status: newcomer || 6' . he/him . 34 . game dev . Fairweather Hotel . ISTJ
Have you seen ( Zach Lockmoore, he/him )? They look a lot like ( E.van P.eters ). The ( 34 ) year old ( game developer ) is so ( intelligent, ambitious, down-to-earth ) but I heard they can also be really ( aloof, cynical, socially inept ). Can you believe they’ve been in town for ( just arrived )?! They live in the ( Town Square, Fairweather Hotel ) neighborhood and kind of remind me of ( blue hair dye, retro games, adidas Attitude Hi NYC and neon lime bomber jacket, electronic music&the 80s, motherboard full sleeve tattoo). If I was asked, I’d guess that they were (The Recluse) in their yearbook for the class of (2010).
BIO & BASICS
CONNECTIONS & NPCs
THINGS YOUR MUSE WILL NOTICE ABOUT MINE ↓
⸻ WHAT THEY LOOK LIKE :
He's 6 feet tall.
He's probably listening to music to block out the noises.
Electric blue hair pulled into a half-up bun or ponytail. Shoulder-length, wavy/curly.
He's got a motherboard full sleeve (left arm + neck) and an easel on the right bicep, both done by his wife. @thexcarrollxtimes
A diamond stud earring in his right ear or a silver hoop. He usually has a few colorful bracelets on one arm and leather/metal ones on the other.
A neon lime Fila x Ackermann jacket, vibrant/very neutral hoodies. Some merch t-shirts and light blue jeans or sweatpants.
Sneakers! Adidas Attitude HI or Reebok BB 4600.
⸻ WHAT THEY SMELL LIKE :
Bayleaf, rosemary, and black currant. Shower gel. Hair dye when his hair is freshly done.
⸻ WHAT THEY TASTE LIKE :
Skin - salty & cologne tart. Kisses - coffee or something spicy, because he loves spicy snacks.
⸻ WHAT THEY SOUND LIKE
He half-whispers everything with his trademark deadpan expression.
Doesn’t raise his voice unless his emotions grow too strong and/or he’s on the verge of losing his patience & it takes a lot to make Zach lose his temper.
Usually, his laughter is barely a chuckle. Just like his smiles are not much more than a subtle quirk of the corners of his mouth, or they simply don’t last long (which is also why it can be difficult to tell if he’s joking or not; 8/10 he’s not)
He has a good singing voice, but you won’t hear Zach show it off on some karaoke night. You might hear him hum, though, especially when he’s working. The 80s are back, baby.
⸻ WHAT THEY FEEL LIKE :
He doesn't like unprompted touch (or being touched in general by most), so he'll flinch or tense up.
Fit and athletic (parkour, freerunning) - easy to tell without even touching him.
His touch feels mostly soothing and gentle, but it can be powerful or surprisingly confident if he's comfortable around someone.
emily looked over at zach so fast it was a miracle her headphones didn’t fly off. “i’m sorry, did you just say we’re going to raw dog the mission?” she repeated, turning back to the camera with wide eyes. “chat, clip that. that is the official developer-approved strategy. no plan, only vibes, trauma, and whatever the hell a blind doll is.” the chat immediately started moving faster, and emily leaned closer to read a few messages before laughing under her breath. “no, congregation, i do not feel comforted by the phrase ‘twice the torture.’ i feel the opposite of comforted. i feel like i should have updated my will before stream.”
emily clicked her character forward, the ruined orphanage closing in around them on screen. “okay, so for anyone new here, my character is built for sneaky agility, which means i am very fast, very quiet, and emotionally unprepared for whatever is about to happen.” she glanced over at zach, trying to look brave and only mostly succeeding. “so based on our special skills, i think i’m supposed to do the sneaking, slipping through tight spots, grabbing whatever nightmare items we need, and possibly doing the blood baptismal tank thing without dying.”
then she pointed toward his side of the screen. “and zach is going to provide developer insight, emotional support, and hopefully distract mother gooseberry if she decides she wants to turn me into paste.” emily took a steadying breath, then nodded with dramatic seriousness. “alright. raw dog mission. congregation, let's pray for me.” the chat exploded in praying hand emojis that looked like the wings of an emu.
