Survival Of The Fittest

[+] Color Legend

Romantic
Friendship/Platonic Intimacy
Acquaintance
Ambivalence
Dislike

One note for all profiles- I've marked certain bits of information as Close Friends, where these things might be known by those closer to that character, at my discretion. Thus, knowing/working around these particular bits of info isn't guaranteed, but feel free to propose ideas with them in mind of course.

Cedar Dalisay

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Hobby List - Anime and manga, cosplay, sewing and costuming, sketching and inking, digital art, painting, tabletop games, poker, karaoke, K-pop and J-pop, rap music, (Close Friends) ant farming, academics and self-study.

Reputation -
- Friendly without being annoying to people she first meets.
- Has the general aura of a modern Twitter artist around her- puts a lot of hours into her craft, Very Online, woke and strongly into social justice causes, has terrible sleeping hours and bad health, disorganized and afflicted with the typical Zoomer ennui.
- Cedar usually doesn't demand much commonality to be a good friend, though due to generally missing events due to her bad health and being terminally online she tends to have friends with nerdy, sedentary interests. She tends to gravitate towards people in need- she's a fixer and a motherly sort, though inevitably not so good at being either. She's an active listener.
- She checks in on friends often, having a lot of free time at her disposal due to being indoors and sedentary more often than not.
- A massive nerd but doesn't gravitate towards either hiding it in embarrassment or showing it off exuberantly. She'll never turn down other nerds but she isn't defined entirely by the narrow spectrum interests.
- A member of the Pinoy Platoon, and she is most frequently associated with them.
- Appearance brief: small stature, mildly underweight and sickly, energetic and geeky fashion.

General Timeline -
- Close friends might know her early childhood spent in poverty in the Philippines. Her parents in the United States are not her birth parents- she was given by them along with one of her younger brothers (of many other siblings) for the possibility of pursuing opportunities in America, with her current guardians being an uncle and his wife.
- Moved to Salem in the third grade. Associated mostly with Platoon members and other Filipinos, was quiet in class as she was dealing with culture shock.
- She blossomed in middle school, developing confidence and an interest in expanding her circles of friends. Kind, friendly, and capable of out anime-arting most of her peers. Close friends might know this as a time where she had a major falling out with her birth parents, and that she generally prefers to think of herself as belonging to her adopted parents in heart and soul.
- High school marked when her difficulties with regular illness started to manifest. She was not inclined to join clubs often, socializing more through classes and mutual friendships.

[+] Relationships Specifically Looking For

- Boyfriends! Ex, we've established her current boy toy. Cedar is functionally totally straight though wouldn't be put off by an approach from a girl beyond gentle declining. Her taste is in quieter boys, the sort who seem to be nerdy, intellectual, and/or distant and detatched from society for whatever reason. She's the sort to enjoy someone just for themselves without expecting too much of them, though she is also an active girlfriend and likes helping boys who are willing out of their shell a bit.
- People she looks out for and dotes on in a platonic way as well. Likely mostly through regular check ups by text and social media.
- The artists and other creatives who probably all gravitate together on their social medias!

[+] Established Ideas Here

'Fitz' Russell (ViolentMedic) - She doesn't necessarily love him passionately and with all her heart. Maybe that's the point.
Tenshi Fukushima-Yves (BlizzardeyeWonder) - PLATOON. "MY FULL NAME'S LONGER, WEEB!" >:)
'Ara' Canlas (LeslieFranc) - PLATOON. "I'm just glad she doesn't need me anymore. That's all I can ask for."
'Nick Andretti' Andretti (Yugikun) - PLATOON. She gets that he's just not the social sort, and his persona doesn't inherently draw red flags for her in her typical 'must politely meddle way'. But she also gets that he, in his own way, appreciates his ties to the Platoon, so she is typically one of the ones extending invites his way.
Mateo de Guzmán (Jan de Witt) - PLATOON. He tries his best, but he needs a little help sometimes, getting the things he might have missed in his single-mindedness. She does admire his focus and ambition, that said! She could never. And his board games- that's what she likes to see, when he gets to loosen up and have some fun!
'Raf' Halili (Aster) - PLATOON. He's probably a good person? She tries to be sympathetic, but she low key has to try a bit harder than she usually does. They don't put too much time into each other though, so history can carry them through their lack of commonalities. Ara does most of the (very) needed take downs of his ego anyways, that was never Cedar's strong suit.
Ren (Zetsu) - PLATOON (honorary). Cedar thinks to herself that Ren is about the last person she'd expect to have the emotional energy to start trying to unpack Cedar's own very private mess of problems. But it's more than appreciated. Philia is both a means to happiness, and happiness in and of itself.
Daniel Ozanne (BlizzardeyeWonder) - "Jeez. I guess you know it's a fucking bad sign when you're starting to low key understand those love songs that go like 'nevermind I'll find, someone like yoooouuuuoouu'."
Jessica Lee-Smith (Irredeemable) - Almost like two birds of a feather. Only one is, inevitably, worrying about the other. Kind of like how the halves of the mind work anyways, ain't it?
Evie McKown (Dr Adjective) - Uhhh, Otter Mode? Whatever that means??? Cedar's preacher for the ways of veganism- it'll be hard, what with the Crohn's, but it might well be worth it.
Dawn Montogomery (mostlyharmfulll) - Almost... too close. Dawn's the sort who's too good at being a good friend. What sort of person would unironically put up with her weeb sewing circles? Dawn tends to reverse Cedar's usual schtick on her often enough that Cedar feels a bit off-put sometimes. Cedar's supposed to be the meddlesome one, dang it.
Quentin Skinner (RC) - !
Derek Caldwell (mostlyharmfulll) - Thought he was cute once, but he's a bit too much of an apolitical bro for her liking. She does encourage him to keep drawing, that said.
California Fox (Deamon) - Cedar can usually avoid meddling- or at least, seem like she's sticking to that promise. Sometimes she just can't help it.
Fred Hobbes (midnight_twelve) - "Trust me, I'll be MVP next time. For sure."
'Lulu' Lujan (Buko) - Distinct difference between being a fan and being an actual friend. Lulu's shooters come for free.
Jordan Toribio (Aster) - "You know you don't have to pay me. But of course, fact that you would anyways is why we're both artists. If you know you know."
Teddie Boyd (Slam) - They're on different places energy-wise, distance between them as far as the Milky Way to the edge of the observable universe, but she doesn't mind. He's cute.
Eunice St. Claire (LeslieFranc) - Eunice is, ah, difficult. But she's a good artist, despite whatever the bloody red miasma probably swirling around in her head tries to tell her.
'K' Emerson (MethodicalSlacker) - He probably exists in a different opaque-er dimension than she does. She liked that about him, but he didn't share the sentiment. Still, he's a cool dude. Words need not be exchanged.
'Alec Lewis (LeslieFranc) - She admires him from a distance. Impressive, captivating artist, who don't need no girl. No need to be worried, right? Maybe he breezes through girls at a bit of a dramatically rusty speed? Should be fine. Probably. Resist the urge to bother him, Cedar.
Kathleen Vozelinik (Jazzfat) - She really is the sweetest thing.
Amerika (Yonagoda) - "On an aesthetic level alone I adore her. Also, her dad is... I mean, that name had to come from somewhere, didn't it?"
Ren (Yonagoda) - The family buffet of choice for the Platoon members. Cedar's personal relationship with Ren is fine, they make for great LARP partners in the exceedingly rare times Cedar can be available for such. Something's amiss here and Cedar is concerned, but she's always concerned about everyone anyways so.
Nathan Kinnear (Jazzfat) - She gets the sense that he's hiding something behind that gross demeanor of his... but it is still gross.
Robin Valenti (Pippi) - The most insufferable kind of harmless. Some people can go too far, even for her.

