[ david castaneda, cis man, he/him. ] ✧･ﾟ is that [ JAIME RIVERA ] who just stumbled into town? rumour has it that they’re the [ THIRTY ] year old child of [ HECTOR AND IMELDA ] from [ COCO ]. i’ve also heard that they’re [ CHARMING ] but [ SECRETIVE ] and have [ 1 ] sibling. i could almost swear i heard [ EN EL OLVIDO - OMAR APOLLO ] playing when they appeared.
full name: jaime rivera
nicknames: none
age: thirty
gender: cis man
pronouns: he/him
sexuality: bisexual
parents: hector and imelda rivera from coco
siblings: (open younger sisister - mama coco)
( tw: mention of murder and parental abandonment. )
TO SAY THAT life was complicated for jaime rivera would’ve been a severe understatement. he was born as the first child to hector and imelda rivera, his younger sister socorro entering the world a few years after him. while his father’s presence in his life was on the sporadic side, jaime found himself idolising the man from birth. he inherited his father’s love for music and the desire to pursue a career in music himself one day. even though it felt like sometimes his father was putting music and his aspirations before his own family, jaime never blamed him for doing so. he believed one day that the world would know his father’s name and appreciate the talent he had, especially with the premise of going on tour with the worldwide famous musician ernesto de la cruz.
although all contact between his father and mother came to a stop not long after his father left home. from that point forward, jaime watched as his mother transformed into a completely different person. to provide for her children, she taught herself to make shoes and passed the craft on to them. on top of that, all music was banned from their household due to the belief that she held that her husband merely ran off. little did she know, the thing that prevented him from returning home was death itself. before hector could even get a chance to make his dreams come true, he was sabotaged by ernesto and murdered by the man he saw as his key to success. while jaime didn’t want to believe the fact that his father would so easily abandon his family, he had no other explanation.
while his mother distanced herself from anything remotely related to his father, jaime used music as a tool to remain connected to him. he would secretly play guitar and scribe music late at night, not wanting to anger his mother. it was a secret that only coco knew, often playing for his younger sister and getting her approval on his latest work. although as he grew older, his desire to pursue his own path grew stronger. even more so when his greatest muse came along: valentina de la cruz. they had known one another through their fathers. but considering the complicated relationship that spurred after his father’s disappearance, it felt as if the world was truly working against them.
as hard as he tried to resist her and not become enamoured with her, his efforts were all for naught. the two ended up engaging in a friends-with-benefits type arrangement in secret. but it wasn’t long before feelings crept in and began to complicate things. while jaime was too worried that a confession might ruin things, it was his jealousy of seeing val with other men that truly was their downfall. the two had a fairly messy break-up, jaime never getting the chance to tell val how he truly felt about her. it was his biggest regret in life. especially since not long after their breakup, all three of the de la cruz sisters were murdered by their mother.
completely heartbroken and depressed, jaime didn’t know what to do with his life. he ended up running away from home as an escape. he had zero direction in life without val or music and wasn’t mentally prepared to spend the rest of his life as a shoemaker. so he moved to mexico city where he got a small gig playing guitar in a band. but as the years dragged on, he still never felt satisfied. he was just about to decide to return home to his sister and mother right before the chance to do so was stolen from him.
[ shawn mendes, cis man, he/him. ] ✧･ﾟ is that [ HUNTER BARRETT ] who just stumbled into town? rumour has it that they’re the [ TWENTY-FOUR ] year old child of [ BIG AL ] from [ THE COUNTRY BEARS ]. i’ve also heard that they’re [ ARTISTIC ] but [ FORWARD ] and have [ 2 ] siblings. i could almost swear i heard [ HEARTFIRST- KELSEA BALLERINI ] playing when they appeared.
full name: hunter barrett
nicknames: none
age: twenty-four
gender: cis man
pronouns: he/him
sexuality: bisexual
parents: big al
siblings: jolene barrett and (open younger sibling)
music has always been at hunter’s core from the very day he was born. just as the passion for music was gifted to his father and older sister, it was passed onto him as well. when he was just a cub beginning to explore the world, he was given his first instrument. a washboard. it was simple and allowed him to experiment, easily becoming enthralled with the sounds and tunes he could make with it. but it wasn’t long before he was ready for a proper instrument.
yet he knew that it would be a learning process, one that he was guided through by his loving big sister, jolene. she taught him all he knew such as how to sight read and play his very first chords. while she was a wizard on the keys, he wanted something else for himself. it took him a bit of trial and error, but when he finally tried out the guitar that his father used to play he fell in love with the instrument. the strings were worn over the years but he felt as if the instrument still had a heart to it. that’s when he was surprised by his father with a guitar of his own, an electric guitar. hunter often looked at the instrument as his ‘baby’ and it became his most prized possession. the family of bears would have jam sessions fairly regularly, it didn’t matter if it was in their cave or in front of a captivated audience at grizzly hall.
they were just happy to have this one thing in common that brought them together no matter what. all of those years spent playing together pushed them to start their own band, naming themselves the beary barrett band. in hunter’s eyes, it was like it was the three barrett siblings against the world together. but despite putting in the hard work together, hunter unintentionally became the face of the band as the lead singer and guitarist. at first, it wasn’t something he was entirely sure he was comfortable with, but over time he became obsessed with the attention he got from their fans. he liked being ‘the favourite’ with his younger sibling coming in second place. self-obsessed with a growing ego, he never stopped to think how this would begin to put a strain on the band — and more importantly on his family.
