INTRODUCING . . . HARRISON WRIGHT ( he / him ). 48 y/o . known as THE WITHDRAWN . he's lived in palmview for 13 years . you may find him at 400 ocean drive , oceanside , or helping with construction / building work at misc wright construction co . sites . he can be closed off , but i promise he's also very resourceful . some people alike him to LEE CHANDLER from MANCHESTER BY THE SEA .
hiii gang !! excited to be here ! ur about to be SICK OF ME . i'm not a huge discord user but will try my best . expect many many plots !
sorry this intro's a bit long but i got da muse yk . . .
THE PAST .
harrison was born into the foster care system and stayed in it basically forever until he got ' too old ' and grew out of it ( think .. short term 12 sorta vibes ) .
he was always a pretty spunky guy bc of it , learnt a lot very quickly and at a young age ( forced to grow up real quick )
he met the love of his life while bouncing between homes . in one group home he met the most beautiful girl named katie , and the pair basically were inseparable from ages 11 onwards
katie and harrison had each other's backs throughout a lot of things . very much the definition of a ride or die ( spoiler : she dies ) . they were each other's anchors and guiding lights through tumultuous , shitty homes , crappy home carers , cramped rooms etc .
i wanna be super clear here : katie and harrison were never siblings or pseudo siblings , this isn't some the fosters shit . lol . they were both in a shared group house , and moved to and from at risk youth , troubled youth houses etc . poor neighbourhoods that didn't have ANYONE available to foster anyone .
anyways . harrison and katie got together when they were 18 years old . they both were aged out of the system , both only had each other . both were clearly in love ( harrison maybe more so ) . so , they packed up their one backpack each , left and entered the real world .
they were POOR . poor as fuck . working 8 jobs between the two of them , sleeping on ratty , used mattresses outside . sharing canned tins of spaghetti and beans . but my god they were in love and they were happy .
fast forward into their early 20s , things were slowly settling down . they'd saved enough money to get a shitty ass apartment . then they found out katie was pregnant .
harrison was kinda .. indifferent to being a dad , but katie loved it . she was 1000% committed to being a mother , and having a kid that would have a real family, unlike what she got . harrison just wanted to make her happy , so he went along with it .
ENTER BABY NO 1 !!! harrison is still a bit detached from the kid ( a boy . gender is fake btw ) , tbh he's just here bc he loves katie so much . but it makes her happy , so he's happy .
ENTER BABY NO 2 !! a daughter this time ( gender is still fake ) . harrison feels a tiny bit more of a connection with the daughter . not a lot , bc he's still fumbling bumbling and awkward about Dad business , but he feels ' phew , there's 2 of them now . surely this will be ok . '
and for a while . . things are good . they all live a rough , misshapen , poor as dirt life in their apartment , but it's filled with love and laughter .
harrison gets better at working with his hands . he's a fix it guy . he fixes taps , plumping , electricity . anything and everything . kinda because the apartment is so shit so it needs constant maintenance . so he learns . but it also becomes a career . first he works with other tradesmen , but then in his 30s he decides to make his own business .
he's not the best dad , but katie is the best mum . shes good at singing lullabies , picking up, putting down , kissing boo boos , making the right impressed noises at fridge art and finger painting .
harrison is 35 years old when katie dies . it's sudden and unexpected . it destroys harrison's whole world .
poster guy for Never Getting Over Anything
( when ur in a haunting the narrative competition but ur opp is harrison's dead wife lol )
harrison is suddenly left with two kids , who are primary school age , and who he never really knew what to do with in the first place.
harrison cannot stay in their apartment anymore . he has enough money from work to decide to bundle him and the kids and move them to palmview . . .
NOW .
harrison tried his best with his kids . they're in their 20s now and . . the family front is ok ( or so he says ) . he never quite got the cadence that katie had with the kids though . he never really knew how to be a dad .
grief and mourning live permanently in harrison and have ever since katie died . he knows it also effected how he fathered his kids . he knows he wasn't present a lot , because he was depressed and missing his wife .
he's a good guy w decent intentions . just poor execution and delivery lol .
you probably know harrison ! when he started at palmview , he did any odd job . had a broken cooling system ? harrison was your guy . a leak in your roof ? call up harrison . needed to borrow a specific screwdriver ? harrison probably has it .
he's made good money in palmview . no longer a scrappy kid , with shitty home haircuts over the sink , or sleeping 4 people to one bed . having money as an adult is something he'll never quite get used to .
harrison's business is blooming now , and he specialises in building and construction . he mainly works on commercial buildings , but has done some housing in palmview . if you need advice on where to buy , what to do etc , he'll be very factual and knowledgeable .
harrison is very good at blending into the background. he does not like being known , nor wishes to be known . he's never going to be rude , but he's not good at small talk ( or talking in general ) . he mumbles a bit , because he never really learned how to enunciate .
he seems stand offish when you first meet him , or maybe a bit direct , but he's really just socially inept lol
he mourns his wife every day in a new way . he's never loved anyone like he loved her .
he's kinda got that sad florence pugh frowny face thing going on
not a huge drinker or partier or social person . more of a hermit , outside of work .
gets awkward around people who seem to be really smart or educated ( especially higher education ) . makes him twitch a little bit bc he's a simple blue collar guy yk
if you've seen manchester by the sea ( FUCK c*sey affleck btw ) then hopefully u get what the vibe is .
