PERSONALITY
Tamara is the type of person who is loyal almost to a fault. She tries to always see the good in people, but it’s also caused her to get burned many times in the past. It’s caused her to grow thicker skin and become a better version of herself. Her number one passion in life is music, but her first priority will always be her son.
BIOGRAPHY
Trigger Warning(s): Loss of a parent, Bus crash, Depression, Drug Addiction, Abuse
Xander Fox was a 23-year-old musician on tour with his rock band when he met Nadia Chase. She was a year younger than him and had come out to a show in Seattle with a couple friends. Xander was captivated by the beautiful woman in the front row. So much so that he made it his mission to say hello to her after his set. Once his band finished their set, he spotted her across the room at the bar, offered to buy her a drink, and the rest was history. Nadia left her hometown of Fairford, Washington to tour with Xander’s band on the road. She was living the perfect fantasy of being a rockstar’s girlfriend, even if that rockstar was in a pretty small indie rock band that no one had heard of.
It wasn’t until a few months into their relationship that a positive pregnancy test changed the course of their lives. The band was still on tour and had just finished up a show in California. Nadia hadn’t been feeling well and stopped at a drugstore in the area. She had intended to get some medicine to ease nausea she had been feeling but had left with a pregnancy test in addition. She squeezed into the minuscule bus bathroom as she waited for the results. Tears flowed from her eyes as she read the positive symbol on the test. While she had always wanted to become a mother, she had never intended for it to happen so soon and had hoped to be more financially stable when it did. The only source of income they had was based on the band. How many gigs they played and how much merch they sold while on the road. Xander had always been more of a free spirit who went with the flow of life and saw where it took him. These differences caused them to butt heads and argue, combined with the fact their relationship was still so new.
The couple settled in a tiny apartment in the heart of Seattle. It wasn’t anything too extravagant, as the place came with many issues. But it was their home. Xander and his band continued to do local gigs within Seattle, while occasionally traveling to other cities close by. Though the closer it came to Nadia’s due date, the closer he stayed to home. On January 22nd, 1987 their daughter Tamara Fox was born.
Parenthood wasn’t an easy transition for the young couple, as it came with many disagreements and arguments, causing them to break up a few times. Xander desperately wanted to get back on the road and begin touring again, but Nadia insisted that living on the road in a tour bus was no lifestyle for a child. They came to the compromise that Xander would head out on tour and send money back home for anything they needed. Meanwhile, Nadia picked up extra shifts at the diner she worked in, while a babysitter stayed back at the apartment watching Tamara.
As Tamara grew older, she became aware of the fact that her father was rarely around. Her mom tried to shrug it off as if it didn’t hurt or bother her and instead told her that he was off being a rockstar. After seeing a few of her father’s shows, Tamara’s dreams of becoming a musician began to take over. As soon as her tiny hands were big enough to hold a guitar, her father began teaching her different chords to play simple songs. By the age of eight, she was begging her mom to let her take voice lessons after school. She seemed to have a natural talent when it came to music, which was something she had inherited from her father.
Around her tenth birthday, her mother allowed her to join her father on the road for a week as his band played shows across the California coast. She adapted to life on the road immediately, loving the fact she got a cool bunk bed on the bus to herself. When her father’s band was on stage playing, she stood out in the wings of the stage. It gave her the perfect view of the band and the audience’s reactions. The screams and cheers echoed from the back of the venue toward the stage and mixed with the vibrations of the bass through the speakers. From that moment on, she carried the dream of following in her dad’s footsteps as a musician.
By the time Tamara was in high school, she already had dozens of journals filled with her scribbles of possible song lyrics. She continued to practice her craft, even joining the school chorus to work on and showcase her voice. She starred in talent shows and even landed a lead role in a school musical. Tamara was on top of the world, and she was confident that she could make her dream a reality.
After graduating high school, Tamara took a small break before entering college. She wanted to take a risk and see how far she could make it in the music world. After countless auditions, she landed a gig as the lead singer of a band called Dilemma and began a summer-long tour of playing at different festivals across the country.
On August 15th, 2005, her world as she knew it changed forever. She had just come off stage from one of the best performances. She was on a high from the roaring crowd chanting their band’s name and singing the words she had written right back to her. As she checked her phone, she realized there were a few missed calls from her mother, as well as a voicemail. Her mother’s tone sounded worried and as if she was fighting tears. In a panic, Tamara quickly called her mom back, only to find out that her father’s tour bus was in an accident and he didn’t make it. Tamara immediately left the tour and flew back to Seattle to be with her mother. Even though Nadia had never gotten married to Xander, she still felt his loss, as she still refers to him as the great love of her life. Tamara fell into a deep depression without her father around. She could feel her passion for music fading, feeling like it no longer had a purpose without his guidance to help her. She left the band--well technically, Dilemma kicked her out when she started missing band rehearsals and screwed them over by not showing up for a gig. It was hard for her to get out of bed on most days, though she did keep her job as a bartender to afford her downtown Seattle apartment. She mainly worked night shifts, which coincided with her sleep schedule of sleeping all afternoon and waking up in the early evening.
