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@chvndlr
Chandler James Linwood. He/him. Twenty-nine. Owner of Pause for Paws. Originally from Wayzata, Minnesota. Pet dad to a dog named Jenna and a cat named Ryan Reynolds.
biography || stats || photos and gifsets || muse posts || outfits || music || pause for paws
For: Open ( 1/5 ) Location: Spring Fling, Performance Stage
Sabrina had been hanging out by the stage for maybe an hour or so, taking in some of the performances taking place, a cold drink in her hand. When the current act finished, she whooped and cheered, a bright smile on her face. "Loved that," she said with a soft laugh, turning to the person beside her. "The question is, what next?" She knew she couldn't stay here all day, but she was having a good go of it.
"I haven't checked out much of the festival myself yet." Chandler admitted. He had mostly been working at Pause for Paws so far. "But I hear there's fair games somewhere around here."
"Well I guess we can't get better than that now can we?" Taryn smiled looking over at Chandler. "Although, I'm not sure if giving already fucked up people alcohol will do more harm or more good." she chuckled softly.
She nodded, understanding everything he had said. "It sounds a bit the same as my life if I'm being honest. Other than having the cafe and three dogs to take care of as well. I don't visit Vibrations though. I'm mostly inside watching reality TV and eating whatever I can find in my house which reminds me that I do need to go grocery shopping after this. Should I be going to Vibrations more? How has that been working for you?"
"In my experience, a little bit of both." Chandler said honestly, though he wasn't trying to open that can of worms with Taryn. He also had no plans on dwelling on that thought privately, either.
"It sounds like your life other than never going to Vibrations and not having a curated menu for meals at home?" Those were the two most important details in his mind. "What kind of reality TV, though? And Vibrations is usually pretty great. Outside of work, it's usually the highlight of my week. I usually go with JD."
JD gave Chandler a blank look and just blinked, taking a beat to realize what he had just said. "Not you dummy," he gently kicked him under the table, "me. Though you're more than welcome to have breakfast with my girlfriend if you'd like, she's a great cook." He smiled and the took a sip, half forgetting he put alcohol in his soda and almost coughing as it burned his throat. "I wouldn't be able to," he shook his head, before nodding it, "very loud. And with the band at the high school? Think concert loud."
"Ow." Chandler said in surprise at the kick, despite the fact it didn't hurt at all. He pulled his legs in closer to the booth at that. Chandler was almost offended at JD complimenting Naomi's cooking. "I'm a great cook." He countered as if it were a competition, but his mood lightened as JD forgot about the booze in his drink. "It's much easier to drink on weekdays when you run a cafe. Still not ideal, but no screaming kids or - tackles? Is that something you football people do at practice?"
"Good to know I'm both not well adjusted and fucked up. Thank you for letting me know." Taryn chuckled with a shake of her head. She chuckled again as Chandler described the dynamics between his pets. "It's similar with mine. Although, Meesha is the level-headed one and Nanook and Phoenix are the crazies, but I wouldn't want it any other way." she grinned as her eyes found her dogs playing. Except Meesha who was taking a rest on a rock, but still looking at everyone else to maintain order.
"No, I get it. I'm just teasing." she chuckled softly before looking over at him and raising an eyebrow. "Well...I guess... not if you don't want one...I'm just...you know what? Forget I said anything. What else would you like to talk about, Chandler?" she asked before looking out at the dogs.
"Hey, you're in the same club as me. Which makes it a fun club. We've got an open bar and all the best musicians." Chandler grinned at the idea of this actually being some kind of utopian concert venue. Chandler followed her gaze to the dogs she compared to Ryan Reynolds and the way Jenna was playing with them. She'd never play with her brother that way and Chandler wasn't sure if it was about them being different species or so used to living together.
As Taryn backtracked on the idea of him getting a life outside the cafe he shook his head and chuckled. "I was kidding. I....definitely need a life outside of the cafe. But I don't really have one right now. I go out to Vibrations once a week and have been cooking for one a lot lately during the week. But that's about it."
