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merrock · 3 days ago

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information

full name: Harley Hua

nickname(s) / goes by: Harley, 'art' signed with the H handshape (name sign), Li (Chinese name their grandma calls them)

pronouns & gender: they/he, transmasc nonbinary

sexuality: pansexual

birth date: may 27, 2000.

birth place: alexandria, va

arrival to merrock: 2003, at the age of three

housing: downtown in a one bedroom apartment

occupation: art instructor, freelance illustrator, web cartoonist

work place: the color wine, work-from-home

family: parents, older brother, maamaa

relationship status: single

personality

Harley knows who they are, and they're not afraid to let their newfound confidence and happiness shine through. Sunny and friendly, they're the kind of person who will drop everything to help out someone they care about. Sometimes their positivity can be a little forced, though, as they try not to think about the sadder parts of their life. Usually functioning more on caffeine than sleep, Harley is a nocturnal workaholic. But they would argue that it's not work if you're doing what you love.

portrayed by Chella Man; penned by Elle.

full biography / background

triggering / sensitive content warning: audism, ableism, gender dysphoria.

Harley was born in Alexandria, Virginia, just outside of Washington DC. His parents had been struggling to give birth for years, and adopted their oldest child. Shortly after the adoption was finalized, they were pleasantly surprised to find out that they were going to have a biological child as well. Despite a difficult and complicated pregnancy, Harley was born as a seemingly healthy baby girl. They were only three when the family relocated to Merrock, ME. Their only early memories of Alexandria are a few brief glimpses of the family’s apartment. Growing up, Merrock was the only place they had ever called ‘home’.

Harley’s first hearing test was when they were five years old. It was a routine test that every kid in his class received, along with a vision screening. Harley’s eye test came back without any cause for concern, but they soon found out that they had failed their hearing test. This surprised not only Harley, but their parents as well. A follow up test with a licensed audiologist confirmed the original findings, and gave a clearer idea of what frequencies were affected. Mild hearing loss in the upper registers. At first, there was nothing to be concerned about. They could understand spoken language perfectly fine, with no major difference from their peers with perfect hearing, so the only thing that was done was a follow up appointment in a few months to monitor and make sure their hearing wasn’t deteriorating. A few months later, in the same audiologist office, their parents found out that the most recent test had come back showing greater hearing loss. Nobody knew what would happen in the future, but all signs pointed to them becoming completely deaf before reaching adulthood.

Their home was a bilingual environment, with both English and French commonly spoken with sprinklings of Cantonese as well. Throwing in a fourth language would only confuse everyone, the audiologist told them. With Harley not being born deaf, he had a similar grasp of oral language to his hearing peers, and the audiologist also worried that he’d be less motivated to speak and would lose the clarity of his spoken words if he had the option to sign. His family was pushed towards hearing aids and lipreading. Once hearing aids were no longer enough, they could start looking at cochlear implants.

Although Harley doesn’t dwell on it or talk about it much, this was a very difficult and scary time. They were losing one of their senses, and nobody could stop it or make it easier. They threw themself into gymnastics, which they had been involved with since moving to Merrock. They loved challenging themself to be the best they could be. However, being in such a female dominated sport also highlighted a feeling that something was different about them. They brushed those feelings off, figuring they were just more of a tomboy than other girls in the sport and that their feelings of disconnect from their body were because of how they felt about their hearing loss.

The other thing they focused on was their art. Their first canvases were crayons and the white walls of their Alexandria apartment. They heard the words ‘security deposit’ in worried, frustrated tones many times before they ever understood what the phrase meant. Fortunately for their parents, they quickly moved onto graphite pencils and sketchbooks, and later canvas and paint. Once their hearing began to deteriorate, art became a very comfortable escape; it was a world where hearing meant nothing and they could draw the many feelings they didn’t have the words to talk about.

Before finishing middle school, Harley was profoundly deaf. Hearing aids had long stopped being a tool to help them understand spoken language, and their lipreading skills had not developed as strongly as their audiologist and parents had hoped for. With some accommodations, they managed in school and gymnastics. Their friends tried to be inclusive, utilizing notebooks and group text chats, but there was only so much they could realistically do and Harley often felt like they were trapped in a bubble watching the world around them. They became a quiet observer, hiding behind a sketchpad or a comic book as often as they could.

