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#⸻ ✿ SARIYAH CARTER ❮ intro ❯
divinctions · 8 months
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✿ ━━━━ SARIYAH CARTER
Is that Brittany O'Grady ? oh, no, that's Sariyah Carter ! A twenty-six year old Art Curator at Casaplan who uses she/her pronouns. They currently live in Valparaíso, and the character they identify with most is Grace Violet from Skins. Hopefully they find their own little paradise here in el país de los poetas!
your resident softie just trying to enjoy the little things / more below
━━━━━━━━━  B A S I C S :
full name: sariyah joy carter
nickname(s): yah-yah, joy, sj
age: twenty - six .
race: african american / caucasian .
gender: cis woman .
pronouns: she / her .
orientation: biromantic / bisexual .
occupation: art curator for Santa Moneda’s Exhibition Gallery .
language(s) spoken: english, french, italian, learning spanish  .
━━━━━━━━━  P E R S O N A I L I T Y :
sariyah is the type to put others before herself no matter what; all it takes is one phone call for her to drop whatever she’s doing and run to them. Family, friends, strangers; no ask is too big and no thank you too small. there is no great compliment than being someone people knew they could depend on, but she struggles asking for help when she needs it. she tells herself she can handle everything on her own because she was raised to believe the worst thing a person can be is a burden. she’s not a prideful person and can openly admit to her faults. she’ll apologize even when she wasn’t the perpetrator  of conflict because keeping the peace means more to her than petty discourse, even if it was her feelings hurt at the end of the day. she finds it impossible to stand up for herself. It’s easy for others to use her as a doormat and she lets them do it. she’s much too frightened of disappointing people who have come to trust her so she’s mastered the inability to say no. she’s a dreamer. when she’s not trying to solve other people’s problems, or scouring the valparaíso streets for new artists, she’s doodling in the margins of her textbook or looking out the window envisioning a world where the opinions of others didn’t matter to her anymore. she tries to find joy in the little things and doesn’t let the small missteps consume her. she’s quick on her feet and can find solutions to her problems with ease. she works well under pressure as it was the only state she worked in growing up, and she does her best not to let those around see her sweat. again, the worst thing a lady could be was a burden. she romanticizes every aspect of her life for her own sake, every action holds weight, every place is more than just a building, and every word spoken has meaning. her existence becomes important because she makes it so. she offers the benefit of the doubt to everyone she meets; she doesnt have time for rumors or whispered disapprovals from people who just haven’t given someone a chance. she takes it upon herself to be the person to see the good in all. she holds her hands over the fire even after it gets warm; only pulling away once she’s burned but even then she’s sure she’ll heal and try again.
━━━━━━━━━  B A C K G R O U N D : tw self harm
as a child, everything was funny to sariyah. a rambunctious child skipping up and down with a song on her lips and flowers in her hair. But it was never her parents following after her up the spiral staircase in the main room of the carter estate. nannies tagged team on how to cut her off from getting away again as her parents busied themself with her older brother. whenever she’d stand in the door breathless and urging them to come play with her they’d close the parlor doors, blocking her view of them but more importantly their view of her. but there was freedom in feeling bare feet on cool granite, of staying in her nightgown on a saturday morning, she never understood why they wouldn’t join her. The more playful she became, the harder it seemed her parents, specifically her mother, tried to mold her into something more refined. she couldn’t play with the other kids with grass stains on their clothes and dirt beneath their nails. Instead, she sat in etiquette classes learning the differences in dinner utensils left to daydream of the kind of fun she didn’t have to sneak away for.
sariyah found a safe haven in school. the expensive private academies her parents sent her to were strict, tradition devoted, and soul sucking. she never made friends, she tried too hard and was much too awkward. the other kids didn’t like how she knew the answer to every question posed in class, or that her mom still dropped her off and picked her up at the same time promptly every morning. they considered her a prude, a snitch, someone uncool without ever getting to know her. even the clubs her mother forced her to join were ostracizing. it made her skin itchy with the knowledge that the kids would only speak to her out of obligation and not because they wanted to. but the school had an art studio. 
it was the only place she ever saw such vibrant colors, the only place she could take the worlds and feelings envisioned inside her head and personify them on canvas. it was her best kept secret. she penned her art under the name ‘ dove blossom ’ and left it in the supply closet, never taking ownership, no matter how many times the teacher had asked or compliments her work got. she was just happy that she got to keep creating without the worry of ridicule from her mother, or scrutiny from peers once they figured out it was her. but all good things eventually come to an end, and her identity was discovered. a teacher, who she thought had been long gone, had stayed later to catch the mysterious dove shim in the act and told her parents everything. there was a parent-teacher conference held, and at first you thought you were in trouble, but once your mother had heard the glowing review of your work from your teacher and students she didn’t see an imaginative flame she needed to snuff out; she saw an opportunity.
over the years, sariyah thought she was supposed to be happy. With her mother’s approval she could do all the painting she wanted, try any medium, buy all the latest tools and expensive paint; they turned her old piano room into an art studio, hired tutors, enrolled her in additional art classes, and lined up all the art schools she’d be applying to. She got into the royal college of art, had her own exhibit before she graduated, and was named the best new artist but multiple art journals before her senior year. Yet, she was so unhappy. This wasn’t how it was suppose to be. Her mother had taken her artistry and turned it into a machine. Her work wasn’t her own anymore. The vibrancy drained from each cavanas, the work became darker but no one thought she needed help. Her mother had everyone believe she was challenging herself. Trying new artforms. No matter how much she tried to speak up for herself, her mother would run her down.
