Survival Of The Fittest

• Dance: His foremost passion and the one thing he's consistently stuck to in his life. It keeps him fit and he constantly finds time to practice. He's an above average talent and is a centerpiece of the school's dance team, but he's not quite at a professional level of skill. He's not a showboat about it and generally only does it in situations where its appropriate. He can't exactly pay for classes so he sticks to less formal forms of dancing: hip-hop and rave, though his sense of rythym and fundamentals are good enough that he can easily improv an impressive slow dance for a partner.
• Auto Mechanics: This is not necessarily a passion, but a skill he's picked up from years observing his father, who also makes a living being an underpaid auto repair tech. Cars did genuinely interest him for a time, but now he views the things he's learned as his likely source of income after graduating high school. He keeps his skills sharp in the school's auto repair class offering and is one of the class's best students, and he also recently started an apprenticeship in his dad's garage. His general technical understanding and knowledge is developed enough that he could likely transfer it into another trade like being an electrician: he sticks to auto work for safety's sake.
• Dating and Socializing: To reiterate, he is a powerfully bisexual young man who can't help but constantly be in a relationship... though he's not consciously aware of why its so important to him. He has no particular criterion for the type of person he dates, though he tends to gravitate towards people with more obvious passion or intelligence than he himself has. He's friendly in most scenarios and isn't necessarily limited to the party scene, in general he's quite happy meeting people and engaging with them in most circumstances.
• Other People's Hobbies: An understated way he tries to connect with others where his words and emotions fail him is a tendency to use imitation as a form of flattery and bonding. He has a mix of hobbies and interests from his friends and lovers, current and former alike, that he never got that much into for the most part and likely never comes back to much if at all, but he'll generally be good at recalling what he did pick up if it ever comes up again.

• Friends, Ex or Current: Could be pretty much anyone. He's just one person so he likely only drifted around in so many different cliques, but he has a good number of people he's had connections with over the years. He can either be still on good terms with people even if a friendship downgraded to acquantances over time, or something could have gone awry (on your characters end, he wouldn't be the sort looking for beef after the fact) leading to some form of bad blood after the fact.
• Romantic Partners, Ex or Current: A lesser number than friends, but probably a good amount. His bisexuality is precisely 50/50 and both men and women and any other gender are the sort he could spend time with. As stated above he could have been in a relationship for however long dependent on how tolerant your character was of a relationship that didn't really seem to go anywhere past initial chemistry and attraction, as he'd generally not be the sort to actively seek a relationship's end and he'd more wait for your character to move on. As above, open to folks he's still on good terms with after the fact or on not so good terms with.
• Dance Crew: His consistent social group within Red Rock. His above difficulties with intimate connection remain, however, and even with people he's known for years he probably has long periods of time where he seems to only passively be their friend, not really reaching out or making much of an effort.
• Kids with Nice Cars: He's good enough and well connected enough that he might offer some repairs or mods to people willing to pay him a fair but under market value rate for his time. He could really use the cash.