Ashlyn 'Ash' Graves

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Hobby List - Music especially with punk aesthetics, horror movies, history and geography, trivia contests, leading and organizing group activities, fundraising events, volleyball, weightlifting, Muay Thai, dance, auto repair.

Reputation -
- She's the sort to take over in social settings when she thinks its needed, being decisive and energetic when she senses others need someone besides themselves to step up. However she is very sensitive, perhaps arguably overly so, to group dynamics, and can sense if she's not the top of the totem pole in her particular group. Put her up against another dominant personality and she will readily acquiesce to keep the peace.
- Her reputation in some ways is uneven, as her morbid, tell-it-like-it-is and pushy attitude can turn off a lot of people who 'cant handle her', as she would put it. She enjoys killing the mood and playing devil's advocate. She of all my cast is most likely to have people who actively hate her for having subjected them to what amounts to bullying and disrespect in the past.
- She is well known for her physical prowess in sports and martial arts, dedicating herself to a strict discipline of body. Her primary association is with the volleyball team, where she formerly a team captain and still exerts influence. She's a disciplinarian, fair, and works on drilling good attitude and mindset into all her players, not being hesitant to confronting and somewhat bullying members not pulling their weight, pressuring people to perform at their peak.
- Beyond this she associates in a friendly way with all other school teams. She was an ex-cheerleader and has friends in that circle. She believes in solidarity among the athletes of Endecott and is a voice at the forefront of organizing events to raise money and garner local attention to their plight.
- Appearance brief: intimidating hourglass-shape brickhouse, casual about showing skin, consistently reps the volleyball team with one of several sets of team jackets she owns.

General Timeline -
- Anyone in her early school days with her knew she was always the sort to leap into the fray and take charge, along with trying to play negotiator in her own headstrong, bullish way. Close friends back then will know she complained about her younger sister Katelyn. A lot.
- Close friends know their parents died when the girls were in middle school. Everyone who was there at the time knows Ashlyn got held back a year in middle school, though Ash herself is very defensive and non-specific about that when its brought up.
- Ashlyn got super into her physical activity hobbies like sports and martial arts thereafter. She was very active in school and extracurricular activities, primarily pouring her energy into school teams.

[+] Relationships Specifically Looking For

- People who look up to her for her work ethic and dedication to the school's athletics program. She's a strong advocate for all the teams, mediocre as most of them are, and she's likely familiar with and friendly with most other school athletes like her through her efforts to organize fundraisers and show matches to raise local interest, so on. She's probably even friendly with the Quidditch team.
- A few old friends who've eventually fallen out of love with her tendency to strong arm and be relentlessly cynical to a fault along with not understanding neurodiversity would probably help me emphasize some of the nuances of her persona. She probably left these relationships on ice at some point after feeling they'd stopped appreciating her, but still publicly puts on airs of being close to them to save face. Could be interesting!
- Ash is predominantly gay, meaning that most of her romantically active life has been spent being interested in other girls. Crushes and things that actually blossomed into dates or other brief romantic flames, probably between Freshman and early Junior year before she developed her interest in Salem, who would probably be the first guy she was into outside of unattainable actors and fictional characters.

