This is a game from this site -
Ill post a person and the next person posts someone that is related to that person in some way. It doesnt matter how: Sibling, parent, SO, aunt, whatever.
https://www.rallyforally.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/allyhart.jpg
[name_f]Raia[/name_f] [name_f]Sylvie[/name_f] [name_u]Brook[/name_u] (26) is a mother of two children. She loves to golf, host charity events, and spend time with her family. She has three cats and her and husband have a fancy car collection.
[name_f]Rose[/name_f] [name_f]Georgia[/name_f] [name_u]Brook[/name_u] (22) is the sister of [name_f]Raia[/name_f] [name_f]Sylvie[/name_f] [name_m]Laird[/name_m] and aunt of [name_f]Maris[/name_f] [name_f]Valerie[/name_f] [name_m]Laird[/name_m]. She is a recent graduate from a ivy league college with a degree in English Literature. She is living with her boyfriend and three small dogs in [name_m]New[/name_m] [name_m]York[/name_m] City and working as a book editor.
[name_m]Conan[/name_m] [name_m]Thomas[/name_m] [name_m]Laird[/name_m] (29) is Raia’s husband and Maris’s father. A surgeon, he works long hours and in spite of being dedicated to his job, worries about missing out on quality time with his family when particularly busy. Raised in a family where education and professionalism were valued, [name_m]Conan[/name_m] can put undue pressure onto himself sometimes, not wanting to rely on his parents and in turn make them proud. He’s also the second of four siblings, keeping in regular contact with them and organising get togethers.
All three of the family cats are rescues, with [name_m]Conan[/name_m] being involved in animal rights and volunteering at shelters when possible. He also makes monthly donations to charities and wishes to make a positive impact for others.
[name_u]Nesta[/name_u] [name_f]Georgia[/name_f] [name_m]Laird[/name_m] (6 months) is the younger child of [name_f]Raia[/name_f] and [name_m]Conan[/name_m]. She’s a sleepy, easygoing baby who only becomes difficult when separated from her beloved rabbit toy [name_f]Snowdrop[/name_f], at which point the house will be screamed down. [name_u]Nesta[/name_u] is always calmed when hearing her mother’s voice, as well as being very fond of [name_f]Maris[/name_f] already, wanting to cuddle her sister whenever possible. Her godmother is Raia’s best friend, who gave birth only a few days before [name_u]Nesta[/name_u] was born, meaning she’s often jokingly referred to as the ‘late twin’ of her godsibling.
[name_f]Aine[/name_f] [name_f]Molly[/name_f] Gilpatrick (25) is Nesta’s godmother and Raia’s best friend. Working as an architect, [name_f]Aine[/name_f] primarily designs and campaigns for social housing, having grown up in a household where money was fleeting and often a source of stress, concern and tension. She’s an outspoken person who strongly believes in helping others and has a somewhat fiery temperament, which got her suspended from school a few times - the place she met [name_f]Raia[/name_f]. In spite of this, Aine’s a loyal, caring individual who goes out of her way for those she cares about.
She and her wife were delighted to welcome their first child, whom they dote upon, alongside their three cats: Yo-Yo (a tabby), Rhubarb (a maine coon) and Marmalade (a moggy). When she gets some time to relax, [name_f]Aine[/name_f] enjoys yoga, swimming and dance - the latter having been an obsession of her’s growing up. Her relationship with her mum and two younger siblings has remained strong, with them regularly seeing one another and [name_f]Aine[/name_f] offers as much support as she can.
Nian [name_f]Zhen[/name_f] ‘Noemi’ [name_m]Chang[/name_m] (26) is Aine’s wife. A high school [name_f]English[/name_f] teacher, [name_f]Noemi[/name_f] writes novels on the side, primarily focusing on historical fiction, and is dedicated to supporting her students through thick and thin. Although less confident than [name_f]Aine[/name_f], [name_f]Noemi[/name_f] has strong convictions and is incredibly loyal to those she cares about, including her father who raised his two children - [name_f]Noemi[/name_f] and her brother - to the best of his ability after the passing of his wife. This has influenced [name_f]Noemi[/name_f] to dedicate herself to being the best parent imaginable, enjoying her maternity leave and the bonding with her daughter that has ensued.
