#zarafa:intro

[altheafm]

࿐         * ₊  gabbi garcia. cisfemale. she/her.  ⋆ *    —    welcome to camp zarafa  !  ALTHEA CORTEZ is here from VANCOUVER, CANADA currently working here as an EVENT PLANNER to help our guests get through their journey of healing and finding themselves once again. they give off these METICULOUS, EBULLIENT AND VOLATILE vibes who enjoys CALLIGRAPHY, BAKING AND SWIMMING during their free time for a TWENTY FOUR YEAR OLD. ( lia. 21+. gmt-6. she/her. )

                                         ¦   profile   ¦   background   ¦   plots   ¦   extra  ¦  

basics.

full name: althea cortez nickname(s): ally, thea age: twenty four date of birth: december 2, 1996 birthplace: makati, philippines hometown: vancouver, canada current location: siargao, philippines ethnicity: filipino nationality: canadian gender: cisfemale pronouns: she / her orientation: demiromantic, heterosexual religion: agnostic education: graduated high school, various courses at a community college occupation: event planner

background (tldr).

born as the middle sibling out of the three, althea and her family moved from makati to vancouver when she was almost one year old due to a job opportunity presented to her father.

had a really average childhood with all the pressure being poured onto her sister, five years older than her, and pushed to become the example of the other two. all the while her brother who’s only 2 years younger than althea clearly became the unspoken favorite. being the middle sibling was easy most of the time. so long she didn’t do any extraordinary things, neither good nor bad, althea was able to remain below her parent’s radar.

regular high school experience: neither remarkable nor reprobatory grades, a “steady” friends circle (as much as it can be when a teenager), dated a couple of times, part of the swimming team. by junior year, college never figured in her plans (or the lack thereof). 

her parents didn’t quite like the idea but after getting help from her sister who talked to them, they didn’t complain as long as she got a job or helped her mom with hers (she was a seamstress), which is what she ended up doing.

it comes as a stroke of luck when her mother gets a call asking if she could help fix a bride’s dress at the wedding’s venue. her mother, quite busy at the moment, sent althea instead and she quickly fixed it before the ceremony started.

about to depart, crisis after crisis started presenting and it was obvious they were a little understaffed (althea learned a couple of years later that two of the assistants got sick on that same day).

with a little bit of free time in her hands, althea offered her help. by the time every crisis had been averted and she was ready to leave, the event planner took notice of her and offered to become an assistant in her company. at nineteen, thea takes the job.

the company is not as big as many others but still renowned enough to have a steady income of clients and at least one event every couple of weeks.

thea was pretty much an errand girl at first and they often sent her to take courses or workshops to learn and hone some skills. (calligraphy, flower arranger, hospitality, etc. she even took an event planning course that went for 9 months, successfully getting a certificate.) 

eventually, her opinions start being taken more and more into consideration and she takes more of an active role in the planning process. at twenty one, thea planned her very first wedding (a small one, no more than 50 guests).

she pours all her energy and time into this new phase of her job, loving every second of it and thriving for the compliments she got after every successful event. weddings were mostly her niche, she even planned her sister’s wedding; it doesn’t come as a surprise that she announces the engagement with her college sweetheart, it was actually quite expected. (her parents even implied more than once that they were taking too long).

it’s in one of her events, a birthday party for some socialite, that thea meets the guy that would become her boyfriend for the next two years. despite being surrounded by wealth and pretentiousness, he was unlike any of his peers: sweet, attentive, decent and didn’t pride himself on his parents’ money. it was quite easy to talk and be with him, thus they started dating shortly after.

her life seems to be perfect in every aspect: a good job, more than decent income, a healthy relationship with her boyfriend... her parents couldn’t find anything to complain about… for now.

it’s at the peak of her career as an event planner, that her parents become more and more insisting on questioning her about her status with her boyfriend. “after planning so many weddings, shouldn't you start planning your own?” asked her mother, which thea always dismissed or ignored to avoid any fights.

truth is, even if weddings were a prominent aspect of her day to day, being a bride and going through the whole ceremony wasn’t something she saw happening in the foreseeable future, and her boyfriend seemed to be on the same page… or at least it was an unspoken thing between the two.

it’s the day before her 23rd birthday that she finds by mistake a ring box in her boyfriend’s apartment. knowing exactly what it meant, thea cracked the box open, finding the most beautiful engagement ring she’s ever seen. and it made her feel sick.

putting it back in its place, the whole night thea acted as if nothing happened despite the emotional turmoil she was going through.

when getting home, the first thing she did was try to find an email from one of her friends who told her about some camp in the philippines that could use an event planner. finally finding it buried deep within her inbox felt like all the answers to her problems were in those couple of lines.

in the middle of the night and with a dire need for adventure, thea left with a bag full of her belongings and all of her savings after booking the next flight to the philippines.

