Rafael Abe Padilla, 19
Rafael has recently graduated high school, and sits in the wake of friends moving towards college and away from Port City. Once a part of a Talented and Gifted Program in school, he ended up just only just skirting by with his diploma. Caught in the unforgiving role of peacemaker in his tumultuous family, he works hard, with little to no pay, and moves through the town with a past stuck to his back put there by his father, Arturo. Life is further complicated under the intense scrutiny of everyone around him having an opinion on his identity as a trans boy. But within his life there are moments of solace found in the beach behind his childhood home, Kingfisher Cove, and the marine life he observes there, categorized in notes and drawings. Currently grappling with the reality of life in Port City vs. the constant ache for a change, cracks are forming, and he hangs on by a thread, desperate for something more than just compromise.
Royal Romanovich Romanenko, 22
In his last semester before graduating from college, Royal dropped out, and finds himself at home where he knows he is a burden to his father, Roman. Unable to carry on, and having grown up knowing he’s never quite measured up to any expectations, he is eager for change. In a bid to make him useful, Roman hands Royal the keys to Roman Labs, the aerospace-turned-consumer-electronics lab he established in 1958, after defecting from Ukraine. An unbelievable and confusing gift, Royal is running head first into proving himself, and putting his intense passion for technology to use. Royal knows he wants his world to be changed, and he wants to be the catalyst for that change. Finding inspiration from a glitch in his favorite arcade game, Saint Vagrant, Royal sets forth changing his life, and is taking the town and its inhabitants along with him.
Kasra ibn Jawad ibn Khaled al-Ridha, D.Phil, 20
Kas is desperate to atone for past mistakes in their career. They spent their time and funding for their doctorate in astrophysics, at Oxford University, on an unapproved thesis for studying Hawking Radiation. They’ve since escaped through graduating, and ended their long stint in higher education by working a job studying interferometry at an observatory in England. Originally from Khuzestan, Iran, and diagnosed with Juvenile Open-Angle Glaucoma at age 4. They’re trying to keep their head down while scrambling to find their footing, but financial security and their natural tendency as an iconoclast leads to them saying yes to Royal’s job offer, and leaving England for Port City, to work at Roman Labs.
Tiffany “Tiff” Aquino, 18
A computer nerd that has always done extremely well in school, Tiff graduated with Rafael and Theo as valedictorian. She has been friends with Rafael and Theo since their days in the TAG Program, and considers herself a sister to them both. A go-getter, Tiff applied for an internship at Roman Labs immediately, and is hungry to work, despite it being nothing like she expected.
Theodore “Theo” Davis, 18
The star athlete of Port City’s varsity baseball team, Theo is thrilled to not longer have to play, and is ready to spend the summer before college with Rafael and Tiff. Despite overall popularity and an in with almost all of their peers, Theo prefers the easy, fun company of his oldest friends. Quiet about it, but he loves The Cure, and is ready for a fresh start to be himself in college (where he will study forensic science) despite having to leave Rafael behind.
June Sachiko Abe, 38
Rafael’s mother. Has been divorced from Rafael’s father, Arturo, since his final arrest, and worked towards finally being a good mother to Rafael in the aftermath. Supportive and loving of her son, she does what she thinks is right for him, but allows him too much space to care for himself.
Arturo Padilla, 41
Rafael’s father. Friends with Manny’s father, originally part of a dubious religious group. Currently in jail for breaking into Roman Labs in the late 1970s, on a whim to satisfy the beliefs fed to him by his former cult. Rafael hasn’t seen him in a while and doesn’t take his calls.
Manny Cleary, 14
Rafael’s kid cousin, a troublemaker Rafael has to watch follow in his father, Clancy’s, footsteps. The youngest cousin of the Padilla family along with his twin sister, Pilar. Manny doesn’t know how to handle the cousin that always saves him from danger vs. the world of bad choices and fatherly approval laid out before him. (Incel.)
Roman Romanenko, 58
Royal’s father. From Soviet-occupied Ukraine, he defected in 1958 and worked with NASA as a businessman, not a scientist, until turning Roman Labs into a consumer electronics company. Stern, unforgiving, and abusive towards his family, he has settled into retirement in his massive home after the disappointing fadeout of the Space Race.
Stacy Nastya Romanenko, 47
Royal’s mother. Takes meticulous care of herself and the Romanenko family home. Often found awake late at night.
Lobo Padilla/Buka Romanenko, 7 goodboy years!
Once the Romanenko family dog, now Rafael’s new best friend. Plucked one night from the Romanenko yard in a desperate bid to save him, Rafael took the dog home, and renamed him Lobo. Understand commands in Ukrainian, English, and Spanish.
