thedistrictroleplay

[thedistrictroleplay]

The dust has settled a little from our interest check in Discord.  I’m just about done updating all the masterlists and ooc information to reflect those who are still with us.   

Think of this as a soft reboot.  We’ll have an event dropping on Sept 21, so be on the lookout for more information on that.  I’ll also hold an acceptance and clean up any faceclaim changes anyone needs prior to the event. 

This does not mean no one can post on the dash or do replies until then.  Please do so as time and muse allow!  

See you soon and much love.

~Admin M 

[thedistrictroleplay]

@nateblkwood  (Nate Blackwood)

[thedistrictroleplay]

@kat-beckett  (Katherine Beckett) 

@rhys-buchanan (Rhys Buchanan) 

[thedistrictroleplay]

Let’s do another little askbox thing to keep muse and inspo going!  A description of how I like to run these can be found here.  TL;DR - don’t reblog, just like this post if you want to participate.  If you only want certain characters to participate, just throw a comment on this specifying which characters are participating and make sure their asks are open for anonymous questions.  All replies are AU/not seen by other characters.  You can reply in first person or third person.  

Please tag this one district headcanons part one. (with the period.)

The game will be open Aug 18 at midnight EST and will close Aug 25 at 8 pm EST.

If you don’t get to all the replies in that time, it’s up to you whether you delete them or save them for the next game time.  You can post old games’ replies during any game.  

The original post for this one can be found here. ( thank you, @weirdlypersonalrpmemes )

send in a symbol i’ll answer the corresponding question about my muse!

[ 🤪 ] what is your muse’s sense of humour like? are they known for being joking, or serious?

[ 🪁 ] does your muse have a special talent or hobby they devote themselves to? why is this talent or hobby important to them?

[ 🩰 ] is there a type of fashion your muse prefers, or do they not pay attention to their appearance at all?

[ 🍮 ] is your muse intelligent academically? do they have any other intelligences?

[ 🧀 ] is there something your muse can’t live down, no matter how hard they try? what is it? if not, is there something your muse has said or done that embarrasses them?

[ 🦋 ] does your muse have any unconventional interests? what are they?

[ 😈 ] does your muse like to prank others? do they do so often?

[ 👨‍🏫 ] how much does your muse care about image? how would they react if something personal got leaked about them?

[ 🔇 ] is your muse a pushover, or do they tend to stand up for themselves?

[ 🪀 ] what was your muse’s childhood like? how did their upbringing affect them?

[ 🐺 ] does your muse have trouble relying on others? why or why not?

[ 👶 ] is your muse good with kids, or do they prefer to avoid them?

[ 🍔 ] what is your muse’s favourite food? is there a reason why they like it so much?

[ 🏳️‍🌈 ] how does your muse’s sexuality and gender identity impact their life? do you have any specific headcanons about it?

[ ⚖️ ] how does your muse feel about their job? what’s their dream career?

[ 👻 ] does your muse have regrets? what are some of their deepest ones?

[ 👑 ] how conventionally attractive is your muse? are they confident in their appearance, or are they more insecure?

[ 📢 ] what does your muse’s voice sound like? is it high-pitched, or deep? is it nasal or set in their chest? describe it in as much detail as you can.

[ 🤸‍♂️ ] how flexible is your muse physically? can they perform acrobatics? are they good at yoga?

[ ⚽️ ] is your muse athletic? are there any sports they like playing?

[ �� ] what is your muse’s relationship with their parents? are there specific things they like/dislike about them?

[ 👨‍🎤 ] would your muse define themselves as rebellious or by-the-book? what are they, actually?

[ ❄️ ] is there any special meaning behind your muse’s name? what is it?

[ 🎤 ] does your muse tend to date people who are supportive, or do they attract people who are more manipulative? why do you think that is?

[ 🧜‍♂️ ] is there anyone that isn’t part of your muse’s blood family that they consider family? what is their relationship with that person or those people like?

[thedistrictroleplay]

Our askbox game is now over!  Hold onto anything left in your inbox until next time (or clear them out, it’s up to you.)   Thanks for playing!

~Admin M  

[thedistrictroleplay]

Here’s the link list of those participating in our first askbox game!  You can find the original post here.  Askboxes are open until July 28th. 

Nate Blackwood Rhys Buchanan Carly Weiss Kat Beckett Alycia Acosta Evangeline Morris Nick Vanderbilt Daphne Palmer-Slade Briar Beckett Chandler Rawlins Ben Brody Grant Andersen Izabela Sokolova James Lane Tana Brody

[thedistrictroleplay]

As we kick things off, I thought it would be fun to do a little askbox thing!  A description of how I like to run these can be found here.  TL;DR - don’t reblog, just like this post if you want to participate.  If you only want certain characters to participate, just throw a comment on this specifying which characters are participating and make sure their asks are open for anonymous questions.  All replies are AU/not seen by other characters.  You can reply in first person or third person.  

Please tag this one district past numbers. (with the period.)

The game will be open July 8 at 8 pm EST and will close July 18 at 8 pm EST.

If you don’t get to all the replies in that time, it’s up to you whether you delete them or save them for the next game time.  You can post old games’ replies during any game.   

The original post for this one can be found here.

send me a number to dig into my muse's past

1: how well do you get along with your parents?

2: how well do you get along with your siblings?

3: do you think your parents would be proud of you right now?

4: what kind of childhood did you have?

5: how much have you changed since you were little?

6: when would you say was the moment you started to "grow up"?

7: how was/is your home life? were/are you happy?

8: do you keep in contact with your family? why/why not?

9: what kind of student were you in school?

10: were you a troublemaker or a stickler for rules?

11: were you in any kind of clique in school?

12: what was your favorite subject?

13: were you any superlatives/what would have been the most fitting superlative for you?

14: what kind of clique(s) were you in?

15: were you more popular or more of an outcast?

16: were you ever bullied/did you ever bully anyone?

17: where was your favorite place to hang out?

18: what did you want to be when you grew up? has that changed now?

19: what was your biggest fear(s)? do you still fear those things now?

20: who was your first boyfriend/girlfriend/crush?

21: did you believe in any superstitions/myths?

22: what did your typical friday night look like?

23: what were your favorite movies growing up?

24: what kind of music did you listen to? has that changed now?

25: do you have any regrets?

26: if you could go back in time and change one thing about yourself at any age, what would you do?

27: if you could give your younger self one piece of advice, what would it be?

28: is the person you are now who you expected to be when you grew up?

29: what is the biggest thing that has changed about you?

30: name one positive change and one negative change you've undergone in the past ten years.

31: did you have any bad habits? do you still have them now?

32: what were your biggest hobbies? do you still like the same things now?

33: what is your most vivid memory from childhood?

34: what is your most embarrassing memory from childhood?

35: what is your favorite memory from childhood?

36: what is a memory you wish had never happened at all?

37: do you think you would be a good role model for your younger self?

38: who were your idols/heroes growing up?

39: list three words you would use to describe your younger self and three words to describe yourself now.

40: are you happy with the person you've become?

[thedistrictroleplay]

ID:

Name | Nickname | Age:  James Nicholas Lane | Jamie | 36 Birthday | Astrology:  March 10, 1985 | Pisces  Pronouns | Sexual identity:  He/him | Bisexual  Birthplace | Raised: Boston, MA Residence:  Capitol Hill Occupation:  Intelligence Analyst  Faceclaim: Sebastian Stan 

TRIGGER WARNINGS:  parent death tw, friend death tw, death tw, injury tw, suicidal thoughts tw, SI tw, PTSD tw 

TIMELINE: 

1985 – James Nicholas Lane is born to George and Winifred Lane

1994 – James’s sister Kimberly was born

2001 – Meets Grant Andersen

2004 – James’s family moves to Chicago. James’s father passes away suddenly. James and Grant break up. James enlists in the US Army

2005 - .James completes U.S. Army Special Forces Training

2010 – James CO is killed on an op

2012 – James accepts promotion to run his own team

2015 – Winifred Lane passes away

2017 – James is injured in the line of duty

2018 – James is medically discharged from the US Army

2019 – Moves to D.C. for work

BIOGRAPHY:  

Lane had been used to moving around for most of his life, growing up in a military home. It never made for very long-term friendships, but it meant he always had new people to get to know. He made friends easily, able to charm his way through life with stories and a listening ear in equal measure. He enjoyed playing sports, which always lent itself to acceptance, but there was enough nerd in him to keep him leveled out and not arrogant.

