XRUNX|SweetCoffee's was as busy as it always was, which wasn't saying much given it's really the only place worth a damn in this one-horse town. During the weekdays you have practically the whole town roster of Felicity shuffling down the aisles of the all-you-can-eat buffet. Weekends, the special at SweetCoffee's brings in the trucker crowd for scalding hot cups of the establishment's namesake. Sundays you get the church crowd, dressed in their best - and guess what, it's the same dumb motherfuckers who have been eating here throughout the week. SweetCoffee's might as well have been Town Hall or Mecca or whatever.
XANDX|Today was a Sunday, so it was all suits and skirts and "God bless you" filling their plates with fried chicken and squash and shit. A line of people on both sides of the buffet island where the mashed potatoes are. Oh boy, an open counter so you can get at those potatoes from BOTH sides! Double the fun. I grew up in a town like Felicity, the embarrassingly named Seaman just an hour away. In the "Year of Our Lord" 2005, my hometown was so small that if a citizen crossed the street without looking both ways and he - "God bless him" - got hit by a truck, Seaman would get downgraded to a village. Felicity was even smaller.
DON'T|SweetCoffee's is also one of the last restaurants I've ever seen that has a smoking section. "Smoking or Non Smoking?" Music to my ears every time I come here. It's little shit like that which keeps people coming, I guess. For me, it was probably because SweetCoffee's also the secret gathering place for criminal scum such as myself. If you were part of the life, and someone mentioned SweetCoffee's, you knew where to meet 'em. You got every kind here - green, professional, soft, hard - a real assortment "God bless em".
XEVER|Now there was this kid. Dumb fuckin' attitude, smarter fuckin' mouth dressed in a hoodie. Not a big deal, because I've been doing AA meetings and they teach me how to deal with anger. Count down from ten. I'm sitting here, cigarette pinched between my fingers counting down from ten while plates smack on tables and forks and knives clink together and I've got a lot hitting me at once, ok? Like a lot. I get to one, and I can still feel my neck all tense and vein-y. So I start again, counting down from ten, and this cocksucker who's responsible for ALL this dumb shit says to me:
XSLOWDOWNX|"What the fuck are you doing?"
XKITX|I lose count. I lose my temper. He gets that look on his face like a deer or gazelle or whatever - like he knows something's bad is coming - and loses his composure. He squirms out of the booth. I squirm out after him and catch his leg with my arm, tripping him down onto the floor. All those fucking plates and forks and knives and "God bless you" shit is all ringing in my ears and shit.
THAT'S|He gets up off the floor and I tackle him. I'm a big guy, a hundred pounds on him so his feet lift completely off the floor as we sail to the ground. He digs a couple of punches into my kidneys and then - WHAM - I crush him down into the floor. I feel the wind knocking out of him, heaving into my face. I don't see the handful of silverware he must have grabbed from a table, and he stabs the whole bundle into my side - fork and knife lodging in with the spoon clinking onto the tile uselessly. I yell and roll off. He gets up to his feet, pulling down a chair as he's trying to catch his breath.
XWHAT|I pull the silverware out of my side grab the cowl of his hoodie. I can hear him gag as I pull on his clothes, swing him over towards the buffet. He catches himself on the buffet island, right in front of the mashed potatoes. I stomp my way over to that cocksucker and he picks up a fresh plate from the buffet, still damp from the dishwasher. He throws it at me like a goddamn Frisbee and hits me in the face, the warm sting of blood on my forehead. It crashes down to the floor with a loud crash and I charge at him. I grab his chin and squeeze, and I slam him down onto the island. This dazes him for a second and I spin him around and just dig that fucker right into the mashed potatoes.
XYOUX|It's a whole fresh tray of mashed potatoes, so they're hot and it's a nice thick cloud of the stuff and I just hold his face right in there. He throttles around now, arms flapping around like some stupid asshole trying to dig his nails into my hands. Then he takes his one hand and reaches into the front pocket of his hoodie. He's got a revolver! A small snub nosed revolver that he pulls out and tries to angle back.
XAREX|I squeeze it out of his hands and it falls onto the buffet counter. He's still kicking and screaming and a free leg of his hits me right in the balls. I let out a big "Oomph", but I keep him down. I've got that balls-kicked-in ache traveling through my stomach and I'm just so fucking angry that this punk kicked ME in the NADS, DAMMIT. I let go of his hand and reach over for the snub nose, place the barrel against the back of his head and fire a round into his skull. A small pop of blood from the wound; a huge spurt of mashed potatoes flies up into the air. The kid stops moving. I can hear myself breathing.
XXAXX|I let the kid go and stand back, warm pain in my side. I look around. A hundred eyes peering at me in fear, crunched under tables and sunken into booths. Truckers. Men. Women. Children. Most of them in their Sunday best. Sirens bleed into the distance. Mashed potatoes run down my arm.
RUNNER|I start runnin'.
