archer rockwell loves his job. he didn't think he would, didn't think he could, way back when he thought history and baseball were his only choices. he loves the community it gives him, everyone at the station feels like family, and he loves the adrenaline rush it gives him every day to, in some way, save lives. he loves the feeling afterwards, on the good days, and he loves knowing he can still feel something, on the bad days.
bad days often end with the crew at the may's, a couple of beers and a couple of rounds of pool, in, commiserating over what had happened during their shift. archer, lately, has found himself with a different bad day routine. He turns down the group invitation to may's on this particular day, dealing with the taunting from the rest of the crew, so he can duck out, head home to clean up, and run a few errands.
by the time he's standing outside her door, he has a brown paper take-out bag in one hand, a bottle of wine in the other, and an endlessly exhausted look on his face, that flips into a smile when she pulls the door open. "want some company?"
open starter ( @marinastarters ) !
located in gibson's bookstore
there was something about spaces like this that softened the world a little, bringing with it a sense of comfort. if left to his own devices, tomas could easily spend entire afternoons wandering the narrow aisles of gibson's, pulling familiar titles from the shelves just to feel the weight of them in his hands again. today was no different. by now, he'd accumulated a small stack of books now balanced carefully in the crook of one arm: several translations of the same classic novel he had taught more times than he could count, but the intrigue was in the variations of phrasing and therefore meaning, which fascinated him in ways he rarely tried to explain to anyone outside of the classroom.
he had just reached out to return one of them to the shelf (only because he recognized it as one he already owned) when his attention drifted sideways, where someone nearby was thumbing through a book. the cover caught his eye immediately, recognition sparking. he hesitated for a moment, clearly debating with himself, his fingers adjusting slightly around the books in his arms. then, with polite caution, he allowed himself to lean slightly closer. "i'm sorry, i don't mean to intrude but," his gaze flicked briefly to the book in their hands before returning to them, offering a shy smile, "i feel obligated to tell you that's a wonderful choice... one of those books you don't want to miss. you should get it."
archer is pretty sure he spends more time in gibsons than he does at the family farm. it's part because his best friend owns the place, and occasionally he'll stop in before, or after a shift to check in, have a coffee, whatever. but there's the other part, the part of archer that thrived when he was away from marina, in college, that loved to learn, that hoarded new information like it was currency, and maybe it was, in a way.
but today is one of those days where he's got a thirst for knowledge, and perhaps the kind of refuge only a good book can offer someone. he's flipping through one a guy at the station had suggested, and from what he's seeing, he'll probably buy it. "you know, you are the second person to tell me that today," he passes the book from one hand to the other, looking at the stack the other hand in their arms. "you look like you know your'e stuff, can i uh, bother you for some more recs?"
"c'mon, man. you telling me this place still isn't up to code?" amari asked after giving archer the whole tour of his ranch. the warning he'd previously been given had been warranted. but this one? well he thought he should be let off a little easier given the work he'd finally gotten around to putting in to the place. // @sztellites
"Look, man, I can see all the work you're doing, and that counts for something." Archie hates this part of the job, where he has to give bad news, where he has to disappoint. "it's looking great, really, just make sure you have proper egress before i have to sign off, you know? hell, I'll drag on the paperwork, give you some more time."
It wasn't like Joselia knew the firefighter all that well beyond a last name and a preference for early morning runs. It began by accident about four months ago, when Joselia found herself setting her pace against the hard-to-miss man who often ran at the same time and place as her. He offered a bit of silent competition, and Jo welcomed it-- hell, it even helped her shave almost a minute off her mile time. But then about a month ago they walked a cooldown mile together and Joselia decided Rockwell was genuinely nice-- Which is exactly what led to this, Joselia and Archie meeting at the end of the street for a late night run.
