Design update: bullies edition + lore
Time to drag up Micha’s trauma again, unfortunately. Without spoiling too much.
Tara:
The ringleader, daughter of a doctor father and lawyer mother. Rich kid asshole, never taught manners, gets everything she wants. Has always been a mean girl, has several targets but Micha is by far the biggest. Never gets in trouble because her parents donate a lot to the school and they will pay her out of anything. Crossed the line from bully to outright abuser when she started physically attacking Micha, primarily using her claws to scratch him, also shoved him down the stairs once. Got a final devastating blow on him the day he dropped out, it was something so bad and he knew no one would believe him or care so he never told anyone. Continued to occasionally harass him outside school until he moved away with Haru. Has actually briefly encountered Haru once, he threatened her to fuck off and she knew she’d not win in a fight against a way bigger dragon, so she reluctantly backed off.
Layla:
Also a rich kid asshole, but in a more snide and sneaky way. Rumour spreader, gossiper, liar. Father is an engineer, mother owns a big business. Was actually the first to take notice of Micha, but Tara really sunk her teeth into him. She’s the kind to find your secrets and spread them around, take a truth and twist it into something horrible, play victim when called out and pull the kind of “you wouldn’t hit a girl” card. Number one person in the school you do NOT want to say the wrong thing around. Because she will take it and run with it.
Paris:
Bystander of the group. Also fairly well off, but has a single mother and older sister. Was definitely a bit of a bully when she was younger as a kind of defence mechanism, but felt more guilty about it as she got older. Friendship with the other two is toxic as hell. Her position in the story arc is about how even if you do grow up and change for the better, your actions still have consequences and you have to atone for them. As well as how people can be turned into bullies via toxic friendships and peer pressure.
Three rich cishet girls vs an autistic gay boy? In a private prestigious high school? Recipe for disaster. These girls are your reminder that girls can be abusers, boys can be victims, and bullying is very deeply rooted in bigotry.