-to-reward-ratio and commitment issues. 

personality:

tra: loyal, kind-hearted, helpful (when he wants to be) / obstinate, easily bored, pessimistic, petty

likes: the ritual of mixed drinks, taking polaroids of his friends, card games, cigarettes after beer ONLY, spicy food

dislikes: waiting, the quiet, being alone, overhead lighting, heights, pitying looks

skills: bass, for alec’s band, a bit rusty after the, ahem, forced long term hiatus. skateboarding, from falling in with the “wrong crowd” early on. bargain shopping & thrifting name-brand. 

family:

mother: maria greene, filipina immigrant who married young, to a man they thought would be a respectable husband and father and give her and her babies a better life, only to be utterly alone in a town worlds apart from everything she’d known. she tried to do right, give benji homecooked meals to take to school (while he pleaded for the processed stuff the rest of the white kids got) and babysit for other families to fill the void of loneliness, but it was a chasm impossible to rectify. 

father: allen greene, former us navyman who got terribly injured (and disabled) on the job with a toddler at home. short-lived political career, long-term anger issues, and a loyalty to the patriarchy and gender roles deeper than before thought possible. the kind of guy to still ask if he can use his veteran’s discount, despite everyone knowing their family came into a hefty inheritance. 

siblings: none

backstory! 

benji always strove to be the kid he was supposed to. his mother’s only child, his father’s only son; he wanted to be everything they had dreamed of having. it was always a little out of reach, though. he could’ve bulked up, gotten his way into football, like the other generations of greene men. he could’ve learned tagalog, his mother’s recipes, been more of a link to home for her or made her married life easier. no matter the regional meets, ap classes, tutorings, or praise from candystripers, approval was a constantly moving goal-post, slipping further out of his grasp every time he looked up. 

he would never bring back the life and honor his father was supposed to have. he would never be satisfying or around enough to make up for the fact that he was his mother’s entire (else-wise controlled and restricted) world. 

in ninth-grade, just before he was old enough for the doctors to squint, he managed to lie his way into an adderall prescription. he’d thought he’d been getting better at lying, and this proved it’s usefulness as a skill. if his responsibilities were an ever-growing mountain, this helped keep his feet moving forward. because it wasn’t about him, it was never about him, it still wasn’t enough. allen hounded him about colleges, about enlisting, about how he needed to enlist before college and look good and get stronger for enlistment and quit with the pussy shit — benji was out of the house more, keeping up with the demands, partying on weekends to blow off steam, and letting allen believe he was just participating in some good boys will be boys-hood. meanwhile maria slipped into longer depressive states with him gone, thinking of him being that way not just for the day, or the weekend, but for months or years at a time. 

he couldn’t win. it was never enough. it was a tug of war that won him screaming or crying no matter which side, and come graduation, he stopping lying. he announced his post-school plans: nothing. he would be doing nothing, staying in gravewood, getting a shitty, emasculating job, and simply calling it fucking quits. he was tired. his nervous system was frazzled. he just wanted to fucking sleep in for once. so he did just that. 

he quit the meds, but he’s kept the stash, just in case his brain gets too quiet, just in case they prove good for trading. he moved out, obviously, using his grandparents’ trust fund to pay for the security deposit and his first furnishings, and managed his new independence...poorly. he got a gig at the resort, where he could be charming, late, and wear his own clothes, to supplement rent — and because he wasn’t good at being in an empty house all the time anyway. 

wanted connections! 

good god, my brain is fried after all that, coming soon?? maybe i’ll just put established connections here one day?? but for NOW... 

you! :D

[hopekang]

basics

Name: Hope Kang

Age: 22

DOB: September 17th, 1999

Gender, Pronouns: cis woman, she/her

Sexuality: Straight, but uncertain if that’s true

Height: 5′3

Tattoos/Piercings: No tattoos, single lobe on each ear

background

Hope Kang is the youngest of three children. She was born in Gravewood, and will most likely die there, to. She’s not sure it’s something she wants, but then again, she’s not sure of anything. Raised by an overbearing Mother who wanted nothing less than perfection from every single one of her Children, Hope found herself with few options on where to go. Instead, she’s sucked it up, and let herself be the perfect child.

