January Newby

Owner and baker at Grateful Bread

[january-newby]

JANUARY NEWBY. 32. CIS FEMALE. SHE/HER. is here! They’ve lived in Cascade for 20 YEARS and currently reside in SHASTA HEIGHTS. JANIE is an OWNER & BAKER at GRATEFUL BREAD and frequently hears that they look a lot like OLIVIA COOKE. Funny, huh? If ever caught by Letterboxd, they’d say KIKI’S DELIVERY SERVICE (1989) is in their Top 4 and the theme song to their life’s soundtrack would be BSC by MAISIE PETERS.

basics:

full name:  January Annabelle Newby

nicknames:  janie

pronouns:  she/her

sexuality:  bisexual

age:  32

date of birth:  august 14th

zodiac sign:  leo

occupation: owner & baker at grateful bread

personality type: TBD

face claim: olivia cooke

backstory:

Born and raised in the suburbs of Southern California, January had a pretty typical childhood. Despite being the middle child, she never fit into the box of typical middle children. She was never the introverted wallflower. She never felt neglected or jealous. She never felt like she didn’t belong in her family. In fact, January tended to be the exact opposite of what a ‘typical’ middle child was apparently supposed to be. From an early age she was the most extroverted of the group. Her parents swear she came out of the womb chatting and hasn’t stopped since. Her dad even claimed that she’d talk in her sleep as a baby. 

When her family moved to Cascade the summer before January started high school, she felt that she had found the place she was always meant to be. It was a weird little place to live, and January had always been a weird little girl. She didn't always fit in, but she never had and that never bothered her. She was fine marching to the beat of her own drum and being a little "bat shit crazy" in certain crowds.

January's dream of opening her own bakery came about during her freshman year of high school. She’d always loved to bake and discovered pretty early that she had a knack for decorating. She loves that her art is never permanent. She loves being able to make something beautiful and then watch people devour it. She loves trying new things and putting ingredients into cakes that someone else would never think to.

When she graduated, January took a cap year to travel the world and see all the places she'd ever dreamed of. She lived out of a backpack with nothing but hopes and dreams for more than six months before coming back to Cascade and enrolling in college. January had always promised herself she'd try the whole college thing, but she knew herself, and knew that school wasn't her scene. After the fall semester of her sophomore year, January decided she didn't want to go back. So, she asked her parents if she could use the rest of her college fund to open a bakery instead, they agreed without a question. They believed in her and knew that January's determination never faltered. 

The Grateful Bread opened a few weeks after January's 24th birthday, after nearly two years of work and planning. It took some time to get it off the ground, but soon enough her little bakery became a Cascade staple. Popular enough for her to hire a staff to keep the ship sailing smoothly. These days, January spends most of her time in the kitchen decorating cakes and cookies for every event you could think of. She's never thought about moving anywhere else, and is perfectly content living out her weird, small-town dreams.

[mitchieslvlc]

"Obviously the hot but totally unqualified guy we both agreed on. Sure he sucks and burns water, but he's pretty and will flex on command, he's got those lines that make me go a little stupid." Mitchie teased lovingly, shrugging at the accusatory finger. Laughing at her misery, he couldn't help but roll his eyes lightly as he sat back on the grass. "You're even named after an indoor month babes, so you should really know this by now. God no, I would only go outside when it's a good 55 to 60 and that's it." he nodded. "Well, I was thinking of maybe adding a few of our best sellers from February when I pitched the idea of doing historically black american desserts for month, and one that I finally got down, burnt sugar cake, plus I've also been tinkering with ice cream, I want you to try this flavor i made, strawberry salted pretzel strudel."

[january-newby]

"Mmm, right, right..." January chuckled. For the most part, she did not run her bakery based on looks alone but, like, they didn't hurt. Eyecandy brought in more customers and that was just a simple fact! Luckily, she'd also hired some very talented bakers, too. "I do it for the cute outfits..." She said, motioning a hand down her body to show off her very cute matching workout set. "I am a slave to the aesthetics, Mitchie, you know this." Janie liked many things about Mitchie, but one of her favorites was how creative and thoughtful he was when it came to the bakery. He was always cooking something new up. Not everything worked out, just like not everything January tried was a success, but the things that did work really worked. "Ugh, yum..." Janie groaned, her mouth watering. "Let's prep the cakes for a week and see how they do, we'll advertise them on the board and on Instagram, the whole thing... if they do well, we can put them into the rotation." She decided, nodding once. "The ice cream sounds delicious, whip me up a batch to try and we'll see about adding it in for the summer..." Ice cream wasn't their best seller, considering there was an ice cream shop in town, but if the flavors were good and unique, then she didn't mind putting them out.

[darrowhawthornes]

Darrow shushes when shushed, using his period of mandated silence to take another gulp of his beer. He's marginally close to tipsy but not quite there yet, whether he was drunk or not irrelevant to the inevitable outcome -- he thought she was full of shit in the same way the rest of the haunted-happy folks who peddled similar stories were.

"Uh huh," He says like it's a test to see if he had been unmuted like a TV, "I'm not doubting that you believe that but I have an alternative theory. Can you be open-minded to it like I'm being open-minded to hearing your ghostie encounter?"

