[ FROY GUTIERREZ, CIS MALE, HE/HIM ] shh ! ELIOT RIVERA, the TWENTY-ONE year old THIRD year FINE ART major from EXMOOR, UK, is known as an AQUAMARINE around here. HE was invited to join because HE IMPRESSED HIS PREDECESSOR WITH HIS ARTWORK, and now, they’re here to stay. HE reminds me of EARLY MORNING LIGHT SPILLING THROUGH CURTAINS, THE SOUND OF SOFT LAUGHTER THROUGH AN OPEN WINDOW, FLECKS OF PAINT ON A DESIGNER SHIRT.
helllo!! my name is hayley and i’m SUPER excited to be here and to write with you all! i’ve been working on my political science dissertation all day so my brain is just a tad fried... but i’m gonna give this my best shot bc it’s what eliot DESERVES. hmu if you’d like to plot, or leave a like and i’ll come pester ya! @opalsmedia
bio . stats . pinterest
a warning: my bio literally wouldn’t let me put paragraphs in it and i’m... coding incompetent so it’s a wall of sexy, sexy text <3
background
when a neighbour is asked about the riveras what usually comes to mind is the sound of laughter at all hours of the day mixed in with the occasional high pitched screech. his parents met when his father was studying abroad in london, had the kind of ~whirlwind~ romance found in romcoms and romance novels. their five children and small home in exmoor national park are the product of it. eliot, their only boy, was always quieter than his sisters. the smilier one. who probably spent his pocket money buying ice-creams for them and holding the family together.
growing up in a small seaside town, there was never much to do other than visit the beach. so! eliot combined his love for the sea and took up sketching the waves and trying to capture it in some way. and he’s pretty good at it too! definitely the kind of person to give you a little caricature for christmas kinda business
he was honestly just.... a good egg growing up. never caused too much trouble and tried so hard!! in school even if art was always going to be his favourite subject
so, it was all pretty normal up until the time he was thirteen when he became scouted by a fashion agency and probably a little too influenced by the squeals of his sisters, he signed up. so that was suddenly his life throughout secondary school. fashion weeks spent with his nose stuck in a level textbooks backstage... having a lil identity crisis over being an artist stuck in someone else’s artwork... but ultimately realising being part of someone else’s creative vision was cool too!
but now he’s at strathmore doing what he really adores more than anything and that’s .... probably still painting the sea lbr bc it’s his one true love, but they’re better now and he can afford better paints
personality
despite modelling boosting his confidence, eliot’s still a bit quiet. very much the kind of person to only chime in when he has something important to say
probably breaks up arguments by walking in the room like ‘right! i’ve made you both some tea’
incredibly calm and gentle. tries to see the good in everyone and really does try to bring that out of people too! even if he probably fails at times
trips to the beach but... make them semi-organised because otherwise he’ll show up without the right beach goods and we can’t be having that
big listener energy and he’s patient too so if you want to go on about something for hours? he would probably sit there and listen and GENUINELY be interested even if it’s about something really mundane. and he will remember almost anything!! you tell him. so probably has to tone it down and act like he doesn’t remember where you went on holiday when you were nine or w/e lmao
wanted connections
i have a couple of wanted connections listed right here. but as always i’m up for plotting anything outside these... anything spicy.. n i’ll probably add on to that list at some point too!
there’s familiarity in his step as he walks down the hallway of rose and his’ dorm room. the only current living resident may have been their cactus and the window may have been long fixed, but their dorm holds so many warm memories that it almost feels like restoring a sense of normality as his keys turn in the door; remnants of paint still on his fingertips at half four in the afternoon with a bag of art supplies in hand brought over belatedly from the manor. but as key opens the lock and eliot takes in the sight of the room before him, his eyebrows raise ever so slight. evidence that rose has already been hard at work. there’s stifled curiosity in his gaze as he looks between papers dashed across the room, hesitant fingertips reaching out to brush at the corner of the nearest one. “... uh, what’s all this?”
