After what had been a productive few hours at the gym, Jamie closed his eyes and breathed the cool air in deeply as he stepped outside. That same air felt nice on the skin of his bare chest and torso after such a good workout, and with the sun mostly gone from the sky, making for the perfect conditions for him to run home, he opted not to throw his shirt back on for the time being. As he started to run, the cool air of the twilight hour pushing through his lungs in both directions felt almost cleansing, like the negativity that he'd been feeling lately was being pushed out of his body with each exhale of breath.
After he'd ran for a few minutes Jamie slowed down to a walk as he was approaching a corner, and ran a hand through his newly sheared hair, chuckling satisfactorily at the sweat he'd managed to work up. He was about to start running as he made the turn at the corner, but found himself very nearly bumping right into a very familiar face; one that seemed to make him far more breathless than the run had. "Vi?" He questioned, his tone almost sounding like he was unsure of if it was really her. Given the fact that he hadn't seen her face once since school had started, it was hard to believe that it was. Consequently, he wasn't entirely sure what to say. He was feeling a lot of different, conflicting things. "I...Sorry. The bushes there they um.." He tried to explain how the near collision had happened by gesturing to the bushes that made it impossible to see around the corner, but trailed off, deciding it didn't need to be explained, and shook his head. "How are you?" He asked, but almost immediately, he cut off his own question. "Sorry. I don't know why I just asked that. We talk every day, you literally texted me about how your day was going earlier. You know that. You were there. Sorry. What I meant to say was um... where are you headed?"
savannah had gotten used to talking to people her age from all walks of life, regardless of if she recognized them from campus or not. that was half her job as a bartender, being able to interact with anyon - even the people who seemed a little lonely amongst the crowd. a few moments pass and she returned with the boy's drink of choice, offering him a smile as he seemed busy glancing at his phone. perhaps sending a quick text to someone, or just doom scrolling. hey, she wasn't going to yuck their yum. she's almost caught off guard when she sees a familar selfie displayed on his screen. letting out a giggle, she nodded her head. okay, that was pretty smooth - she couldn't deny that. "you know, i think you should swipe right .... she might even swipe the same direction too. plus, i heard she has a pretty sick taste in music and can make a mean mixed drink too."
"Wait. You-you really think I should?" He responded to her words, feeling legitimately taken aback by her encouragement; he'd expected her to laugh at the absurdity of the situation of him landing on her profile while two feet away from her, before gently nudging him towards swiping left. He had not expected this. "Aye, well, honestly I was thinking that she might be a bit out of my league but...I think I will! I mean, true, you said she 'might' swipe right, which means she also might not, but uh, even the possibility of a 'maybe' with this lass makes it right worth taking the chance, I'd say." Jamie chuckled, but very deliberately held up his phone to show her that he was, in fact, swiping right on her profile. He was feeling very hot in his face and around the collar as he did so, but despite this, he was also feeling very pleased by how this situation had unfolded, whilst also hoping to himself that he didn't do or say something to ruin it and cause her to swipe left after all. Still, he soon found himself grinning for what felt like the first time in months, and as he took a swig from the drink she'd brought him, he scooched forward slightly on his stool, his eyes fixed on her. "So...what song shall I play then?" He asked, his voice a bit softer now. "Swipe or no, I owe you a song. So, what'll it be?"
rare sighting: daniela castello in a bar. there's immediate tension in shoulders as she hears the door jingle shut behind her, the chaos immediately occupies her hearing and causes her to actively take a step back as if the environment had given her a soft shove. she's cautious, eyes moving at a quickened speed to try and locate a safe place to situate herself. journal is held tightly against her chest, pen is tucked neatly behind her ear and ready to be pulled out once inspiration were to strike. the deadline of her short story was looming in the background, but she had been challenged to find something new and exciting to write about instead of the common themes she'd found comfort in. trying to come up with new material when she rarely provided herself with the time to experience new things, was found to be a hassle.
she's quick to take the empty seat at the bar, smiling politely at the bartender and requesting something simple. a single vodka cranberry which she knew she would nurse the entirety of the night. she's slowly opening her journal and about to grasp onto her pen when the other speaks, pulling her back into her current reality and not fall into the alternative she were to write on paper. “ oh, oh no! no, you don't have to move, i'm not with anyone. ” the words make her nose wrinkle for a moment, hating how isolating it sounded. “ just mean i'm also here on my own. ”
Jamie relaxed slightly at the woman's words, feeling glad at the very least that he wasn't being some inconvenient barrier between her and people she wanted to be socializing with. A small part of him also felt a bit better to know that he wasn't the only person in the place who was by themselves, though he quickly felt guilty for wishing a similar loneliness that he was experiencing on anyone, however indirectly. "Aye? Well I'm sorry to have bothered you then." He said earnestly, feeling genuine guilt when he noticed the notebook in front of her for the first time. "I didn't realize you were working or I would have left you alone. And now here I am still yapping your ear off and keeping you from your work. I think I'll shut up now and let you get back to it." The truth was, he was so starved for company and conversation, and so curious about what she might be working on, that he really didn't want to stop talking. But he also was fully aware that this young lady had not invited any conversation with him, and it would be rude and ungentlemanly to impose it on her any further than he already had.
