The Fern Way

[Red Thunder]

Welcome to the Fern Way

​

For a reference as to the flavor of this RP, check the Interest Thread.

First thing's first: dah rules.
•Posting speed is biweekly(ish). Writing level expected is intermediate to advanced: please have a solid grasp on the English language and its grammar. Errors/typos happen, but reading a post shouldn't be a headache.
•On that note, please post at least 2 paragraphs. If you've less, either wait for more material to react to, collab, or include character introspection. The latter is often very overlooked.
•Be kind OOC
•Be courteous OOC
•I like my RPs low-key, and like to assume everyone is capable of being mature. If you've an issue with another player, please handle it privately. If you can't find a compromise, then contact me via DM.
•This RP will be a lot of imagination makes it real kind of thing, so I fully expect some amount of god-modding. I will be asking for a reasonably specific outline of your character's personality, however, so please play true to your character. Remember: weakness and failure, not strength and success, are what make a character interesting.
•Don't puppet another player's character, unless they approve it. This gets messy fast.
•Follow general Iwaku rules
•I don't anticipate anything like it, but if somehow things get steamy between characters, fade to black. This ain't no red star, and I don't give warnings for violations of this rule.
•Rules rules rules. You'd think someone didn't want people to have fun. But I do. So, last and most importantly: have fun! I'm absolutely open to suggestions about things you think might happen or directions your character wants to go. So feedback is welcome!

Second: character sheet. A great deal of the conceit of this RP involves quirks of personality, fears, hopes, etc. Feel free to add more to the sheet than I ask for; the more material I have to work with, the more I can involve your character directly in the goings-on.

~Name: __
~Age: (18+) __
~Sex: __
~Physical description: (images are useful but not necessary; if included, use realistic art or photos) __
~Personality: (3 strengths of character; 3 weaknesses of character; 3 hopes for the future; 3 regrets of the past) __
~Occupation: (student, means of income, major means of time occupation) __
~Familial relationships: (could include friends or coworkers; articulate who your character spends the most time with on the daily) __
~Writing sample: (Your character gets their mail one day to discover that they have won through some legitimate means a trip to the location of their dreams. Describe the scene, including their reaction when they realize that they can't go) __

Lastly, I'll be getting a discord server up soon-ish. As character sheets are accepted, I'll send you the invite.

Thanks! If you've questions, toss them onto the interest thread, and I'll be happy to answer them!

@Jess Incognito @Kat @Kuno

Edit: oh uh. And CS deadline is ... Saturday the 19th.

 

[Red Thunder]

JACK TAILOR
​

~Name: Jack Tailor
~Age: 46 years
~Sex: Male
~Physical description: Jack never broke the six foot height ceiling, though he did his best to always get measured just after a long sleep. For long years, he's kept the weight off, but it is finally catching up. 201 lbs. Not a lot, but more than he wants. His arms still carry the strength of his youth, and of his job; they are tanned darkly. His raven hair has started to gray, with spots of white appearing with salt amid the pepper, but his mustache he's kept a solid black with the help of a box. Crevasses of care line his face, with more wrinkles gathered on his brow and falling from the corners of his mouth than congregated about his eyes.
~Personality:
•Immoveable in his convictions, he can be resistant to change
•Openly joyful about his loves, he becomes disconnected when uncomfortable
•Unafraid of violence, he can let his anger get the better of him.
•He hopes to set the bar for his boys, so they can exceed it; he regrets not doing so from the start.
•He hopes to provide a comfortable life for his family; he regrets his contentedness in past positions at work.
•He hopes to make his wife proud of him; he regrets not making his own father proud of him.
~Occupation: Jack Tailor is a fire department lieutenant for a midsized city in the southwestern United States. He has seen many a fierce blaze, pulled many a broken body from the burning wreckage of a battered car. His captain has tried more than once to move him to a desk job, to perhaps even train him to be fire marshal, but Jack has always refused, preferring the life of excitement with his men. Lately, though, he's begun to wonder whether a more administrative position would do him good.
~Familial relationships:
•Captain Jules Dawson - Jack's commanding officer. A man of empathy, he is an exemplary leader, willing to throw in with his guys at a moment's notice. He lives and breathes his work.
•Jessica Tailor - Jack's wife of 20 years. Not openly encouraging, she supports her husband in the little ways that are so easy to overlook: cooking his favorite meal, watching his favorite show, suggesting taking the kids out camping.
•The Tailor Twins - Sam and David, both 15 years old. A mixture of video games, stage combat, and martial arts, they're always looking for the next adventure.
•Kenneth Tailor - Jack's father, now rapidly approaching 70 years old. He is an openly friendly man whose temper can quickly rise to the surface, causing many budding relationships to dissolve. He panics if he doesn't consider himself in control.

