Remi Moore

Remi is your typical teenager girl who's gone through too much hardship early in her life. She's a lover of all things cerebral and geeky, including the D&D campaigns that she runs for her friends. She's got something of a white knight complex, always wanting to be the knight and savior of those in trouble. In truth, she's a coward that can't always react when the time calls for it. She struggles to emphathize or even sympathize with people who aren't like her. When it comes to aggression, she's willing to put herself in danger to make a point and drive it home.

• My partner, MintStyxPro, designed the aesthetic for Remi almost entirely. I picked a color, and they blew me away with their concepts and art. Both designs for Remi's outfits are perfect, as cute and delicate as the character is.
• Grandpa Ronn has an old, fat basset hound named Runt. The name is uncreative, as he was apparently the runt of the litter. He follows Ronn around, often heaving himself at his feet with a grunt. Remi loves him. He's the best thing about living with her Grandpa. He's a silly thing, often getting up to mischief when no one's looking.
• Grandpa Ronn is a military veteran. He used to be a sniper in the special forces but was injured during the war and promptly discarded when his injury was deemed to be permanent. Ronn refuses to use a cane (and hasn't since before his wife died), and instead drags his bum leg around.
• Despite Grandpa Ronn's mild transphobia and biphobia (which stems from the indecisiveness to "pick a side" and commit), Remi isn't particularly bothered (though she is exasperated and bites back from time to time, which he respects) by the comments made in her direction. Grandpa Ronn still orders her estrogen shots monthly, and buys her new clothes -- both masculine and feminine depending on how she's feeling at the moment.
• Grandpa Ronn met his sweetheart and future wife in middle school. They dated in high school and married at eighteen, experiencing a few brief years of bliss before he was drafted into WW2 when he was 21. He fawns over his wife's memory, ignoring the older dames that fall aflutter when he walks by in town. His wife is the personification of his vulnerability, and most of his softness stems from her.
• Auntie Riza's influence and ethics are all over Remi. She views religion as a cult, and refuses to participate, much to Grandpa Ronn's dismay. She doesn't begrudge other people their desire to believe in the spiritual, but she has a lot to say about it if someone broaches the subject.
• Grandpa Ronn has a huge collection of weapons in his basement. It's frankly astounding that the government hasn't come knocking on his door about it. There's everything from various types of guns to pull-pin grenades. Remi is leery to join him in his well-fortified basement, if only because it feels like a death trap.
• Due to her helplessness at having watched both her mother and her aunt die, Remi's developed something of a hero complex. She's convinced she can help or even fix people who are teetering in unhealthy directions. She has yet to learn that you can't help people who don't want to be saved.
• Remi's weapon/s of choice are a sniper rifle (taught to her by Grandpa Ronn; surprisingly, she has excellent aim) and bombs.
• Had Sburb not been about to occur, Remi had plans to grow up and be a voice actor. She's a performer at heart, and combined with her skills at worldbuilding, LARPing, and being a DM, she'd eventually have found her way to creating D&D Campaigns professionally instead.
• Remi lives in a ranch house in Poteet, Texas. It's a small house with a large, dying yard. There's a large tree in the backyard with an old, but sturdy treehouse. There's nothing inside of it, and there's no longer any way to reach it. The inside of the house is sparsely decorated, and impeccably neat, likely a leftover habit from the military. Notable items include an old, retro TV in the living room, a broken jukebox in the kitchen, a ridiculous amount of dog beds all over the house, and an antique cupboard in Ronn's bedroom that is stuffed to brimming with trinkets and figurines (angels, Jesus statues, Precious Moments figures, a small expensive looking, wooden jewelry box on the middle shelf, and two shelves full of items made by children). It's clearly all that's left of his wife.
• Remi's small, cramped room is decked out with a cheap metal desk in an awkward corner/angle that holds an expensive gaming desktop rig. She has a retro-looking bulky monitor, custom-built and painted burgundy red with a large Beholder sticker on it, gifted to her by her aunt before she passed. She has an expensive and similarly red, mechanical keyboard with custom keys, a regular mouse pad, and a plethora of D&D items on the desk alongside her (dice tray, a jar of dice, a DM screen spread open, a pile of D&D manuals, minis (and art supplies for them crushed beside the desk and the wall), battle maps, and such). There's a small twin-sized bed stuffed in the opposite corner of the room and a crowded, wooden bookshelf that's overflowing with books (battered regular books, but more pristine D&D manuals and some anime standees). There's a large, self-made map on the far side of the wall, created for her homebrew world, along with a pin board stuffed with photos of her aunt and mom, plus letters from friends from all over the world.