[idleloves]

࿐         * ₊  donny pangilinan. cismale. he / him.  ⋆ *    —    i heard our new guest NICHOLAS “NICO” MANALO is here from SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA because HIS HIGH SCHOOL SWEETHEART PASSED AWAY. it’s good to have a fresh face around. they give off these IDEALISTIC, CONSCIENTIOUS, HEDONISTIC vibe who does SURFING during their free time. they are a TWENTY THREE year old who took a long break as a FILM INTERN just for this. i hope they find their peace in here during their stay. 

                                              𝒅𝒐𝒔𝒔𝒊𝒆𝒓 . 𝒃𝒊𝒐 . 𝒑𝒍𝒐𝒕𝒔                                                                 * tw: mentions of a vehicular accident and death

*:･ﾟ 𝑺𝑻𝑨𝑻𝑺

full name: nicholas manalo nicknames: nico ( prefers to be called this, only his parents call him nicholas ) age: 23 date of birth: july 12, 1997 hometown: sydney, australlia gender & pronouns: cismale, he/him  orientation: heterosexual, demiromantic religion: raised as a christian, now agnostic occupation: film intern at an indie company languages spoken: english, tagalog, ilocano

*:･ﾟ 𝑩𝑨𝑪𝑲𝑮𝑹𝑶𝑼𝑵𝑫

born and raised under the bright sun in sydney, australia, nico had a comfortable upbringing in the seemingly perfect nuclear family consisting of both his parents, him, and his three younger siblings. 

he’d often be the one taking care of the kids as his mother and father were workaholics. as much as he adored them, his reprieve was being at school and partaking in after school club. he found that making friends came easy to him and easily slipped into a close knit friend group in secondary school, where he met who he thought was the love of his life. 

 they started dating right before high school and kept it a secret from their parents. 

it was puppy love at first, and everyone around them always mentioned how perfect they were together, though none of them knew what went on behind closed doors. she was manipulative, possessive, reprimanding him whenever he got too close with other girls. she only ever allowed him to talk to their friend group and dictated most of his life decisions, something even his parents weren’t able to do. 

he stayed because he loved her, he stayed because he didn’t know any better. 

upon graduating high school, she made him apply to a local college and refused to let him try for other places, despite there being a film school in los angeles he was interested in. the entire group promised to attend together to preserve their friendship, but come the month before university started, he had found out that they all lied to him and were attending schools in different cities / countries. he felt left behind as he watched them all, even his girl friend, board their planes. 

she’d often call him, and he had hope that things would be fine despite the distance. he felt her pulling away from him and he felt helpless on the situation. she’d come to visit him and her family on the holidays, the visits becoming more sparse as time went on. the day of his graduation she didn’t answer any of his calls. 

tw: mentions of a vehicular accident and death 

it came suddenly, in the middle of the night. the call and the break down right after. he was nearly inconsolable, losing the only person he’s ever felt truly close to, who knew him more than anyone. they said she got into the car intoxicated. 

tw: end

it was then that their friend group decided to come clean to him, revealing all the secrets they kept from him of how she purposely plotted to make his life miserable because of how easily he went along with what she said, and that she cheated on him multiple times. he refused to believe them, the wounds of her passing still fresh. 

the depression he fell into greatly affected his newly accepted internship, despite his parents hating the idea of him not being a doctor or a lawyer and pursuing film, they hated to see him self sabotage like this. 

his little sister showed him camp zarafa, something she happened upon while helping them plan for their family vacation to the philippines. they all supported the idea of nico revitalizing himself somewhere new, somewhere with opportunity, and with little hope for himself, he agreed.

*:･ﾟ 𝑷𝑬𝑹𝑺𝑶𝑵𝑨𝑳𝑰𝑻𝒀

grew up putting everyone before himself, it became a habit. he’s actively working on regaining more control, trying to set boundaries and practicing saying no more often but its still a work in progress

is slowly coming to terms with things, though his trust is completely broken and absolutely refuses to let anyone in his life again lest they leave / betray him again. 

used to enjoy large group settings / had many acquaintances but now considers himself friendless after cutting ties with everyone from his past. 

the type to immerse himself in hobbies in order to distract himself from his real life problems (insert this is fine meme here) 

due to his reflex on keeping people at arms length, he’s the type to laugh through his pain and make jokes of things in order to keep the mood light and not go too deep into his own introspection. 

generally very active, likes to keep moving in order not to think too much

the type to play blond in a dark room and cry while singing along to self control when hes sad. 

the only passions he’s made for himself are filming, he likes bringing around a multitude of different cameras in order to film little snippets of his life. he currently has a small youtube channel where he puts his creations at, many vids are now unlisted as a lot contained his high school sweetheart. 