[+] Established Ideas Here

Salem Fox (Handlercest) - A public, low-key relationship that is neither dramatic nor lovey-dovey. Close friends are probably surprised at how natural and maturely the duo seem to slot together.
Medea Parth (TheLordOfAwesome) - Ash is still not over that party. The word temptation is the wrong one- she has her own reasons for not going for it and they are not related to morality.
Kelsey Brewer (Rattlesnake) - Honestly kind of embarrassing. Ash'd be willing to run it back when Salem's out of the picture. And when Medea shoots her down.
Eugene Marcus (MethodicalSlacker) - She was there for him before the fall, and stays there for him after. Nothing needs to change, sometimes. Just the little things- changing how a friendship works can be enough. If anything he gets to see a side of her she very rarely shows off because its kinda lame.
Juanita Reid (Gundham) - "All these fucking injuries- school was built on a Native American burial site, wasn't it? I trust her, and no injury changes that- she needs me more than ever. Everything else is water under the bridge, to drown in."
Jessica Romero (Deamon) - Keeps her head in the game, and thus keeps her name high on Ash's 'I'd trust 'em with my money or my life' list.
Tyler Slomkowski (decoy) - Cool people, good ally. She's not overtly making it a transactional relationship but she has to at least acknowledge he's a very useful man,
'Ara' Canlas (LeslieFranc) - One of the best on the team, no doubt. Ara's one issue is that she makes a big deal out of Ash's efforts to keep the laggards of the team improving. A vocal big deal. Ash is trying to keep the peace- Ara's earned that much.
Richard Buster (Buko) - "Four words. Big Dick for president."
Fred Hobbes (midnight_twelve) - "Yeah, but have I told you about our lord and savior Big Dick today?"
Lydia Pulkinen (BlizzardeyeWonder) - Theoretically only acquaintances, but Ash's low-key need to indulge her love of the horror genre with anyone who isn't Kitty can make her... eager. Lydia has one dedicated subscriber, at least.
Ethan Kemp (mostlyharmfulll) - "I am not a simp for cinema I swear to god."
Evie McKown (Dr Adjective) - Probably could have worked out. No regrets, Ash asked, it didn't work out. Life moves on until it stops for good.
Chloé Delacroix (midnight_twelve) - Ashlyn honestly can't tell if she wants her or wants to be her. How the hell can someone make it look that effortless and not be an immortal vampire ripping blood out of the sick?
Spuds Bullock (Slam) - Not a lot of people out there who get it, but Ash always thought she was beautiful.
Benjamin Beecham (Irredeemable) - Sparring partner. Her favorite name for them is Bebe, that's just unfairly adorable.
Dawn Montogomery (mostlyharmfulll) - "Honesty doesn't have to be a lonely word."
Kiana Coleman (Aster) - She respects the glow up.
Rebekah Hayes (Gundham) - Ash wonders if there would be potential for something deeper here if she opened up more. They're both outcasts in their own very private way... but no, Ash would never really consider exposing a weak point just like that. No need to take massive damage in her life. Not again.
Amaryllis Perlman-Byrne (MethodicalSlacker) - Sometimes things just fade, like the flicker of a bodiless head's eyelids. Ash cared enough about Amaryllis to drop her schedule to help her out with her musical ambitions, but... Amaryllis had changed, and Ash guesses she just doesn't get her old friend anymore.
Clover Wilkinson-Crowheart (Yugikun) - She remembers they were friends at... some point? Bad things were happening to them both in middle school, but as far as Ash is concerned they both got over it. Different circles in life now, all that. Just like how ringworm is recurrent.
Matthew Bell (Applesintime) - Sure. Why not. If he touches Kitty he's not surviving to his first day of basic.
Giselle (Yonagoda) - Not the worst person in the world but Ash thinks someone as talented as her could be more... put together? Less annoying? She's fine but sometimes pushing it. People who are this aggravating need to have some form of positive value to make up for it.
Isaiah (Yonagoda) - He's alright. She actually likes him a fair bit but she respects he probably doesn't have as much regard for her. No need to push things.
Betty (Yonagoda) - Past is the past. Gets forgotten eventually.
Teddie Boyd (Slam) - She likes him but god is he too much. If she wanted her brains to soupify she'd rip them out and boil them herself.
Katelyn 'Kitty' Graves (Volt Turtle) - A quietly toxic sisterhood predicated on Ash being unable to come to terms with how she used to be an abusive older sister. She will awkwardly baby Kitty, ignore her, or sometimes almost lapse into her familiar old anger and obsessive criticism, all alternately.
Ren (Yonagoda) - Not everything has to work out. Ash, at least, actually bothered to put in the effort. Ren reminds Ash of Salem in a way, but way more... pathetic? Boring?
Ren (Zetsu) - Ash thinks it's good Kitty's getting more friends, sure. But she can keep them to herself.
'Raf' Halili (Aster) - And people call Ash the one with a stick up her ass. She can tolerate him but if she didn't have skin as thick as she does, she'd probably outright dislike the PoS. She already does happily shit talk him behind his back, after all.
Adam Lader (RetroVenus) - Wasted potential, taking up a track slot that could go to someone who puts in the effort. He's a Salem without the redeeming qualities.
Nathan Kinnear (Jazzfat) - Damn transphobe. If Ash could lead the football team he'd be out on his ass in a minute.
Robin Valenti (Pippi) - "Hell is where I'm going when I die. He'll wish he ended up there."

Salem Fox

(note, his name was planned long before V8 dropped. Deamon colluded!!)

[+] Profile

Hobby List - Parties, being a flirt, dance, shitposting, anime, webcomics, sketching and inking, (Close Friends) journalism and interviewing, watching competitive sports, politics, (Close Friends) public policy, history and geography.

