#palmviewintro.

hiii  gang  !!  excited  to  be  here  !  ur  about  to  be  SICK  OF  ME  .  i'm  not  a  huge  discord  user  but  will  try  my  best  .  expect  many  many  plots  !

sorry  this  intro's  a  bit  long  but  i  got  da  muse  yk  .  .  .

THE  PAST  .

harrison  was  born  into  the  foster  care  system  and  stayed  in  it  basically  forever  until  he  got  '  too  old  '  and  grew  out  of  it  (  think  ..  short  term  12  sorta  vibes  )  .

he  was  always  a  pretty  spunky  guy  bc  of  it  ,  learnt  a  lot  very  quickly  and  at  a  young  age  (  forced  to  grow  up  real  quick  )

he  met  the  love  of  his  life  while  bouncing  between  homes  .  in  one  group  home  he  met  the  most  beautiful  girl  named  katie  ,  and  the  pair  basically  were  inseparable  from  ages  11  onwards

katie  and  harrison  had  each  other's  backs  throughout  a  lot  of  things  .  very  much  the  definition  of  a  ride  or  die  (  spoiler  :  she  dies  )  .  they  were  each  other's  anchors  and  guiding  lights  through  tumultuous  ,  shitty  homes  ,  crappy  home  carers  ,  cramped  rooms  etc  .

i  wanna  be  super  clear  here  :  katie  and  harrison  were  never  siblings  or  pseudo  siblings  ,  this  isn't  some  the  fosters  shit  .  lol  .  they  were  both  in  a  shared  group  house  ,  and  moved  to  and  from  at  risk  youth  ,  troubled  youth  houses  etc  .  poor  neighbourhoods  that  didn't  have  ANYONE  available  to  foster  anyone  .

anyways  .  harrison  and  katie  got  together  when  they  were  18  years  old  .  they  both  were  aged  out  of  the  system  ,  both  only  had  each  other  .  both  were  clearly  in  love  (  harrison  maybe  more  so  )  .  so  ,  they  packed  up  their  one  backpack  each  ,  left  and  entered  the  real  world  .

they  were  POOR  .  poor  as  fuck  .  working  8  jobs  between  the  two  of  them  ,  sleeping  on  ratty  ,  used  mattresses  outside  .  sharing  canned  tins  of  spaghetti  and  beans  .  but  my  god  they  were  in  love  and  they  were  happy  .

fast  forward  into  their  early  20s  ,  things  were  slowly  settling  down  .  they'd  saved  enough  money  to  get  a  shitty  ass  apartment  .  then  they  found  out  katie  was  pregnant  .

harrison  was  kinda  ..  indifferent  to  being  a  dad  ,  but  katie  loved  it  .  she  was  1000%  committed  to  being  a  mother  ,  and  having  a  kid  that  would  have  a  real  family,  unlike  what  she  got  .  harrison  just  wanted  to  make  her  happy  ,  so  he  went  along  with  it  .

ENTER  BABY  NO  1  !!!  harrison  is  still  a  bit  detached  from  the  kid  (  a  boy  .  gender  is  fake  btw  )  ,  tbh  he's  just  here  bc  he  loves  katie  so  much  .  but  it  makes  her  happy  ,  so  he's  happy  .

ENTER  BABY  NO  2  !!  a  daughter  this  time  (  gender  is  still  fake  )  .  harrison  feels  a  tiny  bit  more  of  a  connection  with  the  daughter  .  not  a  lot  ,  bc  he's  still  fumbling  bumbling  and  awkward  about  Dad  business  ,  but  he  feels  '  phew  ,  there's  2  of  them  now  .  surely  this  will  be  ok  .  '

and  for  a  while  .  .  things  are  good  .  they  all  live  a  rough  ,  misshapen  ,  poor  as  dirt  life  in  their  apartment  ,  but  it's  filled  with  love  and  laughter  .

harrison  gets  better  at  working  with  his  hands  .  he's  a  fix  it  guy  .  he  fixes  taps  ,  plumping  ,  electricity  .  anything  and  everything  .  kinda  because  the  apartment  is  so  shit  so  it  needs  constant  maintenance  .  so  he  learns  .  but  it  also  becomes  a  career  .  first  he  works  with  other  tradesmen  ,  but  then  in  his  30s  he  decides  to  make  his  own  business  .

he's  not  the  best  dad  ,  but  katie  is  the  best  mum  .  shes  good  at  singing  lullabies  ,  picking  up,  putting  down  ,  kissing  boo  boos  ,  making  the  right  impressed  noises  at  fridge  art  and  finger  painting  .

harrison  is  35  years  old  when  katie  dies  .  it's  sudden  and  unexpected  .  it  destroys  harrison's  whole  world  .

poster  guy  for  Never  Getting  Over  Anything

(  when  ur  in  a  haunting  the  narrative  competition  but  ur  opp  is  harrison's  dead  wife  lol  )

harrison  is  suddenly  left  with  two  kids  ,  who  are  primary  school  age  ,  and  who  he  never  really  knew  what  to  do  with  in  the  first  place.

harrison  cannot  stay  in  their  apartment  anymore  .  he  has  enough  money  from  work  to  decide  to  bundle  him  and  the  kids  and  move  them  to  palmview  .  .  .