Aside from her writing, [name_f]Noemi[/name_f] loves studying history and watching documentaries, as well as experimenting with makeup. She goes running to keep fit on mornings and sometimes her and Aine’s daughter goes too, being pushed along in her pram. [name_f]Noemi[/name_f] also loves cooking, being a huge fan of spiced foot, which used to drive her wife crazy in the early days of their relationship.
Adelaide Gilpatrick-Chang (1) is the daughter of Aine and Noemi. She enjoys sleeping and playing with her mothers. She loves smiling and laughing at silly faces. She has started walking and she has both her top teeth. She loves playing with Maris and Nesta, even though Nesta wants no part of her.
[name_f]Cherry[/name_f] [name_f]Eleanor[/name_f] Heng-McClure (19) is a teacher’s aide at the school [name_f]Adelaide[/name_f] attends. She’s good friends with both her mothers and [name_f]Cherry[/name_f] often tells them how darling [name_f]Adelaide[/name_f] is- while the other kids are trying to stick crayons up their noses to see if it will come out their ears, [name_f]Adelaide[/name_f] is just sleeping like an angel. [name_f]Cherry[/name_f] is Adelaide’s favorite teacher at the day care center, and [name_f]Cherry[/name_f] feels honored about that. She just loves hanging out with all the kids. Apart from her day job as a daycare teacher, [name_f]Cherry[/name_f] also works night shifts at the local gas station to help cover her rent- she lives with three roommates, all girls, who each have a hard time keeping up with the bills- luckily they have each other, and for now that’s enough for them. One of the roommates has been Cherry’s best friend since kindergarten, one she met in high school, and the other they all met in college. Needless to say [name_f]Cherry[/name_f] really enjoys living with all of them, it’s like the sister she never had- [name_f]Cherry[/name_f] has not one, not two but three big brothers and while she loves them she wishes she had a sisterly figure to look up to when she was little.
[name_m]Born[/name_m] to an American father and a Cambodian immigrant mother, [name_f]Cherry[/name_f] really enjoyed getting to experience both cultures in her youth. She was somewhat of a nerd, a scrawny little kid who was always picked on. Her friend, who she met in kindergarten, instantly defended her by throwing rocks at the bullies- nobody’s ever picked on [name_f]Cherry[/name_f] ever since they became friends. [name_u]Unknown[/name_u] to [name_f]Cherry[/name_f] this friend has been in love with her since day one, and even though the other roommates keep encouraging her roommate to go for it and ask [name_f]Cherry[/name_f] out she’s just too nervous- even though it’s obvious [name_f]Cherry[/name_f] isn’t straight as she’s always talking about how gross men are and how she can’t ever imagine being attracted to one of those gross brutes. But her friend continues on the way everything is, as she doesn’t want to mess up her best friendship.
The other two roommates are dating- one of them is dating one of Cherry’s big brothers (Cherry was really angry at first but now she’s eased into the new dynamic, though she’s still a bit on edge about it), and the other one is dating a goth girl with a tendency to get into fights- deep down the whole gang loves this girl as she is so soft and kind deep down but wishes she’d take better care of herself and start really loving herself. [name_f]Cherry[/name_f] is a bit sad about being single but for now she’s enjoying life, knowing that someday she’ll find someone too…
cw: xenophobia referenced
[name_f]Aletta[/name_f] [name_f]Tamsin[/name_f] De Leede (19) is one of Cherry’s friends’ but not a member of the roommate trio, and is also the primary person she confides in about being single, as Aletta’s also not in a relationship. This is helped by the fact Aletta’s very laidback about relationships in general. She’s demisexual-panromantic and entirely content waiting to find someone to be with for now, as she’s thoroughly invested in her Linguistics degree and admits she wouldn’t be able to give a partner the proper time and attention they deserve from her. A tad ironically, [name_f]Aletta[/name_f] has also been confided in by the girl who possesses feelings for [name_f]Cherry[/name_f], and she’s now determined to help them gain the confidence to express them.
