— BRANT

Sebastian Brant. 43. Chief of Police. Father. Husband.

[merrittrps]

INVISIBLE CITY - ( 2021 -   ) └ Episode 01 | Wish You Were Here

“Luna?” “Hi, dad.”

[sebastianbrant]

LAYLA FERGUSON

Layla hated going for a run, but the warmer weather and the bright sunshine meant that there was less of an excuse not to go. She convinced herself that the sooner she got it over and done with, the sooner she could get back to her place and watching one too many episodes of Below Deck before she wend off to work in the evening. AirPods in her ears and a podcast playing (probably too loudly) meant that she hadn’t heard the other’s calls to his dog across the park, and as such the four legged friend had very much taken her by surprise. She stopped in her tracks, removing one of her earphones to crouch down and give the dog the fussing that they were so clearly determined to get. “Oh god, don’t apologise. I can’t blame him for wanting a bit of attention, we’ve all been there!” She laughed, a series of ‘good boys’ following suit as she fussed the dog. “Seems like you’ve got quite the explorer, huh?”

Sebastian let out a small sigh of relief when it was clear Champ running up to Layla hadn’t scared her or upset her. The man spent enough of his time dealing with upset residents, he didn’t want to be the cause of adding another to the list. Not that Layla would’ve been in the wrong for calling him out for having his dog off-leash in a public park. Champ was wagging his tail a mile of minute, wiggling with happiness at the attention that he was being given. “You’d think we ignore him. This actor has a home full of loving people that take care of him.” Sebastian laughed softly at the dog’s shamelessness. There wasn’t actually much he could complain about when it came to having a happy dog. There were far worse things. “There’s no pulling him away when he thinks he can make a new friend. He didn’t get any mud on you, did he?”  

[sebastianbrant]

JAMIE REYNOLDS

SEBASTIAN BRANT.

Who: @sebastianbrant​  Where: Outside Full O’Beans

Working at the fire station meant that James would often work closely with the cops in town too, so he was definitely friendly with the majority of them, including Sebastian. However he found that he was prone to bumping into people he knew from work around the town, especially when he was grabbing coffee considering half the time everyone in the town came to get coffee before heading off to wherever they needed to be that day. “Looks like I’m always bumping into you here,” he said with a laugh as he came out of the coffee shop and instantly bumped into Sebastian outside of it. He noticed the dog he was with and grinned. “And you brought a FRIEND? Can I pet him?”

One of the benefits of being chief of police was that no one could tell him no when Sebastian brought Champ to work. Though he was careful not to do it too often. The dog was well enough behaved that bringing him never caused any trouble other than the distraction from what that it caused. Regardless of whether or not he was bringing Champ with him to work, the first stop of the day was always to get his second coffee—and his first well-made one. “Morning Jamie.” He nodded to the other man with a smile. “Of course, he’d be heartbroken if you didn’t.” As if he could understand Champ let out a soft whine, taking a few small steps towards Jamie. “He’ll be with me at the station all day if you suddenly find yourself with an excuse to stop by.” 

[sebastianbrant]

SIMONE COOPER​

Simone couldn’t help but laugh a little at Chief Brant’s words, nodding her head. “Definitely something like that,” she mused, tucking her phone away and shrugging. At his next words though, she shook her head. “Thank you, but it’s okay. You were in line before me anyway. Besides, I’m actually not that busy. Just finished a long shift,” Simone told him. That and her children were with her mother, so she didn’t feel the need to rush home and risk the chance of bumping into her husband. If anything, the coffee shop would be more relaxing then home. 

“But I’m certainly not the only one that has long hours, I’m sure,” she quipped lightly. 

—

“I’m debating whether to try something new or go with one of my usuals.” Sebastian’s attention briefly turned back to look over what he’d already read. “I’m also stalling because I probably shouldn’t be having another coffee.” That little voice inside his head telling him to stop drinking so many coffees was easy to ignore almost all of the time. “This isn’t a coffee run because of not enough hours in the day this time. We’ve been lucky, things have been quiet.” Other than the occasional incident the town had fallen into a quiet that Sebastian was forever grateful for.

“Do you have any recommendations that’s not only a black coffee or a coffee with a single cream?”

