“i could be brown / i could be blue / i could be violet sky / i could be hurtful / i could be purple / i could be anything you like
gotta be green / gotta be mean / gotta be everything more”
Nicknames: Cami, Milo, anything else you wanna call them!
Pronouns: They/he/she
Sexuality: Queer
Magic status: Gifted, shapeshifter – out
Nationality: Avalorian
Ethnicity: Colombian
Accent: Colombian
Height: 5′7
Build: Wiry and thin
Complexion: Brown skin with freckles
Eye color: Hazel
Hair color/length/style: Dark brown afro with some red highlights in the sun, a nice proper fro that they sometimes twist
Tattoos/piercings/daily jewelry: Normal ear piercings, nose piercing, some tattoos!
Occupation: Head Barista at Hatter's Tea Shoppe; Bartender at Pixie's Night Club
Relationship Status: Single
What would you find if you Googled them?: Social media, family's social media, maybe some stuff about Avalor, their roles in the different Swynlake Theater Productions.
What natives would know about them: Moved to town with their family in early 2016, known by people for silly and fun and flirty and a good time. Looong time barista at Hatter's!
Other: In a thread, they can turn into anyone's character. If you'd prefer they don't, just let me know! :)
biography :) character sheet :) instagram :) inspiration :) powers
In which Camilo meets the RAS and the conditions of their escape from MAFIA are negotiated...[takes place: May 17]
[cw -- none really, just some threats ig? lol]
:) :) :)
James had set up a meeting with “more of the team” as he had said.
Camilo shouldn’t have been surprised that there were more RAS in Swynlake. He knew that MAFIA was crawling all over the place and MAFIA was already pretty sure…but it unsettled them to know that MAFIA was right. What would they do if they found out about all the agents living right under their noses? What if, after meeting them, Camilo slipped up and got someone hurt?
There were several people that Camilo didn’t recognize in the room…and one he definitely did.
Belle Acheron. Though, when they’d met her, she was still Beauton. The mousy little bookshoppe owner Camilo used to flirt with to make blush when he was bored and bothering his sister when she worked at Chapter Three.
She didn’t look mousy now, in her pressed satin dress and her hair pulled back in a slick ponytail. Her gaze was serious, but she still offered Camilo a smile, like they were entering the cozy bookshoppe.
Instead of Belle’s law offices.
“Wow, you are really operating right under everyone’s noses, huh?” Camilo joked, trying to shake off the jitters.
Belle frowned. “We aren’t trying to be mysterious. Just cautious. The things we can do, we can do better when less people know about us.”
“Makes sense.” Camilo didn’t sit down. Neither did Belle.
Several other agents did. They introduced themselves and their roles one after another--the North and South American liaisons. They were here to decide where best to put Camilo…when all was said and done. An agent who specialized in moving people who were targets.
And Belle. “I will be doing all your paperwork. Helping organize your new identity--”
“Can I go by Carlos?” Camilo interjected.
Belle’s head turned towards the American liaisons.
One of them shrugged. “Yeah. That’s common enough. Should be fine.”
Belle nodded and Camilo let out a breath.
“It is going to take us a while to organize everything. And…in that time--we need you to keep being MAFIA.”
“What?” Camilo’s heart jumped into his throat.
“I know, but--your role is extremely valuable, Camilo. Especially right now. We are so close. And we just need more information. Where is their headquarters? Who else in Swynlake is a member? What is their leader’s name? Is there a leader?”
“There’s a leader alright,” Camilo said, bitterly.
Belle’s eyes sparked.
“I’m not telling you who. Does the whole ‘we will kill you’ threat not mean anything to you?”
“We can protect you.”
“Yeah, later. Once you’ve got the paperwork sorted.”
Belle’s eyebrows pinched together but she shook her head. “Alright, fair enough but…Camilo--if there is anything you can give us…it would help. Anything that anyone in MAFIA would know, so it won’t come back to you. Maybe another hit they’re planning. Or…secondhand agents…anything. It could mean the difference between life and death for someone else.”
That pierced Camilo straight through.
Wasn’t that what he’d been trying to do this whole time? And now, people were going to possibly die because of Camilo, because of what they had participated in and affiliated themself with. They’d never come back from this…
But they could still try to do a little good.
“Yeah, okay. Alright. I’ll see…what I can find out.”
“Thank you, Camilo,” Belle said. “We’ll be in touch.”
