so, journalist. he also reads the nightly news and as you can imagine from his face he’s super popular amongst middle-aged women (lmfao). he really loves his job and wouldn’t trade it for anything.

he also sometimes writes for a lifestyle magazine about anything that’s not of an important nature; it’s soothing for him to be able to be creative.

his full bio is here, which explains his childhood / life with this parents, buuut in a summary — basically they pushed him a wee bit too hard when he was young into making sure he was the Smartest Kid Out and it all blew up in high school when jamie was like ‘no, fuck y’all, i’m still good either way’. now it’s not tense, per se, with his parents but still a little iffy and he has the undying need to please them because of how he was brought up

he’s engaged. has been for about a year. i’m probably gonna put out a wanted connection for it, but basically they on the rocks like crazy and it’s almost as if the only reason they’re still together now is that this girl is exactly the kind of girl his parents want him to marry (see, my smol beb can’t escape his parents).

he’s honest to god a Good Person. like. the best. he’s always smiling and trying to be happy, he’s civil and polite af, like hella peacemaker. he’s charming and charismatic and basically just an all round good guy.

someone please wreck him.

MOI;;

hello nice people i’m manu and i’m super excited to be here!!!

i love to plot so if you wanna plot just like this and i’ll im you or just im me!!

RANDOM FACTS;; 

bruno hates his first name. he would literally rather you called him an insult. most of the time he just presents himself as bruno.

he is really super kind and nice most of the time unless it’s about politics then he’ll not drop the argument until you say that he’s right

he’s the kind of teacher that would encourage students to start a revolution inside the school

he loves art, and architecture and if you let him talk he’ll nerd out about marble honestly.

strongly believes in love and soulmates

BACKSTORY;; tw: death

his mother is american, his father italian. he was born in venice, italy and he lived there until his parents got divorced when he was about twelve years old.

then his mother went back to the usa with him and his sister, and they all started living in devinstone

his mother married again, but he never really liked the guy so he started saving to move out and live with his father back in italy. — his mother was a great person and he loved her deeply. his stepfather was also a great man and he realized that years later —but bruno always romanticized the idea of going back to italy and learning about art and then traveling across europe.

he lived in devinstone until he finished high school, and then when he turned eighteen, he packed up and went to italy where he lived with his father, and got his degree in art history.

he loved the place, and the language and all but after living there for a few years he just felt homesick.

he went back to devinstone and settled down and that’s when he did teacher training, and started working as a teacher, then started working on his masters degree. time passed, life goes on.

everything was fine and dandy until his father died and that’s when he just started feeling like he was ignoring life, doing things people expected of him instead of the ones he wanted to do

so bruno just dropped everything, got on a plane and decided to go around looking for himself again

three years into it and he was just tired and had no idea of what he was doing so he went back again to try and find himself back home.

alexa grew up in a house that was fileld with medical field professionals and their hopes and dreams of their children following their dreams. a family that was constantly away because of their jobs and having her elder brother watch her more than half the time because of it. 

although she wasn’t exactly happy about having to look up to her brother for a sense of guidance instead of her parents, she couldn’t bring herself to hate her parents, her caring and loving nature wanting nothing more but to keep her parents proud and because of that, alexa felt the pull and pressure to follow her parents and brothers footsteps, forcing herself to achieving higher grades in any kind of science than the rest of her classes.

once she turned the age of twelve, she had began to fall into the music phase, wanting nothing more but to learn almost every instrument that her hands could touch. it started with the piano, something that she enjoyed because of the classical sound of it, but soon moved to the guitar and found her true calling and her only escape from the outside world.

whenever the pressure got too much for the girl, she would be found in the music room, usually skipping a class and playing a few chords on the guitar, making her own little beats with no lyrics because of her inability to talk about how she felt without getting emotional, one thing that alexa hated getting.

throughout high school, she was a very carefree woman, she was smart and outgoing. she was willing to hang out with anyone that was interested in knowing her for more than her looks or because of her elder brother that was achieving the medical field, but her all time favorite group were people like her -- people that had a dream in the music industry.