• Ronn Moore (Grandpa) - After the passing of both her Mom and Aunt, Grandpa Ronn was the last member of family available to take her in. Due to their dramatic differences in belief, they're prone to butting heads. As an old-fashioned and traditional man, Ronn struggles with Remi's gender identity, though he respects Remi's confidence. He appreciates a person with spirit, and the way Remi doesn't shy away from her stances gets his vote of approval.
• Riza Moore (Aunt) - Riza was the best parental figure Remi's ever had. She was the perfect guardian, supportive of Remi's gender identity, and bought estrogen for her to make it easier for her to pass. They went to rallies and protests together, and Remi grew up well-adjusted, confident, and happy due to Aunt Riza's influence. Unfortunately, when Remi was 13, she was diagnosed with cancer and after a long battle with the disease, she eventually passed and he was moved to live with his Grandpa instead.
• Ryln Moore (Mom) - Remi was a product of violence, but loved fully by Ryln despite that. Her mother took care of Remi until she was five-years-old. Despite being something of a centrist, Ryln knew immediately that Remi was exploring her gender identity and supported her, buying her cute little dresses to wear to school and advocating on her behalf. After a series of unfortunate events, she lost her battle with mental illness and took her own life, leaving custody of Remi with her sister, Riza.

Remi's earliest years were spent with her mother, Ryln. Her mother often struggled with her mental health, but always made time for Remi. Some of her fondest memories were of Ryln's worst days; she would curl up with her mother under the covers of her bed, a game console in one hand and her head resting on her stomach. No matter how many questions Remi had, Ryln always had an answer and rarely ever grew impatient with her. She was the ultimate advocate for her child, willing to put aside her own struggles to give Remi the best life possible.

The day Ryln took her own life, she first dropped Remi off at her sister Riza's home to avoid any undue trauma. It wasn't until no one had heard from her for over 24 hours that the police were involved. They stopped by for a check-up and found her deceased by an overdose of medication. Remi was inconsolable when she learned she'd never get to see her mother again. Just the day before, on her fifth birthday, Ryln had taken Remi to the zoo, made her favorite food, and gave her a locket with a picture of the two of them inside of it. Remi cherishes it more than almost anything else.

A few days at Remi's aunt Riza's turns into months and then, later, when custody is obtained, years. She's a single woman, more focused on her budding career in childcare to have want of a partner. Remi's addition is difficult, but therapy helps smooth out the ragged edges of her grief until it's something she's capable of moving on from. It helps that Riza and Ryln lived near one another, so the relationship between Remi and Riza was already strong, trusting. They make a habit of pizza day once a week, where they turn on one of Remi's favorite shows, and talk about the characters.

Riza becomes a staple in Remi's life, leaving an imprint even larger than Ryln's. They go to festivals together, particularly medieval ones (and pride!). Riza buys Remi fancy dresses with a bodice and a corset. They beam as they walk around, and one of the pictures taken that day when Remi is twelve ends up inside her mother's locket, opposite the one of Remi and her mother cuddling. Riza buys a new, sturdy chain for the locket and Remi wears it under her clothes, over her heart. Other than stimming with it, the only time she takes it off is to clean it. She's even taken to sleeping with it, her hand wrapped around it as she curls onto her side.

The cancer diagnosis sets into motion a series of events that end with Remi acting out and, eventually, back in therapy. Riza is given six months, but lives for three years instead. They make the most of their time when Riza ends up on disability. She's unable to work and supplements her paydays with her savings. It drains quickly, but not so much that there isn't any left by the time she passes. It goes into a trust for Remi to access when she's eighteen. They spend all of their free time together, Remi eventually becoming something of a caretaker for Riza when she becomes too sickly to take care of herself. It's only when she ends up in hospice that Remi's grandpa is contacted. It's the first he's heard of the situation and, despite his pension not providing him what he needs to fly down, arrangements are made for him to pick up Remi from a train station the day after Riza's funeral.

Remi is sixteen the day she arrives in Poteet, Texas. Her Grandpa Ronn has to pick her up an hour and a half away from the small rural town. She's sullen as she slips into his vehicle, and silent the entire trip back to his ranch house. Ronn tries to start a conversation several times, and when she refuses to indulge him, he takes to talking at her instead of to her. Remi is quick to discover how different their perspectives are. She frets over how she's going to continue getting her estrogen shots, but it's quickly resolved when her Grandpa tells her that she comes with a monthly stipend, and he's going to spend it entirely on her needs — all of them.

The hardest part, aside from living with someone in the middle of nowhere, is the unreliable, shitty internet. She has dozens of online friends she needs to check in with, but the abrupt disconnects during Pesterchum conversations sees her seething. Even worse are the twenty-minute or longer gaps where she has to wait for it to come back. It makes conversation irritating at best, and fury-inducing at worst. Remi has to cancel the D&D campaign she'd been running with her friends for the last year because of it, and she sulks for months afterward, much to her grandpa's scoffing befuddlement.

The day she's invited to play Sburb with friends, she initially turns it down. Not because she doesn't want to play, but because she's not sure if it's possible with her internet connection. Remi is reluctant to get her hopes up, only to end up burned yet again. She has to be convinced to play, but it's not difficult to appeal to her eternal boredom in Texas, her mind constantly craving stimulation. She hops onto Pesterchum to chat about it with her friends and immediately curses all the gods she doesn't believe in when the connection drops ten minutes later.