NOW  .

harrison  tried  his  best  with  his  kids  .  they're  in  their  20s  now  and  .  .  the  family  front  is  ok  (  or  so  he  says  )  .  he  never  quite  got  the  cadence  that  katie  had  with  the  kids  though  .  he  never  really  knew  how  to  be  a  dad  .

grief  and  mourning  live  permanently  in  harrison  and  have  ever  since  katie  died  .  he  knows  it  also  effected  how  he  fathered  his  kids  .  he  knows  he  wasn't  present  a  lot  ,  because  he  was  depressed  and  missing  his  wife  .

he's  a  good  guy  w  decent  intentions  .  just  poor  execution  and  delivery  lol  .

you  probably  know  harrison  !  when  he  started  at  palmview  ,  he  did  any  odd  job  .  had  a  broken  cooling  system  ?  harrison  was  your  guy  .  a  leak  in  your  roof  ?  call  up  harrison  .  needed  to  borrow  a  specific  screwdriver  ?  harrison  probably  has  it  .

he's  made  good  money  in  palmview  .  no  longer  a  scrappy  kid  ,  with  shitty  home  haircuts  over  the  sink  ,  or  sleeping  4  people  to  one  bed  .  having  money  as  an  adult  is  something  he'll  never  quite  get  used  to  .

harrison's  business  is  blooming  now  ,  and  he  specialises  in  building  and  construction  .  he  mainly  works  on  commercial  buildings  ,  but  has  done  some  housing  in  palmview  .  if  you  need  advice  on  where  to  buy  ,  what  to  do  etc  ,  he'll  be  very  factual  and  knowledgeable  .

harrison  is  very  good  at  blending  into  the  background.  he  does  not  like  being  known  ,  nor  wishes  to  be  known  .  he's  never  going  to  be  rude  ,  but  he's  not  good  at  small  talk  (  or  talking  in  general  )  .  he  mumbles  a  bit  ,  because  he  never  really  learned  how  to  enunciate  .

he  seems  stand  offish  when  you  first  meet  him  ,  or  maybe  a  bit  direct  ,  but  he's  really  just  socially  inept  lol

he  mourns  his  wife  every  day  in  a  new  way  .  he's  never  loved  anyone  like  he  loved  her  .

he's  kinda  got  that  sad  florence  pugh  frowny  face  thing  going  on

not  a  huge  drinker  or  partier  or  social  person  .  more  of  a  hermit  ,  outside  of  work  .

gets  awkward  around  people  who  seem  to  be  really  smart  or  educated  (  especially  higher  education  )  .  makes  him  twitch  a  little  bit  bc  he's  a  simple  blue  collar  guy  yk

★          statistics.

full  name:   lark  annabelle  hendricks.      nickname(s):   lala  (parents  only),  whatever  julian  and  savannah  decide  to  call  her  on  any  given  day.      age:   thirty.      date  of  birth:   20th  november.      star  sign:   scorpio.      sexual  orientation:   bisexual.      romantic  orientation:   biromantic.      hometown:   palmview,  florida.      occupation:   finance  officer  at  palmview  city  hall.      ethnicity:   mixed,  african-american  and  white.      nationality:   american.      inspo:   yasmin  kara-hanani  (industry),  jessica  pearson  (suits),  annalise  keating  (how  to  get  away  with  murder).

★          personality.

click  here!  she's  just  a  bit  meaner  now,  oops.

★          biography.

i.  lark's  biography  prior  to  her  most  recent  departure  from  palmview  can  be  found  here.  below  is  what  caused  her  to  leave  and  why  she  returned,  and  how  it's  affected  her  since.

ii.  in  truth,  the  monotony  of  palmview  eventually  proved  itself  to  be  too  much  for  lark,  who  found  it  increasingly  difficult  with  each  passing  day  to  play  into  the  smiles  and  pleasantries  exchanged  by  the  locals.  she  found  herself  unsatisfied  by  the  humdrum  lifestyle  and,  perhaps  due  to  an  addiction  to  the  underhanded  environment  she  once  knew,  she  fled  back  to  new  york  city  and  leapt  right  back  into  the  fire.  perhaps  she  would  get  burned  even  worse  than  before  but  this  time  she  didn't  care,  failure  was  not  an  option.