"Yes, but to play the devil's advocate… as much as a lot of locals love this town, can you guarantee that they would stay if there were major changes and home no longer felt like home?" Not to mention the price of living in general; there were a lot of older, retired people living in the town that might suddenly take up the opportunity to move to Florida to be with the grandkids, or find a retirement home nearby. And then they wouldn't be there to keep the businesses going. "They could. Which opens a whole different can of worms of them bringing in their own commercially licensed fishermen that might not practice as ethically as they do here," Rafael knew that he was thinking of it with the head of a businessman, as one himself, but he had to. A lot of people were up in arms and upset, and thinking of every angle to provide information and insight had become important to him, even if he chose to stay on the fringes. It didn't feel like his fight, but that didn't stop him from doing the research and providing advice. "I don't think I could go back to the frozen stuff now," he admitted on a low laugh, lifting his coffee mug again, "I don't know, I understand where the Benefactor is coming from. I do. But these people in town have become family to me, so it's… hard to see it as anything but someone with a very big wallet taking advantage of knowing they have a lot of people in their pocket."
"Well, this is my home now and I'm not going anywhere." Chandler never thought he'd say that, but Merrock was really the first place he had ever lived where he could imagine a future for himself. "But you can't really guarantee anything, whether or not there's a resort. Everyone's situation is different. Maybe someone who is struggling to find work now doesn't have to move away for a new job, because they can work at the resort. Or maybe someone comes for the resort, but decides to see what exists outside of it - some travelers don't want to stay in their fancy hotel the whole trip - and ends up falling in love with the town and moving here."
He pulled a face at the idea of new fishermen coming in; ones that didn't have history with this ocean. That would be bad, for sure. Less respect for the location they were fishing in. "Definitely don't need randos coming into our ocean here." Chandler agreed. "I'd rather not go back on the frozen stuff, but when it's all you knew for the first eighteen years of your life...There's definitely food things I'm way more snobby about than that."
As Rafael shared his last criticism of the benefactor, Chandler nodded. "That's the hang up for me. Like, I don't love or hate the idea of the resort. I just think it's good to debate both sides 'cause there's good and bad about it. And, like, arguing for it against you just now I got a lot of insight into different things that could be really bad about it." He really wasn't just trying to argue for arguments sake, but because it could be educational in a context like this. "But so many people don't want it, that it really feels like it's the town against one faceless billionaire. And I know, blah blah blah late stage capitalism, but I really don't think one person should have so much power just because they're rich. Especially while not showing their face or telling anyone their name."
For a moment JD spaced out, and blinked before realizing Chandler asked him a question. "Uhhh, I don't know," he scrunched his eyebrows together before adding, "oh wait. Not that long ago, at breakfast with Naomi." He nodded and remembered at least vaguely.
Happily accepting the flask, he unscrewed the top and poured a little into his cup. "Same. Though during the football season I'm glad it isn't. I wouldn't be able to function."
"When did I have breakfast with Naomi?" Chandler asked, not realizing JD was answering the question of when JD last had bacon. At the mention of not being able to function, Chandler's grin faltered for a second. "Yeah, totally. Imagine drinking like that every night and coaching high school football. Is football loud? I feel like football would be loud."
Taryn chuckled and shook her head. "So you're proving my hypothesis true then, huh?" she teased. Her eyes went back out to the dogs and smiled as Chandler spoke about his pets. "I've always wondered how a dog and cat get along when they live in the same house together. Do you think your cat chills Jenna out or do you think Jenna just knows better?" Her eyebrows rose as he spoke about how the cafe was going. "Lots of adoptions? That's great right! All those cats finding families. I know the paperwork can be a pain, but just think of all those cats getting into happy, loving homes." she grinned. "What have you been up to outside of the cafe?"