Cochlear implants were strongly suggested by Harley’s audiologist, but his parents left the choice up to him. Harley was twelve now, and they felt he was old enough to have the final say in these decisions. But without knowing ASL or anyone else who was deaf, the choice was obvious. Harley underwent cochlear implant surgery on his right side, soon followed by his left side. The adjustment was difficult. As isolating as the silence had been, he was used to it. He was hearing sounds he had completely forgotten about and found listening all the time to be overstimulating. But his audiologist pushed for him to wear the cochlear implants every waking moment, and it’s what his parents expected from him as well. Still, he didn’t regret his choice. For the first time in years, he could have conversations with his friends and listen to his teachers. His confidence grew, and as he learned to hear the world through his artificial ears, he became much more outgoing.

In eighth grade, some of their friends convinced them to try out for cheerleading. Harley’s gymnastics background helped them pass auditions with flying colors. The girls on the squad were very quick to give Harley a makeover. They had always preferred basketball shorts and baggy tshirts. Their mom refused to let them cut their long, curly hair so they instead pulled it back in a pony or messy bun to not have to deal with it. But this was apparently “not how a cheerleader should present herself”. Eager to not be the weird deaf tomboy cheerleader who stuck out like a sore thumb, Harley accepted the help finding a new look. Skinny jeans, mini skirts and feminine tops that revealed curves they never wanted soon replaced most of their ‘boy’ clothes. They also started wearing their hair down most days to hide their cochlear implants. If people didn’t see the devices, they often forgot he was deaf. With his new aesthetic, he finally looked like a ‘normal’ girl.

Objectively, Harley knew they were considered attractive. But when they looked at themself in the mirror, they felt no connection to the feminine reflection staring back at them. It was easy to explain this feeling away - their body had betrayed them and becoming deaf had been traumatic, so of course it was hard to feel connected to it now. But that explanation didn’t quite sit right and it didn’t do anything to lessen the numbness Harley felt deep down every time they had to put on the stereotypical teenage girl persona, or get into a cheer uniform or gymnastics leotard. And it didn’t explain the jealousy Harley felt every time they were intimate with a boyfriend.

Harley attended college in New York City, with a degree in illustration. They picked New York because several major book publishers were headquartered there. Their childhood dream had been to become a comic book artist, with their backup being to do illustrations for childrens’ books, and a degree in illustration set them up for both. The biggest drawback was that they had no family in New York, leaving them on their own for the first time. But they quickly realized this had some major benefits. Nobody cared what Harley looked like; even participating in The New School’s cheerleading squad, there were no unofficial dress code requirements. Their mom wasn’t there to stop them from cutting their hair short, and nobody shared any criticisms when they once again replaced dresses and heels for patterned button ups and sneakers. For the first time that Harley could remember, they felt okay in their own skin. Some days they even felt good. Yet every time they had to put on that cheer skirt, all of those positive feelings would practically leak out of their body and it would take several days to feel okay again. Harley finally opened up to a teammate about it one night before a game, and that friend said something that changed Harley’s world. Do you think you might be trans?

At first, Harley laughed off this idea. He was certainly aware trans people existed, but it was always an abstract idea. Other people were transgender. They had been a stereotypical teenage girl and they had performed that character well. But that was just it…’she’ was a character, and to some degree they realized they always saw ‘her’ more as an alter ego than who they really were. If they were Superman, ‘she’ was Clark Kent helping them blend into the society around them…just with lipstick instead of glasses. As Harley came out and started to transition, they realized that this was what their body was supposed to feel like and that the person in the mirror finally felt like it was really them. They leaned hard into this new identity, going exclusively by he/him pronouns, and seeing themself as a binary trans man.

Shortly into his sophomore year, Harley’s maamaa (grandma) in Alexandria had to get emergency surgery. Harley ended up withdrawing early into the semester and taking a gap year so he could focus on helping his maamaa out. Her house was only twenty minutes away from Gallaudet. What Harley didn’t realize at the time was that the largest population of Deaf Americans was right there in nearby Washington DC. It only took a few weeks before the first time he saw people signing back and forth. As much as he wanted to go up and talk to them, he didn’t really know what to say. One of them saw him staring and noticed his cochlear implants. They exchanged numbers, and next thing Harley knew he was being dragged to his first Deaf event.

