Name: Seven Kaplowitz.
Nicknames: Sev.
Birthday: May 28th, 1971.
Pronouns: He/him.
Gender/Sex: Male.
Sexuality: Bisexual.
Occupation: Owner of Comics Emporium.
Neighborhood: Aurora Bay Drive.
P E R S O N A L I T Y —
+ Cooperative, Enthusiastic. - Spoiled, Absent-Minded.
Seven is a man who is used to getting what he wants, but also getting what he wants because he's worked hard to earn it. There's a disconnect in his brain when he works hard towards something and doesn't achieve what he desired- he feels as though he deserves it, even if he might not, simply because he worked for it. He's a relatively whimsical man but holds a mean grudge unless he gets what he deems is a proper apology. King of not showing up to things because he forgot they were happening, and also king of sending an edible arrangement as apology for missing said events. Goofy and comfortable with himself, though he knows his occasional lack of social awareness/lack of caring about social awareness can and will lead to some awkward moments.
A R R I V A L — ( 1971 / 2010 )
Although born and raised in Aurora Bay, Seven dipped to go to college in Georgia where he attended Savannah College of Art and Design to become a comic book artist and storyboarder. His career took him to Atlanta and then to New York City before he found his way back to California; first to San Diego, then to Aurora Bay once his career had settled into something consistent.
E X T R A B I T S —
- Very good at juggling, yo-yo'ing, and close up magic: card tricks, sleight of hand, applied mathemagic... he's someone who spent a lot of time in his room alone growing up, either reading comics or magic books, though at least he actually has something to show for both. He never did any sort of magic performing but it is something he whips out at parties/gatherings/when he's bored at the shop and looking to impress someone.
- Frequents both SDCC and NYCC; sometimes he's on panels, sometimes he's at a booth signing comics and chatting with fans. Although recognizable to comic-enjoyers, a decent amount of con-goers don't register his face alone, so he's able to walk around and enjoy the con for what it is without being ambushed by fanboys.
- A decent cook, but only because their house chef growing up, Addis, taught him everything he knows - and most of what he knows are basic lentil soups. He can do crazy stuff with lentils and chickpeas, just don't ask him to make, like, meatloaf. On that: he's vegetarian, so extra don't ask him to make meatloaf.
- His house is FILLED with dork memorabilia - think Ned Gold from 17 Again level of Stuff Hoarder.
F R E Q U E N T S T O P S —
Comics Emporium - Usually here at least a couple of hours 4/7 days a week. Likes to talk to customers who seem genuinely interested in whatever they're seeking out, but will also advise lost parents/partners trying to buy a gift for the nerd in their family
Jolyani Food Truck - Favorite quick lunch spot. Usually turns into much more than a quick lunch, but the food is so good and the kids who run it are even better.
Legacy Multi-Court - Although not a big sports guy, he's found that playing pickleball keeps his ageing body youthful. Comes out here at least once a week, usually on Thursday mornings.
Pinball Wizard Arcade - Huge dork who loves playing arcade games? Check! Sorry to any regulars here because Seven has no qualms about kicking a teen's ass in Mortal Kombat. He always pays the token fee for them, though- he's not a monster.
Titanium Gym - Visits five-six times a week for a full body workout. Very much a get-in-get-out guy, but he's made buds with all of the check-in staff and he's polite to anyone who chooses equipment beside him.
Tuttie Fruittie Smoothie - Loves a green juice.
C O N N E C T I O N S —
Bellamy Calvert - cousin was Bell's mom.
Ziggy Kyeon - shop favorite (not that he picks favorites)
B A C K G R O U N D —
tw: mild bullying
To be frank, Seven's been a dork since the day he was born. His interests have always fallen to the nerdier side of things; he was six when the first Star Wars movie came out, which was just old enough to be sucked in completely by the vast world building and magical character design. Star Trek was just as cool to him, and both had piles of books Seven could dork out on, too. This, of course, was only the beginning.
Though neither of his parents had any real interest in the media that Seven enjoyed, they supported him in any way they could - usually monetarily. Buying him stacks of comics for Christmas, sending the nanny off with money to bring him to the movies (and, eventually, when he was old enough, shoving a fifty in his pocket and letting him go crazy on a bucket of popcorn himself)... He had every ability to go and support his own hyperfixations. He just didn't have friends.
Seven was scrawny, weird looking, and wore glasses - in the 70's and 80's, he was the textbook definition of a nerd. Beyond that, he enjoyed his own company, and when he did hang out with others, they were dorks too - people who understood his obsession with Star Wars and the Lord of the Rings books and, especially, comics. This, of course, led to some typical bullying (being pushed against lockers, being lightly harassed, having his comics swiped and ripped) that only encouraged Seven to put his nose to the grindstone and get the fuck out of school as fast as possible. He had one really good friend and two kind of good friends, and all of them were brought together by being bullied; at least they got through school together.
