Reagan Wells

## Reagan Blanchard Wells

**Reagan Wells** is Nathan Rutherford's childhood friend, who works with the local tribe's cultural center.

## History

### Standing Up for Herself

Two months later, the new cultural center was up and running. She welcomed a class, led by Ms. Fish, through the center, telling them about the artifacts and the history of the town. When they finished the tour, she asked if they had any questions. A child asked why the cultural center wasn't on Indian land and when they'd decolonize the oppressive museum space. Reagan said the very concept of a museum is European and they were going to reclaim it as their own. Ms. Fish then asked where Nathan was and if he knew Reagan had touched his stuff. Reagan said, as she'd said on all the other tours for two months, that she didn't know where Nathan was. He was taking space and they were giving it to him. Reagan then asked Bobbie to wrap it up, which they did by throwing astronaut ice cream outside for the kids to grab.

Reagan met with Renee and showed her the slideshow she'd made for Terry's surprised birthday party. When Reagan's watch beeped, she told Renee she needed to get to her next appointment. Then another chime rang out, which she said meant it was time to meditate. She was trying to do chunks of self-care, but it wasn't going well. Renee said that she understood, which was why she got up at 3:45, 30 minutes before Terry, to have some time to herself each day. Renee then told Reagan she had more photos to add to the slideshow, which she sent over. As Renee left, Bobbie told Reagan that they had a ghost in the building. She assured them there wasn't a ghost and told them to do their job.

Reagan then went to meet with Terry, who told her where they were on the plan. She was overwhelmed with information, which he said was due to her not being used to being a high-performing individual. He suggested she start drinking a lot more water, insisting that it would help, though she said she needed help because she was doing the work of three people.

Terry and Reagan walked around town and Terry talked about the new town taking his breath away, while Reagan only felt nauseous from all the faux-patriotism. He said this was how they would get their land back. Their conversation was interrupted by Feather Day and two other local business owners, who complained about the rebranding affecting their business. Terry tried to reassure them, but they were not convinced.

Reagan returned to the cultural center to find Bobbie, Wayne, and Sally in the attic, believing they'd found a ghost and surprised to find a man. As they prepared to attack the man, believing him to be a pervert, Reagan came in and said it was just Nathan.

Once Wayne and Sally were gone, Reagan and Nathan explained to Bobbie that Nathan had come home two months ago, but was embarrassed about how he'd acted and so he hid in the attack. He'd been helping Reagan with her work while also working on himself. When Bobbie confronted Nathan about ghosting them, Nathan said he was planning an apology in ten months. Reagan suggested he could do it immediately instead. He did and when that apology went well, Nathan said he might move up the timeline on all the others. While they were hanging out that evening, Nathan started to ask Reagan what he should wear before realizing he shouldn't put that on her.

Reagan went to Terry's birthday party as they were setting up the venue. Renee asked if she would decorate the cake. Reagan agreed despite not wanting to. While she was decorating the cake, she accidentally knocked her water jug onto it, ruining it. Wayne saw this and revealed that Renee had asked him to decorate the cake, but he said no because he didn't want to, which he did to anything he didn't want to do. Reagan was surprised that he could just do that and wondered if that's why he never looked stress. He said it was that and being high all the time. She asked if he could help her fix the cake and he said she knew what he would say.

As the party started to wind down, Renee and Terry approached Reagan. Renee asked Reagan to round people up to share memories of Terry for the guest book, but Reagan said no. Then she said she was going to hire a curator and Terry was going to pay for it.

Reagan met Nathan outside with a drink. Nathan talked about where he'd gone wrong with the video and what he was trying to do. Reagan said maybe they just needed to accept that they were both assholes crawling around a planet full of assholes. Maybe then they could feel good about themselves.

### Finding a New Curator

During a picnic with Nathan and Bobbie, Reagan said she was just starting to interview co-curators.

First, Reagan interviewed Wayne and Sally, who turned the interview around on her and said they'd only work for her as a team. Next, she interviewed Nelson Renville, who had impressive credentials, but was critical of the work she'd already done and pointed out the errors in her work. After that, Professor Kaufman came in, but Reagan told him immediately it was a no because she knew he'd been fired for trying to teach a class naked. After all the interviews, Reagan reviewed and rejected all the candidates. Just then, Shep Swiftwater came in and introduced himself. He couldn't figure out the online application, but wanted to be the new curator. He had previous museum experience, but warned her they wouldn't have good things to say about him because he insisted that an indigenous exhibit should be designed by indigenous people. He also said he'd read and enjoyed Reagan's thesis. Reagan hired him on the spot.

Reagan later found Shep talking to Wayne and Sally and apologized for them only to learn that he had charmed them as well. Sally even offered to have her aunt, a famous potter, come in and do a demonstration, despite having refused to do the same at Reagan's request. Shep then invited Reagan to join them for dinner, over Wayne and Sally's objections about watching the company he kept.

