[ alex fitzalan, cismale, he-they ] — whoa! LAKEYN “LAKEY” WINTERS just stole my cab! not cool, but maybe they needed it more. they have lived in the city for TWO YEARS, working as a CHARACTER & GAME DESIGNER. that can’t be easy, especially at only 28 YEARS OLD. some people say they can be a little bit SHY and SELF DEPRECATING , but I know them to be SWEET and EMPHATHETIC. whatever. I guess I’ll catch the next cab. hope they like the ride back to QUEENS! — (juicy, 21+, est, any, n/a)
BASICS
full name:lakeyn winters
nickname: lakey
age/date of birth: 29 / september 27th,
gender identity: cis man (he/they)
hometown: beafort, north carolina
sexual orientation: click here
occupation: game and character designer
height: 5'10
tw: homophobia, parental neglect
You’ve never known fatherly love, but that never mattered much to you as you couldn’t miss what you never knew. The one guardian you had, your mother, made sure there was always a male presence in your home, always chasing after a man who promised her the world for a few months before he took off. They always took off. That neglect and push you felt kept building up, being forced from so young to fend for yourself, learn to navigate the beauty and horrors of the world from such an early age. Not once did you ever get to experience the joyous innocence of being a child. Did you?
School was your safe haven, and I saw the way you excelled, a boy from Australia trying his hardest to always earn the top marks to make your mother somewhat proud . But it wasn’t easy as whenever another one of the thousand men left, your mother became a belligerent mess, and even as you sequestered her, laid her upon her bed, you felt her cold eyes on you.
She blamed you didn’t she? Blamed you for all the heartbreak and turmoil, and how it had always been you at the root of it all. You who chased the men away because at the end of the day, they didn’t wish to take care of two mouths. She kept it quiet for a long time, kept building it up until one day, one long sip drew it all out. As the bottle shattered on the floor, so did your heart as she spew hatred towards you, said you were her worst mistake, the first that led to her downfall. The byproduct of the first man to break her heart, but not the last.
Weren’t you kicked out shortly after that, or did you run away? I can’t quite remember, but you did sleep on the streets for a little. That is until someone took you in, a friend, I believe, someone who gave you the kind of solace you never knew you needed. That one friend whose family pretty much took you in, you had spent a lot of time at his house after school, and it was here that you realized what a mother should be. Your mother took you back in, but your best friend's family always kept a watchful eye as her neglect was incessant. Over the years you spent almost every day at his house, spending time with that one boy who'd become your best friend. In time those feelings of friendship blossomed into something different within you, and you realized you were in love with him. With his need to move to New York City you decided to follow him, becoming his roommate as your job enabled you to work from home.
"Go home?!" Her frugality temporarily trumped her skepticism at the comment. Did she think palm reading was dumb? Yes, of course. Did she think leaving a music festival before the headliners even probably arrived was dumber? Absolutely. "You do know it's only like, 2, right?"
"I do, I just don't think this is really my scene. Only agreed because my friends sort of dragged me here." Which seemed to be a recurring pattern for him. "Crowds aren't really for me, I'm definitely a home body. Still...I guess my best friend would never let me hear the end of it if I leave now."
STATUS: closed for @kitsantoss / @florianjace / @lakeywinters (whichever muse you prefer)
LOCATION: Sign Station with Sappho’s
Birdie wasn't a planner, going wherever the moment took her, and for the most part this didn't hinder her much. Looking down at the sign she had been working on however, she wished she had gone in with some sort of plan or general idea. At the very least, she should've picked a single artist to make the sign for so there weren't a couple areas that had been scribbled out or poorly covered with a pile of glitter messily glued on. She wrinkled her nose at the mess. "Alright, be brutally honest with me, is this the ugliest sign you've ever seen or what?" She was convinced a small child could've created something better.
Lakey didn't know why he'd be at a festival like this, all the people and the loud noises weren't exactly his vibe. At least there was a varied selection of rides and food stalls he could simply peruse and learn the menus to. At the question, he didn't know how to answer, trying to not sound rude was a first. "Um...it definitely is eye catching, and has a lot of personality. So I'm sure it'll stand out in a crowd, although there does seem to be a lot of artists in one sign."