• Former Hobbies, MMOs, Choir, Academics, and Writing: The hobbies she had prior to transition which she dropped due to the changes in mental state. These exist more to note for the sorts of friends she might have made while still identifying as male. She primarily played FFXIV with a religious amount of hours played per day, though she was never that good at it and was mostly carried by friends in endgame content. In terms of writing she wrote queer fanfic and original work and she did unfortunately write smut while underage. She had a few published works- usually the smut ones, chasing engagement- but only the most privileged of her friends get to know about that particular cringe. With academics she was a typical no work ethic going to burn out in college all-rounder and was a natural at essay writing in particular- she rarely joined study groups but was willing to help out casually with homework if asked. She was in the school's choir since Freshman year as a baritone who flexed between bass and tenor, and dropped out when her vocal dysphoria started being too much to bear.
• Music: Genre diverse, she loves it all though she tends to hop around to the point that she lacks the in-depth knowledge of fans with more narrow genre interests. She runs a solo project called My Cringe Anatomy (shout out to Dr Adjective), a synthpop/dreampop thing that has a few Soundcloud releases from before her transition that she keeps up, and that currently frustrates her due to her worsening organizational skills and vocal dysphoria plus lack of motivation. Her primary skill as a musician is actually sound design with synths and mixing and mastering- she has all the software needed on her laptop. She also has a keyboard but she’s kind of shitty at it. She is very supportive of the local band scene within Red Rock, and will follow most of the other artists at school even if they don’t know she exists. She owns CDs and merch probably, if merch was ever made.
• Makeup: Something she’s gotten pretty good at within the last year of her transition. She knows all the good drugstore brands- her arsenal mostly consists of them for financial reasons- and is good enough to give her cis friends a decent makeover and might know tips and tricks they don’t. She knows a range of looks from natural and inoffensive up through being able to dabble in theater makeup, though she generally doesn’t have the more heavy duty tools needed to pull those off. Her makeup skills are a bit stymied by her lack of consistent skincare success, but she’s good enough that she can overcome it on most occasions.
• Cosplay and Thrifting: Central to her burgeoning need to express her femininity, besides makeup, lies a love for cosplay and general alternative looks like goth and emo. Due to her limited personal budget due to lack of support from her parents she likes to spend most of the day that she doesn’t spend on her part time job or on lying in bed listening to albums in a brain fog addled haze routinely perusing the inventory of the thrift stores in Vegas within range of public transit. She has a second nature understanding of what is available and can provide blog tier thrifting advice- if friends are interested. Often she cannot specifically afford to get the clothes she’s eying up, and her research and thrifting is more aspirational for a future where she can afford to splurge. The series she wants to cosplay tend to be gacha- the only games she still plays as they are technically free and are popular so she feels inspiration from the ample other female cosplayers. Genshin Impact is her current drug of choice.
• Self-Improvement and Personal Finance: Knowing how fickle her parents' support of her is given their passive-aggressive opposition to her transition Mysha is primarily working on setting herself up for success if a tipping point is ever reached where it's either her shelter under their roof or her transition. Fixing her mental health and shaping herself up to be responsible and independent is something she expends a lot of difficult mental energy on, and tends to exhaust her. She does self-therapy, mindfulness, and looks into the stories of others with ADHD like her. She also takes steps to prepare herself and has savings already built up. She's pretty stingy with her money: even though she makes an okay amount of it while she doesn't pay any rent, she doesn't really like using it. She has a developing knack for penny-pinching tricks like credit card churning. With friends she’ll only bring up her research and self-improvement journey if asked about and generally frames anything she’s learned in a cynical manner: ‘this probably wouldn’t work, but…’
• Part Time Work: Some two thirds of her free time after school is taken up by working part time hours in a local pizzeria. HRT has made her more easily tired and less strong, so days when she’s working tend to leave her wiped out after the fact.

• Queer Friends: She wouldn’t say no to cis het friends if they have a reason to want to befriend her, of course, but by and large the people she’d feel most comfortable engaging with nowadays would be queer and would probably share one of her mainline interests! And or just be affable enough to engage with her from time to time (wherein she will initially struggle to engage back but it will be clear she appreciates the company regardless). Friends will have to be okay with her volatile personality and tendencies to withdraw for her own mental health semi-regularly or they’d become ex-friends quickly! As a friend Mysha is generally comfortable being intimately introspective and showing off her more eccentric thought processes and tendency to ramble. Friction in friends groups can arise from her stinginess- it might be hard for her to be a close part of a friends circle if she genrally ducks out of activities due to her tight grip on her wallet. Either its that or people can convince her to spend money since she's a bit of a doormat... and she'll deal with the blow to her mental health later!
• Remaining Friends from when she was still Closeted: This is more for the cis het folks, specifically the men who might have engaged with her over her former hobbies. She honestly doesn’t mind people who struggled with her transition- if they didn’t write her out of their life completely she still has a little time for them whenever they try to chat with her. Anyone who wrote her off she’ll be sad to see go, but she won’t really hate them that much unless they give her a reason to by becoming bigoted or the sort. With this set of friends, especially cis men, she is more tight-lipped about certain things like her ongoing transition and how it affects her mental state, as she's anxious they wouldn't get her concerns or might find her annoying.
• Anyone who has a band: She’s about as good a fan and supporter of the bands within the school as its possible to be when she has very little money earmarked for supporting them. She’ll do it from a distance unless its known they want her up close and personal, but the first recommendations she will always give to anyone who asks will be anyone from the school, and she’s at the shows against the barricades knowing all the lyrics if she can afford to be there. She’s likely pretty jealous of most bands too, given that they’re all likely more overtly competent and motivated than she is with her own music! Any band members she knows personally will probably fall into one of the above two categories and be her friend in addition to being a member of a band she likes, assuming they don't intimidate her into silence.
• Squishes and Crushes: She has a number of them that spring up in her loneliness- people who strongly inspire her and who she wishes she was more like or could be in the life of. These will be all from a distance and one sided, like, anyone who might be into her in turn will find she picks up on no hints whatsoever and generally views herself as currently unlovable. Will predominantly be women given her difficulties with the masc-attracted aspect of her bisexuality.