Finally when his family settled in Boston and it seemed like they were going to stay, he met Grant Andersen and he wondered if that was why nothing else in his life had ever really stuck. Gorgeous and talented, James was awestruck and determined to keep Grant around for as long as he could. They were practically inseparable, and while their plans were different, they were absolutely determined to figure it out.

And then Chicago happened. His family moved, his father died, and he was left to try and hold his family together however he could. New York with Grant seemed like an unattainable dream, then, no matter how hard he clung to it. When they started receiving final notices, he knew he had to do something. His choice was to at least make his father proud, and he followed in his footsteps, joining the U.S. Army. At least that way, most of his pay could be sent home to take care of his mom and sister.

Swallowing down all the pain in his chest at the realization that he wouldn’t be able to stay with the love of his life, he knuckled down during training. He pushed to the point he was able to attend SERE training and ultimately wound up joining a special forces unit. He showed a ridiculous aptitude for tactics and languages, which improved his standing in the unit. He settled in, ran missions and accepted deployments, barely managing to ignore the ripping sensation in his chest when he found out Grant had gotten married. He didn’t take a single trip back to the states that year, even after the loss of his CO. Or the year after that.

When he finally accepted the offer to run his own team, he took to it like a duck to water. After all, they had been the people he had spent his life with for years at that point and there was a trust there that was second only to what he’d had once with Grant. He hated the awards and commendations that came from doing what he thought of as his duty, tucking them quietly away into a box because he rarely attended events that called for his dress uniform. His team was always curious about his lack of life outside of the team, outside of his sister and mother, but he never wanted to give his attention to anyone else for more than a night or two. When Winifred passed away, even that became rare.

His sister focused on college and he threw himself even harder into the job. The injury that ended his career rocked his cornerstones in the worst way. Alone outside of his team, who still had jobs to do, he spiraled through his discharge and spent a great deal of time in recovery. A hard ass counselor and a talk from his team later, he decided to accept a job offer in D.C. that let him maintain some contact with them but stay as busy as he could in a relatively civilian life. The real question was going to be how to mend the pieces of him into someone human, someone that could be mostly whole again. He’s working on it. Mostly.

Jamie is written by Tiff.

[thedistrictroleplay]

ID:

Name | Nickname | Age:  Rhys Monroe Buchanan | 31  Birthday | Astrology:  June 3, 1990 | Gemini sun, Taurus moon, Libra rising Pronouns | Sexual identity:  He/him | Bisexual  Birthplace | Raised: Edinburgh, Scotland Residence:  Downtown  Occupation:  Owner/operator of Collin’s (bar), drummer for The Sirens Faceclaim: Daniel Sharman

TRIGGER WARNINGS: death tw 

TIMELINE: 

1990- Born from a one-night stand in Colorado.

1990s-  His mom moved them back to Edinburg, where she worked as a party planner for the ultra-wealthy. Met her long-term girlfriend and Rhys's "mama."

2000s- Rhys was in constant trouble in school, but his music teacher insisted he was musically talented. 2009 Same-sex marriage and adoption becomes legal in Scotland. So his mom's married, and he is officially adopted by his "mama."

2010s- Rhys is doing well in college when an accident causes the death of his best friend. He proposes to his semi long-term girlfriend but ends up being a runaway groom on the wedding day.

2020s- Two years ago made it to D.C and opened his bar. Has a tentative secret relationship with his bio dad. He plays as a drummer/backup vocalist in the band "The Sirens."

BIOGRAPHY:  

A star boy, born as the moon was at its highest peak, Rhys Buchanan was not planned, but he was loved. His mother, Zoe Buchanan, was a world-renowned party planner. She had orchestrated royal weddings, Christenings, weddings, and even the wilder get-together of the world's most prolific rock and roll legends. There wasn't a genre or party she couldn't make feel like the best event you'd ever been to and would ever attend. Her career put her in line with countless people of notice. However, the man who changed her life forever, for the better if you asked her, was a famous American guitarist in one of the many beloved Rock and Roll bands of the time. The pair had a passionate love affair that lasted less than a month but left Zoe with a pregnancy she wanted to keep. Without hesitations, he gave her beau an out, he did not need to be involved, and part of her didn't want him to be. A rock and roll dad was no real dad for a child- she was convinced, and he agreed.

Before Rhys was born, his mother went back home, a hiatus from her career in the last months of her pregnancy, and thus Rhys was born. A blond-haired cherub of an infant who was attached to his mother's hip. Over the years, his father did send child support. However, Rhys never did feel he was missing out on two parents. On the contrary, he had two as far as he was concerned. As a small boy, his mom had fallen in love with a beautiful, intelligent photographer named Anais. Anais was from Versailles and treated Rhys as if he was her own child. The small family was beyond idyllic. Love, the arts, travel- life was plushy and wonderful, and there was nothing Rhys could not want for. Nothing, except for everything. Rhys was a young boy on the cusp of his life who never met a thing he didn't want to try, a person he didn't fall in love with, at least a little bit- he was captivated and interested in everything he'd ever known. However, his interests were not often held long, and it'd be a short while before something else new caught his eye, and Rhys was trying his hand at the next "Greatest thing ever."

Consistently into everything, Rhys was a bit of a trouble maker when it came to school- or any scenario where he had to sit still, do nothing and listen for hours on end. It was insufferable for him, so Rhys made it his mission to make it miserable for everyone else who had the misfortune to share classes with him. By the time Rhys was in high school, he had blown through so many private schools and even two boarding schools that his mothers were at a wit's end. He needed to get his act together. They were willing to do anything. Finally, his music teacher saw a talent in him, who recommended that he move up to advance music to help focus his energies. It helped by leaps and gave Rhys the focus to see something through for the first time. He was naturally talented, and as long as it never felt like he was working, Rhys never gave up.

After high school Rhys went away to college in the states- his majors changed nearly every semester, but he did find himself with a solid friend group and a girlfriend he was head over heels for; they were all inseparable. Weekends were spent on road trips, adventurous activities like white water rafting, cliff diving, and save exploring were on their lists of accolades. They were regular adventurers, young and untouchable. However, they were not immune to tragedy. One cliff diving trip was going as it usually had when everything altered forever, and his best mate, Collin jumped, and it somehow went all wrong. After a few days of life support, Collin passed away from complications due to his injuries.

Life never felt like it would be the same again. Too long, too short- too much of everything. Rhys impulsively asked his girlfriend to marry him. He was sure of his feelings. He did not want to waste a single moment longer without marrying her. However, as planning went on and the date closed in, Rhys felt the panic of every choice he had ever made- was it love or passing infatuation? He was suddenly unsure as life had been. So instead of doing the honorable thing, Rhys left his bride to be at the alter- ran away to no place he had in mind. The fall out from the wedding that never was became an unhealing bruise on Rhys's life- one he was sure he could never make up for and didn't even know where to begin. So, in a typical Rhys-like fashion, he threw a dart at a world map. After landing in the ocean dozens of times and claiming a do-over when he landed in a place he had no interests in, his dart landed on D.C- he packed up everything he'd ever cared for, which wasn't much, and moved to D.C.