"Thanks for coming," she breathed when he was within earshot. Jo finished stretching her hamstring-- a habit she'd picked up as she inched closer to thirty-- and flashed a grateful smile at him. "I know some jiu-jitsu, for the record, but I would hate to get a reputation," she joked. When spring was inching into summer and the days were warmer, Joselia preferred to run after dark. There was a therapeutic element to the way the cool evening breeze blew in off the water. It was the closes to zen she'd gotten in years, and Jo wasn't exactly eager to give it up because of safety, not even with her brothers' warning voice in her head. Inviting Archie to run with her was the compromise, she supposed. "Long day?"
he’s often told he has a friendly demeanor. much like a golden retriever, his sister had said once. he's not exactly sure he agrees with that (though, there could is a cuddling argument to be made.) but still, he supposes it’s a good thing that people take kindy to him, that they feel safe with him, given the nature of his job. Imagine a firefighter you didn’t feel comfortable approaching? It was part of the entire persona
It’s a combination of soft blue eyes, an easy smile, and a personality that can be described as a gentle giant, he is sure, that prompts joselia to ask him to go on her nighttime run with her. It’s his love for running and his need to people-please that makes him agree.
It's a long shift, one that requires a late-night run, so when joselia thanks him, he waves it off with a smile, "Please, you're doing me a favor by keeping me motivated; if I didn't say yes, I would've skipped my run altogether." he stretches his shoulders out a moment, standing there, letting a laugh escape "i think if there's any reputation to have, it's that one, actually."
a hum, a shake of his head "always is, it's not always cats stuck in trees, you know? what about you, though? running for the therapy of it?"
"for you." ayanna said, offering archer a bottle of the newest lotion she'd received but hadn't yet to put on the shelves. so maybe he was the guinea pig, didn't mean it couldn't be beneficial to him too. "let me know what you think of it, yeah?" // @sztellites
he blinks at the bottle that's been placed in his hands, turning it over and reading the label, blue eyes lifting to regard her again, an eyebrow quirking. "Is this to avoid the 'stop lighting sage without proper ventilation' lecture you're about to receive?"
⋆˚₊ 𖤓☽˚.⋆ Welcome to Marina, Archer Rockwell ( cis man, he/him ) ! They are a thirty-five-year-old who resides in TOWER HILL. They work as a/an FIREFIGHTER/PARAMEDIC and are said to look a lot like DAVID CORENSWET. People around the island find them to be +LIONHEARTED and +CHARISMATIC, but also -HEDONISTIC and -RESTLESS. what do you think?
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BASIC INFORMATION
FULL NAME: Archer Nathaniel Rockwell
NICKNAME(S): Archie by the people he loves the most, Archer to everyone else, Rockie to his co-workers.
AGE: 35
DATE OF BIRTH: June 25th 1991
CURRENT LOCATION: Tower Hiill, Marina IIsland
PLACE OF BIRTH: Marina Island
ETHNICITY: Caucasian (english/jewish)
GENDER: cis man
PRONOUNS: he/him
SEXUAL ORIENTATION: bisexual.
RELIGION: was raised in an interfaith household, his mother was Jewish and his father Christian, so they tried to meld both. Archer believes in god but doesn't take it seriously.
LANGUAGES: English, some Hebrew, and Spanish (not fluently, but it was the only language they offered in school. at the time)
OCCUPATION: Firefighter and paramedic
CHARACTER PARALLELS: kelly severide, evan buckley, conrad hawkins.
FACECLAIM: D.avid C.orenswet
PHYSICAL TRAITS
HEIGHT: 6'4
WEIGHT: 230 lbs
HAIR COLOR: brown/black
EYE COLOR: blue
PERCINGS:
TATTOOS: here, here on his knee and here
SCARS|MARKS: a scar on his knee from falling as a child, freckles across his body and face.
SIGNATURE SCENT: Santal 33 or Tom Ford tobacco vanille.
LIKES: a tumbler of whiskey after a long day, poetry, history, craft beer, especially a fruited sour, music (rap, country, classical, musicals, rock, pop) cars (something he spends a bit of money on, impulsively), pastries/sweets.
DISLIKES: cold weather, micromanagement, and formal events, which he excels at, but dislikes nonetheless.