her senior year was when she finally opened up to her parents about her lack of interest of finding herself an education in medicine and wanted nothing more but to save up money and possibly continue the possibility of a band with a few friends she had met along the way. it took more than half a year for her and her parents to finally agree to her schooling for the music major. the deal being that she got a college degree and they would support anything she wanted.

going to college was a breeze, especially with open mic nights and being paid the money they were. between herself and julian, the pair was able to save enough money for her to finish her classes online while they finally went on a tour and lived the high life.

julian was someone that alexa loved with all her heart, being one of her best friends and someone that was constantly on her side no matter the rumor or mistake she made because of his ability to see that she was human and nothing less, which was why alexa’s life came crashing down when the high life began to make julian power hungry.

when she entered the hotel room to see him on the ground and cocaine layered on his nose, she practically blacked out and to this day, she still only remembers bits and pieces.

alexa had shrugged off the drugs, assuming that it was something every band raising to fame did, but her own body only experienced the regular joint once in a while while her best friend was silently screaming for help with his cocaine addiction and the moment everything went to shit, she hadn’t been there and to this day she blames herself for that.

begging him to stay with her and giving him the best cpr she could, alex sobbed for days in the waiting room of the hospital while she tried to bring herself to tell the police what happened and begging for them to save his life but the moment he was awake, she simply put on a strong face and told him that everything would be fine before disappearing into her own bubble and her own life.

never facing death in her life, it was a sense of grief and fear that was new to the girl and it triggered nothing but night sweats, constant nightmares and panic attacks at work whenever she heard jokes about snorting cocaine or someone wishing another would overdose. 

picking up a job as a waitress, trying to put her life back together and pushing the horrible memory to the back of her head and refusing to talk about it, alexa is still the most loving and outgoing girl out there but she has yet to talk to someone about her experience of almost losing her best friend to someone around her and she has yet to pick up a guitar again.

marcus was born and raised in portland

his mom left with another man when he was just a little kid, leaving him in the care of his alcoholic dad. he can’t remember her face or the sound of her voice anymore, but he knows she had long curly hair and used to sing to him all the time

so basically his childhood consisted of going to bed hungry because his dad would waste all their money on alcohol, and lying in bed at night just waiting for his dad to come into his room and start yelling because that’s what he usually did when he was drunk

marcus’ only cooked meal of the day would be in school and he never made any close friends growing up because he didn’t want them to find out about his drunk dad

his dad wasn’t the violent type, but he was often verbally abusive. he’d call him names and tell him he was worthless which happened so often that marcus came to actually believe it

before he came to devinstone, marcus was attending community college back in portland. he got placed on academic probation due to bad grades in his 2nd year and eventually kicked out ( which he’s too ashamed to admit it to anyone!! )

after that, he pretty much just up and left because he couldn’t stand being around his dad any longer and he wanted a fresh new start somewhere where nobody would know him y’know

so that’s how he ended up in devinstone 

personality wise, he can be pretty snappy, blunt && cynical. he doesn’t go out of his way to meet new people and he doesn’t really like to talk about himself out of fear of being judged

okay so moving on to connections!! i especially would love:

one or two roommates pls i’m begging you

someone he can get high with

close friend

AN ENEMY

fwb

unlikely friends

an ex?? ( he’s bi )

Shae Mancini was born into a family that struggled to keep themselves afloat. By the age of ten, her parents left her with her aunt Cecilia and uncle Joe, as well as her cousin Luca, while they moved around in hopes of finding a better place and jobs to be able to take care of her. However, what was supposed to be a stay of a couple months turned into years, until she no longer needed to be under her parents’ care. Needless to say, the pair never quite made it like they wanted to. They kept in contact with her, however, and sent in money whenever they could to cover for her expenses.

By the time she turned 18, Shae noticed things she had never paid attention to before. Her family was struggling, and while Luca went off to became a successful businessman, Shae searched for jobs in anything she could find. It wasn’t the easiest thing for her, for what little she could find didn’t make quite enough to help out around the house. She came across Miss Mary’s Home for Girls one night while walking back home from her first night shift at the local supermarket. She’d heard about the place multiple times, disgust in the voice of those small-town people, yet something about it called out to her. She entered the place, and her life was changed forever.

