Full Name → Celeste Mae Chang
Birthday → December 27th, 1996
Order & Type → fifth, solo (adopted)
Gender & Pronouns → cis woman, she/her
Occupation → veterinary technician at Wizards of Paws Animal Hospital
(tw: plane crash, death) Growing up as the baby of the family was supposed to make life easy, and Celeste figured that in any other family that was probably true. In a normal family, the baby would probably be fairly spoiled and damn near able to get away with murder; at least, that's the way it was if she was going off of American television. But for Celeste, growing up had been very different. She'd been expected to keep her head down and do what she was told, and she was rarely trust to do anything on her own. Her parents, her father in particular, had her life mapped out for her by the age of five, and she was expected to follow that plan to the tee. Very rarely did her parents take her seriously or put effort into listening to what she had to say about something; oftentimes she felt like she wasn't really even allowed to have her own voice.
The problem with having her life mapped out for her was that Celeste had absolutely no interest in what her family had decided she would do. Their eldest son had already taken his own path in life, and while she was happy that he was doing something that made him happy it made her life that much more difficult; there was a time where she felt a bit of resentment towards him despite how much she loved him. She knew she'd never be able to do what he had done. It would disappoint her family too much, and she didn't think she could deal with that much guilt bearing down on her from her parents. Unfortunately, much like her eldest brother, she absolutely loved any and all types of animals. From a young age, whenever she found a stray animal she would bring them home to nurse them back to health, but her father put a harsh stop to that as soon as he realized exactly what was going on. She was going to be a lawyer whether she wanted to or not, and her time should be spent on 'things that mattered'; she had no time for foolish things like 'playing' with animals.
Instead of bringing the animals into her bedroom and hiding them in her closet, Celeste managed to find a way to take care of the animals with the help of her mother; what her father didn't know wouldn't hurt him her mother used to say in hushed whispers. They would devote a small section of the laundry room to her pets; her father never did anything with the laundry - that was always her mother's domain - so they could keep the animals there while Celeste nursed them back to health. It was by chance that Mike Sr. even found out about the secret hiding place, but as soon as he did things mildly exploded in the Chang household. After that, Celeste forcibly put her own dreams behind her.
At least, until she was about seventeen years old and her entire world was turned upside down.
Upon her father's direction, she had been cleaning out old files in his office when she found adoption paperwork. Initially she had jokingly thought that maybe she'd hit the jackpot and one of her siblings had been adopted; she loved all of her siblings, but they ribbed each other like normal siblings did. Maybe they'd just never told her one of the others was adopted. The smile that had been on her face dropped, though, when she flipped the file folder open and saw her name on the paperwork as she skimmed through the information. A million emotions had raced through her all at once, and she immediately confronted her parents about it. They had never told her that she wasn't one of them, and she wanted -- no, she deserved -- to know about her real family.
The discussion that followed was one of the only times that her father was actually gentle and kind. They explained that they never intended to hide the truth from her, but she had always been a part of their family - even before her adoption. The Olsons had been the Chang's closest friends; her mother had grown up with Julia. Mike and Julia explained that her parents were some of the best people they knew, and they'd been thrilled when the family moved in next door. Even more thrilled when Mae found out that she was pregnant with a little girl. Both of her parents were successful doctors, and when she was thirteen months old they were both assigned to a transplant team for one of the patients at the hospital that had to travel to procure the organs they needed. Unfortunately for all involved, the plane crashed partway through the journey; there were no survivors. The Olsons had named the Changs as Celeste's godparents, and they'd both been sensible enough to have Advanced Directives on file naming their desire for the Changs to adopt their baby girl should anything happen to them. She was so young that she'd integrated into their family flawlessly. They'd never intended to keep her adoption a secret, but they also never found a good time to tell her.
Learning the truth unlocked something inside of Celeste. She was still respectful of her parents, especially her father, but she was no longer going to put off her dreams any longer. She refused to live her life for anyone but herself. She didn't necessarily hate the idea of being a lawyer, it was almost guaranteed she would have had a great lucrative future, but she had no interest in the work. She wanted to do something with her life that she was going to enjoy doing; she fully believed in the idea that if you find a job you love and are passionate about, you'll never work a day in your life. When she announced that she intended to go to veterinary school, her father was having none of it. She was going to do what he wanted or she would be on her own. They weren't disowning her, but they certainly weren't going to pay for her to go to college or anything remotely connected to something that wasn't part of his 'plan' for her future.
Her father’s threat didn’t scare her. Celeste had perfect grades and a perfect GPA, and when it came down to it - her friends had been right when they told her that she had to start living her life for herself. She graduated high school shortly after she turned 18, and she left home as soon as she did. Her father had still been on her case about not following the path he had laid out for her future, and when he used the age-old 'if you're going to live under my roof' threat she called him on his bluff and moved out. She knew what she wanted to do with her life, she still fully intended on going to veterinary school, but she also wanted to get a little experience under her belt before attending; she wanted to know what exactly she was getting into. She moved into a studio apartment in Philly and took an entry-level job at an animal hospital there; she wanted a little more exposure to life than her parents had allowed her to have before.
She worked there for a little over a year before she applied to St. George’s University Veterinary School after a little push from some of her coworkers; it was in Grenada, an island in the West Indies just a little south of Puerto Rico, but they had an excellent veterinary program. It wasn't the number one school like she'd been expected to apply to growing up, but she didn't care. The school presented the perfect opportunity for her to experience more culture while learning to practice something she loved. After doing extensive research, she learned that her qualified for a scholarship that would pay for the entirety of her education; she only needed to pay for housing, food, and the basics. She already had a small nest egg from her savings over the last few years, and beyond that she could get a job locally to pay for everything else she needed.
While she'd moved out of the Chang house, she did remain in contact with her family over the years. Her parents weren't exactly thrilled that she was leaving the country for college, but nothing Mike Sr. said or did to discourage or dissuade her could change her mind. She was going to live her life for herself and no one else. She had expected her parents - her father in particular - to be unsupportive of her plans for the future, but what she hadn't expected was for her mother to whisper ‘I’m proud of you, they would have been too’ in her ear before she boarded her flight. Julia had always been supportive of her, even if it was in her own quiet manner where she didn’t necessarily push back against her husband, and the woman’s words meant everything to her.
Celeste has been gone for the last six years for her studies, coming back from time to time on holidays and such to visit her family. She graduated from the program approximately a year ago, but she decided to immerse herself in the Grenadian culture instead of going back to Bearcreek. Recently, though, she'd really been missing home so when the lease on her apartment came up, she finally made the decision to move home. Her experience while living in Grenada has definitely influenced her life, exposing her to all sorts of things she would not have seen before, and she easily found work as a veterinary technician at Wizard of Paws Animal Hospital. Eventually, she plans to open her own veterinary practice or maybe work solo for one of the ranches, but for now she is more than content to work somewhere she’s surrounded by animals. It was her dream come true.