• Outdoor Photography and Sketching: A solitary hobby. She has an artistic eye and general skills for composition, but outside of art class and contributions to the yearbook committee she keeps these skills to herself and her enjoyment of getting lost in nature. She only posts generic hiking influencer type photos to her social media and nothing at all of her drawings- this is a hobby she goes out of her way to keep to herself.
• Hiking, Backpacking, Camping, Survival Skills: A more public version of how she engages with her outdoorsy nature. Through Outdoor Rattlers she engages with others who share this interest and she’s always open to day trips and weekend outings where she can be casually social in a setting that she is more fond of. She’ll also invite any other friends who show any interest in it too. Her outdoorsman skills are solid and she has mastered all of the fundamentals, and she’s started working on more advanced survival techniques with a private instructor, things like trap building and tracking that are less necessary in a more social setting, along with stockpiling extra supplies and pro-level gear for wilderness excursions and possible doomsday scenarios.
• Environmentalism: Her most quiet and understated interest is an active engagement in environmental causes to an extent that would be considered radical, and intellectually she feels even more strongly than she lets on and only doesn’t go further due to her need to maintain her image. She has only gone so far as to go to blockade protests and anonymous graffiti and property damage, but she also quietly approves of means such as pipeline sabotage, tree spiking, and cyberterrorism, though she stays her hand in actually getting involved besides exploring the opportunity for funding such activities on her own dime. Anyone who asks can generally tell she’s passionate about her environmental causes, but not to what extent she is personally involved as she keeps all that hush hush.
• Tennis: Raph plays tennis as a comfort hobby, for the sake of building her discipline and giving her an outlet for her energy that is easier to have at hand in school, in case she can’t get out into the Las Vegas wilderness for a while. She’s been at it as a player intent on competition since elementary school and she takes her gear and practice seriously. She’s not the best on the varsity team outright, but is a fantastic role player and reliably nets her team more set wins than losses. She’s better at singles than doubles, and is more of a serve and volley, explosive type of player. She has athletic scholarship prospects as well.
• Parties, Gossip, and Socializing: Raph has been used to schmoozing from a young age, not because she’s interested in people but because it was what was expected of her as an upper class twit in training. Getting to know a lot of people is a reflex for her, and she’s maintained a generally charming and easy to get along with aura that puts her on a lot of party invite short lists across a number of cliques. She passively absorbs gossip and generally holds onto it without distributing it to others, making her marketable as someone trustworthy with secrets and schemes.
• Guns and Marksmanship: She’s been practicing with guns since she turned thirteen, and stops by the range at least once a week to keep up with her personal accuracy goals with a variety of firearms. She’s actually only loosely pro-gun and generally believes access to guns should be highly restricted on a merit and bill of mental health basis- the fewer dumbasses own guns, the more people like her who take their craft seriously aren’t made to look bad. She’s already made multiple purchases of rifles since turning 18. She is on the school’s rifle team, but is careful of her interest in guns that might possibly betray the aspects of herself she keeps a lid on, so she does not take competition in the rifle team seriously and comes off as far less skilled a marksman- generally benched by the team- than she actually is.