Being a third generation Dutch-American, Aletta’s culture’s always been important, open and apparently part of her identity, which contributed to how self-assured she’s known to be. She faced some bigotry in high school for this - getting into a huge row with a guy who claimed she and her older sister could cheat at exams solely thanks to speaking [name_m]Dutch[/name_m] to one another (in spite of them being in different year groups with an interest in different subjects) - but this only strengthened Aletta’s desire to express her family’s traditions, something she and her siblings (one sister, two brothers) have succeeded at. As the third of four, it’s a surprise to new acquaintances, as her ability to take the lead and give advice generally gives the impression she’s the firstborn (ironically her big brother is incredibly laidback).
To Cherry’s roommate with the goth girlfriend, [name_f]Aletta[/name_f] was a bit of a shock at first, and she worried her partner would be rubbed the wrong way by how direct she is - thankfully, this upfront demeanour actually helped her girlfriend relax more around [name_f]Aletta[/name_f], who tries to steer her away from confrontations. While she’s not afraid to voice her opinions or stand up to people, seeing her friend constantly fighting concerns her, as [name_f]Aletta[/name_f] can’t help but worry it could escalate to something the other girl won’t be prepared for. This stems from her dad’s work as an EMT, where he’s witnessed petty fights explode into something much worse, and she’s considered mentioning this, but doesn’t want to come across as patronising or as if she’s blaming her friend for circumstances beyond her control.
[name_f]Aletta[/name_f] herself is currently living with her older sister - who’s majoring in chemistry (the horror as she calls it, having only had time for biology where the sciences were concerned) - and it’s an arrangement going extremely well, to the surprise of no-one. They’ve always been two peas in a pod and share a tight bond without living in each other’s pockets: probably a good thing, as Aletta’s sister cannot stand confined spaces while she’s mad about spelunking - frequently going with Cherry’s older brother and his girlfriend, who’s another one of her close friends, as well as a couple others.
~
@CherryBomb50
@rachelheth
@A.B.Galaxy
@kitkatcookie
@chamwue
@moonwriteen
@jinxed_peach
[name_f]Danielle[/name_f] " [name_u]Dani[/name_u] " [name_f]Constance[/name_f] Specks (19) is Aletta’s friend and Cherry’s roommate, who tends to fret about her girlfriend; something that’s become more openly acknowledged since she moved out to start attending university. A biomedicine major, known for being very intelligent to the point of infuriating for some classmates, [name_u]Dani[/name_u] tends to be drawn towards moody personalities, as she’s always been on the quieter side and couldn’t imagine dating a social butterfly. She actually met her girlfriend through a mutual friend of all three roommates and [name_f]Aletta[/name_f], with the pair almost immediately falling for each other, helped by the fact Dani’s very patient and didn’t expect immediate disclosure about her girlfriends’ life story. When the past did get mentioned it explained a lot to [name_u]Dani[/name_u] about why her girlfriend can be so defensive and hostile…something she anticipated, but it didn’t diminish how painful learning the truth was. It was amplified to [name_u]Dani[/name_u] thanks to her background being so uneventful, calm and harmonious. She’s the younger child of two teachers - one’s a driving instructor technically and the other is physics for his sins - and her older brother is genderfluid, typically opting for they/them pronouns but preferring the ‘brother’ term in how [name_u]Dani[/name_u] addresses them. They also enjoy joking frequently how - for the family surname - none of them actually wear glasses: the last member of the Specks family to wear them was actually Dani’s granddad, and since then there have only been reading glasses required [not by her dad though].
It has been a relief to her that her girlfriends’ fully embraced the family and they in turn evidently consider her one of them too. She’s also incredibly grateful for how her friends’ have been supporting them, although Dani’s always been someone who adores her social circle and admits she always felt more comfortable expressing affection platonically - partly because of her absolute awkwardness when it comes to the mere thought of PDA. This has let up with her girlfriend - she’s almost always got her arms around [name_u]Dani[/name_u] which the shorter girl admits she loves and feels very comforted by - but she’s still not the mushiest of people in the most overt way. Her sweetest gestures are always kept to just the two of them, and usually come from little notes or poems she composes, at her most expressive and relaxed when she has a moment to stop, think and take a breather. The couple’s favourite dates are just curling up to enjoy a film or chatting in Dani’s room about what they’re listening to or reading currently. It’s the small gestures she loves the most, and her girlfriend always responds well to this.
