hi everyone!! my name is jenn (26, she/her, EST) -- super stoked to be here and to start writing with all of you! here’s a little bit about my boy orion under the cut----------
name: orion bradshaw age: 28 residence: bayside #109 occupation: minor league baseball player (& sometime-waiter at central provisions)
when he was 2 years old, orion was found on a park bench outside of the maine medical center emergency room. that’s the earliest piece of information he has about himself. for a little while, when he told that to friends, they said something about checking the security cameras -- they said there had to be some way to know who left him there. he has never been interested in knowing. he no longer tells this story to friends.
he was raised in the foster care system, and bounced around from home to home. these were not happy years. he grew up frightened and frequently alone. at the age of 12, he was taken in by tatum bradshaw.
and tatum never let go. it didn’t matter how much he thrashed around, started fights at school, left the house unannounced, yelled at her. he was trying to preempt the inevitable, but somehow, she didn’t send him back. one night, when orion gave it his worst, tatum told him that she wasn’t going to give up on him, and they both cried. he knew she meant it.
still, it wasn’t easy living in a house with a built-in family. his two sisters had each other already by the time he got there, and his anger wasn’t going away. tatum helped him direct it into something else: baseball.
you know how screaming for a while tears up your throat? that’s how it felt to finish batting practice, his shoulder sore and singing. orion learned to love the crack of the bat, the whistle of the ball, the satisfaction of whacking something hard and watching it fly. it gave him something to do with all that rawness -- and it gave him a social circle at school, too. he carried baseball through college (where he went on a scholarship, sacred heart class of 2013), and when he got out, he was drafted into the portland sea dogs, maine’s very own minor league baseball team.
he has major league aspirations, of course. just the thought of all that sports hero worship being directed at him is enough to make his head spin in the best possible way -- but for now, he’s stuck in the minor leagues, which pays next to nothing and demands everything he’s got. on the off-season, when he needs to scrounge together a little extra for rent, he’s a waiter at central provisions.
personality
he still has a lot of anger issues to work through, and though he’s gotten better about not getting physical with his conflict, he’s certainly not perfect. he’s very defensive, and he’s usually the first to pick a fight.
it takes a lot for orion to feel safe with someone, but once he does, he’s loyal for life.
maybe the major leagues aren’t actually an attainable goal for orion, but he refuses to believe that’s true. he has high hopes for himself, and he’s resilient, persistent, and determined to be somebody someday.
he’s excitable and indulgent, and often spends his mornings paying for the choices he made the night before. he really feels like he’s on his way to something big, and sometimes he acts like he’s already there.
