#additional character

ANYONE COULD BE BLAMED.                 EVEN THE SIREN.

MEET IDA CLARKE.

{ MAIKA MONROE, 23, CISFEMALE, SHE/HER } Is that IDA CLARKE? A SENIOR originally from SEVIERVILLE TN, they decided to come to Ogden College to study ANTHROPOLOGY & RELIGIOUS STUDIES on an ACADEMIC SCHOLARSHIP. They’re THE SIREN on campus, but even they could get blamed for Greer’s disappearance.

HOW THEY EMBODY THEIR TROPE: She pulls you in with her sweetness, but only when it’s too late do you realize her true colors. Like sirens drown the sailors, ida isn’t afraid to take-down anyone she feels deserves it. Whether it is valid or not. She doesn’t care who it is, and sometimes she does it just for fun. Breaking the hearts of boys and girls, dragging people's names through the mud, spreading a rumor to take them down completely. Whatever it takes, she’ll do it. For her safety, for her entertainment, it doesn’t matter much to her. But even now, four years later at ogden, people haven’t seemed to really pick up on it. How did someone so young get so good?

babies

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ANYONE COULD BE BLAMED.                 EVEN THE TRUSTY SIDEKICK.

MEET MALIK “LEAKY” WRIGHT.

 { JONATHAN DAVISS, 20, CISMALE, HE/HIM } Is that MALIK ‘LEAKY’ WRIGHT? A JUNIOR originally from CLEVELAND, MS, they decided to come to Ogden College to study ENVIRONMENTAL STUDIES on an ATHLETIC SCHOLARSHIP. They’re THE TRUSTY SIDEKICK on campus, but even they could get blamed for Greer’s disappearance.

HOW THEY EMBODY THEIR TROPE: You need a wingman? Leaky is your guy. He’s charming and pleasant and can talk anyone up. Need a favor? Leaky is there easily fulfilling it as if it’s nothing to him. The guy is a confidant, a hype-man, a volunteer, he can transform himself into whatever you need and it never seems to bother him. And despite being a gifted football player, and smart guy, and seemingly everywhere on campus, he doesn’t steal the spotlight. He’s not the one you think of when you think of Ogden, he lets others take the popularity, the jealous looks, the whispers. Despite always being there, you might sometimes overlook him, maybe because he’s always there. But he seems to be a good guy, always offering a kind smile and nod of his head on campus, willing to help tutor you in math, and then lets you have all the glory when you ace the test. It almost seems like Leaky is making himself out to be the pedestal that everyone sits on. The support that uplifts the hero, and yet still disappears in the crowd, never seeking glory for himself.

ANYONE COULD BE BLAMED.                 EVEN THE UNDERSTUDY.

MEET NATALIA VEGA.

{ MAIA REFICCO, 20, CISFEMALE, SHE/HER } Is that NATALIA VEGA? A JUNIOR originally from LONDONDERRY, NEW HAMPSHIRE, they decided to come to Ogden College to study ACTING. They’re THE UNDERSTUDY on campus, but even they could get blamed for Greer’s disappearance.

HOW THEY EMBODY THEIR TROPE: Born the youngest of five, and the only girl at that, Natalia always felt as though she were striving for a sort of ideal that she never quite reached. Her family was very traditional and religious, and while Nat was born in it, she was never quite sold enough. She was too progressive for her mother’s taste, too American in her way of thinking. She wasn’t as tough as her brothers or as prim and proper as the girls in her classes. No matter what it was, there was always someone better, someone more.  Then Nat found the stage. Granted, it was in the Christmas play at her church, but it awakened something in her. She realized that she could pretend to be all those things she never quite hit the mark of. It wasn’t a realistic enough dream for her mother, but of course it wasn’t. She’d grown used to falling just shy of expectation.  Being accepted into Ogden to study acting felt like finally becoming the whole person she knew she was. She was good at acting, she could prove herself worthy of all those “almosts” she’d been grappling for her whole life. But it seemed like more of the same was destined to follow her. She was constantly vying for the top part in every production, only to wind up THE UNDERSTUDY. Every single time. She was stuck in a loop and beginning to question whether or not breaking out of it was even possible.

ANYONE COULD BE BLAMED.                       EVEN THE OPHELIA.

MEET NIXIE LINGHUI.

{ HAVANA ROSE LIU, 21, DEMIGIRL, SHE/THEY } Is that NIXIE LINGHUI? A FRESHMAN originally from FUNAFUTI, TUVALU, they decided to come to Ogden College to study ENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEERING on a FINANCIAL SCHOLARSHIP. They’re THE OPHELIA on campus, but even they could get blamed for Greer’s disappearance.

HOW THEY EMBODY THEIR TROPE: For perhaps anyone who's appreciated an iteration of Hamlet, the visual is clear — long, disheveled hair and bare feet, clad in a dress and often pictured amidst flowers and water. It's not just the visual of her that takes people's mind to that place, however. They display the same childlike naivety, as if entirely unaware of the harsh realities of the word, a mind that it seems has taken a step away from the real world while at the same instant, holds gently onto secrets that no one else may ever may be privy to the knowledge of. At times it's unclear if Nixie is plagued by an invisible illness or merely not of this world, questions that her unwillingness to answer acts to make her all the more bewitching.

ANYONE COULD BE BLAMED.                       EVEN THE POLLYANNA.

MEET SAMANTHA JIMINEZ.

{ OLIVIA RODRIGO, 19, CIS WOMAN, SHE/HER } Is that SAMANTHA JIMÉNEZ? A FRESHMAN originally from MANHATTAN NEW YORK, they decided to come to Ogden College to study CREATIVE WRITING & CLASSICS on a ACADEMIC SCHOLARSHIP. They’re THE POLLYANNA on campus, but even they could get blamed for Greer’s disappearance.

HOW THEY EMBODY THEIR TROPE: The Pollyanna is a trope about a girl who always seems happy, and pleasant, and good no matter what happens to them in life. And their life has not been an easy one, Samantha’s life certainly hasn’t been, but it doesn’t matter, because their outlook is always sunny. There is a term in psychology called The Pollyanna Principle, or Pollyannaism, which is the tendency in people to remember pleasant things better than unpleasant things (the term has become overused and diluted in recent years but toxic positivity). That is very much Samantha to a T. She would rather live a life covered with rose-colored glasses than acknowledge difficult things, because once the difficult things start creeping in she feels like there is no way she’s going to be able to stop them, and if she lets that sort of thing take over her life she is just not really sure how she’d ever be able to deal with it. So, she clings to her happy, and pleasant escapist fantasy and that is where she is going to exist for the rest of her life. As far as she is concerned anyway.