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westerlyroleplay · 3 years ago

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NAME: Evanie Jennings GENDER & PRONOUNS: Cis woman / She/Her AGE & DATE OF BIRTH: 28 years old / August 24 HOMETOWN: Knoxville, TN TIME IN WESTERLY: 3 years RESIDENCE: Downtown OCCUPATION: Bartender at Holy Water

LOST IN THE MEMORY —— august.

The rolling red dunes of Tennessee are idyllic for those born there. Those living on the Bible belt would preach that their way is best; living among fronds of corn, fixing up hand-me-down Fords, marching bands at the rise of the harvest moon. That little slice of heaven was home to Evanie and the Jennings family, and their ranch was, by all accounts, an extension of their family. Sure, they were a group of ruffians, vagabonds, and good-for-nothings; blood was thicker than water, and family ties were knotted tighter than Grandma’s yarn. Wearing a baseball cap backwards, rocking those Daisy Dukes and with a strand of hay between her two front teeth, it was no doubt the girl caught the attention of the wrong crowds. For the most part those barnyard boys were swatted away, threatened with her father’s wrath if they threatened to come too close, yet it was inevitable that one of those low-down and dirty Villarreal boys would breach the walls that had been painstakingly built, brick by brick, to protect the youngest of the offspring.

Canyon Villarreal was the type with his blue jeans scuffed with mud and, at first, such a sight turned Evanie’s stomach. Being an expert at a gentlemanly facade he managed to sweep her off her spurs with long tractor rides in the dark, with promises of white picket fences and expansive families. Like many a country man, he had his vices. Most nights were watched through the bottom of a bottle, and instead of identifying that it was a problem she giggled, rested her head on his shoulder, and insisted that he was just having fun. She changed everything for him, abandoning values and family to be whisked away on the road with him; she changed, but was it for the better? Well, that was still up for debate.Being seventeen, too young to know any better, she was knocked from reality into the arms of the beast — they began courting, much to her father’s dismay, and throughout the years she grew further and further apart from the rest of the Jennings household. Her elder brother and sisters moved away, splintered into separation, and so when Canyon suggested a road trip Evanie had no reason to refuse. They packed up all their earthly possessions and slung them into the back of a trailer, hitting the road to the soundtrack of Cash, Hank, Willie and Waylon.

Perhaps it was inevitable that things weren’t built to last. On the road, when they pulled over to fill the trailer with much needed gas, she discovered his phone blowing up with notifications from somebody she didn’t recognise. A woman. Suddenly everything made sense — the distance, the harsh words, the nights alone in motel rooms with zero contact from Canyon. It was made clear that he hadn’t been hers to lose, for he was somebody else’s. Throwing the phone to the tarmac, the screen shattered into fragments of their relationship, impossible to stitch back together. With the selection of clothes on her back and the fire lit beneath of a woman scorned, she took the trailer and drove to begin a new life. It just so happened that the next stop was Westerly. With mascara tracked down her cheeks the car radio was switched up to eleven and blared out the windows. Finally she was free, but at what cost?

Nowadays she lives alone, with only her little black cat named Cash for company. It’s a lonely life, but it’s a safe one — Evanie has nobody to hold her back, to tell her what she should or shouldn’t do, to tell her when to come home. Some nights she misses it, glancing at her phone and realising nobody has called versus the hundreds of missed calls she was used to. Canyon is long gone; since leaving she hadn’t heard a peep and, as much as it stings, she knows its for the best. Landing a job at the bar was bittersweet, the memory of seeing those whiskey-brown eyes glancing through the bottom of a beer glass. Plans remain cancelled (or never made) in the hopes somebody would reach out, that somebody would want her as much as she had been wanted before, just in case her phone would ring.. just in case he’d call. Sometimes she still sees him, an apparition in the dark, but how can you lose what was never yours? Most nights are spent taking extra shifts at the dive bar or walking desolate streets, walking to the shore’s edge and dipping painted toes into the froth of the ocean. Three years gone and she’s still searching for what’s left of herself after surrendering everything for love, or whatever had been beneath the veil of a constructed love that she had no part of. The decade had worn her thin, whittled like a spoon on Peepaw’s porch; out of the woodchip Evanie is continuing to rebuild her life, her essence and, most importantly, herself.

Portrayed by OLIVIA COOKE, written by MANES.