With dual citizenship, he was free to do whatever he pleases, so in the two years since Rhys has been in the capitol, he has opened a bar named Collin's after his late friend and joined a band. However, in the last two years, the most notable news is he has finally had the urge to reach out to his biological father, a secret he keeps tightly wound, unsure of how his mothers would react with the news. But, for now, Rhys is happy to coast, play in the band, and keep his bar up.

Rhys is written by L.

[thedistrictroleplay]

ID:

Name | Nickname | Age:  Richard Nathaniel Blackwood Jr. | Nate (exclusively) | 31 Birthday | Astrology:  April 27, 1990 | Taurus  Pronouns | Sexual identity:  He/him | Heterosexual Birthplace | Raised: New York City, NY  Residence:  Downtown Occupation:  Unemployed Faceclaim: Matthew Daddario 

TRIGGER WARNINGS: none? 

TIMELINE: 

1989 - Gwen Davis, daughter of conservative mayoral candidate Ryan Davis, meets Stephen Weiss after his concert and the two spend the night together. The night results in a pregnancy that no one but Gwen want to see carried to term. 

1989 - The Davis and Blackwood family come to an agreement on the future of their children, encouraging (read: requiring) a fast wedding between Gwen and Richard Blackwood to avoid the scandal of a child out of wedlock. 

1989 - a large sum of money is exchanged between Stephen Weiss and Gwen Davis to keep the truth of the child’s parentage. The money is placed in a trust.

1990 - Richard Nathaniel Blackwood Jr is born on April 27

1994-1996 - Nate is placed in various lessons (piano, foreign language) and left mostly in the care of his au pair 

1997 - Nate begins attending Camp Walt Whitman every summer

1998 - Nate asks to be referred to by his middle name exclusively after the older kids at school/camp start calling him Dick Jr. It marks the beginning of the decline of the relationship between father and son

2006 - Nate gets an after school job at a subsidiary of Blackwood Industries

2007 - During a party for his father, Nate gets drunk and chats up a woman he thinks is interested in him and talks openly about his father. An article comes out the following morning detailing the entire affair. Richard Sr. and Nate have it out and do not speak for several months

2008 - Shortly after his mother tells him the truth about his father, Nate is arrested after taking one of his dad’s boats out on a joyride with a woman and crashing it into the docks on the way back in. Money makes the problem more or less disappear, though it further strains the near-nonexistent relationship between Nate and his father

2009 - Nate begins studying business at Brown University

2015 - Several bad business ventures have Nate trying to bridge the gap between his father and himself and prove that he’s worth investing in

2018 - Nate is involved in a public altercation at his father’s 50th birthday party after news of an affair with a married woman made its way to the ear of said woman’s husband 

2020 - Nate invests the entirety of the trust containing the money from his bio dad and several large sums of money from other friends and investors and loses it all

2021 - In a desperate attempt to recoup the money lost (and save his own ass), Nate follows the breadcrumbs leading to Stephen Weiss’ only acknowledged child all the way to DC where he intends to get the money he believes he’s owed

BIOGRAPHY: 

They say heavy is the head that wears the crown, and while the Blackwoods were not royalty by any sense of the word, the name still carried with it weight. It wasn’t just a name, but an expectation. A legacy. And for Nate, it was his biggest adversary.

Richard Nathaniel Blackwood Jr. had been set up to fail from the beginning. In a true show of what Nate believed for all of his childhood to be narcissism, his father had bestowed his name and every single impossible expectation upon him. For reasons he wouldn’t understand until early adulthood, an impossible chasm existed between himself and the man he so desperately wanted to impress.

Gwen Davis was a nineteen year old rebellious daughter of a conservative mayoral candidate. She’d long since perfected the art of getting whatever it was she desired and on a hot night in mid-July of 1989, that was Stephen Weiss. The two shared a night together and went their separate ways. It probably shouldn’t have been such an unexpected surprise when she wound up pregnant, and even less so when it seemed that Gwen was the only one interested in seeing the baby carried to term. In lieu of actually being a parent, Stephen and his team sent along a large sum of money to keep his involvement a secret. That was more than okay with the Davises, who were enraged by the news, worried more about the threat to her father’s mayoral position than the son Gwen would be bringing into the world. They went to work pulling strings and trying to cover their tracks, the answer found in a marriage between Gwen and the son of a family friend, Richard Blackwood. Though the Blackwoods didn’t come from old money-- its origin only two generations back-- they had their hands in a little bit of everything. The union hadn’t come out of nowhere (which made the haste in which they married less suspect), but it was not necessarily what either of them would have chosen for themselves. It was a marriage of convenience, of favors, and of power.

Life was… fine. Nate was born after a lengthy labor and they settled into a routine that worked for a while, but then Gwen found that she was still too young, too rebellious, to be tied down by a child and resentment set in. It was a different kind of resentment than the kind wielded by the man who masqueraded as his father, but it was felt nonetheless. But again, that was fine. He had a wet nurse and then an au pair and they were fine-- if not a bit too easy to manipulate. And yes, it seemed that was a trait passed down beautifully from mother to son. It was a craft to be honed and perfected, practiced on the unsuspecting children and teachers at school.

As Nate grew, so too did his need for acceptance. It wasn't until he began attending Camp Walt Whitman that he realized most families didn't appear nearly as fractured as his felt. He'd thought the impossibility that was impressing his father was simply a part of the deal. He'd thought yearning for acknowledgement to be just another component in the equation of family. The realization had him cultivating a resentment of his own. He became angry, began to act out in ways he hadn’t before, began to draw the kind of attention to himself that turned little Richard Jr. into the butt of a small dick joke. So he became Nate. Richard Jr. hadn’t known any better, but Nate? Nate knew how to charm, how to sweet talk, how to channel his endless rage into a symphony loud enough to gain the attention of his parents.

The rift between himself and his father only began to grow larger and while he’d go to his grave swearing he didn’t give a single fuck about what his father thought of him, it seemed that some days, that longing for acceptance was the only thing driving him forward. His father was a businessman, so he tried to show an interest in business. His father liked golfing, so he practiced alone in his room with a solo cup and a club stolen from an old set stashed away in the attic. None of it mattered.

So, eventually, he did the opposite. He leaned into the role of the slighted son. He got drunk at a party meant to honor his father and some new business venture or big sale or who-gives-a-fuck, and aired his grievances to a pretty stranger. Reading his words in print the next morning had only solidified the notion for him that it was never about him, only about what he could offer. To her, it had been an exposé, to his father, it had been an embarrassment. The silent treatment that followed could be felt spanning coasts.

Right at the start of the summer before he went off to college, his world changed. In perhaps the least tactful way she could manage, his mother dropped the bomb about his biological father. It felt as though the floor had fallen out from underneath him. He didn’t know how to process or how to cope and he had no one he could talk to about it. So he did what he did best: he acted out. He stole his dad’s boat: a feat that ended with the vessel crashed into the docks and Nate in jail. Money made the problem go away, polished off his record, just in time for him to attend Brown.

He was good at college, he found. Maybe not so much the academia of it all, but the partying? Aced it. But still, that niggling need to please his father-- even if the man wasn’t really his father at all-- rotted in the back of his mind. It drove him to desperation in his professional life and found him fumbling through one bad venture after another. He made risky moves knowing that if only ONE came through, it could change everything. But they never did. Instead, he found himself on the knuckle end of an angry husband whose wife had apparently been Nate’s woman of the week. It was his father’s fiftieth birthday party and even though Nate hadn’t known she was married (though… it likely wouldn’t have mattered if he had), it changed nothing. The tenuous and tattered relationship with his father all but dissolved in that ballroom. He thought he’d known desperation before, but he knew then that the damage was irreparable. He had nothing to show for anything.