Harley expected to find connection, like they had finally found their people, but they felt so out of their depth in this new environment. They didn’t sign, and even the beginner ASL students who came to the event to meet native signers understood the language better than he did. However, one of those students did put him in touch with a Deaf ASL professor who then set Harley up with free ASL classes. The better his signing got, the more he started to find his place in the Deaf community. Once his grandma was feeling better, Harley went back to college in New York and found himself splitting his time between the two major cities.

Once Harley graduated from college, he started looking for work in New York. The plan his parents drilled into both him and his brother had always been simple; graduate high school, get into a good college, graduate, get hired. But there were so many aspiring artists in New York and there were fewer publishing companies now than when Harley had set out on his college path. By day, Harley worked on his art and tried to make connections in the art world that would lead to the career he wanted. By night, he was a bartender - the same job he had done throughout college. As the months went on, Harley didn’t catch any breaks in art and worried he would never be anything but a bartender with an unused art degree. So he started applying for any art job he could find, in both New York and Washington, DC.

He found work as a tour guide at a museum in DC, and moved back to Alexandria and lived with his maamaa. While at that job, Harley learned that he loved the idea of being a curator, and started an online masters program in art history. He also had the room to experiment with gender, labels and pronouns and ultimately landed on being a nonbinary person who used both they/them and he/him, with a preference towards gender neutral language and pronouns. They also came to see the Deaf community and the Chinese-American community in DC as part of their identity as well.

A couple years later, their maamaa made the decision to retire and move to Merrock to be closer to the rest of the Hua family. Initially Harley didn’t plan on returning to Maine with her. They were very involved in both the Deaf and Chinese-American communities in the DC area, and knew moving back to Merrock would mean giving both of those things up. But they slowly realized their maamaa's move was their dad’s idea. Maamaa didn’t speak much English, and Harley knew better than anyone else in their family how isolating that could be for her. They decided to move back to their hometown to be closer to their maamaa and rebuild their relationship with their parents.

Now back in town, Harley still manages to stay busy. They split their time instructing classes at The Color Wine, working as a freelance illustrator, and they are starting their own webcomic about the intersectionality of trans, Deaf, Chinese and Jewish cultures. When they’re not overly involved in their art, they can often be found working out or reading a comic book.

#merrockbio #harleyhua #audism tw #ableism tw #gender dysphoria tw

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merrock · 3 days ago

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Please follow and give a warm welcome to the newest Merrockite:

harley hua

#merrockfollow

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merrock · 3 days ago

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WELCOME TO MERROCK, HARLEY!

Merrock would like to welcome Harley Hua, penned by Elle. Make sure your account is submitted in 48 hours, and take a look at our welcome brochure. Can't wait to see you on dash! xx

OOC INFO: Elle

face claim: Chella Man

full name: Harley Hua

nickname(s) / goes by: Harley, 'art' signed with the H handshape (name sign), Li (Chinese name their grandma calls them)

pronouns & gender: they/he, transmasc nonbinary

sexuality: pansexual

birth date: may 27, 2000.

birth place: alexandria, va

arrival to merrock: 2003, at the age of three

housing: downtown in a one bedroom apartment

occupation: art instructor, freelance illustrator, web cartoonist

work place: the color wine, work-from-home

family: parents, older brother, maamaa

relationship status: single

filling connection: n/a

#merrockwelcomes #harleyhua

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merrock · 3 days ago

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information

full name: windsor browning

nickname(s) / goes by: winnie, win

pronouns & gender: cis woman, she/her

sexuality: heterosexual

birth date: may 26th, 1993

birth place: Merrock, ME

arrival to merrock: local

housing: the coast & pier

occupation: car mechanic & model

work place: takato's garage

family: browning family

relationship status: single

personality

A classic younger child, and even more of a younger daughter, Winnie is independent to a fault. She's grown up raised by her siblings, mostly her brothers, seeing as her mom was always far too focused on Cornelia and raising a perfect daughter there. She's very strong willed, stubborn and has the idea that whatever she could do by herself, she could. Hates asking for help, mostly because she hates being disappointed. Immensely self sufficient, she's also her biggest critic and often too harsh on herself behind closed doors. On the outside though, she can be a very sweet girl. Very charming, playful and joyful, knows how to get what she wants using her looks and is very willing to play dumb in order to smoke you and teach you a lesson or two.

portrayed by Sydney Sweeney; penned by Charlie.

full biography / background

triggering / sensitive content warning: military.

