Jersey Devil iii

  ~ Quick stuff ~ Name: Cooper Elias Sandoval  Birthday: Nov. 8th, 1996 (26)  Zodiac: Scorp Sun, Gemini Moon, Pisces Rising From: Long Branch, New Jersey Pronouns: He/Him Hogwarts house: Gryffindor  Location: Southside

•

Emira snickered at the name, scratching behind Atlas’ ear as he wagged his tail, nudging her. “I’m afraid he’s a bit of a man on a mission,” she says lightly, “I promised the p-a-r-k,” she spells out, knowing that if she says it aloud, Atlas would start tugging even harder. “Ah, so just a bit of light hazing, exactly what everyone wants from a new job. Are you actually raising money or is this just gonna go to your drinking fund?” she deadpans before sighing and glancing at her phone to see the weather widget. 

“Jesus, you’re gonna get hypothermia. Won’t do you much good in your new job, will it? So not only would you be out of commission, they’ll probably have to pick up your slack, all for some stupid hazing ritual. Super fucking smart on their part. Let’s go,” she instructs, gesturing at him to hurry up and put some more clothes on. “I think the pharmacy does cash back. What’ll it be? Like…fifteen bucks or something?” She doesn’t know why she’s helping when it’s clear he’s agreed to this anyway and yet, there she was, waiting for the stranger to get dressed. Maybe it’s because she struggled to let idiots alone, always thinking she had a solution that was, objectively speaking, superior to theirs. 

Cooper rocked back on booted heels, clasping a hand over his mouth at the possibility of saying the word to Beethoven down there. Quickly tucking arms under his pits in the instant chill he got at standing up; his body facing a new angle where the heater was no longer blaring right on. He got barely a syllable out before she was in on the wrongs of the situation at hand. Her f-bombs easing him up at her tirade, that right then and there it was really fucking easy to follow suit. “Thirty?” He tried the math, booze included of course until that seemed an obvious reach, “Alright, twenty-five?” 

“It’s not as bad as it looks, you know? Big picture I gotta get rid of a pinky toe. Those son’s a’ gotta cover any shift I want for the rest of time. But anyways, I’m hot-blooded, this is nothin’. This got nothin’ on a Jersey winter. I’m golden.” 

on the rare occasions that stevie isn’t working her own bar, she always stops by to make sure everything is in order. the phoenix is her baby, an extension of self that she can’t fathom seeing pass to other hands. the bare skin is what catches her attention and she strolls to the poor soul who clearly needs an award for how he can handle the mountain cold. she’s wrapped in a suede and fur coat that stops at her ankles and her gloved hands rub together as she looks him up and down. ‘you have five seconds to put that worm away and get inside.’ she gestures to his undergarments. ‘five….four….’

The way she looked him up and down felt like an actual eternity, unnerving in the same kind of way caught red handed doing something he shouldn’t behind the bar back home by his mom. Only this time it wasn’t his mom and her authority undeniable what with the coat and fancy looking gloves.

Without so much a word, Cooper snatched up what he did have nearby, close enough to the heater he had to do a boot heavy lift of his leg to step over and avoid running into her on the other side of him, “Worm? More like cold weather snake—” he said, through a cough, “Hey uh, you can tell ‘em you bought me out right? You know, in case they wanna pull a fast one again you know?” 

.

Liz thought that she had seen everything in her life but when she had passed The Phoenix, she was pretty sure that she had not seen everything in her life. The sight of a young man wearing nothing but underwear and a Santa hat on the sidewalk was something you didn’t see every day. She had stopped in front of him, reading the sign that he had on the tool box, an eyebrow raised before she looked up at him. “I have so many questions about this situation,” she said to him, a slight amusement coming through in her voice as she looked at him. “But the first one is… What the hell happened that you ended up like this?” She asked him before finally looking away and searching in the bag that she was carrying for her wallet so she could find him some money. It was way too cold for the lack of clothes he was having.

Most relieved to see the hot lady reaching into her bag, only getting colder and the rounds of beer not coming out fast enough to keep up the barely there warmth on his bones. That heater proving to very little in the grand scheme of things, “What this isn’t the norm around here? Kinda got the feelin’ this chairs sinkin’ in after all the bare asses before me.”  