Reputation -
- Generally highly popular, investing a lot of his time into being a friendly face and showing shallow and superficial interest in most people and being a good memer and jokester. He's a flirty airhead, respectful of boundaries in contrast to Ash, but often quick to discard people when they stop being entertaining to him.
- Most people at school know him as socially conscious and casually promoting of all the in-vogue political statements of his youth, curating a twitter of Leftist shitposting and solidarity. Close friends, or a few of them who've been around most his life and know better, know that he's more of a center-left, socdem policy wonk and is not at all casual in the depth of his knowledge in political theory and policy. He keeps the more serious business part of his life primarily to himself- very few people know he's an anonymous contributor to the local paper, closely follows local politics and developments, nor that he overperforms academically and has strong ambitions for college and beyond.
- He attends all of the parties. Is invited to most where he hasn't specifically pissed off whoever managed the guest list, and he has no qualms about crashing the few he's not explicitly invited to because he can often find friends and allies in the crowd anyways. He is specifically not a gossip. Anything salacious he learns he keeps to himself.
- Appearance brief: proud femboy aesthetic, slender, lean muscle with a thicc rear, messy curly hair worn in a close bob, usually wears women's casualwear and cute athletic clothes.

Personality - Close friends know that Salem is very well put-together, the most organized and ambitious member of his family unit, with a keen interest in changing society and the world. Possibly to the point where he's into it more for his own ego and legacy. More generally speaking he's very casual, relaxed, and weathers other's criticisms in good faith. He's never been known to raise his voice, not even to call on people's attention, and he would generally be described as soft-spoken in concert with his naturally feminine mannerisms. He's an attentive listener, engaging with people he's speaking with and following up with questions and further interest. He's well capable of ranting about pet interests when given the floor, but often is mildly too self-aware for even that. In general he can come off as either suave and easy-going or guarded and calculating in the way he speaks, depends on who's being asked.

General Timeline - His general social bonafides don't pick up until 3rd-4th grade, he was a stick in the mud prior to that.

[+] Relationships Specifically Looking For

- The reactions of girls he's flirted with, in general, relatively distant or recent past. Be it with friends, or even in passing with girls he doesn't have much history with he will usually be unafraid to open into conversations and compliments as he sees fit. He'll stop when he gets that he's not welcome, or stop himself if the girl is being too receptive... though he might milk it a bit and lead her on a bit, for the sake of his own fun.
- The few people, mostly other liberals, who might be aware of his escapades in punditry and investigating local and Boston-based politicians. He probably actively talks politics with these folk on a private Discord or something, otherwise keeping other pretenses for their association in public.
- I'm sure some people are suspicious of him. Non-specifically seeing through the façade if they get a sense that one exists. Give me a pitch or a few there if your character has the emotional quotient? Or maybe if your kid is connected with politics themselves.

[+] Established Ideas Here

Ashlyn Graves (Handlercest) - A public, low-key relationship that is neither dramatic nor lovey-dovey. Close friends are probably surprised at how natural and maturely the duo seem to slot together.
Molly Oliveira (ViolentMedic) - Old relationship that Salem is, strictly speaking over, but... not really? Molly's good people, and she doesn't deserve to get stuck with Salem like Ash does. But he still wishes more had happened.
California Fox (Deamon) - His older sister. She worries him and causes him stress, usually because he's first line defense in picking up after her mistakes, but he adores her all the same. Her influence mellowed him out significantly, he used to be much more of a stick-in-the-mud.
Amaryllis Perlman-Byrne (MethodicalSlacker) - She probably should find him more intolerable than she does, but he's quite agreeable with her politics. The two have a good, platonically playful dynamic. She can (and is trying to!) rip his professional life secrets out of his cold dead hands, but he's no conversational slouch.
Stormy Delacroix (backslash) - One of the few guys in the school that isn't a coward.
Danielle Bird (TheLordOfAwesome) - Ash owes this girl a lot of thanks for particular reasons. It was never going to last, but it was probably Salem's best chance at someone actually compatible with him... minus the whole having to pass for a guy part.
Kelsey Brewer (Rattlesnake) - Rejected the free trial.
Coda Taylor (MethodicalSlacker) - The school's meme pages don't write themselves. They also don't get written at all, that's how Coda and Salem roll.
'Danger Dave' Cooper (Gundham) - For maximum aesthetic Salem should have bought his friendship too, but actually getting along as mutually flaky trolls is also an acceptable vibe.
Giselle (Yonagoda) - "Next time you shoot me down do it with a gun though."
Lúcio Oliveira (Volt Turtle) - If only people were generally this easy to talk to.
Jessica Lee-Smith (Irredeemable) - One of those rare girls where Salem is the one caught off guard, not vice versa. If he didn't know her any better he'd swear she was a method actor or something. Nobody could possibly be that oblivious?
Richard Buster (Buko) - There's nothing wrong with ambition. Work hard, play harder.
Bethany Lyon (Dr Adjective) - Don't ask him how it's possible, he also has no fucking idea. Does he even like her that much? Respect and disdain are both two-syllable words.
Chloé Delacroix (midnight_twelve) - Salem probably could have ended up like her if he'd been willing to try harder? Or maybe it's better this way. He hopes the best for her, even after all this time. Someday they might be the leaders of tomorrow. Or like, she will be. He will be yucking it up on some shitty Destiny-tier podcast somewhere.
John Kieran Jr. (Jazzfat) - Salem really has to stop sinking free time into the nation RP before he passes a time of no return.
'Lulu' Lujan (Buko) - Kinda creepy opinion alert: whoever ends up being her baby's new father is going to be the luckiest dude on earth. She's too cool.
Eunice St. Claire (LeslieFranc) - He's honestly a bit surprised she let him talk to her more after that death glare when he did his usual flirty thing. She always seems so agitated? Not his place to presume he can do anything about it, but he feels for her.
'Alec Lewis (LeslieFranc) - A friendlier face in a party crowd. Of many. School's got a surprising amount of good comic artists, doesn't it?
'Ara' Canlas (LeslieFranc) - Hit job on her ego and it totally worked. Mission accomplished.
Juanita Reid (Gundham) - What can he say? It looked like she needed the pick-me-up.
'Penny' Yu (Yugikun) - They hooked up for a bit. Just long enough to not wear out either of their welcomes.
'Liya' Polaris (BlizzardeyeWonder) - If she thinks he's an idiot, she's not far from the truth. The secret to engaging people to your ideology is? Don't. But he's not going to tell her that and spoil her fun.
Lydia Pulkinen (BlizzardeyeWonder) - 'If you want 250 pages of repetitive, amateurish, fetishistically detailed descriptions of women having their breasts eaten by giant praying mantises, this is the book for you.' (His version of) her words, not his.
Robin Valenti (Pippi) Well he's not bad, but Salem kind of has a low bar to qualify people for being okay.
Isaiah (Yonagoda) - Better man than Salem is, that's for sure.
Judy Loxley (mostlyharmfulll) - Are they laughing with or at each other?
Adam Lader (RetroVenus) - Get over it already.
Matthew Bell (Applesintime) - Well, technically they are still cool. Salem isn't going to blame Matt for his reputation becoming a liability, but he's certainly not going to handle it either.
Mateo de Guzmán (Jan de Witt) - Could you try any harder? Salem's certainly not that impressed.