"We don't say that?" Zach laughed, immediately sending Emily an apologetic look and keeping his voice low as if the question was meant to stay between them.
His character wandered from one corner to another, searching for any useful items or collectibles, picking up whatever he deemed worth carrying. Zach would hum in agreement every now and then to emphasize that Emily's description was correct, and he smiled whenever she expressed her doubts that the stream was a good idea. The chat's support even brought a grin to his usually serious face.
"I'm only satisfied with these reactions because the game is meant to be scary and gruesome," he explained himself as they made their way to the orphanage building. Knowing that this part was fairly chill except for some traps they would trigger if they got too close to them, he used this moment for a purely developer-insight kind of intro that Emily promised.
"I used to hold back a lot before I joined this team; I couldn't believe you could make a game with few to no catch-your-breath moments and people would actually love it," he reminisced. "Once I realized you could put someone in a nightmare and they'll even up the torture, I promised myself never to hold back again. All the worst, sickest lines and ideas make it to the final product, and even though — oh, pick up that one! no, no, to the right, it's good for stunning the enemies here — even though we've got our fields and tasks as the team, we just sit down and brainstorm our ideas together." A chuckle. "A bunch of people eating lunch, wondering how to make traps messier and enemies more repulsive."
So it seemed this was a misunderstanding, unless the guy was lying, but Vale thought he seemed pretty sincere - he seemed genuinely confused by this whole thing. Looking back over his shoulder, Vale thought about his line of sight to the guy who was still behind this stranger, watching their interaction, and he groaned. "Fuck," Vale muttered under his breath as it all came together. "Listen, I'm sorry about that," Vale told the man. "I was actually staring at the guy behind you - no, don't look! - but I understand how it might have seemed." Vale didn't like to apologize, but he would do it if he were really in the wrong, like he was now. "I got kind of confrontational just now, didn't I?" He smiled, trying to lighten the mood, but it didn't feel like it was working.
Behind this stranger, Vale saw that the man was still watching them, though he seemed far enough away that he hadn't heard their conversation. "So I need to ask you a weird favor, which I know is pretty shitty since I just was all 'why are you staring at me?' and everything," Vale said. "I need you to pretend you know me." His hookup was looking like he was about to come over here, and Vale couldn't have that. "That guy behind you...he is very good in bed but also pretty clingy it turns out, so I need to an excuse to avoid him. I'll buy you a drink in appreciation." His hookup (seriously, what was his name again?) was still staring, putting down the weights he'd been using, and Vale knew he was going to come over. "My name is Vale by the way. So...what do you say?"
Sometimes, even more common social situations were difficult for him to wrap his head around, but the more he listened to the stranger... Zach really needed a moment to put all the pieces of Vale's story together, and he kept getting distracted by the additions the other probably hadn't even noticed. Like, how did it feel to admit so casually that he was not straight? He had spent years trying to figure out how to handle the whole thing, ask himself if he could openly date men...? If yes, then was it okay to date his co-worker, or would he read a nasty, biased article about it the next day?
The overthinking part couldn't last longer than a second, and in the meantime, Zach discreetly peeked at the clingy lover. One stranger was more than enough, and if that guy approached them it would be way too crowded.
"Alright, alright, I'm Zach." Over the years, he had even learned to skip the "with a C-H, and not Zachary, just Zach." Vale could have been luckier because Zach was socially inept and not a good actor or liar... But he was going to give his best. At least he knew it would be wise to have some casual conversation going when the guy decided to walk over. "You don't have to thank me, you know; avoiding interactions is something I do for free," he joked, smiling a little now that the staring misunderstanding had been explained. "Which is why I might have gotten a little defensive." He pointed to his face to show that he meant his expression, knowing he looked unapproachable almost all the damn time. Not that he had noticed that himself, without some people pointing it out.
