Relationships? In This Economy?

[Gundham]

There are infinite characters swirling and simmering in the dark morass that is my subconscious, and these five were unlucky enough to come bubbling up to the surface. Gaze upon them. Pity them. Or, if you're feeling charitable or unwell, befriend them.

In loose order of how definitely they're going to be showing up on the island (which is definitely subject to change. We all remember how EXTREME STEVE came out of nowhere to knock Danger Dave off the roster last season), here are the kids that you, yes, YOU, could be interacting with in pregame! Wow!

Stephanie Raddison

Radical Stephanie's presence was foretold aeons ago, and I am bound to honor the clarion call.

Stephanie Raddison is a proud member of the Red Rock badminton team, though she's very much on the lower end of the spectrum talent-wise. She's gangly and a bit too thin to really have much muscle tone. Steph's a LARPer in her spare time, and enjoys playing Dungeons and Dragons. She tends to play magic users, and has recently tried to become a warrior paladin in her LARP group. This endeavor is handicapped by two things: Steph's injuriously terrible with a sword, and she's got a crippling attraction tp witchy enchantress girls. She's peppy, a bit geeky, but she's self-conscious about being geeky, and has terrible self-esteem. She's not shy about being into girls, but she lacks the confidence to pursue any, and doesn't think any of them would be into her. Wishes she could be as cool and confident as the characters she roleplays.

Imagine Aoi Asahina having Felicia Day's baby, and you're basically there.

Relationships wanted: Fellow LARPers, girls she can have a crush on, badminton teammates, D&D buddies.

Zara Mohammad

The daughter of Bengali immigrants, Zara came to the US from Bangladesh when she was around nine years old. Zara has seen how fragile the fortunes of people can be, and she is intent on pursuing success in business and politics. She is relentless and aggressive in achieving her goals, and heavily pursues extracurricular achievements to try and pad her college applications. She champions popular causes and engages in positive activism where it's expedient. She hopes to one day to go to Harvard Law. Zara is quite attractive and relatively intelligent, but can come off as cold or standoffish in her dealings with other people, and she tends to be calculating and transactional in her relationships.

Hermione Granger having Paris Geller's baby, and handing it off to be raised by Lady MacBeth and Annie Kim from Community.

Relationships wanted: Alpha bitches and/or rich or powerful characters to network with, activists to be involved with, perhaps a secret boyfriend?

Wyatt Latimer

One of the very rare Male Gundham Characters!

Wyatt is a slight, frail young man raised by a strict traditionalist mother after his father died. She filled his head with ideas of what a man "should" be and do, and he is deathly convinced that he needs to fulfill a masculine ideal. He does not value himself much and sees himself as a completely average and un-special human being. Plays video games, is a very disposable member of the basketball team. He often feels inferior and weak. He is friendly and has . He has a raging crush on the girl next door, and is set on winning her over by slowly learning what she likes and values, and molding himself into her ideal man.

Joe from You having a baby with Leonard from Big Bang Theory, and avidly studying Josh James' approach to relationships.

Relationships wanted: Platonic female friend he can seek out advice from, teammates, gamer friends.

Alexis Keller

School newspaper reporter, aggressive and pushy. Envisions herself growing up to become a hotshot political reporter, exposing corruption and causing trouble for the rich and famous. Bit of a conspiracy theorist and thinks SOTF is government controlled. Maintains a column called "Keller Instinct" where she complains about problems in the school and local government issues. Strict traditional Christian upbringing, very straight-laced. Always wears a skirt and has her hair back with a hairband.

Fallout 4's Piper Wright and Jenny Joyce from Derry Girls having a horrible tryst with Amanda Bynes' character in Easy A.

Relationships wanted: Contacts she can extract gossip from (about things their parents do, or the school, or whatever else), people who dislike her for stuff she's written, a boyfriend perhaps, friends, conspiracy theorist friendos.

Xiomara Ximenez

Cool and aloof boxer girl. Participates in amateur boxing tournaments for spare cash. Bad student. Doesn't place much stock in personal relationships. Dreams of being the next Ronda Rousey and headlining Vegas fight nights.

Rosa Diaz meets Hillary Swank's character in Million Dollar Baby.

Relationships wanted: I see her as a bit of a loner, but she's a prudent survivalist and would probably be willing to perform an enforcer type role for a bully character.