[name_u]Future[/name_u] wise, [name_u]Dani[/name_u] doesn’t quite know what she wants to do exactly. While she used to stress all the time about this before leaving for college, it’s now something she’s much more at ease with, wanting to focus on the here and now instead of fretting before she’s even completed her undergrad degree. She’s frequently going on bike rides and picnics with her friend group or visiting her family: either taking the train to see her parents or brother, as they’re also a student right now, albeit studying sociology and planning on working with people [terrifying as [name_u]Dani[/name_u] jokes, while her brother insists she’s got an iron stomach given the world of germ theory and microbiology]. [name_u]Dani[/name_u] also tends to be the roommate who focuses on the cooking mostly. There aren’t strict roles for each of them to fall into in how they live together, but [name_u]Dani[/name_u] doesn’t just have the most confidence in this area, she genuinely loves doing it and is eager to experiment with new dishes. She and her mom have even made pastries together - Dani’s much more reluctant to try this at the apartment given a disaster could be very messy; but she brings them from home whenever there’s leftovers and has made birthday cakes/cupcakes for people before.
Dove’s best friend is actually Cherry’s older brother and Dove’s used their friendship for a lot of good. The two are both very smart and precise in what they do and often have conversations about this as well as simply talking about life. [name_u]Dove[/name_u] enjoys waterskiing and loves pizza, making their own delicious pizzas. [name_u]Dove[/name_u] lives a few cities over and likes to take the train as well. [name_u]Dove[/name_u] is currently an architect and enjoys planning and building designs.
cw: domestic violence, car accident, substance abuse [mentioned]
[name_f]Octavia[/name_f] [name_u]Rain[/name_u] Shukis [born [name_f]Olivia[/name_f] [name_u]Erin[/name_u] Shukis] (19) is Dani’s girlfriend and the subsequent acquaintance of [name_u]Dove[/name_u] through this relationship. To put it lightly, life has been difficult for [name_f]Octavia[/name_f] in a multitude of ways, however it started with her parents. Her father was an incredibly abusive spouse, frequently assaulting and berating his wife in front of their young daughter; who he made clear he resented too. [name_m]Mitchell[/name_m] Danford had not wanted children - sharing his wife with her own family was impossible, so he proceeded to cut her off from them - and so he made it clear he didn’t consider parenting his issue from the moment [name_f]Octavia[/name_f] was born. Being exposed to this violent marriage quickly caused [name_f]Octavia[/name_f] to become socially isolated, as she couldn’t form close bonds with anyone on account of her father refusing to let people come round unless he had been asked beforehand [and he could say no at any other time], and part of her couldn’t bear to live a lie in front of other’s where the pretense of a happy, functional family was played out. Octavia’s mother managed to escape the marriage when her father got into a car accident and was hospitalised for several week’s - shortly after she turned 13 - however the memories of violence and mistreatment never left her. They moved states, to fully embrace a fresh start and put appropriate distance between them and her father, at which point [name_f]Octavia[/name_f] began going by her current name, wanting to further go through a rebirth of sorts to give her reprieve from the pain of the past.
Unfortunately, [name_f]Octavia[/name_f] began struggling with anger around this time, unable to let go of her resentment towards her father, even with him out of their lives. She couldn’t abide to see any kind of mistreatment or abuse of authority, arguing with teachers who demeaned her classmates, and progressing to getting into altercations with bullies. This would lead to [name_f]Octavia[/name_f] getting expelled from her first high school, and her mom homeschooled her for eight months before she was able to receive a place at an academy specialised with “behavioural problems” - the label she’d received following the string of fights. Octavia’s time at this school was much smoother by comparison as the staff were empathetic and non-judgemental, allowing her to feel able to speak about her background more openly, although she did get into several verbal altercations with certain students, still wrestling with her temper. The best way of describing it would be anything that reminded [name_f]Octavia[/name_f] of her awful father pushed her into a defensive state where she felt she needed to protect herself by establishing she wasn’t afraid of fighting back, something she wished she could have done when her mom was being mistreated, and this overdrive is arguably a symptom of misplaced guilt.
