A character sheet for Afterglow (2015).
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Overton Academy students and staff
The attendants and employees of Overton Academy, an exclusive boarding school based in Olympia.
Jocelyn "Josie" Sawyer
The main protagonist, a sixteen year-old girl from Salem, Oregon.She begins the story well-off, a girl from a wealthy family attending Overton Academy. But after becoming an Anomaly, and following a brief stint as a vigilante for Litwin Enterprises, she becomes a contractor for the FSRA.
She is Anomaly 2017bv, and absorbs sunlight through her skin, which causes her to glow constantly.
- Blinded by the Light: If she raises the brightness of her skin quickly enough, she can create something like a camera flash that temporarily blinds anyone looking.
- The Cowl: Diane Litwin hires her to patrol the streets of Olympia at night.
- Creepy Good: Her skin constantly glows and she can shoot lasers that can melt through armor in seconds, but she's heroic by nature.
- Cursed with Awesome: Her skin glows involuntarily, which, once everyone knows her secret, makes her an outcast. At the same time, she can blind people and shoot beams of light from her hands.
- Expository Hairstyle Change: She cuts her hair shorter after it's burned during the Godhead crisis, around the same time she becomes more jaded and depressed.
- Hair of Gold, Heart of Gold: Though it's artificially blonde.
- Hero with Bad Publicity: Once she becomes known, most of her peers distance themselves from her, and public opinion is fairly negative because she's an Anomaly.
- In-Series Nickname: Her alter-ego is known as "the glowing girl."
- Knight in Sour Armor: She becomes this following her encounter with Godhead.
- Nervous Wreck: She has a tendency to freak out the moment things go wrong.
- Power of the Sun: Her powers work by absorbing sunlight.
Stephanie Locatelli
Josie's best friend and roommate, and native of Vancouver, Washington. 'Steph' for short. Steph is casual and laid-back, often keeping Josie grounded.- Fantastically Indifferent: Barely shocked by Josie becoming an Anomaly. She just rolls with most things, really.
- Living Emotional Crutch: Always there to calm Josie down and offer advice when she panics.
- Mellow Fellow
- Muggle Best Friend
- Red Oni, Blue Oni: The blue to Josie's red.
Shannon Quincy
Overton Academy's sociology teacher, graduate of the Evergreen State College. Raised in a small town on the Olympic peninsula, she was one of the witnesses of a mysterious Anomaly's hallucinations in November of 1992.Following the Godhead crisis, she becomes Anomaly 2017bx, developing the ability to read minds.
- Cool Teacher
- Psychologist Teacher: She helps Josie with her sleeping problems in the beginning of the story.
- Haunted Heroine: She has frequent hallucinations thanks to an incident long before the events of the story, and describes herself as "feeling the aftershocks" of her incident in the woods.
- Hearing Voices: She hears the voice of the Anomaly who attacked her.
- I Just Want to Be Normal: She feels that the Anomaly-related incidents in her life have separated her from everyone else.
- I See Dead People: She sees brief hallucinations of Marcy.
- In-Universe Nickname: Some of her students call her 'Ms. Q.'
- Living Lie Detector: She uses her powers for this when interrogating.
- Power Incontinence: She accidentally plagues her apartment with subliminal voices.
- The Social Expert: Being a sociology teacher, and someone who's passionate about the subject.
- Telepathy
Spencer Fitzgerald
One of Josie's classmates. He invokes the ire of student and teacher alike, being irreverent, lazy, and unbelievable egotistical.- Asshole Victim: He and his friends pick a fight with Josie, resulting in a humiliating defeat.
- The Bully: Targeting people practically indiscriminately, outside of his circle of like-minded friends.
FSRA Agents and Employees
The Federal Superhuman Research Agency (FSRA) is an organization in charge of documenting and understanding Anomaly presence in the United States. The story focuses mostly on the Washington branch.
Alexander Combs
A field operative and senior member of the Washington FSRA. He's called to Olympia to question Josie.- Screw the Rules, I'm Doing What's Right!: He proposes that Josie could help with Godhead, despite the fact that the FSRA doesn't and isn't allowed to weaponize Anomalies.
- Seen It All: As a seasoned field agent for the FSRA, it takes a lot to scare or surprise him.
Curtis Feldman
Alexander's secretary and right-hand man.- Deadpan Snarker
- Obstructive Bureaucrat: While Alexander is okay with breaking the rules when necessary, Curtis values his career and doesn't want to risk it.
- Team Dad: He chides his coworkers, including his boss, for a number of things. He means well, though.
Minh Van Lee
A stoic man in charge of updating the Washington branch's portion of the FSRA Anomaly database. He turns out to be working under a woman named Mrs. King, implanted into the FSRA to prevent them from catching on to her.- Blue-Collar Warlock: Or, something like it.
- Inscrutable Oriental: He expresses emotion, he just has a very subdued method of doing so.
- The Mole: He's in the FSRA to prevent the organization from learning whatever secret Lucinda and Mrs. King are keeping.
- Older Than They Look: Josie describes him as being young-looking and handsome, but he's been speaking English for about 45 years.
Holly Lent
The FSRA's communication and PR manager, and a member of Alexander's team. Holly is passionate and- The Mccoy
- Parents as People: She has a son, but the story primarily focuses on her role as a member of the FSRA.
AEON
An Anomaly terrorist group who took the name of the internet movement that united them. They believe that Anomalies deserve superiority, and aim to terrorize the mortal public.
AEON as a whole:
- The Dog Bites Back
- Knight Templar
- Then Let Me Be Evil: Tired of playing nice and trying to get along with the public, they decide to play into the fears of the masses by doing exactly what everyone is afraid they'll do.
