#potentialconnections

[suspicioushospitality]

P O T E N T I A L C O N N E C T I O N S

Syd Ripley - 32, He/Him, Cartel Muscle & Laundromat Attendant

FULL INTRO // TIMELINE

Under the Read More are different connection ideas based on Syd’s life. Feel free to message me or comment on the post if any of these strike your fancy and I can reach out to you to plot more. 💙 

🤛 Provoke Me - Tale as old as time. One of you instigates, the other gets pissed off, you start shoving, you start throwing punches, and then you start ripping each others' clothes off. You two absolutely can't seem to get along, but maybe you love the release of aggression. It's rough and primal and dirty but the two of you absolutely love it. Have you ever had a real date? A real honest conversation about feelings? Hell no. But you've certainly learned about every part of Syd's body and he knows way too much about yours.

📚 Educate Me - You do laundry at Topwash and you always see the handsome if not a bit idiotic guy behind the counter. He's good at his job but he often sees you doing work while you wait for your clothes to dry and asks you questions. He's a nice enough guy, you think. And if he wants to learn more, why not? So when you come by for your weekly laundromat run, you expect to see him and teach him a bit about something interesting you've been working on. He's always interested, and maybe you find it a bit charming how excited he gets about it. He even sometimes gives you some quarters for your machine. Pretty cool deal.

🤝 Help Me - It was a nasty fight at the Arène that you watched from the sidelines. The jeering and shouting and screaming from all the rich men counting money and smoking cigars. You're sure the smaller guy lost a tooth or something. After he loses, he's stumbled off and you just have a feeling he might've had his bell rung a little too hard. Good thing, too - you find him nearly passed out in one of the shitty bathroom stalls and you help him up and out. He ends up coming home with you - maybe you don't know much about mending broken bones, but you help him out and you both end up exchanging contact info.

💰 Pay Me - No one needs to know that you enjoy OnlyFans and cam-boy services. So you like watching hot guys do things, and you occasionally pay to see it. You might've perused your options and someone named SynfulxSyd seemed pretty hot. You threw a couple bucks at his stuff, and maybe you even did a monthly subscription. You never really expected to see him in public, let alone working at a laundromat. You don't know what to do - should you tell him you love his work? Keep quiet and go about your business? Or maybe just start a chat like a normal person? You did think he was hot enough to spend a few bucks on, after all. What's the worst that could happen?

[designedonchaos]

P O T E N T I A L C O N N E C T I O N S

Mars Gaffney - 50, He/Him, Architect & Brotherhood Regional Manager of West Manhattan

FULL INTRO // TIMELINE

Under the Read More are different connection ideas based on Mars’s life. Feel free to message me or comment on the post if any of these strike your fancy and I can reach out to you to plot more. 💙 

💬 Convince Me - Mars is a businessman, a designer, and you have the greatest idea for a potential project. But he really isn't interested, not seeing the merit. But you know if he just worked with you on this and understood, he'd get it. So maybe you've started trying to convince him. Wining and dining, or just shooting him texts and ideas. Is it a recreation center? A potential business? An old building about to be demolished that you think could be revitalized into something so much more rewarding for the community? Whatever it is, you MIGHT need some of Mars's money to help out, which he's even more reluctant to shell out for you.

🚶‍♂️ Accompany Me - There's a lot of firms in this particular high-rise building in Manhattan, and perhaps you work there as well, or drop off goods to someone else within the office building, or even have a friend's office nearby. You happened to be walking out at the same time as a somewhat intimidating architect who nearly walks into traffic- and you grab him and shout at him for not paying attention. What begins is an odd lunch arrangement. It started as you making sure this man doesn't step in front of a bus, but by now you two expect each other. He always looks tired but by now you both have your lunch plans together and you could probably call yourself friends, even if you barely know what his life is like beyond buildings and blueprints.

🥊 Fight Me - You already weren't having a great night when this drunk asshole started stumbling all over the place. Tempers flared and the two of you ended up in an all-out brawl out in the back alley. Eventually you both walked away from it with a few bruises - but come to find out this idiot you fought is some kind of big-name architect? You see him at a fancy party or on the news and you can't believe it. Especially when you bump into him again, when the beer goggles are off and the both of you are sober and definitely trying to forget about coming to blows.

🫂 Console Me - It's 2020, and you're on the subway home. There's a somewhat dour man sitting alone across the way. He seems completely engrossed in a newspaper when he gets a phone call. You're trying not to listen in, but he's clearly gotten some bad news. He ends the call and crumples into tears. You don't know what to do - so you go over to him, maybe a bit awkwardly, and hold him. You find out that his wife has just passed away after her battle with cancer, and you can't imagine how it feels. Seeing how distraught he is, how alone, you give him your phone number. You find out later that this man doesn't show that type of weakness often - and the broken facade you saw is few and far between. Regardless, you two have continued texting each other, and might've even become odd friends?