Because of his lack of a real social life, Seven spent a lot of time in his room, picking up new skills - like juggling and close-up magic. He'd practice both for hours, perfecting harder and harder tricks and fancier and fancier card movements. He also picked up yo-yo'ing, which he's good at but not as good.
He also spent time drawing. A lot of time drawing. He knew early on he wanted to be a comic artist, or at least on the storyboarding team; anything that would get him closer to expanding the universes and bringing the magic of these stories to other nerdy kids like himself.
College brought him to SCAD where he perfected his storyboarding skills, picked up a degree in communications, and - now long past the shackles of the high school caste system - made connections with people who thought both he and comics were cool. Turns out that after you get to college, no one really cares about anything that mattered in high school - which worked out very, very well for Seven.
Moved to Atlanta shortly after graduating, then went out to New York City where he worked remotely as an artist for several Image Comics publications.
At this point in his career he's mostly focused on shifting into writing plot and dialogue for comics so he doesn't overwork his hand and end his career early. He's also become a producer for several comic stories and has created a program for low-income youth to find ways into the comic-making world; he's aware he's always been privileged in that way and wants to work to close the gap as much as he can.
In 2008, Seven moved to San Diego, and in 2010 he decided to full-send his move back home and buy Comics Emporium. He took it from it's old, run-down, hasn't-been-updated-since-the-early-90's look and breathed a new life into the building, adding second and third levels to the shop in a massive construction project that took a year to finish (though the shop didn't close completely during construction). Now, though, it's one of the best comic stores in the entire southern California area - something he'll be prideful about until the day he dies.
Three - How much legal trouble has your muse been in? What caused it?
"Oh, none. I'm a good boy. I'd say the closest to trouble was when one of the authors we were working with was being threatened with a lawsuit against a comic he'd been storyboarding. Long and short of it is he definitely stole the concept, but he decided to settle out of court so I didn't even get the chance to get subpoenaed. Come on!"
Nine - What is the one wish your muse wants to come true more than anything else in the world?
"I need Adam Sandler back on SNL yesterday. I've been watching the show for decades, but, and I'm being completely transparent when I say this here, nothing is as funny as when he was up there doing his stuff. Sure, they've had great skits without him, and he's not the greatest cast member objectively, but to me? He made that show. He gave it real life. And he won't even come back to host!"
Jack - Does your muse use unreliable methods for “high risk high reward” gains or do they go the safe route with things?
"Sure! Yeah, I play the stock market game. It's not always the safest way to keep my money up, but it's not my main source of money and it's fun. Calculated risks - extremely calculated risks. I had to sell some of my stocks in a few tech companies when they started going down the evil AI routes, which was a great payday, but disappointing in the long run. At least I don't gamble!"
"Rumours are true, I do have legs." Ravi says, pointing to one of his own like proof of existence. Ninety-percent of the times that he saw Seven were from inside Jolyani where he could easily have been confused for a floating fusion food serving chef who was just an upper body.
"My dad told to tell you to text him back about Thursday. His exact words were 'walk your ass over there and find out' so this is me doing that. Don't feel obligated to say yes by the way, he's just real big on Thanksgiving. You'll be missing a hell of a spread if you don't though. I've got a tandoori turkey idea that's either going to change lives or ruin the meal."
Seven's slouched over his iPad, knee-deep in a project that should've been done six days ago, when he hears a voice familiar enough that he starts to smell a mix of spices and exhaust from sense memory alone. He lifts his head up fast enough to send his readers flying to the tip of his nose, but his massive smile keeps them from clattering to the floor.
"Someone call the papparazzi or else no one's going to believe me when I say I've seen Ravi Russell's gams."
With one hand he pushes his glasses back up his nose, and with the other he flips his iPad cover closed so he can give Ravi his full attention - 1000 watt smile and all.
"Oops. Haven't even looked at the haul today. You know I don't hit the iMessage until at least seven o'clock..." Seven quickly yoinks his phone from his pocket to locate the message from Arthur, which he scans with all the speed of a fifty-something year old man. "Dinner.. Me? Oh, jeez, wow, of course I'm saying yes. And offering me Tandoori Turkey? It's like you're speaking directly to my soul. It would be an honor, really."
Seven rounds the counter so he can speak to Ravi like a person rather than a customer; he eyes the kid up and down, his head tilting. "You must be feeling better. Dropped by the truck the other day and Sola said you were out sick. Nothing terminal, I hope?"
