mister america's next top novelist

Loan officer by day, douche playing "wonderwall" and writing sad poems by evening. rp only.

[chetang]

CHETAN "CHE" GUPTA

he/him; June 12, 1990. born and raised in Merrock, Maine. suburban penthouse dweller, works at the bank, handling loans. single, no kids, dog dad. (penned by lindsey.) -- BIO, STATS, TIMELINE, CONNECTIONS.

[chetang]

Che liked to watch as many of the other performers as possible, simply to see the talent in town. Sometimes it felt like scoping out competition, but he was too good natured for that. "Well, I got my face painted," he said, gesturing to a small but very glittery butterfly on his cheek. "I wanted to look beautiful, obviously."

[dancerdarcyj]

Darcy smiled looking over at Che and couldn't help but laugh a little before looking at him for a brief moment as she went to run a hand through her hair but then stopped when she realised it that had more gel in it then ever to keep it in place whilst dancing. She smiled, "I think it suits you. did you get it out of choice or did someone persuade you to get it done?" She giggled although she was very tempted to get her face painted now that she was here.

[chetang]

"I liked it best of all of the design options," Che admitted. "It was silly but elegant. Or something like that." He grinned at her. "Those were good dance moves, by the way. How long have you been dancing?"

[estherquinn]

"So you're a denim over leather kind of person, then?" Esther asked with a teasing smile, "because people love a good trench in the winter time, right?" But she had to agree that there was something about the light coat season that made people look their coolest. And probably feel their coolest, too, come to think of it. "If it makes you feel any better, I'm not good with the regular footballs or paper footballs, so you at least have one over on me." She'd probably end up making something that vaguely looked like a football and… definitely did not soar through the air. "Yeah, feels like… maybe something we should have seen coming?" she shook her head, "I just wish it wasn't such a huge deception, like something little could have been manageable."

[chetang]

"I'm a whatever I think looks cool at the time type of guy, but denim is a bit more versatile," he admitted. "I feel like a lot of people end up drowning in trench coats, though, like you have to be tall and cool and I'm definitely only one of those two things." He nodded along with her football comments. "Well, it's more of...origami skills, so it has nothing to do with football, that's the secret there. You can figure it out, you only need to learn once." He shrugged. "I think it suits the super villain vibe."

[stellylee]

I bet that you cry yourself to sleep at night thinking about all of the things that I do or do not think about you, actually. And that's the way that it should be. Right... that's going to be your slogan when you run for office one day. "Man of the Nerds." You know, combine it into one saying to keep it short. Doing anything fun for Spring Fling?

[chetang]

Is this what you need to think of to have peace in your heart? I assure you I don't think about you beyond when I have to think about how to avoid you. That's so great that you think I'm capable of running for office. You think I'm a great and fun guy who can win elections. I sang a bit, did you catch my set or are you being open about hating me?

[dancerdarcyj]

with: darcy & open (capped at 0/5)

where: spring fling

Darcy had done her performance and it had been a crazy experience and adrenaline rushed performance. It was the first time in a long time that she figured out that she loved performing again after falling out of love with the idea. She had gone past a few people since who had congratulated her on her performance and she smiled and thanked them. With a coffee in her hands she looked at the person who had taken a seat, she smiled, "Tell me, what has been something you have really enjoyed today so far?"

[chetang]

Che liked to watch as many of the other performers as possible, simply to see the talent in town. Sometimes it felt like scoping out competition, but he was too good natured for that. "Well, I got my face painted," he said, gesturing to a small but very glittery butterfly on his cheek. "I wanted to look beautiful, obviously."

[estherquinn]

"Spring is that two week period where it rains and the rain makes it cold enough that you need a light coat," she said with a laugh, even if it was one hundred percent true. And then the next thing you knew, the sun was out and it was hot and spring was over: summer had settled in. "Thanks! That was the one, I was half tempted to ask if I could join you, I didn't even know people still made paper footballs," Essie grinned, shrugging both shoulders. "I'd ask you if anything around here is new and exciting, but I did hear about the Benefactor news."

[chetang]

"Light coat season is when you look the coolest, though. No other outerwear makes you look as cool as a denim jacket," he commented. THere was maybe an ounce of truth to that, save for the letter jacket. "Well, I'm not good with the regular footballs, but this I can do if it wastes the bank's time." He grinned at her, but not a very pleasant one, shoving a hand into his pocket. "Hard to believe we were deceived by a rich guy right? Or girl. Or I guess just person."