It was always good having at least one of the twins back in Carroll, soon the other will pop back too after a long time away filming but he knew who Dawn had been missing to see. The younger pup certainly had way more energy than the retired military dog, but it was precisely being around Doom's infectious energy that Dawn certainly grown fond of. So when Zach invited them over for a long awaited dog playdate, it was an instant yes the moment he could squeeze in some time.
Dawn was the first to greet Zach, nudging his leg as she sat by his by before looking over to Ashton as if waiting for permission. "I'm always punctual, are your friends always late?" He chuckled at the joke, actually looking at his phone to confirm the time. "Go on girl, go find Doom," he gave his dog a light pat on her head and she was off, trotting away to the familiar scent of a friend! "It's uh.. it's been," Ash sucked in a breath through his teeth thinking back about the past month. But the happier thoughts of the camp were easier to latch onto, "yeah, its summer camp time right now, we're trying to get Viv into it if they can make it back in time." He paused to give his friend a quick hug before coming in, "what about you? Still recording suspicious sounds for your game?"
"Or I'm just some unforgiving asshole," he joked. Not that anybody called him that, except for Eric trying to teach him how to chill his whole life.
While Zach was good at and with staying hidden, not just in his brother's house, but also behind a pile of work, he appreciated it when he finally had some time to hang with his friend and his canine companion. He scratched Dawn behind both ears and patted her side when she got her permission to start looking for Doom. "Be careful; he's manic today," he warned her completely unseriously, as she ran off.
"That's quite an answer..." Now he hugged Ashton back and smiled at him in sympathy. Just when he thought the camp would be quite an adventure, it turned out that maybe other things bothered his friend more. "I can only imagine how happy Dad will be about his granddaughter joining your hockey camp." Zach laughed, leading them into the house and to the living room first; today's weather was lovely, so they might grab some drinks and head straight to the beach. "You'd have two more Sanders kids in there if Rio and Ian were here." A laugh. "That's precisely why I came here, though. To work on the parts of the game I'd rather not have my kids walk into and see. Or hear." And to check on his brother when he's back, but Zach skipped that part. "Rio decapitated and dismembered several dolls as punishment for disobeying the Great Teddybear's orders."
Autumn enjoyed Zach and his quirks, her donations to his development company a monthly one now, and would remain that way into perpetuity. She was happy to help her blue haired brother-in-law. Reaching down to give Doom a scratch behind the years as he came up to give the canvas a sniff, Auttie studied it just as closely as she had before, and once more found not a flaw. It looked amazing, they looked amazing. Their little family.
"It's a portrait." She knew Eric would like it if she was honest with herself, there really wasn't a question of that. Like herself, there was no such thing as 'too much' with them. Giving him a little wave to help her hang it, the picture hanger was already installed in the wall, waiting for the painting to lower down onto it. "On the count of three?"
Once it was in place and straightened as well their untrained eyes could get it, Autumn stood back and crossed her arms over her chest as she studied the picture there. Looking over his living room and looking for all the world like a family portrait. "They make me so happy, you know."
Zach simply hummed in agreement and helped Autumn hang the portrait on the wall, straightening it until they were satisfied with the result, but he knew that he'd come back here with a level later. He just couldn't stand things not being perfect. For now, he shifted his focus to the blonde.
"I think it's mutual," he observed with a smile, studying the details. It was a really good painting; maybe they should get one as a gift for their parents' next anniversary?
Zach turned to Autumn with an absolutely unfiltered question. "Do you think his baby might change that?"
Doom was way too happy to be a pain in the ass today, super-zoomies being the least significant of the problems now, but Zach didn't want to cancel the Dog Date or anything. Maybe he'd get better once they moved to Eric's private slice of the beach and he let Doomsy chase the seagulls.