She was only just starting High School when her eldest brother, Randal, enlisted. He had just turned eighteen, and saw it as an easy out of town, and was gone in the blink of an eye. Hope never wanted him to go. No overbearing parent was worth putting his life on the line, she tried to tell him that. It was all so stupid, he could save up for an apartment across town instead. Hope would even help him look. But, no. He was determined to fight, see the world, free himself from the tether of parents who would hold his financial instability over his head for years to come. It was six month after being stationed that they got the phone call he had been killed by a landmine. The family grieved, but no one took it harder than Hope in the silence of her bedroom where no one could see her.

A year passed since the loss of her brother, and Hope was thriving academically. Top of her classes, AP courses as a Sophomore, she was the one everyone wanted to cheat off. And, of course, she’d let them. What was the point in saying no? It was the night that report cards came home when her elder Sister, Elodie, announced her pregnancy to the family. The house erupted into chaos. There was yelling and crying. Elodie packed two bags, and walked out the door before midnight. Hope’s straight A report card sat stained by a spilled glass of soda on the kitchen table, forgotten.

From then on, Hope was praised as the favorite child. No one had to worry about Hope. Hope got her work done, and got good grades. Hope achieved everything that was set in front of her. Hope did exactly as her parents asked, and did her best to make everyone as happy as possible. What was there to worry about? She’d carry on the Kang legacy, following in her Mother’s footsteps as the Housewife extraordinaire. She’d have 2.5 kids and a white picket fence of her own, and build the next Gravewood generation.

She graduated Valedictorian, the title wasted on her as she settled with staying home. But, even if she had gone to College, what would she have studied? It wasn’t part of the grand plan to get a higher education, and she didn’t feel like she had the skills to navigate it on her own. At least staying home she didn’t have to figure anything out. Her Mom signed her up for plenty of volunteer work. She’ll tutor neighbor kids on occasion at her Mom’s request, and she picked up a job at her Mom’s recommendation at the coffee shop to make some extra money.

There isn’t a thing in Hope’s life that feels like her own. She feels as if she’s a puppet on strings that will never be cut loose, unaware of her own personality, opinions, and even feelings. Everything about her has felt coerced or trained, and now that she’s in her twenties, it’s terrifying to her. To be a full grown adult and not know who she is? It leaves a bad taste in her mouth, one that makes her want to scream in the face of her Mother, find a way to escape life in Gravewood. But, she’s reliant now. She doesn’t have the means to be her own person, and wouldn’t know where to start even if she did.

The first time she’d ever felt in control is on some website that her Mom would consider abhorrent. It was an accident that she found it, just wanting a place to talk to someone, anyone, who would listen. It didn’t take her long to realize that the people there didn’t seem to be interested in conversation. It would have been so easy to log off, and look the other way. But, people wanted to know her, and compliment her. It filled her with something to know she wasn’t little miss perfect to the people on this website. She wasn’t the High School know-it-all that did every group project on her own or the Valedictorian that attended Church every Sunday without fail. She was just some girl named Hope, that they found beautiful and lovely. And, she was hooked. 

No one taught her the rules. She didn’t know that she was supposed to hide her face, block her IP address, and keep identifiers out of her frame. For Hope, this was all just a thrill seeking adventure. It made her feel good, and everything else seemed to fall by the wayside because of it. Until, one night, she logged on to see her name scrawled across a piece of paper in black sharpie. Only then did she see her reckless behavior for what it was. The stranger insisted he meant her no harm. It just seemed like a good way to get her attention because he wanted to get to know her better. 

Hope was hesitant at first, but the stranger told her so much about himself that it started to seem innocent enough. He really seemed to want a friend, and that’s all she wanted, too. Someone she could tell about the struggles of living at home with an overbearing Mother. Feeling like she was going nowhere in life fast. He wanted to meet, and asked time and time again, but Hope always turned the offer down. But with everyday that passes, feeling more and more like a caged bird, Hope has to wonder if it might just be worth it.

headcanons

√ Hope still lives at home with her parents, citing the fact that she doesn’t want to upset her Mom by leaving her with an empty nest. In reality, Hope wouldn’t move more than down the street, too petrified by the idea of her family’s reaction if she were to ever leave town. But, it’s cheaper to stay in their house, so that’s what she does. 

