ripleysxfiles

[ripleysxfiles]

CLARK, CHARLIE.

Charlie let out a low whistle at the other’s obvious despair “That sucks. What was it on?” He asks as he grabs a bottle of beer-it’s a decent brand- and opens the top of it before sliding it over. Charlie had never gotten to go to college. He had only been in the 5th or 6th grade when Kappa had taken him; and while there was basic schooling there, it wasn’t anything like he had heard about since getting out. Or even when he was inside, when the new people would talk about things.  “Figure best to start here and then move onto the stronger stuff. Unless you wanna start there in which case just lemme know” 

          “Uh,   it  was  a  statistical  physics  class.”   Ripley  flinched.   Despite  their  passion  for  space  exploration,   when  it  came  to  talking  about  their  major,   sometimes  it  felt  like  bragging.   They  weren’t  one  of  those  people  who  thought  they  were  smarter  than  other  people...   clearly  not  with  their  history,   but  still.   People  didn’t  just  study  astrophysics  if  they  weren’t  interested  in  space,   if  they  couldn’t  handle  school.   “Sounds  good.   Anything  is  better  than  nothing.”   They  sighed  again.   “I  don’t  do  a  lot  of  drinking  these  days.   Not  a  lot  of  time  with  all  my  classes.” 

[ripleysxfiles]

FINS.

         at first, fins can’t help but flinch back at the sound of a new voice, even as gentle as it sounds. is someone coming around to finish him off? while blind, he couldn’t fight back even if he wanted to. and he doesn’t. “please…” he whimpers, hands still firmly pressed over his eyes. they burn worse than any fire he’s ever had the misfortune of poking at. “please don’t—please don’t hurt me anymore. i’ll leave. i promise.”

          There  was  water  near  by.   It  was  just  a  fountain  but  it  would  do.   People  certainly  weren’t  very  nice  or  friendly  to  other  people.   Ripley  had  been  on  the  same  end  from  bullies  before   and  it  wasn’t...   well  it  wasn’t  good.   “I  won’t  hurt  you,   I  promise.   One  time  someone  tried  to  fight  me  for  a  sweater  and  instead  of  fighting,   I  cried  and  they  left  me  alone.”   Ripley  wasn’t  much  of  a  fighter.   “But  there’s  a  fountain  over  here.”   They  started  walking  towards  it.   “Uh...   can  you  see  at  all?” 

[ripleysxfiles]

status / closed for @tiff-chiba​​ location / ripley’s apartment.  

          “Wait  a  second?   This  person  can’t  be  real.   Real  evidence  of  Bigfoot.”   They  clicked  on  the  article  and  just  glanced  at  it.   “Okay,   this  is  bullshit.   First  of  all,   that’s  clearly  not  Bigfoot,   that’s  just  some  blurry  deer  photo.   Second,   Bigfoot  is  a  woman  and  clearly  in  love  with  Mothwoman.   Like  don’t  these  people  do  decent  research  before  forming  opinions?”   Ripley  looked  up  at  Tiff  and  tilted  their  head.

[ripleysxfiles]

status / closed for @charlie-clark​​ location / the bar charlie works at.  

          “I  got  the  worst  grade  in  one  of  my  classes  today.”   They  drummed  their  fingers  against  the  bar  surface  and  let  out  a  huge  sigh.   Ripley  had  gotten  so  into  their  research  and  their  show  that  they  forgot  to  turn  an  assignment  on  time.   “Hit  me  with  uh...”   they  trailed  off,   not  really  drinking  that  much  anymore.   “Um.   Whatever’s  decent.” 

[ripleysxfiles]

status / closed for @gumdrcp​​ location / coffee shop.  

          “Okay,   but  why  are  there  so  many  people  here  today?”   they  asked,   trying  to  find  a  place  to  sit  down.   “Like  really.   I  can’t  even  find  a  place  to  sit  let  alone  think.   How  am  I  supposed  to  research  in  here?” 

[ripleysxfiles]

FINS.

          starter for @ripleysxfiles​ !!

          whatever had been sprayed at him stung like fire straight into his eyes, leaving him floundering and clutching at his irritated face. unable to blink or shed tears to clear them, he ends up sat against the side of what he thinks might be a car, hands pressed hard against his eyes. “ow…”

          “Hey  buddy.”   They  watched  whatever  was  being  sprayed.   Ripley  glared  at  the  person  who  had  sprayed  the  thing  and  they  ran  off.   Honestly,   they  didn’t  really  know  what  to  do  to  help,   but  standing  around  looking  stupid  felt  like  the  worst  move.   “We  should  get  you  to  some  water,   so  you  can  flush  that  out  of  your  eyes.”   But  they  were  blanking  on  where  to  even  go  to  get  water. 

[ripleysxfiles]

status / closed for @tristanburton​ location / tbd.