"You're so punctual, you set the bar high for my other friends," he joked, letting Ash in. The snacks were ready, coffee freshly brewed, and the beer had been chilling in the fridge for a while. Even if Zach didn't remember about beer, Eric's fridge was always stocked. "How've you been? Eric mentioned a hockey camp?"
emily looked over at zach beside her, grinning as he finished his intro, before turning back toward the camera with wide, dramatic eyes. “right,” she said, nodding seriously. “we’re going to try to outlast it. emphasis on try, because i need everyone here to understand that i am brave in theory and deeply annoying in practice.” chat immediately started moving faster, and emily pointed at the screen. “do not start with me, congregation. i know you’re all here hoping i scream so loud zach regrets being in the same room as me.” she glanced back at him, smile bright and teasing. “which is fair, honestly.”
then she settled her hands on the keyboard and mouse, taking an exaggerated steadying breath. “but before we start getting emotionally hunted for sport, zach has put a stupid amount of work into this, so everybody be nice to him. ask him cool game questions. hype him up. and if something tries to murder me in the dark, blame him directly.” emily leaned a little closer to her mic, dropping her voice into her streamer voice. “alright, chat. headphones on, lights off if you’re feeling brave, emu bless…” she glanced at zach one more time, eyes sparkling. “let’s see if friendship survives outlast.” then the game started.
The usually quiet, reserved guy turned surprisingly expressive and chatty in moments like that. Zach just cracked his knuckles and grabbed the pad, now simply chilling in his chair as if the game couldn't surprise him.
It could; it was meant to scare its own makers.
"I'll blame myself for her screams, too," he added with a little chuckle, thoroughly in awe because Emily handled the whole intro so well. This smooth introduction was the true horror; Zach found starting the most difficult part of every speech, stream, and anything like that, and Emily had done it with so much humor and grace that he was truly, genuinely impressed.
Especially with that lovely pun.
"I don't really like loud noises, so if you scream, I'll scream too," he joked, moving through the menu quickly, so the settings didn't bore their audience. "We've picked the trial we'll face before the stream, and we've customized our characters too, because-..." He let them finish the sentence for themselves; everyone knew it took ages to get that perfect character design. "In case anyone's wondering why my character sounds like me — my brother voiced Reagent number 3. I thought it would be funny to use this voice."
He smiled over at Emily and the location loaded, their ominous objective displayed at the top of the screen. "Did I mention we're presenting this co-op feature for the first time? No? Well, welcome to the double feature, twice the torture, whatever you wanna call it. We'll try to split the tasks based on our special skills." In-game, after a bit of walking around the almost claustrophobic starting area, he turned to face Emily to show her character from his perspective and vice versa.
"I think we'll figure it out later, we've got no plan, yeah? Just to raw dog this mission and have some fun, yeah?"
"Ah, well that make sense." She laughed as she lead him out toward the waiting pink car and the large covered framed canvas that resided precariously perched in the back. "Italy was amazing, and it's actually where I got the idea of this gift. I mean I could have had a courier bring it over, but I didn't trust them, and I really wanted it hung before he got home." Hauling it out with a little grunt, surprisingly stable despite the height of her heels, she hauled it over to his much stronger and capable hands.
Leading him in, she waved her hands excitedly for him to set it down before pulling off the cloth over to reveal a beautifully painted portrait of one of the pictures of Eric, Vivienne and herself. "What do you think? If we hang it up there over the mantle? You think he'll love it? It's too much, isn't it?"
Zach followed Autumn and Doom immediately joined the pair; what if food was involved? At least he stayed a few feet away, watching them grab something from the car and since it didn't smell edible, he just ignored them in favor of his daily routine.
"I don't trust them either, yeah," he admitted, but the gift was big and Zach was curious what it was, so he didn't share any anecdotes that justified his mistrust. Being so horrible at small talk, he couldn't really pick up when she told him about Italy either. He asked, she answered - that's all Zach needed to know, right?