[lenavaz]

"That's a good point," she nodded her head thoughtfully, "unless you really, really mess up the garden, but even then, it's normally a quick fix compared to putting your entire life back on track." That could definitely end up taking a little more work than just adding new soil and putting deeper seeds into the ground. Or whatever it took. "Those became really popular for a while, didn't they? And then very slowly, I feel like we've been adding color back into the world. I've always loved my house for that reason, my abuela made sure that it was full of color." And it really was, all the way through. "She is! I should take you along to the home sometime, you'd get a kick out of her and all of her friends."

[chetang]

"Gardens are resilient, for the most part. They might have a bad few months or a year, but it rarely lasts forever. Unless you fuck up the dirt really, really badly." He grinned over at her though, a smile that betrayed a possibility. If anyone could do it, he could. "Trends don't last, especially trends that don't bring joy, because the human desire for joy wins out despite everything." He thought it over, what it would be like to visit the nursing home. "Are any of them looking for socially awkward sugar babies?"

[chetang]

That's all I really ask for, is to not have to worry about other people and what they do or don't think about me. A mega nerd? That's harsh. I'm just a normal level of nerd, I'll have you know. Oh, it's not empty. I'm on the fourth full one this year alone.

[stellylee]

The thing about you is... I've known you long enough to have a hard time believing that what someone thinks about you would dictate how you live your life at all. Just saying. Mega nerd. I thought you would want to be a little bit above the regular nerds...? But okay! Damn. So you've had a productive year, then.

[chetang]

Hey, some people's opinions of me do matter. It's just that yours has never, ever, not once mattered. So your perspective is terrible skewed. No, I'm okay with being with the regular nerds, because I'm a man of the people. Gotta be productive in some way, Stelly.

[lenavaz]

"Poor Chetan," she said with a laugh, reaching out to squeeze his shoulder with reassurance. But she could also understand it -- sometimes, it just really came down to that: things not always going your way. "But you know what? There's always a chance for it to turn all around. You know? Sort of like how we're all turning this garden around," taking it from something that someone might not want to use into a space that people would be using all spring and summer long, hopefully. Maybe Chetan just needed to do that kind of work on the inside, too. "Seriously, I don't want to think about living in a world where people don't want to enjoy those things. Firstly, imagine how boring and uncolorful everything would be?" Lena clearly loved color, given that she sold crystals and jewelry and did makeup for a living. "Thanks, now I'm going to be thinking about broccoli farts all day," she laughed, gesturing for Chetan to join her in kneeling by the garden bed again as she began to empty dirt in. "I absolutely do. We have a lot of fun with the wild things she says."

[chetang]

"Way to bring it back to the garden, but the garden can be turned around in one day, you know? A life usually takes a bit longer than a day or two, sometimes it takes years." He sighed, half dramatic, half in earnest. "Some people like boring stuff, have you ever seen someone with a beige home? It's terrifying but it's a reality." He smiled, a bit triumphant at the broccoli farts response. "Good, I'm sure she loves being the center of attention when she's escaping. Honestly, she sounds like a fun lady."

[stellylee]

Lull them into a false sense of confidence so they never, ever think about us again and we don't have to worry about them? I'm not against it. I'm for it. I figured that you did, given that you're a mega nerd and all, but... it's okay. I'm alright with you being a mega nerd. But I know you're lying, otherwise your book would be empty.

[chetang]

That's all I really ask for, is to not have to worry about other people and what they do or don't think about me. A mega nerd? That's harsh. I'm just a normal level of nerd, I'll have you know. Oh, it's not empty. I'm on the fourth full one this year alone.

[estherquinn]

"Just a butterfly," she said with a laugh, gesturing to the colorful insect fluttering against the flowers, "I feel like I spent so long waiting for it to be spring, I want to soak up every last minute, you know?" Rather than feeling like she had blinked and missed it. And given that it had been a while since she had gotten to enjoy a long, warm season in Maine, it was all the more important. "I am!" she brightened a little bit, nodding her head, "Esther. I actually just moved back to town a few days ago. I think I saw you when I was at the bank the other day, getting my account all fixed up."

[chetang]

"Fair enough, spring doesn't last nearly as long as I remember it doing when we were kids. Now it's winter and summer and little in between." Was that the fault of climate change or were busy lives also to blame? It was honestly hard to tell. "Well nice to see you around town again. If the person you think you saw looked bored and was making paper footballs in his office, yeah, that was me."

[estherquinn]

WHO: essie & open!

WHERE: downtown merrock.

WHEN: may, 2026.