 

[Kuno]

Name: Ian Furley
Age: 38
Sex: Male
Physical description: Traces of the former All-American football player remain in the settled office worker. Ian is a man of solid, if not padded, build, broad-shouldered and measuring just one inch over six feet in height. His features are plain and rough, masculine in form but neither handsome nor memorable. Thinning, sandy blonde hair frames his face, and his dark brown eyes are adorned by crow's feet and faint bags beneath. He does not concern himself much with fashion. Business casual is the order of the day at work, and in his off-time he is seldom seen in anything other than jeans and sweatshirts.

Personality:

• An essential, dependent bulwark; he lacks ambition and drive for change
• Calm and even-keel, he internalizes his rage until it reaches a tipping point
• While a loyal friend and father, he remains ambivalent and passive in important decisions
• He hopes all his children find success in college; he regrets not being able to go himself
• He hopes to be able to always support his family financially; he regrets choosing his HR job as the means to do so
• He hopes one day to leave his wife on amicable terms; he regrets breaking his promise of always doing right by her

Occupation: For the past fifteen years, Ian has worked in the Human Resources department for a city hospital in Maine. His tenure has allowed him to garner the promotion of department supervisor. Maintaining the employee files and paperwork of the hospital staff - as well as the unasked for job of mediating union issues - are part of his mundane, day-to-day duties. The money is not enough to soothe his immense dissatisfaction for his job. He yearns for something, anything different than dealing with petty squabbles and human relations all day, but with his lack of formal education Ian feels that this really the only good job he could have at the moment. Now it is a matter of biding his time until retirement...another fifteen years of hell.

Familial relationships:

• Karen Furley, 38 years old: It was a month after their senior prom that Karen confessed to Ian that she was pregnant. Pressure from both sides of their families mounted, and Ian finally married the woman six months later. What was once passion in the bloom of youth has since soured. Twenty years of marriage has culminated in a tense and dull companionship - with no fair amount of pressure from his alcoholism and her bitter anger.
  
• Abigail "Abby" M. Furley, 20 years old: The oldest child bore the brunt of all her young parent's overwhelming love and mistakes and as such is acting out in her own way. Her refusal to take college seriously or dump her parasitic boyfriend is a point of great contention to Ian.
  
• Aidan J. Furley, 16 years old: The popular, charismatic boy is following in his father's footsteps of playing high school football. Ian has never missed a game, and he hopes desperately that he continues to play in college.
  
• Adam I. Furley, 15 years old: Another football player in the family, though his interest is waning by the moment. A fickle child, he has also inherited Karen's sudden and violent temper. This has led to many a school principal meeting.
  
• Ian F. Furley Jr., 12 years old: The 7th grader is far more reticent and "soft" than his brothers and sisters. Ian Sr. is accused of stepping in too aggressively when bullies target his son.
  
• Annabeth K. Furley, 10 years old: A precocious ball of wit, intellect, and beauty. It is an uncontested fact in the Furley household that she is Karen's favorite child. Ian fears she's been spoiled beyond repair.

Writing sample:

Ian supposed he had expected more fanfare from news like this.

Despite its importance, the envelope was remarkably thin in width and light in weight. Rain speckled its eggshell white surface, though the ink on the surface remained unsmudged, legible. It was entirely unremarkable. Plainly written, yet impactful.

To: Mr. Ian Furley​

And in the upper-left corner, its sender: a Ms. Darlene Lovett, from the county management team. A name he had only heard associated with one thing. The HR employee trip raffle.