*:･ﾟ 𝑷𝑳𝑶𝑻𝑺 / 𝑪𝑶𝑵𝑵𝑬𝑪𝑻𝑰𝑶𝑵𝑺

a confidant ( though it wasn’t easy getting to that point, he made it difficult to get past his walls )

sibling like relationship

you walked in on him in the lounge listening to sad music and felt weird just leaving him alone like that

he’s craving a specific dessert his mom used to make back at home but his baking skills are dog water and you come running to the kitchen when a plume of smoke reached your villa 

they leave him in charge of music during a party and your friends volunteer you as the one to tell him to switch the music up because you cannot shake your ass to sad music 

one personality trait he cannot shake is his competitiveness and he’s chosen you as his new rival 

neither of you are friends in the way that you know each other’s favorite colors much less your middle names but the second alcohol is involved, you two are definitely the dynamic duo 

he’s always had to be the responsible one, and now that he’s lost he finds you and you’ve become something like a role model to him

bad influence 

[aspen-inc]

       “ we run. bare feet and sugar days, the last golden hours, we run away from                      it all. through the grass and dandelions and sunflowers. away,                  to someplace hidden: some place we can call our own. someplace              to ourselves, someplace silent and peaceful where the raspberry bushes                 twine in spun-sugar caves and the starlings cartwheel through the sky ”

                 —  ♦ —  PROFILE  .  BIOGRAPHY  .  PLOTS   —  ♦ —

hey everyone! dove here to introduce my son, aspen, to all of you. he’s 25 years old, recently took up a job teaching lonely souls how to mold their sorrows away in clay and he also likes long walks on the beach (just kidding). he’s originally from portland, oregon and came here on a whim after the end of a five year relationship. 

we’re looking forward to making friends with everyone so please don’t hesitate to reach out! my inbox and dms are always open. i haven’t written in months so please bare with me while i get my footing back. if anyone would like to plot, please like this post and i’ll come to you. 

all of his links (except for plots bc i’m slow with those, will edit this post when i put more plots up) are updated and available. i’ll just give you a short rundown of his bio because i realized i went a little overboard with it. but if you want to read his bio then please do click the link, otherwise here’s the quick and easy paraphrased version:

tldr; 

born and raised in portland, oregon to two immigrant parents, he grew up in a predominantly white neighborhood and went to a school that was predominantly white, middle class. he didn’t feel like he fit in very well, but he tried his best to not stick out. 

his dad worked as a contractor, building homes and fixing stuff. his mother worked as a cook for a chinese restaurant. 

he got good grades, made friends easily, and even did cross country to put on the image of this well put together person. trying to fit the mold that his parents wanted and society wanted of him as well. 

his parents, like most immigrant parents had big dreams for him that he unfortunately could not fulfill. his passions lie with the arts, ceramics to be specific. the decision to go to art school shook the whole family, but he prevailed. eventually, they came around. they weren’t supportive of his choices, but they were accepting. 

during his junior year of university, he met a girl and they started dating. she was an aspiring writer, who had an idealized version of him in her mind. when he didn’t fit the mold that she made for him, she decided to leave him and take the five years they shared together with her. 

which is how he wound up here, trying to find a home in a new place by getting a job and doing his best to settle down. he is currently holding a recreational ceramics class at the camp and anyone is welcome no matter your skill level. 

[offzara]

࿐         * ₊  nadine lustre. cis woman. she/her.  ⋆ *    —    welcome to camp zarafa !  ZARA KABIGTING is here from MANILA, PHILIPPINES currently working here as an ACTING GRAND CAMP MASTER to help our guests get through their journey of healing and finding themselves once again. they give off these VERSATILE, RELIABLE, COMPLEX vibe who enjoys COMPUTER GAMING during their free time for a TWENTY-SEVEN YEAR OLD.  

࿐         * ₊  𝚂𝚃𝙰𝚃𝙸𝚂𝚃𝙸𝙲𝚂  ⋆ *    — 

birth name : zara kabigting 

age : twenty - seven years old 

zodiac sign : scorpio sun + capricorn moon 

alias : zara , zar , za 

date of birth : november 12, 1993 

sexuality : bisexual / biromantic.