√ Hope’s Father, Richard, avoids being home as much as possible to avoid dealing with his overbearing wife. He desperately wants to connect to Hope, but has no idea how, since Susan has morphed her into a perfect carbon copy of herself. Hope feels very little connection to her Father because of this divide, feeling like the only warmth she gets from him is when they pose for the family Christmas Card.

√ Hope tried to stay in touch with her older Sister, Elodie, when she moved out. It was secret correspondence, all traces immediately wiped from her phone. But, when the baby was born, and Elodie asked Hope to steal money from their parents, Hope cut ties. Stealing (even if it was for her own flesh and blood) would end in disaster for Hope, and she couldn’t handle the idea of ending up like Elodie.

√ Hope worries that she’s never had an original thought. When asked for her individual opinion, she almost always conforms to the person in front of her and what they’d like to hear her say. It’s a point of contention with most people, but the fear of God has been struck into her to never anger anyone. It’s part of the reason she struggles to maintain friendships.

[mackenziegthomas]

introducing: Mack

BASICS

Full Name: Mackenzie Grace Thomas

Nickname(s): Mack, Kenzie, M, Mac

Age: 23

Date of Birth: 8/8 1998

Hometown: Gravewood

Gender/Pronouns: Female, She/Her

Sexual Orientation: Pansexual

Occupation: Waitress at Marie’s 

FAMILY

Mother: Liz Thomas

Father: Daniel Thomas

Sister: Marabella Thomas

HEADCANONS

- Mack has protested from the moment she could speak. It went from toddler tantrums, to standing on desks demanding recess, to the social change she tries to ignite now. She will always speak loudly about something she cares about, and at the age of twenty three, most of the town has gotten tired of listening to her voice.

- More often than not, Mack is cold to anyone that isn’t in her circle. Its been learned through the years, she’d been pushed as the weirdo and outcast for so long that she’d rather put herself in that box than let you.

- Her sister was 2 years older, in college when she disappeared. Marabella was the kind of person that Mackenzie strived to be, the golden child of the family, making herself a name. When she disappeared, everything broke. The family has never been the same, and Mackenzie has no longer strived to be like Marabella, because she knows she can’t ever fit those shoes.

- As much as Mack has never come from money, shes never had to want for anything. Especially after her sister passed, her parents have always provided anything and everything shes wanted, and she’s never bothered to ask for anything out of reason. That doesn’t stop her from riding the starving waitress all the way to sympathy.

- Shes the kind of person who will do or try anything once. She likes to learn and see all aspects of the world and life, and what better way to do it than experience? So chances are, if you ask her to do something, she’ll be down.

- If you’re smart enough, or you’re close enough to Mack, you’d know that she sometimes publishes in the local newspaper under the name Grace- and that she runs a protest blog under it too.

[ellexreynolds]

THE BASICS

NAME: Eleanor Reynolds

PREFERRED NAME: Elle

AGE: 23

BIRTHDAY: May 21st

GENDER: Cis Female

PRONOUNS: She/Her

OCCUPATION: Secretary at the Mayor’s Office

HOMETOWN: Gravewood, WV

FULL BIO → PLAYLIST → PINTEREST → CONNECTIONS

HEADCANONS

Elle isn’t someone that anyone would consider to have dark thoughts, but when thinking about ways to get out of having to marry The Heir, her mind has been going to dark places that have her worried about her own sanity.

She talks to her older brother at least once a week, sometimes more. He has been playing a big part in keeping her sane. When they talk, he tells her about the places he’s travelled to recently, and promises that she’ll get to see them one day too.

For the most part, Elle is one of the nicest people you’ll ever meet. Unless you cross her or try to undermine her. She doesn’t take that lightly and will make sure it never happens again.

In high school, she had a large friend group, in her adult life, she could count her friends on one hand. It comes from a mix of losing contact with the people she knew, and being careful who she lets into her inner circle. She doesn’t give trust easily.

She's reached the point where she's no longer concerned about what her parents think or what they want from her, but she doesn’t know how to break free of the hold they have on her. It has her spiralling in ways that is starting to worry her. But she doesn’t know what else to do.

She's almost robotic in the way she acts, because even though she really feels a lot, she feels it's safer for her and all of the secrets that she's trying to protect if she comes across as completely unbothered by everything.