Cicada
Presents
This RP is rated "M" for potential uses of:
- Blood and Gore
- Alcohol and Narcotic Usage
- Sexual and/or Suggestive Themes
- Strong Language
- Violence
The Setup
American Dreamers is set in proximity to Felicity, Ohio 2003. Dreamers is a crime anthology, envisioned to be made up of small time criminals - be it petty thieves, murderers, whores and so on who have all most likely bitten off more than they can chew. Dreamers is made to be a satire of violence and greed, through the eyes of whatever colorful cast players can dream up.
How Things Work
DISRUPTION SYSTEM
In American Dreamers players not only craft their own characters and play out their stories - as usual - but are given a bigger emphasis and encouragement on sending events, problems, worrisome developments and dangers into the way of the other players. Specifically (and subject to change) once every post, players may OPT to throw story events at the player who posted previously. This means outside forces that aren't directly actions of another player's character.
For instance:
Player Margaretsucks writes a post about her character Susan, and how Susan is in county lockup just outside of Cincinnati.
Player Davidbutthead adds that the psycho-bitch-ex-girlfriend of Susan's boyfriend, has also just been placed in lockup much to Susan's dismay. Davidbutthead then writes a post about Stanley, (ironically) the carpet steamer with an addiction to Malaysian Cantaloupe Porn.
Player Margaretsucks must now deal with that psycho-bitch-ex-girlfriend, or have it factor somehow into that post / her story.
This system is experimental and might be scrapped or amended as time progresses. I would recommend that players who OPT to take this challenge, to limit introducing brand new characters so we aren't overflowed. You could make a car break down. You could make a gun jam. Just remember, you're limited to one thing, as big or as small as that may be. (Within reason, and realistic within the setting).
As the GM I reserve the right to listen to any complaints, and ignore them or act on them as I see fit. Sometimes life isn't fair. Sometimes you might be being excessive. Talk about it in the OOC, that's what it's for. I might ask that someone's "Disruption" is removed or altered - but this should only be in an extreme case and I really don't want to.
Remember, if something happens and you feel it's pretty reasonable, experience the fun of rolling with the punch - or even, literally, bite the bullet. Upon character death, players may simply re-apply with a new one.
ALSO! Players who are OPTING to add a Disruption (you don't have to) may post a "Placeholder" post in the IC thread and then edit it in afterwards. This is to prevent instances where someone posts before you do, and you were none the wiser. This has to be edited in fairly quickly however (politeness dictates, roughly, within an hour?) so as to not hold up the game for very long. A player choosing to do this may post in the IC with something akin to: [PLACEHOLDER], and then simply editing in their entire post after they've finished, or they can have their whole entry posted in the IC with [DISRUPTION PLACEHOLDER] at the top.
The order of operations for any post should be: Disruption First, followed by your own character's post.
Disruptions must be written narratively: "Steven's gun jams unresponsively" vs. "The gun Steven's using is going to jam when he tries to use it."
Like this idea? Hate it? Let me know how you feel and hey, if everyone hates it I'll just scrap it!
The Rules
- 1. Standard RPA Rules apply.
- 2. Be respectful towards all other participants.
- 3. The GM's last word on any kind of conflict or issue, is final.
- 4. Read and take special notice of the "Player Agreement", listed in the section underneath this one.
- 5. Have fun and stuff.
- 6. No "God modding". There's a line between adding a Disruption and taking over.
- 7. The phrase "Help! I've been bitten by a centipede and I need to see the doctor!" needs to be written at the bottom of your character sheet, as proof that you've read through the rules. Don't forget!
- 8. Speak up! Communicate! Hell, hang out in the OOC! Come up with plot twists and ideas not just for yourself, but suggest some for players. If you're kind of bored or stuck, ask other fellow players for help, inspiration, or to throw a big thing at ya!
Player Agreement
- As participants of my RP, you agree to the following conditions:
- That you shall not duplicate, or otherwise portray this RP on your own without my permission this site or otherwise. Do I have a way of enforcing this? No, but it's more of a "gentleman's agreement" so to speak.
- In the event that you become inactive for too long (which I determine upon both my discretion, and the discretion of the other players), through either accidental means or lack of interest, that you will relinquish control and rights to the character you created to me. Said character will be killed off, re-appropriated or even given to another person to portray as they see fit, all in the name of maintaining the integrity of the RP. I doubt this will ever need to come up. You will of course still be credited for the characters creation.
- Players have the right, if for some highly unlikely reason, that I fail my duties as a GM and leave players abandoned, to seize the RP and continue it on without me in my absence, even electing a new GM in my place. The RP comes first.
Character Sheets
(written in HTML code for copy/pasting convenience. Please delete the information in parentheses before posting)
These sheets should be posted directly here into the OOC. I'm also looking for different and unique characters, so make sure to keep an eye on other player's characters! Also, characters should all at least be a little dirty. Part of the aesthetic of American Dreamers is that there are no "white nights". There can be redeemable ones, sure.
Spoiler: Character Sheets (Small Change Made 4/10)
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