In which Camilo takes a desperate risk and speaks to James about the RAS...[takes place: sometime mid-April]
@jameshawks
:) :) :)
CAMILO:James was at Pixie’s.
He’d been hanging around more often. Which made sense, since he had his eyes set on MAFIA. And MAFIA had its eyes set on him. Camilo stayed at the bar, watching James talk to Tink and wanted to throw a glass tumbler at his head with some animal shriek. Like the critters that hung around Casita because of Antonio. He could talk to them, but he couldn’t always soothe their tantrums.
Camilo wanted to throw a tantrum. He wanted to tell James to get the hell out of here.
But, well, maybe he knew what he was doing. If MAFIA’s intel was to be believed. (And why wouldn’t it be? They were a scary terrorist organization who had tricked Camilo, like assholes.)
Tink sashayed off to do whatever slay things it was that club owner fairies in a super secret terrorist organization did.
James strolled over to the bar.
Sat down.
Camilo felt like he was buzzing out of his skin. If James was a spy. If James was RAS.
Could James help him?
If he didn’t ask now, before MAFIA got its claws in him and brainwashed him, he might never get the chance again.
"Too clashy; my favorite color is green so red isn't going to work," he reasoned. A very specific green, not grassy or natural or even the tone of the edge of the horizon and watery places where blue bled into teal and soft overtones. No, Sid's favorite color was sharp as a razor, blaring as a siren, and more often than not found decorating warnings irradiated in hue.
The type of toxic green that screamed keep away, danger, do not touch or this will ruin some part of you forever. It felt like a color that was very well suited to him.
"Red doesn't work with my eyes anyway," he added, as though that even mattered, but Camilo was the type that focused on little inconsistent and frivolous details as they tried to pretend the bigger things didn't matter. Sid lived by the things that mattered and tried to pretend he knew how to relax and not always grind his teeth in anticipation of the worst.
"Who said the blood I'm hiding belonged to anyone else?" With the same even stride he continued to walk; on the topic of morbid humor he was feeling exceptionally entertained by it right then. But then he shrugged it off the next instant because Camilo was Camilo and that wasn't the world they lived in.
"Well not all of us can be the personification of sunshine," he mused to dismiss the heavier parts of the conversation before it could roam too far.
"Sooooo true, otherwise we might burn the whole place up, eh?" Camilo said with a smirk in Sid's direction.
Even if they wouldn't admit it, they were grateful for the distraction. Maybe Sid didn't even know that they were one. Camilo couldn't imagine that had been the purpose for Sid seeking them out. If that is even what had happened.
After all, anyone could come into the tea shoppe for tea. They weren't always there just to see Camilo.
But, then again, Sid had loitered around. Had waited on them.
Either he had fuck all to do or he had been wanting to see Camilo anyway. Why? For a good fuck? Because he wanted to check in? Camilo didn't exactly see Sid as the type to care about whatever the fuck was going on with a random hook up of his life.
But who knew, right?
"Green then, huh? I would not have pegged you as a green guy. Hey, that's on me for assuming. I like it, though--I mean, who doesn't like green? Color of life. Well, anything could be the color of life, really. You need 'em all. My favorite is yellow which you could also argue has very "color of life" vibes."
"I could do it and do a dramatic reading," Camilo offered, reaching for Isabela's phone.
She shoved her cousin away with a scoff.
"I'll do it." She flicked her hair at them both. It somehow still had the same affect. Even without the shower of petals pelting them both in the face. She probably thought her light had dimmed, just like the rest of them, but Camilo would always be a little jealous of how Isabela carried herself. How she managed to always turn heads.
"Geesh," Camilo said, smiling conspiratorially at Mirabel.
TITO:The RAS was getting closer, the recruits were getting bolder. Some of them at least.
Others were faltering. (Which to Tito could look like the slightest bit of hesitancy.) But he still was responsible for them.
Sadly.
But what he did know was people were poking around and he wouldn't have his team the weak link.
Calling a meeting Tito grabbed a cup of coffee off a little set up because apparently he was too mean and grumpy to hold a meeting without some sort of benefit to his team and so someone prepared snacks.
“As you know the RAS has a presence in Swynlake and we're trying to suss them out before they can find us. We have a list of people for you to watch out for if they are poking around. I'm not gonna read it to you but it's been texted to you.”
