Oh no she's back

[Dr Adjective]

Like Palpatine, somehow, I returned. I brought a couple of ideas with me! They're outlines very much subject to change, but the core concepts are...

Evie McKown

[+] picrew mockup

Evie I invisaged as an irrepressible ball of positivity. She isn't necessarily going to try to be friends with everybody, but she can very much get on with almost anyone and is easy to make friends with.
Interests that are definitely settled are swimming, history, and animals of just about every kind. She takes competitive swimming very seriously and hopes to continue it at a college level, but her backup strategy is to study to be a veterinarian in the likely event she's not good enough to compete at a level to make a living (as her current personal bests are suggesting). Her interest in history is more casual, though it helps her get better grades than her otherwise quite average ones there, as she enjoys finding interesting stories in the past.
Evie loves just about any vertebrate animal and finds them all cute, funny, or both; she started shunning meat at a young age, and since starting to explore the internet, later embraced veganism as a teen with the support of her rather liberal-minded family. Whilst she's not the evangelical stereotype, her moralistic arguments for why she does it can come off as judgemental and might rub others the wrong way. Speaking of family, they're not what you'd call wealthy, but also well off enough not to really struggle for anything (switching to more expensive substitute foods, for instance, and being blind to the idea that that might be a kind of privilege others don't share), and she has one younger brother.

What am I looking for?
Friends and acquaintances, obviously. I imagine Evie as the sort of tomboyish type that has more male close friends than female, as her interests lean more towards traditionally masculine than feminine.
Re; male friends, maybe one or more that she's just been playing local multiplayer video games with since they were tiny? I like that vibe.
Swim team? Any other North Shore Sharks in the house?
Maybe someone volunteers at an animal shelter or something similar? Evie probably does, they'd probably be friends!
The sporty lesbian thing might be an obvious stereotype, but, this is my easy mode similar-to-myself character, so, maybe a girlfriend. Or a boyfriend that she's beginning to realise she isn't really attracted to? Throw ideas at me for that. Sutton and Teddie confirmed!
I have a weirdly specific idea that she's got (and possibly personally forced) the nickname "Otter Mode" for her swimming prowess, and has some kind of cutesy anthro-river otter decal for her gear. If there are any artists in the student body who might be behind that, that could be a fun basis for a relationship! Jessica Lee-Smith is a real human bean and a real hero.

[+] Stuff pencilled in

Sutton Herrera - "Wait, um... is... is this a date?"
Jessica Lee-Smith - "OTTER MODE! I love it I love it I love it!"
Ethan Kemp - "My man!"
Cedar Dalisay - "She kinda came packaged with Jessica, but she's lovely, so... great bonus!"
Teddie Boyd - "Promise this isn't awkward for you?"
Willa Kurt - "Finally, someone else who knows who all these people were!"
Randolph Whateley - "Real sweetheart, I wish people were better to him."
Ashlyn "Ash" Graves - loud blushing
Benjamin Beecham - "Good... dude? No, that's not right. Sorry! Good folk? Anyway I like them!"
Dawn Montgomery - "She's pretty cool, I vibe with her energy."
Max McCormick - "What an odd kid. He seems nice though."
Alex Avanesian - "Man this guy's got some wild stories, but those are the best kinds of stories!"
Medea Parth - "Wish we had more in common, she's so sweet."
Lara "Spuds" Bullock - "She's great, kinda wish we could hang out more."
Dusty Danielson - "Good lad!"
Roland Fischer - "A cool cat!"
Brook Peterson - "Yeah yeah yeah I get it, you're pro-bad things and anti-good things, fuck off."
Riley Lawson - "Oh, it's this motherfucker."

Bethany Lyon

[+] picrew mockup

Beth is much less lovable, but sometimes people are that way. She's the only child of well-off and politically-active WASPy conservative parents who expect a lot from her, and that rubs off on her attitude towards others. She tends to expect everyone to have the same perfectionist attitude that's been instilled in her and doesn't yet comprehend that her privileged upbringing makes it that much easier for her to succeed. Similarly she's inherited her parents' politics and hasn't started to question them yet, so she's quite vocally in favour of smaller government, more gun rights, fewer public programs, the usual conservative/libertarian spiel. Whilst she isn't aggressively anti-LGBT, she is also quietly disdainful of people under said rainbow, according to her also-conservative religious convictions.
Beth truly does work hard, as reflected in her consistently strong grades, and has essentially had her life path pre-planned for her; she's going to study law like her father, and probably go into politics like him to... maybe she'll actually succeed, however. Definitely doesn't have any sort of complex regarding his consistent failure to climb higher than the local council. Definitely. Her family heritage is proudly traced back to the Revolution and Vermont's Green Mountain Boys, and Beth will gladly talk to anyone who'll listen about how her ancestor Matthew Lyon was a real life martyr for free speech.