[ … ] ❀ you’re not from around here , are you? i figured because you totally just missed { ZARA SAIDOVA - KANE } walking by. don’t tell me you don’t know who { SHE / HER } is? they kind of look like { AUBRI IBRAG } and i could be wrong but i think that they might be { TWENTY EIGHT } years old right now. they’ve been living in palmview for the last { TWENTY FIVE YEARS }. and i don’t know if anyone has ever told them this before but they kind of remind me of { DAPHNE BLAKE } from { SCOOBY DOO }. if you stick around the town long enough you might catch them in action working at { THE SAND BAR } as a { SERVER }. you see this town isn’t really that big of a place, some folks like to call them the { PRIMA DONNA } of palmview! they took a liking to the name too after a while, go figure. oh crap, they must have heard me yapping. they’re coming this way. i got to warn you though, rumor has it they can pretty { THEATRICAL } at times. i wouldn’t take it too seriously though, from the times i’ve spoken to them they seemed pretty { CHARISMATIC } to me. we see each other all the time since they live in that { TWO BEDROOM } apartment beside me over in { MANGO BAY LOFTS }. i better leave you to it. it was nice meeting you!
full name : zara saidova - kane. nicknames : zaz. age : twenty - eight years old. career : server at the sand bar. birthday : august 21st , 1997 ( leo ). gender + pronouns : cis female / she + her. sexual orientation : bisexual. family : renee saidova ( mother , deceased ), alexei saidova ( father , deceased ), the kane family including four foster siblings. character inspo : daphne blake ( scooby doo ) , maxine baker ( ginny and georgia ) , sarah cameron ( outerbanks ) , callie adams - foster ( the fosters / good trouble ) , sharpay evans ( high school musical ) aesthetics : strawberry painted fingertips, an award - winning smile, a pink diamanté - studded journal with best kept secrets, needing applause to survive.
❀ you’re not from around here , are you? i figured because you totally just missed LARK HENDRICKS walking by. don’t tell me you don’t know who SHE is ? they kind of look like LAURA HARRIER and i could be wrong but i think that they might be THIRTY years old right now. they’ve been living in palmview for the last TWO WEEKS. and i don’t know if anyone has ever told them this before but they kind of remind me of YASMIN KARA-HANANI from INDUSTRY. if you stick around the town long enough you might catch them in action working at PALMVIEW CITY HALL as the MAYOR'S ASSISTANT. you see this town isn’t really that big of a place, some folks like to call them the MAGICIAN of palmview! they took a liking to the name too after a while, go figure. oh crap, they must have heard me yapping. they’re coming this way. i got to warn you though, rumor has it they can pretty HYPERCRITICAL at times. i wouldn’t take it too seriously though, from the times i’ve spoken to them they seemed pretty METHODICAL to me. we see each other all the time since they live in that THREE BEDROOM apartment beside me over in HARBORVIEW RESIDENCES 4C. i better leave you to it. it was nice meeting you! psd credit.
★ statistics.
full name: lark annabelle hendricks. nickname(s): lala (parents only), whatever julian and savannah decide to call her on any given day. age: thirty. date of birth: 20th november. star sign: scorpio. sexual orientation: bisexual. romantic orientation: biromantic. hometown: palmview, florida. occupation: finance officer at palmview city hall. ethnicity: mixed, african-american and white. nationality: american. inspo: yasmin kara-hanani (industry), jessica pearson (suits), annalise keating (how to get away with murder).
★ personality.
click here! she's just a bit meaner now, oops.
★ biography.
i. lark's biography prior to her most recent departure from palmview can be found here. below is what caused her to leave and why she returned, and how it's affected her since.
ii. in truth, the monotony of palmview eventually proved itself to be too much for lark, who found it increasingly difficult with each passing day to play into the smiles and pleasantries exchanged by the locals. she found herself unsatisfied by the humdrum lifestyle and, perhaps due to an addiction to the underhanded environment she once knew, she fled back to new york city and leapt right back into the fire. perhaps she would get burned even worse than before but this time she didn't care, failure was not an option.
iii. fortunately for her but unfortunately for the rest of us, being back in the city meant she found it much easier to tap into that dark, machiavellian side of her she'd tried so hard to repress and disappear back in her hometown. with the help of a few sly contacts, she scrounged up enough dirt on her old boss to scrub that ‘decent enough’ reference from her record, replacing it with the shiny, gold star, smoke up your ass sort of recommendation that she truly deserved. she sat in her airbnb that night and celebrated with a few enemies she never called friends, the expensive bottles of wine flowing like never before… but at what cost?
iv. she could return to palmview again now, unburdened by the anchors of her one and only failure, but as her private car drove her back over the city limits she found herself feeling… different. above her body, almost. she hadn't ‘fixed’ herself, quite the contrary, in fact, now the hunger seemed worse than ever. now the eyes on her seemed beadier, sharper, like they were simply waiting for her to set a foot wrong or have a hair out of place, even in a place like this.
v. all lark's done is delay the inevitable. she can get meaner, she can build herself higher, she can grip on tighter to that sparklingly flawless reputation of hers, but it doesn't erase that feeling beneath that she just can't shake. as time goes on she seems to isolate herself more and more from those friendships she'd spent two years crafting, who knows what she'll have left the next time it all comes crashing down?