INTERVIEW QUESTIONS

“What have you been up to in the past four years?”

If she were to answer honestly, the truthful answer would be ‘Not half as much as I wish’. Elle always wanted to do great things. She’d been such a force of nature in high school, the one that no one dared question or challenge. It felt like that as soon as graduation was over, the curtains closed on Elle’s bright future. Her parents had made it clear the ideas that they had for her, and after their first failed attempt with their son, they knew Elle was their last chance. Though they’d never said that to her, Elle knew. “Working, mostly. I got a job at the Mayor’s office, so that keeps me busy. Oh! And I’ve been doing a lot of wedding planning lately. It’s going to be one hell of a party.” The thought of the wedding made her sick to her stomach, though her tone wouldn’t give that away. Whenever someone asked about it, it’s like Elle turned on auto-pilot and repeated the same rehearsed answers that she’d made sure to memorize.

“You have 24 hours left to live, what are you going to do in your final hours?”

“Get out of Gravewood.” Elle said without a moment of hesitation. She’d been chained to the town her whole life, and she wanted nothing more than to get out of there and see what life was like beyond its borders. Her brother had done it, and it was something she’d dreamed about for years as she enviously watched as others left at will. Given the chance, she’d put as much distance between her and Gravewood as she could, but she knew that she couldn’t do that to her parents. They needed her, they needed the security that Elle’s status gave them. As much as Elle wanted out, she couldn’t do that to them. But, if she found herself with only 24 hours to live, she wasn’t about to go down without getting out and seeing as much as she could. “I’ve never been out of this town, not really. If I leave this world without getting a chance to see what else is out there... I can’t think of anything more depressing.”

“What do you dream of?”

Elle assumed that people were expecting her to describe the life that she would have with The Heir, but that couldn’t be further than the truth. “I dream of seeing the world, hell, I’d even settle for just seeing more the country. My brother got out of here and when he calls he tells me about all of these places he’s been and how he wants to show them to me one day.” When Beau left, Elle spent a lot of time resenting him, but as time went on, she understood why he left. Now, she wanted to do the same.

Despite her wedding being right around the corner, she didn’t see a life after it. Everything beyond the date that had been set was a black blur. “I dream of getting a happy ending, whatever that means.” She wasn’t sure what it did mean, but she knew what it didn’t.

“What’s your relationship like with your parents/guardian?”

Elle took a moment to think about it. What was her relationship like with her parents. Of course, she loved them, and they loved her. But, the fact that they had pushed so hard for her to get engaged to The Heir did have Elle wondering just how real that love was. Would parents who really loved their child push them to marry someone they didn’t really want to marry? If the child said no, would they still look at them the same as their standing in the community began to crumble? Elle would be lying if she said those weren’t things that crossed her mind often. “It’s good, we all get along, we’d all do anything for each other.” It was half true at least. She was willing to do what she had to do for them, but would they do the same for her? If she was being honest, she wasn’t so sure. That’s what made her so nervous about telling them that her feelings about the wedding were about as far from excited as possible. Nervous to the point where she was almost certain that she couldn’t say anything, even though she grew more desperate by the day to get out of the arrangement.

“Where do you see yourself going from here?”

“There’s only one way to go, right?” She said, pointing upwards. As far as Elle was concerned, things couldn’t get any worse, could they? Surely they could only get better, only go up, from there. That’s what she hoped anyway. All that was standing in her way was figuring out how to get out of going through with the wedding. It was getting to the point where she knew she would be cutting it close, but she could find another use for a wedding dress, right?

[isadoramorgan]

meet isa morgan !!

gaslight, gatekeep, girlboss

CONNECT WITH ISA | PINTEREST | PLAYLIST

Name: Isadora Morgan

Age: 23 years old

Pronouns: She/Her

Sexuality: Money

Occupation: Business Bitch

Not to be all Draco Malfoy, but like... Isa knows her family has clout. She knows that some of the stuff her family gets into is on the shadier side, but that there are relationships that have been put into place that protect them.

The Morgan family came from nothing. Sofia Valle (her mother) was a waitress at Marie’s when she met Sebastian Morgan (her father), the new guy in town from an extended family “in construction”. They were both high school juniors. Both ambitious individuals who wanted better lives than what seemed to be on offer in town, it wasn’t long before they were dreaming up futures together that centered around mansions, private jets, and the ability to go one a date and not panic about the price of dinner.