What am I looking for?
Beth probably has few real friends, if any. Plenty of orbiters who might want to position themselves close to her money and/or style though, I guess?
Young Republicans? Is that a thing? She's gonna be in Model UN and Debate club either way, so people can't escape hearing her spicy hot opinions.
There's no way Beth isn't dating a popular boy, but they probably don't really like each other.
I'm not really sure what sort of other hobbies someone like her would have, open to suggested links with like-minded characters on that front.

[+] Stuff pencilled in

Soo-bin Kim-Reyes - "Wonderful."
Brook Peterson - "I get it, but... the whole Canon moment came and went. Still a good sort otherwise."
Sutton Herrera - "Could be perfect if she'd just slow down and see sense."
Matthew Bell - "Shame, we'd have been quite a power couple... if mom and dad would've approved. Maybe for the best then."
Salem Fox - confused scowling
Riley Lawson - "See? I don't have to agree with someone to respect them."
Randolph Whateley - "And yet, still a cut above so many."
Danielle Bird - "If I must."
Lara "Spuds" Bullock - "Whatever, farmgirl."
Jessica Lee-Smith - "Oh sweetie, what are you doing?"
Lula Gray - "Who are you again?"
Derek Caldwell - "Good, I didn't want to hear it."
Teddie Boyd - muffled giggling
Connor Collins - "The 70s were fifty years ago, punk's dead."
Benjamin Beecham - "Asshole."
Max McCormick - "Freak."

[Cicada]

[generic make one of your next characters a member of pinoy platoon advert]

[+] schemes

• Evie/Cedar - Cedar worry-hovers over Jessica, so to an extent the two of them might come as a package deal? They might not be as close as the duo though, Evie outwardly seems too put-together on the surface for Cedar to feel her attentions might be needed, Cedar herself is a default avoid sunlight at all costs shut-in so interests don't match so well. But Jessica probably got a mildly confused Cedar to help with Otter Mode, anyways. Cedar might also be open to and positively respond to veganism rants. In part because she's a very gracious target and makes it pleasantly easy to hyperfixate onto something highly specific without feeling guilty, and in part because she's probably genuinely very interested! For Reasons related to backstory. Could have a bit of ongoing Cedar-converts-to-veganism B-plot ongoing in pregame tbh.
• Evie/Ash - Fellow athletes with a quasi masc-lean (though Evie is probably moreso that vibe than Ash is, but Ash is a blunt straight shooter and casually throws out crass lines), I think they'd know each other and respect each other! Ash definitely respects Evie's athletic ambitions and could help her from time to time as a friendly face to talk to during training and conditioning. I could also offer that they flirted a bit in the past if you're open to that, back when Ash was still on the market.
• Bethany/Salem - Him trying to chat her up would be very calculated because I'm sure both of their reputations proceed them. The femboy thing probably causes her at least some inward revulsion, but she might feel the obligation to not push him off because he's popular to where she might think its risky to not be cordial with him in public? And then he'll prove surprisingly adept at hearing her out and she might get taken aback by that and consider him okay to talk to. Maybe. On his end he wants to like, pick her brain as a relatively well-spoken, well-performing member opposite of most of his beliefs, as he inherently would being the political wonk he is. And also he might be trying to troll and get under her skin subtly a bit, just to see if he can. Or she could just think he's completely useless flamboyant trash and discard off-hand. I'd like to hear your read on it, anyways!
• Bethany/Soo-bin - Their dads both have Clout to some extent, or at least I remember you saying that was the plan on Discord? They might have known each other from a relatively young age. In which case, perhaps they have a study group or something, being equally driven by their academic performance? Beth's perfectionist drive would also push Soo-bin to like, try way too hard to keep up, to the point of regularly stress melting down. In private, where Beth can't see her. Beth probably thinks Soo-bin's pretty great and appreciates that their friendship matches their dad's influence, like a herald of a future of accomplishments together. Or something like that. Also Beth seems like the sort that might join Christian Club? Or like, if the one in school is too liberal-friendly for her, they attend services at the same church or such.

Looking forward to hearing your ideas as well!

[Super Weegee]

Evie:
Brook: "Get off your high horse."

Brook's on the cross-country team, so they might be aware of one another. Other than that, though, I don't really see them wanting to interact that much, especially with Brook's views, and he'll definitely be put off by her moralistic arguments if they got into an argument in some way.

Lula: "Um...she has some money, she's a swimmer, and she's an animal lover...that's honestly all I know about her."

