Don't mind me, just yapping and organizing my thoughts about my olnf mcs! My step 2 thoughts are here if you would like to read about their older selves too!😊
Nova Grace "Gracie" Woods! She currently identifies as a girl and uses She/Her. (Nova was my second requested voiced name for the ks after my irl name, so hopefully it makes it in!)
A nervous wreck about pretty much everything. Bffs with Tamarack and has a crush on Qiu, though she hasn't realized it yet! She prefers not to talk a lot and communicates mostly through ASL(she and Opal are fluent) or writing.
Very short, probably a good inch or two shorter than Tama. She is half Black on Opal's side and half Native Hawaiian from her donor. Her hair is actually dark blue and not brown like how the doll maker currently makes it look. Qiu probably thought she was exaggerating when she said she falls a lot, and very quickly finds out she was not. She's very rarely without a bandage or two at this age.
Her favorite color is teal, or really any shade of blue. She's autistic and has a special interest in space, and is usually wearing something with a design or pattern around that. She loves playing in the woods, especially with her two best neighbors 😊
Annabeth "Beck" Estrella Hyyde! She was born intersex and AFAB, and currently uses She/Her. (Annabeth was my third requested voiced name, so we'll see if that ends up in there lol)
A very outgoing and hyperactive kid, Beck loves anything to do with the outdoors or making new friends. She has a crush on Tamarack and is good friends with Qiu. It doesn't show on the doll, but she has a white streak in the front of her hair from her vitiligo. (She's the one holding Tama in my profile pic!)
She is Afro-Latina with Dominican roots. She was born in the US but moved to and around South America as a baby and young kid before Opal's job took them back to the states when she was 8. Spanish is her first language and English is her second.
She currently has undiagnosed ADHD and dyslexia and struggles in school even though she always tries her best. I feel like Mrs. Murray would be the type to recognize effort and desire to learn, plus she's still in elementary so her grades wouldn't be bad. In later steps this is not necessarily the case unfortunately.
Although she loves all sports, soccer is the coolest and her most favorite. She can juggle it 40 times in a row without dropping it, just watch! Her favorite color is rainbow, or maybe cranberry like her and her Mamá's hair.
Elijah "Eli" Othello Anderson. He currently identifies as a boy and uses He/Him. He's Black and doesn't know(aka I haven't decided) much about his heritage. I am on the fence about his current hair color and might change or tweak it a bit.
One of the most laid back and breezy kids you'll ever meet. He just wants to have fun and make new friends! He's got a pun or other terrible joke ready at any given moment so watch out.
He does have a bad habit of putting others before himself, much to the disappointment of his Mama. Is it really such a bad thing that he wants to make other people happy?
He finds something of a kindred soul in Qiu in that way. They just get each other in a way most other kids don't. They're clearly destined to be best friends, or maybe even more. He has a soft spot for Tam too, hopefully they'll all be good friends forever.
Cassiopeia "Cassie" Lotus Aoki-Jones. She identifies as a girl and has since she was six and currently uses She/Her. Her mom has Egyptian heritage and her donor was half Japanese.
More than anything, Cassie is mad. She doesn't want to move away from her old friends and life, especially to a place surrounded by dirty and icky woods. Why couldn't she and her annoying Mom just stay where they were?
No one else here even knows about roller skating, or butterflies, or anything cool. Sigh, at least there's a ballet class where she can show off her skills.
Most things here are pretty bad, but the two neighbors her age are pretty okay. Both of them are nice and sweet and pretty... what was she saying again?
Step 2 mc ramblings woo!! Um, some things about mcs feeling anxiety, depression, insecurity, and rebellion, but I don't think there's anything too heavy! I promise all of them feel better and do have SOME happy moments in step 2 haha
Here's their step 1 ramblings here if you'd like to check that out as well! 😊
Nova Grace "Gracie" Woods. They are questioning their gender and use They/She pronouns. Sprite is slightly edited to give her a second lobe piercing and make the headband go behind their bangs bc that bothered the shit outta me. (Check out my pinned post to see the absolutely perfect full body refs of her I commed from Sunny 🫶🏾💕)
Her Qiu has long hair with both accessories, and Tama has short hair with the headband!
Still as shy and nervous as ever, Nova goes through life insecure and sure she's being judged on a scale she can't see. She's too short and too heavy, it's weird that they prefer ASL and writing notes over talking, embarrassing that she still likes "kid" shows(her favorite show of all time is Gravity Falls and they love that they live in Oregon too! They'd gladly dress up as Dipper with Tama as Mabel if that wasn't for babies...) and stuffed animals, her different colored eyes are freakish, and they're covered in acne. All these insecurities sometimes leave her overwhelmed, and she needs to run to her safe space in the forest to hide.
She hides a lot of herself that they fear are childish, only really feeling able to be themselves around Tama and Qiu. She still enjoys cartoons and has a special interest in space, but has taken up band(Percussion! What loud instruments for someone so quiet, who would have guessed?) and writing as well as still being an avid reader. They've done a complete 180 on scary things as well, now loving horror movies and games. Those things frighten her much less than they did as a kid now that she's dealt with the way scarier world of high school and trying to fit in.