Crowds at The Elephant Lounge on Thursdays were typically pretty sparse, but on this particular Thursday, thanks to some sort of business convention happening downtown, the place had been specially booked by a private party, and packed full of men wearing suits, and reeking of a quiet desperation to seem cultured and sophisticated to all of their peers who reeked of the very same desperation. All of this meant that Jamie had been called in to take his shift at the piano much earlier in the afternoon than was normal, and it wasn't long before these would-be gentlemen, trying to impress and one up each other with their how carelessly they could spend their money, were buying him drink after drink. Normally, Jamie made it a policy to take it slow while he was working, but something about how the alcohol mixed with the loneliness he'd been feeling as of late saw him breaking that policy hard and fast. By the time the shift was over, he had a pocket full of bills, blurry vision, and only the vaguest idea which direction he needed to go to get back to campus from here.
And that is how he had ended up laying down in this bush, only noticing the size seven heel poking into his lower back after a few minutes of laying there on top of it. Once he removed it, recognized it from a text he'd read earlier in the day, and alerted the owner of his having found it, the owner of the shoe had decided to take it upon herself to come retrieve both the shoe, and Jamie himself, and so now all he could do is wait and hope that she would be able to find him. As he waited, he gently hummed a traditional Scottish folk song, and silently questioned every life choice he had ever made that had led him to ending up here in this bush.
"are you doing alright?" savannah questioned, leaning forward behind the bar to wipe down the counter with a clean rag. it has been a pretty busy night at the bar she worked at. she had gotten pretty good at being able to sniff out people that were by themselves and customers that maybe even seemed slightly lonely. "you know, that group is a bunch of pricks anyways .... came in here last time and stiffed me from any tips," she rolled her eyes. "how about your next round is on me? if you can promise me to play something good on the touch tunes in return?"
As the individual nodded their head at his offer and swapped seats with him to be closer to their friends, Jamie's eyes lingered on the collective for a moment before he exhaled another sigh, turning his attention to his phone. His level of loneliness had reached such a point that he found himself clicking on the flame shaped app, and began swiping as he sat there at the bar, drinking his pint. His eyes raised from his phone screen at the sound of a voice that seemed to be speaking at him, which he found to belong to the pretty bartender working behind the counter. For some reason she looked kind of familiar to him, but he couldn't quite place how, and considering he didn't know anyone apart from Violet at this school, he quickly dismissed the thought as being a mistake. His face flushed slightly at her question, but he shrugged his shoulders nonchalantly. "M'okay." He answered, though he couldn't help but immediately chuckle at how unbelievable it sounded coming from his mouth in a bit of a croak. "Really." He added more emphatically, managing a small smile.
His brows raised in surprise at her offer for a free pint in exchange for him jumping on the piano, and he wondered how it was that she knew he played. He reasoned that it was likely that she'd been to The Elephant Lounge on one of the nights he was playing. "Uh sure. That sounds fair." He agreed, feeling a bit more cheerful at this proposition as he returned his attention to his phone in his hand. It would surely have been comical from the outside to see his eyes widen when he realized why this bartender looked familiar. "Wait. Isn't this you?" He asked, holding his phone up to her to show what he was about 99% sure was her tinder profile; the last he'd landed on before she'd momentarily distracted him from his swiping. "Crivens! I...that's crazy. I was just about to swipe right on you." He admitted with a playful, but earnest chuckle and nod of his head. "What do you reckon? Should I still?"
Since Jamie is new at Michigan, all of his connections will be newly formed unless otherwise specified.
Hookup(s): He's a young man who recently had a long term relationship end, and who is in denial/lives in willful ignorance of his feelings towards his best friend. All of this means that he needs to fulfill his needs with somebody. Could be a few somebodies. Can be just one night, or a more reoccurring/friends with benefits type thing.
Tour Guide to College Life: Maybe they saw him hanging out by himself a few times and decided to take him under their wing and help get him acclimated to his new environment. This person is that type of friend who doesn't ask you if you're coming along; they just show up outside your door and drag you on some crazy adventure.
Friends: These are self explanatory and can take any kind of form that you think makes sense.
Ex: Their relationship ended very messily, but if you ask her, it isn't clear if it ended at all. Sure, she slept with Jamie's hated rival, and they had a big blow up after it happened, but the words "It's over" were never actually said. Did she follow him here for closure, or to try and repair what's broken? (Needs to be filled with a new muse)
Muse: As a musician Jamie has always found inspiration in the world around him. Now, in this new place, away from all of his familiar sources of inspiration, he's found inspiration in your muse.
