do you hear HERE I GO AGAIN BY WHITESNAKE playing? oh, that must be ACE MILLER breezing by. i don’t know if you recognize them, but they look like ADAM DIMARCO to me. i heard that HE has been in town for SIX MONTHS, which is crazy considering they are THIRTY-FOUR years old. yeah, they live over on ELECTRIC AVENUE, and i heard that they work as a COMIC STORE OWNER + FREELANCE ANIMATOR ( IN TOWN ). i love that they remind me of FIRST EDITION COMICS TIMELESSLY PRESERVED, THE SMELL OF FRESHLY BREWED COFFEE WHILE THE REST OF THE WORLD SETTLES DOWN TO SLEEP, A ROOM FULL OF ART NO ONE IS ALLOWED TO SEE, POKER CHIPS HIDDEN IN THE POCKET OF A JACKET HE HASN'T WORN IN YEARS, LATE NIGHT WALKS WITH MANS BEST FRIEND BY HIS SIDE, but … ugh, their playlist is so weird. why is SURE DON'T MISS YOU in the queue?
name: ace miller age: thirty4 hometown: philadelphia, pennsylvania birthdate + zodiac: october 5th + libra gender: cis male pronouns: he/him sexuality: bisexual relationship status: single parents: ginevra mancini, daniel miller ( estranged from both ) parental figures: mattia mancini ( grandfather ) siblings: daphne miller, half-sister children: an eight year old dalmatian named patch occupation: comic store owner + freelance animator
bio.
tw include : toxic relationships, abandonment, gambling + addiction, neglect, depression + anxiety.
for ace, life began in south philadelphia. home was volatile from the moment he knew how to process his surroundings. his parents would fight, his father would leave for weeks on end, and his mother would cry on the sofa for a few days before going out, returning hours later with enough shopping bags to fill the living room. it made her happy . . . for a short time, at leaat. until his dad came back again and the cycle repeated itself. over and over until he was eleven. his fathers absence went from weeks, to months, to years. it took two until ace realized he was never coming back. his mother had always been a woman who liked to live well above her means, and a bartending job simply wasn't enough to cover the cost. so she gambled. even won big a number of times. it wasn't long before she was flying ace to places like las vegas, atlantic city. during the day, she'd teach him how to play poker in hotel rooms, and by night she'd leave him alone again. it seemed to make her happy, so he kept his worries to himself. but her fun soon turned to addiction, and wins soon built up to losses. it wasn't long before she found herself in a mountain of debt. with debt came mood swings, up and down and up again. then came angry knocks at the door demanding payment. ace knew she couldn't do it alone, so he stepped up. a high school student and struggling to keep up due to his home life, he was attending school, trying to fit in time to study, and working multiple jobs to pay off his mothers debt. it was all too much. burnout came fast, and soon it was occupied by anxiety, quickly followed by depression. his only saving grace was his grandfather, the man who'd always been more of a parent than either of his biological ones had ever been. whenever he could, he'd take ace to art museums, comic stores and conventions. an artist in his own right, it wasn't long before ace realized that talent ran in the family. on the nights he'd have a sliver of free time, he'd dig out his sketchpad and create other words to escape to. without the ability to do this, he likely wouldn't have made it through the next few years of his life. weeks from graduation, ace discovered his mothers spending hadn't stopped. while he was almost burying himself to save her, she wasn't giving him a second thought. she never noticed . . . or she simply didn't care. upon this realization, he decided it was time to live for himself. his father abandoning him had created a pandora’s box of issues, but his mothers betrayal somehow felt worse. sometimes he'd wish she left him too. he graduated and never looked back. he never wrote, never called, only knew that if she ever cared to find him, he'd open his arms again. but she never did. he spent a year travelling the world, during which time he found himself using the poker skills his mother had taught him to make money. but the more he did it, the more he felt like he was turning into her. he hated the idea of that more than anything. so he stopped. used the money he'd won to put himself through college with the added help from his grandfather. ace pursued a dual degree in graphic design and animation. it was a challenging road, but he eventually built his way up in the industry after taking a few hard knocks. but working for others always made him feel trapped, and so when he could afford to take the leap, he decided to work for himself. an old friend and the opportunity to buy an old comic store soon brought him to cider point. it's the first place he's stayed planted in for more than just a month or two at a time. little does he know the half-sister he's only just learned of is in the same place at the same time.
extra
he's a goofball. this man will joke his way through the pain for the rest of his life. very good at knowing just the right moment to interject and steer the conversation away from heavy topics. he develops a lot of crushes that burn bright and fast, but ultimately actually doing anything about them is a no-go. born to be a lover boy, forced to fear commitment due to deep-rooted abandonment issues. he loves to paint + sketch, and just get as creative as possible with anything artistic. it's his safe space, his own form of therapy in a way. though he doesn’t let many people see the results as somehow they feel a lot more personal than his cartoon & animation work. a night owl through and through. he finds it difficult to function before 10am, so if you need him you will need to provide a gallon of caffeine. speaking of which his tolerance is ridiculous at this point, he will vow it's not doing anything. but the speed in which he's talking will suggest otherwise. he’s surprisingly good at remembering random details about people, but will forget he half typed out a reply and forgot to send, which will then lead to him wonder why that person ghosted him. still quotes jersey shore like it's 2009. spends a lot of his time at the bar because he's incredibly lonely but we won't get into that. karaoke’s final boss.
