if only, baby, there were cameras in the traffic lights, they'd make me a star Marnie Fusselman, she/her, 28. Can I make you something to drink? rp only, closed account.
housing: She lives with her great-aunt in the rural countryside.
occupation: Barista
work place: Cobblestone Cafe
family: Her great-aunt Mae, parents out-of-state, one younger sister
relationship status: single
PERSONALITY
Marnie is serious — too serious, she knows . She often finds herself preoccupied with uncertainties, concerns, dreams, memories, and life’s bigger questions, mulling over thoughts until they’re smooth as river rocks. She fears vulnerability and, in the past, has evaded being known by others. Now, she’s arrived at a point in her life where she realizes she needs those genuine connections. Once you earn her trust, you will find a pragmatic, direct, and steadfast companion in Marnie. She’s someone who will help you purge your wardrobe and finally donate half your shit to charity, or insist on cooking you a hearty meal with lots of vegetables. At the bottom of it all, she wants to show up for the people she loves and take care of them as best she can. She would love friends with whom she can have a real, good, honest laugh — something she’s been missing for years.
WRITTEN BY: Rain (she/her) est.
BACKGROUND / BIO
Marnie spent a lot of her childhood moving around the country for her father’s job, and thus learned to be highly adaptable; the flip side of that coin is that she has felt unmoored for a long time. She’s fixated on the concept of “home,” and in the process of trying to find it for herself, has bounced around from state to state in her own right ever since she turned 18. She’s always been a very creative person, leaning heavily into writing short stories, plays and films during her high school years. For a long time, she felt that making it as a writer was what her entire life hinged upon. She went to college in Philadelphia and struggled hard through an entire undergraduate degree program in screenwriting just to discover that she just isn’t cut out for keeping pace with the intensely competitive film industry. Once so certain about her identity, she found herself freewheeling, and has spent years picking up odd jobs and temporary gigs, struggling with feelings of purposelessness but unsure about what she should commit to and so afraid of making a wrong choice. A consistent thread throughout her life has been food service, for a few reasons: the jobs are very easy to get and to leave, and she actually really enjoys the work. She steered toward working in coffee shops a few years ago, and takes great pride in her craft as a barista.
Now at the end of her twenties, broke, lonely and growing weary of the patterns her life has taken, she’s come to Merrock to live with her great-aunt Mae, who she lived with for a few years as a child and still remains close to. She seeks clarity and peace, community and companionship, routine and regularity, and work with meaning — at least, she thinks she does. A small part of her, so small she can almost ignore it, worries that even if all of those things are presented to her, she won’t be able to embrace them. But for now, she does her best to brush that aside, and step into her next chapter with an open mind and heart.
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Taking in a warm breath of the heated air around them, Ryder nodded his head. "This town's big on community -- lots of festivals, markets, parties. It's fun, though," he never really felt bored, despite the fact that living in big cities most of his life meant that moving to Merrock had been quite the monumental change. But he wouldn't count that as a bad thing in the least -- he liked his life now.
"Where from? If you don't mind me asking," he offered her a quick sheepish smile, not wanting to push her to talk about the wheres and whys if she wasn't the type. While Ryder was an open book about his life, he knew that not everyone was the same way. "That's the kicker. Have to just embrace the snowy sports now," he grinned. "I snowboard, so I count that as good enough. I'm shit on the ice," he gestured to the rink, "I mean, I can stay up… ish, but you won't get any crazy spins or twists or flips out of me."
Holding his hand out when she introduced herself, he flashed her a smile. "Ryder. Good to meet you, Marnie."
"It sounds fun. I really like how community-centered things seem to be here." Marnie's hands were plenty warm now; she tucked them into the pockets of her wool coat and rotated so that the backs of her legs faced the heater. "I've done a lot of moving around, and I think I'm ready to settle down for a bit and just... be a part of something, I guess?"
She didn't mind him asking. "Most recently I'm coming up from Atlanta -- so yeah, absolutely no real winter to speak of." Snowboarding! Marnie was in awe. He was so casual about it. "I think the last time I went ice skating was probably some kid's birthday party in middle school, to be honest." She loosely grasped the memory: the surprising scrape of the ice under her blades, the cold rail on the wall she clung to as most of the other girls took off in a laughing gaggle. "I don't remember it being fun at all, so I guess that makes me shit, too. I can stay up if I'm holding onto something, but that's really all I've got."
It was her first honest handshake in quite some time: warm, forward. She was a little flustered by it, but she played it down. "So, Ryder. Are you from Merrock, then?"
with: @marniemeanswell
location: the marina
when: dec 6th, midday
"So... go on, then. Dive in." Hands on his hips, stood at the edge of the dock, he cocked his elbow out to knock roughly against Marnie's shoulder. They had not come all the way out to the coast for a frigid midday swim, but she didn't know that. Elias had structured today much like a pop quiz, appearing in Cobblestone Cafe early that morning to ask Marnie when her shift ended, nodding along and telling her to 'be ready' with no further details. And now they were here, standing in the cold, his smile inching towards a shit-eating grin as he stared expectantly at the blonde. "Nah, I'm just fucking with you," Elias laughed, turning to lead them further down the dock. "The boat's over here."