[sebastianbrant]

Location: Fletcher Park Availability: Open │ @somertonstarter​

The weather was getting nicer by the day with winter being left behind them. Sebastian was more than glad to spend some time in the sun and that meant a long walk with the dog to the park. With his kids all busy doing their own thing, Seb was left on his own to walk around, finally getting some exercise. Champ was normally a well-behaved dog. Proper training was one of the conditions that all the kids had agreed to when the family had finally gotten a dog. Trained enough that Sebastian had felt comfortable taking off the leash so Champ could run around with another dog. But a ball bouncing by was enough to send the dog running to grab it, racing away from its owner in a game of keep away. “Champ, no! Champ drop it.” 

Sebastian’s commands fell on deaf ears and the dog kept running until the game lost its fun. Then the nearest person became his next fixation. The dog trotting over to jump on them, dropping the ball and panting heavily waiting for attention and pets. Sebastian came running over, hooking Champs’s leash back on before the chase could start again. “Sorry, he normally listens. He’s just as excited about warm weather as I am.”

[whitepeopletwitter]

[sebastianbrant]

CAROLINE BRANT

where: home

when: any late night

with: sebastian brant ( @sebastianbrant​ )

It had become increasingly harder not to worry. Ever since Sebastian had accepted the chief of police position and came home later than usual when he was just an officer, Caroline’s mind went wild. His job had become the main source of her nightmares and although she didn’t tell him, there were many nights when she woke up and turned around to see if he was still there. If he was breathing. She tried her best not to pass those concerns to their children. Although Rebecca, Sophia, Asher and Lucas often asked if he was coming home for dinner or when he was coming home at all, Caroline tried to keep an upbeatness to her voice and an unwavering optimism, telling them he would be there to have breakfast with them when they woke up. So far it had worked.

That night, she found herself restless, tossing and turning and not really knowing what to do with herself, until she finally quit, wrapping a blanket around her shoulders and walking to the porch of their house, sitting on the swing, pulling her legs up to her chest as she watched the silent streets. She doesn’t quite know how long it took for the beams of his headlights to come into sight and she couldn’t hold back the relieved sigh that pushed itself past her lips. She stood up and waited for him to park the car and come into sight. This waiting game was killing her, but just needed to see him. 

—

Somerton was a relatively quiet town. That had been Sebastian’s main thought when he’d been considering whether or not to accept the position as chief of police full time. It was a small town, a place he would consider safe. It was the town he’d accepted as his forever home, staying for both university and his career afterward. On paper, he’d considered it a very do-able job. And there were days when he was able to make it home to spend the evening with his family but there were also plenty when he was stuck at the station dealing with paperwork, planning, the fallout of something that had gone wrong, or countless other things. More than ever before in his life Sebastian was being forced to make detailed future plans. After two years it was still a task he was struggling to get used to. 

That night he’d lost track of time, losing himself in work until another officer had stopped by his office, declaring he was the last one heading out for the night. Sebastian knew the other man had only done it to give him a heads up that it had gotten late, very late, and it was well past time to go home. So here he was, pulling into his driveway well past the kids bedtime, expecting the entire family to be asleep. But he had assumed wrong. The beam of the headlights caught Caroline as he turned in. At first Seb didn’t fully realize what he’d seen, needing to do a double-take to confirm that his wife was standing there. With the car parked he went straight to Caroline. “Why are you up, what’s wrong? Is it the kids? Are the kids okay?”

[sebastianbrant]

SIMONE COOPER​

Simone was just coming off a long shift, tired and in desperate need of coffee. Full o’ Beans was on her way home and it was no problem to just stop in quickly. Making her way inside she wasn’t paying much attention as she texted her sister, completely missing the person right in front of her. She collided with the poor man awkwardly. 

“Shit. I’m so sorry,” Simone apologised quickly, looking up to see that it was none other than Chief Brant. She chuckled, giving him a weary smile. “I swear I don’t usually just go running into people,” she told him sheepishly. 

( @sebastianbrant )

It was either Sebastian’s fourth or fifth time getting a coffee that day. The man had stopped keeping track. Both because he simply didn’t want to keep tabs on the sheer amount of caffeine it took to keep him going through the day and because he knew it would earn a disapproving scowl from his doctor. Even though he knew the menu at Full o’ Beans like the back of his hand his attention was still focused on the boards above the cashier, checking for anything new. 

