❝ do you remember ? ❞

well i don’t mean to boast and say that penny was the inspiration behind godfrey university, but she was totally the inspiration behind godfrey university lmao. penny, whose full name is penelope, was actually raised in hillsboro, oregon with her two older brothers named max and charles. their parents were as affectionate as they could be but mostly they just focused on their careers and income, which gave all of the children a good understanding of the phrase ‘hard work pays off’ since they’re now a rather wealthy family. they were spoiled enough to all receive brand new cars on each of their sixteenth birthdays and own an estate with a vineyard and several horses. it was a seemingly perfect childhood for the bardes kids. however, it wasn’t gold and rainbows forever for penny.

she was only 12 years old when the symptoms began. it started with headaches and dizziness which the doctors then just treated as dehydration, but it seemed to quickly grow into something much more than that. penny started losing her balance altogether, her head spinning with so much pressure that she even temporarily lost her hearing and sometimes resulted in nausea or vomiting. a trip to the emergency room a few months later would end in misery for her, as they so ran many torturous tests that would determine her hearing abilities and other motor skills for the following several hours. fortunately they were able to come to a diagnoses, and it was a shocking one for everybody because typically it was only common in older people, but penny was diagnosed with meniere’s disease.

it’s an incurable disease, and even the smallest noises would trigger her symptoms and it affected her all throughout high school, educationally and socially. every time that she’d gain her hearing back it’d be just slightest bit more faint, so classmates started referring to her as ‘the deaf girl’ along with many other nasty rumors of her that kept her up at night in tears and generally gave her Hella anxiety. the horses at her estate were v therapeutic for her during this time, and even if it was difficult for her to continue riding them she still did, which one day ended her up in the hospital with a broken arm after getting vertigo while riding. basically penny’s kind of a rule breaker. she doesn’t let her disease control her and she still lives her life as she normally would even despite her symptoms.

still, that mindset didn’t really help her in getting a boyfriend. she’s always lived in the shadows of her older brothers, who were the popular football-playing jocks throughout high school and college. the oldest one, charles, is even NFL bound which means that max isn’t too far behind. they ended up at oregon state university playing for the beavers while penny was just kind of left behind to fend for herself. most people who know her brothers ( which is actually many people considering their renowned personalities ) don’t even know that they have a sister, so it was always difficult for her making friends and settling down into a relationship. most guys just throw her into the friendzone, which she’s actually not upset about because at least they show her Some attention. 

godfrey university was always penny’s first-choice school. it’s exclusive, quiet, accommodative for her disease, and most importantly it Isn’t where her brothers go to the school. she viewed it as an opportunity to start fresh, to make a name for herself other than just ‘the deaf girl’ or ‘max and charles’ little sister’ or whatever, but even then it was hard for the girl to break out of her shell. she’s quite introverted and tight-lipped when it comes to her disease, but the moment that you get through her first barrier the rest kind of crumble away with it. she trusts people way too easily. very naive and gullible and willing to do whatever it takes just for people to like her, whether that means putting herself at risk or not. she’s a virgin, and has only kissed a handful of guys beforehand which all ended terribly, but she’s also a hopeless romantic. she honestly just wants Friends ?? basically just make her feel wanted and loved and then she’ll give you the world in return. 

suggested connections !!

best friend !! even though she doesn’t have many other friends i think it’d be sweet of her to have like One really strong friendship. think sleepovers where they eat pizza and gossip about boys.

secret admirer ?? can someone pls just adore her from a distance and drop love notes in her bag when she’s not looking and make her feel special but she has literally no idea who it is sjhadka bonus points if she already knows this person

frenemies !! probably someone that penny desperately tries to be friends with, so much to the point that they constantly get annoyed with her but she doesn’t realize it bc she just Wants Friends.

childhood acquaintances !! since she grew up in hillsboro i imagine she knows quite a few names, so this can be just about any kind of ship tbh.

brothers mutual friends !! oK but what about people who knew her brothers previously ?? could’ve been exes with them or anything. they know so many ppl omg.

first crush !! she believes she fell in love with this person upon first sight but probably has only spoken to them several times. not endgame but definitely a Comical ship.

bad influence !! pLEASE CORRUPT HER. shower her with attention and then let the bad decisions begin. can be platonic or lead somewhere else.

