#hemlock docks

BASICS

Name: Jackson Hart.

Gender/Pronouns: cismale, (he/him).

Date of Birth: August 8th, 1993.

Age: 27.

Hometown: Albuquerque, New Mexico.

Length of time in Crescent Harbor: just arrived.

Neighborhood: Hemlock Docks.

Occupation: unemployed.

Faceclaim: Nick Robinson.

BIOGRAPHY

Jackson Hart was unremarkable. Born to a relationship therapist and a stay at home mom who tried everything from MLMs to setting up her own Etsy store in Albuquerque, New Mexico, Jackson lived a life that was just as unremarkable. His father ran a successful business, capitalizing on his name-- Dr. Hart. It was a fact that Jackson found to be quite nauseating, to be perfectly honest.

Everything was a show: Dr. Hart was a “pillar of the community”, according to his mother and to her, that meant everything had to look perfect on the outside. Jackson saw the cracks and rotted underbelly, though, and he refused to conform. His rebellions were small, a restless spirit inherited by his mother to aid him in his need to be the smudge on the otherwise spotless Hart family.

That wasn’t to say he had a bad relationship with his parents. It was the opposite, in fact. They supported most of his decisions throughout his formative years. When he wanted to play soccer, they signed him up, bought him the best cleats, and set up a soccer goal in the backyard. When he wanted to quit just as quickly, the goal was packed up, the shoes were donated, and they never spoke of it again. It became a tired routine by the time Jackson hit senior year: baseball, basketball, football, band, karate, piano lessons. They all came in on a whim and left just as quickly.

It was when it hit the college years that the personality the Harts helped cultivate became a problem. Jackson spent half a semester attending classes at the local community college before deciding it was not for him. It was the first time one of his choices was met with resistance. This time, it came with an ultimatum: finish out at least one year of school, or find a job and start paying rent. The choice was an easy one for Jackson. A year-- and then two-- came and went and he'd started and quit more than a handful of different jobs. Cashier, barista, waiter-- you name it, he gave it a try. He started a band (it went nowhere), he started a podcast (it went as far as the band), and he even took a six week solo biking trip around New Mexico for a vlog that got little traction. Nothing stuck. Nothing drew him in for longer than a fleeting moment. And he was perfectly content with that.

Twenty-six was a new type of impulsive. Jackson had dated before-- a revolving door of relationships that dwindled to embers just as fast as they caught flame. This girl would be no different. Except, she was. Swept up in the romance of impulsivity and the fire of lust and excitement that disguised itself as love, they got married only three months after knowing each other.

And to the surprise of absolutely no one, it fell apart just as quickly. Sharing space, being responsible for a happy home, tethering his heart that proved to be too fickle to tie down, wore down on their relationship, and on the heels of their one year anniversary, divorce had been put on the table. Jackson, assuming he'd be welcomed back home while he got his life back together again, was in for a rude awakening. His parents had reached their limit with his lack of accountability and his father, who liked to throw his own expert opinion into the mix, refused to sweep this one under the rug. He remained firmly in the position that Jackson needed to see something through while his mom took a gentler stance-- albeit one that echoed his father's sentiment. Even still, Jackson didn't handle the team up very well and went rifling through the garage for the bike that had seen him through six weeks of wilderness and adventure-- an escape that would put distance and time between them while they came to their senses. Because they would, he knew.

He found more than he bargained for.

Jackson's mother held secrets-- big, life-altering, fucking secrets-- close to her chest. And Jackson unboxed them all. A brother-- an entire family-- existed before Jackson had even been born. A brother who his mother had never spoken of. A son who had lived without a mother nearly his entire life. Anger and confusion drove him to a heated confrontation in the middle of the night and when she confirmed that, yes, she did have a son before she'd met Jackson's father, and yes, she should have told him, Jackson shut down. Overwhelmed by the news and the hypocrisy, he left. At first, he didn't know where he planned to go. A few hours of Google searching, however, found Crescent Harbor-- a small town tucked away in the lush greenery of Washington. He'd found his brother. And maybe he was running away, but indignation kept him from acknowledging that part. Instead, he packed up his beat up old Ford and didn't look back.

After all, his brother deserved to know too, right?

PERSONALITY

+ intelligent, bold, spontaneous.