iii.  fortunately  for  her  but  unfortunately  for  the  rest  of  us,  being  back  in  the  city  meant  she  found  it  much  easier  to  tap  into  that  dark,  machiavellian  side  of  her  she'd  tried  so  hard  to  repress  and  disappear  back  in  her  hometown.  with  the  help  of  a  few  sly  contacts,  she  scrounged  up  enough  dirt  on  her  old  boss  to  scrub  that  ‘decent  enough’  reference  from  her  record,  replacing  it  with  the  shiny,  gold  star,  smoke  up  your  ass  sort  of  recommendation  that  she  truly  deserved.  she  sat  in  her  airbnb  that  night  and  celebrated  with  a  few  enemies  she  never  called  friends,  the  expensive  bottles  of  wine  flowing  like  never  before…  but  at  what  cost?

iv.  she  could  return  to  palmview  again  now,  unburdened  by  the  anchors  of  her  one  and  only  failure,  but  as  her  private  car  drove  her  back  over  the  city  limits  she  found  herself  feeling…  different.  above  her  body,  almost.  she  hadn't  ‘fixed’  herself,  quite  the  contrary,  in  fact,  now  the  hunger  seemed  worse  than  ever.  now  the  eyes  on  her  seemed  beadier,  sharper,  like  they  were  simply  waiting  for  her  to  set  a  foot  wrong  or  have  a  hair  out  of  place,  even  in  a  place  like  this.

v.  all  lark's  done  is  delay  the  inevitable.  she  can  get  meaner,  she  can  build  herself  higher,  she  can  grip  on  tighter  to  that  sparklingly  flawless  reputation  of  hers,  but  it  doesn't  erase  that  feeling  beneath  that  she  just  can't  shake.  as  time  goes  on  she  seems  to  isolate  herself  more  and  more  from  those  friendships  she'd  spent  two  years  crafting,  who  knows  what  she'll  have  left  the  next  time  it  all  comes  crashing  down?

★          extras.

i.  lark  is  a  polyglot  and  she  knows  5  languages:  english,  spanish,  portuguese,  mandarin  and  japanese.  she's  currently  learning  french  and  arabic,  which  she  believes  won't  take  her  very  long.  she  didn't  really  discover  this  until  a  bit  later  in  her  life,  when  she  got  really  serious  about  getting  into  finance,  but  it's  actually  something  she  genuinely  enjoys.  her  goal  is  to  have  a  conversational  grasp  of  every  major  language  so,  as  per  usual,  she's  setting  realistic  goals.    ii.  although  most  people  would  never  know  it  because  she  isn't  the  type  to  help  freely,  her  purse  is  the  swiss  army  knife  of  purses.  anything  you  could  possibly  need,  lark  will  have  it  in  her  bag  –  not  only  that,  she's  bought  multiples  of  everything  to  keep  in  multiple  bags,  so  she's  never  caught  unaware  by  an  accident  or  emergency.  iii.  she  has  possibly  the  worst  road  rage.  it  went  largely  undiscovered  for  quite  a  while,  since  in  the  city  there  was  really  no  need  for  her  to  be  driving  anywhere  and,  if  there  ever  was,  she'd  just  get  a  cab,  but  lark  can't  contain  herself  when  driving.  it's  100%  down  to  the  fact  that  she  isn't  able  to  get  any  work  done  during  it  and  she  resents  the  entire  experience,  especially  if  there's  traffic.  yes,  she  has  the  money  to  pay  a  private  driver forever,  but  even  lark  finds  something  like  that  to  be  garish  in  a  place  like  palmview. likes:  forest  green,  charcuterie,  red  wine,  stationery,  matcha,  snow,  green  tea,  reading,  cocktails  (good  ones!),  long-distance  running,  early  mornings,  lilies,  funny  dog  videos,  youtube  video  essays,  hot  yoga,  winter,  christmas. dislikes:  clutter,  iced  tea,  calisthenics,  fireworks,  4th  july,  people  who  snap  their  fingers  to  get  the  waiter's  attention,  driving,  more  tba  bc  she's  a  hater.

★          counterpart  inspired  plots.

i.   her  harper     –    intense  rivalry  with  a  healthy  dose  of  tension,  sexual  or  otherwise.  two  hyper-focused,  career-driven  people  who  should,  in  reality,  be  the  best  of  friends  but  the  desire  to  be  on  top  keeps  getting  in  the  way.  nobody  can  really  tell  if  these  two  love  or  hate  each  other,  one  day  they're  at  each  other's  throats,  the  next  they're  falling  over  each  other  after  too  many  glasses  of  wine  and  spilling  their  darkest  secrets.  nobody  gets  lark  like  harper  –  the  problem  is,  nobody  could  destroy  lark  like  harper,  either. ii.   her  robert     –    she's  sleeping  with  this  guy  but  can  it  really  last?  if  lark's  going  to  settle  down  for  anybody,  especially  a  man,  it's  going  to  be  for  someone  pulling  in  6  figures  in  their  sleep.  someone  who  can  provide  her  with  security.  someone  who  can  keep  her  name  squeaky  clean.  someone  powerful.  this  guy…  is  not.  but  there's  just  something  that  keeps  pulling  her  back,  no  matter  how  desperately  she  tries  to  detach  herself  emotionally.  on  his  side,  he's  in  love  with  her  but  she's  a  total  bitch,  bordering  on  pure  evil  sometimes…  and  yet,  again,  something  pulls  him  back.  could've  started  before  she  left  palmview  the  last  time  and  now  it's  messy,  because  she  left  without  saying  goodbye,  could  be  something  from  either  of  her  times  in  new  york. iii.   her  hard  ass  mentor     –    not  necessarily  her  boss,  but  someone  who,  unlike  most  of  the  people  in  lark's  life,  is  pushing  her  to  do  better,  when  she's  already  doing  her  best.  this  person's  standards  are  high,  impossibly  so  in  some  cases,  and  for  some  reason  lark  has  taken  it  upon  herself  to  set  ‘impressing  them’  as  one  of  her  goals.  maybe  it's  because  they  bare  a  striking  resemblance  to  the  assholes  back  in  nyc,  maybe  it's  because  she  thinks  she  deserves  the  pain,  maybe  she's  just  kind  of  insane  now.

