#* musing

Full Name: Nicholas Afonso Ross 

Nickname(s): Cypress to Toxins, Ross to old friends, Nicky to a select few, and Fonz to two of his (purposefully) distant aunts

Age: Twenty-nine

Date of Birth: June 18th, 1989

Hometown: Everett, Washington

Current Location: Dertosa, California

Ethnicity: Caucasian, Portuguese by one set of grandparents

Nationality: American

Gender: Cisgender Male

Pronouns: He/Him

Orientation: Bi(sexual/romantic)

Religion: Atheist 

Political Affiliation: The only politics Nick pays attention to happens within county lines tbh

Occupation: The one with the least paid vacation hours in town, of course. Cypress has been a flower for more than seven years now, but Nick has worked several odd jobs around Dertosa to get extra money over that time. For now, Nightshade is keeping his pocket padded enough to kick his feet up more often than not 

Living Arrangements: Designated apartment on top of the Garden of Eden, which he refers to jokingly as the penthouse

Language(s) Spoken: English, a functional amount of Spanish

Accent: Next to none – Nicky’s got that neutral, low n’ confident mid-western radio voice when he’s speaking naturally. He’s good at accent-matching with a conversational partner as well and tends to consciously or otherwise pick up on people’s tics and modulations the longer he’s talking to them

PHYSICAL APPEARANCE.

Face Claim: Shiloh Fernandez 

Hair: Dark brown, cut himself and permanently mussed unless preventative measures have been taken beforehand

Eyes: Hazel, just distantly hinting at green

Height: The body says 5′10 but the attitude says 6′5

Weight: Between 145-150 lbs

Build: More uber-lean organic than classic Beef - he’s thin, but not entirely without muscle

Tattoos: Two, on the back of his left hand and his right forearm. Both are pre-Dertosa and both were gotten entirely just for the aesthetics.

Piercings: 16 y/o Nicky totally got The Hoop™️ (though it’s only in about 60% of the time nowadays)

Clothing Style: Usually keeps it simple. The go-to is a dark long sleeved v-neck t-shirt and a well-fitting pair of black jeans: easy to coordinate, but not too sloppy in case he gets suddenly called in to a job. He’s got a passion for henley’s, a few crisp white collared shirts stashed in the back of the closet for special occasions (or catering clients), a tendency to forget about the top couple of buttons, and an occasional tangle of necklaces, but always only a single silver ring ( x  x  x )

Default Expression: That type of neutral you can read just about anything into -- his eyebrows look just a little bit raised, like he’s either amused or doubting what you’re saying, but he’s definitely paying attention to it.

Distinguishing Characteristics: You can narrow him down pretty quick by either hair, the two tattoos, or the passionate hand gesturing in midst of a conversation. 

HEALTH.

Physical Ailments: N/A

Neurological Conditions: N/A

Allergies: N/A

Sleeping Habits: Erratic, well-established from when he was younger. Nicky’s never been able to go to sleep early a day of his life so while he’s far from a morning person, he’s also way too much of an overthinker-type to wallow around alone in bed and ends up inevitably kicking his own ass out before ten almost every day unless he’s absolutely exhausted. Consistently has bizarre dreams that he rarely remembers. High-functioning on his standard five to six hours, with the help of morning coffee.

Eating Habits: He’s trying to be healthy, he promises, but his best friend is still skillet-friendly breakfast food and a microwave and if it’s a portable meal, even better. 

Exercise Habits: He ran track and field in high school and after graduating promptly never formally exercised again. A little bit of typical living room fitness, has been slowly getting back into running this past year, still doesn’t break more than twice a week when he remembers to do the damn thing, but when he does he tends to go until his lungs burn and his legs wobble underneath him to make up for it.

Emotional Stability: I thought of like five different numbers and changed my mind because I honestly have no idea. Does it count as stable if you’re emotionally in flux but you’re doing it consistently? There’s no way to avoid stress or frustration or over-stimulation in this line of work, Nick at this point embraces it and lets the adrenaline call the shots and get him back to neutrality later. 

Sociability: God, listen, Nicky’s such a fucking extrovert but he doesn’t LET himself fully flourish the way he should. He digs having a wide circle of people and he likes conversation and he likes to have a good time, but he ain’t gonna Trust Like That right off the bat in Dertosa. He’ll weaponize his extroversion for his own use here.

Body Temperature: Average, on the cooler side

Addictions: Making stupid decisions for fun when he clearly knows the smarter option

Alcohol Use: Social with an edge

Drug Use: Better than it used to be...

PERSONALITY.

Label: The Performer, The Hidden Depths, The Analyzer, or The Deadpan Snarker

Positive Traits: Confident, intuitive, adaptable, clever, persistent

Negative Traits: Mercurial, suspicious, cocky, impulsive, withdrawn 

Goals/Desires: Freedom, independence, a reclamation of his social status. To be self-sustaining, whatever it takes. To leave his mark, one way or another, on the city or the world. 

