Chapter Text
Bla bla bla lore dump:
- It's the 3920s United States
- Our main cast was born in, raised in, and continues to live in Ardor Point, a majority Black city in New York State that has become overrun with crime since the passing of EIRA after it's extremely fast downfall from an up-and-coming hub for the entertainment industry.
- EIRA, also known as the Entertainment Induction & Regulation Act, is an executive order that went into affect in 3918 prohibiting unapproved activities and media from a person or group of people. It is intentionally vague, intended to ensure stable and loyal workforces by ensuring that no one could have anything to do BUT work. Getting activities or media outside of your job approved is extremely difficult no matter how essential it is.
- Thanks to police officers (now commonly called city security enforcers, enforcers in general language, or authies in slang) attempting to keep the general public from accessing any media (including articles written to inform the general public) without going through the aforementioned difficulties by any means necessary (even going as far as destroying the media in question after processing any evidence from it), gangs of "librarians" which at first were literal librarians and library science students formed to preserve media. Individual goals differ but all agree that media must be preserved and available to whoever wants or needs them.
[CRAPPP I HAD MORE YAPPING BUT I'VE BEEN WORKING ON THIS LORE DUMP FOR TWO DAYS NOW SO I DON'T REMEMBER IT AAHHHHH]
Characters to know:
Keisha: Enjoys domestic tasks but does them in the most unstable way, works at the Overground Underground (which in functional terms is a gang of violent librarians mainly dedicated towards media preservation and protecting upcoming artists) as an archivist, has ADHD (rejection sensitive dysphoria go brrrrrr) and probably some level of anxiety considering all the poverty and being a neglected child in her backstory plus half of her job being violence. Very talkative, has overshared to random people. She's 24 years old and bisexual, and has made a personal project out of archiving all of the Looney Tunes cartoons due to them getting her through her trauma (she also has a lot of Barffy fanfiction from middle and high school but don't tell her I said that)
TLDR of Keisha: Outgoing and kinda unhinged, has ADHD and her RSD is worse than average (plus there's a non-zero chance she has anxiety problems), part of her unhingedness is DEFINITELY an escapism method, bisexual, does film retrieval and archival, also she's 23
Akeem: Akeem stayed a singer despite it being very illegal and having PTSD from the last time he had to deal with the police (he was in elementary school, it caused the death of his parents, he almost went to jail for the rest of his schooling life even though he didn't do anything to get his parents killed, the police officer literally got a day in jail and no other consequences, he doesn't like talking about it extensively). He also really likes jewel beetles. He only knows base level stuff about them but he's been fixated on them since he was a child... so he's autistic and has hypersensitive smell and taste, and has weirdness with sound, he seeks out loud music, but many of his PTSD triggers are sound based, basically he does not do live shows outside of the House of Whit. Granted he's also not nearly as much of a people person as Keisha is. He mostly just hangs out with Keisha, looking up jewel beetle pictures or trying to take a good photo for once. He's 22, also bi, and has been trying to make a complete story for Miss Striata, his stage persona, in the form of an album (it keeps referencing his own life, so he keeps throwing the idea out and just making singles)
TLDR of Akeem: A loner, has a special interest in jewel beetles, works as a singer but really isn't much of a known presence, really does not want to face his past
Daniel: Tamika's son. He always admired heros in tv shows, how they fought for people in trouble. How they fought purely for the rights of innocent people... turns out that those people was only in his ideals. The world was much less kind to him when he finally realized himself. So he vowed that when he joined the Ardor Point Enforcement Agency that he'd change the law to be kind to himself and those like him. Unfortunately, or fortunately as she's been convinced by her boss, she now is part of the driving force of "enforcing sense into the public" by doing the very thing she swore to defeat. But she'll deny it up and down. She'll deny it when Tamika asks why her boss is constantly calling her and when her own mother notices that she's been more anxious than ever. She'll deny it when Akeem asks why he's being pushed towards the men's section when he knows his sizing in the women's section. And she'll even deny it when Keisha reminds her that just a year ago he could've been in the handcuffs she uses on her peers. Unlike her criminals of a mother and found siblings, she actually abides by EIRA, spending most of her time out of work hours... not doing much. She mostly just sits around at home staring at whatever's on tv, or attends the occasional enforcer networking and training event. He used to do ballet. And he used to live in an apartment complex closer to Tamika. They're not sure why Daniel's boss demanded she not associate with them outside of their own homes.