She and Tama are still best friends, they've gotten official bracelets that say so and everything! If nothing else, those two can always count on each other for comfort and friendship. As for Qiu... well, as a teenager they've realized just why they always made her heart beat faster. She's got it bad, and isn't quite sure what to do about it. Not confess, that's for sure. They can't stand the idea of losing Qiu as a friend and can't bring herself to consider there's even a chance they might just like her back. Hopefully they'll learn that it's okay to express her feelings and interests, and not to be so harsh on herself.
Annabeth "Beck" Hyyde. She only uses She/Her, but is fine with all terms. She hasn't put a label on her gender as of now.
Her Autumn has short hair with the earrings and Tammy has the long braid with the ribbon!
I haven't decided yet if I'll keep her as bffs and crushes with Tammy, change it so she's bffs with Qiu at this time, or have her be best friends with neither and keep it neutral on the friendship side. Oh, also I'm headcanoning that Tammy's ribbon is cranberry and Beck's headband is gold and glittery so they can have accessories in each other's hair colors <3
Beck is still that happy, energetic person she's always been, now just a whole foot taller(she's like, 5'10. If very tall was a height option I would pick that for her) and with double the hair(I imagine that it grows freakishly fast, probably down to her hips or something when it's down). She's also started to prefer going by Beck rather than Annabeth to most. Qiu sometimes calls her by her first name while Tamarack and her Mamá only use Annabeth. She will very quickly shut it down if anyone but Tammy tries to call her Annie though. That's reserved for favorite best friends only.
She still hasn't quite figured out that she has a crush on Tamarack yet, just knowing that she finds her more amazing than most and her heart always beats faster when they're together. It would take a miracle for this sweet, oblivious kid to realize her feelings at this age. At the very least, she needs someone to spell it out for her. Or maybe if a certain glittery haired neighbor confessed first..?
She's joined the high school soccer team and already stands out as an incredible and talented player. It makes sense, she's only been practicing since before she walk as her Mamá likes to say! Her athleticism, bright personality, and unique looks have made her kind of popular already, even if she doesn't realize it. She tries to be kind and open to everyone, but her two neighbors will always come first.
She knows Tammy and Autumn are having a hard time right now, and will always make time for them to listen to their rants or to distract them with something fun. Their problems are much bigger than her own after all, her issues are just small things like struggling to maintain Cs in school and still forgetting words in english sometimes(and maaaaybe she has a problem with her Mamá dating if that turns out to be true...), she can push through and stay upbeat and happy for everyone! If she doesn't, who will?
Elijah "Eli" Anderson. He still identifies as a boy and uses He/Him, but has started to question if that's completely right
His Qiu has long hair with the choker and Tam has the long braid with no accessories!
The class clown, a jokester, whatever you want to call him, Eli always has a joke or bad pun ready to make people laugh and lighten the mood. He's leaning in hard to his comic relief role and will drop everything to help others if need be. He's stopped caring about rules and being polite like he did as a kid, adults don't know anything anyway.
He cares about his best friend Qiu and Tam the most, though. He's spent hours trying to cheer them up when they're feeling bad and thinking about what he can do to help. His reckless altruism concerns his Ma, but trying to talk to him about it has only led to arguments and points of tension that he doesn't know how to heal. Why can't she see that he just wants to make others happy?? He's frustrated that they don't see eye to eye with this and it's lead to frequent arguments, even though he desperately wishes to get along with the only family he has.
He doesn't care about school anymore, or really anything he used to. Everything is so boring in this little town, he just can't bring himself to care or do anything most days. The only thing that seems to make him happy these days is playing video games, but it's not like he can do that for a living. Whatever, that's a problem for future Eli. He'd prefer to focus on others anyway, the happiness of his friends is much more important to him than his own.
Cassiopeia "Cass" Aoki-Jones. She still identifies as a girl and exclusively uses She/Her. She's decided that "Cassie" is too babyish and will snap at anyone who still calls her that.
Currently, her Qiu has short hair with the choker and Tee has short hair with no accessories! Honestly, for her playthrough I'll probably let past choices determine the neighbor's looks.
Cass is...temperamental these days, to put it nicely. She responds with huffs or sarcastic responses almost exclusively, and good luck trying to get her to say anything nice about this stupid hellhole town. She's always been a little ornery and rebellious, but lately she seems almost nightmarish in her demeanor.
She hates this small town more than ever. She hates her stupid mother who dragged her here. She hates school and skips as often as she can without getting caught, and is completely checked out when she is there. She hates her bright blue hair and insists on dyeing it different colors instead. She hates most of the adults too, with the exception of Mr. Yusuf. Even that relationship is pretty rocky, and she herself doesn't know what has to happen to make it a good day for her.
The only things that seem to make her smile anymore are ballet and practicing guitar, and she puts more effort into that than anything else. She's getting pretty good at them too, if she does say so herself! (Opal has noticed her starting to bake in secret, and that seems to make her happy too. She doesn't dare bring it up though, afraid that mentioning it will make her stop and lose that bit of joy.) Most days, she just locks herself in her room and practices or does nothing but avoid the world.
As angry as she feels at the world, spending time with Qiu or Tee does bring her some peace. She feels relieved that she has someone to talk with about gender stuff, or to complain about complicated parent relationships. Or to just talk about how hard being a teenager is. Cass can recognize now that her feelings towards both of them is something a little different than friendship, but doesn't dare bring it up. What if saying mushy stuff like that makes them hate her? No, it would be better to just not say anything so that she can keep their friendship, one of the few good things in her otherwise miserable life. Just another thing she'll keep bottled inside, good plan Cass.
