CITY CREATURE DISSECTION

 

— vin, vince, vinnie, vinnie the poo, whatever you can squeeze out of vincent. dorm residential advisors trying to make freshmen feel included are almost as creative as drunk/high/old friends. almost.
— mister doo-naj-skee??? he'll reward your efforts with a vanilla sweet smile and a "please, feel free to call me vincent. we're all friends here, yes?" don't murder my family via my polish name, yes?

— student, nursing (bscn), junior, ryerson
— barista and assistant manager at cult café
— there are times when he's actually helpful, like when he puts a cup in front of charlie, steals a slab of paperwork, and makes twenty calls in a half-hour. rest of the time, he spends chatting people up at the counter like the résumé-padder he is.

— closeted koala, somehow the responsible one, exasperated always, superiority complex, bleeding heart, coward, eager to please, knows when to shut up, never knows what to actually say.
— his decision-making process goes something like "oh... it." it's an unfortunate series of facepalms and sighs and hurried glances at his watch. vincent wants to bum around and be fawned over, but alas, sometimes it's like he's the only one with common sense. maybe it's a ryehigh thing, but the people who end up his friends just... don't have it together? like, vincent does crazy too, but he won't get into vicious cycles because free fall is too scary?? he'd almost admire the ones who dare to jump, if he were any less aware of how they landed.
— as a result of actually having survival instincts, he gets saddled with everyone else's , yay! then and again, if he actually had survival instincts, he'd bail to where-ever ruthless successful people go. instead, he's counting down the seconds before 11am lecture while fussing over his , hungover roommate. he feels the sickly sweet of superiority for doing as good friends do, feels generous for swallowing his complaints. could he take this extra shift? could he do this, do that? look at him the right way, and he'll go beaming like a king as he takes out the trash.
— he's so easily used, it's pathetic. he's the go-to for getting  done, and that's partly why he never gets around to important things of his own. every sunday is a panic of trying to finish homework for monday. he'd wash dishes for his one night stand but can't be bothered with his own sink. he's a wannabe martyr, needs to be needed. without that, he is just... not.
— needed, i mean.
— it's not like vincent doesn't know. he knows from books and shows and watching while pretending to read that there's this intangible, irreplaceable point in friendship where silence can be comfortable and everything is funny but you had to be there... but how do you get there? should he be more interesting? manic pixie dream boy it up? but he just listens well and plays along. if he talks, it's as if he didn't. if he fetches the drinks, people don't remember who they thank for shot #5. if he just sits there looking pretty, at least the ones see him. oh well, it, he'll take what he can get.

LIFE HISTORY

 

— i don't know how relevance works, i'm sorry.
— one of those cute places small enough and near enough to toronto that he always said, "hi i'm vincent, i'm from toronto." even though he wasn't really.
— white cis male, middle class family, supported by two stable jobs... he has no excuse.
— was told to chase his dream like he knew what the that was
— other than that, he was good at doing what he was told. made it easy for everyone. plus if something went wrong it was always someone else's decision, never his fault.
— oh now he has to make his own choices
— a timid exercise in liberty: he dyed his hair black when he entered uni and rocked an emo cut that made him feel eyes on him. had his first kiss with a boy who loved to pull on that hair and about golden roots peeking through.
— didn't feel golden when the guy dumped him for a pg romance though. he slept through some classes that week, and by sleeping i mean sleeping around. and by sleeping around i mean doing so much crazy stuff, he was not at all okay.
— he was a wild child for a good few months there, was just building his reputation when the regret hit, when he woke up in the hospital and realized:
— he's highlights in color code and wants cereal not for breakfast. he doesn't want to forget or to feel nothing. that. he likes morning chill and saying hi to dog walkers and helping them clean the dog poo. there was no room for any of that when the pills are making choices for him.
— even without a dream, even he's just a shell of person for now, he wants to be a complete shell.
— also, he'd not stupid;  isn't understanding. it's not a replacement for love or for affirmation or for actually finding out what he's good for.
— ah, but sometimes, he gets back a quiz on which he forgot something stupid and thinks these exact words: well, at least i remember to make the other person  too.
— ping-pongs with blonde and black hair nowadays, blonde when he wants to get away from this mess, black when he wants to rule it.
 

