her family’s been a fucking mess since dad started hanging out with some Bad Folk, which eventually led to borrowing money from Even Worse Folk to continue the habit, and being squirrelly about paying it back. everything's sort of gone to shit since then and all she wants at this point is to be done with all of it and live a semi-normal life?? needs: her older brother!! who works for the guy their dad owes money to and is very grateful about that man “saving what’s left of their family” and basically he and estelle gets into fights about it and their dad and pretty much everything all time. also co-workers (and a place she’s started working at fairly recently?? you’re guaranteed one super hard worker who’s kind of standoffish with everyone). and also this, please, i will get on my knees and beg.
[ gabriel // like breaking ice; some nights it's cold, some days are warmer. you sit in silence, shiver or melt, close your eyes and wait for it to be over. ]
you are... apathy. or maybe you're just tired. some nights it's cold, some days are warmer. you sit in silence, shiver or melt, close your eyes and wait for it to be over.
maybe you're just lazy. if a blanket's too far out of reach, you button up your coat and cocoon until your legs and back scream. when the kitchen's less than a couple of steps away, you stay on the ground and sigh into your empty cup, waiting for your breaths to morph into cold, glassy blocks.
maybe you're just sinking. into what, you're not sure. you won't look, will barely care. it's warm and comfortable in a way that holds you all together, nice and tight and constrictive. it's dark and you're not going anywhere, but you are somewhere now. they call it nowhere.
includes: co-workers (1/8ish); friends (1/3); a totally-just-friends thing (0/1).
+ one (co-workers):
the rest of cinnity (based around emma approved, but you definitely don't need to have watched that to jump into this). they are, first and foremost, an event planning operation but after a couple of instances of her meddling in her clients' love lives (with mostly positive results, luckily for everyone), matchmaking services can now be bundled into an order if desired. ophelia started the company with numbers guy about four years ago, and their first gig was a relatively small and private wedding for two b-listers (which they only got because numbers guy was related to one of them). news of this spread throughout the city and while their first few customers hired them purely because they'd 'worked with hollywood stars', their skill and string of happy clients earned them a reputation beyond that. but over the years, ophelia's been gunning for bigger clients – the kind of jobs that will get them in the media, have them rubbing shoulders with known talent, will score her pictures of/with people that'll generate buzz on the internet ("her people" "the right crowd" "the kind of clientele we want to be associated with. as a brand, of course") and while this might have been innocuous and for the sake of getting them more clients at some point, it's grown into this gross obsession with a particular kind of success and has blinded ophelia from many of her original goals. it's also costing them money, because lately she's been overly picky with clients and they've been doing less work, so numbers guy has decided they're shifting their focus mostly back to portland: smaller jobs sprinkled in with the more high profile stuff. so, kind of their equivalent to sending a spoiled city girl to the middle of bumfuck nowhere.
ophelia needs her friend and business partner (and one of the only people that keeps her head on straight) who she's known for several years, along with three to four other event planners who help may specialize in different areas, though they don't exclusively work on those events (like weddings, charity events, etc.) (and maybe one of them's getting really fucking tired of ophelia's nonsense and refuses to be quiet about it). and then there's their tech person and the assistant who helps with the whole office (if an event planner or two wanted personal assistants, that'd be fine, too). and while they wouldn't be on the payroll, the a local entrepreneur that cinnity worked with when they were starting out, who helped them score some of their bigger projects and high-profile clients and likes hanging around the office on their days off/helping out where they can. and if there are any positions that aren’t listed that you’d like to fill, throw them this way!
ophelia mercer; 28, event planner (co-founder), played by meg
first "numbers guy" last; ##, head of finance (co-founder), played by
clara cochran; 29, event planner, played by cora
first last; ##, event planner, played by
first last; ##, event planner, played by
first last; ##, assistant, played by
first last; ##, your friendly neighborhood entrepreneur, played by
first last; ##, tech support, played by
+ two (friends);
so a couple of years ago, ophelia met a guy while on the job (named 'guy' for this request). he was one of the guests and she found herself going around the room but always stopping when she got to him, asking if he was doing alright, if there was anything he needed. purely work-related questions, totally. except he saw right through it and at the end of it all he invited her out for coffee for some other time. she happily accepted...