• Clique of fellow old/new money kids: These were the sorts of people she grew up around, the upper crust of the Las Vegas youth. Her status as irrelevant within her own family may or may not have been relevant to your own character’s evaluation of Raph’s social worth, and she wouldn’t try to kiss ass if she realized there was an inherent prejudice against her on these terms. She did her best to be studious and earn respect as a loyal friend and confidante with a bright future, but of course rich people are rich people and there’s only so many people she could reasonably have convinced of her worth. To these people she stays loyal in the present day and likely was one of their first friends.
• Outdoorsy acquaintances: Particularly in the Outdoor Rattlers but overall she’ll always be interested in engaging with anyone who shows an interest in outdoorsmanship when she gets to know them. Earning the trust from her to go on camping or hiking expeditions that are more than casual entry level fare requires some familiarity beyond acquaintances. Furthermore she’s paradoxically less outgoing and more of a background character when it comes to this particular crowd- she’s there specifically to enjoy the wilderness, so other people are sidelined for her even if they’re ostensibly there as a group. In this setting she comes off as hyper focused to the extent that she’ll forget to help others and work in a team if not kept on some sort of leash.
• Other friends she makes from her main social groups: Yearbook, Tennis, Rifle Team (if we have anyone else from that particular team), she’s also somewhat serious business and about getting the job done in these settings, but she is polite and loose enough to be on good terms with this crowd as well.
• Assorted party going acquaintances: The people she makes the most effort to come across as fun and interesting around and not retreat into her aloof, paranoid shell. She’s a good active listener and skilled at injecting dynamism into conversations and situations while generally threading the line between coming off as a bore or as a jackass. She strives to be off-center of the life of the party, and accordingly she keeps a good amount of acquaintances on good terms that she can call on to keep her social stock high.
• Maybe people she feels comfortable (sort of) sharing her environmental bonafides with: This is something she’ll be very guarded about, and it will require a true dedication to similar causes to her own plus an extensive period of knowing her personally without the subject coming up, but she does want for allies who share her foremost political passion among the school body. She’s looking for people who can keep her own engagement with them on the down low, but she’ll casually fund their activism and support them as needed.
• Casual flings (men): She’s not really looking to be a girlfriend for an extended period of time- any attempt at real intimacy triggers warning alarms for her and she’ll withdraw quickly. If your dude is cool about it and doesn’t seem to be interested in anything more than a good time she’ll be a decent friend with benefits. She’s probably only had two or three of these over time barring some super short party hookups or the sort.

Deblod100 wrote: ↑Tue Nov 14, 2023 6:12 pm While I don't see any notable connections for my characters towards Sohel, I do have some suggestions for Raph and India.

Raph:

Pretty much all 4 of my characters are going to hate or dislike Raph for numerous and similar reasons, mostly for her being a bully and having a bad reputation. Mortimer will VERY despise her for her obvious hypocrisy in trying to stir shit without shame.

India

Vanessa might try to sympathize with a visibly self-loathing India, however Emma is looking to get her a chance by having her in her punk and metal band. However, I'm guessing that India will be playing an instrument that could require less effort, compared to singing or electric guitar.

Dr Adjective wrote: ↑Tue Nov 14, 2023 6:13 pm I’m here to secure votes for the anarchists in the forthcoming elections. And also to talk shop. Mostly to talk shop.

Sohel!
Heather makes music you can dance to! Genre is a spook but think Aesthetic Perfection, Zardonic, Celldweller, Blue Stahli, that kind of vibe. Also might have had a fling, I dunno. The two things might even be connected.

Raph!
Honestly all of my girls have something you could snipe at, but Hope, Artemis, and LK would probably be particularly vulnerable depending on your approach.
Mercy might be capable of being friends with her? Unsure.

And India!
Could be in, or perhaps more likely if she’s flaky, have been in Mercy’s band if she vibes with 2000s pop punk. May also be able to contribute to Heather’s solo work maybe?
Kinship in the “family life sucks” stakes with Artemis, who I also figure isn’t particularly “needy” wrt maintaining a friendship?

Fiori wrote: ↑Wed Nov 15, 2023 9:53 pm 'sup

I see that Sohel's interested in dancing. Think there's a non-zero chance he and Marcy know each other, as she's almost certainly be a member of the school's dance crew.

Potentially open to the two of them having briefly dated, likely no longer than a week or two before it became clear it wasn't going to work out, but otherwise remaining on amicable terms perhaps?

That's the main connection that springs to mind, but open to suggestions.