#zamsel

Neutral Good // INFP // Ravenclaw // Aquarius // Bi // Jewish-American // Playlist // Pinterest

If there’s a character who I would award with the “Most Relatable” award, it’s Zamsel. He’s been through a lot. A hopeful romantic with a competitive streak and a massive fear of failure, Zamsel puts a lot of pressure on himself. 

Backstory

Zamsel’s grown up being mostly raised by his mother, as his father has spent a lot of Zamsel’s childhood in the Air Force. Mama Amsel is a sweet, understated woman who passed a lot of her softness onto Zamsel. 

Halfway through high school, Zamsel began dating his long-term girlfriend, Chai Watson. Though their relationship was initially happy, it’s deteriorated into something really toxic and draining. Nevertheless, he graduated as co-valedictorian with Kam Suzuki.

Present

Zamsel’s entering his first year of college with Kam. They’re both sort of adjusting to the freedom that comes with living several states from their families, but Zamsel is adjusting to it far better than Kam is. He’s a fan of his new life.

Playlist

Zamsel’s playlist is huge. It’s full of jams from New Medicine and The Front Bottoms, which I use to more or less build up his aesthetic and general mood.

Twin Size Mattress - The Front Bottoms

Heart With Your Name On It - New Medicine

Boy Like Me - New Medicine

Bad At Love - Halsey

Flannel - The Cardboard Swords

Called You Twice (feat. K.Flay) - FIDLAR, K.Flay

Peaches (Text Voter XX to 40649) - grandson, K.Flay

Self Esteem - The Offspring

Excerpt

Zach closes his eyes. His face is wet from crying, raw from rubbing at it, red all over. Even then, even after what’s happened, he still looks almost beautiful. There’s something about the lighting in an art museum that makes everything look like art, even raw emotion. It rounds out the patheticness of breaking down in public into something artful. Zach doesn’t look anything like a model, but he does look like art.

Aesthetic

Lying on the ground when you’re overwhelmed with emotions, mumbling the lyrics to your favorite songs under your breath to the radio, duct taping all your things together because you don’t want to buy something new, buying new sweaters from Goodwill, when a cat lays on your chest,  wearing sweaters that are too big so you can ball your hands in the fabric, people with small voices, leaning your head on someone’s shoulder while you’re talking, the feeling of slowly falling in love.

Taglist

@aelenko​, @keen2meecha​, @magic-is-something-we-create​, @emdrabbles​, & @yourwriters​

Ah of course! My boy Zamsel! Thanks for the ask, Abby! :D

Zamsel smells like cat fur, like flowery detergent, like coffee, like mothballs, like old thrifted sweaters, and like cold, crisp air

Zamsel absolutely loves the smell of coffee. Any coffee, but he really likes the smell of cafes, where the coffee takes up all of the available space, and he can sit on a cozy little chair in the warmth of the cafe, feeling loved. He also loves the smell of Kam

The thing about Zamsel is that he’s perfectly content sleeping in the clothes he wore the day before, but Kam makes him change out of his pants, at least. 

Zamsel and Kam are hoenstly so cute. I ship them very very hard. And I have many cute little headcanons for them, but one of my favorites is that Kam likes to buy Zamsel a new vinyl for every special occasion (birthday, major holiday, etc.) and he’s shockingly good at knowing Zamsel’s taste in music

Honestly, the relationship that Zamsel has with Nikki is very fun to write. Nikki’s crass, blunt, and a little annoying, yes, but she’s gentler when it comes to Zamsel. Zach’s not necessarily someone you can be harsh with, and Nikki recognizes that. Zach likes to pick up cassette tapes from garage sales for her sometimes, when he can afford it

“Flannel” by The Cardboard Swords is a huge, huge Zamsel song. Especially the spoken part

Oh, Zamsel is a side sleeper. 100%. He loves to sleep on his side, and also clings in his sleep

Peach soda. If Zamsel can get his hands on a peach soda, he’ll drink it almost immediately. He’s also partial to lavender lattes and overpriced holiday drinks from Starbucks

I want to give Zamsel a new car. His minivan is... questionable at best (based off of a friend’s)

Kam: 

Everything he says is clear and well-spaced

Unless he’s excited. Then he can speak rapidly and kind of smash things together

Wraps his headphone cord around his finger

Always stands/sits with super good posture

Is an obsessive hand washer

And always has a nice-scented Bath & Body Works hand sanitizer in his pocket/backpack

Likes cleaning other people’s glasses for them

Seeks out pressure for reassurance

Loves space, sci-fi, and NASA and can talk about them for hours

Zach

Stutters on words beginning with w

Rubs the back of his neck when he’s worried

Always pushes up his glasses because the frames are messed up

Slouches a lot

Has a lot of difficulty raising his voice

Can only pay attention when he has his shoes on

Plays the ukulele but can’t play in front of other people because he gets too nervous

Twists the bottom of his t-shirt into knots

Vic

Twists his piercings

Rubs at his wrists

Sticks out his tongue at people when they say something he doesn’t agree with/make fun of him/he’s making fun of them

Gives people Looks

Rolls his eyes a lot

Gerard

Messes with his rosary and wraps it around his hands

And also puts the crucifix in his mouth

Leans his head on Vic’s shoulder

Shoves people

Is extremely paternal to literally anyone/anything

Bakes when he’s stressed

And then stress-eats the baked goods

Has a bad habit of interrupting conversations with random unrelated interjections

Ruth

Uses a lot of large words in her sentences without thinking/providing context

Dog-ears her books

Wears skirts/dresses in bad weather, seemingly without caring about it

Carries clear purses/backpacks

Refers to her estrogen as “titty tacs”

Boops people’s noses

Has Shakespeare/Sappho quotes in her social media bios

Steals Jessica’s jackets/shirts

Jessica

Spaces out randomly during conversations

Is always texting someone

Tries taking up as little space as possible

Almost always wears a swimsuit under her clothes in the summertime “just in case”

Gets sidetracked very easily and starts a lot of tangents

Nikki

Always has grease/oil on her jeans

Has at least 3 hair ties on her person at any time. Doesn’t enjoy sharing them

Is apparently impervious to the Alabama heat

Looks at pet adoption websites when she’s sad

Elbows people

Uses intense sarcasm all the time

Kevin

Refers to himself as a fuckboy

Makes up random conspiracy theories just to pass the time

Then actually starts believing in them

Runs his hand through his bangs a lot

Drawings of Lessons in Humanity From a Future Physicist characters.