★          other  wanted  plots.

details: (tw abuse, child abuse)

What was that thing that Shakespeare had said? Would a rose by another name smell as sweet? Edgar couldn't say that he actually knew. All he did know was that there was power in the name you called yourself.

Called Edgar Michael Fortier at birth, edgar had grown up in relative luxury. For generations, the Fortier family had been renowned vintners. They’d started out in southern France and had grown into a household name over the decades. This was compounded when Xavier Fortier, the heir of the winemakers, met and married Daiyu Yang, the daughter of a local farmer. On paper, the match appeared to be blessed – Xavier had been born and bred into wine making knowledge, and Daiyu came from a long line of people who’d loved and cared for their parcel of land. Their two areas of expertise, then, could be nothing less that fruitful. In practice, though, the match was ill fated from the start. 

Xavier Fortier was something of a monster who terrorized his young family behind closed doors. It was no surprise then when a freshly 18 year old Edgar left home and vowed to never return. He dropped the Fortier name, cutting any ties with his father, and took on his mother's surname Yang. Thus, Edgar Fortier became Edgar Yang.  

He attended college, Yale University to be exact, started a private security firm, met the love of his life, and settled down, the thought of his father far behind him. Soon, Edgar Yang became Edgar Shephard-Yang. Edgar could have never dreamed of being a husband, but there was something about Marco that allowed him to believe in himself and, more importantly, in them.

Then, he became a father and Edgar's world shifted again. For some time, it was all perfect, but then, he and Marco were separated, and Edgar could see his entire world crashing down around him.

Through therapy and hard work, Marco and Edgar have managed to put their marriage back together. Six months ago, Edgar sold the security firm and the family moved to Palmview. This allowed Marco to be closer to his siblings again.

accent :  coastal surfer, some Californian drawl from his boarding school days hair : ash blonde, spills down his shoulders and often held up by a banana clip height :  5’10 tattoos : shark bite over his left hip, palm tree stamp behind his right ear, crescent moon and half a sun on the backs of his knees, cartoon heart on fire over his chest, snail tattoo on his inner wrist piercings : snake bites on lip, right eyebrow, industrial and lobe on left ear distinguishing characteristics : fight, surf and childhood scars, stitch scar on his lower back, always wears his puka shell necklace and his dad’s dog tags scent : citrus and mango from his conditioner and tattoo cream, though often gets masked by the scent of saltwater and heat so the fruitiness comes in hints pet(s) : winter and snowflake, the sea snails aesthetic : cigarette butts in cereal bowls, wet sand crunching beneath your feet, cold night sea wind on raw cheeks

Biography (cw: marines, parental neglect, parent passing)

What happens when you take a golden ray of Palmview’s sunshine and decided to turn out the light? You’d get something that avoids eye contact like the plague, smelling faintly of saltwater and beer. Beau was the sun in his youth, blossoming in the surf that he cherish while gritting his knees onto wet sand. His father, a retired Marine, believed in discipline the way other dads would believe in fishing or throwing a ball around. His mother, well, she believed in regret, and it wasn’t a secret in their shaky walls how loudly she worshipped that belief. Beau, though? Beau found his religion in carving waves and bombing hills on his skateboard to avoid his bedroom floor, getting scraped up in an attempt to feel alive somewhere that wasn’t home.

So, what happens when you add to this equation? Enter Slater, the new kid, a whole year older from a completely different state, which automatically made him the coolest person Beau’s ever met in his life. It was thunder to lighting, a friendship built on sneaking out to swim under the midnight glow and the kind of trust that comes from knowing you’ll always have someone jumping in after you. Of course, this solution was too simple for a problem as complex as Beau, and it would soon be time to learn just what happens when you don’t look behind you.

