Welcome to Washington, DC. We are a multi-muse, mature, dark political group exploring the dark underbelly of US politics. Accepting on a rolling basis. Mobile Nav
Hello everyone, members and tag lurkers! Because of some questions we’ve recieved, we wanted to make a note on the blog about something that has been discussed with the members in our discord chat, but we felt it was fair to make an official note about.
After much consideration and input from all of our members, we’ve decided to put our group on hold until January 2021. We want to be very clear in that this absolutely does not mean Monsters & Men is closing. Our discord is still active and we’re planning on doing some writing within ourselves with some fun character development and AUs, but we lately felt that the global context wasn’t helping our morale and the particular subject of politics, with the real elections happening, was a little too bitter for us to be motivated and write about it.
On our tentative date of January, we’ll touch base again and see where we’re at, and hopefully we can come back to grace the tags and the dash soon! Still, our members’ mental health and stability will always come first and we’ll want to make sure we’re all in a good place before re-starting our timeline.
In the meanwhile, this blog won’t be updated. That said, if anyone has a question, you can message us and we’ll do our best to get back to you if it’s something we can help with.
Thanks to all for sticking with us through this stressful time, and we’ll see you in a few months!
Hello anon! She would fit in great with The Tech Wizard wanted connection. She could also fit in as a staffer on the presidential campaigns of Julian Berkeley or William Bell. We have also have some journalist roles open!
Hi anon! The Helpmate is actually taken by our lovely C, so she’s not open for applications - we just forgot to get the wanted connection updated, so sorry for the confusion!
Hello everyone, members and tag lurkers! With this post, we officially end the State Dinner for the President of France event!
The lockdown was lifted when the Director of National Intelligence (Anne Kane), FBI Director (Belacqua Prince) and CIA Director (Alexander Ward) gave word to President Berkeley that there was no credible threat. People were allowed out of confinement by the agents stationed by the closed doors. Later, an official communication from the Intelligence department was sent out to those who had been on the guest list for the event:
With a coordinated effort from FBI, CIA and the Secret Service, the Homeland Secretary, NSA and Director of National Intelligence can confirm a shot was fired unintentionally and no one was hurt.
As such, no character was physically injured during the event.
As always, feel free to continue in-event threads, but all new ones should be located after the State Dinner and lockdown.
We’re all excited to see what’s next and how this experience affected each player in the game!
Hello, we have an open skeleton for an intern position that we would love to see get taken: The Minion or a junior staffer position: The Virtuoso or The Insider.
Some faceclaims we’d love to see are: Luke Pasqualino, John Boyega, Harry Styles, Justice Smith, Jonathan Groff, Cameron Monaghan, Mena Massoud, Jack Quaid, George MacKay, Avan Jogia, Anthony Ramos, Awkwafina, Tessa Thompson, Anya Taylor Joy, Samara Weaving, Nathalie Emmanuel, Rosa Salazar, Naomi Scott, Sonoya Mizuno, Phoebe Waller-Bridge, Ella Balinska, Lana Condor
Members, please answer with any faceclaims that you’d love to see!
Hello! Yes, we are still active. We are currently about to wrap up our last event, and we are soon going to vote on a bill created by one of our members, which you can read about here or in the legislation page.
The event carries out swimmingly — for the most part. Celebrations take place, the food is wonderful and so is the music, making all diplomatic affairs simply fall into place with all preparations serving as the perfect scenery for it. That is, until...
About an hour and twenty minutes after the dinner started, a gun shot rings loud inside the White House.
It doesn’t matter where you are, the walls carry out the sound in an echo, and all conversation falls dead.
The Intelligence team acts fast and the Secret Service, ever prepared, declares an immediate lockdown.
The guests have no knowledge of what’s happened. All they know is they heard a gunshot. They don’t know who fired the gun, or if anyone was harmed.
Wherever your character is, they must stay. If they are out in the open, they should find a place to lock themselves in until further instruction is given. *
Of course, due to the sudden shock, not everyone may get a hiding partner they like...
* Feel free to get creative with this: almost any and all White House locations are game, except for high security areas that would have been locked such as personal offices, etc. (Unless, of course, they hold the key.)
We encourage players to take into account what, realistically, their character’s reality would be in this situation — but a little suspension of disbelief is always fine. We know those strict rules may be difficult to work around in an RP setting, so don’t feel like you must follow them super closely.
For now, this is their reality. While the Intelligence team works to find a culprit and work a solution, all other guests must stay in lockdown. You may choose to have your character disobey this order — but be aware it might result in IC consequences.
Towards the end of the event, more information will be shared.
Important note: members may continue writing or start threads that aren’t yet set during the lockdown. This is completely fine, as not all interactions would have occurred then. We however encourage you to work it into your character’s timeline for the night at one point or another.
The President of France and the First Lady, as well as appropriate staff, will be visiting the United States on a three day diplomatic trip. The first day consisted of a private meeting with President Berkeley and staff. The second, a State Dinner held at the White House for the President of France, which will be happening tonight — with guests from both the US and France. After tonight, the French President plans to conclude the international trip with visits to institutions they support. That is, if everything goes according to plan...
Members, welcome to another event! Please check the read more for all OOC info.
DATES
OOC, the event will start this Friday, July 17th and it will last two weeks.
IC, the event will take place on the evening of September 17th and it should last a few hours.
A plot drop will be coming your way in two-three days.
As always, the OOC duration of the event may be extended; if towards the end of the event anyone wants to bring this up in #discussions, please do!
THE DINNER PARTY
All characters are invited. As always, it’s okay to do a little suspension of disbelief in order for everyone to be included.