In a last ditch effort, Nate came up with a business plan. He emptied the trust left behind by his biological father-- money he promised himself he’d never touch-- and somehow managed to convince some acquaintances and bigwigs to invest money in his newest venture. It should have worked. It should have, but it didn’t. He lost everything: his money, their money. All of it. Gone. And because Nate has always been captain of good ideas, instead of facing the people whose money he lost, he tracked down the only child his sperm donor seemed to give a shit about. Sure, he was gone. But his money wasn’t. And he owed him that, at least, didn’t he?

Nate is written by Jamie.

[thedistrictroleplay]

ID:

Name | Nickname | Age:  Grant Matthew Andersen |  35  Birthday | Astrology:  July 30, 1986 | Leo sun, Taurus moon  Pronouns | Sexual identity: He/him | Bisexual    Birthplace | Raised: Boston, MA Residence:  Brookland Occupation:  Graphic Illustrator Faceclaim: Chris Evans 

TRIGGER WARNINGS: child death tw, parent death tw, cancer tw, death tw, infidelity tw, adultery tw, divorce tw 

TIMELINE: 

July 1986- Grant Matthew Andersen is born to Sarah and John Andersen.

2001- He meets James Lane.

2004- Sarah is diagnosed with breast cancer. Grant starts college at SVA.  Grant and James break up. James enlists in the US Army.

2007- Grant starts dating Anna McKay.

2010- Grant and Anna are married.

2014- Their daughter, May, is born.

2016- May is diagnosed with leukemia and dies later that same year.

2018- Grant and Anna divorce. He moves to D.C.

BIOGRAPHY: 

The Andersens were solid upper-middle class Boston natives. There was love there but expectations too, and Grant never had trouble meeting most of them. He was good in school, good in sports (baseball and boxing his preferred activities, outside of drawing), and never had trouble making friends or keeping them. He was responsible and well-mannered with a low tolerance for bullies and an occasional streak of mischief.

Nobody meets their soulmate when they're fifteen years old, but no one could convince him of that. When his car stalled and James Lane stopped to help, it seemed like fate. Grant was good with people and bad with romance. As soon as he realized he found someone attractive, he got tongue-tied and awkward. Somehow, the message got through (or maybe James was just much better at flirting than he was), and he barely left his side after that. He'd never been in love like that, before or since. Grant planned to go to college; James wasn't sure, but they were going to figure it out together.

It was his first lesson in the fact that life didn't care at all about his plans. His mother was diagnosed with breast cancer shortly before graduation, and he wasn't able to defer his enrollment to the School of Visual Arts. She wouldn't hear of him not going, so he split his time between New York and Boston. She later went into remission and has been ever since. James's family had just relocated to Chicago, with James planning to join him later in New York, when his father died suddenly that same fall, leaving James home to look after his mother and sister. It was inevitable that they would crack under the pressure, two nineteen-year-old kids who were bad at communication and dealing with issues that would crush most adults.

It wasn't until James enlisted in the army that he realized it was really over though. (It had been over for months; he just couldn't admit it.) There was no chance of patching things up with an ocean between them. He was devastated, but Grant was the last person to let on when he was hurting. From the outside, it probably looked like everything was fine. Still, it took him over two years to start dating again and a few more before he proposed to his college girlfriend, Anna. He didn't tell her about James, at least not specifically, but she knew when they first started dating that there was someone he was holding on to. She only mentioned it once, years later, when they were both drinking and fighting. She told him to stop comparing her to the person in his head, the one he couldn't let go of, because she couldn't compete with a ghost. Neither of them ever touched the subject again.

They stayed in New York City while they both started their careers, his as an illustrator and hers as a lawyer. They put off starting a family for a few years while Anna opened her own law firm. When May was born, she became the center of his world. He loved being a dad, and they planned to have more kids after things had settled more with Anna's firm, which was finally gaining recognition with a few high-profile clients. May had just turned two when she was diagnosed with leukemia, and she died later that same year.

Their marriage died with her, but Grant was slow to realize it. Maybe he'd always had trouble recognizing the end when he saw it. This was a pain he couldn't hide, and neither of them knew how to deal with it. They both started drinking, and Anna worked longer and longer hours. He couldn't bring himself to pick up a pen again, so he quit drawing and helped out at the firm. The drinking eased over two years, but the rift between them stayed. They had friends over for a dinner party when he realized she was having an affair with their best friend, who had helped her start her law firm. It was nothing dramatic, just an observed moment in the kitchen when she smiled at Daniel. It had been years since she smiled at him like that. He probably should have felt betrayed, but his primary emotion was relief. Neither of them had to pretend anymore.

They took apart their life together with the same quiet efficiency with which they'd built it up. He was happy for them; he wanted Anna to be happy, but he wasn't self-punishing enough to stay and watch. Staying in New York seemed out of the question, going back to Boston equally so, so Grant decided to keep moving south and relocated to D.C. where there weren't any memories. It was close enough to commute when he had to once he started drawing again, and he spent the last couple years settling into an old job and a new city. He'd been alone by himself and he'd been alone with another person, and he knew which one he preferred. Somewhere in every story he illustrates, there's a tiny blonde fairy watching and laughing from the sidelines.

Grant written by Carrie.

[thedistrictroleplay]

ID:

Name | Nickname | Age:  Izabela Antonova Sokolova | Iza, Bella, Izzy | 27 Birthday | Astrology:   Pronouns | Sexual identity: she/her |  bisexual Birthplace | Raised: Elena, Bulgaria (Velika Tornovo province) Residence:  Downtown Occupation:  Horse trainer/Artist Faceclaim: Nina Dobrev

TRIGGER WARNINGS: injury tw, depression tw  

TIMELINE: 

1990- Anton and Nevena Sokolov get married in Elena, Bulgaria

1992- Anton and Nevena Sokolov start their young family with a baby boy named Yordan

1994- Izabela Antonova Sokolov is born

1998- Iza begins competing in shows.

1999- Iza wins her first show and her focus shifts to competing full-time outside of school

2000- Starts her career in dressage.  

2002- Starts jumping and it’s then that she finds her niche. 

2005- Wins her first show jumping competition.

2009- Starts training with the Olympics in mind.

2010- Is accepted on the Bulgarian Equestrian Team for the London Olympics set for 2012.

2012- Competes in the Olympics, brings home two gold medals and a silver for jumping and dressage. Has an accident during the cross-country course and nearly drowns

2013- Moves to New York for rehab and falls in love with art

2015- Meets Aly Acosta during yoga class and the two become best friends

2018- Decides to get back into training horses, despite her debilitating leg injury. 

2020- Decides to move to DC to help her parents open another branch of their breeding business and pursues art in the meantime.

BIOGRAPHY:  

In the horse community in Bulgaria, there was a name synonymous with influence and it was Sokolov. Anton and Nevena were two powerhouses who seemingly came together for the greater good. Anton came from a long line of English riding champions and Nevena came from a long line of successful breeders. Together, they were unstoppable. Much to their parents’ delight, the two married.

Two years later, they welcomed a baby boy they named Yordan and Izabela followed suit three years later. Growing up, she was involved in the horse world like her parents before her and their parents before them. By the time she reached primary school, she was already jumping, and it was clear a star was on the rise. Her natural curve was nurtured and she was trained by the best money could buy. In the summer of 2012, she competed in London for the summer Olympics on the Bulgarian Equestrian Team. She earned nearly perfect scores in dressage, two gold medals and a silver medal jumping, as well as a silver medal for eventing. It appeared as though Izabela was unstoppable after medaling in almost every event she qualified for, until a heavy rain the night before had made the ground deceptively soft. The cross-country event nearly claimed her life after landing wrong from a jump and sliding down landing in the riverbank jump on the course. Izabela’s leg was pinned beneath her horse as they both came down hard. After severely breaking her leg, breaking a few ribs, and nearly drowning, her career had ended.