[Dr Adjective]

Work's kicking my ass but the threads, they demand replies, demand them I tell you. I am simply a vessel for their will.

Rad Steph gives me the following thoughts:
Artemis can definitely be pined for. She doesn't actually believe in any of it herself, but has a hobbyist interest in witchy stuff, and her mother probably makes Neat Homemade Crafts that LARP folks might be into. Artemis herself doesn't strike me as a live action girl but maybe I could be convinced otherwise, but she definitely has a tabletop group, and will definitely do you a tarot reading or a star chart or inspect your tea leaves and etc... because seeing how people respond to that kind of thing is what really interests her. Probably oblivious if Stephanie likes her. Her own sexuality is ??? but as a handler I kinda struggle to imagine what a relationship looks like for her. Probably isn't ace/aro, but her parents didn't exactly set a good example for romance so she subconsciously/instinctively avoids it, and doesn't consciously consider it.

Might have some nerdy interests in common with LK and Hope too? Hope seems a better fit for friendship though, LK's more of a Gamer and probably a bit too obnoxious.

Zara on the other hand:
Heather begrudgingly has to respect her, they have their differences but damn it Zara puts in the work. They presumably have differences in ideology but from what I'm reading I think they're going to have a lot of immediate goals in common? Heather's obviously not going to dismantle the state all at once, so making it better in the mean time is something they can be aligned on. Maybe had a more acrimonious relationship in earlier years when Heather was more of a prickly shithead, started getting along better when she started appreciating notions of diversity of tactics and left unity.

If the Rich Influential Clan thing works out, depending on whether Zara finds herself on the good or bad side of the kids thereof, Mercy would be either friendly or unfriendly by extension.

Wyatt?
I feel like we already have something in heavy pencil with him and Hope?

Probably a complicated (negative) relationship with Grace, with the way she puts in a lot of effort to be One Of The Boys and may appear to be doing a better job of traditional masculinity than him? Or maybe she can wingman him. I dunno.

Probably not the best relationship with LK if he's traditional about masculinity though, she was so bad at it she became a girl. Unless they were friends before she came out and he was willing to stick around anyway, could be an unwitting "inside man" type energy there perhaps.

Alexis
Heather's definitely down with her causing trouble for the great and good. Personal disagreement on the Virtuous behaviour but if it's not something she tries to impose on anyone else then Heather wouldn't make an issue of it.

Mercy's likely to be down to gossip, especially about aforementioned extended family, but hey also make sure to mention when her next gig is it'll be cool. Similarly Grace wants promotion for her Brand as the Girl On The Football Team, sounds like she probably wouldn't get that though.

And Xiomara
Has boxing in common with Heather, so they'd at least know each other. Probably just some kind of unspoken mutual respect? Maybe Heather tries and fails to propagandise to her from time to time. Hey we could all have spare cash if we abolished billionaires, you know?

[ViolentMedic]

For Stephanie:
- Candy is both very pretty and gay af, so there is probably room for crushing. Maybe even for brief reciprocation (brief) depending on looks, but that’s more debatable.

For Zara:
- Candy might be worth networking with, since she comes from a wealthy family and definitely has supreme confidence. Though Candy’s own opinion towards a lot of Zara’s activities is probably finding them tiring and boring. Like, learn to party, girl.

For Alexis:
- Candy’s happy to gossip. But also possibly going to be like ‘you’re fucking cuckoo’ to her face, though.

[midnight_twelve]

RADICAL STEPH
I think James might try D&D, though it would be secondary to his love of wargames. I think he would definitely want to play a paladin so… divine smite buddies maybe? That’s all I’ve got for her atm.

Zara
Hayden is very wealthy and comes from an influential family but he’s also a bit of a pariah at school so networking opportunities may be limited. Worth noting this will likely end up being the same family as both Emmy’s Mercy and Medic’s Candy so Zara's spoilt for choice with networking there.

Wyatt
James is another friendly gamer so birds of a feather might flock together there. He can try Rowan for some girl advice if he wants, she’s equally friendly and chill.

Alexis
If she’s open about being a conspiracy theorist, Hayden has definitely tried to “debunk” her, either to her face or to the empty space left behind if she doesn’t engage. If she keeps those opinions to herself he’ll have to make do with criticising her newspaper column instead. He could probably be convinced to give some dirt on his family though. He’s mainly attracted to opinionated women so he might have some feelings for her but yeah he has a bad way of showing it.