Simone bumping into him did catch the man off guard but the surprise was quickly brushed off with a small smile and a slight shrug. “We’re all here to get our coffee fix right? And when you don’t have coffee we run into each other. It happens.” He accepted the apology easy. “You look busier than me, you can go first.”

[sebastianbrant]

ELEANOR MILLER

Of course Sebastian would start with this, it made her smile, even if just a little. “It’s not a habit▬ just something to take the edge off,” Eleanor explained, or else, tried to. She wanted to say that she wasn’t a smoker, which was odd for her usually unapologetic self, but she looked up to Sebastian for a long time now, ever since she got to meet him, even in the horrible way they did, but he was a good man. Almost ashamed of herself, Eleanor took a longer last drag from the cigarette and flicked the rest on the concrete pavement of the parking lot before stepping on it with her sneakers. She blew the smoke upwards and sighed at the end, which earned her a few extra coughs. “I’m fine, by the way, just some triggering stuff came by today, but thankfully my shift ended three minutes after that, I just… I just don’t like Emma seeing me frazzled, you know?” Nell said, but judging by the time of the night, her daughter was already long asleep, especially since she had a test in the morning. “What… What were you doing at the hospital?” Her eyebrows dented in almost immediate concern, “you’re not hurt, are you?”

“Ah so that’s what it is.” Nell was a full-grown adult, Sebastian wasn’t going to continue to nag her about a single cigarette. Besides, wanting something to take the edge off after a particularly hard day was something that he understood. In their lines of work, a hard day could mean going through a truly terrible event. “I know exactly what you mean.” Sebastian gave her a sympathetic smile. That was something he understood completely. His children were always a main priority for Sebastian. There were plenty of nights when he’d lingered outside the office or spent hours sitting in his car just collecting himself before walking through the front door with a smile on his face as if nothing had been wrong just moments before. “Oh no, I’m fine. It was another officer. Just something minor, he’s already getting discharged. I was here to check in.” He turned back to look in the direction of the front doors, checking to see if the officer was coming out right then. Not yet. “If you ever need someone to talk to that will understand I’m good at listening.” He offered, turning back to look at Nell.

[sebastianbrant]

TEAGAN LI

Teagan nodded at his question as she pulled out her little schedule from her purse and flipped to next week. “I can do Tuesday at 4:00? What time do the kids get out of school?” She was already writing his kid’s name down though, assuming Sebastian would make it happen for them. He never missed anything with her so Teagan wouldn’t make a big deal out of this one thing. A smile graced her lips at his comment about the contents of his cart. “My kind of parenting. Maybe if my parents had done more of that with me I wouldn’t need to hire a house keeper to make sure my floors get mopped.” Teagan wasn’t really all that good at anything outside of skating so it was likely not a surprise to anyone that she wasn’t the cooking and cleaning type. “I’ll be sure to keep that information locked up for when I need some bribery of my own.” Teagan smirked and shoved her planner back into her purse.

—

Sebastian paused before giving an answer, taking a second to think back what time he used to pick the kids up from school before his hours at work started to get later. “The kids finish at 3:30, what about 4:15 to give a bit of traffic wiggle room?” The last thing that Seb wanted to do was waste more of Teagan time and there was a good chance traffic-or something else-would make 3:30 pickup for a 4:00 lesson hard. “The number one bribery is whatever latest game is being released. I keep those in my back pocket for the disaster situations.” Half of the games were over sixty dollars now, Seb wasn’t going to use them to convince the kids to do something unless he really needed to. “Changing the wifi password is the number one punishment but it also turns me into public enemy number one. Not my favourite position to be in. They’re crafty when they try and get back in.”

[sebastianbrant]

JAMIE REYNOLDS

The only thing that could keep him awake at seven in the morning when he’d had a few hours of sleep was coffee. STRONG coffee that was because half the time caffeine didn’t even do anything for him considering how wired his brain already was. He was half asleep when he walked into Full O’Beans and it took him a second to register that Sebastian was speaking to him. “A free coffee? Can’t say no to that.” He gratefully took it with a thanks and took a sip from it, holding it between his hands like it was the only source of warmth he’d get for the rest of his life. “Trust me, I could easily drink more than one. Probably shouldn’t do considering I\d be bouncing off the walls but I COULD.”