Izabela fell into a deep depression after the incident that had made international news. After all, she had lost her life’s dream. Upon learning of the existence of a rehab center in the United States, Izabela moved to New York for physical therapy. After slowly regaining the use of her leg, she was hit with the devastating news of never being able to compete again. Riding any longer than a few minutes left her in debilitating pain and shaking in fear. It was during rehab that she discovered a love of art. Painting, drawing, sculpting, all of those things eased some of the anger inside her and helped her translate the helplessness she felt. During rehab, she honed her English beyond the bare minimum of asking for directions and discussing the weather. By the time she decided to leave the center and despite the hurtful comments and struggles, she was fairly fluent in English.

Getting a job in America with her injuries and somewhat limited language capabilities was difficult, along with applying for a visa in order to stay in the country. Eventually, she began helping her family with their breeding farm and training horses from the ground up. Her art soon took precedence, but she continued to work part-time in order to keep her citizenship current. It took a long while, but eventually, Izabela earned her green card that kept her in the country for three years.

With her family being her family and their desires for her to focus on her equestrian career with the Olympics in mind, relationships were few and far between. Izabela never allowed herself to become attached to anyone, not when they were a potential distraction and a danger towards everything she had worked towards her entire life. Things burned hot and fast and never lasted. Boredom took over as soon as attraction began. Sex was easy to get, love was nonexistent.

With her wild days, her family, in a fit of concern gives her an ultimatum: either stop partying and join the family business or risk being cut off and sent back to Bulgaria. With no other choice or prospect, Izabela agrees to the terms and stays in New York to help the next generation of show jumpers. As her family grew their business, she agreed to move to Washington DC to head the office with the condition that she be allowed to continue her art. Her side hustle soon caught the attention of the art scene and not long after, the same critics pursued her for commissions and hung her work in galleries.

She’s done the best she can to help with her parents’ business, but with fewer people wanting to train their horses/buy new foals, her hours began slipping behind until she stopped meeting her requirement of employment for her visa. The trick now is to trick the government into thinking she had, in fact, fallen in love with an American citizen. All she can hope is that they’ll buy it.

Iza  is written by Sunshine.

[thedistrictroleplay]

ID:

Name | Nickname | Age:  Evangeline Georgina Morris | Evie | 29 Birthday | Astrology:  April 17, 1992 | Aries  Pronouns | Sexual identity:  She/her | Bisexual  Birthplace | Raised:  San Diego, CA Residence:  Columbia Heights Occupation:  Architect / Structural Engineer  Faceclaim:  Adelaide Kane 

TRIGGER WARNINGS: negligence tw, child injury tw, infidelity tw, car accident tw 

TIMELINE: 

1992- Born in San Diego to Eleanor Morris and David Beckett

1996- Taken in by John and Colette Morris

2005- Peter Gregory Morris was born

2007- John and Colette take custody of Peter after an incident with Eleanor’s negligence cause him to fall down a flight of stairs

2009- Graduated high school a year early with honors and early admission to MIT.

2014- Graduated architect undergrad and was accepted to MIT Architecture School. Met Michael Bancroft and began a relationship with him.

2015- Goes on to structural engineering courses to double major.

2016- Michael gets drafted into the NFL and goes to the Jacksonville Jaguars.

2017- Colette dies in a car accident while Evie tries to get there in time to say goodbye. Also sleeps with her friend, Ben after the funeral and cheats on Michael in the process.

2018- Graduates MIT’s programs as an architect/structural engineer.

2019- Passes the architecture exam and becomes a licensed architect. Moves to Jacksonville to be closer to Michael.

2020- Sleeps with Ben after his parents’ anniversary party. Breaks it off with Michael finally. Moves to DC after getting an offer with a firm working with the DC Historical Preservation Society

2021- Renovated and bought a house that greatly resembled her first dollhouse as a child. It’s her first home and her forever one.

BIOGRAPHY:

Evangeline Georgina Morris was born one humid spring night in April to a nurse by the name of Eleanor Morris. By the millions of times Evie heard her birth story, she could only assume that her mother had attempted to baby-trap her married lover in order to pressure him into leaving his wife for her and their illegitimate child. What happened instead was her father refusing to recognize her and breaking off the affair. After her plan failed, Evie was often left with her grandparents while her mother threw herself into her work, despite the debilitating postpartum depression that plagued her. It takes a village to raise a child and the village was her mother’s side of the family. After that, she rarely saw Eleanor and their relationship was sustained through occasional phone calls and the occasional visit during family events..

 Academia was a major emphasis for the Morris household. Evie was expected to keep her grades up while also attempting a social life and with her inability to maintain the latter, she eventually dove deeper into schoolwork. After all, to her, it was her ticket to bigger and better things. Any time she spoke to Eleanor, it was to hear that her mother was attempting to find her “a dad”, despite her lack of success before. In doing so, she promised to be around more. What happened instead was Evie becoming a big sister at the tender age of thirteen. Her grandmother (Colette) took in the baby boy named Peter. Eventually, Evie cut ties with Eleanor after being promised the world and lacking results. She grew to see her grandmother as a mother more, along with her aunt and uncle. Eleanor tried to attend school functions, such as when Evie graduated high school with honors a year early after throwing herself into it. With her grades and extracurriculars, she had her pick of schools and she settled on MIT.

Evie flourished in her academic career, first as an architecture student and then as an engineering student. One night during studying for finals, she received a phone call stating that Colette had been taken to the hospital following an accident involving a drunk driver. Before Evie could arrive on the red-eye, however, Colette was pronounced dead and she lost the only mother figure she had ever known.

Evie found herself aimless in the days following the funeral. While she took care of others, she neglected her own needs. A rather large argument with Michael kept him across the country and in a fit of grief and a deep need to feel anything else, she sleeps with her (married) best friend, Ben. They both agree to keep that night between the two of them and Evie heads back to MIT to face a spiraling relationship with her boyfriend. Emotions fuel her studies further and she continues towards graduation.

In a bid to save said relationship, Evie made the decision to relocate to Jacksonville, Florida when Michael was drafted in the NFL. Despite her best efforts, it ends up being one of the worst decisions she ever made. In true self-sabotaging fashion, Evie ends the spectacularly bad chapter by backsliding, ending the relationship with Michael altogether, and closing her eyes and pointing to a map to land on DC.

Who could have possibly figured that pointing at a map could have paid off? Certainly not she. A job with a firm working with the DC Historical Preservation Society ended up being her dream job. For the first time, she was on her own and she thrived.

Evie is written by Sunshine.

[thedistrictroleplay]

ID: 

Name | Nickname | Age:  Nicholas Scott Vanderbilt | Nick | 30 Birthday | Astrology:  March 17, 1991 | Pisces sun,  Pronouns | Sexual identity:  He/him | heterosexual  Birthplace | Raised: Tuxedo Park, NY | New York City, NY Residence: Upper Northwest  Occupation: Attorney, Assistant Law Professor at Georgetown Faceclaim: Scott Eastwood 

TRIGGER WARNINGS: drug mention tw

TIMELINE: 

March 17, 1991- Nicholas is born as the 2nd son of Patrick and Elaine Vanderbilt.  He joins older brother Peter, and will later be hounded by brother Christopher, as an extension of the New York Vanderbilt legacy of politicians. 

Summer 2003-2008 -  Nick is sent to summer camp, along with Peter, to Camp Walt Whitman in New Hampshire.  When Christopher turns twelve, he also joins the annual tradition. 

August 2008-June 2009- Nick long-distance dates Aly Acosta, whom he met at Camp Walt Whitman

June 2009- graduates high from St. Judes Prep in NYC and is Princeton bound.  Nick and Aly amicably break up before going their separate ways to college.

August 2009-June 2013- attends Princeton University, ultimately graduating with a bachelor’s degree in Politics, with political economy emphasis.  