[designedonchaos]

P O T E N T I A L  C O N N E C T I O N S

Gus Amado, 43, He/Him, ASL Interpreter

Under the Read More are different connection ideas based on Val’s life. Feel free to message me or comment on the post if any of these strike your fancy and I can reach out to you to plot more. 💙 

💉 Sedate Me - It’s a hot summer out in the middle of nowhere- and you meet an older man with an ugly haircut and a watery smile. He’s living in an RV and he’s running away from something. He’s clearly been through it- and he doesn’t talk about it. Maybe a traveler yourself at the time, and at some basement party thrown by the grungy underground queers in some hot midwestern town, you get to talking- but more importantly, you get to experiencing. Whatever drugs you both take leave you sitting on a rooftop somewhere, throwing water balloons at street lamps to see if they’ll extinguish. You finally learn about Gus’s background- at least, what you can glean from between both of your hazes and delusions. You know he was a special agent, and you know his boyfriend is dead. High out of your minds, you both make a vow to be best fucked up friends forever, locking pinkies. And years later, despite the city being so vast and full of possibilities, you see the familiar face of your drug-buddy out and living his life, in NYC. He looks better. But before or after doesn’t matter. Fate just has a way of pulling y’all back together again.

👊 Fight Me/Kiss Me - You hate his shit face. His dumb smile and the way he always knows a little too much about something. Not only that, but he shows up to things and always just seems to be trying to get a word in. You don’t fully notice the loneliness there, the way Gus tries desperately to make friends, afraid of his empty apartment. But you revel in arguing with him- and he relishes in it right back. Drinks at the bar turns into rolling eyes and pushes and shoves, until you’re both out in the parking lot. Until he’s under you breathing heavy and the stale beer emanating from your breath has him gripping your jacket and tugging you in. You both fuck and fight like it’s your job, and you’re not sure which you enjoy more.

🧒 Miss Me - You’re a similar age to one of the many Amado children and you get along swimmingly. You’ve spent your life in NYC and you often meet up with the Amado kids when they go out to the community pool. The younger boy is sweet and a bit of a mama’s boy, but he’s always coming up with funny stories and you two play pretend out in Central Park while your moms have picnics. You two go off into the woods and hunt frogs. You see how deep into the mud you can go without sinking, and you go searching for elusive ‘mystery fish’, a favorite game of Gus’s. You’re kindred spirits, made of muck and algae and the smell of wet bark. Maybe it’s because you’re both so used to the concrete and boring structures of high-rise apartments that you can’t enter. Gus’s cooler brother Chet always calls you both ‘the little swamp monsters’. In high school Gus asks you to help cut his hair, and you steal his older brother’s car and go looking for ghosts. But Gus started to slowly clean up- and suddenly he was an agent. Stuffy and carrying a gun- but sometimes you see the scruffy kid you were best friends with. Your texts and Facetimes were few and far between, until his partner died and he retired from the force. Suddenly he needed friendship more than ever- but sometimes it’s not so simple. How do you both restart your old friendship? Is it tough, or does it feel like no time has passed?

💬  Introduce Me - You do your job, and you do it well- a professional at whatever you do. And regardless of how long you’ve been that way, you are impressive to Gus. Gus, who grew up figuring out his life and only having a few friends, only to lose one of the closest ones he had. He’s spent the past few years driving around in his RV with Chili, not really having a place to call home... and now he’s come back to NYC, and barely understands what it means to have a family any more. He needs help... and you can feel it. He’s desperate for some kind of connection but often gets into fights instead. You think he might need to be taken under someone’s wing. Maybe he needs help being introduced to new friends, to a brotherhood. Even just being filled in on what’s been going on. Gus is desperate to belong but doesn’t know how to make that shown- and maybe you see that, just a little bit. He makes all his jokes at first, affable and kind, but finds you comforting and helpful. He may even see you as a form of guidance or a close friend.