Windsor Browning was born on a rainy may morning, and as much as her parents never let her believe, she was 100% a mistake... Well, more an oopsie baby than a mistake really. Cordelia was born in 1987 and, as far as the Brownings knew, that's all the family they wanted. Two handsome sons, one beautiful daughter, what more could they want? Which is why, five years later, two pink lines on a pregnancy test surprised the family, and on year number six, a bright eyed baby girl came out, wailing and screaming, to close the Browning family factory for good.

Windsor wasn't a particularly hard child for her parents... Mainly because they didn't really raise her. Her earliest memories in life, and most of them in all honesty, were made with her siblings. Playing dolls with Cordelia, blowing out birthday candles with Theo and playing outside with Jace. While Theo had Cordelia, and it was blatantly obvious that Theo had taken a very protective position with the eldest Browning sister, Winnie had Jace. He was everything for her. While their mother was too busy preening Cordelia and making sure she was up to par to date, dance with and marry the most eligible bachelor in Merrock, and Theo tried to get in the middle of that to protect her, Windsor and Jace spent all their time playing together. He helped her ride her first bike, and cleaned up all her scraped knees after she fell from it time and time again, gave her the most fun piggyback rides, and then... He was gone. Out of nowhere, he was hugging her goodbye, and he left. She didn't really understand what the Army was, but she grew very resentful of it, and naturally of most things that implied her siblings being taken away from her. She didn't like it when Theo went off to college and really didn't like it when Cordelia was sent to live on her own when her mother felt she was a disgrace to the family. After that situation, living in the Browning household by herself with her parents became... Hostile at best, challenging for sure, and more like a war zone than a family home. Winnie hated her parents for what they'd done to her sister and for what she felt had driven her brothers away, Theo for a few years, and she was so happy to see him again after college, but she definitely blamed them for sending Jace away into the military.

Windsor went through and then graduated high school without any major issues, rebelling against everything her mother had always wanted her to be. She wore ripped up jeans and outfits that hugged her very present curves, necklines that were far too deep for her mother, and cursed like a sailor every time the woman showed Windsor her mean side, the young girl telling her to go to hell, and as soon as she could, she moved out. Aside from her family, Windsor was very frugal. She'd inherited all of Cordelia's nice clothes, and her mom bought her all the clothes she never wanted to wear that she still had to at times, but most of the money she'd made during bake sales and whatever, she saved. She'd always loved cars and bikes, taking every shop class during high school because it was the closest thing to a garage, and every summer she'd beg Theo to convince his friend Josh to let her work at Takato's during the break. After graduation, it seemed like she'd proved her worth, or he just hada soft spot for the baby Browning, because Josh offered her a job as a mechanic right away.

With that money, she rented a little house by the water, one of the things she loved most about Merrock, the coast. She turned the garage in that house into her own garage, where she fixed vintage cars and did a little extra work for some extra money during her off days from the shop. After a few years, she'd made enough money to put a downpayment to buy that same house, and take out a mortgage. She didn't need more, it was plenty enough for her and her two rescue dogs, Tank and Sully.

A few years ago, with the rise of social media, Winnie started to post more content with her cars, and brands quickly started taking notice of her. It wasn't multi-million dollar deals, and she didn't want to sign into an agency to make this her full time job, but it was nice to be recognized by car brands she idolized, so she started working with them and modeling for brands that reached out to her who's products she enjoyed and genuinely used.

#merrockbio #windsorbrowning

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merrock · 3 days ago

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APP COUNT UPDATED: 1 application added.

