#t.threads

[pxrfctstrngrs]

Mama doesn't call // Sister never writes // Bet you they would laugh If I called to say goodbye // No ones gonna worry // Notice when I'm gone // No they won't know I'm missin' // 'Till they pull me out the Mystic.

Name: Anthony Mickey Ward Nicknames: Tony, Ant, Though most everyone calls him Tilt, these days. Age: 35, DOB: 7/14/1989 FC: Spencer Charnas Gender/Sexuality: Cis Man [He/Him], Bisexual Occupation: Owner and regular operator of Greenview's Fun Palace Residency: A small home in town he shares with his twin sister, Mimi Ward. Positive Traits:  Friendly, Welcoming, Fun-Loving Negative Traits: Scatterbrained, Short-Tempered, Childish Relationship Status: Single [One Confirmed Chem Test, semi-open] Skeleton: OC

Aesthetics: The colors and bright lights of an innocence lost then recaptured, the Arcade is home, but the machines are old and worn- he can never go back, not really, the blood on his hands stains buttons and while his teeth are blunted and he is muzzled there are people who remember what he used to be, razor-sharp and deadly, motor oil and rich, well-worn leather flying a flag of loyalty. There’s no cross on the bend outside of town where the bike crashed, but something died out there that day. The physical injuries are minimal, now, but his mind has never quite been the same- maybe the peppy chiptunes are as much a prison as gunfire and rumbling engines. Maybe he’ll never know.

HISTORY

Bostonian transplant when he and his sister were ten, they were present in town and old enough to remember what happened to Duncan Farley, only a year after their arrival. He had his own theories about what happened, but he was a child- he never spoke or acted on them.

Fell in with a rougher crowd in his late teens and early 20s, familial loyalty to a local biker gang led to Tilt becoming a runner and mechanic at only 15, initially just to get himself out of the trailer park they’d moved into.

He flourished in the art of violence and misleading others, and from 19 to 27, he was a prominent member of the gang, regularly running drugs and guns and building an impressive rap sheet until a bike accident late one night on a twisted, rain-slicked backroad nearly took his life.

After a couple years of recovery, largely only supported by his twin sister, after their single father’s death, Tilt found himself capable enough to reintegrate into society- but no longer the ferocious young man he had once been. He took a job at the Fun Palace as the mechanic, somewhere he adored from his youth, and put his general technical skills to good use keeping everything running- so well that when the owner retired when Tilt was 29, he was offered the opportunity to take over and buy the place out.

He spends most of his time now at the Fun Palace, and has a near-encyclopedic knowledge about arcade machines from the 80s to present day, and despite still requiring the presence of a carer in his day-to-day because of periodic seizures, Tilt Ward has quickly become a well-loved member of the boardwalk’s ‘regulars’.

Incredibly jovial with a kind word for everyone, Tilt is also a regular handyman, willing to use his technical and mechanical knowledge to fix things up for others, like cameras, TVs, Cars, and old equipment.

He doesn't talk much about his past as a biker, as many of those memories were lost in his accident, including much of the way he used to pressure, extort, and threaten the people of Greenview in the name of his former crew.

He has an open door policy for the young folks around town to come by the Ward place for anything- dinner, a couch to crash on, or a listening ear, and with his memory issues and general inability to really muster up judgement, many college students tend to take him up on this.

He has a quick alert button on his person at all time that notifies his sister Amelia and a handful of other trusted parties when he thinks he feels a seizure coming on, and this has allowed him to live somewhat free of a constant handler.

[pxrfctstrngrs]

"Taking advantage, teaching you a valuable lesson about betting on losing dogs, whatever you want to call it one of us is out a few hundred bucks with how much time you'll be spending inking a sick vulture for free or the sheer number of rounds of laser tag I know you can fit in a 12 hour period of the Palace being open." Tilt shrugs, laughing as Kirby spares a glance for Vincent. "He's on lunch, I think I can handle one briefing so I don't have to drag the poor guy back here to tell everyone not to point a laser light into their eyes." Kirby sticks to their insistence they're not a bad shot- that Tilt has been cheating the several times he's beaten them at this. "Okay, so I'm not going to take that away from you, but we are going to have to talk about managing expectations or whatever, because I've only got the time for one go around today before my lunch- so after I kick your ass, man, I'm gonna have to go eat that burrito I've been daydreaming about this whole shift."

He gives it a moment of thought, as he unlocks the door to the maze proper and everyone starts filing in- before he laughs. "Two weeks or you finish my full back piece? I think I can deal with those odds. But that doesn't mean you get to cancel appointments with other people to get more tag time- you keep your commitments, and we've got a deal. It'll make watching you spin out and cope all the sweeter."

"it's because i own the place and i still have booth rent i can rely on." kirby grinned already having that answer on lock (maybe because they've been asked it a couple of times before). "plus i still do tattoo's, i just also offer trades." they added as they followed tilt over to the laser tag area. putting on the vest their eyebrow raised a little, looking around for vincent but shrugged assuming he must have the day off. "i'm not a bad shot! and you do cheat, i don't know how but i'll prove it one of these days." they didn't actually think he was a cheater but it made their ego feel better. feeling themselves get stopped, kirby looked at him, tapping their chin in thought. "so you want to take advantage of my bad shot? hmmmmmm make it two weeks and you have a deal."

