#psumenkins

IMOGEN CORTES

☆ FULL NAME: Imogen Sofia Cortes ☆ GENDER: Ciswoman ☆ PRONOUNS: She/Her ☆ AGE: 35 (March 13th, 1989) ☆ TYPE: Half sibling; solo ☆ HOMETOWN: Los Angeles, California ☆ JOB: Owner of TABLE + ICE Bar and Restaurant ☆ SCHOOL: Freshman, majoring in Business; minoring in Economics ☆ SEXUALITY: Fluid ☆ FACECLAIM: Lindsey Morgan

ABOUT IMOGEN

Tw: sexual assault, abuse, implied csa, homophobia, car accident resulting in death 

Immy may not know how to handle a lot of situations, but one thing she does know is that she would do anything to protect her daughter from the things she endured growing up. Born to Jane Cortes, Immy spent the first ten years of her life wondering why her father never really seemed to like or care for her, he certainly didn’t love her. He was cruel and scary more often than not, and she couldn’t remember a single positive memory with the man. At ten was when her brother, Julian, retired from the NFL and invited her to come and visit him. As the only member of her family who seemed to really and truly love her, she was excited to go. It was during this trip, that after a few drinks her brother let it slip to her that their father was actually only his father, and not hers. Suddenly, so much made sense. And she eventually was able to pull the full story out of him and learned that her actual father was Cooter Menkins, who was long dead by that point, and that he was a football recruiter, he’d come out to see Julian play and used his position to manipulate Jane into sleeping with him, promising her that it would up Julian’s odds. Jane, who was desperate to get her son to a better life agreed, but found out just a few short weeks later that she was pregnant. She made the choice with Hector to keep the baby, and raise it as their own, but Hector never truly accepted Immy, and Jane was reminded of the horrible man that made up half of her biology every time she looked at Immy and found it impossible to not distance herself from the girl.

Things at home soon went from bad to worse when she confronted her parents. When Hector found that Immy knew the truth, he stopped putting up any kind of act that he cared for her and he went from being verbally cruel to abusive in many ways quite quickly, especially as Immy began to grow into a teen and her body changed. Jane knew what was happening, but she was too tired after everything she’d gone through for Julian to care like she should. She’d gone through hell for him and ended up with Immy in return, so she felt it fair that Immy take over some of her burdens put upon her by Hector.

Truly the only place she ever really felt cared for was at the home of her best friend. His father was a pastor and the family was incredibly good to her. After a particularly awful night at home, Immy showed up at their door in the middle of the night hoping for a place to stay until the morning. Her friend’s father answered the door and she broke down at seeing his concern for her, she confessed everything that was happening at home and him and his wife took her under their wing and allowed her to come over as often as she liked, doing what they could to care for her.

It was wonderful spending so much time with her best friend and his family, and at some point one thing lead to another and Immy found herself kissing the very same friend. Things were incredible for a short time, but his father was always making odd comments that made Immy slightly uneasy. It wasn’t as bad as what she experienced at home, so she tried her best to ignore it and just assumed she was overreacting. Until one night, she was sleeping over and got up in the middle of the night to get a drink and ran into Aaron. It as then that she realized she hadn’t been over reacting when he attempted to kiss her in the kitchen. Immy apologized and tried to play the whole thing off like it was a funny mistake, but Aaron was furious, and the next day she was confronted by him and his wife. She soon realized that Aaron had spun the story to make it seem like it was Immy who had made a move on Aaron. Suddenly it was like the whole facade had crumbled, the people she thought were so good and kind were almost as cruel as her own parents. They told her she was no longer welcome in their home, suddenly they sympathized with her stepfather, because he was saddled with a sinner daughter like Immy. They told her that if they ever found out she’d spoken to their son again that they would send him to conversion therapy, because he was bisexual, which was already a sin and they needed to protect him from being further corrupted by Immy. Wanting to protect her friend and knowing that nothing at that home was truly as it seemed, she left, doing as they asked and never speaking to her friend again, not even to explain why. 

Luckily, she was almost an adult and as soon as she turned 18, she left home for good. She got a job as a waitress and after working for a few years she was promoted to manager. Her brother was there for her through everything, though he never knew the darkest parts of her life at home, he knew enough to know she couldn’t go back, and he paid for an apartment for her near her work. He also used some of his connections to help her get cooking lessons from a top chef, knowing that cooking was her true passion. By the time she was 30 she was working as a head chef in an upscale restaurant and also managing the restaurant. 

Two years into her dream job and she found out she was pregnant, she made the choice to keep her baby, and while it wasn’t easy, she went back to work full time shortly after her daughter Malea was born. It was when her baby was just 9 months old that tragedy struck. Her brother Julian was in a car accident and didn’t make it. Immy was absolutely devastated, he was the only person who really and truly cared for her, and he was gone. At the funeral she saw her parents again for the first time in years, but she avoided them as much as possible, until she was told by Julian’s lawyer that she needed to be present for the reading of the will. It was then that she learned Julian had left everything to her and Malea and nothing to Jane and Hector. They were so angry and swore to sue Immy as she must have influenced him, but his lawyer assured her that he would represent her if they did and assured her that Julian’s will would be upheld.