“I’ve got to pretend I have restraint when it comes to drinking too many cups of coffee.” He smiled behind the lid of the cup that was already back to his lips so the man could take another drink. By mid-morning Sebastian would be on his second or third cup. If a large enough stack of papers wound up on his desk that number might be increased by one or two. Paperwork was his least favorite thing about his no longer new position. Over two years and he was still adjusted to almost always being stuck behind his desk. “How are things? It’s not too early in the morning for conversation is it?”  

[sebastianbrant]

TEAGAN LI​

She shook her head at the man, folding her arms over her chest as she leaned on the shopping cart in front of her. He was apologizing though so Teagan decided not to mention that she only got paid when people showed up so he’d basically stiffed her this week. “It’s fine. I can use the break sometimes.” Teagan lied, something she didn’t often do since she rarely cared if she offended anyone. But Sebastian was nice and just trying to do his best with all those damn kids so she felt a little sympathy for him. “I’ll give you guys a reminder call next week so you don’t forget.” She said, glancing down at what was in his basket and raising a brow. “Okay I know you have kids but what in the hell are you buying, Sebastian? What do you feed those little monsters?”

—

“Do you have room in your schedule to double up lessons next week to make up for it?” Sebastian truly did want to make up for missing the lesson. Time management was something the grown man was still working on. “Thank you, I appreciate it.” Becoming the Chief of Police was a crash course in sitting down and taking the time to carefully plan out not just the day but the week, the month, the quarter, the year, and beyond. Sebastian knew that he shouldn’t have to ask Teagan to give him a reminder, he should be able to remember on his own. His gaze turned to the cart half full of groceries. “Bribery. This is the cart of bribes. The healthy stuff is next on the list.” To prove it he opened a note on his phone with a list of groceries and turned it for Teagan to see. “I’m not above using junk food as a way to sway my kids to get their chores done as long as it’s not happening too often. Maybe they’re the ones who have me trained.” His shoulders lifted in a shrug. “It works. Don’t tell my wife I got this much.”

[sebastianbrant]

BELLA OLIVEIRA​

“Well, it depends.” she replied, waving her hands around. “See, I counted them all upstairs. And I counted all of my bags. So if that was the last time I saw it — fifteen minutes. But, maybe, and I’m not saying this happened, but considering it’s not there anymore, there is a large possibility that this is what happened, and honestly considering my track record I wouldn’t be surprised…” where was she going with this? Oh, yes. “Well, I was thinking, I may have miscounted them upstairs so the last time I saw it was… twenty-five minutes ago.”

Sebastian had plenty of experience taking statements, he knew how to follow stories that got long-winded or temporarily off track. The entire time she talked his head moved up and down in small nods. “So, you either brought it upstairs with you when you arrived and it’s been gone fifteen minutes or accidentally miscounted and the bag never made it upstairs so it’s been twenty-five minutes.” He repeated back, making sure that he’d understood correctly. “I can help you look if you’d like. It’s my day off so I have time.”

[sebastianbrant]

HARVEY MANALO​

OPEN STARTER. ↪ at prince’s point, evergreen dock ↪ @somertonstarter​

“hey there little guy,” it was no surprise to anyone who knew harvey how much he loved dogs. growing up, it was the one thing he always wanted and never got and he still hoped to adopt one with felicity. he loved coming to evergreen dock and run over the coast and when four paw friends joined him, who was he to send them away? harvey leaned down and pet the dog until someone came over. “you’re just the cutest buddy ever, aren’t you? oh hey,” he said as he watched the person’s shadow and got up. “sorry, is he yours?”

Sebastian was able to withstand the pleas for a dog from his kids for about a year and a half once they were old enough to formulate a real argument. Then came the adorable presentation on why a dog would be the perfect thing for their family. Seb had been swayed. Since then their family had always had dogs. “Champ.” He tried to call the dog back but he was too happy getting pets and attention, his tail wagging a mile a minute. “He is, contrary to his own belief. The second anyone else offers him love he seems to forget about me.” Seb smiled down at the happy dog.   