★ extras.
i. lark is a polyglot and she knows 5 languages: english, spanish, portuguese, mandarin and japanese. she's currently learning french and arabic, which she believes won't take her very long. she didn't really discover this until a bit later in her life, when she got really serious about getting into finance, but it's actually something she genuinely enjoys. her goal is to have a conversational grasp of every major language so, as per usual, she's setting realistic goals.
ii. although most people would never know it because she isn't the type to help freely, her purse is the swiss army knife of purses. anything you could possibly need, lark will have it in her bag – not only that, she's bought multiples of everything to keep in multiple bags, so she's never caught unaware by an accident or emergency.
iii. she has possibly the worst road rage. it went largely undiscovered for quite a while, since in the city there was really no need for her to be driving anywhere and, if there ever was, she'd just get a cab, but lark can't contain herself when driving. it's 100% down to the fact that she isn't able to get any work done during it and she resents the entire experience, especially if there's traffic. yes, she has the money to pay a private driver forever, but even lark finds something like that to be garish in a place like palmview.
likes: forest green, charcuterie, red wine, stationery, matcha, snow, green tea, reading, cocktails (good ones!), long-distance running, early mornings, lilies, funny dog videos, youtube video essays, hot yoga, winter, christmas.
dislikes: clutter, iced tea, calisthenics, fireworks, 4th july, people who snap their fingers to get the waiter's attention, driving, more tba bc she's a hater.
★ counterpart inspired plots.
i. her harper – intense rivalry with a healthy dose of tension, sexual or otherwise. two hyper-focused, career-driven people who should, in reality, be the best of friends but the desire to be on top keeps getting in the way. nobody can really tell if these two love or hate each other, one day they're at each other's throats, the next they're falling over each other after too many glasses of wine and spilling their darkest secrets. nobody gets lark like harper – the problem is, nobody could destroy lark like harper, either.
ii. her robert – she's sleeping with this guy but can it really last? if lark's going to settle down for anybody, especially a man, it's going to be for someone pulling in 6 figures in their sleep. someone who can provide her with security. someone who can keep her name squeaky clean. someone powerful. this guy… is not. but there's just something that keeps pulling her back, no matter how desperately she tries to detach herself emotionally. on his side, he's in love with her but she's a total bitch, bordering on pure evil sometimes… and yet, again, something pulls him back. could've started before she left palmview the last time and now it's messy, because she left without saying goodbye, could be something from either of her times in new york.
iii. her hard ass mentor – not necessarily her boss, but someone who, unlike most of the people in lark's life, is pushing her to do better, when she's already doing her best. this person's standards are high, impossibly so in some cases, and for some reason lark has taken it upon herself to set ‘impressing them’ as one of her goals. maybe it's because they bare a striking resemblance to the assholes back in nyc, maybe it's because she thinks she deserves the pain, maybe she's just kind of insane now.
★ other wanted plots.
people pissed at her for leaving (0/?) – lark left without saying goodbye to anyone but her family and anyone adjacent to her family because, as per usual, they're the only people she seems to actually care about. i think some people should be MAD about it!!! what she did was shitty and she should be confronted with it, even if she won't admit to any wrongdoing for quite a while. if ever.
enemies for sure, lovers for show (1/1) – someone else who cares about their reputation and status and, therefore, wants lark on their arm as much as she wants them on hers. problem is, beneath the public flirtations and tongue-wagging instagram posts, they hate each other. they likely went on one actual date and barely got through it without murdering each other, but a pretty face is a pretty face, and people high up in the world love two beautiful people together.
girl gang (0/3) – i just need lark to have a bratz-esque group of girls who have known each other for years and have each other's backs and are still riding for her even when she's being a bit too type a. in fact, that's what they love most about her. definitely have a preference for them having known her in school/when she was getting bullied, likely stayed in touch when she left palmview via msn and myspace (throwback, #showingmyage) and stuff like that.
[ … ] ❀ you’re not from around here , are you? i figured because you totally just missed { EDGAR SHEPHARD YANG } walking by. don’t tell me you don’t know who { HE } is ? they kind of look like { LEWIS TAN } and i could be wrong but i think that they might be { 36 } years old right now. they’ve been living in palmview for the last { SIX MONTHS }. and i don’t know if anyone has ever told them this before but they kind of remind me of { HARVEY SPECTER } from { SUITS }. if you stick around the town long enough you might catch them in action working at { OCEAN BREEZE WINE BAR } as the { OWNER }. you see this town isn’t really that big of a place, some folks like to call them the { ICARIAN } of palmview! they took a liking to the name too after a while, go figure. oh crap, they must have heard me yapping. they’re coming this way. i got to warn you though, rumor has it they can pretty { ARROGANT } at times. i wouldn’t take it too seriously though, from the times i’ve spoken to them they seemed pretty { DEVOTED } to me. we see each other all the time since they live in that { FOUR BEDROOM } apartment beside me over in { EMERALD POINT }. i better leave you to it. it was nice meeting you!
details: (tw abuse, child abuse)
What was that thing that Shakespeare had said? Would a rose by another name smell as sweet? Edgar couldn't say that he actually knew. All he did know was that there was power in the name you called yourself.