Realistically, Shae wasn’t good at most of the things she tried, but she was good at dancing and singing. She stood in the crowd for what felt like an eternity, captivated by the lights, the glamour, the classiness of the burlesque that was so far off from what she’d heard from everyone else. She instantly knew she had to be on that stage. They wouldn’t allow her to though, not until she turned 21, but they did let her work the floor as a waitress, which was better than nothing at all and she made enough to help cover her expenses and with some bills at home. Though it wasn’t as easy to hide from her parents, all four of them.

Miss Mary, who was still alive and glamorous at the time, noticed the girl’s interest and her ability to learn the choreographies. She took Shae under her wing, teaching her everything she needed to know and stirring some jealousy among the other girls, but Shae wasn’t looking to climb status among them; she worked hard and learned everything there was to know about running the Burlesque. When she turned 25, Shae was the star of the show, no longer hiding it from anyone when she loved being on that stage, the applause the glamour of it all and the fact that she owned that stage. That became literal, when Miss Mary passed away, leaving her as the sole heir to the business. She was 31 then.

Coming from a family that didn’t have all the privileges others around her had, Shae grew up to appreciate everything she got, maybe a little bit too much. She loves being spoiled and having things just for the pleasure of having them, but she’s got a good heart. However, her confidence and the success in her life has made her somewhat vain, yet it doesn’t take away how thankful she is to her family & Miss Mary for guiding her and changing her life completely.

Hey loves! I’m Aly and this is my tiny lovebug, Sicily. 

Sicily grew up in a very demanding family. She’s a Vanderbilt, and therefore practically New England royalty. As a child she had to be the best at everything she did to please her father. 

Her mother was a russian ballerina, and that’s how Sicily started in dance. From a young age she loved it more than she did anything else. Most girls wanted to play dress up or make believe and she just wanted to dance. 

Sicily’s mom died when she was ten, leaving her with her father. He shut down, refusing to allow her to dance because it reminded him to much of her mom. As a solution between them both he sent her to boarding school, one for the arts where she was able to continue dance, and later singing. 

When she was 17 she was offered a spot in a dance company, on she gladly took and she traveled the world for a few years from 17-25, until she decided that she wanted to open a dance studio. 

About a year ago she purchased space in Devinstone, and began having it remodeled into a studio for her to dance and teach. She moved to the town only months ago, and so far her studio is doing really well. 

She and her father are currently estranged because she chose to follow in her mothers footsteps and become a dancer. Though she’s very close with her older brother and younger sister. 

Sicily is quite complex. She has an anxiety disorder so she’s often very quiet and softspoken. That is until she warms up to someone and then she’s all over the place and doesn’t hardly know when to be quiet. 

She’s kind and loves to help others, though she’ll do it as anonymously as possible. She’s also got quite the temper on the flipside. It doesn't take a whole lot to make her angry. 

The only time you will never see her hesitate or her anxiety get to her is when she’s dancing. She may have a breakdown before or after, but while she’s moving it’s like she’s part of the music. 

- Lily is a Devinstone native, though has no idea who her parents are; she was placed into the care system when she was a child, and has gone through many families since. 

- Her ‘forever’ family now lives in the next town over, while Lily lives in Coventry Hill. They visit, on occasion, though are busy with her foster-siblings nowadays.

- Lily was always creative, from a young age, and always had a distinct talent for drawing and painting. When she left university with an art history degree, however, she couldn’t find a particular job that interested her. 

- Her temporary job currently consists of being a florist, which she loves with all her heart. Though she doesn’t know how long she’ll be there, she hopes to find somewhere a little more suited to her skills.

- Lily was never a popular girl throughout high school, as she never put herself out there due to the teasing she got from being a foster child. Constantly moving, she hated making friends and getting attached to lose them only a few months later. 

- During her teen years, into university, Lily was hard-working, and stayed away from attempts to be popular, or within a certain clique. She stayed friends with who she wanted, and who wanted her; she never saw much point looking forward, to bother with cliques and popularity.