Birthdate: November 10th, 1986 ( 32 )
Gender and Pronouns: Female, she/her
Hometown: New York, New York
Neighborhood: Greenwich Village, Manhattan
Occupation: Prima Ballerina/Principle Dancer
Faceclaim: Odette Annable
Trigger Warnings: Alcoholism, Car Accident, Death.
The relationship between mother and daughter is often sacred and unbreakable -- one full of nurture, support and unconditional love. Or at least that's the picture that was constantly painted for Kian Hendrix growing up. Where most girls idolized their mothers, she found herself constantly searching for ways to avoid her own. There were many areas the woman excelled in, but connecting with her daughter had never been one of them. Kian wasn’t a child to love, but one to groom. Where Olivia Hendrix failed, she expected her only daughter to succeed. Which put a considerable amount of pressure on the young girl. From the moment Kian could stand, she was thrust into a pair of ballet slippers. Her tiny shoulders crippled under the weight of her mother’s dream long before she got the chance to realise her own. Her brothers, Abel and Milo, constantly changed their minds about the future. One day they claimed to want to be a doctor, the next day an astronaut, sometimes their occupations and dreams changed by the hour depending on what they watched on television but Kian’s remained steadfast. When she grew up, she’d be a dancer. An answer that pleased her mother every time she heard it. Despite her father’s continuous insistence for her to be allowed to explore other hobbies as well, Kian refused because truth be told, she truly did love to dance and was quite talented at it too.
Nothing satisfied her more than landing a routine, or going out for ice cream with her friends after practices. She adored the tutus she got to wear, choosing to wear them around the house and outside of it whenever she got the chance to. But more than anything, Kian loved how close she felt to her mother whenever it came to ballet. Whenever a new show was announced at the New York City Ballet, they would get tickets, dress up and make a night of it -- getting dinner before the show and dessert after. Olivia constantly practiced routines with her daughter, and there was no mother who looked more prideful than she did when Kian came on stage to perform. But the older Kian grew, the more pressure her mother applied. While participation in anything whatever by her brothers was enough for their mother to shower them in praise, Kian found more criticism than anything else. Participation was no longer enough. She was expected to win recitals, be picked for lead roles in performances and in general outshine the rest of the dancers in her class. And whenever she failed to do so, she never heard the end of it from her mother. Who demanded to know why she hadn’t performed better, or insisted that she practice more for next time. The pair were in the middle of such an argument when Kian Hendrix’s life changed forever in an instant.
One moment they were speeding down a bridge trading back and forth heated words, and the next... blackness. Kian couldn’t be sure of what exactly transpired that night. Her mind only remembering extremely bright lights in the distance and the sound of a blood curdling scream. It was only after she woke up at the hospital that she was informed the scream had belonged to her mother who’d been thrown out of the front window upon impact. Her body determined to be somewhere in the Hudson River, although a body had yet remained to be found. At just twelve years old of ago, Kian went from a happy home of five, to four. A mother ripped from her children and husband in an instant. Mateo Hendrix, the sudden single father of three, attempted to ensure his daughter that black ice was the culprit -- that the speed plus the unexpected ice led to the accident and not her, but Kian still blamed herself. So much so that even after being advanced to stop dancing after the accident shattered her right leg, she continued to jump right back into the moment she finished physical therapy. All Olivia Hendrix ever wanted was for her daughter to become a great dancer, and Kian was determined to make it happen regardless of the consequences to her body. If only to do right by her mother after forever being filled with survivors guilt. From then on, Kian’s life seemed to go on without her in it. Despite her strained relationship with her mother, Kian still struggled with the death of her mother and found more comfort in a bottle of alcohol than her own family and friends, ignoring all signs that it was becoming a problem.
High school and college passed by in a blur of attempting to juggle a social life, her dance career and grades. And although most of the time she found herself struggling in at least two of the categories a once, she made it through. Graduating from both institutions with a semi-decent standing. It was only after finishing college that Kian found herself unsure of what to do next. She revolved her whole life around getting into Juilliard for dance and then surviving the competitive atmosphere there once she was accepted that it never dawned on her what her next move would be. There were offers for her to stay at the prestigious fine arts university, but ultimately she decided to travel to California to pursue dance opportunities there. She found herself a part of the San Francisco Ballet for a couple of years before deciding to audition for a season of So You Think You Can Dance. Finishing in second place and with her popularity at an all time high, Kian returned to New York City once the news of her father’s impending wedding reached her. It was only after she returned to celebrate Matteo’s new found love that she found love of her own with a musician named Kai Anoa’i. She hadn’t been looking to fall in love -- especially with her brother's best friend -- but she fell hard anyway, more so when he got down on one knee and proposed to her. In just a few weeks, Kian had moved in and they started planning their future together, starting with adopting their golden retriever and named him Simba. Sure he was the one she was destined to spend the rest of her life with, life forced them down different paths. Their engagement was short lived and called off so that he could further his career in the music industry while she stayed behind and took a job as a principle dancer for the American Ballet Theatre in her hometown of New York City to stay close to her family and friends.
( + ) adaptable, carefree, hard working.
( - ) insecure, temperamental, unpredictable.