They took their knowledge of the construction industry and their thirst for knowledge (and success) and immediately upon graduation started building a real estate development company. They also started investing.

Isa wasn’t born until her family had already been in business for twenty years. They had already moved to the nice part of town, had decided they needed a child to continue the legacy, and knew that they only wanted the one. Sofia and Sebastian had Isa when they were 38 years old and notably successful. And through their hard work, things have just kept improving since then.

But since they know what it’s like to struggle, they instilled in Isa the values they were raised with. At any moment business can disappear. An Act of God can mean the end for a project. What do you do if the money dries up? How do you bounce back? Isa was raised to be frugal just in case.

Theatre Kid. Debate club president. Isa has always had a flair for the dramatic, and she was the star of both the theatre scene and any argument right up until the day of her graduation. Now she uses her talents for other purposes... but they’re definitely still there.

As a child she was the biggest Earth Day stan - truly Earth Day was every day. Before she realized that the stuff her family is doing negatively impacts the environment and she changed her tune, she was constantly trying to organize community cleanups and sustainability campaigns. Call her out on that shift.

Isa has a knack for planning events. Her family has held a private Gala or two (or one every year) and Isa in more recent years has taken over the planning for it. She even spent one summer doing some basic event help with the local government to really solidify the connection between the Windsor family and her own. It was also there that she discovered she has a few issues with control. Apparently there IS a wrong way to fold napkins.

Isa doesn’t really do romance or relationships. She isn’t sure what it is about them that she’s been avoiding, but it may have something to do with the fact that she cares a lot about her business and doesn’t want anything to distract her from that. She goes on dates, though. Because the other person has to pay and they can be great for networking.

You lowkey have to be making a certain amount of money per year for her to even consider you for a networking “date” though.

She really is convinced that she and her family are doing things for the betterment of the town. She needs to believe that, because otherwise why did she never leave? Because college is expensive and her parents are clingy? No!

[lostmarty]

𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐫𝐨𝐝𝐮𝐜𝐢𝐧𝐠: 𝐦𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐚 "𝐦𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐲" 𝐬𝐞𝐫𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐨

penned by moe / 29 / est ; lizeth selene

GENERAL DETAILS.

FULL NAME: martina isabel serrano NICKNAME(S): marty, just marty. NAME MEANING: martina - warlike , soldier , tiny sea ; isabel - pledged to god AGE: 22 DATE OF BIRTH: february 7 , 2000 PLACE OF BIRTH: gravewood CURRENT LOCATION: hell gravewood ETHNICITY: mexican GENDER: cis woman PRONOUNS: she/her SEXUAL ORIENTATION: bisexual ROMANTIC ORIENTATION: bisexual RELIGION: catholic SBNR ( spiritual but not religious ) OCCUPATION: attendant @ horny’s truck stop ; minor drug dealer ? is giving handjobs for money/drugs a job? EDUCATION LEVEL: did not finish high school LIVING ARRANGEMENTS: couches of friends when she gets evicted from her apartment ( she’s usually allowed back in when she has the money paid up for rent ) FINANCIAL STATUS: poverty level SPOKEN LANGUAGES: polite spanish

PHYSICAL APPEARANCE, ETC.

FACECLAIM: lizeth selene HAIR COLOR AND STYLE: dark , long ; typically in some sort of braid or straight down her back EYE COLOR: brown HEIGHT: 5′7 BODY AND BUILD: thin , lanky TATTOOS: numerous spread all over her body PIERCINGS: 2 in each lobe , both cartilages pierced , septum , nose  CLOTHING STYLE: grunge aesthetic , dark colors , whatever she can thrift for cheap SIGNATURE SCENT: the smell of gas and cigarettes , sometimes marijuana

HEALTH.

MENTAL DISORDER(S): depression SLEEPING HABITS: does not sleep for long or often , tends to sleep curled all together underneath her blankets EATING HABITS: snack food mostly , but in small amounts SOCIABILITY: does not like talking to people , but is not afraid to speak if necessary BODY TEMPERATURE: runs cold , constantly wearing long sleeves when totally unnecessary ADDICTIONS: where to start... DRUG USE: yes ALCOHOL USE: yes

PERSONALITY.