Called Edgar Michael Fortier at birth, edgar had grown up in relative luxury. For generations, the Fortier family had been renowned vintners. They’d started out in southern France and had grown into a household name over the decades. This was compounded when Xavier Fortier, the heir of the winemakers, met and married Daiyu Yang, the daughter of a local farmer. On paper, the match appeared to be blessed – Xavier had been born and bred into wine making knowledge, and Daiyu came from a long line of people who’d loved and cared for their parcel of land. Their two areas of expertise, then, could be nothing less that fruitful. In practice, though, the match was ill fated from the start.
Xavier Fortier was something of a monster who terrorized his young family behind closed doors. It was no surprise then when a freshly 18 year old Edgar left home and vowed to never return. He dropped the Fortier name, cutting any ties with his father, and took on his mother's surname Yang. Thus, Edgar Fortier became Edgar Yang.
He attended college, Yale University to be exact, started a private security firm, met the love of his life, and settled down, the thought of his father far behind him. Soon, Edgar Yang became Edgar Shephard-Yang. Edgar could have never dreamed of being a husband, but there was something about Marco that allowed him to believe in himself and, more importantly, in them.
Then, he became a father and Edgar's world shifted again. For some time, it was all perfect, but then, he and Marco were separated, and Edgar could see his entire world crashing down around him.
Through therapy and hard work, Marco and Edgar have managed to put their marriage back together. Six months ago, Edgar sold the security firm and the family moved to Palmview. This allowed Marco to be closer to his siblings again.
Edgar currently owns the Wine Bar which allows him to work less hours and focus more on being a good husband and father. He's attempting to establish himself in Palmview and determined to do everything in his power to ensure that his family never falls apart again.
[…] ❀ you’re not from around here , are you? i figured because you totally just missed { BEAUREGARD “BEAU” SHINAWATRA } walking by. don’t tell me you don’t know who { HE } is ? they kind of look like { JEFF SATUR } and i could be wrong but i think that they might be { 26 (CUSP OF 27) } years old right now. they’ve been living in palmview for the last { 26 YEARS (SAVE FOR THE FEW YEARS HE WAS SENT TO BOARDING SCHOOL) }. and i don’t know if anyone has ever told them this before but they kind of remind me of { OWEN ARMSTRONG } from { SARAH DESSEN’S “JUST LISTEN” }. if you stick around the town long enough you might catch them in action working at { OCEAN VIEW PIZZERIA } as a { DELIVERY DRIVER/CLERK AS NEEDED }. you see this town isn’t really that big of a place, some folks like to call them the { FACADE } of palmview! they took a liking to the name too after a while, go figure. oh crap, they must have heard me yapping. they’re coming this way. i got to warn you though, rumor has it they can pretty { COLD } at times. i wouldn’t take it too seriously though, from the times i’ve spoken to them they seemed pretty { KIND– NOT NICE, BUT KIND } to me. we see each other all the time since they live in that { LOFT } apartment beside me over in { MANGO BAY APARTMENTS; LOFT 5A WITH SLATER BUNKOET }. i better leave you to it. it was nice meeting you! { BLUE. 28. THEY/HE. PST. }
full name : Beaumont Shinawatra
nickname(s) / alias(es) : Beau
age / dob : 26 / february 19th
hometown : palmview, florida
gender / pronouns : cis man, he/him
orientation : bisexual , biromantic (unexplored, mostly closeted)
faceclaim : jeff satur
accent : coastal surfer, some Californian drawl from his boarding school days
hair : ash blonde, spills down his shoulders and often held up by a banana clip
height : 5’10
tattoos : shark bite over his left hip, palm tree stamp behind his right ear, crescent moon and half a sun on the backs of his knees, cartoon heart on fire over his chest, snail tattoo on his inner wrist
piercings : snake bites on lip, right eyebrow, industrial and lobe on left ear
distinguishing characteristics : fight, surf and childhood scars, stitch scar on his lower back, always wears his puka shell necklace and his dad’s dog tags
scent : citrus and mango from his conditioner and tattoo cream, though often gets masked by the scent of saltwater and heat so the fruitiness comes in hints
pet(s) : winter and snowflake, the sea snails
aesthetic : cigarette butts in cereal bowls, wet sand crunching beneath your feet, cold night sea wind on raw cheeks
What happens when you take a golden ray of Palmview’s sunshine and decided to turn out the light? You’d get something that avoids eye contact like the plague, smelling faintly of saltwater and beer. Beau was the sun in his youth, blossoming in the surf that he cherish while gritting his knees onto wet sand. His father, a retired Marine, believed in discipline the way other dads would believe in fishing or throwing a ball around. His mother, well, she believed in regret, and it wasn’t a secret in their shaky walls how loudly she worshipped that belief.