          Ripley  was  tired  of  a  ton  of  things,   but  mostly  they  were  tired  of  every  day  life  things.   School  and  work  and  everything.   It  was  all  so  annoying,   having  work  and  school  and  having  to  check  in  on  their  moms  and  siblings.   Which  everything  was  necessary  though.   If  ever  they  wanted to  go  to  space,   finishing  school  was  the  only  way  to  do  that.   “Someone  today  told  me  that  mothwoman  wasn’t  real.   And  I  had  an  urge  to  show  them  my  murder  board.   Well,   it’s  not  really  a  murder  board,   but  it’s  a  investigative  board  thing.” 

[ripleysxfiles]

WHITE, CAMERON.

where: a park of some kind, somewhere in chicago status: closed ( @ripleysxfiles​ )

“Okay, but hear me out,” Cameron starts, footfalls clumsy as she walks backwards in front of Ripley, “If all cryptids are real, then they must have run into each other. The woods are not as big as they once were. How have we not heard tall tales of Mothman and Bigfoot battling it out for their dinner?” 

Ripley’s knowledge of the lore of the unexplained was nothing short of amusing to Cameron. Mostly because, despite being something of a cryptid herself, she didn’t believe in things like aliens and bigfoots quite as much as someone with otherworldly powers should. Besides, she liked to hear them talk about all of that stuff. They were passionate about it, clearly, and it was nice to just see someone enjoying something. It was surprising how much she just missed joy after so long without it. 

Not to mention, if she kept them talking about things like that, she didn’t have to talk about herself. Really, it felt genius in its own way. She finally turns back around, already feeling her footing starting to fail underneath her as her coordination finally gives up on keeping her upright. “And, if there is, I need your next episode to be about that.”

          Ripley  scoffed,   not  paying  attention  to  where  they  were  going  and  trying  not  to  roll  their  eyes  at  the  statement  that  they  were  hearing  right  now.   Clearly  there  was  an  answer  to  it  and  really,   explaining  it  felt  like  too  big  of  a  deal.   “Well  obviously.   Mothwoman  and  Bigfoot  are  lovers,   so  that’s  why  they  aren’t  out  there  arguing.   What  do  you  think  they  do?   A  tree  falls  in  the  woods  and  no  one  hears  it,   doesn’t  mean  it  doesn’t  make  a  sound.   Mothwoman  and  Bigfoot  fuck  in  the  woods  and  no  one’s  around,   doesn’t  mean  it  didn’t  happen.   Come  on   ask  a  more  interesting  question.” 

          Ripley  was  aware  that  they  had  some  really  out  there  opinions  when  it  came  to  cryptids,   but  they  didn’t  really  care.   They  choose  to  believe  that  all  of  it  was  real.   They  lived  in  a  vast  and  wonderful  world  after  all.   How  were  they  supposed  to  think  that  this  stuff  wasn’t  real.   Ripley’s  moms  had  always  encouraged  them  to  talk  about  the  things  they  were  passionate  about.   

          “No,   actually  my  next  episode  is  on  antisemitism  being  the  reason  the  lizardfolk  of  Los  Angeles  exists  as  a  legend.   So  like  really  the  same  topic,   I  guess.”   They  follow  Cameron  as  she  walks,   honestly  unsure  where  they  are  even  going,   but  along  for  the  ride  as  per  usual.   

[ripleysxfiles]

( JOE KEERY, AGENDER, THEY/THEM ) — Look who it is! If you take a look at our database, you’ll find that RIPLEY VAN SANT is a twenty-eight year old PHD STUDENT, ENGINEER, AND PART-TIME WEB SHOW HOST that’s been in Chicago for EIGHT YEARS. According to the file, they are FOR MUTANTS. That must be why they’re FRIENDLY and CHAOTIC. If you ask me, they remind me of nasa posters, rainbow flags, an old car covered in bumper stickers, quoting fox mulder. They are affiliated with NOBODY.

character inspo  —  pez (red, white, and royal blue), mateo (911 lone star), shane madej (buzzfeed unsolved), the entire cast of high school musical: the musical: the series (high school musical: the musical: the series), fox mulder (x-files)

trigger warnings for drug abuse/drug mentions, overdose, homophobia (implied)

@forwardintros​

STATISTICS: 

Label:  The Chaos Storm

Full Name: Ripley Daniel Van Sant

Nicknames: Rip (by Pip only)

Birthplace: Asheville, NC

Parentage: Daniel Van Sant, Elizabeth Van Sant & Leslie Van Sant

Siblings: Pip Van Sant, Etta Torres, Louisa Torres (sibling in law), Hedwig Van Sant, Korra Van Sant 

Greek Zodiac: Aries 

Element: Fire

Myers Briggs: ENFP-T / 86% extraverted, 84% intuitive, 86% feeling, 100% prospecting, 57% turbulent 

Temperament: Sanguine

Seven Roles:  The Sage

Alignment: Neutral Good

BIOGRAPHY: 

Trash. That’s what everyone in the town of Asheville said about the Van Sant family. The family of seven lived in a cramped, falling to pieces house on the outskirts of town. Ripley was the middle child of their family. They grew up entirely too poor and Ripley’s father kept two jobs in order to keep the family afloat while their mother worked her own odd jobs when she could. Which basically left Ripley and their four other siblings adultless most of the time, especially since their nearest neighbor was at least six miles away. What the Van Sant family lacked in money, they gained in being a close knit family. Ripley’s mother told them bedtime stories and when their dad was home, he would play catch with his children. 