Since graduating, she’s been training as a piercer at a local body art shop - unsurprising given her visual style and interests long before [although she jokes she’s nowhere near talented enough to tattoo anyone] - and this is the environment where she’s calmest thanks to the nature of what she’s learning to do. Octavia’s still not unable to avoid a confrontation though, which is spurred on by the fact a lot of her long-term friends have found themselves in difficult spots and she’s become embroiled in their lives to help protect them. Most notably, one of her oldest friends - from the first middle school she attended after her mom and her escaped - had serious substance abuse problems thanks to her own abusive childhood, and it was only [name_u]Dani[/name_u] who stopped [name_f]Octavia[/name_f] from actually trying to confront a reported drug dealer; something that could have turned out horrific if she’d gone through with it. Her girlfriend is the one person, aside from Octavia’s mom, who can talk her out of her reckless inclinations, and it is something she’s more concerned about now - mostly because of how her newfound support network have tried to help her recognise she’s at risk getting into fights with increasingly unsavoury people. Thankfully, Octavia’s close friend is now in rehab, and she’s visiting her frequently, often travelling with said girls’ younger sister who she’s hoping to help escape the familial cycle.
Warning for aforementioned abuse.
[name_f]Carissa[/name_f] [name_f]Amalija[/name_f] Shukis (48) is Octavia’s mother and a mother figure to Octavia’s friend and younger sister of said friend. It’s taken some time for [name_f]Carissa[/name_f] to truly consider herself a mother figure, mainly due to her ex-husband [name_m]Mitchell[/name_m] Danford stating she was not good enough despite himself hypocritically and awfully cutting off from the family, physically and verbally abusing her in the process and refusing to speak with [name_f]Octavia[/name_f]. [name_f]Carissa[/name_f] refuses to call [name_f]Octavia[/name_f] “our daughter” and instead says “my daughter” because her husband has no association with [name_f]Octavia[/name_f] past his biological genes. She completely gets Octavia’s decision to change her name and wholeheartedly supports it, she had loved the name [name_f]Octavia[/name_f] but her husband didn’t.
Given Octavia’s troubles in school, [name_f]Carissa[/name_f] knew [name_f]Octavia[/name_f] wasn’t always in the right, both in mentality and in her actions. However she despised bullying and homeschooled [name_f]Octavia[/name_f] not just because of her expulsion but because she wanted [name_f]Octavia[/name_f] away from her bullies, seeing as her daughter has clearly suffered enough without them. [name_f]Carissa[/name_f] knew that [name_f]Octavia[/name_f] needed therapy, rather than punishment, and gave [name_f]Octavia[/name_f] the help she desired. [name_f]Carissa[/name_f] herself has entered therapy as well and still visits, but says her mind is in a better place the longer she’s away from her ex-husband. Both [name_f]Carissa[/name_f] and [name_f]Octavia[/name_f] have a restraining order against [name_m]Mitchell[/name_m]. [name_f]Octavia[/name_f] has introduced [name_f]Carissa[/name_f] to her older friend and that friend’s younger sister and they’ve benefit from Carissa’s kind motherly instincts. She always likes to make food for visitors when they go to her house and she’s known for making a great aroma when she cooks food. [name_f]Carissa[/name_f] is also happy to have moved states because she loves her new hometown and enjoys the fresh change. She also used this as a way to reflect on herself, as she used to work at a 9-5 job but has since gone to law school, gotten a career change, and is now a personal injury lawyer. She’ll never be okay with her ex-husband but she’s okay with herself and she feels like that’s what she truly needed in life after all she’s been through.