List included:
James Hawkins
Belle Acheron
Judy Moon
Mallory McHale
Amelia Gabble
Mary Gibbs
AUDREY: Audrey, of course, knew this was coming. She’d been culling through the data and names of everyone in town. She knew pretty much everyone’s business at this rate, but remembering it all was another thing.
As the text came through she saw names that had come up countless times. “So, what’s the deal? Report back if someone’s getting too close or something? Lay a trap? Wait for them to come to us? Haven’t heard much about what we’re supposed to do with this info.”
Really, Audrey was fine with any option, she’d done her job in finding possible names, the others were more of the boots on the ground operatives.
Banzai:Banzai scrolled through the names, thumb tapping the side of his phone in an absent rhythm as he skimmed the list. His jaw twitched once. James Hawkins. That one stood out. The rest he’d look into later. He’d memorize them, actually — wouldn’t be the first time he studied a hit list between grading essays.
He glanced up at Tito and Audrey, then leaned back in his chair, stretching an arm across the back of the seat next to him like he owned the whole damn room. Which, in some ways, he did. At least in vibe.
“Some of these names? I’ve seen them around campus,” he said finally, voice low and easy, with that familiar undercurrent of confidence that made people either trust him or want to punch him. Sometimes both. “RAS likes to play the long game — plant themselves quiet, act normal. Blend in. Professors. Researchers. Maybe even students. But I’m there most days. I can keep eyes on them. Eavesdrop. Nudge things around.”
He gave a little shrug, the kind of casual movement that said he didn’t mind doing the dirty work — in fact, he preferred it.
“I’m not saying we burn down a building over a hunch,” he added, with a flicker of a smirk, “but we should be ready. Set some bait. See who bites. People get sloppy when they think no one’s watching.”
CAMILO:
Camilo knew names on this list. Of course they did. The Madrigals had lived in Swynlake for nearly ten years now. They’d gotten to know the people there.
Mal was Maddy’s roommate. Ameila was friends with Isabela. Judy was cousins with Dolores’ boyfriend. Belle was the mayor’s wife. And a mum.
Looking at this list made him feel sick. And not for the reasons it might make the other people here feel sick. What was MAFIA planning to do to them? And how complicit was Camilo, sitting here with the information in the palm of his hand and too cowardly to do anything with it?
“I–uh, know some of these people,” Camilo volunteered. He was hoping by saying he was sussing them out that, well, he could protect them instead. “I can look into Mal and Judy, maybe Amelia…at least.”
TINK:
Tink was happy to know she already had a good way in with one of the people on the list. It meant she had an advantage on the others for figuring out if the guy was a RAS agent. It would be satisfying to get ahead of him. Guy was lurking around her bar enough anyway. It would be better if she could catch him before he could catch onto what she was doing. Right?
It seemed like the best option. “I can keep an eye on James to some degree. We’re both fairies for one thing, and he’s been hanging out a bit around the bar.” She really didn’t care much about the rest of the list. As long as she had one she could handle, she was happy.
TITO:“A few of you have direct connections. Tink with James. Camilo with Judy. Banzai with Mary. Audrey you have a little bit of an indirect with working your way through Flynn and coworkers to that uppity friend group with gabble.” Because yes Tito knew this town. He watched and he figured out the friends.
Fairies. To who's dating who. Who was on campus. Who was in little brunch groups and full of themselves.
“We will need some more directly contacts with Mallory and Belle. But there's talks of Someone in Voyd's group getting very close to her. Otherwise if you can integrate with those in your circles we want to know everything. Anything that makes them tick. Anything that makes them weak. This is where the RAS fails. They Integrate so tightly and rely on a broken system to protect their people. Unlike us who will do whatever it takes to protect ours. We can lean on them as soon as we know what makes them tick.”
AUDREY:
Ah. The ‘uppity’ friend group. Still odd that any of them would be capable of doing anything covert, but Gabble did fuck with sticking her nose in places it shouldn’t be. It would take a little bit of work, sure. But, the obvious route would be through Flynn to his tight laced girlfriend, and then by just being around, Gabble would well, ‘gab’.
“Isn’t McHale a pretty easy mark?” Audrey mused, of course, she only picked things up from nights out and the rumor mill, “Although she’s been a little less out and about. But plenty have seen the inside of her apartment. Shouldn’t be exactly hard if anyone wants to try their hand at another round of hook up espionage.” Audrey didn’t say this judgmentally, she was tossing ideas out as they came to her. She thought everyone involved had done a pretty great job at gathering pertinent information so far. Of course, if no one else was able, she could take one for the team and deal with her easily.