— friends are made by proximity. he learns how to handle people but not much else about them.
— a bunch of party friends that he kind of knows, kind of mothers, kind of acts as designated driver for while tiredly scolding. he coaxes vomit out, inserts water and food, breaks into their phone to assure people that the person "is fine, at vincent's."
— "at vincent's" is a synonym for "don't worry, your loved one will not die in the night and will get back to stuff on time tomorrow because vince will haul them there before his 11am classes" and "damn we owe him another one."
— yet vincent's birthday attendance is still .
— they're always trying to get him back into a party or a whatever, to varying levels of success. usually, it's "i have this tomorrow, i have this due monday, i have a stick up my ," but when he does deflate and mutter a yes, he is gone for the night. half the "crew" keeps a bit sober those nights, because a jazzed up vincent is a vincent worth remembering.
— they like him for not fighting them to quit this or clean up that. not gonna lie, he wants to, but he also knows that they would probably splinter off if he did and he doesn't know how to tell them anyways.
— and he likes being the one they like.
— keeps in touch with his parents, sort of. calls on birthdays and holidays and promises to visit, but he's just getting through each day and suddenly he hasn't called in weeks.
— there's this one person, falling so much faster, so much harder, but deserving so much more. vincent does the usual: keep alive, ease into tomorrow, leave the important things unsaid.
— now, he didn't offer his couch, but he's not going to kick them off either. might as well put a blanket on them so he doesn't need to give them meds too.
— is his reasoning, which doesn't explain the quietly sitting awake by the couch jumping at every cough. he has stayed up to make sure others didn't go into the good night, but he's never been scared to sleep.
— they talk. the other probably doesn't remember a thing, but vincent keeps rewinding and wondering if he went wrong somewhere.
— why is vincent so damn useless is he just going to stand here while these people fall apart before he even gets to know them what the vincent is this what you're made of is this all you're good for just helping others to feel good about yourself that's bull vincent when are you actually going to help someone?
— it, he needs to do this.

— "i'm quite good, thanks!" he says smoothly, without stopping, barely even looking up. the words come out all at once, but the tone and the 'quite' are enough to maybe show he didn't say that on autopilot. he looks up for real now, hands still. only a cynic would think he wasn't really listening.
— "and 'yo' how are you?"

— "um, it's okay? every day starts at 11am for me this semester, so morning routines are actually a thing now. i've been learning how to make brunch foods these days. so far no fires, haha." and only a dreamer would think he wasn't cherry-picking the relatable parts and making small talk, but he offers a smile in exchange for your blind eye.
— "so it's brunch, class, library, class, and then the rest depends on the time of week. weekends are for catching up on stuff, like shows, sleep, bla bla." he laughs. wind chimes. on the door of a gas station. nice enough but not worth remembering.

— "i share this apartment in york," and he points out the window, as if you could see through buildings. "near the subway, so it's like 20-40 minutes to campus. i'm kind of a hermit so i can't speak for the neighborhood, but you get a nice dog walker or two. hot water's cool. or well, not 'cool' but... you get it."

— his eyebrows go up a split second before the corners of his lips. "is this an offer?"

— he makes a show of looking at his watch and reading the current day, hour, minute, second off of it. no further elaboration. he doesn't know what to do with this question.

— "i dream random sh-stuff. your usual pink unicorn stuff with the occasional 'oh crap i showed up to midterms with no pants.'" he glances around for a moment before leaning in, letting his hair fall over his eyes and vaguely attempting to seduce you. "wet dreams can include both past and future, though i do like to make the future ones come true, you know?"
— it's a joke, obviously. he's not going to reach across the counter now for a hollywood make-out, and he doesn't expect you to. he also knows what you mean and is done ing with your mind now. "dreams, though... it's definitely future. i can't change anything that happened already, and i don't really have a lot that i personally need to change, you know? if that power exists, someone else should have it."
—"but i can change what's coming. as they say in all that inspirational stuff. i'm going to get through these classes and just get jobs to pay for classes until that eventual phd. the end goal is to some good for public health, especially making sure quality care can reach even the fringe populations. we aren't usa levels of 'oh crap,' but we aren't perfect, yes?"

— he pauses, still leaning forward awkwardly from the attempted flirting. "i guess i hate not being able to do anything. so the flip side would be wanting to do something for someone, even if it's one person and i get hit by a car the next day, it'll be worth it, i guess?"
— a small, confused creature nibbles at the thought and seems perplexed by the taste. is that certainty? is that a promise? are those words that he should not eat? he thinks, nibbles, thinks, nibbles, doesn't seem to notice when you leave.