[sebastianbrant]

ELEANOR MILLER

location: outside of the hospital (parking lot or sidewalk)

when: nighttime - whatever day of the week

open starter @somertonstarter​

Being a trauma nurse, meant that she was surrounded by just that▬ trauma, in  a way that had almost dissensitized her. Almost. For the first time in a long time, Eleanor was leaving the hospital with her body shuddering and skin crawling, she hated when accidents hit too close to home, or when injured and even deceased people reminded her of other people she loved. Nell felt two seconds away of slipping into the abyss she felt when her aunt passed away and she didn’t want to do that, Emma was home, waiting for her, and she deserved more than a mother feeling rattled. Picking the crisis pack of cigarettes she carried around, Eleanor put one between her lips before raising her eyes and lifting her eyebrows at the person who was close to her. “Do you want me to smoke somewhere else?” She offered, not really annoyed or anything, but the last thing she needed was someone complaining as she attempted to take the edge off the only way she knew how. It was either this or group therapy and God knew she was not going there.

Sebastian was no stranger to the hospital. In his lifetime in Somerton he’d gone there enough both for happy occasions like the birth of his children and sad. With the career choice he’d made there came the occasional trip to the hospital as a result of an injury. Tonight Seb was there to check on one of his officers that had caught a nasty right hook to the face after someone at the bar that’d had one too many drinks decided to start throwing punches. Making a personal visit wasn’t necessarily required of him but the man took it on as one of his responsibilities. After all, he was the Chief of Police. Thankfully the damage was nothing serious and the officer was given the all-clear to go home. On his way to his car he spotted Nell, changing his path to head towards the younger woman. “You know that’s not a good habit.” Of course she did, she was a nurse after all. “It’s fine. I’m the one that came over to you. Everything alright?”

[sebastianbrant]

EPHRAIM JAMES

“I suppose. But for now…well,” Ephraim chuckled, shaking his head a little. He nodded then at the Chief’s next words, even as he sipped his own drink. “You’re right. One water won’t hurt anyone. Good luck convincing people to drink it though,” he mused, glancing around the bar then. It was obvious that there was going to be some drunken revelry that night. An eyebrow raised then surprised by the next words. “For real? Damn. Didn’t think this place got rowdy like that,” Ephraim said with a bemused smile. 

—

“There’s a pretty high chance most of them will go untouched, you’ve got a good point.” And Seb wasn’t about to go around to each and every person and try to persuade them to drink a glass of water. The man knew to pick his battles and this wasn’t one that would get him anywhere. All it would do is give him a headache. “The last time was a few years back. A double date gone wrong. Turns out the guy was sleeping with his girlfriend’s best friend. The girls got into a fight and the guys did too, they’d already had plenty to drink and it a complete mess.”

[sebastianbrant]

MARIE BECKER​

Marie took in a deep breath, not enjoying an emotional talk with pretty much anyone, though with Seb, she knew she could count on him with her eyes shut. Besides, right now she felt alone and needed the support of a friend. “I mean- drink with me?” She laughed irritably as Seb ordered them drinks. Thank goodness for this man. “No, it’s- okay, I hope you won’t be mad at me for never telling you, it’s just- I never felt the need to, and now things are slightly changed.” She muttered, “When I was nineteen, like a hundred years ago, I uh… I had a kid.” She confessed, rubbing the back of her neck, “And- well- I couldn’t take care of her, so I gave her to adoption, and- that was kind of the end of it.” She explained, “But she found me, she called me today. She’s around town and we’re gonna meet, and it’s- it’s a lot.” She couldn’t really find the words to describe her sentiments. “You’re not angry right I didn’t say anything? You know you’re still my best friend, right?”

—

“Besides that.” Drinking together was what they were already doing and there was only so much drinking a copious amount of alcohol would do to help. Seb wanted to do something that would actually help his friend. When she started off with an apology he stayed quiet, giving Marie time to go on and explain exactly what she had decided to keep secret. The story she went on to explain was something Sebastian was incredibly familiar with. What Marie explained sounded similar to the story that had been explained to him in a letter from the birth mother he’d never met. “You never owed me an explanation of what you went through, there’s no reason to apologize for not telling me.” Though now he couldn’t help but think if maybe he should’ve tried looking for the mother that had given him away in hopes of a better life to tell her that he’d been happy and well taken care of. “My birth mother had to do something like that. She was a teen, couldn’t take care of me so she put me up for adoption. It doesn’t make you a bad person.”