There were rumors about the family being drug pushers. Ripley’s father was said to be a drug lord and did all his business out of the shed in the back yard. Their mother was said to sell on the side, since she didn’t have another job. The rumors were all over the place from a comment here and there, to there being actual conspiracy theories about it. Ripley can’t count the number of times the police showed up at their door, expecting to finally find evidence of their father’s crimes. But the rumors weren’t true. They were just a below average American family with nothing but each other.

Life was okay with Ripley until they turned six and their parents got a divorce. It didn’t surprise anyone —  they’d been having problems for a while and with little money saved up, tensions in the house had grown high. Ripley was too young to understand what was going on, but suddenly their father was gone, leaving only one parent in the house. It didn’t bother them because honestly it wasn’t much different than before, except Etta wasn’t around as much, babysitting near by kids. 

Almost six months went by before Ripley said their father again. In that time, their mom had started dating someone new, her childhood sweetheart. Ripley’s father was appalled that she had the never to be in a relationship after such a short amount of time after their divorce, and to someone they’d both been friends with in high school. But Ripley didn’t understand the problem, Leslie was a very nice women and they liked her very much. Their father ran out of the house and swore never to return, which is a promise he kept. 

Eventually their momma married Leslie and they moved into a slightly bigger and better house. The seven year old had no idea what was happening, but suddenly, they had a room they only had to share with one sibling, not three. And instead of having a mom and a dad, they had two moms and no dad. It was an adjustment, but they really did love their new mom. 

Things started to change for Ripley when they entered high school. The kids around them started paying more attention to clothing and shoes, things that they knew they could never afford. Despite living in better conditions than before, their parents still didn’t have extra money to buy fancy things for their children, especially when it wasn’t one pair of Converse, it was five. Which Ripley didn’t mind at first. Then other children started making fun of them for their handed down clothing and ripped shoes. They were already younger than everyone there, having skipped two grades. Something in them snapped. They were better than them, even if they didn’t have what everyone else around them had. At first it was little things that Ripley did that got themself into trouble; fights with other students, talking back to teachers, and snapping at anyone that tried to help. When that stopped satisfying them, Ripley sought out other ways to be a little more defiant —   stealing, lying, going to parties, getting drunk. 

It wasn’t long before they fell in with the wrong crowd, where they started dealing and doing drugs. Ripley’s teachers all tried to get more involved with their life and keep them away from the groups of people they’d gotten in with, but the more they tried, the more Ripley pushed them away, refusing help from everyone, including their own family. With a steady income from the drugs they was dealing, Ripley could get anything they wanted. Those people that made fun of their plain clothing, boring sneakers, and handed down cell phone, watched as they suddenly owned the best they were willing to buy. They rose to the top, surrounding themself with the people that used to make fun of them — if only to prove that they had the ambition to do what it took to prove everyone wrong. 

All good things must come to an end however, and things feel fast for Ripley. Senior year of high school, Ripley overdosed on some prescription drugs they’d taken before class — a mix of things they didn’t even know what they were. Rushed to the hospital, the doctors managed to save their life and they were sent to rehab for the rest of their senior year. None of those friends they made visited them. 

When they were released, Ripley ended up redoing their senior year, but rather than finish school off in Asheville, his parents relocated to Blowing Rock, North Carolina, a smaller town, where no one would know what happened to them. And luckily, it helped with the healing process. They managed to get through their senior year with little effort and without doing a single drug, even with temptations at parties. They graduated the top of their class and at seventeen, they had the pick of college. But they did something unexpected: they stayed for two years at community college in a year and a half before transferring to a four year university in Chicago.

They graduated from the Illinois Tech with a degree in Aerospace Engineering and Applied Physics before going to graduate school at the same school for a master’s degree from the same college. School has always been something important to them and their goal: space exploration. 

Eight years later, Ripley is getting their PhD in Aerospace Engineering. But it’s their side business that’s what’s gotten them put on the map. Cryptids and Crime is their popular web show they started in their free time when they moved. The show focuses on different crimes and cryptid stories throughout the world, though their main focus is on the supernatural. Space and the unusual have always been a big part of their life, especially after their older brother Pip got them obsessed with the X Files at a young age.