[ josephine langford, cis woman, she/her. ] ✧･ﾟ is that [ ODESSA WARBURTON ] who just stumbled into town? rumour has it that they’re the [ TWENTY-THREE ] year old child of [ ILEANA AND KARSH ] from [ TWITCHES ]. i’ve also heard that they’re [ KIND-HEARTED ] but [ INSECURE ] and have [ 1 ] sibling. i could almost swear i heard [ ATLAS - SHANNON SAUNDERS ] playing when they appeared.
full name: odessa warburton
nicknames: dessa
age: twenty-three
gender: cis woman
pronouns: she/her
sexuality: bisexual
parents: ileana and karsh
siblings: cyril warburton
LIFE IN COVENTRY was beyond peaceful after everyone assumed that thantos had been defeated. but with a force that was as powerful as the other once was, a dark mark was bound to be left behind. while light and good preside, evil too will always lurk in the corners waiting to snuff out the light. but that wasn’t something odessa truly concerned herself about during her childhood. sure, she knew of what occurred from the bedtime stories that her parents told her. but she naively believed just as anyone else, that things were safer now.
due to this false belief, odessa was able to live out her childhood rather happily. she was extremely close to both of her parents, learning how to hone in and use her birth-given magical abilities. but the person she adored the most in her family was her older brother, cyril. despite their four-year age difference, he never treated her as if she was any lesser than him. it was one of the many reasons she looked up to him and always sought him out whenever she needed someone. but as the years dragged on, she began to notice a shift in her brother’s demeanour. while her parents were quick to write the change off as ‘teen angst’, she had a feeling there was a more sinister root of the changes.
while she couldn’t explain it, there was this feeling that loomed inside of her. something bad was coming. with cyril slowly distancing himself from the entire family, odessa was left on her own. she didn’t have any friends outside of the royal family that her parents served and was far too introverted to even attempt to make any. most of her days from then on were spent reading, crafting, or playing pretend. but just before her brother’s sixteenth birthday, tragedy unfolded. the darkness that she saw festering in her brother seemed to win out and he stole his parents' wedding ring and fled coventry to a new dimension that he would rule over.
despite her parents’ efforts to retrieve their son and break the curse that had been placed upon him, their efforts were fruitless. their family was somewhat torn from that moment on, all three co-existing but never truly as the family that they once were. when odessa was finally old enough to do so and confident enough in her magical abilities, she tried to find her brother but her efforts too proved to be hopeless. she began to resent herself and her abilities, deciding that they were of no use to her if she couldn’t save the one person she loved most in this world. instead of using her powers freely as her parents encouraged, she only used them when needed. all ambitions and dreams were shoved to the side, instead deciding to settle for a path that was carved for her. she remained in coventry where she served as a magical adviser the current royal family: camryn and demitri.
[ paul mescal, cis man, he/him. ] ✧･ﾟ is that [ NOEL CALVIN ] who just stumbled into town? rumour has it that they’re the [ TWENTY-FIVE ] year old child of [ CAROL AND SCOTT CALVIN ] from [ THE SANTA CLAUSE ]. i’ve also heard that they’re [ EMPATHETIC ] but [ PESSIMISTIC ] and have [ 3 ] siblings. i could almost swear i heard [ HAVE YOURSELF A MERRY LITTLE CHRISTMAS - SAM SMITH ] playing when they appeared.
A CHILDHOOD SPENT in the north pole was bound to be less conventional than most, but from the moment noel and his siblings entered this world his parents did their very best to maintain a sense of normalcy for their children. both carol and scott had once experienced the mundane routine of life elsewhere so they were able to provide the necessary structure to ensure their kids were well-rounded. but this didn’t mean that christmas didn’t dictate a good portion of their lives. noel was homeschooled by his mother from an early age, occasionally also attending the classes that she taught to the elves that worked for his father. from an early age, he became fascinated with the inner workings of the north pole and even held onto the dream that one day he would be able to step in as the new santa claus once his father was ready to retire. due to this lofty dream, he often shadowed his father as much as he could. the man truly was his idol.
despite how much noel looked up to his father and hoped one day he could live up to the magic he created for children around the world, he began to realise just how much his father prioritised work over his family. playing the role of santa was a full-time job, one that took up a majority of the man’s time all year round. while it was beyond rewarding to watch, noel made the same wish every christmas eve that things would change and his father would take a step back from his work to provide him and his siblings with a bit more attention. that christmas wish never came true. when noel was finally eighteen years old, he decided that he wanted to leave the north pole. foolish childhood dreams and love for christmas aside, he yearned to see what the world had to potentially offer him.
his parents knew it would be a shock to his system since he had only ever left the north pole to visit his half-brother charlie and his grandparents, but they had faith in their son. while it was most definitely a culture shock to noel, he was able to adapt and adjust over time. he ended up applying to university where he majored in business with a minor in fine arts. he ended up somewhat following in his father’s footsteps after graduating when he got a job at a major toy company. while it wasn’t exactly what he wanted, he was able to bring joy to children across the world by coming up with new and exciting toy ideas. if there was one thing he knew and understood best: it was what children liked and what they wanted.
but over time, he slowly began to lose the joy he once felt toward christmas. all of his coworkers merely viewed the holiday as a cash grab and his boss placed extra pressure on him during christmas. the experience certainly wasn’t the same as it was at the north pole. but noel was far too afraid to admit that the hopes and aspirations that he had created for himself away from home weren’t playing out the way he hoped they had. even if he was giving up on his dreams of becoming santa claus, he wanted to do everything in his power to make his parents proud.
ultimately that’s what I feel like I’m representing, it’s the people that I know. like I see a lot of my friends and family in both connell and marianne, and a lot of people are reaching out to you and saying that’s what it was like for me in school, that’s what my first sexual experience was like, or I had that conversation with a guidance counsellor. that’s the satisfying part because what you’re imagining is representative of people’s realities.
paul mescal photographed by bartek szmigulski for wonderland magazine, 2020
janainaart
stormborns
yousharknotpass
turnnoffyourmind
jbbartram-illu