September 2014- starts at Columbia Law school, alongside Aly who has moved to NYC to attend business school at Columbia.  Nick plays hard and works harder, graduating #2 in his class.

sometime in 2015-  Nick and Aly blackout and wake up married, courtesy of Nick’s fast-talking, lying his ass off to a judge who is friends with his family.

June 2016- Aly graduates and immediately begins traveling everywhere for work.  Nick applies for an international dual-degree program that moves him to Paris for his last year of law school. 

August 2016-October 2017- Nick lives and studies in Paris, both degrees conferred in October when he returns to the United States.

February 2018- takes the NYC bar exam. 

March 2018-July 2018- UN internship in Vienna as legal affairs intern. 

July 2018-January 2021- Ambassadorship in Belize.  He checks out a little early after Aly’s abuela dies and he’s traveling back and forth; his attention is too divided and he knows it. 

January 2021- moves to D.C. for international trade attorney job.  Also begins working at as part-time assistant professor at Georgetown and, over the spring, settles into a home in the area. 

BIOGRAPHY: 

Nicholas Scott Vanderbilt, Nick to most, was born the second son of Patrick and Elaine “Lainey” Vanderbilt on the luckiest day in the land, two days late and establishing that he would do what he please and when he damn well wanted. The last name Vanderbilt, no matter the spelling, conjures an image. They’re practically a brand. Young Nicholas and his brothers, as well as his extensive network of cousins, were raised to enhance and support that image. It could be argued his grandfather, William, was a cult leader raising young men to take over the world. Every Vanderbilt son was pressured to be the best, to seek their interests as long as their interests were both academic and high-end, and to pursue a political career. Their last name opened those doors, whether it was a prep school Model UN, the right university, or a job. All they had to do was follow their grandfather’s every instruction and the world would be theirs. It was their birthright, after all.  At least, that’s what they threw out there into time and space.  Nick didn’t exactly agree, preferring to exploit those opportunities with hard work and clear-cut goals -- but he absolutely benefitted from the system and knew from an early age how to selectively keep his mouth shut and manipulate outcomes. 

He wasn’t the typical middle child, acting out for attention. He did what was expected of him, but he always did it his way. He could talk his way into and out of trouble, and his energy left his parents exhausted. Just kidding, he wasn’t raised by his parents.  They checked in, but he was raised by an army of well-educated and well-paid nannies and tutors. He was always smart enough to excel, always duty-bound enough to show up, and always rebellious enough to do it on his own terms. He grew to have a taste for expensive things, too pretentious to do low-class drugs or drive basic cars, but also with a few quirks. He didn’t quite have the temptations or shortcomings of his brothers – the constant need for women and the trouble they brought with them when any woman would do, the friends who lived off his money for their good time, the artistic side that barely masked an identity crisis. Instead, he was selectively social, even though it gave him the reputation of being an unequivocal snob, preferring indie bands and concerts, craft beer in off-the-beaten-path bars to escape haranguing of Page Six and other such nonsense, and other “hipster bullshit” according to his younger brother. He didn’t care. He wasn’t sure anyone had anything to offer him anyway.  Maybe there was something to the ‘snobby’ part of his reputation.  As he grew, he realized there was something to the ‘asshole’ part, too, and he never really felt like apologizing for it, so he didn’t. 

His educational dossier reads like something in a leather-bound tome, planned out by his grandfather from the moment Nicholas blessed the world with his presence. The only exception is he went to Princeton for his undergraduate, instead of following the family footsteps to New Haven. Mostly, he did it for the sake of being different, not because he cared what the piece of paper said. He had bigger aspirations but made his mark by being slightly different than some of his cousins with their sights on Congress or being Governor. He still did all of his undergrad in politics, emphasis on political economy, and then went to law school at Columbia. While the name didn’t hurt anything, he was confident he got in based on the strength of his academic resume, and he graduated near the top of his class only because he let someone else have that likely last, shining accomplishment in their lives. He doesn’t even remember the woman’s name and he definitely didn’t sleep with her. Or did he? He won’t tell one way or the other, because his parents messed up when they didn’t make discretion part of his middle name. Part of his success was his selective ability to do what he wanted under the radar. His brothers and cousins were just a little too obvious with their exploits, and Nicholas was determined to be smarter and better than them.

Take, for example, the time he got married during year 2, while profoundly drunk in Atlantic City, to a girl from Miami he’d met at a bougie send-away summer camp.  He had attended the camp every year from age twelve to age seventeen, and she was there the whole time.  They had continued to date through their senior year of high school, in spite of the distance.  In addition to liking her, he also liked the privacy of dating someone who didn’t live in the surprisingly-claustrophobic New York world.   Either way, she wasn’t an unknown quantity by any means and his parents and grandparents liked her well enough, even if her mother was a bit much and bit too new-money-ambitious in her efforts to prove herself.  With the wedding, the real problem was he used his silver tongue to lie to a judge, who blessed the wedding without a waiting period. It left him in a rough spot professionally, because he couldn’t get a divorce and admit to the lies without it being political suicide before he’d even graduated from law school.  Aly had ambitions of her own and they split again, like they had during high school but different, and mostly went their own ways. She was young and wild, and he was all over Europe finishing a dual degree in something that was a mouthful to set him up for a career at the UN or as an ambassador, so they only connected sometimes.  They’d had a youthful pact to marry each other at forty if they hadn’t married other people anyway, and not bothering with a divorce kept them away from the messy need for a prenup that hadn’t happened.

HIs parents thought the split went through years ago, fast enough Amy Acosta couldn’t start to model the Vanderbilt family jewels, and they’re very mistaken.  However, he’s always been good at hiding where his heart truly lies, playing off emotions, sounding flip and sarcastic when things get tough. They think he’s back in the States to move forward, long past the one youthful indiscretion where they have only minimal details. The next planned step in the Vanderbilt legacy is marriage and children. After all, what is a legacy if it is not continued?  Now that Nick isn’t just pushing thirty, but is actually there, it’s time for him to turn his attention there, at least in their estimation.  It’s on him to continue their legacy because God only knows his brothers, take your pick of an artist or a consummate playboy, are never going to give his parents and grandfather anything to be proud of.

So it’s up to him. After quietly supporting Aly through some hard times, quitting his hard-won job in the embassy in Belize was easy. After his family’s not-so-subtle attempts to force him home to settle down, moving to the District was easy, because he can still progress his career. He doesn’t want to be around the Vanderbilts any more than he has to these days anyway, so New York wasn’t an option.  And, you know, maybe becoming an esteemed law professor or legal scholar isn’t the worst idea.  It allows a certain amount of flexibility and conjures up a whole new image, even if it’s one he hasn’t considered before.   

Nick is written by M.

[thedistrictroleplay]

ID:

Name | Nickname | Age:  Tana Brody |  nothing specific  | 25  Birthday | Astrology:  June 16, 1996 | Gemini  Pronouns | Sexual identity:  She/her | Pansexual Birthplace | Raised:  San Diego, CA  Residence:  Downtown Occupation:  Singer for her band, The Sirens; Student at Georgetown University, theater major with a concentration in makeup; YouTube makeup tutorial artist Faceclaim:  Kat McNamara

TRIGGER WARNINGS: drug use tw, addiction tw, overdose tw, needles tw 

TIMELINE: 

June 1996- Tana Brody is born in San Diego to Ryan and Johanna Brody.

2007- She begs her parents for guitar and voice lessons and sticks with them pretty much all through middle and high school.

December 2008- Her nephew, Andrew Braddock Brody, is born.

July 2009- Ben moves to Florida to attend the University of Miami.

2011- She forms a garage band that remains together throughout the rest of high school.

September 2014- Tana starts at The University of San Diego, major undeclared.

2015- She meets her first serious boyfriend, Jake Lassiter.