tw: childhood cancer, death, drug abuse
For the first fourteen years of her life, [name_m]Ferris[/name_m] had a sister who was just two years older than her, and she had been fighting leukemia since she was just eighteen months old. The girls’ parents were told that their daughter’s best chance was stem cell transplant. Since neither parent was a match they conceived a baby, [name_m]Ferris[/name_m], to use her umbilical cord blood to save their daughter. The transplant helped put her older sister into remission from her cancer. But Ferris’ debt to her sister wasn’t paid yet. The Wingers didn’t want to risk anything happening if their older daughter needed another transplant if her cancer recurred, so they sheltered [name_m]Ferris[/name_m] the majority of her childhood. They didn’t even let her try out for the gymnastics team even though all of her best friends were, which lead to [name_m]Ferris[/name_m] losing touch with many of her friends since she was never allowed to do anything ‘fun’. Her parents were not particularly subtle about the fact that she was only alive to save her sister, even if they never said it directly they showed it in their actions and how they favored her sister. They did have another child as well, Ferris’ younger sister who’s currently thirteen, mostly in effort to try and take some of the medical responsibility off of [name_m]Ferris[/name_m] though their youngest daughter did not end up being a match. Which [name_m]Ferris[/name_m] herself envied and resented her for, often taking out her frustrations with her own life on her sister much like their parents did with her.
Throughout her childhood she repeatedly donated bone marrow to her sister to help her when her cancer had relapsed, which was incredibly emotionally draining since she was doing it all so young. She longed to be her own person, and when she was entering her first year of high school she got her wish. Her sister was unable to beat her latest recurrence of cancer despite yet another donation from [name_m]Ferris[/name_m], and she passed away at the age of sixteen.
Her parents were despondent, they turned their grief into rage that was taken out on [name_m]Ferris[/name_m] for not being able to save their other child. She herself on the other hand, felt a strange kind of freedom at her sister’s death She was allowed to stay out later, start hanging out with other groups that before her family deemed ‘unsavory’, and even try alcohol since she no longer had to keep her body pristine in case her sister needed a body part. Her emotions were a swirling conflict for a while, the excitement she felt at having more freedom conflicted with her grief, and her survivor’s guilt for disappointing her parents and her sister. She wanted to drown it all out, so she turned to drugs. Initially starting with casual use of weed and other hallucinogens before spiraling into prescription pills and later intravenous drugs. The abuse continued through high school, flying under the radar of her parents since they no longer felt the need to protect her. Her friendship with [name_f]Octavia[/name_f] was one of the only relationships she had from before her drug abuse began that she didn’t lose. It was Ferris’ dealer, who was also her much older boyfriend at the time, who [name_f]Octavia[/name_f] almost tried to fight. It was [name_f]Octavia[/name_f] and [name_f]Carissa[/name_f] themselves who staged an intervention for [name_m]Ferris[/name_m] after nearly four years of her abusing drugs and alcohol.
She’s now close to graduating her rehab program and is hoping to ask the Shukis family if she can move in with them while she begins to find herself outside of being a donor or an addict, and plans to someday go to college to pursue therapy, particularly addiction, having been on the other side of it herself she wants to help others from going through what she did. She also hopes to reconnect with her little sister and eventually apologize for how she treated her in the past.
tw: drug abuse, intrusive thoughts, familial addiction history (ft. verbal abuse)
[name_f]Annabel[/name_f] ’ [name_f]Annie[/name_f] ’ [name_f]Georgina[/name_f] [name_m]Morrow[/name_m] (20) is one of Ferris’s’ friends from the rehab program. To say that [name_f]Annie[/name_f] has an addictive personality would be an understatement. As long as she can remember, she’s been drawn to repetition of what makes her happiest, which unfortunately has a side effect of making her willing to repeat unhealthy practices if it brings her brief respite from her troubles: all of which are an internal issue. She experiences intense intrusive thoughts, the subject matter of which she desperately wants to escape.
[name_f]Annie[/name_f] wasn’t the most talkative individual when [name_m]Ferris[/name_m] first met her, as she anticipated rejection from those also within the clinic. She doesn’t have what she considers a ‘valid reason’ for her history of alcohol and opiate abuse: her family were loving and even tried their best to explain why it was important to be responsible with drinking when she was in her mid-teens. Annie’s paternal grandfather was a prolific alcoholic who’s behaviour shattered his family: he squandered almost all his savings to feed it; frequently subjected his wife to verbal abuse when under the influence, and would vanish for up to 2 weeks at a time when binge drinking excessively. The toll of this caught up to him before [name_f]Annie[/name_f] was born, and her father doesn’t speak of him much, but when he is mentioned, the bitterness in her dad’s tone is obvious.