#t.#fl.#f.#olivia cooke #evanie jennings #manes #august

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westerlyroleplay · 3 years ago

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NAME: Kai Lei GENDER & PRONOUNS: Cis man / He/Him AGE & DATE OF BIRTH: 35 years old / August 29th HOMETOWN: Greenwich, CT TIME IN WESTERLY: 5 years RESIDENCE: Downtown OCCUPATION: Research scientist, part-time tutor

HELP ME HOLD ONTO YOU, I’VE BEEN —— the archer.

Trigger Warnings: Parental abuse, divorce

There’s a particular kind of cruelty in leaving a life behind. However, what would’ve been crueler is making Kai stay in that fucking place. Kai’s life didn’t really begin until he was able to get out from under the weight of his father’s stare and ambitions. Kai Lei grew up in a household that was never made for kids. Beyond his father’s tireless and incredibly heavy expectations, the alcohol that drip, drip, dripped down his father’s throat was enough for a whole bar. But he was the only parent that Kai had left after his mother left them when his father was too much to bear. His little sister and brother thankfully had Kai who looked after them and kept them from the brunt of their father. As he got older, he forced his father into treatment, getting him clean headed and facing whatever demons made him want Kai to be perfect. Once his siblings were in a better place and he was old enough to leave that town, that house, he ran— ran as far away as he could.

Across the country, his father couldn’t touch him. He couldn’t force him to practice and study like his life literally depended on it. He didn’t have to go to the college that his father did. He didn’t even have to go to college at all. However, he ended up wanting to after dead end jobs lost their novelty of having money of his own. Kai enrolled himself in community college before transferring to a university. He started off on the track to becoming a doctor. Then he was a math major. Then he was a business major. By the end of it, Kai realized he just wanted to learn. He would spend his whole life in school if he could. After graduating with a double major in Biology and Human Genetics, finally settling on one thing, he moved on to grad school. That’s where he met the woman that would be his wife. They married quickly, never really thinking about what they were getting into. And that would be the death of them.

He wasn’t ready to be a good husband and maybe that was her mistake but his mistake was letting her believe he would change. He’d always focused on himself more than anyone else. He was harsh, using his intellect against people, as if he were better than them. Kai’s words were sharp like a knife, cutting her at every turn. She’d always been soft where he was harsh. She was naive and he was the evil-doer— the one that made her lose herself. She’d told him time and time again that something had to give, that she wasn’t happy and that there was nothing left for them. Try as he might, he couldn’t change. Instead, all he could think about was that this might’ve been the same shit that his mother put up with before she left her three kids with the drunk, ambitious man he’d dealt with his entire life. So he ran from the marriage, he ran from her, and he moved his shit to Westerly for a new job.

It’s been a few years since he’d settled down in Westerly and since then, he’s been letting his success speak for itself. It was the best revenge he could muster up for his dad— being everything he hadn’t been. Hell, he was everything his father pushed him to be. And even if he didn’t quite hit a home run in the love department, maybe he was better off alone, warding off those that wanted to know him. A few years older, maybe a bit wiser but definitely smarter.

Portrayed by LEWIS TAN, written by STEPH.

#t.#ed.#m.#lewis tan #kai lei #steph #the archer

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westerlyroleplay · 3 years ago

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NAME: Eliza Bennett GENDER & PRONOUNS: Cis woman / She/Her AGE & DATE OF BIRTH: 28 years old / February 11 HOMETOWN: Westerly, RI TIME IN WESTERLY: Returned recently RESIDENCE: Misquamicut OCCUPATION: Director and screenwriter; unemployed

FELL FROM THE PEDESTAL, RIGHT DOWN THE RABBIT HOLE —— long story short.

Trigger Warnings: Teenage pregnancy, allusion to homophobia, divorce, alcoholism mention

According to her older brother, Eliza Rose Bennett came out of the womb loudly. She never quite grasped the concept of existing quietly, in the way that her brother did. If he was the golden boy, the quiet and powerful presence, she was the wild child, demanding attention but not quite yielding respect. On paper, you would assume that they didn’t get along– that their differences and normal sibling dynamics turned the two into enemies, destined to compete to be the favorite. But that never happened; instead, the two were inseparable (mostly thanks to Eliza’s refusal to respect Matt’s personal space).

Truthfully, Eliza’s childhood was idyllic. Her parents were in love, her older brother let her hang out with him, she was afforded every opportunity she could dream of– Eliza cycled through dance, piano, tennis, wilderness camp, and children’s theater in the same way she switched between going by ‘Eliza’ or ‘Rose’ or ‘Liz’ or the brief stint of ‘E.B.’ She was constantly undergoing transformation, constantly pushing the boundaries of what was normal, and for the most part the Bennetts let her. Lillianne was always her biggest advocate; Eliza knew her dad didn’t get her, but mom urged him to let her explore. They looked at Matty differently, though– with him, they knew what to expect. He was reliable, and reliably good.