- Western Terrorists: Driven by their frustration towards public and federal treatment of Anomalies, as well as the complacent attitudes of their fellow mutants.
Joshua Tucker
The spokesman and leader of AEON. His Anomaly designation is 2010C.- Evil Orphan
- Goggles Do Nothing: Sort of. They seem out of place, but he wears them to prevent Josie from blinding him.
- Gravity Master: The way he uses his abilities make him look like a telekinetic.
- Last-Name Basis
Brooke Del Vento
A member of AEON, whose powers allow her to kill people with eye contact. Anomaly 2007ap.- Agony Beam: Her main power, which she's able to use when making eye contact with someone.
- The Dreaded: She's an infamous murderer, and considered one of the most dangerous Anomalies alive because she doesn't hold back.
- Glowing Eyes of Doom: Her eyes glow yellow when she uses her power.
- Slasher Smile: Displayed after she gets Shannon to punch her in the face.
2015E
An Anomaly from Richfield, Utah whose mutation allows him to hypnotize people. He went into hiding after his powers manifested, eventually joining AEON.- Manchurian Agent: His power allows him to create these.
Amanda ("Devil Girl")
A teenage anomaly encountered by Ruth and Alan in Boise, who later joined AEON. She's capable of regenerating herself after being injured, as well as a myriad of other abilities.- Chekhov's Gunman: Is referenced in chapter 5 as a failed capture attempt by Ruth and Alan.
- The Dreaded
- Exorcist Head: One of the first signs that something is seriously dangerous about Mandy.
- Sinister Shades: Wears a pair of aviators.
- Teens Are Monsters: She's a sadistic murderer with a reputation for terrorizing people for no reason, yet she's only a teenager.
The Litwin family (and associates)
An absurdly rich family of entrepreneurs and politicians, owners of Litwin Enterprises.
Diane Litwin
A member of the Litwin family through marriage. Diane is the president of Litwin Enterprises' Olympia office, and spearheads the company's west coast branch. She blackmails Josie into employment as a vigilante.- Black Boss Lady
- Corrupt Corporate Executive: She has few qualms about threatening a 16 year-old girl into working for her, and Josie is almost certain she has an agenda.
- Iron Lady
- Non-Idle Rich: She's in charge of half of her family's business, and wants to clean up the streets of Olympia. So she says.
Lola Hernandez
Diane's personal assistant and right hand woman.- Beleaguered Assistant: Though it's less because she dislikes her boss, and more because that's just how she is.
- Servile Snarker
Others
Ruth Norwood and Alan Cressnik
A pair of detectives from the Portland Police Department, renowned for their fearlessness in handling Anomaly-related crimes. They're assigned to the glowing girl's case after her second appearance.Tropes that apply to both:
- Bunny-Ears Lawyer: They're kind of odd, and love to bicker with each other about hardly-relevant things, but they're considered the best in their field.
- The Dividual: They're practically inseperable, and since they work together on all their cases, they're almost always mentioned together.
- Exotic Detective: Ruth is a geography buff with ADHD, and Alan is obsessed with number stations and government conspiracy.
- Last-Name Basis: Josie refers to them by their last names, since that's how they introduced themselves to her.
- Occult Detective: Their official title is "paranormal detective."
- Platonic Life-Partners: They always take cases on together, but their relationship is strictly platonic. It helps that Alan is gay.
- Sympathetic Inspector Antagonist: At first.
Ruth Norwood:
- Attention Deficit... Ooh, Shiny!: She has a tendency to derail conversations, or present unrelated trivia when explaining things. Though, considering how much she loves to talk about geography, it may just be her consciously enthusing. Alan usually reins her in, regardless.
Alan Cressnik:
- Conspiracy Theorist: He discovers a number station and devotes a lot of his attention to trying to figure out its purpose, to the point that he brings it with him and listens to it while questioning people at Overton Academy.
- Straight Gay
Lucinda Peixes
A fey woman living in Chelan, Washington, who works for someone known as "Mrs. King." Drew came into contact with her several years before the story begins, and blames her for turning him into the raving lunatic he became. She falls under suspicion from the FSRA following the Godhead crisis.- Astonishingly Appropriate Appearance: Lee mentions that she looks exactly like the kind of person who would be involved in a secret society.
- Thinking Up Portals
- Mystical White Hair
- Quirky Curls
Andrew Foster ("Godhead")
A friend of Shannon's from high school.At some point, he falls in with a group of mysterious people who tamper with him in ways they probably shouldn't. He appears in Seattle in a suit of armor, known at first only by the word etched into his breastplate. Shortly after appearing, he launches an offensive against the Seattle police, prompting Josie to take action.
His FRSA designation is '2017bw,' and he has the ability to create and manipulate fire.
- Aggressive Categorism: He attacks the police because of the way a few had treated Anomalies in the past. He's thoroughly convinced that they're all like that.
- Ax-Crazy
- Cop Killer
- Flying Firepower
- Knight Templar: He believes that he's justified in attacking the police because of the way they've treated Anomalies in the past, and even tries convincing Josie to join him, turning on her the moment she refuses.
- Powered Armor: Designed to give him a divine appearance.
- The Spook: At first. He appears from somewhere in Canada and wreaks havoc on Seattle.
- Unstoppable Rage: The driving force behind his attack on Seattle.
- We Hardly Knew Ye: He dies three chapters after his first appearance
- Well-Intentioned Extremist: In a sense. At the very base of his beliefs, he wants to make the word a better place for Anomalies.
