they are all on the run

intro post !

welcome to my oc sideblog :) my main is @neotheater-official so if you followed me from over there, hello again !

rt. 66: on the run is a story i've had in my head for a long time now and it's been begging to be shared...so here she is ! in snippets and art of course (idk if i'll ever finish it in book form)

set in the mid 1960s, the story follows 5 main characters who are, you guessed it, on the run for one reason or another.

i hope you enjoy my characters, they mean the world to me <3

important info :)

given to me from my grandmother's grandmother's postcard collection (no that's not a typo, my great-great-grandmother collected postcards and they were passed down all these years)

its of route 66 from 1962 !!!! only a few years before the setting of on the run !!!

using this as a reference ASAP

will during his time in santa fe moodboard

lucy and ian's road trip on rt. 66 moodboard

character introduction - Daniel Young

Meet Daniel, a 23 year old from the deep woods of Oregon. He helps run his parent's motor lodge, mainly a place for hunters to stay but often getting tourists and adventurous (or lost) travelers.

He is the definition of country boy. Flannel. Strong. Quiet. Hardworking.

One of the guests that stayed at the lodge introduced him to guitar, a country singer who came to the trees for inspiration. That guest taught Daniel how to play simple chords, sparking a strong interest in the instrument. Once the guest leaves, he is given an offer to ride along to Tennessee, with a stop in California to handle some business. Daniel decides he wants to go with, cautiously weighing his options before taking the opportunity.

In California, the stop is in Los Angeles. He becomes enthralled and a little overwhelmed by the hustle of the city. Stumbling in a club one night, he spots Ian and Lucy's band (along with Frankie and Will). He meets them after their set, and they hit it off.

Daniel also discovers feelings are difficult, especially when the one he harbors feelings for is taken and is also against the law.

Daniel is on the run.

character introduction - William (Will) Robinson

Meet Will, a 20 year old dick who has no clue what he wants to do in life. Having lived in L.A. for his whole life, the second he graduated high school, he booked it to Santa Fe, New Mexico, for a gap year, to figure out his life. Now two years later, he works in a diner as a waiter, flirting with anything that resembles a girl and breathes. He's rude, he's snarky, he's dirty, he's misogynistic, and he has a clean cut look to him, fooling those unless they get too close.

Along with the bad attitude, he can sing. Really well.

He practices this talent when cleaning and closing up the diner, singing along with the jukebox inside. He's never had a formal gig, but if one came his way he wouldn't say no.

Will doesn't hold a steady relationship. He gets around, flinging from woman to woman whenever he gets bored.

One day, he meets Frankie at the diner: washed up, beaten, scrawny as hell. After realizing he can hold his own in a conversation, he offers a place to stay, to keep the pretty baby faced kid out of the competition of course. They form a duo, their voices blending well, and throwing in a little banter for comedy (most of the time the banter is not scripted, it's real insults hurled at each other). It makes decent money, so they decide to take the show to LA, back to Will's hometown. There, the two meet Ian and Lucy, forming a band together.

Will is on the run.

character introduction - Francesco (Frankie) DeLuca

Meet Frankie, a baby faced 18 year old from New York. As any boy from the city, he dreams of being an actor, failing audition after audition. He worked a day job as an apprentice cobbler before losing his job from absences (time spent auditioning around). The sweetest kid you'd ever meet, he catches a bunch of bad luck and often finds himself in a situation where his ass is on the ground covered in blood.

He comes from a large family, the youngest of six with 5 older sisters, and a worrisome mother who never knows where her son is or why he shows up at their door after weeks at a time with a small bundle of cash to give them.

After a string of bad luck (fired from his job, kicked out of his shared apartment for missing rent, failed yet another audition, mugged on the street) all within the same day, he takes a greyhound out of the city, to anywhere but there. To pay for it was a challenge, a moral and financial challenge.

The bus only takes him so far before he has to resort to hitchiking his way across the country, making it as far as New Mexico, where he meets William in a diner.

Frankie is on the run.

character introduction - Lucille (Lucy) Alfred

Meet Lucy, a lower middle class 22 year old, who chose her own name based on her favorite song. She moved to Pennsylvania for her last year of high school and has been stuck there since. She hates it.

She works in the grocer's downtown with her boyfriend Ian. Most of her paycheck goes towards her widower father to help pay the bills. Everyday she dreams of getting out, traveling on the road and leaving her little life behind her.

Lucy is extremely free-spirited and confident. There's nothing she can't do if she puts her mind to it. This also tends to lead her into trouble when she absolutely needs to get something accomplished (regardless of the law). Her first love was the wind in her hair when she was a kid, her second love is Ian, and her third love is the sound of a drumkit, something she discovered when one was being given away at the local record store.

One night, she convinces Ian to let loose, break free of the town they were glued to. She also happens to be the one to convince him to steal his father's T-bird to make their journey in. He wasn't going to miss it anyway.

She loves being out on the open road, and is usually the one to find crazy jobs and barters to help fund their adventure. She looks forward to being the backing beat for a band with no name yet in Los Angeles.

Lucy is on the run.

character introduction - Sebastian (Ian) Taylor

Meet Ian, an upper class almost 21 year old in Pennsylvania who is classically trained in piano with a longing (and an ear) for rock n' roll. He works in secret at the grocer's downtown, with his girlfriend Lucy. The oldest of three, Ian has a younger brother Jonathan and little sister Debbie (short for Deborah). His father is a greedy international businessman who is always away on work travel. His mother is a controlling stay-at-home wife who wants nothing but the best for her oldest son. They throw lavish parties whenever his father returns home, parties in which Ian, reluctantly, plays piano for ambiance.

When he's not hanging with Lucy, Ian loves to be at the local racetrack watching stock cars. The grime and the noise and the rumble he feels in his chest when the cars zip by in the dirt oval are all incredibly appealing to him (similar to the aspects of rock music.)

He also is enrolled at University of Pennsylvania, the closest Ivy League he could apply to. He's smart, but lies about going to class to his parents (he's technically a business major, but never shows up for class).

For years, Ian had been putting away a secret savings from working at the grocer's. It wasn't much, but it was honest money, unlike his parent's fortune. The money, he stashed away in hopes of leaving his town for good, but he never had the nerve to do so. Lucy is the final push that gets him to grab the money and run...or drive off in his father's untouched bright red Thunderbird.

They set off for California. Los Angeles. A chance to start anew, and a chance to get their foot in the music scene there. Taking the steadily declining Route 66 for a scenic journey, they pull odd jobs and music gigs to pay their way.

Ian is on the run.