...only to be greeted by guy and a friend of his (who we'll call 'pal'). feeling let down only because she thought it'd be a date, ophelia settled in and after the disappointment washed off, the three of them became fast friends. later that year, ophelia even got her date with guy. several dates, in fact. the dates evolved into an actual relationship that last several months before things kind of fell apart?? as it turned out, guy and pal had been a will-they-won't-they thing for ages, and ophelia had been the latest wrench in their non-thing. unfortunately for her, ophelia ended up being the wrench that helped guy realize pal might have been "the one", and asked that they call it quits.
the split was maybe a bit too amicable since ophelia often spent time third-wheeling with them and silently feeling guilty about being so miserable about the whole thing because they were are friends and they were happy, and she should have been happy that they were happy, goddammit. eventually she decided spending less time with them would be the best option for everyone, and it was, though she's remained fairly distant since then.
there's a part two to this angst train below (featuring the original third wheel musketeer and some additional stuff for the two requested here), but this is super open?? and if you have any suggestions, ideas, or questions, just let me know! whatever happened with pal and guy after ophelia mostly stepped out of the picture is up to whoever snags them. i just have it in my mind that guy's the sort of person that's well-meaning but also kind of oblivious, but that's not a necessity, honestly?? just please make this tiny gang of angsty friends who care for and want the best for each other even though they've kind of been on the outs for a while.
ophelia mercer; 28, event planner, played by meg
first "guy" last; ##, occupation, played by
first "pal" last; ##, occupation, played by
+ three (romantic, but totally, totally not);
so before there was ophelia 'the wrench' mercer, there was this guy. we'll call him steve (you don't have to name him that). so steve had been friends with guy and pal for a while, or maybe just one and not the other. whether they started off as three or became three along the way is up to you, but eventually steve found himself either involved with or simply crushing on one (or maybe even both) of them. the whole thing was a hotchpotch of confusion, denial, guilt, jealousy – it got to a point where none of them really talked for a while, and steve took the opportunity to pack up and leave oregon. maybe it was for a job/school or because he wanted to visit family or just needed a change of scenery, but whatever the reason, he was gone and largely dropped contact with pretty much everyone.
guy and pal ended up rekindling their friendship while he was away. whatever steve had been doing outside of portland is up to you, but now he's baaaack (and told no one about the fact that he was returning, but whatever). how everyone ends up ~dealing~ with this is up for discussion and plotting fun times?? like the only thing i wanted to throw out there is the idea of all four of them kind of awkwardly meeting again and possibly trying to piece themselves back to what they used to be?? maybe steve's over it, maybe he's still sore and real bitter, maybe he came back because he thinks he's moved on and brought his new sweetheart along with him and that could make things better/worse, the opportunities for pain and sadness are endless.
but then there's ophelia and steve, and i'd like for them to have a thing?? it starts off either really badly or okayish and they're not really friends but they don't hate each other either?? neutral acquaintances type deal. until they start talking about their past experiences with guy and pal, and then there's awkward comforting and understanding and something outside of guy and pal, and then they're going out on their own without telling anyone just to talk about nothing and everything and anything they want, and they're not friends shut up. and there's the late night phones calls and stupid text messages throughout the day and dumb inside jokes and and they're still not friends, shut up. and oh your face is cute and your eyes are cute and your lips are really, really cute, and they're not whatever the fuck they are because they're nothing okay, shut up!!
but yeah just like the request above, this is really open as well?? just suggest whatever if you’d like to and ask away if you have any questions. i just have a lot??? of feels for this???
includes: co-workers (+ a really close bro, bro) (1/3); family (two brothers, 1/3); really, really vague romantic interest(s) things.
+ one (co-workers):
okay so gabriel needs one of his closest friends and the co-founder of 'double jack’, an errand running service they started maybe a little over two/three years ago? from fixing light bulbs to picking up groceries to dressing up as superheroes for birthdays to being dates for family dinners, they pretty much do it all. it probably started as a joke because gabriel was pretty much doing this anyway, just on a much smaller scope. he had a lot of time on his hands and often spent it helping others when asked because it wasn't like he had anything better to do. but i imagine the friend was the one that said they should try turning it into a proper thing? he's definitely the more business-minded, level-headed, focused one of the two, and while he definitely does field work along with practically running the ship, the former's always been more gabriel's speciality.
they've got a pretty solid thing going on now and have very recently got another set of hands to help with their workload.
gabriel forrester; 30, hired hand (they're still trying to find a less shady-sounding name for that) (co-founder), played by meg
first last; ##, hired hand (co-founder, essentially the captain of this ship), played by
first last; ##, hired hand, played by
+ two (family):
the rest of the forresters! gabriel's got an older brother, who helps run the family restaurant (lots of good food, good vibes, good music, and when they were younger they'd all help out when mom would let them), and a younger brother who might have left portland at some point but has come back for some reason.