For a long time, Eliza was jealous of him. She may have been too young to name that feeling, but she remembers the distinct urge to be looked at like that. For dad to beam with pride at her recitals or games or impromptu monologues in the living room. But as she got older and she and Matt started to really talk, she realized it was crushing him. The weight of all those expectations, mom’s and dad’s and the town’s and his own, was paralyzing her larger-than-life big brother. So she told him to do what she’d always done– whatever the hell she wanted, whenever the hell she wanted. And he did! Or, he was going to, until shit with their dad hit the fan.

Eliza likes to say she wasn’t surprised by their dad cheating; it was partially true, she’d always known how different her parents were, despite the ‘perfect family’ show they put on for the town. But truthfully, she never expected dad to be so cruel, so shallow. Eliza took dad’s infidelity as a personal affront. She took it not as a rejection of her mother, of his marriage, but a rejection of their family– of her. When Matty left with no warning, though? Eliza hardened. She sympathized with him, of course, she couldn’t imagine what it was like to be the one to catch dad, to have to tell mom. But Matt running off to join the army– moving worlds away instead of college a few hours away– was incredibly hard on Eliza, especially as a freshman at the same high school her dad’s mistress worked at. She threw herself into anything she could find to channel the anger she felt– particularly underage drinking and theater.

Eliza found her rhythm in high school, found a place where she fit. Ever the leading lady, ever-present in any dingy basement or waterfront mansion, so long as there was beer. She felt in control on the stage, and throwing herself into a character, into another world, was much easier than dealing with her own. She applied the same strategy to sneaking out and drinking every weekend; after all, mom was grieving and dad was gone. It was almost too easy– the hiding and the sneaking around. In a way, she was glad that Matt was gone, because Eliza was sure that he would see right through her unaffected shtick, and would want better for her.

But he wasn’t. Westerly without Matt was incredibly dull– painfully dull, even. Eliza started plotting her escape the second she realized Matt was gone. She’d never really been into school, it wasn’t her thing, but the idea of college appealed to her. So, Eliza buckled down and made good enough grades to get into a few schools, enough scholarship money to actually be able to go to those schools. Despite her mom’s insistence on looking local, Eliza only applied to New York schools. When she got into NYU, she chalked it up to fate and committed. New York was where she could be herself, where her life would turn into something great.

Life always seemed to have a way of derailing Eliza’s plans at every turn. The morning of graduation, she snuck out of the house to buy a pregnancy test at CVS. Eliza had been sort of dating this guy Leo who had graduated a few years before but was still in town. It was mostly for looks, so she had someone to bring to parties and family dinners. He was nice enough, but she didn’t love him. She never could, really– Eliza had known since she was thirteen that she didn’t like boys. She and Leo had only slept together a handful of times, anyway, and yet… the test confirmed her fear. Eliza could see exactly what her life would look like. Her big dreams of moving to New York, of making movies, would be dashed by the baby; she would be forced to stay in town and get a dead-end job and always think about what could have been.

She didn’t tell anyone, not even Matt, because it was a decision she needed to make alone. Ultimately, though it was far from ideal, Eliza’s stubbornness pulled through. Logic dictated that she had two options– keep the baby and stay home or get rid of the baby and go to college. So, naturally, Eliza kept the baby and went to college. She didn’t want dad anywhere near the baby, so she didn’t tell him. She told Matt about her plan beforehand, and didn’t tell mom until she’d already left– to avoid any lectures about how hard it would be or any pleas to stay home. And then Eliza gave birth to Chase Wesley Bennett on January 23, 2013 in New York City– halfway through her freshman year at NYU. Eliza had no idea how she was going to take care of a baby and finish her degree, but she was determined to figure it out.

The first semester was the hardest, and thankfully her mom stayed in the city most of the year to help with the adjustment. But by the time fall semester rolled around, Eliza and Chase had adjusted well. Her professors knew to expect him in class, and his temperament was so calm and friendly that he had no issue. She figured he took after his namesake, her big brother, in that category. Naturally, Eliza didn’t have much of a social life throughout college– who wanted to hang out with the 19-year-old and her son? – but in retrospect, it was for the best. She poured herself into her screenplays and worked closely with professors to polish a few ideas she was really excited about.