Beau, though? Beau found his religion in carving waves and bombing hills on his skateboard to avoid his bedroom floor, getting scraped up in an attempt to feel alive somewhere that wasn’t home.
So, what happens when you add to this equation? Enter Slater, the new kid, a whole year older from a completely different state, which automatically made him the coolest person Beau’s ever met in his life. It was thunder to lighting, a friendship built on sneaking out to swim under the midnight glow and the kind of trust that comes from knowing you’ll always have someone jumping in after you. Of course, this solution was too simple for a problem as complex as Beau, and it would soon be time to learn just what happens when you don’t look behind you.
At fifteen, Beau’s father had had enough of his wild tumble of a son, rearing his deep belief’s ugly head by hammering smooth ever rough edge that built Beau up. Saint Helena’s School for Boys was out in the hills of California, tucked into a corner where the sun couldn’t reach its rays to warm your bones. The brochure didn’t need to be very charming, as Beau’s father would never wonder what amenities were offered so long as they promised not a color left on Beau’s palette by the time he was let out again. In fact, it was the happenstance of the brochure being left on the dining room table that clued Beau in on the fact that he was being sent away at all, and it was his belief in living his life without puppet strings that led him to think that happenstance was, in fact, a miracle. He was so close to cutting those strings– his hand was on the knob, backpack in hand, as the clock struck one in the morning. He would catch a bus somewhere in the state, get a job flipping burgers, make work his own choice so that he could live in the pleasure of freedom all he wanted…
But something stopped him.
Fear? Couldn’t be, he was fearless. He had to be fearless.
Slater? No, he could just show up at his place whenever, couldn’t he? Send him a letter, call him on the phone?
No, there had to be a reason why he didn’t turn that door handle, letting himself get caught in the second it took to breathe in. The light flickered on, and Beau was caught.
And hell, it was. The kind of hell that snuffs the light out of a person, leaving something dulled and listless in its place. The kind of hell that robs you of the will to fight back, of finding the reason why you’d want to fight back in the first place. The kind that didn’t let you write a letter home.
A person’s eighteenth birthday should be a day of all sorts of emotions. Fear, excitement, anxiety and anger. There should be something to anticipate on the other side, a place you want to go to, people you want to see. But for Beau’s eighteenth, the academy’s doors simply shut behind him with nothing but a bus ticket and a diploma to carry back wherever he needed to go. The ticket would take him back to Florida if he wanted it, or maybe he could’ve hocked it to find a place nearby, but… without an ounce of will left in your soul, you’ll always wander back to where you felt alive the most. But not to his mother, no, not her who decided to start life over after Beau’s father had passed. Beau was sure that empty shell of a house still held wine stains from her wedding night, the day before Beau’s seventeenth birthday, and was a holding cell for cobwebs and a childhood he would stuff to the back of his mind for safekeeping. No, Beau showed up at Slater’s door at 2 AM, silent when that door was creaked open. Slater didn’t ask questions. He just let him in.
Some part of Beau wishes they could’ve picked up where they left off. But the wild energy that once crackled between them had softened, or dulled, into something a little quieter, a little more… empty. Beau, once a sun-drenched storm of a boy, moves through life like he’s wading through the water he once commanded, as slow as syrup weighing down his bones. He’s coasting, riding the waves as they come.
And for now, that’s enough. Probably. Maybe.
Personality & Desires
Beau is something of a paradox these days– laid-back in a way that only someone who’s given up could be, but with the constant movement of unfettered anxiety, his hands always occupied, his mind always racing. He plays with his lip piercing when he thinks, and he’s thinking too much all the time. He plays with his hair when he’s nervous, and his head looks like a tumbleweed of curls and flyaways. He chews on his knuckles when he distracted, and God, are his knuckles bruised and bitten. It’s not that he’s shy, per se, but just… tired of the conversations before they’ve even begun. Slater calls him a ghost with a pulse. He thinks that’s fair.
More than anything, though, Beau still wants out. Maybe once, he wasn’t sure, and maybe it’s taken these ten years to put that together again, but Beau has had enough of this bitter sunshine. Palmview is a place that clings, that traps him in sun-bleached memories and routines that are endless, again and again and again. He wants snow. He wants cold wind biting at his cheeks and a dog named Grizzly at his feet. He wants a place where the past doesn’t haunt every street corner.
[ … ] ❀ you’re not from around here , are you? i figured because you totally just missed { ALINA HEO } walking by. don’t tell me you don’t know who { SHE } is ? they kind of look like { KIM DOYEON } and i could be wrong but i think that they might be { 25 } years old right now. they’ve been living in palmview for the last { TEN YEARS }. and i don’t know if anyone has ever told them this before but they kind of remind me of { SOPHIE HATTER } from { HOWL’S MOVING CASTLE (BOOK VER) }. if you stick around the town long enough you might catch them in action working at { SEAGLASS HEIGHTS FARMERS MARKET } as a { SEAMSTRESS }. you see this town isn’t really that big of a place, some folks like to call them the { SCRAP OF SILK HIDING STEEL } of palmview! they took a liking to the name too after a while, go figure. oh crap, they must have heard me yapping. they’re coming this way. i got to warn you though, rumor has it they can pretty { RETICENT } at times. i wouldn’t take it too seriously though, from the times i’ve spoken to them they seemed pretty { TRUSTING } to me. we see each other all the time since they live in that { ONE ROOM } apartment beside me over in { SEAGLASS HEIGHTS }
FULL NAME AHREUM 'ALINA' HEO. NICKNAMES NONE. AGE, DOB TWENTY5, JULY 17. ZODIAC CANCER SUN. GENDER CIS WOMAN. ORIENTATION BISEXUAL. PRONOUNS SHE/HER. LANGUAGES SPOKEN ENGLISH, KOREAN.