Reagan called Josh and told him how great Shep was and how Shep had said she was brilliant. Josh said he agreed, but said he wasn't flirting because they were just friends and didn't do that.

At the dinner, Shep charmed them with stories of his travels and encounters with celebrities. However, they became suspicious when he refused to say what tribe he was from, instead offering several tribes very far apart. When he said he was descended from the Potawatomi, Reagan, Wayne, and Sally immediately knew he was pretending to be Native.

Wanting to prove that he was lying, but not knowing how, Reagan and Wayne questioned him. When he had excuses for all their questions, Wayne said they needed to call in someone badder than him. Reagan brought in Terry, who stared Shep down and got him to admit that he was actually Swedish. With him gone, Reagan decided to hire Nelson, saying that even though he was the worst, she was sure he was actually Native.

When Nelson came back to the cultural center, he noted that she hadn't fixed any of the mistakes he pointed out. She told him he could start there.

Reagan then talked to Nathan and asked what his mayoral plans were. Nathan said he wasn't going to run for mayor, but he would rather talk about her pretendian. Reagan showed him that Shep was actually named Wyatt Olson and had written a book about his life as a part-time pretendian. She said that people with unearned confidence got everything.

### Aunt Sue's Death

When Reagan's aunt became ill, Reagan came to the hospital to sit with her. When Louise, Reagan's mom, came out to see her, she told Reagan that Sue had died. Reagan immediately began making arrangements, including a celebration of Sue's life at the casino, which she loved. Reagan became frustrated when her brother, Curtis, returned to town and demanded to help, despite previously being unreliable. This got worse when she learned that their mother was giving Sue's land to Curtis instead of her. Louise said that she had to because Curtis couldn't navigate the loopholes to get land of his own while Reagan could.

Reagan had assigned Curtis to do the flowers, but didn't trust him, so she went to check on him, causing an argument because he didn't believe she trusted him to do it. She pointed out that he'd never been reliable before and expressed her anger that he was getting Sue's land instead of her.

Despite this argument, when Reagan struggled to eulogize Sue at her party, Curtis stepped in to give her a minute, sharing his own memory of Sue. Reagan was then able to share her memory of Sue and invite others to do the same. After people were done talking, Louise came to Reagan and gave her key to Sue's motorcycle, saying Sue would have wanted her to have it.

Reagan and Nathan took turns sitting on the motorcycle and revving the engine. Reagan then admitted that despite her frustration with Curtis, he did show up for her. She pledged that she'd get her own land someday.

### Applying for Land

Reagan decided she was going to apply for her own land, so she went to the Minishonka Nation Community Services Building to start the process. Unfortunately, she ended up being sent all over the building to get every document she needed for the application, including a trip with Nelson to choose a plot to apply for, only to find that it could still take up to six months just to get the application. When Nelson overheard this, he pretended to be her husband, which allowed her to get the application immediately. Reagan then took Nelson to the building site for the new cultural center, where she shared her plans for the space, including a room in the back for language classes, where kids could come to hear stories from the elders. Nelson shared his own desires for the place and then deduced that Reagan wanted to kiss him, which she did.

Reagan went to the bar with Nathan, where she told him about Nelson and he told her that Deirdre was pregnant with his child. They were each happily surprised by the other's news. Reagan made Nathan promise not to dump her when he and Deirdre got together, but he said Deirdre didn't want that, which he understood. Reagan said that he was a good guy who just went through a rough patch, which made him stronger. Reagan then announced the baby to the whole bar and offered to pay for everyone's drinks.

### Trip to New York

Reagan went to New York with Terry after her agreed for them to consult on Adirondack S3. Reagan was reluctant as she found the show highly offensive, but he told her it was part of a larger plan to get them to move production to the reservation. When they arrived, Reagan tried to share her script notes with Cox Whitley only to be sent to Rye Whitman, who told them they wanted to get it right, which is why they'd brought Terry and Reagan on. Reagan left the set early to go meet with Josh, leaving Terry in charge.

Josh took Reagan to the Natalie Ball exhibit, which she loved, then said he missed her. However, she realized that she couldn't overlook what he'd done to Nathan and decided she was going to return home to Nelson.

The next day, Reagan went to the set, shocked to find even more offensive things. She asked Terry about it and he said he realized they weren't going to listen, so his only choice was to make it so offensive that no one would be able to ignore it. He'd realize that there was some things more important than money.

When Reagan got home, Nelson brought her her jacket, which he had had had cleaned and pressed after finding that she'd left it at the office. She invited him to spend the night at her place and the two of them went to make out.