🚘  Help Me - You are someone in a car at night. It’s so dark out and your high-beams are on, and the radio is turned up. For some reason it’s slow & sad songs tonight, and you’re eager to get home. Roy Orbison croons. ‘I was alright, for a while, I could smile for a while. Then I saw you last night, you held my hand so tight, when you stopped to say ‘hello’.’ The next second, you see a shorter man tripping out of the woods and right onto the street. He’s bloody and his clothing is torn and his eyes are wide. He’s bruised up and terrified... and against the fear screaming in the back of your head, you help him into your car. His name is Gus, and he flops back into your passenger seat after you’ve asked him if he’s alright. He’s out of it and mumbling “Just drive, just drive”. He’s trying not to bleed on your car’s interior. He’s silent for a second and laughs weakly. ‘Shit, is that- this is one of my favorite songs.’ From there on, you start to talk carefully. He’s bleeding- a lot. You get him to a police station and that’s that... until you see on the news that an FBI agent and his partner were held hostage at gunpoint for 48 hours by a drug cartel. You recognize the face immediately. The police call you for a follow-up and you get to meet Gus in the hospital as he recovers. Suddenly you’re visiting every few days, hearing that not many have. 

[theangellies]

P O T E N T I A L   C O N N E C T I O N S 

Val Dupont, 35, He/They, Brotherhood Intel & Author

FULL INTRO // TIMELINE 

Under the Read More are different connection ideas based on Val’s life. Feel free to message me or comment on the post if any of these strike your fancy and I can reach out to you to plot more. 💙 

🏃  Chase Me - You have seen the wiry and odd Irish author in NYC, and you are fascinated. Perhaps it’s the brogue, or the air that they carry of seeming to know just a little too much, but you find yourself striking up a conversation with him one day at a coffeeshop or a bar. It’s... odd. The conversation goes all over and yet nowhere, all at once. But it’s enticing. And Val seems to be just as oddly enthused by you, intrigued... and so it’s a cat and mouse. Every so often you run into one another, and the jokes and little jibes begin again. Is it flirting or mocking? Is he interested or just enjoying hearing you sweat? It’s maddening, but you find yourself craving it. Unbeknownst to you, he’s enjoying every little moment of it. After various run-ins, you’ve finally exchanged contact info, and you’re texted about a night out for drinks. Do you accept and end your little cat and mouse, or leave Val wanting?

🩸  Mark Me - You were sitting at a dive bar on one of Val’s first nights in NYC. He had come in after a grueling day of unpacking and moving things around in a condo that wasn’t ready for him to live there yet. You both drink, and chat. You go back to their place, and you describe in detail the ins and outs of the rooms, some of the old furniture left behind, whispering in his ear as you both get closer and closer. And you two are a giggling mess, a tangle of legs and sheets as things get rough, exciting... you’re holding him to the bed, and the shitty bed frame snaps. The both of you fall over and Val is cut on the splintered, broken wood. Suddenly your night of passion is cut short when an ambulance is called. Val is insistent that you go home, embarrassed. Maybe you try to stay, maybe you call it a night. You forget to get each other’s numbers... but Val gets stitches and now has an impressive scar on his forearm to mark the occasion. The next time you see them... do you strike up a conversation again? Or is it awkward between you, now that the liquor is gone and it’s daylight?

💭  Remember Me - You know that face from long ago, at least 8 years back. You were visiting Boston University for work or for education. The pride of the journalism department, Val Dupont, had such a rounder and younger face then, cherubic and vibrant with a rebellious streak. He was eager to show you around the beautiful campus, to introduce you to his queer little found family and the various eateries and shops. They said nothing about the fact that his eyesight was dwindling- and you wouldn’t have been able to tell unless you looked for You both spent almost every day together, and (thankfully), his many roommates just offered an extra plate at supper and shut up about it. But trips come to an end. Upon the last few days there, you heard the journalist major speaking quietly with a friend and roommate about their waning vision. A few days later, you both said goodbye. And while you kept each others’ numbers, maybe you didn’t message back. Maybe you didn’t want to get held down to something long-distance... maybe you were both just too young and you wanted to explore your options. But now you’re both in NYC, and it truly has been years. Val is now an author, and blind... and maybe he hasn’t recognized your voice or noticed you just yet. ( Alan ) 

🤚  Assist Me - You are an independent person, someone who doesn’t take any crap... but you need cash. And Val’s assistant has been stealing money. He’s upset, having just fired one of the people he’s had to trust the most with his appointments, scheduling, phone calls, and even editing. But now he’s alone and can’t get things done on his own. The publishers offered an assistant but the last one was from them and Val is adamantly against it. Enter you. Val trusts you... and despite being upset, and nervous for someone to abuse his trust again, he’s hopeful. Val’s offered you a bit of extra cash to organize appointments for them. You have the logins for their professional email and field calls. And... you’ve been doing pretty well. Val’s impressed, and has started asking you around more often to chat about his books, drink booze until late and smoke weed while brainstorming. Do you like them? Do they like you? Maybe! Or maybe you both just work amazingly as colleagues.