He doesn't wait for her to confirm, springboarding into his own take on her tale instead.

"You ever been out to eat and ordered a Coke and they give you Diet or Zero and you don't notice? Wait, the not noticing is the important part. Whatever, what I'm saying is Placebo effect, that's what it's called, isn't it? Your brain's expecting it so it doesn't question it. You have somewhere you're told over and over is haunted and then you're there, yeah any stray breeze or sound is going to make you go shit, they wasn't kidding."

[january-newby]

"I'm so open-minded," January said, nodding at him to go on. She listened intently, she really did, but she was already shaking her head before he finished. "Darrow! I would never not realize I got a diet coke over a regular one!" She laughed, but still got where he was coming from. "But, yeah, I get what you mean, and sure maybe that was the case... but I hadn't even lived here for that long yet so I didn't know all the lore." It was one of the first sleepover birthday parties that she'd attended in Cascade and she also hadn't been the only one to have a spooky story to share. Sure, maybe they were all a bunch of teenage girls feeding off each other, but January was pretty sure she'd actually felt something.

"I'm not saying that every single person saying they experienced something is telling the truth," January added. "Because that would be insane... like condemn the place if every person who steps foot through the doors is being haunted but, I mean, it got its reputation for a reason, right?" January finished off the rest of her wine and leaned back in her seat, studying Darrow with slightly pursed lips. "What would need to happen for you to believe it's haunted?"

[ardentlymine]

status: open (0/5) // @cascadestarters

location: the blue ox

"thanks again for letting me drag you along. i owe you one." though she loved discovering new artists to feature on her show and supporting local legends, there were a thousand other places arden would rather be than at the blue ox on one of their busy nights. the building was nearly at capacity, so much so the air around them felt too thick to breathe and the first act hadn't even stepped on stage yet. the blonde turned her attention to the poor soul she'd managed to convince to spend their tuesday night with her and smiled. "drinks first? my treat, obviously."

[january-newby]

"Oh, it's such an imposition," January groaned in an overly dramatic and clearly joking tone. She rolled her eyes, nudging Arden with her elbow. "I just hate hanging out and doing things." Quite the opposite, in fact. January often couldn't sit still for more than a few minutes at a time. She wasn't someone who needed 3 days notice before she could do anything. Call her up with an invite and January would be ready to go within the next twenty minutes. If she wasn't at the bakery, she'd much rather be somewhere with someone else and not at home alone. "Drinks, yes!" She agreed, hooking her arm through Arden's and leading the way towards the bar. January stuck out her hand to wave down the bartender. "Should I get an amaretto sour orr... oh, a Singapore sling?"

[kylejdobbs]

open to: anyone where: Redwood Roots

The morning finds Kyle at Redwood Roots, never quite at home in a supermarket, always subconsciously longing for the exit. He gazes dissociatively at the options in the cereal aisle: every other box offering more protein, more fiber, less sugar, less gluten, grain free, microplastics free and nuclear radiation free. Maybe if he checks the fine print it'll promise him more than 4 hours of sleep and a healed relationship with his parents. He sets his basket down (contents: a tin of dark roast coffee and a single croissant, not in paper bag) and gazes into the abyss de céréales.

He spots one single, non-pretentious, radioactively colorful box of cereal in the corner. As he moves to grab it, he realizes someone else is doing the very same. "Oh. You go ahead," he offers. He's in checkered pyjama pants, long ones tucked into his worn Doc Marten boots. The tshirt peeking out of his zip up hoodie reads, white print on black: Don't bully me I'll cum. And he most likely has forgotten that fact. He looks down at his shirt and then back up at the person, connecting dots. "My grandma knitted it."

[january-newby]

January was an early bird. Even on the days she didn't need to be at the bakery at the crack of dawn, she was wide awake with the sun. She was also endlessly restless, and typically out of the house before other people around town even made it out of bed. Today it's the supermarket, trying to decide on what she wanted to eat for the rest of the weekend. In her basket, January had eggs, waffles, blueberry muffins that she could have made herself but didn't feel like it, chocolate milk, regular milk, and her favorite fruity cereal... scratch that, she almost had her favorite fruity cereal in her basket.

"We can wrestle for it?" January offered, her tone teasing. She looked the guy over. He was tall, definitely stronger than her, but he looked sleepy. She could take him. Still looking him over, Janie's eyes settled on his shirt and she barked out a laugh. "Extremely weird gift from grandma," She said, still chuckling. "Can she make me one in pink?"

[darrowhawthornes]

for: anyone! / @cascadestarters

where: utp

"I work there, I'm pretty sure I'd know if it was actually haunted."

[january-newby]

"Shh...I'm telling a story..." January said waving a hand to shush Darrow. Had she told this story at least a hundred times before? Oh yeah. But would she tell it again after today? Duh. Janie hiccupped, her glass of wine going to her head a little. "And then I felt it! Like someone sitting on the bed next to me but when I opened my eyes... there was no one there!" January nodded theatrically. It didn't matter if she'd been 14 years old at the time of the haunting. She still remembered it clear as day. "Totally haunted, I'm telling you."