"People who love the sun and the heat aren't well adjusted. Just crazy enough to not recognize there's something wrong with you. At least I know I'm fucked up." Chandler joked before answering her questions about Jenna and Ryan Reynolds. "Ryan Reynolds is a hyperactive dumbass, and Jenna wants no part of his nonsense. They mostly just ignore each other...not really friends but they don't fight or anything either." But when Jenna got around other dogs, she perked up and wanted to play. "Oh, for sure! I'm glad for the adoptions. I'm just saying it's also kept me busy. I'm not sure I understand your question, though - are you implying I should have a life outside the cafe?"
"No, that's true, I think that a lot of the local businesses count on the locals to keep them going and then know that the tourists are a sort of added bonus," which was a plus, since that little bit of extra money could be what got them through the hard times that they otherwise might have struggled with. "Exactly that," he nodded his head, letting out a breath, "having the fishing industry right here, for example, is good for local businesses. The fish and chips place, Sandcastle, we have the fish market... but if you suddenly have big restaurants coming in and buying all of that up -- I mean, you know the economy as it is, but then add in that hardship?" his brows raised a little bit as he shook his head, "suddenly quality's dropping because the prices are driven up to the point where Sandcastles is buying up frozen lobster instead of fresh caught. Not that I think Dominic would do that," he let out a quiet laugh, "but you get what I mean."
"Yeah, so I'm uncharacteristically optimistic that locals would keep all these businesses going - even if a resort does come to town." Chandler admitted. Usually he was more of a realist, some would even say a pessimist, but he didn't see many businesses in town crumbling so easily. "Theoretically a fisherman could just...refuse to sell to the resort. But that wouldn't be the smartest choice, financially." If someone had strong enough feelings about the resort, that they would put principle over profit, then it could be done. Chandler didn't really know much about the town's fishing industry though. The cafe didn't serve any fish, so he only interacted with it when he was eating seafood. "The cooking enthusiast in me should be horrified at the idea of frozen lobster, but the midwesterner in me is just so used to low quality fish." Not that the point was actually frozen lobster specifically, they were just an example of a bigger problem. "Minnesota's seafood problem aside, I get what you're saying though."
JD sslid his phone back into his pocket and then leaned his head back on the booth. He didn't close his eyes for he didn't want the room to spin, which is sort of was doing anyway. "Hmm," he hummed and looked at his drink and then at Chandler, "wh why not right? The nights still young." He wiggled his fingers as if to ask for the rum from his friend.
Nodding at the waitress, he tried not to smile like an idiot as Chandler ordered. "You wanted the um...." he paused and then nodded vigorously as Chan remembered. "Me too. And bacon. Extra bacon."
Extra bacon sounded great, but Chandler wasn't mentally prepared to try to add to his order right now and decided he'd just take some of JD's bacon. "I don't know when I had bacon last. Do you know?" Chandler asked JD. It was probably last time they were drunk at the Cul-de-Sac.
Once the waitress was gone, Chandler passed the flask over. "Tonight was fun. Wish Vibrations was open more than twelve hours a week so we could do this shit all the time."
Taryn smiled as she saw Chandler. She knew her three dogs loved Jenna, especially Meesha who was always happy to have another female around since she was always with the other two boys. "No, it's not bad. I mean, it helps flowers grow and gives the ground the water that it needs for us to maintain our lives here, but sometimes, it's a little depressing." she shrugged.
"Hey! What's wrong with hot and sunny? I grew up in hot and sunny and I turned out alright, right?" she teased with a grin. "Lucky her! I think that was Meesha's plan, but Nanook and Phoenix ran around and bothered her too much to get the sleep that she liked so I figured I'll wear them all out here so they all can sleep when we go home. How have you been though? I haven't seen you in the cafe much."
"I grew up with blizzards and windchills and I didn't turn out fine." Chandler joked. But between growing up in a cold climate, and his insistence on wearing long pants even in the summer, he wasn't sure he could survive somewhere hot like Florida or Arizona. "Jenna can be energetic but when it's just her and my cat, she's a pretty chill dog. Makes my life easier. Anyways, yeah...I've been busy at my cafe. Lots of adoptions lately which is great for the cats, but it's also more paperwork for us."