At 14, [name_f]Annie[/name_f] started enduring severe intrusive thoughts that had no rhyme or reason: they just never seemed to leave her be and became a distraction from every day life; peaking to their worst point at school. She started skipping classes thanks to never being able to concentrate, and this led to arguments between her and her parents - although she did graduate successfully, actually being a high achiever when could focus (not that anyone really knew what was bothering her). After learning one of her friends’ was prescribed medication for his ADD - that he neglected taking because he ‘couldn’t be bothered’ - she started buying it off him, as a means of coping with her plague of private terrors, and eventually figured out how to acquire it without him. She also began drinking at 18, having obtained a fake ID from another high school acquaintance who had a mini-business forging them.
Following a stint at her maternal grandparents, more arguments when it was discovered she was still staying out all night getting drunk, and making two attempts to run away rather than talk about her issues, [name_f]Annie[/name_f] finally accepted going to rehab, after her father sat her down to remind her of what he grew up with. She subsequently finally told her parents what had caused all the strife and issues, something that gravely upset them, but it was the fact [name_f]Annie[/name_f] hadn’t felt able to open up about her struggles, and ended up relying on substances to forget, as she didn’t want to be dismissed as melodramatic or seen as attention seeking by her younger brothers.
What she hasn’t told [name_m]Ferris[/name_m] yet is that she’s going to be returning to her family home when her treatment is completed. She hates having kept this from her friend but, given the pain of not being able to live with her family again, [name_f]Annie[/name_f] doesn’t want to come across like she’s rubbing anything in Ferris’s’ face.
tw: drug abuse, depression, parental abuse, poor post-partum care
Living away from her whole life made [name_f]Savannah[/name_f] depressed. She had no support system and the aunt she lived with was not very sympathetic to her situation. Knowing that she would not be able to keep her baby, despite how badly she wanted to, [name_f]Savannah[/name_f] documented her pregnancy in a scrapbook that she hid in a lockbox at a bank a town over from her aunt’s hometown in order to keep her aunt from knowing about it. The first time she was brought back to her hometown was to deliver her child. Upon going into to labor she requested pain management medication but her mother denied her as a ‘punishment’ for having a child out of wedlock. Being that she was a minor at the time the medical team had to listen to Savannah’s mother. After the baby was born she was only allowed to hold them for a few minutes before they were passed off to her mother who whisked them out of the room. [name_f]Savannah[/name_f] began to break down, suffering from emotional and physical pain and once more begged for medication. She was once again denied and told to calm down since it was ‘just postpartum hormones’ making her ‘hysterical.’
After being discharged from the hospital [name_f]Savannah[/name_f] continued to suffer from recurring pain from her delivery. Over the counter pain medication did little to dull her suffering, she began turning to other methods to cope. After a while she sought out a former classmate who she knew had turned to drug dealing for something stronger. Finally after using hard drugs she got the relief she so desperately wanted, but from then on it was a downward spiral of drug abuse to hide from her pain. Her family had traded one scandal for another as words spread around town that [name_f]Savannah[/name_f] was a ‘junkie.’ Her parents hated the way people talked about their family, but washed their hands of the issue claiming that they were too busy with ‘their’ baby to worry about their eldest. Besides, [name_f]Savannah[/name_f] had turned eighteen and was no longer under their control.
She abused substances for nearly two and a half years. It took an overdose that almost killed her for [name_f]Savannah[/name_f] to snap back to reality. Realizing that she couldn’t run from her problems forever, she needed help. She checked herself into rehab a few weeks later and she’s been there since. She celebrated her recent twentieth birthday in rehab with fellow members such as [name_f]Annie[/name_f] and [name_m]Ferris[/name_m]. Her treatment team is preparing to discharge her, helping her line up a job and a place to stay at a halfway house once she’s back in the world. She’s excited to move on from her troubles, and more importantly get a good lawyer and take back her child.