[Fiori]

Yo. At the moment, the most obvious connection that leaps to mind is Stephanie and Koa being part of the same DnD group. Heck it probably wouldn't take much to convince him to give LARPing a shot, he'd probably really enjoy it.

As for the others, nothing immediately springs to mind. At least, not with the characters I've settled on anyway... To be continued.

[JacobAllTradez]

Stephanie Raddison

You have three choices to choose from for a Stephanie crush, with one ending in disappointment.

Skyla: Let's see, a very attractive woman who has a reputation for being "perfect" and is generally respectful towards others? That's a good sign. However, she's also straight and has no interest in pursuing a relationship. Sad face. However, Skyla would also be willing to help build up Stephanie's confidence however possible, so there's that.

Keiko: I haven't decided on it yet, but I can see Keiko being lesbian, or at least bisexual. Even though she's an introvert, Keiko could probably tell that Stephanie has the hots for her. Despite having no idea on how someone could fall for her, she'd definitely consider it. While not into D&D, she might have given Stephanie ideas for character stuff.

Maggie: Maggie would be completely oblivious to the fact that Stephanie is crushing on her, but be really friendly toward her nonetheless. Maggie would take great interest in D&D and probably ask Stephanie how it works. If she really gets into it, she probably plays a witch enchantress, not knowing why Stephanie's blushing profusely. She's also someone I could see being lesbian, but again, we will see.

Zara Mohammed

I don't know how you did it Gundham, but you did it. You made a character that Edwin would actually...like! Like, unironically, he would respect her and all she's done. He's the son of casino royalty and will not shut up about it. I can see him trying to reach out to Zara for business purposes, maybe even asking her out on a date or two.

Maggie is the daughter of a former investment banker and Republican politician, so she might be worth reaching out to as well. Maggie is more focused on finding her personality/identity rather than business endeavors, however, so Zara may use this as an opportunity to help her out.

Wyatt Latimer

There are two options for Wyatt here:

Skyla: Skyla feels like a motherly figure towards Wyatt, trying to help him find himself and prove that he doesn't need to be this manly man to do big things with life. I could also see Wyatt trying to help Skyla with her own problems, dealing with the pressures and hype surrounding her being this perfect person.

Maggie: Maggie wants to find her own identity first and foremost, but she's also got a big heart and wants people to feel like they're living their best life. To that end, she'd be more than willing to help Wyatt find his true self, while Wyatt does the same with her.

Alexis Keller

Skyla would not be comfortable with Alexis posting about her exploits and want them removed from the school newspaper. She's thought about pretending to be someone else to forge fake stories about her, but she's not entirely comfortable with that.

Maggie is also a Christian, being the daughter of a Republican politician and all, she would not be comfortable with Alexis's column, however, finding it blashempous to lie about others.

Keiko meanwhile would be willing to snipe a few comments about students she's had a bad run-in with.

Edwin would take great interest in Alexis's column and try to "buy" it away from her. What instead happens is that she posts an embarrassing news story about him.

Xiomara Ximenez

Murray is probably trying to get her to join the Outdoors Rattler Club and failing at it. Wants to get to know her better!

Edwin most likely has had his lights taken out by Xiomara.

[Deamon]

For Stephanie relationships, Carolina is tall, fit and confident, so may be pining for her, but Carolina is very much in her own bubble and would probably not be aware of Stephanie much if at all.

Alexis and Charlie Girl probably know each other from the school paper but seem like they’d rub off each other the wrong way all the time, could be a funny thing where they keep getting assignments together and have to keep being around each other despite their dislike.

[BlightLupus]

Zara Mohammad:
Ambitious, talented, hardworking, and she has no issue with purely transactional relationships? Marie would love this girl! She would absolutely try to befriend Zara after seeing her potential, while being relatively upfront that she intends to be useful to Zara as long as Zara is useful to her.

Alexis Keller:
Someone who plans on being in the news industry is definitely someone Marie would love to befriend, and she would like Alexis' proactive nature as well. That said, Marie herself is one of the rich people Alexis wants to cause trouble towards, so Alexis might not like her very much. Marie is, however, fully willing to divulge in gossip that is only widely known in upper class society to build trust with Alexis.