"Uh, hi." Lore said, as she picked up a toy from the front lawn and threw it into the basket. Her mom had asked her to make sure all Emma's toys were put away, since they were having some dinner party or something.
"I'm fine. Just, you know, cleaning up after my child. I had a good Halloween, I guess. Mostly spent the night trick-or-treating and then went to Sharky's. What about you?" she asked, looking over at Seven.
If Seven's thrown by the lack of returned enthusiasm, he doesn't show it; in fact, he ducks down to grab a few toys as well, tossing them into the bin Lore was using to collect them all.
"Ha! Children. Little angels, right?"
He wouldn't know. He likely never will - he's long into his fifties, and unless he decides he's super into younger women or adopting, he's going to ride out the rest of his years as a childless bachelor.
"Sharky's? Wow. Seems like everyone except me was there. I held down the fort here handing out candy to the kiddos and then did a seriously intense Soul Cycle sesh the next morning."
Paxton neatly lines up the current stack, tallied up and completing their inventory count. They are all accounted for, thankfully, and he knows the high shrink items are more of the smaller trinkets and merch than a whole book.
Not that it hasn't stopped people from stealing before.
"I can just do them on my own," Pax offers with a shrug. "Really, it isn't like I have much else going on outside of here, and the extra hours never hurt." His income is fully supplemented by his freelance work, even when demand ebbs and flows, but extra cash from a Comic Emporium paystub isn't something he'd turn his nose up to.
Pax's interest is snagged by the offer, and he nods, "Yeah, absolutely. They have some Green Grinch one I want to try. Little early for Christmas, but I'm for it."
Seven looks at Paxton with a mix of disbelief and offense, his eyebrows doing as much as they physically can. (He might fall for the supplements game, but he'd be a dead and desperate man if he ever scheduled a Botox appointment.)
"You are not doing inventory alone, Pax. Do you have a death wish? This takes all day, even with four of us here. Absolutely not - no martyrdom on company time. But! If you want the extra hours, we can indubitably find some shifts for you."
Seven pumps his fist once with a quiet yesss! and then pats at his pockets to make sure his wallet is on hand. Tap-to-pay be damned, he'll pay in cash as often as possible until they stop minting every form of currency this country has.
"Oh no! If I drink it, will it turn my heart two sizes too small?" Ba dum tss. Seven doesn't bother letting Ziggy or Jamie know where he and Paxton are going since they're (hopefully) both in the counting zone, and he'd rather interrupt with smoothies than interrupt to tell them he's getting smoothies.
"I'm only for the kitschy holiday stuff if they're doing some solid pun work with the titles. The constant branding is too much. Can't it just be a green smoothie? Or, heck, call me old fashioned, but the actual flavors being included would be nice."
"You and my boyfriend should link up," Sola replied with a laugh she grabbed a cup and filled it to the brim with the bright orange concoction in the blender. "He's a vegan, but he's not, like, pushy about it."
She and Mav wouldn't have lasted past their first date if he was. She still forgot that he couldn't try everything she experimented with, but Jolyani's vegan and vegetarian options had gotten exponentially better since they'd started dating.
Sola threw a lid and a straw (biodegradable, mind you) on top and handed it down to Seven, hoping that he didn't catch the way her smile wavered slightly at the question. She turned back to the stove and busied herself with Seven's order.
"Nah, he was feeling under the weather today," she said. A couple of months ago, she would've flipped at the idea of having to work a rare shift alone, but she'd been relieved to receive that text. She hit Ravi with a thumbs up reaction and had zero complaints about showing up earlier than usual to prep.
"What do you think?" she asked, turning and jabbing at the lassi with her spatula. "I want an honest review, no holds barred."
"If he can cook half as good as you, I have to meet him. Vegans are so crafty with their foods - I throw a can of beans into a pot of rice and call it gold, but vegans are doing the culinary equivalent of building the Eiffel tower out of ironless iron."
Or something of that nature.
Seven takes the offered drink with a giddy lack of hesitation, so excited that he misses the wobble in Sola's smile, though not the way she pushes past the mention of Ravi with the same speed that Seven horfs down the Jolyani truck's combo platters.
Hmm. He's not the most affluent in the area of emotional intelligence, but he can hold his own. Seven puts a mental pin in the thought and focuses instead on tasting the gifted beverage.
"Oh, wow. Oh, wow, Sola. Yeah." Seven takes another long sip, savoring every bit. "Yeah, this rocks. The cardamom pops so well. Is that pistachio, too? You could almost push that, I think, but the softness of that flavor underneath everything else is perfect for me. Wow."
Seven shakes his head, impressed.
"If I come back there and help out when Ravi's sick, can I have free samples like this all the time?"