THERE’S A PRICE THAT COMES with little white lies, the possibility of a snowball effect that might spiral into something he can’t quite answer for. if his relationship with rose thus far had taught him anything, it was that honesty was the best policy –––––– especially when it came to keeping the ones you love out of the line of fire. except hollis is desperately trying to shake out the flame entirely –––––– now realizing the dying embers would ignite new schisms. keeping something from eliot was one of them. honesty, hollis –––––– it’s the only way he can move forward. “ yeah, yeah i am –––––– to be honest, i … felt a little claustrophobic down here. at midnight, ” he says slowly, the vulnerability that sculpts his jawline simply praying eliot understands him enough to name the beast that feeds the anxiety in his chest. he nods at the aquamarine’s words –––––– eliot has always had this understanding, a way that put clearer words to the thoughts on his mind, even if it typically came in the form of a trivia answer. “ yeah, i … i guess it’s nice, being here, with everyone. i guess if anything, it … it’s nice to know that everyone is here. safe, relatively. ” never mind what’s left unspoken, how there are twenty-five instead of twenty-six bodies that inhabit the chalet. “ um … yeah, actually. that’d be really nice. i’m … did you see her ? rose, i mean, after … ” after i left, he wants to say. “ what … what about it do you find overwhelming ? ” maybe eliot’s words would help him find his own clarity about the night.
“i did, yeah. just after midnight... we played beer pong. she seemed...” the words catch on his lips, brow furrowing slightly. like something was bothering her. although as eliot looks over his shoulder from the counter, his lips thread together in a thin line. “tipsy.” perhaps, given rose’s state when they’d played the game, even that was too generous a term. “hmm... i don’t know,” he says earnestly, uncertainty seeping into his tone as he crosses the kitchen. there are many reasons why he’s overwhelmed tonight that push all the others to the recesses of his mind. but usually, it’s because the thought of a new year comes with promise. the thought of new beginnings and the hope that the tides will turn in one’s favour. “i suppose it’s a little like being handed an empty cup at midnight.” eliot smiles warmly as he reaches hollis, passing the other’s mug over the table, only to push it slightly with his index finger. “i like that part, i think. the thought that even in the last few moments of something, that there’s hope to be found in the start of something new and that everyone in the entire world is together in it.” as he looks at the other male a little more closely, he finds himself sucking in a breath. “but, that’s also the problem. the start of a new thing is always so uncertain and i find myself holding onto the hope that the days will be kind to us all — you know?” his eyes trace across the features of hollis’ face momentarily before he averts his gaze to his own mug, taking a sip. “it’s heavy.”
“i have four older sisters. five if we include alejandra, who rightfully deserves a place among them for putting up with me for nearly all my life.”
SIRIUS: have you ever failed a class ?
“i’ve come close a few times when i had to study by myself during school and sixth form while i was abroad, especially maths, but i’ve never failed - no!”
GEMINI: favourite song ?
“i really like what a wonderful world by louis armstrong. it has a lot of fond memories attached to it as my mum would stick on the cd whenever we’d drive anywhere and it reminds me of the sound of her voice. but also it kinda just reminds me how interconnected the entire world is and how lucky i am to be alive...? i don’t know, i can’t listen to the beginning of the spoken word edition and hear ‘love, baby, love - that’s the secret’ without feeling the slightest bit emotional.”
CIGAR GALAXY: how’s your flirting skills ?
answered here !
ASTEROID: what’s your dream life look like ?
“i’m surrounded by family (both biological and found), a few kids of my own and happily married. i’m sitting on a big wicker chair on a porch overlooking the ocean as the wind chimes play in the breeze. the kids are playing with our dog, nondescript, somewhere down on the sand with their cousins and i can hear the sound of my dad’s voice as he talks to my partner ( spouse? ) echoing out from the kitchen. mack’s coming over later on with the latest creation from his bakery and alejandra is next to me looking out at the sea and we exchange a glance every now and then just out of appreciation of how far we’ve come. i feel happy. i’m at peace because life is good.”