It was funny how you never really forgot some things about the place that you grew up. Even though Esther had only left town for eight years -- and had visited frequently -- she had been worried that coming back would feel foreign, that things would be new, she'd feel lost or out of place. Not so. Instead, it had felt a bit like getting back on the bike, puzzle pieces falling into the exact places that they belonged. She had settled into part-time work at her sister's business, worked hard alongside her uncle when he needed her help, and filling her free days with remembering every inch of her hometown. That particular afternoon, that concept meant standing just outside of the funeral home that she had dropped lunch off at and watching one of the flower boxes and a rather vibrant butterfly on a zinnia, trying to figure out what sounded good -- a light lunch along the coast at Fresh? A drink at Evolution? She hadn't even realized someone was speaking until they stepped more into view, startling a little as she let out a laugh. "Oh my God, sorry, I was completely zoned out. Did you say something?"

[chetang]

"Sorry, I was just curious what you were staring at," Che said, giving her a soft smile. "Seems worth staring at, though." He was out taking Thom for a spring walk, taking a break from a busy work day with his best friend. "You're one of the Quinns, right? You were a few years ahead of me in school, but I remember your face."

[stellylee]

When people ask if we have anything in common, I just say that neither of us ever sleeps and we might actually both be vampires. No one really questions it. Who would they be to do that? Did you write it down? Because I like to imagine that you have a little book that you carry around where you write down all the times you're right. Just to be a snob.

[chetang]

People 100% believe it and then they don't ask about us ever again, which is really the end goal. I do have a little book I carry around, to be fair, but it's not the times I am right, it's just things I'm writing. Namely all the times you're wrong.

[lenavaz]

"Or even worse… imagine that being what you grow, and for some reason, it's just a bad year for zucchini," Elena knew that there were times when the weather just didn't cooperate, or the climate worked against you, she didn't want to know what it would be like to spend that much time working on a zucchini farm, trying to make a living, and then finding out that your entire crop was no good. "I think I'm happy with selling crystals and doing make-up, feels like it's oddly more of a secure career choice," or at least she didn't have to worry about growing conditions. Just whether or not her skills were in demand. "That's fair. I think broccoli is underrated in a vegetable tray, because it has all of those nooks and crannies to scoop up the ranch dressing, you know?" And that was, after all, the best part of the vegetable tray. "Oh, every time I take her out, she literally acts like we're escaping prison! It would be embarrassing if it wasn't so endearing."

[chetang]

"Oh, if your sure thing suddenly turned out horrifically wrong? Sounds like...actually sounds par for the course for my life." Che didn't actually believe that, at least not all the way. He had his share of fuck-ups, but his life was mostly working out well, even with the job he didn't love and the cold winters. "Those are things people will always enjoy, crystals and make-up, and if they don't, humanity is...well it's falling apart." Che quirked his head side to side. "But they do smell kind of odd, don't they? Broccoli. Like farts, so there's that." He smiled warmly at the thought of their grand escape. "I hope you humor it, she deserves that."

[stellylee]

But I get a good night's sleep at night only by thinking of you not getting a good night's sleep, so we have to figure this out somehow! You need to be sleepless and miserable in order for me to be happy. You could just be overindulgent, but… that doesn't mean that you're wrong. Just in this one situation, though! In every other situation, you're wrong, I want to be clear about that.

[chetang]

That's bullshit. I guess it all comes down to which of us falls asleep sooner? Which...you tend bar and I'm an insomniac, so that's going to be a tough one to decide here. Wow, you just said I'm right, and this is not even the very first time, so congrats. I think you like me.

[lenavaz]

"You're right, for every herb, every flower, every vegetable of fruit, there's someone out there who is a literal professional at growing them," which was sometimes bizarre to think about, that there was someone out there who considered themselves a professional asparagus grower, but… it had to be done, she knew. "I was going to ask if you actually meant that," Elena let out a laugh, "I'd be sad for you! Does that mean, though, if there's a vegetable tray, you won't take any carrots?" Which would be sad, considering how easy they were to eat with a little bit of ranch dressing. "Not at all," she shook her head sadly, "and she tells me all the time that the next time I bust her out of prison -- the nursing home, you know -- she's going to come completely overhaul it. But I think she's secretly proud."

[chetang]

"People just have giant farms and do that for the love of it. Imagine having that much zucchini? I would be so stressed out." Che shook his head, as though that was the most fearsome thing he could imagine. "Hey, if the time is right, I'll take a carrot, but I prefer broccoli in those. Or maybe a nice cucumber," he explained. "Or a tomato, the point is there are other, not evil carroty options." He brushed some dirt off of his shirt. "She will be proud, and you should remind her that you're the one that busted her out!"

[stellylee]

You probably play it at night when you're falling asleep so that you have good dreams, you little weirdo. And yet, I'd expect absolutely nothing less. It's true. But then there are some foods that are so good that one bite is all that you need, too.

[chetang]

What of it if I do? I can listen to what I want, as long as I get a good night's sleep. Can you blame a guy? But that's far more rare, to have something that the one bite is enough. Or maybe I'm a bit too over indulgent with myself.