[Xavier Barlow] is [twenty-four], [pansexual] and [genderfluid]. He was born on [February 10th]. He lives in [Brooklyn]. He is from [Boston, Massachusetts]. He is an [artist] for a living, and often get told he looks like [Avan Jogia]. We wish them the best of luck in the city that never sleeps! [Laura, again!]
Welcome to the Big City, Laura (Again)! Please make sure everything on the checklist is in order before sending in your account for Xavier in the next 24 hours. We’re so excited to have you here with us!
@hiddenpxpercuts asked: Was that [MILES HESIZER]? Oh no no, that was just [SEBASTIAN MATTHEW-SMITH], a [CANON CHARACTER] from [HSMTMTS]. They are [TWENTY-ONE] years old, use [HE/HIM], and [ARE] aware that they are not actually from Washington DC. Too bad they can’t stray from this city for long. [Britt here.]
accepted! welcome to washington d.c. sebastian matthew-smith [miles hesizer]! please send in your account within 24 hours! please be sure to take a look at the checklist now that you've arrived! we look forward to seeing you around the city!
hope you brought your tissues with you! be sure to check in at home or to your hotel and don’t forget to always look over your shoulder. this is hawkins, after all.
basics
[ADAM DRIVER, CISMAN, HE/HIM] When’s the last time anyone heard anything about [MIKE WHEELER]? Old friends remember them as [LOYAL, OUTSPOKEN] but also [REPRESSED, OUT OF TOUCH], no wonder they’re still known as [THE PALADIN] around town. Today, in 2006, they are [35] and some people say they remind them of [kitchen table bills, circles under his eyes, ranting about things nobody understands, picnics in graveyards, back to school shopping at goodwill, aching hearts, being radicalized from hating a job so much, crying to brokeback mountain in secret, and looking disgusted at women who try to flirt with him because of his son.]. [ro, 22, they/them mst].
biography
1986 was the worst year of mike’s life. in one fell swoop, will and el were both gone. he couldn’t believe it. he just couldn’t. mike carried on in a state of shock for a while, not really processing all that happened. he kept up chipper appearances for dustin, lucas, joyce, jonahan, max, whoever needed him really. but ultimately, that led to more arguments than it did actual help. the onslaught of questions of how are you okay? and his mom fussing over him sounded like white noise. it was fine! everything was fine!
that was until the funeral. when mike saw their caskets side by side. every word spoken fell on deaf ears and when it was his turn to go up and speak, he stood silent, anxiously crumpling his speech and unfolding it in his hands over and over until he eventually ran off. mike was missing for three days, camped out in the wreckage of castle byers. he cried and screamed his voice hoarse, then walked out of it like nothing had happened at the funeral.
mike was miserable. life didn’t feel worth living, but apparently girls liked misery because suddenly he was getting noticed in the halls. his parents had paid for him to visit a therapist, who mike didn’t think was very good, but always saying things like, the only way out is through. he was probably talking about the life cycle of grief, but mike took that as business as usual. mike fell into a relationship with cindy and they dated for a long time. she wasn’t el, or will, but she stuck by him. listened to him. they shared dreams, kisses, tangerines, and school dances together. lucas and dustin were around, of course, but he was scared of upsetting them by talking about it. plus they had their own activities. cindy was all his. she was stability.
when graduation rolled around, mike couldn’t stand to leave hawkins. even though he’d convinced himself he moved on, he didn’t want to be far from their graves, or the byers house, or everything else that was familiar. so he went to the community college in the fall of 1989 with dreams of being an author and cindy at his side. mike played the part of an adult perfectly, he moved out and lived with cindy, he worked part time at the gas station, and things were good for a while. then in 1992, cindy said the words no guy ever wants to hear: i’m pregnant.
that was it for school. mike dropped out and started working full time at the convenience store. throughout the pregnancy, their relationship deteriorated and by the time they welcomed luke william wheeler in 1993, cindy was skipping town for chicago. she never signed up for this life, she said. mike was left alone with an infant and without a clue. ted wasn’t a stellar father, so truly, mike wasn’t a natural nurturer. luckily for him, dustin and lucas, even nancy and steve helped him out with the kid while he finished school and started working accounting at the mayor’s office. thrilling stuff.