"The problem is that progress comes with a cost -- and if it's progress the benefits one person, but hurts other people, then it becomes something that more than one person should have a say in," he argued. Sure, progress. Put in a resort that was going to be busy from June until September, but mostly sit idle from October through April, because weather in Maine was not... well, the greatest to support a beach resort. "The locals will still frequent the local spots, but the tourists that used to come to town to stay at the Inne or the Bed and Breakfast will go to the resort. And why not? One stop shop for everything that they need... and then the lodging in town is hurt, and those tourists that spent their summers at Sandcastles will be getting lobster at... Red Lobster, let's say. It can get tricky. And, the turtles," he let out a laugh, nodding his head as he reached for his coffee. He took a long sip and swallowed it down before continuing, "it happens a lot. Like you said, progress -- and it's not all bad, and there are some good things that could come out of it, but I can see why people are fired up."
"That, I completely agree with." Chandler shrugged. There was a difference between opposing change to hold onto nostalgia, and opposing the actions of one person altering the lives of many just because of financial classes. "I mean, yeah, there is that. But the tourist season isn't very long here, so I think most local places will be okay with or without a strong tourist presence. But on the other hand, limited resources and how razor thin a lot of local business margins are to begin with...It wouldn't be easy to adapt to." God, Chandler hoped this didn't turn into a discussion about margins because he was dyscalculic as fuck and relied on his head manager to help with that side of the cafe.
Chandler nodded as Rafael talked about real estate red tape. He didn't know a whole lot about that kind of thing, but he was definitely talking to the expert and would take Rafael's word for it. "Yeah but every city is gonna have its history. And everything is always changing - this town is no exception." Maybe Chandler just wasn't sentimental enough to care about the history of Merrock as anything other than trivia, or he was detached from it because it felt very distant from his own personal experiences in town. "More tourists means more people coming into the cat cafe, or checking out the local bars, or learning the history of the town. Some of the boat people could make a killing taking people out on the water." Chandler was fortunate that a resort town was unlikely to have its own cat cafe, so his business would probably do even better with a resort in town than it was doing now. "But like...I do get why some people are worried about how it'll affect their businesses. Especially Gull's Landing and the hotel downtown. And on principle I'm not a fan of one person being able to dramatically change the town just because they have the money to do it - especially if the people who live here are really as against it as it seems like they are."
"To an extent," he nodded his head. "To you, to me to some degree, it's evolution, change, progress. But to someone who grew up here, who has lived this way of life their entire life, the concept of all of that being flipped upside down and suddenly changed…" he trailed off, shrugging his shoulders. He wouldn't hold it against anyone that was firmly against it, would understand it completely. As Chandler talked about the benefits that it could have for the businesses in town, he see-sawed his head. "Yes, and no. Your cat cafe, sure. Bars? If there are bars in the resort, they're going to go there -- easier to get back to their room after drinking themselves half to death. Same with restaurants, which also taps into the resources here in Merrock when they're suddenly buying a lot of fish and crab and lobster. Which is both good and bad. It'll drive up rent, drive up housing prices, it always does, so there's a lot to be concerned about. A lot that I don't, personally, think that people have even really thought about it," he offered Chandler a wry smile, "more so than the turtles or the birds that live on the land now. But I do agree, it's…. worrisome to think that all it takes is one land purchase to change a town's entire course."
"I'm really not trying to sound callous here but....that's life. Shit changes. And trying to cling to the past and opposing progress isn't realistic." Not that people didn't have better, more legitimate reasons to be against the resort plan. "I guess you're right about bars and restaurants. But I don't really see most of the locals wanting to hang out at the resort that they hate, and those have always been the regular customers. So at the very least I don't think they'll lose many customers. But, shit, I didn't think about resources. Or the poor turtles." Or the housing economy of the town, which Chandler was not prepared to talk about after a long day of work. "I guess that's how it's always been. But still doesn't make it okay."