HOBBIES: Outdoor activities such as hiking, fishing, and horseback riding, cooking (a novice, but he likes trying new recipes), baseball (he’s on a league!), running (he runs every morning, and has done a marathon!), aviation, though this is new to him.
negative traits: hedonistic, cocky, restless, a people pleaser.
aesthetics: collections of baseball caps, pick-up trucks riding through the mud, the scent of antiseptic cleanser and woody warm cologones, lego sets on display, espresso shots in the mid-afternoon, a collection of crushed red bull cans, vintage levi's and button downs, rubber gloves, and flashing red lights, sirens and nerdy jokes, walks in misty fog surrounded by the scent of trees and grass. Strong hands wrapped around warm skin. The ache of knowing that no matter how hard you try, you’ll never be enough.
tw drug use, parental death, tw car crash.
biography.
PAST
prospect hill, marina island, June of 1991
Born early in the morning (three minutes after his twin sister), Archer Nathaniel Rockwell is the first, and only son born to Sophia Cohen and Nathaniel Rockwell, long time Prospect Hill residents, dairy farmers and proud Marina Islanders, a couple, and then, family, who stressed how important community and culture was, involving themselves in whatever volunteer work or community events they could. The Rockwell's took pride in supplying dairy products to Marina Island, and raised both children to take pride in it too.
Archer and his sister Miriam, had what most people would call a normal childhood. They are were found roughhousing, climbing a tree, covered in mud, or, playing games with their school friends, but the family buisness was the family business, so there were early mornings before school doing feedings, late nights lifting hay and weekends at the market alongside his parents, with smiles on their face and no complaints.
By the time Archer was thirteen, he knew that running the family dairy farm was not in the cards. He admired his parents for their hard work, and was happy to help them out, but this wasn't what he wanted for his life. He had been pretty sure his father could tell as he got older, when roughhousing and climbing trees turned into smoking weed in the barn with is friends and joining the baseball team just to get away from it all.
He knew he didn't imagine the disappointment in his fathers eyes.
Baseball, he realized, became something of a godsend, keeping him out of the house, sure, though he still had his chores, but it gave him a sense of community he had always really wanted. Going from a farm boy with an affinity for sci-fi movies and history books, perfect grades, and perfect manners to the star player and a jock was jolting, and Archer had found himself basking in the attention from teachers and peers. (he got his first date, first kiss, first everything, because of a game-winning home run. )
still, he searched for his parents' faces in the crowd at every game.
baseball and a killer essay are what grant him admission into the University of Michigan, a history major and a power hitter on the Michigan Wolverines, college was where Archer was really able to blossom. He was able to find out who he was outside of Marina Island, and his parents' farm (and even, his sister, the only thing that made it hard for him to accept his scholarship) His social life thrived. You could often find him at either a party or a game in his limited free time. He was the very definition of a golden boy. College was his first real life experience, he discovered more about himself there than anywhere else, from hobbies outside of baseball, to his bisexuality.
In the middle of his senior year, after a late night of studying the sound of his phone ringing shook him out of a deep sleep. In an instant, with just four words, his life had changed. Car crash, gone instantly.
After his parents' death, after he traveled back home and grieved with his sister, after they held a funeral, and then a lunch on the farm, Archer dropped out of school in his last few months. He jumped back into life on Marina Island, picking up work as a handyman where he could to help pay for the farm, to help his sister, who was thrown into the family business early, too, and somewhere along the way, he found himself entering into a Fire Medic program.
It was in this transitional period that Archer learned he could learn something other than history or baseball. The fire medic training had set something in him alight; the work was an adrenaline rush, and he realized he'd still be able to serve his community, like his parents had always wanted, but in a way that worked for him.
By the time the two-year program was up, his sister was running the farm basically by herself, with his help whenever he had spare time, so when the fire department offered him a job, he accepted immediately. After a year on the job, Archer moved into an apartment in Tower Hill and distanced himself from the family business as much as possible.
PRESENT
tower hill, marina island.
Archer has been a firefighter and paramedic for fourteen years, and he's really settled comfortably back into a life on Marina Island. Just like his parents before him, he takes pride in being able to serve his community in this way, even if it wasn't exactly what they had planned for him.
His sister still lives on the farm, divorced with her 11 year old daughter, she's been trying to get him to be more involved, but there's something in him that he can't quite place that stops him from fully committing to his family, to his friends, to his job, and in his relationships.
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