Raindrops dripped down his coat. His fingers made wet imprints on the paper, and he pulled it close, blinking away the water resting on his lashes. Freshly arrived from work, the man had made it no further than the front foyer, and in the scant moment he had before the wild cacophony of the Furley household engulfed him, he tried. Tried to have one moment of peace to understand the words swimming on the page, even as the mad barking of the dogs - "Shut up! Get off!" he hissed at the overgrown puppies as they bum rushed him - threatened to steal his concentration.

But silence was a blessing he'd grown used to going without. It started, as always, with her.

"Daaaad!"

"Whaaat?"

Muffled, incoherent yelling came back from upstairs. Multiple children at once, it seemed. He guessed they were all home from school on time for a change. As the noise of arguments continued, Ian felt the voices fade into the foreground as he finished scanning the rest of the letter. The anticipation reached a fever pitch as he read the words finally -

We are honored to announce that you have been selected for the ten day trip to Bora Bora -

"DAD!"

"What?"

"Adam and Aidan won't let me play the game with them!"

"Boys!" Ian boomed, but it was lost to the laughing and jeering of the teens. Almost immediately he was lost again in the letter, and his eyes drifted off to the side, unreadable.

Ten days in Bora Bora. Ten days in Bora Bora.

It was unfathomable. He - a man who had never set one foot out of the state - getting the chance to set sail and fly halfway across the world to splendid, glittering beaches and constant sunshine. Mirror-glass clear blue water and gorgeous island abodes. Nothing but leisure, food, drinks, and leisure, oh leisure for ten days. It was...It was…

Not for him.

Coldly, he came back to himself. He came back to the reality of the situation: that he was a married man with four children living at home. That he had neither the money nor the desire to have someone looking after the kids in his absence. That the idea of spending his resplendent holiday with his wife soured the idea entirely conjured images of hell instead of heaven. That even after Bora Bora nothing would be changed at home. He would still have to return to the same home, the same marriage, the same drudgery of work, friends, and church. It was...

It was not for him.

Ian's eyes snapped up. The letter was crushed into his pocket, and slowly, carefully, he moved forward, beginning his slow ascent up the stairs.

 

[Jess Incognito]

Name: Jocelyn Rhodes
Age: 31
Sex: Female
Physical Description: Jos has always been a slight little thing. 5'-6" -- average she supposes, but appearing smaller for being so thin. Of course family members and friends always praised her figure, but she's never seen anything but skeletal, an unchanging fact no matter how much she eats or how poorly. Freckles spread across her shoulders and cheeks - sun damage that's beginning to weigh on her fair skin. Her hair is dark brown and can only be described as unkempt with its kinky but unformed curls - she doesn't try much with it. She always has an expression on her heavy brows that many call a scowl, but she worries it's just her face.

Personality:

- She's a hard-worker, eager to prove herself (or her worth, rather) and will do what it takes; regrets letting some goals consume her life
- Straightforward and truthful, but wears negative emotions on her sleeve, it can be punishing to those closest and alienating acquaintances
- Reliable and will go further than most to be so; often holds herself to an unattainable standard
- Hopes to get a tenure track position at a university; has trouble advocating for her ideas and work at the larger scale of pushing her career further
- Hopes to build a family; regrets failing in a good relationship and for lying to him
- Hopes to find a way to move someplace more interesting; regrets not having used school as a means to explore more of the world
​

Occupation: Post Doc / Instructor at Department of Biology at a moderate mid-western university

Familial Relationships:

- Hannah Desouza - A rock in Jos' life, they've been friends for several years now, but Jos worries her friend will get swept up in the success of her own work and move beyond her
- Bill Rhodes - Brother and confidant, even when they seem to misunderstand one another. He and their mother get along famously and Jos has never been able to wriggle into the club. Not that her mother doesn't like her also, but Bill and she just...get each other.
- Rose Miles Rhodes - Mother, a strong woman who's paved her own way, albeit differently than her daughter; stay-at-home mom turned flourishing real estate agent. They're different people, to put it mildly.
- William Rhodes - Father, should be a tired old factory worker but he always has energy to go about things...frankly, merrily
- David Rhys - ex-boyfriend of ten years. Using the word decade makes her feel worse about it. They probably didn't see eye to eye for a very long time, but most things in their relationship revolved around dealing with stuff after this or after that life event. But then when after came, the problems remained.​