[whencicatrized]

@xthestormcrow continued:

Waiting a beat, two - with her hands on her hips and a smile on her lips, she knows that with enough patience she'll get exactly the reaction she wants. As if cued, Sylva breaks. "You say that as if you won't get caught. How many people have the skills to take his things, eh? You'll be the first suspect." The odds of Lucanis encouraging this - purely to cause a little chaos - were incredibly high. Still... "And I'll be the second, so I might as well get in on the fun, too." Besides, she still owed Viago for stealing her kill during their last job together. "Alright, Sylvita, I'll keep him busy with shop talk and you get the dagger, deal?"

[pxrfctstrngrs]

Where: Our Daily Bread Who: Halen @themasksheraid

"Oh! Mornin' Halen!" It's his usual pleasant greeting that chirps from the back of the bakery line as he spots the younger man entering. "You got an early day too?" He's dressed for more walking than work, his usual graphic tee underneath a wild-printed button-up from behind the counter or in the office at the Fun Palace discarded for a sweater and heavy wool coat most certainly meant to chase off the winter cold. "Have some pickups to make across town but ah, nobody to drive me, so I'm just gonna catch a taxi or an uber over there after I grab some breakfast and see if I'm gonna need more than Mimi and her fuckin' Kia to get it moved back to the boardwalk.- But it's not every day somebody offers you a giant plasma ball for the price of 'get it out of my son's old man cave' yanno?" He sends a quick text to his sister- then tucks his phone away, focus now entirely on the conversation.

"Oh right, I think we're gonna have to push game night back a weekend- Mimi's on a tear about the murder on campus, so we've got a whole... 'suspect board' taking up the dining room table at the house- I meant to text ya about it, but then I got really invested in the plasma ball..."

[pxrfctstrngrs]

Where: Greenview Fun Palace Who: Wren @crwnofthcrns

"You know I'm supposed to be closing soon- I already had most of the extra staff go home that wasn't important for the blacklight bowl thing I said the high school band could use the place for tonight- which I mean, is probably why you're here now, now that I say it out loud, because you're like, really good at turning up when next to nobody else is here, making me question if maybe you're like... a figment of my imagination." It's almost worth asking Tilt how he knows the person who's triggered the bell above the door is Wren of all people, when he's halfway buried in the underside of an arcade cabinet, until the mirror posted above the row of games quickly answers any curiosity to his potential clairvoyance.

"How's it hangin', Birdgirl? Any hot gossip from this realm or beyond?" He scoots out from where he'd been working, sitting up with a groan and writing a note on the pad nearby for the maintenance staff. Looks like a burned out motherboard. I'll order a new one off eBay this week- just keep it Out of Order. -T.W. "I swear, I've got gremlins or something- every few days at least one of these things goes on the fritz."

[pxrfctstrngrs]

"It just means that you have tried to reinvent the barter system enough times that I'm surprised you receive money for any of your services like, at all." Eventually he tracks down the key, before flipping the switch to notify the guests in the arcade a round of Laser Tag is about to start- accompanied by the appropriate amount of siren noises and flashing lights. "The armory awaits, Chief." He snorts, jumping the counter cleanly and walking off to unlock the doors. "You know the drill, vest on, check your gun against the targets on the wall so you don't get to say that I'm 'cheating you out of a well earned victory' when we both know you're just kind of a bad shot. I gotta brief the other bodies so nobody goes missing or like... covers themselves in mud to avoid heat detection, Arnold-in-Predator style." It doesn't take too long for other people to filter in- for Tilt to explain how to play. But there's one more aside, as he catches Kirby by the back of the vest. "You wanna make this one interesting? You win, you get a week of games free. I win, you finish my back-piece pro bono. Deal?"

kirby had no doubt that tilt would say yes to the game of laser tag but it was always amusing to hear what he'd say was an 'excuse' not to. "sick nasty." they said leaning against the counter as he searched for his things. "well you're one tattoo iou away from getting a bigger session tattoo so like that should count for something right?" this time instead of pouting kirby had an innocent smile on instead.

[pxrfctstrngrs]

It was rare that the Fun Palace was empty- positioned right on the boardwalk it drew Greenview natives and tourists alike with bright lights and sounds, and the sign out front promising double-token Saturdays had certainly helped attract what looked to be the higher volume of visitors that had positioned Tilt behind the registers with his cashiers, pleasantly passing out cups of tokens when Kirby arrived. "Oh! Afternoon Kirby!" He's pleasant as always, waving his last customer into the arcade proper before walking to the counter to give Kirby a once-over as they demand he join them for laser tag. "And leave my post? Abandon my loyal cashier to the waves of visitors that are shockingly high in volume for the dead of winter?... Yeah sure you got it!" He unclips his nametag, sitting it aside and patting himself down for the keys to the Laser maze. "Are you planning to pay to play this time, or are you going to give me another tattoo IOU about it- which I think at this point you owe me like, a bunch." It's miraculous he remembers even that much.

who: kirby and tilt where: fun palace @pxrfctstrngrs

one of the benefits of befriending tilt was being able to visit him when at work when kirby had a day off with no clients and that was sometimes rare. not right now though as they had that day, heading into the fun palace to come bother the other. "tilt, my boy, my guy, yooooooou should play laser tag with me so i can kick your ass in it. if you say no i'll be sad." for added emphasis they flashed a pout and batted their eyelashes a little.