#psuhaley

HALEY NICHOLE MENKINS

AGE: 29

BIRTHDAY: September 20th, 1995

RELATION: Full sibling

TYPE: Solo

GENDER: Demigirl

PRONOUNS: She/they

ORIENTATION(S): Asexual lesbian

FACE CLAIM: Virginia Gardner

JOB/SCHOOL

GRADE: Sophomore

MAJOR: Sociology

MINOR: Gender and women’s studies

JOB: Children’s gymnastics teacher

ABOUT

So you were born to a father with a history of abuse allegations and a mother who bemoaned the 9 months she couldn’t drink while carrying you. Upon your father’s unexpected and tragic death, your mother shows little care whether you move in with her or stay with the stepmother you met just  a few prior. You are 4 years old, unsure what grief even is but knowing that there are things going on around you that are bigger than anything you can comprehend. What do you do.

You take a nap in the lawyer’s office and ask for a McGriddle when you wake up. 

Haley may have been born into an incredibly messy situation but she’s certainly not someone to dwell on it for too long. So she opted to spend her childhood and adolescence at the Sylvester home. Of course that is largely clouded by the fact that she’s never had a traditional parental figure. But Sue just shrugged at the idea of adding another blonde kid to her rotation, so why wouldn’t Haley choose to spend most of her time at her place? Geraldine’s house had a pool shaped like a rabbit though, so Haley did make a point to see her biological mother every so often if only because she heard that that was supposed to mean something. Cooter Menkins is just some lame dude on her birth certificate whose ashes were tossed out with the trash.

The important thing to note is that Haley thrived in her childhood. She has always has an incredible knack for adapting. Some might view her as air headed, and although they wouldn’t be wrong for that, Haley is much more likely to describe herself as free. Free to float between two homes, free to feel comfortable exploring her nerdy interests, free to view family as this beautiful patchwork of people stitched together not by blood but by a love for each other. For all the instability that colored her childhood, Haley has never been left to feel like she was someone lacking. 

Her circumstances may in fact have been for the best. It put her in the exact right position to discover her one true love, more than D&D, Pokemon, and Star Trek combined. Haley remembers watching Sue’s practices, mesmerized by the stunts that they managed to pull. She discovered a love for gymnastics at an incredibly young age. More than that, she discovered a talent for it. iscovered not only a love for gymnastics at a young age, but pure talent. Her genes certainly helped her out too, as well as having near 24/7 access to a world renowned cheer coach. While she certainly had the option to do cheerleading instead, Haley opted for years of intense gymnastics training. Her genetics also helped pave the way, as did her connections. She was never the best student, and she was almost too friendly to the point where others would often wish she’d shut up. But Haley was an athlete through and through.

She could have gone on to be a world champion. That’s not being cocky, because Haley doesn’t have an arrogant bone in her body. It’s simply a fact. She knew it, both her mothers knew it, anyone who was anyone in their world knew it. Unfortunately, at the age of 16, Haley was faced with the absolutely horrifying realization that she is her father’s child. Over the course of multiple competitions that (in a perfect would) would’ve qualified her for the Youth Olympic Games, Haley’s joints began to fall apart on her. It all continued to build until a necessary hip injury forced her into early retirement before she could even find herself on the world’s stage. 

So Haley lost her mind a little. Cried, threw up, got really into sports anime, went to Geraldine looking for support only to be forced to admit that the woman who birthed her could not care less. It was rough. But eventually, with the help of friends and the family members who actually cared about, Haley clawed her way back into a place of happiness. She is forced to remember what was taken from her every time her hips act up or her knee slides out of place thanks to years of damage done to herself. But she managed. 

HALEY MENKINS

☆ FULL NAME: Haley Nichole Menkins ☆ GENDER: Demigirl ☆ PRONOUNS: She/They ☆ AGE: 29 (September 20th, 1995) ☆ TYPE: Full sibling; solo (open to twin) ☆ HOMETOWN: Indianapolis, Indiana ☆ JOB: Children’s Gymnastics Assistant Coach ☆ SCHOOL: Sophomore, majoring in Sociology; minoring in Gender and Women’s studies ☆ SEXUALITY: Asexual Lesbian ☆ FACECLAIM: Ginny Gardner

ABOUT HALEY

So you were born to a father with a history of abuse allegations and a mother who bemoaned the 9 months she couldn’t drink while carrying you. Upon your father’s unexpected and tragic death, your mother shows little care whether you move in with her or stay with the stepmother you met just  a few prior. You are 4 years old, unsure what grief even is but knowing that there are things going on around you that are bigger than anything you can comprehend. What do you do.

You take a nap in the lawyer’s office and ask for a McGriddle when you wake up. 