At fifteen, Beau’s father had had enough of his wild tumble of a son, rearing his deep belief’s ugly head by hammering smooth ever rough edge that built Beau up. Saint Helena’s School for Boys was out in the hills of California, tucked into a corner where the sun couldn’t reach its rays to warm your bones. The brochure didn’t need to be very charming, as Beau’s father would never wonder what amenities were offered so long as they promised not a color left on Beau’s palette by the time he was let out again. In fact, it was the happenstance of the brochure being left on the dining room table that clued Beau in on the fact that he was being sent away at all, and it was his belief in living his life without puppet strings that led him to think that happenstance was, in fact, a miracle. He was so close to cutting those strings– his hand was on the knob, backpack in hand, as the clock struck one in the morning. He would catch a bus somewhere in the state, get a job flipping burgers, make work his own choice so that he could live in the pleasure of freedom all he wanted… But something stopped him. Fear? Couldn’t be, he was fearless. He had to be fearless. Slater? No, he could just show up at his place whenever, couldn’t he? Send him a letter, call him on the phone? No, there had to be a reason why he didn’t turn that door handle, letting himself get caught in the second it took to breathe in. The light flickered on, and Beau was caught.

And hell, it was. The kind of hell that snuffs the light out of a person, leaving something dulled and listless in its place. The kind of hell that robs you of the will to fight back, of finding the reason why you’d want to fight back in the first place. The kind that didn’t let you write a letter home.

A person’s eighteenth birthday should be a day of all sorts of emotions. Fear, excitement, anxiety and anger. There should be something to anticipate on the other side, a place you want to go to, people you want to see. But for Beau’s eighteenth, the academy’s doors simply shut behind him with nothing but a bus ticket and a diploma to carry back wherever he needed to go. The ticket would take him back to Florida if he wanted it, or maybe he could’ve hocked it to find a place nearby, but… without an ounce of will left in your soul, you’ll always wander back to where you felt alive the most. But not to his mother, no, not her who decided to start life over after Beau’s father had passed. Beau was sure that empty shell of a house still held wine stains from her wedding night, the day before Beau’s seventeenth birthday, and was a holding cell for cobwebs and a childhood he would stuff to the back of his mind for safekeeping. No, Beau showed up at Slater’s door at 2 AM, silent when that door was creaked open. Slater didn’t ask questions. He just let him in.

Some part of Beau wishes they could’ve picked up where they left off. But the wild energy that once crackled between them had softened, or dulled, into something a little quieter, a little more… empty. Beau, once a sun-drenched storm of a boy, moves through life like he’s wading through the water he once commanded, as slow as syrup weighing down his bones. He’s coasting, riding the waves as they come.

And for now, that’s enough. Probably. Maybe.

Personality & Desires

Beau is something of a paradox these days– laid-back in a way that only someone who’s given up could be, but with the constant movement of unfettered anxiety, his hands always occupied, his mind always racing. He plays with his lip piercing when he thinks, and he’s thinking too much all the time. He plays with his hair when he’s nervous, and his head looks like a tumbleweed of curls and flyaways.  He chews on his knuckles when he distracted, and God, are his knuckles bruised and bitten. It’s not that he’s shy, per se, but just… tired of the conversations before they’ve even begun. Slater calls him a ghost with a pulse. He thinks that’s fair. More than anything, though, Beau still wants out. Maybe once, he wasn’t sure, and maybe it’s taken these ten years to put that together again, but Beau has had enough of this bitter sunshine. Palmview is a place that clings, that traps him in sun-bleached memories and routines that are endless, again and again and again. He wants snow. He wants cold wind biting at his cheeks and a dog named Grizzly at his feet. He wants a place where the past doesn’t haunt every street corner.

For now, though, he stays.

FULL NAME AHREUM 'ALINA' HEO. NICKNAMES NONE. AGE, DOB TWENTY5, JULY 17. ZODIAC CANCER SUN. GENDER CIS WOMAN. ORIENTATION BISEXUAL. PRONOUNS SHE/HER. LANGUAGES SPOKEN ENGLISH, KOREAN. HEIGHT FIVE FOOT SEVEN INCHES. HAIR NATURAL BLACK, WORN LOOSE. EYES BROWN. PERFUME FLORAL SCENTED, SWEET. CHARACTER INSPIRATION SOPHIE HATTER (HMC, BOOK VER). FATHER JINYOUNG HEO. MOTHER MIYOUNG BAEK. SIBLINGS TWO YOUNGER SISTERS. PARTNER NONE.

alina, born in new york before her family moved to palmview, was always reserved as a child, preferring her own company as opposed to children her age. it wasn't anything noteworthy, but she was shy, and found it hard to reach out if others didn't reach out first. the move was hard on her as well, and she struggled to fit in.

(parental death tw) alina first shouldered responsibility at the age of seven, when her father passed away and left behind his wife and three daughters. it was a heavy, confusing time for the heo's, made worse by the fact alina's mother coped by spending nights away from home. at seven, alina learned to be mother, father, and sister.

their family business of tailoring was on the rocks. they weren't at all established in the community yet, and alina's mother was making no effort to do well in the work she had received. alina, in desperate need, taught herself everything she could learn about sewing and tailoring, letting her mother take orders before she fulfilled them herself. it was hours and hours of work, late nights and candlelight, but it was work that paid off.