BASICS

Name: Maximilian “Max” Vargas.

Gender/Pronouns: cismale, (he/him).

Date of Birth: January 6th, 1989.

Age: 32.

Hometown: Sacramento, California.

Length of time in Crescent Harbor: 27 years, minus 2 years in Seattle.

Neighborhood: Hemlock Docks.

Occupation: Sous Chef at Anchor Management.

Faceclaim: Sean Teale.

BIOGRAPHY (trigger warnings: divorce, infidelity)

The Vargas and the Casillas family have been close and working together before Max was even born; Max’s grandfather, who immigrated to Crescent Harbor with his wife from Venezuela in the 1950′s worked as a gardener for the founding family until he retired a decade ago. Max’s father Arlo also worked at the winery until he moved to Sacramento in 1985 to live with his wife Camila whose grandparents immigrated from Spain in the 20′s. There they had a son named Maximilian but only five years after his birth Arlo got a job offer at the Casillas winery as Vineyard manager and the small family moved to the small town on the coast of Washington together and started a new small town life together, just the three of them.

That was until Max was fifteen years old and Arlo cheated on Camila, resulting in the other woman getting pregnant. So, suddenly their lives together were ruined. His parents divorced and Arlo moved in with his new woman who already had two children, now Max’s stepsiblings. Despite spending hours working with his father at the winery starting his Sophomore years of High School Max still harbours resentment towards his dad and stepmother for this and isn’t super close to his stepsiblings and half-sibling but of course, still has contact with them, acting civil. He mostly lived with his mother and the dogs Downtown as he stayed in school where he did pretty well, especially when it came to football and his girlfriend Cora. Unfortunately, they later broke up because he wasn’t sure how to handle her going off the deep end when her mother got sick and he still remembers it as his first heartbreak that he could have prevented if he had just known what to do.

His mother was certain he could have gotten into a very good College but Max decided to stay in Crescent Harbor and majored in Physical Education. After graduating he worked at the winery again while he applied for all kind of jobs until he landed an assistant football coach job at the school he had just graduated from a few months earlier. His life started to work itself out and he got a routine down, one that might seem boring to others but he was very much enjoying himself. The first years were great; the students loved him because they could relate to him and some of them Max even knew from before; some he made new friends with. The third year however, he started developing feelings for one of those people; a cheerleader he just couldn’t stop thinking about. He ended up quitting his job before he crossed any lines and figured he’d move on but they then started dating during the summer, which definitely sparked some questions. Not that it mattered, because within a few months the couple moved to Seattle after Max had realized a new passion through his work with wine; cooking, and applied late for Culinary school.

The next chapter in his life Max isn’t incredibly proud of and he rarely speaks of it unless he’s drunk and broodingly sharing his life story. After two years he finished Culinary school with great results and figured he could get a job in Seattle so they could stay there. However, plans changed when he ended up cheating on his girlfriend; something he still held a grudge for when it came to his father, so they broke up and Max, once again, found himself working at the Casillas winery in Crescent Harbor, every day beating himself up for what he had done.

Although getting a job at Anchor Management only four months later, Max still felt bad for quite a while about what he had messed up and lost but somewhat reconciled with his father upon confessing his wrongdoing. Despite that, he is somehow still not over his parents’ divorce and what caused it. At this point in time he’s in a better place though and starting the new year of 2021 he got promoted from Chef to Sous Chef at a work place where he really feels at home. Well, maybe second to the winery, where he practically grew up.

PERSONALITY

+ pragmatic, kind, dedicated.

BASICS

Name: Billie Davis.

Gender/Pronouns: cisfemale, (she/her).

Date of Birth: May 24th, 1993.

Age: 27.

Hometown: Crescent Harbor, Washington.

Length of time in Crescent Harbor: Born and raised – back for 3 years.

Neighborhood: Hemlock Docks.

Occupation: Bartender.

Faceclaim: Zendaya.

BIOGRAPHY (trigger warnings: negligence, drinking, death)

The idea of life being presented on a silver platter often seemed like a fallacy – something that happened in books, movies, or somewhere far far away from Crescent Harbor. The idea of having a picture perfect family and a quaint happy life certainly existed in Crescent Harbor, but not for the Davis family. Though, that wasn’t always how it seemed.