While the threat of a lawsuit still hangs over her head, Immy put Malea’a portion into a savings account and used a large chunk of her own to open her own bar and restaurant. It’s been up and running for about a year now and doing incredibly well, but Immy isn’t afraid to admit that it’s intimidating running such a successful business and has enrolled in college courses to get a degree in business, making sure she makes the business as successful as possible to ensure a happy future for her and Malea. 

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.

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.

IMOGEN CORTES

☆ FULL NAME: Imogen Sofia Cortes ☆ GENDER: Ciswoman ☆ PRONOUNS: She/Her ☆ AGE: 28 (March 13th, 1996) ☆ BIRTH ORDER: Third ☆ TYPE: Half sibling; solo ☆ HOMETOWN: Indianapolis, Indiana ☆ JOB: Owner of ICE + TABLE ☆ SCHOOL: Freshman, majoring in Business; minoring in Economics ☆ SEXUALITY: Fluid ☆ FACECLAIM: Lindsey Morgan

ABOUT IMOGEN

Tw: sexual assault, abuse, implied csa, homophobia, car accident resulting in death

Immy may not know how to handle a lot of situations, but one thing she does know is that she would do anything to protect her daughter from the things she endured growing up. Born to Jane Cortes, Immy spent the first ten years of her life wondering why her father never really seemed to like or care for her, he certainly didn’t love her. He was cruel and scary more often than not, and she couldn’t remember a single positive memory with the man. At ten was when her brother, Julian, retired from the NFL and invited her to come and visit him. As the only member of her family who seemed to really and truly love her, she was excited to go. It was during this trip, that after a few drinks her brother let it slip to her that their father was actually only his father, and not hers. Suddenly, so much made sense. And she eventually was able to pull the full story out of him and learned that her actual father was Cooter Menkins, who was long dead by that point, and that he was a football recruiter, he’d come out to see Julian play and used his position to manipulate Jane into sleeping with him, promising her that it would up Julian’s odds. Jane, who was desperate to get her son to a better life agreed, but found out just a few short weeks later that she was pregnant. She made the choice with Hector to keep the baby, and raise it as their own, but Hector never truly accepted Immy, and Jane was reminded of the horrible man that made up half of her biology every time she looked at Immy and found it impossible to not distance herself from the girl.

Things at home soon went from bad to worse when she confronted her parents. When Hector found that Immy knew the truth, he stopped putting up any kind of act that he cared for her and he went from being verbally cruel to abusive in many ways quite quickly, especially as Immy began to grow into a teen and her body changed. Jane knew what was happening, but she was too tired after everything she’d gone through for Julian to care like she should. She’d gone through hell for him and ended up with Immy in return, so she felt it fair that Immy take over some of her burdens put upon her by Hector.

Truly the only place she ever really felt cared for was at the home of her best friend. Her father was a pastor and the family was incredibly good to her. After a particularly awful night at home, Immy showed up at their door in the middle of the night hoping for a place to stay until the morning. Her friend’s father answered the door and she broke down at seeing his concern for her, she confessed everything that was happening at home and him and his wife took her under their wing and allowed her to come over as often as she liked, doing what they could to care for her.

It was wonderful spending so much time with her best friend and her family, and at some point one thing lead to another and Immy found herself kissing the very same friend. Things were incredible for a short time, but when her friend went home with a hickey after a party one night, Immy never could have imagined how things would turn around. Somehow her parents discovered the hickey was from Immy and suddenly it was like the whole facade had crumbled, the people she thought were so good and kind were almost as cruel as her own parents. They pulled aside and told her she was no longer welcome in her home, suddenly they sympathized with her stepfather, because he was saddled with a sinner daughter like Immy. They told her that if they ever found out she’d spoken to their daughter again that they would send the girl to conversion therapy, because homosexuality was a sin. Wanting to protect her friend and knowing that nothing at that home was truly as it seemed, she left, doing as they asked and never speaking to her friend again, not even to explain why.

Luckily, she was almost an adult and as soon as she turned 18, she left home for good. She got a job as a waitress and after working for a few years she was promoted to manager. Her brother was there for her through everything, though he never knew the darkest parts of her life at home, he knew enough to know she couldn’t go back, and he paid for an apartment for her near her work. He also used some of his connections to help her get cooking lessons from a top chef, knowing that cooking was her true passion. By the time she was 24 she was working as a head chef in an upscale restaurant and also managing the restaurant.

6 months into her dream job and she found out she was pregnant, she made the choice to keep her baby, and while it wasn’t easy, she went back to work full time shortly after her daughter Malea was born. It was when her baby was just 9 months old that tragedy struck. Her brother Julian was in a car accident and didn’t make it. Immy was absolutely devastated, he was the only person who really and truly cared for her, and he was gone. At the funeral she saw her parents again for the first time in years, but she avoided them as much as possible, until she was told by Julian’s lawyer that she needed to be present for the reading of the will. It was then that she learned Julian had left everything to her and Malea and nothing to Jane and Hector. They were so angry and swore to sue Immy as she must have influenced him, but his lawyer assured her that he would represent her if they did and assured her that Julian’s will would be upheld.

While the threat of a lawsuit still hangs over her head, Immy put Malea’a portion into a savings account and used a large chunk of her own to open her own bar and restaurant. It’s been up and running for about a year now and doing incredibly well, but Immy isn’t afraid to admit that it’s intimidating running such a successful business and has enrolled in college courses to get a degree in business, making sure she makes the business as successful as possible to ensure a happy future for her and Malea.

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.