[name_u]Jude[/name_u] [name_m]Dashiell[/name_m] [name_m]Valero[/name_m] Ruiz (3) is Savannah’s son. Named for the patron saint of hope, this was the only thing of Savannah’s allowed where her child was concerned, and even then it took the begging of her younger sister to see [name_u]Jude[/name_u] be tied to his mother somehow. While only young - and for the most part protected from the scandals his grandparents fixate on so thoroughly - Jude’s an astute little boy, who seems to know his ‘mama and papa’ are not that. Although the demanding and controlling nature of the Ruiz’s’ hasn’t extended properly yet, he gravites much quicker to his aunt [‘sister’] in the absence of [name_f]Savannah[/name_f]. Much to their chagrin, he’s been asking about her recently too, a very awkward question for everyone, most of all his grandparents. They’d hoped [name_u]Jude[/name_u] would just loose all memories of his mother and reassign all emotional attachment quickly, but the little boy has proven resilient…daresay rebellious [the horror!].
With the holiday period upon them, [name_u]Jude[/name_u] is more insistent asking about where [name_f]Savannah[/name_f] is - ‘Sava’ as he calls her - and he’s even written her a little a [name_u]Christmas[/name_u] card. This was sent with the help of his aunt, as unsurprisingly all contact was banished upon [name_f]Savannah[/name_f] going to rehab, but there’s a surprisingly stubborn side to [name_u]Jude[/name_u] when he wants to achieve something. He absolutely adores lego and little construction projects - having crafted his mom’s card from scratch - but is secretive about what he gets up to, almost as if he already knows his grandparents loom over every decision or whim that takes younger members of the family. [name_u]Jude[/name_u] has written a letter to [name_f]Santa[/name_f], with help from his kindergarten teacher, and may have stated all he wants for [name_u]Christmas[/name_u] is to see Sava…
[name_u]Merry[/name_u] [name_u]Christmas[/name_u] - have some hope!
[name_f]Alejandra[/name_f] is in her senior year of high school now and is infamous just for being the little sister of [name_f]Savannah[/name_f]. Unlike her parents, [name_u]Ale[/name_u] doesn’t care about her own reputation, she just hates it when people make [name_f]Savannah[/name_f] the villain. Her sister needed help and no one, not even her parents, did anything. [name_u]Ale[/name_u] has a close group of three friends, two guys and a girl, who she’s been friends with since forever. Though only one of them has a nuclear family, all their families are pretty supportive and [name_u]Ale[/name_u] wishes she had that. [name_f]Alejandra[/name_f] has always known she wanted her career to be about helping people. For awhile she thought about nursing and then later social work, but now she knows. She wants to be a substance abuse counselor, working in facilities like [name_f]Savannah[/name_f] is in now. This goal is of course hidden from her parents who think she still wants to become a lawyer, her dream job from when she was 9.
[name_u]Ale[/name_u] loves her nephew [name_u]Jude[/name_u] to bits. He’s adorable and she loves how he’s already getting rebellious. She realizes that [name_u]Jude[/name_u] doesn’t really see her parents as his which she’s secretly glad about. When [name_f]Savannah[/name_f] gets her baby back she is sure [name_u]Jude[/name_u] will be okay with the change. [name_u]Ale[/name_u] will often tell [name_u]Jude[/name_u] stories about [name_f]Savannah[/name_f] and he understands that he’s not to tell “mama and papa” about it. As if her life wasn’t complicated enough, [name_u]Ale[/name_u] has developed feelings for one of her friends. She snuck a note detailing those feelings in his backpack the last time they hung out. After confessing she also made sure he knew that she could get over it and act normal should he not reciprocate. It’s been two days and she hasn’t heard anything yet, prompting her to have doubts about the wisdom of this choice.
He’s somewhat aware of her family’s issues from what she’s told him about though he’s unaware of the fact that [name_f]Savannah[/name_f] is really Jude’s mother and actually Ale’s nephew instead of brother. As far as he knows Mr. and Mrs. Ruiz just so happened to have an ‘oops’ baby later in life, a concept he’s well familiar with as he was also a surprise to his parents and was born when they were in their fifties and his older siblings were in their late teens, around the age he is now.
The note that she slipped into his locker is something that he’s been poring over the last few days. While he does harbor feelings for her as well he’s not sure if he wants to tell her about them since he’s fearful that if things don’t work out romantically between them then he’ll lose her as a friend, he also doesn’t want to inconvenience their other friend since they’ve complained about losing a friend to a relationship before.