I am trying to avoid playing more characters but inevitably I'll do it to myself RIP. gg

Soo-bin Kim-Reyes

[+] Profile

Hobby List - Bible study, academics and studying, learning languages, foreign policy and geopolitics, Model United Nations, drama club, (Close Friends) gossip and peoplewatching.

Reputation -
- Doesn't really exist. Another face in the crowd who randomly appears out of nowhere during your kid's group lab or whatever and then proceeds to keep to herself after the fact.
- Similarly to her very close friend Karin, Soo-bin in her idle moments seems somewhat unapproachable at a glance because she has a severe case of resting bitch face. Even Soo-bin's most casual glances can come off as arbitrarily venomous and judgmental. She's usually very engrossed in homework or some form of other supplementary academic reading in public, but some people have probably learned to not approach her before even speaking a word in her direction.
- Even close friends are very unlikely to be aware of Soo-bin's deep seated issues. She keeps things quite close to her chest and is also good at projecting the idealized 'normal' version of herself, someone who is an introvert and keeps few friends but is a good and loyal friend to those she does have.
- Friends in the clubs she is in (MUN, drama, Christian club) know she's a hard worker and takes club activities and preparation very seriously. She can also be very despondent if she makes mistakes. For her MUN friends specifically they may note her unique note-taking, where she draws and relates simple images to form concepts instead of writing down the dense amounts of information she needs for MUN activities.
- Despite how political her interests are she is typically disinterested in talking politics outside of the context of engaging in her hobbies. She recuses herself from this manner of conversation promptly. Her actual politics she will reveal if asked, and she's a fairly standard liberal with a fairly non-malicious ignorance of a lot of social issues.
- She knows fluent ASL despite not being deaf herself. Indeed she seems to enjoy communicating this way more than any other, though she will not go out of her way to befriend someone deaf or hard of hearing just for this commonality alone, without other connections to mutually endear them.
- Her father is an SOTF-brand 'big and Important' sort, at least in some circles. Valente Esteve Kim-Reyes has served in multiple prior presidential administrations as a specialist in Asian foreign policy and at the peak of his career was the former Ambassador to South Korea (probably need staff permission here, so consider this pending). He now teaches full time in The Fletcher School at Tufts, and probably has spoken to some of Soo-bin's friends before if they have an interest in picking his brain.
- Appearance brief: average height and scrawny, tan skin, dresses down most days and avoids attention-drawing fashion, seems to love all manner of hats.

Personality - Close friends know that Soo-bin must work very hard for her good grades and can still struggle with them sometimes, leading her to have the general veneer of your typical overachieving high school who is trying way too hard and may be approaching burn out. In casual settings she comes off as stand-offish, and only close friends understand that she simply doesn't want too many friends... for whatever reason. She is willing to converse casually if someone can get past her intimidating aura, and she speaks with a mellifluous tone, able to use multiple languages if your child is so inclined. Korean, English, Spanish, ASL. Occasionally she does seem to struggle finding the proper words in speaking, upwards of whole awkward seconds at a time, though she maintains her composure through these incidents.

General Timeline - As an extremely introverted mostly-friendless sweater girl background NPC for most of her life who only kind of blossomed fairly recently this probably doesn't need to be too fleshed out, but I'll formalize this at some point.

Most important to understand: she only joined MUN within the past two years, only joined Drama Club when Karin did. She was probably in Christian Club all the years it existed.

[+] Relationships Specifically Looking For

- Her friends from her clubs, for the most part.
- Maybe a guy or two to crush on? I'll keep an eye out for this myself but feel free to propose something if you think it'll be interesting!
- Few more of the socially timid folk who are intimidated by her in general would help sell that particular part of her countenance I think.