She shifted in her seat, thinking outloud again as she pulled her hair over to one side, “Belle’s definitely the bigger challenge from what I’ve heard, then again if my kids got kidnapped a few times and my life threatened a few more, I’d be pretty fuckin’ untrusting too. So if their group has any leads, that’d be the easier route than someone brand new.”
BANZAI:Banzai finally spoke up again. “Joanna’s already in play. Voyd tasked her to infiltrate RAS. She’s aiming to get placed as a ward. If she lands it, we’ve got someone behind the curtain. And if she doesn’t?” He gave a small shrug. “Tells us something….”
Joanna was the perfect mark. Banzai was half convinced she wouldn’t even know half of the information she would be bringing back to the operation which makes it safe.
The rest of the list though…hell it was half the town but Banzai has been curious of Belle and her husband but who wouldn’t. Maybe it was the political side and he knew what his family was hiding.
“Belle’s doesn’t seem loud but her husband’s the damn mayor. Yeah the town isn’t at the major city level but politics are still politics. There’s layers there. Could be RAS. Could be worse. But we’d be stupid not to look.”
CAMILO:
Camilo hated this.
The thing was: Camilo loved gossip. They loved it! They grew up in a tiny town. They lived in a tiny town now. Their family came from a small town. It was in their blood to be a gossip. There was no harm in it, really, on the day to day. Maybe you’d hurt someone’s feelings or spread something untrue, but that was pretty low stakes, all things considered.
And the tea was usually piping.
But this little gossip sesh?
People’s lives were at stake. If any of these people they were discussing–Amy, James, Mal, Belle–were discovered as RAS…Camilo had no idea what MAFIA was gonna do to them.
He didn’t say anything. There was nothing else, really, for him to add to the conversation. They’d offered their services, tried to protect who they could…
TITO
Some voices got quiet with thoughts. Some loud with solutions. Ideas of grandeur but as long as they didn't make a move on Tito he was happy to let them continue.
Those that would fail would fail and Tito wouldn't care. And those that succeed. Yay for them.
To him this was low enough stakes not to bring the fear down on anyone.
They could all just continue as is, the rest chattering about the information they had amassed.
Pepa liked to think if she was 25 years younger, she’d fit in right along Isabela and her glamorous friends. She kept up with them on Instagram and Twitter, enthusiastically liking and sometimes commenting on their posts.
All that said, she knew who Alana was and she knew that Alana’s brand was all about natural ingredients, so she nodded with Isabela.
“Ay, Camillo! Do your research!” she joked.
She sighed and laid back on her pile of pillows. But sitting was making her restless. Pepa didn't want to be restless. Useless. She wanted to be doing something. She wanted to be helping. So she sat back up, and wriggled her fingers at Isabela.
Camilo chuckled at his mama, squeezing her calf when she stretched out across the bed. He knew they were Alana Cosmetics. And he trusted them to be good. Camilo just liked to poke at everything and everyone. Even if they weren't here to hear it themselves.
The scene quieted into a calm that made them jittery. They couldn't look anyone in the eye. Things were--bad. The longer he looked at anyone in his family, the more he just wanted to burst with all the lies that they had been keeping secret.
But they couldn't do that. Too much was at stake.
And their family was going through enough.
The guilt still gnawed.
"Oh! Sure," Isabela said with a grin. She crawled across the bed a little. It dipped under her weight, tilting Camilo sideways.
"Oi!"
She settled in front of Pepa, crossing her legs, her back to her aunt.
"I can braid your hair if you want, Camito. We can start a train."
"Does that make me the caboose?" Camilo asked but they positioned themeself in front of Isabela, tilting their head back slightly and closing their eyes as Isabela separated out a section of their afro and started twisting the locs.
"I don't have a pick or comb with me so--these are definitely not staying," she told him and Camilo shrugged.
"Dark colors make it harder to see the blood," Sid replied evenly, slinking through the door after Camilo and not bothering to clarify if that was a joke or not. That was his form of entertainment; letting people figure it out for themselves. Although Camilo had an oddly positive view of him so the words were likely to be laughed off. He truly had no idea why they clung to that view, although his theory was it had more to do with Camilo's first exposure to him being in that dream with some version that he couldn't be in the real world.