🧘  Breathe Me - You knew from the start that Val would be a good-time friend. While he’s always chatting up someone, you like his mellow but eccentric personality. He’s a smoker, a drinker, and you love a relaxing time. And so you’ve become relaxation buddies. Sometimes you come by when they’re writing, and you both sit in the big living room on the sofa, laid back and smoking pot. They’ll order pizza or Chinese food, or both, and you sometimes sit in silence, or he’ll play with your hair as he talks casually into his phone, letting it jot down every detail for his next chapter. Sometimes you both fall asleep against each other, curled up on the big sofa or in his bed near the rounded window. You haven’t really done anything yet, but you could say the two of you are close friends. Sometimes you just sit there, breathe in each others smoke and chuckle, making dumb jokes back and forth to each other.

[rippedstitch-s]

 P O T E N T I A L   C O N N E C T I O N S

Asa Holland - 46, He/Him, Syndicate Medic & Illustrator

FULL INTRO // TIMELINE 

Under the Read More are different connection ideas based on Asa’s life. Feel free to message me or comment on the post if any of these strike your fancy and I can reach out to you to plot more. 💙 

✏️  Write Me - It’s 1994 and you have somehow been gifted the privilege of a penpal- perhaps through a school program or a therapist who thinks this might help you form friendships. It is to your confusion (and perhaps curiosity) to find out that the 16 year old you’re writing with is housed in a mental institution in Somerset, England. Despite reservations, you both begin to write letters back and forth. You find an odd comfort in his style of writing and he seems to find security in yours, despite the questionable at best situation he’s in. You receive small drawings of what he sees day to day, and accounts of some of the darker sides of St. Irene’s. You fall out of touch as life moves on... but years later, you receive a letter in the mail with familiar handwriting. An old friend asking if you kept those letters, because they can be used in a court case to take down the corrupt institution your old friend was kept in for years. Little did you realize you’d play an influential role in bringing justice to those who couldn’t fight for themselves- and now, finding you both live in NYC, a friend far away is now closer than ever.

📚  Read Me - You are a fan of books of any sort, and the illustrations on the covers of some chapter books and picture books catch your eye. Perhaps you often go into the library, or are a collector of sorts- or you frequent the bookstore for more titles to read. But one day you happen upon a man painting watercolor in Central Park- and the paintings are unmistakably the same artist. He is shy and you strike up a small conversation... he does NOT expect you to show up at his same spot near the fountain again with your own busy-work, eager to sit & make easy chatter. You are an unlikely friend for a nervous soul.

🙏  Welcome Me - It’s 2017, and you live in New York City in a somewhat derelict apartment building. You see a man show up one night with moving boxes and endless plants, alone as he moves his things into the apartment down the hall. A shoddy flat is suddenly being painted and fixed up, your adjoining balcony cleaned up with furniture, an awning, and a little fountain. The man is quiet but works every evening- or in the day, under a patio umbrella with his morning coffee and a cat on his lap. And one day you can’t help complimenting his efforts. The next day when you arrive home, he has fresh tomatoes from his tiny deck garden that he left for you in a basket. The next time you see him, he has a wind chime made of old roof slats that sounds delightful, and hands it to you. He doesn’t tell you for a while later, but you were the first to speak to him and try to be neighborly to him. Over time, you are a friend he can rely on. He may even look at you fondly.

👁  See Me - You were walking home when you noticed something very odd- a gentleman in nice clothes with dark hair and dark eyes, bloodied and helping drag someone down a long alleyway. You’ve seen many interesting things in NYC around the time that dusk hits, but somehow this stuck with you. Maybe because you didn’t stop to find out what was going on. Was it a crime or a rescue? A good samaritan, or something far more sinister? It’s plagued your mind for a while- so when you see the same man in a local bookstore with his own little table, discussing his art with shy and nervous, dark eyes, you take a chance. You talk him up, ask him for drinks. And when you can, you corner him and finally ask what the hell it is you saw. Suddenly you’re one of the only people who knows of a very dark secret that the Irishman is desperate to keep under wraps.

🍹 Distract Me - You need something, or someone, to focus on. And he’s always available- maybe because he spends so much time at home. You know that the quiet artist will meet you, almost anywhere. It’s usually a bar, a restaurant. Sometimes even a late night walk. You air grievances to the quiet night and the unsettling silence of his concentrated and stoic expression. But he listens, and he comments. He talks of his own twisted and depressing life. His voice is clipped and shy. He tells you a little too much- but is stunned when you don’t go running. Often you’ve met in the night, and when paths cross in the day, things feel different. A shy nod between two almost-friends. You have his number and text occasionally but he’s terrible at it- or maybe you both continue meeting for drinks and a little distraction. Maybe that’s all it is... or maybe not.