"Oh stop it. pizza rolls are much more superior to pizza bagels. I can't believe that just came out of your mouth. I don't know if I can call you my best friend anymore it's just awful." He said before taking a bite of the food that Lakey had made for him, moaning in content as to how good this dinner was. "Nope it's too late for you to change your mind!" August reminded Lakey as he laughed. "Not a lot of people are able to kill a cactus. I feel like that takes a.... special type of talent." He mentioned honestly to his friend. "Oh I was at some guys house and let's just say that it was... rough." He shook his head a bit. @lakeywinters
"Oh you can't can you? Alright then I guess it means I'll only be cooking for myself from now on." Lakey calmly stated before eyeing August. It was a veiled threat that was truly empty as he could never truly cook for just himself. "Sorry already changed it, and I can do what I want, best friend privileges." There was a knot in his throat after hearing Auggie speak, the hint of jealousy always lacing his words because he didn't know how to tell the other man that he didn't need to go out looking for all of that. "Rough? You...You know you don't need to go out to look for that sort of thing. You could just do it here,"
"Listen, listen. I know she would!! But you can't deny that pizza rolls are the shit!" He mentioned to Lakey as he laughed softly. He knew that he would be eating like a college kid because he never had the energy to cook. He could cook slightly, but he didn't like to take the energy to do so. "Brother nature? I like that. I expect you to call me that from now on. I think it's a great name and that's what I request so you have to do it." August playfully stuck out his tongue at Lakey and then chuckled. "Cacti are the easiest things to keep alive. Although I had a customer tell me they thought they overwatered it which was unfortunate." He shook his head.
"Honestly, I don't really see the appeal of pizza rolls, now pizza bagels, that's where you can find me." Lakey mused finding an avenue where he could agree with his best friend. "Is it too late to regret that I just said that? Um, petition completely denied." Laughing softly he teased his best friend before shrugging at his mention of cacti being the easiest plant to take care of. "Some people still kill cacti so at least give me that much. So um...what did you just come back from?"
where: early after noon, any day, aura music festival
what: doing an activity at one of the vendor tents (making rave sprouts, laying in hammocks, palm reading line, sitting inside the giant parachute, playing balloon darts, making signs, or face painting - pick your muse's favorite!)
Sherri sighed, scrunching her nose at her current task. "I can't tell if this is relaxing, exciting, or just — dumb." She blurted to the person nearest her.
"I was sort of pushed into this line and dragged here by my friend, I think after this palm reading I'm going home." Lakey sighed. "Will probably just ask a basic question about my love life and get a general vague answer and I'll just move on."
Miguel raised a brow, "If they're your friends, shouldn't they know you don't want to go up there?" Whether they knew it or not didn't actually matter at the end of the day, did it? He lost track of how many times a more energetic and outgoing friend dragged him off to something he wasn't excited about 'for his own good'. He always complained, but he missed it now. "I can't say you're doing a great job at hiding." Then again, where exactly was the other supposed to hide? Under a table? That would probably earn him more attention than the karaoke would. He sighed, "Realistically, you're either going to have to tell them you're not interested in singing or let them drag you up there and hope you don't do any worse than the last person."
"They're just trying to get me to try new things, I guess. I know they don't mean any harm by it." Lakey shrugged even if this meant he'd be completely and utterly stepping out of his comfort zone. The mere thought of it all sent a shiver down his spine. "I know I stick out like a sore thumb, all this curly hair doesn't really help my case." He sighed, sinking further into his seat. "They want me to sing chandelier solo," and as if on cue he was swept from his seat and dragged up on stage. The lights made him squint as he nervously pressing his hand against the mic. "Uh, hello?" Lakey spoke as feedback hit his ears and he quickly recoiled. "So sorry, I don't really do this ever and usually I'd do this in the shower, alone, not that you're not all an attractive audience I'd just prefer...oh music's starting." The nerves made his mind run a mile a minute, but once he took a deep breath and tried to center himself, he tried to think of the one person who could calm the storm in his mind. As he began to sing, his voice began to find its footing and astonishingly enough he was never on key, hitting every high note in the popular top 40 song of its time. Once the song was over, he didn't even wait for applause he just ran off stage and sat next to Miguel once more. "I was so bad wasn't I?"
"Fair fair.. I mean I get why you would want to use it as practice. I know you and Ma are close buddies in the kitchen and that's probably why she pushed me to live with ya because she knows I would've lived off of frozen food since I don't really cook at all." He laughed to Lakey as he then sat on the counter and took a bite of the food that Lakey had prepared for him after taking it out of the microwave. "Shit this is good." He said, his mouth still slightly full. "Oh wow, that's super kind of you!" He said to Lakey as he smiled wide. "I know... You can't touch any of the plants in here."
"She definitely would've rung your ear out if all you ate were pizza rolls and tv dinners. Thankfully I'm here to save the day as per usual whenever you're hungry or even craving something." Auggie mused, smiling over at his best friend and finding that this was probably the most he's ever been happy. "Thanks," was all he said but you could see a little smile perched on his features. "Just something I've been thinking about doing for a while now and...Hey, no need to be rude, we can't all be brother nature like you. I will tell you my cactus is still very much alive."