This is a black tie event. Your characters need to fit into the dress code. We’d love to see your headcanons for this!
The event is a dinner party, held at the White House by POTUS for the President of France. The mood is lighter and more casual — not quite a party, but not a political meeting, either. A celebration for the good working relationship between both countries, lots of schmoozing, and everyone’s own personal interests looming under the surface — all accompanied by good food and even better wine.
It’s okay to headcanon some things regarding the head of state, but please be mindful of what those might be, and as for interactions, consider what would be closer to realism considering your character’s political standing and occupation. Again, a little suspension of disbelief is totally okay, but do try to keep this in mind.
We’d like to point out that Representative Keeting’s bill is soon to be voted on — and this might as well be most of these characters’ last chance to lobby their views. We highly encourage that any discussions or plots involving the bill be introduced if you believe it’s IC for your character to be involved with legislation.
If you wish to bring in a guest character from France to attend this event, you are welcome and encouraged to do so — though this is by no means mandatory. This character would then leave the group after the event ends.*
*Real life political figures are not eligible and are not allowed to be written in the group, so guest characters would need to be staff, in administrative or media positions similar ideas. Feel free to check with the if you need any assistance.
RANDOM PAIRINGS
Below you can find the randomized pairings for threads based on the people who expressed they wanted to be included. As a reminder, these pairs can write together at any point during the event — not necessarily something plot drop related, but of course, the more plot oriented, the better. The pairs are the following:
Cynthia Bell | 53 | Republican | Founder and Chairwoman of the Homefront Foundation
Cynthia was born to two German immigrants. Her father (after settling) became a Navy Officer and her mother was a teacher. She was always brought up to believe in tradition and her parents were the type to view the US as the place where people could make it. Her parents had immigrated to the US just prior to WWII due to their Jewish faith and the danger they felt they were in there.
She did very well at high school and was all set to go off to some Ivy League school and move beyond her family home. She even had an acceptance to study social work. Then tragedy struck and her mother died. Her family, her included of course, were heartbroken and lost without their mother/wife. So Cynthia declined leaving and instead joined the local community college to study teaching and took up the mantel of the family matriarch.
It was around this time that Cynthia met William, on one of her rare nights off from family/studying/work at the local bar whilst he was at the naval academy. They dated throughout their studying and it was clear to anyone that met them that they were smitten. Her father’s approval was almost instantaneous when he found out about William and his Uncle’s history in the Navy. They got married when Cynthia was 21.
When Will was hurt Cynthia was devastated that she might lose him and its made her fiercely protective of him. If she thinks he’s overworking himself she won’t hesitate to tell him so no matter who might overhear. She might not always agree with his policies (especially the immigration stance) but she understands where it stems from. When the kids moved out Cynthia got major empty nest syndrome and with her husband’s support she started to set up the Homefront Foundation, a physical representation of Will’s policies towards veterans. It works with people across the US to help current and ex veterans (and their families) with any support they might need. Cynthia surprised everyone with the drive and force she put into the business/charity. It became clear to everyone very quickly that she wasn’t just some homemaker who was trying something new, she cared about anyone who walked through those doors as if they were her own family.
She is a soft, maternal presence that almost doesn’t fit into the cutthroat world of Washington politics. Her kindness and trusting nature could very easily put her into danger either physically or leaving her open to manipulation.
Greetings, members and those lurking! Based on our voting and discussions, for our next event...
The head of state of France and appropriate staff will be visiting The White House. With this, a dinner party will take place where guests from both the United States government and that of France will be in attendance.
OOC, the event will start this Friday, July 17th and it will last two weeks. More information, including all IC information, will be posted on the day of the event. All characters are invited; as always, it’s okay to do a little suspension of disbelief in order for everyone to be included.
Members, we’d also like to point out that if you wish to bring in a guest character from France to attend this event, you are welcome and encouraged to do so — though this is by no means mandatory. This character would then leave the group after the event ends.*
*Real life political figures are not eligible and are not allowed to be written in the group, so guest characters would need to be staff, in administrative or media positions, or other similar ideas. Feel free to check with the helpers if you need any assistance.
As mentioned, all info will be posted on the day of the event — and plot drops will also be made live during the event with everything you need to know.
Also, please don’t forget to check out Cami’s discord post and react to it if you’d like to take part in our pairings!
If any new members would like to join us in time for the event on the 17th, we’d love to have you here — just make sure to get your application in until then!
Are ambassadors from different countries something that you would consider adding/accepting? Which country(ies) do you see fitting in better?
We would certainly be open to ambassadors from other countries! We’d be open to considering pretty much any other country you can think of, as long as you can find good avenues for them to interact with a variety of our characters! If you have a specific country/countries in mind, let us know and we’d be happy to let you know how we could see them fitting!
Also, if you’re looking for some established connections:
@secretarymccalister, our Secretary of State, would love to hash some diplomatic plots out with ambassadors from any country.
One of @lolavillarin‘s parents is the ambassador from Mexico or from the Philippines (contact her for more details if you’d be interested in one of these!)
Similarly, @srcristianalvarez‘s father is the ambassador from Spain, so reach out to Suki if that interests you at all!
We also have an upcoming plot that involves a diplomatic visit from France, so the French ambassador would be a timely addition!
Is there a role like head of IT for the White House or something tech related?
The real-life White House does have an IT department and they have a director and deputy director, so we could see that working here for sure! I’m sure our president would love to have either one in play and our White House staffers would certainly love another coworker.
Or if you’re looking for a pre-written skeleton with a tech connection, The Tech Wizard, Silas Sanford’s Director of Communications, is open - albeit on the opposite side of the aisle!