HEIGHT FIVE FOOT SEVEN INCHES. HAIR NATURAL BLACK, WORN LOOSE. EYES BROWN. PERFUME FLORAL SCENTED, SWEET. CHARACTER INSPIRATION SOPHIE HATTER (HMC, BOOK VER).
FATHER JINYOUNG HEO. MOTHER MIYOUNG BAEK. SIBLINGS TWO YOUNGER SISTERS. PARTNER NONE.
alina, born in new york before her family moved to palmview, was always reserved as a child, preferring her own company as opposed to children her age. it wasn't anything noteworthy, but she was shy, and found it hard to reach out if others didn't reach out first. the move was hard on her as well, and she struggled to fit in.
(parental death tw) alina first shouldered responsibility at the age of seven, when her father passed away and left behind his wife and three daughters. it was a heavy, confusing time for the heo's, made worse by the fact alina's mother coped by spending nights away from home. at seven, alina learned to be mother, father, and sister.
their family business of tailoring was on the rocks. they weren't at all established in the community yet, and alina's mother was making no effort to do well in the work she had received. alina, in desperate need, taught herself everything she could learn about sewing and tailoring, letting her mother take orders before she fulfilled them herself. it was hours and hours of work, late nights and candlelight, but it was work that paid off.
as soon as she graduated high school, alina took over the tailoring shop full time, putting the money earned towards her sisters' college education. she wants them to live worry-free, unlike her, and is more than willing to shoulder the burden so they can enjoy themselves.
[ … ] ❀ you’re not from around here , are you? i figured because you totally just missed { SHAKEEL KUTI } walking by. don’t tell me you don’t know who { HE / HIM } is? they kind of look like { DAMSON IDRIS } and i could be wrong but i think that they might be { THIRTY TWO } years old right now. they’ve been living in palmview for the last { EIGHT YEARS }. and i don’t know if anyone has ever told them this before but they kind of remind me of { GUY THWARTE } from { THE BUCCANEERS }. if you stick around the town long enough you might catch them in action working at { HEIGHTS COMMUNITY CENTER } as a { CENTER MANAGER }. you see this town isn’t really that big of a place, some folks like to call them the { OPAQUE } of palmview! they took a liking to the name too after a while, go figure. oh crap, they must have heard me yapping. they’re coming this way. i got to warn you though, rumor has it they can pretty { RETICENT } at times. i wouldn’t take it too seriously though, from the times i’ve spoken to them they seemed pretty { ARDENT } to me. we see each other all the time since they live in that { THREE ROOM } apartment beside me over in { SPRING STREET }. i better leave you to it. it was nice meeting you!
full name : shakeel kuti. nicknames : shak. age : thirty - two years old. career : center manager at heights community center. birthday : september 6th , 1993 ( virgo ). gender + pronouns : cis male / he + him. sexual orientation : demisexual. family : xana kuti ( wife , deceased ) & abelola kuti ( daughter ). character inspo : guy thwarte ( the buccaneers ) , conrad fisher ( the summer i turned pretty ) , john b ( outerbanks ) , atticus finch ( to kill a mockingbird ) , daryl dixon ( the walking dead ) aesthetics : midnight walks, a lost pacifier found in back pocket, vanilla and oak entwined, the spark at the end of a cigarette.
❀ you’re not from around here , are you? i figured because you totally just missed HEATHCLIFF 'HEATH' SONG walking by. don’t tell me you don’t know who HE is ? they kind of look like SONG KANG and i could be wrong but i think that they might be TWENTY EIGHT years old right now. they’ve been living in palmview for the last TWENTY YEARS. and i don’t know if anyone has ever told them this before but they kind of remind me of HOWL JENKINS PENDRAGON from HOWL'S MOVING CASTLE. if you stick around the town long enough you might catch them in action working at SALT AIR APOTHECARY as the OWNER. you see this town isn’t really that big of a place, some folks like to call them the LITTLE PRINCE of palmview! they took a liking to the name too after a while, go figure. oh crap, they must have heard me yapping. they’re coming this way. i got to warn you though, rumor has it they can pretty MELODRAMATIC at times. i wouldn’t take it too seriously though, from the times i’ve spoken to them they seemed pretty CHARISMATIC to me. we see each other all the time since they live in that FOUR BEDROOM cottage beside me over in 402 SPRING STREET. i better leave you to it. it was nice meeting you! psd credit.