February 2017- She overdoses on heroin and is hospitalized. From there, she goes straight into three months of rehab.

July 2017- She overdoses a second time, and her heart stops. She's revived in an ambulance and goes back into rehab, this time out of state for six months.

February 2018- Tana temporarily moves to Miami to stay with Ben, knowing she needs to remove herself from her old lifestyle. She works as a barista and starts doing makeup tutorials on YouTube.

September 2019- She enrolls at Georgetown University.

2020- She forms a band with some college friends and starts playing in clubs around D.C.

BIOGRAPHY:

In a household of rich but absent parents, Tana Brody should have gone off the rails long before she did. Her parents stopped paying for nannies by the time she was twelve, but Tana didn't mind it that much. It was her older brother, Ben, who drove her to swimming lessons, walked her through trigonometry (like he understood it any better), and listened to the petty dramas of teenage girls. If her parents ignored her, she just rolled her eyes and went out with her friends. Nothing very bad could happen as long as Ben was around. He trusted her to keep her feet on the ground and call if she needed a ride, and she trusted him to be there for her if she needed him.

She was privately devastated when Ben moved away to Miami for college, taking her nephew and her sister-in-law with him, but they still played an active role in each other's lives. She visited as often as she could and Skyped and sent Andrew increasingly ridiculous presents when she couldn't. (If it were up to Tana, Andrew would be terribly, terribly spoiled. She teases that the moment he was born, Ben stopped being her favorite person.) High school was a fairly normal experience for her, and she stuck with her love of music, even forming a garage band whose crowning achievement was playing the senior prom.

Though she was uncertain about what she wanted to major in, college had never been optional in the Brody family, and she enrolled at The University of San Diego with an idea for transferring when Ben was more settled. Instead, she met Jake Lassiter. She turned him down when he asked her out, but he was persistent, and she said yes the second time. The truth was, she turned him down because he intimidated her. He was handsome and cool, slightly older than her, and she quickly grew infatuated. He was her first serious boyfriend, and she fell fast and hard.

She didn't think much of it when she learned he was dealing drugs. It wasn't like she hadn't seen dealers on street corners or people passing around joints at parties. It wasn't like he pressured her to try anything, at least not overtly. It started with doing lines of cocaine at a party, then ecstasy at a warehouse rave, then a needle in her arm, and then... it didn't matter what or where. The first time she overdosed, she spent three months in rehab, went back to Jake upon release, and was back to her old habits within weeks. The second time, her heart stopped for a minute and a half before medical personnel managed to revive her en route to the hospital.

Her parents and Ben stepped in, and she spent six months in an expensive, out of state rehab facility. When she returned to San Diego, it was only to pack her things and move to Miami to stay with Ben, at least temporarily. It was clear she needed a clean break from her old friends, a total change of scenery and lifestyle. She didn't contact Jake to let him know she was out and changed her number. If he tried to contact her, he didn't try hard. It's said that people stop emotionally maturing when they start doing drugs. For Tana, it was like two years of her life had been blacked out. Sentences cut right out of the middle of the page. It wasn't that she didn't remember them; it was just as though they happened to someone else, and the person who was left was a bit quieter, a bit shyer, a bit less likely to spend nights out partying than at home binging on Netflix.

She worked as a barista in Miami to keep herself busy and started doing makeup tutorials in her free time. Eventually, she decided to move to D.C. to pursue a theater degree with an emphasis on makeup. Given her history, she knew to stay out of the music industry as a career, but her confidence gradually returned enough to start playing music again, and she formed a band with some college friends called The Sirens. They're supportive of her sobriety, and she still attends outpatient therapy and regular NA meetings. She can't go back to the person she was before it all happened, but she's learned to trust this version to stand her ground and look out for herself.

Tana is written by Carrie.

[thedistrictroleplay]

ID:

Name | Nickname | Age:  Katherine Beckett | Kat |  28 Birthday | Astrology:  March 21, 1993 | Aries sun, Pisces moon, Scorpio rising Pronouns | Sexual identity:  She/her | Pansexual Birthplace | Raised:  San Diego, CA  Residence:  Brookland Occupation: Dance teacher with a side hustle selling Art on Etsy  Faceclaim: Danielle Campbell

TRIGGER WARNINGS: drug abuse tw, infidelity tw, narcissistic parent tw, injury tw, overdose tw 

TIMELINE: 

1860s- The founding of Hawthorne wine in Northern California

1981- Dottie married David and pays for his medical school

May 1991- Older sister Briar Rose is born 

April 1992- Older sister Evie is born

March 21, 1993- Katherine is born in San Diego, California @ 9 pm

1996- Enrolled in Ballet and started doing child pageants 

2008- Wins Miss Teen International at fifteen

2010- Has her Debutante coming out ball 

2011- Is accepted into San Francisco Ballet Company 

2013- She has a massive fight with her mom and O.D.s (survives)

2014- Finishes rehab and skips out on being picked up by her parents and runs away to DC

2015- Kat joins the Washington Ballet 

2018- An injury puts an end to Kat's career in Ballet, she's gifted Baby as a consolation for her ended career

2019- Moves in with her "casual" fling and starts working on new avenues for her life and career. Still has a terse, basically non-existent relationship with her parents

2020- "Casual fling" proposes, and she bounces and gets her own place with roommates

2021- Has her own dance studio and sells art on Etsy.

BIOGRAPHY:  

Katherine Vivienne Beckett was born to be perfect. Failure was not in the realm of possibilities for the youngest Beckett child. It was never even mentioned outside of being a non-starter. Her mother, Dottie, was from old money, the heiress to the Harlow wine company. Dottie had antiquated, regal if not conservative values that she fought hard, perhaps too hard to instill in her daughters. Her own drive for perfection and success bled into the foundation of her relationship with Kat. Thus from an early age, Kat associated success and praise with love. Any deviation from the absolute best was a failure. Her father, David, was absent. At best and at worst, he wore disinterest and pretense like a coat he never took off. A serial cheater who was never home, Kat was left putting all of her external needs for parental approval on her mother.

Lack of praise left her with the fear that the love was gone, and Kat developed a sickening need for perfection. A child beauty queen who was never satisfied. No matter the number of titles or crowns, she won no matter the talents she mastered. And talented she was. Gifted in languages, piano, singing, painting, sculpting, and best of all, ballet Kat was the master of her gifts. She curated them under the best instructors money could buy. Her mother encouraged these things, her unrelenting press for the perfect socialites for daughters often putting her and Kat at odds. Kat often excused her toxic behavior as tough love and fell back into the cycle of practice, perform, praise, repeat. Eventually, her success didn't even seem to impress her mother, and Kat was facing a terrible case of burnout.

She was exhausted, sixteen years old and already she felt spent. All of her best years seemed to be drifting behind her, more bitter than sweet Kat felt at odds with herself and who she was meant to be. All the certainty she had in life was her desire to please the people she loved, so Kat continued to do what her mother instructed. After her elder sister moved out, Dottie had even more time to pick a part Kat, push her and curate her into everything Dottie insisted a young woman was supposed to be. With her father often traveling for "work," it was just Kat and Dottie inside the house. There was no reprieve then, only expectations that often looked like Dottie waking Kat before dawn for morning runs followed by extra ballet practice until late morning. Kat could barely stand it any longer. She had no idea who she was or what she wanted.

Quietly, she began to rebel. She was sneaking away to parties, joy riding at three a.m, sleeping with anyone and everyone. She was looking for freedom and feeling, and eventually, she found it the form of illicit drugs. The euphoria of being high was unparalleled to anything she'd felt before. Combine that with the ability to work harder and longer, and Kat was sold, hook, line and sinker. The drug abuse and rebelling continued for years, even after Kat was accepted into her first Ballet company at eighteen in San Francisco. She kept her addiction tightly wrapped for two years, worked long hours, and outperformed the girls below her and even a few senior performers. The shining moment of her young career was when she was given the role of The Sleeping Beauty in the ballet of the same title.