࿐         * ₊  𝙱𝙰𝙲𝙺𝙶𝚁𝙾𝚄𝙽𝙳  ⋆ *    — 

zara came from a well off family in manila. her father’s actually the owner of camp zarafa. a result of a one night stand when he’s back to his hometown. although he didn’t love her mom, he had to stay with them so he can provide for zara food, clothes, and proper education. he wasn’t the best man in place since he was left by his one true love, but he tried his best for her . of course, growing up, zara still wished she grew up with parents who loves each other deeply, who kisses each other’s cheeks before going to bed, and who tells each other they love them. and most importantly, parents who sleeps on the same bed together. 

over the years, she grew to resent her father a lot that when she turned into an adult, the first thing she did was to disassociate her name from her father and chose to keep the family name kabigting, that was by her mother’s. it was late but at her early twenty’s, she started rebelling against them. going home late at night, knocked out drunk. ignoring her parents, suddenly mad at her mom for letting this kind of screwed up family happening to them. other than that, she does work during the day as an assistant producer from a famous tv network in the city. 

she knew her father owns this camp at the southern part of the country where thousands of people who’s brokenhearted goes to, she just refuses to acknowledge that exists. until one day, the first love of her best friend broke her heart and wanted to go to the island to get away from all of it. it took her a lot of time to convince zara to come along with her, but she came with her anyway. it wasn’t her first time there either and the staffs treated her like royalty because she hates it. but the longer they stay there, the longer she meets everyone whose heart got broken, the sooner she realizes that she’s broken too and there’s this sudden urge within her to help everyone. it wasn’t only that though. there’s something about the island that makes her want to stay, that helps her heal. it kind of makes her to become a better person without even trying. since then, she stayed and never went back home. her father knew this but didn’t say nothing, it’s better than to send her home then fight with him. 

࿐         * ₊  𝚃𝚁𝙸𝚅𝙸𝙰𝚂  ⋆ *   —

zara is an only child. 

she’s an assistant producer of a famous tv network mostly for morning news shows. 

she’s been through a relationship before. but because her parents screwed up the idea of love for her, her relationships really didn’t last long even though she wanted it badly to last. 

was she ever in love? she was. 

although it doesn’t really look like, zara’s very artistic. she can paint only when she’s going through something very emotional.

she’s also a gamer and most of the time when she’s on a break from helping new guests, she games from time to time. then parties outside when she gets tired of it.

[faeriepie-a]

࿐         * ₊  park chaeyoung. cis woman. she/her.  ⋆ *    —    welcome to camp zarafa !  KAIA CHO is here from SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA currently working here as a BAKER to help our guests get through their journey of healing and finding themselves once again. they give off these WHIMSICAL, VENTURESOME, SECRETIVE vibe who enjoys KNITTING during their free time for a TWENTY-FOUR YEAR OLD.

࿐         * ₊  𝚂𝚃𝙰𝚃𝙸𝚂𝚃𝙸𝙲𝚂  ⋆ *    —

birth name : zara kabigting

age : twenty - four years old

zodiac sign : cancer sun + gemini moon

alias : kai, kaia

date of birth : july 18, 1997

sexuality : bisexual / biromantic.

࿐         * ₊  𝙱𝙰𝙲𝙺𝙶𝚁𝙾𝚄𝙽𝙳  ⋆ *   —

born and raised in south korea now works as a pastry chef/baker for camp zarafa. she discovered this place years ago when she was going through something. an affair she never wanted to be a part of, nor had any knowledge of. her first love broke her heart and her trust. it turns out, she was just a side chick of the person who she thought she loves. played with her feelings for awhile until she catches him with the original. since then, she ghosted him and stops responding to all his calls and messages and flew to camp zarafa to heal. and never did she bother them again.

the island truly is a magical place. for the most part, her stay was really relaxing and that helped her slowly move on. then the next, she fell in love with the island and its culture. since then, she decided to stay as a local for camp zarafa who helps other fellow islanders heal. thankfully, they gave her a spot as a baker / pastry chef so she doesn't only help other heartbrokoen islanders, but she also gets paid to make delicious pastries for everyone.

࿐         * ₊  𝚃𝚁𝙸𝚅����𝙰𝚂  ⋆ *  —

kaia has 2 other siblings and she’s the middle child that’s why the attention’s not always on her and mostly overlooked.

since she’s ignored in her household, kaia finds herself closest to her grandmother. her grandmother’s also the one who taught her how to bake. 

before moving to camp zarafa, kaia owns a bakery in seoul called cuppy cakes.

she had no idea that her first love’s just using her to cheat on their girlfriend. 

kaia found knitting so relaxing during her stay as a guest in camp zarafa and she’s been doing it ever since, even to the point that she’s made outfits out of it. she soon turned it into a side business and started selling it to locals.