#merrockadmin

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merrock · 3 days ago

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Happy Sunday, tags! I'm around for a couple of hours, doing some file organizing and working on a few replies when I work up the energy. If you'd like to fill up the inbox with asks, reserves or applications, feel free -- we'd love to see some of our wanted connections snatched up! xx

#town rp #small town rp #oc rp #original character rp #original rp #tumblr rp #slice of life rp #relaxed rp

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merrock · 3 days ago

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Happy Sunday! A quick note from the admin team to say that the starter page has been updated. Characters that are no longer a part of Merrock have been removed, and I double checked to make sure no opens have been marked as closed yet.

Please take some time to reply to open starters! It's a good habit to make them your first priority when logging in, so that you don't miss anything. Especially since we have some new characters who would love to get to know you!

THE STARTER PAGE. 💖

#merrockadmin

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merrock · 3 days ago

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information

full name: Tristan James Newman

nickname(s) / goes by: Tris, TJ

pronouns & gender: he/him, cis man

sexuality: Bi-curious

birth date: November 22, 1988

birth place: Merrock, Maine

arrival to merrock: Born and raised in Merrock, enlisted into the Navy at 18, permanently moved back March 2025.

housing: Lupine Lane (suburbs)

occupation: Honorably discharged from the U.S. Navy in 2024, Commander Tristan Newman ended his career as an elite Navy SEAL, expertly trained in explosive ordnance disposal and mechanical engineering. Now currently navigating civilian life -- unemployed.

work place:

family: Kellan Newman, Cage Newman, Mason Newman, Lucie Newman, Clementine Newman

relationship status: Single

personality

Fueled by determination and a thirst for adventure, Tristan is a hard-headed, resilient man shaped by years of military service. With that he carries years of quiet stoicism, often keeping his emotions under tight lock and key. Somewhere beneath the rugged, tough exterior lies a fiercely loyal soul, someone who would sacrifice everything for family, friends, and those he loves. Generous, to a fault at a times, Tristan is a ‘give you the shirt off his back’ kind of person and expect nothing in return for it, but cross him and you’ll find he’s not the one to try with. Tristan has engrained into his point-of-view that he doesn’t forget, and he certainly doesn’t let it go, holding a grudge comes as naturally to him as breathing.

portrayed by Glen Powell; penned by Bri.

full biography / background

triggering / sensitive content warning: premature birth, death tw, parental death tw, abortion, teenaged pregnancy, military, PTSD.

Third-born son of the Newman clan, Tristan came into the world with strong lungs and an even stronger personality. Born four weeks early, his mother used to say he was just determined not to miss Thanksgiving, and sure enough, he arrived just in time to join the holiday table. Though his original due date was closer to Christmas, the early arrival worked in his favor: it meant birthday celebrations never had to compete with holiday ones, something he saw many of his classmates suffer.

Growing up in a house full of siblings was the best possible start for Tristan. With two older brothers to lead the way, and occasionally lead him astray, his early years were full of mischief, guidance, and love. More siblings would follow, and the Newman house was rarely quiet. Tristan was just five or six when his mother passed away, and though his memories of her are few, her loss quietly shaped him.

Most days were spent helping out on the family farm, just being a regular kid. Tristan always considered his childhood a good one, filled with love, laughter, and a father who gave everything he had to raise his children right. Despite being smack in the middle of the pack, he never felt overlooked. From a young age, it was clear Tristan loved being outdoors, working with his hands, and staying busy. He wasn’t the rebellious type exactly, but with the company he kept, trouble had a way of finding him, his father often had to step in to set him straight.

Still, Tristan was a mostly good kid. Much to the frustration of some of his friends—and even his teachers—he had a natural knack for school without ever really trying. He coasted through assignments, aced exams, and turned in well written essays with what felt like minimal effort. He didn’t love school, often wished he did and his teachers sure pushed him to, but skating by seemed to be his way.

Unlike his brothers, Kellan, who excelled at soccer, and Cage, who took to football, Tristan found his passion on the ice. At just three years old, his mother laced up his first pair of skates, and he was off. From his first clumsy steps to gliding across the rink, hockey quickly became his first love. He joined pee-wee leagues early on, gradually moving up to local travel teams.