(tw: mentions of a car accident/death) a little into their history: their father, the best guy to ever live even though his puns/jokes were the worst ever, was killed in a car crash when gabriel was around 10, and out of everyone in the house, i imagine the two oldest sons and their mother were affected by it the most. mom doted on her youngest son way more after that point, but did try to be there for the rest of her kids as much as possible?? she worked hard (luckily their dad's side of the family was willing to help with costs as much as they could when it was really needed, because she did not want her responsibilities falling onto her sons’ shoulders), played hard, and loved the fuck out of all of them. the distribution of attention started to even out as they all got older, when she started to heal, found her footing, and had less on her plate to worry about.
an all around solid upbringing and an awesome set of parents, it's just a shame that only two of the three truly reflect that? gabriel kind of dealing with what happened to his father was delayed and hit him at a point in his life where it helped create a perfect storm of confusion and lack of motivation and he's been aimlessly drifting until fairly recently. another case of wasted potential who has kept his mother up on many nights, worried sick about him.
the youngest was probably the only one to go through that rebellious "leave me the hell alone mom!!" phase and the whole house (except maybe mom) found it hilarious. wanted to leave portland (and maybe he did for a little while at some point) to just free himself or find something more for a bit, but he's back and the kid's still got a good head on his shoulders and he's passionate and has some direction in his life, which is more than gabriel could have said about himself ever.
while their mother never once pressured him into it or asked him to, the oldest has effectively taken over the family restaurant (or maybe he's head chef or something??) and it's always been a good place to hang out, but since he got more involved, it's started getting better somehow?? he's the guy that makes family friends coo and say "oh you remind me so much of your father" "oh your mother's so lucky to have a son like you" "oh did you know my daughter's cute and also very single" and their mother has been crying happy tears about this dude since forever ago, and gabriel really appreciates him letting gabe sleep on his couch so often.
if you have something a little different in mind for the brothers, feel free to throw suggestions and ideas this way because i'd like to keep this as open as possible?? more than anything, they're just good kids deep down and sure they have their differences and their arguments and whatnot, and it probably hasn't always been this way, but they're fairly tight knit now that everything's sort of settled? and if you need help with names, just yell at me and i'll be there. just make a forrester, please (and cousins would be cool too).
first forrester; 32+, works at the family restaurant/occupation, played by
gabriel forrester; 30, hired hand, played by meg
first forrester; 25/26ish, occupation, played by
+ three (romantic):
laughs i don't have anything specific for this but like an ex that left and is now back or a thing that's just angst everywhere and probably will not end well because gabriel can barely commit to regularly checking all of his text conversations so
between her name and her professional accomplishments (and her meddling tendencies and habit of playing cupid), you've probably heard of ophelia mercer. and if you haven't, she would love the chance to introduce herself and make your life better (or just made your afternoon, she does have to fit the rest of the world into her schedule, after all). except lately she's getting a little too big for her boots and rapidly losing sight of anything beyond popularity on and off social media, and the "bigger" "more important" people (so let her plan your private little cocktail party) (she can't say no, her co-workers won't allow it) (they just wanna make sure she doesn't forget she needs more than praise, prestige, and tea to function).
gabriel forrester // thirty. co-founder of an errand service. hemlock.
chill doll that's usually just lying around being useless and looking very pretty while doing so. likes people and food but especially people that give him food and is finally at a point in his life where he doesn't feel as bad about being the family disappointment because he hasn't been as disappointing lately?? hobbies include couch surfing, eating, learning random shit just in case it comes in handy for work, and being a menace to society.
marcus allard // twenty four. barista, semi-lost boy. amiables.
[nerd alert] once a fairly shy kid, he grew up to be that one guy that always has a stupid joke up his sleeve to defuse a dicey situation. aside from having jokes for days and the ability to miff almost anyone at one point or another, he’s generally a pretty laid-back guy. he’s got some issues he’d like to pretend don’t matter, are not important, or just don’t exist, and the most you’ll hear him complain about in public is rng and how loot-boxes never give him any skins he actually wants. currently works as a barista at his aunt’s cafe where he’s been dubbed ‘the employee with the killer smile’ (he isn’t the only one that calls himself that) (okay maybe he is). on a bro scale of 1 to 10 (1 being nah bro, 10 being bro, bro), marc’s solidly this song.
+ needs: long-suffering friends, maybe family (open to him having a neat cousin tbh), maybe a couple co-workers, an ex-thing or two??