★          statistics.

full  name:   heathcliff  syriacus  song.      nickname(s):   heath.      age:   twenty  eight.      date  of  birth:   7th  july.      star  sign:   cancer.      sexual  orientation:   pansexual.      romantic  orientation:   panromantic.      hometown:   daegu,  south  korea.      occupation:   owner  of  salt  air  apothecary.      ethnicity:   korean.      nationality:   korean-american.      inspo:   howl  jenkins  pendragon  (howl's  moving  castle),  cat  noir  (miraculous  ladybug),  nate  archibald  (gossip  girl).

★          personality.

there  are  two  distinct  sides  to  heath.  first,  is  the  one  he  shows  to  the  world.  handsome,  charming,  put-together…  he  talks  with  a  suaveness  that  is  almost  unparalleled,  his  smile  could  end  wars,  his  tendency  to  talk  in  circles  is  endearing  rather  than  frustrating.  he's  practically  an  expert  flirt,  with  it  being  second  nature  to  him,  as  natural  to  him  as  laughing  or  breathing.  perhaps  it's  those  carefully  curated  looks  of  his,  or  the  tone  of  his  speech,  whatever  it  is,  to  most  of  the  world,  heath  seems  almost  princely  in  nature.  the  second,  is  the  boy  beneath.  melodramatic,  whiny  and  childish.  he  doesn't  handle  hard  emotions  very  well  and,  instead,  chooses  to  avoid  them  any  way  possible.  perhaps  that's  why  he  has  such  a  long  string  of  short-lived,  meaningless  relationships,  perhaps  that's  why  he  chooses  to  charm  his  way  out  of  conversation  rather  than  face  it,  perhaps  that's  why  he's  been  dyeing  his  hair  a  shade  or  two  darker  for  the  last  five  years  and  doesn't  want  anyone  to  know  about  it.  sometimes,  the  childishness  gives  way  to  carelessness,  and  he  can  end  up  in  situations  that  are  perhaps  a  tad  dangerous  or  reckless,  and  it's  then  that  his  immaturity  truly  shines.  it's  hard  for  some  people  not  to  think  that  heath  is  something  of  a  charlatan.  after  all,  it  certainly  seems  that  way,  doesn't  it?  but  in  truth,  that  princely  image  of  his  protects  that  scared  boy  underneath.  that  womanising  reputation  is  another  tool  he  can  use  to  keep  most  at  arm's  length.  this  is  the  greatest  performance  of  his  life,  and  he  does  it  all  to  cope.

★          biography.

i.  daegu,  the  mid-90s.  heath  is  a  fragile  boy  born  to  a  young  mother  who  was  only  eighteen  years  old.  the  love  that  permeated  their  relationship,  however,  forever  remained  imprinted  on  his  heart.  she  cherished  him  like  a  precious  stone,  kept  him  fed  and  happy,  and  put  little  sprigs  of  rosemary  and  jasmine  in  his  socks  when  she  noticed  he  seemed  to  have  a  nose  for  herbs  and  flowers.  their  home  was  eclectic  and  busy  but  it  was  theirs,  their  home  that  she  had  worked  so  hard  for.  he  didn’t  know  his  father,  didn’t  need  to.  there  was  no  story  there,  no  big  abandonment  or  leaving,  it  had  just  simply  always  been  heath  and  his  mother  –  until  it  wasn't.

ii.  remember  that  fragility?  inherited  –  maternally,  of  course.  after  only  eight  years  together,  heath  came  home  from  school  one  day  to  find  his  mother  passed  out  on  the  floor.  that  evening,  she  went  into  the  hospital  and  she  never  returned.  suddenly  he  was  alone,  an  eight  year  old  boy  sat  in  the  hospital  waiting  room,  confused  and  coping  with  emotions  he  didn't  yet  understand.  all  of  his  belongings,  everything  he'd  ever  known,  was  in  that  trinket-filled  home  he  would  never  see  again,  a  trinket-filled  home  that  suddenly  seemed  cold  and  looming.

iii.  everything  was  a  whirlwind  after  that.  his  grandparents,  who  had  only  recently  moved  to  florida  to  live  out  their  golden  years,  came  to  collect  him  as  soon  as  they  heard.  the  songs  were  good,  honest,  hard-working  people  who  had  set  up  a  small  place  called  salt  air  apothecary  in  palmview.  his  grandmother,  specifically,  considered  it  her  life's  work,  and  she  happily  worked  there  night  and  day.  when  heath  arrived,  the  first  thing  he  noticed  was  how  the  shop  smelled  like  home  –  perhaps  it  was  the  only  thing  that  kept  him  sane.

