Main Cast
This page is kept more-or-less current, and thus contains SPOILERS for recent chapters.
See also: Minor Characters and Miscellaneous Beings.
Sparrow Applebaum is a newly minted graduate, still getting used to this whole “independence” thing. She met her roommate Bianca in college, where they bonded over their shared love of certain TV shows. Between the two of them, Sparrow considers Bianca to be the nice one.
She was raised by a single mother, who eventually married when Sparrow was twelve. Her initial conception was with the help of a sperm donor. This fact is completely irrelevant to the plot and will never come up again.
Age: 22
Identities: Lesbian, Jew-ish, geek, FSMist
Home: Boston area, MA
Job: Political intern
Likes: Cats, pie, Doctor Who, arguing about politics
Dislikes: Dogs, people who are wrong about politics
Bianca Washington is Sparrow’s fellow graduate and current roommate. She’s generally cheerful, about everything from pets to anime to karaoke at the local drag club, and not above sparkling at people to get them to share her enthusiasm.
In spite of her usual perkiness, Bianca is more than capable of letting things get her down. Responsibilities have a way of weighing on her; and now that she’s Patrick’s Master, she has those in spades.
Age: 22
Identities: Bisexual, strong black woman, ex-Methodist, otaku
Home: Boston area, MA
Job: Junior librarian
Likes: Animals, drag, cosplay, Sailor Moon, illustration
Dislikes: Insomnia, that thing that happened sophomore year
Patrick ran away from his last Master after treatment he desperately doesn’t want to talk about, which also left him twitchy, moody, anxious, and cross.
Or maybe he was like that originally. It’s hard to tell.
He was taken in by Sparrow and Bianca while in his puppy form, and allowed to stay on the condition that he let Bianca become his new Master. Bianca doesn’t want to let him back in the Game. Patrick knows it’s only a matter of time.
He claims to be a fantastic fighter. We’ll see if that bears out.
Human form: White male young adult
Animal form: Dog
Master: Bianca
Likes: Fighting, the way Sparrow smells
Dislikes: His previous Master, being alone
Miranda Imani Lake has a classy sense of fashion, a ridiculous amount of money, and a penchant for lurking in graveyards. She’s been keeping an eye on Patrick, for reasons unknown.
As a child, she was a hardcore Pokémon fan, lived with her mother, and was upset by the lack of contact with her father. These days she lives with her father, but doesn’t seem thrilled about that either.
Age: 19
Identities: Straight?, race: human, lurker
Home: Somewhere in Boston
Job: Student
Likes: Gothic literature, anime/manga, complicated hairstyles
Dislikes: Feeling abandoned
Poe lurks with Miranda, when he’s not spying on Patrick on her behalf.
Moving on two legs doesn’t agree with him: if there’s something around that can be tripped over, don’t count on him remaining upright. He prefers to stay in raven form, only appearing human (and posing as Miranda’s boyfriend) when necessary.
His past Masters include Mr. Jesse Riverton and a slave woman named Hannah. His names under past Masters include Lydia Ann and Mr. Jesse Riverton.
Human form: Black male young adult
Animal form: Raven
Master: Miranda
Likes: Flying, doing Miranda’s hair
Dislikes: Walking
Cybele is a Being whose animal form is that of a pink rabbit.
This makes it somewhat hard for her to scare people, even when she’s taking on an exceptionally large version of the shape.
Her Master has yet to be seen out-of-ski-mask, though his unfortunate choice of hoodie has earned him the nickname Nevada-san.
(One of her past Masters was George Washington. How times change.)
Human form: Adorable young black girl
Animal form: Rabbit
Master: ???
Likes: Singing, dancing, anything pink
Dislikes: ???
Timothy Mattei administers the local branch of a Catholic hunger-relief charity by day, and does karaoke under the name Camellia as the world’s most wholesome drag queen by night.
In between, he’s been a Being’s Master for several years, and is comfortable with the Game.
He’s accustomed to answering to either pronoun, but please don’t use “she” while he’s at work.
Age: 28
Identities: Catholic, Turkish-American, female-attracted, functionally bigender
Home: South Shore area, MA
Job: Charity administrator
Likes: Helping people, singing, flowers
Dislikes: Mixing his job with her social life
Reseda combines a healthy vault of curiosity about all things with a snarky sense of distance from them. While most Beings are strongly attached to the present moment, she has a talent for taking the long view of things.
She was previously known as Lily, and her Master was a cult leader who believed Beings to be nephilim: the children of humans and angels. Her personality at the time appeared to be far more reserved. After that Master’s death she contracted with Timothy, who isn’t sure what to believe.
Human form: White female young adult
Animal form: Cat
Master: Timothy
Likes: Fighting, flowers
Dislikes: Transphobia, boredom
Arthur Bennett is a conservative politician who isn’t thrilled about Beings.
Or anyone else, really.
Even before he got any speaking-lines in-story, readers had argued more about him than about all the other characters combined. Maybe that will change as he develops, maybe not.
Age: 43
Identities: Real AmericanTM
Home: Western Massachusetts
Job: U.S. Representative (R-MA)
Likes: Tax cuts, America
Dislikes: Social services, most Americans
Ann Walker runs her own business conglomerate and does experiments with Beings on the side. Like Miranda, she’s keeping track of them for her own unrevealed purposes.
Age: A lady never tells
Identities: Blind, confirmed bachelorette, part of the 1%
Home: Chicago
Job: CEO, Walker International
Likes: Technology, cats, money
Dislikes: Her rival at Cohen Broadcasting, bad web accessibility
Oh, and then there’s her Being.
Human form: ???
Animal form: Tiger
Master: Ann Walker
Likes: ???
Dislikes: ???