alright so colby grew up in rockville, maryland with his little sister laurie and his two supportive parents. they were honestly a v traditional american family. middle-class, super loving, strong bonds, and nothing major or tragic ever happened in their lives. that was probably why colby always found other ways to entertain himself, either by running off into the woods and bringing home a snake ( dead or alive ) or getting on a bus and ending up two towns over with an amber alert on his ass for 7 hours straight. moral of the story was that he was a rambunctious little kid always searching for something more, and that trait never left him tbh.

when high school rolled around this made him the Cool Kid. he started chain-smoking cigarettes and skipping class in his shitty 2002 honda accord. rock climbing kind of became his thing, like a little barefooted monkey crawling all over the earth and eventually settling down somewhere with a scenic view and smoking so much weed that he convinced himself he was buddha in the flesh. nonetheless, he still managed good grades and solid friendships and him and his sister became pretty close around this time. they were kind of like each other’s safe havens, could go to each other for anything and confide in one another when needed. they both definitely covered for each other at least Twice when sneaking out of the house lmao. 

before graduation there was definitely talk about a gap year, and afterwards colby had somehow managed to convince his parents to let him do it. he had literally dreamed of traveling the world one day and he never imagined that he’d be able to do it at such a young age and especially with so much support from his parents ( emotionally and financially ). they felt that he’d earned it, and so off he went to europe with nothing but his skateboard and a duffle bag full of clothes and his single leather journal. he kissed laurie goodbye on the forehead, not even realizing that that would be the last time he’d see her in 3 whole years. 

at first colby only extended the vacation by a couple of months, which turned into a half a year, then a full year, and so on and so on. his parents stopped supporting him after the first year because they just wanted their son home, but unfortunately he got Sucked into the lifestyle of sex and drugs and hostels and a bunch of other illegal shit that only his journal had the opportunity to hear about. what’s funny about it is that he was genuinely having some of the best moments of his life. he met new people everywhere that he went, easily schmoozing them into letting him crash on their couch, but he’d never stay for too long because colby was a moving man. he was essentially a vagabond, pawning stolen items and selling his own artwork to get by, but he was fulfilled and that was all that really mattered to him at the time.

laurie was the one who convinced him to come home. if it was going to be anybody, of course it was the one girl who actually meant something to him other than just a warm mouth. he expected his parents to be upset but they were just Happy more than anything else, and greeted him with tight hugs and watery eyes. colby hadn’t anticipated on staying. in fact, he only wanted it to be a quick weekend visit before he was catching a flight to paris, but an acceptance letter to godfrey university with his name on it was quick to change his mind. laurie had written the application herself and sent it off without a word. she said it was what she wanted for him, that she wanted to see him succeed educationally because he’d already succeeded in other life skills. it was the only thing he was missing. plus, a college experience was definitely long overdue.

it seemed like just as quickly as he made it home colby was already packing his bags for hillsboro, oregon. he’s heading into the university as a twenty-one year old freshmen but anything’s better late than never. he left laurie with a handful of journal entries ripped out from his leather notebook, hoping she’d smile to herself as she read about all the adventures that he’d been up to while traveling the world. that’s honestly a great way of describing him as a character.

he’s crazy But !! he’s thoughtful, and also super charming and quite confident. because of his travels he kind of views himself as more superior than other people, having so many life experiences under his wings and being fluent in both spanish and french. it’s kind of hard for him not to think of himself as better than most people, but in general he’s a rather likable guy. pretty comical at times and definitely Very poetic, especially when he’s fucked up. he enjoys sleeping around with people and will never actually commit to a relationship, which is ironic considering his number of idiotic tattoos. you’ll never catch him without his skateboard under his arm, his journal in his hand, and a cigarette tucked behind his ear. 

suggested connections !!

friends !! colby has more friends than anything else, whether they be super close or just friendly people in passing. he’s v affable. 

troublemakers !! people he can wreak some havoc with. he’s honestly such an adrenaline junkie and he won’t survive without these people in his life. maybe he’s the bad influence on them or vice versa. 

enemies ?? we can work on the details but i think that he should have at least One solid hateship lmao please give me this. 

old fling !! ok i imagine this being a person that colby has met once before, probably during his travels, and developed feelings for throughout his visit but then fled the moment that things got real. they probably left off on weird, unresolved terms. 

 hookups !! this can be just about anybody tbh. he’s not picky when it comes to sleeping around, as long as they’re not Totally insane.

his muse ?? this will probably be a selective connection since this person is someone that colby deeply admires. he likes them more from a distance than face-to-face, and uses them as inspiration for his paintings and other creative works.

coworkers !! i’m not sure what other occupations there are yet but colby works as a pizza delivery boy, so if your muse needs a job then this would be a fun connection.