Who: Open! (0/5)
Where: Ruff Around Park
When: April 2026
"Alright, my babies. Run wild and free!" Taryn grinned as she let Nanook, Meesha, and Phoenix off their leashes so they could run at the dog park. She knew she didn't need to watch them too hard because Meesha always kept the boys in check and would alert her if things were getting too much. Looking around, she found a nearby bench and sat down smiling at the person sitting there. "The weather has been a bit crazy, huh? After three straight days inside, my dogs needed the running room. How did you manage during those rainy days?"
@merrock
Sometimes Chandler wasn't sure if Jenna was a real dog or some kind of alien wearing a dog skin. Right now, as she cared more about sunbathing than running around and catching a ball, he was leaning towards alien. Luckily, she perked up at the sight of Taryn and her three dogs. Jenna knew them well, and suddenly was interested in running around the park with them.
"Hey," Chandler greeted from the bench, leaned back with his arms folded. "Rain's not too bad. Better than hot and sunny. But Jenna did fine - she just napped on the couch a lot."
"I think you're the first person to ever refer to me as 'old fashioned'" Chandler chuckled, but he supposed it was somewhat true in this case. "Hey, I do know about modern farming equipment!"
Chandler felt his phone buzz in his pocket, and pulled it out. Seeing the call was from his dad, he frowned slightly. While Chandler loved his parents, they lived very separate lives and rarely talked. It was just easier that way. So his dad calling was either a drunken misjudgement or an actual emergency. "I have to take this call." Chandler told her before answering.
"Hey, dad. Is everything okay?" His dad replied in slurred speech that everything was fine. No emergency, just a drunk call. Chandler let out a breath. "Good. So...what's up?"
He shot Ashleigh a playful eye roll about his parent, before pulling the phone away from his ear and putting it on mute. "Sorry, family stuff. Nothing serious. But I'm gonna stay on the phone with him for a bit."
"Just your views of barns," she said with a grin, clearly teasing him. He didn't really seem like the kind of person with old school views or morals, although that was probably just a snap judgement from the one conversation that they had shared so far.
Glancing up when he said that he had to take the call, Ashleigh waved him off when he said that he had family stuff, offering a quick, understanding smile. "Don't worry about it, I've got to get this guy back to work," she stepped back to the horse's side, patting his flank and nodding towards Chandler. "Good luck with that."
"Far from," he agreed with a nod of his head, "it takes a lot to go from an idea to actually making something happen. Between permits and zoning and investors and making sure everything is lined up and ready to go." It really wasn't as cut and dry as just waking up one morning, deciding to buy a plot of land, and breaking ground on an extensive, overpriced resort, either. But he also knew that there was a lot of money involved… and unfortunately, money did talk. "Personally? If it were any other town, somewhere with a bit more population, less history, I wouldn't bat an eye at wanting to see where it goes," he admitted, shrugging a shoulder. "But. I know too many people here. I know how deep their roots are, or what have you, and I worry about it what it means for their livelihoods and legacies."
Chandler nodded as Rafael talked about real estate red tape. He didn't know a whole lot about that kind of thing, but he was definitely talking to the expert and would take Rafael's word for it. "Yeah but every city is gonna have its history. And everything is always changing - this town is no exception." Maybe Chandler just wasn't sentimental enough to care about the history of Merrock as anything other than trivia, or he was detached from it because it felt very distant from his own personal experiences in town. "More tourists means more people coming into the cat cafe, or checking out the local bars, or learning the history of the town. Some of the boat people could make a killing taking people out on the water." Chandler was fortunate that a resort town was unlikely to have its own cat cafe, so his business would probably do even better with a resort in town than it was doing now. "But like...I do get why some people are worried about how it'll affect their businesses. Especially Gull's Landing and the hotel downtown. And on principle I'm not a fan of one person being able to dramatically change the town just because they have the money to do it - especially if the people who live here are really as against it as it seems like they are."