TLDR: He's got so much shit going on I can't TLDR
Tamika: A pretty well-known person in Ardor Point's queer community, is one of the co-founders of the House of Whit (the other being her ex-wife, Jo), considered "a wine aunt so legendary she's mother", the least shaken in the Tupperware of Angst (literally all she has to worry about is her blood pressure and helping other people. Considering this is in comparison to Keisha, Akeem, and Daniel who will literally die with one wrong move, being able to say "Jesus Christ y'all raise my blood pressure" is the best you're getting in terms of mental stability). She loves all of her children, both her biological son and the ones that claimed her for her deeds. She's generally pretty lighthearted, VERY under a rock even to stuff people her age as caught wind of (she's 58 BTW), and is extremely loyal to those who consider her family.
TLDR: Legendary ballroom mother, takes on the blood pressure issues because she wouldn't trade her life for the world, still somehow very light of mind and loyal
Apologies for the long lore dump so large I couldn't keep it in a note, it will probably happen again, enjoy the silliness
Akeem (Slightly muffled): Hey Kei-Kei, is the pasta water supposed to smell like tar before or after the pasta is added?
Keisha: There's a secret third option here: Neither.
Akeem: Well it smells like tar... could you come in here and take a look?
[Keisha walks in to Akeem holding a dish towel over his nose and mouth]
Keisha (Looks into the pot to see the hot mess): Honey, light of my life, my beloved, HOW DID YOU MANAGE TO CHAR WATER?! YOU AREN'T EVEN SUPPOSED TO BE ABLE TO CHAR LIQUID!
[Due to Keisha's looney tunes powers, foreboding music randomly comes on due to Keisha realizing that Akeem literally just wants help making pasta- oh the viewer's eye is at a cutting board with a bowl of dried macaroni on it now]
Keisha: Macaroni was the first pasta ever widely known to Italians as Arabs kept breaking into Italian peoples' houses to tell them about how good it is. In order to make a macaroni most likely destined for cheese because where the hell else do you think we live, you get a deep pot that can hold plenty of wat- (she already forgot about the charred water) oh...
Keisha: First, we must clear out any debris in the only pasta pot you have because the second one is at your sister- I mean brother- I MEAN SISTER Daniel- VANESSA's fancy apartment. Still a selfish prick whether or not he has a job where he can't be himself.
[So uh, the water is solid. I'm not kidding. It's fucking solid. Akeem how?!]
Keisha (HOLDING the solid water block thing): To dispose of mysterious debris resulting from failed cooking attempts, you simply... uh... uh... *chucks it into a wall, where it just sits there* hope your wall doesn't stain or get cracks like mine did.
Keisha: The easiest way to wash off char is to go at it with a scrub brush until you cry.
(An hour later)
Keisha: I meant that as a joke how did that work? *sniffle* Whatever. Fill your newly washed pot with a fuck ton of water- [The water bursts into flames]
Keisha: Holy shi- *gets a fire extinguisher and attempts to put out the fire*
[Somehow the fire extinguisher fluid doesn't help anything and the water is even more on fire]
Keisha: AKEEM GET TAMIKA I CAN'T PUT THIS SHIT OUT
Akeem: *Is either starstruck or thing slamming the ground really hard from having a mental breakdown due to the fire alarm, either way he did pull out his phone*
[Meanwhile, Tamika and Vanessa are struggling with a self checkout]
Tamika: But there's no barcode on the individual bananas, why am I supposed to scan them one by one? Plus you save more when you buy in bulk.
Vanessa: Yeah but-
[Tamika's phone rings]
Tamika: 'Yello?
[Akeem (via phone): Hey mom, uhhh, Keisha was tryna help me make macaroni salad, and uh... the pasta pot is VERY on fire now- OH MY GOD-]
Keisha in the background of the phone call: *using Neighbor's Fire Extinguisher. It is still extremely ineffective* RAHHHHHHHHHHHH
Akeem (via phone but further away from the phone): WHERE DID YOU GET ANOTHER FIRE EXTINGUISHER FROM?!]
Tamika: Y'all just get out of the house before both of you crashout, I'll take care of it when I get back.
[By the time Tamika and Vanessa get back and Tamika takes care of the fire, Akeem either had a meltdown, an anxiety attack or both, and Keisha literally screamed her throat out. And they're clinging to each other really hard]
Vanessa: Y'all are fucking dramatic. Don't run that pot under tap water!
Tamika: How were either of them supposed to know that our city's tap water had a mineral that ignites that specific brand's non-stick coating?! You never gave them the instructions!
Keisha (hoarse): Daniel you bit- *throat pain* ack!
Tamika: Come on guys, I got teabags. I'll make some tea.