iv.  adjusting  was  hard,  especially  for  a  boy  like  heath.  back  home  in  daegu  he  had  been  the  quiet  one  of  his  friends,  a  gentle  soul  who  helped  snails  reach  the  other  side  of  the  road  and  held  umbrellas  over  the  local  stray  dogs  in  the  rain.  he  quickly  realised  that  if  he  were  to  act  the  same  in  palmview,  he  would  get  left  by  the  wayside.  all  of  the  kids  in  his  class  were  so  loud,  so  sure  of  who  they  were,  he  had  to  catch  up  quick.

v.  it  was  by  total  chance  that  he  ended  up  as  the  lead  in  the  school  play  at  twelve  years  old.  his  best  friend  at  the  time  was  supposed  to  be  the  leading  man,  and  he'd  convinced  heath  to  be  his  understudy  ‘just  in  case’.  one  bad  hotdog  later,  heath  found  himself  in  the  spotlight  for  the  first  time  ever…  and  he  enjoyed  it.  it  turns  out,  when  you're  a  young  child  gripped  by  the  complications  of  grief,  acting  like  you  aren't  is  the  best  medicine.  the  praise  he  was  showered  in  seemed  to  fuel  him,  made  him  glow  from  the  inside  out,  and  he  would  keep  chasing  that  high  for  years  to  come.

vi.  as  he  continued  to  grow  and  blossom,  heath  became  beloved  by  his  peers.  homecoming  king,  prom  king,  voted  biggest  flirt,  he  charmed  his  way  into  the  hearts  of  many  –  and  left  just  as  many  broken  hearts  in  his  wake.  he  didn't  know  what  it  was,  exactly,  that  left  such  a  glaring  flaw  in  that  perfect  persona  of  his.  the  fear  of  being  abandoned?  the  fear  of  loving  something  so  much  only  to  lose  it  again?  or  perhaps  it  was  simply  that  strange  emptiness  he  felt  whenever  he  laid  with  someone,  almost  as  if  his  gut  simply  knew  they  weren't  right.  whatever  it  was,  it  gained  him  a  reputation.

vii.  thankfully,  most  of  that  reputation  was  offset  by  his  grandparents,  and  the  way  they  were  so  insistent  on  standing  up  for  him  even  as  he  began  to  move  into  his  adult  years.  nobody  could  quite  understand  it…  ‘your  grandson  is  a  lothario!  he’s  a  shameless  flirt  and  a  lazy  layabout!'  but  the  songs  simply  shook  their  heads  with  a  smile.  they  knew  heath  wasn't  like  that  but,  for  whatever  reason,  he  had  insisted  upon  this  performance  for  years  now  –  behind  the  scenes,  he  stayed  up  late  preparing  meals  for  the  soup  kitchen,  he  donated  almost  all  of  his  personal  earnings  to  charity,  he  rescued  multiple  kittens  off  the  street,  and  he  painstakingly  took  care  of  the  both  of  them,  no  matter  what.  they  loved  him  because  they  knew  who  he  was  underneath,  not  who  he  portrayed,  even  if  they  didn't  agree  with  the  fact  he  would  never  get  any  of  the  credit.

viii.  at  his  grandparents'  insistence,  heath  went  travelling  on  and  off  for  a  few  years  in  his  mid-twenties.  if  you  name  a  place,  heath  visited  it,  and  brought  back  a  charming  little  souvenir  as  evidence.  he,  of  course,  made  plenty  of  friends  on  his  travels  (and  probably  enemies,  too)  but  little  did  he  know  there  was  a  reason  behind  his  short  sabbatical.

ix.  whilst,  thankfully,  his  grandparents  were  in  great  health,  they  wanted  to  retire.  when  he  returned  from  travelling  at  26,  they  sat  him  down  and  had  a  long  talk  with  him.  they  understood  that  his  local  reputation  may  not  be  sparkling,  they  understood  that  some  of  the  people  in  palmview  just  didn't  understand  him,  but  they  did.  they  saw  how  his  eyes  lit  up  when  he  bottled  the  herbs,  how  he  truly  came  to  life  when  explaining  a  tincture  to  a  customer,  how  he  recommended  mixes  and  crystals  and  mindfulness  practices  they  never  would've  even  thought  of  or  knew  about.  he  was  his  mother's  son  and  they  were  so,  so  proud…  so  they  wanted  to  give  him  their  shop.

x.  having  now  been  at  the  helm  for  the  past  two  years,  heath  truly  finds  it  to  be  his  happy  place.  whilst  he  still  hams  it  up  with  his  colleagues,  mainly  to  annoy  them,  the  version  you  get  of  him  within  its  four  walls  is  a  much  more  muted,  down  to  earth  version  of  the  man  he  is  beyond  the  front  door.  slowly  but  surely  people  seem  to  be  realising  he's  more  than  the  outrageous  flirt  with  the  endless  dangly  earring  collection,  he's  more  than  the  songs  precious,  well-kept  grandson  who's  never  done  a  hard  day's  work  in  his  life,  he's  heathcliff  song.  and  he's  proud  to  welcome  you  into  his  small  corner  of  safety  –  salt  air  apothecary.