In Marnie's mind, it could not be overstated: Elias was intriguing. His particular brand of frank charisma had drawn her to him on some level from the first time she had waited on him at Cobblestone. So much so, that when he manifested in the cafe that morning -- right after open, with a sudden post-work invitation but absolutely no forthcoming details -- despite her disinclination to spontaneity, she had agreed to come. She had agreed! What the hell! Sure, she had had innumerable questions, and a burgeoning sense of anxiety as her shift went on, but she kept reminding herself of her new commitment to stay open, repeatedly, like a tic.
When he elbowed her there on the dock, with the command to dive in, adrenaline jolted through her body, and she stared hard into the opaque grey ocean as all optimism drained from her, leaving a heavy sinking feeling of total and complete regret.
When she brought herself to look back at him, his grin said it all. She flushed with embarrassment, laughed shortly with relief. "Jesus Christ," she said, managing a small playful shove. "Don't do that to me, I thought you were serious."
She kept pace with him down the dock toward the boat. Admittedly, the last water vessel she had gone out on was probably a quick ferry across the Puget Sound back in Washington State, and she felt apprehension rise up once again in her. "So -- wait, where are we going?"
It was definitely the season for hot beverages and despite the fact that they were tastefully beneficial, Summer liked to think that they made excellent hand warmers; well that was considering they weren't at a temperature that was going to shed the layers of skin off of her hand;
"It's that but it needs to be the good hot chocolate, not the low fat no sugar one" and yes she was picky with her beverages too; "Honestly it's been a bit of everything, I am kind of regretting this outfit though, it's making me itchy and I just know I am going to pay for this later when I am slathering myself with ointment"
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Well, they are very sweet so I can somewhat understand why you hate them. But at least it's not as sweet as the candy cane. Or, I suppose, it's probably as sweet with the right amount.
I'm Samuel. Sam. Just got lost trying to find less sweet hot chocolate.
Yes, it's definitely a combination of their sweetness, and their weird texture? I've just always found them unappealing.
I'm Marnie. Are you new to town? Hey, I work at Cobblestone Cafe downtown -- come by sometime and I'll make you a hot chocolate with semisweet chocolate. I keep some of the good Valrhona stuff on hand.
Life was busy. Between running the shop and selling Christmas decor, fulfilling orders, and taking on projects for the year ahead to working on restoring his own home with his girlfriend to carving out as much time as possible to be with Colton and Rosalyn, not to mention the rest of the Newman Family, well... there wasn't much time to relax. To breathe. To just wander around downtown and not have anything on his mind. But that night, he had dropped in to Town Hall to renew some paperwork he'd need for the year ahead, had some time to kill, and found himself just walking. Hands in pockets, eyes on the sidewalk ahead of him, collar turned up to block the wind from hitting his neck, lost in thought about engagement rings and farmhouse sinks and stuffed animals under the tree when he nearly bumped into someone exiting the coffee shop, stepping back with a quick, sheepish smile. "Sorry 'bout that."
It had been a long, long day. Her feet ached, her voice was hoarse, her hair was falling out of its claw clip, and somehow, she had ended up covered in something sticky. Holiday time meant more folks out at the shops, which meant more folks clamoring for lattes, Americanos, peppermint tea, hot chocolate, blueberry muffins, almond croissants -- ugh. Marnie didn't want to think about it anymore, and thank God she didn't have to: it was finally quitting time.
Though the cafe was still bustling, she managed to squeeze onto the iPad register between customer transactions and clock out, mercifully. "Have a good close, if you can," she tossed to her coworkers, grabbing her personal affects from under the counter and making a beeline for the door.
She was struggling to put on both her jacket and her crossbody bag at the same time as she spilled out into the street -- tangled in her own mess, she didn't see him at all. "Oh -- no, I'm sorry, it's me. I'm trying to do too much at once." Getting herself together, she took a moment to actually look up at him.
Recognition flashed through her, though at first, she couldn't place it.
Growing up in Boston, and then all over the world, Ryder both had and hadn't experienced these sorts of events his entire life. He had attended festivals, parties, markets, anything that you could think of that made you scream 'winter fun!' or 'seasonal holly!' But nothing had ever quite had that feeling that he got when he attended these events. Whether he came with a friend, or rolled up with Jayla and Iris, or ventured out by himself, he always found himself swept up in that… warmth. The community feeling. The way that people cared for one another and made everyone feel like they belonged. Maybe that was a big part of the reason that he had never left Merrock after the Big Break Up and being faced with a choice.
That, and it was pretty this time of year.