Jamie's lips parted, both to exhale a heavy sigh and to permit him to take a large swig of his pint within the same breath. He set his phone down dejectedly upon the bar countertop where he sat, and rolled his eyes at himself for allowing himself to think, even for a second, that a Google search would be able to give him good suggestions for how to make new connections in this new environment he found himself in. Trouble was, the suggestions themselves were good, he just couldn't imagine anyone saying yes to any of them when he was the person who was extending the invitation.
Draining the remainder of his pint at this depressing thought, Jamie turned to signal the bartender for another, only to turn back and realize that a few of the seats beside him had been filled in the brief time his back had been turned to them. Feeling more isolated than ever as the group chatted away with each other, he turned his back on them, only to find that the one empty seat on the other side of him had also been occupied. Looking back and forth between the group and the individual, he was pretty sure he understood what had happened. "'Cuse me." He said to the individual who was seated by themselves. "Is this your group?" He gestured to the group of people on the other side of him and gave a shrug of his shoulders. "I can switch you spots if you'd like? I'm here on my own anyway."
( tom holland. cis man. heterosexual. ) that’s JAMES “JAMIE” MCCONNELL , the michigan state university music student , they're twenty four years old and are known to be passionate and moody. their go to karaoke song is piano man by billy joel.
STATS.
FULL NAME: James McConnell
NICKNAME(S): Jamie (Preferred name)
BIRTHDAY: September 27th
AGE: Twenty-Four
BIRTHPLACE: London, England
STAR SIGN: Libra
GENDER: Cis Man.
PRONOUNS: He/him
SEXUALITY: Heterosexual
OCCUPATION: Pianist at a piano bar downtown
THEME SONG: Piano Man by Billy Joel
PHYSICAL.
FACE CLAIM: Tom Holland.
HAIR COLOR: Brown.
EYE COLOR: Green.
HEIGHT: 5′ 8″
TATTOOS: Tbd.
PIERCINGS: None
PERSONALITY.
POSITIVES (+): Passionate, Talented, Kind, Determined, Hardworking, Loyal, Ambitious
NEGATIVES (-): Moody, Volatile, Prideful, Obsessive, Stubborn, Competitive, Spiteful
MORAL ALIGNMENT: Chaotic good.
FEARS: Failing to live up to his potential and the expectations of himself and others, being trapped living a small life, Losing the people he cares about
ELEMENT: fire.
HOGWARTS HOUSE: Ravenclaw.
DRUGS/ ALCOHOL/ SMOKING: occasionally / yes / no
AESTHETICS: the sound of rain on the glass of a window acting as an accompaniment to piano notes, a dark room lit only by a dying candle but the absorbed occupant pays it no mind, rolling hills blanketed with thick mist, eyes that beam with excitement at the first sign of a red haired woman.
BACKSTORY.
When I have more energy for it, I'll write a more proper bio, but for now, here's the sparknotes version:
Jamie lost his mother in childbirth and his father had abandoned him long before he was born, so he was adopted by his great aunt and her husband, who ran a bed and breakfast in the Scottish highlands, just outside of the small town of Aberfeldy.
He started playing the piano for the guests at the bed and breakfast after dinner when he was very young. He was something of a prodigy. Dreamed of going to either Julliard or the Royal College of Music from a time before he was even able to really grasp what those places even were, or what going to those schools would mean for him.
Ultimately he held onto that dream as he grew up, and he got into both schools, but went to Julliard because it was closer to where his pen pal was, and he wanted to be able to visit her more easily because she was his best friend (and also because he's in love with her, but he likes to pretend that's not a thing because he's afraid of risking their friendship.)
At Julliard he does very well, but he also meets his match in someone who is, for the first time in his entire life, just as talented and dedicated to his craft as he is. They become very heated rivals and there is genuine dislike between them as they compete with each other. He also meets and starts to date a girl named Alice.
Nearing the end of his third year, Jamie walks in on Alice in bed with his hated rival, and he ends up beating the hell out of the rival, and gets expelled from Julliard for it, just as his rival intended to happen. Before he leaves though, Jamie gets into a fight with Alice, asking her how she could do that to him, but she turns it right around on him and asks how he can be in a relationship with her while he's actually in love with his best friend. He doesn't deny it, he just asks "You knew?" to which she says "Of course I knew. You only ever talk about two things: music and her."
So, having been expelled from his dream school, and being unable to go home and face the shame of what's happened, he stays in the United States over the summer and applies to go to school where his best friend/the girl he loves but is too afraid to lose to go after is, starting in the fall. This means he's only very recently started at The University of Michigan. He's also working in a piano bar somewhere downtown to make some money.