Predictably, the voice chiming in from the other side of the gas pump was pretty much the last thing Nancy wanted to hear right then. She paused her onslaught on the machine to take a side-step and stare, her expression just as pinched and sour as ever as she assessed the other. If their positions had been reversed, what would she have done? Laugh and stroll right into Pump You Up, walking out with a Big Gulp the size of her head and a bag full of snacks she didn’t even have the appetite for. As it were, though, Nancy was boned. “I could blow this place to kingdom come,” she said on a heaving sigh, perhaps sounding a touch too serious about it, like the consideration was really there. “It’s cold as tits out, anyway. Might be nice to have a fire, huh?” She turned back to the open driver side door and swiped her purse, rifling through it in the hopes of finding some loose change lost amongst all the junk – and not a lighter. Although… she was partial to the idea of watching her junker of a car go up in flames.

There was a beat, a good couple seconds where he was trying to decipher if she was being for real or what— surely he didn’t know a lot but the lot that he did was fire and gas stations were a no-no. “Uh, do I gotta run?” He asked, whistling out the steam that came from within in the near freezing temps; the view he got when she bent over inside the car not one to mind ending his whole world on. Straightening when she returned purse in hand, clearing his throat, “Whoa uh, you’re not really lookin’ to blow some shit up are you? You’re a chick, just go inside, ask the dude for an IOU.” 

•

Emira scoffs at the scene before her, gently tugging Atlas to a stop as the young man explains his situation. She can’t help the snicker that escapes as she quirks a brow, giving him a once over from head to toe. “Why?” Emira never quite understood people who let others dictate what they should or shouldn’t do, even as a joke. In school, people quickly learned that she was the wrong person to double dog dare to do anything, being met with a steely hazel gaze and crossed arms if they tried. “What’d’ya do to lose so severely?” she asks as she digs around in her coat pocket for some spare change, coming up short of five dollars in singles. “Maybe you should have a sign that says Venmo or Cash App accepted.” Emira suggests as proffers four crumpled ones. “Unless you’ve got change.” Though, by the lack of clothing he’s wearing, she doubts it. 

 “Here Beethoven” he said playfully, clicking his tongue at the dog that was seemingly ready to roll right on past. Chillily slinking away to reintroduce his arms under again when his warmth was clearly not fully reciprocated by the dog, “Uh, didn’t lose nothin’. Got a job on the mountain is all. Never did go to college but always thought I’d kill it in a frat. Guess I’m gettin’ the taste for it now.” He told her, standing from his stool for her to tuck in the cash to the toolbelt with a bit of a twist of his hips. “ ‘preciate it, think I get a sock now.” 

Equipped with a Santa hat and a tool belt with a sign that reads ‘Big Elk roadkill pick up fund’, Cooper sat outside The Phoenix down to his skivvies  and a heater blaring that gave off a bar matching neon red glow. —Just as surprised himself when after a newfound deal with the chef at the resort for those leftover crinkle fries and a Bison?? burger at the end of shift number five and Cooper was blinded by a mask and his ski lift coworker he already knew by smell, Chet’s weed soaked hot pink MGK sweatshirt he never took off as his only source of oxygen for however long it took to get down the mountain again. The not so stealthy hidden laughter from Warren and Lazy Lou in their apparent hazing ritual sat nice and toasty inside the bar like they’d done this a thousand times before— “Hey-ya, wanna donate? Every other five bucks I get a sock or somethin’. Super fuckin’ cool with booze too... I uh, got a long ways to go.” He asked the closest person on the sidewalk

The flight flew by, from the three drink vouchers passed on from mama Fee that she never used to her much needed trip to Cabo and a Gayle Lancaster from Denver; the near zero temps shocked him into reality real quick. With no place in mind other than the addy Talia gave him some weeks back, he did the know the name of the restaurant she was slinging pies at - some sports bar, Hooters-lite which also was perfect because he was now hungry as fuck. 

Slickly sliding in the entrance, Jets hoodie secured and tight around his head, the airport fleece a solid purchase that he had zipped all the way up. Ordered a craft beer at the bar. His gross-out reflex reacted to instantly as he found a vacant corner spot near two pork bellied eyes glued on the Bronco’s game, waiting patiently for whenever Talia was going to pass- when she did, almost chocking on the possible missed opportunity of calling out. his voice deepening and an attempt at one of these country western came out, “Excuse me- uh, miss ma’am- I think there’s a mistake with my beer, I ordered not shit. this is complete ass. What’re you gonna do about that?”