#bearcreekcohenchang

[bearcreekhq]

MEET TINA

Full Name → Tina Elise Cohen-Chang

Age → 32

Birthday → January 15th, 1992

Order & Type → second, solo (adopted)

Gender & Pronouns → cis woman, she/her

Sexuality → bisexual

Occupation → owner of Modern Vintage Boutique

THEIR STORY

Being adopted at birth, Tina never knew the meaning of the phrase “blood is thicker than water”. To her, the family that she was adopted into was everything that she needed, they cared for her and loved her. Because of this, she never felt the need to look into who her birth parents were as she got older. As a child, Tina was full of energy, always singing and dancing along to the radio or the kids’ movies that her parents would put on for her. Shortly after the family made the move from Philadelphia to Bearcreek, she asked her parents to sign her up for dance at the local community center. Though she loved to dance on the stage for her recitals, Tina was always far too afraid to sing alone or even go out for any of the theater shows that the community center and theater offered. She felt safer, more comfortable being a part of a group, but on her own she got stage fright easily. This stage fright is what led to her faking a stutter when she was in 6th grade, to get out of an oral presentation for a project. 

Tina kept up with the fake stutter, not wanting her teacher to catch on that she was lying about it. This led to some of the other students teasing her for it, some of her friends no longer wanted to hang out with her because of it. Eventually, due to other insecurities that come with becoming a teenager, she quit dance and started to keep more to herself. She still had a few friends who stuck by her, though, eventually the group of them getting into the goth and emo scene. Because her parents wanted her to be true to herself and let her express herself, they agreed to let her wear whatever style she wanted. Though since the price of clothes at typical alt stores like Hot Topic were on the pricier side, this is when Tina began to start thrifting. With her mom’s help, they would alter the clothing to either modernize or darken it.

Becoming talented with thrifting and eventually being able to use the sewing machine herself, this is when Tina ended up volunteering to help out with the school’s drama club, behind the scenes of course. She assisted with making the costumes and eventually this lead to her helping with the glee club’s outfit customizations and even the K-12 summer theater program at the Community Center. It wasn’t long before Tina realized that she herself missed performing and dance recitals, so during her Freshman year of high school she ended up auditioning for glee club and got in. She preferred to stay in the back and sway, though the more she got to know the other members and become closer with them, she became more comfortable, opting to try out for solos. And she was good. She even came clean about her fake stutter, finally dropping the act. 

With a newfound confidence, Tina was also going out for roles in drama club and at the community theater. She even volunteered to help out teaching at her old dance class. Though she didn’t get a lot of solos in glee club or overly big roles in theater, she still had a blast and loved being able to perform. Though she would have loved to pursue performing as a career, she knew that it’d be smarter to put a different hobby to use that would likely insure success in her small town. Opening her own boutique, with thrifted items both in their original style and some upcycled by Tina herself, along with handmade jewelry. She went to college for her degree in business, and with the help of her parents they found a storefront right in town where she opened her shop - Modern Vintage Boutique. She’s had it open for about eight years now and though she runs the store, she still makes sure to have time for the community theater - both helping out with costuming and auditioning for shows. 

[bearcreekhq]

MEET GABE

Full Name → Gabriel Lucas Cohen-Chang

Age → 33

Birthday → January 10th, 1991

Order & Type → first, solo (adopted)

Gender & Pronouns → cis man, he/him

Sexuality → heterosexual

Occupation → manager at GameStop

THEIR STORY

Gabe's story starts with a couple that struggled to get pregnant, no matter how hard they tried. though they couldn’t have one of their own, they had so much love to give. They were lead to an adoption agency, and that’s where they first met the child that would soon be known as Gabriel Lucas Cohen-Chang. To be honest, Gabe doesn’t remember much about his life before the Cohen-Changs; he was barely preschool age when they adopted him. But his origins never really bothered him. He knew all he needed to know – he was loved, and they never gave him any reason to look back at the family that had given him up.

Once he’d gotten older, he found a love for all things nerdy. Pokemon was his favorite obsession; he had played every single game that had come out and could name just about every Pokemon in existence. Beyond that he enjoyed trading card games and other platformer games like Mario and Crash Bandicoot. The love of games never went away and eventually led to a full time career at GameStop. Gabe started working there shortly after graduating high school…

…and he’s still there. but he’s at least gone up the chain from a lowly store associate to store manager. It has its challenges, sure, but Gabe is passionate about games and wants to help others find enjoyment in them as well. But gaming isn’t his only passion; he’s a humanitarian at heart and spends any and all free time he has volunteering at soup kitchens and homeless shelters. He’s even used his position as manager to hold a few blanket drives at his store during the winter months to make sure anyone living on the streets wasn’t without some way to keep warm. He’s the type of person that is always there when you need a friend, although that hasn’t always worked out the best for him. He’s been taken advantage of before, but even still, he sees the good in people.