Finally, his eyes landed on the painting he just helped Autumn bring inside, and... "Wow." Zach couldn't hide the surprise. "It's... not a full-size print of a selfie." It was as retro as Eric liked it. "It's not too much, I mean, have you seen his bedroom?" Such a stupid question, but Zach had a point — there was a tasteful nude above his bed, but the model's identity remained a mystery. Maybe he should ask the artist when he was back home.
Truthfully Vale wasn't looking at the guy. He was looking past him at the guy behind him, someone Vale had...had a lapse in judgment with the other night. He'd been feeling sorry for himself at The Silver Bullet (no surprise there, that was pretty on brand), and one thing led to another, and...well, he'd woken up in a house in The Cove that he had never been to before. That was all well and good, Vale was no stranger to hookups (even ill-advised ones such as this), but what made this one worse than usual was the fact that this guy would not leave him alone. Usually Vale didn't give out his number, but he must have in his drunken state (or maybe the guy was a hacker or something; that would be his luck). Regardless, now Vale had to figure out how to get this guy off his back. So that was who he was staring at.
But then, standing there in the gym, Vale noticed someone else staring at him. The guy looked vaguely familiar, but that didn't matter because Vale was in a mood, and he was going to figure out why the hell this man was giving him that look. Plus...it would give him an excuse to avoid...shit, what was his name again? You've got to stop drinking and making bad choices, Vale thought, though he knew he wouldn't. Walking over to the guy, Vale asked, "Can I help you with something? You keep looking at me."
You keep looking at me? Zach blinked in confusion. Well, he was looking at the guy, sure, but only because he had to make sure the guy wasn't looking at him! Oh god, this made his head ache... Zach shook his head and took a sip of his water, hoping the man would go away and his non-verbal response was enough but...-
"Not on purpose, sorry," he said, after a moment, just to assure the guy that he wasn't some creep. "I thought you were staring." Thought? He was staring! And now Zach was explaining himself?!
//anywhere, anytime. can be #gchqfourth but doesn't have to.
sorry but it doesn't talk and it doesn't approach people, so I'll make your muse stare at my muse, and my muse stare at your muse until both parties feel uncomfortable.
How many times had someone followed him around thinking he was his brother? Way too many, especially before Eric got a shorter haircut and Zach decided he liked his curls blue. Actually, even before that, the twins started wearing spectrum opposite clothes too.
And yet, he still got that confused look sometimes, when someone seemed to wonder where they knew him from. Unless they were a gamer. Gamers recognized Zach and for them, he was a bit of a celebrity. One guy even asked if he knew that he looked a lot like that actor.
Emily nodded because she understood why Zach was nervous. He didn’t know her chat the way she did. The Emu Fam was mostly chill, kind, and weird in the best way. She’d heard once that audiences tended to mirror the creator, and while Emily hated calling them her fans, she believed the logic still applied. Sure, there were trolls sometimes, but that was why she had mods and a ban button she used with joy.
“They’re going to love you,” she promised, tone bright and confident. “Okay—when we go live, I’ll do my intro, I’ll bring you in, and then you’ll tell them what we’re playing and why it’s cool.” Her grin widened. “I’m genuinely so excited you’re here.” She took a breath like she was about to start a presentation she actually cared about. “And… action,” she said, then clicked Go Live.
Her overlay popped up instantly—little emus stampeding across the screen—before revealing Emily and Zach side-by-side on a split screen. “Hi, Emu Fam!” Emily chirped, leaning closer to the camera. “How are we doing tonight?” Chat immediately flooded: hellos, emote spam, and a suspicious amount of emus in every possible mood.
“Oh my god, you’re fast,” Emily laughed, eyes flicking across the messages. “Okay, okay—I see you. I’m glad you’re all excited, because I’m excited too.” She gestured toward Zach’s side of the screen. “I have my friend Zach here tonight, and we’re playing his game.”
More chat spam. More emotes. A couple of “LET’S GO”s.