★          extras.

i.  his  middle  name  comes  from  the  scientific  name  for  the  rose  of  sharon,  hibiscus  syriacus,  which  is  the  national  flower  of  south  korea.  its  name  is  roughly  translated  to  ‘the  eternal  flower  which  never  fades’,  which  his  mother  decided  to  bestow  upon  him  to  hopefully  spare  him  of  her  ill  health  and  eventual  fate.  if  you've  ever  received  a  personalised  item  from  salt  air  apothecary  made  by  heath,  anything  from  a  tincture  to  a  herbal  blend,  it  is  signed  by  ‘syriacus’. ii.  there  was  a  large  herbal  medicine  scene  in  daegu,  and  it  was  one  his  mother  was  heavily  involved  in.  these  skills  were  passed  down  to  heath  even  before  he  set  foot  in  salt  air,  and  he's  always  been  incredibly  proud  of  being  able  to  help  people  holistically.  that  doesn't  mean  he  isn't  a  man  of  science,  though.  don't  ever  start  that  debate  with  heath,  who's  incredibly  passionate  about  new  scientific  breakthroughs,  and  loves  to  read  medical  journals  for  fun. iii.  due  to  the  sudden  loss  of  his  childhood  home  and  everything  in  it,  heath  has  a  particular  penchant  for  trinkets  and  collections  and  gets  easily  attached  to  inanimate  objects.  anything  he  can  get  his  hands  on,  he  will  collect:  old  teaspoons,  gemstones,  vintage  rings,  broken  clocks…  it's  why  his  home  has  so  many  rooms.  impressively,  he's  organised  it  all  in  such  a  way  that  it's  more  quirky  than  concerning,  and  he  manages  to  keep  most  of  it  contained  to  his  own  room. likes:  trinkets,  freshly  cut  herbs,  expensive  silk,  strawberry  jam  on  toast,  spring,  affection,  maison  margiela  fragrances,  cats,  humidity,  evenings,  full  moons. dislikes:  early  mornings,  rude  salespeople,  the  woman  who  dyed  his  hair  green  once  upon  a  time,  rain,  cleaning,  when  the  uv  index  is  above  a  5,  mathematics.

★          counterpart  inspired  plots.

i.   his  calcifer     –    heath's  heart,  his  missing  piece,  his  eternal  partner  in  crime  and  the  one  who  keeps  him  grounded.  calcifer,  much  like  the  movie,  is  the  fiery  spirit  that  heath  seems  to  be  lacking  and  the  driving  force  that  pushes  him  forward,  especially  when  he's  having  one  of  his  episodes.  these  two  are  ride  or  die  and,  while  on  the  surface  they  bicker  and  squabble  like  siblings,  you  better  not  bad  mouth  one  in  front  of  the  other…  lest  you  get  a  side  to  either  of  them  you  won't  like.  these  two  have  known  each  other  since  they  were  kids,  when  calcifer  stood  up  to  the  bullies  that  were  picking  on  heath  at  the  playground.  the  rest,  they  say,  is  history.  could  even  be  the  person  who  asked  heath  to  be  his  understudy  for  the  school  play  that  shot  him  to  palmview  fame. ii.   his  markl     –    someone  younger  in  heath's  life  who  actually  seems  the  older  of  the  two.  on  the  surface,  it  appears  that  markl  is  the  one  in  this  dynamic  making  all  the  decisions,  the  one  who  puts  out  the  fires  (metaphorical  and  physical),  the  one  who  keeps  them  alive…  but  in  reality,  it's  heath.  markl  is  still  struggling  to  really  figure  out  where  they  are  in  life  and  that's  where  heath  came  in.  he  picked  them  up  at  a  rough  time  in  their  life,  helped  them  with  what  they  needed  to  get  back  on  their  feet,  kept  their  secrets,  and  now  in  return  they  insist  on  helping  heath  out  any  way  they  can.  yeah,  maybe  heath  hams  it  up  a  bit,  acts  like  he's  less  competent  than  he  is  so  that  the  other  feels  like  they're  really  doing  something,  but  he  doesn't  mind  being  the  bumbling  buffoon  if  it  helps  markl  carve  a  path  of  their  own  one  day. iii.   his  witch  of  the  wastes     –    the  most  sour  of  all  of  heath's  exes  is  the  witch  of  the  wastes,  but  she  has  a  right  to  be.  the  two  were  engaged  to  be  wed  but  mere  months  before  the  wedding,  heath  called  it  off  –  a  gut  feeling,  he  called  it,  that  had  befallen  him  by  way  of  the  stars.  (in  other  words,  they  were  cosmically  doomed.)  in  truth,  the  relationship  was  largely  based  on  looks  and  other  materialistic  things  and  he  didn't  have  the  guts  to  admit  it  to  her  face.  she  was  very  embarrassed  by  the  whole  ordeal  and  it  took  a  while  for  her  image  to  recover,  something  she's  always  been  very  concerned  with.

★          other  wanted  plots.