★ statistics.
full name: heathcliff syriacus song. nickname(s): heath. age: twenty eight. date of birth: 7th july. star sign: cancer. sexual orientation: pansexual. romantic orientation: panromantic. hometown: daegu, south korea. occupation: owner of salt air apothecary. ethnicity: korean. nationality: korean-american. inspo: howl jenkins pendragon (howl's moving castle), cat noir (miraculous ladybug), nate archibald (gossip girl).
★ personality.
there are two distinct sides to heath. first, is the one he shows to the world. handsome, charming, put-together… he talks with a suaveness that is almost unparalleled, his smile could end wars, his tendency to talk in circles is endearing rather than frustrating. he's practically an expert flirt, with it being second nature to him, as natural to him as laughing or breathing. perhaps it's those carefully curated looks of his, or the tone of his speech, whatever it is, to most of the world, heath seems almost princely in nature.
the second, is the boy beneath. melodramatic, whiny and childish. he doesn't handle hard emotions very well and, instead, chooses to avoid them any way possible. perhaps that's why he has such a long string of short-lived, meaningless relationships, perhaps that's why he chooses to charm his way out of conversation rather than face it, perhaps that's why he's been dyeing his hair a shade or two darker for the last five years and doesn't want anyone to know about it. sometimes, the childishness gives way to carelessness, and he can end up in situations that are perhaps a tad dangerous or reckless, and it's then that his immaturity truly shines.
it's hard for some people not to think that heath is something of a charlatan. after all, it certainly seems that way, doesn't it? but in truth, that princely image of his protects that scared boy underneath. that womanising reputation is another tool he can use to keep most at arm's length. this is the greatest performance of his life, and he does it all to cope.
★ biography.
i. daegu, the mid-90s. heath is a fragile boy born to a young mother who was only eighteen years old. the love that permeated their relationship, however, forever remained imprinted on his heart. she cherished him like a precious stone, kept him fed and happy, and put little sprigs of rosemary and jasmine in his socks when she noticed he seemed to have a nose for herbs and flowers. their home was eclectic and busy but it was theirs, their home that she had worked so hard for. he didn’t know his father, didn’t need to. there was no story there, no big abandonment or leaving, it had just simply always been heath and his mother – until it wasn't.
ii. remember that fragility? inherited – maternally, of course. after only eight years together, heath came home from school one day to find his mother passed out on the floor. that evening, she went into the hospital and she never returned. suddenly he was alone, an eight year old boy sat in the hospital waiting room, confused and coping with emotions he didn't yet understand. all of his belongings, everything he'd ever known, was in that trinket-filled home he would never see again, a trinket-filled home that suddenly seemed cold and looming.
iii. everything was a whirlwind after that. his grandparents, who had only recently moved to florida to live out their golden years, came to collect him as soon as they heard. the songs were good, honest, hard-working people who had set up a small place called salt air apothecary in palmview. his grandmother, specifically, considered it her life's work, and she happily worked there night and day. when heath arrived, the first thing he noticed was how the shop smelled like home – perhaps it was the only thing that kept him sane.
iv. adjusting was hard, especially for a boy like heath. back home in daegu he had been the quiet one of his friends, a gentle soul who helped snails reach the other side of the road and held umbrellas over the local stray dogs in the rain. he quickly realised that if he were to act the same in palmview, he would get left by the wayside. all of the kids in his class were so loud, so sure of who they were, he had to catch up quick.
v. it was by total chance that he ended up as the lead in the school play at twelve years old. his best friend at the time was supposed to be the leading man, and he'd convinced heath to be his understudy ‘just in case’. one bad hotdog later, heath found himself in the spotlight for the first time ever… and he enjoyed it. it turns out, when you're a young child gripped by the complications of grief, acting like you aren't is the best medicine. the praise he was showered in seemed to fuel him, made him glow from the inside out, and he would keep chasing that high for years to come.
vi. as he continued to grow and blossom, heath became beloved by his peers. homecoming king, prom king, voted biggest flirt, he charmed his way into the hearts of many – and left just as many broken hearts in his wake. he didn't know what it was, exactly, that left such a glaring flaw in that perfect persona of his. the fear of being abandoned? the fear of loving something so much only to lose it again? or perhaps it was simply that strange emptiness he felt whenever he laid with someone, almost as if his gut simply knew they weren't right. whatever it was, it gained him a reputation.
vii. thankfully, most of that reputation was offset by his grandparents, and the way they were so insistent on standing up for him even as he began to move into his adult years. nobody could quite understand it… ‘your grandson is a lothario! he’s a shameless flirt and a lazy layabout!' but the songs simply shook their heads with a smile. they knew heath wasn't like that but, for whatever reason, he had insisted upon this performance for years now – behind the scenes, he stayed up late preparing meals for the soup kitchen, he donated almost all of his personal earnings to charity, he rescued multiple kittens off the street, and he painstakingly took care of the both of them, no matter what. they loved him because they knew who he was underneath, not who he portrayed, even if they didn't agree with the fact he would never get any of the credit.
viii. at his grandparents' insistence, heath went travelling on and off for a few years in his mid-twenties. if you name a place, heath visited it, and brought back a charming little souvenir as evidence. he, of course, made plenty of friends on his travels (and probably enemies, too) but little did he know there was a reason behind his short sabbatical.
