#cfire

Brandon "Mouse" McHolland (for @highclasstrashposts, who did most of this worldbuilding, honestly)

In the summer of 1985, a basket was left in front of Firehouse 51. Inside, there was a baby, and a blanket, and a note pinned to the fleece. There was no explanation, no number to call, no indication that whoever had left him there would return.

take care of Brandon for me

There weren't many people to take care of him - between Herrmann's new marriage and Boden's crumbling one, the number of homes he could go to was slim. But it would be worse if he was put into the system, being passed from one foster home to another without any kind of stability. If they wanted to follow the single instruction left in the note, and take care of the child that was left in their care, he needed a good life, someone constant in it, a support system he could always rely on no matter where life took him.

So, even if Mouch was the one who took him in, gave him food and a roof, it really did take a village to raise a child. While his name legally became Brandon McHolland, he had an entire firehouse to call family. He had uncles and cousins, even if none of them were related to him by blood. He had as many people to go to for advice as he could imagine, and plenty of space to roam around the firehouse when he started walking and saying more than babbled syllables.

When he still had trouble repeating a few names he heard around the firehouse, with the ch coming out closer to sh, he got his own silly nickname that wasn't far off from his adopted father's. By the time his age reached double digits, he answered to Mouse more than he answered to Brandon, and he almost preferred it that way. Even if they weren't family biologically, having a name, no matter how silly, that could be easily mistaken for another felt important to him. It gave him a connection to the most important person in his life beyond the same address and last name.

"No one cares more about abandoned babies than me."

The bracket has been seeded and organized and built a few hours early, which means you get to see it a few hours early!

Round one will start tomorrow, Sunday, April 2nd - also a little bit ahead of schedule. Eight polls - four from each side of the bracket - will be posted at 6am pacific and run for 24 hours, and will be considered round 1A. The other eight polls, round 1B, will be posted at 6am on Monday, April 3rd.

All polls, once posted will be tagged as #polls, as well as #round 1 for easy access.

The rules are pretty self explanatory:

Don't be rude. It's a silly tumblr poll, not a judgement of character. If there is any threats or tomfoolery in the notes, the block button exists and I'll use it.

A continuation of the first rule: don't. be. rude. For now, anon messages are turned on, and they will stay on for as long as it's reasonable. If I get hate or rude messages, that privilege will get taken away. Don't be the reason everyone else loses anonymity.

Have fun! This was created for exactly that reason, so we should all enjoy it!

Plain text match ups under the cut