Mr. and Mrs. Davis grew up in Crescent Harbor together, were high school sweethearts, and lived a simple life. They both worked minimum waged jobs and never felt like they need much more than each other. Mr. Davis was a truck driver, delivering packages. Mrs. Davis worked as a waitress. When news of a baby came along, they thought they couldn’t be happier. Sure, they would have to work a little harder and cut some corners when it came to money, but a baby was all they ever wanted. What their daughter Billie brought to their life was more than what a little extra cash would bring.

Billie was only 4 years old when Mr. Davis died. Sometimes she still could recall the sound of the sirens blaring that night, but not much more. It was a stormy night, and he was dropping off the last of the packages for the day. Crossing an ill lit street, Mr. Davis was struck by a car speeding around the corner. It was unexpected. They were supposed to have time to raise money for Billie’s future. Nothing could have prepared them for this. Mrs. Davis was left to care for her daughter on a waitress paycheck and little in savings. Drowning her sorrows in the cheapest alcohol she could find, holding in every ounce of pain, Mrs. Davis went to work. There was no time to wallow in it, simply to numb. Most of Billie’s memories from childhood were being brought to a neighbors or told just not to open the door if someone knocked. She was left to take care of herself most times, because her mom had to work to pay the bills.

It became quite clear to her very early on that other people’s lives looked different from her own. Other kid’s parents picked them up from school. Other kid’s parents wrote them notes in their lunch. Billie never felt resentful towards her mother, because she saw the exhaustion and effort her mother put into putting a meal on the table. It just felt like her life was harder from the jump. She could never have what those kid’s had.  Billie caught on to the looks other mom’s gave her when she was the last one waiting at school or the looks her friends gave her when they found out she didn’t have a dad. She never liked the pity. Embarrassment overwhelmed her when it came to her family and home life. Walls were built and Billie closed herself off. It was easier if that was all just kept private.

By the time she got to high school, Billie wondered if her life could be any different than her mother’s or if it was inevitable to follow suit. The cynicism seemed to sink in pretty quickly. She simply learned how to not expect much out of anything. Her grades were subpar – if she tried she’d probably have been pretty good at school. Nothing in high school felt like the end of the world to her, like everyone around her. Popularity, though, was somewhat of a security blanket for her. Billie found that hanging with the right people gained her access to parties with free booze and  a ridicule free life. There was a sweet spot where she sat where she was popular but still remained without the scrutiny of being too popular.

Billie often found herself in trouble. Sometimes it was hard to tell if she sought it or stumbled upon it. Once, when she was 16, a couple friends and herself got caught in a fire. Between the drinking and the fucking around, she still is unsure of how exactly it happened and if anyone was to blame. Circumstances like this she tried to keep from her mother knowing.

As high school came to an end, the daunting question remained : would she be anything more than her mother? Life seemed dull. Life seemed rather pointless. Billie couldn’t help but always feel like she wanted more. With fear of telling her mother any of this, with fear of anyone thinking of her as useless or boring, with fear of being nothing, she decided to skip town with no goodbyes. Stealing some, a lot of, money from a friend’s dad’s wallet, Billie fled to L.A.. It was the only place she could think of that seemed like things could happen.

It started off hard, working small jobs to pay for a tiny apartment. It wasn’t long before Billie was scouted to be a model. For the first time since moving to L.A., she felt hopeful. It felt like an opportunity to be someone. The modeling world was like nothing she had ever experienced before. Long hours on set lead to long parties. There was an extravagance that Billie had only seen in movies. The glitz and glamour of it all allured her. Sometimes she couldn’t tell if she was just doing it for the lifestyle or if it was something she enjoyed.  If she was being honest with herself, the attention, the pressure, the scrutiny wasn’t something she enjoyed.

Often she felt lost, she felt like she was no longer herself. Or maybe the issue was she still didn’t know who she was outside a party and a superficial friendship. After a couple years, it felt like she had hit rock bottom. Billie was no longer working as hard as when she started. She was drinking too much. She was showing up late. The big checks stopped coming in. Bills started to pile up. Without much choice left, Billie decided to go home.

She’s been back in Crescent Harbor 3 years now, bartending, and trying to figure out who she is – what she wants to do.

PERSONALITY

+ charming, independent, aloof.