"Nah, this place just opened a couple of years ago," he gestured with his chin out towards the rink. "But some sort of get together, absolutely. I know last year it was like, movies and baking cookies at the community center. This year, we just took it outside," he turned his gaze back to the woman with a smile. "I take it as you're pretty new here to town? First time experiencing a Merrock holiday season?"
"Oh, that's cool," Marnie said reflexively -- but it really was cool. She liked the thought of lots of people getting together literally just to bake cookies and watch Christmas movies. She tried to remember the last time she'd done something like that with friends -- maybe in Oregon, with her ex, a few years ago now.
"Yeah, I just moved back here like, six weeks ago. My family lived here for a couple years when I was a kid -- with my great-aunt, she's out in the sticks. We've visited around the holidays before, but this is my first time coming out--" By myself? "--um, to one of these things. Blades is great. Makes me want to actually learn a winter sport. I suppose I ought to anyway, since I live somewhere that gets an actual winter now."
It felt good to talk to him, so she let herself blurt out: "I'm Marnie. By the way."
As she began to unlace her skates, she noticed the semi-familiar blonde that had been sitting near her. "Oh, hey! Aren't you the new barista over at the Cobblestone? How's your first big Merrock event treating you? I kind of wished it was something less outdoorsy, I'm not a winter person by any means."
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It was definitely a treat to herself after a long day to come and see Marnie, one that she more than just appreciated as of late and there wasn't a day that went by where the mere presence of the other didn't at least improve her mood a little; "I have no doubts that you will make it better than anyone I know, I have actually started going to the gym more now that I've been stopping by your little cafe" joking with the other.
It was probably at this point in the afternoon that her sweater cardigan hybrid thing was starting to itch and even though it was much cooler in the season then previous it was definitely a welcomed change as she unbuttoned slightly when being approached and communicated by the owner of one of her favourite café locations; "Define 'uh oh'"
( Marnie recognized Summer immediately: one of her favorite regular customers from Cobblestone. )
Oh, hey! "Uh oh" meaning, this is a Pumpkin Spice Hot Chocolate? And mixing store-bought pumpkin spice sauce with hot chocolate makes a drink so sweet my teeth actually hurt.
Skip it, I'll make you something better next time you come in.
It might not have been the Swiss Alps, or skiing in Stowe, but Ryder had actually found himself having fun at Blades, renting a pair of ice skates to hit the ice, grabbing his snowboard to hit the hill, even making a snowman or two just for the hell of it. The night was drawing towards a close, most people starting to give up and head home to warm up by the fire, or with an extra blanket, but there were still plenty of people on the lighted skating rink, or sitting in the tents by the heaters, and a few more playing in the snow, doing what they could to make the most of the leftover daylight. Ryder, meanwhile, was one of the tent-dwellers, rubbing his hands together to warm them, a hot cocoa off to his side. He glanced up as he saw someone approach, offering them a quick smile and gesturing towards the heater he had been (somewhat, admittedly) hogging. "Want to share some warmth?"
Marnie, for whatever reason, took one last sip of the formerly hot cocoa she had bought from the concessions tent: watery Swiss Miss, now cold and congealing. Eugh. She didn't know what she had expected. To add insult to injury, they had (as she suspected they would) used the mix that had those stupid mini marshmallows in it. She sighed, slipping the mostly-full cup into the trash can.
Marnie had wanted Cobblestone to cater this event, to provide good hot chocolate, made with rich chocolate and milk, goddamn it, steeped with cinnamon sticks and vanilla. People deserved to have something of quality to drink -- and then Marnie would have had a real reason to be here, at the Winter Fun Party, making herself useful instead of lingering on the event's fringes with her arms tightly crossed, fending off the cold. Oh, well. Maybe next year the owner would spring for catering supplies.
A small shiver ran through her; as the daylight was beginning to wane, the cold was creeping in. She spotted a heater nearby, under a tent. Someone had claimed it already, and initially, she felt a reluctance to go up and join them. Maybe it'd be better if she just went back to her car and headed home? She sighed, talked herself into it: c'mon, Marnie, it's a heater. You can go and stand next to another person at a heater. This is what we're doing now, isn't it? Putting ourselves out there?
"Yeah, I'd love to, thanks." She withdrew both her frigid hands from her armpits for the first time all night and held them out to the heater's orange glow. She was grateful for the warmth, in more ways than one. His casual greeting was comforting: she felt a little silly having to work herself up to do just this, to share space.
Out of the corner of her eye, she glanced at him. He seemed around her age, bundled in a black jacket that was unzipped enough to reveal a pretty fantastic green sweater, bedecked with garlands, ornaments and snowflakes. She smiled to herself.
"Is this, um -- something you do here every year? The party, I mean?"
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"Okay, well. Obviously, you didn't like it, so I definitely won't be getting that one." Stevie was teasing, the light tone to her voice evident as she strode up to the other woman.