Fears: Claustrophobia – specifically underground. Fatal illness. A complete loss of control, or more importantly: dignity. The complete sort of failure that makes one reliant on others for the rest of their lives. The type of failure that would prove his family, still entirely ignorant of his situation, right. 

Hobbies: Collecting old movie posters, fucking around on his ancient piano keyboard, keeping his own special little coded notes of a sort (his back-up for all information he qualifies as need-to-know, but written down in choppy word-association type bulletpoints that are nigh-incomprehensible if a stranger was handed them on the street. The people that know Nicky/TC well enough to pick apart some references just might be able to crack it).

Habits: Mussing his hair, ‘spacing’ aka retreating in the middle of a conversation, so much eyebrow raising, putting his feet up whenever he can get away with it, locking his front door behind him every time he comes home, even if it’s just for a short stop. Walking absolutely everywhere. A huffed laugh or a low chuckle instead of loud and outright cackling. Letting his silence and his gaze ask his questions for him. And one clear nervous tic: licking his lips. If he’s stressed out over a long enough time, they inevitably start getting chapped and he’ll pick at it until he makes himself bleed if the stress is pervasive enough.

FAVOURITES.

Weather: Overcast n’ a little breezy, or a classic Cali hot summer night.  

Colour: Dark blue or green

Music: Cage the Elephant, Tom Waits, The Smiths, Portishead, Joni Mitchell

Movies: Vertigo, Snowpiercer,Trainspotting, Alien, The Night of the Hunter

Sport: Will go in hard on pick-up soccer but never follows any teams

Beverage: Coffee with sugar and no cream, or a Guinness 

Food: Literally anything involving pasta. Would also sell state secrets for really good dim sum.

Animal: Man’s best friend, but he was totally one of those kids that was really into wolves.

FAMILY.

Father: Victor Ross (61), salesman

Mother: Frances Ross, née Holland (56), secretary 

Sibling(s): Carolina Ross (31) and Angela Ross (33)

Children: N/A

Pet(s): None currently, but he has great memories of his childhood family dogs

Family’s Financial Status: Comfortably middle class

EXTRA.

Zodiac Sign: Gemini

MBTI: ESTP, the Entrepreneur 

Enneagram: Type 3, the Performer

Temperament: Choleric

Moral Alignment: True neutral 

Primary Vice: Pride (followed by Envy)

Primary Virtue: Diligence (followed by Temperance) 

Full Name: Simon Chun, as far as federal documentation says.

Nickname(s): Sy, if he has any beyond that, he doesn’t know about them.

Age: 32

Date of Birth: September 22nd, 1986

Hometown: New York, NY

Current Location: Dertosa, CA

Ethnicity: Korean

Nationality: American

Gender: Cismale

Pronouns: He/him

Orientation: Purposefully emotionally unavailable tbqh

Religion: Raised under a Presbyterian mother and an apathetic father. Currently swings between atheism and agnosticism: he’d like to believe there’s some higher power but fails to see much evidence for the presence of one - at least in the form most modern religions teach. There’s no proof in Simon’s eyes of a God that’s both powerful and benevolent. 

Political Affiliation: Independent. Mixed liberal and conservative attitudes. 

Occupation: Former assistant district attorney in Suffolk County, MA, current owner of Pulp Kitchen and Pulp Vintage, his side business in the rare book & documents. PV specializes in early editions, maps, signatures from significant persons predating the 21st century, and the ever-popular vintage movie posters, as well as a few specialized items (architectural blueprints, maps, letters) from Dertosa’s history. Only a handful of these precious items he actually displays: in the very back of the store, close to his office and locked behind a delicate metal gate. Walk-in purchases are not welcome, though interested customers may contact Simon through PV’s website or by phone to make an appointment to examine the collection in person.   

Living Arrangements: The second floor of Pulp Kitchen is dedicated to Simon’s living space, accessed through the stairwell connected to his backroom office, which also empties out into the alley behind PK. He likes the simplicity of an all-in-one building (as well as the feeling of security afforded by elevation and insulation from other people and structures). He’s managed a mish-mash aesthetic of spare industrialism and coziness: exposed brick walls and steel beams, a dark floor but the living room popping with a deep goldrod-yellow carpet and anchored on a large, buttery, reddish leather sofa. There’s a knit throw blanket tossed over the back of just about every seating surface that isn’t the chairs at the kitchen island. All doors are sliding and usually left open for the feeling of greater space. The apartment is blessed with the same wall-to-wall windows of the cafe downstairs and Simon enjoys having his morning coffee with a chair pulled up to them to soak in a little sun and watch the street wake up below. There’s a surprising lack of bookshelves considering the man himself, but less surprising considering the abundance of them downstairs. 

