bigapplesauce | Entries tagged with character: jess mariano

Jess has pretty much scoped out every single bookshop on the entire island of Manhattan, or something close to it. He knows all the good places, weird little corners that have the most specific, enchanting things.

So the both good and bad thing about being in an alternate universe is that this no longer holds true. Some remain the same, but he keeps discovering new places that never existed where he comes from, whereas some of his old favourites are missing entirely. And then there's the shift of time that means some things would've been the same, but has changed in the past couple of years.

Having been here three weeks now, he feels like he's starting to get a handle on it, though. And books have, as always, provided a welcome distraction from the realities of his situation. He's gotten a tip for a place over on East 87th street, which is only fifteen minutes away from his apartment, so that's his main mission for today.

He's been told he should check out the bakeshop next-door as well, and once he sees it, he has no qualms about complying. He gets a coffee and some apple muffins and eats it there so he'll have energy for plenty of browsing afterwards.

And oh was that a good plan, because this shop is packed with books, and he foresees himself being here for several hours at least. He immediately braves the terrible lighting and dives right in.

[Find him in Glaser's Bakeshop or Aziraphale's Bookshop. Also, note Jess has an Interactivity riftpower, which means characters should find it really easy to start a conversation with him.]

Current Location: November 18th
Current Date: Glaser's Bakeshop and Aziraphale's Bookshop

cheeseburger_backpack

New York City is a pretty cool place to be stuck. It's a little disconcerting that the other Crystal Gems haven't managed to reach him, yet, but Steven isn't worried. There are lots of good reasons it could be taking so long, and why should he be in a hurry? This place is awesome!

The Balladeer is being really nice to him, letting him stay in his apartment and borrow his ukulele. He's introduced Steven to some of the other Rifties in the building ('Rifties' isn't a very inspiring team name; Steven's gonna have to come up with a better one). He has this cool phone that was sent to him by a real angel, and the angel even texted him! And the biggest relief of all: no one's making him go to school or expecting him to be like other kids. That makes things a lot easier.

He's out busking with the Balladeer today, snug in a new coat and hat. He could have stayed in the apartment - he would have been fine without the Balladeer keeping an eye on him - but this is more fun. Other people seem to like it, too; they're getting a lot of smiles, and there are plenty of crumpled bills in the Balladeer's guitar case. Steven's not sure what a normal day's take is, so it doesn't occur to him that they might be making more than the Balladeer would on his own. But he's not at all surprised that no one can resist their sweet jams. They're good at this.

They're moving around the Park a bit already, but the itch to explore is still there. So, after they've been playing a while and are starting to get hungry, Steven volunteers to go find some food. There are still plenty of street vendors around, and if he wanders a bit farther than necessary to scope out his options, that's okay. He has his phone in case he gets lost.

[ooc: so, we have two potential scenarios here. Scenario 1: you could run into the Balladeer and Steven jamming somewhere in the Park. Scenario 2: you could bump into Steven while he's looking for snacks. He probably makes more than one foray, so multiple people could do either scenario without issue. Just specify which one you want to go with in the subject line.]

Current Location: Central Park
Current Date: November 13, 2013

biscuit_powered

She's let the whole money thing slide for a while now. There was that time she did some magic work, but ~~she never got around to advertising her services again~~ that well dried up, and Asmodia and Biscuit have been subsisting on their angelic allowance ever since. That's fine; it's enough for the necessities and for exploring the city, and that's all they really need, isn't it? Most of the things she'd be interested in buying don't exist here anyway, and she doesn't really need amulets and the like when she hasn't been in a fight in two months new.

But then it turns out Manhattan has entire museums devoted to art, and an entire boulevard devoted to theater. Tickets cost money, but so does food, and she's lived on the edge of society long enough to know better than to prioritize the former over the latter. Clearly she's going to need more money if she's to indulge in the arts. Clearly, also, getting an actual job is out of the question. Just thinking about working at some eatery where she'd have to wear a uniform, show up at an appointed time, follow orders and kowtow to customers -- it's enough to make her want to puke.

Where there's money, though, there's always some roundabout way to get at it. That's what has her and Biscuit in the Diamond District today, armed with a butter knife and a cup from 'her' kitchenette. Either she's about to strike it rich or the person who mentioned finding jewelry debris here is playing a really thorough practical joke on her.

"Come on, Biscuit," she says, dropping into a crouch and picking a place to start prying mud out from between the cracks in the pavement. "We're going to archaeology the shit out of this sidewalk."

She'll...well, she'll be here a while, once she sees that she is indeed finding some worthwhile bits and pieces. Why doesn't everyone do this?

Current Location: Diamond District
Current Date: November 8, 2013

literatimariano

Jess needs to get out of this damn city.

Historically speaking, Manhattan has been his playground. (Literally, if you go enough years back.) He's always known the ropes, where to go, where not to go, where you could find something exciting happening. Now it's already starting to get stale. It's been almost three years since he moved away, and a lot has changed in that time. He's changed. His friends have changed - moved on, or simply moved away. Meanwhile, Jess feels stuck, and he hasn't even been back all that long.

It's probably those self-help books Luke got him to read. How can he move on if he's just going back to what's familiar? Furthermore, how can he pursue the things he wants if he's barely making ends meet? Self-actualisation is practically impossible when survival and safety isn't guaranteed. He works too much and he's living in a dump, but New York's gotten expensive, so there's not much choice. He tried LA, but it's just not his scene. Chicago, maybe? Or perhaps Philly...

The subway train comes to a screeching stop, pulling him out of his reverie with a jolt.

He sighs and heads out, up the stairs, taking two steps at a time as he shrugs back on his leather jacket. Too stuffy and humid underground to wear it. It's starting to get that way outside too, but it hasn't quite reached it, the air dusty and crisp.

Chilly for May actually, which seems fitting. Supposedly April is the cruellest month, but Jess wouldn't mind contesting TS Eliot on that. All this evolution and momentum around him, and for all his travelling, Jess is standing still. What he needs is a change.

( This is probably one of those 'careful what you wish for' moments. )

Current Location: Wherever? We'll figure it out
Current Date: October 29th

The Big Applesauce

Entries tagged with character: jess mariano

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