#bronca.

it happened one night.

"shit," bronca snort-laughs, a scrape in the back of her throat that would've sounded mean if they weren't amicable.

“ ‘sup, kid, “ she grunts around the tape in her mouth as way of greeting. she tears off a strip with her teeth, and proceeds to tape up the posters of the latest exhibition at her center -- PRESENTED BY TWO SPIRIT COLLECTIVE: QUEERLY NATIVE. (she’d personally invited them when she heard about them in one of the magazines that come to their doorstep. they’d been ecstatic that she’d reached out to them, a woman of her renown in the new york city art scene, the name she’d made since she was seven-fucking-teen as an activist, and she was eager to see what they brought to the table.)

bronca sinawoy. butch lesbian. sixty-eight. lenape.THE BRONX. hot-tempered. fuck around and find out. she was at stonewall when she was seventeen, the alcatraz occupation when she was eighteen, heavily involved in aim all throughout her twenties and thirties, soothed aids patients when their families and nurses didn’t, and somehow had the time to get her phd in art history. she runs an art center in the bronx, and is about to be a grandmother. as the oldest of the avatars, she works as the knowledge holder, and can tell you anything you need or want to know about her city. (i write her, so she goes first.)

the primary. queer. twenty-one. black. NEW YORK CITY. a homeless artist, the avatars are in search for this enigmatic young man throughout the events of the novel. 

manny. bisexual. late twenties. black. MANHATTAN. he loses most memory of his former life, representing his role as a new new yorker. he is a somewhat ruthless strategist. he can allow non-avatar new yorkers to see the enemy if he needs to use them. 

brooklyn “mc free” thomason. heterosexual. fifty-two. black. BROOKLYN. former rapper, lawyer, and current city councilwoman. she has a middle school aged daughter and a sick father. her power is rooted in music. bronca called her out for homophobic lyrics back in the 80s once she realized who she was, something she apologized for.

padmini prakash. lesbian. twenty-five. tamil. QUEENS. graduate student. her power is rooted in mathematical imagination that can change physical reality. she’s bubbly and a little awkward, but very intelligent and quick-witted once she believes in herself. 

aislyn houlihan. heterosexual. thirty. white. STATEN ISLAND. lives with her parents. her father is an abusive, racist cop who calls her “apple”. she can become invisible. she’s involved in n*zi bullshit, so she’s a villain and everyone rightfully fucking hates her. she joins the side of the enemy, eventually. 

OTHERS. cities already born, side characters, and enemies. 

mr. hong. none of your fucking business. appears late fifties, actually much older. chinese. HONG KONG. chinese-inflected british accent. smokes, but doesn’t like it, representing the smog and pollution of his city. kind of an asshole. never not seen in a suit. told bronca to “fuck off” when she told him he couldn’t smoke in a specific area, so he’s got brass balls. 

paulo. bisexual. appears early thirties, actually late thirties. brazilian. SÃO PAULO. due to him being the last city “born”, paulo was saddled with the responsibility of helping new york be “birthed”. the only city “born” in this side of the world. also a major smoker, which he can use to combat enemies and other … eldritch horrors.

veneza. bisexual. trans. twenty-four. black and portuguese. NEW JERSEY. works with bronca at the bronx art center. sees bronca as a mother figure.

husbands.

bronca blows smoke sideways, away from milo's face. elsewhere, a sewer grate belches steam. they're one in the same now.

"—i do," kid. no. maybe? could be older than her, "yeah."

she received the gift of knowledge when their city was born. bronca, the oldest. the bronx, the first borough. she knew everything about new york city's history, so many names and faces, and the network of living city avatars that existed already they could call upon, but also their enemies. it felt only right she meet milo minos, taxi cab driver, sometimes minotaur, first. of course he'd be a cab driver.