[+] Established Ideas Here

Isaiah (Yonagoda) - Yeah, she'd have left herself behind too if she'd been him. He still gives her more attention than she deserves and its... nice? Kinda stings.
Do Seungri (mostlyharmfulll) - He definitely does not know she exists.
'Karin' Han (Gundham) - It takes a special friend to make one unironically believe in alien abductions being covered up by the government. Karin is the reason Soo-bin has half the interests she does. Life defining type of relationship.
Bethany Lyon (Dr Adjective) - "Can't let her down. I'd rather die then let her realize I can't handle it."
Mateo de Guzmán (Jan de Witt) - It's certainly difficult for Soo-bin to keep up with the tenor of his academic ambitions, but she tries her best on his behalf. It's rare she gets to feel she can actually impart knowledge as opposed to perpetually struggling to take it in herself.
Darryl Smith Jr. (Deamon) - She doesn't take his trolling so personally, or at least tries not to. They both know it can snap one of her particularly high-strung strings if he's not careful. To his credit, he's gotten better about it since that day.
Max McCormick (Irredeemable) - She tries to keep an open mind, at any rate.
Judy Loxley (mostlyharmfulll) - She appreciates the levity.
Robin Valenti (Pippi) - She doesn't get why people seem so off put by him? Confidence is attractive.

hey cicada let's make our kids have connections with each other : )

ASSachusetts? I'm flattered! Let's get to the list.

• K and Cedar; K seems to fit the bill of a quiet, socially awkward and somewhat needy person for Cedar to dote on. For his part, her absences from school on account of interest worry him too. They don't have much in common, and the chances of K getting her to peel away from the platoon for a day to come hang out with his friends seem unlikely, but if they had a class together at some point I can see her checking up on him every now and again. If you want, maybe she has a (one-sided) crush on him, since he seems to fit her type too.
• Amaryllis and Callie; Maybe Callie gets into Amaryllis' orbit and then they have a tiff about the politics and then fall out. Edgy libertarians are among Amaryllis' least favorite people, so it'd be interesting to see what happens when either of these people have to quickly course-correct their expectations about each other. The even-tempered devil's advocate versus the quick to incense bleeding heart.
• Coda and Callie; Callie seems like she'd like Coda's memes. She seems like she'd also like their politics enough. The conspiracy theorist bend isn't something they're totally interested in but otherwise I think Callie and Coda could be alright friends, enough that Coda doesn't really mind when Callie gets spacey. Would be incredibly interested in purchasing her services for pranks.
• K and Callie; K's a misfit weirdo and maybe K knows Callie that way. K doesn't have much emotional stakes in school, so I can see them aimlessly arguing each other to death about asinine bullshit. At least until the bus gets here and K has to go.
• Amaryllis and Ash; Woah, musician alert! There are a few ways I can think of this playing out; Ash seems perfect both for someone for Amaryllis to be jam buddies with but maybe is good enough at it that Amaryllis feels threatened and this is more of a rivalry than anything. Maybe they started as close friends during middle school and planned on making music together at some point but drifted away over quarantine when Amaryllis got tired of the self-improvement stuff. I can see Ash being the reason Amaryllis quit sports, too. Who knows, could be interesting either way, let me know if you have more ideas.
• Eugene and Ash; Eugene, while not an athlete anymore himself, probably respects Ash's efforts around the school. Mai Onodera falls in the same boat; both of these kids get the feeling that Ash is good and would like to know her, but her aesthetics sort of put them off from getting to know her much deeper than that. So they're all pretty much outwardly friendly, when they run into each other.
• Amaryllis and Salem; Amaryllis probably knows that Salem is a CIA plant and doesn't really care. They seem like they'd get along well enough, even if Amaryllis is sort of interested in what he might be hiding. She probably didn't realize he was flirting with her until like seven minutes into their conversation and then laughed about it and turned him down. Might have seen each other at parties too—yeah, apart from Amaryllis trying to push him a bit on the politics and whatever reaction Salem would have to that, I can see them being alright enough friends. Maybe he let on a little too much with the flirting, or Amaryllis lead him on so she could learn more. I can see a thread where they're trying to talk around each other like that.
• Coda and Salem; Shitpost buddies, party friends, general miscreants who like to hang out.
• Mai and Salem; Mai doesn't take too well to being hit on, and is likely to get somewhat upset when she realizes it's happening to her. Would talk to Ash to let her know what Salem did and be absolutely dumbfounded when she realized she was alright with it. Then would ask if she could kick him anyway.

Can't think much for Callie with my kids, but as for the rest:

Eunice

• Cedar - Eunice seems like the type that Cedar considers as someone "in need." I imagine Eunice being very suspicious of the friendliness at first, although not too much because Cedar didn't seem to be the intimidating sort, and then decided she's not too annoying and let her guard down. Would tightly hang onto the fact that a friendly would actually keep checking on her. Probably still a little rough on affection, but would follow and like all her art and posts in social media and would be consistently texting her.

• Salem - He's popular, and seems friendly and cute. Eunice probably had an eye on him for a while, maybe he has a spot on the corner of a page in her sketchbook. Not like anyone will ever find that out though. Maybe he tried flirting with her one time he caught her staring at him, and she goes through it like why is he talking to me what is happening in annoyed and disbelieving silence before she realized what was happening like is he making fun of me??? and then glared at him with such unbridled hatred and disgust before stomping away.