WRITING SAMPLE

Jocelyn sat in her office chair with one foot on the seat such that her knee cushioned her chin, clacking away on the keyboard in her usual pattern of flowing along for a few sentences and then |<-

Deleting the whole train of thought because it was useless and she was useless and damn it she needed to get up and do literally anything else, but she also couldn't do anything else without feeling guilty for shirking her work. Clack clack clack. The cycle continues.

"Jos come look at this," Hannah said from her side of the small office that the two swapped and bartered for like street urchins with a variety of colleagues to get. When she didn't answer save an acknowledging grunt, Hannah swivelled her chair and started flapping her hand on Jos' shoulder, elaborately squealing, "Pinch me I'm dreaming!" like a vogue woman from a Cinderella story talkie.

"Sto-op," she drawled, trying her very best to convey her bitter and indignant mood. Hannah's excitement was, however, truly ecstatic, so she rolled her eyes and pushed out her lips to prevent a smile as she scooted her foot off the chair and swiveled around.

"What am I looking at?" she asked before focusing on the screen and finding the first line of the email in question. Hannah watched her friend's face eagerly for the first twitch of a reaction.

~ CONGRATULATIONS! ~
Ms. Desouza, on behalf of all of us here at Coca Cola, we want to thank you for your participation in this year's vacation giveaway. You've just won a free trip to the destination of your choice.
RESTRICTIONS APPLY. SEE CONDITIONS FOR DETAILS.​

Jocelyn pulled her head back, letting the information roll over her synapses. "No way this is real, Han," she said skeptically, out of obligation to be unbelieving of anyone actually winning a giveaway from a freaking soft drink company.

Hannah shook her head emphatically, "No, no, no, this is real. We could finally get back to Brasilia!" Her tone shifted down sardonically, "But for fun and not for chasing butterflies with jaguar shit." Her friend laughed and continued, overflowing with ideas and hopes and dreams for their trip. Jocelyn reveled in the babble too and smiled until the chronic sourness crept back into its rightful place. They'd gathered the red screw tops together, nocturnal hunters shuffling through all the recycling on campus and entering the codes for the giveaway one by one, feeling like masterminds. But that was just for fun, just to say they'd done it. Whether they entered fifty codes or two-hundred, Jos never kid herself that they could actually win.

"Hannah, I can't go with you," Jos said incredulously, eyes like daggers. The other woman exhaled, deadened. She scoffed, "I have to - I have my work, I have to make real strides on my research if I'm ever going to get a tenured position outside of this stupid excuse for an institution. I- I'm already looking like a waste of grant money - You know that." Her tone said how dare you.

She stared, waiting for the "Seriously Jos?" followed by the reassurance that everything would be fine and she needed a break and life was more than this grind… but it didn't come. Over the past few months she'd spent all her tickets for benefits of doubts.

"Okay," Hannah said simply, blinking away her own irritation, "I'll - ask my sister."

"You should," she ground in her fate.

Jocelyn turned back to her work station and clacked. Hannah gathered her things and left; she probably said goodbye, but Jos wasn't listening. Clack clack clack. When she was sure her friend wouldn't be back that night, she cried, wondering why she'd done that, but still feeling like it was out of her control.​

 

[Red Thunder]

@Kuno @Jess Incognito my apologies for keeping y'all waiting for some news on the RP. Two is unfortunately not enough for the story I had in mind, so I'm afraid I'm calling off the Fern Way. Maybe it's better: I need to jump into an idea without considering my other obligations, and I wouldn't want to give y'all half-attention. Thanks, and best of luck in your future endeavors!

 

[Jess Incognito]

Womp womp - thanks for letting us know.
And if it ever does come back around again, hit me up!
Happy New Year :)

 

[Kuno]

Smh. This is the last time I accept an invitation from you. p a t h e t i c

jk. lemme know if you start this up again