Language(s) Spoken: English, Korean (less frequently than he knows he should). 

Accent: Fairly neutral American, a very clear, well-enunciated way of speaking.

PHYSICAL APPEARANCE.

Face Claim: Steven Yeun

Hair Colour: Black, slightly wavy, usually brushed back or curling over one side of his temple, just a little too short to tuck behind his ears. It tends to not bother him enough that he lets it do what it wants

Eye Colour: Dark brown - call it coffee. 

Height: 5′9

Weight: 145-150 lbs

Build: Closer to slim than wiry or bulked, he pushes himself to stay in shape but he ain’t out to get buff.

Tattoos: N/A

Piercings: N/A

Clothing Style: Man’s got a big spectrum. Take your normal urban book-keep stereotype and add a few more colors and much nicer shoes. Almost always in a collared shirt of some kind, sleeves rolled up above the elbows and leather bracelets on his wrist, or maybe under a well-cut blazer with a discreet watch. You’ll never see Simon in a simple t-shirt if he’s got any choice about it, but at work he’ll range anywhere from this level of fancy jacket to this level of relaxed everything. If he’s going to go casual, it’s definitely in a hoodie with a some kind of weird reference plastered on the front. 

Usual Expression: Neutral and a bit removed, he tends to look ten levels deep in daydreaming even when he’s just sorting shelves or making a cappuccino. There’s pretty clear tells as to whether was he’s thinking is upsetting or pleasant: pinched brows or the smallest upward quirk to his lips.

Distinguishing Characteristics: A rigid scar above his left hip from the struggle three years ago that nearly cost him his life. Simon thanks the bullet scraping his side for giving him the panic-adrenaline to even survive it. A single dimple in his left cheek. Oh -- and we can’t forget the goddamn glasses. He felt like a jackass at first with fake lenses in, but over time he’s learned that they generously contribute to his fulfilling a certain stereotype within this new identity, and he’s now happy to hide behind the thin extra layer of protection granted by longer hair and a useless pair of wire frames. 

HEALTH.

Physical Ailments: None.

Neurological Conditions: His move to Dertosa came with a government-recommended psychologist, though Simon only met with her for a month before dropping out of his appointments with the stubborn belief it was better to take care of himself. There’s a bit of a self-stigma in Simon’s mind regarding mental health: depression and paranoia are emotions from his point of view, not conditions, and he expects himself to manage them like an adult, regardless of whether or not that’s a realistic goal. 

Allergies: Lower level lactose intolerant, but the kind who just pops a lactose pill, says ‘fuck it’, and has his latte anyways.

Sleeping Habits: A pretty solid seven to eight hours a night, in bed before midnight and out before eight 90% of the time. Structure is something Simon actively works for, in the hopes it’ll encourage stability. 

Eating Habits: Somewhat of an accidental vegetarian, his typical diet skirts close, but he lacks the moral rigidity on that particular stance. He’s weak once a really good smell hits his nose, meat be damned. Tries to keep his eating habits as regular as sleep, breakfast is a cup of coffee and any fruit he can grab and take downstairs, lunch is grazed from whatever’s on the menu at PK, dinner thrown together before after seven and before nine, always with some sort of fresh green veg involved. It’s tempting sometimes to revert to old college ramen-and-microwaveables habits, but he’s grudgingly taking care of his body with the full knowledge that the work of cooking is worth pushing him for.

Exercise Habits: Swims laps for an hour and half at the YMCA three times a week and tends to bike or walk for groceries, errands, ect. 

Emotional Stability: Mmmmm, let’s say 6, 7? There’s plenty of emotions tugging at Simon’s sleeve, but he’s simmered down to a more stable center as time has passed and he’s proven to be good for better or for worse at systematically approaching, sorting, and stuffing down what he thinks is useful to acknowledge or not. He purposefully tries to keep away from situations of high emotion, he knows himself well enough to know once he is propelled to extremes, it’s hard to get himself down from them.

Sociability: Simon definitely needs his alone time to refuel and recenter, but he also needs the stimulation of other people or he’d go stircrazy. He keeps an arm’s length, but he’s also too curious about what’s rattling around in other people’s heads to be a true isolationist and can be very warm with the right crowd. It’s a pleasure to have social connections, as long as he can keep the frame of mind that they can only go so far as PK’s front door. 

Body Temperature: Cool-natured, there’s a reason he can get away with wearing suit jackets in summer.

Addictions: Lil bit of a hoarder of sentimental objects. Does not matter is the memory is positive or negative and he doesn’t need to be able to lay eyes on it, just to know it’s within his care.

Drug Use: None.

Alcohol Use: Strictly self-enforced as social. He doesn’t bring booze into his house unless it’s for cooking or a guest. No point in tempting a bad habit.

PERSONALITY.