I imagine Alexis wouldn't like Jason's antics very much either, given her strict upbringing, but they probably won't interact much anyway.

[Magnum 0pus]

Ca caw!!! It be me, Magnum. I've come to suggest the types of relationships my character, Claude, could have with your characters.

Stephanie Raddinson - They could be on relatively friendly terms with each other, to some extent. Claude might have, at some point, stumbled across her and her LARP group when he was out hiking and, instead of making fun of them, he asked if he could watch. From then on, maybe he would act as a sort of spectator to their LARP sessions. In other words, they could either be friends or have a neutral relationship.

Zara Mohammad - I think it would be interesting if Zara and Claude had a platonic friendship that stemmed from one that was previously tense and complex relationship. Reason being that he probably seems like someone who, in her eyes, doesn't take initiative in a lot of matters? However, maybe he accidentally stumbled across and attended one of her activist rallies while walking his dog, he probably got interviewed by a news reporter and he was televised live to the many people who watched the news during that day saying something along the lines of "I don't know. I just got here." but he would then give his two cents on the topic at hand before continuing his walk with his dog. To Claude, he didn't think much of the whole thing, but to Zara, the fact that he gave his own opinion on the matter of the rally live on TV may have made her respect him a little bit more and they might even become friends- partly because of that and partly because he has so many friends that it would be beneficial to her to become friends with him. Who knows, maybe his friendship might serve to be substantially more helpful in the future...

Wyatt Latimer - Claude holds immense respect for Wyatt since he sees him a fellow kindred spirit who was also raised surrounded by old, traditionalist values and beliefs. He could also see him as another true gentleman, and he will always give affirmations to Wyatt about how he "isn't the weakest link in the basketball team." and such. More than likely, he could ask a few of his other friends to help Wyatt with his journey to woo the girl next door. So Claude could be a helpful and supportive type of buddy to Wyatt.

Alexis Keller - Another interesting case since I think it would be funny if Alexis sort of spied on Claude to see if she can uncover any sort of dirt that would reveal to her and subsequently the rest of the school that he isn't the gentle giant who's friends with most of the school that he makes himself out to be. The investigation she would conduct would go on for a while, but when nothing that could even be considered "dirt" on him turns up, she just decides to accept the fact that he is just the nicest and friendliest guy in Red Rock and sort of leave him be. On the other hand, Claude considers Alexis another friend of his as well, and the whole investigation was something he didn't really mind since he just found the entire thing hilarious.

Xiomara Ximenes - Xio and Claude would have a mutual respect for one another perhaps because she has witnessed the many instances in which Lily and Claude spar in a way of greeting each other? Overall, I can see them being friendly rivals who hang out from time to time.

These are all suggestions that I'm willing to change if you have something different to suggest.

[Ryuki]

Stephanie: Maybe she could crush on Taylor, a tennis player.

Zara: Does she advocate for LGBTQ+ rights? If so, she’s cool with Taylor.

Wyatt: Don and Simon are gamers, with Don being a streamer, and Simon specializing in horror games. Perhaps they’ve had gaming sessions together.

Alexis: Taylor is a lesbian from a Christian household, so if Alexis is one of those Christians who ignores the “Love Thy Neighbor” rule, Taylor probably won’t like her.

[LYourLocalAutist]

Helloooo :3

Wyatt Latimer

Manuel "Mañana" Hernández
Wyatt is one of the few "frail guys" Manuel *won't* bully. In fact, as a member of the basketball team (and also because he sees a bit of himself when he was younger in Wyatt,) Manuel feels obliged to actually help him, helping Wyatt to be a contributing member of the team mentally, encouraging and motivating him, and physically, training and working out with him, applying his "tough love" in a method which actually seeks to help him out. Search and watch Zangief's training cutscene in street fighter 6, it's basically that.

Alexis Keller

Céline Sharpe
I think Alexis has definitely approached and pushed Céline for statements about her clothes, charms, mother, ect, especially considering their pagan nature, contrasting with Alexis' Christian upbringing. I also think she's been ignored every time.

[Polybius]

Here are my characters!

I think Buster and Zara could be friends, both being straight-laced, social, and interested in politics.

I think Buster and Alexis probably would be enemies, though. idk from the way she's described she sounds like a right-wing crackpot and Buster hates right-wing crackpots.

If you have any other ideas please tell me!