LABEL(S): THE OUTCAST  POSITIVE TRAITS: individualistic , creative , thoughtful , generous , independent , witty , intuitive NEGATIVE TRAITS: rebellious , mercurial , pessimistic , impatient , absent-minded , detached , stubborn LIKES: pineapple on pizza , truck stop hot dogs ,  DISLIKES: people from rural west virginia , cold showers , swimming , organized religion , snobs FEARS: dying without ever leaving gravewood , spiders , snakes HABITS: picks at her hang nails and bites her nails far too short GOALS AND AMBITIONS: realistic : get her ged , find a better job ; unrealistic : go to art school , travel ASTROLOGY: aquarius PERSONALITY TYPE: ISTP WEATHER: first snowfall when everything is soft and quiet , tree tops lined with white and the branches begin to get heavy , everything layered in a clean puff  COLOR: #915F6D ; the color of bruises when they’re healing MUSIC: hyperpop , emo rap , song that force her to stop thinking  MOVIE: ironically : donnie darko ; unironically : the princess bride BOOK: midnight for charlie bone SPORT: fuck sports BEVERAGE: malibu island melon FOOD: big mac ANIMAL: giraffes SEASON: winter

FAMILY, RELATIONSHIPS, ETC.

MOTHER: carmen serrano FATHER: unknown SIGNIFICANT OTHER: n/a FRIEND(s): the burnout , the daredevil EXES: SIBLING(S): the faithful ; probably too many to count. CHILDREN: n/a EXTENDED FAMILY: aunts , uncles , no grandparents PET(S): n/a

PINTEREST : take a look. SPOTIFY : listen here.

[austinxxjames]

Meet Austin!

Full Name: Austin James Gender/Pronouns: He/him Sexuality: Straight Date of Birth: 3/3 Age: 24 Occupation: History teacher Hometown: Seattle, WA

BIO

Austin James was born to a single mom, on a strangely cold March day. His dad had never been in the picture- some big shot business man that visited Seattle a lot. A married businessman, as Austin’s mom found out. Austin never grew up with a lot of family- most of his mom’s family cut them off when they found out his father was married. However, he had a happy childhood, never feeling like they missed out on much. Sure, he didn’t have name brand cereal until he was 18, but fruity flakes were almost the same as fruit loops.

Austin was 9 when he was first exposed to the Dollmaker. He knew that his Mom had a tendency to follow a lot of the news from Gravewood- it wasn’t surprising, but the news of a serial killer in such a small town was. They stayed up all night that night- eating fruity flakes and consuming every detail about the crimes.

This lead to his obsession with true crime. Austin consumed every book he could find about it- naturally spending long hours in the library when his Mom was running late (Which was pretty much all the time).

It was pretty obvious as he worked to graduation, that Austin was going to study something related to true crime. He’d always been entranced trying to figure out why they did it- why did the Dollmaker kill seven women? Why did he dress them like that?

One of his favorite teachers suggested he study psychology, and off Austin went. The university of Louisville called his name, and with a specialization in forensics, he flew through a degree. He couldn’t let go of his obsession, though, and when he spotted flyers around campus describing the new Black Bear Ski Lodge. 

It peaked his interest enough that with his Mom’s blessing, he quit his post grad, took the first job he could find in Gravewood, teaching history, and now hes been here for about 6 weeks, practically foaming at the mouth to discover all this town has to offer.

[mackenziegthomas]

lets remeet.

BASICS

Full Name: Mackenzie Grace Thomas

Nickname(s): Mack, Kenzie, M, Mac

Age: 23

Date of Birth: 8/8 1999

Gender/Pronouns: Female, She/They

Sexual Orientation: Pansexual

Occupation: Waitress at Marie’s

KEY CHANGES

- Bella only went missing three weeks ago. Its still very fresh, and Mack is still very off the rails about it. She’s kind of put her entire life on standby since, and it doesn’t look like returning to normal business is going to happen anytime soon.

- louder and prouder protester. shes still very performative with it, and what she cares about, but she tends to go large. Her last protest was covering herself in fake blood and lying on the steps to the sheriffs office- imitating what her sister must look like.

The rest of Macks bio can be found here!