sup ! my name is gel and this is kai ! excited to write with y'all !

full name :  mikayla anne collins reyes preferred name / nickname :  kai (literally no one calls her mikayla) , 'kaikai' (by family + family friends on her dad's side) age :  twenty-eight birthday :  october 8 gender : cis woman pronouns : she / they sexual orientation :  lesbian relationship status :  in a relationship occupation :  drummer for do not disturb hometown : boston , massachusetts parents : mother – anabelle (nee collins) reyes father – johnathon miguel reyes siblings : brother ( - 4 years ) – kenneth milo collins reyes brother ( - 6 years ) - kyle marvin collins reyes faceclaim : isa briones

HISTORY.

kai was born in new jersey, but her family moved to east boston after her brother milo was born. it quickly became their favorite place in the world. born the oldest of three with two younger brothers, kai took on a lot of the responsibility of an older sibling. as soon as she was old enough, she would babysit her brothers while their parents took extra shifts or went out of town.

it was a loud house, full of kids with too much energy and tired parents trying to keep up. but kai was particularly active, eternally restless, and it became a mission to her parents to find something to put her energy into, putting her in all sorts of activities, even better if they overlapped with her brothers' commitments.

❛ it was a busy house , so i think my parents mostly just wanted me occupied with something , and i was shit pretty bad at sports and at school, so i fell into music . ❜

she fell in love with music instead. the first instrument she picked up was bass guitar. she grew up listening to classic and alt rock, and there was something appealing about playing bass – this instrument that people don't realize is crucial to their favorite songs until no one's playing it. she stuck with it for about six months before switching to the piano. her father was excited, had always wanted to learn the piano himself but after about a year, everyone realized it wasn't really the best fit. then came the drums.

❛ they put me in front of a drum set – i think my parents saw me sit still for the first time – and that was it . ❜

the drums were the first thing they'd ever really committed to. after filling the first half of her life with a rotating menu of activities, her focus on the drums was particularly shocking to her parents, but they embraced it nonetheless. the feeling of the sticks in her hand became second-nature and to kai, there was nothing in the world like it. from the moment she picked up an instrument, started writing lyrics, channeling that never ending energy into something that made others feel, she knew she could never go back, never really be anything else but a musician.

❛ never thought about doing anything else . ❜

kai started in a band in high school with their best friend turned girlfriend but it blew up when they broke up. their relationship never really recovered, and after that, she'd cycled through a few attempts at a band by the time she meets her current bandmates. at that point, she's at a crossroads of deciding whether to go to back to school or pursue music full-time. but when they play with their bandmates for the first time, they can tell it's different – that this is different. it takes a couple years to be proven right, tiktok of all things being a main source of their catapult into relative stardom. then supernova records signs them and it's like everything changes – for the better or worse, they're not quite sure yet.

❛ worst part [of fame] ? probably all the people that feel entitled to us in some way – always asking for new music or new merch or more shows or more posts . the best part are the real fans not pulling any of that shit . ❜

fame was never something kai considered all that much. music was her livelihood, her passion, her dream, but fame? it sort of terrified them. so when they start to gain more followers, gain a little more recognition, start getting shoutouts from their favorite celebrities, she starts to hold her cards a little closer to her chest, afraid of strangers getting their hands on the things most precious to her. and it works, for the most part. though it makes the label think this makes them the perfect candidate to play " THE MOODY ONE ", the one who's a little tough to work with, who's either too cool or too private for interviewers .

at her core, kai is driven by their values and want for authenticity. it's what makes her feel particularly conflicted in her career, having to put up a front, but she knows it's more than her dreams on the line, it's her bandmates', too. so they'd be exactly who they need them to be. even if that means losing people she cares about and a bit of herself in the process.

❛ before dnd, i'd be holed up in my room, making too much noise for one person, and now i still get to make noise but on a stage with my best friends. ❜

VIBES.

ENFP-T (Campaigner) - kai is a vibrant force of enthusiasm, creativity, and idealism. her mind is always occupied with new ideas and possibilities. the hardest part of this job is how much they have to tamp things down when interacting with the public. she's got this natural charisma that makes it easy to connect with others.

she's a bit of charmer, very used to getting away with things growing up because she could usually talk her way out of situations. their parents actually thought they'd make a good lawyer, but it was always music for them. kai also uses this charm to deflect and keep the attention off of herself, to keep people from knowing too much about her.

her constantly revolving mind of ideas also makes it difficult for her to focus on mundane tasks or stick to routines. they're 99% sure they've got undiagnosed adhd. kai cycles through hobbies constantly and is more likely to leave a project unfinished than not. that's why them music career is so fascinating to the people who know them best. it's the one thing she's stuck to and the one thing she works harder at than anything.

she's also a bit of people pleaser and struggles with conflict. as the eldest daughter, she always had to mediate for her two brothers whenever they got into fights, but rather than it turning her into a peacemaker, she tends to shy away from conflict instead. it's part of what has kept her from pushing back against the label, what keeps her from telling them no. she has a tendency to keep things bottled up instead, and the feelings leak out at incredibly inappropriate times.

with all of the band stuff going on, they're not exactly into relationships. they're the type to get attached much too quickly (#self aware) so as soon as the label signed them, they decided to forgo relationships... for however long. do not count them out of a flirtationship, though. she's probably got more of those than she knows what to do with.

she has very strong eldest daughter energy. she'd always sort of taken care of herself and other people in a way, so she can be very protective of the people she cares about. once they're on your side, you've got a loyal friend for life.

NOW.

her ability to spin things becomes a weapon for the band and the label sees it as an opportunity to really pull out certain personalities from the band. they don't want to be the douche-y drummer perpetually in a bad mood, but it's for the good of the band.

they didn't realize, though they probably should have, that agreeing to do one thing for the label meant the label would assume they'd do other things too - like get into a pr relationship with 'love me anyway'. and look, kai was great with people, loved to connect with them in fact. but there was something about 'love me anyway' that just gets under her skin and the feeling seems to be mutual. she's not sure how long either of them'll be able to keep it up.

to make things worse, now they've got 'after midnight' lording their 'act' over them to add to kai's stress. it's bad enough to constantly feel watched by the fans and by the label, but now they've got a member of a different band–the band that dnd is literally opening for–holding their secret over their head.

kai had a really good relationship with her family until a couple of years ago. their parents were incredibly supportive and always wanted to come support her at dnd's shows. but in recent years, their mom's grown disdainful (read: disappointed) of what she thought fame (i.e., the label) was turning kai into. there was a big fight before she left to go on tour, and now kai's relationship with their parents is incredibly strained. she still talks to her brothers and her dad checks in from time to time, but their relationship isn't the same. it's made their reliance on the tour and the band much more intense, and with having to keep a fake relationship and now being blackmailed, it may only be a matter of time before it all comes to a head.

WANTED CONNECTIONS.