By eighth grade, he had earned a spot on the junior varsity team at Merrock High, playing left wing. In ninth grade, he was pulled as a second-round pick for the varsity team. By tenth, he had worked his way to starting center—a position he had trained hard to earn. From there, it was game on. Tristan dominated on the ice, backed up by his best friend—the team’s enforcer—and outside of hockey, he divided his time between training and doing his best to charm every girl in school.

Tristan had a reputation, at least by high school standards, as a bit of a ladies’ man. His relationships rarely lasted more than a few months, sometimes only a few weeks depending on where they fell in the hockey season. That all changed during his junior year, when a new girl moved to town and managed to do what no one else had, made him absolutely smitten.

When he wasn’t on the ice, he was with her. She was the one who could charm the un-charmable, the one person who could pull his focus from hockey. They officially started dating in the early months of their junior year, and just before their one-year anniversary, she told him she was pregnant. At seventeen, the idea of becoming a father was overwhelming, and even more so when he realized she had no intention of keeping the baby.

Telling his father was the hardest part, Tristan wasn’t sure what he feared more: the disappointment or the fear his father would kill him for getting his girlfriend pregnant. By the time he finally broke the news, it was already too late. She had made the appointment to terminate the pregnancy, letting him know that this was the plan she was moving forward with. In a last-ditch effort, Tristan proposed with his grandmother’s diamond ring, the first time he’d ever truly told someone he loved them, begging her to have a family with him, to let him take care of her. Only she didn’t see a life with him, they were teenagers just beginning their lives, not getting married and having babies!

Their relationship ended not long after. They tried, more than once, to patch things up, but the damage was done. Tristan was angry, at her, at himself, at everything. He became a different player on the ice: aggressive, reckless, benched more often than not. Off the ice, he withdrew, even from his closest friends. And then, one day, she left town without saying goodbye. Something in him snapped. He didn’t care about graduation, only showed up because he knew how much it meant to his father.

The moment the ceremony was over, Tristan walked out of the auditorium and straight into the local Navy recruiting office. Shipping out for basic training was the turning point for Tristan. It was there he found his purpose, where he thrived. Military life suited him in every way. He embraced the discipline, the structure, even the brutal moments in basic training when it felt like they were trying to break him. He loved all of it.

Over the years, Tristan specialized in explosive ordnance and mechanical engineering, quickly rising through the ranks as one of the most skilled in his unit. It felt only natural to take the next step and pursue training as a Navy SEAL -- a decision that would place him on more covert missions than he’ll ever openly admit to. He’s seen things in other countries that still echo in his mind, memories that sometimes haunt him in the quiet hours of the night. But despite the darkness and the toll it took, there isn’t a part of him that regrets his time in the military. He loved it, every moment of it.

On his last covert op, things went wrong, very, very wrong. That night he lost not only fellow SEAL teammates but some of the men that became more than best friends, they became brothers. He had earned his rank as Commander by this point, had been for a few years now, and knew what tolls came with this life. It hadn’t been the first time he had lost people that meant something to him, he had lived that life since he was a child, but this was the first time that it fundamentally changed him.

To this day he wasn’t sure how he survived that night, his mind tells him he shouldn’t have, given the injuries he sustained. His body has been left with scars that even if the tried to forget that night, his body won’t allow. The two largest scars cover the portion of his abdomen to his chest, they’re large, mangled, and while healed a constant reminder of his past. A past he survived, and sometimes still feels guilty for.

After receiving several medals for her bravery and dedication to the U.S. Navy, he was honorably discharged, and if he’s being honest, it broke his heart. His life, his person, had become the military and some much of who he is/was revolved around his service. His plan ending with him as an old man teaching fellow trainees at the Naval Academy, but he isn’t ready for that in his mid-thirties, despite being offered a position. Maybe in the future it was something he’d consider, but for now he finds himself returning to his old stomping grounds. Here he’s attempting to deal with the PTSD that he isn’t fully aware he even struggles with. He’s returned less angry, far more polished and educated, and doesn’t have a damn clue what he’s going to do with his life, but he did buy himself a trailer!

#merrockbio #tristannewman #premature birth tw #teenaged pregnancy tw #abortion tw #military tw #ptsd tw #death tw #parental death tw

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