That had been the most frustrating part for him afterwards but some of the sharp edges of the idea had dulled down and he didn't mind so much anymore.
Maybe it was because he felt like there was a predictability when it came to Camilo, not because of them directly, but he knew what he was navigating. He knew they were only as attached as they could be on the surface and Sid didn't have to worry too much about trying to figure out motives. He had no doubt there was far more to Camilo but it didn't seem like he was the person they wanted to know.
"I'm sure that comes off is absolutely blasphemous to someone like you who probably doesn't own a piece of black clothing in their entire wardrobe," he noted as he grabbed the door over Camilo's shoulder and pushed it open for them before following them outside It wasn't an insult, it was only an observation. Dark colors didn't really seem to suit Camilo's vivid energy.
Camilo barked a laugh at that. Not at all disturbed. If only because they didn't think Sid was serious. And if he was, well, what the hell did Camilo care? He hung out with ruthless murderers these days. Ruthless murderers that would probably have no qualms about murdering him if he tried anything.
Not that he was thinking of trying anything! Ha. Haha!
They felt like they were careening through the world. And then Sid reached across to open the door. For a moment, his warmth brushed up against Camilo's. The scent of his aftershave wafting over. It centered them. Reminded them that--well--not everyone they hung out with was MAFIA. There was some safety in that.
"Nah, just sounds practical," Camilo joked back. "You could do with some color, though. You'd look fabulous in a blood red. Which would also hide the blood...probably."
"Yeah. I'm hungry," Mirabel said emphatically. She'd been spending more time, lately, in the Pride U dining hall. It was just more practical— and it was getting to be the time for exams, anyway, so Mirabel needed to spend that time revising. But Mirabel missed eating with her family, so she decided to join now and then.
Despite the weirdness of this task, it was made more normal by Camilo and Isabela being here. No matter what, family was still family.
"What did everyone get?" she asked curiously, glancing at Isabela. Since their conversation about Bruno, since the house collapse, Mirabel couldn't tell if things had gotten worse or better between them. But she hadn't asked.
"Uhmm," Isabela pulled out her phone as they walked.
"Abuela and Mama got arroz con pollo. I was thinking of getting that too actually, but I'll probably just go with a spinach wrap. Tia Pepa got a chicken caesar salad. Antonio got two orders of fried rice. There is no way he needs all that, those sizes are huge!"
"He's a growing boy!" Camilo defended his brother good naturedly.
Isabela rolled her eyes and continued down the list. "Dolores got a wrap. Tio Felix is at work. Bruno got another arroz con pollo. And Abuela said to get a few sides of spinach puffs."
“Ay, you are too sweet, mi amor,” she said, picking up a grapefruit and avocado mask.
Camilo always knew how to cheer her up. She felt her heart squeeze at the thought. Somehow, that made her feel guilty. Her child shouldn’t have to do that. She should be the one carrying them, letting them lean on her.
She put the face mask on quietly, glancing in the mirror.
She looked old, there was no question about it. Not that she was any less beautiful, of course. Pepa did not equate youth with beauty. But she did look older, crease lines over her face. She had lived life. She wasn’t necessarily ashamed of any of her wrinkles, but it was a bit sobering, especially considering how exhausting the last few days had been.
She sighed.
“You will have to thank your friend, Isabela,” she said. “These are so lovely. I can feel it working already!” She wiggled her fingers in front of her face and giggled at her niece and her child. “And they smell so good!”
Camilo laughed too, because it always felt good to smile. Better to smile than to cry. Or better to smile than scream. Camilo wanted to do both of these things. It came in random moments, exploding like land mines, hidden underfoot.
Sometimes, he didn't even know where the urge came from. It felt like nothing started it at all. The grief just bubbled up and he didn't know what to do with it.
So, Camilo laughed, because sometimes that was all they felt they knew how to do.
"Hopefully she uses real ingredients and our faces aren't going to blow up like balloons."
"Whatever, Camilo. They're Alana Cosmetics! That's not gonna happen. I'm trying to relax." Isabela shoved his shoulder.
the bartender asks if i want the usual and i make a joke and say i want the unusual if they have it in the back and he giggles and walks through the door i havent seen until that point and comes back carrying a handful of wet colorful river shallow rocks and puts them on the bartop and we both look at them for hours until they dry and go dull and then we pour a little water over them again and look on