August smiled when he heard Lakey's response about what he had prepared for dinner for the two of them. He loved when Lakey made the food that his mother made for him all the time when he was home. "Pumpkin pie already? It's a little early but you know that I'm not going to pass that down." He said as he smiled and headed towards the microwave and turned it on thirty seconds like he was instructed to do. "What have you been up to today?" August asked while grabbing a piece of the naan and then stuffing it into his mouth.
"I know, but I was actually just trying to use it as practice, but I think it turned out alright. Besides your mom is the one who taught me how to cook." Lakey mused, remembering the times he found himself in Auggie's kitchen with Mrs. Loverson, and she'd teach him how to make whatever dish she was preparing as if he was her little chef's assistant. "Mostly drawing up character skins for Marvel Rivals, and League of Legends, and coming up with new concepts for new characters, and some coding here and there. I also brought home a Hyacinth, but...since I don't have a green thumb like you, this one is made from legos, and yes it's for you."
LOCATION: 90s Night @ Songbirds and Sangria, Staten Island
In theory, a 90s themed karaoke night should be fun, tugging on a sweet sense of nostalgia for many of the occupants in the bar. In practice, not so much. Believe by Cher filled the bar, the vocals getting completely butchered by the poor soul brave enough to climb up there and sing. Or were they screeching? It was hard to tell, but alcohol was definitely playing a hand in the groan worthy performance that left Miguel believing this was some sick twisted version of hell. You would think that the song coming to a close would fill him with a sense of relief, but it didn't. He could see the person next to him shift in their seat and immediately dreaded what could come next (because naturally he was jumping to the worse case scenario). "If you're about to ask me to join you up there to sing a duet of Barbie Girl or anything else, you can forget it. You couldn't pay me enough to embarrass myself in front of all these people." Maybe a close friend could convince him to go up there, but the chances weren't good. "But best of luck to your solo performance."
Being dragged out of to party had become a recurring thing for Lakey, his friends didn't take no as they knew he'd just become a hermit otherwise. Drinks and karaoke were definitely not something he was comfortable with, and sure he liked to sing, but only in the comfort of his own room when he was entirely alone and out of ear shot of anyone who could possibly hear him. "Oh, I'm actually trying to hide from my friends who are most likely trying to get me to sing up there." Lakey said as he sipped on his bottle of water through a straw. "I can't sing so I'm not really up for this."
location: GLOW for Teddy and Jaymie's Birthday Extravaganza!
She's wearing a sparkly 70s-style jumpsuit and shiny gold boots, her hair in loose curls that felt like they took forever to do. she's got a crown on her head that makes it clear today is their day, her and her twins, and walking into the glowing pink and purple lights of GLOW she's could makes her feel alive. she kisses cheeks and wraps her arms around old, and new friends. she's handed a present and a shot and then a cocktail, and all of these things end with her doing a very enthusiastic rendition of sos during karaoke. when she steps off the stage, she heads for the bar, she orders a round of shots, and turns to the person next to her, holding up the tiny glass filled with red liquid "come on then, do a shot with me, it's my birthday, you have to!"
Going out was definitely not what Lakey was about, he wasn't a person for going around town and dancing the night away. This time he finally agreed to his friends begging him to come out, and they decked him with the appropriate attire. Apparently this author named Kit knows a lot of people and he helped every single one of Lakey's friends be on theme. Not knowing many of the partygoers, he just stood by the bar minding his own business as he awkwardly shuffled to and fro, simply asking for water. "oh um...sure," he agreed because he really had a hard time saying no, plus he'd look bad saying no to the birthday. As the bartender served the shots, he raised the tiny glass and threw it back, immediately choking as his face got all red. "That was...good."
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MEME WEEKEND: 8/23-8/25
Starter Prompts: Boroughs Meeting Starters
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After being out and about for the night, August wanted to get home because he was sure that Lakey was going to have something cooked up for him to eat. August wasn't one to stay overnight at his hookups as that meant some sort of commitment and he wasn't looking forward to that. After walking into the apartment, he set down his bag and he walked to the kitchen after kicking his shoes off. "Hey, Lakey. What do you have cooked up for tonight?" He asked out loud as he looked around.
Due to the nature of his job, Lakey was afforded the chance to work from home, and this meant he spent a lot of time alone when Auggie was off doing who knows what, or working. Whenever his best friend came back a little disheveled he could tell what exactly had happened, as he's known throughout the years. "I made butter chicken with some jasmine rice to go with it, some garlic naan, and for dessert your mom gave me her pumpkin pie recipe. I already made you a plate, just hit 30 seconds in the microwave and you should be good to go, the naan is on the dinner table."