'I'm not sure an open flame would be such a good idea," Jaime counters, "I'm not trying burn down your store." He's just thinking about being surrounding by all those pages and how one wrong flicker of a candle's flame and down goes the comic book store. Crinkling his nose, though, he does agree that something is better than nothing, "I'll take the Febreeze." Too bad he can't draw himself a window to get some fresh air. "If there's any rats, though, I will be burning down the place on purpose." He's kidding, but you better believe he'll scream his head off if one runs across his feet.
Seven raises his eyebrows. Good point. The last thing he needs is for the emporium to burn to the ground; financially he'd recover, but he's rather fond of this place.
"Okay, yeah. Ix-nay on the candle. Febreeze I can do, if I can remember where exactly I put it." Seven squints at the cabinets full of stuff and knows before he offers that he's going to stick around down here and help Jamie out. He'd drawn the short end of the stick - the least Seven could do is offer bare minimum assistance. "I can, at the very least, promise there will be no rats. I keep on top of pest control after an infestation of moths almost took out half of my basement stock a few years ago."
Moths and rats are pretty different, one being significantly grosser to deal with, though Seven hopes Jamie's worries are soothed either way.
After a quick search of his office, Seven returns to the basement with both the air freshener and a smoothie, which he offers to Jamie.
"Me and Paxton got smoothies - didn't want you to miss out on them before they went bad sitting in the breakroom. I grabbed you the Santa's Little Helper - I remember the name, just not the ingredients, so. Hope you're not allergic to anything!"
"Well in my defense, I only moved here a few months ago? So I'll actually have to buy a tree and all. But I have always kinda envied people who keep them up all year....seems fun." And Mireya could definitely use some extra fun and joy in her life. "A broken anything doesn't exactly sound conducive to holiday time, so yeah. Try to avoid that." She told him with a soft laugh. "I'm also in an apartment, so the most climbing I'll have to do is getting on a step-stool to put the star up on top? And to hang garland around the doorways and everything. Maybe some lights....Is there such thing as too much when it comes to Christmas decor?"
"Not one of those people who pack a plastic tree into the attic every year? Good on you. Oh! And welcome to the neighborhood."
Seven nods in wholehearted agreement - breaking anything at any point sounds bad, and to add the usual peace of the holidays being ruined by an injury? No thanks.
"Two years ago I had the worst flu of my life; it started on the first day of Hanukkah and lasted all nine days. I mean, the worst of it was over in a week, but that cough stuck around hard." Seven pushes around the dredges of his ice cream before giving up on it; his stomach is already starting to fight back against the bombardment of sugar.
"I have full faith in your step-stool's strength," he says with a nod. "And I absolutely think there is no such thing as too much. We live in a maximalist world! What else are we to do but meet the rest of society's craving for more? I mean, maybe it's because I grew up in a house full of stuff, but my house? Full of stuff. Can't say I'd have it any other way."
"I'd teach you to yo-yo, yeah, of course. Lot's of people think it's a girl-repellent, but I know from experience it's a magnet. If you're serious, we could also get into..."
32. Do they have any “props” that are a significant part of their life, identity, activities, or self-presentation somehow? What are they, how are they used, and why are they so significant? How would these props’ absence impact them, how would they compensate, and why?
"Not sure if I understand the question. I use my readers every evening, but I don't think that's exactly what you mean."
Seven thinks it over a moment. "Yes. Yes, I think that's exactly what you're supposed to do. And, if you can find the extra words, it doesn't hurt to sprinkle in a little tragic backstory for empathy points. The people who read these essays love a growth moment."
After a sip of his coffee, he nods towards Nora's laptop.
"Don't worry, Mr. K," Sola called out over her shoulder as she sautéed. "Little bit of a lighter crowd today because of the weather, so I got you covered."
'The weather' was a drizzle at worst, but these southern Californians had no idea how to cope.
She let her onions simmer and turned to the concession window to greet Seven with a fist bump. "Actually, you wanna taste test something for me while I make your plate? I've been messing around with a sweet potato lassi and I believe it has the potential to be quite dope."
Seven smiles to himself, letting the smell and, honestly, entire vibe of the Jolyani truck bring his spirits up. Some people might pink at the idea of being known enough to be considered a regular, but to Seven? It's an honor - one of the greatest.
He returns her fist bump with a little pow! smile widening at the offer. "Quite dope you say? Consider my interest peaked. You know my motto: if it's meatless, I'm'a eats it."
(Something he's never said before - something he absolutely will say again.)
closed starter for sola adisa ( @solaadisa )
-> wherever jolyani is parked today
"If you tell me you're sold out of your #6 today again, my heart's going to break into a million pieces. I might even throw a tantrum. Right here, in front of everyone."
