[ VALENTINA ALVAREZ. 30. CIS WOMAN. SHE / HER ] is here! They’ve lived in Silver Lake for [ 12 YEARS ] and are originally from [ PASADENA, CA ]. They are a [ BARTENDER AT DUNGEON & YOGA INSTRUCTOR AT 24/7 FITNESS ] and in their downtime love [ PLAYING VIDEO GAMES ] and [ UPCYCLING CLOTHING ]. They look a lot like [ EMERAUDE TOUBIA ] and live [ IN OASIS APTS ].
content warnings: mentions of alcohol and underage drinking, pregnancy and labor, allusions to nsfw content.
timeline.
december 10, 1990 -- valentina elena maroun is born. half-sister to four older brothers, her biological father misses her birth and is almost entirely absent throughout valentina’s youth.
1990 to 2008 -- valentina spends her formative years in pasadena, ca with her family. during this period, her mother gets back with her previously separated husband ( valentina’s brothers’ father ) for good. valentina considers this man to be her real dad, and at the age of 9 valentina’s surname is changed to his: alvarez, matching the rest of their family. upon her high school graduation at 17 years old, she prepares to move to silver lake with two of her friends: they’re both to attend usc, while valentina attends ucla on a partial athletic scholarship for softball.
2008 to 2010 -- spends her first two years of college doing exactly what most expect: going out with friends, experimenting, drinking whatever she can get her hands on, and so on and so forth. she still takes her studies and softball seriously, and works part-time at paco’s tacos in silver lake during this time.
2010 to 2011 -- falls pregnant at 19 and gives birth to her daughter, rosa torres, shortly after turning 20. has taken the fall and spring semesters of this school year off to prepare for her daughter’s birth, as well as to be home during rosa’s infancy. has a strenuous, lengthy and difficult labor. it’s under pressure from her parents that valentina pursues a romantic relationship with rosa’s father, lucas torres, for rosa’s sake. by 2012 however, they come to agree a platonic relationship coparenting works best for everyone involved.
2011 to 2014 -- moves in with her brother in santa monica, bringing rosa along with her, to return to school and cut her commute in half. has lost her athletic scholarship, yet earns a partial academic one. valentina relies heavily on family to help out with rosa during this period and has reached out to her biological father for financial aid. their relationship is strained, but on the mend. upon her graduation, valentina gets a job as a server at maria sol on the santa monica pier.
2015 to 2016 -- though valentina doesn’t want to, she relents to moving back home so rosa can be closer to her father. valentina reluctantly moves back in with her parents and enters a job tending bar at dungeon.
2016 to 2018 -- unable to stand living at home, valentina convinces another one of her brothers to let her move in with him in silver lake. gets a second job as a yoga instructor at 24/7 fitness. she cuts back her hours at the club when in 2018, she manages to land yet another job: as a project-based writer for buzzfeed reviewing and researching sex toys. this quickly leads to her brother encouraging ( read: telling ) her to move out when he’s put in the uncomfortable position of, to put it as cleanly as possible, hearing her working.
2018 to 2021 -- valentina finally moves out into a three bedroom apartment at the oasis with long-time friend, helena, for a roommate. still works part-time at dungeon with hopes to quit soon, and continues to teach yoga and contribute to buzzfeed.
personality traits.
alluring, assertive, vehement -- valentina is a very passionate person and this translates into her sensuality. she’s never really been afraid to go after the things she wants, whether it’s in her personal or professional life. in personal relationships, valentina isn’t ashamed to make the first move and can be quite flirty at times. unfortunately, valentina has yet to be in a relationship that’s lasted longer than a year or two. while she does want to settle down, she can be fickle and unsure of what ( or who ) she wants.
candid, effervescent, resilient -- in general, valentina is a person who values honesty and respects people who tell the truth when it’s most difficult. her keen attitude on brutal honesty doesn’t, however, get in the way of her easygoing nature: it’s not hard to get along with her and she’s incredibly outspoken and outgoing. of course, this may rub people the wrong way at times.
egocentric, erratic, frivolous -- it may or may not be obvious that valentina has a penchant for changing her mind. she does her best to think of others first, especially so when it comes to her daughter, but she’s entirely susceptible to her own whims. she’s impulsive and seems to lack purpose. and, ultimately, it scares her to consider that she’s never known what she wants to do with her life: so she doesn’t stop to think.
recalcitrant, resentful, rigid -- valentina is a fan of grudges. she tends to hers like pets. she’s often stubborn and unwavering and entirely unwilling to admit when she’s in the wrong. fully the type to never forgive, never forget, but just move on. and perhaps it comes from being the youngest, but she’s also known for being pouty and upset when things don’t go her way.
miscellaneous headcanons.
for about 2 years beginning when she was 25, valentina was apart of a roller derby team in los angeles. given that the pronunciation of her nickname valé sounds so close to valley, she quickly adopted valley hurl as her derby name. she eventually quit due to no longer having the time to attend practices.
she still roller skates to this day and, a year ago, blew up on tiktok ( along with her roommate, the one who initially put her on to skating ) when she posted a video of herself skating and dancing down the street. she’s since deleted previous videos and curated her entire tiktok feed to focus solely on her roller skating.
her social media totals: 1.8m tiktok followers, 178k instagram followers, 2k twitter followers. most of these were gained within the past year and she’s certainly not famous by any means, though she has been able to make money off sponsored ads on her instagram.
she’s very into fitness! she played soccer growing up and still loves a good game of softball, she loves running, taking various fitness classes, etc. and on the mention of sports, she also loves going to dodger games and watching sunday night football.
has considered streaming on twitch but ultimately decided she doesn’t have the time to commit to that sort of endeavor. also has considered starting a podcast. sort of a jack of all trades, master of none.
case in point: got into upcycling clothes a few years ago. as a result, got into sewing and began to go thrifting more frequently. briefly sold stuff on depop before quitting that endeavor a month or so into it -- now she mainly upcycles pieces for herself and her friends, as gifts for people, etc.
has a few tattoos ( tbd ) that are easy to cover up and generally only visible when she’s wearing certain clothing. her mother and grandparents were disappointed when they found out but are okay with them now.
is actually a pretty damn good singer! her entire family is. at family parties, you’ll often catch them getting into karaoke or clearing out room somewhere for a dance floor. it’s not unusual for them to egg you on to join in.
on that note, a big part of valentina’s enjoyment comes from this type of fun. even since having a child she’s never necessarily cut back on going out -- whether it’s to nightclubs, dive bars, karaoke nights, concerts, anything -- and has made some technically irresponsible choices. still makes them to this day. she’s not perfect by any means. she’s learned to be more conscientious over the past decade, however.
ultimately, valentina struggles with motherhood: she does the best she can and although her parents are great people, she wants to make different choices than them. there’s a lot to be said about how she dealt with parenthood at first and how she still struggles with it now, but the short version literally is this: she’s trying.
is afraid of the dark... like very. checks under the bed and in the closet at night to this day. likely stems from the various pranks her brothers played on her as a kid.
currently does not eat noodles. after a conversation with her daughter about how noodles look like worms, valentina agreed to abstain from eating them out of solidarity. is hoping her daughter will get over this aversion soon because valentina loves noodles.