### Halloween

Reagan and Nelson decided to wear a couples costume for Halloween, with him dressed as a hot dog and her as ketchup. Nelson was excited while Reagan was neutral on Halloween, as a lot of people used it as an excuse for some cultural appropriation.

Reagan and Nathan went to a beading circle, where she told Nathan that him breaking into Deirdre's house to bring her a crib and zucchini bread was a bad move. She suggested he come to Wayne and Sally's Halloween party with her and Nelson. Chloe asked if Nathan was Reagan's guy and she said he was. Rayanne talked about what a good man he was and how she'd try to steal him if she were younger. Chloe agreed that Nelson was a catch and it was hard to find men like him.

Nathan came to the party with them, but quickly left to take Deirdre a charcuterie plate, over Reagan and Nelson's objections. Nelson then ended up getting pulled away by Chloe, Shauna, and Fay, who were inspired by Reagan and Nelson's costume and all came dressed as condiments. Nelson was flattered, but Reagan realized their true motive was to steal Nelson away.

While Nelson was talking to them, Reagan started talking to Ray, which made Nelson jealous. This led to a pissing contest between the two of them over who could start the bonfire faster. While they were doing that, Reagan confronted Chloe, Shauna, and Fay and told them to stay away from Nelson. They told her she didn't have what it took to keep him, so she sprayed them with ketchup, starting a fight. After several minutes, Reagan used all her strength to push them off her and tried to concede the fight, only to have them sic Fay on her, because Fay's an MMA fighter. Fay knocked Reagan to the ground with one kick, which led to Nelson having to take her to the emergency room.

### Helping Terry

Terry came to Reagan and said he wanted to add Auntie Anne's as a corporate sponsor. She pushed back, saying she had limited space as it was. Terry admitted that Ye Olde Rutherford Village wasn't doing well and without a major influx of cash, it would all be gone. Reagan dug into her bag and pulled out a THC bear. She gave it to Terry, told him to eat the head, and said it would help solve his problems. Terry and Reagan then lay in the back of Terry's truck as they experience their high. At the end of it, Terry decided they needed to get into the legal weed business. Reagan was excited, as she wanted to use this to get wholesale prices. She also said that Terry needed to contact Roy Crooks to get the money he would need.

Reagan then went to the end of the firefighters pancake breakfast, where Nathan performed the Devil's Jump stunt after making fun of the firefighters. Reagan was pleased to see that he and Nelson had bonded like she wanted.

### Single Community

Reagan had Nelson review her application and she prepared for her meeting to see if she would get land. He said her application was flawless and they would get the land. He also said he needed to go back home because one of their last fluent speakers was really sick and would only speak to Nelson. She told him to go ahead and go and she would go to the appointment alone.

Reagan met with the council, including Mervin Rose, the Land Committee Chair. Mervin asked Reagan about her family and Nelson. When Rayanne said that Nelson and Reagan were on their way to being married, Mervin stamped Reagan's application and she said she had her land.

Later, while she was working at the cultural center, Sally and Wayne came in to see Reagan. Sally wanted Reagan's help, as she'd been trying to get land for years and was never successful. Reagan said that she may have implied that she and Nelson were married in order to get it, but also said she had a lot of help from Rayanne and was sure Rayanne would help Sally as well. They met up with Rayanne and asked for her help. She said that she understood, but there wasn't a lot of land to go around. Reagan was left thinking there had to be a better solution.

Reagan made a model of a series of small houses on her land, showing it to Terry as a proposal for a cooperative living space. When he pointed out the difficulty she'd have putting that plan into action, she lost a little of her steam, but Terry told her to type up a proposal and they would present it to the Council together.

Reagan called Nelson and told her what she'd done. She worried she should have consulted him first, but he said they would probably have ended up in one of their parents' spare bedrooms without the land and the community could be pretty cool. Reagan said that she loved that he understood how great it could be. He said he loved her and she said she loved him, too. When she hung up, she was surprised to see Josh walking toward her. He said he was back in town to chronicle Bobbie's journey to becoming mayor for season two of his podcast.

## Notes and Trivia

* In college, she was called the nerd queen of paperwork.
* In third grade, she poured a lemonade Slurpee on her pants and everyone called her Miss Piss.

## Appearances

 **#02** | "The New Curator"
 **#03** | "Aunt Sue"

## References

1. ↑ White Man in the Cupboard, 2x01
2. ↑ The New Curator, 2x02
3. ↑ Aunt Sue, 2x03
4. ↑ Land Back, 2x04
5. ↑ Adirondack S3, 2x05
6. ↑ Halloween, 2x06
7. ↑ Firefighters Pancake Breakfast, 2x07
8. ↑ Election, 2x08
9. ↑ Land Back, 2x04
10. ↑ Land Back, 2x04