TW; SELFHARM: feeling trapped and seeing no other way out, sariyah grew desperate; taking a mallet in the empty studio she worked in and slamming it on her right hand with all the adrenaline spiked strength she could. the pain was unimaginable, but so was the life for herself if she didn’t do this she thought, and managed to get two more hits in before the pain became too much TW; SELFHARM DONE. sariyah wasn’t thinking about the damage she’d done to her hand as whole, she’d only been concerned about ensuring that she couldn’t paint ever again. news that both crushed her and brought sweet relief when she heard it from the doctor himself. she’d still have use of her right hand, still be able to eat and drink and grab things, but the muscles were forever altered. there was no way she could withstand using her right hand to draw or write for long periods of time. she could no longer lift objects more then ten pounds with her right hand and it was better not to hold it in positions that were nearly closed ( like holding a paint brush ) or it cramp to the point of being rendered useless. sariyah was free. her mom was devastated. all of her hard work had just gone down the drain, but she wasn’t ready to give up yet.
several rehab centers, and soothsayers later sariyah no longer wanted to play into her mother’s fantasy. she’d given her mother too much of her life already. maybe it was because she knew her mother would be unmoving, or maybe sariyah just didn’t have it in her yet to defend herself, but she quietly booked a one way ticket to valparaíso and never looked back. she’s gone no contact with her parents. and it didn’t take them long to cut her off after that ( which she figured they’d do so she drained as much as she could out of her trust fund before her flight to hold her over until her new job started ). now sariyah is focused on the little things again, trying to find the vibrant colors in her day to day that she once loved so much and hoping she can mentor young artist in a way that doesn’t kill their creative spirit the way her mother killed hers.
━━━━━━━━━   H E A D C A N O N S :
sariyah comes from old money. the carter family owned the same car manufacturing business since the 1930s. their company distributes luxury vehicles all across milan, italy and the united kingdom. thanks to her brother they are in talks to begin importing to the united states.
grew up HELLA sheltered. her mom controlled her every day to day, from what time she woke up to what she wore to what she ate. She never had to do a chore or feed herself or shop for herself until she arrived in valparaiso so everything has been a really big learning experience so she has a notebook that’s her just jotting down helpful hints for her day to day like what a delicate wash on the washer means or how to use the chip on her debit card.
her first purchases when she got here was a mint lusso cruise bike and she loves that thing like its her first child. it’s her preferred mode of transportation even with all the hills in valparaíso and good exercise for her hands.
has a very weak right hand and often needs help carrying things, but will she ask? no. so instead, she takes longer to do things bc she has to keep taking breaks, but she does some aids like wagons or wheeled crates, and her basket on her bike. She has to wear a compression glove on her right hand most days to help with the pain an she has a wide assortment of color so she can match with her outfit as often as possible.
will stop a conversation right in the middle of it so she can voice record or jot down and that just came to her so she doesn’t forget, but can usually slip right back into conversation with ease.
she’s the type to buy/send herself flowers, but is a little embarrassed about admitting it so she’d rather just let people believe she has a secret admirer.
she does still draw, she has a notebook of half finished drawings because the aches in her hands never permit her to finish a drawing to completion and she’s found that she likes them more as unfinished works anyway.
Has to practice in the mirror before talking to potential artists for the exhibition gallery, or making a call to an industry worker, or ( god forbid ) having to talk to one. like has a prewritten script for any interaction that she has to bug a service worker.
buys and leave cat food out around the apartment complex for the stray kitties that are lurking, and usually always has treats in her bag.
Spends a lot of her time in the resident garden because she likes being around the pretty flowers and learning to pick herself bouquets and has been taking floral arranging classes. 
is a gamer girly ! specifically on switch but she does of a pc she can play on. definitely prefers cozy games because they're low effort. her favorites are disney dreamlight valley, genshin impact, and cozy grove currently. she can't play for long periods of time because her hand will start to cramp but she finds watching streams just as fun. would watch any friends play for hours too.
━━━━━━━━━   W A N T E D C O N N E C T I O N S : 
Can’t Go Back: Theres a lyric in this song thats like “And it breaks my heart to say i can’t wait to live without you” and i think that vibe fits perfectly for sariyah. I’m thinking this might have been a relationship she had before she lost her ailment got the best of her, and it was the kind of relationship that everyone thought was going to be forever, they were going to walk down the aisle together, but after losing her dream of being a painter a lot in sariyah changed. She wasn’t the same person, and holding on to the person she was in love with before that change happened felt like she’d be stuck somewhere she wasnt meant to be anymore so breaking up with them was the best decision for her, and now they’re both in valparaiso !!! ooooohhhhhh and we can discuss timing and where they stand together but thats the vibes!!
Lacy: I would love a kind of best friendship based on lacy by olivia rodrigo. Very complicated and nuanced. Probably grew up together, maybe in the same art circle so their work was always compared to one another or maybe this muse is a lot more popular and finds it a lot easier than sariyah does and because of the ailment ( that she suffered in silence with ) sariyah sometimes perceived that everything just came so easy to your muse no matter how hard sariyah tried which makes her resent this muse from time to time but at the end of the day thats her best friend so she’s constantly feeling so conflicted on how to move forward when she cant go anywhere without the person she feels is holding her back.
Jeanine and Barbara type friendship: basically Sariyah vying for their approval and acceptance she thinks theyre super cool ideally someone older than her 30+ bc mommy issues on full display but yknow let her be insufferable with friendship.
Helpless crush:  these two hint it off the moment they met. growing closer with every day, and spending almost every minute with each other. but somewhere down the line this muse began developing feelings that went beyond friendly liking. but every mention of a relationship was laughed off by sariyah because her naive mind believing their conversations on a life spent together were just pretend. a way they would joke to make her feel better when it becomes too much again. But this could also go the other way as well, they can also be pathetic!!!
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