Kat spent most of her waking hours practicing for her upcoming role. She was stunning, acclaimed in her part as Aurora. It was the first time in years she'd felt happiness that wasn't an artificial sort. Sadly, it was short-lived. Dottie attended the closing show, leaving before the final number didn't go unnoticed by Kat. Her emotions were shaky, and her performance less than her best. The disappointment was personal. She felt feral. Confronting her mother, she discovered Dottie had left early to make dinner plans with a college friend. Arguably the most prominent moment in Kat's life, she had left for dinner, a dinner she was early for; Kat exploded. Twenty years of pent-up sadness, anger, and disappointment accumulated into a vicious and aggressive fight between mother and daughter. The argument came to an end when in a rare moment of transparency, Dottie told Kat she had never wanted her in the first place.

Kat kicked her mother out of her apartment and spent the night partying when she went too hard and overdosed on a nearly lethal amount of concoction of party drugs. Kat's so-called friends dumped her at the emergency room, none sticking around to ensure she was okay. Thankfully, Kat survived, but her entire life had felt like it had been ripped away when Kat woke up. No longer was she on the way to becoming a prima ballerina, but she was in a rehab facility. It was the most excellent form of rehab, luxury, and resort-like in many ways, but it was ultimately still rehab. Kat spent a year as a resident of Harmony Place rehab in Malibu, California. Her parents informed her, stay or lose all her inheritance. Already having lost her job and life in San Francisco, Kat obliged. The year was not a lost one but one of personal growth and therapy. Finally, the fog she had been living under lifted, and Kat knew what she had to do.

Once her stay at Harmony Place ended, Kat did not return home like was expected. Instead, Kat took a bus to the countries Capitol, where she spent a couple of weeks couch surfing before going to her sister looking for the family she had always craved. A year later, Kat found herself a new therapist and a new ballet company to work with. Her life didn't feel as over as it once had, and there was hope for her future here, brighter than she had ever anticipated before. Unfortunately, three years of performing was all Kat had left when a tragic accident ended her professional career. A snapped Achilles tendon. A pop heard all throughout the theater was the last sound of her career. Over a year of Physical therapy and one surgery later, Kat knew the ballet world knew she'd never dance professionally again.

In the aftermath, Kat got the best gift ever in the form of a small black Doberman puppy she affectionately named Baby. During all her new downtime, Kat spent the time painting and sculpting. She was finding the art to be therapeutic and aid in keeping her from a relapse that some days felt inevitable. While her art sold well on Etsy, Kat could not keep things going independently and moved in with a casual fling Kat felt closer to as a friend. However, it seemed she had misinterpreted the depth of their affection. A realization that came when they produced a ring and a question Kat had only one answer for; no. Kat moved to Brookland, taking an apartment with roommates rather than marrying someone she didn't see a future with; she was no stranger to starting over.

Kat now spends her time creating original pieces for her Etsy store, Kat's meow. While her professional ballerina career has ended, Kat has not given up on dance. Instead, Kat resumed tentative communication with her parents if only to receive her inheritance. The money was used to buy the space for her own studio where Kat teaches ballet to all ages and private Burlesque classes for adults once a week. In between, Kat attends therapy and meetings with her sponsor. She is unlearning the toxic parts of her childhood and finding ways to honor her passions without losing herself. Some days the struggle is more complex than others. Rome was also built on ruins.

Kat is written by L.

[thedistrictroleplay]

ID:

Name | Nickname | Age:  Daphne Palmer-Slade | Daphne | 32 Birthday | Astrology:  June 11, 1989 | Gemini Pronouns | Sexual identity:  She/her | Pansexual  Birthplace | Raised:  New Orleans, LA Residence:  Petworth Occupation:  Police Detective  Faceclaim: Claire Holt 

TRIGGER WARNINGS: kidnapping tw, organized crime tw, suspected murder tw, car accident tw, death tw 

TIMELINE: 

1980s- Daphne Palmer is born in New Orleans in 1989, the younger half of a pair of fraternal twins.

1990s- Daphne grows up a member of New Orleans high society, unaware that her parents have maintained their wealth by getting in deep with organized crime (primarily as money launderers).

2000s- Daphne is accepted into Tulane University and majors in English. Her sister is kidnapped towards the end of her freshman year and the truth comes out about the Palmer’s involvement in organized crime. Daphne cuts ties with her parents and moves to San Francisco.

2010s- Daphne finishes college (majoring in criminal justice) and joins the San Francisco Police Department. She meets her future wife, who is pregnant, at a crime scene. They marry and Daphne begins raising her wife’s daughter as her own.

2020s- Daphne’s wife dies in a car accident. Daphne moves to Washington DC to be near her late wife’s family, to get help in raising her daughter now that she’s a single mom. She joins the local police department, where she primarily works for the Sex Assault Unit.

BIOGRAPHY:  

Daphne Giselle Palmer was born in New Orleans, Louisiana. She had a fraternal twin sister, born approximately ten minutes before her. Her parents were part of New Orleans’ high society, coming from two families who had been in the city since it was founded. As such, being a Palmer came with a certain amount of privilege. But what Daphne didn’t know was that her parents were involved in the city’s criminal underworld, doing business with some very dangerous people.

Shortly after Daphne turned 18, she graduated high school and was majoring in English literature at Tulane University. She and her sister had recently moved into their own house just off campus and were living their best college lives. But one night Daphne came home to find the house wrecked. Everything was upended and she found a ransom note. Daphne immediately called her parents, who told her to keep her mouth shut and not call the police. Daphne’s parents quickly and quietly paid the ransom for their other daughter. But to the family’s horror, Daphne’s sister was never returned. To this day, Daphne believes something went wrong with the crime and her sister was murdered so that she couldn’t identify her kidnappers. She deeply regrets not calling the police, believing that if she’d ignored her parents and gotten the cops involved, her sister would still be alive.

Daphne cut ties with parents shortly after her sister’s disappearance, blaming their criminal activities for her sister’s disappearance. Afraid she would be next if she didn’t make some life changes,  she moved across the country to California. Settling in San Francisco, she began working as a waitress to put herself through university. While attending San Francisco State University, she changed her major from English literature to criminal justice. She wanted to prevent what happened to her sister from ever happening to anybody else. After graduating from university, she joined the San Francisco Police Department. After a few years as an officer, she worked her way up to detective. She hopes that by helping other people, she can make up for her role in her sister’s untimely disappearance.

About two years ago, Daphne was working a case when she met a young woman who was a witness to a crime. The woman had recently learned she was pregnant, shortly after moving to San Francisco from her hometown of Washington DC. She felt alone and scared. Daphne formed a friendship with her, which ultimately turned into something more. The two quickly fell in love. When the other woman gave birth to a little girl named Danielle, Daphne adopted the child and the three became a little family. A marriage between the two women followed soon after. They had a quiet ceremony: just the two of them, their daughter, and a justice of the peace. But when her wife died tragically in a car accident six months ago, Daphne felt alone in the world again. She packed up her belongings and moved herself and her daughter to her wife’s hometown.

Daphne joined the DC Police Department as a detective. She and her daughter currently share a small two-bedroom house in Petworth. Danielle is now almost 18 months old, and is the light of Daphne’s life. She’s made efforts to reach out to her wife’s family, believing that Danielle deserves to know that part of her family tree. Especially because Daphne has sworn she will never allow her own parents to have contact with the little girl, for the child’s safety. As far as she is concerned, her parents no longer exist. Still, Daphne longs for a family she can rely on when she needs support and guidance. She hopes to find that with her late wife’s family, since she knows she will never find it with her own.

Daphne is written by Lauren.