Label: The Advocate, The Enduring, The Cynical

Positive Traits: driven, educated, perceptive, disciplined, curious, conscientious, discrete, generous, steered by an inner moral code

Negative Traits: dogmatic, detached, stubborn, overly self-reliant, impulsive and bold in matters of principle, deeply buried vulnerability to self-criticism, and the capacity to be truly venomous

Goals/Desires: Stay in his own damn lane while making a life for himself he can actually enjoy. 

Fears: Having to start over again, any form of his past biting him in the ass, having an opportunity to do something just but being rendered unable to because of his situation, forgetting the past.

Hobbies: Cultivating Pulp Vintage’s collection is as much hobby as work, swimming, snapping up new posters for the wall of the cafe, listening to podcasts, reading, handheld puzzles, volunteer work. He hasn’t been back to his self-defense course since his first year in Dertosa but his teacher is slowly attempting to wheedle him back into other classes at the gym. Monthly trips back to Dertosa’s legal indoor gun range to keep himself sharp.

Habits: Cleaning those useless glasses as a way to stall a conversation or action, drumming his fingers, the two-handed mug hold, reading behind the cash register, skimming the paper every day from front to back and impulsively checking the news bar on his phone, covering his mouth with his hand while laughing, doing the lazy half-tuck with a shirt, tapping his foot when he’s jazzed up. 

FAVOURITES.

Weather: Daytime summer rain, that perfect crisp winter day when the air is frosty in his lungs and the ground is coated in snow. Real winter is one of the big things he misses about the Northeast.

Colour(s): Green, blue

Music: He started playing classic jazz/oldies in PK for the sake of that bookshop aesthetic, but he’s gotten genuinely into a lot of it. Nina Simone, Cab Calloway. Longtime listener to The Black Keys, Red Hot Chili Peppers. Vivaldi, Andrés Segovia.

Movies: Clever comedies or character studies, psychological thrillers, old Hollywood experimental movies, all the campiest of 80s horror. ‘Nightcrawler’, ‘the Exorcist’, ‘Metropolis’, ‘In the Mood for Love’. 

Sport: Basketball & fencing. He was a pretty damn good at the latter in high school and he’s entirely self-aware of just how pretentious a thing a boarding school fencing team is to be an alumni of.  

Beverage: Water with a few lime slices, sue him for being boring. Guilty pleasure is those stupidly sweet matcha green tea lattes from Starbucks.

Food: Hit him with that spicy shit. Fuck it up with savory flavors. Finish it with good n’ sweet. There’s definitely love for Korean, but he’s big on Thai and Southwestern cuisine as well. 

Animal: Panther. Just about any big cat, tbh.

FAMILY.

Father: Jeong Yung-sik, aka Howard Jeong. Incarcerated since 2003, age 67. Eligible for release 2249. 

Mother: Jeong Su-jin, aka Sujin Jeong. Deceased as of 2015, aged 56. Official cause of death: craniocerebral ballistic trauma aka a gunshot to the head. 

Sibling(s): Jeong Min-chul, aka Erik Jeong. Deceased as of 2002, aged 16. Official cause of death: exsanguination aka prolonged and fatal blood loss.

Children: None, despite liking kids he doesn’t realistically see a future where it’d be wise to have them. 

Pet(s): His cats Darlene and Mister Meowgi have the run of Pulp Kitchen, the first named after a character from Mr. Robot, the second by an ex-girlfriend. The pun stuck; Simon still can’t bring himself to rename him. He had to give up his boxer, Odin, when he moved to Dertosa and he misses that damn dog every day. 

Family’s Financial Status: Raised very upper class, currently a comfortable upper-middle. Technically, he has none of the money left over from his family’s generous supply, but some of his earnings from his work as an ADA came with him to start him off in Dertosa and fund the opening of Pulp Kitchen.

EXTRA.

Zodiac Sign: Virgo - reliable, practical, critical, seeking goodness while expecting disappointment, prone to overthinking

MBTI: INFJ, ‘The Advocate’ - creative, decisive, perfectionistic, incredibly private, “INFJs have strong beliefs and take the actions that they do not because they are trying to advance themselves, but because they are trying to advance an idea that they truly believe will make the world a better place”.

Enneagram: The heart of Enneagram 8 (the Protector) under a strong shield of Enneagram 5 traits (the Observer) - a conflict between the desire to be confrontational and assertive in issues of justice and protecting the weak and the knowledge that oneself is the person who must be protected first, as well as tendencies towards hoarding and intellectual pursuits. 

Temperament: Melancholic - thoughtful, schedule oriented, economical and perceptive, interested in the philosophical and poetic 

Moral Alignment: Neutral Good - belief in the intrinsic rights of all beings, drive to help the innocent, desire for justice but a willingness to defy the law and do usually immoral things in order to see that justice happens

Primary Vice: Wrath

Primary Virtue: Charity