Alec

• Cedar - Alec's not that terribly shy, only initially, so he might not be Cedar's romantic type, but he's pretty easy to befriend! It's not his main focus, but he's still interested in the arts and would appreciate and admire Cedar's and tell her so readily. They seem like they could be casual friends, or friendly acquaintaces at least!

• Salem - They don't have much in common besides probably having been in the same parties at times, but they both seem to be nice and friendly enough dudes that they'd probably get along well enough when placed in the same room.

Ara

• Cedar - fellow pinoy squad member, and all that entails for everyone else! Ara would be very wholesome and supportive of her, I'd imagine. They're both in the artsy creative department, although there might be some light friendly teasing on her being a nerd. Ara would only have vague experiences on anime, like cousins who are more into them or absentmindedly watching Filipino-dubbed anime in the mornings and afternoons as a child, so it'd be funny as she tries to relate besides ooh pretty art! Ara would be a little bit more familiar with Kpop.

• Ash - Ara is in the volleyball team as well, and based on their personalities, I could see Ara respecting and admiring Ash for her dedication and take-charge attitude, but also bristling in indignance if her more harsh tendencies were directed at her and would push back. I feel like they could work well together as team in group activities, but might end up regularly clashing.

• Salem - Ara doesn't swing that way so she'd be like oh? oh shit, for real? with the flirting, flattered and maybe even a little bit smug about it. But she'd immediately put a stop to it after a while.

For Cedar: May I offer Daniel as a potential ex boyfriend? He's a nerdy type who generally sticks to the fringes of most groups. Also Tenshi being another Platoon member, they probably know and are friendly with each other.

For Callie: I have Vague Feelings that Liya would have opinions on her and potentially be a former friend, but this is even more vague of a feeling than normal, will get back.

For Ash: I can also volunteer Liya as a former friend of this one! over the years Liya's patience for overenthusiastic positivity has worn thinner and thinner and thinner still. I don't see why Ash would pretend to be Liya's friend if this goes through since Liya doesn't have much clout... unless she's trying to get into a venue where the band's performing or something, idk.

For Salem: Reactions to getting flirted with - Liya would tell him get lost, Tenshi would be VERY pleased that he notices how much care she puts into her magnificent appearance, Meena would bluescreen and probably run away, and Lydia would just go "bruh i'm gay". No lasting animosity from any of them, though Lydia and Tenshi would be up for a conversation afterwards.

If I get more ideas, will post em here!

Raf’s on the basketball team, so he definitely knows Ash from the department. I feel like they’d possibly have a rough history, sine they both seemed to have very combative personalities. Nowadays though Raf probabbly thinks she’s cool, esp bc of all the things she’s done for the athletics.

Kiana and Salem have probably ran into each other at parties before! If they’ve flirted before she probably got a little overwhelmed/uncomfortable and things didn’t go anywhere beyond that. She’d think he’s nice otherwise, and I think they’d be friendly with each other.

doot doot

Callie + Alice: Callie ticks every checkbox on Alice's :/ list, what with picking petty fights and stirring the pot whilst being a libertarian. That said, there's very little reason for Alice to ever see that side of Callie...unless Callie got a crush on my rock girl? Alice would rebuff any flirtations (Alice is totally straight, she swears), but drama could ensue if Callie persisted and got toxic in doing so. Might make sense as part of the reason for why Alice is bitter about intimacy, these days.

Callie + Birch: They don't really move in the same social circles, which is a shame, because they could be a glorious trainwreck. Let me know if you have thots on how to make that happen!

Cedar + Ren: This one could be interesting! Ren could definitely trigger Cedar's motherly instincts, and how they feel about it is probably fairly dependent on how patronizing Cedar comes across as. Ren likes support but they don't need to be 'fixed' for their autism, and things would be awkward if Cedar tried to do that. They're both nerds, though Ren is a nerd mostly because that's the kind of social group where they fit in, rather than because their interests are naturally the stereotypically nerdy kind. They're happy to pick up whatever their friends want to show them, though! Ren might've had an unrequited crush on Cedar at one point assuming Cedar managed to avoid patronizing them.

Ash + Ren: Remind me to get back to you on this once I figure out how Ren gets along with Kitty.

Salem + Ren: Ren does not trust this boy. They're not hostile, but treating friendship casually will raise their eyebrows.

Salem + Birch: mayhaps they've helped him crash a party once? It's the kind of 'I'm cool and I do dangerous things with people that's how you make friends' thing that they'd do.

bop

Cedar:
- While Pyne probably wouldn’t be a fan of Cedar, the whole ‘gravitating towards people in need’ thing combined with Pyne being half-Filipino means there’s there’s a chance maybe Cedar approached her at some point (since Pyne’s kind of an obvious albeit aggressive mess). Pyne wouldn’t gravitate towards the ‘Pinoy Platoon’ as a whole (she doesn’t feel much of a connect with her lineage) but there’s probably acknowledgement over its existence.
- Also Molly is down to tabletop.

Callie:
- Although there’s a good chance they haven’t spoken, Fitz both shares a tendency to mostly be only interested in a long conversation if it concerns, say, conspiracy theories or other interests, and… well, conspiracy theories as an interest. If tehy’d ever somehow tapped into the right topics around each other, I’m sure the conversation would have gone from 0 to 110% ridiculously fast.

Ash:
- Marshall shares similar personality quirks regarding being brusque and very focused on getting people to self-improve (while being very blunt about what is good and bad about them). Either they’d get into arguments or they’d just start yelling positivity double as hard. They run in different sports crowds, but he’d be excited to help with raising money for sports.

Salem:
- Molly would have probably been pretty receptive to the flirting. Definitely casual, though she might have had to be backed off from, but she woulda brushed off the confusion.