“mm, i don’t think i’m too bad at it? i don’t know.” eliot’s a shy flirt. it’s a blink and you’ll miss it kind of interaction nine times out ten, and although he’ll often like to be physically close to the person he’s talking to, there are very few verbal clues! it’s simply all in his body language; lots of nodding as you speak and looking at you as if nothing else holds his attention.
QUASAR: if you could spend the rest of your life with only one person, who would it be ?
“haven’t we ALL thought about it at least once...? he’s a good looking man! he’s my soulmate! i wouldn’t go through with it, though. our souls are too intwined.” a more eloquent way of saying the other aquamarine already knows too much about eliot’s sex life. “he’d anticipate all my moves. and that’s no fun.”
“i think half the fun in dressing is in choosing something that tells a bit of a story about who you are. but my absolute favourite item is a chain with a little pendant at the end that my sisters got me for my eighteenth. it has a photo of us all together in it and i like to keep the note they gave me beside it.”
COMET: what’s your big dream ?
“to be happy. as i get older my ‘ big dreams ’ have changed quite a bit, but that’s always the constant. but if i dare to dream just a little bigger - it’s to own my own art studio. right by the coast so i can walk down to the beach every morning with a cup of tea in hand. one that’s not too big, but just large enough that i can bring people in for weekend lessons and teach them just what it is that i saw in art to fall in love with it.”
“she’s alright, yeah. a really good friend . . . with a pair of very kissable lips and the prettiest smile i’ve ever seen . . . but those are just minor details.”
“versatile... gets points because it can be wrapped around your olives like a warm hug from a grandparent. although it loses points because the serving size on the side has to be wrong, right? because it always feels like you should have a little bit more ? suspicious.”
ARCTURUS: have you ever cried out of something other than sadness ?
oh, definitely ! eliot’s biggest role model in the world is his dad, matteo, who taught him that it’s always better to work with his emotions than against them. so, there have been plenty of happy tears over the years ( like when he got into strathmore ! ) but also plenty of angry ones. like when trying to break up family arguments and the tears can’t help but well at the corners of his eyes.
PEGASUS: favourite place to be ?
lying on the beach back home on a sunny afternoon, sketching the waves with nothing else to do for the day. or sitting quietly in a friend’s room doing work individually, making idle conversation every now and again, and just enjoying each other’s presence.
QUASAR: if you could spend the rest of your life with only one person, who would it be ?
BLACK EYE GALAXY: do you believe in love at first sight ?
no ! eliot falls in love with people through a whole mess of little details about them over time that he doesn’t think can be formed just from one impression. real, deep, love comes from making them laugh and getting to know what makes his partner tick. however, he does believe in good feelings at first sight — the kind that the romantic in him suggests that the person is destined to be in his life in some way.
COMET GALAXY: have you ever had to leave a relationship because someone changed too much ?
in all two of his relationships, no !
QUASAR: if you could spend the rest of your life with only one person, who would it be ?
mack. hands down. without a shadow of a doubt. there’s an innate closeness that eliot feels for his fellow aquamarine that made him want to select mack to be part of the society in the first place. like they’re both part of some huge adventure together that they’ll be able to look back on when they’re old and grey with fondness.
WHIRLPOOL GALAXY: have you ever cried over a breakup ?
there were tears spilt on fine satin sheets in the wake of breaking up with valentina ferrara — but they were more like the remnants of a summer romance that had burnt out by autumn. the true pain of first love - the tears that seem to fall without ceasation - come in the autumn of his first semester of university with only rose to bear witness — after breaking up with a certain aislin walsh.
HYDRA: favourite sound ?
eliot will say that his favourite sound is the sea. but really it’s everything that comes with feeling like he’s at home. especially the sound of laughter carrying in the wind by the seaside and the gentle roar of the tide in the background.
ALPHARD: have you ever lost a friend ?
oi oi poppy feel free to come back at any time luv x