[sovack]

for  all  intents  and  every  purpose,  saylor  is  kind  of  athletic  in  the  way  a  previous  high  school  football  player  who  never  had  intentions  of  going  pro  is.  which  means  nothing  but  he's  still  kind  of  lean,  can  run  for  a  long  time,  and  goes  to  the  gym  3x  a  week  just  to  make  sure  he's  physically  fit  (and  to  flirt  with  the  cute  girl  who  is  always  there  at  7am,  but  that's  not  here  nor  there).  dorry  -  his  beloved  dog,  of  course  -  is  walking  when  she  starts  dragging  him  by  the  arm,  saylor  distracted  by  his  phone  to  pay  too  much  attention  until  she  nearly  tears  his  arm  off.  he  approaches,  slight  concern  etched  onto  expression  before  she  speaks.  “i'd  be  more  concerned  you'd  get  some  kinda  bug  in  your  clothes,  you  know,”  his  nose  crinkles  at  the  thought.  ew.  no  offense  to  bugs.  sits  regardless,  letting  dorry  sniff  as  far  at  the  leash  will  get  her.  “do  i  need  to  call  an  ambulance  or  something?  i'm  not  even  cpr  trained.”

[january-newby]

"Bugs?" January repeated, letting out a low moan. "Why would you say that?" She wasn't ready to get up but the idea of bugs crawling on her was tempting her to start running again. She was going to assume she'd be able to feel a bug crawling on her, and all she felt right now was the dull ache of her running attempt lingering in her tight chest. "Nah, no ambulance... that would just be embarrassing." She laughed, propping herself up on her elbows and looking up at the person standing over her. "I probably shouldn't have eaten a bowl of buttercream frosting before attempting to run..." January mused, pursing her lips. "Not my finest moment." Sticking up at hand, she wiggled her fingers. "Help me up?"

[mitchieslvlc]

"You know, boss lady. If you keep this act up we might have to change your name to groundhog day instead," Mitchie smirked as he sat on the grass cross legged. "Did you by any chance decide to go for a jog on a hot day, instead of simply hopping on a treadmill inside a gym with nice ac?" furrowing his brows at her, he poked her side to see if she could move at all or of this was her life now, starfishing at the park. "By the way, I have ideas about things we can start selling at the bakery."

[january-newby]

"Mitchie?" January exclaimed, lifting her arm to point a finger at him. "If you're here and I'm here then who the hell is at TGB?" She jest, of course, because she knew who was currently at the bakery since she'd made the schedule, but it was always fun to tease her friend. January squirmed when he poked at her, flapping her hands around. Blowing out a breath, she rolled over onto her side and propped herself up on an elbow. "I always forget that I hate the outside..." She said, wrinkling her nose. "I thought, hey, it's a nice day... go outside, be one of those outside people..." January tutted her tongue. "Mistakes have been made, my friend." Raising her brows in interest she said, "Hit me with it..." Giving him her full attention.

[edensui]

Eden stood, hands on their hips, squinting down at the panting woman despite the ostentatious sunglasses perched atop their head. "You haven't seen a turtle down there, have you?" And join her, they would, already moving to a careful crouch in the neatly maintained grass. If the other were to turn her head to the right, she'd see several other people in a similar position; Eden's gaggle of alternative friends crawling around on the ground, doing a decent imitation of Rick Moranis in Honey, I Shrunk the Kids with every ginger movement they made. "He escaped his pen..." Eden said absently, clarifying that it was a pet turtle they were on the hunt for. They stopped short, head cocking in the other's direction now that they were nearer -- "Are you sure you're not, like, having a heart attack right now? I'm so not CPR certified."

[january-newby]

"Do you mean a literal turtle?" January asked, suddenly very aware of the ground beneath her. She hadn't fallen on a turtle... right? Surely she'd be able to feel that. Turning her head from side to side, Janie scanned the area of the run away reptile. "Does he answer to his name?" She asked, a teasing lilt to her tone. She'd absolutely help look for the turtle, if he was really lost, but she just needed to lay here for another minute or two. "I'll be so honest with you," January mused, bringing two fingers up to press against her neck at her pulse point. "I've never had a heart attack so... could be." It would probably hurt more than this did, though. "But I think it's just the aftermath of being extremely out of shape and stuffed full of pastries." Letting out a long breath, January propped herself up on her elbows and looked away. "Okay, false alarm... I think I'll live."

[january-newby]

open to anyone, feel free to assume a prior connection! @cascadestarters

Sometimes January liked to pretend she was more athletic than she actually was. She'd get these urges to put on her sneakers and go over to Audrey Horne Park to jog. Typically, she'd make it halfway around the path before she remembered how unathletic she was. The weather was nice today and January had been at the bakery all day, so she thought a nice jog around the park would be a good way to unwind. As per usual, she was wrong about that. So, instead of finishing her run, she'd collapsed like a starfish in the grass, staring up at the clouds in the sky. "Not dead," January mused when a shadow passed over her. "Just bad at running..." She patted the spot next to her. "Join me, it's nice down here. No one has to pretend to be athletic down here..."