Haley may have been born into an incredibly messy situation but she’s certainly not someone to dwell on it for too long. So she opted to spend her childhood and adolescence at the Sylvester home. Of course that is largely clouded by the fact that she’s never had a traditional parental figure. But Sue just shrugged at the idea of adding another blonde kid to her rotation, so why wouldn’t Haley choose to spend most of her time at her place? Geraldine’s house had a pool shaped like a rabbit though, so Haley did make a point to see her biological mother every so often if only because she heard that that was supposed to mean something. Cooter Menkins is just some lame dude on her birth certificate whose ashes were tossed out with the trash.

The important thing to note is that Haley thrived in her childhood. She has always has an incredible knack for adapting. Some might view her as air headed, and although they wouldn’t be wrong for that, Haley is much more likely to describe herself as free. Free to float between two homes, free to feel comfortable exploring her nerdy interests, free to view family as this beautiful patchwork of people stitched together not by blood but by a love for each other. For all the instability that colored her childhood, Haley has never been left to feel like she was someone lacking. 

Her circumstances may in fact have been for the best. It put her in the exact right position to discover her one true love, more than D&D, Pokemon, and Star Trek combined. Haley remembers watching Sue’s practices, mesmerized by the stunts that they managed to pull. She discovered a love for gymnastics at an incredibly young age. More than that, she discovered a talent for it. iscovered not only a love for gymnastics at a young age, but pure talent. Her genes certainly helped her out too, as well as having near 24/7 access to a world renowned cheer coach. While she certainly had the option to do cheerleading instead, Haley opted for years of intense gymnastics training. Her genetics also helped pave the way, as did her connections. She was never the best student, and she was almost too friendly to the point where others would often wish she’d shut up. But Haley was an athlete through and through.

She could have gone on to be a world champion. That’s not being cocky, because Haley doesn’t have an arrogant bone in her body. It’s simply a fact. She knew it, both her mothers knew it, anyone who was anyone in their world knew it. Unfortunately, at the age of 16, Haley was faced with the absolutely horrifying realization that she is her father’s child. Over the course of multiple competitions that (in a perfect would) would’ve qualified her for the Youth Olympic Games, Haley’s joints began to fall apart on her. It all continued to build until a necessary hip injury forced her into early retirement before she could even find herself on the world’s stage. 

So Haley lost her mind a little. Cried, threw up, got really into sports anime, went to Geralidne looking for support only to be forced to admit that the woman who birthed her could not care less. It was rough. But eventually, with the help of friends and the family members who actually cared about, Haley clawed her way back into a place of happiness. She is forced to remember what was taken from her every time her hips act up or her knee slides out of place thanks to years of damage done to herself. But she managed. 

For a number of years, she took on the role of a gymnastics coach. There was really something special about watching young kids discover their love for the sport that she held near and dear. She’d have been happy doing that for the rest of her life, but she also felt like there were other parts of her yet to explore. To reiterate, Haley has never been a good student. She struggles with staying still, and learns much better with hands-on involvement than academics. But give her something she’s passionate about and she’ll soak up information in any way she can. PSU was a spur of the moment decision, driven by a desire to understand more about the people around her and the communities she exists in. The prevailing fact is that Haley desires little more than to be happy, and with the exact alignment of the stars that have guided her to the place she is now, she thinks she may have found her way back to that happiness. 

FAMILY BACKGROUND

Cooter Menkins was known for two things: being a football recruiter for the champion-winning Illiana Northeastern Central University (Home of the Whooping Walruses) and being a serial cheater. He started off as an NFL linebacker but turned to recruiting after a knee injury forced him into early retirement. Although charismatic on the surface, he had more than one scandal during his career of women brave enough to publicize his abuse and cheating. Of course, because the media is a joke, he managed to skate by every single time. His marriage to Geraldine Smith (a physical therapist from Fuckville, Indiana) was an attempt to improve his image. She agreed with the hopes of marrying rich. Although neither of them particularly wanted kids, it was all part of the image they wanted to showcase for both of their benefits. Their relationship ended when Geraldine found a geriatric oil mogul who didn’t have an entire six paragraphs of controversies listed next to his championship awards on his Wikipedia page.

Cooter began what the media described as a “bizarre, milk curdling” relationship with Sue Sylvester circa 1999. Unfortunately, just three months into their marriage, Cooter passed away in an unprecedented kiln accident. The strangest part is that he’d never shown any interest in pottery before, but stranger things have been known to happen.

timeframe: september 7th, late morning

location: bloom & plume coffee

Brielle had been told many times by her therapist that she needed to step outside of her comfort zone - specifically, partake in rejection therapy. Was she here to do that? Of course not. She hadn't even tried it - yet! However, as she was sitting at the table, sipping on her herbal tea, she noticed that the girl next to her seemed kind. Brielle wasn't sure how she knew this, but she felt it in her gut. "Hi," Brielle forced herself to say, locking eyes with the blonde. "My name is Brielle."