While Lula would be a little put off by how well off Evie is, I don't really think that Lula would know her all that much. Maybe it'll be friendly on Evie's side and a bit antagonistic on Lula's side? Unless you have an idea for her, perhaps?

Bethany:
Brook: "Meeting her was like finding a needle in a haystack. I'm glad I did."

They share quite a few of the same views, like on gun rights and on the LGBTQ+ community (and maybe on Canon's crackdown on the protests if she has a stance on that), and more. While Brook isn't a perfectionist and doesn't know what to do after school unlike Bethany, they'll likely be actual friends. Brook's also (un)popular at school, so I can see them probably be currently dating or have dated in the past. Up to you, really.

Lula: "She has...certain views, but I tolerate them."

Lula's definitely going to (try to) be an orbiter for Bethany's money. Since I don't know Bethany's hobbies, I don't really see Lula being that close to her. Unless, once again, you have an idea regarding her?

[Dr Adjective]

Screw it I'm an eager beaver, and probably lots of other kinds of animals tbh. I've spoken to Cicada so let's look at this:

Evie:
Brook: "Get off your high horse."

Brook's on the cross-country team, so they might be aware of one another. Other than that, though, I don't really see them wanting to interact that much, especially with Brook's views, and he'll definitely be put off by her moralistic arguments if they got into an argument in some way.

Lula: "Um...she has some money, she's a swimmer, and she's an animal lover...that's honestly all I know about her."

While Lula would be a little put off by how well off Evie is, I don't really think that Lula would know her all that much. Maybe it'll be friendly on Evie's side and a bit antagonistic on Lula's side? Unless you have an idea for her, perhaps?

Bethany:
Brook: "Meeting her was like finding a needle in a haystack. I'm glad I did."

They share quite a few of the same views, like on gun rights and on the LGBTQ+ community (and maybe on Canon's crackdown on the protests if she has a stance on that), and more. While Brook isn't a perfectionist and doesn't know what to do after school unlike Bethany, they'll likely be actual friends. Brook's also (un)popular at school, so I can see them probably be currently dating or have dated in the past. Up to you, really.

Lula: "She has...certain views, but I tolerate them."

Lula's definitely going to (try to) be an orbiter for Bethany's money. Since I don't know Bethany's hobbies, I don't really see Lula being that close to her. Unless, once again, you have an idea regarding her?

With Brook & Evie, looks about right. She's not so much preachy as "if someone asks, I'll be honest" about how she feels, but if he did ask, yeah, she might've put him off with her answers. And as you say, she's likely to politely distance herself from his views too.

As for Lula & Evie, Evie's the sort of well-off where she can fairly reasonably not think of herself as being all that rich, if that makes sense? But compared to barely making ends meet, definitely privileged, so I can see not being aware of it as a wedge between them when otherwise they'd maybe get along... so yeah, what you said, again.

Bethany and Brook, yup, natural friends in a lot of ways, buuuut... I imagine her politics being conservative-libertarian but with the emphasis on libertarian, so she's likely the type to have supported Canon early on as an outsider but changed her mind over time, which could've been a dividing influence? Other than that though, yeah, she's pro-guns, pro-life, wants smaller government and lower taxes, and takes the "as long as it isn't in my face" kind of attitude to LGBTQ issues, so they should have plenty of other stuff in common. If anything, having a few minor differences might actually help, being able to have a good argument with each other would be a good basis for respect on Beth's part.

With Lula... yeah I'm kinda up in the air about what Beth does in her free time, never having been a non-nerd IRL so... Yeah, they probably interact at social gatherings but Beth most likely not-that-subtly looks down on Lulu for the lack of care she takes over her appearance.

[Gundham]

Evie - This could probably stand from some finessing in conjunction with TheLordOfAwesome, but Randolph and Rebekah are friends, and since he's got a bit of a crush on Evie, Rebekah would probably be open to trying to wingman him a little bit. So she'd probably want to try and bond with Evie at least a little bit. She wouldn't try and push them together or anything, but she'd probably want to find out some of her interests and likes, so that she could give Randolph some tips on connecting with Evie. Rebekah's very outdoorsy and likes swimming, and they could probably connect through that? Rebekah's dad works for the parks service, so it probably wouldn't be too hard for her to scope out some places to find actual otters, if that'd pique Evie's interest.

Beth - I could see Dave being interested in her from a business perspective. If she's a perfectionist and occasionally needs small favors to maintain her perfect persona, he'd be a cheap and discreet option for small favors or whatever else she might need. Dave also floats around the party scene so if she's obsessed with popularity she's probably seen him around, if nothing else.