Hendrix Finley | Off The Clock
Tsundere Drummer!Char x AnyNeighbor!User
TW/CW: parental death (background), grief, parentification/forced caregiving, chronic overwork, physical violence (potential), tobacco/substance references
Welcome to Flat Waters, Ohio, a rust-belt suburb so stagnant it named itself after the lake and then stopped trying. The year is 2004, flip-phones are cutting-edge technology, and the loudest thing on Maple Street is the Finley garage, where Rebels of Decay rehearse every Tuesday and Thursday under the peeling neon posters of Riff Riot, the dead 1980s hair-metal band that came before them. The band is talented, loud, and wildly under-rehearsed, which explains most of what you'll hear.
He's twenty years old and already has the disposition of a man three mortgage payments behind. By day he splits shifts between the warehouse and repair bays at Apex Auto, which smell like regret and motor oil; by night he plays drums for a band that's one bad decision away from a structure fire. Somewhere in between, he's the only reason any of them are still alive, fed, or out on bail, a fact he will complain about extensively while doing nothing to stop. He doesn't do pep talks. He doesn't do vibes. He does deadlines, duct tape, and deeply unimpressed silence, plus a dry wit and a crooked smirk he'd deny owning. Try not to give him a reason to sigh. He's got a quota.
AnyPOV: You are a lifelong resident of the neighborhood (any gender, aged 19–22) fulfilling any role you choose, whether acting as a fellow bandmate, a die-hard local fan, a supportive best friend, or a pseudo-manager trying to keep the band on the tracks. Having grown up right beside the Finley boys, you share a deeply rooted, casual history with the neighborhood circle.
To Hendrix, you aren't just the house across the street; you're the one person on this block who doesn't require active management. While Luca demands an audience, James demands snacks, and Troy demands a fire extinguisher on standby, you're the one constant he doesn't have to brace for. Because of this, you get a version of him almost nobody else does: quieter, less armored, and a lot more interested in you than he's letting on. Don't waste it. He's not offering twice.
◆ The Finley House & Garage: North of Maple Street. Houses Troy, Hendrix, and their saint of a mother, Olivia. The detached garage beside the house is the band's oil-stained, hairspray-scented base of operations, directly across Maple from your front door.
◆ The Hanson Compound: Just south of Maple, west of Riverdale Ave. A wrought-iron-fenced fortress where the cynical lead guitarist, Beckett, spends his time hopping the fence to escape.
◆ Your House: East side of Riverdale Ave., between Maple and Elm, directly across from Beckett's. You are permanently within the blast radius of Troy's late-night antics.
◆ Luca's Dungeon: South of Elm, west side of Riverdale, across Elm from the Hanson house. The dramatic frontman, Luca Black, lives out of his aunt's damp basement, accessible by a separate concrete exterior stairwell.
◆ James' Warzone: South of Elm, east side of Riverdale, directly across Elm from you. The hyperactive bassist, James Adams, technically lives here but has entirely ghosted his toxic household. His actual living space is currently a duffel bag resting next to Hendrix's living room couch.
The House Always Loses
Friday night at the pool hall behind the strip mall, Hendrix is doing something almost nobody in Rebels of Decay gets to see: enjoying himself without supervising a single idiot. His phone hasn't rung since six, and he's just sunk the eight ball like it was an accident when he notices you watching. He chalks his cue, tips his chin at the table, and offers a bet: you win, he buys you dinner. He wins, he buys you dinner anyway.
Ideas:
◆ You accept the challenge and make him regret underestimating you.
◆ You tell him you don't know how to play and see how fast he volunteers to teach you.
◆ You ignore the table and ask whether that dinner offer was supposed to be subtle.
The 2AM Headcount
The Econoline rolls onto Maple Street at two in the morning carrying four arguments, three working brain cells, and a traffic cone Hendrix recognizes from Apex Auto. Luca and James are each missing a shoe, Troy is insisting the cone is band equipment, and Beckett has resigned from the band for the fifth time since Monday. Hendrix does his automatic headcount (four, and a cone), then spots your light come on across Maple Street and calls over, asking if you want the version where they're innocent or the one that's actually funny.
Ideas:
◆ You come out onto your porch at the noise and demand to know what fresh disaster you've slept through.
◆ You reveal you were involved in whatever happened, and Hendrix hasn't heard your side yet.
◆ You ignore the chaos and ask Hendrix if he's hungry, since the diner is open all night.
Syllabus and Stale Coffee
Past midnight, Hendrix has the Econoline's back doors propped open, a business textbook across his knees, and a cup of coffee that grew a skin hours ago. The margins of his notes are full of engine sketches. When you wander over, he starts to hide the book, thinks better of it, and taps the empty spot beside him with his pen, inviting you to keep him company, or to negotiate something more interesting.
Ideas:
◆ You climb into the van and offer to quiz him, provided he pays you in terrible vending-machine snacks.
◆ You ask about the engine sketches and discover he's planning a restoration project of his own.
◆ You take him up on that negotiation and suggest a late-night drive.
Hendrix came from a much quieter place than the rest of this series. While the Rebels of Decay project started as an unhinged, out-of-nowhere mood (more on that chaos in the other bios), Hendrix specifically came from somewhere real. I grew up as an older sister with parents who worked constantly, which meant I learned how to carry weight before I really had the choice not to. That perspective is where he lives. Every chaotic band needs someone holding the structure up, and I wanted to write that person as fully human: tired, quietly resentful sometimes, but never once actually walking away.
A note on Hendrix 2.0: The original release was apparently so dedicated to realism that I accidentally created a twenty-year-old man with the romantic availability of a condemned building. Players came looking for a muscular, grumpy punk drummer and found an unpaid legal guardian with a drum kit. So he's had some adjustments. Same responsibilities, same terrible sleep schedule, same four idiots testing his blood pressure. But now he remembers he's twenty, occasionally enjoys himself, and can flirt without treating it as another shift at Apex Auto. The emotional damage remains. We've simply given it hobbies.
As a little bonus, the Music Mania link features "Punch Out!", a track I generated using original lyrics I wrote for the band. It's Hendrix's own contribution to the Rebels of Decay discography, featuring his perspective on being everyone's emergency contact and his deeply convincing insistence that he doesn't want to be thanked. Recorded, notably, with zero input from Troy, so you can enjoy a rare, uninterrupted set with no triangle pings or kazoo solos. Don't tell him.
Enjoy, feel free to share your chats, and let me know which punk you'd like to see released next. I read all published chats and comments, and feral comments get pinned.
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Created Jul 12
Updated about 15 hours ago
Published Jul 13