About a year later, Tamara was working a normal shift at the bar when a customer walked in that swept her off her feet. She had seen Felix Rivers a few times before but hadn’t been formally introduced to him until he boldly asked her out. They exchanged numbers and went on their first date just days later. For the first time since her father’s passing, she could feel herself begin to find happiness again, thanks to Felix. He was an aspiring musician himself and gave her the courage to pick her guitar back up and get back on stage. a few months later, she had landed the spot of lead singer in an all-girl rock band named Bliss.
Everything seemed to be turning around for Tamara. For the next couple of years, her band stayed scheduled for gigs all along the west coast, and she and Felix eventually moved in together. Tamara knew the moving-in phase of a relationship was sometimes a tough transition. The couple began arguing over the simplest things, such as dishes left in the sink or dirty laundry on the floor. The fights would blow over, usually solved by love bombing and make-up sex. It wasn’t until Felix went off on a small tour with a new band of his and returned with a drug addiction. His drug of choice was cocaine but had also experimented with various pills. Tamara could feel the shift in his demeanor as soon as he returned. When he was under the influence, he became a much darker and scarier person. Their once small arguments had now transformed into full-blown fights, leaving Tamara with bruises all over her body. She told herself that this was the drugs and this wasn’t the man she had fallen in love with. She did her best to attempt to help Felix get clean. It worked for a few months here and there. Glimpses of the man she loved would return in moments of his sobriety, giving her the motive to stay with him and not give up on him.
After a few months at a rehab facility, Felix returned feeling refreshed and like himself again. Tamara felt they were handed a clean slate, and everything returned to how it had been when they first met. Things stayed fine between them for another few months. Until one night, Felix was hanging out with some old buddies of his and one of them whipped out a baggie of cocaine. He felt strong enough to know his limit, telling himself he’d be fine with just taking one bump. As soon as he returned home, Tamara could tell he had been using. It was the way his eyes glossed over and the fact that his temper was returning. She had threatened to pack her things and leave him, even grabbing a suitcase from the closet and throwing some clothes into it. Felix promised her that it was the last time and that he would get better for her. Tamara naively believed him.
The beginning of 2010 was filled with many changes for Tamara. Bliss had broken up, and Tamara joined another group called Season of the Radio. While they were on the road doing a few shows around the west coast, Tamara began to feel like something was off. She began feeling nauseous and had to pull out of a couple shows to rest up and feel better. Initially, she thought she had caught some kind of bug from being around so many people and traveling. But the results of a pregnancy test proved otherwise. There she sat in the bathroom of her tour bus, feeling an odd sense of irony, knowing the story of when her mother discovered she was pregnant with her. While part of her was overwhelmingly happy to become a mother, the other part was terrified. Her relationship with Felix had been so rocky over the years. She knew adding a child into the mix would result in their lives and their relationship changing forever. Tamara rushed home from the tour, feeling the need to discuss everything with Felix as soon as possible. She got home the next day, catching him off guard and finding drugs scattered throughout the apartment. Tamara was livid and exploded at him, letting it slip that she was pregnant. She hoped it would be the final wake-up call for him. If he couldn’t get better for her, maybe he could do it for their child.
For the entirety of her pregnancy, Felix did his best to support her. He seemed serious about getting his act together and stepping up to be a father to their child. He cut his old friends out, got a better-paying job to save up money for the baby, and overall became the best version of himself Tamara had ever seen. On March 23, 2011 their son Alexander William Fox was born.
The couple managed to stay together until Xander was around the age of six. They broke up when Tamara discovered Felix had been cheating on her with one of his co-workers. The overtime shifts he told her he was working turned out to be him spending time with this other woman. When Tamara confronted him about it, he became very hostile and defensive. She began seeing flashes of the version of Felix that scared her so many years ago. Their fight escalated from verbal to physical, and Tamara was left with bruises running from her shoulder to her wrists. It was the final straw for her, especially now with their son in the picture. She not only broke up with Felix, but she took him to court, filed a restraining order, and got full custody of Xander.
By the end of 2017, Tamara knew she and her son needed a change of scenery. They moved to the small town of Fairford, Washington, with her mother, who had grown up there. Her mother settled along Coral Coast, getting a nice beach house on the coast to retire in. Tamara on the other hand, decided to settle in the Suburbs. A place where she and her son could live their lives freely and not have to worry about their past lurking around every corner. Once they dug their roots into the town, Tamara opened a lounge in the suburbs called Daring Daiquiri. It was a place that specialized in drinks and hosted live performances of various bands and acts around town. It even gave her the courage to get back on the stage herself. She began channeling her pain into new songs, which she slowly began performing. At first, it was an odd feeling playing by herself without a band to back her up. Though the more she does it, the more she realizes that she’s better off on her own without the restraints of anyone else bringing her down. Her main focus these days has been on giving her son the best life possible while continuing to find what makes her happy.
