Gender & Pronouns: Cis man, he/him
Date of Birth: November 11th, 1986 (34)
Place of Birth: Culiacán, Mexico
Length of Residency: Since January 2021
Occupation: Attorney, DOJ
Face Claim: Alfonso Herrera Rodríguez
TRIGGERS: Drug Mention, Parental Death, Immigration, Adoption, Infidelity, Divorce.
Jacián Alonso Cardenas Morales was the first and, as it would happen, only son of Juan Carlos Gutierrez Cardenas and Gabriela Hernandez Morales. He was born in Culiacán, Mexico and welcomed into a vast, seemingly close-knit family. He, of course, remembers none of this. Because before he even reached the first, tender anniversary of his birth, his family was shattered and his mother had taken unlikely, swift action to remove him from the situation. While she didn’t speak of their shared history often, and in fact didn’t share the story until after he had turned eighteen, the details drove them from the country before he even developed a memory of the place. His father had been part of the illicit drug trade that dominated the city, in the grand tradition of his family, and it killed the young man with a new wife and a newborn waiting at home. His father’s family, in an old and outdated tradition, blamed his mother heavily for many details of the killing. Gabriela refused to accept the blame and refused to accept a cartel life as a legacy for her baby. So, in the middle of the night and under very sketchy and illegal circumstances, she fled with Jacián in tow.
How they landed in San Francisco, California, he doesn’t remember. His mother’s version of their history states “one thing led to another” and she met the man he came to recognize as his father, marrying Adam Myers before Jacián turned three years old. While odds were slim his biological father’s family would, or could, track them to an upscale suburb fifteen hundred miles away, Gabriela secured both Jacián’s adoption and a name change that bucked Mexican tradition. His identity, she argued, would not be defined by the circumstance he was born into. Once Adam legally adopted Jacián, agreeing with Gabriela, his name was changed to reflect a more American affectation and he became Jason Morales Myers. It was a blank slate befitting a child who would have almost every opportunity afforded to him in spite of a violent, complicated, and dangerous start to life.
His upbringing was very typically suburban American in the 1990s, if not for the emphasis that he remain upright and law abiding. Gabriela required her eldest son’s help in managing his younger siblings, six of them, and consistently expected him to be a good example. His stepfather very much encouraged Jason to follow a straight path. As a college professor, Adam made it clear his children were all expected to obtain an education and earn a living doing something they loved. And while religion wasn’t a staple in their home, the Myers children were raised as at least occasional Catholics, which would later haunt Jason considerably.
Jason remained exceptionally close to Gabriela as he grew up. He’d become, in many ways, her right hand man. There wasn’t anything he wouldn’t do to please his mother, a fact which brought him a lot of esteem with his stepfather as well. He excelled in swimming, kept his grades up, and went to college close to home so he could continue to help with his siblings. With no idea where he came from, who he was, or what to be, he followed in his stepfather’s footsteps, parroting that he wanted to work in the criminal justice system, become a judge, and eventually be a law professor. A seminar on Crime and Democracy during his freshman year was the first thing that really stirred any kind of interest within him, and lead to Gabriela finally disclosing the more sordid elements of their past to him. It was the push he needed to embrace some kind of identity for himself, and that would be the antithesis of his biological father. Meanwhile, he’s long-harbored the thought about learning more of where he came from, and the desire to investigate pops up from time to time.
Detours happened as they will. He met Jenica Grossman in a general education class his senior year, a credit he’d somehow overlooked, and she became the second thing he wanted for himself. They married less than a year after college graduation. Reality intervened in the path Jason’s parents had constructed for him, and they returned to her native Catalina Island when both her parents fell ill at the same time. Out of necessity, Jason used his freshly minted poly sci degree not to apply for law school, but to get a job at the local police department, where his ‘yes man’ status gained him rapid promotion if not any kind of real reputation. Children were born in quick succession. Before he knew it, the Myers were settled. The trouble was, he didn’t love being a police officer, especially not somewhere as sleepy as Catalina. He wanted to fight crime from a bench and he wanted to do it in a city that actually had crime. While his mother and stepfather adored Jenny and the children, Jason grew more disconnected and dissatisfied with each passing day. He kept his head down and mostly did what he was told and it kind of sucked. It may have taken him a while to formulate a plan for his life, but what he was eventually living was very different from the plans he’d made, and that didn’t sit well. He just didn’t know what to do about it.
The third thing he ever wanted for himself happened in the form of a young recruit, someone he was training in a new role as a training sergeant in the police department. She was sexy, spunky, and mouthy. He’d never had anyone tongue-tie him the way she could, and then refuse to let him off the hook. He’d never met a woman so challenging but worth the effort. Much like the seminar his freshman year of college, he got caught up and swept away in a blink. The difference was, this time, there were consequences. The affair was revealed and the fallout, both professional and personal, was impressive. The Myers were just Catholic enough divorce wasn’t considered an option. His mom, especially, gave him hell for even considering being that selfish and running away from his obligations to Jenny and their two small kids. He couldn’t bear to disappoint his mom, so he disappointed Evie instead. The only bright side was it became what propelled him away from the police department and into law school— finally.
It turns out, though, the things he’s wanted for himself are absolutely incongruent to his marriage. While he was consumed with law school, falling in love with a new job and completing his path, his now ex-wife grew restless and disenchanted with him. The divorce, on her terms instead of his now, is proving messy and he’s only back in Catalina because she’s moved their kids back to her home.
At least… that’s what he’s telling himself. But over a lifetime, however intentional or not, through his own decisions or not, he’s left these pieces of himself behind with each sea change. Maybe it’s time he thinks about trying to get them back.
Positive: Intuitive | Imaginative | Charismatic
Negative: Selfish | Suspicious | Obsessive
Jason Morales Myers is portrayed by M.