“As a reminder,” Emily added, sitting up straighter in mock-seriousness, “this is a mature stream. So if you’re under eighteen, consider this your official warning.” She held the stern face for exactly one second before breaking into a grin again. “All right.” She looked over at Zach like she was passing him a microphone. “Zach—tell the Emu Fam what we’re playing and what they’re about to experience.”
Her reassurance was sweet, and Zach couldn't stay in that strange state when he knew she believed their stream would be a success. He couldn't have asked for a better introduction for his new feature in the game. If anything went wrong, he'd be able to fix the issue almost in real time – which obviously wouldn't influence their gameplay in any way, but at least it would be taken care of.
Zach just smiled widely and waited for Emily to do exactly what she said she would. That's when the chat erupted; cheerful and very Emu-themed, it all made the smile stay on his face for a little longer, one hundred percent genuine. Even though public speaking, presentations, and interviews all counted as his own personal hell, the man had learned to convince himself that it was just another form of yapping about what he loved, and was he good at that!
"While I wouldn't be surprised if some decide to leave and come back for something merrier, I really hope that most of you will stay," he started jokingly, when it was his turn to speak. He sort of opened his mouth before he realized how fast his heart was beating, so the words just kept flowing. "We're jumping into the world of Outlast, where it's all about survival and pushing yourself to your limits. And while the feeling of isolation plays a huge role in these games, I've taken up on proving y'all that it'll be just as scary when you can play with your friend. Em and I are teaming up and... we'll try to outlast whatever the game will throw at us today, right?"
"Your secret is safe with me." She said with a grin as she came through the door with her arm fulls of clothes, carefully laying them out in one of the chairs as not to crease them improperly before she could get them into his closet.
"Hello, Doom!" Reaching down she let the dog requaint himself with her scent before giving him a little scratch behind the ears as she turned her attention back to his master. "Long time no see! You're looking great, hair is extra vibrant, I see." Her tone was light, and friendly, truly pleased to see Eric's polar opposite of a twin brother. "You have perfect timing, actually. I might need your help with a gift for him. Come out to the car with me?"
Zach nodded his thanks. Not that Eric couldn't find out that his brother was there because he would have something against it. "I'll be staying over there," he motioned over to the other house, "but I came here first." For what? He didn't tell, but at least he'd made a good choice because he could help Autumn with a mysterious gift.
The dog ran over to Auttie to greet her, tail going full helicopter mode as soon as he recognized her scent. "Thanks. You look great too, as always," he admitted. Zach skipped the part where he wanted to complain about the roots appearing too soon, and his days had shrunk since the twins (and his first baby - work) required more attention. "Oh sure, absolutely. I can help you. How was Italy?"
She hadn't expected to see anyone at Eric's, but a vaguely familiar vehicle in the driveway had caught her attention as she'd pulled up, car full of the several garment bags that made up the new wardrobe she'd purchased him in Italy. Arms full with one hand holding the hangers securely and the other supporting the bottoms of the bags like a bride about to cross the threshold, she'd run the bell with an elbow. Only it wasn't the housekeeper who answered, but a familiar face with a very unfamiliar hair colour attached to it.
When their parents told him to look after his brother, Zach was sure they were joking. Eric was 34 and only two minutes younger than Zach, so pretty much a big boy who could handle things not going according to his plans, no matter how difficult it seemed. An iconic role, his girlfriend clearly coming back to him to try again, his daughter soon moving in with him... Hell, even the bad news wasn't so bad at all, when the kid Lilith was pregnant with was healthy!
But would Zach ever say no to a good-old-times solo trip with Doom, looking after his brother's place while he was in Europe?
"Hi, Autumn." He smiled, his hand running through the blue curls a little awkwardly. As if she were the one who should tell him — a guy living in New York — that she'd be coming here. "I think Eric knows I'm here. But if not... Oh well... Don't tell him." His smile widened a little, and he stepped aside to let her in.
"Doom, behave," before the dog even realized he could misbehave.