Think I should be fully caught up, updating relationship ideas with everyone I've spoken with so far. Let me know if I've missed anything though!

I'm updating this because I am, unfortunately for my vows to not overload myself in V8, taking on a fifth concept in collaboration with Gundham. The other Korean Bitch-Face Girl! Not going to be as broadly social and present in the scene as Ashlyn/Salem or Cedar, but she'll still have some friends! Thus I open her for getting relationshipped with. :0

Cedar and California could be friends as they share a lot of the same interests: anime, manga, drawing etc. She may be interested in California's webcomic also.

Ash and Jessica are both on the volleyball so I imagine they'd at least be acquaintances through that, probably not much more than that though.

Soo-bin would know Darryl from both the drama and the Model UN but she may not like his behaviour all the time, then again if she's quiet she probably wouldn't ever find herself on the end of his jabs.

I've already covered Soo-Bin and Cedar on my own page, but here's something about how Mateo views the rest of your kids.

[+] Callie Zhou

Beyond thinking of her as excessively "edgy" and combative for his tastes, Mateo probably has a mostly neutral opinion of Callie, unless he notices her semi-criminal tech support services. If he does find out he'll try to find a way to discreetly notify a teacher, then just generally disapprove of her from the sidelines.

[+] Ashlyn Graves

Mateo's interest in sport is very limited, but he most likely assumes she's being very responsible in being (or having been) a team captain. He may be a little suspicious of her past reputation, and be generally turned off by her negativity.

[+] Salem Fox

Mateo is averse to anything to the left of social liberalism, and given Salem's tone he probably thinks he's being irritatingly political without having any real backing for his ideas. If he ever gets to know how deeply his political activity goes, he'll be much more respectful, even if he doesn't agree with Salem's views or how they're presented.

Gonna respond to everything here, Jan! Also, as a general note I think I have all relationships I've been able to discuss put down already! Folks, feel free to let me know if I've missed anything we talked about, any time.

[+] responses for Jan

• For Cedar, I think you've made a good counterargument as to her opinion of him, if he doesn't make an issue out of her opinions then she'll have no reason to have any ire for him. So I'm going to ixnay that- she probably thinks of him at worst as a bit of a stick in the mud but she also cares for him regardless, as I already said regarding her checking up on him. And she should definitely join board game club! I'll probably have to update in that regard, but she's in like all the time-wasting hobby clubs so for sure she'd want to join the one that'd support a Platoon member.
• Soo-bin we discussed via Discord.
• Callie and Ashlyn both make sense to me! I don't notate relationships unless they involve significant interactions, as a note, since I don't want all my character's individual relationships lists to be as long as every single character in V8. But it's still, of course, good to know!
• For Salem there's probably some potential for a mutual opinion. Salem tends to not think highly of people he doesn't think of as fun, and Mateo also doesn't seem like the sort of person who Salem could troll and get a ruse of or start to get weirdly along with, like he does with some other folks he's politically not matching with. Kind of ironic, considering he and Mateo do actually match... I like that a lot, as a sort of undercurrent in their dynamic. They'd have all the reason to get along per their politics, but in reality Salem just thinks Mateo is a bore and a chore and probably tries to avoid him in the AP classes they inevitably share.

Hello. Yes. I am finally returning to relationship threads.

Cedar:

Erika is a bit of a creative type- not that she’s particularly loud about it, mind you, but she’s there and she is willing to talk about art if you approach her. They may be friends, but it’s up to you if they’re particularly close or just acquaintances.

Giselle, on the other hand, is probably the one to initiate friendship- they probably talked a bit. Giselle is… widespread in her creativity- drawing has been something she’s been doing less and less recently. If there’s a chance for free art for her album covers/ music videos/ whatever she’s working on, she’ll take it. They can share music together.

Ren is, in general, a friend to everyone- but not really a close friend to anyone. Some of their hobbies are vaguely aligned to Cedar’s.


Callie:

If she wants to be a doormat, then let ler. Nobody, I feel, is particularly close.


Ashlyn:

Giselle, I feel, is one of the few people that may vibe with her aggression- She does dance, which isn’t a school sport, but she’s probably a bit miffed about the whole sports and budget cut thing.

Isaiah is an athlete. He is not, however, someone willing to take that much bullshit. It’s a mix of begrudging respect and well-hidden annoyance on his part that he expresses by giving her the cold shoulder, but given the fact that they are both athletes of some sort he would be willing to work with her in any events.

Ren is, to put it mildly, very evolved in the school scene. They want attention. They want love. They are willing to try to squeeze it out of Ashlyn. In the first sign of negativity and antagonism, however, they would back off.

Betty is generally popular, in the way that she has practically talked to everyone. But to be honest, they’ll rub each other off the wrong way.


Salem-

Ren and Betty are both friends of his- mostly from association with parties. Betty’s reaction to flirting is to immediately, and kindly, reject him. Ren’s reaction is to laugh it off, assuming they haven’t came out to him.

Giselle is probably a bit closer than the other two- on the count of her being more into dance and shitposting. They trade memes, probably. She doesn’t exactly mind flirting, but she’d reject him.

Isaiah is another leftist, politically involved youth who attends some parties and may be a bit close to him? No idea, though.

Millie doesn’t like him all that much- flirting? Gross. She avoids him at parties.


Soo-bin

Isaiah ran in the same circles as her- christian club, MUN, etc. even though he has basically left most of them over time. If you want her to crush on him- feel free.

Updated this thread a bit! Still open to any last minute planning/memes.