Eliza’s graduation was a long-awaited celebration, and she still looks back at it as one of the happiest days of her life. For once, she’d done the right thing; for once, she’d succeeded when no one thought she could. It was euphoric. And what was better was that she had a job waiting for her, at a production company founded by one of her TAs. Eliza was thrilled to learn more about directing, and three-year-old Chase traded going to class with her to tagging along at work. It was getting harder now that he was older, but no one on set seemed to mind so long as he kept quiet and out of the way.

After a year and a half on the job, Eliza decided to attempt the impossible: to direct and produce her first short film based on one of her screenplays, while raising an almost five year old alone. Once again, everyone thought she was crazy. And once again, that only fueled her need to succeed. She worked nights and weekends for almost two whole years, but the end product was well worth it. Eliza Bennett’s rewrite of “The Yellow Wallpaper”, centering instead a troubled teen and blatantly a criticism of Eliza’s own father as the personification of patriarchy, won the 2018 SOFIE award for Original Screenplay, and was nominated for Best Film, Director, and Leading Actress. With this success came more opportunity; Eliza was quickly given a screenplay for a full-length film, and dedicated her next two years to bringing it to life.

If the short film defined Eliza’s career, this film certainly changed her life. A month into shooting, it became abundantly clear that Eliza’s connection with the leading lady, an actress named Ivy Gauthier, was more than professional. They started seeing each other, and their romance was a whirlwind. Ivy was everything Eliza felt like she was missing– someone who understood her love for film, her creative mind, and her dedication to her son above all else. A few weeks before shooting wrapped and editing began, Eliza proposed to Ivy in another one of her signature impulsive decisions. Ivy accepted, and they eloped in a small ceremony upstate. Eliza’s mom, Matt (via FaceTime), Chase, and Ivy’s parents were the sole witnesses of the courthouse ceremony.

Their life together, the press tour for the film and the slow weekends at home and Chase’s soccer practices, was beautiful. Everything about it felt right– Eliza finally felt like she had the family she always wanted, a home that was truly warm and loving. Of course, everything changed when Matt got into his accident. Suddenly, Eliza was torn between two places: her life in New York, her wife, her movie, and her brother’s bedside, a dozen tabs about treating PTSD and emotional support animals and veteran’s benefits. The movie did well– really well– not that Eliza really cared anymore. Tensions rose between Eliza and Ivy, their still-new relationship buckling under the unforeseen stress.

After Matt got settled back in Westerly and a plan was in place– for him to take over the auto shop as soon as he was up to it– Eliza returned to New York for good. Or so she thought. A new film was waiting for her, but for the first time in her life, Eliza didn’t feel up to the challenge. She felt guilty for being in New York and just going back to work as if her whole life hadn’t changed. She’d taken it for granted that Matt was the strong one and the stability of the family– and when he wasn’t? When he was literally inches away from death? It was like Eliza didn’t know who she was. He said he was fine, that he just needed to work through everything and recover at home, but Eliza was so scared to lose him– she’d read enough about survivor’s guilt and PTSD and complex trauma to know he wasn’t in the clear yet– that she was constantly calling and checking in and visiting home almost every weekend.

She wasn’t invested in her work (or in her relationship), and it showed. The film she’d been given, which had a strong script and a capable cast, was a dud. The reviews were harsh– calling her a two-hit wonder, a washed-up star at twenty-seven. She and Ivy were hanging on by a thread; Eliza never stopped loving her wife, but she’d pulled away, refused to talk to Ivy about what was going on with her. Eliza began to question everything– was she good at her job, or had she just gotten lucky? Were she and Ivy in love, or was it just lust? Was it stupid to get married that fast? Was it cruel to raise a child in the city? Did Chase need a male presence in his life? Was Eliza a good enough parent to him? She was imploding, honestly– her misplaced confidence and spontaneity had finally caught up to her.

Eliza’s wake-up call came when her production company dropped her for drinking on the job. She hadn’t realized it had gotten that bad, or that it was bad at all, really. The nail in the coffin was Ivy waiting for her when she got home, saying she needed to talk. She was halfway through explaining why their relationship wasn’t working, how Ivy was going to L.A. to shoot a movie and thought that maybe it was time to go their separate ways, when Eliza decided she would move home. Not because she wanted to, really, but because she couldn’t stay here. For all of her flaws, Eliza was never good at accepting failure, and staying in the city where she’d ruined her dreams and lost her wife? It was too much to face. So, Eliza and Chase packed up their bags and made their way to Westerly, RI to stay with Matt for a while. Just until they get back on their feet, Eliza promised herself, though she’s full of doubt.

Portrayed by SAOIRSE RONAN, written by NIKKI.

#t.#em.#f.#saoirse ronan #eliza bennett #nikki #long story short

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