ix. whilst, thankfully, his grandparents were in great health, they wanted to retire. when he returned from travelling at 26, they sat him down and had a long talk with him. they understood that his local reputation may not be sparkling, they understood that some of the people in palmview just didn't understand him, but they did. they saw how his eyes lit up when he bottled the herbs, how he truly came to life when explaining a tincture to a customer, how he recommended mixes and crystals and mindfulness practices they never would've even thought of or knew about. he was his mother's son and they were so, so proud… so they wanted to give him their shop.
x. having now been at the helm for the past two years, heath truly finds it to be his happy place. whilst he still hams it up with his colleagues, mainly to annoy them, the version you get of him within its four walls is a much more muted, down to earth version of the man he is beyond the front door. slowly but surely people seem to be realising he's more than the outrageous flirt with the endless dangly earring collection, he's more than the songs precious, well-kept grandson who's never done a hard day's work in his life, he's heathcliff song. and he's proud to welcome you into his small corner of safety – salt air apothecary.
★ extras.
i. his middle name comes from the scientific name for the rose of sharon, hibiscus syriacus, which is the national flower of south korea. its name is roughly translated to ‘the eternal flower which never fades’, which his mother decided to bestow upon him to hopefully spare him of her ill health and eventual fate. if you've ever received a personalised item from salt air apothecary made by heath, anything from a tincture to a herbal blend, it is signed by ‘syriacus’.
ii. there was a large herbal medicine scene in daegu, and it was one his mother was heavily involved in. these skills were passed down to heath even before he set foot in salt air, and he's always been incredibly proud of being able to help people holistically. that doesn't mean he isn't a man of science, though. don't ever start that debate with heath, who's incredibly passionate about new scientific breakthroughs, and loves to read medical journals for fun.
iii. due to the sudden loss of his childhood home and everything in it, heath has a particular penchant for trinkets and collections and gets easily attached to inanimate objects. anything he can get his hands on, he will collect: old teaspoons, gemstones, vintage rings, broken clocks… it's why his home has so many rooms. impressively, he's organised it all in such a way that it's more quirky than concerning, and he manages to keep most of it contained to his own room.
likes: trinkets, freshly cut herbs, expensive silk, strawberry jam on toast, spring, affection, maison margiela fragrances, cats, humidity, evenings, full moons.
dislikes: early mornings, rude salespeople, the woman who dyed his hair green once upon a time, rain, cleaning, when the uv index is above a 5, mathematics.
★ counterpart inspired plots.
i. his calcifer – heath's heart, his missing piece, his eternal partner in crime and the one who keeps him grounded. calcifer, much like the movie, is the fiery spirit that heath seems to be lacking and the driving force that pushes him forward, especially when he's having one of his episodes. these two are ride or die and, while on the surface they bicker and squabble like siblings, you better not bad mouth one in front of the other… lest you get a side to either of them you won't like. these two have known each other since they were kids, when calcifer stood up to the bullies that were picking on heath at the playground. the rest, they say, is history. could even be the person who asked heath to be his understudy for the school play that shot him to palmview fame.
ii. his markl – someone younger in heath's life who actually seems the older of the two. on the surface, it appears that markl is the one in this dynamic making all the decisions, the one who puts out the fires (metaphorical and physical), the one who keeps them alive… but in reality, it's heath. markl is still struggling to really figure out where they are in life and that's where heath came in. he picked them up at a rough time in their life, helped them with what they needed to get back on their feet, kept their secrets, and now in return they insist on helping heath out any way they can. yeah, maybe heath hams it up a bit, acts like he's less competent than he is so that the other feels like they're really doing something, but he doesn't mind being the bumbling buffoon if it helps markl carve a path of their own one day.
iii. his witch of the wastes – the most sour of all of heath's exes is the witch of the wastes, but she has a right to be. the two were engaged to be wed but mere months before the wedding, heath called it off – a gut feeling, he called it, that had befallen him by way of the stars. (in other words, they were cosmically doomed.) in truth, the relationship was largely based on looks and other materialistic things and he didn't have the guts to admit it to her face. she was very embarrassed by the whole ordeal and it took a while for her image to recover, something she's always been very concerned with.
★ other wanted plots.
roommates (0/2) – can be combined with the markl or calcifer plots up above or can be totally separate, but i definitely pictured heath having two roomies. kind of a similar dynamic to the film, i imagine, where they all have their little spaces they're comfortable in and are a bit of a dysfunctional found family. heath definitely doesn't charge them rent because 1) it's not in his nature and 2) he doesn't understand any of that anyway.
most loyal customer (0/1) – self-explanatory! this person's been going to salt air apothecary for as long as they can both remember, definitely knows heath's grandparents and asks about them often. most friends hang out at the local coffee shop, these two hang out at the salt air front counter… much to the annoyance of his employees. they're also sort of a guinea pig for new concoctions sometimes.
exes (1/?) – let this man live his truth and be a wh*re!!! i'll take them all, good terms, bad terms, short term, long term. let's have some fun with it <3