mike had a difficult time after luke was born. it was as if everything he had shoved down years prior came back tenfold. he felt guilty. he hadn’t looked hard enough for will and el. what if they were trapped and waiting? what if they could be saved? instead of throwing himself into fatherhood, he threw himself into the conspiracy that his loved ones were still alive. anytime the electricity flickered or something weird happened around town, mike was convinced that it was one of them. he was so sure, he even roped jonathan into helping the search effort. they spent many freezing nights in the woods, tried ouija boards, dousing rods, anything they could think to use, mike even put the fort back up in his parents basement. this all culminated in mike having a breakdown in the grocery, insisting that the cooler section was talking to him, and ranting about how products were flying deliberately off the shelf at him.
that was the final straw before he was institutionalized. those three months were an overly-medicated blur, but by the time he got back, jonathan had given up on the search, mike had accepted they were gone and passed, and nancy gave him back luke. and life returned to whatever mike wheeler’s version of normal was. he continued to struggle with fatherhood, work as an accountant, and shouldering the burdens of his friends around him.
mike hadn’t been able to save el and will, but he was able to help lucas through his divorce or dustin through the melodrama of his life. he even brought meals to jonathan and joyce weekly when she got sick despite being a terrible cook. the only arena he didn’t seem able to catch up in was parenting luke. the older he got, the more he seemed to dislike mike, snap back at him, directly disobey. where did he go wrong? come 2006, luke was a teenager. maybe they were just growing pains. either way, mike hasn’t been looking forward to the conversation about joyce’s death with him. with everyone on their way back, it feels nauseatingly reminiscent of september 1986. mike is hoping this go around he doesn’t lose his marbles.
As an aside, please let us know what your character left behind in the Hawkins High Time Capsule between 1983 (Season 1) - 1986 (Season 4). We’d simply love to know! Please do so even if your character was not canonically in Hawkins or attending Hawkins High during this timeframe.
IN 1983 mike wheeler put his ticket stub from the snow ball in the hawkins high time capsule. he almost hadn’t gone out of disappoint of losing el, but nancy had convinced him it would be fun. it wasn’t.
IN 1984 mike wheeler put his luke skywalker action figure in the hawkins high time capsule. his parents tried to make him get rid of it as a punishment, but mike loved it so much he figured it would be a good alternative.
IN 1985 mike wheeler put a rock from the land around the old byers residence in the hawkins high time capsule. he had gone back after will and el moved and before the new owners did, grabbing it as a momento.
IN 1986 mike wheeler didn’t put anything in the hawkins high time capsule. after will and el died, it felt stupid. he wanted to pretend that the year didn’t exist altogether.
stats
Please distribute up to fifty points among the following stats! Click here for more detailed instructions on stats.
Athletics (How Athletic are they?) - 0
Burglary (Can they swipe stuff?) - 0
Contacts (Do they know people with information?) - 2
Deceive (Are they a good liar?) - 2
Drive (like, actual driving ability) - 2
Empathy (On a scale of 1-10 how much of an empath are they?) - 0
Fight (Do they have hands?) - 1
Investigate (Can they sleuth?) - 3
Lore (Kinda like knowledge) - 3
Medicine (First Aid Essentially) - 1
Navigation (How good are they with a map/getting around?) - 3
Notice (Is your character observant?)- 0
Provoke (Are they a shit stirrer?) - 3
Rapport (Are they charming? Can they do it on command?) - 0
welcome home! the following applications have been accepted. to collect your keys, please add our caretakers, Rose and Serenity, within the next 24 hours or your home will be put back on the market! please make sure ‘home’ or '🏠’ is visible in your bio so we know you are a resident!
Nakamura Kazuha (Le Sserafim)
Yoo Si-ah / YooA (Oh My Girl)
Jeon Soyeon (G-Idle)
Kim Namjoon (BTS)
Park Sooyoung / Joy (Red Velvet)
Cha Eunwoo (Astro)
Moonbin (Astro)
Cho Miyeon (G-Idle)
Jackson Wang (GOT7)
CARLEIGHA ORTIZ ( She/her ) is a Cisgender woman thirty-two year old Librarian who has been living in Moorbrooke for 30 years. They were born on March 9th and right now, they are currently residing in Redgrave Grove. It has been said that they look suspiciously like Aimee Carrero and if they had to choose a song to describe themselves, they would choose Waves by Dean Lewis. ( Davinna, 33, CST, she/her )
Welcome to Moorbrooke, CALEIGHA ORTIZ! Please make sure you send in your account within 24-hours otherwise your face claim will be reopened. Check out the checklist and enjoy your stay in town!
