TRIGGER WARNING: mentions of abuse, child abandonment, neglect, terminal illness, death
[ MEDALION RAHIMI, TWENTY-SIX, NON-BIANARY ]. who just got accepted? oh, it’s just the new student [ CLEO SERAFINI ]. [ SHE/THEY ] is originally from [ NEW MEXICO, USA ] and they’re apparently a [ WEREWOLF ]. did you hear their focus is [ STRENGTH & AGILITY ] ? that’s probably how they got in. they remind me of [ THE SOUND OF COMBAT BOOTS HITTING THE FLOOR, THE ONE PERSON YOU SEE IN PASSING THAT YOU NEVER FORGET, DRUMSTICKS PEAKING OUT FROM A BACK POCKET AND ALWAYS BEING THE FIRST TO START A FIGHT ]
Best described as a fucking whirlwind. She is known for bringing chaos wherever she goes, leaving individuals both better and worse off for it. Born to a single mother in Santa Fae, New Mexico, Cleo never really knew what it meant to have something simply handed to them. Her mother tried her best to provide for them, but that never stopped the young girl from feeling like a burden. Her mother was the only family they had at the time and to see her hurting killed them.
Throughout most of her early years, she was known as rather quiet and tended to let people walk all over them, make her feel less than because of where she came from.
When they were around eight or nine began her mother’s rotation of boyfriends. None of them were ever really serious, but all of them were rude and Cleo never really understood why she felt like they should be the ones she was bringing home. None of them ever really acknowledged Cleo, until the one that entered their mother’s life when she was around eleven. Cleo and her mother were subjected to a year and a half of abuse at their hands before they were finally able to get out. In order to give her child a better life while she got her feet underneath her, young Cleo was sent by their mother to live with their grandmother.
Then came the starting over. The move to Taos was not originally welcomed by the young woman, but she gradually began to find herself - slowly but surely. It was here where she picked up her first pair of drumsticks. The instrument came naturally to her, as naturally as one inhales and exhales.
During this time, she met Zara Morales and Myles Young, their best friends and soon bandmates who helped her really turn her life around. Since then, she has considered the band to be their family, even if it is chosen. They taught them how to be strong, be proud of themselves and to not give two fucks about what the world thinks. If you mess with anyone involved with the band, Cleo will most certainly attempt to break your nose. News flash: they’re usually successful.
Cleo’s mother never really made the effort to be a part of her life again, and their grandmother was slowly but surely falling into failing health. A lot of Cleo’s time was spent traveling between doctors offices and home, only seeing Myles and Zara otherwise. Zara’s father and stepmother became great figureheads in Cleo’s life during this time and became the parental figures she never really had.
When they started the band when they were sixteen, it was as if Cleo finally found what she was meant to do. It made sense: Zara as their lead singer and front-woman, Myles playing guitar and Cleo on the drums. She never really had a dream before they started making music, but doing it with their chosen family sounded like the closest one could get to one.
Then came something Cleo never saw coming - Zara had been bitten by a Werewolf. While they went into a state of shock at first, Cleo knew that she wanted to be by her friend’s side, no matter what it meant. Alongside Myles, she too was bitten. Zara and Myles are the only family they have, and they keep her strong.
Her grandmother’s death came shortly before she turned nineteen. Although she never really had the closest relationship with the woman, they wonder what it would have been like if the two of them had actually made the effort to have one.
The missing men. It didn’t matter how bad it was, Cleo didn’t care. As long as Zara was safe. Whatever it took to protect her, they would do it.
Throughout this time, the band continued to write and perform in several shows on the underground scene and it didn’t take long before they were approached by a manager. As a collective, they have put several albums out into the world.
In a way, she still wishes their mom could have seen her make something out of herself. Now, she gets to do what she loves with the people she loves most in the world. Their chosen pack.
Cleo tends to have a bit of an angry streak. There are very few times during which they will filter themselves or hold themselves back from any sort of fight, and that is only usually when she’s at a professional thing for the band. While they’ve been able to hide it pretty well from their fans, it’s been a struggle. She’s still working on it.
Coming to Acadia has certainly been an adjustment, but Cleo is more than happy to sit back and just watch the chaos. She honestly thinks this whole pack war is dumb as hell and does not want to be in any way associated with it. Whatever story is behind it, it’s not theirs. Her best friends are all the family she needs, end of story.
Their wardrobe consists of mainly black, accompanied by leather everything, corsets, combat boots, silver chains, rings and giant band t-shirts. If they intimidates you, good. That’s usually the plan.
Has a shit ton of tattoos all over their body. Most of them have some sort of meaning, a couple of them were dares. She considers them to be a documentation of her life story.
She currently lives in an apartment with her bandmates and is the happiest they’ve ever been. If only she didn’t have to take these pesky classes. Maybe then, everything would be heavenly.