WINDING DOWN

 

USERNAME: -velsi-

ALIAS: eis / that one bunghole / idc really <3

COMMENTS: can't initial lucky blue smith w/o bs amirite. also i gave you square faceclaim picture things because it looks like there are lots of squares all up in here? also i don't know what brevity is. sorry, please yell at me.
 

QUESTIONS: yo, how's life?

PASSWORD: affliction

BIO BASICS

 

twenty
february first
he him his

quirks

 

— has 20/20 vision and is careful about eyestrain. being so dependent on any one object (suh as glasses) is scary.
— he's an easy catch on the one night stand market, but he will not touch you if you cannot promise you have no stds/stis. can't get that one past a nursing student.
— fluent in both polish and french, and secretly super proud ot it,
— never been to poland but is super biased towards his parents' home while watching sports and loves to read the polish news. kind of sad when people only know poland as the country that got invaded in wwii.

— reads ingredient and nutrition boxes on his groceries. he doesn't really care about calories, but given six competing brands, he'd like to pick out which ones that kill less quickly.
— scoffs at frozen pierogis.
— only inigo gets his coffee right, like how?? even vincent can't get vincent's coffee right.
— likes green! but it is not a good color on him, says tata. in hindsight, his father likely meant green as in envy, but just in case, he lowkey avoids wearing it.
— has lots of phone games but he never pays any money.
— kinda likes when the dye job is not perfect, like when there's a little hint of true colors
— conformist. it's in the little things. he always sounds like whoever he hangs out with. some folks sell out their bodies, vincent sells out his vernacular.
— checks his watch way too often. he's not going anywhere but it sure looks like he is.
— honestly prefers when people forget to thank him, since "under-appreciated" is highkey vincent's aesthetic.
— veeeery weak for sleeves going over people's hands so just fingertips peek out. he does it too when he's feeling badass adorable.

suggestions

 

— the responsible driver, i guess?
— maybe it's funny that he's the one who cleans up and studies super hard, but also he is as much if not more of a than the cheaters.
— i think i put a lot of stuff into the left sections that belong in this part, my bad.
— should that have gone in comments? idek man.
— honestly, he may be better suited to the cheaters or the dreamers plotlines, but i liked the idea of a protector who was also somewhat ed up, who has the good intentions without the "spark," per se, makes them an obvious answer.
— i left a lot of open spots like for his room mate(s) and his friends, in case you want to slot the applicants in?
— i also tried to keep things wide open for the other victim applicant, but let me know if this is too vague!
— basically he's a simple kid who just wants to help, but he has shared his recent past with some aspect of the victim's affliction
— you can define his "wild child" days however you want, is my point
— the whole thing starts with him baby sitting yet another "friend" who vincent really doesn't know, but then it gets real and oops hi feels.
— half is vince with his weird for thankless tasks and for playing the saint while at any shred of worth
— half is that part of him that decided to pull away from the wild things so he can figure out his raison d'être; he can't just watch as someone dies in a fire that's still at his heels, you feel?
— like, he is so close, maybe he can just reach in and it can be so, so easy. or maybe he can pulled back as easily as he fell in the first time, and it's a battle to save someone else while keeping himself out of old habits too.
— idk if this makes sense sorryyy
— his polish roots are valuable to me. even if it's just him in the background calling his parents in polish, that is all i need. it just makes me sad when the many caucasians in a story get written as a lump, since the ethnic battles can be big even when we cannot see the differences at play. not to discount what non-white and non-white passing folks have to go through; there are a lot more ethnic nuances that get passed by there tbh, but... yeah.
— picked his major when he realized good medical care was complex and very  crucial. (i'll let you pick why he got hospitalized on that fateful day, but it's part of this.) a good nurse can make a big difference, save a life not just in the medical sense but also just welcoming someone back into their own skin and caring about them even if no one gave enough s to do anything earlier.
— so many of these kids major in things they were already good at. and here's vincent, nosediving, struggling. so what? he wants this. he has no idea what he's doing, but this means something to him so please let him have this.
— he can't recall the nurse's name or face even (he was ed up, give him a break), but he's always thinking now "what would that person do?" as he tries to do the same for the protected.